Drowning the Past (or Future?) (Potts/semi-open)

[lorna]

It had been a rather rotten day, over all.

Lorna wasn't one to mope or to contemplate on things that were out of her control but after her encounter with the future man this morning and her subsequent talks with her parents that afternoon, she was ready for a strong drink. Or ten.

She'd gone home, showered and waited for her father to come home from work that afternoon. Then she'd told them the things that Cable had insinuated, all without actually saying the man's name, that he was from the future or that he'd implied that Magneto was her father. It had been a bit tricky but she'd managed.

That was when she found out that her father hadn't really died in the plane crash with her mother and that Suzanna had revealed to them that he was a mutant. She'd sat there in stunned silence for a few moments, not really knowing what to make of it all. So she'd asked to see her birth certificate. They didn't want her finding her father, they'd said, claiming that the man hadn't even wanted her before her birth. But she'd prevailed and her mother had gone and got it.

So now she had a name. Magnus Lensherr. It wasn't much and the first name bothered her a bit. She didn't know what Magneto's real name was, had never really thought about it before but wasn't the name “Magnus” a bit too similar? Granted, Magneto was definitely a code name so it could mean absolutely nothing. She just had too active an imagination.

And that imagination had plagued her all night long so she found herself sitting in a bar in the city and was currently downing her third shot of whiskey. The barkeep was watching her closely but Lorna ignored him. She was legal, she could do this until she couldn't see straight and he could do nothing about it as long as she kept the money coming.

[potts]

Pepper had entered the bar, she was tired of what had happened, had gone running from that party after she had known by surprise that he had a secret child. A girl of thirteen, she was innocent and that the gestures of his father even in the same eyes.
Before escaping from the party she had heard the cries of Tony for her to stop, but she did, she wanted to leave there and let off steam in alcohol and party all night although it Doing so alone.
Tony had done many times and more on his birthday. Pepper had often been up all night waiting for Tony to return him, thinking he could be with her most beautiful women, with more style, not secretaries freckled face that sinned innocent. Truly loved Tony Stark? . Oh yes. She loved him in silence since the death of her husband, she had been loving two men. Now, he was only in her life. But the rope had broken. He had not told her she had a daughter, could have told her when he knew it!.

Now nothing mattered, she walked in that bar was full of men who all looked whistling to it, the reason that evening gown that revealed her charms. She had cried on the way without stopping and without stopping, he sat in his chair, leaving the bag down on the table. "Waiter, a whiskey!". She asked quietly beginning to mourn cursed again as Tony Stark. She wanted to forget it forever but could never forget the man she loved. But that night, she could do it .....

When the waiter put the glass on the table. "Leave the bottle, tonight for me will be my night off, I want to forget everything! Want to forget him!". Pepper drank one sip of whiskey and began to cough hard and feel an intense heat in the body. "As he can drink this ?!!!". She got disgusted face, all the men looked at her laughing, and some filled with lust to see that young lady scorned.

[blade]

Blade heads into the bar, having gotten a call that there was so new activity in the area. He spotted the vampire has he entered inside. He could tell he was a new reckless, newborn vampire. He didnt hold himself as a known vamp. Realizing he can walk in there and do recon on him cause this wasnt a normal vampire lair and he wouldnt know who he was just yet. Might still be into his mortal habits.

Blade heads inside and scans the area. He left his sword, in his car, but still had his other tools if things went wrong. He wanted to see if this guy could lead him to more of his kind.

Taking a seat at a booth, he notices Mrs. Potts. Wonder why she isnt still at the party. Dont remember seeing her leave. He watches as she takes a shot of whiskey and the males in the room laugh at her reaction. He stayed in his both and kept his eye on the vampire he was tailing, noticing how he was watching her.

[lorna]

((Okay, going to have to change this a bit since it's apparently happening after the party and Lorna's day was vastly different if that's the case))

To her utter shock and amazement, her car had been waiting for her after she'd left the Starks alone to deal with matters. Lorna really had no idea how he'd known it was her car, how he'd even known she had a car or how it had got there but after all she'd seen in that apartment, she really shouldn't have been too shocked. The man had a way with knowledge and it wouldn't have surprised her if he'd done some sort of check on her as well.

Which meant that he'd probably known she was a mutant and an X-Man the entire time.

Lorna wanted to sink into the bar stool but instead, she held herself upright. Barely. She was supposed to have met a friend there and had a few drinks but at the last moment, after she'd already sat down, her friend had text her to let her know she wouldn't be coming. That sucked. After such a crazy day, she needed a bit of normalcy in her life.

The box of stuff that her aunt and uncle had given her from her mother was still in her car, completely untouched. Lorna was half afraid to go through it, that something would point out that Magneto was her father and if that was the case, she really didn't know what she'd do. She didn't want to bring it up to him but she did want some answers. It was all if, though.

She was about to get up and call it a night before she was too impaired to drive when the commotion started. Lorna turned to watch the woman come into the bar and she stared at her a moment but not for the same reason the men were. First of all, she had obviously been crying. Lorna knew that look, had had her own heart broken a time or two. Secondly, she looked vaguely familiar but she really couldn't place her finger on why.

As Pepper ordered a whiskey, then demanded the whole bottle be kept there, a dark eyebrow rose. Drinking after a fight was never a good idea, especially in a bar where the men were obviously oggling the woman. Figuring it wasn't any of her business and she'd already stuck her nose in enough things, she stood up and was prepared to leave when Pepper choked on the drink.

Okay, that wasn't expected.

With a sigh, she grabbed a fresh glass of water off the bar and walked over to Pepper's table before sitting down. “The first few drinks are killers if you aren't used to them,” she started before taking the bottle and pouring another shot but leaving a small bit open. She finished filling the shot glass with a tiny bit of water, just enough to dilute it a bit.

“Try this then next time, a bit less water. Before you know it, he'll be a distant memory and you'll be feeling like a teenager again,” she added with a bit of a grin. Oh, yes, she knew this game all too well...

[potts]

Pepper looked for a while leather-clad man, muscular, strong, and she thought crazy. "If he has sex with every woman he wants. Why I can not do it too?!". Thought as filled the glass of whiskey again with tears in her eyes. He seemed to be tough, strong and dangerous. She took another gulp of whiskey and coughed hand covering her mouth looking at the man with some dizziness. Hearing about the laughter of men who watched her with desire and saying things that were too ordinary to say them aloud.

Pepper was not afraid to see green-haired woman sitting in the chair across from her and placing a glass of water on the table. Pepper was still fanning herself in the heat she was feeling. "I'm not used to drink, but tonight I want to do something crazy, I live, I want fun, not thinking about work, nor think of my boss, my boss do not trust me to tell me, he had a secret daughter. Oh, yes. He knew this yesterday. But he could not have told me this ?!!!".

The whiskey was making her hysterical and euphoric. "I'm angry!, Hysterical and tired, very tired after all that mess." She drank another whiskey but with a little water, could drink more alcohol and the heat was much lower and more enjoyable. "Look at that man dressed in leather, is tough, strong. I could do something crazy tonight!. He always makes them, because I can not do ?!!!". Fuck, Pepper, because you're in love with Tony Stark. You can not be with another man only to him. . But wait, who are you looking ? and who are you?...". she asked the woman whose hair was beautiful emerald green. "You must said me that dye you have thrown in your hair, I like it... really original."

[blade]

Blade was still watching the vampire he was tailing out of the corner of his eyes. He began to realize that something was right about this situation. He knew he should be leading him to Deacon. Just why here and now, why was he keeping his eyes on Pepper. He wanted to get to Deacon before anything else happened to the girl. Just why her and what is his plan now. Things weren't adding up and he knew Deacon had something up his sleeve.

Blade saw a green haired girl, go up to Pepper and try to help her through the pain. He didn't know how to react in these situations. He saw Pepper eying him and wonder if she realized who he was. If he wasn't dealing with the current situation, he would take her from here. A person of her stature shouldn't be here. Why is she here and why is she in this mood? It wasn't really his business to know or find out, so he just went about doing his job.

[lorna]

Lorna was aware of the man that Pepper had been eying but she really didn't think much about him. He, liked the other men in the room, were all staring at the pretty woman and for some reason, Lorna felt like protecting her from their stares.

She listened as Pepper began to tell her about her troubles. Definitely a man, just as Lorna had suspected by her boss? That hurt. That would definitely make life a bit complicated at the office. She didn't envy the woman that at all. She'd always heard not to mix business and pleasure and Pepper was proving exactly why that phrase held true.

Lorna had brought her own glass over from the bar and she filled it with the bottle that was sitting on the table. She could pay the woman back before she left although she really wasn't looking to drink much more. It was beginning to get a bit late and she had somewhere to go first thing in the morning. The thought still amazed her and she really did expect to wake up in her own bed to discover it had all been a dream.

Pepper pointed out the man in leather that she'd been looking at earlier and again, Lorna's eyes looked him over. He was good looking, yes, she had to admit that but frankly, she was a bit overwhelmed by good looking men that evening. She had no doubt that if Tony Stark was there, his attention would be on the woman that Lorna was sitting with, not her. She was much more beautiful then Lorna could ever hope to be.

“I'm not sure you really want to do that, though,” she had to say before the woman really did get up and go hit on a stranger. She'd had her own fair share of morning afters back in college and waking up in a stranger's bed wasn't the best feeling one could have. No, Pepper would do much better to do something that didn't involve going home with someone she didn't know.

Suddenly, it appeared that Pepper finally realized she was talking to a weird girl with green hair. As usual, she smiled and acted like having hair the color of grass was the most natural thing in the world. “I'm no one important,” she told her. “My name's Lorna and I was just stood up by my old roommate who had something else come up. As for the hair, I have an amazing stylist.”

The lie slipped right off her tongue in a way that was so practiced it was scary. It was the only major lie she ever told and after a while, it had become so easy to do. “What's your name?” she asked the woman. “And where did you get that dress? It's absolutely stunning.”

It also probably cost more then Lorna would ever spend on a dress in her entire life.

[potts]

Pepper did not pay attention to the eyes of all men . She just drank and every time it felt more numb by alcohol. Pepper started talking nonstop about her boss, the man she loved and who had been working with him for years. They would finally kiss tonight. She would not have mattered if they two had had a night of passion because that was what Pepper wanted it , kiss him , hug him, feel him inside her, just for one night. No one knew the love that Pepper Potts felt forTony Stark. A love that had been said but the two of them behaved like a married couple.

"I could have sex with any man!, I am an attractive woman!. With this strong man dressed in leather!. With all!. But I can not give myself to another man if not with him ..." . She cried and laughed at same time. "He can filter all the women you want because I can not do?. I'll drink till drop dead of a coma. I, president of the Stark Company, always tied to the duty and obligation to work! . I'm a fraud, a fool" . Pepper's vision was becoming more blurred and could only see the green hair of women.

"Lorna ... a pretty name, but I think I do not favor the green hair." A drunken chuckle out of her mouth. "My name is ... Virginia Potts, Pepper Potts for acquaintances. Oh, this dress?. I bought it in Gucci, to the Christmas party of the company Stark. A party unhappy that I'm aware that I Mr. Tony Stark has a secret daughter and he didnt told me. He has said that he had discovered the previous day. But ... he told me?. No. Sometimes I think he does not trust me and that everything that we have shared has not been for nothing". A tear slid down her cheek before she drank one drink a whiskey glass. " Now I want fun, I want to live at night, I want a crazy night! "

[lorna]

One thing was clear almost immediately to Lorna. This woman was a very vocal drunk. And she didn't try to lower her voice at all. As if all the eyes in the place weren't on her already, she made Lorna want to sink back into her chair and disappear with the attention she was drawing to them. At least most everyone ignored the girl with the green hair. That had to be a first since the brown dye stopped staying for longer then a few hours.

When Pepper started to cry, Lorna looked around for a napkin but came up empty handed. Whomever this jerk was that made her like that deserved whatever he got when he faced her next time. The woman was stunningly beautiful and she obviously loved passionately. What man in his right mind would turn such love down?

She was about to suggest that drinking herself into a coma really wouldn't do anyone any good when the rest of what she was saying sunk in. The president of Stark? If she was the president, then her boss would have to be...

Oh shit.

Suddenly, Pepper shifted gears again and mentioned her name and the color of her hair. She had no idea how much Lorna agreed with her really but she couldn't help the frown that appeared. It wasn't like she had a choice in the color hair she'd been born with. It was crazy enough that it'd been that way all her life. She'd hidden it for as long as she could but once her mutation actually kicked in, it was useless. However, she didn't say any of this, only simmered a bit inside.

As the tear slid down Pepper's face, Lorna continued to stare at the woman in stunned silence. What on earth had she gotten herself into this time? Unfortunately, she'd left before she could use enough brain cells to ask for his number so she could cancel. Lorna supposed that by not meeting the driver the next morning would work but that would likely wake up the rest of the mansion and she did not want rumors starting. They were rather rampant in that place as it was.

Licking her lips and finally finding her voice again, she asked, “Ms. Potts, does he know how you feel about him?” She was dying to ask just how close they were but Lorna was really trying to keep it together at this point. “If you want, I could talk to him for you. I really don't think that throwing yourself at other men just because of him is really going to help at all, though.”

But what did she know? She shied away from relationships after having her heart broken by her first boyfriend in college. The only reason she'd even considered accepting Tony's offer for coffee (and this was rationalized after she'd left his presence) was because he was a known womanizer and would never take her seriously in the first place. In so many ways, he was safe for her.

[deacon]

Deacon walks into the bar from the back entrance. Kidnapping the Stark girl went of without a hitch. He was now just having a little fun before he continued on with his plans. His transformation into the blood god, La Magra, was everything he wanted. Also he was looking forward to making Vampires the prime specie. He hated hiding in the shadows, and now he could turn any human into a vampire with just a thought. He still liked the blood on his lips though, and the taste of it.

He stepped in taking in the bar, he noticed that there was a slight disturbance in the air but brushed it off. He was now wearing a blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black slacks. He noticed another familiar face of Stark Industries as he went up to the bar. He thought of another brilliant plan to possibly buy him some time with the girl. He then sensed that disturbance and looked and saw Blade. He grinned at how sweet all of this would be, he looked at the vampire that was with him and the one that had followed Pepper here. Sending them to confront Blade and cause a scene.

[blade]

Blade sensed a strong power coming into the air. He braced himself as it felt like the same power from the party. He let his hand drift to his gun on the inside of his jacket. Then he saw a man come in from the back, but couldn't see his face. Blade just watched him carefully, as he took up a spot next to Pepper and the green haired lady. Then he watched as the man made a motion and two guys came at him. One was the vampire he was tailing to track Deacon Frost. So the other man coming for me must be a vampire too, he thought. Which means the man at the bar could be Deacon, gotta move fast then.

He got out of his booth as the two vampires rushed him. He punches one in the side making him double over and sweep kicks the other dropping him to the ground. He normally didn't do this in public eye, but he didn't care, this was a special case. He took out his stakes from his leg holster and stabbed the one doubled over in the back, turning him to ash. The tosses down the same stake into the one laying on the ground behind him. He then turns his attention back to Deacon, quickly pulling out one of his guns and training it on him.

[potts]

Pepper's eyes closed ever more for the alcohol she had drunk. Four or five drinks of whiskey. Now she just wanted to sleep all night but thought the hangover that she was to have the next morning was going to be brutal. She did not care and neither did she would go to the company, would stay in bed all day. Pepper but could not avoid the tears and pain at the thought of the only man she loved.

"Ms. Potts, does I know how you feel about him? "

Pepper reacted instantly when hearing the words of Mrs. Dane. She began to shake his head repeatedly feeling like his heart sank. "No, no, I do not know what he feels for me, at the party we've been around ... to kiss under the mistletoe. But at the same time appeared his daughter, a girl of thirteen. And I got mad that he had not said anything to me about it . Perhaps this was the trigger to say 'enough'. I continue to stand with Mr. Stark is to be suffering at every moment because I do not know if he will crash or some crazy man kill him him being kidnapped or Ironman. I can not live with that tension, I'm tired, very tired of his life, too stress, too dangerous.

"If you want, I Could Talk to him for you. I Really Do not think throwing yourself at That Other Men Just Because of him is really going to help at all, though. "

"If I throw another man I would cheat myself. I could not have sex with a man I do not love. But please Miss Dane, do not talk with Mr. Stark. If he loved me or had interest in my he had confessed to me. He just sees me as other woman and his loyal assistant " Pepper looked at Lorna begging as she took Lorna's hand in despair.

For Pepper, there were no more men at the bar. There was nobody around. "Please, Miss Dane. Come with me tonight... I want to have some fun and I know of nowhere. Whenever I have been working with no time for me."

Then her blue eyes fixed on the young man in a blue shirt and black pants, she seemed to become mesmerized by him. But it all happened, screaming, hitting, glass breaking. The image of leather-clad man swatting two men. Pepper was unaware of the existence of vampires and that these men were. Pepper fell to the ground hitting her leg with force when the wooden table fell on her. She evoked a gasp of pain, whiskey bottle broke causing bleeding cuts in the legs and thighs. From her lips came a name, "Tony."

[lorna]

So they had been about to kiss when Abby interrupted them. At least, she thought that's what Ms. Potts was telling her. It was a bit hard to decipher much of anything that the obviously now intoxicated woman was telling her. One thing was definitely clear to Lorna, though. Tony Stark lived up to his reputation. Asking her out just a couple of hours before getting ready to kiss another woman. Not that he didn't have that right, it was just a bit...sleazy.

Pepper implored her not to say anything to Tony about her feelings, going so far as to take Lorna's hand in the process. “Okay, okay, I won't say anything,” she told the woman. “Not that I have a habit of hanging around him in the first place,” she muttered under her breath. And if not for finding Abby in the diner earlier in the day, that statement would have been true.

She hadn't paid attention to the man who'd come into the bar and was now sitting very close to them. It was a bar and people crowding in wasn't a big deal. Her green eyes shot wide, though, when Pepper asked her to go with her that night. They didn't exactly know one another but the idea of Pepper driving anywhere by herself wasn't a good one. Maybe she should just call a cab and send the woman home? However, Lorna herself had been on the receiving end of heartache in the past and had some sympathy for Pepper.

“Okay, let me just pay the tab and then...” was all she got out before movement from the white leather clad man caught her attention. Her mouth sort of fell open in shock as he punched two men who'd approached him then pulled something out and stabbed them both. Then they sort of disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“What the hell?” she asked rhetorically as she stood up and backed into the bar. In all her time with the X-Men, she thought she'd seen it all. This...was new. And not very welcome.

Just as crazy, Pepper suddenly moved awkwardly, pulling the table they'd been sitting at down on top of her. Since it was wood, she couldn't move it with her powers so Lorna pushed at it, shoving it aside and off the woman. She was a bloody mess, her legs cut up and in obvious pain. She heard Pepper whisper Tony's name but ignored it. Kneeling next to her, Lorna looked up at the bar and noticed that the other patrons had become panicked.

Ignoring them and creating a small field around Pepper and herself so that they wouldn't be run over, she looked at the bartender and demanded, “Call an ambulance.” The stupid man just looked at her and the green glow that surrounded her and Pepper. His only reply was a very quick, “Mutant freak,” before he also bolted from the room.

Sighing in exasperation, she looked down at Pepper and said, “Hang on, I'll get help. Somehow.”