14293/Where in the world did the Raccoon go

Where in the world did the Raccoon go
Date of Scene:	09 April 2022
Location:	Central Park, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Star-Lord comes back to Terra hunting down Rocket, and gets found by Tony and Pepper.
Cast of Characters:	Pepper Potts, Star-Lord, Iron Man

---

Pepper Potts has posed:
It's twilight, but Pepper did want to get him out here before they lost all the light, as she makes her way back towards where she saw the strange racoon chasing the other creature. "It was in this section of the park. I think you can still see some ripped up turf over there, and burn marks on that monument." Pepper points out casually, walking careful on the balls of her feet so her high heels don't sink entirely into the grass of central park. She holds her coat a bit closer around her body against the spring chill.

Star-Lord has posed:
Rocket. A little bundle of murderous energy that somehow, against all odds, has found constructive use for his talents among a group of galactic misfits.

Unfortunately, with the war going on out in deep space, keeping track of all the Guardians is... difficult. Peter has things he has to do, and babysitting the little fuzzy ball of rage isn't high on the priority list.

At least, it wasn't until he had gotten word that the little idiot decided to bounty hunt on TERRA of all places.

Peter is already crouched nearby where the burn marks are on the monument. His helmet is on as he scans the area, his element guns are in hand idling on his knees as he remains lost in thought, his red longcoat concealed most of his body... the helmet doing the rest.

Iron Man has posed:
With twilight, there are fewer people in the park, so fewer distractions in terms of 'OMG, it's Tony Stark!' or 'Iron Man, can I have your autograph?!'. It allows Tony to actually move without the added difficulties, and as they walk, he's attentive, listening to every word of the encounter. Approaching locales, he's in 'business mode', as it were, looking at the turf, and when he digs out his palm-sized tablet, he's also crouching down to pick up a bit of soil sample for testing. He's dressed in dark clothing, a pair of large-framed, amber-lensed glasses sit upon his face.

"I can see that something was definitely going on." Twisting around to follow her gesture towards the monument beyond, Tony cants his head and rises slowly from his position and begins to walk, quickly, his attention focused.

"C'mon, but stay behind me," is murmured.

Pepper Potts has posed:
That makes Pepper blink, a cross of surprise on her face. She frowns to him, "What's going on? What do you see?" She knows when Tony goes on alert, and that's where he is right now. She doesn't fight him about it, but instead slips in behind his shoulder and starts walking deeper into the park, sticking far closer to his body. She trusts him to protect her if some sort of fight breaks out. This is the safest place she can be.

Star-Lord has posed:
As Tony approaches, Star-Lord stands up, looking directly at the man with his element guns out. The red lenses of his helmet glow just slightly as he switches briefly to thermal vision, checking for anyone else in the park briefly, before he drops off the monument, his Jetboots briefly flaring to cushion his landing, easily visible with their light.

He starts flourishing both guns as he starts walking to Tony, "Fancy meeting you here, boss man." There's no light tone to his voice this time. Where before he was having a bit of fun and having a test run at Stark Tower, this time he's all business, and it shows in his demeanor as he holsters those alien looking guns into hip holsters expertly.

A hand comes up to tap behind his ear, and the helmet retracts, and a familiar pair green eyes appraises Tony, "did Rocket cause enough of a ruckus to get you all out here?"

Then, he looks behind to Pepper, and he winks at her, "Nothing to worry about here, I'm just here to find a friend." His tone is still business.... but there's a definite flirty undertone to his voice with Pepper.

Iron Man has posed:
There it is.

Tony watches the display, the boots very much like the footage on Pepper's video, and there's a tight, unamused smile as he makes groundfall. He's studying everything; and as the man begins his approach with the two guns out, the man doesn't flinch. Dark eyes do narrow, and with the sound of the calibrated voice from behind the mask, his jaw shifts and he waits for that moment more before,

"Here to find.. Rocket? I'm here because there was something out here that had boots.. very much like those." And, well, soil and mineral samples!

"So, right now, not as surprised as I was a few minutes ago to see you here."

There's that moment of 'stand down' in his manner and mien; no one will die tonight. For now!

"What was going on?"

Pepper's position slightly behind him is a good one, as far as Tony's concerned. He takes the moment before he twists slightly, his tones soft, "It's okay. Remember the guy in the Tower? That's him." They'd even gotten a name!

Pepper Potts has posed:
The wink in her direction gets a slightly ruffled look, Pepper pressing in a bit closer against Tony, since she doesn't recognize him. But then her boss, and partner, is telling her that he recognizes the guy and it's fine. Pepper lets out a bit of a calming breath, stepping around to Tony's side instead of hiding at his back. She still seems wary, but she's not hiding.

"Well... Guy. From the Tower. Hello. You friend with similiar boots caused... quite a scene here the other day." Pepper explains stiffly, her voice all business even if he's smiling and winking.

Star-Lord has posed:
"Names Peter Quill, but most call me Star-Lord." Peter informs Pepper as she gets wary. Then, he looks to Tony, then back to the monument, "Yeah, I'm getting that. Rocket doesn't run off on his own unless there's a gigantic bounty involved, especially when the team needs him." He looks back to Tony, "I can save you the trouble. The augmented raccoon that was here was called Rocket. He's from offworld and was after a bounty that came here to Terra. His default is overkill, so you're lucky this thing-" A thumb gestures to the monument in back, "-is still standing."

He turns around then and heads back to the monument, his longcoat trailing in the wind, "with the war going on, I need all hands on deck. He's a member of my team, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and we're on contract to help with it. Must be a heck of a bounty for the ahole to skip out on me again."

Iron Man has posed:
With Pepper at his side now, things can be a little more normal, if only for the moment. "Peter Quill, this is Miss Pepper Potts. Pepper, Peter Quill." There. Introductions thus dispatched, Tony looks at the monument, searching for the scorchmarks and when found, a sample is scratched and set aside for later study, and he's up front once more. (Never know what the half-life is!)

"Rocket. A raccoon." Tony twists to look around to study the monument a little more carefully; it's structurely sound- for the most part. It's the rest of the information that comes sailing in that gives the man some pause, and his attention swinging back to land squarely on Quill.

"Bounty, right." His eyes narrow as he considers, but it's really that other bit that has his attention.

"War. What war? Other than the stuff that is going on here." Terra. Midgard. Earth.

"More importantly, where?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
A slight dip of her head comes in response to Peter and the introductions which are made. "Mr. Quill. It's... nice to meet you... I think." His commentary about the war going on, his team, and the other 'ahole' that works with him just gets slightly wider eyes from her. It all sounds insane, but she saw the racoon in rocket boots, so she knows it's real.

She remains quiet otherwise, listening and learning. One of her small hands comes up, resting protectively against the small of Tony's back as they stand there in the chilly evening, talking to a space man.

Star-Lord has posed:
"I thought he was here before trying to find people to recruit?" Peter notes a bit absently as he searches the ground himself, "well, whatever. The Brood came out of their hidey hole in space and are busy as we speak consuming the Raken system out in Imperium space. That's far from here, but it's a pretty big war. The Shi'ar are barely keeping them back for now."

He turns to look at the ground, one element gun suddenly taken out of holster and aimed at the ground just a bit away. He pulls the trigger...

... and a small wind tunnel forms from Peter to a select bit of ground, pulled along until it stops just in front of the gun, suspended in midair, the rest of the wind tunnel collapsing as it goes so only a pocket remains.

"Huh. This ain't normal blood. Guessing this is from his target?" Star-Lord guesses aloud.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony shakes his head, exhaling a bit of air in a chuffed breath, "Don't know. Haven't had to call the exterminators to get a raccoon out of the ducts." Not that there are a lot of the creatures in New York City, mind. "If he was," the cue is taken that it's 'he', "... no one I know was either approached or figured it was important enough to mention."

A hand reaches out to Pepper's to take it lightly. His own samples are tucked away in a lightweight spring jacket pocket. "How 'bout if you give me a few coordinates, and I can go have a look?" Nothing says that he can't use some of the longer-range telescope/satellites for a 'look-see' in that particular quadrant of space. He hasn't heard some of the names, and as things are still pretty nascent in terms of space travel and alien contacts, it'll take some time to work out who and what they are. "I'm going to assume that is a bad thing.. and eventually we're going to be in the way." As a tiny snack.

A step back is taken as one of the guns is unholstered, and Quill's own version of an analyzer is used. When things quiet again, brows are up again, meeting hairline before he nods, "We get the occasional incursion of 'things', thanks to weirdness."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"His target seemed like some sort of... oversized wolf. Werewolf? Maybe? It was quite strange. I don't know if he caught the thing or not. That whole day was very... Strange." Pepper admits with a nervous little smile. As Tony's fingertips twine around her own she gives his hand a little, reassuring squeeze, returning the grasp. She doesn't cut in otherwise. This was between the guys.

Star-Lord has posed:
The dirt patch is dropped from the wind funnel, and the element gun itself is holstered, "yeah, this doesn't help me at all. He's moved on, and I guarantee you he's on the news if he's stayed. I need to check out your satellites." Star-Lord half grumps as he looks to Tony. "Coordinates..." He scratches his head, visibly thinking, "I'll have to convert to something Terrans use, but I can send something to your tower."

Then, he taps the back of his ear again and that helmet pops back on, "have fun with your... investigation? I am so happy I don't have to do that for a living." Peter quips, before he starts running at /far/ faster than a normal humans speed, then he jumps high into the air, and his Jetboots turn on as he flies off into the night.

Well, Tony and Pepper just got a close up confirmation Peter is a bit more than a normal human, despite looking like one.

Iron Man has posed:
"Werewolf thing?" Tony glances to his side, brows rising. "Huh..." His hand holds onto hers, fingers entwined as the sun begins to fade in the west.

"Probably," Tony acknowledges for Peter. "Unless, you know, there are people who actually scan the news and censor it." There's a hint of a smirk on his face as he shakes his head, his tones a hint theatric, "That'd never happen. Never mind. What's a little public hysteria amongst friends, right?" People on Earth can't always handle the truth.

"Tell you what, buddy. Send what you have. I'm pretty sure we can make heads or tails of it. If you are feeling gracious. a couple of star maps wouldn't be amiss." Bah... the last bit is probably not heard over the sound of rockets and the man literally jetting out and away.

His attention swings back to Pepper, his brows rising before he softly howls at her, "Arooooo? C'mon. Let's get a couple of steaks."