Tony's Secret Lab, Abandoned Warehouse District, Wednesday Evening

[dollpocalypse]

Topher flung the door open with more force than he'd ever realized he was capable of, his heart pounding. That was partially from having run all the way here while crying, though the helpless grief and rage battling inside him was also a close second. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this before -- like he'd just lost something completely irreplacable and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't fix it with science or programming or anything without at least a scan of Tony's brain and a wildly undeserved medical degree. It was just... just the worst thing ever.

He kicked the floor, and then, finding that unhelpful, threw the phone and that stupid orb he was still holding onto the ground and hurled a hard punch at the wall.

Fuck, that hurt.

But it did kill some of the helpless feeling, at least. Now there was just... grief.

With a choked sob, Topher collapsed down to the floor with his back to the wall, cradling his bleeding hand and just hating everything.

[[I'M SORRY. HE JUST HAS A LOT OF FEELINGS. for two, and NFB.]]

Comments

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"If he's not here," and now Robin's voice was going not quite low and dangerous but closer to that than it had been, "it might be in your best interest as much as mine to be a little more specific than that."

She was learning some interesting new interrogation techniques! She just didn't think she should use them on Tony's friends.

You know. Unless she had conclusive proof that he was evil.

[dollpocalypse]

"I don't even know you! I don't know who you are or whether you're some kind of, of, of supervillain trying to kill him, but you can't, so just -- just -- "

Aaaaaand back to sobbing. Someone had a really great hold over his emotions. Or... really not at all.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"Oh, for --" Robin slapped a gloved hand loudly over her face and sighed.

"It would," she intoned, looking up at the ceiling and not actually caring that this wasn't really her head voice, "be entirely too cliché of me to smack him in the face and yell 'GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, MAN?' Wouldn't it?"

[dollpocalypse]

That was enough to get him to at least be a little more quiet about the sobbing, actually.

Frustrated and not really aware enough to grasp the cliché, Topher demanded, "What are you even -- what are you even talking about?!"

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Robin sighed and crossed her arms, tapping one foot in an overly obvious way.

"An explanation? For the melodramatics? It'd be nice."

Then, less certainly, and with genuine concern:

"If something's happened to him, I want to know."

[dollpocalypse]

"I don't even know if you're his friend!" Topher yelled. "I'm not just gonna, gonna give out his information to some random stupid nosy stranger in a stupid fucking costume."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"Oh, geez, genius boy! Rub two brain cells together! Some random stupid stranger," Robin said through her teeth, "is going to have the access codes to get into the lab?"

She didn't actually reach out and grab him by the shirt, but boy, was she getting close to trying.

[dollpocalypse]

Okay. Now he was... actually done crying. At least for the time being. So -- it was someone, some blonde girl, who could get into Tony's lab and wore a costume and yelled at him and and and --

There. It clicked. "You're -- whatsherface. His girlfriend."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"I --"

She snapped her mouth shut and sighed.

"I see my use of 'genius' wasn't completely sarcastic." The mask wouldn't just come off, but she could at least retract the lenses. "Yeah, Topher, it's me. Which I'll thank you to keep to yourself if you have any desire to not have me hit you in the face with a brick."

Which was too much like kicking him while he was down, and she didn't have the heart for that, so Robin -- Stephanie -- found a perch on the arm of the couch.

"Were you there? Did you see?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher watched the lenses retract for just long enough to confirm that it was her, then looked away. Finally he sank down onto the floor, picking at the cuff of his sleeve.

There wasn't any of that anger anymore. Just a quiet, lost feeling.

"I saw."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Okay, no more petty bickering or smartassery. Time to act like the sidekick of the world's greatest detective, and one who deserved the cape at that.

"How much can you tell me about what happened?" she asked, tucking her knees up against her chest as she rocked back and forth on the couch arm. (The rocking was to give her something to focus on and therefore not fall apart. "Did he do something to provoke it, or did it just grab him, or what?"

[dollpocalypse]

Sure, Steph. Ask Topher about whether something was provoked. Since he was so good at discerning that kind of thing.

"He touched it." Topher rotated his bracelet around on his wrist, squeezing his eyes shut. "That weird cloud thing. He sent tech up to see what it was, and it didn't work, so he... touched it."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Stephanie sighed and rubbed a gloved hand over her face. "I swear to crap, if he still existed right now I'd strangle him so hard for that . . ."

Except for the part where she couldn't, because he didn't, now, and she couldn't hit something that made you disappear with a brick at least for revenge. Her sigh turned into a half-hysterical laugh, then a whimper.

"Oh god."

[dollpocalypse]

"You'd -- you'd better not!" Topher exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and over to the couch so he could aim a punch at her shoulder. "He's -- you don't get to just -- nuh-uh! You just -- just -- leave him alone!"

It was cute how he thought that sounded at all forceful.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

It was such a good thing Stephanie still had the presence of mind to just make a grab for his wrist instead of going for a disabling hold, wasn't it?

"It's a moot point right now anyway, isn't it?" she snapped. "Now, are you going to just sit here and blubber about it, or take that genius gray matter you love bragging about and use it to try and fix this?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher crossed his arms over his chest, sullen. "You'd just -- better not hit him," he grumbled. "If we fix it, I'm telling him you said that."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"Oh, good, it's so nice to know we're all being mature here," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "Adorably disturbing as I find your hangup on my boyfriend, I'm not going to be impressed with your attachment to him if the only thing you're using it for is feeling sorry for yourself."

[dollpocalypse]

"I'm not feeling sorry for himself," Topher snapped. "I just -- he's the only one who could've fixed anything 'cause he's smarter and stronger and everything than anyone else, so -- so -- just shut up!"

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Stephanie really couldn't help the incredulous snort that . . . she wouldn't have held back anyway. "You're kidding me, right? I can kick his ass sparring." Which was still kind of a nice feeling, being better at something for once in her life. "Oh my god, Topher, do you hear the reality phone ringing? Get a grip on it! You're basically saying we should all just lie down and die now, and you know what? If that's what you want to do, fine, but when we get him back, because we will, don't expect to get a thank-you gift for your amazing effort in helping."

[dollpocalypse]

"What do you want me to do!?" Topher demanded. "I'm not gonna -- gonna try and touch his tech and figure stuff out like I was him 'cause I'm not!"

Topher. No one thought you were. Really. Well, Rhodey had drawn some parallels.

"And if you think I'm just gonna be able to do whatever he could, then you should just -- just not even bother. Yeah."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"Perish the thought." Cleanup on aisle four -- someone spilled acerbic sarcasm everywhere. "Nobody's asking you to be him, you crybaby. God knows I've never heard of you lifting a finger to help people the way he does."

She huffed in exasperation and got to her feet.

"But I'm done wasting time arguing this with you. Wallow if you want to; I'm going to find out more."

[dollpocalypse]

"Fine!" he yelled after her. "Go!"

Yes, Topher. That was the plan.

"And -- and -- and -- you suck!"

That's right. The maturity contest continued.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Stephanie blew a supremely sarcastic kiss at him, but at least kept the probably better than you do to herself as she stalked off.