Take a deep breath.
You ready for this?
Pepper and Bill noticed that the room was quickly filling up with guests, as they finished their drinks. "Might be a good turnout after all," he commented. "I was wondering if the rain would effect that at all."
Pepper smiled and nodded politely. She was really starting to get anxious, hoping that Tony wouldn't be too late to the party. He'd still have to check in and go to their room to change, and she knew, unless she prodded him along, it would take an act of congress to get him away from the bathroom mirror. She realized, though, that she'd forgotten her phone in her room, so she wouldn't know when he'd arrived. She felt a little alarmed at her own carelessness, now fully aware that Tony could very well have tried to call her in that time. "Oh, where is my mind?" she murmured to herself, instantly answering her own question with the obvious reason. Her pregnancy hormones had caused her to be increasingly scatter brained lately, so it was no wonder that she'd made this kind of foible.
"Beg your pardon?" Bill asked.
"What? Oh," Pepper said, bashfully. "Nothing, I...I just need to go back to my room to get my phone. I forgot it, and Tony has probably tried to call."
Pepper excused herself and left the room, jogging back up the stairs to her room. She opened the door and found the phone lying on the nightstand, where she'd left it. She quickly opened it to her missed calls, and she frowned at seeing one missed call from Tony. "Damn it!" she huffed, instantly dialing his number. It dialed out, but then went to a busy signal. She pulled the phone from her ear and stared at the screen, frowning.
The call had been dropped because suddenly the network went down. She tried again, but got the same result. She tried the room phone, but since she was calling a wireless number, she got the same busy signal. She sat on the bed and huffed in frustration. "Sorry, Tony. We'll just have to talk when you get here, I guess," she murmured.
She left her phone in the room, since it was of no use anyway, and made her way back downstairs. She walked to the front desk. A cheerful, dark haired woman greeted her.
"May I help you?" she asked Pepper.
Pepper smiled politely. "Yes. Earlier I made sure that a key to my room was left for a Mr. Tony Stark? It looks like the wireless networks are down, and he was going to call me when he checked in, because we're attending the gala. So, when he does check in, can you have someone come tell me in person?"
"Of course, Miss!" the woman replied. "I'll make sure we get you the message."
Pepper smiled politely. "Thank you," she said, leaving to go back to the party.
XxXxXxXxXx
Pepper caught up with Bill again. "Did he call?" he asked her.
"Yes, but I can't get out to call him back. The network is down," Pepper replied.
Bill frowned. "Must be all the rain. I'd imagine they've had issues with some of the area towers."
Pepper smiled weakly, suddenly really missing Tony even more than she had. She was aching to see him again, and couldn't wait to be back in his arms. Bill was pleasant enough company, but she felt like only one half of a whole without Tony by her side. She hoped he would be checking in soon.
XxXxXxXxXx
Tony sighed heavily. It had been a good twenty minutes since he'd talked to the officer, and he hadn't budged an inch. So he decided to turn on the radio, and bide his time. He tuned it to a local station, out of curiosity mostly, to see if there were reports of any more landslides in the area that he'd have to navigate around when he and Pepper would be driving home tomorrow.
He found a local radio station, K-BAY, and turned up the volume.
"That was ACDC with Thunderstruck," the dj announced.
"Good song," Tony said, smirking with approval.
"...and before we get on with your 80's, 90's, 2000's, and hits from today, the Army Corp of Engineers has requested that we give all of our bay area listeners the latest updates for recent landslides, and areas cleared for occupation. Currently, Emeryville, and El Cerrito are now on the list for clearance at midnight tonight, as yesterday both cities experienced some flooding and mudslides. However, Sausalito is still under watch, as the National Guard is working with the Army to keep flood waters at bay..."
"That's a little close for comfort," Tony remarked to himself, as he could actually see Sausalito from where he was currently sitting.
"That's all the news that fits, currently, but as you know we'll keep you updated with the latest reports. Now! Back to the music!" the dj finished. Tony turned off the radio, and sighed, propping his elbow on the window sill, and leaning his head on his fist.
Suddenly, he saw people running from behind him and gathering on the walking path across from where he was parked. They were yelling and pointing at something on the other side of the bridge. He craned his neck to see what they were looking at, but the orange beams of the bridge blocked his view. He stepped out of the car into the chilly, pelting rain, pulling the collar up on his black leather jacket he was wearing, and shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked over to the crowd.
There, across the way, stood the large Victorian-era mansion where he was supposed to be meeting Pepper. It was perched high on a seaside cliff, with all its lights blazing, and people were watching large chunks of earth underneath it sloughing off into the ocean. Tony's eyes went wide, and he froze, his mind suddenly reeling at what was happening in front of him.
"It's gonna fall! The cliff is giving way!" some of the people around him said.
"Someone call 911!" said some others.
Several people tried to dial out, as Tony frantically made his way to the edge of the railing to get a better view, but they all reported the same thing- that they couldn't dial out and that the network was down.
"Oh my God! Look!" one woman screeched as they all watched, in horror, as the front of the building slowly started to cave in. And then, as if in slow motion, it gave way completely and collapsed into the ocean, ripping a gaping hole in the remaining structure.
"NO!" Tony gasped. He spun around and ran back to his car. His dove into the driver's seat, and jabbed the ignition button with his finger. The engine roared to life and Tony peeled out of where he was parked. He dodged cars and wove in and out of traffic, which had finally started to move, his heart racing. "JARVIS! Patch through to 911! Tell them the House on the Cliffs is collapsing!" he instructed.
He roared across the bridge, his windshield wipers working frantically to clear his view. "God damn it!" he barked loudly, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. "Why didn't I bring the suit?"
XxXxXxXxXx
Meanwhile, Pepper had decided to excuse herself and split off from Bill to take a look out of the windows at the far end of the room that over looked the ocean. It sported a nice view of the bridge, and she was curious if the accident had been cleared yet.
Even in the rainy weather, the bridge still looked very majestic all lit up. She could see that some of the emergency lights had thinned out, and that traffic was slowly starting to move again. "Thank goodness," she murmured, happy that it wouldn't be long before Tony would be arriving.
She continued to gaze outside, but frowned when she heard a loud crack, followed by feeling a peculiar sensation under her, as if the floor was suddenly sloping downward. "What in the world?!" she said out loud, just before a guttural groan sounded from the building violently shifting, knocking her to the floor. She scurried backwards, watching in horror as the whole room split, the entire southern half splintering off and tipping forward into the water below. Pepper shrieked and scrambled to her feet to run, as everyone around her scrambled to try to get to the back of the room.
People were screaming and running, and clouds of thick dust obscured her vision, but Pepper heard Bill call her name through the din.
"Ms. Potts!" she heard him call out again. She looked across from her, and saw him motioning to her to come to him.
He was at least twenty feet away, and she tried to run in his direction, but she was suddenly blocked by a heavy falling beam that had broken off from the ceiling, landing just inches from her. She screamed with fright at the near miss. "Bill!" she called back frantically, trying to spot him in the place she'd last seen him. But there was no answer.
Pepper looked around, desperate to find safety as more and more of the room was crumbling into the ocean. The scene was horrific, as debris from the walls and ceiling crashed to the floor, threatening to crush anyone below, and the sound of splintering wood and breaking glass echoed above the screams of the patrons left to fend for themselves.
Pepper tried to orient herself, but the lights had gone out, and the room was shrouded in darkness. She stumbled in the direction she figured would be the main entrance to the hotel, but the air was so thick with dust, that she couldn't see the floor in front of her, and she stumbled on something very large and heavy, tripping forward and landing hard on her stomach. She felt a sharp jab of pain in her lower abdomen, and she yelped loudly, clapping a hand over her baby bump as the feeling ripped through her. "No! Please!" she begged the heavens, as tears were forming in her eyes and she swiped at them with the back of her hand, her palms covered in dirt and dust. She summoned her strength as best as she could, and began to crawl on her hands and knees, trying to get a sense of direction, when she heard a loud snap followed by a rushing sound and the feeling of falling. Pepper groped for something to hang on to, but it was futile. The rest of the room was now crumbling, and she, along with anyone else who had survived thus far, was being swept downward with the rush of mud, rocks, and wood plummeting down the cliffs and into the water.
XxXxXxXxXx
Tony mashed the accelerator as he exited the bridge. The House on the Cliffs was coming into view, and he hoped and prayed he wouldn't be too late. "I'm coming, Pepper. Just hold on," he promised, gritting his teeth to keep from screaming out in sheer panic.
But, suddenly, to his horror, he saw the back half of the mansion collapse the rest of the way and slough off into the water, and the rest left standing was starting to bow precariously inward, threatening to go with it. Tony screeched into the parking lot of the hotel, skidding his tires to a full stop. He leaped out of the car and sprinted closer, but it was too late. He stopped abruptly, looking on in horror, as suddenly the rest of the house imploded on itself, falling into unrecognizable ruin before almost disappearing entirely from view as the rest of the cliff gave way.
Tony was paralyzed, unable to find his bearings enough to think of anything that would serve the situation. The agony of the thought that Pepper- his Pepper- was trapped somewhere in all of that rubble, mostly likely dying or dead, and that he was powerless to do anything mercilessly impaled his heart. A loud, primeval scream ripped from his throat and he collapsed to his knees, helplessly in the pouring rain, the shrill screech of the emergency sirens cutting through the night air in the distance.