1711/Son of a Friend

Son of a Friend
Date of Scene:	30 July 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Peggy Carter

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Iron Man has posed:
It was a beautiful sunny day in Manhattan. Was being the operative word. While it's still seasonably warm, it's not quite as sunny as the sun set awhile ago. And only now has Tony Stark's day really begun. Well, it probably began around four o'clock in the afternoon when Jarvis mentioned something about a teleconference. Which Tony attended... in a t-shirt and ripped blue jeans. He figured Pepper should be impressed because he woke up early especially for it.

While some of Manhattan has gone home for the day, Tony has only recently emerged from Stark Tower and stands at a hot dog stand where a vendor looks increasingly despondent.

"I'm not saying you slighted me on the banana peppers, I'm just saying it looks like less than last time," he shrugs as he motions towards the hot dog. "A dog without the peppers is hardly a dog at all. It's like Captain America without his shield. The shield makes him Captain America--"

"Steve Rogers makes him Captain America," the vendor interjects.

"You know so little about equipment. Clearly we're not speaking the same language or something. What do you like to do with your spare time? You look like a bowler. Do you bowl?"

"...no."

"Hmm. I just get this Fred Flinstone vibe from you--"

Peggy Carter has posed:
From behind Tony Stark, a woman in modern dress is right behind him. She's been listening to the exchange with barely hidden amusement. A hand rakes through her hair as she glances at the vendor and then Tony Stark again. The woman some may know as Peggy Carter has been interested in Tony for quite some time after she learned that Howard had a child. She's wanted to know what he's like and how he's turned out.

Every now and again in the time since she and the WaveRunner have arrived in this time, she will pop up. Mostly she is in the back of a press briefing or passing by Stark Tower. This is, truly, the closest she has actually been to Tony Stark since her observations started. She's not using any sort of disguise other than straight hair and a modern pantsuit, but she's rather confident that she can remain anonymous despite this.

However, as Tony continues to talk to the vendor and a line has formed behind them, she feels it her duty to lean forward and clear her throat. In a very British tone of voice, she says, "Pardon, but, perhaps the discussion of Flinstones might take place to the side? There is a line."

Iron Man has posed:
Tony's head cants to the side and he hums at Peggy's interruption. "And the line would move if Fredo would give up the banana peppers."

"My name is Manuel."

"...I know. I was--" Tony stops the thought and merely shakes his head. "How much for extra peppers? Five dollars? Ten dollars? Twenty? Happy!" he calls down the block for his ever present security. Who happens to not be there. "Okay, so I don't have the money *on* me, but you know I'm good for it." He motions dramatically towards Stark tower, "They put my name on the building." He shrugs again.

"No. No money. No peppers."

It's then that Tony finally looks at Peggy. "Can you believe this guy?" He turns back to the fellow just to do a double take back to Peggy. "I know you." He squints at her. "...right?" His eyebrows draw together. The recognition is vague.

Peggy Carter has posed:
There's a raised eyebrow. Goodness, this is staring to sound familiar to the SHIELD founder out of her own time. Pulling a wallet out of her purse, she takes a couple of bills out and gives them to Manuel. "I'll take care of this one," she nods to Tony and his banana peppers with an apologetic smile. "As well as my own hot dog. Mustard, ketchup, relish, please." The typical New York hotdog.

As he asks if he knows her, Peggy's face remains a neutral mask of curiosity. "Do you?" she asks, more interested to know where he might know her from rather than upset that he might have recognized her. It's a typical spy tactic to make the other person attempt to place someone they might familiar and she falls back on it. "It's certainly possible. I imagine with your position you meet quite a few people, Mr. Stark." It's no mystery as to who he is. He's Tony Stark standing right outside of the building with his name on it: the man is not exactly subtle.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony's eyes narrow at Peggy's reply. "Don't I?" he manages a strange smirk that follows. "You look strikingly--" he cuts himself off and takes a bite of his hot dog. "And most of them I can put names to Ms--" he leaves a pause for her to interject her name. His eyebrows lift at that as if to punctuate the request.

He finally chews that bite he'd taken, and somehow the sweet taste of satisfaction sets him off his game, just a bit. "Nothing really is more like New York than a hot dog. Unless you're eating it in Central Park." Pause. "Truly the breakfast of champions."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Carter," Peggy fills in for Tony. There are hundreds of thousands of Carters. PErhaps it is not wise for Peggy to give her proper last name, but she also feels at this juncture that it is even less wise to lie to Tony Stark in front of his own building. She can tell in his assessment of the people about and herself in particular that he is very much like his father in that he is a quick study.

"Strikingly like what?" she asks. The question is not innocent, she is truly curious. She has no idea what Tony Stark might know about her. "I will assure you that an attempt to picture me naked is not how you know me," she tells him with a bit of a smirk. "Not to stereotype, of course."

Her own hotdog is taken from Manuel and she takes a bite. "They are rather singular, I would certainly admit."

Iron Man has posed:
Tony stares at Peggy a few minutes. "Uh-huh. Carter then." His face pales despite his otherwise cool facade. His head turns to the side and he looks towards the edge of the street. Slowly, his head turns the other way, assessing the distance between each of the points. He takes a few steps away from the vendor, hot dog still in hand.

"So how long have you been in New York..." there's a pause and then, as if an afterthought, he tacks on, "Ms. Carter." His lips purse slightly and his nostrils flare while the edges of his lips curve upwards into an asinine almost too-polite smile.

The notion about stereotyping has his smile curving further at the edges, "Of course. You would never want to stereotype."

Peggy Carter has posed:
The face pale. Peggy can read that even as she picks up her hotdog. However, she takes the paper wrapped street meat and steps out of the way of the person behind her. While she may now suspect that her cover is blown, she operates under the tried and true SSR way: pretending as if nothing ever happened. Sometimes people jump to false conclusions. Perhaps she could convince Tony of the same delusion.

"New York? Oh, off and on for a few years, to be honest." Those off and ons are between decades, but that is nothing she has to say now, right? She studies him as she takes another bite of her hotdog. It's becoming more and more clear to her that Tony might have marked her, but she can't help it, the reckless part of her needs to see this through.

"Who does?" An eyebrow is raised at is statement that she would not want to be stereotyped.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony takes another bite of his hot dog as his eyes trail up towards Stark Tower. "I sometimes think about giving it up." His lips hitch up on one side and then turn back to that same smooth line. "Just to focus on my other ventures." His lips curve at the edges. "But I didn't build it, did I? I stepped into it."

He takes another bite of his hot dog. "But then, you know that? Pretty obvious." He actually shrugs at that.

"But it's not the only thing I inherited. Legacy." He manages another flicker of a smile--not wholly convincing. Finally the last question is met with an easier smile and a tick of Tony's eyebrows, "My dad. But then, you know that, don't you Ms. Carter?"

Pause.

"Who the hell are you?"

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Stark Tower?" Peggy follows his eyes as she takes in the impressive expanse of the tower nearby. "What would you prefer to focus on?" While she does not bring up 'Iron Man', it's clear that its what she might be thinking about.

Legacy. It's a thing that Peggy certainly knows something about, though it is not of her father, but of herself. It's a weighty thing to know that the small agency she wished to build turned into what it is now. "Why do you think I know more about that?" she asks, a bit surprised - genuinely. "I did know your father, Mr. Stark. But, that was a long time ago." It would have to have been, of course.

Who is she? There's a bit of a smile and a laugh and a shrug. "I am exactly who I said I am. Were you expecting someone?"

Iron Man has posed:
"Margaret 'Peggy Carter has been dead for decades," Tony levels a look at her in an odd bid to appear menacing while holding a hot dog in the middle of the street. "So." His lips twist to the side. "Who the hell are *you*?" He squints as he stares at her, considering more, but offers nothing further. "Clone?" He takes a single step towards her, scrutinizing her features as best he can. "Android?" His nose wrinkles. "Justin Hammer claimed to be working on something." His eyes rolls emphatically as he attempts to sound flippant.

"If boy band Justin manages to create functioning AI before Stark Industries, it'll be because I died in some explosion. So. Who the hell are you, !Carter?"

His lips edge downwards slightly into a near frown. It's not fully realized. "My father buried all the files about you. There's no freakin' way my competitors managed a clone." His eyes narrow. "It's not corporate espionage. Just rumour." Because Tony knows things that Tony probably shouldn't know.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Margaret 'Peggy' Carter has been dead for decades, Tony says. It's both true and not true. She can't blame him. "What makes you think I am Peggy Carter?" Peggy asks Tony, curious. A tilt of her head is given at his guesses. "I'm not a clone, or an android. I'm flesh and blood. If it may satisfy your curiosity, you may stick me with a pin to see that I bleed." She understands a bit of the scientific mind.

It's a surprise to hear that Howard hid all his files about her. He was one of the people she told about her start of adventures. Him, Mr. Jarvis and a few of the people at SHIELD. The fact that he buried files about her means something, though. "I assure you I am not a means of corporate espionage. Perhaps we should take this inside, though?"

Iron Man has posed:
"Because if something looks like a cat, and meows like a cat, it's probably a cat," Tony replies easily enough. He squints at her again as if expecting Peggy to disappear or that, perhaps, this is some trickery in his own mind. "I don't stick women with pins," he asserts casually. "Doesn't really send the right kind of message. Pretty sure I learned that one from Dad," he manages a tight-lipped wholly unconvincing, nearly sinister smile.

"Everyone is a means of corporate espionage," he offers in return as he looks towards his building. But then, in usual Tony-fashion, he shrugs and motions to the lobby, "Inside could be wise. Corporate spies are every Peggy." He leads the way to the elevator and up to the penthouse, where he aims to discuss things further.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Your father did not stick women with pins, that is true," Peggy tells Tony. "Unless they wished him to." There's a raised eyebrow, a bit of a challenge that she responds to his own sinister smile. If he's going to be a bit manic, she will counter in the only way she knows how: personal stories about his father.

"I do not believe that," she tells him sincerely in the face of the statement that everyone is a means of corporate espionage. As he gestures her toward the lobby and elevator, she moves inside. She moves to the elevator and then waits until the doors open to the penthouse that he has led her into.

"I am Peggy Carter," she tells Tony earnestly. "I am not a clone, nor a machine. I did not mean to startle you. I was merely curious when I learned of you."

Iron Man has posed:
When the pair enter the penthouse, Tony treads to the corner and pours himself a glass of brandy. He lifts an empty glass to Peggy--a silent offering that, while extended, doesn't wait for a reply before downing his glass in a single swallow. He breathes in sharply, allowing his breath to bait at the burn that lingers on the back of his throat before setting the glass down to repair. This one to be savoured.

"So. What are you doing here, Ms. Carter? Director Carter?" He lifts an eyebrow, "Agent Carter?" His lips purse. "You should be long gone by my calculation. Or, like your cohort Steve Rogers, undeniably good looking for your age."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I prefer Agent," Peggy tells Tony immediately. She remains nearby the elevator entrance, crossing her arms in front of her, back straight as she takes in the room about her. It seems almost familiar, despite the fact that she has never been here before. "Your calculations are not incorrect, though thank you." She can't help but smirk at being told she looks good for her age. "I am here through means of science, but not the same as Captain Rogers'. I was not put on ice, if that is your quesion."

Iron Man has posed:
Tony glances at his now-empty glass. He inhales a long breath and treads towards one of the couches before motioning towards it. "Well then have a seat, Agent. Welcome to your new first name." He smiles humourlessly before taking a perch in an armchair across from the couch. "Which means of science then?" His eyebrows lift slightly. "Are you purposely obtuse?"

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I am purposefully not at liberty to say," Peggy tells Tony. "I shouldn't even be speaking with you now," she sighs. There's a sincere look of apology as she then adds, "I'm sorry." She will almost certainly be getting a lecture from Rip should he find out about this. "There are a few things I may say, though I doubt that is any sort of comfort. How did you know it was me?"

Iron Man has posed:
"Photos. Stories," Tony's eyebrows lift. "I was a kid who once idolized his father. And Howard Stark didn't collect baseball cards." He polishes off the next glass of brandy before setting the glass down on the coffee table in front of him, finally done drinking for the time being. "What things can you say? I'm an Avenger. I've helped fight aliens from planet Earth. Little brings me any sense of comfort, Agent."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Howard. Peggy gives a bit of a look at that. Pictures, stories. These are things she should have realized he might know her from. However, she assumed he would not pick her out amongst the others of New York citizens. Her smile is soft, but apologetic. "This has nothing to do with the Avengers. Or with SHIELD. I am not sure if this can help your sense of comfort, but I am only here temporarily." While still not saying anything outright, she is not lying to him. The last thing she wishes to do is lie to Tony.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony hums softly. "Displaced people are always cause for concern." His head shakes. "But if you're not a clone or robot, well--" he shrugs. "Look. Whatever you're doing here, just don't break anything. SHIELD will blame us for it. And I don't need Fury's eye focused on us." His eyebrows lift.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I won't break anything. Or, at least, I will attempt not to do so." Peggy smiles and shrugs her shoulders. Finally, she moves to take a seat. "I'm not displaced. I'm merely...a bit lost, I guess. That might be considered displaced, but I certainly do not feel as such." There's a tilt of her head. "I know this might be a bit out of line, but I simply have to ask: how are you?" She can't help it. This is Howard's son. She wants to know more about him.

Iron Man has posed:
There's a small cant of Tony's head at the question. That's not something he expected. His lips part only to close again. His lips move but no words come out. "I... run Stark Industries. Our last quarter was our highest profit margin ever. I have company when I want it," he rubs his chin. "I live here," he motions to the penthouse. "I'd say I'm crushing it, Agent." Tony Stark. Bravado extraordinaire.

Peggy Carter has posed:
There's a raised eyebrow at Tony's bravado response. Peggy can tell, not just because of her training, but the response if very Howard. She can't help it, her eyebrows lift, she smile tilts upward. "That sounds like quite interesting, but none of that has anything to do with how you actually are." There's a tilt of her head as she says that, persistent in her question.

Iron Man has posed:
"It has everything to do with how I am," Tony counters as he finally presses himself up to a stand. He trails towards her. "I'm winning. Against my rivals. Against the spaced invaders," he whistles as he points towards the sky. "So if you need something simpler, i"m doing just fine, Agent. Perfectly fine."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Winning agains your rivals is a chess board, it is a move." Peggy frowns at Tony, unsure if this is a defensive move or how he truly feels. She studies him as he stands and moves toward her. She stays where she his, chin tilting upward at him. "What of your friends? A love life?"

Iron Man has posed:
Tony smoothes his collar. His expression tenses ever-so-slightly--not enough that would register for the untrained eye, but spies can catch such nuance. "I have friends," he urges with a drop of his chin. "And why have one love life when you can have many?" his smile turns smug.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Does Peggy notice that expression tighten? It's entirely possible - likely even. However, she knows when to stop pushing to a certain extent. She has made her point, she has asked the questions she wished to ask. "I see," she says in a tone that says that she might understand more than he is saying. "I'm glad, then." With a bit of a smile, she adds, "Honestly, it's very nice to meet you."

Iron Man has posed:
"Well it's damned weird to meet you," Tony replies almost lazily. The booze is finally starting to do its work, easing that tension that so easily grabbed him. "But not awful." High praise. "We should have lunch. I have questions, but I'm way too -- well -- *something* to be able to think of them now." He shrugs. "Probably buzzed. I'm too buzzed for it now."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Ah yes, I can imagine," Peggy smirks. As she watches the lazy, restless energy of Tony in front of her, she nods. "Lunch then," she agrees. "I'm not sure if I can answer many questions for you, however. However, it would be good to meet with you."

Iron Man has posed:
"Good! It's a date then," Tony lifts a finger at that. "Not a date-date. I don't need those weird Oedipal issues." His eyebrows draw together some and he nods vaguely. "Come by for noon later this week. We'll have someone cook something. Or sushi. We can order sushi. It's raw fish. Delicious. But raw."

Peggy Carter has posed:
A date, Peggy raises her eyebrow again. "I have heard of sushi before," she reminds him. Just because she is from the past doesn't mean she hasn't heard of it. "It's delicious. That sounds like a plan. We'll see each other soon."