2013.06.03 - Nanu nanu, Booster Gold

"I wonder if it would've been rude to just land on the roof." Booster Gold wonders this aloud, as he comes in for a landing before the front lobby doors of Stark Tower. Although he draws a few glances from passers by, no one is particularly fazed or interested by his appearance. The tall man is not speaking to himself, however, he is addressing the small golden egg-shaped robot that accompanies him. "It's just weird to think about, like... the protocols in a superhuman society, all the unwritten rules. Just stuff we never covered!"
"I would say that as long as you are not smashing through someone's window, sir, you are doing well," opines Skeets, the robot.
"Is this a reference to what happened at Ms. Briggs' building? Because we already worked out that it'd get covered by my first paycheck, and anyway, we agreed not to mention it." Booster gives the floating robot a shove, then walks into the Stark Tower lobby.
The front reception desk, just the beginning example of all of the opulence that defines Stark Tower, has two people minding the comings and goings of every person that has business here. While one of them is checking in a deliveryperson, the other looks at Booster as he enters the building. Additionally, Skeets is probably immediately aware of the positively SOLID amount of surveillance focused on every last square centimeter of the lobby.
The little golden droid tips and turns a little in mid-air, giving the impression of looking around. Then, in sotto voce he tells Booster, "Sir, you should know that the security measures in this building are impressively tight, with thorough surveillance coverage."
"Awesome," says Booster, who perks up at this news. He picks an area at random and gives it a brilliant smile, along with a casual pointing gesture and a wink. The odds are with him that he'll have looked directly into at least one camera. He walks up to the unoccupied person, then, and says, "Hi! I'm Booster Gold. I'm here to have a word with Ms. Potts. If that's cool and all."
The receptionist simply looks up at Booster like he's by no means the first crackpot she's seen. Today. "Do you have an appointment, sir?" Honestly, Skeets is getting more attention, one of the many cameras clearly focusing on the little floating golden orb. 
Upstairs, Pepper is just finishing up a conference phone call when JARVIS speaks up. "Miss Potts, there is an unusual individual in the lobby. I thought you might want to know, as he is asking to speak with you and is accompanied by... what my sensors so far indicate is an ellipsoid with a self-contained propulsion source and the ability to communicate verbally."
Pepper stops in the middle of typing something on her comptuer, glances at the ceiling, then after a moment asks, "Did you just say there's someone in the lobby with a flying, talking EGG?"
"That is an adequate approximation, madam."
"No," Booster admits, to the receptionist, although he is still giving her one of his typical, sunny smiles. "To be honest, I wasn't really sure how to make one. The phones in this era are kind of baffling." He raises his right hand, and with the other, points to the gold ring he is wearing. "I'm affiliated with the Legion of Super-Heroes. But I'm here on ... well, not a personal matter." He rubs his chin, looking thoughtful, as he tries to think of the words he needs to explain his visit. "I basically wanted to talk to her about some stuff." He looks faintly surprised when Skeets bumps into his shoulder.
"< I think we are attracting undue attention, sir,>" says Skeets, speaking Interlac rather than 21st Century English.
"<There's no such thing. All attention is good attention>," Booster replies, in the same language. He pauses thoughtfully, then adds, "<Unless they're about to fire missiles at us or something.>" He looks around with interest now, just in case weaponry has materalized while he was focused on trying to convince the receptionist that he is not some random lunatic.
The receptionist nods slowly. "I ... see." And then her eyes go just a little wider when she sees Skeets and the pair have a conversation in a completely unfamiliar language. "Let me ask." And she picks up a phone. 
After speaking briefly with the receptionist, Pepper quickly gathers up her phone and tablet, settling them into her teal shoulder bag and leaving her office. She's told the front desk to have the visitor escorted to one of the 'quiet' conference rooms on the third floor, meaning one of the rooms designated for meetings with people deemed not to be trusted. As she rides the elevator down, she asks JARVIS to find out more about the egg thing. 
"Miss Potts, I am not certain that attempting to access the automaton would be entirely wise."
"Then don't risk it." No matter how smart and secure Tony says the AI is, she's still not entirely willing to risk JARVIS's safety by having him attempt to hack something that is flying without visible means to do so. She reaches the conference room first, because JARVIS is cool like that with the elevators, and settles at the table with her tablet in front of her and her bag resting on the floor leaning against her left leg. 
The receptionist finishes the call and two security guards approach, looking the usual 21st century version of intimidating with tasers on their belts. "Miss Potts has agreed to meet with you in conference room 3B. These gentlemen will show you the way."
Skeets can probably tell by now that there's way more than just audio and video surveillance in here, and that whatever is controlling the wireless communication signals unique to this building is remaining passive for the moment.
Apparently there will not be any missiles. Booster refocuses upon the receptionist, and gives her another big smile. "Cool! Thank you, ma'am. You've been awesome." He walks to the two security guards, lifting a gloved hand in greeting as he approaches them. "Hey, dudes. Don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble." Gesturing to the floating robot with his thumb, he says, "That's Skeets, he's with me. He's cool."
Skeets is unusually quiet, and rather than respond to the compliment his boss has given him, he just darts over and stays close while they are escorted to the conference room.
The guards lead Booster and Skeets to the mentioned conference room, where instead of approaching them and greeting the visitor with a handshake, she stays seated at the head of the oval table with her bag leaning against her leg. "Good afternoon, Mr. Gold. I was told you wanted to speak with me?"
The passive wireless communications as well as the excessively thorough surveillance continues here, and added to it is a more active wireless signal, or three more accurately. One focused on the tablet in front of Pepper, two others in the bag by her leg.
"Yes, ma'am. It's an honor to meet you." Booster approaches Pepper, where she is seated, extending his hand for a handshake. His smile remains bright and friendly. "It's just 'Booster Gold' though, Ms. Potts... that's my hero name. My real name is Michael Jon Carter." Apparently he has no secret identity at all. "This is Skeets," Booster gestures to his robot companion. "His... uh, real name is Skeets. Do you have a last name, Skeets?"
"No, sir. Although if one is required, you could use my model designation, which is BX9," offers the little hovering droid. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Potts."
Pepper ahs and stands then to shake Booster Gold's hand, though a bit notably she does so in a manner to keep her bag against her leg. "Good to meet you, Mr. Carter. Please, call me Pepper." She looks at the little hovering droid and reacts surprisingly calmly for a 21st century native. "Skeets, good to meet you as well." She then gestures for Booster Gold to take a seat as she sits down again herself. 
It's a given that JARVIS is recording everything that happens in this room, and moreover, he's researching Booster Gold and Skeets, and sending what he finds to Pepper's tablet. The wireless signals are busy, sending data to the tablet quickly, including Carter's registration status. However, for the moment, the Stark AI has yet to speak up.
"Thank you! You can call me Michael. Or Booster, since that's actually my nickname." Booster sits down, then. After a moment, he pulls out a chair beside him, and Skeets flies over to hover above it.
According to the data that can be pulled up, Booster is currently registered with the government under his 'hero name'. He has had a smattering of news coverage, usually in conjunction with another hero such as Dazzler or Superman; most of the time he is accompanied by Skeets. Several of his media-involved appearances have nothing to do with the news, however, as it seems his "day job" is working as a model, and he recently signed with LOOKER, Inc. Prior to about four months ago, he did not exist.
Leaning forward a bit so that his hands can rest on the table, Booster explains, "I'm trying to make stronger connections throughout the whole hero community. I uh... really don't have the kind of power and money behind me that some people do..." He gestures vaguely at the room. "I figured there are probably other ways to do it, though. Direct meetings, working with the folks who are actually in control. Uh, like you, Ms. Potts."
"Michael." Pepper smiles and glances at her tablet briefly while the young man explains his reasoning to request a meeting. She can't help but smile briefly. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but I don't have power and money behind me either. You probably want to speak with Mr. Stark. He's not here today, though, so if you like I can schedule for you to meet with him."
It's finally at this point that JARVIS speaks up. "Miss Potts, I am afraid that Sir's schedule for the next week has not been confirmed. I can at best offer a seventy percent estimate that he will be on the premises tomorrow during business hours."
Booster grins at Pepper. "I think you're probably pretty powerful. I was majoring in business when I..." He pauses and glances around, although he does not seem surprised to hear a bodiless voice speaking. Looking to Skeets, he quietly says in Interlac, "<Some of the readings I'm getting in here are nuts.." Reaching up, Booster pushes his goggles up and off, so that his cowl hangs behind his neck.
"<That's what I've been telling you>," Skeets murmurs in response. Then, louder and in English, the little droid says, "Forgive me for my curiosity, Ms. Potts... Pepper, if I may... is that your assistant, speaking?"
"Thank you, JARVIS." Pepper's eyebrows draw together slightly as the man and the little autonomous egg exchange words in a language that just doesn't sound right to her. Then Michael asks about her assistant and she nods. "Well, kind of. He's Mr. Stark's assistant."
"Mr. Carter, Skeets BX9, it is an honor to meet you both. May I inquire as to the language you are both employing? My algorithms have been unsuccessful in translating samples."
"Sorry, it's Interlac," Booster explains. "Hi, JARVIS, nice to meet you." The blond man sits back again, and after glancing around, he looks back to Pepper. "21st Century English is er, not my first language. I learned it so I could like, get along better in this time period. I'm... pretty sure Interlac exists in this era but I don't think it's been adopted by Terran culture yet. It's probably just an exo-planet thing." He and Skeets exchange a look, insofar as this is possible when one of the beings involved technically has no face. Booster then continues, "We're from the 25th century. I guess I should have mentioned that sooner."
Pepper ohs and nods at the explanation about the language. "That makes sense." Not really, but we'll let it go for now. "So, it looks like that's not all that much I can help with currently. However... JARVIS, you will make sure to let Mr. Stark know that Mr. Carter and Skeets BX9 wish to speak with him?"
"Already done, madam."
"Thank you." She smiles a bit apologetically to Booster and Skeets. "I'm afraid that that's the best I can do for now."
"It's totally awesome, Ms. Potts. I mean, Pepper." Booster Gold rises, offering a handshake to the woman once more. "I'm still getting used to how all of this is done in this era... the phone system is uh. Not what I'm used to. At all."
"Thank you for meeting with us. It was a pleasure meeting you both, Pepper, JARVIS." Skeets hovers a little higher, as his boss stands up. "And may I say, your internal network is most impressive. It's quite unlike anything I've encountered since our arrival to this era."
Booster beckons at the robot, and then he hovers into the air as well. Smiling brightly, he pulls his cowl back on and gets his goggles comfortably re-seated. "Thanks again! I knew that talking to you would be totally awesome." Gesturing to Pepper, he tells her with sincerity, "You rule." And then he lets the security personnel escort him back out.
Category:Log