2013.08.22 - Little Franks Pizzeria

Little Frank's Pizzeria
It's Franks!
It's pizza. It's a little joint. There are young people here. It's just before dinner time! Huzzah!
The door has one of those bells that goes off when someone walks in and the person, Peter Parker, is carrying his bike and wearing an unfashionable helmet.
"Late again?"
Peter nods sadly.
"Gotta take it out of your check, Peter. I'm sorry."
Pepper Potts was NOT following Peter. Honest. It just so happens that she was heading this way to pick up dinner and she recognized the young intern on his bicycle. Thus, she enters the shop in time to hear that he's losing pay for being late. Frowning slightly to herself, she reaches into her teal shoulder bag for her tablet. If Peter got here late because he was stuck in an R&D lab, she WILL speak up.
And then something purple comes in. But Frank has no need to call the exterminator. It's the friendly neighborhood purple people greeter-- Vorpal. He comes through the door with a grin, taking his wallet out of his hero costume. 
"Hey, what's good on the menu today, I'm starv-- Oh, I'm sorry ma'am." Obviously, the redhead was ahead of him. "I didn't mean to cut ahead... please." mollified, he steps back.
"Peter," Little Frank says with some reticence, "You know that if they don't have their pizza in 20 minutes, it's free. The last delivery was a five minute walk, at best? Where do you spend your time?"
"I'm sorry, sir," Peter says, but gives no excuse. The mugger thing would be tough to explain, after all. Peter eyes the clock. By his math, it didn't show up until about twice the 20 minute mark.
Out of the corner of his eye, Peter sees Pepper and then bites his lip. Did he have to clear other employment with Stark? He hadn't thought of that, and certainly hadn't done it. And then Vorpal enters, hopefully taking her attention towards him.
Pepper's tablet says he wasn't late because of his intern job, and then a voice behind her gets her attention. She turns to look at Keith, and her only reaction at his appearance is a quick bob of her eyebrows, and then she's smiling politely. "Oh, it's all right. You can go ahead. I'm actually waiting for a friend to meet me here." And then her multitasking-capable brain rewinds the conversation Peter's having with Little Frank. He's doing deliveries on a BICYCLE? No, wait, that makes sense. It's the condition of the bike that her Tony-trained brain is studying. What a piece of junk. No WONDER he was late. 
"Hello, Mr. Parker," she calls out to the young man. Maybe that'll get Little Frank to back off.
"Oh... alright then... " Vorpal goes up to the counter and frowns, looking at the selection "...hmm... something not too heavy, I've got patrol after this..." the cat moves to the side as he is still deciding.
Peter's face wrinkles as he gets outed by Miss Potts. He supposes that if there is a policy against holding other employment, he'll find out soon enough. "Hello, Miss Potts. Nice, to uh...see you."
Slowly he pulls off his bike helmet and then looks again at Keith. Play it cool Pete. Remember you know him as Spidey, not as Peter.
Pepper Potts simply smiles and nods to Peter then turns the smile on Little Frank with a momentarily raised eyebrow. Going to make something of this, Frankie? She's standing a short ways inside the pizza parlor with tablet in hand and smiling at the place's proprietor and the delivery boy. Anyone who knows her well enough should fear that smile.
The cat feels the tension in the air. He looks over his shoulder. Redheads. One should always worry about redheads. He should know, he used to be one. "... I'll have a grinder and a water, thanks..." he realized a pizza would probably be too heavy. He had to traipse through rooftops again, after all. He pays hastily and then turns to make his way to a booth and--- bumps into Peter "Gah! Sorry, didn't see you!"
Peter chuckles and was already moving out of the way, almost as if he knew he was about to be bumped. "It's no problem, it's---" He's cut off by Little Frank. "Parker, your order is ready. You gonna make it this time?" Apparently the owner has moved on to the next round, satiated with taking the money for the first pizza out of Parker's paycheck.
Now, Clint is usually a punctual kind of guy. Most of the time. If he's late, he at least has a good reason for it. Or he can BS a decent one. Which isn't necessary tonight, thankfully, because when he walks in, it's pretty obvious why he's late. He's still hurriedly trying to shove a quiver (less full of arrows than usual) back into his bag and he looks generally disheveled. Not bleeding this time around, though there's a cut in shirt that obviously came pretty close. He makes eye contact with Pepper once he's pushed his sunglasses up, smiles apologetically and shuffles over to her. "Hey. Uh. Sorry, there was a thing. Y'know. Stuff." Generic hand motions here. Pepper gets it, hopefully.
Pepper Potts was about to step up to place an order when Clint finally arrives. The quiver and his generally disheveled state is noticed and yes, she gets it. Doesn't mean she doesn't still worry. "You're okay, though?" she asks him quietly. The silent question is there: stopped a mugging in progress? Or something else? Of course, Clint is welcome to ignore it if he chooses.
And that's when Vorpal stops. A man wearing a uniform with an accent color that matched...well.. his fur. Was that a quiver?
Two little Vorpals appear on his shoulder, wearing a red variant and a white variant of his uniform, and they seem to be whispering into his ears.
"Well, you know that's GOT to be..."
"You really shouldn't stare, it's rude"
"But he looks like he just..."
"It's RUDE"
"Oh, go drown yourself."
"After you!" 
The two figures vanish, Vorpal seeming oblivious to them having ever been there. To him, that was an inner monologue and he had no idea that somehow that was broadcast out for all to see. Still standing by Peter, he can't help but... look.
Peter's eyebrows raise up in surprise as Vorpal's friends appear. K, this is going from bad to worse. His boss is here, plus there's a cat (no pun intended) who is of magical origin who might have abilities he doesn't know about and there's all that stuff about secret identities and aunt May and and and and, "Sure, I'll take it!" Peter says as he grabs the box of pizza and makes a hasty disappearance. "Bye Miss Potts! Bye Vorpal hero guy from the TV!"
"Sorry, I got a call I really couldn't let go to voicemail." Really, Clint's sorry. But there are a lot of people out there that he owes favors to, and unfortunately, sometimes they call them in. Luckily it was local, otherwise he would've had to cancel outright. He clears his throat and looks up at the menu overhead, for a second, then back at Pepper. "Really, really sorry. Have you ordered-?" This is the point where weird stuff starts to happen, and Clint gives an owlish blink in Vorpal's direction. Ooookaaaaay.
Pepper Potts nods to Clint. Phone calls that can't be refused she understands only too well. Though hers are usually Tony wanting something trivial-seeming. "It's okay. Really." She smiles at the archer. "I haven't even lo..." she blinks and can't help but stare at Vorpal and the two little teeny figures that appear on the felinoid's shoulders momentarily. That has got to be ... inconvenient. "Um, I mean, no. I haven't ordered yet."
Vorpal frowns, catching the looks directed at him... and he looks down at his suit. No... everything was zipped, he had no pizza stains... or blood stains (who knew that mugger had such a frail nose?) "...I'm sorry... do I have something on me?"
Clint opens his mouth to reply, but tact wins over- or, at least, having Pepper at his side wins over him saying something. So he doesn't. Instead he just shakes his head, says, "Nope, you're good," because Clint is totally not a racist, okay, mutants are cool, he's worked with crazy super-powered people, it's all fine. He does his best to keep his attention on imminent foodage, instead. "Arrow's gonna want at least a couple slices for himself... so, the usual?"
"No no, you're fine." Darn, she can't even toss out a random quote like 'you've got red on you'. She offers the purple catman a smile then looks at the menu when Clint mentions that Arrow's gonna want pizza too. She is honestly worried for that dog's health, that much pizza CAN'T be good for him. Though, considering the life the poor dog must have had before Clint adopted him... "Sure. The usual sounds fine. Plus a small salad."
A little embarrassed, and not knowing why, the cat nods and backtracks, swinging himself into the nearest booth. Well, that was strange... eventually he shrugs and puts it down to his appearance. Yeah, that's got to be it... delayed reaction, maybe. Totally.
Clint finally steps up to the counter and puts in their order. One extra large pizza, half all the meats, half spinach, feta and sundried tomatoes, easy on the sauce. Plus a small salad. And a cannoli. No. Two cannoli. Yeah, that'll do. "Do you want to head back to my place to eat? I, uh, could use a change of clothes."
It's really hard to fit body armor in the washing machine.
Pepper Potts smiles and nods to Clint. "Sure." It IS just a small walk away after all. "If you want to go on ahead, I'll meet you there." It's her turn to pay for dinner anyway. She stows her tablet again finally and pays for the pizza, then steps over to sit within easy conversational distance of Vorpal.
Clint does so, after making some protestations about not being allowed to pay (but Pepper is very quick with that credit card) and kissing her on the cheek. But seriously, he's all gross from fighting. So he goes.
Vorpal looks at Pepper, a little shy. The woman seemed to be quite influential, and there was something familiar... but he couldn't place--
Yes, he could.
"Excuse me... you seem very familiar... have I.. did I see you at... a wedding?"
Pepper Potts frowns faintly, then ohs! and smiles. "Yes, a wedding. I was at Thor and Sif's wedding on Asgard, wearing a ridiculous amount of bronze taffeta." Or whatever that Asgardian fabric was that behaved like taffeta. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've officially met. I'm Pepper Potts." She offers her hand to shake, none of this dainty hand held palm-down business.
Pepper Potts. Pepper Potts... the first thing that comes to mind is 'that's a great name.' But the name still sounds terribly familiar "Keith, Keith O'Neil... Vorpal, whatever. Your name sounds very... familiar."
With a small and possibly self-conscious smile, Pepper offers only a shrug. "Well, I do work for Stark Industries. You might have heard my name in connection with that."
"Oh, wow...." the cat raises his eyebrows "That's why you were at the wedding... I wondered. See, I noticed your hair.." he smiles apologetically "... I used to be a ginger, too. Before I..." he fishes for the word. "Before I became a grape!" Ok, that wasn't TOO bad. It was bad, just not THAT bad.
Pepper Potts chuckles softly. "I was thinking more delphinium, myself. It's a pleasure to meet you, Keith." She glances at her wrist watch, knowing that the unusual pizza order may take a little git longer than usual, and not really in that much of a hurry.
"Delphinium that's not bad at all..." the cat chuckles. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Gosh.. a high-powered exec and all that. I don't really move in that world myself. Though for some reason there's this one guy... Justin Hammer, who seems to think I'm worth talking to. Don't ask me why, though," the cat shrugs, "He's the reason I got invited to Thor's wedding. I'm always a little out of my element and keep finding myself meeting people. I think it's the chaos magic."
Pepper Potts raises her eyebrows at Justin Hammer's name but doesn't dare disparage the man in front of someone who considers him a friend. That's just petty. If she's honest with herself, she thinks it'll do the man good to have some true and honest friends despite his personality flaws. "Chaos magic?" That sounds interesting. "How does that work?"
"I... don't know, actually. It's what created me after I died and apparently what gives me my powers. I've no clue how it works... except that when someone who used similar magic on me, I sort of freaked out a little bit. Magically speaking. But if you asked me to do an actual 'spell' or whatever outside of creating something or doing an illusion or whatever... not gonna happen. But the way I figured, it makes my life 'interesting'... how about you, what's your superpower over at Stark?" he winks, obviously not meaning actual superpowers, but he was trying to be charming.
Pepper Potts laughs softly. Superpower. That's one way to put it. "Would it be impertinent of me to say that I wrangle Tony for a living?" She offers a smile.
The cat chuckles "I hadn't thought of that... he must be pretty hard on the company, what with the public identity and all... I can't hide my identity and I find that every C-grade tom, dick and harry in a pair of tights wants to tackle me to see if they'll actually get better superheroes to fight. I can't imagine what it must be like being one of the very top." He sips his water. "... so, how hard is it?"
Pepper says, "Honestly? It's easier now than before he had the Iron Man suit. Back then he didn't have nearly enough to keep himself entertained."
"Oh, I can imagine. And now he's got a lot more--- I've passed by the building, of course, never been in there. It looks beautiful, all that glass and chrome... like a little castle in the sky." He grins, leaning his chin on his hand. "I have a thing for things like that. I've only seen them from the outside, though--- but you know, I know someone who used to intern with you!" He says, looking cheerful, and then the cheerfulness turns a little sad "...Booster Gold. He was my friend."
Pepper Potts ohs and nods, also a bit sad. "That was a shock, I have to admit. Do you happen to know how Skeets is taking it?"
Vorpal shakes his head "No... nobody in the Legion will talk to me, I had to sneak into the damned place to even get to talk to ANYONE. I talked to... um.. Brainiac V, I snuck into his laboratory of all places. Can you -believe-..." he says with visible outrage "...that he didn't know Booster was gone? His own -teammate-, what is wrong with those people?" He rubs the bridge of his nose. 
"And I'm not talking the day of the event, I'm talking days after. I haven't seen Skeets... it sucks not to have connections. I had to go and sign some sort of pact with an occultist, of all things, to try and get some answers." he looks at Pepper, and suddenly restrains himself. "I'm sorry... I don't mean to rant. Booster was my friend... he was one of the few friends I had." he smiles a little. "... he saw I had no training at all. He gave me advice, he thought about ways I could use my powers, he even trained with me at the gym in the legion HQ. People say he was a bit of a ham... I don't care if he was. He was a good guy."
Pepper Potts nods. "He really was a kind man, once he stopped trying to ooze smarm everywhere." She sighs faintly, really loathing the thought of having to remove him from the computer system at SI. "Well, I don't have any contacts at that Legion HQ or I'd start making a few calls myself."
"You probably wouldn't get very far. They're a bizarre group. That Brainiac certainly was... I'd hit up Superman, since they at least were working together. .. I haven't really approached him because, hello, who the hell am I?" The cat shrugs and thanks the waitress when his grinder arrives. "I was on a job with him on New'lans, but it was mostly because of my magical nature. I wasn't very useful there, my magical mentor was better."
Pepper Potts ahs and nods, and does actually have a way to get in contact with Superman. "I'll try that route, then. Thanks." She glances over and sees that they're boxing up Clint and her pizza now. "I'll leave you to your dinner. Again, it was good to meet you, Keith."
"Miss Potts?" The cat says, looking up at her, "One thing..."
Pepper Potts looks at Keith as she shoulders her bag. "Yes?"
"If you ever need anything... I mean, you're probably up to your ears in A-list names---" he flicks a purple card at Pepper and it lands on.. a little glowing purple cardholder that materializes it, catching it in the air. "... but you never know. If hell ever freezes over and you need the help of a C-list vigilante, I'll come when called unless I'm dead."
Pepper Potts smiles, reaching to take the purple card, then swapping it out with a card of her own from inside her bag. "And if there's anything at all I can do for you as well, don't hesitate to call."
Yeah... he was going to call Pepper Potts. The woman who was in charge of coordinating Tony Stark's business and life...
He didn't think so. Not because he didn't think her offer was genuine... he liked her. But he considered himself too insignificant, too... unimportant to ever consider that situation in anything except the most dire of emergencies. "Of course, Miss Potts, I will. Thank you, it was great meeting you."
"Thank you as well." Pepper steps over to take the pizza and the irrationally tiny accompanying side salad. "Oh, and if Peter gets back from his delivery before you leave, would you give him this for me?" She pulls a $20 from her bag, likely more than was docked from his pay, and offers it to Keith. "Just don't tell him it was from me. He'll likely refuse it. Maybe you can, I don't know, reverse pickpocket him?"
"Peter? who's Pe--- oh, you mean the delivery boy? Sure thing, Miss Potts. I'll tell him he dropped it from his wallet. He has no reason to not believe me." The cat grins.
Pepper Potts grins back at Keith. "I like the way you think. Have a good evening." And with that, she's out the door and walking briskly away.
Category:Log