2012-07-02 Explain and Simple

Marissa is finally given a clean bill of health by Dr. Thompkins, and Pepper bundles her into the car waiting for them outside the clinic -- with a pizza on the back seat. The drive to the Waldorf Astoria is mostly quiet, the only thing Pepper does besides claim the smallest slice of pizza for herself is plug her tablet into a charger cord and call Tony to update him on what happened. (Yeah, only.)
Whilst Marissa...wolfs down pizza with an appetite far larger than her relatively slight, teenaged form. As she munches, she stares out the window, saying nothing for now. Thinking. Processing. Letting everything flow over and around her.
Pepper Potts listens to the phone ring on her bluetooth earpiece, waiting for Tony to answer and forcing herself to NOT fidget. She does, though, take a bite of her pizza slice.
The sound of women giggling can be heard as Tony Stark ends up answering this call... thanks to J.A.R.V.I.S., it's almost as if the A.I. is trying to get Tony in trouble or something. But right now, though, he's in the middle of something or other with some hotties or other. "Hey, uh, Pepper? I'm a little busy... what's up?" More giggling. Oh lord.
Fortunately, Marissa is oblivious to that. She continues to stare out the window. The east coast is strange to her...the cities an odd contrast to the greenness that surrounds them. Nothing where she comes from is that green without *copious* amounts of water.
Damn J.A.R.V.I.S.! Pepper Potts hmphs around the bite of pizza, a wordless sound indicating 'hang on a second' as she hastily finishes swallowing. "Tony, hi. Sorry about that. I just wanted to let you know I had to leave the Expo early, and I'm on my way to the Waldorf Astoria. I'll tell you all the details later, all right?"
"That... sounds like Tony Meet Me At The Waldorf." "Tonnyyyy. Come back to bed." "Yeah. I wanna' get repulsor blasted." Tony sounds like he's moving around, so that's probably a good sign. And there's also the sound of pants zipping up. Maybe. "Is that what you want me to do?" Tony has to ask because he can't really read Pepper's voice at this moment. He usually can but there are hot fangirls messing up his brain.
Such a good job...nah. Marissa's not that innocent. Tony Stark. The one person she most wanted to meet at the expo and never did manage to corner. Would circumstances now give her that opportunity? The idea...actually scares her a little, in her current state of mind.
Pepper Potts sets the pizza aside and hastily wipes her hands on a napkin. "No, it's all right, Tony. Really. I just didn't want you to wonder if Expo HQ told you I'd left abruptly." She's probably not being sufficiently reassuring, but she's a bit distracted, realizing a smear of pizza grease got on her tablet's screen.
Marissa Sometimes wants to say that she wants to meet him. About all that comes out, around a mouthful of pizza, is 'Th Tony Srk?'. Presumably she means 'the Tony Stark'. Okay, Marissa. NO fangirling. No fangirling.
"I'm on my way, Pepper. Be there soon." And with that, there's a girlish squeal, in the background, before the phone hangs up. Apparently, he's going to go one more round with these girls before heading to the Hotel. So he'll probably be there after 'soon'.
Pepper Potts looks at Marissa and nods, then blinks as she realizes Tony said he'd be there. "No, wait, it's..." She sighs as the connection drops. "Yes, that was Tony Stark." She sounds almost apologetic about it.
"Is he as good as they say or does he just have a ton of really good people working for him?" She's animated, suddenly. Not quite fangirling. "I mean as an engineer, not a businessman." She flickers a far more genuine grin than any she's shown so far at Pepper.
The rest of the drive to the Waldorf Astoria was more animated, Pepper chatting amiably with Marissa, then leading the young woman into the hotel and to their room, concierge Michael trailing them almost the entire way like a beagle expecting someone to drop a morsel of food. Once they're safely behind closed doors, though, she sighs and kicks off her shoes by the door, NOW looking far more tired than she had just ten minutes ago. "If you want to go shower, I'll be out here checking emails."
Shower. Shower is good. Marissa vanishes into the bathroom...and stays in there for quite some time. Do you, honestly, blame her? Hot water *good*.
Tony Stark is in the building. He practically owns the Waldorf-Astoria so when he waltzes in, he's nodding and smiling to everyone that he knows, which is pretty much everyone. "Michael." is all that is said, which gets him a room key to wherever Pepper and this Marissa are. He's in the elevator next and then he's using his key to get himself into the room. And no. He has not taken off his cool shades yet. "Alright. Iron Man's on the case." Pause. "What's the case exactly?"
Pepper Potts has curled up in one of the big overstuffed chairs in the sitting area of the hotel room, and has apparently fallen asleep while Marissa was showering before Tony arrived. Her tablet is in her lap, her head pillowed on the arm of the chair. When Tony arrives a bit noisily, she wakes with a gasp and sits up stiffly. She's wearing a very casual and not-work-like cotton dress, and her shoes are over by the door. "Tony?"
The sound of showering ceases. Hearing the male voice, though, Marissa takes the time to pull on the dress Pepper gave her, rather than just wearing a towel.'
"You said you needed me. Here I am." Tony knows she did not ask for him to be here, but he's here anyway. Besides, he needed a reason to get away from those groupies. Not that he didn't enjoy their groupness, but sometimes he just wants to be around someone that doesn't want him. Pepper doesn't, right? "What's going on? And more importantly, why are we not in the penthouse suite?"
Pepper Potts blinks and has to rub her hands over her face to wake fully, Tony's questions far too fast for her sleep-muddled brain. "Uh... I didn't, Tony. I told you I'd be here, but not that you needed to stop by. It's," she looks toward the door concealing Marissa and the bathing facilities. "It's a long story."
At that point, Marissa emerges, wearing the dress and clean underwear, but barefoot. "Uh...hello, Mister Stark." Yeah. It's...some kid. Seeming more than a little nervous.
Stark is not exactly sure what's going on. He doesn't understand any of this. "Hi." Stark doesn't really know what to say to this girl because he probably shouldn't be in here. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're protecting you from some great evil or something. If that's it? Cool. If this is something sick and wrong? Also cool, but I'm going to need to see ID." When in doubt, make a joke. "Pepper. Explain."
Pepper Potts tries to explain completely, but tersely. "Marissa's father is Governor Sometimes from Arizona. There was an assassination attempt aimed at him this evening -- you should have a security alert about it. Marissa was hit instead and she ... healed. Completely. And considering her father's rather strong anti-mutant leanings, I wasn't surprised he turned his back on her. Disgusted, yes. Outraged, definitely. But not surprised. Anyway. I took her to a mutant-friendly clinic recommended by Miss Gordon, and then back here to get some rest." She then offers her tablet to Tony, its display showing one of the emancipation documents.
Tony watches Marissa head back into the bathroom and then takes the tablet from Pepper. Raising an eyebrow, he's on his way over to the bed and drops down on it, leaning back and getting nice and comfortable. He holds the tablet up and eyes it. "You want to take on a Governor?" Tony hasn't really decided his own position on these crazy mutants and stuff, but he's going to focus on what's the plan of attack in regards to Pepper. Since she's all that matters right now. "Cool. I'm in. What do you need me to do?" And all it takes is Pepper caring about something for Tony to want to put his all into it.
Pepper Potts watches Marissa depart, then follows Tony to sit on the bench at the foot of the bed. "I don't know yet, Tony. I don't even know if she's going to want to sue for emancipation. But I DO know that if she does, I will make damned sure she gets it." She throws her hands in the air. "I mean.. the man TURNED HIS BACK ON HER, Tony. Who in their right mind does something like that?"
"He's obviously not in his right mind. You think he's an evil super villain?" Tony is all about making sure that this goes according to Pepper's plan. Not that he really knows what the plan is. But he's just trying to make conversation. It is likely the best way to keep everything on the up and up and out in the open. He finally pulls down his shades and lets them rest on the bed next to him. "Because evil super villains I can handle."
Pepper Potts sighs, her shoulders slumping tiredly. "No, nothing like that. Just ... a narrow-minded jerk. I'm even kind of expecting him to thank us for taking his daughter off of his hands. He's THAT badly ignorant, you know?"
"Maybe he just needs to learn. Ignorance is bliss, they say, right? Sometimes, someone like that needs someone like you to show them what they're doing wrong." Tony may sound like he's defending this dude, but he's really just attempting to keep Pepper from flipping all the way out. "Look. You can have whatever you need to make sure you handle this. But just make sure you're handling it the right way. I'm all for pissing off government officials, but let's make sure we do it right."
Pepper Potts smiles a bit at Tony. As if she'd turn this into a crusade. "Thanks. I appreciate it." She looks like she's thinking of somethign else to say, but doesn't say anything else.
"Well. Great. Glad that's handled." Tony is back up and on his feet in the next moment, which allows him to pull his glasses back up and onto his face. "I'm going to go see what other rooms this card opens. You keep me posted." Tony almost hesitates, but then there's a huge smile on his face as he turns to head towards the door. "Okay! I'm leaving! You can come out and girlishly squeal now!"
Pepper Potts stands and follows TOny toward the door, chuckling depite herself when he calls out clearly for Marissa's benefit. "Good night, Tony."
Tony's out the door and only stops to peek his head back in. "Kiss for luck?"
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