2013.08.17 - Peter returns for internship

Pepper Potts is in her office as per usual, getting some reports, meeting scheduling and similar busy work out of the way while waiting for two people to arrive. One should be here any moment, as the front desk already alerted her to his arrival, the other might be a bit tardy. But it's what she's come to expect from anyone with the last name Stark.

From behind Pepper's door there's a knock and, according to the cameras that line the common areas of the building, the young man looks a lot like an upcoming college student. Peter Parker has a mess of brown hair and is wearing what would pass as business casual. He's wearing a black henley, long sleeved, and a pair of olive green pants. Over his shoulder is a blue backpack. He looks nervous.

"Come in," Pepper calls while standing up from her desk. She steps around to approach the young man at the door. "Mr. Parker, hello again. How was your school year?"

"Hi, Miss Potts," Peter says as he enters a bit awkwardly. "It was fine. It was nice, I mean. But, I'm looking forward to the summer and to college in the fall. How are you? I mean, how have you been?"

Pepper Potts smiles. "I've been fine, busy as usual." She gestures for Peter to come in and have a seat. "We just have a few quick forms to fill out and then we can go on over to R&D so you can see what, if anything, has changed since last summer."

Peter nods and takes the seat at Pepper's beckoning. "Sounds good," he says and looks to fill out the forms. He takes a pen out from his backpack and begins scrawling.

Pepper Potts printed out paper copies of the documents for this reason, and gives Peter time to finish filling the forms out quickly before sliding his new badge across the desk to him then stowing her phone and tablet in her generously-sized teal and bronze shoulder bag. Locking her computer with a quick tap at the virtual keyboard that's just lights under the surface of her desk's glass top, she stands and shoulders her bag the moment the last paper is filled out and signed. "Ready? I know Nakamura actually stopped complaining for a full ten minutes once she learned you'd be back this summer."

"Really?" Peter asks, with an almost sheepish sort of smile. It's good to feel wanted, of course. He finishes the forms and hands them back to Pepper before slinging his backpack up upon his shoulder once more. "Have things changed a lot since I was here last?" Peter follows up quickly, as if he realizes the redundancy of the question, "I mean other than R&D, which you're about to show me."

Pepper Potts leads the way to R&D, a no-doubt familiar path for the young man, and explains while she goes. "Well, of course the projects will have changed and we have some new faces, but for the most part it's the same as always. I did want to make sure to introduce you to one new face in particular, though, so you wouldn't be blindsided later." She lets Peter test out his new badge to let them through to the R&D area, then leads him to the one lab that doesn't have multiple scientists and assistants all working together.

One might wonder what makes this lab and this scientist so special that he's got his own enclosed area, away from the rest of the hustle and bustle of R&D. Howard Stark is bent over a computer, typing in long lines of code. Beside him, an all-too-real looking hand is suspended and twitches faintly. It's rather uncanny, actually. He doesn't notice an approach, whether JARVIS is politely telling him or not.

Peter scans his badge and the door opens as expected. He looks inquisitive as they turn the corner to see the new scientist and nods to Pepper in agreement as they approach this new scientist. As the pair approach, Peter looks at the scientist quietly and gives a short wave.

Pepper Potts recognizes that 'deep in code-land' posture so uses her badge to open the doors to Howard's lab and leads Peter inside. "Howard? Do you have a moment to step away? I'd like to introduce someone to you."

Howard Stark looks up from his work. He takes a second to engage his mind out of code-land and into people-land. "Ah, Pepper. Sure, sure." He doesn't look much older than Peter, really. But that could just be a babyface. His hair is combed neatly and in a somewhat old-fashioned manner.

"Hello," Peter says a bit awkwardly as he holds hand out to the scientist. "My name is Peter Parker sir. I was an intern here last summer as well. It's nice to meet you."

Pepper Potts smiles and lets the young man start the introductions. "Peter, this is Howard Stark. As you can probably guess by the hand over there, one of his specialties is robotics. Howard, Peter's specialty is bio-chemistry, but from what I saw of his work last summer, he can pick up just about anything faster than anyone short of... well, your family."

"Pepper, you've got to stop telling people my specialty is robotics. That's not true. I've got a dozen specialties. Robotics just happens to be the project I'm working on right now." Howard actually sounds a bit put-out by that. He shakes Peter's hand rather distractedly. "Well, I hope you realize that Pepper talking you up like that means you're going to be put to the test."

Peter's worried eyes dart between Howard and Pepper. Eventually he smiles and lets out a breathy, "What does that mean?"

Pepper's eyebrows twitch in the tiniest hint of her annoyance, but she smooths her expression over quickly enough. "Would you rather I tell people, 'well, he kind of claims to be good at everything'? Anyway, if you don't manage to antagonize Mr. Parker too much, I do think you'd both benefit from working together, at least for the first few weeks of this summer." She then addresses her next words to Peter. "I do know that Nakamura was hoping to monopolize you for some keratin polymer plastics she's been testing, but I thought you might want to get away from the petri dishes for a little while first."

"I'm working on self-configuring polymer if robotics doesn't tickle your fancy," says Howard to Peter. He's faintly distracted as he pecks in another string of code and initializes it. The robotic hand starts to move in a very realistic manner, each finger touching the thumb in turn. "I don't claim things, Pepper. Would you call Tony simply a weapons designer? No, you wouldn't. So please don't call me just a roboticist."

Peter's eyes are going back and forth again between Pepper and Howard and it's clear he feels a bit awkward, "Honestly, I'll do whatever I'm asked, Ma'am; Sir. Wherever I'm needed, I'll be happy to help." His eyes dart once more. "Honest."

Pepper Potts takes a steady breath, mostly to keep herself from snapping back at Howard while Peter's standing there looking like he's been a third wheel WAY too many times. "I won't keep you, Mr. Parker. If you'd like to go say hi to everyone else and settle in, you're of course welcome to do so." Chance to flee, offered.

"Just doing what you're told is not the mark of a scientist, Mister Parker. You should apply yourself to what you're passionate about. If you only want to do as you're told, you'll find plenty of work, but," and Howard looks up with a faint trace of a smile, "You won't get much out of it. And you won't change the world."

"R-right." Peter looks over to where Pepper is motioning and nods, "You know, I'm going to go say hello to Nakamura. It was really nice meeting you, sir." His eyes trail to Pepper, "And thanks for having me back, Miss Potts. It's nice to see you again."

Pepper Potts smiles and nods to Peter. "Glad you could come back, Mr. Parker."

Howard Stark nods once to Peter and watches the young man go. When he's gone, he turns to Pepper. "Did I scare him off?" That's posed as an honest question.

Pepper says, "Possibly."