Welcome to Gaia! ::

Stark Tower II

Main Floor.

Petre was waiting for Vince to arrive, people passed her who worked at the tower, all of them giving nods or acknowledging her still form in one way or another. She was wearing even less today, a pair of stained jeans that were hanging from her small body held on by a belt yanked as tight as it would go and left with the extra length sticking straight out the side of her hip like a bad hairdo. A t-shirt that was equally ill-fitting with red text across the chest that read, 'Jerk off on my Genius!'. She slumped, her short hair was greasy and messy and she looked half asleep.

She lifted an apathetic hand, dark circles smudged the underside of each eye. “So thrilled…” She said slowly. It was clear she wasn't, her mind was distracted, she had to stop what she'd been working on to come down here and meet Vince, just to take him up to the penthouse. Her father was still in the shower but she trusted he'd be out and dressed by the time they got upstairs and even in the event he wasn't she wasn't concerned. Make me do this crap, you're the one that wants to talk with him... she complained to herself. But here you are, doing what you're told, like always, like you always will... because that's just the way it goes. Tonylaw. Same as when you were freakin' two years old, Tonylaw, Tonylaw... she frowned.

“Come with me, Vince.” Pete said stiffly. The young woman turned and lead him into an elevator. This elevator went up, up, up and stopped but the doors didn’t open. The girl leaned into the buttons that were very normal until they split and slide back, an advanced Stark HUD screen popped up.

“Good morning Miss Stark, back so soon?” A computer intelligence asked as it scanned the girls eyes.

“Yea. Yea.”

“Are you sober?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The elevator doors opened into a short hallway, which she went down to the door which was the main doors of the penthouse. Various art decorated the walls, most of it was pop art picturing Iron Man. Pete hoped that Vince didn’t ask about the computer asking about being sober twice, another computer came up at the second door. It scanned her eyes and scanned her hands. “Identify guest.” The computer asked.

“Vince Shaw.” Pete said.

“Guest, place palm on the HUD screen for scanning.”

Pete moved a bit out of the way so Vince could do this.

“Hnn,” She made a distracted sound. “Don’t think of it that way, these are… the personal computers for my family. They’re only functional to myself and my father, really.” The door opened and Tony’s beautiful penthouse opened up before them. It was all very sparkly decorated, everything seemed to be a clean mixture of organic and geometric, modern, with some art on the walls. The use of glass and lighting meshed together in creative ways, everything was grandiose without needing to be that classic-impressive of great sparking chandeliers and tiger-skin rugs.

Tony was not there yet but Pete moved inside, she jerked a hand towards the open bar. The glass was black that made it up with white tile, rows of colored bottles and crystal glasses and light sources coming from hidden places created the look of a bar that should have been in a five star elite restaurant, instead of just sitting in someone’s penthouse. Stools were built into it, standing on legs of silver with studded black leather tops. An older looking robot was moving towards the bar, it had a very human shape with a white outer layer and places of yellow, its face had no nose but large bug-like eyes and a mouth that projected an image rather than having a physical shape. It walked towards Pete when it seemed to see her, steps slow but very steady. “A friend?” It inquired with a female voice, its upper body had two soft bumps as if to suggest breasts but, again, no detail and it wore an apron in a floral print that seemed frumpy for the way the space was decorated.

“Business.” Pete said simply.

“Oh…” The robot sounded disappointed. “Will you be seeing Veck today?”

“Not sure,” She paused. “I got’a lot to sort out here, Magtag.”

“Always,” Magtag, the robot seemed sad. “You should meet with him, he’s such a handsome young man and you two have-”

“Later, please?” Pete gestured to Vince. “I mean, really? You have to do this now?”

“Petre.” Tony came out. He was dressed, suit and tie, adjusting his cuffs. “You should ask Mr. Shaw if he’d like a drink.” The tone of the boss came through, the leader, the alpha dog and his child shrank down with a look of distaste but still went towards the bar and behind the counter. “Vince, good to see you found your way up here I hope your host wasn’t too unpleasant.”

“Har har.” Pete huffed.

Tony came to the bar and leaned into it on his elbows, reaching out he flicked his child’s chin affectionately but she seemed to be cold towards him today. “They hold grudges, you know,” He spoke of her whole sex without remorse and looked at his guest. “What do you drink? Don’t worry, Petre is rather good at mixing drinks.”

“A sad but true skill.” The short haired girl added under her breath.

Tony glanced around, as if not aware of what his own place looked like. “Yeah,” He agreed. He drew the letter from the inside of his jacket and put it down on the bar counter. “Dad was an honorary member and I know I’ve been indoctrinated into this… club through my father, it never seemed like much of anything.” He figured there was more going on here but he didn’t want to say it, he wanted Vince to talk.

Pete began to move away but Tony put an arm out, “Nah-uh, you better stay.”

“Oh come on, I don’t need to be here for thi-”

“Petre,” Tony scolded her like a child. “Sit down and shut up.” You just want to sneak away to go be with Veck anyway, he thought in fatherly distaste.

Tony leaned foreword, his smirk smooth and his voice even. “Look, Vince,” He reached out and picked up an empty crystal glass. “Do I look like I need charity help?” He paused. “Do you honestly think I need some club to help me manage my donations? I already pay people to do that. I already have nine different charity organizations set up through my various companies.”

“I am getting the impress this club has some illegal quality to it.” Pete watched the man. Both the Starks watched him. As if being alone with Pete had not been demanding enough now he had both of them watching him like two inquisitive hawks ready to start pulling out strings of muscle from his poor body.

“I’m not much for clubs, unless I own them.” Tony smirked. “Sell it to me.” He opened his palms.

“Oh this will be good.” Pete smirked at her father and began to pour him some Sprite and Cranberry juice.

Tony didn’t seem very surprised nor interested, if he was, whatever he was feeling didn’t show on his face and his body language remained nonchalant. He took the drink Petre made for him and had a sip, winking at his daughter. “Gorgeous, darlin’.” She began to make a second drink, when Vince made his comment both of them looked at him. Pete seemed to react without her father’s smoothness, she didn’t blush but looked away quickly. Tony, on the other hand, chuckled. “I believe that Mr. Shaw is complimenting you.”

“Hnn.” She didn’t say anything.

“Petre is all those things, without my charming.” Tony smirked at his child. She looked up, frowned, and finished making the drink, pushing it towards Vince without looking at him.

“We’re here to talk about this Hellfire club not my lack of charm.”

“I’d rather talk about that,” Tony almost finished the drink, non-alcoholic. “You see, Mr. Shaw, I’m a single father and a lot of other things. I’m very specific about what happens to my child. I’m not sure this Hellfire club is good for business or family.”

Pete rolled her eyes, “I’m days away from being twenty one and you-”

He held up his hand, “Stop.” She did.

Petre perked up and glanced at her father who seemed to be more interested in chatting with Vince about everything but the Hellfire club. “Lifestyle, hnn? Is their something or someone specifically that you’re making an allusion to, Mr. Shaw or is this just a compliment my daughter to make me like you more routine?”

“Papa…”

“This is where you need to pay attention, Petey, you see that he wants something,” Tony gestured to Vince. “But he can’t come right out and say it but he wants it enough to make himself a bit uncomfortable…” Tony stroked his facial hair and straightened up. “But he’s confident enough to compliment you with your father standing right here, so he has value in himself and believes in what he’s doing.”

“I think you’re over analyzing this,” The girl began to turn away. “Mr. Shaw just wants to use our superior company to give his a boost and try to get ahead, there’s nothing in this of value for us.”

“Perhaps,” Tony finished the second drink. “God that’s too sweet, Petey, brew some coffee would you or have one of the robots do it, I think C-Z8 needs to move around a little.”

“I disassembled C-Z8 last week.”

“Oh, then just make the coffee.” He said shortly.

Pete huffed out one side of her mouth and turned towards a coffee pot tucked behind some bottles but still having its place at the wet bar. Everything with this family seemed to happen at or around wet bars.

“People trust our name?” Pete looked at her father. He chuckled, rubbing his chin.

“News to me.”

“We’re like the universal ex-wife or ex-boyfriend.”

“This is true.” Tony looked at Vince. “Now you know, Vince, I’ve learned a lot over the years and one of the things I’ve learned is you never trust nor work with people who are power hungry. People with big ambition and big dreams, they don’t work well with others. I would know. I’m one of those people.”

“I still think we should do something with Mr. Shaw,” Pete said. Her words seemed to surprise Tony enough that his eyebrows moved up.

“Why you little turncoat.”

“Ha,” She narrowed her eyes at the other man. “You have a lot less interest in what he’s saying than I do, Papa. Revitalizing the X-Men, even in another form would be good for everyone and it would be good for the Avengers as well. Of course the X-Men have a long standing record of facing more hardships because they’re mutants, I still see value in what that team stood for and was able to do for various aspects of the community and the security of the country, and even the planet.”

“Agreed. But he doesn’t need our help to do that, Pete.” Tony pointed out. “Which brings us back to the same pile,” He touched her delicate chin and winked. “Correct?”

It was hard for Pete to go against her father and she obviously froze up standing there, “Yes, sir.” The words came out slowly, and Vince could see his chance being whisked away by Tony when, now, it seemed Pete was the one willing to cooperate on some level.