4156/Buy You a Beer

Buy You a Beer
Date of Scene:	17 November 2020
Location:	Upstate New York
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Peggy Carter, Frank Castle

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Peggy Carter has posed:
While Peggy didn't stop by the whole time he was directly in the building, she has a way of knowing things. In fact, the once-director tends to know most of what happens beneath that building's roof. But she's waiting somewhere else for him. Just off of Triskelion property, where she knows a camera doesn't have her in sight, she waits. This is the most likely way for him to exit the building and she's hoping he follows the pattern she expects.

She looks different than the last time they met. Her once long, luxuriously waving vintage styled hair is now in a gently curly bob barely to her ears, but their's also the edge of freshly healed burns along the left side of her face, so one can probably guess she didn't willingly loose that length from her hair. She's in a smart wool suit, the gray and navy plaid perfectly matched, and old fashioned t-strap heels. She really looks like she could have stepped out of one of her old black and white photos from when she was Director.

"...Buy you a beer?" Her British voice clips over to him casually, as she picks herself up from the poll she was leaning against.

Frank Castle has posed:
Stepping out of SHIELD with full Punisher regalia likely turned a few heads, even if Frank /was/ being escorted by an agent to the parking lots.

About halfway to the car, Peggy pipes up, and gets Frank's attention. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were asking me out on a date." The monotone way he says that obscures if he's joking or not.

"I can find my own way from here, son." Frank notes to his 'escort', before Frank turns to regard Peggy fully, the trenchcoat splaying just slightly as he does so. "Your colleagues don't like me." Frank notes, dryly.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The date comment gets a deeper smirk from her, as she steps around the opposite side of his car from where the agent was. Her voice is likely to be recognized by the other agent, but there's no reason to give him extra reason to report back that Agent Carter was waiting for Castle in the parking lot. She leans there, looking him up and down for a moment, smirk lingering, "As fun as it was to roll around with you, I think I'll keep it strictly for sparring and back up on other cases. But a beer is a beer. I'll buy?"

Unless he waves her away from the car, she reaches for the passenger side door handle and looks certainly ready to join him inside his vehicle. There's every hint that she'd rather talk off site, but isn't verbally expressing that in a SHIELD parking lot.

"My colleagues have been burned before. I suspect you don't much like them either. But you all get the job done so, frankly, that's all that matters in my eyes." Her voice isn't quite as deadpan as his, an edge of amusement to her dry British tone, but she's not overflowing with defense of her agency.

Frank Castle has posed:
He shrugs slightly. "I have half the global underworld after me at any given time. Getting drunk with you seems like a good way to get assassinated." Frank grunts as he starts to move towards the street. Then, he clicks the commlink on his head. "Autodrive, standby park."

As he finishes the sentence, a non-descript white van starts to head in the general direction of where Frank is going from far away.

"Let's go somewhere we can chat."

Peggy Carter has posed:
As he heads for the street, Peggy shifts to keep up along side of him. If she's uncomfortable in those high heels, she certainly doesn't show it. She walks smoothly, dark eyes flickering back towards the van that's following them for just a heartbeat, but no comment otherwise. She knows it's there, she rarely misses a detail, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

"Getting drunk isn't exactly my preference of professional bonding either, but a single pint rarely hurt anyone. I promise, I'll protect you from getting shot." That last bit is most certainly a tease, even if she's dead pan dry as ever. She nods towards a dive bar that's a few blocks down from the Triskelion, just a little side of the road thing most likely filled with bikers and a few shift workers at this time, but it's quiet and unremarkable enough for their purposes.

Frank Castle has posed:
"Nice try. If we're doing this, it'll be somewhere that's not practically next to SHIELD." Frank notes as the van starts to slow. His right hand then shoots out, palm down, right around the curb as he stops, then, he crosses his arms.

The van drives to park right around where Frank signalled... and Peggy can see a distinct lack of a person in the drivers seat in the front cabin. It's being driven by AI... or remote.

"I know someplace we can go." Frank offers as he opens the door with a palm read, "Passenger side." Frank notes.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A slight tilt of assent comes from her head in response to that. "Fair enough. Your place, then." No protest or worry about the van. She trusts him enough, after the initial mess, to at least get in the car with him.

The lack of driver does get a somewhat longer look and, once she's slipped up into the passenger side, she gives his vehicle a much longer look. Curious eyes try to piece apart just how the thing is being driven -- is it an AI or some sort of remote pilot? But she doesn't push about it. She just settles in for the ride, calm and collected as ever.

Frank Castle has posed:
Once inside the van, the 'non-descript' appearance is quickly shown to be a sham of epic proportions. The dashboard is a high-tech paradise of holograms, LCD screens, readouts, and materials of unknown design.

He presses a button under the wheel, and suddenly all the information that Peggy could glean from these readouts... disappears. "Suffice to say this van is not a typical vehicle." Frank offers vaguely.

Then, he begins to drive into New York. "What have you been doing? I wasn't expecting you after my interview."

Peggy Carter has posed:
The sudden disappearance of the readouts gains a bit of amusement across Peggy's features. Not offended, but also not surprised at all. She stops any of her obvious looking, having gotten a brief summary of information which is probably enough to answer her question of how it works remotely. Instead, she sinks almost comfortably back into the seat, eyes turning forward to watch where they are going.

"I've been doing some...off books work. Curious what ended up getting you into our hallowed halls, finally. I hope they weren't too... I shouldn't accuse them of sticks up their arses but that's generally the truth of it. But, I'm still as loyal to the SHIELD I helped build as I was when we started, so I don't stray too far."

Frank Castle has posed:
"There's a place for rules and regulations. I don't go after people in the system. I'm not a lunatic, I just clean up the trash that falls through the cracks in a system with due process where assholes can buy their way out of consequences." Frank glances to Peggy, "I also try to keep copycats to a minimum. I was a Scout Sniper, I know how to keep my shit tight in an operation. Most don't have that level of skill, so they do more harm than good."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I know you do. Half the reason I wanted to talk to you. But...I am curious what they brought you in for? No one's put the report on my desk yet and they probably won't, since I wasn't officially involved. Which of them is liasing with you? I... can tell you if they're worth the effort. Or... if they're a risk." There is something a bit wary behind Peggy's eyes, distrustful of some aspects of the building they left behind. Maybe it's her old age and paranoia, but they did meet with her hunting down a HYDRA cell completely independent of SHIELD, so this doesn't seem a new paranoia.