Druid in the Marvel Universe Chapter 29: Stark's Fans

Since Ginny showed up, Alvin had a new gig: teaching the kiddo to read and count.

Poor Ginny, totally fell for Alvin's sweet little trap.

"Hey, Ginny, this word here? It's 'daddy.'"

"Check it out, Ginny, this one says 'daughter.'"

"And these? These are numbers, 1, 2... 9."

Thank goodness, Ginny's a sharp and eager little learner. Alvin's chubby son from his past life? That kid was still using his fingers to add and subtract in first grade, sometimes even needing his dad's fingers.

For three days straight, Alvin was in a great mood, even putting off the whole deal with finding Jin and raising cash for the school bus.

That day, the Peace Hotel was running like usual at noon.

Frank's appointment letter came in; he was starting as the head of the disciplinary office at the community school today. JJ went to the school to be a bus driver and security guard. The only ones left in the shop were Alvin, Jessica, and little princess Ginny.

Alvin was grilling steaks, Jessica was serving and handling the cash, and little princess Ginny was supervising.

By 12:30, all 50 steaks were sold out. Alvin held Ginny, who was rocking a little server uniform, and was chatting with her about Jessica's mistakes.

"I bet Jessica's gonna mess up the change again today. That's what happens when you don't learn math right. My little Ginny can't be like that; you gotta take math seriously," Alvin whispered in Ginny's ear.

Ginny giggled and nodded happily, "Ginny's smart, won't mess up, Jessica's a dummy, Nick said so." The little girl was so honest! But maybe don't say it so loud! Didn't you see Jessica's death glare?

Just as Alvin, Ginny, and Jessica were laughing and joking, the restaurant door swung open. An annoying voice chimed in, "Wow, what a big dog, never seen one like this before. Happy, ask how much it costs? I wanna buy it to guard my house, it'll be more useful than you!"

Alvin looked towards the door and saw Chief George and a flashy middle-aged guy with curly hair walk in. Behind them was a capable-looking blonde woman in her thirties, who seemed troubled and a bit worn out. There was also a tall, burly white guy who looked like a bodyguard.

The flashy guy, wearing tinted sunglasses, brazenly checked out the restaurant. Finally, he followed Chief George to the bar and sat down.

Jessica ignored the flashy guy and served a glass of lemon water to Chief George and the blonde woman at the bar. The big bodyguard, wearing black sunglasses, stood behind the flashy guy with his arms crossed, clearly not needing any service.

The flashy guy wasn't ticked off by Jessica's brush-off; instead, he stroked his mustache thoughtfully and said, "Am I losing my touch? This girl actually treats me like this!"

Chief George was clearly annoyed by the flashy guy and said to Alvin, "Buddy, this is Miss Pepper Potts, a witness to the vampire incident. She's the assistant to Mr. Tony Stark here. Mr. Stark is very concerned about Miss Potts and insisted on coming along."

Of course, Alvin recognized Tony Stark, the Iron Man from the Marvel movies! He wondered what he was in this world, especially since vampires had shown up. Alvin was a bit skeptical if this was still the world from the movies he had seen in his past life.

Alvin smiled and said, "Looks like Mr. Stark is really worried about his pretty assistant." Honestly, Alvin liked Stark's character in his past life, but seeing him in person made Alvin wanna punch him in the nose and set the dogs on him.

Mr. Stark's eyes were glued to Jessica, and he said, "The Stark Group invites you to work in the chairman's office as an assistant's assistant, with an annual salary of $500,000."

Not only was he ogling my waitress, but he was also trying to steal her away. This was beyond annoying.

Alvin's face turned cold as he looked at Pepper and said with a smirk, "Hey there, beautiful, I'm Alvin. Does your boss usually use assistant positions and $500,000 salaries to pick up girls, or does he usually pick up assistants with $500,000 salaries?"

Pepper, looking a bit aloof, didn't answer Alvin's cheeky question and said impatiently, "Chief George asked me to come to answer your questions. Please don't waste my time."

Stark clearly caught Alvin's sarcasm and, with an irritating tone, said, "Pepper, just chill. There's no such thing as vampires in this world; you're just too tired."

Stark turned to Alvin and said, "You should tell this, um, exorcist what you imagined. Maybe we can see an interesting magic show! Just to relax."

Chief George desperately covered his face, feeling that bringing Stark along was a huge mistake. He had a bad feeling things were about to go south.

Alvin chuckled and, looking at the embarrassed Chief George, said, "How has this guy survived with such a foul mouth?"

"Because I'm a billionaire, a genius inventor, and the chairman of Stark Industries," Stark said, glancing at his watch and then at Jessica. "We don't have much time, miss. Have you made up your mind?"

Jessica didn't really want to pay attention to Stark; she couldn't bring herself to like this guy who seemed eager to tattoo "I'm rich" on his face.

But seeing Alvin's unhappy expression, her mood inexplicably improved, "This guy still cares about me!"

With a mischievous thought, Jessica pursed her lips, smiled shyly, and said, "Mr. Stark, thank you for your invitation." She then extended her hand to shake Stark's.

Stark, feeling triumphant, glanced at Alvin and reached out to shake Jessica's hand. Just as he was about to say something witty, he realized that the girl's hand was like a vise, gripping his right hand tighter and tighter.

Sensing something was wrong, Stark tried to maintain his smile while desperately trying to free his hand from Jessica's grip.

If you didn't look at Stark's expression, he now looked like a pervert taking advantage of a girl, refusing to let go of her hand.

Apparently, his bodyguard and Miss Pepper thought so too, and Chief George didn't want to look at him at all.

Alvin watched with amusement as Stark, too proud to admit defeat, tried to endure the pain, shaking his right hand desperately to escape Jessica's grip. Until he couldn't bear it anymore and shouted, "Happy!"

His bodyguard finally reacted, seeing his boss sweating in pain. Just as he was about to grab Jessica's shoulder, he felt his pant leg being lifted, and then his body was suspended in the air, testing the hardness of Alvin's restaurant floor with his face.

The teeth-grinding "crack" sound indicated that Happy's face had failed miserably.

The culprits, Sol and Dom, sat on the floor, each holding one of Happy's pant legs in their mouths.

No matter how Happy struggled on the ground, without his feet touching the ground for leverage, he looked more like a wriggling fat worm.

Seeing his bodyguard taken down by two dogs, Stark wisely raised his left hand and said painfully, "OK OK, I give up, I apologize for my rudeness!"

Alvin signaled Jessica to release Stark and said with a smile, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark. I used to be a fan of yours."