Summary:Mechanical Scarabs attack The Bowery and there can be only one - Blue Beetle Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The Bowery is, to be perfectly honest, a scar on the city. The neighborhood hadn't been especially great before the attack that had created the disaster zone and with most of the district in ruins now it's really not great now. Crime ridden. Absolutely filthy. Poor as hell.
This place needs all the help it can get.
What it definitely does not need are enormous golden beetles buzzing around. Scarabs to be precise, each one of them the size of a small car. They're swarming around the bowery. Well, if a few dozen can be called a swarm. One of them just zipped by the Blue Beetle and nearly hit it. They're being drawn to something on the ground and they're ripping apart a rundown ruin of an apartment to try to get at it.
Trouble is… there seem to be people in there.
Ted spies the movement of the scarabs down below. Leaning forward to peer out the bulging, yellow 'eye' of the Bug, he gives a low whistle. "Feedin' time, ol' buddy!" he announces to… well, there is no one in the vehicle with him. He pulls back on the control stick, nosing up the Bug before bringing it into a tight loop. This allows him to dive down toward the scarabs tearing at the apartment. He waits until he gets close enough for a 'safe' shot. And then he lets loose with the Bugs' lasers.
Sif had heard that a section of this city had suffered an attack recently, and with nothing pressing to do opted to go down to the Bowery village and assist however she could. This time, she brought her buckler and sword and as many blades as she could easily carry. You know, just in case.
When the great domed beetles started attacking, she initially hastened to get all of the Midgardians she'd been working alongside to safety, but now she's returned to deal with the beasts. Buckler on her arm and sword in hand, she sprints toward the rubble the beetles are focused on to dispatch them before they make the crumbling edifice collapse further.
Sif arrives back at the scene just in time for a Blue Beetle (one that is less insectoid thankfully) to swoop in and fire and… SPLAT.
Beetle bits go everywhere including on to a man who just arrived on scene. One that Sif has seen before.
"Yuck." He says as he wipes… what is this stuff? Wait. Sand? This is slightly wet sand. And it's still gross but… interesting.
The attack though does not go unnoticed. Several beetles fly up toward Ted. What they might do with him is not entirely clear. Ram him at the very least and even if that didn't destroy or damage his vehicle it might cause some collateral damage which would be quite dangerous. Then again these are not normal creatures so who kno-
The nearest scarab spits a stream of sand at the Blue Beetle. It's focused and fast. Like a sand blaster on steroids.
Sif finds she has much more earthy problems. As she approaches the beetles rear up, insectoid mouths that had been chewing through concrete now turned on her. There's four or five of them now all charging at her from slightly different angles.
Where'd that sorcerer agent go? She probably can't see him at the moment.
Keiko doesn't have access to the 'usual' channels to find out about trouble in the city. Truth be told, she'd rather avoid trouble of any sort and just go about fixing more mundane problems. That, sadly, doesn't seem to be the case for the small, dark skinned woman who was working on a job on the outskirts of the Bowery.
Right now, she's standing not far from the swarming mass of scarabs and frowning at them. "Glydril is probably overkill and Bella isn't going to be of much help here." She mutters to herself.
She could just move on, right? Yes. She could. But there are people inside.
With a slow exhale of breath, the tattooed woman takes a slim rod from her backpack and shakes it out to a full staff, starting at a slow jog towards the mess.
Ted Kord puts the anti-gravity technology in the Bug to good use. The vehicle, having attracted the attention of several scarabs, moves unlike any traditional craft, zipping upward on an orthogonal axis to its flightpath. Then Ted is whirling it around, trying to avoid the worst of the attacks while bringing the lasers to bear once more, as best he can.
Sif is undaunted by the multiple beasts turning on her, she's dealt with Bilgesnipes and Jotnar before. Swiping at the closest beetle to her, she feints a hit at its mandibles then promptly reverses the swing to lop off its legs. They can't exactly cause problems if they can't skitter anywhere.
If any other domed beast gets too close, she bashes it back with her buckler.
Sif gets similar results as Ted does. Every time she strikes a killing blow these things explode in wet sand. There's getting to be quite a pile of it in the street. When Keiko arrives she sees Koa. He's doing something with a manhole cover and points to her with a wordless shout at a pair of people who have gotten to the top of that building. It's looking dangerously rickety and there's still enough sand beetles around that it's dangerous for them to get out on their own.
The dragon might not be overkill here.
Speaking of overkill, Ted has managed to blast his attackers down to two but these two are on his tail now their sand blasts are coming awfully close. At the same time, one of the beetles leaps and… tries to just belly flop on Sif. Sword or no, that thing landing on her MIGHT be something of a problem.
Then again she IS a daughter of Asgard…
Keiko twirls that staff as she runs, knocking the bits of beetles that are thrown at her out of the way. She frowns at Koa and follows his gesture.
Not … the Dragon. She's something else. Rolling her right sleeve up, the dark skinned woman touches the inked image of a Harpy Eagle and murmurs something, even as she moves in Koas direction. A few seconds later a /glowing version of that tattoo hovers beside her, screeching softly at the scene. A Harpy Eagle, easily twice the size of a regular one.
"Up there, Onyxia…" she points to the people on the roof. The eagle screeches again as it takes wing, heading to the roof and beside the people. It's … big enough to ride but will they?
"Need some help, Agent?" She asks as she watches Sif and that … vehicle. "Now I've seen everything, I think …"
Ted glances toward his controls, a screen giving him a rear view of the two scarabs on his tail. "But I don't *need* a sanding!" he protests in a whine, stomping on the anti-grav and pulling on the controls. The thing about dogfights is advantage goes to the one who can bank a sharper turn. And there's no telling how many Gs the Bug would pull if it wasn't for the anti-grav. Still, he's betting on its maneuverability… something something tangential velocity… to end up behind the scarabs. At least that's the plan.
Slashing and bashing. That sums up Sif at the moment. Well, until one of the domed beasts tries to crush her from above. For a second, it looks like the thing succeeded, but then Sif shoves it up and off of herself with a shout and enough force to upend a full cement truck. She scrambles back to her feet and attacks the remaining beetles around her all that much more viciously.
"Begone, you foul sand beasts!" She swings her sword at one to shear its head from the rest of its carapace.
The beetle rolls over onto it's back when Sif shoves it and it's legs wiggle almost humorously. Ted manages to get himself behind the sand blasting sand creatures. It's almost too easy. Well, it is too easy. He's a skilled pilot and these things are operating on instinct, somehow. Or… programming. BAD programming.
The arrival of that glowing hawk causes gasps not that anyone hears them but the two stuck on the roof are only too happy to take the way out. a good thing too because as they depart that section of roof crubmles beneath them.
"Help me with this cover." Koa grunts. Once he and Keiko get it off he reaches out toward that pile of sand. Yellow motes of light flow into him and sigiles light up in the air over his arm. Then he clenches his fist and pushes it skyward.
A guyser of water comes up from the mains and Koa directs it to shove away the sand and help Sif blast her remaining attackers. One of them sneaks up from behind and tries to lunge past Keiko to get at him but the Agent trusts the staff wielding woman to keep him safe.
The water also pools kind of unnaturally around the building, forming a shallow moat that the beasts seem unwilling to cross or fly over. It's only a foot deep. And it's not real clear what's keeping it there. Beyond perhaps… the man who can direct a jet stream of water from the mains with his hand.
It's all over now but for the cleanup. Just a last few bugs to squash.
Ted whips around behind the remaining sand beetles and blasts them into puffs of sand with a couple more well-placed laser shots. The Bug then draws to a smooth halt and rotates, hovering in place, to zip back toward the beleaguered building. One last strafing run to take care of the scarabs that were left on the skyward side of things and then he brings the Bug to a hover alongside the crumbling building. A hatch at the bottom of the bug slides open and the ship gives birth to…
The Blue Beetle! A man who basically dresses like his ride. Or builds a ride to match his outfit. Regardless, it is a heroic, swashbuckling entrance for Ted, swinging down on a line, with a hero-landing to boot. He's just dressed like an idiot while he does it.
Sif looks over when water starts attacking the domed beasts around her and spots Sorcerer Turner there. She grins for a brief moment, and then she dispatches the last few beetles around her, jumping to stand on the upended beast before stabbing straight down into the scarab's exposed underbelly and causing the thing to burst into a pile of sand like a popped balloon.
Keiko isn't really built to lift things, she's slight and she's slim, but she is strong. Bending to help Koa lift the lid, she's soon back with the staff in her hands, twirling it and watching as the beetles try for the Agent. The fact that he's moving water around, has her eyebrows rising a little. That's something … she'll talk to him about later.
The beetle that lunges is made short work of, the staff thwacking it hard enough to crack its carapace, her foot kicking it away.
The eagle lands the same time as the bus, screeching again at the tattooed woman who helps the passengers off. "Good Onyxia…." she croons a little, watching as Ted approaches. "We … have a guest, it seems. That was well fought … Sir? And you, Sif …"
"Oh my God it's blue Insect Errol Flynn…" Koa says as he lets his control of the water mostly die. He's still keeping the moat in place, shallow though it is.
"I wonder what had them all riled up?" He mutters. "Well done both of you. And thanks. If this building had gone down with people in it that would have been… well… beyond bad."
As he's talking something buzzes out. It's a scarab, but normal sized. And clearly mechanical as it flies around first Blue Beetle's head and then Keiko's and then Sif's.
Ted Kord raises his fists toward the sky and proclaims, "There can be only one!" As no beetle quickening arrives, however, he lowers his hands and offers a wide, goofy grin. "Thanks," he offers to Keiko and Koa, stepping forward. "You guys too, hey? That was a blast… a… sand… blast." Behind his yellow goggles, his eyes shift left and right, but then the scarab emerges. "Oh for pete's sakes…" he mutters, ducking away and moving to draw his gun.
With the last of the giant domed beasts defeated, Sif looks at the others to see if any of them are injured. "Sorcerers. We meet on the field of battle again." Sheathing her sword, she offers Keiko and Koa a small bow with her right fist held against her chest.
The blue-clad man gets a more … wary look, though not too much of one as he'd made a good showing today. He's just rather reminiscent of another Aesir warrior she knows. When the small scarab flits around his head, then Keiko's and hers, she frowns and swings her buckler at it to knock it out of the air. If she manages that, she'll promptly stomp it.
"Who?" Keiko asks, clearly not recognising the name that Koa mentions "One what?" That's in answer to Teds proclamation. Has this woman being living under a rock?
With a gesture and a murmured phrase the eagle is dismissed to a puff of smoke that seems to retract into the ink on her arm. The ink that is very well rendered, so much so the creatures depicted look incredibly lifelike.
As the scarab files about her head, she eyes it and calls out quickly. "Don't destroy it. It might hold information on who did this…"
At Keiko's call, it's too late for Sif to stop her buckler swing, but she can at least pull the blow so it isn't enough to smash a wall. And then she tries to catch the bug instaed of stomping it.
"Eroll Fl- I'll tell you later." Koa sighs. He looks over at the other two and returns the bow that Sif gave him. "Lady Sif. Good to see you and good of you to come. I suspect it was the scarabs that drew yo-"
Sif's swing does catch the bug. It's… a remarkable little thing. Very modern. A flying miniature beetle. It could almost be a toy. Except one looks under the shell, between the body and the wings. There are some ODD inscirptions there, mostly in what appear to be egyption but one stands out. Because it's runic. And it says… Hodr…
About the time that Blue Beetle is bringing up his weapon he'll feel something crawling up his leg. Another beetle. Just as sleek and modern. Just as mechanical. It buzzes its wings, looking up at him and then keeps crawling up him.
Hey… on the side that's exposed to Ted. That looks like a manufacturer's logo. Also… this thing is pretty high tech. He can tell that even looking down at his leg.
"Two mechanical beetles. That's odd." Koa mutters to Keiko. "I was kind of expecting a relic or something like the last few times…"
Wait. This has happened before?
Ted stands there with his gun drawn and cautions Sif. "Don't crush it! Come on, we can bring it to the Bug and…" He feels something on his leg. "Eeek! A bug!" he proclaims, before he aims the gun down at the critter and fires, point blank, in light mode. He figures the blast of light will scramble the critter's circuits. Hopefully.
"Same egyptian motif, right?" Keiko says to Koa. "As the attack on the Asgardian Embassy. That was a scarab as well."
"These aren't relics?" She really can't tell but she looks at Ted in confusion "Why would a bug be able to help? Is it mystical?" Very literal the tattooed woman seems to be. "Don't shoot yourself!!!"
Having caught the tiny flying creature, Sif frowns at Ted then takes it over to Koa and Keiko. Because, really, once they declare it mechanical, there's very little she can contribute. Though…
"That rune there. It says 'Hodr'. Why would this metal creature have Hodr's name inscribed on it? And why are these here?"
The zap does make the mechanical beetle twitch and fall to the floor and flick it's legs and then curl them up. It doesn't destroy it though. So… mission accomplished. Koa does give the blue clad man a look though. Eek, bug?
"That was scarabs as well but these are… well they look new. Modern. It, wait what? It has who's name?"
Koa of course doesn't know that he's met the blind god. He also doesn't know because he isn't looking that there's a mark on the underside that Ted can now see that says 'Rahm-tek Industries'. Ted might know them. They're a competitor. Not a major one but a well heeled one.
And that's when something starts stinging on the back of Keiko's neck. Another beetle has landed on her. And bit her.
Ted holsters his pistol and bends to gingerly collect the beetle he felled. He looks toward Keiko after her words of warning and answers, with some self-satisfaction, "Don't worry, I don't do lethal force. It's just a light-beam." He glances from one to another and as yet another arrives, he says, "I think we oughta get out of here. I can fill you guys in on these things in the Bug." He nods up toward his still-hovering craft. "Plus, we can have margaritas!"
"Hodr? The God of Cold and Darkness?" Keiko blinks and looks at Sif. "Why would his rune be on such a creature?" She frowns at Blue Beetle though "What use is a weapon if it is not lethal? You don't leave your enemies to try for you again."
She winces at the sting on the back of her neck, slapping her hand hard against it. Thwack "Ow… Agent Turner, can … you?" Turning to give the agent a view of the back of her neck and the metal marvel she's trapped there.
"That is … the Bug?" The tattooed womans confusion isn't any less as she looks at the vehicle, wrinkling her nose at the thought of margaritas.
"I do not know why, Sorceress. But there it is." Yet another reason to try and track the warward Aesir down again. He might know more about these strange domed beasts. When Keiko gets stung again, Sif moves to step toward her, but she asked Koa for assistance, so she relents.
Ted's offer of 'the Bug' makes no sense to her whatsoever, but to be fair, most things on Midgard make no sense to her. So, she's going to defer to the sorcerers on this one. They've seemed like decent mortals thus far.
Koa pulls the scarab bot off of Keiko and peers at it. Looking under the shell he sees Hod's name and frowns. "It's like a prayer to him too. Well, it's like a prayer to Set, really. But they've modified it. 'Oh Mighty Hod, strike down the light and bring the night's fall.' Odd substitution really."
Odd for Koa. Maybe… chilling for Sif.
"I wonder who made these?" He peers at the little thing's 'fangs'. "And why it bit you Keiko. Wait a minute…" There's a resivior and he glances back at Keiko to see something blinking just under her skin.
"It didn't bite you. It injected you with a chip."
Well that should be easily rectifiable but why would it do that?
"The Beetle. Oh. Your vehicle you mean? If you can tell us more that'd be welcome." Koa makes a face. "But I'm going to have to file some paperwork…" Which means he's going to have to get back in his truck and drive back to the Triskelion. The life of an agent. Five percent Incident. Ninty Five Percent reports…
Ted lifts a hand to indicate the hovering vehicle. "*That* is the Bug!" he acknowledges, pride dripping from every word. "And the best way I know to defeat an enemy is to make it a friend. Can't do that with a body. Unless you're, like, super creepy." He side-nods toward his vehicle, confident that the rest will follow because, honestly, who wouldn't want to be in the Bug? He says over his shoulder, "If margaritas aren't your thing, we can have frapuccinos. Or whatever! And, if that don't get ya, I have a lab on board and I can tell you everything you need to know about these doo-hickeys in probably five minutes. But, really, the bar is a much better reason to come." To Koa, he adds, "Come *on*, I'll give you stuff to make so much better a report! Have your SOs eating out of the palm of your hand!" He waves for the rest to follow. To the Bug!
"It did what?" Keiko was already frowning about the 'prayer' now her frown deepens. "I don't suppose you mean a potato chip?" She really has no idea what Koa just said and why she should be worried than she is.
"I know people that can do that with bodies. And the best enemy is a dead one." The small dark woman says. Her accent is strange - a mix of different ones, like she's moved around a bit.
Still rubbing the back of her neck, she looks to Sif to see if the prayer meant anything to her and follows Koa and Ted on the 'Bug', not understanding most of what is being said."
Sif stares at Koa when he translates the entirety of the transcription. "That is very disturbing, Sorcerer. I must return to the Embassy." She knows that Hod won't be there, but hopefully she can consulte with some scholars there or perhaps even on Asgard to see what they might know about these strange domed beasts, and the honestly unnerving inscription on that one little metal creature.
"My apologies, Lord Beetle. I will have to decline your invitation." And with that, she turns and strides away briskly. The more she encounters, the more concerning this whole thing involving Hodr is.
Koa chuckles. The man seems keen and he relents. "Alright. Let's go up to the beetle then. Come on Keiko. I'll dig that chip out of you. No it's not a potato chip. And yes digging it out will hurt."
And hey, finding out about Blue Eroll Flynn can't be bad right?
"Oh, I'm Koa by the way. Agent Koa Turner. WAND. Well, SHIELD, if you haven't heard of WAND."
That'll make for an interesting conversation in the beetle.
Keiko does not miss Sifs reaction and she might follow up on that later. She can find the dark haired Asgardian, of that she's certain.
"I am used to pain, Agent Turner. That doesn't worry me. I want to know what that bug put in me though." She's silent as Koa does his introduction, adding simply "Keiko Kurita and I'm not his sidekick." And yes, she says that with a straight face.
Inside the Bug has her blinking though. This is not she expected. "And you said you are the only one?" No, that's not what Ted said. Not really.
Ted Kord turns and looks at Sif going. He offers a shrug to the other two. Koa gets a smile and a wave. "Good to meet you, Agent. I'm Blue Beetle. Andway, more science and untrained medicine and booze for the rest of us! Not necessarily in that order!" he declares. A short while later, they are within the spacious, luxurious confines of the Bug. True to his word, Ted offers his guests their choice from a truly ridiculous amount of drinks to have in a vehicle. He urges them to take a tour which, of course, ends up in the medical bay. He motions toward all the fine medical instruments Koa might want to operate on Keiko. "Probably better than digging away with a pocket knife or whatever," he notes. "So… SHIELD, huh? I've thought about putting my name in over there. Never heard of WAND though." He watches Koa promptingly.
"We're the division of SHIELD that deals with the paranormal. Like sand scarabs flying around with curses made out to a norse god written under their wings. Or the wings of little techy things rather." Koa smiles as he reclines. Hey! It's comfy in here.
He takes a swab and wipes down the back of Keiko's neck. "This is gonna hurt but it shouldn't hurt too much." He tells the tatted up woman.
"So what is it you do, Mister Beetle? Beyond fly around blasting eldritch beetles summoned from the sands of the desert?" Or, well, maybe sands of the beech. Hard to say.
"Keiko here I've run into a few times. She's not my sidekick but she's as weird as I am."
Keiko just looks lost with all the equipment in the Bug. She folds her arms, trying to make herself even smaller than she is. The equipment makes her very uncomfortable. Not withstanding how nice the interior.
When Koa starts to work on her neck, she's still, her face stoic. She doesn't wince or make a sound. Judging by the amount of ink she's sporting, she's sort of use to this. For her age, there's an awful lot really.
"I'm not weird. I keep telling you Agent Turner, I just want to keep my head down."
The woman does look to Ted though to see how he answers. He's … interesting.
Ted Kord folds his arms across his chest, still holding a broken-down beetle, and he watches Koa work. He winces sympathetically when it comes to the extraction. Even if Keiko seems tougher than he would be about it. "Oh, paranormal, cool," he answers before sighing slightly. "I had a friend who knew all about this archeology stuff with runes and all that. Don't have to tell me it's important. So, um, thanks for your service." He takes a breath, "Oh. Right, but I'm on the Avengers. So… ain't nobody here but us heroes, right? Even if we want to keep heads down… comes natural to some folks." He offers Keiko a reassuring smile. Not that she can probably see, while Koa digs around at the back of her neck.
"Avengers, eh? Quite the exclusive club. Earth's mightiest heroes and all that." Koa has never personally seen one in action. Ted does not disappoint.
"Ah you knew an arcanist? My specialty was Archeology myself before I had a run in with all this weirdness. Long story really but… recently…"
The chip isn't very deep in and Koa does not have to cut much to expose it. He does have to dig a little to get the blade under it and pop it out. After that it'll be another antiseptic wipedown and a bandaid.
"There we go. All unchipped. Recently there's been some problems with things seemingly related to the norse and egyptian gods. And since the attack on their embassy - a small one but an attack all the same - we've had weird things like this popping up and posing a menace to the public. And they all seem to be anchored to things like that beetle you've got over there."
Short pause. "Though this is the first time I've seen one so modern. Usually it's old museum worthy stuff." He pauses again. "How do you feel Keiko? And yes. You're weird. Your ink summons spirit animals. This makes you weird. Also you barely know how to use your phone and I haven't figured out how you can possibly have done that yet."
Keiko has heard the name, of course - Avengers, but she's not really seen them in action. There's almost a sad look about her as Ted smiles at her - she can see, barely, she's got her eyes upturned. "Are you done digging around in my neck, Agent Turner?" When he lets her go, she rolls her neck and stretches a bit.
There's a lot of ink on her arms.
"So what is that thing and what does it do?" Surely Ted has something here that can analyse it.
"I didn't grow up with technology like the people here do. It's not uncommon." Yes, yes it is - unless you live in some backwater country.
Ted flushes slightly in response to the praise. "Well," he answers, "Er, you know. I mean, we're all in the same boat." And with that, he walks forward and extends his hand, palm-up. "Can I grab that chip off you?" In response to Keiko's question, he bobs his head. "I'll give you both the run-down. I mean… I'll try to not nerd out on the technical end *too* much. But already, I can tell you, they were made by Rahm-tek Industries. The tech stuff is my jam." He side-nods toward the lab, signalling they should move over there. Assuming everyone has the drinks they want (or, if they are just being polite, the drinks they don't want). Soon enough, he plunks himself down at a workbench and gets out some diagnostic tools for both the chip and the delivery system. His still has that part intact, he realizes, so he can compare a chip before injection with one after injection! He attacks the issue with a speed and surity that shows… this nerd has some nerd-game. Even if he is humming Shake It Off while he works.
Koa hands over the chip. Takes a drin - nothing too strong he will have to show up at work later today - and slides on over to watch the tech expert (techspert?) work.
"It's fairly uncommon here, Keiko but you've already mentioned you're not from around these parts." Where exactly she IS from he's not sure. "The question I have is why did it bite JUST you?"
With the reference to 'Night's fall' he can guess but that still means it must have recognized her somehow.
The chip and the scarab are DEFINITELY of the same make.
This isn't off the rack tech either. It's custom designed and produced by someone who is good in this business and right away Ted can tell a few things: First, it has a small quantum computer in it. Not quite state of the art but pretty damn bleeding edge all the same. Second, little arcane symbols like the ones on the inside of its shell are encoded into the very circuitry itself and while it's not quite clear what they do a lot of the device's power goes to them. And on the topic of power, the power supply looks like a less skilled knockoff of something his company might make. Nothing that screams 'industrial espionage' so much as 'bought and reverse engineered one of his projects by someone who was smart but didn't entirely know what they were looking at.'
Finally and perhaps most importantly, he can tell that the mandibles on this thing are designed for fine inscription work into, like, stone. You could use a trio of these things to cut into just about anything. There's little diamond tipped manipulators and a small drill on this thing. Could be used for burglary. Or… etching. Really complex etching. Over a large surface if you had the time.
Now that her neck is seen to, Keiko takes a drink. She's not sure what it is she's been given, when she tastes it her face screws up just a little. "This is … different …"
She might have missed the reference to night's fall as she was being bitten at the time.
"Blue Beetle here had one crawling over him, perhaps he shot it before it had time to bite him." the tattooed woman says simply, following Ted to where he leads next in the Bug.
"And I'm not from around here. You're right" She's rather closed mouthed about where she might hail from.
"Can you find anything, Blue Beetle?"
Ted reports as he checks the thing out. He gives a low whistle. "This thing is a blend of tech and the arcane, I can tell you that much. The circuit layout, the inscriptions, everything. A lot of the function of the machine goes into these symbols. I can sketch 'em out for you, if you want… might be a lead, but I can't read this mumbo jumbo." He pauses, looking through a microscope. "Let's see… It's got a really nice computer in it, especially miniaturized so much. Quantum computing. I mean… that's not cheap. The power unit… oh, criminey… ugh. Lazy." He shakes his head. "The computing's impressive, the power not so much. Seems like it's got designs copied, not that well, from some cutting edge stuff. These things might have some power vulnerability, actually. I could work on a broad-band thing to shut 'em down, probably. I mean… if I can keep one of these buggers. Heh. Buggers." He pauses, then notes, "The real crown in the jewel for these things are the mandibles. They're made for real detailed work. Cutting into rock, like. Design work, small-scale b-and-e, I don't really know exactly." He whirls around on his chair. "The chips are the same manufacturer. If you've got government pull, agent, I'd look hard at Rahm-tek Industries. If it's not them, some of their stuff is being used. I'll also see what I can find out about what those chips're for too," he promises.
"I can certainly look into them. Keep the you've got there, I'll investigate the one I grabbed off of Keiko here. If you CAN come up with something that can shut tech like that down from a distance or in an area that'd be handy." The report that it can cut into rock has him frowning…
"Why would you need… no. Couldn't be. I need to check that buiding out agian. I suspect I'm not going to like what I find somewhere in it…"
He trails off and looks at Keiko.
"Maybe it was going to bite him. That makes about as much sense as any of this at the moment. But it still begs the question who wants to track you. And why. Given that I saw you fighting someone who definitely had a personal interest in you, Keiko that seems like that might be high on the list of things to consider."
The most useful thing about the chip - which is equally expensive and high quality - is the frequency it's transmitting on. That might help them find whomever is doing the tracking but much more likely it will help them find whomever is being tracked. And THAT might tell them things.
"I don't know if this is the kind of thing the Avengers really do Blue Beetle but if it is I certainly wouldn't mind another set of eyes on this. Or even just someone talking to the Asgardians making sure they're not going to go all 'smash' on the city looking for answers."
Keiko listens, only processing part of what Ted is saying but there's a few things that capture her attention. "You can tell all that from such a small thing with all this? I'm not sure our diabolists would have worked that all out." That's a very strange for the woman to use.
"Why would you need to etch stone, Agent?" She asks, following his train of thought as he speaks. "I think you will find there are symbols etched on, or in, the building… I will come with you when you check this out."
"You think whoever is doing this, wants to know where I am? Until yesterday, no one knew I was here." She really wishes she could just pack her bags and run again, but with children going missing, she … can't.
"Your Bug is indeed wondrous, Sir."
Ted leaves the tactical discussion to the Agent and the tattooed woman. Finally, after looking over the chip he has, he turns on his workstation again. He offers a quick smile and nods once to Koa. "You've got it. If you can leave me with a card, I'll let you know what I can figure out about the power sources. I can also see if I can figure out people who've been tagged with these chips, or maybe where they are broadcasting to." He gives a quick smile. "And… I'll talk to Thor. See if he can preach patience to the Asgardians." He glances over toward Keiko at her praise and again flushes, waving away the oddly-phrased complements. "Well. You know. I just… yeah." Heroic comments at an end, he says, "Uh, since you seem to be rolled up into this too… I could, uh, keep you informed of things too. Like… what I find out." He scratches at the back of his hooded head.
"You might want to mention to Thor that someone has been praying to Hodr in Egyptian when you see him." Koa says leaning back and sipping his drink.
"That might mean something to him. I have no idea why anyone WOULD be doing that but there you have it." People are weird. Koa doesn't think that'll cause trouble.
"Otherwise I'd love to hear what you find out about this, if you find anything more. Would yo mind dropping Keiko and I off at the Triskelion? We have some things to discuss there."
Until they get there he's just going to enjoy the drink and the very nice ride.
And leave a card of course. Being contactable is definitely helpful in cases like this.
Keiko smiles and hands over a card. A business card. She's a handiman it seems. Maybe he'll be able to use that someday.
Hey. A girls got to eat.
"I'm not your sidekick, Agent but I'll accompany you to this … Triskellion. I do have work to do as well, don't forget." She's a little snarky at the SHIELD agent. But yes, she'll enjoy the ride and try to enjoy the drink.