Summary:Mari and Emma meet up with Darkdevil Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's getting late in the afternoon in the Disaster Zone, but not evening. Mari McCabe is with a tall blonde woman - Emma Frost and their appear to be looking at buildings. In reality, they aren't.
"I don't know how this works, Emma. But this is one of the areas Klaues men have been seen." She's talking about Emma's gift but being circumspect - she knows that Emma doesn't like to broadcast what she can do.
There's been rumours however and SHIELD have reports of criminal activities in the area - Reilly Tyne, aka Darkdevil, has likely heard about them and the reports indicate that this is a popular area for the gangs to appear.
Indeed, Miss Frost is very very careful about revealing her powers, there's not a lot of people really 'in the know' that she's a mutant, let alone a telepath. Emma's dressed in a white pantsuit and thigh length off-white woolen overcoat with wide lapels, worn cinched at the waist with white leather belt. Yes, white is definitely a thing for Emma.
"Mm…well, we should keep an eye out, these are dangerous men."
Mentally, she sends to the Vixen. «I can do a scan, but I will be rather focused on it and won't have a lot of attention to spare for anything else, keep an eye out for trouble?»
There's almost always criminal activity and a gang presence in the Disaster Zone. Sometimes, you just need to go looking for it. Darkdevil isn't lurking: that requires staying in one place. Instead, he's porting from building roof to building roof or the occasional wall, looking for movement or signs that someone was recently there. Instead, he finds Vixen and co.
Being late afternoon, it's unlikely to find much underhanded happening. Reilly's likely sighted a few of the gang members just loitering near subway entries and the like, but so far it's been hard to pin anything on them. At least he knows where they might be for later.
Some of them have had some interesting weapons though.
Mari notices the hellfire that comes with Darkdevil porting and turns to look in that direction. Emma probably gets a ping that someone is near. "We should. Did I tell you we stopped a shipment the other night?" Reilly should hear that from his vantage. "That … looks familiar …" she means the hellfire of course.
«I will, of course. There's someone near there. I think they're friendly.»
"Hello? Is that you, Darkdevil?"
Emma didn't notice the hellfire, but she DOES notice a the sudden appearance of a figure on a nearby rooftop. She is almost always scanning for ill-intent but also keeps an eye on the minds around her in general, hostile or not.
Icy-blue eyes look up, tracking to where Vixen indicates, replying mentally. «Darkdevil? That's not the most 'warm fuzzy' of names, but if you're acquainted, I will give him the benefit of the doubt.»
"Actually, no, you did not mention the shipment. How did things go?"
She does look openly when Vixen addresses that figure. She also makes note of the gangers with the more exotic ordinance…though she doesn't do more than get a 'fix' on them at the moment.
"Sightseeing tour?" Darkdevil asks, his tone sarcastic. Leaping off the building, he lands lightly on the ground near the two. "Who's your very out of place friend? Saks closed down a while ago but the one on Fifth Avenue is still open."
"Sort of." Mari smirks as Reilly descends to the ground. "Emma, this is Darkdevil, a … friend of mine." They're friends, right? Does Darkdevil have friends or just people he snarks at a little less? "Darkdevil, this is Emma. She's been buying some property on the outskirts of the Zone and helping with the rebuilding and support in here."
That's the official reason they're here and it's true.
"I daresay she'd be wounded that you think she'd shop at Saks, as well." The ex-model is grinning. "It's good to see you though, I was just about to tell Emma about the raid Black Panther and I did with SHIELD and the Avengers the other night. We stopped Klaue bringing in a shipment - or rather, intercepted it. His flunkies were none to pleased we did."
It's possible Reilly hasn't heard about this because very little is shared widely in SHIELD.
"Would you like to guess what was in the shipment?"
One brow quirks up at the sarcastic banter, Emma reserves judgement for the nonce as to whether to find it charming or vexsome. "Emma Frost." She says as she offers a hand to the rather demonic looking man Mari just indicated was a friend. Though…she can also sense the hint of uncertainty. "In a manner of speaking, we -are- seeing sites." She says in the wake of Vixen speaking of her property acquisitions and other activities.
A laugh, soft, but real when Mari comments about Saks. "Oh my, yes, not for some time."
A glance to Mari, and then Emma guesses. "I'm going to go with 'high tech weaponry'."
"Klaue? The one with the sonic weapons, right?" Darkdevil left the SHIELD complex a while ago once he found a place to live so isn't even in a minor pipeline any more. "I'd guess more weapons." He glances at the offered hand a moment before deciding to take it. INstead of a shake though, he bows over it slightly and intones 'Chahmed I'm sure." It's not at all difficult to tell if he's serious or not. He's not. "So filthy rich and looking to make a lot of money is rebuilding? That's a risky investment."
Mari coughs as Reilly makes his last remark and gives Emma a look of amusement. Money is part of it, sure, but there's more to it than that. She'll let Emma handle that one though.
"Yeah, the guy with the sonic weapons. Known to SHIELD as well as Wakanda. We can't work out why he's here and he's playing his cards close to his chest. I know he's after the Anansi Totems - like the one I wear but … "
She shakes her head at both answers. "That's what we were thinking. It was … flowers."
"Oh, enchante, m'sieur Darkdevil." And yes, Emma's just as obviously not being serious, her accent exaggerated a bit. She also seems a bit more inclined towards the amused side of things, than the other. "Actually, though of course money is an objective, the bulk of our efforts here have been humanitarian. Working on restoration of the infrastructure, feeding the homeless and poor, providing support in a variety of areas." A broader smile forms. "And we're in the midst of construction of a school campus right on the border between Zone and Mutant Town, it is a very exciting project."
Emma blinks a couple times at the news about the flowers. "Really." A curious look. "Were they weaponized? Part of a multi-stage poison? Hallucinogenic?"
Reilly grins at Emma's response. She got points for that. Mari's answer though gets his brows to rise. "Flowers? Rare? Poisonous? Why would a guy who specializes in exotic weapons smuggle flowers and then fight to keep them in a losing battle?" Cause normal thugs against Avengers lose. Even against SHIELD forces.
"Exactly." Mari responds to Emma and Reilly. At least their trading quips and not daggers, so that's good. "Our reaction was something similar. Black Panther though recognised them. Apparently they're a version of a species native to Wakanda."
Klaue seems to have a thing for Wakanda.
"We've sent them to SHIELD to be stored securely, Black Panther says they have unusual bioreactive properties - and can be made into a serum. Very, very dangerous."
Version?
Well…random brain meltings are really out of fashion, perhaps next season? So yeah, quips, much more preferable. Up to a point, of course, there's lines. Emma shakes her head. "He is Wakanda obsessed, this Klaue." Emma observes, and then looks interested in the fact that the flowers can be used in serum. "That's interesting, something akin to the Super Soldier formula used on Captain America and some others, or something different?"
Emma looks thoughtful then. "I wonder if the flowers weren't also some sort of decoy or distraction?"
"What kind of serum?" Darkdevil asks at the same time as Emma. "And what do you mean a version of a species native to Wakanda? Does that mean they didn't come from there? So where are these grown?" Really, when some high tech villain is interested in flowers, they've got to be important.
"All very good questions." Mari answers. "T'Challa and I have an appointment with SHIELD to look at the flowers tomorrow and confirm for certain. The Black Panther wasn't clear - just that the serum could be very dangerous."
Shaking her head, the Vixen continues "T'Challa has been very closed mouthed about it, I'm afraid. From what he *would* tell me, I know that a flower that looks almost exactly like the ones we stopped grow in Wakanda, and only in a certain region as well. They may certain … spiritual … connections though I'm not clear on what that is. It's hard to tell from a photo the exact differences, but T'Challa noted the shape wasn't quite right and the colour seemed slightly off." Flowers aren't usually that uniform, so maybe he's guessing?
"And we don't know, Reilly and we won't know till T'Challa is able to look at them directly." There's a sigh. "Maybe it was a distraction, Emma. If so, it's a good one. It's got T'Challa's attention and perhaps the Black Panthers - even more than just Klaue has."
"Are you patrolling down here regularly, now, Darkdevil?"
"I wonder if it a genetically altered version of the original plant…and if it has 'spiritual properties' now I'm wondering if it doesn't tie in with the totems somehow, they're also spiritual, aren't they?" Emma is definitely interested, and Reilly's chiming in with the same question as she asks proves his interest too.
She nods at her friend's sigh. "It might be worth checking to see if anything else went down about the same time, perhaps a more conventional arms deal? I'm not discounting the importance of the flowers, but it is pretty far afield from Klaue's usual MO, is it not?"
Reilly shrugs at the question. "Depends on your definition of 'regularly'." he answers. "I got bored and figured I'd see if I could find any heads that need breaking. It's a slow time of day for criminals. Too bright, they don't like to crawl out from under their rocks." His tone is distracted as he thinks about the flowers. "He could have a partner. Or maybe he wants to be Kaptain Klaue too. Jealous of all the other villains who don't need toys to beat up people. Power envy."
"Maybe you could talk to SHIELD about doing something more regularly, then? Keeping an eye on the tunnels and the feeder from Red Hook. There's a new guy in SHIELD as well, named … Dark Hawk." What's with the dark names, anyway? "Plenty of thugs to crack heads with."
"Not all the totems are spiritual, Emma. Mine is the spirit totem - and pairs well with power. There's a Fire, Earth, Water, Air and … Death as well. Each grant some control over those elements. Should all totems, bearers or not, be gathered in one place - they will combine to a power magnitudes greater then their sum. So he wants those and a flower that may provide bioreactive properties."
Mari looks at Darkdevil carefully "Physically enhancing himself, you mean? He might. It's a good theory and one of the few we have to go on as it is."
"Using magic and science to mutate himself…that's a scary possibility." Emma shakes her head and offers a faint smile to Reilly. "I don't do much patrolling." She comments drily, and then listens as Mari corrects her misconception about the amulets. "Ah, well, perhaps he intends to don all of the totems, and then use the bioreactive serum to push things into a new realm."
Okay, that's a very disturbing image, and scary possibility. "Or are the amulets one person items?"
"So like Captain Planet. 'By your totems combined!'" Reilly intones. "'I am Kaptain Klaue!' There are worse goals for someone who needs to balance a crippling inferiority complex with overwhelming power in order to feel good about himself. Easier to just go on Tindr and use a fake pic."
"One person? Oh, no. Mine was stolen when I was younger and used, so they can definitely be wielded by others. I was told is that the totems when together create a magnified power along with the fact that I probably didn't want that to occur."
"You've been watching too much TV, Darkdevil." Mari turns and watches as the sun starts to sink to the horizon. "We should be moving. You have skulls to crack, I believe and Emma and I have meetings."
"If you hear anything unusual, let me know?" That's to Darkdevil.
"Oh, I meant could they only be used one at a time, or could someone use them all as I suggested." Emma replies to Mari, and actually has to take a moment to try and picture Kaptain Klaue. It is nearly brain breaking, but it is also somewhat amusing, especially with Captain Planet as the suggested template.
When Mari mentions the meetings, she nods. "Actually, we do."
Emma inclines her rather regally to Reilly. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Darkdevil."
Darkdevil nods to Mari. "If I hear anything about it, you'll be the first one I call. I might run into someone who's willing to trade information to save themselves a concussion. Have fun with your meetings. And I hear there's a sale at Bloomingdale's, Emma." Giving the woman a grin, he's gone in a flash of Hellfire.