Summary:Breaktime at RESCUE - touring doctor Almer, escorted by Hank, encounters and meets the other half of the CEO team for rescue, Toni Ho now that he's met Veronica Kelsey prior. Add one mutant intern named Hisako and stir. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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After getting Posse sorted out, her SAHI system integrated and operational, Hank smiles to Martin. "Doctor Almer, I don't know about you, but I would love to get a bit to eat. Care to join me?" Assuming the other mutant is up for it, Hank will lead the way to the cafeteria, morphing his armor into mormal looking clothes - khaki pants, size twenty shoes, and a black 'wife beater' style t-shirt. The visor also changes shape, becoming a pair of old fashioned horned rim reading glasses.
Hank /does/ have an actual ID badge, however…not that the staff is unfamiliar with big blue.
"So…what do you think so far, Doctor?" Hank's walking along with massive arms clasped behind him.
"Please, call me Martin?" Sure you are kind of scary at first, but he isn't one for formality a lot of the time. The tech is also making him feel very much out of his depth, and these people act like it's no big thing. Martin is wearing a dress shirt and slacks. Kind of business casual, with a temporary ID hanging on his chest. Total visitor badge. "That I apparently don't know a thing about how the world really works." He admits wryly. "You all work with tech and means that I only see on bad TV shows." But he would love a bit of coffee, so goes with Hank.
In the cafeteria, a corner table has been acquired, under slight protest, by Toni Ho, who has been basically kicked out of her test lab for the moment while people clean up. So she's eating some lo mein, or poking at it at least as she distractedly works on her tablet quietly, a energy drink resting on the table in front of her.
"Ah, Hank!"
The greeting comes from a young Japanese woman, already sitting at one of the tables with a mostly-empty plate on her tray; all that's left from her sandwich is the pickle and some crumbs. The presence of a relatively unfamiliar individual doesn't stop Hisako from greeting her mentor.
(She might not have realized Toni was lurking over in the corner, or she might be over there herself in pursuit of familiar faces.)
Entering the Cafe, Doc Almer in tow, Hank grins to the red head. "Martin then, and I am Hank." A laugh as Hisako hails him by that. "See?" He takes a moment to incline his head to the girl. "Hello Hisako-chan, this is Doctor Martin Almer. Martin, one of our interns hers, and an old friend of mine, Hisako Ichiki." And then he spots distinctive purple hair. He indicates the out of sorts lady with the table and the mostly untouched lo mein. "And that is Doctor Kelsey's co-CEO, Doctor Toni Ho."
Coffee and some snacks will be procured…Hank is being good, no Twinkies! He'll lead everyone over to that corner table held in protest. "Toni, mind some company?" A warm bass rumble serves as laughter. "We descend upon you en masse, and allow me to introduce Martin Almer, MD. Martin, Toni."
Martin smiles and offers Hisako a hand to shake. "Good to meet you. Just call me Martin, please. I'm not big on the formality stuff." As Hank leads the way to get food, he will ask Hisako, "How are you liking it here?" Interns see a lot after all! The red-head will grab a several sandwiches, a muffin, and some coffee. Way more than a man his size should eat.
And thus his arms are full of tray as he smiles at Toni. "Sorry.. I'd offer to shake, but that'd make for a mess. You okay? That was quite the show earlier." Meaning the announcement on the screens and that big boom.
"Mmmm?" Toni says distractedly, looking up and blinking. She looks…worn. A bit thinner, and little bags under her eyes. "Mmm. Sure." she says after a moment, frowning to herself as she nods to Martin. "It was fine. Just a bit better oscillation in the new coil was stronger than expected."
"Pleased to meet you, Doc— I mean, Martin," Hisako replies, rising from her seat for the handshake. Then she grins at Dr. McCoy, commenting, "Hank, at this rate they're going to reassign you to HR and put you in charge of recruitment or something. First me, now Dr. Almer ere?" She looks back to Martin, "So what's your specialty … ?"
The revelaton that Dr. Ho is around prompts Hisako to dispose of her tray and the remannts of her meal, and tag along with Hank and Martin on the way to Dr. Ho's table. "Glad to see you're all right … Are they going to need me to help with reconstructing things, or should I just be a normal intern for the time being?"
Sotto voce. "I'm going to have to sedate her." Hank mutters upon seeing Toni's condition. It is pretty quiet, but not inaudible. Eyes of yellow study Toni, and then he grins as Hisako joins. "Oh no, not this time. Roni ran into him at the hospital when she visited Miss Lindstrom last. He came by on his own, though Roni did extend the invitation."
"Well, now that you know, perhaps you can integrate that into the final design of you concussion beam."
Noting how much food Martin gets, Hank quirks a grin. "Let me guess…the energy you spend is taken out of your body, so, food?"
Martin smiles and nods like he understands. Sure he knows the words, but he's no idea of quite their application here. "Glad you weren't hurt." He means that too. Side-eyes Hank about the mutter. Going to have to talk about some medical permissions issues with that one. Tray goes down on table and he'll offer to shake Toni's hand before sitting down. Doesn't hesitate to unwrap a sandwich and chow down. "No, Hank didn't recruit me." Is corrected, smiling around his mouthful. He's mindful not to spit as he talks though. "I'm a trauma surgeon. Just a normal doctor really. More or less." Uh-huh. "This place is totally out of my league, but I'm still hopeful."
A nod of confirmation to Hank. "You got it. You don't know what low profile means though, do you?"
"Well…they probably could stand to have help fixing the wall." Toni admits, frowning to herself. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the blast shattered one of the supports and there's probably microfractures throughout the bricks that are left that need to be replaced." She mmms. "I'll probably need to get something sturdier to use as a target plate too. Maybe a titanium composite with a depleted uranium core…."
She peers up at Martin, then takes his hand. "Oh…? We can always use more of those. A lot of REACT missions deal with disaster response, so the more people we haveon the ground who have medical knowledge, the better."
"More like we don't get to keep things low profile as much as we'd like to," Hisako replies good-naturedly. Then again, her own powers aren't really ideal to keeping things sneaky; when the primary tool in your kit is the ability to project a larger-than-life suit of armor with equally augmented strength and durability … well, she does what she can not to draw *excessive* attention.
Toni's verbal mental notes about rebuilding the wall in question provoke a slightly bewildered/exasperated look from the Japanese girl. "The harder you make the new wall, the more readily it's going to break under that kind of stress," she points out. "Maybe the first layer could be some kind of shock-absorbing curtain? Kevlar for testing solid projectiles, something with a high heat coefficient if it's mainly thermal … Save the heavy solids for an outer backstop, but unless you're measuring penetrative effectiveness, you want to absorb, diffract, or diffuse as much of the excess force as possible, right?"
Hank does note the side eyes from Martin, faintly puzzled, but only so long as it takes for the pair of Toni and Hisako to speak of /physical/ barrier options. "You could always build a force barrier at the boundaries of the proving grounds, a sort of high energy curtain wall that you can activate when getting feisty."
Musingly. "Of course…no reason not to build physical barriers too, in case." He allows.
A smile to Martin then. "Toni is right, more medical help is always a blessing. I'm still working on my residency, and really, I'm more of a research scientist, biochemist and so on…" He's got a lot of degrees. "…still, low profile? Not I, not in a long time. Apologies, I should have thought - you were very forthright about your abilities, I assumed that you would not object, Martin. Forgive me that lapse."
Martin wakes in the apology and nods, "I suppose it doesn't matter here, especially among such amazing people like yourselves, but I've had to hide for a long time. Not just because of the mutant issues in years past, but because my ability would have me hounded at the best, and likely imprisoned at the worst, so please take care? If only for my sake?" A healer would be pestered to cure everyone and their cousin if it was common knowledge. He just can't manage that so he's quiet about it. To Hisako he smiles, "I totally get it when things get out of hand, but so far Hank here blathers about everything without giving it any thought. That's why I chide. And he'd better not attempt what he was muttering about." A firm look to the blue mutant. "That's just against everything I believe as a doctor." Yeah, he talks without thinking himself, so pot and kettle there.
"Well, sure, whatever you need." Toni says to Hisako. "I might just expand it into a double lab so we have some additional backstopping anyway. Most of the equipment in the other lab was trashed anyway. Good thing no one had any active experiments in it." Toni says thoughfully. "So, I can give you the experimental data to go off of to plan out a better wall. Okay? I'll probably not need it for a while, I need to fit the new projector to my armor first to make sure the power system is substantial." She frowns. "…since I dont' have an arc reactor to play with."
"Oh, your ability is metahuman in nature? Ah. Well, we can certainly keep that quiet if you prefer. It might be difficult if you're operating with the REACT squads though….people are people, and I can't guarantee someone out drinking with friends or such might let something slip." She blinks tiredly. "Muttering? What muttering?" she says, looking at Hank.
There's more than one way for a person to have abilities outside the norm, and what *had* been said in her hearing about Martin hadn't really pointed in a specific direction … at least, not until Martin mentions 'mutant issues.' And that's what really gets Hisako's attention.
"That makes three of us at this table," she says with a faint smile, offering the doctor a fistbump. If he declines it, activetly or passively, she draws her arm back again with no evident offense. She looks at Hank next, "An energy field would require a projector of some kind, meaning an active power feed, right? That wouldn't be a bad idea, but if something goes wrong enough to take out the projector before the test-firing is concluded or shut down, it would be all up to the physical barriers anyway."
Toni, for her part, gets a more bewildered look. 'Whatever you need' - the question was what RESCUE needs, more than what Hisako herself might need out of the situation. Or was that more an offer to requisition whatever materials might come to mind for the new backstop … ?
"Again, my apologies, Martin. Having been imprisoned for my non-registration during that time, for a time, I certainly should have known better and you were quite right to rebuke me. I was a very high profile, very active protestor during the registration act. And I am not a 'can pass', never have been, so my own experiences are perhaps a bit different than your own." A toothy smile. "Not that your concerns aren't right and valid. I can only posit I've been up too many hours in a row again, there's just never enough hours in a day." Hank really is not rebuking Martin, he DOES understand. All too well. "I assure you, I won't mention outside of present company, Ava and Roni."
Hank looks thoughtfully to Toni as she comments about an Arc reactor. "What I'd really like to see is a Zed PM." Stargate - the 'zero point module'. "It actually not entirely unfeasible. I noodled about with some ideas a while back, but…yes, too many projects." His shoulders hunch a bit when the mutter is mentioned. "I was considering whether or not you might need sedation, as Martin so aptly pointed out I'm a bit 'blathery' tonight, Toni."
Softly. "Four total when we recover Neena." Yes, apparently they've misplaced a mutant! Butterfingers. "Mmph…yes, layered would be good, I imagine a 'wall shield' could be generated between two towers…" Wryly. "Cirith Ungol and Orthanc…perhaps." A shake of his shaggy blue head. "Having physical barriers as well is good solid redundancy design."
"Yes, Ma'am." Given politely to Tony. "I'm a fully trained doctor with fifteen years experience, so it's not all powers." Martin actually doesn't bring up what the muttering was about and instead just smiles at Hisako and returns the fistbump. He's totally good with that kind of thing. "I know things are going to get weird fast when it comes to that. All I can hope is that it doesn't cause too much trouble for everyone here." For it sure could. "Me being a mutant, well, that's not a huge secret. Just what I do in regards to that." He knows people will talk. That's how people are.
Hank is nodded to, "Thanks for that. And I have no idea what it's like to be obvious, so I'm sure I've got some entitlement there." Totally not mad and easy to try and reach compromise. He's surprised that Hank admits it to Toni. "It's a consent thing. I'm big on consent, and you just don't sedate people even if they look ready to fall over." Like poor Toni. Sorry he's not replying about the walls. That's so over his head.
Yup, it seems Toni just casually handed over responsibility for her first project to Hisako. Just like that. Intern authoritah! "Sure, just tell me what you need for the design. I'd suggest putting the force field generator in a separate room to avoid interference. I can probably install an emergency force field system if needed."
She yawns a bit, covering her mouth, then nods to Martin. "Skill is as important as power for medical things, unless it's just regeneration, I'd imagine. That's more Roni's thing than mine. I build mechanisms, I don't fix people." She frowns. "Well, I suppose I could, but not medically." She shrugs her shouldres slightly. "If you want to have a mask or conceal your identity in the field, that's fine too. WE can come up with something so that no one outside of RESCUE knows about you Martin."
Hank's mention of Neena, gentle as it is, does prompt a brief wince on Hisako's part. "I mostly meant 'at this table,'" she explains. There could be plenty of mutants on the general staff of RESCUE, after all - one of the reasons why paranoia mounted to the point of mandatory registration, after all, was that with a lot of metahumans (mutant or otherwise), you *couldn't* know by just looking.
She nods to Toni, quietly accepting the project that just got landed on her plate. Hoo boy, this is gonna be fun. *Maybe* it'll be fun in the literal sense. "I'll see what I can come up with, but I may need a list of what materials we have to work with and in what quantities." She pauses, pursing her lips. "I .. might actually have an idea for a physical 'curtain' that'd help diffract certain energies, too. If most of the R&D for energy projection focuses on the conventional electromagnetic spectrum, maybe some kind of Faraday cage weave …"
She trails off, reaching briefly for her phone, then digging around in her jacket until she finds a plain old notepad and pen. Utterly mundane, no batteries - and no wi-fi that anyone could hack into. Somebody takes her security (or paranoia) seriously when it comes to it. But since what she's doing is making notes about things to look into …
Hank is many things, convinced of his own infallibility is not one of them. A massive fist taps very gently indeed on Martin's shoulder along with a half smile when the man proves to be willing and eager to reach middle ground. "Methinks this doctor is going to prescribe a solid night of bed rest for all of us. Would you concur with that prognosis, Doctor Almer?" Once he gets an answer he finishes his food, and then rises, hands on the table a moment. "Toni, please…go to bed. You need the sleep, you're no damn good to anyone if you don't rest. As proof of my sincerity…I'm going to do the same, and you, Hisako-Chan, you too need some rest."
He looks to Martin. "I'll be happy to escort you out, Martin. Or you can crash here, there's rooms for that purpose available if you're comfortable."
Whatever decision he makes, Hank will provide.
"Now that I would." Martin grins for the shoulder tap and suggestion. "You'll only make more mess for yourself if you keep pushing." Toni is gently reminded. "It was lovely to meet you both, and no thanks about masks. I'd be a lousy super hero." The idea amuses him just the same. Rising to his feet, he collects his remaining sandwiches and will go with Hank. "Out I think. There are some chores I need to get done at home."
"We don't really look for superheroes. Just people willing to do what's right for people who need them." Toni says matter-of-factly. "You're more than welcome to be one of the people we have who run towards the trouble when it comes." She shrugs ,her shoulders, then nods to Hisako. "Sure…since they're heading off, I guess we can chat materials before I get back to work." Or pass out. Then again, that's what the mega energy drink is probably for. She waves to Hank and Martin. "Nice meeting you Martin, nice seeing you Hank. Enjoy the rest of the tour!"
And with that, she focuses on actually finishing her food as she chats with Hisako about what she has to work with…and how much of it has actually been tested safely thus far.