Summary:RESCUE reaches out to the Avengers for help. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
        |
It having been agreed-to that RESCUE should not attempt the intervention with the Cyberian and the new arena without backup and support from the authorities, Dr. Veronica Kelsey has been - much to her chagrin - talked into reaching out to the Avengers for assistance and support. Their connections with SHIELD, it is hoped, can also provide them with greater logistical support, and cover on legal issues. Everyone in RESCUE has become aware that Roni greatly dislikes this course of action; she has argued against it countless times and quite vociferously. But now that the decision has been made, she has still declared that she will represent the company, and the team of REACT. She just won't do it alone.
With Hank's and Hisako's connections to the world of costumed heroics, they found the means to deliver an invitation to Captain Marvel, requesting that she come to RESCUE Campus today to meet with Roni. As whenever else she is meeting an outside 'dignitary', Roni's chair is outside on the concrete of the walkways between the Spire and the entry driveway. She has deactivated the security network's loud alarm systems and the automated drone network's responses to aerial arrivals in anticipation of the costumed heroine's arrival. It makes her uncomfortable … but this is what must be. Dressed in her white lab coat, the very picture of the scientific leader and genius she is, Roni is trying not to project her loathing. Which does not mean she is doing an excellent job of hiding it, only that she won't be spewing venom.
Hopefully.
Hank has met Carol a couple times, always pretty congenial, and he's a SHIELD contractor so she'd know he has pretty high level security clearance, so there's that. His outfit today is perhaps a bit of a tease, it is the sort of tailored black on black suit that fits the stereotypical image of a secret agent, he's even sporting reading glasses - no earbud or dangling wire behind an ear though. Truly, despite the fur, the suit actually looks pretty nice on him. He looms behind Roni's chair, and off to the left - the side sinister!
"Carol is usually fairly timely from what I've seen, don't worry, the grid will be up again and operational in no time." Hank himself is not keen on anything the might compromise campus security, too many things have gone wrong in recent months.
While not needed, Martin wouldn't miss this for the world. Wearing blue scrubs, along with RESCUE Ids and everything proper, the red-head stands near by, a tablet under an arm. He's a light shirt in black beneath his scrub top, but otherwise the man has little about him that stands out in this distinguished company. "You okay?" Asked quietly of Roni, for he's so very aware of the loathing that's rolling off her. Does cast a glance at the suit wearing Hank, but doesn't speak of the security. No, this isn't only about security.
On the other end of the spectrum is Dr. Toni Ho, who was the one to point out that while the cause might be just that RESCUE is not a police force, and while they had already been pushing the edge of what they could justify as self defense, she was loathe to turn their REACT security forces into a paramilitary unit as opposed to a crisis intervention and security unit. As it was unlikely that the normal police or FBI would allow RESCUE To assist, of course, her suggest was that they should reach out to a group that they'd worked with before and that were slightly more likely to be unconventional in their operations - SHIELD. Especially since several among RESCUE's top scientists have worked with SHIELD as consultants in the past.
She's well aware of Roni's festering dislike of the situation, but she's been standing firm on it regardless. RESCUE is not a police force, a military force, or a covert operations unit. She does not want to see it slide into one, nor does she want to end up being the sort of "heroes" that people like Tony Stark revel in. They don't fight crime. They save people's lives.
She waits patiently, more dressed down in capris, a oversized t-shirt in blue with a RESCUE insignia on the front, and an open lab coat, with simple canvas sneakers worn on her feet as she messes with her tablet quietly.
Hisako, for her part, is standing quietly off to the right - not quite mirroring Hank's position, but further from Dr. Kelsey's chair and attired in a snug-fitting bodysuit, dark grey with some blue highlights and restrained gold trim. She may look the closest to a 'superhero' in terms of attire, even if she's on the small side physically.
She doesn't really expect trouble, but if Carol Danvers - Captain Marvel herself - is likely to be working with them to take down the Cyberian, Hisako's likely to be involved too and wants to be up to speed on who else might be in on the operation.
She may also be on the edge of fangirling a little bit. Not at the moment, though - and she's consciously restraining herself ahead of time.
There's a flicker of light on the horizon. One might think it was a fireworks display, given the date, but then it gets brighter, approaching the campus with breakneck speed. Slowly the light is close enough that it resolves into the figure of Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, aka Princess Sparklefists.
Okay, the last one isn't used too often in public.
In any event, she hits the brakes slowly over the landing pad on the campus, grinning towards the others and setting down easily on her feet. Not a superhero landing, mind you. She doesn't need to show off, as the light aura fades around her, leaving a few motes flickering about. "Hey, sorry I'm late, had to do something in low orbit quick… emergency. But, I'm sure you guys know how that is, more than anyone else." She flashes a friendly smile towards Veronica, "You're Doctor Kelsey, I presume?"
A breath. Another one. And then Veronica rolls slightly forward and extends her right hand, with a medium modicum of a smile. "Good afternoon, Captain Marvel. Welcome to RESCUE" Roni begins. C'mon, keep calm. This isn't the one. Not worth losing all cool and control. "I am Dr. Kelsey, yes."
Once the handshake ends, Roni turns slightly and gestures towards the fuscia-haired oriental woman. " This is my partner, Dr. Ho." Then behind her own position. "I believe you may know Dr. McCoy." A gesture further to that left side. "This is Dr. Almer." And then she gestures towards the youngest woman present. "And this is one of our interns and a member of our REACT squads, Ms. Ichiki."
Introductions done, Veronica turns her attention back to Captain Marvel. "We have a situation, Captain, and we believe it would be best to reach out to the Avengers, and through you perhaps to SHIELD, to cooperate in addressing that situation." She glances at the rest, and then waves as she pivots her wheelchair a clean one-eighty. Her hands flicker over the tablet in her lap, as the air-defense perimeter is reactivated. "If you will all follow me to one of our conference rooms?"
That said, Veronica rolls her chair by hand - no power used, here - to the front entrance, the doors of which open preemptively to allow her to roll through. "Danica, I need that bypass badge enabled, please." she requests of one of the RESCUE security guards inside, as she extends said badge in her left hand up over her shoulder. "Captain, please carry this with you at all times while you are here." It even has a picture of Carol from the Avengers website. Roni scans her badge as she rolls through one of the transoms and into the main lobby, then turns towards the elevator banks. The elevators here are actually large enough for a group this size, and everything is adapted to easily pass a full-sized wheelchair without issue, even including the hands on the wheels and the elbows out posture.
Soon enough the group can file into the conference room, which then seals behind them as Veronica activates the security and anti-snooping technology, even the lighting changing as the outer louvers around the Spire's outside walls change angles.
Martin shakes hands with Caron, smiling, and nods greeting as his name is given. "Nice to meet you." Otherwise, he remains in the back of the group, letting Roni take the lead. Not that he can control with his empathy, but Martin is radiating a sense of calm. Peace. (He often emotes, and you can ignore it, or be effected by it at your choice.) Inside, he moves from the group a little as a drone sweeps in to give him his cellphone. The man even pats said drone before it returns itself to medical. The phone is turned off as the red-head follows Hank into the meeting room, and takes a seat where he won't be in the way of proper meeting stuffs. So wanting to see this though! Puts tablet and phone on the table before him, a neat little stack.
Toni offers a hand after tucking away her tablet, shaking Carol's if she offers it back. "Thanks for coming." she says simply. "This is serious enough that we need a hand…or at least, a situation where we need someone like you and SHIELD." That's all she says on the subject, following after Roni as they head into the meeting room then taking a seat near one end of the table, idly bringing up the integrated computer system and hologenerator for the table. "Please, have a seat. Get you something to drink?" she offers. "Cola, water, juice?" She glances around as the lights change to indicate the heightened security. "Choose quick, otherwise we'll have to pause to scan whatever is brought in." she adds with dry amusement.
When Dr. Kelsey introduces her, Hisako smiles, bowing politely, hands folded in front of her legs - but if a handshake is offered by Captain Marvel, Hisako is happy to accept and return it in kind. "It's a pleasure to see you again, ma'am … um. How would you prefer to be addressed while you're here?" she wonders, amybe a bit awkwardly. "'Captain Marvel,' or just 'Captain,' or would you rather use your non-heroic name … ?"
She would have arranged ahead of time to have some oolong tea available in the conference room, as well, although Hisako waits for the guest of honor to choose her beverage - and will pour the drink for the good Captain, if it happens to fall to her to do so.
Carol smiles and accepts handshakes from all present, "Please, call me Carol. We've been keeping some tabs on what RESCUE has been doing, and we really like what you've been doing here." She doesn't say how they've been keeping tabs, but come on, it's SHIELD.
She takes the offered seat, smiling over at Toni, "Diet Coke if you got it, otherwise water is fine." She keeps the guest badge on her uniform, nodding at Hisako. "And yes, please, just call me Carol, it's easier that way." She laughs a little, "Technically it's Colonel, but Colonel Marvel doesn't have quite the same ring to it, so… well, yeah." She takes the offered seat, looking over at Dr. Kelsey.
"Considering your reluctance to work with SHIELD to this point, I'm guessing this has to be pretty serious if you're reaching out to us now." She smiles faintly, "Which is fine, it's pretty clear RESCUE is more of a humanitarian mission than what SHIELD has… but now it seems like something more is up, right?" Her look is fairly relaxed, as she doesn't seem terribly worried just yet. But then again, there's no real reason for her to be.
Veronica lets everyone get comfortable, settle in, get drinks or even snacks as they see fit, while she rolls around the table to the spot with the same gear and no chair in place; there's at least one of these in every conference room on RESCUE's campus. She places her tablet on the table and folds her hands over the surface, waiting patiently - or so it appears - while everyone is sociable and friendly. Martin's empathic pushes help keep the lid on her inner frustration, and her willpower is strong enough to do the rest. She may have issues, but lives are at stake; she will get through this. She can rant in private later.
Veronica acknowledges Carol's points, and nods. "Yes." She taps her tablet, and holographic images appear above the table, representing an underground space with multiple buildings and a large kennel. A few more images reveal armored personnel carriers, cybered-up super-sized dog like creatures, and cybered-up mercenaries. Then a smoking crater, the whole place quite a lot of a ruin. More images will follow from this, as the talk continues.
"One of our associates and allies became aware of the presence of dangerous creatures living in the Disaster Zone, which were threatening and endangering citizens in neighboring parts of the city." An image appears, here, of an eight to nine-year-old girl with a left arm that now ends just below her elbow. "Given our medical specialties, we were called in on this case, and put together the attack with this threat." Veronica explains.
"Continued efforts eventually turned up a facility where the animals were being raised, trained, and cybernetically enhanced." Veronica explains. "Given the threat to innocent civilians, and that this lay in an area outside of current NYPD activities in the Disaster Zone, RESCUE took it upon ourselves to mobilize those we could to rescue those inside and neutralize the threat." Roni frowns. "The large crater here was not our doing; the facility had a doomsday option, and at the time we feared one of our associates had been killed as a result."
More images continue, revealing a revamped underground subway station turned into a pit fighting arena with more cybered-up dog creatures and mercenaries, and a lot of different metahumans. "Eventually we discovered a signal leading to this installation. We went in to rescue our associate, and this is the terrible scenario we found. We rescued our associate, and several others were also saved and extracted. But those responsible for this escaped due to teleportation technology, and flooded the arena with both toxic nerve gas, and flooding from the ocean.
Clearly, REACT got out. That's good, right? "These were emergent situations wherein we did not feel we had time to debate things with the authorities." Veronica explains. "In this case, we now have intelligence giving us a specific time and place, giving us time to coordinate. Other intelligence gathering efforts have made it clear that those responsible for this have their fingers in many pies, including members of the NYPD, local and state government, and the FBI, on their payroll to one extent or another. So we cannot go to them. It was decided that the Avengers could be trusted, and through them perhaps divisions of SHIELD. The evil these people have already committed is reprehensible. We are not costumed heroes. We are not law enforcement, or a private military force. And that is the level of force that may be required here. We want to save those who have been enslaved. And we want this evil stopped." She does not say 'we cannot do this alone,' but it hangs in the air unspoken.
Hank had offered Carol a welcoming smile, but stayed pretty quiet as they moved into the building. Eyes of yellow are intent, keeping a sharp eye out, and if nobody else signals the security grid fully active again, he'll send that via a quick text to the security office. Because that's important too. Also…will make Roni a bit less tense, not comfortable - but less tense is less tense, right?
"Only one thing I dislike about the doors…" He offers on the way. "…they don't allow a gentleman to get them for peers, friends and colleagues." Yes, he's smiling as he makes that observation, and Hisako at least would know from experience, at the Institute he was always keen on getting the door for people.
Once in the conference room, he settles into a seat, near Martin's actually. When the drinks are passed out, he gets a Cherry Doctor Pepper, he loves that stuff!
Using the HUD in his glasses, one might see little flickers on the lenses if they looked close. Hank is not the one calling the shots here, though. That's Roni & Toni's job, he'll offer advice and guidance if asked, or if it seems apropos, of course, but the decisions are ultimately not his to make when it is something broad like this.
Hank nods to what Roni is saying. "These people are monsters, Carol. Plain and simple, monsters. Sarin gas, torture, human and animal experimentation that would make Mengele vomit. Atrocities upon inhuman crimes, murder, death torture…" His voice is /rough/, the growl underlying almost tangible. "…please, will you assist?"
Martin gives Hank a smile, but doesn't actually get anything to drink. Hasn't been healing the last couple days, so he's good to go. Now, the events that Roni goes through aren't entirely knew to the doctor, but he didn't know everything.. so there's a bit of surprise at such things as nerve gas and the flooding with ocean water. "God." He murmurs, dismayed. Sure the empathy shifts briefly, but he's long practice so the calm soon returns. Looking troubled for it, the red-head makes some notes on his tablet, but doesn't otherwise get involved. Time to research some nerve gas and the other things being done.
Toni isn't quite as polite as Roni is about RESCUE's abilities. "We could do this ourselves. But with this many people possible involved, and how monstrous the guy in charge is with killing off everyone from the last time we ran into them, the more help the better. We can support and help deal with the cybernetics. ONe of our people, Io, has the ability to interface with any machine; we're reasonably sure now that we know what the failsafes are that she can shut down the signals that would kill the people being held there and the nerve gas, or whatever other defenses they have. The problem is the main asshole has teleportation powers, and can open portals.
Toni frowns. "Last time, I was able to confine the nerve gas in a force field until we could neutralize it, otherwise it would have contaminated the water system for the area nearby, including habitated areas of the city. This guy does not give a fuck about anyone but his profits.
She scratches her cheek. "…more importantly, while we can help here, we don't have police powers, and we can't arrest this guy and his lackeys in a way that'll make it stick. I don't wanna take him out and have him get out of punishment on a technicality. Nor do we have supression gear for stopping a teleporter of his power. We want to make sure he doesn't get away again this time and start this shit all over again someplace we won't be lucky enough to find out about. You know? So..Captain..we need your help. We want to help. Would you and the Avengers be willing to work with us on this?" See, this it he part Toni is less than thrilled about. She doesn't have an issue with most of the Avengers…but this means she might have to come into contact with Stark, and that just…irritates her. But maybe he'll be busy dating supermodel triplets in Monaco or something instead. Bleah.
It's just as well that Hisako isn't having more than bottled tea at this point; the images with which Dr. Kelsey is illustrating her briefing provoke a bunch of associated memories for the young Japanese woman, and - well, she was letting Martin's projections of calm roll over her, but if he can tell the difference, Hisako actively draws on what calm he's still offering at this point, re-centering and grounding herself with that assistance.
"It's not just us who've been impacted," Hisako adds. "You probably heard about the incident at New Horizons Academy some weeks ago … the 'hounds' were the same. Probably the mercenaries as well. Whoever is creating these monsters, they're going after children - not as collateral damage like Kelli, but *deliberately* targeting young people. Mutants, and likely non-mutants too - and gods alone know what fate they would face."
Hisako looks straight at Carol. "We have to take this group apart, but it'll take established authorities to make sure their leaders and technologists can't get away, go to ground, and set up shop somewhere else all over again.
Carol nods slightly, "Well, I can't speak for SHIELD directly here, but I'm sure Fury is going to want these people stopped. But, I can speak for the Avengers. We're in." She sips her diet coke, listening and digesting all the news coming at her, then she looks around, and asks the big question.
"Why didn't you contact us sooner?" She glances around at the group, "Because we definitely could have tried to help sooner, if we were aware of the scope of what was happening." She sighs a bit, then hmms, "In any event, we'll be here to help now, but it sounds like you have the best knowledge of what's going on… so we'll back your play." She concedes that point, sensing the last thing that these folks want is the Avengers or SHIELD taking over the situation. As the others explain their feelings about it, she nods, "If you want to grab this guy, we'll make sure the charges stick. I don't know how many other Avengers I can get for this on short notice, but I'll be more than happy to stamp 'paid' on this jerk's account." Because while Fury probably knows about this, he might not be aware of the scope. And Carol is definitely a good conduit for getting him updated.
Veronica's left hand closest into a fist of frustration as Carol points out they could have and perhaps should have reached out to them sooner. "We will pass along what information we have, and include you in the planning. Any other members you can free up to assist, we will adapt for as best we can." Veronica breathes a few times, and then glances at Toni before returning her gaze to Carol. "We would also appreciate your assistance in personally … sneaker-netting … our intel on this matter to SHIELD agents you trust. It will take them time to verify our data and act. But then we have hope those who get word of this intel will not be on this Cyberian's payroll, and will act against his interests, rather than helping or standing back silently."
That said, Roni pulls out a small thumbdrive, and slides it across the table to Carol before she gets that call to go. "Give that to an agent you trust."
Once Carol departs, Veronica exhales gustily and shakes herself a bit. She's not thrilled, but they got the answers they needed, in favor of helping with the problem at hand. "I know all of you have been going over this situation. My own point of view is still that use of Nadia and her shrinking tech is the best way to get us on-site. We have to pick someone to be at the pick-up location and go inbound. Then we send a flight of Humblebees to get the signal out to alert the authorities, while we deploy to save those internally. What other things has anyone come up with? What alternatives do we have?"
Hank watches as Carol gets her call out after promising the aid of the Avengers, hers at least, possibly others. "Be well, Carol." He rises, and will escort her to a spot where she can launch, returning with her override badge as he rejoins the team once more. Settling in his seat near Martin and Hisako once more, he takes a sip of his Cherry Doctor Pepper, and then replays what he missed during the brief absence. "Shrinking seems like a viable entry strategem, especially with Io on cyberdefense, she seemed to have a significant advantage against the Cyberian, but…I advise caution." Hank looks around the table. "We have learned, but we have to assume that the Cyberian has too, the MO might not change, but it might. Best to proceed with extreme caution."
Martin says nothing as Carol suddenly ups and goes. He totally arches a brow at that, but keeps his thoughts to himself. Instead he holds his tablet against his belly and asks, "Do you all want me there?" The doctor a little dismayed about the idea of being shrunk, but doesn't mention that. "I won't be all that good for the fight itself." While he is practicing and getting back in shape, that'll take more than a few weeks thanks to his crazy schedule. "Mostly I'm worried I'll make it so that the others have to protect me, thus endangering the plan."
"As I see it, we have three objectives for this…mission." Toni says, after considering, and types on the keyboard in front of her as they appear on the hologram over the table as she names them off. "1 - we need to rescue the hostages, the people who are being forced into being gladiators or who are just prisoners there and get them clear of the fight as quickly as we can. They'll likely need immediatley medical attention in many cases, and some may not be friendly just because we're there to help them, depending. Martin and Roni can probably come up with what we need for treatement and moving them safely. If Nadia can get us in, she may be able to shrink them down to get them back out quickly." She adjusts the display. "2 - We need to prevent the murder protocols this asshole uses to kill off everyone involved and destroy the evidence, meaning we need to deal with those cortex bombs, the nerve gas, and any other nastiness. Io can probably deal with that, but we likely need to get her to where she can be effective. A control room maybe, or where she can tap into the systems or something to know what signals to block.
She tapes the keyboard. "And 3 - we need to capture the guy responsible for all of this, and that means we need to prevent him from teleporting out. I miiiiight have a way to do that…I've been working on a portable, ah…well, I can't go into the details, but the basis are that it would set up a field around an area that would disrupt dimensional shifts temporarily. It's a prototype though, so I'm not sure how long we'd have before it burned out." she admits. "If we can get all this stuff in place, preferably before tripping any alerts, we'll be in a good place for all of us and the Avengers to land like a ton of bricks on these assholes and shut them down once and for all."
"And with that in mind…we should probably call in Posse, Neena, and Io for this part of the meeting?"
Hisako sits forward a bit at the mention of 'shrinking tech,' pursing her lips. "How small would we be shrunken to?" she inquires. "I'd need to experiment, even practice, but … I might be able to project my armor at human size even when my physical body is reduced. It might be easy, it might be as hard as skyscraper size normally, but I *can* enlarge my armor for a time. It may only be useful as a trump card during infiltration or departure," Hisako admits, "but if I'm right that I'll be able to do so, it may come in handy."
Veronica nods in agreement to Toni's synopsis. "Yes. Let's call them in before we go much further. I'll text Nadia." That said, she sits quietly and waits while ruminating. "I am expecting that we'll be making a full double-wide tractor's trailer the size of a keychain fob. So, around one-fivehundredth scale, or perhaps smaller." she offers to answer Hisako's question. "The one challenge currently on the table for that portion of the operation is who carries us in." She doesn't have an answer for that just now.
It isn't a long wait before Neena Thurman wanders into the meeting, dressed in an almost painfully sharp contrast of snow white pants, shirt, and ribbed jacket with pitch black boots, belts, piping and inlays. Save for the orange badge and the ankle tracker it all fits perfectly with her natural coloration. Still, it should probably come with a warning label about avoiding direct eye contact.
In one hand is a coffee mug, more black on white, declaring 'In my defense I was left unsupervised.'
"So, what'd I miss?" she rhetorically asks while pulling up a chair knowing -darn well- that she missed -plenty- due to them having a visitor from SHIELD.
"I agree with the objectives, and the need to get the other personnel here, but…I must remind folks, we don't know how the Cyberian has been doing those portals, evidence suggests to me that the gateways are technological, not necessarily an ability inherent to him or her." Hank looks thoughtful. "It seems to me that we need to make sure we can get in swiftly, and we're not even sure how they will go from the rally point to the arena, I'd posit portals, we might have a very small window of opportunity, size alteration pun not intended."
A smile of welcome as Neena arrives. "Hello, Spot, planning our assault on the new Arena that your friend Chalk told us about…in short we have some support from the Avengers…actually…hrm. Let me ponder a moment." A shake of his head. "We have three objectives per Toni 1-save the gladiators and innocents, 2-prevent the Cyberian's scorched earth tactics when foiled, and 3-capture the Cyberian, assuming he or she is onsite at all and not working remotely."
A nod then as he thinks of something. "Actually…I can think of a fast courier, an Avenger too, as well as the fastest man I've ever encountered, though…his history is a bit, topsy-turvy."
Martin lifts a hand to Domino and gives her a smile, but doesn't interrupt the others. His question unanswered, and sure to be cleared up before the event, he decides to wait. So for now he works on that tablet he's been keeping warm. Finally got some test results he was waiting for, unrelated to any of this, so goes through the files.
Io is in the corner, and might as well be a potted plant, for all things concerned. She appears to be sleeping - though she's not snoring, at least. She might even be dreaming, if one is watching her very closely as beneath her shut eyelids, there is some eyeball movement back, forth, up, and down.
Toni waves idly to Neena as she arrives. "Mm, an Avenger….is that Quicksilver?" she asks after a moment of Hank. "If he'd be willing, I think he'd definitely be a good choice. And yes Martin, you'd definitely be in the emergency medical response part of this, so focused on rescuing hostages and getting them well enough to travel. Considering the state we found some of them in last time, they'll need it." the Chinese-American engineer says grimly. "Hmm. Neena's luck might help with that too, come to think of it. Are you like a lucky charm if Quicksilver carries you in?" Toni notes, her eyes twinkling with faint amusement.
"Hello, Neena," Hisako greets the luck-manipulator on her way in; if Hisako's not smiling as brightly as she could, blame the subject matter preceding this point. Hank gets a curious look as he mentions a 'fast courier' … presumably a super-speed type, to judge by his description. But since the plan is already to bring the Avengers in, one more shouldn't be a problem … right? And if he's an *Avenger* then somebody doesn't think his past is worth worrying about.
"I guess once we're inside and actively pursuing our goals," Hisako observes, "my job would be pretty much the same as usual - heavy hitter and 'party tank,' get myself in front of *their* heavy hitters so they can't shoot at anyone more vulnerable? Not sure which objective that puts me on, although number one sounds most likely. That's likely where the Cyberian," she pronounces the name with clear distaste, "would be putting their most active and versatile defenses. Not just to keep us *out*, but to keep *them* in."
Veronica texts Io.
'Hey - from what you saw of their systems at the last arena, and the data you have crunched, do you think the portals are tech-based?'
'How close do you think you need to get to be able to interface and take over like you did at the arena?'
'How much personal safety security are you going to need? Should we assign you a bodyguard? Like Hisako?'
"My concern with the use of a noted metahuman as the courier is the risk that given their interest in metahumans, they'll have detection capabilities on-scene. If they detect the courier is metahuman, they may not get in, which blows our entire ops plan. I was thinking we might need someone very plain. Very normal." Veronica isn't going to say 'I was thinking of Karl.' But she was.
Poor Karl.
"Spot it is," Neena quietly remarks before her attention falls squarely upon the big fluffy mutant. "So let's hear it, Hank. I happen to know first-hand this crew is good at dealing with topsy-turvy history," Neena calls out with a somewhat wicked smile.
Both the wickedness and the smile falter slightly when Toni talks about putting her luck to use. "What am I, a tactical nuclear luckhead?" … "Actually that's exactly what I am," she softly answers herself before clearing her throat.
"Well," she thinks aloud. "You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take. If you want to increase your odds then throw me at the problem you want solved then cross your fingers." Shrug. "Or you could pay me. That also might increase your chances."
Sip.
Plain and normal? "Not gonna find a lot of either in this room."
"I thought the idea was to get in /fast/ and hit hard? Nobody faster." Hank looks to Toni, and nods. "Yes, Quicksilver…we have a bit of history, but he's likely the fastest person alive, bar none. I don't know that stealth is even a viable option, Roni. Especially if we have to go through a portal to the actual site as our intel suggests." He sighs. "This is a rough situation, what I wish we had was a means to teleport of our own. THEN stealth might be more viable."
Io still has a feel for the portals, and yeah, that affinity in her case would strongly support them being tech based, not a personal power. In the case of ranges? Closer is better, as tough as the shielding and such was? No more than a hundred yards, preferably less if that's an option.
"History, Neena, I've fought against and beside Pietro, Quicksilver — I think he's earned some trust, however. I would be comfortable reaching out to the man." A firm nod. "He's changed for the better in recent years, he's a much better man."
There's a chuckle for nuclear luck and Martin smiles at Neena. "Think of it as saving lives while getting to explode things?" Of course he does think Neena should be paid. That's kind of a given. Then he returns to his tablet, working out a treatment plan for the non related issue. And some preliminary notes for what the care of the hostages might take. There's a glance at Hank, but he says nothing more. Just keeps pulsing out that calm sense.
"We can't avoid trigger detectors if they're looking for metahuman signatures, unless those detectors are affected by the size of the metahuman in question. If they are…then the ideal way would be to shrink down an advance group to where an equally shrunk Quicksilver could run them in then return for the trailer to get the people out in once the alarm has been sounded. That way the advance group could have things set up so even if the alarm goes off the bombs and teleportation can't trip." Toni says logically. "If the sensors go off if there's any metahuman signatures inside, that seems less likely, since we know the gladiators have abilities that would trip those sensors, unless they're set up to cover only secure areas. If they're set up to only cover secure areas, then we should use a nonsecure area to initially set up so I can at least get the anti-teleporter up and Io can use her abilities on the local electronics; if she can do that, she can probably disable the alarms for any such sensors remotely."
"Right?" she says, looking at everyone to check her logic. "The teleportation blocker and Io's instrusion into their systems have to happen first, before we hit the main facility to break everyone out and get the Cyberian." She frowns. "I mean, we could test the sensor possibly by having Quicksilver run through them in advance, see if any alarm does go off..he's fast enough they might assume that it's a fault if one trips and they can't find any reason for it. But it's a risk depending how paranoid they are. Signs point to 'very' paranoid." she notes.
Io remains in her corner, eyelids closed. Phone out of reach, or in a pocket somewhere. But, nevertheless, Veronica's phone chimes with answers.
'Yep.'
'100 yards or so in this case.'
'Depends. I got Goliath. I don't fight. Up to you.'
"I was assuming the container would be shielded to prevent detection of its contents, with onboard atmospherics to assure complete seal and safety." Veronica explains. "Once our courier is on-scene, they lay the fob down and we get the all-clear. Then we can crack the seal, let out Quicksilver to explore while miniature Toni and team work to set up the teleportation lockout, and Io gets started interfacing with their systems. Once Toni and Io are sure we can break cover without losing everything and everyone, then we can size up and start the rescue op, using Quicksilver's intel to target those in need and where to possibly find Cyberian and his top cronies." Roni still isn't sure who the courier should be.
"We'd *have* to have our own atmosphere in there," Hisako points out, nodding to Dr. Kelsey. "Otherwise, we'd be trying to breathe air molecules practically big enough to throw at each other." She glances at Hank, "Like in Fantastic Voyage, remember? Maybe not *that* tiny, but same principle."
She purses her lips briefly. "And if we're expecting them to have detectors for mutants or other metahumans, then we'd definitely need shielding. Or you'd need an alternate infiltration route for me, Hank, and Domino, at the very least." She's not sure if Io's technopathy is a mutant trait or something else, but 'metahuman' covers a pretty broad variety of power origins.
"I *do* have one other idea for infiltration, but it's …. probably worse than the plan we're already putting together. Letting them capture somebody to put in the arena, or whatever. At least that way," Hisako says dryly, "we wouldn't have to worry about setting off sensors and raising the alarm …"
Neena passes a lopsided grin back to Martin, "I am liking everything that you are saying right now."
Soon following this is a darkly muttered "Yeah, no. I'm not about to pursue opening any more portals."
Talk about 'metahuman signatures' leaves the monochromed mercenary staring down at her coffee cup for a moment, blackened fingernails drumming once against the ceramic surface. It's a few seconds before she shares her next thought.
"Hey. So, I don't know if this might be of any use, or if it'd even work or whatever, but I kinda wonder if the hellcat could slip through a metahuman scanner without tripping it." Again she shrugs slightly, "All options on the table. I don't like to fight fair."
Hisako's suggestion about someone getting caught has the albino immediately holding up a hand and declaring "NOT IT. Zero of ten, highly overrated."
Once it is plain that people all pretty well favored Quicksilver, Hank smiles and activates his comms, typing on the air he sends a text to one (often surly) Pietro Maximoff. 'QS…Beast here, have a task that is highly dangerous and could use your skills, would you be willing to meet and/or discuss such? The cause is extremely worthy'.
Hank nods the. "I just texted Quicksilver, awaiting his reply."
Hisako's mention of Fantastic Voyage gets a grin from the burly blue guy. "Loved that file, fun fact - our own Nadia Van Dyne did something similar recently when Ava's gear needed repairs and upgrades." He looks to Roni. "I like the idea of a shielded container for ingress, much more subtle than my thought of 'Zoom! WE'RE IN!'."
Martin is totally for exploding that villain! And for having people having fun while doing it. Neena totally gets a grin. But he does frown as talk shifts to infiltration, "If you can shield a container filled with people, can't you shield a person too? If the guy is as fast as is being suggested, you don't even have to shield him that long. Just enough to get inside. What, a few seconds?" Of course his idea of working high tech is managing the remote, so he's totally not sure what's possible here.
Hank's text isn't replied to immediately. That phone is often well out of service range depending. But after a few minutes he will get a reply. 'Where? When?'
"Well, we know how the sensors work, so I'm fairly sure Io can jam them if we get her close enough, and we can shield the container, yes. So…hmm." Toni frowns. "So it's just us to start with the Avengers for the infiltration, and we leave REACT to come in for support after we've…what's the word, pacified the area?"