Log:Wasp Venom, Scene 13

Wasp Venom 2013/09/17 	 Fox Regan Star Girl Yameen Chen Malcolm

13

Steel's Gym

''Inside the door is a spacious reception area. Directly opposite the entrance is a wide full length window of thick armor glass providing a gallery view into the workout area. To the east is a desk where gym staff check membership cards, schedule sessions and give out information. Next to the desk are vending machines selling snacks and chilled drinks and a jukebox. The west side of the reception area has a pair of old fashioned pinball machines and a holographic Hogan's Alley combat shooting game. Some framed Photographs, a Plaque, and the Gym Rules are hung on a wall beside the gallery window. ''

''The central area of the reception has a half dozen tables and chairs for members who are waiting for their booked session or discussing the outcome. A short flight of stairs leads down to the massive stainless steel door of the workout room as well as doors to the restrooms and changing rooms that are equipped with showers for freshening up after an exhausting practice. An arched opening provides access to the more conventional areas of the Gym, a weight training facility, the exercise room, and a heated swimming pool. ''

The sound of the portal opening over head does attract Regan's attention. Her brow furrows as she analyses the scene through the portal and tries to work out where the portal was fired from by which time she has already been pounced, even with surprise however she's a little slippery to catch completely unaware and manages to pull her arms into a close huddled guard as she is engulfed by flying Fox.

Star Girl comes into the gym, looking about to see who's in.

With the mess prevented, Fox tilts her body to the side to get a look at Regan's face, grinning. Her grip is not too impressive, easily escaped. "Got you!" she declares with a victorious kind of enthusiasm, making escape all the easier as she releases the Regan from her clutches.

Regan's lips compress and she blinks for a long moment before she relaxes somewhat, the tension in her body slowly dissipating as she eases out of Fox's grip. "Hello Fox, how are you?" As the doors glide open she turns to regard the newcomer. "Hello Star Girl."

"Heya!" Star says cheerfully. She nods to Fox. "What's up?"

With what seems to be a minute movement on Fox's part, the blue energy field above Regan dissipates. A wave is sent in the direction of Star Girl, "Hi," she verbalizes. "Am...awive," she responds to Regan, informatively.

Regan nods slowly to Fox. o O (So, at the point where people have actually come into the gym to hand deliver threats everyone thinks it's hilarious to sneak up on me.) "Good to hear." She comments in a pleasant tone. Straightening, her shoulders rise and fall in a long,slow, exhalation. "So, yes, there's some briefing material you two should see."

Yameen drops down onto the walk outside the gym and subsequently enters the lobby. She does not attempt stealth or avoidance now that the quantity of random passersby is greatly reduced.

Star Girl shrugs as she walks over the counter. "So, it's good to see city is still standing..." She raises an eyelet at Regan's statement. "Hm?"

Upon hearing this briefing material thing, Fox perks right up, attentive upon Regan. Crouched, though rising as she comes to realize that the briefing might include visuals. "Pictures?" she asks, hopefully.

With a wave of her hand, Regan seems to grab the holographic documents on the countertop and throw them into thin air. "Meet Kagisa Adamini, HIVE Johannesburg Assistant Manager, think of her as Bee's analog in Zu." the picture is of a young mulatto woman with the same honey-coloured eyes as Bee. "Miss Adamini's performance has been the subject of recent concern in HIVE and a new manager was recently dispatched to re-establish corporate integrity. The Manager's name is Katsumi Sato." No picture of Sato is shown but a blank outline portrait has her name under it.

"It turns out that the upper elements of HIVE's management structure have a network of shared mental communication. Miss Adamini is however an accomplished telepath and has been able to more deeply access the minds of her colleagues and superiors than is normally possible while simultaneously restricting access to her own." A hand drawn graphic of a man in a Luchador mask stepping through a wall appears. "This is the last available mental image from Miss Sato, the man in the picture would appear to be a super-powered sexual predator called the Creep who is capable of turning himself insubstantial. Miss Sato is now missing and HIVE's attempts to re-establish contact have failed, Miss Adamini seems to be openly moving beyond her executive functions. The authorities in Zu have so far not been helpful."

Chen enters from Bridgend.

"So, HIVE have asked Bee to recover Miss Sato, and as a secondary objective, curtail Miss Adamini's illegal activities. Of course, since Miss Adamini can read the thoughts of her superiors and colleagues HIVE are very limited in their ability to organise an effective response. They have tasked Bee to undertake this mission and she has in turn asked me to be the primary organiser." Regan seems to be delivering some sort of briefing to Star Girl and Fox, she continues the address even as Yameen and Chen enter, greeting each in turn with a nod.

Star Girl folds her arms across her stomach. She rubs her arms. "Ick," she says at the picture of the Creep. Turning to Regan, she asks, "Any idea why Zu isn't cooperating? Is she mind controlling the police commissioner or something?"

Chen waves back to Regan and takes in the sight of the gathering. "Am I interrupting?" she asks.

Fox just nods, listening as Regan delivers the entire briefing, finding the pictures at least helpful more than the words that accompany them. "When?" she inquires, returning to a crouched position.

Star Girl says, "Hey Chen! How are you doing?"

At this point the pictures move. The renegade executive, Kagisa Adamini moves up and centre, the name of the missing executive, Katsumi Sato moves to the right along with the picture of the Creep. "Not at all Chen this is an important briefing and everyone should be up to speed. Because this is a fight that has come home to roost."

Chen brightens up a little, "Fight?" she inquires rather eagerly.

To the right appears an image of a dark-skinned muscular man in a cowboy hat. "This is Baruta Bezuidenhuit, also known as Penetrator. He is a vigilante from Zu where he is wanted in connection with several homicides. His primary mode of operation is to issue threats based on stabbing people with sharpened nails. He is apparently capable of sneaking past even the most advanced security systems, hence his cognomen." Regan recites from memory. "Two weeks ago he came to this facility to threaten harm against my fiancee if there was any action taken against Zu. He mentioned also having a confederate called Rewind. Penetrator unfortunately suffered a training mishap in which his wrist was badly injured and he was taken away by paramedics. I believe he can either teleport, turn invisible, or insubstantial, perhaps two out of the three. Sadly none of that helped him evade the training accident."

The gathering and presentation raises a number of questions. Most will likely be answered by said briefing, so Yameen remains quiet. Her interest becomes obvious by the fact that she moves much closer to the display and grant it her full attention.

Chen laughs as Regan relates the tale of 'training accident.'

Chen says, "Zu are bad guys, right?"

"Jeez... 'Penetrator'?" Star says. "He deserves an award for how bad that name is."

"No data is available on Rewind other than they have family attending a University we are not supposed to attack. From an encounter Porter had with rogue HIVE executive Adamini, her portrait is highlighted even as her name is spoken, and an un-named female confederate with blue and white hair, it seems the university in question is Stellenbosch University." A map highlights the location of Stellenbosch, on the far side of Zu from Johannesburg. "Miss Adamini and Mister Bezuidenhuit, it's an Afrikaans name, strong Dutch influence, arrived in the US two weeks ago in the company of a young woman named Justin Case." A picture come up. "She would seem to be the woman Porter encountered, she does not seem overly malicious. This mission has been presented to her as an attempt to forestall homicidal aggression by Colonial Bay metahumans against Zu. She is American by birth but seems to be studying in Zu."

Star Girl adds, "I'll have to check with HQ and the official standpoint on Zu..."

Chen says, "Er, I know I've come in half way through your briefing; but is there any particular reason why CB metas should engage in homicial aggression against Zu right now?"

"The final member of the team that we have entry data for is a Sigmund Froth." Another passport photo comes up of a bespectacled Caucasian with white hair and a beard for which adjectives can scarcely do justice. "This may or not be Rewind, at this stage we have not much data on him." She nods to Chen. "I will explain that in a moment. Since the teams arrival they have threatened, myself, Porter, and since neither of those really worked out, a number of softer targets, mostly HIVE personnel." She gestures to the team and moves them to the right hand side. "So we have a team of meta-humans in the city ready to retaliate with lethal force against any incursion against Zu."

Chen says, "You need to deal with them then. Take them out of the picture."

"In Zu, we have a missing HIVE manager, Katsumi Sato. She seems to have been abducted by her subordinate Miss Adamini for purposes that have as yet not been ascertained. The basic mission is the recovery of Miss Sato. Miss Adamini, the abductor, is trying to forestall our efforts to free Miss Sato by installing a retaliatory mission on our doorstep. In my opinion this is a play for time which means the quicker we strike against her the worse off she will be." She nods to Chen. "My plan is to do both. We have the advantage of numbers and local terrain, we strike at Zu and track down and neutralise the retaliatory team at the same time."

Chen says a bit worriedly, an unusual emotion for Chen, "You need to do it soon. Don't ask me why. But if what you've said is correct you may not have much time to take care of them."

"Sneak," Fox suggests, looking up at Regan, then at Chen.

Regan continues. "Senior HIVE executives have unusual environmental requirements that can only be met by specially engineered living areas or vaults." She brings up the technical specifications of one and the schematic of a building with the vault area clearly marked in purple. "This is the schematic of the HIVE offices in Johannesburg. It is also the last known location of Miss Sato. In a perfect world that would be the first place to look for her." Regan's lips compress. "So why are Adamini's team so concerned about Stellenbosch University which is over a thousand kilometres away?" She shrugs. "Good question, and I'm not entirely certain. Stellenbosch is affiliated with the Zu defence force academy which is in a little coastal town called Saldanha. The academy have recently taken delivery of a vault.

"If I were forced to guess I would suggest that Adamini is trying to weaponise the various products that HIVE markets. The honey it sells modifies behaviour, making people more dilligent and productive, perhaps that can be converted into a stricter, more direct form of behiour modification and control." She shrugs. "Perhaps she's marketing it to the Zu military who are unaware that while it will make the military more effective it will also make them more vulnerable to mass control/suggestion/access by Miss Adamini. This is all speculation. Without more information I don't think we can determine for certain." She nods again to Chen and Fox. "Yes, we strike quickly, yes, we use stealth and surprise. Which involves choosing people they don't know about."

Chen says, "I can't... well, won't... go to Zu at this time. But count me in for taking on the people here in the city. What's the legal situation? Are they fair game or do we have to find some excuse to deal with them?"

With a small grin, Fox nods. "Okay." Not knowing about her is normal for most persons.

"So we have two fronts, one here, one in Zu. I therefore suggest two teams. Porter, myself, Bee, and Silver Spider cannot go to Zu." . o O (Because heave only knows what Chandrika would do there unsupervised) "So we will be staying here. I have already recruited a technopath called Interface and a mentalist called Ebon Star to go to Zu. I think however that a few others with more... direct... power sets would be an advantage." She looks to Chen and nods. "So far, there's nothing really legal. They haven't done anything they can't weasel out of. With real work maybe trespass and assault charges but they could equally well charge me."

Chen shrugs, "If you're willing to bend a few rules in view of the seriousness of the threat..." She morphs into a replica of Penetrator, "I can go beat up a suitable local volunteer hero, thus giving justification to take the Zu guys into custody."

Regan switches smoothly to Mandarin, a sequence of soft broad vowels liberally punctuated by a string of sibilants. <> Switching back to English she continues. "But I think that we should wait until we know where they are and what they're up to. If there are warrants out, some beat cop sees Penetrator and tries to effect an arrest there could be unnecessary loss of life. Not likely, but until we have a better idea of the situation best to play it as straight as possible."

Fox looks at Chen with a little wariness, clearly not liking the idea. She does not express in words what she thinks.

Chen shrugs and reverts to her more usual form.

"So for those of you who can't or don't want to go to Zu. These are the people we're looking for and this is what we know about them. Adamini is a mentalist, so be wary. If you come across them or any leads to their current location. I'm usually here." Pointing to the Zu section of the briefing materials. "Anyone who does want to go to Zu, I will be putting together a more detailed briefing later. Let me know if you want an invite. Any questions?"

Regan stands in front of a holographic projection of a number of photographs, maps and documents giving some sort of briefing to Yameen, Chen and Fox.

Fox raises her hand at Regan's query about questions. "Zu," she says. "I...go."

Chandrika enters from Bridgend.

Regan nods. "You would seem to be a good fit for the Zu team, yes." She nods again. "certainly, I'd be very grateful if you could."

Regan stands in front of a holographic projection of a number of photographs, maps and documents giving some sort of briefing to Yameen, Chen and Fox., which Chen is just leaving.

Fox looks thoughtful, and then asks, "How...get...to?" She sits on the floor, looking up at Regan whilst the briefing is continued.

Regan nods. "that's a good question, your gates are somewhat limited in range but I think Doctor Reynarde's aren't and I was thinking of asking him to insert the team. I haven't done so yet, but that was my plan at this stage. If that falls through we might talk to Star Guard."

"Talk to Star Guard about what?" inquires Malcolm, who is just entering at the right (wrong?) time. The tall man quirks an eyebrow as he ambles toward the briefing, smiling cheerily despite his lingering question(s).

Regan's head swivels to regard the new arrival as the doors glide open and she smiles. "I was just briefing Fox and Yameen about the situation in Zu and my intention to task a team with recovering the missing HIVE executive. Fox was just asking about how the team was actually going to get to Zu. My first thought is to ask Doctor Reynarde but if that falls through Star Guard should be able to help out."

Fox nods once, seeming to understand. Her attention turns as Malcolm arrives, a wave given in greeting.

"So were there any further questions?" Regan looks from Fox to Yameen to Malcolm. "Insights, ideas, epiphanies? Really, the Zu team is going to have to make its own decisions once it's on the ground and getting intelligence. Any firm planning is going to have to wait until we have a better idea of where Sato is and what Adamini is planning. Trying to cover all contingencies remotely is counter-productive."

Fox shakes her head slowly. She had just intended to improvise, being not the greatest of strategic thinkers. Nor a passable one.

"Makes sense to me," replies Malcolm. He offers a smile and a shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets after waving to Fox. The tall man leans against a convenient object as he regards Regan and the others thoughtfully for a few moments. "My only real question is how much terrain can the team cover at top speed, which could be a major concern given the situation."

"Ultimately that's going to depend, Interface and Fox can both move quickly when the need arises, I have no idea how quick across the ground our mentalist is going to be.

Regan replies

"Point taken," replies Malcolm. Even so, he looks terribly thoughtful. Malcolm continues leaning against that convenient object and mulling something over in the back of his mind.

Fox opens up a blue portal on a wall nearby, and an orange one on the opposite side of the room. "Go...vast," she says confidently.

Regan nods. "Those things have significant range and they can be used by others, so as long as the mentalist stays close by Fox she can't be too slow.... Interface can rocket when the mood is upon her."

"I'll have to come up with something to improve my own movement rate," comments Malcolm. He offers a grin and a shrug, "Can't be too hard to do, right?"

Regan smiles softly. "I don't think any of us can tell you you can't do something. Each of us already laughs at the laws of physics in some way or another. In some cases in multiple ways."

Fox shows a small grin. "Need...attorney."

"Pretty sure I laugh it in a lot of ways," comments Malcolm, gesturing with a metal tendril that emerges from under his shirt collar. It bobs around for a moment or two before disappearing under his shirt again. "Still need to figure out how I can do something before I can do it though."

"Fortunately physics doesn't seem so big on prosecutions or litigation." Regan smiles. "But you, to start with you might try seeing if you can glide. Combined with your vertical leap it seems like a good way to cover territory and ought to be a n extension of powers you already have."

"Yeah. Star Guard taught me the flying squirrel thing a long time ago. I can't glide very fast though," replies Malcolm. He offers a shrug and a smile, adding, "I've been thinking about experimenting with trying some moving parts... I mean, I've got mobile cables now. May as well see if I can't do something interesting with them, right?"

Regan nods. "You could brachiate. It would be on a slightly different scale from what lemurs do but the same general principle. I'm not certain about mechanical flight but you might be able to you electromagnetic force."

"You think Zu's built up enough for that to be a viable form of fast movement?" inquires Malcolm, cocking his head to one side. The tall man considers Regan seriously for a moment, mulling things over.

"I could work up some gravity reduction field to help your ability to glide or fly for longer distances." suggests Interface as she steps into the gym.

Regan nods. "The major cities, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, are all pretty urbanised with large section newly built up. Of course in rural areas it's not as useful an option."

"Hey, Interface! We were just talkin' 'bout you," calls a cheery Malcolm, head swiveling as he hears her voice. The tall man smiles brightly, "All good things, I assure you." Grinning, Malcolm looks back at Regan, nodding thoughtfully. "I'll keep that in mind. Good to know," he remarks.

Pausing just inside the door, Interface raises a brow behind her faceplate. What everyone -can- see is that her head tilts just a little bit to one side. "Pardon?" she inquires in her digitized voice.

"Malcolm was just asking of cities in Zu are built up enough that brachiation might be an option.

"Malcolm was just asking of cities in Zu are built up enough that brachiation might be an option." Regan explains. "He wants to be certain he's not going to slow down the Zu team. Which you three are all in." She smiles from Fox to Malcolm to Interface.

Fox presents a greeting wave to the armored one, herself sitting on the floor near Regan. "hi," she bids.

Smiling, Malcolm looks back over at Interface. "I'm teasing. Regan was just giving a briefing on the Zu mission. I had asked about movement rates of the team and she assured me that you and Fox were very mobile."

Malcolm pulls a hand from one of his pockets, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry. Guess I'm still bad at collegial jokes," he apologetically intones.

"Then... my ears should not have been burning?" asks Interface as she steps further inside and lifts a hand to wave to Fox. "So, I am working on a limited emissions flight system to go with my stealth field. Do I have time to finish that before we go in?" she asks towards Regan.

"That all depends on orders of magnitude. We have a few days I think. But no more." Regan answers. "I'll try and set it up so you can talk directly with the mentalist, that will make it easier to coordinate."

"My only worry when it comes to stealth is if they have gravitic detection sensors." offers Interface. "I don't think that I could hide the distortion effect that my impeller drive uses, or of most of my combat systems." she says almost absently as she looks off into space briefly.

The orange and blue coronas that surround the two portals on opposite sides of the gym are indicated by Fox. "Vast...escape," she suggests. "Hide. Ready."

Regan nods. "Well gravity perturbations are only really going to be picked up by university's and observatories with high level gravimeters." She shake her head. "The military aren't too interested in that sort of thing as a real time detection network."

Thoughtfully, since he has his hand out of his pocket anyhow, Malcolm rubs at his chin. He has the look of a man contemplating a patently crazy idea. Malcolm looks over at Interface and inquires, "How do you feel about hovercycles?"

"Well, perhaps I should develop a working sensor with real time functionality, and make it small enough to be of interest... I would wager it could make a decent amount of money to be used as capital for more modifications."

"Hover... cycles?" asks Interface as her voice trails off.

"Well I used to be quite keen on them until one of them broke my heart." Regan comments with a heartfelt sigh before blinking. "Um... how am I *supposed* to feel about hovercycles?"

Helpfully, Malcolm points at himself as he elaborates(?), "Motorcycle mechanic. I could get some high-end hovercycle systems in a hurry." Glancing over at Regan, Malcolm arches an eyebrow before asking, "BMW Sky Raven? 2067 edition, I'm betting?"

"A lady never tells." Regan responds smoothly. "You would be taking them with you to Zu or riding them to Zu?"

"Well, it is not as if I need such modes of transport personally. But there are many methods we -could- use to transport ourselves. Perhaps if we could get into the country with a single method instead of simply having everyone do it on their own." Interface shrugs and looks to Regan for a long silent moment.

Faintly, Malcolm smirks at the questions. "No, no. If you're really concerned about detection by grav-sensors, what's less detectable these days than some hovercycle motors? Strip 'em down, machine them for use with your suit, and install them. That's probably a day, day and a half of work." He may not be entirely aware of upgrades.

"For transportation to Zu I was considering asking Doctor Reynarde or Star Guard. In either case transport within Zu would have to be sorted out by the team on the ground so you guys might like to consider what equipment you might need to take with you and what you might be able to buy." Regan comments

"Oh, I am not so much concerned that they may have such detectors, as just theorizing what to do on the off chance that they -do-." suggests Interface, "Plus, it might be difficult. I would have to reprogram the nanobots to break down such an engine into molecular components, and then reconstruct it. Trust me, that would take weeks."

"Right, I forgot about the nanobots," replies Malcolm. He starts to say something else, but pauses for a good ten seconds as he slowly looks over toward Interface. Working his jaw uselessly for a few moments, Malcolm finally manages to inquire, "... Nanobots?"

Regan nods. "Nanobots." She echoes. "They're genuinely remarkable." Inclining her head to Interface. "The suit itself is a technological marvel but the nanobots take it to an entirely new level of jaw dropping."

Blushing inside her helmet, Allison just shrugs her armored shoulders. "Yes, every time the suit is deployed now, it is constructed by nanotechnology." She lifts an arm and as a panel slides back in the forearm, a quickly constructed weapon materializes on said arm. It was mostly constructed in advance, but the parts are shifted about so as to fit properly. "I did not like the idea of the suit ever being stolen again, or ACRO having access to it, so I internalized it all."

"That's brilliant," replies Malcolm, sagaciously nodding at Interface and Regan. A few moments later, Malcolm shrugs, "We could still pick up some hovercycles in nation. It would help us keep a lower profile," he notes thoughtfully, "Plus it wouldn't take long to find and buy some beaters. Between the two of us, it'd probably take even less time to soup them up into something useful."

Regan nods. "You are the guys who are going to be on the ground. If you want I can put you in touch with the mentalist and you can work together on a plan of action and how and where you want to do things."

"Well yeah. Also, it means I don't need to transport the suit in a giant suitcase or anything. I can construct it wherever and whenever I need it. But also... much of what the suit used to do to enhance myself... physically, senses, etc... is all internal whether I am armored up or not, so that might give us a bit more of an advantage. Also, with the nanobots inside, I can interface with tech without having to be armored up too."

"Right," concurs Malcolm. He shrugs a little bit, returning to leaning against a conveniently placed object as he regards the others.

Fox picks herself up, stretching. "Tired," she murmurs, then slips out to find what place of bedding she will utilize.

"So just to refresh, the second vault suitable for the missing HIVE executive was received by the Zu defense force academy shortly before she went missing. It is tempting to see a connection and to see this as symptomatic of Adamini's endgame. She is colluding with the Zu military. The question is, is she exploiting them, or operating in partnership. I suspect that the answers lie in Sandalha somewhere and that with a mentalist and technopath it shouldn't take too long to get a solid lead you can follow." Regan opines.

"Night, Fox," comments Malcolm, waving to the retreating vulpine. He looks back over at Regan, nodding as he listens to the summary. "Sounds like a recipe for an interesting mission," Malcolm opines, "The real trick's going to be running under the radar where we don't fit in. Do any of us even speak the language?"

Regan looks to Malcolm. "The official language of Zu is English, Afrikaans and members of the Bantu family of languages are widely spoken but everyone speaks English."

"Well that's... Surprisingly helpful," replies Malcolm.

"The English fought a couple of wars for the right." She shrugs. "In England we learnt about them in history class and we play them at cricket, rugby, netball and so on. They speak with a pretty distinctive accent but it's recognizably English." Regan adds in a more moderate tone.

"I should've paid more attention in history then," replies Malcolm, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "It sounds more interesting now than it did back then though."

Regan nods. "I like history too, in England it's taught a little funny, separate from geography, as though it's possible to learn about the history of a place without knowing what it's like or where it is."

"But yeah, English with a capital E. I'm sure our accents will stand out. That was why -my- thought was to go in as a civilian for legitimate business." offers Interface with a shrug.

Regan says, "Well, that offers convenience, but it risks alerting your opposition. Nonetheless the decisions will be yours to make when you're on the ground." She shrugs. "If you've got the chance I say access the information while talking to as few people as possible but maybe subterfuge is the way to go."

"Well, I am not an infiltration specialist. I'm a brain in a jar, so to speak." offers Interface, "If you advise as little contact as possible, then I'll go with that suggestion."

Regan holds up her hands. "You guys will have eyes and ears on the ground, I'll be half a world away. You know you're own strengths better than I do. Do not treat my judgment with undue reverence, I am just as likely to be wrong."

"Infiltration isn't exactly my stock in trade, but I definitely agree that low key is the only way to fly on this one," replies Malcolm.

"Yeah, see I've just always operated under the theory that if one expects something, then do the opposite." With a shrug, Interface grins and says, "Okay Malcolm, you and I should go someplace private so we can really compare notes on what we can do, what we can't do, and anything else that needs to be covered."

"Good idea." Regan agrees. "The two of you need to get a clearer picturer of how the team will work and what it will be capable of. Fox also expressed a strong interest in going, and you'll have your mentalist."