2012-09-08 - Invader Skrull: We So Smart!

Calling ahead of time, Iron Man set up an appointment with Mr. Fantastic. He arrives about twenty minutes early though, walking in via the front door after the door man opens it for him. Iron Man actually is already scanning the security systems here, and some of the security systems may just catch that they have been scanned. He stops at the reception area, speaking to Roberta in his computerized voice, "Iron Man to see Dr. Richards. I have an appointment."

There's a 'stretch' as Reed's face shows over across the screen, "Hello Iron Man, please come in. Roberta has given you access to my laboratory on the upper levels if you take the lift." Roberta smiles over then as the elevator opens.

Iron Man nods his metal head, "Thank you Dr. Richards," and then nods toward Roberta, "Roberta." Even if she is A.I. The tin man then walks toward the elevator and steps inside it. He is wary inside, but there is no reflection of that on the outside other than the fact he is relying solely on his internal environment controls rather than accepting outside environment influences. A self-protection method 'just in case'.

As Tony goes up to the top floor, he gets a casual wave over from Ben as Ben ambles on towards him, "Hey there Tin Man. Reed'll see you in his office. I don't think it's exploded yet this week either."

Iron Man nods toward Thing, "Greetings Mr. Grimm. And that sounds like good news." He then moves toward Reed's office, knowing exactly where it is. "How have things been lately?" Now isn't that unusual? Iron Man being social.

Ben shrugs, "Eh, fair'ish. Matchstick is pining over some new supermodel, Sue's tryin' ta get Stretch's attention, I'm being pooped on by pigeons. And that green girl go around and offer to tie you up?"

Even Iron Man pauses at that, "Excuse me?" He turns glowing eyes toward you. When green girl is mentioned, he thinks of a female Skrull at first rather than a Green Lantern. "I do apologize that pigeons have shared their waste with your unwilling person, but what do you mean by a green girl offering to tie you up?"

Ben shrugs, "She had a rope. Figured you'd be hittin' her up regardless." Ben then grins a stony smirk, "Some gal who was here warnin' us about the new neighbors knockin' on our doors, said she wanted to help check us out for them." A light 'cue' about being checked out for Skrulls as they go into Reed's lab.

Except, Iron Man is not absolutely sure if that means Ben is a Skrull or if he means someone honestly warned him. He has not met the female Green Lantern, nor does he know about the effects of Wonder Woman's lasso. However, he nods, "That was mighty friendly of her to provide a warning." Iron Man then moves to step into Reed's lab, his repulsors already half powered up. The security would sense a higher power level than normal, but that's it. "I assume it the new neighbors were not the friendly kind?" It is impossible to accurately judge Iron Man's thoughts through his voice, as there is no tone inflictions in the computerized voice. When he sees Dr. Richards, he bows his head respectfully, "Dr. Richards. It is good to see you again. It has been too long."

There's a nod from Dr. Richards, "Hello. Ben's no doubt referring to our visit somewhat earlier by a member of the Green Lantern Corps providing warning of the Skrulls. She had a most unique power source.. I do hope she doesn't ind to letting me examine it at some point. She was equipped with some sort of mystical aid that acted like Veritaseum." Truth serum.

"I have not heard of the Green Lantern Corps having such equipment or ability with their rings," and Iron Man has already thought through the possibilities. "So this means either you two are not Skrull, or I have one impressive trap likely set up for me." That is one logical way to look at it. He is option for the prior if the female Green Lantern was really here and truly had some sort of truth item. Though he isn't so sure he wants it used on him. "I came because I have gotten information of such from the new Green Lantern member of the Avengers. You are the only ones I know of with successfully tested equipment to discover the Skrull. Their last invasion like this caused enough damage, it cannot be permitted to repeat, especially so publicly."

There's a nod from Reed, and a frown on his face, "I've been running continuous scans with the equipment I designed from our previous encounters with the Skrulls. The results have been less than satisfactory."

Ben harrumphs, "What Stretch is sayin' is that he's not pickin' them up on it. In other words, they probably figured out how ta shield themselves from it. So we're back to square one."

"Or a false alarm, but are we ever that lucky?" Iron Man has a point there, they are never that lucky.

"So we need to find out how they are blocking it, so we can overcome that. The most effective way to do that is find said manner; obviously that means finding a Skrull first," if they are out there. Iron Man shakes his head. "We are running on luck or some creative problem solving. What is the range of the technology, and the size of it?"

Reed goes on, "Most of the devices I've made are portable, and have an effective range of a few hundred meters." Of course, by 'portable' he means about the size of a Volkswagen. "In theory I could setup a scanner with a larger range, but that would require a far heavier broadcast source to boost the scanning range."

Ben mutters, "Yeah, we got it, gonna need to borrow a cable network."

"May I examine it? I plan on contacting S.H.I.E.L.D., but I had concerns since they were infiltrated last time, and wished to have a way to detect Skrulls first if possible. However, that may not be possible at this time." Iron Man then nods toward Ben, "Your translations are always heart-warming Mr. Grimm," he states in that oh-so-serious computerized voice before turning his metal head back to look at Reed. He has already thought of some ways to potentially expand the range as well if need be, but it could provide a spotty response.

Reed nods over at Iron Man, "Of course. However, I would have to exponentially redesign it for such a high configuration of power.." Reed's musings go to the theoretical level. Tony would no doubt recognize Reed is in the state of doing mental blueprints over for such an upgrade of the equipment.

Ben harrumphs, "This way." Leading Tony over to a large piece of equipment that looks like something out of.. Well, a fifties B-Movie, about the size of a two door car.

The way Iron Man stares at the thing after joining the two it is as if you can see the ... going on above his head. "This is not effective. We need to redefine your definition of portable as well Dr. Richards." A scanner extends from Iron Man's suit and starts to scan the technology. At the same time, Iron Man wirelessly accesses it and starts to evaulate its programming. He is learning the technology, making a record of its blueprint and software system...and also trying to search for any signs of tampering.

Reed glances over at Iron Man, accepting the criticisms of his technology, "Yes, it could do as well with a level of miniaturization. I never expanded it beyond our last encounter with them as they seemed to be giving our planet a berth, and I was caught up in other projects." The technology shows no remote level of tampering or alteration. "It should be simple to construct a unit as a prototype that could, with a boosted scanner, cover the entire New York City peninsula."

"That would be useful if we can find out what is interfering with the device first. I have not discovered any tampering with it directly, so it must be on the outside. I will have Mr. Stark study it for ways to block the readings, and from there we may find our answer if we cannot find it by a more direct route. At this time, I can only speak for the Green Lantern that brought me the warning and Mr. Stark as not being replaced. There are obviously particular reasons that would permit me to know if Mr. Stark was replaced or not, unless the Skrull have discovered ways to mind read since last time."

There is a brief pause, before Iron Man says, "May I borrow your design software and a projector? I may have an idea that will help you make the device smaller, but it would require an outside power source and signal booster." Multi-piece rather than one single device. "If the ideas are useful, you may be able to make improvements upon it."

There's a nod from Reed, "Of course. And it could be any number of things. The Skrulls could have created small jamming devices that each of their agents have incorpordated into their bodies to block them from detection. More worrying is the possibility that they can simply shift their genetics to such a degree that the machine can't recognize them as Skrulls." Reed goes on, "Or that the Skrulls specifically engineered their agents here to such a degree that my machine wouldn't recognize them. Regardless, if we can get a live infiltrator and analyse him, we can hopefully find a method of tracking them."

Iron Man nods, "Let us not borrow trouble at this point, but prepare for the worse." He searches and finds what he is looking for. He unidles a computer screen and rather than type on it which would be difficult with the metal fingers, he accesses it wirelessly and starts operating a design program. Soon enough, he has rough blue prints designed for the device in question, and a booster signal system. Something Dr. Richards would notice quickly however, is a rare technology within it...nanotechnology. "Some of the technology used in this blue print is highly classified. With some tweaking, it would have the potential to access satellites and broadcast its signal across the cellular networks." That is terrifying. "We will just need to adjust to compenstate for the interference when we discover what it is."

There's a nod from Reed, musing, "Of course, what we'd also need is a central sphere to analyse and coallate data. We'd still, even with a mobile scanning platform, need a central array. Even with cloud based computing and analysis, we'd need somewhere to organize the data in one location to coordinate." Reed watches as Iron Man works with the design.

"That is something you will need to take up with Mr. Stark. I am limited on the tools I have access too," the computerized voice states, not revealing the lie due to the lack of tone. "I understand what you are trying to build however, but the details is not something I can create on short notice, this is merely combining your technology with something Mr. Stark has been working on." And there will be a few 'flaws' purposely put in for Reed to discover and fix.

When the design is finished, Iron Man steps back from the work station. "Is this something you can work with?" He then looks over at Ben, to see how he is responding to all of this.

Reed looks over it, musing, "In theory, yes. There are a few flaws in it, but they should be easily correctible. This is all dependent on us discovering how they're blocking our scanners in the first place. We can theorize all we want, but until we actually can discover how, the entire development will be rather stunted."

Ben just stares blankly at the two of the egg heads.

Stark chuckles inside the helmet, careful not to let the sound escape.

Iron Man then nods toward Reed. "Let us hope for the best and plan for the worse. Be on high alert. I will contact the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. If anyone can escape replacement, it would be him." Damn sly fox. "I will also report back to the Green Lantern member we have on the current issues. If they do have a way to force the truth out of someone in the Justice League," which is where he heard the female Green Lantern was from Kyle, "then they may have a core of trustworthy individuals already, while the Avengers are still at ground zero."

There's a nod over from Reed, "That makes it even more dangerous." Reed isn't talking about technology, but on the last statement by Iron Man. "The lack of trust we operate under, the cloud of suspicion we cast at one another. That's the most effective ally the Skrulls have now. So the faster we can restore it, the better we'll be able to face them." Every now and then Reed says something that reminds people of why he's one of the msot respected heroes on the planet.

Ben snorts, shaking his head, "Darn tootin' Stretch. We're the only ones who get to mess with us. Don't worry Tin, we'll knock 'em out of the park again."

"I agree Dr. Richards. This needs resolved quickly." Then toward Ben, Iron Man states, "And this time we need to make sure proper precautions are taken to pervent this from ever happening again. Not only that technology is in place in sensentive places such as hero headquarters and S.H.I.E.L.D., but also to find a way to protect the technology from being discovered how it works outside of a handful of individuals, and to take precautions in ways the signal may be jammed."

There's a nod from Reed, "Unfortunately you are correct. However, the issues with scanning every single person on a continuous basis has factors of difficulty of it's own.. But we can work on resolving those later." Reed offers his hand up.

Iron Man has powered down earlier, and moves to shake Dr. Richard's hand. "I will inform Mr. Stark of our progress and the Green Lantern. We won't let them win and destroy what we worked so hard to build in these trying times." He then pauses slightly before saying, "That reminds me. I wish to create a secure channel for those that have been approved and entrusted with the truth. A way for everyone to communicate, not only with Avengers and the Fantastic Four, but also to bring in the Justice League. I can have Mr. Stark send something over soon that will do the job, if you are in agreement."

There's a nod over from Reed, "Of course." He goes on quietly, "However, logically you are aware that Mister Stark himself is a highly viable candidate for replacement. As are any entities who act in a support position to our teams as well." Reed goes over, "And I take it you have confirmed his identity and species in as many ways as you can?"

"I understand. Jarvis was compromised last time, and it badly hurt the Avengers. There are a number of ways to assist in identifying Mr. Stark, and prevent him from being imitated long-term. However, the item that I can share is that only three individuals have regular access to Mr. Stark's Avenger lab and one has emergency override rights. I have accessed the logs, he has had regular use of the lab with his access codes, and furthermore, he has made good progress on a number of his projects. This is like a Skrull pretending to be you Dr. Richards and managed to make progress on your own projects."

There's a nod by Reed, "Understandable. If I was replaced, then no doubt my double would come up with some sort of excuse for why all obvious progress on my own projects had stopped." He muses, "They would no doubt claim to be working in isolation on some private project or.."

Ben just ahrrumphs, "You two are goin' on like yer the only two in the world left. Stop yer yammerin' and actin' like an old married couple."

Iron Man nods toward Ben, "Our apologizes. We did not mean to get derailed." He then says toward Dr. Richards, "I must be departing to start with the plans. I will also need to decide how to test out my fellow Avengers." Iron Man will then take his leave, and he will forward a special communication code, highly encripted to the Fantastic Four to be used to contact Iron Man with information about this investigation and any delevelopments.

Reed harrumphs, "Ben, I know you of all people understand what we're up against, and how perilous our circusmtances are.."

Ben guffaws, and hits Stretch on the shoulder.

Reed sighs, but allows a half smile to develop, "And yes, I suppose you're right."