2014-03-26 - Stark Expo: LexCorp

As the participants entered, each was given a swag-bag by Lexcorp - black, with the shiney silver 'L' brand logo upon it. Within? Several treats. A free three-day pass to any of the Lex Hotels. The 18 and over were given also a free gift certificate to Koul-Brau Breweries; the under 18 crowd a free gift certificate to Ralli's Family Restaurants. And all participants received in their package, randomly, either a LX-Phone, a LX-Pad, or the LX-Pod, which has not even been announced yet in full.

And, on cue, the lights dim, and a video begins to play. A soft, soothing female voice entreats: "Lexcorp - paving the way for the new age. Leaving the past behind, and forging into tomorrow," as various scenes from the labs at LexCorp are shown. "Breaking the foundations of medical knowledge," a scene showing a scientist at Lexcorp 'spraying' something like a spray tan on someone who's had half the skin on their arm cut off (it's a clean wound, of course, and not 'gross') and a time lapse showing in less than 48 hours, most of the skin grows back, "Making lives safer," a clip of Secur-Corp Armored Services, "Better," another clip of North American Robotics, "Safer," Hell's Gate Disposal Services and the Sewage Treatment Plant, "Easier," Lex Electric & Waterworks. "Lexcorp. We're making the world a better place. Together."

The video ends, and Lex Luthor himself steps out onto the stage onto the humm of the music as it fades. "Greetings, Malibu." He smiles, warmly. "And welcome to this - Stark Expo." A grin, slow, confident. "My, we've had an interesting time, thus far, haven't we? Some amazing things have been seen, certainly. Comfort. Ingenuity. And, of course, military hardware. But, I'm sure many of my detractors will be pleased to know that my presentation will be short, and to the point."

Natasha Romanova is alone in the front row of the Stark Enterprises section. The seat normally reserved for Tony Stark is pointedly empty, and Natasha herself doesn't look entirely /thrilled/ to be present. Her expression is carefully blank, as she absently glances through the swag bag with no impression of feeling one way or the other about it.

In fact, the only expression or emotion that shows at all is a momentary twinge, and at that she promptly places her hand over her stomach, frowning slightly, before shaking her head and returning her full attention-- as neutral as it is-- to Lex Luthor.

Adam? He's rifling through the bag, pulling out the LX-Pad inside with a curious look before sliding it back in. The hotel pass actually garners some interest from him, but when the man who had plastered him and his uncle and their allies up on the big screen to deride in front of the world says the presentation will be 'short and to the point', he stops rifling and drops the swag bag at his feet, looking up at the stage with something approaching disdain.

Harry Osborn is paying attention. LexCorp and OsCorp, as far as tech advances, run in similar circles, so he's curious. Certainly curious.

Okina Smith was in here a well, having gotten a last minute seat. While many would have liked the seating he got by chance near the front row, he nonetheless looked a bit uncomfortable. Unlike many, he chose to wear his passes around his neck in full view - perhaps the dreadlock-bedecked, skinny-jean wearing non-millionaire (not even a thousand-aire really) stood out so much, he had gotten questioned and searched by security enough times that even he was getting annoyed and so wore his 'right to be here' right in view.

Kara Zor-El is here just to watch. Normally she wouldn't want to deal with being around Lex Luthor, but usually when anything involves him, it's trouble for her, her cousin, Kara, or Kon somewhere down the line. Might as well have a heads up front row for it.

Conner Kent stands out a bit less than Okina, but isn't really among the super rich either, though he's going to college on a scholarship granted by Karen Star, so that could be part of it. The swag back, unopened, finds it's way into the first trashcan he passes, which pretty much says all that needs saying on that subject.

Bruce Wayne is sitting in the front center row of the Wayne Enterprises section, a bored look on his face, toying with his cell phone. He doesn't seem to be paying attention.

But the detective always is, even if he's 'Brucey'.

If people are 'bored', or irritated, or on guard with him being on stage, Luthor doesn't seem to notice. The man -can- work a crowd, no matter how much you hate him. He knows how to charm people, influence them. "First, I'm sure all of you by now have opened up your bags. In them, and randomized, you will find three of the core pieces of Lex Com. The LX-Phone, and LX-Pad have all had improvements to design, and functionality without compromise to cost. But most exciting is the LX-Pod. A new addition. Where other portable music is compromised and compressed for value, and storage - there is loss in the current formats and trade of audio quality. For the discerning customer, the audiophile, or those that wish to listen to the music as it was created, we have introduced the LX-Pod. Capable of a higher fidelity three times that of the current MP3 file. You'll find those of you that were lucky enough to receive the LX-Pod already have the current top 5 albums pre-loaded onto the device. Do enjoy. The LX-Pod is available the day after the Expo."

Lex Luthor pauses, leans forwards, "And while we also have many medical breakthroughs, I want to focus on one, imparticular. LX-Regeneration. It is, as we speak, being sent to hospitals in major cities, and will soon go to their smaller brothers and sisters. LX-Regeneration eliminates the need for skin cultures. Eliminates the need for plastic surgery, in burn or accident victims. It decreases mortality rate in these cases. And, lowers risk of other health issues, infection, diesase, and other factors. Allow me to show you."



As the video ends, "It is real. Welcome to the world that is Lexcorp. But that's not even the best news we're bringing to the table, Ladies and Gentleman. There's one real reason I'm here, tonight."

Okay, the skin stuff? That Natasha can get behind. The consumer tech isn't even of interest to her-- her HoloID functions as a phone and a datapad, and she doesn't exactly listen to music for pleasure very often.

Harry nods at the listing of the tech, pulling out what he got in his swag bag-- ooh, neat, a LX-Pod! He'll look at it in detail later! and then sitting forward, interested.

Adam actually looks somewhat mollified by the medical stuff. That's cool. Burn victims getting healed quicker? Seems like a good idea.

Penelope finishes examining the parts in the swag bag and turns her attention to Luthor. She asks herself, "Are we recording?" Nodding at the unheard answer, she pulls out her tablet and starts jotting down notes. She sits on the edge of her seat, as if this were a AAA thriller.

Mercy shakes her head, slowly, and moves just a fraction. Then, she picks up her cellphone that is on silent. She stares at it, disbelief creasing her features. She looks up at Lex. Then, looks down again to her cellphone. She turns from the crowd, so her lips can't be read as she begins talking on the phone, and shifts just a bit out of the way from the observations of the people within. Certainly those keeping a closer eye on things for their own reasons, those types trained to observe the slightest bit of oddity will find something curious about Mercy's behaviour, if only fractionally.

Okina peeks into his own bag, but the second video caught his attention as he stares, somewhat fascinated but also a bit uncomfortable. He glances down at his scratched arms thoughtfully, then chuckled a little bit and settled back once more to pay more attention, too polite to fiddle with the new toys like some of the others. He crosses one knee over the other to stare up at the well suited man instead on stage, starting to finally relax as much a sore thumb as he appeared.

Kara Zor-El frowns about something, then looks around for Kon, raising her eyebrows a little with a little nudge of her head before looking back at the Exhibition. Bruce Banner is present for this event, again in a suit, very curious to see what Luthor and his company are up to, though he is not fond of the man and his current campaign. He moves to open his bag, but is not going to give the man the satisfaction of a response. Instead, he just stays sitting and watches the bald man talk.

Grant Wa- er, "Noah Carmichael" has to admit the medical advance seems pretty amazing. He does happen to notice Mercy's behavior, though of course gives no outward sign of it. Unlikely they'll be able to tap that phone. SHIELD already knows Luthor's electronic security is fairly iron-clad as corporations go. Unless Luthor -wants- them to find something.

It's unlikely that any eyes are on Conner during the presentation, but any that are will notice his frown does not abate even with the medical miracle cure. He's seen the price Luthor demands for his miracles. "I heard it," he whispers, quiet enough that, with the presentation, you'd need some serious superhuman hearing to pick up on it.

Lex moves closer to the podium, placing his hands on either side, and leans close as if about to share a secret with the crowd that only they were privy to. "Allow me to introduce you to the LX-5 Exosuit." Lex steps back, and plays another video. This one? This one is far more interesting. It shows a group of men, in white and black body armors moving through a cavernous network. As the video plays, the feed seems to be shown in night-vision. "A full-body suit, complete helmet included. We have been developing this technology over the last few years and are ready to implement it's production and use in the real-world. The LX-5 will close the field between what is human and superhuman, allowing military and law enforcement personnel to combat metahuman criminals and threats through augmentation of strength and impact reinforcement and resistance. The suit comes equipped with standard grappling hooks to allow for traversing difficult terrain or within city limits, enhanced vision and on-the-fly targeting, communications, and focused targeting which will allow for a single member of a team to choose a target that the entire unit would focus on."

And indeed, some werewolf like mutant, or meta moves to attack the group from behind, and at first, only the guy from behind seems to respond. But nearly instantly, the others turn. The first guy gets clobbered against the cavern wall; a blow that might've shattered ribs - or a spinal cord. But he gets right up without even hesitation or pain. "It is time that our military men, our law enforcement officers, our firefighters, and the men who serve and protect these lands have the necessary equipment to keep us safe." But the video isn't done there, yet, as the unit raises some pretty fierce looking guns.

"Already have a StarkPad," Adam comments to Tommy. "Guess I'll sell this one or something."

Tommy nods. "Already two steps ahead of you," he waggles his own at Adam before gaping at the video on the screen. "Whoa."

"Capekillers..." Natasha breathes. SHIELD had something similar in the room of toys Fury didn't admit to having, but hell, even 99% of the organization didn't know about the /one/ suit that they never, ever intended to use. Escalation, Fury may have said once.

Her eyes widen in fear for just a moment, before her expression quickly neutralizes.

Norman Osborn taps his son on the shoulder and lifts his brows at the demonstration on stage. This was not what he was told about. He would be on the phone with Rusk within an hour of the end of the presentation.

Harry, however, furrows his brow confused. "Exosuits for cops? Seems smart, I guess," he notes.

Okina shifts a little uncomfortably at this one video, and bites his lip a little. His eyes rove over the video to see if there was a 'actors involved' or some indication it was set up and not Real. He squeaked a bit loudly at the man slamming into the wall, and puts a hand over his mouth as he hunkers down after the noise.

Kara Zor-El does not look particularly thrilled. The last time Lex made exosuits, according to her cousin, the first real user of the suits was one John Corben, who'd later be known as Metallo. Still, it's to be expected. Lex does a lot of business with the military after all.

Mercy appears back towards the edge of the stage, her visage now one of cold detachment. It may be she already knows what the presentation is, but the is not studying Lex with an intent gaze, but doesn't let it slip past her features. There are no 'tells' for the crowd, should they look her way.

Bruce Wayne looks carefully dumb. But internally, he's running through the possibilities. Putting regular people in suits that allowed them to compete toe-to-toe with metas was asking for.. a lot of problems. For metas, regular people, and everyone.

Conner continues his mumbling. "Think it comes in green and purple?" he asks sarcastically, and looks as the guns are raised, his expression tensing in expectation, well familiar with Lex's general standing on metas.

Looks like the Mandroids just became yesterday's news. SHIELD never had enough of them, anyway. Clever though...try to discredit the heroes while offering what seems like a reasonable alternative. Not-Agent-Ward kind of doubts those guns are likely to put down Galactus the next time he shows up though.

Penelope jots down some questions she has for Luthor about the suits as the video rolls. Standardized testing of armor is a lot less flashy than werewolves, but a lot more informative. Weight? Are the suits powered? How much do they cost? How comfortable are they? Who cares how good they are if police departments suffering budget crunches can't afford them? At the last she pauses to look around, "Was I thinking out loud?" only for the part about police budgets.

One of the guns fires, deploying a bright-blue field that Kara and Adam, or students of the Xavier Institute, at least will recognize as electrical discharge very similiar to Noriko's. The creature, the metahuman, or mutant, whatever it is, goes down with a howl, but is hardly dead. The video seems quite real.

"Enter the LX-Suppression Rifle. For the soldier wearing the Exosuit, or regular law enforcement or military unit. The Suppression Rifle is a heavy weapon that has a locking mechanism that attaches to the back of the Exosuit for easy carrying. It is capable of firing an electrical charge with adjustable setting up to 50,000 volts in a single pulse, a cryo-delivery system that can freeze on contact, a netting delivery system, and a gas canister launcher capable of executing up to three different kinds of gas cannisters, with ability to choose which section you wish to discharge -- allowing for on-the-fly change-out, and selection for up to three different agents to be carried at all times, for any situation."

The beast gets up, and while one man punches the enormous creature, knocking it back further, the cyro-gun is demonstrated, a huge rush of cold air (not unsimilar to a Kryptonian's freeze-breath) turns the beast into an icicle. "A non-lethal problem solving multi-tool, that will reinvent law enforcement as we know it."

The video fades, leaving Lex on the stage, giving a moment for it all to sink in. To the ordinary people. To those watching on closed circuit televisions. To the media. To people he knows, in the crowd, are watching him. To everyone. It's a statement. His eyes roam the room.

Okina swallows a few times, looking somewhat distressed at this. He glances this way, then that way, his beads rattling a little before he looks back at the screen, and just hunkers down a bit more, not wishing to cause a ruckus by departing. He inhales a few times and composes his features, taking cues from others around him - trying to look bored, or at least aloof, and failing rather well at it. He folds his arms instead.

Natasha is torn. On the one hand, SHIELD would love to get their hands on those weapons. That armor.

On the other, she knows /exactly/ who its intended to be used against.

Adam stands up, crossing his arms across his chest. He's (as far as he knows) a normal guy, playing in a world of metas. His fist clenches. "You don't /need/ zap guns and stupid worse-than-Stark's suits. Me and Clint get along just fine without it. This guy just wants an army to hurt... or kill... everyone that's different." He glowers. "Let's get out of here, Tommy. He's a dilche."

Tommy scowls as well. "First new Sentinels, now this? Yeah, man. Let's jet." And he grabs onto Adam, and in a quick burst of speed, the two teens leave the auditorium.

"No price tag, so most likely exorbitant. Not for police, but for special anti-meta units." murmurs Penelope, jotting down notes. She watches Lex give the room the lordly once over. "He is good. I'll give him that." But her attention wavers and she finds herself looking across the room to someone looking much less ready to force the world to do what he wants because he says so. Tilting her head to one side she studies the nervous fellow, stylus going back to her pad for more notes.

Kara Zor-El makes her way over to Kon, then murmurs to him, "I'm guessing after this is over, we should be seeing who Lex's number one is meeting up with, huh?"

Again with the Star Trek references....

So this explains Luthor's motive in all the "no more heroes" business. Aside from clearing the way for his own effective world-domination, he gets to make a tidy profit. Still, Not-Ward applauds enthusiastically along with many others in the crowd, looking for all the world like he's just seen something amazing.

It takes some effort to not flash an S-shield and flip his father off, but Kon manages it, if only for the other Kents. He doesn't join in with any applause, his expression neutral and tense. "Fairly common name," he whispers to his cousin.

"As a show of good faith, Lexcorp is donating a total of sixteen suits, where they are needed most. Four, in the following cities. New York." Where SHIELD is. Where the Avengers are. Where the Fantastic Four are. The X-Men. "Metropolis." Kryptonians, anyone? "Gotham." Looks like Harvey Bullock is getting his wish. "And, San Francisco." Hi, Titans. "It will be up to the individual cities to choose whom the men in this video, decorated officers of the US Army, will train in the function and operation of the suit and the Suppression Rifle."

Lex smiles that same self-satisfied smile he oft smiles, when he has the better of Superman, or some other hero, who KNOWS Lex is up to something evil, but the honor code prevents them from doing anything about it. Yet.

"Join Lexcorp. Empower yourself. Empower humanity. Thank you.”

As Lex moves off the stage, Mercy ... does not. She watches Luthor's back for several long moments, hesitating, before moving her hand into her suit pocket. And keeping it there, and following Lex in tow.

Natasha's fists clench in anger. She rises to her feet, forcing her hands to unclench, forcing her expression to remain calm, but as Luthor departs the stage, she begins to make her way out of the auditorium, brushing past Not-Grant-Ward as she does.

"Dang," Banner mutters to himself and does some deep breathing to avoid getting angry, though he probably should have expected these suits to be on his doorstep. "This is not good, not good at all," he grumbles and leans back, keeping an eye on the room.

Okina looks up as Natasha stands, startled out of his own trance. He shifted uneasily again as it seems it was over, bending down to pick up the package that now seemed to weigh a lot more. He stood, bumping into a few suits as the world returned around him. Blinking, the cafe-owner made his way across to one of the main aisles to make his way out. One of his boots catches on someone's shoe "Sorry! " he noted quickly in apology.

"Noah Carmichael" does briefly consider trying to follow Mercy and Luthor. At times, there can be refuge in audacity, but he's not sure he'd achieve any information of value if he did, and would blow a perfectly good cover identity. Natasha brushes by him, and he gives no sign of recognition, just a murmured, "excuse me" as he steps back to let her pass. He waits a few moments, and then starts to file out with some of the rest of the crowd, oh-so-coincidentally in the direction Natasha headed.

Bruce Wayne notes Stark's woman departing, and even the momentary showing of anger from her. He isn't entirely surprised-- as he understood things, she was one of the Avengers, and he couldn't blame her.

Right now he wished he was hitting Luthor squarely in the jaw, himself. Gotham was /his/ goddamn city. He was the goddamn Batman. He didn't want or need this man's 'help' or escalation of firepower. He demanded the other supers stayed out of his city to protect it. He knew what escalation would bring-- more death, more suffering.

"Damn him," Bruce mutters, before rising to his feet as well, half-heartedly joining in the applause to be polite.

Swag is stashed back in the swag bag, and the tablet is slippd back into her clutch before Penelope stands up to join in the applause for Lex and his demo. Then some fellow stumbles over her tiny feet. She makes a grab for him to make sure he doesn't fall, and her swag bag falls to the floor in the process, "Hey! Careful! I've only got two of those, I can't afford to lose any of them." Feet that is.

Asia totally over slept and is now wandering around the expo this time she is joined by Daisy her robot Companion who is the shape of a little rag dog. Asia made jarvis get her, she couldn't stay gone that long without her. She also was busy making more business cards and she has a knapsack with the word 'Briefcase' written in various sized letters and colors on them.

Catching himself on the lovely Penelope he had tripped over, Okina straightens up, going a bit red across his cheeks "Nor can I! sorry about that. Maybe I better stand still until more people leave." he responds, bending over only to pick up her bag for her. "... Some announcement eh? Not too sure what to think myself..." he admits, to make conversation.

Penelope smiles at tall thin man towering over her as he stands back up with her bag in hand, "It was an odd presentation. The dermal device didn't seem like something for the expo and the armor and the gun weren't presented as a package. Why not present the gun on its own? The armor didn't impress me at all, not with the details being left out. And guns always will get the military folks excited." She takes her bag from Okina's hands, "Thank you. Probably safer to stand still, Luthor's fan seem to be fleeing in what might easily turn into a stampede."

"I think the Dermal thing was kind of like 'we're not all about guns and violence. But hey, check out this new gun and violent thing I created'. Kind of. Does that makes sense? " the dreadlocked man responds, twisting a few times to keep out of others' way "I suppose the details left out is just for the amount of time for these talks. But then what do I know about it? I paid someone to do my P.R." he chortled. Finally getting near shoved to one side again he scowls, and moves to sit in the now empty chair beside Penelope, safer there in the stampede, indeed. "I'm Okina Smith, by the way. You likely haven't heard of me."

Penny tilts her head back to gaze up at the tall fellow, "Luthor is always thinking ten steps ahead, so I'm sure it was all some clever marketing. I wish I was half as good at that nonsense as he is. Or at negotiating." She shrugs her shoulders, "I liked the skin fixer. But not my kind of science." Bouncing a foot up and down as they speak, she turns to offer him her right hand. "Penelope Porter. Porter Aviation. Should I have heard of you Mr. Smith?"

He offers a hand back to her, shaking it firmly, scratches visible on his arm "I wonder if a spray on 'lite' version for scrapes and such would ever be available, you know? " he shook his head "Not likely. Uh... I'm a self made business man. I own a cafe in New York." he smiled embarrassedly "I probably have the lowest 'value' of anyone in this room, businesswise. "

Conner slips out with the others. "Follow them," he mutters, too quiet for even those nearest him to hear. "I'll catch up." Maybe he should start attending these things in costume.

"A friend gave me free tickets. His partner came down with measles so he and all the tops at his company are under quarantine." explains Okina, and glances about the empty room, then back again "Well, the most up to date tech I have now is the LX-Pod I will admit. I thought there would be more of a 'business side' to this conference and maybe I could pick up a few tips from the more successful men and women in the field to apply myself. What about yourself?"