2015-02-26 - It's Only A Test

A call went out recently, not an emergency call. Just, to all major teams in the area. They requested that each team please send one of their more experienced and more powerful members for a research issue, on this date and at this time. A scientist in white is waiting at the door with a clipboard, prepared to explain, when the heroes arrive.

Assuming any choose to come. It is, after all, voluntary.

Floating through the air otherwise, on a patrol and heading to the north to assist over with blizzard duties, Koriand'r is quite happy to otherwise put off. She might not feel the cold, but she doe snot like it either then. So, the situation in the frozen Maine not a priority, she heads to STAR Labs on an inquisitive sidequest.

Kara Zor-El had been helping a potential new Titan earlier. Some sparring that had ended, when she got the call. And while she wasn't 'in the area' - when you have superspeed, 'in the area' is a pretty malleable term. So when her new friend decided to take a break, Kara took one too - off to Metropolis. A short 'zoom' later, and she was landing in front of STAR Labs, looking for the scientist in question.

As a member of a team that has always been in need of good PR when possible, and as one of the less volatile members thereof, Bobby drew the short straw. The phrase 'you owe me' may also have come up. Which is how he ends up being the one to fly over to STAR's building. Though in his case, that entails piloting the Blackbird and things like landing clearance on STAR's helipad. When that is taken care of and he emerges from the jet, there is the somewhat rare sight of Iceman's actual X-men uniform. Usually, he ends up going straight from civies to iceform. The scientist framed in the doorway smiles professionally as the people arrive. He raises his hands, motioning them to places they can land if they are flying and, after he's given some time to let others arrive, welcomes the three.

"Thank you. I am Doctor Atreides, no relation to anyone on television or in popular media that I am aware of. If that's everyone, please come in. We have refreshments of course, and thank you for your time. I try not to assume, so for the record may I have your titles that I can jot you down under for the tests?"

Starfire watches over and then cheerfully inquires, "Do you have mustard milkshakes? For they are wonderful and I would enjoy very much some." That particular combination over of things might make even the strong stomatched Bobby Blanche before anyone else could warn him..

Kara Zor-El sees that Starfire and Bobby (aka Iceman) also came to this ... whatever it is.. testing? She'd meant to respond to past requests by STAR Labs, but something would always come up. "Hey Bobby. Hey Kori." she says before saying to the scientist. "Oh ... okay." She wasnt used to having to tell people her 'codename' - especially at STAR Labs. Kara Zor-El, Supergirl?"

Bobby considers for a moment, then shrugs, "Pretty sure you guys have a file already, so what the heck. Bobby Drake.

A.k.a Iceman" He pauses, shrugs, "Just call me Bobby, it's easier. And please tell me your name isn't Paul."

Dr. Atreides jots down names where possible, putting Starfire down as 'mari' and leads the way inside. "For your information, so you don't think we're wasting your time, STAR labs contacted you regarding their incarceration and rehabilitation team's recent progress. To put it simply, they believed they had issues with holding super-villains once they had been captured because of flawed information on their powers. It's very difficult to set up a holding facility for someone with no real idea what they can do."

"You'll notice I refer to STAR as them. This is something they wished an impartial tester for, so it would be legally and scientifically blind. STAR scientists have been working for some time on becoming able to accurately test super powers of varying types, from physical to energy to pheremone-based, with actual relatable numbers."

He leads the way down white corridors, as a couple of the janitors and a doctor wave to Supergirl in passing, and a LOT of people stare in open admiration at Starfire and Bobby. Not your usual sight even here.

Starfire looks cheerful, "The mustard must flow!" Yes, she will get it then, floating along after the others then and goes along then as she glances over at Supergirl. "And given it is not an emergency, I do hope that you are not otherwise suffering from long term maladies.." Most of the time Kory's been to STAR Labs are on the level of 'THINGS ARE EXPLODING' or 'GORILLA GRODD ANNOUNCES WORLD CONQUEST'.

Kara Zor-El follows Dr. Atreides along with Bobby and Kori, leaning over to Bobby as they walk to ask, "Why does it matter if his name's Paul or not?" She then looks over at Starfire during her mustard outburst. "O...kay." For the good of everyone in this facility, they should not give the Tamaranean princess mustard.

Bobby tugs at his collar as he walks. He's never quite gotten used to the whole uniform deal. Too much time in ice form. That and being in uniform without any thing obviously tyring to kill or maim him or defame his species is kind of weirding him out. He answers, "Yeah... containment's always a bit of an issue, I guess. THough I'm not sure hvaing uss helps you get accurate supervillain info. I mean, superhuman holding cells usually are pretty case-specific in my experience. Don't let Juggernaut get moving, don't let metal near Magneto, clearly label who's in the cell and make it totally sealed for Mystique. You know, that sort of thing."

The doctor pauses by a small room, motioning inside. He seems to be keeping an eye on Starfire, though that could either be because of the outburst or because of her usual lack of anything resembling an outfit and normal human male hormone levels. On a table inside are drinks, snack foods including some very well made croissants and a bottle of mustard which is actually JUST being picked up by a caterer. yes, picked up. The caterer didn't expect it to actually be wanted.

"If it matters, my name is Miranda," the male doctor Atreides says. "I try not to let it interfere with my professional work and generally go by Doctor if possible. Are you in fact suffering from any long term maladies at the moment, Supergirl?"

Dr. Atreides motions past the table, allowing free reign on the snacks of course. "There are always similar issues, Mr. Iceman. For example, the FISS set of powers is the most commonly occurring power set, that being flight, invulnerability, strength and speed. Though there are several who share other power types. Ice, for example. Being able to guage whether we need to use the force field restraint walls or not is often helpful."

Starfire glances over at the good/not good/likely secretly a supervillain in disguise doctor cheerfully, "Is there mustard over at the other side of it? And why does it sound over like someone is blowing out a candle?" As the 'explanation' is made Starfire pouts. "But it does sound much that way when one is blowing out a candle.." Otherwise going over to the refreshments and nibbling on them happily. The Princess is satiated.

Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "Not really - I havent really gotten sick since I've come to Earth. You know, except for encounters with kryptonite. And... we didnt usually get sick on Krypton either, to be honest." She shrugs, not blinking at the name Miranda for a man. She heads into the room with the others, and heads over to get a croissant.

"Oooh, croissants. Much nicer than my typical day."

The corner of Bobby's mouth twitches up, but he does not make any comment on the man's name. At least directly. He does say, "Well, at least it's not Jessica?" Another reference ironically lost on the people actually from other planets. Beyond that, he actually tries to obey the direcive to be on his best behavior for this. Food does rapidly get his attention though, and he snags a croissant before saying, "Ok, so, makes sense, I guess. So, what do you need us to do. Uh, and do I get it in writing that I'm not responsible for damaged lab equipment?"

Starfire looks over at Bobby, "Who is Jessica?" Given the way Starfire looks one is probably going to assume that the first person coming to the bandersnatched alien girl's mind is likely 'Rabbit' before she looks over at Bobby, and then holds out her mustard slurpee and shakes it, seeing if he will give more ice for it for her to crunch on.

Dr. Atreides looks at Starfire for a moment trying to figure out exactly how she got a mustard slurpee, then apparently writes it off as unimportant and mildly gross before getting back on topic. "Healthy, excellent. Or as excellent as necessary, I assume you're all used to making your own judgement on what you need to be to do a job. Please, come into the lab."

Inside the lab is a plethora of equipment. "You will not be judged on damage done to appropriate equipment, Mr. Iceman. If you chose to freeze our coffee machine or make a similar choice to use your powers inappropriately, that would be another story, but if you manage to overcome the devices designed to accept your particular...idiom of ability, we very much deserve the reprimand for poor design. Though," he glances at Starfire and Supergirl, "We believe we have prepared for such contingencies. Who would like to go first? We do have files on you all so have a vague idea of your general power groupings, if not a gauge of your levels. We would like to test our equipment with your powers, to be direct about it."

Kara Zor-El looks at Starfire then Iceman, then murmurs to Starfire, "You want to go first? Don't know how you drink that stuff..."

Kara Zor-El munches on her croissant.

Starfire nods over and goes to lick over at her fingers of some of the donut, while still looking over at Bobby and trying her best to convince him to refill the ice. That was what he was useful for! Otherwise, she was quite happy to look over at Supergirl, "Are you going to break it?" Again. Like the last half dozen times STAR labs tried to measure her powers?

Bobby eyes the cup being held towards him without comprehension, having taken the 'mustard milkshake' thing as a joke, unfamiliar with the peculiarities of Tamaranian tastes. It's only when he realizes there's iccubes mixed in the mustard that he gets something approaching a clue. He points at the cup, there is the usual 'special effects' in the air (mostly fog) between him and said cup, and then the mustard goes to a semi-frozen state actually akin to a milkshake. As a hero with long and often painful experience, he takes a moment to show he's smarter than he seems.

"Jot to check, you're testing powers themselves, not power origins, right? I mean, you're not going to go for one of those 'shut down all mutant powers' things on me, or pull out the little green rocks for Kara?"

Kara Zor-El rolls her eyes and gives Starfire a light, littie shove forward. "Kori's volunteering to go first." Then goes back to munching on her croissant.

Glancing at his clipboard, the doctor who may or may not be a supervillain frowns. he changes the name 'mari' to 'kori' with a scribble, shaking his head, then says, "Someone seems to have been playing a joke on me because there are figures on here that I didn't put on, but they seem reasonable to start with as a metahuman setup. Given that we are unable to really test speed indoors, would you start with basic strength then Miss Kori? Step into the press and lift until you are unable to lift any more. The weight exponentially increases with height using a miniature black hole."

He does not appear to be kidding.

Starfire looks over, "I am?" Glancing over at Kara, still sipping at her mustard shake, "Thank you Mister Man of Ice!" Otherwise, glancing over then at Doctor Atreides, before shrugging, "Uhm, are there not more efficient methods of making it other than a hole which eats much? It is much better to leave other things around for the rest of us to eat!" Otherwise, Koriand'r finishes her milkshake, her donut, and then heads in to test and push.

Bobby coughs a bit at the phrase 'miniature black hole', very nearly taken out by the refreshments before the testing even begins.

As Dr. Atreides watches, he explains. "Overall, a villain placed in this arena will try to stand up and remove himself from the encasing. Without any need for additional products, this will test their strength as they try to escape, and has an overhead limit so high that it would take a planet to actually move it. So we can test someone for lifting strength AND flight power without serious issue. Thank you Ms. Mari. You rated very highly indeed, thank you for your help. If you wish your actual power level it will be available at any time."

Starfire is the more martial of the duo, and is quite happy to toherwise punch and brawl over against things then, and is more than happy to engage with the equivalent of a punching bag then. Otherwise, she goes over to harrumph then and gives an assessing nod then over as she geos in for the attack. In her case, it's not so much a flyby as it is a series of quick run and guns - fast jabs back and forth zigging and zagging, falling back over in her engagement then to simulate running and weaving, dodging and striking back.

There is a nod over from Koriand'r, and otherwise she goes over to position herself as she was requested. She moves over to underneath the machine, testing it as it pushed back against her. She flushed, her eyes glowing as she wnet to push back up and over against it. Presisng, pressing.. About five hundred tons. Not bad, but not near her best.

Dr. Might be a villain smiles as Starfire steps to the next area of strength testing without prompting. He nods, trying to keep up, and smiles at the enthusiasm Kory is showing. "Excellent. and I really mean that actually. Thank you for showing concern for the equipment, but seriously they built it to take a meteor strike. One, your best shot please. We need to really seriously test this gear. While we're at it, Mr. Iceman, could you try either the lifting apparatus or the temperature resistance bands? To your left, I assume they would likely be more your style."

He pauses, motioning to Supergirl, and says, "I have specifically not been told anything about your power levels. We do have a third station for simple heat generation. What we're testing for there is how FAST the heat can be increased, so we know what levels to protect against. The material itself will never melt, not even in a sun, but it can become brittle if brought to temperature at enough speed. So it needs a thorough test by powers. If you could assist?"

Bobby walks over to the indicated bands. "Guess it's time for my part of the show." Getting in the spirit of things, he shifts to his ice form before putting his wrists in the bands. And then he focuses on sucking every bit of heat out of them as quickly as possible. Which is saying something for a man who has on at least one occassion helped to stop a nuclear meltdown. Even should the bands hold p, there's some side effects on the air around them that's probabbly going to end up with his hands in an ice block.

There is equipment for both Iceman and Supergirl. Iceman's gear appears to be a tube that extends into the distance with bands inside. The tubes allow excess temperature issues to diffuse into the distance along with any accompanying forces, and the bands are iso-thermetic wire mesh that are designed to fail in very specific patterns based on temperature variances.

In front of Supergirl is a heat-shielded portal which has inside a sheet of silvery metallic material. The portal appears to be literally to another place on the planet, allowing heat to be truly intense inside with only small feedback through the small entry area. The sheet of metallic substance is, as suggested, temperature-null metal.

Kara Zor-El looks at the metal. "Okay.... so... start at an average temperature then ramp it up?" she asks as her eyes glow red and fire out twin beams of focused heat on the metal sheet, roughly equal to around 4200 degrees. She then focuses the heat vision on the metal sheet and quickly ramps it up - to... several million degrees. "Just mentioning I don't really know the upper limits. I don't want to go above 13 million though because I think there's a risk of igniting the immediate atmosphere at that point."

The bands that are inside the tube crystalize under Bobby's icey blast. The fact that he is sucking the temperature out instead of throwing ice shows a mastery of his element that gives the test a real run for its money, and the bands structure beginst to fail as required for accurate measurement. Unfortunately it is very, very difficult for that kind of test to be seen by the human eye.

Dr. Atreides says, "Score on Ice Level, yes I'm a gamer shush, ninety nine percent. Actually 99.95216p, but very close to absolute zero in one point two seconds. Thank you sir. STAR labs thanks you for your cooperation in this matter and ...seriously, wow."

He does raise his hand as Supergirl asks her question, saying, "Actually it was the speed of increase we...needed tested..." he seems to be trailing off as he watches his numbers rise. "Stop please miss. That's fine, thank you please, you're starting to melt the temperature-null metal. Which is impossible." He whacks his board to make sure it's working right. "Yes, you've melted our temperature null metal sheet."

Starfire is currently just watching now then. At this point, she takes a moment while everyone is distracted.. YEss..The snack table is left unattended!

With a quick /zoom/ as soon as hse's nto being recorded any more, she's off like a lightbolt, going to grab and laod up on as much of the cake, croissants, and donuts as possible! ALL THE CHOCOLATE IS HER'S!

Kara Zor-El pauses and stops her heat vision. "Sorry! I thought you had said it was going to be able to resist the core of the sun so .... you know... I just figured I'd ramp up to that level" Kara says apologetically. "How are Kori and Bobby doing on their tests?"

Bobby walks over to where Kara was testing, and sollidifies the bubbling slag before it has a chance to start eating into the floor and go China Syndrome, coming rather mind-acchingly close to violating several laws of thermodynamcis in the process. He then de-ices and grins at the doctor. "Well, I had to keep it focused. I didn't want to, you know, freeze the rest of the building or anything."

The doctor seems to be trying to catch up, his tests not holding nearly as well as advertised. "I was informed that it would be able to withstand ANY heat, miss. And Mr. Iceman, you have officially destroyed the matrix of the bands...please both of you tell me you're NOT the average we're going to be having to incarcerate. Neither test material would hold either of you. Luckily the power test is holding, with several hundred THOUSAND tons of force. Terrifying."

Running his hand through his hair, the doctor glances up at the sound of food. "I..take it Ms. Kori is finished with her test, perhaps someone would like to try the strength? I'm not certain I can judge if it will hold at this point, but a person has to have faith in science at some point."

Starfire is happily spending what otherwise would be a demonstration of superspeed under ordinary non-test circumstances to decimate all of the snack cakes. The HOstess Fruit Snacks have met their end then as she happily finishes up the rest of htem.

Kara Zor-El pauses. "I'm pretty sure I'm not the average, yeah. So... um... what should I do on the strength test thing? Same thing Kori did?"

The strength trainer is a lifting platform, as self-explanatory as it gets. You stand under it and lift. There is a pressure sensitive plate next to it that allows for striking. "We have in fact tested it on some of your...more impressive powers in the past. Superman broke the last one. I am assured he won't break this one." The doctor seems content with the test's ability to at least not get destroyed. For once.

Looking to Bobby, he adds, "The government of the United States would like to thank you for cooling that, by the way. That should not have melted."

Kara Zor-El smiles apologetically again, then smiles at Bobby as well, before nodding a little and walks under the lifting platform. "Okay so... just put my hands up on it and push up, Doctor?"

The doctor nods his head. "It is designed to have no choice. A criminal would stand under it and attempt to get up. Use your hands if it gets high enough to go over your head, you'd need to do so. Or fly if possible. I am not allowed to state the weight you will experience, but if you allow it to lower the weight will decrease to manageable levels automatically. You can not be hurt by the machine."

As he's waiting, the doctor takes a moment to go over Bobby's ice work. The tube itself is...untouched by the cold. Which is really, really odd. "How did you manage to get the temperature to ONLY affect the bands? That control shouldn't happen. We set this test up to be able to absorb overflow."

Bobby grins like a little kid. "I've been called a lot of thing, Doc, but 'average' has never been one of 'em. And, well, it's a little hard to explain. I mean. I kind of..." At a loss for words for once, he shrugs, then he produces a life size ice replica of Kara, the ice totally clear, without any rime of frost or air bubbles. He says, "That shouldn't be possible either, but I do it. The cold and the ice go where I want 'em to, and they don't go where I don't want em. NOw that I'm not focusing on it, your machine will probably equalize like it's supposed to. It's just how I do what I do."

Kara Zor-El nods a little and starts pushing up on the platform, while watching Bobby making the ice replica "Oh that's sweet, Bobby." she says while she keeps pushing upwards with more force than the platform is pushing downwards. First it's at the 500 tons that Starfire had been at. Then it ramps up to a kiloton. Then to 20 kilotons..... then 40, 80, and 160.... before the pushing force needs to compensate the Kryptonian teenager's pushing to half a megaton....

Then to a megaton, then two, then three. "So when did my cousin do this anyway?" Kara asks curiously, not exactly showing any real strain in what she's doing.

5 megatons at this point.

Then 10.

The doctor looks confusedly at the ice sculpture which isn't a sculpture as in the background the catering company gets a raise in pay due to upping its order. Noticeably. Well, STAR labs an afford it. They do however put in an order for more condiments, not usually going through them at this rate. "Henry, check the truck."

In the foreground however, the doctor shakes his head at the explanation, starting to argue that 'ice doesn't work that way' when he glances at the gauges. "One moment sir, sorry. Miss Supergirl, I don't actually know the specifics, but I believe your cousin was here two years ago. I don't work for STAR labs so I don't have much in the way of details. If you're reaching your limit don't hurt yourself."

He notes, able to lift almost as much as superman. But the gauges keep going up, and he frowns at his pad. No, it's still working right. He looks up at the machine. Over. Her. Head.

At which point the machine is forced to compensate with 12 megatons, then 15 megatons... then 18 megatons. Kara shakes her head a little. "Nah I'm okay." she says without really having much strain in her voice about it.Then reaches 20 megatons. "Would you be able to at least tell me what Kal's score was? I'm honestly curious about that - he doesnt talk much about that sort of stuff. I don't think he liked the idea of my having my powers tested. When I first came here he really didn't even want Batman and Diana taking me to Themyscira, though I'm pretty sure it's because he's protective."

At which point Kara is pushing upwards at over 20 megatons worth of force. How much more? That's not clear, since the machine had an upper limit of 20 megatons. 20 million tons. It's also pretty clear that's the limit because the machine is sparking and the framwork begins to crack at that point, stopping being able to give an equivalent counterforce.

At which point the machine breaks into the ceiling. "Oops! SORRY!" Kara quickly says.

Bobby quips to Kara, "I was going to do the Doctor, but you're more fun to look at." He then watches her test, wincing as the machine cracks He turns to the Doctor, "And this is why I asked about broken machinery." He shakes his head, "There's a reason I don't go all out in the Dang... uh, in our training room any more." Kara Zor-El shakes her head, wincing a bit at breaking it. "I wasnt going all out, Bobby."

In a bit of shock, Doctor Atreides looks up at the machine stuck in the ceiling. The food stores for the day are destroyed, the equipment is either melted, sparking or powering down around everyone as a safety precaution as the laboratory electricals start to register on the good doctor's pad as 'small electrical short, please advise'. The lights go down, and the red emergency lighting comes on as he taps the pad to suggest no, we do not need to contact the president. Thank you for asking.

Turning to Iceman, he says, "So I'd call that a very respectable test of the equipment," as the machine falls out of the ceiling with a crash to the floor behind him. To his credit, he barely blinks at that. "I'd like to thank you all for your cooperation, and for your help with this sanctioned test of the STAR labs equipment."

Kara Zor-El winces a little when the machine crashes into the floor behind her. "I don't have to pay for the damage right?" She looks at Bobby, then at Starfire. "Oh great... Kori's eating all the chocolate..."

Starfire has by now managed to clean out the entire table of junk food, and is happily licking her fingers clean. "Thank you, it was deliscious!"

Kara Zor-El pauses, walking over to Bobby as Starfire leaves the table. "Correction. Eaten. Eaten all the chocolate."

Bobby looks at Kara, grins, and gestures to the Doctor as he walks back to the food table. Or what's left of it. His eyebrows raise, more shocked by alen metabolisms than by anything that happened in the testing room. He shakes his head and gestures back and forth between Kara and Kor'i, "You two... superpowers nothing, I know women who'd kill to be able to eat like you guys and look like you guys. Ok, to be fair, they'd probably kill just to look like you, but the point stands."

Kara Zor-El holds her hands up defensively. "Hey... I just had one croissant."

Henry, of star catering company, happily counts his take for the day and gets Starfire's number for his next gig. Definitely need to cater for the Titans next party. Oh yes.

Dr. Miranda Atreides, of General Hu and Long Scientific Division, sends in his vacation request over his pad and considers a new line of work with less danger. Piracy perhaps.

The janitor standing in the doorway just shakes his head. He, unlike most here, remembers Superman's visit. He collects fifty bucks from his friend on the outcome of the evening and starts cleanup in the background, chuckling to himself.

Scientists.