| DC/Marvel: Age of Infinite Heroes | ||||||||||
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Iron Man calls for a meeting. Captain America misses out, mostly because rejoining S.H.I.E.L.D. full-time once more has been consuming his time lately. Still, when the team arrives, he is quick and efficient with the information as per usual. "Using satellites to track for those usual hover trucks, I found one entering a facility that was already being kept eyes on due to hacked information from Stark Enterprises being transferred there. Of course, all classified data from the company has trace bugs implanted within it. Stark Enterprises is already investigating for a plant in the company," and one can almost feel sorry for that plant when Stark gets his hands on him. The hasn't exactly been known to be even tempered this last year when pushed in a corner.
"I wish to go to this location and investigate it." She-Hulk may notice that he is using an older armor, the Silver Centurion.
However, the suit has radar invisibility, holographic camouflage, and useful defenses in dealing with subterfuge like this. Still, it has been a while since Iron Man has worn it. "If Kensington Young is discovered there, we will need to take her out immediately. She is highly dangerous and suspected to not be in full control of herself. Aim to knock out." He has had time to calm down since he last spoke of Miss Young. Not that he wouldn't take a satisfying punch at her.
Kyle Rayner is in uniform and stands with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'd still like to know what this kid's story is, but I agree with IM. If you like, I've got a couple non-painful ways of waylaying the kid...that is unless you /want/ it to hurt."
She-Hulk frowns. "Okay." She doesn't like having to deal with... As Kyle speaks up, she turns towards him. "That would be the best. The only thing I can do is pin her down physically, and depending on her abilities, that might not do much." If they're physical, then she'll have a hard time getting past a Hulk...
"Electro mutant, she's eighteen years old, and a Junior at Xavier's Institute. Taken in as a runaway, her parents are divorced, and her father is a registered member of the Friends of Humanity." Yes, Iron Man performed research on her. "She would need knocked out. During the theft, she was also carrying a small device that she used her powers to charge before it exploded. It took out a chunk of the shipping warehouse, and we were lucky Stark Enterprises has such high standards in their storage crates. We were also lucky that my body was able to protect the hostages, they only suffered minor injuries. But my armor was ruined. Mr. Stark hasn't finished my new armor, there are still a few missing formulas to complete before it is finished."
That is the latest update, but then the Avengers ID cards beep. "I sent the specs I managed to download of the facility from public records, they are outdated however and could be completely different when we go inside. I also included the specs of one of the robots that was able to be savaged that was also at the shipping warehouse."
Kyle Rayner nods to She-Hulk, then to Iron Man. "I can attempt to take a scan of the device when we encounter the girl. Then perhaps Tony and I can come up with a way to neutralize it should we need to." He frowns a little after hearing a bit about the girl's history. "A mutant..I'd feel bad if we actually hurt her. But I understand that Xavier has his own team for stuff like this. Have we notified them?"
She-Hulk ughs. "I hate electricity manipulators." No matter how invulnerable she is, she still has a nervous system. It wouldn't damage her permanently, but it would hurt. "Well, there's all kinds of explanations. She could have gone bad, she could be being blackmailed by somebody...we'll work it out after we get her.
"I could not see what it was when I reviewed the videos, and did not think to ask Xavier's Institute about it as it did not seem to be something they would create. So we have zero knowledge on that." Iron Man then nods, "I notified them before I notified the authorities. She is registered as missing, and they believe she had been taken by force." Iron Man does not appear to have an opinion on this at this time.
"Let's move out. Are you willing to carry She-Hulk, Green Lantern? This will avoid risk to her lovely flying pink Cadillac." Yes, he went there, in that neutral sounding computerized voice.
Kyle Rayner steps towards She-Hulk and stands close to her. He lifts the hand with the ring on it and they both begin to glow green..well her more than normal. "It would be my pleasure." He looks towards She-Hulk with a smile. "Just relax and let me do the driving." A bubble appears over them both as they lift into the air slightly.
She-Hulk grins at Kyle. "Just don't drop me." The ring-wielder won't have issues with her weight, but he might *notice* that she's heavier even than she should be based off of her appearance. Woman weighs as if she's made of some kind of metal.
Iron Man actually feeds information on the way over of how one can appear invisible to radar, seeing if the Green Lantern can mimic what his armor can do. He keeps low, but just out of easy human sight as he heads toward the location in question.
Flying high overhead the team leaves the boundaries of New York and begin to head into Vermont, following the signal to where the hover truck was last seen, only to realize that down bellow, underneath the tree cover is naught but a small 'lot' with what looks like a garage and a security shack. Strangely, this mostly empty lot seems to be heavily guarded. More of the P.M.C. Iron Man had first encountered, and a few of those strange ovoid headed robots.
Kyle Rayner has his ring analyze the information from Iron Man and it mimics his armor to the point of becoming invisible to radar. She-Hulk would notice that she feels no wind resistance, if it weren't for the scenery flying past them, she wouldn't even be able to tell that she was flying at all. Once they reach the facility, Kyle makes sure to put his ring on the same frequency as the Avenger com system. Moving high above the shack he looks down at the guards and the robots. "Hmm. So, how are we going to handle this? I would suggest the direct approach." Meaning make scrap out of the robots...
"I suggest She-Hulk Smash!" She grins at Kyle, across the bubble. She doesn't seem too fazed by whatever he does with the ring, but that's probably just her personality. She's rather known for not being scared. Of anything.
Down below as the group begin to circle, and likely descend, they might notice something strange. A hover truck pulls up, and from out in the back comes several figures. All seem to be wearing the same uniform, black coats, military style soft caps. The petite one in the front points to one of them and then to the garage, before leading the others into the 'shack'. Slowly, the truck begins to pull into the garage as several guards open the gates for it.
Iron Man tries to shrug inside his armor, but this armor it doesn't work too well with it. In either case, he soon moves to hover over the building, having already doing distance scanning and scanning for any unusual energy signatures as well. He pauses right over the building. He then motions for Kyle to approach him, not saying anything until the Green Lantern has flown up right next to him.
Iron Man's glowing eyes look over at She-Hulk, then back over to Kyle, "You heard the lady, drop her."
Kyle Rayner salutes Iron Man and then nods to She-Hulk. "The lady gets what the lady wants." Still about fifty feet up, he dissolves the bubble holding up She-Hulk and lets her drop like a missile towards the ground. The Green Lantern also descends to the ground and lands with a thud. However there has been a slight change. Draped about his body is a long green trench coat with the Lantern symbol emblazoned on the back. In his hands are twin laser guns. Crossing his arms over each other, he begins to fire at the nearest robot. Who does he resemble? Dante from the Devil May Cry franchise.
Down She-Hulk falls, like a lead weight; crashing through the thin tin roof of the shack, through the thin wooden ceiling and then nothing, a sudden free-fall into an elevator or lift shaft of some kind!
Oh. Oh dear. Apparently this wasn't the best spot. Even a Hulk doesn't want to fall *that* far. Jen somersaults in mid air once in the shaft, with surprising grace, to catch herself against the sides of it. Into her com. "You tossed me down the elevator shaft, Green Lantern." Amusement colors her voice. "I assume there's an elevator in it...somewhere."
Iron Man actually responds over the comlink, "Well, that wasn't in the original blue prints, now was it?" He does not sound surprised, but then again, when does a computerized sounding voice ever sound surprised? Iron Man then soon drops down after She-Hulk. "Search the ground level area Green Lantern, and disable any robots. I'll be searching for a computer database of interest, or our targets." Iron Man then stops above She-Hulk, dangling a metal jet boot toward her after he catches himself and turns off his jet boots. He metal squeals as the weight of his armor weighs on it. "Grab hold She-Hulk, and keep your body clear of the jets, I'll lower us down."
Then through the comlink, Iron Man adds, "Follow us down as soon as possible, will you Green Lantern?" He will totally have to introduce Kyle to Avengers vs. Kang the Conqueror later if he is a Devil May Cry fan. It be sooo much fun watching that kid play a fighter game with him. But Iron Man then shakes his head, trying to get it back on task.
Kyle Rayner sounds a little surprised. "An elevator shaft, She-Hulk? Then that means that this is the right place." He spins around shooting robots gunslinger style. "I...meant to do that?" He sounds unsure, knowing it was a one in a million chance that would happen. "I'm on it, Iron Man."
She-Hulk leaps to grab onto Iron Man. "Thanks. And anyone in the elevator will appreciate it too!" After all, she'd have done a lot more damage to the car than it...or even the bottom of the shaft...would do to her.
Several of the robots crumple as the lasers rip though them, smoking red holes slowly cooling as the shells fall to the ground, several soldiers moving in to close on Green Lantern, strange rifles at the ready, "Put the weapons down and you wont be destroyed!" one calls out, though the others don't want for a response, red beams erupting from their rifles, laser blasts firing out towards him.
Iron Man's hands are ripped from the sides of the elevator, but he activates her jet boots and gauntlets as flight stabilizers as he starts to lower himself down into the elevator shaft. If it wasn't for She-Hulk's durability, she would be able to feel the heat from the jet boots, though he is careful not to get too close to her with the palm repulsors.
Stark's sensors are reporting back life signs above, but he knows he can entrust Kyle to handle that, so he points his sensors down below for any exotic energy signatures such as his power cell, or life signs.
The sensors would report massive power readings. As if down below the many floors were several generators, possibly related to weapons research. A brief scan would reveal the clear presence of several soldiers and many, many robots... but one life sign would stand out, reading like a flare in the darkness, power generation nearly off the charts. It could only be one person.
Kyle Rayner holds his hands up like he's going to surrender when the men come with the guns. He smiles. "Can't we talk this over guys? The pistols disappear along with the trench coat. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that my team went inside and that I'm here all alone, right? That's...not necessarily true." A green glowing figure that looks like Captain America steps forwards and throws his shield, hitting one of the guys with the guns in the back of the head. Kyle smirks. "Avengers Assemble.."
Two more constructs appear, one of Iron Man and another of Black Widow to help out Kyle.
The soldier taking the hit in the back of the head drops to the ground in a pile while the others panic, turning their weapons on the green constructs, "Kill them all!" one screams as they open fire once more!
"Have they been stealing your energy research?" Jen inquires. Nope, not bothered by the heat. Of course, she's a fair bit of weight, but not enough to worry Iron Man in the suit, even the slightly older one. "I vote we go all the way down to the bottom and turn their reactor off."
"Yes, that particular energy cell though is convertible to power energy weapons, such as the Disintegrator Ray which I decommissioned after the Mandarin incident that resulted in the Penthouse atop Stark Tower being turned to ashes. Old weaponry research however is still studied and converted to more practical purposes to improve everyday lives." Iron Man tilts his head slightly, then shakes it, "I do not believe the power source is registering here, but there are some sort of reserve power banks here. They are up to something." Down and down the two go, until they reach the elevator at the bottom. Iron Man lets She-Hulk let go and land before he shuts down his own jet boots and lands hard...denting the top of the elevator. "You wish to smash, or wish me to blast, my dear?" Yes, the computerized voice just said 'my dear'.
Though over the comlink, it is then heard, "Status report Green Lantern? She-Hulk and I have reached the bottom of the elevator shaft and I have registered some energy signatures of interest ourselves."
As the glowing image of She-Hulk simply smashes a robot near Kyle, he answers Iron Man over the com. "We..I mean I am just about finished here. I'll be joining you in a minute." Small explosions can be heard over the com as he and his 'team' finish mopping up the bad guys. As the construct of Iron Man uses a repulsor blast to send one of the armed men flying backwards, Kyle uses a large hand construct to bend some metal in to a makeshift holding area for the guys. His voice does sound a little strained over the com..perhaps from the concentration it's taking to keep all of the constructs running.
"You shoot. I'll be ready to charge." Because then she won't get in his shot if there's something blastable on the other side. The big green woman cracks her knuckles and stares at the elevator top. It's likely empty, but one never knows.
Iron Man then replies on the comlink, "Keep me updated when you enter the elevator shaft." Then, toward She-Hulk he says, "Watch your feet," as he blasts the top of the elevator off when he steps up against one arm, and drops them both into the elevator. He is there if he needs to do some blocking, but he generally trusts She-Hulk's durable body to handle it herself.
As Kyle manages to get most of the unconscious guards into the makeshift holding pen, he takes a moment to catch his breath as he releases his constructs. He places his hands on his knees for a moment to recover before saying over the com, a little out of breath. "Okay, they've been neutralized up here. I'm heading down now." A shimmering green glow surrounds his body as he flies down the shaft to join She-Hulk and Iron Man.
As Iron Man lands caving in the top of the elevator car with is and She-Hulks weight, a very audible klaxon begins to sound, red lights beginning to flash and a males voice can be heard. Alert: Intruders Detected. Activate Countermeasures. Firefly, be my good girl and kill them all...and....feel free to take your time with it... The voice was calculated and arrogant.
Almost immediately, several small turrets descend from the ceiling and emerge from the walls and floors, little red targeting lasers blinking along, looking for unregistered targets before suddenly honing in on Iron Man, the turrets whirring and spinning up, preparing to fire.
Oh, here we go. Intruder systems everywhere. She-Hulk? She's going to smash as many of those little turrets as she can, as quickly as possible. Oh. And she's counting as she does so. Any bullets that come out of them will ping off of her super-dense flesh. She's not caring how many times she gets hit. "One, two..." Oh, She-Hulk, do you take nothing seriously?
How are they tracking? If radar he will make sure he cannot be detected by them, but more importantly, he is searching for a wireless access point to this facility for hacking. If via visual, suddenly a number of Iron Men are standing about to help draw fire if possible away from him and She-Hulk. His own shields are activated to protect his armor from the worse of the damage.
Even as Iron Man moves forward behind She-Hulk, his targeting systems are activated and he is sending pulse bolts at the laser shootings in an efficient and steady, methodical pattern.
"It appears you may have some actions down here, if you can get here in time Green Lantern," the computerized voice says over the comlink.
Kyle Rayner flies in while the turrets are firing at Iron Man and She-Hulk. He then hangs back a moment while they take care of them before commenting. "Someone really doesn't want us down here. I heard mention of someone named Firefly. Any idea who that is?" He couldn't remember if he was told Kenzie's codename or not. He aims his ring at a turret as a green laser comes out from it, striking it. Watching She-Hulk count as she smashes, he smirks and comments. "At least she's having fun."
Turrets begin to burst left and right as the trio of heroes begins to fight back, the red alert lights spinning. Suddenly several ovoid headed machines tromp in aiming their arms at the group, seems they had weapons mounted inside, "DESTROY" one emits from its vocabulator as the last hallway turret explodes.
As Iron Man looks about, the closest thing to an access point he finds would be an awkward card-reader in the wall near a door. If it was like other security systems, it was networked to the compound.
She-Hulk has no problems tearing the turrets from the wall what so ever, leaving wreckage in her wake as well.
She-Hulk grins. "I thought the word was 'Exterminate'," she quips, cheerfully charging towards the robots. With absolutely no concern for personal safety. The woman thinks she's immortal. The fact that she might be close to right doesn't exactly help control the ego.
"She-Hulk, Green Lantern, cover me and deal with the robots. I'm going to wire into the systems and do some research," Iron Man advises. This is something he won't be able to do with his new suit, he mentally notes. But this old suit? Hell ya! Stark actually orders the system to open an access point within his armor, and he starts to remove the panels, to expose wiring. This isn't exactly 'safe' to do, but whatever. Iron Man does take some insane risks at times. He then rips the card reader out of the wall once he reaches it, his shoulder jerking at the hit of a laser beam as he then starts to connect wires, little sparks flying as he uses metal fingers.
"As for Firefly, perhaps that is Kensington Young. Keep a lookout for her," Iron Man warns.
Kyle Rayner nods. "You got it...though I think She-Hulk is preoccupied." He says with a grin as a shimmering green wall erects itself in front of Iron Man. It deflects the incoming laser blasts from the turrets. Meanwhile, Kyle covers himself in armor. It looks a lot like Iron Man's Mark IV armor with the Green Lantern symbol on the chest plate. Holding his arms out to the side, he fires the unibeam laser from the chest, destroying another turret. He's done this particular construct a few times now. So it's not that big of a deal to Iron Man himself. "If she shows up, I'll try to get a scan of that thing on her back. But I make no promises."
Robot shells collapse left and right as She-Hulk does that smash thing that she does so well, while the Shield Wall erected by Kyle does a good job of preventing Iron Man's work from being interrupted.
As Iron Man works, the connection to the compound network goes on-line, giving him access to a heavily encrypted network, Everything seems to have some egg related name in some fashion, most files mostly identified by either date, or serial number.
As Kyle continues to blast away at turrets and robots alike, he would catch a glimpse of something down the hall, that petite, uniformed woman from before darting from one door to another flanked by an entourage of guards, disappearing into a side room.
"Oh, I'm occupied...but so are they!" She-Hulk sounds entirely too cheerful about the matter, smashing robots until, hopefully, they'll run out. They can only have so many of the dang things, after all, and none of them, yet, show any ability to stand up to her.
Iron Man is deep in the system, downloading the information onto a wirelessly accessible, but secure driver to take more time with de-encrypting later. He does make a note to search for life signs down on the lower levels however, to see if he can give the order to collapse this entire building down onto itself.
Kyle Rayner continues holding his position near Iron Man. Mostly to keep the blasts from hitting him. He fires green repulsor blasts from the hands of his 'armor' towards the robots. Out of the blue, he asks. "You ever get claustrophobic in that thing?" A soft chuckle and then he spots the slender form of Firefly moving into a side room. "Iron Man. I think I see her. She just ran into a side room with some thugs."
Iron Man states simply in that computerized voice, "Once upon a time, when it was more a prison than a salvation." What is that supposed to mean? "There are life signs down here, mostly around the energy cells, which I am trying to deactivate right now. There is another approaching our position," Iron Man informs.
There is sudden movement in the hall, several of the thugs emerge from the room and spread out defensively as the petite figure clad in a black trench coat steps out. Her eyes glowed bright as flares as she called out "Yer still alive huh?!" she laughs tauntingly before holding her arm out, a large steel ball clenched in her fist. Suddenly the lights in the hall around her burst, electricity leaping from them and into her body before a massive red beam of light blinks into existence, connecting her hand and She-Hulk's chest, a fierce hit, exploding on contact. The hit like taking a round to the chest from a tank or howitzer, electricity coursing along She-Hulk's form for a moment as the sound rips down the hallway.
Iron Man grabs at the wires, and yanks them free before the wipe can get to his internal systems. He growls beneath the armor protection. But that is when he registers Kensington Young. He is limited on what he can do right now, though he does not want to kill anyone here. They should have escape routes, right? But suddenly, Iron Man raises his hands up, and leans back, charging up as he starts to release his repulsors and his chest blaster into the ceiling to destabilize the building so that it will start to collapse. He knows it will not kill him or She-Hulk, and he hopes it won't harm Kyle either. But he needs the place to crumble, and ruin the power reserves here.
The computerized voice declares, "Retreat, we are not equipped to handle the Generation X disappointment right now!" His voice is bombing. Yes, Stark is more than willing to get dirty with psychological warfare if there is anything of the original Kensington Young inside there.
That's enough of a hit to actually throw the Hulk backwards...and char her at the edges. "Grah! She-Hulk SMASH!" Congratulations, 'Firefly'. You just pissed her off. She's picking herself up and readying a charge at the small figure. Costume, ruined. (Although not enough to damage any ratings)
Kyle Rayner stands ready with his construct armor on, hand glowing as he measures up the guards along with Kensington. He scans her with his ring and begins to analyze the device on her back. He says through the Avenger com even though he's standing nearby IM and She-Hulk. "Are you serious? I'm confident I can snatch her..." His eyes widen as She-Hulk takes a massive shot from Kenzie. "Hulk, are you okay!?"
Kensington's eyes flare like white hot novas for a moment "I'm going to enjoy killin ya" she calls out to Iron Man, "Too bad I can only do it once!" that strange accent of hers still in her voice, "Don't worry! Ill send you to join that pathetic security guard soon enough!" she snapped as her arms began to coarse with electricity. "DIE!" she cries almost ecstatically as she holds her arms to her chest before letting her energy arc around her, thick arcs of energy beginning to ground out, several blasts of lightning firing off down the hall over her minions shoulders. The group of men with her cowering with every shot.
"You are too much of a disappointment to kill anyone of importance Kensington Young," Iron Man states with too much calm with that computerized voice of his, though his projection of his voice comes through clearly, even as he shoots at support beams, causing the roof above to creak and groan, and start to shudder. He then starts to shoot out a bunch of pulse bolts down along the hallway and into the ceiling areas. The entire structures seems to shudder as it is about to cave in upon itself. "Green Lantern, get us out of here right now." He is more concerned about Kyle's well-being than his or She-Hulk's. He knows She-Hulk isn't going to be listening to orders right now.
Iron Man takes one of the lightning hits, and actually absorbs it, converting it to useable energy within the armor. He can only take one or two more however, but his next armor...will be able to take tons more and covert it to something insanely useful. What Kensington has awakened within Stark's imaginative mind is terrifying.
Kyle Rayner wasn't concerned with the building coming down. He's survived much, much worse. But he got an order from his team leader and that was pretty much it. "On it." He replies. He creates a green bubble around Iron Man, and another one around the raging She-Hulk. He connects them via a beam from his ring and shoots up towards the ceiling. A construct of a drill appears above him and he simply drills his way up to the surface, pulling Iron Man and She-Hulk along behind him through the hole. He does speak before he leaves. "This is not over, kid." Is spoke towards Kenzie as they leave. Of course, the drill just causes more of the building to fall in their wake as well. But the force fields protect them all from any falling debris.
The compound begins to quake as the support structures begin to collapse, and the soldiers surrounding Kenzie begin to panic, and bail on her, darting down a side corridor. "This isn't the end!" the girl screamed at the trio as she pulled a metal spike from her boot and aimed it at the ground, firing off her railgun and punching the spike into the ground creating a large hole into what would appear to be a mine cart tunnel. As the girl dips down into it, her boots catch the rail and with an audible sparking sound she darts down into the tunnel leaving anyone left in the complex to fend for themselves.
She-Hulk growls and beats on the inside of the bubble for a moment. "Blast it...she got away!" More annoyed by that. "And next time, *don't protect me*." Yeah. She's mad about that...one of these days she'll have to demonstrate Hulk near-indestructability to Kyle. This time, there weren't other people not being protected while he bubbled her. So...she'll let it pass. Mostly. Grah.
"Something is not right with her," Iron Man says mostly to himself, "When a mind is reprogrammed, it is done subtly or as a controlling device, which makes someone's behavior more predictable. Whatever is going on with Havok's student, I believe this is who she is." She is an unbalanced nightmare. And Iron Man is lifted from the Earth with Kyle's assistance, not using his power jets, as part of his systems are offline anyway due to the wiring sticking out.
Kyle Rayner seems apologetic when he speaks to She-Hulk. "Iron Man gave an order. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to step on your toes. I'm used to being on a team where we protect each other." He sets a course back to the Avenger's mansion and once they get high enough, he accelerates to Mach One, though they feel no wind resistance. His ring blinks rapidly and he frowns. "I'm getting low on ring power...hope we're not making any pit stops." He pauses. "I don't know if that's right or not, Iron Man. I managed to get a bio scan of her while scanning that device on her back. It's pumping so many chemicals inside of her that it'll take me a little while to identify exactly what's going on. There's also a device at the base of her brain. However outfitted her, knew exactly what they were doing. I don't know the girl, so I have no idea what her personality is normally."
"Then mind control is a high possibility. The chemicals could derail normal behavior, as mind control would not necessarily do." Maybe Iron Man could give her the benefit of the doubt, but he favors thinking the worse because of her danger level and not personally knowing her. "My apologizes She-Hulk. I have downloaded some of the information I need to de-encrypt, and I was also a liability at that point with part of my systems out to do a wired hacking. I have to go over the energy scanners and the data, and see what sort of project they were trying to power up. I have reported to S.H.I.E.L.D. and police about the location and the situation, to see if they could find were some of those escape tunnels exit out to."
As the trio ascends, they hear a rumble, and as they look down, see the lot that the facility was under collapse in on itself.
"Okay. What I mean is...don't ever leave anyone else unprotected to protect me. I'm a Hulk. Probably not indestructible, but close enough for government work. Whatever it is, chances are I can take it." That *does* make solid tactical sense...
Kyle Rayner nods to She-Hulk. "Noted. Sorry again." He falls quiet for awhile as he focuses on getting them back home before his ring runs out completely and they all fall to their deaths. "It'll take me some time to identify that device and check any databases where that kind of tech has been used before. That might help us shine a light on who's behind this whole thing. I find it hard to believe that little girl is the mastermind behind this. Not to mention we all heard the voice of the puppeteer that told her to come after us."