Log:Connections and Permutations

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Connections and Permutations
Emitter	None really
Players	Travis, Karen, Tess & Blackjack
NPCs	None
Place	Webb's Lair under Webb Manor
Time (IC)
Time (OOC)

Early in the afternoon, and Karen has Thermite in bed...not that kind of bed you pervs! He's down in the medlab in the secret area of Webb Manor, as Karen runs some tests on the man. "Our guest is still out, I've been keeping her under, letting her sleep, build up energy reserves with a nutrient and glucose drip, and mostly just let her SLEEP. I suspect that she'd been kept awake for days or weeks...which would have eventually killed her." Karen is affixing electrodes to the man at strategic points, and then starts up some machinery to take readings. "Oh...and a visitor is en route...Doctor Tess Sorensen, she's a colleague of Doctor Dire's, and a potential friend -- a friend that also needs some help..."

"I'm not sure why I'm not irradiated," Travis admits, fingers flexing as he regards his hand with a bit of a frown, "I guess the same thing that keeps me from getting burnt or frozen protected against that, too..." Of course, the costume had to be incinerated, what was left of it after exposure to that sort of heat. He gives his head a slow shake, grimacing as he sits up a little, the movements of course tugging on the electrode wires a bit, "What do you think she was doing there? He had her hooked up to machines, you said..."

And speaking of guests.. Tess pulls up to the house in a modest SUV, and passes through security, and gets a surprising tour of the house as she's brought down to the 'Zomg sekrit levels'. That's a bit of a surprise. Man, and to think all she has is a fridge under a workbench. Karen has a whole secret lair. "Quaint." She smirks as she stands in the doorway. "You're really doing this whole metahuman aspect to a T, aren't you?" Really, Tess is impressive. If amused. "The whole barrel thing was cliche though. Honestly. ..Hi!" And with this the little blonde comes into the room. "Salutations, person I have yet to be introduced to!"

"Well...I'll have to run some fairly in depth scans, but from the looks of it your body is naturally resistant to radiation, Travis...ultrasound worked fine with the CAT scan, but X-rays sort of 'stopped' at your skin, I'm not much of a physicist, but the process was pretty fascinating." And then Karen sighs softly, "I /think/ that whomever was pulling the strings down there used her brain as an organic computer -- remember that the human brain is millions of years worth of thinking evolution, it is far more sophisticated than any computer I've heard of, and we only use a tiny fraction..." And this would be when Tess arrives. "Ah, Doctor Sorenson, welcome to Webb Manor, and yes...it is cliche, my ancestor had a flare for the dramatic when these caverns were used for the underground railroad." A smile, "Travis Traviglini the Third, this is Doctor Tess Sorenson, Doc Sorenson, Travis."

"Hey Doc," Travis offers easily, a grin just-curving his lips and one hand raising palm first in a gesture of greeting, "How's it going. I'm Karen's latest lab rat, it appears..." A glance back over to Karen, frowning a bit, "Could she've been a meta that he was using to run all the robots, or something...?" Announcement: Zod needs blood to be spilled on the altar of my fury, and tempered in the burning hatred in my soul -- that is I need a few volunteers for a scene. The scene is at Sea, so mobility and water survival is required. I am looking for 4-5 volunteers. Please page me if interested. Announcement: Zod has five. Thank you all for your interest. :)

"Just Tess." Everyone and their want for fancy titles. She's certainly looking curious as Travis speaks of the lady. "What's this now? Is this tied to the RADs?" Sorry, more interested in machines, then Travis. Nothing personal there. Stopping near the medical bed, Tess plants her hands on her hips.

"Tess, right." Karen looks to Travis, "I haven't run many tests on her, I suspect that whatever was running the robots..." A nod to Tess, "..yes, more RADs..." Before she turns back to Travis. "Was using her brain, possibly all of it, the door was labeled 'Distributed Computing', and her /head/ was wired into the network, based on the tenor of her thoughts she was forcibly computing, a living network router." Karen shudders at that. To Tess, "We raided a staging area they were using...a very well defended base under Pennsylvania...it was ugly."

"It's an artificial intelligence," Travis says with a slight shake of his head, "It has to be; the way it was talking, reciting and collating facts... it's not human, no human would talk like that." He grimaces, "Christ. I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie... can I take these off now, babe? I'm half naked here, and it's cold."

Thoughtful at the RADs, Tess listens for the most part. "Mind if I have a look at her? Can't be today, for I've a prior engagement, but I'd very much like to." Toys! New toys! ..Ahem. Her phone rings then, but she merely fishes it out of a pocket, looks at the screen, and puts it away again. "I'm here to ask for help, if you don't mind me tangenting the conversation. The Feds missed a tracer in the RAD they brought to me, meaning my home might be at risk. Do you know any metas who would be willing to play guard dog for a few days? My prototypes are worth millions, and I'd very much like not to lose them. Of course I'd be willing to pay. They'd have to be able to dodge feds, for the house is being watched, and handle more RADs."

Another visitor comes as well, an uninvited one. Blackjack has traced Thermite to.. wow, this place. Karen Webb. He's heard his father speak of the woman in reverent tones, the quality and clarity of her work is so good. The young masked man goes over the back wall, arcing, landing soft as a cat. Stick to the shadows. Look for sight lines. Assume high grade security system... aha, there, he nods as his visor picks up the surrounding data traffic. A tweek here, a tweek there as his onboard computer talks to her computer, bluffs it ... a dead spot opens up and he sprints low towards the manor proper. Window sensor off, wait until a servant passes.. inside. He pads down the hallway outlined in his visor and nods. 'That Monet would look good in the study; I need to look for one in a similar style'. He taps his visor as he comes to a panel. 'Well. Looks like I'm not the only one that likes a little extra living space..' he thinks, looking down. Now's the time to see if he can breach this second layer of security.

"Oh, of course...sorry, hon." Travis is de-electroded, and then Karen smiles and hands him his shirt. "AI, huh? Not my area of expertise...I'm a fair programmer, but really, I'm a biologist more than a TECHnologist." Turning to Tess again, she nods. "Indeed. I can think of a few, I'm sorry I didn't get your 'message' until today...I've been rather busy. I'll make a point to check in with you once in a while if you like? And yes, I'd value your insight...I was able to remove the gear, but really haven't had a chance to STUDY it, and frankly--you'd be better." Duh. Then to Travis, "We should see if we can get some volunteers to help her out, don't you think?" And then her pager goes off, and Karen frowns. "We have an intruder..." With a thought, her clothing morphs, blurring and flowing over her form until she's in her guise as Epiphany.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind helping out," Travis offers with an easy, lopsided grin to Tess as he slides off the bed; reaching over for the shirt, brows raising, "Maybe I can get some payback with this robot asshole, too... wait, what, an intruder? Shit..." He struggles to pull the shirt on over his head, hopping about as he tries to get his shoes on at the same time. It doesn't work very well.

Tess has her mouth opened to reply, and it stays there as that costume changes. "...Okay, that was particularly disgusting. I, uh, guess I'll wait here." Looking a might dubious over all of this, she scratches at her temple. "Comic intellect, itty-bitty combat ability." Then she dimples with a smile and waves to Karen. "Have fun storming the castle. We can talk about guarding when you're done."

Blackjack thinks his visor through a series of commands, but halfway through he frowns, uncertain if he's done this right. The complex interlacing morphic 5-D geometry? A little hard to do in your head. He taps the hidden keycode and...the lift door does not open. 'I am so screwed,' he thinks, mentally retracing his steps. He licks dry lips, tries again. Still nothing. DId it trip or didn't it? Who can tell?

"Oh...um, yeah...sorry, Tess. I'm Epiphany when I'm in costume like this...psych reasons--people relate better to 'superhero' than 'chick with mental powers'..." And then she's off and running towards the hidden exit, eyes narrowing as she pauses, extending her will to scan the area just opposite the doorway for living minds, and trying to read their surface thoughts. As the costume flowed over her, you might have caught a glimpse of multiple stitched up wounds that were clearly from gunfire. Darn bullets. Ugh.

Blackjacks' thoughts are a string of mild curses and mathematics as he fiddles with the keypad, then prepares to pull out. Then he stops. 'No way. He came here with Feral and I'm gonna find out where he is.' FLashes of the fight against the carjackers and their supervillain allies comes across his mind, as well as fears of Feral and others being experimented on for their genetic material. He discounts the idea of Karen being the Flatland Killer. For now. He tries to circumvent the datapad security one more time.

"Right...right, sorry Travis..." And then the hidden door opens, and there's Blackjack. Not knowing the man from Adam, Epiphany just assumes the worst and will let herself sort things out! A blue corona of energy surrounds her head--but as she reads his surface thoughts, she can't help but laugh. Mentally to the man, ~You could have called ahead. Feral is fine, gone for sometime, none the worse for wear.~ Um...creepy much?

Travis skids to a halt as the door opens, brows raising a bit. "...the hell?"

"Shit," he mutters, and looks at Epiphany and Travis, frowning. His left eyebrow twitches as he hears the thoughts in his head, and something in him quails back from that touch. "You're a telepa..hey, you were at the bank robbery." He hesitates and slowly lowers his gun, though not all the way. The masked man's expression is neutral. "He's OK, then?"

"Yes, I'm a telepath, yes, Feral is all right, yes, I was at the bank robbery. However, as you've broken into my home I'd strongly suggest you put down that weapon." Epiphany does not sound pleased. "I'm a very forgiving girl, but..." That corona of blue around her head hardens, impending menace very evident. "...there are limits. Who are you?"

"Feral's fine," Travis affirms, arms folding over his chest and a single brow arching as he regards the visor'd figure, "I'd do what the lady said, though, and put that gun away before someone gets hurt. Probably you."

Blackjack quirks an eyebrow. "Your home, huh?" he says to the costumed woman. "Yeah, I broke in to see if a guy I fought beside was OK. Now, I just have your word on that but you were helping people at the robbery; saved my own bacon and took bullets doing it. I'm inclined to beleive you, for now. Name's Blackjack," he says. He lowers the gun further but doesn't let go of it, not comfortable so close to an active metahuman and.. whatever Travis is. Eyes flicker to Travis, gauging the threat there, back to Epiphany. Some of the tension goes out of him, though he remains alert. In his head, he's flicking through various moves to incapacitate both if they should attack him, routes of escape already blocked out, etc, but he's not thinking he'll need to use those right away. Blackjack never once considers killing them, not even in his deeper thoughts.

"Oh...yeah...I'm sorry." Epiphany finally recalls the man was there to help at the bank robbery, and the aura of blue fades, even as she releases her contact with his mind. A murmured curse is VERY unlady-like, and then the costume flows off her as typical medical wear appears, the labcoat and such she was wearing before. "Easy...he's a friend, means us no harm." Karen steps up, hands out. "Yes, I got shot for you. A few times. Please, lets all of us calm down, and talk like rational people. Agreed?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who broke in," Travis notes in rather dry tones, his chin jerking in a slight nod to Blackjack, "Your friend had a bit've a concussion from a gun butt to the face, I could've just left him for the cops, but I figured getting him some medical attention was more important..."

Blackjack relaxes some more, and now does put his gun away. He glances at Travis. "So you'd be Thermite, then?" he says. "Thank you for that, then," he continues. He looks back at Karen, ahnds away from his gunbelt. "Ms Webb, then; you've recovered?" he says, clearly curious.

"Yes, I'm Karen Webb." Karen confirms, "And I'm doing okay -- well, other than having gotten shot /again/, the other day. It has been a busy week." She states with a bit more of her customary good cheer. She steps back into the lab, "Please, 'Blackjack', do come in."

"That's me," Travis allows with a slight nod, stepping to one side; the man's given a bit of a once-over, perhaps dubiously suspicious, "So you work with Feral, hm?"

Blackjack is cautious, but he's heard about the woman's character from his father. "Alright," he says simply, and joins the pair. "Nice place you have here." He gives similar rundown of Travis, nods slightly. "I have, yeah; good guy from what I've seen."

Leading the way back to the lab area, Karen nods. "He seemed nice when I patched him up, but I had to go rest, and my costume was growing....so I had to go off, didn't get to talk to him much after I patched him up." She smiles. "Tess, this is Blackjack, he's...a friend. Helped out in a bank robbery."

And having remained in the medical bay where she was left, Tess is sitting on the medical bed that Travis left, swinging her feet. As much as she's looking fairly childish, her thoughtful frown as she uses a stylus on her phone to draw something else. "Eh?" This as voices are heard. The little blonde looks up and at you all. "The one with the plants?" She was there, and saw all the growth. "Hello!" A smile, and then she's back to making notations. Hmm.. maybe if she shifts the sensory array to the back she can put some heavier armor over the cpu. Muttering to herself, she works out the math of weights and balances. Only takes a moment, and the phone beeps as she saves stuff. "Sorry. Oh, guess I went to the right person. Do you have meta human attractors out or something? Costumed pheromones! Wooty-woot!" Okay, silly grin there.

"Don't give her ideas," Travis quips towards Tess, his lips curving in a brief grin as he jerks his head indicatively towards Karen, "Although I imagine they might sell altogether /too/ well..."

Blackjack's eyes behind the visor widen a tad. "Dr. Sorenson, your reputation proceeds you; I'm honored," he says, giving a flicker of a smile. He folds arms over his broad chest, glances around the place. "No, no meta enhancement here," he says. "Virtually none, that is."

"Meta-pheremones? Interesting...that could be a viable means to contain a meta-criminal! That's brilliant, Tess." Yeah, scary, Karen's gone bye-bye. And then she frowns at Travis, "Feh." And looks to Blackjack as he gets all honored at Tess. "She's pretty spectacular with robots -- you should see the puppy and kitten she made!" Yes, Karen IS impressed, not a trace of mockery, she means every word.

"Damn it. Who's been talking about me this time?" She demands cheerfully of being told her reputation proceeds her. Tess is smiling though, amused at it all. "Unfortunately I lack the means to see through solids, so can't properly respond in kind. Just call me Tess. I'm not big on protocol." Can't see through that visor to know who she's talking to after all. Not that this seems a bother. The diminutive blonde seems unfailingly cheerful most of the time. (No one said high intelligence came with sanity..) "Oh course I am! Yet you're all making me feel inadequate! I don't have a special ooze costume, snare pheromones, a super secret lair behind a spigot, or anything. Well, I'd kind of need crime fighting abilities first wouldn't I? That and I'm allergic to bullets." A mock heavy sigh, "I'll simply have to endure merely being one of the world's top minds." The agony.

Phone tucked into a pocket of her overalls, she hops down from her perch, showing just how not tall she really is. Might manage lower chest to eye on Blackjack. "Nice to see the intruder wasn't serious on causing mayhem." Since people come back out of costume, besides, Blackjack, and no one's being threatened. "I've both pets in the car.."

At the response to the pheremonial idea, and then the frown, Travis regards Karen with more than a hint of worry; maybe super-intelligence does things to your stability, he's gotten similar vibes off Doc Lightning! A hand slides to rub a bit at the nape of his neck, nose wrinkling a bit, before he clears his throat, "Uh... yeah, anyway. Here, Tess--" He drops his hand down to dig out a card, offering it over, "Give me a call, I'll come hang out at your place and keep an eye on things in case Red Eye shows up..."

Blackjack hmms as Tess says this. "You can call me Blackjack for now. You wouldn't happen to know anyone bent on revenge who could build military grade remote combat robots, would you Dr Sorenson?" Couldn't hurt to ask. He looks back to Karen, curious, though he's still stealing glimpses of equipment and tech around him. "Ooze costume?" he asks. "I was going to ask how you pulled that off, soon enough."

"You're hardly anonymous, Tess...really, you patented your first patent when, at fourteen years of age? Worked with NASA, still do work with them as a contractor, you have enough degrees that you could probably wallpaper Webb manor with them all, and you're cute as a button too." A wink, and then Karen grins to Travis, "Don't worry, I won't make those without a LOT of careful research before." And then she looks to Blackjack, "Well...it isn't precisely an 'ooze', more of a psychoreactive organic elastomer based life form that exists in symbiosis with me, shapeable to my will." See, that's not so bad, right?

Accepting the card, it's turned over to see if there's anything on the back. "Metas with business cards!" Tess exclaims in delight. "Can you start tonight? I've no idea if there'll be trouble, so you could be in for a boring few days. Any idea what a reasonable rate is?" Card is tucked away so that she can arch brows at Blackjack. "The government dropped one of the RADs on my doorstep. That's why I was asking Karen for help. The idiots missed a tracer, and that leads right back to where my workshop is. I can tell you I've no idea who made them. They've stolen work from every specialist I know, including myself, but there are components who's marks I just don't recognize. I don't think the maker has been specializing in the field though. Haven't had time to find out more. Been helping track those missing warheads."

A pause, for she needs to breath, and the little blonde dimples at Karen, "I certainly am." Cute. Yes, Tess is the epitome of modesty. "But that is entirely gross." The costume.

"I might be able to," Travis admits, nose wrinkling a bit, "I'm going to need to replace my costume, though, the reactor melted the mask to slag and burnt off most of the darlex and kevlar... although I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have me around undercover, so to speak." A grin to Tess, "Where's your place at?" A sidelong glance, adding wryly, "And it -is- gross."

Blackjack hmmms at Karen. "It's a linked multi-reactionary polymer-protein synthesis?" he says about the costume. "That part about is responding to your thoughts is amazing." He plucks at his loose shirt and jacket. "Good old fashioned nomex meshed leather," he says about the jacket. The shirt just looks like some form of very light kevlar weave.

The young man lokos back to Tess. "The one I looked at had all the tracers fried, self-destructed the core as well. /Someone/ accepted a shipment of several tons of industrial grade steel at a warehouse not that far outside of town, but no conclusion as to where they took it." He rubs his chin a bit. "Warheads?" he asks, concerned.

"Bleh. It really isn't gross, if anything it is MORE hygenic than normal clothing." Karen won't mention the nerve linkages though, that would, you know, invalidate her argument. "Actually--we have an informational network, if you'd like we could see about adding you to it, Tess. It is VERY helpful, a loose association of metas that works together to info swap, and coordinate things a bit." So...a club, really, not the hitty type either. A grin towards Travis, "I could grow you your own if you wanted, it would even be immune to your fire and cold." A smile to Blackjack, "Yes, the psycho-reactivity was hard to implement." And she's STILL not going into the details, thanks. Let everyone think it is her mind, mmmkay?

"Got anything to write on?" Tess asks of Travis. If someone can find something, she puts address and phonenumber on it. "Call me if you're willing. I'll give you the house access codes. Make sure you save any receipts should you acquire sustenance. I'll add that to the bill." Final details can be made out later.

For Blackjack she shrugs, "All the obvious tracers were ruined. I found one very well hidden one in my examination." She gives where, as well as its appearance, for that was never told to the player. "What you need to find is where they are created. These can not be home machine tooled, for that would take weeks each RAD. Someone is using a factory somewhere. Perhaps try tracking more subtle aspects? Like the thermal paste used in joining cooling to cpu.. I doubt this fellow is making that too if he's buying steel." Oh and warheads? "A nuclear submarine was taken out not long ago. Don't worry, it's being taken care of."

"I'll stick to my illusions of the world, thank you." Tess grins at Karen. "You can certainly pull me in the loop, but I'm not crime fighting material. Right now I need people who can watch my barn. I won't be there, but damn it.. Some of that stuff has taken me years. I don't want to lose it."

There's another business card produced, and Travis lets her write upon it so he can collect the number. "I don't have a job, so it's no skin off my back," he admits-- then wrinkles his nose at Karen's words, allowing ruefully, "I... think I'll live, thank you very much. I appreciate it, I just, uh."

Blackjack gives Karen an interested look when she mentions the changable costume, then hmms at Tess. "I've tried tracing all sorts of parameters; power use, waste disposal, waste heat, exotic materials transfers, everything has so far come up blank. I know it's a factory, but /where/ is the question..."

He pauses, looks back to Karen. "Sharing information might be very good. I've got a nice web of contacts already, pardon the pun; I'd be happy to contribute to the pot. On an informal basis."

Blackjack gives Karen an interested look when she mentions the changable costume, then hmms at Tess. "I've tried tracing all sorts of parameters; power use, waste disposal, waste heat, exotic materials transfers, everything has so far come up blank. I know it's a factory, but /where/ is the question..."

He pauses, looks back to Karen. "Sharing information might be very good. I've got a nice web of contacts already, pardon the pun; I'd be happy to contribute to the pot. On an informal basis." <reposted for Tess>

"Okay then, how about this...Blackjack, Tess...you can both use me as a contact, and I'll share info with you both. If you want to join the organization more formally, that can be arranged too." She moves over to her desk, producing a pair of titanium business cards, one give to both of the other super scientists. "These are my private numbers, call me any time...24x7x365." She mms, "And we can work out a basis for trade -- guards for info or consults perhaps? If you think that's equitable. I can also periodically peek in on your farm from here, and make sure there's no unauthorized persons present..."

"The Fellowship Alliance for Metahuman Equity," Travis states, leaning back against the wall; arms folding over his chest, he quirks a slight smile, "It sounds fancy, but it's really just an umbrella for networking and resource-sharing... and you might not be a crime-fighting source, Tess, but you could definately be a resource. You'd be welcome as well, Blackjack... just try not to break into our allies houses, eh?" Wry, the last. "Karen's right, though, if you're not certain, take your time to think about it..."

A nod to Blackjack as she writes info for Travis. "I simply don't have time to deal with that right now. My barn is less important then a full armorments worth of nuclear weapons in unknown hands." Tess offers the card back, only to get another. "Uh.. I've no cards at all, so you'll just have to deal with my phone." Number given freely. Cards disappear into pockets. "Really, I'll have to talk about more formal things later. I can't stay here too long." Another grin to Blackjack. "Get the number from Karen or Travis here if you have questions. As much as I'd love to learn more about the Rads.." She's not got enough hours in the day. To Karen, "Oh, I'm willing to pay cash. Not expecting people to risk their lives for just information exchange." Although she's cheerful about it.

Blackjack turns the business card over and back, looking at it before sliding it into a section of his gunbelt. "FAME, huh?" he says to Travis, then looks back to Karen and Tess. "Thanks for the info, and thanks for taking care of my buddy. I'll be in touch," he says, and now.. he gets to see if he gets to walk out of here.

Contacts made, info exchanged, and stomachs turned (darn ooze suit!), the diminutive genius roboticist (and a whole lot more!) makes her way out of Webb Manor and makes good her trip back to her farm. Blackjack takes his leave as well, probably going over a wall on his way out. Then Karen looks to Travis. "Well get you a new costume, give Eddie a call?" Before she goes back to check the status of her patient, the strange woman captured from the staging area in Pennsylvania. It was a good night tonight! Nobody got shot.