Intuitive Investigations

February 27, 2014:

A break in and explosion at a facility of some sort draws the attention of certain superpowered people.

Intuitive Mechanics Inc.

Outside an exploded research facility.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Several hours ago news reached the appropriate ears that a situation had developed outside a research facility for Intuitive Mechanics Inc. Within minutes, an advanced team of operatives infiltrated the compound, disabled security, and made off with a brand new weapons system prototype. By the time authorities could respond, the team had left without a trace.

Which is why, four hours after the attack, Bucky Barnes AKA the Winter Soldier stands perched on a rooftop overlooking the destroyed facility, grimly surveying the scene. Whatever had happened, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.




A lifetime and numerous decades of covert op-fu, and part of Logan still gets curious whenever he hears about things like this happening. So, after hearing about the incident through the day, the old mutant has opted to come investigate under the cover of darkness.

There's the low thrum of Logan's chopper riding down the street, and he parks it a couple blocks away and out of sight, opting to wander closer to the facility on foot. The hairy old man is wearing cowboy boots, jeans, a leather jacket and t-shirt, and a cowboy hat upon his head.

Pausing on the corner across the street from the place, Logan leans against the wall of a building while idly looking it over with his acute vision.




There are many reasons why Shift prefers nightfall. Among those reasons, it makes his stealthy approach that much more stealthy, so to speak.

Upon a rooftop nearby, the African appears, tendrils of black smoke forming together. His costume is made of gunmetal gray, and though it clings to his skin, he asked the designer to give it some thickness and contour so that it didn't exactly look like spandex. You see, Shift does not consider himself a 'hero'.

Crouching down, he retrieves a small pair of matte telescoping goggles and fixes them to his eyes. There, upon the rooftop, he scans first the surrounding area, looking for clues as to whom might be responsible. He has his suspicions that it may be one of his enemies.




Emma lounges in the private jet, basically naked. 'Cause that's how she flies. Truth be told, she is most comfortable without a stitch of clothing on, but the stupid mandates of society really put a damper on her mood. The fact that she HAS to wear clothing makes her bitchy. In fact, she's really just a very beautiful, misunderstood nudist. Who is also a genius at business. And, a powerful telepath. And, right now, she is on her phone.
"WHY are you bothering me with this, Kingrow? I don't…" she pauses. "I DON'T like to be interrupted. Who gives a shit about this building? Are we blowing it up for the insurance? To cut losses? Close the mechanics factory, cut the overhead…?" she demands. "Oh. We're not blowing it up. Well, who is?! FIND OUT! Get someone on it, you failure of your ancestry!" she barks, snapping her phone shut. "Giles, more champagne! I'm getting a headache," she calls out. "And, get me surveillance on this partially blown up building!"




Logan's keen senses are keen, and there's no doubt he'll pick up on the acrid smell of smoke in the air. Mixed in, however, is the clear scent of ozone and… something else. Something… Odd. It smells like… Well like fire, for lack of a better description. As for what he can see? There's something definitely off about the damage. By all accounts, it looks as if the wall itself had been sucked down, rather then blasted open, and there's a very suspicious lack of rubble about the area.

Shift can see very little, unfortunately, of clues outside the building. In fact, the only thing that bears any resemblance to being connected to the incident, is a pair of tire tracks out front from where someone clearly went from zero to definitely-not-zero in a hurry.





As for the Winter Soldier, barely a sound is made as he stands up, both arms hanging by his side while he keeps a very careful eye out for patrolling security. Naturally, it is then that he spots something he hadn't quite expected to see. Two somethings, as it turns out. With a frown, he sprints along the roof that serves as his own perch until he lines himself up directly with Shift's smokey form. He considers the mutant for half a second, before firing a silenced shot towards the rooftop near his feet, then briefly waves his metallic arm, points it towards Logan's shadow, and leaps down behind the angry, short, and hairy man.

"Are you following me?"





Sniffing sharply, Logan shakes his head a bit as he considers the damaged building. The sum of what he sees and smells draws a grunt from the man, his eyes squinting briefly while looking about for rubble or signs of an 'explosion' and not really seeing any.

Reaching into a pocket, the feral pulls out a cigar case and a lighter, pulling out a cigar and starting to light it when he hears a figure falling through the air behind him.

Turning to the side to face the Winter Soldier, Logan lights his cigar and takes a puff, then blows smoke out towards the taller man, "Following you? If I was following you, I wouldn't be staring at the building, now would I? So, what's going on here, bub?" Snorting, he lifts the cigar towards his mouth again.




With tire tracks like that, it's doubtful Shift is likely to find the getaway vehicle. Matching the tire treads, however, could be something. There's always something. The leads never really dry up, people simply give up on tracking them.

Roof material splatters all over his boots when Bucky's warning shot lands near his feet. He doesn't even look down, but a rueful smirk draws across his face. The goggles come down just enough that his silver eyes peer out from beneath, tracking Winter Soldier's gesture.

A few moments after Winter Soldier and Logan make their introductions, a pillar of black smoke falls down behind the former. It piles when it hits the ground, forms into a man, and with a sound of displacing air, Shift reappears. Only this time, his face is concealed in a mask that seems part of his uniform but simply wasn't there before, leaving only his eyes visible. Those eyes look from Logan to Bucky, a calculating expression given to each. "Looks more like a tomb dan some building to me." His accent is thick, definitely not even close to North American.




Stretching out on her chaise longue―because she totally has one for surveillance viewing on her private jet―Emma lifts the remote and fine tunes the camera. Emma is good with electronics. She does things with electronics that electronics people only dream of doing. To try to explain the gadget she uses, now, would take too long, so suffice it to say that it's a very hi-tech camera that can follow the movements of people without being especially noticed. When she keys in the code for her marker, asking her tech crew where her investigator is, a silvery blue target swells and fades―like a ping―on the shadowy shape of Kwabena, standing …near a couple of other people. Hmmm.




An odd blip passes by the private jet. ATC might message something along the lines of 'wtf was that.'

Said blip descends out of the sky and crosses over the gathering on the rooftop. It appears to be — a girl?

Supergirl flies over the crime scene. In one hand, she's carrying a group of men in science-crime-y jumpsuits, bound tightly with a girder wrapped around them like twine. In the other hand, Supergirl is carrying a modified van. "Excuse me!" she says, to the Authorities. "I believe these were the men who took your machine — I lost the trail of the machine at the water, but I still nabbed these guys! …is there anywhere I can put this stuff down?"




Bucky frowns at the short man (not that he can see it behind the armor covering the lower half of his face), pointing one metallic finger towards him, "You're a very angry little man." He glances back to Kwa as he appears and nods stiffly, "There were quite a few casualties," he starts, stepping aside so he can not include both of them in the conversation without being stuck between them, "Near as I can tell, a few hours ago a team of highly trained, well-armed operatives cracked this place open and took some weapon system prototype. Very advanced stuff. Very dangerous. Unfortunately, I can also think of numerous organizations with the resources and the motives to pull of such a job."

Without even looking up to the arriving Supergirl, he comments dryly, "However, only a few wear get ups that absurd. AIM." And then he's off, moving quickly towards the area the police are clearing for Kara to set down her prize.




"Got plenty to be angry about," Logan answers Bucky dryly, taking another puff and blowing smoke at the masked man. When they get further company, the hirsute old Canadian sizes Shift up briefly before nodding to the new arrival, "Hey, bub. And yeah, you got a point."

Back to Winter Soldier, "HYDRA, AIM, definitely on the list of usual suspects for $&@! like this…." He trails off, cigar in his mouth as Bucky comments, and Logan looks up into the sky to squint at the arriving Supergirl and company.

"Well, shit. If it ain't Superkiddo," the Canadian grunts towards Shift and Bucky, then wonders, "Guess I'll go say hello, take a sniff of these guys. Wonder what exactly it is AIM stole. Any info on that?" While positing the question to the other two men, the short feral is already turning to wander in the direction of Kara and the authorities, puffing his cigar as he goes.




Shift does not know who his benefactor is. When he takes a job, he oft prefers not to know who made the hire. Protects the money from the backlash, so to speak. Regardless, he has every suspicion that his boss-of-the-moment is watching (if only he really knew), which is precisely why he followed Winter Soldier.

Congratulations, fellas. Now Big Brother's watching you, too.

His eyes flick upward and track Supergirl's arrival. His neck raises, and… are his eyebrows shooting upward? He doesn't say a word, not at first, but his eyes are soon locked upon that van.

Silver eyes dart back toward his counterparts. "Meet you dere." He turns toward, of all things, the wall of the building he'd leapt down from. A muffled -poof!- accompanies every transformation as he leaps first, turns to smoke, strikes the wall, reforms, then vaults himself skyward. Once more he turns to smoke, arcing through the air at a high speed until he comes to a rolling stop near the tire tracks he'd spied from above.

Once back in flesh form, he retrieves the goggles from his utility belt. Instead of wearing them, he begins scanning the tire treads with a red laser grid that shines from each lens. Once he's collected the scan, he throws himself at a similarly hard surface, vaults through the air in smoke form, and comes to a silent landing nearby Supergirl. His goal? Compare the scans with the tire treads on that van, just to make sure there isn't an unaccounted for vehicle.




Emma's eyebrows lift as she watches her investigator's cool moves with the interesting smoke parkour. Very nice. Very. She scans the familiar face of Logan, rolling her eyes a bit. Then, there's ol' Bucky, whom she doesn't know, not at all. But, he's very handsome. And, …is that Supergirl? Emma shakes her head and refocuses her attention, watching to see where things lead. This is kind of interesting… Like watching a TV show, but live…and without a laugh track or anything.




As heroes come in to investigate, Supergirl is setting the goons and van down — gingerly, gently. Or as gingerly as one can be holding a whole van by its bumper. WHONK.

Kara might normally want to vet the approaching agents, make sure they're on the up-and-up — but her Super-Senses tell her that Logan is among the crew coming down. Maybe the others with him are people from that place. You know, with the thing.

"Sorry to just drop this off and run," Supergirl says, casting a look over at newspaper photographers who are getting her picture from past the police barrier, "but there's no shortage of trouble tonight—!" In a streak of red and blue, Kara is up in the air again, making air traffic controllers' lives hell.




To be continued…

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