February 13, 2016:
FINALLY! Deathstroke admits his faults to a bunch of women!
The Resolve
Characters
NPCs: Alexander Peabody (briefly)
Mentions: Reed Richards, Oracle, Jericho Trent, Jemma Simmons
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Deathstroke waits in the Warroom, as is usually his want. He's freshly showered, hair still wet and pushed back away from his face, eye patch in place, a somber expression on his face. He wears black BDU's with his traditional 'off duty' tac harness, the pistols, the knives, all strapped to his legs and in shoulder rigs over the black turtle neck he wears. He looks like the most terrifying version of Old Man Archer imagined. Except less funny. Which is sad cause who doesn't love Archer? The holotable is powered down and the room has an almost silent feel to it, made slightly less so by the pacing. Which is a new look for him, he's not generally a pacer.
Answering one's phone, only to hear oneself is a strange phenomenon. Lunair has a book on time, and another on quantum physics under her arm as she arrives. It's almost as if she was drawn here by fate or a giant ass string of destiny. It only lends creedence to the theory that the universe is cats because so many laws seem to be based on whims.
And Deathstroke can be as funny or scary as he wants to be. Lunair works hard at understanding and accepting the old fellow when not dumping art supplies on his son or introducing Rose to the kitten and puppy bowls. Nevertheless, she's appropriately dressed and brings a small box of cookies. Warm, melty, chocolate chunks. In case of Banner, of course. "Oh."
If the room was that quiet then they would be able to hear Melody coming. Beyer No. 8 was heard trailing her footsteps as she finds her way into the warrom, not looking the way that she was going, sidestepping something left in the middle of the floor to stop there, her thumbs flying at an unbelievable speed. It looked strange, her phone was taking a beating but the sound was amazing, that was until her thumb slips and the discordant sound of a wrong struck key was heard, Melody shrugging her shoulders to stuff the phone within her pocket. And.. sits.
Audrey has unpacked from her latest sojourn outside the Resolve and taken her own shower. Her wet hair is the only thing that's different from her usual attire, which isn't so different from Deathstroke's when it comes down to it. Though anyone suggesting she got it from him hasn't known her very long. "I thought I smelled cookies," she says as she steps inside, smile faint.
Deathstroke lets the girls get seated before his pacing stops, "Recent events have led me to question some of my tactical choices." he says suddenly, which almost sounds like an admission of some kind, "It's not a thing I'm used to doing, but it's been pointed out to me that perhaps I am emotionally invested in this investigation." there's a faint eyelid twitch, "There may have been some truth to that accusation, so I'm going to do what I usually don't, open the floor to questions."
+MEET: Melody Kenway has arrived via +meet.
Lunair sets the cookies down. She will share. She doesn't seem to comment on what people are wearing, not even if they roll in wearing a meat dress. She beams at Audrey, and Rant. Before she looks to Deathstroke. She tilts her head. "I thought you were just determined. Like, you seem constantly determined. You go to the bathroom determined, get groceries determined…" And Lunair seems to have difficulty reading emotions properly. Even when she really, really tries. But still, the idea of an intensely DETERMINED Deathstroke making pancakes makes total sense to her.
She is quiet, thinking. "I am admittedly, keeping my ears to the ground and trying to stay in touch with people. I am open to suggestions, but. Is there anything I may do to help that I am not already?"
Wait what? Where ever the hell Melody's mind was, it snapped right back into the room with the smell of cookies and Deathstroke admitting.. well.. wow.
Her hand goes up, and once she realizes she wasn't in school anymore, she leans forward to reach for a cookie. She wasn't going to take a bite and eat, nor lean back and prop her foot up upon the table as she questions him. She was certain that would be a punch in the throat.
But.. the most important thing on her mind was? "What.. no. Why are w.. no." She purses her lips in thought, serious. "What caused the Resolve to go ape-shit? And what happened when we were in Kenya? What exactly are you looking for? Who?"
"Thanks," Audrey smiles to Lunair as she takes a cookie, though she sobers when Deathstroke starts to speak. She knows better than to bring up why he might be questioning his choices. Instead, she takes her cookie over to a corner, leaning against the wall and listening. "How is the techno-thing in Kenya related to the daemonites you questioned Simmons about?" she adds to the questions. "And what is Nth metal, and what does it have to do with both or either of them?"
Deathstroke doesn't look up as he begins pacing again, his eyes staring off into the void as he moves. He points at Lunair, indicating whom his words are for, "If you have assets in the field with information on the target, then use them. I don't care how, bug their homes and work spaces, stalk them, be a helpful friend who's just there to listen to their problems, whatever works. Do /not/ however openly ask leading questions that would let them know you are also looking into all of the alien shit we're embroiled in."
His pointy finger snaps to Rant, "It's as yet unclear what caused the Resolve to wake up from it's hybernation," he turns to stare at a camera in the corner of hte room, a wee pinhole job designed /not/ to be noticed that of course Slade does, "though /someone/," hard stare into the camera, "is working on those answers as we speak." Peabody is of course listening in, at least he'd better be. Then he starts to chew over the question about Kenya, "Those are good questions. I have educated guesses but no concrete proof to back up my theories currently." then he falls silent. For a full 2 seconds, during which he shoots Audrey a glare as if somehow everything was /her/ fault. "But I could expand on that if you like." he says through teeth bared in something like annoyance. He's not big on opening up, clearly it's not a past time he's used to. But look at him try! One might say he's determined. Or constipated. If super soldiers got constipated.
Then Lux starts asking really personal questions and he stops pacing, "Who told you about Nth metal?"
Lunair listens. She nods. "Okay, thanks." She considers it. She knows some aliens, SHIELD people… the list turns over. Nevertheless, cookies are freely available, warm and fresh. She apparently banked in on Banner being here. There's a polite smile if there's a Peabody cam. Why not? She's in the fan club.
Anyone can get constipated. Colons are fickle beasts. Nevertheless, she pauses. Her eyes widen. A new metal to mimic, maybe? A new material?
For her part, she considers it all, turning information over in her head. Listening, and processing. "It's in hibernation?" Hmmm. Metallic scouts, hibernation. Oh yes, Lunair is going to start investigating.
Those were good points. And damn good questions. Melody had nothing else. Hell, this was going better than she thought. She wasn't being made to run laps, or.. do five hundred push up.. wait a minute. Maybe she could probably lift a car without help. So, she says nothing. "I'd like the explanation if it's okay.." Well, almost nothing. Oh look, cookies!
"Simmons." Audrey takes a bite of the cookie, unflinching. "Trent believes he has a lock on one member of the team and suspicions of another, by the way. I couldn't bite on that without tipping them off, but watch your backs. He could've been trying to draw me out. He could've been telling the truth. Better safe than sorry."
Another bite, and she clarifies. "He and Simmons apparently acquired some of this Nth metal, on loan. They believe it can detect the presence of the daemonites. Psychic shapeshifters they believe are attempting to bring something here. They've found mentions of the creatures in some old Stormwatch records. They're planning a mission into the Canadian wilderness to a place called Dead Drop Rho. I'm in for it."
Deathstroke takes all this in and considers it, his pacing continuing, "The Resolve isn't so much in hibernation now as it is depowered, the engine is off line." cause of the big holes they cut in it in case no one remembers, "Peabody says it's like power saving mode." he continues pacing. "As far as Trent is concerned, everyone scrap your phones, all forms of social media, unlink all your accounts and never return to them save to post inoccuous bullshit from public computer sites to keep up the illusion. New phones will be issued to you, encryped, we'll change them out on the regular from here on out. If you ever feel yourself compromised do not retreat to the Resolve through a gate, it's likely they'll be watching you and that will give them evidence that you are on the team. If you want to stay anonymous then always go somewhere you can be certain you're alone and leave from there. From this point on assume you're under survielence until Trent's little monkey mind is distracted by something else that's shiney rolling past, like a holographic doggie bone."
After that bit, making sure he's covered security measures and the like, he stops pacing for a moment, "Huh." Lux's intel seems to have him thoughtful again, "Explanations." he takes a deep breath, "What I'm about to tell you is classified, so much so that being in possession of the knowledge is a capital crime and should certain people find out you know this information, people with access to psychic operatives and intelligence officers, they'll execute you without trial or due process. Feel free to object if you'd rather not know." he scans the room.
Lunair tilts her head. "I am an artifically created tool who is legally dead, as of 2006. I am not worried about that," She admits quietly. "I will listen. And thank you for the information," Nod. She does nudge the cookies a little towards Deathstroke. "I am shocked the government hasn't really gotten its paws on more of that weird Nth metal stuff," She muses. "It seems like something up their alley." Oh, the irony. "And thank you for trusting us with this."
"That dudes everywhere." Melody comments, shaking her head slightly. Maybe she could work her own intel from the guy.. but.. no. She wasn't skilled like the rest of them. So she leaves that idea alone. Melody leans to the side to place her phone upon the table, a slight.. hesitant grasp is given, then she finally releases. "Um.. we have a problem."
"I really don't need my phone much to talk to people." She lifts her hand, tapping away at her temple. "I'll have to probably do a daily check in with Peabody, or.. find a way to turn off my nanites without getting sick." Peabody, its all on you man!
But once the question was put forth, she nearly, nearly wanted to stand and leave. But she doesn't, yet her foot was thumping and tapping away quickly like a nervous tick.
Audrey quirks a brow slightly at the shaking a tail advice. All things she already does regularly. Social media? Not a thing. Public identity? Not a legal one. Audrey Wallace is listed as dead at thirteen. Meningitis. "I'd prefer to know what I'm up against, sir," she nods to Deathstroke.
Deathstroke lets out a long slow breath, "We'll skip the backstory stuff and stick to the particulars. I was leader of a team of dark operators so black we didn't exsist on paper as soldiers or civilians. In fact, I don't really exsist out there." he waves a hand at the wall, presumably in the general metaphorical direction of Earth, "These were hardened killers, the sort of people that I trained for years, that survived missions into places like Kenya on the weekly basis, triple digit confirmed kill status, multiple agency and military branch backgrounds…" he lets out a slow breath, "We were the best. We get a mission that takes us to Kenya where a black site lab has been set up by a branch of the same institution that was running the team, only that black site went dark, completely off the grid."
He begins to pace again, "You have to understand, this was before there even /was/ a grid, when the internet was a DARPA project, the only people /on/ the damned thing were us and ours, decades ahead of the rest of the world. So they call us in to investigate and if it's been compromised, to shut it down. When we arrive we find labs filled with…" he shakes his head, "You saw it." he says simply. "Only instead of a room, imagine hallways filled like that, every room had a human-techno hybrid creature, a rat made into a weapon, a rabbit with a rocket launcher leg. One of my men was killed by a hampster that fell from the ceiling, it's mouth had been retro fitted with something like a tunneling drill bit, the kind on oil drills. It hit his shoulder and instantly chewed through his armor and into his body. It kept tunneling around in there until he stopped screaming, then exploded out of his thigh and went for another soldiers face." Slade blinks the memory away, "Took three minutes." he turns to look at the room again, "We fought our way in to the core of the compound, deeper then you saw, to a large labritory filled with techno-hybrids. At some point we ran out of ammunition, I had to give out what I had left to the others, used a trench knife I'd picked up from a tour in Thailand and my old KBar. I lost… a lot of good soldiers." his voice trails off for a time, "Inside we found what looked like a human body, strapped to a table, vivisected and peeled open like a deer carcass on a hunt, only instead of guts it had techno bits."
Lunair listens. Her gaze is focused. She's a good listener. Her eyebrows furrow. She winces at the description. She puts a hand over her mouth, glad she did not have a cookie. "I - have no words. You have my sympathies at the memories, and I am grateful you share it but—" What an awful story.
There.. was nothing for Melody to say. She could imagine it, but she says nothing. Just.. she was just glad that they didn't have to face any of that stuff and what they had was minor. Maybe. Compared to that.
"So.. like that man. Henshaw." She remembers that name. Was he in her head? "Something raveled itself inside of the dead guy and tried to rebuild him from the inside out, maybe?"
Trained units. The life Audrey might have had. To be fair, the life she's still headed toward, if slightly more on her own terms at this point. She doesn't say anything. There's more to this story, and apparently she's taken Deathstroke's advice about interrogation to heart.
Deathstroke shakes his head, "No, there was no biomass at all, it was /all/ techno minus the hybrid. A robot." he licks his lips as he searches for the words, "You're all children so you don't understand, you live in a world where the metahuman and the super technical is common place, a glance outside your window will show you a wizard doing ariel combat with hyper advanced ironman armor over a guy who's shooting laser beams from between his parted ass cheeks. Back then the most advanced technology were the very bulky and very new fangled night vision goggles we had. They were like magic." he looks up, "And here's a fucking robot. Not a giant robot like the kind from WWII, not those big ones, but a man, looked just like a man, face, eyes, I looked, the damned thing even had fingerprints, but there wasn't anything human inside it. At the time that was…" he rolls his hand in a way that suggests he hasn't hte words. "And that was when Henshaw appeared from the shadows. This was what they had found, the big archeological break through they found in the ground that dated back something like four or five millenia? It was a metal man, completely intact, undamage after thousands of years buried in the stone. They were studying it and things started to happen, things like-" his lips tighten, "Henshaw. He wasn't like the others, he'd managed to wrest control of his mind away from whatever was merging him with the other people and technology, he was holding onto his sense of self. We couldn't save anything from the labs without fear of infecting oursevles and we were down three just getting to the core, so we hauled ass out of there, called in an air strike." he snorts, "I called in the daisy cutters." which he figures someone will understand, "Three of them." overkill much? "Nothing should have survived that."
He returns to pacing, "Except I.O. wouldn't let it lay, and after I-" he cuts off and shooots the room a look, "quit," he finishes flatly without saying what he was going to, "they went back in and extracted something from the wreckage. I don't know what but I can hazard a guess. If something was there before it no longer is, we and whoever fired those hellfires at us saw to that. But whatever was in that lab, it wasn't a psychic life form, it was completely artificial, a five thousand year old android and unless I don't understand how advanced we were as a species five millenia ago, I think we can all safely assume it wasn't of terrestrial design."
Lunair listens again. She remembers some of Lucky's stories. Her eyebrows furrow.
"I.O.?" She asks quietly. "And oh." Frown. Otherwise, she doesn't push too hard.
"Wait.."
"I know there are theories that like.. a long, long time ago aliens crashlanded on the planet and helped build the pyramids and what not.. but.." Melody couldn't wrap her head around it. She wasn't going to try. And Deathstroke doesn't lie. At least.. not that she could have caught on to it.. But she quiets really, and allows him to continue with the tale.
"So what's the connection?" Audrey brushes her hands off, having finished her cookie. "The techno-sentience. The robot. The daemonites. And the Nth metal. Since Luna doesn't know what it is, I'm going to guess it's also extraterrestrial. Some sort of nutrient that the techno stuff needs to grow? Unlikely, unless that place in Kenya had a stockpile of it. But if SHIELD has to borrow a small amount, I'm guessing it's not something you stockpile. So I'm thinking either a weapon or a warning system, since it reacts to them."
Deathstroke shakes his head, "I don't know. But I can make a few educated leaps." he says with a sigh, "I'm wired to make analytical and intuative logical leaps in ways most others aren't." maybe wired wasn't the right word all things considered. "Nth metal on the other hand, that's a different deal. It's also alien in origin, an alloy or element that doesn't exsist on earth. It has certain… properties that make it extremely valuable. It's rarer then Adamantium but potentially more useful even if it's not /quite/ as indestructible. There's been no link between it, the robot we dug up, or to the Deamonites that I'm aware of. But considering the growing crowd of alien species already appearing on the planet and the size of the universe, that shouldn't be a surprise."
"So.. does that mean we kidnapped this.. Jemma person for nothing then?" Melody didn't care. She wasn't even upset. But this was all a bit much, at least too much to wrap her head around. She rubs her temples for a moment, her hand reaching out to smash her phone for good measure, then sweeps it into her lap so that she could tug her shirt out and carry it to the garbage to dump. "So now does this mean that when we're having more techno-demonic-organic sentient missions, I get to stay home right? Play tech support and like.. help Peabody… do.. stuff.."
"One last piece of the puzzle," Audrey says quietly. "Trent said he had to get a contact in the JLA to give him access to her ship to get started on this. Not sure if that's where they got the Nth metal, or if the ship was a spaceship and that means someone else out there has more info. Not sure who in the JLA's got a spaceship."
She watches Deathstroke closely, somber. "Did Dead Drop Rho mean anything to you that suggests I should opt out of that mission?"
Deathstroke's jaw does a little buldgy thing at the edge when Simmons' name is mentioned, "That was a miscalculation on my part." he admits, though it's quiet and through his teeth like he has to push the words out through prison bars, "I let my past with this technology cloud my judgement somewhat. We have a ready source of intel on anything Daemonite that might have something to do with our own current mission," he motions at Lux, "but they're not my greatest concern. There are agencies already on the trail of those things, largely incompetent agencies, but agencies. We'll keep an eye on it and if The Authority's intervention is required to end the threat then we'll end the threat, until then let SHIELD play it's games. We have other fish to fry, the more technological kind." he then shoots Rant a look, "And stop eye-fucking my tech support. I need him focused and he's already a little spacey." he shoots a look at the pin hole camera again to let Peabody know all the missing hours and supposedly secret gates he's made back to Earth havn't gone unnoticed. That boy is up to something and he's lucky Slade's to busy to look into it otherwise he suspects there would be spankings.
"The Hawks." he says with a nod as if that sort of this was totally common knowledge, "The majority of the Nth found on earth is linked to imagery of bird people." he seems to know more then a bit about this stuff for a guy who clearly /doesn't/ have wings, "I imagine they're either humans with powers they gained from finding the metal, or they're aliens walking among us though you'd think the wings would be a bit of a give away in that case. Either way, I'm guessing that's their source. The ship is news to me though." he'd be slightly worried if the ship they're on wasn't interdimensional and not just interstellar. "I have nothing on a dead drop, but that's not a surprise. It's kind of hte point of a dead drop, disposable and easily interchangeable locations for faceless anonymous information drops. Go. We need eyes in on that and you /are/ a better method of getting that then me having to play the boogey man every couple of weeks." plus he doesn't like doing that, it's just so borderline amature.
"Oy." Rant murmurs. "The dude's hot. I mean I got a kinda-sorta-boyfriend and all but seriously, that is one fine specimen of dark chocolate and that man totally knows it." As for the rest. She's quiet. Cause seriously. That Peabody.
Audrey nods once to Deathstroke, though there might be a flicker of amusement in her features at the Peabody talk. Just for a second. "So we're taking the tech angle. Did the hack they tried during Kenya leave any clues?" she asks, glancing back to Melody. Technoherpes, man.
Deathstroke shoots her a look, "I said stop eye fucking him, which means either jump on the horse or get off, we don't have time for you to sit around shooting shy-eyes at one another like fucking high school kids. Fuck or don't, but pick one and be done with it." he's not Alex's father, well, sorta, but not really! And he's aware that Alex is a grown ass man, but this team isn't the X-Men, he doesn't have time for relationship bullshit. He eyes Rant when Lux asks the question, curious about that himself. She said she'd look into it, he assumed she'd get back to him. Stupid him to distracted, he didn't think to ask.
Anyone ever see an embarrassed Melody?
Well, here it is. The way her skin just lights up like a Twilight Vampire on speed in the sunlight is .. well. Weird. There was even this funky glow in her eyes that flash a myriad of colors before she blinks it away. Sans skin. She was still glowing, her version of blushing that deserves the name of i-human that she really can't even turn off. Talk about self control.
"N.. no. No thanks." She.. awkwardly waves at the camera then settles down into a seat again, hiding her face with one hand and leaning away, then the other way.. then finally puts her head down.
"No.. just fragments of code that don't do anything. Incomplete.. blah blahs."
Deathstroke's an asshole.
"Definitely go off base for it, though," Audrey deadpans. "Wouldn't want that to end up on the internet." Too much time around Deathstroke really isn't good for her general level of humanity. Pushing off the wall, she goes to get another cookie. "Was it a recognizable code base? Isn't that a thing? Coders have…styles? Preferences? Signatures?"
Deathstroke snorts, "I'd say stay on base, there's no connection to home dimension without an access window open, you couldn't find a better Faraday cage if you built one. And I have." cause he stuck Simmons in it, "Dont' use the profilactics here though. No telling what alien downstairs are like, can't imagine their condoms would be safe for a human man." completely dead delivery, as if he were offering tactical advice for her on some sort of assault approach.
Just when Melody thought it was safe to lift her head. She does so halfway, then thumps her head back upon the table, the soft little thuds repetitive in a time as if she were counting out the beats of a drum in an all too fast song. "Staaaaaaaaaaahhpp.." Cause, that glowing wasn't dying down and her eyes were flashing behind closed lids, yet once she opens them it was like a little flashlight had gone off, she was starting to project, that stupid app she installed in her nanites starting to frag right up with how embarrassed she was getting.
"I said I'm not going to fuck the guy jesus christ lord have mercy with beans on a frickin stick!"
SHIT.
They're both assholes!
It takes herself a minute to breathe and compose herself, the disco-ball effect still going on but she talks her way through it. "No. I accessed my dads database and searched for copies of the fragmented code but there was nothing there. Not even a tiny reference to something old that could link to new. But I'm still trying. Maybe I could hook up with a friend back and Gotham to see what's what?"
"Is that what comes out of the dispensers in the bathroom? I always wondered, but they don't seem to take quarters." Surely Audrey's joking and there aren't random dispensers in the bathroom, but…The ship did redecorate itself for no apparent reason.
Clearing her throat, she looks to Deathstroke. "So what's our next move?"
The intercom buzzes, <Awww! But I'm delicious dark chocolate!!> comes from it with a slightly electronic buzz behind the words. Slade doesn't smile, he just continues to eye Rant, "I know the Gotham hero community better then most, they're clever and they will bug their own mothers if that's what it takes to get their man. Which means they're not above bugging you given half a chance. So long as your friend isn't related to flying rodents or Trent, go ahead, but be careful. The Bats tend to have their fingers in everyone's pie."
He considers the question, "Lunair, I want you with Peabody and Rant, there should be enough brain power between the three of you to at /least/ get a foot in the door of this damned ship. I'm tired of being in the dark on this and while I have tech people I don't have physics people, and as I understand it, this thing runs on impossible physics. When you're not doing that, I want all of you with your ears to the ground, allies, assets, whatever you want to call them, people seem to be waking up to things that are going on. I have a few theories, but I need more information to fill in the puzzle peices, give me something more then just a hint of an idea of what's happening." he lets out a long slow breath, "I'm going to chase down this Nth metal lead," he eyes Lux, "because /that/ at least is something I have access to."
Too bad if she tried to run she'd probably predict herself being chased around the ship while the three laughed at her or tackled to the ground in a flurry of punches. Even if none of those would probably happen there's still Peabody in the cameras probably laughing his ass off too. And.. then he joins in on the teasing.
"Shut up.." She was so not talking to him nor making funny eyes at him anymore. Nope. Nope. No more best friends forever type deals or her bringing him Lunair sandwiches or cookies. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Repeatedly nope. She wasn't even going to get the guy water. NOPE!
Her head lifts as she closes her eyes, hands waving back and forth to fan herself and cool down the nanites, her gaze falling towards Deathstroke with a faint shrug of her shoulders. "That's out then." Last she's known of Oracle, she had ties to Trent but she didn't know how deep. There had to be another angle..
Ha. Reed Richards.
"What about Mr. Richards?"
She doesn't push further, for marching orders were given and she slowly nods. She was going to talk to Peabody through Lunair.. uh huh. She was feeling stupidly stupid at the moment, school girl crushes and all that, but.. business was business and they had much work to do.
"Not one word about Sue Storm," Audrey says as soon as Melody brings up Richards, holding up a warning finger in Deathstroke's direction. "I've tried to make hard light, it's never worked, don't ask. Please."
Apparently someone's been asked why if Sue Storm can do it, she can't do it a few too many times in her life.
Deathstroke tilts his head to the side and considers that, "Richards." hrm. "Dangerous." he does some math in his head and comes up with worst case senerio being the FF end up on his doorstep. He'll have to develop counter measures for each of them but… "Give him small bits of the code, not all of it, and don't tell him where it comes from. See if he can work something out from it. If he pushes, tell him you came across it on the darkweb, that's an infinite bottomless hole and anything could be lurking there."
He eyes her flatly, "Like they never compared me to Captain Asshat?" he asks flatly, "Now I'm better then he ever was. You wanna stop being compared to someone? Be better then them. Keep working at it." but he doesn't ask her why she can't, just assumes she will be able. Eventually. He turns to look at the room, "If that's it, we all have shit to do. Peabody!" he calls, knowing the man's listening, "Get with your fan club and start work on cracking these systems."