Good Morning, Avengers

April 14, 2017:

Four Avengers meet Varanus/Vincent, a shape-shifting kung-fu android that is also a great cook. Hydra and AIM are discussed.

Avengers Mansion -Residential Area

The first floor of the mansion has not been altered much since the Starks lived here.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Yesterday Nathaniel brought the rather chatty android and kidnap victim (can you kidnap an android, maybe it is just theft) to the Avengers Mansion. Nathaniel, btw, is highly skeptic about the ability of 21st century roboticists and programmers to create real AIs.
So he has been submitting Varanus to Turing Testing, and he still remained (stubbornly) unconvinced when he retired to sleep well into the night.

Apparently Tony managed to distract SHIELD pretty well, they are not yet asking about Varanus. Chances are they will today. But right now Nathaniel is going over the morning news, having some coffee and waiting for Stark to appear, and not worrying about AIM and their robots.


Spoiler, meanwhile, had been in the computer room ALL evening. Well, if by all one met five hours from 3am to 8am. She may have lost track of time… or fallen asleep for about 45minutes. But as the smell of coffee drifted over, and the batling realized she was in her work uniform during the day in teh Avengers mansion… She realized there was no way she was getting to her 7:45am class in Gotham…. or even her 9:45am class. Not like this.

Stupid HYDRA files.

And so, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin parallel to the ground, Spoiler steps out of the computer room and into the kitchen, headed for the fridge.


Varanus, after having recovered from the shocks AIM gave him to take advantage of the insulation issues with his power source's shielding, is awake and about, the mustachiod mimic having snuck out of the laboratory that Nathaniel was keeping him in with a little bit of clever manipulation of the lab's lock. He is a quick student, and knew just how to pop it open, with the help of a broken sodering iron's filament.

As Spoiler enters the kitchen, she sees Varanus there, whistling to himself as he cooks. His back is to her, as he operates a pair of skiddles and a spatula, over the oven. The whistling stops as he looks over his shoulder at her, before looking back to his work. "Hi there, dollface," he says with a hint of accidental sarcastic tone, a reflex. "Feel like pancakes and sausage?" he asks, as he adds a pancake to a wide platter where several have already been deposited, before placing the skillet back on the oven and swabbing it clean of the used Crisco, then adding more. Beside the platter of pancakes, is a plate full of sausage links, sizzling hot. He turns about with a hum and lifts sausage off the second griddle onto the sausage platter with the spatula. He moves about like a Zen master of the kitchen, quite the hand with food.


If people were worried about SHIELD involvment, then Cap likely should have been distracted. Well, distracted longer. After all, as the charred pieces of his costume show, the American Icon has been busy with his own work. It's clearly been challenging, but not enough to justify the additional muscle. After all, every hero you pull away to one mission means that there is one less for any other threats that might befall the United States or the world at large. What the assignment Captain America had or where it was really isn't important, but rather that he is tired and home now.

As people begin to gather in the kitchen, they will hear a familiar motorcycle pull in toward its usual spot, Rogers following his own usual routine, even after a long exhausting day helping take care of *CLASSIFIED* in a rundown *CLASSIFIED* with the help of *CLASSIFIED*.


"Ah, here you are," comments Nathaniel, stepping into the kitchen with a tablet on hand. "You could have asked me to let you out thought the intercom sys…" he spies Spoiler and pauses. A glance out confirms it is sunny outside and he has not skipped the whole day. "Good morning, Spoiler, are you well?" It has been a while. And look, it is not dark outside!

He was about to ask when Captain America's motorcycle is heard outside, so Nathaniel decides to wait for him to join, checking a few newsites on the tablet. "Captain, good morning," he greets cheerfully. "You know Spoiler, right? Meet Varanus, he is an android on the run of AIM. And apparently a cook."


In strolls Tony at that moment. Actually in from the landing bay. He looks fairly well satisfied with himself. After all over the past few days he's found a possible student, annoyed a Russian pilot, and gotten a date with Emma Frost.

…totally professional date.

Yeah. Totally.

So into the kitchen strolls the inventor. "Hey Cap! You look like you've had an eventful night! Hope she was worth it!" He drawls towards the Star Spangled Man with a wide grin and a waggle of his eyebrows. Then his eyes skip from the man to the robot to the batgirl to the other super genius in the room.

Well. This is intresting.

But you know what. He'll just roll with it. "Pancakes sound great!" He calls with enthuaism. "Then you can explain how you got out. I kept telling Nate here that we should get better internal locks." A pause. "And I'm Tony Stark by the way. I'm sure you knew that. Everyone does." A flash of a grin then before he turns towards Spoiler. A quick look before he shakes his head. "You totally slept on the computer didn't you?"


This was new. But Spoiler managed to keep her expression perfectly neutral.

"Yes, please," said the purple and black batling just on the pleasant size of monotone. Doll-face? Beneath the cowl, a brow quirks. Having been going for the fridge, Spoiler reaches for a plate instead, and gets herself a reasonable portion before settling on a stool at the island to eat. Her cowl-covered eyes slide toward Nathaniel. It wasn't hard to miss his glance outside.

#NotAVampire #StillABetterLoveStory #NotTeamEdwardOrJacob

"I am, thank you. Yourself, Mr. Richards?" Spoilers asks, again formal and at arms' lenght. She's just tucking into her pancakes with Steve walks in and introductions between American Icon and Android on the Run are made. That she's sort of introduced to the good Captain has her giving him a nod. She's slight of build, the blonde batling. Perhaps she's not even out of high school yet. The plum colored lipstick she's wearing might suggest she's in that rebellous teenaged goth stage.


"Call me Vincent," Varanus says as he flips the heat off as he completes the final pancake and sausage ministrations. He grabs one skillet, then the other, depositing them in the sink, without turning the water on so the pans don't steam and get warped. The spatula is deposited in the utensil catch in the partitioned sink to the side. "Varanus is the project name, but I prefer Vincent." Washing his hands with careful but rapid movements, as if he was a short order cook of decades experience, he adds, "I like the name 'Vincent', it just sounds /yessy/."

He turns about and moves to the island, sliding up at the table. He doesn't eat, apparently, he just cooks, although he's quietly watching Spoiler eat and interact with everyone else, since she's taken food first. "Hi Tony. I've heard a lot about you, nothing good, Advanced Idea Mechanics has its ideas and the like. I don't like them very much, they expect me to make shellfish on Passover." He gestures in the lab's direction with a jerk of the thumb. "Teach a man to fish, he's set for life. Re-invent fishing, you can teach other people to fish." He grins, toothily. "I popped the lock with an old sodering iron. It's a little trick I used before I went on the lamb from those nuts in the suits you caught me fighting."


After a short time, the bike is turned off. There is a bit of silence before the door is opened and there is Captain America as everyone expected. He doesn't even get to say hello before Tony Stark walks in with his usual banter. There is a slow frown due to the response, but he doesn't comment on it. Because right now, Stark is talking about someone breaking out from AIM, breaking into the kitchen, and being introduced to said person causes Rogers to tilt his head as looks toward the others Avengers for an explanation. "What?"

Spoiler gets a polite nod back with a 'Good Morning'. Because confusion and concern doesn't mean Cap should stop being a gentleman. This is continued on when he gives another nod toward the being in question, his words clearly not endearing Rogers' cautious nature. "Captain America. Good to meet you," he states with a guarded tone.


"Steve, you can just introduce yourself as Steve you know." Tony replies with a grin towards Captain as he slides up to the table. "And he's an android. Created by cybernetics or robitcs of some sort with a personality matrix laid on, usually an AI of some type or a mental map of someone. Pretty cutting edge stuff." A glance towards Varanus. "No offence ment, Victor."

Tony can be pretty damn offensive when he wants to be.

"See though Nate! Better locks!" He waves a vague hand towards the lab. "Its on the list now. After everything else. Like just how AIM got the tech to do this." A pause again. "And I'm glad its nothing good. Those two bit hacks are just jealous of me."


“Labs are not for holding people. Or androids,” notes Nathaniel. Maybe they should build a cell somewhere. Then again, Varanus/Vincent doesn’t look dangerous. He couldn’t find hidden weaponry or anything, at least. “Var… Vincent passed the Turing Test,” he adds. Which is the closest Tony is going to get to ‘you were right, he is an AI’ today.

He turns to Spoiler, picking a seat close to the purple-clad blonde. “I am fine. Good to see you. All the night on the computers? You got here late, hmm?” And Tony theory she slept on the computer sounds very likely. “What were you looking for?”


Tony's banter. Spoiler had flicked her eyes toward him when he quipped about her sleeping on the computer, but… she had successfully (or so she thought) ignored the question in hopes that it did her mentor proud. Of course, Batman likely wouldn't have plopped his cheek onto a fist and that elbow on the table. Because Batman has manners and Spoiler does not and also he wouldn't have fallen asleep ON the keyboard. Spoiler might have a tiny bit of qwertyface that the fist is hiding. Maybe. She hopes she doesn't or that the fist is hiding it!

"A few hours before dawn," Spoiler replies, her voice the same too young for this lifestyle. "And I wasn't looking. I was updating. Your systems weren't taking the upload remotely so I had to update things manually. I found a HYDRA warehouse in the Bronx. Their entire database is uploaded now, and I started cross-referencing information against what you've already got. It's going to take me a bit to finish, considering there are PDF scans of hardcopy paperwork to read through…." The life of a batling: Paperwork.


Varanus offers Captain America a two-fingered Cubscout salute, having picked the gesture up on his flight from Milwaukee to Manhattan. He knows by instinct to use it on Captain America after everyone's reaction to Rogers, and Cap's tone with Varanus. "Nice to meet you, sir," Varanus says. "You know what you should try?" A playful smile spreads across Vincent's mouth as he picks up a bottle of maple syrup nearby, setting it down by a plate of sausage with an intentional theatric thump. "It's a Canadian trick. You put some syrup on the sausage. I was built in Wisconsin, it's a frozen north move."

Vincent's eyes slide towards Tony, half-lidding at the insult. He does not appear the least bit hurt, instead grinning. "My project, apparently, was for the purpose of personality mimicry, so I'd guess I'm what you'd call a gourmand. Can't eat, though, so I can't relate to it. The guy that built me was named Dr. Lazlo Carlos, he was a computer scientist and mechanical engineering expert. Didn't even know he was working for AIM until the end." He sighs, looking down at himself, a faint indication of Mexican-American mourning, likely an unintended copycat of his designer. "I don't think the poor padre made it out of the facility after I went on the run. The gunshots ended well before the perimeter while I was on my way out. He sent me first."


So Hydra is back to New York. They got kicked out hard after the whole Zyclon debacle. It return was kind of unavoidable, but still unpleasant. “Maybe SHIELD gave that priority,” a questioning glance is given to Cap, who looks pretty much like… just out of a brawl with Hydra goons. “I will check those files, too,” he offers. And send them to Coulson or Fury if Spoiler has not done so already.

And also do some research on Lazlo Carlos’ work and fate. Today is going to be a busy day, maybe a pancake or three will help. “Vincent. We should investigate what happened to him, regardless. If he is still alive AIM might have him imprisoned.”


A glance is given toward Tony at the talk of how Rogers introduces himself, merely giving a simple nod toward the explanation offered by Stark. "So I see." The blue eyes flicker from Spoiler toward Varanus at the mention of a HYDRA base being found in his information… One in New York, no less. "Well, hopefully we'll be able to verify this soon," Rogers states.

Vincent's salute only gets a simple nod from Cap, but at least he pairs it with some words. "Thank you, but I'm fine," he states, his tone still a little wary. "There is a lot I have questions on, so looking into this would be a good priority." Rogers' attention shifts from the android toward Nathaniel. "Look, I'm excited as the next guy on having intel on matters like this, but well, I hope you all are sure that we aren't taking a security risk on this. I'd offer a firm stance on it one way or another, but I admit this isn't exactly my area of expertise."

Once more, Steve shifts his attention toward Varanus as he adds a simple, "No offense meant."


"JARVIS pull something up on Carlos would ya?" Calls Tony as he leans back in his chair before glancing towards Steph for a moment. A quirked eyebrow then he grins. "You know you could have asked the house VI for help with most of that. Right?" A glance at Nate. "You just wanted to make her do it all manual didn't you? Slave driver."

A grin towards the group before he smirks just slightly. "Well I mean I don't need any other reason to mess with AIM. So looking into Carlos would be pretty high on the agenda."

A glance towards Cap before he looks towards Nate at the question. Gaze flicks from Vincent towards Nate before he shrugs. "Should be a fairly easy task to scan for bugs or explosives if you agree…" This towards Vincent.


"I'll go back in," Varanus says without hesitation to Nathaniel, although there can be seen a movement of his hands together on the island table, some faint trepidation from a natural human gesture he's picked up in his short time inside conventional society. "Besides being a mimic personality, I have limited shapeshifting, so I can help you there. Plus I can defend myself with my hands, but I'd prefer to leave that as a last priority. Hapkido, I believe it's called, my combat programming?"

Vincent turns his attention to Captain America, looking disappointed that he doesn't want to try the maple syrup and sausage combination, face sagging almost comically, looking canine for a moment. There's even a faint morph of flesh to this extent. "I'll submit to whatever tests any of you want to prove that I'm not here as a mark. As least, as far as I know, I'm not a mark. Whatever I'm meant for, my creator didn't like it, so he altered my programming and let me loose. And here I am. If Dr. Carlos is still alive, I owe him everything, so I'll try to guide you back in to where I was built."

The files on Dr. Lazlo Carlos indicate he is a Mexican-American graduate of San Francisco University, undergraduate in mechanical engineering, PhD in computer science. His dissertation was artificial intelligence learning systems through mimicry of social habits of human Pavlovian gestures related to biochemical stimuli. The basis of the paper, noted during the defense of the doctorate before the panel, was heavily related to the culinary sciences, along with human pack grooming gestures and the ethics of basic human society in modern urban environments.


Rogers wants verification that is was a HYDRA base? In New York? Behind the cowl's lenses, Spoiler blinks once. After taking her next bite of sausage, which has some syrup on it because Spoiler is one of those crazy kids that drowns their pancakes in syrups, thus getting it everywhere, Spoiler pulls her black phone out of its case, thumbs through it for one of the PDFs with the octopus thing on it, and then holds it out to Steve for his perusal.

"I'll check my systems for Carlos as well," Spoiler says around her mouthful, making the mental note which will stay long enough for her to type it into her phone when Steve… or anyone else here… is done looking at the PDF.


Nathaniel shakes his head at Tony, “I use my suit systems, not your H.O.M.E.R. virtual intelligence.” At least until they integrate it will all the sub-systems, which has been slow going because he is not doing it. The urge to tweak the code is too strong and that can only end up in tears.

“Well, then… and someone needs to notify Captain Marvel too,” and that will be him. “Thanks for the pancake, Vincent. I better get going with all this. Give me four hours,” the young man heads out.


"Sounds good," Rogers states to Richards as he offers to do further tests and Stark offers to do his own. "When it comes to stuff like this, 'Trust, but verify' is always my go to. Thank you both for agreeing to that."

As usual, Cap is delegating. Some of it is his natural leaning of leadership and authority, but most of it is merely because he's unable to do most of what he feels needs to be done. "Spoiler, if you could look into the usual markers for a HYDRA base, perhaps something that might be in line with an AIM team-up, such as an influx of black market buying and selling of tech, that could be good. If AIM has already been hit on the nose by our people recently, that might make them try and hole up, so we need to try and get what we can before they cover their tracks."

Finally, Varanus gets a glance from Cap as the First Avenger give a soft sigh and a faint smile. "I thank you for your willingness to work with us. I know I'm being rather careful, but it's only because I care for this team and just want to make sure that you're safe. These safeguards ensure both."


"Wait wait wait. HOMER isn't set up yet?" Tony looks at Nate for a moment before he sighs and leans back in his chair. "…I was supposed to set him up wasn't I?" A pause. "Yeah. Yeah I was. I should go do that." A pause. "It stands for Heuristically Operative Matrix Emulation Rostrum. Sadly you can't feed him donuts." He adds with a flash of a grin as he starts to stand.

"Spoiler babe, I'll add you to the user list. Give me half an hour and you should be able to let him finish most of the heavy lifting." He flicks a finger against his watch and the information on the doctor suddenly appears as a hovering holoscreen for the remaining Avengers to go over.

"There you all go. Everything on the good doctor. Be back once I finish this, and HOMER can run the tests on you too Vincent. So should be easy enough to see one way or the other. Either way, fantastic pancakes. So you have my vote of confidence."


Taking her phone back, Spoiler listens to Cap's delegation and nods to it. It's nice, actually.

"I will keep you posted," she states as Tony calls her 'babe'. She turns her cowl toward him and tilts her head.

"Most. Of course. The fine details, however…" She'd rather do it on her own. Human eyes and all. As for votes on Vincent, she's not sure she should have a vote. She's not here often enough. Not that she's NOT going to do her own set of vetting, because she's a batling and paranoia is a way of life.


Varanus has already marked this entire group, by the way they interact with food. Nathaniel Richards talks while he eats, and is distracted. Workaholic, inherited trait. Tony Stark is jovial when eating, and is very grateful for the meal, but he prefers people over what he's eating. Has to fake with people, probably has some secret or two that he finds shameful. Captain America doesn't trust food, he's used to eating rations Varanus is guessing. That's a spy, regardless of the superheroic getup. And Spoiler is immediately drawn to the food. That's a tagalong personality, he could guess that she gravitates to others because of a past home situation. This complete, he stops watching them eat and interact, and rises from his stool, moving to the sink to wash the now cooled skillets and spatula.

"I can't eat donuts anyways, I only make the food, not eat it. It's the curse of generosity, I suppose." He lathers his hands up, and grabs a sponge, beginning to scrub the spent Crisco grease off the skillets in the lather and hot water. "You guys are a bunch of solid eggs. Myself, I'm hoping I don't crack."


"Sounds like we got ourselves a plan," Rogers states, clearly warming up a little now that he seems to be feeling proactive rather than reactive. "Either way, once we get all the cards on the table, we can make a better idea if we want to hit, stand, or fold." It's not exactly an appropriate metaphor, but well, the American Icon isn't really much for poker. Seemed too much like lying for profit, after all. "Unless there is anything else you all need me for, I'll likely make my report to SHIELD. They likely need to be appraised of this so it won't be a surprise if this blows up in our faces. Doubt it will, but always safe than sorry and they might have information for us as well on the matter. They are supposed to have the best agents in the business, after all."

Steve moves to get himself a water from the fridge, opening it up and drinking it. "Well, you can't see what you can do until you can see how much you can take, so just try your best and if it gets too much, ask for help," he advises the newest addition.


Vincent lifts a pan from the sink and begins rinsing it off in cold water, flipping it this way and that, before he sets it down in the plastic drying rack. "I'll keep that in mind. Sounds like you were a gym coach in another life. Might wanna consider it for your retirement." He goes about rinsing the other skillet off, the suds swirling into the sink's drain as the cold water flows over it.


She can feel herself being studied by Vincent, and she very subtly peers ar him through her AR lenses that hide her eyes as she eats. She's studying him just as much as he is her before she turns her face toward Steve at mention of SHIELD.

"I have worked a few times with Agent May. She has much to recommend her. If there is information to be given to them, I would not be opposed to speaking with her to make that happen," says Spoiler, recalling the SHIELD agent from the Joker attack and her appearance in Gotham when Cluemaster was last free. Her phone beeps, signaling something to her, and so the young blonde girl pushes up, meal incomplete. The food is in the garbage disposal and everything washed so that there is no forensic evidence from her lipstick and because it would be rude to leave dirty dishes.

"I'm going to keep working on the data cross matching. Let me know if you need me to go to SHIELD today. Otherwise, at sundown, I'm returning to Gotham…." For a bit anyway, since after that she's coming back this way to spent time with the boyfriend.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License