12725/The Cure: Shady Dealings

The Cure: Shady Dealings
Date of Scene:	10 February 2021
Location:	1407 Greymalkin Lane - Breakstone
Synopsis:	Badder than old King Kong and meaner than a junkyard dog, DAMT and the Reavers are at it again in a junkyard not far from Salem Center. Intrepid heroes step in to help out. What becomes of the father and the son, our heroes, and the Reavers? Stay tuned for more!
Cast of Characters:	Pixie, Nightingale, Spider-Man, Superboy, She-Hulk, Vitali Svyatoslav, Warpath
Tinyplot:	Mutant Cure

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Pixie has posed:
Late twilight falls upon the junkyard, a massive jungle of scrap metal, electronics and other recycled hardware, which to the casual observer may appear to be nothing more than junk..To the more trained eye this is a veritable gold mine of technology that can be recycled, reused or upgraded for more...Useful things - computer upgrades, custom car attachments...Even dangerous and illegal weapons.

Of course, for those with the right connections or IT specialties, they may have learned of, or been tipped off about a shady deal going down here in the middle of the night.

Of course, it's just as likely that many a wandering or patrolling hero simply stumbled upon the exchange of small group of cyborgs, their robotic attachments carefully hidden beneath their long coats, accompanied by people in white uniforms and white shades who carry unusual cure darts, along with regular guns. There are maybe three cyborgs and two DAMT personnel who are talking to the middle aged man and his assistant, probably his son, both in somewhat looking shabby clothing, jeans, plaid shorts. Probably not used to dealing with such shady characters.

"Soo...You needed some circuitry, the dismantled gun arm, large solar batters? Yeah, we got em for you, but you're demanding a lower price than I offered. There's only so low we're willing to go.."

Megan arrived here on scene, rather unexpectedly while out on a leisurely flight on a warm win ter day.She narrows her eyes as she spies the lit up area, and a gleam of metal from one cyborg's eye and another's metallic arm. Aha the Reavers. And DAMT. What are they up to?!

Nightingale has posed:
     It felt good to Shannon, getting out to stretch her wings and work in muscles that had gone soft with disuse over a month. The flight wasn't far, and it was a pleasant night. She was dressed in black sneakers, black jeans, and a black sweater, with a black beanie hat keeping her head warm. "Not a bad idea coming out here, Me... ah, crap."

     Shannon frowns, looking at Megan and Conner and pointing upwards. "Looks a little fishy down there. Maybe we should get some altitude in case those jerkwads have more of those darts? I really don't want to get hit with one of those again."

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter Parker had to come up north for the Bugle. Usually, he would just take photographs of Spider-Man, and other superheroes. He made a point to take a few of other heroes whenever possible to help cover his identity. But today, he had to photograph some charity function that J. Jonah Jameson was going to. Surprise, surprise, Jameson made a hefty donation of his own, and wanted to make sure there was a photographer in attendance.

Afterwards, while chatting with one of the waiters, he had learned that there was a junkyard that you could get some pretty good electronic components. And so he found himself heading there, out of costume. Westchester was not really among Spider-Man's hunting grounds, though he did keep a copy of his old black mask on hand, just in case he had to spring into action on nights like these.

Superboy has posed:
Since Megan just recovered her wings, Conner offered to fly with her to make sure everything was good (and catch her if the wings failed - not that he admitted that). Of course it is near Salem Center for the usual MYSTERIOUS REASONS (ahem). Conner is still pretending he never heard of Xavier's, despite having heard of Xavier's way too often.

Anyway, flying is good. Contrarily to cybernetic Reavers, which are very not good. "The usual: murder and stupid. What do we do? Get them or try to find out what they are planning? I can hear them from here."

She-Hulk has posed:
    The air crackles, the scent of ozone and cosmic energy emit from a spot a bit away from other people, and in a momentary flash of energy, the empty space is replaced by Intergalactic Pop Sensation and Mutant Lila Cheney and her telepassanger, Tribunal Magistrati Jennifer 'She-Hulk' Walters. She-Hulk is still in her Magistrati attire, even having her unbreakable gaval of justice dangling from her right wrist. Getting her footing, She-Hulk smiles to her ride, hugs the much smaller woman, and then looks around, "Thanks for the lift Lila. I'll handle the financial support issues on Monday. Stay safe." letting the black haired mutant teleporter slash cosmic singing sensation go, so as to not be caught in the teleport wake as Lila disappears once more, leaving the same eminations as the arrival.

    With her ride departed, She-Hulk looks around, pulling out her cell phone to check her GPS, and maybe call a Ryde or a CarDoorDash. She has yet to see or hear the Australian Cyborg Gang Members, but she does notice the beings flying over and decides to follow their general direction, since it is easier to get picked up by a street than in the middle of a dump.

Vitali Svyatoslav has posed:
A trained eye is definitely not what Vitali has. In fact, he has what could be called the opposite given his lack of familiarity with electronics and technology. Being new to the city, there is a certain amount of on foot exploration that he's been attempting to do. As it happens, he's passing by the scrapyard, and he stops beyond the confines of it. Curious, which could be both a good thing and a bad thing. He lifts his gaze, searching for his eagle that's flying there, and he tilts his head a bit to one side. Lifting one of his hands, he flicks his braid to his back before muttering something under his breath in Russian. The sky is full tonight, and that causes him certain other concerns. Lifting his left arm, he whistles a tone and, after a moment, the eagle who had been soaring above swoops down in order to land on his forearm and click her beak. He hasn't yet got a good idea of what's going on, or really much of an idea, at that.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn swallows, glancing downward toward the spot of light in the middle of the scrap yard. They're too far away still to hear what they're saying and it's dark, but...Clearly some deal is being made. She frowns. "DAMT and Reavers? Not good..We should land and lay low til we figure out what's going on..No good engaging til we know more.." And Megan is already getting ready to land in a hidden inconspicuous spot. She glances to Conner, "Wow you can do that? Of course you can!" she grins and nods. "Good idea, figure out what they're up to before we bust in on them.."

Meanwhile, the two groups below continue to talk, and off to one side is a large flatbed truck, it's contents currently covered with a large green tarp, hiding its contents from view. One of the Reavers walks over to it, peering underneath and nodding to one of the DAMT members. He nods back, looking to the two scrap owners. "Looks like that's everything. Take it or leave it. We're not in the mood for negotiating further. In fact, we can't have you talking either.."

With a swift hand motion, one of the other cyborgs suddenly pulls out a gun and aims it at the elder of the owners, shooting him in the chest. He yells in anger and shock, the shot sending him careening to the ground. His son yells, hurrying to his side. "What the hell!?"

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon turns on her image inducer, fast, hiding her feathery white wings from view. Effectively, she is one wiht the night as she lands, clad in black but for her face. "Personally, I'd rather not engage these guys. But we should get what intelligence we can and bump this one up the food chain. Do you -really- wanna get hit with one of them damn darts again?"

     As she watches the dealings in the junkyard, Shannon has to clamp her hands down over her mouth to keep silent, as she witnesses the shooting. It's too late for the man who was shot in the chest--probably dead before he even hit the ground. As his son runs over to kneel by his side, though, Shannon frowns, the gears in her head turning. Keeping her voice way down, she whispers to Pixie, "What do you think the odds are the younger man there might be willing to talk, if he were portaled to safety...?"

Superboy has posed:
"I have good hearing and eye-sight, just not x-ray vision," comments Conner. Because everyone asks about the x-ray vision. He follows Megan down, hearing the cyborgs coming and going. "Something under that green tarp," he murmurs.

And then they are talking about leaving, but one of the Reavers pulls a gun. "No," but he is too far to stop the bullet. The gunshot makes him move, though. He leaves Megan and Shannon and flies towards the cyborgs at near supersonic speed. If they the elder, they might shoot the younger too! "Stop! Murderers!"

That is also goodbye to being stealthy.

Spider-Man has posed:
Sneaking into the Junkyard, climbing over a fence, Peter began to get a sense of what was here and there, taking it in, and hoping he wouldn't get caught. If he found anything of value, his routine was to leave a reasonable amount of money, or more likely, take it, and come back when he had enough to compensate the business for it. But getting from a junkyard was so much cheaper than a brick and mortar storefront.

But then he heard gunshot and he immediately slipped his black mask over his face, having to do this in regular clothes and a face covering. He would put on his web shooters, hoping not to have to use them, but better to have them, and not need them, than need them, and not have them. And he ran a program on his phone that sent a prerecorded message to the police about a gunshot being fired with GPS coordinates, but that wouldn't lead back to his phone. That would likely get police, ambulance, and fire on the way.

That sorted, with the grace of a spider, he would leap up into the air, moving from heap to heap, trying to get to the heart of the commotion. With a man on the ground, and a son concerned, he decided to make himself a target, "hey, aren't you supposed to have a neon orange stopper on the end of those?"

She-Hulk has posed:
    You know how most people hear gunfire and run for cover or hunker down? Growing up the daughter of a Town Sheriff, Jennifer Walters hasn't hid or run from gunfire since she was a toddler, let alone now that she is arguably the Strongest Female there is, and actually has been running towards it since as long as she can remember... actually sort of why she ended up becoming She-Hulk, cause she ran towards gunfire, got shot, and her cousin gave her a transfusion to save her life. You'd think she would have learned her lesson, but she really didn't.

    Her skirt and cape flowing, She-Hulk hurtles the piles of junk to put herself between the shabby clothed junkyard family and the Raging Reavers' Rude Round Riddling Rampage. As she lands, She-Hulk extends her arm, Galactic Gavel in hand, pointing it at the cyborgs and giving a heroic pose as she projects, "In the name of Justice, cease this vile villainous vulger violent verily..." she probably should stop hanging with Asgardians and Olympians, as she seems to have begun to use a bit of their vernacular, "If you lay down your weapons and come peacefully, I promise you will be unharmed and receive a fair and speedy trial, but if you do not... well, lets just say you will be called Rehabers for a long while."

Vitali Svyatoslav has posed:
Lifting his right hand, Vitali lightly strokes the back of his fingers along the chest of the eagle standing on his left arm. He murmurs something to the eagle, his gaze on her until the shot rings out. That's a bit startling, as he's unfamiliar with gunfire, and causes him to look towards the interior of the scrapyard. His brow furrows, and he lifts his left hand to lightly launch the eagle back into the air. She leaps from his arm when it's at its height, spreading her wings and then flapping easily to gain altitude once again. He steps towards the fence that lines the property of the scrapyard, and then he moves to climb over it. Might as well check things out, at the least, and maybe his particular set of skills could be useful, such as they are.

Pixie has posed:
The leader waves a dismissive hand to the cyborg. "Kill em both. They're of no more use to me." He's already headed for the truck, motioning for his minions to follow, when Conner and She-Hulk intercept them. "Well, I was wondering when you heroes would come out of the woodwork..Kill them all!"

He runs towards the trailer once the cyborg turns and aims his gun at Conner, shooting with his plasma gun arm. The second cyborg sharls, rushing at Shulk with super speed and strength too, trying to tackle her to the ground.

For those with super hearing they may realize the father is still alive but barely, his breath is weak but still clinging to life, some metal calculator in his chest pocket having absorbed most of the blow.

Superboy has posed:
Generally guns don't work on Conner, so he ignores the cyborg for a second to shoot his heat vision and blow up a few of the truck tires. But plasma is a nasty surprise. He is fairly invulnerable but not completely harm-proof. "OW, damnit!" He attempts to kick the attacking cyborg away and yells. "Pixie, the old man is still alive, port him to a hospital!"

She-Hulk has posed:
    There are advantages to being trained by the likes of the original super soldier and the deadliest woman in the universe, even more when you have been tackled by the likes of Juggernaut, Champion, Hercules, and Thor just for fun. While her reflexes aren't as fast enough to be braced against the impact, they are quick enough to adjust after the impact, She-Hulk's fancy sandles being torn up as she digs her feet into the ground, her expression going from one of stern but kind concern to one of frustration and... well anger. She looks at the cyborg, "Stealing my cousin's and a friend's lines here. Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry, cause I can be the best at what I do, and what I will do to you won't be pretty. Last chance to surrender, or I'll switch to bully tactics." her eyes already staring to glow green.

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon does an odd crouch-run into the yard, eyerolling. This was sure to get her shot, or worse! Thankfully, her image inducer was hiding her wings, plus she was dressed in black, so she presented a minimal visual profile as she makes her way over to the old man. "Hey there... just hold still a second, don't be afraid." Closing her eyes, she briefly lays her hands on the old man, reaching out with her gifts to assess his injuries. Her brows knit, and she frowns a little. "Pixie! Can you get us out of range of the action here?"

Vitali Svyatoslav has posed:
In the sky, the eagle wings her way carefully. The sky is a busy place to fly through, but she has years of experience. Longer than would be expected, perhaps. She does her best to stay out of the way of the others, and she expels a shriek. Vitali pauses briefly in his efforts to reach the fray of folks, and he grunts softly. The news is unexpected, but... since the man is alive, there might be something he can do. He hurries forward, picking through the wreckage and assorted scrap of the yard, peeking around the hulking mass of a wrecked car, towards the woman who is near the wounded man. And then he moves along the side of the wrecked car, trying to keep low and close to the vehicle until he reaches the front end of it. Nearer to them. "Need heal?" he calls out.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn swallows and nods to Shannon, darting after her towards the guy. "Alright, just..Stay close...Sihal Novarum Chinoth!" moments after the words are uttered, the ground beneath their feet glows an intense pink, surrounding Megan, Shannon and the two family members I. a column of light as she ports the four of them to the outer perimeter of the junk yard.

Meanwhile, the cyborg who attempted to tackle Shulk just laughs, shaking her head. "No chance of that." she says and rushes at her again, blurr of power and speed as she aims several well placed and powerful kicks and punches at her that could easily smash through bricks.

And as Conner blasts the tire of the truck, it screeches and swerves bit doesn't stop, smashing through several cars on its race out of the junkyard. The cyborg that he knocked over is stunned but not out of the game yet, stumbling to his feet, shooting out a blinding stinging stream of teargas at him and anyone else who gets too close to the speeding truck.

All the while the others who piled into the truck start shooting with plasma guns and machine guns at anyone who gets too close, even as the truck serves wildly towards its destination.

Warpath has posed:
Sometimes fortune favors Warpath. Lately not as much. All he did was decide to take a drive and what does he find? A 911 text and now? This. While he wouldn't turn away from the idea of trouble, he does recognize at least one face in the crowd and sighs. He stops the truck and shuts it down. Closing the door hard he produces to long, nasty looking knives that are almost as long as his forearm and starts towards the mess grimly.

Superboy has posed:
Conner ignores the plasma-throwing cyborg and the tear gas. He can't do much more than burn the place, and maybe his own buddy. He is pretty sure the woman fighting the other cyborg is She-Hulk. She should be okay.

Besides he is not letting that truck escape. He flies up, watching how the large vehicle runs over junkyard cars. Very monster trucks.

And then they are shooting at him. "Damn, there are more in the truck..." Well, no one to talk to, since the girls have ported. He flies lower, grabs a traffic signal, and tosses it spear-like, at high speed, to the truck front, where the engine should be.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Well, this escalated quickly. When did everybody get ray guns?" Any chance of keeping his identity secret is out the window with people in need, so the Amazing Bag-Man II has to strike into action, thwiping webs at any cyborg that he gets a clear shot at. He's not sure if the webbing will help, but if he can gum up their plasma attacks, it's worth a shot. He will then run across the junkyard's higher mounds, until he can land on the large vehicle's roof, and turns upside down to look at the driver side window, "hello, do you have a minute to talk about our Lord and Savior, Dread Cthulhu?"

Nightingale has posed:
     With any luck, perhaps Shannon's last-moment 911 text message had gotten out in time. This was going to get messy and she knew it, particularly with a healing in the offing. But just in the moments before Pixie teleported her, the son, and the old man to a safe distance, Vitali approached with a much-needed offer of healing. Her brows lofted as she recognized his accent. Nodding once, she responded simply. "Da. Spasibo. We'll work together."

Vitali Svyatoslav has posed:
There's a moment of concern when the ground beneath him glows pink. It's a phenomenon that he's not experienced before. The sky glowing, sure! That's just the aurora borealis. But the ground? That's new! And then a moment later, it's not the same ground. It's a bit unsettling. Vitali gives his head a little bit of a shake as he gets his bearings to where they've been teleported to. From where he was crouching, he looks towards the woman near the injured man, and then he gives a nod and a smile. Safer here, he hurries to them before kneeling on the ground on the other side of the wounded man. "YA privyk rabotat' s bratom, eto ne dolzhno byt' problemoy," he says softly, falling into his native Russian with some ease. Then he reaches out to place his hands on the wounded man, murmuring softly under his breath and focusing his concentration on the men now beneath his hands.

Pixie has posed:
The injured man's son glances between the two healers in surprise once the light clears, "What's going on? Who are you guys?" he's panicked but maybe it's understandable with his dad in grave condition. Still, looks like they know what they're doing so he steps back. "Will he be okay?" Megan stands by, waiti g to see if he needs a hospital but she has faith in her friend. Vitali is given a curious glance, "Can you heal too? Can you help her?"

The semi trailer streaks through the yard, sending cars crashing into each other, not caring what gets trashed in their flight out of there. But their flight is quickly halted as Conner easily keeps up with them, trashing the engine which causes the truck to grind to a halt. A few cyborg pop out, aiming their guns and blasting at him some more. "What is he, another Superman?!"

Some others are securing the goods although so,e good loose during the pursuit. "Over here!" one waves a glow stick at the sky and it soon becomes apparent what he is waving at as a white chopper with blinding lights homes in on them from the sky. And then someone from within aims a massive sonic cannon at the group of heroes below, blasting through a large swath of vehicles with deafening sound and a powerful force blast and deafening sound that can be heard for hundreds of yards around..

Warpath has posed:
Walking into things like he can't be hurt, mostly because he isn't easily injured, Warpath flips the knife in his left hand, catching it by the blade and takes aim and throws it with deadly accuracy towards the nearest cyborg. He doesn't actually try to kill, but rather aims to take out the cyborg's arm.

There is no preparing for the sonic blast as he takes several steps back, covering his sensitive ears as much as possible. A trickle of blood escapes his nose as he closes his eyes and drops to one knee to turn his head away from the blast and more his shoulder towards it.

Superboy has posed:
It is not Conner didn't notice the chopper, but he was more worried about the cyborgs blasting and shooting at him. Those plasma guns pack a punch and his leather jacket is full of holes again, as his telekinesis never works very well against energy.

So, he gets hit by the sonic blast just as he was sweeping towards the Reavers. He crashes on the concrete and bounces against the side of the junkyard fence, stunned for a minute. He heals quickly, but even with his 'eardrums of steel' he is going to be hearing an annoying buzzing for hours.

Spider-Man has posed:
With the erratic driving of the semi, Spider-Man gets swung back, but sticks to the side of it with his fingertips, before getting a better connection. He had to jump back up on the roof as it would have crushed him between the vehicle and the trash, so he goes to the other side, and pulls one of the baddies out, along with the door, "oh, that's going to be murder on your car insurance. You should look into switching to Geico," he would web the guy to the door, and slip into the passenger seat, "he had fifteen minutes to save fifteen percent on his car insurance."

She-Hulk has posed:
    The best laid plans of crooks and cyborgs... She-Hulk had her own plans, she'd been studying the speedy cyborg's pattern of attacks, but the addition of the flying vehicle and sonic cannon causes her to adapt on the fly. She heals fast enough, the minor bruising from the impacts not really worth thinking about, but the aerial platform unbalances this fight too much for her liking. The problem for the baddies is that hurting any Hulk, even the pretty ones, is rarely a good idea, you either take them down in your inital attacks, or learn to regret that you failed.

    Timing the attack, She-Hulk simply drops on her back, letting the speedster's attack pass over her, hoping the sudden lack of a harder than brick body to hit will throw her foe off-balance, but the helicopter and its cannon is her priority anyway, "Turn about's fair play." she shouts as she swings her arms wide and brings her palms together in the Hulk Family Trademarked Thunderclap, the blast and shockwave aimed squarely at the chopper.

Pixie has posed:
The massive sonic blast is enough to stun most of the heroes perhaps fit enough time to get the chopper into position as it extends its claws to grab at the green sheet covering whatever is hidden in the flat bed truck, lifting it into the sky. A few of the cyborgs leaps towards the claw like thing, along wuth DAMT members as it lifts them into the sky and soon flies away out of sight and out of mind...For now at least.

Unfortunately not all the baddies get away. Conner managed to stun some of them as the truck ground to a halt, along with Spidey's webbing which traps another baddie to the truck, and Shulkie's baddie doesn't stand a chance against her powerful fist clap.

It is possible that at least some of the loot on the truck was not lifted in the haste though.

And through all this mayhem, Megan, Shannon Vitali and the two civilians are at a safe distance from the blast. The fathers breathing comes back more steadily as the two healers work on him, eyes blinking slowly, confused. "Hey..What's going on..?"

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon nods to Vitali and smiles. "Do what you can, I'll step in to help finish." Looking over to the injured man's son, she just smiles at him. "Call me Nightingale. We're going to try and help your... father, is it? He'll be alright."

     While she's not certain how Vitali heals, she can and does use her gifts to monitor the process. Internal injuries seem to weave themselves together into wholeness again as Vitali works, witnessed in her mind's eye. When it is reduced to a lesser severity, and she can do her part, she nods to the Russian man. "My turn. Don't be alarmed."

     Reaching out with her gifts, she begins to make the full connection to heal the older man, absorbing his injuries one by one as her own, such as they remained after Vitali's work. While she does absorb some bruising, yes, some cuts opening up on her chest--the blood failing to show through the black of her shirt--the injuries she absorbs are relatively minor, and are hopefully enough to bring the older man back to consciousness.

     As it turns out, it seems that it is indeed enough. She finally pulls her hands back from the old man, sitting down and smiling a little bit. "You were shot down, but you should be alright now. I would still recommend going to see a doctor as soon as reasonably possible."

     Yeah, she was going to be taking a nice, hot bath tonight, and sleeping in a bit in the morning!

Vitali Svyatoslav has posed:
There's a moment, in response to the question that had been asked of him, where Vitali looks towards Megan and gives a nod. "Da, can heal," he says, giving another nod. Among other things, at least, but healing is the important one at the moment. Then he looks briefly to Shannon, who is also near to the wounded man before he gives her a small nod. "Will help where can," he adds, a smile coming to his features. He's not the best conversationalist in English, but tries to get his point across at least. He keeps his hands on the man's chest, and he closes his eyes to concentrate on the wound. On healing the wound. It takes focus, on his part. His healing is water based, of which the human body has much to work with. It's his first time dealing with a bullet wound, and he doesn't seem to mind his work being witnessed. Gently, he moves one of his hands away from the man's chest, and once the man starts to come around, he gives a small nod. "Da, as she say," he says, agreeing to what she'd said. "Will be fine, da," he adds.

Superboy has posed:
By the time Conner has recovered enough the chopper is nowhere to be found. Maybe it had a stealth system, or just it was fast. So, Conner spends a few minutes rounding up injured cyborgs and making sure they are not going anywhere until the police arrive.

He is also very curious about what those guys were transporting, so he will attempt some investigation on the truck and whatever was left on it.

Warpath has posed:
The sonic blast lets up and Warpath rises to finish off the one he threw the knife at. Before that one can react Warpath grabs him by the front of the shirt, ripping the knife up and out and less than surgically removing the cyborg arm as he does.

As if that wasn't enough, he headbutts the man in the nose with a squish sound and then turns towards the nearest wall. Like throwing a living javelin he throws what is left of the nose broken, one armed man. Knocking the thug out cold, Warpath's eyes move to the next potential problem to solve.