13585/Volweiler Symposium

Volweiler Symposium
Date of Scene:	02 July 2021
Location:	Empire State University
Synopsis:	Chaos erupts on campus when a very public assassination attempt is made on Lex Luthor.
Cast of Characters:	Jericho, Red Robin, Lex Luthor, Supergirl, Sparrowhawk

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Jericho has posed:
    The research park at Empire State University is bustling with students, faculty, and staff, as well as people from the general intellectual community. That is because tonight is the Volweiler Research Symposium, an annual event dedicated to the sharing of the best ideas the city has to offer.

    The atrium is full of posters and demonstration booths prepared by various researchers, some academic while others are private enterprises. There are also a few snack tables with party trays, fruit, punch, and the like situated around the edges of the room.

    The event is open to the general public, and there are a few campus police officers and ushers on duty. The rest of the crowd are just milling about, taking interest in that booth or this poster, asking questions of those attending the item of interest, or just hanging around chatting amgonst themselves, maybe while chowing down on snacks.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake would have brought Phoebe along with him, coming to the event as Tim Drake, he is one of the VP's for Wayne Tech, and this is not only a place where some of his brighter people might be showing some of their work, but it is a good place to see what others are doing and who might be on track to get offered a job with the Wayne tech family.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Then, there's Lex Luthor.

One of the giants of research and development alongside WayneTech, of course the business rivals would both be invited. He had come in a Limo flying both the US and LexCorp flags, with Hope letting him out of the back as Mercy brings the black Limo around to the parking lot. Into the park Lex goes... his first stop the first interesting group of inventors he sees; these are the events the up and coming talent want to be found at... and Lex is a master of technology and business.

Time to mingle and recruit. "Hello! Quite the setup you have here." Lex greets the first interesting party he sees, walking up to them.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers is also here in civilian attire. She may not be a VP but with her connections at Catco mean her boss would probably want her to get some article on this story for her magazine. She's dressed formally and rather stiffly in her Kara Danvers persona, complete with white blouse that's slight baggy on her, blue knee length skirt and blonde hair pulled up in a tidy bun. And those glasses of course.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Phoebe was here in official capacity. Her hair was pulled into bantu knots, and she was wearing a pair of gray non-prescription glasses to soften her image, walking in a pair of sensible matte heels, a dark gray pinstripe skirt suite with a blue blouse beneath, and her WAyneTech ID tag on her lapel. She carries around a tablet for taking notes so that Tim doesn't have to, pure appearance of combonation Secretary, Coordinator, and Girlfriend.

Jericho has posed:
    Indeed, LexCorp and WayneTech are among the most highly anticipated guests of the night, and everyone is quite excited that Mr. Luthor himself would be making an appearance, as per the large signs out front that advertised the fact that there were plans for him to speak on some of LexCorp's latest innovations and how technology was changing the world for the better toward the end of the night.

    Lar Gand had accompanied Kara to this event, as she had been a bit on edge lately. A little less confident, even scared, thanks to some disturbing events recently. But he pats her on the back reassuringly, leaning toward her to speak on a level only they could hear, even with all the background noise and chatter. "Looks like Lex is going to be here...this could be your chance to put him to the test."

    As Lex approaches the first booth that catches his eye, the researchers are of course elated that he has chosen to approach them. One of them, a tall, lanky male grad student smiles. "Mr. Luthor--!" He quickly sticks out a hand for a shake. "Sam Overland, so happy to meet you. Thanks....yeah...my group's been looking into introducing a new species of mosquito predator to impoverished areas of the Republic of Congo." There are several lighted terrariums filled with some kind of monstrous-looking wasp even larger than the Asian Giant Hornet.

    However, above all of this activity, if anyone has been paying enough attention, there a mysterious figure perched just outside the roof skywindow that runs most of the length of the ceiling, which is situated above the building's multiple open-air floors.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake is paying attention, that is sorta, what the young man has been trained to do, and without powers it is a rather important skill. He notices the movement up top, but is not quite at a good angle to see who or what it is. He leans over to whisper to Phoebe alerting her of it. For now, he leads her to a booth checking out what the kids there have made, but also trying to get a better lok to see if it is security or one of new yorks heroes or what not.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Lex takes the hand, shaking cordially, but his eyes are on the wasp. "Good evening, Mr. Overland. Is that genetic engineering, or are you cross-breeding?" He looks back to Sam, his demeanor warm, the charisma of the man on full display to those around him. It's easy to tell how the Billionaire philanthropist came from nothing to become the powerhouse industrialist he is now.

"Anything that brings thw quality of life up for humanity is a noble and worthy project." Lex states, confidently.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers is glad for Lar's company and smiles faintly at him as they wander through the area. "Thanks for coming with me...Wow, this place is huge. But I'm sure we'll find him sooner or later. Probably has the biggest, shiniest booth set up or something, right?" she's trying to stay positive in light of recent events.

"Although, might be a bit tricky approaching the subject without raising suspicion..Still, it shouldn't be completely out of place to ask him about his research on nanite particles if I word it properly.."

Kara hasn't spotted Lex yet but she does see some other familiar faces. "Heey, isn't that Tim and Phoebe?"

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Phoebe gives a nod, and brings the tablet forward, jotting something down on the tablet before she comes back around to take a look at what the kids are doing. She gives the brightest grin to one of the smiles, and asks a few questions about a project involving reversing the polarity of an ionization to destabilize a molecule before bringing it back to improve drinking water clarity and quality. She does not spot Kara just yet, but she is gathering security feeds from around the area to that tablet.

    For Mr. Drake's safety, of course.

Jericho has posed:
    Once Tim and Phoebe are able to get to a better angle, they are able to see that the mysterious figure is doing something. It's not fully clear right away exactly what from this distance, but after a minute or two he puts some kind of device on the glass and pulls, creating perfectly circular hole that is just big enough for him to get through. He deftly jumps through, and lands on the balcony of the top floor, which is currently deserted since basically everyone is at the symposium downstairs. Now that he's a bit closer, it looks like he's wearing tactical gear and carrying something long and thin. Could it be a weapon? But he ducks behind the half-walls lining the balcony before that can be clearly discerned, at least from this vantage point. Phoebe's review of security feeds in the building would show that all the upper floors are deserted, that is, except for the top one where one of the cameras had caught a brief glimpse of a man in tactical gear of some kind just barely swiping the edge of the camera's field of view. But if she knows the location of that camera, she might be able to approximate where he is.

    Meanwhile, Mr. Overland looks more and more elated with every minute of talking to Lex. This is -definitely- a good connection for after he graduates. "A little bit of both, actually." he says, grinning. "The Asian Giant Hornet is an extremely effective predator. But mosquitoes aren't usually its favorite. Dragonflies on the other hand..."

    "...yes, yes of course. Mosquitoes are an important part of ecosystems, but they can also transmit deadly diseases. That's why we need natural control mechanisms instead of using synthetic chemicals." Lex may or may not notice that at this point, Hope has begun to act a bit strangely. Mercy probably picked up on it, though. She had been standing at his side, but she suddenly seems to have decided to take a slight step back. Her hand goes to the backup pistol she usually carries, though she does not draw it, as if she's checking it's still there or, something like that.

    Lar nods. "Well looks like he'll be giving a speech tonight, so maybe we can track him down after. Might be a line, but if we wait long enough...You can do this, Kara. I'm with you." He looks over to Tim and Phoebe. "Oh, hey." he waves.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake will frown as he sees this. He looks about for a place, where he and Phoebe might be able to find a hidden spot to change, but sees Kara. He will smile and leans in to whisper to Phoebe again, but this time, he tries to get someone else's attention. "Supergirl we have a man in tactical gear, just snuck into the building on the balconey across and above where I am. Lost sight of him, but he seemed to have some odd device with him." He then adds for Phoebe with another whisper "SG is here in her civilian ID." He looks to the kids whose exhibit he is at, and gives them just a moments attention trying not to let on he saw anything above to others.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"I've read some studies on the subject, but I've never had the pleasure of finding out on my own." Lex steps around Sam and walks right up to the Wasp, studying it. His hands clasp behind his back as he takes in the details. "What are you hoping to accomplish with it?"

Indeed, Lex does not notice anything strange. But then, he's not expecting any trouble here. That's what security is for.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Phoebe finishes her talk with the kids, and gives them a manicured thumbs-up before she straightens, looking to Tim and then she hears the whisper.

    And that's when she turns to look to Kara, and she gives a smile, before turning to Tim and whispering "I have a tablet with the security feed, meet me at the Ladies' room."

    And she turns, ticking an option to let Tim view on his smart watch as she goes to find the little girl's room for a quick change.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers smiles and nods to Lar, giving his arm a little squeeze, encouraged by his words, "Yeah, it's okay, there's a lot to look at while we're here." as they approach Phoebe and Tim, she nods to them with a smile.

"Hey guys, what's up?" it's clear they're focused on..Something, and her smile quickly fades as she follows their gazes, eyes narrowed on some movement going on up there. "Snuck in, did he? Soo, either an uninvited guest or..Something more sinister." an assassin? Possibly after one of these people..But Lex is the most prominent figure here Soo..

She switches to x-ray vision, trying to pinpoint the figure in tactical gear, "Guess talking to Lex may have to wait.." when Phoebe says that, Kara nods again, it'd be a good place to change, "Be right there."

Jericho has posed:
    The monstrous-looking wasp is at least twice the size of the typical giant hornet, and its eyes are definitely larger. And when Lex approaches the terrarium, it flies wildly at the glass, clawing and hissing as if it wants to devour him. However, the barrier does not yield. Honestly, it looks like it could be even more dangerous than overpopulated mosquitoes. But hey, at least it's something cool to show off. "Well the first thing is to help keep mosquito populations under control, by giving it a voracious apetite for both larvae and adult individuals using CXLL55, a dragonfly gene involved in prey selection behaviors. Interestingly that locus actually has 75% homology to some of the more conserved wasp genes."
    Hope's hand moves away from the pistol, and she seems to resume more natural behavior, moving along with Lex and Mercy as he goes over to the terrarium. But she still stays slightly behind him.

    As Kara looks up toward the top floor where Tim pointed out the stranger, her vision does reveal that there is a man in tactical gear hiding behind the barriers on the edge of the balcony. With her enhanced vision, it's quite clear he is setting up a sniper rifle, the muzzle pointed through a narrow gap in the railing. Now, he is peering through the scope at something, but she can't quite tell what or who he is looking at.

    Lar frowns at the news Tim and Phoebe have. That is disturbing. He lets them head off to change. "I'll hold the fort down here."

Lex Luthor has posed:
"I'll be sure to watch the progress for this." Lex genuinely informs the group. It's one of those 'good in theory, but the execution brings a whole new set of problems into the mix' solutions.

Still, can't expect a student to know all the variables.

With that, Lex steps away with a wave, and starts to head deeper into the crowd, looking for anything new as he heads for the stage. He's one of the speakers after all.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers nods to Lar, "Right, let's go then.." she darts off to the washroom, glad she brought a little backpack with her to get changed and swap out her civvies. When she emerges, she's glad the washroom is empty for now. "Right, that guy looked like a sniper, we'd better stop him, but didn't want to alarm the public. What's the fastest way to his last known location with minimal interference?" even as she asks, she scans the rafters again, searching for the sniper. They didn't have much time to lose.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    They didn't have time to loose, but Phoebe needs a few more minutes. She's largely gotten down to a science -- after having to stash hers in an overhead vent just in case -- but she emerges pulling her hood over her head.

    "According to the schematics of the building --" the vocoder-disguised voice replies "For you, to the left, utility stairs. Last door, then up one floor." she gives a wry grin "I'll be right behind you."

Jericho has posed:
    As Lex was standing in front of the terrarium, more of those nasty looking insects fly against the glass at him. A voracious appetite for mosquitoes, huh? Well the only thing that's clear now is that they seem to have a voracious appetite for -people-. Mr. Overland nods vigorously, clearly thrilled that Lex is interested in his work. "Definitely keep tabs on Dr. Rocheford's lab, then! We're hoping to publish by the end of this year."

    Kara would find the sniper again, in the same position as before. Now he is lying on his belly, peering through the scope of the rifle which is aimed downward toward someone on the floor below, seemingly ready to fire at just the right moment like a predator waiting for its prey to come out in the open...

    A few minutes after Lex and his usual security entourage step away from Mr. Overland's demo, a man steps up to a podium set on a portable stage that has been positioned in front of a projector screen and rows of chairs. There are already some people who have found their seats, as the appointed time for the guest speakers is coming up in a few minutes. The mic crackles a little, and he speaks.

    "Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming tonight." As he begins, more people filter into the rows of chairs and sit down. "I trust you've all had a fine time with the food and most of all the sharing of ideas. My name is Tyler Everett, founder of the Science Alliance. We are proud sponsors of the annual Volweiler Symposium at Empire State University Research Park. And so, it is my honor and privilege to introduce to you tonight's first guest speaker--the founder and CEO of LexCorp himself: Lex Luthor!"

    He smiles and steps aside as he waits for Lex to come onstage amidst the thunderous applause that breaks out.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake would like to suit up and be part of this, but he knows, people are looking at him. He makes sure he is out in the public eye, watching Lex's speech as it starts. The young man trusts the ladies to handle this one. One of the things he may have learned on his own, and not from his mentor. You do not have to be a physical part of all missions, sometimes, you trust your friends.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Thank you, Mr. Everett." Lex clearly speaks into the mic. He's a public speaker and his natural charisma is clearly in play as he stands there... his hands on the sides of the podium as he starts to speak from memory. "I'd like to thank all of you for joining us as well. It's the /drive/ of human progress that makes our species -and indeed, Earth- great." Lex begins to looks over the crowd as he speaks with warmth and conviction.

"Humanity as a whole has many problems. Indeed, coming out of the dark ages was a challenge. A difficult one that took decades to get through.... but we got through those times by /siezing/-" His right hand comes up and gives a firm grip to the air, as if he's snatching something from in front of himself,"-the oppurtunities for social and technological reform. Despite the cruelty of those times, we as a species learned a very important lesson." Lex leans forward, physically driving the point home, "Stifling progress hurts everyone... and we cannot rely on outsiders to fix our problems." He leans back, "Research. Technology, evolution of the human condition. Expansion of our society. These are the cornerstones of a healthy civilization, and I support any effort to keep these things stable. With these in mind, I wholeheartedly support the efforts of events like the Volweiler Research Symposium, and I hope to keep events like these going for years to come."

As Lex's voice fills the Park, Hope slowly takes out a set of shock gloves from a satchel attached to her back, concealing the movement behind her back. Unfortunately for her, Mercy catches the movement and is already glancing around for a perp.

Then, it happens fast. Almost with lightning speed.

Hope brings up one of her shock gloves, and a charge shocks Lex as he siezes in front of everyone, hitting the ground. Mercy just barely pulls out her tazer and shocks Hope down to the ground, behind her employer.

Lex is out... but alive.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers nods to Phoebe as she offers the fastest route to the bad guy. "Alright, thanks, keep an eye on Lex down here, I'll try and stop him from above." she darts upstairs then, taking the suggested route and adding in a little super speed to make up for lost time. He's probably had enough time to line up a shot, probably just waiting for Lex to take the stage before he'll have a clear view of him.

Hopefully she can do this as discretely as possible. "Hey you, hold it right there!" she calls out a warning to sniper guy when she spots him, getting ready to grab the gun from him should he refuse to listen to reason..

She's only partly aware of what's going on down below though, enough to be momentarily distracted as she sees Lex go down...Wait, what just happened?

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    The tablet gets tucked away in her back pack beneath her cape, and the other girl gives a nod to Kara. She hopes the 'faster than a speeding bullet' is a commonality.

    The Sparrowhawk is not faster than a speeding bullet, but she does re-appear in the crowd. There's a 'pop' of a grappling gun, and as she pulls back, she's launched into the air, over the crowd, and lands near the stunned Lex and the even more stunned Hope and the hopefully-not-about-to-stun-her Mercy. She holds her hands up a moment, her back in the direction of the sniper.

    "I'm reading he's alive. I'm medically trained. May I?"

Jericho has posed:
    The sudden and unexpected actions Lex's own must trusted bodyguard Hope throws the symposium attendees into a shocked panic. At first, a gasp permeates the crowd as they sit there frozen, but a few seconds later and people start standing up and looking around to try figuring what the hell just happened.

    And then--as if the situation couldn't get any more chaotic--just as Kara confronts the sniper, the rife discharges, the perp attempting to shoot Lex while he is down on the floor since it would appear the shock gloves did not kill him. However, two things went wrong: First, Kara startled him because she had appeared so quickly with her lightning fast speed--how had she gotten up here so fast? This threw off his aim. Second, Phoebe got in the way. As such, the bullet strays from its mark, passing through the glass terrarium with the swarm of genetically modified wasps in it and grazing the top of Sparrowhawk's right shoulder as she is crouching over Lex before burying itself in the floor a few inches away from his head.

    The terrarium glass spider cracks in both places where the bullet had passed through, before shattering completely. And now there is an angry swarm of experimental giant hornets attacking the crowd!

    Meanwhile, upstairs, seeing that the plan had failed, the sniper gets up hurriedly and desperately tries to escape before Kara can grab him--although he probably doesn't have a good chance of succeeding at that...

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake will move with the reaction of someone trained to be a hero, but he knows h e can not go into kicking with the hornets, or throw any of the hidden smoke pellets ot such. No, he takes a few steps to the side, and his the fire alarm to trigger the sprinkler system, counting on the quick thick rain of water to knock the bugs out of the air.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Get away from him." Mercy hisses, the tazer aimed right for Phoebe as Mercy checks him for herself. Lex is alive, but completely knocked out. Mercy gestures aggressively towards two guards, "Get Hope and bring her."

Meanwhile, Mercy is grabbing up Lex like a ragdoll under one arm and taking him away.

"We have our own protocols."

Sparrowhawk has posed:
     -- Wasps. Why did it have to be wasps?

    With Lex Luthor prone and shocked and Phoebe holding her hands up and making sure that she's not being threatening in any way, she lets Mercy handle Lex.

    Onto the Angry Bees. "Luthor is being handled by his own team." she states, "But we've got a bug problem. Alert medical teams to be prepped with hista-histamines and... oh why are they giant angry wasps?!"

Jericho has posed:
    If the crowd was scared before, now they are completely panicked as the insects are suddenly unleashed on them, and they are just as aggressive as before. Suddenly, the campus police are severely understaffed as chaos erupts everywhere and they desperately try to herd people toward exits without anyone getting trampled. They wave their arms frantically, trying to swat the insects away, but end up getting stung and these things -hurt-, with how large they are.

    The sprinklers come on as Tim activates them, and it does actually knock them out of the air, although doesn't quite seem to kill them. Still, now they're easier to catch. Poor Sam Overland. He's probably not going to be getting another grant for a while...

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake will actually make sure to keep an eye on Mr. Overland in the future he may even offer him a grant, to try to make sure the young fellow learns to follow more safety procedures, we don't need another Swarm after all. He will look around watching to see if anyone seems to be going into shock allergic to the wasps and having gotten stunned. He tries to be the civilian hero if he can't be Red Robin right now.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    THe wasps are knocked out of the air, and Sparrowhawk is using abandoned glasses to keep them contained and marked where they are. The young heroine then stops, and begins to use her other pertinent skill on others:

    "If there is ANYONE suffering alleries -- bring them here first!" she calls out, and she flexes her fingers. That unfamiliar feeling to others, her healing aura and powers, kicking in -- to help as many people as she can!

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers has total confidence that her team mates can deal with the chaos below, while she focuses on the sniper above. As he darts away she flies after him, attempting to tackle him to the ground and knock the rifle out of his hand too. And of course if successful, she'll use her super reflexes to try and catch the gun before it can go off again, "Not so fast!"

Jericho has posed:
    Indeed, Kara is -much- faster than the man. No way he had any hope of escaping her. Well, at least he tried. He actually left the rifle behind, because it would only hinder his escape. Not that any of it mattered, anyway.

    He is tackled to the floor, his eyes finally meeting hers. It is clear to her that he is just a normal human man. But despite that, he doesn't seem to actually be afraid of her. Instead, he just smirks up at her. "You weren't supposed to be here. But it doesn't matter...we'll get him, eventually. It's funny, Supergirl you know. You defending someone like Luthor. What with how xenophobic he is. I mean hell, he even -showed- some of it just now."

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers arches a brow, "Not supposed to be here? What's that supposed to mean?" she grabs him by the scruff of the neck, glaring up at him, "And who sent you to kill Lex and why?" he has a point, maybe, Lex is..Not entirely a good guy afterall, although she has yet to find evidence that he's exactly doing bad things. "That doesn't matter, whatever he's done, he doesn't deserve to be killed. No one has the right to lay judge, jury and executioner."

Jericho has posed:
    The would-be assassin scoffs. "I knew you would say that." As for who sent him? "All you need to know about them is that whatever you're planning on doing to me...what they will do if I spill is far worse." And that seems to be that.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara Danvers grits her teeth, knowing she probably won't get much more out of him, and she's above torturing him. "What a waste, you would really be willing to throw your life away just to end another?" she sighs, shaking her head and continues to drag him with her towards the main level, gliding slowly down towards where the chaos is. She'll look for security or a police officer abs hand over both the would be assassin and the gun. "Sir, this man tried to assassinate Lex Luther with this gun, which fired a missed bucket into the wasp exhibit. Arrest him and please keep me updated on any information he may have on who he's working for." she can't help but wonder if he might be behind the attack on herself as well. Hopefully the police are prone to listen to Supergirl. Superman makes it look so easy.