3490/Shadow Bait and switch

From United Heroes MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Shadow Bait and switch
Date of Scene: 26 December 2017
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Shadowlite gets a new job: breaking into SHIELD.
Cast of Characters: Shadowlite, Mystique




Shadowlite has posed:
    Things being what they are lately, New York is not a place Shadowlite enjoys visiting these days. Listening to anti-mutant protests is not on his list of things to do for fun. Nonetheless, when colleagues call for a personal meetup, it tends to be important, or another a job worth Shadowlites time.

The first sign of his arrival is invisible to anyone but dimensional hoppers who can 'see' the boundaries. A hole in the fabric of reality opens... a misty blackness hovering around a pitch black aperture in one of the side rooms of the apartment the meeting was called into. When he's rushed, these portals can take on an electrical-like crackling sound as said fabric is torn, rather than opened... but this one is silent.

Out of that aperture comes Shadowlite, clad in his Darkforce suit and wearing a black trenchcoat, a pistol in a back holster and a few tech goodies in the pockets. Moments later, the portal from... somewhere... closes behind him, and reality is whole again.

From the bathroom of the rather large apartment comes a masked voice, from Shadowlite, "Henry, I'm here. This had better be interesting. You know I hate New York these days."

Mystique has posed:
The person in the other room, called back. "Just come out here." Henry said back to the one known as Shadowlite.

Henry was seated in a lime green sofa chair with his hands on the arms of it and a cigarette between his lips, he had a glass of scotch in his left hand and a loosened tie around his neck with a white shirt and black slacks on with fancy dress shoes.

He plucked the cigarette out from between his lips and blew the smoke out the open window beside him then took a long drink from his glass.

"Hurry it up too." He said further. "I don't have time for dramatics."

Shadowlite has posed:
    Out into the main room, Shadowlites black on black-and-a-bit-of-white getup is clear as day... as is the misty black 'liquid' that flows around his chest. Shadowlite gives a look around, then focuses on Henry. "Taking up smoking? You must be more screwed than I thought." Shadowlite givesm amused, before he moves to sit down, crossing his legs on the other couch and relaxing into it. "What *do* you have time for?" The white visor over Shadowlites eyes focuses directly on 'Henries' face.

Mystique has posed:
Henry puffed on the cigarette and huffed out a disgruntled exhale while glancing away to look out the window. "Scotch." He replied and tossed his cigarette out the window then took another swig of his drink. He set the glass down on the glass table beside his chair with a little clinky clatter sound.

His eyes went back to Shadowlite as he set down on the sofa across from him. Henry's hands went to the chair's arms and his legs crossed at the knees in a decidedly awkward feminine style to his posture and old-man appearance.

He stared at Shadowlite for several seconds with an unblinking lock of his brown eyes... Those eyes suddenly flashed yellow and what was once Henry entirely faded away from head down to the tips of feet... leaving a red haired woman with textured blue skin now sitting across from Shadowlite.

The most wanted woman in the world. Her face and appearance was everywhere, hated by many, loved by some, feared by almost everyone across the globe (by-and-large at least).

Shadowlite has posed:
    If Shadowlite is startled by this, he doesn't show it bodily. Instead, that misty swirling blackness jumps off his chest and onto the floor, stretching out slightly. Leaning forward, Shadowlite sits slightly forward, his elbows propping on his thighs.

"This is either the most amazing coincidence ever, or you have it out for me and decided to try and kill me yourself after the mob hit failed." Tat pitch blackness on the floor remains where it is... but tense. There's the distinct impression Shadowlite is keeping it there as a defensive measure, somehow. "You went to a bit of trouble to arrange this, anyway."

Mystique has posed:
"Trouble is pretty much my daily routine." Mystique replied to these last words out of the man across from her. Her eyes took note of the blackness on the floor that was protecting the man and she showed a smile, warm and sinister. "I'm not going to attack you. I have no interest in harming you." She told him, her yellow eyes now rising up to look at his face.

"I've come to meet you because I wish to know if you can assist me in retrieving Magneto from the SHIELD lockup." She was the type of woman who didn't beat around the bush, she liked to get to the point of her subject because there simply were not enough hours in the day to get as much done as this woman strived to achieve.

"I can easily get in, but getting -him- ... -out- is a larger issue. I'm looking for alternative aides for this. So here we are. Face to face."

Shadowlite has posed:
    "I've never tried to get in or out of a SHIELD prison." Shadowlite notes, before he leans back, fingers steepling slightly. "If he can move freely? I could probably be in and out in twenty seconds, if I know where to come out at. This is assuming they don't have inhibitors for my special brand of reality smashing." Shadowlite quips. Irreverent? Certainly. Carefree? His tone certainly suggests it.

Then, Shadowlite looks towards the middle of the room... and Mystique can hear the electrical crackle as a black mist 'forces' its' way into reality, and a hole in space opens... along with black 'lightning' flitting about, the 'electrical crackle' no doubt. After about five seconds, the blackness is hovering in place, big enough for a person easily... and that misty blackness flowing off and around the edges. "That's how long it takes to open in a hurry, and if anyone besides me enters it, they get lost in the other side. I need to be there to guide any travelers through, or you'll be trapped."

Then, Shadowlite looks back to Mystique, "Far as I know, the range for these things is about the size of a large city. But I have to know where I'm going in some way. Don't want to end up smashing into the inside of a giant stone wall or whatever."

Mystique has posed:
A slow nod of her head was given to the information that he provided her with on the functionality of his abilities. Her eyes swept over to watch the black portal do its thing and after observing it for a few seconds she looked back at him.

"Impressive." Mystique replied. "I'm sure thats a power that you have had a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of. No pun intended." She showed him a slight grin then before continuing. "If I provide you with a detailed layout of their entire facility that they're holding him inside of, will that be enough for you to do your... thing... with confidence?" She asked him then while otherwise remaining perfectly still in the chair that she's seated in, blue textured legs still crossed at the knees.

Shadowlite has posed:
    "Oh, I'm sure you've had fun yourself with your own abilities. Though the possibilities it brings up as questions for the bedroom are just as fun." Shadowlite muses as he watches Mystique, "Gender itself is an open question with you, for example." Carefree? Definitely. His eyes only glue themselves to her body for about three seconds, to his credit... before he stands up and starts to walk over to the portal, circling it, "it'd be enough to flit in, sure. But that doesn't tell me if I'd have the time to smash reality to get him out."

Shadowlite reaches out a hand to the floating hole in space, gesturing up and down it, "These are one way. I can't simply open up a portal and let him through. I'd need to go through into the place myself." Shadowlite turns to look at Mystique, "Which means if there's any sort of resistance, I couldn't focus enough to smash reality back out of the place."

Mystique has posed:
Mystique's simple response to his bedroom-inclined words elicited a smile from her. "It has its moments." She quietly said back before she watched him stand and move around his portal. She observed him while remaining motionless at first, but she'd come to stand up from the chair, uncross her legs and walk to stand in front of it with her arms at her sides, her hands resting calmly at her hips.

"SHIELD has technologies that I am not fully aware of the ins and outs of." She admitted to the man as she swept her yellow eyes over to him. "The only way to know if your portals will work to achieve this mission, is to... do it, and see what happens." She said this with a calm coldness about her.

After a second she continued. Her eyes pulled away from him and looked back to the portal. "I'll understand if the mission is too high a risk. But know that the payout is whatever you want it to be. The money can go as high as you desire."

Mystique god Magneto imprisoned and she now felt it her duty to get him out.

Shadowlite has posed:
    "'Too high a risk' is not exactly what this is, sweetheart. 'Insane risk' is about right." Shadowlite notes, before he reaches out... and a flowing tendril of blackness 'pulls' away from the aperture and flows into Shadowlite. Slowly, the hole in space closes, and the flow stops. Then, the blackness on the ground starts to 'flow' over to Shadowlite. "That Magneto person is a magnetic type, right? I could toss some metal through for him, give him a chance to clear out the shit around him. If it doesn't make it through, I could probably bring some with me. Assuming they don't have inhibitors for that." Shadowlite shrugs, then. "If I can get inside, I can get back out. The problem here is that I have no idea of their defenses, so going in is still a crapshoot. Is there any way you can narrow down the window to 'probably safe to go in'?"

Mystique has posed:
Mystique's yellow eyes watched the portal close back up and watched the shadowy substances move about there-after.

When he started to speak again she turned to face him with her hands still at her sides, standing there perfectly calmly. "Bringing metal would be a wise thing to do, yes... but... I have doubts that Erik might be wishing to leave his prison cell. I believe he may be making some moral stance on not leaving. Or may change his mind at the very last moment. You see, he and I last spoke on poor terms. A disagreement of direction."

Mystique's eyes glanced away toward the opened window and she took in a breath of air between her dark blue textured lips.

"I'm searching for all available options here before they move him to a place that I cannot reach." She'd look back to him then. "Clearly I need more to go off of though, I will have to break into the facility myself to do some intelligence gathering, for the benefit of both of us."

Shadowlite has posed:
    "I have a few ways I could get inside, and even defend myself." Shadowlite nods, "But if I'm defending myself, it means I'd have to multitask to get the portal open, which is a risk in itself. For something like this, you want to minimize risks... and if he doesn't want to *leave*, I could probably force him to go with me, potentially. Your disagreements aside, you're the one who'd be paying me." Shadowlite shifts his weight to one leg, casually, before he crosses his arms. "I could probably get inside through a pure shadow, too, if that'd help."

Mystique has posed:
Mystique's mind was a maze of thoughts of approaches and outcomes, she'd been quite busy this last month avoiding being seen too often by those she wasn't confident in knowing her presence.

She stared at the man's eyes, listening to him as he spoke. "If he doesn't want to come, you'd be hard pressed to make him. However, at least we'd know then for sure and could easily let him stay there as long as he so desired." She gently shook her head back and forth.

She tilted her blue head curious then while watching him still. "What does 'through a pure shadow' entail?" She had to ask next, as that statement had confused her a little.

Shadowlite has posed:
"The total absence of light. Nooks of pure shadow. The stuff I use makes it easier to... for lack of a better word, 'ride' the barrier and use the natural dark as a guiding post." Shadowlite muses, then "Think of it like a highway network, with the off ramps being very haphazard. Coming out anywhere else is like hitting a brick wall."

Mystique has posed:
"I have heard of powers and abilities similar to that." Mystique quietly commented to the man upon that information provided to her. She turned then and walked toward the window to let the natural light from outside bathe across her, no one knew she was here so she didn't fear being in the window and they were high enough up that it was unlikely anyone would spot her.

"I relent to your decision how best to use the gifts given to you." She said, her yellow eyes back over onto him. "You know my end goal here. Mutantkind needs the one man in this world who's fought for it when everyone else would rather lay down and accept the oppression, the racism and the hate."

Shadowlite has posed:
    "It's one of the many reasons why people don't find me... I find them. *You* of all people reaching out to me though... I had to stay and see what you wanted, if nothing else." Shadowlite gives in an amused tone, before he chuckles. "Alright. How about this: you give me a general idea of what I'd be running into... see if you can get me any backup, and then we can discuss a price tag. Does that sound good to you?"

Mystique has posed:
Mystique returned to her lime green chair and she lowered herself down onto it and leaned back into its gawdy, but surprisingly comfortable, cushions. "I'll provide you with the entire interior layout of the facility they have him within, I'll provide you with inside backup in the form of myself... working against them internally should things go south... and perhaps more as there are many who value Magneto's freedom... Then we'll hash out the price, yes."

A simple nod was given to the man and she reached for the glass of scotch that was still on the table. She brought it up to her lips for a drink and offered the Shadowlite a faint smile. "It'll be fun." She quietly said.

Shadowlite has posed:
    A hand goes into that trenchcoat then, and pulls out a card, which he tosses to Mystique, "My card. It goes to a voice mail box that I have access to. I switch them up every month or so, and you never get a call back unless it's important. Using cell phones in this business is asking for triangulation." Shadowlite quips amused. "Let me know when you have a point of entry, and I'll talk to you about some comms."

Mystique has posed:
Mystique's non scotch-holding hand would raise upa nd she took the card from him... a second later the card vanished beneath her palm like it had never been there. She put her hand back down against the arm of the chair and lowered the drink after having another sip of it.

"I will contact you then and there." She replied to him while the half-empty glass was set back down onto the table beside the chair. She'd stand back up from the lime monster and stride her way toward the door of the apartment room.

Shadowlite has posed:
"Have fun, then!" Shadowlite gives by way of goodbye, before he tears another portal open in front of himself, that black lightning dancing... before he steps through, and is gone.