4293/Mutant Kidnappings: Research and Theories

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Mutant Kidnappings: Research and Theories
Date of Scene: 17 April 2018
Location: New york City
Synopsis: Dr. Banner, Rhodey and Tony talk over recent clues.
Cast of Characters: Iron Man, War Machine, Hulk
Tinyplot: Mutant Kidnappings


Iron Man has posed:
    In addition to the variety of gas canisters samples that Tony has labeled for testing, there is a new database of information about what the Batman group provided. It's sitting, nearly gift-wrapped, pristine and waiting for somebody to care about it.
    Really, it's the other samples, though, that Tony earmarked specifically for Dr. Banner to look through: samples from the laboratory that was discovered. It's mostly biological trace evidence: blood samples, hair, various things of that nature, from the emptied lab. And it's been sitting there a long while, as Dr. Banner has been busy.

    Tony's demolition and construction noise, of his expansion of the lower area of the laboratory, has been ongoing prior to now, but it is blissfully silent this afternoon: good timing, really. Tony shows up, casual and snack baggie in hand in the medical lab. "I haven't had time to go through this mess either. I'm thinking of just sending it all over to Batman, since the lab was in Gotham. I hate outsourcing like that, though, but our science people are too overloaded," Tony sighs to Rhodey as he leads the way out of the elevator down into the medical area of the basement. "I'll get some tests going myself, and we can get lunch?" he suggests to his friend.

War Machine has posed:
"Works fine for me man." Rhodey keeps his hands in the pocket of his nice simple jacket as he walks out of the elevator. "Just saying man, I've had to learn it the hard way, but no shame in getting help, even if it's from some weirdo who likes to cosplay as Dracula." He makes his way into the medbay looking around with a bit of interest as he lightly bobs his head. "Telling you man, Shield could learn a thing or two from you guys, love the equipment you guys have on display."

     He pulls his jacket off as he realizes it's a bit more warm here then he was expecting holding it onto one shoulder with a single hand as he sticks close enough to Tony that he won't wind up accidentally walking into an experiment zone. That was always a worry in dealing with superheroes and their medbays. "You got anything I can help with say the word, you know I'm no stranger to playing Guinea pig."

Hulk has posed:
Busy not being very available as Hulk... not that that's any surprise after all he was exposed to the fear cocktail, then prodded into a rage in central park all over again.

Having just arrived a few hours ago from... somewhere, Bruce Banner has finally reverted, and called into the mansion with the usual line. It took him nearly a day to get back to New York... but into the lab he steps, lab coated and dressed for work.

Adjusting his glasses, his hands are placed in his coat pockets, his posture a bit hunched. He's only just gotten a decent meal for the first time in a week, and grunts as Tony speaks, "There won't be a need for that. I trust those crazies about as far as I can throw them." There's a pause, before Bruce corrects himself, "Well, as far as /I/ can throw them. The Other Guy is a different story." He does step up to the computer with the database, and starts to type, "Good afternoon, Mr. Rhodes. I heard you've been visiting the mansion." He continues to type, "I'm Doctor Banner." Not really in a sociable mood today, looks like.

Iron Man has posed:
    "We /do/ need to have a little chat about your taste in suits... Hammer isn't very slimming, Rhodey," Tony begins, but then there's a grumpy science nerd to deal with.
    "Hey, Banner. Good to see you back." Tony takes in the situation with a quick glance. "There's Chinese upstairs. Good chow mein. I'll get some sent down here." Tony offers smoothly, cool as ever, flipping his mobile device out, and giving the instruction to a little robot. If Banner wants to throw himself into work as a distraction, Tony is definitely someone that can empathize and roll with THAT particular feeling. Still, no sense being hangry.

    "The 'crazies' did donate their library of data about various fear serums that one of the Gotham weirdos uses, a 'Scarecrow' villain, and many of the traits match up to what's in the canisters. That's about as far as /I/ got with it, though.... here's what they sent," Tony says, approaching one of the long monitors on the walls and gesturing across it, lighting up the holograms to navigate effortlessly to the items the bat-people sent over. "I think we can do better. Well. You can, really. Antidote, ideally. As much fun as all of that really was." Tony glances from Rhodey to Dr. Banner.

War Machine has posed:
"Well when you're shopping on a budget..." Rhodey says with a smile and a bit of a laugh. "Besides, it was only mostly hammer tech, wound up having to take apart six different suits just to build one that worked.". He takes a pause not really recognizing Doctor Banner as the Hulk as much as he recognizes him as a scientist. "Wait, The Doctor Banner? Your work on gamma radiation is legendary." He falls a bit to the background. As Tony takes the stage so to say, not really being in his jurisdiction on this matter.

Hulk has posed:
"So I keep hearing. It's a pleasure to meet someone who can recognize the science behind it." Bruce replies to Rhodes, amicably.

Once the holograms are up though, Bruce turns his head to look them over... and Tony can see the gears starting to turn behind his eyes already after a few seconds glance, before he starts to type into the computer again. The holograms start to disassemble, reassemble, and dissolved all at once over and over as Bruce works at a rapid pace, going over what's there, what isn't, and what works. "Too many people into biology that do copycat work, instead of coming up with their own ideas. Trying something different is how progress is made." Bruce vents as he works through all of the data, little by little.

"You're a friend of Tony, then, Mr. Rhodes?" Bruce asks, not looking up from his parsing.

Iron Man has posed:
    "/Six/ suits into a Frankenstein?" Tony looks at Rhodey as if he just put his head on backwards. "This is an outright miracle you're still with us," Tony exclaims, in a mix of insulted horror. "See. Bruce agrees with me: building tech is the same. Copycatting without understanding's just going to tear your limbs off," Tony says, though, unable to not take that final 'I told you so'.
    "But ---Later," Tony declares. With a really pointed stare and finger. No escaping, Rhodey. He needs to focus on the other task, and showing his agitation at Rhodes risking his life so foolishly in a murder-suit has to wait. He shakes his head, though, and looks at the monitors.

    "So the Bat people think it's his stuff," Tony clarifies to Bruce. "But it's not the same thing they provided. Think he's just evolving?" Tony questions of the doctor.

War Machine has posed:
     "Yeah yeah, I'm man enough to admit you were right again Tony" That's all he gives Tony as he walks around the holographic display one hand in his pocket the other holding his jacket to his shoulder as he takes in what he's looking at. Might not understand all of it but he's got a decent grip on what it means. Decent enough anyway. "Yeah, me and Tony go way back, all the way back to him almost blowing me up on a firing range." A light smirk crossing his face.

     "Tell you what, you let me borrow one of your suits, and I'll stick away from digging for em in the junkyard." He shrugs a shoulder slightly. "Can't say I can ever build something half as good as one of yours." Holding back from adding the 'even though I could endlessly school you when it comes to planes.'

     "So this Scarecrow, he's some sort of rival scientist or?" Not really recognizing the name much. "Either way looks like he's got some decent tech on his side." He pauses for a long long moments thought before just throwing an idea out. "Either that or someone's decided to play copycat and reverse engineer his serum in the same way the military's been trying to reverse engineer your suits."

Hulk has posed:
"He's one of those insane maniacs that keeps to Gotham. Still amazed the government hasn't called for martial law on that whole place." Bruce observes, before he stops typing... the hologram finally assembling into something... fairly cohesive. Anyone who knows atoms and molecules can make sense of it. He turns around towards it, and starts to walk over, his hands gesturing over pieces of it, "From what I'm seeing from the comparisons, there are minor creative differences, but I'm guessing this is Scarecrows work." He gestures over an atom, "This is new, but a natural evolution based off the previous samples. I can't tell you who this came from, but I can tell you the formula proper is based on the original."

Then, he takes one atom, and repositions it with a motion, then another, and another. "This is the old variant. Not as effective. The new stuff is a step up."

Iron Man has posed:
    Deep, pained, heavy sigh! That is entirely put on. "Tell /you/ what. Next time you /need/ a suit, you bring up the matter to me before you dumpster dive, and I'll decide how nice you've been to me lately-- and go from there," Tony parries. "And remember that my goal is to keep you alive, despite yourself."

    "Military can kiss my shiny iron ass, and my patents," Tony adds flippantly, with a smile.

     Tony listens to the explanation from Banner next, eats a few more of the chocolate raisins he brought in with him as a snack, and then offers them loosely to the other two men. Tony considers all of that. "So maybe someone is paying him, or this is his show," Tony suggests. "We're seeing mutants captured, messed with in labs, and being flung into areas, with this stuff. Why? Just chaos? It's been a bomb set off in mutant and human relations."

War Machine has posed:
     "Yeah, I admit I've been an asshole lately, let the whole thing get to my head and got stupid." He puts a hand on his chin examining the atomic composition of the 3d model in front of himself. "Got good people killed in the process and almost got myself killed." He leans down onto the table a bit, thinking even as he speaks. "You were right, I was wrong, you're the better hero, and the better mechanic, but I'd like to think I've still got a lot to offer." He tilts his head slightly. "Just been trying to prove I'm more then a sidekick you know?"

     He rolls his shoulders slightly. "So, either scarecrow got some help refining his mix or someone managed to grab a copy of his formula. Neither option's very appealing." He pauses. "If I was some wackjob supremacist setting back in my house seeing how good things were starting to go with the group my ire's focused on, this is about how I'd wind up going about resetting the status quoe." He shrugs. "Either that or if I was some business looking to profit off new anti-mutant tech." He stuffs a hand back into his pocket. "Create a problem, then solve it. Mutants attacking people come to the rescue with some new anti-mutant solution get yourself money, and get people to be just as afraid of mutants as you are."

Hulk has posed:
There's a moment as Bruce just stares at the holographic display, before he shrugs and starts to walk over to the computer again, "If Scarecrow is branching out of Gotham, that seems like something the other crazies would want to know about." Bruce comments as he starts to save his work, "Do those people down there do mercenary work? I thought they just liked to get their kicks knocking around Gotham citizens."

Iron Man has posed:
    Oh. "You feel like a sidekick?" Tony asks Rhodey, brows lifted. "That explains a lot." Tony doesn't use a negative inflection on it, but more that he's now getting more of a glimpse of what's going on with Rhodey. "But don't feel bad, most ALL people aren't better than me at those things," Tony reminds his friend, but then smiles a little. "Just need to get you piloting something better for what /you/ do well. Or beer pong." Tony shrugs. "I mean. If that's what you want to work on."
    Back to the matter at hand. "Can't it be /both/? We're seeing 'Scarecrow' gas, then, but also these military people. Well, hey. We have the samples from the Gotham lab. /My/ initial testing only got one match - one of the mutants from the rally was held there. Found some hair. And she's not from Gotham." Tony considers. "So what we know for sure: People kidnapped - mostly from New York, then they are dragged to Gotham. Something something, in labs. Then they appear again in some military vans, and the gas, back here. Make big messes, lots of bad press." A pause. "I think Rhodey's idea of following who stands to benefit is the best route. And finding more of these labs. And making the gas less of a weapon."

War Machine has posed:
     "Yeah," Rhodes finally admits not looking directly at Tony. "That's why I left in the first place." He finally brings his attention back onto the hologram. "Not exactly the greatest feeling in the world to have most the time." He chuckles at the beer pong comment. "Can't help that I'm good at it, just comes natural, don't even practice all that much at it."

     Finally he leans back a bit further scratching the bottom of is chin for just a moment before pulling out a small tablet. It's nothing too fancy but it's got its own built in wifi hotspot so he can connect to the internet easy enough as he starts checking a hunch. "Bit of a long shot but can't hurt to dig into right?" As he swipes his fingers about. "Just look for who's got the most to gain and once you've ruled them out keep moving down the list till you find the group, or the guy behind it. Somebody with military connections, who could get a hold of someone like scarecrow and you'll narrow down your target a good deal."

Hulk has posed:
"I'll leave that part of this up to you two. I'd just as soon get a decent shower and sleep. Week long episodes are always exhausting." Bruce sighs after a moment, having saved his work, "I'll be sticking around to help with handling this mess, and I'll keep sifting through all of this-" Bruce gestures to the samples, "-to see if anything else comes up... and to get an antidote for it. I can't imagine it'll be hard to neutralize the receptor molecules."

Iron Man has posed:
    The chow mein 'to go' order has since arrived: a little robot trundles in with a tray in claws, and helpfully beeps at Dr. Banner, unsure where to put it that won't be in the way, so the droid ends up just sitting there and waiting attentively.
    "I can only imagine. This is a great start. Get some shut eye," Tony smiles to Banner. "I have absolute faith in your neutralizing techniques." He grins, and then centers attention on Rhodey. "Sounds like you're on it. Maybe flex those SHIELD connections, see what you can dig out about who's most likely? And maybe we can track their 'donations' - I'll see if I can get the Bat to work with us from the other direction, and see if we can track who Scarecrow might be getting paid by -- or who he's paying."

War Machine has posed:
     It's only a few seconds searching before he speaks up again. "The Purifiers, and friends of Humanity are our best bets right now." He lowers the tablet to one side smirking at the robot for just a moment. Say what you wanted about Stark, the man loved to use his robots. "I've got every intention of digging a bit deeper back at SHIELD HQ, see about checking with Fury if we can get a little closer look at the Purifiers." He rolls his shoulders. "I've got a real strong gut feeling they're responsible for this whole mess, just out of personal experience back in the service."

Hulk has posed:
When the robot comes in, Bruce gives a 'come with me' gesture. "I'll take it upstairs. I've got reading to do." Bruce then gives a nod to the two, "Good luck with that. I'll be back in a few hours to start work on the antidotes." With that, Bruce leaves for the stairwell.

Iron Man has posed:
    "Fury? Great. I'll send you with a box of cigars for him. Usually helps that wheel spin a little smoother," Tony smirks slyly to Rhodey.
    "Thanks, Bruce. Also, if possible -- see if you can anticipate what his next one is. Doesn't do us any good to be two steps behind his next mutant fear serum. Have to be where he's going next. I'll check in tomorrow, unless you need me for something, send a message," Tony offers to the scientist. He tosses out the empty container of his snacks into the trash, and orients back to Rhodey. "Our lunch, though. We go," Tony declares, upbeat, and heads to the elevator.