4942/Germination: A Hint From History

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Germination: A Hint From History
Date of Scene: 17 July 2018
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: The Titans have information to share. Nuala, Tony Stark and Diana make their way to the Tower and get thoroughly Titaned. Stories are told, weapons are shared, theories are voiced, pizzas are (inevitably) ordered, and some very strange space-politicking takes place. Progress is being made!
Cast of Characters: Stardust, Iron Man, Brick, Nuala Duvall, Wonder Woman, Robin (Wayne), Breath
Tinyplot: Germination


Stardust has posed:
The reputation of the Titans is a little mixed. There are those who think it's little more than a glorified super frat-house, or a way to keep some of the younger powered types out of harms way, doing public appearances at children's wards at hospital or rescuing cats stuck up trees. On the other hand, they do occasionally help save the world. As far as the fungal threat to the planet is concerned though, so far they've been disappointingly quiet.

Until now.

Messages have been sent out to the Avengers and the JLA, requesting a meeting to discuss the problem at Titans Tower. This might elicit eye-rolling and possibly the most junior members of said teams available being sent, but the Titans have promised brand new information on the origin of the fungus threat, and potentially actionable leads for a new approach to combating them.

Stardust was downvoted on her suggestion that they include 'P.S. Can we borrow a space ship from someone please' in the invitation. There's a high chance that will come up in the conversation though.

Iron Man has posed:
The titans probably expected some juniors to show up and take down some memos. Some no-name Avenger-in-training, or the like. The expensive 'STARK' plates on the cars that park outside prove otherwise. They pulled some big guns.

Tony Stark hasn't been inside Titan Tower before. But he knows a good tower when he sees one, having particular expertise with the construction of such things. This is a time for quickly meeting about the global emergency, though, not for sight-seeing.

Tony reaches the lobby without his usual burst of excessive entourage; normally there are lots assistants and so forth in a surge around him, but today instead, he has 'only' three assistants, and the personal assistants he has tasked to give aid to both the Amazonian princess and Nuala, should they need anything.

Tony Stark is dressed immaculately as usual, perfect suit, holograms alight in an orange blaze in the sides of his sunglasses, and confidently leading the way inside through the lobby at a strong pace, as if he personally owned the place and knew where to go. The assistants to his left argue a little bit over who is pulling some of the gear they're bringing: there's some crates with STARK INDUSTRIES grandly blazing on the sides, on little roller-wheels like airport luggage. Obviously Stark came with gifts.

And, of course, with some high powered company. Diana on one side, and Nuala on the other. He's chatting with Diana, though, as all of this fanfare is really not a big deal to Stark. "After this, though, I can go over what I know about the Asgardian news: they stepped in some diplomatic flaming pile last night," he's offering.

Brick has posed:
Brick Marsten is not a known public hero type. He's a flagrant showoff on social media, using his ability to become invulnerable to do stupid things that nobody should do at home. And yet, he's also a leading research scientist (and experiment but we don't talk about that) at Star Labs in New York.

His team has been working on mass-production ways to destroy mushrooms. They've learned that slicing, dicing, and freezing work very well to reduce and subdue the different components of the 'shrooms, but making effective non-magical physics-violation devices that work for ordinary people en masse has been troublesome. Still, Brick has some extra high-tensile-strength ceramic machetes with liquid-nitrogen speed-freezers in the handles, that he will offer around. Maybe that Stark guy can find a way to make them work for ordinary soldiers. Preferably with protective gloves. If only they didn't completely fail after a week of use, but that's what comes of using physics-violation effects.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala does not share Tony's nonchalance. She wears the form fitting armor, it's geometric edges revealing it's additional thickness in areas, her dirty blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail. She glances up at the tower as they exit the car. She knits a worried look on the brow as the fanfare ensues. "This isn't exactly discreet," she comments in a barely audible voice, her hands folded in front of her.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana Prince had told Tony Stark that she'd meet him here at the Titan's Tower to help with all of this. It has been a busy time, what with the mushrooms and the Asgardians plight. But here she is, striding into the tower alongside Stark. She's dressed in her Eagle Armor as she'd come straight from Metropolis and the Justice Hall... though she wears a stretch of soft red fabric around her shoulders that drapes down over her armor toward her knees both in the front and back, so only glimpses of the armor itself is visible beneath as she moves.

"It certainly is not." Diana replies to Nuala who's on Tony's other side. Her blue eyes go to the billionaire with the fancy glasses and she shows a faint smirk to him before looking forward again. "I am very eager to hear about that news." Diana tells Tony then. "I wish I had been able to be there for... the event in the Ocean, but I was preoccupied with a..." She sighs. "A vampire infestation. Of all things." Another little glance is given to Stark then, one that relays Diana's weariness over whatever Vampire situation the Amazon just went through.

Again she looks forward as they move into the Titan's facility. "I hope Cassie is here." She softly says as they move.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin had worked with the group to send the message out. He was one of the members that had thought they were going to be sent some minor leaguer type to take down a memo.

  Needless to say, upon seeing the Stark Industries vehicles along with probably his most favorite warrior on the planet, Robin's doubts were abated. The young half of the Dynamic Duo waited in the lobby, to Brick and Stardust, they probably have never seen him anxious, as little of it he actually showed, he was tapping his side quickly, and seemed that he couldn't be still. Not that he was bouncing off the walls, but he was shifting his weight from side to side, tapping his toe extremely gently.

Breath has posed:
Breath is just kind of, well, present. At least she's not bruised up or in the hospital anymore. She was leaning on the wall, then rises and tilts her head respectively to Stark. "Sir."

She smiles some and listens. The others can do their thing. So far as she can tell, the ability to huff and puff and blow wooden and straw houses down is of... Somewhat limited use against mushrooms, so she hasn't been doing as much as she would like.

Stardust has posed:
It's not just machetes that Brick's team had manufactured, Stardust got a longsword. Three feet of extremely dangerous ultra-sharp ceramic compounds, made even more dangerous by the inclusion of a liquid nitrogen injection system. As she waits for the arrival of their visitors, she practices her moves. Luckily the lobby is quite spacious.

Perhaps even more luckily, and no doubt to the considerable relief of Robin and Brick, her swinging is a lot less haphazard than it had been when the swords first arrived. She may actually have taken the suggestion of training seriously.

Come to think of it, the modest competence she's displaying suggests she was hamming it up in the first place just to annoy them.

When the entourage of visitors arrives, she casually slips the sword back into its protective plastic sheath, and straps it over her back. It's an odd contrast to the pale grays and whites of her rather unmilitary-looking costume.

As they come through the door Stardust loudly announces "Welcome to Titans Tower!" to their guests. She flashes a smile to Diana, the only one of the three she has met before, and peers curiously at Tony, a familiar face from his frequent public appearances. Nuala gets the most attention though. Unknown, and that's some interesting armor.

"I'm Stardust. This is Brick, Breath and our glorious leader, Robin. Please come in and make yourselves comfortable. We've got a story to tell."

Iron Man has posed:
"Too much?" Tony asks, surprised, partially aimed at Nuala. He doesn't want to cart his own crates, so it seems he's unsure what exactly she's suggesting be changed with the situation. Then amusement shows. It isn't like this is the first time someone has reacted to his entrances. Shameless, his smile is. "I think they know we're here," Tony replies. His eyes move to Diana at her comments about her vampire problems, and his jaw flexes just a little, a small move of muscle along his upper cheek as he takes that in. Tony's listening, even if he lets that item go for the moment. He can sort that out later.

    "Hey Stardust. Everyone. We're not late, are we?" Tony asks, deciding to select Stardust as the one he approaches directly, since she gave the welcome. Tony's a bit of a force of nature up close, with his open, confident nature and easy charisma.

"This is Nuala Duvall, and Diana of Themyscira and the Justice League." Tony does not even bother to introduce himself. There's an entitled assumption there, though he's probably not wrong. "Let's get this started. There's fungal monsters spreading over the planet as we speak. Soon there'll be more of those than Starbucks. Possibly because they'll eat the Starbucks." Tony's relaxed, at ease, and is clearly ready to follow where Stardust leads them, trailing assistants.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala watches the assembly, and she can't help but notice the average age of the attendees. "What is this meeting exactly? Some sort of classroom?" she asks Diana aside and under her breath. "These are children. Where are their parents? I thought we were going to receive instruction."

Brick has posed:
Brick is too short to be a cometary trail of assistance, but he IS followed by a quartet of hovering boxes containing sample machetes.

"Brick Marsten, Star Labs. Please don't mistake us for children. Stardust and I are old enough to vote. Mr. Stark, I brought some sample cold-based cutting weapons hoping your factories would be able to produce them quickly for use by national guard and other agencies."

He nods to the aforementioned Stardust, ceding to her.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana is on Tony's right and when they come to the introductions part she shows a soft smile to Stardust and to the others, but her eyes go to Robin and she nods once to him. "Robin." She says to him as an opener. "It is very good to see you." And then toward Stardust she offers a larger and more open / calming smile. "I have heard some of what you and yours have been up to regarding all of this and I am impressed. Continously impressed with the Titans and what they are standing for."

Nuala's words draw Diana's attention then and she releases a light exhale. "Young people have been fighting for the safety of the planet for as long as there have been people on it to fight." She tells the other. "It is not a matter of age, so much as a matter of quality action, skill, and capabilities -to- protect. The members of the Titans have displayed all of these... And besides..." She glances to Tony again and then back toward Robin and the other Titans. "Protectors of Earth will need a continous generational application, as not all of us will be around forever."

Diana's sky blue eyes then shift to Brick and she dips her pointed chin politely toward him and his words. "Thank you for what you are providing, Mister Marsten."

Breath has posed:
Breath sighs. "Whatever. Be it as it may, Stardust found out some interesting stuff." She? crosses her ankles, awkwardly watching things.

She nods at Diana's speech. "It's my planet too."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Wonder Woman." He answered, even if the slightest blush had appeared on his cheeks. Robin gave a nod to the guests, doing a pretty good job of keeping his excitement under wraps. "Stardust has most of the intel." Robin's hood is lowered, though he does have his mask on, showing off the military style crew cut.

  Nuala's words are heard before he clenches his fist tightly, the material from his gloves creaking loudly under the pressure. "I can assure you, despite my age, I am quite capable of handling myself. And you can ask my father to corrorborate my skills if need be." He says, his signature anger straining against his will to be cordial, and it showed.

  Luckily, having someone you hold in high regard visit helps in quelling one's own astringent habits. Diana's words surely assist in this.

  "As Iron Man has said, the fungal infections are growing fast, we need to act quickly if we are to keep them at bay."

Stardust has posed:
"Do we know they'll eat Starbucks?" Stardust replies to Tony. "I think that's something worth trying out. They may find it indigestible. If not, the average quality of the world's coffee increases. It's a win either way." Stardust is something of a force of nature too. If casual quipping were a meteorological phenomenon, she'd at least rate as a small gale. "Nice to see you again, Diana. Cassie sends her regards," Stardust says. Which answers that thought; Cassie's not here. Who can ever keep track of Cassie? "Nuala. Is this where I learn that the Irish legends are all true as well as Greek and Norse ones? Your armor looks more Tron than Children of Lir." If she overheard Nuala's comment, she keeps it to herself as she ushers their guest to one of the two elevators to lead them up to the ops room.

"Please head this way, more room to sit and talk," Stardust says. "We have Brick's fancy swords. We also have been provided with some intelligence on the origin of the mushrooms which we'd like to share."

The trip up to the Ops room is short, if slightly crowded. Stardust helps on that front by taking the other elevator or more accurately, the other elevator shaft, which is open and contains no elevator. Which is good for people who, like her, can fly. She's already waiting at the top when the elevator arrives, and ushers people to seats.

"Okay, first things first," Stardust says. "This is a bit complicated, but I have access to some extra-terrestrial sources of information. One of these has provided me with some slightly confusing but very intriguing information about the bio-engineered fungus weapon we're dealing with. Before I go into details, are we going to get bogged down with 'how do I know you're not making this up' stuff? Or can we just get on with it? I don't mess around when it's serious stuff like this. I kicked Darkseid in the nuts, after all. We good?"

Iron Man has posed:
Tony doesn't take the glance at him from Diana during the part about growing old badly. "I get to retire sooner," Tony clarifies with an easy smile, and smirk to some personal joke within that statement.

Stardust has made a new quip friend with Tony, he doesn't pause before answering with a smile: "We do know they'll eat Starbucks. From entirely intentional lab-related testing reasons."

"Cold-based cutting weapons? All right. Sounds a good move against the spawned minion ones. I'll take a look at those, sure," Tony agrees, friendly, though a little distracted. Probably the holograms in his glasses, but he does look over the top of them at Brick, proving otherwise. "We'll have a show and tell towards the end then; Batman and I have come up with a toxin, and dispersal system, good against the stalks themselves." A gesture is sent towards one of the crates an assistant is pulling.

    Then Tony seems to get distracted again, just before they go into the meeting room. Like he has someone talking in his ear. Because he does. "I'll be in in a moment; I need to take this call. I'll catch up quick," Tony says, suddenly dropping the cheerful quality to a more efficient, focused one. It is a look that reads 'hero needs to deal with catastrophe'. He excuses himself just outside of the room, tapping on the side of his glasses and quietly speaking for a little while.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala's gaze shifts toward Damian as he reacts, and she arches one brow, then decides to move on. Clearly human standards on children and war are not what she is familiar with, who is she to judge? Instead, she takes a seat in the Ops Room, listening carefully.
    "Extra-terrestrial," she echoes, but it seems more acknowledgement than questioning. "This could prove very helpful," she says.

Brick has posed:
Brick looks curiously in the direction of the boxes Tony has brought, and stares a little harder for a moment, then starts typing in mid-air, accompanied by a quiet *ping ping ping* that seems almost conversational. He seems impervious to strange looks from his own teammates, but he might answer outright questions from the Justice Leaguers.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Even with the ability to fly up a elevator shaft specifically geared for that purpose, Diana takes the one that one simply has to stand inside of. Once they reach the floor with the ops room she moves to follow Stardust. "I hope that Cassie is well, but... I know how she is." She says with a soft grin. Once inside the room, she finds a place to seat herself and she does so with perfect posture and her hands resting atop her lap. Her eyes too go over all that Stark had brought, the technological wizard was a boon to Earth's ability to defend itself from such an invader as this... strange mushroom matter.

"Has there been any leads on the origin of where this began?" She asks, the general audience. "Do we have any headway on what caused this or why... or when... it arrived on Earth? We seem to be developing ways to defend ourselves from it, which is superb, but I... worry about the origin of the element all together."

Breath has posed:
Breath shrugs. "I kind of like Starbucks. You can't find watered down gentrification sludge like that just anywhere." They follow along, not taking the flying way.

Walking into the room, they nod to Diana. "Such a wonderful question, and we are so glad you asked. Here to answer that is our lovely host, Stardust." bows and gestures to her presentation spot with a game show flourish. "Over to you, Dusty."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin doesn't take the elevator, he grapples up the empty shaft. Once he lands, he places the grapple gun into his utility belt. He takes a seat close to Stardust in case he is needed, but he pretty much leaves the explainations to her here.

  If one were to pay attention, Damian is observing the three guests very carefully, measuring them up it seems.

Stardust has posed:
"That's an experiment I approve of, Mister Stark," Stardust says. "I'm glad to know you have the interests of coffee-drinking citizens everywhere close to your heart." Stardust leans nonchalantly against a control console as she addresses the group. It's quite an high-powered assembly, but she shows no hint of nerves. She's a confident one, at least.

"That's exactly what I'm going to reveal, Diana." Stardust answers with a smile. "Where they came from. I've seen their homeworld. Well, a kind of video of it, anyway. Brick, don't spoil the surprise. I'm sure Mister Stark wishes to reveal what's in the boxes in some suitably dramatic fashion." No strange looks, just a wink.

When Tony returns from his brief interruption, Stardust takes up the story. "Okay, so my source spoke a long-extinct language based on holographic projection. I'm working on getting a proper translation, but that may take a while, so I'm going on the images that I saw here. Long ago there was an alien race called something like... 'stretchy pulsating blue cube, red flower thing, yellow sun, orange five-sided pyramid'. You see my problem. I call them the Mycotektons. Because they built everything... entire cities even, out of bio-engineered fungus."

Stardust turns a quick aside addressed to Nuala: "It's Greek. Myco means fungus, tekton means craftsman. Here endeth the lesson." Okay, so apparently she did catch the 'classroom' comment, and was just waiting for a moment to snark.

"Aaaanyway, the Mycotektons made themselves some kind of waste reprocessing system. And no, that's not our fungus. They looked really similar, but rather more colorful, and instead of growing monster eggs, these grew something that the Mycotektons harvested. Some kind of fruit, I guess. However, our guys were around too. I saw a huge tower of the good fungus, and some of the bad fungus was growing around it. They are obviously related, but I can't say how. One may have been derived from the other, or maybe the bad fungus was a mutation."

Stardust takes a breath and stretches. "What I do know is that the Mycotektons recognized the value of the bad fungus as a weapon. There was a war. One or possibly both sides used the bad fungus as a weapon, and over the course of the war, it took over. Neither side won, the fungus did. By the end, it had taken over the planet, and the surviving Mycotektons fled their world in an evacuation fleet."

"So there are a few observations," Stardust continues. "First, there are two closely related types of mushroom, and the other one isn't harmful. Actually it seems like it would be hugely beneficial. Eats pollution, creates food. Second, a small number of Mycotektons fled their world, and are presumably still out there somewhere. Third, before the war started, the two types of mushroom seemed to be living together in harmony. That means either the bad mushrooms only became hostile when something in the environment changed, or they have an on/off switch and got switched on for the war, or they were just biding their time and pretending to be the good mushroom's friends until the war started and they were being seeded everywhere. Or something I haven't thought of yet." Stardust's gaze turns to Tony. "I'm sure you'll come up with something," she adds with a grin.

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony returns from his call efficiently, and picks a spot to sit down, sliding into it. He's a relaxed, casual sort, most of the time, and it shows here, as he adjusts the chair and leans back, resting his hands, fingers woven together against his lower abdomen. He also pulled his glasses off, and put them away into an interior pocket of his suit jacket. Which, more than anything, is an indication that his attention is on the subject. That he does remove a tablet-like device and balances it on his thigh is more just for purposes related to THIS meeting, if he wants to use it.

"I can confirm the other fungal breed existing; we got a bit off of the Kree related to that. 'Stercetan' was that name," Tony pitches in, going to the tablet, which swims with his own breed of holograms. "And that they are bioengineered -- that fits with some of what we've seen with these, from a biological standpoint. Not really my thing, but Dr. Banner's been on that side of it."

He considers, and quirks the edge of a grin at Stardust's confidence in him. "I want one of these 'good' ones. I think we're putting together half a puzzle. But.... we do know something about their 'social' structure, even without that, though it doesn't explain the harmony."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "Timmy," Nuala whispers. "See what you can find on the Mycotektons." Her hand opens, and a small image projects of various data. She scrolls through it as Colette talks, "It looks like we have a record of these people. They are still about, not many of them though. Hard to say if they will have enough record of their own, it sounds like you already know more about them than my databases do."
    She arches her brow, "But, we do have a translation program for their language," she says, looking back up. "It's too bad the Stercetan could not have landed here," she says in her strange accent. "If you share the file, I can get you a translation of what was said in the record."

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana's eyes are on Colette as she gives a very thorough and impressive rundown of the informaiton she has on the origins of this mushroom infestation. She softly shakes her head then and her eyes glance over to Tony when he rejoins them and seats himself not far from her. "We have a duty... that once we discover how to stop this... threat, to then share it widely with the rest of the known territories across the stars." She looks back then to Colette. "We need to share the 'cure' for this to as many other cultures, on as many other words, as we can. Once we obtain it ourselves. Which I am confident we shall do."

Diana's hands come up to the edge of the table, she holds it gently while she lets her gaze glide over the others here within the Ops room with them. "You have all come up with wonderful ways to fight this threat and it is making a difference, I can see it in the way that people are reacting to this and the things they have said to me personally. They believe in us, and it is situations like this that reinforce just how necessary all that we do as organizations is."

Diana's goes to Nuala then and she ndos once to her. "They will need to be given what information we have on how to stop this, once we do finally have it. Perhaps the can retake their home again, someday."

Brick has posed:
Brick looks over at Stardust. "Time for the slides xnow?"

There's a *PINGPING* and the imagery that Colette was shown, begins to materialize into view in the center of the table. It's got precise and exact details of all the mycomechanisms.

Time to show off the weapons. Brick pulls a machete from over his shoulder. It has a slightly larger than usual handle, with a clear embossed gold-spot on the thumb-rest. Touching the embossed spot causes a flash of cold as the blade is covered in liquid nitrogen.

"The ceramic is incredibly durable for up to six weeks, once you start using it. I'm sending you an encrypted package with the schematics for the circuitry, which is licensed through Star for free for the duration of the emergency plus six months for cleanup. I didn't see anything about the stalk-killer rounds that I could improve on. At Star Labs we discovered that adding energy to their systems, in any way, caused growth, which is why fire bad, and cold good."

Stardust has posed:
Stardust raises an amused eyebrow to Tony. "Stercetan?" she repeats. "Yeah, I can see that. So it seems a priority here would be to get a sample of the good mushrooms. There may be some on the Mycotekton homeworld still, if the bad mushrooms just became boss mushrooms rather than wiping them out completely. I mean it seems like they both have the same basic job, right? I was wondering why these guys came here rather than heading straight to the sun if they can feed off light and heat, and my guess would be they're programmed to eat waste matter. The sun would be too pure to interest them. So it would kind of make sense that they would enslave the good mushrooms."

Stardust's expression changes slightly. It might be almost whistful. "Or we could track down the survivors and see what they have. They probably don't have something as useful as a kill switch, or they wouldn't have lost their planet. But they are the experts. I agree with Diana, we need to find out everything we can so it can be shared. These things have wiped out at least one other planet already that we know about. I volunteer to go look for them. Anyone got a spare space ship?"

"It's not a file," Stardust explains to Nuala. "It was shared mentally." She gestures to the images that Brick is projecting. "This is recovered imagery from my mind." The images Brick shows are overlaid with a flurry of animated geometric shapes, apparently the narration that went along with the images she had been shown. "If you can translate this... well yeah, that would be good. Because I don't speak orange flashing icosohedron." As she speaks, she studies Nuala more closely. "Question. Who's 'we'? I wasn't aware the Avengers had translation programs for obscure and extinct alien languages."

Iron Man has posed:
"A big piece that isn't fitting is the structure of these things socially. They have minds, they aren't just fungus. They think, for certain. One of our Avengers has been able to identify that they function a lot like little computers. We've got telepaths ordering them around like slaves. Latveria is a great example of that." Tony pauses, aware now that the Titans may not have this section of information. He adjusts.

"We have had these odd telepathic people turning up, and offering to control the fungus. They mostly approach governments. We had one come to SHIELD. Control of the fungus, for money. They've been all over the place, globally. Mutants, mostly. There's some question of if they are just making a mess out of this, or if they're connected more than that. Through that we've gotten a gist of the structure of the fungus: sort of a pyramid. With that, well. Suggests something about that it really matters what's at the top of that pyramid. Maybe it's fungus, maybe it's something else."

"I think there's two big places to look into right now. Getting to these aliens and the 'good' mushrooms. And back here on our own turf, sorting out what is at the helm of these things. While we try not to get eaten."

Tony nods quickly to Brick's demonstration. "I've brought canisters that can take out the mushroom stalks. Thanks to Batman, partially: he found the toxin." A grin goes to Robin. "But you have to get pretty close. Looks like it compliments your gear there: yours will get close, mine will get the stalk. I can get more of your gear into production, no sweat."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala frowns. "Well, if you can get an audible version of it for me to process, I can translate it," she says, still looking at the projection in her palm. She taps it and it grows so that everyone can see it.

    "I don't think we'll have much luck with the homeworld," she says, the image of a dark rock visible. "This is the Mycotekton's homeworld now. It's little more than a planetoid now. No atmosphere, depleted of resources. It's as habitable as an asteroid. You wouldn't even be able to terraform it back with any known technology. There's just...nothing." She cocks her jaw to one side. "That's what Earth is facing right now if we can't destroy it."

    The image changes, and a profile of the Mycotekton. "Here's the legacy," she says. "I'm not sure if going to find them would be the best use of our time. I could talk with...my contacts, they may be able to get a message to them. I have a feeling they will not be eager to talk about this chapter in their history. Says that the planet was 'demolished.'" She frowns, "I suppose the are not wrong, but I do not think that it is the word I would choose to describe a self-inflicted apocalypse." She glances back around the table. "And...I'm not allowed to permit terrans on my ship," she adds. "Regulation." Whose regulation, she doesn't bring up. "All that to say, we could try to reach out to them and see what we find out. It wouldn't hurt to try."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin gives a nod to Stark. "If I have the equipment, I can get in as close to it as humanly possible." Assassin skills help to be swift and quick.

  Robin only hmphs in contempt. "Typical." He offers up to Nuala. "Everything with a caveat." Admittedly he has a chip on his shoulder with off-worlders. "So, we start with the liquid nitrogen swords, while others work on shit out in space."

Stardust has posed:
Stardust arches an eyebrow again, this time at Nuala and more sardonic than before, noting the lack of a clear answer as to who she represents, and the rather obvious questions raised by the comment about terrans not being permitted on her ship. Plus of course the mere existence of her ship. "It's a visual language, Nuala. There's no audible component. Geometric words. Question though." She raises a finger. "What regulations? Or should I ask who's regulations?" Yeah, she's not letting that one go.

The images of the Mycotekton homeworld as it is now deflate Stardust momentarily, but she's quickly back with another suggestion. "I'm informed that there's a place called Knowhere which would be a good place to go looking for the last survivors of a homeless alien race. And frankly, I don't care if they get hurt feelings if we bring up an embarassing part of their history. They made this mess, they can damn well help clear it up. If the official story is 'demolished' then maybe they'll be willing to talk to avoid the embarassment of having the truth generally revealed. Or we could just punch them in the face until they talk. That usually works. I might be able to find a space ship somewhere else, I know a guy." There's a pause. "Robot... probe... guy... something. If he's around. Or you know, we could just use your ship and I'll promise not to tell anyone." She breaks into a grin.

Stardust looks thoughtfully at Tony, tapping a finger against her lip. "Social... like ants? So what's the organization, democratic? Maybe that explains them living in harmony. The good mushrooms could outvote the bad mushrooms until the bad mushrooms got used as a weapon and increased in numbers. Or... no, that doesn't make sense. If a single psychic can order them around, it's got to be more like a queen and hive thing, right? Like maybe if the psychics are closer, they can override the signal from the queen? In which case we want to be tracking down the queen, too." She blinks a couple of times. "Obviously not an actual queen. Mushrooms don't have queens. That would be silly."

Iron Man has posed:
Tony doesn't take on explaining what Nuala is or isn't. He'll leave that to her. Besides, he has the rest of this to think over. "I think a Queen heirarchy is closer. Mostly due to watching this new rash of them in Latveria. Something is clearly organizing it. Mmm, here. One of our psychic sorts was working with a mushroom stalk...."

Tony flips on his device, tapping a few things, and a female voice, clearly giving a report, continues: "They do not hold conversations. They seem to only wish to give commands. It is very much like they are an organic computer, running a program to its end. Directives are given and expected to be complied with. That which does not comply is faulty."

    Tony taps on the screen a few times, though it's just a thoughtful flutter of his fingers. The mighty Stark brain is chewing on things. "If the 'queen' is a human that likes money, I'm tracking that down. Someone got really rich off those offers to control the fungus. If it's not that person, I'm betting they can point /us/ to the 'queen', though. And then the punching in the face can begin," Tony says, with a brief amused look towards Colette. "We /do/ have a Hulk. That is very sick of fungus."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "Knowhere?" Nuala echoes. "That is a long trip, but the Gramosians are fairly peaceful. But it still is a quarter of the way across the galaxy. I am here on behalf of another empire, one of the largest in the galaxy," she says. "We are called Nova, which I realize may mean nothing to anyone here, suffice to say, their power far outstrips Earth. I was sent to help fight things just like the Oomycetans so that Earth could develop unhindered." She glances to Tony's report regarding the mental status.

    "Ultimately," she says, "If we have means to control where they go, and means to destroy them, we should be able to round them up. If poisons and weapons that are able to truly destroy them have been developed, we should utilize them on the largest sections, such as Latveria, as soon as possible."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian stands, lookinag at the holo display from his gauntlet. What exactly is going on, is not sure. Unlike Tony, he doesn't make any reason for his departure. But he is definitely heading away. If anyone asks him on coms, there is a situation in Gotham that is needing of his attention.

Stardust has posed:
"Maybe we can have Brick here make some liquid nitrogen infused knuckle dusters for your Hulk?" Stardust offers up, looking amused at the thought. "But something must have organized the mushroom's vacation on Earth. So if there's a human queen, they took over from a non-human queen. Who uh... probably isn't going to be an improvement. Still, if this thing is kind of like a computer, then maybe it could be reprogrammed with some kind of anti-hacker code? Like a trace-back to find out where the orders are coming from?"

Finally Stardust gets her answer from Nuala. She nods her head slowly, she turns away, and her eyes defocus. Anyone looking closely would notice her lips moving slightly, as if she was muttering under her breath. After a moment or two, a grin spreads across her face, and she shakes her head. Smirking slightly, she turns back to Nuala "Hmm. Correct me if my information is out of date, but direct Xandarian jurisdiction does not cover the Terran system, right? In which case those regulations can surely be considered... flexible? Particularly in a case like this, where discovering a solution may in future be of immense value to many other worlds the Nova Corps would wish to protect?"

Distracted by Damian's imminent departure for a moment, Stardust's chain of thought drifts for a moment before snapping back. "Uh. Forgive our glorious leader. He was raised by wolves. That's his way of saying 'Thank you for coming, but somewhere a crime is happening'."

Iron Man has posed:
    "In.... theory?" Tony answers with a laugh to Colette's suggestion about anti-hacker code. "Telepathy's something of a new field for me, but we'll see what I can do," Tony smirks. He only vaguely listens to the political push Stardust makes on Nuala, absorbed into his tablet as he works on solutions, no doubt. Most obvious tell? He's not being a chatterbox.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala gives Colette a bewildered look, "Where did you hear about Xandar?" she asks. "No, Earth is a non-interferance world. That's why I cannot take terrans riding around in a space ship. Your people are not ready. It's a treaty made between several empires, and..." she shakes her head. "I cannot believe I am having this conversation. How did you know about Xandar?"

Stardust has posed:
"You and Brick could work together on that one maybe," Stardust suggests to Tony. "He may be able to help out on some areas of the psi thing."

Nuala gets another smirk. "Oh I went there on my vacation last summer. Nice place," she lies. Making no effort to pretend she's not lying. There's another one of those sideways looks away and a few moments of slight lip movement before she adds <<Someone mentioned it to me>> in Xandarian.

Very badly pronounced Xandarian, admittedly.

"Okay, honestly, I have an alien living in my head. He told me. Better answer? That one's actually true. Anyway. That's all the information we have to give you for now." She smiles and shrugs. "I can order pizzas in if anyone's hungry though?"

Iron Man has posed:
Tony has officially Lost Interest in the conversation about Xandar or wherever. "Great. Nuala, why don't you stick around and continue to work on this? I... have to help a downed Asgardian ship before I sleep tonight," Tony says, though he isn't loud about it.

"You also have a dinner arrangement, a meeting, sir," one of the assistants from the crate area reminds Tony.
    "Patricia'll stay here with you," Tony says, assigning one of the assistants, "And in case there's anything to send back to me, she'll grab it." Lucky Patricia.

Tony gets to his feet. "There's a good supply of the stalk-destructive toxin there with the guns to fire them with; run out and I'll get you more. Try not to spray each other. There IS an anti-toxin in there too, just in case." Because accidents.

Tony pulls his glasses out and puts them on, in his sleek usual manner. "Keep solving this, have pizza for me; I'll show myself out," Tony says, with a flash of smile on one side of his mouth, and a special finger-gun for Colette, before he swans on off.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala continues to give a rather stunned look to Colette, glancing around the dwindling table. "You and I should talk later," she says, agreeing with Tony, her tone is one that says whatever she wants to say is important, at least in her eyes. "I have heard of pizza, I would be willing to try it."