5863/Astral Flux: Slippery

Astral Flux: Slippery
Date of Scene:	27 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Tony briefs various heroes on the Mexico situation.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Nuala Duvall, Slipstream, Aquaman, Power Girl
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

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Iron Man has posed:
    The battle in the town rages onwards, but the massive monster in the very center of it has been in death throes for what must be hours now, or more. It lashes and hits buildings, refusing to die, but then will fall limp and unable to move. It is a familiar sight to a few people: it is visually a close cousin to the creature that was fought in outer space, in all ways. It is poisoned and mortally wounded, but is fighting, in its way, trying to heal. It did do one last act of vengeance, which was to mind-blast everything around, though that was a while ago, and it has not done it since. Those in very close proximity got the brunt of it: the Avenger team that was close to it, and those assisting them. In the town at large, it was more like splitting migraines, but nothing that couldn't be worked through.

    Due to the blast, a lot of the heroes fell back. There are a few different camps and staging areas: SHIELD has a few, and the Avengers have their own, buzzing with Tony's various robots and ambient other powers from the other heroes. Assorted heroes that lack their own teams to group with have also ended up at the Avenger base camp, as the word certainly went out in a loud way from the very public team.

    Near the center of the camp are a few tents where those suffering the effects of the blasts are being tended, mainly by Psylocke, but a few others are involved as well. Word is Tony's back in there somewhere.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala was occupied with another threat when she first heard of the fungal monster's return. Knowing that the Avengers were versed in how to deal with it, she decided to handle another threat that was detected first, before it became an issue. She is back in the Sea Song, though, and now that the first threat is handled, she speeds across the ocean on the way back to Mexico City. She opens her comms, taking another sip of her coffee.

    "Avengers, this is Nuala Duvall, how do things look over there?" she asks as the HUD identifies the coastline, slipping through the air as it heads inland from the gulf. She stands, heading back from the cockpit to access the Shell unit, doing the diagnostic prep to check the systems.

Slipstream has posed:
Having got the message to pop over, Drake had arrived earlier, equipped with twin ice guns that he was using last time, along with his trusty robot Snowball. Dressed in his 'uniform' which consists of his Avenger's bomber jacket, a pair of black jeans and a snug dark shirt with goggles over his eyes, he is pacing about, waiting for his orders. As the robot floats after him, chittering away, bumps his head against her playfully, then gives a glance over to Nuala at her arrival.

Aquaman has posed:
Aquaman hadn't intended to become involved, given that it's well off the path of his usual haunts. But a combination of the dire nature of the situation and Aquaman's own, albeit unique, psionic gifts. He hitched a ride on the Power Girl express, his trident in hand as he's dropped off, his long blonde hair a bit windswept. He's clad in golden armor with emerald gauntlets, striding amongst the wounded and looking over the harm done. There is no end to the sufferings these surface dwellers will inflict on one another.

"Thank you, Power Girl. I'll get by on my feet for now," he says in thanks, although he's not particularly fond of being this far away from the sea, his imperious gaze causing a few SHIELD agents to shrink from him and skulk about their duties.

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl had landed inside of one of the bases, and had literally carried Aquaman there as well. They both wanted to get involved, and POwer Girl just happened to bring Aquaman along. "It's no problem, Arthur. Just sorry you couldn't swim here." She says as she looks about....and whistles. "Looks like they were hit pretty hard."

Iron Man has posed:
    "Your attendance is appreciated, Ms. Nuala Duvall," comes a polite and even voice to the communication channel Nuala accessed. "I have been authorized to give you coordinates for a meeting regarding the defense of the town," the AI continues. The location of the Avengers base and hub is transferred, as well as an appropriate place to park various conveyance.

    "Drake," Tony says with a 'come over here' gesture of finger waggle, as he heads past him, having popped out of one of the temporarily buildings, easily coming down the metal stairs. A few other people jump in to ask him things, and he deals with them quickly, with a few orders and gestures. The Avenger leader then continues to walk, with the expectant manner of assuming Drake will come along with him. "Who else do we have..." he asks nobody, but his headset provides his answers, while he draws a tech pad out to poke it, still in mid-walk towards the building he'd designated for this meeting.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala backs into the Shell suit as the AI responds. "Timmy, put us down next to their base cloaked.

    "Executing landing procedures," comes Timmy's response.
    The Shell suit clamps shut around her, and she walks to the rear door as the ship lands at the indicated location. The helmet is retracted to show her face, comically a small normal sized human head on the top of a nearly nine foot tall bionic suit. The ramp extends, and she steps off, bringing the scanners up to project what the Sea Song is detecting as it assesses the injured fungus. Naturally, she has the familiar silver band that protects her from psionics, and protects others from her hearing their thoughts.

Slipstream has posed:
Glancing up as he hears his name, Drake gives Snowball a quick fist bump, then follows after him quickly in suit. "Coming!" He says with an eager tone in his voice. He gives a glance about as heroes swoop in and out, recognizing some of these big names as allies of the past and those he has seen on the news. The youngest Avenger steels himself so not to freak out over the sight of Aqua Man. That's a heavy hitter.

Aquaman has posed:
The agents quickly guide Arthur towards Iron Man's bivouac, the golden-maned hero striding casually in spite of sticking out like a sore thumb. He arrives in time to hear Tony's question, calling out.

"If there's some fighting left to be done, I'm here to do it," he calls, crossing his muscular arms over his chest, blue eyes clear. "From the looks of things, you could use some backup."

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony's pulled out of his tech quickly by the voice of Aquaman, and the inventor laughs ruefully, crossing to offer a more direct greeting to the Justice League member. A handshake, if the other hero is so inclined, but Tony's easygoing. "We're glad you could make it to the party, Aquaman," Tony says, with a pass of his other hand up through his hair. He's exhausted but holding up, as always.

    "Specifically you, as well. This monster has tunneled deeply into the earth and local river areas. We're talking miles, and some of those are going out towards the water, and may be connecting all kinds of pockets below us. I don't think he cared about whether or not these spores are contaminating everything around."

    "And as it dies, I think we're just seeing tantrum-damage, now. Which, in a way, is a lot worse than before."

    Behind them in the town, a huge tentacle-like white mass writhes skywards, taller than a building, and thrashes across and sideways, hurling a parking garage into the side of an apartment complex. Tony doesn't turn, but sort of releases a little sigh.

    "Come in, and I'll do the meat of the briefing," Tony offers. His AI also networks to Nuala, to designate that a briefing is happening, and where.

Power Girl has posed:
    Lagging a little behind, Power Girl takes stock of what has happened, and what is still going on. "Into the rivers? Well...I'm glad you came along then, Aquaman." She says with a smile to him. She gives a small smile to Drake and Nuala as they arrive, but she does turn to Stark when he shows them towards the meeting room.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala nods to the other Avengers, and glances at the writhing tentacle. "Given the data. Psychic backlash? That's...not what we experienced before. After its death. Wasn't there something previously about psychics trying to control the fungus? Could this be an outside force acting upon it?" she asks as she follows Tony.

Slipstream has posed:
Continuing to follow after Tony, Drake listens intently, then glances over at the tentacle lobbing a parking garage into a building. He stares for a few moments, then slowly rubs the back of his neck. He returns the smile to Karen, then shifts some on his feet as he slides his hands into his pockets.

Aquaman has posed:
Aquaman raises an eyebrow, "Psychic contact is always risky, especially cross-species," he says. "The aquatic life in the underwater rivers and deposits can get us a location on the creature, if it's still in the area. I can also have my armies work to barricade entries into the Gulf and Pacific to keep any contamination as contained as possible," he says.

He turns his head as he sees that tentacle and the hand on his trident grips harder, a certain look of anticipation on the Sea King's face, "Now tell me when I can go and kick that thing's ass."

Power Girl has posed:
    "If it has an ass to kick, Aquaman. It reminds me of an octopus. It doesn't have an ass, and the back of that thing is just......no." Power Girl says jokingly. "It looks like you'll be taking the water and I'll take the air." She then looks to Nuala. "No heat or lasers, right?"

Iron Man has posed:
    "Yes, Nuala. THIS one is possessed. Our villain got himself a beautiful fungus suit to wear. And he's nasty on his own." Tony waves her inside the meeting room. "Won't take too long, but there's a bunch to cover; but finding him is really not an issue," Tony assures the fighting-ready Sea King. He waves a little bit back at the tentacle. The thing is, of course, RIGHT THERE.

    Tony's meeting stage doesn't feel all that temporary; it is a high tech erected tent structure, but the walls have a precision to them and a soundproofed feel, even if it probably is not something that would block super-senses at all. There's some monitors, and a long table with chairs, and a few more comfortable lounge-style chairs at one end of the enclosure. It's well-lit along the upper walls with soft panel lighting. Tony sort of gestures at the panels with his device in a small throwing motion, and the various screens leap to life, showing a large variety of maps in different view modes.

    The screens show a large brain-like mass of fungal spores and tentacles, underneath the city. Strands of it go downwards deeply, though there are some marked areas where it was attacked and the 'root' severed, such that it now is not quite as shallow. Many of the fungal tentacle forms are on the surface trying to smash things flat (and often successful), there are some subterranean ones as well, showing that it is oozing its way towards the east is a semi-sneaky fashion, as if partially tearing itself in half to do so.

    Tony approaches the table and picks over some of the food set out there, while letting everyone come inside and arrange themselves.

    "Our current problem is that it's healing itself, and we also think it's after a new host; I think the splitting thing it's doing in the images there is just to get us to attack and over-extend, provide a new host for it." Tony pauses. "Short version: we have a fungus that's immune to a lot of energy and physical attacks - so correct, no laser vision---, and is possessed by an ancient evil psion creep, the 'Shadow King'. Dr. Strange and our wizard pals thought it might have a magical gem called an 'infinity stone' which has let it start to take over the world, but we haven't seen the gem yet. So, between all that and this town and the people in it: yes, we've got our hands full. We need people in the town removed: and lots are still unconscious from the mind-blast earlier. We need to kill the damn thing. And not provide any escape for it, either."

    "But I /do/ have good news. And I'm pretty good at answering questions that you have; bonus," Tony smirks a little. His tone of voice is a great deal like the ones he uses in press conferences: easily going through information in a palatable way.

Power Girl has posed:
    "Is it possible to freeze it, break off a piece and carry it off somewhere else? Or would that just make a new piece to regenerate into a more fully grown twerp that will just take over another planet?" Power Girl seems to be weighing her options.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "If we can lobotomize it's nervous system, it may be able to stop the psychic from having anything to connect to it," Nuala theorizes. "However, if I recall, that may be difficult. I'll have Timmy analyze the specimen sample reports along with the previous engagement footage, see what he can come up with. Timmy, you get that?" she says into the suit.

    She gives a half hearted smile at Aquaman, "We certainly don't want it getting to water, the amount of nutrients it would be able to pull would be very dangerous."

Slipstream has posed:
As he continues to listen, Drake glances about each hero, listening to them, evaulating. He opens his mouth as if he was going to say something, then slowly closes it. He rubs at his shoulder with his free hand as he shifts his weight to one side, propped up by Snowball as she hovers next to him.

Aquaman has posed:
Aquaman frowns, "I'm not particularly thrilled at the idea of lobotomizing anything, even a potentially inhuman creature, but it's wise to keep all the options on the table. It's possible I could engage it on the psychic plane, but that's not ideal. Perhaps something other than direct engagement. Do we know its level of sentience? You mentioned this Shadow King, but is he truly directing its actions or is he just...riding the wave?"

Iron Man has posed:
    "Yes, you could pull pieces off of it and we can dispose of those in a, ha ha, contained way. I think Hulk has been doing that, but having the pieces not just flung all over might help," Tony says diplomatically. "We know the bigger it is, the worse it is, and a lot of our weapons can't penetrate it, just out of how strong it is. Freezing it and then bashing is one of the best ways, as is using our acids we developed last July, if you remember those," Tony reminds Nuala. "That it can hurl a building is not helping. It's like it knows," Tony says sarcastically. Of course it knows, it is possessed by a smart psychic.

    "I do think the infinity stone is not in its possession anymore, we've heard the Astral Plane is not firmly in his power now. I don't know if it fell into the core of the earth or what, but it's good news. I suspect Thor smashed it out of him." Tony's directed that to Aquaman. "I think the stone was helping there with his control. Now? He may be riding. Or is tricking us. We're aware he's slippery. Doing my best to out-think him, but we only have his past actions to work with. I think we're being stalled. Which is why I've put the call out. Besides, we need those people in the town saved, and resources are tied up in fighting it. Particularly fast people," Tony looks more directly at Drake and Power girl. "Because they're hostage, to some degree. We can't do big attacks with the people there." Tony's jaw tenses, one of his rare serious faces surfaces.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala's composure suddenly breaks, and she laughs out loud at Aquaman's comment. "I got it!" she declares in her strange accent. "Riding a wave, and you are king of the sea, and so it is funny." She laughs a little more, well, maybe a lot more than most people would laugh at a pun. She takes a moment to collect herself back to the normal professional demeanor before responding.

    "I am sorry. I hope it does not have an infinity stone. Thor is one of the greatest protector this world has. I am glad he has been able to help."

Slipstream has posed:
Giving a nod of his head, Drake salutes across the brow. "No problemo, Tony. I'll hit the ground running. Should we have evac shuttles set up so that when we move them off they can all get out quickly as a group? Would be more efficient. Power Girl and I can split the city blocks into quadrants to cover more ground and then strike them off once they are covered so we aren't doubling work."

Power Girl has posed:
    "We just need to move fast Drake." Power Girl says. "Just don't overtax yourself, okay?" She says to Drake. "I don't want to carry you out of here too." She says softly. She then looks to Aquaman and smirks at Nuala's laughter. "Catch a wave and you'll be sittin' on top of the world...." She almost sings...

Aquaman has posed:
Aquaman nods, "Yes, Thor is...pretty good. I guess," he says.

"I'm sure my Trident can do some damage, but, as you say, it would be better to be organized in our attack than haphazard as the Hulk might be. Although a little chaos can be useful now and again," he says.

He gives Nuala a wink, "Yes, I'm good looking -and- funny. While you contemplate the best plan of attack, Iron Man, perhaps we should, indeed, focus on evacuating and protecting the innocents that we can and getting them far away from that thing. I bet I can get its attention if you need it distracted. Slippery or not, I have a firm grip."

Iron Man has posed:
        "So, yes. We're not JUST here to save the town's buildings and fight the monster alone," Tony says, and the screens adjust around him, to show a crowd of people reacting to some kind of mental blast, grabbing their heads and falling down. In the background, a large robot passes down the street, engaging smaller fungus-monsters. It's not one of Stark's robots, though, but one of the Peacekeeper Sentinels that has been on the news. A smear of some speedy person darts through and saves the people in the immediate front, but Tony ends the video.

    "----But the people caught in this. There's a lot, and I do have images and resources to locate them, I'll provide you with that. Still, this Shadow King knows all of this, we should expect. So getting that 'weapon' away from him: these hostages, is really a priority. Stop him from stalling, using them as a shield. These clunky robots that their government brought in are focused on fighting fungus. Don't engage them, or they'll turn on you. We've had them think some of ours are on the other side. So: If you do pull one, let me know, I'll hack it and get it off you," Tony comments with an offhand gesture. No problem. "Let's try not to destroy the government's things, or they won't invite us back." A brief smile.

    "If you guys are able to contact the Flash, or similar, we could use him here, too. He's still in the Justice League, right?" Tony questions. He eats another thing from the spread at the table, and then seems to orient on something in his headset. "Anything else? I've got a final stroke to plan," Tony grins, with a finger-gun at Aquaman's statement.

Power Girl has posed:
    "I'll try and get a hold of the Flash as I go. For now, the people just need to be evacuated." Power Girl says....then turns into a blur as she zips out of the room to get to the people who are being mind controlled.....