5925/When Nature Calls

When Nature Calls
Date of Scene:	05 December 2018
Location:	Forest Greene Conservancy
Synopsis:	At a Stockgen press release a lot of things are learned, and ahhh! Monsters!
Cast of Characters:	Shredder, Lucky Day, Magik, Josef Forster, Mon-El, Lex Luthor

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Shredder has posed:
    It's a crisp day in New York City, but the sky is clear and here at the Fort Greene Conservancy, Stockgen labs have an announcement to make. Gathered are various press teams from across the city, here to find out what the biomedical firm has to share.
    An African-American man in a suit with short cropped hair sits in the chair closest to the podium. Next to him is the noteworthy Oroku Saki, a japanese businessman, known for his cunning development of business strategies and acquisitions, the majority shareholder of the company.
    A woman in a blue business dress stands, perhaps in her late thirties. "I'd like to thank everyone for coming out today," she says. "We will be starting in just a moment. As you all know, StockGen has for decades been part of this country's dedication to forward thinking. Numerous humanitarian efforts have been funded by our company, and even more is on the horizon. Today, we have the very special guest, the mind behind the vision of StockGen, Baxter Stockman. Dr. Stockman..." She begins to go on a rather long list of the scientist's accomplishments, his victories and his breakthrough discoveries in the areas of medicine and genetics. It's a long horn being tooted.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom was sent here by a strange backer from his most reliable fixer. They simply wanted him HERE, to neither like nor dislike the project which was odd since that meant simply a likelihood of complications but he didnt know what to make of it. Thus he was in the audience, well dressed, well groomed and not even wearing his 'villain' atire, just blending in, keeping an open mind and quite curious.

Magik has posed:
While this isn't the usual sort of thing that caught the attention of Illyana, she happened to be in the area when she saw the news vans. While everyone hated a tragedy, they certainly enjoyed staring at the train wreck when it occurred. There was no police presence though so unlikely it was a disaster.Yet her curiosity was piqued.

She had wandered to the building, entering and finding a press packet shoved into her hand and a hand waving her to enter the room where the announcement was being made. Thus, here she was, looking through the papers curiously as she listened to the droning of achievements from the podium.

Josef Forster has posed:
Josef Forster has the day off today, because unions are awesome. So why not spend that in the glorious frigidity of a NYC park? Well, that was plan, but the huge crowd of people outside the conservatory ruined that with their damnedable curiousity provocation! Josef wanders up to the back of the crowd, straining on his tippity toes to see over at what all the fuss is about.

Shredder has posed:
    The crowd is moderate, mostly consisting of the science community. There are even snacks at a table in the back, and hot coffee for those who would like it.

    "...So," the woman says, "Without making this too long, here is Dr. Baxter Stockman!" There is a muffled applause. Most of the scientists who are aware of Baxter know that he's both a brilliant scientist, but a rather arrogant jerk at times as well.

    "Thank you," Dr. Stockman says, getting to his feet, and adjusting the leather overcoat that he wears over his tailored suit. "It really is flattering, Ms. Sykes, thank you. It is true, that at StockGen, the company I founded many years ago, is a company dedicated to conquering the ills of humanity. Famine, disease, old age, they haunt our world. We have been working diligently to stop such things, and that's why today I'm proud to announce the first of two announcements. Stockgen has discovered a new genetic serum that may lead to the end of cancer." A bold statement no doubt. "EP-203, or Elixir, as the boys at the lab are calling it, is a new isotropic chemical which when perfected, could allow the body to heal from nearly any disease. AIDs, cancer, genetic deformities, Downs Syndrome. They all could be a thing of the past thanks to this magic."

    He continues on with several applications, and the speech is rather flamboyant in its claims.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom vaguely dislikes this because it might be good but he doesnt know if they're lying or jerks so he can't passionately like it by disliking it. So their fortunes would improve slightly, maybe the ambient atmosphere improving a bit and magic sensitives in the room would feel something but its not strong (yet) either way.

Magik has posed:
There's a tingle in her Goblin sense. Not that Illyana actually has one of those but it amused her to think those words. There was that hint of something 'other' around, a hint of magic. It was so faint, there was no finding it.

Instead, she focused on the claims coming from the doctor. Cures for all of those things? And he called it magic? That seemed strange coming from a man of science. Now what had been just a half-faked interest becomes her full attention as she listens more closely.

Josef Forster has posed:
Joseph stares blankly through the mild applause at Stockman's introduction, whispering to one of the unenthused clappers next to him as they settle down from lethargic to dead, "...What're we clapping about?" This likely gets the largely uneducated brute looking man little more than an annoyed glare before Stockman doles out his speech, drawing an intrigued look from Joseph, who mutters absently to himself at the prospects of such a miracle cure.

Mon-El has posed:
    Scientific breakthroughs? Lar is no Querl Dox, but he does have some interest in the intellectual community, having helped invent some of the Legions most well-used technology. So when he heard someone mention completely curing not only cancer, but pretty much -every- human disease? It sounded...well kind of absurd. Plus, lately, he has been trying to get his mind off of a certain...woman who just cant seem to leave his thoughts for some reason. It is disconcerting to say the least.

    So he hangs around near the back of the crowd, watching Dr. Stockman talk about curing the world of everything. Is he going to talk about how exactly this miracle cure-all actually works?

Lex Luthor has posed:
In the gathered crowd is Lex Luthor himself as well. Clad in his usual extremely well tailored business suit as per usual for public outings, a few stray cameras flash pictures of him for their own sources to use later, but he doesn't have the usual media attention.

Mercy and Hope with their intensity however... keep most on the audience well away from the Man of Tomorrow. The infamous bodyguards being well known for taking /any/ potential threat to their charge seriously.

Sitting down, Luthor seems content to listen... though if the woman on stage looks in his direction, she'd feel those green eyes practically booring into her, reading her. He's a practiced adept of keen insight into the human mind, and he's bringing it to bear on her.

The scientist? He gets a glance... but the woman is his interest.

Shredder has posed:
    In the back of the crowd, a few more passerbys seem to join as well, random people who seem to be stopping on their way through the park. Three of this mass, however, seem to be a little agitated. Large men, all well over six feet in height, wear t-shirts, and seem to be sweating profusely, despite the cold weather.
    "And now for our next announcement, I'd like to introduce Oroku Saki, the money, if you will, that has helped pioneer this discover, and take us into the rest of the twenty-first century."

    From her place sitting in her chair on the stage, Ms. Sykes catches sight of Lex as he stares at her. She gives a smile at first, as is only professional, but as the speech goes on, it seems that she is very aware of his study upon her. She seems all the average businesswoman who has fought her whole life to get what she can, to rise the corporate ranks and make a name for herself.

    There is some more general applause, and the strong looking japanese man stands to the podium. "Thank you, doctor. I have come to make our second announcement, one that we hope many companies will follow. In the last few years, it has become apparent that mutants in our society are not receiving the equal wages that they are due, despite their equality as human beings. At Stockgen, we are concerned with the well-being of all people, so as an effort to curb such an effort, we will be taking a stand for our mutant brothers and sisters." He looks around, his gaze rather piercing in a way that it tends to have the effect of drawing a crowd to a certain stunned silence. "Any mutant with an ability that they believe is marketable, and can be used to benefit our companies in some way, will not simply receive equal pay. No, they will receive an opportunity to be paid for their natural talents in proportion to how they can use those to the productivity of the company. This will be across the board for all departments, and I hope that others will soon adopt this philosophy. It is only right that those who have skills and abilities be paid their worth for those abilities. It is not enough to simply give them equal pay and have them be expected to hide who they are, but it should be celebrated."

    There is a moment of silence, and then the reporters start to explode with questions. "What will the legal processes look like for this? Mr. Oroku, do you want to see this develop a new government form of Affirmative Action? Has your human resources considered the consequences legally for the use of mutant powers in the workplace and the inherent risks?"

    Behind the crowd, the three men who had arrived seem to become more agitated, and they look at each other, huffing incoherently. One of them walks up to the food table, and grabs several little sandwich triangles in his dirty fists, and with both hands he begins to shove them into his face. Whatever is happening to them, though, it does not have any ring of magic.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom insantly likes this company because of that promise, which means of course he hates it. How dare they attempt to disrupt the natural order by attempting to help filthy mutants. Mutants, especially mutants that want to help the helpless, are awful. Sure, these guys might be selling snake oil but it wasn't a problem, it was the fact that they were selling SOCIALISM with snake oil that was unacceptable. An honest conman loved greed damn it and these guys were giving good con men a bad name. Tom frowned intensely and the amount of magic in the room would also go up. Small little things that might help the presenter out and if the guys in back were hostile towards this presentation or looking to disrupt it they might find small things working against them in every way.

Magik has posed:
That certainly caught Illyana's attention. Paying mutants for the use of their abilities? Her brow wrinkled a bit as she frowned, trying to understand if this was above board or some sort of ploy to get mutants to identify themselves. Then the magic tingle starts to grow. She glances around, wondering where it is coming from but not pinpointing the exact source. She could try using some magic of her own to do so but no use waving a red flag to some other magical type that she was present. Instead, she watched. The three men were further behind her in the crowd and she took no notice of them yet.

Josef Forster has posed:
Josef glances over to one of the large, anxious, sweaty men as he stops near him, looking him over and cocking a brow, "....Uh...You ok, big guy?....Can you uh...Can ya back up a big, you're kinda crowdin me." At the mention of mutants by the totally not an ancient ninja-man, Josef turns back, cocking the other brow and scratching at his chin, muttering a broken up contemplation. As the men become more agitated though, he glances back, "Hey, buddy, quit huffin and puffin on me, yer creepin me out." He says with an annoyed look at the upset giant.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar doesnt know a whole lot about the mutant situation or the mutant politics of Earth. He hangs around this planet fairly frequently, but also spends a good deal of time in space. So he is not really sure what to think about that announcement. But it does seem that some people appear shocked by it, especially the press.

    He doesnt have a way of detecting magic so Toms presence goes unnoticed, but he does take note of the large agitated men nearby who seem to be very sweaty despite the cold. Hm, that wasnt very normal for humans. He attempts to use his x-ray vision to peer into their bodies and check for anything unusual, or if they are armed or otherwise dangerous.

Lex Luthor has posed:
She might be aware, but he isn't phased by any discomfort she might be showing. Though after a few seconds more, he turns his eyes to the reporters. Lex notes the ones with the more interesting questions for further investigation, before he looks back to the stage itself, to the doctor.

The men at the table? Mercy and Hope glance in their direction, but make no movements yet.

Shredder has posed:
    Saki holds his hand up. "This is all in the name of progress." He reaches down, and places a hand casually into his pocket. "This is something that has long been overdue to mutants, and it's time that they were recognized for such." He points to one of the reporters. "Yes? Our legal department is confident that the existing laws allow us to hire mutants, and also allow us to pay people for the skills they have," he answers. "All records regarding the mutants who apply-" this might have been the answer to Illyana's concern, either to confirm suspicions or assure her of mutant safety. But the answer is cut off.

    At only levels those who can sense ultra high frequencies could hear, a sonic chirp briefly fills the air. There is a roar from the back table, and the other two men begin eating the food at a rapid pace, like enraged beasts. The one who Josef spoke to roars in his face, chunks of turkey sandwich flying at him. It is followed by a *crack* as what sounds like snapping bones fills the air. The three men start to shift in size and shape, their skin distorting as they enlarge and change into what appears to be giant animals. One is a wolfish brute, the next seems to be very much like a hyena, and the third becomes a reptilian creature like a snake with legs and arms. Their clothes shred like the Hulk, and they smash the tables viciously. One of the caterers is caught too close, and the hyena-man grabs her by the neck and flings her across the crowd, causing her to collapse into a few scientists a good twenty feet away. Probably not part of what's planned.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Sir, I recommend we get to the limo. We have a potential threat." Mercy offers to Luthor as the two begin to transform into... whatever it is they're transforming into. Luthor, paying attention to the stage, turns his head in the middle of Mercy's request. Studying the newcomers, Lex gives a visible frown, before he stands, "very well," Lex affirms to the two, before he starts to head to their parking space.

The two bodyguards are in ready stances as they muscle a way through any crowds in their way to give Lex a clear path to safety.

Magik has posed:
Just as she is about to get her answer (maybe), Illyana hears the commotion in the back and turns around with the rest of the crowd. She finds herself caught in the press of people, all trying to move away from whatever is going on. At first she can't see a thing but then she spots one of the men as they transform into a monster over by the catering table.

Her right hand tightens into a fist and she is about to draw on her powers when she stumbles as someone pushes her out of their way. She falls to the ground and takes that moment to open a stepping disc beneath herself before she is trampled. One moment she is there, a flash of white light, and she's gone.

Josef Forster has posed:
Josef flinches back from the smell of turkey in his face and reaches up to wipe the bits from his face as the man morphs into the wolfman, drawing an annoyed sigh from him, "....Tell ya what, slugger. Ya get one chance to turn and walk away before I punt your ass down the street." He says with restrained anger as he cracks his knuckles, clearly ready for his warning to go ignored.

Mon-El has posed:
    The sudden high-pitched burst of sound caught Lar off guard a bit, and his eyes dart toward the sound system. It was so brief, he couldnt be 100% sure of its source, but if he had to guess he would have said it must have come from the speakers. It was definitely odd, so he was on alert when the men began to transform. When the hyena-man grabs a hapless woman, he immediately takes to the air and tries to intercept her, hoping he could prevent her from getting hurt or hurting anyone else. However, it seems he was too late. His attention was too divided, given he had been trying to discern the source and nature of the noise he heard earlier. He hopes she is okay, because right now there is a more pressing matter to deal with.

    He lands in front of the violent beastial men, confronting them. "I dont know what you want, but if you continue, I will have to hurt you."

     "And trust me, you do not want me to hurt you."

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom was annoyed that the halls of science were being assaulted by The Misfits of science, and decided to take a more active hand in things even though an intense dislike for the prison or the expirment would Grant him good luck because he disliked. them. " with any luck the guys causing problems will find their ability to dodge greatly reduced." the scent of magic in the room would have increased greatly since Tom's active luck was much much easier to detect and triangulate.

Shredder has posed:
    The snake man looks at Mon-El. There's a degree of fear on the reptilian face, or something that is akin to that. He thrashes at the coffee cambro, knocking it back into the grass, then turns back at the hero, and lunges forward with the speed one might expect from a snake, fangs open wide as they dart toward their target. Of course, this snake doesn't understand what they might find if they connect.

    The hyena-man lets out a whooping laugh so characteristic of the race, and lumbers toward the crowd, swinging haphazardly at the humans sprawling desperately in a receding wave of bodies. It hops on a chair, then to the next, which snaps in its weight, causing a gagged spike of a plastic and metal club to fly up into its hand. It eyes the club, the strange twist of fortune, and barrels forth to attack the poor civilians.

    The wolf growls, and lunges forward at Josef, a nearly 10 foot monstrosity bearing down by the time it is finished changing shape. It's teeth snap forward, an attempt to quickly remove the offender's head from his shoulders with a single bite.

    Meanwhile, those on the stage retreat as well, walking briskly to the rear, while the security team files into place between them. Stockman looks upset, whispering something to a studious, frowning Saki, but like many others not in the immediate path of destruction, they look unhappy.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Over in the parking space near his limo, Lex has a deceptively labelled delivery truck parked near it... and makes a detour towards the back of it (the back entry facing a wall, by design) and enters. "Get the limo ready and start driving. Stay in the area discreetly until I'm done." Lex orders of Mercy and Hope, before he steps inside.

The crew inside had already prepared the fitting station within the truck, and a second later, Lex had stepped into the armored boots in the hi-tech platform. The sounds of whirring and mechanical arms moving are instantly silenced to the outside world as Lex Luthor is slowly encased in the Mark 1 warsuit, his arms outstretched into the gauntlets.

Mon-El has posed:
    Welp Lar hadnt -thought- that would work, but he had to try. He always had to try. When the snake guy charges at him, he doesnt move or even flinch, instead when he gets in close enough, the Daxamite instead attempts to grab the thing by its (presumably) long snake-like tail and use it like a blunt weapon against Mr. Hyena, who seems to be a more direct threat to civilians at this point in time. He attempts to whack the hyena far -away- from the helpless bystanders, hopefully somewhere else in the park that is more isolated with fewer people about to get potentially hit by collateral damage...which is often something he tends to cause a lot of when stuff like this goes down.

Josef Forster has posed:
Josef ducks around the enormous wolfman's bite, grabbing it's back leg as it sails by and wrenching it back, slamming it down onto the ground. As it goes to sit up, he makes good on his promise and punts it right in the crotch, hard enough to send it flying a good hundred plus feet down the street, not including bounce or roll.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom says, "with any luck the opppsite of what I just said will not happen"

Shredder has posed:
    Lex's retreate to the van goes mostly unnoticed, save for one reporter. There's always that one nosey one. She follows as Lex makes his detour, choosing to follow the wealthy man making his escape rather than the oncoming assault of monsters. However, when she reaches the alley, she stops, having not seen Lex actually enter the van. She stands at the front of the alley, confusedly looking around, trying to figure out where the man of tomorrow may have gone.

    Mon-El's snatching of th snake-man is received with a hiss as it tries futiley to bury its fangs into the alien skin. However, it doesn't have time to ponder the strangeness as it is whipped around and into the hyena-man, who is caught nearly off guard. He turns at just the moment the snake is going to hit him, catching him and they both go rolling through a cascade of folding chairs, scattering them like a row of dominos.

    As the wolf is kicked, it gives a yelp of pain, soaring into a tree nearby, which stops it from flying too much farther. It becomes tangled in the trees, doubled over from a horrible strike, causing it to be out of commission at least for the moment.
    Meanwhile, another threat has arisen. The scattering of chairs has caused a series of trips and falls, and as is prone in a mass panic, some of the fleeing citizens are becoming an obstacle for each other, and trampling seems iminent as they try to climb over each other and over chair during their escape. Some of them have already made it out of the area, but others are still in the thick of the emergency, including some older scientists who do not have the strength to run quickly, putting them at the greatest risk.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom leaps into direct action to help but also says "with any luck this crowd will not orderly exit" ensuring all probabilty that they will. He pulls fallen people up and blends in.

Mon-El has posed:
    If the snake guy tried to bite too hard, his fangs probably got broken up pretty badly as if he had tried to bite something made out of adamantium or something. As soon as the two of them hit the ground, Lar goes to try to pick up the both of them by a convenient limb that hopefully would not kill them which probably means tails (assuming they have them). Then he tries to throw them again, at least a few hundred feet away from any large gathering of innocent bystanders.

    A sigh. "I told you, you wouldnt want me to have to hurt you." he mutters

Lex Luthor has posed:
By the time the suit is on Lex, the reporter should be gone. If they aren't, they get the first real look at the general configuration warsuit as Luthor takes a couple rags from the truck, before he takes to the sky on thrusters and heads for the conference site through the roof of the truck.

A green and black powered armor of unknown design and origin soars through the air, catching first the snake man, then the other Mon-El threw, in one arm, then the other, and lands them on a nearby rooftop. The sensor suite in the suit scans both for suitable collection sites. Using a sharp edge of the suit, he cuts them open just so, and takes blood samples from both on two different rags. They're not in danger of bleeding out, but they'll feel that when they wake up.

A moment later, and Lex stands up, activating macro mode on the sensor suite to find the last subject.

Josef Forster has posed:
Josef Forster shakes out his foot after punting the wolfmano, taking a few tenative steps afterwards and chuckling, "I tried to warn him." He says with a smirk as he turns back to see the freaking out crowd, ".....Well....Crap...." He grumbles as he starts moving to help the most at risk people from being trampled. Lex and his suit go totally ignored, if not outright unnoticed.

Shredder has posed:
    Tom's luck seems to work, and the crowd follows the lead from him and from Josef, starting to thin the passage as the police show up in force, responding to the scenario. Ambulances arrive soon after, and before long, it's just another post-trauma zone for the NYPD, questioning, statements taken, along with news reports from several stations talking about the attack, speculating who might be responsible, and the bold reassurances from Saki and Stockman that their work and plans will not be hindered by such terroristic threats.
    With the strength at hand, the unconscious beast men are detained, the wolf reverting back to a human before Lex would be able to recover a sample from the third subject, while the others stay in their new forms. Whatever this was, it was another odd happening for New York City.