6634/How not to do Industrial espionage.

How not to do Industrial espionage.
Date of Scene:	23 February 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Arella Despana, April O'Neil

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Arella Despana has posed:
It is a relatively normal looking evening at West farms near the shipping warehouses quiet by any measure. The Stars are out and the air is crisp - even fresh for such a dirty district. It is an unusual place to find Arella Despana if there could be regarded as a usual place to find one of the galaxy's last Svartalfar. Tonight she is optically glued to what appears to be a modified tablet it having a 'growth' of unsual protusions from it. Her unusual alien features are poorly concealed beneath a winter beanie hat which she has tucked her pointy ears under the brim. Her green eyes are over large and impossible to conceal without sunglasses which she has chosen not to wear. She has blue grey skin. All in all she only passes for human when people are not paying attention to her directly (which is mercifully most of the time).

A white van cuts in front of the Svartalfar almost running over her toes. Little does Arella know that she is about to be subject to an the most interesting experince of her time on Midgard to date. An unwelcome one. The van continues up to a gate near an innocuous warehouse. The driver leans out of the window and discretely shoots the guard at the gate with a silence pistol. Arella dusting herself off does not notice the murder.

April O'Neil has posed:
April O'Neil was out tonight at the Bronx River Museum for a news piece for Channel Six. She is an investigative reporter for C6 News now and has a lot more sway within the Station than she did even a year ago (its remarkable what a fair amount of internet fame can get you based on fan demand).

The event at the River Museum had come to a close, however, and April was heading back to her vehicle after parting ways with her partner and camera-man, she walking down the street with a black beanie cap on her head, her left hand stuffed into her yellow jacket and the other holding her phone in front of her.

She doesn't hear the silenced pistol shot, but she does very nearly bump right into Arella, only noticing not to a moment before. She looks up to her and shows an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, almost... bulled right into you!" She says, flashing a smile to the other.

Arella Despana has posed:
Arella shoots April a polite smile. "Hey haven't I seen you on television?" the Svartalfar says. The same remark could easily be made by April to Arella if she had watched any of the corruption scandal news. Up close the bleached white hair that Arella sports is visable under her cap as well as the blue grey skin.

The white van proceeds past the gate after one of the criminal confederates of the driver jumps out drags the guard back into his small room and manipulates the gate controls.

April O'Neil has posed:
April stands motionless for now as Arella responds to her with that line, which makes April crack a grin. "Guilty as charged." She replies, extending her right hand after shifting her phone over to her left. "April O'Neil, Channel Six News." Its then that April takes in the sights of Arella's unique hair and the tone of her skin. She's not a judgmental person, by any means... if one knew who her best friends were, they'd probably know that about her quite well.

"You look kinda familiar yourself." April then comments. "Have I seen you in the news recently? Something related to LexCorp?" she's an astute young woman, after all. She makes her life's career based on that!

The stuff going on down the street, however, remains out of her sight and thusly out of her mind, so long as it continues to remain fairly quiet at least.

Arella Despana has posed:
"Arella Despana - I recently crashed into Canada. I surrendered to Alpha Flight and was released to Lex corp. There apprently is some controversy over that. Some cabinet member in Canada with a relqationship that is too close to Lex Luthor. I do not understand human politics. But then the dead society I came from was almost always an autocracy."

The crew of criminals disappears into the warehouse. A few subdued flashes can be seen from the windows of the dilapidated facility. Apart from the corpse in the guard house the criminals seem to be doing a bang up job of infiltrating their target.

April O'Neil has posed:
Well now, thats an interesting introduction to an investigative reporter.

"Really now." April says after hearing Arella's words. She pulls her phone back in front of her and she starts to tap it gently with her left thumb. "You wouldn't happen to have a name on this person who is... so close to Mister Luthor, would you?" She asks next...

But, its then that the flashing lights in the warehouse DO draw O'Neil's attention and her eyes sweep over to it to stare at it for a second. Some tickle at the back of her mind tries to make her shift focus to THAT because she's a curious woman by her very nature, but... this Arella, is kind of a big opportunity.

"You're from another planet then?" She asks. "Why does Luthor have interest in you, would you say?"

Arella Despana has posed:
"From memory no - I do not think the man's name came up but I think you will find it relatively easy to find out." Arella shrugs. As to her well she was unaware of the signmificance of speaking to a reporter. Lex might be mad at her but she was not at all aware of this as a factor. New to Midgard and all.

"I am from Svartalfheim another planet of the Nine realms. My people were called Svartálfar by the old Norse. I believe the modern parlance is Dark Elves. we have a history with Earth's inhabitants. And a bad reputation that is largely deserved."

The crew of criminals finish up what they are doing in the warehouse and retreat back to their van however a new team of security perhaps the next rotation arrive in a couple of grey vans and find the body at the gatehouse. Worried looks are exchanged by the guards and the police are called. But long before they can arrive the criminals and the guards encounter eachother. There is at the moment a tense standoff as the guards demand the criminals leave their vehicle. Arella finally perks up. "Looks like more trouble. This might be a tory worthy of covering no?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April is softly nodding her head to the woman with the dark skin and white hair. She's able to follow what she's saying far more than she would've expected, especially since she's been immersed in stories related to 'geek culture' for several years now... including those friends of hers down in the sewers.

"Popular race to play in a D'n'D campaign too, am I right?" April says, cracking a nerdy joke and a grin to go along with it. She's fast to shake her head and cast that comment aside. "You know, if you can give me a contact method, I'd love to invite you onto my podcast some time. I have a lot of listeners who'd love to talk to someone from your world, with your background and such. I run a... show... where lots of people can tune in on their, uh, devices, to watch. Like one of these." She holds up her phone to show it off, assuming Arella may not know what she's talking about.

The activity at the warehouse draws her attention away though and she sees the confrontation starting. "Yeah. Looks like trouble..." April flips her phone over and with a swipe she starts recording it with her camera.

Arella Despana has posed:
Arella nods, "Yes I am familiar with your new media. I wouldn't mind speaking to more of the people of Midgard but I will have to clear it with Lexcorp first. They are sort of my hosts."

As for the popular culture references, "Yes you forgot to mention World of Warcraft as well - the nightelves. Some of my coworkers want me to put on a metal bikini and enter a cosplay contest with them," Arella smirks. "That might be cheating". She goes a bit further, "And the 'Drow' from Dungeons and Dragons are a disturbingly accurate representation of my kind. Apart from the fact that we are taller, were not a matriarchal society and lived in outer space not undergraound. Plus we don't worship spiders or some spider queen god. An extreme case of old memories being recycled into art perhaps?"

The criminals file out from the back of their van adopting a tactical postion of cover. A few more seconds pass before some ominous words are spoken, "Light them up!" growls a man who appears to be leading the ne'er do wells.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is listening to Arella's comparison of her species to Earth-world cultural connections all while filming whats going on across the street. "Hey." April says then and she glances over while holding her phone up still. "Don't let any of those little nerdy perverts make you wear anything you don't wanna wear, okay?" She says to the foreigner, who she figures may not understand the people's intentions when it comes to putting outfits like that on. She certainly has dealt with things like that in her life too!

"Art has a tendency to fudge history, for the sake of... making an impression. So yeah, for su--" April's words trail off then as she overhears the words across the street. "Ah, balls..." She moves forward to crouch behind a kiosk on the side of the street and she motions for Arella. "Come here, get down! Things are about to go super south!"

Arella Despana has posed:
"I don't mind. Let them look," Despana says in relation to the revealing attire. "I spent about five millenia in stasis. That's a million cold showers and no attention from either gender."

When things heat up with the criminals April might regret not having turned her phone momentarily towards Arella because an amazing transformation occurs. Pieve by piece a black set of form fitting armour covers Arella from her torso to her toes leaving only her head uncovered. She then ducks behind cover like April. "Hmm trouble. Best not to intervene," she thinks out loud. "On a shortt leash." Then the firefight starts in earnest. The guards have only p;istols and semi automatic weapons compared to the criminals fully automatic weapons. It is a massacre.

April O'Neil has posed:
April would be quite sad to have no gotten that transformation in Arella's attire on camera, but... she's got a lot to record right now at least anyway!

"My motto, usually." April replies to the other woman as she comes to hide in cover near to her as well. "I mean its just plain safe--" She cuts her words off as she looks over and sees Arella in a completely different set of clothing/gear/armor whatever you want to call it. "I don't think any metal bikinis are gonna have quite the same ffect as... whatever all of that is, lady." The Brooklyn native tells the Dark Elf from another planet.

The gunfire draws April's eyes back though and she peers over the kiosk to keep her phone leveled on the battlefield. She's wincing at the sight of it, her device held upright. "Where's Superman when you need him? Or Spider-man... or any other silly named person with wildly awesome powers."

Arella Despana has posed:
"I dress more for practicality than allure for the most part. And I was a cyberneticist back on Svartálfiem. Performed a few augmentations on myuself during an extended exile," Arella says casually over the gunfire. Apparently not disturbed at all over the violence. In the end there are only a couiple of pinned security guards who rapidly running out of ammo look like they are going to be slaughtered by the criminals. "That does not look like a fair contest. If I intervene will you document it so as to minimise the trouble I get into as a result?" Arella asks April. Apparently she was not completely unaware of the usefulness of media.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Augmentations. Right." April says, and then glances back over to Arella. "Wait, what kind?" But she has her attention pulled back away by the gunfight and it makes her antsy just watching it, she desperately wants to help the poor security guards who're just trying to earn a living wage... but she's got NO ability to do that, having only rudimentary hand-to-hand combat training from her local gym's trainer!

"Can you do something?" April asks the Dark Elf then, putting her eyes back on her. "I don't want you to get yourself killed, that... that wouldn't be good for anyone, you especially!"

Arella Despana has posed:
"I'm a Svartálfar commando apart from everything else," Arella sayas smiling, "Watch me". Arella leaves cover and rushes up to the pinned guards and their van. She is too fast to attract any gunfire. Whilst not as fast as some of the more famous speedsters sshe looks like she is running at a speed proximate to a speeding vehicle. She then slams into the guards van sending it flying into the criminals van which explodes. The criminals are momentarily shellshocked. This was not an event that they had drilled for. Arella uses the opening this gives her to carry the two startled guards to safety back where April is. The smoke and noise effectively masking where the two men had been smuggled to. One of the men fire into the smoke however and this hits Arella soundly on the back. The Dark Elf staggers clumsily before glancing up her large emerald eyes filled with a sudden rage, "That... hurt," she remarks.

April O'Neil has posed:
April glances back over to Arella after she hears the woman's explanation on her abilities in a fight. "Yeah?" She asks. "I'm a green belt in Jim Boggs' Judo Emporium class. I think... I'll sit this one out."

The dark elf is gone from her side in a flash though and April sits up a little higher on her knees behind the metal kiosk as she plans her elbows down ontop of it and records it. When she sees the damage and chaos that Arella is able to inflct though she starts to stand up. "Wow." She says, keeping her phone up she continues to record it.

"Okay, space makes a lotta really powerful people... And keeps dropping them on our heads for some reason." She idly comments as she captures all of this on digital, likely to have it on the internet within an hour.

Arella Despana has posed:
"Ow ow ow - shruck!" Arella curses in her native tongue. A few more stray bullets can be heard flying overhead as the Dark elf ducks back behind cover. The criminals improvising have decided to take the one remaining van of the three to escape - one that had previously been used by the security guards who boxed them in.

"Shooting me was just mean," Arella complains. Sirens can be heard in the distance. "I'm almost tempted to toss them and their van in the nearest body of water," which as it happened was not that far away.

April O'Neil has posed:
When the vans make their escape, April steps out onto the street and walks to where Arella is. "That was... impressive." She has to tell the dark elf woman. She looks after the vans that sped off and she can hear and see the sirens of the cops off in the distance down the street. "I don't think the Police would necessarily hate you if you did that." She looks back to Arella then. "I wouldn't, at least." She says with a slight smirk.

"But they're gonna make you stick around and answer a buncha questions, and if ya do that then you're gonna also end up on the News, cause they're gonna be on their way here too. Which means, more questions." April deactivates her phone recording and she starts toward the injured/dead security guards to see if she can do anything to help... she has SOME medical training, not much though.

Arella Despana has posed:
The guards are either in the binary category of alive and shellshocked or very much dead. Not much April can do either way unless she wants to break into trauma counselling. Arella is out in the open now pointy ears and all. So one of the men is staring at her. She for her part is not offended by this.

"And what about you? First on the scene with all the footage? First interviews as well?" Arella smirked. It was her normal face - as though the world itself was some kind of private joke that was unfolding according to her design. "I better call Lexcorp - let them know about this."

The fate of the criminals is unknown as they speed off. Arella figures she has done enough. She never wanted to be a hero - going halfway there made for a nice compromise.

April O'Neil has posed:
April does speak to some of the men who're not dead, she comments to them about whats going on and that the police are on the way with the EMTs.

She then turns and rises to step back to Arella. "You should probably get going. I'll just tell them you flew off, like the super heroes around here tend to do." She then flashes the dark elf a grin. "You did good here tonight, if only we'd been able to get here sooner... but hey, some of these guys have a chance to live now, I think. So thats a big bonus."

April the raises her phone up. "At least I got it all recorded too. That way they can't pin this on me, right?" She shows a faint smirk. "Lil ol' me, shooting up warehouse security teams... I don't want to be known for that, right?"

Arella Despana has posed:
"Oh I can stick around - I don't have a cape and I am sort of well known. I would just get hunted down later. Leaving might not be the same as leaving the scene of an accident so I am not sure it is an offence but still it is best not to anger the boys in blue." Arella reasons.

"Make sure they don't steal your phone and the footage. Have you uploaded it?" Arella knows some aspects of Midgard tech already. Her armour disappears as she sits and massages her aching shoulder.

She takes the remark about being a suspect as humorous. Dark elves not being known to be able to recognise a joke usually.