7022/Put through the paces

Put through the paces
Date of Scene:	24 March 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Morbius is put through a number of carefully planned tests to profile him, and is subdued by Deadshot and Lex after he tries to fight back.
Cast of Characters:	Lex Luthor, Jim Corrigan, Morbius, Deadshot, Morrigan MacIntyre

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Lex Luthor has posed:
He's not being very subtle about it. Anyone who doesn't refuse to see the obvious will see the pattern. Vampirism is well known to Lex, though he hasn't actually had any subjects afflicted with it. Still, blood being stolen in mass quantities? It's not hard to put two and two together.

When the next target reached his ears, Lex had expressly ordered no interference with Morbius' plans. Observation only. Why? Who knows, but when Luthor speaks, most of the Metropolis underworld listens.

So it is that an early evening mob has formed just outside of one of LexCorps many free clinics. This one is known for being a blood bank as well, which makes it one of a number of LexCorp targets Lex kept an eye on.

About one minute after the mob formed, Lex equipped his warsuit. Three minutes later, and a green and black powered armor has fairly steathily landed on the rooftop opposite the Clinic, with a number of stealth recon drones being directed by the cyberpathic interface in the suit to setup the test.

Meanwhile, Deadshot has been given a time, location, a small supply cache for any equipment he might need, and quick transportation via any means he calls for to get into the area quick. His job? Find and observe subject Morbius. Further orders will come on site.

Jim Corrigan has posed:
    Jim Corrigan was in the crowd, not as a Law Enforcement Officer, but as an observant, private citizen. If he can help keep things semi-under control, then he will do that as well. His primary gaol here is to observe, monitor, and see what was going on.

    A blood bank/free clinic, and a mob was forming. Not a good thing, but what can you do? Moving to be near the back of the crowd, close to a wall, Jum Corrigan watches, and wonders. What is going to happen next?

Morbius has posed:
    Calling them a 'mob' is accurate, though considering the ski masks and 'hose-masks', considering the clubs, baseball bats, the big stompy boots, it was clear this group being here was no accidental coincidence. The front doors were broken, kicked, smashed and forced past, and the collection of angry black-wearing youths rushed into a building that really had nothing to do with them. Considering who followed them in under the cover of darkness, though, it made sense.

    He was dressed similar to them, though his boots were a bit more theatrical, platforms designed to give him height and stature where he normally would have less. His white lab coat was a bit ratty at the ends, a bit frayed at the sleeves and the laminated card dangling from his lapel was covered in what looked like grime, but he still carried himself with a sort of mystique and poise. Walking down the well-lit hall, in full view of any security cameras(the same way he'd been doing previously), he spoke out with rasping voice, his breathing almost eternally ragged and almost...violent.

    "Very good, very good. Gentlemen, make the billionaires and bankers who run this world sorry, break apart this machine and break them when they desperately try to repair it. But remember...leave me and leave each other the good stuff."

    That last line got a chorus of guffaws, the sudden laughter that carries an undercurrent of violence. While speaking, the man in the center looked right up at the camera in the hallway without any fear or concern, and it was clear: That while this figure was freakish and monstrous...he bore a lot of similarities to the more normal human face seen on the shirt he was wearing. This was someone with a bit of history, it seemed.

Deadshot has posed:
Deadshot stood by on an empty concrete roof adjacent to a LexCorp clinic, the building some sort of furniture store. Not that it mattered, at this time of night is was dark and empty. Around the back of the building was motorcycle, engine still warm. Fortunantly he had been quite close to the location. Around the hitman-for-hire is a small but varied amount of equipment laid out carefully next to a backpack, some supplied and some personal. A thin, almost indiscernable zipline was in place, ready to take him to the clinic, just in case. It was hard to pack for a job you didn't have full details on after all. But he was already paid up, so there wasn't any complaints on his side. A job was a job.

  What wasn't normal was the chaos across the street at the clinic. Such a large group taking an interest in what appeared to be a normal and unimportant feature wasn't normal. Pressing a small button on his wrist, the red lens of his personal HUD coming to life. Looking over the crowd at he grinned a little behind his mask, taking joy in the added level of danger and unpredicability a riot would bring. He located what appeared to some sort of ring-leader, ugly as sin, and galvanizing the group. More than likely, the target.

  He settled in with a rifle trained casually into the crowd, pressing a another small switch on his wrist, an activation to let his employer know that his target was located. He stood by, waiting for further instructions. In a way he almost hoped it wasn't just a extremely expensive assassination.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan just seemed to be in the wrong place at the right time these days. Really it might be the right place though. The Doctor was just in the area tracking down a blood sample from someone and then there was all this fuss. The violet eyed woman makes her way up towards the front of the crowd that's forming. Then she looks to the sign on the building and her eyes widen a bit, "Better not be my father causing issues." she mutters to herself as she raises her sunglasses finally.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"I have him. Stand by, you'll receive your orders soon." Lex smoothly transmits to Deadshot mentally. It's a synthetic voice, so he doesn't have evidence... but he knows who it is.

Once the lobby section of the clinic is broken into, Team Luthor no longer has an excuse to not interfere. The mob was firmly on LexCorp property now, and it's their job to defend it.

It doesn't take long for highly trained security forces to come around the corner in black LexCorp branded vans and stop just at the edges. Wearing state-of-the-art security armor and equipped with all manner of non-lethals, the Team Luthor force is obviously ready to deal with rabble, already readying one tear gas grenade into the portable launcher. "Stand down and leave the area. This is your only warning!" The leader states as the twelve man squad waits for the answer.

Meanwhile, the suit is working overtime on identification and acquisition. An overlay pops up in his eyes as the sensor suite picks up Morbius' speech.

Deadshot is given another order from that synthetic voice, "the moment he leaves, fire a silenced round at the subjects feet. No direct damage."

Jim Corrigan has posed:
    Jim Corrigan can feel his instincts kick in. Something was going on, something a little deeper than a mob at a clinic. Trying to remain out of it, Jim hugs the wall behind him, and tries to remain incognito. His eyes scan the buildings around him, just to make sure there were no police officers present in a sniper role. He couldn't see Deadshot, as the man was just too good, but his senses was telling me that something was afoot.

    Looking across at Morbius and his crew, Jim Corrigna frowns, and watches, absorbing everything around himself. He sees Morrigan, but doesn't know her. His eyes look her over, and then moves onto the next person in the crowd. It was the same as many crowds he had seen in riots, so no big deal. So far, no capes.

Morbius has posed:
    The guards shouted their orders, but Morbius just stood amongst his group of angry toughs, those blood-red eyes glaring unblinkingly at the guards who were attempting to restore order. This was new, usually they were in and out of a building before much of a response could be gathered. At the last place, a lone security guard was their one obstacle, and that didn't end well. Morbius called the boys off before things got too bad, but the man was going to have some medical bills to pay when they finally let him out.

    "Well, you heard them, boys, looks like they've got us dead-bang."

    There was the barest hints of an accent in his words, but nothing that made communication difficult. He looked around, noticed Jim hugging the wall, and the man in black would actually give Mr. Corrigan a grin and a wink, before acting.

    Before spinning back to the guards, and flinging a black leather couch at the men as easily as he was tossing a football. It was surprising, but unless these men were idiots, it probably wouldn't smush all of them against the wall or anything. It would, however, be the perfect distraction for thugs in ski-masks to charge into a small army of riot police. And Morbius, instead of turning and leaving, casually tested the first door available to him, opening the door(forcefully if it were locked) and actually continuing on his mission to rob this place blind. Even after meeting resistance.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's eyes skim over the area and then to the people inside. She couldn't smell blood, so she wasn't sure what exactly was being destroyed. Though she was getting the impression that it was not her fathers doing. So that was a small relief. She gives a look over the crowd, her gaze flicking over Jim and then back to the clinic. Though those black clad Lex guards surely get her attention and she starts to move towards a place that's a lot safer, but still in line of sight. Because the redhead might be crazy.

Deadshot has posed:
Deadshot takes a moment to reach behind him once he received his second message from Luthor, grabbing an over-sized silencer. Synthetic voices, so overplayed. He never understand why it was so popular. It's not like he'd ever roll on his employers, he wouldn't have much of a business model otherwise. Paranoia ran in riches though it seemed.

  He finished screwing the silencer into the threaded end of his rifle and he settled back in, attention mostly focused on his target. He paid very little attention to the crowd, perhaps because he didn't think anyone there could be a threat, perhaps because this was his first real job after getting himself out of prison. Either way he didn't notice that not every single person in the mob wasn't actually part of it.

  "Damn..." He whispered under his breath as Morbius forced his way into a room, out of view. He didn't like loosing sight of targets. He pulled a second strange looking air-powered firearm labeled simply 'LexCorp' from the roof, pointing it carefully into the clinic. He fired, a soft 'thump' coming from weapon. A small black cylinder shot through the air, hitting a wall amid the confusion. It embedded, and a small camera emerged and was linked to his lens so he could continue watching the strange man. God it was nice getting toys from people who had an endless supply of funds.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Open fire, launch it." The Leader crisply orders as the squad gets down into a six by six firing line with two foot spacing. Riot shields are put on standby in the front row, ready to shield the back row once the crowd had gotten to them. A tear gas grenade was launched into the lobby, and rubber rounds were already being fired with precision (and a bit of spray and pray at the clusters) as the mob is pelted, those in the back are professionally lining up their shots even as the portable riot shields extend on the front row forearms.

Team Luthor does not joke around.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Hope and Mercy have been driving to the scene and are sitting in a Limo a block away, "We're in position, Mr. Luthor." Lex doesn't say a word; he heard them, and if things go sideways, they're plan C. He doesn't want to be directly connected to this particular incident.

Up above, Lex brings up a satellite fed feed of the security system on the clinic, using the cameras to watch the progress of Morbius. "There's a back door to the clinic in the alleyway. He's heading into the back." Deadshot doesn't have security access to the clinic... but he's getting good intel at least, "Security will herd him into the back, reposition to take your shot."

Jim Corrigan has posed:
    Deciding that this was probably not a great place for him to be, Jim Corrigan adjusts his tie, and moves back a few steps into the shadows. His eyes scan the skyline, just to be sure, and he looks back towards the "mob" and what was going on. Another night on the streets, and very little to show for it. Discretion, better part of valour, and all that mumbo jumbo.

    Ignoring Morbius and his "goons" and letting his eyes catch Morrigan once more, Jim stops himself and frowns. Then, with a nod, he decides to head deeper into the shadows, as he certainly wasn't going to risk anything in that moment. Maybe next time. Shivering in prophetic malaise, Jim moves to stay back and out of sight. He also doesn't notice Deadshots, well, shot, or he might have gotten more interested.

    As the mob is pelted by the grenades, Jim knows it is time to leave. Team Luthor does NOT joke around, indeed. Jim had enough for now, but hoped everyone was going to be alright.

Morbius has posed:
    In actual fact, Morbius had every plan to continue with the robbery, but the more and more he heard of the chaos outside, the more he realized that this was a bad decision. Morbius was smart, but that didn't mean he was smart. But even he knew when a situation was FUBAR.

    So instead, much like Lex's prediction, the back door burst open violently and out walked Morbius smoothly and calmly. Hoisted over his shoulder was some secretary or receptionist, at least Morbius could get some sort of feeding that wasn't a homeless bum or subway patron. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he could swear they tasted much worse.

    If uninterrupted, he would be casually strolling toward the nearest alleyway, strangely not caring if it were a dead end or not. Perhaps he had an escape plan...planned.

Deadshot has posed:
Deadshot doesn't react at all as the security begins rolling into the crowd, obviously prepared to take them on. More than likely, people were going to get hurt.

  A pity they didn't hire him first.

  Deadshot watches Morbius as well as he can, after all, visibility is not always the easiest thing to keep up inside a building. That being said, it didn't last long, all things considered. Everything was moving fast. Getting a his next message from Luthor, Deadshot moves efficiently. He places his gear back into his waiting bag, tossing it over his shoulder. Keeping hold of his rifle, the man hooks his gauntlet onto the zipline, and a quiet latching sound can be heard. Taking a few fast steps he jumps, and his form can be briefly seen over the street as he speeds silently over to the clinic. He has almost lost momentum by the time he crosses the edge of the clinic's roof, but he manages. Upon landing he quickly transitions to a sprint to cross the flat surface, and a door bursting open can be heard just on the far edge, and a few seconds later he reaches a point where he can look down, rifle already following his gaze. And there was Morbius. Leveling his barrel across the lip of the clinic, he steadies his breath for a half a moment, then squeezes the trigger. The rifle makes nearly no sound, and the flash is hidden, but the impact from the high caliber is obvious, asphalt shattering in front of the man.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's curiousity usually got the best of her and she would wade hip deep into trouble, but not today! The Doctor retreats to safety and there's a very disappointed look when things seem to be roped off. HUFF! She wanted to see who it was. She peeks over the hood of the car she's behind and tries to see how things are going, but staying completely out of the way of Team Lex and the others.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Having recon drones to keep up with all angles of the action helps with intel on the outside, and Team Luthor is busy disabling the small army that the mob represents. A few of the mob even get close and try to punch the riot shields... only to realize too late there's an electrical charge flowing through it as one, two, three... five people are tazed almost immediately, dropping to the ground. By this point the crowd is slowly thinning.

"Advance." The Team Luthor leader barks out, and soon the security force is pushing into the lobby itself. Slowly, but surely, the mob is being disabled as they push inwards.

Meanwhile, The PIP of the recon drones brings up Deadshot and Morbius. A 3D image is built out of the scene as the round bounces. There's a probable reaction... but that's what the test is for.

Morbius has posed:
    For a man who just had his plans thwarted, the man in the labcoat seemed...almost jaunty, walking with purpose and confidence toward some sort of escape. The bullet crashing into the concrete between his platform boots, that got his attention, and instantly his attention snapped upward toward the man on the roof. His teeth were bared(fangs glistening and easy to see), and the gutteral growl leaving his throat did not sound human, or even close to human.

    He abruptly dropped the woman over his shoulder, letting her hit the concrete with a 'thud' even as she rolled and groaned in a pain that snapped her out of her silent stillness...showing that she was thankfully still alive. But that didn't matter for the gunmen on the roof because just like Peter Pan Morbius was taking to the air, levitating and heading straight toward Deadshot at a speed that should not have been possible given his lack of leverage and momentum. As this happened, his nails morphed and grew into glistening black claws, his lips grew thin and shrunk as his mouth grew and extended while his teeth grew ever sharper. And the whole time, his eyes were glaring unblinkingly at Floyd, the creature attempting to establish some sort of psychic, hypnotic rapport even as he shouted with a voice that sounded like something between a dying man's gasp and a jungle cat's roar.

    "You dare attack Morbius, the Living Vampire?! Give me three nails and your blood will run from the cross all the way to Rome!"

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan gives a look towards the alley when she hears the roar. What in the world? Then she's turning to see someone pulling a Peter Pan. "I'm not even surprised that he floats." she states as she looks down to her watch. Though his next roared words make the woman look up curiously. "Vampire?" she whispers. For the moment she's a little too distracted watching Morbius and Deadshot.

Deadshot has posed:
Deadshot relaxes momentarily after taking the shot, his round landing precisely as intended. The immediate reaction of Morbius to turn up at the roof directly at him however, not as prediected. And there were of course the fangs. A soft murmur under his breath containing a string expletives and something to do with Lex Luthor escape him as he drops the rifle. It just had to be some sort of powered freak, didn't it?

  Deadshot wasn't going to get a shot off, or at least, not one he could be sure was going to take out some unnatural vampiric freak like this one. Instead he let himself fall backward out of view, if even for a moment. Slamming himself flat on his back, the man reaches to his chest harness, pulling a pin on a flashbang, leaving the grenade itself attached so as not to arouse suspicion from whatever the hell this Morbius thing was. He squeezes his eyes shut and lifts his arm over his head, pointing his wrist to the opposite side of the roof, ready to activate his grappling hook at a moments notice.

  "Three, two, one...." He whispers through gritted teeth, bracing himself to be momentarily deafened and partially blinded, even through his mask. Not to mention the heat that this was going to put off right next to his body.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Deadshot had done his job. Team Luthor were doing theirs. Lex had provoked his fight or flight instinct, and gotten a display of power. Most of it was going exactly as planned... but the speed changed matters.

Deadshot is one of the Lights best agents... and Luthors as well. Lex was already in position to do something about this, at least.

The blasters in his gauntlets would attract too much attention, but luckily Lex has brought along a number of non-lethal plugin systems, and he was already targeting Morbius with a tranq dart from a forearm mounted launcher. Silent but accurate, a dart was sent directly at Morbius' neck a block away with enough chemicals to take him out for a day.

It might be fast acting on humans... but watching the timing for Morbius would give him an idea of metabolism too. "He's tranqed. Wear him out." Lex notes to Deadshot over the commlink.

Morbius has posed:
    As a matter of fact, with Morbius' adrenaline going and his metabolism being what it is, he didn't notice or even react to the dart as it sunk in and injected its dosage. Upon floating up to the ledge he in fact sprang off to leap up in an arc, and it was strange how gravity suddenly affected him, when he chose to allow it to. He was coming down claws-first aiming for what he thought was a human victim. Sadly for him, he didn't even notice the flashbang, his eyes were wide open and his super-sensitive ears were right there when it went off.

    "GHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

    And now, with that clever retort out of the way, he was a sitting duck.

Deadshot has posed:
Deadshot finishes his count and fires his grappling hook. It shoots across the roof and latches on the far wall of the roof. He doesn't wait to see what happens to Morbius, and he slides on his back, skidding.

  "OUUGHF... UNH... AHGGG!" His conversation isn't much more intelligent. Upon slamming into the wall, he sits up, detaching the hook and pointing his wrist in the rough direction of Morbius, nursing his disorientation. He wasn't super-powered, that was rough, so he just attempted to catch his breath, chest smoking slightly.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan gives a look up just as she hears the pair of eloquent screams and the sound of bangs. That was her cue to get the hell out of Dodge. She had no dog in this fight. Even if a cousin of sorts was involved. The redhead keeps herself low to the ground and then skitters off out of sight. Heading back to her car probably. But most definitely away from this place.

Lex Luthor has posed:
That was going to be a problem. Luckily, most witnesses were gone now according to his sensors, so he could get involved here without drawing massive amounts of attention.

The warsuits stealth mode is activated, and Luthor leaps into the air just enough to get over to the other roof. The thrusters are activated just enough to keep his descent from making too much noise, and as he drops down, his left 'hand' reaches out to grab Morbius out of midair.

Soon, he's on the ground directly in front of Deadshot. The powered armor is new, and wasn't given as part of Luthors plan at all. Still, he does get an order in regards to it. "The armored newcomer is backup, and will handle matters from here. Escort the subject to the Limo down the block, and you can consider this job complete." As he speaks, the warsuits strength amplifier is steadily ramped up as Lex studies Morbius, trying to figure out how much force it'll take to choke him out.

Morbius has posed:
    Fortunately for everyone involved, Morbius, though fearsome, was eventually subdued by the man himself Luthor(thanks in no small part to numerous tranqs after it was clear he wasn't going down from the very first one), succumbing to unconsciousness and soon dreaming of better days, when he was on top of the world.

    His thugs, all legbreakers and goons found off the streets, were not any real match for trained guards, and many were subdued with others trying to run away.

    And it looked like Deadshot was save from the Living Vampire. Perhaps he could try his hand at the lottery after this.