7713/The Last Orb.

The Last Orb.
Date of Scene:	02 June 2019
Location:	R&D labs - Avengers Mansion
Synopsis:	Doctor Strange and Lara Croft come seeking the Autumn Orb from Steve, Wanda and Tony
Cast of Characters:	Doctor Strange, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Lara Croft, Iron Man
Tinyplot:	Weather Spheres

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Doctor Strange has posed:
    The sphere of Autumn has been recovered by Hydra, and then before they got a chance to secure it, the Avengers showed up and stole the powerful artifact from the dastardly proto-nazis. Since then Earth's mightiest heroes have taken it to their secure mansion in New York City and begun running tests upon the ancient artifact.

    Weeks have passed and now the orb has been causing some issues in the subbasements, causing glass and windows to fog over with frost and leaves around the area to remain permenantly red, yellow and brown. In an odd display of seasonal persuasion.

    We pick up near dusk as several avengers have been gathered and Stephen Strange has learned of the orb and is now in the basement preparing to take possession of the device with others present.

Captain America has posed:
Off to one side in the subbasement section of R&D dedicated to the more...questionable? - nay, esoteric items that cross the Avengers' hands now and then, Steve Rogers has his arms crossed. He seems to be ignoring the lingering chill in the air, though he gives one of the separating glass walls a lingering look; at least the frost climbing in beautiful fractals of ice is aesthetically pleasing. It's probably ruining the electrical systems though.

"This's beyond me, Doc," he says, gesturing towards the Orb in its containment. "I can't have it influencing the environment further. I don't mind the dead leaves, but the technology's suffering." He shoots a concerned glance at the others gathered in the room.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff walks into the room, summoned by Jarvis after Doctor Strange's arrival. "Stephen, glad to see that you made it back," she tells him. "I hope that means things went well enough?" she asks after his recent and sudden disappearance. She frowns as she notes the effects the orb is still having on this area of the lab. "Quite fortunate the beach outing stumble upon it," she comments as she draws a finger over some of the frost, eyeing it with more than normal senses before dusting it from her fingers.

Wanda looks over to Steve, nodding her head to him in greeting. "So you can safely take this off our hands then?" she asks Doctor Strange, looking back to him. She pulls out a phone from her pocket, working it for a few moments while they converse.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had the Autumnal Sphere's location narrowed down to a series of islands, she'd been in the process of figuring out the precise one, but she lives a hectic life and is often pulled in many different directions as WAND is a busy sub-section of her primary employer, SHIELD.

After having been given the call to come and finally find out what the Avengers had discovered, Lara had ascertained enough information to know that they'd sort've done her job for her so-to-speak, in that they'd recovered the sphere by happen-stance, a hell of a happen-stance really.

Either way, Croft is arriving now, per a call from Steve Rogers, she's gained access to the Avengers home and has been shown her way to the sub-basement by an authorized escort. Lara's status with SHIELD is a mid-level agent, she doesn't often go on the big covert spy type missions like a Black Widow or a Hawkeye, but she does get assigned tasks related to Wizardy, Alchemy, and Necromancy. Generally refered to as the 'weirdo agents' within the ranks of SHIELD.

The door to the room opens, and in she walks, dressed in a clean and dark gray tank top, a pair of olive drab slim fit cargo pants and leather boots... she's thrown a navy blue SHIELD jacket on over her shoulders to look 'more official' what with the SHIELD logos on the shoulders and all. In her right hand, Lara carries a black duffle bag.

Her eyes go right to the Autumnal Sphere, they linger there a moment as she slows her pace and then starts to look at the others... at Strange lastly. "They found it." She says to him softly.

Lara's gaze goes then to Wanda. She sets her duffle bag down on a cleared table space and then starts to open it, to reveal a large silver container, cylinder in shape with a glass section large enough for the sphere. "Or. I can take it. As per the desires of SHIELD to keep these things out of the hands of those who would wish to do harm with them..." The British woman says, voice calm as she stands the metal cylinder container up onto its end atop the now empty duffle bag.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Yes, Steve, it's beyond most who see it, but once it's explained, OHHH is the general response." Stephen says as he steps closer to the artifact and is about to reach into his pocket to pull something out when Wanda addresses him.

    "It was in direct response to me taking action... The Vishanti threatened to revoke the title for me breaching the oath." Stephen says with a look and yet there's no fear or remorse in his voice. He did what he wanted to do and what he felt was right.

    Then Lara enters the basement and squints his eyes. "Yes, that much is obvious Lara. Tell me, what has SHIELD been doing with the other two spheres since obtaining them?" Stephen inquires, assuming they're studying them to weaponize or studying them to create some assanine energy source. Basically some way to make themselves all the money.

Iron Man has posed:
One of the other doors opens - not the main corridor door, but the side door that leads into one of the laboratories that is more fit for heavy duty containment and analysis. Tony Stark makes an appearance there, though he doesn't really fully enter: he hangs out in the doorway, leaning against it in a casual way, and looking with a mild squint at the others in the room. "Illumination, 80 percent," Tony instructs the general room from over some of his (tinted) tech glasses. The room dims just a little. "Proper mood lighting for your orb," Tony smirks, and then flashes a two-fingered casual wave to those in the room, Cap gets a slight upnod at the end.

Tony looks terrible. He's been on a week long drinking and party explosion, and probably was asleep in the other lab area. He's dressed very casually - jeans, layered t-shirt over a long-sleeved one, and screams of a horrific hangover that led him to sleeping as long as he did, from an extremely party-filled night/morning. That he has a glass in his hand doesn't bode well for his immediate recovery, either.

Tony focuses more fully on Lara. "Hi," he greets her more specifically, with a flash of Stark charismatic smile that, it appears, doesn't get impacted at all by Tony's state of post-party. Tony's good at meeting new women.

Captain America has posed:
The good Doctor gets a flat side-eyeing of disapproval from the Captain for the flippant reply to him in particular. He isn't unaware of the subtle antagonism between the man and his invited SHIELD consult, Lara, and shifts in place, his jaw beginning to set.

"Lara's been called in because yes, SHIELD has been in contact with the other two Orbs. They are classified." - and it can be assumed that all SHIELD interactions with them are as such as well.

Tony gets a little shake of head from Steve for dimming the lights. "We gotta be able to see what we're doing, Tony, this isn't the time. Illumination, one-hundred percent," he instructs the room in turn. "Wanda took the time to make sure this thing was contained, can't have anything being broken because somebody steps wrong." The Captain's trust in the Scarlet Witch shows when he gives her a firm nod of gratitude.

Lastly, Steve says to Lara, "I had the Doc come in to consult with us as well about it. He's got a good head for the magical artifacts." His intent was not to have the two butt heads, this at least is made clear.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff finishes with her phone and looks back to Stephen as he reveals the results of his encounter with the Vishanti. In her soft accent, she says, "Well, if it helps, you could forward them a copy of this." She holds the phone so he can see the picture of a newborn baby, wrapped in a blanket and with one of those cute little caps on. "They named him Stephen, incidentally. Though I believe the mother had to insist on it. The father took awhile finding the hospital."

The arrival of Lara draws Wanda's attention over. She taps on her phone, receiving some information from Jarvis on the new arrival which she skims then slips the phone back away. "Miss Croft, I assume?" Wanda asks. She walks over, eyes taking in the containment container that is being revealed. "Wanda Maximoff," she offers in way of greeting with a glance over to Lara before looking back to the container. "Has this type of container proven effective with the others orbs then, I assume?" she asks. "What is its origin?" She had used magic to contain the effects to the room, to buy time to research a more permanent solution. Wanda glances up towards Tony as he emerges, flashing a small grin as she notes the hangover on him.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara gives a stare to Strange not all that unlike the very stare that Cap would give him as well and to his question about what SHIELD Has been doing with them? Lara nods to what Steve says, then adds onto it. "They're being studied, by top individuals within the agency." She assures in a very 'its classified' sort've way, possibly trained or instructed to use such a response.

Tony's entrance gets Lara to draw her eyes off of the Autumnal Sphere and onto the man who looks a bit... haggard. When he steps closer to her and speaks her name she nods once to him, softly. "Mister Stark." She says to him then. "Its good to see you again, I'm sorry I wasn't able to make your birthday party this year." She'd gone to the previous one, but had just been another face in a large crowd then. "I hope you're, well." She says before her gaze then goes to Wanda.

Lara's hands are placed on the top of the metallic cylinder container after its questioned of. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Maximoff." She says in a decidedly British way of properly hitting each syllable of Wanda's name with grace and care. "I've assisted in the recovery of the three other sphere's prior to this one, two of them are being kept in containment units such as this. The two more powerful ones, no less. Winter and Summer. They've shown no signs of disliking thesecontainers. They provide a controlled environment that can be fine tuned to ensure the sphere's do not get... unsettled."

Lara glances to Strange then, to answer the question about what these things, the 'Weather Orbs' even are. Should he wish to explain them.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen's head turns as Stark enters the room and the wizard offers the engeineer a subtle nod of his head to the two fingered wave. Then he squints at the rollercoast lighting and sighs slightly before looking back to Steve. "Do you desire my input on the orb before SHIELD takes it or are there other plans the Avengers have for the artifact?" Stephen asks, catching Steve's dislike of the situation between himself and Lara and so he squashes it right away, turning to the leader-man for the final orders.

    Stephen looks at Wanda and nods his head, "I appreciate the gesture and yet, I do not think the Vishanti care one bit about a single human life." The wizard says with a faint shrug of his shoulders and a frown, knowing they're watching his every word and action. Stephen then turns his attention to Lara and decides he should explain, "These," He begins with a look to Stark and Steve, as Wanda knows about them somewhat, "Are a quartet of spheres, created in the earliest days of the planet and in essence hold the powers of the seasons within, one for each time of year. This one is the autumn sphere, controlling the season of decline and to keep things in balance globally, it must be stored in an area that is considered by it, spring-ish." The wizard explains with a move of his hand back to his pockets as he discusses.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony doesn't decide to have a fight over the lighting situation with Steve in front of their guests. They can have some petty squabble for no reason another time. It does earn snark, though: "Vision problems, old man?"

Tony doesn't bother to leave his doorway (someone needs to hold it up, and he'll be THAT hero), but does push his glasses up his nose an inch, and has a drink from his glass. The room Tony came from is far dimmer than the one he entered: the lighting in that area remains at where Tony'd set it. Proper nap-levels.

When both Wanda, and then Lara greet him, he lifts his glass to them some. Lara gets a verbal answer: "Always," with his usual sleek confidence.

"/I/ would like input regardless," Tony voices, when Stephen asks Steve about it. Maybe because Steve overruled about his mood lighting. "Like - is it a problem if these magic balls all end up together in one spot? Do they merge into some uber-storm that ends all time and space? Or is it more that they balance when they're together?" Tony asks idly. Even hungover, he's perceptive. Around a partial yawn he leeeans back through the doorway into the previous room, fishing a tablet off the table, and poking at it with the two fingers of his right hand that aren't wrapped around his drink.
His few moments later, the hologram style screens on the wall near Tony's left come to life, with various images, scans, and information that the tech has gathered about the object in their possession. Tony's vision is on his datapad, as he attempts to catch up: he's a quick study.

Captain America has posed:
For now, Steve doesn't snark back at Tony. Indeed, they can fire shots across the bow over something like the setting of the thermostat in the main meeting room or the grind of the coffee in the kitchen. For now, professionalism reigns...with a crooked crown. All the genius inventor gets is a subtle roll of eyes off and away from him when he pipes up about extra explanation as to the Orb itself.

Regardless, the information brought up on the walls of the subbasement is of interest, even if some of it is beyond Steve for the time being. "Input away," says he with a sweep of his hand to include anyone's further knowledge on the matter of the spheres.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff gives Lara a friendly enough smile at the introduction. "I am curious if you have discovered anything of them being together in one place, in your research," Wanda inquires of Lara, adding to Tony's question. She takes one last look at the container, reaching out a hand to rest her fingers on it lightly as she studies it with a focus that might suggest it is being examined with more than just that light touch.

She removes her hand then, moving to leans back against one of the tables in the room as her eyes go over to Steve and Tony. Not contributing anything at the moment as to the best place for the sphere to be maintained.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara remains by the container that she'd brought, though she does turn it so that she can face its glass paneled section. There she activates the touch screen beneath the glass pane and she activates the device causing little blue lights to blink on across its surface. She listens to the others speak while she primes the container and then sets it back up and opens the glass panel with a soft hiss from the device.

"Of course we want your input on this." She says then to Strange. "SHIELD is only gathering these spheres to keep them out of the hands of HYDRA, who've been hiring all manner of mercenary groups to try and track these down. We're extraordinarily lucky that we technically have all four of them..." Though she doesn't know where the one Strange and Felicia took is...

Both of what Tony and Wanda ask of gets a soft exhale from the archaeologist and she glances to the Autumn sphere. "They've never been together, in the same place, at the same time, according to everything that I have read."

She looks back onto them, Wanda and then to Tony. "As far as I can tell, these were created in the hopes of preventing a cataclysmic weather event from wiping out early humanity. To stop... ice ages, or perhaps to prevent another asteroid from burning the Earth to ash again."

Lara looks to Strange then. "They've been protected all these years by continual lineages of mages, who've... all died off now. The spheres have lost their guardians, their protectors." She shakes her head then slightly. "I've no idea what would happen if they were all together in the same environment at the same time."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen takes in a deep breath before he is cut off by Lara. He turns his head in her direction to listen to her speak and he crosses his arms before his chest and he prepares to answer Wanda's question but holds it. Seems Lara has done her studies. "The only theories I could offer you all is that together, they create a thousand year storm, ala the Jovian red spot." Stephen unfolds his hand and hold one up with his palm turned towards the ceiling. The other hand does the same thing on the other side of his body as he pantomimes a scale, "Or they cause all seasons to exist at the same time. Those are the most likely, but we cannot be sure, as the original monks who was trusted with their care or created them were scattered across the earth."

    Stephen returns his hands to cross and he looks towards Lara and then Wanda, Tony and finally Steve, waiting for what the team wants to do with the orb.

Iron Man has posed:
Normally Tony might be interested in examining the tech Lara brought with her. He's enjoying his doorway, though, so there's only some mild scanning from the room's innate facilities at work on that. Plus the robot attached into the ceiling that most people just overlook. It also extinguishes fires.

Tony takes in the information given, as well as what he's digging around for in his device. "Right. Not such a good idea to get the band back together, then. But you found it, your call," Tony grants towards Steve, with a sort of vague amusement, as if there were even a choice there. "We can be a guardian, or not." Whichever. Stark is then downing all of the rest of his drink suddenly, pressing his eyes closed tightly, and starting to turn back towards the darkened lair as if he /wanted/ to, and wasn't just feeling exceptionally ill.

Captain America has posed:
Steve continues standing off to one side, his attention flickering through the team. The Orbs themselves are fascinating; he readily admits this to himself, even as a mundane human unable to do more than a few clever card tricks at best. What conclusion he has drawn out of the discussion comes forth.

"SHIELD's been monitoring the state of the Orbs. Nothing's come after them." He doesn't add 'yet' - that might jinx things. "From what I know of your home, Doc, it's nothing to toy with. Nobody's going to break in and try anything." He considers Lara and then her container. "Given I'm also not a big fan of storms spanning miles and the catastrophic result that could potentially happen if the Orbs were all in one place, it'd be best if they were kept separate. Put this Orb in that container and then keep it in the Sanctum." The inflection of a question still invites opinions on things. He does give Tony a mildly concered look. Steve recently learned that hangovers can be beastly things.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda gives an approving nod towards Steve's decision. "Should the containment fail, having pairs that oppose each other... would be helpful," she concludes in her slow delivery. She looks over to Doctor Strange, giving a small nod at the thought of the Sorcerer Supreme as the guardian.

Wanda glances over to Lara and has a thoughtful look for the SHIELD agent. "Your containment system is intriguing. I realize that SHIELD is not new to dealing with magical threats. But you may not have some means of countering them available to you. I would suggest a magical protection be employed as a further back up. I would be willing to provide this for SHIELD," she offers.

Lara Croft has posed:
The Autumnal Sphere is also very gorgeous to look upon, its a trippy haze of fall time colors, oranges and reds swirling around within each other and those who've seen the other spheres know that they look the same for their own respective seasonal climates, they'd be popular mood lighting themselves.

As the subject is discussed, Lara takes note of Tony's downing that drink and the subsequent reaction of it she steps toward him and reaches into her pocket inside her jacket. A water bottle is pulled out and she twists the cap breaking the seal. "Drink this." She softly tells him with a momentary stern stare, she pushes it toward the man's chest and looks back to the others.

"I'm not here to... enforce that all four sphere's do end up in the possession of SHIELD." She states. "But I am here to enforce that Strange does not do what he originally told me he would do." She looks to Stephen then. "Which is 'put them back where I found them.'" She looks very uninterested in that option. "If he'll truly guard them, and become their new protector, then... I trust all of your judgements on that call and you can have the containment unit."

Wanda gets a stare from Lara's brown eyes then and she gently nods her head a single time. "I would be happy to make this offer known to my superiors, if they take you up on it I can contact you here at the Avengers home?" She inquires then. "We're always looking for more helpful ideas, rather than regressive ones." She states that last part with a look to Stephen, a daggery stabby look!

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen lowers his hands in a slight sigh of resignation in his voice. "Fine, I'll take the SHIELD encased sphere in order to keep them divided." The wizard notes as he steps around towards the sphere finally and starts to reach out for it and yet he stops, his hand hovers near it and then he looks back towards Wanda, "I need you to do this part." The wizard says, looking from the Avenger towards the sphere.

    "If everyone agrees that this is the correct plan of action to take, I will not argure." Stephen says, looking around to all present to make sure this is what they all agree to.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony doesn't accept the water, which means if Lara doesn't actively drop it on the ground, she'll stand there holding it awkwardly out at Tony while he looks at her. "I don't like it when people hand me things. I trust it's great, though, wateriest of water: leave it there," Tony says with an upnod towards a nearby table, not even remotely moving to take the object that Lara tried to thrust into his personal space. Quirks of the arrogant billionaire, it seems - Lara just found one. Besides, his hands are full: he has an empty glass in one, a tablet in the other.

"Sure," Tony agrees to Stephen, as if they'd all finally chosen their pizza toppings. He leaves them to it, taking his illness out of sight back into the other lab.

Captain America has posed:
The Captain watches Tony disappear and sighs through his nose soundlessly before he speaks.

"Sounds like we're in agreement. Doc, Wanda, go ahead," and Steve nods towards the containment system. For the first time, he rubs at his upper arms to betray his dislike for the ambient temperature. Bummer that his sweatshirt was left upstairs. His t-shirt is thin for the lingering chill in the air and old memories spur his futher dislike of the cold.

He steps over beside Lara briefly in a show of SHIELD-ly companionship and observes the process. "Good call on the containment system," he asides to her.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff assists with getting the sphere into containment. She stands, a hand near to it and sensing for awhile before finally dropping her magic protection about the room. She nods to Stephen. "Make sure Wong doesn't try to use it to keep the produce green," she teases gently, reaching over to squeeze the man's arm in a way that most people probably do not.

Wanda looks back to Lara and says, "Yes, you can reach me here. If they like, Steve could probably be talked into coming along. I might have him hold some incense or perhaps some monkey bones," she says. Wanda keeps her face where Steve can't see it, breaking out in a playful smile that she directs to Lara as she makes the comment.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara doesn't seem to react to Tony's odd quirk, its not one she's familiar with by any means... but she chalks it up as him having a case of Mysophobia, which always gets that internal reaction of 'Hey... I'm not dirty and gross...' But either way, she sets the bottle where he indicates and turns back to the others.

When Steve approaches, Lara is watching Stephen call for Wanda's help. She nods her head softly a single time and places her hands into the side pockets of that light navy blue SHIELD jacket she's wearing over her tank top. "The science team put them together for me. They said it was a simple enough design to make the sphere's believe they're in their proper environments." She huffs a soft laugh then and adds with a glance to Steve. "They even play the proper ambient sounds for each season inside the unit, apparently audio files pulled off of Youtube." She smiles a little larger, which is rare for the woman. "That was not a feature I asked for."

When Wanda takes the sphere she'll note that its essentially like touching a perfectly smooth glass ball, though it does have a slight chill to its surface due to the seasonal magic that it represents, where the others mirror their own temperatures as well.

"Thank you." Lara says to Wanda. "I'll need to give you another containment unit for the Spring Sphere..." She adjusts her gaze to Stephen. "Wherever he's keeping it."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen reaches out to the containment unit with a nod as the case is sealed and shut. "How long will the batteries on this thing last or is there a plug I'll need to clear a socket for?" Stephen asks Lara with a series of blinks as if he's offended she wants to drop off the other unit. He doesn't know how to care for magical artifacts, of course. He's the novice here.

    Stephen gives a soft nod to the whole group. "Good work Avengers, Lara. I'll be waiting for you to drop off the containment unit, until then-" Stephen cuts himself off as he simply vanishes from the basement and sends himself back to greenwich.

    Before the sphere is even set down on a table or the floor, Stephen's voice raises up in his sanctum, "Felicia! You have work to do."