ic Codus Immortus: Icy Juice

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Zhenshchin-voin

It was strange that someone else was acting as a distraction, with her normally standing out among most people, but she was quite happy to allow Dreadnought to be there decoy.

 

"We should get moving before they get wise!" Klara said as she stood up, carefully placing down her cup and a few Euro tip for the service

 

"I can't see them distracted for too long, but hopefully for long enough!"

 

With little time to waste she began to move, knowing that Dmitri would quickly follow up behind.

[Avenger Assembled]

Comrade Frost kept close behind his former colleague, disappearing into an apparition of smoke and mist as soon as they were out of eyeshot of the cafe. He left icy trails behind as they went but the great thing about this age of heat-spotting cameras was that they looked for patches of heat - not the scientific impossibility of a moving patch of cold! A cloud of mist with two glowing red eyes in the center of it had its own problems, of course, but he knew how to keep to the shadows as he went - and to let Klara's much bigger and more imposing form be the center of attention. Not that they were looking for attention on this mission! 

[Supercape]

GM

 

Despite the age of the mansion, all brick and wood, there was absolutely nothing wrong with its security systems. The Duke was cunning; on the outside of the walls it looked like a very present but in euxceptional security system... precisely designed to deter the casual burglar but lull the dedicated their into a false sense of security.

 

In the grounds, hidden high tech cameras were everywhere and it was a mixture of most astute eyes and luck that allowed Voin and Frost to creep through.

 

Splendid gardens they were, too. Including the extravagance of some stables.

 

Now, they faced the mansion itself. Locked and alarmed. A possible problem for Voin although the doors and windows were not airtight. Easy for cold most to slip through....

[Tiffany Korta]

Zhenshchina-voin

Klara moved with some quickness and stealth across the grounds to the house itself, she liked to think it was from sneaking into Tracy's quarters back when people were less enlightened about their partnership. As she did she considered ways to get into the house, there were of cause the brute force methods but they wanted to surprise the people inside. If only there was some way to just appear inside the house and bypass the security...

 

Then she remembered the gem that was inset into her bracer, that allowed her to teleport among other things. Normally she only used it over long distances, but it could be easily convinced to take them a shorter distance. It wasn't quite alive but it was smart enough to handle such a thing.

<"I can get us into the building using the gauntlet."> she held it up for emphasis <"Ooze or float or whatever you want and I'll teleport us inside.">

[Supercape]

GM

 

And so...

 

'Twas not a tricky business to get in, despite the Duke's cunning artifices. Comrade Frost could merely float in, his gasous form slipping through the keyhole. Voin jumped through space to land nearly in the mansion. 

 

It was quite glorious, inside, full of antiques. The art selection was particularly impressive, even to one who knew little about art. Classic and expensive, they looked, for expensive and classic they were. 

 

But the biggest surprise came as the pair reached the drawing room. 

 

For there, being served tea and cake, was the Duke himself, a short rotund man of antique style and regally trimmed beard. 

 

In deep discussion about science with Dr. Sin himself!

[Avenger Assembled]

Dimitri paused for a moment, considering - and then he was on. "Well well well! Such a pleasure to see old friends!" he said with a warm smile, putting out all the conversational energy of an American despite the distinct cold his presence brought to the room. He bustled into the room and shook the Duke's hand with a cold iron grip, then Sin's too, because why not? Taking the offensive upon entering the room would have been all well and good but you could always assume Sin had a bodyguard, or an alchemically-shaped duplicate, or some other matter to make combat a dangerous entanglement. So instead he took the offensive in another way, preparing himself already for whatever trap Sin would seek to spring on them that afternoon. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The duke - short and rotund - stood up, startled. Yes, startled - not afraid - but quite quite surprised. He dropped his tea which shattered and spilt on a very expensive rug. 

 

"What! I didn't invite you!" he said, indignant for a brief second before his mind started molding the situation into something more interesting. "And what a grip! like a glacier!" he said, wringing his hand. "You, sir, are rather an interesting fellow! what be your name, Sir!" he asked. 

 

"It is Comrade Frost, the Ice Comissar, Dr. Dimitri Ivanovitch Peshkov" said Dr Sin, who smiled enigmatically. He was neither shocked nor surprised, nor featful either. He just carried on drinking his tea. 

 

"Hardly your friend. But interesting all the same" he said, as a butler stepped into the room. 

 

The butler was a tall man of perhaps fifty years who looked fit and alert, and was very well dressed. "I do apologise Sir, but there seems to be some commotion outside, some kind of giant doing a dance...oh! I was not aware you had another guest, sir!" he added as he spotted Comrade Frost. 

 

"I shall get some more tea!" he said with a smile at Comrade Frost, and a turn of heel indicating he would depart. 

 

"A dancing giant! how wonderful!" smiled the Duke gaily, clapping his hands with a big grin on his face. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Zhenshchina-voin
It was like watching a master at work distracting one of the most powerful supervillains on the planet, at least in influence over raw power, with the idiot skit. It would only last as long as it suited him of course but for now, they could enjoy the moment. Arms crossed Klara leant against the door frame and watched the event unfold, waiting to see what would happen when the shoe finally dropped, but she wasn't going to completely wait for trouble.

For now, they were paying her no heed, though obviously, they knew she was there, and she'd pushed her stealth skills to its limits, but that would pretty soon change and probably not in a good way.

[Avenger Assembled]

Well he seems like a fool - but then so do I, thought Dimitri of the Duke as the ice vampire sat down. He'd been in worse company than this; but never quite under circumstances of a similar nature. "Your hottest tea, if you please, comrade! Perhaps even just the hot water? Ah well." He studied the two men and said, "So! The giant is mine, if you wish to discuss his services we can at some later date." He waited patiently for the tea, then sat back in the old stuffed chair, content to let the heat of it soak up his frigid fingers. "The giant outside, that is. The giantess and I are partners again." He raised the tea to his lips, then said "Or do I have it wrong? Shall we conduct business with pleasure?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Water it is, sir. And hot, as you like it. Steaming, it shall be!" declared the Duke nodding to the butler, who in turn nodded and scuttled off to boil the kettle. 

 

"It depends on the business" said Sin, looking quite comfortable. His smile could not have been broader, a man quite elated with himself, perfectly relaxed in composure. He was wearing most expensive slippers and chinese dress. The Duke, for his part, was full of gauche nineteenth century regal ware. 

 

"Oh business, toosh and boosh! Pleasure first, say I. And pleasure last, too, I would add!" he said, clapping his hands like a childish seal. 

 

"What brings you to my humble establihsment, Mister Cold?" he asked Frost. "Lets just ignore all that hoosh and smoosh about breaking and entering. So tedious, the law. Quite boring. How it stifles art and soul!" he sighed. "YOu can invite your ogre in, too, if it pleases you. He sounds quite splendid! Just don't damage the Ming dynasty antiques!" he said with a wink. 

 

"No indeed" said Sin, dry but with his air of magnificent victory already won. 

 

"Are you here to admire my art? Or regale us with tales of daring do? Or are you going to be tedious and boring?" he asked Comrade Frost directly, smiling quite cheerfully. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Zhenshchina-voin

Klara couldn't help but smile inwardly at how the Duke paid her no heed, obviously, he saw her only as hired muscle. On Doctor Zui she wasn't sure, but it was best to assume that he knew who and what she could do.

 

"I'll go get him, try not to cause to much trouble Doctor Cold!" she couldn't help but smirk, but she gave Doctor Zui a respectful bow.

 

Before anyone could realise that she had access to the house now she made her way through to the front of the building, taking in everything she could that might be useful. Finally, she stood behind the two guards watching Dreadnaughts amazing dance.

 

"Hello boys! The Duke and the good Doctor sent me to bring him inside." she grinned and waved at her companion "Come on in, it seems we have an audience!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Outside...

 

As entertaining as the dancing giant was, modern audiences tired quickly, and the fascination (once the scene had been digitally captured and uploaded to a thousand and one media platforms) was waning slightly. 

 

On a positive note, the police had yet to arrive, and the security guards outside were fundamentally clueless as to how to proceed. This was, after all, a dancing giant, and quite outside their skills, experience, training, or one might harshly speculate, their intelligence. They were hired for big muscles and harsh natures rather than superior executive cognitive functions...

[Exaccus]

"Well tis time to bid thee adieu, thank you for joining me today, it has been a pleasure!" With a short bow he turned to attend the gated.

 

Gently tapping his fingertips on the bars. "Knock knock." He says with a smile "do you gents mind getting the door? I would but im liable to bend it out of shape."

[Avenger Assembled]

"What else brings men of world together? The question of the day revolves around a lady." Frost winked. "You know the kind I mean." He turned the cup in his hands and said, "The good doctor has won company of a particularly fine one recently; a countrywoman of my friend the giant's. This is a matter I would-" Frost made a show of waving his hand, as if looking for the right words. "address. Now we could settle matter through tedious fisticuffs, but I ask you, dear doctor, why ruin our host's fine home with such matters?" He smiled. "I ask you instead - what is your game?" 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"The game is, as always, everything" said Dr. Sin, standing up fluidly, tea still in his hands. 

 

"And everything is, as always, a game!" agreed the Duke, excitedly, full of joy, clapping his hands. "Now, I am sure there is no need for tedium, for tedium is quite tedius, you know" he said, with a gleeful wink of both eyes. "Now, my friend the doctor here has been most helpful in my little predicament. Time, you see. I am slowing down, and he has provided quite the antidote to my doom!"

 

He continued onwards, flapping his hands around theatrically. "The woman, as you say, is quite the most delightful little thing. Like a catipillar in a chrysallis! Like a burnt butterfuly! And she knows your friend, you say? Well...I would be most keen to speak to him!"

 

As if on cue. Voin and Dreadnought stomped (in the latter case, most loudly) into the dining room. 

 

"Ah! The Giant! Goodness, you are quite large, aren't you! Remarkably blessed in the size department! Haha!" laughed the Duke, pleased with his infantile inneundo. 

 

"I have, courtesty of the lovely Doctor here, a remarkable specimin downstairs! A woman encased in something or other. Like a caramel amber, a glass of sunlight! Magic! or so the Doctor says. I know not of these things. I am a scientist, I deal with the laws of nature, whereas science deals with the unlawfulness of nature. Nevertheless, it has provided a solution to my problem, and indeed the Doctors!"

[Avenger Assembled]

The Duke's words didn't finish Frost's analysis of him; but it certainly gave him grounds to assign him both order and genus in his personal taxonomy of antagonists. Ah, one of those. Frost suddenly, vividly remembered, the last man who had taken him prisoner in an effort to extract the secrets of his immortality from him. And indeed he learned them. Poor fellow. "Oh, I understand. You feel cold embrace of death closing around you. Many have known such a feeling" As he spoke, the temperature in the room around them dropped noticeably. "Perhaps I misspeak. I know your game, my dear doctor, but what stakes do you play for today? And might my associates and I...raise them?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Duke seemed to ignore Comrade Frost, content with...well, content with his own contendness. And he did delight so in observing the theatre unforlding in front of him. Especially with lemon cakes and tea. 

 

Doctor Sin had a more serious, snide manner. "Yes, what game do I play?" he answered, slowly. "I seek to unravel the mysteries of the universe. I seek to put more pieces in play on the chess board. Or, if you play go, I seek to create more eyes. The board unfolds slowly, like a painting, with shades turning white, then black, and white again" he said, oozing cryptic. 

 

"I have supplied the Duke with the woman, and from the ice that surrounds her, we have extracted a juice. Vital and potent, enough to solve the Dukes problem with insidious slowing, and for me to utilise his own methods; namely, cloning...."

 

"You won't have one of me to worry about now" he said, with a confident smile.  

 

"If there is one thing better than me, its more me!" clapped the Duke, wiping lemon cake crumbs from his Cravatte. 

 

 

[Exaccus]

For his part dreadnought had been quietly enjoying lemoncake with the duke, he seemed like an awfully cheery chap and comrade frost had the man he presumed to be Dr Sin engaged in a game of mental poker similar to the one he think he'd held his own in with hornet and listening carefully to everything that was being said.

 

"Ah sos like on that TV show...you gonna trasfer your conciousness into the clones?" he asked aloud before wiping his face clean of lemoncake icing."or you gonna like...replace your insides with theirs as you need new parts like? oh im dreadnought by the way, pleasure to meet you both ," he added as a nonchalant after thought.

 

"Ah speaking of the lady in t' Ice we have some points of contention so regarding." he said rolling his hands as if he were trying to turn his brain over in his skull.

 

"Firstly given her possible nature she may be afforded some protections, until such a time as it becomes clear where she stands on the whole immortal thing...so we'd like very much to ensure that she's bein' treated humanely...and that she is not personally the subject of any scientific esperiments." he added.

 

"nextly; there is the matter of my responsibilities outside our little gang, bein' that i am a member of er majesty's vangaurd an' all as a naturalized citizen of the United kingdom i will need her returned, i am sure this was a complete accident on yer part doctor so no needs to be worried bout any belly achin over the issue." he added with a courteous nod "Iffin you agree to turn her over now peacefully then that'd be most agreeable to me, iffin not i will respect this as a neutral meeting ground an' retreive her forcefully at another time as a show of magnanimity to a fellow signer"

 

"Thirdly, if she is proven ta be immortal, she will need to be meeting our lad murk and given the option to be joinin' I was in the process of doin' so when she was removed from her resting place." he explained "much as your generous friend here may be so entitled."

[Avenger Assembled]

Frost laughed politely. "Really now - does the great Doctor Zui turn to Kantor's base methods?" This actually sounded rather different than Overshadow's methods, but anything that made it sound like Frost wasn't paying attention was a sound stratagem at this point. "No, that was impolite, forgive me - but really, how would you solve problem of infant sharks?" For the Duke's benefit, and honestly for that of his companions, he added, "Infant sharks eat each other in mother's belly and only one or two are born - would more than one Zui _share_ what it is to be the Doctor?" 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Many bodies..one mind!" said the Duke, happily. "You see...."

 

"Enough!" interrupted Sin, quite severely now. He put his tea down. "Our freind here is plying you for information. Manipulating you!"

 

"Oh I do hope so! Its such a joy to be manipulated!" grinned the Duke, giving Comrade Frost a wink. 

 

At this, even, the iron will of Dr Sin splintered for a moment. A spasm of irritation in his cheek and eye. 

 

"Never the less, there is no need to reveal our secrets unless it serves us" he said, forcing himself to serenity. "And the Giant is playing the game, is he not. Mr. Murke and his Codus Immortus. Yes, I signed. As did you" he said, with crystal clarity. "A wise precaution, for all immortals, and one I deemed prudent"

 

He put his tea down and smacked his lips. 

 

"The Codus does not however, prevent these fools from arresting me, or assaulting me. Not that it matters if they do" he said, confidently. "Also, I am quite clear on this, it affords its protection only to those who sign it. Whilst it may be considered poor form to hurt or kill other immortals who have not signed, it is not forbidden. And the woman we have has not signed" he said, with a cruel smile. 

 

"She is therefore not your concern" he said, again, cool and calmly. 

 

"What's this codus immortus? Sounds wonderful!" said the Duke to them all, intrigued and curious. 

 

But Dr. Sin did not answer, looking to the others in the room to do so...

[Exaccus]

"Ah i thought you.might miss that clause, it affords its full protection to members such as legal services and sanctuary on the grounds but it states that that we are to intervine in cases where "Immortals facedeathly peril and promethean torment." Which is my contention here." He explained "bit of a slip in the who its refering too...i am not a smart man by any means gentlemen and lady but i was around for the drafting of the initial document and such was my contribution to it much as we all have had our impact....though it was murke who penned the terminology; he is one of the most brilliant legal minds in the world."

 

"That said if you can prove she faces neither or is not immortal such protections are void." He said resolubtly "though then my day job kicks in.."

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Deathly peril? Promethean Torment?" answered Sin, quietly. 

 

"Why don't you judge for yourselves?"

 

The Duke and Dr Sin lead the three immortals down some stairs (rather lovely wooden ones) to a well-lit laboratory in the basement. It was full of computers, old tomes (archiac, arcane, and scientific), pots and tubes full of chemicals, sealed chambers housing who knows what, and in the centre, on a scientific table. 

 

Morgen. 

 

Yes, it was her. Incased in an amber shell, hibernating, her face at peace, her right eye replaced with a mass of burned scars. From the coccoon she was in, tubes and drills analysing the strange juice that was within the shell. 

 

"Quite alive, and blissfully at peace" concluded Dr. Sin, quite happily. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Zhenshchina-voin

The Duke infuriated her in ways Klara couldn't quite explain, but for now, she held her peace as the villans helpfully explained there plot. With the woman now revealed she felt it was time to try moving things to there advantage.

 

<"Unlike the Duke it is obvious you are no fool Doctor Sin!"> her Mandarin was near flawless <"You know how much trouble you've had with family, I've had the pleasure to meet your daughter in London. And we know no one commands you, not even yourself, all it would bring it trouble and strife.">

 

It wasn't the only things she felt the need to say, adding to everyone.

 

"If she is immortal then she should be allowed to decide if she wishes to join the Codus. If she's happy to help you both, then well we'll just leave you alone to carry out you science!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Frost spread his hands in Sin's direction and shrugged, an elegant Well what can you do? statement without any words. "Yes,  by all means, let us hear woman's words." This was, he supposed, rather hypocritical of him given the things he'd done in the old days when the government he'd served had favored wanton cruelty - but he was in many ways a hypocrite. Eugh. This poor Duke fellow. Wonder what Sin will sew inside his mouth when they are done. Sliding his hands into his pockets, he commented, "Come now, you would not keep lady waiting, would you?" he asked the Duke with exaggerated cheerfulness. "Unless you think she cannot _be_ awakened, in which case matter is of course entirely different..." 

[Supercape]

GM

 

At the mention of his daughter, Sin's face became quite stony. Dangerous. 

 

"I will remember you, Voin..." he said, sinister. "Perhaps you have forgotten my capacity for cruelty, if cruelty is my desire...."

 

His composure had cracked, a tiny crack in his diamond hard will. Barely noticeable, but enough to play along with the game. 

 

"Very well. Let us say what she has to say..."

 

"Wonderful!" said the Duke, happy now. 

 

It was a few minutes to thaw out Morgen, such as she was. Electric currents sparked across the amber shell, and it slowly cracked, until Morgen, quite naked, fell out in a slosk of orange fluid. There was a warmth to the room as she did so. 

 

Morgen did not mind her nudity, such as it was (with the orange amber goop stuck to her skin, it was an obscured nudity). She was born in days when such was of less consequence. She had a healthy duddy vitality to her, buxom - not fat, but certainly with enough fat to keep her warm ain winter. Red hair fell, lank, to her shoulders and beyond. She was handsome in a vital rather than beautiful way, marred (or some might say enhanced) by her right eye, blind and milky, surrounded by a gash of scar tissue. 

 

Morgen looked around, recognising Dreadnought and addressing him. Mystic arts gripped her tongue, and she spoke flawless English, albeit with an ancient lilt. 

 

"Giant! We meet again! Where are we? When are we? Who are these men? Who is this woman?" she said, somewhat disorientated. 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Supercape