ic Teching the Tech (IC)

[Exaccus]

His Latex prosthetics had finally dried and set, a quick change of clothes later and he was on the showroom floor, wearing the rent-a-tux he'd picked up the day before, walking amongst the chatting attendees and hating every second of it, just being here made him feel slimy and gross.

 

ah well, he'd handle it, he was a professional.

 

he stalked the halls, taking note of the reflective surfaces on offers for if things were to become any more sour than he already felt they were.

[Spacefurry]

Predator 
 

Jean’s arrival had sparked its own small series of photos and requests for ‘a few words’, to which she responded with a polite smile and an ‘Only here to observe’. Luckily this only lasted until the next big name on some list walked in and she was able to move on unobstructed. She was ever thankful for the fickle nature of tabloid journalism.

 

She had attended enough gatherings of important people that she already had clothing to choose from. The charcoal slacks she worn were tailored out of necessity. With a matching charcoal button up shirt and Persian blue vest, they contrasted nicely against her red-orange fur while completing her black ear tips, hands and feet. 

 

Jean mingled through arrivals, acknowledging the various guards she made eye contact with, but never approached one so as to maintain the illusion that she was there for the gathering and nothing else. She ‘no commented’ any inquires of Mr Cardenas funding her heroing. Her research had not shone a favorable light on his ‘donations’, but she was not one to spread accusations without proper citation.

 

She spotted Agent Echohead at one point, but made a tactical decision to keep from making contact at this point. Instead, she continued to mingle until dinner was served.

 

Mr Cardenas had yet to appear, but that was what was expected. Dinner was also as expected for this type of gathering.

“Shall I remind you to pick up something after the operation has concluded?”

Cynthia’s voice sounded softly in her ear through Jean’s earbud. It was nearly invisible through the fluff and shape of her ear. And the directional mic in her collar easily picked up her low reply.

“That would be appreciated.”

He told the AI.

“Done.”

Cynthia replied as the night’s entertainment began. Entertainment Jean managed to remain stone faced through with ease. It was most certainly not her type of humor.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Spacefurry

[Avenger Assembled]

The mood was easy and light throughout the party, or so it seemed anyway. The visiting bigwigs, venture capitalists, and idle rich didn't seem to have the pretensions of many of their counterparts. They were here to have a good time and didn't care who knew it. Jean's unusual appearance meant she was a major object of attention but she was certainly used to that after so much time in this dimension, the boys had an easier time mingling in the crowd. Echohead could get a good feel for what the people thought; though one might argue most of them weren't really thinking at all between the champagne and the politics, or lack thereof. The general consensus seemed to be that they weren't so much interested in Cardenas's social and political message as looking for "what kind of show is he going to give us this time?" They might reward the ringmaster of this particular circus if they liked the show he put on, but they weren't particularly true believers in his cause. 

 

When the comedy wound down, the heroes got the update about Cardenas's arrival, the audience growing just a bit restive as they waited. The Iron Talon staff checked in with them on their earpieces, letting them know exactly what was happening. Cardenas had arrived. Cardenas was signing autographs, Cardenas was "IN THE BATHROOM and has requested PRIVACY" in what sounded very much like a euphemism for something. 

 

Finally, Cardenas made his appearance. "My friends!" he said as the doors flung open and a laser show began to play, music rising as his voice rose. "My friends, it's time for us to take things - to the NEXT LEVEL!" The pumping electronic beat played louder as Cardenas zoomed into the room on a hi-tech hoverboard, zipping along fast as an oncoming car just a few feet above ground level. He did tricks and flips, showing an admitted acrobatic talent if nothing else, the excited crowd now firmly in his pocket as they whooped and applauded. He landed on stage, flipped the board under his arm, and winked at the audience before he walked right up to the podium. 

 

"My friends!" he said, spreading his arms - and then he exploded in a shower of electric sparks and flaming debris. For a moment it all looked like part of the show; the music was still playing and the laser lights blaring - until the horizonally bisected remains of the fallen billionaire collapsed, smoking, and the crowd began screaming where fragments of debris had shot through it at super-speed. The lights came up and the music abruptly ended. The party was over. 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Echohead blinked. 

 

He was not quite sure what had happened. Sparks. Death. Lights. 

 

His first thought was that this was some kind of trick-some extravagant part of the show. Then the screaming started. If it was part of the act it was incredibly realistic and incredibly horrible. People would be having nightmares for years. Maybe Echohead would. 

 

Of course he could delete his own memories. But still. Nightmares might surface. 

 

"What happened? What happened?" he screamed into his microphone, to both his superhero chums and the Iron Talon. He doubted he could get a coherent answer-it was hardly a coherent question. 

 

He was hardly coherent himself. He blamed himself. Let someone die on his watch. 

 

He surged forward, trying to press his way through the crowds with limited success (for a man of his height and strength). He wanted, no, he needed, to see the body for himself, no matter how horific it was. 

 

He still couldnt believe it, not quite...

[Exaccus]

For Jonathan this scene was all to familiar, panic swelled within his chest, limbs locking in primordial instinct to fight as his eyes shot between every reflective surface in the room.

 

The acrid scent of burning, the screams of fear and desperation and the horrific sound of high intensity energy blasts searing flesh rang phantasmal in his senses.

 

but his heart was hardened by similar trauma and though he had yet to make peace with it all he managed to seize back control of his body, white knuckled hands grasping his communicator.

 

"Get eyes on our assassin or Prioritize the crowd there was a lot of shrapnel, if someone caught some we don't want them trampled to death in the panic.

 

There's not really much I can do for Cardenas now." 

 

With that he took a short fortifying breath and got ready to spring into action

[Spacefurry]

Predator

 

Jean watched with hardly an eyebrow raised as the young billionaire showboated his way into the assembled hall with all the subtly of a falling meteor.

An unfortunate comparison she’d have to admit given the end result.

 

The explosive shower of sparks and debris did have her tense. But it wasn’t until the light came up and the smoking remains tumbled to the ground that she was on her feet.

Her hand went to her ear, all pretense of un-involvement tossed aside.

“Secure all exits!”

She called over the comms to the Iron Talon teams.

“Lock the building down and alert any outside forces to watch for and stop anyone attempting to leave the building.”

She knew they would get a lot of push back and some would get past security, but it was worth an effort. She hoped they had their own protocols in place and local authorities were nearby, if not in the building.

 

“Knight.”

She called back over the comms.

“Agreed, there are injured in the crowd. And if we don’t do something, more with be injured trying to flee.”

 

“Echo. Can your abilities calm the crowd?”

She asked as she pushed through the crowd towards the closest injured attendee.

[Avenger Assembled]

The scene was wild, a mayhem of frantic security and rapidly-fleeing wealthy people. 

 

Echohead found good news at the scene. Well. In a manner of speaking. He could tell as soon as he'd gotten close that no man had died on his watch, at least no manner of man he was familiar with. The bisected remains of the billionaire revealed nothing human; only sparking microcircuits in a bed of dripping machine fluids, inside a chassis shaped and colored like a man but seeming to be made of some sort of plastic to the touch. It was clear what had 'killed' him from up close too; a burnt-out crater inside the podium showed that something had been planted there. 

 

Echohead was old enough to remember the Day of Wrath ten years earlier, and similar events in subsequent years when it became clear humans and heroes alike had been replaced by robot imposters. If people realized that Cardenas had been - was always? a robot, who could say what would happen next? Whatever they were going to do, they needed to do it fast. 

 

Mirror Knight's efforts to find an assassin in the crowd failed, but he was able to spot one of the event crew who seemed to be going in the wrong direction from the rest of the staff - a stout, serious-faced redhead who slipped away from her counterparts by the serving tables and who was making a beeline for the exit. Of course, with the crowd and growing panic, she wasn't making much progress. 

 

Predator's leadership was able to get Iron Talon deployed, taking up positions at the exits to stop the crowd from fleeing, calling actual first responders, and otherwise doing what you'd want private security to actually be doing. It looked like nobody else had been injured from the electrical blast that had taken Cardenas apart; and the debris hadn't done more than cause scrapes and cuts from flying shards. But things were hanging on a knife's edge... 

 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"A decoy!"

 

Or was it a decoy? He put a finger to his microscopic chin. Perhaps an andriod decoy, or perhaps the man was always an android. In which case, an android had died on his watch. Probably just as bad. He didn't really have the time or inclination to consider the philosophical ramifactions. 

 

Maybe he could nab the brain of a philosophy lecturer another day. 

 

But right now, knowledge (philosophy) was hardly going to help him. Then again, when did knowledge (philosophy) ever help any hero, ever?

 

Echohead did remember the past, and remember the paranoia. The people were already rioting, and this would create a vortex of fear. 

 

"Stay back!" he yelled in his weedy voice. "Stay back! Its a bomb! Bomb! BOMB!"

 

That would probably work, at least for a moment. Hopefully. Maybe. 

 

He scratched his bald plate. He could pluck out the image of this from a persons mind. But only one person. Not a crowd. He needed help. 

 

"Predator? Mirror knight?" he called over the intercom. "Guy was an android. Circuits. Everything. Cant let the crowd see the body or we will have a conspiracy riot on our hand. Can... er... can you illusiony something?"

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

Checking attendees Jean was glad she could find no serious injuries, but tensions were still on edge.

 

19 hours ago, Supercape said:

Echohead

 

"Stay back!" he yelled in his weedy voice. "Stay back! Its a bomb! Bomb! BOMB!"

 

When Echohead began call for people to clear away from the podium and the remains of Mr Cardenas because of a bomb she cursed under her breath.

“Calmly, people!”

She tried to call over the noise before giving up and deciding it was time to dress for work.

 

There was a shimmer of translucent light around Jean and those nearby could feel the sudden distortion of space as the Predator armor materialized around her. A small buffet of displaced air ruffled clothes and she stood straight. Internally, Echohead’s call came through.

 

19 hours ago, Supercape said:

Echohead

 

"Predator? Mirror knight?" he called over the intercom. "Guy was an android. Circuits. Everything. Cant let the crowd see the body or we will have a conspiracy riot on our hand. Can... er... can you illusiony something?"

 

Predator growled to herself and switch the external speakers on. They boomed as an amplified voice called for attention.

“Please, remain calm! Security will assist you in exiting the hall in a safe and orderly manner!”

 

Switching back to private, internal channels again she replied to Echo’s report.

“If he can’t, I suggest covering the remains. Maybe a curtain or something, your jacket if you have to. We don’t need someone getting a look at it and starting another panic, or worse posting a picture before we can investigate it ourselves.”

[Exaccus]

Why does everyone think i mess with light?

 

"No can do sorry, its mirrors and reflections i utilize...now if you wanted 5 of them, I could do that...ill get him covered up though." he responded, as with a tilt of his head he pulled together the dimensional energies from the reflective surfaces around him, from the sheen of the drinks, the jewellery of the guests, even the eyes of his allies, harmlessly of course.

 

pooling the infinite energies endlessly repeated amongst the fractalized reality of the highly morphic mirror realm into an all but invisable humanoid form, his looking glass knight, sending it flying over with a table cloth from one of the overturned tables to cover the bifurcated android.

 

 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Good job!" said Echohead, more than pleased with the result. 

 

"I mean... great job covering that bomb with a forcefield, Mirror knight!" he shouted, or at least shouted as loudly as his weedy voice would carry. "That certainly is well and truly covered with your forcefield, the bomb that is. Although everyone should stay back just in case the bomb penetrates your impenetrable forcefield!"

 

He coughed, clearing his throat from the effort. 

 

"Seriously..." he whispered to Mirror Knight. "What the hell happened? An andriod? We need to get this rally cleared as soon as possible... the crowd would go nuts, and the Talon Iron thingy people, they look pretty trigger happy to me. If this exploded into a panic, we will have a problem. And more corpses..."

 

He wiped his brow. 

 

"Pretty good mess we made of this, huh?"

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

The now armored hero does what she can to help herd the guests out of the hall without further problems or panic.

 

She opens a comm line to their Talon liaison.

“Mister Lawrence, I’m afraid I must ask you to join us at the podium as soon as possible.”

Switch to another line she calls Captain Scarlet next. 

“Captain Scarlet, I’m afraid I must request you join us at the podium in the presentation hall as soon as possible.”

 

That done she looks over to see Echohead and what she could only assume was some form of manifestation of Mirror Knight’s creation keeping watch over the remains. She nodded to herself and turned her attention back to the guests.

Predator would feel more comfortable continuing once the guests were secure elsewhere and the reps from both the Talons and the local PD were present.

[Avenger Assembled]

All in all, it was a big mess. 

 

The arrival of Mr. Lawrence, the Iron Talon liaison, led to lots of shouting between Lawrence and the guards he putatively supervised. The arrival of Mr. Scarlet, the New Jersey State Police liaison, led to Scarlet and Lawrence shouting at each other about the incompetence of private vs. public security. At least none of the Iron Talon people seemed to have noticed the robot; or if they had, they were keeping their cards close to their bulletproof vests. The heroes were able to keep the sad, leaking, twitching android corpse from being discovered by the party-goers as they filtered out into the lobby to give their statement to the authorities; but that did nothing to change the fact that the android was dead. 

 

They were able to learn a couple of things from Mr. Lawrence. One of the more alert Iron Talon guards had nabbed a woman trying to sneak out a back entrance, a red-haired caterer who Mirror Knight vaguely remembered seeing. This woman had 'given up' once caught, and was now asking to speak to someone in charge "about the dead you-know-what."

 

Mr. Scarlet, like a normal New Jersey cop, had turned white when he saw the android, then typed in a few numbers on his phone. "We have a...technical consultant coming," he said, still shaken. "One of Americana's people. My God, do you think he was a machine this whole time?" 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Does it matter?" said Echohead, drumming his fingers against his forehead in thought. 

 

"I mean, if he was a robot? does it matter?"

 

The question was bugging him. "Judge a man... or a robot... by his actions. If he thought like Cardenas, acted like Cardenas, then he probably was Cardenas..."

 

Except...

 

"But our concern now is whether there is a real Cardenas, made of flesh and bone. Because if there is, he is missing and probably in great danger."

 

He looked at the others. 

 

"Not much to go on, is there?" he said, quietly, with a meek face. "Just this mystery woman. I say we go have an interview with her, and do it fast. She may hold the key to the puzzle..."

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

With the guests removed, Predator joined the others by the remains. She crouched beside them examining the exposed bits as her computer ran comparisons against know technologies. She had spent many long nights since her arrival learning what she could of this world’s tech as well as common alien ones.

 

Even a quick glance told her this was Terran in origin. And old…

She plucked a less damaged gear set from deeper within the cavity. Holding in front of her helmet she turned it this way and that.

“Not old.”

She commented out loud without context.

“But built to look like it.”

Setting the piece down a blade extended from her arm and with precision Predator cut open the rest of the chest to get a better look.

“Hmm.”

She managed to sound thoughtful, but disappointed. Finally she picked it up by the head and examined it. Again she cut into the synthetic flesh to peel it back. After a few more moments she set it down and turned to regard the men.

 

“Agreed. This woman may have answers we need, possibly to questions we don’t know we have yet.”

The armored helmet tilted towards Cpt. Scarlet.

“Please request to copy of your consultant’s report for my own files. And let me know where they move the remains to.”

She looks towards Lawrence.

“I have reason to suspect your charge may still alive, if not in immediate danger.”

She acknowledged with a nod at Echohead. “As far as I can tell this stand-in was not advanced enough to be an independent entity, merely a puppet drone.”

Predator shakes her head at any questions.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the necessary equipment to fully analyze the remains here.”

[Avenger Assembled]

Closely guarded by Iron Talon, the redhead had obviously been worked over before they got there. Zip-tied to a chair in the hotel kitchen, she had a swelling bruise over one eye and a cut lip. The room was crowded but her eyes were hard as she glared at those who had arrived to speak with her. "We don't need supers in here!" declared one of the Iron Talon people, a big sweaty man with a neck so thick it all but disappeared into his shoulders, "just give me a little more-" 

"Shut your #((#ing mouth!" hissed Lawrence, all but grabbing the younger man by the arm and pulling him outside. "Everybody outside and on the perimeter! You've got five minutes," he told the super he was with as they cleared out. 

 

The redhead, still wearing her caterer's uniform, was silent. 

 

- 

 

The consultant proved rather more voluble upon her arrival, pulling up on an Archetech e-bike that made just a faint whisper of sound as it arrived outside. She walked right past the Iron Talon guards at the perimeter, flashing an ID badge for their perusal. Scarlet was there to greet her and for a moment looked suspicious, staring at the young blonde woman in the white labcoat, who looked for all the world like she'd walked out of central casting for "young mad scientist" with her blonde hair pulled in a tight bun and eyes hidden behind dark glasses. 

 

"You're the consultant?" 

 

"That is right," she agreed, her voice cool and slightly accented. She folded her hands and said, "Where is the android? You have little time, yes?" 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Echohead was glad he was wearing sunglasses. He stared at the redhead, wondering if he was admiring her beauty or scrutinising her features for the purposes of interogation. 

 

He cleared his throat. High pitched, nervous. He felt sweat on his brow. He loosened his tie. 

 

"So...ah..."

 

He realised it was not the best opening. He wasn't really an interogator. But spending so long stealing peoples thoughts, had given him an uncanny insight into when people were lying. No, it was not mind reading. Just a skill acquired rapidly from his abilities. 

 

He poked around his own head, searching his synapses. Yes! The brain he had copied- therein lied the experience and expertise he needed. His voice didn't exactly change, but it did solidify. His back straightened, and he took off his sunglasses to reveal a searing determination. 

 

"So, you best tell us whats happening, madam. Its about as bad as it can get for you right now. Don't bother with your cover story. I'll know if you are lying..."

 

He tapped his skull, giving her his best evil glare. 

 

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

The armored figure of Predator entered the room behind Echohead. She was silent aside from her steps. Given his abilities and the fact he had copied an experienced officer with Captain Scarlet, she let him take the lead.

Besides, she knew from her own experience, her silent presence could sometimes be intimidating. It had actually been somewhat entertaining back when she first started and people thought she was a robot of some kind. She chuckled to herself inside the helmet, though nothing was heard externally.

 

Outwardly, Predator stood like a silent sentinel behind Echohead and to the side.

Internally, she was watching and recording everything from the moment the door opened.

[Avenger Assembled]

The redhead stared at the two of them, then gave a short laugh. "Really. Okay." She took a breath, winced just a little, then said, "If you ask me, heroes should be looking into those thugs who thought five-on-one was a fair fight." She looked down at herself and said, "The two of you don't need little old baseline me tied up while we talk, do you? Trust me, if I was going to escape, I'd have done something while they were working me over." She tugged lightly at the zip ties that bound her and gave the heroes a suggestive look. 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Baseline? That smacked of something super-dupery, as far as Echohead was concerned. Perhaps even super-duper-wupery. Maybe even super-duper-wu...

 

He shook his head to stop the ridiculous thought echoing around his skull. 

 

"That sounds like something somebody who was going to try and escape would say" he responded. "Poor old me, look at how defenceless and beautiful I am, please let me seduce you into undoing my zip ties so I can stop being at my baseline and turn into a gaint zombie octopus..."

 

One of the few benefits of being ugly was that Echohead could never believe any woman was interested in him. As soon as even the slightest wink was offered, he knew they were trying to manipulate him. 

 

"OK, maybe not a giant zombie octopus. But Baseline? That tells me that you aren't always at baseline. And it tells me other things to, which I am too intelligent and astute to reveal at the moment..."

 

Dang, this copy in my head is causing some serious misfiring synapses...

 

It was like he was being clever and stupid at the same time. 

 

"Anyway, you aren't asking the question are you? Very clever of you. Very astute. Unluckily for you, as I have just informed you, I am more the cleverer, and more the astuter. So spill the beans, madam... you saw something, what was it!"

 

Echohead finished his monologue with a threatrical wagging of his finger. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Or what, you'll leave me tied to a chair?" she fired back, giving Echohead a disgusted look. If he'd read her right, she wasn't going to betray herself now. "Fine, if you're both #($ers. All I have to say is that I didn't come here to kill anything. The device was just supposed to flash-fly the electronics Cardenas was carrying and kill the recording for his stupid techbro broadcast. I had no idea he was some kind of freakish, soulless robot; and neither did the people I was working for. They'd have wanted something much more colorful." She spat and said, "By the way, it was in the podium. Good thing none of you super-types thought to look there."

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

It was, thought Echohead, an entirely plausible story. One that he believed... but people could have multiple layers, multiple missions, multiple agenda's. 

 

"As Oscar Wilde said, the truth is rarely simple and never pure..."

 

He sure hoped he got that the right way round. More beads of sweat formed on his brow as he started rolling it around his skull. Rarely simple, or rarely pure? Or the other way round?

 

"And just who do you work for, hmmm? The mysterious men in the meeting? The goons in the gutter? The crooks in the...umm...the crooks in the..."

 

He shook his hand, trying to shake something out. 

 

"The crooks in the curtains!"

 

Dang, that's awful in the abettoir...

 

He pressed on regardless. "Come on, spill the beans in the barbeque!"

 

He winced at his own words, neck tendons standing out at the pure awfulness of his oratory. 

 

At least I have insight in the In... NO! STOP!

[Spacefurry]

Predator

 

The woman didn’t seem to be anything other than a normal human.

Not for the first time Predator was upset that the sensors she used in her home dimension to pick out non-normal citizens just weren’t working here.

She dismissed the thought and simply made a reminder to spend more time on adjusting them later.

 

She agreed with Echohead’s speculations on captives often attempting to lull their captors into underestimating them to gain an advantage later. Though his follow through left something to be desired. Predator supposed it was a result of the skills he was deploying being ‘borrowed’.

 

But ultimately she could not deny whatever he was doing seemed to be working. The red headed woman began to talk.

 

Predator turned to the closest Talon agent.

“Stay here and provide any assistance he needs.”

She said and looked over her shoulder at Echohead.

“I verify her claim and contact you.”

 

Predator walked quickly back towards the event hall.

[Avenger Assembled]

"If you want me to name names, you'll have to untie me," the redhead said, almost pleasantly. "But you're not dumb, are you, Turtleface?" she asked with a sneer. "Only one group had the money and the interest to take my man out. At least, that's what I thought before today. Techbro thinks he can reshape the world in his image? Looks like somebody else got there first." She looked Echohead up and down and said, "I'll tell you what, if you're so smart. What do _you_ think we should do with synthetic life trying to replace the biological?" 

 

- 

 

In the cleared meeting hall, Predator was introduced to the consultant, a polite young woman with braided blonde hair, a white labcoat, and goggles pushed up above her eyes that made her look a bit like someone cosplaying as a mad scientist. "Hello, Predator," she said with a faint accent. "I am Eira Katastroff, an adjutant of Miss Americana. I am familiar with your work." She knelt down next to the broken remains of the robot, her nose wrinkling as she gave it a critical look. "Can you tell me what you observed before this unit was destroyed?" As she spoke, she ran blue-tinted nails across the bisected figure's face almost delicately. 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Turtlehead? Really, is that the best you could come up with?" blubbered Echohead. 

 

"The name, madam, is Echohead! Master of the mind! Excellency of Echo! And other witty witicisms that I haven't quite come up with yet but will, without doubt, be witty. Am I saying this out loud?"

 

Bah! My wiring has really gone crazy with this copy. 

 

"Nevermind! I see through your taunts! What would I do with synthetic life trying to replace biological life? I think self preservation would be in order. But how do you know its trying to replace biological life, hmm? You just blew up the only evidence! Are you so sure of its intent? And what lies behind the intent? Maybe it, too, was acting in self preservation? I appreciate your concern, but I cannot sympathise with your certainty... that, Madam, is the mark of a fanatic. So unless you have something to back up your claims, you can consider me unconverted!"