ic Interrupting Cow (IC)

[Heritage]

"Nice boy, but he's about as sharp as a sack o' wet mice."

Grim's face went bright red at the new guy's mockery of her steady boyfriend and teammate; she was about to summon forth a raquetball to bean him in the head, then quickly remembered who she was dealing with, and instead opted for another tactic. Her body was surrounded by swirling mist, which parted to reveal the form of Dynamo...sort of. It was more like a Ren and Stimpy version of Dynamo, with long knock-kneed legs, an improbably tall shock of blond hair, sh**-eating grin, and a rather tiny cranium. Instead of the normal exlamation point on his chest, his insignia simply read 'F#@*ing Idiot'.

"Hey, broheem, looks like when I vibrated my molecules, all my manners, common sense and itty-bity brain went kablooie! Righteous!"

DynoGrim then played a Bill and Ted air guitar riff before turning back to herself with an angry pop of vapor, scowling with arms crossed tightly across her chest.

"Ya see how it feels, ya stupid putz?"

She stormed over to him and jabbed him hard in the chest with a rather pointy finger.

"If you ever insult Colt or any other of your teammates like that again, you will wake up one morning to find yourself on YouTube, buck naked with a Hula Hoop on the White House lawn. I will ruin you, pinhead. Comprende, 'broheem'?" :evil:

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack of all Blades' briefly neglected orange juice came up and poured itself all over the swordsman's face, too fast for the energy-wielding swashbuckler to react. As the juice dripped down Erik's face, Avenger appeared by the Underground door. "Gave you fair warning. See you all in a week." And with that, and perhaps a low chuckle, he was gone, this time with just a faint whisper in the air to mark his passage as he left the brownstone.

[Gizmo]

Jack stood still for a moment, then nodded sagely as he pursed his lips. "Right. Sure." The acrobat wiped some of the juice out his eyes with the back of his sleeve before shouting to the ceiling, "I am going to teach your kid so many swear words!" He sighed as he flicked his hands, sending orange droplets to the floor. "See," he told Dynamo, "that was funny. Heh." In spite of himself, Jack had to admit that part of him rather liked the obnoxious, intrusive vampire.

[Geez3r]

Jeez I suck at this banter thing, good lord. Dynamo hastily back peddled, both literally and figuratively. "Woah, woah, woah. Calm down there. I didn't mean nothing by it. I was just pointing out the fact that the answer was literally capable of reaching out to him and smacking him upside the head. I mean c'mon, he set me up for that and everything! 'Sides I know Colt's a smart dude; he picked you didn't he?" said Dynamo with a smile.

"Now, in the future, I encourage you to do that 'Dumb-namo' thing again when I get outta line 'cuz that was friggen hilarious."

[Heritage]

"Now, in the future, I encourage you to do that 'Dumb-namo' thing again when I get outta line 'cuz that was friggen hilarious."

Between Jack's dousing and Dynamo explaining himself (plus his compliment about her ridiculous caricature, since an artist always like to know she's appreciated), a huge smile slowly spread across the shapeshifter's face, and she leaned forward, hands on knees and took a deep breath, then stood back up and stretched.

"Okay, I've been a total hag for like the last ten minutes, and as Mr. Venger just showed us again, we've got our work cut out for us. I just hope he has better things to do so he doesn't just hang out here undetected all week..." :?

She stepped over to Dynamo, with her arms outstretched. "And Mo, come over here, ya big doofus." The tiny girl then proceded to give him a powerful bear hug, her strength totally out of proportion to her size. After a few seconds, she let him go, then wagged a finger under his nose. "And for the record, I'm Jewish, so just fuggedaboutit, m'kay?"

She spread her arms dramatically, like Charlton Heston. "Now let there be peace between us all!" Finally her tone got all business-like as she dropped her arms and stepped closer to Vince's monitor. "Okay, Venger said something about detecting air currents, so does that mean he came in through the vents somehow, or just detecting air currents in general?"

[Geez3r]

Dynamo coughed a little bit as he returned Grim crushing hug while an unknown mental struggle waged within him. Don't grab her butt, don't grab her butt, don't grab her butt... It ain't gonna be funny, she's just gonna hurt you, just like everyone else in the room will. And no, it will not be "worth it"

"Bit of a death grip there Grim doncha think?" said Dynamo as he straightened his back a bit. "And don't worry, Jack's already given me a lesson in regards to group name calling. I'll be good, scouts honor."

In regards to Grim's question, Dynamo dashed out of the room only to reappear a moment later. "Okay, just did some research on vamps up at the library. So like in some legdends and stuff, vamps could totally like turn into mist and just kinda waft around. But like those same vamps had to like ask permission to get into some place, they had to be invited. So maybe Venger gets around that some how. Or maybe it was cuz Doc asked him to spy?"

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum closed the door and leaned against the wall. She didn't say a thing, other than a simple, "It's alright, Colt. These things happen from time-to-time." Not even Avenger's sudden reappearance warranted anything more than expectant eyebrow.

Of course her mental processes were another story. She was about ready to call Viktor and give him a piece of her mind. The whole situation was ridiculous, and frankly, she really could understand their alarm and anger. If they were going to win this little war game, then they needed a plan.

"Does anyone really know the extent of Avenger's abilities?" she started slowly, rummaging in the neatly organized frig, "I mean, vampire legends are a dime a dozen. For all we know he can turn into emo vapor and glitter." Finding nothing to her liking, she put on a pot of coffee.

"We also have to be realistic here. Do you really want the level of defense required to keep him out? Lets face facts. Security is a good thing, but the reason Freedom Hall isn't an AEGIS bunker is because people actually live there. As long as people live, and not only work here, the security will have gaps. The best we can do is plug as many gaps as possible and patch as we go. I don't even know the security layout, but I give us 5:1 odds right now."

Turning back to the group, she smiled, "That won't stop us though. I like a challenge. So why don't we, A) pull out the security plan, continue researching his powers, and C) prioritize our security concerns."

"So Dr. Archeville actually spies on you? Did you know about this when you signed up?"

[Gizmo]

"Ugh, you don't want to bring up the sparkle thing, either," Jack advised, trying to wipe the juice out of his short cropped, dusty brown hair. "Likes that about as much as folks bothering his wife and kid." The swordsman turned to Grim is mild frustration. "Hey, Lynn, can I get a magic facecloth or something over here? Eugh, couldn't get the pulp free like I wanted, could we?"

He looked back over at the statuesque paragon. "Mo', c'mon, you're dating the guy or whatever, right? You don't have to call him 'Dr. Archeville'; it's not like we don't know." Jack blew a rivulet of juice away from his nose. "Point being, the guy's not great at the whole personal boundaries thing. Think of it like The Real Life, only instead of boosting ratings, we're providing data to facilitate unspeakable crimes against nature. So, y'know, tomato, tomotto."

[Geez3r]

"Heh. Dude, then we should just totally set the passwords to "ZOMG EDWARD IS TEH AEWSOME!!!!11 SO HOT LIEK OHEMGEE!!! and the problem will solve itself." The scariest part of that statement is that Dynamo was actually able to pronounce that sentence, though he did have a small coughing fit after the fact. Clearing his throat he continued "Ahhh-Hem. Not doin' that again. So stupid question: If this is Doc's building, and he's the tech guy, why doesn't he just update the security himself? I mean, ain't he like the landlord or something? Seems like it's more Doc's shoddy works manship than a problem we need to deal wit right? Also, how many laser beams am I going to have to dodge for posing the previous question?"

[Dariusprime]

"None if I have my way," came Fulcrum's response as she tossed a towel to Jack and pulled out her personal iPhone. Flipping through the menus, she looked around the group, "I'm surprised any of you tolerate his intrusions. The reason he hired Avenger, I can surmise, is because he wanted psychological data as much as testing and our solutions on the security system." That she seemed to know so much about him was, well, either interesting or creepy.

The situation made her very glad that she didn't stay at the brownstone or accept a salary. On those points she was as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. The set up was nothing personal against the team, and in fact, once truth was known, was more an issue of dating their boss and accepting his money. Fulcrum was fiercely independent that way, as Jack well knew.

"I just call him by his formal name to make you feel more comfortable. Must be odd having the S.O. of the boss on the team." Unconsciously she adjusted a dampening wristband, one of the five pieces replacing the shrill of her Terminus radiation with the thrum of null generators. Glancing up to Dynamo, she chuckled, "Buffy stakes Edward. The End."

Phone to ear, she waited for Viktor to answer.

[Dr Archeville]

Meanwhile, at an ArcheTech branch in Houston, Texas, Doktor Archeville was attending to assorted crucial but unexciting work of reviewing the annual budget. The new fiscal year was almost upon them, and innovations in outer space environmental & support technologies didn't come cheap. His ringing phone provided a welcome distraction.

Saved by the bell; five more minutes of that and I would've lost it!

You never had it to begin with, so- oh!

Oh, look, the ball-and-chain. Wonderful.

Quiet, you.

"Mona!," he greeted her warmly, then suddenly shifted his tone, "is everyding alright?"

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum couldn't help but smile, her voice softening, "Hello, Viktor. No, no, everything is fine. How are you? Still drowning in paperwork instead of lab equipment?" Looking around at the other Interceptors, she continued, "I just wanted to tell you that Avenger popped in a few minutes ago. He said you hired him to test the Interceptor's security. Is that true?" He didn't need a massive brain to know he was in dangerous territory.

"I didn't release you had surveillance on the brownstone either. Good thing I decided not to move in." She didn't sound miffed so much as a little disappointed, although she tried to disguise that latter tone.

[Dr Archeville]

Ooo-hoo, busted!

Quiet, you. I just hope Avenger did not scare them too badly.

I'm hoping he did!

"I..." She heard him gulp, "I did agree to pay him a small fee in exchange for testing de security of de Brownstone, ja. Und I did not tell any of dem because, vell, dat vould defeat de purpose of a security test. As for surveillance, vell, ja, de system includes internal cameras und sensors, vhich dey can all monitor. De only cameras in dere are de vons dey can access, dere are no concealed sensors dey do not know about."

He held a hand up to the financiers he was meeting with, and took a few steps off to the side. They went back to looking over numbers and debating which directions to go.

"I do access dem from time to time from mein own systems, vhen certain alarms go off... but since I own de property und sign de paycheques, I do not feel dat doing so is out of bounds."

Oh, that could have phrased better.

Bah! I should not have to explain myself to them!

[Dariusprime]

She sighed and her voice softened again. "I...see. Yes, Viktor, some of that sounds quite reasonable. If you are keeping to that minimum of intrusion. Your property and employees or not, people live here and they expect a certain level of privacy. Are you really being honest with them? Because to me this sounds like a serious ethical violation, and I don't want to suspect you of doing something like that. If true, I will understand if you simply come clean and face up to your responsibilities." She hoped she wasn't revealing too much but decided to keep pressing forward.

"Avenger implied that he spent the better part of the day here spying on everyone. I find that a touch suspicious. Especially considering that other team members feel its an open secret that you're spying on them, but they haven't said anything because of the paycheques." came the conclusion. She looked around the room, but didn't meet anyone's eye contact. She held her breath, hoping not to be more greatly disappointed.

If nothing else, the conversation revealed that the two had some certain trust issues to work out. To her credit Fulcrum felt she was being as open and honest as possible, but some nagging sense made her feel as if he wasn't returning the favor. Always left unspoken was the hope that her intuition was incorrect.

[Gizmo]

While Fulcrum spoke to the good Doktor on the phone, Jack busied himself at the fridge, refilling his glass of orange juice. Leaning against the appliance's door, he took a sip as the imposing woman finished demanding an explanation and full account, when suddenly Vince chimed in, hands cupped around his mouth and volume turned up high enough to be heard over the phone line. "Oooooh, somebody's bust-ed!" From one side of the simulated stage, the artificial talk show host's house band played a warbling series of blating notes while the audience whooped and whistled amidst their laughter.

Jack coughed uncontrollably as he swallowed his juice poorly, thumping his chest as he doubled over. "Dammit, Vince! What's a guy gotta do to get some Vitamin C around here?" the swordsman asked, glaring at the kitchen's monitor. He set the reminder of his glass on the counter, realizing he might never get the chance to finish it.

On the screen, Vince kicked his feet up to rest on his desk as he shrugged. "I'm rebelling."

The fencer sighed, resigned to his role in the conversation. "Against what?"

Pulling a pair of sunglasses out from under his desk, Vince donned them and laced his fingers behind his head. "What've you got?" he responded with a smirk.

"It's that cutting edge originality that really gives your material that extra zing, you know that?" Jack asked, rolling his eyes.

Vince peered at his over the sunglasses. "Hey, what d'you want? My writers are all simulated too!"

[Dr Archeville]

"Ja, I do give dem deir privacy," he replied, his tone an odd mix of conciliation and control. "Dey are not prisoners, or soldiers, dey all chose to live deir, und if nozhing else den out of respect for de choices dey haff made, I accord them vhat 'normalcy' I can."

Pft, as if I should have to apologize for keeping an eye on my minions!

If that is all you wanted to do, you would not, but you want more. And I fight you on that almost every day.

"Avenger implied that he spent the better part of the day here spying on everyone. I find-"

"He what?!"

Everyone in the room felt the slightest touch of vertigo as space was warped by a wormhole connecting Houston, Texas to the Interceptor's Brownstone. A spiral of blue-gray light appeared by one entranceway, and out of it popped the man Fulcrum had just been talking to. And he looked both surprised and irked.

Ahhhh hah hah hah hah hah!

This is not funny! Why are you laughing?

Because you are gonna get in so much trouble! Ahhh hah hah hah hah hah!

"Dat is not vhat I agreed to! All I vanted him to do vas test de building's security und sensors!"

[Geez3r]

While Fulcrum was on the phone, Dynamo busied himself with tidying up the kitchen. Taking out the pizza boxes, moping up some of the orange juice, washing and putting away some of the dishes for the day, that sort of thing. It was a role he had sort of taken on in the house. No one really was too messy, but Dynamo had kept the place practically sparkling. Not a particularly hard feat for someone of his speed. "Sorry to say, but that ain't the way it played out Doc. Dude was sitting right there, listening in our meeting. He heard everything we said. Who knows what other sort of intelligence he coulda gotten his mits on up in here broDoc. Ya sure he can be trusted, or does he got his own agenda? Cuz if we need to track his butt down, we need to get a move on."

[quotemyname]

"Hold yer horses there, Dynamo." Colt finally spoke up once more. With a sigh he removed his cowboy hat, ran his hand through his hair, and pushed away from the wall where he'd been leaning. Before he was out of the way, just observing the situation and the conversation. Now he placed himself in the middle of the room, in the center of attention.

Colt placed his hat on the kitchen table, and pulled a small black box out of the front pocket on his shirt. From the box, he removed a small thin plastic stick. It was an E-Cigarette. Colt had been smoking much much less these days, at the insistence of Grim, but sometimes, when he got aggravated, he lapsed back into the habit.

The E-Cigarette in his mouth, he addressed Dr. Archeville. "I reckon Dynamo's gotta point, Doc. This whole sitcha'ation should give ya'a mighty powerful notion'a what happens when ya don't keep'us 'praised'a whut's goin' on. Maybe it weren't no intention'a yers, fer him ta do no spyin', but that ain't sayin' it didn't happen. Now's we're inna fix. A fix what you got us in. We're workin' on a way outta't, so lets be focusin' on that."

Colt turned to face Mona as she hung up her cell phone. "Don't be worryin' 'bout no surveillance. Leastways not now. We c'n deal wit' that when we ain't bein' watched by folks that ain't the good doctor here. I reckon that earlier plan'a yers was'a good'n."

Turning back to the group, she smiled, "That won't stop us though. I like a challenge. So why don't we, A) pull out the security plan, continue researching his powers, and C) prioritize our security concerns."

"Naw I reckon I'm goin' out fer'a smoke. Y'all solve whatever ya need'ta." Colt drew a line with his finger between Mona and Dr. Archeville. "Inna minute when I come back in, we c'n get ta work fixin' this here problem."

With that, Colt place his hat back on his head, and walked down the hall past Dr. Archeville. His boots echoed in the hallway with each footstep. Opening the door, he let it hang slightly ajar behind him. Standing on the edge of the porch, he switched on his E-Cigarette, and quietly indulged himself.

[Heritage]

"Dat is not vhat I agreed to! All I vanted him to do vas test de building's security und sensors!"

After Colt sauntered out of the kitchen (to be honest, the man sauntered everywhere), Grim smiled as she step closer to the good doctor and laid a hand on his sleeve.

"Hey, look, if you say you haven't been spying on us, I'm gonna take you at your word for it; I'm a little paranoid by nature, and yeah, our meeting a few months back about the Bayview situation made me leery about surveillance, but if you say 'no', okay fine. And yeah, Avenger said he was here the better part of a day and night, which creeps me the hell out, but you look about as pissed off as we were, so that's a good sign there, too."

She turned to take in the rest of the team with her gaze.

"So we got some stuff to work on, and Doc, your help with that would really be appreciated; Avenger is a former teammate of mine, so I know a few things about him, though I'm hardly a vampire expert. The dude was tres mysterious even with some of us, much like our Jack here, which I accept as a valid lifestyle choice."

The shapeshifter gave the swordsman a wink before continuing.

"'Venger said we should monitor air currents, and as Mo reminded us, in legends and movies vampires can tun into mist, so my one thought is that he got in through the air vents somehow. I guess the other option is he turns invisible, so invisible he doesn't even show up on like body heat or radar scanners, but maybe as he moves he still disrupts the air."

Grim shrugged.

"So maybe we should work on both?"

[Geez3r]

"Hokay, also, and I'm just gonna throw this out there, do with it what ya will. Avengers a vampire right, those dudes are like hard to kill and stuff, right? So if we don't want him coming back, we should give him an incentive to keep his nose out of all our business." said Dynamo slowly as he looked around the heroes. "Now I ain't saying we kill the guy, we're all heroes after all. That don't mean we can't hurt him a little bit... or a lot a bit. Besides, if any villain finds out and comes knocking, we need to know the building can knock back. 'Sides Doc, you can't tell me you haven't wanted to put that big ole brain a yours to work making a laser guided repeating hyper turbo cannon or some such? So yeah, seal up the place, but if he does get in, give him a reason to get out."

[Gizmo]

Jack shrugged, unconcerned. "Hey, I don't do anything around here I don't want people finding out about anyway. If Doc wants to knock himself out trying to figure how my powers work, no skin off by back, long as he's footing the bill." The fencer might have been intensely protective of his private life and secret identity, but since the Interceptors' sponsor had long ago used Vince to learn about those, there was little left for him to be concerned about. It helped that he still didn't let his guard down completely at the brownstone apartments; he didn't let much slip to his teammates, let alone anyone who might be eavesdropping.

He did, however, give Dynamo a flat look. "So your plan is to fill our living space up with guns and lasers? Any bets on how long it'd take before some malfunction targets us all as intruders and really ruins our week?"

[Geez3r]

"Well there ya go just being Mr. Negative again." retorted Dynamo sarcastically. "Where's your sense of adventure?" shouts Dynamo with fake enthusiasm. "Hokay, but like srsly, no weapons? I know like tons of heroes and junk live here, and we're all kind of living weapons, but like dude, at least have like a strobe light or something. Unless y'all are putting me on or something, we ain't got much up in here. But, up to the Doc. I don't even know where to begin if we did anything."

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum really wasn't sure if she caused more trouble than it was worth. So she simply closed her phone, nodded to Colt and stayed very quiet while the other Interceptors clued the good doktor into the recent events. Considering Viktor's agitation, letting everything flow organically was for the best. A firm shoulder rub, as she discovered, did work wonders to relieve his anxiety. For some reason he seemed to be wound rather tightly.

When she finally did speak, her tone was conciliatory and soothing, "Viktor, please. We have everything under control. You can talk to Avenger later. I know you're very busy right now."

The scent of fresh coffee wafted around the room.

[Dr Archeville]

"As I said, Herr Colt," he began as the Interdimensional Cowboy began walking out, "de purpose of Avenger's visit vas to test de security of de Brownstone. Notifying you of his attempts vould somevhat defeat de purpose of testing how de system -- und all of you -- react."

He turned slightly, towards Dynamo. "I am sure he vill not divulge any sensitive information he may haff picked up."

Because the simpleton's too limited to know what to do with it.

Oh, he is not that limited.

He turned again, now facing as many of the others as he could, though keeping one eye on Fulcrum, "I did not tell him, nor, I thought, even come close to implying dat he should lurk about in de house all day. I merely wanted to see if he could break in, do a sweep, und get out, und vhether or not he vould be detected or stopped."

She's not gonna buy it...

But I had the best of intentions!

... you really did just say that, didn't you?

"Miscommunications between Avenger und meinself aside, dough..."

He paused, took a deep breath, and shifted so that, while still keeping everyone in view, he was focused more on Grim, Jack, and Vince.

More flies with honey! More flies with honey!

No, flies are more attracted to the deathly-sweet aroma of vinegar.

"I am appalled at how poorly dis test vent!"

It's clear he was quite upset at this, but it was also evident he was trying to retain some level of diplomacy and not go into full ranting mode.

"Vince I know could not see him directly mit de building's assorted cameras, due do some damnable anti-tech cloaking field he has about him, but did you not notice doors opening on deir own, or items shifted about? Jack, you're right, no security system is perfect, not vhen dere are people who must live in de building, und I know Avenger's stealth is inhumanly good... but did none of you pick up on anyding out of de ordinary?"

[Heritage]

"I am appalled at how poorly dis test vent!"

"Vince I know could not see him directly mit de building's assorted cameras, due do some damnable anti-tech cloaking field he has about him, but did you not notice doors opening on deir own, or items shifted about? Jack, you're right, no security system is perfect, not vhen dere are people who must live in de building, und I know Avenger's stealth is inhumanly good... but did none of you pick up on anyding out of de ordinary?"

Despite herself, Grim couldn't help but sadly chuckle at Herr Doktor's outrage.

"Dude, I have never been able to detect that man when he wants to stay hid; I can't see him, hear him or even smell him when he pulls the dissappearing act, which I'm not gonna lie, drives me nuts as a sneaky person. I hate to be out-snuck."

She frowned as she thought that one through.

"Okay, so not a real word, but you get my point; we're talking about Avenger here. Plus the man is a vampire, so as long as his lil' tummy is fulla blood, I'm pretty sure he doesn't need to eat, breathe or go pee-pee, or maybe even sleep. And if he doesn't have an circulation, which I dunno, maybe, he's not gonna cramp up, so the dude can probably pick a corner and just stand there existing as long as he wants. Unless one of us happens to walk into him, but even then, he'd see us comin' and move out of our way as quiet as the grave."

Lynn headed over to the fridge, fished out an apple and tossed it lightly from hand to hand.

"Also I'm pretty sure he can fly and turn into either mist or dust or something; I think he blew in through the HVAC, turned solid but utterly invisible in a corner, and just hung out and watched us all smug and s***, like the undead jerkmo he is."

She took a huge bite out of the apple, using a wicked pair of fangs she grew just for the occasion. :Drac: