Rusty Shell (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Mid-November 2011

'Caradoc' had been pulled into an ocean battle near Cape May while visiting the area as part of his work for HAX, joining some local heroes and the Freedom League in battling a limited Atlantean incursion. They'd won the battle against the underwater barbarians, but exposure to powerful metallic corrosives had left Harrier looking decidedly unsightly. He was generally confident his armor would eventually repair itself (which was a better fate than simply having what he used for bones fall apart), but his lack of experience with Atlantean meant he wanted to have someone knowledgeable about all ways of the sciences look him over. For Harrier, that unquestionably meant Miss Americana, who was brilliant, beautiful, and trustworthy all at once. He'd heard of her new role at Archetech, but she'd still been available to make an appointment at her own laboratory. So he'd done so, and now as fall fell across the city, the former Omegadrone simply walked into the private laboratory where he'd met Miss Americana so many times. "Hello?"

[Electra]

He knew that Miss Americana had been tired when he called her. He wasn't always the best at reading people, but he'd seen plenty of people working to exhaustion since he'd made his home on Earth-Prime. The beautiful scientist didn't get anything so crass as bags under her eyes, but she'd had distraction and weariness in her voice on the phone. Taking over ArcheTech had added another helping of responsibility to an already full plate, so it wasn't surprising she'd have a lot on her mind. Still, Murdock had never known her to shirk any of those responsibilities, even a visit from a friend who needed a tune-up. It was surprising, then, that no one answered his hails. He'd called only a few hours ago, surely she wouldn't have forgotten?

Walking further into the lab, it was clear that someone was here or had been here recently. Lights were on and machines were running, and the air smelled like coffee. As Murdock continued, he nearly stumbled over Miss Americana, laying on one of her own lab tables. She was wearing a smock that looked like hospital gowns he'd seen here, and seemed to be sleeping. Her eyes were closed, her breathing very slow, but even.

[Avenger Assembled]

"...Miss Americana?" asked Murdock, concern on his face as he lightly nudged her shoulder, then shook her with more force. He'd seen death and injury in tremendous quantities in his time, but Miss Americana didn't look like anything she'd ever seen: she wasn't dead, she had no marks of injury, no poisons he recognized: she simply looked as if she'd fallen asleep and was unable to rouse herself, even when he raised his voice to her. He thought fast, trying to think about who he could call for help. This was well beyond him, and truthfully his self-interest was strong enough that he had little desire to be alone with a friend who had suffered an unknown malady that might be blamed on consorting with Omegadrones. For his sake, and especially for hers, he needed to get help and fast!

He thought fast, thinking about his previous visits to the Lab. He remembered he'd seen an emergency telephone, as well as medical kit, in what he'd taken for an emergency shelter a few corridors away, a room that he'd uncovered while roaming the halls while Miss Americana worked on his pike: he hadn't commented on his discovery to her, since it wasn't his place to pry. There was no time for such thoughts now, though; his friend was in peril! He turned and hurried for that door, throwing it open with his great strength without hesitation.

[Electra]

The door had been locked, but not with any real conviction. The residents of Freedom City were oddly willing to secure their interior doors with tiny locks that were more for show than anything else. It offered no resistance to Murdock's shove, allowing him access to the room. The storage area was much as he remembered it, boxes of parts and unused office furniture took up the front of the room, with a narrow open space leading back. The kit and the phone were in the back of the room, so he headed that way, his eyes adjusting to the dimness as he followed a faint light from that direction. It was only when he turned the corner into the shelter that he realized he wasn't alone here after all.

The air mattress he'd seen on his previous visit was deployed but only half-inflated, sinking and bulging like a fallen souflee under the weight of its occupant. In the dimness Murdock saw the interloper was a woman, probably fairly young, with tousled hair and messy clothes that looked like they'd been slept in more than once. Even in sleep there were bags under her eyes, and a thin line of drool trailed from her mouth. She sprawled on her back with one arm over her head, dead to the world and totally oblivious to him.

[Avenger Assembled]

Harrier was tempted to simply ignore the sleeping woman; the idea that someone might have crept into a home of the powerful to spend the night was not particularly alien to him. But studying that woman gave him a sudden swell of suspicion: surely the always-private Miss Americana would never have allowed a 'squatter' in her laboratory, even one who vaguely resembled her. Perhaps she had something to do with what had happened, or knew who had! If she had suffered the same fate, perhaps there was some toxin in the air that his body was armored against, and he needed to rescue them both. He bent down and tried to shake the sleeping woman awake, his voice firm as he said, "You! Are you all right?"

[Electra]

As soon as he touched her, the woman jerked awake, brown eyes flying open as she gasped in surprise. "Oh, Steve, you startled me!" she told him in a voice that wasn't familiar to him. She definitely sounded groggy. "I must have closed my eyes for a moment." She raised a hand and wiped the back of it across her mouth in a thoughtless gesture, then slowly lowered it, staring at her own hand in what seemed to be consternation.

[Avenger Assembled]

He peered at her, something like suspicion on his lined face. He was a menacing-looking man at the best of times, and he certainly looked menacing now that he was worried for his usually-invulnerable friend's safety and encountering this mysterious woman squatting in her laboratory. "...you were sleeping?" he asked. She certainly didn't look unwell, for all that she was obviously startled, and he didn't smell any of the more common drugs on her. "Who are you? Is Miss Americana well?"

[Electra]

Gina stared up at Murdock, who was obviously on the edge of assuming his Harrier persona in the face of a suspicious stranger, and for a moment her immensely powerful mind was totally, terrifyingly blank. "I...I..." She remembered coming into the lab, of course. She'd been here three days now, performing badly needed upgraded and repairs to the robot. Miss Americana was sturdy and could perform a certain number of repairs while being inhabited, but not everything.

Gina knew she should've spread out the work, or at least taken more time with it, but she'd been afraid that if she went home to sleep, she wouldn't be able to force herself back out of the house. It had been hard enough to do it once. So instead she'd pushed herself too

hard, working till she was practically asleep on her feet. She'd planned to sleep an hour and be awake long before Harrier arrived. But here he was, staring at her.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Miss Americana?" he pressed, the fear and confusion on Gina's face enough to quell his suspicion and anger, at least immediately. There was still a crisis, but if the humans were recovering, perhaps they weren't quite as dangerous as he'd feared. "How did you come to be here?" he asked again. "Miss Americana, are you awake?" he called into the other room, trying to figure out if some mental effect in the area had recently lapsed. "Or...why were you both asleep?"

[Electra]

"It was just... an accident," Gina stuttered, grasping futilely for some satisfactory lie. The sensation of being naked and vulnerable was enough to overwhelm thought, for all she was fully clothed and in her own stronghold. "Wake, I was supposed to wake her up from her nap, but I fell a-asleep first. I'm sure she'll wake up in a few minutes, I should go and get back to work..." She scrambled up from the mattress, but with Murdock's bulk taking up most of the room in the alcove and blocking the exit, rising only put her back against the wall.

[Avenger Assembled]

"How did you know my name?" asked Murdock, the suspicion returning to his voice now that this woman was proving herself so very suspicious. He was no monster to push at someone who seemed fragile, but his suspicions were growing again now that he faced this very mysterious woman. "I have met Miss Americana's assistants and they are not like you. Her sidekick is a teenage male. She would not divulge my identity to others. Not after the Archeville incident." He frowned. "Who are you?"

[Electra]

Gina's heart began hammering and skipping as he stared at her, looking as though he could see right through her. Instinct screamed at her to run, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. She pressed her back to the wall, fingers scrabbling against the drywall as though she'd somehow dig her way through. "N-nobody," she told him, shaking her head. "I'm nobody important. I think I hear Miss Americana waking up," she added desperately. She sent enough mental power to the robot to make it kick out a leg and bang the table, but couldn't marshall the resources for more. If he'd just go away, she could pull herself together and everything would be all right.

[Avenger Assembled]

Feeling a surge of guilt at the terror on the woman's face, Murdock took a step back, giving her space away from her fear. "Yes. Yes, why don't I investigate that? Don't go anywhere." His tone showed he wasn't really fooled by the deception, but he could hardly press further without shattering the already fragile woman before him. There were no exits in the hallway down this way, there was nowhere she could go. He'd taken both the phone and the medical kit with him, and, keeping a close eye on the door he'd left, Murdock headed towards Miss Americana's last location.

He closed the door behind him, certain that the woman would stay put until he got some answers.

[Electra]

In the main lab, Miss Americana was indeed stirring, but she didn't look entirely well. In fact, she didn't look entirely conscious, or even human. She was sitting up, but sloppily, head lolling and arms hanging limp, platinum hair falling over one eye. Her shapely legs peeked out from under the hospital gown but remained in place on the table, making her waist turn in a bizarre fashion as she looked at him.

She raised her head for a moment, twitched spasmodically, then went limp again, only to repeat the whole thing again moments later. On the third try, she seemed to regain some control of herself, looking him in the eyes and raising an arm with some semblance of control in a wave.

[Avenger Assembled]

This was a very baffling set of circumstances, especially since Miss Americana was in such bizarre distress. Though Murdock was used to not really understanding what was going on, he couldn't just turn away when Miss Americana was potentially under threat. "Miss Americana?" he asked uncertainly, approaching her with a worried look on his face. "Are you well?" Normally he'd simply have declared the obvious, but it was a strange afternoon indeed. Hefting the emergency phone, he said, "Let me call the other scientists at the Lab. They will be able to assist you," he said, his usually monotone voice growing more urgent.

[Electra]

"No!" Miss America shouted, her voice raising in pitch in a way that seemed less like panic and more as though she didn't have control of her own voice somehow. "I'm all right, I promise," she told him, putting a hand to her throat. "I just need... a moment." She blinked several times and cocked her head to one side, then the other, flexing her fingers one at a time. "I'm sorry I wasn't ready for you," she told him carefully. "I was... not feeling well today. I've been working too hard." Raising her arm, she cautiously pushed the hair back from her face.

[Avenger Assembled]

"There is a woman in the other room who knows my name and why I was here," said Harrier, relieved that Miss Americana was up and around but still suspicious of her strange behavior, not to mention all the other madness that had happened that afternoon. "And she addressed me as a friend," he remembered, feeling that suspicious edge again. "She seemed very frightened of me." He walked to that door again as Miss Americana watched, ready to show one to the other.

[Electra]

"Oh, her?" Miss A's voice was entirely dismissive. "She's frightened of everything, but she's useful in her own way. You probably surprised her. That door is usually locked," she pointed out. "But in any case, you mentioned you had some acid damage to your armor plating? We should take a look at that, make sure it's not too serious." She slid forward and off the table, stood for a moment, then toppled to the floor with a look of annoyance as her legs gave out under her.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Miss Americana!" called Harrier, bending over his fallen friend. "You have to tell me what is happening, or I will have to call for help," he told her without hesitation. He wasn't blind to the way she was obviously hiding something, particularly since she hadn't told him the name of the woman in the other room either, as if that was the greatest secret of all tonight. "I cannot help you without the truth. I will keep your confidences as you have kept mine, but I will not let my friend suffer without knowing why it has happened."

[Electra]

The beautiful heroine looked more than a little put out as she sat on the floor with two nonfunctional legs, but Murdock obviously meant what he said. It was in his nature to meet mysteries and threats by calling for backup, and she had no doubt he was eager to do so tonight. "Fine," she huffed, "but I won't do it on the floor. Help me up." She raised her arms for him to lift her back to the table, where she arranged herself with what dignity she could muster, given a dozen nonfunctional body servos. "Do you remember what I told you," she began, "when I built the holoprojector for you? How I believe everyone should be able to have a heroic identity to match the inner hero?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes," agreed Murdock, remembering that conversation all too well. "I was uncomfortable with the deception at first," he admitted, "but I have come to see its wisdom. Even when I choose to show my true face in public, I prefer to have the choice to wear another when I must." He studied her closely, as if for the first time. "You could not have teleported or shapeshifted while sleeping, and I know no one came through that closed door. Is this body a holographic construct as well, like your assistant? Is it malfunctioning today?"

[Electra]

"Not a projection," she told him, her body suddenly going very still except for her mouth, which continued to move as she spoke. "But a malfunction, yes. Your visit interrupted some vital repair work." The door opened and the strange woman walked in, keeping her head down as though deliberately attempting to ignore Murdock. "A few more adjustments and everything will be back to normal. Better than it was before, even." The woman moved over to Miss Americana and picked up a scanner, running it over the heroine's legs. Murdock noticed suddenly that her lips moved silently with Miss Americana's words, not echoing or copying, but forming the words even as they were spoken.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Ah. A mechanism. My concerns are not urgent," said Murdock, weighing his words carefully as he processed the nature of what he discovered. It explained a great deal about Miss Americana, for all that it gave the woman in question entirely new depths. He was not entirely pleased with the discovery, given how he'd avoided learning the secret identities of other heroes, but he supposed this could not be avoided. "I am sorry to have disturbed you while you were working. I will, of course, keep your secret as I would any other." Finally, as she worked, he asked gently, "May I know your name?"

[Electra]

For awhile, it seemed as though the mousy woman wouldn't acknowledge him at all. Miss Americana stopped speaking, her face going slack like a beautiful mannequin. A series of switches behind the knee and ankle opened her leg entirely, revealing an elegantly streamlined mechanical interior that he could only vaguely comprehend. The woman obviously knew precisely what she was doing, working with the same expertise, even the same mannerisms that he'd seen from Miss Americana.At last she said, so quietly he almost didn't hear, "Gina."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Thank you for being honest with me," said Murdock, his own voice flat and straightforward as was his usual style. "You have a fine name. Two fine names. If your work will be finished today, I will return at this time tomorrow so you can perform my examination." His work still needed doing, but he was equally worried about his friend. The look of terror on Gina's face was still in the back of his mind, a fresh layer among many horrors.