A Coordinated Analysis

Summary:
August 20 2014: Red Team (well, 3 members of Red Team) talks about Virus related things and brings in an expert and potential new recruit

Red Team HQ

Accessible primarily by a dedicated express elevator, the two-floor headquarters of the X-Men Red Team combines the amenities of an ultramodern office with the homey, communal quality of a college dormitory. A small, well-appointed waiting room gives way to a grand, two-story central hub. There, the team can meet for briefings at a ring-shaped conference table with built-in computer consoles and a central holographic display. There are also smaller tables, couches, and armchairs scattered through the room, easy to reposition for meals, close conversations, or movie nights. One entire wall of the hub is lined with windows, offering a view toward Central Park.

The other walls of the hub are split into two levels, with the upper accessible by a U- shaped walkway and two grand staircases. Above the waiting room, one can find a bullpen with dedicated work stations, offering the latest software for a whole host of productive tasks. A patio balcony off to one side offers a taste of the outdoors, as well as a small landing pad for fliers or one-person vehicles. Living quarters line both floors: full-fledged apartments offering balcony views and a decent level of privacy. The X-Men also have a private underground motor pool, kept separate from the garage for the rest of the building's occupants.


Characters

NPCs

  • Mariana
  • Simon

Mood Music:
[* None]


Bobby stands and walks to the window, looking out over it, now addressing his two fellow Red Team members. "Virus… not quite how I imagined our first outing. Tell me this isn't gonna get worse before it gets better." Because he has a sinking feeling that it will.

*

"Maybe this part is the worse before it gets better?" Roberto suggests with more hope than conviction. He shrugs and points over at Illyana. "She's the wizard. I just work here. And all I know is that we have to face these problems one piece at a time, rather than getting intimidated by the whole task that's before us."

*

Illyana gives a soft huff at that. "'Wizard'. Like I need bits and bobs of creatures to make my magic." She jokes, but the smirk is grimmer than it should be. One arm is hooked over the back of her chair as she looks at the pair of them. "So. SHIELD meeting. Who wants to come be my smooth talker?" She sliiiides her gaze over towards Roberto.

*

Roberto catches Illyana's look and rubs at his eyes wearily. "Yeah, yeah. As the money guy, I should be there anyway." He has subtly resisted anyone's efforts to describe him as the 'leader' of the Red Team, preferring to describe his role in terms of paying for stuff rather than calling shots. "I do not look forward to explaining to some grouchy spymaster that I've just set up a headquarters for a team of mutant vigilantes in the middle of one of the richest neighborhood in the city."

*

Bobby has pulled his phone out. He's texting Mike. «Hey. Something going down and we could use your help. Am at the DiCosta Building if you're in the area. Otherwise will catch you back at the apartment building.»

*

"Right…" The phone slides away. "We're not vigilantes. We're contractors… And I'm not sure that I'd be much use to you there. I'll go if you want though… I think I accidentally outed myself to them a while back." He sighs. Well, comes with living in the open, right? It'd only been after the fact that he'd realized that Jamie's date's 'I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you' might not have been a joke.

*

Illyana chuckles at Roberto and nods with Bobby. "Contractors, Bobby. Contractors. And on occasion concerned citizens." She blows out a slow breath. "So. That… went pretty well, really." The whole 'talking to the adults' bit. "I was afraid we were going to hear all the 'it's a bad idea because!' speeches."

*

Mike Drakos sends a text back to Bobby. «Be there in a few. Should I just come in the penthouse or go through the building?»

He's just finished a meeting and he's been heading back to Mutant Town, but for now, he's in a good location for either.

*

"I know we're not vigilantes, and you guys know we're not vigilantes, but I'm guessing whatever Cold War relic they've got running SHIELD is going to be a little harder to convince," Roberto tells Bobby and Illyana. "At least they took the Red Team news well. That's at least one thing in the entire universe that doesn't seem to be against us." He lifts his water glass and peers at it judgmentally. "Are either of you going to judge me really hard if I start Mad Men'ing in here?"

*

"Depends. Do I have to dress up in a suit? I've got Mike here, shall I just tell him to come on up?" Assuming, really, that there's no issue, Bobby texts back <Just come on up. Some stuff related to the news about Syria, so be ready.> "Well, helps that none of us have criminal records worth mentioning. But yeah I'm sure they'll be suspicious and they'll want to know how we came by our intel. I don't know that we wanna out the rest of the guys…" He grimaces… "Illyana, do you think your friend will kill us if we use him as an excuse for knowing this kind of thing?"

*

"I'll ask him. He's familiar with SHIELD, but from what I gather, the person I'll drop us in on isn't too fond of him. So it might not buy us points, but she is familiar with him." But Illyana will still get Jericho's OK before associating him this closely to the new X-team. Hill already knows that they're in contact.

As to the rest of the Xavier crew? Illyana shakes her head. "Definitely not. If we have to, mention them by their codenames." She glances over to Bobby. "You need a rundown of those?" She and Roberto grew up knowing them, but Bobby's still new. "But if they're gonna demand to know everything before they help? Then it's just not gonna be worth our time. I don't believe in giving up that much of my liberty for security." Someone did pay attention in class!

*

Mike grins to himself, and leans forward. He's actually not so much riding his motorcycle as he is being the motorcycle; he's almost a mecha-centaur if you look closely. He's alongside the DaCosta building, which does happen to have a place where there's a wall flush against a sidewalk. He times it so he doesn't run into anyone, but drives up the side of the building, pretending gravity doesn't exist. It's MUCH faster. He's not making any engine noises … not until he gets close to the top and can see Berto's penthouse.

VROOOM!! The cycle sails up off the side, then drifts down, landing and skidding slightly as it moves onto the spacious outdoor patio. Mike unfolds from the bike, puts his helmet on it, and walks into the room.

He looks … human. Like he's gotten the skin working. Doesn't smell human, but the look is there.

"Hey. You rang?" he says as he walks in.

*

Unfortunately for Mike, everyone's a floor down in the Red Team headquarters. Everyone except Roberto's cook, Mariana, who screams bloody murder in Portuguese and throws a rolling pin at the metal man who just climbed in over the side of the building.

Downstairs, Roberto folds his hands in front of him. "We're not outing anyone, X or otherwise," he says definitively. "They want to know our sources? We say: 'We're the malditos X-men. That's how we know.' Preserves security and privacy and also makes us sound completely badass. We work with SHIELD from a position of strength or not at all."

*

Bobby nods and half shrugs. "Sure, you may have a better idea about negotiating than me. In fact I'm positive you do. I don't negotiate anything but how cold to make the room when the AC cuts out." He grins. "Still, though, maybe we should have something to give them just to placate them, you know? That's all I was thinking. This whole mess is kind of too important to let power plays muck it up, considering what the potential stakes are." The floors, they are thick. In the HQ, Bobby can't hear Mariana scream.

*

Illyana can't hear, but she happened to be turned in such a way as to see… "'Berto? I think… a motorcycle just drove up the side of the building to your penthouse. Though… I could be seeing things." She nods seriously. "Entirely possible."

*

Oh, geez. There goes ALL my cool points. Mike catches the rolling pin, and says, "Perdoe-me, senhora amável, tenho o endereço errado." Sorry, gracious lady, I have the wrong address.

The motorcycle and its rider show up almost immediately a floor below at the landing pad.

"Well, that was less impressive than it could have been," Mike says as he takes off the helmet again.

*

Roberto follows Illyana's gaze just in time to see Mike appear, looking chastened. He gives the mechanic a cockeyed stare, then says, "Mike… did you just steal that rolling pin from my kitchen?"

He finds it difficult to peel his gaze away from the new arrival, but eventually turns back to the other X-men and explains, "That's the clever part. We walk in and hand them the civilian identities of half a dozen confirmed X-men, as well as the location of our base. That's insanely valuable information. Of course, a week later, we go entirely public with that information." Roberto gives the others a smug smile. "Whoopsie."

*

So Warm-Twin does know how to leverage things. "Hey Mike. And I think that'll do nicely 'Berto. I'll come along just for, you know, support. I'm the only one in the group with exposure to HYDRA I think and I've… dealt with people with a lot more than me. Picked up a few things. Maybe useful. In any case… Maybe, if your people have it scanned into the system we can show Mike that delivery device? You want to catch him up on it Warm-Twin?"

*

Illyana chuckles and shakes her head at Roberto. "This is why you do the talking, my friend." Demons have a habit of being entirely too honest when they get talking. She gives a short wave to Mike as he appears, standing and heading out. "I want to go check with Jericho how he feels about this. Catch up to you later."

*

Mike hands the rolling pin to Roberto, and says, "Eu assustou seu cozinheira. Por favor, devolva isso com ela. Ela queria me bater com ele."

He blinks, shakes his head like it's stuck, and says, "Can I English? Ah, good. It works."

He looks at the Bobs. "What delivery device? Hydra? What's happening?"

*

With characteristically perfect timing, Roberto's personal assistant reappears, walking briskly from the elevator bank and adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses. "Bobby?" he says. "We just got a security call from Mariana. She said —"

Not even waiting for Simon to finish, the Brazilian mutely takes the rolling pin from Mike and hands it over. "Tell her that Mike apologizes, and she has my permission to take the rest of the day off."

Simon nods, glancing at Mike curiously. "Okay. Also, we've got the device secured in a lab downstairs. Scans should be available in a minute." Then he heads back to the elevator, rolling pin held out awkwardly.

"You just cost me some unbelievably delicious empanadas," Roberto says to Mike with a wry smile. "Think you could take a look at the scans of an anti-mutant WMD to make it up to me?"

*

"You've been following the news right Mike?" Bobby walks over toward one of the computer consoles. "That village in Syria wasn't hit by sarin or mustard gas. It was some kind of HYDRA developed virus that targets the X-gene. Or at least, that's what we were told by the people who were on site." How they found out about it, that's another matter.

*

"Sorry about the empanadas. Show me the scans. The device itself would be even better, though."

He nods to Bobby. He's also been hearing the muttering in the streets - little metal roaches and mice can go anywhere, and with the 'Burning Human' — terrible name that — he's been watching things remotely. Well, at least, some of his machinery has been. He's been reviewing the logs though, and the Syria news has everyone muttering.

*

While his cold twin is explaining things to Mike, Roberto leans over to confer with Illyana quietly before she departs, making sure she will bring Jericho a specific message of gratitude from him on behalf of the X-men. Then he stands to buss her on the cheek before she leaves.

That done, he follows the others to the briefing ring, standing at a station next to the other Bobby. With a few quick taps, he pulls up the scans of the viral weapon. The holographic display in the center of the ring switches to a translucent, expanded view of the device. "I'm having it held in a sealed room elsewhere in the building. I don't want it getting near any mutants until we've removed the virus from it," he explains to Mike. "Then, you can mess with it all you please. We're hoping for ways to detect and disable them especially, but any insights you can offer would be very valuable."

*

Once the schematic is showing, Bobby steps back. "Berto has the actual device down below but since it was full of awful mutant destroying virus, he's got it isolated. No need to kill ourselves, or become carriers and kill someone else." The device itself is essentially a giant atomizer, designed to get large amounts of the viroid airborne very quickly where it can be asborbed into the lungs of its victims. It's effective, tough and equipped with a self destruct mechanism to prevent tampering.

"Anything else we can figure out from this would also be helpful."

*

"I'm not affected by biological agents," Mike says. "The scan is good for shape, but I need to actually talk to it to find out what it knows."

He reaches out, interfacing with the hologram and turning it, rotating it.

"I can't tell you how to detect it until I find that, but disabling it should be easy. Atomizers all use the Bernoulli principle to create a high-speed air vortex that mixes and reduces liquid to ultra-fine droplets, and propels them to a distance. This is generally done with a narrow throat that opens up to form a spray… here, here, and here, there are three such nozzles so it covers a wider area. Probably used a small explosive of some kind in this chamber here, to drive this piston up so the liquid would be forced out abruptly."

Mike frowns as he looks deeper at the images. "The explosive can be detected, safer than trying to detect the viroid, and chemically neutralized. That's the only thing that'll stop it, because otherwise, even if we block or disable the nozzles, the explosive will rupture the container and spill the viroid anyway."

*

"It looks so simple — so benign," Roberto mutters as he gets his first look at the hologram. "Like something we might manufacture at any of our factories."

He looks sidelong at Mike as he describes the fundamental principles of the atomizer. "You're on wikipedia, aren't you?" he asks with some amusement. "It's okay. You can admit it. You used your computer brain to hack my wifi and now you're looking stuff up. Which is totally unnecessary; I would have gladly given you the password."

He looks back up at the device, his expression growing serious again as he taps his thumbs against the tabletop. "I don't like taking chances with an agent that was designed to kill mutants. It might also use you as a carrier, even if you are a mutant. Could you 'talk' to it through a hazmat suit or another barrier of some kind?"

*

Bobby laughs. "Oh its better than that Berto. He has his own wifi i am pretty sure. And as you know he is a mechanical wizard."

Bobby pauses as Berto asks Mike how best to talk to the device. If he can safely it'll be extremely helpful. Just… please let it not be a fanatic.

*

"Huh? NO. I design engines, Berto. This is all stuff I do every day. My carburetor solution was what made my engine win at Nascar when I was sixteen."

Mike taps the hologram, shoving it a little, with a 'clunk' that is entirely impossible.

"I don't have to be in the same room. But I need to have a minimum of other metal between me and it."

*

Both of their comments with regard to Mike's encyclopedic knowledge earn amused grins from Roberto. But when the Brazilian speaks, he's all business. "If a plastic barrier is okay, we should be fine, then," he says with a nod. "That's what they're using to seal it off anyway, at least until we can arrange for secure transport and get it to a real clean room. Vamos."

He leads the way back to the elevator bank, dialing in a lower floor. The Red Team has access to his personal express elevator, which means that there's no wait. "Keep in mind that we aren't certain the explosive is fully disarmed. Please be careful. I'll be more comfortable if Bobby and I can stay a little farther away, if you don't mind."

*

The elevator hums. Bobby does his best to keep the cold pulled in so as not to chill his companions. "I can put up a blast shield if you like Berto. It'll be made of ice, but it'll be plenty hard." Barriers are a thing Bobby does very well. He's still learning to be creative with his power, but some things do come rather naturally."

*

"I won't let it explode," Mike says, walking down the corridor to stand outside the makeshift clean room. "Wait, was this completely untriggered?"

He looks through the plexiglass at the device. Bigger than he'd thought. It has anti-tampering circuitry, which he very quickly disables because it's still active and might still do something weird. Now, it has no electricity and the spring that would have sprung is sprang. Or whatever. It's dead, Jim.

*

"That's a good thought!" Hot Bobby reaches out to grab Cool Bobby's upper arm, an enthusiastic smile spreading across his features. "Not just the shield, either. If there's a breach, you can freeze the air around the device. Frozen viruses are dormant, right?" His science isn't incredibly strong, but he seems to remember something like that. "Anyway, it would at least be contained. Be ready, in case something does go wrong."

If he notices that the AC seems turned up a little higher whenever Bobby's around, he doesn't comment on it. Seems sort of rude to bring up other mutant powers' accidental side effects.

"Storm only said that the self-destruct failed," Roberto replies to Mike's question. "I don't know if the payload is intact or not. And please don't be insulted by my paranoia; it's not that I don't trust you, it's that I prefer lots of layers of fail safes. This is an entire building full of people that I'm responsible for."

*

"I can definitely make it cold enough that no virus will survive." Cold Bobby affirms with a wink. "Though I don't know how much the building will appreciate it. You might end up redoing the interior of your clean room."

The ice nerd gives Mike a reassuring grin. "In any case, I don't think you'll need it. Mike built your sunspotmobile. He's good. Really. That good."

*

"Yeah, the self-destruct was activated and jammed. It's disabled now," Mike says casually. He's looking harder at it.

"Not. Triggered. So, the explosive is still in place … Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to make it not work any more," the robot adds. The explosive is a simple plastic explosive, triggered by a three-way system. This is very clever, except that the metal shell around the explosive putty suddenly thins, and then the three nozzle-looking cones on the sides go flat, and the explosive putty in all its rude pinkness is suddenly being spat out onto the floor, where it will sit like a good inert pink clay until later. The piston, which would otherwise have been so eagerly thrust into the waiting wetness, to cause the device to spray its hideous payload out onto a defenseless world, has suddenly become one with the walls of the sleeve, and the sleeve has been fused into a single piece of metal with the rest of the payload-chamber.

"I apologize if you wanted to keep it in its shape. It really was wanting to go off."

*

"I know, I know: he's good," Roberto says sheepishly, running one hand back through his curly hair. "I'd rather it not be a danger. We've got the scans — mess with it all you want."

He watches the process with distaste, and physically recoils when the putty comes flying out. He has no way of knowing that it isn't the deadly payload, after all, except that Mike doesn't seem alarmed. "So… are you learning anything?" he cautiously asks once he's reasonably confident that whatever just fell out of the device isn't going to kill him.

*

Bobby has already erected an ice shield. More as due-diligence than anything else. Mostly though he just watches. Bobby's a wiz on anything that involves energy transfer, but machines are all all Mike. And this is Berto's place so other than keeping things chill (heh) there's not a whole lot he can do but wait patiently.

*

"I'm learning what they look like … I'll be manufacturing some very specific pattern-matchers and sending them out to watch for this kind of thing," Mike says, and points at the putty.

"That's a very specific explosive. I was scanning it before I opened the container, from the air here. It's not one of the standard explosives, because they're pretty much all tagged now. This is custom-made for this purpose. But it's pretty easy to find, if you look for it, and just close enough to air pollution to fool the standard kits. I've got some moth-whisker sensors that I'll mass-produce to identify the stuff. Even if it's not one of these, it's a sign the same Hydra lab was involved in wherever we find it."

*

Roberto nods. "You are good," he says with a smile. "I want to get those detectors all over M-Town, and once that's done, we'll want more of them. Plenty more. I can get you whatever materials or assistance you need — just say the word." He glances over at the All-American Bobby, raising his eyebrows, before continuing, "Which brings me to another point, actually. Out of nowhere: have you ever considered becoming an X-man?"

*

Bobby grins at that. He's never made the offer because, hell, it's not really his place, but he was gonna bring Mike over to the school… mostly because he can, and introduce him around. This, however, might be even better.

"Are those refrigeration units at the base of the device by the way?" He says by way of noticing something odd. "If they have to keep this stuff cold ish, then that'll narrow the search down, whomever does the searching."

*

Mike tilts his head and says, "X-Man? I'm not sure I follow."

Seems like the robot guy has actually never followed the exploits of the group, and they've avoided being too much in the news, so somehow he has no idea who they are.

"Yeah, that's a reefer," Mike says to Bobby. "Looks like it keeps the shell cold, which is why the safety jammed on the self-destruct device. Virus must not like temperature extremes."

*

"X— X-man. The X-Men? Seriously?" Again, Roberto looks over at Bobby, this time seeming a little baffled. Normally identifying the team is not part of the pitch. "I guess it's a good thing that I have hired a marketing director," he says to his teammate before clarifying for Mike's benefit: "Mutant superhero team? The only mutant superhero team? Sort of like the Brotherhood, but without the whole 'terrorism' and 'racial supremacy' things?" He makes a mental note about temperature extremes harming the virus — that will be useful if he ever has to deal with one of these things on his own.

*

"The X-men have been… uh, a bit big on secrecy lately 'Berto." Bobby offers. "One of the reasons I'm glad we're doing what we're doing now."

"Look, Mike, there's been a group of people that you could call superheroes around for a little while. Roberto here is starting up a… sort of more public branch of them. Help people, operate pretty much above board, don't hide our identities and in between heroics or whatever have real jobs. He actually hired me on to do… uh, more or less what I was doing for Invicta Energy." Cold Bobby glances over to Warm Bobby. "That about cover it?"

*

"Oh. Right. Those X-Men. Honestly, I wasn't really aware they were mutants. Makes sense though," Mike says, deadpan. OK, maybe he's not completely ignorant. Maybe he's seeing how far Hot-Bobby's leg will stretch.

"So you know them, huh?" Pause. …. "Sure, I could do that, sounds fun."

He sends a text to 'Berto's phone, listing a number of substances he needs, mostly small computer chips, brass, copper wire, gold leaf, and some common chemicals. The text says, "This is what I need to fab ten thousand scanner-bugs. We'll need five to seven thousand to cover Mutant Town and another thousand for NYC, and a couple hundred for the Nest and the School. —Mike"

*

"Certo — sorry," the Brazilian says, ruffling the back of his hair again. "I guess they were such a big deal for me that I sometimes forget they're not that way for everybody. But that about covers it." He still doesn't seem to see through Mike's deadpan. Hard to out-deadpan a robot, right?

He fishes his phone out of his pocket when it buzzes, glances at the screen, and nods. "I can have all of that shipped to you in M-Town, or brought here — wherever you would prefer to work. I know you're not in the market for a job, considering you already have a very lucrative one, so I won't pitch contracts to you, just the pure heroic stuff. But it will be very good to have you on board."

*

Bobby chuckles. "I'll leave you two to talk about it. I trust this thing's not gonna go boom then?" He waits for a response briefly and then heads back toward the elevator. "I need to clear my schedule. Warm-Twin is most of it, but there's some folks I gotta talk to. And I'll bring Nan into the loop. She'll want to know. If there's anything else give me a call."

*

"I'll work them here," Mike says. "I can take them to M-Town once I have enough created."

He grins over at cold-Bobby, that sort of evil grin you might not want to see coming from a robot. Since he has his new humanlike skin, it just looks like he's a guy having an evil moment. Mostly.

He nods, "Will do." A small moth made out of the former guts of the atomizer-bomb skitters up the side of the wall and beams information to Mike, about the precise chemicals in the explosive.

"So, what comes with being a member of the X-Men?" Mike says to Berto, putting a hand around one shoulder.

*

"Sounds good, Bobby. See you tomorrow!" Roberto calls after his fake twin. "Well, it starts with the flashiest high-tech spandex outfit you will ever wear," he tells Mike, flashing a grin. "Then you end up knowing everything it's possible to know about your teammates because you're up in each other's business all the time. Then occasionally you save the world. Oh, and I better not forget about the haircuts…"


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