Iron Man is sticky the touch, with a thin, red string of ichor connecting his shoulder to Spider-Woman's fingertips.

Friday’s tone could be considered upbeat but also level and dry depending on who's hearing her.  She could be more lively but when is there time to re-program her?  “Upon deeper analysis, sir, the item appears to not be an Life Model Decoy at all.  The outside form covered a mechanical structure inside, one not unlike an android but not as complex as what The network has been interrupted.”

Either Quartermain looks over in anticipation of Stark’s impending comment or he was already looking when Stark looks up at him.  “We’re blacking out the site.  Nothing gets in or out without approval.”

At the moment, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent appears in front of Iron Man, his hands reaching toward the robot head.  His disheveled manner, even while wearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. standard uniform, and awkward, non-aggressive posture confirms him as a technician or scientist.  He says nothing while he waits for the head to be handed to him, looking up at the hero then back to the robot head then back to the hero.  Even through his thick glasses, he eyes are wide, either amazed that he is standing in front of the galaxy-famous Iron Man or that he’s standing in front of an Iron Man who is covered completely in blood and gore.

“We’re going to need that, Stark,” Quartermain calls over.  "Chances are it's the same type that attacked you guys in that gym."

Spider-Woman flings the blood of the gods off of her fingers while scrunching up her nose in disgust at the metallic smell.  With a chunky bugger-like glob still on her, she proceeds to wipe it on the one clean part of Stark's suit.  No sense in getting her own suit dirty.

"Give the head over to the geek.  Let them do the grunt work and then you can just hack into their database later and get the info if they don't hand it over willingly."  She throws this out there, more interested than anything in Stark's reply.  Wondering if he did know how to get past the S.H.I.E.L.D. firewalls.

She-hulk finally recovers somewhat from her funk. She gets up and walks towards the SHIELD EMTs. On the way, she passes Spider-Woman. "Thanks for the assist." Then she whispers, "You realize that arrow on your stomach is pointing right at your... you know...".

Pretending not to see him, she aggressively hip checks Quartermain as she passes by, forcing him to take a step back to keep his balance. "Quartermain," she says icily. As she reaches the EMTs, she announces, "I'm sticking with Herc." There's clearly no give here.

She stands close to the team working on Herc and grabs a towel from the back of the ambulance that Ms. Marvel carried over. As she wipes the gore off herself, she points to the head. "What's to figure out? It's Strucker."

Spider-Woman smiles, because every detail of her costume is couture and therefore, very intentional.  She's glad that She-hulk can find some humor in her otherwise bleak day of losing allies.

"It's not really Strucker. It's like the Louis Vuitton hand bag that you buy from that dashing Italian guy who says that he was mugged and just needs some cash to take a taxi to the American Express office.  After he leaves, in better light, you check out the stitching and find out it's a well made knock-off.  Not that this has ever happened to me, of course."

"If we find out who made it, we can follow the path to the ultimate bad guy behind all of this.  Or at least, hire the guy who made this to make some for us.  If I had a clone, I would...." she puts her gold glittered finger to her Rock Horror red perfect lips, titling her head to think better.

"I definitely would not waste it on my enemies.  Going after some ex-boyfriends, maybe one or two ex-girlfriends, screw with their head a bit.  Now that would be satisfying."

"You're over-thinking it." She-hulk rebutts. She expected as much from Stark, but really had no precedent with this fashionista Spider-chick with the arrow pointing at her junk...

"It's Strucker." She's tempted to leave it at that, as the implications seem self-evident. Then she explains. "Either Strucker himself made it, which is actually not a bad assumption, or he'll be pissed that someone is impersonating him. Either way, we find Strucker and we're closer to finding whoever did this."

Hoping that qualifies for a 1XP offering a simple solution...

When the Spider-Lady with the arrow pointing at her baby-maker touched his shoulder, the suit reported the contact. Apparently, she doesn't know I don't like being touched in public. I hope she doesn't try to hand me anything. He also heard her advice...he just didn't pay it any serious amount of attention. It's hard to take a fashionista serious when it comes to robot heads...and just about anything else.

And then Quartermain, and his errand boy, want to snatch up the head before he's had a chance to really look at it? I guess they don't like to share.

"Here you go kid", Tony starts, handing the eager tech the Not-Quite-Strucker-head-thing, hearing the faint roar of repulsors in the distance. "Be careful. Now, if you'll pardon me...I have to get cleaned up."

A few seconds later, the matte black and gunmetal grey Iron Man suit opens and Tony emerges as a second suit lands. The first suit closes, ascends into the sky, and departs, heading in the direction of Stark Tower. Tony looks the second suit over as he walks towards it and it opens for him to enter, it's familiar red & gold glinting in the early morning sun, it's power core also glowing a deep emerald. "Much better", he says, as he enters the second suit and it closes up behind him after he is completely inside. The internal view screen scrolls through the usual restoration of settings, and the Friday AI copied herself over in the mere seconds the two suits were in the area together.

"Power levels are at 100%, Mr. Stark. All systems are online...however, I can no longer connect to the Oracle Cloud, our satellites, or any of our local infrastructure."

"Standard S.H.I.E.L.D. tactic, Friday. None of the usual communication channels will work."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Tue 09 Aug 2016.

Apparently, the shots that I took on my cell phone as Jessica Drew were not deleted on every cloud like Stark said.  If he can't connect to his cloud infrastructure then I still have those photos for my own investigation.  Luckily, my home computer is set to do a backup of my photo folder, which is synced to my Google photo albums.  All is well.

She walks over to an ear that fell off of the head and hands it to Stark, Spidey-Sensing that he doesn't like to be touched by the female persuasion.

"You dropped this, Mr. Rodgers.  Surprised you didn't change into a V-neck sweater with that suit swap."  Her hand  brushes a little too long against his, just to give him the Willies.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Tue 09 Aug 2016.

The Golden Avenger looks at the ear in the Spider-Lady's hand, and then back at the Spider-Lady."Sweaters...and ears...aren't really my thing." Tony smirks--though no one can see it--at the devlish thought that crosses his mind next. "Hey, Quartermain...", he calls to Agent Quartermain, "Spider-Lady has something your techs missed. Looks like an ear." Tony then turns, and heads toward Havok. Time for that chat.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Tue 09 Aug 2016.

From msg #419; She-Hulk: Yes, that’s good enough for an XP.

The armor envelopes Stark, the remaining, smoldering fires and late-night lights reflecting brilliantly off its facade, though it looks rather gauche compared to the others at the site that have been beaten, soiled, and buried -- and all look like it, except for Stark.

The Human Torch’s body bursts into flame -- a familiar sight.  “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to go.  I have to fly to Latveria in a few hours.”  Before he leaves he turns back for a moment.  “If there’s anything the Fantastic Four can do, let us know.”  Then he jumps into the sky and is gone.

Quartermain accepts the robot head and its ear from his agents, gives the components a cursory look, then turns them back over.  “I’m not a techie but I would guess it’ll be the same model as the androids from that fight at the gym.  Hydra standard issue, as far as robots go.”  He turns back to the heroes loosely assembled near him.  “So you Avengers --”

“These aren’t the Avengers,”  Black Widow says curtly.  “Not all of them.”

Quartermain sighs but it’s hard to tell if it’s out of annoyance.   “Whoever did this…  It could have been an enemy of Hydra, and there aren’t just a few of those.  But I’d like to think not many that would accept having this many casualties on their conscience.”  Quartermain scratches his well-chiseled chin.  “Von Strucker is a good guess as to who’s behind this, except that he wouldn’t sacrifice Hydra for whatever reason this happened.  That creep has his own nefarious purposes, and there’s no place he wouldn’t go to carry out his own aims, but he wouldn’t do this to his own people.”  His gaze narrows though it is not directed at anyone in particular.  “And Director Fury, well, we’ll say he dispatched Von Strucker a while ago.  The report is classified but I can say that he very surely and definitively took care of him.”  He glances around at the immensity of what is left of the facility.  “This was a major base.  We’ve been tracking it for months and haven’t... gotten as far.  How did you know about it?”

Black Widow’s tone marks her own pride of this small victory.  “Cap.”

“Captain America had the lead on this place?  On his own?”

She cocks her chin.  “He has his ways.”

Quartermain sighs and nods respectfully and minimally.  “It’s a way to take down Hydra, but at what cost?  These” -- he motions to bodies piled near the hole that Hercules and Iron Fist were pulled from -- “could have been a lot of new Hydra goons who didn’t know what they were in for.”  He turns to address the other heroes who aren’t standing as close.  “What’s your take, Stark?”

Elsewhere, the Black Panther steps to stand next to She-Hulk, his own personal recognizance of the site done.  He joins the jade heroine in watching Hercules and Iron Fist loaded carefully into the S.H.I.E.L.D. flying ambulance.  Following her concern, he speaks.  “The situation seems grave but I sense, not from what I see and hear but from what I feel, that our allies will endure.”  Delicately, he touches the slick, green shoulder of his frequent teammate in consolation.

Stopping in his tracks at the mention of his name, Tony turns to face Agent Quartermain. "Well...for a second I thought maybe your boss was behind it...but then it became clear that the Strucker-bot wasn't an LMD, and I figured S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't this...subtle. Unfortunately, your techs confiscated the evidence before I had a chance to get much further. We haven't found Taskmaster yet. Either he was an android like the Strucker-bot, or he wasn't. The last time I saw him, he was being buried by a large portion of ceiling. Tell me, Quartermain", Tony hesitates for a moment, pondering the implications of his next question, "...how is it that you arrived here to lock down the scene, but didn't apprehend The Constrictor and Blizzard as they ran away?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:06, Wed 17 Aug 2016.

Black Panther used his knowledge of how to soothe megafauna in his touch and words to She-hulk. She allows herself some small comfort in his attempt. "Thanks, T'Challa. Honestly, though, I don't entirely trust SHIELD with them."

With the Human Torch gone, Hawkeye strays, looking over the site while vulnerable and empty-handed with no bow or arrows and only shreds of a costume.  "I can help S.H.I.E.L.D. clean up, Natasha.  I'll debrief Cap -- "

"I'll do it," the Widow says, not taking her eyes off Quartermain as Hawkeye drifts away.

"We have Constrictor, Stark," Quartermain says, motioning to the pair of agents taking the villain away in shackles. "But you let Blizzard get away before we got here.  Hopefully that won't lead to worse trouble than we already have."  He glances over at the team taking away Hercules and Iron Fist.  "We'll take care of the tech.  We already have experience with it, and a lot more scientists than you have."  If there was a chuckle there it's replaced with a grave look on his face.  “As for this massacre, give S.H.I.E.L.D. more credit than that.  We wanted Hydra taken out more than anyone but this wasn’t the way to do it.  This took some work and a whole lot of ruthlessness.  I’d say either a really angry enemy or an inside job.  But there's nothing else until we dig up more.”

Spider-Woman starts to have a bad feeling about all of this, something seems off about those agents.  Quartermain didn't give her the usual once over that he normally does when seeing her and she definitely was wearing new glitter boots since the last they saw each other.  He didn't seem to smell of his usual Old Spice, either.

"How do we not know that you are not a LMD, or the LMD knock-off, Quartermain?  Maybe we shouldn't let you cart off their damaged buddies. Where are you taking them? "
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 22:53, Thu 18 Aug 2016.

She-hulk catches Spider-Woman's suspicion. She listens closely for how Quartermain answers, with the experience of a defense lawyer who's clients always claimed innocence.

Quartermain sighs heavily.  “How do I know you’re not an LMD, Drew?”  He taps a small device in his hand.  “S.H.I.E.L.D.'s LMD affair did us no favors.  We’re not using that technology anymore and as far as we know, Hydra doesn’t have it.  They don’t currently have much.”  He jerks a thumb in the direction that the agent left with the robot head.  “That was a robot, not an LMD.  And it wasn’t even a decent robot, just one that looked like Von Strucker.  Normally I would say a little suspicion is healthy but this is the real deal, and you should know better.  We don’t have time for paranoia.”  He looks at the device again.  "Your friends are being taken to the Helicarrier where they will be cared for better than anything down here.  As usual, you will be free to visit them whenever you like."

“Natasha.”  Black Panther’s voice comes from the darkness before he does.  “To answer your question from before: Yes, the Sentry was here.  He was in that laboratory with me battling Arnim Zola and that blob-like creature.  But,” he pauses, though his mask does not reveal any expression on his face.  “I do not sense his presence here now.  He could be buried well below but I have used my abilities to search as deeply as I can and found nothing.  I do not detect him here any longer.  Alive, at least.”  The Panther looks around.  “Agent Quartermain, you are welcome to continue on your own search but I fear you will only come to corroborate what I have already found.”  He crouches slightly, as if to pounce on an enemy, presently unseen.  “But now, I must leave.  I must return to Wakandia for she needs me.  If you need my aid, please contact me.  Though I may be unable to return to New York, I shall offer what I can from my home country.  I hope that you are able to uncover the diabolical mind behind this travesty and bring them to justice.”  He looks around once more, a quick glance at everyone currently gathered.  If his gaze lingers on any hero it would be She-Hulk but before anyone else moves, he does.  “I bid you farewell and wish you fortune.”  The crouch becomes an impressive leap into the air, deep into the darkness, then he is gone.

Carol takes in all the information being bandied around, but needs time to process it, to come up with some sort of answer. So many holes, it feels like they're being played--if not by S.H.I.E.L.D., then by somebody.

"I've got to check on my kitty,"She says."But you know how to get a hold of me."She holds up her Avengers communicator, which she now realizes is busted up and unuseable."I have a spare at home."

I wish I still drank, she thinks, and rockets up into the sky.

The Black Widow watches Marvel leave only for a moment then turns back. “Paranoia is a waste of time and energy.  We need to take care of what’s in front of us, and that’s figuring out who did this.  And we will do that.”  She looks around.  "We're the heroes.  It's what we do."

Quartermain looks toward where the stretches bearing Iron Fist and Hercules are being loaded into the hovering vans.  As an agent gives him a hushed update, he nods then their doors close and they rise then fly into the sky which is now softening slightly with the coming dawn.  Tigra, upright and conscious but moving slowly, is helped into another vehicle which shortly lifts then flies away.  “If that’s all, heroes, then we're done here.  As you see, S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot of work to do.”

Unless anyone has anything else they want to post, we can end this scene/adventure.  You can write an exit for your hero or what you want to do next, or we can assume they wander off as the scene closes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:43, Mon 29 Aug 2016.

Spider-Woman grabs Jessica Drew's purse from where she had hidden it in the rubble while everyone is distracted with watching S.H.I.E.L.D. and Carol leave.   She grabs the super sparkly cell phone out of the purse and opens the app for an Uber Black Car to pick her up.

As a black BMW 7 series pulls up to the rubble to pick her up, she turns and does a parade queen wave good-bye, "It's been ... uh, real, sorry about your friends.  I have a wax appointment to get to, laters!"  The Armenian driver opens the car door for her, while surveying the strange scene of bodies and people in costumes.  He is glad for not having to pick up anyone that is bloody or about to vomit in his car, for which he always has a plastic bag handy. A plastic bag not big enough to be a body bag, which is apparently what they need.

She-hulk watches Ms. Marvel fly away and then the SHIELD transport with Herc and Iron Fist go. After it's not much more than a dot, she goes over to the car that Spider-Woman is getting into. "Come by Avengers Mansion in the morning. We'll figure out our next step then."

Then she stalks over to Stark. "Clear a hole in your schedule tomorrow morning. Call Marvel and any other active members. I'll meet you at the Mansion."

With that, she heads off into the night.

Tony watches She-hulk as she leaves, hoping that their next meeting will be more pleasant.

What a mess.

Quartermain called Spider-Lass "Drew". That's the same last name the reporter used. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that game.

Why is Human Torch flying to Latveria? Doom?

Why did Black Widow want to be the one to update Cap? Why snap at Barton so quickly?

Where did Blizzard run off to?

Where is Taskmaster?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:45, Tue 06 Sept 2016.

As Iron Man stands motionless, watching She-Hulk's exit, obviously lost in quiet contemplation, Alexander Summers takes it upon himself to follow up with the Golden Avenger. "Mr. Stark...you seemed to have something you wanted to talk to me about."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Mon 05 Sept 2016.

Turning around, Tony is somewhat surprised to see Alexander Summers standing so close. So this is Cyclops' brother? This is the nuclear man. This is the magistrate that took down Cameron Hodge in Genosha.

"Yeah...I did. Do you like Peruvian food? There's a great Peruvian place near Avengers Tower, and you look like a man that could use a shower and a hot meal."

The two turn and exit the scene, heading towards Avengers Tower, leaving Quartermain and Black Widow behind them.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:59, Tue 06 Sept 2016.

As Iron Man and Havok journey off together and the sun comes up over lower Manhattan, Quartermain turns to Black Widow.  "Any chance we could keep this out of the media?"  She shrugs and glances out at the crowd on the edges of the site, kept just out of harm's way.  "It looks like Tilby is already here."  He sighs heavily then without another word he goes to direct the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to clear the scene.

The Black Widow stands motionless, staring blankly at the piles of dead bodies -- once humans all.  Then the expression on her face changes.


+3 XP to those who were in the main building who finished the adventure -- Iron Man, Capt. Marvel. (Event Milestone: When you follow mission orders from Captain America)
+1 XP to anyone else who participated in the adventure, including those outside of the warehouse -- She-Hulk, Spider-Woman.  (Event Milestone: When you do something specifically to enhance the reputation of the Avengers (whether you are an official, active member or not))

For the player’s choice XP award, PM me your choice for the best player from the adventure. Anyone registered for the adventure at any time is eligible to vote. I’ll leave voting open until the next adventure starts. I will give the Watcher's choice XP award once I have the votes for the players’ choice. (Note that voting for yourself is bad form.)

Since the adventure is over, don’t post to this thread any more.  But please feel free to contribute ideas and thoughts in the OOC thread or contact me through PM.

Player's XP Award goes to: Iron Man
Watcher's XP Award goes to: Iron Man
+2 XP to Iron Man

A gloved hand tightens around the end of an arm-rest as hungry eyes swallow the images on the monitor.  "The fools.  They walk into my perfectly-executed plans, of their own volition, which makes it ever sweeter."  His mouth curls into a grin he has not known for ages then a laugh crawls from his throat, first rumbling and low then reaching a scratching, grating volume.  "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"  The arm-rest suddenly bursts, the pieces of which the villain raises before himself and crushes into splinters, and his laughter caroms around the walls of his control room.

Not at all do the Avengers -- past, present, and future -- realize that they and the very universe have entered... "ACTS OF VENGEANCE 2!"