14138/Discordants: Mirror Mirror on the Wall

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Discordants: Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Date of Scene: 14 February 2023
Location: Interview Room: Triskelion
Synopsis: The heroes get valuable intel with the aid of Hubert, but then all holy heck breaks loose.
Cast of Characters: Alexander Aaron, Daisy Johnson, T'Challa, Jane Foster, Zatanna Zatara




Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Mr. Hubert Tannenberg's requests had been approved.
    It had been a little finicky to secure the ownership of his property in Hell's Kitchen into perpetuity considering the given lifespan of a Dark Elf. Even harder to provide him suitable proof to his tastes as to the 'favor' that is to be owed to him by SHIELD and Nick Fury as well. Yet ultimately SHIELD had come through to his satisfaction. Especially when he saw the contract guaranteeing that his cat Ovi will be seen to in case anything should happen to him during this venture.
    Then there was the matter of security. WAND had reached out to bring in one of the world's best mages to help secure matters from that particular danger. And a request had been extended to the representative monarch of Wakanda to help in overseeing some of the technological security along with the aid of Agent Johnson and Agent Chang.
    Everything that could reasonably be done, had been done.
    All that was left was the doing.
    Which is why the man who looked like a middle-aged Arabic home body with his salt and pepper beard and his angular features was seated at the interview table. Why there was a squad of armed guards outside in the hall. Why there were two patrols of fighters orbiting the Triskelion. And why there were a myriad of sensors in the observation room all aimed at their current guest. A guest that was currently seated with his arms out, and the only evidence of his Svartalfar past being the purple mechanical eyes that had snapped into place as he had readied himself.
    "At your word." Was all he said.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Finally the day had come and Daisy was present of course, making sure all was according to the security protocols they had lined up here. She had made sure to go through the troops outside to ready them for the possibility of a fight with dark elves, even if such was a remote possibility.

And now? She was sitting over a computer station and overseeing the technological measures in place to the protection of the room and their very special guest. "Alright, all systems are online." she tells the others, "Feel free to start this when you want." this mostly said towards Jane and Zatanna, as they are the Asgardian and magical authorities here!

T'Challa has posed:
T'challa did not often get a trip to the Triskelion as usually he is working on Avenger things, so just doesn't have time to do both. So as the hellicopter drops off T'Challa in his fine dark purple suit he stands on the flying platform with a bit of hesitation as while it was solid ground it was still a bit high for his likings. He had then been lead with very little amount of people actually answering his questions, on why they invited him, or to what ends they had just told him to prepair for technical security, and to be prepaired.

With a sigh he walks into the room he is lead to quietly walking as at this point it was too late to worry about it, and while he didn't work with Shield as often as he liked, he still did give them some trust as they were the security force of this country. Looking through the observation window as he is lead in he frowns... "I do not know what you are planning, but messing with them is a bad idea." he notes as he looks into the mechanical eyes of the person reading themselves.

T'Challa reconised him, as he had done a bit of research since his last time running into them with Clea finding out that they were a Thor level threat, and this made him worry. Looking around the room to see who else they dragged into this horrible idea he sighed as he looked at Daisy at the computer station he approaches her. "Is there a free terminal? I can help with the system." he states calmly having expressed his disconfort in this he has moved on to at least doing it as safely as possible for all involved.

Jane Foster has posed:
A special note in WAND indicates care of Ovi, delegated to someone who can live an exceptionally long time or has the propensity to carry on that 'unto the seventh generation' bit, as a backstop. The benefits to working with those long-lived witch and warlock types, they tend to have affinities for that sort of thing.

For all intents and purposes, Jane hasn't dressed up for this affair except for a rather classic briefcase at her side, one of the more spacious kind to accommodate lawyers' documents, quantities of uru, or scientific gear rarely seen outside of Wakanda. That she's invested and innovated in this technology throughout her tenure as a scientist and victim of Nick Fury's abduction of civil liberties gets her through slightly less security than some. Notably because of that those sets of diodes and neat diamond-shaped devices can do to space.

She doesn't enter the room until their consulting guest arrives, one of the two. Ms. Zatara won't have to enter the building alone, nor face Mr. Tannenburg without a proper escort. Thus, she waits until Zatanna is ready and accompanies her in. "I hope you'll find everything satisfactory," she sounds an awful lot like a stage manager or a venue owner, but this is reason for the faintest of smiles. "Thank you for coming."

Then shall it be their time to join up with the others, affirming nods to T'Challa and Agent Chang; then onto the world-shaker herself, most trusted in this endeavour. Protocol bids her to greet their guest last, reserving the dip of her head and a spreading of her hands to show they are open. For now, anyway. "Mr. Tannenburg, we meet again. May all go well today."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Government agencies have never been Zatanna's scene: too many tales of unwanted interference from her father's early days have left her wary of involving herself with them. Only Jane Foster's invitation has overcome her reluctance to be on their radar and to follow their rules. No portal into the premises is high on the list.

Zatanna goes through the metal detector and other devices trained on SHIELD visitors with a bemused expression. So, this is how the other half lives? An agent on the other side of the security apparatus holds up a badge and calls her name.

"Ms. Zatara? If you would put this on and follow me, please."

The mage blends in with the others going through the checkpoint - her dark hair pulled back into a demur bun, appropriate for the black pants suit and low-heeled boots. On closer examination, an educated eye would recognize it for the fine tailoring of a piece from Chanel's couture street collection.

Badge hanging from her neck. The mage follows the agent into the elevator, which several floors later deposes them in an anonymous corridor animated by several helmeted armed guards. She doesn't recognize the weapons slung over their shoulders; guns have never been her forte.

She gives Jane a brief warm smile, tilting her head in an unasked question. "I'm sure I will." Her escort motions her forward, but she pauses, blue eyes closing for an instant; she senses magic that changes the banal into the dangerous. Only a faint frown shows when the door is opened. With care not to show her distaste, Zatanna enters and gives the assembled agents and guest a nod in greeting, then focuses on Hubert, who receives a dip of her head.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Assuredly a verbal briefing had been provided to the resources brought in. A quick run down about the secret identity of their guest. The need for the intelligence he could possibly provide considering the rituals that have gone on around the world. The recognition of a hostile power to the people of Earth/Midgard. Though it is one thing being told of it, and seeing the 'evidence' of the matter before them.
    "Agent Foster." Hubert responds as he has his right hand extended on the table. There are a few sensors attached to his skin, some that are apparently wireless and resemble nothing more than a medical pad. While other sensors seem more esoteric and are attached with tape and even have wires trailing to a rack of eqiupment that is set to the side. Various displays show data about him. In the observation room his image is being recorded with thermographic, infrared, and another color-coded display that simply says (CLASSIFIED). All of which show him in profile, though there's a slight delay on the classified screen.
    "I will enter the collective at first in a passive sensory capacity. To gather what information we can. It will not be a lot initially. But the flow will grow." He looks toward Zatanna, then Jane as if gauging which he should speak to about this. "The data will be encapsulated with its own arcane... wrapper. The power will build. Any efforts you can make to mute this build up will be best."
    And as he says that he closes his eyes, his right hand opening with palm facing up, fingers wide. A holographic image of the Earth manifests in wire-frame over his hand, flickering into life. It's dark, however, muted.
    "Starting... now."
    And as he says that the wireframe begins to glow.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Oh shit..." That's how Daisy greets Kings here apparently. Because no one told her royalty was going to be here today! Damn you, Jenkins. You had one job. "Errr, sure your excellency.. take mine.." there, so smooth. The Agent gets up to her feet and gestures for the man to take a seat. It's mostly up and running by now, and it really saves Daisy the time to help T'Challa get another terminal ready to go with the important readings!

As Jane and Zatanna then proceed into the room Daisy's attention is on them and her gaze focuses, "Good luck in there. We will be keeping our eyes on it through it all." she assures the duo.

And with T'challa taking the terminal it means she can focus on something else. Like the vibrational hums and distortions, just to make sure nothing out of the ordinary crops up.

T'Challa has posed:
Turning to look as the new people come in he nods to them wondering what part they had to play though he doesn't ask as he turns around to smile at Daisy. "We are not in Wakanda, nor the Embasy. Please just T'Challa." he nods to her hoping to relax the situation a bit as he was used to people being nervious around him. "Thank you." he offers her though he considers asking if he should just use a new terminal until he sees her setting up another one for herself, and slowly gets it.

As he starts to type a little to get the information of what he is looking at, and the standard readings before things start so he has a baseline, he turns to look at Daisy again giving her a smile. "They called me in to help, so if there is anything I can do please ask." he notes to her hoping that just because he is King that she would not hesitate asking him if needed.

He was surrounded by Agents so wasn't sure if he could do much more if it kicked off as they have stacked the room with a lot of experience, and intelligence. He gives a chuckle as he returns to typing a little as strangly Daisy setting things up she used the same general pattern so he just adds to himself quietly. "Great minds." as he nods to Daisy's statement as he was good to go as well though did not need to echo her mearly giving the nod to show his agreement.

Jane Foster has posed:
Once Hubert explains and begins his process, she nods in confirmation. Additional preparations follow in brief order. Jane opens the case and removes a metal box that holds the various small devices designed to abuse the spatial fabric. A handoff would deliver these to Daisy. She trusts her esteemed colleagues and guests, possibly more than spies ought to have. Good thing she's not actually a spy.

"Keep close measurements on any unusual fluctuations or spikes in the ambient energy. Advance notice to bleed off extremes will help us determine if the parameters are unsafe for either of our guests. Priority is on their safety, understood?" The recordings will confirm that she authorized that, though anyone from May to Fury can override it.

"If you can match the calibrations to disrupt the build-up, all the better." Is that the faintest hint of a smile as the possible gauntlet is dropped, or is it a scientific wishlist with two of the greatest minds safely working on the other side of the glass? Make of it as you will. Jane doesn't aim to sit or adopt a comfortable position until Zatanna decides where she wants to be. Only then is it appropriate to peel away the self-imposed shell that stops her from being subject to everyone's grocery list or evolving opinions about dark elves. Just a peek. Just.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
SHIELD has brought in their best. It is reassuring to see T'Challa at a console, accompanied by an agent she knows from a brief encounter. A quick glance around the room orients Zatanna, she ignores the devices, all of her attention focused on 'Hubert' who measures her in silence with an intense regard. A chair scrapes as she pulls it out to sit opposite the Dark Elf.

The briefings she had received from Jane had been extensive. In essence she would be a providing a magical security protocol ensuring Hubert's and Jane's safety from the hive-mind. It requires her hitchhiking into an edge of the mind on Hubert's dark magic and creating an illusion, masking Hubert and herself.

Jane's safety requires a ward, hiding memories that if revealed to the Dark Elves would prove fatal. Mind work is always fraught with danger and she only agreed reluctantly to do it. With a gesture she wraps the astrophysicist in a cloak of secrecy, an intimate moment for the two women, blocking access to all but superficial memories.

Then, the magician's sight plunges into darkness as she joins Hubert. The room is ripped away as she follows the Dark Elf into the Hive, a faint sardonic wave of pleasure comes from him at her disorientation, accompanied by a taunting question: 'Can you do this, mage?' Shadows nibble at the foundation of her being, entropy seeking to tumble order into chaos and darkness.

Zatanna stiffens and takes a deep breath, her fists clenching until she forces them open. They edge into the mind.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    As the moment flows into the next, the display of Earth lights up until it's solidified. Then small pinpricks of light begin to manifest around the hologram. Blips of light appearing and he says, "These are the signals I am receiving. Their location..." And as he speaks more blips start to illuminate.
    Around the world it seems, a handful flicker into life in New York, three all told. Then several more across the world. The number rises to roughly 24.
    The data displays record the information and collate it in real time. In the observation room several programs extrapolate his holographic display of the planet and show it in flat form upon one of the larger displays above the viewing window into the room. The map of the world shows... a variety of hot spots.
    Then suddenly more and more lights surge into being. The display of the hologram grows larger, taking up much more of the room and now slowly turning. Which is when the lights start to populate the lower atmosphere of Earth... the upper. Many more lights. The counter goes up and up on the data display.
    700 sources of information. 900... 1000... 3000... 17,000. It's there that the number starts to slow, still ticking up but slower now... 17,400... 17,450... 17671.
    And it slows there, though increments up slightly a few times as the moments pass. But at a much slower pace.
    Until finally the image is displayed and the data is gathered. Most of those blips apparently are in the atmosphere. And there are _many_.
    From Zatanna's perspective it is like hearing a distant trill of sound, a voice on the edge of awareness. Then that voice being joined by others, many others, all calling out to each other as the two of them are adrift upon a ship on a still black sea. They can see nothing but a starless sky that mates perfectly with a dark horizon. Though the ship under their feet is old and wooden.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
The box is safely put away, Daisy surely hoping it won't be needed. She is splitting her attention between the happenings and the screens but it's when the holographic display starts to beep up and translate to their monitoring equipment that her eyes light up.

"Sweet Christmas!" She exclaims, leaning over with hands on the counter to look as the points populate earth and the surroundings.

"Look there." She tells T'Challa, "Those points there are gathering points, they are matching these ones on earth." She points at some blips, her gestures over the display creating pin points to mark the spots. Yay for AR technology!

"Look at that .., they are forming..." her fingertips tracing over the last two spots.

T'Challa has posed:
As the datacomes in T'Challa starts typing like a mad man as a bunch comes up at once. T'Challa is mainly focused on routing the information, and making sure it does not overload the computers that they are at as he glances over at the proccessing amount with a nod. One thing T'Challa would give them is they had some nice toys up here though. He looks at Zatanna with a frown as magic gave him a headache, but he was still worried for her sake as being the focus could be one of the most dangerous spots, and knew when Clea did it she warned him of take over by something that she could be freed from by impact. So as he does his job at the computer he does keep glancing up at her watching to make sure Z did not face the same difficulties.

Looking down he says something in Xhosa, that could just be a swear, as the numbers start coming in and make him re-focus on the computer itself.. He considers as he listens to Daisy, and nods to her in confermation as he sees it too. He asks her quietly to not disturb her, "Could it be a trap? Something to seal us in?" he nods to the box as though he didn't understand magic he did know it had rules.

Not wanting to guess to the others he says outloud.. "We have over seventeen thousand points here.." so that the others could hear.. "Zatanna how are you doing in there? Is there any of them we should be looking at specificly?" not sure if she could hear him mid-searching. He turns and looks at the box, he looks over at Daisy.. "What is that point in the middle of the box?" he asks pointing to it on the map. "Could we get eyes on that?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Dimly, Zatanna hears a question, and lifts a hand, acknowledging it. With an effort, she opens her eyes and points at a particularly dense nexus on the map. Needing to be elsewhere, she shuts her eyes.

Even magical minds accustomed to walking the multiple paths of the planes of existence need to transform what they sense into 'human' terms. So, they voyage together on a dark ocean on a starless night, following the siren call of other voices whispering to them over the black waves. As the chorus grows in volume, the ship takes form, the mast creaking overhead as they glide over the water. Near her, wrapped in a cloak and hood that hides his face, she sees Hubert at the helm.

The babble of voices rises as they integrate into the hive, breaking around them in incomprehensible chords of sound. Zatanna concentrates on deepening the shroud around Hubert as they float toward some unknown destination.

Jane Foster has posed:
"Stargazer is in." Confirmation comes from Jane, though in to /what/, exactly, requires a fairly high security clearance to know. WAND business. A ghost in the machine, a mote in the slipstream spiralling through the eye of night. Steps ease backward to find a solid surface to support her, not that far. Whereas Zatanna takes the direct path through magic, the brunette astrophysicist listens to the echoes scribed across an invisible universe within Hubert's skull and overlaid on the cosmos.

Her head tilts back slightly as a necessity to take in things not generally seen or heard. Slowly her hands sculpt out a flat plane, hitting corners and swiping straight down to measure out a shape. "A global enclosure," the murmur sounds awfully far away, distracted. Idle tapping blindly on a flatscreen relays a message so she doesn't have to speak, following the bombardment from many angles: <That spot gets more sunshine than almost anywhere. Why pick W. Aus?>

Her mind flies, in a sense, chasing after the ship that roams a star less sea. Floating in space is strangely familiar for Jane in any mindscape. She is an iota of possibility peers through the mirrored sea and across the stygian deck, listening to the voices and the sounds, interpreting their calls. Details transmitted where need be; the whole point of a psychic echo is additional information gathering.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    In the quiet of the ship, water sloshes gently against the sides. Hubert turns to look at Zatanna, though in the image of his mind he is a stern figure in black armor and snow white skin. His purple eyes, however, are his own. He speaks to her, and in the real world his voice is heard as well.
    "I will send a single command. A status report request. It will give us the most information with the least danger and effort. Be ready." He points at Zatanna in the dreamscape, an armored talon gesturing at her. Then he lifts his head and slowly...
    A wave of energy leaps from him, like a single flicker of light into the aether that disappears instantly. But brings back a sudden series of flashes of light. A voice speaks in the language of the Svartalfar in the dreamscape that says in words Zatanna might not be able to discern herself, but perceiving them through Hubert's mind they are simply...

    << Welcome home, far child. Report. >>

    Yet to that voice he says nothing. Not yet at least. But all the information he gets... is populated onto the hologram, the display flashing now with a myriad of colors signifying greens, yellows, reds. Areas of volatility, viability. Red areas seeming to be placed under 8 of those gathering points. While there are small areas of green all over the globe, perhaps connecting to areas... the Svartalfar feel are reasonably safe. Though there is no pattern to these areas.
    On the ship in the dreamscape, Hubert holds up his hand as if to encourage Zatanna to stay silent, though chances are it wouldn't make a difference. He does not answer the voice.
    A few moments later the voice announces.
    << Standing orders: 1. Destroy the Thane of Midgard. >>
    << 2. Locate Sindri. >>
    << 3. Destroy or hinder Asgard in all things. >>
    << 4. Glory to Malekith. >>
    The hologram in the real world then displays that information word for word in a small pop up window, translated into English.
    When T'Challa then gestures to the spots beyond the box, and two areas of strong activity seem to be over Manhattan, and Perth, Australia. Directly opposite each other, but not aligned very well with the 8 other hot spots.

    Then, a moment passes, and the voice is heard. Though this time more sternly. << Report. >>

T'Challa has posed:
As they get the Data T'Challa starts typing again, though this time saving the information onto a different computer as he had learned to always back up these things as they sometimes had self-destruct code inside of them, and they were not going to get him this time. He sends a link to the back-up to Daisy as well so she will not only know it exists but have access to it later if need be. He has no idea what is going on in the dreamscape of course so is only dealing with the information he has. He glances at the data.. "That is wierd why would they be on the exact opposite sides of the planet.. It is almost as if they want to go through it." he notes his tone hesitant though as he isn't sure how they could even do that, though secretly glad Wakanda is not on that list as that would mean they got past a much higher standard of security, so thanks the spirits for small favors.

Putting the information of the several points on the planet, as well as highlighting the oddly placed ones he puts it on a screen that all can see, "I do not know what they are.. But I would suggest you look into these points." he says to the other Shield members around. Though a chilling thought hits him.. "What if those are ships.." he points to the moving dots in the high atmospher. "And those are what you people call... sleeper agents? Do these Dark Elves have enough people to do that? I mean they did open a portal to here." then stops again.

"No.." he says to himself with obvious worry in his voice typing again this time trying to find if there is any signal leaving this building.. If they were what he thought they were they could be notified, and the last thing they wanted is to let them know where the leak was coming form.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
In the real world, Zatanna inhales abruptly. Semaphores of questioning light blink surrounding Hubert's armored form into startling existence. Doubt would break the arcane shield around him; she holds the intricate lace of spells firmly with a distant sense of fatigue creeping over her.

The question asked is compelling. Hubert is right to raise a warning hand. Zatanna holds her breath and wills herself silent and invisible.

Laboriously, Zatanna translates a man's voice into English, murmuring about ships and agents. Her eyes move fitfully behind closed lids. Finally, she answers without looking, "Ships."

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane continues to stare into space with a fixed purpose, her eyes unfocused, but very much aware of her surroundings to some degree. "The antipodal positions mark the highest concentration of metahumans in the world, and Perth. Valuable for isolation and hemispheric positioning below the most populated band on Earth." A hazy filter applies over her. "Like Beijing."

A breath, long moments twisting, and she holds tight to the link. "Second T'Challa's request to observe those locations." Rank bears out if Daisy, Monica or someone else can't make that happen. Holding that tether takes a good deal out of her, and unlike them, she cannot just eat a sandwich and take a nap to recover. "They have a realm. Many armies. Ships." Horror will come later when she can afford it. For now, she drifts between there and here. "What do you want to know?" Let him, or anyone else, ask it and she will be happy to turn it against the hive mind. As much as anyone can.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Hubert's voice is heard in the dreamscape and in the real world, spoken with the same timbre and the same authority as he says, "Our next transmission will be..." His brow furrows, then he shakes his head. For a brief moment Zatanna and Jane would likely sense the hesitation in his thoughts. A moment where they just _stopped_ and even his heart ceased beating, his brain stopped functioning, he did not breathe. Then exactly 2.7 seconds later he continued as if nothing else happened. "Gauged and monitored moreso than the previous. What inquiry would you have me make? What information is most important to gain?"
    In the dark depths of the mind-link, the sky at times illuminates faintly as more data is sent to update the display of the nodes on the holographic map. Some of those hot spots move and transition, the data marking their course and speed of travel showing that several in the atmosphere are very fast, while others on the ground are moving much slower, but are moving.
    It's not quite a live feed, but more just single snap shots, and so far he has allowed three to touch with his mind.
    The water seems to swell, the boat jostling faintly in that dreamscape. High above there are now hints of clouds on the horizon. Hubert turns his head, taking off his helmet and grimacing, then throws the helmet into the water, the face mask on the front of it with the empty eyes slowly floats down into the depths disappearing.

T'Challa has posed:
Taking a break T'Challa nods happy to be wrong, and looks over at Jane. "We have some time, it doesn't look like they found us looking yet." he notes, as he is very happy Daisy set up a closed network now. He gets back to moving the satalites to try to find some of these 'flying dots' as if he could look over them he could at least see, or not see something. The lack of them might mean cloak, or magic invisibility, as he just bet they could do that. "You should ask them how we can detect them.. We can not fight an enemy we can not see." he notes though is quiet as that was just the first thing that came to his mind.

He then flips his screen over, and checks Zatanna's vital signs to make sure she was doing alright. If they were not coming to get them, then all he needed to worry about for right now was to store the information, and keep the people here safe. Though he did not underestimate Shield agents, seventeen thousand was a lot of ships.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
A wave of dizziness overtakes Zatanna when silence envelopes the ship. A storm seems to be brooding on the horizon. Eyes still closed against the distractions in the room, she clutches her hands together over her chest, feeling for the familiar thump of her heart. It races now as the voices develop eyes that turn in their direction, testing.

In the logic of their world, the helmet is a message in a bottle for the unseen eyes to read. 'I belong. I am one of yours.' There is naught she can do but hold her weave of spells and ready herself for flight if discovered.

Jane Foster has posed:
The world fades into the background again as Jane adjusts her focus as it waders into the flesh rather than the realm of the mind. It's the latter to which she truly belongs by dint of the cosmos ending up broken, but that doesn't make following in the ship's wake or Zatanna's coat-tails any easier.

Her mental voice is a strange experience, cutting in its clarity even for a modest telepath like her. Barriers in the embodied don't exist to muffle her quite so much. <Second goal. What information is available to help you look for the target?> The inquiry is made smart, tidy, barely above the softest of whispers despite its enunciation. <Are there different protocols that they have, and you do not, to function on Midgard and fulfill the goals here? What changes should you be aware of?>

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    As fate would have it there are mutiple spy satellites with the spare fuel to make those subtle turns in their rotation, bringing the areas of interest into view. And indeed, there is nothing to be seen when T'Challa investigates. No fluctuation, no waver, just the expected stars shining against the black tapestry of the void.
    In the dreamscape, Hubert frowns and looks around. Suddenly several flashes of light are sent their way, white ravens that streak across the sky settling on... an island that somehow has appeared near them. Only it feels as if it was always there. Has always been there. The feathers of the avians ruffle and flare, then they caw back and forth to each other. Saying the same thing.
    << Report. >>
    << Report. >>
    << Report. >>
    Followed with caws and squawks. Though Hubert is ignoring them for now, but their voices are growing louder. Above them the clouds continue to gather, and the ocean grows slightly more choppy. As if they could see the crest of waves now.
    At T'Challa's words, Hubert lifts his chin slightly. Then when Jane offers her own insight his purple eyes flash. He purses his lips, then nods once firmly.
    Toward Zatanna in the dreamscape he says, "Send the ravens away, disrupt their vision, convince them there is nothing here." And as he says that he ignores the caws and squawks of the birds. He lifts a hand and holds it palm outward...
    A flash of light emanates from him, which in turn causes the clouds to darken, yet there is a flow of imagery that suddenly plays out across the holographic display.
    It's a detailed schematic analysis of technology that was discovered and used against them. Used in a battle with a Nidavellin colony who had been mining with gravitic charges. The explosion of those charges released particles that could connect and cling to Svartalfar ships... allowing gravitic sensors to pick up the displacement. That was how they were able to fend off an incursion 34 years ago. No current counter has been discovered by the Svartalfar.
    At Jane's question his voice answers, "I'll request for a tech update though that requires..." His voice stops in mid-sentence.

T'Challa has posed:
Not expecting to see anything as if they were just visable they would of seen them by now. No there had to be something behind it, and until he figured out what that is he would not be able to use these to find them. Of course he doesn't see the dreamscape, but as the detailed schematics of the particles comes in he does make sure to get a copy of that for himself as well. He nods over to the person suggesting the tech update and smiles. "You know this would be a great time to get some schematics of their ships."

He ponders for a moment as adapting the enemies technology, and using it against them could push these elves back from wince they came, though it would need to be handled carefully of course. He was curious what information these Dark Elves had as he could ask a hundred different questions about them. How did they make a portal, but they had told them what they wanted, and how to detect them though T'Challa stops, and looks up.. "I am... just curious, and I mean don't take this the wrong way, but devils advocite, what if we left them alone for them and the Asguardians to fight it out?" he nods to the guy inside, "With Thor off world we couldn't have that much to offer towards the goals they mentioned."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The ravens flash into view, negative images of white against the black sky that slowly develops into a hump of land off their bow. The negative light limns their vessel, making it visible against the cresting waves. A sharp-eyed bird might spy the ship rocking against the mirror of the ocean.

On Hubert's command Zatanna's lips move as she whispers currents of air into existence, a slipstream to blow the birds away from shore to more interesting climes. "Away from here, Sharp Eyes." The mage wills the boat, the Dark Elf and herself into harmony with the mind while in the real world she grimaces, mouth downturned into a deep frown. Not privy in the dark plane to the information Hubert gathers, she dares to open her eyes in the monitor filled room, "Where will they strike next? Do we know?"

Jane Foster has posed:
The best Jane can do is what she intended; relay information. Speak of what she sees, giving words to answer what T'Challa wants to know; what useful details his brilliant mind can disassemble from the schematics and the flashes of insight that come through. Plenty may go across the holograph to be given later, but she's the one who can put emotions to the description, or colour human nuances into a feed that isn't human at all.

"She's trying to displace the energy. Take a read on what we have in the room, see if there is any way we can physically reroute or discharge the inputs." Where's Carol, ever energy hungry, when you need her? Surely there's someone who needs a snack to go with the battery?

She ever so carefully reverses the polarity on the read, sending a thin veneer of cold, blank stillness learned at the feet of a master in achieving no mind. Or rather, presence in utter stillness, because the Silent King loses that title and blows up planets if he does.

Stillness means her too, right down to the absence of speech and motion. If the software upgrade goes bad, they've got Daisy armed and T'Challa ready. For Zatanna, the obvious warning might be visible but she's prepared to mentally shout a warning if it comes down to it.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The discussion is broken by the sudden intrusion of a voice on the SHIELD comms that comes across the speakers in the room as well. Suddenly there's a voice from one of the communications officers. (( Raptor 7, repeat your last for Triskelion Actual. ))
    Another voice is heard on the comms, this one with a loud background sound of a heavy engine roaring though the comms mute it somewhat. (( Triskelion Actual, this is Raptor 7. I've got eyes on a weapons launch. Nothing on scopes. We've got six bogeys incoming burning hot. Looks like... cruise missiles. I think. We're moving to intercept. ))
    Which is when the alarms suddenly sound throughout the building as the lights in the room shunt heavily to the red. Distantly there are sounds of boots out in the hallways and a siren is heard emitting a call to general quarters.
    The comms are left open as the words from the pilot is heard, (( Lobster grab the ones at 188. I got 145. Super sonic. Did you see that? ))
    Then the comms officer voice is heard, (( Iron curtain is up, Raptor. Keep to 12 clicks clear. ))
    (( Roger that. )) The pilot says.
    A moment passes. (( Taking fire. ))
    Inside the dreamscape there is the flutter and flap of wings, those ravens turned back as if they had fulfilled their duty. But suddenly those clouds above are no longer clouds. Instead they are eyes that stare downward upon the small boat on water that is suddenly rough. Hubert turns to her and says quickly, "I'm breaking the connection..."
    Those are the last words they hear from him in the real world before he closes his fist and that holographic display disappears, though suddenly his entire body goes rigid, tensing sharply as all of his muscles clench and tense, causing him to almost fall out of the chair. Though the dreamscape is well and truly gone. The connection severed. Yet the visit apparently has extracted a price.
    (( Splash one. )) The pilot's voice is heard.
    (( Triskelion Actual two down, breaking off. Good luck. ))
    Then there is the sound of gunfire, loud and heavy and rattling hard enough to shake the building.

T'Challa has posed:
As T'Challa is typing as the lights go red, and usually that ment bad things incoming as he sends one last back-up to be stored off site just incase he stands, "Zatanna.. Time is up come back to us." he says turning to look at Jane, "Well there goes the peace idea huh." and grins a bit as the place shakes which makes him frown. Though a grin quickly comes back.. "You know if your looking to get rid of some energy whatever that was might be a good target." he nods to her not sure if that would help her in this situation or not.

He looks at the other Shield agents, and points out.. "If you have blast doors you might want to start securing this base, That sounded rather close, and I would prefer not to get missled." returning to the computer to get readings on the continued conflict. He wondered what exactly was attacking them so was following the balistic missle path back until he could find a launch point hoping that he could find them before they got closer to him. "We got a lot.. More then we had before, and it has been sent off-site." he says to both of them so they know what they did here ment a good deal. "Let us not push our luck, and maybe stop now so we may continue later."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
A peacock preens, opening its tail, all its colors sapped to black and white, Zatanna only has a moment to marvel at the monstrous eyes peering down on them. Hubert's and T'Challa's voices startle her out of the rapture. She claps her hands, saying in a commanding voice, ".locotorp esreveR" (Reverse protocol).

The boat dissolves and Hubert winks out of existence. Her first thought on resurfacing is earthquake. Perhaps the young woman at the console is making the building tremble. Her next is answered when she sees the Dark Elf frozen across from her.

Blast doors? Words she had heard but didn't process now take on meaning.

"I will shield us," she blurts over the pilot's voices.

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane says nothing when the burst of chatter breaks through the comms, too distant in the mind and the knowledge feed relayed through the svartalfjar hive mind. She seeks her own information in bits and pieces, skimming for targets of the dark elves and Sindri, whatever details can be found in the seafoam.

The Triskelion alarms, however, are too much to ignore. She blinks back, snapping her head to the side. "Watch him and keep him secure. Ms. Zatara, T'Challa, I have a promise to fulfill. Let me lower their numbers before they reach here."

She stumbles forward from her seat, pushing herself up. Her movements are stiff in a way they tend not to be, a cost of the exhaustion for running along the backbone of Hubert's efforts. The case for lawyer's files isn't for stuffed stacks of files. The hammer discreetly stored within, as a precaution for keeping the svartalf or the SHIELD agents safe, isn't outside arm's reach. Indeed, it happens to be near at hand, a hard lesson to be learned.

"Godspeed, Zatanna, we're lucky to have you." An upnod to T'Challa and she's bound for the door. If they keep it closed on her, nothing like waving her ID around or just getting impatient enough to step sideways.