14462/Monet restored... or restrained

Monet restored... or restrained
Date of Scene:	21 March 2023
Location:	Secret Basement - Latverian Embassy
Synopsis:	Rogue retrieves the restrained and restored Monet from Dr. Doom's clutches, only the future will tell what trials await when they confront Desparo again...
Cast of Characters:	Victor Von Doom, Rogue, Noriko Ashida, Monet St. Croix

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Victor Von Doom has posed:
     In New York, the Latverian Embassy stands tall, just across the street from the Wakandan embassy. Where other building surrounding it are a mixture of decently modern architectures, this one looks entirely like it was made in a different time. It's open, large black walnut doors engraved with some of Doom's greatest victories are flanked by silver, robotic men with domed heads and almost skeletal faces, tubes from their backs going to some sort of energy weapon on each wrist. The building itself is gothic and eastern european, with statues of Doom with his arms crossed on each corner, pristine and spotless from top to bottom.

     Well, it was pristine anyway. Now somebody seems to have crashed their car into the side of it.

     "HALT!" one of the robots makes robotic whirring noises as it clanks towards the crashed car, "ARE YOU IN NEED OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE? IF NOT, YOU WILL BE TERMINATED." Doors and shutters start to slide shut with metal, protective coverings, the giant wooden doors starting to swing shut of their own accord.

Rogue has posed:
Inside the car is a little person, in a business suit. His face is buried in the air bag that deployed out of the steering column, and he's groaning in misery when the door to the car is opened up. "My shoe laces got stuck. Damnit, Rogue..." He groans out painfully as he looks over to see the guard robot from the Embassy. "Woah, woah, woah! My name is Stanley Stillz! I'm not a threat, I swear it!" The little guy says, as he detaches his seatbelt, and worms his way out of the driver's seat, with a number of Big Gulp cups, and empty bottles of Gatorade falling out around his short legged feet. "I had a rough day, alright! Don't get so worked up!" The 3-foot tall man says, brushing himself off, his rumpled suit a mess. "Agh, my car is totaled!" He says, slamming his door with a creak of twisted metal.

Meanwhile. On the other side of the building, Rogue had prepared for the distraction for her distraction. Double D distractions, you see!?

"Nori. Stilts made his play, he got some of their bots out on the other side of the building, I'm gonna draw the rest out to the front. You run in, and try'n find our girl. Move it like you've never moved it before, got it?" The Belle had said to Nori before she'd taken off from their waiting point....

Now, all the Doom Bots are greeted with the sound of Rogue smashing through the front doors before the metal barriers can come down. She's dressed in one of her Mighty Woman outfits, faux leather bodysuit, with a forest green top showing off a fair amount of nice viewing real-estate, while a charcoal colored cape hangs from her left shoulder, and tall green boots go up to her thighs covered in dark charcoal leggings.

Rogue, triumphantly stands inside the foyer of this Embassy and puts her hands on her hips.

"Ya'll got a French lady named Monet here? I'm here to tell her she left her laundry in the dryer!" And with that said, should Doom Bots attack her, the Belle is soon to fight back!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well, can I catch a ride with you for most of the way?"  Noriko, for once, was willing to sit in the passenger seat of anyone's ride.  She took a minute nap or two on the ride over.  "I'm on it," she finally said with a yawn before simply slipping out of the moving vehicle seemingly out of nowhere.  At least she closed the door behind herself.

The speedster is in a sleeveless hoodie jacket, blue tshirt, and some dark grey cargo pants with the kicks Hank made her, dark blue with orange stripes on the side.  She watches as Rogue bursts through the side of the building and then grins, a lick of electricity striking across her eyes before she takes off, looking to use Rogue's car as a little ramp to jump into the building-oops overshot it-

One of the statues spontaneously crumbles or does it explode against the wall?  It's unclear, but the speedster pinballs against a robot's butt before she gets going in the right direction.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
     The statue does explode against the wall, but more importantly, Noriko collides with the bot that was raising a gun at the small man. "UNDERSTOOD. YOU ARE DECLINING MEDICAL ATTENTION, THEREFORE-ERROR! ERROR!" The robot stumbles, shouting "MY EQUILIBRIUM!" as it falls forward and the little man darts out of sight, the second robot in slow pursuit as the first one starts to stand.

     Inside, Rogue sees... a tasteful blend of classic and modern stylings, more black walnut, metal and stone tile along with green curtains throughout the lobby, along with a startled blonde-haired woman in glasses and a green pantsuit. "W-Who are you!?" she stammers, reaching for what must be a button just under the desk...

Rogue has posed:
Stilts is shambling away from the Doombots, and his totaled car, reaching in to his jacket pocket to pull out his phone. He's quickly texting. "Rogue. You owe me a new car, damnit. I've had this one since High School." all while looking over his head repeatedly.

Inside, Rogue drops her gloved hands from her hips, and starts to walk over to the blonde haired woman. She smiles at her, leaning forward to put her hands on the edge of the woman's desk. "I'm... Mighty Woman. Friend'a Monet..." She tells the blonde, before she just grabs the desk and starts to easily pull it away from the woman. Marching back about ten feet, dragging the desk with her, topping things off of it no doubt, Rogue just jumps up on to it and sweeps her eyes around.

"Friend of a friend said she was here, so I ain't goin' no where until she is brought out here...."

Standing atop the desk now, her thigh-high green boots stepping over to stand where the woman did all her work, staring at where she is now.

"So get on it. Go get her."

Really, Rogue is just buying Nori time to search the place....

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko races right for that button and physically moves it, which means it breaks, of course.  This causes a little exposed wire, which she pauses a moment to reach back and get a little tickle of electricity from it.  She takes the woman's glasses and puts them on as she decides to take a tour of the place herself, leaving Rogue to deal with the woman.  "I'll check the downstairs!" she announces, hyper-fast, to no one but herself.

Nori's looking for some stairs, stairs she can take down, down to places that aren't as pretty as offices and decor up here.  She looks back over her shoulder at what becomes of the desk.  Heh.

CAN'T GET DISTRACTED.  Monet, Monet, Monet the speedster mumbles like a little bloodhound meditating on a scent.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
     The blonde woman shrieks again as there's a blur and the button breaks, the attendant backing away to the wall as she says "O-Oh, then, you... You'll want to... um..." and she points to the stairs, where the blur has already vanished down to.

     Noriko comes to a giant silver vault door at the end of the stairwell, which when she stops to inspect it, flashes green and opens of its own accord. Inside... is Dr. Doom's personal laboratory and basement, where experiments, computers and various high-tech metal machines are neighbors to wooden shelves, books and occult items. An invisible sheen of a force field greets Noriko as she looks inside, and sees in the middle of it all, Dr. Doom himself along with the body of Monet under a glass dome, some sort of medical table lit from below through what must be white silicone cushions as well as above.

     "A knock would have sufficed." the latverian monarch says with annoyance in his echoing voice. "Doom appreciates your earnestness but questions your suspicion. What would Doom gain from anything that would warrant such an ill-concieved attempt at a rescue?" He will say this to even an empty room, should neither Noriko or Rogue be at the door when it opens.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Over in the glass dome, Monet is asleep. Or at least makes the impression of it. Like a frozen Aurora, her body is not moving, stiff as if a doll. Her injuries have been healed and she looks completely frozen. Still, like porcelain.

Her eyes are closed, whatever makeup on her has long come off as she would float there a half inch off the 'table'. Encased over like something being prepared for display in a museum as a marble sculpture.

Or if one wanted to tkae it somewhat more morbidly, on display at a funeral.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just eyes the front desk attendee whilst standing ontop of her claimed desk. She sees the glasses disappear, thus knowing that her partner in ... crime? is there aiding her as planned, even if the blur can be a little hard to see sometimes.

"Right." Rogue says to the blonde secretary before she steps off of the desk and drops back on to the floor of the Embassy. She takes a long look around the lobby before a smile forms on her lips. "Nice place." She comments to the blonde before she starts to head for where the woman indicated... because that's not weird at all.

"Nori. I'm on my way, let me know if you need anything. I bet this place has a hell of a stocked kitchen."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Oooookay.  Sorry I walked in on your private dolly time Mister-who-can't-talk-in-the-first-person, but you're going to have to find another one....like /this/ weirdo life-size bell jar thing is not suspicious and psychologically damaging /enough/?"  Noriko rolls her eyes.  She just can't help herself.  I mean, did you /see/ his statues?

"So how does this work?  Is this like a first or third date thing?" Noriko said, head cocked to the side as she suddenly examines the levitation from up close, completely unafraid of Doom apparently.  Her gauntleted fists close slowly as she tries to keep the slowly rising crackle of electricity inside of her...well, inside.

Then suddenly, seemingly to no one, "Damnit I missed the kitchen!  Dude I have to know.  What do you eat?  Rogue, I found her, but there's a force field here.  Maybe we can just tear out the walls or something?  I'm trash talking," she says hurriedly like she needs to get back to it lest she lose Doom's attention.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
     "STOP!" Doom commands, before softly saying "Be still." with the reverberation of his mask echoing his words. "Doom does not need to speak in the third person, Doom speaks as he pleases." He pushes a button on the dome holding Monet which begins draining... whatever substance she was in, and the light beneath her glows red, warming her up and reviving her fully. As the dome opens and Monet starts to wake, Doom walks towards the door and the barrier between them, and as if making a point, he says "I do not wish to harm you. It would be a misuse of the resources available for the coming days. If you continue to wreck my embassy, however, I may be forced to put an end to your recklessness. Did you think this was what it is like to walk into my lair uninvited?"

     As Monet begins to stir, he walks back over to her, and that echoing dulcet voice speaks again, saying "Miss St. Croix, do not be alarmed. You are currently in the comforting and secure grasp of Doom, and have been healed of your injuries. I wish for you to look upon your rescuers and confirm them to be friends of yours before I release you, as they have acted less than polite so far."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet slowly regains consciousness. Then over in the point where she realizes that she's been trapped in some sort of goo or whatever sort of thing Doom had suspended her in she goes to twitch about, even as her hands desperaltey go up to her face to try and wipe the goo off. Her first concern is.. Apparently that her injuries are gone. Also that her beautiful face isn't tarnished.

"What.." Has Rogue -ever- seen M at a total loss for words over before? Or completely stunned over into silence or near incoherence?

"Is going on?" She sounds completely childlike.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue appears in the doorway of Doom's Laboratory. She's holding a can of Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts, maybe claimed from a kitchen, and is popping a cashew in to her mouth as she comes to just sweep her eyes around inside the laboratory, her shoulder cape swaying gently behind her left bicep down toward her left thigh.

Finally, she looks from Monet, to Doom. "You're right, we haven't been nice. But I'd argue that you haven't been either. See, when ya take a person an' put them in a creepy basement room, in a creepy glass domed bubble container, it sets off some red flags with the rest of the civilized world. Add in your..." Rogue looks Doctor Doom from head to toe, and back again then. "... everything else, and yeah. Ya don't exactly scream 'I'm here to help.'" She says before her gloved fingers wiggle around inside the Mixed Nuts can to get another cashew out.

"I mean, if you are a friend, then that's great... If you're not, though... well. I mean, I've fought weirder things in my life than you, Mistah." The southerner says, cracking a grin as she tosses the nut in to her mouth and chews on it, pink hued lips pressed together in to a sweet smile for him.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well I owe you for the statue, but I didn't do that on purpose.  I was just hopping inside," Noriko explains like a bad party guest.  "And the new entrance just opens everything up," she says with a shrug.  She reaches over to snatch a nut as Rogue arrives, but her gauntlet gets caught and she quickly frees it.

"Are there more nuts?-Hi," she says distractedly to the groggy Monet as Rogue continues to take the reigns of the conversation.  "Looks like he might just want to let her go, which probably means he already stole everything he wanted from her, so we should probably do something about that," she murmurs not so softly.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
     Doom seems to be rapidly losing his patience with the pair, shouting "Insolent FOOLS!" as he turns his back to Monet once more, a bubble of energy around him, saying "This world is under attack, this world that will one day belong to Doom, and you do not understand my motivations in the least if you believe I am short sighted enough to let one of its defenders die when she rose to the occasion and nearly sacrificed her life for the planet."

     He walks towards the pair at the door, his green cloak billowing with his steps, as he comes face to face with them, albeit through two barriers. "You are Rogue, are you not?" he says to the southern belle, his blue eyes staring daggers of intensity through the mask at her. "You should support my endeavors more than anyone. I have nothing but love for the people of earth, humans and mutants alike. I could end mutant discrimination in a fortnight if I were the ruler of Earth." There is an almost sinister pause that certainly implies a very brutal method of achieving this in his tone, but then he continues, "But that must come later. For now, my attentions are on Despero. As soon as she approves of you, you make take her with you. If you attack me, I will teach you a lesson in why nobody crosses Doom and lives."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
There's total confusion over on the face of Monet St. Croix as Doom goes over to confront Mighty Woman and Zoom Girl. She stares up at the ceiling, then going to sit up and go, "Please, what is.." Her brain having not caught up over to what is going on as she glances to Doom and then to Rogue and Noriko and back again.

Finally after several seconds of her brain restarting she goes to quietly speak, "Thank you. I would like to go home now." The 'thank you' to Noriko and Rogue for having come to get her (which she almost might not have expected) and to Doom. For.. Saving her?

Yes, the Morrocan Mutatn's mind was in a very, very unsure place now.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue offers the can of mixed nuts to Nori, allowing her to feast on as many as she'd like. Afterall, she's locked eyes to mask with Doom as he's moving all up on her. She... in fact, takes a step toward him, so that they're chest to chest now. His threats draw her to him, and she just looks him over a little more, now that they're up close and personal with one another like this.

"Is that so?" She quietly says, her southern accented voice dripping with quiet restraint.

"Mistah All Talk. Why don't you go ahead an' rule the world then, go ahead an' fix it... make it all bettah, yeah?" She asks in an utterly sarcastic flow of tone.

Rogue tilts her head to the side as she eyes Doom, hearing Monet announce her desire to go home. "Look at that, sounds like she's ready t'go..." Rogue tells the good Doctor.

"Nori, help Miss Monet to the door. We're done here..."

Her eyes stay locked on Doom's covered face. "We got the most powerful telepaths in the planet, maybe the galaxy, in our crew. If ya done anything to our girl here, we'll be back, and we'll start smashin' way more than just statues..." The Belle tells the Doom, voice still soft. So much desire to throw doooown! But, restraint.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko just sort of peels the can open a little more to make room for her gauntlet, and starts to pop the nuts on up into the air, catching them easily in her mouth as Rogue steps up to Doom.  Then suddenly the nuts are just being juggled as she orbits the pair.

"Hmm?"  All the nuts fall on the ground.  "Right."  She wipes her gauntlets off on her cargo pants in regret and moves to go help Monet.  "You can use me as a crutch, get a piggyback zoomy chariot ride or...well I didn't bring the rickshaw so that's about it.  Preferences?" she asks, even as she tries to suddenly weasel her way in under Monet's arm to get her to her feet.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
     Begrudgingly, Doom allows the barrier in the doorway to dissolve, permitting them entry or for Monet to leave, though the barrier surrounding his person remains. "Because it would not be absolute." he states, bluntly and openly, to Rogue. "If Doom cannot conquer this world swiftly and utterly, then the time is not right. Time is something that I have in abundance, however. I will not let this world be fraught with revolutions and bloodshed for decades, as what would happen if I attempted this now. When Doom takes over, it will be total, and it will be peaceful, for Doom will command it."

     He then leans in towards Rogue, paying no heed to the falling nuts from Norika as a Roomba-like robot comes out of the wall and swiftly picks them up, saying "Miss Monet would have most likely died without my interference. I am many things, and yet the title I claim is not King, nor Emperor, but Doctor. There is no greater healer on this planet than I. You should be as thankful as she is that I have given my services without need of repayment, under only the expectation that she continues her work of defending this planet. I swear to you that I have done nothing to harm her or modify her to suit my needs, and there is no being alive whose word is stronger than Doom's."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix is clearly having a migraine come on and she would glance at ROgue, "Thank you for.. Coming for me." She would turn and bow her head to Doom, "Thank you for.. Healing me." Now is the time to be polite. And try to not fall down on the ground. Having to lean over against Noriko is undignified. But she's barely able to walk on her own. SHe's disoriented - from the fight with the aliens and Despero, from having ende dup waking up over in some sort of force field.. Helpless.

Something that she's never done well with. "I can walk." Her attempt doesn't go well, and she has to lean over agaisnt Noriko to be helped along. She's going very, very slowly now as she walks.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue has the peripheral vision enough to see Monet and Nori proceeding toward the exit now. She, just keeps her stare locked on Doom though, as he's right there in front of her.

She smiles openly to him, showing off her pearly whites behind those dusky red hued lips. "Well, Doctah.... if a fine job ya've done, then that means we're firends. Happy ta have some new friends any time, every time. Why, where I ccome from, friends are the bread, and buttah of life itself..."

She holds her smile then as she starts to turn to leave, moving to follow the other two, but she does look back over her shoulder.

"Nice place though. Look forward to your rule some day."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"There's no one whose /ego/ is as big as Doom's either," Noriko says with a little gagging motion as she waits for Monet to turn.  "Dude.  Seriously.  This is why you have no friends...backing you up when someone rams a whole in your embassy."  Aww, was that Noriko trying to be kind of, maybe well, not as mean?

"If you don't walk faster I'm going to pick you up," Noriko warns the groggy patient.  "This guy has way too many statues of himself and seems to think it's not alarming to suspend you in goo prior to calling your emergency contacts," she dramatically half whispers.  "Thanks for the nuts Doom!  Thanks for the heals!" she chimes louder over their shoulder before letting out an exasperated sigh at the pace.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
     Doom is silent as they leave, standing with his arms crossed and not saying another word. As they leave, the wreckage outside is already being towed away, and a replacement statue is being fitted into place by one of the guard robots, a wide-band laser from its wrist soon removing any unwanted scorchmarks or debris with laser precision. In a few minutes, it will be as though they weren't even there, minus the friend they are carrying back.