15978/Seeing Green

Seeing Green
Date of Scene:	28 September 2023
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Labs
Synopsis:	Natasha, Bruce and Scott end up on Apokolips. It goes the way you'd think.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Free, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff

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Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free enters the Avengers' lab. It's pretty advanced for Earth Tech. Kind of like Legos to him in general. Then again those Legos are awesome. He sets a covered container on a table and suddenly pulls his mask off and rubs his brow. <<We can do this. We can help Bruce.>> he tells his Mother Box. The sentient computer basks in his love for her and pings happily.

Ping! Ping?

"No, I do not think humans have the necessary connection to the Source to create Mother Boxes. I know you are lonely since Barda... left with her Mother Box. Sorry." He waits.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Curiosity. This is what drives the arrival of Bruce Banner more than anything else. He walks into the lab, not uncomon and notes Scott's presence,"You wanted to see me Scott?" he asks and looks around. He's not one to say much about talking to things that aren't speaking back necessarily, but he has no idea how the Mother Box works really so he stops at the nearest table and waits.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would enter in, glancing about for a moment. "Bruce, Scott." She would look over to see what Scott was doing. His lips were moving, what exactly was he up to? Or just talking to himself? Something to observe as she didn't have a full grasp of his body language yet or his mannerisms.

So, somthing she would pay passive attention to. Even as she would glance to Bruce, acknowledging the 'had been asked to come' bit

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free smiles and says, "Yes, Bruce. this is a Mother Box, a sentient, living computer. She has many uses but the one I was telling you was calming rage and other negative emotions. Oh hello Natasha. I was explaining the Bruce, this Mother Box could calm his rage issues and make both him and the other person far more happy." As for his body language, it is relaxed yet alert, much like Steve or her own. "Anyway, the Mother Box's pronouns are she and her. She pings audibly to indicate she is active. In time you might be able to make out what she is saying. For now, any observers can watch, listen and give me feedback later. What could go wrong? He's already calm!"

Obviously New Gods tempt Fate regularly.

Scott holds the small cassette sized device out to Bruce. "Touch her, think happy thoughts... Natasha, would you like to try?"

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce looks at the mother box and studies it for a long moment before touching anything. Studying Scott next, he raises a dubious brow and reaches out to touch the mother box,"Happy thoughts." he mutters and tries to find a few of those. Nuclear physics, particle accelerator, Betty Ross, and was that ever in the wrong order than it should have been.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would shake her head over at Scott, "No, I'd rather not. And I'm not sure this is the best idea." SHe would hesitate over while looking over at Bruce. "But ultimately it's your decision." She's just of the experience that 'hyper advanceda lien technology and 'gamma rays' tend not to mix well. "Have you tried any sort of simulation of this on a genetic level to see how the reaction goes?"

Scott Free has posed:
Calm. Peace and calm flood Bruce's mind. Mother Box chuckles to herself at his jumble of happy thoughts, then fixes on THAT! The angry, green presence. There's a loud PING as she tries to get him to settle down and kickback. Have you ever told an upset person to calm down? How did that work out for you? Scott begins to look worried. Break contact? No, he's committed now. <<pi-ng PI-ng>>

Scott says, "Oh, shit. Bruce, try to stay calm. Try... Mother Box... give me a Boom Tube... anyplace he can't make worse! Never mind coordinates!"

Apparently gamma rays do bother Mothe Boxes somewhat.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Everything else seems to fade for a moment. He is trying the calm thing, but when Scott starts getting uptight he gets anxious. Confusion, concern. He tries to take his hands from the Mother Box, but that ship might have sailed.

His eyes move to Scott,"Boomtube?! Going where? Anyplace?!!" Oh Scott, can't blame the mother box for this one,"You might trigger..." He takes a deep breath...it's not helping.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova goes to take a step back, "What are you /doing/? Abort it at once!" She's well aware of what happens when Bruce gets agitated, and throw in whatever exactly it is that the semi-sentient computer is going to be doing has her instinctively taking a step back to try and be ready to yank them both out of the way if she can!

But her motions are late.. Too late. She can just hope that things can be calmed down before they have to go to lockdown protocols. "Bruce, calm. Don't panic." If only something like an ICER was useful..

Scott Free has posed:
Don't poke the snake, or the Hulk. Mother Box ceases the neuro therapy and summons the Boom Tube, a cylinder of force and light forms around the trio. There is a loud Boom! as it deposits them somewhere.

The place is reminiscent of that old Sting song, It's dark all day and it glows all night. In this case, the glow comes from a huge pit of fire nearby. flames reach from a lake of lava into the black sky, painting the black clouds red. The surroundings are a huge, filthy city rising to the sky. Aircraft and flying creatures buzz overhead. Scott pulls his mash back on. "Oh nononono. Mother Box... take us ho... back to our departure point! What the hell do you mean rebooting! Hurry up!"

Bruce Banner has posed:
That's a little too much. The boomtube startles Bruce, the fact he isn't sure what it is and where it goes doesn't help. A sees the other end and the personality that takes over to protect him starts his rise.

He looks at Natasha, eyes bulging and /very green/. His face is distorted and he screams,"RUN!" Staggering back against the wall the die is cast.

Size and strength increase exponetially, while calm and wisdom decrease just as fast. Clothing starts to tear as his bulk starts to over match the material.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would look over at Scott and say calmly, "Do as he says. If we return to the Mansion with him in this state, he'll level it." She goes to start into a sprint. "Where are we, and what /are/ those things?" Natasha is going to draw out a pistol, looking over her shoulder at the flying things and ready to start shooting if they move to pursue. Evaluating them for weak points.

Joints, limbs, wingspan.. If she has to, places where bullets could pierce even on armored parts of their anatomy.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free says, "Stay down. An air patrol will spot you. This, is where I'm from, a cancer on the Universe. Apokolips. I'm going to try to talk him down, as soon as he finishes this growth spurt. Uhm..." Think Scott, THINK!

"Hi handsome!"

Bruce Banner has posed:
The point of no returns was miles ago and finally the angry man rises from the ground. What little bit that is left of his shirt is tossed to the side. He looks around himself, eyes seeing Natasha and then Scott. Anyone want to guess which one annoyed him?

A roar escapes his throat and he starts towards the one that woke him. At least he doesn't try to talk, just a mad roar and he comes with the pain.

Focused on Scott he doesn't really notice anything beyond him for the time being. Those eyes, they don't look terribly flattered or even rational.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And there's a careful moment as Natasha watches. "What is our current location,a nd what are those aerial threats?" And why did the Mother Box think somewhere like /here/ would be a good location to bring them to? Natasha keeps her pistol loaded, but doesn't go to fire it.

"They're going to be all over us in short order regardless. How do we engage them until your teleportation device resets?" She's come to accept that they're going to have to fight.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free dives between the jade giant's knees. He's a little busy to give a tactical view. "Ahhh assume everything on this planet wants to kill us and use lethal force. And it's a Mother Box!"

Some distance away, up in a tower, a huge hand writes equations on a white bard.

"My lord... Father... with all due regrets for interrupting your work."

"Speak. Twenty five words or less."

The ogre like Kalibak rises from his bended knee, still dwarfed by the towering figure before him. Kalibak licks thick lips and begins again.

"Father, a boom tube was detected. It may be Scott Free."

The figure never stops writing. "Take an attack swarm. If it is Scott Free, bring him to me. Alive. Kill all others."

Kalibak's eyes light up with glee.

"Yes Lord. Hail!" He salutes and backs away.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Fortunate for Scott he is quick because he feels the gale of wind/sound wave when Hulk's hands clap together where Scott just was. He turns around to find the other and sees the flying 'monkeys' that are closing. His eyes move to Natasha and sees she isn't preparing to attack him, so he turns towards the swarm again.

A good thing for Scott, Hulk really hates a crowd and his legs bend at the knees a bit, the muscles in his legs rippling as he roar in defiance and leaps towards the swarm of parademons swatting at any that are in his range.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
That's a thorough enough answer. Natasha can handle everything being after them. First glance to the ground and the foundations. Signs of the terrain being sentient and about to lash out at them and attack? SIgns of conductors or sensors that would direct interceptors towards them? Any sort of cover will be permeable and probably act as a funnel to pin them.

She goes to keep her pistol up and over, keeping careful aim over at the nearest flying thing being swatted at by the Hulk. "We'll have a very limited ability to get him to come along with us. And he'll be highly mobile. So how much distance can the box handle us being separated to teleport?" She doesn't add 'safely'. EIther it will work or they'll die.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free clicks his heels together and two glowing disks appear under his feet. He holds his hand out to Natasha, "I can keep up. Need a lift? Or are you more the swing line sort of woman? OH, Okay, that big beefy egg shaped guy with the bad teeth is Kalibak. Oh."

There might just be some justice in this Universe after all.

Kalibak leads the charge, wielding a huge metal club that fires energy blasts at the Hulk. Kalibak lets out a roar of his own.

Bruce Banner has posed:
The roar from Kalibak gets Hulk's attenton away from the parademons. New taget engage. Hulk hits the ground, roars louder yet, and leaps at the annoyance firing energy blasts. His teeth grind together and he catches a few blasts in the abdomen.

Good news for Kalibak. His aim is accurate. Bad news for Kalibak, his aim just enrages the man monster worse and as he leaps at the son of the ruler, both hands rise above his head prepared to drive both fists into the despot's head.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Strength probably puts him at a point where he can engage Hulk on even terms. To start wtih. The question is how far he can go before Hulk overmatches him. But Natasha estimates they don't have the time to wait that long. She evaulates Kalibak from her position. Her weapons will be completely useless on him. Anyone invulnerable to thedegree to trade blows wtih anyone at Hulk's strength level won't even notice her array of weapons. Even the specialized ones. But she can't just abandon her teammate.

She goes to consider her options. Then she goes to take up a small capsule from one of her belts. She loads the capsule to her gun, and aims it. Evaluating trajectory, distance.. And moves to try and fire the pellet from the small railgun that powers her pistol.. At Kalibak's upper face.

Said pellet is a hyperstrong glue capsule made out of SHIELD's attempts at copying Trapster (Aka Paste Pot Pete) and Spider-Woman's webbing to various degrees. Far weaker. But.. Hopefully being completely blinded while in a fight with someone in the Class 100+ Strength Tier will make the fight that much faster.

Scott Free has posed:
The pellet misses Kalibak's face, by virtue of landing in his gaping mouth. This makes talking somewhat impossible, Not to mention roaring. "Grmmmmmmmmmmmphhbbbt!" The parademons holding back out of respect take this as an order to attack. Suddenly the Hulk is in the center of a ball of limbs and wings.

Scott loses it. "That has to be the best shot EVER! Bwahahahahaha! Oh my Source... so do we just wait till he gets tired or what? Ack! Incoming!" A squad or wing of parademons breaks off to attack the obvious New God -in the gaudiest costume they ever saw. Seriously, Silver Age Robin was nondescript compared to Mr. Miracle! Scott starts doing a good impression of John Wick, kicking, punching, and throwing and trying hard not to get hit.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Almost got the nuisance, then suddenly Hulk is mobbed with monsters. The whole blob of them shift down in the air, he's not a light weight and gravity gives him a little pull.

The roars and screams that come from the mass of bodies and the loudest is the angry man. Parademons are no slouch, but being held only makes his madder. Madder means stronger.

The sounds of body parts breaking becomes a symphony all its own. Overwhelmed turns into hip ripping his way out of body parts to pull them all to the ground,"Hulk is the strongest there is." he screams at the sky.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
This is the situation getting worse. The angrier Hulk gets.. The harder it will be to extract him. And even more unlikely ot be able to ge thim to stand down if they can return to Earth without immense collateral damage. On top of an extended fight from him facing someone in his own strength class.. Natasha goes to line up shots over at the alien fliers attacking Scott.

Shots go out at them mid-strike and evade of Scott. Shots at eyes, wing-joints, throats, what passes for organs.. Natasha prioritizes parts of the anatomy required for flexibility and movement. The types that have to be much more uncovered to allow them to operate. She goes to cripple.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free relies on hitting them in the nuts a lot. rabbit punches work too. He's fast enough to wheel around the fist coming at him and strike from behind.

Only, Kalibak is no slouch and Scott entirely forgot about him. Kalibak's club comes out of nowhere, Snapping unlucky parademons like kindling, it grazes Scott, sending him into a wall and stunning him long enough for a massive paw to grab him by the throat. "Scott Free, I knew it! Father will reward me!"

That was what Kalibak meant to say. His case of glue mouth renders it as, "Gableemnmitfablarwabllakwarblee!"

Uh oh...

Bruce Banner has posed:
A roaring challenge will get the attention of more parademons, but Hulk doesn't care. At all. Instead the raging berzerker leaps into the middle of another swarm, catching one by the leg and using it as a weapon by striking the others with its head. His free hand swats away the ones that get too close and he roars in defiance again.

While he may want to be left alone, he is made for this sort of thing inspite of himself. They land a few good hits of course, but Hulk is in a rage and not really overly bothered by the blows that would halt most. It slows his progress, but at this point not much of anything is going to stop his progress.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Now the issue is that they're going to have to get Hulk to come along with them when there's a horde of things that are blitzing into him from every direction. And they have to teleport him back to Earth without him in a state where he would level most of the city along with it.

"How much accuracy can your adjunct manipulate when teleporting us? And how far from our original location can you bring us?" She's not bothering to take potshots over at Kalibak. She goes to give Scott more supporting fire, going ot blast at some of the Parademons. MOreso to annoy them than anything else.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free nods. Hard to talk with your throat in the middle of a fist. then he punches Kalibak in the pass of glue stuck in his mouth. The big goon snorts and gags before he holsters his club and snatches the globule, ripping it free. He glares at Scott and then reaches for the club on hos belt.

"Father said to bring you alive. He did not say unharmed!" He grabs again for his club, groping.

Scott holds Kalibak's club up.

Scott fires a full power shot hitting Kalibak in the face and slips loose.

He yells to Natasha, "Let's work on stayoing alive right now!"

He aims a neural blast at the Hulk's back. It won't injure him but it does stimulate every nerve and hurt like hell. A moment later Kalibak, still seeing blurry, snatches it back. "Give me that, you weasel!" Scott pointa at Kalibak for the Hulk's benefit. He seemed about done with this wave of Parademons anyway.

Bruce Banner has posed:
The last of the parademons falls at the hand of the Hulk. Then the weapon blind sides him. He throws his arms back, the pain searing enough to really set him off. The roar that he emits could break ear drums if they were too close.

Once the wave passes, a slow turn of his body and a menace of his face that screams louder than he could. He starts towards Kalibak, spittle erupting from his mouth when he roars another challenge,"HULK SMASH!!!" It's the simple things that make the green goliath happy and rending Kalibak looks like it might be the next little thing.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Hulk happy is a misnomer. WHen Hulk is happy, there is Banner. When Hulk is enraged, there is nothing but a challenge to destroy everything until it is gone and the rage passes, letting calm come again. Natasha goes to quickly debate her options. The Parademons are down, and there's nothing that her loadout and kit is going to do against Kalibak. He's not going to even feel her attacks - those with high tier invulnerability won't. So there's no sense in wasting bullets when they'll just be wasted.

She keeps her weapon up, and goes to line up a shot.. But not over at Kalibak directly. No.. She goes to line it up at two of the Parademons that are in a scrambling, strafing run of claws aimed at Hulk. She goes to try and shoot them each over at the tip where arched neck met spinal column and armored vertebrae. The small railgun that is her primary sidearm here won't do much damage even if the rounds penetrate. But having a solid tungsten shell impacting your spinal column at fifteen times the speed of sound will do a number, even with no penetration. So hopefully this has the two Parademons smashing hard into Kalibak.. All she has to do is blind him for jus ta few nanoseconds - where he's busy raging against his hordes and less focused on Banner..

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free ducks the parademons who indeed slam into Kalibak. This does not spare him from what happens next.

KA-thooooooom!!!

Some distance away... the towering figure works at his equations, eyes glowing red.

Crash!

Kalibak flies through the far wall into the white board -obliterating it.

Scott opens his eyes, his entire body vibrating from the force.

"Wow! That was great! You were awesome, no, INCREDIBLE!" The Hulk is treated to something that may be a first, applause and cheering. Some of the locals even get in on it!

Bruce Banner has posed:
The interference gets Scott a dirty look and the rage inside almost looks like it might be pointed at him. Instead, the Hulk frowns and his head turns to the side a little bit. Cofusion replaces rage and he lunges at Scott, then pulls up short. The green eyes study the man like he's lost his mind.

His attention moves to the other applauding and he then back at the man. Not more fight, Hulk turns and prepares to jump away to someplace quiet. No sign of threat now and these people are just too weird. He looks at Nat and then back at Scott again, breathing slowing and still not sure what to think about people that actually seem to like him.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova goes to keep her weapon up and out, but now isn't actively pointing it over at anyone. She glances to Scott. "Tell the locals to get back to cover immediately." She expects they have a few seconds until the big brute returns. And they're not staying here. The civilians shouldn't be killed because they're caught applauding in front of people who will be fleeing.

"Then teleport us somewhere back on Earth isolated. Arizona. Make sure to put a few hundred kilometers between us and anywhere inhabited."

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free blinks then says, "Look! Granny Goodness!!" The locals scatter. Streetwise. then he brings up the Mother Box and activates the Boom Tube function.

"Scott Free, take your friends and go. None of you are any use to me!" The voice is rough, gravelly but clearly modulated. It issues from a dark figure atop a flying platform. The figures eyes glow. "You will remain alive, proof that my treaty with New Genesis is null. begone. Now. This chaos annoys me."

"Uhmmmm... okay. Thanks!"

Bruce Banner has posed:
The arrival of the new figure gets Hulk's attention and a low growl escapes his throat, but since there is no aggression he continues to breathe slower. Settling down the monster isn't easy since he is so fond of rending things.

He moves his attention between Scott and Natasha again. A little confused still, certainly ready to rage again, but quickly starting to come down. He takes a seat on a rock, still calming.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Yes, it's time to go. Things are filed away to talk to Scott with afterwords. But, they seem to be being dismissed, so Natasha Romanova will take her survival as a win. And even now as she files away some search terms to look up later in the Mansion's computer database.

But she has a feeling there won't be anything there.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free activates the 'tube. He doesn't take his eyes off the floating icon of evil. The figure emits a low chuckle. "Return to Earth Scott Free. I will give your regards to High Father -before I take his head... or before you can greet him when I deliver him to you in chains. But I have no time for this chaos now."

Scott hesitantly holds a hand out to the Hulk,

"C'mon, big guy, This place will get very noisy in a minute. I know the tube got a little loud but I promise to take you someplace quiet. You earned it... I have Skittles?" He holds out a bag of the candy. "Please, buddy."

Bruce Banner has posed:
Hulk looks at the threatening person and growls darkly again. Since this one doesn't threaten him he lets it go. Looking at Scott he turns his head to the side a little. Finally, he rises and starts to walk with Scott.

The idea of noise isn't appealing, but more noise is less appealing. Once more he looks at Nat and then starts towards anywhere but here, noisy or not.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And that designation also gets a wary look over from Natasha to Scott, and that -thing- that she can't even make out speaking. There are more pieces of this puzzle being put in to refine her search algorithms . New Genesis. High Father. Treaty. Familiarty with Scott Free. Perhaps personal association? Things to let her narrow down what she's after.

Going along with Scott and Hulk is very much an afterthought now. She's still as a murderous statue.

Scott Free has posed:
Scott Free steps into the 'tube, looking somewhat relieved. Then he sees Natasha frozen. Somehow still menacing. "Natasha. We have to go. I'll explain everything... this is not your fight. Come on. Don't upset the big guy."

Bruce Banner has posed:
While Hulk isn't particularly a crusader in any sense of the word, he hears Scott talk and realizes that Natasha isn't following. He stops short and turns back towards the potential war. Loyalty or just soft in the head, either way she is not staying without him and as much as he wants quiet he's ready to make it quiet here if that's what it takes. Looking at the figure above, the mostly calm snorts a growl in defiance, ready to go again.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would walk along, "Very well. Then let us go. And I will have /many/ questions after this." Her tone is flat but otherwise understanding. They all have secrets and things they flee and hide from.