17013/Mutants and Master Molds: Getting Gyrich

Mutants and Master Molds: Getting Gyrich
Date of Scene:	02 February 2024
Location:	Friends of Humanity Office Building
Synopsis:	The X-Men go to sneak up on Henry Gyrich to see what he knows about recent Sentinel Shenanigans. They find he knows nothing of interest. There is mental trauma from poking about in his head while he was indisposed. And dinner goes In and Out.
Cast of Characters:	Monet St. Croix, Julian Keller, Betsy Braddock, Tabitha Smith, Rogue, Jubilation Lee
Tinyplot:	Mutants and Master Molds

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Monet St. Croix has posed:
Henry Peter Gyrich, an enemy of mutants for decades. Fingers deep in the military-industrial-intelligence community, he'd had something to do with Sentinels since day one. So if anyone was behind nabbing old Sentinels, he would be involved with them or would know who was doing it. So that made him an obvious individual to start with. TOnight, at a local Friends of Humanity branch office, he's staying late. It's in a three story building in the very rich side of town. Some places might hide their affiliation - not the Friends of Humanity. The building was brightly lit and advertised, posters with 'HUMAN SOLIDARITY' and 'MUTANTS: ENEMIES OF HUMANITY' were everywhere as armed men patrolled.

Julian Keller has posed:
"All right ladies, I know you said this wasn't a smash and grab. Or did we change our minds on that? Cause I totally wouldn't mind just leveling that building." Hellion's voice comes on over coms. "Shh shh. I got it I got. I'm setup about 5 blocks south of the building and can see it's ugly mug. If comms go quiet for too long, I am totally comming in like a WREECKING BALL." There is a pause coming over the comms. "Or do we want to wrecking ball this business right now? I'm down. That door will be wiiiide open before you say bippity boppity boo."

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Betsy walks up, dressed in a rather demure business suit, hair tied back in a bun and... wearing glasses? Well, she definitely doesn't /look/ like either Betsy Braddock /or/ Psylocke, which is definitely the point. She's keeping up a psi-link with the team, << Alright. Once we're in, we can ditch these racists and make our way to the target. >>

Tabitha Smith has posed:
While the X-Men might not be out to trash a Friends of Humanity office, It's unlikely anyone will balk if it does come to violence. Or property damage.

It would be just a bonus but it's info they're after. From the team's vantage point, Tabby watches the building with a squinty, frowning face behind her red tinted glasses. The blonde trying to do a sweep of the place telepathically. Though filtering out all the background noise makes it a challenge. <<Chill Hellion!>> Tabby beams to everyone both telepathically and aloud. <<That kinda play is when the gig goes sideways. We start with that we just end up on socials as 'Mutant Menaces'>> she explains. <<But call it plan B! Me, Betsy, an' Jubes can try the polite approach. Whammy them and anyone else inside. See how far we get.>>

Like Betsy she went for the pant suit. A ight change being she went for black jeans instead of pants. And a few buttons of her white blouse under her jacket popped open.

She knows how to be a distraction, and still look suitably corporate. Or at least ready to negotiate.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is standing on the ledge of another building not too far away. She's within visual sight of the one covered in the FoH swag. Wearing a black hooded cowl, with a black and green bodysuit on, she's listening to comms, while the fabric of her cape and cowl gently blow in the winds rushing around her.

"I'm watchin' from a stone's throw away. If things go south, I'll be on it in a matter of seconds. But idealy we don't wanna cause a scene here, or risk anyone's lives. We're the good guys here, lets remember that, shall we?" the Mississippi accented voice speaks over the team comms.

rogue pauses at the corner of the rooftop she's standing on, her arms folding across her stomach as she watches, one arm covered in a skeletal arm decal from shoulder down to fingertips.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Everyone on comms is treated to off-key singing coming into their ears, whether they like it or not. "I came in like a WRECKING BALL! I never hit so hard in love! All I wanted was to breaaaak your walls....." Jubilee sings as she skates down the sidewalk thanks to Julian accidentally reminding her of that Miley Cyrus song. She's wearing a brown polo and a pair of brown shorts that are too short to be regulation. She carries a clipboard in one hand and a package in the other. She rolls to a halt next to Betsy and Tabby.

    "Oh. I guess I didn't get the memo..." Jubilation says, noting their outfits. "...You should'a sent it via JPS..!" She grins a fangy kind of smile and shrugs. "I guess I'll do the honors..." Jubilation drags the pad of her index finger down her tongue and then presses it against the door bell for the office.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The group is arriving incognito. Questionable fashion taste in pantsuits aside. One of the guards out front goes to the front door as the bell is rung and opens it. "Business hours are over, Lady. Come back tomorrow." He's of an intimidating size and threatening.. But he's nto taking her as a threat. If his mind is being scanned, he just wants to finish closing down for the night so he can go home to work on fantasy football and see the movie trailers that will be coming out with it.

The group on backup duty has a clear view. no immediate threats, no one else about or any heavy duty security. Up above, there's a light on in an upstairs office. Anna looking up above can see the miserable man on the phone.

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Betsy smiles politely, "Ah, there might be some miscommunication. I realize that this is after normal business hours, but we do in /fact/ have an appointment. I don't think we really need to tie up your evening any further, so why not just let us in, hmm?" And she's subtly telepathically pushing the guard's mind, because... well, they (mostly) look professional and hey, the blonde looks like that cute girl he saw at the sports bar and maybe she'd be there again this week and gosh he really should just let them through so he can get off shift FINALLY...

Because telepathy has a fairly strong effect on the weak-minded.

Julian Keller has posed:
"Boooring. We totally could have made this a smash and grab. Probably made it look like some random thuggery if we thought about it or something." Hellion replies over the comms. He's not in civvies, instead wearing red with black strips. It's very stylish and slimming. "Jubes, if you want to go to a party after wards in that outfit, I am sure I can find us one on short notice. I for one, salute the effort."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue remains standing on the edge of the neighboring building, her eyes roaming over the target site, eventually ending up peering through to the person she can see inside it. From this distance, she can't make out too much about them, other than they just look like any other random person probably watching Wheel of Fortune and waiting for their TV dinner to heat up.

She listens to the voices over the network, smirking at Hellion's comments. "Simmer down, Sugah." She quietly says back to him while Betsy works her magic to getting access to the place. "If they even sniff Mutant, they'll probably get aggressive, an' then you'll have your action."

Motion out of the corner of her eyes, draws Rogue's stare to the south where a black cat has leapt up on to the same ledge as her. She watches the kitty walk gracefully along the stone until it reaches her, with a curious look of green eyes up at her own. rogue crouches down, reaching out with a gloved hand, the one adorned by the skeleton decal, to offer the cat a pet to the side of its face, the sound of the rumbling purring soothing her with a smile as she lets the feline bump its head in to her knuckles.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby is still making sure to keep a location on Gyrich and anyone else that might get up in their grills. And sending what she knows to the team. So doing that and a whammy might be a bit much.

Thankfully there's two others ready to go in case as one goon comes to answer the doorbell that Jubes pushed. "We're here for after hours appointments. Folks run late and it all piles up but we still have to make those commitments!" it's not like she's dressed loudly. She'd actually look at home in most offices. Probably the sales departments. What the man might assumes about them, she'll let him come up with.

The nudging from Betsy should be pretty easy for the more experienced telepath.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Oh yeah?" Jubilation replies to Julian into her radio, a grin forming. "What kind of party is that? You got your finger on the pulse of that delivery-service nightlife?" Her imagination is briefly captured by images of a night club filled with Fedex and Post Office workers having a good time. When the door opens, she straightens up. "Hey, I don't need an appointment! I'm with JPS and delivering a package!" Jubilation insists, even going on her tippie-toes so she's easier to notice. "Do you need more proof?" She pulls the fabric of her polo to draw attention to the JPS logo screen-printed on the breast. She really put in the effort for this one.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The man is rather weak willed. So when Betsy goes to work her mojo over on him, he goes to nod over at her, moving to the side. "Yeah.." Forgetting that he's even letting her and the rest of them in. Once they would enter, going to mutter to himself. "Jets will have a better season next year.." Thoughts already drifting to that girl in the sports bar and that she might even let him get her some drinks and regal her with his tales of being on the high school JV team.

The bell jangles and the door is left open to the group going in. For the other members of the Friends of Humanity present, there's no acknowledgement of them, like they're not even there. There's a secretary in a very old, cheap suit that's busy filing her nails and barely acknowledging them. "Dropping off?" Gesturing over vaguely with her hand and pointing them in the direction. Right near a stairwell. They're in.

Upstairs, Anna and anyone up high has a clear view of Gyrich. Cheap suit and everyhting. He's on the phone, and is nattering into it. Of course, no one can hear what he's talking about, but it's probbaly something smarmy and stupid, just like everything that comes out fo the man's mouth. The blinds are left open, and he goes to a side door. It's identifiable as a rest room. WIth his.. Cell phone still on.

Julian Keller has posed:
"In that outfit, Jubes, we can go ANYWHERE you want." Hellion quips back before she's needing to focus on the guard. His eyes scan the area quickly before going back to that opened window. He's not far but he's not close. "Tell me why we don't learn lip reading? Or like invest in high tech surveillance equipment? I am sure there some high tech gagets we can get at like sharper image that would have let us listen to that mans convo." Hellion twiddles his thumbs for a bit. "Oh. He's hitting the head it looks like. Oh gross. He's going to take a piss while on the phone." Or is it worse then that!?!

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Betsy walks with Tabitha, as the two are clearly *not* with the JPS delivery girl. Really. Honest. She murmurs quietly to Tabby, "Stairs?" She's apparently not fond of elevators in this kind of situation, as she walks briskly towards the nearest stairwell like she owns the place. Which really, is the first step to infiltration.

Though at Hellion's report, the mental grimace in the link is pretty obvious. << Of COURSE he would. >> followed by muttering in Japanese. Which is pretty impressive when one can mutter in a mental link.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Getting up stairs is hardly a challenge for either psionic. The three woman able to easily head for the upstairs office. The guy at the door probably won't have a chance with that blonde.

It's college ball or nothing with her.

The explosive blonde though might have a ping of where people are. But that doesn't mean they know the layout of the place.

That can be obtained with minimal probing of minds. Too many thoughts of wanting to be elsewhere. <<Hellion, dude, gonna have to dial it back about twenty percent!>> she amusingly admonishes.

As for surveillance, thankfully she can't see what Gyrich is doing but she can beam the conversation over the mind link. No need for ears to over hear the calls of nature over other calls.

<<The right powers don't leave forensic evidence when we're doing sneaky stuff.>> she explains the benefits of mutant powers when it comes to crime. <<And some of the stuff we do have is downright bespoke. Like Kitty and Doug's nifty haxxor thumb drives. But we can get passwords right from the source. Get the nerds in remotely later.>>

Rogue has posed:
The little black cat is letting out a series of little meepy meows, and Rogue is quietly doing it back to him. She forgets her mic is transmitting too, thus the team is greeted to the sound of the southern belle making little cat noises.

In the distance, a dog barks, spooking the cat at Rogue's side, causing it to dart backward, then dart off toward a shadowy locale on the rooftop. With a slight sigh, Rogue stands up again, her eyes going to the front facade of the building, as Julian indicates a potential unwelcome turn of events for the voyeuristic side of the mission tonight.

"Our target is on the move, looks like he's just... well, I don't think it's important. If ya'll are inside now, you're right under him."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "They'd have to invite us in, though!" Jubilation quips back over the comms. She's not lying.

    While Betsy and Tabby might go in right away, Jubilee waits outside. The secretary's gesture to go-that-way is enough of an invitation to enter to satisfy the vampire curse. Jubilation re-engages the wheels hidden in the bottom of her Heely sneakers and rolls in! She skates along the floor towards that all-important stairwell and gives the weak-willed sap who got whammied by Betsy a gentle pat-pat on his chest as she passes, as if to say 'better luck next time, pal.'

    When Jubilee reaches the stairwell with the others, she begins opening the cardboard box she's supposedly delivering. She pulls a pair of dark Ray Ban sunglasses -- her sunglasses -- from inside and slips them over her eyes. Betsy and Tabby both get a big, fangy smile. The empty box gets tossed. Rogue's report gets a nod from the vampire, earning her the first bit of radio communication from Jubilee that wasn't nonsense tonight. "Got it. We're at a stairwell," she replies. Betsy and Tabby get a double eyebrow waggle as Jubilee pushes the stairwell door open and holds it for the other two.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As the group carefully makes their way on, as they go up towards the bathroom and office-space, a sensor is triggered that's surreptitiously put over into a wall. It goes to flash red three times before gonig to look a normal color. If one is looking at it, it would be noticed. For those outside, keeping watch and tuning in, there's the electronic alerts from thier own monitoring equipment that a silent alarm had been triggered. An internal mutant detector had gone off.

However, given it's nature over as an internal silent alarm.. For anyoe inside, there's no awareness of it. And as the group goes forwards, there's the bathroom door.. Left open. The sound of talking. Loud talking. A flush.

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Betsy grimaces, "I wish Julian had been kidding..." But, well, the nice thing is, she doesn't need line of sight to get a read on Gyrich. The telltale butterfly aura dances over her face as she dives into Gyrich's head, sneakily rifling through his memories to try and find anything regarding recent business with Sentinels.

She does murmur out loud, "Working on his mind, keep an eye out for trouble."

Rogue has posed:
With the team expertly inserted in to the target site, Rogue starts to pace. Their extensive planning had paid off, as had the costumes that had been painstakingly created for this operation. But now? Now is where the tension would begin to rise. Two telepaths in there, though, one experienced and the other Tabitha. That was enough to keep them safe, and able to delve further toward their goal of the grumpy man, right?

Rogue paced.

Her thigh-high metal boots brunching on the dirt strewn stone of the building's ledge, as her arms crossed over her stomach, gloved hands clutching the back of her elbows, as her dark cape fluttered in the cold winter wind around her.

"Everything seems calm out here still." Rogue's voice quietly says over the mic. "In and out, and then we go hit up In and Out. Stick to the plan, folks."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
While Betsy probes. It lets Tabitha and Jubilee free to rummage for anything that seems like a paper trail. If the alarm has gone off and pinged them as mutants, its silent nature hasn't alerted the women.

That'll likely happen once the Friends of Humanity are alerted to their nature.

Tabby can keep her psychic senses peeled for any incoming trouble. <<Betsy, you should totally make him stay on the can, long haul crap. Can't stop won't stop till it's done.>>

It'll leave Gyrich occupied a while at least.

"Once we get to the office, we'll see what goodies we can find. Nobody jinx us!"

Julian Keller has posed:
"I've got money, that's all the invitation one needs these days." Hellion quips back to Jubes. He's quiet for a time. A little too quiet.

"Oh hey! I forgot. Doug gave me this little thing said to turn it on when I got here. How did it go? Three clicks of my heels spin around twice then.. oh that little.." he grumbles a bit before, "holy shit. That would have been helpful earlier. Yeah, see you guys at a stairw..." there is a heavy heavy sigh. "Welp. Totally would have seen that earlier if I had it on.

"It's about to get real frosty in there. You guys done tripped some sort of silent alarm so I suggest either frog march him up the roof, or get some gloves and snag that phone." Cause he totally didn't wash his hands! "I suspect in about a minute or less you lot are going to be swarmed by some angry angry people."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah! Like in a magic show when they just keep pulling more and more scarfs out!" Jubilee adds. She pushes off with one foot and skates down the hall on a course for the office. She's ready to hip-nudge that door open and ransack the place but then Julian comes in over the radio. She grimaces and changes course, now finding a spot outside the bathroom.

    Her expression has soured. The vampire, once cheerful at the idea of looting around in some dope's office, is now staring down the barrel of having to sneak into a bathroom while a metabolizer is in there...metabolizing. "There's only one way to decide who's going in there," Jubilation whispers in Tabby's direction. She holds out a closed fist and is ready to throw out a rock, a paper, or a scissors.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Gyrich's brain is all too easy to get into. What is it about the Force and the weak of will? Gyrich's mind is easy to get into. But it's greasy and skeevy by association. Those thoughts that make one feel dirty by going in by association. How his secretary looks. The blackmail he has on someone or else. The housekeeper he has that's undocumented he's not paying that he'll turn into ICE if she doesn't do a better job. Various launderings of funds. The woman on the front page of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and how she's so chunky.

The toilet is now flushing, even as Gyrich is going to stand up now, talking into his phone. The door is still partially nudged open which makes whomever is going to have to deal with things even more traumatized.

For Julian and Rogue outside, they can see several vans zooming in the direction of the FoH building. Private 'Enhanced' Security and a number of SWAT Vans. Because of /course/ the FoH would get the VIP treatment and the cops treating this as an issue to actually respond to.

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Betsy grimaces, "Got the info. And I'm going to need a spa day after this." And Gyrich suddenly has an urge to stay in the toilet, as... well, he has to make sure he got everything and his gut suddenly lurches as Betsy focuses her disgust into Gyrich's bodily functions. And making them erratic enough that he's going to be... indisposed for quite a while.

Betsy then says, "Alright, his mind is a cesspool that's worse than whatever he's doing to that toilet. But we need to get out of here quick. Thinking rooftop exit." She's already looking around for a way out that way since... well, that's an easy enough pickup for the folks outside.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue steps off the ledge of the building, and takes to the sky. "I'm comin' in to give ya'll a way out." She says through the network. Flying quickly, she buzzes between two trees, and down toward the road below. As the vehicles pull up, and well equipped people begin popping out of them, Rogue lands upon the ground of the lawn, her hands coming up.

She holds them up, and out, faced toward the armed individuals.

"Heya, all. Local super hero here. Ya may have heard'a me." She's saying, her voice raised in volume to carrying over the growing chaos. "Mighty Woman? I've been makin' pretty big headlines for the past year or two.." She states, her hood up, her white bangs framing her face, as her eyes scan over the armed figures. "Did I trigger an alarm in there? I sure didn't mean too... Friends of Humanity? They sound nice! Where do I sign up?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The man is coming. And when Betsy stops poking. Tabitha jumps on and sends the man a few commands. Or more a very fir suggestion. Get to his desk, leave the phone. he sees nothing of the very attractive women looking to scour his office for anything.

Then he can go back to the toilet, he really needs to take a number two. It feels like a huge one, might take a while. Better stay till something comes out.

That should give the women inside some breathing space.

Just as much as the distractions Rogue with Hellion's assistance is making outside. <<Guess we're on the clock!>>

Julian Keller has posed:
It's not hard to spot a green glowing man flying in the air. But throwing caution into the wind, Julian leaps off the building and takes a slight detour instead of coming like the promised wrecking ball he zooms to parallel to the building a few hundred feet before shooting towards it. Hopefully keeping his green glowing body from being seen. "I'll be on the roof in two shakes of lambs tail." Hellion says.

It was in fact not two shakes of a lambs tail. But three that got him to the roof top but well ahead of the infiltrators so he rushes to the edge to watch down below. "I got your back Mighty Woman. Will let you know when we are up up and away."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Rooftop exit? Don't have to tell /me/ twice!" Jubilation cries out, happy to avoid going in the bathroom at all. She skates away from the bathroom and towards that trusty stairwell from before. "This can get us there, right?" Without waiting for confirmation, Jubilee disengages the wheels of her Heely sneakers and steps into the stairwell. The vampire's form seems to blur a little as she draws from the dark curse and the few benefits it can provide. In just a couple of seconds, she's at the top of the stairwell, staring at a door marked 'ROOF ACCESS.'

    "Two shakes?" Jubilation questions as she emerges on the roof. "Three by my count. /Maybe/ four. I don't know." She reaches up and tucks her Ray Bans into her hair and hurries to the half-wall at the edge of the roof so she can get a good look at the guys that are approaching Rogue.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Gyrich, in the bathroom, goes to make heaving sounds, and goes bcak to his position. The beeps on the other end sound horrible. The phone is still on. Whomever it is hasn't hung up yet. Which is testament to how terrified they are of Gyrich or how much power he has. But the man won't be moving from his position for awhile.

The armed vans go to stop as Mighty Woman goes to pull in front of them. The driver in the front one, wearing armor that look like he assembled it based off smoething in a tv series, "We're responding to an /alarm/." He would make an emphasis on putting out the words simply and enunciate them belittling way. Someone didn't like the local heroes much. Then again, with how he'd ripped off Starship Troopers, he was hardly oen to get to cast judgement. The group is able to make it up and over to the rooftop with their data in tow and get an extraction. The officers barging in downstairs find the bored secretary still filing her nails and flipping them off as she would smoke in defiance of local ordnances against healthy worklplace environments.

As the group pulls out, they have data on numerous borderline legal, ethical, and highly questionable moral practices by the Friends of Humanity. But nothing on Sentinels. Nothing in Gyrich's mind. Nothing in the data. And if Gyrich didn't have his steamy hands up the metaphorical heap..

Then who did?

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Betsy gets onto the roof, looking mildly disappointed as she glances around, then says in Rogue's mind, << Hey, going my way? Doing some theatrics and then making the jump. >>

She then gets to the edge of the roof, shouting, "The FRIENDS OF HUMANITY ARE ANYTHING BUT FRIENDS! I'VE WALLOWED IN THEIR HATE AND SIN FOR FAR TOO LONG AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" And with that, the woman jumps off the edge of the roof!

Rogue has posed:
With some of the occupants of those vehicles all filing out to give her various levels of stink-eye, Rogue places her hands upon her hips, and just smiles back at them. "Hey, ya'll don't have to worry about anythin. We're all Friends around here, right?" She asks, mere moments before Betsy's voice sounds off in her head. She smiles a little brighter before she just snaps off of the ground, using her gravity defying ability to send her right back up in to the night time sky!

It is seconds after Psylocke starts her free fall, that she's caught in the gloved and covered arms of the southern belle in a black hooded cape. "Well, heya, Purple Rain. Lets say we get outta here, an' go grab a bite t'eat?" She quips at the other, carrying her out away from the FoH complex, past the treeline, and over the roof of the building she'd been perched on originally.

On the ledge of the building, the black cat from before is licking one of its paws, and stroking it over its face, pausing for a moment to look up toward the figures flying by overhead...

He lets out a little 'Mrrowl..'

Julian Keller has posed:
"She does now I could have also taken her right with us, right?" Julian asks looking at both Jubilee and Tabitha. He gives a shrug of his shoulders. "Welp ladies, step close, don't be shy. I'm thinking Waffle House? Maybe an IHOP?" He holds his arms out so the two others can step close to him and when (if) they do, they are suddenly surrounded by that green glow of his and up up up up and away. Zoom.