17131/Take your Vitamin

Take your Vitamin
Date of Scene:	08 February 2024
Location:	Batcave
Synopsis:	Damian examines the 'vitamin packs' Gotham U's psych department has been experimenting with in student trials, and had begun to send out to prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, and continued to use on their student population. He finds that Phoebe is quite touchy on some subjects. Bruce gets to witness the interactions souring between the adoptive siblings.
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Phoebe Beacon, Bruce Wayne

---

Damian Wayne has posed:
It had taken a couple of days, but finally, the drop box that Damian had set up had paid dividends. The package he had rerouted from the Juvenile Detention Center to the PO box had arrived. As soon as he claimed it, he closed the box and scrubbed it and the identity that he had created to rent the box from the internet to make it untracable. Part of being a detective is knowing how to carefully cover your tracks. To the rest of the world, it would just be a lost package.

Arriving in the Batcave from upstairs, he set the package on a table in the lab as Robin went to pull on some protective gear - mask and gloves as he comes back to the table. Taking out a camera first, he takes several pictures of the box, including the shipping address and hopefully the location of where they are shipped from. That information is plugged into the computer to start running them first.

Once that's done, he gets out a scapel, cutting the box open along the seams and tape, preparing to open it up and remove the packing materials. His eyes narrow behind his domino mask as he makes sure the respirator is running to filter out unwanted elements, the alarm set in the Batcave in case this box turns out to be trapped.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The drop box delivery had gone well. No one had noticed the address change, and with the update to the system overnight, the address reverted from an old copy. No one was the wiser, nor had anyone noticed the intrusion in the system. Damian's attack on the Gotham U system had gone off without a hitch, and when he received the package, it even came with a helpful alert.

    The package is very plain. Brown box. Computer printed shipping label, one of an endless roll. They came from on-campus, assembled by students in the pharmacology program.

    The box is opened, and inside there is a styrofoam box, to keep everything safe from the bumps and bruising that comes with being sent by post. Inside the styrofoam?

    Individual packets, tear-away on rolls, each containing an assortment of bright orange pills with no identifier other than 'EXPERIMENTAL VITAMIN PACKET - REPORT THEFT OF CASE TO GOTHAM UNIVERSITY'

    Damian is probably not going to follow the instruction on the package. Each orange pill is a liquid-filled gel. They look a bit like an ibuprofen or some other medication. Easy to mix in with a bunch of pills that someone might be taking for other ailments -- pain meds, psych meds, the cocktails up in Arkham.

    They look innoculous enough.

    Phoebe, meanwhile, is coming down into the batcave wearing her workout gear. She pauses, hearing machinery and fans running, and she pokes her head into the area that Damian's set up to be 'clean'. She doesn't intrude close enough to the lab to be in the danger zone.

    "... dismantling a stink bomb?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
As he lifts the packet, Damian studies it for a moment, eyes narrowing. These things are being made on campus? A note is made of that - it's something he can either check out himself, or send Osprey to look into. He seemed to want to be more involved. It's a good way to do it.

After opening the packet, he takes one of the pills and drops it into a vial filled with liquid - it will react in different colors based on the various toxins that are known the Bat-Family. Fear toxin, Joker Gas, etc etc.

Another pill is taken and fed to the gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer to start to break it down and give him a chemical analysis and breakdown. The third pill? It's taken to the infrared spectroscope to study the pill under the infrared spectrum.

He was starting to figure out what to do with the fourth pill when he hears a voice.

The one voice he did not want to hear. He knows what he's doing right now, in the wrong circumstance, Phoebe would see as a huge violation of trust. She volunteered for these treatments, she hasn't seen anything wrong with them. For him to go behind her back...

The other, more careful part, doesn't trust Sewell. At all. He saw there was way too much information on Phoebe in that office. He still has the files to go through, he was going to do that later. But now, she's here. "Working a case." he offers to Phoebe. "Nothing for you to stop your workout and get all kitted up for. I'll yell if there's a problem." he promises.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Him, and Talia, and Austin --

    "Oh? What case are you working on? I don't recall anything in the case docket that'd require heavy-duty filters." Phoebe replies to Damian, though she's keeping her distance, she IS craning her neck to see what he's working on.

    "You look like you're trying to determine chemical analysis? If that doesn't work, I've found this scrying spell that was used in the 11th dynasty --" Phoebe begins.

    The vial with liquid reacts. It Fizzles, and turns yellowish -- but that might be from the dyes in the chemicals.

    Chromatograph and spectrometer break it down. It's vitamins! A lot of fat-soluable vitamins that can stay in the body for long periods of time. Chemically emeshed to extra chemicals -- glutamates. The stuff that when dragged to your hypothalamus make you feel fear, release adreniline so you can outrun it. But in this form? It's dormant. You would need an agent to be introduced to break it from the vitamins. Otherwise the chemical analysis shows that there's a lot of basic level antidepressants in it.

    The spectroscope shows nothing out of the ordaniary -- it's just a pill with some chemicals in it. Nothing's reacting strangely to light.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Something's wrong here. Damian realizes it immediately. As the results start to show on the screen and he gets the feedback, there's something missing. The results are plain as Robin jots down his notes. There's a sigh as he realizes what it is.

There has to be a catalyst. There has to be something that he is using, when they are in the session, that is acting as the trigger to set off whatever it is in this pill that requires this specific make up.

He glances up to Phoebe. It'd be so easy just to ask her. So easy -- and probably so crushing.

But he's never been one to shy away from confrontation. He rolls the fourth pill around his fingers, he lets out a sigh. "Heads up."

And he flicks it towards Phoebe. He waits for her to catch it, study it, and realize what it is.

Only then, does he asks. "When you speak with Doctor Sewell, does he use any type of diffuser, humidifier or aromatic in his office?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe's brow knits, and she catches the pill. She holds it for a moment, and she opens her palm, looking down at it. Her lips purse.

    "... for serious? These are vitamin packets, Dams. They're being shipped all over the city and into New York for human trials." she states, her eyebrows rising up, and then she straightens.

    "Wait, why are you asking about Sewell? Also, not a doctor, doctoral student." she explains, and she looks at the pill again.

    "There's probably hundreds of people, if not thousands that are taking these." she adds on, and looks up to Damian, and then to the computer results.

    "... that..." she squints at the monitor.

    "... what are linked to the vitamin compounds -- that's A, D, K -- fat soluables." she leans over a little.

    "... why would he be building up compounds like that in someone's body? Too much and you can even kill people."

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Sewell's the one sending out those packets, Phoebe." Damian states flatly, as he waits for her to come over, removing the respirator as he considers his sister.

"That's not all that's in there." he points out. "Check out the glutamates. They're dormant, but if there's something that triggers them, it could set off a fight or flight response." He knows he's seen it before, it seems familiar to the fear toxin, and is in fact, bringing up Johnathan Crowe's latest and past formulations for comparison to see if he can find the missing piece within. "He's putting something inside his test subjects. Like a bomb. The vitamin build up... he's filling the fat cells with this stuff."

"So imagine what he could be doing to hundreds.... thousands of people." He pauses. "You still haven't answered my question."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Sewell's tangentally attached to the project. There's actual doctors who are overseeing these being made in an entirely different department. Sewell monitors." Phoebe states, and she turns the pill over her palm.

    "... I don't recall seeing one. He sometimes uses a glade air freshener if one of the pothead students or smokers come in before me, but this.... shouldn't... affect me." she blinks. And her mouth is set in a straight line as she looks to Damian.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Okay." It's all Damian says, looking towards the screen, trying to see if there's a match in any of the files. There's a lot of different formulas, from Joker Gas to Fear Gas to Professor Pyg's Dollatron gas. It could take a while.

And he sees the way she's looking at him. "He had files on you, Phoebe. Not just the usual files. He had stuff that should not be part of a workup. Austin has the details." And he's wondering why those haven't been uploaded yet.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... what." Phoebe states, and she just... sits down. She bites her lower lip, and shakes her head.

    "That can't be right. He's... I..."

    She looks at the pill, and she bites her lower lip.

    "We need a core sample to test to see what the levels are in my body. If they're high enough that would explain why there were traces of fear gas after the event on campus." she states, and she begins to pull her sleeve up as she goes to stand, and head towards medical.

    "I am sick. And tired. Of being surprised like this. I shouldn't be surprised. Every God-Damned Blonde man in my LIFE has been false-ass liars."

Damian Wayne has posed:
The fear gas event. "Yes. When you damn near..." Damian doesn't go any further on that. He had to stop her. And now that they have an understanding, he moves to get a syringe from the first aid kit. "Take a seat." he comments as he pulls off the gloves to switch them out.

"We'll do a draw blood, run it through the system, see what we have. I should have done this sooner, Phoebe." he offers apologetically. "I should have gone into your room and searched for whatever it was that was causing this... but this was the first time I could link the two events."

And once she's seated, he'll tie off his arm, find the vein and draw the blood with efficency for the read. This is not the first time he's done this.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Honestly I would have been more pissed if you'd gone through my room. I even clean my own bathroom so that Alfred doesn't go through there." Phoebe points out with a wry sound to her voice before she sits down.

    "You have to be quick about it. Healing factor. Luckily -- I'm not --"

    "OW." Phoebe winces, "Where'd you learn how to draw blood? Jason?!" she asks incredulously.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Mother. Who do you think taught Jason?" Damian responds dryly, now that he has the blood draw going, he fills a couple of vials quickly before her healing factor can kick in. And then he opens a drawer, and even if she doesn't need it, he takes out a 'Hello Kitty' band-aid and places it over the wound he made.

Turning away from Phoebe, he heads over to start to cycle her blood, and frowns slightly. "Remind me. How long have you been on this vitamin regime?" So he knows where to find the baseline between the pill he's testing and her current levels and find the line of degredation for what the pill is releasing into her.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "That is *unsurprising* all y'all's bedside manner leaves something to be desired. Thank goodness you have me." Phoebe replies with her tongue sticking out.

    And she's now sporting a Hello Kitty bandaid. She gives a small laugh at that.

    "And like magic there's no more pain." she comments dryly.

    "My baseline for normal levels should be from last July. That's about when I had my workups." Phoebe states, standing and she looks at the blood as it spins.

    "... I started taking them in August. Six months of build up."

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Want a lollipop too? I know where Alfred keeps the stash." Damian comments as he nods towards the machine as it works. "So, six months. By normal standards, you should have around 20 nanograms per mililitre of blood in you for your vitamins, especially D." he explains.

"Though I am curious as if with your exposure to the fear toxin, if that will somehow..." He hnghs softly as he pushes away from the computer. Heading over to the console, he starts to work. "We're going to take what we know about this pill so far - and run a simulation of what happens when it has a reaction with Scarecrow's fear toxin in comparison to what happens with someone who has not taken this vitamin's reaction." He sets the computer to task with that.

"The day of the fear gas incident, do you remember anything after the smell of the gas and before we recovered you?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe runs her hands along her arms, and itches at her left wrist. Common habbit of her nervous tics.

    "No, we were gathered there. Shaw'd gone to get the coffee order I placed. Usually a couple of us will go grab it -- support group, y'know?" Phoebe states quietly, and she leans against a counterspace.

    "The triggering agent would have to be close by with a good amount of air flow, the compounds would need a couple minutes time to circulate and of it's aerosol, get into the bloodstream throught he brachioles in the lungs. Or pass through mucous membrane barriers, which would take longer."

    Phoebe states, and she hops back up, going to a computer as sh ebegins to pull compounds.

    "Ordinarily once released it'd take a couple minutes for everything to travel to the hyperthalamus -- which the glutamates would trigger a release of adreniline and give you that 'fear' reaction -- except, it wasn't *fear* at first, was it?" she squints her eyes.

    "It was an absence of self-preservation and a state of suggestion..."

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Do the initials GH and KT mean anything to you?" Damian asks as he waits for the results. "Your file and those two were the ones that he had flagged for some reason. I didn't get a chance to check further, someone refused to listen to me when I suggested keeping an eye out for Sewell and I had to do so myself." He sounds... very bitter about that.

"So he's hit on something that overrides fight or flight and instead... catonic?" he asks, "Easily suggestible. Enough to the point where he could suggest taking your own life, and you would." And there's no trees involved. At least not that we know of. "I think the Doom Preacher that showed up is a red herring. Someone that is in the know, but is providing a distraction to what is really going on. Human ledgermain."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The roar from outside is the warning of impending arrival, and moments later the Batmobile rolls in.

After slowing to a halt, it opens up and out pops the Caped Crusader. Although his cape is roughly half the size it normally is.

And is steaming.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "GH could be Garret Hausen -- he ended up dropping out of the study because he'd developed stomach issues. He couldn't continue on with it. KT-- eh, that could be like, six different classmates. I'd have to get in and see if they had other information in it -- speaking of -- /what/--" she turns "information did he have that I didn't --" she pauses, and she leaaans over at the roar of the Batmobile (nicely named, Dick) and its driver come in. She opens her mouth. She closes her mouth.

    "... rough night?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
Damian starts yet another querry on the computer, this one to bring up Garret Hausen's file - and a little backdoor access thanks to the USB trojan that Damian planted in Sewell's computer to pull up his access on who KT might have been. He and Phoebe are sitting at the table, several machines running tests of Phoebe's blood as well as a box of small orange 'vitamins'. "Were you in Sewell's office the night of the incident? Osprey mentioned the vents had been tampered with."

Which brings up one more querry, information on the book 'THE PERFECT MACHINE - Repairing the Psyche of Young Adults'.

As that's running, because Damian didn't have enough going on, the Batmobile arrives and he turns as he watches his medium-rare (as compared to Super Rare) father come out of it. Phoebe has already asked the question on his lips, so he lets it go for now.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
    "No."

The Batman walks up from the pedestal upon which the Batmobile slowly rotates to point outward. He reaches up to unclasp the cape from his cowl and tosses it into a bin that is not _actually_ labeled "Fun for Alfred" but may as well be. He looks over towards what is sitting on the table, and then to Damian and Phoebe in turn.

"Found something interesting?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Damian was just about to illuminate me on what information that the doctoral student for the psych department had on me that made it into a file after he violated HIPAA laws." Phoebe states. She's in her workoout clothes and has a Hello Kitty bandaid on her inner elbow after a blood draw. She didn't need it, but it's there.

    Garret Hausen -- flunked out of his early morning math class which placed him on academic probation. Dropped out after Christmas Break. Currently not enrolled in the school. Had a history of brushes with cheating in class and near plagurism.

    KT matches a lot of students involved. Variations of Katelin and Kelly and Kaylie were popular (KEIGHLEIGH -- who names their child that?).

    The book quiry brings up a mostly panned book on psychology based on working with young adults being brought to suggestability, to make them trust the psychologist (or abuser) more. It makes attempts to entice less tracable. The book is a rare find and copies of it sell for a couple of thousand dollars due to the sensitive nature of the material.

    It's not a happy discussion going on in the psychological world about the ability to abuse vulnerable young people with the knowledge in the book.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"I also believe that your doctoral student friend has ties to someone that has access to fear toxin and the catalyst to turn the fear toxin into a catalyst that allows for suggestion - suggestion that nearly led to fifteen students at Gotham U to jump to their deaths a couple of weeks back." Damian shoots a look at Phoebe. "I'm waiting for the results of a control - those vitamins." A gesture to the box.

"And her blood levels." A gesture to Phoebe. "Since she has been taking them consistently for six months." Bus-kun, meet Phoebe-san. Roll right over her, please.

"And I'm still waiting for the computer to process the data we pulled from his computer - then Phoebe will get the answer to her question." Okay, being a little bit of a brat. "I put off language lessons with Kara for this."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"If the doctoral student violated HIPAA laws, then we should have him terminated."

He listens to the analysis, and frowns for a moment. "We believe that Phoebe has been impacted by it?"

At the mention of Kara, Bruce turns to regard Damian with what is almost a smile. "How is that working out for you, son?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "YEah, what's Kryptonian for 'being a little weiner'." Phoebe replies cooly to Damian, crossing her arms. She's clearly uncomfortable with this, and trying to hide her anger. She scratches at her left wrist again, where the encircling tattoo that was gifted to her. "Ordinarily medicines don't work on me, unless they're magical in origin, because of the way my healing factor works. As long as I draw air through my lungs," she sweeps her arms across and forward "I heal everything. They tried to medicate me after Charles Beacon was killed. It didn't *work* then. It shouldn't work *now*. But some how--- the amounts overrode my own /body/? How? That doesn't make any sense. No more than the trace fear toxin readings that were pulled after the event. I was there cor cognitive behavioral therapy for my issues with touch."

    The readouts compile. The computer beeps as Phoebe opens her mouth for another solvo,

    Phoebe has extremely high levels of all fat soluable vitamins in her system. Difficult to leech out, but not impossible. With time. Normal person they might start to have liver issues from all that vitamin A.

    Phoebe looks at the screen. She shakes her head, her ears darkening in anger.

     "That... that can't be possible."

Damian Wayne has posed:
"They're fine. I have introduced her to Goliath. He approved." A giant step, in Damian's opinion, he holds the dragon in higher regard than some people (not any in this room). As Phoebe cracks her remark, he frowns. "For someone about to be proven wrong, you are mouthy." he mutters, before adding. "She was one of the victims of the attack." he points out to Batman.

And when the results come, Damian was actually hoping that Phoebe was right and he would be eating crow. He immediately heads over to the computer, and frowns at the information, before he chews on the inside of his cheek. "...he's making zombies." That's the best way to say it. He glances at the findings and explains. "They've sent these vitamins to hundreds... perhaps thousands of test subjects. There is a triggering mechanism within the vitamins - it remains soluble, working into the fatty tissue and remains dormant until it interacts with the fear toxin and then it removes all inhabitions and makes the subject very suceptible to suggestion. That's my working theory."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
    Without pause or hesitation, The Dark Knight offers up a few syllables in an alien language that sounds a lot like Kryptonian. Does he actually know, or is he just telling them 'The Library is over there' ? Who is to say.

He nods to Damian, considering that for a moment, before frowning at the findings. "That is not good. That is a bit worse than a HIPAA violation." He makes his way over to peer at the results. "Do we have any way of tracking them? Or counteracting the agent?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe looks over to Bruce, and to Damian, she opens her mouth, and then closes it. She swallows down what she might have said.

    "I'm assuming since you pulled up Garret's file that you have access to Sewell's computer. We can try to pull the list from there of who's been receiving them. But even that box is more than a month's supply for the study group I was in. If we got a list, maybe if Bart and Barry were to lend a hand--" she starts, trying to formulate a plan, and her hands curl. She takes a deep breath and looks to Bruce and to Damian.

    "... I have to get training on fear toxin exposure -- how to handle it in crowds. Rebreather. I've been hesitant to do it in the Roost -- too much opportunity to lose control." Phoebe holds up her left wrist. "But I'm going to need a crash course." she states, as if there would be no question about her being in the field. "Can't be worse than when Meggan trapped me in my worst memories."

Damian Wayne has posed:
"The first thing I'd suggest is withdrawing from his group and stopping the pills immediately." Damian responds. "There are things that we can give to you to lower the elevated levels you have at the moment. We don't have anything solid to arrest anyone on, and they are covering this all under the blanket of 'trials'."

There's a pause and his attention turns to his father. "Do you think we could... perhaps..." a gesture to the box. "Find a way for Wayne Pharmaceutical to get involved?"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"There are few things worse," offers Bruce, helpfully. "Even I have been left quaking in my boots under its effects." Very reassuring.

His gaze swivels to Damian. "We could attempt to do so, but I suspect that he is not after financial gain, so I am not sure that even if we were to make a compelling monetary offer if that would deter him from his course." He pauses. "What do we _think_ his motivations might be?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Well, that all depends on what information he had on me that I didn't tell him, which Damian hasn't expounded on yet. There's a big difference between him knowing the location of Iaru Weyet and him knowing I run around in a suit named after a songbird and a baseball team."

Damian Wayne has posed:
Damian sighs. "Chaos. Isn't that what most of them are after?" he offers with disgust, before his attention turns to Phoebe pestering him, but he doesn't tease back, it's become too serious.

"You're a nineteen year old college sophomore who is tentatively diagnosed with a variety of anxiety disorders due to a history of abandonment, criminal tresspassing, kidnapping and imprisonment. Self-harm, overwariness and constant movement. Your near adoption by Constantine was noted - as well as father's adoption. Anything else... we'd need to get from Osprey."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The World's Greatest Detective rubs at his chin as he looks at the two of them. "He needs to be stopped, clearly. Who else is already in on this?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is quiet a moment.

    "Yeah... yeah none of that came up in our tal--" she cuts out a moment, and then gives a huff.

    "To be clear. Constantine did /not/ adopt me, and Chas Chandler was under demonic obsession when he signed the paperwork if his signature wasn't just forged and to be clear that is the reason I will never, *ever* call anyone my 'dad' again." Phoebe is testy, though it's probably because the whole subject is STUPID UNCOMFORTABLE.

    "Austin was apparently in on this. I suspect Talia, because Talia follows me around almost as much as she does Damian." she motions to her younger brother.

    "I'd like to see that file. I'd like to see what he had on me. Gods -- he knows about Robbie and where he works. He knows about Lindsay's encounter with Pyg." Phoebe sinks her head into her hands.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"What Phoebe said. I made the decision to break into Sewell's office. After what happened with the fear toxin incident, it needed to be done." Damian comments quietly, willing to take the blame and the heat for it all. Reaching over, he squeezes Phoebe's shoulder a squeeze. "I'll make sure Austin knows to get that information to us."

Then he looks to Batman. "What's the play. Since you're in on this now."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
    The outburst draws Bruce's attention, and his mouth forms a thin line as he watches Phoebe. But he says nothing. He listens as Phoebe cycles through the exposure, and then looks to Damian.

"We need to determine where it has gone. Who is exposed, and who could be turned. Isolate the agency, prepare a counter agent. Do in once we have all of that, so we can rescue them before he can direct them selfharm"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is scratching at the back of her left wrist again, and she goes quiet, and gives a nod.

    "If Damian can set up an analysis to see what areosols can be used as the catalyst and start in on a neutralizing agent, I'll write down the names and I have most of the dorm addresses of the support group. I'll load them up into the computer and start in on tracking them down to see if we can get them some sort of counteraction. I don't think any of the healing powers will work if their bodies think the vitamins are supposed to be there." Phoebe comments more demurely.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Which is how it got around your defenses." Damian offers and gets out his phone to send a text to Kara. It's going to be a long night. "I'll get started on it, using the classic fear toxin as a basis. The bigger concern I have..."

"...is that it's not self-harm that he is after. Imagine you have an army of civilians, open to your suggestion, that will carry out what you ask." He'll let that sink in after he sends the message off and gathers his supplies. "If someone could get Alfred to bring me down some coffee in a bit, I'd appreciate it." Apparently he's going to get started on it right now.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
A quick nod from Bruce. "I realize that, Damian. I am sure that self-harm is not his plans. But you have seen the propensity for our foes to hurl the life of innocents in our way to facilitate their escape." He sighs deeply. "I worry that if we move on him too quickly, it will cause far too many innocent lives. So we must prepare for this before we strike."

He looks between the two, and nods. "I am confident you have this in hand, Damian. Let me know if you need my help." He glances towards the bin.

"I need to make sure none of the acid got anywhere else." Some clue, it seems, to the fate of that cape.

And with that, Bruce makes his way up and into the manor.