342/X-Plosions, SHIELD, and Mystics.

X-Plosions, SHIELD, and Mystics.
Date of Scene:	07 March 2020
Location:	Sanctum Santorum
Synopsis:	Natasha Tony and Bruce come by the Sanctum and get told that it sounds like the Green Lantern had something to do with stopping Genosha
Cast of Characters:	Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange

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Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha Romanoff has a pile of little black books in her possession. Each one of those books is filled with long lists of some of the worst people on the planet.
    And not a damn one of them knew anything about the explosions in Genosha. No one seems to know where the Sentinels came from, and no one's taking credit for any of it.
    So when practical means run dry, Natasha feels compelled to pursue insane means. And that's why she's approaching the Sanctum Santorum on foot, having parked a block or so away because she doesn't trust strange things not to happen to her transport back, leading Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as she runs down a list like a parent bringing her kids to meet their moody grandfather.
    "This guy is a wizard." She pauses, and emphasises, "By all accounts, he might be *the* wizard. Please behave at all times as if you are dealing with a man who can turn you inside out. I don't care how insane anything he says is. *We* are asking *him* for help, and we literally have no way of knowing how he'll react. So be nice." Natasha stops in front of the large doorway to the Sanctum and says, "Stark, I'm looking at you."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Which part of me are you looking at specifically, Nat?" Tony asks, turning his head to look back over his shoulder and shifting the dark blazer he wears as though admiring himself in the mirror. Eventually his attention span meets its end and he tilts his head, looking up at the ornate edifice of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

"What do you think the property taxes are on a place like this?" Stark asks Bruce casually, hands in the pockets of his jeans, "I mean, how do wizards make money? Do you think he brews potions? Blegh, let's not drink anything he has on offer. I've got an eye of newt allergy."

Though he's had guards assigned as a candidate for the presidency, they've agreed to fall back and stay outside on the street given that Tony is in Natasha's company.

Bruce Banner has posed:
    "Whatever he pays in property taxes will be nothing compared to what he is likely to pay in property /damages/ should something happen to wake The Other Guy."

    Bruce looks up at the building proper, his eyes scanning over it. He opts to stand near the back - well behind Natasha and slightly behind Tony.

    "Naturally I am a bit... skeptical whenever I hear someone claim to be a... wizard. But, well... I guess we've seen weirder?" As he says this, his own hands are thrust into his pockets, which lightly pushes his brown jacket back at the waist. He looks away from the building and down to Natasha.

    "If you trust him, though, then he's got my vote."

Stephen Strange has posed:
    At the Sanctum, it's been rather quiet since Strange hasn't had much time to actually find his way back to the brownstone in Greenwich. The house stands forboding, and yet, there's a sort of washes over the three avengers as they come seeking the wisdom of the sorcerer supreme.

    Strange stands at the door frame as he was just about to step out to go buy Wong some deli sandwiches and the wizard wears a rather simple black pair of slacks and a cardigan and he looks down the few steps to the incredible trio and he blinks. "I swear it wasn't me officers." He says teasingly as he holds up both his heavily scarred hands with the keys in them to lock the sanctum up behind him. "The other guy did it." He jokes.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    "Your huge, pulsating brain, Tony." Natasha answers dryly, watching the two scientists interact before sighing softly and muttering "Bozhe, spasi menya ot blestyashchikh lyudey" under her breath as she climbs the staircase. (God, save me from brilliant men.)


    Natasha makes a fist with one hand, raising it towards the door, and then looks back over her shoulder at Bruce, pausing a moment before saying, "... Trust is a strong word. We have a file on him." She gives a tense sort of a smile and repeats, "Best behavior, kids." Before she reaches out to knock...
    ... and the door opens, and Natasha is left standing there with her hand extended for a second before she folds both hands in front of her, making a face like she's clearing her throat in embarrassment without making any noise before she says, "Doctor Strange? My name is Natasha, I'm a representative of SHIELD. I was hoping to consult with you about something that may be within your realm of... expertise."
    Keep it professional, keep smiling.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony's hands go up to the sides of his head, as though adjusting some invisible crown. He glances sidelong at Banner, reaching up to pat the man affectionately on the shoulder: "Don't worry. It's not the size of the brain, it's how you use it."

When the door opens, Tony regards the Chief Wizard in his cardigan and slacks. He got the message about best behavior, knows that he's meant to keep his thoughts to himself except where they pertain to science and technology. He leans slightly to one side, looking past Natasha and directly at Strange. There's a long, pregnant pause.

"Okay," Tony speaks up, "Am I the only one who was expected a pointy hat?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha presses her lips into a very thin line, and then gestures one hand back at Stark. "Please forgive my friend. He is very rich."

Bruce Banner has posed:
    Bruce just gives Tony a cool look at his 'brain size' innuendo. Were he one of the more witty/macho/confident types like Thor or Steve, he might have engaged Tony in a bit of back and forth ego-smashing, but... he wasn't them.

    He was Bruce Banner. Quiet, socially awkward. A complete and total dweeb notwithstanding, despite being one of the world's leading minds on bio-organics and, of course, gamma radiation.

    He looks up to Doctor Strange, fighting back a grin at Tony's comment.

    "Yeah, don't worry Doctor. We uh... we ain't here to serve any papers or anything. Was just hoping we could..." A painful pause. "... pick your brain on what happened in Genosha."

Stephen Strange has posed:
    Stephen looks to Tony first and with a soft nod, the wizard looks above the techno-genius. "I expected one too." The goateed wizard remarks before looking to Natasha and Bruce in turn and cants his head. "How would you know about-" Stephen pauses and shuts himself off before looking to Natasha and Bruce, and Tony last. "Why don't you all come inside and we can discuss further without prying ears or nosey neighbors."

    Strange shuts the door behind them and steps past them quickly into the large grand foyer with checkard tile floors and a seemingly endless museum upstairs but that's not important, what is important is the oddly perfect wing backed chairs waiting for the three agents of good to sit upon them and the ... living coffee table before them. "Don't feed the snakes." Stephen points out, and the legs of the table do appear to be writhing. Snakes trapped in an eternal curse to burden the top of the table. "Why don't you go over what you do know about Genosha and how can I assist?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha nods her head once and says "Of course, thank you." She says to Strange, and once Strange's back is turned, shoots a squinting look at Tony before she follows Stephen inside.
    Natasha kinda of can't help but look around to very slightly unreal space before her attention is drawn to the chairs. "The sna-" she starts to ask before her eyes fall on the chair legs.
    All told, her composure holds up rather well, though she's silent for a very long moment.
    Natasha elects... not to sit, and stands close to the table, keeping modest distance away from the chairs as she brushes a stray lock of hair out of her eyes, "We know that no one's taken credit for the attack. We know it was assaulted by out of date, old-model Sentinels. We know the big one appears to be cobbled together from a variety of models. We know that they knocked out communications, and the attack lasted for about an hour... and that the survivor count is... grim."
     She says the last part with a slight lowering of her head as her hand fishes around in her jacket pocket before producing a hocky-puck sized black device in one hand. "But that's not what we're here about. We're here because we've learned how the attack ended."
    With that, Natasha presses a switch on the device, and a holographic image appears above it. For several seconds it simply depicts a sattellite image of Sentinels violently attacking Genosha, when all of a sudden two massive green pillars of light seem to appear, stretching from the ground to the sky, immediately followed by a pair of massive explosions of green energy that lay waste to both Genosha, and most of the surrounding Sentinels.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony elects not to sit, either, once they're shown into the Sanctum proper. The tilts his head slightly to look at the snakes, eyebrows raising with mild amusement behind the sunglasses he wears. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem content to simply stand still. He's moving around the room, looking closely at the myriad enchanted items on display. He's wise enough not to touch or interfere with them in any way, hands clasped firmly behind his back as he looks.

"So, I suppose," Tony begins, turning to look towards Strange, "The million dollar question is: does any of this seem like something you're familiar with?"

He pauses, approaching what looks like an ornate oil lamp that sits upon a shelf, musing out loud as he reaches for it, "What does this do?"

He pulls it down from the shelf, lifts up the lid, and laughs to himself before putting it back. Once it's where he found it, he turns to the group at large.

"It's an ashtray."

Stephen Strange has posed:
    "Green explosions and pillars..." Stephen ponders this notion as he takes a seat on a wingback chair, his feet planted on the ground and his hands resting on his kneecaps as he ponders the things he's seen.

    Stephen then stands up and steps around the table as the three other chairs seem to melt into the ground with the motion of Stephen gesturing towards the wall, and it seems to approach him as he approaches it.

    "Green..." Stephen mumbles to himself as he pulls out a tome and turns to lay it out on the coffee table. "Oa. The Guardians... said to be ... emotionless and distant... but" Stephen rambles as he tries to piece the pieces together. "Why...?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha shakes her head slightly. "So far we have no idea what it is. We're not even sure what it *could* be. We were hoping-" When Natasha looks to Strange again books are flying across the room, and she has to process *that* for a second before she draws closer to the table, her brow knitting slightly. She doesn't know what 'Oa' is, but she does ask, "Who are The Guardians?"

Stephen Strange has posed:
    "Legend has it they're the oldest living race. Somehow they're the original lifeforms and they discovered ... there is a green energy, very similar to what you're describing." Stephen then turns the tome around on the table and drawn crudely are some, green rings and they're depicting the people wearing them creating incredible visions and powers and forces that will fight along side and for the green band weilders. "I believe a green lantern might have helped."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natashs cranes her neck to peer down at the book from over Strange's shoulder, eyes widening subtley at what she's hearing and seeing, scanning over the images, with a sense of dread that she's working hard to keep small while she's working. "The Green Lantern?" She echoes, only knowing of the one, but seeing more than one ring at once. "He was doing rescue work right after everyone learned about the attack. They can do something that big?!"

Stephen Strange has posed:
    "I ... am not sure the limits of their powers." Stephen explains as he moves the tome back to before himself and opens it a bit deeper, scanning the page rapidly. "It seems like there could be more than one." The wizard remarks as he keeps reading the quite old parchment and then back up to Natasha, "Maybe it's time to seek the Green Lantern and ask him a few questions." Stephen adds, standing and closing the tome before fluttering it away towards the wall of books and scrolls.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Eyes hard and focused, Natasha coldly says, "Doctor... I think you're exactly right."