3788/Ninjas are a myth

Ninjas are a myth
Date of Scene:	12 October 2020
Location:	THE INTERNET
Synopsis:	Ted Kord and duz_machines_84 discuss the finer points of mind control.
Cast of Characters:	Ted Kord, Donatello

---

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord enters his penthouse, shucking his uniform, which a drone grabs and heads off to launder it. Another drone relieves his gun belt and weapons. "Yeah good idea that, the way I'm feeling. F***ing Spiral. Who the hell is she anyway. Never saw anything like her... except Dr. Quinzel. They both figured me out fast." Ted shrugs into a blue t-shirt and plops in front of his monitor, too wired to sleep. He begins tapping...

<Real_Ted_K> Anybody still up?

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello had been given the Stark Phone by April O'Neil and wasn't sure what to make of it. He was sure that it wasn't meant as an insult and didn't fault her for it, but it was hard to not take it personally. Seated on one of the overhanging rafters of the Jones Farm barn, the turtle stares at the smug rectangle cradled in his hands. His Shell Phone sits idly on the rafter to his side. The audacious Stark Phone chirps, suggesting some attempt to get the turtle's attention. Anybody still up?

    With a sigh, Donatello unlocks the Stark Phone. Despite his thick fingers, the touch screen is able to recognize them without issue. This makes the turtle frown even more.

    <duz_machines_84> I am. Hi Ted. What's up?

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord rubs his eyes and laughs a little. Well okay let us cut to the chase.

<Real_Ted_K> I just encountered a six-armed witch who psychoanalyzed me in about 25 words. It's embarrassing, like I was a B-grade comic book character. The only other person to figure me out that fast was Harley Quinn. It was a little unsettling. Who has six arms?! Anyway she lit a fire under me. I'm going to put on my big boy pants and try to rejoin the Justice League. If they'll have me. How are you doing? Been a while.

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello's eye ridges rise at the response. Note to self: do not share secrets with Ted Kord. Do not.

    <duz_machines_84> Uh, that seems like a lot, Ted. Hey, thanks for that algorithm, btw. I was able to get MIYAGI working.
    <duz_machines_84> Sort of.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord smiles a bit. Pity his life isn't so simple.

<Real_Ted_K>Sort of? How so? Mind, I am not Tony Stark. I can't guarantee I can diagnose something online. Did the algorithms help you?

Worried his algorithms upset something? Heck yeah. That'd be embarrassing.

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello takes a breath and stares down at the phone. He hates it.

    <duz_machines_84> Well, it's kind of...stubborn. But, it's still going through training data, so it's improving all the time. It really seems to want to print responses to a dot matrix printer we have here. I can't get it to stop. But, it's all good.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord starts laughing a little more. Oh God.

<Real_Ted_K> AI is still an art AFAIK. My number one Drone: Bobo (Beetle's Own Bot Operator System)? As I'm working on him and powering the AI up for a diagnostic, he starts handing me tools to finish his housing. Honest. It was like working on Pinocchio. Then for a while, the little so and so started building more copies. So Monday I had one, Tuesday two, Wednesday four. I finally got him to stop. But at one point I was yelling at him, "Do you want to bring the Avengers down on us? They take a dim view of out of control AIs. So does the Justice League. The little guy goes to a monitor and brings up pictures of the Vision and the Red Tornado. "Never mind them! You are not the Vision!" He shuts himself off to ignore me. The little brat. Anyway we sorted things out.

Donatello has posed:
    The turtle's eye ridge rises a touch at that. He wishes he could have those kinds of problems! What scientist doesn't dream of arguing with an obdurate AI? He takes a breath and taptaptaps a response.

    <duz_machines_84> Yeah, well, we're not there yet. I don't think MIYAGI is going to be doing anything like that anytime soon. Hopefully one day.
    <duz_machines_84> Hey, I'm not going to say I BELIEVE in all of this stuff, but my guess is you'd say you have some friends with some extraordinary abilities. Again, not a believer. But, have you had any experience with long-range en-mass mind control?

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord blinks at the screen. He taps his chin thoughtfully. Very thoughtfully. Experience? He has some experience.

<Real_Ted_K>What makes you bring this up? Mind control is highly unethical at any range. Mind control exists for sure. I've seen it. There are human mutants and metas who can do it through mental or biochemical means and there are some that cast spells. Do you have reason to believe someone is exerting such control? Are you in trouble?

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello brings a hand up to scratch his chin. Was it unethical? It was totally uncool, but unethical? Dangerous, yes, but was it unethical in the same way that Ted meant? Hmm. Taptaptap.

    <duz_machines_84> Again, just wanted to point out I don't believe in any of that. But, supposing it was possible -- I'm thinking somehow instructions broadcast in an alpha, theta, or delta subcarrier. Anything higher and it would have been heard.

    The other questions remain unanswered. But, duz_machines_84 is suggesting that he keeps company with someone who could have heard something as low as a beta wave, in the 12 to 38Hz range. Weird.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord looks at the monitor for a long while.

<Real_Ted_K> Why would you ask me do I have any experience with something that doesn't exist? If you're fiddling with neuroplasmics, DON'T.

Donatello has posed:
    <duz_machines_84> Well, I have no doubts that it would be possible to transmit commands in a subcarrier wave -- you know, with solid engineering. With a device. But mental powers? No way. There's always a better explanation.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord closes his eyes.

<Real_Ted_K>Tell that to the Martian Manhunter. Mental powers are proven fact. There are humans who can do it too. Trust and believe. I've seen more of it than those ninjas and a lot of people think they exist.

<Real_Ted_K>In fact I just subdued and detained some crazy muggers who thought they were ninjas and get this -they had rocket packs! Can you imagine a stealthy ninja using a noisy rocket pack? Anyway I mix it up with these guys, they got neck tubes for masks and ninja weapons and I'm thinking, 'real ninjas'? Gotta tell d-m-84! Then one of them hits himself in the head with his nunchuks and knocks himself silly! The rocket packs were pretty good though. Metastable helium fuel, 20 mile range. Could do a hundred. I am amazed no one got hurt. Including me.

Donatello has posed:
    <duz_machines_84> I can see there's no convincing you. But, I do need to figure out how it happened so I can protect against it. Maybe some kind of Farraday helmet...

    It's been a few years since Donatello saw someone knock himself out with nunchaku but it's always funny. He takes a deep breath and frowns at the phone screen. Ninjas with jetpacks? No.

    <duz_machines_84> Ninjas are a myth, Ted. You know that.

    He lets the rest of Ted's details go unaddressed, for now. It's not easy to get a real ninja to dish it all out. And since ninjas don't exist, well...

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord sighs and relents a bit.

<Real_Ted_K>Defending against mental attacks? An actual telepathic shield is above my pay grade. Electromagnetics are pretty easy to detect and filter or shield. There are disruptor fields, plain old Faraday cage too. Tin foil hats don't work. Trust and believe.

Donatello has posed:
    <duz_machines_84> Of course a Faraday cage would work -- it's all just electromagnetic waves, anyway. I just can't figure out what frequency the carrier wave is sent. I don't know if there'll be a chance to find out.

    The business about telepathic shields and all that is given no attention from the pragmatic turtle. There was an explanation for all of this and it could be manufactured. It didn't come from within.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord rubs his eyes now feeling tired in spite of recent experiences guaranteeing some nightmares.

<Real_Ted_K>A Faraday cage will stop everything, period. But you're stuck in the cage. You're talking about a point jammer you can carry around. That part is pretty easy. Finding the frequency is the hard part. Sorry getting tired. You need... (why am I typing ellipsis if tired? For drama.) You need an EM scanner. For long range control like you suspect there are only a handful of frequencies that are practical. Kord Co does a EMF-20 scanner (plug plug) but everyone does something like it. Don't use LexCorp's it's overpriced and eats batteries. WayneTech or Stark equivalents work too. There's a market in used ones even. 'Ghost Hunters' buy a bunch of them. That drove the price down.

Donatello has posed:
    The turtle stares at the phone and slowly closes his eyes, squeezing them tight. Kord Co. Lex Corp. WayneTech. Stark. Donatello sighs and taps out a response. These business tycoon tech people are all the same.

    <duz_machines_84> I'm sure I can get it worked out. Thanks for the suggestions, though! Catch ya later.

    The turtle sets the phone down and frowns at it.