3796/ZZGU: What is he doing in Gotham

ZZGU: What is he doing in Gotham
Date of Scene:	13 October 2020
Location:	Gotham Arms Apartments - Burnley
Synopsis:	While taking out one of the missing DEO agents, Supergirl and Quake talk. The missing DEO agent opens a new gateway to the world of ZZGU and the two superheroes once again fight to close it before the worst happens.
Cast of Characters:	Daisy Johnson, Kara Danvers

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Daisy Johnson has posed:
Rain was falling down on Gotham tonight, as if often did here when we got closer to the winter months, putting that gloom of the city in evidence. Quiet, empty streets, some lights here and there and the occasional shout from either a muggery or worse.. It wasn't a city Daisy found herself at often but tonight here she was, doing surveillance on a particular apartment at the Gotham Arms..

She was on an adjacent building, covered up with a tarp and fiddling with a small device with her hands which she was sync'ing to attempt and listen to any conversations inside that particular room.. On her eyes are a pair of goggles, tech and a marvel out of R&D, ones she used to go through various spectrums of energy to search for heat signatures of people inside.

"I feel like a kinky voyeur tonight.." she lets out a sigh to herself. But the mission was what mattered, and in this case it was tracking down Agent Harder, one of the DEO missing agents. She was almost sure he'd be here. But what was he up to? That was the big question.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Agent Harder had made many trips to the Radio Shack just around the corner. This was his latest return from such a trip with several bags under his arms. He fiddles awkwardly with the keys, opens up the door and enters. His neatly trimmed moustache and thick rimmed glasses make him stand out, as does his pressed shirt and cardigan. This was not the weather for it.

The strange sound of rain being disturbed can be heard by the quakerific one as Supergirl flies through the dark and rainy skies. She lands softly next to Daisy. She's not wearing her usual bright blue and bright red uniform. This one is a dark blue and a dark red. It blends well with the darkness of the city. It still features her family crest upon her chest of course, in dark red.

The foot fall is gentle. Her arms folded, she too is staring at the motel room. "Batman prefers it if Superman and I stay out of Gotham. I can see why. I want to fly around stopping the crime so badly," she says with a strained voice. "But I'm only here to figure out what this guy is up to."

She kneels down next to the tarp, her blonde hair somehow shinier in the rain, "Which I suspect is what you're doing here too, yes Agent Johnson, or is that Quake, or is it Repeat.. Rebound. Okay I admit, I forgot what that name was. But I was very surprised to meet you again so soon in such a different context."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
The disturbance in the rain makes Daisy's shoulders tense somewhat, she looking up from under the tarp to search for the source. Noting the approaching Supergirl she then grins faintly. "Even your outfit's darker when out here in Gotham." She notes, "Good to see you again, Supergirl."

The talk about her alter-ego name makes Daisy grumble a little to herself. "Look .., there may be negotiations ongoing to change the name to Aftershock." there! "Since Replica isn't being exactly that popular. People can't appreciate nice names!" she then gesturing to the tarp. "Space for another under here if you want." she offers, glancing back down to the device and continuing to fine tune it.

"I have been tracking Agent Harder, he has been doing some trips to an electronic store in the corner. He is just back from one of those trips. He is alone from what I can detect but no idea yet what he might be up to."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Supergirl smiles and slips under the tarp with Daisy. She peers out over at the hotel room and her eyes focus through the walls. She does her level best to ignore what's happening in the adjacent apartments, but her jaw does set a little bit. She chats to keep her mind focused off of those things.

"Aftershock is a good name. That I'll remember. Replica. For some reason I kept thinking Renegade, or Repeat, or.. others." She goes quiet for a moment and says, "You'd think if he weren't under the influence of the slime any more he'd report in to the DEO and go home. Instead he's gathering up random bits of electronics. For what though? May be he's making a bomb - those other DEO agents went crazy and killed each other.."

She clenches her fists a little, "I just want to go over there and drag him back to an interrogation room to get some answers, but none of those people we caught at the Enterprise have talked. They just.. stare and mutter 'it comes, it comes' over and over again." She says that last bit in a bit of a mocking voice.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"No doubt in my mind that he's still under some kind of influence." Daisy says in agreement. "He went fully off-grid and hasn't reported back. And ..., noone wears cardigans under this rain." That's the big tell! The mention of a bomb makes her turn her nose. "It isn't that easy to build a bomb out of electronic components, no matter what TV may want us to believe. This might be something else.."

The fine tune is finally done and she points the device towards the house. Admittedly, there might be other ways of listening in but using tech is SHIELD's bread and butter. "Ok, we should be able to listen to whatever he may be saying in there. If anything.."

"And yea, we won't be able to just do the straightforward approach on this one.." Even if Daisy appears to share Kara's sentiment about draggin' their ass in for interrogation. "That first cultist we met had but one objective, bringing ZZGU in here."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara nods her head, "Why do you have two different aliases for crime fighting?" She has been puzzling over that now. "People know the name Quake and it's a really good name. Aftershock is good to though.. but why?" She looks to Daisy with a rather earnest expression.

Her attention is drawn to the gadget she's holding though and says, "He's been saying 'i am the chosen, i am the righteous, i am the beloved' and murmuring something about 'the eye.. the eye'" That last part she says overly dramatically - but now that Daisy can hear for herself, it's not a terrible caricature.

"Super=hearing," she adds quietly and resumes staring at the apartment in question. "He looks so cold. Shivering. I wish he wouldn't go out in the rain wearing so little. He seems really driven, I wonder if he's eaten since he fled that DEO facility."

"I was thinking about that guy - he had a small army with him and they seemed all eager to help the monster through the portal too. How do you convince a bunch of mercenaries to give up mercenary work and coax a slime tentacle monster from another dimension into your world to conquer it?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I am Quake at SHIELD." Daisy replies to Kara quietly, as if that made the whole difference. "Aftershock is when I am out there and not 'on the job'. Sort of like my secret secret identity.." she letting out a small sigh. "Vigilantism isn't exactly something that SHIELD likes too much and .., there are a few other reasons..." reasons she apparently isn't ready to go into right now! "But thank you about the name, it's a work in progress. I would had went with Epicenter, but turns out a supervillain chose it before me." she shakes a fist briefly.

"The chosen, mmmm. That other cultist also said something similar.. About bringing ZZGU over here.." she murmurs, thoughtful. "Whatever is controlling him doesn't really seem to care much about the man, he's just a vessel."

The talk about the mercenaries makes her wonder, "You control them somehow? Maybe there's a way to make that control more permanent and not as .., destructive as we saw down at that lab. If we assume the creature might try something similar here then we may be looking at both the creation of an army and also creating some kind of MacGuffin to open a portal to their dimension." McGuffin! Pfff!

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Epicenter?," she queries not having heard that name before. "I really don't like the name supervillain, they're all just criminals - no need to grandise them further." She shrugs and then smiles, "I don't know, I think Aftershock and Quake are better names than Epicenter. I've experienced enough epicenters to think it negative."

"What if it's how diluted the solution is? the stronger the dose the more intense the control. Like some kind of parasite. Are there mind controlling parasites on Earth? Also, what's a McGuffin?"

So much culture to learn, two years on Earth is not nearly enough even with super-speed learning.

"I watched Top Gun. It was okay. There's obviously more cultural heritage I'm missing that makes it memorable. I am not yet a connoisseur of Earth culture."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Fine, fine. No Epicenter then! And Aftershock sort of has a nice ring to it I admit. Not as good as Quake but...!" Daisy sets the device on the ground once she hears a bit on what is going on inside. Truth be told her powers *might* had helped but this rain can disturb the vibrations somewhat..

"There are mind controlling parasites in nature even..." She says.. "Earth can be quite the scary place if one looks too deep, but also beautiful. This is extradimensional so ..., might need to reach out for experts. Doctor Strange is one, for example."

The question about what is a MacGuffin makes Daisy eye Kara for a moment. "Well, it's sort of a device that noone knows too well what it does, normally with catastrophic consequences if it's activated and it's mostly used to drive the plot forward in movies." Look, Daisy likes her movies okay?

A little grin then pops up at the mention of Top Gun. "Yea? What did you think of the uh .., volleyball scene?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara hmms, "I don't know a Doctor Strange - but I do know a Zatanna and a Garth." That's right, Supergirl is a member of the Justice League. "Yeah what was with the volley ball scene? it didn't fit with the rest of the plot. It didn't set up any narratives that continued through the movie. I don't understand the significance of it."

She frowns a moment and says, "I've encountered quite a few McGuffins already. I do not like McGuffins." She looks at his slow construction of electrical components. "May be we should find an expert to look at the device the first guy used. I could have the DEO bring it to SHIELD. They won't like it, but they usually give up arguing with me when they remember who they're arguing with."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"It was totally fan service of seeing those actors without their shirts on." Daisy replies, bobbing her head a couple of times. "Yes, it's totally a thing in movies. It serves no narrative at all. But it is what it is." she is perhaps a bit amused about Kara not being aware of what it was about. As for the other mages, she nods. "I have heard of Zatanna, she is a good one as well." but not much on Garth..

"It's a good idea, examine what's left of the device. Our people at R&D are the best where it comes to tech." She says, "And we have some people who could put an hand in too who we have ties with, like Tony Stark. You have met Iron Man, right?" she looks up to Kara, actually not fully aware if she has or not.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara gets a somewhat bemused look upon her face. "Really? they put that kind of thing in movies? Seems a bit childish don't you think?" Foreign cultures. //Really// foreign cultures. It is true what they say about Kryptonians, they're such goodie two shoes.

"Ah yes Tony. He is a sweat heart. He helped me out during the fight with Brainiac," and it's also true that even on Earth, they live in an entirely different world to the rest of us.

Kara says, "You know, only a little bit of that tentacle monster was peeking through and it was hurting my head with its screams. If we had a way to block that, fighting it would be much easier. Just in case some nut job does manage to open a door way to the monster and lets it in. I wouldn't shed a tear if I could toss it in to deep space, or the sun."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Oh, come on now. Don't tell me you never got a little giddy about seeing a nice body?" Daisy asks with a brief waggle of her eyebrows at the Kryptonian. Those goggles she is wearing makes it difficult to see her eyes but there's a glint of amusement there.

"Not sure if sweetheart would be something I'd call one of the most intelligent men on earth. But I will take your word for it. I actually haven't met the man yet." The hackerette turns her attention back to her surveillance for a few moments, continuing to look over heat signatures and mmm'ing at what the man is doing inside. Still mostly unknown.

"It depends on how it tries to control her. We fought a shadow creature some months back in Metropolis that controlled others through certain sound vibrations. If it's similar we may already have tech that can help with it in our labs. And I can normally hamper those vibrations too." a beat and then she asks. "Are you sure the sun would kill it?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara lifts an eyebrow and doesn't respond to that, even as her mind drifts briefly to Tempest and Thor. She clears her throat and her pitch is just a little higher briefly, "That's, yes there's no guarantee throwing it in to the sun would work. It might be worth a try though. If it's true what that man told us, it has already consumed an entire planet and who knows how many before it. Now it wants to eat ours."

She peers at Daisy for a moment and then attempts to gently nudge her shoulder to shoulder. She probably did it too hard, those interactions are still hard to get right all the time, "So tell me. Do you know James Bond types? what's it like being a spy? Do you get to drive fancy cars? do you have a laser pen?" Movie night recently included some 007 movies apparently.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"That's what I thought..." Yes, Daisy answers that non-answer from Kara. She's a spy afterall! She can read those undertones! And not answering actually says a lot. So she is pretty much amused and a bit unaware when that nudge comes that sends her to the ground and makes her get some more rain on her. Ow!

"Well, I can tell you one thing I DIDN'T get. And that's a rainproof suit." This said as she returns to the protection of the tarp. "Nice shoulder charge by the way. You must have been good at school's sports when younger." It's mostly a jest. She isn't even sure how long Kara has been here. But she imagines not long.

"And I WISH I got to drive fancy cars like LOLA, but I am never allowed by my senior officer.." she grumbles a little. "Though as for tech, laser pens aren't exactly part of it. We did make a disco death ball truck once to counter a superthreat though."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara grimaces a moment and her eyes widen, "Oooh sorry! So sorry." She looks very apologetic. Usually this happens with handshakes. She does these little nudges with Donna Troy and she can take it. She looks even more guilty as Daisy mentions she's not wearing a rainproof suit.

"I was okay, not the best." She decides to reveal a little about herself that she thinks won't cause much harm, "I'm more of a science type." She smiles warmly thinking back to her time in school. She was so close to joining the science academy on her 18th birthday. According to Power Girl, they got in.

"LOLA?," she asks and then chuckles at the mention of a disco death ball. "Are you sure you're the good guys?," she jests and then looks up sharply toward the apartment, "What's that sound. Do you hear it?" It's similar to the sound the device at the Space Shuttle Enterprise was making as it powered up.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Science-type, good. Just like me. Spent most of my young years around computers." Daisy explains, just about to put the sound tuner down when Kara asks about something going on inside the apartment. She mmms, frowning a touch and lifting the device again even as she focus her own powers to attempt to listen in..

"Some .., high-pitched sound. It's .." She gets up suddenly from under the tarp. "It's just like the sound of the device that opened the portal back then!"

She is already running to the edge of the building. Is she going to jump? Well, she can fly! "We need to get in there and stop it!" no waiting for backup or asking base for orders. Impulsive Daisy on the job!

Kara Danvers has posed:
Supergirl nods her head with a look of concern on her face, "It does!" She leaps up too and flies with a whip-clash of the air and the rain, crashing through the wall and in to the apartment. She flies directly at the machine, intent on smashing it good and proper - when the portal opens. The air splits open in front of the machine as Supergirl flies through.

The world on the other side has a dirty brown sky, the buildings all broken and crumbling, the sky thundering and the rain stings of acid. This is a world where nuclear weapons were deployed as a last ditched effort against... that.

The massive slug like creature is covered in tentacles as long as a skyscraper is tall. Beaks cover the tentacles as they flail about slowly just do to the sheer size of it. Eyes within each beak. The horror of how big it is, called here by the attempts to cross over the first time, has Supergirl stare at it in horror.

But if you stare at the void monster, the millions of eyes on it stare back. It hits her with an intense psychic blast and she drops to her knees and grabs her ears letting out a cry. Blood spills from her nostrils. She slips on a puddle of the creatures slime. A large tentacle starts to move toward her.

Supergirl presses in to the ground powerfully enough that it cracks and she shoots back through the portal, crashing in to the couch and exploding its feathers and foam everywhere. Stumbling, she stands up, still gripping her ears. She walks sideways barely keeping her balance, back out through the hole in the wall and grips the balcony railing. The rain hits her reminding her of where she is.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Sometimes it's good to have a kryptonian around.

Specially when they conveniently open up entry ways to places by blowing up walls. So very convenient! Daisy is a touch slower in getting there, tossing herself off the side of the building and propelling herself with her powers to get to the other side, fine controlling her descent so as to not just smash down onto a heap. She looks at the portal with a frown. "Supergirl, careful!" she says in warning, expression turning to one of surprise and being scared when she notes the tentacles flailing on and on. She immediately throws her gaze to the side and brings up a vibrational shield about her. She isn't too sure if it will work, but worked against the metropolis shadow monster so...!

"Are you alright?" She asks when Supergirl jumps out. But the machine is still up so she runs over to try and mess with it.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara stares up at the cloudy grey skies. Where's the sun when you need it? She lowers her head back down as she grips the railing and coughs up some more blood. She catches her breath and then looks over to Daisy and gives her an unconvincing thumbs up. She looks back to the machine, her head still ringing, the world is blurry and the open portal is pulsing psychic attacks through to her.

They're getting stronger the longer the machine is on, the longer the portal is open. A large tentacle trunk lowers down in front of the portal and a beaked eye peers through. Kara doesn't hesitate as her eyes burn and she shoots her heat vision at the larger target.

The tentacle arm is sliced off and a fountain of ooze spills through the portal. Kara coughs up some more blood again and says, "Faster R, Q, D.. er.. Aftershock." Too many names, brain all fuzzy. Her aim was even off just then, she cut it at an awkward angle - she was aiming right for the centre. For the second time, she drops to her knees and grips her head at the psychic pain.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
The tentacle trying to pop out gets a shove back with the full might of her powers too, sending a vibrational wave into the portal that brings out a shriek from the creature, or from part of it at least! She casts a glance over to Kara and then to the machine. Now, this was just an amalgam of electronics crap that somehow that Agent had assembled together. And that reminded her they hadn't yet seen him...

But no time to think on that. She drops down to one knee and rips open a side panel of a toaster (or at least the outside looks like one), the inside being a confusion of wiring which Daisy starts to sort through.

"Stay sharp." She calls out. "Think of a good memory of your past. It can help you focus." It had helped her when she had first got her powers, unable to control herself. Those kind of mental exercises had helped her find her focus and work through it.

She reaches one hand in and starts re-wiring it. Very close to getting it shut!

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara's mind is wandering to all the people on that other Earth, right through that hole in space before her, that died to this creature. If they had Kryptonians too, they would not have been much help at all. Could they not find a way to defend their minds? or did it happen too fast?

Hearing Daisy's words, Kara shuts her eyes and concentrates. She can hear her heart working hard and focuses on that. This takes her mind back to Krypton when she was much younger. Uncle Jor-El playing /wemah/ with her.

He had a tell, a slightly raised eyebrow every time he knew he was about to win. This didn't help young Kara much at all to know this as she hadn't yet learnt to think that many moves ahead. But she could at least see her doom coming and every time she noticed, he'd pull a silly face.

But it feels like her mind is on fire and in a flash she is laying trapped in that tiny pod, floating above Krypton as it burns, as it rips itself apart. Cryostasis hasn't kicked in yet but the engines were spooling up for the journey to Earth. Her fingers trembling, trying to make the controls respond to her, hearing only a response from Zor-El, her father, /krop :zhalish, krop rrip w shovuh/

Kara whispers a soft, "No.. please not again."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Whatever time that was bought with that memory doesn't seem to help for too long. Daisy notes the urgency on Kara's words, along with her expression. Things are dire. But she is SHIELD, and if there is something they do well is push through when under pressure. So there is no hesitation on her motions, or trembling hands as she works to reverse the portal. It's a matter of inversing the signals afterall. Something they had done on the previous portal too.

"Just one more sec..." She murmurs. With the re-wiring done she flicks the switch off. The machine stops humming. And then she restarts it again. But now the signal is reversed.

The portal starts to close down, step by step. The creature shrieks again. LOUDER. It knows it's plan to get into our world is being foiled again. Tentacles slap out once more, hitting Quake on one arm and sending her flying back against a wall.

Kara Danvers has posed:
The portal snaps closed around that tentacle and it flops to the ground, squirming about. Kara shakes her head, then rubs her temples. She looks over to Daisy and pushes back up, rushing over to her, "/rrip tavoi?/" She looks at the large pool of psychedelic mind controlling ooze.

"/wilom fad!?/," she remarks and then her eyes focus on Daisy, looking through her to her bones to see if anything is broken. The mixture of her blood - but also the trails of tears from whatever she was thinking about makes for a mess on her face. It appears she's not even aware she's speaking Kryptonian to Daisy as if she'd know.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Ugh, why are you speaking russian all of a sudden...?" Daisy asks, her mind still woozy after being tossed about and against a wall. Though thank God she is wearing that protective suit she got with Daredevil's help and their armorer Melvin, the impact having mostly been absorbed. And the slime doesn't get through.. She reaches up with one gauntlet and wipes the slime off from her arm with a wince. It still hurts. Sore. But nothing broken apparently.

She struggles to get up but then decides she will stay sitting for a bit, looking up at Kara. She reaches up to take down the mask covering the lower half of her face so she can breathe a bit better.

"Are you ok?" She asks, noting the tears and reaching up to grip Kara's shoulder to support her. If anything Daisy does have a big heart.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"/voii khap/," she says and then tilts her head thoughtfully. It does sound a little Russia, a little Swedish, and there's some clicking in there too. But all that combined sounds like a weird alien language. Kara has gotten good at lying about how she feels at any given time. It's a necessary skill on Earth for family.

She rests a hand on Daisy's upon her shoulder and slumps down against the wall next to her. "/kypzrhigahzh rrip niv w/," she replies and glances up at the dent in the wall behind Daisy. She smiles and chuckles softly.

"I'll be fine," she says after a more serious stare to Daisy and she glances away quickly after saying the lie a second time even if the first time Daisy didn't understand her. "You have no broken bones," she adds and gathers the corners of her red cape in her hands and fiddles with them. "I don't think the tentacle creature likes me much," she jokes with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her face. She glances back to Daisy.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I don't think you are telling me the truth." About being fine, that is. Because Daisy has learned her ways with empathy, along with that little extra boost from her powers that allow her to see the faint shifts on the girl's voice. The tears are also a given. Though it could also all just be the excitement and tension of the fight. But she still takes that leap. "And it's ok to not be alright. You don't have to be perfect all the time, do you?"

But she lets out a slow exhale, relaxing now that the portal is close, her legs sprawled forward and her arms down to her sides almost as if she was lounging.

"Yay for no broken bones. I think I will need a drink after this." Head turning to look at Kara and she grins in a reassuring manner to the young Kryptonian. "Fizzy water."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara slumps her head for a moment and then lifts it back up. She smiles to Daisy and shakes her head. "Supergirl must be. But I'm not always Supergirl," she says and takes in a deep breath. She chuckles as Daisy claims she's going to drink fizzy water. "That stuff has a strange texture to me. I'm not okay with it." She nods and then lifts up with a fluid ease and walks around the apartment.

Kara stares off in to the distance as she looks through the walls and turns around in a full three sixty. She frowns and says, "He's gone." Her hands return to her hips and she looks at the twitching detached other dimensional appendage and says, "I think perhaps SHIELD should take this one. May be you could ask the nice one, Mr. Stark, to take a look at it."

Kara offers an arm to Daisy to help her up. "Batman is going to be really annoyed about this one," she says and sighs, "I'll tell Nightwing, he can be a buffer." She grins at the mock fear of the caped crusader.. well, some of it is mock fear, he is a genuinely scary guy when he wants to mess with you.