5243/Friends Help Friends Move Bodies

Friends Help Friends Move Bodies
Date of Scene:	18 February 2021
Location:	Main Foyer: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Nadia runs into Thor at the Triskelion while looking for Dr. Foster. Dr. Foster subsequently mysteriously disappears. They definitely did not take her and half the medical bay. IT'S VERY MYSTERIOUS!
Cast of Characters:	Thor, Nadia Pym-van Dyne

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Thor has posed:
Thor can do a great number of things well; and only a slightly smaller number better than almost anyone. Subtlety does not fall into either category. Arms bare, cape flowing, the Asgardian prince stalks up and down the lobby of the Triskelion, peering closely at doors, walls, air vents, and guards. He probably thinks he is 'blending in' just because his hair and beard are cut shorter than usual. He is wrong.

Several times, the building's internal security have inquired as to what, exactly, he is looking for, and every time, he has answered in a booming voice that they should not trouble themselves, he is happy to continue his investigation himself. It has not occurred to him that //he// is what they're investigating. The other thing that has not occurred to him is a solution to his problem.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"What do you mean she is busy?! Look I know that she is a busy lady being a genius world renowned genius and utterly amazing astrophysicist and all, but if you were really giving her my messages she definitely would have called me back, now I want to see Dr. Foster!" The raised voice of a familiar teenager resounds through the Triskelion lobby. She's clearly frustrated, enough so to have abandoned her characteristic cheer.

"I'm sorry miss Waspette. There is nothing more I can tell you." The poor long suffering agent manning the desk is at a loss for what to do since he is not empowered to be able to divulge the information on Jane's situation to her, and she is becoming more insistent with every visit.

Nadia, dressed in her full Waspette armor minus the helmet, purses her lips together at the agent and fills her cheeks with air before slowly blowing it out. It's a very teenaged reaction, but at least she has learned by now not to push her luck too far with SHIELD, wouldn't want to lose her consultant status and access to those wonderful labs, there's also the many lectures she'd get to consider.

Just about to give up, she spots peculiar movement out of the corner of one eye and turns to spy a face she hasn't seen in awhile. Stepping away from the agent she had been talking to Nadia just sort of peers at Thor who is not being at all sneaky no matter what me might think. Curious things require investigation! Forgetting her troubles with getting in to see Dr. Foster for them moment she jobs over to Thor half jumping to clear the last several feet and wrap him in a big hug! "Thor!" She grins smiling up at him, "What are you doing here?"

Thor has posed:
Thor is too focused on his bizarre preoccupation -- and with fending off yet another inquiry by an increasingly persistent guard -- to notice Nadia's troubles at the reception desk. Calling out his name, though, that's another story. He turns, face breaking open in a broad, sunny grin, and calls back, "Lady Nadia!" He throws his arms open wide, and her half jump is more than enough; he catches her halfway and sweeps her up in an embrace, lifting her easily into the air.

"How long has it been, my inquisitive young friend?" he asks her, forgetting his dilemma in his enthusiasm for reuniting with the science prodigy. The guard who was trying to politely interrupt Thor's strange behavior just gives up at this point. Apocalyptic crises? Geopolitical intrigue? Superpowered would-be conquerors? That's all fine, but he wasn't hired to face off against cute.

"I have been inducted into a group called ARMOR," Thor says, getting around to answering Nadia's question. "Something about smiting evil duplicates who have been running amok with borrowed faces. It promises to be like fighting the svartalfr all over again, and I welcome the challenge!"

In a quieter voice that for anyone else would be rudely raised, but for Thor is practically a whisper, he continues, "But to tell you the truth, my friend, there is a personal difficulty here in the building that has been vexing me to the limits of my patience."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"Oh, Armor! I learned about them recently. We turned over Gar's Doppleganger to them after he was subdued. They don't like alliteration or tongue twisters." Nadia nods her head as the reason for Thor's presence becomes clear, still grinning. "My Dad and I actually built the device ARMOR uses to detect dimensional breaches!"

When Thor drops his voice Nadia regards him curiously. "Are they not letting you see Dr. Foster either?"

Thor has posed:
"Well done, then, Lady Nadia," Thor says with renewed enthusiasm. He is still carrying Nadia after their hug, but he has shifted her into an easy one-armed grip, as though she were a child much smaller than she is. This allows him to raise one gauntleted arm and hold it still for a fist bump. He has discovered fist bumps, and he loves them. "As usual, your ingenuity is proving invaluable to Midgard's defense." He peers at her for a second, then allows, "I am sure your father was of some assistance as well."

This entire time, he has been walking toward the interior of the Triskelion, and at this point they bypass the reception desk. "Well, SHIELD may not be fond of alliteration or tongue twisters, but they certainly do adore a farfetched acronym, do they not?" he continues brightly. The reception agent stands and starts flagging him down, and he waves back as if returning a jovial greeting. "Hail, fellow agent of SHIELD!" He strides a little bit faster, cape billowing behind him.

They're into the building proper now, and Thor sets Nadia down as he starts to jog gently toward the medical wing. "Pardon my ingenious subterfuge," he says. "But there is more to Dr. Foster's situation than simple unavailability. Let us make haste."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia doesn't seem to have any objection to being carried by around by Thor, particularly not past the reception desk that they weren't letting her bypass even with her consultants lariat. It's hard to see but she may have stuck out her tongue as they passed the desk. "All I said was that we had defeated a decidedly deadly doppleganger that was in desperate need of detainment and if he could say that three times fast. The agent on the phone thought I was making fun of him." She shrugs letting it go though.

For a moment Nadia is just grinning uncontrollably holding back a laugh when Thor informs her of his ingenious subterfuge, "It was great! You're really good at it. She agrees with him good naturedly, fully realizing it's more like there just very few people actually capable of telling Thor 'No'.

"I knew it!" Nadia exclaims when Thor sets her down and says there is more to Jane's situation than they were telling her. "Wait what happened?!" She asks jogging after him without hesitation.

Thor has posed:
Thor is certainly not going to raise any objections if Nadia wants to lord it over the receptionist for a moment. He's just leading the way past the R&D labs -- which he learned not to barge into the other day -- to the neighboring medical ward where Jane Foster is being kept.

"The trick is to get everyone to believe you don't know what is and isn't allowed," he says along the way, letting Nadia in on his big secret, since she seems so impressed. "Then just smile really big and do what you want and make it very awkward for anyone to explain it to you. Also: the key to any good deception is that it should contain a kernel of truth."

He palm-activates the door, which swishes open easily, air rushing inward due to an engineered pressure differential, but just coincidentally causing his cape to ripple dramatically. He's muttering to himself, and as he waves Nadia past him, she might hear "...defeated a decid-ah, a decidedly deadly doppelgan--hm..." But by the time they are both inside, face to face with the strangely dormant form of Dr. Foster, he is focused and grave again.

"To tell it truthfully, I do not know what has happened, Lady Nadia. I just know that her spirit is gone, and I aim to find out why, and to bring it back," he explains. He reaches out to lift a bracelet that encircles the recumbent astrophysicist's wrist, and says, "Our first clue: this is no jewel of Midgard. This is an artifact like Mjolnir itself. Its presence is as inexplicable as her state, so I plan to travel to the realm of the dwarves who must have crafted it and demand an explanation. The problem is that first..." Here, he trails off, grimacing.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia was trained by the Red Room, a place where everything is lies within lies and deception is a basic facet of daily life and yet what was mostly amusement changes to being actually a bit impressed when Thor tips his hand as to just how much of his lost divine tourist routine is actually just that, a routine. "You do it so well!"

Nadia has been to the R&D section of the Triskelion before, that's the area her lariat actually grants her access to. It is however her first time seeing SHIELD's medical facilities. When she sees just where they are going concern spreads across her features, eyes locked on Thor as she listens to his explanation. "Wait, her spirit is gone? Like her soul?" There is a definite questioning in her tone as she uses the words. She has dealt with a lot of things in her young life, Soviet Assassins, robots, alien invasions, dopplegangers, but spirits and souls? This is new.

Nadia steps forward walking over to Jane's bed, her eyes dart this way and that to the various machines and readouts. She isn't a medical doctor but she does have the training of an expert biologist and has spent plenty of time around the Titans medical bay assisting Caitlin. "This is, I've never seen a condition like this before." She turns and looks at Thor, "We probably shouldn't remove the bracelet in case that makes things worse. I've been trying to learn more but I'm not an expert in magic."

There is a pause, "Visit the dwarves, of course..." She's a bit out of her depth here but at the same time it is sending her curiousity into overdrive. She looks at Thor very seriously, "We have to help her!"

Thor has posed:
"Indeed. The spark that animates her is missing. Her consciousness, perhaps?" Thor already lives where sufficiently advanced technology and magic meet, so he wants to help this fit within Nadia's framework if he can. "The part of me that I hope the Valkyries will bring to Valhalla when I die -- that part of her has been stolen. I suspect powers of realms beyond. I know of no technology on Midgard that could do such a thing."

Then he smiles, if grimly. "That bracelet is a powerful artifact that could only have been wrought by the smiths of Nidavellir. It is made of the same stuff as Mjolnir, and bears a similar enchantment. I could no more take that bracelet from her wrist than you could wrestle my hammer away from me. They are bonded."

He lowers the bracelet, and his hand instinctively encompasses Jane's. "We do have to help her. I have... taken some steps." Here, he frowns deeply.

"You are aware of my brother, I think," he says. 'Aware' is likely putting it kindly. "He is knowledgeable about magic in ways I am not. I have spoken to him about this. He wanted to deceive his way in here to have a look at her, but I forbade it. I would not betray my allies on Midgard in that way." The fact that he just deceived his way in here with Nadia does not appear to strike him as a double standard. "We compromised. I will bring her to the embassy so that he may see what his skills might divine. But I am not sure how to move her safely and... discreetly."

Bluster and the divine tourist act aren't going to cut it, in other words.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia's eyes get a bit wide with surprise when Thor mentions his brother Loki, "You have a brother?! I didn't know that! And he does /magic/?! That's so cool! Can I meet him?!" Nadia is apparently one of the few people on Earth not familiar with Loki and his invasion of New York, something about still being in a Soviet Assassin Training Bunker at the time.

Nadia listens intently until Thor's explanation is finished, "I am guessing SHIELD does not want her removed from their care and that is why you were casing the lobby? No problem." She winks at Thor, before reaching into one of the storage pockets of her Waspette suit and pulling out what appears to be a small capsule, "Do you think they'll be mad if we take the whole bed? Or should we just bring her?" She asks raising her left gauntlet and pointing at the husk of Dr. Foster's physical form.

Thor has posed:
Thor was ready to face Nadia's horror that he would consult Loki on this matter. He instead finds himself a little bit horrified that she doesn't know who he's talking about. "Yes, I do have a brother. He is named Loki." He gives her a long, searching stare. "You should... you should do a Google, before you get too excited about him. Ell Oh Kay Eye." Because it's a real stumper at the spelling bee.

"You guess aright," he admits, with a smidge of guilt. Again, he seems to have a very specific hangup about helping Loki sneak around that he doesn't consistently apply to himself. "My understanding is that Dr. Simmons has set up some critical life support systems here. It would be inadvisable to separate her from them, unless I mistake myself." His guilty face rises in intensity, then crests and relents as he concludes, in a hissed, actual whisper: "Take the whole bed."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"Oh, okay. I will definitely look him up, he sounds interesting!" Nadia happily informs Thor.

She then says something under her breath to the tune of "Sorry Bobbi and Jemma, I promise I'll bring it back later." before activating her gauntlet. She carefully adjusts the spread of the size alteration beam to encompass the entire life support apparatus setup around the bed as a unit and in the blink of an eye, the whole thing Jane and all has been reduced to teeny tiny size, perhaps a centimeter in total.

Nadia then makes her way accross the room and gingerly transfers the tiny bed and equipment into a secure padded Pym Capsule for safe transport. It's all very quick and something she has clearly done any number of times before. The capsule is then deposited into her pocket and if you didn't know better or who she was, you'd never suspect she was carrying around the unconcious form of a world renowned genius scientist the same way other people carry mints.

Thor has posed:
Thor is raising a finger to the ceiling. "I don't want to hear it later, Heimdall," he says, seemingly to the light fixture. "I will always appreciate your counsel, but your post-hoc judgments I can do without." Looking around in a tempest of guilty worry at the bare room, he snatches a pen and scribbles on the back of a daily sanitation report:

__________________

HAIL! DOCTOR SIMMONS
It is I, THOR. Doctor Foster is in no danger, I have taken your INGENIOUS MACHINES with us to keep her safe. OH, did I mention? I have borrowed DOCTOR FOSTER. I will return her as soon as is feasible.

There is no need to report this to any DIRECTORS, or DEPUTY DIRECTORS, or indeed anyone at all. She will be back BEFORE YOU KNOW IT.

Sincerely,
THOR
SON OF ODIN
CROWN PRINCE OF ASGARD
US WEEKLY'S SEXIEST AVENGER 2020
__________________

He rips the sheet off the pad of reports and situates it carefully in the middle of the room, then claps his hands together with finality and looks up at Nadia with urgency.

"We should go," he says, leading the way toward the door.