8847/Tech Talks are Hot

Tech Talks are Hot
Date of Scene:	28 November 2021
Location:	Outside New York Public Library
Synopsis:	Franklin Richards gets used as a travel agent for demons wanting to visit New York. Thankfully, Ben Grimm, Nico Minoru and Madelyne Prior were around to slap demons, show up the cops, and pick up cute barristas.
Cast of Characters:	Franklin Richards, Ben Grimm, Nico Minoru, Madelyne Pryor

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Franklin Richards has posed:
Saturday night in Manhattan is for many things. Broadway shows, drinks with friends, parties, movies and pizza, and of course, Dr. Norma Meer's talk on Triple Entangled Quantum Data Structures for Time Dependent Data Storage.
    "I didn't understand any of it," Franklin says to his friends, Myra and Jordie. The three walk out of the New York Public Library onto the busy sidewalk. "I mean..." Franklin starts to say. "Nope. None of it."
    Myra laughs and tucks her short brown hair behind one ear. "If your sister was here, I'd have somebody to geek out about that with. Dr. Meer is amazing."n"Hey! I understood it," Jordie says defensively, then flushes when Myra raises an eyebrow at him. "Some of it."
    The three laugh. "Let's just find something to eat," Franklin suggests. The trio start up the street. Then Franklin shivers, more than the late fall cold would account for. He looks confused.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm happens to be out and about, he is not spying on his nephew. He has hit a food joint not to far away. Having spent an evening with good food, and watching a game on the TV.

Nico Minoru has posed:
Nico was spending the evening doing what Nico does best... well, what she does best that isn't 'Defeating ancient evil cults' or 'Getting entangled in demonic incursions'. Nico was totally scamming tourists with fake tarot readings.
    But you can only get away with that for so long, and while she could probably relocate, maybe run a three card monte scam ('cause a girl has to eat!) instead she's doing her best to put on 'Must've been some other goth girl doing all that busking' vibes as she tries to stroll down the sidewalk and not draw attention from the uniformed cops on patrol.
    In retrospect, she really should've done this in the early afternoon. Sure she's relatively flush with cash now, but it looks like it's going to be cheap late night fast food or convenience store hot dogs again.

Madelyne Pryor has posed:
Madelyne Pryor trots down the steps of the NYC public library. After her recent enrollment at Xavier's she's now studying for a master's in avionics engineer with a minor in computer science. So, she's carrying with her telekinesis a huge library bag full of checked out books while she swipes on her phone. Yes, people stare as she blatantly uses her mutant powers, but fuck it. She has nothing else, as it was revealed that she was a clone creation of Nathaniel Essex, whom she will murder if she were to ever meet the pasty bastard. She stops at a coffee cart. "milk,, and gimme a toasted raisin bagel with butter."

Franklin Richards has posed:
Franklin Richards says, "As if the recent change in coaching staff wasn't enough, it looks like locker room drama is definitely affecting the offensive... <dzzzzzt>....." The flatscreens in the restaurant all flicker and turn to nothing but snow and white noise. A disgruntled boo goes up from one of the tables near Ben. Two young women in scrubs with the look of lifelong New Yorkers look at each other nervously and glance out the window.

    On the street, a pair of uniformed NYPD officers walk their beat. The pair are stopped by a pair of tourists who point at a map and ask directions. The older of the two officers puts on a plastic smile and starts to help. The other, a young man with steel gray eyes, keeps scanning people walking by. His attention lands on Nico for a moment and he gets that suspicious look... Then his partner nudges him and the two pose for a picture for the tourists and Nico is forgotten as she passes by into the crowd.

    "I... You know..." The young woman at the coffee cart says and collects herself. "That's a really neat trick." She starts working on Madelyne's order. She looks up at Madelyne, smiles a little, and turns her attention back to the order. Her dyed rainbow hair and is tied back and an eyebrow piercing glints in the reflected street lights. "You know, if you're looking for a good place to go after studying, I could suggest a couple places," she ventures.

    The crowd on the sidewalk ahead of Franklin and his friends thins out quickly. People move quickly as if by instinct. The streetlights blink and one of the electronic billboards nearby shows nothing but snow. A tall, red-haired man in a dark blue suit walks out of the pedestrians ahead of Franklin with a lopsided smile on his face. "There you are," he says and puts a hand on Franklin's shoulder.

    "Whoa, hey," Franklin starts to say. Then the man's eyes flare red. "What..." Franklin says and then groans and his eyes roll back in his head.

    The streetlights flare. Flashes of fire burst upwards from the concrete on the sidewalk, the street. Out of each one steps a dark brown creature walking on all fours with barbed tails, gaping maws and flaming red eyes. The man with the red hair laughs. "Oh, very good, Franklin," he says. "The master will be happy." More flame bursts, more demons. People scream and scatter. Maybe it's a trick of the light. But the light in the area seems to waver, like on a hot summer's day. The damp pavement steams. One of the demons lets out an unnatural howl and the pack of them leap forward towards the nearest people they can see."

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm frowns and says "Hey whats going on." He notices the people looking out the window, and sighs. He stands up, and leaves some money on the table "Let me see whats going on." He walks to head out onto the street to see whats going on. Once he sees the demons "Ok you folks get away from the window, head on into the kitchen." And he looks over to the demons "Hey your interrupting my game."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico does her best to disappear... short of breaking out some magic to literally disappear, no matter how tempting it is. But she's lucky she doesn't as suddenly there's a feeling of _wrong_, lights flaring, fire erupting from the street, and... demons. Of _course_ there's demons.
    Nico doesn't wait, because hey, demons are just demons, they're not the entire inventory of a department store possessed by evil spirits, so like... this is an easy one to figure out what to do. Right hand lifts to her lips to split them with two fingers and allow for a sharp whistle to grab the attention of the cops, "Heyyy! Start getting the like... you know... people outta here!"
    Because goth street urchins totally have the authority to tell cops what to do.
    Nico figures the demons'll at least keep the cops from asking too many questions, and with her long sleeved outfit, her artificial left forearm isn't really noticeable... so maybe no one will ask why she's able to charge headlong at one of the demons and haul off and hit it with a punch that sends it flying into the side of a parked delivery van with enough force to dent the metal with a dull thud.
    This is fine. Just punch the demons until someone else shows up who knows how to... you know, defuse the entire situation. Or until the punching fixes it. Sure. That's totally a plan.

Madelyne Pryor has posed:
Madelyne Pryor is about to get this cutey's email, but she turns around and sees the chaos starting to break out. As a native of Metropolis, she's not at all bothered by this. She carefully places both the coffee and the library books down. "I'll be right with you, babe. I need to help take care of this." With that, she shrugs off her jacket and rises into the air. Her hair comes loose, billowing dramatically.

So, evil spirits? She knows from the likes of Dr Strange and Zatanna having appeared on the news that mystical things do exist. But, does mutant telepathy work on demon minds? Well, time to give it a go. Neither Professor X nor Jean would probably approve for a raw recruit like her, but as her force field flickers into place, her eyes flash with fire for a moment as she looks down imperiously at the possessed humans - <<"Depart from your hosts and leave them unharmed. Return to whatever world you came from!">> Hopefully, this works!

Franklin Richards has posed:
A handful of wide-eyed and stunned people look over when Ben speaks. An older Asian man nods and starts ushering the others inside. People in the restaurant are diving under tables or scrambling toward the back of the restaurant as Ben walks out. Except for an elder white man with a grey mustache and aviators.

    "Everyone's always running... Aliens! Demons!" he huffs and looks over the counter at the server crouched on the floor. "Where are my wings?!"

    Outside, three of the spindly-legged vaguely dog-like demons hear Ben and turn. They snarl and bound forward toward him. One knocks over a man with a service dog in its headlong rush. It seems to get momentarily distracted and opens its mouth, about to bite into the yellow lab now cowering beside its downed human. Another demon jumps and pushes off the wall of the building the restaurant is in to get around a knot of people who duck and scream. It leaps toward Ben with claws outstretched. The third charges in with maw wide.

    The heat is palpable when Nico connects with the demon. It gives a weirdly pathetic whimper and she feels the crunching in its body when she sends it flying. It slams into the van and crumples to the ground twitching, then disintegrates into a pile of embers. Another demon leaps up from behind the van onto its roof, snarls and jumps off at Nico.

    "Don't give me..." the grey-eyed officer snaps at Nico then his eyes go round as he watches her send a demon flying.

    "You heard her," the older cop says. "Everyone, move back, now!" he shouts. Both officers draw their firearms and start ushering people away. A demon charges towards the young cop. He fires a couple of rounds but it seems far less effective than really good punches.

    It isn't immediately clear whether the young woman at the coffee cart is more surprised by Madelyne picking up on her vibe or the appearance of demons. "I'll just look after these," she says. She picks up the books and the coffee just in time as a demon dog leaps over her from behind, grazes the top of the cart sending cups and lids flying, and slams into Madelyne's force field as she levitates into the air. Madelyne looks down and commands a couple of the demon dogs near her and finds entirely foreign, malevolent minds. Whatever these creatures are, they appeared bodily from where they came from. But the force of her command and inability to leave their own bodies confuses them. One whimpers and twitches. The other seems to lose all coordination suddenly, trips over its own legs, and slides across the cement into a mailbox, narrowly missing the family of four it was running towards.

    "Get off him!" Jordie yells at the red-haired man. He grabs for the man's arm. The man fixes him with a stare and Jordie crumples to the ground whimpering. Myra grabs Franklin's jacket and starts to pull.

    "Frankie, come on!" she yells.

    Franklin's response is an inarticulate groan. His body twitches.

    As the dogs are affected by the telepathic command, the red-haired man holding Franklin scowls and looks towards Madelyne. He points and a wall of fire tall enough to reach her height erupts from where he stands, shooting across the pavement in a straight line towards Madelyne.

    "Now, Franklin, show me what you can do," the man says with a chuckle as he turns his attention back to Franklin. The man closes his eyes then screams. Red light dances under skin and his muscles begin to bulge and deform, his body starts to stretch and grow. Six feet tall. Seven feet. Wings start stretching out from his back.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm lets the dogs who want to bite him bite him, he is not so worried about them getting through his hide. He will step up to kick the dog, that is trying to bite the real dog "It's clobbering time." He calls out as he punts said dog and then starts slapping at the others on him "Sill demons, tricks are for kids."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico throws up her left arm to give the demon dog leaping off the van something to chomp down on... and something that erupts into violet flames of magical energy in his mouth, apparently without any ill effect to the witch herself.
    But not without effect to her top, sleeve burning away, singing all the way up to her shoulder. She loses more shirts this way.
    The demon that's stalking towards the cop is a bit of a problem, but Nico's got a plan for that too. She bites her inner cheek hard with a wince, but it's enough to draw blood, and blood's enough for the Staff of One to emerge from the palm of her right hand, pointed directly at the demon as her voice calls out, "Get over here!".
    Well, at least none of her friends are around to hear her using video game catch phrases as spells. She'd never live it down. As is, at least the black chains wreathed in purple fire that lash out to wrap around the demon and start dragging it back look cool!
    And she's even got a moment to catch sight of Madelyne going all floaty and dramatic, and totally cool. Always something new in this city! Neat.

Madelyne Pryor has posed:
Madelyne Pryor can see that this big jerk is after Franklin. The nerve, interrupting her while she was getting game on. So, not being subtle at all, Madelyne creates a pillar of telekinetic force underneath the demon, and then fires it between his legs with as much power her will can muster. KATHOOM. If she has enough time, she commands her demons to attack this clown as well. She hopes to send this jerk into the Hudson river, away from the civilians. "POWAH GEYZAH. Are you OK? Come on, come on!"

Franklin Richards has posed:
The demon dog's body bends around Ben's foot from the impact before the energy can transfer fully and it soars across the street and slams into the second story brick of the building across the street. The demon leaping of the building clamps down on Ben's arm and continues gnawing even as teeth crack and break. But they do not break as hard as the rest of the demon's body when Ben slaps the hellfire out of it. The third one leaps at Ben just in time to catch a backhand that sends it flying into the back of an NYC garbage truck so hard it slams into the metal at the far end. All three disintegrate into embers.

    The demon leaping off the van gains points for gumption but none for smarts as it goes directly for Nico's nearest appendage and is engulfed in violet flames. The thing writhes and gives an otherwordly scream before it comes apart. Nico's chains snare the demon dog charging the cop just in time. The chains ensnare it pull. The demon's jaws snap shut inches from the cop's face and it scrabbles on the concrete trying to pull away even as the purple fire of the chains starts to consume it.

    The wall of flame launched by the... formerly a man.... holding Franklin slams into Madelyne's force field with incredible force. But not before she gets off her telekinetic attack. The figure that grabbed Franklin is launched bodily into the air. Franklin collapses into Myra's arms and she lowers him to the sidewalk. Meanwhile, the creature rises several feet then leathery wings flare out, stabilize the creature and it lands in the middle of the street.

    The red-haired man is gone. He has been transformed into a leathery-winged, dog-faced demon standing about eight feet tall, with goat legs and hooves. Powerfully muscled, it lands with a thud and the concrete burns arounds its hooves.

    "I know you," it says in a deep, gravelly voice and glares at Ben. "The master warned me about you. The... family."

    The thing snarls and charges towards Ben. It shoulder checks a UPS van on the way and sends the thing skidding off. It makes a fist with its right hand, that is suddenly covered in flame, and cocks it way back to make a swing at Ben.

    Nico just has time to see the look of shock and gratitude on the grey-eyed cop's face. Then the UPS van skitters directly towards Nico as the big demon charges past. She feels the heat wave in its wake. Two demon dogs, one with a badly broken leg, scramble after the larger demon, trying to snap at its legs. They bound past Nico.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm frowns and sees the creature has messed with Franklin. A rage shows in Ben's ever loving blue eyes. He charges to meet the demon heading towards him "Yea, Family is something you don't mess with." He is prepared to take the punch, after all, he has went rounds with both the emerald giantess, and old jade jaws himself. So he puts his all into the punch towards the demons face, as he gets hit himself.

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico's left almost sprawling as she clumsily dives to the side as that van's knocked aside by big ol' demon... clunky buckle-covered boots are fashionable, but she's still getting used to all this hectic heroic stuff in 'em. She can't even imagine how heroines handle doing this in some of the heels she's seen.
    She manages to recover and sees those demons rushing off. Wellllll.... someone can probably handle that. They're running away, right?
    Nico doesn't actually really follow hero stuff to much, but Ben Grimm is Ben Freakin' Grimm, he's _famous_! And he's totally got this! He punches big guys all the time!
    So Nico mostly looks around to make sure no civilians are in danger, and props herself up with her staff... because she's kind of exhausted after all the magic slinging and punching and such. Is there mystical cardio? She has to ask Zatanna if mystical cardio is a thing.

Madelyne Pryor has posed:
Madelyne Pryor goes flying back as the mystic fire slams into her force field. She pulls herself from the rubble, her clothing all tattered. She wears this fierce grin on her face, blood trailing down the side of her head and her chin, quite enjoying the adrenaline high and the danger of combat. But then she thinks - even though her memories of Metropolis are fake, anf her parents were never real, it was still *her life*. She adored watching Superman soar above the Metropolis skies and land, caring for people, keeping everyone safe. It's almost like the nihlism of learning that life was never lived is at war with the love and the goodness of that fake life.

So, what would Superman do?

She bursts up from the concrete and wreckages, and she flies over to Franklin and Mya, surrounding all of them with her forcefield bubble. "You! Get him to safety. Don't worry about that big red asshole, I'll cover you." This is as she stands, and extends a hand. Her incomparable will and psychic power grabs the remaining demon's wills - she commands them, telepathically: <<"Destroy him!">> The target is of course that red demon.

Franklin Richards has posed:
It all happens very quickly. Nico looks around. Madelyne lands and a forcefield leaps into existence around Franklin and his friends. The last four demons leap into the air and latch onto the big fiend's outstretched arm as it readies for the punch. The punch comes, but the balance is off and it's late with the added weight. Ben's fist slams into the fiend's chest and there is a nearly visible wave of force from the impact. The fiend's fist lands on Ben's side an instant after. The fiend's eyes go wide.

    Ben's fist, stopped for just a moment, carries on its massive momentum. The demon's collapses inward under the impact, then explodes. A wave of fire blasts outward from the crater in its chest where Ben hit it.

    Nico is looking around when the flames woosh past, breaking around the UPS van on its side behind her like some kind of breakwater. Unscathed in the pocket the van creates she watches the fire sweep past her and crash next into Madelyne's forcefield, wash over and then dissipate.

    Everything goes still for a moment. Faces start appearing from behind cover and in shop windows. Cheers start breaking out from the perimeter the police created. Cellphone flashes light up the evening.

    On the sidewalk, Jordie shakes his head comes to his knees. Franklin's eyes flutter open. He looks confused for a moment and then they clear. The heat dies as suddenly as it came, the billboards go back to their ads, and Ben can even hear the game broadcast return as if nothing had happened. Except someone scored and he missed it.

    Franklin looks around and sees Madelyne. "What... Where did you come from?" He glances around. "Uncle Ben?" he says, seeing Ben across the street. He notices the young woman with the torn shirt and piles of embers near her. Franklin looks over to Madelyne. "Did I miss something?"

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm is in a tattered shirt and dress pants, the flames having destroyed most of his clothes. He always wears his blue shorts under his clothes. He rubs his side a bit where the demon hit him wincing a moment. He then starts heading over towards Franklin and the others "You ok Frankie?" He asks seeming more concerned for the kid than himself.

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico just sort of hunkers down as flames whip by, she's getting pretty good at that, it's usually a pretty solid choice!
    And once again it pays off as she absorbs the Staff of One back into herself, and shuffles out from behind the van to glance around, lifting her left hand in a little sketch of a wave, "Heyyy... uhh... anyone want to like... split an uber?"
    And then as Nico realizes cell phones are starting to snap pictures, she starts darting her gaze around a little more intently... sure, probably everyone's snapping photos of Benjamin Grimm, not some unknown goth! Yep, no way an evil cult that's been hunting her for years is going to like... see those photos or anything. Nahhhh.
    So as much as she wants to split an uber, instead she just starts moving off from the crowd in her best awkward mix of 'Don't draw attention' pace and 'Oh god I gotta get out of here' sprint.
    But hey, she didn't almost sign a contract with any of these demons, so John Constantine would probably say she's learnt a lesson from the last time she ran into any. Gotta look on the bright side!

Madelyne Pryor has posed:
Madelyne Pryor      smiles as the young gothy lady asks for a ride. "Sweety, I'll be more than happy to give you a lift home. You did great." Madelyne telekinetically lifts her jacket and pulls it back on - the press will probably say that she was Jean. Right now, she could give a fuck less. She feels good, having mattered.

     Madelyne stands up, dusting herself off. "Hi. I'm Maddie. I'm from Xaviers, new student. Glad I was able to help the ever loving blue eyed thing in an assist. Are you OK?" She extends a hand to help Myra and Franklin up. She turns to see the towering form of the Thing standing above her.

     "Mr. Grimm! A pleasure, finally meeting you in person, a big fan. I am *entirely* new to this whole super powered adventure business. How did I do? You know, I haven't even spent one hour in the danger room. This kinda rocks, although I didn't get big red there into the Hudson like I wanted to."
    Grinning like an idiot, she extends a hand to the FF family. "And hi to you too," she says to Myra. "Why were you guys being chased by demons? Don't you usually deal with Skrulls and Galactus and stuff like that?"

Franklin Richards has posed:
"I don't know," Franklin answers Ben and gets up. Myra helps Jordie up, and the two look both stunned by events and in awe of the appearance of the heroes. "Are /you/ okay? What happened to your clothes?"

    "Hey... Wait... I just wanted..." Is all Nico hears. A quick glance over her shoulder and she sees the grey-eyed cop slow his jog to a stop with one hand out toward her as she takes off. He scratches the back of his neck, and then his attention is pulled to coralling people emerging onto the street.

    Franklin turns to Madelyne when she dusts herself of and says hi. "Hi Ms. Grey," he says at the same time she says Maddie. "I mean," he winces and colours a little. Myra however shakes hands with Maddie eagerly. "That was incredible, I've never seen anything like it up close. Thank you so much! We would have been oxidized all over that wall if you hadn't shown up. Big fan of still breathing."

    A little movement catches Maddie's eye past Myra's shoulder. Standing back a bit, the woman with the rainbow hair holds up Maddie's coffee in one hand and books in the other, with a bit of a smirk. "Coffee's getting cold."

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm hmms and will offer his hand to Maddie, and says "Thanks for the help, keeping him safe is always a good spot in my book." He pulls something out of his pocket pushing a button. "IF anyone needs a ride, should have one here shortly." He says as at the tower the flying bathtub starts heading towards them. If you need something Maddie let me know, and if you aint had any training and did that will be glad to see when you have.

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico stops that awkward 'Gotta get away' shuffle to replace it with a slightly less awkward 'Gotta stand next to Maddie because she's her ride now' shuffle! She frowns thoughtfully and eyes Franklin, "I... they _did_ seem to kind of want a go at you? You didn't read any weird books lately did you? Or sign any contracts? Demons are always trying to get you to sign contracts."

    She plants her hands on her hips and huffs out a sigh, "But, I mean, hey, for demonic troubles, this was like... pretty good! Doesn't look like anyone innocent got hurt, and like... that's always pretty much the best you can hope for! But yeah, if you get a weird... parchment in the mail with a flaming pen? Do nooooooot sign it."
    Nico nods solemnly. Sure, her entire experience with demonic contracts was drunkenly getting offered one at a Halloween party. But she _barely_ read it before asking for guidance from a real actual wizard, so she's like, totally practically an expert.
    Or at least she's going to try to exude that level of confidence in front of the real actual heroic sorts.

Madelyne Pryor has posed:
Madelyne Pryor

     laughs delightedly. "One moment." She takes a moment to get her coffee and get the phone number of her rainbow haired admirer. She returns. "Why on Earth would demons be after you, Franklin?" Indeed, her psionic senses were detecting mutant power off of the charts for Franklin. "Well, we mutants have to protect one another. And you! Yes, you, Ms Pleaser shoes. I heard you do a Scorpion call out. Let's stay in touch. I don't think we're done with this. Today I learned - demons are as susceptible to mind control as anyone else. This whole magic thing fascinates the hell out of me." She makes sure to exchange contact info with everyone."

     "I live down in mutant town, so I'm local. While Chuck and the team have me pretty well covered, I wouldnt mind another look at my genome. I'm an artifical person, created by someone called Nathaniel Essex, for what reasons I have no clue. Also, going on adventures with the fantastic four? That's E class. That is, if I be allowed that honor. I'm a fan of old school super heroes, and you guys stood as action figures on my shelf next to my Superman and Wonder Woman dolls." Maddie looks like she's having a great time with this.

     She extends a hand to Nico. "Hi, Madelyne. What's your name? I love your fashion sense, and want to know where you shop."