9078/When Litter Pick-Up Goes Wrong

When Litter Pick-Up Goes Wrong
Date of Scene:	14 December 2021
Location:	Staten Island
Synopsis:	Valeria attempts to do some litter pick-up and discovers that sometimes planning is the better part of valor.
Cast of Characters:	Valeria Richards, Ben Grimm, Monet St. Croix

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Valeria Richards has posed:
What is science for if not making the world a better place? That's what the Fantastic Four are all about, after all - improving the world through science. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Valeria Richards would decide to take a go at it entirely on her own.

See, what had happened was she found an old prototype for a convertible submarine in one of the family's many storage sites, and decided to fix it up. But she needed a //reason// for that, because there were resources involved, and you can't just pull in resources without a reason.

So the little submarine that probably couldn't and that's why it ended up in storage in the first place was retrofitted for trash retrieval. And where better to start than close to home?!

Turns out, just about anywhere. Valeria's litter-ship lasted about an hour before the nets designed to gather trash gathered //so much// trash that the engine stalled out. She managed to get the boat to shore, but...she hasn't quite figured out what to do with the gathered trash yet.

So she called Uncle Ben.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm has come to see what Val needs. He is in the main section of the flying bathtub also known as the Fantasi-car. He lands down near where Val has things set up, and looks over towards her and her experiments. "No denying she is stretch's kid." He says under his breath but smiling walks over towards her "So, what ya need kiddo?" Yea she maybe grown but her and Franklin will always be kiddos to him.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Valeria stands on the shore, eyeing her latest experiment and rubbing a hand at the back of her neck. "Hey Uncle Ben," she greets with a sheepish smile. "I, uh. Well. I might need a tow. Or something like that."

She gestures to the little ship in the harbor, bobbing along with the movement of the water and deeply entangled with both the net and a few literal tons of trash. They'll be lucky if there aren't bodies in there, honestly.

"I underestimated the load and overestimated the engine power, and now I'm pretty sure I just...moved the junk," she admits.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm looks to her, and nods his head a bit to this. He will look around them to see id there is enough room on the dock area where they are for her trash haul. He walks to the end of the dock, and kneels down to look at the net testing it's strength and looking at the sub "This the Little Dipper 75?" He asks about the sub. Seeming to recognize it, well Ben is the test pilot most anything FF.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
This sort of thing is beneath her. But never let it be said that Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix wasn't willing to do something to help the 'lessers' as she might put it if asked directly. But, since she's not being asked directly such a thing is unsaid. So seeing wreckage gets a rare show of emotion from her that is not a sneer or a look of supremacy.

A very, very small wince that quickly vanishes as she goes to approach the no longer fully operational submarine warily, looking about the horizon.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Yeah," Valeria nods to Ben, pacing along the edge of the water. "Do you remember why it was decomissioned? It looked like it was in pretty good shape, was easy to get back into the water. Though in hindsight, I may not have not done as thorough an inspection as I could have."

She looks over as Monet starts to approach, smiling just a little bit awkwardly. "Nothing to worry about, ma'am," she says in her best PR voice. "Just a little bit of a breakdown."

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm looks over to her, and says "Yea, your dad was not happy with the power plant, to get the horse power out of it, he wanted he needed to come up with a new fuel, which I think he did, but by then, he had moved on. I told him, we should have broken it out and used it as a training sub for Frankie and you as you were growing up, but you know ya dad once it is in storage, it might as well be on the moon, except he would be more interested on things on the moon." He grins a bit and with a bit of work starts gathering the nets and detaching them from the sub as he bundles them in his large rocky mitts.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
This is unusual even by the standards that Monet St. Croix sets for herself. There's a mental thought as to whether she should be joining whatever this inevitable calamity shall be.. "I don't particularly care. It's not getting any of the mess on me so it's not my problem."

Honesty. Probably not best policy

Valeria Richards has posed:
"I'm not sure I can promise that last part," Valeria admits, though she doesn't quite say it all the way out loud. Much as she might put on the PR face, she's definitely embarrased in the way only teenagers can be.

"Not to interrupt, Uncle Ben, but uh...what are you planning on doing with the net there? I don't have anywhere to put it just yet. Pocket dimension seems excessive for trash, but I don't really want to just...leave it there either."

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm looks over to Monet and says "You may want to step back then." He offers in gruff advice. To Val he says "Well, going to haul it out of the water, make sure the nets are going to hold, if not your going to patch any spots. Then Thinking we hook it to the Fantasi-car, and take it to a junk yard to use the magnets to get any of the metallic bits out, of it, before you sorta it more." He hmms "We may need some large tarps so not to drip garbage juice alont the way onto people

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would evaluate the placement of everything and finally offer, "A tarp has a risk of leakage if not properly sealed or strapped. Using some sort of energy field or suspension harness sloped at an angle to prevent spillover has a lower risk and will allow for a smoother removal. If you haul by tarp while flying the additional issues of inertia from maneuvers are an additional risk."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"I dunno, Uncle Ben," Valeria starts, just as Monet adds in her opinion. "What she said," she nods, pointing a thumb at the woman. "I was originally just going to tow it closer to the old warehouses and figure out what to do with it from there, but, uh. Yeah. It was definitely worse than I anticipated. Seriously, do people not know that there's actual trash pickup services like...at least twice a week?"

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm looks to the two, and says "Well, the energy field, you will have to find or call your mom." He tells Val. We could just two it over the river to the warehouse, but if it aint covered, am sure we will get press for polluting even if we are cleaning up." He does ponder taking the easy out and calling Damage Inc., but uncles can't always give the kids the easy outs sometimes, they need life lessons.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would hover back several meters.. Just to be on the side of safety. "Tarps have a high risk of tearing, being upset in maneuvers, or collapsing." She's making no move to offer her help in this beyond her ever so correct advise.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"No way am I calling Mom," Valeria says before Ben even finishes suggesting it. "Dad, maybe, but..." There's a half second where she eyes the net and then the sky. "And Uncle Johnny would just vaporize it, which is also not actually an improvement."

She sighs, grimacing. "What I need is a portable hole," she mutters. "Or, you know. Something to teleport it to where it should go. Or else..." Pausing, she straightens up a little bit and steps along the edge of the waterfront.

"Alternatively, I could net off //this// area, which would allow me to break out the trash into smaller sections, which should give me a chance to get rid of it the right way. Just not...in an afternoon."

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm crosses his arms and nods a bit to this and says "You mean dealing with it as in sorting, and recycling and not just throwing it into the negative zone?" He does smile a bit and will walk over to the car, and fumbles with some things pulling out a few devices he can use as anchors to keep the net here.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And with things going well past any sort of frame of reference point for Monet St. Croix, she would leave the two to their musings. A passive look on her face as she would go to float away, departing at a low speed.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Valeria wrinkles her nose briefly at Ben. "I can hear you being smug about me learning a lesson from over here, you know," she calls over to him. "But..." She sighs. "Yeah."

"I guess I was hoping for too much thinking I could clean up the whole river in an afternoon. But at least I can get a few tons of crap out of it."

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm looks over to her, and says "Me? Na, I would not do something like that." He does grin over to her, and says "If it makes ya feel better, your dad did something similar in the 90s, so this it not the first time I have seen a bundle of trash from the river. " He does not say if Reed threw his trash in the negative zone, they were younger more carefree back then. "Now I am going to warn ya there is going to be some disturbing things in there, and you will need to know what zones of the river you dredged.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Valeria quirks a brow, leaning over to peer into the water. "You really think so?" she asks, giving him a curious look. "I mean, I know people talk about dropping things in the river, but isn't that kind of cliche?"

Valeria knows a lot of things, but in some ways...she's still a kid.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm shakes his head a bit and says "Na, there will probably be quite a few things, and if you got anywhere near the bridges, there will probably be some cars and other things. May want to get someone down to guard it though, cause could be some alien tech there as well.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Oh, I didn't think about alien tech," Valeria admits, perking up a bit. "That almost makes it worth it." Balancing, she hops over to the submarine once more, digging around in a storage bin to find more superfine netting.

"There should be enough of this to cordon the area off for further sorting. It'll just take a little longer. And more planning. And, uh...If you wouldn't mind grabbing some bouys so I can mark the area?"

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm nods, and says "And I will call the PR office to put in the paperwork so you have the city planning permits." He tells her reminding her of some of the more boring side of things. He walks over to the Fantasticar and types some things into the computer setting up a list of things to get from one of their warehouses.