9335/Fly, Meet Ointment

Fly, Meet Ointment
Date of Scene:	29 December 2021
Location:	S.T.A.R. Labs
Synopsis:	Mary Marvel happens upon a cybernetic thief at S.T.A.R. Labs.
Cast of Characters:	Katrina Cupertino, Mary Bromfield

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Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    Star Labs is of course the premier technological heart of Metropolis....and unfortunately, this means it is also the target of those unscrupulous individuals interested in getting a jump on their own tech research by stealing what's already been done.

    In this case, a new type of CPU design that is 50 percent better at radiating heat quickly. And Cybernary has been hired to get it, which is why she's quietly approaching the outer perimeter, dress in dark clothing. She pauses just outside of the external sensors for the facility, before making her way in, the cameras somehow always turning to face away from her just far enough to let her pass unmolested.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary Bromfield is also in the area, but only because she missed her bus. The snow was getting deep, and it was coming down harder. Of course, she could just Change and fly home in a second.

Right, right, it's not a wise use of her powers. But she was tempted.

She cheked her phone. Where is that bus stop...
She glanced to her left, puzzled as she saw someone just walk into S.T.A.R. Labs. It was a little late...she thought they were closed.
She headed to the intersection, then hurried across the street as the person walked into the place like she owned it.

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    And has horns. Which has to at least be unusual enough to notice! Not to mention the metal arms, which probably stand out a bit as well. Cybernary reaches the wall, then peers up, before she flexes her fingers, the tips of her metal hand sprouting claws as they reconfigure, before she jabs them into the wall with a crack of concrete giving, starting to scale the wall towards the third floor wall that leads into the lab in question. She's a direct sort of girl, when possible! She hasn't noticed Mary quite yet, or at least she's tagged her as a passerby rather than a person of interest.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary blinked, then hustled quickly towards the other side of the building.

Now THIS was a wise use of her powers!
She stopped as she rounded the corner, hopped over the low wall and disappeared from sight...

To be followed shortly by a lightning strike close by, followed almost immediately by a sound of thunder.

When does thunder and lightning show up in a snowstorm?

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    That does draw Cybernary's attention as she stops where she's clinging next to her target, looking around with a frown, her onboard computer trying to use her senses to narrow down what's going on. Then again, she grew up on a Pacific island. Maybe they get lightning in snow storms too?

    With a faint frown, she shifts her grip, hanging from her left hand as her right arm reconfigures, metal flowing as a lens emerges at the end as she points. With a *FOOM* a green laser stabs out as she slices a neat oval out of the outer wall next to her, then shifts back to a clawed hand to jab it into the loose section and pull it free, letting it drop to the ground below and revealing the dim hallway beyond.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
"Wow...that's a pretty serious way to get admission. Wouldn't the doors be less destructive?"

The voice comes from above and behind Cybernary's head. And the person it belongs to may be wearing a red suit, but Santa's already done his yearly run a few nights ago. Besides...Mr. Claus doesn't wear a lightning bolt on his chest.

"So, I am assuming you are here for nefarious purposes?"

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    Cybernary freezes, then leans back so she's looking at Mary upside town, tilting her head, as her battle computer helpfully highlights the other woman as a threat. "...would you believe I forgot my keys?" the horned woman says in a husky alto, raising a brow as her other hand reaches carefully for the SMG slung at the small of her back.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary shook her head, a wry look on her face. "Since I do not look like an infant, I would advise you not to think I was born yesterday. Now...would you like to play your cards with destruction of private property..."

She chuckles. "...or do you think your odds are better than they seem?"

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    Cybernary's fingers brush the grip of her SMG...then instead goes for a grenade, her thumb pulling the pin. "Let's roll the dice!" she says, tossing what turns out to be a flashbang towards Mary while flexing her arm to pull herself up and twist around to land inside the hallway in a crouch. Still got a job to do, after all! And it's going to have to be especially quick because between Mary and the noise that's about to happen, security is probably going to be alerted shortly.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary sees the flying object heading towards her face, and grasps it to throw it upward at roughly the speed of sound. It explodes three miles above the building, and then Mary Marvel drops down to land behind Cybernary.
"You seem determined to be difficult, Miss...Whoever-You-Are. Maybe we should be formally introduced?"

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
Cybernary backs down the hall as Mary advances. "Oh, I know who you are. Mary Marvel, right? Lightning bolt and all that." she says, gesturing to Mary's costume. "I'd say I feel honored, but I'd probably be lying considering you're a complication I really didn't need." Her right forearm, twist, reforming as a horizontal slot appears from it. "Cybernary." she offers at a moment. "Not like there are a lot of cyborgs with horns, anyway, for you to look through."

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary looks thoughtful. "No, you're right about that. I know a couple of cyborgs, but neither have horns. Well..." she shrugs. "...apparently, there is at least one." She looked at the forearm reforming. "Okay, that's kinda cool. But I really, REALLY hope you have some kind of hardening or insulation, though. I don't want to hurt you, but I'd hate to do it accidentally. So...if you're going to shoot something at me, we should probably get it over with..."

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    Cybernary frowns to herself. "Well, I could do that. But then again, if we were to fight in here, I'm sure it would break a lot of things. And you're probably interested in NOT having that happen." She hmmms. "And I'm really not being paid to fight someone like you either, so it seems a bit like a losing proposition to actually attack you." She twists her lips in a wry smirk. "Seeing I'm pretty sure all most of my weapons would do is flatten bullets when they hit you."

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary smiles girlishly. "You DO know about me! And here I thought living in New York would make me last year's news." She sighs happily, then tries to look serious. "Okay. Are you going to give me a hard time by, say, threatening to break a lot of things in here? Because that's really not nice. What do they call it? Oh, yes, holding things hostage. That would be TRULY uncool."
She hmms. "Look, if you come quietly, I'll put in a good word for you with Metropolis PD. If you don't, I'm going to have to capture you, and that might risk hurting you, and I REALLY don't want to do that."

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    Cybernary points to her head absently. "Battle computer with threat analysis. And you are considered a threat, believe it or not." She frowns. "However it would sort of cramp my style if I was sent to prison. Since they can't actually remove my cybernetic parts without, you know, killing me." She tilts her head. "I mean...insurance will pay for the wall, I'm sure."

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary nods. "Breaking-and-entering and destruction of private property are misdemeanors, and with a good lawyer are easy to plead down. Theft, however, makes both of them felonies." She looked to the gap Cybernary made. "The cops will be here, and soon. If you leave the premises right now and sit on the lawn, I'll wait with you and we can talk for a bit while we wait for the police." She smiles reassuringly. "I promise I will speak favorably of you if you do."

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    The horned woman sighs a bit. "You really are too nice for this sort of work." she says ruefully, shaking her head. "But as the United States extradites to other countries..." There's a snap hiss as a blade coated in an energy field extends from her right forearm, then splits apart into multiple links bound by an energy field that curls in front of her. "I will have to decline to acquiesce to your request."

    Her arm snaps up in a circle as the whipsword slices through through the ceiling and walls, several pipes and electrical conduits snapping and in a spray of flash steam as Cybernary turns on her heel and sprints down the hall, already reaching for another grenade from her belt.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary groaned. Some of these bad guys, it's ALWAYS the Hard Way!

Mary lunges forward to fly through the corridor, catching up to Cybernary in a second. "You can certainly run pretty fast," she observes while she is three feet behind her, slowing to keep paces with her.

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    "No means no, Mary!" Cybernary says as she's pursued, lifting the grenade and pulling it...but this time she doesn't let go of it as the spoon for it pings away. "Also I'm quite durable!" Which is when the grenade detonates in her hand, another flashbang mixed with chaff this time, in an attempt to at least dazzle Mary's senses for a moment.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Uh-oh, one of those flash grenades. She does close her eyes, but she reaches out to grasp the non-pitching arm. As long as that doesn't go away, she can risk closing her eyes.
"You know, for someone..."
FLASH!
"...who's so all-fired-up about respect..." She begins to slow down, but keeps her grip firm on Cybernary's shoulder. She REALLY doesn't want to damage the arm, even if it is metal.

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    The arm in question seems to writhe under Mary's hand then suddenly thins to a spoke as Cybernary tries to pull free. "Well, that was a waste..." she mutters, her computer running scenarios. There are not good endings for her in these scenarios thus far.

    On cue, the STAR Labs security alarms trigger, lights starting to flash along the hall.

    "Respect is all nice and good, but also escape is sort of high on my list..."

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary looked around. The options were not good to make this work.
She looked around, and then something came to her. But she was going to have to make it look good.
"Don't tense up," she whispered to Cybernary as Katrina suddenly finds herself being hauled down the hall, then through the hole, and then she hears Mary say, "Maybe THIS will cool you off!"

Two seconds later, she lands in a thick drift of snow, deposited in the alley by an industrious snowplow. The freshly-turned snow hasn't yet hardened into snowpack, so it's a relatively-soft landing.

Mary hoped Cybernary would take the hint...

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    Cybernary goes flying through the air blinking as she's suddenly airborn, then going limp as she crashes into the snow pile with a thud and a puff of snow everywhere, leaving her blinking and covered in it. Did she just....?

    "...right. I think...I'm going to need to owe you." she says, rolling to her feet and bolting down the alley as she tries to break contact. She definitely will have to revisit the wisdom of taking any further contracts dealing with STAR Labs!

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary does a quick check. Yes...yes, everything looks intact, nothing seems to be missing. She wasn't sure what Cybernary was here for, but she was pretty sure she never got her hands on it.
By the time the police cars arrive, Mary has made a show of poking through the alley, only to find the tracks and disturbance in the snow to discover Cybernary hoofed it.

She was rather glad of that.

The DAILY PLANET will have a brief story of a foiled robbery in tomorrow's paper. Cybernary might be glimpsed by a security camera, but that is not Mary's issue. She acted suitably chastened for being careless and letting the thief get away, but was mindful that they got away empty-handed.

Well, at least NOW she can justify flying home. By the time she was done giving her statement, the buses weren't running anymore...

Katrina Cupertino has posed:
    And Mary, when she next checks her phone, will find a text from an unknown number. "Owe you girl. Maybe next time we won't have to have a scuffle to meet u somewhere. Give me a call if you ever need a little help with something."