2014.07.27 - Heroine Withdrawl Follow Up

Moon Knight isn't especially easy to track down by super hero standards, but he's not the worst of the paranoid either. Eventually Eddie hears of a place he's been seen on more than once recently. Usually late in the evening or shortly before dawn. It's a relatively quiet street near downtown.
Axiom isn't the world's greatest tracker. In fact he's not really a tracker at all. But in NYC, he can find people if he has to. Asking around among the homeless, scouting via rooftop, checking all the superhero fan-sites...it's all useful and eventually it gets him to the street he's currently looking down at. In costume, he's perched on a rooftop and looking around for signs of the Moon Knight. Hopefully the older hero has info that will help his investigations.
His waiting pays off, as he does spot the silver clad avatar some hours after the sun goes down. He's on the rooftops as well, heading along the route described to..somewhere, assumedly. Even heros must sometimes have regular commutes.
Axiom perks up when he spots that silver, easily standing out among the city. The teen hero quickly takes off after Moon Knight, making no effort at all to hide his approach. He's hoping Moon Knight notices him. He doesn't want to startle him and start any kind of fight.
Moon Knight is circling around a small parking lot in front of a closed general store of some sort when he notes the other figure chasing after him on the roofs. The older hero stops, glowing eyes flashing Axiom's direction, though nothing more of his face is visible under his cowl. His stance seems wary, though. There were, after all, recent suspicions of him being involved in an attempted bank robbery thwarted by Wonder Woman, according to the confused news reports. Even if he recognized Axiom as a heroic sort, that alone wouldn't guarantee his intention in approaching.
When Moon Knight stops, Axiom's relieved. Chasing him all over New York City would be trouble. He stops on the same rooftop and takes a moment to catch his breath. The stance is noted but Axiom's is all friendly and casual. It's that incident he wants to talk about actually. He was very interested in it the moment he finished his cosmic-mission. "Umm...h-hi," Axiom offers a little wave. "Sorry t-t-to bother you, Moon Knight, but I wanted t-to talk about something."
The cowled figure relaxes, if only slightly. "Talk to me? What about, and who exactly is it I'm talking to?"
"Oh, um...s-sorry. I'm Axiom. From the Young Allies," Axiom replies, a hint of pride in his voice at the team name. "It's that incident y-you were part of awhile ago. At the bank with that Wonder Woman imposter," he says, convinced there's no way that was the real Wonder Woman.
Moon Knight hesitates at that, and steps closer. "You know she was fake too, then? Do you know something about the imposter?" it seems Axiom has piqued the lunar vigilante's interest, from the keen tone to his voice.
"I um," Axiom shifts a little awkwardly. "I don't have any concrete proof b-b-but there's no way she was real. I read about it and asked around and she d-d-didn't act like Wonder Woman at all. I've met Wonder Woman and w-worked with her too and everything the news said just...it has to be a f-fake," he says. "I w-was hoping you c-c-could tell me something about her. Or what really happened there."
a sigh escapes the cowled man. "Then you're just here to confirm what I already know.." he straightens his shoulders and nods. "Well, still better that more people know the truth. She absolutely wasn't Wonder Woman; she didn't have the marks of someone favored by a goddess. The woman in the bank is some sort of master spy...she's been a ghost story in intelligence circles for what might be decades." he taps the side of his head through his hood. "For what help it is, her eyes sometimes turn yellow."
"I'm p-positive she's linked to the fake Captain America too," Axiom chimes after the sigh. He listens closely to what Moon Knight says, nodding in agreement about the lack of goddess favor. "What's the story?" he asks. "Anything c-could help," he adds. "Her eyes turn yellow? Like umm...glowing or actually changing?"
Moon Knight wonders in return, "Fake Captain America? What information do you have on that?" and then answers, "Well.. give me a moment, I can tell you more about those stories." he turns his head to the side, eyes narrowing slightly as if in thought.
"About as m-much as I do the fake Wonder Woman and all the other r-r-robberies that have been going on. They've all f-followed the same pattern," Axiom answers. "All r-really obviously fake versions of different heroes. Cap w-was just the latest. There's someone sneaking into and out of the b-banks' back doors every time too. Someone really fast," he answers. He nods to the request for time though, falling quiet.
You say, "..Someone fast? There was a young man there at the Wonder Woman robbery; he was almost too fast to see. At first I thought he was there to help, and like the rest of them, he was speaking as if he was, but then he gave some signs that he knew what was going on, not to mention leaving with the imposters."
"What d-did you see of him?" Axiom asks. "Did you get a good look at him at all?" he adds. "They're d-definitely using a teleporter to get to and from the areas."
Moon Knight tchs, and waves his hand a bit as if prompting something before speaking again. "Yes, I did. He walked right up to me. You're investigating this? On your own, or with your group..?"
"D-did he have white hair? And what c-color was his costume?" Axiom asks, trying to narrow down the possibilities. And if someone is impersonating one of his friends, he'll be a very angry power booster. "R-r-right now it's just me but I'm g-getting my team in on this too."
Moon Knight wonders, "Do you want a hand? I've run into that yellow-eyed spy before. I wouldn't mind the chance to help bring her in.. and yes, he had white hair." he describes the clothes he was wearing, also adding, "They spoke about him as if he was Magneto's son."
"Um, sure," Axiom replies with a smile. He's surprised someone's offering to help, used to older heroes just saying 'come back when you have more' or 'let us handle it'. "She m-made a big mistake impersonating heroes. No way I can let that stand," he says with a firm nod. The power booster listens to what Moon Knight describes and nods again. He's relieved that isn't someone impersonating Speed. "I think that's Quicksilver then," he replies, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Which would explain whoever keeps sneaking into the backs of banks before they g-g-get robbed. But not what they do that for..."
the other man nods agreement. "Exactly. If they were trying to discredit heroes, then they would do a better job imitating them you would think, and furthermore, they wouldn't have changed their game to try to act like the bank's saviors in my case. It smacks more of a distraction and nothing else, but a distraction has to have a purpose. Nothing was reported stolen, and if he did take anything, I at least saw no obvious sign of it on him when he came on the scene. I wonder if they were stealing information of some sort instead? Something that wasn't physically removed?"
Despite Axiom's apparent youth, Moon Knight doesn't seem at all concerned with pushing him away from trying to help, for whatever reason.
"Information or things people don't want t-to report stole," Axiom replies. "P-people keep all sorts of things in safety deposit boxes. And he c-c-could also be planting something like s-s-some way into their computer systems or something," the power booster goes on. "If w-we could find Quicksilver and get him to tell us..." he trails off and shrugs. "Do you know if the two women the news mentioned being there with you are still in the city? Maybe they know something."
Moon Knight nods. "I wondered about that as well. I was out here trying to get in touch with a police contact of mine to see if there might be something that wasn't publicly released but reported to them as missing.. barring that, though, you're right. If he tampered with something, or stole something there was no record of..who can say? I'm not entirely sure whatever security footage there is would even register where he went reliably." he tilts his head at the last question. "You mean the robbers?" he sounds confused, as they all disappeared in the portal to who-knows-where.
"The security footage probably w-wouldn't show him unless they had some really good cameras," Axiom nods. "The w-w-woman with the bone weapons and the flying woman in black," he clarifies. "They were robbing the place t-too?"
"The woman with the strange bone abilities absolutely was." Moon Knight confirms. :She and the imposter were robbing the place together. I'm not one hundred percent positive about the other one, but it looked to me like she was in on the ruse if nothing else."
Axiom nods, frowning. "The b-bone woman sounds like someone I've heard of before and if she is then s-s-some people I know lied to me about things," he says. "I'm not sure about the woman in black. Did you hear if anyone used her name?"
Moon Knight considers. "No, not that I heard. I did see her eyes glowing red at one point. When she was threatening bystanders."
He adds, "What do you know about the woman with the bone protrusions?"
"Not much," Axiom answers honestly. "J-just that she's a mutant and I believe p-part of a community of mutants I have some contact with. When I asked they s-said they didn't know anything so if this is here...they lied."
Moon Knight says, "Why is that? Did they claim she was there living peaceably with them or something?"
They just said they didn't know anything," Axiom replies. "Which d-doesn't make a lot of sense. They're kind of...close knit."
"So at the least, they didn't want to fill you in on whatever happened with her." Moon Knight guesses.
You say, "Do you know anything about how they teleported out of there? I saw a purple portal, and heard the imposter mention 'their ride', but that was all."
Axiom shakes his head. "No b-but if it's a portal teleporter and it was purple it r-rules some people out," he says. "I'll ask around."
You say, "If you'd fill me in on whatever you turn up, I'd be grateful."
"D-do you have some way I can contact you?" Axiom asks. "Like a phone number or um...Moon Knight signal?"
Moon Knight chuckles. "I'm starting to think I need one-- but until I get my own phone I have a dead drop I use."
"Dead drop..." Axiom looks confused for a moment but a look of realization comes to his masked face. "Oh y-yeah! Umm, where is it?"
You say, "Not far. I can show you, unless you have somewhere else you'd rather I leave word for you."
Axiom thinks for a moment before nodding. "I'll follow you. If you n-need to reach me just leave a note at the Obelisk in Central Park. I check there for p-people that can't reach me via phone."
Moon Knight chuckles.. everyone has their own ways to deal with this business. He rarely had many contacts though..it may finally be time to work out with Steven a cell for such situations soon. "Alright." he makes his way to street level, and shows Axiom a forgotten newspaper box that can be opened in the back. "I check here regularly. If you find them, you've got an ally."
Axiom follows along carefully, only stumbling once. He's getting better at not looking completely ridiculous doing this. He nods when shown the box and then smiles. "Th-thanks! Happy to work with you," he chimes, offering a hand.
Khonshu's chosen takes Axiom's offered hand in a silver glove, and shakes it firmly. Though it's hard to believe he missed the youth's stumbling on the way, he says nothing about it. "It's good to know others are concerned about this." he replies instead, seeming quite solemn. "Now we'll have to work to see these people are made to face justice." he then adds, in a wry, more casual tone, "You forgot about the spy stories." he continues, now sounding a bit nettled, "At this point it doesn't matter that much." he looks straight at Axiom. "Except that if you do come across her, know that she's highly skilled and dangerous even unarmed.
Axiom nods quickly. "R-right! We'll find 'em, kick their butts, and make sure they stop hurting people and g-g-g-giving good guys a bad name in the process," he chimes, all enthusiasm and optimism. He ends up blushing a little at the comment but nods. "It's okay," he smiles. "I'm used to d-danger. Just the other day I was f-f-fighting some crazy evil scientists from AIM," he says. "I should probably g-get going now though. G-got to meet up with my t-teammates to see if they heard anything."
Moon Knight nods. "I just wanted to relay what tactical information I had." he explains, and takes out his grapple, taking a step closer to one of the taller buildings in the fairly low-story area. "And I won't keep you from your teammates any longer. I'll pass on anything I find in turn." he assures, and then grapple hooks away. (Where he very likely will try to tail the young hero, just to make sure he really is going where he says he is and appears to be what he claims to be. There are, after all, masters of disguise involved in all this.)
"Okay! Thanks," Axiom replies. He watches Moon Knight go and offers a parting wave before taking a deep breath and starting to head towards Central Park. He's fairly easy to tail, taking mostly rooftops and alley ways...though he's got to climb and jump. No grapples for him. Once he reaches the park he can be followed for a short while before vanishing into Central Park's depths after a quick check at the Obelisk for any left messages.
Category:Log