2013.05.26 - People skills.

Despite the early-ish time of morning, it's already in the seventies in Central Park and somewhat humid with the promise of rain later in the day. Despite the grey and cloudy sky, which seems to add an almost ominous feeling to the day, there are people out and about in Central Park. Not very many mind you. The dedicated joggers, the business men and women going to and fro from office to office, the dog walkers and the occasional parent hoping to wear their children out before the rain lets loose.
Sif is among these. It's not odd to find her in Central Park, even dress in leathers and armor with her sword at her hip as she is now. It's rare, however, to see her walk out of the small wooded area that's present.
Dusting dirt from herself, she stops and uses what little water is left in the gallon jug to clear the dirt from her hands and under her nails. Finally satisfied with it, the jug is crushed into a tiny ball of plastic and the nearest trash can hunted for. "And now... Mocha..." Because she needs one!
Grodd has been trying to keep track of aliens figure out which ones are going to be a problem and which ones are going to be useful until he can kill them. After all, it's his planet. Alien invaders are not welcome. The fact he is going to allow a small portion of the human population to live in his utopian future is still a compromise that makes him feel like he is somehow not living up to his potential. He'll be damned if he's going to let some aliens invade the planet and take what is rightfully his! 
Central park seems to be a place where heroes, villains, time travelers and all sorts of strange things are drawn, perhaps it's the open spaces, the lack of intense electromagnetic radiation or just that primal part of all organic life forms which draws them to return to the natural surroundings that seems to focus the oddness of the city into one location. Whatever the causation Grodd learned long ago to take advantage of it. A network of sensors built into lamp posts, hidden in trees, buried in the ground and even hidden inside robotic birds that look like real birds except for the fact they never leave the one branch they are perched on are scattered through out the park. There is also a utility shed hidden away among the plants which is locked from the inside. It's a teleport pad to allow Grodd fast access to the center of the city should he need it.
With all of his technology hidden in the park it allows him to sit at home and monitor the park as well as several different areas of several different cities while he manipulates the world like it's his own private game. This is exactly what Grodd is doing, lounging in a chair at his secret base on Fire island. Watching, scanning, waiting, studying, he looks up at one of the higher monitors on his monitor bank as a sensor goes off detecting the alien metal that Sif's armor and weapons are made of. The massive ape leans back in his chair and taps the tips of his fingers together focusing the network of technology on Sif. A camera drone is dispatched from a few blocks away so Grodd can have a up close and personal look at the alien. At least as personal as he gets until he knows where they stand on the whole hitting him in the face issue. 
Ursa is more or less a newcomer to the planet, and has been spending most her time learning her surrounding. There are many strange things to encounter on this planet, and Sif just happens to me the most interesting person in the vicinity. With her manner of dress distinct and bearing the air of a warrior, Ursa is drown towards the impressively tall woman, and she swoops down from the skies to land not far from Sif.
Once on the ground, she starts to head towards Sif. "You look different then other women in Midgard," Ursa calls out to Sif, "you are not one of those humans, are you?"
Midgard? Sif blinks at the woman, looking her over. She is not Valkyrie... She is no warrior that was on Asgard when last she was there but days ago... Yet she refers to the Realm as if she were...
"Different is a good word for it, yes. No, I am not one of the mortals. No are you, I would hazard to guess." There's a small smirk. "You do not appear to be from my Realm either and yet... You refer to this one as if you are..."
As sensors scan the one alien, wait, make that two aliens.. Grodd rubs his forehead muttering, "Great, just what I needed. More crazy aliens. I should use a laser and carve "No aliens allowed" on the moon. He jokes with himself because there is no one else there. Not that anyone else would think it was funny. 
A silver sphere floats rapidly towards the park, tracking the information being fed into Grodd's systems as the park scanners scan the two women examining their body heat, using targeted sonic beams from a lamp post to try and gauge the nature of their internal biology. From the side of a water fountain an array of low powered lasers, invisible to the human eye but not the Kryptonian scan over Sif's armor. Radiation transitions emanate from three different trees triangulating narrow if harmless beams on Sif creating a kind of 3D-XRay as the beam invisibly travels down her body. At least it looks invisible to most people. To Ursa it will look like the park has come to life with new and interesting energies. 
"I have learned Midgard is the new of this...Realm...is that not so?" Ursa asks Sif curiously, she has been referring to the planet as Midgard as her first exposure to anyone referring to it by name happened to be Thor. "You are correct, I am indeed not of Midgard, I am of Krypton," Ursa says with a tone that suggests it is naturally a superior place.
But then Grodd operates his machinations to scan Sif, and Ursa's attention is immediately drawn to the water fountain, noting how the energies seem to focus on Sif, she frowns, "have you enemies?" Ursa asks Sif, and without warning, her eyes glow a bright red, before shooting beams of concentrated heat right at the fountain that serves as the source of the energies that emanate in Sif's direction.
"It is what those in my Realm call it, yes. Those here refer to it as Earth..." Sif gives a little shrug. "I am unfamiliar with the name of your home, my Lady. My apologies."
The question catches Sif off-guard and her hand automatically wraps itself around the hilt of her sword. "Many and in multiple Realms... Why do..." The question is never finished before it dies off as those beams are seen.
Following them back to the fountain, Sif frowns slightly and then looks back at Ursa questioningly. "Is there something I need to know?"
Grodd's spectral analysis of the metal is interrupted as the sensor array is melted. He reaches over and redirects the floating robotic probe, a silver sphere with three cameras to enter stealth mode and stay at a distance using the zoom lens to observe the two aliens from a distance. 
The three trees with their X-Ray scanner system focus on Ursa now as Grodd checks her out. Of course they don't actually penetrate her skin but Grodd wanted to make sure that the woman was telling the truth. A Kryptonian.. like we needed more of those... 
Grodd sighs and reaches over picking up a headset slipping it over his head and adjusting the microphone so it is comfortably close to his mouth. He'll have to figure out who this trigger happy Super-Woman is and the best way to do that is just to talk to her. Pulling up the cellular phone network Grodd tags a jogger with a blue tooth ear piece. He calls the phone ringing the jogger who slows to a stop, jogging in place, "Hello?" the jogger answers the ringing phone. Grodd triggers a sonic pulse to induce hypnosis over the phone then says, "My name is Grodd. I am your master. You will obey me without hesitation." The jogger says, "Ok. " like he thinks it's a great idea and Grodd instructs him to jog towards the two women. 
"Then I must have encountered one of your realm, what is the name of your realm?" Ursa asks Sif, making the mental note that she probably should refer to this planet as Earth if she wants the majority of people to understand her. "Not many in this section of the Universe have heard of Krypton," Ursa takes no offense at Sif's lack of familiarity with her destroyed home planet. "The fountain," Ursa says, "it was emitting energies directed at you."
As Grodd scans Ursa, he will find she is indeed a Kryptonian just as she claims, one in peak condition at that. When the jogger suddenly changes course to jog towards Ursa and Sif, the Kryptonian turns to glower at him, "do you know this man?" She asks Sif.
"Asgard. There are a few of us in this Realm." She frowns as she's told about the fountain, her body stiffening automatically and her sword being drawn completely, her eyes hardening.
The jogger ends up with the full brunt of the cold look from the Goddess of War. "No. He is not familiar to me." Her fingers flex around the hilt of her sword. "He may just be passing by, however..." Always optomistic.
Optimism always leads to disappointment when in Central Park. Grodd's minion is no one important, an off duty scrub nurse who just happen to be in the wrong place at the right time he's not armed or really a threat in fact he seems to have a friendly smile. He jogs up to the women and comes to a halt jogging in place, winding down instead of just stopping which is the right way to do it. "Hi! I'm Craig! " he says then takes another deep breath and checking his pulse against his watch as he says, "I was wondering if you could both tell me what your intentions are on earth? What brings you to our lovely planet and how long do you plan on staying?" he asks like it's the most perfectly normal question in the world. Ursa might hear the voice of Grodd talking to the jogger through his blue tooth ear piece with her super-hearing. The voice telling him what to say. 
"Asgard...I should like to see that place," Ursa comments, and then turns her full attention to the jogger while Sif brandishes her sword, "Craig," she repeats the name, looking at the man with disdain, "what do you want, Craig?" But as soon as Ursa hears the voice whispering lines to the jogger, she puts her super speed on display, reaching to snatch the bluetooth device from the jogger, crushing it in her hand, "reveal yourself, puppet master!" She is not amused by a cowardly sort using a puppet to speak to her.
Oh for Grodd sakes, what is with Kryptonians and breaking Grodd's toys? Craig looks confused as his ear piece is crushed and the hypnotic pulse ends. He snaps out of it finding a woman in armor holding a swords to him. He throws his hands up in the air and says, "L..L..Look, I.. I don't want any trouble! My wallet's in my back pocket! Take it! Take anything you want!" Sif is left to deal with the the confusion and explain to the man what is happening. It'll be a while... 
Meanwhile... Getting rather tired of his toys being broken Grodd rings every payphone in the general vicinity of the Kryptonian hoping she will be smart enough to run over pick it up and answer without breaking at least one of them. 
With Sif dealing with the confused man and all the phones suddenly ringing, Ursa takes to the air to have a look around and see if she can spot anything unusual that may serve as a source. If not, she will eventually land by one of the phones, and proceed to throw her fist through it. That should stop the ringing, but nothing else happens, so she moves to the next. By sheer luck, her swift movement knocks the phone itself off its deck, tantamount to answering the call, allowing Grodd to speak to her. Clearly, she's not encountered a human phone before.
A voice comes from the dangling part of the device saying, "The black thing is called a handset. Human technology is limited. You need to hold the hand set next to your mouth so I can hear you speak." He knows she can hear him from halfway across the city if she wants to but he doesn't have super-hearing, "Assuming you actually are capable of following instructions and not just a beautiful idiot who can only smash things." the deep base voice says from the pay phone. 
Ursa glowers at the black handset, and tentatively reaches to pick it up, looking all around as she holds it up to her mouth and ear, "Who are you? Where are you? And why do you think it is a good idea to mock me?" She asks gruffly, before adding, "because it is most assuredly, a very bad idea!"
The Gorilla on the other end of the line says, "By not answering those questions, I render all that magnificent power of yours completely useless, which is why I choose to mock you. Also, you are acting so very barbaric. I had hoped that Kryptonians would be a superior species to humans but from what you have demonstrated today you act with all the grace and tact of a rabid animal. Hardly fitting of one of the most advanced life forms on the planet. You lower yourself by acting so rashly. You are not a primitive, you are like-unto a Goddess to these pathetic humans. Stop acting like a brute and introduce yourself." he scolds and compliments all at the same time. 
"Fancy yourself a clever man, huh?" Ursa groans into the phone, clearly not pleased with being mocked. She doesn't know who is taunting her, but she'd like to break him with her bare hands. "Kryptonians are superior to not just humans. You dare equate me with a rabid animal? Show yourself and pay the consequences." Being given an order after that barrage of insults, Ursa crashes the phone in her hand, which means she needs to move to another phone booth and wait fro Grodd to call there, and if he does, she'll answer, "do not persume to give me orders, there is only one man I will take orders from, and you are not him."
Reason is obviously not going to work at extracting information from her so 
Grodd uses that nice obvious anger, "Oh, you lick the boots of Super-man like a good obedient woman? At least on Mars the women had spines. At least our women had the back bone to stand up for themselves and demand to be treated like equals. It's no wonder your skin if so pale. I'll bet Superman rarely even lets you leave the kitchen." The gorilla says as he leans back in his chair and props his feet up. "I guess your society isn't as advanced as Super-man had lead me to believe." the voice says with an arrogant tone.
"You will mind your insolent tongue, or I shall remove it for you," Ursa says rather coldly to the headset, her eyes looking all around as she tries to use x-ray to locate Grodd. She has no indicator he's even nearby, but she believes he can see her based on their brief conversation to this point. "I know not who you are, but I can promise you that when we meet, you will learn the true meaning of pain. I do not tolerate men who outstep their bounds."
There are lots of cameras in the city, to be used. That is the great thing about the city. Now that she looks, there are cameras everywhere. There is even a floating silver orb up in the air cloaked and watching Sif. "Oh, I doubt that. Superman and I have known each other a long time, dear. On earth there is a saying, Bros before Hoes. We have shared much and you, you're just a woman. We're like brothers he and I, the last sons of our respective planets. Besides, I'm a shape shifter. I could be standing right behind you and you would never know. But don't worry. I won't tell him about your little tantrum. I'm sure he'll want to try and get along with you, seeing as your the only female he has to breed with I'm sure he'll look past your charming personality." the ape says then reaches into a drawer and takes out an apple. He takes a nice big juicy bite out of it and speaks around the food in his mouth, "I mean, you're not that bad looking. Your heads too round and your eyes are small. Stuck in that one shape all the time. I can see why you have self-esteem issues."
"You speak as if you know Superman, I doubt it very much," Ursa offers, ironically, she doesn't know too much about Superman. Though she does know the important bit, he belongs to the House of El. "Come face me and I will show you what 'just a woman' can do." As Grodd continues to taunt and bait her, she focuses on the floating silver orb which she can see with x-ray vision, and proceeds to blast it with heat vision, "let us see if you can throw a tantrum when I break all your toys, starting with that one."
The voice on the other end of the phone says, "I have neither the time, nor the interest in humiliating you publicly. You would cause far too much destruction with your tantrums. If you want to show Superman how much of a child you are then just ask around. Ask who the Martian Man Hunter is. You'll find the truth and the truth is, you're outclassed. " Then the phone hangs up and sitting in his command chair Grodd raises his apple in salute, "To women, no matter where you go, they are always glorious." then he takes another bite and goes back to work on his other projects. 
"Oh, but there will be no humiliation, only the systematic disassembling of your body limb from limb, I could learn a great deal about your physiology as I tear you apart," Ursa speaks rather calmly, if a bit forbiddingly into the headset, she's likely used to be in situation where she had to interrogate or rather torture people. "On this planet? There is no one to even challenge me, the fact you cowardly hide from me is proof enough how intimidating I am." When the phone gets disconnected, Ursa rips the headset from the cord and throws it away, snorting as she takes to the air. She will find that insolent man who taunted her this day, and she will make a toy of him. Assuming she'll let him live. At least that's her decision.
Category:Log