2014.01.15 - Color-Coded Inconvenience

Superman nods at Dr. Emil Hamilton as the pair look up at a diagnostic screen. There's chunks of green rock with icons and data readouts that spin by. A besectacled man with fading hair interrupts the pair, "Superman, your guest has arrived. He's...he's brought someone else."
Superman looks to the corner of the screen, which shoes Kon and another. "It's not a problem, Dr. Hemingsworth." Superman then looks to Hamilton with a nod, that says, I'll handle the conversation. Both Hamilton and Hemingsworth head out of the room the opposite way from where another assistant is leading Superboy and his friend in.
Superboy is dressed to the occasion or the heroic occasion that is at least. Black and red his signature colors with the big house of El logo stamped in the middle of his chest. He looks like a chip off the old block minus the obvious differences and his undercut hair do.
Following the assistant with his guest in toe he looks around and offers up a wave, "How it do?" He says quietly. A bit on the somber side, it's not every day Kal summons him. Usually it's for a football game, time to meet up with the Kents or well, serious biz. Which this is obviously the last option. Illyana aka Magik he invited along just because well he trusts her with his life and then some. She's probably his best pal.
Since it's a costumed occasion, Illyana's decked out in white-on-black with her hood back. Labs give her less of a creepy vibe than churches so she looks relaxed enough though curious at all the tech on display. Good thing she's not Peter. He'd probably be drooling on the floor or something.
As they catch up with Superman, the older El gets a small mile that has the edges of a smirk and a nod of her head. She waits to hear what's up before speaking herself.
Superman nods to Superboy and then to Magik. "Thanks for coming guys. I think we'd better go have a seat."
Kal motions towards a small meeting table in the foreground just in front of the monitors. "I need to talk to you about a recent break in at a Governmental facility in Colorado. These sorts of break ins are, perhaps, normal these days, but the details are a bit more concerning."
"Sounds ominous." Superboy jests but takes a seat at the table none the less. Kon himself would prefer a church to a lab but he's comfortable around Clark and Illyana enough to be at ease. Besides it's different times now. He is stronger than he once was; mental-wise included. 
"Concerning because...? I didn't do it. I have alibis."
"Is that why you brought me?" Magik says with some sarcasm as she takes a seat as well. "To get you out of trouble with big brother?" The mocking doesn't touch her expression though. Cold blue eyes are serious as she gives Superman her attention.
Superman gives a chuckle as he sits, but it's clear that his heart isn't in it. "I'll get right to the point. We're all busy people. A year and a half ago there was an extraterrestrial landing in Westchester, New York. I wasn't able to be at the epicenter due to an unrelated mission, but read the full reports via those I trust. Anyways, meteors fell all over the northern seaboard. The epicenter was a lake just north of Westchester. Though the being that landed was never discovered, what was discovered were hunks of green rock. Later, we found this rock to be toxic to Kryptonians. I ran the information up at the Fortress, and it turns out that the element is known as Kryptonite. And, prolonged exposure is toxic.
"The government took the Kryptonite to hold and to study. In the interest of full disclosure, they kept me and the rest of the JLA up to date on the testing, and also allowed me to give some of the sample to Tony Stark for testing and modification. I wanted Tony involved because the government is made up of individuals who change with each election. If one of us ever went rogue, it seemed good to have multiple, trustable entities with access to such a weapon.
"So, the government stored the Kryptonite at a secret weapons facility just north of Fort Collins. Last week that building was compromised. In addition to a trio of small tactical nuclear weapons, the Kryptonite was also stolen."
Kon's rough near two year lifespan hasn't once had him get introduced to Kryptonite and Spartan has never mentioned a weakness to any green rocks to him. Did the man know? Usually does. Probably more secrets. Who knows. 
A moment of silence as Superboy digests this then he speaks, "How come I wasn't told about this stuff sooner? I mean.. is it like poison?" That awareness of mortality is a harrowing thing. "Will it affect me like it does you even?"
Magik's eyes narrow at the mention of Westchester because hey, it's not that big an area and coincidences are often really not that. But she doesn't live there anymore, and so doesn't keep up on all of the events at the school. There are way too many. Her lips press into a thin line as Superman goes on. "So someone's looking to make a hell of a big play." Because nukes and anti-Super stuff. It doesn't get much bigger. 
When Kon speaks, Magik glances over at thim and is thoughtful before she says, "And if Kon didn't know about it... How did whoever did this know?"
Superman swallows hard and repositions himself slightly as Kon asks the understandable question. "I thought I had it handled. I was wrong. I wish I would have told you, and I apologize. It was an incremental situation. At first we noticed it hurt me, but we didn't know if it was something that hurt a large swath of alien life forms. After a few months, we realized it was cancerous to humans, but specifically toxic to Kryptonians. 
"I wish I would have told you and I'm sorry."
Superman's eyes turn towards Illyana. "The best I can come up with is one of two situations. One is that the government suffered a hack of some sort. The other is that there's a mole. In order to reach some distance from the government, I requested and was granted someone on the case who was neither affiliated with the Justice League, nor the government. She works with Tony's crew-Codename: Black Widow."
"It's fine. There has been a lot going on." Superboy is kinda-sorta just brushing it off the frown on his features says he's clearly not well with this but in light of what recently transpired with the whole Darkseid thing it's not something he is going to go all dramatic about.5R"So there is now a poisonous cancerous Kryptonian killing rock out there in the ands of who knows what or who... what is the plan? Seriously too... can I uh get a list of who has this stuff so I can avoid them? I kinda like living." Half-hearted joking in there even if he is visibly shaken. Kon really knows nothing about Tony Stark's crew or the man himself beyond what he has seen in the media. "Because we got assassins already targeting our people. I hope they don't have any of this stuff..."
Illyana Rasputina puts a hand on Kon's shoulder, squeezing lightly though her attention stays on Superman and the topic at hand. She makes a mental note to ask Peter about this Black Widow later. "Were all the samples taken? Is there some sort of way to detect these things from their radiation?" Talking the government out of some of their kryptonite to let Spartan run tests on it might be a hard sell.
Superman nods, "The list of people who have it is either very big and unknown, or very short. It's basically Stark and whoever stole the other samples. And they took it all, Magik. The government no longer has any." Superman shakes his head, "As far as tracking it, we've already tried that. The items are encased in lead, which is dense enough to prevent the radiation from spreading. There's no way to track it, unfortunately, specifically because the cases were designed to keep those working on it, and Kryptonians safe."
"Awesome." Superboy grunts. Sarcasm of course. "So we can't track it and there is too big a list of people who may or may not have it. I'll ask Spartan if he has any way of tracking it." Doubtful as well. He is probably in the same boat as everyone else. "Do we have any sort of leads on these mystery thieves?"
"I don't think he'll be able to track it without having some to work with first." Magik notes to Superboy before turning back to the older El. "And I was more concerned with like, an early-warning system to know if it's in play more than tracking it. I figured someone's good enough to swipe this stuff, they'd know how to hide it."
Superman doesn't blame Kon for being sarcastic; he obviously has a lot of reasons to be very upset. "The Black Widow is due to check in within the next few days. Once she does, I'll be sure to pass along what information she has. In the meantime, if you'd like to assist her, I can also let her know."
Superman raises an eyebrow, "I think my explanation still stands. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's always in play."
"I'll just try to keep in touch. Trying to focus on the home front and keeping our team safe right now. If /they/ have Kryptonite well guess that will just narrow it down some for us." Clearing his throat Superboy looks around the lab and straightens upright as if he is about to stand. The usual unease in places like this. Hopefully the ones who attacked Illyana are not linked to the Kryptonite heist.
Illyana Rasputina looks over to Conner. "So basically, you need to be a bit more careful than you usually are." Barreling in all by his onesie knowing he should come out unscathed. The blonde looks back over to Superman. "There any treatment to exposure? What's the critical timeframe?" At this point, it's not 'if' it happens to Illyana, it's 'when'. And so knowing how to deal with it is damned important.
"A normal fist sized hunk of rock will strip a Kryptonian of all their powers within five minutes. Exposure of 10 minutes or more creates unconsciousness. 20 minutes is death. Those are estimates, and dependent upon the proximity and size of the rock. And it's hypothetical because we didn't really test it." Superman sees Kon readying to leave.
"Again, I can't offer any excuses. I'm very sorry this happened and I'm working around the clock to try and fix this problem. Thank you for coming to see me. I wish I had some good news after the past few weeks." 
Superman stands up, taking Kon in as he does so. "I'll be in touch."
Superboy once completely upright only nods adding in quietly, "Alright. I'm glad you let me know." Kal is one of the most thoughtful people Kon knows and he doesn't ask the next questions about if the others out there know. Heck, he doesn't even know how many Kryptonians there are - clone or otherwise. "If you need my help or this Black Widow person does I'll be there." Not that he is eager to run in to green Kryptonite but it's also not in his genetics to just stand idly by. 
"I have some things to talk about later with you when we don't have an audience anyways."
Illyana Rasputina gives Superboy one of her smirks as she stands. "You know, I can be gone in a flash." She bumps her hip lightly against him to let him know she's joking. She figures he means the lab they're in.
Turning back to Superman, her expression is serious again. "One last thing. Just how much of this stuff is out there now? What's the volume we're looking at?"
"Absolutely, Superboy. In fact, we can meet up at the Fortress in the next few days. I know we'll have privacy there," Superman says as he gives a nod. To Illyana he nods, "There were 6, suitcase sized trunks full of them."
Superman nods to one of the assistants in the room as it appears they're finishing up. "Thank you again for coming. I'll be in touch soon."
A smile to Illyana and Kon says, "Let's go." Looking at Superman he gives a small wave, "I'll see you at the Fortress then." With that he figures Magik will do what she does and take them away faster than stomping back out the front door and it's all magical mysterious-like too.
Category:Log