2013.09.05 - Living Weapons: The Auction

From the outside, it just looks like yet another warehouse down by the docks in Metropolis.
But on the inside...
On the inside, there's a big difference.
Well, maybe not so much. There are a large number of crates and boxes. But by and large they're all towards the 'back' of the warehouse. And over near them, there are a few forklifts ready to move things about.
On the other hand, one the east and west sides of the warehouse there's two different 'stages' set up with podiums. At each podium there is a guy in an expensive looking business suit just standing there, waiting for the 'fun' to start.
But what about the 'front'? Well, aside from that being the point where everyone enters, there's also a large bar serving all kinds of drinks, alcoholic and non, as well as a few other... Substances, for anyone who wants to 'indulge' a bit while they wait for what ever they're after to come up for auction.
And yes, this IS an auction, even if technically it hasn't started just yet and some people are still arriving. If one were to look at those crates (or at least the open ones that have 'guards' next to them) they would see that a lot is being offered, ranging from guns, to high tech devices, to other... Things.
For example, there's several open crates of FN P90 PDF Guns all there is a row. Right next to that there's a couple of crates of bullets for those guns. Not too far from those there appears to be a Patriot Missile in an open crate, while next to that there is a nine foot tall 'Personal Combat Suit' style power armor with a crystal clear canopy.
And those are some of the more /normal/ things for sale. For at the opposite end of the room there's something box like roughly two feet tall and three feet long that is covered by a cloth. And yet every now and then it's almost as if something below that cloth moves as an almost cutesy little 'roar' can be heard from what ever is in there. Next to that there's a blue quiver full of arrows, only all the arrows have the heads made out an odd black metal.
And those are /STILL/ normal looking when compared to other things. A cylinder full of some liquid with the number '23' on the side' An old fashioned notebook that no one is being allowed to look inside. A highly damaged machine covered in scorch marks. A giant stack of old 3.5 inch floppy disks. All of these really odd items and more are drawing some of the odder people to look at them too. Not just the people in suits who may be inspecting the most obvious weapons, but also people in costumes, AIM, AID, RAID, HIVE, and Hydra troopers. For this auction does have a wide variety of people here ranging from suits, to gang bangers, to people in odd paramilitary uniforms, to costumed creeps.
There's even others items that are listed as being for sale here that aren't in the open just yet as well. So if anyone tries anything funny, they may want to be careful, and to pick their timing well. But with that said, if you got the money, then just about anything here could very well be yours!
Welcome to /THE AUCTION/!
One of the advantages of having Stark Tech from a slightly more advanced time line than the one you are living in that Patrick has come to enjoy is the use of data mining programs combined with predictive algorithms. The use of those with some random computer hacking and the right key words has clued him in on a few bits of things going on in the underworld now and then, lead him to a few smugglers and drug dealers, and now pointed him at an auction that has peaked his interests.
Unable to have any of the people he would normally reach for to have as back up there Patrick is going undercover alone tonight. For this evening he has a cover in place, a nameless probably expendable employee of someone that very obviously does not want anyone to know who he is with access to bank accounts in Switzerland and the Carmen Islands that would be enough to make anyone drool. His normal auburn hair is dyed black, his high tech suit set to give the appearance of an expensive but questionable tailored suit that hides just how well built he really is, and thick horn rimmed glasses.
Patrick is, like some of the odder people there, more drawn to some of items that are obvious just because of their unassuming nature. Like that note book, it has him rather curious and comparing it to images he can find using his suit's communications systems of other older notebooks to see if he can figure out just what era it is from. Walking around the auction he has faked messing with his nails most of the time and picking the best moments when he has no one, or as few people as possible, watching him before stealthily as possible flicking small pieces of the nanotech in his suit just large enough to be tracked and small enough to go unnoticed as small specks of dirt to several of the things for auction.
Lunair is loathe to think about it. She doesn't want any substances or creepy costumes or whatever. Although, she's blissfully unaware of the irony of her own odd style of dress. A part of her always wanted to drive a forklift around, but she's behaving today and is one of the arrivals. She seems amused, checking out what seems to be set out for display. Wait. Was that a cutesy little roar? KITTY. Luanir loves kitties, but who doesn't? And then - and then - it's enough for sensory overload really.
Floppy disks? Though she's a little overwhelmed, Lunair was wise enough to wear a wide brimmed hat with a black veil to reasonably hide her identity. She does her best to look like any other buyer. She's reasonably well off. They pay a lot for you to be quiet when medical tests go horribly awry, after all. But ... little animal noises, dangit.
So Cole had gotten a call in the middle of the night some time ago, the message was cryptic, files were accessed, outside source, can't trace who it was. But Cole knew what that meant, the files on the program that created Team 7 had been looked at, and well if Cyberjack couldn't trace it that meant the people had to be good.
So of course that meant that Cole had to do some looking around on his own, something he completely hates dang it! He's not a detective after all, he's just a guy who shoots at things really well. But well Cole has made some underworld contacts from his days as a Mercenary. It didn't take long to find out about THE AUCTION that was happening. Did he put those two together, of course not, he did figure that there would be enough people there that he can maybe grab someone after it ended it and find out if they knew something.
Now he still needed a nice way to get access to the place of course, and that is when he heard through channels that some members of the criminal underworld were going, but wanted some extra muscle to go with them. Cole did the audition, and well impressed them enough with nice Coda training and gun work that he was brought on. And that is how one Mr. Cash found himself at the Auction, wearing his standard gear, sans the mask of course. That is replaced by a hat and sunglasses, that he just totally looks awesome in.
He hadn't been at a weapon auction in a while... not since the Baroness had caused incidents at the -last- one he'd been to. But these things were always -fun- to explore. The various weapons here and there, the various who's who in the underworld - Roy Harper could keep a note on things, especially as William Bard.
STonight, however, Roy is antsy. Although the weapons themselves were of interest, there were hints and rumblings about special features that -might- involve programs that had churned out such people as Deathstroke... and that made him nervous.
So while strolling through the area dressed in dark shades, and a white suit, with a scruffy beard grown for the occasion, Roy kept an eye out for familiar faces.
Jackie's suit tonight is Armani, in dark blue, with a steel grey dress shirt mostly buttoned beneath it. He wears a gold chain, a gold watch, and mirrored shades to accompany the fabric and Italian leather of finely polished shoes. He's here half-openly-- not using his real name, but his real affiliation, talent scouting for his New York family. He uses the time in the lead up to the auction to mill about, paying careful attention to the lighting and security alongside the numerous exhibits and listings up for auction.
Here and there, Estacado whistles low; sometimes in appreciation, sometimes in abhorrent realizations, but it's difficult to tell the difference. He's survived by his poker face, or deliberate lack thereof, more than once. It's not just Estacado's eyes that keep watch, scamper about the joint through hard-to-reach crevices and along the supports lining the high ceilings, keeping out of the reach of illumination... now and then, when no one is looking? A shadow peers back with dimly glimmering green eyes.
And as people arrive, and look around, one of those non-descript men in the suits, the one at the western podium, steps forward and starts to speak in a microphone. A split second later, the guy at the eastern podium (who looks enough like that first guy that they could be twins) does the same. Only when they speak up, they speak in /UNISON/, their voices echoing through the warehouse.
"Welcome. Welcome one and all to /THE/ Auction. Tonight we have a lot of high quality items, rare items, and one of a kind items for sale. Since you are in here, you obviously have the cash, and have your bidding numbers. So when you place your bid, please make sure to hold your number high folks."
Then the guy on the Eastern Side speaks up alone.
"The first item up for bids on this end is enough P90 Personal Defense Weapons and ammunition to arm a small country. Bidding starts at one hundred thousand dollars."
As that's said, a gun, a military grade assault weapon that was made famous by a sci-fi TV show that involved the military traveling to the stars via a gate, is lifted into the air for show.
Then the guy at the western end speaks up as that 'box' with the cloth on it is placed on a table next to him.
"While over here, the first item is an AI Unit created by one Dr. Holly Daye. While not the most impressive sounding thing at first glance, we will be getting to the better stuff shortly. Please note that this unit, while not the most combat capable thing out there, does act very near sentient at times."
And with that said, the cloth is pulled off to reveal a... Plushie? Yeap. A green plushie triceretops that's maybe eight inches tall, slightly over a foot long, with yellow horns and big cartoony looking eyes. On top of that as it's revealed, the little triceretops moves over to the side of the cage, and waves a paw at the people as it lets out another cutesy little roar.
"Bidding starts at one hundred dollars."
Meanwhile, off stage, a hooded guy mutters, "Get something really good ready. We need to wow the money out of them with the next thing..."
In fact as that's said, a large crate is readied to be moved towards that stage.
Also, while that's done, various guards just eye the people here. It doesn't matter if they're wearing white suits, or armani, or special hats. It doesn't matter if they're dressed like thugs doing security jobs or Wall Street One percenters, the guards are keeping tabs on everyone.
Martin Kavanagh says, "Would SHIELD know who William Bard is? Does he have any encrypted comm gear on him?"
Patrick loves his suit, built in features like the ability to take pictures and video without anyone noticing and facial recognition software make it so handy. He has no plans to disrupt the auction, not unless something crops up that screams Project Rebirth in which case that needs to be blown up or set on fire. He does intend to get as much actionable intel on what is being sold and whom too as he can. That, and if anything really seriously dangerous crops up he will try to buy it with the digitally stolen cash that probably belongs to several people in the room just to make sure it stays out of their hands.
When the auction its self starts Patrick just pushes the glasses he is wearing, and using to display the HUD information from his suit, a little further up his nose. Just to keep up his cover he makes a few bids on the guns, but bows out quickly enough that it would appear like whomever he is working for only wanted him to bid as an idle change at them. When the AI goes up for sale he puts in a number of bids, keeping it fairly low and constantly checking with a Stark Pad he has been carrying around all evening.
... Lunair just has a nice hat. With a veil. She's a master of disguise AND looking like she got attacked by a sentient swarm of ribbon, lace and crafting supplies. It's a little known threat really. She seems curious, looking around her. She doesn't seem to be overtly - anything really. Sort of young, even. Maybe someone sent their sidekick or a minion on an auction run? Hard to say. She does quietly bid on the plushie. Ahem. She doesn't seem to bid fiercely, though. Only a couple of oflks might recognize her and she seems to show little interest outwardly in the gun. Though, she is peering intently.
Cole pretends that he actually cares about the Mafia guy he's supposed to be guarding. Hey have to keep up appearances here right. Cole does look at the weapons as they are being sold, hey one can never have enough guns and stuff, right?
A special glance is made towards the plus dinosaur thing that they are also putting up for sale. "Oh save us, it's the attack of the killer plushies." He mutters under his breath. Seriously that thing is not in the class of the other weapons that they also put up for sale.
Once that is said Cole goes back to eyeing the room, hey it looks good. Plus well he's hoping he can spot someone who he feels will know the information that he came here to get. Though he looks some more are the weapons, Maybe he can convince the mafia guy to buy them.
There some people here, of course, that had arrived fashionably late; maybe they got caught in traffic, or simply didn't want to be part of any underworld networking that might have been going on. It's a small team, two men, and one women, in suits. Word might have spread that this was one of the Russian mobsters, the vory, set up across the river in Gotham (of /course/ in Gotham). The leader was obviuosly dressed well, a understated but significant show of wealth, with two 'minders' flanking him, a male and female, did so with the twitches and movements of trained personnel. And there was a look at the AI, and a tch at the pet dinosaur... and a raised bid card at the crates of P90s, bidding over 100K and going reasonably higher to aqquire them. Of course he was after military grade weapons. That was the equalizer on the streets, not living plushie curiousities or superscience junk.
Realisitically, of course, Martin was sorely tempted to have pounded the wharehouse this was in into a smoldering wreck with Hellfires. The destruction of the weapons and technology here, as well as the people assembled, would have /certainly/ been worth it. BUt orders from on high had veto'd the idea with a sensible counterpoint that a) they didn't know if recoverable assests were here, and b) a meeting with this many people so high placed might have men in the intelligence community, or sensors set up to counter such an overt strike. So here he was, playing up the Russian angle by bidding for guns that were 20 years old and just /looked/ cool, because that was in character.
A quick sweep over the crowd with the thin-rimmed glasses flashed a few faces up to a smartphone on one of his 'guards', and some of them were blue, not red. Suprising, but not too suprising. There was another agent in play here, or there was supposed to be.
Roy would have sworn there were other SHIELD agents here, but he couldn't be sure. Probablky because they were detained. Whether or not he was alone on this one, 'William Bard' was going to maintain cover...
... at least until -that- thing comes up for auction. Oh lord, he'd come across that last Christmas, at least -once-. And Lian was taken by it, so...
... William Bard bids. Because... well, it -was- a good training toy for Lian.
Estacado can appreciate the utility of a formidable automatic, especially one that sprays bullets that make body armor look like silly putty.. even if they're not quite his style. Or an update to an already formidable armory, for that matter. Like Patrick, Jackie seems initially more interested in observing the flow of the auction and the offerings, who goes for what. He makes an abortive play for those Fabrique Nationals, but bows out low in the bidding.
At least, visibly-- he pauses to see who's going to finish out the bidding. One of these paramilitary terrorist groups? The gangbangers and dictators' agents waiting in the wings? That would make Jackie's day, and well.. a persistent and potentially despicable Russian fits the bill, there. The inky black within those crates seeks out a P90 barrel or three, and surges inside to conceal itself within the persistent shadows of the guns themselves... waiting, sensing.
High above Jackie, several pairs of glimmering green eyes watch from the shadows of the ceiling, perched amongst steel framework. They silently point and argue over the tastiness of various specimens below, unconcerned with the hardware as their ilk finish the sweep and settle into the shadows in the far corners of the warehouse, biding their time.
If one is looking for specific things they /MIGHT/ find them here. For example, if Patrick were to compare the notebooks to ones used by a certain Doctor involved in Project Rebirth, he might find that they are the right age, and sort of have the right look from the outside. but at the same time they're so generic they could be from anything from the 1940's, ranging from WWII era Japanese Adamantium experiments, to Soviet Eugenics experiments, to an English accountants books, to French Chicken recipe's written by some house wife. Thus there /might/ be something there. Or maybe not. But no one is being allowed to look inside the notebooks just yet.
Of course as the bidding on the plushie goes on, the auctioneer looks slightly impressed that there's any interest at all. He takes in Lunairs bids as well as Patricks
On the other end of things, the bidding is a bit more fierce! The guns and ammo, if only due to them being known quantities, rack up bids rather fast. And yet strangely enough the price doesn't go that high. Each bid is only $1,000 above the last. The other people bidding just appear to be there, but not really into it. In the end Martin wins the large lot of automatic weapons and bullets though, for just $125,000!?!
"The next item..." the auctioneer at the 'more common' weapons end starts to say as a large crate is brought up on stage. "Is a complete Patriot missile, with functioning warhead. Once again, bidding starts at $100,000."
But what about on the opposite end...?
"AND..... SOLD to number 125 for $500!" is said as that auctioneer points right at Roy.
"Our next it..." is said as that canister with the big '23' on it is carried up onto the stage.
"Is one sealed canister of Trigger Scent. For those of you that have not heard of this, Trigger Scent was created by an organization known as the facility to cause their creation, one Weapon X-23 to go into an uncontrollable murderous rage. To back this up, we are also throwing in a one of a kind video of Weapon X-23 in action."
And with that said, on the wall behind him a video starts to play. it's unclear where the pictures are coming from, but what they show is clear, despite being in black and whote. A girl with crutches and leg braces, moves up to someone, a person who may be recognizable as a Senator who was literally killed right after announcing that he was running for President a few years back. No one knows who killed him, only that it happened right after the announcement back stage, and that /EVERYONE/ who was in the room with him died as well. But well... There's a sudden movement from the girl. Things that look like claws sprout from her wrists and she stabs the guy in the chest. Then the girl jumps, and turns, attacking another girl and a woman nearby. before attacking and killing another person. And another. Every single death is violent, and bloody, but in its own way surgical and clean. In under 30 seconds the entire room is full of corpses before the video cuts out.
"As is, this is the only known copy of that film, and it is included in this purchase. No one, not even SHIELD knows that this film exists. Bidding starts at $25,000."
The guards meanwhile don't detect the little shadow demons as they creep around. but someone... No, something might. because as they do what they do, a little book off to the side, and old thing that looks like its made out of leather, pages and all, starts to shake ever so slightly.
Patrick keeps an eye on who won the little plush Dino with the AI and for a half second debates flicking a tracker on it but decides against it. When the canister of trigger scent foes up for sale, and an explanation of what it is is given that seems to spark a little interest. He has his suit ping every source of information it can on X-23 as he watches the video, and is just slightly glad that Baron Von Blitzschlage never got the idea to use anything like that.
"Thirty thousand." Patrick bids calmly flashing his card before checking his Stark Pad as if getting updates from someone else on it. Once the bidding starts he will keep up with it at least up to 60,000. While he does this he of course keeps an eye out for other bidders, and makes a note to eventually tag whomever does win the bid along with the canister so he can make sure that an accident happens to that stuff, preferably one with lots of fire.
Aw. Well, you can't win 'em all. Lunair it seems, is mostly here for her own purposes. She's a gracious loser at least, watching the others and seeming quietly impressed. That's - a great deal of money. She seems oddly uninterested in most of the weapons. Though, if anyone remembers or knows who she is... She stays out of bidding on the X-23 business. Something that /attracks/ angry snikting people just seems like a bad deal when you're squishy and made of meat. Lunair quirks an eyebrow. She just - watches.
Cole just blinks a few times when the trigger scent goes up for sale, looks like something Craven would be behind, he likes to help create those monster things. Cole gets the same idea as Patrick, that thing in the wrong hands, well it could be totally dangerous.
Once that idea has settled in he leans in and whispers to the Mafia guy, "I know I'm just security, but something like that could be really useful. I can even help you grab the person that it's supposed to work. Imagine something like that, that can wipe out all your enemies. The bosses will love you for bringing that back." Sure Cole has no idea who the person the scent will work on is supposed to be. But he just wants the guy to buy it so he can make sure it gets disposed of properly.
Mafia underling is actually swayed by Cole, hey the guy is a Grifter after all, right. And he decides to place his own bid. Raising his card, he simply says, "$50,000." Hopefully he'll be able to get his hands on that stuff.
The Russian mobster looks in disbelief, as another weapon create is brought up to the front, and annouced. His two minders are already moving to pull the guns off the stage with what equipment the have, and both look at him purposefully... to which he shakes his head. That would attract too much attention, and the mobster who shot down an airliner today became the target of every government group and superpowered vigilante tomorrow. P90s were a game changer on the ground. A Theater missile defense system was a bullseye on your back.
Martin would have loved to grab it anyway; just to have it lost in an accident or somehow show up extra at Fort Dix one day, but his cover wouldn't have grabbed it, and the last thing he needed were people picking away to get a look at who was beneath the face here. The same thing applied to the video and the scent. Those were things that SHIELD needed, absoulutly /needed/ to get it's hands on... and something he couldn't touch. His eyes flicker over to Patrick as he makes his bid, hearing a bit of buzzing in his ear... Could he be another agent based here? It was possible; there was some odd chatter going around, and it certainly could have been from him... or a few other people. At this point, Martin was hoping it was; if he could grab it, that meant getting it off the streets and into the labs.
Lunair wasn't even looked at, but recognized. That disguise was /horrible/, and whatever she was doing at a weapons auction was a mystery, given the last time she was seen in action she didn't really need any /extra/ guns.
That Roy bid on an AI plushie... well, he'd have to -check- its programming before Lian could have it, but well, at least Lian would have a companion for the times he was out on missions, and Roy is only too happy to take it, even if it was a bit... expensive.
The upcoming auction, however, causes Roy to frown, and take notation. That Weapon X-23 didn't ring any bells, but... He had to wince at the video. A young girl, of that age... He did have to take note of whoever bid on that... this was something -SHIELD- needed to grab, if only to make sure it didn't get in the wrong hands. What the hell...
"Sixty thousand," he says.
Jackie frowns deeply watching that footage, and all that it-- and the trigger scent-- implies. It's every bit as bullshit as he'd heard, some of these experiments. Not that he's surprised, anymore. Estacado just stays out of that mess, instead taking careful note of the people interested in it, blissfully unaware that several of them are gunning for it to -avoid- misusing it. One of the operational hazards of lone wolves, isn't it?
The missile system, on the other hand? Well, a mafioso bidding on something like that draws a lot of curiousity, and Jackie tries not to tip his hand too fully. But it's another object all too easy for the Darkness to trace to its recipients. That kind of ordinance is for a target that's potential massacre several times too haphazard to ignore.
If Jackie knew that the scent trigger were actually being fought over by SHIELD representatives, he'd likely feel better. Of course, the inverse is always true, with the attention of a man like Estacado...
In regards to what's /KNOWN/ about Weapon X-23, there isn't a lot. At least not that isn't classified and kept safely away on CIA, NSA, SHIELD, WEAPON X, Checkmate, and other spy type agencies, as well as a few terrorist ones like AIM, all on secure servers under heavy encryption.. But what they know (aside from Weapon X) isn't much, aside from the fact she exists. And is (was?) a mercenary that was paid a upwards of a couple million dollars per hit. Some may even have some sort of notation indicating a connection to Weapon X, or Wolverine, but there isn't much there. And was said it's all classified. Odds are SHIELD knows even more than that, but nowhere near as much as Weapon X. Thus it may take some serious hacking all around to find what little is known about X-23.
Anyways, as the bids come in, this time they're fast and sweet. Aim chimes in. As does Hydra. And Raid. But not Hive. And that's in addition to a random guy in a business suit, and the people who are undercover.
"$30,000" is said as the auctioneer points at Patrick.
"$35,000!" as he points to an Aim lackey.
"40!" Hydra!
"45!" Raid!
"50!" Martins Russian Mafia buddy!
"55!" Patrick!
"$60,000!" is said towards Roy!
"Going once! Going twice! Sold for $60,000!"
"Next up... We have these..." is said as those old school notebooks are brought up.
"To be honest, we can't say much about them. What can be said for certain is they /DID/ come from a World War II era US weapons program. Unfortunately it was not Operation Rebirth, or The Manhattan Project. On top of that they're written in a code that no one has been able to crack to this very day. So this is the ultimate grab bag. You could very well be bidding on something that would of out done Captain America, or something that was created anyways like the jet engine. No one will know until they're decoded. Bidding starts at $5,000."
And at the opposite end? The missile sells for a paltry $125,000 to a guy in an old Civil War era confederate uniform.
"Next up is a power armor. It is a one of a kind item, created by our friends at AIM. Included is a manual to tell you how to pilot the thing. It is armed with a unique multi-purpose energy weapon that can do everything from a laser to a pure heat beam. yet again, bidding starts at $100,000."
Meanwhile, one of the guards starts to blink as he /thinks/ he notices something that may be moving in the shadows, and that book that's shaking? It starts to glow. Not brightly, but it does start to glow.
Patrick toys with his Stark Pad and plays up the position of someone taking orders off of it before bowing out of the bid on the trigger scent. He may have plenty of digital money to spend but he is not wanting to risk using up too much of it to keep him from the things he is really serious abut getting a hold of. he does make sure that the scent gets tagged, making mental notes to track that stuff down and make sure it can't be used by anyone.
Once the Trigger scent and the patriot missile are gone things get really interesting for Patrick. Ok, the notebooks are not for Project Rebirth but that does not mean that they are not something Great Grandpa Erskine had a hand in. Hell, off chance they could be this worlds copy of the exorcises and diet that made the man he is cloned from into a Super Soldier. "Five and a half." He bids, keeping the increments he bids in fairly small (in the 500 dollar per range) but he plans on winning this auction even if he has to go to 100,000 or more.
Martin Kavanagh does look toward the buddy on the left, with a glare. Just a small one, of course. It kept the bid going up without exposing the boss to undue scurtiny, and they didn't win anyway. That was with another person, who facial recognition didn't get a thing on. In this case, there wasn't much he could do on that, except perhaps track as he left... and, of course, the slim chance that another agent had grabbed it. Tracking would be done as best as possible for everyone, of course, but there was simply too much force here and too little resources to grab everyone.
The suit itself was /very/ interesting (AIM were bad folk, and dissaembling one of their battle suit would be a coup), but the Russian wouldn't be that interested in shifting the local paradigms and becoming a Russian warlord in Gotham. The books, however... those he can justify bidding on, raising his card up in contest with patrick. "7 thousand." Says the Belaruissian accented voice. Unfortunatly, he wouldn't be going as high as Patrick. He's offer a glare to the man, a final bid of 20 thousand, before bowing out of the bidding. He really wanted those journals. Enough to be quite concerning.
... a Confederate uniform? Well, at least she's not the oddest looking one here. Lunair tries not to boggle too much at it. The notebooks are intriguing, but there's a downside to lacking org connections - her decoding skills are limited to herself and Deadpool. ... she's smart but not /that/ smart. For now, she watches the notebook with curiosity, considering the armor, too. But she again, has her own weapons. Then again, armor is /nice/. So she'll carefully bid on the suit when it comes up. "Yes, 105,000, please." For the armor, anyway. Lunair's keeping away from the notebooks. Huh. Is there something odd going on over there? She's distractable, it seems.
Well the Mafia guy missed out on buying the trigger scent. Should have told him to start at 100,000, maybe they would have won then. When the next item comes up for bid, Cole just blinks.
Then it hits him, it may not be code, may be an alien language. Will have to make a note of who buys that one. Could have something to do with Zealot, the Kherans and Deamonites were active around that time or something. Or it could just be code.
But hey one does not convince a Mafia guy to bid on a hunch alone. Plus whoever wins, well there is a possibility they won't be able to understand what they just bought. Cole does go back to watching the bidding, looking to see who wins this one.
Sighing... well, at least he could store the trigger scent on the Helicarrier, and let the higher ups get around to figuring out what to do with it (as well as tracking down the girl in the first place), Roy listens to the other bids. Nothing strikes him as of interest just yet, and so he passes for the moment, eyes shifting through the crowd towards other faces and getting a better look at the other bidders. Lunair strikes him as familiar, but given he was 'under cover', Roy passes on introducing himself for the moment. Grifter, too, seems familiar. THe rest... he just wasn't sure of.
When they draw a blinking, confused gaze? The Darkling in question backs right off into the shadows, vanishing back into the dark to re-emerge a short time later from a more concealed hideaway, crouching in the top of some half-unused shelving or under the roof of a forklift. The book, on the other hand, is a more difficult resonance to shake.
The Darkness booms in Jackie's head, ** It STIRS, Jackieee. ** .. Which isn't really terrifically helpful, when one gets right down to it. Still, the Darkness seems amused and excited by the uncertain horizon, and that's never a particularly good sign. ** They've brought it HERE. **
Estacado just raises his card, turning towards that elaborate powerarmor, engaging in a proper bidding war for the rights to the mobile platform. There's a sizeable fund set aside for tonight's theatrics, and Jackie doesn't seem inclined to let that one go buy. Plus, it distracts him from the demonic presence all but salivating through taunts within his mind.
And as he just sits there, watching, one of the guards wandering through the crowd sort of sidles up next to Cole, before offering a smoke. But otherwise he doesn't say anything. Especially not as he motions towards the notebooks and shakes his head?
That glowing book becomes even brighter as the Darkling moves away. That is before it suddenly bursts open, pages flickering as it opens to a very /specific/ page...
Of course as it does that, a guard just moves over and picks it up, like it's nothing out of the ordinary, bringing it right towards the stage...
Only before it can go on stage, the gavel falls as the auctioneer points right at Patrick and says, "SOLD for... $25,000!" before he motions for the glowing book to be brought up on the stage.
"Next item up for bids is a magical tome, supposedly from the collection of..." is said before he pauses, and just stares at the glowing book itself.
"Never mind. This book has not been open in over 100 years. All attempts to open it before tonight have failed. On top of that, as far as we know none of are staff are behind it's glowing effect. So it sort of speaks for itself. Bidding starts at $20,000."
That Power Armor though is promptly sold to Jackie, but for some reason, he's the only bidder. Then again, all the eyes of the generic thugs and criminals are on the book. Thus odds are they don't notice when a large crate is brought up on the 'real weapons' side of the stage.
"Meanwhile over here I have a metric ton... Yes a /TON/, of MGH. This lot is from the well known Batch 457 batch, which is infamous for causing its users to be able to lift upwards of two tons for a limited amount of time... Bidding starts, yet again, at $100,000. Which is a steal since its street value is considered to be over $5,000,000."
And as he just sits there, watching, one of the guards wandering through the crowd sort of sidles up next to Cole, before offering a smoke. But otherwise he doesn't say anything. Especially not as he motions towards the notebooks and shakes his head?
That glowing book becomes even brighter as the Darkling moves away. That is before it suddenly bursts open, pages flickering as it opens to a very /specific/ page...
Of course as it does that, a guard just moves over and picks it up, like it's nothing out of the ordinary, bringing it right towards the stage...
Only before it can go on stage, the gavel falls as the auctioneer points right at Patrick and says, "SOLD for... $25,000!" before he motions for the glowing book to be brought up on the stage.
"Next item up for bids is a magical tome, supposedly from the collection of..." is said before he pauses, and just stares at the glowing book itself.
"Never mind. This book has not been open in over 100 years. All attempts to open it before tonight have failed. On top of that, as far as we know none of are staff are behind it's glowing effect. So it sort of speaks for itself. Bidding starts at $20,000."
That Power Armor though is promptly sold to Jackie, but for some reason, he and Lunair are the only bidders. Then again, all the eyes of the generic thugs and criminals are on the book right now. Thus odds are they don't notice when a large crate is brought up on the 'real weapons' side of the stage.
"Meanwhile over here I have a metric ton... Yes a /TON/, of MGH. This lot is from the well known Batch 457 batch, which is infamous for causing its users to be able to lift upwards of two tons for a limited amount of time... Bidding starts, yet again, at $100,000. Which is a steal since its street value is considered to be over $5,000,000."
Patrick does his best to make note of exactly who is watching him when he goes to collect what he won. He is not going to leave the books to latter to pick up, given these kinds of events it is always possible another superhero could show up not undercover and make things happen. After making sure the money gets paid he moves back into the crowd, and waits a little while to bid on the MGH. That stuff is bad news, especially in that volume. He has a limit of about 150,000 he can bring into play on that. As for the glowing book, magic is not his thing and if it is suddenly glowing and opening up for the first itme in 100 years tonight...he is pretty sure whom ever is here that it is reacting too is gonna be able to outbid him.
Well. Never go in against an Italian when power armor's on the line. Or was that Silicans and death on the line? Lunair forgets. It's an easy mistake to make, and really, it was a for funsy purchase. A curiousity. She doesn't seem to be having much luck with bidding tonight. Magic isn't her thing, so she stays quiet for this round.
Cole grabs the smoke from the guy that is offered, hey even though he has his own pack, Cigs are freaking expensive in New York, never pass up a free one. He lights up and shakes his head at the guy, and just says in a low tone, "In code. Just a waste of money, assuming others have tried to decode it and failed." That does about cover it, what use is paying for something that you may not be able to use. Looking at all this stuff, Cole is wondering if these are the guys that got the information about Team 7, they could be selling something about them soon for all he knows. But once the magic thing is up there, he raises an eyebrow but shakes his head. Magic can be some really trick stuff, plus that's totally bad news.
Magical books... well, that was straight out of the Russian's league, both him and his alter ego. Both, in this case, were in perfect agreement that it was dangerous, and that he wasn't touching it at all. It was too much to hope for this place was teeming with agents and some BRPD mage was disguised and bidding, but, again, Martin's hands were bound by cover and what he could reasonably do, even if that glowing magic book that opened just once in a century was being bid on by people who might really want to destroy the world.
At the very least though, Martin does raise his bidding number when the drugs are brought up. Who /didn't. want the ability to have their operatives bunch people like the Bat into a pasty goo... And unlike last time, he has both the funds and the motive to continuually bid, going up to five hundred thousand if need be. He was /well/ aware of it's street value.
And... ugh, MGH. That one Roy certainly wasn't bidding on - much as he'd deal with arms, under his cover, drugs were something else that he'd be chasing separately.
There was a glance over at the MGH bidder, followed by a stone faced nod. Good, at least... though whether or not Fury would -allow- the agents to use it was another thing...
Jackie, on the other hand? Jackie has a pretty good idea what that book is responding to, and what kind of centuries-rare magic might have triggered it. He almost ignores it just to spite the chaotic entity within, but... he knows from experience just how dangerous relics tied to the Darkness in any fashion can be. Especially to -him-. As an added bonus, he already has people on his payroll who specialize in that stuff.
Estacado bids recluctantly on the mysterious tome, but rather readily matches any competing offers-- especially once the idea that the Darkness may -want- it out of his hands occurs to him. The MGH? Another -perfect- compound to trace back to some horrible criminal. ... who's not actually a horrible criminal, but he's trying.
That tome does draw attention from those thugs and minions. But not many bid. Do they? In that way they're a lot like the people here who are undercover, aren't they?
Thus in the end, Jackie gets it. And gets it relatively cheap. But odds are he might want to keep his dark 'assistants' away from it, if not himself away from it. At least until he's away from everyone else. After all, who knows how it might react to him up close and personal?
Oh well. The guy next to Cole shakes his head yet again, before motioning towards the stage the oddball weapons and things have been appearing on. As if indicating that he might want to see what's next. Then again, if the former Team 7 member takes his eyes off of this guy, if only for a second, he up and vanishes.
On the other hand, as the next item comes up for bid, those odd arrows, they just happen to pass very close to Lunair, who might get an extra good look at their odd black tips.
The MGH on the other hand, does get some bids. But after the show that the book put on, it probably wasn't as much as people would expect. It his $150,000 easily enough, thanks in large part to Patrick. And then thanks to Martins efforts they go up and beyond that. Thus it ends up at $200,000 as the auctioneer up and shouts "Sold!" while pointing at The Russian.
"Next up is an AI program, created in the 1980's by The Soviet Union." is said from the 'real weapons' end as those floppy disks are brought up. "Said AI went out of control though, and /may/ have played a part in an infamous nuclear meltdown, but that is unclear. What is known is that when it was later shut down, its programming had to be separated into a bunch of floppy disks just to make sure that it would never reactivate itself. Bidding starts at $50,000"
And on the 'weird weapons' end? Those arrows come up for bid!
"And on this end we have a set of unique arrows. The metal that the heads are made up of is a complete unknown, but it does have properties similar to adamantium or vibranium. On top of that the 'feathers' used in the fletching have been carbon dated at roughly 20,000 years old. Attempts to see if any extraterrestrials may be involved, such as accessing various top secret military databases have been inconclusive at best... Still, it could be time travel for all we know. Bidding starts at $50,000."
Patrick has...no interest at all in the arrows or the killer AI. If he wanted to poke around with computer programs older htan he is he would speak with JARVIS. Although, given the potential danger he does make a note to get a tracer on the disks later when theya re not up front and center. If nothing else he can try and steal one of them, or hit them with a magnet later.
Well, so far bidding isn't really going Lunair's way. But she doesn't fuss much over it. Lunair doesn't speak Russian and frankly, she doesn't want any AI finding out about all the dating sims or various oddities on her computer. No, she does not need an irritable Russian AI kicking around. Or maybe she could befriend it and they could ruin other people's MMO experiences. Hmm, THAT is kind of tempting. And hilarious. And mean. But oh, the fun that would be had! ... better pass. The last thing she needs is to come home, find her dark secrets all over the place and the microwave trying to kill her.
But the arrows? The arrows are intriguing! They might make a nice gift and learning to mimic those materials might be handy. Sure, Lunair lifts her card for the arrows, "60,000." She's in on it!
Cole looks at the arrows and blinks some more. Hey a good thing that he's wearing the glasses, the cover the eyes. He gently nudges the Mafia guy he's with, right before he notices that the "guard" is now gone. "You know, metal like that can be made into various weapons. Useful for your other operatives if they need it. It can be melted down and made into something special, heck you can wear it yourself, you would be unstoppable." Unless there is a well placed head shot of course.
Mafia guy once again seems to agree with Cole, and this time he decides not to be outbid, he raises his number, and just quickly jumps the bid, "$100,000." Cole of course notes this and plans to steal them later, hey maybe Zealot will be happy with him and there won't be a crossbow at this meeting.
Oh, this was interesting. Martin does nod to his minders as they move to get the other big purchase off the stage and with the weapons. That would be going upstairs, for certain, though Martin wasn't using it on any of his men. Drugs like that may have sufficed for gangsters, but /professionals/ relay on training. But, well. On to the rest of the items, and so far, Martin hadn't even speant a million dollars. Costs so far had been justifiable, nothing that might cause undue suspicion. And this... well, he /was/ Russian. Chances are this character must have had contacts in the former Soviet Union that could fence things like this. And data was data. He certainly had access to the computer support to take a look at it. A raise of his bidding card for that stack of outdated storage medium that might even not be anything but demagnitized plastic. What the hell. It wasn't /his/ money. "50 thosand."
Weapons. Well, arrows certainly did fall under these qualifications. The problem was, -he- couldn't use them. But... he certainly knew who could use them. Which meant... what the hell.
Starting with 50,000, Roy starts the bidding. At the least, he knew who -would- use these. The question was, which arrow-member would get them?
No, Jackie doesn't need a German wartime AI on media he barely recognizes-- at leat, that's his kneejerk reaction. He's already slipping a message out, however-- Johnny Powell and a couple of his boys will take custody of that tome. No need to hand it to the Darkness-- that is, himself-- until he knows what it actually -is-. Or at least, gets a little bit closer to that knowledge.
Artifact arrows are tempting, largely for the scientific or mystical secrets attached to them, but... Jackie's aunt used to warn him about biting off too much all at once, and something tells him tonight's already got its share of workload queued up; he stays out of the running for the current items, and instead takes an updated accounting of the gathered people and objects... the Darklings on high keep an eye out for those keeping on eye on -Jackie-, in return.
$50,000 is hit easily enough thanks to Roy when it comes to those arrows. Then it quickly jumps to $60,000 thanks to Lunair. And then $100,000 thanks to Coles Mafia 'Boss'.
And from there, the price just keeps going up.
In fact the bidding is still going on as something odd happens. Namely... The tech groups who have representatives here? AIM, AID, RAID, HIVE, etc? They actually /CRINGE/ at those disks. And they /DON'T/ bid. Heck, as a Hydra guy starts to raise his hand to bid on that, the AIM guy next to him all but leaps on him to stop that hand from going up. Heck, another AIM guy starts to reach for something in his pocket, but...
Then Martin bids. And they all stop. And stare at him.
And no one else bids. At all. Heck, these goons just stare as the disks are brought to the 'Russian' after "Sold!" can be heard regarding those disks.
It's almost as if they know something, isn't it?
Meanwhile the bidding on the arrows hits $150,000.
Then $175,000....
Before finally...
"Sold!" is shouted as the auctioneer points right at Roy yet again. "To the guy in the white suit!"
Then both auctioneers up and speak in unison tonight.
"That ends the bulk of the auction. Those who wish to stay, we will have some smaller items that you can up and buy, like individual guns. Otherwise please feel free to buy a drink from the bar for the road."
Patrick has what intersted him in the auction, and has managed to put tracers on the things that he feels are dangerous enough to warrant getting blown up, set on fire, or having a handful of magnetic dust dropped onto them later. All in all it has been a decent day, and he did not have to kill anyone or spend any money that was not stolen from the accounts of people that deserved it. He has a moment where he debates sticking around and trying to tack tracers on a few people, but his cover ID as he is building it is not a social animal. Nope, he would see it as buisness and with all the interesting stuff taken care of he is leaving. Only thing left that could really make his day is if someone tried to follow him and he got to beat the snot out of them before going home.
This was a bit like playing poker, of course. One can easily get a lot of information on how those people around them react. And the fact that those less-than-scruplous organizations that know what they're doing drop it like a hot potato. That it's bad news. That they don't want it at all. Right when the Russian bids.
He turns to look at them, at their reactions, and, detached, considers that keeping a low profile was a good plan. An excellent one, in fact. But know there was something of a stir on the ground, a slightly buzzing hornet's nest. It would mean a lot of work. anticipating response, building credintals and covers from thing air...
The Russian stares at all of them as the disks are brought over, and gives a smile, a tch of a smile. And it's not a normal one. It's one of a man who has a purpose, a purpose that was a step forward to accomplishing... and may not, possible not be concerned about any of the consequences on what is he is about to do.
He couldn't help it. This would be a massive hornets nest that was kicked up, and it meant people would put out feelers, get paniced, sloppy, and reveal more than they would have playing it cool. Far, far too good to simply pass up.
The disks are take, places in a case, and piled on with the rest of the gear, to a semi that was waiting out front. The Russian clearly didn't want any custom weapons, or to play small talk with the others. Keep that mysterious attitude.
SHIELD would be keeping tabs on a few people. Roy, for the half a moment it took for them to identify him. Patrick... for someone longer. There may be an altercation there. May be.
Well this was a complete and total waste, Cole didn't convince silly Mafia guy to buy anything. But he does need to talk to a certain person now. He looks at the guy he's supposed to be protecting, "I need to mingle. Stay here and I'll be able to keep my eye on you."
Once he says that Cole gets up and heads over to Roy, the guy who won the arrows. "Let me give you fair warning, those things could be dangerous. Not for use, but certain people who lost them may want them back." Hey Roy doesn't look like he can take on the Coda if they find out that he has their property.
Sorting out the payments, with electronic bank transfers, Roy takes possessions of the won auction items, taking care to inspect everything. What there was to trace, well, would first be given a going-over at the SHIELD helicarrier. The personal items, at least, would be paid off and returned, but the scent... that would have to be brought to SHIELD, at the least, to keep the item out of people's hands... and to find out just -what- had happened to X-23.
Cole is met with a look, followed by a quirk of his eyebrows. "You have any idea who used these items?"
Jackie has his purchases prepared for pickup in the back, calls a waiting truck, and prepares to take his leave as the Darklings vanish back into the deep shadows surrounding the sales floor. He reinforces his own tracers to the product-- and when he leans over to whisper his intentions to the man accepting payment, slips a little surprise deep into the operator's pocket without more tell than patting the fellow on the shoulder, once.
The Darkness digs its roots into fabric, threads itself through the dark places, secures itself for later tracking. Yes, he has a lot on his plate, Jackie Estacado... and an awful lot of hungry mouths to feed, for that matter.
Grifter takes a drag of his cigarette, and nods at Roy, "A group of warrior woman that are now assassins. Take everything you've heard about the Amazons, and up the bitchyness by a million. That would about sum them up nicely. Keep the arrows, but they may want them back. So I wouldn't use them where lots of people can see them. If you're planning on using them that is." He doesn't wait for a response and goes back to the person he came with. And then both of them head on out.
Category:Log