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Summary: Felix makes good on his deal with Bruce to introduce him to Magneto. Things become uncomfortable when Magneto interrogates Bruce about Pietro’s shooting.
Log Title: The Interrogation
Rating: PG (V)
Mutant Town - Thompson Square Park
Thompson Square Park is a small park in the middle of Mutant Town. The benches might need a fresh coat of paint, the fence might be rusted in places and the pavement is raised and has cracks but it's all part of the mutant haven and fairly relaxing. Trees and grassy areas are in between the many paths, there are a few structures and benches along the path as well as a special area of the park that is marked 'the dog walk'.
Scene
It was not terribly long ago that this street was torn to shreds in a rather pointless battle where three skrulls stopped being Secretive and got down with their bad selves. Felix Cheshre, AnthroPuma Detective, has set out to locate the person who was being "gotten down" upon, the fellow with the most animal magnetism in the entire solar system. Probably. There are two challengers for the title, both of them children, after some fashion or another.
A quick sniff around and the scent of strange stinky aliens and an accompanying scent… No, that's Misha … what was he doing here? Oh well, there's the smell. Human male, extreme self confidence, slightly citrus-and-myrrh scent to his personal grooming products. Felix steps into a shadowed doorway and vanishes, to reappear in Mutant Town, as the Hotel has already proven to be a dead lead.
The smell is definitely here. Of course that particular aroma is not unheard of in various eastern European shaving products… ah, but it's stronger up on this roof… and there … up wind … Felix vanishes again.
A pair of gold eyes and a grin make an appearance near the Master of Magnetism. The grin talks. "Oh! Hai thar! Sorry to interrupt, but might I ask you a question, sir?"
Magneto is standing on the edge of the roof, looking down into the street facing the Four Arms Hotel. This is the center of Mutant Town; this is the best vantage point to see its good points, and its bad ones. His arms are crossed and his face is shadowed in the helmet. He tilts his head to the side and faces the floating smile. No show of surprise for the Lewis Carroll wannabe. "Speak."
Felix thinks, Wow, he didn't kill me yet. "I should preface this, sir. I've been offered a can of russian caviar by a gentleman who I think may be your greatest fan in the world, if I introduce him to you. Of course I wouldn't dream of doing this without your permission. So the question is, what's your position on fanboys?"
Felix begins to fade slightly more into view, degree-shifted to his half-puma form, sitting in a japanese-style "seiza" position, hands on his knees.
Traditional position for conversing with one's superiors in feudal Japan.
The wind is steady at this height above the street, lifting the massive purple cape, the edges fluttering. Magneto himself is still, his attention on the seemingly submissive young … person … in front of him. "One tried to kill me not that long ago. His fannishness bore a strong streak of self-interest over survival instinct." He lets that hang for a long moment. "Where is this caviar-paying man?"
The Cheshire Puma tilts his head slightly to the left, "Normally this time of day he's in that park you were just now looking over. He's usually got his Australian Shepherd dog with him, the poor thing hasn't figured out how to use a sandbox. If you wish I can bring him here."
There was a bit of quick-scrambled thought there trying to figure out that one… don't take Magneto anywhere, he might be annoyed, and don't offer to lead him, he's seen too many traps, but bringing the guy, should be least menacing.
Bruce is indeed in the park right now, hobbling along with a slight limp. Even though he injured himself earlier in the heist, he’s not going to neglect taking Tiberius for a walk. Considering the hour, he is one of the only people in the park right now. That’s fine with Bruce, he’s really not in the mood to deal with too many people right now. He looks around idly, glancing around for the kid or the cat-man he’d met a few days back. No word from either of them. He assumes they were all talk.
Tiberius suddenly perks up and growls at the sky. Bruce quirks a brow and looks around, not seeing anything. “What’s up boy? Yer just seein’ BLIMEY!” That’s when he notices his cat friend. And he seems to have someone else with him. He looks at him for a moment before realizing who it is. “Oh hey! You really got him! I guess I do owe you a favor, eh?” Then he actually regards Magneto himself. “Hello there Mr…Uh…Magneto, sir. I heard you was still around. I’ve been hoping to meet you for some time now.”
Magneto deposits Cheshire on the park lawn-hard to call it that, considering the weed to grass ratio-with as little evidence of effort as he did picking him up. He settles to the path in front of dog and man, the cloak flaring as he flies, then falling in thick folds as he lands. There is no breeze at street level. There's precious little light, too, given the poor civic repair program around here, so Magneto raises one hand and does … something. Static electricity shimmers around his hand, casting actinic shadows in a wide radius. "I do believe you owe the young man a can of caviar, Mr. …?"
Bruce pulls on his dog’s chain and makes a hand gesture. The dog sits, but still peers at the two newcomers suspiciously. Bruce brushes off his hand on his shirt and offers it out to shake Magneto’s hand, though he is unsure if the man will oblige him. “Jumbuck, Bruce Jumbuck. I came all the way from Melbourne because…Well frankly I thought I could be of better use in this city. I’ve read about your work and I’ve gotta say, we seem to share similar views.” He glances at Felix and kind of half-whispers to Magneto. “He wants whale caviar, though…I don’t think whales lay eggs.”
The fingers wrapped in static flex and the shadows warp around all three men. Other than that, he doesn't move; the hand Bruce offers might as well not exist. "Mr. Jumbuck, then," he says, his voice rumbling under the crackle of the static. "You are not the only person to request my… attention, Mr. Jumbuck, although I will admit you are the only one thus far to hire assistance. Is that a continuing method, Mr. Jumbuck? Is your use to me only that of a… chatelaine?"
Felix, sensibly, sits in a comfortable crouch next to the dog and watches the interrogation. He's very amused, especially that Bruce continues to think in terms of whale eggs, Although if whales did lay eggs, they'd doubtless be quite tasty.
Bruce pulls his hand back and brushes it on his shirt again. He’s not entirely sure what that word means, but he assumes it is not a compliment. He throws a quick glance at the cat before clearing his throat. “Well I assumed you were a rather busy bloke. Didn’t actually assume I’d get to meet you this soon.” He shifts his weight, his ankle’s still bothering him from earlier. “I suppose I can be useful in many ways. I’ve got military training, know how to network, my gift is not something to be ignored.” He shakes his head, “Frankly, I intend to act in a way to raise our people to the level they deserve. I wanted to let my intentions be known to you, since I figured I might better serve mutant kind if I were directed with someone with your experience.”
"How well-intentioned of you," Magneto intones. Everyone says that, when they talk to him, with so little variation he can almost number the phrases. 'Raise Our People' is #8, while 'Serve Mutant Kind' is #14. Add a touch of flattery and a smattering of self-regard… no surprises yet, however.
Except the ignorance over the caviar. That caught his attention: a man willing to buy cooperation with unusual luxury goods… who doesn't know those goods… is a puzzle. "Tell me about your power," he says. Find out if the man is useful, first. Find a use for him after.
Felix feeds the dog a treat from a bag in his pocket. Not anything that'll hurt the dog of course, it's just a little tuna treat. Might give him fish breath. He continues watching of course.
Bruce hesitates for a moment, looking around the park. Hopefully Magneto didn’t hear that news report about the sand wielder being involved in the shooting of his son earlier. He nods and walks over toa bench to tie up his dog. He doesn’t want Tiberius to freak out when he begins to show Magneto what he can do. “I can do this…” He reaches out a hand toward a nearby sandbox, causing the sand to rise up and flow toward him. Once it has reached Bruce it forms a ring before him before raising into a wall, then growing spikes. It dissipates into a small sand storm and then comes together to form a sand construct that looks vaguely similar to Magneto himself.
Bruce drops the sand around him, leaving it inactive. There aren’t too many people in the park right now, and none of them seem terribly alarmed by Bruce’s display. It seems no one here has heard the news yet. “I can create just about any form I can think of with sand. I can turn my body into sand as well, but I prefer not to do that if I do not need to.” He waves his hand and returns the sand to its original place.
Magneto felt that. There are metallic particles all around, in part because he dispersed them. You don't become a Mutant Master just because you were born with overwhelming power… although that is a necessity, too. Backing it up with the equivalent of nano-mechanical spy-eyes helps.
He felt the weight of the sand moved, and the volume, and the distance. He construed a certain amount about the strength of that power, based on the data collected, including the smooth glide of particles over each other, with none of the tell-tale wobbling of strain.
Interesting.
Also interesting: Magneto has heard of Pietro's trouble earlier in the day. He's furious; however much he and his eldest son disagree with each other over their politics, at no time does he want Pietro dead. And if he wanted him hurt, he could do the job himself. So, showing a possible connection to Pietro's shooting? Not good timing. "You need to," he tells Bruce, and metal is flowing in on Bruce's position, forming spikes as it comes…
Felix says casually to the doggy, "He still owes me that can of caviar, Tiberius," and moves them both back away slightly so the dog won't get upset.
Bruce holds up his hands as he sees the metal forming near by him. Apparently Magneto had heard of the earlier incident. “Hold up! I didn’t shoot Pietro. In fact, if you were to speak to him he’d tell you how I made sure he was going to be alright before I left.” His hands are beginning to shift into sand nonetheless. “It was some Asian chick. I think she could turn invisible?” He backs up slightly. “And I tried to convince him several times to leave me alone. It is not my intention to kill others of our kind, even if they disagree with my goals.” His body is almost completely sand now, except for his head. He needs that to communicate properly.
The spikes keep coming. Sand or otherwise, they'll stab together in the geographic center of Bruce's body. One might thing the Mutant Master of Magnetism is making a point… all puns intended. "I already knew you were not responsible for the actual shot," he says. He's still holding up one hand, bathed in static, and otherwise not moving; the metal isn't being controlled by gesture. "And I knew that a woman was. Tell me about this woman, Mr. Jumbuck, and I may decide to let you live." The spikes are re-forming into giant eggbeater blades, with a distinct gap big enough for Bruce's head, and little else. "Everything about her."
Felix considers getting popcorn for this. Or possibly moving away.
Bruce seems slightly disappointed, but not terribly frightened. “Of course I can do that for you.“ He glances at the blades. “And not to sound disrespectful, but these blades pose little threat to my life.“ Certainly the blades could bisect him, but he would simply have to turn into a sand cloud and reform himself elsewhere. He chooses not to do that now for two reasons. The first being that he does not wish to have this conversation nude, the second being that he doesn’t want to do anything that may be misconstrued as an attack.
Bruce nods as he begins to speak about the incident. “I only saw her for a moment. She darted into my sand cloud when Quicksilver tried to attack me, but I did not immediately see her. She was dressed elegantly, in Asian clothing.” He ponders for a moment. “But when I referred to her as ‘Miss’, she seemed rather annoyed.” He shakes his head, “But I’m pretty sure it was a woman.” He shakes his head, “I only saw her for a moment and then she remained invisible. She did assist Quicksilver at my request after he collapsed. She claims she only intended to slow him down, not to injure him so terribly.”
Magneto knew the blades weren't a threat to Bruce's life. That wasn't the reason he formed them. Their presence is an intimidation tactic and a science experiment, both: after all, if Bruce can converse normally while they're churning through his mass, that tells Magneto things about both Bruce's control over his power and about Bruce's own personality. The fact that he is focused on fact-finding re: the bank heist doesn't mean he's not evaluation yet another Brotherhood wannabe, too.
Bruce's description of the woman makes Magneto's eyes narrow. "I believe I know the woman of whom you speak," he says, the blades whispering between Bruce and him, swsh-swsh-swsh. If Bruce was still in his normal body, it would be a slow, grinding death. "She should know better." And if she doesn't? She will.
Bruce frowns down at his sand body. He feels nothing and it causes him no physical damage, but he's going to need to buy new clothes. The blades are approaching his dogtags however, which seems to cause the man some mild distress. He reaches up and grabs a hold of them, the blades passing through his arm and leaving no damage. He simply pulls the chain through his neck and tosses it off toward the dog. The clothes he can replace, the dog-tags are priceless.
Bruce looks slightly uncomfortable at Magneto's reaction to the description. "Might I reiterate that she claims not to have intended to harm him badly? Also although she did shoot him, she also helped save him." It seems he would rather not see anyone harmed out of something that was ultimately his fault.
Felix will catch the dogtagss if they're allowed to reach him, He continues distracting the doggy. "Hey Tiberius, let me tell you the story of the dog who learned how to use a litter box."
The dogtags catch Magneto's attention; they veer in mid-flight away from Felix and land in his hand—the one not emitting static. He lifts them to read them, even as the eggbeater stops and walks, octopus-legged, to an open space to become a new jungle gym for the kids' play area.
He looks from tags to Bruce. "The Australian army. Mr. Jumbuck, I have no fondness for nationalistic military organizations of any stripe. If you do have such a fondness… well." He clenches his fist around the tags.
Bruce keeps his lower half as sand for decency sake. He still remains calm, though he would like those tags back. “The military found out what I was and attempted to use me as a weapon. Their actions almost killed me and because of their actions I lost…Someone precious to me.” If Magneto reads the tags closely he will notice the names do not match. He glances back to Felix, appreciative that he is keeping Tiberius distracted for now. “The tags hold sentimental value to me, nothing more. The military taught me skills which are useful to me and could be useful to you, but they hold no sway over me any longer.” The way he speaks about the military, it is clear that he holds distain for the organization.
Felix is the perfect model of "not paying attention to the stuff over there" … a very useful skill to have, and one every cat should master, but of course, the trick being to actually notice every little nuance.
Magneto holds the tags for a moment longer. Then the static around his hand goes out and the park is left in ordinary darkness again, seeming more black because of the loss of that bright, white light. "We will speak again." His voice rumbles out of the shadow, and a sudden glitter in the air between him and Bruce is the dogtags—which Bruce may or may not realize. That's not Magneto's problem, however.
To Felix, he says, "You have proved useful, cat boy. Introduce yourself properly, when next we speak." And with that, he rises back into the sky. He has a certain cross-dressing high-haughtiness thief to find and have words with.
Bruce does not see where the tags land, but he feels them land on a bit of displaced sand on the ground. Before Magneto departs he nods to the man. “Thank you for seeing me. If you need to find me, look for me in Nowhere.” He nods his head in the general direction of the bar. Once Magneto is gone he turns back to Felix, sighing slightly even though he currently has no lungs. “Well that could have gone better. Probably could have gone worse as well.” He shrugs. “Anyway, I think I owe you some caviar and a favor.” He gives a crooked smile and walks toward Tiberius. “Good boy. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
**~ Fin ~*
