2015.03.23 - Loki Rising

Why do people seem to gather at Lois? Most likely because wired stuff happens there. Even more since a well known juvenile God of mischief and his 'plushie fairy' live there. Or rather Loki and Nicky, who are at the moment just more or less normal teens. One of them being Asgardian offspring, the other being a mutant. Nothing wrong with that. So.... How did it come that stuff once more went mad again? Ah... yea, It was sunday, Loius had been in the hospital the last two days and Bruce was looking over the teens or something like that. At the late afternoon, the door rang.

He put Lois in the hospital or rather flung her over his shoulder to put her there. Bruce decided it might be good decorum to watch over the teens in her stead. Of course this means trying to cook at the stove, the man that doesn't normally do more than ramen is trying his hand at spaghetti. Draining the noodles the wrong way steam goes into his face, "Damn it!" he says about dropping the pot. Hearing the doorbell he takes a towel trying to wipe his face while going to the door opening it.

It's Zachary Zatara! At least, one of the people at the door is the youthful magician. The more, the merrier, right? He looks well-groomed, as usual, although there's a tinge of fatigue in his mien. It might be due to all this business with the mask and fiddling with everything pertaining. But he started on this path and said he'd be there, and by damn he intends to be here to see it all ended. When the door opens, he smiles as brightly as he's able, wiggling his fingers at Bruce. "Hello hello! I'm...not interrupting anything, am I?"

Loki paces around the apartment,uncertain what to do with himself. He keeps trying to summon magic, but there just isn't any. When the door opens to admit Zachary, Loki sighs and flops onto the sofa dramatically. "I'm going out. This is driving me mad."

What happens when you give a mild-mannered reporter superpowers? Superman! What happens when you give his sarcastic coworker magic? Um, not so sure. Lois has mostly likely getting into mischief since she left the hospital - she still has the mask, after all. A little bit after Zachary and Moon enter her apartment, there's a hesitant knocking. "H-hello, Nicky? Loki?" It's Lois, and she sounds worse for wear. After all, she was a normal woman wielding the powers of a god.

Moon Knight was just settling in enough to regretfully say, "Sorry.. we've scoured the city from top to bottom. But so far there's no sign of--" and then who should walk in, but.. Moon Knight springs right back to his feet. "Lois?!"

Bruce Banner was about to mention his cooking but Lois rather raises an alarm as she appears. Did she get cured of the poison? "Lois... You are Lois right? Not some entity possessing her and pretending to be her...."

"Oh calm down. I'm here to tell you that I--" A glance to the kitchen Bruce has left makes the magician frown softly, and he looks with a kind of sympathy to Bruce. "I'll tell you about it as we go." Stepping into the kitchen, Zach flicks his wrists a bit. "Norpa!" Which is a pretty hilarious-sounding word, but it adds a frilly gingham apron to the front of his attire. Must shield from red pasta sauce of course! And he busies himself with what clearly was giving Bruce no end of grief. He's already done most of it...but there are little things, here and there, that Zatara knows to add, just to tweak it a bit. "Do you have any capers? Or olives, I suppose. It needs a little something--" And then, Lois. He'll just look around the kitchen while everyone else is busy. Never too busy to finish a promising start of dinner.

Loki looks up and frowns, rising to his feet. "It's Lois...with my powers. You may want to relocate because mortals are not meant to carry the powers of a god. *I* can barely handle the powers of a god. What do we do?"

Lois Lane puts a hand to her head, looking like she has a massive hangover. "I... I think I'm me, anyway. Everything's kind of a blur, right now." She leans against a wall. "So hard to think - I have to..." She nods a bit. "Right. Loki. Have to give magic back." She takes a deep breath. "Would have been home sooner, but I think the doc gave me a sedative."

Nicky hadn't been around the flat for she just came back from the cellar with the washing machine, carying a bundle of cleaned sheets as she opened the door. Just when she opened the door and saw the people - and between them Lois - gathering her mouth gapped "You're baaack?! I thought you were all going mad and getting consumed by whatever had eaten my Loki some week or so ago!" With a flomp sound the sheets anded on the floor and the girl almost tackled Lois for a hug, seemingly not caring ro danger. "ButyougottogiveLokibackhismagicpowerssoIgetbackmymagicalboy!"

Moon Knight ...edges around and closes the door. Just to avoid a draft, surely. And he's only standing in front of the door...because the room is rather crowded now, that's all.

Loki lifts a finger and opens his mouth to speak, then just sighs and rubs his temples instead. "This has gotten so out of hand." He mutters. "Should I just try to draw the power back or is there some procedure for this?"

Bruce Banner stares a moment even as Nicky goes running to her. "I should have just broken the thing off her face and ate it." he says at least about the other guy. If anyone is close to him they might see that hint of green building in his eyes.

Moon Knight glances to Zatara.. if there is a procedure to this, he'd be the one to know.. though Marc has a feeling it likely doesn't involve the Hulk digesting an ancient eldrich artifact.

While everyone else is having their collective moment, Zach is putting the finishing touches on the pasta and sauce. Bruce did most of it, but clearly the fuzzy scientist isn't much of a fan of cooking. So for all their sakes, the magician hopes to avoid too much stress landing on the man. Saves loads in clothes. "Actually there *is* a procedure, and I've got it down. I came over to say I'm ready to return the magic to the mask and, from the mask, to Loki. Also, I put a few little touches on the spaghetti. It's ready. Do you have any bread? I can make garlic bread." Frilly apron and all, truly the greatest magician in New York.

Lois Lane nearly gets tackled to the ground by a very energetic girl. "Nicky... Were you wrried? Sorry." She hugs Nicky back, smiling. "I want to give him his power back - " She looks up, noticing Zach for the first time. Along with everyone else, really. "...How long was I gone, anyway? Why is Mr. Zatara wearing an apron and cooking in my kitchen?" She blinks, clearly confused. "...Bread's on top of the fridge."

"But then Loki and me wouldn't have anywhere to go anymore!" Nicky exclaims at Bruce, as she gives Lois some air to breath. A moment she looks around, then she chuckles as she realizes Zach in the apron "Hey, mind saying something for me mister magic? 'Esuaceb I ma eht denmaddog diam nam!'"

Loki: "You are certain you can do this without the mask drawing me into it again? If you ate the artifact I am certain it would have torn you apart from the inside out."

Moon Knight keeps by the door, but is relieved Lois seems mostly like herself, if disoriented. "Yes, what exactly is it we would have to do to set this right, Zatara?"

Zach purses his lips at Nicky's backwards utterance, but he lets it go and makes a response to Lois. "Bruce seemed to be having a less than pleasant time making the spaghetti. I thought I'd save him the aggro." He moves to take the bread off the fridge and gathers some garlic, margarine or whatever's handy, parmesan if he can find it, black pepper...it's easy to sort of tune out and get things ready, then under the broiler it goes. "The mask won't draw you into it, because I'll be here stabilizing the process. The problem up to now is that the whole series of encounters here was unbalanced; no one involved had the benefit of an anchor. Every time was in some sort of crazy chaos, or some random happening, or the heat of the moment. This time, we'll have the benefit of...well, me!" He offers a winning smile, then slips on an oven mitt to take the tray from the oven and set it on top of the stove. "All right, dinner's ready! But it'll keep. This won't take long." Waving his hand over the food, he quietly mumbles, "Yats mraw."

Moon Knight nods to Zatara's assessment. "Until now, I kind of think that was the point." he agrees. "It's...highly chaotic. It wouldn't surprise me if it bends events to encourage that. Even if you're here now, you should be careful."

Lois Lane is still holding Nicky, abesntmindly. "It's hard for me to concentrate - it's like I drank 10 cups of double expresso at once." She shakes her head, slowly. “Food would be good though, I'm suddenly very hungry. I haven't eaten.... since... Ugh, can’t remember. That's no good." Patting Nicky on the back, she finds her way to a chair, and sits down ungracefully.

Loki frowns. "I don't know if I like this. You're a human magician, not an Asgardian sorcerer. You could turn the universe inside out or something. What if it turns Lois inside out?"

"What if, what if." Zach waves a hand dismissively. "I'm homo magi, not just some podunk-ass human." He unties the apron and pulls it delicately off, hanging it on the handle of the oven. "And you forget -- my magic doesn't affect complex life forms like humans with any level of permanence. It's not *going* to turn the universe *or* Lois inside-out, it's just going to remove your magic from her and put it back into the mask. And then I'm going to help you get it back into you. Now. Someone light some candles or something and put on some Enya. We've got magic to do."

Moon Knight snorts a laugh, apparently assuming this last wasn't serious. He walks over to Lois though, wondering, "Do you need to eat first? It's been a couple days. It could be hard on your system when this leaves." it faded gradually from him, after all. It doesn't sound like the same will be true for Lois.

"Then let's have the pasta Maid Zatara made for us, and then we check if his 'How to make an Asgardian Sorcerer' kit works." Nicky grinned as she tried to pull Lois towards the kitchen, leaning in to Loki to snatch his hand. "You heared the man, dinner gets cold." Finally, she grins at Moon Knight "And it is not pies, Moonpie."

Bruce Banner stands back out of the way working on his breathing. In..Out..In..Out..

Moon Knight has occasion to snort a second time. "It was pancakes." he notes almost primly.

As his hand is snagged, Loki lets out a groan. "I am not looking forward to this at all." He sighs and is led to the table. "She should not suffer many ill effects from the power leaving her. Perhaps fatigue, but eating should help with that."

Lois Lane lets Nicky pull her towards the kitchen, blinking. "Food sounds good. I just, really want this out of my system. I've had enough of being empowered." She looks over at Bruce. "Hey, I'm okay. It's okay Bruce." She msile reassuringly.

"Let's get this done and then we can eat after. Yes? That way if something by some amazing chance *does* go wrong, she won't pull a Regan. Come. Come." Zach points to the main room. "It'll stay warm, believe me. That spell does wonders for pot luck."

Bruce Banner nods his head finally gaining control. "Zacn and I made spaghetti." might as well give cedit where its due.

Marc chuckles a bit at Lois. "How'd you like your spin with super powers?" he can't quite help but grin under his mask, recalling their conversation on the subject not that long ago. He does take up position in the living room. "Can I help, Zatara, or would we do better to just keep out of the way?"

Sigh. "I suppose noone is going to listen to me, then. What is a Regan?" Loki wrings his hands in front of him nervously, feeling a bit isolated. He has a big responsibility to keep Lois safe or everyone here will tear him to shreds. "Let us get it overwith then..."

Lois Lane looks over at Loki. "Hey, I heard you. But I think it's best that I get you your magic back." She pauses, shooting Zack a look. "Regan was a girl who got powers and threw up in her mother's face because of them. It was a movie." she says tactfully. She follows everyone into the livving room, patting Loki on the shoulder. "Tell me what I have to do."

Zach offers Marc a little smile. "I appreciate it. Just stay close, just in case anything...unexpected happens. You've had experience with wearing this thing, so it stands to reason that you might be able to resist it for just a moment needed if it tries anything." He clears his throat, shrugs off his coat, and would roll up his sleeves if he had any. The things he's read and researched are brought to mind. "Oh, uh, it's fine, Loki. We aren't having soup tonight." That's probably not a movie that needs to be shown to Loki anyway. But then the beans, so to speak, are spilled. But thankfully the rest of the film's plot isn't. He could just see Loki making that situation happen. "Loki, if you could stay right here by me, and Ms. Lane should be across from me. I'm going to need help getting the mask off once I've pulled the magic into it, and it has to go to Loki right away."

Nicky Steiff pouts as she looks at the spaghetti and then can't get it... "Ok, let me light the candles..." she muttered as she did let the people go, taking a lighter from the kitchen drawer. "So, where to place the voodoo dolls and when shall I chop off the chicken's head to sprinkle Lois with its blood?"

Marc inclines his head to the magician. "I can sense Loki's power.. I'll keep an eye on things, and help if I can." he looks rather shocked at Nicky's pronouncement. Moon Knight wonders, "Is that really the kind of magic you do?" though Jake protests hotly, "No, it's not!"

Loki looks horrified at Nicky as he moves into place, jaw dropping. "Wh...what?" He asks, looking to Zachary. "Perhaps Nicky could be so kind as to go to the store and procure root beer. That would be enjoyable with dinner."

Nicky Steiff chuckles as people look at her like she just suggested the unbelieveable. "I /knew/ that playing that role as a hougan in school once would pay of once. Ok, what we have to do besides getting us a few root beer?"

"You do that about the moment after oh my god never," Zach smoothly answers, going over everything mentally. He takes a deep breath, extending his hands before him, in the direction of Lois...and the mask. "Actually that's the best idea I've heard all night," the magician answers Loki's proposal. "Might be just the thing we need with a spaghetti dinner. Lots of delicious root beer in those nice glass bottles we can chill and maybe some vanilla ice cream? The good kind, not the kind that tastes like nothing with a side of whatever."

Another miserable groan escapes Loki as his shoulders sag just a bit. "Can you just not have the Hulk beat me up again?"

Bruce Banner blinks a little bit and sighs, "I.. never meant to do that, Loki."

Lois Lane relaxs in her chair, not sure what she should be doing, anyway. "Don’t worry Loki. I'll look after you." She smiles a bit. "I've yelled at gods, pretty sure a Hulk won”

Moon Knight is just watching intently for now, resolved to at least call out a warning if anything seems amiss with the power transfer. He can sense where it is and who it's tied to, at least.

Zach waits for everyone to get situated where they're likely to stay, at least hopefully, for the next few minutes. He tilts his head back, takes a deep breath, and begins to speak. It's not his usual backwards-speech, or if it is, it isn't backwards English, it's something else entirely. The colors of magic leap at his fingertips; he's beginning to work on the magic in Lois and try to pull it into the mask.

Bruce Banner gets up from the table, "If everyone is so worried about what the Hulk will do I'll just leave. Then you won't have to worry about what the Hulk will or won't /do/." the last word said with a growl.

"Sit down, Banner. You are going to leave Lois in a time like this? For shame." Loki drops his hands to his sides and closes his eyes, trying to focus on snatching the power in case the mask decides to try and mess with anyone as one last hurrah.

Lois Lane looks over at Bruce. "Please stay? I feel safer with you around." She means it. "And I'm very grateful to you and the others for watching my k - my boarders." She chuckles a bit, sounding off because of the mask's magic. "...Woah. Okay, somethings..." The wooden mask appears on her face, solid and real. "Oh that feel weird."

Nicky turns to the door and shakes the head as Bruce is about to leave "Hey, I don't mind you... Just... please don't smack Loki, pretty please?" She tries it with big eyes. "You found him, so... please?"

Bruce Banner picks up his glass of water downing it quckly before sitting back into his chair. Staring at his plate he nods not able to look up at anyone for the moment. His finger circles along the rim of his glass gently, "Sorry"

Moon Knight considers walking over to stop Bruce-- but then the little family all piles on before he can. Probably for the best, really.. he's glad though.

Zach has to smile a little bit, even though he's concentrating more than he might have ever concentrated. At this moment, the magic is the most important thing, and he keeps droning, almost like chanting, but a monotonous chant. There's some quality about his voice that makes it seem layered, echoing in ways that a voice cannot do naturally in such a place as this. He's determined to draw the magic out.

The mask slowly fills with magic. Lois's head droops as the chaotic energy leaves her body. "Okay... kinda glad I didn't eat. Oh this feel odd." The process is gradual, but there are o complications. Once the magic is fully sealed into the mask, there's a green glow, and runes flash on the mask's surface. Moon Knight tchs.. "I think you've got it all, but I feel like the mask is...more awake, for lack of a better term.."

"Okay. Moon Knight, Loki...grab the mask. Loki, try to draw the power into yourself without putting it on. Moon Knight, make sure he doesn't put it on, and neither do you or anyone else." Zach lets his arms fall to his sides and waits until his instructions are followed. "If it tries anything, we've got a pretty formidable group here. We're all familiar with its tricks."

As Lois head dros to the side, Nicky only waited for the mask to get taken away from Lois, then she handed the woman a glass of water and a towel, her eyes however more fixed upon the item than what she was doing. "yes..."

Loki reaches out and seizes it with his hands, glaring down at it as he starts to draw the power in ravenous waves. He keeps trying to pull it away from the others, but manages to control himself. "Stay away from it," He growls quietly. "It's MINE."

Moon Knight erks..freezing just a bit. He finally nods though, resolute. "I can do that." he says, though there's a bit of an edge to his voice as though it were partly a challenge. He seems fine now though, and steps forward to grab the mask. He grabs high, leaving room for Loki..though he may hesitate when Loki snarls. "I'm just making sure it doesn't absorb you again." he states, not letting go.

Bruce Banner continues to stare at his plate rather trembling. He squeezes his glass breaking it in his hand some of the shard cutting it allowing blood to now drop down.

"I swear to...something, I'll take you over my knee if any of you get uppity." Zach sets his jaw, and once everything seems to be in place, he starts chanting again. This time it's a different chant, and it does seem to feel more familiar in tone and syllablery, although it's still not English. There's something accessible about it though.

Nicky Steiff yips as Loki gets suddenly posessive about the mask, turning itno a tan cloud. PLOPP And gone is she. Instead, the cloud collapses and condenses into the arm long Fennec. Dropping upon the floor next to Lois, the plushie bounces off the floor twice before ending there.

Lois Lane might say something snarky about Zach spanking people, but she's really in no condition to do so. When the mask is pulled off, she seems to faint, although her brathing is just fine She'll be oay. The mask however seems - well, tamed. Loki's magic floods back to him. If energy can have an emotion, the chaos magic would have to be happy, returning to it's rightful place. Held by two people at once, the mask cannot pick one to try and charm. Thus, after being drained of magic, it becomes inert, the runes fading away.

Bruce Banner continues to tremble not paying attention to his bleeding hand with glass in it. Trying to control it his eyes shift Hulk green and his skin is beginning to slowly turn.

Loki finishes draining the mask of its energy and he lets go of it, stepping back as if it had been a venomous snake. His forehead is drenched and he looks around at all the tense faces around the room and seems to melt into a pool of green glitter on the floor, disappearing from sight. He's still around, he's just easing the tension so he can go crawl off to a corner and rest it off. Hopefully that will stop Bruce from trashing Lois's apartment. If not, well, he'll think of something else as he feels like he swallowed a crate of TNT.

Moon Knight is left holding the now inert mask as Loki dissolves into a sparkling Loki-puddle right there on the floor. He stares a moment before turning to Zach. "I sure hope that's supposed to happen.." for now he hasn't noticed Banner's difficulties.

Zach is particularly drained as well, and all he can do is look around. Where's Loki? He can still *feel* him. But the mask is now no longer active. And so as he looks around, he spots the shifting Bruce. "Look, everything's fine now," he breathlessly utters. "Why don't we have that spaghetti now eh? Need a quick healing spell on the hand?" Even though it may knock him out to do even something that simple.

The plushie flails as Loki dissolves, the soft pawpads trying to scoop up her friend or push him together or ar least stop him from leaving. If the Plushie could speak, it would be weeping, at least that was what the face told. No no no! Loki couldn't just start to dissove the moment she had her magical boy back! How could she be a good friend to some puddle of goo?!

Lois Lane is still a few moments, then opens her eyes. "Huh...? Oh, hey, it worked huh? Wait, where's Loki?" She looks around. "Loki?" She sounds a bit distressed. "...He's not hurt is he?" He stimach growls - LOUDLY - at the mention of food. "...Food, yes, please." She looks over at Bruce. Uh oh. "Hey..." She stands up, walks over to him, and hugs him. "Hey. Calm down, okay?"

Bruce Banner can hear the voices around him but its the hug from Lois that snaps him out of it. He manages to calm down everything going to normal but his hands is cut from the glass. Looking at the glass in his hand he pulls it back, "Ow."

Zach sort of staggers over towards the kitchen and Bruce. He looks drunk, but he's really just absolutely exhausted. It's been a long time since he's done anything this serious, this demanding. Reaching out a hand towards Bruce's injury, he mouths, "Laeh." It's all he can do to slump into a chair after that.

Moon Knight tucks the mask away, and crouches by the puddle.. he'd ask about the plush girl, but...no one else seems to find it strange, so he doesn't. "He's there.." he assures...the doll? Anyone listening. "I can tell Loki's here, and himself. I don't know if he's stuck that way, though." he looks up to the sagging group at the table. "How about all of you? Lois? Zatara?" ..is Banner bleeding? "Banner?"

Bruce Banner stares at his hand as it suddenly is healed by Zach before the guy flops into the chair. "I'm ok..." he says lightly.

Zatara mumbles something incomprehensible, letting his head kind of fall back against the back of the chair. "Ugh." That much is audible. He looks a bit like the proverbial string-cut puppet.

Lois Lane pats Bruce's shoulder, and watches as Zach uses magic to heal the scientist's hand. "You've worn yourself out! I'll serve of dinner, okay?" She grabs people's plates, and quickly gets evveryone a loaded plate of pasta. "Hmm... coffee might now be good - oh!" She goes to the fridge, and pulls out some ginger ale. "Here's for Ztara - what does everyone else have? I have orange juice, pepse, tab, and milk."

Nicky Steiff just flails and points to the ground with those stump-arms. As if she would say she would want Loki, not something to drink.

Moon Knight ....should be helping Lois get the food, but can't let this be any longer. "Guys? Did Loki's magic turn Nicky into...into.." what kind of animal is this doll supposed to be anyhow? A wolf, maybe?

Loki sees Nicky freaking out and decides to ease her mind a bit. He is a projective telepath, so projects "I am fine" to her, then rests his head upon his arms.

Ginger ale! Ginger ale, just the thing. Right now he'd probably drink just about anything. Zach sits more upright and then leans forward on the table. But he doesn't faceplant into the pasta! That's progress.

The Plushie... BLINKS? Yes, the plastic nubs do close, as the stuffed animal stops moming, looking around to try to find Loki. Is he somewhere and she did not notice? But there was that melting and all?! How... Why was this stuff all so complicated?!

Bruce Banner stands up now cleaning up the broken glass. "Sorry." he says to Lois throing the pieces away. "I think that I should go."

Oh no he doesn't. He's not going to upset Lois and Nicky. Loki glares at Banner and lifts a hand, making the locks on the door engage and refuse to open. A chair slides out and tries to hit him in the backs of the knees so he is forced to sit down and eat his damn garlic bread.

Lois Lane puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Not without some dinn- Loki!" She figures he's the cause of the chair suddenly moving. She sughs, sounding like an exasperated mother. "Look, he's not trying to be rude, Loki. I can gues you're feeling out of sorts. Come eat with us?"

Moon Knight pauses when he realizes Loki is no longer by where the melting glitter pile was. Seeing the pining doll girl, one or the other of him decide the proper thing to do is to scoop her up, and set her down next to where he senses Loki's energy now is. it's somewhat imprecise though, and the doll may just get dropped on Loki's lap.

Indeed lets make his anxiety raise some more. Bruce is basically tripped back into the chair which falling backwards the chair tumbles with him. Laying on the floor he sighs deeply. Getting up he rights the chair grabbing some tab before sitting down again.

Well, the plushie is a fox. a Fennec fox to be exact. Desert Fox as some call them. Small, huge ears, slim nose and limbs. As Moon picks her up she flails, bit as she ends in the lap she didn't expect and seems to float in the air, those spindle limps try to evaluate why she does not fall.

"I will make good on that spanking threat if it kills me," Zach notes at the goings-on locally. He's not trying to be particularly harsh, nor is his soft, weak tone threatening...but by damn he's too tired to deal with this.

Moon Knight, observing the invisibility as well as the moving objects notes wryly as he stands back up, "Well, it looks like it worked, anyhow. Good job."

"My boyfriend would take expection to you spanking me. That's his job." Lois smirks a little. "Now, if everyone's good, I want to eat until my stomach hurts." She plops down, and starts digging in.

Loki huffs and rolls onto his back dramatically, arms spread out. When Zachary keeps making threats, he uses his magic to pick up a piece of garlic bread and try to stuff it into his mouth. Appearing spread eagled on the floor, Loki emits a loud exasperated groan. "Can you people not let sleeping gods lie!? Do you know what I just had to absorb? It is like you swallowing an elephant!"

Bruce Banner picks up the garlic bread eating a little bit. He isn't exactly feel good at the moment. "Just relax, kiddo. No one is going to hurt you." his voice is rather monotone.

"Ngh." Zach plucks the bread from his mouth and chews what he has, narrowing his eyes a bit but then giving in and eating the bread. "Has Loki been taught the term 'drama queen' yet? It may be an opportune moment."

Nicky Steiff eventually as her friend gets visible again she curls together on Loki's belly, the huge ears brushing against the shirt. And she nods on the sleeping gods. But the tail wags a bit.

Loki can't help but scritch behind Nicky's ears a bit. "I have never met your boyfriend, Lois." He says, sitting up. "You should go enjoy your meal, Nicky. Everything seems to be all right, now."

Moon Knight chuckles at Zach's jibe. "If everyone's alright here, I should probably take this mask somewhere else, just in case." and maybe that will smooth things over with Khonshu...

Bruce Banner looks over at Lois, "Then what you need me here for? Call him to come sit with you." his voice shows no emotion. "Want me to spank you? I did be your date right?"