2013.05.24 - Keeping Fury busy

--- Rose Garden - NYC Botanical Gardens The beautiful Rose Garden situated within the New York Botanical Gardens is in full bloom. The scent of wide array of breeds of roses fill the air, making a heady perfume that tickles the senses. In the very center of this elegant and perfectly maintained garden is a large, wrought iron gazebo covered in vining roses. Pathways shoot off from the stone circle upon which the gazebo sits and the rose beds here are smaller, making it the perfect area for dancing.

It's every other pathway from here that has a long table covered in a golden table clothe with silver centerpieces and deep blue accents. Upon each table is an array of food and drink. On each of these table is a small fondue fountain but instead of what one might expect, the fountain flows with mocha. Each table is laden with an array of various foods and drinks, in case the wait staff wondering about isn't getting to you fast enough, that lends the scent of savory and sweet to the floral bouquet that already fills the air.

The far row of walk ways have been set up with long dinning tables that are the opposite scheme as the buffet tables. Silver table clothes with gold centerpieces and red place settings. The furthest right hand walkway is where the DJ table can be found, the equipment set up in a way that is as unobtrusive as possible. Upon a few of the grass sections there has been set up various kinds of outdoor games. The Maypole, however, is distinctly missing.

---

Nick gets a lot of strange emails while working for shield but the one he gets from Grodd is either a very strange joke or a very serious problem. It reads, "Found a problem. Implementing a solution. Need your help. Grodd. Rose Garden - NYC Botanical." and there is a file attached showing a 3d rendering of a Brood warrior that Grodd created using the memories he ripped from Hope's head. Grodd is of course not there in person but there is instead a silver camera orb with a speaker system hovering in the center of the garden waiting. Grodd is on a boat enjoying some down time, or at least what passes for down time when you're a super-villain. His machines are all tied up manufacturing so he can't do any super-villainy right now.

In the garden the probe just hovers there, scans show it's just a simple camera and speaker. No weapons, no explosives, even the shell is just cheap plastic so it's easy to scan. Grodd seems to want Fury to know he's not laying a trap, which will of course lead Fury to assume it's a trap.

Never one to dismiss problems no matter who has pointed them out, Nick Fury has arrived in the Gardens at the appointed time. Naturally, SHIELD Agents have done a sweep of the area, but for now, they have pulled back to out of visual range. "This is Fury," he speaks into the commlink. "Give me radio silence until I give you a double click. We are going to give this one the benefit of the doubt." There are a number of "Rogers" "Compliance" and general words for acceptance of the order.

Nick studies the orb for a little bit and then walks forward towards it. "I'm going to assume you can hear me, Grodd, or should I order this thing to open the bomb bay doors?"

Once Nick shows up Grodd flips on the monitor he's set up on his boat. He's just floating off the coast of New York. Because the drone he sent is so simple and harmless, Fury's people will easily be able to track him once the conversation starts which is why he's on a boat and not at home. That, and it's a nice day. A beep comes from the probe once Fury's voice is recognized and the silver plastic ball rotates towards the sound of Fury's voice focusing it's digital camera on the man.

The voice of Grodd comes over the speaker asking, "Oh, yes, now I can. Nick, can I call you Nick? I am glad you came. I'm not there of course, neither of us trusts the other and on any normal day we would be enemies but I wanted to speak to you about a threat to my planet which I think you would be perfect for addressing. I need to work for me." His planet. He made sure to emphasize that.

"Personally, I prefer Mad Super Genius Criminal Apes to call me Director Fury, but that is a weird quirk of mine." The Director snorts briefly before producing a cigar out of the inside pocket of the jacket he wears. LMD or not, Nick will look the part as he speaks the talking sphere. He snips off the end of the cigar, tucking the waste into his other pocket, and then lights the cigar with his zippo. He puffs a few times as he lets Grodd's words sink in. "A threat. To *your* planet. And you need me to work for you? Forgive me if I am a bit skeptical about that one, Grodd."

On his rented boat Grodd is drinking a mimosa while a brain washed girl in a bikini feeds him grapes. The shield agents can easily track him down and target him with one of their spy satellites to see him relaxing in a chair on the desk of a boat.

Grodd's holds up his hand to the grapes motioning for the girl to stop and then takes a sip of his drink before continuing, "Well, Nick, recently I met a girl. She was giving off residual tachyon traces. Traces your human technology is too primitive to detect." Grodd says as if he thinks Fury is working with sticks, charcoal, and punching trees for wood to build his hut, "So I scanned her mind. Fascinating really, she was from the future. " he says then he opens his mouth to the girl and she feeds him a grape which makes his words sound squishy, "A future where an alien species known as the Brood had over run my planet. The same species who landed in Brazil just a year ago. " which Fury has been briefed on Grodd is sure.

"And I assume you have this data for my team to review?" Nick raises an eyebrow as he chews on the cigar in his mouth. "Plus, this girl. She able to speak to us so we can verify independently what you are telling me?" He shakes his head and lets out a soft chuckle. "If I had a nickel every time I hear 'I'm from the Future' I could have my own retirement island by now. You are going to have to do better than that, Grape Ape."

"Of course, Nick, I am a gorilla of vision! I see things you don't see. Your limited human mind can't grasp even a fraction of what I understand and we both know even your hindsight is at best 50-50. I thought it best that I warn you now so you will be ready when the time comes. I wouldn't want the invasion to come out of left field and leave you blind-sided." Grodd says then takes another grape from his girl, "You'll find all the data on a micro-disk in this robot. Also you'll find the frequency of the tachyon burst was that the girl must have given when she arrived via her time jump. You can set up a early warning system if you like, I know I have." the gorilla says, "I like to keep both eyes on the horizon after all."

"Sure do love the condescension there, Groddy." Nick does not sound completely convinced yet though as he converses via the floating sphere. "How about the girl herself? I want to know that she is unharmed. That you didn't rip open some innocent girl's head to leave her a vegetable just so you can feel superior with some knowledge of a possible invasion. There isn't any time when we aren't under some galactic mandate or deadline or some threat after all. What is one more? I still want to know if this girl is still able to function before we do any *deals*." The way he emphasizes the word 'deal' clearly has the same skeptical tone to it.

"All jokes aside, Fury. I have seen inside the girl's mind. She is the real thing. I left her completely unharmed and as far as I know she is fairly powerless. She is a mutant with the ability to mimic other mutants powers or some such." the gorilla says waving his hand at the TV like her mutantcy isn't important. "She should be fairly easy to find, just send your people to where ever it is mutants gather and ask for Hope." Grodd says then he takes another sip of his drink. "Hope Summers. " he says finishing the sentence.

"Lovely girl. Destined to stop the Brood, or so she believes subconsciously, but you and I both know that you don't leave the safety of a planet to the whims of fate." the Gorilla sets his drink down and says into the microphone, "I'll give you your people a chance fury. If you fail me, I will deal with the aliens myself. Any human infected with their DNA may be a casualty of war. I would rather avoid that. Don't make me regret trusting you."

"Mmm hmmm," Fury says with a nod but still carrying that wary air to it. "We will just go to any and all groupings of mutants and ask for Hope? Heck, you can't tell one from another so they must all know each other too. How advanced of you," he says with a snort and sarcasim dripping from the words. "Fine. I will find this girl. I will review this data. If it is something credible, we will deal with it because that is what we do. As for this being your planet, that is going to be a conversation for a later date to be sure."

Grodd's voice sighs over the speaker and on the boat he shakes his head, "You humans, so short sighted. Such a limited view of the future. Trust me, Nick. When the time comes, you won't have a choice. Even you'll be on your knees, breathless begging me to be your master." the gorilla says and laughs. A deep, evil laugh, that kind of laugh that crazy people have. The kind with nothing to lose and who truly believe the they will win in the end. The dangerous, lunatic laugh.

The little robot powers down and slowly sinks to the floor. Once it is fully powered down the magnetic clamp that was holding it's shell together looses and the two halves part revealing the guts of the robot and the disk in a clear plastic case.

Good to his word he's told Fury everything he knows about the aliens including how to detect any temporal incursions from the same place Hope came from. An early warning system to protect his planet.

Meanwhile, on the boat, the Gorilla flips his little TV back to where he has paused his recording of the latest episode of Teen Mom.

Nick double taps his communicator and the lines come back. He leans over and picks up the sphere's halves even as agents come closer saying he shouldn't do that. "Yeah, yeah, get this to the tech boys. I need to know what it is on that disc." He calls over to more agents. "Going to need to track down a person. Goes by Hope Summers. Double time, agent." He turns and walks quickly from the gardens.