| A Talk in the Park | |||||
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| What: Nuclear Man gets help finding his origins | |||||
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Nuclear Man is once again in Central Park, and once again glaring at the large statue of Superman. It's true, he said he wouldn't destroy the statue, but it fills him with such /rage/ for reasons that he can't quite explain. All he knows is that, for some reason, he has to destroy Superman. And, being a bulky muscular guy in a flashy, obvious superperson outfit, he's already got other park goers staring at him and whispering to each other about what he's doing there.
Moon Knight has mentioned the guy to his contacts, so he ends up getting wind of the news of the costumed glaring man in the park again fairly efficiently. Figuring it'd be better to check it out, just in case, he heads to the park, wearing the same cap and coat he was wearing last time.
Alphaa had followed the Martian's advice, and hit his space pod in a place safer than on the floor of the harbor. The people from the DEO had tried to talk him into leaving it with them, but he really could not. Humans are generally not ready to handle level 6 technology, if they studied it and tried to duplicate it without understanding it, it could cause a lot of trouble...like spinning the planet off it's orbit and into the sun for instance.
They were a bit reluctant to release him, but eventually agreed he was mostly harmless. He did have to agree to report regularly on his activities and where he was. He understands the safety precautions.
He was released, and now is flying over the city, curious as to how hard it can be to find what they call super or meta females
Nuclear Man catches sight of Moon Knight out the corner of his eye, recognizing the clothing despite the brighter lighting now. Turning toward the guy, he growls, "You again. I am keeping my word. The statue is safe. Why are you here?"
Luna 's spending the afternoon in the park, which all things considered, wasn't a bad thing. The summer's heat has mostly gone, leaving cooler temperatures around as autumn fully kicks in. Keeping in the spirit of things, Luna appears on a park bench, wearing a hoodie with the hood drawn down and a pair of custom fitted jeans that ends just before her foot begins. She holds what looks to be a pretty massive cup of coffee, and judging by how she was holding it, she'd only really just gotten started on drinking it, the heat of the beverage still steaming the air above it.
Moon Knight smiles, and it's more sardonic than when he was hear last as he answers, "Not exactly. But I figured it'd be better if you recognized me." he holds his empty hands in front of him, a gesture of peacekeeping. "So I see-- which made me wonder what else had you stalking around. Thought maybe you wanted to talk." 'here', geez.
Nuclear Man grumbles, looking back at the statue again before approaching Moon Knight. Restraining himself, still recalling what happened the last time he started a fight with the guy, Nuke tries to explain. "I have not found who made me. I do not know where to start. The only thing I know is that I.../must/ destroy Superman." For lack of better words.
With his psychic perception on level 2, his vision is not much better than human, but Alphaa notes two people in costumes near a statue and flies closer. He soon senses that both are male, but realizes that one of them is filled with vast energies. He drops from the skies and says, "Hello, I am Alphaa. I am new to this world and looking around."
Moon Knight nods to Nuke, seeming to understand. "I still think whoever made you was irresponsible." he mutters. "Okay, how about this; what's the first thing you remember?" they aren't that far from where Luna is sitting, though if she even recognizes the man with the scar over his eye, which she might not in the scruffy clothes and careworn cap he's wearing today, he doesn't seem to recognize her. Moon Knight raises his eyebrows at Alphaa's sudden appearance. "..It looks like I wasn't the only one who caught wind of your outing."
Luna 's overhears a somewhat familiar voice nearby and starts to turn towards it, but upon seeing...a human...just drop from the sky, she tilts her head a little bit. The werewolf pushes herself to her feet and fishes a straw out of her pocket. She jams it into the plastic top of the drink and begins to quietly sip from it while she approaches the small group, offering a poilte wave towards Moonie.
Nuclear Man thinks it over for a moment. "Space." he says, simply, unsure where to follow from that. After some more thought, he adds, "I was in space. A...cage. No, a building. In space. When I grew, I flew here." And then, noticing the other two approaching, he turns toward them with a grimace. "Friends of yours?"
Alphaa is mildly curious, "Space is really a big place. I come from space too. Can you be more specific?"
He pauses, "Oh, if this is private I can leave." He has realized he has no idea about how human social conventions are for such things.
He notices Luna and frowns slightly, "I do not think I recognize your species, female."
Moon Knight looks surprised at the space answer. That's not much help, is it? But with the question about knowing the others, he shakes his head. Though looking at Luna he pauses with a puzzled look. "Maybe?" he says, and then considers Alphaa. "A tourist?" he asks with raised eyebrow. And apparently a nosy one.
Luna had merely planned on eavesdropping for a moment and then likely going back to her seat, but when the flying guy posed that question...needless to say, she reacted. A rather large amount of expertly crafted latte comes shooting out of her nose, rocketing at least a few feet from her position. Noting that this is still pretty hot and her nose is pretty sensitive, she covers her nose with her free hand and works to both stifle a whine...and a laugh, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. It takes an awkward couple of moments, but she does eventually speak.
"S-sp-species!? Are you being serious right now dude?"
Nuclear Man isn't sure what to make of the two new additions to the conversation, though he does at least have a question to answer now. Looking Alphaa squarely in the eyes, he says, "It was bright. And hot. The ball of fire in the sky...the sun. It looked much bigger in space." Whether it actually /explains/ anything or not, though...
"So you were some place closer to the sun," provides Alphaa. "If you hold your two hands out at arms length, and place as much space between them as the sun took up, it would tell me how far from the sun you were." He adds, "That is, if you want my help."
He answers Luna with some confusion, "Why would that not be a serious question. I have met catmen from Vega and other species."
Nuclear Man says, straight up, "It was all I could see."
Moon Knight is still trying to place Luna, and keeps quiet for the moment.
Luna 's tail stiffens considerably as the man appeared to be quite serious. A humorous grin spreads across her face as she continues to talk in various tones and pitches in low amounts of social hysteria. "Oh my god. Ohmygod. -Oh-my-god-. Seriously dude? Oh my god..okay, you..." She turns towards him directly and wipes her nose clean with the back of a sleeve. That was burning like hell right now, but this conversation was sort of important, so she tolerated it for now.
"First off, you don't call someone by their gender....Despite me saying dude a bunch...okay, bad example. Still though, I'm going to do you a pretty decent favor and buy the entire space-man schtick because I have nothing else to go on. Secondly, I'm talking to you, I don't seem like an alien or anything right? So what do you think I am?"
Moon Knight murmurs wryly under his breath, "Apparently two people here are from space." he considers, and his lips twitch up as if he heard something the others hadn't. "Alright, maybe three."
Nuclear Man looks over to Luna, eyeing her up and down. "You are a strange dog." Looks like two people here also have no tact.
"That would seem to imply that you were quite close. If you like, I could look in your mind as you remember and see what you saw, it will take a moment to prepare my telepathy to read that deeply," Alphaa says, almost absently.
He says to Luna, "Without knowing your species, or culture, I would not know how to correctly address you. I gather, from the manner of your response, that you are some form of native. You do not appear similar to the human women I have previously met. I do understand that some humans undergo physical transformations when they become Elites. That would seem to be your implication, that you are some kind of transformed elite?"
Luna reaches up to pinch the part of her muzzle that joins into her face. She carefully massages that point as the two...space folk apparently have no concept on what exactly she is. She takes a few steps closer and in particular, addresses Nuclear man first.
"Dog. Okay, just about all of that is about 100 wrong. Dogs...don't talk. At least most of em don't. And while I do kinda look like one I guess in a super, super non-general way, I am not a dog. I'm human. Just...a mutated one...that happens to look like a werewolf. That's it. Werewolf. Not dog. Okay?"
Next, she swivels around to speak towards Alphaa. "As for you Mister Spaceman...unless you are talking about puberty...god help you if you are, humans don't really...transform. I mean I guess some folks can like, change into animals or something, but not most people. Most people just get older and then what happens is on them. So we don't do the..elite thing. Also, yeah, I live here. And like I told him, I'm pretty human. Minus the mutant bits I guess. Wait, let's back that up." She pauses as she rubs a finger on the underside of her chin. "What do you mean by elite?"
Moon Knight agrees flatly, "She's certainly not an animal. That's not difficult to tell." he wonders to the self-proclaimed alien, "And what do you mean, telepathy?"
Nuclear Man doesn't quite get what a werewolf is, but if that's what she insists she is, then okay, he'll just go with that. "You are a strange werewolf." Then, back to Alphaa, he says, "If that will help me, then yes."
Alphaa says, to Moon and Luna, "I can answer her question and yours at the same time I think. The world where I am from, there are the common people, about 90 of all, who are not much different physically or mentally than your species. Then there are the Elites, the warriors and rulers of the planet, they have powers as you would call them. Most of us Elites have telepathy and Telekinesis to some degree, some have other power as well. For generations, we have been looking to other worlds for genetic stock to help improve our Elite Genetics." To Nuke, he says, "I am a bit weak for an Elite of my level, it will take a moment to focus my energy."
He begins transferring his psychic energy into telepathy to raise his power to his maximum.
Luna passes a glance towards Nuclear man and rolls her eyes, blowing his comment off pretty quickly. Hearing Alphaa speak about his own people, she perks her ears up a little bit. "Ohhhh! Like super powers! I guess. I mean...that's one way to look at it. But...let me see if I got this right. You are here...and not whatever planet you are from...to look for...humans to have sex and like make...freaky alien super babies with? Is that right?"
Moon Knight resists the urge to facepalm. Surely that's not really a real reason aliens would visit the Earth, right? It sounds like something from a black and white B sci-fi movie.
Nuclear Man doesn't know what all this Elite business is about, but if it'll help him to figure out where he came from, and who made him, then he'll let Alphaa do his business. "When you are ready." he says, his scowl lightening a little.
Alphaa replies to Luna, "The statement is somewhat accurate. It requires a long term commitment on the part of both parents to bring an Elite up to full potential. It can not be just a passing affair or an artificial breeding. Both parents must be willing and spend time and effort to provide a firm support to the development of the child."
He turns to Nuke, "Begin thinking back to your very first memory, think what you saw, what you heard, what you felt. Let it flow through your mind as it happened."
Luna raises a brow about as far as it could go before she takes one large step backwards, takes a sip of her latte and offers the group of gentlemen a polite wave. "Welllllllllllll good luck with that space-alien guy. I'm sure there is one lady around that will let you get into her pants..or his pants, I'm not judging- and you two can raises as many future space godzillas as you like. I think I'm just...ah..gonna do the female werewolf thing and just leave. Cause totally not interested in me right? Right. Toodles!"
Moon Knight crosses his arms, watching the process curiously..and also keeping somewhat alert to their surroundings. There's now quite a few notable people chatting in the park in front of Superman's statue, after all.. though now the wolf-girl seems to be taking her leave. He snaps his fingers quietly, "You work for SHIELD, don't you?" he asks her. Nuclear Man does as Alphaa asks, ignoring all that boring stuff about childbirth. What's the point in all that, anyway? "Goodbye, strange dogwolf." he says to Luna in his strangely aggressive monotone, his thoughts going toward the very first thing he remembers. It's...not very distinct. Extremely difficult to make out anything but /HEAT/. Not just ordinary heat, either, like you'd feel on a hot Summer day. No, this is the kind of heat that would disintegrate any ordinary being, and many metahumans for that matter. There's either no sound, or so much sound that none of it registers, a nonstop cacophonous roar of gods only /know/ what. And if anything could be said about the view, it's...orange. Maybe yellow? Everything is blindingly bright, what color makes it through constantly shifting.
Alphaa concentrates on Nuke's memories, taking them and examining them before saying, "It would seem to be either the solar photosphere or the corona, a difficult place to put a laboratory, but not entirely impossible. Of course, it is a lot of territory to examine. The area is millions of times bigger than this planet."
Alphaa nods to Luna, "The children will probably be physically normal enough, I am not sure what you mean by 'Godzillas' I Need to first find a female with usable genetic abilities, and observe her in combat to see if her heirs will be worthy Elite warriors. It is a difficult assignment, for as you note not many women will be willing, and being willing is a requirement."
Moon Knight mutters, "Why would anyone bother? If someone wanted to make you in secret, there's lots of less difficult ways to do it than planting a lab next door to the sun." he also wonders about the practicality of making one's prospective partner go through a trial by combat-- but decides that's not worth commenting on at the moment.
Luna had taken quite a few steps away, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of making an alien child...but Moon's own question causes her pause. "Am I? Yeah. I'm still training with them. That's me. What, you don't recognize me? We've met before....and Werewolf! Not DOGWOLF!. HUGE. DIFFERENCE. SPANDEX. GUY." She turns her heard to stare at Nuclear man, folding her arms over her chest to show just how serious she was about the correct species.
Nuclear Man shakes his head. No, this isn't helping at all. "I don't know. When I find them, I will ask them." he says, then a few moments later, grimaces again as he adds, "If I don't break their neck." Then, he turns to Luna, shaking his head as the difference between the two fails to catch in his brain. "You are still strange."
Alphaa says to Moon Knight, "Perhaps that was not the reason the laboratory was there." He turns to Nuclear Man, "Permission for a deep physical scan?"
He figures Nuke will agree and starts moving his energy into his psychic senses in preparation.
Moon Knight asks back, unruffled, "Did I introduce myself?" though what this has to do with failing to recognize a girl with fur and a tail is anyone's guess. Though Nuclear Man's words cause him to turn a shocked expression that direction. "Are you being serious?" He is wondering about the reasons for the lab, especially in light of Superman's own alleged connection to the sun, but. One thing at a time. Luna nods a few times at Moon Knight. "Yeah...we were in Gotham I think..or here. But We've definitely met before. But..uhm..that was a little while ago I guess. Don't mind me...I'll just let you three guys...catch up. So...maybe next time?"
Nuclear Man raises an eyebrow, unsure of what Alphaa means by that. But, if it's anything like the last 'scan', then it shouldn't be any problem. "Yes." he agrees, casting a glance toward Luna as she tries again to leave. "Are we chasing something?"
Pushing his senses to the utmost, Alphaa studies the molecular and atomic structure of Nuclear Man's body. He should be able to tell, if the body was crafted from raw solar matter there will be an extremely high percentage of radioactive isotopes, such as Carbon 14. Also, he should be able to tell that Nuclear Man is solar powered.
Moon Knight ..nods slightly to Luna, still distracted. "Next time would probably be better." he agrees. He certainly seems more serious than when they'd chatted before. He blinks at Nuclear Man. "..I take it colloquialisms weren't big in whatever English curriculum you got." though it looks like Nuke may not be answering right away, with how focused they both look.
Nuclear Man seems...very similar, genetically speaking, to Kryptonians, if Alphaa has ever scanned one before. His bodily tissues are quite dense, and he is indeed giving off a low level of radiation. Nothing that'll give someone cancer, but it'll make a geiger counter tick. "Collo...what?" he responds to Moon Knight, pulling a just plain /confused/ look.
Luna not sensing any other distractions, she passes a wave towards Moon and turns from the men, whining a small bit at the residual stinging in her nose from the upchucked latte, but blinks away the tears as she makes her way off from them, presumably to some other side of the park.
Alphaa states, "You have a high percentage of radioactive isotopes in your atomic structure, it seems likely you were created in some way out of the plasma in the sun, which would naturally contain high amounts of radiation. The laboratory is probably placed there because some rare isotopes not found on the surface of the Earth were necessary to produce your molecular structure."
Moon Knight huhs.. "You can tell all that just looking at him? Is he human?" a matter of fact question. After all, Alphaa looks pretty human, and apparently is nothing of the sort, amongst others.
"I have not had a chance to study a human in depth yet, may I examine you? I assume you are human," Alphaa replies.
Moon Knight says, "What I'm made of? Yes, I'm human.."
Nuclear Man kind of understands some of that. None of the technical bits, but he gets the idea that he was made on or near the sun because whoever made him couldn't do it here. Yeah, that seems simple enough. So, turning toward Moon Knight, he asks, "Does that tell you who made me?"
Alphaa carefully studies Moon Knight, while responding, "Who made you, not really, HOW you were made, possibly. For information you are not human, you have roughly twice as many chromosomes as a human, but they are not duplicates like they would be if you were a tetrapolid human. I am not sure of your base species, it is not one I have previously examined."
Moon Knight shakes his head. "If it was someone from Earth, then it was someone incredibly rich though, with advanced technological connections. Building a lab by the sun and creating a person in it isn't exactly casual science. And I don't think we're exactly going out on a limb--sorry. Making much of an intuitive leap to suppose whoever it is has something against Superman." he raises an eyebrow at Alphaa. "You know what humans are like after all, then?"
Nuclear Man growls at the mention of Superman's name. "I will destroy Superman." It seems he's stopped paying attention to all the genetic talk.
Alphaa replies, "Some basics I can tell fairly easily, ti took more work on him because I was examining his subatomic structure, you I only needed to look at molecular level. You two are clearly not the same species. Interbreeding between the two species might be possibly under certain specific conditions..." clearly concerns of breeding are something he thinks about.
Moon Knight raises his eyebrows. "Somehow I don't think that was probably a concern of whoever made him. But if he's not human, then what?"
Nuclear Man still isn't sure what subatomic whatsits or molecular doohickeys are, but after /that/ idea from Alphaa, he just gives another perplexed look to Moon Knight.
Alhpaa shrugs, "I could not say until I have a chance to see other related species. It appears he is, however, not a normal member of the species. There is this energy shunt that avoids an entire section of his metabolism that can not be normal. It seems to give him abilities not normal to the base species, but also limits him."
Moon Knight repeats, "Abilities?" he didn't exactly notice many abilities when they fought before.
Nuclear Man blinks. So...his strength...is also his weakness? He's not exactly following, here. "What do you mean, space-man?"
"At a guess, you metabolize energy at an extreme rate, when you are not exposed to you source of power, you will have very little energy reserve. Your base species, whatever it is, would have a higher level of reserve power," Alphaa explains. "The shunt does not let you store power, it makes the power more available for immediate use. What use, I can not say without seeing you in action, especially in comparison to a member of your base species."
Moon Knight hms... He looks back to Nuke. "What about after you woke up? Did the station where you woke up bring you to Earth? Did you already know English?" Nuclear Man listens to Alphaa, thinking it over. "You are saying...I have power, but not always? Then, where do I get this power from?" he asks, but then Moon Knight asks a few questions that he has to devote some more brain power to answering. "I was taught by a voice in the...station. A man's voice. I don't know who. I was there for a long time, until I became strong enough to break the walls and fly to Earth."
Alphaa pauses, frowning "I would have to watch while you go from empowered to not powered to tell what parts of your metabolism stem from which source. You have quite a complex metabolism actually. One part is your normal body functions, but there is a catalyst that activates a second, much higher, energy level."
Moon Knight pales a bit. "You..-flew- to Earth? On your own? Through space? ..I'm becoming convinced as to what race you might be based off of."
Nuclear Man nods to Moon Knight. "Yes. Do you have some idea?" he asks, then looks back to Alphaa with a frown. "I don't have time for such things. I must find Superman, and destroy him."
Alpha asks, "Why? Why must you destroy Superman?"
Moon Knight notes to Nuclear Man, "Superman's." and then glances to Alphaa. "If you're offering to help him find his creator, do you think you could take the memory of the voice he heard and send it to me? It wouldn't hurt if I did some poking around, and of the three of us, I'm not new to the planet." he doesn't seem to think Alphaa's question is important enough not to interrupt.
Nuclear Man falls silent for a time, at this revelation. If he's related to Superman, then why /is/ he trying to destroy Superman? Well, not that it's his place to ask. After all... "The man said I must. It is all I know."
"Would you think of the voice, the man speaking to you? Wil you let me share it with the man with the eye scar," Alphaa inquires of Nuke?
Nuclear Man nods to Alphaa, thinking back to his early days in the...er, station. It's a little static distorted, even for whoever could build such an advanced facility, but it's distinct and...surprisingly, identifiable. At least, if one recognized the voice of Lex Luthor.
Moon Knight waits attentively for whatever Alphaa might pass on. If Alphaa does, he probably can't fail to notice the rather fractured mess Moon Knight's mind is, but he should still be able to pass on the memories.
Moon Knight looks around then, surprised when the sound seems to come right of the air. He has to wonder if he's the only one hearing it, or if Alphaa is somehow generating the sound in the park. But.. it's scratchy, but.. he blinks suddenly. "Isn't that Lex Luthor?" he wonders, in amiable surprise, but then his face shutters to a frown again. "Huh."
Nuclear Man breaks his concentration, looking toward Moon Knight. That was a name. /Now/ they're getting somewhere. "You know the voice? Who is Lex Luthor?"
Not knowing the answer, as he has yet to meet Lex, Alphaa stays silent.
Moon Knight hesitates, and shakes his head a bit. "He's everything on that list, certainly." he says. "He's one of the richest men in the world, and a lot of his interests are technological ones."
Nuclear Man falls silent again, nodding slowly as the information sinks in. Finally, he says, "I will find Lex Luthor, then. And when I do, I will..." Huh, he hadn't thought it through this far. "I will think of it when I find him."
Alphaa says, "I think you have a strong set of implanted suggestions. If you want, I can place block so that you can think for yourself, rather than simply following a program."
Moon Knight frowns. "You're going to confront your creator..?" he looks almost shocked at Alphaa. "You're going to change his mind?"
Moon Knight thinks, Crazies, both of them!
Nuclear Man stares blankly at Alphaa. "Think...for myself?"
Alphaa corrects, "I might let him change his own mind. If he wants to."
Moon Knight frowns, seeming to find that a deeply problematic thought. "But he was made with a purpose."
Nuclear Man's mind has been blown by the prospect of thinking for himself. However, he does nod with Moon Knight. "It is all I know." But, now that he knows who made him, he...just has a sort of curiosity. A need to /meet/ Luthor and...he's not really sure what to do after that. "I will find this Lex Luthor. If I have another purpose, he will know."
Alphaa says to the other two, "I should be around a while. If you need to find me, you can probably do so."
Moon Knight says, "How?"
Nuclear Man turns to leave, saying over his shoulder, "It does not matter. I will find you if I need to. But I must find Lex Luthor first."
Alphaa frowns, he was used to being around other telepaths, they could find him easily...he is not sure how non telepaths do it.
Moon Knight calls out, "Be cautious. It's strange that someone would make you without making themselves known to you. In fact, if you want backup, let me know." Nuclear Man doesn't seem to hear Moon Knight, or perhaps he just doesn't want to acknowledge the possibility. After all, Lex is just a man. An ordinary man, even if he did make Nuke.
Alphaa frowns, and asks the scarred man, "Do most elite women look as odd as the one we just met?"
An ordinary man who gave him his reason for being. Moon Knight shakes his head as
Nuke departs. "What..? Oh. No, though I've met conventional werewolves before too. She's a mutant, I think."
Well, at least he knows he is in an area where what he is looking for can be found, if he can manage it.
Alphaa waves and flies off.