[Heromux] Typhoid Cryod: Its a Small World

Typhoid Croyd: Its a small world
Captain America and Cir-El save a shrunken lot.
Location:	Soho Quarantine Zone
Date:	2015.03.28
Emitter:	Croyd Crenson
Players:	Croyd Crenson, Obadiah Stane, Captain America, Cir-El
NPCs:	Marlowe the Mentalist, Ant Dude
Groups:	Avengers, Stormwatch
Tone:	Heroic
Rating:	Restricted

The person responsible for this is now well known, and a price of around $2 million has been placed on his head. Still, with his ability to shrink and semi fly, he has been able to remain almost undetected...until he tried to collect it. This led to a minor altercation with several guards and a few heroes.
Unfortunately for most involved it turns out Croyd can shrink OTHER people as well, so about twenty soldiers suddenly found themselves as lifesize green army men. The altercation took place inside of the FEMA and BSA joint command tent. There are a few aces in power nullifiers (specially modified to deal with the new meta type) and several folks talking to each other, but lots of destruction. Many at first assume that Croyd teleported everyone or disintegrated them, until one of the generals says, "My god! That's Jenkins! He's an inch tall!"
And then all hell really breaks loose.
Captain America has been having an absolutely terrible...actually, at this point? An absolutely terrible month. They still haven't dealt with Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke. New York appears to be haunted or possessed. Some guy with stolen Stark Tech tried to make off with a bunch of prometheum with the end result that Steve had to decon his shield.
And now he's an inch tall. This is an absolute indignity. After this? He's taking a week off. Or at least a few days. "I need a vacation," he says. "Okay...listen up..." Maybe the army men will listen to him. "We need to form up before anyone steps on us."
Cir-El had been released from STAR labs with a clean bill of health, physically anyway. The Psychiatrist had finally decided she was NOT delusional, just has a major memory problem...in that all her memories are fake, something she already knew.
So, after being released, she had done a little bit of running the rooftops, until her super hearing had alerted her to trouble. She had dropped into the area to find out what was happening, before finding herself reduced to a fraction of her former size.
She tells the others, "Just stick near me, I can keep anyone off long enough."
The men all go, "HUP!"
Why? Because he's CAPTAIN FUCKING AMERICA! HOOAH! They seem much less freaked out by the whole thing.
The larger people begin to clear the area where the shrunken people are. It seems that the weird situation might be calm...
ZAPZAPFLASH! Two of the aces in power nullifiers are suddenly shrunk. "Ifyoueverwannabebigagainprotectmefromtheevildeathwhitemartianzetarays!" Croyd Crenson, in case folks didn't know at this point, is high as a kite and in FULL on paranoid mode PLUS according to some reports on some kind of cursed magic potion that is making it worse.
The Sentinel of Liberty gives the strange meta...another new one...a nod, then turns back to the soldiers. Great. He thinks White Martians are after him. Of course, they did kill the Green Martians with some kind of plague, didn't they. Steve takes a deep breath. "Croyd, take a deep breath. Tell me what's going on." A standard army hand signal goes to the soldiers, to get them to spread out and give Croyd some cover. Maybe, just maybe, he can talk the man down. The alternative is to knock him out.
Cir-El wonders how strong she is exactly. She was trying to work out he math, but it is confused. Perhaps she needs to test it somehow...before she hits the guy that is, better to know how HARD to hit him. She jumps up, and spots a manhole cover what looks like it might be a couples of miles to the left (relative to her current size, it is about the size of a football field). If she has the strength her size should indicate, she should not be able to lift it. Well, she will find out in a few seconds...
"WOWyourecaptainfuckingamericanicetomeetyoudeepbreathok?" He takes a VERY deep breath and...keeps....breathing in. Well. It has...shut him up at least. The other two shrunken Aces, one a giant...small...red ant humanoidman clicks his mandables and seems unhappy but freaked out. He decides he'll take his chances and just runs like hell ...away.
The other guy is a harmless looking small midget but seems naturally so not jokerizingly so, and nods, "Ahem. Gentlemen. I am now protecting Mr. Crenson. Dialog is indeed preferable, but do not manhandlehim."
Cir-El is able to pick up the man hole cover with psychotic ease. And move it as if she were full size.
Croyd keeps breathing in and then in weird inhaley talk says, "The aliens are wildcarding everyone and totally trying to frame me for it.....
Reaching the massive cover, Cir-El grasps the edge and hefts...expecting it to be nearly beyond her. To her surprise. it is nearly weightless. It seems her strength is unaffected. It is a good thing she had been cautious...she could accidentally kill someone. As it is...well the cover might make a decent weapon. She jumps up holding the cover to look around and locate the others.
"White Martians...or somebody else?" The Captain at least still has his shield...it would be embarrassing if he'd ended up trapped under it, 1" tall. Hopefully the still not-shrunk people are keeping their distance. It's probable they can't hear the conversation.
"WellIjustkindaassumeditwasnot KryptoniansandIdontknowany aliensand" he kinda gets light headed for a minute and stumbles around a bit.
The midget looks concerned but doesn't say anything.
The unit of soldiers is hanging tight...for now, though it weren't Cap they'd be REALLY freaking out at this point.
"You...might want to breathe out. Okay. I don't *think* it's White Martians. Did you see the aliens?" This might be really quite important, Steve is thinking. And maybe if he gets answers then he can calm Croyd down enough to de-shrink everyone.
Cir-El lays down the Manhole cover about a foot away from the others, "Martians have the ability to change shapes and turn invisible, they can also read minds and have physical abilities including strength, speed, toughness and the ability to fly. They do, however, have a weakness. Fire causes them to lose their abilities much the same as Kryptonite effects a Kryptonian. If there is a fire nearby, there are no Martians."
Croyd is like....breathing normal now. He says kind of breathing heavy and kind of fast,"WellI didntactually seeany nobut Ithad tobethealiens sinceitcouldnt bemeIamnot avirus buta....er...chemica...OH MY GOD! THEY CAN WHAT? THEY'RE VULNERABLE TO WHAT?!"
Croyd begins shooting plasma blasts at ...everything...not people but if its flamable, he's setting it on fire. Big people panic and begin to try and put it out.
Captain America puts up his shield to protect himself from incoming extinguisher foam. "Stop. Please." He's trying to sound calm, but that panic? It's kind of catching even if your name IS Steve Rogers.
"What in gods name are you doing" A voice calls out over the comms rather suddenly. If people didn't know any better they'd almost think it was Jeff Bridges from how close he sounds but there is a bit of anger in his voice. "Don't go damaging anything you can't afford to replace."
She says, "One fire will be enough, something the size of a campfire will keep a martian back at least hirty or fourty feet. And force them into their true form if they are closer
The people are really trying to listen to Captain America,they really are. They grab a bucket of water and pour it on the randomly running around Croyd....but....that's an awful lot to someone an inch tall. "ARG! I'm DROWNING AND I'M BLIND!" He's air walking at this point and randomly floating around the room running into VIP's, shrinking generals, and top federal officials and secretaries and furniture.
The soldiers are ABOUT to break when the sergeant says to Cap, "What....what'll we do Cap?"
The midget suddenly looks at Cir-El and smiles. Then he keeps running.
Cir-El puts her hands together and bends her legs and hops into the air, "Ho, ho, let's do the kangaroo hop-be-bop..." Captain America flicks his shield after the midget. He's aware of exactly how much force to give...and he's not letting that guy get away to cause any more chaos. "Everyone *stand down*." He's starting to get just a little bit annoyed.
Obadiah Stane finds himself just a few inches away from getting shrunk down to size jumping out of the way as the man he had been talking to seems to have gotten himself shrank right down to size. He's not happy but at the same time he's realized just how little anyone seems to respect his limited authority in this group.
The midget snickers at the dancing Krpytonian and bows. "And with that, I bid you all...Farew-" BAM! The midget is slammed into the wall, stars over his head and little birds circling around.
Some of the VIP's in their panic have removed their face masks....this is not a good thing.
Croyd is not a bad guy, even high as a kite. He tries to calm down a bit. "OK. Iwilltotallybecalmeventhoughwearealldyingandthemartiansarekillingusandturningpeopleintoweirdstuff."

Mia comes out of her daydream of playing with Aunt Lana only to realize se was really doing a silly song and dance. She blushes with embarrassment, "Perhaps you need to explain, Martians turn themselves into things, not other people."
"Slow down. I don't think it's the Martians, but if it's aliens, we have to find them." Before, for example, they drop a second virus bomb somewhere. Maybe. He sounds very thoughtful now. What do they really KNOW about this virus.
Croyd says, "well...they...know....that....it's....mutates...a lot...and it ...seems to spread when I'm there...and it causes changes like what they made of me when the Joker poisoned us all....OH MY GOD! It's THE JOKER! Not MArtians at all. That explains it He's framing me!" He begins to move towards Cap.
Captain America lets out a breath. "Croyd. We'll work this out. But first we need you to put everyone back to normal size. Please."
Croyd is not freaked out by Braniac and touches Cap. ZAPZAPZAP
Cap is full size. He slowly goes around to each of the nearby soldiers who are...amazed...but also restored to full size.
He touches the VIP's who are now moving toward him. But Croyd is twitching...obviously the least little thing will set him off. The paranoia running rampant in his brain. He is nearly to Cir-El.
Cir-El is wondering, what if Croyd is not entirely wrong, what if it was aliens? Aliens who did the same thing to him that Brainiac did to her, turned him into a Plague Carrie? She will not SAY anything yet though, not until everyone is normal size again. This guy tends to overreact. She feels sympathetic with Croyd...
"Everyone. Stay stood down." Because the slightest thing, Cap can tell, is going to set Croyd off again. Cap's very still, almost seeming to be barely breathing.
Croyd continues touching people. He regrows Cir-El, and is quite calm. He's really enjoying this. Cap is a great guy. He can trust cap. But...what if...what if everyone is being crazy because they're being MADE to be calm! The calmness is killing him! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! He flees at rapid speed into the sewers.
Cir-El sympathizes, but she sacrificed herself to save the Earth from the YES! virus, she has to prevent it from being destroyed by this one. She uses her Kryptonian speed, slamming her hands together like a thunderclap, catching him whie he is still small and dense so the overpressure simply knocks him out, not kills him. The containment unit at STAR labs, where she yas yesterday, should be able to hold him until they find a cure...
The woman is pretty potent. Captain America makes a note of that as she moves to catch Croyd. Poor guy...but this *does* have to be stopped.
Poor Croyd. But then again, poor people dying and redying a horrific death of nightmares beyond imagining or being turned into the worst parodies of themselves that their minds can imagine. So...it's all even then. He falls to the ground and tiny Croyd is caught by Cap.
Cir-El says to Cap, "I know EXACTLY how it is to be used by someone to spread a plague, I was just released from a containment unit. I think we should take him there, hopefully they can contain him too."
Captain America nods. "Worth a try, but we need to be careful. This thing is fairly contagious and not uncommonly fatal." Odd how Steve isn't that bothered. Must be trusting that supersoldier immune system.
Cir-El suggests, "We put him in an NBC suit or the like, and if he wakes up, tell him it will keep the martians out?"
"The size he is..." They'll have to put him in a jar or something, Steve thinks.
Cir-El inquires, "I can take him to the lab in something protective, I can get him there is moments, but we need him contained lest he spread the virus on the way. What do we have to use?"
Captain America finds...a jar that once contained snacks. But it's clean. "Put him in here for now, close the lid. It should be enough to get him there safely."
Contained, for a moment...but a moment is all it needs. Cir-El takes the sealed Jar to STAR labs and quickly explains what is needed. The Containment unit she was in may not be perfect for him, but it is proof against virus transmission. She also suggests Dr. Watson be on hand when he awakens, the Psychiatrist might be able to keep him calm.