The Unearthly Girl [IC]

[Electra]

"You seem to have made a remarkable recovery," Miss A agreed, her voice dry. She'd have much preferred to nip off with those drives while the alien was busy, but it seemed unwise to risk getting a relationship with a new species, even a potentially extinct one, off on the wrong foot. "We have scanning equipment on the medical level that will be able to give a more in-depth analysis of your current cellular makeup. If you're feeling up to it, we could probably conduct most of the scans today."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Give me a little credit, hermanita," he shot back with a mock hurt look. "Jeni, hate to bring this up, but if you just barely escaped from something, should we be worried about the big bad following you here?" Jack's expression was sober, but he lowered his voice gently, cognisant of the blonde woman's trauma.

"Why do you think my ship was so badly damaged?" said Jeni grimly. "Trust me, they won't follow me. They burned." A certain satisafaction entered her voice by this point. "Of course, by then it was all too late. Far too late..."

"You seem to have made a remarkable recovery," Miss A agreed, her voice dry. She'd have much preferred to nip off with those drives while the alien was busy, but it seemed unwise to risk getting a relationship with a new species, even a potentially extinct one, off on the wrong foot. "We have scanning equipment on the medical level that will be able to give a more in-depth analysis of your current cellular makeup. If you're feeling up to it, we could probably conduct most of the scans today."

"Yeah, that would help," nodded Jeni, pausing to watch four brightly coloured humanoids with antennae on their heads and screens on their stomachs with a wide grin on her face. "Ah, Earth entertainment. Anyway, lead on to this medical level, and see if we can conduct a proper assessment using your... 'technology'." The woman struggled to keep the disdain from her voice.

[Avenger Assembled]

Wow, she's kind of a jerk, thought Sharl with the uncharity of even a friendly teenager. She's had a really, really bad time, I guess, he added a moment later, trying to be sympathetic. And I probably wouldn't be very nice either if I'd seen so many people die. He was too well-mannered to snark at someone who'd been through so much, he decided, especially after he'd been greeted so kindly by everyone here. "Yeah, they've got some really amazing technology-type stuff here," he said reassuringly, the way he might if he was stuck in his mother's waiting cube talking to her patients. "You can really learn a lot." Like maybe how to build a spaceship that works, he thought, a little unkindly.

To Jack of all Blades, trusting that Miss A could handle the crazy science lady, he said, "Hey, is it true you can make a sword out of anything? Because that's really awesome! I mean, I've seen people in Freedom City with all kinds of superpowers, but that's like simple, but super-effective!"

[Aoiroo]

Changeling had kept mostly quiet for most of the time she was there. She had only accompanied half out of curiousity, half out of a stagant obligation to see this through. When they got to the lab she had seen none of the occupants she was familiar with. So she spent most of the time with her own thoughts on the stranger and also of the heroes she had met. The two magic users, Jack of all Blades and Jill O' Cure were pretty straight forward, one could make swords, the other was a very prominant healer, personality wise she prefered the healer who seemed to take a pre-emptive approach to any comments from the swordsmans loose tongue. Miss Americana seemed like a rather intelligent individual, though probably not someone greatly involved or interested in magical fields. Sharl was a curiosity with his semi-solid state as well as general enthusiasm as a whole. The fact that he seemed not to get any more than a few more feet from the machine brought with them was curious as well. Mostly though, Jeni was curious in her manner after gaining some mastery of the language. Her tone seemed to hide some contempt when brought to the prospect of earthen technology.

It was amongst these thoughts that Changeling realized something she had neglected. Glancing around, she let out a breath,

"I believe I have forgotten to give a proper title to be adressed. You may call me Changeling, I am rather embarressed that I forgot to provide such information amongst all the happenings."

[Gizmo]

At Jeni's grim description of her foes' fate, Jack paused and turned to Miss Americana. "Well, I like her! She seems fun." Devastating near death experience or not, the transformed woman didn't seem particularly apt to break down any time soon. "Kid, I'm pretty sure I could make a sword out of you," the swashbuckler drawled to the patriotic paragon's partner, giving Sharl a confident grin and a broad wink. "So try not to call me a Pokeman too often, huh? Wait, if that still a thing? Am I dating myself?" he asked his sister.

"No, being old is what's dating you," Jill responded blithely before giving Changeling a brief nod. "Don't worry about it, that actually happens a lot."

[Aoiroo]

Changeling took a few seconds to think about it,

"It does, talking is hard when things are blowing up and people are injured though he seems to handle it just fine."

She let her index finger rest on Jack while that comment sat in the air.

"What is a pokymon anyway?"

[Ecalsneerg]

It was amongst these thoughts that Changeling realized something she had neglected. Glancing around, she let out a breath,

"I believe I have forgotten to give a proper title to be adressed. You may call me Changeling, I am rather embarressed that I forgot to provide such information amongst all the happenings."

"Oh yeah, I read that Earth has a huge... superhero?... tradition" exclaimed Jeni enthusiastically, choosing to ignore references to these "poking men". What uncouth insults they use... "On my world, we didn't really have much in comparison, but for a team of superpowred operatives we called the... I think it translates roughly as Chrononauts." She smiled ruefully.

"They're gone now. I was the trainee, which is why I wasn't so good with the ship. They used to call me Scholar, because I always had my head in a ..." Her sad tone evaporated in an instant. "Are there lots of you in this city?"

[Gizmo]

"Heh, señorita, you just landed in the world capital for super-folks," Jack grinned broadly, emphasizing his bold claim with a dramatic flourish that started at his wrist and expanded to incorporate his entire arm. "Granted, it's a bit of a shame you had to start by meeting the very best like this," he continued rubbing his knuckles confidently on the front of his great coat, "but there are plenty of heroes in Freedom who'll very nearly live up to your irrevocably raised expectations! Off to one side, Jill made a gagging sound and rolled her eyes skyward.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Miss A is the coolest," said Sharl, though he actually had someone else in mind for that role. Gina wouldn't want to be mentioned, though. "She can fly, and shoot colored lasers in the background, and she's really smart and pretty. These guys are cool too," he added, pointed to Jack and Jill. "Jack is a Pokemon," he added with a wink in the swordsman's direction, "and Jill, well, you saw what she can do." To the O-team, he added, "I have a lot of free time, so I watch a lot of TV about superheroes and go online a lot. There are some crazy websites out there, heh-heh-heh."

[Aoiroo]

Changeling's eyebrows raised a bit when Sharl started to mention interesting websites because she could only imagine based on what she has seen online what a young boy might want to visit.

"The amount of interesting people in the city is quite large. Though it is inversely set off by a large amount of really very annoying people. A lot of different people have several different abilities so there is a great bit that happens here that takes up the attention of many heroes. Though I cannot give many examples as I have not been here for only a few months and I did not have the great advantage you seem to possess in learning new tongues."

Well she had a slight advantage that she spoke English when she first arrived, though she couldn't read and that was very troublesome when she was first sent to the hospital.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Yeah," nodded Scholar. "That'd be my 'superpower'. I'm intelligent enough to figure out entire languages just by listening to them, figure out an enemy's fighting style enough to defeat them handily, and... well, I've altered my genetic code enough that I can shapeshift. Which I suspect may be the reason for this..." She frowned and looked down at her new body. "Change."

She suddenly bounded to her feet. "Anyway! Let's go do these scans."

[Gizmo]

Jill moved towards the door, heading for the elevators. "Medical stuff is on the eleventh floor," she noted absently, clearing her throat lightly and pointedly avoiding anyone's eyes when she remembered that that wasn't generally held knowledge.

"Wait, you altered your genetic code?" Jack asked Jeni, letting his sister off the hook for the time being. "Like, on purpose?"

"We altered our genetic code, too, hermano," the younger sibling pointed out, quick to change the subject. "With magic, even."

The swashbuckler spread his hands in a broad shrug. "Well, sure. But not on purpose."

"I don't think that actually makes it better..."

[Electra]

"Right this way," Miss A told the newcomer, gesturing in the direction of the elevators. Well-trained acting ability kept more than the traces of a pained expression off her face. "We'll get you set up with the lab technicians for the scans, and then someone can get you set up with the clothes and toiletries you'll need to get all cleaned up and have a rest. You must be exhausted after all you've been through, but the sooner the tests are completed, the sooner you'll have some answers."

[Avenger Assembled]

Magic, man. I guess these guys aren't as advanced as I thought. Oh well, they're still cool. Sharl felt a little bad judging the pair of heroes, who were after all totally awesome, so instead he settled for joining the general move towards the elevators. "So what are the other Interceptors like?" Sharl asked the Espadas pair sociably. "Are they as cool as you guys are?" He sounded like any other impressed teenager meeting a cool superhero. Miss A seemed to like these two, which meant he did as well.

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni breezed into the labs, quickly figured out how to use the equipment, and ushered away the lab technicians with a brusque "Moving along, moving along." Soon, she was looking at a small blood sample underneath an exceptionally high-powered microscope.

"From memory, it seems that, well... part of my DNA structure has been completely wiped out. A lot of this protein looks brand new, and pretty different from how it used to..." She looked up apologetically. "I do a lot of work on self-modification, so I'm pretty familiar with my own cell structure. Wait a minute..." Again, her eyes flickered, but exceptionally fast this time as her brain worked overtime. "What's the atmospheric composition of this planet?"

[Electra]

"Your shapeshifting actually introduced new proteins into your cellular makeup?" Miss Americana asked, sounding a bit skeptical. She wasn't a cellular biologist, though, and this wasn't a mystery that particularly engaged her. She had a feeling that Gossamer would be eager to get her strands on the alien girl. "The atmosphere is about seventy-eight percent nitrogen, twenty-one percent oxygen, and one percent other substances," she told the girl helpfully, drawing pictures of the molecules on her pad just to make sure the scientific concepts were getting through properly.

[Ecalsneerg]

"It shouldn't do, but I've never been on a planet with such an unusually high nitrogen concentration," said Jeni, looking pensive. "All I'd need to do to get it into my system is breathe it in though, and since nitrogen is what makes up protein... I think my body must have synthesised it."

Then she looked up, with a perplexed expression. "But that's not how my shapeshifting matrix works. I should know, I designed it. It just pulls or pushes energy and mass, as required, into a similar dimension to the one my ship is now inside. Which doesn't require it to interact with the environment at all. Which implies... this might be something any Kaironian could do." Her face fell. "No way to find out anymore, though..." She screwed her eyes shut and let out a long breath.

[Aoiroo]

Following behind Changeling could probably guess at what most of what they were saying meant. Though she didn't really understand how one did a self modification. The conversation about the reason for the girl's sudden transformation left her pondering,

She remained mostly silent as she thought over it, mostly because she probably wouldn't know the best way to vocalize her thoughts in English and it was unlikely any of the present company spoke Latin, or in the unearthly girl's case, enough of it to justify brining it into the conversation.

"It is unusual you, but if it did not happen you might of not survived the crash. It is good that you can live, if only to preserve what is left of your home."

[Ecalsneerg]

"I wouldn't call one woman and a blown up spaceship to be very much to preserve. I don't even know what timezone, or reality, I'm in. There could be more of us out there," mused Scholar. "But I'll need to get my ship back up and running, which is probably going to take a good deal of time."

She rubbed at her temples. "Is there anywhere I could get some sleep? I'm absolutely exhausted." The girl's piercing green eyes had dark rings forming underneath them.

[Gizmo]

Jill seemed fascinated by Jeni's description of her shapeshifting powers and the absoluteness of the changes they implemented, furrowing her brow behind her crimson bandanna mask as she tried to mentally walk herself through how the described process would work. That distraction didn't stop her from slugging her brother hard in the shoulder when the alien arrival mentioned getting some sleep.

"I didn't even say anything!" Jack protested, shooting her a wounded look. Turning to Jeni he shrugged. "We do have some free bunks if you need a place. Our team's base is sort of a part-time halfway house for super folks anyway. You're probably better off sticking around all this science stuff in case you start up with the glowing thing again, though."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Yes, you're right," she nodded to Jack. "I'm going to need access to scientific facilities to make sure I don't change against my will again, and to find out why it happened exactly. If a Kaironian had done something like that before, I'm sure it would have been mentioned in a book, or a journal, or even talked about."

Jeni gave a weak smile. "Then again, we'd never heard of Earth either, so guess I'm learning a lot of new things today, huh?"

[Aoiroo]

Changeling watched the conversation quietly before pulling a notepad and a pencil from her purse. She wrote on it before stepping forward and presenting it to Jeni.

"I do not think there is much I can offer if you wish to stay here, but please take this number. I am not sure what you may have had different for long range speaking, but the dwellers of this realm use these numbers as an input to contact each other over a distance using a device called a phone. If you need help with something, or wish to speak with someone please contact me and I will see if I can be useful."

[Gizmo]

Reaching into his greatcoat, Jack tossed Jeni a small rectangle of white card stock with a capital 'I' embossed into it and contact information on one side. "Here, you can start a Rolodex," the fencer suggest dryly. "Like Little Miss Formal Wear said, you need something give us a ring." Cocking his head slightly to one side, he offered the alien a broad, confident grin. "You crashed down in the West End, and we take care of our own. Long as you're in town, we got your back."

"Lucky you," Jill drawled, rolling her eyes skyward but giving Jeni a more reassuring smile along with it.