Crashing In (IC)

[Aoiroo]

Philos blinked, the looked around, at the beach, at his ship, at the cheetah, at the sudden appearance of a very scaly individual, and the man in blue who seemed to be responsible (or at least knowledgable about waht just happened so as not to panic). Since he seemed to know what was going on, he approached him first,

"Right, yes, hello. Umm, what just happened, we were right over there, and then we weren't. Was that a teleport, it was odd, usually there is a light, there is a teleport at home, though it takes a while to use and generally in decomission because of how few use it. Then there's that octopus, it was far to large to be normal correct? Why is it out there? It must wreck havic on the local wild life, it's diet alone would cause a vaccum in the local fish population. Not to mention it just attacked my ship, which,"

He turned around to look at the ship,

"Is not going to be working for a while. Not that I was planning on leaving any time soon, but it would of been nice to have for containment. Maybe I could of contained that creature, though it seems rather violent at the moment, maybe when it has calmed down. Also,"

He turned towards Wave-Eye almost immediately,

"What exactly are you, you are humanoid, yet, amphibius? That doesn't seem natural either, or at least less natural then the cheetah, no wait, Jubatus, you said your name was Jubatus. Which, I haven't introduced myself, one moment, I have my papers with me, it's all very legal,"

The pale alien started to search the pockets on his rather jumpsuit like green outfit before finding what he wanted. It was a small leatherbound booklet which read in clear english, passport. Not that it acted like a passport when he opened it. A small hologram sprung from the simple binding showing a screen with a large amount of non-human dialect,

"Ohh one moment, ."

The writing shifted and became fluet english, it said in large letters,

Mission Statement for

Philos, Animal Handler

To Report to Freedom League

[Ari]

The sensation of being teleported by Edge was nearly stomach-twisting for Wave-Eye, the reality-warper's power playing merry hell with the laws of the universe for a perilous second as the eclectic party appeared on the Atlantic beach, the sea monster distantly audible in the distance. The triton had arrived in the horizontal posture he adopted when swimming, and thus fell heavily onto his face in the sand with a muffled snarl of surprise and anger, his thrashing tail transforming with a flash of light into his muscular legs, which he used to pull himself roughly up, glaring around in momentary confusion before realization dawned. Turing to Edge he said simply "Very kind of you." then turned his black-eyed attention to Philos.

The Farsider('A shame...') seemed excitable, and very, very chatty. He listened with mild amusement to the man's cheerful ebullience ran on, before he said

"What exactly are you, you are humanoid, yet, amphibius? That doesn't seem natural either, or at least less natural then the cheetah, no wait, Jubatus, you said your name was Jubatus. Which, I haven't introduced myself, one moment, I have my papers with me, it's all very legal,"

Narrowing his eyes Nochehuatl snapped with a gurgle "I am a natural thing, mortal. I am a triton, born of the mighty goddess Chalchiuhtlicue and a human." Seeing the passport his scaled eyebrows raised, and he glanced back towards the city, gears turning. 'I could...! No, no. That is not my place here, the others did more anyway' he bowed a little stiffly to Philos, saying "Welcome to Earth, Philos. The Freedom League will be glad to speak with you. If you would, follow these others and they will take you to Freedom Hall. Edge, Jubatus, thank you for rescuing this man. With your permission, I will go and kill that monster in the bay for you" he glanced over at the massive beast, a powerful twinge of unease at the prospect.

[Cubist]

Edge shouted for everyone to hang on, and then—

—weirdness—

—What the hell just happened!? Jubatus thought. He had no words to describe it, only the inadequate label 'weirdness'. But whatever it was, it had literally made his hackles rise, and made his instincts trigger a very strong Timeshift. That was… teleportation? But Edge isn't a teleporter, he's a transmuter… Suddenly, a chill crept down the cheetah's spine, all the way to the tip of his tail. He, could have, converted the matter of my body to air, and simultaneously converted some air in this location to an exact molecular copy of my body… Unbidden, Jube's brain started playing out scenarios, all the different ways in which this sort of 'teleportation' could go horribly wrong…

No. Get a [bg=black]xxxx[/bg]ing grip, Jube. Whatever Edge did, it worked. And it worked without any glitches. He didn't reduce me to free-floating atoms and leave it at that, because I'm here to worry about it. He didn't edit my brain to make it impossible for me to think ill of him, because if he had done that, I wouldn't be scared [bg=black]xxix[/bg]less. He didn't do any of that nasty stuff. Calm the [bg=black]xxxx[/bg] down, Jube…

Several very deep breaths later, Jubatus was back to… somewhere in the general vicinity of normal. The fear was still there, granted, but it had receded to somewhere within the usual background range that he had lots of practice ignoring. He wasn't panting in fear, wasn't shuddering, wasn't even twitching a little. Okay. I'm as good as I get. Time to rejoin the others.

When he downshifted, Edge was in the middle of a sentence: "—with a little more respect. Sea monsters, what can you do?" The ET's reply was just as long-winded as had been his little speech to Jubatus; for the ET's sake, Jube hoped the motormouth thing was just an emotion-driven reaction to stress, and not a standard personality trait. Dude's name is "Philos"? Okay. Animal handler, his reaction to me sort of makes sense. You'd think the bipedal posture and speaking would make a difference, though. Eh, whatever.

"Edge, Jubatus, thank you for rescuing this man. With your permission, I will go and kill that monster in the bay for you" he glanced over at the massive beast, a powerful twinge of unease at the prospect.

"I got a better idea," Jubatus replied. "How about you transport that sucker out into the open ocean, far away from shipping lanes? Assuming you can do that, I mean. If killing it is the only viable option, that's one thing. I just don't like the idea of wasting a dumb animal for the 'crime' of doing what comes naturally to it."

[Avenger Assembled]

"And even if you don't take that stance," said Edge with a nod as he agreed with Jubatus, "Sharktopus has caused a lot of problems for heroes in the past. It's a little much for one man to handle, even someone as able beneath the waves as Wave-Eye here." He hmmed. "Look, I'm here for First Contact purposes through the UN, but you're from a recognized species and you're here on Freedom League business. That takes you out of my jurisdiction. Why don't I get you guys over to the League, and then I can come back here with a UNISON team and we can try and do something about chasing off Sharktopus? It sounds like you already know where you're going, Philo, and these guys can probably help you get there as well as I could," he went on without hesitation.

[Aoiroo]

"Then I can't go with you then, because chasing it off doesn't solve anything."

Philos looked at Jubatus,

"Though like you said, we can't just kill it for acting on it's nature, it's an unnatural predator. It will destroy the food chain of any natural habitat simply because it will become the new alpha predator killing anything that gets in it's way. Which means it needs an unnatural habitat. Which, I'll be honest there are plenty on this planet, though any place, what is the word for the one with the fish. Something with a Latin base, one moment,"

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his book and flipped around for a few pages before he found it,

"Aquarium, yes, any aquarium would need a specialized location, reinforced glass almost certainly, and a very secure living area, octipi are very clever sea creatures, who usually escape any containment their in unless it's incredibly secure. I'm sure that can be just as clever as well, and maybe we can capture it safely if we try less brutal means. Maybe with some food to lure it, nice mollusks maybe, pretty sure that's what an octipus likes to eat."

Philos stopped for a few seconds then thought about it,

"Though there I go, would any of this stuff be too terribly hard to find? Bit fuzzy about everything available at this time, textbooks at home were a bit dated."

[Ari]

'You people have never been so hard to convince that sea monsters need killing! How did this come about!?' thought Wave-Eye frustratedly, though he remained placid on the surface, nodding his monstrous head slightly to the others and saying "I will do as you say. I cannot move worldly matter like Edge does, but I can pull things that move in the water quite well. I could lure it near the cage, and throw it in as well as you like." He shrugged, unsure how well that would come across. Edge's delegation to him and Jubatus of the task of conducting Philos to Freedom Hall surprised him, and he definitely showed it. He bowed "It will be an honor, Edge. Philos will come to no harm, I swear it. Philos," he added, turning to the Farsider zoologist with a respectful look "if you mention this matter to the League, they will be certain to deal with it, and given your apparent expertise will very likely take your advice into account." To Jay he nodded briskly "If you will lead the way, Jubatus, I will follow."

he glanced back at the monster out to sea for a brief, sour moment before returning his attention to the others on the beach. It could wait, as could he.

'Ah, that creature aside, this day looks to be a better step forward than I even dreamed!'

[Cubist]

"…it will become the new alpha predator, killing anything that gets in its way."

Philos hadn't said anything that was new to Jubatus. The feline had a well-informed layman's grasp of ecological realities, and he knew very well that Nature often was "red in tooth and claw", as the maxim went… "I get that. 'Rabbits to australia', invasive species, I grok. And for all I know, that poor bastard may actually be enough of a problem, in and of itself, that killing it is the least-worst way to handle the situation. I'm just saying… before anybody pulls the trigger, let's at least consider other options, okay?"

"Which means it needs an unnatural habitat. Of which, I'll be honest, there are plenty on this planet…"

Putting Sharktopus in an aquarium? Jube's detail-oriented mind immediately reviewed the practical difficulties that would have to be overcome before that was a viable option: How much food does that monster need—don't think it masses as much as a blue whale—how do you make an enclosure for an aquatic beastie that size—dear Artemis, the cost of it all—

That careening train of thought wasn't helpful, so Jubatus stifled it. He had plenty of practice not-thinking about unpleasant topics; the trick was to focus your attention on a different topic. Such as the task of accompanying Philos to the Freedom League! One quick mental review of what little data he had on Philos later, the cheetah spoke: "Riding shotgun won't be a problem for me, either, Philos. Just one thing: It doesn't seem all that likely that landing here was part of your actual flight plan. Which is why I'm thinking it'd be prudent to assume you've got an enemy who sabotaged your ship, so you didn't have any choice in the matter. Can you think of anyone who might want to screw up your life?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Figuring this sort of debate could best be handled by the professionals, Edge decided to keep his word and get them all out of trouble. He rubbed his forehead and concentrated, and as the others argued over the fate of the Sharktopus, in a few moments they, the spacecraft, and all and sundry were transported yet again: this time to the big open square in front of Freedom Hall. There were a few startled exclamations from passersby, but it didn't seem too peculiar for the middle of the day in the middle of Freedom City. People were used to the fantastic around here. "OK, gotta go," he said, bending down to give Philo the short Lunar bow that nearly cracked his back. (it was a lot easier when you were seven feet tall.) "Welcome to Earth, Citizen of Farside," he said formally. "Nice to meet you, Jubatus, Wave-Eye!" he added with a wave before disappearing himself.

[Ari]

The warping power that was so...familiar enveloped them just as Wave-Eye was about to agree with Jubatus. The reason for the crash was still something that needed clearing up.

"Yes, who-" he stiffened as they appeared abruptly on the square in front of Freedom Hall, blinking in surprise for a few moments "-who..ack, our thanks Edge. Be well" he gurgled, bowing slightly to the UNISON agent as he departed.

To Jay he went on "As I was saying, agreed." he turned to Philos curiously "Were you attacked, or your craft sabotaged?" he led the way towards the front door as he spoke.

[Cubist]

When Edge teleported away—He's a transmuter! How the hell does he do teleportation!?—Jubatus felt significantly better. He hadn't even noticed when his hackles rose to full attention, but now that his neck-fur had returned to its customary rest-position, he recognized the significant drop in tension. Argh! Get the [bg=black]xxxx[/bg] over it, Jube. Edge isn't a villain, and he's not an asshole, so the odds of him living down to your paranoid projections are epsilon, maybe even epsilon squared!

The feline took a deep breath and released it, then forcibly evicted Edge from his thoughts. Okay. Freedom Hall. Escorting the Farsider. Good thing we're there, minimal chance of encountering problems along the way, he thought. Of course, Jube was still going to be his usual watchful-to-paranoid self regardless; until he could rule out the possibility that Phil's craft had been sabotaged, it would be downright moronic for him to not exercise a heightened level of vigilance in this situation.

"And here we are," Jube said. "Spacecraft included…" He frowned, growled a little under his breath. If the vehicle actually had been sabotaged, it could now be the delivery system for a bomb or some other such nasty surprise! Wonderful. Just—bleeding—wonderful. Well, what's done is done… damnit. "Hrrm. Let's wait a bit before we go in, just in case our arrival triggered all sorts of alarms and the League is scrambling to ID us and figure out how to respond."