ic Welcome to Earth

[Raveled]

Back at the clearing, the fight was hating up. Malestrom reached out with both hands and 'gripped' the flying drone; it thrusters roared it jerked to and fro as it fought to escape, but with a wrench the floating heroine tore the machine in two, tossing the pieces near the spaceship. It almost seemed like the heroes had the situation handled, when the gorilla-esque robot smashed the glowing orange fields with a swing of its hammer-like fists. It stepped through and regarded the assembled heroes coldly. "Earthling-human-Lor, this drone-extension-agent will give you a final opportunity-chance-opening to return the fugitive-escapee-display."

[KnightDisciple]

There was a blur of motion, and then the robot heard a voice from behind itself.

 

"This is your last chance to run away, Tin Man! We've already got a truckload to take to the recycling center. You want to go too?"

 

Even as he taunted, Thoughtspeed's twin blades blurred through another attack pattern. He practically couldn't miss his current opponent, and his blades carved furrows into its metal body. Certain not crippling wounds, not yet, but he was just getting warmed up.

[horngeek]

Meanwhile, Stronghold shaped another spear of glowing orange energy.  The drone would probably smash through any more objects she created, and this... would work, she just needed to get the hang of aiming it.  

 

And don't hit Will.  That was important, too.  He looked like he was causing some damage already, that was good.  

 

"You can't seriously think we'll back down now."

 

The spear was launched, flying through the air...

 

And missing, again.  "Oh, come on!"

[Ari]

Nathan pulled up short when the escaped alien appeared. Glancing back at the battle nearby he had to admit that the guy had a point'Assuming this is a male of the species, etc etc...'), especially when it came to the question of why the 'bots had been so trigger-happy. Sure they were being confronted, but did the Curator really prize victory in battle over just getting away with his stuff?

Times like this made Nathan grimace behind his illusory mask and wish there were more books on alien psychology. At least ones that weren't just sci-fi, since they mostly seemed to assume that even vastly different cultures from other worlds could all be boiled into convenient humanist categories that-

He visibly started and hastily made sure his subconscious didn't make a sheepish grin appear on the mask. 'Eyes on the prize, Mind-Set! What's our reason... There's only a handful of robots, we're on our home turf, and so far the Curator's not sending more than we can handle?'

Marching over to the hiding extraterrestrial, Mind-Set clapped him on the back, bones tingling as he subtly emitting a pulse that would trigger areas of the brain that would hopefully encourage the guy into fighting alongside the humans. As he spoke, the world behind his eyes shifted color, and it took a conscious effort to keep the pulse straight as his brainwaves did their best to warp and hobble it "We're fighting the Curator because this world isn't his, buddy! You're a free man(well, person!) on this planet, and no collect-'em-all robot creeps will stop us helping you KEEP your freedom! We know what we're doing," Mind-Set added with an anxious look at the fray nearby "But you gotta fight too, or else you might lose what you're so close to keeping!"

Edited August 28, 2014 by Arichamus

[Raveled]

The alien fugitive glanced at Mind-Set and then looked at the fight developing in the clearing. "You've gotta to be kidding me," he muttered, half to himself. "Yer all insane. This ain't my world, I should just be scampering... Oh, dammit, I'm going t hate m'self in the morning!" He vaulted over his cover and started running back towards the fight.

Malestrom floated above the forest floor, cape flapping behind her dramatically. "Time to press your off button, you overgrown tin can." The heroine dramatically raised her hands and a car-sized chunk of the crashed spaceship rose from the rubble. She moved her hands and the metal moved at high speed, homing in on the house-sized robot.

[Raveled]

GM

Who reached around without looking and smashed it out of the air, deflecting the blow effortlessly. "FELLOW UNITS DISABLED," it lumbered, moving forward and scanning the area. "UNIT DESIGNATE SPIDER, UNIT DESIGNATE ARTILLERY, DEACTIVATED. LETHAL FORCE WILL BE USED." The massive paw reached out with surprising deftness and captured Thoughtspeed, very nearly enveloping the teenage hero with its massive metal digits.

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed's eyes widened behind his helmet when the robot casually swatted the projectile out of the air. 

 

When it started to reach down for him, he was actually turning to try and run away...but was, shockingly, too slow. The robot's limb had been a blur, and he just hadn't been expecting it to do something so...drastic. Which was somewhat academic to the fact that a giant robot had him in its metallic grasp, and could probably start crushing him any time now. 

 

He struggled mightily, his form blurring in super-speed as he moved back and forth and...got exactly nowhere. So instead his voice echoed in the minds of all of his allies present.

 

--Ohgeezerobotsgotmehelpmehelpme HELP PLEASE AND THANK YOU!--

[horngeek]

Once again, Haukea formed an arrow out of the energies of the Orange Ring.  

 

A bind wouldn't help Thoughtspeed.  Neither would walls or anything else, she needed to concentrate on just causing damage to the mech.  Robot.  

 

Soon to be scrap might be a good way of thinking about it, actually.  The arrow launched... and this time, it hit.  A screeching sound as it sheared into the robot's structure, hopefully causing it some significant damage.  

 

"Let go of my friend."

[Raveled]

GM

Stronghold's magic tore at and through the hulking drone, punching a hole clean through the armor plate that began to leak some viscous fluids. Its blazing green eyes turned to regard her, but before it could make anymore blazing pronouncements the alien visitor dashed into view! The drone's attention fixed on the suited figure. "Fugitive-escapee-display located. Engaging primary mission: retrieve-remove-recover fugitive-escapee-display."

The alien capered in the clearing for a moment, before running for the crashed ship. "Ohgodohgodthiswasater'ribleideawhy'dIeverDOthis!"

Edited September 8, 2014 by Raveled

[Ari]

'Hold on, Thoughtspeed! Lemme see if I can get this thing to drop you with a little reverse psychology!'

Dashing by the gun-toting alien, the invisible psychic stumbled to a halt next to the towering bulk of metal plating, joints and ominousness, panting at the strain the burst of action and stress of using his powers as having.

'Pater del Coelis, ignosce mi caput osse...' he thought, looking up at the steel terror he was within backhand range of. But there was nothing else for it, and squaring his broad shoulders the brawny orderly shouted at the thing

"HEY! Klaatu! You're doing great! Just keep holding that guy, ignore our attempts to free our dear friend and ally and just keep holding on, as tight as you can! Nothing bad will happen and you will win with no problems! I bet the Curator will give you a prize, even, for holding on!"

Watching the retrieval drone with great care, Nathaniel tensed, ready to spring. He was sure his powers hid him from the robot's searching eye, but it didn't make being so close feel any better. And if it got him too...best to make sure that didn't happen at all. For now though, the objective was to get Thoughtspeed out of the Curator drone's clutches, self-preservation could wait.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Arichamus

[Raveled]

The drone turned, its attention temporarily split between several targets. It could track them all, but it only had so many limbs to utilize, and its primary target was getting away. It released Thoughtspeed and moved to intercept the alien, trying to impose its bulk between the ship and its prey. The other heroes weren't going to let up, though; Maelstrom tore a storm of rocks and logs from the forest floor and pelted the robot, smashing a rotted log over its head in particularly dramatic fashion. The drone was unable to mount a serious defense against it, and a number of rocks ended up getting wedged in its joints, and as they were crushed showers of sparks fell to the forest floor.

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed managed to turn the drop into a semi-graceful roll, and found himself crouched, breathing hard for a few moments to make sure his ribs hadn't powdered or some such gruesome fate. Once satisfied with his body's relatively intact state, he stood up with great purpose and determination, twin blades of green energy shining to life in his hands. Tracery of green light wrapped around his body. 

 

"I am sick of this tin can."

 

And then he was just a black-and-green blur of motion across the ground. For a few moments, he became visible as he raced around the legs of the robot, his blades seeking purchase wherever they could find it, striving to rip and tear panels and cables and wires and pistons (or the equivalent) and render the thing lame or worse. Then, after the furious assault of several moments, he was a blur across the ground as he raced many yards away, turning back to face the robot and determine the effectiveness of his assault. 

[Raveled]

GM

Thoughtspeed raced over and across the huge robot, his mind blade opening rents in the armor of the automaton. It shuddered and halted, leaking strange fluids and stuttering in its speech. "Earth-Lor-Humans, refrain from fight-opposition-confrontation... Must retrieve... Must retrieve... Must retr-r-r-r-rieve--" A piece of the crashed suddenly rattled to life and lifted from the wreckage, orientating on the drone. Energy crackled along the length of the metal piece, and then a lance of bright, eye-searing power connected it and the drone for the briefest of instants. The drone and the outcropping both exploded into a thousand fragments, and as the noise of the explosions faded peace returned to the glen.

The alien popped out of the hatch again, dusting his hands off. "Well, that takes care of that. And I do apologize," he said to Stronghold and Thoughtspeed, "for threatening you. But you must understand that there are very, very few individuals in the galaxy who would have the idea of stand up to a Collector's drones. And for most it would merely be elaborate and painful suicide."

[Ari]

Like ripples in water, Mind-Set reappeared, growing more visible and solid from the sun on his chest outward, revealing that the laid-back young man was pumping an enthusiastic fist in the air. His forcefield dropped the deflected bits of robo-shrapnel that had sprayed over him to the ground with various clinks and thuds as he celebrated "Yes! Another victory of brai-hold up." He looked quizzically at his nearby sister "Hey, Maelstrom, is this a victory of brains over brawn or brawn over brains? Technically that ship's weapons couldn't exist without brains, but the same could be said for the Curatorbot, and in theory making an artificial intelligence is a lot more fiddly than manipulating forces, but the way they've been used here...let's call it a tie for now. Nice work, Thoughtspeed!"

The towering psychic clapped the slimmer young man on the shoulder of his black-green suit, dropping enough of the illusion of Mind-Set to allow for a more genuine smile under the false blue eyes "Wish I could learn to do that. Then maybe I could keep up with Ms. Supersonic over there. Ah well. And Stronghold, that's a nifty little gizmo you've got there," he added with an admiring nod to the ochre-clad ring-bearer "love to see how it reacts to your mind sometime, if that's what happens 'course."

Sauntering over to the alien's ship, Nathan stooped and picked up the 'face' plate of the bruiser robot, turning it over in his hands curiously. "Soooo..." he glanced over at the fugitive "if it's okay with you to talk about it, space-buddy, why was the Curator after you? Why'd you end up here? And what's the next step?" he asked the other humans and Rachel, nodding deferentially to his sister.

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed shrugged a bit at the alien's apology. 

 

"Yeah, well, next time maybe don't get quite so trigger-happy, you know? Besides, you should have known this was Earth and we've beaten the Curator, like, a berjillion times. I mean, yeah, we haven't blown his base up or anything but that's because there's people there, you know?"

 

He staggered just a bit at the hearty slap from Mind-Set, but gave the other psychic a smile.

 

"I cheat a bit, though. The blades are tied to how I'm also a speedster, see? Kinetic energy and all that."

 

He grew more serious as Mind-Set gently questioned the alien, but opted to remain silent for the time being. 

[Raveled]

"Call it a wash, brother." Maelstrom floated down to the forest floor, though even once she was standing firm on the Earth her cape and long, dark hair fluttered on her own personal breeze. "Personally, I'm happy that everyone came through that intact." She glanced around, checking the younger heroes over for visible signs of injury. "Everyone did come through that okay, right?"

The alien reached into his collar and unhooked something, and there was a sudden, brief outgassing before he removed the helmet. Underneath he looked mostly human, except that the pulsing of his lobes was very nearly visible through the skin of his scalp. He took a deep breath and walked over to Thoughtspeed, holding out his hand. "Afraid I didn't get the operating manual when I grabbed that puppy off the Curator's boat," he said. "Jus' found somethin' that looked like the hyperdrive and pressed it. Might well consider myself lucky that I wasn't scattered across a nebula, you know, haha!"

At Mind-Set's question, he gave a look at the wrecked ship. "Well if'n you run a scrap yard, feel free to scrap 'er. I don't see how it can get more broke. And if'n your hypothetical scarp yard has a little something," he added, "I'd take it of your hands. Even a little rockjumper, I reckon I could rig a hyperdrive to get me out to a bigger station and then hitch from there."

[horngeek]

"Uuuuuuuh..."

 

Stronghold looked around.  "Yeah, about that bit... we're not exactly at the point where we have easily accessible space travel just yet.  You could always talk to the Freedom League, I guess.  They'd have the most contact with space-faring civilisations?  But people here on Earth... haven't really gone to space all that much, so I don't think the stuff you could use would be easily available.  Sorry."

 

Haukea shuffled around slightly awkwardly.  "Um.  Why were those drones after you, anyway?"

[Raveled]

"Well as it turns out the Curator doesn't much care for individuals making off with things that he reckons belongs to him." The alien paused. "I knew that going in, but, hell, what's life without a few challenges?" He rolled his shoulders in a lazy shrug. "Tha stasis wasn't exactly comfortable, but it gave me time to think, at least. And plan my escape, which I executed... almost flawlessly." He fiddled absently with the gauntlet of his suit.

"That's a pretty big quantifier," Maelstrom pointed out. "What's your plan now?"

"In all honesty, I was hoping to be sitting pretty in a star cluster or nebula about now," he said. "I suppose what I need to do first is get a ship off-planet."

[Ari]

"I cheat a bit, though. The blades are tied to how I'm also a speedster, see? Kinetic energy and all that."

"Really now? That's an unusual mix. Never would've guessed a paychic could operate at superhuman speeds...but I guess 'impossible' means something a lot different now than at the turn of the century" Mind-Set tossed the faceplate aside, sparing a slight glance of smiling admiration at the oddball super before turning full attention to their alien guest, his mask all business.

He couldn't comment on Earth's heroes having beaten the Curator 'a berjillion times'' since that was outside both his knowledge of history and mathematics, and the knowledge that the cosmic collector had an unimaginably enormous fortress of archiving doom somewhere in space was to him one of those bits of trivia that, like the real name of an author or batting averages, was only useful for very specialized situations. Thanks to his rather focused powers, Nathan Colletta was unlikely to ever have to use that bit of data, or be thankful it was known.

What he could comment on was the small matter of aiding an extrasolar criminal. Even if stealing from robots wasn't a frequent crime on Earth, it was still something to be carefully deliberated over. While his relaxed, almost folksy cadence and tone didn't change, a hint of anxiety and steel crept into his voice "Well star buddy-by the way, you got a name we can use?-I'm a little worried about that answer. While it does explain everything, why the robots fought to the death, why they'd chase you so hard, and so on, it kinda also makes me wonder what exactly it was you stole. I mean, if it was something worth risking that kind of danger for..." he shrugged his illusion-enhanced shoulders, the glamored guardian added more kindly "So long as it's not ultra-dangerous, I bet the Freedom League would be happy to get you on your way, they go into space and stuff all the time. Even got a space-station. Why'd you decide to take from the Curator, of all things? Just that much a daredevil?"

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed gave a happy nod as Mind-Set re-evaluated "impossible".

 

"It's a brave new world! I mean, you just see more and more interesting power combos in folks all the time."

 

He turned to the alien stranger, his demeanor a bit more serious. 

 

"Yeah, we'll get you to the Freedom League. Worst case, they can help put you up for a little while until they help you get your ship fixed up, then you can be on your way. I think the most they might ask for in return is talking about what you saw at the Curator's place. Never hurts to get more information in case he tries something again, right?"

Edited September 30, 2014 by KnightDisciple

[Raveled]

The alien's unease was evident in his shifting stance and his darting eyes. "I appreciate your help with tha Curator's trio," he said, "but I can't say that I'm in a hurry to meet and greet. I'm more of a mind to beat feet, if I can just find a good neutrino source."

Maelstrom didn't exactly know what a neutrino was, but she did know where she had seen that word before. "The Hunter Museum of Natural History is running a display on particle physics," she offered. "There's some rock there from Antarctica, supposedly full of neutrinos. Or something." She wasn't up on the latest scientific jargon.

[Ari]

"There are so many neutrinos their weight is detectable. That's pretty big news for a particle that's supposed to be near-massless."

 

Nathan shrugged again, mostly for lack of anything more to say, glancing into what could be seen of the fugitive's ship's interior. The alien was being pretty cagey, but that was to be expected when he was surrounded by strangers who probably smelled about as weird to them as they did to the humans. Mind-Set wondered idly if he could fool his own senses into not noticing the aroma their new neighbor emitted, which was something like copper and ammonia mixed in with what could only be stale sweat.

 

Luckily, as he looked over the strange, silvery ship crashed next to him, another problem presented itself. "What should be done about your ship? Want us to get it out for you first, or can that wait?" As if on reflex, Nathan glanced over at his sister "And we can't just take the rock, gotta explain ourselves first."

Edited October 8, 2014 by Arichamus

[KnightDisciple]

Thoughtspeed wasn't super-uptight about law and such the way some heroes were. But the talk of taking a rock from a museum just to fuel a ship for a somewhat-shifty alien guy who shot first and apologized later, after having lifted something from the Curator, was not exactly sounding like the best idea.

 

"I'm sure the League has something to fuel up the ship, if you think it's good to fly other than energy supplies. Seriously though, if the Curator's getting antsy it'd be nice to give them a head's-up, man. Call it payment for the fuel, right?"

 

He gave the alien man a thumb's-up, but his body language wasn't totally relaxed. As if expecting more trouble still.

[Ari]

"That can come later, Thoughtspeed." Mind-Set advised, smiling apologetically at their alien visitor "For now, I think we can take things pretty much at face value here. In fact, how about you head to Freedom Hall, let the 'League know about this? You can get there and back in a fraction of the time it'd take the rest of us, and alert the museum, too."

 

Even if the odd fugitive wasn't on the level, Nathan was reasonably sure that, with their various capabilities, they could get things straightened out without any need for violence. Besides, what if the stolen object was somehow dangerous to know about? Holding it on Earth, not to mention an alien...extraterrestrial(the legal terms hadn't really caught up yet), would be bad enough, without the risk of another assault by the Curator looking for something they owned. And anyway, he'd need some kind of confirmation from Rachel before the hefty psychic would even dream of searching the mind of their guest. Just the idea made his illusory face twitch in revulsion.

 

Eyeing the crashed ship, he asked off-hand "Could this be shifted, without any danger, I mean? I think Stronghold and Maelstrom could move it, but just in case..." he glanced at the alien, the ring-bearer and his telekinetic twin in turn. "Sorry I can't really do much here, kinda outside my field of expertise. Don't suppose you need someone to analyze the mental state of your ship's computer?"

[Raveled]

"My ship will not be moving," the alien said, "and it won't be a danger to the environment. As far as I am concerned, y'all can keep it all. And I as I said," he added, "my interest is in getting off this planet as soon as I can. If you want to hang a sign off your moon asking the Curator to attack, that is your business. But let me leave, first."

Maelstrom licked her lips, uncertain. On the one hand they probably should hand him over to the Freedom League, or at least the police; he did create a rather large hole in the forest. On the other hand, she didn't savor the idea of trying to restrain him against his will. "Taking him to the Hunter Museum shouldn't be too bad," she said finally. "It's still inside the city, after all."