ic Lights, Camera, Action! (IC)

[Sophistemon]

Rhekgar gazed across the bone-scattered plain at his opponent, ash-gray eyes narrowed against the pale red glare of Urth's dying sun. A slight breeze, little more than a weak exhalation of wind, shook the dust from his tangled mane. Never, not once in all his years of wandering had the barbarian seen such a man as this. He stood tall, armored from head to foot in beetle-black carapace, his face obscured by a fearsome mask. A cape of blood-red crimson hung from the man's shoulders; a fortune in cloth, a king's ransom in dye. The fabric alone would buy the barbarian a lifetime of comforts and the armor, he thought, was a prize beyond price. He adjusted his grip on the haft of his club, calloused fingers finding purchase on the well-worn hardwood. He raised his truncheon so that the heavy, iron-shod head glinted cruelly in the sun and light danced like a flame along the knobs. “By the horns of Tauran,” he boasted. “Prepare yourself for battle, Dark One! Today you face Rhekgar, heir to the throne of Eagland-of-Old!”

 

There was a sizzling flash of scintillating energy and his club, his father's club, was forced from his grasp to spin through the air and land ignominiously in the dirt. Rhekgar stared, aghast, at his armored foe. “Sorcery,” he breathed, his blood boiling. “Coward!” he shouted. “Fight me like a man!” His muscles tensed for battle and he crouched, preparing to dart for the mace. The other man, corpse-like in his silence, raised a hand; the barbarian's brow furrowed as he saw magic coalesce in his enemy's palm. The warrior leaped, hands outstretched to grab his weapon, but the bolt of energy struck him in the ribs. His body numbed, his vision blurred, and Rhekgar of Old Eagland wheezed like a leper on the ground.

 

===

 

The armored man strode forward, cape flapping behind him like a flag, until he stood triumphantly over the prostrate body of the defeated barbarian. He posed for a moment, hands on hips, and then looked into the camera. “I have beaten your hero,” he said, his voice a hissing growl. “If you want him back alive you will do exactly as I say. Bring ten million dollars in unmarked, non-sequential bills to the following address...” The screen dissolved into static and then went dead as Colonel Chalmers (an agent of AEGIS's increasingly-labyrinthine bureaucratic division) pressed a button on the remote. He turned to the assembled group of protagonists with a look of annoyance writ large across his craggy face, which resembled that of a particularly grumpy bulldog – if perhaps not so friendly-looking. “This is the third one this week,” he grumbled. “All three of the 'victims' are the main characters of major, blockbuster film franchises – each one poised for a summer release. At first we thought he was kidnapping actors, but local police looked into it and they're all okay. Confused, but okay. So then we assumed that it was just some weird hoax; a bit of artfully edited video sent to the producers to spook them. But the footage of the characters is new, and when they tried to shoot more scenes it didn't work. The directors directed, the actors acted, the best boys best boyed their friggin' hearts out but the characters didn't show up on film. They're missing, and this weirdo has them… somehow.” He sighed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “So, that's why you're here.” He turned to each member of the strange group and spoke to them one at a time to facilitate the obligatory, plot-essential introductions.

 

“Adept,” he said. “You're an agent of AEGIS, a decorated veteran of countless engagements, all of which you've handled with unfailing professionalism in spite of the weirdness that you deal with.” He looked to Doctor Deoxy and nodded. “Doctor, you were recommended in the hopes that your technological expertise – and pure brainpower – will be useful in countering whatever weird science this madman is using to abduct people who aren't even real.” He turned, then, to Aquaria and shuffled his feet. Although a native of Earth, the girl was still so alien. “Sea Devil, you've been working a long time to clear the black mark from your record. You've done good, and we've asked you for your help in the hopes that you'll continue doing good.” Finally he looked to Miracle Girl, who was a breath of fresh air in a room so otherwise dominated by the strange. “And, last but not least, the organization feels that your balanced power-set will help shore up whatever deficiencies may or may not exist in the team dynamic.” The fact that the young woman's father was also an agent of AEGIS didn't hurt either, but that was largely incidental. He shook his head. “Right, so: despite the very unusual circumstances, this is a kidnapping we're dealing with and these… people need help getting back to, ah, wherever it is they come from.”

 

He reached down to the table and opened a folder to display its contents to the group. “This is the drop-off point specified by the kidnapper. His terms were pretty simple: the studios deliver the money and he frees his hostages so they can go back to making movies. Thirty million dollars total for a bunch of fictional characters. What's weirder, though, is that this address belongs to an everyday run-of-the-mill electronics outlet in Millennium Mall, and he specifies that the exchange is to be made at the rear of the store, by the television display.” He glanced up at Adept. “It kind of makes you nostalgic for when the whack-jobs did their business in dark alleys, huh?” He sighed. “Okay, then. I'm sure that you all have questions – I know that I do – so let's hear them. We're running out of time, though, so make it quick.”

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil's natural form was invisible to the other heroes - hidden behind her alien-looking armor, her voice mechanically augmented, she could have been anybody. Or anything. Despite the feminine pronoun Chalmers had used, her voice was a bizarre deep bass croak, sounding like the transmitter on her suit was somehow defective. "That is very strange. But we will help you with that problem," she promised. "Is it science - or your weird magic?" she asked. "I have heard of shamans who can enter sacred art - but never anything like that. This is very strange," she opined, still crouched on the floor where she'd been resting on all fours, back legs curled up beneath her body, since the beginning the video had begun to play. "What if he hurts something real?"
""

[Blarghy]

Yeah, I've got a question: why are we all wasting our time to save people who aren't even real?  What can we even charge this guy with if we catch him?  Copyright infringement?

 

Despite his grumpy misgivings, Adept had to admit that he was genuinely curious, and few criminals had managed that so far in his career.  Besides, their target plainly had supernatural abilities, which put this crime firmly in AEGIS jurisdiction, and their civilian fish-person--shudder--had a point.  What if these strange powers were turned on a flesh-and-blood citizen?  Best to stop the problem before real people ended up dead.  Or trapped on DVD. 

 

He cleared his throat and spoke, "Do the demands specify who has to deliver the money?  We could more easily set a trap if one of us can do it personally, rather than having to involve a civilian from the studio.  Considerably less risk.  Furthermore, does anything in the video match our records?  That armor looks distinctive.  And finally, I assume we've already checked for any disgruntled, recently-fired employees working on these films, and considered potential links between the actors playing the missing characters, as well as between the characters themselves.  Do they have anything in common beside summer blockbusters?"

 

Which made sense in itself, and pointed at a purely monetary motive.  Targeting big money-makers gave the studios a cost/benefit analysis more than a hostage situation.  If the problem was less weird and the price a bit lower, Adept wondered if the producers would've even bothered to involve AEGIS rather than just adding a new line to the budget. 

[Heritage]

Casey took this mission very seriously, despite how silly it sounded; mostly this was because she really didn't want to get her dad in trouble by screwing up working for AEGIS, who payed for everything she owned, including (one day) her college education! She'd taken her reporter's notebook out of its waterproof belt pouch and was taking very detailed notes about everything Col. Chalmers said.

 

...which was a good thing, because it kept her from staring at her impromptu teammates. 'Sea Devil' was some sort of alien or mutant with a criminal past, 'Adept' looked, sounded and smelled like a walking anti-smoking PSA, and whoever this 'Doctor' was, he had super-creepy eyes. But her Mom taught her it was rude to stare, and the Girl Scouts taught her the importance of teamwork and working together with people from diverse backgrounds; this mission was not going to fail because she didn't do what was expected of her.

 

Casey held up her hand earnestly. "Excuse me, sir? What time of day is the meet scheduled for? Is it during normal business hours, and if so, what provisions do we have in place to guarantee the safety of any civilians in the area?"

 

There, those were good, important questions; Dad would be proud!

Edited July 28, 2016 by Heritage

[Exaccus]

Nathaniel had remained eeriely silent beneath his armours helmet, eye slots glowing violet above the stoic and unmoving mask as he contemplated the situation, it seemed somehow that this being, whomever they might be, was able to physically subdue concepts on some collective mental plane but how and why...those he couldn't hazard a guess to, money seemed such a strange goal...he could surely just plunder the wealth from other fictional people and places....unless he was unable to take things out of this strange place.

 

"Fascinating." he says, barely above a whisper as he shifts a little "It seems he can enter some sort of...dimension of imagination and affect the concepts there; probably by using Televisions as a medium....hence his choice of local; an easy get away into any number of such places."

[Sophistemon]

The questions came as quickly as Colonel Chalmers had anticipated and he raised both hands to stem the tide. "All right," he grumbled. "Pipe down. I'm gonna try and handle this in order, so bear with me." He pointed a blunt, thick-nailed finger at Sea Devil. "Strange is right; I've been with AEGIS coming up on twenty years now and it's just about the weirdest darn thing that I've ever come across, and I was here on the day the coffee machine came to life and tried to conquer Mars. To answer your first question, the Boys in the Back Room are leaning towards it being technological in nature, though nobody's been able to tell me yet how this sort of thing is possible. Alternate realities we've dealt with before, but nothing like this. As for your second question, there's no evidence uncovered so far that indicates that he's caused anyone any harm. Well, not anyone real. We're hoping that you can subdue this man before he does."

 

The finger moved a bit to center on Adept. "Good questions, Agent Warne. No, the suspect didn't demand that anyone specific make the drop, which leads our psych-team to believe that we're dealing with someone unfamiliar with kidnapping; a hardened criminal knows to reduce the number of variables. As for determining who the suspect is, he's wearing black armor and a red cape -- he could be any one of a thousand different villains, or someone completely new; we're running the image through the database but we just don't know yet. As for the person under the armor, these are major, multi-million dollar Hollywood productions and people come and go on those projects all the time. We're working through a list of potential suspects but it numbers in the hundreds." He paused, thinking. "As for the films themselves, they're all... what do you call it when a studio remakes an old property? A rehash?" He shook his head and the word came to him. "A reboot! They're all reboots."

 

Finally, the finger drifted over to indicate Miracle Girl. "He specified a time -- three-thirty PM -- but had no further demands. Obviously, we're going to evacuate Millennium Mall and keep emergency personnel on call in case things go south. Standard procedure, really." He dropped his hand, which had begun to cramp, to his side. "Folks, I'm going to be frank with you: I don't think this guy knows what he's doing. He's taken hostages that could net him way more than thirty million dollars, set up a meet with too many variables left unaccounted for, and... it's just a feeling that I get." His eyes narrowed. "But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take this seriously. Remember, we might be dealing with a complete unknown and we have no idea what he's capable of doing. He's already demonstrated some pretty baffling abilities, so we should take advantage of every loophole that he's left us."

 

He took a breath and let it out before continuing on. "All right, I think that was everyone. Are there any further questions before we move on to the strategics?"

[Blarghy]

With a shake of his head, Warne mulled over this information.  Deoxy made a good point, he thought, about the televisions at the drop point: they'd have a hell of a time catching this strange kidnapper if he could phase through anything with a screen.  Perhaps...

 

"Could we arrange to cut the power to the building on signal?  That might keep him from escaping, if he can do so through TVs.  He may be a poor mastermind, but surely he has a backup plan; I agree that the location is too much to be a coincidence.  If he has to flee on foot instead, it'll be much, much easier to catch him."

 

Frankly, dealing with someone inept was a refreshing change.  No real victims (yet), and a dimwitted opponent (unless his poor decisions thus far were only to make them overconfident...); this was as close to a vacation as Warne ever got. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil had little to add on the tactical level - inside her armor, Aquaria was thinking grim thoughts about fighting an opponent who could move from dream to dream and strike at the very imagination. These should have been the deeds of a mighty shaman, not of a petty criminal committing what everyone spoke of as small robberies with little to gain. (She didn't really understand the value of Surface gold, it seemed - the quoted figure of the ransom had been far more than she was paid at her groundskeeping job, but it seemed small fish indeed to these mighty heroes around her.) Surface foes were so strange - but no wonder, given how strange the people themselves were! "That is good," came that croaking voice from behind the armor again. It didn't sound like Sea Devil had more to say on the subject than that. She turned her upper body to look at Miracle Girl and croaked another question. "Aren't you young?"

[Exaccus]

"It would prehaps be better to track where he's run too rather than attempt to stop him." Nathaniel Interjects "He will likely be expecting interference from those such as we." he reasons as he unfolds his arms "Given a little time i should be able to rig something that can track him even through the interdimensional ethers so we can catch him off guard at what he will believe to be His safe house. possibly without the benefit of his armour; I believe that we would be best engaging him on as many terms we can control as possible given his apparent abilities....I would very much like to study the armour he's developed once all is said and done...or the subject them-self is their powers are innate to their being."

[Heritage]

Casey jumped slightly when Sea Devil addressed her, much to her shame and embarrassment; it was like being caught surreptiously staring at someone with bad scars. "Um, well I am still in school, if that's what you mean, but it's like a special school. For kids with powers like me." 

 

She wanted to continue the conversation, because now that she'd broken the ice it was actually easier to just keep going. But the briefing was still going on, and she didn't want to miss anything. "Sorry, I-" She gestured towards the colonel and looked apologetic.

 

As the discussion continued, she held up her hand again, and then looked between the doctor and Chalmers. "I'm sorry, but...wouldn't it be bad to follow him to his 'lair'? Then he has home field advantage; it may even be a trap, and he wants us to follow him." She looked a bit uncomfortable, as she didn't like questioning her elders. "My da-..., uh, I was taught that...you always want to dictate the terms of battle; you never let the enemy do that, or you play into their hands."

[Sophistemon]

Chalmers snapped his thick fingers and arched one bushy eyebrow in Warne's direction. "Look at you, mister Big Ideas." He reached down to the table, took up a pen and paper, and scrawled a note. "Cut... power... remotely." He tapped a period to the paper and then pointed the pen at Doctor Deoxy. "And there we have it, folks; we'll call that one Plan A." He raised the pad. "So here's what I'm thinking so far, everyone. If the good doctor here can whip something up to track this guy (whoever he is) back to his lair (wherever it is) then that's just fine and dandy. But if he can't -- and I'm not saying that you can't, Deoxy, just that we should be prepared -- then we'll throw the switch, cut the power, and trap him in the mall with a thorough beat-down to follow." He nodded, pleased with how this slapdash group of heroes were planning things out.

 

He looked, then, to Miracle Girl. "You're right," he said. "Tracking him has the potential to be more dangerous -- that goes without saying. But he's got hostages and we don't know their situation. If we can track him back to wherever it is they're being kept, it's better off for them in the long run. If we trap him outside of his lair and we're delayed in finding it... who knows what could happen to the people he's got stashed away? These aren't even natives of our reality, so as far as we know they might require some sort of life support to survive here. There's no telling how they're holding up, or whether or not they'll require any medical attention. The sooner we find them, the better." He smiled, moved by her concern and somewhat eager to put her mind at ease. "Besides, if we find out where he is, we have the element of surprise on our side."

Edited August 3, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Avenger Assembled]

"But what about your-" croaked Sea Devil, sounding genuinely concerned about something before she seemed to change the subject. "I am ready to prove that I am an upstanding member of society," she said out loud, in what sounded like a memorized address. "We will take the people stolen from your dreams and return them to where they belong," she went on, sounding more natural - as natural  as a booming electronic croak could sound. "I know things about things not from your reality. I will help." She rested, squatting on the floor on what looked to be powerful lower legs, long arms folded over her abdomen, tri-fingered armored gauntlets, pointed upwards. 

[Exaccus]

Nathaniel regards Miracle girl with his cold calculating eyes for a long moment as he turns her input over in his mind, whilst it was true that he had was prepared for "guests" it would indeed be a tactical blunder to waltz into them; but on the other hand, this seemed to be a relatively new villain, taking his first tentative steps into the life, asking for small potatoes and assailing beings of questionable rights.

 

He had been about to speak when the conversation moved around him and satisfied with the overall decision he turned away, though realizing this might be regarded as rudeness he quickly adds.

 

"Never Stop Questioning what other people tell you/; you have a right to know if something is as they say or not and there are no bad questions."

Edited August 5, 2016 by Exaccus

[Sophistemon]

Colonel Chalmers nodded, then reached over and removed the thumb drive from the player before handing it, and the folder, to Doctor Deoxy. "There you go, Doc," he said. "That's everything we have on this guy. The Boys in the Back Room have given a shot at sussing out what makes him tick, but they've come up with bupkis so far." He shrugged. "Of course, you've got more brains then all of them put together. Make no mistake, I wouldn't have brought you on board if I didn't have all the faith in the world that you'd be able to get something useful out of it." Inside the folder, beyond the ransom demands, are several high-definition photographs of the supervillain at various stages of his presentation and some notes -- most of them baseless, hysterical theorizing -- sketched out in the margins by AEGIS science personnel. "We have some facilities here for you to use if you'd like," the Colonel offers. "But that's completely up to you. Knowing you caped crusaders you've probably got your own lab hidden away somewhere that puts the end-result of millions upon millions of dollars of taxpayer funding to shame."

 

Chalmers turned to the others. "All right, we've got Deoxy on the case and..." he checked his watch. "Just under two days to get things figured out. How do we spend that time without making the rest of us look stupid by comparison?"

Edited August 6, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Exaccus]

Nathaniel poured over the folder  as the world moved around him, barely registering that he was being spoken to at all as he examined the armoured strangers  Crude but effective technology, "Thank you, Sir and you do yourself a disservice, Intelligence is not all there is to being cllever; Wisdom, Experience, Observation and intuition are great assests to posess." he mumbles, unwilling to tear his eyes away from the dossier he has been given.

 

"It would seem...this suit was made on a rather poor budget....Though Crude it is undeniably effective..." he says as he puts his finger onto the armours bulked chest and slides his finger along it to rest on the bicep " Heavy armour and hydraulic strength augmentation..." finger moving towards the hand  "Radiowave projectors..most likely Frequency Modulated...." before at last looking up and touching an armoured finger to the base of his neck just above his shoulder blades "And some Sort of tranceiver and broadcaster Unit, though for what i couldn't tell you."

 

"We now know our enemy fairly well....we would do well to know eachother before we enter the chaos of battle."

Edited August 6, 2016 by Exaccus

[Avenger Assembled]

"Is he from the STARS?" croaked Sea Devil, impressed by Deoxy's scientism as he analyzed the Surfacer dream-thief's technology. "I have been to the stars and they are full of strange beings and machines. One could definitely be stealing dreams here - I know some of the star-people can even hear minds!" She gave a little nervous hop at Deoxy's words, then said, "I am Aquaria Innsmouth," she said. "I live in Freedom City - and I am trying to be a model citizen of your society." Once again, it sounded like a memorized script, and not one written by the armored heroine. "I am from a..." She stopped the script, then made a sound like a hiccough inside her armor. "My people have caused trouble for your people when we didn't have any food or had bad shamans. So I wear the armor around people who don't know me, so I don't frighten your little younglings."

[Heritage]

So yeah, her new partners were a little...odd, but everyone was very sincere about helping, which was good enough for Casey. Aquaria in particular seemed determined to prove herself to her teammates and the world, and was more than likely a little freaky under that suit, at least by human standards.

 

"I try to be a model citizen, too, and it's not always easy," she offered Sea Devil with an encouraging smile. "But I swore an oath many years ago to help those in need and make the world a better place, so I do what I can every day." She shrugged. "I have my good days and bad days, but I always try, and I think that's what's most important."

 

In response to the Doctor's query, she held up her hand again. "Well, I'm Miracle Girl; I can fly, and can lift a few tons and I'm pretty darn tough." Then she pointed at her eyes. "My eyes are pretty cool, too; I can see really far or really close-up, and even infrared. I can also hear radio frequencies, too. Oh, and I...can I borrow that?" She pointed at the dossier Deoxy was holding. "Thank you," she said with a sunny smile. "I just need it for two seconds." These words turned out to be entirely accurate as Casey moved like a blur, the pages flying at impossible speed as she read and reread the entire packet in the blink of an eye.

 

When she was done, she closed the folder and let out her breath, which ruffled everyone's hair with its strength. "Wow, we really don't have a lot to go on, do we," she said as she handed the folder back to the doctor.

[Blarghy]

Adept smoothed his graying hair back down with a flat expression.  Only very briefly did he consider detailing his abilities and limitations to these civilians; he wasn't trusting at the best of times, and now he was faced with an over-curious doctor and a Deep One, worse yet.  Model citizen of society or not, he'd be keeping an eye on this crew. 

 

So, he sidestepped the question by focusing on their preparations.  "Two days, hmm?  I'm not an engineer, but while the Doctor builds this device, I think there's plenty of time for a little mundane detective work.  Crimes like this tend to make waves; if the local underworld didn't know about the armored man before, someone's probably started to take an interest by now."

[Sophistemon]

Colonel Chalmers looked at Agent Warne and stroked a hand along his craggy chin before reaching up to tug absentmindedly on his earlobe. "That," he said, letting the word hang in the air for a moment to gather tension. "Sounds like a good idea to me. There's no reason to keep you all locked up in here while there's things to be looked into." He faced Doctor Deoxy. "Doctor? Do you think that you have what you need to get started on technological countermeasures for our friend in there?" He pointed to the envelope and the black-armored maniacal kidnapper pictured therein. "Because if so," he continued, "I think it best to grant your fellow team-members permission to leave the compound and conduct their own investigations." He looked back at Adept. "Agent, you're a veteran of this sort of thing; you're familiar with keeping a low profile?" He cast a gaze over the assembled team of misfits. "If you're planning on trying to learn more about this freak before the confrontation, you've got to be very careful that you don't tip your hand and give him the benefit of knowing that you're coming for him. That would be..." he paused, thinking. "Bad."

Edited August 15, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Blarghy]

"Very bad, sir," Adept agreed.  He waited for a moment longer to see if there were further instructions, then nodded purposefully, turned on his heel, and aimed for the door.  One hand put on his sunglasses as he exited, and the other brought out a cigarette.  Keen ears might note his sigh of relief even before he lit it.

 

Only afterward did he take his phone and scroll to the S listing.  A thin-lipped frown announced his feelings on using this option, but the sorcerer was the best source Adept had on arcane information.  He'd feel more comfortable if he had some mild but incriminating secret to hold over Steiner's head.  Then maybe he could somewhat trust the man. 

 

Regardless, he could follow this easy solution with a wider net anyway.  No good detective settled for just one perspective when there was time to gather more.  The thought of bullying some thugs put a spring in his step, and away the agent went.

[Exaccus]

"Of course, I am Doctor Deoxy, Biologist, Geneticist and MD Extrodinare," then removing one of his outer armour gauntlets shows his silvered hands complete with fingernails "And this is my greatest creation...a Techno-organic Symbiote that Continously evolves not only its own capabilities but enhances my own form as well." he explains, edge baited with excitement as he puts his gauntlet back into place.

 

"Of course my good man; Im sure I can make use of AEGIS's Facilities for this task." he says with a nod of his head "If you have any leads to follow, please feel free, I will remain here if you require me, I will contact you telepathically if something comes up." before turning to address the colonel.

 

"Now then...Where are your facilities?"

[Heritage]

The adults seemed to know what they were going to do, which left Casey feeling a bit left out, which then made her feel very, very young. None of the grown-ups will play with me. 

 

She wasn't sure why, but she got the sense that Aquaria was young for her species, or at the very least new to human culture; either way, it gave her an idea. She turned to the non-human with a thoughtful look.

 

"Hey Aquaria. I've been thinking about what you've said, about the 'dreams of our people'; if we might might be going into those dreams, we need to know as much about them as we can. Dreams have rules and their own logic, and that info could be important once we're in there." She waved towards the file she'd quickly read in a few seconds. "I know I haven't seen every movie on that list, and I bet you haven't, either. So what do you say?" She shrugged. "'Netflix and chill'? We should also try and scout out the mall, if we get the chance; note all the entrances and exits."

Edited August 16, 2016 by Heritage

[Avenger Assembled]

"Okay," croaked Aquaria. "I have seen movies but not all of them," she agreed. "We will have to watch outside. My room-mate does not like visitors and I am not allowed in the house of your parents. I have been to malls. They are interesting." She hesitated a moment, hopping from foot to foot, then reached up and pressed a button on the side of her head. Her opaque helmet slid open and away down into the suit with the drip-drip-drip of water, revealing the face beneath. Aquaria stared at Miracle Girl with black-and-gold bulging eyes on the far sides of her face and wrinkled her green snout, snuffling in a way that made the sacs at her throat bulge for a moment. When she spoke, the electronic buzz was gone from her voice - but the bass rumble could only have come from the unmistakable form of a Deep One, the foul, eldritch invaders of Freedom City. "I am Ackweera In-His-Mouth." She gave a nervous little hop, water from the inside of her suit glistening on her skin. 

[Heritage]

Casey wasn't sure what she was expecting to see underneath that helmet, but somehow it wasn't a frog creature, even though in retrospect the way her limbs bent should have been a dead giveway. And not just any frog creature, but one who felt it was important to show her face even though she was afraid of what she might think.

 

The blonde heroine paused for a few seconds, utterly fascinated by that alien yet somehow innocent face, before remembering her manners. She smiled and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Ackweera; my name's Casey Blankenship." She did her best to pronounce the name the same way the Deep One did, and her handshake was firm without crushing.

 

"So, it sounds like what we need is for me to get my iPad, so we can find out which of these movies are streaming. Then we need to find a good place to watch them; do you know a good place? I can bring food for us, too."

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria bobbed her head up and down - from what Casey could see, the Deep One didn't have much of a neck to let her raise and lower her head. Aquaria returned the handshake too - her three-fingered grip firmly precise in Casey's. Her gauntlets were still on, generally for the best, given how Surfacers usually reacted to the touch of her skin against their dry, dessicated flesh. "I need to eat meat," she croaked, opening her mouth wide. This showed Casey and the others two things - Aquaria's mouth was approximately wide enough to fit a human head inside it, and just inside her lips were slashing teeth like a shark's. She closed her mouth. "I like kippers. But I can eat any meat. Do you like to watch the iPad in high places? It is easy to listen to things there."