Hail the Conquering Heroes

[cityship]

Things can happen without Stacy knowing, that much is apparent now. The damage to her sensors is significant. But the fighting clued her in.

After it's all over, after those captured have been rescued, after the injured have been tended to, only the nest is left, and Stacy takes care of it.

||Infestation of Cluster 42, Level 4, Sector 7, Sublevel 12, Zone 37 has been detected. Triggering internal defenses. Decontamination commencing.||

There is a pause.

||Decontamination complete.||

Simple as that, once she knows the problem was there. Her internal sensors are damaged, especially in the city, and so are some of the systems monitoring them. You have to know what's broken to know to fix it.

Such a simple thing and it only took one man dying to make it happen. (His body is gone, by the way, ripped to shreds and eaten. There's not even a spot of blood on the floor. That's the bugs' doing. The bugs' bodies are gone too--that's Stacy's doing).

||Any injured personnel that still have not received medical attention, report to the nearest lift, and you will be transported to the MedBay. Any uninjured personnel, report to the Living Area, to the restroom facilities to undergo decontamination of xenobiological material. Then report to the Obs Deck to meet your new crew-mates.||

Said crew-mates--and the Doctor, who'd skipped out and miraculously ducked and weaved his way to the lift when he'd realized the Master was there--are there and waiting, and just a tad confused.

[ooc: read this first]

Comments

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

Connor turned back to Gwen. "We're on a mission from God, t'carry out His work on Earth. We dispense justice."

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Gwen watched their silent exchange, impressed by their apparent ability to speak without words, and narrowed her eyes. Two year ago, she would have run, screaming, for the hills. Or at least taken the piss. But now... hell, aliens, giant death monsters wreaking havoc through her city, gloves that bring people back from the darkness. In retrospect, a couple of guys who believed in a mission from God barely sent a blip on her Nutter o' Metre. After all, she caught aliens for a living, and how would that sound in comparison?

Of course, there was a tiny sane part of Gwen Cooper that stirred uncomfortably in the depths. "And how, exactly, does one go about dispensing such justice?" she asked, timidly.

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

Murphy tilted his head slightly to the side as he turned to look at her, watching intently. "We find those who are evil, and we execute them."

He said it as if it were the most simple, serious thing in the world.

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

Connor nodded, arm around his brother.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

The red flags started going up in Gwen's mind. Just her luck, to end up alone on a ship filled with aliens, chattin' with two potential psychos like they didn't have a care in the world.

She glanced around the room, making notes of quick exits. The room was filled with people, so the chances of her being in any danger from these two was unlikely. And she had her gun, so at least she wasn't at a total loss.

"And what, exactly, do you quantify as evil?" There was a bit more bite in her voice than she intended, but she wasn't exactly ready to get mixed up with two nutters on some kind of holy rampage through an alien ship.

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

Voice taking on a slightly more commanding tone, Murphy began to answer. "Murderers, rapists, and thieves. These are all things considered universally evil, are they not?"

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

"Mobsters, conmen, bastards going in for twenty crimes, getting out an hour later on bail, just like that." He snaps his fingers. "It's wrong. Honest people go home shakin' in their beds 'cos these fuckers'll never be brought in."

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Gwen put her hands on her hips again, trying to take in what was being said. Vigilante justice, that's all it was. She didn't know how she felt about such a thing, didn't know if she believed in it. However, it was she, who ran the streets every night, hunting down weevils and God knew what else and taking them down, usually without thought, all in the name of protecting the innocents.

Wasn't that, in it's own right, vigilante justice, too?

She nodded curtly at them. She didn't, at any rate, fall into any of those categories, so she didn't exactly feel the need for any immediate concern. "Fair enough," she offered, looking at both men squarely. They seemed almost like a single person to her. "Can't imagine there's many people on this ship that fall into those categories, though."

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

Connor shook his head."We ain't met anyone that's said so, so we wouldn't know. Best to reserve judgement, aye?" He smiled. Neither of them seemed interested in dispelling the idea of them as a joint person.

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

Murphy smiled too, friendly. "We're not out ta kill indiscriminately; women and children, innocents and small-time sinners, we're not interested in them."

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Gwen couldn't help but smile back at both of them. After all, they seemed to at least have standards, and with that alone, she'd choose being locked on a ship with them instead of, say, a weevil any day.

But their words made her reflect on herself. She was, sure enough, a small time sinner, but one none the less.

"So, do'ya think that has anything to do with how you've come to be here?" The inquisitive cop kicked back in, still looking for a pattern.

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

Murphy shrugged easily. "God works in mysterious ways, don't he? 'Course it's part of his plan for us. The fucking Vatican's here, for Christ sake."

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

"It's like a fuckin' sign, aye?" He paused.

"There's others here, too, superheros and cops and shite."

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

"The Vatican?" Gwen raised her eyebrows at Murphy.

She wasn't so much sold on the part of it being God's plan, she was pretty content with just leaving it at alien meddling as she did most situations of the like. She doubted any involvement of a deity, but on the other hand she wasn't particularly in the mood for theological debate.

She gave a sideways glance to Connor. "Well, if they're takin' police, might be half a reason why I'm here."

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

Address one twin, the other's just as likely to answer. Such was the case now. "Oh, is that so? A fuckin' cop, are ye? They have those in Wales, then?"

Murphy glanced quickly at his twin, somewhere between a giggle and a worried look.

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

"Didn't know that, ye've come a long way." They're only teasing, really.

"There's all sorts o'buildings here, important ones."

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

She had started gaping. "What'd they do then, kidnap a whole bloody building?"

She sighed and shook her head in response to Murphy. "Not exactly. Well, used to be anyway, but transferred to..." she hesitated, looking down, not sure how much she wanted to go into it. "A special ops job."

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

"Oh, probably. Ya know, bein' fuckin' aliens able to kidnap the rest of us an' travel through different fuckin' universes an' all." He shook his head, smirking.

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

Connor snorted and clapped Murphy on the back. "Aye."

"Special ops?" He glanced at his brother.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

"Quite right," Gwen nodded curtly. She glanced between Murphy and Connor, debating how truthful she wanted to be. But based on their own line of work, her's couldn't seem any more insane.

"I work for a small team based in Cardiff. We..." she sighed. "We study aliens. Salvage alien technology and protect the planet from alien threats." It still sounded completely barmy coming out of her mouth. "I left the police to work for them." She crossed her arms. "Which, by the way, the south Wales police is very advanced, thanks." Little slow on the insults, there, Gwen?

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

"..Y'chase aliens? Then y'should know more 'bout this shit than we do, shouldn't ye?"

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

Murphy gave a short laugh. "Aye, what the fuck are ye askin' us for? If ye're a highly advanced, alien-chasin' police woman from the south o' fuckin' Wales?"

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Gwen huffed. She knew bringing it up was a bad idea, and she suddenly yearned for Jack. He'd know what to say, and what to do.

"Doesn't mean I know anything about these aliens," she shot back. "We're limited to what we come in contact with on our planet. Doesn't mean I know anything better of what's going on here than you lot."

[st-veritas.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, yeah. We understand." He rolled his eyes. "No one knows fuck-all about this place. S'gettin' frustrating."

[st-aequitas.livejournal.com]

"We've been here for fuckin' who knows how long," Murphy agrees, "a potential expert would be a fucking godsend."