trans_9 | Altercations Are Inevitable

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Altercations Are Inevitable

The city was enormous, as they could see when they left the tube and entered the level it was on. It was enormous and cobbled together, seemingly. So many different buildings, temples, cathedrals, a massive tree, a labyrinth, so many different things. And overhead, a sort-of blue sky that wasn't a sky, and a light that could've been the sun if you squinted, projected there.

This ship wasn't just a ship, it was a COLONY, apparently. With a whole city inside.

"Un-Fucking-Believable."

This was where the other pod-people supposedly were, in this city.

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"Eyes open, voices down--let's move. We'll exchange names later--lead the way."

Kate had her hand on her bow, and an arrow ready to be nocked. She wasn't even going to aim, not yet. Drawing herself up to her Hawkeye self.

"Did you see what it is? Who else is over there?" She barked at the man.

"Now, now, let's not all go shooting things unnecessarily. It might be friendly! Sentient! Harmless!"

"It has razor blades for arms!"

"Okay, can't believe I of all people am being the voice of reason here, but, just want to point out one thing before we run in there, guns blazing and everything. Just because it doesn't look human doesn't mean it'll kill us. So don't just shoot as soon as you see it. Even if it does have razor blades for arms."

"Yeah, and it might be waiting to eat us. Shoot first, don't be dinner later. Ancient Earther saying."

"Thank you! One of you at least is using their brain!" That was supposed to be a compliment to Wally, there.

He turned to Harper. "I've been on Earth a lot more than you ever will, sir, and you're right. Oh, you're right. Which is why so many people die there from friendly fire! Now can we just all be calm and not shoot things?!"

Since he was so calm himself.

A deep breath. "Look, we don't know what's here. If it's hostile, we need to defend ourselves, but DO NOT fire unless it's attacking. Not even if it seems hostile. Only when it's directly attacking us--if it even does. No firing first."

That was a fair compromise.

While they argued, something skittered silently across the floor. Something small--but not quite small enough.

It was hungry. It was going to try for larger prey than it had ever taken down before. One was straggling off to the side of the group.

Without being felt, due to the throbbing pulse of her suit, it cliiiimbed up Will's leg, onto her back...

He'd been peeking around the corner of a building, told Paco to stay there until they were sure it was safe. He'd spotted that guy high-tailing it off, they all looked freaked. He was considering going out sans suit--

When he saw the GIANT BUG on the girl's back and it looked like it had a stinger! CRAP!

There was no time for a warning and he could move faster than he could talk anyway. Without a word, Blue Beetle jumped into action.

To the others it looked like an exoskeletoned thing leapt out of hiding, and was slashing at Will, trying to slice her to pieces with massive claws.

There was no time to transform - but there WAS enough time to panic!

"EEEEEEK!"

Will shrieked, and though she couldn't move nearly fast enough to dodge in human form, she had already had her hand at her chest, where the warmth of the Heart of Kandrakar was comfortingly close, and a brilliant glow emanated from her chest as a bolt of electricity shot from her into her blue-suited attacker.

Oh no! Secret was out!

Well - it would be, anyhow, presuming Will had stunned her attacker long enough to get to a safe distance.

"Hold fire! Don't hit Will!" But then she--blasted the thing away?

Cybil reached forward, grabbed Will and YANKED her back out of the way.

"JAIME!"

Paco wasn't always the best at following directions.

He raced around the building after his friend. Whoa hey, people!

Armed people. Wuh-oh.

"DON'T SHOOT!"

Kate could see Vincent gearing up, and great, this guy was getting right in the way. And he wasn't armed either.

"Get down!" she yelled and launched herself forward to tackle him to the ground and roll them away from the line of fire.

Vincent's mind was reeling from what he'd felt in the old man's mind. He felt terrified and awed all at once.

"The Allfather..." He murmured softly to himself, before his attention was caught by the conflict. He saw the armored humanoid engaged in a struggle with the human girl from 'near' his universe, and tried to subdue it.

For now though, he opted for a non-damaging approach, in case it turned out to be a potential ally. His hands flew through the invocations and he locked eyes on the creature as the spell activated. "HOLD AND BE STILL." He ordered it to remain still, using as strong a compulsion charm as he could manage quickly. "Identify yourself!"

Kara's gun was in her hand as soon as she heard the cries, pointed around aimlessly until she saw what the shouting was about, but by then there was a command of "Hold your fire!" that struck her to the base of her spine, frightened and alarmed as she was. It was the voice of command and of her captain, and Starbuck obeyed it...grudgingly.

He didn't hold. What was a compulsion to TWO wills completely in synch and working in tandem. For a moment, his legs felt like molasses, but he was still trying to break through the crowd and figure out where that thing had skittered off to. He could tell it was bad news.

And he WOULD have identified himself, but he was still gasping and trying to catch his breath from having it knocked out of him by the girl.

Electricity was his friend, typically, but that had been a LOT of electricity.

Pfft. Voice of command? Not in Harper's world. Shoot first, ask questions if you got a chance, and Harper didn't really care if they got a chance. Sorry, bug-thing, you're going down.

Wednesday smoothly withdraws from any lines of fire with the grace of someone who's spent a very large amount of time in combat.

He's willing to let the others handle it, apparently. At least, for the moment.

Murphy stared, gun out and point at the blue person, thing, monster. Alien? "The fuck! Fucking fuck? What the FUCK!"

Connor, in the same pose as Murphy, was only slightly more eloquent. "What the fucking FUCK is fucking happening here? Fuck!"

"Fuck, man! Fuck! It's gonna fucking eat us! Fuck!"

Scared voices, flashes of live fire in the wet green dark illuminating horrible jumping things, and just the entire situation combined made something go "Twannng!" in Starbuck's mind, and she too fired three rapid shots just after Harper's in the general direction of the jumping blue thing.

The bullets were deflecting off the suit--which was worrying the hell out of him honestly, as he was afraid one of them would catch a richochet--and thus out came a wing so he had more control over where the bullets were deflected.

"Wai--"

Breath still not back yet. Something had overloaded, and the scarab was repairing, but--

It was a machine!

No - that was definitely a human-feeling mind in there - wasn't it? Yes. AND a machine-mind as well - a human inside a supersuit.

A human - and definitely not an evil-seeming one, now that Will was concentrating on him. Frustration, pain, but no anger - Will had felt that complex mix of emotions several times herself, in the heat of battle, when plans had not gone exactly as she had wanted them to.

And now she'd shocked him.

Well, no time to think about the details - people were freaking out, and Will was pretty sure that the thing hadn't MEANT to seem as creepy evil as it had, and even if it did, there was always the chance she could reason with it - both of them.

She started to say "I'm sorry! Are you all right?" when Harper and Starbuck began shooting.

No no no! This was bad! Not necessarily for him because the bullets were bouncing off his armor, but -

Wait, bullets were bouncing off his armor! At non-armored people!

Will threw up her arms, and the bullets that bounced off of the blue person-machine's body were suddenly deflected by a force field of crackling, electric energy.

"Stop shooting him! There's a person in there!" she shouted, her chest glowing again as the Heart of Kandrakar semi-materialized on its chain around her neck.

Using her powers in front of near-strangers . . . oh man, the other girls were going to be so mad at her!

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