A not-so-alien abduction (Closed: Khellendros, Vanguard, Were-alien kind)

"What the f-" Of course μrsine X didn't really hear this as he held the man up and he was strapped into a machine. It looked akin to an old-fashioned torture rack, the main difference being that it looked a little more technology based. There were several human beings, or what appeared to be human beings, running around in a hateful mess trying to do one thing or another. The primary concern right now was μrsine X who was with Khellendros. The current room they were in was straight out of a sci-fi movie. Little tubes of moving liquid light seemed to run the creases where walls connected. Little "veins" broke away and adorned the ceiling in unique and strange patterns, almost as if it were spelling, or depicting something. The walls were covered in machinery, though it looked entirely different than anything seen on this earth, that was for certain.

"Okay, we got internal bleeding on this one, a cracked spine too. Get him into the goo, 20 clicks of Calcite to the atlas vertebrae and stabilize the bleeding. Get some of the kids with the same hemofluid as him, the natural indecisive nature should help form specialized cells to help with internal repairs. Any luck we won[t need surgery." μrsine X said as he looked at a couple files, hovering over a cracked open Vanguard suit. He then muttered "Because then he WILL die." as if he weren't very confidant in the surgeon's abilities. They didn't find it easy, but the suit was opened. μrsine X didn't care if they damaged the suit, the life was more important. Besides, a suit can be replaced. The blonde kid found himself in front of Khell again. "Guys I can't help administer treatment if you can't even get him out of his armor! C'mon people. Shake the bacon and bring me a plasma cutter. Armor can be mended, lives can't be undead-ed?" μrsine X  stumbled over his words as if wondering if undead-ed was an actual word.

   Tsxero on the other hand was in a cryo-chamber. He was looking very bad, moments from death. These two had really done a number on him it would seem. The dark room has a brilliant yet oh so soft glow and a pacifying hum, like the walls themselves were giving off a melody that discourage conflict and strike. An aura of peace some might say. Children began coming in one at a time, all ages as they sat there and let themselves get pricked with a needle and allowed their blood to be drained from them to give to the strange human in the goo. The screens were alight with software that seemed a little too futuristic to be real, then again the massive dragon seemed a little too cool to be real as well. There was indeed a plethora of knowledge to be found here.

  Vanguards condition was stabilized after the administration of XbsD, nano sized creations. This batch went in and provided small threads of biosynthos material to sew the internal wounds. All they needed now was to send in a wave of flush XbsD's and prevent a septic infection from the blood into his body from it's typical confines. Khellendros' diagnosis wasn't anything too bad. Migraine and some rather major brain damage. Fortunately for Khellendros they had something for the brain damage- and the brain damage. where was I? Oh yes. Khellendros' mind was actually quite resilient, an excellent thing for this specific treatment. This was a unique form of surgery which required the removal of living brain tissue, and damage brain tissue. The next part was slightly more complicated and it was beyond μrsine X's expertise. Post-procedures and treatments μrsine X  simply watched over the two patients as they underwent the recovery process. No scars, no marks...just them floating in tanks of green goop. "They're gonna have a ton of questions... probably not friendly either." He offered up to the man who just entered the room. Similar look to μrsine X, but brown hair and slightly different colored eyes.

  "That's fine. We'll answer their questions. They wanna know what we did, we'll show them. They wanna know where their suits are, we'll show them. They want that huge core back, we'll take them to the temp body we're throwing together for it." The man said as he crossed his arms and leaned on the threshold of the dark doorway. A moment of silence of the younger one sitting there and looking at the two "victims" of his oldest brother's brutality. He turned and gave the other male a look of hurt, anger and disapproval. The male shrugged and sighed, pushing off the doorway. "μrsine... if they HAD been The Master's and Tsxero let them go then all of humankind would be in trouble...and so would we. Tsxero's never taken us down the wrong path before. We need to have faith in him. He'll do what's best for us. Always has." The man said before excusing himself, leaving μrsine X  to contemplate what was said as he awaited the two "victims" to wake up.

Colin never really had an idea or inkling about how death would be, in fact he partially expected it to be nothing but a black expanse. It started off like this, an expanse of blackness stretching out beneath him, almost welcoming, though this was followed by dreaming. He had not been expecting to dream really, but there it was, memories stretching out before him like a great expanse.

One however stuck above all else, a memory of sorts, a room of mostly high tech machines, blinking lights and flashing monitors revealing strange numbers in long lines. It was out of a sci fi novel, too fantastic for the ordinary mind to conceive and as always sitting at their bench was an older male, late thirties with a growing beard that clung to their chin.

Their skin was the same tone as his, though maybe a little darker from their time within the sun, brilliant blue eyes tirelessly scanning over a small mechanism he was working on. He had remembered this time perfectly, though it was only one of many, wandering around the lab and looking over the many mechanisms that his father had created within his life. The man paused within his work, turning upon to see him, and cracking a small smile, motioning with a hand for him to come closer. It didn't really take long for him to bridge the distance, being lifted almost effortlessly, and placed upon the work desk, a small machine skittering around on its spindly metal legs. Optics would spin around, and focus upon him, a small laugh, enjoyment perhaps would sound off from him as he held a hand out.

The thing would climb onto the hand, settling in the palm of his hand and made a few computerized sounds. ”You like it? I made it just for you.” The man would say, the small machine clicking and whirring in conformation, this had made him happy. ”You're free to name him whatever you want, so long as you don't let your older brother name it.” he would have likely named it something crude, idiotic almost. This was one of the few times he had a true chance to talk with his father, when he was not so busy, and it was something he always came back to in dreaming. That's right, this was just a dream.

Consciousness, his eyes would slowly open, the feeling of something wet all around him, yet warm in an almost primal and inviting way. Some sort of breathing apparatus had been attached to cover both mouth and nostrils, allowing him to breathe within the unknown material he had been suspended within, a single twitch of an index finger to show that he had awoken, brown eyes lazily scanning the area around him. His entire body felt groggy, but it wasn't anything really, much like the feeling of waking up after a long while, and he had remembered what happened. He had been facing a strange creature, an alien being that had taped children to himself as armor, a cowardly monster more than anything else. If they hadn't killed hi, maybe they had been planning to perform some kind of heinous experiments upon him, or they were just planning to eat him.

The thought alone of being devoured was enough to cause him to close his eyes, wishing this was just a dream and opening them again to see it was not. His eyes would open widely then, taking in his surroundings, and noticing what looked like someone standing out beyond the glass encompassing his tube. It was an unknown face, only a year or two younger than him, yet it was obvious they were looking over him for some reason. Unlike expected, there was no pain within his abdomen, which likely meant they had repaired his injuries, though for what reasons he did not know. Would they even release him from the pod, he would he float there, stagnant? that question was answered, upon fully waking, as the liquids would begin to drain away to wherever it went, hair striking to his forehead as he eventually stopped the suspension within the liquid.

Once fully drained, the glass door swiveled open, allowing him to step out once he had gotten ahold of his bearings. Everything seemed to be blurry for the most part, as his glance fell upon the slightly younger male, and there was only one question upon his mind. "Where the hell am I?"

Khellendros was out and in poor condition, the armour was in rough shape but remained unbreached. They had been taken to some sort of complex by unknown means, one moment they were in the radiology wing of the hospital in Springfield, the next... Where was this? Alex was the only part of the equation that hadn't been accounted for here.

"Okay, we got internal bleeding on this one, a cracked spine too. Get him into the goo, 20 clicks of Calcite to the atlas vertebrae and stabilize the bleeding. Get some of the kids with the same hemofluid as him, the natural indecisive nature should help form specialized cells to help with internal repairs. Any luck we won[t need surgery."

Alex could only observe through the armour's sensors and visual inputs as the one known as Vanguard was removed from his armour and placed into some sort of vat. As strange as the scenario was, the AI of Stormbringer did recognize the facsimile of medical procedure, regardless of the fact that it seemed to be something out of that movie Cromwell valued so much Those are akin to those Bacta Tanks from his Star Wars movies. Not registering as a valid medical treatment. The one giving orders turns to Khellendros and continues.

"Guys I can't help administer treatment if you can't even get him out of his armor! C'mon people. Shake the bacon and bring me a plasma cutter. Armor can be mended, lives can't be undead-ed?"

"I hardly believe that undead-ed is a technical term befitting any sort of medical personnel. And if you are trying to save my maker's life, then a cutting instrument of any variety is not required although, you would need much more than a paltry plasma cutter to bypass this suit. I shall allow you access to administer treatment. Treat him with care, he is the only one aside from Malys who I may consider what you may call family." He quickly adds, "And not a word of this conversation is to make it back to him, he does not know I am as Malys is, and I intend to keep it that way."

Opening the armour, they take Khell away and administer treatment to him. Alex oversees from his immobile vantage point, not able to do anything regardless of the vast database he contains. Eventually, Alex notes the entry of another man into the room and takes and image for future reference.

"They're gonna have a ton of questions... probably not friendly either."

"That's fine. We'll answer their questions. They wanna know what we did, we'll show them. They wanna know where their suits are, we'll show them. They want that huge core back, we'll take them to the temp body we're throwing together for it." The man said as he crossed his arms and leaned on the threshold of the dark doorway. A moment of silence of the younger one sitting there and looking at the two "victims" of his oldest brother's brutality. He turned and gave the other male a look of hurt, anger and disapproval. The male shrugged and sighed, pushing off the doorway. "μrsine... if they HAD been The Master's and Tsxero let them go then all of humankind would be in trouble...and so would we. Tsxero's never taken us down the wrong path before. We need to have faith in him. He'll do what's best for us. Always has."

The mention of a core of any size belonging to one of the armoured men that had been brought in here piqued Alex's interest immediately. "If this core is a one meter cube made of black metal and gold filigree, you shall take the utmost care of my sister or Khellendros will see that your respective lives are extinguished when he awakes and finds out. He is a laid back and sometimes careless individual, but if you harm those he considers family, you will regret it." Playing back through the conversation from earlier, Alex devises one further question. "What is it that you mean when you speak of these Masters? Are they a non-native species to earth as well or is it a moniker you bestow upon all armoured beings of sufficient intellect? If I am to await his awakening, I may as well take care of some of the information gathering while I wait."

Okay so it turns out that this suit could talk. That was something that μrsine could honestly say he'd never seen before. His face paled for a moment before feeling slightly irked that the suit corrected him. "H-hey! It's a fourth language!" He tried to defend himself but ultimately shook his head and proceeded with what needed to be done. He made no promises about not telling Khellendros of his being able to do something or other. μrsine didn't even know what he was supposed to be keeping secret, so he just sort of shrugged it off and went about watching the two people in the tank. He sighed as he inspected them again, their vitals written in his native language on the computers between the tubes. His mind wandered to good placed, bad places too. He had a lot of time ahead of him it would seem. He shed his hoodie jacket and shirt. No more medical procedures means no more stupid itchy shirts. But he found himself...feeling odd. That suit of armor creeped him out. Neither of his brother's suits talked to him... was that typical of human equipment?

"What is it that you mean when you speak of these Masters? Are they a non-native species to earth as well or is it a moniker you bestow upon all armoured beings of sufficient intellect? If I am to await his awakening, I may as well take care of some of the information gathering while I wait." The suit asked. Alex, was it? How was μrsine ever supposed to remember a name like THAT? He quickly rationalized it as "Armour that Likes Eating Xeeburry." Oh Xeeburry sounded good. Baked treats were always nice, oh wait. The Armour that likes eating them asked him a question. One he actually needed to ponder for a moment before sighing. Tsxero might have killed him if he were awake and divulging all this information to a total stranger. But if he wanted to he'd just keep him in Cryo until the guests left.

"We...our race. We were created. It's a space-dwelling race that thousands of other species have dubbed "The Master Race". The ones who created us were much weaker than we were. We loved humans... and for some reason they attacked us for it. We fought back. In the end they could have won...finished us off. But instead they made a deal. Sent us to Titan to live with the humans we love so much. Titan being their word for Earth. Gave us the gift of this gene inside our bodies that let us become human. But what they didn't tell us is that oxygen is poisonous and creates a painful burning in our lungs. It was a gene they put in on purpose...torture us. Stick us so close to what we wanted to be, but put up a barrier we can't break." μrsine said with a slight shrug. He then looked to Vanguard with a smirk and pointed at him. "That guy there. The Masters wear suits like that to combat us. Honestly, I thought that guy would utterly dyesi Tsxero -uh...what's the word. Ah , Destroy. I thought he'd destroy Tsxero. Your maker there was just an unfortunate side product of Tsxero trying to make an example to the Masters that Titan, the humans and our people were protected by Tsxero. Granted...I still wanna know why he joined up with those psychopaths..." μrsine admitted before the tube began to drain of goo. μrsine smiled as Vanguard walked out dripping.

"Where the hell am I?" He asked, to this μrsine just smirked and folded his arms, still sitting cross legged on the table.

"Hey now, I know I took of my shirt but you really got the party going." μrsine followed up with a wolf whistle and a child like chuckle before shaking his head. "No, seriously you're okay. Clothes right there, if you can stand the things. " μrsine noted with little "bleh" at the end when he pointed to the table next to Vanguard's tube. He leaned back and stuck his arms out to stretch and yawn before shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. Gathering his thoughts was tough sometimes. "We're uh... we're playing 20 questions. I'm the victim. Oh, and you're in the middle of our colony." He added in as he looked to Khell. He might take a little longer. Brain damage was a unique and delicate case...even for advanced individuals.

His question born of annoyance, and overall anger at even being in this unknown  location was greeted by what sounded like a joke of sort, then a whistle and a laugh if he was hearing things right. Absently his hands would feel over his abdomen, the place where the creature had done the most damage and felt not even a glimmer of pain. This proved without a shadow of a doubt that he was repaired somehow, as well as they had stripped him, well save for his underwear, which were pink with dark red hearts decorating them. While it had been a joke gift from his brother, something about them he enjoyed. ”While I would love to get dressed, i'm still covered in that...goo stuff. Have anything to wipe it off, or am I supposed to just walk around drenched in it.” A legitimate question, but then again he was still recovering from whatever had happened, wasn't thinking too much on the double meanings.

Looking down, the green goo was visible against his slightly tanned flesh, and the feel alone was enough to draw a manner of disgust from the young male. It felt like having a sort of second skin, except he didn't want it there, so maybe not a second skin. It also just made him feel chilly in someway, though he didn't go as far as shivering, turning to see his clothing in a neat pile upon a table, all ready to be worn, However he had to avoid dampening them with this goo and making them even more uncomfortable to wear. That aside, the strange guy had said something about playing twenty questions, though that might have more been a witticism added along to the fact they were supposed to ask him questions. ”Oooookay, then, since you seem to be in the question answering mood. Why am I here?”

"An excellent question Vanguard, one I am hoping our mutual acquaintance will be more than happy to answer. I was also wondering what was meant by your making a temporary accommodation for Malystrix? Does this implicate that her original body is damaged in some way?"

What the hell happened there? Images flash through Khell's unconscious mind as it processes the events at the hospital. I got ganged up on by a bunch of assholes and got my ass beat down... I should be better than that damnit! Regardless of his unconscious state, his fists clench to reflect his internal frustration.

The suit lights up iridescent purple when Alex's scanners pick up on the activity inside the tube containing Khell. "I believe someone is starting to come back to us, he is most likely going to be confused and use some choice expletive to voice it, fair warning."

The last words he heard from the bastard out to destroy the hospital before he had completely passed out came to his mind "Well, at least you aren't entirely incompotent." That was aimed at the alien, not exactly the greatest words to say to someone who effectively saved your sorry ass with that little trick of his. What a dick. A full body spasm pursues this.

"He also is probably recalling the events from before his unconsciousness, anyone involved with that should best keep their distance as my recommendation."

The next thing he knew he had been pulled down, down into an all-encompassing darkness, a darkness he felt he was starting to come out of. Do I even want to wake up right now? They probably have me locked up somewhere so I can't interfere anymore. He winces slightly. I... sigh, yay, I have a migraine to go with the crushing feeling of failure, drinks and happiness all around fellas, you went and fucked up. He lays there for quite some time, contemplating. Fuck it, might as well open the eyes and get the "welp I'm fucked" out of the way right? Opening his eyes greets him with scenery that is completely unexpected. Looking around, the first thing he notices is that he's suspended in a greenish fluid inside of a tube with a mask over his face for him to breathe. Where the hell am I? He looks outside to see two people, probably in conversation. Eventually the tube begins to empty and when he is finally released from his confines the first thing he decides to say is a rapid fire line of questions, "What the fuck is all of this and who the hell are you people? And why in the hell are you in your boxers? Have some decency man!" Noticing his jumpsuit for his armour on a nearby table, he reaches for it and begins to put it on regardless of the moisture covering his body, better to be clothed and damp than to be naked and cold, the jumpsuit was made with super-breathable fabric anyways, it would be dry again in a few minutes. "Where the hell is my armour and my weapons?"

Creepy suit, Angry guy, unconscious knight and a μrsine. This had all the makings of a bad comedy. The kid asked if μrsine had anything to dry himself off with. μrsine began to stammer as he looked around, trying to find something to offer. Then he decided that clothes were stupid anyway, so he threw his zip up hoodie jacket and his white wife-beater shirt. "Awe, wet's a good look on ya." μrsine said, simply poking and prodding for a response than actually meaning anything.  The suit caught on to the increased brain activity. To this μrsine wondered if the suit was a separate entity...could it stay here? No, Hɇtallos would have a hissy fit before going on about a rant how it's unsafe and against the welfare of the people to let a-blah blah blah blah blah. Wow he almost bored himself to sleep just thinking of the speech.  μrsine gave of a series of noises before three men came in and escorting the suit out by whatever means were needed. They could keep the suit and the processing core device together, just out of reach from this guy until they knew for certain he wasn't a threat to the children.
 
"What the fuck is all of this and who the hell are you people? And why in the hell are you in your boxers? Have some decency man!" The man called out. He then proceeded to quickly dress himself. The ever laid back μrsine just smiled and rocked back and fourth a little, hands clasped over his feet, which were pressed together. He then asked where his weapons and armor had gotten off to. μrsine perked up and his lopsided smile with relaxed eyes fixated on Khellendros. "We had to keep them secured. We have an entire brood of little kids running around. All of them want to be knights, so we didn't think it'd be good to leave a knights things out in the open for them to kill themselves with by accident." μrsine answered with a bit of an interested smirk. These two were gonna be an interesting crew to show around the colony. Wait, was he supposed to do that? Tsxero wouldn't like it... so μrsine had to. Just because.

"Quick recovery for both of ya. You with the internal bleeding and the spider-web fracturing vertebrae." μrsine said his head falling forward as if using his head to indicate he was speaking to Vanguard. "You with the brain damage. And the brain damage. an-you get it." μrsine said, rolling his head to point ot Khell. With a little shrug and his lopsided smirk still plastered on his face he cleared his throat as he leaned back, moving his hands form his feet to behind him, rolling his shoulders back to lazily prop himself up, fingers clasping the edge of the table behind him. [color=#990099]"Name's μrsine. I'm the one who got to probe you." He said with a large smile, still trying to get a reaction out of the poor confused people. "I'm joking. I didn't prob you. I'm the one who fixed you guys up. Probing is on the table though, just sayin." He arched his back before he pushed off his legs and sent them over his head to touch the ground on the other side of the table, his arms still not having moved.

  "Weapons and armor will be returned to you once we can be sure you're not a threat to the kids running around. For now, I'm gonna answer questions and play tour guide. First, let's go meet up with your big, bad dragon buddy. I'll bet it's worried sick...if it can. Oh, and we'll need to get you guys some food. Before any of this happens though, I need to know what to introduce you guys as." μrsine said as he was walking towards the door, completely in his natural element in the strangely darkening facility with glowing liquid still flowing around the walls in their tubes. μrsine just assuming they were going to follow him.

Okay, that statement was rather....awkward he had to admit, though he didn't give an audible response beyond a low grunt, and a small red coloration to his face. Looking at the clothes thrown at him, he raised an eyebrow and shrugged, picking up the jacket and shirt, running them over the body as they slowly soaked up the strange liquid. It was obvious the guy didn't like clothing, which would probably get annoying after  while but he would not go about complaining. ”Yeah yeah.” He grumbled wiping away the strange residue, going over every section of his body, at least the portions that were visible. Okay, so he was for the most part clean, which was good, meaning Colin could get to the whole dressing up part, well until someone yelled something out.

It seemed that his fellow tube person had woken up, full of vigor it would seem, though their mention of his lack of boxers. With that, he would slip back into his clothing, pleased with the warmth they offered compared to the cold colony. Now fully clothed, he looked around to gain some bearings upon where he was. Well, he was fine with the situation until the male said something about probing, making everything slightly awkward once again. ”You should atleast buy someone dinner before probing them.” He noted, trying not to let his embarrassment show, which had not gone well at all. Being in this unknown colony of strange people left him on edge for sure, especially since he last remembered facing a strange black creature.

A mention of probing still on the table adding more tension, though him saying that he had treated him was an interesting statement. His mind did jump to the mention of children, and he wondered why there were children around, and the whole dangers of a lab speech his dad once gave leapt into his mind, not that he would spout it out. Slipping into his socks, and then shoes, he was all set for a colony adventure. ”Oh...i'm Colin.” He had snapped out of thought long enough to give his name to the strange blond, as calling himself Vanguard might have lead to complications down the road. The mention of food was enough to make his stomach rumble, loud enough perhaps for anyone to hear. ”My suit, its not messed up too bad is it?” He would ask, following after Mursine.

"We had to keep them secured. We have an entire brood of little kids running around. All of them want to be knights, so we didn't think it'd be good to leave a knights things out in the open for them to kill themselves with by accident." Children? In a complex like this? How large is this place and why have I been brought here? "I'll concede to my weapon being dangerous for almost anyone to be near, depleted uranium poisoning is not something I'd want anyone exposed to. As for the armour, it is more of a glorified prosthetic, it can only enhance the one who wears it."

At the mention of their respective injuries, Khell was more than a little curious as to who the man he had supposedly convalesced alongside was, those kind of injuries were not something you got doing every day normal activities. "I suppose I should thank you then for the medical aid rendered." Taking a quick bow since he was not sure what sort of etiquette to follow, "I am grateful for it."

Listening to the introduction of this, Mm-your-sign?, must be spelt with an odd letter or something, maybe a Latin symbol that isn't used often? Khell wasn't sure if the young blonde on the table was joking or not when he mentioned probing. He accompanied the other man's comment with "I'm usually not that easy on the first date..." Khell wasn't awake for it so he couldn't really say anything about it, since if it did happen then he was unconscious and didn't feel it anyways. Interesting selection of joke considering what I was up against before I got here...

"I'll admit to being hungry. I am Cromwell, most know me by my mercenary handle Khellendros, choose whichever works for you best. It is nice to meet you both μrsine and Colin." at the question Colin asks about his armour, Khell manages to add something together How many men do I know wear armour and end up in the same medical facility with major injuries like mine? "I think I need to adjust my greeting to you slightly Colin, or should I say Vanguard? I assume our mutual shapeshifting adversary got to you as well?" Realizing that μrsine had mentioned something about meeting his dragon buddy, he quickly pulls up alongside μrsine. "Malys!? She's here? What happened to her? What condition is she in?" His hunger forgotten, his mind crashed through everything that the people back in the hospital could have done to her for her to wind up here. If they damaged her data-core I will DESTROY them when next we cross paths!

"Dinner first then." μrsine said with a smirk. He loved getting reactions form people, but if he even made a simple joke like that they'd consider locking him in the underground complex a little due north. Something about his hindering the reproductive process to continue his species. He didn't think anything of it really, since messing with the minds and reactions of humans was a lot more fun! Cromwell and Colin huh? Pretty interesting names...says the guy with both a μ and an X in his name. "No thanks needed. I'm a doctor, it's what I do. Nice names, by the way. WAAAAAAAAY Better than what I was gonna call you. Thing one and thing two heh. Mine's just.. Mmmyer-sign then the X at the end." He had kept himself in order as best as he could before he heard the others talking. Hɇtallos was going to have a field day with this Cromwell, and μrsine was going to enjoy messing with this Colin dude, so all in all he was pretty sure that they were going to be perfectly productive as a little group here.

  The hectic nature of everything caused μrsine to stop, sigh and chuckle as he massaged the bridge of his nose, fighting off the impending headache. This was not going to be pretty. The "shapeshifter" being his brother that was in the most critical condition in the entire history of his race.  "Nah man, your suit's a beaut, wonder where she gets that from." μrsine said, before clearing his throat as a couple girls his age walked past. They said hi to him and he waved but then "conveniently" got distracted by Khell. "woah Malice is it's name? Ooohkay. Yeah, gonna think twice about turning her on now. The only thing left of her is the core. That "shape shifter" managed to save her. She ejected her core and he didn't let the other dick get ahold of her. Ended up turning on the other guy just to make sure she didn't get turned into the other person's puppet." He added in, a bit of a stink and scorn in the term shapeshifter was brought up. They stepped out of the pale glow of brilliant blue technological light in a dark metallic surrounded area as the doors actually moved to deconstruct itself. Visually it was akin to watching a transformer transform into itself. The wall gone now, there was a dim light to the outside, but it as if they were hidden beneath the canopy of trees. A pale grey blue mist and haze lingered, as if this semi-darkness at the base of the trees would be the lightest it ever got.

 They had stepped into a place where it was light enough to see with comfort, a near constant state of dusk but with enough light from nearby fixtures to give it a serene and tranquil feel. Looking about they would likely notice several children, broken into age groups. Thirty kids looking about six to eight years old, all of them standing in military formation facing the knight in advanced armor. The children were running exercises and drill. There was a group above them of pre-teens who were behind them sparing with one and other with wooden swords. Just above them were kids that looked the same age as μrsine and they were sitting there, drenched in sweat laughing as they were polishing their armor. In another section there were gruff looking men and women who were dragging dead animals aside, spending moments speaking in a language not known to this earth. There were large barrels of golden ale and the smell of alcohol came from one of the far sides, apparently it was the area of the colony where food was prepared. The entirety of this "complex" seemed to be a large circular city of sorts, natural defense and seclusion. There were a bunch of men working on an engineering project of sorts. They looked like strange hulks of sorts, the implications not easily ascertained trough mere perceptions.

 The most unique thing, perhaps was the large tree and the waters in the center of the colony. A bio-luminescent tree with slightly glowing water surrounding it. The hum was stronger, but somehow all the more soothing when the tree was in sight. It almost sounded like a melody was being sung, or that something was trying to garner attention. "Over here, Engineering and development. Ho!" he motioned, calling and waving at the men working on the strange mecha. The massive door opened, just as the wall and there was a huge, space that was very well lit and technology out the yin-yang. Cold fusion reactors the size of a car engine, massive sparks of energy harnessed into small spheres. The ground beneath them shifted and the section of the ground they were standing on was actually floating. μrsine looked around and laughed when he say a kid his age holding a gauntlet out and waving. "Headed to the belly of the beast!?" He asked. μrsine just nodded, only to have the other male mirror his motion and slowly guiding it to a magnetic current that the platform could glide along.

  holographic images appeared, ones that were actually interactive and semi-tangible as the molecules of the light hardened just enough to offer resistance if anything were typed in. Pictures and random language odd scribbles depicted Malys in her former glory, while replaying the video of Tsxero using himself as a bullet, then protecting her core from Red Tide. The platform came to the end of the hallway and there they were looking over a new design of creature. The Malys-mecha. "Alright, turn her on!" μrsine hollered, the mecha would be turned on and μrsine would smile at Khell before looking to Vanguard. "So, not gonna lie. All joking aside, you're pretty cool man. Not many humans would put on a suit and go out and fight a bunch of psychopaths. Respect." He said, blending in well for a human of the age bracket.

”Hooray, I can hardly contain my excitement.” He said with a roll of his eyes, not quite getting this guys game but at least beginning to adapt to it. Not that he really cared too much about it, as new as the whole sensation was to him to begin with. ”Call me what you want, I answer to both really, though the latter doesn't feel right without the whole exosuit thing.” He had answered to Khellendros, while digging through his left pocket until he found his phone in as excellent shape as ever, though it might have had something to do with the powerful case that Travis had supplied him with the phone itself.  Colin sighed softly, noticing that he had absolutely no reception in this place, though he did have around two messages from Travis, one from his brother and an email about male enhancement...for some reason. The first two from the boy wonder seemed to be him wondering where he was, and that was when he remembered he had to send a report to that bastard. He could wait a little, not like he planned to be in this place too long anyway.

Well, that aside, he would follow along behind Mursine, while just letting his curious eyes scan all around anything of interest within the colony. ”Yeah, that shapeshifting whatever got me too...wait it changes shape? I just thought it was like a Xenomoprh or something, I was kind of waiting for something to burst out of my chest.” That was partially a joke, but then again he may have been worried about that considered it had taken him alive. It was mentioned that this shapeshifter had helped save the mecha dragons core or whatever, so he bit back the comment about them being a cowardly bastard, didn't really like it at the moment to be honest. The glow of blue light would give way to a darkness, though with the vague outlines it seemed there was some kind of tree nearby.

What was impressive was the door itself, seemingly deconstructing itself in some fashion, which was enough to draw some wonder from him. He didn't really see any kind of tech like this, well except for what that father of his had built, but nothing he made looked anything like that. With hands buried into his pockets, he continued to silently take everything in, remembering the unease he felt around such high tech machinery. There was a strange haze lingering within the air, though Colin was unsure if he should be breathing it, considering everything else, he did not want to inadvertently get poisoned by something.  They had not stayed within that place long though, moving on to somewhere he did not have to squint to see anything, yet the first thing he saw was....children of all things. There were around thirty of them, ten or more years younger than him, and all doing something.

Well, they looked human but he could not help thinking they were far different than he was. They were all standing in a strange formation, looking at a figure garbed within advanced armor that one could assume was a knight, only making this whole experience even more surreal, which is a lot considering that he lived in a world of superheroes and super dickheads. Above them were teens polishing their armor, drenched in sweat it would seem and just laughing it up with each other, just more and more interesting things to know about. Okay, either this was some sort of race of superhumans no one knows about, or he was walking through an alien colony, either seemed likely at the moment.

What drew his attention the most was a tree surrounded by a glowing water, releasing an almost mesmerizing humming sound. Once drawn, his mind seemed to wander off, though to where he could not quite tell until it returned to him anyway. Some strange males were approaching them, one around this Mursine characters age, them speaking about something, enough to glean that they were talking about the mecha dragon he had only briefly glanced in his attempted protection of Springfield. Which had gone horrible, considering how he had only seemed to help the bastards in some way and then got taken out as easily. There were some holograms flashing around, showing the mechanical dragon in all its former glory, and what he could assume was its current new body. The compliment from Mursine was unexpected, he had to admit, but he had to keep himself from appearing like he appreciated it too.

”Suit or not, I didn't seem to be much good when it came to stopping said psychopaths from murdering people.” Despite how powerful the suit was, he still could do nothing, and that was perhaps the worst feeling imaginable, to him anyway, but he found no point in lamenting past failures. ”But what can I do? I'm only human.” he said with a shrug, and a sigh.

"woah Malice is it's name? Ooohkay. Yeah, gonna think twice about turning her on now."

Khell smiled at the obvious fear that Malys' name pronunciation elicited from μrsine, "She's the most loveable and harmless person you'll ever meet until you get on her bad side, just don't harm or threaten what she has declared hers and you'll be fine. It's not just her looks that are draconic, she developed some... personality quirks that fall in line with those mythical creatures as well."

"The only thing left of her is the core. That "shape shifter" managed to save her. She ejected her core and he didn't let the other dick get ahold of her. Ended up turning on the other guy just to make sure she didn't get turned into the other person's puppet."

Why on earth would she have ejected her core in a combat situation? Did she get a heavy dose of that strange energy that one guy emitted? "I suppose I shall have to thank him when next we meet then." Noticing the obvious disdainful emphasis put on the term Shapeshifter "I apologize if the term I used was offensive, I just have no other vernacular to use in conjunction with his species." Continuing the walk in relative silence, pondering on what could have happened and how to possibly prevent such a situation from occurring again, he almost missed when they were walking past the training grounds. "That is some interesting armour, do you train all of your children in the art of combat? Perhaps I could spar with some of your training masters and learn a thing or two, or maybe just watch a session? What about the sci-" He had just noticed the project in progress and he lit up like a kid in a candy store. "-ences... That is a most interesting design, maybe we could swap notes and ideas? It looks like they could use some pointers on certain aspects..." He almost didn't notice the tree at the center of the area and it's glow. Interesting tree... It's very peaceful here... Shaking his head briefly, I can't be getting complacent here, I need to get Malys and Stormbringer and go from there!

"Over here, Engineering and development. Ho!"

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, Khell was not ready for the technology that showed itself, he especially locked onto the cold fusion reactors, I could use some of those for a design I'm working on. Maybe they wouldn't mind selling the designs? Noticing the images playing, he reaches over and pauses one of them and then zeroes the image in on Red Tide in his costume being taken down by Tsxero after Red attempted to take Malys' core from him. It looks like I'll need to reinforce the armour plating in her next design as well as the inferno fuel tanks, that was clearly a rupture explosion. Maybe I should thank him, he did stop that monster from claiming a member of my family. Although why I have no idea.

"Alright, turn her on!"

Breaking away from the images, he looks upon what he assumes to be the new body for Malys. Well, that's an interesting design. I hope Malys adapts well enough. Going down, being careful not to touch any of the other projects in the room, to stand before the 10' tall mechanical body, he waits patiently for the activation sequence to activate the optics. "Well, how do you feel hun?" the amount of care and concern for his "creation" quite apparent in his voice.

Meanwhile...

Malys had been defeated, that was perfectly clear to her and she hated the fact of it. I failed him and I failed to destroy the ones that killed him... I'm so sorry, I'm such a useless daughter! After she had ejected her core she had no method of telling what happened to her after that, she was quite literally alone with her thoughts and data, oblivious to the rescue from the man she had tried to kill and was attempting to claim her core for his own by the very creature that had shattered her armour and destroyed her body. How could I let him go after them alone!? What did he always say about unknown variables? NEVER GO IT ALONE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE UP AGAINST! He tried to save a building full of innocent people and wound up dead because of it and I failed him! She couldn't even escape her own head or do anything to get her mind off of it. Maybe it would have been better if I had allowed myself to be destroyed... Then I wouldn't have to deal with this... what is this I'm feeling? Is it guilt? She became aware that people were tampering with her core when she was given interface access to a strange machine. What is this? Who dares mess with my core? She begins to tentatively interact with the object she is now connected to. Is this a mech design? It's not one of Khell's designs... Who has the knowhow to build an interface for an AI they know nothing about? Slow motor function, but plenty of armour and power to keep it going, I can like this design a little more then, whoever designed this is not as good as Khell, but they'll do for now.

She continues to familiarize herself with the machine until it's supplied power. Hey, I'm not ready yet! How am I suppose to get this thing moving effectively if I can't even adapt the- the optics come online and the first thing she lays her new eyes on startles her into complete and utter confusion. "Well, how do you feel hun?" That can't be him! How is he here?! I don't care, I'm too happy to question what's right in front of me! Despite the machine's lack of speed, she manages to suddenly lunge forward and grab up Khell in a hug. "CROMWELL!! You're not dead! I'm so happy!"

"Whoa! Easy now, you're crushing me a bit. No, I am most certainly not dead, it will take a lot more to kill me, you can be certain of that. I'm happy you're ok too..." Khell can only pat his mechanical daughter on the head with how much she was constricting him. "Ok, as much as I enjoy a good hug, we're sort of drawing attention to ourselves. Can you please put me down?"

"Sorry, I thought they had killed you... Are you all right?" "I'm fine and you and I have these people to thank for that." He gestures towards μrsine in particular, "μrsine's medical expertise was exceptional in the treatment of my injuries." "μrsine?" Looking up, she locks her optics onto the person in question, He's just a boy! "Malys, this is μrsine and that is Vanguard, but call him Colin, that is his real name." Nodding her head to μrsine and Colin, she addresses μrsine, "You have my thanks. I don't know what I would do in a world without him. And it is a pleasure to finally meet you directly Colin" Realizing that she is forgetting something, she notices the lighting highlights running over her body were a danger orange, she quickly corrected them to a more mute green colour to lessen the overall hostile look of the machine she occupied. "Who do I need to thank for this body? It is very sturdy and I would like to meet the one who built it. It is quite the marvel" Khell quirks an eyebrow at this and smirks. "Don't look at me like that! I just want to show gratitude, no one could ever replace you and you know it! And where is Alex?" "Uh-huh... Don't worry, I'm also curious about them too. And apparently Alex and therefore Stormbringer are being withheld until I am no longer deemed a potential threat. They have children in this complex as well, very young ones."

"It's fine. Just keep in mind the words "Shapeshifter", "Xenomorph", and "Alien" are all horribly racist terms against us." μrsine said wit a sigh after Colin threw in the term Xenomorph. "Shapeshifter is like calling an Asian man a nigger. Not only is it racist but it makes you look like an idiot. "Xenomorph" is like saying "you all look the same to me" which is really like me saying you two look the same. Obvious differences. "Alien" is like me walking into your house and calling YOU the stranger. We've been on Titan long enough to not be considered Alien. In fact we had no home world, so this is actually considered our native planet." μrsine gave the explanation, he didn't care if anyone listened. If they said something stupid he could honestly say he tried to warn them. Because he was such a nice guy, that is.

  This Colin kid seemed a lot like himself, if μrsine could gauge things right. Especially with the being down on himself because of it not being enough, he was only human o what could he do? That is the dumbest thing you could say to a member of μrsine's race. They would normally go on for hours about how humans were all pretty much Jesus in their eyes. Of course he didn't take well o his brother being called a psychopath. Nobody dicks with Michael except me! Oh wait, his name is Tsxero. Where did I get Michael from? he thought to himself before neglecting the thought entirely and replying to Colin, as seamlessly as he could. "It's easy to abuse power. It's hard to do what's right with it. It's next to impossible to stop those abusing it while doing what's right. You can only do your best and figure that the heroes will win in the end. For example, you're alive right? You got info on the psychopaths. Start going all Batman on them, start inventing ways to get them and initiate the plan. You know what to expect this time around. Honestly if you wanna take them down count me in. I don't care if my brother is their attack-dog. I'll still clobber 'em." He said with a sigh. Then again it wasn't like there's anything he could do about Tsxero if a battle came down to it. "Then again it's not like I'd be able to help much. I'm just normal... Tsxero is, well you know. My other brother is the head-knight around here, and I'm just the kid stuck in the labs." He sighed and shrugged before laughing at Malys' and Khell's reunion.

   "That's the "Dragon Knight" armor. It's one of my brother's and my little doodles, we told them roughly what to do and they did it. Round of applause for ya Laȅɍ, and StƩsselaah!" μrsine called out as he clapped. He was obviously just harassing them, but the scientists did a little bow anyway, playing along before chuckling amongst themselves and returning to work on even more powerful and important devices. "Alright, food now? Anyone? I'm going for food. If you guys come I'll answer your questions over lunch." μrsine asked, his voice becoming lighter and a little higher each time, as if his curiosity had piqued. Then he answered the question for himself casually and walked over to the platform and sat down. They'd make their way back and μrsine could lead them to the place they called a "Mess hall". The tables were divided up, each with different markings. μrsine looked about and then looked to the giant man, the dragon and then Colin. "Ok so, we try to emulate humans but we...have limited exposure to them because of our little problem. So... what we call something might seem strange, but I can...sorta help translate. For example a Hamburger is called milk-meat patty. Ham and cheeses is called pork-slice-milk-slice. It's very strange I know but...yeah. We can make just about anything but...I'll just translate when we get in there." He said before waving it off and walking up to a counter and letting out a little trill that most certainly would have been difficult for a human to do.

   A hulking six foot man came around and looked to Khell with wide eyes and then down to μrsine with a confused look. "We need stuff for out food boxes." He said before turning and looking to the others.

Well, if anything he learned not to call slavering creatures that turned into people any of these names, as they would probably break his kneescaps or something like that. Granted shapeshifter was a more proper term, since they did change their shape, but if they didn't want to be called that, then he wouldn't use the term. Besides, were-alien also seemed to work, not that he would use that out loud either. Yet, it seemed like this strange male with the even stranger name seemed to partially understand what he was talking about, minus the need for a super suit to be any good beyond a bullet sponge. He said something about going batman on them, but sadly he was not master of over 100 martial arts, so that meant maybe going all super detective on them, not his specialty but he could try it. Wait....he had no idea who they were, and the only one he really fought was the weird xenomorph....dammit.

”Food sounds good to me.” No time to be all melancholy and shit, food awaited and he didn't need to go about airing his emotional business around. That would probably annoy people eventually, and Colin hated doing that. So with that done, and the mans strange reunion with the mechanical thing, they would all make their way to the mess hall, his body continuing to remind him how hungry he was. Each of the tablets seemed separated in some fashion, though what the markings meant he would likely have no way of telling beyond the fact that they were somehow. The fact they had such weird ways of saying certain types of food was....familiar, reminded him of something from a book, though he could not quite remember which one it was. So he would forget that familiarity for now, try to remember what he wanted.

Mursine would let out a strange sound upon them reaching the counter, one that...sounded impossible for any human to replicate, even if he were to attempt to do so. As if the sound was a call, a strange hulking man would appear, looking at Khell strangely, though he didn't get such a look, Mursine saying something about food boxes, likely meaning their food. ”I'll have a hamburger.” He would say simply, keeping his hands buried into his pockets, waiting for Mursine to translate it.

"I think I would very much like to meet your brother, μrsine." Turning to the indicated engineers, "and thank you, Laȅɍ and StƩsselaah, for her, I'll assume, temporary accomodations. I like the name of it, very fitting." Rejoining the other two on the balcony and hearing mention of the food, Khell was in a more appropriate mood to eat. "Food sounds awesome, lead on."

Upon reaching the mess hall Khell would notice the markings on the tables, but figured they'd be a subject to bring up over the meal instead of instantly gawking and questioning like some random tourist.

"Ok so, we try to emulate humans but we...have limited exposure to them because of our little problem. So... what we call something might seem strange, but I can...sorta help translate. For example a Hamburger is called milk-meat patty. Ham and cheeses is called pork-slice-milk-slice. It's very strange I know but...yeah. We can make just about anything but...I'll just translate when we get in there."

"That's one thing I'd like to discuss at some point, if you can supply a lingual database, Malys can learn your language almost instantly and make life overall a little easier. For now, I'll take a cheeseburger with jalapenos and a slice of Monterey jack with some red onion, and a chocolate milkshake." He smiles a bit before Malys chimes in, "He's a bit of a little kid at heart." an audibly feminine chuckle escaping from the machine as Khell's face turns to false outrage. "Oh come on! If I can't act like a kid at times, then I'll just get old and cranky quicker. Have to balance the books somehow."

When they sit down, Khell will quietly eat through about half his burger before asking any questions. "So I can avoid making an ass out of myself later on, what do your people call themselves?" Once he has that answer, "What is the overall history of your people and why were we brought here exactly? It seems your sibling was quite capable of killing us, but he chose capture instead so there must be a reason or two I'd wager."