Log:Fuzzy Alien Vampires, Scene 2

Fuzzy Alien Vampires 2021/06/18 	 Artemis Epsilon Grigoriy Korkoro Linda Starshine Victory

2

A ship entered Earth space, not answering hails, and then exploded, just after four life forms were apparently emergency-teleported to Colonial Bay. The heroes, investigating for one reason or another, have so far found three cute but life-sucking furballs. One of these was rendered unconscious by Grigoriy and is being held by Magda; Grigoriy meanwhile was struck by a car, totalling the car. Victory and Epsilon have reached the scene and checked on the driver. A second critter was iced up by Linda. A third drain blood from Artemis, and though she subsequently threw it away (and it was also iced up by Linda), it proved that it had reproduced, and an identical critter is clinging to Artemis's hand! 

The one uncontained critter, unsurprisingly, takes a bite at the divinely yummy Artemis!

Two other critters remain coated in ice, waiting for it to melt. Good thing for them they have lots of fur!

Artemis's blood along with her divine essence is sapped by the voracious creature. She pales from the loss of life force as she tries to dislodge the creature with little success. For the second time that she can recall, she has been made mortal. "Thou Pharin-bourne fiend....release me..." she tries to command, but she's lost too much energy to be her bombastic self, swaying a bit from dizziness. "This...cannot be how I am defeated." Oh, but it can!

Magda knows not about such things; she returns to the scene of the crash with the unconscious one held in her magnetokinesis, particles of her suit providing purchase on the thing. Once she reaches the crash, she does a fast exam of the site, looking and listening for injuries -- and surprised to see Victory there. "Victory! Oddest thing, this thing seems to be some sort of bioelectric siphon ..."

Victory looks over to Magda, "That matches the description of the kinds of creatures that attacked someone in an alley. I'd be cautious with it. Don't let it get too close." He looks around, "Did it cause the accident? Indirectly?"

Starshine is doing what she loves best - flying. But when her aerial hijinks bring her over the south end of Colonial Bay, she spots a car crash. So she heels over and dives down to investigate.

The immediate cause of the crash is evident: it hit Grigoriy. Who himself looks unharmed, though he's only just come out of being dazed.

Korkoro shrugs. "Ish? That's a human-sized crumple, but the gentleman was in pursuit of the siphoner. Gave it a kick that sent it all the way through the alley and into the next."

Linda flies down to Artemis, "Hold still," she calls out, and attempts to grab the blood sucking tribble and throw it across the street into a mice solid brownstone wall.

The critter squeaks simply under the pressure of the throw! As for the impact, it knocks a hole through the wall, and the critter disappears into the (relatively) dark interior.

Linda tosses the tribble with feeling into, and through, a wall across street, then taps her ear to activate the press-to-talk of her SGG comms. "Golden Girl here. I need medical assistance here. Artemis has been seriously injured."

"My thanks, Golden One," Artemis says, looking woozy. The blood from her wrist is red, but unlike a human's, it has a metallic golden shimmer to it. "'Tis...but a scratch..." she insists in a very unconvincing tone.

"Oigh." comes the grumbling grunt of the blinking Russian, his mind finally catching up with where he is. Glancing slowly around at all of the heroes that have appeared from the woodwork, he presses his lips together, expression stony, and reaches down to dig his fingers into the steaming metal that is crumpled around his legs. With a squeal of warping steel and a fwump of warped fiberglass, he peels the car off of himself like a naughty dog and shoves it back a couple of feet, tires screeching across the cement. Only then does he stride around the front of the car to where Victory is looking over the driver, ignoring the panicked people in the crowd around him as he glances over the hero's shoulder.

"He will recover well?" The huge Russian rumbles, brows knitting slightly in a frown of concern. Though whether it's over the man himself or his own shaky future is impossible to tell.

Victory nods. "I think he'll be okay. You were chasing one of those creatures? Be careful around them. Not sure what htey do, but I have a report that a civilian was killed nearby by them."

"They bite." Grigoriy grunts back, lifting one tattooed hand to show Victory the small fang marks that penetrated his skin. "Suck blood. Am resistant to this, most will not be."

Hearing about how these small fuzzy creatures bite, and that Artemis (!) has been severely injured, Starshine reaches out with her Cosmic Energy Hand to grab and contain one.

Korkoro lifts the TK-captured thing to display it. "Rodentlike; keep the jaws shut is my advice. Strange biology; if they're killers, we'd best get them all. Where were there others?"

Victory gives directions to Korkoro. "One frozen back that way. Golden Girl was chasing another. Not sure how many we have total. Though it was four life signs that we detected that transported to the planet."

Looking about, Starshine doesn't see any more of the critters. But does catch, far down the road, someone running out from a side street as if in a panic.

Linda may break that optimistic report from Victory as she annouces on SGG comms, "The creature that bit Artemis reproduced after doing so. If they reproduce by biting, likely one of more did when they drained the blood from the woman in the alley."

Victory sighs as he gets the report via radio. He says to the hearoes near him, "We might have more. Apparently they can reproduce after biting, potentially. It likely has to do with how successful the bite is? Not sure entirely."

Artemis breathes through the lightheadedness she's experiencing. Though she knows she's mortal, she can't let the risk of death stop her from protecting Mortals. "They be hardy indeed to crash through a wall instead of break upon it. We must contain them before they find more prey." She readies her shield and takes a few steps before managing to still have enough strength to fly toward the hole.

Magda's head comes up when she hears how they reproduce. "Victory," she says intensely, "you need to quarantine this area immediately. Three block radius. Sewers too."

Victory nods to Magda, "Agreed." He places a call to Starguard, relaying the situation...and calling for Delta to show up to help cordon things off.

Artemis sees the critter just inside the hole of the building, with a mortal now trapped with it. This cannot stand. "Flee while ye can, Mortal! This creatures be no furry Pet, but a voracious predator!" This statement surely seems mad. Look at how cute the critter is! Artemis martials her strength and stabs down toward the critter. Her sword extends to cross the short distance between them.

The critter squeaks and flies across the room, where it flattens against the wall and drops down to the ground. The oddly dressed man looks up, "Hey, do your destruction elswhere! This is, like, a creative space!" And he goes back to writing by hand in a book.

Epsilon sees that everything is under control here.

"If we can get close enough to see one I should be able to pick it up without touching it directly." Epsilon says modestly to the other heroic interlopers present, not at all realizing someone else had a similar idea. "But we should probably hurry before we wind up with another husk. I'm going to run ahead and see if I can find it."

He pivots with an easy grace and then runs back down the alleyway, scanning for something hungry & alien.

Epsilon slides to a halt as he sorts the informaiton, turning towards Artemis & the final active alien.

"I think its this way!" He shouts to Victory and Grigoriy, pointing towards the alien presense he feels.

Victory heads off after Epsilon, "Can you sense them? If so, it might be good to do a sweep, to make sure we have them all."

Starshine flies down the street toward the frightened runner.

Magda calls out, "Starshine! Gun shot, your direction!"

"I can once I'm certain what I'm sensing are these things. All I know is they are strange and hungry. I can sense 3 of them." Epsilon responds to Victory.

Starshine says, "I heard it!"

Linda activates her x-ray sensing to check of the tribble where Artemis went. The scans the area where she judges the gunshot came from, already heading in that direction.

Linda heads toward Pennyroyal Lane. Injured or not, now Artemis knows the cretures are a threat she's more than capable to handling them Linda is sure.

Linda tramsmits an update on SGG comms, "At least one creature is at the art gallery in Pennyroyal Lane. People fleeing from area. I am engaging."

Artemis ducks as she steps through the hole. "Thou be a fool to remain here. Mayhaps it would be best for me to end this creature to save thee from thy own lack of self preservation," she announces as she tries go gather her strength. She reverses her grip on her blade as it shortens and solidifies once more, then drives it down into the critter.

The critter is struck by the sword - and falls into two separate critters. Both topple over (and in so doing reveal where their legs are) quite unconscious.

Epsilon continues running for Artemis & the Tribble since Victory is right with him.

Magda gains height, calling out to Victory, "I will do my best to spot them and serve them to you as targets. I recommend eradication with extreme prejudice."

Linda calls Starguard, "Is there any information on these creatures? I have one in sight that has a different coloration to the ones that have been biting. It may be a random variation or indicate a different behavior. Will hold and evaluate for now unless it becomes hostile."

One moment Grigoriy is standing shoulder to shoulder with one of the most famous heroes in the area. The next the whole lot of them have scattered, charging off in two different directions while a final rises up high into the air. Frowning around himself, the hulking Russian lifts his heavy shoulders in a shrug, releasing his breath in a long, tired sigh.

"Friend driver," he says down to the man who's car he totaled, "I must borrow."

Stooping down, the ex-con tears the man's seat belt free with casual strength and lifts him clear of the wreckage with one hand, his other getting a good hold of the car's frame and hauling it effortlessly off of the ground. New weapon in tow, the big man hefts the vehicle up onto his shoulder and sets off down the side of the road at a steady lope, going after Starshine who seems to have been given the least amount of support.

The man just stares at Grigoriy in blank disbelief.

Linda gets a reply from Starguard just as the cute ball of yellow fluff leaps at the man with the gun. "Not good news. If these creatures are what we think, they're from a no-go world within Guild space. Animal intelligence, but judging from the ruins the world once had a civilisation, apparently destroyed by these things...."

The critter drinks the man to near the point of death in just an instant - and (having already had some blood) instantly splits into two...

Linda replies, "Understood. I will engage and restrain."

Artemis swipes up the trashcan and dumps out the bad poetry on the floor, then scoops up the two critters, using her shield to sweep them into it. "Consider thyself saved, Mortal," she announces and flies out to find more critters.

Victory sighs as he sees Artemis flying off, and he runs in teh direction he thinks she's going, toward Linda. "I suspect that I'll be too late every time at this rate."

Linda crouches down to get a clearer line of sight on the critters. Her eyes glow bright, then brighter still as she pushes her powers to the limit and fires incandescent eye beams of heat ar the two critters, moving her head slightly to strafe both with one blast.

Linda says worriedly, "Man down in art gallery. Severely injured. Medical assistance urgently needed."

The critters more screech than squeak as they're knocked back, hair smouldering, against a wall and fall to the ground.

One of the creature's hair is burned enough to reveal long head with powerful jaws and large upper incisors.

Starshine flies closer and uses her Cosmic Energy Hand to try to grab the closest yellow fluffball.

Epsilon sees Artemis fly towards Linda and the Vampire Tribbles after hearing Victory worry about being too slow.

This prompts Epsilon to engage his motion magnification system to cross the gap as quickly as possible.

"Let's hope we can get there in time." He says as he runs closer.

The fluff is all compressed, but the critter inside seems to be tough.

Korkoro continues to enhance her electromagnetic sensitivity, using the example magnetokinetically held before her as a template to search for any -- all -- other such aliens around her.

Boots pounding the cement in a heavy, relentless rhythm, Grigoriy can only watch as the man is dragged down by the beast which swells and splits into two. He knows he will be too slow to help, and lips pull back from his teeth in a rumbling growl of effort.

Squeezing out that last bit of speed, he closes to within 10m of the man before the raging eye lasers hit the critters, sending both of their smoldering bodies smacking against a far wall. He can not see the invisible forces that grab them, only that both of them hover up into the air, perfectly framed against the backdrop of a solid brick wall.

"GRRRRAAAH!"

Letting out a full-bellied roar like a javelin thrower at the Olympics, the hulking Russian hurls his stolen car in a huge arc, sending it swooshing through the air on a crash course toward both of the vampiric fluff balls.

The car probably squishes the critters. Hard to tell really. Given that it also goes through the wall and half the china shop beyond it.

None of the critters you've seen so far are moving now. But what are those movements through the window of the art gallery, advertising a display of the works or Grace Fenton? Scuttling between the legs of the immobile figures that probably aren't actually statues? Well, Korkoro knows, because she's counted over a dozen critters in there already...