Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » JLU: The Menace Below

Jackie eyed the pile. She stepped forward and began to move the pile of garbage bags around. "He's-He's not-" Kat began.

"No. He's not in the bags or anything. If he were killed and stuffed into one, it'd be noticeable. And if he were cut up and put into bags, there'd be blood. A lot of it." Jackie cut her off. Kat felt a bit of relief. She'd assumed the worst. "Found something." Jackie said, pulling a device shaped vaguely like a shield from one of the bags. It was small, and made of a matte white metal, with a shinier ring in the center that had a red light within it.

"It's a Galactic Enforcer badge." Jackie said, looking to Davi, assuming he'd ask about it. Kat took it. "They've got trackers, communicators, hologram projectors. Basically a multi-tool that doubles as a badge for space cops." She added.

"Dad used one back when he stole stuff to keep an ear out on GCPD's police scanners, and to keep an eye on GE movements." Kat said.

Jackie looked to the ground, spotting clear trails leaked from the trash bags. "Looks like he was in there." She said, indicating the building the trails led to.

"So why is all this alien stuff in Gotham? I know this place is weird but you act like it's common to see?" Davi follows along. The trail leading from the bag was only noticed when pointed out. He stared for a moment and noticed the smears. Some darker patches on the bricks and moving along the ground like something large was dragged. It then thinned out. Going to a smaller head and draggin around the corner. Maybe somone dragged along, lifted half way then their feet dangled? Davi wondered as he followed the two on their investigation.

"Oh it's not just in Gotham." Jackie said, heading towards the building. The trail started at a back door. Jackie approached it, grabbing the knob only to find it locked. She held a hand at her 'belt'. It gave a green flash and show now held one of her lock picks. She knelt down and began to pick the lock.

"Gotham's definitely a pretty big hub for alien stuff on Earth, but it's not the only one. There's another pretty big alien hub under a town called Bellwood." Jackie explained, grinning when she heard a clack. Jackie put the lock pick away and stood up, opening the door and heading in. "Davi, stay close to us and try to be quiet." Jackie ordered.

Davi took hold of the staff. Holding it tightly in his grip it gave mixed feelings. On one hand it made him feel powerful. The energy within it radiated off like heat from a flame. But at the same time he couldn't grasp it. Perhaps the mere presense of the familial energy would help him. If nothing else it was nice to have it. He nodded and kept close. Moving as quietly as possible into the building. An eerie feeling in the air lingered like a mist.

The interior of the building was dark. It looked to be an un remarkable office building. Jackie looked around, checking a few of the cubicles in the main office space. She didn't find anything of note. She scratched her head. "Think you could try that spell you used earlier? See if the badge has better... I dunno... magic people dust or whatever on it?" Jackie asked.

Davi didn't get a chance to answer, before a mechanical shifting was heard. Jackie was quick to grab Kat and Davi and yank them both into a cubicle. A wall shifted and opened revealing a passage way behind. An alien, one of the same species that they had encountered in the swamp before, emerged. They passed the cubicle not noticing the three hiding within. The alien placed a mask over their face, before they suddenly shifted into a human form and left the building.

Jackie peeked out to the still open passage way, motioning for the other two to follow her as she quickly moved to it.

Clenching the staff tighter Davi approached. Clipping a ruler but grabbing it before it hit the ground. His heart skipping a beat he hurried along into the mysterious open doorway.
'What is this?' He mouthed to Multi-girl. Unwilling to make a sound as they entered.

"Secret passage way." Jackie replied quietly. As the passed into the corridor all three would notice a sudden drop in temperature. The walls were made of gray metallic plating with white lights up in the ceiling, spread apart from one another by a yard or so. The corridors of this hidden facility were relatively sparse. No decorations or seat, not even trash cans.

"Wonder what's up with this place. Think it's important? Also why's it so damn cold in here?" Kat questioned with a whisper.

Jackie shrugged. "Probably if they wanna hide it. And most likely cause the planet these guys are from is further away from their star than the Earth is." She said.

The three came to a stop as Jackie held her hand out. Voices could be heard from further down the hall and around the corner. Jackie reached to her belt, a batarang forming as she pressed against hte wall, waiting for the source of the voices. Kat glanced around pausing when she noticed what lookedl ike a door. She went over to it and it opened automatically. "Psst! In here!" She said to the other two.

"Are we not gonna talk about how that big alien thing turned into a guy? Or is that just normal for you all?" Davi whispered as they had their muted conversation. The sound of voices caught them off. Sneaking into a side room Davi pulled his coat tight. "Why didn't they just go to the arctic then if they like the cold?" He complained.

Jackie glanced to the room Kat had found, before to the approaching shadows from around the corner. She soon moved into the room, the door closing behind her, as the aliens rounded the corner and walked by.

"Not exactly like there's anything in the arctic." Jackie replied. She looked around the room they found themselves in. It was clearly a storage closet, she paused spotting an open box, before grinning. "Ok, that alien used something called an ID mask to change their appearance." She began digging through the box, taking out one of the masks. It looked like a face, though the only real features it had were eye holes and a mouth hole. On the inside were a number of circuit patterns. Jackie fiddled with the mask, before tossing the mask to Kat. "They project a sort of hologram that changes your appearance. They can make you look like almost anything. Even turn you invisible." She explained, fiddling with another mask and giving it to Davi. She took a third and did the same.

"Watch." She said, before putting the mask on. A light emerged from the mask and passed over her, and within moments she was indistinguishable from the aliens they had encountered in the swamp. "Ta da! No need to be so sneaky now." She said. Kat looked at her mask. "When we're done here, give those back to me so I can keep them if we need them again." She said.

"Is this gonna fit over my helmet? Cause these things are expensive I don't wanna leave it." Kat said.

"Seems to fit on the alien heads and their heads are way wonkier than a motorcycle helmet." Jackie answered with a shrug.

Looking between the mask and his staff Davi wondered. Alien tech was frankly indistinguishable from magic at times.
"Here goes." He put the mask on. A tingle in his face as the mask felt like it adjusted to fit. Sitting comfortably but no other feeling. "Did it work?" He looks at his hand to see the claw. He jumps back. His staff still in hand. "What do I do about this?" He says waving it around. "I don't think those freaks have staffs?"

Kat put the id mask on, and it activated disguising her as well. "Look just like one of the aliens." Kat said. Jackie eyed the staff.

"I dunno. Obviously we can't just leave it here. No guarantee we'll be able to come back and grab it...." Jackie said, thinking.

"I ran into Charmcaster and Hex once with my Dad and Singe. We were all after the same thing, some weird artifact that supposedly belonged to a Demon named Trigon or whatever. When we fought, Charmcaster seemed to be able to pull whatever she needed out of that bag. Even if it logically wouldn't have fit. Maybe you can just stick it in there?" Kat suggested.

Davi hugged the staff as Jackie implied leaving it. Before the bag came up. He looked down and pulled it up. His hand went inside the disguise and pulled it out. Davi thought. They had to blend in. But would the bag give it back? He didn't exactly have control. He looked frustrated. Having an argument in his head.

"Fine." He opens the bag. It's empty void was weirdly forboding. He hesitated before sliding the staff in. Wiggling it around so the head went in. Silence followed. It was just gone. He pulled it to his face. "You better give that back." He says tucking it away into his robes, within the disguise.

Jackie nodded and the three left the storage closet. They continued through the facility. Other than the fact that there were aliens milling about inside, there didn't seem to be anything of note indicating what happened to Kat's father, nor what the aliens were doing here.

They came to a large room. There were a handful of stair ways that lead up to a second floor of catwalks, and a ramp that lead up to a garage door which likely lead back outside. There were a few delivery trucks, with various aliens moving crates into the boxes. Jackie eyed the boxes and aliens as they moved about. "Wonder what's in those crates-" Jackie began.

"You three!" Came one of the alien's voices. They came over, standing about a head taller than Kat, and held a tablet-like device. "Stop standing around wasting time. Loading this shipment of Laser Lances is taking too long. Get to the armory and help move them." They barked.

"Aren't those illegal on Earth?" Kat asked. The Alien looked at her.

"By Galactic Enforcer laws, yes. But we've never really cared about their laws before now have we?" The alien retorted.

"Nope. We'll get those Laser Lances moved in no time, Boss." Jackie said. "Uh, we're new here, which way's the armory?" She questioned. The Alien now eyed Jackie.

"Second level, door at the back left corner. Pick a room and start loading up crates." The Alien ordered.

"On it." Jackie said, giving a thumbs up, before the three headed off.

The Alien watched them leave, grabbing another as they walked by. "Follow those three. Something doesn't feel right about them." They said.

Throughout the entire discussion Davi was stiff. His back semeed like it was prodded up by a rod in his spine. He hoped his sweating wouldn't show up on the disguise. He felt the masks attatchments feeling sticky. The longer he had this on the weirder it felt. At his nervous sweating wouldn't help. Sent off he saluted in an imitaion of a solider and followed after the other two. Arms stiff to his side as he did so.

"Why would you say that? 'Aren't those illegal'? I think these guys would know that and probably find it odd you don't." Davi leaned into Kat. "We should scram before they catch on anymore. Call in a police raid or something of this place." He says in a panicked but hushed tone. He moved beside the two. The odd one out of this order.

"Police aren't going to be able to handle this." Jackie said as they headed up to where the Alien had indicated. "Laser Lances are level 5 tech. Way more dangerous than anything a police officer is going to have. Given how these guys are gun running, I assume they're a gang, so they'll definitely use these weapons on police if they did show up." She added, before looking to Kat. "From now on just let me do that talking, okay?" She asked.

"In my defense, every time I've been some place I'm not supposed to be, it's never with other people around." Kat added, as they passed the door.

The three entered one of the armories. Jackie looked around, before taking her mask off. She held it to her belt which seemed to absorb it with a green light. She grabbed one looking it over, and checking its battery port. "Ooookay... how do we get rid of these?" Jackie asked herself, looking to the laser lances lined up in their containers.

"Gutbomb would be good." Kat suggested.

"I don't have Gutbomb anymore." Jackie said, thinking, before she perked up. "Hey, Davi, do you know any spells that can like, destroy stuff without blowing it up?" Jackie asked.

His claws fidgiting as they looked over the weapons. Despite the name they were rather small. A compact triangle with a trigger in the centre. Wide but for how they caused Jackie to panic Davi had thought they were bigger. He snapped back as they directed him.
"A destruction spell? One that won't damage anything?" He paced back and forth thinking it over. "Well if you want us to be quite none that I could think of. What type of ammunition do they use? Something electrical I could trie a lightning spell. Might be able to burn out the batteries?" Davi pulled out his book and flicked through. He looked at one page with the label 'chain lightning'. "Other than that I'm not sure. Any more powerful spells would need a focus or time and prep."

"Ooo.... yeah lightning's out." Jackie said, unloading the lance she held. The battery had a faintly glowing red substance inside it. "Tehse thigns run on ether point energy. If one of the batteries blows, it's got enough power to vaporize everything in a twenty foot radius. And if one goes off, it might start a chain reaction." Jackie said, placing the battery back into it. She sighed, cycling through her aliens. "Wish I knew what half of these do." She grumbled.

"Does the Omnitrix have like, a manual?" Kat asked, taking her mask off as well.

"Probably. No clue how to turn it on though." She said. She stopped on one alien. It was a humanoid with a large round head, and an equally large mouth. "Think this one might also be able to eat anything? Got a big enough mouth for it." Jackie questioned. Kat shrugged. Suddenly the sound of the door opening was heard.

Jackie and Kat glanced back to see the Alien that had been sent to follow them. There was a brief pause, before Jackie's hand shot to her belt, drawing a batarang. She threw it, just as the alien turned and ran with the batarang embedding in the wall opposite the armory door. "Crap!" Jackie hissed.

"WE'VE BEEN INFILTRATED!" The alien called out as they got to the railing of the cat walk.

"Oh real subtle you two!" Davi yelled to them as he put his notes away. "How do we get out of here?" He peered down the hall. The sound of footsteps approached. He looked around. "You said those things explode right? Why don't we blow them and go? This place looks built sturdy it should be contained and destroy the weapons. The chaos could help us escape. Davi remained in his alien disguise. His panicked gesturing seeming very out of place for the form.

"Weren't you listening? They vaporize things when they blow up!" Jackie said. Kat grabbed one of the laser lances.

"Well, we may as well use what we got. Heard these things pack a serious punch." She said. She paused when Jackie gave her a look. "What? I get you and Batman don't kill people, but we're out numbered and it's us or them." Kat said.

Jackie paused. "Davi! Charmcaster's bag! Half the time we fought, she always pulled these little rock dudes out that turned into big rock dudes! Think you could pull some of those out?" She asked.

"The bag doesn't exaclty like me. I think I..." He paused and pulled it out. He stuck his hand in mumbling something and pulled out the seeds from earlier. "If we could find some dirt maybe." As he thought a pair of shrieks came from down the hall followed by a series of projectiles. One slid through Davi's disguises shoulders. It sizzled on the wall as he dove into the room. "I've got an idea. I don't know if it's good or not. Can either of you get me some soil? A bit of dirt about a fist size?" He looked around for anything. The seeds were small so any could be useful. On the ground by the crates of weapons was some dirt. Small As footsteps came close he scuttled over. Trying to gather as much as possible. "Just enough that's all we need." He said pulling the mask off and tossing it. His face red as he moved frantically.