Initial Analysis

[trustycrowbar]

[Video broadcast]

[Gordon fidgets slightly in front of the camera, running a hand through his hair before he even speaks. He always hated doing this.]

Attention, Sirocco. It seems some... things have been suddenly popping out of nowhere in the town. Justice League members are already mobilized and trying to fight these creatures back as soon as they appear. Others who want to fight along with them are welcome to do so, but please be advised these mutants--or whatever they are--are extremely dangerous.

But in order to really stop them, I believe it's vital to first rind out what these things ARE and where they're coming from. If they look familiar to anyone, or if you happen to find a tissue sample of a downed creature, bring it into the Labs to be studied. Then maybe we can figure out what the hell's going on around here.

[Video, to Mordin]

Hey Mordin. You wouldn't happen to know a really good biologist I could bring in to help us out in this, would you?

[Action]

[The Labs are in a productive uproar again, men in labcoats scrambling to keep up with one another. If you happen to be one of the ones bringing in a monster part--err, "sample," you'll find Gordon and a few others, willing to take it off your hands... some of the wimpier ones donning gloves and a mask first, of course.]

Comments

[faithful_kitsune]

*She doesn't HAVE to knock -- but she does anyway.*

Ah, excuse me! Gordon? Might I have a moment of your time?

[trustycrowbar]

[He actually DOES have an office... sort of. It's more of a refurbished broom closet than anything, and at any given time books take up more space in there than anything else, but he's not one to complain. Not really. He looks up from the long ream of paper he'd been studying.]

Ran..? Yeah, sure, come on in.

[He didn't expect her to be one of the ones to respond to the broadcast.]

[faithful_kitsune]

I apologize, but it sounds like you're trying to deal with these horrible... ah, things that have started showing up. I believe I have something you might be interested in.

*She sets the basket on the counter.*

I warn you, it's rather... roughed up.

[trustycrowbar]

"Roughed up?" [Can this fox-lady be capable of roughing anything up?] You manage to subdue it with your powers, huh? Okay, let's take a look at it.

[He grabs a pencil and uses that to lift the cover a little. He knows better than to use his fingers.]

[Action]

[youngestboxer]

[Yuta arrives, his hands spread as though he were carrying a box of some sort.]

I think I caught something you guys might want to look at. Better get it quick, though; if I keep it like this much longer, it's going to suffocate.

[trustycrowbar]

"Well, let's have it!"

"It won't... hurt us, will it?

[Gordon cranes his neck to look.] What kind of box did you put that thing in, anyway?

[youngestboxer]

I isolated it with my powers. Anyway, it's not too big, but it is aggressive. You're going to want something to contain it.

[trustycrowbar]

We've got containment units set up over there. I guess the smallest one would be good for that thing.

[And true to his word, there are several makeshift containment units along the far wall, pillars set into the ground with with a glowing blue forcefield between each one forming boxes. Some small, some large.]

Just set it in there and... uh... open the box or dissolve it or however it works. I'm moderately certain it'll contain it.

[longstreakofnothing]

[A walking stickfigure saunters into the lab, grinning like a loon.]

'Allo, everyone, I've got a, er, a thing for you.

[Indeed, he holds up a... thing... that looks like what happens if you put an octopus, a pigeon, and a bouquet of flowers into a Brundle teleporter. It's still alive, too, thrashing and hissing.]

[trustycrowbar]

[The scientists recoil en masse with matching "OH DEAR!"'s and "What is that, a triffid"'s and "I'm too young to die"'s.]

[Gordon, in the back, quietly rolls his eyes.] Just... put it over there, thanks. Make sure it doesn't have anything it can use as tools.

["You mean... it could be a tool-user?" "Fascinating..."]

[longstreakofnothing]

[Theta Sigma just smiles at the recoiling scientists and ambles over to one of the containment cells. There's one that's about the right size and he drops the lil thing into it, whereupon it immediately plasters itself against the, er, energy field.]

Oooo, tough little thing, innit?

[trustycrowbar]

Pretty vicious too. Of course they've ALL been vicious... Where'd you find this one, Theta?

"Perhaps we should take cuttings..." "You actually want to PROPOGATE these things?" "They could have... decorative potential. They're a plant after all!" "...you're a loony."

[Action]

[stinglikeabat]

[Joachim arrives with a set of brand-new bloody gashes across his face and a lively and snarling behemoth in a firm headlock.]

Careful now, he's faster than he looks!

Re: [Action]

[trustycrowbar]

[Gordon--and all the other labcoats in the room--simultaneously stop and stare at the spectacle.]

"...we're all going to die, aren't we?" "How much larger do these things GET?" "...are you referring to the monster, or the man holding it?"

[Gordon finally pipes up.] Way to go, Joachim. Uh, let's get some tranquilizer in that one. Smithers, think you can--

"Ohhh no. You're the one with the Hazard suit, remember? And that thing over there more than qualifies as "hazardous" by the looks of it!"

Why do I get the feeling I've heard that before? Nngh, alright, gimme the damn tranq gun.

[It takes a few rounds of heavy tranquilizer but the thing finally falls limp and Joachim is relieved of his pacifying duties.]

[stinglikeabat]

[That's a load off! Joachim drops the beast without ceremony and cracks his neck.]

This one used to be a man named Mr. Monaghan. The girl who took him down said he transformed over lunch.

[trustycrowbar]

[Joachim is the undisputed master of dropping bombshells on the room, isn't he? Because that causes the ones around them including Gordon, to stare at him all over again.]

...Are you telling me this thing used to be HUMAN?

[life_is_megas_wonderful]

Yo ho! Gordon! How's it going here?

[trustycrowbar]

Tsuruya! Hey. Better than I thought, we're getting a system together. Thank god these guys are good at organizing makeshift laboratories.

"Of course we wouldn't NEED to do this if we'd just gone to bio instead!" "Nowwww, we're not sure if these things are truly biological in nature! Besides, half of us don't have clearance to go down there!" "You're insane! Of COURSE the source is biological! Do you see any metal on these creatures? No?"

[Gordon thoroughly disregards the two and focuses on Tsuruya.] Ngh, anyway, you wouldn't happen to have anything we can use, would you?

[life_is_megas_wonderful]

I might do at that! And it's...

*Pause for drama.*

...Me! Hahahahahaha! ...Seriously.

[very_model_of]

Only biologist-

Oh.

Amusing. Will be at lab momentarily.

[One momentarily later, Mordin arrives at the labs. He is unhurt, but there is a fair amount of soot on his labcoat.]

Situation grim. Need to work fast. Where's a lab?

[trustycrowbar]

[Gordon meets him out there, and barely has time to offer a handshake before he's called back in. The makeshift "monster lab" is on the second floor and scattered with every scientist they could scrounge up. A few stare at Mordin for a moment.]

"Isn't that the alien with the--" "Yes, Freeman figures he can use his new clout to bring him in. Favoritism if I ever heard it."

Glad you could come. What's your idea of the situation so far?

[very_model_of]

Creatures not from outside of city. People turning into them. No visible cause. First priority: autopsy, tissue samples. Also, internal security within lab should be a priority. Until we know the cause, must assume lab personnel just as vulnerable as people outside.

[nomen_est_numen]

[It's a short time later that a five-foot-tall bird who might even be recognisable to some folks here comes shambling into the place. He's sooty, bedraggled, and looks exhausted.]

Hallo? I don't wish to bother you, only I was a giant monster about ten minutes ago....

[trustycrowbar]

[After the tussle with Mr. Monaghan, the other scientists had been very wary to return to the lab, but there are a few people, including a tired-looking Gordon; and of all people Ran, quietly typing away at a computer.]

[The announcement raises a few heads, including Gordon's.] What?

"Oh, no, not another one!"

"Calm down, Stevens, that one's normally a peacock! He's already been turned back!"

[nomen_est_numen]

Giant monster. Apparently I was beaten back to normal.