10071/The Panacea Project: Icing the Ice Dragon

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The Panacea Project: Icing the Ice Dragon
Date of Scene: 17 November 2019
Location: Aeon, Perseus Cluster
Synopsis: Alex and Drake go on their first assignment for the Legion.
Cast of Characters: Mon-El, Slipstream, Zero-G
Tinyplot: The Panacea Project


Mon-El has posed:
    So Drake and Alex are now -official- members of the Legion of Superheroes. Rings and everything. Now all that's left is for them to actually be sent on a mission and start doing the galactic hero thing!

    That is what brings them to a planet called Aeon, in the Perseus Cluster. A group of conservation scientists, the Aeon Wildlife Society, has requested the help of the Legion in their attempts to preserve the last few members of a dying species known to the locals as the Icy Sky Dragon...given the creatures are large and could be dangerous/unpredictable.

    Anyway, Alex and Drake were scheduled to meet with the Society's lead scientist, Dr. Azeilia Stellaris, on her research vessel near the planet's north pole. Of course, Lar and the rest of the Legion would be keeping tabs on the situation from a distance--in case things went -too- far south.

Slipstream has posed:
Having arrived via a little shuttle, Drake steps off and holds his breath for a few moments, then lets it out as he finds that he /can/ breathe here. "Dude, we are on another /planet/." He says with excitement in his voice. "I have never even heard of Aeon. I wonder if the babes are cool here."

Dressed in a new 'uniform', Slipstream is wearing bright blue pants that are snug to his body, designed for speed, a matching top and a belt armed with a couple of pouches for some utility. He may have packed extra bandaids. The rest of his uniform is his brown bomberjacket with the Legionnaire symbol on the back of it. On his chest is a symbol of Tracer's pulse bomb. It's a work in progress.

"Okay, so Dr. Azeilia. She's super smart. Wants us to keep some dying animals alive. We can do that." He is trying to assure more of himself rather than Alex.

Zero-G has posed:
    "It's pretty cool, right?" Alex steps off the transport with Drake. "Trust me, you'll get used to it. Soon we'll be getting shot at or fighting off an endangered species, and you won't even notice your home is literal lightyears away."

    A beat, then he grins. "Kidding. We're just babysitting. Keep your eye on the dragon and away from the babes." He adds, with an eye roll.

    The young man is dressed in his unique form-fitting Kymellian uniform, black and white, and little astronaut boots. "Dr. Stellaris," greets Zero-G, once they gain access. Any language barrier is covered by the universal translator built into his costume. He taps away on a brand new Legion-issued tablet (it's from the future!), before looking up at the woman. "Pleasure to meet you."

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia Stellaris and some of her fellow conservationists are waiting for Drake and Alex when their ship docks on the large research vessel as it cruises through the upper atmosphere. Though, it seems to be a bit run down, as if these people hadn't had either the time or money to keep it in top shape these days.

    She and her group seem to be mostly humanoid, though their skin is a light purple color, and she seems to have some kind of white patterning on her arms, along with long braided white hair. "You must be Slipstream and Zero-G." she says with a polite smile. "Welcome aboard the Titanstar. I know it's not the fanciest, but it does the job." A hand is extended to both of them to shake. "Thank you so much for coming to support us."

Slipstream has posed:
"It's definitely a better ship than my Mazda." Drake says as he reaches out his hand to shake hers, giving her a wide grin. "I'm Slipstream, this is Zero-G. Thank you so much for welcoming us to Aeon! We're both really excited to be here and to help out the Icy Dragons. I've never seen one before."

He runs a hand back through his hair, ruffling it with his fingers. "So, what will you need for us to do?" He asks curiously.

Zero-G has posed:
    While Drake handles the introductions, Alex notes some of the necessary repairs for the interior damage. "Your work here is admirable, and you have the full support of the Legion. We take the lives of endangered wildlife very seriously," He smiles at Drake, reminds himself to tell him about the time he saved a family of dolphins!

    "Yes, tell us about what you're doing with the Sky Dragons," That disarming smile turns onto the scientist.

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia beams at Drake's mention that he has never seen the creature before, her eyes full of excitement. "Few ever have, but you're in luck today. If everything goes as planned, you should have the opportunity see one -up close-!"

    She nods at Alex, although her eyes become somewhat sad. "Well, I'm glad -someone- out there shares our concern. It's been...hard, getting funding for this project." she sighs, then perks back up before continuing.

    "We've been tracking this particular individual for a while now, and are currently headed for the spot it usually likes to hang out around this time of the cycle. As for what we need you to do, for now just sit back and relax. But when we get close enough, I'm going to try to inject it with this experimental formulation." she says, holding up a moderately sized cylinder full of a glowing pale yellow liquid. "It should help them survive better in conditions they're not usually accustomed to. They -can- be somewhat unpredictable though, and I was hoping you could just make sure no one gets hurt if we...somehow accidentally upset it."

Slipstream has posed:
"Well, my experiences with dragons in the movie is that they breathe fire and try to eat you. I just hope I'm fast enough to not become a snack if it gets riled up." Drake gives Alex a playful jostling of the shoulder.

"Glowing yellow goo, huh?" He gives the vial a peek for a moment, then nods his head. "We're also really good at sitting back and relaxing. Kinda wish I brought some cocoa on this trip." He gives a click of his tongue. "Who supplies funding for stuff like this in outerspace?"

Zero-G has posed:
    "How small would you say their population is, roughly?" Alex asks of the scientist, even while being jostled. Presumably, the answer is for the information dump on the tablet. "That's what we're here for. If you have a sample of the formula, we have a super-genius among our ranks that could make some touch-ups should this go bad, though I, for one, have high hopes."

    Finally, to Drake, "Ice dragons breathe frost, dude. Obviously. If you get hungry, I brought snacks."

Mon-El has posed:
    The container has some writing on it in an alien language that Drake probably doesn't know, and is sealed at the top and bottom with metal caps. "Anyone with money, really." Azeilia says with a sigh. "Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if anyone like that on our planet cares enough about our wildlife." Then she chuckles. "I suppose it does resemble glowing yellow goo. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what in it, but my brother gave it to me out of the graciousness of his heart. He's a different sort of scientist, but he owns a biotech firm."

    She gives Alex a sobering look. "If I'm not mistaken, they are down to the last fifty inviduals, and they cannot be found on any other planet." As Alex turns to Drake, there are some excited shouts near the upper deck. Azeilia perks up. "It's been spotted!" she says excitedly, attaching a large needle to the cylinder. "Come on, you'll want to get a glimpse of it, trust me!"

Slipstream has posed:
"Probably not really easy if there is a million different space currencies out there. The conversion rate has to be crazy." Drake jokes a bit as he listens to the rest of the conversation. At the sound of excitement, he perks up and gives a wide grin to Alex. "Let's go dude! I can't wait to see icy sky dragons." He activates his ring as he floats upwards, preparing to go soaring after the team to investigate.

Zero-G has posed:
    "Wow, that's some gift. Was it your birthday or something?" Alex teases lightly, then the excitement happens. Closing out of the 31st-century version of 'Notepad', he slides the tablet into his pocket. It sorta just disappears? There's no imprint, at all. Then, he lifts off the ground and towards the upper deck, tiny black particles popping into existence around him.

Mon-El has posed:
    Sure enough, as the group gathers on the top deck, there is what appears to be a massive creature soaring gracefully through the air. It sort of resembles one of those Asian traditional dragons, but it seems to be some kind of ice elemental, its white glassy scales glinting and glittering in the sunlight. Its body has to be at least the length of the entire vessel! It is truly a magnificent thing.

    Azeilia gazes up at it, then turns to them. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Slipstream has posed:
"Dude." Drake says as he comes to a stop as his eyes widen, staring at the dragon as it floats through the sky. He runs his hands back through his hair, then gives a glance to Alex with a bolstering grin. "It's a fucking /dragon/." He breathes out with excitement in his voice. "Yeah, it's really beautiful. It's like .. straight out of a movie. A freaking space dragon."

Zero-G has posed:
    It's a majestic sight, even for experienced space-adventurer Alex Power. "This is amazing, Doctor. Can't believe what I'm seeing right now," And just to remind everyone in the room that he is still a teenager, his cellphone comes out and he snaps some shots. "Crazy to think anybody would let these creatures die out."

    "Thank you for showing us." Now inject it with yellow goo.

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia sighs. "Yeah, but I guess everyone's just too preoccupied with their own lives to care about nature." she says dejectedly. She doesn't seem to mind Alex taking photos. It's a natural response!

    "Well, guess I'd best get down to business," she says, grinning again. "Stand by." She loads the cylinder and the syringe into a harpoon gun of sorts, and fires it as soon as the creature gets within range. It connects with the midsection, the strange liquid quickly emptying into the creature's body.

    For a moment, nothing seems to happen. But suddenly, the ice elemental rears back, pausing as if confused for a moment. Then it turns and howls, blowing an icy blast straight at the Titanstar and causing ice to form on the hull. Alarms screech and engines sputter as those on the side facing the creature freeze over. The vessel groans and tilts sideways, alarms screeching! Azeilia cries out in alarm and loses her footing, desperately attempting to grab onto the deck railing to keep from falling off of the ship entirely.

Slipstream has posed:
Giving a glance over to Alex, Drake seems a bit uncertain when he watches the medication get loaded into a harpoon. "... They couldn't sneak that into some food or something?" He mutters aside to his friend. When the dragon lashes out to attack the ship, he says, "Oof. Okay, we gotta protect them."

"Are you able to use your powers to contain it? I can cause a distraction to lead it away from their boat." He pulls the high-tech visor over his eyes, watching a read out scroll past his eyes as it calculates distance.

"Insert heroic team tagline here!"

With that, he blurs forward in a number of quick jumps, looking to cross the dragon's field of vision. "YO ELSA! JUST LET IT GO!"

With that, he pulls his ice weapon off his hip and fires a few snowballs at the dragon, trying to lead it away.

Zero-G has posed:
    "First things first: the scientists," Alex frowns deeply but floats about, even as the rest of the ship jerks. He sweeps down and wraps an arm around Azeilia, steadying her and spreading his anti-gravity field to incorporate her. "Try to stay calm. Do you have any idea how to stop this thing without hurting it?"

    After all, he'd be pretty upset if someone harpooned a needle into him, too. For now, though, until the sky beast pursues Drake, Alex projects another field, smashing the ice on the hull and sending it back in splinters towards the creature.

Mon-El has posed:
    The distraction works, though it doesn't seem to do much damage. The creature roars and flies after Drake, probably intent on making a snack out of him.

    Meanwhile, Alex breaks the ice on the ship and the ice splinters fly at the elemental, but mostly just shatter on its icy hide. However, the Titanstar's engines have already been damaged--it's going to crash if someone doesn't intervene!

    Azeilia looks relieved when Alex catches her. She breathes in shakily, trying to calm herself. "I have a few ideas, unfortunately none of which we are currently equipped to handle. But if Slipstream keeps its attention and can head toward a warmer region south of here, it won't likely follow him there."

Slipstream has posed:
Flying while making jumps with his speed is next level parkour for Slipstream as he continues to zip in and out, firing snowballs at the creature just to annoy it more and to have it's full attention.

"Come on! You have to be quicker than that!"

As he dives over a rock formation, he blinks forward to a new spot, then shoots another ball of snow right into it's face. Splat!

"Snowball, get ready to do a Deep Freeze." He calls over to his robot companion who detaches itself from his harness, letting out a quiet 'doot' of affirmation.

"I know, it's made of ice and most likely I can only slow it down, but slower is better than rampaging quickly."

Zero-G has posed:
    "Think you handle a few more jumps?" says Alex, on his communicator. "unsurprisingly, it isn't too fond of warmer weather, so go south...if you can. Don't overexert yourself, and don't hesitate to come back to the ship."

    "I'll be busy doing something stupid if you need me," Zero-G drops Azeilia gently on the deck. Doing one big gravity leap to a nearby escape hatch, he locates the control panel attached to it, makes sure NOBODY is around him, says a little prayer, and WHOOOOOOOSH.

    Blond hair stirring wildly, he dives down up and under the transport, placing his hands flat on its underside. The most he's ever lifted before was a sunken naval vessel when he was eleven, and given the pressure at the ocean floor, that's a pretty sizeable feat. This, though...this may just be beyond him, but he tries nonetheless, stretching his signature dotted field over the spacecraft.

    The method grants him a degree of stablity, luckily.

Mon-El has posed:
    The ice dragon isn't really taking any real damage. If one can't fight fire with fire, can't fight ice with ice either, it seems. However, Drake does seem to be succeeding in keep its attention. He's just so darn fast! It can't keep up with his movements. It shakes its head as snow seems to pelt it from all angles. Finally, it sucks in and tries unleashing that icy breath again--this time at Drake.

    Meanwhile on the Titanstar, friction with the atmosphere outside is causing atmospheric gases around it to burn hot as its fall nears terminal velocity. All of the force its weight is pushing against Alex as he tries desperately to slow its descent. This will definitely push his limits, but just when he might have thought he was going to end up getting squished into the ground, it finally begins to slow down. He might just be able to pull this off!

Zero-G has posed:
    It is not easy. Alex presses his back flat along the bottom hull and braces himself for a fiery, rocky death, eyes squeezed tight. The descent is killing him. The sunken ship was stationary. Friday was too, the one time Alex managed to lift them. Acting against inertia is supremely difficult, and he is only just capable of it because of the duration of this fall.

    Make no mistake, it takes a toll on him physically and mentally. The friction burns away at his costume and skin (ouch!), and it's through the protection of his field that he isn't vaporized completely. Through the pain and gritted teeth, his will is iron. There are innocent lives on this ship, and he won't relent until there's a safer option. If it means his life, so be it.

Mon-El has posed:
    The descent is probably only a few seconds, maybe a minute, but it must feel like an eternity. However, by the time the vessel reaches the ground, it has slowed enough to come to a rather rough landing--but not a crash! When he finally lets go, it skids across the ground and bowls over some trees, but is mostly in one piece.

    In the meantime, still high in the sky, the ice elemental finally gives up trying to chase the speedy Slipstream around, and just sort of flies off indignantly.

    After a few moments, the Titanstar has come to a full rest. Azeilia hurries out of a broken hatch, along with the rest of her crew. Thankfully, they all seem to be just fine. Her eyes are wide. "Zero-G, you saved us! I can't thank you enough. I don't know what we would have done without the Legion here."

Zero-G has posed:
    Thrown from the vehicle before he can be squashed like a bug underneath it, Alex is...somewhere when the ship lands.

    He emerges from a cluster of the alien planet's flora, barely clinging to consciousness and leaning heavily on a tree. "Is everyone alright?" He is not a pretty sight, bleeding profusely from the several tears in his uniform and all, but he is infinitely more concerned about everyone else.

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia's eyes widen at the condition he's in. "Oh gods, you should be asking -yourself- if you're all right!" she exclaims. "Yes, we are all fine." She offers a hand to help him, but also produces a vial of the formulation she'd injected the creature with. "...you mentioned you had a genius in your ranks. I will provide you with a sample...please, help us understand why this happened."