11/Crusader Quarantine

Crusader Quarantine
Date of Scene:	05 April 2017
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Jack-In-The-Box confronts Crusader about the danger her presents to Earth.
Cast of Characters:	46, Crusader

---

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
In the vastness of space, an alien craft tears its way through the capillaries of hyperspace.

"What if we are too late?" asks a silvery voice in a tongue impossible for humans to pronounce.

"We will not be. We must not be," replies another, a singular voice spoken simultaneously from three mouths.

"Proceed with caution. Initial action: quarantine. Possibility of disinfection: unknown. Make ready! Brace for shift to 3-d reality! Inertial sidewinders activate!"

Suddenly, the craft slides into existence at the edge of Earth's orbit. Far below, the boroughs of New York City begin to illuminate as the area rotates out of the sunlight...

Crusader has posed:
Nightime... what still a good time. Sure Crusader couldn't be his 'true self' in his armored and caped 'heroic form'. He can still has yet to fully assimilate Bjorn physically...perhaps afraid too, even if mentally it has already been done. He wonders which is the 'real' him

Those are just some of the thoughts of The Crusade. He was standing atop the highest point in Flatbush, cape blowing softly in the wind. But of course no one saw him, that was the point of being in the highest place ment no one saw him.

He was stareing down at the city unaware of the aliencraft that had just entered earth's orbit. Perhaps today is a time to take a break and just work on some repairs. Choices, choices

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
A small pod bursts out from the underneath the alien craft, plummeting into the Earth's atmosphere.

"Disciple Znt-av-nr, your task is clear: quarantine the planet. Then we can return. The vessel will await news of your success." The voice crackles into the pod from an intercom as its inhabitant grits something akin to teeth.

Below, it looks like a shooting star streaks through the early evening. Then it grows larger. And larger.

Several blocks away, the shooting star makes contact with a parking garage. A ball of fire erupts into the sky, and dozens of cars' alarms begin wailing.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader notices the 'shooting star' as well as it getting closer. Oh boy. He best get moving! He still wasn't...comfortable flying yet and so runs across and jumps various roofs on the way to the parking garage

Could it be another alien? Irony has it he had to help the princess of an alien world, that some alien were looking for. Hopefully this wasn't a psion! Still he jumps down into th fire and debree.

Once landed he quickly runs to where he beleive the epicenter of the incident is, turning off the alarms of the cars as he passes by them, silencing them. The police were bound to come fast, so he best deal with this matter as efficently as possible!

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
In the middle of a massive pile of rubble and automobile parts, a figure claws its way out of a strange trapezoidal pod structure.

As it emerges, the figure stands--reaching nearly eight feet in height and encased in a suit of mechanorganic armor. Its skin is a pale gray, and five eyes stare out above something that might be a mouth. It reaches into the pod and retrieves a long staff.

As Crusader approaches, a light on the staff begins to flash, and the item emits a sound that resembles nothing so much as Gregorian chant.

"What?" the figure asks to no one in particular, looking around. "Where?"

Crusader has posed:
Crusader is not used to seeing beings larger than him (as he is a solid 7ft), but he also had no reason to worry. Unlike full humans, he is more than aware of alien races, even if he does no recognize some.

His cyberpathic picked up the being was wearing mechanorganic armor...similar to techno-organic. He make sure not to appear aggressive as he speaks to the alien entity "Denizen you are in New York City, and your vehicle has landed in a parking garage. It is best to move you and your craft elsewhere while you...collect yourself. Do you understand?"

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
The alien whips its head about at the sound of Crusader's voice to stare at the hero.

"You...?" it asks, its voice fluctuating a bit. The staff continues to sing, with the sound of more voices joining in the chant.

"You," the alien continues, composing itself and stepping cautiously toward Crusader. "Do you understand what you are? I am Disciple Znt-av-nr of the Omnistellar Viro-tox Expedition. I am come to save this world. To treat its greatest illness."

Crusader has posed:
Crusader is quiet a long moment as the alien approaches. His peircing gold eyes lock onto the aliens. And some how despite seeming to only have 'two' eyes, he manages to lock onto all five of the aliens.

Never removeing his eyes and actually gives the alien a simple bow of greetings before standing straight once more "....yes and no. But if your treatment involve trying to kill The Crusade, than one must warn you, there will be no hesitation to fight back" he says cordially "But alas, if you come to discuss first, then one bids that we go before the authorities come and the local denizens panicked"

Hoping this will be peaceful, he turns and begins to walk away towards a building, hoping the alien entity will come, as well as send it pod away. He could already detect dozen of going out to the police, and knew they were on route

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
The alien flutters its eyelids. It looks for a moment as though it's going to respond, but instead it follows Crusader away from the crash site.

"If you are not fully aware of what you are, then I am sorry for it. My church--the Expedition--is tasked with pruning the weeds of the universe, excising its tumors, treating its diseases," the alien says as it strides behind Crusader, its knees bending backwards to propel it forward.

"The treatment, I must add, is not harmful. At least," it continues, "not to those uninfected components of the global ecosystem."

The alien's staff stops chanting as its wielder lowers the tip of the staff toward Crusader.

"On this planet, do inhabitants apologize to the germs they kill?"

Crusader has posed:
Crusder begins to ascend the building. He clearly was not trying to run away. He couldsee the red and blue comming "It is foggy. Or perhaps it is fear." he actually wasn't sure which.

"And this one can tell you, while you claim desease, my..progenators claim in a sense transcendence. Not to bring harm, but to bring good"

Once ontop of the building "Your pod? Can it at the very least be stealthed and moved" he was determined to keep people from panicking

And finally as for that last question "No. But than again, the germs of this word are not sapiant" he notes "Incapable of thought, feeling or choice" he turns to face the alien, his arms crossed over his armored chest.

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
"The pod has already de-constituted itself," Znt-av-nr replies. "Unlike your contamination, the Expedition does not leave any lasting effects on the worlds it disinfects. Of course, those that cannot be disinfected ..." it trails off.

The alien clutches its staff and offers a facial expression that might be a smile. Or a sneer. Or maybe that's just what it looks like while inhaling. Whatever the case, it presses a small tab on its staff and fires a white-hot beam of plasma toward Crusader.

"Sapient or not, a disease is a disease. I am here to /ease/."

Crusader has posed:
WIth quick reflexes Crusader puts up his gauntlet arms in self defense. The blast forces him to skid back. Momentarily his actual human hands, which are a good deal smaller than what the armor would have other indicated show. The armor like liquid surges back over the form and flexes his digits

"The Crusade is not a disease. It has not contaminated anything." his guantlet hands suddenly look coated in plasma. A shaft appears in his chest and he pulls it out in a swift expert motion, pulling out a entire spear, the spearhead itself coated in plasma just like his guantlets

"And why one enjoys fighting, any further aggretion will not be tolorated." he was ready to throw down.

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
"Perhaps sapience was too much of an assumption, then," the alien replies in an exasperated tone. "I thought my point was clear: this is not aggression. This is the lancing of a boil. This is the decontamination of a world's infection site."

Pressing its staff again, the alien fires another arc of plasma at Crusader, the beam hissing as edges of it splash against the rooftop.

"What else is your crusade /but/ a disease? I completed my studies in macroviral chameleo-mutation with flying colors. I think I know what I am talking about."

Crusader has posed:
Crusade dodges to the side "Stricktly speaking, it is not our crusade, but a gestalt mind that all who is assimilated becomes a part of." He says this while lightning begins dancing around his spear

Suddenly he points his spear at The Alien and a surge of lightning shoots forward "One that was created from the fusion of two seperate species. One of symbiotic benevolence and the other of single minded survival. The Survival of benevolence within one body"

At the end of his words, weather the alien had moved or not, the spear will be thrown at the alien in an attempt to piece it through the shoulder. A none leather move, but one ment to simply root the creatue in place

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
The lightning crackles on contact with Znt-av-nr, who attempts--unsuccessfully--to ward itself from the attack with a flurry of fingertips on the staff. Instead, what happens is that the creature freezes, the powerful electrical charge overloading its mechanorganic outfit.

A moment later, the spear embeds itself between the alien's collar and shoulder. Znt-av-nr cries out in pain and topples backward from the force of the spear's impact into its body.

"No ... no ... you do not understand what you do. You are endangering this entire world ... please," it pleads. "Accept ... this ..."

Crusader has posed:
Crusader stands over Znt-av-nr placing his hand on the spear as it sticks out of the aliens body, his eyes aglow "No, YOU do not understand. The Crusade CHOOSE not to assimilate this world, choose not to force people into a collective whole. Choose instead to only take one being, the one who made The Crusade whole, to make it sentient. And now that one is alive, it cannot simply let itself die"

"But perhaps, this is simply to alien for you to understand. Perhaps it is time to cure YOUR affliction" omoniouse worlds comming from the armored figured "To become one with The Crusade" and with that liquid metal like goo flows down the spear and onto as well as into the alien. The Crusade was begining to intergrate with the alien - the sensation though is not painful.

Jack-in-the-Box (46) has posed:
"Is ... is that what they told you? My ... my introductory textbook ... covered that truthophage tactic ..."

The alien grimaces as Crusader begins to attempt integrating with it. "No ... I told you ... we do not make a lasting impact ..."

With difficulty, the alien taps a pattern onto an armor panel on the outside of its hip. A quick countdown begins, and then the alien distintegrates away into nothing. The liquid metal from Crusader makes contact with the rooftop on which the alien had been lying.

In orbit, a klaxon resounds throughout the alien craft.

"Disinfection was prevented. Quarantine must continue--at least until a more potent treatment can be devised," states an alien voice on the craft.

"Eradication?" asks another.

"Perhaps. We shall await word from the chem-priests from the sterile safety of hyperspace."

Crusader has posed:
The liquid rejoins with Crusader. He looks to the sky above, as if searching for the ship, but there was nothing to be found, nothing to be seen. He was a bit shocked at himself... as he was about to force take another being into the collective.

But more disturbing than that, there was something, someone out there that wants him dead, and has been known to destroy worlds if they could not get rid of the supposed contanimation "Looks like one will need to stay vilgilant" he says to no one in particular. Guess it was time to save the world. He snaps his finger... he did have a space craft, but should he search the stars now?