4235/Nuala Duvall vs. The Swarm

Nuala Duvall vs. The Swarm
Date of Scene:	11 April 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Mon-El, Nuala Duvall

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Mon-El has posed:
    It's a fairly quiet afternoon in Vernon, a suburb of Metropolis. But there have been some strange sightings in an empty field behind one of the residential neighborhoods. Despite the fact that it is only about mid spring, the insect population out there seems to have grown to a size usually associated with summer. Actually, even bigger than that. There are -swarms- out there so big they look like clouds from a distance away. It's definitely weird, so some of the residents had contacted the local DNR about it. But those who were sent to investigate...did not return. More were once again sent, but again, did not return. So naturally, people were starting to get scared of going anywhere near these bugs, whatever was up with them.

    This might made some news sites, although given the volume of crazy stuff that happens around Metropolis day in and day out, it probably wouldn't have made the headlines. Incidentally, this field is the same field that Lar Gand landed in some months ago, according to various agencies like SHIELD and Alpha Flight. Or anyone else who would have been watching the skies at the time.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    The Sea Song slows as it starts to close in on the field. "Timmy, begin the scan," she instructs, standing up from the pilot's seat. "Bring up the history of this area, any possible alien entrants in the last two years." She walks casually over to her shell suit, scaling some setting before stepping backward into the feet. The suit contracts around her with a clean click, and she steps back off the platform. She walks to the display where the A.I. displays the possible scenarios. "Engage entry 54D." The residual signature of Mon-El's entry is displayed. "Trace elements, often found in space, radiation abnormality..." she frowns. "Looks like we have a potential problem. Notify command, I'm going to go investigate." She looks out the viewscreen as she sees the clouds of creatures. "Right." Her cheek twitches, uncomfortable at the sight of the swarm. "Lower the hatch back here, I'll approach on foot." The ramp lowers in a nearby suburban alley, and she hops out quickly as that same ramp retracts again into the invisible ship. She scans around the area, identifying where the local humans are and doing her best to avoid any interaction with people that she can manage, heading toward the nearby field.

Mon-El has posed:
    Fortunately, the field is a distance away from any of the local human residents, so she shouldnt have to worry too much about anyone getting hurt from collateral damage. As she approaches, she can see that the reports are true: there is indeed a massive swarm of insects swirling in a circular pattern above the field, all moving in sync with one another. This behavior is truly strange, because they are not all the same species. Dragonflies, wasps, flies, all sorts of different insects, all of the types youd expect to see around these parts.

    They don't seem to pay her any mind just yet, but her scans are definitely giving her some odd readings. These creatures definitely -look- like they're part of the local fauna at first glance, but Nuala's more advanced equipment is telling her that this can't be the case. They're different on the -inside-.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "Timmy, give me an analysis of this," Nuala says, eyeing the strange reading. She brings up a more detailed scan, looking up at the swarm again and letting the A.I. do his work. She walks forward, looking down at the grass of the field, looking for things that seem out of place. "Do we know what that landing could be that was found?"
    Timmy responds after a moment. "It appears that this was the landing site of Lar Gand, also known as Mon-El." She reaches a hand out as she goes closer, putting her hand in the path of the swirling insects to see how they respond.

Mon-El has posed:
    Upon putting her hand into the path of the swarmin insects, Nuala will actually receive some kind of electrical feedback. Not a huge one, but it feels like that static when you touch a metal doorknob after rubbing your sweater against the carpet. The swarm formation arcs away from her hand, as if repulsed by it.

    Then something else starts happening...they appear to be moving in closer to each other, packing tight into a single mass. A single mass that is rapidly changing shape. A few more seconds and instead of a swarm of thousands of tiny bugs, there is -one- giant bug that resembles some kind of twisted cross between a dragonfly and a scorpion. It hisses and beats its wings. Yep, it is definitely not happy. If Duvall is going to run, she had better run now. If she's going to stand and fight, then she had better make a move soon!

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Inside the suit, Nuala quirks her mouth to one side. "Well, how about that?" she says, bringing up her weapon systems. "Timmy, analyze weaknesses, contact made, estimation, hostile." She brings up concussive cannon, expecting it to have the most impact at her personal assessment of the hive creation. "See if the individual members are remaining intact, or if they have given over their bodies to actually merge as a larger single creature." She doesn't wait for the answer, expecting that the result of her first engage to be indicative enough. The cannon pulses, and a shockwave of impact ripples out forward toward the beast. If they are still individual creatures, it should be enough force to impactively kill many of the small bugs if they still exist individually as such.

Mon-El has posed:
    The cannon strikes the creature in the head directly, sending it reeling for a few seconds and almost knocking it off its feet. However, it does not break apart or give any indication that the individual insects are still separate. It would appear that they did something to change their base physiology and merge to form a larger being. If the thing wasn't pissed off before, it really is pissed off now. It screeches and raises a scorpion-like tail above its head to fire a bolt of electricity at her in retaliation.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala tries to duck to one side, but she's not faster than electricity, and it shoots through her suit. The signals of the suit fuzz for a moment, and she feels the heat wash through the suit, causing her to instantly sweat. It's a good thing her suit is designed for these sorts of things.
    "It didn't like that," she tells Timmy.
    "It appears that the individual insects have merged to form a singular creature, no longer distinctive individuals," Timmy tells her.
    "Yes, thanks I noticed," Nuala sighs. Switching to a more traditional approach, she arms her plasma blasters. They make less noise than the cannon, and don't require as much paperwork. Her wrists ignite, and she begins charging forward into the creatures close range, trying to make her way beneath it, firing at the tail to melt it away from the rest of the body.

Mon-El has posed:
    The plasma assault inflicts several scorching burns along the monstrosity's carapace, causing its angry shrieking to intensify further. It beats its wings again, this time enough to lift itself into the air in an attempt to get away from Nuala's weapons at least for a time. It reaches a height just above the tops of the few trees in the area, then divebombs straight at her, aiming to grab her and sink its powerful jaws into her body.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala continues to charge forward at the beast, systematic and methodical. She watches as it dives forward toward her, and as it reaches out with it's mandible, she tucks low, grabbing a hold of one side, her cannon covering her left arm as she stuffs it into the monster's mouth and releases the charge.

Mon-El has posed:
    The creature's grip is quite strong, crushing hard against her armor as soon as it comes into contact with her. And then she shoves her cannon into its mouth even as it bites down hard. Thankfully, the blast discharges before the weapon--and her arm for that matter--can be destroyed, blowing the thing's head to shreds. Immediately, it lets go of her, and starts to disperse. The individual creatures that had originally shifted into the larger form return and start to make a hasty retreat!

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala growls. "Timmy, the target is fleeing," she announces, and switches to the ice spread. She starts spraying, racing after the insects, trying to freeze and kill the infected creatures. "I do not think I can stop them all from escaping."
    Nuala glances back at the homes. "Can you get an identification of the specific race?" The spray shifts back and forth, attempting to stop the fleeing bugs.

Mon-El has posed:
    The ice certainly gets a good chunk of them, freezing them solid and sending them plummeting back down to the ground. But she's right...there are simply too many for one ice cannon to handle. If Timmy can get an estimate on the number, probably about a few hundred of them have managed to escape, flying toward the residential area nearby.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala activates the suit's communication. "Call Lar Gand," she gives the verbal command. She needs to know what these things are. She scoops up one of the frozen bugs, continuing to chase. "Please answer..."

Mon-El has posed:
    Even as Nuala continues to give chase, the last of the strange bugs scatter and disappear behind houses or into the brush or grass. blending in with the foliage and other insects in the area. But, at least Lar does answer the comms when she calls. "Nuala Duvall." he says pleasantly. "How are you?"

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "Lar," Nuala answers, short on breath as she runs down one more insect. She sprays the ice weapon across the grass the insects hide in, and slows her pace as she runs out of insects that she can track. She is in such a hurry, she forgets to move from using Xandarian to using English. "Your ship, when you landed here a few months ago, it had an alien parasite on it. Do you know what it might have been?" So much for hello.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Uhhh--" Lar laughs nervously as Nuala just kind of gets right to the point. Yeah, really so much for 'hello' and 'how are you'. "Hey could you say that again? I had to get my translator. I am good at languages but I have to admit Xandarian isn't one of my strong suits just yet." he chuckles.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala repeats, this time in English. "Sorry, there is a parasite where your ship landed. I need to know what kind, it has infected local insects and is moving to be in a living place for people." What was that word in english? She rushes to one of the houses, turning the corner, holding the ice weapon out to try to find her escaped targets.

Mon-El has posed:
    Certainly, there are insects around, of course. But given that her targets don't outwardly differ from the local fauna, finding them all is going to be difficult, and confirming them all dead might be impossible.

    All this spraying of ice and running around looking for bugs has attracted some attention, though. A middle-aged looking man steps out onto his porch, staring at her. Then he stares at the grass where she has sprayed the ice to get rid of the aliens. It seems she is on his lawn. "Excuse me, ma'am, but is there a reason you're out here, in the middle of the night, ruining my lawn with your weirdo ice thingy?" he asks, sounding grumpy.

    Lar's voice shows a hint of concern when she mentions a parasite. "Grife. A parasite? ...Tell me what happened, exactly? What did you see?"

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala stops, staring at the man staring at her. "Yes," she acknowledges after a moment, "but I cannot tell you," she says through the armored suit, the comm still open to Lar. "Lar," she re-addresses him, now speaking so that her voice is contained only within the suit. "It seemed to take over the body of local insects, or else had form itself of insects. It was able to combine to a large insectile creature, very resilient. I defeated it, but the smaller insects re-emerged, they have moved into the neighborhat nearby."

Mon-El has posed:
    The man scoffs, shaking his head. This lady just doesn't get it, does she? "What I -meant-, was that you need to get off my lawn and stop damaging my property, or else I'm gonna call the police on you. Capiche?" he snaps.

    "Hmm," Lar responds over the comms. "What kinds of attacks did it use when you were fighting? Just physical melee or did it appear to have any other kind of firepower?"

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala glances around. She doesn't answer the man, but in response, starts walking off his lawn and on to the next, looking for her targets. "There was an electri discharge that it was able to emit. Registered at .7 ampres. Enough that would have been able to render a human unconscious. I need to know, what did you fly through on your way here?"

Mon-El has posed:
    The man seems satisfied, but his shouting has attracted attention. More people are poking their heads out of their houses, peering at her curiously. A woman approaches and asks, "Who are you? Are you a superhero? Are we in danger? Why are you killing our grass?"

    Lar shakes his head. "I didn't fly in anything, Nuala. It was just me. I think what you're dealing with are Korbalian replicators or mirror bugs. Their young are extremely tiny and latch onto whatever they can find, feeding on the host until they get large enough to devour it entirely and gain the ability to shapeshift into that being. They're a hive mind and can shift to merge their bodies together to form a larger version of themselves. I think when you defeated them you drove them out of their territory...that's why they moved out."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "Oh, fantastic, yes, I've heard of them." Nuala growls, bringing up the scanner. "Timmy, scan for those bugs, we have to eliminate all of them, or this problem will just keep reappearing. Maybe we can get a sonic frequency to match, that should reduce collateral damage." She walks without stealth throught he night of the street. "If they hadn't gone among the homes I could use the ship to scorch the area. Now there are civilians involved," she explains to Lar.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Hm, they must have been on my clothes or something but dropped off because they couldn't bite into me." Lar muses, sighing. "Why don't you just get rid of as many as you can, dispose of the dead bodies and I'll come have a look myself later just to make sure they're all gone."

    The scan, matching based on previous data recorded, would reveal that they're all scattered about the area. In the grass, trees, bushes...and some of them have gone into people's houses. Well, this ought to be fun.