Oliver didn't know how to feel about Raynor before, his brief experience with him, or his skrull counterpart at least, was that he was gruff, and unpredictable; Christmas with Santa-nor still haunted him in some ways, but right now he appreciated his expediency and seeming commitment to facing this threat head on. Directness was always something he appreciated, even if it turned into bluntness in the worst case. They didn't have time for niceties or even trust at the moment, so when it came to be his turn to speak, he wasted no time introducing himself.
"I'm Agent Oliver Sullivan, raised in Cardiff, studied physics and math in Cambridge, and I first became aware of the Skrull threat on December 25th, 2020." He opted to leave out information about his parentage, thinking perhaps it wasn't best to flaunt around that he was sired by space Hitler, on account of his dad being space Hitler, and because Oliver was, of course, supposed to be dead. That last part hit him a bit hard, if the Skrulls knew about that, he could be at risk of being exposed as still being alive to Thanos, but that would be something to worry about after they got kicked off the planet.
Niah grinned as Ryanor called her psychotic. It was really funny actually and she had to try her best to not laugh. "I'm Niah Bautista. Born in 1997 and raised in the Philippines." She told the truth of this version of reality the version that until the fight with the demon bear she hadn't remembered. "My sister is Dalisy wanted by SHIELD for acts of terrorism, and for what is probably completely legitimate reasons on Doctor Strange's watch list. I am a mutant, product of Phase Three." She said. All details anyone part of the Secret Warriors would know, and not a single lie.
She was sad about Maria and hoped that the Skrulls were taking prisoners. It would be worth having to deal with Flynn again if Maria returned to them. She removed her glove and touched Cass's clothing, her power didn't work on people it had to be objects. She got a flash of Cass kissing Matt, she had known they had gone on a date, but really gross. There were a few other flashes of things that confirmed that Cass's clothes hadn't been summoned or previously belonged to a green-blooded alien trying to take over the world. "Cass is good." Niah just caught Matt's shoulder release a little tension.
Location: Boardwalk Skills:
Matt had a conundrum as the group was telling truths about themselves. If he said he was born 'Matt Moss' it would be a lie. Did he out himself like that? Part of the group had to know. At least Cass did. He decided to word it carefully. "My name is Matthew Moss. I was born in London in 1991. I joined the SBS where I encountered the Terrigian Mists and found out I was inhuman. During the fight on the moon I was exposed again but thankfully didn't die." He figured he'd be kind to Oliver and not say his exposure was Oliver's fault.
He felt better knowing that both Niah and Raynor had cleared Cass. He held out his jacket for Niah who when she touched it she made the same face she had when she saw Cass's memories. "Seriously how much do you guys make out?" Matt rolled his eyes. "Yeah he's not a Skrull. I was gonna say he's human, but he's actually a descendent of aliens that lived on the moon so that wouldn't be true."
"What has gotten into you?' He asked Niah she was never like this.
"General anesthesia." Niah said with a grin. "They really wouldn't have discharged me if Dr. Larson hadn't been there. Who's next?"
"Well whatever," she mumbled, shaking her head slightly as she turned her attention towards the group that was now all gathered there. Sparky wasn't too sure what to say or what to even do now. They all were back together, they just had to deal with the fact that there was an alien invasion that was going to be causing a whole lot of problems for them. Yup, she really hated the Skrulls and was more then happy to see about electrocuting more then a few of them. She really hated them and wanted to make them suffer for messing with them.
Everyone was talking and more or less saying information about themselves so that they could be cleared as Skrulls. It made sense, since now they had two people with them who could potentially detect if someone was a Skrull or not. That was a good thing, though hearing loopy Niah or whatever was a bit odd, and she had to stop herself from giggling at her friend. Maybe they should have waited a little bit for Niah to start using her powers to clear people, since right now she was a little loopy sounding and probably wasn't thinking entirely straight based on how anesthesia tended to work.
Location: Quinjet Skills: N/A
Now, he was just listening to the whole conversation, and damn was Kwassi being an idiot. "You do realize a few different things right? One, as Evelyn over there pointed out, there are more people with powers then just mutants. Secondly if they had a telepath at their disposal, it would have been way easier for them to fly under the radar, since if anyone got close who they didn't want to mess with switching out, they could have just wiped their memories. So how about you stop pointing fingers and just watch what the hell you are saying, got it?" he said, instantly defending the group that Kwassi was more or less accusing of helping the Skrulls.
Alex glanced over at Bonnie as she started saying how there was no evidence that they didn't just kill people. His mind went to something, and it was how he had ended up with the group in the first place. "Actually, you might be wrong about that, at least partially..." he said to Bonnie calmly. "Something tells me if there wasn't a Skrull already in my place pretty sure people would have noticed by now... And they didn't kill me I was on a transport ship... So I don't think they are killing the people the replace... There is always a chance."
Location: Skrull Ship Skills: Fire Manipulation
Of course, his slight fears of Skrulls showing up was only partially warranted, since only two of them showed up. If they sounded the alarm then they all would likely end up screwed and dead. Maria wasted no time and instantly sent a blast of fire that killed the Skrull that had been heading for the alarm. She tried to burn the other one, but her shot missed and then she went on about it just being a warning shot. "Okay, I'm against warning shots, so how about you just burn," Flynn said to the Skrull before sending a fireball from his hand and lighting the Skrull on fire and killing it.
With the two Skrulls dead, he went over to see if there was possibly a key or something to unlock that cell door, and unfortunately, he didn't find one. That wasn't a good thing, and they needed to hurry if they wanted to get the princess or whatever out of there. An idea popped into his head and he went over to the cell door as his arms lit on fire, and he put his hands right against the door. Moving his hands around, he managed to make a rather large cutout opening, and he knocked the piece out as the fire died down. His shirt had sleeves before, and now it was more of a tank top from the fire and burnt around the edges. "There... An open door..." he said to the other two, "And I really need to invest in fireproof shirts..." he muttered under his breath.
"I don't think she'll get the reference," Hope commented, before pausing for a moment. "Also, isn't Zelda a boy?" she then asked. She wasn't big into video games - not like her on-again-off-again boyfriend. She was worried his daughter, Cassie, would grow up addicted to them. Thankfully she still basically a baby, so Hope had time to persuade Scott to change his parenting habits. The Wasp didn't even get a chance to engage really, as her companions used fire to take out the two skrulls.
"Ugh, gross," Hope complained. Charred skrull wasn't an ideal scent. The smell from Flynn burning through the door was even worse and she looked like she might puke a little bit. The skrull girl though, she didn't seem to really mind it at all. She had a hardened look in her eyes, like she was somehow used to such things despite her prim and proper posture.
"Thank you, I owe you a debt of gratitude," she said, curtsying to them. She doubted this was a trick, with how brutally they had just murdered the guards. "I am Princess Anelle, heir to the Skrull Empire... or at least, I was," she finished, sighing slightly.
"As much as I've love to hear about the skrull version of the Crown, we need to move," Hope urged. "Come on, your majesty."
Jersey City Boardwalk - New Jersey: 10:30 P.M
"Reed, Bautista, and Moss are clear," Raynor announced, before his eyes narrowed slightly. Unfortunately, his power didn't tell him exactly what people were lying about - if someone read off a list of facts and only one of them was false, Raynor wouldn't be able to pick out the anomaly. He would just know they had said a lie - everything on the list could be false for all he knew. "Oliver is lying," he said bluntly. He conjured up a ball of light in his hands, waiting for Oliver to make a sudden move, to confirm that he really was a skrull.
"...Erm, maybe Oliver should be next, yeah?" Amelia suggested to Niah. She would have asked to go next, figuring it was best if everyone was confirmed twice, but she didn't. She was watching to see the way that Oliver would react to this - although, there was a chance to somehow Raynor was a skrull and he was setting up Oliver as the fall person. It wasn't something Amelia would've done, she was too nice, but Raynor seemed to be a bit of a jackass so far. She also couldn't help but notice how quiet Sparky was being - did she not want to go through with being tested, because she knew that she'd turn up as a skrull?
"I don't know what the hell you're lying about, but it's something you said. So how about you try that again, and Bautista does her thing, and if you're cleared, I won't smash your skull in. But if you are a skrull, and trust me, I'm hoping you are, I will rip out your spine and shove it so far up your ass that a colonoscopy will seem like a fun Saturday activity in comparison. Got it?" Raynoe threatened, in typical Raynor fashion. It was very possible that Oliver was just lying about when he found out about the skrull threat, but Raynor didn't know why he'd say something like that. It was equally likely though that he was lying about his name and that he wasn't really Oliver.
"Wow, that was... that was graphic," Amelia muttered. This entire situation was putting her a bit on edge, making her nervous. She didn't like not knowing who to trust. She was always really bad at deception games, like Secret Hitler and Ultimate Werewolf. She didn't like not being able to trust her friends. "But, um, Sparks? You should get tested. Say your words or whatever. Since I'm totally not accusing you of being a space alien, but it looks kinda odd that you haven't done anything to prove that you're not a space alien. Right? Right. Good talk. Yay. I don't know how to finish this conversation. Sorry."
Dr. Larson then came out of her ship, raising a bit of an eyebrow at the intense scene she was seeing. "Oh, so it's one of those terran teams," she said, partially to break the tension.
Quinjet - New Jersey: 10:30 P.M
Bonnie knew that Evelyn was trying to argue against mutants being responsible, but her point about human-mutant relations being horrible was more of an argument for why mutants would want to help an invading race wipe out and/or enslave humanity. She kept her mouth shut though, as she had no interest in playing devil's advocate. So many people felt compelled to do so and she just didn't understand it. The devil could advocate for themselves - and by saying that you were advocating for the devil, you were acknowledging inherent evil in your words and thoughts.
Truthfully, she found it more interesting to hear Jakobsen defending mutants. It wasn't very long ago that he had tried to kill the X-Men. He had been the leader of O.M.E.N., a government agency based on hate and fear - rather than love and hope like S.H.I.E.L.D. "You both could be right - they could be keeping prisoners. It's also possible they only keep... high profile victims. You, Mr. President, aren't an ordinary target. They have an incentive to keep you alive. That may not be true for the others..." She got the sense that they were all wanting to treat her with kid gloves. But she was fine.
Really.
Cleared by Niah(?) Cass Matt
Cleared by Raynor(?) Amelia Cass Niah Matt
Suspicious Oliver - Raynor claimed he lied Sparky - untested Bonnie - untested Kwassi - untested Raynor - untested Jakobsen - untested Evelyn - untested All NPCs - untested
Kwassi scowled as The President had decided to place his two cents in. He could tell that both he and Evelyn were arguing against the idea that mutants could be a part of this. But it was his tone and words that caused the negative emotions to arrise. "Perhaps it is you who should watch what you're saying Mr. President. While you're at it you need to actually listen to what it is people are saying. This isn't your OMEN echo chamber anymore, you need to take your head out of you ass and begin to listen to what others have to say. Not once did I poimt fingers at the mutant race and say they were plotting an enslavement or genocide or anything. I said that the Skrulls could be using mutant telepaths. As in, captive slaves, prisoner's of war, and exploited against their will. I do not believe the mutant kind to be some intolerable race of beings as you used to make a living doing. But I do see how they can be bent against their will especially by a race of aliens we know nothing about."
Kwassis fist tightened. Anger broiled inside of him as he stood up from his seat finally undoing the buckles. "Perhaps you were only kept alive because of your status." He stood up, facing down the President. "But I will hold out hope that that is not true. For Flynn, for our fellow Agents that have been taken, for the Heroes that have fallen, and most importantly for those civilians who may have been taken from their families. Do not presume to know me, do not presume my stances. You're still just a man who came from a Skrull ship and could easily be one of them. So until then" Kwassi walked towards the Quinjet door on his way out "Keep your damn distance" With that he stepped out of the Quinjet onto the scene of the others standing about. "Its getting stuffy in there, how's everything going on out here?"
Location: Quinjet, Jersey City Boardwalk. Skills: N/A
Cassandra relaxed slightly when she was cleared by both Raynor and Niah as well as Matt to, she blushed slightly at Niah and looked at Matt for a moment. "You could have at least kept that a secret or something." Cass said softly as she listened to Oliver, and then Raynor pointing out that he was lying and Raynor instantly summoned a ball of light and threatened Oliver. "Okay, just calm down a bit Raynor alright?" Cass said stepping slightly in between the two of them, and turned to look at Oliver calmly she didnt want to think that he was actually a skrull.
"Try and restate that clearly, you may have gotten the dates mixed up or something along those lines." Cassandra said to Oliver, her attention turned towards the Quinjet as Kwassi came off asking how things were going. "Clearing up who's a skrull and who isnt." Cass told Kwassi when a woman she didnt know stepped off of the other ship. "Who might you be if I may ask?" Cassandra asked, she wasnt really sure but assumed that the person had helped Niah and Oliver.
Evelyn Holder
Location: Quinjet Skills: N/A
Evelyn glared at Kwassi for a moment as he got up and faced down the president she rolled her eyes slightly as her hand rested on one of her throwing knives just in case Kwassi did attack the president. She was always a believer that people could change, even the president sure he was the head of OMEN when it was a thing but he disbanded it. "You still pointed out mutants regardless however, you could have worded it with say a person with telepathic abilities. Since some humans and inhumans also could possess the ability to use telepathy." Evelyn pointed out again, letting out a slight sigh as she watched Kwassi getting off of the quinjet.
Evelyn then sat back down looking at Bonnie and the president. "Is he always like that or something?" Evelyn couldnt help but ask if he was like that or not. She couldnt help but be a bit paranoid that they hadnt left yet really and she wasnt sure if the skrulls had found their location yet or not either.
Maria Novikova
Location: Skrull Prison Ship Skills: (Flynn's fire manipulation
Maria watched as Flynn set the remaining skrull on fire and she started to relax somewhat that the alarm wasnt sounded which was good then, she then turned to look at Hope and gave a slight shrug, she had a feeling that the skrull princess never played the games before obviously since she probably never had to earth before. "Nope, thats Link the one in the green tunic and white tights. We should have game night when I go to the West Coast Avengers sometime." Maria said as she took a step back from the cell door as Flynn used his power to cut through it.
"Well it's nice to meet you then." Maria said giving a nod to the princess as she introduced herself, she wasnt sure how skrull society actually was like but they needed to go. "So, do you happen to know anything useful on the ship, like how many there are, things like that?" She asked the princess as she made her way back towards the elevator.
Oliver's eyes widened at the accusation, and his mind immediately backtracked over everything he said. He first thought he might have tripped up on his words, but he was certain he said born and not raised. Then, his mind went to his name. He supposed his name was technically maybe Thane? But his mind quickly correct that. Whatever his name situation was, it had to be similar to Matt's, so he was fine calling himself Oliver. At that point, it hit him like a train, and he face palmed. He was a damn idiot. "No, no, I got it. Stupid fucking mistake." He said, putting his hands up.
"December 24th, 2020, not 25th." He said. That was Christmas eve, not Christmas day. "Sorry, today's been a little stressful for me, I guess I'm cracking a bit." Oli explained. That date would be burned into his memory for the rest of forever now, the embarrassment of making a stupid mistake like that in front of everybody. "I'm not a skrull, please don't murder me." He continued. He knew he couldn't say he was human, because he was very much not that, but he was at least confident in the fact that he was not a green skinned shapeshifter, and that was enough.
Niah nodded at Amelia's assessment. She guessed that Oliver messed up the date. Everything else he said sounded right. And he corrected that quickly enough. "Give me your jacket or something." She said, Oliver held out his arm and he touched the fabric. A part of her was thankful it only worked on things and not people, but if it worked on people it would make this a whole lot easier. At first, all she seemed to get was fuzzy memories of the Hospital. It was unsettling to see that from his perspective. She let go and tried again, this time the flashes while small and fuzzy stretched back far enough she felt certain Oliver wasn't a Skrull. [color=0080ff]"I don't think he is one. Amelia, next?"[/]
Amelia held out her own bit of clothing and Niah touched it. There was a lot of screaming, most of it seemed to be in joy. She flinched a bit at it though. "You scream a lot." She said and readjusted her touch, this time she got a swath of flashes and nodded. "Yeah, that's way too complex for a summoned shirt, and I don't sense anyone stealing the shirt off your real body and ditching you or something like that. I'd say Amelia isn't Skrull." That left Sparky and Raynor. She felt like Raynor was probably fine this time...but she'd check anyway.
Location: Boardwalk Skills:
Matt got a funny image of Niah telling the President to give her some of his clothing and snorted. He leaned over, "Wait till Niah asks Jakobsen for a bit of his clothing." He didn't know that Niah already knew Jakobsen, if he did the image might be even funnier.
"So who is next?" Matt asked. If they could clear this part of the group, then get in the ship and clear the rest of the Secret Warrior team it would be a good start. Of course, there was also not just Jakobsen on the ship. The others would have to be cleared too. He knew Hawkeye wouldn't take off until he felt confident that no one was a Skrull.
There was also the Doctor that Oliver and Niah mentioned. Would they be joining them? What had Oliver and Niah learned that was so important that they had to wait until after everyone was cleared?
Sparky was remaining fairly quiet during the whole endeavor, given the fact that Raynor was going off on the fact that Oliver seemingly was lying. That was kind of causing a bit of a commotion and everyone instantly started freaking out about it. Though the fact taht Raynor looked like he was ready to just murder Oliver right then and there. She was definitely glad (mainly for his sake) that she hadn't mentioned that she had gotten M-Pox from Oliver's stupidity in opening up the door to their quinjet when they were surrounded almost entirely by the Terrigen Mists.
Once things (hopefully) seemed to be calming down she looked over at Amelia who almost seemingly was accusing her for being quiet. "First of all, not everyone is as talkative as you. So many people here, I typically shut down and stay quiet since everyone else is talking and adding more voices gives me more then a bit of a headache, and I don't like talking around a lot of people if I don't have to. Just no that not everyone is as talkative as you. A few people are fine, but the instant you get over 4 or 5 people just seems easier to keep quiet," she said instantly to her, but it wasn't terribly loud so it wasn't obvious how many people could hear her words, but the next ones were loud enough to be heard. "If you are done interrogating Oliver over there, my name is Theresa Sparks, but everyone calls me Sparky, part of Phase 3 and got trapped in the Quantum Realm at one point, and am an electrical engineer and robotics person, that's my specialty, goes with the last name and that and my powers is how I got my nickname." she said, before shooting a glare at Amelia, "There happy?" she said to her.
Location: Quinjet Skills: N/A
"I was just saying don't write them off, since unless you have been given proof otherwise, all you really can do is hope for the best, and maybe prepare for the worst..." he said giving her a smile, before he turned to look at Kwassi who instantly started going on a bit of a rant regarding what he and Evelyn had said. Though he couldn't help but notice that every word that he said had been more directed towards him and he couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. "Wow, I defend people and someone snaps at me, seems like I can't win with that guy no matter what I say, oh well, who cares, I don't like him anyway..."
Alex turned his attention towards Evelyn and he shrugged slightly to her, "When I met him he started acting like that, despite the fact that for all I know I could have been walking straight into a group of Skrulls, and I disarmed myself, showing I actually trusted you people, and then he threatened me, which of course I had to threaten him back since I mean that just is the sort of person that I am the guy is lucky I didn't sucker punch him. But yeah, from what I've known about the guy he's always like that. She's known the guy longer then me, so not sure how he is with most other people."
Location: Skrull Ship Skills: N/A
Flynn couldn't help but twitch slightly when hope called the main character in the Legend of Zelda video game series Zelda. Yes, he didn't look it, hell he knew he typically fell under the Jock stereotype. Thing was, he did like video games, having played them growing up with his brothers, but by far his favorite was the Legend of Zelda. Adventures in a medieval world? That was always fun to him, actually he didn't typically tell people about that, but given the fact that he didn't have too many friends, it wasn't exactly obvious that he loved video games. "You are confusing Link and Zelda. Zelda is the princess and in all honesty in the game series she's the main character as the story is about her since if you follow along with the games, it is later mentioned that Zelda is a goddess or something reincarnate and then Link is the constant goddess'chosen hero that is brought along and reincarnated, and the typical main villain is Ganon and he's the constant darkness that is fighting against the goddess and hero reincarnate, whose also trying to destroy the world in the game, or take over it and fill it with darkness depending on the game in the series," he said, not being able to really stop from geeking out for the moment, "So despite popular belief the game series isn't really misnamed..."
His brain instantly snapped back to what they were busy doing, and Flynn figured that they could talk about games or whatever later, since they had to deal with the fact that they were on the Skrull ship. "...Sorry I don't typically geek out on anything, ever, unless it's on how to punch people correctly," he said a bit apologetically, "Nice to meet you princess, now we need to get moving, though knowing how many Skrulls we might have to deal with on board the ship would be helpful... If you know that information," he said to her with a slight bow before straightening up again. If she knew the answers to Maria's questions, they would be better off, if not then they couldn't really help it and they'd have to move on.
"Sure, as long as the Scarlet Witch promises not to warp reality if she loses," Hope told Maria. She wasn't a huge fan of having a reformed criminal on the team, but it would have been hypocritical for her to protest given her boyfriend, Scott Lang. It was (sadly?) pretty common for Avengers to have come from a less than stellar background these days. Not everyone was up to Hope's standards, so she had to settle. "Huh, didn't peg you for a Man-Child," she then told Flynn.
Princess Anelle nodded. "The fleet is comprised of nearly sixty ships, each crewed by anywhere from five to one hundred," she said, her voice had a tone of authority to it. "This ship is for high security prisoners, so if I were to guess... I would estimate fifty are stationed here," she finished, referring to how many skrulls to expect. She then frowned. "Loyal to the Empress, no doubt... This Zelda, if she is a goddess as you say, I would like to meet with her and make a plea on behalf of my son."
Jersey City Boardwalk - New Jersey: 10:40 P.M
"Wait, so I tell you he might be a skrull, and you want me to calm down?" Raynor asked Cass, incredulous. Finding out that there was another impostor among them should have been a reason to not be calm - a reason to take up arms and win the battle before it had even begun. Sparky was pregnant and he wasn't going to let any harm come to her or her unborn child. The other people here he had begrudgingly begun to care about as well, even if his concern for Sparky was infinite by comparison.
He huffed, hearing Oliver's statements and seeing that they were truthful. "Kid's cleared - an idiot, but cleared." He didn't understand how someone could just "mess up" like that and accidentally lie. He expected better from the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Were they letting just anyone into the academy these days? He half expected to find out that Oliver had done something recklessly stupid to endanger Sparky's life while he was gone and Raynor's eyes twitched slightly at the thought.
"Err, thanks?" Amelia said awkwardly to Niah, trying to think of when she had been screaming - and then it came to her. She loved jumping out of planes and she tended to scream while doing that, but they were screams of joy, not pain or fear or anything. She more thought of the screams as happy shouts, although she supposed to other people it was probably pretty hard to distinguish them.
She was taken by surprise though with the hostility and anger Sparky was expressing. The hurt and sadness was plain in Amelia's face - she didn't hide her emotions. She had thought that they were friends and she had tried to do the right thing. She didn't understand why Sparky was lashing out at her. However, she then plastered a big smile on her face again, trying to cheer herself back up.
"Sparks is good, obviously," Raynor said with an eye roll.
"I'm Mar-Vell," Dr. Larson introduced herself. "I was sent on behalf of Fury to help these two out," she explained, motioning towards Niah and Oliver, "and I'd like to help save this planet from being occupied by the Skrulls or the Kree."
Quinjet - New Jersey: 10:40 P.M
Flabbergasted. That was the best way to describe Bonnie's reaction to Kwassi's rant. She had already been getting the feeling that he was misogynistic, but now she was wondering if he wasn't a little bit bipolar as well. She didn't have a professional background in psychology, so she knew she really ought not assume that, but the idea persisted nonetheless. His mood had changed so rapidly and the way he spoke to the President was unlike anything she had seen from him earlier - granted, she hardly knew him. She didn't have an inclination as to what was normal behavior for Kwassi.
"I'd like to apologize on his behalf, Mr. President," Bonnie said first, before considering her words carefully. She didn't like to gossip. She wasn't one to talk about someone behind their back. "Truthfully, I haven't known him much longer than either of you, so I couldn't say." She then heard a crash, followed by loud yowling, like there was a cat somewhere. Bonnie frowned, her thoughts rapidly coming together to provide a hypothesis. This ship had belonged to the skrull Avengers...
"If you'll excuse me," Bonnie then said, getting up and heading towards the source of the sound. She passed a bunch of awake Avengers who were discussing with each other the current situation in the holding area, moving into the cargo bay. It was there that she saw a cage that had been knocked onto its side, containing the one and only...
"Goose?" Bonnie called out, going over to the cage. It had a combination lock on it. "Hold on, let me find some bolt cutters, okay? How did you end up here?"
Cleared by Niah(?) Cass Matt Amelia
Cleared by Raynor(?) Amelia Cass Niah Matt Oliver Sparky
It appeared that they had somehow managed to find a way to prove whether someone was a skrull or not. Granted this seemed to hinge on the fact that they'd have to trust the system, whatever it was, and assume those giving results weren't skrulls themselves. Kwassi approached the group and stood back, watching what they were doing in am attempt to get a feel for the process. It seemed simple enough, Agent Bautista used her powers to peer into the past and look for events that a Skrull couldn't have fabricated in some way, while...some angsty mad man held a glowy ball as a lie detector of some kind? Really it was hard to make sense of it but that appeared to be what was happening before him. He crossed his arms and waiting for the fighting to die down before he spoke.
"My apologies if I'm interrupting but it was getting too crowded in that jet and The President was touching my last nerve. But if you've found a way to search into someone and deem them cleared of being a Skrull then I'm more than willing to participate." Kwassi pulled out his now fried mask and held it in his hands, watching the history he had with it flow by in his mind. "So how exactly does this work, because I'm tired of our gracious President accusing me of being a Skrull. Though I'm still very cautious of his sudden arrival and story." He knew how Niahs powers worked, he'd read her file, so if she asked for an item he would hand her his mask, the oldest item he's carried on him.
Location: Jersey City Boardwalk -> Quinjet Skills: N/A
Cassandra turned to stare a Raynor for a moment, and shook her head slightly he was always like this though which was good then he was the actual Raynor anyway. "Well for one you are the one who's showing the bit of aggression." Cass said pointing out to the glowing ball of light in his hand. Oliver then clarified his story and was eventually cleared by both Raynor and Niah after she touched his shirt along with Amelia as well to. She turned to look at Mar-Vell surprised that she somehow knew Director Fury, she wasnt sure where he was right now or how she did find Niah and Oliver.
"Glad to have your help then, but just to be on the safe side that you arent a skrull just go to Raynor and Niah if you don't mind." Cassandra said she didnt want to take any chances right now. "Once everyone has been fully cleared head inside the Quinjet and start clearing everyone else." Cass said as she turned to face Kwassi for a moment asking what to do, and shook her head slightly at him she still saw him as a bit to full of himself as she made her way up the ramp and stopped next to him.
"Just state your name, and a fact of yourself and head back inside." Cassandra said as she walked into the Quinjet and made her way to where everyone else was saying so that everyone will hear. "So found a way to clear everyone, Raynor and Niah will come in, state your name and a truthful fact about yourself to Raynor, and allow Niah to touch something of yours and she will clear you that way." She said, hopefully that will speed up the process.
Evelyn Holder
Location: Quinjet Skills: N/A
"I would just punch him and put him in his place then, but thats just me." Evelyn said giving a bit of a slight shrug towards both Alex and Bonnie as she heard a crashing sound and a bit of yowling from a cat. She turned to look at Alexander for a moment before getting up and making her way towards the sound with Bonnie. She noticed all of the other Avengers in the room as they talked amongst themselves, she turned to stare at the crate on its side.
"Why is there a cat in here anyway?" Evelyn couldnt help but ask, and Goose was a bit of a weird name in her opinion for a cat, but she didnt really say anything about the name. She didnt think that bringing personal pets onto missions was a really good idea either but this wasnt her team anyway either.
Maria Novikova
Location: Skrull Prison Ship Skills: (Flynn's fire manipulation
"I didnt think that you were such a nerd Flynn." Maria said teasingly as she turned to face Hope and nodded slightly, she had experienced the whole House of M reality that Wanda had created. "I experienced that once already it wasnt that fun really." Maria said giving a slight shrug, when Princess Anelle told them the troop compliment on the ship. "Well I certainly feel special to be a high security prisoner then." Maria said sarcastically as she made her way towards the elevator and held it on.
"So, about fifty men on the ship, is there a way to lock them up in one single room or something so that we can take out all of them without actually fighting all of them and vent out the air or something?" Maria asked, the sooner and quicker they all are taken out the quicker they can get back home as well to. "Also any reason why your people are invading?"
Oliver didn't blame Raynor for his aggression, if Oliver was in Raynor's shoes, he'd be just about on edge. Hell, he wasn't and he pretty much was. They were facing a massive threat full of unknowns, and Oliver should have thought a lot more carefully about his words before he said them. Small slip ups like that would be what would ultimately lead to their downfall here. Oliver had to be perfect from here on out, no more mistakes, and if that meant over scrutinizing things, so be it. He would rather read into everything and exhaust himself than miss something obvious.
Oliver, in the meantime, took a moment to breathe. He didn't like holding up the debrief with skrull testing, his brain very much wanted to get right into directly productive work, but this was a necessary precaution. Besides, time was strict, but they could spare the ten minutes this would take. This team felt like it could do anything sometimes, and deep inside, he really believed they could do this. The Skrull threat, as bad as it was, didn't scare him nearly as much as Thanos had, and they made it through that.
"Sparky let me touch something of yours." She asked reaching out. Sparky let her touch a bit of her clothing and she got a few flashes, nothing that showed her Sparky being kidnapped or anything like that, and certainly nothing that made it seem like the clothing had been created. "My friend you are not a Skrull, which is probably more sci-fi than any book we've ever read." She missed their book chats. It had been so long. Since before Phase Three had happened.
When she finished she turned to Kwassi, "Wait did you say the President?" For a brief flash it seemed like Niah might be awestruck, and then her face contorted into something resembling a person struggling to take a poop. "Is his wife here?" She looked even more irritated. "I do not like that woman." She shook her head. Niah had met both in House of M and had not gotten along with them, especially the first lady. She had been such a show-off and know it all. Sure she had fought the Devil and won, but that didn't mean she had to brag about it.
"Hand something over." She said a bit more grumpy than she had been before Kwassi had arrived. It could easily be misconstrued as annoyance at him, but she was annoyed about the President and the First Lady. A part of her was thankful that in this reality she wasn't Americanized. She still had Philipino citizenship. Kwassi handed her some sort of mask. She frowned a bit touching it but she didn't get enough from it to be certain. "I won't say one way or the other." She said handing the mask back. Raynor would have to clear Kwassi.
Location: Boardwalk -> Quinjet Skills:
Matt was confused but followed Cass back onto the Quinjet. He tried to remember the last time he had seen Goose and couldn't figure it out. It had been ages. At least since Christmas eve. He knew Goose had been there because he remembered that Niah got Goose some treats. He wondered what the cat had been up to during that time. Had Goose been at the fight to get the fake Thane?
"Bonnie, you might want to check Niah out. She's really out of it. I think she should have stayed at the hospital. They amputated her leg and she just left still on the general anesthetics." A part of him knew Bonnie was gonna be mad at Niah for leaving the hospital like that but he also knew Niah needed the lecture that Bonnie might give her.
Sparky looked at Amelia and instantly felt kind of bad for snapping at her, and now was definitely not the time to be fighting with each other. Amelia's suspicions of her could be considered justified, since they were dealing with shape shifting aliens, but a part of her couldn't help but still be slightly annoyed with her just being blunt about it. "Sorry for snapping," she said somewhat softly, apologizing to Amelia. She did feel somewhat bad for it, and just hoped that Amelia wasn't going to really hold that against her, her emotions sometimes lately had been getting the better of her and she just needed to sort of calm them down every so often.
She smiled slightly when Niah made her comment regarding her not being a Skrull and it made her giggle slightly, "Oh totally, though then again pretty sure there are some books that might deal with that sort of thing." Yup, that certainly had lightened the mood for her, even if it seemed like Niah might still be high on pain meds or something like that. Her attention was drawn away by someone mentioning the President. As in the person who was typically in charge of the country they were currently in? How the hell did he end up with them? That was her question.
Location: Quinjet Skills: Perception
"I contemplated punching him, but pretty sure that sort of thing is frowned upon, so I decided not to, we don't exactly need to have any in fighting or whatever, even if some people do deserve a good punch in the head to knock some sense into them," he said to Evelyn before figuring how best to answer what Bonnie had said with regards to Kwassi and he just shrugged. "You don't have to apologize for anything, if he wants to insult everyone or just pick fights for no reason that's his business, plus let's be honest, based on what we know about him so far we all know he's probably not sorry about it at all."
That's when he heard the cat seemingly yowling for help.
Not many people realized it, and considering his personality it seemed like the total opposite of what he would do, but he truly was a cat person. He loved the little furballs, and if he could probably would have more then a few of them. Heading over, Alex heard Bonnie instantly recognize the cat as he followed after Evelyn and they found a cat locked in a cage. "Give me a minute," he said to Bonnie and Evelyn (as well as the cat named Goose apparently) as he left the immediate area. He found his way over to where the engineering area was, and found a pair of bolt cutters, as he walked back over to where the others were. "Here we go," Alex said as he cut the lock and opened the cage.
Goose instantly bolted out of the cage. He was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! He started snuggling up to everyone within sight, starting with one of his favorite hooman friends (Bonnie) before he went up to the other two stranger hoomans. They didn't smell like the evil Skrulls who had locked him in the cage to begin with (they were evil and didn't give him any treats or pets!), so he rubbed up against the other hooman woman (Evelyn) before going over and doing the same for the other one.
"Well aren't you cute..." Alex commented as he reached down and held out his hand to Goose, who instantly walked up and started rubbing up against it, and he managed to pick up the cat without Goose complaining at all. "Tell me why would they want to lock up an adorable furball like you?" he asked as he started scratching behind Goose's ears, causing the cat to immediately start purring like crazy.
This hooman was clearly one of the really nice ones, he was giving him lots of pets and loads of attention! Plus he was the one who cut the cage open for him to be freed. "Mrow," Goose said, almost like he was answering Alex's question. Even though it had been only one syllable, what Goose had actually said was, "You will not believe the day I've had! The evil Skrulls locked me up, wouldn't feed me or give me attention and were just meeeeeeeeeeeeean!"
Location: Skrull Ship Skills: N/A
"...First of all the term tends to be more of geek, not nerd... Secondly what? Did you honestly think I just lived to play sports all day? I have other hobbies too you know... Just playing that game series has to be one of my all time favorite past times, though I always hated when I decided I wanted to play Ocarina of Time and then got dragged outside by my brothers to play football. Spent a few hours on that damn Water Temple" he said in response to what they had said, though his attention was pulled away fairly quickly by the princess talking about everything.
That definitely sounded like a whole lot of Skrulls. An entire fleet of ships that were heading for Earth or whatever? That was not good, not good at all, plus it sounded like there were probably a few thousand of them out there. Now the idea of there being around fifty on board of the ship that they were on, that was something that they could deal with. Being outnumbered hasn't really stopped anyone before, so they would probably be fine. Keyword was probably. Flynn had to stop himself from laughing when the princess asked about Zelda and acted like she was real. "...So Zelda isn't real, she's a fictional character. We do have a group of people on board that are free now so not sure about these two," he said to her, before nodding towards Maria and Hope, "But I'm thinking we might want to go catch up with them a few floors up."
Princess Anelle's eyes widened, hearing how casually Maria suggested killing fifty skrulls. "While they are loyal to the Empress, they do not deserve such a cruel death!" Anelle exclaimed. They deserved to die honorably or ideally, to not be killed at all. It wasn't their fault that the Empress was on the throne. They were sworn to serve the crown. And without a home planet, how could she ask them to abandon their hope for the promised land, however ill-fated Anelle feared it would be?
"By invading, she means invading Earth," the Wasp specified. She wouldn't have been surprised if the skrulls were invading countless worlds, setting up a nice little empire for themselves. If she were the leader of an evil race of shapeshifters, it's what she would do. It was practical, really. Why put all your eggs in one basket?
Anelle nodded, as they reached the elevator. She didn't press the button to call for it, likely a habit of being royal - pushing buttons and opening doors was beneath her. The Wasp ended up pressing it and the elevator came down quickly. "My people... Our home was destroyed by the World-Eater. The Empress believes that the Skrull Empire will be rebuilt on your world. She claims it's prophecy."
Jersey City Boardwalk - New Jersey: 10:50 P.M
Raynor glanced over at Kwassi in confusion - he had absolutely no one idea who exactly this man was supposed to be. He didn't remember ever seeing him before, but if he had to make a guess, he was likely another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. The guy looked like he had a giant stick up his ass. "So this is my replacement, then?" he asked, staring at Kwassi. He didn't look very impressive to him. Raynor was pretty sure that he was the more muscular of the two - and that was all that mattered, right?
It also was strange to him to hear that the President was onboard - but after a moment, it made sense to him. Jakobsen had been personally victimized by Raynor's sort-of-cousin and he used to head an organization dedicated to killing anything that wasn't 100% human. Of course he'd be messed up in an alien invasion. His first day on the job he probably was asking to see all the files on Area 51, whispering to himself that the truth was out there.
"Oh, hey, welcome back!" Amelia called out cheerfully to Kwassi. She wasn't going to voice it aloud, but she was a little more relaxed seeing another person who looked like her there. It was the same sort of feeling she'd get when she spotted another girl in the academy at Operations after being placed in a squad of just guys for a while - a sort of kinship and security. "But yeah, just like the boss lady said, you just say who you are so Thor Jr. can do his polygraph mumbo jumbo, and then Niah can touch ya - well not you, something you're holding and ideally have had for a while, it's not sexual or anything like that so don't worry about it - and she'll get an idea if you are who you say you are. And if they both clear you, then you're not a squid! But I guess we don't really know if they are who they say they are, so it's all about trust... Huh, this is way more intense than the trust fall not Maria tried to do earlier with ya, Sparks."
Raynor shot Sparky a bit of an irritated look, clearly asking how anyone was able to stay around Amelia without drinking excessively. He also wasn't happy with how long this was taking. It was pretty dark and only some of their ships had been cloaked - people were pointing and staring, taking pictures, it was going to be a mess. They might as well have lit up a sign saying HEY SKRULLS, WE'RE IN NEW JERSEY! "You're telling the truth, Mar-Vell, but I need to hear you say that you aren't a skrull," Raynor said, keeping his hands ready to attack.
But Mar-Vell nodded. "I'm not a skrull. I'm actually Kree," she explained.
"She's telling the truth," Raynor affirmed. "I get why you want to hurt the skrulls, but why turn your back on your own people?" he asked her. "The Kree are emotionless assholes who obey their glorified super robot without question."
"I did it for love," Mar-Vell answered simply, not offering any elaboration.
Amelia squealed ever so slightly. Just because she wasn't interested in romance for herself didn't mean she didn't find people being in love absolutely adorable. She really wanted to know more about this special someone of Mar-Vell's. She knew nothing about the Kree, well nothing beyond what Raynor had said. Did they actually take orders from a computer? Was it like the computer wife in Spongebob? Were the Kree living out Iron Man's ultimate fantasy?
Quinjet - New Jersey: 10:50 P.M
"He's not a cat," Bonnie answered Evelyn somewhat unhelpfully, as she was searching the cargo area for a pair of bolt cutters. She had found a small hammer and a wrench so far, which could work in a pinch but she didn't want to hurt Goose in the process. She was crouched down sorting through a tool box she had found when the President came in, told them to give him a minute, and then returned with the missing pair of bolt cutters.
Goose rushed out of the cage and Bonnie couldn't help but smile, scratching him behind the ears as he ran up to her. She knew that it was one of his favorite spots. He didn't stay long though, before rushing up to the other two. Bonnie then stood back up to her full height, seeing that Matt had also come in and joined them. "They... They what?!" Bonnie exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "Why did no one tell me this as soon as you arrived?!" she then added, narrowing her eyes as she went from surprised to angry.
"Goose, behave yourself, no eating the President," Bonnie said sternly, before dashing out of the cargo area, back into the main area of the quinjet, and then off the ramp. "Niah Bautista, report to medical this instant!" Bonnie snapped, her voice raised as she surveyed the scene. "Oh, welcome back, Sparky, Raynor," she then added, before resuming Angry-Mom-Mode and pointing a finger at Niah.
Cleared by Niah(?) Cass Matt Amelia Sparky
Cleared by Raynor(?) Amelia Cass Niah Matt Oliver Sparky Mar-Vell
Cleared by Goose Bonnie Jakobsen Evelyn
Suspicious Kwassi - Niah could not confirm his status Raynor - untested All Other NPCs - untested
Cassandra walked over towards the medical side of the quinjet she took a moment and looked at everyone there and noticed Goose was being held by Jakobson she wasnt even sure how he was even there in the first place. But it was still really nice to see the alien cat again as she walked over and gently started to pet Goose behind the ears and under the chin. "It's good to see you again Goose." Cass said as she looked at Bonnie and just realized she had forgotten to say that after texting Oliver what had happened. Bonnie instantly went out to get Niah and check her out in medical going full momma bear right away.
Everyone needed to be cleared out as soon as possible so that they knew that they werent skrulls or anything like that and that way Oliver can actually finally debrief the others and figure out their next moves as well to. "I'm going to take a seat." Cassandra said, as she went back to the main area of the Quinjet and sat down, her head was still hurting quiet a bit and only seeing out of one eye was really hard as well to.
Evelyn Holder
Location: Quinjet Skills: N/A
Evelyn looked towards Bonnie for a moment, Goose looked like an ordinary house cat to her, but then again she had seen and experienced a lot of really weird stuff in the last few years. Going to the mojoverse, being turned into a kid and accidentally becoming a old woman as well to. She never wanted to experience any of that ever again, she gently pat Goose on the head as the weird cat rubbed up against her leg. Jakobson instantly took a liking to the cat and picked him up and gave him a slight smile hearing Goose purring loudly as she looked at him for a moment.
"Seems like he likes you." Evelyn said to Jakobson as a member of the team came back in to tell that someone had been injured and quickly got up and left. She decided to clear out of the medical area since Bonnie went to go and fetch the person who had been injured, she went and sat down directly across from Cassandra.
Maria Novikova
Location: Skrull Prison Ship Skills: (Flynn's fire manipulation
Maria turned to look at Anelle for a moment and sighed slightly, they were the aliens who came here to invade Earth and kidnap her from her home and replace her with an alien. "Alright then, can you do your shapeshifty thing and pretend that you are the empress or whatever and lure them all to one room so we can just lock it down?" Maria suggested.
She stepped into the elevator and then waited for everyone else to get in before pressing the button to the floor where they had came from initially. Maria turned to look at Flynn for a moment and smirked slightly. "Well a nerd and a geek are the same thing to me. You should totally name your kid after Zelda if you love it so much." She said jokingly as she leaned back slightly.
Kwassi nodded as Agent Reed had instructed him on what to do. Waiting for his turn until Agent Bautista had asked for a personal affect of his. He handed her his mask, something he'd been carrying for years now, hoping that his attachment to it and his history with it would allow for her to see his connection and that he wasn't a skrull. Sadly it appeared that she was neither able to clear his name nor name him an enemy, which...was good? It was hard to tell in this situation. Kwassi gave a slightly defeated sigh until she had told him to speak to Raynor and that he would be able to further clear him if needed. Unfortunately upon stepping up, Raynor seemed to have a problem with him already. Sizing him up and talking about being his replacement. It appeared that everyone he was running into today was going to be an ornery dick. Well mostly everyone, Amelia was still as pleasant as she had been the last time they met. Offering her a warm smile as he relaxed slightly to see her face. He couldn't quite place it, but there was something about her presence that made him feel more at ease. "Its wonderful to see you again Amelia. I'm glad that the landing wasn't a short one, your smile and personality were sorely missed since you left."
"Now then I suppose we should get this on our way so that Thor Jr. can clear me and we can move on with our mission against this invasion.' There was a short cough as he cleared his throat, standing at attention by some subconscious measure. "My name is Kwassi Asokho. I am twenty six years old and was born in Wakanda. I am in the Sci-Tech division and am not a Skrull." Hopefully that was enough to get him the clear as he turned to face Agent Bautista. "His wife isn't here. He decided to join us after he crash landed a Skrull ship while we were attacked by a bunch of fake avengers. They took a few more as prisoners and we narrowly got away sadly. Ever since then he has been nothing but a pain in the ass because he thinks he's above suspicion just because he the President and isn't used to have a gun at his head when it isn't for political intrigue."
Things were going well so far, no Skrulls being detected meant they didn't have to fight and turn a New Jersey boardwalk into a war zone, which was always a good thing. The last thing he wanted was for some tourist to start broadcasting their location on Facebook. For the man that was in many ways responsible for the destruction of Cardiff, and all metrics a damn superhero, Oli had flown under the radar of the public, which made his life and job considerably easier than it could otherwise be. As a security freak, keeping a low public of pile was good for his psyche, and doing as little as possible to compromise that was important to him.
As they started to finish up the screenings, Oliver considered what he was going to tell the group. Quite obviously, they were now aware of the Skrull threat and the danger it posed, so he didn't need to debrief on that information. The big bullet point to him was making sure it was absolutely clear what the play was from here, stopping the Skrulls from replacing major world leaders. The Skrull's power was in their ability to blend in and replace people, after all, and once they had control over the governments on the planet, it would be game over for human kind.
Niah winced as Bonnie yelled, it killed the smile she had as Dr. Larson talked about why she was betraying the Kree empire. Someone had ratted her out as hurt, she had a good idea it was probably Matt. "Coming." She said and then turned to Kwassi. "You pointed a gun at the president? I mean at least his wife isn't here but wow. Also, wait, your Wakandan? I've been there! Admittedly it was..." Niah trailed off. Did she talk about the alternate realities not knowing who was safe? Kwassi hadn't been there for any of that. "We'll talk about it later." She said. "I'm gonna go get myself chewed out by Bonnie." Niah knew what was coming, she'd have to be unconscious to not.
She made her way in her fancy Kree-tech wheelchair that wasn't always a wheelchair up to the ship. "Hi Bonnie. We fought a bear that eats fear and we defeated it, but it almost...Well, it was a good thing we were in a hospital." Niah had been really close to dying in the fight with the bear. It was only on that precipice of death that she let go of her fear. She didn't really understand that even now. A part of her still believed that Oliver somehow defeated the bear.
"Here let me see if you're a Skrull" She reached up to touch a part of Bonnie's sleeve but as her fingers brushed Bonnie's skin she got a few flashes, at least none of them were Bonnie and Flynn kissing. "Oh...Well, you're not Skrull." She looked at her fingers. It had never worked on a person before why did it now? That was going to be super annoying. She already didn't like touching people because of germs and now she had a whole new level. At least it had become natural for her to wear gloves all the time. But that would make any hope of a relationship ever again really annoying. She suddenly understood how hard it was for Maria and Novi. If Maria was alive somewhere kidnapped by Skrulls, Niah would have to ask her when they found her how that worked.
Location: Quinjet Skills:
Exactly as planned. Matt thought as Bonnie yelled for Niah. It was proof she was more irresponsible than anyone thought. Now the others just needed to get on the Quinjet so they could get out of there and to wherever it was Hawkeye was taking them all. Though, there were a few others that needed to be cleared. "Did the Skrulls seriously lock up a cat?" He asked. Not to anyone in particular.
He knew the cat was sort of like a mascot for the group. Showing up randomly. Supposedly the cat had been Fury's, and he asked the group to watch it for some reason. He should get the full story sometime. He decided to ask Cass later. He watched as the cat purred in Alexander's hands.
