16670/It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's... FALLING!!!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's... FALLING		!
Date of Scene:	25 December 2023
Location:	Westchester Rennaisance Festival Grounds
Synopsis:	A small alien starship crash-lands in Westchester County near New York City. Iron Man, Richard Stadler, and Ratchet arrrived on the scene and decided to help the strange alien android - eventually transporting her and her starship to a spaceport to diagnose the damage.
Cast of Characters:	Minoke, Tony Stark, Richard Stadler, Henry Devine

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Minoke has posed:
A small starship enters orbit from deep space - it dropped out of hyperspace. It is a general rocket-shape, around 30 feet long. Made of a strange green metal. There is no life-support or weapons on it at all - it is all about propulsion. It has been slowly approaching Earth for the better part of a year now - slightly erratically. Perhaps it's damaged - and as it entered orbit, the engines failed and it started descending towards Earth. Apparently it's not fully out for a few thrusters lit up. Lacking options, it aimed for an open field and tried to correct the attitude but it started rolling and crashed with a LOUD noise near where the jousting track would be if the Rennaissance Faire was in town (fortunately it's not). The ship falls over, landing on its side, one of its 'wings' broken off by the impact with the ground. The rocket-ship just lays there, still hot from re-entry, but it does not appear to be in any imminent threat of exposion - and there are no weapons installed anyway.

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony is at yet another fairly boring society Christmas Eve party. There are any number of places he'd rather be, but high society has it's own set of rules and customs. And so he's mingling with a bunch of socialites and business leaders, and trying not to yawn directly in any of their faces.

    HOMER's voice in his ear is a welcome distraction, and even more so when he explains what the StarkNet satellites have been following for the past several minutes. Tony manages to make his escape gracefully, without even showing how glad he is for the excuse. Stepping outside, it's no more than 2 minutes before he's armored up and headed in the direction of the crash site.

    Five minutes or so after that he's surveying the site from the air, focusing a spectrum of sensors at the crashed ship to see if it's safe to approach.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Long journey's were in the eye of the beholder. For some, it was traveling at high speed through the void of space, and for others, it was heading down Taconic from upstate.

It was never the journey behind you that left you tired; it was the fact that Stadler still have to get through Yonkers before he'd even be back in the boroughs, and the traffic would start long before then, he knew it. Then there was finding a spot at the lot he paid for, the subway back to Central Park West, before he could actually lay down, and it had him already rubbing the bridge of his nose with lifted up glasses. Salem Center was just about coming up and a bit of caffeine-

The sonic boom was well out of place in Westchester, as was the streak of flame from engines like that. It was hard to get a good glimpse of it, but it certainly didn't look like any aircraft Rick was aware of. Surely, the the air would be filled with rescue helicopters soon. Maybe SWORD. He had absolutely no reason to get off on the exit to Apple Park. None.

10 minute's later, he sighed, pulling up to the parking lot of the Festival grounds. All right, do this right.

It took a few minutes to make sure his jacket was on, against the warmer but still cold weather this Christmas Eve... And to get the M1A out of it's case, the old ALICE gear over the jacket. Always was good to be prepared.

He kept the rifle pointed down, held in front of him, as his boots tread across the hard ground to long divot the... clearly alien ship had left.

Minoke has posed:
The rocket continues to smolder - there is an alien script on the side, but few on Earth would know it. (It appears to be Coluan in origin - the homeworld of Brainiac.) The rocket then makes a clicking noise, a hatch attempting to open, but it's stuck. The rocket seems strange. It has powerful engines for a ship its size - but other than that, it does not appear to have any lights, life-support, or anything of the like.

The clicking happened again - and then it starts emitting a two-tone beep a few times - is it calling for help? There is no radiation coming from it - still no signs of anything dangerous - and the heat has dissipated. It calls out again with a double-beep - it's some kind of distress signal.

Tony Stark has posed:
    Having determined that there is no immediate danger from the rocket, Tony swoops down to land about ten feet away from it, suit cameras and sensors all recording the entire encounter. It's always best to be able to prove that it wasn't your fault an interplanetary incident occurred. Especially with Fury always looking over your shoulder.

    Noticing Richard's approach to the area with basic combat gear, he decides to address that first. "Hey there Rambo, I think we might be ok here, but try not to shoot anyone that doesn't ask for it, ok? Don't need to mess up a first contact kind of thing here." Yes, he referenced Star Trek. "No radiation or anything, so no worries there. Let's move in and see what we're working with."

    When the rocket starts it's alarm clock impression he considers it for a moment, then moves over to the hatch, looking for any sort of mechanism that might allow it to be opened.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Oh, well. Maybe this was why Richard took the path less traveled these days. He didn't think he'd met Tony Stark before... right? Certainly not talked to him. And maybe, just maybe, he was staring at the armor suit for a bit took long.

Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to be contrary about it. "With all due respect, I have had exceedingly few positive experiences with alien ships landing in places other than the starport. And come to think of it, not even the Starport. Forgive me if I don't drop the rifle." He noted. Not that he expected to do anything but to be the Lethbridge-Stewart of this piece.

He approches as well, but is rather satisfied with the man ensconced in armor to take the first crack at what looks to be the malfunctioning door.

Minoke has posed:
The hatch pops open from the external latch, revealing a small compartment in the nose of the shuttle - and as soon as it's open, a silver spherical object falls out onto the ground - there's a bracket in the ship that's supposd to hold it in place but it wasn't menant to work sideways. The rest of the contents of the compartment oozes out - it's a thick green liquid of sorts that puddles on the ground, touching the sphere. A single dull green light is on the ball, blinking - and there is a scorch mark along one side of it. It is making a faint beeping noise as it lies there... but apparently the Iron Man armor was of interest for a long trilling beep emerges as a bright green light shines up on Tony. A dim green one illuminates Richard's rifle for a moment but the focus is on Tony.

(The 'green liquid' appears to be made of dormant nanites, and the green light beam is a low-level scan of the Iron Man armor.)

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony snap points at Richard "Spaceport, good thought. And trust me, I get where you're coming from on the alien ship thing." He stops talking to Richard for a moment to say "HOMER, contact the spaceport. See if they were expecting any incoming ships today. Send them a picture of it too - maybe they can ID it. And compare that writing to all the usual databases, see if you can figure out what language it's in."

    After opening the door, he takes a step back as the sphere and liquid exit the crashed ship. As the sphere scans him, he returns the favor, taking a moment on the puddle before coming up with quite an interesting result. "Nanites. I'll be damned, this night is looking up."

    At about that moment HOMER reports "Nothing on file at the spaceport, but the markings are the same as on Brainiac's ships." This news causes Tony to take a couple steps back and say to Richard, "Ok, the gun may not have been a bad idea. I assume you've heard of Brainiac? The ship markings are in the same language as he used. Doesn't look like anything of his, but I think we want to be a little careful here."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     "Wasn't exactly thinking of checking with them, but then again, I don't have their number saved in the contacts of my phone." Richard says, taking a few more steps towards the ship, frowning as the hatch opens, and a mournfully beeping sphere drops out with a lot of green goop. "Nanites? Can't say I'm too... familar with the operation of them, but always thought they'd be a greyer goo, not green. Not going to start replicating now, are they?" He asks, and it's only half a joke.

The green light illuminating various pieces is met with a tightening grip on the rifle, and a slightly insulted look as Tony get's the loin's share of the attention. Not unwarranted, admittedly, but sometimes it's about respect. "From the newspapers, broad strokes. Enough to know that black tip 7.62 NATO isn't exactly going to be a war winner here." Not enough data. That's the problem they had at the moment.

Minoke has posed:
Finally, the goo starts to move towards the orb, slowly starting to engulf it. But a lot of the goo is inert - not active. Only about half of the nanites are responding - it's obvious that if this is some kind of invasion, it's not a really good one for regardless of advanced Coluan technology, it's damaged. The goo forms around the sphere, absorbing it into it, sparking a few times, and then forms into... a child. A girl that's approximately 10 years old in Earth terms with short pink hair, green skin, glowing green eyes, and a bright shining emerald on her head, wearing a simple gray dress.

The girl looks between the two of you, then stares down at the rest of the goo that refused to obey as she reaches to touch it, then shakes her head and sighs. She looks up at the two men who approached her... but her gaze was drawn to the one in the metal suit. She opens her mouth to speak, but only a staticky noise comes out. She frowns and touches her throat, looking rather confused. She remains sitting there, aware of the primitive projectile weapon held by the unarmored man - and the suite of more interesting weapons held by the man in armor. It's obvious that she's from the same homeworld as Brainiac now that she has taken her form, but other than that, there's little to connect. She touches her throat again, trying to figure out what's wrong.

Tony Stark has posed:
    Watching the process of activation with interest, Tony still remains on alert as the girl forms and tries to speak. Noting both the apparently malfunctioning nanites on the ground and the girl's inability to speak, Tony relaxes a little. This seems to be a bit beneath the level Brainiac operates on, so it might just turn out ok.

    "Ok, I don't think we're looking at invasion here, I'd guess it's an actual crash. Um, let's see." He points to the girl and asks "Do you know any Earth languages? You can just nod yes or no. Though if it's no, I suppose I'm kind of wasting my time on the question in the first place."

    Looking over at Richard, he asks "Do you happen to have anything to write on and with? If she knows English, she can write notes to us since her vocal apparatus seems to be damaged. Oh, and there's nothing wrong with a regular gun long as you're good with it and willing to stand up to the danger du jour."

    He returns his attention to the girl, waiting to see if she can understand him as he mutters to himself "Gotta put a pen and paper in a compartment from now on."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Oh, look, more data! Such as the fact that, while the goo was moving, not all of it was. "Possible damage to some of it? Machines might break, same as any other..." He trails off, as the goo reforms into... well, a person. One that Richard frowns at. "Can't say I like the idea of it taking the form of a kid." He notes, though, he's not exactly pointing his rifle at it, either. The tap of the throat indicates something might be wrong.

"Data points your way, I have to admit, but I have very healthy sense of paranoia... Wait, you don't?" He says, moving toward a pocket on the gear, and coming out with a pencil and a green notebook. "Supposes everyone uses their phone's these days. You'd think with all that armor..." He says, reaching to offer it to the sitting girl. "That's assuming it... She? They know how to write, you know." No need to misgender the creation in front of them.

As to Tony's mention on a gun, he shakes his head slightly. "All the skill in the world's not going to make a 5.56 NATO round to appreciable damage to a Badoon. Not that we're dealing with one here, from the looks of it."

Minoke has posed:
Minoke just turns her head back and forth between the two men as they speak. She tilts her head, making a soft beeping noise. Her throat shimmers green-goo for a moment then resolidifes. "I... have... analyzed... your... language..." she states. Her voice sounds like what one would expect of a girl her apparent age, though obviously synthesized and a bit tinny and slightly labored but she's speaking. "Thank... you for... opening... my ship... the latch... was jamed..." She remains sitting. "I... am... damaged. Need... to rebuild..." She looks forlornly at the ooze on the ground - the broken nanites that cannot be salvaged as she sticks her fingers in it again - and a brief 'zap' sound can be heard as, somehow, the apparent android generated a taser-like jolt of electricity but nothing happened. "I... am... unsure how well... my movement would be..."

Tony Stark has posed:
    "I'll give you that, some things are gonna shrug off bullets. Then again, some things shrug off repulsor blasts, so you just gotta do what you can. Good, hopefully she can write." He's going with the appearance for the pronoun until told otherwise.

    As she begins to speak, his attention centers on her statements, then he nods. "No problem. I imagine it could take a little time to recover from crashing a spaceship. If you need a little time to figure things out, that's ok. Was there a reason you were coming here, or was it just a case of Earth being the handiest place to land a malfunctioning ship?"

    He continues to scan the girl, collecting any data he can about how she works, especially things like the apparent self-repair ability.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     "The ones in Column A are a lot more numerous in column B." Rick says, but he's distracted as the creation seems to look between both of the men here, and, to Rick's suprise, actively started speaking. "Quick analyzation." He managed, moving to stow the writing materials back in the pouch of the old ALICE gear. "Though you don't... sound the best." He says, his eyes moving to the inert goo on the ground and the admittedly pitiable tapping and prodding of them into action, with no result. "Exactly how do you... repair? Certain raw materials, Biomass?"

Henry Devine has posed:
In the distance, a slightly warp-pitched call of 'Vengaboys, We Like To Party' blared over the distance. A pair headlights follow, a large, double decker -Six Flags bus-, marred by hastily welded on steel plates and a reinforced cow catcher mount at the front, pull up the crash site with a skidding stop!

It wasn't long before the music wound down with an unsettling lowering of the pitch, 'til the double doors at the front of this bus swung open. RGB lights poured out, heralding the arrival of none other than Ratchet himself! With excited, gremlin chortles, he hauled a wheel barrow out, tossing in a welder and mask as he scampered closer to the group.

But it wasn't until he was a couple of feet from them that he actually noticed their presence! He came to a sudden stop, the little rat boy pausing, and looking between each of the individual people present...and then the ship...and then back to each of them "...I call dibs. In case anyone hasn't called it. And even if someone called it. He stated flatly, barely containing his boyish grin thinking about all of the COOL technology that just literally fell out of the sky.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke turns her gaze away from the two men as they speak - there's a new signal coming in. Some kind of vehicle. She can feel the vibrations of the bass and is watching idly. "The vessel... is mine. And it is just as... damaged... as I am." She then slowly tries to rise to her feet - she wobbles but manages to stand - but it's an effort. "I need raw... materials, yes. Metal. To replace... what was damaged..." She sighs softly. "But... my heart... is damaged too... not good..."

She just stands there, her head turning between the three people who detected her as they speak. But her gaze returns to Iron Man. "That... is... some incredible workmanship..." she whispers, almost in awe. "An iron/steel alloy... a hint of titanium, vanadium and tungsten... and..." She frowns, staring at it. "Carbon threads through it?" She then nods slowly. "And a magnetic field on top." She sounds more normal as she speaks. And somehow her sensors were able to denote the exact composition of the armor. "If... I could acquire enough fresh metal, I could... return to full size. My interlink network... is inferior like this... and..." She frowns. "Oh - my voice is better..." She sighs softly. "Hard to think..."

Tony Stark has posed:
    You can't see the raised eyebrow as Minoke perfectly analyzes his armor's construction, but his thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Ratchet. Turning to the newest arrival, he states "I'm pretty sure you can't call dibs on a spaceship when the owner is standing right next to it. It's not like it's abandoned or something. Interesting bus though, I'll give you that much."

    Returning to addressing Minoke he says"If you'd like, I can arrange for your ship to be taken to Earth's spaceport. That's probably the best place to try and repair it, I doubt you'll find parts for that kind of thing anywhere else. And I'm pretty sure the engineers have some offworld contacts as well. Just let me know what you'd like to do. As for needing metal, that's not a problem. I have access to tons of stuff, though I might want to find out a bit more about you before I help you get bigger. Just to be sure I'm not helping you in your conquest of Earth or anything like that."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     This was an evening of a large amount of surprises. For instance, how in the hell did a Six Flags party bus get down here? All the way from George Lake? And it was certainly... not street legal. SOmething like this was suspicious even in the best of times, but the person that had jumped out only raised that profile. And switch Stadler's mood from paranoid but curious to paranoid and perturbed.

"Son, the owner of this space ship is standing right here. We're having a discussion at the scene of the accident, and if you really want to press salvage rights past that, please accept the hard truth that shooting at something would honestly keep me awake more on the drive home."

He looks over to Minoke, then, as she speaks. "Any particular type? Base metals? Iron, aluminum Composites? Not exactly my specialty." He noted. Still, not out of the woods, yet. The way she was looking at Iron Man's suit wasn't exactly hungry, but sure seemed adjacent.

"Spaceport's a good idea. Keeps things contained, though I don't suppose I'll need to be here for the CH-53? Unless it wants to hook up my car and give me a lift into Manhattan?" The note is joking with a small note of hope to it.

Henry Devine has posed:
Ratchet's disappointment as palpable, and his day was -ruined-. "You're tellin' me I can't ethically scrap this entire things for parts? Maaaaan..." He huffs, taking the wheel barrow back, and almost tumping over onto himself to huck it back into the bus. "Lame! Whatever, I'm over it."

He wasn't.

But he sauntered back to the group, looking to Minoke, the supposed owner, and the ship itself. "...So what exactly is wrong with it?" Part of him was listening to the conversation...sorta. Mostly the parts that actually interested him, which wasn't a lot considering nobody was getting down to the nitty gritty of what was broken, what wasn't, what could be salvaged.

Ratchet drew in a gentle breath...and the amber irises and his sclera were both overtaken by a soft amethyst glow as he pushed out his technopathic influence, letting his Machine Empathy try to probe and assess the damages if he could...truth be told, he'd never tried it on anything this big, though, and settled for focusing on analyzing chunks at a time. No sense trying to fry his brain biting off more than he could chew.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke lifts a finger to point at Ratchet at his inability to control himself, a faint green glow forming on it - which disspiates as he leaves it alone. "A spaceport would be good. I am not... here to make war. I come in peace..." She frowns, then puts her hands in her head. "But... I... do not remember... where I am from... or why I am here. But I think it's peaceful. I am not... the kind to war... I don't think."

Minoke's ship is inert - other than the obvious blunt trauma of crashlanding, there is significant electromagnetic damage throughout the ship - the engines are faulty and apparently the ship hit an ion storm as it was transporting Minoke. The big puddle of green goo laying near the feet of the green-skinned 10-year-old girl would come up on your empathy as jumbled bits - broken nanites.

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony nods, "Ok, spaceport it is. HOMER, bring me the cargo jet, load a couple of the heavy movers into it, I've got a roughly 30 foot spaceship to get into it." He looks at Richard, "Sure, I can give you a lift to the city, you can drive your car right in after we get the ship loaded."

    Turning to Ratchet, he says "What do you do with the stuff you salvage? You build stuff, or just sell it, or what? If you're good with tech, maybe I can find a place for your talents." A small compartment in the armor opens and he pulls out a StarkPhone, tossing it to Ratchet. "I'm in the contact list as Tony. If you want to talk tech, or have questions, give me a ring. Just remember not to get ahead of yourself claiming other people's stuff, ok?"

    Turning back to said owner of ship he asks, "By the way, what should we call you? I'm bringing in a plane, we'll load up your ship and fly it to the spaceport. After that if you'd like I can give you a place to stay where we can try and figure out what's wrong with your systems and if we can fix it here on Earth. Your call though."

    It will only take about twenty minutes for the whine of several heavy engines to become audible overhead, and then a plane about the size of a C-17 decloaks and makes a vertical landing behind the rocket with it's rear to the craft. The cargo doors open and two large tracked robots wedge themselves carefully under the rocket and lift it, then roll it into the jet. "Last train to New York and then Atlantic Spaceport loading now, get yourselves onboard if you don't want to stay here. Oh, one thing. Would you mind if I took a small sample of the non-functional nanites? I've been working on creating them, and a model to work from would just speed things way the heck up. Your call, don't feel like you need to say yes if you aren't comfortable about it."

    Once everyone is set up where they want to be, he steps inside and closes the cargo ramp, then the jet rises from the open field and cloaks again as it heads downstate.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Oh. "Honestly, was not expecting that answer?" He noted, and that was about the extent of his contribution here. Pulling security with a semi-automatic rifle as Tony Stark's temporary side kick. Ahh, well. Lethbridge-Stewart, indeed.

"I'm curious as to your name, myself. I suppose I might check the newspapers after we're done here, though... I'm not sure our friend here spoke correctly. Not really enough room to land a... plane here. Not enough clear flat space for a C-130." He notes. And at least he can provide some security to the... rat that seeemd to have given up but really, who was he following. "You a mechanic, or do you just strip the parts and sell them?"

And after twenty minutes, Stadler is looking up, then over at Tony, yelling out in obvious annoyance. "What the /hell/ is that overgrown Quinjet? How long have we had Globemasters that can goddamn /hover/?" He said, clearly, /clearly/ angry at something. It leads to a bit of stomping, rifle placed back in the trunk, as he drove the car up the cargo ramp. He really wasn't feeling very helpful to the load master today."

Henry Devine has posed:
Ratchet took the phone, blinking at it. It hadn't quite...hit him that he'd just gotten a whole ding-dang phone from -the- Tony Stark, his mind still laser focused on the spaceship. But soon enough, his influence retracts, and his thoughts settle back into his physical form. "...Man, this thing got taken on an intergalatic joy ride. Beyond the obvious, you're lookin' at extensive electromagnetic damage across the board...especially the engines. It's telling me that it rammed straight through an ion storm, which definite did NOT mix well with the components on board. And uhhhh...yeah, lotta busted nanites."

He clicks his tongue a little, fiddling with his phone as he kept his eyes on the ship. "...'d need a production line of drones to get that thing fixed but it'd be do able." Ratchet snapped to when the MASSIVE cargo plane make a vertical landing behind him, leaving him blinking. Man, he really did let his attention get away from him...speaking of, he turns to Stark, smiling a little. "Oh, I usually use my salvage to make new stuff, mostly for practice and the heck of it, seeing what else my gadgets spurr in my noggin'. Good with tech is an understatement when you can psychically link up with it and control it though!" He beams proudly, walking towards the plane after his bus rolls up the ramp...of its own accord??

Loaded onto the plane with every one else, he grinned giddily as he watched the ramp begin to close and the vehicle lift off...and he finally -looked- at Tony. His brows knit together with recognition. And he looked at his phone, flipped it over...and his eyes shot wide open. "HOLY FU-" And the ramp closes, as aircraft shimmers into cloak and takes off into the night.

Minoke has posed:
Minoke nods slowly to Iron Man. "I will provide a small sample of my current body. It would aid your research most effectively then scrambled broken nanites... not even I can reactivate them." She steps onto the plane... and it's obvious that she's heavier than she looks - she _is_ made of metal and probably weights 400 pounds more or less. "The only name I can remember is Minoke, and I offer my thanks in your incredible response." She just looks around. "I appear young because I am incomplete - it is how I represent myself when I am low on mass. At full strength I'd appear adult. "Thank you once more."

She glances at Ratchet. "Yes... my heart-core is also... damaged - my ship was made for speed, and nothing else. And... that was maybe... not the wisest design.." She sighs softly, just accepting that Ratchet can sense things about her - after all, she analyzed the Iron Man armor. It's just logical that some would have these abilities. She closes her eyes and tries to relax as the plane finishes loading what is needed and prepares to go to this spaceport.