JUNGALIA,
May 18, 00:16 UCT
Twin suns set on the tarnished Horde control spire. Its foundation was surrounded by a circle of barren ashy heath, sharp contrast to the lush scarlet jungle that covered the rest of the landscape. Even more than a year after the fall of Horde Prime, no native lifeform dared approach the abandoned spire. Which made it the perfect waystation for Granny Goodness.
She knelt before the Fatherbox at the center of a vaulting chamber, surrounded by dozens of tattered Horde banners, as a titanic holographic figure manifested above. Crimson pupils sat in jet-black sclera glared down upon Goodness with cold contempt. His lips curled in a smile suggestive of sensuous cruelty.
"Ah Granny," he cooed. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Lord Grayven," Goodness spoke levelly, ignoring the undisguised condescension in his tone. "I have important news for Great Darkseid."
"Now, Granny, you know it doesn't work like that anymore," Grayven chided with a soft chuckle. "You report to me now. Anything I deem worthy of my father's attention I shall bring to him... in due course."
Goodness kept her eyes locked on the floor to hide the sneer of distaste curling across her lips. Darkseid's third son had always been an entitled brat. But ever since returning to his father's right hand little over a year ago, Grayven had become utterly insufferable. Two years ago, before the unfortunate… incident aboard the Orphanage, she wouldn't have had to grovel before this smirking bastard just to make a report.
No matter, her Dread Lord's favor rose and ebbed like the tide, slow yet inexorable. Goodness would be ready when Grayven inevitably over-stepped himself in his father's eyes. Until then… "As Darkseid wills."
"That's better. Now, tell me," Grayven purred, steepling his fingers. "Where is our latest recruit?"
[-]
THE WATCHTOWER
June 01, 21:22 EDT
"Where is Adora?!" Catra's claws raked across the polished conference table as Melog paced anxiously behind her seat.
"Please, Catra," Glimmer said, coaxing her friend back into her seat. "I'm sorry she's just on edge. We all are."
Catra slumped sulkily back into her seat. "Two weeks locked in this floating tin can will do that."
"It's alright," Tigress sighed, pretending not to have heard that last part. She sat opposite the three Etherians, flanked by Halo and a cross-armed alien warrior with hard red eyes staring out from behind his silver helm. "But to answer your question: we don't know yet. But we will; we just need more time."
"All we've given you is time," Catra said, her voice tight. "When are we going to get some results?"
"Never with that kind of discipline," Silver-helm sneered coolly.
Catra side-eyed the warrior. "I'm sorry, who are you again?"
"This is Orion of New Genesis," Tigress answered, gesturing to the New God. "Our resident expert on all things Apokoliptan."
"That's great," Bow said hopefully. "Maybe you can help us plan a rescue mission to Apokolips?"
"A suicide mission, more likely," Orion snorted. "Apokolips is no place for mortal infants."
"Hey! The place I grew up wasn't exactly a bed of roses either," Catra said. "We can handle it."
"No, you can't," Orion replied cuttingly. "The entire planet is a fortress, guarded by legions of Parademons and worse than Parademons, and He is always watching."
"Orion," Tigress said warningly. This was going badly enough without the New Genesisian war god actively antagonizing the already on edge Catra.
"'Oh no, Big Bad is sooo super scawey!'" Catra whimpered mockingly. "He won't be the first galactic god-tyrant we've taken down!"
"Catra," Glimmer chided.
"No!" Catra rounded on the assembled Earth heroes. "What has this Darkseid creep actually done that has you all wetting your pants so badly?"
"Darkseid does not do, child," Orion intoned knowingly. "Darkseid is."
"That's not an answer!" Catra spat. "It's not even a sentence!"
"Darkseid's forces are spread across half the known Galaxy," Tigress said, interjecting herself between the Catra and the Dog of War. "There's no guarantee Adora is even on Apokolips. Orion's right, we can't risk it. Not without knowing for sure."
"Then this is a waste of time," Catra growled, storming out of the conference room with Melog hot on her bare heels.
"On that at least, we can agree," Orion scoffed.
"Catra! Wait!" Glimmer cried, running after.
"Could you just excuse us for a minute?" Bow asked, before ducking out in turn.
Tigress waited until she was sure the Etherians were well out of earshot before rounding on Orion. "What the Hell was that?"
"You asked for my input, I gave it," Orion replied dryly. "I'm not responsible for the feline's outburst."
"That's not fair!" Halo leaped to their feet. "The love of her life is being held hostage by Granny Goodness. You, of all people, should know what that means."
"Which is why I refuse to prolong her pain with false hope and empty promises. Now, if you will excuse me," Orion rose, retrieving his Motherbox. "I have important matters to attend to on New Genesis."
Ping!
Orion shot a glance at the living computer in his hand.
"She says you're meeting Lightray by the Boiling Lake?" Halo translated.
"Yes, well…" Orion face went hot-pink behind his silver helmet.
BOOOOOM!
Orion stepped into the boom-tube without another word, sealing it behind him, leaving Tigress and Halo alone in the conference room.
"What now?" Halo asked warily.
"Let everyone cool off for tonight." Tigress removed her mask, massaging her temples as she sunk into her chair. She was relieved to be finally at the end of a long day if nothing else. "We'll all feel better after a good night's-"
"Cyborg to Tigress," the Watchtower's intercom chimed. "We have a situation."
[-]
Catra curled up with Melog behind a rake in a maintenance closet just off the Watchtower's atrium. It was cold, dark and reeked of damp earth. She fought down another sob as she stroked the alien fey's ethereal mane, attempting to soothe herself as much as her companion.
"I really blew it this time, Mel," she sniffed hoarsely. "The only people in the galaxy who can help us save Adora and I explode at them! Uuugh!" she beat the side of her head with the flat of her palms. It didn't hurt nearly as much as she thought she deserved. "Why am I like this?"
Melog mewed sympathetically, licking a tear from the corner of Catra's blue eye. A swish of the automatic door filled the tiny closet with light, making Catra squint in irritation.
Glimmer smirked at Bow. "Told you she'd hole up somewhere dark."
"Go away," moaned Catra. "I'm not in the mood for a lecture about how I ruined everything. Not like you'd be telling me anything I don't already know."
"We're not here to lecture you, Catra," said Bow as he and Glimmer sat on the floor either side of Catra. "We're here because we're worried about you."
"This thing with Adora is hard on all of us, but you especially," added Glimmer. "I remember after you saved me from Horde Prime, she never gave up on you."
"And we're not letting you give up on yourself either!" Bow enthused.
"We are going to get Adora back even if we have to march into Apokolips ourselves!" said Glimmer.
"Buuut... we'd probably have a better chance with the Justice League's help," said Bow. "Soo...
"Fine, I get the picture," sighed Catra, wiping her eyes as she rose. "Better go apologize to Tigress."
[-]
"How long since the Outsiders last checked in?" Tigress asked.
"Over an hour," answered Cyborg, running his fingers over a series of floating holo-screens as he interfaced with the Watchtower's mainframe. "Hate to start a panic, but maybe it's time to call in the Team?"
"Miss Martian and the rest of the Team are on Rann," Tigress said. "Adam and Alanna Strange are convinced the Rannian Science Command's been replaced by evil shapeshifters."
"What about the League?" Halo asked.
Cyborg shook his head. "Half the League are dealing with the Enchantress in Turkey, and the other half are on Oa. We could try activating the League reserves, but the system's not really designed for small scale stuff. Could take a while to organize a squad?"
"Artemis," Halo said. "Tara and Forager were with the Outsiders."
Tigress tensed, every muscle in her body wanted leap into the nearest Zeta-Tube with crossbow drawn and damn the consequences. But she knew anything that could take down the Outsiders wasn't something they could risk taking on half-assed. She also knew every second wasted only put the young heroes in more danger.
"Take us."
Tigress turned to find Catra, Glimmer and Bow standing in the entrance way to the control room. "Excuse me?"
"We need you, you need us," Catra answered. "Seems simple enough to me."
Tigress' eyes narrowed suspiciously, turning to Halo. "You trust them?"
Halo exchanged a glance with the three Etherians before giving Tigress the nod. "I do."
"Fine," Tigress said. "Dress warm; we leave in fifteen."
"Aw yeah! Earth Friend Squad to the rescue!" Bow whooped before his train of thought caught up with him. "Dress warm?"
[-]
UNDISCLOSED
June 02, 01:56 UTC
Forager awoke upon a cold metal slab. Piercing white light lanced out of the void and into Forager's all too sensitive eyes, adapted for life in the warm dark burrows of the Hive. Forager's Hive? The Outsiders!?
"Terra? Beast Boy? Wonder Girl?" Forager clicked into the pitch black surrounding the pillar of light. "Can Forager's Hive hear Forager?! Does Forager's Hive require Forager's assistance?"
No answer came from the dark. Forager was alone. Forager did not like being alone. On New Genesis, a lone Bug was a dead Bug. Forager tried to raise Forager's self from the cold metal, only to find Forager's six limbs straining against Forager's own exoskeleton, as though pinned in place despite the lack of any visible restraints.
"What is wrong with Forager?"
"Localized artificial gravity field," an unseen voice answered clinically. "Subject is currently experiencing gravity several times greater than planetary standard."
Forager's eyes nictitated quizzically "Who are you?"
"A Terran would be dead, organs ruptured, ribcage collapsed under their own weight. Subject only presents with immobility and mild distress." The voice droned impassively. "Subject's exoskeleton must be especially robust."
"What have you done with Forager's friends!?"
"Subject displays concern for its fellows, indicative of classic eusocial organisation."
Forager strained against the invisible bonds, lungs burning as Forager struggled to lift a clawed fist.
"Subject is becoming increasingly agitated. Multi-Bot, administer sedative."
Something whirled mechanically just outside of Forager's reach, before a hiss of blue-green mist returned the hapless Bug to dreamless oblivion. Forager's captor's last words echoed through Forager's mind.
"Multi-Bot, prep the subject for surgery."
[-]
ANTARCTICA
June 02, 02:16 UTC
The Martian bio-ship, affectionately called 'Baby', sped unseen over the white wastes like an invisible arrowhead. Ensconced within the relative warmth of her cockpit, Bow struggled mightily.
"Ah-ha!" he crowed, finally slipping into the heavy boot that completed his thickly layered ensemble. "And you wanted to leave our winter gear on Etheria."
"Good thing too," Glimmer teased affectionately, similarly attired. "It's the only outfit you own without a mid-riff."
Catra tuned out the couple's banter. She sat on the opposite side of the cockpit, clad in her old Horde furs, stroking Melog's glittering mane as she watched the cold barren landscape zoom past the bio-ship's viewport.
"May I join you?"
Catra's gaze rose to meet Halo's nervously smiling eyes. They, like Tigress, were clad in a snow-white insulated stealth-suit that was otherwise identical to their standard hooded uniform.
Catra shrugged. "It's your ship."
"I just wanted to say you shouldn't pay any attention to Orion." Halo took the empty seat. "He's what we call a 'glass half empty' kind of person."
Catra cocked an eyebrow. "Half full of what?"
"You know, I've never been exactly sure. My point is you shouldn't give up hope."
"Sure... Whatever."
"I'm serious," Halo answered forcefully, casting their gaze downward. "Two years ago, I was also abducted and enslaved by Granny Goodness."
This turned Catra's head.
"She... used her machines to enslave my mind…" Halo's voice was soft fury, their fists clenched. "Used me in some obscene attempt to enslave the entire galaxy, like I was just... just..."
"Just another cog in the machine…" Catra's hand unconsciously reached for the small scar at the nape of her neck.
The scar was the only visible remnant of the control chip Horde Prime had used to enslave her along with half Etheria. It wasn't something she could talk to Glimmer, Bow or even Adora about. They'd never been chipped, never been stripped of their individuality, never had to feel Prime forcing his vile thoughts and desires into their mind. Catra looked at Halo as though seeing them for the very first time.
"Yes, exactly." Halo dabbed their eyes with the sleeve of their stealth-suit. "But my friends saved me. And I promise we'll help you save Adora too."
"Careful, Rainbow." Catra raised a weak smile. "I might hold you to that."
"Listen up, people," Tigress said, seated in the command chair. "Now that we're all suited-up, it's mission brief time."
With a thought, Tigress summoned the holo-image of a slender boyish youth with olive-skin and dark gold curls. He was barefoot and wore a customized white and gold wetsuit; gill-slits ran down along either side of his neck. But his most notable features were the vast curving manta-like pinions that rose from his shoulder blades.
"Are those wings?" Glimmer asked.
"Fins technically," Tigress answered. "Angelo del Rey, or 'Sea Angel' as social media likes to call him, was one of over three hundred meta-teens rescued from Granny Goodness' 'Orphanage' two years ago. Since then he's been operating as a local hero out of his hometown of Bunuru Bay, Australia. Not much super-crime in small town Oz so he mostly does search and rescue, charity swims, that kinda thing. Sweet kid by all accounts"
"Is he one of the Outsiders?" Bow asked.
Tigress shook her head. "Beast Boy and Wonder Girl tried talking him into joining a couple of times, but he's always turned them down. The Sea Angel is strictly local. At least he was until he disappeared three days ago; that's when his family contacted the Outsiders."
"Now they're missing too," Glimmer mused, gazing at the pale white expanse below. "Is this 'Australia'? Doesn't look like the best place for a swim."
"No, Glimmer," Tigress chuckled. "Australia's about four thousand klicks north of here."
"Then why are we here?" Catra asked.
"The Outsiders detected some unusual energy readings at Angelo's last known location," Tigress explained. "They thought it might be an ion-trail from a ship."
"So, they traced it here?" Bow asked rhetorically. "Makes sense."
Tigress nodded. "Speaking of, Bow, can you try running a scan for anything unusual up ahead?"
"Uh, sure." Bow timorously worked the unfamiliar technorganic console. He wasn't used to dealing with tech that was so… gooey, but he picked it up quick enough. "Hold on, I think I have some kind of energy signature but..."
"But what?"
Bow's voice cracked. "I think it's Apokoliptan."
[-]
Five specks trudged across the white wastes under the naked stars of a perpetual midnight; footprints trailed back to their cloaked bio-ship. Bow's face was buried in his tracker pad, flanked by Glimmer, Catra and Melog as Tigress covered the rear of the makeshift squad.
Tigress' sharp grey eyes scanned the frozen horizon. "Any trace on that Apokoliptan signal, Bow?"
"I think it's somewhere in this direction," answered Bow uncertainly, squinting at the pad. "Maybe."
"Perfect," Tigress muttered, clenching the grip of her crossbow.
A bright orange comet streaked across the black sky, alighting on the snow in the form of Halo. "Can't see anything from up above."
Tigress nodded. "Okay, Bow, take point. Everyone else fan out and stay alert."
The squad marched on in silence for a several minutes before Halo fell into step beside Tigress. "Are you okay?" they asked.
"I'm good. All this snow and ice just… brings back bad memories." Tigress took a breath to center herself in the here and now. "Speaking of bad memories, how about you? You good?"
"Of course." Halo cocked an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I couldn't help overhearing what you said to Catra back on Baby. I know it couldn't have been easy dredging up all that old trauma. I'm proud of you, Vi."
Halo gave a small self-conscious smile. "Thanks, Artemis."
Tigress drew close, falling into a low whisper. "Just be careful how much you open up to Catra."
"What, why?"
"She may have just lost the love of her life. I don't have to explain to you how that kind of pain can twist people up inside, make them... desperate."
"You don't trust her?"
"If I were her right now, I wouldn't trust myself."
"Everybody hold up!" Bow called, bringing the march to a halt. "That Apokoliptan signal just spiked! I think it's coming from bel-"
The ground began to rumble from somewhere deep beneath the ice, as though some titanic worm was rapidly burrowing its way to the surface.
"Everyone, scat-" Tigress tried to cry out before the packed ice abruptly erupted beneath the squad's feet. They'd just managed to throw themselves clear when a giant ball of spinning metal burst into the air.
Bow nocked an arrow as Glimmer summoned her mage staff. Catra flashed her claws as Melog coiled to pounce, mane flaring red. All four were poised to strike before...
"Hold your fire!" Tigress cried. "That's no Apokoliptan!"
The giant metallic ball chirped in delight as it rolled in the snow, excitedly circling Tigress and Halo like a lost puppy finally finding its family.
Halo patted the ball. "I'm glad to see you too, girl."
Tigress holstered her crossbow. "Glimmer, Catra, Bow, Melog, this is Sphere; she's kinda the Outsider's main ride."
Sphere rolled back and forth before the four Etherians, pausing briefly at each in turn before finally stopping at Melog and chirping curiously. Melog responded with a quizzical mew, experimentally batting at Sphere as though she were a giant ball of metallic yarn.
Bow stared in shock. "Is it- she… alive?"
"She's lucky to be." Halo gently stroked Sphere's shining carapace, carefully avoiding a partly molten gash that was still in the process of sealing itself. "She must have entered stasis to heal."
"Then whoever, or whatever, hurt her must have taken the Outsiders." Tigress knelt to meet Sphere's purple-red optic. "Can you take us to them, girl?"
Sphere chirped excitedly before taking off across the icy wastes at breakneck speed, the squad hot on her trail.
[-]
Multi-Bot scuttled across the ice, carried by softly skittering mechanical limbs as he shadowed the interlopers. Or rather, Scout-Drone-One-Six scuttled across the ice. Multi-Bot's consciousness was distributed across hundreds of such drones of various models, tending the ship's systems as well as patrolling the sensor perimeter. With less effort than it took an organic to turn their head, Multi-Bot shifted the bulk of its attention through Medi-Drone-Two, currently assisting the Creator in the ship's surgical bay.
A gleaming laser scalpel hovered mere centimeters over the sedated form of the New Genesian 'bug', ready to make the first incision. The Creator always claimed the honor of the first incision, as was His right. The Creator had spoken with great admiration of the versatility of the insectoid's digestive tract. It pained Multi-Bot to interrupt the Creator's Great Work, but needs must.
"Creator, one of my scout-drones has detected a party of anomalous life forms approaching."
The Creator paused, His voluminous form turning. "Specifications?"
"Seven in total," Multi-Bot said tonelessly. "Five humanoids: two baseline, two bearing anomalous energy signatures, one feliniod. Two non-humanoids: one semi-corporeal and composed of anomalous energy, plus the New Genesphere that accompanied the first party of meta-Terrans."
"Fascinating..." The Creator withdrew the laser scalpel. "It appears our arthropod friend here must wait until we've finished cataloguing these new specimens."
"Query: was it wise not to mask our ion-trail from the indigenous life-forms?" The query made Multi-Bot uncomfortable, it was not its place to question. But did not the Creator Himself prize inquiry above all else?
"Multi-Bot, are you familiar with the Thanagarian vole?"
"Six-limbed omnivorous vermiform virtually ubiquitous across the Thanagarian Empire," Multi-Bot recited after a quick search of its data-tracks.
"Correct." The Creator spoke without praise, merely acknowledgement. "The Thanagarians employ a unique method of ensnaring the vermin, baiting their traps with live voles."
Multi-Bot's single optic flickered quizzically. "I do not understand, Creator?"
"The voles are highly social creatures; the sound of one in distress brings the rest of the colony scurrying to assist. You see, the traps are designed to admit new voles while allowing no means of escape. Eventually, the traps become so overcrowded that the witless brutes simply asphyxiate each other."
Multi-Bot marveled, suddenly grasping the perfect logic. "The Creator is wise in all things."
[-]
Sphere skidded to a shrieking halt in the middle of a seemingly empty white plain. She chirped incessantly as she rolled back and forth, rapidly wearing a furrow in the white powder.
Halo alighted on the snow nearby, their orange aura fading as the rest of the squad caught up. "I don't understand?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Catra stormed past Sphere and Halo. "Your weird space beachball is brok-OW!" She slammed face first into... something, recoiling with a hiss. "What the fuck!?"
Tigress stepped forward cautiously. Drawing an arrow from her quiver, she prodded the seemingly empty air. The arrow tip-tapped something with an unmistakably metallic clink, sending a ripple of visual distortion across the vast cloaked structure.
"Looks like we found our ship," Tigress said. "Glimmer, can you get us in?"
The mage-queen shook her head. "My teleportation's tied to the Moonstone back on Etheria. Without it, I can only do generic sorcery."
Bow felt his way along the invisible hull. "Maybe there's an access hatch? …Aha!" He drew one of his own arrows, a flat screwdriver head popping from the pointed tip as he went to work.
Glimmer leaned towards Tigress. "Yeah, I don't know why he has that."
Tigress shrugged. "Honestly, I've seen Green Arrow pull weirder things out of his quiver."
Bow yanked a small metal panel from seemingly nowhere, revealing a mass of wires embedded in thin air. He deftly began tinkering in earnest. "Just one more..."
A metallic serpentine hiss filled the air, followed by a dull pained creaking as an airlock ground open, revealing inky blackness beyond. Melog sniffed the aperture warily, before darting behind Catra's leg with a growl.
Catra turned to Tigress. "After you."
"Gee, thanks," drawled Tigress, eyeing the doorway into darkness. As she gazed into the black, she couldn't stop a snippet of Dante flittering across her mind.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
[-]
The gloomy interior of the alien vessel felt, if anything, even colder than the snowy plains outside. Catra had to clench her jaw just to keep her fangs from chattering as she, Tigress, Glimmer, Halo and Bow crept cautiously under Melog's invisibility glamour. Tigress had insisted on making Sphere wait outside, to heal further and signal the Watchtower if they didn't return in a reasonable timeframe.
The circular almost burrow-like corridor was wide and vaulting, giving Catra the uncomfortable impression it was designed to accommodate something significantly larger than a typical humanoid. The squad had only made it about a hundred meters before the corridors branched in twain.
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," Tigress muttered.
"What?" Catra asked.
"Never mind," Tigress whispered. "We'll have to split-up."
"Fine, we'll take the left." Catra gestured to Glimmer, Bow and Melog. "You and Rainbow can take the right."
"No, we go in squads of three," Tigress ordered. "Halo, you're with Glimmer and Bow. Catra, you and Melog with me. Radio check-ins every ten minutes."
"Fine," Catra sighed, taking Tigress' lead as the assigned squads divvied up down their separate paths. A cloaked Tigress, Catra and Melog stalked along the corridor with appropriately feline stealth for a few minutes, until Tigress silently gestured for them to halt.
Catra peered into the darkness. "Something up a head?"
"Not that I can see," Tigress answered.
"Then why-"
Tigress rose from a crouching position, standing to look the Catra straight in her heterochromatic eyes. "Why are you here, Catra?"
"I told you back on the Watchtower: we help you save your friends; you help us save Adora."
"Except you have no guarantee we'll actually help you save Adora once we get the Outsiders back. No offence, but you don't strike me as the trusting type. So, what's the real reason?"
Catra faltered, her mask of cold indifference slipping just a little. "Because it's... it's what she would do."
"Good enough for me." Tigress resumed her crouch. "Let's keep moving."
"What, that's it? You just trust me now? Why?"
"Let's just say you remind me of somebody I used to know. C'mon, I think there's a cargo bay up ahead."
The three pseudo-felines slipped silently into the pitch-black chamber. Catra squinted into the void. She'd always prided herself on having excellent night vision but even her eyes needed some light to work with.
Tigress tapped the side of her mask. "Infra-red on my AR lenses is picking up machinery siphoning a lot of heat out of this chamber. Nothing like lifeforms though."
"Meaning what, this is an alien refrigerator?"
"Have Melog decloak us."
At Catra's nod, Melog brought the three of them back into the visible spectrum, filling the chamber with the pale faery light of their mane. The eldritch glow revealed a sight that made Catra and Tigress' blood run cold.
"Oh my God," Tigress gasped.
[-]
Elsewhere in the labyrinthine vessel, a hatch was blown off its frame by a blast of yellow and pink energy. Glimmer, Halo and Bow leaped through the billowing smoke, staff and arrows drawn, aura blazing yellow. Each struck a heroic pose that may have been a tad more dramatic then strictly necessary.
"Best Earth Friend Squad to the rescue!" Bow whooped as he swept the room, pausing to squint at the high table at the center. "Is that a giant bug?"
"Forager!?" Halo raced to the Bug's side.
"H-Halo? Forager knew Halo would come for Forager," groaned the Bug weakly, trying to raise himself from the cold slab only to collapse again. "Apologies, Forager appears to be... stuck."
"Looks like it's generating some kind of artificial hyper-gravity field," Bow examined the machinery coiling about the operating table's underside. "I should be able to deactivate it, but I'll need a litt-" He was cut-off by a sparkling pink blast that instantly fried the alien circuity. "Glimmer!?"
"What? We're in a hurry!"
Halo helped Forager to his segmented feet. "Forager, these are Glimmer and Bow."
"Forager is most grateful to new friend Glimmer and new friend Bow," chirped Forager with a small bow. "But Halo, Glimmer, Bow and Forager must find the other Outsiders and leave immediately before-"
Forager's words were abruptly drowned out by a metallic scuttling filling the chamber's maintenance vents, rapidly building to a deafening cacophony like a thousand swarming metal spiders.
Forager clucked in resignation. "That happens."
[-]
"What the fuck is this?" Catra swore fearfully.
At least a hundred cryogenic pods were arranged throughout the chamber. Pincer-like claws, sinuous tentacles, compound eyes and organs less describable floated suspended within glass cylinders of greenish preservative fluid. A handful of pods even contained organisms that were mostly intact.
Tigress tapped her comm. "Halo, grab Glimmer and Bow and get back to the extraction point now! Halo? Halo!?" She barked, only to be answered by hissing static. She grabbed the stunned Catra by the wrist, turning to the exit. "We need to move!"
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that," a chill voice intoned.
Harsh acetic light flooded the bay. Tigress, Catra and Melog turned to find escape blocked by a hulking alien figure. He was wrapped in some sort of oilskin cloak that left only a hairless pale red cranium exposed.
"Fascinating," he mused, serpent green eyes studying the feline trio from beneath beetled brow ridges. His face was thin and angular; his head was almost comically small in proportion to the bulk implied by his voluminous quivering cloak.
"Who the Hell are you?" Tigress trained her crossbow on the looming alien as Catra and Melog bore their fangs.
The alien smirked slightly. "Apologies, I have neglected the proper etiquette."
His cloak began unfurling. No, not a cloak but wings... Sea Angel's wings. What lay beneath the vast manta pinions was pure horror, a hulking fleshy patchwork of alien limbs, tissues and cybernetics culled from at least a dozen disparate species.
"Galen Nycroft, late of the Ungaran Academy of Science, at your service," He inclined his head mockingly, perched upon the heaving monstrosity. "And all that is best in you will soon be part of me."