We waited a short time longer and a small ground vehicle arrived. It carried one of the city defenders I saw on Monday night - the black-clad male with long hair.
He stopped the vehicle near us, climbed off it and stepped over.
He said, "Hi Diva. You look good."
Then he looked at me and said, "We didn't get a chance to speak the other night, I'm Black Tiger."
I replied, "I am Tiriffa, this is Qarath."
"I'm hoping you can help me with something. Hold on...."
He took out his communication device, pushed the screen a few times and showed it to us. An image of a red skinned humanoid was displayed. It appeared bulky, like a titan, but the muscle definition wasn't as good as most titans. It had slight tusks coming out of the bottom row of teeth, even with the mouth closed.
He asked, "Is this an alien race that you know of?"
I replied, "Not a species that I've seen before. You believe others have come to your planet recently?"
Qarath said, "To my knowledge there are no inhabited systems even remotely close to this one. It would be unusual for others to appear in such a short time frame."
I said, "Unless they followed us, as with the K'Vor."
"True, I think the K'Vor came through our Gate while it was still up."
"That's likely. Why do you ask, city defender?"
"There were twelve of them that attacked a nightclub last night. All had such a similar appearance that I wondered if they might be alien. Although ... they did have IDs that should have meant they were humans. Is it possible a group of humans could have been modified by an experiment or something to all look nearly identical?"
"Certainly. There are genetically modified subspecies used for various tasks. For example, some of my people are modified to allow for aquatic activity without the need for a breathing apparatus."
"Okay. Your people didn't do this, did they?"
"No, we wish to have as little impact as possible."
"Could it be the pirates?"
"The K'Vor? That is a possibility, there aren't many of the pirates that escaped, and I would think it would require a person with significant scientific knowledge to alter genetics."
"Wait - so you guys could do it if you wanted to?"
"Of course. It would not be fast to do, even for us."
"Could you undo it?"
"Undo the changes that made that being red skinned?"
"Yeah. Something changed him, if you guys could find a way to undo it that would be really helpful. Obviously our researchers aren't that advanced if they are accidentally changing the entire place into mutants and then killing everyone else, like at Fargene."
Chrome said, "Can I see that?"
Black Tiger said, "Holy crap, I just realized it's you. You're a guard now?"
"As of this morning. After Psystar came in with Captain McCain a few days ago, it apparently gave them the proof they needed of how I thought. Granted, I was a sucker for Shrinker's talk about how rough the mutants had it and how the 'man' came down on them, but I'm a little wiser now."
"Cool. No bad effects from Arissa's telepathic control of you?"
"No, it's been mentioned, but I have zero memory of it at all. I remember the initial attack on me by the kidnappers, and then waking up at H.E.R.O. headquarters when she snapped me out of it."
"Spartan had the same thing."
"I need to thank her sometime. Without her coming in and doing that, I'm sure I'd be looking at some serious cell time. She got Captain McCain on my side, and I have a feeling he's a pretty powerful guy."
"He's the head of H.E.R.O. in this entire region - he's at least as important as a general - considering how he faced off against General Angelich on Monday night the military at least grudgingly recognizes that."
Diva said, "But there were, what, twelve or fourteen of us there?"
Black Tiger said, "Yeah, that's a lot of supers in one place. I sure hope the future doesn't change into wars of big groups of supers, that'd get ugly."
Diva said, "I'm getting together with a few of the super heroines tonight, Psystar will be there, would you like me to tell her thanks from you, Chrome?"
Chrome replied, "There are groups of superwomen that hang out together? I'm jealous, that'd be nice."
"Well ... it's just three of us - you want to join us?"
"Seriously?"
Diva shrugged, "Yeah, we can all use more friends - Tiriffa, why don't you join us too?"
I blinked, I'd been intrigued by their discussion, but hadn't anticipated being drawn into it. On the other hand, it might provide the opportunity to scan a few more of the gifted in the city....
I said, "I don't know what you intend to do, would I fit in?"
"Well, you aren't normal, so you'd fit in fine with the rest of us. Apart from Psystar and I getting together a number of times, it'll be a first to hang out with Silverlash - so sure, it's worth trying."
"But Qarath and I need to return to the Selestor if we aren't allowed to enter this facility to scan the supers."
Black Tiger said, "They won't, I'll tell you right now. While some might be fine with it, there are laws and procedures that they'll generally have to follow - well, unless you get Captain McCain to back bringing you in - and have some kind of potential benefit to him, H.E.R.O. or the Jail."
Diva said, "Getting to your plane isn't a big deal. I can fly Qarath back to it and bring you with me, since it's happening in just a bit."
I looked at Black Tiger, "I cannot offer much at this time, unless we can help you with the mutation to the red men."
He nodded, "That might work. In fact, it's an awesome exchange. Can you do it from a blood sample? I've got one with me?"
I said, "From the red men?"
"Yeah, I bled one last night when we captured them."
"Was it kept cold? Otherwise a fresh sample would be better."
"Oh. Hold on, let me call Captain McCain to see if he can get me in to get another sample."
Chrome said, "Actually, let me call Garrick back out here, we can ask the Warden directly."
The metal female used the communicator attached to her shoulder - she was careful how she touched the device.
She said, "Garrick, you there? This is Chrome."
It made a hissing noise and the voice of the titan formerly with Chrome came across.
"Garrick here. There a problem, Chrome?"
"Not a problem - but here's something for the Warden in exchange for his time. These aliens … sorry - Tiriffa and Qarath - might have a way to reverse what occurred with those dozen red guys in the super section, the new ones you brought in last night."
"All right, hold on."
After a moment, it hissed again and Garrick's voice said, "I'm coming back out, Warden will meet us at the security gate to the super section."
"Got it, thanks Garrick."
The gate opened and the titan came out, motioning us inside.
Black Tiger said, "You guys want us inside as well?"
Garrick said, "We never mind having members of H.E.R.O. here, you guys are extra security."
Diva opened her mouth, closed it, slumped her shoulders and followed the others in. I looked at Qarath. He nodded and walked forward. I walked with him.
This facility apparently was some form of detention center. I'd heard of them being used on some planets, but Gahran didn't have such locations, so it was interesting to see.
As we walked through Black Tiger said, "Hey, you guys didn't ask for our H.E.R.O. IDs this time."
Garrick said, "You've been here enough over the last week, and were involved in directly stopping the jailbreak Saturday night. Same with Diva. Even out of her costume it was apparent that she was a brick and could fly - kind of hard to duplicate those abilities and her looks at the same time."
"Works for me, I'm not sure what made me think of it."
I said, "Something about Diva's backside, perhaps? Does she keep her H.E.R.O. ID card there normally?"
Diva glanced back and grinned at him, and then at me. "No, mine's in my boot back with my costume, not my booty."
Black Tiger said, "Sorry, you look really different with crop pants and a shirt rather than the mini-dress."
"I don't mind."
She looked at him with a different expression for a moment, although I hadn't studied the humans enough to know what it was. The fact that she smiled made me wonder if she liked him.
We walked through numerous barred areas; finally, an older human male met us.
He said, "Hello, I'm Warden Jamis. Garrick mentioned you might have the means to reverse whatever changed the red brutes?"
"If we can scan them and perhaps obtain a blood and skin sample we will likely have enough to find a resolution."
"That's great news for the men and their families. Garrick said you were aliens, is that true?"
I replied, "Yes, from the planet Gahran. Qarath and I are scientists, here to study the meteor that broke apart around your planet."
"Are more of your people on the way here?"
"Not that I am aware of. Why do you ask?"
"I've never met an alien before. One has to wonder if you are like they put in the movies."
"Our systems scanned your media for language information, but we've had very little time to study any of it for relevance. I have no point of reference."
"Certainly. Have you considered meeting with some of our scientists to see what kind of information exchange could be performed?"
"To this point - no. Our team has a specific focus on research of the Dark. We've already expanded it to include the study of individuals with a Dark gift. We hope to gain more insight as to what occurred to our own species some seven hundred years ago when an event such as your meteor affected Gahran."
"Really? Was your entire race affected?"
"Over time it was. It took numerous generations before that occurred. The more random mutations tend to occur only to those who are spaceborne now."
We arrived at our location. Several cells had a pair of the red skinned beings inside.
Black Tiger said, "They are armored - and cranky. Garrick, you and me go into the cell and I'll cut one, we hold him down and I get a new blood sample for them?"
Warden Jamis said, "I want at least one super in the hall - Diva, would you stay out here? You aren't in uniform. Chrome and Garrick can enter and hold the two down. Black Tiger can draw the blood sample. If you would then enter and do what you need to?"
He looked at me. I used the human affirmative nod in response.
The two humanoids put up some resistance, but despite their resemblance to titans, they were far weaker than the two titans we had entered with. They easily wrestled each of them into a position in which they were unable to move.
Black Tiger flicked his wrist and his fingertips changed into black talons. He walked in and collected a new blood sample while I scanned each of the red men. Afterward I left, followed by Black Tiger and then the pair of security titans.
Warden Jamis asked me, "How long will it take for a cure?"
Qarath responded, "Tiriffa has another engagement to attend this night. If I can be returned to the Selestor quickly I will begin analyzing it immediately with our primary research equipment on the starship."
I nodded and said, "Once we determine the results we will contact Diva again, is that acceptable?"
He nodded.
I asked, "I do not wish to overstep any boundaries, but would it be allowed to scan other gifted here? The more we are able to scan the more we may understand for our primary research."
He replied, "If you do the research on a cure for these men, I'll bend some rules and allow you some scans, all right?"
"Thank you. How will Qarath return to the Selestor?"
"I can have him driven back."
Diva said, "They want to avoid contact as much as possible. General Angelich already made it clear he'd rather get his hands on more stuff. I'll fly Qarath back - they at least know me. Is your name Middle Eastern, by chance?"
She looked at Qarath. Everyone else stared at Diva.
Qarath replied, "No, I was named after the Qarath Forest near the city of Giarda'tor."
Chrome opened her mouth and closed it; it looked like she was biting her lower lip.
Black Tiger said, "Aliens, remember? They aren't from Earth. So their names won't be either...."
"Oh, yeah. I knew that. Err, so anyway, will that work?"
Qarath said, "I am amenable to flight back to the Selestor. I've not flown with a being that had that gift, so it should be interesting."
"Awesome. It'll give me a chance to get off this cold concrete floor, then."
Garrick said, "Your feet get cold?"
Diva laughed, "Ha! No, they don't, I was joking!" She slapped him on the shoulder with the back of her hand, slamming him back with quite some force. Black Tiger had been slightly off to the side from Garrick and reached out with amazing speed to grab his arm before the titan crashed into the wall behind him.
Diva said, "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you so hard."
Garrick said, "Gah, new supers.... See Chrome - you aren't alone in that. No biggie, it didn't hurt, I just didn't expect it, and nice reaction there, Black Tiger."
Black Tiger nodded and released his arm.
Warden Jamis said, "I'd hate to see a football game with supers in it where they actually attempted to hit one another...."
Garrick said, "I heard someone was trying to setup a wrestling league of supers. I can't imagine what they'd need under the ring though. I'm pretty sure if Diva picked me up and slammed me against the ground the cement would crack pretty badly."
I realized the red colored men were staring at us from inside the cage they were in. They held the bars with each hand and bared their teeth while occasionally attempting to pull a bar free.
Warden Jamis looked at Qarath, "Shall we leave then? Diva will fly you back, and I'll hope you find a cure. If you need assistance I'll provide what I can, or contact one of the heroes and they can determine if H.E.R.O. has other options for you."