Players:
Summary: Al Kraven (Hunter V2.0) is NOT part of your usual zoo program.
Date: July 26, 2009
Log Title Its all happening at the zoo
Rating: G
NYC - Central Park Zoo
The Central Park zoo offers a variety of animals, Monkeys, Birds, Penguins, Snakes, Polar Bears, Red Foxes, fish, and many other animals. There are three zones to the Zoo, the Polar Zone, featuring the Polar Bears, Seals, and Penguins. The Tropic Zone, featuring a variety of birds, monkeys, and snakes. The last zone, the Temperate Territory is where the Sea Lions, Red Pandas, Otters, Ducks, and Swans can be found. It's a fun place for both Children and Adults alike.
Dramatis Personae: Eddie/Mr Faith, Keld/(codename pending), Alyosha Kravinoff ( http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Kraven_the_Hunter_(Alyosha_Kravinoff) ), zoo animals and zoo patrons.
At the zoo! Lions and tigers and bears, oh boy! Keld is wandering the place - Jarvis gave him a free zoo pass and told him to go walk off some of the energy he's been building up, because the carpet in the parlor cannot take the pacing and needs to be repaired or replaced.
The otters are especially interesting. If only they were four times that size, had venomous spines, and imitated human speech, they'd make him homesick. He leans against the glass, then shifts and leans on the iron bar instead because the glass creaked. Watching them in their habitat.
"Alright. Bye! Try not to get lost again," Eddie Parker-Mayfair calls, waving to a small child currently being admonished by his mother for running off. He'd just been out in the park, on his way to do some errands, when he came across a lost child. And being the 'hero in training' that he is, Eddie had to help the boy find his parents. This led him right into the zoo he's in now. Dressed in jeans and a Captain America t-shirt, he stretches and looks around. Shrugging, he decides to enjoy the zoo for awhile. As he approaches the otter display, Eddie peers curiously at Keld.
One of the otters is curiously swimming next to the glass. Keld has climbed onto the railing and placed a hand on the glass, and is apparently trying to "talk" to the otter, which seems to be trying to communicate something of its own. "Where is fish? You have fish? Give to me fish!!" most likely.
Keld breaks in to laughter and pulls his hand away from the glass wall, dropping off the iron railing back down to the concrete railing with a faint 'crunch'. His shoes are not going to last at this rate.
Eddie blinks at the crunch, just staring at Keld a moment. "Umm…excuse me, sir?" he speaks up. "The zookeepers probably won't like it if you get that close to the enclosures," he says, trying to figure Keld out.
SOMEONE has been in Papa Kraven's serum again, and perhaps this batch has gone bad, but Kraven the Hunter (v2.0) is convinced of the innate righteousness of his cause, whatever it is this week. In pursuit of that cause, he strides into the zoo, wearing the famous animal-hide costume and displaying the jungle-toned physique of the Great White Hunter. (In this case, very white; Kraven has not been in the sun for a while.)
"Look, Mommy, it's the guy from Vegas that the tigers bit!" comes in a loud, high-pitched shriek from a child who ought to know better, and the following SMACK! "Don't point at the man, he might be a supervillain!" elicits only the squall of the justly punished. Alyosha Kraven ignores the child; he is focussed on the Anaconda exhibit, near the Giant Otter exhibit, and thus, the noise is sufficient to attract Keld's attention.
"You're right, I shouldn't be up there," Keld replies to the child in the uniform of one of the Avengers who hasn't been around the mansion lately - they must be in space or something - and then his attention is caught.
"Supervillain?" Keld says, curiously. "Oh, now that sounds intriguing," and he runs out the door towards the sound. Perhaps Eddie could hear it, perhaps not; it's possibly suspicious that Keld is running at about 20MPH though.
Still blinking in confusion, Eddie starts to say something else until Keld said 'supervillains'. Jumping, the teen watches Keld run off and then follows. Staying at the door, his eyes go wide at the sight of Kraven. "Oh…not good," he says, backing away from the door and looking for a quick closet or bathroom to duck into.
The alien may well be over-confident, but he's been studying the authoritative resources on "supervillains" - the Bugle website especially - and he believes this one won't be much of a problem. Staying far enough back to seem only a curious onlooker, and using his training to try to blend into the background (not as successful as he would want it to be) Keld remains an observer waiting for the man in the curious costume to do something illegal. It doesn't take long.
The serpentorium has a "meet the animals" exhibit, and there is a small "show" happening, where three zoo representatives are showing different snakes to a group of variously fascinated and horrified children and their guardians. Kraven throws a small bag, and there is a flash and a pouf of stinking smoke, reeking of strange herbs, and the crowd and zookeepers fall unconscious, as does the one boa constrictor that was out of its rubbermaid (tm) tub, being shown. The lion-clad villain brandishes a red gemstone and shouts strange words and the keeper holding the snake, and the snake, suddenly merge into a single half-human, half-serpent being!
Making sure to press the panic button on his phone first to call the school, Eddie sighs since he can't find a place to get changed. Shrugging and just pulling on his goggles, the teen heads out. He arrives near Keld just in time to see Kraven make the snake-man. Squeaking, the teen stares for a moment before swallowing. Glancing around quickly, he sighs. "Oh boy…" he trails off. "Kraven!" he calls, stepping forward. "Change that person back now, please!" polite even to the villains.
Now that's something you don't see every day, and probably a good thing. Keld surges forward as well, stopping only for a second to recognize the kid who was talking to him earlier. He (the kid) is wearing goggles, and acting with the same air of authority that She-Hulk adopted, which means the uniform-shirt, even though it's mere cloth, may well indicate the young man is indeed a protege' of the Captain of America. Keld stops next to the cadet-hero, then, and folds his arms, in the process palming a handful of pebbles (shiny smooth rocks!) that he earlier collected from a garden pond he passed in the Park. If necessary he can throw them quite hard.
Kraven sneers, "Why should I do that, little boy?" and he drops two SOMETHINGs from a pouch on his belt onto two of the groggy, barely-rousing children, a boy and a girl, eight and ten. What kind of Something is pretty clear, as four words barked out while the red gem is brandished causes both children to merge with the spiders that were dropped on them, and they transform into human-spider centauroid. Meanwhile, the snake-man is still groggy, and Kraven nudges him with a foot. "Wake up and serve me, my new ani-man."
"Well, I asked nicely," Eddie mutters. "And I'm, Mr. Faith," he says, once more considering a codename change. There's a slightly startled jump as Keld steps up next to him, Faith glancing up at the alien. "Umm…sir, you may want to stand back. This …" he pauses, eyes going wide at the transformation of the children, "is most definitely going to be dangerous," he says. Of course, he's -really- hoping someone answers the panic call because he's pretty much useless on the power-front without someone with him. "Cause ya know…Spider-Man would just swing in and kick ya or something. You could I don't know…return the niceness," he chimes to Kraven.
The snake-man looks resentfully at Kraven. "What? Ani-man? What makess you think I want to ssserve you?" He flop-slithers, realizing that his body is not quite what it was this morning, and he hasn't figured it out, even with the helpful snake-part of his mind explaining how to slither.
"HEY! It's Mr. Faith!" the boy says, apparently being a member of the New Heroes Fan Club, and the girl looks at her brother and says, "Jerry, you turned into a drider! Wait, me too, that's not supposed to work that way, girl drows can't be driders."
Kraven boggles for a moment as his new recruits ignore him, and begins to work himself into a monologue. "WHAT! You dare defy me? Spider-servants, go attack those interlopers! You, snake-man, perhaps you do not know who I am! I am KRAVEN! I am your new MASTER!"
The boy looks at Kraven (as the Hunt-Master turns his back) and sticks out his tongue, then scuttles over to Mr. Faith, "Can I have your autograph?"
The girl, on the other hand, has picked a book out of her backpack and is flipping through the pages with practiced skill. "I KNEW IT! Girls can't be driders! You, Mr. Lion-shirt, you screwed up, girls can't be driders!" She brandishes the book at him.
Keld sort of steps back from the scuttling child-spider, and narrows his eyes, calculating, as Kraven steps towards the snake-transformee.
Mr. Faith just blinks behind his goggles, stumbling as his powers boost him very slightly. "I umm," he looks the spider-kid over and nods. "Alright…I guess. I'm not like…famous or anything though…uh…" a pause to glance at Keld. "Could you and your sister like…find someplace safe to hide while I deal with the supervillain first though?"
Spider-Kid Jerry makes a faint SQUEE, at receiving the first autograph from Mr. Faith - this is so cool, now to hit the web and find out who Mr. Faith is … maybe he's new, which makes this a collector's item! He focusses four large, puppy-dog-eyes at Mr. Faith, "What are your powers? Oh, OK, but, don't we get to fight him?"
Kraven is distracted from a fine monologue by the girl's harangue, as she says "HEY! Don't you ignore me!" and swats him on the back of the head. Meanwhile the other powder-victims have begun to come to, the ones on the edge first, and they're being dragged, herded, or pulled back from the dangerous man and the wierd snake guy and the two creepy spider-kids, except for their mother, who is just shaking her head in disbelief.
Kraven spins, slapping the girl aside - and she lands on a wall, un-harmed and definitely annoyed. He focuses on the mother, and says, "Fine! Maybe they have to be awake first!" He flings open a bin, pulls out whatever's inside, and tosses it at the woman, then starts to speak the words activating the transformation.
Keld MOVES, simultaneously with the snake-man, and before the man can speak the second word, a fist interrupts the villain's face. The snake-man catches the villain, a bit earlier than he was expecting to, and starts to wrap around him, as they are shoved across the room by the force of the blow. (The possum which had been thrown at the woman hisses, then runs off toward the park.)
Eddie pauses a moment. He resists the urge to say that his powers are useless and instead just lets out a breath of relief as Keld steps in. "Demonstration," he chimes, activing his powers. Mr. Faith's eyes glow bright blue and Keld will suddenly feel his abilities grow by about one-half of his normal limitations. A few seconds later and there's a flash of light. Suddenly, Mr. Faith's clothing has changed to a blue and white version of what Keld is wearing. His skin's also taken on a silvery-white shine. "Alright, everyone back," he calls, hoping people are out of his way. He's got one third Keld's superspeed right now but he's not pushing it. Rushing forward, he tries to get that odd gem from Kraven as fast as he can.
Having never been power-boosted before, Keld is a bit surprised, and smacks into a wall on the other side of the snake-man-wrapped villain as he misjudges the movement. The wall takes more damage than Keld, who shakes his head to clear it. Kraven, meanwhile, would normally be able to withstand the constriction, except that his jaw is distractingly broken, or possibly just dislocated. Whichever, it hurts like hellfire, but he draws on his drug-and-herbal-potion amplified Animal Nature and begins whatever it is that allows him to take control of the mind of a part-animal human, focussing on the snake-man. The gemstone is, therefore, easily removed from his hand.
Meanwhile, Spider-Kid Jerry is talking earnestly to his sister, as theira newly wakened mother spots them and gets a very… irate… expression on her face.
Mr. Faith comes to a halt a couple feet away from Kraven and the snake-man. He glances at the gem and then looks around for Keld. "Uhh..sorry about that!" he calls to Keld, wincing a little. There's a pause, Eddie looking down at himself and bouncing slightly. "Woah," a pause. "Alright, Kraven. Tell me how to change them back, please!" he says, keeping the gemstone in a decent grip. "That way we can get you to a nice doctor soon."
Keld shrugs, "Kanz-ai" and zoom-stops next to the snake-man.
"Do what sho-ip Faith said, Kraven," Keld advises, but then the snake-man yells, "AGH, GET OUT OF MY HEAD" as the sometime-villain sometime-wanna-be-hero begins to exert pressure to obey him.
Keld frowns, and touches the snake-man on the shoulder, and his superspeed switches for mind-touch. (And for those who can hear it, the cosmic sound-track changing from high-speed-driving music to a slower, compelling complex polyrhythmic beat.)
<You can fight it off, human,> says something new inside the serpentine zookeeper's head, lending support to the resistance.
"If you two don't turn back to normal this minute, your father is NOT going to let you visit me for the rest of the summer. Do you WANT to be stuck in the Adirondacks all summer?" (This coming from the mother as she talks to her two children.)
"Ma'am, calm down please. We're working on the normal thing," Mr. Faith calls over his shoulder. Since he's unaware of Keld's other powers or how to do any switching, he's stuck with speed. Sighing, Mr. Faith rushes over to Kraven. "Sorry but I warned you," he says before trying to gently poke Kraven in the eye to get his attention. "So, c'mon…normal changing instructions please."
The snake-man relaxes, then squeezes Kraven harder. "Thanks, buddy," he says to Keld while squeezing harder on the mighty Hunter, who will be VERY happy for the incredible toughness the serum has given him, when he comes down off this particular bad batch.
"agh!" Kraven says, trying to move his head away from that jabbing finger, "fnwt kcntm!" Clearly he can't talk well with the jaw. Although he wiggles it from side to side, and it makes a sickening POP as it reseats itself.
"Do you trust that answer?" Keld asks Mr. Faith, shifting a hand over to place a palm on Kraven's forehead.
"BUT MOOOOOM! I wanna be like SPIDER-MAN!" Jerry Spider-Kid is now whining.
"Eva, talk some sense into your brother," the mother says, as she waits impatiently for the inquisition to work. Meanwhile, there is an audible "moving in" at the edge of hearing for the young booster, as the park security crew SSWAT team closes in on the scene.
Mr. Faith frowns. "I'll poke you again…and harder…if you don't give me a trustworthy answer, Krave," the young hero says simply. He frowns at what's heard and sighs. "Man, they're impatient…" he trails off. "So, c'mon now, Kraven. Now that your jaw is back in place…tell me how to change them back, please," he says after a quick 'I have no idea' glance to Keld.
Keld narrows his eyes and growls faintly. "No, that's a lie. It isn't 'finite incantatem' and that's not even funny. Faith, this man is drunk, or drugged. His mind is swirling around in colors."
The snake-man (the name-tag on the tatters of his shirt says "Mr. Boa" ironically enough) joins in the thumping, snapping a finger against Kraven's ear. "Jerk. How do we change back?"
Kraven gets a faintly green cast to his skin, not just reflected from the emerald-boa coloring of his captor. "Gonna hurl," he mutters.
"Not until you answer. Don't think of the answer, Kraven! Whatever you do, don't think about how to change them back!" Keld says, and then smiles, teeth showing in aggressive glee. "Got it!"
Mr. Boa feels the telltale wriggling of Kraven's gut and loosens his grip slightly, trying to angle the man away from his body. The concept of protective scales is new, and not realizing his cargo shorts are no longer actually shorts, he's trying to protect his clothes.
Outside, the radio voices and the SSWAT* team is moving civilians away from the danger zone, and interviewing the escapees about what was happening. Inside, Eva-spider is explaining to Jerry-spider that he won't be able to eat hot-dogs any more if he doesn't change back.
(* SSWAT - Super-Suppression Weapons and Tactics, a division of Damage Control, your tax dollars at work!)
Mr. Faith quickly moves out of the way of any potential hurling. He then sighs. "Well, Kraven was supposed to take some kind of potion to give himself powers," he says to Keld. "C'mon, Krave…tell us. Pretty sure the cops'll go easier on ya if you tell us than they would if you don't."
Keld shakes his head, as Kraven expels a great deal of rather rancid-smelling partly-fermented herbal potion over the floor of the display area. Mr. Boa is somewhat disgusted, but he's willing to hold the shaking and weakened Kraven, whose jaw seems to have set, the bruise from Keld's fist turning a lovely purple-and-green. Apparently this batch of potion gave him a stronger regenerative power, even while it upset his stomach. Oh, and made him more delusional than it usually does.
"I got the answer," Keld says. "He thought it just before he … what was that phrase? Blew chunks. Yes. Anyway, to revert to human, the victim needs to touch the gemstone and say the invocation backwards. Thalak darvo meldak orbo. Like that."
Kraven passes out, and Keld takes his hand away from the Hunter's head, leaving him for Boa to restrain for the moment, while he looks through the tubs and bins for something. Mostly there are animals in them, which is not what he wants, but they don't get away.
Eddie nods to Keld. "Thanks," he says, dropping the boosting and returning to his normal appearance and powers. He then turns to the others. "Altight, Mr. Boa? Eva? Jerry? Please come here," he requests. "Jerry, hold this and all three of you need to be touching it. Then say the incantation my friend here just said and you'll turn back to normal," he says, trying to be all friendly for the people so they'll listen to him.
The spider-kids scuttle over, touching the gemstone, but Mr. Boa is contemplating his lack-of-navel.
"It's Boaz, actually," he says looking up at Eddie. Keld blinks as gravity suddenly seems a touch heavier, and realizes that Faith's clothing had changed colors and style. He walks over, avoiding the slimy mess that trickles slowly into the drain grate, carrying four nylon zip-ties that he found in one of the tubs. He efficiently places Kraven's hands behind his back, then zip-ties the man's little fingers together in two places, and his thumbs in one, then one holding the man's decorative bicep-strappies together.
The kids repeat the incantation without any effort to remember, as if it were somehow ingrained, which perhaps it was, and they revert to normal. Notably, each of them takes the spider off their shoulders, and places it on the wall, where it can scurry to safety.
Mr. Boa frowns, or tries to. "Can I wait? I want to get a cat scan done."
Mr. Faith sighs and shakes his head. "Sorry, Mr. Boaz but we don't know if there's like a time limit or something. It's not safe to wait," he says. "You kids okay?" he asks, not really phased by the spiders. "Kraven all tied up?" he asks Keld, just making sure.
Jerry Not-Spider-Kid sighs despondently. "I didn't even get to make a web."
Eva, on the other hand, is happy to no longer be a drider, and nods to Mr. Faith. "Mommy, can we please go get a milkshake? I'm hungry." Well, maybe there is a little tiny bit of spiderishness left. Their mother grabs them and they are gone at near-superspeed out the door.
"All right," Boaz says, regretfully, "but this is a profoundly interesting experience. If I could only be sure I could change back. I'd love this …"
He touches the gemstone and recites the counterspell, and reverts to human, then quickly takes his shirt-shreds off and wraps them around his waist. Out of uniform!
"Yes, he's tied, and I think we can turn him over to your peacekeepers," Keld replies in time, with the Hunter carried in his arms like a particularly light sack of grain. Kraven opens an eye, then closes it again, hoping nobody saw.
"Trust me, Kid…you wouldn't want to," Mr. Faith confirms to Jerry. "B-bye," he says. He nods to Boaz and once everyone is transfomred back, peers at the gem. "This should like…go to Dr. Strange…" he trails off. Looking back up at Keld, Mr. Faith smiles and nods. "Right. And thanks for helping, sir," he says. "Let's tie him somewhere so he doesn't try something dumb like escaping and then hit the road."
Keld lifts the tied-up Kraven so that Eddie can see the zip-ties constraining him. "If that's the way you do this sort of thing here. I was going to hand him over to the officers outside, since the woman has told them we're done. The leverage on those straps should mean he cannot generate sufficient force to remove them." He lowers Kraven down to a less perilous height, and nods to Mr. Boa, who is gently removing the emerald serpent from around his neck where it was resting, to place in its box.
"Who is this 'Dr. Strange' you speak of?"
Nodding to the ties, Mr. Faith glances at Kraven. "Sorry I poked you in the eye but that's what ya get for being a supervillain," he says quickly. "Sure, hand him off then it's a good idea to like…get out of the area before the cops and reporters ask too many questions," he explains to Keld. "Umm," pause to look around. "See that building over there? Meet me on its roof and I'll explain, sir," he says to Keld and points to a building outside the zoo. Waiting for a moment, Mr. Faith takes off. He's headed for the fire escape of that building to climb up to its roof.
It's a minute's work to turn the guy over, especially with Mr. Boa(z) vouching for him to the police. It's likely that Kraven will get off with a fine and a few days in jail, only a "super-powered drunk and disorderly" - if he can get a good lawyer, and the man is rich. Keld only stays as long as he has to for the cops to get hold of the man, and to confirm that Boaz is able to press charges, then flies (!) away at high speed. He returns to the roof of the building in a few minutes, once he knows the cops have given up on trying to get ID from him. Not yet.
"Hello, Mr. Faith. My name is Keld, by the way. Keld Jonahl. I'm from out of town."
<OOC> "Keld: I need cloaking technology if I'm to elude these reporters. Would you happen to have an armorer on planet? Anyone else: You are staying in Avengers Mansion, ask Iron Man. Keld: Who?"
Mr. Faith is leaning on an air-conditioning unit atop the small building, trying to catch his breath, by the time Keld gets there. "Dude…you can fly? Aww man…" he trails off. "I well uhhh…hi," he greets. "Are you like…a new superhero or just a helpful…guy?" he asks. Another pause. "Oh yeah! Dr. Strange is like…the most powerful magic user on the planet. The master of the mystic arts. He's pretty cool and helps out the Avengers and other heroes sometimes."
Keld looks puzzled for a moment, "Wait, magic? Really? Oh, OH! I see. Metaphysicist. Vekhila-uhrhKelt." He smiles, no, outright grins. "Yes, flying is awesome. And I don't know if I'm a super-hero, but I am a warrior, and I am, how did She-Hulk put it, 'On shore leave' here, but not here to 'get rowdy.' Honestly, I'm stranded, and the Avengers are tolerating me as a guest until they decide what work to put me to. Or I'll find something. So, you did something while we were talking to that animal person."
Mr. Faith blinks then grins. "Dude! You're living with the Avengers? That is so awesome! They are like the best there is and what are you on shoreleave from?" he pauses. "Wait? What did I do?"
Keld ponders for a second the thought of how awesome it is living at the Avenger's mansion. "It's rather boring actually - there's hardly ever anyone there, and I don't want to disrupt their situation by demanding attention, and most of them either have a day job or they're off doing something, and Spider-Woman is off somewhere else, so I haven't met her yet, so I don't have the proper paperwork to be here. Television is only interesting for a short time - I lack the temperament to observe others without doing something myself. And the Jarvis will probably be profoundly disappointed that I got involved with this Kraven person. Although he did send me out. I suppose Kraven might've been dangerous, if he'd caught me in his bio-manipulation power."
Keld hovers just above the roof, more for the fun of hovering than for fear for the roof not holding him. "So, what DID you do? Your garments changed color, and I was moving much faster suddenly, and you were moving with higher speed and skittering like a new decant on his first low-grav world."
Mr. Faith's jaw just drops a moment. "Keld, dude…the Avengers Mansion is like one of the most awesome places ever. It's where the Earth's Mightyest Heroes live. You get to meet like…Spider-Woman and She Hulk and Living Lightning and Jarvis!" he flails a little. "You could totally join them maybe! Like become a superhero yourself. You'd need a codename and a costume but…" a pause. "Oh, that," he blushes and chuckles. "Well, that's my power. I can boost the abilities of others. And when I do, I can mimic those powers. And when I do…my clothes change for some reason. You're an alien then?"
Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Well, that's encouraging, actually. Keld is happy to learn that, though he wonders what testing they go through to decide the ranking and the qualifications for the team.
"I'm from a planet called Dakkam. It means 'mud-father' in your language, as 'earth' means 'mud-mother'. Since I am here, I am the alien, yes. That's an intriguing power. You would be an asset to any team. Do you have greater powers on your own, without a template?"
Mr. Faith nods. "Cool…I've mimicked like three aliens now," he says. "Umm…four," he adds. The young mutant then blushes and smiles. "On my own? No…I'm pretty much pathetic by myself. Without someone to boost or mimic…I'm not all that useful."
Keld nods, "Yes, I suspected that. That's not acceptable, cadet. You wear the emblem of one who is among the greatest of your heroes, and from the records of your warriors he has no use of the higher energies. Do you emulate him? If so, then you should believe in yourself, and strive to be a better warrior, using your own innate strengths."
Eddie stares a second and then looks down at his t-shirt. There's a small laugh. "Well, yeah, I try to be like Captain America because he's like the greatest. I got to have lunch with him once but well…this is just a t-shirt. See…I'm sorta a fanboy so I have a bunch of superhero t-shirts. My uniform…" he trails off, pulling his backpack around. He pulls the blue and white costume out enough to show the X-emblem on the chest. "Is this. See…I'm with the X-men. Still in training though," he says.
Keld says, "You did very well today, then. What was your plan to deal with Kraven if I had not been there? Perhaps to boost his power and steal his strengths for your own, dropping the boost whenever he began to act?"
He touches the X-Men costume. "I should find a way to replace my uniform. It burned when I fell through your atmosphere."
Eddie shakes his head. "No…I can't boost everyone. I can only boost people I have faith in. And the more faith I have in them, the stronger they get," he says explains. "And the stronger I make them, the more of their power I can mimic," he adds. "I was pretty much gonna well uhh…" he appears embarrassed. "Stall him till someone else showed up and hope I got a lucky shot in."
Keld says, "Ah." And in a moment of annoying zen, "Do you believe in yourself?"
Eddie sighs. "Most of the time, yeah but my powers don't work on myself," he says, looking down. "There's another part of them though…if someone else has faith in me…I get a boost from them."
Keld sits cross-legged in the air, thinking. "I was always trained that self-doubt was the most destructive act one can inflict on oneself. If you see yourself as not all that useful, then you create your own shackles. I got the impression, briefly, that you were expecting help to show up, though, so your plan was good with that in mind. But what would you have done if he had used the biomorphing power against you? I was making a gamble that he was not much stronger than normal terrans, and I didn't expect to move that quickly. It was a surprise to me as well - I haven't quite learned all the potential of the power I gained from your star."
Eddie nods. "I was. I signaled the X-men to come the moment Kraven started villaining. Called and told them everything was okay though," he says. "Well…it's kinda true. When I'm not mimicking a power…I'm pretty much a normal human. I'm not that big or strong and sure I know how to fight but…ya know," he shrugs, gesturing at himself. He then laughs a little nervously. "Well, I was really counting on dodging. I'm really good at that. And Kraven's supposed to be strong enough to fight Spider-Man and Spider-Man has super-strength."
Keld quirks an eyebrow up. "Well, you're still young, you have time to get bigger and stronger. I focused entirely on strength, speed, toughness, and combat training for a considerable time once I finished basic training. I'm five times stronger than our ordinary troops, ten times more than an average non-Warrior. And, I think we were lucky, or did I say that before? He had taken some sort of drug, and from the smell, it had spoiled. I wish, though, that we'd been able to get the herbal compound he used to enable the transformation in his victims. It also smelled very odd."
"I wouldn't take any of the Kraven Formula if I were you," Mr. Faith cautions. "Supervillain stuff tends to be very dangerous," the booster states. "I'm sure the Avengers might have some information on his formulas though," a pause. "How strong are you?"
Keld nods, "I wouldn't likely be harmed, but it may not have the intended effect. I'm very different biologically from humans. And I'm not sure how I would measure it. Not as strong as She-Hulk. I can easily lift that limousine vehicle Jarvis has in the garage, but I have no idea what it masses. I'm told there is a training room at the mansion, but it's in a section I am not free to enter."
Eddie nods. "Sounds like a couple tons…" he trails off. "I'm sure the Avengers would take you down there if you explained to them why you wanted to go down there," he reasons. "And that's more reason not to take it. Who knows what it might do to alien physiology."
Keld laughs, "Yes, true. I wasn't planning to try his drug though. I just figured that this Dr. Strange might want some of the stuff that Kraven was using to prepare his victims. It's a good idea, though, to check on going to the training room. I can't actually get flabby from lack of exertion, but I lose a bit of mental edge. So, how much do normal humans lift? In relation to their body mass, that is?"
Eddie lets out a thoughtful noise. "Maybe. The potion was probably more up a chemist's alley than Dr. Strange's," he guesses. The power booster seems confused for a moment. "I don't actually know."
Keld fidgets; since he's hovering that translates to "sliding sideways then snapping back to place". He scratches his head, and considers that his hair may need to be trimmed - it seems to be growing, which is rude of it since it's supposed to stay at a fixed length unless given orders otherwise.
"Nor do I, which is why I gather the evidence and then let the specialist sort it. Should we deliver this now? I see the nightside terminus is approaching."
Mr. Faith nods. Looking up at the sky, he jumps. "Oh man…I better get home soon," he says. "Yeah, the Avengers should probably hold onto this," he says, holding the gem out to Keld. "It was really nice working with you."
Keld nods. "I'll ask Jarvis where to store it for now. It may turn out to be evidence. Also, what's the range on your power? If you want, you can copy my flight ability, if it will get you home faster."
Eddie lets out a thoughtful noise. "You know…I'm not actually sure. I've never had to test my range before," he admits. "I'd uhh…better not chance it," he says with a nervous laugh. "Wouldn't wanna be over the city and have the power suddenly cut out," he says.
"A good idea, then. May the luck-spirits aid your work." Pocketing the gem, Keld waves, and then (airborne) heads back to the mansion, moving fast enough that he cannot be clearly ID'ed by casual observers. But not fast enough to get caught in Spider-Man's leftover web-swinging lines. Those are just nasty until they evaporate.
Waving, Mr. Faith nods. "You too, Keld," he calls. The booster waits on the rooftop for a short while before turning and starting to head home.
