Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.
DoorMan #90
Xandar [February 23, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He resisted the urge to gag as a series of plates with stuff that was way too moving for it to be properly cooked arrived on their plate, right in front of Jin'Ya since he had refrained from ordering anything until he was certain that he could eat alien meat without taking super parasites back home.
He mentally added a way to sterilise his body as well as clothing to the list of things he needed to figure out before he could go home. He was offered chopsticks of all things but he refused with a shake of his head, which was still the universal symbol for yes or no.
Funny how that worked out.
He failed to contain his gag as Jin'Ya just ate the dish that had too many moving parts in it. In the end, all he could do was avert his eyes and plug his ears with his Air Doors, redirecting the flow of air around his ears so that sound would not reach him. He was not particularly successful, because he was sitting just 3 feet away from the horrible food but he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.
So, there he was, sitting in an alien hotel, worried about alien pathogens either eating him from the inside out or taking alien bacteria back home where it would wreak havoc on any ecosystems, looking out of the window when he spotted something, or someone.
He was out of his seat before Jin'Ya could slurp down another serving of 'too many moving things' as he sprinted to get out of the restaurant and into the streets. He burst out of the doors, looking for someone who was not supposed to be here for many years, only for his sight to lose them.
Closing his eyes, he tried to focus, to get some sort of dialogue because he knew that this particular person was very chatty, at least he would be in the future. He shook his head in frustration as he could not pinpoint anything from the ocean of noises that was all around him.
Jin'Ya was apparently too lost in the sauce to be of any help so he took matters into his own hands. With a thought, two Air Doors appeared beneath his feet as he took off, startling some of the people in the streets.
He was 90% certain that this was an offense of some sort, civil not criminal, to use powers in a public space or cause public disturbance but since they were going to meet the Nova Prime anyway, this should be something that could be swept away with ease, if Jin'Ya's claim of being some known hotshot was true anyway.
He shot up even more, surpassing the height of the restaurant, looking all around the foot traffic that was passing through the business district, in an '8' pattern. His eyes roamed over the entire thing, only for a single branch to enter his vision.
The next moment, his Air Doors blasted a concentrated shockwave, propelling him straight to his target. Now, one, he was very excited to meet the people in question, and two, he did not think that the Nova Force would be this fast to respond to any reported public disturbance.
This is why he was very surprised when he had to stop himself using an Air Door, giving himself whiplash as a yellow net conjured itself right in his way. Snapping out of it, he saw that he had lost Groot, or at least someone from his species, and then looked up, irritated, only for his bravado to disappear as he saw not one not two but 5 Nova ships, collectively casting a net all around him.
"This is Officer Milo. Sir, you are in violation of Xandarian Airspace Regulation 1457. Unauthorized personal flight within civilian zones constitutes a Class C public safety breach."
Uh-oh.
"Sir, identify yourself. Do you possess registration for enhanced mobility or an approved flight device?"
"Um, no?" He offered his best innocent smile to the officers on duty, potential Groot meeting forgotten as he tried to de-escalate the situation. Then, a yellow beam came out of one of the ships, scanning him from top to bottom.
"Mr.Baxter, newly registered, human," Wow, he could feel the raised eyebrow from even through the hardened shell of these ships, "Sir, you are not authorised for flight, using any means. We will have to file an incident report for this. Please power down your means of flight and ground yourself so we can proceed further. Do so calmly, do not give us a reason to escalate."
Ending that statement with a literal gun turret coming out of one of the Star ships was a very good intimidation tactic. Too bad it did not work on him. The threat of having his first alien trip ruined and getting a permanent criminal record on his name?
Now that threat worked very well as he slowly descended, dispelling the Air Doors soon after as the net disappeared and the ships all left, save for one, who stayed right above him, as half a dozen different officers emerged from the crowd, weapons ready.
"Sir, for your safety as well as ours, we are now placing mobility restraints on you. Please do not make any sudden movements as that might constitute as assault and that would automatically elevate your charges into criminal territory." The man calmly explained as they walked towards him with a white spherical device that glowed, you guessed it, yellow.
Man, what was with the Nova Corps and the color yellow?
The lead officer just came up to him, saw his amputated status, and just placed the device on his chest. He was surprised to see lines of yellow just come out of it and cover his entire body, before a small bar made up of hard light covered his feet, restraining him, potentially.
Resisting the urge to flex and check the strength of these handcuffs since it was something that was sorely needed back on Earth, a way to keep the super strength jerks in check, he calmly said to the officer, "Lead the way."
He raised an eyebrow as the ship above him projected a yellow field, again, that lifted him up. Hmm, a tractor field then. His first time experiencing that as well.
It felt the same as before honestly, like he was standing on solid ground, but moving. Like an elevator. So, they projected solid ground below the target and then pulled the ground up, or was it just for any civilian arrests done on the planet?
Because he could not imagine doing the same for any large spaceships because that would just crush the behind of that spaceship, having to sustain that much load.
He could see the officer who arrested him dispersing the crowd as well as talking to the rest of his team members. Huh, very well organised, no panicking, and very civilian friendly.
Kinda neat. He wished the police back home had this attitude. Alas….
The ship rose quite a bit in the air, as the business district was a blur to him. He was certain that Jin'Ya was watching from a distance, or not, because he could just sense Colin from anywhere on the planet since Xandar was just a tad bit larger than Earth, with a population of 12 billion, a staggering 50% increase over Earth and yet, Xandar did not feel crowded, not at all.
Hell, even in what could be described as the planet's capital, there were only a couple of high risers with trains and public transportation zipping around through every corner, with markets being street level only. No giant complexes, malls or anything like that.
Huh, he wondered why. Were zoning laws equally a pain in the butt here as they were back home?
Yet another reason he needed a freaking library or a computer to connect to their local interweb. He knew that there was no such thing as a global information repository, aside from some commonly hosted ones that displayed bounties and other criminal data, but a galactic network used exclusively for information? Non-existent.
He just hoped that Xandar had one, so that he could finally start making sense of things in this place.
Soon enough, they crossed a forest of sorts, a layer of greenery that seemed to separate the streets and the tallest building he had seen yet.
"Welcome to the Xandarian High Citadel." An automated message read out to him from somewhere, since the tractor forcefield around him definitely did not have any speakers in it.
The ship then veered off course, heading straight down, with the ground coming alarmingly close, to the point he was just seconds away from using his powers to get out of this place when the lawn split open, revealing a runway of sorts, with a couple of other star shaped ships coming in from different entry points, each containing some people in forcefields.
This place must be massive because he did not see any other ships nearby.
He was dropped to the ground with care as another officer came forward with a tablet in his hand. "Mr.Baxter? Human. Don't get a lot of your kind here. It states here you were using unidentified means of flight. Can you please confirm the device used and where it is installed so that we can register it for future use?"
"...Actually, it's not a device. It's an innate ability I have."
"It says here that you are a human. Last I checked, humans do not have the ability to fly."
"Well, I am a different kind of human."
"..Hmm, I see. Can you please come with me so that we can get you checked out?"
"Sure?"
Well, this was going well.
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