Eyes sharp as ever, Caine takes in the factory, looking for any sign of movement. He glances over at Erin; scanner out, she pans over the factory, from one side to the other. She stares at the results for a long moment, and then looks up at him.

"Well, there's definitely shifters around. It can't tell anything else, but the scanner can tell me that much." 

Arms crossed, Jamie leans against the wall of the building they've taken shelter behind, across the street from the factory and protected by the thick shadow produced in the early morning light. He hums, "So," he starts, "How are we gonna do this?" 

Robin frowns, glancing back at Erin, "We need better information on what we're walking into," he says. He waves at Erin's scanner, "Do you think you could get better readings somehow? Is there a setting you missed, or maybe if we get closer?" 

Erin looks down at the scanner, taking a closer look at the home screen. 

There are indeed some setting she can fiddle with, though they take a few moments to readjust or require rebooting the system.

She reboots it, then. No time like the present.

Caine, meanwhile, turns back to the factory to keep watch. 

Someone clears his throat behind them. 

When they whirl around to look, Samuel raises an eyebrow at them, "Hello, kids," he states neutrally. He really doesn't need to say anything else to get across the message of 'what are you doing here' and 'you're in big trouble'. 

Caine shifts guiltily, taking in his dad's unimpressed face. He looks down, avoiding eye contact, then glances at the others. 

Robin clears his throat, "Heyyy, Mr. Atten," he says with a strained grin, "Fancy meeting you here." Jamie snorts, nudging him hard enough to shift him over a bit, "Hey!" He mutters loudly, scowling and rubbing his arm. 

Erin hugs herself around the middle, "Sorry, Mr. Atten," she says, about half-honestly, "We were worried."

He raises his other eyebrow, "About me?" He asks, rhetorical. He shakes his head, "You should know better, kids." He gestures across the street, "I'm finished here," he says, eyeing them sternly, "But if you'd snuck in while I was in the middle of the operation you could have gotten hurt." 

"Sorry, sir," Robin mutters, eyes everywhere but his face. Caine and Erin echo him, though Caine addresses him as 'dad'. 

Jamie frowns, rubbing his hands over his arms. Something feels... weird. 

Yeah, it's hard to put a finger on what's off.

Erin's scanner produces a chime informing it has startup. It's oddly familiar.

More importantly gives off a detection alert.

Erin glances down at it, startled. Then she reads the alert, which looks familiar for another reason. She looks up at 'Samuel', wide-eyed.

"We can talk about this more when we get home," the imposter says. He half turns, waving them ahead of him.

The others begin to move towards him. When Caine passes beside her, Erin grabs the gun from his jacket pocket and aims it at Samuel.

"Guys," she says, finger hovering over the trigger, "That's not Caine's dad." 

He gives her a puzzled look, and then notices the scanner. He huffs out a sigh, "Cursed Allurians," he mutters. 

Quickly, he pulls one of his own weapons, aiming it at Jamie. 

"Now," he says, "Why don't we calm down before someone gets hurt?"

Jamie tenses, recognising one of the plastic guns from the memory. Caine, meanwhile, frowns, remembering that most of what was missing from the shelves was from the same section, the weapons that were good against shapeshifters. The one that wasn't was bigger than this one is. 

Robin steps to the side, trying to put himself between Jamie and the gun. Erin's hand shakes, before she takes a deep breath and steadies it. If it looks like he's going to fire she needs to do her best to get him first. 

"Uhp," he says pointing at Robin with his other hand, "Now now, don't move, you wouldn't want to startle me, would you?" 

Robin stills, and the imposter smiles, "That's better," he says. He looks over at Erin, "Now, how about you put the weapon down and we can talk about this like civilised beings?" He suggests, like some strange, villainous version of Caine's dad. 

Okay, he has watched this for long enough and the angle is just right for a sneaky attack.

The four teenagers will spot what appears to be a section of the wall peeling away. It's like someone painted themselves to camouflage perfectly against the brick, then they extend an arm and the paint washes away...

"Deep Hibernation." Says the pointy-eared young man holding a leaf-decorated staff.

There is a surge of green dust that surrounds not-Samuel and the impostor falls asleep.

With the gun out of play, Jamie relaxes. The others don't, or at least not all the way: Erin lowers her weapon, not willing to aim it at a seemingly helpful stranger, but raises the scanner at the same time; Robin steps fully in front of Jamie, completing his intended action automatically, even with the threat out of play; Caine relaxes only the slightest amout, turning all of his deductive skills on the pointy-eared stranger. 

Elves, now? He wonders, What is this, crossover fanfiction? 

Robin snorts despite the tense situation. His own tension broken, he clears his throat, "Um," he says, "Hi?" 

Very nice, he thinks, Very smooth. Good job. 

He turns an inquisitive look at them. Then he asks. "Serious question. What do you guys think about the fact that elves can be naked in public?"

He sounds completely serious.

Robin freezes at this unexpected question, suddenly imagining... things. 

Jamie leans out from behind him, "I support your life choices?" He offers. 

Caine huffs, shifting closer to Jamie and eyeing the (nudist?) Elf more seriously. 

Erin side-eyes the boys, then returns to staring at the elf, "Um," she says, and then stalls. 

She tries again, "I think... anyone can be naked in public? They'd just be arrested for public indecency if they were?" 

The (nudist?) elf (?) turns his gaze at Erin and nods after a long moment.

He is wearing a mix of normal clothes and fantasy-style leather armor. Like a cosplayer half way done through the costume.

"That was a serious question, and not an invitation," he clarifies, "would you say that you or your friends have experienced... a change of opinions recently?"

Caine relaxes a bit, eyeing the other boys as they blink innocently (Jamie) and flush (Robin). He notes that Erin is looking down at her scanner to see if it has anything to say about the new arrival. 

Observations complete, he looks back up at the elf?, "About elf nudity?" He asks, dry. 

"About opinions in general." He looks around. "We shouldn't talk this in here."

The scanner identifies him as a human/elf hybrid. Elves, the scanner says, are a mysterious species native to Earth.

What.

Erin stares at the scanner. 

Then she recalls that she is actually a lizard person, tucks this revelation in among the 'this is my life now' set of files, and carries on. 

Robin recovers from his embarrassment, glances from the unconscious shapeshifter to the Mercury Synthesis building, and then to Caine, who he can tell is not inclined to agree with the stranger's suggestion. 

He nudges Caine, "Come on," he says, "We weren't sure how to get in there without being found - which we didn't manage anyway..." he trails off, "Maybe this guy has some idea what's going on?"

Caine gives in, grudingly, and the four of them follow the half-elf.  

Wordlessly Fenris pushes not-Samuel to a corner then he says. "Camouflage." And not-Samuel appears disappears. "I do know what's going on, to a degree. Follow me." He starts moving. "How long since you noticed things?"