Elsewhere, a ragtag bunch of insurgents is trying to plan. Scott still officially has a job to do, although Dr. Deaton won't really care much if he doesn't. The dogs have plenty of people looking out for them. Still, he's going to do what he's paid for: restock the supplies, manage the books, and take care of the animals. At least that way he's returning the favor. They've given him plenty.

It's while Stiles and Callie are launching into another argument that a strange man appears between Scott and the cabinets. Scott clutches the gauze and shampoos tightly.

"Um, hi. I didn't see you come in. Or hear you come in."

If this stranger isn't another massively powerful god-alien, he probably shouldn't say anything about the wolf in the room. It's easier to miss than an elephant.

Ah - 

Why would someone just teleport him.

- His face isn't plastered anywhere since no one knows what he looks like except he guesses weird portal girl who honestly might've been after the Nine.

Which also means that he really can't give this guy much warning about the dangers of interacting with Nereus. There's a reason he has his friends usually handle all the day-to-day talk.

"Ah," he says, intelligently.

"Hi. I'm Scott. I'm guessing you knew that already. My friends are in the other room, so we should make this quick. We're not considering any other cryptic riddle offers, especially since the last one was fake."

"I'm not? Here? To make any? - I'm very confused." And trying not to be the mind-controlly kind of charming. "I got on the edges of a cape fight, I think one of the stray shots was a teleport - where is here, where's the nearest Protectorate office?" That's an American accent, so.

"See, this is even more cryptic than last time. What's a 'cape fight'? What's a 'Protectorate office'? We're busy figuring out how to limit the power of the Kandrona."

"- Like, people with superpowers - is this Earth Bet?"

Okay so 'banish to another dimension' is possibly a reasonable thing to do with him. Crap. Who's going to control the Nine - 

"We have comic books about superpowers."

If the Ellimist gave them somebody who believes superheroes are real-

"Do you need to sit down?"

They won't know what Masters are. And Nereus's power is incredibly hard to detect.

"No. I - shouldn't be here."

Shouldn't be talking to people, even though his power's weaker when he's trying to hold it back and it's been forever since he talked to someone he hadn't already enthralled or wasn't intentionally trying to heartbreak - 

"Let's start from the beginning, okay? You shouldn't go running off on your own, especially if you're an alien who got here by accident."

He's not going to ask about the language- he remembers that Andalites are supposed to have translators, but he doesn't know who else has them, or how they work. The alien looks human, though, so it still could be one of the Ellimists. He shouldn't rule anything out.

"- People who talk to me too long start liking me. Like, in a powered way. So I need to not talk to people."

"Does it work on animals?"

"Not on non-sapients, I haven't tried sapient non-human-animals."

"Is it just talking?"

" - That works best. Anything back and forth does it, range and indirectness weaken it."

Nod.

"I think I have a way around it. I'll be right back."

He steps out of the room, leaving the teleporting alien alone for a few minutes. He rejoins the others.

Although Stiles has already been through this category of insults, he's winding up for another swing. Callie is overly abstract, always thinking in terms of what the Andalites are up to, whether their perspective on Earth is this or that, what the Yeerk leadership is really aiming for- never focusing on the tactics they need to win a battle, or the strategy they need to win the war. So, naturally, he's delving deep into his bag of insults about people whose heads are in the clouds- it's a rich well.

He barely notices Scott come in.

Callie is ignoring the insults. Stiles likes to blow hot air, but his argument's meat always comes when he's done wasting his breath. They haven't even gotten to his third point when Scott arrives, so she decides to end it there.

"Scott, glad to see you. We should get back to business."

"Actually, something really weird happened and we should all talk about it before jumping to conclusions. So. Maybe everybody agree that they won't fly off the handle."

"What's up?" Jessica asks, frowning. She's the only one not currently arguing or in animal form, though she's been contemplating turning into a snake so she can hiss at Stiles and Callie.

Silver sits up from where they'd been lounging, cocking their head and perking their ears.

"Not agreeing to that. What."

"A confused alien who believes he's a superhero who can make people like him by talking appeared while I was stocking cabinets. He thinks it doesn't work on 'non-sapient animals' though, I asked."

"I'm not fucking around with mind control; don't give a shit if it seems unlikely."

"We don't know what this is. We could already be made, we need to be thinking exit strategies."

"I'm with Jessica. If this is true, we have a potential resource, but not one that we can keep nearby."