INVICTUS || .ic [CLOSED]

[GuanYue]

[fieldbox="Gabriel Baraniq +ERGO, #242424, solid, 10"]

Once Gabe realized that he was probably doing more damage than helping Jasper straighten out, he pulled his hands back and clasped a hand on the back of his own neck. His head hung slightly, cheeks red with embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry..." He muttered, eyes widening that the realization that he had just apologized for apologizing. He straightened up a little and cleared his throat. Don't start the endless cycle of apologizing for apologizing.

"Ah, well..." He started to respond to Jasper's question, only to hear someone else enter the scene. He looked passed the other agent to see a familiar face. It was Rostam. "Oh, hi!" He smiled and waved at the mage. "How's it going?" He had completely forgotten the question Jasper had asked only a moment ago. Gabe took a side step so that he was now standing to where he could talk to the both of them.

It seemed like his embarrassment had left him as he now smiled at the other two agents. Hands were shoved in his pockets and he put his weight on his heels. "Oh, so your name is Jasper?" He asked, blinking as he looked back to Jasper. "Sounds like you already know my name, but you can call me Gabe." He extended his hand out to Jasper to shake.​

[/fieldbox]

@Eryian @ShiroKiyoshi

 

[GuanYue]

[fieldbox="STORM KELLY, #242424, solid, 10"]

Now that the full group of rookies were in the room and Sable was looking thoroughly annoyed, Storm crackled his knuckles and finalized the simulation code. Now he was just waiting for the perfect cue to begin. Of course, he didn't let Sable know that he was actually there and active. But... eh, the redhead was smart enough to figure that out himself.... eventually. An almost sinister grin cracked the corners of Storm's lips as he eyed the confused Sable as he tried to open the door to no avail.

"No can do, Sabe." Storm muttered to himself. "This is for last night." He flipped a switch and the simulation activated. Just like the code he had inserted, the room became a large expanse of white with various levels. It looked similar to a small city with how many raised platforms rose up. A small orb-shaped droid floated down and around Sable before projecting instructions for the first part of the simulation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HIT THE TARGETS

The images it showed was various holographic orange rings scattered about the room at different heights and sizes. Each one seemed like it would take effort to hit. The projection also showed a blank humanoid figure jumping straight up and swatting it's hand through the ring. The ring changed from orange to green, then burst into particles that reformed as the number one above the figure's head.

HIT THE TARGET AND YOU GET A POINT. THE GOAL IS TO REACH TEN POINTS IN THIRTY MINUTES.

The figure in the projection scaled the side of one building and hit another ring only to have it dissolve and reform as the number two over it's head. Then it showed the figure shooting an energy ball from it's hand to gain a third point.

YOU CAN USE YOUR POWERS OR YOUR OWN PHYSICAL STRENGTHS. EACH SET OF RINGS FOR EACH PERSON WILL INCREASE IN DIFFICULTY DEPENDING ON THE SPEED AND EFFICIENCY IN WHICH THE RINGS ARE TAKEN.

The figure was shown trying to scale another building but this time struggling to get up because the edge started to crumble.

ALSO BE CAUTIOUS OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS.

The image of a larger shadowed figure popped up behind the first figure and hit him in the back with a black laser. The figure fell forward onto it's face and then was seen struggling to push itself back up. The number three over it's head went back down to two.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The projection ended and the small drone floated around Sable, giving him a glimpse of a very familiar sigil before floating up to the rafters and fading into the white scenery.

Storm leaned forward to take a closer look at the screen in front of him. He wondered if there was any confusion with any of them. Hopefully the instructions were clear enough. If not... well, sucks to be them.

Just then, his eyes flickered to another camera that gave him visual of the door just outside of the simulatiom room. An agent was there peeking in. Storm pushed himself away from the control panel and stood, heading over to the door to open it. He made it just in time to see Arisha's backside. "Hey, Renegade." Storm called, leaning out of the doorway just slightly by hanging onto the door frame. "Would you like to join me?"​

[/fieldbox]

@Tarieles @Mars Walker @Jakers @Jinx @ERode @Valor

 

[GuanYue]

[fieldbox="Venn Charles - INDIE, #242424, solid, 10"]

It was odd hearing Huiyin say fuck, but it seemed like Venn's own vocabulary opened the doors for Huiyin to speak a bit more... vulgarly? Anywho, Venn tried to avoid looking at Huiyin, but ended up glancing at him in the corner of his eye as the other described the beast he fought in the simulation. "If you even can get in close." He muttered, not sure nor caring if Huiyin heard him or not.

Draeger seemed to have heard them--or at least had seen them on one of the many cameras around the labs. Venn didn't return the greeting, but simply gave the scientist a slight nod of the head. "I needed some repairs done to my gloves." He was straight to the point. No use in filling the request with meaningless chitchat. He pulled around his satchel to take out his hunting gloves while Draeger and Huiyin got acquainted. Venn couldn't remember at what point he had met Huiyin. Memories all blended together when you get possessed by something. All he could recall was that he had been on some kind of mission and had ended up at another INV facility for a short period of time.

Venn waited his turn, letting Huiyin ask about repairing his phone. Then noted Draeger's height. The witch doctor looked over the two. There really was a bit of a height difference there. There was even a large one between himself and Draeger. "That being said, you're fucking tall." He said to Huiyin and shook his head then held out his gloves to the supervisor. "When you get a change, I need them reinforced. I was thinking some kinda material to etch in protection talismans."​

[/fieldbox]

@Alibaba @Shizuochan

 

[Esprit]

[bg=#000000][fieldbox="Jasper Lin, #bfbfbf, solid, 4, Courier New"]Jasper momentarily diverted his focus when someone greeted him by name. "Hello, Rostam," he acknowledged, nodding amiably to the passing senior Collections agent. Steel-grey eyes flicked discreetly over BRAVE's characteristically eccentric garb, but as usual he didn't comment, nor allow his gaze to linger; after all, there wasn't really a strict uniform, and perhaps the loose robe was somehow more conducive to the mage's spellcasting than, well, a shirt.

Turning his attention back to Gabe, he politely shook the proffered hand. "Jasper," the agent affirmed, adapting readily to the sudden shift in conversational topic. "Your reputation slightly precedes you, Gabe," he continued offhandedly, releasing his grip. "There aren't too many people who've managed to break one of the sim rooms. I heard the agent running it was quite..." Jasper paused imperceptibly, searching for a suitably tactful descriptor. "...impressed."[/fieldbox][/bg]

 

[Jinx]

[fieldbox="Victory, #242424, solid, 10"]

A spike of excitement made Sig's heart skip a beat as the room was thrust into darkness. There was a buzz in her veins when the lights flicked on again, revealing a vast expanse of white. Her eyes watered for only a brief moment as they adjusted to the light, the lilac hues darting around as the platform they stood on rose into the air. Wings twitching in anticipation, she barely payed attention to the instructions that were currently being given by a small orb. She had to dig her nails into her thigh to bring her focus back to the instructions, lest she break some sort of rule while doing this exercise because she hasn't listened.

Still, she couldn't' help but bounce on the balls of her feet as she watched the instructions play out. It seemed like forever before the orb finally disappeared, giving her the impression that they were permitted to begin. Her eyes immediately were drawn to a ring that floated between the platform they were standing on and its adjacent counterpart. Without waiting for a signal to start, she sprinted forward with a grin stretching, unchecked, across her face. As she reached the edge of the platform, she planted a foot against the corner and propelled herself forward with a hand outstretched. As the air blew past her face, she found a mirthful laugh escaping her throat.

It was an odd feeling, her hand hitting the ring although she felt nothing as she did so. Her wings snapped out to soften her fall, the silvery feathers barely standing out against the starch white background. Feet gently landing against the platform, she found herself chuckling to herself. It was only her first ring, which most likely accounted for the lack of challenge, but stretching her muscles and feeling her braid flow with her movements was a welcome sensation.

Her eyes darted to the next closest ring, floating halfway down a pair of buildings. Her wings once again opened wide, the strong muscles rippling underneath layers of feathers. She stood on the end of the platform, taking a small breath before she took a simple step off. Air pressed against her face, her braid swinging wildly behind her as she dove straight down. Her left foot pressed tightly against her right calf as she dove while her wings pressed against one another. As she neared the ground, her wings snapped open to resist her fall. Her arm stretched out once more, brushing against the second ring. She glanced up to see the number two form above her head, heart pounding in exhilaration.

The next ring was only a few feet away, causing her lips to turn up into a smirk. Perhaps mortals were more challenged by this than she would be.

This thought left her mind as she took her first step towards the ring.

An arrow shot out towards her from one of the buildings, catching her off guard. As the arrow flew at her, she barely had time to dive forward. This only seemed to trigger more arrows to dart out of the buildings at her. She scrambled forward, rolling forward and pushing herself back onto her feet as she moved. Her eyes moved quickly between her goal and the arrows trying to impale her. One of the arrows skimmed her arm, dissolving as soon as it hit her skin. The digital bolts continued to assault her as she got closer to the ring. Dodging became more and more difficult with each foot she advanced. After what seemed like an eternity of ducking and diving, she swiped at the ring. As soon as she did, the arrows stopped flying at her and the number three materialized above her.

Breathing labored, she found herself pausing as she looked for her next target. This had been more difficult than she had expected. She never seemed to learn to not underestimate the mortals. Sig's lilac eyes darkened as she gazed around her surroundings again, seeing them in a different light. She would have to proceed with much more caution from this point on.
​

[/fieldbox]

 

[Jakers]

[fieldbox="C O N D U I T, #242424, solid, 10"]

​

Swallowing as the world flickered and changed around her, Vyla's face looked somewhat calm on the outside, but at the same time, the colour that'd been in her cheeks from Esfir's pinching onslaught had suddenly drained to a pale white again rather quickly. Still as a statue, her eyes fluctuated in the direction of one mentor to another, before she looked ahead to the sleek, white and grey landscape created by the simulation.

One part of her was saying that this was actually kind of cool and well-designed, but... the other part of her was reminding Vyla that she had to be the one doing it. This would've been amazing if this was a video game or something, and she was controlling a character who had intense mobility and was capable of doing all sorts of crazy things. Unfortunately, however, she was controlling an actual human body which got tired and felt pain - pretty easily - which was a whole lot less enjoyable.

Despite her lack of confidence, however, she supposed she'd better get started, and try her best to ignore the fact that everyone else around her was probably going to have 8 by the time she'd grabbed one. Looking around the white landscape as she looked for her first ring, it was quite far away on top of a distant building, but on closer inspection there seemed to be a series of smaller buildings she could jump across in order to get to it.

Frowning, Vyla briefly clenched both of her fists for a moment, before setting off towards the ring in a sprint. Giving a somewhat pathetic yelp as she jumped and hauled herself up onto the first of the smaller buildings with all her might, Vyla's frail frame wobbled, before her legs swung around, managing to get up onto the first of the 'stepping stones'. Jumping and pulling herself up from the next, to the next, to the next, she soon found herself atop the building holding her first ring. Clenching her fist and jumping up, Vyla let out a triumphant yell as she punched her hand through the first of the rings. And just like that, she'd done it. Her score was now:

1.

"H-hah...! That wasn't... s-so... ba--"
Her words cutting off, the building below Vyla suddenly seemed to tremble with some sort of pulsating blackness that swirled with the holographic grey. Eyes narrowing a little in confusion, Vyla's reactions weren't up to par to notice the figure that suddenly rose in front of her, shooting her squarely in the head with a deep-black laser, knocking her straight off the top of the building.

Groaning, the rookie landed on the floor with a crunch. Because it was just a simulation, precautions had been made so she didn't take any actual damage, of course. But it still ached, her sweaty hair was already a total mess, and nothing hurt more than seeing that number above her head that was now:

0.

"..."

Her expression hidden by the shadow of her ruffled white hair as she pried herself back off the ground, Vyla dusted herself off. A pause came from her, before her head suddenly looked up, her teeth bared and her eyes brimming with determination as she sprinted towards the next ring, which was up a particularly tall building designed with alcoves so that it was deliberately climbable.

Giving heavy breaths, her pale skin was flushed with exhaustion as she desperately gripped onto the side of the building, pulling herself up alcove after alcove, giving a scream as she swung her whole body around to narrowly avoid another black laser hitting her in the noggin. Reaching up with a desperate pant, the satisfaction was beyond measure as she managed to get her hand through another of the rings.

1.

Continuing to work as hard as she could, a new obstacle seemed to pop up every time Vyla did her best to make more progress. Her score fluctuated extremely often, going like the following for the first 10 minutes of the simulation:
2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 3. 2. 3. 2. 3. 2. 1.

"N-no... no...! Come on, bullshit... I... I h-had th---"

* S L A M ! *

0.

A mixture of mistakes left Vyla bruised, exhausted, and back to exactly where she started again. Ten minutes had passed; already a third of the time had gone for her to get all ten of the rings. Wobbling as she got back up to her feet, almost breathless, Vyla's determined sprint towards the next ring began again, but her tiredness had reduced it down to a determined jog instead, rivers of sweat trickling down her forehead. This was why she hated training. Anyone watching her would be laughing, probably already on 10,000 points by now.

But still... even if it wasn't much, she'd try and give it her all. She wanted by some miracle - some fucking miracle - to actually impress someone rather than being a laughing stock.

"I'm gonna get... all ten of you... *gasp*... bastard... shitty things... *huff*..."

​

[/fieldbox]

 

[ERode]

As others sprang into action, Esfir instead opted to sit back, watching the simulation at play. In an urban environment, where the goal was to physically or magically hit targets suspended in the air, it was clear that their ever-glorious Valkyrie had the advantage here, what with her honed combat instinct that enabled her to dodge virtual lasers coming at her from her blind spot to her ability to fly like a super speedy hummingbird. On the other side of the spectrum, of course, there was Vy-Vy, who, if nothing else, should be winning points for the amount of sweat and effort she put into the ordeal.

But, regardless of their individual skill, it was pretty obvious to the brunette that this particular simulation was really rather difficult. Ten targets within thirty minutes, with difficulty scaling upwards in accordance to how many targets you grabbed. If Victory was already facing a bullet hell at target number three, god knows what sort of unfair nightmare they'd be put up against once they were aiming for number ten.

So it wasn't a matter of individual skill then.

Conduit was a booster. Void Witch was some wildcard that did dimensional hijinks. Victory was a frontliner with great physical stats all around, while Alter was the true jack-of-all-trades. The sole boy in the girls' club, Crisis, was basically Magneto, wasn't he? Who knew, Esfir didn't talk to edgy srs merc bois too often. Their faces were too tight and hard to play with.

A quick exchange passed between Sable and herself as Esfir did some fact-checking, before the odd-eyed lady stepped forwards. Bringing two fingers into her mouth, the not-quite human sucked in a deep breath. A shrill whistling sound passed through the entirety of the simulation room as she energetically waved at those who were already far off.

"Heyooo guys!" Esfir said, smiling as brightly as always, "This is a teamwork-y exercise, yah know? Let's huddle up and clear it together, cause I'm sure it'll be way easier to get 10 points five times as a team rather than 10 points once as an individual! Gotta learn to squad up, right?"

There was probably more she could say, but even if she didn't have to breathe, she'd rather not shout out all her brilliant mastermind strategies when she could speak it normally instead.

For now, it was just a matter of how cooperative the others were, eh?
@Jinx @Jakers @Mars Walker @Tarieles

 

[Valor]

[fieldbox="Ꮢ Ꭼ Ꮑ Ꭼ Ꮆ Ꭺ Ꭰ Ꭼ, #242424, solid, 10"]

The rhythmic clatter of heels against sterile installation tile came to a sudden halt as Arisha heard a familiar voice call her attention from behind. Before she could lash her sapphire gaze backwards to meet the source, the woman could already see Scarface vividly in the back of her mind. "Storm." She addressed the handler before finally turning her visage towards the portrait which peered curiously at her backside. "Should have known you'd be the one torturing the greenies."

Renegade casually pivoted her entire form around, placing a balled up fist against her waist as she listened to his offer. Storm's proposal to have her join him was certainly an intriguing prospect, as it wasn't every day that she saw new faces around the dreary facility. New people had always felt like splashing vibrant colors onto a dreary, monotonous canvas. The Invictus Agent hastily weighed the satisfaction of watching rookies fall on their asses against the sweet taste of delectable cafeteria hotcakes with her name on them. After a moment's hesitation, she decided that sating her appetite could wait.

"Why not? Sounds like fun." She shrugged nonchalantly, following Storm through the open doorway. Stepping into the 1-A Side-Control room, Arisha's gaze fixated itself upon the litany of vibrant, obtuse monitors, the young woman casually lurching over the back of Kelly's chair. "Interesting." She mused softly, eyes drifting back and forth between the various displays. Though she had missed the briefing, the Junior Agent was able to quickly discern, without the use of her extrasensory abilities, what the rules of the simulation were.

"Giving them the good ol' finger trap simulation, huh?" It didn't take a genius to recognize one of the oldest simulations in the book. Arisha lovingly referred to the simulation as a finger trap because of its increasing difficulty, the faster you attempted to complete the trial, the more difficult it became. A sort of mind trick, the simulation used a complex coding algorithm which multiplied the difficulty of the simulation depending on how quickly you attempted to complete it. "Valkyrie girl's doing pretty well." Arisha mused quietly to herself. "Sucks for her."

Unfortunately, the trick wasn't to complete the simulation as fast as you can. The real trick was to find the correct balance between raw power and stamina - an important lesson for those who had yet to taste real danger on the battlefield. Shutting her eyes for a moment, Arisha concentrated her senses, muting out the orchestra of incoherent and useless information as she focused her mind on Storm's computer monitor. "Twenty minutes." She remarked suddenly, "Twenty minutes is the fastest the simulation will allow you to score ten points." Arisha discerned, a satisfied smirk stretched across her lips.

"You're too nice, Stormy. I'd have given them a three minute window if I were running things."
​

[/fieldbox]

 

[Tarieles]

Atticus James Quinn


"Today only comes once."

x

As the rings appeared, Atticus didn't bolt like the others. Instead, he stood on home platform, and reached out with his active state cybernetics. He could feel the tug. There was metal throughout the room. Not everything was made of it, but there was some magnetic pieces throughout the simulation. That was good enough for him, and he rushed forward to a building that was down a level. He jumped, bringing magnetic energy to the plates on his shoes to cushion his fall. Waiting for him below were arrows, much like he saw the Valkyrie avoid. They shot towards him, and he stopped each one by concentrating on the heads. He ran towards the ring ahead, leaping up to grab it. It disappeared as he touched it. His score was now at one.

He looked back as Esfir called to everyone, claiming they needed to work together. He supposed that was right, and as he looked over to the Valkyrie, it seemed her challenges were only mounting. It would be incredibly hard to actually get through the whole thing on their own. He looked to the second ring in his vicinity, noticing how it seemed to be right in the open. It was a lure, he was sure. Instead of going for it, he did climb back onto the home platform, where Sable and Esfir stood.

"Right, what's the plan?" He asked, rubbing his hand over his mouth as he watched the others. The whole situation was difficult. He wasn't used to working with other people, so this would be a challenge for him. He was normally just a one man army when his boss used him. Fortunately, that was no longer the case. This might actually be good for him, learning as a team instead of solo.​

 

[ShiroKiyoshi]

[fieldbox="Morning Breeze, #242424, solid, 10"]

Rostam stopped in his tracks when it was clear that Gabe was inviting them into whatever conversation they were in. He didn't necessarily want to talk, but as he thought about it he didn't know what it was he did want to do at the moment. He was honestly just waiting on a favor from someone in the R&D division, it was bound to happen. So, he didn't try to escape when he was gracefully pulled into their exchange of words. Rostam then answered Gabe's question. "Just woke up, so I don't know as of yet."

Rostam then watched as Gabe and Jasper continued on from wherever he had interrupted. Rostam hadn't known that Gabe broke one of the sim rooms, most likely because he stayed out of others' business, he was out of the loop in a lot of the events happening on base. The only things he payed attention to were those that affected him directly, but none-the-less he was shocked. "So, you broke a sim room? Did you have to clean it up or something? I can't imagine getting away with something like that." Rostam added as he slid his hands into his pockets and raised a brow. "I mean if you haven't gotten a punishment yet they're probably saving it for a mission or something. They might even take away all that time you spend working out and replace it with janitorial duties." Rostam said this as he looked to the ceiling as if it was projecting the events in his head. He then turned his attention to Jasper, about to speak. He was aware of a new girl coming in today, only because of Santa, but he decided not to ask about it. Though it was obvious he was about to speak so he recovered quickly. "Get any new assignments lately?" Rostam asked.

At that moment, he wanted to take his hand and slam it against his forehead. He hated getting involved in others' business and here he was asking all about it. He felt stupid, inside he was hitting himself as hard as he could, but on the outside he stood nonchalantly awaiting an answer.​

[/fieldbox]

@Dao Ma @Eryian

 

[Tarieles]

Sable Elias Mereworth


"Fight me if you wish, but know I am old for a reason."

x

Sable sighed, glancing up at the control room. Or, rather, where it would be outside of the simulation. He had a sinking feeling that this was Storm's doing, and he was doing whatever he could to just laze about instead of actually helping. He clicked his tongue, watching the new recruits go about their business collecting rings. He was actually a little disappointed when they first all went running towards rings by themselves. Teamwork would be incredibly important here. They would need to make sure they didn't spend all of their energy on just a few rings. They were in it for the long haul.

He was, however, pleased that Esfir decided they would need to work together. He wrote down that information, not saying anything to the group. They wouldn't learn anything if he gave them the answers. He felt for Vyla though, seeing her struggle. He could understand the feeling of not succeeding in a few things, but he had faith in her abilities. She just needed someone to use them on properly. Now that Esfir mentioned working together, there might be some hope for her to finish and get most of the rings. He wanted to keep a special eye on her.

Of course, Sable knew Sig would be the one ahead of everyone else. She had experience. She also had wings. If this was the only test in the simulation, he knew this would be like asking some fish and a monkey to climb a tree. Sig would excel at this test. He wouldn't even be all that shocked if she actually got every ring. He never really expected anyone to get every ring, but some people surprised him. With her helping the team, perhaps there was some hope for the group to actually get all of their rings.​

 

[Jinx]

[fieldbox="Victory, #242424, solid, 10"]

Sig flinched at the sharp whistle that resounded through the simulation, expected some sort of attack to fly at her even though she hadn't even made a move for a fourth ring yet. Her eyes instead focused on Esfir, who was the source of the noise. She stepped forward slightly to hear better, blinking in surprise when the girl suggested that they work as a team. Sure Sig had worked as a team with her sisters, but they were born to work in sync with one another. Perhaps working as a team with these people would not only make this go much faster, but allow her to develop the ability to work as a team with these people.

She took a step forward, launching herself up with her right leg and flying back up to the starting platform. As she landed, her wings flattened against her back once more. Sig gave a miniscule smile to the girl at her use of cleverness instead of brawn. The Valkyrie would never have thought of using her brain opposed to simply muscling through the simulation, and would have likely failed due to the increasingly difficult challenges.

"I'm glad that we will be working as a team. Perhaps together we can cover one another's weaknesses." Sig said, resting one foot behind the other as she looked at the other rookies. Logically, they would be unstoppable if they all worked as a team. Each of them had their own strengths and weaknesses, even herself as much as she thought of herself as invincible.
​

[/fieldbox]

 

[Jakers]

[fieldbox="C O N D U I T, #242424, solid, 10"]

​

Vyla was about to start another exhausted sprint towards one of her rings in a small pool of her own sweat, but almost fell over as she skidded to a halt upon hearing Esfir's whistle. Thinking Es was trying to distract her at first so she could laugh at her again, Vyla's eyes widened a little when she pointed out something the young rookie hadn't even considered until now.

"Wait... we're allowed to help each other?" Vyla wheezed, looking up as her already bright red face seemed to turn a few shades redder, "B-but... w-wasn't that against the rules, or isn't that against the point of the--"

Cutting off, however, Vyla already figured out that she was the wrong one here. If the rules didn't specifically say they couldn't do something, then it was clear they were more than welcome to try it. Her getting all 10 of her rings in 20 minutes was something she was waiting on a miracle to do for her, but this was reality; that miracle wasn't going to come anytime soon. Her rings had been deliberately hard to make her consider teamwork, but even then, she'd been blinded of that by her desire to succeed for once.

Damn... I was so focused on trying to prove something, that I didn't think about the actual point of the exercise. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Scorning herself for being so narrow-minded, Vyla tried her best to think of something helpful for everyone as more and more gathered around Esfir. She didn't want to just stand here quietly; she wanted to speak up for once. Think, think, think...
"Those traps... *pant*... can go eat ass. So... can't we just snipe some of the rings from a distance, and avoid the traps as a result?" Vyla suggested, "some of them shot arrows, sooo... is it possible to collect some arrows, um... s-sorry dude, I don't know your name," she whispered bashfully, nodding her direction of Atticus, "and then you can use them like, uh... ammo, I guess? If your powers are what I think they are, by the feel of them," She paused, still going through the process of catching her breath somewhat, "And even if your powers aren't strong enough to throw them that far, then... maybe I can, kinda... amp up your power a few notches."

Vyla still didn't fully understand her 'power', but... it was, at base, pretty simple. She just boosted the power of someone else's 'power'. It was something useless without team mates to use it on, making her scorn herself even more for even thinking to try and do this challenge solo. Even if she didn't think of them very much, her powers were pretty much the only thing about her that got complimented.

Finally seeming to catch her breath somewhat, Conduit continued to throw out her - at the least - 'questionable' strategies.
"If you're able to do that weird absorb-y thing here, Es, maybe they hidden something in this simulation you can use. Hopefully something that lets you shoot rockets... a-and I can probably increase the strength of your functions even further..." she paused, gnawing on the back of one of her fingers in thought, "And if any ones are hidden so we can't shoot them, we've got someone with wings who can reach them, right?"

Being a whole lot more chatty than she usually was for some reason, it quickly came to Vyla that she was probably being a bit too chatty considering they only had 20 minutes left.
"S-shit... I wasted too long talking, didn't I? I don't really know what everyone can do, but maybe if I just wave my arms about enough it'll make everyone's powers wreck rings faster?!"

Lightly clenching her pale, sweaty fist, Vyla was prepared to use her powers. The one thing about her that others could maybe see as somewhat 'good'.

If whoever designed this wasn't expecting us to... I really want us to get all 50 rings. We rookies get a lot of shit... s-so... if we can show them we can get things done...
​

[/fieldbox]

 

[ERode]

Oh, Vy-Vy's got a pretty solid head on her shoulders after all, eh? With all her talks of strategy and hijinks? Honestly, Esfir had just planned on going with the flow once all the rookies gathered around her, but to think that the super pale Conduit had already switched gears from mindlessly chasing after targets to becoming a mastermind tactician on par with the Chinese War Philosopher himself.

"Not bad, Vy-Vy," Esfir lied through her teeth, "Exactly what I had in mind, but allow me to add in something extra here. Think further about the phrase 'physical strength and superpowers'. Originally, the assumption was that each target allocates a single point, but what if…multiple people could grab that single point?"

Twenty minutes was a lot of time, and this was an exercise in strategy as much as it was in combat prowess. More importantly though, an exercise was something one used to 'improve', not to simply 'beat'. And thus, with that approach in mind, Esfir pulled a long nail from her toolkit, twirling it between her fingers before pushing it into her palm. There was no blood, no pain, just acceptance as she absorbed the qualities of the object.

Iron. Magnetic. Piercing. Her creamy complexion became a little glossier, her body became much harder, and most importantly, she was now a bonafide IronWoman.

"Preparation always helps," she explained, patting her belt with a clanking sound, "Got bullets in there as well, if I really do wanna go flying, Vy-Vy, but let's try this out first. Call this…Point-Scoring Experiment #1. Void Witch and Victory shall task themselves with the protection of Crisis while Conduit brings his electromagnetic powers to its apex. With that electromagnetic might, Crisis shall launch Alter through one target, before we examine where exactly the point goes."

One finger lifted up.

"Will it be Conduit, who enabled the operation?"

Another finger.

"Will it be Crisis, who enabled contact with the target?"

A third.

"Will it be Alter, who actually established contact?"

Those three fingers clenched.

"Or will it be all three, in which our task become significantly simpler, and we go back to our rooms laughing at how trivial this impossible task became?"

A bow and a wink.

"Stay tuned, as our actors get into position!"

 

[Mars Walker]

Seier

Seier was thrilled to hear Sable talk in Scottish Gaelic, and was on the verge of responding until Vyla came to awkwardly offer her pillows. Seier was thankful that she wasn't allowed time to respond to Vyla, as the simulation room came to life. She stood idly as the instructions for the simulation were presented, making sure sure to memorize them. However, even as intently as she listened to the instructions, Seier was in no way prepared for the training simulation when it officially started. She'd never had the luxury of playing with tech as advanced as the stuff INVICTUS seemed to have its greedy hands on. She'd spent almost all her life living in an old Scottish fishing town poking the fish with sticks and riding sheep bare-back across the fields for fun. She stood still as the other rookies appeared to be familiar with the simulation, taking off in all different directions to gather the required amount of rings.

Seier frowned, wanting to prove herself as a strong supernaturally-powered human, but deep within herself, Seier would've preferred to have a partner to work with in order to complete the task given to them.

She snapped to attention when the simulation sent an attacker towards her, a dark shadowy figure just like the one in the instructions seemed to rise from out of nowhere, dashing towards Seier like a creature straight out of a horror movie. She frowned, and held her palms wide open to open a portal beneath herself, her creation swirling open like a black vortex. Seier fell willingly into the portal before the simulation's attacker could reach her, and the portal closed itself almost immediately after she disappeared into it. A split second later, another of Seier's portals appeared in midair over a tall building where one of her rings was situated. Seier came feet-first out of the portal, landing easily and swatting her hand through the ring, grinning pridefully as a number one formed over her head from the bursting particles.

The shrill sound of Esfir's whistle caught Seier off guard and she turned to look at the heterochromatic girl, listening to what she said.

"Aye, teamwork ought tae be the easiest wae a' getting shit done," Seier spoke aloud to herself, wishing she'd have spoken up sooner about working together instead of opting to play the simulation like everyone else seemed to prefer; Alone.

Taking a short, calming breath, Seier ran and leaped off the edge of the tall building without a single shred or hint of fear, letting herself hurtle towards the ground. About halfway to the ground, Seier opened a portal directly below herself and disappeared into it, reappearing through another portal near Esfir, continuing to listen to her plan and then realizing she had no idea who was who. She knew none of the other recruits' names, and therefore, didn't know who the hell she was supposed to work with, or who she had been assigned to protect.

Why tha' bloody fuck ahm I e'en working with them at awll? Ah'd rather be sleeping right aboout now th'n dealin' with this clusterfuck of oddballs. Seier sighed, crossing her arms as Esfir bowed.

"Oi, first of awll, ah've no idea who any of you fucker's aer. Ah need tae know who tha bloody fuck 'Crisis' and 'Victory' aer if ah'm tae be wurkin' with 'em." Seier said to Esfir, raising an eyebrow.

@Tarieles @Jakers @Jinx @ERode @Valor

 

[Kurogane86]

Adam Kane code named Akira

It was 4am and Adam was where he always was at this time in the Invictus Gym. He was dressed in compression shorts and a sports shirt sweating profusely as he was working the heavy bag. He was in a sort of trance, he would hit with a jab, another jab then a cross, an uppercut and repeat. He repeated these movements until his eye suddenly started to twitch. It was happening again, he was thinking about his parents. It had been several months and now and Invictus still had no leads on his parents murderers. He lost his composure and just continued to punch the bag, slow and true punches changed to fast furious blows. He continued, panting as he imagined a dark figure in the place of the heavy bag.

A sudden beeping broke him of his trance, his eyes started to dialate as he could feel the change coming. "shit, not again." He could feel the rush of adrenaline run down his spine as the tremendous power flooded his senses. he dropped to his knees and took in deep breaths. "Calm down, calm down." The beeping suddenly got slower, he took in deep breaths and reassured himself that he was in control. The beeping suddenly stopped and he took in a breath of relief. "damn it that was close." He looked up and saw sand pouring out of the heavy bag. "damn it not again, That's gonna come out of my paycheck."

Adam hit the showers letting the water wash away his worries as he tried to only think of things that would calm him. It was then that he realized that it was the day for the new recruits. The junior agent got dressed in his suit and tie and equipped his Invictus issued weapons. He left the gym and headed for the simulator. On the walk over Adam saw that everyone was busy, which was normal for Invictus. Ever since he joined people had been moving around like crazy doing their best to keep order in a world full of chaos.

Adam walked into the simulator control room and saw that the exercise had already started. He saw Storm and Arisha and offered a smile and a soft "Hello" to each of them. He looked over the new recruits as he looked out into the simulator . He didn't really know what to think of them. So far it looked as though they still needed a lot of training. For one thing they were stuck waiting for someone to lead them. They failed to realize that this was a team training and look to be reactive instead of proactive. Adam shook his head and shouted out loud from the control room, "that's how agents die! waiting to strike can be the last mistake you ever make! Get your heads in the game and get this test done already!" Adam realized what he did, that was totally out of character for the loner, it must have been the extra adrenaline from this morning episode that was giving him an edge. he looked back at his comrades, "sorry, kind of a rough morning."

 

[rissa]

mara l'ysandar

dogwood

---

INTERACTIONS

• Dr. Sidhara | npc
• Dr. Draeger | @Alibaba
• Venn Charles | @Dao Ma
• Wu Huiyin | @Shizuochan

"...Her development is steady, Amaranth. Nothing is out of the ordinary, except that she seems to be growing slightly faster than you did. Though, it must be noted that you were a bit older when you came to us..."

Nodding her head softly, Mara absorbed what she could from Dr. Sidhara, cycling the useless information from her lengthy rant and storing away the vital bits. Pacing behind the exam table, she listened to Dr. Sidhara and Olivine's soft conversational coo's until the woman was finished with her routine upkeep on Olly's vitals tracker.

"Welp, little one," Dr. Sidhara chimed, cupping Olivine's cheek fondly. "Looks like you're all finished for today."

Reaching into her lab coat pocket, the woman pulled out a lollipop, rather dramatically, and handed it over to Olivine, who took the treat with a giant smile, fiddled with the wrapper, and plunked it right in her mouth. Smiling, Mara scooped her into her arms, thanked Dr. Sidhara, and waited until the woman could schedule their next appointment.

Moving Olly to her hip, Mara fished her phone out of her back pocket and entered the time and date into her calendar. Frowning softly at the holographic display, she glanced over at Sidhara wonderingly. "That's nearly three weeks past our normal time."

"You worry too much, Mara. Her vitals are good, extremely good. So good, in fact, that I'd recommend another month between visits if it weren't for her tracker. And no, don't try and argue with me Amaranth. I'll see you when I see you, now go, shoo! I have work to do."

Momentarily stunned, Mara shook her head with a sigh, pecked her daughter on the cheek, and walked out of Sidhara's examination room. Smiling faintly, as Olivine plucked a strand of her hair and began to run her tiny little hands through it, she walked down the sterile halls of Research and Development.

Mara heard conversational tones before she saw who was speaking and with a small frown, poked her head into Dr. Draegar's office.

"Dr. Draegar," Amaranth said with a respectful nod of her head. "Wu. That was you, I believe, cursing?" She walked further into the room, almost displaying the child on her hip. "Softer tones next time guys, hm?"

She turned to go, rotating on her heel, then realized she left someone out. "Venn. When you're free, I have a few questions that are in your wheelhouse."

 

[ShiroKiyoshi]

[fieldbox="Merry Christmas, #242424, solid, 10"]

It was broad daylight in the busy city of New York. Santa sat atop one of the many skyscrapers in the area to get a solid view of the town. With a magic device given to him by the R&D team he scanned around for the location that "Investigations" left. The device was quite impressive, it turned all of New York into a giant video game map that Santa could manipulate just by looking at things and adjusting the zoom. He played around with the device until someone interrupted him.

"Santa." The voice said sternly in his ear.

The giant man fumbled with the device, almost dropping it, but successfully caught it. He fixed its zoom and looked in the direction that investigations marked before replying to the voice. "Yes, ma'am?" He said with a soft voice, doing his best to pretend he never went off task.

"You have to watch his apartment, we don't want to be doing this all day." The woman on the other end of the radio sighed. It made Santa feel quite bad that she felt so hopeless dealing with him. Santa sighed as well as he just stared at the apartment. It was really silent, but as he sat there he could hear the entire city. All the sounds of the cars and the people, the faint chugging of trains along metal tracks. He tapped his foot as he made the entire city into his orchestra, drowning out sounds and focusing on others to make his very own melody. The camera started to shake quite a bit because of this and worried the woman watching. "Hey, Santa? Santa what's going on?"

Santa paused, obviously confused, "Nothing ma'am, just listening to music." The woman on the other end of the line balled her fist and gripped the counter tightly. She could not understand how this guy has lived this long, but while she was busy worrying about that Santa had taken off like a ninja. He moved swiftly, hopping from building to building with blinding speed before leaping and using a grappling hook combined with a magic cloak to swoop down to the ground undetected. "Ma'am the target is moving. I've adjusted my position to follow him better." She was speechless for a minute, he had moved so fast, and switched gears even faster. "Ma'am? Do you copy?"

"Yes. Just keep following until you get a chance to capture them." She replied.

"Will do." Santa followed up as he followed the target around. He then noticed that their target, a man dressed very nice, walking out of a dump of an apartment had conveniently taken a step in front of an alleyway. In a second he jumped beside the man and lunged his fist directly into his face. The man was sent flying a good five meters where he landed on some trash bags, sleeping soundly. "Target acquired."

"What about the witnesses?!" The lady yelled into the radio and Santa moved with blinding speed to correct the situation. He stuffed the man into his bag and hit all the onlookers with the end of his blade before cloaking himself and disappearing. When others came to see what the giant group was gathered in front of the alleyway for, they just found a bunch of confused people.

"See all under control." Santa said as he swung through the area and back to the building where he started.

"Just come back here and write your report." The lady replied exasperated.
​

[/fieldbox]

 

[GuanYue]

[fieldbox="STORM KELLY, #242424, solid, 10"]

It didn't take much convincing at all to get Arisha in on the fun. With a small, sly grin, he nodded to Renegade again and let her through. He closed the door behind her and headed back to the control panel just in time to see poor Vyla struggle so hard on screen, while on another screen Sig had just gotten her second ring. This group was an interesting one, to say the least. His eyes flickered to another monitor, just in time to see Seier jump into one of her voids and land elsewhere. Yep. Interesting group. And clever.

Hearing Arisha mention the 'finger trap', Storm breathed out a light chuckle. He didn't respond otherwise. He wanted to see what else the fellow agent was going to pick up. Eyes darted back to the screen monitoring the valkyrie and then he glanced back at Arisha. "The new girl, the void witch is doing decently well too. She'll be in for a bit of a surprise." He turned his attention back to the screens. Everyone just seemed to be doing their own thing... well, except for Esfir. How curious it was, she was just standing there. Storm knew that in that nosy little brain of hers, she must have been formulating some kind of plan. It was always amusing to watch the girl come up with some kind of scheme.

Just before Esfir called out to the group, Arisha's comment made him look back at her again. "I decided to take it easy on them." he replied defensively. However, it was clear with the look in his eyes that his statement was nothing but a flat out lie. "I didn't get a chance to talk to Sable before the simulation started, but I was planning on--"

The door to the panel room opened and Storm turned his chair just enough to look back but not run into the hovering agent. Adam Kane.

Even with the greeting, Storm just looked at him. He even dared to cringe when Adam had taken over the intercom and yelled out to the agents. The agent handler hissed and reached over to flip the switch to deactivate the intercom. "Don't start giving away simulation secrets. They have to learn to think and react on their own." The point of not coaching them was to give them the pass or dead results at the end of the simulation. With a muttered 'excuse me', Storm got up out of his seat and faced to two other agents.

"One second." He said and pulled the phone he had conveniently borrowed previously out of his pocket. He dialed Sable's number and put it on speakerphone. "Hey, Sabe. Let's spice it up a notch. As you might have heard, I've got Adam Kane here with me. Arisha's here also. Have you ever heard of the game.. Red Rover?"

He paused and glanced at the two in the room while holding the phone at mouth level.

"As we can see, they're figuring out that they need to team up in order to complete the task. They'll definitely get the ten rings within the twenty minute timeframe. We can't let it be that easy, so how about we have a bit of fun and create an enemy wall? In other words..." eyes darted over to Kane to make sure he understood. "We become that wall. We go in, replace the shadow figure simulations and actively attempt to stop them from getting the rings. Minimal effort though. We don't want to bury them just yet."

Storm placed the phone down on the control panel desk as he started to press a few buttons. "I'm opening the door for us now and am turning on voice activated auto-control mode." As soon as a few lights on the panel changed from red to green, the sound of a door unlocking on the left side of the room sounded out. He looked back at Arisha and Adam. "You two in? If so, head through the door."​

[/fieldbox]

@Valor @Tarieles @Kurogane86

 

[GuanYue]

[fieldbox="Gabriel Baraniq +ERGO, #242424, solid, 10"]

Just woke up? Lucky! Gabe knew he couldn't sleep in even if he tried! That is... unless he was completely tapped of energy, or in some kind of food coma, but that was something else entirely. Though, imagining Rostam waking up so late make him curious if he had any kind of missions going on or something.

Attention back to Jasper, Gabe let go of the agent's hand and instantly blushing at the thought that he had, not only a reputation around the base, but he was the guy that broke the thing. "A-Ahh... y-you heard about that?" he asked, hunching forward a little and rubbing his neck. "I wouldn't say he was impressed... He was like 'GABE HOW THE HELL IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE, YOU IDIOT!' I didn't know what to say. I felt really really bad though!"

Somehow it seemed that the story hadn't gotten to the late sleeper. And Gabe couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh. "Yeahhh... I was testing out a power suit and-like... I got a little too carried away and when I went to hit the dummy I kinda sorta punched through it and hit the wall behind it." He raised his arm a little and clenched his fist. "Waaah, but was it amazing!" His embarrassment seemed to melt for that second. "That suit is so cool! If it wasn't for the suit, I probably woulda shattered my entire arm!" He made a little explosion gesture with his hand buy quickly spreading out his fingers. "But yeah, when I hit the wall it cracked the reality barrier and it started to spark and the lights went out and the simulation stopped and the backup generator had to turn on and man Seth was yelling the whole time..." he said all in one breath. He then paused to take a deep breath and let his shoulders slump again.

"And now I got my vacation time taken away and I can't go into that sim wing for another month and I can't test out that power suit for six months AND I have to do low level missions for four months..." He pouted while hanging his head, as if every punishment stacked on a weight over his head.

At the mention of new assignments though, he raised his head and looked at the two. "Nu uh. You guys haven't either?" He blinked and thought for a moment. "There's been a bunch of transfers lately, right? Maybe they're setting up for something. Waaah! What if the gnomes are at it again??? Didn't they just squash a gnome nest last week????"​

[/fieldbox]

@Eryian @ShiroKiyoshi