The Abberation League (IC)

[mr_pibbs]

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THREADS:

OoC

Character Sheet Thread/Sign-Ups

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Chapter 1 (WIP)

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Chapter 1:
"(Insert Catchphrase Here)"

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"We apologize for interrupting your regularly scheduled programming, but this just in; it was confirmed that at twelve-o'clock this afternoon, an explosion came from the headquarters of the world-renowned super-team, "The Chaperon Sentinels". When authorities arrived at the scene, they discovered the burnt remains of those who made up the team. The leader of the Sentinels, Irwin McAllister, otherwise known as "The Steel Patriot", was the only member who survived the blast and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The team was most well-remembered for their triumph over the nefarious super villain, "Doctor Abbadon", after his devastating assault on Chicago three years ago that claimed the lives of countless heroes, law-enforcement, and government officials.

Although authorities cannot pinpoint an exact cause of death for the heroes, many speculate that this is connected to the string of gruesome murders of costumed heroes around the world. This year alone has seen an almost 70% rise in hero-on-hero murders within the 'Meta human' community, beginning with the mutilation of Lady Speedster by her deranged brother, Captain Quick.

The city of New York has already begun funeral preparations for the deceased team and an open-invitation has been extended to the people of the world to celebrate the lives of these great men and women who fought for peace, justice, and honour.

This is Shelley Cooper with Channel Six News, and this has been a breaking news story.

The Meta Fever. It was everywhere, on every form of media that modern man managed to turn into a means of communication. There were conspiracy theories galore on what was causing it, research studies on those that went berserk. Fear of metas was spreading, could today's hero be tomorrow's Doctor Abbandon? Several major metas had already fallen and crime was on the rise, that was a fact. New villains were realizing their dreams. Gangs of normals worked with less fear, who was going to stop them? The more brazen of villains struck out on their own or with underlings in tow to claim a new territory. Some villains even decided to form lesser leagues of their own to collectively face greater threats. These were the facts of the day and the common powerless humanity was beginning to feel even more helpless.

Legislation was on the table in congress, mostly as a token show of effort on the governments part. National guard outposts were swelling with activity and military recruitment was at an all time high. Desperate times seemed to be calling for desperate measures and the population nearly unanimously geared up for war. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on this and most of those cries were, "It is not enough." The vultures had even descended: defense attorneys, corporations, arms developers, and anyone else who could make a penny on this seemed to have a lobbyist in place at the circus this had become.

- T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Helicarrier -

- Current Location: Manhattan, New York. -

- Two Days Ago -

​

"Things are taking a turn for the worse with this new initiative almost pushed through both sides of congress", the sandy blond haired man murmured to himself. The man was Captain Brian Smith. He was a former operator in several war environments and a lesser meta human himself. He was supernaturally durable and in peak physical condition. The uniqueblend of skills made him a near perfect candidate to lead field operations and make the calls that were required in real time. He surveyed the overwatch room with his assembled team of specialists, handpicked by the man himself. He stood an average 5'8 with blue eyes and lightly tanned skinned, an all american if ever there was one. Now into his thirties his greys were beginning to show, but well hidden amongst the already lightly colored strands.

"It's time Captain", a smaller mousy woman said as she stood at his side with a clipboard wrapped in her arms. The woman was of a darker tan than the Lieutenant and several years his junior. Her jet black locks complimented hergreen eyes and well proportioned face. She looked well put together in her dark blue THUNDER lieutenant's uniform and tied bun. Despite her short stature and petite frame she looked confident in her stride and few questioned her ability to serve as the Captain's second. Lieutenant Laura Ortiz was a sight to behold in tactical support and intelligence gathering and his natural compliment.

"So it is. Assemble the strike force. If your intelligence is right", he said in a near sarcastic tone, as if to rile her nerves. "We are going to want to strike before they have time to bring their submarine fully operational."

"Name a time it has been wrongand I will personally cook youdinner", she snarked back at him. "Minus the venom, sir."

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- "Celebrities" Night Club - Vancouver, B.C. -

- Modern Day -

​

Wiping the green blood off his hands as his body was overtaken by the black fog once again, Mason slowly made his way out of the nightclub. Once he had reached the outside, he noticed the police had already arrived and were about ready to rush inside. Aaaand here's the 'fun' part. thought Mason, who knew he had to cover up what happened as best as he should. Cracking his knuckles, Mason lifted his hands into the air and profoundly exclaimed "Nighty night, fuckers!" as a blast of white energy exploded in his palm, creating a flash-bang effect that blinded all those outside the club. The theatrics were all pretty much for show, as Mason knew he could perform the memory-wipe without even thinking about it, but since they weren't going to remember the event anyways, he usually had a bit of fun with it. One time while he was learning to use his powers, he even went so far as to drop his pants (much to his Mother's displeasure) to test the limits of what he could and couldn't get away with/what would be remembered by those affected.

Using the flash of white to his advantage, Mason's eyes quickly began to glow green and he swept his head from left to right, making sure to extract the last half-hour from the minds of all he discovered; except for one, of course. When the flash of white had disappeared, all of the people gathered around the club stared at each other with confusion, wondering what they were doing outside in the cold or why the police had arrived and set up a barricade.

Clapping his hands together and rubbing them quickly, Mason prepared his explanation, as all eyes had since fallen on him (being the only one directly in front of the door, it seemed that the people had come here for him). "Hey everyone, good news; there's no danger whatsoever, false alarm. Thought we had a gas leak, but it's cool. You can go back to your drinks and your dance-music and officers, you did a great job getting everyone out, but we're fine now, thank you. Have a pleasant night everyone, it's all fine."

A few confused moments passed before everybody began to part ways; the patrons headed back inside of the club and the officers slowly entered their vehicles and drove off. Proud of his work, Mason nodded softly and turned to his right, preparing to head home for the night. He had seen more then enough action for the moment and it was time for him to 'hit the old trail'. However, he was stopped short by a surprising guest; Beth. She approached him, still wearing that coy smile on her face. If Mason knew it wasn't possible, he could've sworn that she hadn't been affected by the memory wipe, as their previous interaction should've been wiped from her mind. She shouldn't know who he was... Yet, she called him by name.

"Mason Greene... Gotta admit, that was pretty hot what you just did back there."

"Guess so... What exactly was it that I did?"

Beth approached him, swaying her hips back and forth confidently before she stopped just a few feet away from Mason, their bodies almost touching. She smirked again and crossed her arms. "Sending that hell-spawn back where it belonged. 'Hot' both figuratively and physically."

"And what makes you think I'm capable of doing anything like that?"

Promptly, Beth shrugged her shoulders and reached into her small hand-bag, pulling out an identification card with a big lightning bolt emblem on it. "We know everything about you, Seraph. It's time to answer the call."

Mason smirked, understanding now why she was capable of resisting his memory-wipe. All T.H.U.N.D.E.R. agents were given extensive psychological training that gave them a heightened resistance against things like mind control or memory manipulation.

Crossing his arms, Mason leaned on his heels and scoffed lightly, smiling the entire time. "Riiight. So where's Smith? Guess he's listening in on us right now, huh?" he asked, looking skywards as he spoke. Almost as soon as he looked up, Mason noticed the gigantic hovering aircraft currently situated above the nightclub.

"Yep. There he is. Gonna beam me up, Scotty?"

A bright white light soon blasted down from above, nearly blinding the young man. A low whizzing sound echoed around him as the Helicarrier's particle accelerator began to speed up, slowly disassembling his body from the feet upwards. He looked over at Beth, who looked at him with a shrug. "You guys know I can fly, right?" Mason asked as he was officially de-materialized and pulled directly into the Helicarrier's hull. His participles quickly shot through the hull before being drawn towards a re-assembler somewhere in one of the many cargo bays. The process only took a few seconds, but the woozy feeling Mason got afterwards threw him off a bit. He wasn't new to teleportation, but he felt that the man-made way of achieving it was still very finicky and often yielded a series of unwanted side effects.

Taking in a deep breath and shaking his head lightly, Mason looked around at his new surroundings. He was in a sort of rec-room, surrounded by a wide array of 'whacky characters', as he would've called them. No doubt these were other poor saps that T.H.U.N.D.E.R. had dragged into active service through some means or another, but by the looks of it, Mason guessed he was the last one to be picked up. Kind of insulting since Mason was one of the first Metas actually approached by the peacekeeping organization, but he figured they must've had their reasons.

"Alright, well before anyone has a chance to say it I will;" Mason stated, dryly looking around the room before he threw a fist into the air and enthusiastically shouted

"Avengers, ASSEMBLE!"​

 

[Aero Blue]

---

A cliché, to be sure but:

Yari preferred to work alone.

This was for many reasons. Joey Yabari had once entered into a partnership with a gun-toting vigilante, who learned the full extent of his martial arts from his spirit animal, the Desert Eagle. In less convoluted and more literal terms, he shot people. Quickly, they found that Yari had a habit of wandering into spaces where bullets were meant to go. Problematic for a partnership. Of course, there was always the off chance that Yari accidentally eviscerated his ally. So, solo-heroes tended to lead to cleaner operations, especially with something like the 'meta fever' in place.

Another reason?

No pit-stops at night clubs. That was a winner.

Most heroes, as it turned out, were not professionals. In this regard, Joey Yabari was not exempt. He could swing a sword better than most people in the world, but he didn't know the first thing about co-operating as a team, spear-heading an operation. But he was told that he should be here, that maybe being hear would cause the Everdark to grace him with an epiphany.

Current epiphany? Young 'uns are stupid.

"Avengers! ASSEMBLE!"

…

"A knack for parody, self-deprecation, and humour in unknown and mostly inappropriate circumstances. A trait sometimes demonstrated by the psychotic and clinically insane."

Yari liked people, truly. He would not fight against evil if this were not the case. But he often found himself dismayed by specific persons.

"More worryingly, this is also behaviour exhibited by teenagers and young adults." The 21st​ century bushi looked around, before retrieving both cigarette and lighter, "If you all don't mind, I am going to smoke. I will acknowledge and summarily decline requests to refrain. Nice to meet you all, I'm Yari."

 

[Cerulean]

This is a damn tasty chicken sandwich.

He was very easily sold on the idea of helping others, but the food they had was pretty nice. Especially compared to what he did usually eat. Crackhead soup, canned goods, or other pre-packaged bullshit. Adam was not a rich man, in the slightest. His idea of spicing up life would be to eat at subway a couple times a week. At least being a dishwasher isn't exactly a job that gets your face out there.

So when the sated man finished it, he took another look around to try and take stock of who was here and who was not. For the most part, it looked like a room full of superheroes. At least one of whom also liked to wear snazzy ties while out putting foot to criminal ass. If the guy didn't seem like the antisocial type, he might had walked over and try to exchange tips and style choices. Which with the opposite color choices that made sense. Like night and day. Black and White. A concept at least familiar with costumed heroes. He wondered how many "villains" were in the room that were just looking to try and get rid of this deadly meta human fever.

And it looked like we picked up another person from the nightclub below. The guy looked a little hipster-ish but it wasn't that much of an issue. When he raised his hand up and shouted the incredibly nerdy line, Wrecker smiled. He was either a nerd or just a class clown. Both traits he enjoys in a person. They would likely get along famously.

As long as he does it away from me... With Yari the Smoker deciding to go raise his chances of getting cancer, Wrecker shrugged and took a couple of steps towards the assembler. Deciding to humor him, he lightly punched his fist.

"Wrecker smash?"

 

[Esper]

Two days ago:
Serena idly lounged by the poolside soaking the warmth of the day into her tanned skin. This of course was irrelevant as she could be any shade of tan she wanted, but her latest beau didn't exactly protest at her layabout presence. He was from new money in the trend of application development for phones. The concept flew over her head, but most things related to technology did.

A shadow blocked her sun and she gave a groan as she lowered her sunglasses and opened her eyes. "Is it time for lunch already? Let me slip into something more comfortable and you can pull the car around. How do you feel about me in green?"

The man now flashed a badge to her. It was an agent if T.H.U.N.D.E.R. making good on their end of her by proxy deal with Seraph. "Serena Silva, please come with us. It's time. Should you resist we've been authorized to use non-lethal force." The man wore a suit and kept a non-descriptive military length haircut. He looked like he spent enough time training to be a threat to a normal person. His partner looked to be near the same as his, just like cardboard cutouts. Too bad she was far from normal and they were of no threat to her with their toys.

She stood and shook her hair out, all the while drawing a rune in the small puddle of water beneath her feet. "I understand the position you're in and understand the position I am, two strong men trying to put their hands on me. It's good fun really and under normal circumstances we could have the fun you're looking to have, but this job just has you worn ragged hasn't it? Tell you what. Lounge by the pool and make a day of it. Get a tan. Have a beer. You look absolutely exhausted." As she spoke with emphasis on the last word the magic had already begun to take hold and the two men first dropped to their knees, then to the ground. Per habit and perhaps a touch of paranoia she stripped them of their communication devices and weapons before kissing each man on the cheek.

"I would stay and lounge more with you, but I have a lunch date. Bring me a nicely worded request and I will go along with you next time, k?" She walked off with a sway of her hips, running her fingers through her hair one last time before readying herself for her lunch date as she promised. She was after all a woman of her word.


Present day:

Serena rolled her eyes at the demonstration. Humans were a liability and rather finicky when it came to things that didn't understand. It led to more than a few witch hunts in her day. The witch trials, yeah she lived those. People worried about a succubus seducing them, heh. Most weren't worth the time of day. At least now people were a little more open with their vices. She flicked through her smart phone opening a podcast she had recently downloaded for the long trip and stuck the earbuds into place.


She looked to the smoking man and sighed internally. That damn sword, she thought in what would have been in an exasperated way vocally. Why the short lived were in a rush to kill themselves any faster was beyond her. Besides that she had a better way for them to go out. It would have been pleasant even, if the target was willing. Her thoughts trailed off from there making their way back to the guards that detained her today. They were prepared this time. Sending a sentient A.I. was clever indeed and for that she cooperated for now. It was that and she had grown fond enough of Seraph to look after his well being and to educate him on the finer points of group oriented revenge. Crusades were always fun to participate in. "Woo", she replied in a tone that was laced with sarcasm.

 

[Joan]

[fieldbox=Joan Riley Ardent AKA Allegra, #447733, solid, 0, Georgia]

Joan opened the door to her apartment with the slightest of smiles on her face. On her way up to her apartment, she had thought over the phone call she had gotten some more and realized just how big an opportunity had been offered to her. Though, there was the question of how they had tracked her...

I'll ask about it once I'm at their headquarters or whatever, she thought to herself as she made her way to her thankfully windowless bedroom and dropped her backpack on the bed. She considered the backpack for a moment before unzipping it and emptying the contents onto her bed. Cop uniform, some food and water, a laptop...fairly standard for someone like her. That is, except for the last thing she pulled out.

In a hidden pocket, she kept her suit. Well, except for the boots. She was wearing those at the moment. She held the various pieces up one at a time, examining them for anything that needed to be fixed or tended to. She let out a small groan when she saw that one of the claws on her right glove seemed to be stuck inside the glove.

Damn it, I don't really have time to fix it right now...It's just the pinky claw, hopefully I won't have to use it before it's fixed. She sighed and went to considering a slightly more pressing question...Should she wear her suit when the guy came to pick her up or no?

It'll help maintain some sense of anonymity...But if I'm supposed to be working together with these people, I suppose they'll find out my identity sooner or later, won't they? That and standing outside my apartment building in my suit isn't exactly inconspicuous. She tucked the suit back into her backpack, along with the other contents of the backpack. Then she walked to her closet and pulled out a couple sets of clothes for her to take with her. Hopefully, that was all she would need. Now, it was time to make some calls.

Roughly an hour after she had reached her apartment, she stood outside the building once again, her bag on her shoulder. She was doing a decent job of relaxing and waiting for this "agent" to show up. Before leaving her apartment and coming outside, she had called her family and told them about what had happened, then called the police station where she worked and told the chief that she would be taking an indefinite amount of time off. He hadn't sounded surprised at all, and had informed her that he had already been informed that she was being assigned elsewhere by the government.

Of course they would make sure of that, whoever "they" are. I really don't know much about this, do I? Maybe I should have asked a few more questions before--

There.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a new mind coming into her awareness. It was oh-so-slightly shielded, too much for her to read it easily, but not so much that she couldn't still sense it easily. Her eyes quickly found the source: a young man in street clothes, with messy light brown hair, blue eyes, and a calm, calculating expression. He was walking in her direction, slowly, casually, glancing around occasionally at the city around him.

He noticed her watching him, stopped walking, and jerked his head in the direction he had come from. She hesitated briefly before following him. He waited for her to come up to him before speaking.

"Follow me, please." He turned around and began walking back the way he had come, glancing back only once to check and make sure she was following. She walked behind him silently, trying to decide if she should ask her questions now or later. By the time she made up her mind and opened her mouth, they were approaching a back alley that led to the abandoned docks.

"Hey, mister--"

"The name's Samuel, and you'll get answers to your questions in just a bit." He spoke in a calm, friendly tone, and Joan considered going on to ask her question but instead closed her mouth and followed as they emerged from the alley onto the old, abandoned docks.

There was what looked like a slightly oversized aircraft carrier parked in the water, with people scurrying across the surface like a lot of agitated ants. It took her a moment to realize that this was where Samuel wanted her to go, but then she resumed following him, picking up her pace. He led her onto the aircraft carrier and down into the hold of the ship, quickly leading her past more hustle and bustle to a rec-room. There were a few people here already, and she eyed them cautiously as Samuel instructed her to wait here before leaving.

Well, an aircraft carrier's not what I expected-- Once again, her thought was cut short as the ship began to move. It was moving upwards, and Joan blinked in surprise as she steadied herself. Of course, I should have known. It's never just an aircraft carrier.

Over the next couple hours or so, more and more people were picked up, and she looked these ones over as well. She recognized a couple of them, either from the news or from personal experience. The ones she knew by personal experience were villains, and she let out a small sigh when she saw the first one of these board the ship. Can't say I wasn't warned.

Early on into the trip, she settled down by the wall with her backpack still on her back, making sure to pick a spot where she could see the door easily. That proved to be less effective than she had hoped, since some people were teleported into the room instead of coming in through the door, but she still got a pretty good look at most of them.

Yep, this is certainly an interesting crew we have here, she thought just before an ordinary-looking young man with brown hair teleported in, glanced around, and yelled an ever-classic phrase.

"Avengers, ASSEMBLE!"​

She stifled a chuckle before proceeding to try and scan his mind. Something was blocking her, something otherworldly, and she backed off quickly.

Guess I have an idea what his abilities are, she mused as a masked man in a suit and with a sword on his back began to speak.

"A knack for parody, self-deprecation, and humour in unknown and mostly inappropriate circumstances. A trait sometimes demonstrated by the psychotic and clinically insane. More worryingly, this is also behaviour exhibited by teenagers and young adults."

Ookay then. That was slightly unexpected. She frowned slightly. The man proceeded to announce his intention to smoke, and Joan's frown deepened when he said he would smoke regardless of requests to stop. That was a bit of a jerk move, in her opinion, leading her to speak for the first time since she had entered the helicarrier.

"If you plan to smoke regardless of what we say, then why did you even bother saying 'If you don't mind'? What's the point? Anyway, I do mind quite a bit, and I will be taking measures to keep the smoke from reaching me if you really must smoke."[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox=Naivara Adrianna Yvonne AKA Nyra, #666688, dotted, 0, Book Antigua]

Five days ago​

She got the call in her hotel room.

It was late that night, and she was preparing to slip out the window in the middle of the night when the complimentary phone rang. She paused in the act of slipping the book into her boot and glanced suspiciously at the phone. Who would know she was here? Unless...

She chose to leave the phone on its hook and grabbed her jacket from the bed where she had briefly slept. She moved quickly toward the window as she shrugged the hoodie on, and was about to activate her invisibility spell when a strange woman's voice spoke behind her.

"Miss Yvonne?" She moved faster than she would have thought possible before discovering magic, turning a perfect one hundred and eighty degrees while holding one hand behind her back. That hand was clenched into a fist, with her thumb on the inside and sticking out between her middle and ring fingers. Just in case.

The woman standing her room was wearing a simple black jacket and dress, and was standing in a relaxed position, one hand on her hip. She raised her eyebrows slightly when she saw Naivara's face, and Naivara realized that she probably looked pretty terrified at the moment. Damn it.

"What do you want?" Her voice came out calm and even, thankfully. No shaking or anything.

"I'm a representative of an organization that can offer you protection from the mercenaries that have been coming after you, and, more importantly, the woman behind them."

She's telling the truth, the staff whispered in her ear.

"So, what, you're here to offer me a deal?" The woman nodded. "In that case, I'm listening."

Present​

Naivara sat calmly on the roof of the library in her costume, glancing periodically at the night sky. The woman had told her that a large "helicarrier" would pass over the library somewhere around this time, and it would pause briefly to allow her to board. So far, she hadn't seen it, but the woman had told her that several people were being picked up at various intervals that day, so that might cause delays.

Then she saw it. A massive, flying aircraft carrier, flying over the library as promised. She got to her feet and watched the helicarrier coming to a halt above her. She prepared a flight spell with one hand, but something interrupted her. A blinding white light enveloped her, and moments later, she was standing in a strange room and experiencing strong feelings of vertigo.

Ah, teleportation. How lovely, except...not, in this case.

Once she had regained her balance and her vision had cleared, she looked around the room cautiously. It looked like she was a later arrival, and she stepped away from the device she had re-appeared by and found a seat. She didn't really recognize any of the faces in the crowd, except...

That's Serena right there...Well, well, well. I wonder if she's how T.H.U.N.D.E.R. found out about me? It's certainly possible. She eyed the succubus for a moment before making her way through the crowd to stand next to Serena.

"I must admit, I didn't entirely expect to see you here," she began to say before another young man teleported in.

She rolled her eyes at their last arrival and raised her eyebrows slightly at the words of the man with the very...obvious sword. I wouldn't go that far. When he stated his intention to smoke, she sighed and shook her head in distaste.

"Ah, so this room is going to be filled with foul-smelling smoke. How lovely," she muttered under her breath.[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox=Alexander Heron Mitchell AKA Core, #1188ff, dashed, 0, Courier New]

Alex slipped out of a side door in his company's building and checked his watch. The woman on the phone, Andrea, had said T.H.U.N.D.E.R. would pick him up sometime around now, so where were they?

He waited for about a minute longer before he got a sense of something big approaching the area directly above him. He looked up slowly, his eyebrows going up when he saw the helicarrier. That's actually pretty impressive. Now, how are they planning to pick me up?

As if to answer his question, his phone rang, and he slipped it out of the belt clip that held it and held it to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Hello, Alex." Andrea's voice greeted him with a brisk, professional tone. "Normally, we would teleport you using our technology, but it generally leaves people feeling a bit queasy, and since you have your own abilities, well..."

"You guys are thorough, aren't you?" He sighed and shook his head slightly. "Right. I assume you want me on the other end of this call?"

"Exac--"

Alex vanished in a crackle of static electricity before she could complete the word. He reappeared next to a young woman with black hair pulled back into a bun and talking on a cell phone. She jumped slightly and quickly hung up the phone, tucking it into her pocket.

"--tly. That was fast." She flashed a smile at him before gesturing for him to follow her. She took him through one hallway to a large room with several other people lounging about and instructing him to wait there. He nodded, watched her leave, then quickly found the nearest chair and let himself fall into it. From that chair, he quietly watched as the group doubled in size over the next few hours.

He saw a couple familiar faces, either from the news or from personal experience. One in particular caught his eye, and he had to grip the arms of the chair tightly to keep himself from getting up and yelling at the woman known as Obsidian.

Are you fucking kidding me? She's here?? That thieving bitch is-- Damn it, calm down, Alex! Yelling at her now isn't going to solve anything! Just wait until you can talk to her a little more privately for that! Still, the nerve of...calm down, Alex...

He had just managed to calm down enough to safely let go of the chair when their latest arrival showed up. A young man appeared next to the teleporter, glanced around, and yelled "Avengers, ASSEMBLE!" with an enthusiasm that brought a weak smile to Alex's face. He started to respond, then winced at the harsh response of the man with a mask and a sword.

That was...unnecessary, to say the least. And apparently he's going to smoke now? Um, okay then... He slowly got up from the chair and made his way to the new arrival. He reached the newcomer just in time to catch the response of another man with a tie saying "Wrecker smash?" in a humorous manner. His smile widened slightly, and he began clapping slowly.

"Not bad," he said, that slight smile remaining on his face. "Not bad at all."[/fieldbox]

 

[Gands]

Shamrock Nessa Murtaugh

Two days ago in Seattle, Wells Tower Penthouse.

) Veronica Wells ( I still don't understand Oggie, she's only been here a couple of years. We've barely made any kind of connection".

{ Ogma{ Veronica, this is who she needs to be now. All of our sacrifice, her sacrifice, training has come to this point. She will always be your daughter Veronica... but now she has to be Shamrock".

) Veronica ) All your power, your vaunted strength and wisdom... doesn't make you any less an Ass*$#* Oggie".


Later that night, Alberta Canada

( Nessa ) Hello father, I"m glad you got my message. You said you wanted to see me. I know you could have probably found me without any help. Why do it this way ?

At was late in the night, they were in that bad part of town. Ness still liked patrolling this area, it brought back memories of her first days as a hero. She only came to Alberta once or twice a month.

{ Oghma { (Sighs ) I thought it would be more comfortable for you. It is time Nessa. Left too much longer they will come for you and it will be better if we go to them. I have arranged for a demonstration in front of the two Senators from Washington State and Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada. I will be there only as your attorney.

) Nessa ) Are you certain Father ?

} Oghma} Yes Daughter


One day ago, Washington DC

Present
A representative of the Prime Minister of Canada
Both Senators from the State of Washington
A theoretical Nameless high level representative of Thunder
A nameless undersecretary of the U.N.
Oghma in the guise of Attorney Delbert Van Dyke
Nessa Murtaugh
A thunder medical tech

Nessa is put through an extremely rigorous two hour test. All of her primary physical characteristics are tested. Her body is tested before and after by the medical tech. Fighting, the ability to withstand damage, ability to solve puzzles. Questions related to claimed skills. Testing of reaction time, running speed and endurance.

{ Oghma } Ladies and Gentlemen. As Miss Murtaugh's representative, I have presented to you her resume as a hero. She is willing to volunteer for the quote Suicide Squad that Thunder is preparing. I have provided you with some legal paperwork, a contract of sorts. I think you will all find it in order. We are not asking for any extra money, fame or particularly anything aside from certain guarantees. You'll forgive me if Nessa's mother is not a big fan of nameless, faceless government types.

Today, Thunder Helicarrier.

Nessa had adjusted her armor the way she was taught, it looked just the tiniest bit different than the average Thunder Agent, trimmed in green with a tiny four leafed clover below the THUNDER emblem on the right breast. The Thunder people she had been meeting all day were as a group, less than pleased with her presence. She analyzed the room, mostly out of boredom. A well placed traitor and a few good agents could really do a number on this place, she thought. Then she sidled over to Mason. They had been exchanging emails for a few years now.

" You know you are leaking green goo all over the place " She teased.

Under her breath, Nessa talked to her friend Seraph.

" You see the guy at our 2 o'clock? A swordsman, and probably more, body language combines irritation to go along with his statement and complete confidence. The big guy with the weird white tie, walks like a linebacker, the classic high school jock.
And...wow, I think that pretty brunet wants to take one or both of us apart, with a little Chianti sauce ! Anyway, it's nice to see you again, despite or perhaps because of the circumstances.

 

[EmperorsChosen]

"So, let me get this straight." The former captive of Neoh wiggled his arms, now free of imprisonment as he walked the halls of the corporation building sided by the German researcher who seemed to be more or less in charge of him during his time at the building and a THUNDER agent. "You guys see all these goodie-goodie's going nuts and decide, Hey! Let's get an even crazier mercenary!" Laughing a bit, the three paused at the front desk at the entrance of the building. The older researcher talks to a woman behind the desk and she nods and seems to call for someone. "Well, I mean. Yeah, I'll fuckin' wreck their shit, but you know these guys aren't living right? Like, I don't do that killing is bad bullshit. You sick me on these fucks, they're dead."

Sighing, the THUNDER agent just wanted to pass the man off as soon as possible and leave. It was a mixture of the guy being annoying and equally possibly lethal to everything around him. The only thing keeping him in line were those nanobots but—if the guy was as nuts as the dossiers made him out to be, there was no proof that that would keep him completely in line. "Yes... Redoc we are aware. I assure you, you were chosen specifically for your skills and specialties. Thunder isn't going to hire a sniper and give him a BB gun."

"You aren't pussies. Great!" The mercenary exclaimed as a Neoh employee approached with a few minuscule items laying on top of a clean red and black leather long coat. "Oh! My stuff!" Seemingly excited for such simple items as a phone, some keys, a wallet, necklace and coat—it really told exactly how long he was kept in containment. Though he didn't seem worse for wear himself, but that could simply be because he was already batshit crazy.

Now adorning his trademark red and black coat, he spent the next few moments shoving everything else back in his pocket, except for the necklace which he wore around his neck and phone which he proceeded to check. "Oh, you guys kept it charged. Nice... Wow... That's a lot of missed calls..."

As Redoc proceeded to go through the list, the German approached the agent. "In my opinion, you people are more insane than he is. However, he's your problem now." Suddenly the mercenary's arm slung around the scientist's shoulders, though he seemed more inconvenienced that intimidated or worried with Redoc now free of restraints. "Oh don't worry Jerry... I'm still gonna come back here and kill you." With the German scoffing, the two were now ushered out of the building.

"So, how I getting where?" However to his question, the agent simply pointed upwards where a giant metal vessel floated in the sky. "Ah... You guys know I can't fly or teleport or shit right?" The agent once again sighed in response and simply told him to brace himself, and before Ray could question why, a beam of light enveloped the area he stood and slowly, his body began to seemingly dissipate. "Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck is this you fucki-!" Now vanished from the ground, the agent breathed a sigh of relief that he was out of harms way.
_____________________________

Now in present day and time, Raynard was sitting reverse in a chair in boredom, waiting for the ship to finish collecting the "team". The highlight of the past day was that beam of light, and that didn't scare him. Of course it didn't, it couldn't kill him. It was just weird—and came out of nowhere. Startled could have described it at the very most. Regardless, it didn't even hurt, more of just made him sick for a while. Other than that, it was pretty boring. Well, if nothing else he could people watch.

Guy with tie and power armor—because that looks intimidating. Then there was a tie-wearing big'un. They weren't tougher than they looked usually. What's with all the ties though? Well, it didn't seem like anyone else was dressed up, but it was still two more than he thought would be. Aside from them there were a few women, all pretty nice, but one of which looked like trouble. Smartasses didn't often get along with other smartasses. Next to them was a pretty-boy—big shocker there. And then the final member of the team that he took note of—another pretty-boy.

Letting the first few people speak up, Ray waited for their interactions to end before chiming in. "Okay... Well." Standing up from his chair, the mercenary clasped his hands as where to start. "First, I guess I should say sorry. Didn't know we were supposed to dress formal... Though I was signing up to shoot people, cubicles aren't my thing. But, hey, don't give a fuck about the smoking so, hey!" Smirking a bit, he wasn't going to waste any time annoying people. "Oh and Sweetheart, try not to act too excited back there. We might get the impression you don't want to be here, and wouldn't that be a surprise!" He chimed towards the sarcastic, but otherwise silent woman towards the back.

Sitting back down, Redoc rests his right ankle on his left knee and leans forward slightly. "I'm Ray. Would say it's nice to meet you but... honestly, I'm just here to kill whoever I need to and get the fuck out, so... Oh! If it's not too obvious, I don't want to be here like Avengers kid over there. Nice little tidbit about me." Shrugging, that pretty much ended his self-introduction and comments, at least until someone else spoke up and gave him something else to speak about.

 

[Esper]

_____________________________________________ Smirking a bit, he wasn't going to waste any time annoying people. "Oh and Sweetheart, try not to act too excited back there. We might get the impression you don't want to be here, and wouldn't that be a surprise!" He chimed towards the sarcastic, but otherwise silent woman towards the back.

__________________________________________

Serena looked up from her podcast and replied, "Huh sorry. Oh um. I was by my beau's pool you see and this robot came to pick me up. I was just getting the nicest tan too. Well what can you do. When an armored A.I. comes with a squad of commandos in tow....", she said before seeming to trail off in thought. "But really I am here for Mr. Avenger there."

She pointed toward Seraph. "I am part of his package deal to keep him safe or something. Plus he's my lawyer for my get out of hell free card." She nodded in a matter of fact sort of way.

Having spoken her bit about Seraph she looked to the woman beside her, Naivara. "I am surprised myself. The first pair they sent to retrieve me didn't do such a good job. But how are you? You haven't called lately. Or perhaps you and your magic stick have grown beyond that need for the time being. Hmm?" She teased the woman playfully, but was happy to see her.

 

[Aero Blue]

Yari was not foolish enough to believe his words would go over well with the crowd. They were heroes, after all. Courtesy was likely one of the lowest virtues they exhibited. It was not his intention to goad or dismay, although that it occurred didn't bother him either. It was something Joey Yabari sometimes did; say something unseemly to get a reaction. A lifetime of swordplay and servitude to a sword was something that invited tedium, and tedium begged for relief. In a way, this was a hobby for him.

"Personally, I think the smell of smoke is under-appreciated. As for you, ma'am." Yari inclined his head to address the short-haired lady, "I look forward to seeing your powers in action, subduing the dreaded second-hand smoke."

Joey had addressed the two lady's disapproval with snark, yet he had nothing against them. Truthfully, if they had voluntarily decided to join this cause, he had nothing but respect (however inwardly displayed) towards the two. This was just amusement. The foul-mouthed man - who held himself like a merc, all things considered - was a different story. Yari instantly took an instant dislike to the way he referred to the task at hand, and his general demeanour.

"You don't like the tie? I'm inclined to agree, honestly. I picked it out as part of my outfit about a decade or so ago. As it happened, changing it never occurred to me."

While his stance towards Joan was laid-back, he assumed a more direct, confrontational posture with Redoc.

"I've never known 21st century Americans to do conscription. Are you less Avengers and more Suicide Squad then?"

Yabari had been informed that there were some undesirable elements in play here - best to get all the shitpieces out in the open.

 

[Gands]

Nessa Murtaugh. Shamrock

Nessa watched the others for a while. Most would do well enough she thought. She was now certain that the brunette she had spotted earlier was very supernatural in origin, likely why the woman felt so possessive about her friend. .

She looked to Yari.

" Sir, you throw such verbal tests about. Clearly, most of this team won't be very experienced with working like a team. Others have made it obvious that they are sociopaths. Perhaps, it might be wise to be more subtle when you goad for responses?"

Nessa looked relaxed as she spoke.

 

[CursedDawn]

Cat was enjoying herself for perhaps the first time in several months. Why? She had successfully evaded her "chaperones". Earlier that day she had been dragged out on a mission. A simple enough job to deal with a robbery in progress by a new wanna be villain, a cocky kid with super strength. Though she had relatively little experience dealing with other metas, she was more than capable of taking down someone who barely grasped their own powers. Or at least that was the idea behind her mission. Turns out that the new villain came a little more prepared than expected. He was tough enough to deal with the police himself and armed enough to give pause to anyone else. He couldn't be prepared for everything however, and when he made the mistake of tossing a flash bang, White Noise dealt two blows in one. She amplified the bang into a concussive burst rather than a distraction, disarming and knocking out the villain and dealing with the THUNDER agents accompanying her.

Cat took the chance and fled before the agents would recover, knowing her powers they were reasonably prepared and wouldn't be down for more than a minute but for her that was plenty after she ditched her suit outside the bank. She knew her freedom was brief but she planned to make the most of it. Given the less than pleasant countermeasures her "employer" utilized she couldn't do anything extravagant but that still left a world of possibilities, or rather just the one in her case. Over the short time she'd been free Cat had been on a pick-pocketing spree that rivaled her time in high school. Her purse (itself stolen as well) was full of strangers' wallets and other items such as phones, watches, and keys.

A good thief doesn't stick to one place for too long though and playing the part of the obedient ex-villain she returned to THUNDER on her own a short time later, having stowed most of her ill-gotten prizes in a secret spot for her to retrieve later, bringing the rest in her new purse with her. She was laying back on her bed playing a handheld game she'd "borrowed" earlier when an agent, a tall man naturally wearing a dark suit and shades, came in a few minutes later to speak about the incident. He gave a heavy sigh before speaking, Cat was infamous for being difficult to deal with. "Ms. Holmes, care to explain your escape attempt today?" He asked plainly. Cat rolled her eyes, not even bothering to look up from the game. His question began to repeat itself around the room, growing increasingly high pitched with each repetition until it was little more than a grating high pitched whine.

"I was bored." Cat replied bluntly. "You people never let me do anything fun, even these missions you dump on me are boring. I mean really, what idiot tosses a flash bang at the chick who controls sound?"

He sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And where did you get that game? Or that purse?" He asks, knowing he has to.

Cat gave a dramatic gasp, "Oh no! The known thief has things she shouldn't? Where could they possibly have come from?" She said with her typical brand of excessive sarcasm. "Take a wild guess where I got em genius." She knew of course they'd be confiscated, that's exactly why she kept a few things with her rather than hiding them all. Cat escaping then coming back on her own empty handed would be too suspicious.

"You know we'll-" He started, but couldn't continue with his voice sounding like a 4 year old girl's. Seeing Cat giggle to herself he forced himself to continue anyway. "We'll have to take those, but that will have to wait at the moment. Can you please let me speak normally now? This is important Ms. Holmes." He finished, but when Cat gave no indication of letting up he continued. "If you go along with what I'm trying to tell you we might be inclined to release you."

That got her attention. She tossed the game onto the bed without even bothering to turn it off and sat up, "Go on, I'm listening."

He handed her a folder, no labels save the THUNDER logo on its front. "Your new assignment, you're going to be part of a new team, complete your missions properly and stay out of trouble and we'll be more than happy to... close out your sentence." He finished, having to stop himself from saying "finally be rid of you."

Cat cracked a wide mischievous grin. "Trouble? Me? Oh I'll be a perfect angel." She said with a barely contained laugh.

Hours later she was boarding the flying fortress of the Helicarrier, and already planning how to greet her new teammates.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Rekt]

CARSON TEMPLE | ATLAS​

Carson had a PhD, he was legitimately a doctor, and yet there he was holding down CTRL+ALT+DEL and not knowing why the fucking computer wouldn't restart. He leaned in real close to his monitor and whispered, "I will throw you off the roof. This building is fifty-two stories high. You will die a quick and painful death."
"Sir," a voice chimed up. It was Miss Roth, his assistant. Honestly, the entire company would have imploded in on itself had it not been for her diligence.
Carson looked up, unaware she'd been standing there. "How much of that did you hear?"
She gave a deadpan look. "I promise I won't inform the computer police." There was no emotion in her voice.
"Are there really computer police?"
"No, Sir. I was joking."
"Miss Roth, you have a very good poker face. I would probably believe anything out of your mouth." Carson leaned back. "So, what's up?"
She looked behind her. Shadowing Carson's doorway were two of the obvious government type. Immediately, he straightened, stood up, and ran a couple of hands through his hair. "Thank you, Miss Roth."

His assistant turned on her heel and walked out, sliding between the two suited individuals. One was a man, older but very sharp around the edges, and the other was a younger woman that lacked his sharpness, but in all the right ways. They approached Carson in unison, something that only compounded how freaky this situation was.
"Nice view, Mister Temple," the woman said.
"Very nice," the man agreed.
He looked behind him. It was just the city. Sure, Temple Technologies was one of the largest buildings in said city, and it did lord over the metropolis like a judgemental father. Yet, Carson was used to that view, just like he was used to the modern furniture, the very real phicus in his corner, and the imported wooden paneling that lined the wall. Everything smelled like linens, even on the grossest of days.
"Yeah, wonderful. So, why're you here?" Carson hesitated. It could be any number things. He'd run his business as honestly as possible, but there always the small things that toppled down giants. Hah. Giant. Ah. No, the government agents wouldn't get that.
"You know why," the woman said.
"Do we have to tell you?" the man asked, afterward.
"Yes?" Carson paused. "No, wait, I'm smarter than this. I've committed some kind of fraud?"
They shook their heads.
"My father committed some kind of fraud?" They didn't need to know that Carson was secretly waging a war against his old man using his technology to create WMDs.
Another shake.
Carson listed off a few other things, and they flaccidly shook their heads at each one.
"Then, you have to be surprise strippers. That makes sense. So, which one of you is going to pull out a boom box?"
They took a step back, in creepy unison, and shook their heads. "No, Mister Temple, we're here because you're the hero Atlas, and we've come to recruit you into THUNDER."

○ ○ ○​

Carson argued with the THUNDER agents. He explained that he couldn't just up and leave his company. That he wasn't a hero. And that he had no intentions of sharing that with others. Yet, the agents were very persuasive, and by that, he meant that they threatened him and his livelihood. He buckled. On the plus side, though, they did promise for an open investigation regarding his father. It was the small things. Hah. Small. Again, no one would get that joke.

So, Carson was initiated into a super secret organization. He didn't really know what to expect. That became especially true when he was teleported into a helicarrier and immediately started vomiting. Apparently, the technology for the teleporter and the technology that rearranged Carson's molecules like a child in a bowl of spaghetti, didn't mix. He'd spent a while painting the bathroom, exorcist style.

"Mister Temple," said one the agents, the one that rushed him to this bathroom. "We're sorry, once again. We knew the process would cause a little bit of nauseousness, but nothing to this degree."

"Yeah, why even teleport me?" He splashed his face with water and swished some in his mouth. "This entire thing feels unnecessary."

"But, Mister Temple, this all very necessary. We are--"

"Please tell me more about how the government's flying dick is necessary." Fortunately, he always carried mints on him. Also, fortunately, the teleporter hadn't swapped them out with one of his kidneys. Sure, he felt hypocritical getting upset about them using beta-level tech on people, but he'd just had a nightmarish reminder of all the food he'd eaten in the past day. Still, he was very curious as to when he ate corn.

He popped a mint into his mouth, gagged, but suffered through it. Checking himself one more time in the mirror, he flicked a piece of hair from his face and made his way out of the bathroom.

The agent had a mixture of remorse and disapproval on her face. "Come this way, everyone is waiting." Right, there had been an everyone. Carson looked pale and sickly, but he held himself up tall. He even adjusted his tie. Honestly, he didn't know what to wear to this thing, and so he went business casual--which was his only form of casual. He had his suit on underneath it. They didn't recruit him for his genius level intellect. Though, they probably should have considering what the teleporter just did to him. Carson'd then stuck his mask in his jacket pocket along with his gloves. And his shoes? Well, those were the white boots he usually wore in his Atlas attire. They just happened to look normal when hidden mostly by well-tailored slacks.

Carson was shown into a room with others. He immediately smelled smoke and his stomach flopped. Oh for fucks sake, he thought. He'd address that in a moment. First, he did a quick rundown of who was in the room. Let's see:
- Over-Excited Teenager
- Cyborg Samurai Edge Lord
- Developmentally Stunted Man Eating Sandwich
- Hot and (Obviously) Dangerous Woman
- A Winona Ryder Stand In
- Lady, Nothing Outstanding About Her
- Also, Another Teenager
- A Commercial for Irish Spring
- And Captain Badass of Badasstown, Complete With Edgy Back Story and Guns

He cleared his throat. "I'm Carson Temple, CEO of Temple Technologies. There. Introduction made." It was then that he turned around to the Cyborg Samurai Edge Lord. "Now, if you could avoid blowing smoke into my face, I can avoid vomiting on you. That isn't a threat, just a forewarning. You look like your name could possibly be Douchebag McStabbins. I would hate for you, Mister McStabbins, to have to explain to the government types why you kebab'd one of their assets."

Carson then took a seat at a table. He immediately placed his head on the flat surface. "This was his life now.

 

[Winter]

~"Whether or not you believe me to be evil is your concern. I am a necessity"~​

"Introductions? how very quaint"

The words would pierce the room like a cold surgical needle as a thick black smog began to filter into the room from the surrounding ventilation. It swept across the floor like an exhaled breath before manifesting itself into the one which called itself Sin. "So these are the would-be 'super heroes' answering the call of the... weak" she lingered on the last word purposely as her eyes surveyed each of the individuals in the room, her expression showing a modicum of interest as she moved casually through them "... How sickeningly adorable".

Eventually she came to a stop at the far side of the room, folding her arms as she rested her back against the wall, opting to stand instead of sit. It would probably come as some surprise as to why she was here, after all she was known to be a villain and a dangerous killer at that. Some of them had probably crossed paths with her once or twice in the past, but then conflict came so often to her that it was hard to remember just whom it was who she'd battled against in the past. Not that it mattered, after all there was a reason she was here.

Her eyes once again moved between the faces in the room, almost as if she were studying them individually. "Not to worry, I'm not here to kill any of you just yet. I have a degree of interest in this 'party' of yours" she said, flexing her fingers which caused the black metal that coated them to expand with the movement as she observed the spiked tips, almost as if she were becoming quickly bored, waiting for something to happen. Unlike some of the others she wasn't an agent, which perhaps begged the question of what she was doing here.

She was contacted specifically on the chance she might have interest in their cause, which seemed to have paid off. The circumstances of her being here today were made on strict terms. She'd be filled in on the current situation and she'd be offered inclusion on the planned solution, in return she would refrain from killing anyone or causing problems while on board the Hellicarrier, and anyone vital to the upcoming plan. She found these terms to be agreeable, especially since the balance had been critically upset and it was in her interest to see that it was restored, even if it'd mean going back to how it was before.

 

[Cerulean]

When some poofy haired model spoke to him, he responded with a silly thumbs up. With all the har har sarcasm in the room, he decided to be a bit more light-hearted. He thought he heard the word linebacker behind him. He didn't know where it came from, but he wanted to correct whomever it was. Excuse you. I am a lineman. Check your facts. But meh, she probably didn't give a damn one way or another, much like the rest of the group. Bunch of real sassy pants.

The next guy that spoke...could not be more gaudy if he bedazzled his nipples. Even if he didn't want to be here, he certainly tried to strut with his words and the "2kool4skool" mannerisms like a puffed up peacock. AND he had the nerve to try and sass somebody for a certain look? The dude looks like he is one sleeveless shirt away from being on COPS for beating his girlfriend after he shove methamphetamines up his pearly white ass.

Adam would probably stay away from him, unless there was more to him that a blazing gun and pot shots of lines.

Why is nearly everyone trying to out sarcasm/out badass each other within the first few minutes of meeting? Don't they know the best lines are ALWAYS after kicking somebody's ass?

Fucking noobs.

Still, all of these things flying back and forth were telling more of themselves than anything they thought of other people. This included himself, which is why he kept it inside. Not to mention, he really didn't plan on throwing out his name with people who would seem like they would just use it to try and berate him. Secret names would stay secret with him, for now.

When rich ceo yuppie came in, he could almost feel his quick, judging gaze. How many assholes can you fit in one room? At least 5, apparently. This also included himself. He was listening and not talking, but he certainly was an sassy asshole too.

Then the only thing worse than a sarcastic piss hole...a loner. Oh good, she isn't here to kill us, whomever she was. Likely a villain, but not one that he had ever come across. And probably one that warrants an even wider birth than the one in need of a shower and detox. Mostly everyone else seemed okay enough, but his mental gears were turning.

Deciding to sit, Wrecker picked a spot somewhat near the one person who had a somewhat kind word to say to him. At least so they could talk if either felt like it.

"Lovely group."

 

[CursedDawn]

Cat was doing as she'd been told so far, sitting quietly not causing trouble. However given the attitudes of present company, she was finding that more and more difficult by the second. She had been sitting quietly in the corner, her only notable action thus far being pulling back her mask as she didn't consider there to be any need of it here. She held her tongue this far but after several so called introductions she just couldn't bottle up her sarcasm anymore. She chose her first target easily, after all he practically painted a bulls-eye on his own back with that self absorbed entrance. "I'm Carson Temple, I'm gonna act like an ass after 5 seconds in front of a room full of super powered weirdos because I think they care how important I am. We're all in the same boat here mister important, we're gonna see who you are and what you do whether you like it or not so you can quit acting like we work for you huh?"

Then she turned her attention to Delilah, who had been the most ridiculous yet. "And you little miss edgy, not to worry, I won't kill you, because the entire room is full of super powered people who would collectively beat my ass for starting something I couldn't finish. You can stop acting like a b-list comic villain now you nailed it the first time." She rattled off with another voice mimic. Finishing her sarcastic rant (for the moment) she let out a long slow breath. "Well I feel better now. I'm Cat by the way. Anyone fee like getting a bite to eat now? That guy's buying." She said, pointing to an agent near the door while holding up a wallet.

 

[Gands]

Nessa Murtaugh - Shamrock

Nessa noticed her friend had little to say after his exclamation, so she decided to mingle a bit, leaving him to deal with the fem fatale who seemed so possessive of him. She walked by the short haired woman, giving her a nod and a small smile. " Nessa, nice to meet you. "

Next she passed the large fellow with the sandwich and the tie. " My name is Nessa, code name Shamrock. Hopefully it will be nice working with you."

Next up, mister Carson Temple. She walked over to where he was sitting, his face on the table looking a little green. " I can offer you something to help your stomach if you'd like. Standard first aid kit stuff I'm afraid. May I say how nice it is to meet you. Looks like you managed to get project Atlas up and running. Congratulations. I told my mother to keep her money on you after reading your first report on project Atlas to the board of directors. It seems apparent you've figured it out, that's good. Some of us may not look like much, I for one haven't been allowed out much prior to this. Anyway, hopefully you'll feel better soon.

@Cerulean @Tyrannosaurus Rekt @Joan

 

[Joan]

[fieldbox=Joan Riley Ardent AKA Allegra, #447733, solid, 0, georgia]

@Shizuochan @CursedDawn @Gands

Joan's gaze switched to the next speaker, though she kept one eye on the smoke, which seemed to be keeping its distance for now. She smiled slightly at the wild-eyed man's first joke, but the rest of what came out of his mouth quickly erased her smile. Why am I even the least bit surprised? Of course he's a villain, or at least he doesn't give a crap who lives or dies. Lovely.

The next speaker was an attractive woman with earbuds in, and Joan raised her eyebrows slightly at the words the woman spoke. So, a former villain type, since they had to send a robot to get her and that kid is supposedly helping her "get out of hell free"... The woman then turned away from Ray and began talking with another woman dressed in brown in a friendly manner, and Joan took note of that too. Of course people know each other here. That's what you do in the superpowered world, isn't it? You make friends and alliances. Except not in a few cases, like mine.

Next up was Yari. Despite the fact that he didn't answer her question and instead responded with sarcasm, the general feel she got from his surface thoughts was friendly. So, she responded in kind, once he had finished speaking to Ray.

"And what about your skillset? Does it include being able to breathe freely in all circumstances?" Her tone was light and teasing as she gestured in his direction with one hand. "There's the smoke, of course, but there's also that tie. I won't deny the look is quite nice, but speaking from the perspective of somebody who's been in more combat situations than I would like, that tie is just asking for somebody to grab it. Though, if you have a decade of experience fighting with it around your neck, I'm sure you have a way to defend yourself if somebody does grab it." As she gestured toward the tie, diverting attention with one hand, she subtly used her abilities to change the direction the smoke was moving, causing it to turn and start moving back toward the man it had come from in the first place. If anybody was watching the edges of the smoke closely, they would see a faint tinge of dark green around the edges. However, they would have to be looking pretty closely, and she figured the exaggerated gesture with one hand would divert the attention of most of them. Of course she would have to share what she could do with them later, but for now, she preferred to remain mostly ambiguous.

Another man walked in, and she raised her eyebrows at his outfit. Some kind of business casual, but why? Then he announced his name and title, and she understood. As the man began speaking crossly to the smoker, and she noticed how pale and unhealthy he looked. His mind had emotions of exhaustion and disgust running through it, too. She was trying to figure out what could have caused him to look and feel so unhealthy when their next arrival showed up.

An obvious villain, and one she recognized. Joan had to keep her hand from going to the gun holstered at her back, and she slid up the wall slightly into a half seated, half standing position. She watched the woman known only as Sin warily while the villain introduced herself.

Degree of interest in...what exactly is that supposed to mean...? Y'know, I've never been sure what her motives are, really. Just heard about her and gotten caught in the middle of one of her attacks once. That was a pain to get out of alive.

She waited a few more moments until the room seemed to relax slightly before relaxing and sliding back down into a sitting position. Shortly afterward, she heard Carson Temple's voice, and she frowned briefly at the words before hearing another familiar voice following it. Catherine Holmes? Really? I noticed she was here, but...Yeah, I should kind of have expected that she would start messing with voices.

After Cat was done taunting the powerful villain that had just entered--typical, really--she held up the wallet of one of the guards by the door. Okay, this ruins the point of being stealthy with my abilities before, but what the heck.

A dark green mist similar to that generated by the MCU's version of Scarlet Witch formed instantly around the wallet, attempting to pull it out of Cat's hand with a force comparable to a metahuman with standard enhanced athleticism. If she succeeded, the wallet would proceed to float over to the guard before the mist released it and dropped it in the guard's hand. Joan chose to give no indicator that the person who had returned the wallet was her. Cat would recognize it, and if she wanted to point Joan out to everybody, whatever. For now, Joan was more interested in the blond-haired woman dressed like an agent that had just walked up to her.

"Joan," she replied briefly to Nessa's greeting before the woman had passed by and gone on on to another tie-wearing man. She watched the woman curiously, noting the slight differences in her uniform that marked her as somebody different. She was likely trying to blend, and she seemed to be doing pretty well with that. Good for her.[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox=Naivara Adrianna Yvonne AKA Nyra, #666688, dotted, 0, Book Antigua]

@Esper

"It's good to see you too, Serena," Naivara responded with a half-smile. "Actually, they slowed down over the past few days. I wasn't sure why at first, but when one of these agents showed up in my hotel room, I found out that Thunder or whatever it's called had been keeping the mercenaries back until they could talk to me. So, fun."

An excellent opportunity, if you ask me. The mercenaries were getting pretty persistent.

"The 'magic stick' says that it liked the idea quite a bit." She outwardly ignored the conversation going on around her, though she was really taking note of each person as they came in and/or spoke.

Let's see...Guy named Ray asking for a fight, literally; Yari here is passive-aggressive; a woman in a green Thunder uniform trying to cut in on the conversation, that's not going to go over well; a businessman type who apparently runs a tech company and looks like he's having a rough day; another slightly passive-aggressive type, this one a woman...Quite the crew.

Last but not least was some sort of villainess. Her arrival was the first thing to get a visible reaction from Naivara. Naivara froze as the woman entered the room before dropping down on one knee and putting a hand on her left boot.

Another one, rea--Oh. Onxe she realized that the new arrival was just another member of the team, she slowly stood up again and began examining the woman. She had a supernatural aura about her, one that felt like death, and she shivered slightly. She had never felt anything like death, of course, but the feeling was unmistakable.

"Do you happen to know who she is?" she asked Serena under her breath just before a girl who had been sitting in the corner began imitating voices. She raised her eyebrows and glanced in the girl's direction in time to see her flashing a wallet that was obviously supposed to belong to the guard she was pointing to. She's a kleptomaniac, apparently...Staff?

You forget she can't take me from you. She has no magical ability whatsoever, just her own biological sound manipulation abilities.

Good. She turned her attention away from the thief and back to Serena, raising one eyebrow inquisitively.[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox=Alexander Heron Mitchell AKA Core, #1188ff, dashed, 0, Courier New]

@Cerulean

Alex watched the proceedings with some bemusement. First, there were Ray and Yari. Their bickering was less than friendly as far as he could tell, and it got on his nerves slightly. Though, the woman that cut in wasn't much better. Sure, she was right when she said that taunts would be better saved for later, but calling people sociopaths wasn't going to make her any friends, either. Not that he was saying anything. Nope, that would get the bickering directed at him, and that would be less than productive.

The next arrival took him somewhat by surprise. Of course he recognized Carson Temple. As somebody invested in the tech world, he was slightly required to know who this man was. At first, he wondered what the man was doing here. As far as Alex knew, he had no metahuman abilities, he just ran a prominent tech company and had released a failed project. Or had been a size-changing suit labeled the Atlas project.

Wait a moment...He probably perfected it, didn't he? One way to find out... He was about to make his way over to where Carson was resting his head on the table when somebody else made her entrance.

Alex recognized this woman as well, though only from the news. She was called Sin, if he remembered correctly, and all that was known about her was that she was interested in killing people, metahumans especially. Thankfully, she seemed uninterested in the group for the moment, and Alex dropped his hand away from the strap of his bag. He hadn't even realized he had grabbed the strap until he let go of it.

"Lovely group." Alex turned his head to see that the large tie-wearing man from before who had been joking around had now settled down next to him. He nodded and sighed.

"Yeah," he murmured to himself as he watched one girl messing around with some kind of sound manipulation abilities and the blond-haired woman who had used the word "sociopaths" earlier making her way through the crowd until she offered assistance to Carson Temple. "Y'know, I wouldn't call this Avengers or even Suicide Squad at this rate. More...Guardians of the Galaxy, maybe."[/fieldbox]

 

[Winter]

~"Humans... fundamentally flawed and generally poor tact in most situations. Although, they did invent tea..."~​

The dark woman didn't appear to be phased by the initial reactions, merely allowing her gaze to observe them for a moment before she'd either lose interest or something else would steal her attention. Even so there was one among them who spoke to her directly, causing a condescending smile to stretch across her features as the one called Cat spoke her mind. 'Ahh, the bravado of the so called hero shows itself once more' she thought to herself, pushing herself from the wall gently once her speech had come to a close.

"Listen kitten, while I so surely would love to test such a challenge I have an interest in something far greater. But I wouldn't expect a mouthy ham radio to understand" her tone was dripping in condescension and sarcasm, edged with slight amusement as she spoke. She covered her mouth with an armored hand as if feigning shock that she revealed something important, before she once again slipped back into her condescending tone, "Oops was that out loud? oh of course it was, you see kitten I do my homework, which already tells me more than I need to know about your liability to the cause of this gathering. Not to worry though, I'm sure you can steal enough wallets to make yourself some what useful".

She regarded the thief one last time before her attention once again returned to observing some of the others, making mental notes about each individual. Eventually she decided to seat herself, picking a chair and pulling it out before settling on it casually. "Oh, the name is Sin by the way. Use it, don't use it ...I don't care" she said out loud towards the group before clicking her armored fingers together, causing a black mark to appear on the table. It began to grow, slowly, taking shape as the dark collected to manifest itself into what appeared to be some kind of tea pot accompanied with a small teacup on a saucer. Both of the conjured items appeared to be made from dark, although embellished with elegant designs and symbols.

Delilah gripped the tea pot handle with an audible 'clink' before pouring what appeared to be some kind of hot liquid into the teacup. Close observation would reveal that it was actually regular normal green tea, perhaps an odd choice for someone who expressed themselves the way she did, but hey, even villains had small pleasures where they could find them. The dark woman raised the teacup to her lap and exhaled, as if it were actually bringing her some kind of relaxation. She'd allow the steam vapors from the hot water to scent the air around her before eventually taking a sparing sip.

 

[EmperorsChosen]

"What? No! How dare they!" The loud-mouthed mercenary replied sarcastically to the quiet woman in the back, finishing with a scoff just to show how much he didn't care. To be fair, he had spent the last while stuck in a tube, half-naked and shocked damn well whenever the lab nerds at NEOH wanted to.

The second person to reply to his baiting was the cyber samurai. He had no right to talk; you dress for the job you want. When you looked at Ray, you thought asshole that was probably handling a gun. When you looked at him, you had to take a moment to process. Still, his remarking on how he was not an Avenger wasn't far off. "No! Of course not! I'm fully devoted to spending my life helping people for no compensation and am purely doing this as volunteer work." He was sure that most of the people on this team actually felt that way themselves, but Redoc just thought that "knight in shining armor" idealism was childish. He didn't mind "doing the right thing", but he needed some kind of payment back. In this case, it was not getting electrocuted from the inside, out.

Then there was a calm girl that spoke in regards to Yari, warning him. Just staring at her for a moment with a somewhat surprised expression, Ray finally opened his mouth to comment. "Wow... That was the most polite way of saying Don't piss off the crazy motherfucker, he'll fucking kill you that I have ever heard. Not even sarcastic."

The next to make his presence know was a rich guy—some CEO shmuck from some company. Seems he had a problem with the samurai smoking, like a few others. Redoc merely rolled his eyes at this one. He didn't seem like a traditional high-society type, but would likely be annoying to deal with either way. However, just as he started to looks bored and keep silent, the next person walked in.

At first, an attractive woman, but it was what came out of her mouth that really livened things up for him. Practically busting up mid-way through her comments, the mercenary seemed very entertained by this woman's down-looking attitude. The laugh continued for a while, really up until the kleptomaniac entered the room, and even a bit after the Goth with an edgy name to match retorted. "Oh, yeah! Let's go see if they got any booze anywhere. I really need a drink to celebrate Sunshine not killing any of us!" Standing up, he was still partially chuckling, but aside from that, there was at least one person in this place that he might like, and it wasn't just because she could pay for his beer with someone else's money.

@Esper @Shizuochan @Gands @CursedDawn @Winter

 

[Rae]

[fieldbox=Marie Vance Carter — "Obsidian", #a6e, dashed, 15, Abel]

Marie Vance Carter, once known as the despaired daughter of infamous villain "Demos" before becoming one herself, sat quietly towards the back, her eyes scanning her new...comrades. As each one made a joke, a threat, a jibe...her own thoughts strayed to how she would kill the most annoying ones. She truly would, if it weren't for the damn nanites in her bloodstream. Her gaze locked on a particular friend of hers: Alexander Mitchell, also known as Core. His expression revealed everything, and a maniacal grin lit her features. Her typical cowl and mask were thrown back for now, leaving her face in plain view. Her fingers itched by her side, the hum of energy from the Dark Dimension a constant ring in her ears.

Heaving a sigh, she glanced at the guards, who had a keen eye on her despite their contingency plan. She smirked, dark energy coming off like smoke from her fingers. They visibly stiffened, and she outright laughed. How pathetic. As insane as she was, she had a fair degree of self-preservation. She would certainly find a way around those damn nanites, but until then she wouldn't cause any trouble. At least, not too much. She turned back to Core, her smirk widening into a devilish smile. "Core, dear, it's been far too long. Did your little crew manage to recover from that little incident?" Her smile was innocent and evil at the same time, the taunt open and clear to anyone who had a brain. Several months before her capture at the hands of her brother, Obsidian had taken the liberty of stealing some quite expensive tech from Alexander's company. The two had fought, and she'd been happily surprised that he'd managed to survive the ordeal. Not many had managed such a feat, meta-human or otherwise.

When she heard Sin introduce herself, the recognition fell into place. She had sensed the energy before--different from her own, but quite similar. It felt like Death incarnate, and she had a feeling she wasn't far off. The idea that such a girl could actually manage to kill her was quite laughable, however. Powerful meta-humans had tried, and they had all failed. Whatever this "Sin" was, she would fail even if she tried. Raising an eyebrow, she turned her gaze back to Core, relishing in his inevitable wave of anger. She wanted to see him squirm.[/fieldbox]