Frank stroked his chin in thought.

"Hmm, so let me ask you a question; do you yourself have to be the focal point of these portals? What I mean is, if you opened one for me at the store, could you put the other end where ever you liked as long as you could picture it, or would it have to lead back to you?"

Toby thought for a moment. "I have to be at one of the ends of it."

"OK, here's what I want you to do; open a portal to the outside of this building, I'll step through and then right back again so your minute limit won't be an issue. Then, put me back in the restaurant where we met, and I'll take it from there. Oh, and give me your number so I can call you."

Toby does as instructed opening the portal and then another to the restaurant after givi bf Frank his number.

Several hours later, Mystic can hear a vehicle outside; a larger one with a strong engine from the sounds of it. It died out, then after some various other noises came a loud thumping and whirring . The next thing the teen was aware of, it was getting darker fast. It only took a look at the windows to see why; someone was covering them! That explained the noise, a generator hooked up to a power sprayer, one filled with black paint.

What the hell? Toby thought as he quickly ran to the back and then portaled his way across the street to the roof of another building so that he could see what was going on.

Outside of the warehouse Toby had just been in was a white extended cargo van, the backdoors currently open. Not so far from it sat a most likely empty gas can next to a portable generator, into which an air compressor was plugged. This in turn was making a power washer operational, by which laid some used paint cans. Even from this distance the teen could make out white hair, a black leather jacket, and a pair of jeans all on the operator; it was Frank Jackson.

This must have been why he wanted to see the outside of the building before he left, so he could find it again later via driving and by himself. Then he must have rented the van, and done some shopping. His current actions, combined with him placing an old piece of metal in the center of the structure earlier, suggested the possibility the old man was setting up a test of some sort. Toby had shown the man what he could do, but perhaps the Greaser wanted to try things under different conditions that he was currently arranging.

Either that, or a mental gear slipped...

Toby decided to portal down next to the man. " Need a hand?"

Frank didn't seem at all surprised.

"Can't use it, only got the one sprayer. But this might take a while, why don't you pop somewhere and grab us some burgers? Also some beer for me, and whatever you like for you. I know you're not legal yet, but just teleport the suds away and leave the money behind; no harm done that way."

Toby followed the instructions except for the beer. He was underage and it would technically be stealing. He brought back some sodas for them to drink with their burgers. "So what are you working on?"

"I need to know you got what it takes to join the GTF, and the only way I can do that is set you up in s simulation Since this old warehpuse is what I have to work with, it'll have to do."

Toby nodded it made sense. "Sounds good. Just a heads up I still do not have full control. Sometimes if my emptions get the best of me i react without thinking."

Frank took a break to enjoy his burger, and grinned at the teen.

"If you're worried about hurting me, don't be; I'm tougher than I look, and that in itself is pretty damned tough if I do say so myself."

Jackson got up while still munching his meal in one hand, and retrieved something from the back of the van. He carried it over to Mystic, and showed the man a very large revolve.

"I'll be using this during your evaluation, and you might well think it's overkill; but if you look closer, you'll see it's nothing more than a CO2 powered pellet gun I bought from Wal-Mart. The worse you'll get from a hit is a welt or maybe  tiny drop of blood if the skin breaks. It might be bad if one hit your eye, but I'm a very good shot plus I got you some goggles to wear.

"My point is, all of this is fake and made up of everyday items. That's what a simulation is after a mock up of something real. The thing is, when we start, you need to forget this is all a up on; for you, this is one hundred percent real, and you need to pull out all the stops. If you hold back during this simulation, I will have no reason not to think you'd pull your punches in a live fire situation.

"I'll be evaluating not only your Gifts and the use of them, but also your creativity, your ability to think on your feet, and other such things. After all a Gift is only a tool, and those who decide to let it use them instead of using it are not worth consideration. I'm here to review you, not your Gift."

Toby nodded. Real Lfe. Dont hold anything back. He could do that. He just hoped he would be able to keep control. It wasn't Frank he was worried about hurting. But bringing attention to them if he tore up the city block or hurt some random person who happened to be nearby.

Frank glanced over to the teen, and seemed to be able to read something in his eyes.

"Look, you have nothing to worry about; I scouted the area on my way back. The only thing out here are abandoned buildings, and any homeless are currently enjoying an all you can eat steak dinner after being driven their by limo and will then be treated to a night's stay at a five star hotel. Yes I'm telling the truth, and if you don't believe me just listen for the sound of my boss yelling when he gets the bill. So all you can hurt here are some old wrecks that need to come down anyway, nothing more. So blow the roof off this thing if you think you need to, there's no orphanage to smash, no bus of tourists to wreck, no baby carriage that's going to accidently drift into danger."

Toby visibly relaxed after Frank's talk. He nodded again but his eyes this time had a look of determination.

It took a while for Frank to finish the windows as the structure was quite large, yet in the end he managed. Next he grabbed some backpacks from the van he'd rented, as well as a bucket that seemed heavy and some tarps still sealed in their wrappers. It was then he turned to the boy.

"Mind giving me a lift to the roof?"

Toby nodded and opened a portal up to the rof to help jackson.

"Jackson, this is Black Magic. The meeting dissolved rapidly into violence, both Meta and Vandal are currently unconscious yet stable. The last member of our group did not fair as well I fear, they barely cling to life despite the best effort of a skilled nurse Meta had on standby it seems. We are inbound for Toronto, once we get there I shall be directing the craft to the best hospital available. There might be possible retaliation for our actions, for which we might well need your help. In the event that does not happen, we still have a special package I believe you should take possession of. Black Magic out."


Frank went silent as the transmission played over his comm piece, then looked over to Mystic.

"Sorry, but our play date will have to wait; my team's coming into town, sounds like they got roughed up. Forget the roof, and open me a portal to the best hospital in town. You can come too if you like, meet the big boss for yourself when he's up for it."

Toby nodded and opened a portal to the side of the best hospital he knew of in the city. He went through went Frank. "What happened?

"A big bad wanted a pow wow with my boss, had some hostages he was willing to give up in trade for a <i>'peaceful'<i/> meeting."

The sarcasm was so heavy on the stressed word, that it seemed Frank's tongue was trying to twist in his mouth from the weight of it.

"He and three others went to the meet, I wanted to be there as well but he surprised me with the announcement I was second in command of the GTF and if he fell he trusted me to carry on in his stead. According to the message I just got, things went south which I admit doesn't surprise me. That they're coming here for help instead of going to the HQ with all it's fancy bits and pieces, that does come across as a bit strange. But if I want more answers, I guess I'll have to wait to ask for them from the sound of things..."

---

Frank stepped through the portal and arrived at the hospital in a matter of seconds, then checked to see if a transport had arrived yet. He didn't think so and his hunch was confirmed, so he waited; a couple of hours later it arrived, and there was a flurry of motion on the roof as the loading ramp lowered and nurse J filled in the medical personnel that rushed forward to take possession of the wounded. Meta and Vandal were found to be stable and moved to beds, a saline drip place in their arms. Black Magic's wound was checked, confirmed to have been treated correctly, and was urged to get some rest which he delayed on doing and instead grabbed a hold of The Commander and vanished in search of Jackson. Bighteyes was moved immediately to an operating room, her outlook a grim one at present...

Black Magic appeared in the waiting area where Frank and Mystic were, giving a smile to his comrade as he motioned to the bound prisoner.

"So sorry you did not get invited to the party my good fellow, yet I did bring you a souvenir."

The performer then turned his masked eyes to Mystic, placed one arm across his waist, and bowed.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Black Magic."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Fri 08 Dec 2017.

Toby waved. "My name is Toby. I go by Mystic."

 "...and I'm Brian Jameson. You can call me Brian or Meta, whichever you are most comfortable with," the man said limping down the hall of the emergency room says, "I was very excited to meet you Mystic."

 The twenty-six year old looked like he'd seen better days, and his normally wavy hair looked fairly dishevelled as if he'd been put through a washing machine. His face was black and blue in a few places including the orbit of his eye socket which looked like it had been a gusher recently as well. He moved gingerly as if he'd been a man twice his age, and in truth his whole body hurt like hell. His broken clavicle told that story. Those Gift-stopper rounds were nothing to ignore in the future, and the effects still left him with a nagging feeling of something missing in his mind and a tingling feeling in his left palm.

 "I only hoped it would be back at our base in Seattle. However, circumstances have forced us to delay a homecoming at this juncture," he sighed wearily and put his sleek sunglasses on, "anyways, I eagerly await a report from our point man. How have things been going here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:28, Fri 12 Jan 2018.

The big man shrugged in response to the question.

"Been quiet here Boss, so much so in fact it looks like most of those you sent me here to scout pulled up stakes and left town probably hoping for some excitement. The kid here's all I could find, no trace of anyone else."

Frank looked between his two teammates, then his eyebrws rose slightly in realization;

"Where's Vandal?"

 Brian touched his sunglasses to push them up his nose. "Frank, come take a walk with me. I'll take you to her, she took a pretty good hit, but she'll be alright. She saved our bacon out there, you know, like she does."

****

 Moments after making the introductions Toby was left with the inevitable Black Magic. Suddenly Toby's cellphone began to ring...