It had been a week since Laredo incident, William went to his office early he turned on the coffee maker and got himself a cup ready, once set he took a large breath and inhaled the scent of his cup, Sat down running his fingers thought his hair and letting out a breath. It was hard to say the mission was a failure but it wasn’t the success he was hoping for. They accomplished saving Laredo. But the costs was high. He filled out his briefing report for his records adding some notes along the way.

William didn’t really want to let Harbinger go free, He would of preferred she stayed but there was no way SHIELD would of let her stay with them after the warehouse. He did not pass on the information to the rest of the team about the killings, That’s something he would need to deal with morally and emotionally. William wasn’t perfect but neither was this world.

William was in part hoping the mission could of brought the team a little closer, It sort of did but at a great cost, at this point he was down member and he had to recruit more and rethink the strategy.

Barbarian was out with broken hands and arms and told William that he was not ready for anything like this.

Two also mentioned that she wanted to return to SHIELD and not be part of the group. She did not want anything to do with Drama on and off the field. Preferring what she was doing for SHIELD.

White Witch seemed to have gone with Doctor Strange, But that in its self was probably a better thing for her.

Doc Volunteered to be the research and development for task Force but no more field work.
Darkstar looked like he could potentially make for a leader but his people skills needed work. He was brash, abrasive and impulsive.

William’s thoughts were disrupted when his video phone rang. He looked to see it was Maria calling. He click the accept button to chat wondering how this conversation was gonna go.
They discussed for a couple hours about the first mission and it wasn’t long before they ended up with a heated discussion on his choices of members their actions and of course how Harbinger managed to escape them.  William offered what information he had about the mission and he eventually put an end to the discussion reminding Maria SHIELD had no say as per their agreement, winning the argument Williams discussed some options with Maria about some of the files he had on other potential members. It took a lot of coxing and convincing but eventually Maria reluctantly agreed to use some of her resources to reach out to them for him.

Williams also had Jocasta run some scans and diagnostics to make sure to quell some of the suspicion that SHIELD was keeping tabs on the team, and that the only info they were getting was what Williams was giving. Jocasta’s system ran for some time but the scans and diagnostics came up clean. No bugs, no leaks in information or odd system bypasses, System wise it seemed SHIELD was keeping up their end in letting TASK FORCE run its own operation.
Doc Oct had spent pretty much the whole time locked in the lab, William requested all of Doc Oct’s old projects be transferred, and Shield did so.

The team had seen a very large an heavy crate enter the labs but Doc made sure to keep everyone away for now. He was vague with everyone except to say “This special project was almost ready.”

This week the new recruits were coming in and William had limited the choices he would make barring some of the members backgrounds, Along with that Maria had offered up a couple that SHIELD had on file also.

"There's stuff I need you to get for me," Kevin told Naslund without preamble as he teleported into the man's office.

"According to White Witch, magic is a skill.  A teachable, learnable skill.  So I need to learn it.  From books or whatever.  Or at least learn enough of it so the next time D'spayre, Belial or one of their helper monkeys comes to get us we're ready for it.  At least readier for it," Kevin continued, his voice and tone calm and even from being forced that way.

"Doc is doing his science thing.  Spidey is helping 'rager navigate a modern city.  You're getting us new team members.  I'm the one who pulls power from another dimension.  I'm also the one who's literally been to fucking Hell and back.  So that'll be my thing," Kevin concluded.  "D'spayre, AKA Belial said this wasn't over and he will be back and he will be better prepared the next time.  And we've also managed to piss of Mephisto by lucking out getting Ghost Rider and Dr. Strange away from him.  So we need to get our shit together for when the hammers come down."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:03, Thu 01 Nov 2018.

William jumped at the sudden appearance of Kevin.
Boundaries Kevin!
He tells him not pleased with the interruption.
He smiles at the young man before him.
i can lok for some books, you can also google. i'll be honest besides making my socks dissapear in the dryer my knowledge of magic is next to nothing. I know she said it was a skill, but that would be something along the lines of many years of study from what i am told. along with having a teacher.

William studied the young man a little.
about that... did Mephisto say anything? How are you feeling?  William asked with some concern.
They had talked briefly about it but didn't really have a change to go into full details.

"I doubt we'll have years," Kevin replied.  "But maybe you can contact that Dr. Strange guy.  Figure he owes us one for helping him spring himself.  Look I don't need to be Gandalf or Harry Fucking Potter.  I just need a decent grasp on how to spot and deal with this shit.  Especially demonic shit."

At the mention of Mephisto Kevin felt the blood drain from his face as the memory of their encounter screamed its way to the front.  "Yeah, I remember.  My nightmares have gotten a lot more interesting as a result, but I remember.  First he gloated about catching Ghost Rider as he put me in the torture chains.  I tried to put him on Belial's trail, but then he told me that D'spayre and Belial were the same being and were working for him.  He also showed Harbinger butchering her way through some kind of weird dark tower.  And then he started to rip out my fucking soul.  At that point Ghost Rider woke up, broke himself and me free.  I grabbed a piece of the chains that had held because I figured maybe that could hurt D'spayre since nothing else seemed to work too well.  And I was right.  I flew out of Hell, bitch-slapped him with the chain and he took off."

"So, yeah, Hell is real, Mephisto, the fucking Devil, is real.  And he's pissed.  At me," Kevin concluded.  "So in answer to your second question, I'm feeling pretty well freaked the fuck out, is how I'm feeling."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Fri 02 Nov 2018.

Ok, I’ll see if I can contact Doc Strange, Although If Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider both made it out. I imagine Mephisto will have more on his mind then just you for  quite some time. He told Kevin.

I will have Jocasta see if she can have some sort of sensor adjustment done to sense any disruptions from any and all normal energy reading in and around the base, So we can have an early warning should something seem off.

"Figure that'd be something else to ask Strange about, though figure he's coming at this from the opposite angle, magic instead of tech," Kevin noted.  "I mean, that was one of the things I wanted to learn.  You know.  Whether all that Ghost Hunters, Haunted America stuff about cold spots and EMF meters was worth a shit when it comes to this stuff.  I will state that we had all the various tech you gave us for the mission and the first sign we had of D'spayre was when he popped up right in front of us to ruin our fucking day.  No cold spots, static squeals, nothing.  He was just there and started fucking with our heads."

"As for Mephisto, he's the Devil, the Lord of all Evil and the Emperor of Hell.  Figure he can multi-task and delegate," Kevin replied.  "Given that, I'm, that we're, the reason Doc Strange and Ghost Rider got loose, figure he has, as Queen might put it, made sure that Be-el-zabub has some devils put aside for us.  Especially me."

"One last thing, and this is important," Kevin told him, making sure to catch and hold his gaze.  "I haven't told the others about what Harbinger did.  I'm sticking to your story and backing you up.  But the new people you're bringing in?  I want to be part of the vetting process because honest-to-God, William, I don't think I can trust just you and the hot computer program that answers only to you."

"Not counting Jocasta and yourself, of the nine folks you brought onto this team, five are gone now.  Two's back with SHIELD, Goblin's off being Goblin, White Witch is with her, I dunno, coven or whatever.  Barbarian is looking at six months to a year of painful physical therapy and recovery and Harbinger, the insane serial killer, basically escaped, presumably to torture and murder some more," Kevin pointed out.  "That's a shitty track record.  Of who's left, Doc is... Doc.  Bloodrager isn't exactly stable.  And Spider-man?  Spider-man seems like a pretty decent kid who really wants to do some good.  But he has, as my old boss might put it, insufficient experience with depravity.  If the mission gets morally murky enough, I could see him turning on us or just cutting out."

"But I'm here.  And I've already pretty well proven that I'll literally go to Hell and back for this bunch," Kevin confessed.  "I admit, I didn't expect it, but here we are.  And let's face it, I'm pretty much the closest thing you have to another spy/agent/professional around here for the moment.  Hell, forget Belial.  I did a decent amount of work for Martin Fucking Devereaux.  And I'm still alive, out of jail and pretty much sane."

[Private to GM: OOC: Just to be clear, I as a player am not claiming the right of vetting.  Basically, Kevin will go along with whoever you as the GM pick to enter the game.

William would likely know the name, "Martin Deveraux" as a British spymaster gone independent who did a lot of shady business with a lot of shadier people.  He was never quite "wanted" but anyone who trafficked in secrets, armaments, mercenaries, etc. would know of him.  He's been "missing and presumed dead" since the hurricane (Belial) in Miami. ]
This message was last edited by the player at 02:49, Sat 03 Nov 2018.

"We're back!" Spider-Man says, arriving after spending most of the day out and about in New York. He also happened to be holding a newspaper with the headline, "SPIDER-MAN RETURNS TO NEW YORK AFTER SUDDEN ABSENCE, HE HASN'T THROWN IN THE TOWEL YET"
"I'll tell you, it's not easy making sure that Bloodrager remembers some of the streetnames and landmarks here, and it looks like the people here missed seeing me around while I was in Texas. Can't say the crooks are happy about me being back though. If you see anything about a failed arms deal on the news, let's just say I had something to do with that."

Sword of Cup strode in following Spiderman. Bloodrager was wearing fairly normal street clothes rather than his barbaric fur costume, the only magic item visible with him was the ever-present ring. Which was pretty dim at the moment. On the other hand, he had picked up a backpack someplace, which seemed fairly full of souvenirs of the trip. Fortunately, Spiderman had talked him out of bringing back a dead squirrel that he'd initially wanted for supper.

Jocasta appear as you finished your intro.Welcome back Spiderman and Bloodrager. I qm glad yiu sewm to have a successful return to New York. William is in a meeting with Kevin he should be available soon. Also he mentioned that much later we were gonna have some guests. New potential members. Otto is still locked away in his lab.  Is there anything i can get you in the meantime

William took on what Kevin was saying.Jocasta does not only answer to me. She is available for everyone and will do whatever she can to help out all members. And you are correct. I dropped the ball on the mission. I was held up longer than i should be and yes we paid a heavy price. I'm just happy no one Died. He said handing Kevin the files on the new recruits.
These are the new members i want to bring in. the files contained basic skill and their powers.
With what happened on the last mission. I was thinking of having you as Feild leader. But if we do that you have to tone down the way you talk to people. You'll need to remember at all times there is a difference between a Bossing people and a leading People. You have great Potential and i'd like to use it. Once i am done with briefing the new people. I'll have you come down also. As you know the speach is a little intimidating.
He gave Kevin a smile. We can work on training and getting them comfortable with thier abilities and confidence and we can decide if and when they are ready for the field.

"I've gone against Belial, been to Hell and back and spent at several years running errands for Martin Devereaux," Kevin replied.  "Your speech's ability to intimidate me is limited at best compared to that shit."

Kevin spent a bit of time looking though the files and finally looked back up.  "Damn if we don't have some serious fuckin' daddy issues with this bunch," he commented.  "But that could work for us.  Figure Rainbow Brite and the Deadly Dustbuster here will respond to your surrogate father thing better than Harbinger.  Figure a rabid wolverine would respond better than her, but it works for us."

"I'll stop busting your balls after this one last thing," Kevin told Naslund.  "I didn't hate Harbinger.  I saw her, all of her, like we all did.  I could guess at some of the sick, sad shit she had in her life.  The problem with Harbinger wasn't the killing or even the torturing.  The problems was that somewhere along the she let it become her drug, her junk.  So when you were dealing with Harbinger, you weren't dealing with two beings, you were dealing with three.  There was Evelyn, her symbiote roomie and the King Kong sized monkey on both their backs that was the one really calling the shots.  The most important thing, always, to any junkie is getting their junk.  And they'll be the most ruthless, deceitful, manipulative guilt-tripping motherfuckers in the world.  I oughta send Director Hill a memo suggesting that all new SHIELD agents need to spend a good six months or so dealing hard drugs.  They'll come out of it depressed but pretty well immune to fast-talk and sob stories."

"And all of that is kind of relevant because Rainbow Brite, excuse me, respect, Aurora, has a junkie brother," Kevin said, looking closer at the file.  "Let's see if we can get into this identity theft and this Sovereign 6 shit.  What the fuck kind of identity theft gets you to volunteer to be a lab rat?  I'd like to find out about this other survivor, too."

He picked up another folder.  "This kind of proves that Director is probably smarter than you.  I'll bet your still wondering why the fuck she sent us a Nighty Knife."

Kevin paused, then explained.  "It's a term Devereaux used.  Basically Nighty Knives were pretty, harmless-looking girls the Ruskies and Chinese liked to use that would seduce or just fool some target into thinking with the little head instead of the brain, get 'em to take them home.  They'd get into their cute little nightgowns, get the target all worked up and then out comes the knife, and..."

Kevin drew his finger across his own throat in an exaggerated ear-to-ear motion.

"But I've got an idea about her.  We'll need to deal with Daddy Deathest at some point.  I'd like a few more details on how Mom died.  Could be useful," Kevin said, moving to the third folder.

"This one, Darwin, I'd just like a little more detail," Kevin said.  "She's got serious potential for a bunch of roles on the team, but I want to get a little better handle on her in terms of what she's been doing.  Who her family and friends are.  Shit like that.  We're getting a second chance to build this crew right.  I don't want us to fuck it up."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Sat 17 Nov 2018.

In reply to Jocasta (msg # 9):

The"No nothing, but thanks for the welcome," Spider-Man said as he shook his head in response. "Actually, I'd like to go back out and patrol the city for a bit. I figure that if Will needs me that he'd just call me up." Even though he was with the new geoup, he never did forget about his first priority, which was protecting the citizens of New York.

William listened to Kevin, He admired his gusto an ambition.

William did Like some of his ideas and his train of thought, But his arrogance was somewhat on the limit. As he suggested what to do with each of the potential new members William took some notes. Once Kevin was done William stood from his desk.

Thanks for your input Kevin, Besides what we have on the files here, We will get to know each one of their stories in time. To start this will be an initial meet an greet, once we know who is on board and who is not, we'll allow them some time to settle in I'll take care of any side and get them to train first and foremost.

As we move along we can then see where each of their assets will be best suited. Unlike our last mission they are not going to be sent out into the field until I know they are ready. For now I have have you Spiderman, Bloodrager and even if he won't like it Doc. Should something major come up.

He gather his laptop. Most should be arriving soon, See if you can find Spiderman and Bloodrager, they should be back soon, Have them get ready for the meet and greet. Unless you have anything else?
he asked Kevin.



Spiderman / Bloodrager

Jocasta Looked at Spidey.

William should be ready for you soon actually, Our guests will arrive shortly and once he is done he will have you come to meet with them when he is ready. She informs him and Bloodrager.

"Are guests? Should be costume in again, Jocasta?" Bloodrager asked. He wasn't sure if that was the expected etiquette... or as the SHIELD folks called it, protocol, but wanted to check. Regardless, he thought he should shower for the sake of other party members' noses.

Jocasta, looked over to the Big Red Man.
I would suggest to wear your outfits. Well mainly for maybe Spiderman and Darksatr, to keep your identity secret for now. Your Red Skin however can prove to make it a little harder to conceal your Identity. But for presentation in costume would make a bigger impact. She explained.

The entire idea of a secret identity went right over Bloodrager's head, but image and emotional impact made plenty of sense to both of him. He nodded, and started off towards his room to put his backpack down and get his costume to take to the showers with him. Sure, he could probably try and conjure it with magic, but he wasn't very good at that kind of spell yet and might accidentally dress himself in something entirely inappropriate. Like Baby Huey's oversized diaper and baby bonnet.

"I can handle that," Kevin told him.  "When you do the meet'n'greet, I'll have Jocasta give me a feed so I can tag in if it looks like things are going south.  Otherwise, I'll stay out of it until you're ready."

Kevin turned to leave through the door and then turned back.  "I probably don't need to say this, but I will anyway.  Remember that you're not going shopping for powers.  These aren't superheroes.  They're people with super-powers.  They're people first, with all the grace and failings that implies.  AIM, HYDRA, even London's dad, have forgotten that.  We need to be better than them.  Smarter.  Maybe even wiser.  That's how we'll beat them."

William nodded The guests should be arriving soon. Suit up for the initial meeting they may be skittish for joining, So having you guys suited up should give them a little comfort seeing a suited up team behind them, and I'll call you and the others to the common room shortly.

He said as Jocasta appeared in front of him.
Hello William, the Quinjet is arriving in 5 mins and Also Doc Ock will need to see you when you are done with the new members. It has to do with his Crate

Thanks Jocasta I will see him when I'm done. William  advised as he headed for the hangar to meet the potential new members.

<---- to Aurora , Darwin , Mortis Thread.

"Good enough," Kevin said.  "I'll get changed and you can buzz me when you're ready."

After Jocasta spoke Kevin added, "I admit I'm curious about Doc's delivery, too.  Especially if it's something that could potentially wreck this joint."

"Anyway, I'll see you and the new kids in a bit," Kevin finished, leaving by the door to get ready for the potential new team mates.

 <---- to Aurora , Darwin , Mortis Thread.