Alerts, mission information, and other critical communication will take place here.

In a blast of speed, Vosper whisks into the room, looking for the source of the alert.  She gets clear of the door so others can slide in after her.

"Always when I'm eating," she complains lightly, although the sandwich is long gone.

   Onyx swaggers into the room, hurrying, but trying not to look like he's in a hurry.

   He nods at Vosper and grabs a seat.

Oscillator flies into the room through a wall.
En route he avoids machinery --
doesn't want to activate the fire alarms --
but still he arrives quite fast.

Somehow he has changed into his superheroic costume
and holds his trademark 'Tuning Fork' spear.

OOC:  His work clothes remain on the chair in the room --
he vibrated out of them!

He flies through the furniture until next to Onyx and Vosper,
then he 'solidifies' and sits down.

Oscillator nods to the two of them a silent hello.

Eddy followed in shortly behind Onyx. Instead of taking a seat, though, the little catman started looking around at the rooms machinery ... even poking and pushing interesting buttons and such.

Observing Poco's poking the equipment, Oscillator says,
"Please be careful there.  We don't want another incident."

Referring to a previous incident where heroes had destroyed expensive gear
-- no need to mention that Oscillator had been one of those heroes...

OOC: Happy April Fools!!!

There is no greater, nor happier, Fool than I this April

Eddy just gave the stodgy old egghead an amused look, shot a smirk at Bruce, then went back to looking and poking.

Still wearing the casual attire he had before, Nightmare arrives, calmly walking into the situation room with a cup of coffee in his hand. He nonchalantly laments, "I couldn't find any chicory." as he sits in an open chair.
"I wonder who they got to 'ride herd on the heroes', so to speak. You would think an installation this size would have more support staff."
After a sip of coffee, he sheepishly states, "Honestly, I'm just a lousy cook and figure I'll starve if they don't have someone else in the kitchen."

Once everyone has settled into their chairs and Poco finishes with the fiddling one of the group activates the communications console. A moment later a TV screen shows an image of Commander Barnes and his voice is heard on the loudspeaker; "Greetings SMITE, Colorado branch. I trust you are all settling into your new accomodations well? I know the name is pretty basic, I figure you will determine your own team name when the time comes. That being said we have a situation at hand. One of our small research facilities in New Mexico sent out a brief alert before it cut off suddenly. This facility is disguised as a test site and is underground. We fear that it may have been infiltrated and we want your team to investigate, determine any threat, and re-secure the facility. A chopper is en-route and should be arriving any minute for the group. Grab whatever gear you need and be on that chopper pronto. Any further info will be given to you as you travel to the site, Barnes out!"

After a moment the image clicks off from the screen and the comm channel closes. Very faintly the sound of the helicopter is heard in the distance.

OOC: Looks like some action for the team, finally! Best to get what you each need and get to the helipad, pronto! Also each member of the team has access to a bulletproof vest should they desire. It allows you to roll with 2x the damage to power from bullets and 1.5x the damage from other kinetic attacks (punches, knives, etc.). It also allows you to roll with 1 additional point of non-kinetic damage.

Does anyone mind if the Comms console is actually activated accidentally by Poco, who seems surprised at the effect?


Eddy stood back and watched the Commander on the screen, and seemed pleased to be about to get into some action.
When Barnes disappeared from the screen, Eddy looked with excitement to the rst of the team.

As usual, Eddy was dressed only in a pair of pants ... his catlike feet needing no boots, and his fur covering (and keeping warm) the rest of him.  But he was eager to try out the new vests, which he wore more like a commando than a policeman.

{ST: is there any firearms available, for those of use without ranged powers ... or melee weapons for those without claws?}

After kitting up quickly, Eddy was swift to join the others as they all headed for the chopper.

"Roight," Vosper replied crisply.  "And what's this they're doin' at this New Mexico research lab, then?  'Cuz it seems somethin's gone awry," she mused aloud to the others after Barnes cut off.  Of course he'd cut off without giving us all the info.  Well, nothing like a long hellie ride to get briefed, she thought.

For gear, she retrieved her uniform from her room, along with her darts and billy club.  She wasn't much one for firearms, and figured the vest would only slow her down.  In her book, the best defense... was just not getting hit.  She was very good at not getting hit.

She did make sure everyone had a gas mask available, if they were to be had.  No tellin' what they've been doin' in that lab, she thought.  Hopefully there's no biohazards about.  I don't run good in a big bio suit.

Then she went to the chopper, grabbing a sandwich on the way.

   Onyx grinned, then shot out a high five to Poco.

   "Let's go do dis, folks!" he said to the others, clearly excited.

   Bruce quickly went to put on the bullet proof vest under his bright outfit, as he was not the sturdiest of the team, for sure.

   Still it was with a tangible amount of confidence and swagger that he stepped onto the helicopter with the others...

Still moving casually, Lamar says, "Now we'll really get to know each other" before he stands and leaves the situation room.
Hurrying no more than necessary to avoid being trampled, and adding the issued protection vest to his usual outfit, resulted in a longer preparation time than the others. His outfit, though not entirely usual, was not too far out of fashion. The most remarkable thing about the trench coated, suited man that appeared to join the others was that he didn't hold his hat down and the wash from the chopper's blades did not blow it off.

OOC:

• weapons
  

  Weapon:	To Hit Modifier:	Damage Caused:
  nightstick	+6	2d4 + 4

  
  

  Weapon:	To Hit Modifier:	Damage Caused:	Range:
  Bolas1	+7	1d4 + 1d3 + 4	21" range

  ¹also causes entanglement (GM fiat)
  

  Weapon:	To Hit Modifier:	Damage:	Range:
  Pistol	+7	1d8 + 4	126" range
  Shotgun	+6	2d6	21" range

Also wearing a bulletproof vest that allows him to roll with 2x
the damage to power from bullets and 1.5x the damage from other kinetic attacks,
and 1 additional point of non-kinetic damage.

Oscillator takes off his white coat and puts on a bulletproof vest,
then covers it back up with the coat.  No harm with extra protection, he thinks -- and maybe he can improve these vests when they return?
Then he collapses his spear tuning fork (which he calls HART), and snaps it firmly to his arm.

Then, flying through the walls, he goes to his quarters and makes sure his paperwork is in order:  his last will and testament is current and signed, several sealed copies of his current research are in mailers with addresses and postage, and photos of his (now deceased) family.
These were all prepared weeks ago, but he never knew when they might be needed.  Perhap this mission?  Or not.  It never hurt to be prepared.

Then he flies back out, slipping through the walls, to the chopper.

OOC: There are a few pistols and a spare shotgun stored there along with sufficient ammo. Nothing extraordinary as I am hoping to keep people sticking to what would be appropriate to each character. There are also some expandable batons, combat knives, and throwing knives/darts as well.

As Eddy climbs aboard the chopper, he is seen sporting his usual black cargo pants, the flak jacket that he aquired from the armory, and has a pistol strapped to his hip.


Pistol; +3 to hit, 1d8 damage {+8, 1d8+4}

Bulletproof vest;  
- roll with 2x the damage to power from bullets 
- roll with 1.5x the damage from other kinetic attacks (punches, knives, etc.)
- roll with 1 additional point of non-kinetic damage


"LET'S ROCK AND ROLL" he shouts to the pilot.

Mission Debriefing

The day after the group returns from the mission and is at least patched up they are summoned into the Ready Room by Commander Barnes for a more thorough debriefing.

OOC: Feel free to keep chatting in the other thread, like I said it will be 10 days before everyone is fully healed. I will end up handwaving that time but again am wondering if anyone wanted to be doing anything during that time period...

Oscillator flies in through a wall and sits down.  "Good day, Commander Barnes."

OOC:  Other than run a few tests on the team to make sure they weren't exposed to anything, dunno that Osc has much to do.  Maybe make a move on Vosper & fail...?  Do we need to roleplay the discomfort and shame, or can we just move along?  HA

Vosper arrived, taking her time for once, dressed in sports wear from a recent workout.  She'd healed quickly and completely from the near-fatal shootings, a blessing of her super-speed metabolism.  She'd been fully healed that same day.  But her mood had been foul, and she'd spent time in the gym and training range, pushing herself as hard as she could.

The truth was, she was angry at her own performance.  With her MI-6 background, if she had to evaluate her contributions honestly, she'd given a piss-poor showing.  Most of the darts she'd thrown had ended up embedded in the wall, and despite her speed, she'd been an easy target for those shooters.

Osc's clumsy advances had actually made her smile and lightened her mood.  She'd made a point of being gentle and kind while, at the same time, suggesting it was a bit premature for them to be shacking up.  But she left the door open a nudge.  Not to tease him, but the truth was... she actually found him somewhat charming.

All of that aside, now was the time for the official debrief that she'd been waiting for.  Fully expecting a dressing down and scathing review, she kept it crisp and formal.

"Commander," she said with a salute.  And stood waiting.

Sergeant Muldoon arrived at the debriefing dressed in a black suit, crisp white shirt and a thin black tie. Since he was not in uniform, he did not salute the Commander.

Having not participated in the last operation, his presence was to learn what he could about his new team and the opposition. So he took a seat in the corner and kept quiet for now.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Tue 19 Feb 2013.

Nightmare comes in, coffee in hand, and sits nonchalantly in the rear. If he's nervous about the debriefing, it doesn't show. In fact, he looks a little bored.

   Onyx entered the room with a distinct swagger.

   He nodded at the others, an occasional "Wassup," here and there.

   He had taken a beating the last time out.  He hoped he would fare better this time around.

Quietly, Oscillator says, "Ahem.  Vosper, over here?  I've reserved for you this vacant seat?"

Oscillator indicates the empty seat near him.  He gestures, smiles, and then looks awkward.

He'd given a bolder performance fighting the soldiers.

OOC:  Just realized that 'sexual harassment' phobia & all that wasn't in effect back then.  So Oscillator has no reason, except Vosper's rejection or a teammate straightening him out, to downplay his interest even while 'on the job'.  Also, 'golden age' comics always have some kind of romantic relationship confusion.  Plus, since he's a scientist and relatively lacking social graces ...  Gonna go for it.

Amaranth has spent her time so far mostly working her way through the library.  She's uninterested in the movies, but enjoys conversation when it's available.  She takes to making breakfast, always seeming to be the first one up in the morning, despite generally being the last one up at night as well.

...In fact, people paying attention may gradually be realizing that she never seems to go to sleep at all.

She gives Vosper a curious look as she comes in, but, after a short pause, claims a seat of her own next to Nightmare.

Sipping his coffee, Nightmare gives Amaranth a smile. "You know, you don't have to be here. They call them debriefings, because the first thing the avoid is being brief. Even though this time, there won't be much to tell."

Eddy wandered in.

He was wearing a kimono, from that strange little oriental cult/culture across the ocean.  He thought they looked cute ... and they let him 'go commando'.
He was eating Pizza, from that not-so-strange Italian culture back in the 'old world'.  He cheese dripped, and he seemed happy about that.
                                       Samurai Pizza Cat!

He flopped down into the spare seat beside Oscellator, and grinned at the egghead.
Then turned his attention to Barnes.

Vosper hesitated, but seeing as they weren't standing on military protocol, shrugged and moved to sit next to Osc.  Bloody Americans, she thought; but not unkindly.

Sitting down, she nodded at Osc and waited for Barnes to start talking.

After everyone has sat down Commander Barnes addresses the group, a slight smirk on his face as he starts; "Thank you all for arriving in at least a *reasonably* timely manner and for some at least making sure they are fully attired. That aside I hope those of you who are injured are recovering well, the staff on hand should be helping that. This is the formal debriefing of the mission and once it starts what is being said will be recorded. Is there anything anyone wishes to say before we start recording as I am expecting a reasonable amount of decorum once the formalities begin?"

   Onyx looked around the room, his arms folded in front of him as he leaned against the wall.

   "Get to it, jack," he quipped.

As he was just here as an observer, Muldoon shook his head slighty and pulled out a pen and a small pad from his pocket to take notes.

Nightmare nods, mumbling, "I'll take decorum over discipline any old day."
Sipping his coffee, he says, out loud, "I take it our participation is required, but not demanded. Not to worry, I'll be good."

"Your expectation is duly noted, Commander, however -- are you familiar with this team?"

Yes, Oscillator had made a joke!
Was it Vosper sitting by his side that made him bold, or having the team reunited finally?
The firefight had forged a bond stronger than Oscillator had initially realized.
Yes, he would probably take a bullet for anyone on this team
-- even Onyx or Poco, despite the fact they didn't seem to like him much.
Or maybe that had changed as well?

"Sir, we fully understand the situation.  I believe we're ready to begin," Vosper said crisply.  With her background with M-I6, she was more comfortable with militaria and formality.

She wasn't chiding her teammates, though; they were who they were.  The newcomers aside - whom she didn't know well - she was comfortable enough with that.

Commander Barnes briefly chuckles at Oscillator's words before responding; "I am familiar enough with the team, thus my phrasing of *reasonable* decorum. At any rate since it seems everyone is content we can begin." He glances around the room to see if anyone says anything.

OOC: So just giving Amaranth and Poco the opportunity to say anything off the record. Otherwise I will start the formalities...
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:26, Fri 22 Feb 2013.

Amaranth smiles a bit at Oscillator's joke, too, but doesn't say anything.  She gives the Commander a small nod.

A small, off-the-record, nod, that she would prefer not be quoted on.

"Yeah,", Eddy said, sliding into a more comfortable position on the chair, "try to keep it down to a dull roar back there" he called over the back of the seat to those behind.

Then, with a satisfied nod, he turned back to Barnes. "Ok, Cheif.  I got your back, you can get on with your commentary now", he concluded with a nod.

Commander Barnes smiles slightly and nods in return, reaching for something just offscreen; "Very well, I am now turning on the recorder. Today is December 28th, 1963 and it is 14:30 hours. Beginning formal debriefing of SMITE Group Colorado and the securing and retrieval of advanced guidance and detonation systems. At approximately 17:00 hours the team was deployed by parachute 3 miles outside of Arrowhead, New Mexico, site of an underground advanced research facility. Under radio silence were directed to enter the town, determine the situation at hand, and enter the facility. Primary objective was to make sure the technology did not fall into Soviet hands. Secondary objective was to locate and secure any possible hostages, especially research scientists.

At this point I would like a summary of what transpired upon reaching and approaching Arrowhead. Who would like to speak on this?" He looks back and forth around the room to see who will take the lead, an expression of curiousity on his face.

OOC: I don't want everyone to feel like they have to jump in. Perhaps the group can elect one person to be the primary reporter of events. Discuss this IC or OOC, whichever you prefer.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:41, Tue 26 Feb 2013.

Vosper looked down and flushed and swallowed to stifle a laugh.  Shaking her head, she composed her features before looking up and steadfastly avoided looking at Poco.  That way lie hilarity, and laughing whilst reporting bad news to one's boss was generally a good way for demerits, demotion, or - in her case - deportation.

"Sir," she said crisply, "we approached the base with caution but saw no sign of activity until we encountered snipers atop one of the buildings.  Once we dispatched the sniper, we moved indoors and used the elevator to descend."

She glanced at the others, raising a brow and allowing them room to add any details.

Oscillator smiled at Vosper.  She had ton a great job.
"Precisely."

Oscillator wanted to be a team player -- but, the problem with being a science nerd, is that he had never been ON a team.
"Only missing one detail; that team mates had been shot at this point."

He thought a bit more.
"Actually, another missing detail was our exposure to the Russian's chemical weapon, "Drema", which was likely ingested by Poco and perhaps other teammates.  Upon our return, I tested for others but haven't found anything -- yet."

He smiled at the teammates, looking for acknowledgement.  When none came, he became more awkward and looked around.
Then he tries to hum.
"Ahem.  Errr, that is what I recall, more or less.  Hmmmmmm  mmmm mmmmmm."

"Quite right," she nodded to Osc, "but said exposure happened once we were in the lift.  It was quite well-trapped.  Descending to the lower levels, we encountered..."

Soldiers, who kicked the living crap out of them.

"...an elite team of soldiers.  Frankly, their skills were amazing.  They were able to hit me at speed and avoid our attacks quite well.  We fought them to a standstill, but then they appeared to have some form of unseen aid... someone with the ability to influence minds."

Muldoon sat quietly and took notes.

Commander Barnes takes in all the information, appearing to jot a few things down himself; "The soldiers were highly trained KGB operatives not your run-of-the-mill grunts. The Soviets must really want that technology because they blew a number of deep-cover agents out, agents that must have been carefully groomed for years after being clandestinely recruited from among our own soldiers. Added insult to injury being shot at with our own weapons. From the descriptions the other day and what you are reporting right now it is obvious the shadowy figure is an super known to us as Shroud. He is a known teleporter as well as possessing the ability to become invisible and walk through walls. Fortunately the defenses of the technology included forcefields or he would have just waltzed in and out.

That brings us to the woman, Usurper is what we call her. She must have been brought in to try and use one of the researchers to shut down the security systems. We were fortunate that the few with the access code were away on leave with family, their intel must have been just faulty enough to miss that detail. Apparently the agents used Drema on the entire complex, waiting until it went inert before infiltrating it. They must have carefully arranged for them all to be topside on patrol. Once the base was subdued Shroud and Usurper probably moved in. I wish you could have caught one or both of them, but your mission goals were accomplished and now we know they are in the States. Does anyone have anything to add or any questions?"

Oscillator raises his hand, waits, then asks his question.  "Commander Barnes, did you have any fore-knowledge that we'd encounter Shroud or Usurper?

I was mentally dominated by her psychic powers, and I didn't appreciate the experience.  If you might give us a-priori warning when you possess relevant intel, that could improve our strategic advantage."

Oscillator was basically saying, 'If we have radios, we expect field support' and also 'I never want my mind hi-jacked again.'   Hopefully the message gets through...?

"We were lucky that only Vosper, who has super-healing, was significantly injured.  Our exploits could just as likely have resulted in a more grim outcome."

Commander Barnes listened to Oscillator's remarks, nodding and smiling slightly for a moment before replying; "We had no knowledge whatsoever of who had infiltrated the base. Our first knowledge of a problem was the loss of communication. Knowing what was being worked on we deployed the closest SMITE group, which was your group. We were unclear of whether there would be supers involved at all or the potential level of resistance. So I am sorry if you feel we dropped you into something with little knowledge but we were equally in the dark and it had to be done. Prior to this Shroud was an elite assassin for the Soviets, something he did quite well with his gifts. In retrospect those gifts could be used equally well for espionage, something we have noted in his file.

It is entirely likely that many future missions may involve sending the group in with little knowledge but when you have to act at a moment's notice sometimes you have to make hard decisions. That is a fact of military life I have become accustomed to over my years of service, and the group should likewise be prepared to not always be prepared or informed."

Muldoon had to surpress a laugh at the last bit. They had an expression for it back at Group. We are like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed shit. The Green Beret thought to himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:16, Tue 26 Feb 2013.

Nightmare quips, "Translated from militarese, I think he said, 'You knew the job was dangerous when you took it'."
"We did ok, commander, considering out inexperience. I'm sure we'll get better as we get to know each other and find our roles."

"I do believe I grasp the ramifications of your logic, Commander Barnes.
But I believe we have a trust gap -- understandable for 'top secret' government activities, certainly
-- but if we are to be your best team, which I think we have potential to achieve,
we should have as much intel as possible."

Oscillator smiles as he makes his next most questionable proposal.

"To shrink this gap, I propose you grant us all top secret security clearance
AND access to your dossiers on all potential super-opponents.

Surely you acknowledge that we will be most effective if we have the most knowledge about potential opposition.
But if we can't rely on being informed in the field,
we should have maximum opportunity to be informed beofre putting ourselves in danger."

Oscillator unbuttons his collar.  Whew!  He's a bit put out, now.

He looked at Vosper, Onyx, Poco, and his other teammates, and 'gave ground'.
He smiles meekly at his teammates, continues;
"Or at least, grant top secret clearance to those of us who can pass a background test,
and limited clearance for those that are less 'ahem!' secure."

Muldoon listened and did his best to hide his initial reaction to the request for top secret clearances. Muldoon had one and remembered the process first with the army when he got his secret clearance and then when he got his top secret clearance when he was attached to the CIA.

In the short time he had been with the team he had his doubts that more than a couple would be granted one, at least in the short term.

Oscillator showed some wisdom when he made that concession in the end.

Part of the reason Muldoon had been attached to the team was to serve the function that was being suggested. Another reason was because he brought an intimate knowledge of the Soviet military and security services. As well as some knowledge of the Soviet super human weapons project.

Amaranth, who lacks the power to read Muldoon's mind, just holds her hands up in a warding motion.  "I'm not sure I want all that," she interjects quickly.

Commander Barnes listens intently to Oscillator's request, his eyebrows raising slightly for much of it then dropping when Oscillator tones back what he is asking. He chuckles at Amaranth's response to Oscillator's request then answers; "Don't worry Amaranth, you will not be getting all that. That is a very ambitious request for a new group of supers in a new organization, Oscillator. The group already has access to accomodations and amenities far above your average soldier and we have no problem with passing on intel that we know that is pertinent to a mission. Higher clearance is something that is earned over time and undoubtedly some will move upwards faster than others just based upon their nature and cultural situation.

As far as dossiers on Soviet supers that is already something we are working on providing access to through your computer. Be aware that there is still a lot of lacking information and none of the supers have their powers firmly quantified as this is likewise a new project. I understand the desire to be prepared but there will always be some degree of uncertainty. Even I do not have access to the highest levels of clearance and am still often given information on a need-to-know basis. So do believe that I will provide you with the most thorough information I have access to at any given moment. I would prefer the group to be as prepared as possible so as to have optimal odds of success in any given situation, never doubt that."

"Nature of the business," Vosper said, shaking her head but smiling at Osc.  "No different in M-I6.  'Need to know' is the watchword of the week."

"I think we understand your position and the reasons for it, Commander.  Frankly, I'd like to see us have more time in practice and coordinated missions before we've got to tackle that lot again.  But needs of the service, and all that," she conceded.

No wonder .. Muldoon thought .. Burgess, Maclean and then this summer Kim Philby ... MI-6 seemed to be a nest of communist symathisers.

"My clearance will allow the team to stay on top of matters as the need arises." Muldoon said.

Nightmare smiles, "I wouldn't pass, in any case. Too much time in country, I'm afraid."
"What we really need, at this point, is a goal. A question to answer, an event to stop, a head to bash."

Oscillator responds to the mention of ...
"Oooh, we get a computer?  I've used them years back, all those punch cards can be tricky...  Why, what room do we have allocated for a computer?  The one we used in graduate school was almost an entire building!
I have a natural aptitude for computers; I learned Pascal, Cobol and Assembler to do vibrational quanta modelling for my post-doctorate.  It has been awhile since then...."
Oscillator claps his hands together, rubbing them.  It's been too long since he's looked at that blinking green cursor, since he loaded the operating system off a foot-high pile of cards.

"'Need to know?'  Ha!  That makes no sense -- of course we will need to know as much as possible if I'm to apply my full faculties towards resolving our pressing problems.  This 'top secrecy' is such tomfoolery, it's like a 'spy game'."

He looks to Vosper.
"Oh, it really IS a spy game?  Well then...  I've never played."

Oscillator drops the Top Secret clearance issue, but is Oscillator REALLY done with this issue?  More will be revealed.

In reply to Oscillator (msg # 54):

OOC: In regards to the computer: link to a message in this game

Vosper nodded to Osc.  "Name of the game, mate," she winked.

Eddy smiled at Nightmare, "Me neither.  They ain't going to give that kind of info to a stinking Mexican ... and a streetrat at that.
I'm just cannon fodder here.
Oscy will get it, and the Captain seems to already have it. Vos gets the goods from the crown.
You, Bruce and me, mate, we're just here to fill the gaps ... give the enemy more people to shoot at, and distract them from the real people on this team, eh!"

He returned his attention to the group as a whole, "So if we're debriefed, Bruce has a date with humiliation at the table tennis", he finished, looking to Onyx.

The two had been playing out the 'Table Tennis Championship of the World" the last few days.  If Eddy remembered correctly, they were up to 'best of 56'.

"Actually, what I've been wondering about is what we might have done differently. It would have been nice to have more information before we went in, but in the absence of that information could there have been a better way to handle this? Does anyone have any ideas about that?"

Eddy, slumped in his seat, slumps further.
'Well there goes table tennis', he thought to himself, 'seems we going to be here all afternoon ... talking'.

He looked at his claws, and decided it was time to clean them, and his toe-claws.

Commander Barnes replies to some of the various statements uttered by team members; "Increased security clearance will come in time, so let's not quibble about that. Nightmare, as far as your question goes one thing I would suggest is to not split the group unless absolutely necessary. From what was reported it sounds like returning to Level 1 was not necessary and reduced the amount of available resources. Obviously sometimes you may not have the option to all stick together, but in this case you did. Don't take my statement as a rebuke, just advice. The majority of you have not had military training so basic tactics are something to learn on the job and via training exercises.

I feel no need to prolong this debriefing, so unless someone has anything else to add about the mission or questions to ask I am content to end this session. Assuming that is the case you will be informed of your next mission once those of you still injured recover."

Muldoon knew this was another reason he had been assigned to the team. The newly formed Special Forces had among it responsibities the training of indigineous forces. Muldoon had conducted earlier US Army and CIA operations.

Oscillator has a lot to say.  He's bursting with responses to give Commander.
But, in a show of extreme restraint, he doesn't utter a peep.

He also deliberately looks away from Poco cleaning his toe-claws.

It was unfortunate the team lacked a psychic/empath to give them an edge on what their organization was planning.  Oscillator didn't relish the idea of flying into another fight with unclear mission parameters or opposition.

Maybe their computer would help them?  He'd have to start working on a program...

OOC:  Could the first hacker be born here...?  In V&V?  Seems like the wrong genre!

Eddy looked around, a little surprised ... what, it actually was over that quick?!?  Great.

He stood, with a big Cheshire smile, and turned to Onyx, "Let's introduce you to your next slice of humble pie, Bruce", and headed out of the room with glee.

   Bruce grunted, "Jack, you ain't said nothing but a word!  I'm gone fire up that ping pong ball like a little power blast 'a mine and blow a hole through yo paddle!  Boy!  You ain't ready!  I'm tryin' ta tell ya, but I guess I'mma have ta learn ya..."

   Onyx's mouth seemed to start running like a track star.

Eddy headed out of the room with a big smirk, making 'duck quacking' motions with one hand ... the smack talk had begun.


Soon enough, the sounds of ping pong and laughter, and even more smack talk, could be heard far throughout the complex.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:42, Fri 08 Mar 2013.

   Bruce's eye bulged a little as he saw yet another chance to talk some more trash, "Yeah, that's right, that's a duck- just like you gone have to duck when I smash this line drive down yo throat like Willie Mays!  You gone learn!"

   The truth was, Onyx had not answer for the super cats reflexes.

   But Bruce could talk trash with the best of them.

Amaranth looks over to Nightmare as Onyx follows Poco out.  "Wouldn't a line drive down Eddy's throat count as a point for Eddy?  I haven't done much ping pong, but I thought it had to touch the table."

Muldoon stood up and slid the pad of paper in his pocket. From what he had seen the team had a discipline problem. It was good to be loose, but first you needed to have discipline.


The Green Beret look at the Commander"Thank you Sir."

Then at his team "This is not a military unit, and that is probably good thing. But we will be in combat and as you have all just learned it is pass fail, one chance."

"If we came up against an equally powerful team of Soviet supers they were going to be need to count on one another and operate as a team. I suggest we start training together. I can instruct you all on the basics of weapons and tactics. Even if you are not going to use weapons it is important to understand what they can and can't do."

"As we get intelligence on potential threats, especially Soviet supers I will conduct briefings as well."

Vosper raised a single, slender blonde brow in reply to Muldoon's speech.  She frowned.  Who the hell did this yank think he was?  Showing up, and taking charge?  As if they needed him to show them what to do.  She opened her mouth, closed it, frowned again, and said:

"Muldoon's right.  We need the training time."

"I don't need basic training, though, Sergeant," she added saucily, despite herself.

With a smile, Nightmare replies to Amaranth, "Judging by his appetite, I would say the shot would be followed closely by game called due to equipment failure."
"Although it's a fairly good idea for them to find a way to blow off steam. I've a feeling we're in for some fairly intense times, ahead. As a hobby, I've taken to studying the legends of the yeti. What do you do to relax?"

As the banter resumed Muldoon wondered if it was going to take a teammate being killed to convince the team that this was deadly serious. It might just be that their chattiness was reaction to surviving the fight with the Soviets, but they needed to focus.

"Perhaps we could focus on the job at hand for a few minutes."

"It is likely we all have useful skills and non super abilities gained during our lives that might be appicable to future operations. If you have something you think that should be intergrated into our training noew would be a good time to speak up.

"My own training and experience is in military and clandestine opertations. It appears Vosper comes front a similar background. But what of the rest of you?"

Oscillator was intimidated by Master Sgt Patrick Muldoon -- not in the mental department, just in the 'ass-whooping' department.

"I'm afraid you have a small misunderstanding about our team, Mister Sergeant Master."  He misspoke Muldoon's title on purpose, but it was with a point.  "We aren't military.  We're special agents who have agreed to work for the military.  But, as you no doubt are noticing, most of us wouldn't be suited for the military."

And then he made the mistake of continuing...  "I, for one, have multiple PhD's in various scientific disciplines, and my weaponry is for the most-part built into my body."  He didn't mention his HAART weapon because he didn't want to confuse the Sergeant, and he didn't say 'his brain' because that should be self-evident.  And it sounded very cocky. 

"So shooting guns and knife-fighting is not likely to be penciled onto my calendar.  I'll be in my laboratory, awaiting briefing on the next mission.  Good day."  Oscillator moves to vibra-fly up and out through the ceiling -- but he floats up slowly enough that Muldoon (or anyone else) can speak their piece.

Oscillator would skip the ping-pong.  The rec room wasn't his ideal setting for interaction, and he sucked at ping-pong -- along with most sports.

Muldoon said nothing as Ocsilator departed the room. Hopefully he would realize they were all on the same team

"For a brilliant guy, he sure missed the point."

"Our goal is not to become a military unit, it is to be able to understand military and clandestine operations so when faced with an enemy with such training we can improve our chances of victory."

"You have already seen that you are not the only ones in the world with super abilities. You have also seen that even with our special abilities we can still be challenged, even defeated by a well trained enemy."

"So what other non super abilities do the rest of you bring to the table?"

Nightmare gives the sergeant a slight smile, and tells him, "Actually, sergeant, I can do a few things. I'm fairly well read, I've been an aviator, and I know some of the back ways into the eastern bloc."
Turning to Amaranth, Nightmare admits, "They weren't very good back ways."

"He missed YOUR point - but whose fault is that?  His or yours, or maybe both?" Vosper countered to Muldoon.  But her tone wasn't exceptionally harsh.  She understood both men.

"You all know I'm here as a liasion with M-I6," she said to the rest. "So it's no secret my training involves espionage and intelligence.  My speciality, though, wasn't combat, but courier work.  In and out fast.  Not to say I can't hold my own in a fight, because I'm faster than most by far.  But I'm not your heavy hitter, and I never will be."

"As a side perk, I do speak fluent Russian, Chinese and German.  Maybe that'll come in handy."

"Now.  I'm gonna go try an' talk to Osc.  You lot form up and play some wicked pong, and when yer done, get with the Sergeant and work out some training.  This isn't about popguns and pokey-sticks, it's about learning t'use our powers together.  I'll be joining you, shortly."

Amaranth chuckles at Nightmare's comment, but then glances at Muldoon and stifles it.  She shrugs.  "I... have a rather outdated background in science and medicine, but nothing to compare with Oscillator.  I can recite a good deal more of Shakespeare than most people.  I can juggle, just a little bit.  I'm told my grammar is impeccable."  She spreads her hands out over the table, palms up.  "Nothing terribly violent, I'm afraid.  I'm here because I get back up again when I die, as I've said.  Your government seems to think that will be useful to them, and has promised that if I help them with their little war, they'll let me go back to living quietly as soon as it's over."

"Oh, I have studied a handful of dead languages.  Appropriately, I suppose.  I've actually just started reading up on Emmanuel Laroche's recent breakthrough on Anatolian hieroglyphs, but I can't say I could follow them without a reference yet.  I doubt it will be as helpful as Russian, Chinese, or German, but you never know.  In our line of work, I suppose needing to negotiate with a troop of Roman Legionnaires isn't entirely outside the bounds of possibility."

From the Rec Room, down the hallway, come further sounds of laughter and table tennis activity.

"Excellent. I imagine a knowledge of the the ins and outs of the Iron Curtain might come in very handy. Thanks Nightmare."

Addressing the departing Vosper "Thanks Vos. I know I come across as a bit of a stiff shirt. But I have lost a lot of friends over the years. I don't want to bury someone because of a lack of training."

"As far as training, I suggest that the team all have a basic understanding of enemy weapon and tactics. If possible I will arrange for a OPFOR operation so we can train using our powers against a likely foe."

In reply to Amaranth. "I assume that means Latin, Greek and such. You never know. On the other hand if it is that you have been alive all those years, I imagine your knowledge of history is quite extensive."

Muldoon headed to the rec room to try and round up the ping pong team.

"I'm not that old," Amaranth mutters at Muldoon's back.

Somewhat more emphatically, she adds to Nightmare, "I mean, yes, Latin, but I learned it in school, not as a native."

Muldoon laughed "I was going to say you looked great for two thousand."

After the fight ...

The Inhuman entered the Situation Room carrying the now limp body of Red Hammer.

   Onyx, still riding a bit of a high after actually contributing to the fight, switched his emotions quickly upon seeing the the villain they had just brought down, and exclaimed:  "What's that fool doin in here?  Ain't nobody tryin ta fight him again!  Shoot!  Bury him in a metal box somewhere or sumpin'!  Better yet, I'll do it fo ya!"

   Onyx obviously did not like the villain being around. Even unconscious.

Oscillator flies through a wall and sits down.

"Why would you bring Red Sledgehammer into our inner sanctum?  This seems unwise..."

Eddy had entered only steps behind Inhuman.

When others started arriving, and commenting, Eddy seemed ready to respond to Onyx when Oscillator chimed* in. Eddy turned to him with an angry look, "Because neither of us wanted this beast left uncontained, Egghead.  Instead of making commentary on our wisdom, why don't you offer some of your own!?!".
                                            * pun intended

Without waiting for a response, however, he returned his attention to Onyx, "If you can box him up, that'd be fine.  We just didn't have that option.
We can take him outside, somewhere ... but I'll sit with him, just in case he looks ready to bust out. Someone needs to be raise an alarm".

Entering, Vosper commented, "Well, we can't bloody well discuss anything classified with him here - he speaks English, you know.  So we have to cancel this meeting until he can be contained.  Muldoon can't hold him forever."

  Onyx paused for a moment, "Uh...I don't know. Will the metal even hold him?"

Eddy raised an eyebrow, "We don't know, Onyx ... that's what we need you to tell us.

One way or another, Inhuman keeps hold of him, or someone else comes up with some way to contain him.
Either way, someone needs to keep an eye on the red bastard; even if that means being excused from this meeting.

So, speak up, anyone, if you can contain Red better than Inhuman ... otherwise, the big guy takes the big guy for a stroll in the gardens, and the rest of us stay and do this beauracracic gig".

The Inhuman's rubbery grasp extended and covered the slumbering villains eyes and ears to keep the Red Hammer from seeing or hearing anything.

"Do we have a means to hold him?"

One of the medics comes running into the room holding a tank and a mask. He comes over to the big Russian and puts it on his face, adjusting the knobs for a few moments before nodding in satisfaction; "This should do the trick now that we have him out. This is the stuff we use to knock people out for heavy surgery like amputations and the like. I have a rich mix adjusted and it should hold him. One of the soldiers mentioned they have a heavy chainfall on one of the trucks that could be rigged to both secure him and hold him up off the ground so he can't get leverage on the off chance he does wake up."

Amaranth wrinkles a nose.  "Muldoon is the only one who likes these meetings," she points out.  "He has to stay.  And if Red has to breathe, wouldn't the metal box kill him?"

She looks, it cannot be denied, seriously tempted to find some reason why she should be `forced' to leave the meeting to take the Sledgehammer outside herself, but the medic's arrival seems to solve that issue.  With a quietly resigned sigh, she settles back into her seat.

Eddy nodded at Amaranth's initial assertion, Muldoon did flourish in these kinds of situations.

After the medic did his thing, Eddy said, "Ok, that should work. Please ask the men upstairs to begin creating that harness.

Now," he turned to Inhuman, "If you like, I'll take him upstairs, "  Eddy suspected that he could lift the guy ok*, "Put him in this harness, and watch over him till you are all done down here".

"Amaranth, would you mind joining me ... just, that gentle touch of yours might be needed".

                                                                                                                                            * Strength 44

Looking over the top of his coffee, Nightmare smiles and says, "As much excitement as we've had, recently, I'm sure no one would mind a little quiet reflection while we wait for the large one to be contained. Perhaps the commander wouldn't have rushed us together if he had considered the logistics of the situation."

The Inhuman uncoiled and let Red Hammer fall into Poko's hands. "Hope that chains and drugs keep him on ice. I will see if we have a containment facility online for someone with his abilities."

Oscillator offered, "I'll help them fabricate a fitting restraint.  Chains can be welded, which stresses them, or leverage can be used which makes them stronger.  Red Sledgehammer shouldn't be too hard to restrain with metal cuffs and a short-range field magnetic anomaly --"

Before Osc can continue with the impromptu lecture, the team is gesturing for him to go.

"Right, then.  Back in a bit."

OOC:  Spending IP to make a 'Brick-restraint' that the team might be able to re-use with confidence.

Unsure precisely what Oscillator was going on about, Eddy simply hoiked the big Russian fellow over one shoulder, making sure to keep the gas mask attached.

Turning to Amaranth, he said, "Coming?", and headed upstairs to find where this chain harness was being constructed.

"Commander Barnes wanted to speak to us all at the same time. Wouldn't it be easier for me to just have kept the big fella wrapped up until our debriefing was handled." The Inhuman said as he watched nearly half the team plan to walk out.

With a shrug, Amaranth follows Eddy.  "Not sure it helped much the first time, but OK."  She keeps her hand resting on Sledgehammer as they walk, glancing at Inhuman on the way out.

"We'll be right back, though."

Then she grins mischievously, and affirms, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Yeah," said Eddy, in smirking agreement with Amaranth, "We'll be right back.   But free free to start without us", as he walked out with Amaranth, and Red over his shoulder.


As obvious as it was to all that Barnes wanted everyone present, it must also have been obvious that some present wanted to not be.

"Get back as soon as he is secured we will do our best to give HQ a solid debriefing."

With Red Hammer out of the room, the Inhuman transformed into his alter ego, Master Sergeant Patrick Muldoon. The massive wall of rubbery flesh shrinking down and again becoming flesh, or pulling back and revealing the uniform below.

The soldier, unlike some of the others, chose to follow orders and prepared to be debriefed by Commander Barnes.

Eddy waited for Amaranth, and the two escorted Red back upstairs ... where Osclator and engineers built the thug a chain harness prison.

Making sure the mask was firmly in position to keep anaesthetizing the big Russian, Poco easily carries him back up topside. Amaranth follows closeby while Onyx and Oscillator speed ahead to begin working on "the contraption". Once outside Poco and Amaranth see Onyx and Oscillator busily ordering around soldier to get this or that. Heavy chainfall is secured around Red Sledgehammer while makeshift metal manacles are secured around his wrists and ankles. A crane is set up and Oscillator busily attaches a hastily made device to the hook with a similar ones anchored to the ground spread apart about 10 feet. Heavy power cables are attached to each device then hooked into a major power conduit. Onyx uses his magnetic powers to fly up and pull the Russian into position while Oscillator throws the power switch. The lights throughout the building dim momentarily and the devices give off a noticable hum. Red Sledgehammer is held equidistant between the 3 devices, arms over his head and legs splayed out in a V, the mask still secure on his face keeping him sedated. Soldiers are set on heavy guard rotation both near and in positions around the area.

After about 30 minutes those topside return to the situation room, looking relieved at their solution for now. Everyone settles into their seats as the communication console is activated. Moments later a Commander Barnes's voice crackles over the air as his image appears on the TV screen; "I assume all is ready for the group to pass on a situation report? Is our guest secured at least for now? The commanding officer contacted me to let me know there would be a delay while he was secured. If everything is in readiness let us begin the debriefing, and as always this is being recorded. Who wants to start?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:28, Sun 23 June 2013.

"Commander, Muldoon here."

"The base came under attack approximately forty minutes ago. When the alarm sounded the team, which was below ground, headed to the elevator and headed topside. Exiting the elevator we were faced by the Soviet super known as Red Sledgehammer wielding a small vehicle as a shield."

"The team moved against Red Sledgehammer, as we did we observed that our top side security team and been eliminated. As we engaged the Red Sledgehammer we soon came under fire from the other Soviet super Shroud. No other enemy personnel were observed."

"The team split up, with some focused on trying to put down Red guardian and the others focused on locating and taking down Shroud. We were eventually able to put down and capture Red Sledgehammer, but Shroud escaped."

"While the team was by no means unharmed, we all survived the fight, luckily while all the top side security detail were wounded none were KIA. It is clear that our base's location has been compromised." Muldoon spoke in a professional manner as he described the fight.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Sun 23 June 2013.

"Roight," Vosper interjected, sitting back and folding her arms whilst folding one leg over the other.  "They know where we are, and wanted payback for the foiled attack at the research facility.  The big guy's a powerhouse, able to slug it out with Muldoon, here.  But the real danger is that bloody !%!@^^#%!&#!& teleporting sniper. We need a countermeasure for that, and soon," she commented.  "Does Intelligence have any info on the extents of his abilities?  Can he appear and disappear into sealed bases and locked rooms?  Because if he can, lads, then sleeping just got a whole lot less appealing."

"There's something wrong with this situation, Commander. Assuming the two we fought are in Soviet positions similar to our own, they were probably working outside their mission parameters. I doubt that they would send just two of their team to attack our headquarters and expect any success."
"If we had done something like this, the captured team member would likely be carrying some sort of listening device, or homing beacon. It is even conceivable that they retain a mystical connection, undetectable, that would allow other team members to see and hear what happens nearby."
"They could even be a sort of 'Trojan horse', allowing other team members to infiltrate the location they attacked."
Despite the implications of the words he speaks, Nightmare's attitude is one of detached contemplation.

Despite working on the new restraint for 'Big Red', Oscillator had been thinking a lot about this report.  He offered up his observations to Commander Barnes:  "Ahem, Officer Muldoon's report wasn't entirely correct, Commander.  One of our team was KIA -- however, apparently she does not remain KIA for long (assuming KIA means 'killed in action' and is not a different military acronym which I'm not familiar with)."

Oscillator nodded towards Amaranth, giviner her a weak smile.  He was glad she was alive again, certainly, but since he didn't understand her powers ... he wasn't sure she had been alive in the first place.  Another thing to investigate.

"Furthermore, while the situation was less than optimal, with a heavy-hitter and a teleporting sniper surprise attacking our HQ in tandem (as was already mentioned), our team again did not operate as strategically as we might have.  We allowed the attackers to determine where, how, and what, and we reacted.

I believe with more strategic planning, we could have manipulated the scenario more to our advantage.  The heavy-hitter could have been placed in a more challenging element -- water, wind, a vaccuum, ice, etc -- and our teleporter sniper might have been challenged by illusions, magnetism, strong winds, light flashes, explosives, disguised targets, darkness, and so on.

I believe our main weakness on the team is the lack of anyone strong in the realm of psychic or mental powers.  Either of those opponents could have been devastated by such an opponent.  And as we saw previously, we are very vulnerable to those types of powers.  Addding a psychic or psionic hero should be our biggest priority -- filling this big hole in our team.

Our second lacking seems to be in the magical or paranormal arena, which would be a significantly less important second priority.

Now that I am more familiar with Sergeant Muldoon's capabilities and his leadership, I must request that the team be thorougly informed on all of each other's abilities.  Without this information, there is no way we can form cohesive strategy or effective teamwork."

Oscillator had a feeling he may have overstepped himself with this last point, but his confidence in Muldoon had not been expanded by discovering he transformed into a 'super rubber tank'.  Nor had Muldoon made any uniqe strategic or military contribution to their defense of the HQ.  Osc also noted that Muldoon had left out his own KO in his report, which he was tempted to mention but left it alone.

"Of course, more information on our opponents could also help us win more often -- but we've already discussed this.  The computer hasn't helped much yet."

Oscillator wondered if he should have mentioned some of these thoughts before this meeting to his teammates to build up some team support?  That may have been a good strategy -- something to note for next time, BEFORE he countered the team 'tank' reporting to his commander...

   Onyx let the talkers talk.

   He rolled his eyes towards Poco and made a motion with his hand of what looked like a duck talking as Oscillator spoke.

Eddy just sat there listening.   He was Soooo not interested in being here.  He had wanted to stay upstairs with Amaranth, and get to know her better, while the eggheads and GI Joes waffled on down here.
But word had come asking them to return to the Situation Room, and Oscy had been infuriatingly 'encouraging'.

Eddy smirked at Bruce's gestural commentary.   He knew Bruce felt about all this as he did; and he suspected Amaranth did also.
His eyes glazed over a little, as he tuned out further, thinking about something/one more interesting.

"I'm afraid you're wrong. Life, itself, is mystical in nature. No one of us are more, or less, psychic than another. Our large Russian adversary could easily have possessed great resistance to any affects such as those you have in mind. As for the sniper, even mystical energies must be aimed. One can not target what one can not see."

"Well Commander, I think you have picture."

Muldoon had chosen to omit Amaranth's return from the dead. He was unsure if Barnes and the military knew of her ability, knowing what it felt like to be a freak, he had decided to preserve that lady's secret if it was indeed a secret.

"Well Oscillator, as you now doubt saw I transform into grotesque creature with many of the properties of rubber and the strength to throw around a bus or lift of tank. My condition is classified and I had orders to avoid using them if possible until you had all obtained your clearances. Clearly the attack required the use of my powers."

"I agree with Oscillator, a better understanding of each others powers would improve the teams effectiveness. Even after the fight, I have to admit I don't know what your powers are Oscillator. Perhaps you could tell us."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Wed 26 June 2013.

   Bruce said calmly, "I gotta way with metal, man.  And I can move energy around, you know, as raw energy or light and stuff.  That's what it is I do.  I don't know about square pants over there."

Eddy burst out laughing, "Square Pants," he said to Onyx, "Good one" holding out a paw for a high four.

"Me" he continued, sharing with the gathering, "A'm just a big old pussy cat", and began exaggeratedly cleaning his face with both paws.

"And a damned fine looking one too".

   Bruce returned the high four with a high five, saying- part shrill voice, part cackling laugh- "Ya dig?!"

Oscillator was surprised to hear the agreement from Muldoon, but only for the briefest moment.  It made perfect sense -- any military officer knew you should know your crew and your gear before putting them into battle.  "I'm all for divulging this information.  I'd rather do it in writing, so we each have the information and can review as needed, and I'd prefer our Russian to not be present -- he may be unconscious, but who knows that he is not somehow able to remember what we say...?"

"For the sake of our team, I will explain my abilities despite the Russian's presence; I'm a scientist specializing in vibration, thus my powers are all vibration-related; flight, vibration and energy blasts, vibrating through objects, disrupting sophisticated objects with vibration, and my specialized device"
He pulls a small rod out, snaps it into it's full tuning fork / spear shape, and activates it -- a low pitched vibration can be felt and heard.

"which I call my Harmonic Resonance Transducer, or HAART.  The HAART works with my powers, allowing me to absorb kinetic energy, dematerialize objects, and I gain a new sense which I call 'vibration awareness'."

He deactivates the HAART device, folds it up and stows it in his costume.

"I'm also far more intelligent than 99% of Earth's humans."

Mumbling, Oscillator quietly corrects Poco and Onyx; "Onyx didn't mention he can fly, and Poco didn't mention his superior agility and strength, amazing physical accuracy, razor-sharp claws, enhanced feline senses, or fearful growl."

   Onyx raised an eyebrow at Ossy, "Oh yeah, and incase y'all ain't noticed yet, I can fly."

   Suddenly lapsing into a moment of thought, Bruce added, "Ya know what y'all, come to think of it, I did try something different in this fight wit the big Rusko and Mr. Invisible Sniper.  I was able to find him when he teleported, 'cuz I could feel the metal on him, y'know?  Far out man, but, like, it was right on.  No jivin' man, I could feel him.  And I aint 'smarter than 99 percent of the population' but i figured he must be bendin' light or becomin' light, so I figured concentrated light might hurt him.  That's why I kept on finding and shootin' his *ss!  Ya dig?!"

   Onyx gave a mocking impression of The Shroud grunting after getting his with his lasers.

Onyx had reminded Oscillator of his tactic against the sniper.

"I tried something different as well -- I burrowed into the earth to spot the sniper with vibration and as a defense.  Immediately after hearing the shot, I moved on the sniper, but was only able to hit him with a glancing shot."

Oscillator nodded to Onyx.

Amaranth does look distinctly uncomfortable when Oscillator mentions what happened with her, sinking down a bit in her seat.  Onyx and Poco's antics draw out a quirked smile, but it's Muldoon's revelation about the use of his own powers that actually gets her sitting up, even leaning forward a little bit and looking at him with disbelief.  "Wait - you were actually ordered not to show us your abilities until we had... Top Security Clearance?  Which we all know most of us don't even qualify for really?  Seriously?"  She looks at Commander Barnes.  "That's ridiculous.  I mean, there's classified, and then there's working-together.  Isn't there some... `need to know', or something?"

She shrugs, shaking her head.  "Anyway, yes, like I said before; I can die and still get better.  It's not pretty, but that's what I do.  Oh, and I don't sleep anymore, if that helps any," she looks at Vosper, since she'd said something about that earlier.  "Although I do still get bored, of course, so if I need to do anything like spend the night watching Sledge, I'll want a stack of books."

"That is the government for you Amaranth. They like their secrets. To be honest I kind of liked just being me for a while. Once I have transformed into my other form,most people only see me as the Inhuman."

"My orders did not come from Commander Barnes. He was read in on my condition when I was assigned. But my orders allowed me to become .. Inhuman if we came under an enemy attack."

"Well now you know what I am .. What I have become." Muldoon said his military demeanor melting away at the end. But Muldoon knew that no matter how monsterous he looked on the outside there still was a man on the inside.

"My guess is you will allow be getting clearances now just so you are on a leash." Muldoon added. It was a bit insubordinate but he had played his dues.
This message was last updated by the player at 22:58, Wed 26 June 2013.

Commander Barnes listens to both the reports of various team members and the back-and-forth of the team for a time; nodding in some places, looking like he is taking notes in others, and occasionally shaking his head at the irreverence shown by some of the team. After The Inhuman's last statement he raises his hand and clears his throat to gain everyone's attention. Taking a deep breath he begins to reply to all that has been said, turning to The Inhuman first; "I am most curious as to how Red Sledgehammer even got into the country, he is not exactly the most unobtrusive super. Of course we may never find that out although I have some channels I can check. While the base location has been compromised that does not mean moving to a new location although we may put together some smaller safe-shelters just in case. We will have to beef up the security around topside and even inside. I am glad no one was permanently taken out as there were some good men stationed there."

Turning to Vosper, Commander Barnes continues; "Really the only thing we have found that can prevent a teleporter from getting into an area is a forcefield, but the amount of power required to keep one up constantly is tremendous. We are forced to use them sparingly because of that. Even NORAD does not have a forcefield generator. That being said teleportation is difficult to contain, doubly so since we know Shroud is able to become insubstantial as well. We are unclear as to the exact range of his teleportation but it seems to be well below one mile, meaning he needs to be closeby to use it. His invisibility and insubstantiality help with that. There is great risk teleporting into someplace you are not familiar with which is likely why he kept above ground. While his insubstantiality allows him to infiltrate places easily overall, he does still need to hold his breath while inside solid objects which limits the amount of time he wants to spend passing through the ground and such."

Commander Barnes next turns to Nightmare; "While you may be correct that they were acting rogue I am not entirely convinced. Perhaps they were testing the capabilities of the defenses of the HQ as well as the team. You got Red Sledgehammer and I suppose it is possible he could be bugged but fortunately he is secured topside, and be assured I am monitoring things topside as well."

Continuing in turn Commander Barnes addresses Oscillator, looking slightly overwhelmed by the long dialogue; "Yes, strategic and tactical thinking are always the best way to operate. The only way to achieve that is training between missions so people can be familiar with the others on the team. I am not quite sure how Red Sledgehammer could have been manipulated into a different environment up in the mountains but that is irrelevant at this point. I definitely agree you should all be at least passingly familiar with what each of you brings to the table so you can all discuss that amongst yourselves. As far as information on your opponents we have as much info that we have gathered entered into the computer. There obviously wasn't exactly time to run back down and consult the computer once the identity of the pair was known. Therein lies the problem; often you won't have any idea nor will we who you will be facing so I suggest familiarizing yourselves with what we do know and try to utilize it when you run into different villains."

Commander Barnes observes Onyx's gesture and Poco's general demeanor and apparently decides to overlook it, for now. He chooses to focus on the remaining debriefing and listens as various team members begin divulging their abilities so perhaps tactics can start to be formed between the team. When he hears the last statements between Amaranth and The Inhuman he steps in himself; "The group already has a level of security clearance otherwise you would not even have access to the computer and the information we HAVE been able to obtain on various villains, Soviet and otherwise. As far as The Inhuman not divulging his powers I did not feel it was my business to pass on information that is his to share. I did think however that you all would have done some of that already but what's done is done and all we can do is go from here.

I do wish you had been able to capture Shroud as well, we have some theories about situations he may have had significant involvement in and would have liked to interrogate him. I do know though that the reason he is one of the Soviet Union's top assassins is his ability to get in, get it done, and get out; quick, quiet, deadly. I have enough of a picture of the situation and as I said we will be working on further fortifying the HQ. We are also determining what exactly to do with Red Sledgehammer and will get back to you on that. For now I recommend those who need medical attention go and receive it and during that time confer amongst yourselves to become more of a team and less a group of individuals. Consider this debriefing over, unless anyone has anything else they wish to report or add." He appears to look around the room through the monitor, seeing if there is anything else coming.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Wed 26 June 2013.

Muldoon looks a bit sheepish as he replied "Sorry we let you down on Shroud Sir. But we did bag Big Red."

We will need to requisition some additional firepower and some other specialized equipment Commander. "

"I will put together a list." Muldoon said.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:48, Thu 27 June 2013.

Vosper listened to the others, and then Commander Barnes.  When they were done she nodded, rising, and blew a strand of her blond hair free of her eyes, where it had slipped in all the commotion.

"Teams are made not born, lads," she smiled.  "The more we work together, the better we'll get.  You lot are all diamonds in the rough - but you're top notch."

"As for me, there's no secrets nor surprises about what I do - speed, as they say, is life. My dad was a WW II allied speedster.  The rest came from MI-6 training, hard work, and of course my insufferable good looks." She gave an ironic smirk to show the last was intended purely as sarcasm.

Turning to Osc, she continued, "You're the brains, mate, and that's no joke.  Muldoon, you've got the military experience.  Between you two lads - and with input from the rest - I figure Club Red is going to be getting a hurt on real soon."

"So, where do we start?" she asked.

Eddy stood with enthusiasm.  With a clasping of his hands, rubbed together with delight, he said, "I say we start in the kitchen. A nice team building exercise of steak devourance, eh.  That's the shot.
I am famished after that slight skirmish with Red's Renegades".

And with that, a smile shot towards Bruce and Amaranth, he started heading for the kitchen, "Who's joining me?"

"Well it seems like we need to work on tactics in case we get another visit from Shroud. That is a tall order. Mundane snipers are tough to deal with, but a sniper who can be invisible, intangible and can teleport will require teamwork and perhaps a weapon upgrade."

"The military is rolling out a new weapon, called a mini-gun. They are not normally man portable but given my abilities I can handle one. I am planning on adding one to the arsenal along with a lot of ammunition." Muldoon said to whoever remained to debrief after the fight while it was still fresh.

   At Muldoon's statement about the big gun, Onyx said (perhaps a little too loudly): "Hell yeah!"

   Then thinking a moment longer he added, "Just don't shoot me on accident, ya dig?"

   Watching Poco, Bruce had another thought, "Say y'all, maybe Poco got it right.  Nothin' better for some team buildin' then a good talk over a good meal.  Like a family!  Let's do it, and talk turkey over some steaks!  Muldoon and Vos, y'all can lay down that righteous teach so we can tighten up and make sure everythang is copesthetic!"

   He stood up, and looked back over his shoulder, "Well, whatchall waitin' fo?  C'mon!"

"Commander Barnes, I --"  But Vosper cut him off.  And Osc blushes when she says he was the brains.  He also nods and tries not to look too conspicuous when she mentions 'her good looks'...

Vosper finishes, Barnes responds, Oscillator tries again.

"Commander Barnes, I -- "  Then it is Amaranth, and Muldoon, and Onyx, and Poco who speak.

And then several of the team head to the kitchen.

"Commander Barnes, I -- " he looks left and right, and no one interrupts, so he continues, "I was hoping you might acknowledge my request for a Telepathic or Psychic super teammate.  Unless you have some military defense for a 'mind attack' which you haven't shared with us, I've deduced that the best defense would be a similar equipped hero.  A psychic hero which we don't have -- yet."

"Will you permit me to scour the computer database and compile a list of possible recruits?"

OOC: An NPC, unless we're getting tons of requests for more characters...?

"Other than that, it looks like I'll be in the kitchen with the team...?"

Nightmare chuckles, and starts to speak to Oscillator, but stops as though some internal dialog suddenly took a sharp turn. Standing, he starts toward the kitchen while he compliments the scientist.
"You know, there is merit in your suggestion that has nothing to do with additional personnel. If we had some device that would allow us to communicate with each other clandestinely, it would seem as if we were telepathic. Perhaps a modified radio, or some such."
"I think I'll see if Muldoon can requisition something like that. That's a very good idea. Thank you, Oscillator."
"Oh, and I am capable of attacking another's mind. I tend to shoot them, instead. It just seems kinder, that way."

"Barnes said he is going to get us some advanced gear, but even the current state of the art is pretty bulky." Muldoon replied. Muldoon knew that the government had mentalists, even ones that might be considered supers. But he also had little hope that someone so valuable would be assigned to the team. But you never knew.


Muldoon was not used to a team with no chain of command. Even when on covert operations there had been a chain of command. But this was just a group of individuals. That could prove deadly, that was less of a danger for some of them then others, but it put them all at risk. But the truth was that Muldoon had not been put in charge of this team, if a leader was going to emerge it was going to take time. Likely it would take blood to be spilled. But trying to force it would be counter productive.

"A beer sounds good."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:25, Fri 28 June 2013.

"Thank you Commander Barnes."  Osc inspected Red Sledgehammer to see how the restraint was holding up.
If Sledge were telepathic or magnetic or capable of teleporting or becoming ethereal somehow, the restraint could fail -- that was why they had installed a alarm to it.  If Sledge got loose, they should know BEFORE he broke anything else.

A last quick question stuck in his mind.

"So what are you going to do with him, Commander?"  Osc tried to sound non-chalant when he said this, but his concern was clear.  Whatever USA did to their captives, Russians would do the same -- or worse.  (Which was why he'd made restraints which should be painless.)

Commander Barnes watches some of the group scatter while a few others ask assorted questions of him. He takes it all in then answers each in turn, with Muldoon first; "Put together your list Master Sgt and I will see what we can get clearance to supply to the group. Working on tactics is definitely a good plan, will be interested to see what comes out."

Commander Barnes turns to Oscillator next; "I hear your desire for a psychic teammate and you are free to check the computer. Problem is, we don't exactly have a boatload of telepaths and those we do have are assigned to monitor high ranking political and military personell. At this point we have no artificial defense for mental attacks and control but research continues slowly. Most likely you will have to make do with what abilities you all have between you." He thinks some about Oscillator's question about Red Sledgehammer before answering; "Well, were it solely up to me I would have him placed in the most inaccessible location we can find but it isn't. We will utilize the system you and Onyx devised to move him to a more secure location while those above me make the big decisions."

Commander Barnes says one last thing to those in the room and to the backs of those heading out; "Good luck in your efforts, and a speedy recovery to the injured. I will be in touch soon with the next mission. Barnes out." With that last word the mic cuts out with a click and the monitor goes blank.

OOC: Everyone can move to and start posting in the SMITE Base and Headquarters thread. It will be about 14 days for everyone to be patched back up to full (the head medic has an Int of 18) which of course will get hand-waved.

KITCHEN?

A couple days after the team returns to the base from their mission in Egypt, the intercom clicks on in every room of the base. The familiar voice of one of the higher-ranking base guards is heard; "Attention to all team members, please assemble in the Ready Room in 30 minutes. Commander Barnes will be calling in to debrief the team on the recent mission. That is all."

Nightmare does nothing to indicate he heard the summons, continuing to chant as he painted tiny words of some sort on a grain of rice. If one looked closely enough, the brush he was using could be seen to be made of human hair.
Even so, fifteen minutes later he set down the brush, capped the ink, and stood to make his way to the briefing room with plenty of time to spare.

Oscillator spends some time prepping his lab area, readying some left-over experiments so that can be left for minutes (or hours) unattended, and then vibra-flies to the Ready Room.

There will be no more explosions in THIS lab ... (we hope).

Eddy groaned, and threw a shoe (or it might have been that late night box of cookies) at the intercom on the wall.
Rolling over, he pulled a pillow tight around his head, and tried to go back to sleep.

Lawrence snarls at the intercom. "Might as well have joined the army."

He reports the assigned room in exactly 30 minutes. Not a minute earlier. Not a minute later.

Vosper came in late and sat in the back, dropping into her chair with an air of resignation without a word.

Muldoon entered the briefing room. Having quickly showered after training, he was dressed in a polo shirt and khaki pants. But even in civilian clothes he carried himself with military bearing.

Everyone is in an seated except Poco and Amaranth. After a few moments the monitor switches on and the team sees Commander Barnes who looks around at those assembled. He waits for a minute without saying anything then finally pipes up; "Amaranth is not with you for reasons I will let her explain. On the other hand Poco is fully expected to be present. If someone would go and wake-up the cat and get his furry ass to this debriefing that would be excellent." Despite his words he doesn't actually seem particularly upset by Poco's absence. The team feels a little tickle in their minds and notices that Commander Barnes looks around where he is for a few moments before settling back into watching for Poco's arrival.

Nightmare stands and walks out, "I'll go, I've been wondering if he purrs in his sleep, anyway."
Sauntering to Poco's room, Nightmare knocks on the door and shouts, "Hey, Eddy! The guys that pay for the steaks wanna see you!"

There may have been purring prior, but Nightmare receives a savage growl in response to his knock.

But moments later, movement, and grumbling, is heard.  And soon enough, Eddy opens the door.
If people wake up with 'bed hair', imagine being covered in the stuff.  Eddy looks a mess ... which is as made worse by his blood-red eyes.
He simple looks at 'Mare a moment, as though trying to recognise the man, then ushers the man to 'lead the way'.

Eddy allows himself to be lead into the Ready Room, making eye contact with nobody.
He chooses a seat next to a wall, so that he can rest his head against said wall, and waves his hand towards Barnsie as though giving the superior permission to carry on.

Many will have noticed the late nights that Eddy has been putting in at the Motor Pool, learning the noble art of Grease Monkeying.

Commander Barnes glares at Poco for just a moment before turning to the team; "Now that the cat has deigned to join us everyone is here who is going to be here. I heard some snippets of information from the operatives but it seems the team got the full treatment on this mission. Who would like to begin with filling me in on *everything* that happened to the team? Oscillator? You are usually quite the font of information, but anyone can start just keep it one at a time."

Onyx lets the others speak up.

"Sir, we encountered a team of Soviet supers, defeated them, and they withdrew empty handed." Muldoon replied simply but truthfully.

Commander Barnes leans forward towards the camera, his gaze pretty obviously focused on Mulddon. When he speaks his voice is flat and even paced; "Well, that is quite interesting. So were the firebirds a part of the Soviet attack? How about the strange gateway that opened to whisk the team away and later return you? Most importantly, what happened with the all-seeing eye? The team didn't bring it back. Did the team find it? What did it look like? Who is in possession of it right now since it doesn't seem that we are?"

"That's a laugh," Vosper snorted bitterly when Muldoon gave his report.  "They kicked our arse up one sand dune and down the other.  We blundered by on luck and balls.  They owned us in a straight up fight."

"As for the magic dingus, yah, we found it.  It's guarded by a bloke who command fire and's lived millenia.  He basically told us 'No, you primitive screw-monkeys aren't ready to play with matches, go home'.  An' if we'd pressed the issue, he could've planted the lot of us and the Russkies combined, I'd wager."

Onyx smiled at Vosper's description of recent events, and he nodded in agreement. He regrets for a moment being hard on her earlier.

"What the British chick says," he adds. "If it wasn't for the sun god dude, you'd be out drafting more recruits for your little army."

Oscillator doens't have a pleasant tone with Barnes.  "This entity you incorrectly refer to as the "all-seeing eye" is an unknown, and by rite of combat with the Russians which we barely managed to win, we earned entry into his domain.  Suffice to say that his technology level is far advanced of anything I've ever seen, and he was also able to re-engineer our own bodies somehow with a molecular chamber.

Seeing as we have so little information on him, and he has all of the power, technology, and data on his side -- I suggest we move on to the next mission.

We met with "the eye" and established an informal alliance based on our mutual good-will.  There is a small chance that he will contact us with relevant information should our world fall into peril, but more likely he will remain neutral -- as he has for thousands of years prior."

Oscillator provides his intel as though it will make Barnes wish to leave the subject.  Osc doesn't realize (despite his capable intelligence) that it's unlikely Barnes will move on so easily.

Then, he goes on a counterattack:  "Again, a significant failing of our mission was in the lack of relevant intelligence a piori.  While somehow you seemed to know all of what we experienced, you lacked the foresight to supply us with accurate information on the target AND we gained all the knowledge of our opponents by facing them in combat -- not by anything provided by you.

So I am interested to know why you don't give us ANY relevant intel before an operation?  If it's classified, wouldn't you think we should gain the access beforehand so we can be effective?"

Oscillator looks to Vosper for any approval, scans the rest of the team to see how they take his venting, and then looks lastly to Muldoon.  Osc and Muldoon have butted heads since they met, but perhaps Muldoon would acknowledge Osc's points -- heck, he'd been bounced brutally in the combat, and with just a little knowledge of the Soviet team he might have had more of a chance to KO a few of them.  And Muldoon and Osc had been seeing more eye-to-eye, somehow.

Commander Barnes listens patiently while Oscillator rants and raves, only replying once he is sure Oscillator is done; "Are you finished now? Good, now it is time for you to listen. I had some knowledge about what went on during your mission because of the debriefed Egyptian operatives. They saw the firebirds and the gateways. As far as your opponents go, the only known one was Usurper as the rest were disguised as soldiers while the one known as Mindwrack was previously unknown to us. Just like you were all disguised as archeologists for cover the Soviets were also, except for Usurper. It is especially difficult to identify Soviet supers by appearance when you have a pair like Firefrost and Singularity whose features are obscured by the manifestation of their power. Once we got wind the Soviets were up to something we acted to get the team there so that we were not far behind them. If we didn't act quickly the Soviets could have obtained the all-seeing eye first but apparently it was both more and less than either of our governments expected."

Commander Barnes stops for a moment to digest some of the other information then continues; "As far as this entity goes I don't think ANYONE, not even the Egyptians, expected that. We, and I assume the Soviets, were operating under the idea that the all-seeing eye was an object. The fact that there is an entity of such age and power in control of that technology is of great concern. How much can he see? What is he capable of? I am most concerned about the information this being has access to, whether or not he remains neutral. I admit to being curious about what relevant information he may be able to provide, should he wish it. If the team has established a positive rapport with this entity that is at least a step in right direction."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Sun 06 July 2014.

Eddy smirked mirthfully at Egghead's rage.
But really couldn't find the energy to do much more.

Vos gave Osc a crisp nod, her brows still knit from her earlier commentary.  At Barnes' questions, she shrugged.

"From what I saw, he can pretty much track anything and everything.  He's probably listening in to this convo right now," she said.  "He demonstrated the ability to teleport others at will, yanking us on and off the battlefield as we were injured or recovered.  He manifested those firebirds.  His tech is as beyond ours as ours is beyond a caveman's.  I'm sure he's got limitations - everything does - but we didn't see any signs of what they were. Other than the fact he's not interested in interfering in our 'petty squabbles'."

"You're wasting your time, commander. The all-seeing eye is powerful, and watching your every move. But he is like a hermit in a cave, gifted with great insight and wisdom but lacking any reason to aim it in our direction."
"Even the favor of such a being is a two-edged sword; it may grant you power and ease your transition to your future state, but only if the future state you seek is partially or completely defined by the being."
The muscle above Nightmare's left cheekbone quivers, "If there's one thing we don't need, it's another god to bow to. I think we're well beyond quota in that area, as it is."

Osc chuckled when Vosper said Rammses might be listening now.  Likely true.
"Maybe you should just ASK him to reveal himself or introduce himself or something...?

And try a nice approach, don't be such a 'military type'.  No offense intended."

Not that being an earnest scientist had earned him much confidence from the 'all seeing eye'.

Maybe a military hard-head would have better chances?

Eddy watched the precedings, a mirthful grin on his lips, and his head rested on the wall beside.
His eyes were actually open.

As if on-cue, the familiar voice of Ramesses echoes in everyone's mind. The team, being familiar with the impending sensation, is able to play it cool. To his credit, Commander Barnes is able to stop himself from jumping out of his seat although he again looks around the room he is in. With a mental chuckle the ancient being begins to speak; "You have no need to worry Commander Barnes, I have no desire to interfere in what goes on between your two countries overall. Despite the danger, there seems to be a delicate balance you have with your nuclear forces countering theirs and neither side wishing to be the first to strike. My concern is things that could tip the balance significantly, perhaps making it so one side could strike the other without even being known it was them. Your new missile guidance system was not such a thing, a ballistic missile launch is quite obvious no matter what you do to try and conceal it. I do want to make it clear as well that I am no god and have no delusions in that area. Even with my technology I still cannot watch everything all the time so there are things I don't see. My name for those who do not know is Ramesses. Yes I know that implies I am the son of Ra but he is no more a god than I am. Truly I have no desire to be worshipped in any way."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:34, Wed 09 July 2014.

Commander Barnes listens to the words from Ramesses but stammers and harumphs some, still trying to collect himself fully from his surprise. He rustles some papers about and peeks in a few notebooks. It is pretty obvious he is used to being at the top of things and that this new development has flustered him. While he wrestles with his thoughts the image of Ramesses appears on the screen and from the commander's reaction has appeared there as well. His image turns here and there as if seeing who will be first to respond.

OOC: So yeah, here is a place for people to jump in. I will have Commander Barnes respond but I don't want to be having a conversation by myself with myself. Feel free to take this and run with it a bit. I promise not to draw it out too long so people can get to some legit downtime. :)

Onyx enjoys Commander Barnes' confusion.

"Looks like this Ramesses dude has a lid on everything. Maybe we could melt down some of the swords and use them to give some bread to the people."

The power of the mysterious creature was staggering and more than a little unsettling, but Onyx also knew that war was the tool used by the haves to keep the have nots in line and under the thumb. He had no love for Barnes and did not hide it very well.

Oscillator may have been the least surprised person in the room at Ramesses' appearance.  "Ramesses, I had figured you would be in touch with us soon, as you'd said.  I hadn't realized it would be THIS soon, but I'm not surprised.

I think it's important that you divulge one piece of information to us, namely that your eavesdropping technology is independent of us -- us, being this super-team who you have clearly tinkered with -- so we do not lose our security clearances.

I'm not sure how you understand our military structures, but perhaps you realize that they will likely view you as a threat.  If you want to prove your neutrality AND stay on this country's good side, perhaps you could provide a small tidbit which the General could use to argue your case?

For instance, could you perhaps take him to your base and show your intentions to him personally?"  This is unlikely, and a bit of a joke to Oscillator.

He doubts Barnes will take it that way, however.

Nightmare shrugs, "I think it would be best if Ramesses were not known to be affiliated with either side. If we thought the Russians had such capabilities as Ramesses does, we would be launching a pre-emptive strike already. If the Russians decide the same about us, we should be expecting their missiles any moment, now."
"But don't take my word for this, ask the commander what he would do if he thought Ramesses were working for the other side."

Muldoon, who had so far stayed fairly quiet spoke up "I agree. The Russians are likely unhappy with the outcome, but still unsure of what occurred after the engagement. Best it stay that way."

While Commander Barnes looks taken aback at Oscillator's suggestion, he relaxes some as Ramesses's next words are heard in everyone's mind; "While the suggestion of showing your commander what I am has *some* merit, I defer to the logic of the remarks from the one called Nightmare. Simply based upon what I have observed of your two nations it is best to not openly take a stance on either side. That being said what I have to offer is a subterranean Soviet base in Antarctica where they have been doing bioweapons research. While that is not unusual of itself, in that both nations are doing it, what they are working on would definitely tip the balance. Up until now your bioweapons have been crude at best and it is easy to determine who has used them. If the Soviets are successful here they will have a virulent bioweapon that does not need to be delivered via conventional weapons systems, it can be inserted into target areas silently and its potential effects upon the environment could be devastating. There is still a considerable amount of time until they reach their goal but their successes to date have been disturbing. I can give your commander the coordinates and you can all plan your approach."

At Ramesses's words, Commander Barnes's eyes go wide then narrow into angry slits. He seems to have come back to himself as his voice booms over the speakers into the room; "For now I don't care how you know of some of our programs, we can take that up later. If the Russkies are playing around with a kind of germ warfare that they could use without it being tracked back to them we *have* to respond. That base needs to be taken out and all the samples and information *completely* destroyed. Where is it? I need that information so I can determine what resources to gather for the mission."

Nightmare deadpans "If it's in Antarctica, we'll need shovels, and long underwear."

"Couldn't they have a secret base in Bermuda like those James Bind books." Muldoon said with a laugh

"We have to stop them.  If we can," Vosper said, straightening up and growing serious.  "Is there any backup?  We're no match for that lot in a stand-up fight."

Onyx frowns at the thought of icebergs and snow fields as far as the eye can see. His frown only deepens as he hears Vosper suggest they can't handle the Russians.

"Bad tactics did us in. We know what they can do now. I'm bringing some chains with me this time."

Ramesses listens to the comments from some of the team then speaks in everyone's mind again; "I know you would not be facing the same group, they happen to be back in the Soviet Union as we speak. Some of them need significant medical attention and it may be some time before they are fully recovered. Also, despite my disdain for bioweapons, I do understand their selected location. It is remote and in part guarded by the environment. It is actually extremely dry down there and that helps with that type of research. Even though they have no way of knowing their location prevents my direct intervention as anything I could do would have potentially disastrous environmental consequences."

"I suggest we bring a bomb.  A really big one; preferably an air/fuel bomb.  If worst comes to worst, we can blow the base that way," Vosper ventured.

"And I suggest we take a toboggan.   Oh, and sparklers", he grinned! looking at the faces around the room.
"Can you imagine going down some of those slopes!", he continued! his eyes lighting up with the fantasies running through his head, "HOLDING SPARKLERS!"

"I was serious. I don't think we'll need more than warm clothes and shovels. Having a base in such a place is like having a base in a submarine. To destroy it, you just let the outside come in."

Oscillator stands up.
"Hold on a moment, my fellow compatriots.  I'm all for helping defend the nation, preserve the peace, and stop villainous evil.  But I will not be a part of a mission to blow up a lot of scientists with a big bomb just because people are afraid."

He sits back down.
"There are many bad things which can be done with science, but we don't know that the scientists themselves are bad, nor do we know that their research can only be used for evil.  Maybe their bio-research could be adapted to cure horrible diseases like Polio, Smallpox, or other global plagues...?"

Oscillator rarely sounds so emotional -- perhaps the idea of blowing up a lot of scientists rankles him in a personal way?  Or maybe Ramesses sun-chamber made him more emotional?

"Guessing you have never met the kind of scientists the Soviets have working on a project like this one. I was not so fortunate, I have seen first hand one what Soviet scientists are capable of doing."

"My guess is at least more than few ex Nazi types, you know the ones experimented on innocents in the death camps. But even if some of the scientists have deluded themselves into thinking creating they are doing the right thing, I am prepared to sacrifice them to protect millions of innocents and defend our nation." Muldoon said.

"The NAZI argument is convincing, however you should know the USA has far more ex-NAZI scientists than the Russians do."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:25, Sun 13 July 2014.

"Know that for a fact, do you, Osc?" Vos interjects.

"A lot of ex-Nazi scientists fled to the West during the Berlin airlift, for sure," she continued.  "But many were captured by the Reds, even before the war's end.  I know a bit about this.  You Yanks look across the pond at what happened; to me an' mine, it was our back yard."

"I've no love of killin' anyone with a bomb, but if there's some labcoats workin' on Armageddon that get in the way, then maybe they ought to've not been workin' on it to begin with, hey?"

"Not only the Nazis and Commies who experiment on their own," Onyx adds without looking for any particular response.

Osc tones down, not wanting to confront or disagree with Vosper.
"I have no idea on the actual numbers, but my understanding was that.
Unless we know these scientists are deliberately aiming to harm many people, I will defend them just as I would defend anyone."

Hearing the talk about bombs and scientists puts Commander Barnes back on comfortable ground. He steps into the conversation with a military tone back in his voice; "OK team, don't sweat the scientists. Most likely they will bail when the shit hits the fan, those that don't aren't regular scientists. As far as bombs go, what you are bandying about is not going to be provided. We want this as covert as we can. Two of the most important things about bioweapons research are purity of atmosphere and controlled temperature. The team will be provided with thermite charges to set off in critical research areas. That will both obliterate research equipment AND whatever bioweapons they have, fire is good for that. Any other research materials and notes found are to be destroyed as well."

Oscillator's voice jumps an octave.  "Don't you want to capture the data?  Destroying science out of unexamined fear is a guarantee of increasing human ignorance."

Oscillator looks at the Commander, regaining his composure.  "I'm concerned that you have such a low regard for science.  It makes me question our purpose.  We should be protecting science, perhaps locking away the most dangerous avenues of research -- but not destroying science out of fear."

Commander Barnes nods his head knowingly, having expected that line of thought from Oscillator. Once Oscillator is done he replies; "Don't get me wrong, our government would love to know what the Soviets were working on. The problem is, if it is as potentially devastating as Ramesses makes it out to be they would not take well to knowing WE now have the information. Bringing the information to our side would tip the balance dangerously in our favor, risking some kind of major Soviet action. The *safest* thing to do is to destroy the bioweapon research, there is plenty of research information out there that isn't for use as an invisible weapon."

"I don't know if I'll ever understand the military mind."

Oscillator huffs and puffs in his seat, quite perturbed.

Quietly, Nightmare responds to Oscillator, "military mind my aunt petunia, some things humans aren't ready for, yet."

Vos folded her arms. "You're betting an awful lot on our ability to overcome the Russians, Commander," she said quietly.  "A bomb would be more sure."

"What Nightmare said," Vosper agreed. "There are no 'right hands' for some kinds of things.  Like deadly bioweapons."

"The reason Ramesses gave us this information is because he feels it is a threat to mankind. I have seen some pretty horrific shit in my life, I would not mind doing something to spare the world another horror. Never seen a weapon that did not end up in the wrong hands eventually. So I say we follow our orders and destroy the data." Muldoon said in reply to Oscillator.

Muldoon transformed into his Inhuman form "As for the scientists you keep defending, I was the unwilling subject of one of those ex Nazi communist scientists you keep defending. They made me into this thing. It took months of trial and error and was excruciatingly painful. Many of my fellow prisoners did not survive."

"Let me tell you, killing that inhuman son of a bitch was one of the best things I ever did. If I get my hands on any of his colleagues I will put an end to their days as well."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:28, Mon 14 July 2014.

"Ahem.  Perhaps we should look at these situations from a more evolved perspective with principles and less 'good guys vs bad guys' viewpoint?  For instance, how can we be certain USA doesn't possess deadly weaponry and Ramesses hasn't told the Russians the same information?" Oscillator threw that as more of a possibility than as a real suggestion.  Osc believed Ramesses.

To Inhuman, "I appreciate your unique upset at your perceived failure of the experiment which created you and caused you suffering, but it is undeniable that WE are clearly weapons in our own way, and I for one don't believe humanity is unfit to handle super powered people -- particularly since I am a human, as are all of us.

(I'm not sure what Ramesses is, but that's a side topic.)"


But he looked at Barnes, and Poco, and then up at the ceiling.  "Although obviously I question the judgement of MANY humans."

"You want to pass on this one Ossy, you know where the door is, don't let it hit you on the way out. The rest of us have a job to do." The Inhuman said.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Tue 15 July 2014.

Eddy was whistling; to himself, but it drifted through the room pervasively.

It was a fun little ditty that he'd heard at the big top circus recently, particularly as the clown garroffed about.

"I don't need a door, and I'm not leaving.   To you soldiers, everything looks like an enemy or a target.  But to a scientist, fellow scientists often are also victims or dupes.  Anyway, I'm staying -- hopefully as a moderating influence over all you 'big chested macho brawlers'."

"Hey, jarhead," Vos snarked.  "Don't pick on the smartest man in the room to compensate.  He's got some crackpot ideas.  He may be a crackpot, but he's our crackpot."

Eddy' stone faltered as he sniggered at Vos's comment, but then he returned this mocking tune stronger than before.

Commander Barnes listens to all the back-and-forth, shaking his head as he does so and looking more perturbed with each word. He finally yells out to the team through the speaker; "Alright now, everybody settle down! I know this isn't a military group so I have been extending some slack but this is getting ridiculous. Poco, quit it with the sardonic whistling. Muldoon and Oscillator, stop sniping at each other. Vosper, cool it on egging the two of them on. We are going to look into this information from Ramesses, do our own research. The team will have down time until then, I suggest perhaps learning to work together a bit more as one goal. If the team honestly is not interested in taking this on we can find another group to do so and send you on some other mission. I was hoping to get some more information about the supers the team faced to add to our database, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. Ramesses as you are listening I thank you for the information, we will look into it. As far as the team goes this debriefing is OVER unless there is anyone who can provide more information in an ordered manner."

Finishing his diatribe, Commander Barnes settles back, regaining his normal military composure but looks around the room through the screen. There is also a sense of waiting in people's minds, a sign that Ramesses is likely still present mentally.

Nightmare looks at the Commander, smiling grimly, "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm visiting that Russian lab. At this point, whether or not it explodes some time afterward is not mine to say."

Onyx laughs in response to Nightmare's comment and holds his hand up for a high five.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:19, Tue 15 July 2014.

Oscillator thinks Vosper might be defending him, and he blushes -- and then when he hears her 'defense', he stammers.  "Crackpot?!?!?  Errrr..." but he has nothing to say.


After Barnes commentary, Oscillator rediscovers his voice.  "All the data I observed I already input into the database -- before I resumed working in the lab, of course.  I'm surprised you didn't hear about it, I had your enlisted guys loading in thousands of punchcards into your computer."

"You have very detailed entries on Backlash, Firefrost, Mindwrack, Singularity, Usurper added, as well as Red Sledgehammer and Shroud from our previous encounters.  I added some vague data on the 'All Seeing Eye' which you might want to red-flag as bogus data to mislead any Russians who might gain access to spy into your systems, and I ommitted Ramesses completely."

Oscillator paused.  "I'm much better writtten than spoken, and figure you don't need ALL of our accounts of these villains verbally...?"

Eddy did stop whistling; and gave a casual little salute, a mirthful smirk on his face, as he remained leaning against the wall.

Commander Barnes looks intently at Oscillator, surprised that the scientist is still somewhat fuzzy on what a debriefing is. Moments later he replies; "Yes yes, I understand that the database has been updated. That is an expected part of any mission. The debriefing serves the purpose of getting individual takes on the mission as well as an opportunity to 'decompress' as it were. It is also the opportunity to ask questions as well as providing preliminary information about any upcoming mission. Since people seem content to leave things as they are, I will close the debriefing. I will be in touch about the Antarctic mission once we have had the chance to gather our own intelligence. Use the time wisely, talk to you all soon. Barnes out!" With that last statement the monitor goes to static and there is a *clunk* as the intercom shuts off abruptly. The team is left in silence although it is still obvious Ramesses is lurking on the periphery of people's thoughts.

OOC: So people will have some downtime, feel free to do some RP with each other in the Base and HQ thread. Also, anything people are looking to do please let me know (stunts, etc.) so the negotiations can begin.

Oscillator addresses the team, "Well, that didn't go quite favorably, did it?  Ha Ha.  Oh well.  Anyways..."

Pause.

"Ahem, teammates, on this break, I want to offer to help make something for anyone on the team who might benefit from a specialized device -- a prototype.  (Not you Poco, your powers don't seem to need gear.)"

"I was thinking of Vosper and Nightmare specifically -- possibly some unique darts or bullets?  I had been sketching up a 'light focusing crystal' for Onyx back when we fought Shroud, so Onyx could theoretically blind and blast someone -- but theoretically it might only work for a one or two shots before burning out."  (OOC: ie 1-shot invention specifically vs Shroud)

"And maybe Inhuman -- but I'm not sure I can anticipate how you think, so I have no idea what you might need, frankly.  And I might be able to make something for Amaranth, but again I have no idea what she might want...?"

"Errr, so I can probably only work on one of these concepts on this break, so is anyone interested?"

"If no one is interested, that's fine -- believe me, I have more than enough of my own projects I'd like to work on."

Oscillator scans his teammates faces.  He looks uncomfortable; he's better in the laboratory, or out in the field.  Social interaction has never been his forte.

OOC:  I doubt GM would allow me to do hi-tech work for all players, but maybe you guys can beg AND we could say Osc 'oversees' the tech designs and GM might allow more than one invention during break.  Also, Osc is not offering to drop an Inv Pt for your characters, hopefully you would have one to spend...?

"I'm cool for now, but if I need new toys, I know where to find you."

Osciliator had a way of getting on Lawrence's nerves. Although he had tried to be a scientist himself, he never had the brain for it. All it got him was the bizarre accident that gave him his powers, which was not bad, but even he could never explain what he had done or how it had happened.

Oscilator's clearly superior scientific knowledge and skill gave Onyx memories of the ambitions his father had for him that never came true. Onyx tried not to hold any of this against Osc, but the feelings came up whether he wanted them to or not.

Vos smiles kindly, if somewhat sadly, at Osc.  "S'all right mate.  I don't know what you can rig up for me that'll help.  Maybe see what Nightmare needs?  But I'm down for whatever.  Right now, I figure I need a pint.  Or six."

Once the briefing ended the Inhuman transformed into Muldoon "Wouldn't mind some of them x-ray glasses they got in the funny pages." Muldoon replied with a smile.

"I don't need much in the way of equipment these days, I am a human weapon." Muldoon said to clarify his response, though a pair of x-ray glasses would be cool.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Wed 23 July 2014.

"Frankly, I think Commander Barnes could commit some R&D to our team's success, but since I haven't seem him do anything except assigning us missions lacking sufficient intelligence, and being grouchy, I figured I'd step up to be the team's chief of R&D."

He leans over to Vosper before she 'zips away' for her pint(s), and says softly "Vosper, the difference between pretty good and near perfection may be only a slight adjustment."
He smiles, thinking he is providing effective encouragement.

Osc doesn't reply to Muldoon.  He had anticipated that any suggestion to him might be rebuffed.

But Osc was surprised the no one on the team was jumping at a chance for an upgrade.  Perhaps if the team had been easily winning their previous battles, that would make sense.
Maybe it was best that Osc focus his efforts in private, and reveal his inventions in the field...?

Vosper really only wanted to get a good heat on while she had time.  With her metabolism, she could get plastered, sift through the hangover and be ready to roll in hours, rather than a full day.  But something about Osc's kind-hearted, somewhat-ham-handed attempt gave her pause, and made her smile.

"You're all right, mate," she grinned.  "Roight.  Okay.  If you can," she amended.

"Well if we are done I will join you for that pint." Muldoon said to Vosper.

Since their return Muldoon had focused on training. First to help Vosper rebound from the last battle, but also to gain a better understanding of the changes to his body. He had wanted to speak with Ossy about it, specifically to try and gain a scientific understanding of his physiology, but after the last run in Muldoon decided he might just need to look at some books on physics.



OOC Hey Ossy, how about we get your character's real name so we can call in Dr. Richards or Dr. Smith or something besides Ossy.

At Vosper's reply, Oscillator beamed.

OOC:  Jonas Oslow, PhD.  Professor with expertise in vibration/oscillation/resonance.
I updated his description, thought the name was already in there.

As people slowly trickled out, and no one seemed to be approaching him for gear help (except Vosper), Oscillator looked more and more uncomfortable.

"Ahem, yes, you get to your drinking.  Keep in mind that drinking destroys brain cells, which are the rudiments of your intelligence, personality, and your memories.  You won't likely find any Nobel prize-winners drinking.  Be careful, is what I mean to say."

He adjusted his lab coat and tie, preparing to vibra-fly back to his lab.

” Blows to the head of much the same effect right Doc? what I mean as be careful.” Muldoon said with a laugh.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Wed 23 July 2014.

At Osc's admonitions, Vos couldn't help but quirk a brow. "I regenerate," she pointed out.  "Even so, average blokes and birds use less than 10% of their brain pan.  Figure I've got some to spare.  You?  Care to join us?"

Nightmare sits quietly as the others start to leave, then seems to come to a decision as he speaks, "Could you introduce a vibration into a whip that might allow it to stun its target?"

Lawrence suppresses a smile as the doc adjusts his tie and flies away. He had decided not to like the dude, but the egghead was making it hard to stick with the plan.

Onyx joins in with the drinking.

"I could use a Colt 45 or three," he says. "As my brother Billy Dee says, 'It works every time.'"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Wed 23 July 2014.

Oscillator is heading out and ignores Vosper's invitation -- assuming it's not meant for him.  Her comment about regenerating was smart, and probably accurate.  He'd have to remember that if he ever really wanted to drink that he might take a CRIT injector to heal his brain afterwards -- except they were rather expensive and time-consuming to manufacture.

Oscillator stops in mid-air, about to vibra-fly out.  "There are many ways to stun someone, Nightmare -- sonic, electric, neurochemicals, drugs.  Are you attached to vibratory stunning?
Your abilities you showed on the last mission might be enhanced by a neurochemical whip...?
Regardless, I can definitely look into it.  Come up to my lab and we'll talk specifics?"

Then he turns and flies up and thru the roof.

Oscillator flies up through the ceiling, and Nightmare remarks, "That's good, I wanted an excuse to keep the whip."
He ambles out, but moves aimlessly and whether or not he reaches the lab is in doubt.

One month has passed and 1 week since the team received the envelope from Commander Barnes. The intercom clicks on and every team member hears the base sergeant's voice call out over it; "Attention to all team members, please assemble in the Ready Room in 30 minutes. Commander Barnes will be briefing the team on the next mission. That is all."

Eddy is, unusually, the first to arrive.
He seems in good spirits.

Oscillator vibra-flies in, sets down, then starts chuckling.
"I shouldn't laugh, this likely will be bad."

He holds his breath, then resumes laughing.
"An exploding whip!  HA HA"

There is, for all intents and purposes, a ruckus coming. The chorus of repetitive sounds including 'gasp!' and 'wothahay!' becomes louder as the ruckus approaches the Ready Room. The culmination of the ruckus is clear as the eight and a half foot tall, quarter ton, man ape walks into the room...

and reverts to a more familiar form and face. Nightmare leans out the door and shouts back down the hall, "Sorry, just tryin' on a new suit."
He turns and continues into the Ready Room, responding to the epithets flying from those upset by his passage only by saying, "You dress up your way, I'll dress up mine."

Muldoon arrived in the room ready for the briefing. He was itchin' to get a shot at the Soviets and there secret base. Taking a seat he waited for Barnes to arrive.

Vosper came in and sat in the back, without a word.  She'd been extremely reclusive, keeping to herself, of late.

"Добро пожаловать друг, рад тебя видеть." Muldoon said to Vosper as she entered.

"Been studying, Officer Muldoon?  Never took you for multilingual.  A bit of an anomalous characteristic for a jar-head?"

Oscillator was ready to fly away should Muldoon take the comment the wrong way.

He was super strong, but not very quick.

"Спасибо товарищу," Vosper replied quietly. Thanks, comrade.

Her lips quirked into a hint of a smile at Osc's words, though.  The first smile she'd shown in quite a while.

"Marines are jar heads. I am a paratrooper, we are full of surprises." Muldoon replied.

"Unconventional warfare requires the ability to communicate with indigenous personnel, so most Green Berets are multilingual. But I picked up most of my language skills in the field on various operations along with some other tricks."

"So Nightmare that shape shifting bit is that something new? Can you take on any form?"

Nightmare raises his eyebrows as he replies, "Shapeshifting? I guess you could call it that. I was attempting to mold my spirit into a form that would be similar to a creature indigenous to a cold, windy area. The Dzu-Teh live in some of the most inhospitable areas on the planet, it seemed a good place to start."
He smiles at Muldoon as he continues, "I wasn't expecting the external modifications to be as extensive as they were, still, changing your spirit doesn't seem nearly as silly as leaping from a perfectly good airplane."

With everyone assembled in the Ready Room the monitor snaps on and the speaker crackles into use. Commander Barnes's face appears on the monitor and he addresses the team; "So let's just jump right into things. I am assuming you all have had the opportunity to look over the information I had sent last week? If this is the case I am curious as to the team's thoughts on the mission. I am not feeling anything yet but I imagine that we should be graced with Ramesses's mental presence anytime soon."

"We have been spit balling some ideas for insertion. One option is to infiltrate via the Soviets own resupply craft. Another would be inserted nearby and then penetrate the defenses and infiltrate the base."

"Any thoughts Sir?" Muldoon asked Barnes.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:12, Sat 20 Sept 2014.

Onyx sat to the side. He paid attention but showed no indication of intending to speak.

Sitting in the back, Vosper shifted and sighed, lifting her head and forcing herself to focus on the mission ahead of them.



"Yah," she agreed with Muldoon.  "Muldoon and I both speak fluent Russian.  We could infiltrate on a supply run, get inside, and let the others in.  Outside will be harsh.  Extreme weather like most of us has never seen, lads."

"By myself, I think I could get in. That point is moot. I think we need to know more about the security at the facility before we assume getting any one or two of us inside would get anyone else past the fence."
"Besides, one of the issues we would have would be the safety of those waiting outside. Assuming we could avoid the inevitable security patrols, assuming they haven't deployed any external devices to watch the perimeter, we'ld still have to survive inhospitable conditions for some time."
"So, Commander, I think we should requisition some of the best cold weather gear and portable shelters you've got available."

"I can change my appearance to appear as another person .." Muldoon said without moving a muscle, Muldoon's features transformed into that of a different person. He appeared more heavily muscled with dark brown hair and a more European look.

".. which would assist us in the infiltration of the base." He said in English with a German accent as he took a cigar from his shirt pocket.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Mon 22 Sept 2014.

The familiar tickle appears in the minds of all of the team and from the momentary widening of the eyes Commander Barnes as well. Moments later Ramesses's voice is heard in everyone's head; "While those are all valid ideas there is likely too much room for error. My thought was to gate the team within a few miles of the base leaving only a small distance to travel. It would be timed for a couple days after the relief team drops off supplies and leaves. That would enable everyone to be fresh to infiltrate the base." As the voice finishes Commander Barnes is seen nodding his head as the potential benefits go through his mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Thu 15 Jan 2015.

"Well, hell, mate, if yer gonna drive, why not?" Vos replied.  "Save us the trouble, and keep the distractions to a minimum."

"I agree with Rameses completey.  Gating, errr, um, teleporting, this would afford us surprise and maximize our ... freshness, ummm."

"Although if Ramesses were to miss, somehow, I might be the only one that could survive if we were to be 'gated' into the depths of the earth, for instance."

Oscillator notes the lack of difficulty he has in communicating with someone clearly not there and without any infrastructure.  What would he call the technology if he invented it ...?

"Remote Interactivity Procedure", he mumbles to himself.  Then Osc looks around to make sure he hasn't been overheard.

"Can you get us out the same way Ramesses?" Muldoon asked.

Nightmare turns to Muldoon, "Considering what we intend to leave behind, I doubt getting us out will be a problem."
"Besides, Commander Barnes is certain to have a contingency plan that involves transportation."

"To gate successfully, must we all be together at preset coordinates,
or can you locate each of us individually while we are in motion...?"

The concept of 'Remote Interactivity Procedure' was still astounding to ponder,
all the variables required ...

Oscillator imagined the possibility of only 'gating' a foot, or just the spine,
or blending subjects as they are reassembled at the remote point.  'Yeeesh!'  He shuddered.

"We don't want anything to go wrong with gating."  '-- because it could be horrible...'
he didn't say that last thought, but anyone could see the thought emote across his face.

"I have been am unwilling guest of the Russkies, and I'm here to tell you that you want to be sure you got a way out of there." Muldoon said in reply to Nightmare.

Nightmare gives Muldoon half a smile, "Back in my 'pacifist' phase, so was I."
"We're blowing the place up, getting out should be easy, getting away will be the trick. Maybe we co-ordinate with a dog sled or two."

Ramesses speaks again in everyone's minds; "There is no safety issue for the gating, it is the same process I used to bring you all to me and to face the Soviets. As far as locating you again if you return to a pre-designated position that shouldn't be a problem even if there is a blizzard blowing. I imagine your Commander Barnes has contingency ideas that can be used just in case."

As Ramesses finishes "speaking" Commander Barnes harrumphs to get the team's attention; "Ah quite right there as a guess Ramesses. The team will be outfitted with the most advanced cold-weather gear we have and if the gate is big enough could move winter-camouflaged snowmobiles through just in case. Some emergency supplies, maps, and guidance devices can be included as well as shelter-building gear. Hopefully of course this would all be unnecessary with your 'gate' but fortune favors the prepared. Any thoughts/input from the team?"

"We bust the place up enough, there won't be any chasin' going on."

As he says this Onyx's eyes glow with golden energy.

"Ramesses says he can do the job, trust the brother."

Lawrence had decided that an Egyptian god being must be a brother, even if he'd never laid eyes on him.

Eddy sat cleaning his clawnails, with his clawnails.
He was bored, as usual.

Old Barnsey would give them the equipment they needed. Ramesses would send them there.
There'd be a shit-fight in a snow-storm, and they'd bunk out.  The bomb'd blow the joint, and Ramesses would send them home.

It all seemed very obvious to Eddy.
But you had to let the Joe's and Eggheads 'think it out', didn't you.
They prided themselves on their 'thinking'.

Oscillator thought, 'Snowmobiles...?   My goodness, the military is so obsessed with macho gear, but lacking intelligence & creativity & insight...'

But for some reason which no-one would ever know , he said nothing.

"My thoughts?" Vos asked.

"Time's a'wastin'."

Osc smirked.  At this rate, it would be 2014 before they did anything.
"Certainly, it seems our 1 month delay has lasted 100 months!!  Ha Ha"
Relativity ...

Onyx lightly bumps his fist on the arm of his chair twice and nods in response to Vosper's comment.

"The lady is right."

Commander Barnes peers about the room through the monitor for a moment before nodding his head; "Well that is that then. Go and pack up the requisite heavy winter gear and anything else you may need. I will have the motor pool assemble snowmobiles with winter supplies and have them ready topside in 12 hours. The necessary thermite demolitions charges will be present also at that time. I am sure Ramesses will be monitoring our activities and will be ready to gate the team to the infiltration point once everything is prepared. Team is dismissed, Barnes out!" As the final syllables echo in the room the monitor snaps off and a *clunk* is heard from the speakers.

The team still feels Ramesses's presence in their minds, quite possibly to stay through the next 12 hours. No one ever got an idea whether he sleeps or rests in any way...

OOC: If there is anything specific people think they may require for the mission (within reason) please let me know. The "winter gear and supplies" should cover pretty much everything but I figured to check.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Wed 19 Nov 2014.

Eddy seemed happier and more light hearted now that the meeting was over.  He sprung up and headed for his quarters to grab his stuff.
Finally, the game was afoot ... or, in his case, apaw.

He was one of the first to arrive in the motor pool, where he'd spent much of his spare time in recent months.

Vos sauntered in, uncharacteristically late.  She had a duffle and was wearing cold weather gear.  Nodding to Poco, she gave him a thumb's up.

Muldoon was finally getting used to the lack of preparation needed when your team had super abilities. He had worked with other super soldiers, but they were largely just enhanced. He and a few others had been part of the same project and had worked together, but none of them had powers like his current team.


Taking a puff from his cigar, Muldoon, still in the new adopted form exhaled and then spoke. "We go in hit them hard and fall back to the rally point and extract. I think that covers it sir."

"Though I have one question, Ramesses. What can you tell us about what is going on in there? What are we up against? And what is so heinous that you are willing to assist us?" Muldoon asked. Muldoon knew all too well what the Soviets were capable of in order to achieve their aim of world domination. In a place much like the target they are literally ripped him apart at the molecular level. The process had been so painful Muldoon had nearly lost his mind. Now it was time for some pay back.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:26, Sun 23 Nov 2014.

As the sound of Muldoon's questions finish echoing in the room, the team hears Ramesses's voice in their heads; "Not to stand on technicalities, but that is actually THREE questions. That being said I will provide what information I know. There are about one dozen research scientists down in the base, engaging in bioweapons research far below the ice. The Soviets seem to be trusting to the remoteness and intense cold of the location as there only appear to be a handful of soldiers for security, about 6 in the facility with another 6 on patrol above in pairs. What they are researching is a weaponized, untraceable version of the bubonic plague. The strain they are working on they hope to be untraceable, fast-acting, and highly resistant to antibiotics. The targeted mortality looks to be high, even WITH medical treatment. If they succeed and it is deployed uncounted millions of people could die....painfully. There is no honor in killing those who cannot fight back. Does that answer your questions sufficiently?"

Oscillator vibra-flew into the room, coming up from under the ground ... right into Muldoon's smoke cloud.  "Urk!"
He coughed until he could speak, "I've been practicing the vibra-flying thru the ground -- it's a little challenging to know where you're going when flying through ground."  Osc was speaking to Vosper, possibly Muldoon, but wasn't sure either of them would care.

Osc seemed less connected to the group -- perhaps b/c of the days he'd spent in the lab over the last month?  Or was it something else...?

Osc wears a backpack which snaps securely into his armored vest, and wears a small circlet which sits at his temple.

"I'd be happier if we had a backup strategy, in case 'gating' were to have any problems...?  And also some hard intel on what we're about to face -- but I know that'd be asking for a lot."

The team was stronger and more experienced, but Oscillator wondered if perhaps they needed some entrepreneurial help -- the government might be effective at running the military, but was it the best place for a genius scientist?  For a superteam?  Maybe he'd bring the issue up the next time they were all trapped for awhile...?

Nightmare had walked in quietly and said nothing. He was wearing his usual trench coat, carrying his usual complement of pistols and entangling weapons. Those that look will notice he had brought his nightstick, but otherwise appears almost ill-equipped for the journey.
"So," he says, "who carries what?"

To Nightmare, Osc hands a gift package. "You can carry this.  It's the least I could do."

"I realized I had more question as I went on, but yes that does answer those questions. But I still have three more." Muldoon replied.

"Are any over the Soviet supers on site? If so who are they and what are their abilities?

There is a long pause after Muldoon's questions before Ramesses's voice echoes once more in everyone's minds; "I have not seen anyone who displays any signs of metapower on the base, but unfortunately that does not mean much. There may be none of what you call 'supers' or every single person on the base is. Barring obvious displays of power or costumes such as you all wear there is no easy way for me to tell. With what they have on site there is little need for overt metapower to be displayed. I *can* say however that none of those who you faced in the desert are present at least."

Muldoon nodded "Well sounds like we are as ready as we are going to be."

Nightmare grins out, "I've got on my woolens, I just wonder if we've requisitioned enough explosives."

"Can you say where the Russians we have faced are currently located?"

While it wasn't specifically relevant, Oscillator was hoping the team might get their own chance to smash the Russian superHQ -- just as they had tried to smash theirs.

Once more the team hears Ramesses's voice in their heads replying to Oscillator; "They were transported into the Kremlin and one of the facilities within it."

At 0730 hours the next AM after the team returns from Antarctica the PA system chimes in with an alarm to wake the team. Moments later a voice pipes in stating that the team is to assemble in the Ready Room at 0800 hours for debriefing.

OOC: So people can make their way to the Ready Room. I figured to at least get that aspect of the game rolling while I try and determine what comes next mission-wise...

Vosper had slept nearly the entire time.  Her metabolism had burned every scrap of energy in her system.  She'd paused to wash the blood and gore away, trash what was left of her uniform, and then went comatose.

The next morning, she wolfed down four breakfasts, then made her way to the Ready Room in sweats and a jogging shirt.

As usual, she was the first one there.

Onyx had gotten up early for a run and some work with the heavy bag and jump rope when the call to the ready room came. He looked at the speaker in the gym as if it had insulted his mother for a moment before tossing his rope over a weight bench and heading to the shower.

He entered the debriefing room about 20 minutes later wearing a plain gray T-shirt, black shorts, and running shoes.

"Never a morning off," he said to Vosper as he found a seat.

"It's the punishment for a job well done," Vos replied with a smirk.  "Paperwork."

To look at her, you'd never know she'd been riddled with machine gun bullets yesterday.

Muldoon was also up early as usual. Like any good soldier he maintained his regime of physical conditioning. Unlike other soldier's he was forced to work out at the motor pool where he spent his time bench pressing trucks.

Following a shower, donning his uniform and some chow, Muldoon headed to the briefing room. Seeing Vosper and Onyx already present he took a seat near them as well.

"Good morning. Nothing like an after action report to remind you how lucky you are to be alive and kicking."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Wed 20 May 2015.

Lance had gone down to the infirmary.. they checked him out with a few more band aids ... a compression wrap around his chest for those fractured ribs, but the CRIT drugs had basically stopped his internal bleeding and repaired that punctured lung... so the 'Docs' sent him to his quarters with a few pain killers and some solid hours of shut-eye.

He woke, not a early as he usually did... for some reason he found he could never really sleep past sun up... even if he could not actually see the sunrise.  But today... he did indeed sleep a few minutes longer...as grogginess left his limbs.

Eventually, wide awake he took his shower with some new pains for his trouble.. pulled on his sweats and set to his morning exercises... with a few more winces of pain.  He jogged his usual 5 mile run around the SMITE facility hallways.  In the gym he ran through his morning stretches and then practiced his Kung Fu stances and katas practicing form and grace with growing speed and proficiency.  Then he swung by the galley to snatch some toast, OJ and a few links of sausage before heading to the debriefing room.

Lance entered in jogging trunks, sneakers, and a sleaveless sweatshirt, wrist and head sweatbands... and a towel around his neck.  His dark skin lightly sheened with workout sweat...

Despite the visible bandages peeking out from under his clothes here and there... he seemed Very full of life ... and personally in high spirits today. His exotic amber-colored eyes flashed with a charm and good humor that was infectious.

"Hey guys! Morning Master Sergeant, 'Onyx'... Miss Sutton!"

Lance favored Vosper with his brightest smile and a wink.. as he ran his fingers through his bright red hair and sat down in an unoccupied chair... not next to Vosper but near the front of the briefing room~ now was time for work... play later.

"Lawrence is fine," Onyx said to Lance in a friendly but matter-of-fact way.

Truth was that he did not much care for the way Lance was clearly flirting on the job. He was not very good at hiding his sour face.

Muldoon had adjusted to the way  his fellow team members comported themselves. They were civilians and free to dress and carry themselves as they wished. But Brighton was a marine, it seemed he had forgotten. While the two men were from different services, they were assigned to the same project and it fell to Muldoon to step in and address the situation.

"Lance Corporal Brighton, we are being debriefed by Commander Barnes this morning. No need for dress blues but you have time for a shower and to change into your duty uniform " Muldoon said in response to the young marines' greeting.

As Muldoon came in, Vos nodded once and gave a very prim British military salute.  She didn't say anything.  But that was the most respect she'd ever shown to their appointed leader.

As CPL Brighton came in, she nodded again, and replied, "Corporal."

As an MI-6 agent, she wasn't strictly military, but was well-versed in the relative protocols.

Eddy had spent his night in the infirmary; at the tender mercies of Nurse Geurera.

He'd been woken at 7:30' like everyone else, and had left the infirmary ...


              ... and hasn't been seen since.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:06, Thu 21 May 2015.

The previous evening, Nightmare had returned to his quarters and showered, then put on sweats. Once he was dressed, he scavenged what he could from the kitchen, and went to sleep at the table with a half-eaten sandwich in one hand.
Waking halfway between midnight and morning, he had thrown away the rest of the sandwich, returned to his quarters, and sat in the floor, meditating. At 7:30, the intercom woke him and he began to wander to the debriefing. Thus, disheveled and slightly sluggish, he entered the debriefing room and immediately greeted the coffee-pot. "Keeping military time, I begin to understand why they call this 'lifer juice'."

A frazzled Oscillator vibra-flies into the debriefing room.  He's been putting extra hours in at the lab, and hasnt really been seen by the others.


"Punching bag & grunt Oscillator reporting for duty."  He sounds tired, but also a bit jaded.  Possibly cynical.  How many headshots did Osc take in the last battle?

OOC: Just reminding people, for the purpose of the debriefing the timeline in this thread is ONE day after the Antarctica mission. So Oscillator really hasn't done anything other than rest at this point.

The sudden outbreak of military protocol sours Lawrence's mood even more. He scoots back his chair, which scrapes on the floor, and wanders over to the coffee pot looking for a jelly donut to take his mind off all the saluting.

As he gets close he points out a likely looking pastry and asks Nightmare, "Whaddya think? Is that strawberry?"

With a shrug, Nightmare opines, "If we could find cat-man, he could smell it for you. My olfactory senses are too old and worn to tell strawberry from raspberry, and no one likes raspberry."

"He is probably back in the sack. That is where he was before the last one." Muldoon said as he lit a cigarette. He was used to such behavior from Poco who often seemed to confuse who immaturity and rebellion. There was a time when Muldoon had been much the same.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:24, Fri 22 May 2015.

"My grandmother likes raspberry," Lawrence says as he picks up the donut. He takes a quick sniff of the suspect pastry before taking a bite.

"Strawberry," he says as he chews, turns on his heel, and heads back to his seat.

Oscillator jumps in before Barnes shows up, "It was another lucky victory, and again we were in the dark on a lot -- I had no intel on those Russian supers, no idea about Sunphoenix, and we almost failed entirely!"

Osc takes a look around at the team, since Barnes hasnt arrived yet (although they all knew he could be listening) -- "And I was laid out for most of the fight.  I'm disappointed in my field capability AND in Barnes' handling of our missions again -- no surprise for most of us" glancing at SunPhoenix who is still new to the team, "however I am very impressed at our group dynamic.

While I didn't think setting the leadership hierarchy in the field was smart, it did help.  We were more effective, better coordinated, than we have ever been.

Im not sure if we are becoming a really good team, or an ace team yet, but we are a much better team now."

"We have a saying in special forces Oscy, we are like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed shit." Muldoon said with a laugh.

"What makes me wonder is that we were getting fed intel from Ramesses and he missed a lot of important pieces of the puzzle. Sort of makes me wonder if he is not playing both sides or some other game."

"But they did have a teleporter. Might be we trigger an alert and the teleporter brought their team of supers with here from some other station. It is a stretch, but possible. Seems like Ramesses can only see and hear things if he looks at that specific place."

"But on Sunpheonix I agree. Big risk dropping another friendly on scene without a heads up. Could have gotten ugly fast. But if he was truly just there to obsrve or pull our asses out of the fire then I can already hear Commander Barnes saying something about need to know and compartmentalization of assets. Both of which are another way of saying we kept in the dark and fed shit."

"That said I also thought the team did a solid job. That was a real donnybrook and you all showed your metal."

Lawrence raises a half eaten strawberry jelly donut and says, "You're welcome."

"Onyx, you got a jelly donut in lieu of gratitude." Muldoon said again laughing at his own joke. He appeared to be in a very good mood despite the close call.

"I had a pretty good workout this morning. I think I deserve a cruller." Muldoon said as he made his way to the table and poured a cup of coffee and indeed picked up a cruller.

Lance shrugs, "Ah..ok. Lawrence it is. What name did you tell everyone in your hood growing up?  'Lawrence' could not have been easy to put up with... unless you got into a lot of fist-fights over the ribbing from the kids.  I got the same myself, heck after the first three fights... I just started telling everyone my name was 'Alan', but it never stuck.  I just learned to fight better... then they stopped calling me 'lana'.  Kids are cruel.  I just figured you preferred Onyx instead, My Bad."

At the Master Sergeant Muldoon's chastisement for being out of uniform, Lance chuckles lightly, "Ok, ya got me on that one Master Sergeant guilty as charged!  I just felt in good spirits this morning.. after a combat op that as far as I knew was supposed to be a quiet infiltration and sabotage turned into a knock down drag out battle royale between a full team of Russian Supers and Elite Russian Soldiers all against just one American Super Team... and yet; the mission was STILL a smashing success, no American Supers or Russian Supers died and the loss of life was kept to a bare minimum!  Well Sir, I was feeling damned celebratory.. and felt perhaps seeing as I was mostly like death warmed-over when I dragged my bullet riddled and sonic blasted backside into the infirmary yesterday... perhaps a little levity and relaxing of some regs might be overlooked if I took today and relaxed a bit and healed up, before having to worry over spit and polish when most of this 'meeting' is indeed with civis and not a official board of inquiry or some other formal affair of USMC or UCMJ."

"Was I wrong?"

But before an answer can be voiced, Ocsilator phases into the room... and Lance perks up to engage him in conversation... clearly hoping his point is made and the segway to change the subject is clear..

"Hey Oscilator... er or do you prefer 'Doctor' or Jonas, Mr. Oslow?  I've read some of the unclassified intel on this smite team... and seems your considered the resident genius scientist?"

Ozzy makes his quips and Lance grins, "Hey the Russian Supers presence was a much a surprise to me as it was to you guys.. and I'd already been there watching the base for about three days before your strike.  And no I had no idea when or who was going to be striking the base.. just be ready to provide backup and environmental support if it was needed."

'Shrug' "I did kinda jump the gun on that... but I'm ready to take Barnes ass-chewing... ya see.. I brought an extra towel so I don't have ta sit funny with a chewed off ass!"

At Master Sergeant Muldoon's replies on 'Mushrooms and the dark', Lance just shrugs and nods in agreement... same with all services of the military.

But at Muldoon's comments on 'compartmentalization of assets', Lance specks up, "Well that's really my fault... I was not supposed to be there in a military capacity.. just as a back up if things somehow got out of hand.  The fact that several Russian supers showed up.. {shrug}.. beats me if Barnes knew or maybe just suspected the target looked too easy.. so adding a extra asset was prudent?  Truth is.. I was expecting a quiet infiltration by perhaps a SEAL Team to sneak in and blow the base.. I half expected to never see anything amis until the place when up in smoke!  But when you guys stormed the base - full on Heavy Assault style and Russian soldiers started scurrying to defend the Base... I figured I needed to lend a hand cause I knew from observation how long it would take their security gunships to arrive once the alert went out.. but YOU beat me to the radio tower.  In the end it didn't matter, but if what I had been expecting to happen had happened.. I would never have even gotten involved."

[OOC: The Disclaimer - Ok just wanted you ALL to know Lance is Not trying to antagonize or get argumentative with anyone. I'm just trying to play his kinda easy going personality.  He is stable and serious and all about doing things by the book.. when it is needed and appropriate... and he has nothing but respect for the military and the responsibility it holds.]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Sat 23 May 2015.

"Have you finished making nice?" Muldoon asked in a gentle tone. But it was a rhetorical question. Muldoon knew the importance of discipline. It started with little things like showing up to a briefing in your skivvies and ended up violating orders and jeopardizing operations. It could cost lives. Hard enough trying to get civilians to work together as a team in combat, and god damn it they were doing it.

Muldoon face assumed a hardness that was reserved for times like this one. "Lance Corporal if you are injured and unfit for duty report to sick call. If not just because you got some superpower that lets you shoot fire and fly doesn't mean you don't follow orders. These folks are civilians. They aren't like us and don't have to do the things we do. If they want come in here dressed funny or sleep in that's their call. But we don't have that luxury. Do not forget that you are a United States marine."

"Now I suggest you avail yourself of that shower I mentioned and square yourself away. I am understood Lance Corporal?" Muldoon said his face having relaxed and his tone back to normal.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Sat 23 May 2015.

Oscillator listened to Sunphoenix's rant with incredulity.

His response was quick (for Osc), "If you wish to speak with me, you may call me Oscillator or Osc... or Oscy, if you must.  I am known as Doctor Oslow, but that's professionally as a scientist, not in this guise as a 'covert government super-operative', such as we are."
Oscillator doesn't sound particularly friendly.

Lance's general good mood is suddenly very specifically turned... deadly cold...

"I'm sure you have served your country for a long time Master Sergeant Muldoon, Sir, but I think age is catching up with you... specifically your sight.  Cause I'm sure THAT is not a United States Marine Corp Uniform you are currently wearing, Sir.  Which means, YOU are not part of my branch of service; you can't order me to tie my damned shoelace!"

"So... Sir, once MY superiors contact me and tell me that you are my CO in some Special Operations Mission, or you join the correct service branch, that being the  Marine Corp and earn a rank superior to mine, Sir, I'm going to have to tell you with all due respect, Sir, No."

"Have I made MYSELF perfectly clear?"

"And before you go turn yourself into a little mud colored volcano and blow up, I'm am NOT on active duty as of yesterday... the Docter's Orders put me on medical inactive duty for a week until I fully heal... as I don't have any special powers that make me heal faster. Which also means, I have no need to wear a uniform at this time... I'm on medical leave."

It is clear... he has no intention of budging on this.. until either the SMITE Command staff or a recognized identified superior officer of his branch of military gives him orders to do otherwise.

[OOC:  Ok, let's have this out right now.

I've been in games before where one or two players insisted ~ DEMANDED that they knew the genre or setting or historical whatever so well and that everyone should toe the line to THEIR satisfaction!  It made the games unbearable.

Sword's description of this setting said nothing about us being in a active military rank and file, we are a government sponsored Super Team fighting the Russian Super Teams. My character's background as a Marine was background for him.. I was never led to believe we were still in an active military setting or decorum.  I took from other other players posts that at the base we are allowed to just be super heroes... not soldiers.  If I was mistaken I apologize... but I am not nor ever have been military myself.. and I'm not going to be forced to play such when were are ostensibly from the Games description supposed to just be superheroes.  Sword never indicated to me that my character was current active marines which would be hard to both and jaunt around the world doing SMITE missions at the same time I would think.

In either case, even if Lance was still active Marines, if another player is in a CO position of my character.. I should have been CLEARLY informed of this from the beginning which I also was not, and I don't care how one or more persons may feel {right or wrong} a Marine should behave.. I'm certain not all marines behave in the same fashion.. just like all walks of life their are great examples of their professional and some not so much so.  I'm fine with Lance being a great hero ... but maybe not the best Marine out there.  MY POINT IS I'm not letting another player demand I play my character to THEIR satisfaction.  This is NOT negotiable.. and if it is a deal breaker.. I can politely bow out of this game right now.

I have no intention on specifically playing a bad representation of anyone in the Military Branches of service.. but I'm not about to be told you can't do that and you have to do this instead when it is ultimately my character; and no direct chain of command was EVER identified to me the player!  I'm not going to be berated and criticized for a military fau pau that I was not made aware of nor informed that I should keep in mind... I'm not a military person myself so how could I possibly know certain things?

And to note.. I am not angry or even annoyed at Muldoon.. but I want this clearly understood now and for always.  Sword of Damocles... here is where YOU need to step in.]

"As far as my eye sight, it must be failing me cause I am pretty sure I saw you working out this morning. Must be some kind or mystery ailment." Muldoon said shaking his head.

"If you think I'm too old we can put on the gloves anytime you like. That is one of the things I like best about the marines .. oh that's right your not a marine right now cause you got a doctor's note."

"Anytime kid .. anytime." Muldoon said.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:23, Sun 24 May 2015.

Oscillator sits with a smile here, completely at a loss for words.  He hasn't really seen two military morons huffing and puffing their chests out this much except on TV.  He wants to say something witty, but nothing comes out.

He's happily flabbergasted.

OOC:  @Sunphoenix, don't panic.  Muldoon & you will play relative equals, but he does have a tendency to vent in people's face.
Glad you have stepped in to take that role from me.
(You might want some kleenex to wipe the spit off from his next scream session.)

HA HA HA

After a long tense moment Muldoon laughed out loud.

"I had you going kid. I don't care if you come to one of these shindigs in a dress as long as you fight when we are out there." pointed out toward the door.

Turning back to the table with coffee and doughnuts "Now where is my damned cruller?"

"Which one of you took the cruller?" Muldoon asked looking to see which one of the team had taken his choice of breakfast baked goods.

"We cool," Lawrence says to Lance, ignoring the personal questions.

Nightmare continues to quietly sip his coffee, commenting not on Muldoon's razzing of Lance (the new guy always get razzed) but on the selection of pastries. "I prefer spudnuts. I think there's a shop in Fort Collins, but haven't been there, myself."

Osc stops in mid-chew of his cruller.
"Nothing indicated you'd been consuming this cruller.  It was still located in the community food area."

He took the half-eaten cruller and offered it to Muldoon.
"Half remains, please be my guest.  It's tasty, albeit not very nutritious."

The half-eaten cruller doesn't look appetizing.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:39, Sun 24 May 2015.

Muldoon took one look at the half eaten Kruller "Ah never mind."

"Guess since the kid says I'm getting old I should be cutting back on the krullers.

Muldoon picked up his coffee cup and had a swing before lighting up another cigarette. "Wonder what's keeping Barnes?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:18, Mon 25 May 2015.

[ooc: Real sorry for the delay folks.. got in at like 2AM and just crashed... hell of a Pathfinder session though! :)]

Lance chuckles and wipes the light sweat from his brow, "..oh you saw correctly on that issue... I was 'working out', if that's what you want to call it... against doctor's orders to take it easy, cause I'm too damned stubborn for my own good!  That was a light workout compared to my usual morning exercise... this is not sweat from exertion... I usually do not sweat at all; as you can guess.. I have a high tolerance for heat; like 'surface of the sun', tolerance for heat! No, this is pain sweat cause that light workout hurt like a son of a bitch; just like the egg-head doctors said it would if I stressed myself over much. Something about; 'internal organs in my chest being bruised and abraded by mircowave frequency damage from destructive sonic waves', oh and those five floating broking ribs.  If I'm sweating... its a bad thing cause it means I'm certainly not anywhere near ready for duty!  Yeah, I'm gonna be sore come bedtime tonight, cause 'what did the Docs know... I'm a ex-marine, superhero, tough as nails... I can take it!' Trust me on this one.. I'll not be doing THAT kind of workout again tomorrow! I'm a be a good boy~ and do as I'm told, by the docs."

"As for boxing it out you and me... gonna have ta give you a rain check on that... for a little latter; when I can give it my best effort instead of curl up on the first 'love tap' to my ribs!  Its not the age... its the mileage."

"And don't take my easy going congeniality as a disrespect to your rank Master Sergeant, I know the regs, but I haven't been 'officially' a Marine on paper for a little over half a year since I joined SMITE... but you an I both know; 'Once a Marine always a Marine.'  So if Uncle Sam decided to reactivate me.. it would take less time than to write out the orders and I'd be back; if they had a big enough reason. I guess technically I'm the same as everyone else in SMITE.. a 'civilian' now.. though with the work I've been doing recently against the Russians.. don't quite feel that way. So.. no hard feelings!"

He shrugs letting the matter drop... giving Lawrence a nod of acceptance, not prying any further.

But he does turn to Oscilator...

"Actually, Oscilator.. I'd like to consult with you as Doctor Oslow on some scientific matters if your not too busy to talk science with a amateur physics theorist... ?"

This message was last edited by the player at 10:08, Mon 25 May 2015.

"An amateur.  An.  'A', 'N'.

Fine, yes, you may visit my lab later to discuss what you wish
-- but I have important research ongoing, so my time is limited."

"If you mates are done puffing out your manly chests," Vosper said with an amused smile, "we ARE supposed to have a debriefing, hey?"

"You'll have to forgive Muldoon," she added to Lance.  "He's incorrigible.  But he does grow on ya."  As a member of MI-6, she wasn't military... her salute to Muldoon had been a token of respect for his performance in the last mission.

"We are just waiting on Barnes."

Muldoon thought it was not like the commander to be late, and that it was probably not a good sign, but kept the though to himself.

"Well and Poco of course."The soldier added with a dry laugh.

OOC: So all the player banter has only taken a small amount of time, Barnes is actually running completely on time. :P

Anyhow my apologies but I have been feeling a bit of motivational doldrums and I hope to get this going soon. I am also trying to figure out what to do with the team next...

Anyone feeling the need to respond to this post can do so in the OOC thread so we don't clutter the IC thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:26, Thu 04 June 2015.

The group hears the now-familiar sound of the mic clicking on and the monitor snaps on as well showing Commander Barnes's familiar face. He has a long-suffering expression on his face as he looks over the team. His voice sounds a little tired as he speaks; "Muldoon I have been here this whole time listening. An interesting banter to be sure as well as some assumptions about how things work. Sunphoenix I will get to you eventually about your role in things but for now let's get this debriefing done.....by the way, will someone get that damned CAT!"

"'E's not a cat, but if you mean Poco... I'll look," Vos said, rising.  And then in a blur of motion and blast of wind, she dashed from the chamber.

OOC: Vosper will search for Eddy.

It doesn't take Vosper long to find Eddy; he is, indeed, in bed, asleep, purring away with a gentle smile.

This state of bliss and blessed zen (and any dream that might have been associated) come to an end when Vos has to wake Eddy.
As the bliss and zen are replaced with disappointment and frustration, Eddy looks up at Eloise with pleading eyes.

But, like his mom, Eloise isn't persuaded; and soon enough, Eddy is dragging his shaggy carcus out of his warm, comfortable bed.

He drags his feet as he heads, glacier slow, towards the Ready Room.

"Stop that dragging, you, or I'll tickle you until you can't breathe," Vos said with a smile.  "The price of doing good work is, having the paper-pushers micro-analyze you and tell you how you could have done better.  Tut tut!  I'm not sitting through it alone, or worse, with Muldoon.  Misery loves company!" She winked.

Eddy smirked at El.  He thought about running, then realised the futility of that.

"Why can't Egghead and Rubberbutt just tell Colonel Conniptions what happened.
Seriously, they were there ... ordering us all around.  They saw what happened", Eddy replied,  kinda resentfully.

"I mean, all we do is sit around here all the time, waiting to be thrown like a grenade at some red supers.  The. When we get back, it's paperwork and talk, talk, talk.
It's Saturday morning, Vos.  Before I was part of his gig, I'd have been nursing a hangover on Saturday morning".

Under all that fur and muscle, after all, was a teenage kid.  Not a soldier. Not a scientist. Not a Secret Service agent.

Vos stopped and turned to face Eddy, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Feck all if I know, mate," she answered honestly.  "The truth is, I was born an' bred to this, in ways even Muldoon would never understand."

"I grew up in rural England, thinking I was the daughter of a carpenter, until I learned my 'father' was my stepfather, and my genetic father had been a World War Two super-soldier."

"When I hit about thirteen, I'd figured out I was fast.  Very bloody fast.  And that was when I learned MI-6 had had my family under observation since the war.  That my REAL father had been a British super named Swift.  And that I had an obligation, it seemed, to serve King and Country because the government had given my father his abilities... and that's what gave me mine."

"I'm not that much older than you," she said.  Eloise was only 21.  "And I've been trained to do this since I was a teen.  But this?  This is my first real assignment, other than a few trial missions.  And honestly, mate, I don't think I'm doing all that jolly with it."

Eddy looked at Vos a moment.   He sighed.

When the American government had offered him this gig, he thought it'd be all glamour and excitement; travelling the world, protecting and saving it from all manner of villain, earning girls and media attention.
Not living here, being bosses around by 'Rubberbum', and having to attend stupid and irrelevant meetings at what-the-hell o'clock in the morning.

"So ...", he said, as he started on again towards the Ready Room, "Why do you put up with it?
Why not tell them to bugger off?
Surely you don't feel THAT much obligation to this bunch, or your own.

We could be doing all this 'save the world' stuff on our own ..." said; the sentence drifting off along with his attention, as he considered the prospect.

Eloise's lips quirked into a rueful half-smile.  "Because I think it makes a difference," she said. "And because, at least in theory, we can get more done as part of something larger than we can as individuals running about on our own."

"And yah... I guess the 'God save the Queen' bit they gave me sunk in more than I'd've known," she finished.

"Doesn't mean we have to be blind tin soldiers," she countered.  "But let's give this a go and see how it whirls."  She nodded her head in the direction of the briefing room, encouragingly.

Eddy sighed, and nodded.  As they moved on, he said, "Its just going to be Egghead and Rubberbutt talk, talk, talking.  Just as if I wasn't there anyway.
Which is fine, I ain't got nothing to say that they won't say, anyway; and they'll say it with more enthusiasm".


As they entered the Ready Room, Eddy saluted the screen, and said, "Yes, Dad, I'm up" ... and headed for the fridge.

Muldoon sat saying nothing waiting for Barnes to start.

Commander Barnes nods as now everyone is in the room then starts to talk; "OK it looks like the mission was accomplished; the data was destroyed and buried in the collapsed facility. That should set any bioweapons research of that kind back quite a bit. So I would say again congratulations on a job done well. Of course, now I would like to hear a bit more detail about how things went. Anyone can feel free to pipe up with some information about the mission."

Eddy, over at the kitchenette, began making himself a double-decker roast beef, pickles, cheese and banana sandwich.

Nightmare nods at the Commander's opening, then speaks up. "It was very cold. If we hadn't been able to conclude the matter as fast as we did, that would have been as much of an enemy as the soviets. As it was, there appeared to be a team of soviet super soldiers on the premises. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to believe the bio-weapons they were pursuing in the facility were, indeed, the powered people we faced."