In reply to Paragon (msg # 40):

Hikari cocks his head slightly,"... this is the first time Ive worn this armored suit... I only made two days ago when I realized it might be best to be armored as Justar than not. I think you will be disappointed it is the most costume-like of anyone on the team, and my reason is partially a direct snub and poke at my mother.  Chimpman Z wears no costume and the 'strongman's harness' I made him to carry some more durable communications field gear he has yet to try on ~ as being invulnerable he tends to trash all field gear issued him. Bellissima's costume is little more than armored street clothes I made with some gear upgrades for hands free communications gear hat can be used to conceal her identity. Crusader wears her own featureless grey custom class 4 hard armor that I added a multi-spectrum vision and radar sensor suite to her helmet. Mae ha rae jah has declined any high tech upgrades and wears a traditional dark colored fighting gi from his monastery. Lilibeth prefers sundresses so she sometimes wears a armored jumpsuit I made her with the LESP standard gear installed her alter ego RUNA I constructed a set of archaic bronze plate and mail made of modern armor composites and ballistic mesh... lighter and harder than ancient armor. Winter Herald disdains any additional armor and only wears street cloths he must continually replace and Senor Garcia... he wears decommissioned special forces class 4 hard armor also no costume."

"Sorry, I'm only fluent in three languages... English, Japanese, and German. But I would be interested in learning Chinese and Arabic...! I wonder if I can fit those into my current college curriculum?  Not really part of the Advanced Robotics Engineering program..."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:51, Tue 14 Feb 2023.

Alison is genuinely impressed, "Huh? You don't say. So you're doing this to...what...draw attention from your teammates? Kinda like Bullseye in the Animaniacs spoof of Batman?" She waved off potential questions, "Cartoon from the 90s, really funny, watch it if you ever get the chance. Well I brought a Class 3 hard armor 'vest' that covers me pelvis to shoulders. If you wanna upgrade that, I'm happy to let ya. What I really want, though, is a hovercycle." She waved off any reply again, "Don't make one, though, I figure eventually some crook will show up with one from outer space or whatever." She grinned, "Where is Jacob? It's been a long time since I saw him, I'd love to hug him and catch up."

Lt Broyko's cell phone rings.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:34, Tue 14 Feb 2023.

In reply to Paragon (msg # 42):

Hikari smirks slightly but nods,"... this is part an parcel of those 'new developments' I needed to inform Detective Broyko an update to his knowledge. Your conscern is appreciated but usually when I'm not Justicar and piloting that armored battle suit... outside in battle I'll likely be practically invulnerable to any physical attack.  This costume is for when I need physical hands to interact with and am temporarily vulnerable to attack. But yes the flashy silver and blue  Justicar suit has often drawn fire from the enemy away from our less sturdy members there was this 40'ft 10 ton bear once... but that role usually falls to Jacob."

"Anyways, I've interrputed your meeting long enough I'll take my leave and let you get back to it. Nice to have met you Marshal!"

With that another traditional Japanese bow of politeness and he turns to leave... revealing his belt in the back contains three grenades clearly marked as smoke, flash-bang and tear gas...with another back waist holster holding an unambiguous Glock 17 holstered.

Hikari regards Justicar and frowns slightly displeased, "K2, retract your shoulder weapon arms... we're in LESP HQ... not going to war! You will have trouble passing through certain doors its unecessary to have them extended...!"

The armor replied, 'Acknowleded Sir! Retracting Weapon arms! Sir.'

Hikari walked away the heavily armored suit begain to follow him again, Hikari's expression of some annoyance at the suit lingered...

"...you don't have to call me 'sir' all the time... 'Hikari' works just fine."

'Of course Sir!'

Hikari rolled his eyes...
This message was last edited by the player at 21:35, Mon 13 Feb 2023.

An elderly man of Hispanic descent in his mid to late 60’s enters the LESP offices. He is wearing a solid white suit with a black shirt underneath, with a matching solid white fedora, and a white tie to contrast against the black shirt. In the left pocket of his suit jacket is a black pocket square folded into a crown. In the man's left hand is a white walking cane.

Unless stopped or greeted the old man makes his way to where the desks/cubicles are.

Oliver looked at the time on the clock in his Cadillac. While he had been a bit of a loner during his wandering dogooder phase, busting up small time drug dealers or scamming scam artists just wasn't scratching the itch, so joining up with the LESP at his old handler Agent Card's suggestion seemed like fun. Officially he was keeping an eye on them, last thing a field operative wants is a spandex clad nutcase ruining months of field work by either smashing a rung on the ladder they need to trace back up, or by putting agents in the hospital or morgue because they don't understand undercover.

He had been casually observing from across the street, as his meeting with the Detective was a bit later, but after seeing a former colleague form the bad old days of Afghanistan, and a man more described as a mountain of meat walk in, he figured now was a good a time as any to be on his way in. He made sure his Colt was in the shoulder holster, while he expected no trouble, his time in the Agency taught him an important lesson, trouble happens when you least expect it. He was thankful he had set his appointment under the name Charles Finley, because now was not a time to explain his full history.

He walked up to the desk, producing a wallet from his suit pocket, and waved his badge at the desk clerk. "Charles Finley, I have an appointment with Detective Broyko, agency business."

After being waved in he took stock as he walked to the meeting room where the others waited, noting the security systems he could see, as well as angles. It was hard for his mind to get out of that frame, looking for exits and cover should things go sideways. He strode into the room, adjusting the sleeves of his suit.

" Well isn't this a strange gathering. Two of the spandex set, and a lost U.S. Marshall. Charles Finley, exCIA, current unofficial liaison. I should say Alison, you haven't aged a day since last I saw you, what was it, 10, 15 years? Those years get a bit blurry, it happens when all you see is sand for so long.""

Hikari-Justicar/Justar, was already regarding data on his touchscreen pad when the Spymaster entered but noticed him and not to be rude smiled and nodded acknowledging him ... but his hyper-intelligence was moving again now even faster as his no longer suppressed powers had arguably made him even more brilliant.

A concern occurred to young teen mutant exosuit-pilot genius... the potential new members, as clearly that was what this new recruitment phase was directed towards, were example after example of highly trained yes, but mostly normal men and women... excluding likely of course Captain Justice, but the theme was the same ~ Physical fighters, maybe superhuman strength and weapons training.  Which was Particularly Useless in a surprisingly increasing number of engagements the Sentinels were recently having!  Bullets and muscles meant very little to the 40'ft 10ton dimensional bear rampaging through down town Center City, incorporeal life draining vampires and super speed sonic powered metahumans!  The normal 'punch it, shoot it', that these highly skilled Agents were use to using ~ what they were trained to do, was Very EVIDENTLY useless in those situations! Hikari pondered it would be Very hard bringing that realization to these... likely proud and confident men and women of what they were actually getting into.

If "fists and guns" were enough.. the Sentinels would not be needed the military has plenty of men and woman good at that!  Could any of these new members fly under their own power, or emit energy attacks of varying frequencies, or detect the presence of supernatural evil before it tries to posses a victim's mind or use chi mastery to heal wounds the Dim Mak attacks make conventional medical assistance USELESS against ~ like was used upon Bellissima?  Hikari did not think so.  These new Agents were mundane great fighters he was sure... but the Sentinel's already had good fighters more of the same; that had most scratching their heads of what exactly to do in the last mission cause none of their 'tools' were relevant!

He noted Senor Garcia's arrival and sighed, he and the Ex-CIA had some pretty intense differences of the rule or law and use of excessive force... but he was a teammate and HE was there.. he knows the situation.  Senor was in the shit with Justicar last mission... and despite their differences of opinion.. Hikari STILL respected the man.. and in a fashion trusted him as well even if grudgingly so.

Hikari ordered the ... dumber, K2 AI now resident in the Justicar to go stand in a corner... he was really missing 'Karl'.. but he knew his father needed his own space/body now. the Standard K-Series AI program that Karl and Hikari had worked on to replace him was ... ok.. but in Hikari's opinion far less optimal than his father 'Karl'.

He walked over to Senor Garcia's desk and pulled up a chair... noting Senor's raised eyebrow at his new 'combat costume', he forestalled his questions, "...some very recent ~ discoveries.  I'm a meta-human, always have been yeah.. surprise!  Surprise to me too.  Details not important for now sufficed to say, I'm even more hyper-intelligent than before with lightning reflexes and the ability to control static electricity to flash-fry all the electronics in this building with a thought.. oh.. and now I'm a living breathing High Energy physics nightmare who can break every law as we know it of mater-energy dynamics cause I can convert my entire body into Pure Energy and fly through space, totally immune to physical damage and pass through solid mater as if it was air... yeah and throw Vast amounts of Pure Energy that would sear a hole through a bank vault in minutes. Made a armored LESP geared costume, so... in it ~ I'm Justar..."

"As you can guess still wrapping my head around ALL that too... crazy wilde weekend at San Sebastian isle... details later, I promise."

"But what I wanted to ask is.. you were in the meat grinder that was the Aeaea and Dr. Phage's pets along with the Refusniks ~ you know the score.  These new folks.. no insult, are skilled I'm sure.. but fists and bullets are not really going to be the best options all the time.. as I'm sure you are aware of, but they will not likely accept that ~ 'Critical. Need. To. Know. Info.'.. from me ~ a teen, even IF in armored 'spandex'.  Could you talk to these new folks and get them up to speed on what a potential crap-show their getting into? Your cut from the same cloth.. they will take you seriously.. I know I do!"

Then he kind of fiddled with the pencil holder on his desk and commented, "...so ...speaking of weird shit that you can't just shoot, sure would have been nice to have some Energy Weapons to use on say Whisperer or Chiroptera last mission... like that proposed set of armor with the electrical dischargers I wanted to make for you... made any decisions?  The offer is Still open..."

He shrugs, "We may differ on procedure.. but there is Still NO Doubt in my mind, at least, your on the side of good ~ With a Vengeance..."

Then something caught his attention as he doodled with one of the pencils... "huh?!?  Guess I'm also Ambidextrous now!  Wilde... this just gets weirder and weirder!"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:58, Wed 15 Feb 2023.

Alison grinned, not just happily but amorously as Charley just showed up. He just waltzed right in like he owned the place. "Charley!" He grin was enthusiastic as she went right up to him and hugged him. "I believe you owe me a dance mister." She pushed back but maintained contact with her hand on his arm. "Ten, and yea my time in the desert has kind of blended together." She turned to the side of him, threading her arm through his in a way that to another woman claimed him as her own. "Detective, it is getting very crowded, why don't you start our little tour?"

Senor Garcia hadn't even gotten the title of an email to Detective Broyko typed before Justicar, Justar or whatever he was calling himself now sat down next to him.

"I highly doubt energy weapons would have affected Whisperer or Chiroptera while they are in an incorporeal state."

"Someone would probably have to use magic or psionics to get them, or more likely have to go incorporeal themselves to harm them."

"With those type of meta humans its best to quietly track them down and kill them with a sniper rifle from three to five hundred meters when they least expect it."

In reply to Senor Garcia (msg # 49):

Justar chuckled,{snicker} "...I know your not much on science but the physics just doesn't support that."

He stands and instantly there is a flash and Hikari is gone replaced by a golden glowing ghost of him floating some 6" inches off the floor. He radiates some heat and as much light as a light bulb but clearly he is semi-transparent like a hologram of his previous appearance except composed of golden glowing energy...

He speaks his voice now more a crackle of ionizing fields shifting as if electric speaker static precisely controlled to produce feedback in words,"You see pure energy. Took me a bit to figure out how to talk again when I first transformed... no vocal cords or lungs ... no need to breath ~ but I'm realy smart... I figured it out. But I'm completely incorporeal to physical matter, concussive force explosions... chemicals, radiation..anything made of atoms..."

To accentuate his point he rises through the ceiling and then returns sinking through the floor to return eventually floating where he was before.

"However, this is not Invulnerability!!! There are energy emissions that can still affect me. I know... Ive experimented...

Then there is an almost dark light flash and Hikari stands before Senor.. with the sound of a solid body landing upon the floor still costumed as his energy body appeared vaguely as well. He took the seat...

"Trust me energy would have worked... maybe not 100% effect but they would have felt it and it would NOT have been pleasant! Metahuman powers are not 'goonie-goo-goo' energy that can do Anything and ignore laws of reality... they are STILL subject to universal laws for the most part! Yes, they can indeed suspend or bend those laws horribly in some cases but not completely ignore them! I have no idea how what I just showed you works... to liberate all the molecular energy in my body and convert it all to energy and yet not destroy half the entire damned planet in a release of enough energy equivalent to a trillion Hiroshima detonations has me baffled as fuck! But there I was a stable coherent pure energy ionic field... completely controlled by my mind!"

'Shrug'
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Wed 15 Feb 2023.

Well, this day was already getting good, a fine woman on his arm, finally something to scratch the itch of his boredom, and he already seemed to have irritated one of the supers by not acknowledging him first. The man mountain had stayed in the room, presumably also joining today, at least he wouldn't have fight too hard to make inroads.

" I had hoped you had forgotten that. As long as you don't mind that for all my many skills, dance has never been one. Two left feet, as it were."

He cast a side glance at Captain Justice. While he had a small dossier on many of the others put together by Card, but this one was a wild card.

" So what's your story? Bear turned into a human? Austrian robot from the future? Eat 6 dozen eggs a day?"

While he waited for the good Captain to answer, he noted he could still hear Justicar shouting from the bullpen. His thoughts went straight to teaching him volume control, because people who shout a lot in the field wind up dead.

Captain Justice replies in a low rumble
"Well. I was a rather normal if tall college student. There was a Supersolder program that I volunteered for. There where some side effects.  Such as becoming this heavy."

In reply to Spymaster (msg # 51):

{OOC: Hikari was not 'shouting' the bold affectation for his words was to denote his voice was not 'normal' that it was more like an artificial recreation of his voice from feedback-static.  Usually I denote shouting in all CAPS... rarely done. Just my way of being  ~ artistic in my post descriptions.  Sorry for the confusion!}
This message was last edited by the player at 03:46, Wed 15 Feb 2023.

"Ahh, yes shady scientists who think they've made the perfect soldier, but inject a poor kid with a solution of who knows what, that makes them able to grow turnips with their eyes. Had a few offers back in the 90s, turned them down. Rather rely on my own skills than a dose of radioactive spider venom, never know when it might have a... backlash."

He leaned down a bit and spoke to Allison in Mandarin,
[Language unknown: "Prson matrat meyin mo tiowilwil ro rom astbutnot ss fider na maal but waspr to rovor dayad utpeneme chiou. Hi nick thasncmole roder laera camo outhmecewa. Heth i astineard ng ntepreaveyinounntithi artwhinte utei."]

Finally, he looked at the detective, his that while socializing was good, there were reasons he was here.

"Detective, if we aren't waiting on another agent or super, perhaps we can get this show on the road? Meet the team, explain why myself and the marshall are here, let them meet.. wait, don't tell me, the Living Battering Ram here."

A low rumbling chuckle emanates from Captain Justice at the Living Battering Ram comment.

He offer his hand to Charles.

"My name is Arnold Hans Vandergrift. But I will go by Captain Justice in the field."

Alison smiled and withdrew herself from Charley. She decided to just keep quiet right now.

Justar got an exasperated expression on his face, "...and I think your missing the point here somewhat. We are not in the business of assassinating metahumans. We are law enforcement! Whisperer and Chiroptera were guilty of resisting arrest yes ~ but they could likely get a 'self-defense' stance in court as we invaded their vessel in international waters. Its only  the 'we are pursuing a lead on potential lair of abductors of Holly Cook' that gave us any levity in the law to even be there.  Whisperer only damaged my drones she never actually hurt anyone on the team, Chiroptera yes did slightly injure and weaken team members but it was no more then a bruise from a punch might inflict ~ it was clear she was not trying to kill anyone.  We were there seeking an abduction victim ~ Holly Cook.. who arguably as we learned latter on was not going to press charges in her crazed mental state. But none of our lives were at risk until the... vehicles submerged."

"The only thing we had potentially on Whisperer or Chiroptera was a 'potential' connection to a burglary {not robbery ~ no one was threatened with harm} of the City Vault... which we had very thin evidence of their involvement in that at all! We are not at war with metahumans."

"We didn't have so much as an arrest warrant for Whisperer or Chiroptera let alone a 'dead or alive' apprehend order for them."

"The Sentinel's mission is to incapacitate and detain potentially ~ metahuman, but not exclusively so, threats involved in criminal activity and or threatening public safety that regular law enforcement is incapable of dealing with.  We are not traffic cops, narcotics or DEA, or even Homicide Detectives.. the regular police are quite good at all of that we are not needed to replace those finely trained and capable officers of the law. We are Certainly Not Judge, Jury and Executioner of metahuman law-breakers.  Just because someone resists arrest doesn't mean were free to all out murder them.  I get that if lethal force is used against us we have every right to respond in kind but measured use of force should be our principle method with the main goal being incapacitation and detainment... not excuse finding to kill.  Surly you understand that is what the Sentinels are for?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:44, Wed 15 Feb 2023.

Senor Garcia ignored JUSTICAR as he showed off his powers. The kid was 18 going on 19 and still acting like an immature child...

When JUSTICAR decided to act all high, and mighty, the older man just sighed. Stupid kid is going to get himself or someone else killed one day.

“I suggest you, and not your pet Artificial Intelligence look up the definition of Deadly Force, and when a Law Enforcement Officer can utilize Deadly Force.”

“As for myself, I’d rather be judged by twelve then carried by six.”

Hikari regarded the man... understanding dawning.

"I see. You only understand killing and deadly force, you have no intention of ever using anything else or listening to any other way of doing things.  You refuse to see the fact I'm trying to help you, that your bullets will not always be the answer. Fine."

He turned an walked away there was no need to waste time talking to the killer anymore.

Winter Herald had been sharing files with the Internal Affairs division for the past several hours, and was glad to be out. They had asked him questions which taxed even his memories - not all data had been recorded, and some files were corrupted. And they insisted on asking him these questions verbally, either not understanding or not caring how slow speech often was to him.

If he hadn't started tapping a single finger at a set pace and mentally counting it, he would have assumed it had been longer than the over ten thousand seconds he had been in there.

He was aware of the new names, because he read the unit roster when he sat down. However, he felt it appropriate to meet the new people, and at least familiarize him with the face of the moment.

He had been putting down petitions to work with Lite Star Industries - he wanted a place to stock up and repair himself that was not dependent on any of his current co-workers, but it needed to have the inclination and resources to do it.

He had caught a few names on his approach. He simply walked around Hikari and Garcia to introduce himself to the new people. "Call me Ned, alias Winter Herald, LESP Sentinels unit, alternative perspective specialist."

"That was a joke. So is the specialization." He pointed a finger casually to Arnold with a smile. "Caught your name. Arnold, or Captain Justice - I shall ask for specifics on the alias later. I do not catch the names of..."

He wags the same finger, pointing, between Alison and Charles. "...you two. I suspect you will be repeating yourselves a lot, or have already done so."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:36, Fri 17 Feb 2023.

In reply to Winter Herald (msg # 60):

Hikari walks over to Winter ... his demeanor pensive. He is wearing.. something unusual.. some kind of armored costume.. something Winter has never worn before  as usually Hikari is in business casual attire.  The Justicar is following him... and here too something is .. off to Winter's observant eye.  The fluid graceful gait of a human-like stride is missing from Justicar.  It's movements are stiff and mechanical.. wholly different from its usual walking mannerisms.

Hikari lifts his hands playactingly and says, "Hey Winter... look I know I'm probably the last person in the world you want to talk to right now.. but I made you a promise and I'm keeping it.  Some.. revelations occurred over the weekend CMZ, Runa, Belle and I spent at San Sebastian Isle.  Long story short I found a solid lead on FORCE.. I know you'd want to know.  I can see your busy ... so just contact me when you want to meet and get the intel.  I did not put it in a file cause I want you to hear it from me so you can observe my autonomic stress-tells and know for yourself that I'm telling you the truth as best as I know it.. and not feeding you false info.  I know you don't trust me so I want you to be sure that at least I believe I'm sure.  For what its worth.. I'm sorry I snapped at you last mission.. I should have been more.. tactful. I know you were only doing what you thought was best and trying to spare the team hardship."

"I'll let you meet and greet the new folks... I've got a crap-ton of work and research to do.  I think I may know what happened to Smokh's files... I have no proof but it seems likely.  I'll discuss my ideas later with you if your interested.  I'll be down in the LESP workshop in my VR lab if a LESP meeting is called... I simply MUST crack this Force Field tech... as a failsafe for Detective Broyoko.  See you whenever buddy.. again sorry... I was an ass."

With that Hikari turns and heads for the stairs down... again a stiff robotic Justicar follows him...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Fri 17 Feb 2023.

Alison looked concerned for a moment before a realization struck her. "You must be the android. Why don't you fetch us some coffee? I like mine with lots of cream and sugar, please."

Broyko says, sardonically, "Januchowski usually gets the coffee. Winter Herald is a valued member of the team. To be frank, the android is better at carrying out the proper procedure than most of the uniforms on the force. Several team members have taken individual assignments in other locations, here we have Winter Herald, Señor Garcia, Chimp Man Z, Runa, and JUSTICAR."
"Rather than give you a guided tour, you can just wander around inside the offices to find out what people are about. It's good to have you aboard."

Oliver shot Alison a look that merely spoke one word, Really?

"I apologize for the marshall, we've been waiting with the good Captain for the 50 cent tour. Charles Finley, exCia, current freelance problem solver and unofficial CIA liason. One of the people I helped in my retirement called me a spy master, and I decided if I need a codename, it's as good as any."

Detective Broyko than gave the sad news of no guided tour, or even a proper meeting with the team.

"Well Ned, it seems as if the detective isn't going to help with the intros, and we met Justicar, though I feel he was threatened that the marshall and I shared a decent memory of the desert hellholes pretty much every fed was involved in. I'll hunt him down later to apologize, but for now I'll leave him to his work, seemed important. What's your reading on the rest of the team? Any wildcards to watch for?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Sat 18 Feb 2023.

Winter Herald had been about to tell Alison precisely what he thought of that idea when Broyko cut him off from saying some rather deliberately offensive things. "Thank you."

He noted Justicar's arrival and exit, and didn't say anything of it yet. "I possess two purposes, one of which is relevant to you. My programming leads me to be proficient in a staggering array of evils, ranging from social manipulation to wholesale slaughter. My inclination leads me to choose the option that does the least harm to the largest group, while attempting to remain within the boundaries I accept as necessary. I have not been as successful as I would prefer."

He kept his face absolutely deadpan as he continued speaking. "Making coffee is outside of my programming."

He considered Charles's words, running a few calculations before speaking. "Myself, for one. When I believe my team's software to be defective as a result of their programming being asked to accept too much data too quickly, I will act completely independently. The Justicar pilot has an unpleasant tendency to act on very bad ideas without warning the rest of us. Garcia -"

He gestured in his direction, as he wasn't far. "- is an organic killbot, which is useful if you need people killed, and a potential liability if you do not. Most of the rest of the unit seems to confuse courage and recklessness, but otherwise operates within tolerance."

"As for a tour, I personally find this structure entertaining to explore. It is simple to infiltrate, but nearly impossible to pin down anyone who knows even rudimentary secrets of this place. A former or acting agent should enjoy it."