A conference room and related amenities sounded pretty good to Lois, so she followed the others there and claimed a seat (after serving herself a drink and biscuit).  She also tried to get a read on the other girls.  Darwin seemed more than a bit weird with her body language and perhaps the most on edge.  But there was something comforting about not being the only person with worries.  Aurora on the other hand seemed more worldly and assertive.  Lois could see herself liking both girls, IF this task force thing worked out...

She listened to William's speech in full as a range of emotions flickered across her beauteous face.  Lois tried not to jump the gun about certain points... which wasn't easy.  William being an ex employee of SHIELD, the task force's legality, and the team's mission statement... attracted looks of surprise, concern, & something akin to hope.  Lois definitely liked some of the pitch's content as well, but the above three topics elicited the strongest emotions from her.  She played with her biscuit and coffee, trying to mull over a few things.  Fortunately the other girls present asked the same sort of questions that she had, so Lois hung back and waited her turn to pose a question or two.  There was something that she needed to clarify early on.  Lois raised her hand up a few inches and spoke when given leave to do so.

"Mr Naslund, some of us are not 'free' from the control of others.  Are you offering assistance on that front... or are we expected to maintain some sort of dual commitment?  Also I liked what you said about openness, so could I please view what files you have on me?  Call it... an act of good faith."

William looked at the ladies and gave a smile. I did not get any one confused Miss Deveroux, As I said The illegal parts are not a focus. There are situations that we may be needed to do things that legally should not be done. We try to remain vigilant to avoid breaking the law’s but at times things may be necessary to do actions that could be frowned upon.  Task Force will not be going around tapping people like Captain America or Thor’s shoulders and punching them in the face or trying to capture him. He told them
As I Said however, we’re here to do some dirty work at times.

He looked at DeeDee as she asked about being “Special.”

Yes everyone that is or will be on the team will bring their own unique ability. He said not revealing anything about powers. I for example have been known to be agile and can fight.I was trained in various Fire arms and weapons. We have currently on our team a few with Superhuman abilities. And besides you 3 we hopefully have a couple more on their way.

Turning to Allison for her question his face went a little more somber. Again I’m not here to hide anything or sugar coat anything. I try to be as open with the team as I can be. That being said yes what we do can and will be dangerous. Our last mission did not go completely as planned but if you have seen the news on TV you are aware that there was a mass disturbance in Laredo Texas that resulted in a lot of death. The Media put an outbreak of mass hysteria as the reason but between us. This was the work of something much more evil that the team managed to fend off. A dark Dimension being called D’Yspare, We had come to find out he was working for someone much more powerful but the team did get help from Dr. Strange and Ghost Rider, But is cost us a few member I had originally brought on to leave as they were not ready for what was asked.

He listened to Lois’s question next and his mood did not improve at the remark of not being free.

You let us know what you want and what you need Lois and I assure you, No one will be controlling anyone. As for the files I have on you… He said going to the TV above the fire place.
Jocasta Can you please send the files on our 3 guests to the tablet please

A computerized voice replied Of course Sir.

William reached down beside him looking at the tablet and nodding. Thank you.

He clicked on the screen and offered the Tablet to Lois.

Alison digested what he'd told them, doing her best to put on a reasonable poker face.

A dark Dimension being called D’Yspare, We had come to find out he was working for someone much more powerful...

Her knee jerk reaction would have been  Right!  No, uh uh, not for me!  Been fun, don't call me, I'll call you, see ya around!

Truly, she was tempted to say her goodbyes, here.    She had power, yes.  Even great power, by some standards.    But she was also inexperienced, unprepared, and admittedly way over her head.

Yet, this was an option.  One that she didn't have yesterday.    And one that she was not certain she wanted to close the door on.     That Naslund didn't sugarcoat was a bit more reassuring than if he'd chosen to.

"Lois, I'd like to see my own, once you're done with that, please."       In particular, she wanted to see what they had on Jason.      Whom would be an easy blackmail piece, if they were dirty enough to go that way.

In her opinion, William had managed to clear up quite a few issues.  In fact, she was almost ready to sign on... once a few more things had been fixed or clarified.  Browsing the Tablet, Lois read what had been uncovered about her.  She felt a little sick in her tummy when reading about the deaths that had been attributed to her.  In the hands of the authorities, there seemed ample evidence to send her to prison.  There were inaccuracies of course, but more or less.... they knew enough.  Lois closed her file and passed along the Tablet to Allison.

"I'd need some training William, but otherwise I'm in.  My Father is a powerful man and he's not going to let me go easily.  But if you were to call him and reveal some of what you have on file... he might be persuaded.  I don't want him hurt.  For those of us who sign up... what is the next step?"

She found it hard not to fidget when talking about Daddy.  But her mood was otherwise bright as evidenced by her smile and tone of voice.

"Ok...hang on a sec..." Deedee's eyes were fairly wide by this point.

"An extra dimensional being cost you a few team members, and he works for someone more powerful, and we're the replacements?"

Her posture had become more stiff, like an animal hacked into a corner, as she looked between the other two women there before looking back to William.

"I don't know what it is they do, but I think I'm way out classed here."

The animal inside wanted out, and she didn't realize she was clenching her hand into the seat.

"This is a joke...right?" her voice trailed off as she noted the serious expression on William's face. "I..." her mouth opened and for a moment nothing else came out, before she gave a noise much like a lost kitten before shutting her mouth.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Sat 03 Nov 2018.

William looked ATH them and waited till they were finished with their files.
Just for your knowledge. Those files are only on the hands of myself. And no this not a joke. We had bad intel on our first mission and i will be the one to admit i rushed the team. I was held back longer then anticipated. That won't happen again. as for training i will not force any members who feel they are not ready into the field. I will also be prepping a portion of the hangar into a better training area for everyone. But again as I said I am not forcing anyone. I do have a few more potential members that should be coming. All I ask is give me and the team time to show you exactly what we are doing here you are free to leave at anytime if you don't like it.

Lois wasn’t sure about DeeDee.  The girl seemed skittish and presumably lacked the right incentive to join the Team (William had his work cut out for him to convince her otherwise).  Lois on the other hand was prepared to take a chance to win her freedom from Daddy.  The chance to maybe hone her skills and powers was another fringe benefit.  As for Alison, maybe she was still ‘on the fence’ about this whole thing?

“I certainly wouldn’t mind talking with some of these other people and get their take on the Task force.  Your file is a pretty good approximation of my abilities, William... although will you need me to actually *pause* kill people?  I understand that it’s a dangerous world out there, but maybe we can talk about some guidelines later on.”

Deedee forced herself to stay still while William spoke. "I...I don't want to see my files." They knew who she was, what she did, and her wayward sibling. That was all she needed to know. Details wouldn't be useful, and likely as not she'd just get more nervous if she found out just how much they knew. And more nervous wasn't going to work out well for anyone here, that was for sure.

The stress was getting her. More and more lately she'd taken refuge in her abilities, that was likely as not how they found out about her. She never had been that careful, or even gave it much thought, and things seemed to just get deeper and deeper.

She felt the hairs rising on the back of her neck and the starting tremors deep down, and she knew it wasn't going to be long...

The comment about training and not having to go into the field at least made sense. But then Lois spoke, and the almost casual comment about killing was enough to finally put the trigger just close enough that she knew she was going to shift soon.

"Time is ok. It's good," she rushed the words out. "I'm sorry, but I really need to change into something more comfortable..." her eyes darted back and forth, not really knowing if it was going to be ok to shift right here or not, and not sure what the reactions would be from the other two if she did...

Alison had indeed arrived at a point where she was almost ready to commit.  As she reviewed her files, found a fair bit of detail as to her powers, but minimal info on her brother - mostly just the fact that she had one, some other basic details (well, including his address..) - she was beginning to feel a bit more confident that this organization wasn't intending blackmail, or other such tactics.

Deedee's distress, however, was too intense to ignore, at this point:

"Deedee, I suppose it's none of my business -  but, how old are you?   Does your family have any idea where you are?"

I could probably use my light to help calm her...but, it might be sort of like offering somebody a joint, when they had a big decision to make..

Change into something more comfortable-? Ali wondered what was wrong with the clothes she had on, but her attention snapped to Lois' remark -

She glanced from Lois to Mr. Naslund, wondering how he'd field that one.   More or less like '...and will you want us to work as assassins, Mr. Naslund?'   She truly hoped the answer would be no.   Otherwise, she was in the wrong place. What sort of power did Lois wield, that was potentially lethal?     There were many that could be used that way, she supposed.

"Mr. Naslund, will we have any of this in writing? Will you expect us to sign contracts? Or, is this all under the table?" 

"I don't mind if Dee Dee wants to get changed."

Lois offered the comment in a helpful manner, although she assumed the girl just wanted to go to the bathroom or something.  Lois also gave a visible nod of agreement in regards to Alison's questions about Dee Dee's age and family situation.  None of the Avengers were under-aged... and this looked to be the model on which William's team was being built upon, except a bit less heroic.  Dark Avengers?  At least William seemed genuine about not throwing people into situations without training.

Catching Allison's glance in response to the 'kill' question, Lois felt her cheeks redden a little.  There were special circumstances that couldn't be done justice in just a sentence or two.  Still, she had to try...

"If nobody dies that's a good thing.  But some 'powers' can't be thrown around without hurting people.... and I wanted to know where the line was.  Maybe I should have asked my question in private, but I've been living with a lot of secrets lately... having honesty within this team would be better."

"18. And...I don't know if my father knows. He doesn't care anyway."

Too much. It was too much, and the feral side would not be denied. Not with as much stress as she'd been under. Thinking about her family was the nudge she needed, and she just couldn't wait any longer. At home she'd shifted whenever the urge hit her, and she was spending less and less time in this form...

So she took a quick breath before she gave a small "Sorry..."

And then Deedee morphed.

It was fast, the space of a heartbeat, and Deedee was no more. In her place in the chair sprawled a tawny house cat. She gave a little stretch and flexed her paws as she mewled apologetically.

Well, Mortis did say she wanted less secrets...

Williams Eye widened at the question of killing people even thought Laredo was a disastrous result it was never what this team was about and not something he wanted to happen again.
He looked at them and shook his head.
Killing is to and will be avoided at all cost and should never be an option on your minds, we are not hired thugs or hitmen.

He nodded to Darwin about getting more comfortable as he figured she meant one of her Animal shapes and not a change in cloths. He just hoped after he nodded that she was not going for the... " as an animal morphing person i prefer to be without cloth"  but to actually be an animal instead, and was quite relieved when she changed to a cat.

He looked at Lois and gave a reassuring smile. Your secrets are your to keep until you are comfortable enough.As for anything to sign No there is nothing to sign, again I will not force anyone to remain here. I am looking for a team I can rely on to help and trust. To form a team that will trust each other enough to always have each others back no matter what.

"Wow, where does all the rest of her body mass go?"  Alison couldn't help but blurt, after observing the transformation, and noting the size discrepancy between Deedee's natural form (or, what Alison thought was the natural form) and the new one.

"Feeling a bit catty, are we?"  she laughed shortly, remembering childhood fantasies of changing into this or that animal, now meeting someone who could actually do it.

Apparently, she was not the only one with dad issues, based on things the other two had said.    If her own father had known what she was, what she could do, she'd be locked up at some government facility as a test subject, almost without doubt.   This situation was far preferable to that.

F--k you, dad, she thought in blatant rebellion, as thinking of him pretty much cinched that she would do this.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:13, Mon 05 Nov 2018.

Lois was quite surprised by Dee Dee's shifting into cat form and squealed in a delighted manner.  She'd never been allowed a pet after her powers had manifested.  Lois sorely wanted to pet the young cat girl, but held back from doing so.

"Haha... who cares?  If you can hear me Dee Dee, you can be a cat anytime you want.  Nod twice for yes."

William's answer to her question brought Lois back to seriousness.  While she meant what she said, Lois hoped that she would not encounter a situation where she would have to break William's directive.  However getting hung up over such things was counter productive.  Better to focus on the good things instead.  She smiled.

"No killing, understood.  Nobody's ever had my back, so this will be refreshing.  When can we meet the others?  I just want to jump straight in."

Deedee rolled her eyes at the pun, but her posture was more relaxed now that she saw that the other people in the room hadn't freaked out. Plus, things were always much simpler in animal form. Probably because her thought processes were simpler when she was like this (not that she was a genius in any form).

At Lois' comment Deedee nodded twice, emitting a throaty purr at the same time. That was the drawback of being in cat form, she lacked the vocal chords to make human speech. Anna could do it, but Anna was way better at this than Deedee was. Of course, animals also lacked the sheer brain mass and size for complicated thinking, but none of Deedee's intelligence seemed to be gone when she shifted. Another thing she'd never really thought much about.

Oddly enough, the comments about killing didn't bother her in this form. Possibly due to the simpler thinking, and possibly because cats were predators. Her whiskers twitched just a bit as she stretched again, getting comfortable for the first time in the last few hours.

She sniffed the air, marking the scents in her mind more firmly.

William looked at the ladies and they seemed satisfied with all the explanations and what was possibly to come.
We'll follow up with a tour of the faculty in a bit, In the meantime please allow me to introduce the current members on the team that will be working along side with you. Let me start with our Holographic Computer Jocasta.
He said as the hologram appeared in the common room.

She looked real enough and pretty solid for a hologram.

Hello Ladies, please let me know whatever your needs are and whenever I can help you with during your stay. She says to the trio.

Thank you, Jocasta, Please advise the others to join us. He says to her.

(Spiderman, Bloodrager and Darkstar's Comm badge Ping to advise them William was ready for their introduction in the common room.)

Deedee rolled to the side to look toward Jocasta, and took a half hearted sniff in her direction. Which ended up making her roll to her feet, narrow her eyes, and hiss at the woman with no scent.

Deedee sat back and pawed her nose for a moment, then gave a little mewl of apology as her human side caught up and matched the term "hologram" to the figure. Of course she'd have no scent, she wasn't real. Although her eyes told her that the woman was real.

Her fur, which had bristled slightly, went back into position and Deedee licked a paw and smoothed out her fur as if nothing had happened.

"Hello, Jacosta, thank you."

Alison eyed the hologram, supposing the AI behind it would be very advanced.   The prospect of speaking with an AI was rather intriguing.    Of course, it could not help but also bring to mind all those sci-fi stories where an AI went bat shit bonkers, and methodically killed off everyone under its care.

Terrible thought...

'You think too much,' her father had often told her, usually with a sneer.

F--k, you dad, she thought for the second time.

She awaited for the experienced team members to make their entrance, to get an initial impression of what they were like..

Lois had never seen a hologram outside of movies and she didn't interact with it yet.  Like Siri, if she needed directions or a question answered... she'd consult this Jocasta then and only then.  It did bring to mind a question (that she put to William).

"Other than the team, are there other people on site?  It does seem rather quiet around here..."

Heavy footsteps approached as Bloodrager answered the amulet (comm) page. His hair and beard were still damp from the shower, but he was fully dressed in his barbarian fur outfit, even including his magic belt for the occasion. But no sword in evidence; that he understood wasn't considered polite to stomp around with inside the castle when he wasn't berserk.

A six foot-something, heavily muscled man with fire engine red skin, white-on-white eyes, black nails, black hair and a full beard came striding into the room. The ring on his right hand bore a glowing crimson rune (think the Red Lantern Corps from fiction), and the lime-green belt clenched around his furry Speedos was limned with a dim glow of its' own. An open-chested, sleeveless fur vest matching his shorts showed off his muscles abundantly, while somewhat paler boots of bound fur were on his feet.

He paused at the entrance, looking left and right. "Me shall summoned, William? Hello before, Miss Jocasta," he said with a strong Russian accent. His gaze wavered between paying attention to William and looking over the two unfamiliar ladies. He showed no sign of noticing the cat.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Wed 07 Nov 2018.

After leaving William's office via the door, Kevin summoned his "costume."  It was freezing cold, as usual but also clean, fully intact and fit him as well as it had back on that night his powers had first fully manifested.  The shirt was green with a multi-pointed black and white star on it he'd gotten from a wharf shop.  The jeans were basic Levis with a brown belt.  The goggles had been a gift from Andru, who even back then had shown signs of genius.  They had special, polarizing lenses that filtered out bright lights.  In the weeks before his powers manifested, Kevin had become highly light-sensitive.  Andru had ultimately over-engineered them to the point that they protected Kevin from even high-powered flash grenades, but without Andru they'd degraded down to being just really good sunglasses.  Bright lights still bugged him some, but not as much as back then.  His boots were Caterpillers shoplifted from a Boot Barn on a dare.  The brownish overcoat had been his Dad's from when he'd lived up in Boston.  He'd only worn it because that night Florida had been rainy and unseasonably cold even for late fall.

The other memories came with the outfit.  The rival dealers.  The chase.  The rest of it.  There had been uncertainty, of course.  Nothing had specifically happened, exactly.  He hadn't been bitten by a weird bug.  Or fallen into a vat of chemicals or anything.  The power had just... come.  And with them the idea of a whole different world.

As he walked up to the door he saw Bloodrager there before him and had an idea.  He teleported to a nearby bathroom and checked himself in the mirror.  Then he made a sharp blade from his Darkforce and used it to deliver a few cuts to his own face.  He dabbed away a few beads of blood and then headed back to the door.

"Hey, folks, I'm Darkstar, I'll be with you guys in just a sec, okay?" Kevin told the room before turning to Bloodrager and bracing himself for the ensuing healing.  "Hey, 'rager, do me a solid and fix me up.  I cut myself shaving again.  I think this whole razor experiment is at an end and I'm just going back to electrics."

Kevin figured this would be the simplest way to show the ladies what 'rager did without freaking them out by having him actually do it to one of them first.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:59, Wed 07 Nov 2018.

If Bloodrager didn’t have the face and shape of a (really big) man, Lois would have mistaken him for an alien.  He seemed to speak and act so... differently?  She couldn’t even guess at what he might be thinking and that made Lois a little uneasy.  However William had recruited him, so Lois assumed he must be useful and reasonably upstanding.

“I guess that’s our Thor...”.  She murmured to Alison.

As for Darkstar, Lois appreciated someone more informal after all the seriousness of the past hour.  The outfit might have seemed hodge podge, but Lois wasn’t going to project her standards onto team mates just yet.  Maybe the cuts on his face would have concerned her, but Darkstar’s explanation elicited a slight laugh instead.  Lois shot Allison a ‘what about this guy’ look.

“Sure... you boys go right ahead.”

Lois hadn’t forgotten Dee Dee, but she was a cat for now... so a conversation would be mostly one sided.

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 28):

Bloodrager looked, well, confused for a few moments, head tilting to the side as he regarded Darkstar. He was mentally checking matrix instances internally, trying to translate the situation into something which made sense to him, but failing. Regardless though, there was a tiny bit of blood (Blood!) on Darkstar's face, so...

"RAAAARRRGHHH!" A flurry of not-very-well aimed punches came at Kevin's head and shoulders, trying to hit and heal the injuries.

Deedee's ears flicked as Lois whispered to Alison. She heard the comment, even if she didn't bother to acknowledge it. After all, it's not like she could have said anything anyway.

So she lounged there as Darkstar appeared, and looked over at the slight smell of blood. Some kind of shaving accident? Well, each to their own.

It was Bloodrager's actions that caused Deedee to react. The sudden shout and the punching had her jumping up with a hiss, before Deedee's feral side decided that this form was not going to cut it.

And as such, the cat didn't land. Instead, a female gorilla hit the ground. Muscled and wild eyed, Deedee stood with one knuckle down on the ground, mouth open in agitation, the other arm raised as she bellowed out toward the barbarian, making a fist and slapping it against her chest in warning. Her eyes narrowed as she braced herself, stepping in front of the two women who she'd been with in a protective gesture as she growled softly.

William gave a chuckled but seeing the Gorilla take shape from a cat was quite a sight to see.
Ok ok, Let's just take a breath here. He smiled.
Before you ladies you have Darkstar and Bloodrager.

He tells them.
looking around to see if Spiderman was planning for a surprise intro.
We do have 2 more with us, Although the Doc is currently locked in his lab, and Spiderman should be around here somewhere.
he states,
Jocasta looks at William.
Sir the other 2 should be arriving momentarily. I've just cleared the jet for landing. she tells him.

OK Jocasta, Please go meet them, I'll should be there shortly.
Williams turns to the group.

Well it seems our last 2 potential members are arriving. Darkstar can you give the ladies a tour and meet back here. We can have everyone meet each other and continue getting to know each other and finish up should there be more questions.
He asks Kevin.