October 7rd, 2020, Stark Industries warehouse in Upstate New York



Stark's warehouse was located at North Country, almost fifty miles away from Manhattan.  With the roadblocks and congestion, it would have taken Freedom Force hours to drive up there.  Stark did have the foresight of sending one of his executive helicopters to pick them up (he himself flew there in his armored suit), and the flight was therefore only supposed to take them little less than fifteen minutes.

Their chaperone was a chubby man named 'Happy'.  Though he claimed to be Stark's bodyguard, he looked kindly enough that the only reason anyone would ever have to fear him would be if they happened to be a box of donuts.  Giddy as a schoolgirl upon meeting Captain America, he invited his idol to sit next to him, leaving the rest of Freedom Force (and friends), in the passenger's cabin.

OOC: Happy has already made a stop to pick up Kate, Captain America, Newton and Danny from the UN HQ.  They would then stop at Avengers tower to pick up Frank and Ana, and also, apparently, Zoey, because Stark said to 'bring everybody'.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:05, Wed 22 Sept 2021.

Zoey was not entirely sure why she was going along with any of this nonsense. Someone had metaphorically mailed her an invitation by mistake and she felt dirty showing up. At the same time the sphere of traffic disaster around the mutant-caused carnage was increasing and had long since engulfed where she had parked her pickup, so she wasn't going to be getting out of New York for a while yet. Might as well see where all this takes her.

Also, she heard Captain America might be there. Zoey would never admit it to anyone but she held the man up as the closest thing humanity had to an ethical gold standard... although he wasn't 100% pure human anymore, was he? Food for thought...

For now, though, she simply pounced on Kate as if she had feline traits of her own. "There you are!" she declared, hugging the Kitty Kate tightly. A hug that almost immediately turned into checking her for injuries. "I'm so glad you're alright. If something had happened to you while I was fucking around picking timber for a treehouse I... I don't even know..."

"Hey, if we're giving away hugs here, put an old friend down on the list," Frank said, holding out his arms. If he'd missed Zoey a little, he'd missed Kate a lot. "C'mon, bring it in."

It was a sane moment in an otherwise insane day. Frank was especially glad to see that Kate had made it through whatever she'd done at the U.N. without any apparent injuries.

Danny remained with the charred, near-dead remains of their leader, Douglas Price.
It was only Danny constant mutant influence that was keeping the man alive, let alone (hopefully) beginning the regenerative process to re-establish his life force.

Kate put up with Zoey's cheerful mauling with an apparently put upon attitude though for those watching with even average social skills it's pretty obviously a front as the hug was returned, the hair fluffing tolerated longer than necessary, and a slight reluctance to squirm free evident in her protests about being fine.

Once clear she did in fact give Frank a hug.  Thudding into his broad and wide chest with an ineffectual whump and giving a squeeze for all she's worth.  Which were he normal might actually be impressive, but was hardly likely to cause him distress.  Well distress outside of realizing that her cardigan was spotted with flecks of blood and her hands and such were suspiciously clean.

Then it was Ana's turn for a more gentle hug, if the woman would allow it.  At some point after leaving the UN she had gone mostly back to human, her feline traits mostly just impressions at the moment, giving a feel to the younger woman more than an explicit look.

Ana Sofía returns Kate's hug warmly. "It's so great to see you again. Good job at the UN."

She turns between Newton and Kate, "I think you two have met at this point, at least in the helicopter." Then between Newton and Zoey, "You two probably haven't met, though. Newton, the four of us, Frank, Kate, Zoey, and I were all together at the Xavier Institute before Frank and I joined Freedom Force. Kate and Zoey, this is Newton, who joined Freedom Force about when we did."

Zoey giggles as Kate tries to hug the hit points out of Frank. It's a rare sound to hear from the otherwise generally ill-tempered young woman, although it is a sound Kate is likely familiar with. Something about the fuzzball brings out the best in her.

Zoey waves to Newton as Ana introduces them formally. "Hi Newton. Let me guess: gravity control?" Based on that callsign it seemed a reasonable guess. Her next question is directed at the group generally. "So, has this Freedom Force thing been everything you've hoped for? Looks like they're feeding you right at least."

"It might be too early to answer that question," Frank said, settling into a seat. He kept one eye on the time; they still needed to be back in the city to meet Ms. Cooper in... five-and-a-half hours now. "This is our first official mission as a team. A single data point doesn't make a pattern, y'know? But this mission wasn't mired in moral ambiguity, so: bonus."

He didn't add that Freedom Force was paying him very well. If Zoey wanted to jump teams, she'd need to do so for a better reason than that. And she probably wouldn't do it for the money, anyway. She didn't seem the type to put money high on the list of priorities.

Zoey raises an eyebrow at that. "Only the one mission in all this time? That's... huh. Quiet on the home front I guess."

Kate eyed Newton and his obviously military haircut, demeanor and general vibe and just sort of sidled away from his part of the gathering.  Luckily there were plenty of more familiar people for her to hover near.  Riffing off of Zoey's question Kate adds"Yah, what is Freedom Force really?  I mean, I tried looking you guys up online but there wasn't anything there.  Are you supposed to be secret or just sort of lazy at advertising?"

"The program isn't completely 'live' yet," Frank explained. There was going to be a lot of media surrounding their official debut, of course. Hopefully they'd be better received than Space Force had been. (Yeesh.) "Today's events kind of trumped our plans. What's the expression? Man plans, God laughs?"

"Thing is, we're still just provisional government agents. There are courses to pass."

He held out his ID, which still had PROVISIONAL stamped across it.

"It's a vastly accelerated program, though. They're counting on us being able to finish years' worth of course work in months. It's grueling."

Zoey takes Kate's hand in her own as they draw near. Mine, she thinks playfully to her, although uncertain if she is listening.

"Man plans and the Brotherhood spunks?" Zoey tries adapting the phrase.

"Aw man, educational crunch!" Zoey groans. "That sounds awful! I am so glad that I didn't take Missus Tits up on her offer, no matter how delightful her fault line might have been. I have my hands full just getting my license to practice medicine so that I can be a real-world healslut. Not sure if I am going to work at a hospital or be an independent practitioner. I like the idea of having regular work even if I don't really need the money, but on the other hand I've always had an issue with hierarchies... something about needing to watch my language."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Fri 24 Sept 2021.

"Mutants working FOR the government?  I thought you guys were part of the Avengers or something" the Legion was real curious now "They're only using you, you know.  To get the rest of us.  Once your services would no longer be required you'll get the same treatment; locked up, and eviscerated.   You'll see"

Zoey glances at Legion. "Man with the worst case of multiple personality disorder I have ever seen is right, you know. You can't trust government. Not ever."

"But you're more likely to be able to change it from the inside rather than from the outside. I want to help lead the country in a better direction, not destroy the country."