Frank and Ana joined the rest of Freedom Force back at HQ later the following day.

By that time Essex was all over the news; the weaponization of Mutants, the creation of a private Mutant army, the secret base, rigged with explosives, in the middle of a densely populated residential area. Rumors of corruption, payoffs, and bribery.

The deaths of the twenty-seven people barely made it to the top of the headlines.  Not because nobody cared, but because people were far more worried about a mega-corporation nearly seizing enough power to take over the world.  And who knows how many other shady companies or governments were out there, conducting research on Mutants, cloning them en-masse, training them in secret facilities outside the US?

Davis was down at the polls, and with the elections less than a week away most people were willing to wait her out rather than riot in the streets.  For now, at least.

Valerie hasn't slept much in the last few weeks.  Her eyes were baggy, and her stride was much slower than her usual gate.  Despite the immense pressure she was under, and despite wanting nothing more than getting a few hours of rest, she took the time to fly to (what remained of FF) HQ as soon as Johnson updated her about Harlem.  She realized the team was barely hanging in there, and though she didn't know if she can do anything to make things better, she had to at least hear them out.

Johnson, she decided, wouldn't take part in the meeting. Maybe later she would invite him to join, but right now she wanted to talk to the team without him being there, feeling they might be more open to voice their concerns if he wasn't present.

Barely finding the strength to stand, she waited for all of the heroes to step into the RV, nodding at each as they entered and found their seats.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:13, Wed 13 July 2022.

In reply to Valerie Cooper (msg # 2):

Illya is the first to arrive at the meeting. He enters the RV and sullenly drops into a chair as far away from Valerie as possible. He pointedly does not talk to her and does not even look at her.

Gwenyth had managed to arrive just a few seconds ahead of Illya and is in the process of clamoring out of a beautiful sapphire blue sports car that is so deep in its hue it manages to make the entire world around it look greyer for its presence. It was almost as if Gwenyth had found a way to channel her unearthly presence into a chunk of fiberglass on wheels. She waves weakly to Illya. She looks radiant as usual but the sluggishness of her movements suggest she didn't get much sleep. She offers a cardboard tray with six large, steaming lattes to Illya with an understanding smile. "The ones with a green star are made with oat milk," she explains. She doesn't know the team's lactose tolerances or vegan preferences; she never thought to ask.

Once inside the RV Gwenyth repeats the beverage presentation process to Valerie. "You look worse than I feel," she says in a soft, sympathetic voice.

Illya sullenly and reluctantly accepts one of the non-oat coffees. Though he is determined not to enjoy it, he can’t help himself, “Hey. This is really good. Thanks.”

”That bad?” though Gwyneth was nothing but compassionate, her comment still stung Valerie.  She took pride in her appearance, and looking worn out to the point other people were starting to notice definitely got to her.   She forced a smile, and reached out to one of the cups, blowing the steam away

”Thank you.  If I don’t get my caffeine fix I might fall asleep standing up”

Ana Sofía lands not much later and walks in. Hearing the comment about oat milk she asks, "Any with goat milk?" Probably not, so she takes a lactose-laden one. "Thanks, I can always use more coffee... Hi, Ms. Cooper, Ilya."

"Only a little bit!" Gwenyth hastily backpedals, seeing that she had hurt the woman who had done so much for her. If it was not for Valerie, Gwenyth might have had to resort to burger flipping in order to pay her legal fees after the scandal of her... genetic status... coming out. Even if she was the least useful member of Freedom Force, Gwenyth was happy to still be a part of something important. Something that utilized the skills she had honed on set.

Gwenyth turns and smiles to Ana as she arrives. "Yes! Oat milk!" she replies, assuming she had misheard. Her face falls as Ana quickly makes what she had intended plain. "Oh, sorry; I didn't even know that was something you could ask for." She sets the tray down and makes a note on her phone to remember for next time!
This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Fri 15 July 2022.

Kate who had tagged along with Ana shifts back from the noble Falcon she had flown over as down to her more regular fuzzy form and accepted the backpack with her cloths from the older woman.  "Thanks! I'll be right back."  and disappeared into one of the bathrooms to dress properly.

A minute or two later and she was back smiling and chipper, fully human in appearance and looking like she drank a full pot of coffee even though she hasn't yet touched a drop and doesn't seem drawn to the remaining cups.  "So how is everybody this morning?"

"Run down. Questioning whether this is the right thing. Stressed about the nasty posts people are making on my social media. I haven't even read any of them but I know what they're saying." She pauses to give Kate an appraising look. "You look... happy?" she says, not sure if the last word is a question or not.

Frank walked in looking as tired as the rest of the team. He hadn't slept well, being deeply disturbed by the events in Harlem. The Marauders and their new friends were the least of the troubles, though, and Frank's lack of sleep was more due to Johnson's hardline response to Shiva's actions, and Shiva's subsequent mutiny. This was not how being a super-hero was supposed to work.

He took a coffee, muttering a thank-you intended for whoever brought them in the first place, and drank half of it in a single go. It was hot, but he was invulnerable.

"Morning, everyone," he said, finding a seat. Seeing Valerie, he nodded in her direction and added a specific "Ms. Cooper" to his greeting.

In reply to Windtalker (msg # 7):

Illya nearly spits out his coffee when Ana greets him. He mutters a reply with his gaze firmly fixed on his feet.

"Hello, Frank" she called him by his first name, never much one for formalities.
Seeing they were all here, she placed her cup on the nearby table, pausing only for a short moment to collect her thoughts before addressing the team:

"So you know why I called you all here.  We're all reeling from the events of last night.  Twenty-seven people died in that apartment building.  Innocent civilians"
She tried not to think about the dead children lying in a row in the dark. Not so successfully, and her voice faltered before carrying on.

"The 'Nasty Boys', as they called themselves, were about to set off five tons! of C9 in the neighborhood. I know it is difficult.  I know we failed to protect those children. I know how the media portrayed us.  But the fact is that you saved thousands of lives last night.  You put a stop to Essex.  All their assets are being seized as we speak. Their management was arrested.  The main site in London was searched by Excalibur last night, and the one in Brazil was destroyed. You single-handedly put a stop to their plan of creating a cloned Mutant army.  It's not a failure" she had to repeat it one more time, also to convince herself "It's not"

It didn't feel much like a success, but the numbers skewed in that direction, so Frank was prepared to accept it as one. A 'W' is a 'W' he reminded himself. He just wished he could have stopped Slab from demolishing that building. He didn't take out Slab even with a busted knee, and he was too slow in fighting Scrambler and Riptide to follow up. He could have been better. He should have been better.

"Where do we go from here?" he asked. He meant it both metaphorically and literally. The team literally needed a new place to operate, in addition to needing a new direction. They couldn't keep going the way they were now. "And what happens with Shiva?"