In the oppressive heat lies Death Valley. A hot sandy area that is virtually inhospitable to life. A place that would make an excellent prison.

And a prison it has become, as the camera goes lower and finds a lone transport hovercraft skating the desert sands. On board, a new group of Empowered. Dressed in prisoner grays consisting of a simple shirt, a pair of pants, and soft slippers, each also wears a bulky device attached to their right arm. A power inhibitor.

The transport drones on with it's chained prisoners in it's belly as it skirts the sands approaching a floating fortress. The size of a few city blocks, it hovers there on several turbines that maintain it's steady station above the blistering sands. A 're-education camp' for Empowered.

Few guards patrol the instillation, but few are needed. The weakened Empowered have nowhere to go that would be safe. Dropping to the sand below would likely break a limb, and the trek through the desert with no supplies would kill them in their weakened state.

And it is to this prison we find our heroes travelling to. Strapped to their seats, weakened and their powers inaccessible, no hope in sight as they sit among the other few beings similarly imprisoned.

Besides our heroes, there sits three other men and two women. These others seem beaten down, one of the men severely bruised up, and the three guards in attendance ignore the prisoners, but they do keep their guns at the ready just in case.

Having tasted power - the ability to soar the skies, unnatural levels of strength and vitality, the capacity to dispel the pains of a human body, to re-knit flesh and bone with only a touch - this sort of abject helplessness was even more aggrieving.

As many times as Nora Caravello had railed against what she'd been given - and more significantly, the tragedy it had precipitated  - she would have given fifteen years of her life to have it back now.

Mostly, she'd been sitting there, throughout this trip, with her gaze cast toward the floor.   Portraying the cowed captive, not giving her captors any reason to put attention on her.    While her thoughts were active, considering details, reviewing ideas, and coming up with nothing that would get her out of this mess.

She had no problem admitting that she was feeling more than a little fear.  As well as beyond fed up with her life being upended, thrown into chaos, over a fluke of genetics.

She found use for both the fear and outrage, however.  To keep herself focused.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Sun 27 Oct 2019.

Melissa (not Clarissa, not any more) felt hot, tired, scared and pissed.  Most of all pissed.  At the world.  And at herself.  College tuition was a stone bitch even with her former skating prize money.  So, to get a little "pocket change" she'd leveraged a few of her old contacts in the skating world to get some enhancement drugs for some of the Sharks who wanted an edge (or were scared they'd get cut).

And they got caught.  And gave her up.  And in the arrest she got tested, her supe powers got found and she'd wound up here.  All because she'd wanted a little money for clubbing and movies.  Fuckers.

And it had been some decent money.  Because she did have "equipment" that everyone had either missed or discounted.  A Copper IUD.  Because once she was out of the skating game, Melissa had decided she was damned well going to fuck and get fucked without messing with pills, condoms or any of that other shit.  If she could reach the strings and pull it out she could maybe short out the power cuff and...

Probably electrocute myself.  Or, get shot.  And if not then what?  Fight three armed fucking guards with my ice shit in Death Fucking Valley?  Fuck that, she decided.

So far Melissa had been doing something she almost never did.  She'd kept her mouth shut and just looked the fuck around.

The guards were split up right now with one youngish chunky white guy in the back, one older and also chunky white guy in the front and the other one, a youngish thin black dude who should have been doing a walk up and down the aisle had gone to the cockpit to chat with the driver, a black girl who looked kind of cute for a prison pig.  The one in the back was fucking with his I-phone.  The older white one in the front was reading an honest-to-White-Aryan-Jesus paper version of Freedom Watch magazine, the Nazi cunt.

As for her fellow prisoners, except for the beat-up guy, Melissa hadn't really focused attention on them yet.  And the beat-up guy was stupid enough to let himself get beat up, so kind of a why bother.

A light buzzing noise from front show that the Nazi cunt had dropped his mag and gone nighty-night.  Phone dude was still texting like shit to somebody.

And across the aisle was one other captive, a tallish blonde girl who looked a little pissed off.  Even in the shitty prison garb, Melissa decided she wouldn't mind getting some Orange Is the New Black action with the blonde, who was a kind of hot Melissa didn't mind at all.  So, since the guards were otherwise distracted, Melissa decided to make contact.

"Hey, I'm Mel," Melissa stage-whispered to the blonde as she hooked a thumb toward herself.  "What're you in for?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:53, Wed 30 Oct 2019.

She glanced up at the petite Asian.  And, her impression remained the same as when she'd first glimpsed the girl's face.  That she was familiar. From somewhere.  But she couldn't place it then, and still could not, now.

"Nora," she offered in return, deciding quickly how little or much she wished to say, with the guards in earshot.   Of course, they might well have read data files concerning their prisoners.   But, she didn't wish to delineate why she'd once been dangerous, in case they had not.    She shrugged, smiled faintly, replied in her accented English-

"Being politically incorrect.  Breaking Instagram's terms and condition.  Healing without a license.  Not sleeping with the right people. Eh, not in that order." 

It was both facetious as well as mostly true.   And left out the incidental violence.

"How 'bout you-?"   

"Got greedy and got stupid," Melissa replied with a shrug.  "Wasn't even a power thing.  Got arrested and tested and there you go."

The other girl's accent was... Italian.  And not American Italian.  Actual Italy Italian.  Skating had taken her a lot of places to hear a lot of accents.  For her own part, Melissa's parents had pushed assimilation pretty hard, so her speech was pretty much pure California.  Though she could do a decent Vietnamese one, which she thought of as her "me-love-you-long-time" voice thanks to her dad's weird obsession with Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket

Melissa scanned the area again.  Still flirting, texting and snoring, she noted.  Well, the two in the cabin were texting and snoring.  The one who went into the driver's area hasn't come out yet and it was probably difficult to fuck and drive.  So, flirting, most likely.

"Somebody rat on you?" Melissa asked Nora.

"And healing?  Cool.  I'm a frigid bitch myself," Melissa told her, put a slight emphasis on "Frigid."

At this initial impression, Mel seemed to possess a certain amount of spirit, Nora noted.  In spite of her plan to just keep to herself, it was a little heartening to speak to someone.   Who didn't strike her as broken, nutty, or stupid.    Generally, it took an intelligent person to realize that they'd done something stupid.

"No, nobody ratted. Not exactly. They tried to extort me.   And, I resisted that.  In a stupid way." 

She believed she understood what was being alluded to, in terms of Mel's power.   Like an Asian Elsa?   That sounded promising.    If freedom were somehow attained. She realized Mel was obliquely eying the guards.  Whom were not exactly the cream of the crop.    But, given the circumstance, it wasn't like they needed to be.

"So. You know anything about this 're-education' we're supposed to get?"  She asked it of Mel, but audibly enough that the guards could overhear.    Just in case any were inclined to intimidate, boast, or otherwise wag the jaw, and supply info which might be useful.

There was a tense moment and Melissa felt a chill up her spine that was intensely unwelcome despite the dry heat.  But then... texting.  Snoring.  Melissa pursed her lips and glared at the Nora, tilting her head toward the older guard in dreamland.

"Jesus fuck!" she whispered quietly but harshly.  "Keep it down.  The sleepy old fart up front?  He's a Sons of Freedom fan.  Got the Freedom Watch mag and everything."

"You really wanna wake his Hitler Senior ass up from sweet dreaming of jackin' it to Patriot's corpse?" Melissa asked her, then nodded her head toward the injured man.  "You want us to end up like that shit head?"

Melissa deliberately shut her mouth a waited a few second, letting her own emotions dim slightly before she brought shit down on them.

"No, I don't know about their camps... But.  But my granddad got my grandmom out before the end of the war," Melissa whispered to Nora.  "The, uh, Vietnam war.  But he did time in their reeducation camps.  A couple years.  Came over on a boat and they had my dad."

"I never got a chance to meet him," Melissa told Nora.  "The camps were bad.  They fucked his health.  He died when my dad was like 15, way before me.  Figure if shit like that is where we're headed, we best take a fucking detour, ASAP.  I might have a way, but it's a super-long shot."

"Too soon for details," Melissa cautioned and then indicated the other Empowered.  "What's your take on the rest of these mopes?"

"What's your take on the rest of these mopes?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:46, Thu 31 Oct 2019.

Nora's voice dropped to a quieter tone. "I am sorry about your grandfather. Sounds like a brave, kind man.  As for shit-head, I believe he ran afoul of today's finest power-dampener technology.   Works real well. Got rewarded, for trying to prove otherwise.  That's why they don't give two shits about us merely talking.    Some of them might be cruel in a petty way, but many don't see the need, is my experience so far.  Some of them, at their level at least, are  just drawing a paycheck, waving the flag, because it's part of what they get paid for.   Or, naive enough to think of themselves as the good-guys."    Nora glanced briefly in the guards' direction, then again back at Mel.

"Which mopes?" she asked, addressing the question.  "Other guards, or fellow prisoners? I think not so much difference.   We are all just pawns, in a bigger game.  Just like in the war, that screwed your grandpa.  Little pawns on each side die. While a sovereign gains in power. It is good to be king, eh?"

Naturally, she wasn't going to inquire about Mel's 'way', but she was much curious.   As well as very reluctant to attempt anything at the wrong time.   Which was probably right now.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:45, Thu 31 Oct 2019.

"The prisoners," Melissa quietly replied, adding a mental Duh!

"I don't want to move too soon either, but I think if we get where we're going, we lose options," she noted.  "You know how on those Dateline murder-porn shows on HLN and shit the murderee gets nabbed, taken somewhere else and whacked?  We've been nabbed.  They're takin' us someplace else.  You really wanna stick around for the whacking?"

"So, thoughts?" Melissa asked Nora, examining the other prisoners herself.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:16, Sat 02 Nov 2019.

Nora did her own mental 'Duh' once Mel began citing television as a basis for planning and estimation.     Seriously-?

Not that she thought their being killed at the destination was by any means impossible.   It had crossed her mind more than once.  But it was an obvious possibility.    She didn't need a TV show to fire her imagination.

"Being stuck in the desert with active dampers is like suicide, not escape.  If our powers are working, that'd be different.  If you can make ice, then you also make water.   And, as far as transport, I don't need a vehicle to fly."  Her eyes flicked briefly toward the other prisoners.

"I know nothing of any of them.   Power, personality, whether or no their spirit is broken.    Or, if they actually are psychotic or criminal."  She shrugged again.

"I've done nothing but go over and over ideas to get out!    Aside from stupid crap, like playing ill, that only works in fiction, I can think of nothing.  So what about this 'way' of yours?" 

Melissa took another sidelong glance around.  Sleeping, texting.  Flirting/fucking?

She leaned in as close to Nora as her restraints would allow and softly whispered, "Got a copper IUD up my hooch.  We could use it to short out a power inbitor but I don't know how.  Especially not how to do it without electrocuting somebody.

Then Melissa slowly moved back and took a long, careful look at the other prisoners, hoping somebody at least seemed to be a nerd.

The door separating the flight control area opened and a man stepped out. He wasn't someone you've seen on the trip so far, so he must have been up front the entire time. He's got a streamlined combat armor on, in a deep red trimmed in yellow and gold.

The guards have snapped to attention, and the one guy's magazine seems to have disappeared.

"Well now, we are almost at our destination and I wanted to let you all know how this is going to work." He looks over the line of people, almost casually. It seems like this isn't the first time he's done this.

"You are being escorted to the Death Valley Empowered Holding Unit, where you will be spending quite some time. As you already know, you're surrounded by desert and no good way to escape. Which brings me to the point of the trip where someone decides to do something stupid and get themselves, and potentially others, killed. So I'll try the blunt approach. Those fancy arm units you have on have enough juice in them to fry a bull from raw to well done in less time then it took me to say that. You try and pop one open, you die. You try and rush a guard, the kill switch activates. Then you die. We're not here to play games, we're not here to babysit. We're dropping you off, then we're leaving. Our pilot has orders that if she hears any of us cry out, she hears a gunshot, she sees through the cameras that you are up to no good, she hits the big button and you all die. We are not taking any chances. There's only a few minutes left, and this is where people get desperate."

The prisoner who had been beaten stands up and pulls back a fist that looks more like a ham then an appendage, stepping forward with a roar of rage. There's a sharp popping noise, and he screams as he pitches face first to the deck, smoke beginning to seep out in bits from his arm device.

The man shakes his head. "Always one."

One of the guards secures his rifle, grabs the body, and drags it slowly out the back.

"I'm assuming one was enough?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. Usually after one goes the rest settle down, but he's seen enough to know that sometimes another thinks he'll be the one that manages it. The other Empowered there just put their heads down, not wanting to look at where the body was, or the man who is in charge.

Okay, well that butt-fucks Plan A, doesn't it?  Melissa thought as Guard Texter dragged the well-done corpse down the aisle, letting everyone get a good look (and smell).  Nobody puked or shat themsleves, though it looked like it was a near thing for Texter Guard.

The commander waited perhaps expecting (hoping?) somebody else would volunteer to be the second barbecued entree.  Of the guards she'd seen so far, he was the one who scared Melissa the most.  Because of the boredom.

Melissa recalled one video she'd seen that PETA had taken in some meat plant in France.  A bunch of workers stood around a rotating conveyor belt area filled with tiny yellow ducklings.  They'd grab a duckling and examine it to determine its sex.  Male ducklings were placed in one area for further processing.  Female ducklings were tossed into a vat with a hole that dropped into an area where the females were chopped and ground (alive) into bits.  The workers weren't even malicious as they toss the terrified baby ducks to their deaths.  Just bored people doing their work.

This commander was a bored guy doing his work and he'd kill the lot of them as swiftly and casually as those French workers killed the baby ducks.

Aside from which, Nora aside the rest of the "Empowered" seemed as worthless in terms of saving themselves as those ducklings had been.  And the ducklings had at least been cute.

So, much as it sucked, Melissa was going to have to wait and hope for a better opportunity.  Or at least better potential co-conspirators.

Nora's expression went through three swift yet distinct changes.  Something like-

1) What-?
2) Oh, haha, she's joking.
3) No!   She's actually serious!

She began laughing, quietly, the harsh reality of the situation momentarily softened, as well as actually impressed by Mel's ingenuity.

On the verge of reply, she went abruptly silent, as the armored one emerged, and addressed them all.    The man's death -- it bothered her, of course.   Yet, it was nearly in the realm of a Darwin* Award.   Or a suicide, maybe?    Well, she wished to live, and couldn't afford to dwell on it.    She did her best to look horrified, cowed, putting her head down like the others.      But inside there was no submission:

In bocca al lupo! she thought, 'In the mouth of the wolf!'

It was a common saying before doing something that needed guts, risk, or fortitude.  Italians generally didn't wish for luck...due to a superstition that doing so was the quickest way to jinx things.

The time for guts was not now, however.   Plainly, any chance that would come, would be later.

*No reference meant to our dear GM's character in that other game -  but, I'll take a bonus point if you are handing any out.  ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Wed 06 Nov 2019.

The armored man paused a few more moments, then nodded his head. "Very good."

Apparently satisfied, he went back into the control room. The guards stayed alert now, holding their weapons at the ready as the transport continued on it's way.

It was not very long before the engines took on a distinct whine as the transport slowed. A few moments later there was a dull thud and the engines powered down.

The side door opened as the guards took positions. The armored man came back out and in quick, efficient, and well practiced motions directed the prisoners out.

The prison facility was like a small floating town almost. Everything was made of metals, heavily reinforced. One could hear the soft hum of the engines that kept the prison aloft. On one side was the largest building, where guards and personnel moved back and forth. This was the main headquarters and the science facilities. At the far end, the barracks for the guards that lived there, as well as the exercise facilities. On the other side, the building where the prisoners stayed. It had fences around it, and listless people with inhibitor devices milled around. The fence was open, and while guards watched their charges it didn't seem to be restricted.

Dawnfire and Glaze find themselves standing together as a guard exchanges pleasantries with the armored man who brought them there, then the armored man and his guards file back on the transport and it takes off.

There's a very brief orientation for the new arrivals, where they're basically told to obey orders and not to go into any building except the prisoner bunks without permission. Other than that, he doesn't seem to really care.

As the new arrivals start to mill off, fairly accepting of their new lot in life, the duo sees an interesting little scene play out.

Two guards who are nearby are talking as a young looking woman walks up. She's inhibited, and has a pair of wings that emerge from her back, her feathers start out white at the base and up to the top curve, then shade down through grey until solid black at the bottom. She's attractive enough, although being here has obviously taken a toll on her, plus the constant drain of the inhibitor shows in her posture. She's tired, and the non-stop energy drain makes her force herself to move. Her long hair is clean however, and is shaded much like her wings, starting at a platinum blond and shading down to black at the tips.

She clasps her hands in front of her, looking down at the ground. "Wünschst du mir jetzt?" she says softly.

One guard nods, the other frowns. "You shouldn't be doing that with prisoners. It's not right." the frowning one says. He runs a hand through his reddish brown hair, cracking his neck tot he side. Unlike the other guard who seems a bit out of shape, this guy is well toned, fit and lean. His eyes are almost amber, and he holds himself in what at first appears a relaxed stance but looking closer one can see the readiness in it. Like a jungle cat, ready to spring at a moment's notice. The one is a guard, but this man is a soldier.

The other laughs. "I ain't soliciting her, she asked me. Perfectly within rules."

The frowning one shakes his head. It's easy to see the momentary flash of anger in his eyes, but he quickly masks it. "She don't know any better. She's damaged goods now. It's the same as..."

"Cut the shit. What, you gonna shoot me or something if I do? Back the fuck off, newbie."

The frowning man takes a step back, muttering something under his breath. The other guard stretches out a hand to the woman. She reaches out, and then looks at the frowning man. "Wirst du sie nehmen?"

He nods, then turns and  calls out "Daria!"

A young girl, probably no older than 12, comes running over. Her clothing, like the other girl's, is slightly tattered. They've obviously been here a while. The little girl has stark black hair, and wide sad eyes. She reaches up and takes the guard's hand gently. The other guard laughs again. "Take good care of the squirt," he says as he leads the winged woman away toward the guard barracks.

The other guard goes down to one knee, and gently pats the girl on the head. Her eyes are glued to the retreating figures.

"Hey kiddo. Remember what we say?"

She gives a small nod, then turns to look at him. Something in those nearly black eyes of her seems to rise, almost a red glow, just for a moment, that quickly fades. "That he's a bad man."

He smiles at her. "That's right."

"And that he'll get his."

"Yup. He'll get his. Your mom thinks she's protecting you. And she is, in her own way."

"Can I say it this time?"

"Sure. Not too loud though."

She finally gives a little smile. "Cry Havok, and let slip the Dogs of War."

He nods, and pats her head again. "That's right. Havok's coming little one. Soon."

The fuck was that about? Melissa wondered.  A paranoid part of her thought it might have been somehow staged for their benefit given how little care the "nice" guard and girl seemed to have for being overheard.  Hasn't that guy ever heard of prison snitches?  Still... she turned to Nora and leaned in closely to the other girl.

"That was interesting," Melissa commented to Nora quietly.  "But it doesn't change much.  Maybe this Havoc is coming.  And he's bringing Patriot, Jesus and Santa Claus as backup.  But I don't want to wait and get weaker in case he's not. "

"Okay, you're a healer, right?"  Melissa asked Nora again in a quiet tone.  "How good a healer?  Like, if, say, somebody got part of their right arm cut off, could you grow it back?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:55, Thu 07 Nov 2019.

Nora likewise observed and listened in full to the exchange, grasping early the nature of it, without understanding the angel-woman's words, though recognizing them as German.

Like Mel, she held some suspicions, though they didn't yet know the culture of this place.  Which could be different from a standard penitentiary, if having some superficial things in common.     She was surprised that the fence to the prisoner area was open.   But with the inhibitors, there was a much reduced need for keeping everyone locked in.    The penalty for breaking any rule could be a near instant and final *ZAP.*

"Of course, any place such as this will have its pervs, its would be rapists.  Extra rough being here with your kid.   Can you imagine? I wonder how many children are here."   She frowned, then answered Mel's question.

"Regrow a whole body part?   Ah, never had to try...not so sure 'bout something like that. Each case is individual...I must touch, and 'sync' with the..." she grasped for the right term, never having really articulated it before, "life-pattern of the body.  The less damage, the easier.  Worst case, I healed up a guy pretty good who was pretty crushed from piece of a building falling on him.    Took me awhile.  Was tiring.   My power, a little funny.   Someone who knows these things told me I'm vitalkinetic.   I magnify my own lifeforce.    Good for my body, good for others.   Kind of like Super-girl, with ER service."

Melissa winced.  "That's a little too iffy for me."

She gestured with her right arm, the one with the inhibitor.  "Figure if you could grow this back, especially fast, we could, you know, "disarm" some people so they could use their shit, but I guess not."

She looked over at the nice guard, then back to Nora.  "Okay, we either get out, or they're gonna kill us.  This is a re-education camp.  We're here to be re-educated.  We're here so these fucks can strip out whatever makes us us and replaces with something that turns us into slaves or pets or robots or some shit.  Whoever we are at the end of that process won't be us and won't be any one I wanna be.  And if they can't re-educate us, they're gonna kill us.  So we're dead either way."

"I think we take the chance and go talk to that guy.  If it's a set up, then fuck it.  It'll hurt but t least we'll die fast," Melissa concluded turning to head toward the "nice guard."

She shook her head at Mel's creative, but ultra risky idea.  "No, good thinking, but definitely not going there."   

She shrugged as to the rest of it.    "I think we can talk, and still play ignorant to a degree.   Maybe not overdue it, hey?"  She likewise began walking toward this harbinger of Havok.

"Honestly, I don't think that's going to work," Melissa quietly told Nora.  "Playing too dumb will get us dismissed as being dumb.  Playing coy might make us look lies spies or something and the dude'll fry us himself as a possible threat."

"Doing nothing means we just hope that whatever happens ends up including us.  I think the best way to get out of here is to level with the guy and be an active part of getting out of here," Melissa told the other woman.  "If you're not comfortable with that, hang back and wait to see what happens.  If things are cool, I'll give you the nod.  If I get fried or dragged off, you'll at least have better info for yourself."

The guard is still with Daria, although they aren't speaking right now. The girl is holding onto the man's pants with her left hand, letting her inhibited right hang at her side.

Her inhibitor looks a bit odd, and at first it could be assumed that is because it is sized for a child and not for an adult. Although a closer look reveals an extra module that is attached to it, with tubes that lie on the surface and go down into a spot near the wrist fastener.

The guard is looking out over the yard, his eyes seem not quite focused. He seems to perhaps be listening to something, but there's no sound that seems out of the ordinary for this place.

"Point taken.   I'm not hanging back.  Let's go and do this." 

She continued walking forward, in manner that made it plain to the guard and the girl they were about to be approached.     Once close enough, she smiled in greeting.  Said in a soft tone-

"Hello.  Myself and my friend," she indicated Mel, "are new here, in case it isn't plain.  We overheard you.  And, from the gist of it, I think a little Havok would suit us.  We're not really cut out to sit around and make license plates."

Okay, you go, girl, Melissa thought as Nora took the initiative.

"Yeah, I don't need re-education," Melissa added in a quiet tone.  "I'm already in college and my tuition's high enough as is."

As Dawnfire approached the two, Daria moved behind the guard's leg. Odd that she'd trust a guard over one of her own, but who knows how long the child had been here or how many times this guy ended up watching her.

He turned to face the two, his eyes once more in focus. If he was surprised by the interruption, he didn't show it.

"Well, now I could go ahead and play like I don't know what you mean but things are moving a mite faster then I'd expected today and I'm guessing that the more's going to be the merrier."

He reached down and ruffled Daria's hair. She didn't really react to it. She seemed tired, and lethargic.

"Reeducating people really implies there's things to be relearned, and no amount of learnin' gonna change what people are."  He shrugged. "Some do learn to play nice, some don't. This here's where they figure out which you are, and what needs to be done about it."

No other guards are about in this area, so it seems clear enough.

"As to Havok, well..." his eyes narrows just a touch as his voice dropped a bit, "There's chaos, there's surprise, and then there's the man."

He smiled.

"Name's Andy, and this here's Daria."

Nora took the girl's trust in Andy as a sign that this probably hadn't been a mistake.  Poor kid;  how more fucked up to be here, at her age.  Nora wondered what her power was, that it seemed to require a different kind of damper.  She returned Andy's smile.

"Good to meet you both.   I'm Nora, my friend is Mel.  We both can do some helpful things, when we're not damp.   I'd wondered how much re-education was just PC for something worse.  Sounds about half and half, I guess?  We aren't going to do impulsive, stupid shit, or make your job harder.  Any tips for getting along, here?"     

"Yeah, we're all in on getting out," Melissa put in then swung her right arm to indicate the inhibitor.  "But our super-cool awesome power stuff is pretty fu-, um, frakking, irrelevant with these things.  And they can, you know, kill us all with a flipped switch.  We got a preview of that on the ride over here."

"If you're looking to get along in here, best bet is to lie low. Those fancy bands make most people here kind of slow. Expend energy, takes a long time to get it back. Which is why you see most of these just milling about. Not enough energy and drive to make trouble, for guards or each other."

Daria looks off in the direction her mother had gone before looking back. Her eyes definitely begin to glow red, and then the extra device on her inhibitor makes a soft beep and a hissing noise as it pumps something into her. Immediately her eyes stop glowing and her eyelids flicker a bit as she begins to get sleepy.

Andy ruffles her hair again.

"As to getting out..." his voice is lower now. "I'm hoping that comes soon. Waiting on a ghost."

Waiting on a ghost...

That particular phrase drove Nora's attention inward for a moment.  It was fleetingly visible in her face, a subtle shift in demeanor.    A pair of faces out of memory, smiling and kind. Both gone now.   Thanks to the callousness of others.   And of course, her own poor decisions.

Her eyes went to the girl, whose wish to protect her mother was plain. Even if the particular nature of her means to do so wasn't.

"Yes.  We have had a preview," she said somewhat distantly, echoing Mel's remark.   Her eyes went back to the benefactor in enemy's clothing.

"So. Don't be more active than needed.  And be patient. Those are doable."

"Okay, is there any place we need to be, or maybe try to get others to be so we can be ready when Casper and company show up?" Melissa asked quietly.

"Also, what's with her and that extra shi-, er, stuff on her inhibitor?" Melissa asked about the girl whose eyed had just glowed.

"Finally, if you, uh, hypothetically had access to small bit of conductive metal, could we use that to short these things out without killing ourselves?" she finished.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:01, Sun 17 Nov 2019.

"I'd suggest not trying to push yourselves for now. Those things even think you're trying to use any sort of ability and the drain starts. Likelyhood is you're already getting a slow drain. And if you get too weak, you won't be able to do anything when the time is right."

He looks down at Daria, then back up.

"Daria here is a special case. Her inhibitor is mainly for show. Her powers...well...let's just say they don't work the same way yours do and leave it at that. So when she starts doing things, her unit drugs her. Keeps her docile enough to lose focus."

Daria yawns, seemingly not paying much attention right now.

"To be honest, if you start tampering with that thing it's most likely to discharge. So I'd not try it."

Andy looks off to the side, and his eyes go vacant for a moment before he nods and turns back.

"Well now, looks like Engel is just about finished. So...there's a distinct possibility that things may get a mite bit interesting real quick."

"What sort of interesting?"

As Andy gave her the bad news, Melissa was starring at the inhibitor and remembering... something.  Someone.  Dirty blond hair.  Goofy-ass surfer-dude accent.  Something about radios and...

"Fuck me.  I got it," Melissa said, a bit louder than she'd expected.  "Aluminum mother-fucking foil."

She looked at Daria.  "Yeah.  I cuss.  A lot.  It's a thing."

"So there's another Andy I know, except his name is Andru, A-n-d-r-fucking-u.  And a few weeks back he was boring the piss out of me in a Chemistry 101 lab about some science thing he did as a kid with foil," Melissa explained to the others.  "You know how those fucktards on TV put foil on their heads to block out alien mind control rays?  Turns out it's not bullshit after all."

"'Cause little Andru did the thing with foil and the controller for a remote toy car and the car couldn't move any more.  The foil was conductive so it blocked the radio waves.  Y'know, like the radio waves that'll get sent out to tell these fucking things to fry us," Melissa said, indicating her inhibitor.

"See, when shit gets interesting, Havok or whoever is gonna have to take out whatever sets these things to kill us perfectly," Melissa pointed out.  "And if they can't either we'll all die or the fuckers here'll use us as hostages.  We block the signal with foil, we take that away from them."

"We'll have to have enough to cover these things completely to have a shot and it might not work, but we have to try.  Your ghost buddies are coming to save us.  Last thing I want is to get used against them."

Andy chuckles a bit.

"Well, there's this old Chinese curse that goes 'May you live in interesting times'. That about sums up the interesting that I'm talking about."

He just kind of shakes his head at Glaze's suggestion though.

'I reckon you'd need quite a bit to shield those things, and likely no one here's got that much to give. Or get. Things they give you here and all in plastics and such. They's extra careful."

he looks off to the side for a moment, then back. "And I have it on good authority that them tin foil hats don't really keep out the mind controllers."

"Like I said, I know tin-foil hats are bullshit," Melissa insisted.  "And for fuckin' sure they won't give us foil.  You'd need to get some for us, figure the heavy duty shit would be best.  And we wouldn't need to wrap our whole bodies in it.  Just enough to completely cover the inhibitors end to end to block signals.  It'll work.  And even if it doesn't, I'd rather die trying than sit here waiting to get rescued or get killed like a helpless fuckin' baby princess or some shit."

"I mean, c'mon, Andy," Melissa cajoled, nodding toward Daria.  "You really want to see her fry 'cause you wouldn't score some Reynold's wrap from the kitchen?"

"You get us the stuff, put it in some place they'll move us to when shit gets Chinese an' we wrap everyone up and protect 'em 'til Havok gets us free.  Simple."  Melissa finished.  "Not easy.  Dangerous as fuck.  But simple."

Andy shook his head again.

"Darlin', I think you're misunderstandin'. They don't use any here, least as far as I've even seen. Everything is shipped in with plastics and the like. No foil, no metal utensils, nothin' but plastics and the like."

He gave a half shrug.

"Not that that ain't a grand idea, mind you. Might need to remember that one in the future. But for this here, once the plan's in motion I won't need to worry about any of that. Signal goes out, and the cuffs drop off."

After listening, Nora added- "It would depend too, I think, on how the signal is transmitted.   I have heard that thing about aluminum stopping radio and microwaves.  Both very commonly used in transmission.   But, those are not the only possibility.   If someone is smart enough to invent tech like this, quite possibly they're smart enough to make it so it is not so easily, eh, foiled.  Hard to believe they'd leave such an obvious vulnerability, in fact.  At least, obvious to anyone with a decent grounding in the sciences."   She shrugged.      And thought about it some more.

"Steel is better for blocking all sorts of electromagnetic radiation.   I remember that.    Not possible to wrap it around, of course.  But say, if the part that transmits, were pressed flat against a steel surface?"  She shrugged again.  "I don't care to mess up Mr. Havok's crafty plan.   More desperate things left for if it fails."     

"Where does the signal come from, anyway?"   she inquired softly as an afterthought.

Is there any obvious dish, antenna, or tower?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:53, Thu 21 Nov 2019.

"Figure the transmitter will have to be Havoc's problem," Melissa noted.  "But maybe if we find the receiver on this fucking things we use your steel idea.  Or maybe just disable the fucking thing."

"Signal's housed in the main building, up by the science type area. If you're meaning where these devices get the signal...well, hell if I know."

Andy gives a nod to the main building as he speaks.

"So, nothing at all we can or should do.  The plan is... extend thumb.  Stick thumb up ass.  Wait,"  Melissa muttered.  "Lovely."

"Well, the good news on that is you likely won't be waiting long."

"Hey Andy!"

Andy looked up as another guard wandered over.

"Been standing here for a bit." He looked the two women over then turned his attention back to Andy. "Something going on?"

Andy gave a half grin. "Aw, hell. You know how it is sometimes. These two ladies and I were makin' a deal. You know." He gave an exaggerated wink to the young guard. "A little bartering. No harm done."

The young guard's eyes widened a bit as he once again looked over the women. "What...both of them?"

"Well, someone has to watch Daria while we're indisposed. So it's a take turns kinda thing. Cover for me, will ya?" Andy gave the guy a big smile.

The younger guard just laughed as he shook his head. "Ok, ok." He started off again, shaking his head. "Geez...two of them...man..." His voice trailed off as he left.

Andy made a face at the retreating figure. "Sometimes I can't figure out why that works." He looked back at Glaze and Dawnfire. "Well, this is a good excuse to get out of sight and get ready. You two just follow me and pretend to be agreeable."

She smiled pruriently at the younger guard on his way out, remarking "Ah, me and Ghiaccia*, we're a package deal, hey?  Double pleasure, like Doublemint twins.  Only spicy, not minty."   

"Seems to be the accepted and honored barter, here," she afterwards replied to Andy's question. "Many of these punks are probably incels, without social skill to get a date the honest way."   

While Nora of course recognized the danger of being held here, her attitude at this point was a little different than Mel's.    Unless Andy was a terribly good actor (something she didn't wholly rule out, yet), then this Havok thing was a serious operation, that likely had a quite solid plan behind it.

She was more than willing to be patient a time, to see how this thing unfolded.    She'd resort to more desperate measures - of which she was making a mental list -if it bombed.


*Italian for ice-pop/popsicle.

"Because the guys that think with their dicks assume every other guys also thinks with his dick," Melissa noted to Andy in a low voice then smirked.  "That said, if this thing works well, I might fuck your brains out for reals.  No promises.  Just... extra motivation."

"It's not an incel thing.  It's a power thing.  Stanford prison experiment.  The shit my dad told me his dad went through in the Vietnam version of this place," Melissa told Nora as they followed Andy.  "Power corrupts.  Not me, though.  I was corrupt before I got power."

Andy gets the three of them inside the large building and gets them in the elevator. While inside, his posture changes to a more alert one, and he doesn't speak. The other guards milling about glance over, but no one seems to question that he's moving three 'detainees' through.

In the elevator are two other guards, but not a word is said as they are moved up to a higher floor. If anything, these other two guards seem to either not notice what's going on, or they just really don't care.

Once the doors open, the first thing the girls notice is not the corridor, kept clean and shiny. Or the doors that more resemble futuristic devices you'd see in a science fiction movie.

No, it's the absolutely huge man. Man being a generous term. Someone took a black wolf, and a body builder, and then added another body builder, and maybe a few more wolves, and made this one. Probably over 7 feet, it was hard to tell as he was hunched over. Fangs, claws, piercing amber eyes. A sleek canine tail as well. Andy herded the girls out and the snout turned to regard the newcomers.

Daria gave a little squeak, and then rushed forward and threw her arms around one of the fuzzy legs.

The wolfman's hand came down and patted the girl's head as he regarded Andy. "Strays?"

"Pretty much," Melissa piped up and indicated Nora.  "We're just a couple of feral-ass bitches lookin' to bust out of this very-much-kill obedience school before they decide to put us the fuck to sleep."

Not everyone was left human looking after the onset of their power.   She'd learned that already.   Met two that would have blended in well in that cantina scene from the old Star Wars movie.    Still, it was hard not to stare just a little at first, till she forced herself not to.

Daria's ease and comfort with the uomo-lupo potente was good assurance as to his true nature.

"Hey-o," she waved briefly in greeting, remaining alert as she could, and waiting to see how this would unfold.

The wolfman opened his mouth in a kind of canine grin as Andy gave a half shrug.

"You know how it is."

The wolfman nodded. "Dog eat dog."

Andy frowned. "It didn't have to be like this."

"World's what it is. Not much to do about it." The way it was said it was almost a question.

Daria yawned again. The wolfman patted her head gently. "Almost time, yes?"

Andy nodded.

"So, is there anything in particular we need to, you know, do since it's 'almost time?'" Melissa asked them.  "Or are we still sticking with the whole 'stick our thumbs up our asses and wait' tactic?"

Andy lead them into one of the rooms and closed the door as Glaze poke up.

"Well, we were waiting for Wraith's report actually."

"Wraith's been waiting on you, Breyer," came a female voice out of nowhere.

The wolfman leaned against the wall, not even phased that someone he couldn't see was speaking. Daria barely seemed to notice either. Andy chuckled.

"Well, ain't you a sight for...well, not much of a sight anyway come to think of it."

Against the far wall materialized a female form. She had on a streamlined set of full combat gear, and a helmet. There was not even an inch of skin showing. On her back was slung a fairly large rifle, a pistol at her hip, and what appeared to be eseveral knives on her hips. The helmet faced Andy.

"Smartass," she said, before turning the helmet to look at the wolfman. "He still have you playing guard dog, Wolf?"

"Heh. I'm still good at it, even with this fancy bracelet on. Cats roam, dogs guard. Nature of the beast."

She nodded, then looked over at Glaze and Dawnfire before looking back to Andy. "Told you they'd follow."

Andy nodded again. "Yeah, but you got an advantage. I don't read minds."

She looked back to the girls. "Engel's on her way now. John's on route. ETA, about 5 minutes. So any questions, now's the time. Once he's in range, things are going fast."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:50, Mon 16 Dec 2019.

"Okay so the signal goes out, and these cuffs drop off.  And then-?  Are we focused on escape, getting into some transport, taking down any opposition between?  Or is there a retributive strike, or something else planned?   Are there defense systems here we should be concerned about?   Or is goons with guns about the worst of what we face?"

"We stick our thumbs up our asses like good little girls and wait for the commando people to tell us what to do aside from that," Melissa piped up in a snide tone.  "Figure for this next bits we're not even passengers on this ride.  We're cargo."

"And that's the smart play for them," Melissa told Nora in a more normal tone.  "They don't know us.  They can't trust us.  We could be fucktards like the asshole who got himself fried on the way here.  Or just gutless loudmouths.  Or actual traitors, mind-reading or not.  Hell, we could be brainwashed sleepers waiting on a signal.  This is magic superpower shit.  Who the fuck knows what's possible?"

"One thought along that line," Melissa continued, turning back to the commando group.  "If you're in their system enough to shut it down, you might want to check to make sure all the suppressors folks are sporting are actually on and nerfing their powers.  Figure the fed A-holes might've snuck a supers ringer or two in here expecting you guys to do this exact thing."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Tue 17 Dec 2019.

Wraith listened to both girls before she spoke.

"Priority is getting to the transport and getting the hell out of here. Most of the people here aren't going to be worth the time it takes to get them loaded, so it's you people here and Engel. After that, anyone musters enough to get moving, they can go too. Otherwise, no go. We're stretched thin enough on this run, there's no babysitting," she said, before looking down at Daria then back up. "Ok, some babysitting. Breyer will handle the little one, unless Engel's going to grab her."

She turned the visor toward Glaze.

"Hey, if you want to go out there and do this on your own then feel free. You want to start trying to power up right now, feel free. Otherwise, you got nothing else to do except stick your thumb up your ass and wait."

She put a hand on her hip.

"You don't want to be here and I can hear the echo in your thoughts. I get it. But I trust in my abilities, and so does Havok. This whole op can go thirteen ways wrong at any given point, and I'm not sparing any effort to hold hands. The inhibitor blows, you pull that son of a bitch off and you follow Breyer. Things go well, we're out fast. If not, you don't need to worry about growing old."

She looked at Wolf. "That means you get to go for a car ride."

Wolf growled. "I'm a wolf, not a dog."

Wraith shrugged. "Whatever. You just play nice."

He grunted with a laugh. "I don't play nice. I'll get to your transport."

Wraith nodded.

"Ok. Then looks like the party is starting. Three minutes and counting."

Daria looked up. "Mommy's coming?"

Andy smiled at the girl. "Yup. And then we're going on a trip."

She nodded, still a bit sleepy. "And daddy?"

Wraith's shoulders tensed a bit and Andy frowned. "We hope not."

She said to Mel "I like your spunk and initiative.   However, we Italians have a saying: 'One minute of patience, can result in ten years of peace.'  And though I'm sure there's little peace in our near future, it's just quaint way of saying action isn't always the right thing.   If we prove we aren't ritarda fottuta -  fucktard as you say - Mr. Havok may have some worthy things for us to do."     

She listened to the exchange betwixt Wraith and Warg (or whatever big-dog's code name was), then addressed them-

"Speaking of mammas and papàs and little ones --  is Signorina Daria the only child here?  I gather you won't be leaving others behind, if there are others? I would not willingly leave any kids behind.  Whether they're little dynamos or not."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:50, Mon 16 Dec 2019.

Melissa looked at Andy.  "Hey, is there anything like a vending machine or some shit around here?  Candy bar, Monster energy, something like that.  Figure with the draining thing these fucking things do a quick pep could do a lot toward give some folks here the energy to make it out."

"Yeah, no other kids here now. Daria's...a special case."

Wolf nodded. "Yeah, separating her from Engel didn't work out so well."

Andy nodded toward the end of the room, where a cooler sat. "We got some energy bars in there, along with some sodas."

Wraith turned her visor toward the window, then back. "Two minutes and then it's boom time."

Melissa moved to the cooler and opened it, grabbing a soda and energy bar for herself and Nora.  She also opened a soda with another bar and handed it to Wolf.  "I dunno.  Do the best you can." she said, hoping he'd be able to chug the soda with his other-than-human features.

Finally she gave a car and soda to Andy.  "For the kid if her stuff lets her have it."

After that she looked around to try to find some kind of bag to put whatever was left in to distribute to any other prisoners they ran across.

That done, she waited until the final thirty seconds before "boom time" to snarf the energy bar and chug down the soda for the energy she'd need to bug out of here.

There wasn't a clock in there, but it was pretty obvious when the time elapsed.

There was a soft chime from the arm bracers, and the light on them went out. Inside, the pressure bands that held them on quickly released, and all across the compound arm bands hit the floor like rain.

For Glaze and Dawnfire, the effect was immediate. It was like a switch turned on, a feeling that until it was gone either even knew was there. They could feel their powers come back to life.

Wolf threw his band to the ground and seemed to almost swell. His fur rose just a bit and he stood up straighter than he had before, although still slightly hunched as his normal posture.

Daria's band made a satisfying thump when the fell, and started to pool a clear liquid from it.

Wraith got her rifle ready as they made for the door. Andy had put his down and retrieved a different one from the side of the room. He nodded to Wraith and she disappeared as the door opened. Andy motioned to the girls.

"To the courtyard, transport is inbound. Quick in and out, so no heroics. Just get on board and we're gone."

"Vaffanculo, è meraviglioso!"

For all that she'd spent some significant time wishing she didn't have them at all, the return of her powers was one of the sweetest moments of relief she'd ever known.
For a second, she glanced down at the fallen band with a faint twist to her lips, the sort of look given to a piece of dog crap when found on an expensive, imported rug.

Streams of rose, bronze, and azure light traced over her form, erupting swiftly into a full aura. Realizing her right hand was clenched tightly into a fist, she made herself unclench it.    She'd no intention of doing anything other than what had just been suggested, barring unforeseen disasters.

She nodded, gave Mel a brief glance, then made her way toward the courtyard.   On guard and mentally prepared as possible, just in case.

Melissa felt immediately better and worse with from removal of the inhibitor.  He strength came back and could feel the cold core or her power.  At the same time though, she was in Death Fucking Valley.  The air was dry, hot and with her power came the pressure of an environment almost totally unsuited for her powers.  It was almost as bad as the inhibitor had been.  Almost.  The bar and soda were working at least some, though, giving her the energy she needed.

As they were moving, Melissa was watching for potential "rescuees."  She knew they couldn't take everyone, couldn't even take more than a few.  So she had a basic "triage criteria" in terms of who to get.  Not too weak/hopeless, female over male, young/teen over older, nearby vs. further away.

Assuming she found those in something like a sweet spot or even those at least near it, she gave them an energy bar and soda, then said variation on, "Chug it as we go, but come now unless you wanna live here.  Or die here."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:46, Tue 07 Jan 2020.

Heading through the building to the courtyard was easier than expected. Seems all the guards had filed out to try and control the sudden influx of uninhibited Empowered.

On the down side, they were using live ammo and most of the newly freed Empowered were mostly run down and beaten. It was a target rich environment, and most of the poeple didn't seem to even be fighting back. Here and there a bolt flew out, or a flash of light, or a guard went flying, but such were fewer than expected.

Two transports are coming in, low and fast. They kick up a wake of sand in their passing. The several large guns that sit on the edges of the floating prison don't move however, much to the annoyance of the guards.

Engel sees the group emerging and makes her way toward them, zeroing in toward her daughter. She spreads her wings and manages half flapping motions to try and get airborne, but all that does is to just accelerate her somewhat, she's way too tired to get off the ground.

However, it does make her one thing. A target.

Wolf bounds forward as the sudden whine of an energy weapon sounds. There is a flash from behind Engel and she pitches forward, her wings flailing as she falls forward, smoke rising from the spot between them as she hits the ground hard.

"Tochter..." she breathes, fighting to regain her feet.

Daria stops running, her expression going from smiling at the sight of her mother to surprise, then to fear, and then her lips curl back into a snarl that could best be described as feral.

"Mom!" the word comes out forced, gutteral. Daria takes a step toward her mother, a tear drop falls from her eye and hits the ground, red a fresh blood. Her shoulder shake, and there is the sound of tearing flesh as a pair of wings energe from her back, shredding the back of her shirt. Wings that resemble bones loosely stitched together with sinew and membrane, dotted with blood. Daria clenches newly sprouted claws and howls as she lunges forward, bits of her fall off to reveal muscle and gristle as she snarls, pointed teeth bared as she howls.

"Nein...nein mein kleiner..." Engel fights to get up as Daria begins to take flight.

The guards turn at the howl and many of them break ranks in terror. One word is shouted over and over as the few that remain begin to fire at the child.

"Nightmare!"

Meanwhile the transports anchor to either side of the platform and open. Men in dark body armor pop out and begin to fire at the guards. Andy heads for the rightmost transport, waving for the girls to follow. Wolf however hits the ground on all fours and bounds toward the downed form of Engel.

The heat was a fucking hammer and the dry desert air was sandpaper in Melissa's lungs.  Events outpaced her completely.  Her plan to give sustenance to the other prisoners was DOA.  Still, there was a chance to save Engle and her powers could help, but this was the absolutely worst fucking environment to try it.

She had a few cans of the soda left.  Daria was running toward her mother, Wolf was going after her, the guards were getting organized and the whole thing looked about to turn into a firing squad.

Blasting the guards was out.  Melissa probably couldn't manage a snowball in this dry heat.  But she might be able to do one biggish thing, even it if was going to fucking hurt.  She shook the sodas, popping their tops and tossing them, letting them spray into the air.  Then she reached for that new moisture, riding it to seeks the tiny bits of water vapor in the air.  She reached, grabbed and and threw it.

It hurt.  The effort of it was agony.  The air felt slightly cool as her sweat dried and joined her effort.  A white wall of ice took shape between Engel and the gunmen, hopefully giving her cover enough for the others to save her without getting murdered.

"Did it," Melissa breathed, through dried, cracked lips.

And then she passed the fuck out.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:34, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

"Cazzo Cristo!"  Nora said beneath her breath, as the winged German woman was shot, and things then went all pear shaped, as the British would say.

She might have been horrified, in other circumstance, at young Daria's transformation, but there was assuredly no time to dwell upon it now.    It appeared, at least, that the girl did possess power enough with which to defend herself.

Mel's ice-wall averted the most immediate issue.    It wasn't rocket science to figure that she was being adversely affected by the arid heat of this environment.  In a coruscating trail of dawn-colored hues, she flew to Mel's side, and picked up the fainted freeze-maker, who weighed next to nothing at Nora's present strength level.  Just as swiftly, she then flew to Wolf and Engel, and said to the great lupine:

"Get her to the ship!" meaning Engel, "I will heal her -- but this is not the place!"

Nora held Mel in both arms.  She glanced at Wolf's hands, making certain they weren't paws, and he was able to carry Engel.   If no, she would take Mel under one arm, and Engel under the other.  She could do it, but it was far from the best way to move an injured person.    Ice wall or no, she didn't want to risk multiple trips.

Wolf sprints past Dawnfire, skidding next to Engel as he whips out one huge arm and scoops her up. He fumbles for a moment to get her wings pulled in as several shots pelt the ice wall, sending chips and cracking it. It obviously won't hold long.

He takes off toward the transport as Breyer reaches it. He turns and fires off a few shots.

"Daria! Get over here! Your mother needs you! Deine Mutter!"

The creature that once was the little girl had bowled into a guard and the two collapsed as they rolled around. There was Nightmare's shrieks mixed with the panicked screams of the guard, before the sudden silence of both. Then, hearing Breyer, Nightmare raised her head, looking about as if confused. Until she heard the german. Then she shook her head and her lips moved, although no one was close enough to hear her. Then she leaped up, her bloody wings catching air and she cannonballed back to the transport, her form blurring and fading as if composed of mist, and the little girl collapsed in Breyer's arm. He pulled her inside as the armored men began their retreat to the transports.

Seeing that the fallen winged woman was in good hands (not paws), Nora wasted no time in flying toward the transport in the most direct line that she could, without intersecting anybody else's path of travel.

Once she was able to get inside, she looked about for a secure and comfortable as possible place to put Mel.   Being able to lay her down somewhere was preferable.  But, if everyone needed to be strapped into chairs for the ride, she would take care of that.    She guessed Mel mostly needed some rest, but checked her breathing and pulse to rule out something worse.

Mel situated, she made her way to Wolf and Engel, attempting to get an idea how bad this wound was.   She looked up at Wolf saying-

"Do you want me to do what I can?   It needs a little time and uninterrupted focus, but is faster than any standard treatment.   I'd need to have a hand on her. A light touch is enough. Over or near the heart is ideal."       She suspected Wolf was close to this mother and daughter --  thus, as a stranger here, she wanted permission, as well as to make clear that it would require physical contact.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Tue 21 Jan 2020.

Inside the transport it was rows of seats across both sides, save for an exit on either side, the back entryway (where they were loading on) and the partition that lead to the controls.

It was easy enough for Dawnfire to get Glaze into a seat and the harness down. Breyer did the same to Daria as the men began piling back in.

"Asses in, people! Boat's leaving!" came the voice of the pilot, a young woman who seemed to be wearing a leather cap, a pair of oversized goggles, and a long white aviator's scarf. She looked like she'd be more at home in a biplane than a high tech transport.

Wolf stood next to one of the seats, legs spread apart to give himself a good stance. One hand held the unconscious Engel on his shoulder, the other clamped teh bar of one of the harnesses so tightly the metal parts creaked a bit.

"Strap in over here, not putting her down while we go. Can't get her wings in right like this."

The soldiers filed in, hitting seats and strapping in with quick and well practiced moves. Two detainees were up and running for the transport as well, but there was a harsh repeating sound s they were both cut down in a hail of bullets.

The hatch began to close, and Breyer patted Daria on the head. "You take care, darlin'. No funny business." Then he grabbed a handle on the ceiling as the hatch sealed. "Randi, buttoned! Go go go!"

The transport shuttered as it began to lift, suddenly taking fire from the ground. Bullets pinged off the back and side as the transport lurched forward.

"Thank you for flying Havok Air. Please remember that in the event of an emergency, you may be used as a floatation device."

"Randi..."

"I'm going! This thing handles like a brick!"

Glaze, feel free to wake up now that you're out of the heat

First was the pain, a dull throbbing ache in her skull.  Melissa's mouth felt stuff with cotton and her eyelids felt sticky with sleep.  With more effort than it should have taken, she opened her.

"Fuck, so much for rescue," she whisper-muttered as she saw the transport's interior and jumped to the wrong conclusion, then noticed that...

The guards' uniform looked different.  And nobody was chained up.  She did a count.  Nora was there and the girl - who'd turned back into a little girl again.  And her mom with the wings ... pretty much nobody else.

She could hear pings of something, probably bullets, impacting with the hull.

For her own part, Melissa was strapped into a seat on the transport.  She could see Wolf standing and holding the bird-lady, Angel? Angle? something Germanish.  It looked like Nora and everybody else was getting strapped into their seats as well.

Melissa's throat was fucking parched, but she didn't like her chances at getting stewardess service right at the moment what with the whole exciting escape and all.  Maybe a little later before an in-flight movie.  That'd be nice.

"God if we crash I hope it hurts less than this," she spoke softly, her tongue to dry for anything louder.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:20, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

Nora gritted her teeth at the sound of rapid gunfire, certain not everyone would see escape this day.   Cowardly flunkies and their guns...

She nodded at Wolf's direction to her, and promptly got herself strapped in and situated.  She made a faint snort of laughter at the pilot's remark about flotation device.

And then noted that Mel appeared to be coming around, so that was good.

As much as being captured had been an unbelievable nightmare, this now seemed like a dream a little too good to be true.   It remained to be seen, of course, what this Havok and his people were truly about.    But, Nora was encouraged enough at this point to find herself in a mostly hopeful frame of mind.

Haven't started doing any healing yet, I don't think..

Wolf growled as something detonated near the ship. "Too close. Can't this thing go any faster?"

"You're welcome to get out and push!" came Randi's voice from the pilot seat. Admirably, she kept the stress in her voice to a minimum, even as she fought to keep the transport out of the majority of fire.

++Cheers love! The cavalry's here!++ came an English accented female voice over the radio.

++Really? That is your introduction? A video game quote?++ came another voice over the radio, also accented in English, but this one was male.

++Well, I had thought perhaps a bit of humour might lighten things up a tad++

++Children, this is not the time++ came Wraith's voice.

There came the whine of rockets, and a figure barreled past the window. There were two explosions outside the transport and the ship itself began to climb steadily.

++Targets neutralized. Returning to base++

++Understood. Gadget?++

++Roger, returning to base.++

Breyer shook his head. "Teenagers..."

[Private to Dawnfire: OOC: I edited my previous post to reflect that Dawnfire wasn't healing Engle yet.]

Melissa felt a bit of a chill that had nothing to do with her powers or her dehydration as she realized a couple of things.  First was the easy, familiar camaraderie of the rescuers.  That was vaguely familiar to Melissa from her skating days on a team, but only vaguely.  She'd been acutely aware that her teammates were also very much her rivals and competitors.  That clearly wasn't a thing here.

Also, of the people on the transport, exactly six had joined it at the prison.  "Andy," Wolf, the winged woman, the little girl, herself and Nora.  And the only reason she and Nora were here was as tagalogs attached to those four.  At best she and Nora were "bonus rescues."  At worst they were unwelcome "guests" who might end up getting dumped somewhere while the real rescuees went elsewhere.  Hopefully said dumping would occur after the transport landed instead of in midair.

So, Melissa was doing something she kind of hated to do, channeling a bit of Clarissa.  Hunching down a little, being small, demure and not worth the bother to notice.  Obviously they all knew she and Nora were her, but... it might be good to seem a little "less than" right now.  Because in every way that mattered, right now she and Nora were just as much the prisoners of these people as they'd on the transport that had taken then to the Death Valley prison.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:23, Sat 25 Jan 2020.

Once again we'd like to thank you for flying Havok Air. Please return all stewardesses to their original upright positions and please have a pleasant stay."

It was honestly a short trip through the clouds. From the windows, they were heading upwards into open sky once through the clouds, but then there was a shimmer, and the transport was angling in to meet up with a gigantic airship. It was huge, flat on top like an aircraft carrier, but held aloft by some form of gigantic engines that were remarkably silent.

The transport angled to the side, and docked inside the shop. It was a surprisingly soft landing for what amounted to a flying brick. The soldiers wasted no time in unstrapping and filing out, moving to the far end of the interior hangar to stow gear and report in.

Wolf departed the transport still carrying Engel, Daria close at his hip. Breyer made his way down the ramp and the pilot continued to shut down her systems.

Waiting outside the transport was the familiar form of Wraith, still in full gear and helmet. Next to her was an older gentleman. Salt and pepper hair, finely trimmed mustache and goatee, in a well pressed suit. He leaned on a well crafted wooden cane, but not too heavily. Also there was a young woman in a medic's uniform. She had what can only be described as a brilliant smile, perky with bright blond hair. What made her stand out however was that both her arms and legs appeared to be completely cybernetic.

The cybermedic moved forward, taking Engel's prone form easily and gently, placing her on a wheeled gurney that was off to the side. "I will get right to work, sir. A quick scan shows that she will be fine, but I will contact you if anything else happens. You may come along, little miss," the medic said brightly as she began pushing the gurney. Daria took a quick look at Breyer, then rushed off with the medic and her mother.

Wolf growled softly. "She just don't smell right."

Wraith cocked her head to the side. "Down, boy."

Wolf bristled, but before he could say anything else two armored figures strolled over. The male's armor was colored in such a way as it resembled an armored tuxedo. The female's was in pink and black. Both suits closely resembled each other in design.

There was a clanking and whirring as the two armored suits retracted and folded in on themselves. The two were young, no more than late teens, and resembled each other closely enough that one could easily tell they were siblings.

The boy had a suit on under the armor of all things. He brushed off a speck of dust as he continued to walk. He was slim, blond, and walked with a quiet confidence. The girl had on shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt under an open labcoat. Two small metal balls, each the size of a tennis ball, hovered in slow moving orbits around her. She fumbled on a pair of glasses as she also approached.

Breyer gave a nod as they approached. "Well now, glad you two could join us," he chuckled. He looked over at Glaze and Dawnfire with a nod. "We picked up these lovely ladies fresh off the transport. No one had time to break them."

The young man nodded. "Greetings. I am known as Agent." The girl nodded and said nothing for a moment. Agent gave a polite cough and she startled. "Oh! Sorry. I'm Gadget."

The older man gave a little grin. "Please, excuse my manners. My name is Johnathan Havok. Welcome to my airship."

Nora had been quietly taking in detail up until Mr. Havok's introduction.

It didn't surprise her that they had their own medical staff and facility, who would provide treatment for the downed Engel. And, she having obviously survived the trip, Nora was more at ease to have them tend to their own.

Many other things were noteworthy, and a few did surprise her...but as a whole, it wasn't really far from something like what she might have imagined of an organization composed of people with fantastic powers.

Foremost, however, she was relieved that these people didn't have the air of bigots, fanatics, or the loony fringe about them.    Demeanor could be deceptive, of course.   But thus far, she wasn't turned off by what she was seeing or picking up.    She gave a brief wave to the teens, after they introduced themselves.   And then to the operation's prime mover:

"Thank you, Mr. Havok.  We are in your debt for getting us out of hell, I think.  It all seems a little too good to be true.  Not that I want to wake up and find I'm still there," she smiled wryly. "I'm Nora Caravello, or Dawnfire, if aliases are the convention here."       

Melissa spent a few seconds just kind of gawking like a dumb tourist.  She wasn't quite sure what she'd expected but this wasn't it.  What little she'd heard of Havok said he was some kind of terrorist.  And/or freedom fighter.

So in her head Melissa expected him to be in some crap-ass cave or something.  Not tooling around in... what?  A fucking Helicarrier?

"So, are you guys, like, the actual Agents of SHIELD or is Nick Fury suing your ass for copyright infringement, 'cause... dayum." Melissa finally said.

At Dawnfire's comment, Havok chuckled. "You may use whatever name you wish, my dear. If you choose to become one of us, I would suggest you use a code name if for nothing else than to fit in with the rest of the group. But that, of course, is at your discretion. I only ask you respect the wishes of those around you and use the name they prefer."

Gadget adjusted her glasses. "Almost everyone calls me Gadget no matter where we are. But my name is Gweniviere DeWilliams." She gave a nod of her head to the two floating balls. "And these are my assistants, Bit and Byte"

Agent nodded. "Arthur DeWilliams."

Wolf gave a throaty chuckle. "I just go by Wolf. I don't need another name."

Wraith stretched a bit. "I just go by Wraith. Easier that way."

"Andrew Breyer. Andy or Breyer works just fine for me."

Havok nodded. "Our chief medical officer, who just took charge of Engel, is Sandi Laranson. You can use either of her names, she answers to both."

Glaze spoke up and both Breyer and Havok chuckled. "I assume you are referring to our home. Long story short, we appropriated it from people we would prefer not have it."

"We are terrorists, technically speaking. Since we're against the government agencies that are working with other Empowered, we're pretty high on the wanted list."

"I assume that everyone could use some down time, perhaps a meal. I would like to give our guests time to acclimate themselves and get their thoughts together before any real decisions are made."

Melissa looked over at Wraith.  "Yeah, okay.  But are you "terrorists?"" she asked, miming the quotation marks with her fingers.  "Or terrorists?"

"I remember this one girl on the team kinda flipped out, got in with the Earth Liberation Front and got busted for tossing blood on a dude from Canada Goose and burning down an SUV dealership," Melissa noted.  "Which, yeah, okay, kinda terrorism.  But it's not like she killed anybody."

"I'd be cool with some of that.  Maybe more than that.  Way I figure it as someone recently fucking terrorized by them, the assholes running that prison are the terrorist.  I'd happily go Jack Bauer on those fuckers," Melissa told her.  "On the other hand, if you guys for real want me to strap on a bomb vest and swiss-cheese a preschool or something.  I'm not down with that."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Mon 10 Feb 2020.

Nora made mental note of names and pseudonyms. And then laughed briefly at Mel's last comment.   "Yep, me either.   But, you don't strike me as that kind of people, from what I have seen.   With where my life is at now, I do not give fuck all about semantics.   Who is called what.   Intentions and outcomes are what matter.   But yes, I confess I would not refuse something to eat. And a little time just to chill out."   

"And I seriously need a drink," Melissa added even as she stumbled and swayed a little bit, still feeling dizzy and weak from the dehydration.  "Like water or Gatorade or something.  Doing that thing back there dried me way the fuck out."

"And that was a great move back there, by the way.   Hm.  I bet it wouldn't be that hard, compared to other things," she glanced briefly about them, "to rig up some sort of hydration...thingy, in a body suit, or whatever, so that running out of moisture isn't so much a problem." 

Melissa winced some.  Now that they seemed to be safe and the chasing was over, along with the dizziness her headache was coming back fierce.

"It's usually not that big of a deal.  Air has moisture.  I mostly use that for the ice," she explained as she just sat on the floor to avoid actually falling down and rubbed her temples.  "But almost no food or drink since getting busted and then trying the ice thing in the middle of Death Fucking Valley didn't work real great.  The moisture ended up comin' out of me."

Havok gave a nod to Breyer.  "If you would be so kind, this will give me an opportunity to confer with Wraith as to how things went."

Breyer nodded. "Of course, John. Ladies and Wolf, if you will."

Breyer lead them out of the hangar and into the airship proper. A short walk lead them to an upscale cafeteria. There were separate tables with comfortable chairs here, a long line across one wall with a buffet style of food, several drink machines (free, of course), and a few coffee machines.

"Feel free to indulge."

Wolf cocked his head to the side. "I could get used to this."

Melissa didn't speak and instead headed straight for the drink machine, grabbing the closest thing to Gatorade/Powerade she could find.  Then she chugged.  And then another one.  And finally one more, feeling her headache and dizziness finally started to subside as she replenished her fluids.

"I know I'm gonna need to pee like crazy in a bit, but damn did I need that," she said.

"I bet," she acknowledged Mel.    Not for the first time, it occurred to her to think that Mel looked familiar from somewhere.   And also not for the first time, she was unable to place it.

She made her way over to the buffet tables.  If it was possible to put together some sort of decent, healthy salad with meat, she did so.  And an ice tea with no sugar, but lots of lemon.  She then found an open table, and seated herself.

The buffet was eclectic and comprehensive.  After getting a couple more Powerades, Melissa was able to put together one of her favorite meals - the Super Chili-Dawg.  In her case this was a split-top French bread bun with a bratwurst topped with chili, nacho cheese and habanero peppers with dijon mustard a couple of strips of bacon along the sides completed the dish.  Along with a side of chili-cheese steak fries.  Aside from being unhealthily delicious, it was also the complete opposite of the delicate, traditional food she'd had to eat as Clarissa.

Putting her now heavy plate on the table, Melissa sat back down with Nora.  She didn't quite unhinge her jaw like a snake, but Melissa took her first bite of the hot, messy concoction and groaned in delight.  After chewing and washing down the first bite, she breathed, "Really needed that, too.  That fucking arm thing left me craving some serious protein."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:16, Thu 27 Feb 2020.

Nora took that in, as well as looking over what Mel had chosen to eat, and her comment about it.

"You know, I was always pretty strict with my diet because I had to be.   Well, chose to be, more truly.  But, I was always fighting cravings.  Now, my power seems to be tied in with my...internal harmony, for lack of a better way to say it.   Eating a pure diet isn't anymore a struggle. It's just what naturally appeals.  But, I'll always have some fond memories of splurging on bacon cheeseburgers and fries."        She frowned faintly, looking at Mel.   Then a light came on-

"Ah!  Been trying to place who you look like.   I had a friend who loved to ice-skate, liked to watch tournaments.   And, there was this little Asian skater girl... um, Charissa...Fang, something like that?  So talented on the ice, she - "   

Nora stopped dead there.   It was, of course, the bit about the ice that had given her pause.

The Name rang in Melissa's head like an alarm bell and provoked fear.  And rage.  An icy rage.  The temperature at the table dropped fast and hard.  A glaze of frost covered the food of those at the table.  Their drinks froze solid as Melissa fixed Nora with a flat, cold stare.

"I'm. Not.  Her." Melissa told Nora, viciously biting off each word.  "She's.  Dead."

With a clearly visible effort, Melissa mastered herself.  The chill abated.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Melissa said as she stood up and grabbed her.  "I better get some more food.  This got cold."

Melissa grabbed her tray and practically scurried away from the table feeling the memories and shame burning in her heart.

Wolf had made his way over to the rows of food and got himself a large serving bowl. Into which he piled meat. A lot of meat. Chicken, beef, steak, bacon, it all went in. Another bowl was gotten, and filled half way with water.

He sat a bit away from everyone and ate in the best way he could. With a wolf's head, he ended up mostly eating like a dog would. Head down in the bowl. While likely he could have eaten a bit more like a human, drinking was a different story. He lapped at the water as tilting a bowl up to his face would make an even bigger mess. As it was, he still made a bit of a mess, but he at least got a little towel and cleaned up as he did.

His ears twitched at the conversation but he didn't interrupt or engage.

The reaction took her aback --  she'd bungled into that, utterly unpremeditated.

Her own power flared reflexively to life in response, rendering her tougher and more resistant to the abrupt drop in temperature.    And then went out just as quickly as Mel gained control of herself.

She nodded in understanding, but said nothing.  Feeling that 'I'm sorry' likely wasn't going to help much.

But, as she watched Mel go to replace her food, her suspicion was that the other girl wasn't dead.  But rather in hiding.

Melissa dumped the Chili-Dawg and didn't make another.  The almost-naming had rattled the shit out of her and she didn't have the joy or the energy it took to do make another Dawg.  So she went simple.  She grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich, some mayo and a bag of Lays chips.  Then she went back to the table.  After closing her eyes, and then releasing a breath she looked up at Nora.

"You've got questions.  I'm not going to answer them now.  Maybe later.  Like, a few weeks or so, but not now.  And sure as shit not here in this super-awesome dining hall of the next best thing to the fucking Starship Enterprise," Melissa told Nora in a relatively calm but emphatic tone.  "And don't apologize either.  You couldn't know.  The best way to get past this is to just fucking drop it for now."

That said Melissa concentrate on biting, chewing and swallowing her food.  It was probably a pretty good meal, but it still tasted like shit to her.  The memories and the emotions that went along with them, saw to that.

She nodded again.  "Dropping it is exactly what I planned to do.   Your life is none of my business. It's not my nature to pry into people's shit.  Many, many lives have been screwed up by the gaining of powers. Directly or indirectly. And it's only gotten worse as time has gone on." 

Her eyes shifted meaningfully toward Wolf for a moment. Wondering who he'd been before the change.     And what it was like to have to come to terms with such a difference in form.   A thought then struck her --

She'd was assuming he'd begun as human.  But, what if it was not the case?  Did animals ever go meta?  None that she'd heard of, but she was hardly an expert, or a historian...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:29, Tue 03 Mar 2020.

Her turmoil slowly abating, Melissa looked back at Nora.  "When exactly did the world change?  I mean, sure, the costume shit's only been around since, like WWII.  But there's always been stories of gods and monsters and other weird stuff.  The only thing that's really change is there's a shit ton more people, so more Supers and there's radio, TV, the Internet, so a lot more ways for people to communicate.  Figure Supers have been around since people have been around."

"Yes, but the number seems to be ever growing.   And it's no longer possible to pretend you're a god."    She smiled wryly after saying so.   "Although it doesn't stop some from trying."     

Melissa shrugged as she replied to Nora.  "There's north of seven and a half billion people right now.  The more folks getting their baby on, the more chance some of those kids will be folks like us."

"And speaking of kids," Melissa said, turning to Wolf, who was close enough.  "What's the deal with that little girl?  Her mom, wings, yeah, I get it, but why was everyone sort of freaked out about her dad?"

Wolf looks over, pushing his bowls to the side.

"Daria...Daria's..." he pauses as he ponders what exactly to say.

"Everyone they put at that place the guards consider...challenging. Physically, power-wise, whatever. Daria...is something...else." He closes his eyes for a moment, slowly shaking his head. "Daria's a monster."

He looks over at the girls.

"Engel's broken. I didn't hear much about what she's fully been through, but the way I hear it, she was broken way before she ever got to that place. Thanks to Daria's father. He's..."

"The monster under the bed." comes Daria's voice from the doorway. She's expressionless, just stating facts in a soft quiet voice. Wolf's ears go back in a very canine gesture as she continues to speak. "The shadow in the closet. The noise in the dark. My dad is the Boogeyman."

Great.  An abusive father who probably has powers.  If they're anything like his daughter's, then he must truly be a nightmare... 

She almost remained silent.    What do you say to a child who makes a statement like that?   But, she did speak, gently-

"Sometimes, someone who is supposed to love us is incapable of it.  And sometimes worse than only incapable.   And what they should have given must come from other sources."

Which I dearly hope you have found, little one.  Broken or no, it was pretty apparent that Engel was still doing her best to care for and love her daughter.  And the comfort Daria seemed to feel around Wolf was encouraging.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:38, Wed 11 Mar 2020.

"I don't suppose anybody has John Wick on speed-dial?" Melissa snarked.  "He's supposed to be good at dealing with the Boogeyman."

To Wolf she said, "I figure Forrest Gump rules apply here - Monsters are as monsters do, whatever they look like."

"Man, that's rough," she told Daria.  "And I thought my family was fucked up."

Daria looked tired. More than tired, there was something in her eyes that was...dark. Not entirely there. Something else shared those orbs, and it was not human.

But she blinked, and it was gone. She stretched and sighed. "I'm tired," she said simply, then turned and walked off.

As she leaves, Wolf's ears perk back up and he shakes himself. "Kid gives me the shakes. And I'm pretty scary."

"She's a child.  With superpowers," Melissa replied to Wolf.  "You're goddam right she's scary."

"Way the fuck back in the 90s they did a sequel to that 'Shrunk the Kids' movie called 'Honey I Blew Up the Baby or something," Melissa informed them.  "Basically, instead of a shrink ray, he accidentally hit his two year old with a growth thing and made him like 200 feet tall or something."

"And sure, it was played as a dumb comedy like the first one, but can you imagine how fucked up that would be in real life?" she asked Wolf and Nora.  "I mean, it's a two year that's the size of fucking Godziila.  He's gonna be scared and mad and all the way that two year olds are so he'll be killing shit-tons of people.  So they'd have to bring the military to murder the kid."

"You think asshole villains are bad PR for folks like us?  That there, that's the fucking nightmare scenario.  A child with really super superpowers."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:15, Mon 06 Apr 2020.

Nora smirked a little.   "If I introduced you to my cousin's absolute fucking terror of a four year old, you'd have an even scarier picture.   The sort of kid who likes to pull wings off butterflies. And laughs when people get hurt. Almost enough to scare me into remaining childless.  Even without being Gojira size." 

As to Daria- "Ah, I wish there was something that could be done for her. Too much dark on a child's spirit.   It is sad to see." 

Wolf shook his shaggy head. "No...there's something seriously evil in that kid."

He pushed the finished bowl of food away.

"She had an...episode...in the camp. Someone had lead Engel off and Daria didn't realize. She started looking for her mother, and one of the guards slapped her. She called out for her father and..." he trailed off, closing his eyes for a moment and shaking his head.

"Something came out of the shadow. I...I can't explain it, but it was evil. The birds all flew off as it came out, every instinct in me told me to flee with my tail between my legs. It even smalled evil. It took the guard and dragged him off into another shadow. Bullets didn't touch it, energy weapons went through it. How do you fight a shadow?" He looks down at his hands, flexing the claws slowly. "You can't cut a shadow. Daria started to go after it, but I grabbed her. I don't even know why. Lord knows that thing might have come for me too. But she seemed to calm down, and the shadow dragged that guard into a shadow and they both vanished. And the shadows all started laughing and screaming until Daria's arm band kicked in again and put her out cold."

He shivered. "Mark me, that kid's scary but I never want to see that father thing of hers every again."

Melissa was silent for a moment before answering Wolf.  "I obviously wasn't there.  I didn't see, smell or experience what you did.  That said, the dark, scary evil shadow only took the asshole who slapped a little girl who was looking for her mom.  You grabbed her to keep her from also being taken.  But it didn't take you.  Possibly because she, and therefore it, knew that you weren't trying to hurt her.  That you were protecting her.  Just like the shadow was protecting her by removing the asshole guard who'd slapped her."

"I mean, scary, evil presentation aside, this situation might be a little more complicated than you think," Melissa pointed out.  "That all said, it stands to reason that we should find out more about this... whatever-it-is since Daria's here and we don't want folks here to disappear into evil shadows."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Thu 16 Apr 2020.

Wolf looked like he may have said something else, but his ears perked up and he gave a soft sniff. A second later one could hear footsteps coming, and as Wolf took his bowls and got up to go clean them out the two teens from before walked in.

Agent entered first, followed closely by Gadget. Agent casually turned his sibling before she walked into the doorframe, engrossed as she was in reading something on what appeared to be some form of see-through tablet. From the well practiced maneuver, it appears this isn't the first time he'd done so.

Gadget shut the device down, folding the device several times as if it were a piece of paper before putting it into her pocket.

"Greetings everyone," Agent gave a respectful nod to the two women and Wolf.

"Oh!" Gadget looked around, almost as if she didn't know they had arrived. "Hello again."

"Hey again," Melissa said to them with a half-wave of greeting.  "I dunno what that thing was, but I bet it beats the shit outta my Ipad."

Nora's eyes had lingered on Wolf momentarily, while it looked as if he might say more concerning the nature of Daria's people snatching shadows.  She too thought it very desirable to understand more, even though part of her didn't want to know.   But her thoughts were diverted by the arrival of the twins.

"Hey-o," she hailed them.  "So. How long have you two been part of this project?"   

Gadget looked momentarily confused at the query, and then her eyes lit up as she understood. "Oh, it's nothing fancy to be sure. A portable data screen linked to Archimedies."

Agent meanwhile had walked over and grabbed himself a Sprite before turning back.

He gave a little grin to Dawnfire. "Actually we are not a part of Havok's little group. We are on loan, one might say. Unoffically, of course."

"On loan, eh? Something you chose for yourself, or something set up for you by another?"   

Her own drink was just about done -  she arose, likewise went to the machine, and grabbed a bottle of Perrier after it appeared in the dispenser.   She frowned a little as the cap proved hard to twist off.   With just a faint flaring of her dawn-hued power about her right hand, she opened it easily.

"From where?" Melissa asked, her curiosity piqued.  "What's your day job that this is your side hustle?"

Agent smiled at the girls as Gadget's attention faded and she began fiddlign with something from her pocket. "I would call it more a favor than an assignment. Mr Havok has friends, and family, in interesting places. Be that as it were, honestly it was all Gadget's fault."

He cast a look to his sibling who, if she even noticed, showed no sign of hearing.

"Anyway," he turned back to the conversation, apparently used to his sibling's attention span, "Gadget has several friends in Project Gladiator's junior division, and she was there when Havok called in and asked a favor. As they have their own issues, and some of the problems here were of a technological nature, Gadget volunteered to lend a hand. As a loyal and supportive brother, I could not in good conscious let her go off alone."

He chuckled before turning his attention to Glaze. "To be honest, I do a fair bit of reconnaissance work for MI-6 on behalf of our mother. Gadget does tech work for Queen and Country, as well as heading up her own research laboratory."

Wolf, for his part, seemed to not be paying much attention. Although with his senses he likely heard everything that was said.

"Um, I don't know what most of that stuff is," Melissa confessed, feeling a little red heat her cheeks."

"What's Project Gladiator?  Are they part of that Queen and Country organization?" she asked.  "MI-6 is like your CIA, right?"

"Queen and country is a reference to the UK and its monarch," supplied Nora.

"And wow, Gladiator...I know just a little. What I have heard makes me interested to learn more."   

Her eyes strayed briefly to the quiescent, seemingly disinterested Wolf.   Her curiosity as regards him was only increasing.   But she wasn't going to pry or risk bothering somebody she barely knew.   Particularly not a goliath sized, furred and fanged somebody.

"Oh, well, I feel pretty fucking stupid now," Melissa noted annoyed with everyone but still mostly herself.  "What about Project Gladiator?  Or is that something else everyone but my dumb ass knows about too?"

One thing this incident did was cause her to think about maybe doing some basic reading and shit.  Melissa wasn't actually stupid, but... for most of her life, her life had been skating.  She'd passed in school (well, really via tutors who were almost certainly fudging things a little so she could keep skating) but she couldn't say that she'd really learned all that much.  It terms of actual, real world hold down a decent job skills, she was extremely lacking.  Hell, she couldn't even drive a car.

And college hadn't exactly been helping much.  She'd been partying.  And selling steroid to fund tuition and partying.  Learning hadn't been a priority either.  The truth was that if she'd hadn't been arrested by a semi-fascist government and rescued by super-terrorists, her likely future would have been asking people if "they wanted fries with that."  And fuck the shit out of that.

"And all that other stuff aside, what do we do here?  I want to help.  Mostly because I really don't have anywhere else to go," she admitted.  "How fucking sad is that?"

She laughed faintly -- only out of surprise, not at Mel.

"I've known you less than a full day, and already can vouch you aren't stupid.  I'm from Europe, the UK is closer to home. And I kind of have a thing for James Bond movies."    The humor drained out of her expression after Mel's last statement.

"Sure, it is sad.  As for me, I could go home -- but, people I love have come to harm for no worse crime than knowing me.   And so I don't dare do that.  Which is fucking tragic. Yeah...I want to help, too.  For that exact reason." 
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Sun 19 July 2020.

Agent nodded along with the explinations.

"Think of Gladiator as the front man. Very public, very flashy. They are what the public expects to see. Costumed people fighting threats. Still not wholly within the law, because the law doesn't really like the whole 'cape and cowl' idea. But I suppose one does as one must when there are limited avenues."

He looked over at his sibling, who was still absorbed in her work. Whatever the heck it was. He looked back again to the ladies.

"Havok works more in the dark than the light. There's a lot more...how should I put it...cloak and dagger? That sounds like a good enough explanation. He has an information network that is very good, and he tends toward some of the darker areas. Especially those that some agencies might not really want to be brought to light." His eyes stray to Wolf, who seems to have tensed up during the last part of Agent's speech, before coming back. "Everyone has their reasons one supposes. But each is to their own, and not my place to pry."

"I see." She took another sip of her Perrier.

"So, given we desire to help...what can we expect next?  I'd be pretty shocked if Mr. Havok just takes on anybody.  There must be requirements, other than having some powers.  What's the interview and screening process like?"

"Maybe we'll have to be part of breaking out of a re-education camp?" Melissa suggested in a snide tone.  "Oops, been there, done that."

"So in Mr. Havok's position, you'd induct us based on that, only? No questions, no tests, no screening? No interest in understanding fully what we each do?" She raised a brow, shrugged.   "He's more lax than the HR of that cosmetics company I applied at, if so."     

Melissa chuckled a little bit.  "Nora, you're in a big-ass sci-fi super-tech vehicle with super-people in it - at least one of whom can, y'know, read minds.  They've been screening the fuck out of us since the camp.  And figure since they haven't shot us in the head and tossed us overboard, they're probably okay with what they learned."

"You can be sure that Wraith has indeed been looking at your thoughts. I would hazard a guess that she has done surface looking at the very least. I doubt a full probe, but one does never know."

He walks over to the counter as he speaks, and deftly makes himself a cup of tea.

"As to screening, I can assure you that your old social media, your resumes, your known history as far as the government is concerned, have all been checked quite thoroughly."

He turns back around, eyeing the women.

"Rest assured that your personal histories have been checked."

Of course, the telepath; she should have thought of it. And this sure as hell wasn't the sort of organization that was going to ask for consent.  She fully loathed the notion of having her thoughts 'scanned' and pried into.   But, she would need to become accustomed to it.   It was only the sensible and effective thing for them to do.

"Alright.  Okay.  So that's all out of the way, then."

What trouble she had been in was result of evading agencies who sought her as a lab rat, as well as for vigilante activity.  Which she was rather sure DoW and Mr. Havok were going to overlook.   Other than that - well, she doubted much getting a little carried away with credit, some boudoir pics on Instagram, those pictures from her last party in Milan, were in any way relevant.  Aside from her shame, and grief, in what had happened to the Wilsons, she'd nothing to hide.

Nora was way over her head here; had no problem being honest with herself about it.  There was nothing for it but to be patient, and see where this ride would take them.

Melissa had to admit that the whole thing had her own butt pucker a little, when another consideration made that tightening even worse.  "Nora, you wanna worry about something?  Don't worry about what these folks know.  Worry about what the fucking government goons know."

"I dunno know how your arrest went, but during mine, I got well and truly processed," she added.  "Fingerprints.  DNA.  Retinal scan.  Dental X-ray.  Hell, they've probably got the exact circumference of my asshole on file the way one mother-fucker shoved his hands up in there to check for "contraband" or some shit.  No contraband, but he sure found some shit."

"And yeah, I reacted badly when you guessed my little secret," she admitted.  "I guess I best get the fuck over that soonish 'cause figure those infected cum-stains'll probably broadcast that shit on the news for shits and giggles now that I've busted out of supers jail."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Mon 10 Aug 2020.

Mel was so petite and fresh faced, it was sometimes hard for Nora not to chuckle when she was being profane.  It was welcome; at least she'd been thrown together with somebody who was intelligent and possessed a sense of humor.  She was striving not to lose her own.

She nodded at Mel's concern.   "Yeah.  They could. They might. Sometimes, though, that sort of thing backfires, and makes sympathy for the target.   It's a bit like politics.  The extremists are loud and in your face, but the people in the center - who might go either way on a matter - are quieter, and outnumber them.  Plenty of people have no love for the government anyway.  And, somebody like you is more sympathetic, than Guido Ballripper, who is eight feet tall and has a stegosaurus tail.   It might be better tactic for the government not to do petty shit like that.  But I know it's possible.  And I'm sorry you must have that over your head."    She took another sip from her bottle, set it down.  Her hand shook visibly a little.

"What really scares the utter fuck out of me, is reprisal against family and friends.  If the government wants to look like good guys - they would of course arrange 'accidents.'  I am terrified of that." 

"Well, there is the government and then there is the government one might say. And more often than not one hand does not know what the other is doing. Be assured that various agencies are likely having quite a number of discussions as to what is going on."

He takes a sip of his tea.

"Most of the populace does not know what goes on is these facilities as it were, so I would not fear too much on a public front. Many of these agencies do not wish to be brought to light. As to families, I cannot actually speak for Mr Havok but I would be surprised if he is not already looking into some things."

-------------------------------

Another shuttle lands, letting out another unit of Havok's troops along with two prisoners from the other side of the camp. These men took it upon themselves to join their liberators and have been herded to the cafeteria area by a short but well built female soldier in a set of scuffed and well used power armor. The brown haired little spitfire shows signs of age along with her armor.

She introduced herself to the two as Maddie, better known as Mad Dog.

"And this here is where you can chow down while you wait for the big man."

Her voice has a bit of a southern lilt to it. She turns into the room and steps to the side to let the newcomers in.

Howdy folks. I see ya got here okay. Name's Maddie, but y'all call me Mad Dog else I may not know who yer speakin' to."

Agent takes another sip of tea, possibly hiding a grin at the small woman's entrance.

This was not one of his brighter ideas.  Still, despite things looking gloomy for a bit it did turn out in the end.  Of course the inhibitors took their toll on him, but at the same time he was used to not using his power.  After getting the lowdown of attempting more use of powers caused you to burn out faster, he bided his time.  The food that they supplied them with was not much different than what he would manage to scrounge and supply for himself over the past few years of being on his own.

The smell of food from the room ahead of them helps encourage him to pick up the pace.

"Mad Dog, as impressive a sight as this fortress was, you should have started with this sooner."

The grin on his face is broad as he comes through the doorway.  His relaxed posture is in stark contrast to how he was in the prison.  His prison greys are a little worse for wear.  A few tears are accompanied by a bit of blood that looks to have at least stopped flowing and there are a few spots of blood that probably isn't his own.  One of these blots he's cleaning off his neck and chin with some alcohol swabs he got on the flight in.

He kind of missed the memo about no heroics, but he caught on pretty quick that if he wanted on one of those transports that he was on the clock.  After finishing cleaning up the blood on his neck he tosses the wipes and cleans off his hands.

To the astute observer, his movements are not entirely random.  His facial expression gives a bit of aloofness but his eyes and body language tell another story.  He's getting a feel for the room, exits, entrances.  Occasionally his eyes dart around a bit at random as well.

Cleaned up, he'll go about the food quickly, sticking to simple things.  Some fruits and veggies, a small slice of a cold cut sandwich and a bottle of water.

A couple three other people entered the eating, one of whom IDed herself as Rabid Bitch or something.  As was, Melissa was a little too caught in the conversation to pay any mind to them.

"What agencies are we talking about here?  A couple-three or is the entire fucking governmental alphabet soup sticking their fingers into the supers pie?" Melissa asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:55, Sun 16 Aug 2020.

Nora likewise glanced, gladdened others had made it off the fucking happy farm.   She took in a smattering of detail; offhandedly and briefly wondering what powers the two might possess.

And she was even more gladdened by the suggestion Mr. Havok might have put thought into protecting his operatives' families and loved ones.  If it was the case, she most assuredly was with the right group.  Hell, she'd commit to this almost for that alone...
This message was last edited by the player at 02:13, Tue 18 Aug 2020.

Vic is still somewhat shell-shocked from everything that has just happened. Going from prisoner to fugitive to heroic recruit in quick succession will do that to even the most easy-going of people. As Mad Dog ushers them into the cafeteria, Vic is still struggling to take everything in. He stands somewhat dumbfounded as he looks around the new area. Once he realizes what the woman is saying---that food is available, he manages a reply.

"Thank you," he breathes softly. He walks over to grab a tray and get something to eat. Despite his haggard condition, his footsteps seem incredibly light---almost like he is barely touching the ground. A keen eye might spot the hint of a dust devil swirling about his shoes, just strong enough to disturb any dirt or debris nearby.

"Ya know, the last guy I saw with that look on his face, was delicious."

He gives a little grin to Vic as he moves next to him in the chow line.

"Shame in most places you can't just go in and buy Venison, but it probably wouldn't taste as good if you could get it whenever you want.  Name's James.  Been through a lot last couple of minutes.  Me?  First time flying, would have preferred not being shot at the first time but, that's how it is.  I know it's a lot.  Just take it one step at a time, one breath at a time."

He does notice the little dust devil at Vic's feet, but doesn't mention it.  Figuring if that's part of him being nervous, best way to let that calm down is to pay no mind towards it.

A glance around the area, his gaze seems to linger on the general direction Nora and Melissa are in, though it doesn't look like he's looking directly at them.  After a few moments he looks back to Vic, focusing most of his attention on him as well as going about getting food for himself.

"How can you-" Melissa started then cut herself off as she realized.  "Oh yeah, they're wearing the same prison crap we are."

She looked down at her outfit.  "Fuck.  I need to get a wardrobe change soonish.  I'm sick of these fuckin' things."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:25, Fri 21 Aug 2020.

Vic shoots a quizzical glance at the guy approaching him, tensing up. The wind swirling around his feet starts to pick up ever so slightly.

"Huh?" he responds, unsure of what he means by "delicious" given the odd circumstances of being around people with unique and uncanny abilities. He relaxes when James introduces himself. The wind dies down back to its barely perceptible swirling.

"I'm Vic," he says while putting a sandwich and a bottle of water on his plate, "and sorry if I seem distant, but my mind isn't really all focused on the here and now. I'm thinking about my folks, and wondering if they knew what happened to me and if they're okay.

"Never had venison," he continues with a shrug. "Never thought I'd eat something besides prison food, so this is good enough." He gestures toward the food on his tray.

"I used to fly all the time," he adds with a grin, "but I imagine it's different for me than it is for others. Haven't done it since I got locked up. Might just be what I need to do to clear my head.

"So," he asks James, "what is it that you do that got you stuck here?"

"There's a host of different agencies that have their fingers in the power pie. Empowered are the talk of every office and part of every agenda." Agent took another sip of his tea, nodding once to Mad Dog and her charges.

"Y'all kids take care here. I'm sure the big man will be here shortly to do some talkin'. As for me, I've got some maintenance to take care of. This armor don't dent itself."

Mad Dog turns and leaves, with the accompanying sound of heavy power armored footfalls.

"Seems this is the day for new people. For those who came in, I am Arthur DeWilliams, also known as Agent. This is my inattentive genius of a sibling, Gweniviere, also known as Gadget."

"I don't know," she said to Mel, as regards the apparel, tongue definitely in cheek "I think there's maybe a kind of an aesthetic we could go for, with these. Couple of tears for attitude, get a permanent marker, draw some slogans and little characters. Some interesting but meaningless symbols.   And then we record a rap song, you know?  We could be the next Billie Eilish - or Eilishes, I am telling you."       She again observed the two newcomers, while listening to Agent.

"Arthur and Gweniviere - I love that! I wish my parents had given me a name from Camelot.   I could have been Isolde. Or Morgaine.  Well - would sound stupid with Italian surname, but..." 

"You know, you still can," Melissa told Nora.  "I mean, figure our real names are in databases now so we'll need some good fake IDs for when we're not doing the costume thing.  Ooooh, the costume thing!  I gotta put some shit together for that!"

"As for these duds, maybe the aesthetic but for fucks sure not the material.  I dunno how they managed to make uniforms outta gas station TP but they did," Melissa said.

James winces just a bit when Vic mentions his folks, but otherwise it seems to do little to his friendly and bright demeanor.

"Good to meet you, Vic.  I'm sure your folks are alright, and I get the feeling of just being overwhelmed by it all.  It's important to keep your thoughts on the here and now though, too.  As difficult as that may be.  Never know when you may be in a situation where you need to be aware of your surroundings."

The kick up of the wind was noticed but he remained relax through it, continuing to select a few food items for his plate.

"Me?  What got me here is doing something I probably shouldn't have done.  Been a bit of a Mercenary with a soft spot over the past year.  Helping people out that needed it.  Taking my pay from the people they needed help from.  That sort of thing.  Few other things I should probably play it safe and plead the fifth on.  But doing it on your own?  Difficult and only so much you can do.  Physical combat, that I'm good at.  Doing thorough back ground checks and listening to that little voice that tells you a deal sounds too good to be true?  Not so much.  Still."

He laughs a little as he picks up an apple and takes a bite from it.  Swallowing before speaking.

"Guessing these folks wouldn't have found me otherwise.  Look pretty put together well, too."

As Arthur introduces himself and his sister, somehow the smile on his face seems to broaden.

"Think I'll just stick to 'Agent', friend.  Kind of prefer the name Brian Boru, myself."

He gives a little motion with his head while looking towards Vic and then starts heading over two where Arthur and the two women were.  Gadget seeming to be off in her own little world.  He raises his voice just a little.

"Though Gweniviere, eh?  Chiding aside, good to meet you both.  With a callsign like that, guess I'll be looking to you for any party favors this fortress might have?  James works, but I've done some work here and there as Shillelagh.  Though Shill works for short."

A smile is offered towards both Melissa and Nora as he approaches.

"Good to meet you too," Vic says with a small smile.

"Wow, a mercenary? I'm just a student. Would be in college if not for this." Vic gestures at his prisoner's uniform. "I hope you're right about my folks. I hope that the government was only after me. Still, I can't help but worry."

Vic follows James as he heads over toward Agent, Gadget, and the two women talking to them. He nods as they introduce each other. As Vic's expression grows less tense, the faint eddies around his feet disappear.

When the conversation shifts to codenames and aliases, Vic scratches the stubble on his chin in thought.

"Huh, that never occurred to me...I'm probably gonna want to think up a superhero name if I want to help out..."

Nora laughed at Mel's commentary.   "Oh, I would guess the material - more like a body bag, than real clothes - was supposed to be symbolic.  Or just insult on top of injury, anyway. It will be enjoyable to create something for our field work, though. Being covert op, I'm sure Dogs has no unified outfit.   Maybe I'll get a Snoopy in a combat helmet, tattooed on my calf or something, just to be cheeky," she added purely in jest.

And then it was time to meet the newbs - new to this table, at least - as they approached and joined the conversation in progress.

"Hello to the both of you," she greeted the two men. "Mr. Boru, Mr. Windy Feet. You must be relishing this change of fortune as much as we are?  I'm Nora.  Once, I knocked part of a building off onto a guy who was seven and a half feet tall, had four arms and a tail.  In the wake of all that, I told some people that I go by Dawnfire. Don't ask me to light cigarettes; 'cause I don't make any real fire. And I'm rarely up at dawn." 

"Huh?" Vic says at Nora's comment regarding his feet. "Oh, oops!" The eddies completely disappear.

"That happens when I'm on edge," he says with a sheepish grin. "I've got a fight or very literal flight instinct. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save me from getting cooped up in that brainwashing brig, but you're absolutely right. I'm super stoked to be out of there."

He seems genuinely shocked when Nora mentions her various feats of strength.

"Wow, that's pretty amazing. I uh... I feel very much out of place. I just got dragged out of there by Havok's people. Didn't really get a chance to contribute anything. I'm still figuring out what I can do, but about the only thing I'm a hundred percent certain of is that I can fly like the wind when I need to."

"I made a big ice cube and passed the fuck out," Melissa commented.  "My super-career wasn't as awesome as hers."

"So did anybody else make it out with you guys?  We kind of tagged along while these guys were rescuing other people."

"That's more than I did, but thanks for letting me know I'm not alone at figuring out all this superpower stuff," Vic replies to Melissa with a grin.

"As for others... I honestly dunno. I was still pretty shellshocked when getting rescued. Did you notice anything, James?"

James gives a good natured laugh as Vic wows a bit about his life choice.

"Really isn't all that it's cracked up to be and you don't want to romanticize it.  Done my best to keep up on studies, but I haven't been in a classroom since I was 15.  Maybe 14?  I dunno.  Been sort of a blur since my abilities manifested."

Sitting at the table he sets about finishing the apple that he had started on as the others talk a bit.  He chuckles a bit as they share exploits.

"Look at it this way, Vic.  The four of us at this table are all trying to 'figure out' this superpower stuff.  My parents were those Survival and Doomsday prepper types with a heavy leaning towards Defense with Extreme Prejudice.  Scot-Irish mix in there.  Learned to field strip and reassemble an AK while I was learning the letters A through K.  My guess is if we had our shit together, we would have been there as inside help and not just who they managed to get out while extracting those already on the ground.  At least, I'm guessing they had boots on the ground before those transports landed."

He rolls his shoulder a little and frowns as he picks up a napkin and places it against a bloodstained tear at his left bicep.

"I'm not really sure about anyone else.  Did my best to shout some sense in to those that were more focused on having a prison riot than to get to the transports.  Was a bit rough with everything and having to cut myself a path to safety.  With that entire fubar combination of everything and then Flying in a floating tin can that made me apologize to.  Every.  Single. One I used in target practice, I was just trying to keep down what little I had to eat the past few days."

He checks a few other spots where his prison suit is torn, occasionally getting a bit more drying blood on the napkin, grinning a little towards Nora.

"Sounds like you've had your share of adventures.  Me?  Prefer it when people don't know I did something, work better from the shadows and really, prefer using firearms and explosives to get the job done over my powers.  More familiar with the everyday stuff."

"Flying is a good power," Nora concurred with the former Mr. Windy Feet.  "And no shame in needing or wanting to learn.  Even if I've explored what I do a bit more, there's still so much I need to learn."    She then looked at Mel a little askance.

"You made a frickin' wall out of a sports drink, and protected everyone. I'd say that was pretty awesome!"   

She then listened to James while he divulged something of his background and own experience.

"Ah.  You have what the rest of us do not:  training. I sort of hate to admit, but I've not even had so much as a basic self defense class.  Beyond pulling a pepper spray from my purse, and more lately using raw strength to batter somebody till they scream Zio - that's Italian for uncle - I know jack shit.  I think, regardless of whose power does what, you'll be the one starting with an advantage.  Or at least less below the median."     She eyed his wound.

"Hey, would you like that closed?  Healed?  I could do it -- there would be some funny light,  and I'd have to touch." 

"You, me, Wolf, Andy, these two guys and the two winged girls," Melissa noted bitterly.  "That's it.  I sure as shit didn't protect everybody.  If I had this cafeteria woulda been a whole lot more crowded than it is."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:19, Mon 14 Sept 2020.

"Yes, only eight people -- you need big, gallon Gatorade to save a hundred!  But you are ahead of me.  I can only beat up or heal one person at a time.  Even with a twelve pack of Monster."     She considered briefly.  "Well, I mean, I could throw a buffet table at a bunch of goons, or something." 

"Figure not being in Death Fucking Valley would have also helped," Melissa groused.

"Besides superpowers aren't everything.  Figure there's a reason all God's children got guns and figure these folks're strapped," Melissa suggested then lowered her tone in a highly inaccurate imitation of Samuel L. Jackson.  "Just remember, the AK-47.  When you absolutely, positively gotta kill every mother-fucker in the room... accept no substitutes!"

"Well," she added, her voice returning to normal.  "Unless they have, like, phaser rifles or some shit up in this bitch or something."

"I want a lightsaber. A purple one, like Sam Jackson. Or, if they can do lavender, even better. You gotta accessorize," she nodded with mock-enthusiasm.

[Private to GM: Training that would have been used against you, in another life.  If you knew, you wouldn't offer aid so freely  ]

For a split second it almost looks like he was going to reach out a hand or get up and move to take up Nora on her offer, but his smile falters for just that split second before swiftly returning.

"Don't worry about it, though I appreciate the offer.  Really, it looks worse than it is.  Nothing a shower and a clean bandage won't solve.  I've had worse and not all of this blood is mine."

He isn't drenched in it of course, but there are a few other blood splotches where there isn't a tear in his prison duds.

As they talk a bit more he does chuckle a bit, taking in what is said about Mel's activity during the jail break.  When he speaks, he looks legitimately curious.

"Phaser Rifles?  Lightsaber?  I guess that's some form of Laser sword?  Must have missed more than I thought while just getting by the last few years."

Though why an actor would need something of that high grade weaponry is beyond him.

"They don't have movies or TV where you come from?"  Melissa asked in a somewhat disbelieving tone.  "Were you like, Amish or something?"

"And you let Nora do her thing," Melissa suggested.  "Figure we're all noobs here so they'll probably stick us all together on a team or something.  Best start getting used to each other now, y'know?"

"Well, if you saved us, then you're definitely underselling your role in getting us out of there," Vic says to Melissa. "More importantly, thank you."

When the conversation turns towards weapons, Vic grimaces a bit. He does have to grin at the mention of lightsabers and phasers.

"Honestly," he admits, "I'm not a big fan of guns. Can't deny that I'd like a phaser. Something to stun someone without hurting or killing them." He glances at his fist as if contemplating something for a moment.

"Anyone know if they have testing rooms or training facilities here?" he asks. "It would be nice to try testing something out."

"I didn't save you," Melissa told him.  "You got saved by Havok's bunch just like we did."

"There was a point during our rescue where the guards started shooting at us.  I put up a not-great ice barrier and then passed the fuck out 'cause I did that shit in fucking Death Valley," she continued.  "That was the sum total of my contribution to the rescue, making some ice and passing out."

"They have a bigass helicarrier like in the Marvel movies, so probably, yeah," she informed.  "But I'm mostly interested in a room with a bed in it.  I am fucking tired after today."

She understood James' reluctance in accepting power-driven healing from a stranger, and didn't push.  In reverse, she might have decided the same;  though it did not diminish the validity of Mel's point.   Likely this new group of recruits would be cast as a team.  Or at least a training unit.

She was likewise surprised at his not grasping the Star Wars reference.  She wasn't exactly a fan, but she'd of course seen the movies, knew enough to make the quip.  Surely he was not Amish -- they didn't practice the sorts of drills he'd described.   Had he -- his family -- been part of some military like sect or cult?   She had heard of things like that.

"I've wondered about training rooms and facilities too.  There must be something. It would make no sense not to have them.".

Like Mel, she found herself looking forward to quality sleep, in a real bed. But wasn't quite ready, just yet.  Curiosity was like caffeine.

"You can make more than just your feet windy, and fly, I am sure." she prompted Vic.  "What else do you think you might be able to do?  Winds to ruin someone's aim?  Something stronger -- like a gale, or whirlwind?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:32, Sun 27 Sept 2020.

"Well, I don't really know how or why I fly," Vic admits to Nora. "It's kind of like I can get the air to swirl around me and push me forward. If I can use that to fly, maybe I can use it to push things---like a vacuum on reverse or a generate a shockwave. I never really used it for more than just flying because, well..." He trails off before giving a sheepish smile and a shrug.

"I never thought of it before. It's fun to just fly."

She nodded, understanding very well. "So it is. I know by experience.  We will race*, sometime," she winked.   Then looked between Vic and Mel.

"So, you both command an element. That have something in common - like oxygen molecules. I wonder if the way you do it has anything in common? Maybe something Mel knows could help you to expand your repertoire."


*And just for the record, it would make sense to me that Vic is quite probably the faster of us. ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:13, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

"Name a time and place, and I'll be there," Vic replies with a grin.

He scratches his chin when Nora mentions Mel possibly manipulating the elements the same way as he does.

"Maybe? I wonder if there's a way to test it. What am I saying, there probably is something with all this crazy tech on the aircraft carrier."

OOC:

Lol, I've got no ego to bruise with my superhero powers. I just want to beat bad guys and save the day. :-p

"Honestly, I'm not totally sure how my stuff really works," Melissa put in.  "Maybe I use water, but maybe I do that 'cause it's the most common easily freezable stuff around.  I mean, you have to remember that I learned how to do my super-stuff so I could learn how to not do my super-stuff.  You know, so if I gave somebody the cold shoulder I didn't actually freeze their fucking shoulder."


"For Vend here, doesn't, you know, air, have, like a shitload of other stuff in it aside from oxygen?" Melissa asked.  "Like, fuck, I dunno, 90% Nitrogen or something?  I mean, if he can do his stuff with air, he could probably do his stuff with any gas.  And... now the fart jokes will start in 3... 2..."

James was quiet for just a little bit, chuckling and listening.  Mostly he was just trying to figure out on the fly how to deal with this.  Just because he was decent at not being detected did not mean he was good at making up these lies on the fly.  He had already at least insinuated his parents were Doomsday preppers, so how to keep that going.  The answer was in the question.

"Parents were pretty draconian in that aspect.  They were pretty much convinced the end of the world was going to come at any time and they wanted me to be ready.  My dad especially.  Mom never told me what happened, but he passed when I was ten.  Pretty much had to step up to the plate so outside of school, training and doing what the compound needed me to do to help everyone survive, there wasn't much room for entertainment.  We were not sure how the others would react when they found out I had powers.  Mom and I made a run for it, unfortunately we got in to the wrong area of Tulsa.  A small Sons of Freedom patrol spotted me, I couldn't really control my abilities very well.  Mom pushed me out of the way, that was six years or so ago.  Since, I've just been doing what I could to survive.  Didn't have much in the realm of entertainment funds."

This is all said with a smile and he shrugs a little.  The best lies have elements of truth to them after all.  He shakes his head a little and while Amy pushed it but Nora doesn't, he doesn't bring it up.  Hoping that the healing option would just be let to fade as the direction of the conversation changes to other powers and subjects.

"Something to keep in mind.  Whether you wanted to or not, you stepped in to a war.  Wanting to play the good guy, listen to them cry uncle.  Only want to stun and not kill.  That works great in comic books and movies but this is reality.  You need to be able to pull the trigger.  Exploring our abilities will be good, but it doesn't hurt to just keep it simple, too."

"Oh ho, a challenge accepted, I think, once we are all settled in here," she nodded to Vic.

"Yet if you can control any gas, as Mel suggests, then I'm thankful you're not adolescent. That would be too tempting for most twelve year olds." 

Nora then considered what James further revealed and said.  Her own experience amounted to going at it with others who were using their powers for fairly petty and wanton kinds of crime.   In that sense, it had been sort of like comic books.  War. It was right, plain there in the organization's name.  And yet, amidst her growing determination and fervor to go out and make some meaningful difference, she had not stopped to think about this in that context.  And she grew consequently quiet and pensive, as she began to.

Vic laughs and shakes his head when Mel goes for the lowest of hanging fruit. "Whoever starts them is going to live in a perpetual dutch oven until they stop," he replies with a sly grin.

"Seriously, though, I don't know exactly how much control I have beyond getting the air around me to propel me," he says to Nora. "But I don't think I'd do, uh...that even if I could."

When James mentions war and killing, Vic grows quiet. He frowns at the thought of killing, or being at war. However, he keeps his thoughts on the subject to himself for the time being.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:58, Sun 04 Oct 2020.

"Sure," Melissa said, nodding at what James had said.  "But it's different kind of war.  Figure it's as much a PR campaign, winning acceptance, as it will be about beating the enemy.  Unless we're gonna kill every non-powered person in the world, we need to get to a place where we can co-exist with them."

"Yeah," Vic offers as he agrees with Melissa. "I'm not a soldier, I'm a student. I get queasy seeing clips of MMA fights, and can't imagine having to kill someone. Hell, I hope I never have to. And when I'm talking about incapacitating someone, it's not so much Saturday Morning cartoon or comic book shenanigans. I've got no problem knocking someone out and locking them up if they are dangerous...

"Things might be different if my life is on the line," he adds solemnly, "but I'm gonna pray that that never comes to pass."

Agent had moved off to the side as the others spoke, sipping at his drink and letting the new people get to know each other.

"While I doubt you will be pushed to do anything you may not wish to do, the sad truth is that you need to be ready to face that decision, and it's consequences, if you do decide to join up and do field work. Because while you may not wish to resort to killing others, rest assured not all of them feel the same way."

Gadget finally finishes what she is doing and looks up, suddenly surprised that there are more people in the room.

"Oh, hello. I am Gweviviere DeWilliams, or Gadget if you prefer. Pleasure to meet you."

Wolf coughs and turns his head away, trying not to laugh at the distracted teen girl.

"Good to meet you too, Gadget," Melissa said with a bit of a smirk.  "I'm gonna guess that your primary job isn't guard duty, right?"

"Sorry, I'm being a bitch.  Crappy day with a good ending,"  She looked down at her outfit.  "Well, at least I wasn't a prison bitch."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:04, Tue 12 Jan 2021.

"Oh no, I primarily do research and development. Right now as Mr Havok was short on field agents I have been allowed to go into the field for the time being."

Agent takes another sip of his drink.

"Well, I would hazard a guess that someone will be along shortly. In the meantime, does anyone have any questions that we might be able to answer?"

"Yeah, a lot, but right now a big part of it is that I don't even know what I don't know, you know?" Melissa replied.  "I mean, I'm not even sure what questions to ask?"

"But okay," she said and then gestured at everything.  "Where did all this come from?  Who's paying for it all?  I mean... shit.  Even if fucking Jeff Bezoz had a hard-on for superpeople's rights, how the fuck would he keep building stuff like this a secret?"

Nora couldn't restrain herself, and briefly put her face in her hand, laughing softly but audibly at Mel's quips.   And found that she too had no real idea what to ask.

Increasingly, she was feeling in a weird mood.   And realistically, how would she not be after all of this-?  Eventually:

"Alright, I got one thing. No, two things: what kind of schedule will we keep?   Both now, and later?  I understand there's a high commitment here, a real purpose.  And I want to be part of it...I think.  But, I mean, do we ever get a day off?  Free time in the evenings, or something like that?   And, if possible, I would love to be able lay down in a real bed this evening. Listen to music I like, just veg for awhile, and re-center.  I think I can hit the ground running, tomorrow morning.  Right now, I'm...the Italian word is perplessa...in English, I think it's nonplussed. Like too much, you know?"

Havok, that gets a soft chuckle to him.

"A Shakespeare fan, I take it.  This Mr. Havok."

A reassuring smile is given towards Vic as Agent speaks up, giving a soft nod towards the man sipping his drink.

"I'll certainly defer to his word on the matter, Vic.  Admittedly, I am a bit envious.  Basic firearm safety has been drilled in to my head and just gone over in to my abilities as well.  You only aim at something you intend to completely destroy.  No warning.  No wounding."

For the first time that smile fully leaves his face as he's taken back to that earlier, simpler time.  He shakes his head a little and the smile returns.

"Sorry, must just be the atmosphere.  Cafeteria has me going back to the days of my youth.  Don't mind the old man going back to his training."

A wave is offered towards Gadget as she rejoins the world of flesh and blood.

"James, Shillelagh or just Shill for short works as well.  Get the jail break was just a quick way to get us here.  But how do we go about joining up this little group?  Group interview, One on One?  Realize this Mr. Havok is probably a busy man but wouldn't mind a little one on one with someone he trusts.  Second in command or something along those lines."

Agent smiles, and takes another sip of his drink as people talk.

"Well," he looks at Glaze, "John got this ship the old fashioned way. He stole it. As to the way it's creation, and aforementioned theft, was kept secret... well, let us just quote the golden rule on that one. He who has the gold, makes the rules. There are a lot of secrets out there, some hidden in plain sight, that the average person does not know about."

At Dawnfire's comments he gives her a small nod. "You are absolutely correct, something of this scale requires quite a commitment. However, everyone is human, or a close enough approximation, that they need a break. What I have found is that this line of work tends to be short bursts of action followed by periods of inaction and waiting. So you will have time to yourselves, as well as the ability for 'shore leave' as it were. As this ship travels around nearly constantly, there are almost always places one can be dropped for leisure. As to accommodations, I would assume that those will be provided, although I admit that is not my department."

Agent gives Shillelagh a look over. "I am sure that Lt Breyer will be here soon, if not Wraith, to speak officially. In terms of interviews, there is a standard layout of checking that has been done or is in process right now. It is not like one can ask for a resume at this point. Rest assured, by the time John needs to make a decision he will already know your background, dirty secrets, underwear size, and so forth."

"I don't suppose there's a place where we can get some fresh air?" Vic asks. "Suffice to say being stuck in a prison doesn't give one much opportunity to breathe anything other than bad odors and worse vibes."