Diana grabbed the device and stashed it in her belt. She followed Bruce and Power Girl down the stairs. She looked around. "You've been busy Bruce. A question has come to mind. I typically operate out of Paris. I can fly but what about the others?"

Ragman takes his device as well, disappearing it into his costume. Being used to working alone, and not finding much warmth from the others currently, Rory contented himself with falling back behind Wonder Woman and Power Girl, taking in both the mood and his surroundings.

Leonard leaned forward and snagged his copy of the...Batpager, probably?...and nodded his thanks, following after his mentor and the other heroes.

"I can drive to an airport and buy plane tickets," Leonard offered, drawing attention to himself and breaking his Forgetting for the group.  That made it easier to allow them to Remember, and Leonard split half his focus toward allowing Wonder Woman to remain exempt from his power.  "My strength lies in subterfuge, not brawn."

"That won't be necessary Leonard. Those devices I gave you will also provide you with instant transportation around the world. Under no circumstance are you to open a portal underwater unless you want to cause an ecological and economic super disaster in two places at once. As long as matter is going through the portal it will not close. So if you open it underwater in the middle of the ocean, you will drain the ocean completely.

It is only to be used for official business. Wayne Enterprises reversed engineered them from an ancient alien device. If the translation was done correctly the original was either called a Father Box or Motherbox. The name of that device is still being workshopped. Eventually, Wayne Enterprises intends, hopes to sell them to replace trains, planes, cars, etc. Military use would pose a problem, we are trying to figure out. I can not stress this enough, under no circumstance are you to let that device out of your sight." Bruce flipped a switch. A series of lights turned on one by one revealing a gym, a submarine bay, a laboratory, and anything else Bruce thought they would need. The monitor above Bruce's head started playing an instructional video on how to open a boom tube.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:52, Sun 11 Apr 2021.

Diana took out and examined the device. She found the claim to be highly dubious but Bruce was not one to boast like that. She wanted to test it out. "Anywhere in the world? Let's see about that." She entered the coordinates for the inside of an ancient Aztec Temple. She always wanted to go there but she never found the time. She came back about a minute later. "So I am impressed."

After watching the video Kara was considering what she could do to improve the tech. The first thing she would be to integrate the box into the pauldron as she did with her specially designed ⭐phone.

Leonard's couldn't resist the urge to steeple his fingers into a classic villainous pose at the potential of these new tools.  The hard part in any spying mission was always physical access, so being able to open a portal was a godsend - perhaps literally, if the creator aliens were like Superman.  "What qualifies as official business - Alliance teamups, or heroics in general?  There's a syndicate in Boston I've been trying to crack, but they only plan out meeting locations at the last minute, so I can never catch them.  A tool like this would be perfect."

"Not much chance for a stealthy entrance with one of these," mused Ragman, still recovering from the shock of seeing the tunnel of light and concussive sound burst that heralded Wonder Woman's reappearance. "Fun for a bit of 'shock and awe' though."

After watching the video, Rory asked, "Do we have any immediate plans here, or is this just an informal first gathering of like-minded people? Oh, and are we the whole team?"

"Leonard, as you can see from Wonder Woman's impromptu demonstration sneaking is not an option. It is not to become a crutch in your normal activities. As for what counts as official, if a teammate requests help that is official. If I send you details about a situation then you can use it. Rory, to work as an effective team one must know their teammate's abilities and personalities. Also, a team must develop strategies for dealing with enemies. Your choice would you like to get to know each other or fight? If you like to get to know each other you can do it wherever you want. If you want to fight head to the room to the right of the submarine bay and I'll initiate a training simulation."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:25, Mon 12 Apr 2021.

"I mean, for me, if we're going to be a team I'd like to take a few minutes to get to know each other a little," said Rory. "I know of you," he pointed to Wonder Woman, "but I don't know anything about you. And I'm sorry, I don't know you two at all, though hey, nice you meet you both," he added, nodding at Nevermore and Power Girl.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:41, Fri 16 Apr 2021.

Leonard tilted his head at being acknowledged, and began excluding the speaker from his powers.  Adding three exceptions in short order was a new experience, and he was surprised how mentally taxing it was proving.

"I'm Leonard Moore, or Nevermore while on the clock," Leonard said, offering a small bow to the group.  "I'm a Gotham native, my powers manifested in high school, and Batman tracked me down to arrange training.  My power is being unnoticed - I cannot be perceived unless I actively draw attention to myself, and will be immediately forgotten afterwards.

You three have joined Batman and three others in being excluded from my powers - well, you will in about thirty seconds," Leonard nodded toward Ragman.  "I'm fit, fairly skilled, and by far the least formidable person here in a fistfight."

"The name is Kara Zor-L. You might know me better as Karen Starr, CEO & President of ⭐ware. I am an Argoan, my people became the Kryptonians. I've never been to Krypton, never even heard of it until Bruce came to recruit me. I have the same powers as Superman, just not on the same level as him. I have worked under the name Galatea when I was with an extremely off-the-books black-ops program of the government. As a result of that time and the atrocities they made me commit I now strictly work under an absolute no-kill policy. Doesn't matter who the person being targeted for death is, be they good or evil. I will put my life on the line to save them, we are not gods we do not get to decide who lives or dies. I now operate under the name of Power Girl, inside joke."

"The name is Diana, Princess of Themyscira. I have gone by many names to keep my identity a secret from the authorities. I also move around a lot. After Zeus created humanity, he saw his son Ares corrupt them with thoughts of war. When the other gods created the Amazons to counter this threat, the God of War staged a coup. Though he was successful in slaying the gods and usurping Mount Olympus, Zeus survived. With his last power, he traveled to the Amazons on Themyscira and left with them a mighty weapon. In legend, this was framed as the God Killer, a mighty sword, but in reality, he had sired a daughter with Queen Hippolyta. I am that daughter. I was sired for the sole purpose of killing gods. Ares started World War I, World War I ended when I fulfilled my destiny. In the end, Ares still won he permanently corrupted humanity as evidenced by every other horrible war since."

Ragman cleared a throat nervously before begging. "I'm afraid we may be at odds, Kara. My name's Rory Regan, I go by the name of Ragman. This suit I'm wearing...I inherited it from my father, who inherited it from his, and so on. Each of these patches is made from the soul of someone who's done evil. My job is to collect them, and doing so leaves nothing behind but a husk." He held up a hand before Power Girl could speak. "The souls are the source of my powers. They absorb damage, they give me strength. They're the fuel. When they've compensated for their crimes, however long that may take, they're released to literally go to a better place. Serving me, apparently, is their penance. If that's a game breaker for you, it's best we work it out between us now."

"Refusing to take a life is a luxury not available to everyone," Leonard observed, leaning back against a wall and trading glances at both Kara and Rory.  "I'm not about to act as a vigilante - I won't hunt down and murder a villain - but if necessary I'll kill in defense of another."

He shrugged and held his hands out, palms up.  "My power all but ensures I'll never need to take a life to protect myself; I only need to create an instant's distraction to protect myself.  Odds are, though, someday I'll have a choice - use lethal force against a villain, or allow an innocent to perish."  Leonard smiled, just a little, but with neither warmth nor mirth.  "It's not a hard choice."

"It's too damn easy to kill. Ever since The Joker killed my son a day hasn't gone by where I haven't envisioned taking him and spending an entire month subjecting him to every horrendous torture he's dealt out to others building to an end with him broken, butchered, and maimed...pleading, screaming in the worst kind of agony as he careens into a monstrous death. But if I do that...If I allow myself to go down into that place I'll never come back. Killing the Joker would be oh so satisfying. It would save untold number of lives but I would be no better him...I would become him." He took a moment. "Cops have to hold themselves to a higher standard, they have people they answer to. We are not accountable to anyone but ourselves. We must hold ourselves to the absolute highest standard. There will be no killing."

Diana pulled out the Sword of Athena and looked at it. She hadn't used a sword much since attempting to kill Ares with it. She hadn't really needed to. Most of her enemies could be dealt with without it. She recalled her fight with Barbara Minerva & Maxwell Lord. She went out of her way to get them to give up. "Guess I should find something different to use than this." She put the sword back in it's scabbard. "I think there's been enough talk time to get to know our fighting styles."

Kara examined the sword that Diana pulled out. It looked ancient. She wondered how it would hold against her heat vision. She hadn't fought any humans before she didn't intend to kill. She would have to hold back an extreme amount. "That might be a bad idea. I have never fought a human I wasn't intending to kill. If I judge wrong how much to hold back by I could seriously injure or kill someone."

"I don't have a choice," replied Ragman hotly. "The suit absorbs the souls of people who do evil. It leaves them dead, with a cosmic shot at redemption. It would take the Joker in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself. If that's the deal-breaker, I'll see myself out."

Leonard eyed the sword with an experienced eye, awkwardly drawing his own blade from a sheath across his back as he did so and offering it up for inspection.  "I'm proficient enough, though as you can guess from where I wear it, it's not my primary weapon.  Mostly I use judo or karate, and I prefer a collapsible quarterstaff to a blade - I'm more skilled with the staff, and it's less lethal."

The sword itself was nothing special; well crafted but completely unadorned, almost aggressively unremarkable.

"If I'm being honest, I mostly use it for intimidation.  There's something about a man suddenly appearing with a sword that strikes a primal note in people.  Oh," he added, "and I have a tranquilizer pistol, too.  Excellent for taking people out while remaining concealed."

Leonard shifted to fully face Diana.  "If you're looking to spar, I'm willing, but be aware my physical abilities are human.  Unless you can temporarily depower yourself, you'll need to hold back in both speed and strength."

"With just the three of you. Why not fight a simulation instead of each other. It can help you develop battle strategies." Bruce booted up the simulation room. A familiar roar emanated from the room. "If you do not recognize that roar. That is a simulation of Doomsday, the soulless beast that killed Superman. Fighting that simulation or any other will be painful but there is no chance of permanent damage or death. If you prefer you can fight something a little more human."

Kara went to the entrance of the simulator. She watched the beast rampaging through the simulated Metropolis. It didn't react to her presence just outside the simulator. The moment she stepped through though the beast recognized she was there. She attacked it furiously using all her skills and powers.

"We are going to talk about this later. This is not cool."

She went to to the simulation room. Standing outside of the room she took a moment to study Kara fighting it. She noticed Kara was not having nearly as much trouble as they had with the real thing. Clearly, the simulation room had the capability to adjust the difficulty level.

She entered the simulation, the moment she did she could see the simulation's difficulty increased to compensate.

As Wonder Woman entered the simulation, Leonard shot a glance at his mentor.  "Cold, but I see the reasoning."

The beast within was markedly less powerful than the real thing; Kara had claimed to be weaker than Superman, but she was faring better than her fellow alien had.  Leonard knew it was still far beyond his ability to harm, or even effectively distract, and so remained outside to watch as Diana joined the battle.

Kara was punched in the gut by the thing shortly after Diana walked in. It sent her flying. She thought to herself. She saw Diana had entered and thought to herself.

She flew at the monster's stomach at full force sending the behemoth backward. With it stunned she used her heat vision on full blast on the right arm of the monstrosity. She concentrated on one spot until the arm was severed above the elbow.

Diana threw Kara a look. "Still alive."





Translations:
First image: Damn it just got more powerful.
Second image: That be why.