DI Stone stood in the hallway outside her office and listened to the sounds of power tools and hammering all around.

What was being done here was on an epic scale. Doc's plan. Doc's money...mostly.

Not for the first time she wondered what motivated the man. With his wealth he could live on the damn moon if he wanted to get away from the mess that Century Station had become.

Also not for the first time she grimaced at the thought that this time around she would be sending others into danger rather than going herself. Turquoise was retired. Now she was just the cop she had been back in London.

Well...a cop with a hell of a lot more resources and a small army of super powered operatives so there was that.

She glanced at her watch as Doc stepped out of the door opposite.

"0600, they should be arriving soon. First day of business and all."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Wed 18 Oct 2023.

"Would actually be pretty funny if they didn't show."

"Nope...that Roller guy is a nut. We're not going..."

He laughed but not without it being obvious that he was no immune to stress.

Hernando Escobar arrived in costume, carrying his mask and goggles hanging around his neck. In his other hand a light cigar. He walked to Roller and putting his cigar in his mouth had put out his hand, "Doc, good to see you. Hope the space will do for our purposes." He offered the Doctor a cigar and then one to DI Stone, "DI Stone, good to see you as well. So what is on the menu today?"

One of the nearby, but less frequently used, power tools stands up and in the process of stepping toward the end of the hallway transforms into a robot built around the frame of a short athletically shaped woman.  Those who know her immediately recognize one of Alana's signature moves and will have very good reason to suspect she has been here for hours, if not days, already just watching and waiting for the right moment.

Approaching the still small gathering out in the hall she joins in their conversation as if nothing at all strange just happened. ”Hopefully nobody is to late, we wouldn't want to have to go through all this twice.”

When Alana reveals herself Doc passes a $20 bill to the smirking DI Stone.

Both of them nod their appreciation for the cigars and both of them tuck the items away for later in an eerily similar movement.

A sudden chill moves through the room, and Cryokinetic unblurs himself. He seems to have bent all forms of light around him to keep from being spotted. Now he is no longer hidden, there is some effect from his natural cold aura. However, he pulls back the effect so not to annoy everybody in the room.

"6 am and no donuts and no coffee!? Its just mean! Who wants a snowcone?" He offers the others. He looks about to sit, but then notices most of the stuff in here looks expensive. Too expensive for a cold being to sit on. So, instead he creates his own ice chair...which seems more like an ice BarcaLounger. At least it won't melt and ruin the fancy carpet, as long as he focuses on it anyways.

An enormous eastern lowland Gorilla (over 7 ft tall and 600+ lbs) in a spotless white lab coat passes the small group. He is carrying 7 large white boxes marked "Han's Donut" on the side.

In a smooth Georgia accent he says, "Did someone say donuts?"

"We've got a full continental in the assembly room."

"Coffee and tea. Sodas and fruit juice."

"I've got a bag of termites if anyone needs some protein. No one? Okay..."

He grins and continues on his way into the assembly area.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:35, Wed 18 Oct 2023.

Rico Ramirez took a long drink from his coffee before he walked up to the gathered people. He was dressed in black jeans and black running shoes, topped off with an untucked Hawaiian shirt [blue and white reverse-print].

At 0600 he’d been up for over an hour already. No matter how much he’d tried to change it in recent years, his time at Siegestone had permanently set his internal alarm clock for 0430. He’d already put in a ten-mile run, news check, shower, and shave before the meeting. Now, he was both anxious and curious as to what Dr. Roller had on the agenda.

“’Morning, everyone,” he says as he walks up. When Doc shows up with doughnuts, he smiles. "Livesaver!"

When he enters the building, security stops him. The seams around the fake nose make his disguise obvious, but showing his picture id as explanation usually dissuades security personnel from pursuing the issue. He marches on to his next assignment with little trepidation. He has found freedom as he's nothing left to lose. As he walked to the door, he nodded to DI Stone and Doc, saying, "thank you, thank you very much, for this chance to do it right."

If his disguise hadn't melted in a few places, someone would have reported Elvis alive again. It sounded like the king. As he entered the room, he greeted everyone with a cheery "Elvis has NOT left the afterlife, I just look better disguised as a dead guy."

Sipping from his bottled water, he makes a face visible through his disguise before walking to Cryokinetic and holding out his bottle while quipping, "hey, frosty, how long would you have to hold this to turn it to ice? Can you hang onto it for about half that time and give it back?"

Albedo drifted into the room, trailing a few steps behind Agent Force and floating a few feet off of the ground.  She never bothered to walk anywhere, always seemingly preferring to hover or fly.  This morning, the glowing, raven-haired heroine entered the wearing her reinforced blue and white costume without any offensive armament.  Around her left wrist was woven-twine multi-colored friendship bracelet common in Central and Latin America.  It was definitely new, as she'd not been wearing it yesterday at any meetings - at least not that anyone at ARC:US could remember.

It was well known that her quarters were at the top of the building with an open view of sky via many (bulletproof) skylights.  And that the interior door to the rest of the complex rarely saw use.  She generally entered the building through the skylights, whether returning from patrol or a night out.

Her pale hazel-green eyes shined as she smiled upon seeing the gathering group.  "Good morning!" Inez chirped cheerily to the assembled, making it obvious that (as usual) she'd been up at the crack of dawn and waving to pretty much everyone including those she didn't know very well or by reputation alone like Alana, Blackhawk, and Cryokinetic - as well as those she was much more familiar with like Roller, Force, EScorpion, Silverback and Stone.

She floated past Silverback and his boxes of donuts, giving the erudite simian a thumbs-up for his selection of breakfast treats, but not actually partaking of anything to eat or drink at this very moment.  She also passed on the termites, extra protein be damned.  The day was still young and she planned to get plenty of outside time, barring any earth-shattering events.

Picking a spot on off to one side of the room, Albedo floated up to the ceiling and took a seat upside down.  Her long black locks hung down and asked the head of ARC:US nearby, "So, what's up, Doc?"  Her tone was light and playful.  And it seemed that she couldn't resist the phrasing.