With Great Power

[Khanman]

((Here's the OOC))

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

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Washington, DC, 8:00 AM

A man walked briskly down the street, occasionally breathing out a trailing cloud of vapor. It was his normal commute, but something made him pause for a moment. He stood, his breath hanging about him, looking at a newspaper stand. It had been there ever since he had been walking to work, but he'd never stopped at it. He sniffed, checked his watch, and headed over. He held out a credit card to the woman waiting inside. "Hey, could I get the Post?"

"Sure." Josephine Johnson reached beneath the counter. "You want the receipt?"

"Naw." The man nodded thankfully as he took the paper, unfurling it. "It's been a while since I've bought a paper, you know? Just get most news on the net. But with this," he held the front page up as he spoke, "this I had to get for the historic value, you know?"

The top half of the page was a large picture, a group of people in the foreground backed by a larger crowd. While nobody had been posing, it was clear that the subject was the people in the center of this group. Surrounded by police officers, these people also wore official-looking uniforms, black suits with three white letters on the shoulders, MDI. The title below it read, "First Official Superheroes Spread Wings, Save Hostages."

The man looked at the paper again. "None of 'em actually had wings, right? That's just a figure of speech. But still, superheroes. Isn't that great? They're going to do some real good out there."

"I know, it's about time we started gettin' some law enforcement out in here. The government's been really taking their time on this but it looks like they're finally coming around. Too bad it's only here in DC. You'd think they might need it in the west too. Washington Green getting burgled.."

"Really? Someone robbed Washington Green?" The customer flipped through the paper, scanning the articles.

"A7," Joe hinted, without checking the paper. "Not much of a story: none of the witnesses can remember a thing! I tell ya that's the work of meta's right there!"

"It's the work of a modern-day Robin Hood, is what it is. Stealing from the richest, giving to... Well, who knows where it went."

"I tell ya it's one huge mess. Last thing we're gonna want is vigilante's showing up coast to coast. Gotta say though, some of these freaks the government roped in. One of 'ems a tree and then there's one of 'em knockin' explosions every which way. Those masks are kinda unnerving too. Hopefully people won't get the wrong idea out of all o' this. Craziness..."

"Freaks is right!" At this point, a completely different person wandered over, a homeless woman by the look of her clothing. "These so-called 'metahumans' (this particular word was saturated with disgust) aren't human at all! They walk around cheating and killing normal people in crazy ways, but then they get the same rights as anyone else. As far as I'm concerned, the only good coming out of that government zoo is that they'll be beating the crap out of each other for a change!"

The original man looked somewhat concerned, and was suddenly very intent on reading his paper. Joe, however, responded diplomatically. "I'll admit they aren't my kind of people, in my experience. I think it's more like a disease though. The ones who got hurt by it'll get cured, and the ones who act like crooks'll get put down. They say they've got some kind of new prison for one's like that guy Commander Salamander. Think this whole thing is getting a little bit creepy though. You make a public announcement of a bunch of heroes, next thing you know we're gonna get public villains.."

"The heroes are the villains! They'll work their way into the government, and before you know it they'll revolt, and take over! They'll stifle all the decent people and it'll be another Dark Age! Might will make right, so they'll do as they please..." continuing to elaborate, the woman wandered away from the stand, engaging a few other pedestrians. The man looked up from his paper, shaking his head.

"It's good to know the metahumans aren't the only ones we have to worry about."

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Arlington County, Virgina, 8:00 AM

((For Checkered Man, Mirage, Specter, Vendetta, and Golem))

After a moment of darkness, the tiles on the floor flickered once before illuminating a handful of men and women, sitting around a semi-circular table. They didn't know one another, but their matching uniforms suggested that they soon would. Each had been led into an office in Washington DC and asked to don the uniform, before being blindfolded and transported to the room via some unidentified vehicle. Each had volunteered to serve the same country, the United States of America, but none of them knew exactly how to do it, or how this room was going to help. The walls of the room were either pitch-black or unlit somewhere further than their vision would allow. The only things that the tiles illuminated were the area around the table and a large, empty chair, which all other seats had been aligned to face. There was a moment of confused silence.

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((For Crank, Tornado, Strawberry Fields, Redwood, Dynamic, and Sketch))

The "veterans" were unaware of their new veteran status. Having been inducted a single day before, they could barely claim to have more experience than any other member of the Metahuman Defense Initiative, or MDI. Of course, they knew of no other members of the MDI, so they weren't about to rub it in. Colonel Steele had directed them to meet in the combat room of... a certain facility at eight o' clock. Having slept overnight in said facility, the last twenty-four hours had been something of a new experience for them. Some of them were probably mulling this fact over. Some were probably not quite awake yet.

[MQuinny1234]

John had been pretty upset about the fact he had to take his helmet off so they could blindfold him, but at least they'd let him take his helmet with him. Whoever they were anyway. The moment the blindfold came off, the helmet went on, although the moment was a little too long for his liking, even in the dark. He still wasn't used, or comfortable, with being seen. The one-way visor was a blessing too. Completely disguised. Apart from a few details anyway. This was what was causing him to worry about the chairs. He'd been placed on the chair on the far left end and was now pushing down on it slightly, trying to see if there was any give. It seemed durable enough, so he allowed himself to calm down and confident in his anonymity, he relaxed a bit, looking to the right at the others, to see if they had any interesting features or anything to say, he didn't want to be the first to speak.

[aurorastorm]

"So what's all this crap?" Malcolm asked, yawning into his hand as he sat against the wall of the room. "I thought if you were a hero you'd get a reward or something, not dragged out of bed into the war room for some briefing jive.." Yesterday, Malcolm had served as team arsenal during the takedown of Commander Salamander, and had allowed the members armed with weapons to carry an endless (nonlethal) payload. Despite his fairly passive role in the operation, Malcolm was still happy about the success and considered himself a hero of a form. However this was not how heroes were to be treated. Heroes got breakfast in bed and were allowed to sleep until night. True, they had to fight some tough opponents, but it was only once in a while, he figured.

[Bolts]

The hollow thud of a boot against the metal floor echoed down the hall, followed by an audible splat. Noah had been in the combat room since earlier that morning working of the stress from the day before. In the corner of the open room Noah had created a rather odd looking setup. At first glance one might assume it to be nothing more than a simple obstacle course. If one were to look closer however, they would numerous paint covered targets most of which with clean shots to the torso still splattered across them. Noah stood at the beginning of the course, clutching two pistol sized paintball guns in his hands. He must have run it at least 4 times now but still hadn't gotten the adrenaline fix he was craving. His goal that morning had been to work on his routine without the aid of his ability. As much strain as it put on his body it could only benefit him to not be forced to rely on it.

That wasn't what happened though. One could practically see the veins in Noah's temple begin to bulge as adrenaline pumped through his body. Time practically slowed to a halt for the young man. Finally he took off, scaling the ten foot wall of the first obstacle in an instant. No sooner than had he reached the top than did he fire a single shot from one of his guns, nailing the first target in the dead center of what would have been it's skull. This was soon followed by another series of obstacles and still more head shots before Noah finally completed the course. When he did though it was all he could do not to collapse. His legs felt like jello, and rightly so. Using his power in the end was probably nothing more than icing on the cake for what was sure to be one hell of a muscle ache in the morning. As his stamina recovered he caught wind of Malcom's little comment. "Damn lazy hippy," he mused to himself, having developed a rather low opinion of the man in the short time he'd known him. Not that his opinion of everyone else was much better. "If it's a reward you're after then next time you can be the one to chase the giant lizard across the rooftops."

[jumpthetrain]

It was obvious Alana had just woken up. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be called into the combat room so early (though she was surprised she remembered where it was). The stylist was usually good about going to bed at a decent hour, but she had stayed up watching some cheesy 80's teen romance movie.

"I wouldn't want to chase a giant lizard across the rooftops." She commented absent-mindedly. "How's your ear?" She looked at Noah before her eyes drifted to the paint spots around the room. 'Someone's been busy...I want coffee.' Scratching the back of her head, she let out a frustrated groan as she discovered she had forgotten to take out her extensions before falling asleep. She cursed silently to herself while removing the frizzed hair pieces.

[InsaneWhisper]

Whistling echoed through the halls and followed Ian into the combat room as he entered for the second time today, his hair slightly damp from the shower he had taken after he had done his morning jog and gone through his stick fighting forms. He strolled towards the others, his whistling particularly merry before he stopped by them and smiled, "Mornin' sleepy heads!" He stretched his arms up over his head then dropped them back to his side, "I see Crank's been busy trying to exhaust himself before the day has gotten going good, how are the rest of you doin'?"

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Sitting in the dark Adeyemi was more than a little irritated with being passed around back and forth with a blind-fold, but was pretty sure she understood the necessity even if all the secrecy did seem a little over the top. She had seen the news the day before, and when she was asked to put on the same uniform the people on the TV had, she began to piece together what the plan for her was going to be. When the lights flashed on she blinked rapidly, blinded for a moment by the sudden change, and waited for her eyes to adjust before looking around and was somewhat surprised to see other people. 'How many people are they pulling in for this thing?' she wondered to herself curiously. The uniforms made it impossible for her to recognize anyone at the moment, and she was glad for her own anonymity since it would give her a chance to gauge what looked to be her future co-workers and see what they were like. She didn't know how many of them would have seen the news for DC, and since no one else had said anything yet she figured it would be as good a place to start a conversation as any to see what they knew. She leaned forward in her chair slightly and drummed her fingers on the table then took a deep breath before turning towards the others and spoke, her accent still a bit thick despite her years in the US, "So how many of you saw the news for DC yesterday?"

[aurorastorm]

"Not too stellar there, boomboom.." Malcolm called out to the chipper stick fighter. "I watched Wonder Warriors as a kid and most of what those guys did was sit in their base and wisecrack. I'd prefer that over fighting everyday but if no one else is gonna talk then I guess I'll have to crack wise for an entire team."

The lawyer paused for a moment and thought before continuing, "I don't know about you guys, but that wasn't exactly pleasant for me yesterday and I don't know why you're so happy." He motioned to Ian, "Hopefully the boss will tell us something good today. Being sent out on day one with no orientation or anything is a bit rough.."

[Gornacopia]

"Well, you may not have liked that mission, but I did," Todd replied. "It felt like I had complete control over my tornado for the first time, and it was just a rush. Woo-ee!" Todd was used to early hours from his years helping on the farm. Adding his excitement from the mission, he was one of the most alert of the group there.

[SuccessorM]

Gar sat in his chair, constantly shifting his sitting stance. Jeez, how long do they expect us to sit around here? Plus, this may be the crappiest thing I have ever sat in.. He then began to look around, shift his eyes but avoiding moving his head. Several people in the same uniform, sitting around the table. However, they didn't appear as uncomfortable as he did.

He then heard one of the women ask a question. "Heh, only way you wouldn't know about yesterday's mission is to live under a rock for two days." he responded snidely. "But yeah, trust me, its all anyone will be talking about it for a while. Each of them bursting with opinions." he commented while weakly twirling his right index finger in the air.

[MQuinny1234]

"Umm..." John raised a hand and waved it slightly. "Pardon. I'm afraid I haven't seen the news. I've been a little preoccupied with previous events to follow the current events." He said roughly, but quietly, as he slowly put his arm down on the table, shifting in his seat to face the rest of the table. "I wouldn't mind a quick briefing on what's going on, if you people know." He said, turning his helmet to face the, African perhaps, lady? Could just be a muffled voice or something. His own voice had changed a bit lately. He was suspicious enough to assume these people were powers also. It's the only reason he could think of that he was here, and considering the news he did know, he took a stab at what they could all have in common. "I'm a little concerned about why we're wearing anonymous uniforms, and why mine has been tailor made for me. I didn't even have to ask for the helmet or gloves." The clothes hadn't caught or teared on his skin either, he doubted it would last forever but it hadn't immediately torn itself apart so that was odd.