Director Richards, holding a freshly lit cigar in one hand and a clipboard filled with papers in the other, strode through the hallways of MetaOps Headquarters. He approached the door that read 'Briefing Room' at the end of the hallway, stuck the cigar into his mouth, breathed in the harmful chemicals, then opened the door. Inside, MetaOps' newly organized strike team sat around passing the time before they were given their new assignments. Crosscut was the first to see The Director enter the room and immediately stood at attention. "At ease," The Director said to Crosscut and any other operative in the room doing the same. Pulling a remote from his pocket, The Director used it to turn out the lights and turn on the projector in the back, before walking up towards the front of the room. The Director took a look at the various operatives that sat before him, paying special attention to the more eccentrically dressed of the group, before speaking. These were the best of the best. Well most of them at least, some were just cannon-fodder. "At 0900 yesterday morning, a highly classified facility was broken in to," he said. A slide appeared, showing the outside of the building. "This facility, which we will from hear on out call The Forge, specialized in one thing and one thing only... creating the nastiest, most destructive weapons known to mankind." A new slide appeared on the wall, this one of a more present picture of the facility from earlier, complete with a man-sized hole in the side of it. "This is the outside of The Forge now. Only one thing was stolen out of all the deadly devices inside, and that was the weapon that Project: God Complex had almost finished creating." Another new slide, this one of a room strewn with bodies, rubble, and broken scientific equipment.

Crosscut was the first to speak. "What is this weapon that the project had been making?" he asked.

"That information is being kept on a need-to-know basis. Right now, none of you need to know," The Director responded. Crosscut leaned back in his chair, irritated by the answer given. Director Richards continued with the briefing, "As you can probably guess by the fact that you're the ones being told all of this and not Seal Team Six or Delta Force, the perpetrators of the theft were meta-humans. Unfortunately for them, we know almost all of their identities. The powers they used to pull this off are pretty uncommon. Only problem is just going to be finding where they all scurried off to. We got a few locations that we suspect, but until we're able to narrow it down to something less than an metropolitan city, we'll be sitting on our hands. Shouldn't take more than a few hours. Until then, I don't believe any of you have actually met before. You'll be working together to find these 'super-terrorists' as my superiors have taken to calling them, so might as well get used to each other. Crosscut, you're in charge." The Director turned the projector off and the lights back on before making his way to the door. Before he could leave, Crosscut called out to him.

"Sir, the identities of these guys. You didn't say who they were," Crosscut asked. He already knew what answer The Director would give, but it was worth a shot.

"All in due time, all in due time," was the only response he got.

Crosscut was irritated with the way The Director was treating this mission. Teams were built on trust, and while he knew that sometimes there was information that was better left to be known by a few people, MetaOps leader was keeping them all in the dark. Crosscut ignored his dislike for their commanding officer and walked to the front of the room where The Director had stood earlier. "As you heard, I'll be the leader of our rag-tag little team. My name's Ray Stevans, but on-mission we will exclusively using our designated code names. Mine is Crosscut. I've been here at MetaOps for awhile now, so you might know me by name, but in case you don't, here's what you need to know: I've been an operative for most of my life, and if you want to get to the same position I'm in right now, all you need to do is follow my orders. I don't keep my past a mystery, so if you have questions, go ahead and ask." Crosscut went back to his chair and sat down. Whether the rest of the team wanted to introduce themselves formally like he did, or if they wanted to just wander the room introducing themselves in a more casual way, he didn't care. As long as they all socialized, this should be able to get the team to know and hopefully trust one another. That's what mattered.

David Arazaga - Elementalist

---

Ray Stevans - Crosscut

As you heard, I'll be the leader of our rag-tag little team. My name's Ray Stevans, but on-mission we will exclusively using our designated code names. Mine is Crosscut. I've been here at MetaOps for awhile now, so you might know me by name, but in case you don't, here's what you need to know: I've been an operative for most of my life, and if you want to get to the same position I'm in right now, all you need to do is follow my orders. I don't keep my past a mystery, so if you have questions, go ahead and ask."

---

David looked at Ray, forming his silent opinion on the guy, before deeming that he a stern person perhaps? He was obviously experienced person as well, being at his age along with the vibe of familiarity to the job like he said to them earlier. His main traits so far was that the man was obviously confident enough to be the leader, and since he was still alive in this job meant he was smart enough to stay alive as well. Any other quirks of the man the would have to find out latter, but at least their leader wasn't as bad as he was thinking about before he came here. Observing the rest of the group, he found several people of interest that caught his attention, such as the three other teenagers who he was surprised that they were on a mission. The youngest of them looked like she was still going to high school and not older than a senior, but now shes here. Besides the three youngest meta-humans in the group no one else seemed suspicious or interesting enough for him to take a note of but, he would keep an ear out if he hear anything.

Deciding to be next on the list to introduce himself to the group and get it over with instead of waiting until the very last second, he raised his hand with meek smile "Hello team, my name is David so if you need anything just ask me. I can try my best to see if I can help you, and umm- my codename is 'Elementalist' if you wanted to know, but David is just fine. Pleasure to meet you all, and working with you" After the short introduction he was pretty much done observing his allies and so he took out his phone in his pocket before, becoming engrossed in it as he waited for the others. Looking up every once in a while before, back down to do what hes doing on his phone.

Alex could barely control his own body. As weird as that might have sounded, it was actually very accurate. He was constant squirming around in his seat, tapping the table with his fingers, fiddling with his wand, all things that would annoy most of the people at the table. In all truth, he was not doing it to purposely annoy anyone, it was actually the situation that was at hand. Sure there were super- terrorist around, but it was actually his first mission, he could finally utilize his abilities to its fullest extent. Know that I think about, super-terriost are a really dangerous thing. Alex thought to himself. Before all this Meta-human business, they only had to worry about bombing terrorist, not ones with superpowers. That was a whole new can of worms, and definitely not a cup of tea for the for the Military. That's why the MetaOps were created he supposed, get us and use us against people like us before we become like them, a simple but straight forward explanation to a not so straight forward situation.

When Alex was finally able to gain control over his body, people were introducing onr another. Pretty generic wouldn't you think. he though to himself. The supposed leader was Crosscut, Alex could not help but wonder what his ability was, sounded like it was dangerous. Next was David, or Elementalist, such a simple name. If he told that to the super- terrorist his ability could be assessed "super" quick. But Alex could not blame him, names did not come easy to anyone, it him 5 months to come up with a permanent name.

After David went, Alex throught it would be gracious of him to go ahead and introduce himself. Alex got up right after David sat down. As he walked over to were David was originally standing, he was sure people were laughing at what he was wearing. He was claded in a long, red hoodie that reached his ankles, he had metal boots and gauntlets on, and a red and white shirt with light red pants, and to top it off, his wand, which was strapped to his hip, unusual indeed. "My name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex, especially the ladies." He said winking a girl at the table playfully. "My Codename is MicWiz, nice meeting you all." He said with a wide grin before taking his seat, that would be good enough for know, the rest would be for making conversation.

Honestly, knowing everything made situations in which restraint was necessary such a bore. Revel sat lopsided in his chair, getting by in a half-daze of sleep. With his goggles around his neck, it was obvious he was dozing to any observers, but not as obvious as everything else going on around here. Forty minutes ago, Revel had been mildly surprised to learn that a group of metas had infiltrated what was undoubtedly one of the most secure locations in the United States and made off with a tool capable of turning a country into a very large boneyard. Above all else the string-puller wished he could have been there, so that he might have been able to congratulate them firsthand. Anyone who could pull off such a stunt with such magnificent impunity was worth getting your hooks into, both literally and metaphorically. Unfortunately that time had passed, and now Revel had to content himself with listening to the other people assembled in the room.

Technically, his power was limited precognition and not omniscience, though, so there were some stimulating things to be found out while he blatantly ignored the man called Crosscut. Having used nothing but his alias for so long, Revel very easily accepted the paradigm of using codenames. In particular, like the man whose codename Revel just knew to be the elementalist, even before he became the first person to introduce himself, Revel found himself looking at the teenagers, the girls in particular. One of them was a mere seventeen years, a laughable age to be assigned to what amounted to a government hit squad. Though he hadn't the fortune to have predicted her name, Revel was reminded by one of them of a bamboo shoot, so slender and green was her visage. To be of anything but cannon-fodder meant to bring vengeful tears to the eyes of her teammates, he reckoned, she would have to possess a very noteworthy power. Then there was the blonde girl, who looked especially braindead, and failed to impress him whatsoever.

By the time Revel refocused on the people getting up, Alex had gotten up. “My name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex, especially the ladies,” Revel muttered, rolling his eyes. His little game was no fun when he couldn't see the stunned reaction on others' faces. After MicWiz had finished, the string-puller pushed himself out of his chair, saying, “That's my cue then,” and strode to the front.

“I know at least one of you is going to have a chuckle at what I'm wearing, but that's to be expected, really,” he recited boredly, hands behind his back. He then pointed at the brown-haired sniper Michelle, who seemed about as pleased to be here as he. “When you get up in a minute to do your intro, try not to step on that water bottle. It's not got a cap on, and the carpet will get mildew.” It was tough to resist showing off by saying the words of the person to come after himself, but Revel managed. Besides, it you predicted too far in advance, he knew that people would change to spite him. He addressed the rest of the group next. “My name is Revel. I am here to redeem myself. I hope to become familiar to each any everyone one of you, not just as a comrade, but as a friend.” Revel bowed slightly, smiling, and returned to his seat.

Michelle was doing some routine maintenance on her pistols. A good cleaning was vital before and after every mission. After all, she didn't want her guns to jam when she needed them most. She listened to Crosscut talk with the MetaOps commander, knowing full well what frustration he was feeling at being left in the dark. She hated that feeling. There was always someone pulling the strings while staying in the shadows. This was why her previous partner died, not enough information. Oh well, all Michelle had to do was deal with the issues at hand. She was certain she wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Now the introductions were being made. There was Crosscut, of course, and there were a couple others by now. She wished she shared Alex's enthusiasm on this, but there was no room for that on the job. Revel's warning caused her to look down, where she noticed that water bottle for the first time. Nodding in appreciation, she picked it up by the neck, she placed it onto the table where it would not be spilled so easily, then resumed her maintenance on her guns.

Reassembling her guns, Michelle began her introduction, "Right, my name is Michelle Kine, codename Widowmaker. Unlike most of you, if not all of you, I don't have any powers. No shapeshifting, no fire breathing, none of that good stuff." Putting a magazine into a pistol and cocking the slide, she continued, "I make up for that with combat experience, and plenty of it." Finishing off the other pistol as well, she placed them into their respective holsters and waited for others to introduce themselves.

DRAKE MARBLE: A.K.A The Chimera

Drake knew he was probably one of the most out of place, and possibly most confused in the entire room. The man with the cigar had mentioned secret bases? A weapon of mass destruction? What could possibly know about things like that, considering only a few weeks ago his biggest worry was what common-criminal to go after next and what he would eat for dinner?

Still he doubted he others had much more experience with this... Or a least he had doubted util the introductions were made. Crosscut, he seemed like a pretty standup guy... Honestly Drake wouldn't have any troubled following his lead. The guy knew what he was doing it seemed, then there was Alex, someone who Drake had to resist the urge to instantly dislike as soon as he spoke. That aura of cockiness was the exact thing to irritate him.

Revel spoke next and despite his complete disinterested manor, the boy didn't mind him all that much really. He seemed to simply be calm about things and there was nothing wrong with that. Then the woman stood up to make her introduction, and Drake shrank slightly back into his seat. A trained killer huh? Maybe she didn't have any super powers but he doubted that mean much if she was allowed on the team with them. 'Dont get on her bad side...' Drake thought quietly to himself. Once she finished he figured he would go ahead and make himself known , standing up to address those at the table, absently scratching one of his furry ears.

"Alright, guess I'm next. I'm Drake, codename The Chimera... Though I honestly don't like putting 'the' at the beginning of that." He started with a small shrug. "Nice to meet you all I guess?" With that he sat down, letting out a small sigh. What else was there to say really?

Izzy Winters - Freyja

When Director Richards walked in, Izzy was slow to react. She had been sitting stiffly and staring at her hands on the table, trying not to draw too much attention from the intimidating group. When she finally realized he was there and began to stand at attention, he had already told them to be at ease. So without ever fully standing up, she sat back awkwardly in her chair, eyes down. She would never get used to this military stuff.

While she picked at her thumbnail, she listened intently to the Director and Ray. Her nervousness only grew as she began to understand that the stakes for the assignment were far higher than the other few she had been a part of.

After a man named David introduced himself to the whole group as Ray had done, she realized that they would all be expected to do so. Simply speaking in front of a group made her uncomfortable, and this was in front of meta-human military personnel.

Swallowing hard, Izzy began reciting what she'd say in her mind as she gave her attention to the others introducing themselves. Alexander and Revel were dressed... strangely. They seemed nice enough, though, as did David. Revel's words, directed at a scary-looking woman named Michelle, hinted that he had some sort of foresight power. Realizing this, Izzy perked up and relaxed ever-so-slightly in her seat. According to the Director, everyone here had some sort of ability. Izzy wanted to know exactly what they all could do, but so far, only Revel had said anything to hint at his power.

Michelle's introduction was the most surprising to Izzy. The woman had no power, but had been assigned to this group? That was... terrifying, honestly. She was like the opposite of Izzy; she was here because of her experience and skill, instead of some super-natural power that was given to her.

Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, Izzy looked to the boy who stood up next. His codename was Chimera, and judging by his ears, he had some sort of shape-shifting ability. The girl decided she'd outright state her power in her introduction, hoping that would encourage others to do the same so she wouldn't have to guess.

Going over her lines one more time, Izzy took a deep breath and stood up.

"H-hello, I'm Izzy..." She paused, blanking for a brief moment. Feeling a tinge of red spread across her face, she kept her eyes locked on the center of the table as she continued. "Izzy Winters. My codename is Freyja. And I... um... don't die, I g-guess." Wow she was blowing this, and with all of these people staring at her. Pathetic. She picked at the cuff of her long-sleeved shirt. "It's nice to meet you all, and I look forward to working with all of you..."

With a burning face and a small nod, she sat down quickly, biting her lip. She desperately needed to get more comfortable with speaking in front of a group. Her hope of making a decent first impression was now shot to hell, but she told herself it didn't really matter. She'd just be back in the same place she had been with her last group.

Drake calmly watched as the girl sat up, listening to what she had to say. It was fairly awkward; and stuttered at that. Somehow he felt sorry for her... If there was anyone who was more out of their element here then he was, it was most certainly this girl. The round of introductions was honestly feeling slow and boring to Drake, and with that last introduction he decided it was a good opportunity to open up some actual conversation.

As she sat down he leaned forward and raised his eyebrows slightly. "Don't die?" He questioned, sounding genuinely curious about what she meant by that. "That sounds... Interesting. How can you not die?"

Gloria didn't want to be here, it was that simple. It was however a step up from prison which was her other option. Besides, here she had limited access to a lot of equipment and information that really shouldn't be placed in the hands of a thief. Especially one whose very nature made containing her almost impossible.

Her posture made it pretty clear to everyone that Gloria was totally unconcerned with anything that was going on in this room. She had her feet kicked back and propped up on the shiny conference table they were gathered around, her shoes scuffing the waxed surface.

If her situation was not one in which her demise was a very real possibility Gloria would have found the actions of the Director who entered the room a moment later laughable. He started with 'at ease', like she owed him enough respect to glance in his direction when he entered let alone salute, please.

The next thing the Director did was start there 'briefing', which was a ludicrous term for it because he left out all of the important information. He might as well have said 'meta-humans on the loose go get 'em' for all the help he was. They weren't told, the metas powers, there numbers, if they were organized or what this massively important weapon they stole did.

This hole thing was mediocre at best, a thief wouldn't go into a house unless they knew the layout, security and timetable for the residence. Why should the military be any different. This complete lack of intelligence was going to get them all killed.

Of course what did that matter to the Director, judging by the group in this room they'd been more or less thrown together, yanked out of whatever life they might have had before. To this project they were completely expendable. After all if the entire strike team died, then MetaOps had gathered some valuable data and they could pull another group of mutants off the street and try all over again.

Gloria sat quiet, she had no desire to get to know any of these people. After all it wasn't like any of them would willing stick by her. There was no point in getting to know someone when inevitably one would betray the other. Gloria did however observe her teammates. It was important she gauge strengths and weaknesses because there was a high possibility that she could end up fighting against them just as much as she could beside.

Oh my god, what a fucking mess.

To put it simply, Sam was overwhelmed. There was a lot going on, a lot of introductions, and a lot of different emotions were being cast by the various personalities in the room. And on top of all of that, there was still a mission at hand, and all of these people were just expected to work together. Up to now, Sam had worked in small strike teams and had gained a rapport with a few of her teammates on those missions, but this? This was more or less the Director trying to fit together a dozen or so puzzle pieces that would never fit together, not in a million years. Hopefully Ray knew what he was doing; it would take a lot of work to make this group a working unit.

Sam didn't even know where to begin with introductions. There were so many new people and so many questions she wanted to ask them, primarily regarding their powers, but there were more specific questions in more particular cases. She began to make a list in her head, to be filed away and saved for a more opportune moment.

• How long exactly has Ray been an operative, and why did he assume that everyone was as uptight and hardassed as he was?
• Why did Alex think his lame-ass wink was a good idea? Did he know that he was just gonna end up getting punched in the face with behavior like his?
• What exactly did Revel need to redeem himself for?
• Why was Izzy even here? The poor girl seemed scared shitless. Then again, as much as Sam appreciated MetaOps, they were really good at being huge assholes at the most inopportune moments.
• Where the fuck could Sam get something to eat?

With her list carefully thought out and filed away, Sam quietly raised a hand up, but didn't bother moving from her place leaned up against the wall in the back of the room. "Hi. Samantha. They called me a witch in Korea, so you can call me that in the field, if you want," Sam rattled off fairly monotonously. She gave a slight grin to everyone in the room, then did her best to become as invisible as possible. She did not want to attract any attention to herself.

Angelina had completely ignored over half the entire briefing. She hadn't stood for the director, hadn't listened to half of the introductions, no. Instead Angelica was starng at a single thing in the room blocking everything else out for the first half. It wasn't even a person she was staring at either! No...She was learning...Observing...Taking in another idea...She would have a chance to meet these people later, and she would just have to follow everyone else for the mission. This was something she might not get to do any other time.

Angelina sat there with her right hand up to her face holding her chin as her index finger sat at the corner of her mouth as she stared at Michelle, well not actually Michelle. Angelina had been observing her take apart the pistols and took in how she did it, all the parts, every angle, every single piece. Sure she could easily make simple things, but more complex things with working parts like guns and such she still needed to understand their parts and functions so that she could recreate them perfectly. She would gladly ignore every other person in this room for a while to learn another schematic, especially for something useful, and something that she knew her teammate, and hopefully friend, would use.

It wasn't until Michelle herself started to introduce herself did Angelina know what was going on. As Michelle finished with her pistols Angelina giggled softly to herself 'Schematic memorized and stored!' she thought as she listened to Michelle. Angelina found the woman some what inspiring actually. The fact that she was good enough to be here on this team with just being a normal human? Angelina already looked up to her and she barely knew anything about her! Now that she had gotten what she needed as well Angelina could finally listen to everyone else that talked finally too.

Next was Drake a younger guy closer to her age than most here, and kinda cute too, even with the ears, which might actually make him cuter? She'd have to think on that one, but following him was Izzy which Angelina couldn't help but giggle at her awkwardness. The girl clearly was scared to death and Angelina found it quite amusing. This was followed up by Sam...Yeah...Real charmer that one...Angelina only rolled her eyes at her because she found her boring and had no interest in someone like that.

Finally Angelina jumped up from her seat giggling happily as she did so. "I'm Angelina! Well at least that's what my new identification card says after I was discharged from the hospital a few months ago...Some people like to call me Angelica though! Oh and my code name is Bright Angel! Though I found that a little lengthy for a code name, but it works for me! but when we're in the field I figure it might be easier for everyone to call me Angel!" Angelina giggled happily again as she sat down happy to finally introduce herself to everyone. This was going to be her new group of friends! It was an exciting time, even if they were about to start a mission!

To say he was feeling personal discomfort was something of an understatement.
He had grown up so used to feeling like an outcast or a freak or a monster, with the exception of the times he'd been in those bad parts of town. Funny how the worst people had treated him fairer than anyone else he had ever known. Hard to not be a little jaded by something as ridiculously stupid as that.
As each person came up to introduce themselves it was all Cliff could do to concentrate, his thoughts were like debris being swept up by a cyclone, a chaotic heap of mental detritus that made him dizzy at the best of times and hopelessly unsteady at the worst.

Each of the Meta humans assembled in the briefing room seemed so vastly and fundamentally different in both powers and personalities and Cliff was no different, he supposed.
Shit, I finally found more like me and I don't relate to a single one of them.
A begrudging sense of surface level pride forbade him from admitting how scared he was now (and, well, all the time) but the soul inside which was still very much that of an abandoned child was screaming silently and causing him to reflexively clench and unclench his hands into fists.

Suddenly it was time for him to get up, at least he supposed when the floor went quiet and a gap appeared.
He took a discreet breath to steady himself and stood up. He attempted taking a step to the front of the room, but found his legs wouldn't allow such a thing.
He cleared his throat, and placed a hand over the inside of his elbow reflexively. The place where so many needles had gone and so much junk entered his body. Infections from misuse had left scars there permanently and rather than serving as painful reminders they were just dead giveaways. Like hell anyone would even care about this junkie anyway, but he was here and stubborn enough to refuse not to be acknowledged.
"I'm Cliff...uh, codename Evil Eyes," he said as though each word were chosen very carefully, "I don't really know how to explain myself...but I guess I can...um, control kinetic energy, I think. At least that's what my file...what my dossier says. I..." he suddenly went blank, like he had reached his limit of what to say in one sentence so he concluded with a pathetic and timid, "thank you," and sat back down.

There, see? Not unlike pulling teeth sure, but you did it.

Izzy Winters - Freyja

Before Izzy had any time to wallow in her embarrassment, the boy named Drake leaned over and spoke to her. She blinked at him, relief spreading through her after a moment. She could do one-on-one conversations. Small groups were ideal, since she could stay quiet and just enjoy listening to others talk, but this was fine.

"Oh, um, that was a terrible way of describing it, I suppose," she said with a sheepish smile. "It's more like, any injury I get heals itself after a little bit. Even ones that kill me. And then I--"

Izzy stopped when she heard someone else speak up. Turning her head, she saw the woman named Samantha, who seemed very confident in herself, despite the brevity of her introduction. Izzy frowned a bit, wishing she could be more like that.

She looked back to Drake to finish her sentence. "And when fatal injuries are healed, I come back to life. So yeah, it is wrong to say I don't die. I've already died about a dozen times, I think." She gave a small laugh. "It's not very fun."

Her attention then turned to the next person to speak. The girl, Angelina, was noticeably the youngest of the group, and was the most... bubbly, to say the least. It was strange to see someone so excited, in this situation. If she could be so positive, more power to her. Izzy gave a small sigh, cursing her inability to do the same.

Next was a man, Cliff. It was nice to know that someone else didn't seem completely at ease speaking in front of a group. Though he spoke deliberately and didn't stutter, so his introduction went at least a little better than her own.

Deciding she wanted to find out more about Drake's power, she turned back to him. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's up with the ears?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head, looking at them. "I mean, I figure it has to do with your ability, but how does it work?"

@XLegs

As Angelica made her introduction Drake made a small noise of discomfort. He was by no means a shy person, but when someone had a personality that ... Strong, well it tended to have large effects on him. Still he managed to sit still and simply listen to what she said, deciding she wasn't all too bad and he would grow to like her. Then the girl he had asked questions of spoke.

Drake listened attentively to the girl, nodding slowly as she explained in a somewhat jumbled form of what she could do. Once he got the general gist of it however, his eyes widened in a sort of expression between amazement and delight. Immortal? Was she actually immortal?

He tried to ask her more questions however he became interrupted as another man stood up to introduce himself, his name being Evil Eyes...? Drake would need to remember to ask him about his ability as well. He turned once again to the girl as she finished explaining, then asked about his power to which he let out a small, slightly embarrassed chuckle and absently scratched at his furry ear.

"Ah , well... I'm a shapeshifter." He explained slowly. "I can shift into animals and stuff, but my powers are. Well. They're kinda broken." His brow furrowed as he tried to think of a way to explain what he meant. "Most shifters can turn into whatever they want, but I'm unable to do that because of something that happened when I was young. So instead when I shift I mix up animals and stuff. At first I hated it, but I learned that I could use it to create the ultimate super animal... I guess. I call it the Chimera." He paused then continued to explain the ears. "I also can't get the human body right. For some reason I always have these ears."

"Some interesting characters" Cathryn quietly said to herself as everyone proceeded to introduce themselves. She was leaning back in a chair, with legs on the table. She had planned on going sooner, but with others jumping on it faster than she could get her legs down, she decided to wait until last, save herself the energy.

She took a few mental notes on some of her teammates. She didn't have a reason to trust them yet, but would be forced to trust them based on name and what other details they decided to give out right now. Cathryn smiled at Alex, the kid was confident with women, she could give him that, but how confident would he be with a woman who could be rather flirtatious? She'd find out later. Next she examined Michelle, girl seemed to have a knack for guns, seeing as she was fiddling with one. Cathryn could possibly get that girl any gun she wanted, so long as it was within reason, she had trouble getting theoretical guns like railguns or laser rifles. She'd continue with her mental notes if it wasn't for the fact that she should get her introduction done.

Cathryn brought her legs down and stood up, straightening her outfit before starting her introduction. "Hello cuties, my name is Cathryn Tessaro, codename Pirate Queen. If that's too lengthy for you, then you may use Pirate" She looked around "And some of you have probably already made the connection between my codename and outfit. Smart cookies" she said playfully. "I'm also sure some of you may recognize me, I was quite popular in the news." Cathryn smiled "And before anyone gets too curious, I can summon weapons, every weapon that has existed up to now." Her attention turned to Michelle "And should anyone need ammo, I got you covered."

With her introduction done, she sat back down. Putting her legs back on the table and leaning back.

Crosscut listened to each of his team members introductions, studying how they acted. He had skimmed each of their files, so he knew each of their capabilities, but it was always good to his own impression on people and not just trust the analysts. As Pirate Queen finished her introduction, The Director burst into the room, quickly turning out the lights and turning the projector back on.

"We have a new development team," he said as live footage being taken by a news copter was shown.

"We are here at Progress Energy's Crystal River nuclear plant 80 miles north of Tampa, Florida. As you can see, a gold and black-clad meta-human has appeared and is wreaking havoc. Not too long ago, this man appeared near the facility and began threatening the workers that he would send the facility into meltdown. Police have tried to stop him, but nothing seems to have deterred his advance towards the reactor. We have been told that the military is on their way," the reporter said.

The Director turned to the operatives before him. "That's us team. The guy we're facing goes by the code name: The Immortal. He's one of our suspects for the theft at The Forge, so these events could be related. MetaOps is still mostly unknown to the general public and we're trying to keep it that way, so Crosscut will be transporting you all to the location one-at-a-time. We've got our Public Relations department working on some BS story of how you're all some random Metas who happened to be nearby, the media will suck up the superhero vigilante crap like a sponge. Now gear up and meet up at the Satellite Room."

Crosscut soon teleported out of the Briefing Room and into the Satellite Room, he needed to have a clear image of where he was going if he didn't want to teleport inside a wall or other material. He stood in the center of the room, waiting to take whoever arrived first to the combat zone. As soon as he took the first person, he'd teleport back and take the next. Every time a new person arrived, he'd give them the order to hit The Immortal with everything they had. This guy needed to be stopped.

Alex enjoyed the introductions, it really felt good to meet people who were just like him and in the same situation. In all truth, it was refreshing, at first this whole program, the whole out look of the situation scared him. Unfortunately, some of the them did not have the same excitement that he did. Most were you cookie-cut, loner, badass, smart one. But there was nothing he could do, he would have to put up with them, just as they would have to put up with him. Despite that, he still did not want to deal with all their useless drama.

Things finally seemed to be getting interesting when The Director burst in the room and turned on the TV. Apparently, some immortal monster meta human was attacking the plant. The police could not stop it, so they would have to bare the burden, which was the obvious solution. The BS story was not as BS as it sounded, they were a bunch of Meta Humans fighting off evil, sounded like a vigilante group to him, they just worked under the government for a change.

Alex was the first up and out, he had everything he needed on him, his wand. As he walked through the corridors, he unsheathed it and gazed at the pick stone. It was a gem that he himself had never seen, or heard of, but it helped him use his powers. It was actually the reason he picked his name, MicWiz, Wiz stood for Wizard, and that's how he dressed, Mic was just for the heck of it.

Alex walked into the Satellite Room, again, first to enter. The only order he received was to through everything he had at the guy. Alex did not believe it was a slow plan, but skilled and nodded. Before he knew it he was inside the plant, shots and screams hung in the air, debris and bodies scattered all over the ground, not a pretty sight. Unfortunately, Alex did not have much time to sight see, the target was a few feet away from him, the reactor not much farther. Alex brought his wand forward and it's gem glowed brightly, suddenly a transparent, thick, pink wall appeared in front of the reactor, that would stop him for a few seconds, but he needed the others to do any real damage. The mission was to stop him from getting to the reactor, and that was what he was doing, fighting the guy came next.

Michelle listened as everyone else made their introductions. This would be her team now. She would have to not mess up with any of them. She had noticed Angelina staring at her pistols, which Michelle passed off as an odd quirk, and nodded again in appreciation at Cathryn's comment about the ammo. That would certainly come in handy if she were to get low on ammo.

Then the Director burst into the room bearing bad news about this dangerous fellow attacking a nuclear reactor. Michelle watched the news broadcast, but it didn't give her anything all that useful. He was clearly able to fly, he appeared to be bulletproof, and also quite strong, if breaking through walls with only his hands was anything to judge by. He didn't seem to be able to do much else, which was a welcome sign, but the abilities this "Immortal" fellow already had made him quite a threat already.

Standing up, Michelle said to her teammates, "Alright, boys and girls, see you on the battlefield." She left the room to go into the Armory, where she could get a selection of equipment to use. Michelle grabbed a grenade belt as well as a submachine gun. She would be fighting in close quarters, so it seemed like the best choice. She added a few customizations on it to make it focus more on accuracy rather than power. A scope, a smaller clip, a better stock, etc.

Drake had been listening to what little conversation had been going on in the room when the "Pirate Queen" spoke up. He couldn't help but get a little bit excited when he saw her, a boyish grin growing on his face. He had heard plenty of her, knowing she was practically a legendary criminal... And now she was here? That was cool.

When the general came bursting in to give them the update, Drake looked around in confusion. The satellite room? How the hell was he supposed to know where that was exactly? It wasn't like anyone had given him a tour of this place!

Fortunately it seemed like at least someone knew where they were going, as he was able to basically just follow Alex to he room where Crosscut had located himself to. "When are we heading out?" He asked quickly, the nerves of going to fight another meta already beginning to get to him.

For the remainder of the cute little introduction period, Revel listened intently, his chin perched on his fist. Some of the people here, he knew, could offer little in the department of useful or even entertaining information, but he whatever he could glean from them he store in his mental repository. Through the imagined files he shifted, debating whether to archive these latest details for future use, or cast them aside. Powerless sniper? Memorized. Revel smirked; a bullet from far away was the only way someone like Michelle could possibly contribute to a fight. Drake the Chimera? Nothing poignant there. Immortal Freyja? Perhaps useful as a meat shield, or a distraction. Revel always appreciated someone he could throw at the enemy to give him more time to plan. So far, Willow had proved herself capable to the task, but after the twelfth time repairing her cybernetics had lost its charm. When the unsolicited voice of Drake piped up again, this time from the designated 'audience', Revel rolled his eyes. This was not the time to be asking moronic questions in order to chat with a girl.

A few moments passed before the next person got up, leaving Revel time to think. He had expected a formal military training routine, adapted to suit a band of superpowered folk certainly, but something regimented nonetheless. Only through strictest control could a tactician intelligently use his soldiers. While Revel fancied himself such a strategist, he had resigned himself to playing the role of subordinate in order to see his grand scheme to fruition, so perhaps it was a better thing the Director wasn't being more authoritative. Still, it seemed to Revel like something more than a meet-and-greet was necessary to get the ball rolling. In particular, the string-puller looked forward to observing the powers of the others—at least, those he hadn't already foreseen.

The piercing tone of Bright Angel yanked Revel from his reverie. He winced to hear it, wondering yet again why a mere girl would be assigned as his equal. It was insulting to say the least. When Cliff made himself known, however, Revel's fascination ignited. The gestures of a man more than touched by drugs did not escape his eyes, and it pleased the string-puller to recognize someone against whom leverage could be used. Those gripped by drugs, either now or in the past, always listened where others might not.

Finally came Cathryn, and Revel's green eyes fixated upon her. His precognition had granted him her name, but of all her characteristics, it interested him least. Shapely. Blunt. Gun-wielder. Annoyingly confident. And yes, I've seen you on the news. A thorough scoundrel! Fewer silly ideals to get in the way. Pity I couldn't see more of you...I should like very much to see how you respond to some of my serums. As Cathryn finished and sauntered by, Revel shot her an infatuated smile.

Almost immediately after, none other than the project head appeared. Idly wondering if the urgency of his movements meant that things were about to kick off, Revel heeded the Director's explanation. Hah! He resisted the urge to laugh out loud. Running in blind, are we? He mused, grinning. It'll be a slaughter. But it'll make the team stronger by weeding out the weak ones. After a meaningful glance back at Bright Angel, he followed the Widowmaker, MicWiz, and the Chimera to the Satellite room. “Beam me up, snotty.”

And just like that, Revel stood in the nuclear plant. He snorted after Crosscut vanished. “Hit him with everything we have? How stupid. The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won.” He glanced at the magical barrier conjured by MicWiz, then at Michelle. “We cannot attempt to defend something by placing ourselves and our objective side-by-side. Let me think...” Revel placed his palm to his head and closed his eyes, as if trying to remember something. The information he sought, however, came not from the past but from the future. He knew that the black-and-gold-clad figure would have no trouble either finding the reactor or penetrating the wizard's shield. He also knew that when Michelle attempted to shoot the Immortal, striding silently toward them, the bullets would do him no harm. “Well, sucks to be you, Widow. Your submachine there won't do anything but annoy this asshole. He's near-invincible. If he gets in this room, we're done. All we can do is bind him and move him around while we try to find out what's responsible for the 'near' part. I didn't any better a read on him, but a lot of people with a lot of power are arrogant and can be baited. If we annoy him, he'll come after us instead of the reactor. Let's move into the next room and see if we can find anything we can use.”