Silvia watched as the Guardians under her care gathered by her side and almost immediately started making introductions to each other. Alexandria appeared polite, Thomas seemed to be adjusting well, and Tavi reminded her a bit of Caden... Only much tamer. With everyone present split into their teams, Silvia motioned to her group to follow her out into the hall. She began walking in the near opposite direction as Caden and his group. The Nest consisted of several levels of labs, training rooms and entertainment rooms but each level was essentially connected continuously... A set up much like that of a hive. Silvia remembered thinking to herself "Hive" might have been more ironic than "Nest" but it wasn't her place to question the codenames the government gave its possessions. She led her group past the elevator they initially entered from and down a curved hallway, her shoes clicking ever so softly on the tiled flooring. "I know the order to drop everything and move in to this facility was rather sudden, but I assure you'll be well taken care of. Anything you didn't carry here yourself has already been picked up and brought here for your convenience... Although I think they might have left the unpacking to you due to personal preferences and personal nature of some of your belongings." Naturally Silvia didn't register how her comment might have been received and instead kept walking as if what she had said was perfectly normal. "You each will have your own rooms but all of the rooms in use at this moment are in the same wing, so you'll still have some interactions with the other team's members." Just as she finished speaking, she led the ground around a corner leading out into a corridor of closed doors. Each door had a name plague attached to the front, clearly announcing who owned which space. Additionally, each door had a handprint reader to serve as a lock for the futuristic-looking sliding doors; most likely unnecessary but then again, those in charge of this project had a way with going way overboard on absolutely everything. "If you'd like, you can go check out your rooms before we move on. I'm sure you're curious as to what they've set up for you."

The rooms couldn't be considered five star living, not by a long shot... However they were incredibly decent, all things considered. In each of the rooms there was a queen sized platform bed, a bedside table, a desk and faux window that could be programmed to show any setting imaginable. Storage was in the form of drawers built into the bottom portion of the bed, and lights were controlled by a switch next to the door. The lights were probably among Silvia's "favorite" things about the rooms, the option for various colors aside. Much like the faux window, the lights could be programmed to display in quite a few different ways, but even that wasn't what fascinated her the most. In fact, it was the fact that there were no physical light bulbs inside the room at all. Instead the walls and ceiling were fitted to be the lights, conserving space in the rooms themselves. Silvia kept her thoughts to herself however, allowing the Guardians time to adjust and form their own opinions of the place first.

~~

Caden walked along at a leisurely pace, not wanting to burn out the new before dinner. Rhiannon was the first to join him, taking her place beside him as she asked her question and introduced herself; in that order. Caden chuckled internally but let his amused smile show. "Likewise Rhiannon. It's nice to finally have a cute face around that shows actual emotions." He sighed jokingly before settling down to answer her initial question. "Silvia and I are the only two successful Angels to date. There were other volunteers but they all failed for various reasons. It's my understanding that they've put human trials on hold until they've had a chance to study us and our interactions with the chip a little more. I guess that makes Silvia and I the beta testers, huh?" Caden shrugged it off as if it were no big deal he was acting as a guinea pig for the government. Technically everyone in The Nest could be considered a guinea pig but that was irrelevant. His eyes shifted back to Kyle as he caught up with the crew, giving his own more formal introduction.
"The story of Caden Black is a long and terrible tale of hardship and... Yeah not even I can believe that crap. To be honest I hopped into the Guardian program not long after I graduated from military academy. Since then I've pretty much been working with Director Nightshade and her team of wacky scientists... It's a lot more fun than it sounds."

Caden forged ahead, heading for the training rooms which were on the opposite side of the level from the living quarters. It was by far the biggest wing of the Nest, outfitted with regular weight rooms, rooms dedicated to cardio workouts, rock climbing rooms, padded rooms meant for hand to hand sparring, rooms designed for weapons sparring, and even rooms that looked set up to host a Zumba class. If you could imagine it, the room probably existed in one form or another. Caden's personal favorite was the laser/paintball tag room, it made him feel like a kid all whilst giving him necessary training. He'd never been more excited over a single room before in his life.... He hoped his team would enjoy it as much as he did, because it was the first on his submitted list of joint training ideas. "Most of these rooms are open to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some of the more extreme ones are locked after a certain for safety reasons... Kind of lame I know, but they're really into this whole safety thing. Guess they don't want you hurting yourselves when they aren't looking." Caden approached a closed door that was locked with a hand-pad identical to those fitted to the dorms, the man placing his palm flat against it for a few moments before the door slid open happily. Beyond the door was another corridor, the entrance to every training room available to the Guardians on the level. Beside some of the doors were panes of glass that allowed for an audience to overlook some of the training exercises while others were just doors to rooms that allowed some privacy to the one working out. Guys in white labs coats rushed around the corridor, heading from room to room doing their last minute adjustments and check ups before the rooms were used. As they noticed Caden and his team they would stop and nod their heads respectfully before returning back to their seemingly hectic work.

Normally, Rhiannon might let any reference to her appearance (of which she was aware was quite attractive) slide when it came from a new co-worker but since they were going to be in this place for some time she figured it was best to bring attention to it. "Cute? Damn, I was going for drop-dead gorgeous but sure." She returned the joking grin. She liked Caden, she found, largely because there was no malice behind that smile. It was a refreshing change. "I guess. Then again, if you're the beta testers we must be the alphas." Every Guardian knew that they were an on-going experiment in the fight against this new tidal wave of crime and for Rhiannon these 'Angels' were merely the next evolution on. It was simple escalation: the criminals get powers, the government creates the Guardians; the Guardians start being killed or turn up crazy, the government creates the 'Angels'. Just like before: the criminals got guns, the government got bullet-proof jackets and then criminals got armour-piercing rounds.

Kyle then joined them, introducing himself a little more fully than Rhiannon had. While she had assumed Caden would have seen their profiles, it never hurt to sum it by oneself, especially as the others wouldn't know those details. "Hi, Kyle. I'm Rhiannon. Similar story to Caden for me; I joined the military back in Britain and got posted over here for foreign relations. They scouted me out for the Guardians because... well, uh, I guess because I had some experience with the criminal underworld and they thought that'd be useful." She stumbled over her explanation, not wanting to reveal her entire troubled past to people she had just met. Thankfully Caden carried on and it was soon forgotten.

"It's like a live-in leisure centre or recreation park in here." Rhiannon said in amused wonder, the sheer variety of facilities something that would surprise just about anyone. Noticing the scientists acknowledging Caden she commented, phrasing it as a question. "You're quite respected around here?"

Tavi couldn't help but preen a bit at the compliment from Alex, like a peacock his colors were on display for the whole world to see and he wouldn't have it any other way. It was a shame he didn't see anyone else showing similar tastes, it had been awhile since he'd been able to talk fashion, but he supposed the simple admiration would suffice.

As they continued on through the facility, Tavi was surprised to hear that the luggage was all delivered unpacked. Inconvenient, and she made it sound as though they all might be hiding something. Oh well, he had nothing to hide and he supposed it really would be for the best if he did all the sorting himself. Wouldn't want some other suit-and-tie lackey mismatching all of his outfits.

At least the rooms were nice, nicer than the little motel he'd come from anyway. Fancy 'window', fancy lights, a nice bed and storage for his clothes. It was missing something though, and he dipped out of the room, going back to Silvia.

"Pardon, where will the washrooms be? I trust they're not communal," he asked, glancing up and down the hallway.

Jackson saw the squad list and hopped up and wanderd over to his little island of missfit Toys."Hey everyone, my names Jackson, as the other Angel stated". Jackson wasn't sure how she shoud approach this, would Caden think that Jack was insulting him and would he have an attitude or would everything be fine. He might as well adress it while he could.

"Hey, Caden about what I said I didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't want you guys around, i'm sure you'll be fine leaders". Jack was somewhat lying, of couse their indivitual skills would be a gret asset but wouldn't it make more sense to have guardians leading guardians? After thinking more into this he came to the conclusion that the Angels could be just survalllance for the Director, keeping her attak dogs in line.

He brushed it off and focased on the social gathering taking place infront of him.

Caden chuckled at Rhiannon's response, glad to have someone with a sense of humor on his team. Nothing would be more upsetting to him than having someone too uptight to appreciate the things he says. The girl was spot on her with own analysis of the Guardians' position as "alpha testers", their roles ever changing as the world called for it... At least the Angels were given one specific mission to accomplish while the Guardians just mostly had to wing it, even now. While Caden had been given the opportunity to read through the files of those assigned to his team, he much preferred having the people themselves reveal what they liked. The files contained some pretty personal things from all of the candidates, it wouldn't do to have him blurting out things that were their business alone.

Soon Jackson was speaking up with his own short intro, following it up with an apology of sorts. Nothing the guy had said had offended him in anyway but Caden figured he would accept it anyway. "It's alright man, your skepticism is right on par with what we expected. Silvia just gets a little touchy over doubts like that, hits extremely close to home and often gets misinterpreted as a personal attack." Caden shrugged with an apologetic smile. It was the first time he'd ever seen Silvia so close to a real emotion, and while he didn't know her full story, he was sure that there was something complicated behind her role as an Angel.

"You're quite respected around here?" Caden shook his head out of his thoughts and nodded.

"In a way, I guess I am. I'm a successful product of their hard work, so I'd say they're more proud of me than anything... But with how personal our testing got, the Angels and their creators got to know each other pretty well. It's a mutual respect with me, but Silv's another story." He didn't mean to bad mouth the girl hell he considered her a little sister, someone to look out for... He probably knew her the best out of all the people they worked with, but sometimes she was too much even for him to understand. "Anyway, it's not just me they respect. You're real life superheroes to these guys, working with you will probably be the best thing to happen to them in a long time." He glanced at the researchers fondly before steering his group towards his favorite windows, explaining to them why they had the types of training they did.

~~~
Silvia stood in the middle of the hall as her Guardians ran to their rooms to check things out. Tavi was the first to return with a question, one she had forgot to explain until someone had mentioned it. "Technically it is communal, designed similarly to the Japanese bath house. There's a main room with some cubbies where you all can store your shower supplies but two separate bathing areas for your preferred gender. Each side has both a set of shower stalls as well as a bath large enough to fit ten people. Personally I like the bath." It was probably an odd set up for those used to the complete privacy of a bathroom in their room, but it wasn't as bad once you got used to it.

Walking down the hall while taking the tour, Thomas couldn't help but chuckle when the living arrangements were fully explained. He could do whatever he wanted with the room? How fun. Nothing would be done. Thomas liked his monotonous room, lacking of anything that could taunt him at night. Then one of his team asked a very important question.

"Pardon," Tavi, the man with flair asked, "Where will the washrooms be? I trust they're not communal."

That was a question that Thomas thought would be important to know, now that it had been brought up. He hoped that they were private, as he not only was very self-conscious, but he also would feel embarrassed around other.... naked people.

"Technically it is communal," Silvia explained, "Designed similarly to the Japanese bath house. There's a main room with some cubbies where you all can store your shower supplies but two separate bathing areas for your preferred gender. Each side has both a set of shower stalls as well as a bath large enough to fit ten people. Personally I like the bath."

Joy. Just what Thomas needed: More things to worry about.

Thankfully, Thomas was able to keep his emotions under control, as Silvia has explained that there were, in fact, shower stalls. As long as he would not be forced to be naked in front of others, Thomas would be okay. He could deal with seeing others naked. He tried to hide the blood that rushed to his cheeks from nervousness as he stood silent.

Alex came out of her room just in time to catch the end of Sylvia’s explanation. Inwardly, she winced, glad the bathing areas were at least separated by gender, but disappointed by the lack of privacy. The occasional performance in her dance program meant that she’d had to get over any shyness, where her body was concerned—sometimes, there just wasn’t time to find a dressing room between acts, and the shadows backstage might be the only curtain you had—but this was a little different, and a hot shower at the end of the day was her time to meditate and relax.

She wasn’t above bathing in the middle of the night to preserve that.

Pushing that thought aside for the moment, she said, “These rooms are great.” It was embarrassing, really, how much the cool features had delighted her, especially when she’d figured out the lights. She’d spent a minute flipping through some of the settings, watching all kinds of crazy colors splash over the walls and floor. The lack of real windows was unsettling, but, as she had forced herself to remember, this wasn’t some fancy hotel—it was, first and foremost, a safe house.

We are not here to have fun, Alex told herself, firmly. Then, before she could help it: I wonder what she’ll show us next?

Rhiannon walked after Caden, mulling over what he had said.

"It's good that they don't just see you as a test subject then; you were also a human being. I think that's important. And it was probably hard on them too." There was no way for her to know what the end result for the other test subjects, those who failed, was but she suspected that at least in some cases the 'end' had just been that. It would have been easier for the scientists to detach themselves emotionally in that circumstance, the fact that they didn't either made them extremely determined or it made Caden charismatic and she knew which one she figured to be most likely. She also didn't pursue his note about Silvia; it wasn't right to ask about someone else's personal information without them present.

She laughed a bit when he spoke of the scientists' views on the Guardians. "'Superheroes' is stretching it a bit much, surely? Maybe more like celebrated soldiers coming back from a hard war." Although they were at war, just a different kind to the one they had all expected. She caught the emotion in his glance but said nothing, carrying on after him as he guided them through the various facilities.

"I hope we don't use our abilities with all these training regimes." She said, eyeing the mats on the floor clearly laid out for the purpose of hand-to-hand combat practice. She was an accomplished martial artists and coupled with her ability... while she didn't know the others' abilities if she got a bad pairing and it went a bit far she could accidentally injure someone very seriously. Or worse. "Although I guess that would be wasteful, we can only use them so much. Speaking of which, what variety do we have in our team? I'm guessing you already know."

Kyle had been hanging back while Rhiannon and Caden talked. It seemed like they were hitting it off pretty well. Or at least Caden was more interested in her than what Kyle had said... Either way the facility seemed extensive enough, though Kyle would have to see if there was a firing range onsite or not, and the others had asked most of the questions he was interested in.

Rhiannon soon gave Kyle an opportunity to join in again. "I hope we don't use our abilities with all these training regimes." She said as they walked around a modern looking dojo."Although I guess that would be wasteful, we can only use them so much. Speaking of which, what variety do we have in our team? I'm guessing you already know."

"Well, I've been modified to move faster. Run faster, climb faster, text faster, that sort of thing. And I'm actually hoping we can use our abilities a lot when training. We need to be as familiar as possible with our abilities if we are going to use them effectively. If nothing else, we need to get our endurance up for those dire situations. Not to say that we shouldn't expand on our other skills. I used to work with the Police Department, and they hammered home the need to us to be versatile."

Caden shrugged in response to Rhiannon's comments. "I suppose it might be a bit of a stretch but I try not to burst their bubbles. If calling us superheroes makes them feel better, who are we to tell them otherwise? After all, hope is such a difficult thing to come by these days." The "Angel" fell silent as Rhiannon and Kyle spoke, voicing both their opinions on using their abilities in training.

"At first it might seem like you're using them a lot, but Kyle here is correct. Not only do you need to be completely comfortable with your ability but your teammates need to have experience working alongside it as well. The more we know about each other's gifts the better battle strategies we can conceive." He stated patiently, hoping a similar question didn't arise with Silvia when she brought her group through. Pushing the thought aside with a chuckle Caden continued with his response. "Similarly, it is why we'll be training with Silv's group as well. Some missions might prove to be too risky for one team alone, so getting to know the whole group would be beneficial if nothing else. Our team is pretty hands on if I remember abilities correctly. Let's see; we have Speedy Gonzales over here, a sponge (able to absorb and assimilate any material she comes into contact with), your incredible strength, Spock with his mind meld/memory manipulation trick and some guy whose ability I still don't get. Apparently he's good with any blade he picks up, but he's also super strong so I guess that counts. As for me I have a certain intuition when it comes to battle. A sense of the near future that helps me avoid getting hit when I don't want to be."

So his explanation of everyone's abilities could have been a little more professional... But that wasn't really his style. If anyone was curious or couldn't remember they'd be able to look it up from a list the director had compiled for each of them. Eager to move on, Caden linked his hands behind his head. "This is mostly work, some play... But who wants to see the room completely dedicated to relaxing?" If Caden had timed his tour correctly, his group would be passing through the rec room at the same time as Silv's group, a moment for him to check up on the kid to make sure she hadn't killed anyone she wasn't supposed to.

~~~

Silvia seemed to space out for a few moments, viewing the camera feed from the training wing to keep tabs on Caden and his group. The man was known for causing trouble a lot of the time, it wouldn't do to have him corrupting his charges. Returning her attention to her own group she announced their departure from the sleeping quarters. "If you've noticed the layout of the floor, we've walked around the outside of a circle with a couple of rooms and halls branching out away from the center... But located on the other side of the inner wall is your recreational room. Books, video games, board games, music, movies, tv... Most things you can think of can be found in there, large enough that there are separate rooms to keep from clashing with others volume wise." She began walking toward one of many entrances to the rec room, wondering what the thing looked like. Due to her preference for working out, Silvia hadn't had actually stepped foot inside the room yet despite having stayed in the facility for quite a while before the Guardians.

Alex drifted along behind Silvia, keeping pace with her new teammates until something buzzed in her pocket. She fell back a little as she pulled out her cell phone--she'd made sure to put it on vibrate so it wouldn't disturb any of the evening's briefings, but she didn't think anyone would mind her checking it now, while they were en route between different stops on the tour.

New message from Jericho, the screen said. She wasn't surprised, though she had expected him to wait a little longer, to be sure she'd be out of her meetings. She opened the text and read, Are you dead? She'd been getting variations of that same message sporadically all week, ever since she'd told her best friend and her family that the Guardians would be going into hiding.

No, Jer, she typed, the corners of her mouth twitching upward, not dead yet. Thanks for checking.

Somebody has to, he replied. No other messages were forthcoming, but it wasn’t hard for Alex to fill in what went unsaid. She had a lot of practice.

Love you, too, she sent, pocketing the phone with a grin. Nothing made Jericho more uncomfortable than open expressions of affection, which was possibly why Alex’s parents never seemed to believe her when she declared that she would marry him by the time she turned thirty-five.

She looked up, addressing her first question to Silvia. "This is probably going to sound really stupid," she said, "but do the facilities here include internet access?"

@WeepingLiberty@redbaron1234

"That's true - if we can provide the ordinary people with hope and courage then that's half the battle already won." As long as no tragedies befall us.

She shrugged at Caden's explanation of their training routine. It made sense, to a degree. Still, aside from practicing she found it hard to see the benefit of using her power against her team mates for their experience; it wasn't particularly hard to grasp the fullness of her ability.

"My ability is to enhance my strength and I don't mean just so that I'm not disadvantaged against a muscle-head. I'm quite capable for shattering someone's ribcage and its contents so I'd really rather not use it during any melee training. At the moment I can't really moderate it to a lesser level than 'Hulk Smash!'" Her interest was piqued by the others' ability, not withstanding Kyle's which was the classic opposite of her own: super-strength vs super-speed. It would be a good idea to train with him normally, just to learn to combat those much faster than herself. She could also see why Caden had been chosen as a squad leader; his ability would be invaluable in the field when they were forced to make split-second decisions or to prevent ambushes. The others had yet to join them so it was more difficult to weight them up. Having an ability was one thing but its effectiveness could be reduced or increased as a result of their personality. At least, that was her theory.

"We have time for play, do we?" She asked with a raised eyebrow but didn't go too heavy on the sarcasm, or the innuendo, following the Angel into the relaxation area. Despite her tone, Rhiannon was very interested in how their hobbies and past times were to be satisfied in this safe house. "As long as they've got a games console, I'm set. I'm not great but I do love a good shooter. Y'know, as long as I'm winning anyway." She flashed a teeth-filled grin, beginning to feel at home with this place. And the people she'd be with.