[IC] 《 H. E. R. O. 》

[Ryteb Pymeroce]

---

Felix stretched as he woke up in his temporary accommodations at HERO One. His apartment block had been one of the buildings destroyed in the Ambleweed Invasion a few weeks ago. He liked the apartment, the landlord was one of the few who wouldn't throw him out the moment he revealed he was Ninetails, the Calamity Fox. The epithet sounded cool at first, but it made getting insurance and apartments a nightmare. Maybe he should see if Quake's building had a free apartment, if they could deal with her they could definitely deal with him.

Pulling on a pair of sweatpants, he moved to the kitchen in search of breakfast. He didn't care if it was currently the afternoon, he just got back from a mission in Ireland and jet-lag is a bitch. Pulling a beer out the fridge, he put some toast on and began making some scrambled eggs. No major additions, just eggs, milk, butter, and of course some salt.

Going into a mild trance, as he had done this a thousand times before, he thought back to his last mission. He had been tracking down the group known as the Tuatha, a group of supervillains lead by the ex-hero known as Dagda. He had infiltrated C.E.L.T. to gain access to the weaknesses of all the heroes in the database. As Felix's file was never updated before his transfer, he was called in to stop them.
The final fight when he tracked them down left the area around the base as a giant crater. He had been getting better at controlling the strength of his attacks, but in the fight he couldn't afford to hold back. In the briefing afterwards he did hear the director of C.E.L.T. talking about how he was glad I.C.O.S.A. was going to try and 'fix' H.E.R.O., but put it out of his mind for now. After all, his scrambled eggs was done.

[Scarifar]

Rumi Bers Polamor

Rumi typed quickly, yet methodically, as he tried to work his brain around the logic needed to code his program. He shook his head and sighed as he held down the backspace button yet again, deleting another subroutine. Resting his head on his palm, his elbow on the table, he reached out and grabbed a couple chips from a family-sized bag.

A beep sounded off at the door, revealing his secretary as it opened. "Sir, I believe you were supposed to be at the HERO ONE Auditorium... half an hour ago," he said.

"Come on, Chris, you know I don't like going to those. They're so predictable," Rumi moaned. "I imagine it was something involving the destruction the Ambleweeds caused, probably about the property damage costs and hero casualties, and now H.E.R.O is under even more fire than before, so now drastic measures are being taken. Probably ICOSA making a move now that they've got so much leverage on H.E.R.O. So, how much did I get right?"

"7.6 billion in property damage, and 6 heroes poisoned with no one dead, sir." Chris the secretary confirmed. "And ICOSA is performing a 'Restorative Initiative,' deploying their heroes to H.E.R.O as supervisors for ours."

"Called it," Rumi said before popping more chips into his mouth before resuming his coding.

"You did miss Brianna Hart being called in by Hugo Powers, as well as Powers himself announcing a trip he is taking to Paris for an ICOSA council meeting," Chris reported.

Rumi's fingers paused for a second before resuming typing. "Hmm, Powers being called in doesn't surprise me. Being at the top does have its ups and downs. Wonder what little Static girl's in trouble for this time, though. Well, at the very least, she's probably not getting fired."

"...If there is nothing else, then I will take my leave, sir," Chris said, exiting Rumi's workshop.

"Yeah, take care," Rumi said, already returning his full attention to his coding. "Now then..." He went into his own little world, continuing to design the code to take down Phantom. There were many uncertain factors in this endeavor that made it difficult to determine the chance of success, but he had to at least try.

[Amethyst]

_{Interacting: Angelica!}

A pair of oversized, chrome-and-white headphones reflected brightly in the dim ambient light of the auditorium. Many of the older heroes shot glares in the headphone-wearer's direction; she shrunk down in her seat and did the best she could to just ignore them.

In Eliza’s defense, it was loud in here. She studiously focused on the hem of her skirt, picking loose threads out of the fabric and doing her best to ignore the neck-prickling looks the people around her gave her. She could hear actual talking just fine through the headphones, thank you very much – it just helped to not have the loud breathing and noisy shuffling and ambient tapping of feet and indistinct murmuring all trying to catch her attention at once, too.

She checked her phone, mentally counting minutes and planning the bus ride back to school. It was going to be close… this thing was probably going to go for twenty or thirty minutes, and she had to be back at the school by 12:45, assuming she didn’t grab one of the supervisors for a doctors’ note. The “doctor’s appointment” she’d claimed she had wasn’t technically a lie; there were plenty of doctors present in the HERO facilities, probably even at this assembly, so surely by a way of thinking she was at an appointment with doctors, and therefore, at a doctor’s appointment. Besides, all of the medical orderlies here were well used to her asking for notes – they wrote plenty for the other part-time heroes with actual desk jobs, and for the few other high schoolers, too.

The organization’s director stepped up behind the podium, looking uncomfortably formal, and Eliza braced herself for the most-definitely-too-loud speech, fumbling for her phone automatically and starting music with a custom-programmed gesture. Angie, seated behind her, poked her firmly between the shoulder blades, doubtlessly saying something about respect and so on. Eliza firmly ignored her. Soft synth orchestra music slowly faded in to fill her ears (though the volume was as low as it could be) and took the edge off of the man’s sharp, over-amplified speech.

He spoke at length about a recent mission, one that filled Eliza’s mouth with bitterness – of course everyone else had gotten to go on a fun mission, while she’d been stuck at school. She couldn’t really pay attention to any of the information, not until Powers spoke of damage. Seven billion dollars? She shivered involuntarily, fidgeting with her headphone cable rather than continuing to look at the pictures that flashed across the fancy display screen. She was unable to avoid the images completely, however, catching reflections of them in the corners of her eyes. A vague panic built up in her throat and she looked around helplessly for a moment, eyes glazing over slightly as she realized there was no easy way out.

She tapped her music up a few clicks to drown out the speech.

As abruptly as the presentation had started, it was over. She only realized this because the people around her started scrambling to their feet, the room rapidly clearing. With a shaking breath, she stood, too, stifling the revulsion and flighty panic that came from being boxed in by other people. She focused on breathing through her mouth, eyes on the floor, until the crowd funneled out into the corridor. As soon as she had a bit of space, with most people forming a ragged line for the elevators, she ducked into the stairwell. The air was welcomingly cool, and she leaned against the wall for a second, her whole body trembling as she grounded herself, breathing deeply.

After what felt like a few seconds, but was probably closer to several minutes, she glanced down at her phone again to check the time, and cursed. She was more than likely going to be late. And she decidedly did not have the energy to go pester one of the doctors, not now.

A frantic descent of the stairs and arrival at the bus station across the street later, and another string of expletives flew from her mouth.

At some point in the last hour, her bus pass had fallen out of her pocket. She figured she maybe had time to run back upstairs and look for it… but no, no. The bus was already arriving. And she couldn’t afford to be any later.

Mumbling to herself, she closed her eyes, feeling the wave of tingles pass from toes-to-head that meant she was becoming invisible. When the last of them had subsided, and the static from her headphones, she glanced around.

Good. No one had seen her, she thought. Though a few people were gathered, they weren’t staring, as people often tended to do if she forgot and turned in front of them.

As they boarded the bus, she shuffled along after them, careful to make sure that she didn’t inadvertently bump anyone. Nothing would give her away faster than that.

She perched on the edge of an unoccupied seat, praying no one particularly exuberant tried to sit beside her. And also that the bus-driver didn’t happen to have x-ray vision. That would be a good one to avoid, too.

Someone would turn in her bus pass to the desk, surely, and she could pick it up after school. That was how this usually happened, the twenty-odd other times she’d managed to lose it. And she’d just catch a ride home tonight with her dad, if it didn’t.
It was going to be a long rest of the school day, that was for certain.

---

---

_{Observing: Brie @Danvers, William @Infinite Cosmos, Thomas @KaijuBaragon}

The meeting was uneventful, as they always were, though Angelica found herself eyeing the suit-and-tie folks warily. She had grown used to being the best-dressed one in the room at any time and found this change…mildly disconcerting.

Powers had to be daft, thinking that publicly calling someone out for a meeting wasn’t going to raise questions. Angelica was never one to nose in something that wasn’t her business, of course.

Well, no. That one was bullshit. Nosing around in stuff that she wasn’t supposed to be was literally her entire job here.
It had to be not-that-high-of-security of a matter if he was going to be that careless, though. As everyone filed out of the auditorium, Angelica trailed near the back of the crowd. Upon re-entering the hallway, she caught a brief glimpse of her baby sister diving for the stairwell. No matter; Eliza would do what Eliza would do. Angelica found herself a perch in the hallway, one of the few benches that dotted the open spaces. She pulled her phone and a day planner from her pocket – though she’d had it silenced during the meeting, of course, no fewer than seven reminders and invitations had gone off. She set about filling in the planner, meticulously adding detail bubbles to the events of the coming days and setting about constructing her spread for the following week. Angelica was nothing if not organized.

Several others hovered in the hallway, though far less discreetly. Out of habit, she switched on her powers, heat blooming through her scalp and then down her face and chest, across every bit of exposed skin. Anyone who looked at her now would see precisely what they wanted, be it a beautiful woman to flirt with, a near-faceless bystander to be observed by, or the kindly old grandmotherly type that they happened to be missing terribly.

Someday, Angelica was going to learn how to pinpoint emotions and desires and capitalize on them, though she wasn’t entirely certain how that would work. Her abilities were slippery, even for the HERO scientists, and further work and training on them had proved rather difficult at best.

She continued to thumb through her journal, in no hurry to move on – though it appeared her focus was intently on her books, she watched the antics that Spacewalker – that was his code name, right? – and the one known as Will were getting up to. As if they thought they were hiding. When Brianna emerged from the auditorium, appearing shaken and clutching a manila folder, Will immediately cornered her.
Typical. She lightly shook her head, turning a page in her journal and filling in an event for the next week, listening intently to what was being said at the door.

[Not Fungus]

Abel

"Whew." William let out a breath full of relief as he rubbed the sweat from his forehead. Currently, he was in some no-name, remote building in Brookside where nobody should randomly enter. Since there's no one around, he can indulge himself in some activities that are most likely illegal.

Like making bombs. Pipe bomb to be specific. With store-bought chlorine mixtures, steel pipes, and industrial grade tape, he successfully created one of them. He still wants to make more for insurance. He went over his phone that had instructions contained on its notepad. Searching stuff up like that might get him tracked down, so he used an anonymous computer on a library and summarized the important parts on his phone.

After looking at his makeshift explosive and matching it with the phone's instructions, he moved on to make the next one. "I think a total of four bombs should do the trick," he contemplated. "These are only low explosives, so they shouldn't kill the extra durable guys." He'll have to use this sparingly. It's a good thing he bought the necessary goods from different stores; otherwise, he probably would've had the police called on him.

"Second one done." He pulled out a knife and cut the seal before it was woven too tight.

"Third done." With the third one done quicker than the last due to having a little bit more experience, William realized a problem. "Forgot to get a fuse for the fourth one." He sighed at his incompetence.

"What should I do for this? Go back and get another one? No, this issue has to be handled swiftly." He brought his hand to his mouth in thought as he narrowed his eyes at his project. He then nodded as if coming to a conclusion. "Three should be enough." If he needs a fourth one, he'll just have to make due without it.

William perked up all of a sudden. He vaguely heard something resembling footsteps. "There shouldn't be anyone coming here though," he whispered to himself. With the unfinished, last bomb in his hand he lightened his steps and attempted to sneak up on whoever was walking through the building.

The footsteps gradually grew louder, so he placed himself up against the wall. A man came around the corner and luckily missed him through the use of William's power. The mystery individual was a middle-aged mustached man wearing a suit.

William pulled out the small pipe and swung it at the back of the man's head, knocking him out almost immediately. "Wonder what my family would say about this." Even if they disparaged him, he probably still wouldn't stop anyways.

Not like they can say anything to begin with. William rummaged through the man's clothes and pulled out something very interesting from his belt.

"A gun?" With his curiosity tugged, he ran through the man's clothes with greater vigor to find out his identity. He pulled out a wallet and a phone. He checked the top of the cards in the wallet before finding a business card that he pulled out all the way to analyze.

"John Doe? What kind of fake..." He trailed off after seeing what should have been the business name. "A symbol, huh? Judging from this guy's clothes, the gun, and the business card with a symbol along with my luck, he's probably a member of that crime family. He could also be a part of some other organization, but I'll take my chances."

"Of course the phone has a lock on it. Why wouldn't it? It's a good thing I can cheat at least." He inputted multiple passwords. After the seventh try, he got in. He looked through the contacts and found one named "Boss."

"Heave-ho." He picked up the unconscious man and placed him on his back right before dialing that number. He placed the phone to his ear as he walked to a local hospital to dump this man at.

Or that would've been the plan had he not felt the man stir. He sighed with a smile on his face as the ringing continued.

[Hitman]

The Gugliano Compound

The Gugliano Family Mansion is a large villa located on the edge of Watervale in one of its less urban, less populated areas, not too far off the beaten road but not too close as to where it would be easily seen by those not looking at it. The mansion is a large compound surrounded by tall iron fences, with four tall guard towers overlooking the massive grounds, which included plenty of open space for Vinnie's unique choices of pets. Across the open area are scores of guards, all patrolling the area, armed to the teeth and prepared to engage with any threat. Those in the business know that the odds of being able to take five steps onto Vinnie Gugliano's property without an invitation at the front gate is impossible, let alone actually getting through the front doors.

The mansion itself, a gorgeous Italian villa kept in fantastic condition, is large and spacious, with a ballroom, large dining table, and a pool out back, but even though this main living space was massive and beautiful, it is not the pinnacle of the Gugliano empire. The pinnacle comes from those who know the Gugliano business and head to the wine room, and press down on the front of the big brown barrel of Sangiovese. Those who work for Vinnie Gugliano know that he hates Sangiovese ("it's bone dry!"), and that this barrel is not actually a barrel, but a mechanism that opens a stairway into the true magnum opus of the Guglianos- the Compound.

The actual compound is a massive underground lair of sorts where the Guglianos operate out of. Underground is where Vinnie stores his goods, such as drugs, weapons, et cetera, his pets, his prisoners, his papers, everything that the cops would be able to use as evidence is underground in the hidden compound. The compound is layered with heavy metals to prevent being blasted into or drilled through. Security is tight, with cameras everywhere and passwords required to open every door, of which are changed routinely. For a criminal wanting to hide something, the Gugliano Compound is a paradise.

At the edge of the Gugliano Compound, behind a set of biometrically-locked carbon steel doors, is Vinnie's favorite room, his conference room. At the center is his best conference table, a purple heart table with platinum edges and a spectacular finish that gave the table a warm, burgundy glow. Across the room are mounted heads of Leftover beasts Gugliano had personally killed, and at the end of the room is Vinnie's desk, ebony and gold, with several screens built into it so Vinnie could monitor his employees.

Right now, the conference room was empty, sans for Vinnie himself, who was seated in his large armchair (supposedly one of Mussolini's armchairs that he had purchased at an auction in Rome for a hefty sum), along with Vinnie's sons, Tommy and Salvatore. Tommy was the younger brother, even though he was taller than Sal at 6'2", with a picture-perfect face and build, almost like an angel masquerading as a human. Sal was a bit shorter at 5'6", and though he was rather muscular, he resembled his grizzly father more, with a crew cut as opposed to Tommy's curly brown hair, and with a patchwork of scars over his face as opposed to Tommy's flawless skin. Most notably, Sal had a large scar over his right eye that was very prominent, and said eye seemed to be almost swollen shut.

"Alright, listen, boys," Vinnie said to the two of them. "I have big news for the two of you. Cigars?" He asked, holding out two in his large palm.

While Sal snatched it up quickly and grabbed his lighter, Tommy shook his head. "Make sure the vents are on, or it'll get smoky in here very quickly, Papa."

Vinnie laughed. "Vent schment. So concerned," Vinnie said as he flicked a switch on his desk, causing a whir to sound about the room as the vents began to suck Vinnie and Sal's cigar smoke away.

"Anyway, about what I was saying," Vinnie said as he released a large puff of smoke from his lips. "I spoke to the mysterious fella on the phone, and he's real happy with our organization. Says that if we get a couple more heroes, he'll send us the official invitation to Zero."

"Papa, I'm really not sure about these Zero people," Tommy said softly.

"What do you mean, you're not really sure about these Zero people?" Vinnie said with a guffaw. "Lemme tell you something, son, that my papa, your grandpapa, he told me about this business. I'll never forget it. He was first introducing me to the trade, like I was to you a few years back, and he came right up to me and told me, 'son, you make sure, when somebody offers their checkbook to you, you do whatever it takes to get them to sign.' Whatever it takes, Tommy! These Zero folks, they have a lot of money in their wallets, kid, let me tell you. If we can get in, I'll have enough money to buy a time machine so I can go back and hear Sinatra live again. Are they shady? Hell yes, but so are we! That's the business, kiddo! Capische?"

Tommy nodded, a little unsure.

"Alright, that's good. Now, let's talk about our..." At that moment, Vinnie's phone began to ring (it was an antique dial phone sitting on his desk). Vinnie looked at one of his screens. "It's your Uncle Johnny," Vinnie said to his two sons (Johnny was not actually their uncle, but a close family friend and, err, business partner) before picking up, wrapping the phone's cord around his finger as he spoke.

"'Ey, Johnny! Nice hearin' from ya! What's cookin', mio amico?"

@Not Fungus

[Jumbus]

Doppel

Doppel arrived at the Watervale port, a new shipment for Vinnie had just arrived and needed to be transported back to his mansion. Same old same old. Barely under the veil of twilight Doppel sat on a ship crate waiting for the van to arrive. His feet dangled over the edge as he begun to whistle. The dock workers were waiting as well, but Doppel tended not to interact with them. The business between the Guglianos and them were their business, Doppel was just there to protect the payload. Honestly he wouldn't be surprised if the dock workers themselves were part of the gang as opposed to just getting bribed. Or did he just own the docks? It wasn't Doppel's place to poke his nose in but either way a smooth operation like this speaks highly of the would be kingpin of Brookside.

The van rolled up about ten minutes after Doppel's arrival, a little later than usual but not out of the ordinary. The balding driver in casual clothing hoped out, greeted the dock workers and then proceeded to banter with them for another ten minutes. 'You just saw them like a week ago, what possibly could have changed Louis' Doppel mused to himself as he hopped off of the crate and strolled to the passenger seat of the van. Kicking his feet up on the dashboard and not bothering with the seat belt, he begun his whistle again.

Several minutes later, a great thud was heard as the van shook down. The package was in and the back doors shut soon after. "How you doin' Louis?" "Yeah I'm doing alright, Markus." Doppel didn't really expect much of a reply, despite doing this for a few months now, him and Louis never really got onto a friendly basis. Doppel did his job, Louis did his. But they continued some very light banter throughout the trip.

The job of protecting smuggled goods was surprisingly safe, you would think that people would get suspicious of a plain black van but how many times have the cops pulled someone over just because they didn't like the look of their car. This wasn't to say Doppel was sleeping on the job though, he kept his eye out. His clone however, kept an eye inside. Against the knowledge of the driver, Louis. Doppel would often have his clone in the back of the van looking at the goods. This shipment was just guns, nothing out of the ordinary. Doppel didn't do this for any grandiose goal, it was just mere curiosity.

The van arrived at Vinnie's mansion and Louis stopped the van at the entrance. Not because the package was dropped there instead this was where Doppel got out. He wasn't yet allowed in the complex and it was pretty easy to see why. It wasn't because he was a threat to Vinnie, in fact Vinnie could snap him like a twig. No, instead it was for keeping secrets if Doppel were to do anything to steal plans he would be able to get away with ease. That wasn't a risk Vinnie was willing to take and Doppel more than understood. It wasn't like he minded. The pay for this job was good he wasn't about to try pushing his luck.

Doppel stepped out of the vehicle and shook off. Despite the drive only being about a half hour it always felt like he was sitting there for eternity. "Alright I'll catch you later Louis, tell the Guglianos to contact me if they need me to do anything more. I heard he was doing some things in Brookside from Tony, I wouldn't mind doing some work on my home turf ya know." "I'll let them know." Only a short reply from Louis didn't give away much. But they had the number to Doppel's burner phone, so he could expect a call if there was work to be done.

[Not Fungus]

Abel

The Italian words told him that his luck paid off. He didn't allow himself to smile in triumph though. He quickly threw the man waking up off his back and pinned him to the ground before he answered. Instead of speaking, he let the noise play out over the phone as he grabbed his failed bomb and once again smashed it against the back of the man's head with zero hesitation.

"So his name is Johnny, like Johnny Bravo? That's a pretty nice name." William smiled and chatted like he was speaking with an old friend. He sat on Johnny's back and took a leisurely tone with the extremely dangerous mafia boss.

"I hope you don't mind that I knocked him out though. He snuck up on me so I got scared and panicked, so I tried calling from his phone for someone to pick him up. Then he woke up again so I got scared once more and knocked him out for good, though I think I hit him too hard. He's bleeding from the head and isn't responding. Fortunately, he's still breathing. You wanna come pick him up for me?"

William took control of the conversation without letting the other party over the phone get a chance to butt in. He can feel the aggression and wrath over it without words anyways.

"Oh, I strapped a bomb to him as well," he added like it was something he just remembered and didn't really see anything wrong with. "I'll even switch to FaceTime to show you. Look!" He did exactly that and showed the unconscious man with a pipe taped to his chest.

The threat was given, so William waited for a response over the phone. He threw the loaded dice tinged with malice.

[Danvers]

Brie had to steady herself as she nearly crashed into Will, taking a couple of steps back from him. "Thanks, though you really didn't have to wait for me!" She smiled faintly, taking to kicking at a scuff on the carpet with the edge of her shoe. Normally she didn't mind twisting the truth when the circumstances called for it. However, when it came to Will, she had always found it difficult to lie to him. It was probably because he didn't seem to have a manipulative bone in his body; the guy was always behaving like a damn boy scout.

Brie sighed as she held the manila folder out in front of her. "He just wanted to give me this. Not sure why he didn't give it to me earlier but y'know what Powers can be like!" She said with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. "Probably thought it'd be fun to mess with me or something." To be honest, she wouldn't put it past him to have pulled her up in front of everyone for that exact reason.

"I'd asked if HERO were able to get some information on my parents. Thought I might as well find out what happened to them." Brie continued, her gaze landing anywhere that wasn't Will. She felt bad outwardly lying to them but she didn't want to tell anyone until she had at least read through the file, and besides, discussing it in the middle of HERO One with ICOSA agents around also seemed like a pretty stupid idea. She paused for a moment, holding the folder close to her again.

"Well...I need to shower and read through this thing. So, I'll see you guys later!" She chirped suddenly. Before they could answer, Brie had darted off to one of the now-empty elevators, jamming her finger down onto the button for the second floor. Leaning against the wall of the elevator, she chewed idly on her bottom lip, wondering how the hell she was going to pull this all off. It only took a few seconds to reach her floor and as she walked down the hallway, Brie dug into her pocket for her keycard, swiping it distractedly over the lock and pushing the door open into her somewhat chaotic & messy room.

A short while later, Brie was sat cross-legged at her desk, freshly showered with her hair tied up in a messy bun. She had a pen in her mouth and was frowning down at the now open folder. The fact that she'd actually read through the entire file twice was a miracle in itself, her attention span not normally lasting for longer than a few pages of a magazine. She groaned as she stretched her arms above her head, leaning her chair precariously on its back legs. She was still trying to get her head around the Guglianos operation but it just wasn't all adding up. Most of their operations made sense to her but she still couldn't understand why they were kidnapping heroes. Or at least, why they weren't kidnapping heroes and immediately calling HERO to demand a ransom (or something equally predictable). It didn't make sense when drug or gun trafficking was such an easy source of money for them...

"Jesus, if Powers has to read through stuff like this all day, no wonder he's so grouchy!" She finally exclaimed to herself as she dropped the pen she'd been holding and jumped to her feet. A wiry ginger tomcat had been twisting its way around the legs of her chair and she bent down to give it a good scratching behind the ears, "Sorry buddy, gonna have to kick you out - one day only!" The creature simply gave a content purr in response, oblivious to his status as an illegal resident at HERO One. Picking him up, Brie sat down on her bed, placing the cat beside her as she begun to type a quick message into her phone.

Hi Guys! Thinking about throwing a party at HERO One whilst Powers is away.
Want it to be a big one though, so need your help!
Lets meet at Angies ASAP. Don't want Chrissie accidentally overhearing! Bring snacks xx

She gave the message a quick read over before sending it over to Patricia, Angelica and Tom. Flopping back onto to her bed, she wondered whether she was taking this whole covert thing too seriously. But then again, ICOSA were definitely creepy enough to have hacked into her phone.

Speaking of, at least if she was going to be spending significant amounts of time in Brookside, she'd hopefully be able to escape whoever these supervisors were. Good luck to them. She mused sarcastically to herself as she tugged on a pair of jeans and a cropped white t-shirt. Grabbing a rucksack, she stuffed the folder into it and then unceremoniously picked up the now sleeping tomcat. "Time to go pal!"

@Infinite Cosmos @KaijuBaragon @canaryrose @Amethyst

[Hitman]

The Gugliano Compound

Vinnie Gugliano's face grew visibly annoyed as this man continued to talk. Who was this guy, anyway, thinking he could just mess with his employees so flippantly? Clearly this individual was cold as ice, a dangerous fellow to mess with, clearly unhinged. Part of Vinnie wanted to find this crazy man and pound him until his bones turned to dust, but another part of him, the more business-minded part of him, saw opportunity. Vinnie wasn't a big fan of plain crazy people, but he was a fan of crazy people that worked for money, specifically crazy people that worked for him, and while Johnny was certainly a loyal servant of the Guglianos for years, his lack of powers made him replaceable.

"Listen, buddy, there's no need for violence here," Vinnie said into the phone. "I think that we can work things out between the two of us, maybe make some conversation, do some business. There's no need for bombs or nothing like that. Two grown men, talking things out," he said, one hand keeping his phone to his ear while the other hand tapped a few buttons on his desk. These buttons signaled Ricardo, Vinnie's cousin and a skilled hacker, to start the tracking process.

"Alright, how's about we keep the bombing to a minimum here and focus on the talking? I like bombs as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong, but not when they're strapped to my guys. If this is all just a happy little accident, we can talk this through and make things work out. Following me?"

---

---

[Jumbus]

If he was being honest with himself, The Proving Ground was Midas' favorite place to be. What is a regular boxing gym on the south end of Brookside turned into a fighting ring by night. The fights didn't pay well here but anyone can join and hell the reputation is free. The perfect starting point for a fighter wanting to make a name for themselves. And a good place to size up the new blood. In fact, Midas liked this place so much he bought it and made the back office his center of operations. He was leaning back on his seat with feet on the table counting the money from his last hit. An A lister going by the name Hull, 'honestly what a terrible name I did him a favor by taking him out of commission if you ask me' Midas thought to himself.

Word on the street is that Vinnie Gugliano has been making moves lately and Midas always enjoyed things heating up. A turf war always meant more business for him, would Vinnie hire him? It would be good money. Would someone hire him against Vinnie? Sure Vinnie would be a good fight but Midas didn't want to end his life that quickly. Though Midas hoped he would never get the hit on Vinnie specifically, he had a reputation to keep and saying no to a hit would ruin that real quick. Either way the wanted board at Moonlight will be something to watch out for as all this heats up.

[KaijuBaragon]

Tom watched as William appeared shortly after he did, no doubt waiting for Brie just like he was. Well, that of all things definitely wasn't a surprise. He expected a couple more, but he supposed he was the only one actually curious about what was going on. William's reason for being here most likely wasn't pure curiosity about just what Powers wanted with her. The two didn't share any words as Tom watched the few stragglers left filing out of the hall, each of them looking up at him at first with a look of surprise, then one of slight annoyance, in turn. He gave the last one a small wave before they scuttled away down the corridor, joining a group of people conversing not too far away. He didn't recognise any of them and he felt his eyes glaze over them as he watched them for a second before turning back to the door of the hall.

It was a few minutes before Brie appeared, where she proceeded to walk directly into Will's chest. Tom rolled his eyes, waving back at her as she addressed him, before he leaned forward slightly and watched the upside-down conversation now proceeding in front of him. He eyed up the manilla folder as she held it out. What secrets could the folder entail? Information about a suspension? Something about ICOSA? It seemed not... the folder allegedly contained information about Brie's parents. Tom couldn't help but take notice of Brie's eyes flicking about everywhere, but before either him or Will could ask anything else, she was gone, speedwalking down the hall. "That was weird, right?" he said absentmindedly to Will, before he shrugged and flipped back down, heading out of the hall himself. He didn't have hero patrol today - but he was still going to go out and float about the skyscrapers for a few hours, see if he could spot anything.

A little while later, and Tom was on a deck chair on a building, sipping a can of energy drink and looking down at the streets below. Seemed like a pretty boring day today. He felt his phone buzz, and picked it up, not expecting it to be anything interesting. But, it did turn out to be something interesting. A text from Brie... about a party! Well, he could always go for a good party. Angie's wasn't too far away from where he was now, so he picked up his drink and began the short float over. Soon enough he had reached her apartment building. He had no idea what number she lived at, so he floated down to the door of the lobby and stepped inside, looking around for wherever the information about who lived in what apartment was. He didn't spot anything. He supposed he would wait here for someone else attending the party to arrive.

The meeting was obviously a large one, and so it took a while for all of the heroes that had been stuffed into HERO One to fan back out across the city for their various duties that day, most of which simply involved patrolling the streets to look out for any crimes or villains that the legions of H.E.R.O could spot. It was turning out to be a pretty quiet day - one might even consider it a boring one, especially after the hype of the earlier meeting. C-Tier hero Stinger certainly thought so. Walking around the streets for hours on end was pointless - he at least deserved a break. So, he ducked into an alleyway and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up. But that turned out to be a mistake. Before he knew what was happening, he felt an arm around his neck and sensed the sweet smell of chloroform filling his nostrils.

Stinger awoke with a jump. He took immediate note of the the fact that he was tied to a chair. His hands were tied in a way that pushed the palms into his back. After that, he took note of his surroundings. He was in an empty wooden room, completely silent, with darkness filling the corners, as the light filtering in from the slits in the door were not enough to fully illuminate the small room. Trying to regain all his senses, Stinger felt his heart skip a beat as something emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room. It was a man, tall and thin. He was dressed in casual, ordinary clothes from the neck down, but his face was covered in an old looking gas mask. The man seemed to consider Stinger for a moment, before taking another step forward, leaning over slightly.

"State your codename, tier, and power." Came a voice from below the gas mask, ever so slightly muffled. It was certainly a cold voice, but it wasn't emotionless. Stinger spluttered slightly. "What... Huh?" He looked back up at the man, who said again simply - "State your codename, tier, and power.". Stinger paused, his mind racing. He suddenly had a small epiphany, and audibly gasped. "Hang on... I know you! You're-" But Stinger was rudely interrupted. The man's voice was now audibly annoyed, filled with malice. "I'm not going to ask you again. State your codename, tier, and power.". He leaned forward and placed his hand on Stinger's leg. That seemed to be enough of a threat.

"S-Stinger. C-Tier. I can make poison tipped spikes from my hands." He said, clearly not willing to defy what this man wanted any longer. "Good thing I made sure those hands are against your back, then." The man mused. A silence fell over the scene, before Stinger broke it. "What do you want with me?" The man removed his hand from Stinger's leg, and stood up to his full height. "Nothing much, truthfully. I just want to know why exactly it seemed that every hero in the city was called into H.E.R.O One this morning." Stinger looked up again. Really, was that all this man wanted?

"It was just... Director Powers was just giving a meeting. There's been too much collateral damage recently, apparently, and so... So H.E.R.O is being inspected." He finished. The man continued to stand still. "Inspection? Inspection by who?" Stinger paused for a moment, before firmly deciding that this wasn't information that he wanted to risk his life over. His pay was nowhere near high enough for that. "ICOSA. ICOSA is bringing in some international heroes to... to act as a check on our ones, I guess.".

The man sighed heavily. That piece of information seemed to have annoyed him. "And did anything else happen in this meeting apart from that announcement?". Stinger shook his head, and then stopped. "Well... Powers called a girl to speak to him after the meeting." The man's silence indicated to Stinger that he should go into more detail. "Um... It was... Brianna Hart." The man chuckled. "I don't care about what her real name was. What's her codename?" Stinger nervously thought for a couple of moments, before what he thought was her codename came to mind. "Static... I think, I'm not sure.

The man nodded. "I'm done with you." He leaned down placing his hands on the ropes that bound Stinger to the chair. A slight sizzling noise could be heard, before Stinger was free to stand, which he did so quickly. "You are to leave, then walk to a police officer or another hero to get your hands free. Tell them that Dweller or someone tied you up. If you tell them what really happened, I'll know, and I'll see to it you don't make it back home." Stinger went to take a step forward. In an instant, the man thrust his hand forward into Stinger's back, where it came out of the front of his chest. Stinger was, of course, dead instantly, as his heart had been completely disintegrated. His lifeless body stood standing for a second before it fell over.

Caustic chuckled, taking off his gas mask to reveal the pale, tired-looking face underneath. He looked down at the body below him - he'd deal with it later. For now he was pondering on what he had heard. So, ICOSA was in town, towing along behind them some top heroes from around the world. That would certainly pose an annoyance, as an increase in the number of heroes always did. And if they actually made the heroes of Castleburg somewhat competent, that would also pose an annoyance. Hugo Powers talking to the heroine named Static also flashed over his mind, but it was probably something completely inane. ICOSA agents were fairly easy to distinguish from regular people, maybe he should try and pick one up later. He bent down, picking Stinger's wallet out of his trousers and pulling some money out of that. For now, however, he could do with a spot of lunch.

[canaryrose]

It was springtime, and Jamie barely had enough money to buy an Egg McMuffin.

The superheroine known as Quake stomped out of the McDonald's with a scowl on her face and a breakfast sandwich in her hand. What did they mean, she didn't have enough money on her card for a McFlurry? There was no way that she could be that poor. It must've been a mistake, a miscalculation, she thought. An error. Maybe if she tried again, it would work! In fact, she turned around right there and went back in to try again. After all, third time's the charm. Surely that applied to debit cards, too.

The glass door opened with a whoosh, letting in the chilly air of April. At the sound, the cashier turned to look, a smile on his face. But that smile quickly turned to an exasperated look at the sight of Jamie. He was a young man in his teens, all pimply and gross. It was the third time she had tried to buy a milkshake in 10 minutes, and he did not look like he wanted to try to run her card through the machine again. Even though she absolutely noticed his negative reaction, Jamie still sidled up to the counter, trying to look as casual as she possibly could. God, she really wanted this milkshake.

"Hi, could I have the Oreo McFlurry, please-" Jamie started, putting on her best smile.

"Ma'am, please." The teenager seemed to wilt as he tried to look anywhere but at her face. "Your card's been denied twice already. We accept all other forms of payment, you know."

Jamie sighed, holding out her card. "Just run it again!"

The cashier reluctantly took it from her hands and ran it through the machine. Jamie crossed her fingers, hoping hoping hoping and... declined. Her heart plummeted, and she scowled, ripping her card from the cashier's hands. Either this machine had a bias against her, or she was truly out of money. Her face went red as everybody in the store stared at her, some people mumbling words of pity or words of condemning. She seethed. She wasn't unemployed! She wasn't homeless, down on her luck! She was a superhero, goddamnit. As she stomped out of the McDonald's and back to her car, she wondered where she had gone wrong. She had gone on at least four jobs in the last two weeks, not even counting patrols! And, plus, that huge Ambleweed job-

Oh, shit. The Ambleweed job. The meeting this morning that Powers had held. That's why she didn't have any money. Now in the driver's seat of her car, she winced as she remembered the total of five buildings that she had collapsed, the streets that were destroyed. But... but she had killed the Ambleweeds! They were dead. Nobody had been able to get to to the big villain, but did that matter? So what, the buildings had been destroyed? She still should've been paid. But her paycheck had been more than halved- quartered. Which meant she was completely out of money. Unless she could figure out a way to make more...

Having a good thought for once, Jamie pulled her cellphone from her pocket, opening up her Contacts. Who to call, who to call... someone smart. Someone who could handle a big job, one that would net them a lot of money. Enough money for her to be able to buy McFlurries again. Blake! She should text Blake.

i need money wanna go on a job text me back pls

Jamie

She hit send, grinning. This would be so good!

@Hitman

---

The worst thing in Patricia's life was, by far, algebra. Sure, being a superhero was hard, and dangerous, and exhausting, and so was having a dad that was a literal serial killer, but algebra just sucked on another level. It was just... so... boring! And hard. Why did she need it at all? She was a superhero, goddamnit, not planning to be an accountant. But dropping out would be a huge mistake, as she reminded herself nearly every day. If she ever lost her job for some reason, she'd need an education to fall back on.

Didn't mean that it wasn't mind-numbingly boring. Patricia slammed her laptop closed and fell back onto her bed. She screamed into her pillow. she probably would've actually understood the course a little better had she actually been able to attend the live lesson this morning. Instead, she was stuck at a stupid mandatory hero meeting, listening to Powers lecture everyone about the disaster that had been the Ambleweed infestation. Safety and responsibility were good values that she tried her best to uphold, but, really, what was the point in lecturing everybody in the agency if most of them hadn't even committed the damage? She hadn't done anything particularly damning, after all. And ICOSA intervening? She fumed just thinking about it. What assholes. At first, she had thought good of them, but, now, having seen the reality of hero work, Patricia couldn't help but think badly of them. A bunch of nosy, patronizing assholes, the lot of them.

It was time for a break. Patricia hopped off of her bed and left her room, braving the minefield that was the living room. Sneak past her mother and her mother's boyfriend on tip-toes and take a left to inch her way into the kitchen. Open the pantry, take a look... sweet! Chips' Ahoy! She ripped open the container, ready for sweet sugary goodness, only to find... nothing. It was empty. Who the fuck leaves an empty container in the pantry? Her face turned from hopeful to scowling in seconds, and she threw the container into the trash, making a loud noise.

"Patti, is that you?!" yelled a loud, male voice from the living room.

Oh, goddamnit. "... Yeah!" she hollered back, wincing.

"Be a sweetheart and get me a beer, will ya?"

Patricia's scowl deepened, and she threw open the fridge, taking out a beer and marching over to the man. Larry. A fat, middle-aged guy that had been lazing around in their apartment for months. Just another asshole. As much as Patricia loved her mother, she had terrible taste in men. Probably the one who had left the container of cookies empty in the pantry. She dropped the beer in his lap and turned, speedwalking as fast as she could back to the sanctuary of her bedroom. Better not to talk to him.

Patricia dropped back onto her bed, sighing again. So much for a snack. She could still take a break, though... Opening her computer back up, Patricia went to YouTube and clicked on one of her favorite playlists- the Hadestown musical, one of the best things ever made, in her opinion. Eva Noblezada was a goddess among men. Pressing play, she laid back onto her pillows, contentedly listening.

Then, the playlist was interrupted by a text. Patricia ground her teeth but pressed pause in the middle of Wedding Song, opening the message. It was from Brie, and... oh God. A party?! At the absolute worst place possible? She gasped aloud. Okay, okay, she could fix this. Dissuade them. She could stop them! Angelica's house, Angelica's house... She opened up the H.E.R.O database, entering Wish into the search tab and crossing her fingers. Her address was... okay, that was kind of close to Patricia's own apartment. Just a 10-minute walk, plus time needed to go to the corner store and buy snacks. Brie never joked about snacks. Patricia stuffed her things into her backpack, swung it over her shoulder, and practically ran out the door, sprinting down the stairs and onto the street.

The corner store down the street would probably be a good place to start. She pushed open the door, bell jingling as she entered. In a rush, she grabbed a bag of watermelon Sour Patch Kids and a bag of off-brand Cheeto Puffs from the shelves, and paid for them hurriedly. She was out of the store in less time than it had taken her to get there, and speed-walked all the way to Angelica's apartment building.

As she walked into the building, Patricia noticed Tom by the elevator, looking a little confused. Of course- hadn't he been on the group message? At least he had a teensy bit of sense compared to some other people. Hopefully she would be able to convince Brie to not have this party, or, at least, to leave her out of it.

As she brushed past Tom, Patricia said, "Apartment #305." Hopefully he got it. Getting onto the elevator, she pressed the button for the fifth floor. Angelica's apartment building wasn't that bad. Maybe a little nicer than her own.

When she got to the door of what she was 75% sure was Angelica's apartment, Patricia rapped demandingly on the door. "It's Patricia Donnelly, Aria, from work? Brie sent me a text message to meet here?" Then, she ceased knocking and waited for the door to open.

@Danvers@Amethyst@KaijuBaragon

[Infinite Cosmos]

William followed along to Brie's explanation, nodding along. Before he was able to add anything to the conversation, Brie bid them farewell. William looked at Thomas and responded "Yeah, quite odd... I wonder if she was lying to us. Oh well." He said, offering a small shrug at the end before bidding Thomas farewell as well.

After walking a small distance away, William reached for his phone to send a message to Brie

-"Well. That seemed like a shitty lie. But its ok. Just... Be safe, whatever it is you're going to be doing <3"-

Hitting send, William decided to leave the compound. There wasn't a patrol assigned to him that day, so he took his bicycle to just go for a casual ride around town. Get away from the monotony for H.E.R.O. One for a while at least.

[Hitman]

As Blake waited for a response, he heard his phone ding, but from not Angelica, but Jamie. He read the text message request. Jamie wanted to on a job, hmm? Blake had been on some interesting adventures with Jamie for sure in the past, and while some of them had ended with him in the hospital, and some more of them ended with them both in jail, spending time with Jamie was pretty fun. After a brief period of pondering, he texted back to Jamie-

sure meet me at the hero hub in h1 we'll pick out a good job

Blake

Blake then entered the elevator, riding it up to the third floor, that being the Hero Hub. The Hero Hub was a large room that was normally bustling with activity but today was fairly tame, with only a few heroes moving about to claim jobs and such. After Blake swiped his HERO card to get a bottle of Coke from the vending machine, he walked over to one of the kiosks that lined the walls, which was in essence a tablet built in front of a large TV screen. Dangling from the side of the kiosk was a pair of earbuds, which Blake put in. He then pressed his palm against the cool glass screen, and then in his ears, a familiar woman's voice reverberated in Blake's ears.

"Greetings, Firebird."

"Hey, Samantha. Tell me the available missions for two people. A-tier and above."

"Affirmative." After a brief pause, Samantha spoke again, projecting images up on the TV screen. Up first on the screen was the exterior of a bank. "Mission one. Bank robbery in progress in East Flank Community Bank. It is after-hours, so there are no hostages, but immediate action to stop them is requested." The screen then flickered to an image of what appeared to be a dockside. "Mission two. Massive drug trade in progress on the East Flank harbor. A major Brookside and East Flank gang are trading what preliminary scans have revealed to be narcotics in large numbers." The screen flickered once more to reveal what looked to be a giant lizard-man. "Mission three. Iguanosaur spotted. Last seen on Passenger Island. Detainment or extermination requested before civilian casualties mount."

"Thank you kindly, Samantha. Give me a moment." Blake took out his phone again and texted Jamie, hoping that she had some type of voice recognition software in her car.

jobs rn are either stopping bank robbery, stopping drug trade, or stopping giant lizard. ur pick idrc

Blake

He sent the message, staring at his phone while he waited for a response. This would be fun.
@datadogie@canaryrose

---

---

[LilSwifty]

---

THUD. THUD. THUD.

The lovely sound of footsteps from the flat upstairs. Charlotte groaned, trying to pull her head up from the pillow. It was like pulling apart two strong magnets… a lot of effort just to look at the time.

“Urgh… Half past five. Thanks a lot for waking me AGAIN Carl.”

She laid back down, closing her eyes and trying desperately to get to sleep again. She began to drift, reaching that point where you are floating between consciousness and unconsciousness, in a strange lucid state as you slowly fall asle-

SLAM!

She jolted awake again. Carl must’ve left his flat now. And she was fully awake. She sat up, stretching her arms and letting her wings spread their full 10ft span. Her hair was a mess, not exactly sticking up but it’s sheer volume looking like a bad 60s hairdo. Lottie stood up and moseyed over to the bathroom, staring at herself for a good 2 minutes for no reason.

“Hrrrrrrr… Could life get any more boring?”

She picked up her toothbrush and put some paste on before aimlessly brushing, her eyelids heavy as she did so.

“Shower… I need a shower.”

She spent a good 15 minutes in the shower, singing sleepily as she often did. Another 30 minutes was then spent drying her hair and braiding it at the back. Then ANOTHER 30 minutes picking something to wear. Finally she drew on her usual winged eyeliner and was done with getting ready.

Lottie’s kitchen was small and damp had begun to tint the walls a strange green colour. She made a coffee and poured it in her reusable cup before stepping out into the extremely gray stairwell. As she stepped outside she pulled out her packet of cigarettes, got one out and lit it before making her way down the street. She knew it was bad for her but the rush… worth it every time… depressing that the only ounce of joy she feels is from some plant that will eventually kill her. She took her last drag and threw it down on the floor, putting it out with her shoe before entering the convenience store and sitting down behind the counter.

“You’re late… again.”
It was her boss, Richard. He was a man who lived by his schedule, never leaving it for a second. Lottie let her eyes travel to the clock as slow as possible. 7:01.

“One minute. ONE MINUTE. You’re the reason Dick is short for Richard…”
She said rolling her eyes. Richard furrowed his brow angrily.

“I’m this close to firing you! And what did I say about shoulders… NO shoulders showing it’s suggestive.”

She was wearing a white over the shoulder top, nothing that would make feel customers uncomfortable.

“You are unbelievable”
She said monotonously before looking back at the clock. Only 11 more hours of this...

[Jumbus]

Midas sat in an New Athens Italian restaurant with his accountant and two others at the table. He often took fighters that caught his eye in The Proving Grounds here to show them a taste of the good life. One that they could get if they signed up under him. The two across from him were those fighters this month.

Midas had already given his speech about glory of the fight and such, but now it was time for his accountant to sort the boring details. He begun to stare out the window as he sucked up the last strand on his fork. It was peaceful out there, little traffic, a good amount of pedestrians and a just a lone cyclist. But he just about coughed up his food when he saw who was on it. That water guy, the hero guy who uses water, yeah, what luck that a paycheck would just be going down the street on the other side of the road.

Midas spent no time handing the accountant his card to pay the bill, "hey it was great meeting you two but something urgent came up that I have to address." He turned toward the accountant "you can handle the rest I presume use that card to pay up the bill also pay them double for the damages." "What damag..." "these damages." Midas yanked a leg off of the chair taking the back support with it into a long stick, a bottle on his belt opened and a golden liquid flew out swimming like a serpent in the air before shooting into his neck and down his spine. That should give me a head start, thought Midas.

Midas exited the restaurant and yelled jokingly across the street to the heroic cyclist. "Hey! Waterboy!" at the same time as yelling Midas used the stick and threw it like a dart across the road. With some skill and a lot of luck the stick landed squarely in the spokes of the front wheel.

[Amethyst]

_{Interacting: Brie @Danvers, Patricia @canaryrose, Thomas @KaijuBaragon}

A few hours found Angelica at home, freshly showered and doing paperwork on her dual computer monitors. A small window in the corner of one monitor, which a keen observer would recognize as the life simulation game Ooze Farmer, periodically distracted her attention, though for the most part she was able to attend to her work.

Her apartment was a small, studio setup, though it was breezy and well-lit with natural light thanks to a big window in the center of the space, one without curtains but surrounded by dozens of plants in pots and hanging baskets. The kitchen, half in an alcove beside the door, was small but spotlessly clean, no trace of dust or crumbs on any surface; two black barstools were pulled up to the other side of the counter to double as an eating space.

The rest of the apartment, with fake-wood floors polished almost unnaturally bright, was similarly spotless and devoid of clutter. A tasteful (if barely scented) basket of blue-toned potpourri served as the centerpiece of a dark-colored, modern coffee table, surrounded by two beige loveseats and a cream-colored oversized ottoman. A dark, minimalist bookshelf spanned the far wall, with a television and DVD player mounted to it. The sleeping space was partitioned off by the wardrobe and a curtain, and the remaining corner of the room was dominated by Angelica’s work desk, black with silver accents to match the rest of the furnishings. At the moment it had a single three ring binder, a pen organizer with four writing utensils, and her keyboard and mouse on the top, beyond the two large monitors and the computer tower that stood in the corner.

Angelica looked up from her ooze farming busy work as her phone vibrated in her pocket.

A party. She glowered. Why was her apartment nominated, of all of them? She’d just finished cleaning.

Still, she knew better than to try to argue with a group text. People were certainly on their way already.

Cool, see you all soon. I’m at home right now so just come on up. Apartment 305. It’s on the fifth floor, because my landlord enjoys confusing people. Or something.

She saved her work and closed out of Ooze Farmer – that one would be embarrassing to explain – and wandered to the kitchen, retrieving sandwich fixings from the refrigerator. She assembled a variety of healthy sandwiches (tomato, turkey, cheese, lettuce, and so on) and cut them precisely into triangular quarters, stabbing each quarter sandwich through with a toothpick for a bit of flare. These were prettily arrayed on a plate and placed in the center of the counter, along with a variety of 0 calorie flavored sparkling water and glasses to pour the drinks into.

She was nothing, if not a gracious host, though she wasn’t even entirely sure how many people she was to be hosting. She tried to see that, thumbing through her phone to look at the recipients list, but found nothing.

All at once, there was a knock on the door. Quite a flurry of knocking, to be honest. Angelica hurried over to the door, pressing a bland smile onto her face as she listened to the speaker. She’d seen Patricia in and out of various events at HERO, often ones that had ended spectacularly badly. At least she was trying to finish high school, unlike most of the heroes in the organization…

“Of course, come on in,” she said. “Truth be told, I have no idea what Brianna is on about. Parties?” She rolled her eyes, standing aside to let Patricia into her apartment. “I made sandwiches, and there’s some soda, I just set it all out so it should be nice and cold. I didn’t have time to get down to the store, sorry.”

[Danvers]

Somehow, she'd spent far too long shopping for snacks and was now later than intended, although it was difficult to tell by the way Brianna was casually making her way down the quietly bustling New Athens street. Suddenly stopping to look up at a sign, Brie smiled to herself when she realised she had found the right place. "Great!" She said, ignoring a very disgruntled middle-aged man, who presumably worked in an office block by the look of his cheaply made suit, as he nearly walked straight into her. He aimed a stream of foul language in her direction but Brie still seemed too preoccupied to notice or care. Instead, she stepped into a small side street that mainly housed the back of several shops and a variety of dumpsters, crouching down on the pavement.

"This should be okay for you I think!" In her arms she held the ginger tomcat, who seemed altogether unconcerned that he had been carted halfway across the city by this girl. After setting him on the ground, Brie stood up, brushing her jeans down with a careless swipe of her hand. The cat looked at her for a few moments before he padded off to the open backdoor of a nearby bakery, seemingly having smelt something that he liked. As she watched the stray walk away, her phone buzzed, a text from Will flashing up on her screen. Glancing over the message, it was clear that he believed absolutely none of what she had said. "I spent a whole five minutes thinking that up too..." She frowned as she began to type a quick response.

no way. i'm a great liar ;) ill try! speak to you l8r xxx

Pressing send, Brie slid her phone into the back pocket of her jeans as she walked back to the apartment block, making her way up the stairs two at a time, too impatient to wait for the elevator.

"That was a lot of stairs!" She panted breathlessly as she finally reached the fifth floor, having arrived just as the others were making their way into the apartment. "Nice place Angie! Is it just you here?" Brie beamed happily as she followed them in, strolling over to the sandwiches and soda which had been set out, her interest in them rapidly decreasing when she saw what was inside. "Wow, so healthy...." Setting down her bag, she began to pull out a variety of snacks, including a half-eaten packet of popcorn and a bag of Doritos, placing them alongside their more healthy counterparts.

"Anyway, we'd better get started I guess." She said as she walked over to what seemed to be the living room area, taking a seat on the ottoman and waiting for the others to join her before continuing. "Right!" After a few moments of making herself comfy, she smiled at them as she reached into her rucksack and pulled out the manila folder, opening it out in front of her so that they could see its contents. She'd added a few notes here and there in her messy handwriting, although most of it was probably illegible to anyone but Brie.

"So, and don't ask me why," She emphasised, knowing that they would likely be as surprised as she had been. "But Powers asked me to head up a mission to help find these guys..." She pointed to two pictures, presumably taken on their first day at HERO One, of the missing heroes. Brianna seemed to have either forgotten or be ignoring the fact that she'd invited them here to discuss party planning and continued on regardless of this.

"They went missing in lower Brookside and Powers is pretty sure that it's the Guglianos who are behind it." Again she gestured to some of the paperwork that gave further information on Vinnie and his cohorts. "They usually operate in Watervale so I'm not entirely sure why they've been stepping into Brookside territory but...anyway, he wants us to find out whats happened to them, and what that asshole Vinnie is up to."

Looking up at them, she waiting to see if they had any questions before continuing. "Also, ICOSA can't know about this because they're...well, they're dicks. So no blabbing to anyone." Brie let out a breath as she finished, seeming glad that she had gotten that over with. Shooting them a grin, she reached down for the popcorn again, "So, all we've got to do now is plan this thing!"

A tedious amount of time later...

"Alright. So just to go over it once more..." Brie was now sat cross-legged on the floor, sipping on some zero-calorie soda and looking like she was bored out of her mind. "Me and Patty will go speak to my contacts in Brookside and try to get some more information on the Guglianos & their movements. Tom and Angelica - you guys will go scope out Bateman Turnpike where Thundering Whisper..." She paused to laugh for a moment, nearly choking on her soda. "Sorry, I just find that name funny for some reason! Anyway, where Thundering Whisper went missing, and see if there are any clues about why or where they might have taken him. Just be careful though, the turnpikes okay but I still wouldn't hang about there longer than necessary."

Gathering up the documents and photographs that were now strewn across Angelicas coffee table, she roughly put them back inside the folder. As she stood up from her seat, she stretched her arms above her head in a movement that eased her now stiff muscles, happy that they had gotten the tedious planning out of the way. "Oh, I got us these as well!" Leaning over to her bag, she pulled out four rather cheap-looking phones, tossing one to each of them. "I'll send Powers the bill for them later."

@Infinite Cosmos @KaijuBaragon @canaryrose @Amethyst

[canaryrose]

Jamie read the texts before she sped off towards H.E.R.O One in her car. Choices, choices, choices... gosh. She tapped her finger against her chin, thinking. Stopping a drug trade sounded like it would do a lot of good. Drugs hurt people, right? Right. On the other hand, a bank robbery wasn't really a good option, since she had a track record of bringing down banks. But the lizard... it wasn't human, so she wouldn't have to hold back. And it wouldn't offer any chance of accidental destruction, something that she needed to avoid today. She tightened her hands on the steering wheel, taking a left towards the bridge to Savior Island. Lizard it was. At a red light, Jamie texted him back.

be there in 5

lizard pls

Jamie

5 minutes later, Jamie parked in front of H.E.R.O One. Somehow, she had managed to not go over the speed limit this time. In fact, she had restrained herself from slamming the on the gas pedal too hard on the bridge- better not to get pulled over and ticketed right before a mission. She opened her car door and stepped out, and then popped open the trunk to grab her freshly dry-cleaned costume. After the Ambleweed job, it had been covered in all sorts of icky plant goo and had needed a wash badly, so she had sent it off to the dry cleaner's. But now it smelt weird. Like, clean. But, still, she had to change into it for work.

Jamie waved to the receptionist as she came into the building, and he greeted her right back with a smile on his face. She took the elevator up to the second floor and went into the bathroom to change. She laid out her costume, and sighed at the sight of it. Ugh. Why did they have to make my costume so complicated? In truth, it wasn't that complex of a thing. ts base was a two piece black bodysuit, the first piece reaching from chin to mid-thigh and the second going from lower thigh to feet. She squirmed into it. There were orange-yellowish gauntlets and leg braces, too, that acted as both an arm brace and as an absorber for the vibrations that would normally pass through her body and break her bones. She had bulky, tinted swim goggles mounted on her face purely for coolness factors. Hanging those around her neck and tying her hair into a high ponytail, the costume was complete.

She raced up the stairs to the third floor, not bothering with the elevator. It had definitely been more than five minutes, now, and she hadn't wanted to keep Blake waiting in the first place. Seeing him, she ran over, waving.

"Hey, Blake! Sorry, had to change..." Jamie gestured to her costume and smiled. "You picked the lizard job, right? Ready to go?

@Hitman

---

"Oh, thank god, there's not a party," Patricia muttered under her breath as Brie put down the manila folder. The idea of having a party at H.E.R.O. One while Powers was gone had genuinely terrified her, probably more than the idea of going undercover in the mafia.

Wait, that was wrong. Going undercover in the mafia was definitely more scary. As Brie spoke, Patricia's worry about the mission grew. Then, she paged through the gigantic manila folder, and it skyrocketed. These guys were clearly not to be fucked with, and... they were about to fuck with them. Patricia definitely trusted Brie- as one of her closer friends at H.E.R.O., at least- but she knew that the girl had her faults. She could be reckless, destructive. Plus, she had invited Tom on an undercover mission. That said a lot about her sense. And, even if she would trust Tom, Angelica, and Brie with her life (which she would), there were so many other things that could go wrong. These people were going after heroes- kidnapping them, taking them off the streets. What if they were found, kidnapped, never heard from again? Tortured or killed or something worse?

As her nervousness ballooned, Patricia kept stress-eating Angelica's sandwich triangle things. Pretty soon, she had eaten two entire plates, and she blushed and attempted to hide them behind herself. During the planning process, she contributed a lot- told them that they needed to rent an apartment in Brookside, get food and bedding, establish disguises, get really good fake IDs, buy new clothes, and figure out how to infiltrate the Gugliano compound to get the information she needed.

At the end of it, Patricia grabbed her burner phone and headed toward the door. She nodded at Brie's re-affirmation. "Mhm. Let's get going, we don't wanna burn daylight. You can keep the candy, Angelica, as a thanks."

@Danvers @Amethyst @KaijuBaragon

[Ryteb Pymeroce]

---

Felix had gotten dressed in his costume and headed up to the Hero Hub. Really, calling it a costume was a bit of an overstatement, it was just a reinforced version of the outfit he used when practising his martial arts. It consisted of an orange tank top, a pair of red shorts with a black stripe down each side, and a red ribbon to keep his hair out of his eyes. To protect his hands and feet, they were wrapped in cloth bandages. The tank top had a stylised nine on the back, surrounded by a flame pattern, a remnant from when he went by Fire Fist.

He was originally just going to take a random A rank mission to help pay for a new apartment, but then he saw Blake and Jamie and heard her yell about a job involving a lizard. Finally, he could have a proper kaiju fight!

"Excuse me," Felix said as he walked up, "But if there is a mission involving giant lizards, I want in. Ever since I watched Power Rangers I wanted to fight a monster at least ten times bigger than me!" He gave a grin and punched the air to punctuate the last statement.

@canaryrose @Hitman