[IC] Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

[Deja]

Communal Kitchen // Edge Tower // Seattle
^{19:06HRS Local Time}

Kevin had been quite the efficient little steamwasher back in the day. He spent it eavesdropping on the law that happen to need a bite to eat after a beat on the streets. Steamy water rose between gnarled knuckles and furtive tattoos drowing out most of what the girls in the other room had been saying to him, but thoughts of getting mugged behind a bodega after a all the chainsmoking cooks had left put that aside. ~*sSSSSSTTNNNtttt*~ "..temper temper.." snuck out of his clenched jaw, though the cloud of steam hid his strained expression. Julian however had already walked away so Kevin turned and sized up the resident librarian. momentary meltdowns made Kev who he was, though admittedly; problems have solutions, or so thought his flammable neurons. Maybe he could have the druid craft him one of those nifty necklaces he had on. Surely he had some freaky Celtic graffiti for fires. He'd might conjure something up if he asked nicely enough(considering the rest of Julian's dossier stated magic was in no short supply), considering how well tea was of an international hit here maybe he should get some. Make that interstellar hit, Dandy was partaking too so what the heck.

Kevin had a mug of his own, and a remark for the druid also, "So Conor, a ginger birdie told me you might be able to solve my problem." He took a quick sip before retorting to himself and striding up to the Celtic pair giving Eli a big grin and continued,"I need something I can wear, like some bling maybe, that keeps the firehouse from being called up ya feel me?". Kevin's elaboration and attention was cut short as he swore he saw something fly by the window.

[Sep]

Communal Kitchen // Edge Tower // Seattle

Before Eilidh had a chance to respond to his query Kevin came, took a cup of tea, and then sat down with them. Conor thought nothing of it, he had nothing really against the boxer. Nothing for him either. Though he arched an eyebrow when the Gotham man just barged his way right into the middle of the conversation he was having with his fellow Celt. He didn't really care for that, not one bit. Not only that he was barging into a conversation to ask for a favour. Though Julian had warned him that the boxer was blunt when he had initially joined the team.

Conor took another sip from his cup of tea placing it back down on the counter. "I mean. It's possible I suppose, I've not asked Julian a lot about your powerset but from what I know they're mostly chemically induced. I can't guarantee any protection would last very long, or that I could have it done anytime soon. I'd have to try and get a clearer understanding of how your powers work first and then find the right combination of runes to counter that." He looked at Eilidh and his heart sank a little. He had already promised to help her understand her powers, Selene wanted coached on magical theory to try and regain an understanding of her powers and Gabi didn't know if she was possessed by a spirit or had actually been granted the powers of an ancient Mayan God. This was all ontop of the jobs he had to do for Julian to fortify the appartments.

Plus he still had to finish the facade.

He leaned forward towards the boxer. "I guess the bigger question here is, what's in it for me?"

---

Interacting Directly: Kevin @Deja
Interacting Indirectly: Eilidh @Stormflyx

[Byrd Man]

"Sawdust with just a touch of vinegar."

I looked down at the body on the pavement. His closed eyes and the two neat bullet holes on his forehead could have almost fooled you he died peacefully. But the bloody pulp that was the back of his head told the truth. I knew an execution style murder when I saw one. And in my life I'd seen plenty.

"What was that?" the police captain asked.

"Best thing to get blood out of any surface," I said without looking up. The sawdust soaks up the liquid and the vinegar discolors the stains."

"They said you were a former cop," he said to me. "A homicide cop. One of the best. What happened?"

Now I finally looked up, letting him see my cold blue eyes.

"I made a mess. Too big to clean up."

[AlteredTundra]

Mood Music

---

WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT!

”Johnny Donovan.”

NO! WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT!

”Johnny. Donovan. Cease and desist!”

WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!

As Johnny Dash sat in his room, on his bed, fluffy body pillow propped against the plain wall, pushing the scarab that was latched on his spine against it, which wasn’t so much uncomfortable as it was annoying because the scarab was hissing and clicking inside JD’s head.

So to fix that, JD had the brilliant idea of blaring Twisted Sister’s best song, We’re Not Gonna Take It, as a sort of act of rebellion against it.

This was the common dance the two tangled and has been like that for almost a year now. Ever since Johnny had found the scarab, they never got along. They always fought and then argued. And yes, there’s a difference. Arguing just meant a bout of conflicting personalities, but when they fight, unlike a usual brawl, for which Johnny could win, the scarab played dirty. He’d activate the armor and take control out of spite alone. It was annoying and frustrating. And, if Johnny D was honest, it earned a tiny amount of his respect. Growing up on the streets, sometimes you had to fight dirty to survive.

But back on point.

That clicking and hissing that was mentioned before? Yeah, it was starting to ruin Johnny D’s good vibe.

“Would you stop that already? It’s a cool tune dude. Just lighten up!”

I certainly will not “lighten up”. It is outrageous how you humans can stand that unforgiving mix of sounds as relaxing.

Johnny scoffed. “And you obviously don’t get the power the 80s had, man. Fucking epic hit after hit. I seriously wish I was born in the 70s so I could have experienced it as it was happening.”

Your consistency at being bothersome is frustrating, Jonathan Donovan.

That would be the last thing that the scarab said, but it didn’t matter. As Johnny D was in the climax of the song, arguably the best part of it too, it was sudden, but the entire room went black. It was blacker than being inside a dumpster at night time. Johnny was used to it, so that’s why he didn’t flinch. Being homeless for so long, you grew used to rolling blackouts. The poor side of Coast City, which was where JD spent most of his days, had random blackouts all the time.

“I guess Jules is--”

AMBUSH! THE TOWER IS UNDER ATTACK!

“No, it’s no--”

No it’s not is what Johnny was going to say before the scarab, like many times before, took full control. From the middle of his spine to his arms, legs, and eventually head, the Blue Beetle armor had consumed his entire body. Wrapped up in it, Johnny felt like an unwilling passenger with a chaotic driver in the middle of a road rage incident. He saw what was happening but could do nothing to stop it. Worse yet, that hissing and clicking asserted itself until Johnny was the voice in the scarab’s head.

An energy cannon took shape on his right arm and scarab pointed it at the wall.

And from inside, Johnny screamed bloody murder.

“No, you’re not going to.” Johnny heard the cannon charge up and he freaked even harder. “Don’t you fucking blast through my--”

And then a blast of blue-colored energy shot through Scarlett Johansson’s perfect face and pierced a hole straight through the wall, a breeze from the Seattle evening flowing into Johnny’s room.

And after another slow, anguishing moments that left Johnny D utterly devastated. Nevermind any world-ending hypotheticals, that poster was the first thing he bought when he joined the team a few months ago. The leftover money he had from his last day on the streets went into purchasing it. It might not have been much, but he took pride in it. And now it was ruined because this scarab thought they were attacked.

And then the lights came on. And then the armor retracted, the clicking and hissing growing less aggressive, asserting itself to its normal volume

We are safe--

“You fucking dumbass!” Johnny cursed. “We weren’t in any danger. It’s called a blackout -- A BLACKOUT!”

While he was furious, he sighed out in defeat, glancing once more to the hole in the wall. In the back of his mind where the scarab hadn’t penetrated yet, he was thinking about how Jules was going to be on his ass for this. The building was run down already. Not everything was fleshed out or repaired to the point of being suitable for superheroes-to-be. And he just knew that he was going to get reprimanded. Or something that resembled punishment like he was a child.

Yeah, the only child is this thing on my back.

The clicking got louder.

“Yeah, so you heard that? You want a fucking trophy or something?”

Well, Johnny figured since his mood was shot, he’d go and maybe grab something to eat. Getting pissed at scarab always worked up an appetite. But he has to change his shirt first, because someone decided to go Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on him.

---

Location:Communal Kitchen // Edge Tower // Seattle
Interactions: @Deja @Sep @Stormflyx _indirectly

---

Johnny had made his way out of his room with a full wardrobe change. With a Nirvana shirt replacing the Metallica one he was wearing prior to the...incident, Johnny was confident enough to waltz proudly out of his room, proving he wasn’t a hermit like he assumed most thought he was. He made a straight a-line (not beline because that made it seem like it was his second choice) for the kitchen. Like mentioned before, when dealing with pissy on his spine, Johnny Dash needed to eat his anger away.

But maybe that would have to be put on hold because he saw his three favorite people all huddled nearby.

And of course the source of his frustrations started to click and hiss again and again.

Johnny D didn’t acknowledge him as he slinged his arm around Kevin. His regular sparring partner was a few inches shorter than him, but JD never pointed that out. No need to get this regular spitfire to all hot and bothered anymore than he always was.

“Why not just wear one of those hazmat suits, Kev?” Johnny suggested with a grin, mostly kidding, of course. “Or you could always fight in the nude. That way you don’t have to worry about burning through outfit after outfit.” That was another case of Johnny D making a funny.

Damn, Johnny Dash is freaking hilarious!

[spicykvnt]

Eilidh could tell that it was Johnny who had arrived - there was a strange aura about him that she understood to be the Scarab beetle. Everything else was all Johnny though, that fiendishly happy buzz. The woman approached the source of it with a smile, pushing the box of cookies in his direction before ruffling at his hair with her free hand playfully. “Hey there scamp,” she said.

Blind she may have been, but she knew where Conor was, and offered him a quiet nod as his attention was taken by Kevin. Kevin was all energy too, and right now - Eilidh could see that Conor was suddenly in a sandwich of it. Elsewhere, a noise of chartreuse rummaged through a box of food. Hayden.

All the talk of movies sat heavy in her mind and she wanted to ruminate on it. She used to like movies of all kinds. Now it was just too taxing to bother. She couldn’t read the energy of people in a cold movie file, even if she could hear everything. It was a strange sensation to try to make sense of, it wasn’t like music at all.

Eilidh took a wander back to the other side of the table, her foot finding her seat easily enough for her to sit down in it with a smile. She liked it when everyone was here. Her eyes closed, and her elbow found the table so that she could rest her chin against her knuckles just to listen to everything.

[Enarr]

Roy G Bivolo

---

A stiff breeze pulsed throughout Roy’s bedroom, pivoting his damp hair across the trembling goosebumps that now gyrated all along his freezing forehead. His ears stung sharply and his nose ran plentifully. In spite of his constant quivering and short-breathed shivering, he was having the time of his life as he drug his unsteady hand against the wall.

It started a few minutes prior. Roy’d just finished taking a shower when the building’s power died with a full-body whimper, along with the bathroom’s light and their electrical hot water with it, in a wanton slaughter on first-world privilege. In the cover of darkness, he scurried back to his bedroom, dripping wet, draped in a towel when he heard the sound of Vincent stripping the wallpaper from his room, which happened to be on the opposite wall of his own. It was that sound, the dull growl of hesitating paper clinging for dear life that inspired him to balance the scales. And so, while one side of the wall was exorcised of its demons, the other would be absolutely infested.

Cracking a window for inspiration, he felt the City of Tomorrow piercing him with its mighty breeze. And so, he took his shower water, the runoff of his own correction, and mixed it into his watercolor set, splishing and splashing a stylized and incomplete rainbow across the wall, with one careless sweep of his unsteady wrist after another. Though the electrical interruption had rendered him somewhat powerless to follow his path, in the act of embracing the bitter biting breeze and steering into the drift, he found serenity. Though he hadn’t quite gotten a proper scrub behind the ears, he felt cleansed to a degree that he rarely ever had. Immaculate, even.

At that, he permitted himself to dry off. Taking a gander at the rainbow he’d left on the wall. He wasn’t sure what he meant by it, not exactly, but it felt important. Even if it didn’t mean one thing precisely, it was as true as any confession he’d ever made. It was all he had, after all.

After allowing the breeze to dry him off, he finally closed the windows before feeling his chapping flesh. It was absolutely atrociously cared for, if he was to believe anything that he’d ever heard from anyone remotely dermatologically inclined but charmingly so. Slathering on a metric ton of prescription strength lotion, which had actually been designed with severe eczema in mind, he shaved and otherwise readied armed himself for a casual social encounter with the building’s other inhabitants. Golly, there sure were a lot of them.

All the same, fully dressed in a set of khaki pants and a polo bespeckled with with rainbow splashes, which he had actually sewn in place himself, he calculatedly tousled his hair before opening the door and making his way to the living kitchen, where he saw Conor and Eilidh chatting it up with Kevin and ….

He took a deep breath. They were chatting it up with Johnny, whose mildly grimy aesthetic greatly outclassed his own both in grime and in mildness. When Roy looked at himself, he at once couldn’t help but feel like he was both underwhelming and overstimulating, the sort of uncomfortable that is, more often than not, probably best politely but pointedly looked past.

Even so, there was a bestial hunger burning within him, as though his very innards might loosen themselves to go on some sort of rampage. For fear of degenerating into a self-loathing bellyaching berserker, he braved the company of kitchen dwellers and gave a wave to them before slinking into the cabinets and sheepishly snaffling a Danny Burger from the refrigerator, tipping a nonexistant hat to his fellows before standing in the corner, wordlessly, doing his best impression of someone confident and comfortable.

[Dead Cruiser]

Dandelion beamed a bright smile at Eilidh as she greeted them, even know they knew she wouldn't see it. Their gaze lingered on the telepath as she set about fixing a cup of tea for Dandy. They had never met someone who was blind before, the idea itself even was strange to them. It took Dandelion by surprise every time that they were confronted by the... inflexibility of the human body. Cells, tissue, organs, they were fixed, rigid, set in stone from birth until death. If parts were damaged or failed, they couldn't be fixed, only replaced by prosthesis or transplant. Dandy had offered to fix Eilidh's sight when they had first met, replacing her damaged eyes with a pair grown by Dandy with her DNA, but she had politely declined. Dandelion hadn't argued, but still didn't understand her decision. Human rigidity seemed to extend past their flesh, and into their minds and culture, which baffled Dandy more than anything else. What was wrong about wanting to improve, to adapt?

Eilidh served Dandy their tea, and they smiled at them again and offered a soft word of thanks. Others were speaking in the kitchen, and it would be rude to talk over them. In truth, Dandy liked Eilidh very much, and hoped to one day communicate all of this with them, and hopefully then they would understand her choice. They had yet to make successful telepathic contact between the two of them, despite what Dandy thought were very helpful suggestions on their end, but Eilidh had the measure of Dandy, and was not afraid of them, and so she was still willing to continue to try. That gave Dandy something pleasant to think about as they took a small baked confection, dropped it into their tea, and downed the entire thing in a single gulp, bag and all.

"Delicious, thank you!" Dandy slid the mug back to Eilidh, and continued to stand at the counter, not sure what to do with themselves.

Conor was there also, and Dandy had been keeping an eye on him. Quite literally, every so often one of their mismatched eyes would divert from wherever the other was looking to dart about the room, keeping tabs on the rest of its occupants. A simple adjustment to the motor neurons of their human body let them do things of that nature; what was the point of having two eyes if you could only look in one direction at once? Dandy had made a few small adjustments of that nature to their human disguise, as they simply couldn't help themself. It was in their nature to change and better adapt themselves. This was also how they could smell the cortisol levels in Conor's bloodstream rising since Dandelion entered the room. Eilidh had the make of Dandy and knew that they meant no harm, but the others did not. It was the same, before in the lab, and Dandelion knew in time that they would come to know Dandy and understand they wouldn't hurt them. The only difference was that in the lab, Dandy's cell not only kept the world safe from Dandy, but Dandy safe from the world. Here there was no cell to protect them nor the world. It would just take time, they just had to be patient.

Hayden scurried away, breaking Dandy from their thoughts, and they complained after them, "Hayden, that was the last nugget! I thought we were going to share!"

Julian came up and answered them, and focus and clarity seemed to return to Dandelion at once. They snapped to pay attention to what he was saying, both eyes and most other senses trained tightly on him. Dandy didn't know why Julian commanded so much of their thoughts and attention, nor why they felt so bound to him. They knew that they owed their life to Julian; if he had not found them the week prior they would still be on the street eating squirrels and stray pets, or back in a lab somewhere to never again see the light of day, or worse. That alone didn't explain the influence over Dandy that Julian seemed to command. Dandelion suspected that staying so long in human form was flooding their systems with human hormones and neurotransmitters, which was having unexpected effects on their thoughts and behavior. While they didn't fight the process, hoping that it would help them better understand the humans they now shared a habitat with, it still unnerved them at times, like their body was rebelling against them. Perhaps the imitation was too perfect, and their body was beginning to forget that it had ever been something other than a human. Would Dandelion forget too?

Still Dandy kept up appearances with a dimpled smile showing as many of their straight, white teeth as possible. "I am well Julian, thank you for asking." Julian went on to explain the work that he would have lined up for Dandy. "I am looking forward to learning to drive screws!" Learning to manipulate the climate control in the penthouse was actually quite an appealing prospect, as Dandy preferred their accommodations to be hot and damp. In the lab, scientists that had not been in Dandy's cell before often complained that it felt like a "sauna," whatever that was.

Others were coming and going, Johnny, Kevin, Roy, and Dandy was beginning to feel overwhelmed. It wasn't often before that they had ever interacted with more than two humans at once, and so they were unsure of how to socialize with what was essentially a pack of humans. Rather, they quietly receded from the group, and took a seat at the table across from Eilidh. They mirrored the girl's pose, resting their head on their chin, and gave a slow, soft sigh to let her know they had sat down.

"Does talking too much make you tired as well?" Dandy asked them in soft tones. They liked to think of Eilidh as something of a confidant, as ideally they would be unable to keep any secrets from her. "Unless you are too tired to talk right now. I am sorry."

[rocketrobie2]

Garage // Edge Tower // Seattle

Since joining up with the Conor and company, Johnny found himself at a bit of a loss when it came to the racing scene. He still kept up with Nascar online but his goal of racing in the big leagues had fallen to the wayside with his more permanent move. All that being said he was a racer at heart and managed to sniff out a few street racing groups in the surrounding area. When the group weren't out finding Carpenter-Kid, Johnny was out doing his best to tune The Car and race her anywhere that would let him. Last night was one of those nights off, giving Johnny the time to whoop and get whooped by the locals all night. It was a fun time but come sunrise Johnny was bushwhacked. Mr.Renault pulled into the building's parking garage and parked himself in the first available spot. He wasn't sure if it was reserved or not but as Johnny's eyes grew heavy he didn't really care.

Hours later, Johnny awoke to a bright blue flash and the briefest glimpse of a beam blowing out the side of the building. His groggy mind took a good few minutes to deduce it was likely Bug-Boy doing some target practice. Johnny rubbed the sleep from his face before giving it a light but firm slap to really wake himself up.

"Better go let the gaggle know I haven't jumped ship yet. Thanks for the snooze Carly." Johnny said to The Car's dash, giving it a pat and feeling that oh so familiar feeling that the car appreciated the affection. Johnny dismounted his noble stead and headed up the elevator to the penthouse.

Stepping out into the penthouse was like night and day; the calm and quite of the elevator was replaced by the idle chatter of his team who all seemed to be out and about at the moment.

"Morning everyone!" Johnny said, giving a wave to nobody in particular as he headed for the pantry. It was nice to be amongus others who were in less-than-ordinary circumstances but Johnny hadn't seemed to really click with anyone with the possible exception of Eilidh. Their interest weren't one-to-one but Johnny's 'powerset' seemed to mesh with hers, making him easier to 'talk' to with her powers of the mind. Johnny fired an additional nod her way as he passed by to the pantry to rummage for a breakfast, blissfully unaware of the true length of his nap.

[Deja]

[Theyra]

Seattle
Renegade's HQ
Varo Yelkian

"Sure, a movie sounds good right now," Varo said as he made his way to the couch. Movies, not a foreign concept to the alien Varo. Movies are known to him as vids, and though Varo enjoyed him growing up. Seeing, let alone own one was a rare thing, though. His father's road to redemption took precedence and allowed few luxuries. Just one of the things that Varo grew to get used to. He would have shown his favorite vid to his teammates but, that got destroyed in the crash. Varo mentally sighed at the thought. A lot of his stuff did not survive the crash, and it still feels weird to wear human clothes. Not that he has a choice in the matter, and he would rather not go out without clothes. He does not need to stand out more than he is already.

Still, the Renegades have been making him seem like this place is home for them. Granted, during the first weeks of them, getting used to him was... something. It was odd. Varo is very used to meeting new aliens and traveling to other worlds and finding a race that has never seen an alien before. That was a first, and then came the questions. So many questions, though. Varo is glad that his teammates have been so welcoming to him. Something that made him smile at times, and after the crash and the loss of his father. It is good to have something to look forward to, like watching a movie and relaxing with his teammates.

Making his way to the couch, Varo took a seat on the empty end on the right side. Set in a relaxed stance and asked, "So what movie are we watching?" Asking no one in particular in the group and ready to see what human vids are like.

[psych0pomp]

---

LOCATION : Renegade HQ in Seattle, WA INTERACTIONS : Gabi & Hayden, IN PASSING: Cece TIME : 0-19-Hundred-and-Fart Sounds

---

Hana angled her head at Cece as she spoke. While most of the group seemed preoccupied with their own things, she’d managed to catch the attention of their superstar wannabe. It was never a good look when a hero tried to force themselves onto the goodwill of people. And on top of that, Cece didn’t even have an eye-catching suit to do it in. Hana would put down twenty bucks that’d it be a gold string bikini. Well, Cece was a bit of an innocent at heart. Fine, a normal gold bikini.

She raised a brow as the blonde asked what “Seven Minutes in Heaven” was. Hana had even referenced it in the politest way she knew how. There were kids in the house, like Hayden or JD. ”I will never forget you asked.” Hana smiled. Ow, fucking goddam lip. She knew that Cece was the better of the two of them, putting out the flames of conflict. They were both on a thin ice bridge that the sun was cozying up to. Anything could set it off. For now, though, Hana was content to take that information and tuck it away. And by tuck it away, she immediately pulled the cellphone out of her pocket.

In the process of doing so, she caught Julian’s blush. Look it, a Luthor can be cute, she considered. Superman’s nemesis and supreme Mr. Clean, Lex Luthor, had always made Hana question why they continued to humor him. Shoot him into the sun. They liked to dispose of all their other trash in it. Julian, on the other hand, was their fearless leader and two-star repairman. Hana didn’t have beef, because she wouldn’t be here otherwise. No, she’d probably still be in Hub City, bunking down in an apartment over the Greek corner store that always smelled like spiced potatoes—always.

Giving an unseen wink to Kevin, as he reacted to her words with a huff of flame like a low-budget parade dragon, she turned back to her phone. The conversation buzzed around her. She pulled up Gabi’s name and tapped out a quick text to one of the few people she could call her friend in this penthouse.

[Breaking fxing news! CC dndt kno wht 7 min in Heaven is! I thought she WASNT 1 of the 1s who was born ystrday! 100% prank da bitch about that. 😉😘]

Hana slid the phone back into her pocket about the time Johnny—Johnny Two—walked in. She’d missed Roy and JD. Roy was from his quietness, but it was more a force of habit to ignore JD. His tendency to be loud, intrusive and dumb reminded her too much of her older brothers. She’d come to Seattle to get away from that.

“So, no one’s going to answer me? Cool. Good to know you all got your fucking manners from a barn.” She raised a hand in a wave. “Have fun with your fucking harem, Eel-ster,” she said to Eilidh before leaving, as there was a small crowd around the polite blind girl.

Hana entered the common area, where the conversation seemed to be about what movie they were going to watch. Varo, their other other alien was there. Hana regarded him for a second. They hadn’t really interacted much, but she couldn’t lie that she was interested to give him a once-over with the ring. But she respected people’s autonomy—if not much else. ”I recommend Saw. The second one is the best.” She made her way over to one of the windows, running her finger along the edges to open the latch.

”Anyway, I think I’m going to grab something to eat. One more frozen burrito and my shits’ll turn into one. And with our electrical issues… we don’t want plumbing ones.” She opened the window with a bit of effort. Everything around here wasn’t totally decrepit, but it sure liked to act it. ”I guess I should ask if any of you want anything, but I don’t care.” She paused. ”Wait, no, I’m not that much of an asshole. You want anything Gabi? Hayden?”

[Lord Wraith]

	PLACEHOLDER	C H A R I T Y C H A R L E S T O N C H A R I T Y C H A R L E S T O N ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

"So what movie are we watching?" Varo's voice caused Cece to look away from the television she had been surfing for the latest Ric Brucesson film. She smiled towards the alien member of the team before answering.

"We're going to watch 'Stop! In the Name of Love', it's the latest in the Nick Tinder line of films starring everyone's favourite Hollywood hunk, Ric Brucesson." Charity explained excitedly. "In this film, Ric is playing a dreamy detective that was actually a childhood vigilante, but he became disillusioned with his mentor's methods and decided to become a cop. Only now that he's a cop, he's realizing just how tied his hands are so he starts becoming a vigilante again. But that's not even the best part!" Cece paused to collect herself.

"Along the way, he falls for his partner and the two will have to figure out where their priorities lie." She turned to Hayden with a smirk, "Is their love, above the law?" Cece stated in a low voice before breaking into a fit of giggles.

Hana had entered the room by this point making Cece freeze up for a second, bracing for the coming storm given Charity's own comments regarding 'Seven Minutes in Heaven' moments earlier. Instead, the young Green Lantern contributed a movie choice.

Not a good movie choice,

But a movie choice nonetheless. Cece flashed a quick smile thanking her for her input but given that the girl didn't appear to be sticking around, Charity wasn't about to entertain the idea of a horror film though and quickly resumed queueing up 'Stop! In the Name of Love'. However, as Hana opened the window, something caught Charity's attention. A flash of gold was rapidly approaching the building. There was something familiar about it to Cece, she knew that particular shape and gold hue.

"HEY!" She exclaimed, "That's Skeets! Booster Gold's little robot friend!" Cece added excitedly, drawing everyone's attention towards the flying robot.

---

[Byrd Man]

"You don't have to do this."

I looked down at the bloody, bruised man. This son of a bitch was responsible for the death of six people directly, another four indirectly. A lot of blood spilled on carpets, a lot of tear stained clothing. He'd left a trail of chaos and debris across this city that was going to require a lot of custodial work. And that made my blood boil.

"I know I don't have to do this," I said as I pointed the gun at his face. "I want to do this. Some messes... are worth making."

His last sob for mercy was cut short by the two quick pops of my revolver.

[spicykvnt]

^{"Does talking too much make you tired as well?" Dandy asked them in soft tones. They liked to think of Eilidh as something of a confidant, as ideally they would be unable to keep any secrets from her. "Unless you are too tired to talk right now. I am sorry."}

"Well, on the contrary, it doesnae." Eilidh said with a smile, opening her eyes to settle her brittle blue gaze upon Dandelion. "Ah just like tae listen from time to time. There's a lot can be learned with your ears." she clarified with a gentle shrug, the cashmere pyjama sweater slipping over her shoulder with the movement. She took a slow sip with a raised brow as Hana's whirlwind of energy clattered around the room until the weight of her words rattled around Eilidh's so-called harem. "Aye, Hana, ah fuckin' will," she answered politely while mischief curled through the timbre of her voice, tilting her head back with a smile in the Green Lantern's direction - she could tell exactly where the woman was just by hunting out the trailing flash of neon green.

Eilidh of course meant no malice, but a woman from Scotland couldn't just leave a remark without a retort - no matter how innocent it too, was intended. Her mother raised her better. Her brother even more so.

She returned the cup to her lips with a satisfied smirk. "Evenin' Johnny," she spoke aloud having heard the man shuffle through the fridge. Emphasis on the evening. He'd be the coffee, then.

[Hound55]

By the time Red had got to his bedroom door, Hana had already made her way completely down the hall. He thought he heard her say his name amongst the din of other stirring teens and then something about dinner and beef, which triggered his grumbling stomach and saw him gallop down to the kitchen with the others.

He was about to greet the first of the people he came across when a subtle vibration from his hip told him that he had some kind of communique. Julian had outfitted him with a new 'smartphone' device, with which he had become extremely proficient after learning all the functions of it after one night studying it in his room.

It was a text message. From Julian.

He lifted his head and thought for a few moments. What could this be about? He'd been good with the whole 'clothes thing' that was apparently an issue for some of the team early on and hadn't had any recent moments of nudity in communal areas that he could think of. Unsure of what he could have done wrong, curiosity got the better of him and he opened the text message and discovered it was a simple request to meet him for a game of chess.

Which either meant he hadn't done anything, or that whatever he had done was so severe in nature that Julian wanted to tell him in a private setting so as to not further upset the person he'd offended. Hmm. Still, there was time for that, and since he was now present it would have been rude to not greet the people he was now standing directly in front of.

"Hello Conor. Hello Eilidh."

He gave an overly large, friendly smile which was clearly not tried and tested enough in social settings. A kind person might say it looked 'goofy', a less kind person would consider it 'weird', 'off' or 'creepy'. But still, he would try. He got the feeling that Conor didn't have much time for him, but he certainly wanted to leave the door open to being amenable for his more experienced teammate. He got the sense that something about him was off-putting to Eilidh as well, but she was far too polite and nice to say.

He stuck around an awkwardly long time without conversation really progressing, oblivious to the fact that his presence may have been affecting the flow, before he eventually moved on to the lounge, where a larger crowd had congregated. Evidently, they were trying to decide on a movie.

Red had recently been exposed to films. The first ones he was shown were some old ones, his teammates had thought they'd be doing him a favour by building up his tastes gradually, but the downside was that the old movie they had first started him off with had such a slow frame rate, that his enhanced reaction time could actually distinguish the individual frames and 'broke the magic' of the movie. It could have ruined the entire experience for him altogether until he was later shown an animated movie, which reinvigorated his appreciation all over again. The 'magic' became all the more impressive since he realised people had assembled thousands of hand drawn art - 24 frames, with the same drawing being used on successive frames, these incredible artists were creating unique artwork at a rate of 12 pictures for every second of film. Pinocchio was 88 minutes long... that means they'd come up with over 315,000 individual pieces of art, to tell their beautiful story.

And the fact the story seemed to ring so relevant to things his family had gone through seemed to enhance the experience even further.

Hup... a question had been asked.

Cece was talking about a movie she wanted to watch. By his experience, it wasn't going to be something he'd find particularly interesting. They had different tastes when it came to this, but that was fine. More than fine. Everybody's different. You only needed to walk the halls of the Penthouse to know that. As well as animated movies, Red had quite taken to watching martial arts films. Particularly ones which didn't utilize wire-fighting and had aspects of parkour thrown in. Just quietly he'd been watching youtube clips and martial arts films with Hayden sometimes and they'd given him some ideas for training. Red didn't naturally seem to be particularly creative when it came to fighting, which was quite unsurprising, he'd only just begun to learn the very basics of fundemental boxing technique a week ago from Kev in the gym. He learned quite quickly, and Kev was very impressed to learn that Red was apparently ambidextrous - or what Kev had called 'a switch', before making many rapid, enthusiastic comparisons to someone called Marvin Hagler, whom Red had never heard of. But despite learning quickly, he was also very methodical and almost 'mechanical' in his movements. A description which confused Red greatly given the negative context it was used in.

Regardless, he'd told Hayden about how he'd disappointed his friend by not being very creative and the martial arts movies so far seemed to be an interesting way of addressing that issue.

...but he'd also learned that a lot of his new tastes were immature and underdeveloped, and often not shared by the group.

So when Cece suggested her choice of movie and looked across the group for thoughts and suggestions, he just grinned widely - and goofily - in a selfless show of support.

Hana fired in a movie suggestion of her own, in her ever-confident fashion and Red made a mental note of these 'Saw' movies that she was talking about, to at least ask Hayden about later. There must be something about them if Hana feels so strongly about them. She's very willing to be critical about things, so if they pass her scrutiny they must have some merit to them. But she was leaving and wouldn't be watching the movie regardless of the selection.

Red watched her go to open the window, and got to his feet to help, knowing that some things around the Penthouse often don't work well and are prone to getting stuck. Hana managed to jerk the window open and a golden robot flew through.

[Natty]

Gabi had never been happier to feel the buzz of her phone in her pocket, as she had been as Cece began to narrate the plot of the film they were about to watch. Her attention was immediately gone from the people around her and now fixated on the illuminated screen in her hand. She hadn’t cared much for such devices in the past, however upon receiving this new Lexphone from Julian, she had quickly come to understand the obsession this country had with them. The world was at her fingertips.

A smile flashed across her lips as the name of one of her new favourite parts of her world flashed across her screen. Hana was probably the person Gabi had grown closest to during her time amongst the team at the penthouse, which was surprising given their differences. She may be a bit rough around the edges sometimes, but she certainly made for an interesting teacher for Gabi as she tried to adjust to life in the States. A case in point was the message Hana had just sent her.

[Breaking fxing news! CC dndt kno wht 7 min in Heaven is! I thought she WASNT 1 of the 1s who was born ystrday! 100% prank da bitch about that. 😉😘]

She frowned slightly, after spending a few seconds translating the “Hana-speak”, before realizing that she too also had no idea what these seven minutes in heaven were herself. It didn’t take long for her to fix that though, as her fingers ran across the screen, scouring the phone’s internet browser for an answer – she had no idea technically could be so helpful. What she found shocked her slightly, although she didn’t worry about her lack of experience for long. With how much her life had changed after her parents passing, it was no surprise that she wasn’t seen at many parties back in Guatemala.

The news that the same could apparently be said for Cece, however, stunned her. Given the way she acted sometimes, Gabi assumed the girl had done everything under the sun, even with the conservative views she held. Maybe she had her pegged wrong?

Now she was finally in on the joke with Hana, however, her smile took on a mischievous form as she typed out a response, her eyes peaking up towards the subject of their mockery every so often.

[Your joking?? OMG how?! That girl never stops surprising!!]

She was very impressed with how good she was getting at “Hana-Speak”.

Just as she hit send, however, the shrill sound of panic brought her back into the room.

Snapping her head up, she watched as a gleaming golden disc shot through the window, circling around the room. As It began to slow in its loop, she realized that this wasn’t a disc, but was in fact some kind of small robot. It had two short golden wings and a sleek visor of blue.

A wave of realization hit her as Cece identified it.

“Oh god, not him.” Her moan almost a whisper.

While she may not have known too much about the flying robot itself, she was very aware of its owner. A large obnoxious billboard of Booster Gold advertising a pair of Ray-Ban Gold sunglasses had smiled down upon her crumbling neighborhood in Guatemala for months before she had left. There was not a day that went by that she didn’t wish that she had thrown her axe through those perfect teeth of his while she had the chance.

With the sudden appearance of his faithful companion, Gabi realized that someone may have beat her to it.

“Er.. Hi?” She gave a short wave as she rose to her feet, rearing herself into action. “Has something happened?”

[Hillan]

Virdeus

---

Red arrived for their chess game, Julian had setup the board per their regular preferences. Julian played the white pieces while Morrow played the black ones. It was a fine set of pieces, costs ranging in the thousands of dollars. Only reason Julian owned them was because he liked the weight of them in his hand. And he thought that a tangible feeling would improve Red's learning. Frankly, it shocked him how much faster the lab-grown giant of a man could grasp chess. Or anything, for that matter. Julian understood full well that he was - presently - smarter than Red, but he also fully realized that there were things Red could think that would leave the Luthor in the dust. Something in him got both excited and angry at the prospect any time they played.

Soon his opponent arrived, but had barely had the time to take a seat and do their regular greetings before Julian's phone buzzed. The perimeter alarm had been tripped. Something a little bit bigger than a bird. And powered with a source of energy that was running on... Nuclear power... From the 25th century. Julian's brows furrowed. That could only be good. "Excuse me." He told Red, who had just gotten settled into starting their game. He got up, and walked to where Hana had opened the window and the little Gold-robot came careening in. As soon as it entered the room, it crashed on the ground. Apparently damaged, judging by the impact on Skeets backside, by a rock or some kind of debris that was thrown at him by someone strong.

Julian held up his hand and told everyone to stand back, he popped up his phone and quickly began scanning the robot. Tapping the earbud in his left ear, he commanded the mainframe in the house to run diagnostics on Skeets. He needed to make sure it wasn't gonna blow up. While he was running tests and scanning the robot, Skeets gave them his message.

"Booster Gold in danger. Require League assistance. I find traces of Blue Beatle, Green Lantern and Superman in this building. 99.7% chance this is a Justice League safehouse." Julian shrugged. The robot was right about the fact that three of them had direct links to Leaguers - more if you count the people who came here with baggage from Wonder Woman. His tests concluded. Robot wasn't going to explode in a nuclear blast.

"All right. You're not gonna explode buddy. Where's Booster Gold? How did you get hit? Isn't your future tech supposed to be too fancy to get hurt?"

"Booster was working a lead that lead us here to Seatle. He went to stop a bank robbery. Got more than he bargained for." Skeets projected voice was having interruptions and became distorted from his damage. "I must have been hit by a rock as I flew away. Need Justice League assistance. Beginning self-repair protocol." The robot seemingly shutdown, while a quiet sound could be heard from inside of it's chassi. Like a reboot.

Julian got up, looked to the gathering of his little team, he looked strained. He hadn't anticipated a real mission - not one like this - yet. He knew that Superman, Wonder Woman, Manhunter and Flash were all on the other side of the world dealing with natural disaster in Bialya. Two Green Lanterns were out in space and Batman was dealing with Penguin holding Gotham's mayor hostage. The Titans were dealing with a coup in Markovia.

Julian hacked into the security cameras in the bank. Witnessing just as the four thugs ripped the vault off it's hinges with their bare hands. The cops were alerted, but the criminals had apparently sent two of their fellow super douchebags to fight the cops. Throwing the Police Cruisers through the precinct and was currently occupying the majority of the Seattle Police department.

"We're dealing with at least six enhanced individuals. Tensile strength ranging in the thousands of pounds. They weren't afraid of Booster Gold - and while he's not one of the A-listers in the league, he's not a chump. They'll hit hard and they seem well coordinated. They are expecting a full League or Titans response as they've blocked the Police from arriving at the bank. We will have to split into two teams - one that goes and helps the police. We don't want anymore casualties. And one that deals with the four at the bank." He spoke sternly, serious.

His face softened as he looked at the frankly inexperienced and honestly incapable group of young would-be heroes in front of him. They hadn't had time to do proper team training. Julian barely knew what everyone was capable off.
They weren't ready. He wasn't ready.

But they had to be.

"I understand if some of you want to stay back because it feels like it's too much. And I won't blame anyone who takes a knee. But the city needs saving. And we're the only ones able to save it."

"Me and Conor have a little science project down in the storage room that will allow us to get to the bank and the PD immediately. Gear up and meet me downstairs in five minutes."



"Puta madre!" One of the men in the leather jacket that was ripping under his overblown muscles shouted at the other, shorter and scrawnier kid. "Ay! I signed up to get paid. Not to get yelled at by a crazy Mexican."

"Santa Prisca, idiot. Now shaddap and put one more on and help me with the vault you useless sack of shit." The younger man, hiding under the balaklava did as he was told, opened up the steel case in his hand and got out the little orange patch, looking like a nicotine patch and folded up his sleeve, where three more similar patches were already seated, seemingly losing their orange color. He slapped the patch on and his veins bulged. He spit as he exhaled in excitement, as his oversized muscles got even bigger, tearing the black denim jacket he was wearing at the shoulders.

"Tonto and Dore can't hold the cops forever. Nine minutes till evac. You two need to hurry the fuck up." The Santa-Priscan ringleader told the other two boys, who were grabbing the cash from the previously opened vault out. "And make sure he doesn't wake up. I'm pretty sure I fucked up his robot." He told them, looking at the bound and unconscious Booster Gold in the corner.

The recently juiced up thug walked next to Leader and grabbed a hold of the Vault door and together they ripped it off it's hinges.
"Yeah baby!" The younger man shouted. "Now fucking move." Leader told him, eyeing the watch on his oversized wrist.

[Sep]

THE PENTHOUSE // EDGE TOWERS // SEATTLE

Before Kevin could get a response off Julian came through and let those in the kitchen know what was going on, and where to meet once they were all ready. Conor nodded to everyone there before excusing himself politely and walking out of the room, well. A little bit beyond a walk, but not quite a jog. A power-walk maybe. Opening his door he grabbed his overcoat pulling it on, as well as his satchel bag. The stones within it rattling around slightly as he swung it up over his shoulder. Turning out of the room he pulled the door closed behind him, turning back to the door he ran a finger along the handle. A series of runes lit up, he smirked to himself. If Vincent attempted to open the door he would be in for quite a bit of a shock, literally. Turning down the corridors he went down a floor and to a double door. Placing his hand on the keypad the door opened into a room that was very much like a 'dome'.

He walked to a centre pedestal, half of it was covered in buttons and keyboards. Screens and readouts. On the other side there were various runes drawn all over it, etched into the metal itself. This was Julian and Conors greatest joint venture, a merging of magic and technology. Magic and Technology didn't always go hand in hand, and yet they had found a way to make it work. He looked down at the runes and pushed in on a couple, they lit up and runes around the cieling began to glow slightly. The light within them seemed to throb as it slowly started to get stronger.

He was ready.

[Sep]

-Woooow-

[Lord Wraith]

	PLACEHOLDER	C H A R I T Y C H A R L E S T O N C H A R I T Y C H A R L E S T O N ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

No sooner than Cece had identified the robot then did Julian spring into action. Assessing the damage to the machine, Julian conversed with Skeets and quickly identified the unfolding situation. Giving the team their assignments and options, he dismissed the group to get ready.

Butterflies floated through Charity's stomach as she left the lounge behind. Giving Hayden's hair a quick tousle, the older girl began to navigate towards her quarters. It was at times like this she wished she had been given nerves of steel instead of legs. The butterflies quickly began to sink as Cece thought about all the people who could be injured if the team didn't handle the situation correctly. Julian had run training exercises, but the team thus far lacked synchronicity. To make matters worse, this would be Charity's first official mission with the team.

The team hadn't been in the field much before this, and the only real instance that she was aware of occurred during the days she had moved into the penthouse. In that particular instance, Julian had led his Renegades ready to fend off an alien invasion and instead they ended up bringing home a stray puppy in the form of Dandelion. But based on the hacked security footage, there would be no such luck in this instance. They knew exactly what they were walking into, and hopefully, there would be no surprises.

Closing the door to her bedroom behind her, Cece took a moment to take in the silence and center herself. Bowing her head, Charity quieted her thoughts, feeling her fear before distilling it as she began to pray. It was no surprise that no one else on the team was particularly religious. Charity couldn't blame them. More than ever, she found herself filled with doubt and second thoughts about God's sovereignty. But faith endured and so did Cece so she gave thanks for the team who welcomed her and prayed for each one of them, asking protection in the coming mission.

Opening her eyes, the blonde teen moved quickly to her closet and selected the protective attire she had been supplied with. At a glance, it didn't appear to be much more than your basic off-the-shelf workout attire, but the garment was made from a kevlar weave enhanced by Julian's own design. As such, it provided an incredible tensile strength that was capable of working in tandem with her own nano-tech to further distribute impact force across a wider area to reduce its effect.

The outfit lacked the bolder designs of some of the other heroes. This was in part due to the fact that Cece had yet to choose a cryptonym, or as Julian liked to say, a 'nomme de guerre'. It was true, Cece hadn't picked an alias or codename for the field. It didn't seem like something that would matter for her, her face was after all already kind of famous. That didn't stop the team from trying to give her one, she was pretty sure Gabi and Hana had dubbed her the 'Bionic Bitch' in their group chat and Charity had definitely heard Kevin refer to her as the 'Nanite Nymph' at least once to Red. To the rest of the world, she was just @CeceLives, and to her friends just 'Cece'.

"Hey, Beautiful People!" Charity smiled into her phone's camera as she began to leave her room. "Guess who just got her first mission? That's right, it's your girl." Cece knew if she didn't do something for her followers before the mission, her parents would flip.

"Turns out some real bad people have decided to initiate a robbery on the Bank of the West in Seattle. Police are already informed and the team and I are on en route. But I need to ask that each of you stay safe and stay far away from the scene. Friends don't let friends go to dangerous situations and unless you're bulletproof," She paused to point at herself. Truth be told, Charity had no idea if she was bulletproof. She had never tested the theory and didn't particularly look forward to doing so.

"Stay home and stay out of the way of the authorities. Leave some love in the comments for the Seattle PD for holding down the fort and keep the roads open for medical. We can all be heroes, guys! Much love and God bless!" Pocketing her phone as she stepped off the last step, Cece looked towards Julian and Conor, flashing her million-dollar smile before she nodded.

"I'm ready, what do you want me to do?"

---