[IC] Titans of Earth

[Famotill]

There they all stood, the fresh meat of Sanctum, the new recruits to the Basic Probational Assistance Program. These young men and women were the future of not only Sanctum but the world, though Tracey Gordon, wasn't too sure. He knew all too well what it took to become a Sanctum Officer, and to be quite frank, many of these kids didn't seem to stack up, but it wasn't his call. He simply followed orders. He stood in front of the restless group, though they all said nothing so far. They just stood there. Did they know what to expect? Gordon sure didn't during his tenure in the BPAP. Nevertheless, his thoughts vanished when Fiidow Warsame nudged him with a not so subtle elbow.

"You nervous?" Warsame asked, he was tall (around six foot five) and thin. He was dressed in the armor of a Sanctum Officer, helmet included. He had pale white skin, and orange hair, with sharp green eyes. His voice was somewhat deep, and almost had the linger of some untraceable foreign accent. He looked to his comrade, Animal. It was so strange seeing him in disguise, even more strange himself. These morph suits were definitely incredible technology.

"A little," he sighed. "Though I think they're more nervous than anything." Animal observed the faces of some of the members of this new team. They all seemed so young, so inexperienced to this world they were entering. Some of them certainly had scars, whether visible or not, but scars are only ghosts of what used to be there. Animal knew they'd have a lot more than that by the end of this for better or for worse.

"Maybe, but they've also gotta be excited. They're all so caught up in their own worlds right now, at least...that's how I was." Warsame had been apart of the BPAP only five years ago, making him one of the newest and youngest Sanctum Officers. He had no idea why Bella allowed him to be an overseer, but he certainly took note in her trust.

"Eh...I don't know," Animal answered without much enthusiasm. "It's been a while since I was in their place. Still..." Animal looked to Warsame. "Hard to imagine it's much different."

[Eyeris]

There was a mix of emotions in that room. Anxiety, excitement, apprehension, fear… Hope. These emotions gently stirred around her, for now, her comrades seemed to have themselves in check. Their feelings were not all that different from any other exam or test environment, perhaps a bit more heightened, but not nearly enough to bother the empath. The line was reasonably straight, their attention on their instructors.

The instructors were the most difficult to read, as it was with more mature and disciplined minds, as well as the fact as the instructors were neutral to their presence. They had no emotional attachment to this line of recruits. The young titans were just another line-up, and when they were done with their training the instructors would have a new lineup and do the exact same thing again, and again and again. Repetition tended to create apathy. The easiest person to read, was of course, the student right next to her. Magara stood so close to them she thought she could feel the beat of their heart. Magara herself stood at the very end of the line, small and dark, her eyelids lazily sunk halfway down over her dark grey eyes, her hair tucked under tightly under a black scarf wound around her head.

It was really Carl who capped off their end of the lineup. He sat beside her at attention with his tail still and curled around his bottom, his nose in the air, his black fur perfectly shiny and flat along his back, ears pointed forward, chestnut eyes attentive and alert. She had washed him the night before, wanting him to look and feel his best for today. He was very calm, this type of formation was familiar to him, he had been in so many lineups before when he had been in the military. He knew exactly what to do, and hoped that he set a good example for the greener recruits (Carl assumed he was back in the military). He patiently waited for instructions from his dearest human.

Magara took her cues from her calm canine companion. She moved her hand a few inches to touch the fur of his neck. Carl was the most relaxed presence in the room. She sought to share that emotion with him. She was unused to this environment, but it seemed simple enough. They told her to stand in the line, so she stood in a line, and waited until they told her what to do next. She sought to be as patient and calm as Carl, while waiting for the next chapter of her life to begin.

[Scarifar]

Press sighed mentally. He felt insecure while he wasn't wearing his armor, which he had placed in his storage cube. It seemed like good manners at the time, but now it seemed off. At least he had his most trustworthy creation and friend, Horus. And what a beauty Horus is, but more of that at another time, as he and his future comrades around him now had a more important matter ahead of them.

[Avanhelsing]

Kyle stood at his space in the line messing with his Brace. He was currently manipulating the electricity around them. Curently he was playing with the currents making his hair go in any number of ways. It was what he did when he felt worried or threathened. His brace helped him control his powers as they waited. He had no idea if he even belonged here. He looked around wondering if there would be some sort of test for them. He could easily climb this room if he used his static cling. Too bad he did have time to do so. There was some guy with a notepad or would noticce the slight change in the fields. Maybe just maybe.

[Famotill]

Ambrose stood at attention stuck in between Magara and Ming, which he didn't particularly mind. They smelled nice enough, he thought to himself. Ambrose could see that many of the others were definitely nervous, peaking his head out and down the line every now and again. Nervousness wasn't really his style, of course he had a small sensation of anxiety, he wouldn't be human if he hadn't. But he figured that things that can't be helped aren't worth dwelling on. He was here now, with the rest of them. After today, they'd be a team for a while. So he figured he'd get comfortable.

"Nice dog," he mused in a hushed tone, as he looked over to Magara, not really expecting a response given her nervousness. He faced back forward, smiling to himself. He hadn't seemed to attract the attention of the two overseers, not that they were paying too much attention anyway.

[RainDash]

Cora stood at attention with the other recruits, but she kept her hands in her pockets and slouched. She kept the shadows in the room close to try and minimize glare, but no matter what she did, everything was just too bright. People lived with spotlights on them all the time, but it never bothered them. No, she just had to be the lucky one and be able to see in the dark. Great power for when she was on her own, but apparently people liked being out during the daytime for whatever reason. So the only thing Cora could do was stand there under the blinding lights and wait.

She was next to someone who looked as though he belonged on the news, being a newsworthy story or something. She didn't really like watching TV too much, but when she could turn the brightness down on them she would watch bits and pieces of news. It wasn't often she'd come across a television like that though, so most of the news came with very little context. There was also a girl with a dog, and it looked like the dog was well trained. Cora hadn't ever seen a dog sit that still before, or even seem to be paying that much attention to the speakers. The dog was more used to the military-like line up they were in than she was.

Cora really just wanted to get on with the dumb thing already, the whole standing around bit they were doing right now only served to make her angry.

[Pathfinder]

Nathan was confused, the sedatives were wearing off. After the event at Alaska, Nathan had been taken over here and they said they had to do a "necessary implant", whatever that was. As he looked around lazily, the sedatives finally loosing their grip on his mind he noticed two things. Firstly that he was in a lineup with lots of kids around his age, if a bit younger. Secondly he was at the end of the end of one side of the lineup, with a girl next to him. She wasn't too tall but she had a "Screw the world" air about her, hopefully she wasn't too mean. That might cause problems. As he looked down the line he saw at the other end there was a small girl with a dog. Nathan liked dogs. In Nathans sedative addled mind, all he wanted to do was go over there and pet that dog. But that thought line came to a halt once his body started clocking overtime and started to burn up the sedatives pretty quickly.

However with most of the sedatives gone, Nathan noticed a faint stinging in his arms and looked at them for the first time in what seemed like forever. They were covered in gauze and at the tips of were the gauze ended he could see the burn scars from...the accident. Nathan felt a pang guilt, the damage he had caused would cost the family and the local government much, all because he got angry.

No matter, what happened is in the past and there is no changing that, there's no use living in it. With that in mind, Nathan straitened up his stature and waited, hoping no one talked to him until the sedatives completely left his body.

[Kilo6]

Glancing around the line up was a... odd looking late teen girl. Her right eye glowed with an intense blue while her left was a much calmer shade of yellow. Two tall black, dog like ears occasionally twisted and turned as if scanning the room like a sonar dish. A fluffy tail swished about behind her. Of course, to say this girl was at all odd would have to be an unrelated statement to the current situation. Lined up in the room were the next generation of Sanctum, the new recruits of tomorrow's super heroes. They were all odd, abnormalities of the world, and this girl seem to fit right in.

Her name is Avis, and this was her new life. As she looked around, she took note of her prospective teammates and friends. The young man next to her seemed to be a bit dazed, but non the less aware. A short girl near the end with a dog gently pet her companion. Everyone seemed to be nervous, for whatever reason. Avis even admitted she was a bit nervous herself, unsure of what her future held, but was more excited than anything. She could proudly display her powers, as she did now, without having to be too self conscious about it. Of course, as her home town could tell you, she wasn't particular about her appearance to begin with. Though despite her display, her actual current state wasn't even on the normal level she usually entered, which caused her two eye colors to exist simultaneously. Non the less she felt it was sort of her role to show what she had if anything to show why she was here. After getting a good look of her fellow teammates and the instructors, her excitement only went higher.

"This.... will be fun..." she thought to herself, a smile slowly coming across her face.

[Famotill]

Feng, tightened the grip in his fist, as he looked down at the floor. There was so much sweat piling up in his palm from just how nervous he was. He tried to wipe some of the sweat unto his shorts, before crumpling his fist back up. He took a deep breathe, trying to calm himself down. Being the son of a superhero who was almost as legendary as Titan Man was incredibly nerve-wracking. Feng's forest green eyes shifted to see both Ambrose and Ming standing next to him. He saw a smirk on the older male's face, while slight indifference and even a yawn from the purple haired girl. He didn't understand how they could be so calm. Closing his eyes for a minute, he pictured the sight and sound of waves crashing, that always seemed to soothe him...

[Gisk]

Bruce stood between a kid who looked like he was trying to fill the room with sweat, and some girl who he hadn't gotten a good look at yet(what a shame...). He was just starting to get annoyed with their handlers, or whatever they should be called. They were standing up there, just murmuring quietly to themselves while all of the newbies had to stand here quietly.

His patience was short lived, and when it ran out, he desynced, slowing his own personal time. He saw the effect immediately. The minor swaying or shifting or slight motions of those around him suddenly sped up drastically, so that it looked like he was looking at a room on fast forward. Meanwhile, those who looked at him would see someone standing almost still, seeming to take only one breath a minute, and not blinking at all.

In this state, he watched and waited for any cue that things were about to start moving.

[SaraRPs]

‘This must be some sort of tactic to see if we can stand high pressure situations. Cause goddamn the tension in here is suffocating!’ Linn took a deep breath letting out a long sigh through her nose. She kept her gaze to the ground as she was wedged between two very tall boys well, let’s face it many people are tall to her. It was this that caused her to flush red when she walked in and took her place next the boys before the commanders entered the room, and why she was still beet red now.

‘Come on Linn at least look sort of tough...look at your comrades for god sake!’ The fact that she was having this internal rant was worrisome, but for now she did as her subconscious told her and glanced up at the boy to her right. Looked like a surfer dude with an even stranger hair color choice. She could hear the blood flowing through his body which was rather loud and gave away his noticeable nervousness. Poor boy, at least she wasn't the only one that felt like hiding under a rock. The one at her left however, looked…not even alive. It took a good minute of her staring to notice him actually breathe, it shocked her and she jumped slightly avoiding her gaze.

Suddenly the smell of burned flesh and blood passed by her making her head shoot up looking up and down the line of teens. How she knew this was a mystery but she eventually found the source coming from a young man with blonde hair looking as if he was just coming out of a coma. He had lifted some gauze on his arm revealing burns making her to look away quickly and gag a little. Maybe she could ease the pain later like she did before when she burned her hand on the stove.

A little ways down was a girl and her dog. Dogs, she loved dogs. Hated cats but loved dogs. Perhaps a similar love of them can start conversation later on between them. She knew that this wasn't about making friends but it wouldn't hurt to have allies. Linn glanced up at the commanders and noticed their gazes were on all of them almost judgingly so she brought her own gaze forward as if to mimic confidence when her heart felt it was going to explode in her chest.

[Scarifar]

Press took the time to check his cube for any malfunctions. None of his creations were perfect, far from it, and it was up to him to find the imperfections before it was too late. He brought up a virtual keyboard and typed in his passwords for each security lock he put in it. Once that was done, a menu was brought up, showing what he had placed inside. All that was in was his armor, other gadgets, and some works in progress. Satisfied that no bugs came up this time, he closed the menu, re-locked his cube, and reattached it to his belt.

[ColouredCyan]

Stitches right eye swivelled lazily downwards independently to its counterpart, momentarily giving her a rather confused perspective of current events, but made squeezing between a girl who already didn't seem to be doing all to well and a 6'4 Goliath who's hairstyle pinged to a new one periodically with the fidgeting of a bangle on one arm no harder than usual. She would have liked to have be unable to admit she didn't have enough experience in squeezing between two such people to know how hard it was usually and thus make such an comparison but star crossed elevator accident victims make the best heart donors. This sort of begs how the elevator victim's hairstyle changed so rapidly, but its a funny story for another time... Alright, I'll give you a clue, it was to do with the contents of the purse and the dinner trolley.

Too busy reminiscing, she forgot to fix her eye before attempting to reassure the poor mixed raced girl and smiled innocently, eye wobbling in its socket before mouthing, "Don't worry, its going to be ok". Content with the friendly impression she surely made on the girl and her fast paced networking with her future donors she turned back to face the front awaiting what everyone else was waiting for. Instruction. Presumably, Stitches was no mind-reader.

The atmosphere was surprisingly tense, largely due to two or three personalities (no names) but otherwise everyone seemed to be unprepared for instant carnage that was about to separate the nervous few's upper halves from the lower, at least something equally horrific had to occur for them to be so stressed already.

[Pathfinder]

As the last of the sedatives left his system, finally being burnt up. Nathan was able to fully take in his surroundings. Ahead of him was several men, hushed whispers and occasional stares coming from them. It wasn't a major issue, he had grown accustomed to it while living on the streets. Looking to his right there was a lineup of people, some looked more odd than others. Like the guy with the floaty hair, the chick with the purple hair, and the girl right next to him who appeared to have dog ears and a tail. Ok, so that wasn't a drug induced hallucination. Well then, that's not something you see everyday.

As Nathans gaze traveled down the line he noticed a girl with what looks like an, "OH MAN! Is that a dog? I love dogs." Nathan thought to himself. Lost in his thoughts, Nathan was dragged back to reality to the stinging in his hands, remembering Alaska. With a sigh, Nathan just stared at his hands. Eventually they would heal, but the scars would still be there. A constant reminder that he lost his temper. With the drugs out of his system nothing stopped the flood of regret from breaking into his mind and with the already thick tension in the air, Nathan's shoulders slouched, bummed out.

Looking at the girl next to him, Nathan felt like asking about her ears but held back. Not wanting to offend the girl. No need to make enemies just yet. So Nathan just slouched there, bummed out, pained, and drug free. Kind of wishing that he had more sedatives.

[Famotill]

Boots clamped against the metal floor outside of the conference room where all of the new recruits were standing. The feet belonged to Bella Nunez, Commanding Officer of Sanctum. As she made her way towards the conference room, a tablet littered with data in hand, the officers that crossed her path stopped and shot up a salute, clean and precisely. As she made her way into the room Tracey (Animal) and Fiidow (Guardian) saluted as well.

"At ease soldiers," she said giving them a quick glance as she walked past them. Through the disguise of her helmet, Bella had light blue eyes, fair skin, and blonde bangs brushed to the side. Those same misleading eyes studied the group before her. She had read all of their files already of course. Typically the teams were much larger, but these students had more potential than she had seen in her couple of years as CO.

For a few seconds the woman stood there. Not before long, she gave a fierce glare to the young people before her, taking a firm stance as her boot clapped to the ground, a slanted flat palm meeting her temple in a salute. This of course was a motion for the rest to do the same.

Seeing this, Ambrose, Ming and Feng immediately put their hand up to match the salute.

[Scarifar]

Press was in thought about how he could fix the odd glitch in his helmet visor screen when he heard someone say something. He returned from his thoughts to see someone making a salute. Press thought it'd be wise to match it, and did as much. The one who just walked in definitely had the air of command, and it'd be unwise to not do the same, especially since others were doing the same.

[Gisk]

Something suddenly changed in Bruce's sped up vision of events. As quickly as he could, he resynchronized his time field, and saw that everyone else was saluting. He brought up his hand in a slightly belated salute. That's what you get, he supposed, for fastforwarding real life.

[SaraRPs]

Linn had kept her eyes on the woman the entire time she entered the room. She noticed how the passing soldiers saluted her with a presence of honor and respect around them. She had the power here. She could see it in the way the woman carried herself, and immediately she felt great respect for her. 'Still early Linn. Save your judgement for later. Quit trusting so easily...' Right. She had a problem with that. Instead of looking at the blond woman with admiration she kept her gaze cold and skeptic. As the woman stood there looking for a moment she figured she would just stare at them for no apparent reason...again so she let her eyes glaze over.

At the sound of boots clapping together her head shot up looking at the woman's salute and at some of the others copying her. She did the same and lifted her right hand up to her head in a sharp salute finally ready for the beginning of their service to start.

[Famotill]

Bella stood in front of the students, studying them one last time. Slowly, she took off her helmet. The sound of air being released filled the room with a hushed whisper, as Bella changed from a blonde woman, into one with brown hair. Instantly her eyes shifted to a dark brown, and her skin a mocha color. Her eyes narrowed, as she took a breathe.

"You are all here today, as the newest members of the Basic Probational Assistance Program," she began- and immediately her voice commanded respect there was a harsh tone buried within her feminine voice. Though she was still young, the woman carried with her an experience that arguably no one else in the room had. She continued. "The lives you knew, for better..." Her glance switched from one student to the next, a vigorous tension forming through their mutual eye contact. "Or for worse are behind you. After tonight, you will not carry your burdens onto this team, for the burden of one is the burden of all."

"Some might call us superheroes, some even call us Titans, but we are neither. Before you are a hero or a criminal, you are a soldier. Before you are a sister, or brother, or lover, or child, you are a soldier. Before you are a titan, you are a soldier of Sanctum." She stepped closer to the recruits now, walking past each one inspecting them all personally.

"Now, tonight you do not know what that means, but by the end of your training here, you will. That is why, in the presence of your superior, you salute, just like you did here today." As she said this she made her way to Feng Kahale, without saying anything to him directly, she straightened his arm and his posture, making his salute more precise in the process. "At ease recruits," she stepped back allowing the group to lower their hands.

[Little Bill]

Dropping his salute, Lenny crunched his neck, twisting it back and forth. He had been standing at attention for quite some time, and formalities were the least of his specialties.
"Heh. He got straightened." He thought to himself, smiling lightly. This thought preoccupied him for a moment, before he focused on what the woman had said. Even through his own casual demeanor, one thought rang through his head.
"Your lives, for better or for worse, are behind you."
Lenny pondered on that for a moment, with memories of his life being replayed like an old tape. Sitting on his stoop with his older brother. His first baseball game. Watching the stars by the bridge. Friends from juvenile detention. All of those were parts of his life. And all of that was behind him now. It was an eerie feeling, and he shivered a bit.