[IC] Titans of Earth

[SaraRPs]

Linn was about to strike back at the bastard, when Ambrose called them out to stop. Being the makeshift leader of sorts she didn’t want to get into trouble with him. Even though her blood was boiling at the way that asshole disregarded her completely and slipped through her subzero ice. There was no need for him to burn THAT hot. But that was OK. If he wanted an enemy, then he has one right here waiting for him to fail. Linn let the ice melt from her hand and flexed it giving Jack a smug smile knowing that his oil didn’t injure her one bit.

She scoffed at Jack’s question to Ambrose, “You know if you paid attention at the debriefing you would know right? What, to busy maintaining that massive ego to care?” Linn knew she was being spiteful and bitchy, but he decided to be an asshole towards her first and she was just returning the favor. Without waiting for an answer she turned away and reached down gathering her tablet from Nathan, “I know I know. I just can’t help it sometimes.” She was about to plop down onto her seat when she finally saw Magara standing in the back of the craft, rubbing her hands over her face she cursed quietly and got up and started for her.

She reached down and stroked Carl behind his ears before giving Mag a hug, “I’m really sorry.” She took her hand and guided her and Carl to sit next to Nathan, who’s emotions were in better control, artificially or not, than the rest of the on the plane and with a sigh sat down with them.

[ColouredCyan]

There was something about being in a flying metal box with volitile, angry super-powered humans about to go on a witch hunt for an angrier super-powered human of unknown volitility made Stitches a touch nervous. Just a touch. Who was she kidding? She was terified. Why would you send so many people for this one woman? They clearly didn't think we'd all make it back in one piece. This didn't seem to occur to everyone else or they wouldn't be having such a petty dispute about who was the most powerful when It was pretty obvious who that was as she climbed on board. Stitches gripped the small vial of her own AB-type blood which swirled erratically and with no respect for the laws of gravity, attempting to free itself of its containment to defend its master.

The dispute grew more violent, escalating to an actual dick waving competition which only made Stitches more anxious. These were the people she had to depend on to protect and back her up in a real fight. the target was going to be a doddle compared to surviving this lot. The pre-mission stress was getting to her, she needed to talk to a sane human being who might also understand the gravity of the situation, or atleast not want to talkabout who has the biggest power-penis. As she climbed on Linn rushed out, drawing attention on a ghostly silent Magara, who must be having a ball with the testorone and fear being so high. She settled next to Press, who was as sane as it gets here and hoped they could engage in some reassuring and/or sensible discussion about what was about to go on because this was the most unplanned thing she'd done in a long time and Stitches needed contingency plans up to about plan G before she was about to get comfortable.

"You don't seem that nervous about putting your head on the line to catch a potentially dangerous individual, whats your secret?"

[Scarifar]

Press was lost in thought when someone asked him, "You don't seem that nervous about putting your head on the line to catch a potentially dangerous individual, whats your secret?" His head snapped up and he turned toward Stitches. His visor popped up, and he said, "What are you talking about? I'm plenty nervous. The trick is just being able to hide it really well." Press smiled and continued on. "That put aside, though, wearing a high-tech suit of armor helps as well." Horus then tapped Press' helmet with his wing and made a small noise. Press turned toward Horus and said, "Yeah yeah, having you here helps too, Horus." Horus then dipped his head down as if to nod in agreement. Press turned back toward Stitches and smiled. "So yeah, I'm just fine, thanks for asking. What about you, though?"

[Gisk]

Bruce was tired and bedraggled this morning. He had his mask pulled down over his eyes, trying to catch a nap(at x3 synchronization, to get some extra time) while they were in transit. Unlike Nathan, who could be pumped full of drugs to keep his powers in check, the Overseers seemed to be at a loss for what to do about Bruce's power. They could completely turn it off with a Titan restraining collar, but that was just a bandaid for his lack of control. Instead, they opted on forcing rigorous control training on him. Though they couldn't control his synchronization, they could measure it.
He was outfitted with a watch that had both a regular, mechanical clock, and a digital one with a remote link to an atomic clock back at HQ. The digital would always show Normal Earth Time, and the mechanical clock would always show Bruce's Relative Time. There was a third display that calculated how many times NET the current BRT was. Not only was he expected to keep a steady desync level while performing difficult tasks, but they had taken to having him hold his sync at .85 while sparring. It gave Bruce a new appreciation for what it was like to fight him, but he could see a big difference from when they first started doing that to him. It was definitely honing his reflexes and physical speed.

His control over his powers was improving, but last night he had had a bad dream(nerves before his first mission) and accidentally slowed his personal time, making him tired and sleep deprived the next morning.

Some kind of commotion woke him, and he raised his hood and resynced to see Linn and the new guy about to match blows. He briefly considered getting between them(as was a habit of his whenever his teammates seemed about to fight) but Ambrose was on top of things, as usual. Bruce decided it was a bit late to be sleeping, so he pulled his mask back off of his head and rubbed his face.

"How're we going to find her?" he broke in to the conversation about the mission suddenly, "Split up?"

[Eyeris]

“Thanks Linn.” Water-lilly-Linn who was always kind to Magara, as much as Mag quietly appreciated that kindness, she did not appreciate it enough to sit with Linn beside Nathan. ‘I’m going to sit over here’ she would say quietly and change directions.

Nathan had better drugs these days. But he was still the most difficult Titan for Magara to be around. His rage was ever-present, contained under a frighteningly thin veil of civility. The rage was a part of his power and his strength, a part of his person and his past, like her own titan-gene it could never be completely repressed. Maybe I need some drugs for my powers too. Plenty of humans took drugs to keep from feeling emotions. Prozac, Lithium... I should ask the nurse when we get back…

She also steered away from the new Titan, Jack. He promoted himself on her list of people-she-would-avoid-as-much-as-possible. He was now second only to Nathan. The difference between Jack and Nathan was essential. Nathan was unable control his rage, Jack chose not to. She considered putting his name above Nathans for a moment, but decided second place was good enough for Jack.

The environment on the plane had calmed, Mag released Carl to socialize as he would. He went to Cora immediately. The two were fast friends. Cora didn’t like anyone else, including Magara. Cora was very wary of Mag. It was not an uncommon or unreasonable reaction, Mag knew her powers were invasive by their nature. Yet, there was nothing she could do but stay away from her and try not to make any trouble from it.

Press and Stitches were talking together. Stitches had been especially distant the past month. Magara wondered that her limbs would fall of without any pain. It confused Mag and her senses when the girl separated herself. It actually gave her headaches! Press had been very courteous to Magara, but Mag was always worried about accidentally running into Horus or one of his other inventions that she could not detect with her powers. Press kept a cool mechanical demeanor most of the time, but that is not how Magara perceived him at all. She was unaware of the duality between his face and his feelings, because she never actually saw his face. She left the two of them to talk alone.

Ambrose was in the front of the aircraft, flustered by his teammates behavior and trying to focus on the mission. He was speaking with Jack, so Mag would stray away from them. She was probably not someone who should be making the plan anyhow. She had never been to New York City and knew nothing about it, she was intimidated that their first mission was in such a big city. So many people crammed in together, millions of people, one Titan to find. There was an english adage about a needle and a haystack that applied perfectly, but Magara did not recall it exactly.

The most calm people in the aircraft were Bruce and Azrael.

Bruce had hardly reacted to the fight. It was as if he were on another wavelength than everyone else. He seemed this way most of the time. It likely had to do with his power, he could deal with any problem in his own time and the fame of mind he chose. It was an impressive advantage, or perhaps he just had a calm and temperate personality. Bruce was talking to Ambrose, Jack and Linn about the mission...

So that left Azrael, she sat by him.

Azrael was new like Jack, and that was the only thing they had in common. Azrael didn’t talk about himself of his powers. He wasn’t around for the ice-breakers and Magara was not one to pry into his business. She kept her curiosity to herself. They said that he always wore a blindfold but no one knew why. Is he blind? He doesn’t seem like it... Many titan costumes involved a special fabric over the eyes, so the titan could see out but no one else could see in. It was likely to protect his identity, or perhaps like Cora and her sunglasses, to conceal an odd appearance, or perhaps he was blind. Magara wanted to ask, but did not. She decided to lay low for now.

She thought about Ink. Ink had been a BAP training. She had been number 07 like Stitches. She left before her training was complete. The report did not say why she left only how much destruction she had left in her wake.

The assignment made sense. SEVERAL untrained titans should be able to handle ONE untrained titan. However, there was no indication in her file on her post-BAP-activities. What if Ink had learned some new tricks?

Magara sighed. Breathing in for seven seconds, holding her breath for seven, breathing out for seven more...

[Yog Sothoth]

"Oh shut up and stop making things worse" Jack spat back at Linn when she responded to his question about the mission, and his eyes flashed a bright orange. She was just trying to make things worse and now she was trying to play apologetic but he wouldn't be fooled, if she can't take the heat then she should leave the kitchen, that's what Jack believed. All he knew was that he wasn't going to back down and let these jerks walk all over him, he would fight back if they tried anything.

He listened to Bruce ask how they were going to find the criminal they were looking for a and if they should split up, Jack replied, "We probably shouldn't split up otherwise the risk of being ambushed. Wherever this person is hiding, I could probably get there by burning through the walls."

Jack was hoping to get the chance to melt away walls during a mission sometime and now might be the one where he would get to do it. Now the only question was, could this team ever work together? Right now Jack was having a huge amount of doubt.

[Pathfinder]

Nathan gave an indifferent "Nice to see you too Margara" without any malice intended. He didn't have anything against her decision of not sitting next to him, being the Vessel of Rage did have its (many) drawbacks. Relaxing once again, Nathan's thoughts drifted back to the mission and an uneasy feeling wormed its way into his gut as his anxieties made themselves known. They were all the same. What if I hurt someone, what if I go too far, what if Alaska happened all over again? Letting his head fall back, Nathan let the anxieties run their course. Soon enough he got over it, packing them away until they inevitably popped up again.

At Jacks suggestion of not splitting up, Nathan said "I'd have no problem with splitting up, we'd be able to cover more ground that way." Either way, Nathan didn't care. Just as long as they got the target then he would call it a good day. However the itching in his scars would point to the opposite of a good day and no matter how much he willed it to be, the scars never lied. Hopefully they would for just this once. Pulling his mask up a bit, Nathan tilted his head back and water falled from the bottle he carried with him. When he was done, Nathan nudged Linn and asked if she wanted any. Nathan wasn't totally clear on how her power worked, maybe she needed water in her body to do her thing? Any way a little hydration never hurt anybody.

[Scarifar]

Press looked past Stitches when he heard the argument escalating again. "Excuse me a moment," he said to Stitches as he closed his visor and walked over to Jack and Linn. "Knock it off, Jack. We have other things to worry about. And Linn, don't provoke him. That's not helping either," Press said, his voice sounding more threatening coming from the speakers on his helmet. At least he thought they did.

"As for burning through walls, that's a terrible idea, in more ways than one. That would alert our target of our immediate presence and she'd either avoid us like the plague or ambush us from the high ground. Not to mention the fear of any innocents getting hurt," Press explained. "As for splitting up, I propose 2 groups, with Horus here in one group and me in the other. Either one of us can alert the other if we spot the target, bringing the groups together to take her down."

[Gisk]

Bruce rolled his eyes but said nothing as Jack continued to yell about something or other. He didn't want to comment or join the argument, having been asleep when it started and therefore unaware of what it was actually about.

"Done?" Bruce asked, "Good. Does it make sense to expect an ambush? Who knows we're on this mission besides us? She can't lie in wait if she doesn't know we're coming. I guess the military grade jet doesn't help, we could have just flown commercial and tried to be covert."

Press jumped in and dumped on Jack's "burning through walls" idea. He also called him by the wrong name, which Bruce found amusing.

"Yeah," Bruce agreed, "Not too subtle. I guess nothing about you is. I wonder why that is...?"

"Do we have a plan besides 'look for people with tattoos?'"

[Yog Sothoth]

"I think you don't know how I burn through walls, my arms will act like insanely hot blowtorch and will cleanly cut a hot through the wall, there will be no harm to the civilians, and if I burn my way through in the right place then she would not be alerted to our entrance. Also can you not use my real name while we are in the field of duty, it's Fire Stream" Jack replied to Press.

He could see his plan working, after all if they entered the criminal's hiding place the main way then there would a good chance that she would be alerted to them and then there would be a good chance that she might get away. He hoped that the plane would take off soon before even more trouble happened and delayed their mission. Jack adjusted his cowboy hat and got comfortable in his seat as he waited for them to be off.

[Scarifar]

"Clean cut I suppose I can believe, but there lies another problem," Press said. "The hole itself. Even an idiot would be able to tell that it wasn't caused by natural forces. I mean, who's going to believe that a circular hole, or whatever the hell kind of shape you're gonna make, is natural? Not to mention that people would be able to check to see how fresh such a thing would be. I know I could. Plus, civilians would converge toward the hole since it would be such an oddity. Their curiosity would override their sense of danger and we'd lose any element of surprise we'd have, not to mention that those civilians would make easy pickings of hostages, or worse. So, Jack, we're still in this aircraft, and not exactly the 'field of duty' yet. You save your oily flame for when we actually need it."

[Famotill]

Ambrose thought to himself for a few moments taking in the other team members suggestions. Taking a deep breath he spoke up," We should split up, New York is a huge place. Those who've never been to the city will have to stick with those who I have. I can lead the first team, I've been there multiple times. I'll take Magara, Jack, and Azrael with me. Given his powers, I think it would make sense that Bruce lead the second team: Press, Linn, Cora and Nathan can go with him." He wanted to try and avoid putting people together that might have problems, and it seemed to work out this way. Press' armor and suit could no doubt help with navigation and was seemingly subtle.

"As for entering the city, we won't be parachuting or anything fun like that. I spoke with the Commander before the mission, she recommended that we keep to the high ground. If people can see us, than according to Commander Nunez, this 'Ink' will already know we're there. As for the landing, Miss Nunez said that the 'Vertebrae AR 700' had cloaking abilities, and the size and maneuverability to fly through a major metropolis. We'll be discreetly dropped off on a building. Our destination is Queens as it's the most probable place to find her given her ties to the Underground crime syndicate."

"The most important thing to remember for this mission is to remain subtle. So, no burning through walls as many of the buildings, particularly in neighborhoods like Ridgewood are highly flammable. Also, no jet packs, we do this the titan why, by using our naturally advanced agility and jumping capabilities to stick to the rooftops. If you find anything of interest, you'll have comms open through our headpieces," Ambrose, emphasized this by pushing out his earlobe to show a small device that looked like a piercing. "Jack is right about one thing though, when we're out on the field we call each other by our aliases."

Ambrose had hoped that this plan seemed logical to the rest, as he was already pretty tired of the arguments. They simply had to find her, he didn't even want to think what failure might mean.

[Scarifar]

Press was nodding at a lot of Ambrose's suggestions, but then there was one problem he couldn't ignore. "Ambrose, you seem to be forgetting that I don't have physical enhancements like a lot of you guys, hence the armor," Press interjected. "Also, my jetpack emits no fumes and is quite silent. So really, I don't have any other choice but to use it if I must stick to the rooftops." He then had Horus walking onto his forearm and said, "Take Horus with you, though. Either of us can locate the other much easier than by using some headpiece," holding out Horus toward Ambrose.

[Famotill]

Ambrose nodded in remark to Press's interjection. "You only use it as a boost to clear jumps, but do not fly, alright? As for Horus, I had another idea. I was thinking that he'd be able to scout the area much more quickly than most of us. Then if he finds something he can bring the closest group to the area." Horus was no doubt an asset for this mission, and with the guise of night, he shouldn't rouse any suspicion.

With that, the aircraft began to slow down, no doubt they'd reach their destination soon. While Ambrose went over the plan in his head, Azrael simply kept to himself. He had only gave a passing glance to Magara who sat next to him. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to the others, it's just that things were...complicated. Reviewing Ambrose's plan, Azrael nodded in agreement, he was ready to finally get started.

[Scarifar]

Press nodded. "It's a good idea, Ambrose, but the thing is, though," Press said. "Horus only talks to me. If he finds something, he'd only be able to inform me of anything. Then I'd have to relay that info to you guys. Not that big of a problem, really, but I thought I should mention it all the same." After all, it could mean the difference between success and failure for the mission. "All the same, take him with you anyway. He'll stay close to you guys, and my point of finding each other still stands."

[RainDash]

Well, at least she was with mostly level headed people. "I can move around quickly on the ground. If there's a shadow, I can be in it and out just as fast. Plus, it's not like I'm running around in gaudy costumes like you lot. If I'm made, I'll be out of there so quick she'll think that it was just her eyes betraying her." Cora was stating this clearly, as she had no interest in going up on rooftops and running around like crazies. If she was mobile and careful, then the target would suspect nothing. She hadn't been to Queens much, so she'd have to take extra care to notice the shadows and memorize the spaces. "Unless you like watching me try and jump from roof to roof and pointing out how much of a stupid idea it is for me to do that when I could be watching from inside the crowd."

[Famotill]

Ambrose had to admit that Cora had a point, her powers and costumes did allow for a more subtle approach on the ground. "Alright Cora, I'll bite, but if something comes up or you get into trouble, call us in. She's good with parkour, if she makes you or if she's on the rooftops she'll be able to outrun you if you stick to the ground." If Cora wasn't so accustomed to working on here own, Ambrose figured she'd make a pretty good leader herself. The way Ambrose saw it, Press and Cora had far more potential coming up with plans than he did, but he did have a certain charisma that allowed many others to respect his opinion, at least he hoped they did, they certainly listened. Nonetheless, with their destination so near even Ambrose felt a knot in his stomach.

[Yog Sothoth]

Jack smiled and gave a praise, "Thank God, I won't have to deal with having to watch my back for betrayal."

He listed to Ambrose mention that the buildings around Queens Jack chuckled, "I thought Yankees were perfect with constructing buildings."

Even though he was disappointed with not being able to melt through walls, he was still glad to not be in the same group as Linn and Cora. Press would have his work cut out for him to keep Cora in line. When she mentioned her being able to easily sneak into the place and slighted their costumes, "Hay there's no need to insult our choices of dress, yours' isn't too good looking ether. And Ambrose gave the orders so I suggest we follow them and work together."

More slighting, no wonder this team was on its way to disaster, Too many egos in this group.

[Gisk]

"Yeah," Bruce said, staring Jack down, "Ambrose ordered me group two's leader. And I say," he clicked his finger and gave Cora a finger gun, "Totally do that. Actually, I wish I was in civvies. Hey, Press, can you get like a GPS display thing on your suit? It'd be really helpful, especially if Horus is feeding you stuff. What can the rest of you do to help?"

[Scarifar]

"No, Bruce, I've been using some old-school map on some really old paper- of course I use a GPS," Press said, trying hard not to laugh. "That's the number one way I locate anything." Horus then started making noises that sounded suspiciously like laughter. "In fact, a GPS was one of the things I added when this suit was still in beta."