KaijuBaragon

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom was gradually getting more and more annoyed - what kind of damn apartment building didn't have a list of the people that lived there next to the apartments that they lived in. It was ridiculous. He got out his phone and was about to text Angie when he heard the door open, and turned around to see the sight of a teenage girl that he recognised well walk up to him, quickly brush past him and say an apartment number, before Patricia got into the elevator and went presumably up to Angie's apartment. Well, he supposed that meant that something was actually happening here. There was no need for Tom to wait for the elevator, he simply strolled over to the staircase and floated up the space in the middle, reaching the floor Angie's apartment was on in no time.

As he walked to apartment, as if confirming Patricia's earlier words, a text from Angie came through that verified that her apartment was indeed the one that Patricia had mentioned to him. He strolled up and knocked on the door, being let in soon after and joining the others. That was odd, though... Why were there only four people, surely for planning a party of such magnitude there would need to be others... and the tiny group of four was missing key players like Blake, Jamie, Felix, who Tom thought should be involved directly in plans for a celebration at H.E.R.O One. Tom grabbed some food and ate, his suspicions still raised as he did so.

Brie, of course, quickly shattered the illusion that this was the planning committee for some wild party by dropping that folder in front of them. He wanted to say something in brief protest, but decided against it and the words died in his throat. Tom stopped eating and flicked through some of the documents, half of his attention on those and the other listening to what Brie had to say. He recognised these heroes that were taken, even though he had never interacted with them in his life. He also recognised the Guglianos, of course, and was thankful he had never had any interactions with any of those.

The planning took a decent amount of time, but Tom was engaged, dropping suggestions here and there. He couldn't deny that this was going to be pretty fun. It wasn't jumping from skyscraper to skyscarper in pursuit of a villain, but it was going undercover in the most dangerous mafia in the whole city, perhaps in the whole world. If that wasn't an adventure, then nothing was. They had to do some shit first - in his case he was looking for clues, but after that it was fake moustaches, fake Italian names and trying to watch Patty pretend to be a hardened mafioso. Although, obviously, he would hope that her impression was good enough that she didn't get them all killed.

When Patricia and Brie had left, he turned to Angelica.

"Well... I guess we should get going on our part, then."

@Amethyst

《 H. E. R. O. 》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《 H. E. R. O. 》

It wasn't very often that Tom and Blake as a pair let had a villain escape from their grasp. He supposed it wasn't exactly their fault - when Blake had been very evidently taken out by the poison dart to his neck, it wasn't as if Tom could exactly leave him lying there and go after Greenhouse. So he grabbed Blake and floated them away to get some medical attention, watching the old lady escape in her vines as the ambleweeds in his sight died steadily as she crept away further and further. At least, if Thomas gained anything from this entire situation, he would make sure not to be too trusting of any old ladies in the future. But that was the nature of Castleburg - absolutely anyone could turn out to be a villain with totally unexpected powers.

But now Tom was sitting in the auditorium, waiting for Powers speech to begin. He could tell something was up, obviously, but that didn't stop him from being bored out of his mind waiting for the damn thing to just start and get over with. He was involved in an absentminded conversation with some random hero girl he had only seen a couple of times before, but the conversation was only partly holding his attention, and he was floating a coin up and down in his hands as another outlet to pass the time. He could only make partial guesses about what this whole thing was going to be about. It had to be something major, as every damn hero in the organisation was sitting here, creating a buzz of noise. He spotted a couple of his friends in the crowd, who looked equally as bored as him. He also caught sight of Powers himself, standing off to the side, wearing not his usual drill sergeant LARP costume, but a well fitting and expensive looking suit. Yeah, something strange was indeed going on.

Final the speech began, and Thomas pocketed the coin and leaned back in his seat, just hoping that whatever this was would be over quick and that it wouldn't change anything, really. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the second condition for Tom not being annoyed by the whole thing would not be met, and face screwed up more and more in annoyance as it went on. So what if there had been lots of damages? If they had just let the ambleweeds go on unattacked, then that total would have been in the tens of billions. He grimaced slightly as Greenhouse's escape was mentioned. But Tom had it in good faith that it would have been considered worse if he had just left Blake there to die or get far more seriously injured. Or maybe ICOSA felt different. Who knows what ICOSA felt about human life.

Tom muttered under his breath as the final portion of the speech was reached. "Fucking supervisors." Well, what a nightmare this was. A bunch of bootlicking, cherrypicked heroes chosen carefully by ICOSA themselves? It was going to be a dozen Zanes. They would probably be even worse than Zane. So much for having fun whilst on the job. It was pretty much going to be inevitable that Tom would be referred to these agents at some point, for "recklessness" or "lack of professionalism" or some other stupid buzzword that these types liked to throw around at people.

But the ending of the speech caught him off guard more than anything. Why was Brie being called up alone by Powers. Did she do something that Tom wasn't aware of? Had there been another incident like that at the Bloopers a little while ago. He was gonna find out. He glanced towards the door, all the heroes now filing out. He floated himself up over the crowd, which occasionally emmitted annoyed shouts that Tom was using his abilities to cut the line. After getting to the door he slipped out and flipped up onto the ceiling, deciding he was going to wait for Brie to come back out and then just ask her what that was all about. He expected a couple of people to do the same.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Thomas couldn't help letting out a small gulp as the plant beast drew nearer and nearer. As it did so, its complex form came more and more into view - if there was any doubt that this thing was completely unusual, then this doubt was completely diminished as the plant-lion bounded towards the trio of heroes. The beast made a sudden move, and before Tom could even react, Blake was in front of him and Zane, firing a burst of flame into the air which Tom was initially confused at - but then he noticed bits of charred plant falling to the ground, and he realised that the creature had launched something at them, and it was only Blake's quick reaction that had saved them. He couldn't help but smirk at Blake, and he quipped him "Good of you to save my life for once, and not the other way around.".

But the issue of the lion itself, and gaining the sample from it, was obviously still pressing. The beast appeared to simply be angered by Blake's stopping of its attack, as it skulked about and looked at the trio. This thing was smart - it was thinking, planning its next move. That was what unnerved Tom the most. But the prospect of fighting something like this was exciting, and it was certainly more thrilling than what he had expected to face when he saw the notification from Powers about fighting a group of big dumb ambleweeds. And if there truly was a villain at the helm of all of this, then that would be something else to fight in due time as well. If Zane could get a sample sequenced as quick as he boasts, then that showdown could happen very soon.

And now Zane was barking orders, telling Tom and Blake to keep the creature down or at least incapacitate it. Blake immediately sent bursts of flame over the creature, and seeing what his friend was trying to do, Tom stepped forward a little and increased the strength of gravity on the creature, keeping it firmly rooted to the spot as Blake's flames did there thing. Before long, the injuries to the beast were evidently too severe, and it stopped making noise. Tom released his grip to watch the creature rise, before keeling back onto the pavement, dead. Zane was on it in an instant, taking a sample and leaving.

Tom shook his head. "Man, that guy is no fun at all, is he? He said, watching Zane fly further and further into the air. "Back to the regular ambleweeds, then?

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Thomas regarded the alley for a moment before shrugging and leaving it be. The ambleweeds were more of an immediate concern than whatever was happening in the street beyond. He retrieved the axe and took out a couple of smaller ambleweeds in the few moments before Blake made a fairly acrobatic landing nearby and walked up to him. He heard his friend speak and turned his head slightly towards him, before Tom processed his words and he craned his neck up to a nearby building to see just what it was that Blake was talking about. His eyes widened slightly.

Whatever the hell that thing was... it wasn't like any ambleweed he had seen before. It looked almost animalistic in its movements, although the sickly shade of green that practically radiated off the thing made it obvious that whatever the thing was, it was made out of plant matter. He responded to Blake. "Damn... I have no idea. Thomas scratched his head, his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the being. "You don't think it's possible for Ambleweeds to like... mutate, do you? Or evolve, or something. I mean, if they're a mutation from the beginning, then it makes sense they could do it again, and become whatever on earth that creepy looking bastard is."

However, soon their conversation was rudely interrupted by the arrival of Zane, the shadow man. Thomas had to physically stop himself rolling his eyes as he floated down to join them, hot off the communications with the rest of his team. Thomas didn't particularly have a problem with them - the rest of the Nova Force seemed cool enough, he supposed. Thomas listened as Zane spoke in a matter-of-fact manner, as he usually did. Although, he did suppose it made sense... the idea of there actually being a person behind this fit with all the mysteries that he couldn't figure out about this particular event. He sighed, but kept his eyes on the new ambleweed, which seemed to be getting closer.

"Well, me and Blake could handle it... but, I guess... Yeah, let's get a sample."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

The dumpster went flying into the ambleweed, crushing it against a nearby wall where it exploded with a quick and satisfying splatter of green against the red brick. However, before the noise of the crash drowned it out, Thomas was sure for a moment he heard a voice calling out to him. He dropped back onto the ground, turning around and grinning as he saw a head of fiery red hair which he recognised immediately. He glanced back for a moment - there were still a couple of Ambleweeds mucking around nearby. One grabbed a fire hydrant and tore it up, sending water flying across the street, which soon lapped at his feet. He didn't move as he looked back up at Blake.

"Blake!" He called back over, waving, now hearing the unmistakable sound of ambleweed entrails dripping onto the floor behind the dumpster. He turned away again, moving the dumpster forward a bit so the corpse of the plant could slip to the ground. He mouthed "ew" at the mess before turning back once again to respond to Blake. "Well, you know me. No point in just standing around when there's things to do and plants to squash." He chuckled before stepping over to Firebird. "Hydrant's been ripped up... So we should probably get out of this alley, for your sake."

Thomas stepped out of the alley, past Blake who was peering carefully out. He put his hand on his chin and surveyed the scene in front of him. The ambleweeds just kept on coming and coming. But that was a good thing. It meant that the fun would go on for a long time. Of course, fighting off the plant legions was not as fun as fighting an actual villain with powers... but it'd do, for now, as there were no villains in the vicinity that he was aware of. He turned back to Blake. "Alright... you take the ones on the right side of the street, and you take the ones on the left, and we'll meet in the middle.. He didn't wait for an answer and floated off to the left.

He looked around for something to use. A hardware store was a couple of metres away. The door open, he slipped inside, looking around. Thomas grabbed an axe and told the immediately protesting cashier that he would return it soon. Then, stepping out, he jumped up before flipping gravity forwards, immediately speeding towards an ambleweed in front of him, taking the big dumb plant out with a speeding axe to the main head. Now this was fun. He jumped over its body and did it to a couple more, floating past an alley which he glanced into. Something shiny and thin spinning rapidly from one side to another. He dropped to the ground and let the axe fly on without him, hearing it splat into an ambleweed. He heard voices as he stopped, and he stayed and watched the alley.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Thomas was jolted awake by the piercing sound of his alarm clock. He had been in the middle of a particularly intense dream, but he forgot exactly what the dream was about within a few seconds of waking up. It took him a couple of moments to notice that his alarm sounded somewhat... distant. He looked up, and realised that he was looking down. And he wasn't on a soft bed, he was on a hard surface. Thomas was on his ceiling. He sighed and switched off his abilities, falling back down onto the bed. For anyone else, this would be highly unusual, but this wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. It happened from time to time - sometimes sideways, sometimes squished more firmly into his bed than normal. After surfing his phone for a couple of minutes he was up. It was still pretty early, the sun only having just risen around half an hour ago.

After grabbing a quick breakfast - a cereal bar, he slipped open the window of his high rise apartment and drifted out into the morning air. Today he was on patrol - no real specific threats had been listed for him tackle just yet. He tore a piece of moss off the side of his building and carried it for a moment, before dropping it down onto the head of somebody down below. He heard a yell, chuckled, and then floated away to find a decent spot for him to scope from. A little while later he was sat on a roof, sipping on an energy drink and surveying the city down below. At the same time, however, he was also scoping out for spots he could use for various stunts. He spotted an abandoned factory and made a mental note of it. That could prove a fun place to muck around in at some point. Maybe he would bring Blake along, see if there was any wood he could destroy, or something.

He glanced periodically at his phone. He knew that, at the moment, Jade and Patricia were probably attempting to arrest that bank robbing villain. It was boring up here, and Thomas wondered for a moment if he should go and help. But he didn't exactly know where they were, and he wasn't about to try and use the sound of Patty's singing as a guide to help him. Falling asleep while in mid air would be a disaster, and if he injured himself too badly then he wouldn't be able to do hero work for a little while, and he certainly didn't want that. He also wondered if he should slip away from patrol without Powers knowing and go and do some training, just to get a little bit of entertainment. But then he heard his phone ring out, and his heart leapt for a moment with excitement. Something to do! About time.

But he was ever so slightly disappointed. Just a particularly large swarm of Ambleweeds, nothing too dangerous. Ambleweeds were more of a nuisance than a threat, and Thomas had hoped the warning would be for a villain or at least a group of stronger Leftovers. Still, something to do was something to do, and Thomas was determined to have as much fun as he could. So, he set his drink down and drifted quickly on over to New Athens. Yeah, he could see them now, big green shapes skulking about on the street, sending people running in the other direction. He dropped to the ground and looked at them. There were a couple on this street. A nearby street lamp had already been mostly tipped over... there was no harm in finishing the job. Thomas slipped it from the ground, where it turned in the air for a moment before falling down on top of an Ambleweed, crushing the nasty plant immediately. Thomas smirked.

He dipped into an alleyway for a moment, looking for a dumpster. It was there he spotted the body of another Ambleweed. This one had a huge hole in the middle of its body, which was smoking slightly. He glanced behind the body, where the alleyway stretched on. He didn't spot anybody, but the whole scene gave him a slightly unnerved feeling. He slid the dumpster back and got out of there, sending it zooming towards an Ambleweed as he grabbed onto it and yelled. The unnerved feeling slipped away, and now he was focused back on doing his hero work, and having fun while doing so.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Spacewalker

Name
Thomas Rees

Hero Name
Spacewalker

Gender
Male

Age
24

Date of Birth
24th July

Physique
Thomas has a fairly average physique. He stands at 5'10, but is fairly lean due to his various high-energy activities he likes to do in his free time, as well as the fact that using his power serves as a workout in its own right. He can usually be found with an earnest grin on his face, below a pair of wide green eyes. He has a head of brown hair that usually always appears messy and windswept. His body is pricked with lots of small scars - but he wears them with pride and is happy to explain the story behind any of them that he can remember.

Blood Type
B

Occupation
Professional hero

Side
Heroic.

Affiliation
H.E.R.O

Tier
A

Personality
Thomas is, in short, a thrillseeker. Hero work for him is the same as something like skydiving or bungee jumping, he does it for the sheer adrenaline thrill that taking down a villain or a monster can bring him. He counts his lucky stars that he has a power that is genuinely a lot of fun to have and to use. And the fact that he gets paid for doing this fun is just an added bonus. He is a carefree person that doesn't really worry too much about the moral, good versus evil aspects of hero work, and in the same vein he isn't that concerned about property damage or anything like that. He's having fun, and the people should be grateful for it anyway, right? Who really cares if a couple of buildings or cars get taken out in the meantime.

This aspect of his personality aligns perfectly with the way he interacts with other people, especially his fellow heroes. He makes constant jokes about people he's with, which can get on people's nerves. He also has a habit of making fun of or deriding his colleagues who fret too much about minor property damage or the ethical way to try and catch a villain. Conversely, however, he gets easily annoyed when other people make fun of him, or something happens that might embarrass him. He also gets touchy around actions that might get the police involved - he has strong fear of prison.

Backstory
Thomas was born into a fairly well-off family, where he was raised in a penthouse near the top of one of the tallest buildings in Castleburg. His mother died when he was very young, and he doesn't really remember her at all. From then on, he was raised by his father alone. It would be a stretch to say that Thomas' father was a responsible man. He worked as a movie stuntman, having the power to slow down kinetic forces which made doing wild and crazy stunts safe. Thomas admired his father and saw him as an absolute role model, which contributed to his carefree and thrillseeking personality that he exhibits today.

He knew that he would probably have some kind of power, but they didn't show themselves until he was 13 years old. Exploring an abandoned building with his friends, he slipped and fell into a gaping hole that fell down a few floors. His body kicked in to save him and he suddenly switched direction and went flying into a nearby wall, narrowly avoiding a broken window. He spent the rest of the day at the site experimenting with what he could do, long after his friends had gone home and long after the sun had set. He returned home by floating up to the window and swinging it open, scaring his father half to death.

His power was immediately channelled into giving himself mischief and amusement. Floating from roof to roof, up the sides of skyscrapers and scaring the office workers inside, attempting to stack as many of his friends as possible without the tower falling over. He used his abilities as often as he could without any real regard for people's safety or the law. When he was 17, he had his first and last run in with the police. His friend dared him to do something to his new car, so he strained as hard as he could, attempting to flip it upside down. However, he bit off more than he could chew and the car instead went lurching forward, taking out a neighbour's carefully pruned garden. He received a monumental fine and Thomas' father had to offer the neighbour a lot to stop him from pressing charges. It was here that Thomas underwent an epiphany - he loved using his powers... but he needed a way to use them freely without running into the law.

And so, hero work seemed to be the way to do it. When he left school, he gave it a few tries on his own. He stopped a couple of robberies. Soon after that he went out to look for an actual organisation to join that would give him some protection, and about a week later he was signed up as a member of H.E.R.O. That was 6 years ago, and Thomas has enjoyed every bit of it so far - well, all of it except having to deal with the higher ups when that was occasionally necessary.

Power
Gravity Bending
Thomas has the power to shape and change the direction or strength of gravity in his surroundings. This means he can make himself or nearby objects levitate or float straight upwards, and this ability can also be used to give him a form of flight - if he shifts it horizontally he can then glide efficiently in a certain direction to quickly reach enemies that are on the run or a long way away. This can also be used for a crude imitation of telekinesis, making objects float towards him - however this is obviously much less controlled, and he has to try hard to not let the object just hit him or float past by accident. This is the main limitation of his ability - it requires constant concentration. If he loses focus for a moment, he could go flying or falling in the wrong direction.

Thomas' fighting style is wild and bombastic, fitting with both his power and his personality. He likes to carry around a baseball bat or other blunt objects which can be thwacked into villains as he flies past. He also uses anything that he can in his surroundings as a weapon, which has led to a non-insignificant amount of property damage when he's doing his hero work.

OTHER
He runs an account on social media as a passion project, where he films some of the stunts that he performs. It's moderately popular.

Caustic

Name
Nicholas Dakin

Code Name
Caustic

Gender
Male

Age
30

Date of Birth
11th May

Physique
Nicholas is tall, at around 6'5, with a thin and lanky physique. Under his costume he is almost ghostly pale, with jet black hair and noticeable bags under his eyes that never seem to go away. Despite his constant and active villainy, you would be hard pressed to find a blemish or mark on his skin, except for a small scar on the side of his neck. He gives off a generally uneasy vibe, whether he is in costume or without it, that isn't difficult for anyone to notice.

Blood Type
AB

Occupation
Villain. His ability allows him to steal himself a lot of money - he doesn't struggle.

Side
Villainous.

Affiliation
Unaffiliated. Out for himself.

Tier
S-

Personality
Nicholas' personality is a mix of unfortunate traits rolled into one unpleasant individual. He takes great pleasure in causing death and destruction, and when combined with a power that has the potential for such gruesome results, the outcome is a very dangerous and unpredictable villain. That isn't to say he is some unfeeling psychopath - he has the barest of morals, he isn't going to corrode an orphanage full of children for the sake of it, or anything like that. Nicholas is arrogant and fully convinced of his own superiority, as well as the superiority of people with powers over those without. He believes that those with abilities have the right to rule over and do as they please to the majority of the population without abilities. Therefore, an organisation such as H.E.R.O attracts his particular scorn.

Backstory
One may expect a person like Nicholas to have some kind of tortured, painful upbringing that moulded him into the man he is today. However, that is far from the case. He was born in a huge house on the outskirts of Castleburg, the son of a CEO and his wife. His father had made his fortune by founding a company that sold a modified version of the acid that he could conjure out of his hands. This acidic substance is the same one that forms the basis of Nicholas' powers. He saw very, very little of his father and mother growing up and in true stereotypical fashion, much of his raising was done by a legion of caretakers and by the boarding school that he attended for the majority of his childhood.

Nicholas' powers came out when he was 10, which resulted in severe burns to the arm of a nanny that came to see why he was screaming - moments prior, he had accidentally corroded a games console he was playing into a smoking mess on the ground. His father had to raise the pay of the nannies after that, to a significant degree. Nicholas quickly realised that his powers were particularly strong, and quickly began using them to bully around other children at his school. He ascended from being average in terms of social standing to having the vast majority of children following his tune. This continued on through the rest of his academic life, and as it progressed he found out more and more things that his powers allowed him to do. He first "phased" through the wall of his dormitory at age 16, abusing this power more and more as he got older. His school was glad to see the back of him when he left aged 18.

Nicholas had no interest in his father's company - indeed, he actively despised his father for selling the source of their power as a commodity to people who were not worthy to use it. Aimless and spending most nights wandering the streets of Castleburg with his old lackeys from school, he didn't truly unlock the true destructive power of his abilities for a few years. At the age of 21, Nicholas killed someone for the first time. It was a homeless man, and while largely an accident, as Nicholas looked down at the body below him, he couldn't say he felt any remorse. A few months later he returned home for a short while - but this turned out to be a huge mistake. He ended up in a violent shouting match with this father, where he ended up storming into his father's bedroom and destroying anything he could see - the bed, books, heirlooms passed down for generations in the family. After he left, his father called the police and told them everything.

Despite the fact that he was now a wanted man, Nicholas began to perform firmly villainous acts, that got more and more extreme each time. This was when he truly began to realise how strong his abilities were. One night, he tore through a block of buildings, leading to the deaths of two and millions in property damage. His notoriety grew, as did the extent to which heroes and the police attempted to hunt him down. One night at the age of 26, he broke into a bar and got himself worked into a drunken rage, thinking about his father. He travelled to the plant where his father's product was made, and melted it into a pile of rubble. As the ceiling began to collapse in, however, a lead pipe used to transport the substances fell down onto him, trapping him underneath. The police arrived shortly after, surrounded the perimeter and surrounded him in a titanium box, which was then transported to Coldwater.

Nicholas spent a year in the prison. Locked inside a titanium cell. He was not allowed outside his cell, and was trapped inside alone for a whole year. Every day that passed made him more angry and more twisted. 11 months in, and he began to plan his escape. But how would he do it? He couldn't fake a medical emergency... they would just let him die. He spent a week scouring every corner of his cell for anything not made of titanium. He realised the only thing that wasn't titanium that he came into contact with was his food. He kept small pieces of the most solid food he was given, using his powers to melt them together into a sizeable ball. One day, the small slit to push in food was opened, and he acted immediately, forcing the item through it where it pressed into the leg of a warden, burning him immediately. He collapsed forward and his hand slipped through the slit. Nicholas grabbed it, holding him tight, telling him that if he didn't open the door he would lose his life. The young, largely inexperienced guard complied - Nicholas walked out and killed him anyway, before burning his way through the floors beneath him and bursting out onto the streets below as alarms blared.

That was four years ago, and Nicholas' villainous acts have only got more extreme since then - although he has been careful to avoid any lead or titanium since that incident.

Power
Liquid Death
Nicholas has almost complete control over a highly toxic, highly corrosive and completely unique acidic substance. He can pulse the substance into materials when touching them, corroding or destroying said material, or he can embed items with the substance's properties, making them corrosive to the touch. However, his most destructive ability is his power to transmute himself and materials structurally into this substance. This effectively allows him to "phase" through solid surfaces when doing this, without changing his appearance, leaving a corroded mess in his wake. However, there are certain materials that he has no effect on. Certain advanced and rare alloys of steel as well as titanium and lead - only in their pure forms - are completely impervious to his abilities, and weapons made of these substances would be highly effective.

Nicholas' fighting style is dirty and gruesome. His power allows him to effectively run "through" people, killing them instantly, and this can dispatch large numbers of people caught off guard in a short amount of time. He also carries with him a machete embedded with corrosive properties for combat with people who are smart or skillful enough to get out of the way and fight properly.

OTHER
He has a small collection of things made out of titanium, lead, copper and the othe resistant materials that he has stolen from people he has killed. Almost like war trophies.

---

Thomas' Relationships

Name of Person
Blake Ignatius von Brandt

Relationship Status
Very good friend

Quick Quote
"He's probably the only one in the entirety of H.E.R.O that I know who is always up for something fun. No way I'm not gonna be goodfriends with someone like that."

Relationship Description
Tom feels as if he has a very close relationship with Blake, due to the fact that their personalities mesh and align almost perfectly. There's a definite respect for his abilities as well as his fun personality, and the countless misadventures and run-ins with Powers and other higher-ups of H.E.R.O have only made their bond stronger over time. Of course they bicker a lot, but it's just the bickering of friends and nothing is meant by it.

---

Name of Person
Noah Bell/Starbright

Relationship Status
Acquaintances at best

Quick Quote
"He's easy as hell to make fun of, but I don't think he quite understands it. I try to stay away if I can, I don't need to hear about his legions of adoring teenage fans for hours and hours."

Relationship Description
Tom doesn't exactly hate Starbright, but he does find him annoying as hell, and doesn't really enjoy spending time in his vicinity. Good thing that he doesn't spend much time at H.E.R.O One then. But if they are in the vicinity together, Tom doesn't pass up the chance for a good joke at his expensive.

---

Name of Person
Zane Wulfe

Relationship Status
They don't get on.

Quick Quote
"Absolute killjoy. Has probably yelled at me almost as many times as Powers has, and it's not like he has a right to!"

Relationship Description
Tom and Zane are usually at odds due to their opposing attitudes towards hero work, and they have clashed numerous times on the matter. He has no interest in attempting a foster a relationship with Zane due to the dislike there. Although he has respect for the hero work him and Nova Labs have pulled off - that respect is in a vacuum.

---

Name of Person
Angelica Alexander

Relationship Status
Friends

Quick Quote
"Not overly a fun person, and I have to admit I didn't expect Blake to date her, but we get along pretty well regardless."

Relationship Description
Despite the fact that their personalities don't mesh that well together, Tom considers Angelica his friend, although if Blake wasn't dating her they probably wouldn't have much interaction at all. He wishes that she cared less about being pRaGMaTiC all the time, though.

---

Name of Person
Ava

Relationship Status
Friendish

Quick Quote
"She's a little... weird, but it's fun to watch her skulk about and make like, cops uncomfortable and stuff."

Relationship Description
Tom gets on with Ava in their limited interactions. He can't help feeling a little unnerved at her, as he's sure most other people do, but it's not like she's ever done anything actually creepy. Can be good entertainment for him, sometimes.

---

Name of Person
Patricia Donnelly

Relationship Status
Good friends

Quick Quote
"I don't really care what her father did. Well I mean, it's bad obviously, but it doesn't affect how she is. Can be a bit grumpy sometimes... well, a lot of the time, but she's a good kid overall, like... let's just say I'd be very upset if something bad happened to her."

Relationship Description
Tom gets on with Patricia well, although he does like to annoy her by calling her Patty or a wide variety of nicknames, which he knows she doesn't like, but of course he's not going to stop doing that. The teasing is only surface-level, and he wouldn't want to actually upset her. He sees her as almost like a little sister, but of course he'd never say that out loud.

---

Name of Person
Jamie Stewart

Relationship Status
Good friend

Quick Quote
"We've had some really riveting conversations over the years. Truly a source of endless philosophical wit."

Relationship Description
One of Tom's favourite pastimes is just seeing how much he can get away with when it comes to Jamie. Straight up insulting her intelligence - of course in a playful manner - to her face, or using her as a vector to mess with other heroes, or just getting her to do funny stuff. But it's never malicious, her pure innocence makes him have a bit of a soft spot for her.

---

Name of Person
Brianna Hart

Relationship Status
Good friend.

Quick Quote
"She's cool. Of course I'd like anyone who isn't gonna yell at me all the time or scold me for dumb shit."

Relationship Description
Brie is probably Tom's second favourite person at H.E.R.O after Blake (not counting Jamie's pure entertainment value). She seems chill enough that the two get along, and she's even up for something fun from time to time. He hasn't really bothered to get to properly know her and her past, though, which he isn't all that interested in yet.

---

Name of Person
Eliza Alexander

Relationship Status
Friend.

Quick Quote
"I mean... what do you expect me to say? It's like asking me what I think of a very small puppy."

Relationship Description
Tom would have to possess a heart of steel not to like Eliza. She's just an absolutely adorable person. But he does wish that she let him look after Cloud or Bow more often. Or at all.

---

Name of Person
William Thorson

Relationship Status
Good acquaintance, very near friend.

Quick Quote
"Will is a good guy, a bit too straight around the edges, but good."

Relationship Description
Tom has a fairly solid relationship with Will at this point, he's come on a lot of their escapades at this point that Tom has a positive opinion of him. Like with Angie and Blake, his relationship with Brie was unexpected, but whatever, they all seem happy enough.

---

Name of Person
Joseph Moore

Relationship Status
Very near to friend.

Quick Quote
"There are some things he needs to do to level up to friend, such as stop being so self depreciating, mopey, and stuff like that. But he's fine."

Relationship Description
Tom feels like he would enjoy the company of Joseph if he got out of the slump that he seems to always be in and learned to have more fun in life. But it's not like Tom dislikes him, he seems like a decent enough guy beyond the slump.

---

Name of Person
Azhar Zaar

Relationship Status
Acquaintances, but improving.

Quick Quote
"Seems like a decent kid. Wait, is he a kid? Looks like a kid."

Relationship Description
Tom enjoys showing people stuff that they don't already know, so Tom enjoys the company of Zee, who is fairly new to all things American. They haven't interacted much, but it could level up into friend pretty quickly.

---

Name of Person
Samson Wernicke

Relationship Status
Acquaintances, just.

Quick Quote
"He's been... around, I guess. Enough for me to form a vaguely positive opinion of him."

Relationship Description
Samson is a bit of a tough nut to crack for Tom. He doesn't really know him that well at all, and his whole "mysterious forest man" thingy doesn't exactly make it easier.

---

Name of Person
Grace Mok

Relationship Status
Totally friends.

Quick Quote
"Why are you asking me this? We're just friends - yeah, we went to dinner, but it was just a coworker friend dinner-date, it didn't mean anything!"

Relationship Description
Tom enjoys spending time with Grace a lot, even though they're pretty different in personality. Why is he so defensive about just being friends with her? You may never know. Or maybe you will. Either way, that's what he insists.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Spacewalker

Name
Thomas Rees

Hero Name
Spacewalker

Gender
Male

Age
24

Date of Birth
24th July

Physique
Thomas has a fairly average physique. He stands at 5'10, but is fairly lean due to his various high-energy activities he likes to do in his free time, as well as the fact that using his power serves as a workout in its own right. He can usually be found with an earnest grin on his face, below a pair of wide green eyes. He has a head of brown hair that usually always appears messy and windswept. His body is pricked with lots of small scars - but he wears them with pride and is happy to explain the story behind any of them that he can remember.

Blood Type
B

Occupation
Professional hero

Side
Heroic. Somewhat.

Affiliation
H.E.R.O

Tier
A

Personality
Thomas is, in short, a thrillseeker. Hero work for him is the same as something like skydiving or bungee jumping, he does it for the sheer adrenaline thrill that taking down a villain or a monster can bring him. He counts his lucky stars that he has a power that is genuinely a lot of fun to have and to use. And the fact that he gets paid for doing this fun is just an added bonus. He is a carefree person that doesn't really worry too much about the moral, good versus evil aspects of hero work, and in the same vein he isn't that concerned about property damage or anything like that. He's having fun, and the people should be grateful for it anyway, right? Who really cares if a couple of buildings or cars get taken out in the meantime.

This aspect of his personality aligns perfectly with the way he interacts with other people, especially his fellow heroes. He makes constant jokes about people he's with, which can get on people's nerves. He also has a habit of making fun of or deriding his colleagues who fret too much about minor property damage or the ethical way to try and catch a villain.

Backstory
Thomas was born into a fairly well-off family, where he was raised in a penthouse near the top of one of the tallest buildings in Castleburg. His mother died when he was very young, and he doesn't really remember her at all. From then on, he was raised by his father alone. It would be a stretch to say that Thomas' father was a responsible man. He worked as a movie stuntman, having the power to slow down kinetic forces which made doing wild and crazy stunts safe. Thomas admired his father and saw him as an absolute role model, which contributed to his carefree and thrillseeking personality that he exhibits today.

He knew that he would probably have some kind of power, but they didn't show themselves until he was 13 years old. Exploring an abandoned building with his friends, he slipped and fell into a gaping hole that fell down a few floors. His body kicked in to save him and he suddenly switched direction and went flying into a nearby wall, narrowly avoiding a broken window. He spent the rest of the day at the site experimenting with what he could do, long after his friends had gone home and long after the sun had set. He returned home by floating up to the window and swinging it open, scaring his father half to death.

His power was immediately channelled into giving himself mischief and amusement. Floating from roof to roof, up the sides of skyscrapers and scaring the office workers inside, attempting to stack as many of his friends as possible without the tower falling over. He used his abilities as often as he could without any real regard for people's safety or the law. When he was 17, he had his first and last run in with the police. His friend dared him to do something to his new car, so he strained as hard as he could, attempting to flip it upside down. However, he bit off more than he could chew and the car instead went lurching forward, taking out a neighbour's carefully pruned garden. He received a monumental fine and Thomas' father had to offer the neighbour a lot to stop him from pressing charges. It was here that Thomas underwent an epiphany - he loved using his powers... but he needed a way to use them freely without running into the law.

And so, hero work seemed to be the way to do it. When he left school, he gave it a few tries on his own. He stopped a couple of robberies. Soon after that he went out to look for an actual organisation to join that would give him some protection, and about a week later he was signed up as a member of H.E.R.O. That was 6 years ago, and Thomas has enjoyed every bit of it so far - well, all of it except having to deal with the higher ups when that was occasionally necessary.

Power
Gravity Bending
Thomas has the power to shape and change the direction or strength of gravity in his surroundings. This means he can make himself or nearby objects levitate or float straight upwards, and this ability can also be used to give him a form of flight - if he shifts it horizontally he can then glide efficiently in a certain direction to quickly reach enemies that are on the run or a long way away. This can also be used for a crude imitation of telekinesis, making objects float towards him - however this is obviously much less controlled, and he has to try hard to not let the object just hit him or float past by accident. This is the main limitation of his ability - it requires constant concentration. If he loses focus for a moment, he could go flying or falling in the wrong direction.

Thomas' fighting style is wild and bombastic, fitting with both his power and his personality. He likes to carry around a baseball bat or other blunt objects which can be thwacked into villains as he flies past. He also uses anything that he can in his surroundings as a weapon, which has led to a non-insignificant amount of property damage when he's doing his hero work.

OTHER
He runs an account on social media as a passion project, where he films some of the stunts that he performs. It's moderately popular.

Caustic

Name
Nicholas Dakin

Code Name
Caustic

Gender
Male

Age
30

Date of Birth
11th May

Physique
Nicholas is tall, at around 6'4, with a thin and lanky physique. Under his costume he is almost ghostly pale, with noticeable bags under his eyes that never seem to go away. Despite his constant and active villainy, you would be hard pressed to find a blemish or mark on his skin, except for a small scar on the side of his neck. He gives off a generally uneasy vibe, whether he is in costume or without it, that isn't difficult for anyone to notice.

Blood Type
AB

Occupation
Villain. His ability allows him to steal himself a lot of money - he doesn't struggle.

Side
Villainous.

Affiliation
Unaffiliated. Out for himself.

Tier
S-

Personality
Nicholas' personality is a mix of unfortunate traits rolled into one unpleasant individual. He takes great pleasure in causing death and destruction, and when combined with a power that has the potential for such gruesome results, the outcome is a very dangerous and unpredictable villain. That isn't to say he is some unfeeling psychopath - he has the barest of morals, he isn't going to corrode an orphanage full of children for the sake of it, or anything like that. Nicholas is arrogant and fully convinced of his own superiority, as well as the superiority of people with powers over those without. He believes that those with abilities have the right to rule over and do as they please to the majority of the population without abilities. Therefore, an organisation such as H.E.R.O attracts his particular scorn.

Backstory
One may expect a person like Nicholas to have some kind of tortured, painful upbringing that moulded him into the man he is today. However, that is far from the case. He was born in a huge house on the outskirts of Castleburg, the son of a CEO and his wife. His father had made his fortune by founding a company that sold a modified version of the acid that he could conjure out of his hands. This acidic substance is the same one that forms the basis of Nicholas' powers. He saw very, very little of his father and mother growing up and in true stereotypical fashion, much of his raising was done by a legion of caretakers and by the boarding school that he attended for the majority of his childhood.

Nicholas' powers came out when he was 10, which resulted in severe burns to the arm of a nanny that came to see why he was screaming - moments prior, he had accidentally corroded a games console he was playing into a smoking mess on the ground. His father had to raise the pay of the nannies after that, to a significant degree. Nicholas quickly realised that his powers were particularly strong, and quickly began using them to bully around other children at his school. He ascended from being average in terms of social standing to having the vast majority of children following his tune. This continued on through the rest of his academic life, and as it progressed he found out more and more things that his powers allowed him to do. He first "phased" through the wall of his dormitory at age 16, abusing this power more and more as he got older. His school was glad to see the back of him when he left aged 18.

Nicholas had no interest in his father's company - indeed, he actively despised his father for selling the source of their power as a commodity to people who were not worthy to use it. Aimless and spending most nights wandering the streets of Castleburg with his old lackeys from school, he didn't truly unlock the true destructive power of his abilities for a few years. At the age of 21, Nicholas killed someone for the first time. It was a homeless man, and while largely an accident, as Nicholas looked down at the body below him, he couldn't say he felt any remorse. A few months later he returned home for a short while - but this turned out to be a huge mistake. He ended up in a violent shouting match with this father, where he ended up storming into his father's bedroom and destroying anything he could see - the bed, books, heirlooms passed down for generations in the family. After he left, his father called the police and told them everything.

Despite the fact that he was now a wanted man, Nicholas began to perform firmly villainous acts, that got more and more extreme each time. This was when he truly began to realise how strong his abilities were. One night, he tore through a block of buildings, leading to the deaths of two and millions in property damage. His notoriety grew, as did the extent to which heroes and the police attempted to hunt him down. One night at the age of 26, he broke into a bar and got himself worked into a drunken rage, thinking about his father. He travelled to the plant where his father's product was made, and melted it into a pile of rubble. As the ceiling began to collapse in, however, a copper pipe used to transport the substances fell down onto him, trapping him underneath. The police arrived shortly after, surrounded the perimeter and surrounded him in a titanium box, which was then transported to Coldwater.

Nicholas spent a year in the prison. Locked inside a titanium cell. He was not allowed outside his cell, and was trapped inside alone for a whole year. Every day that passed made him more angry and more twisted. 11 months in, and he began to plan his escape. But how would he do it? He couldn't fake a medical emergency... they would just let him die. He spent a week scouring every corner of his cell for anything not made of titanium. He realised the only thing that wasn't titanium that he came into contact with was his food. He kept small pieces of the most solid food he was given, using his powers to melt them together into a sizeable ball. One day, the small slit to push in food was opened, and he acted immediately, forcing the item through it where it pressed into the leg of a warden, burning him immediately. He collapsed forward and his hand slipped through the slit. Nicholas grabbed it, holding him tight, telling him that if he didn't open the door he would lose his life. The young, largely inexperienced guard complied - Nicholas walked out and killed him anyway, before burning his way through the floors beneath him and bursting out onto the streets below as alarms blared.

That was four years ago, and Nicholas' villainous acts have only got more extreme since then - although he has been careful to avoid any copper, lead or titanium since that incident.

Power
Liquid Death
Nicholas has almost complete control over a highly toxic, highly corrosive and completely unique acidic substance. He can pulse the substance into materials when touching them, corroding or destroying said material, or he can embed items with the substance's properties, making them corrosive to the touch. However, his most destructive ability is his power to transmute himself and materials structurally into this substance. This effectively allows him to "phase" through solid surfaces when doing this, without changing his appearance, leaving a corroded mess in his wake. However, there are certain materials that he has no effect on. Certain alloys of steel as well as copper, titanium and lead, are completely impervious to his abilities, and weapons made of these substances would be highly effective.

Nicholas' fighting style is dirty and gruesome. His power allows him to effectively run "through" people, killing them instantly, and this can dispatch large numbers of people caught off guard in a short amount of time. He also carries with him a machete embedded with corrosive properties for combat with people who are smart or skillful enough to get out of the way and fight properly.

OTHER
He has a small collection of things made out of titanium, lead, copper and the othe resistant materials that he has stolen from people he has killed. Almost like war trophies.

My Hero Academia: Another Story

Dean was as pleased with how the mission had gone as the rest of the team. After all, they had completed what they had come to do - freed their comrade and caused some havoc for the accompanying law enforcement while they were at it, which Dean always thought was a worthwile way to spend his time. And, as the helicopter shot away from the crime scene, the sirens becoming fainter and fainter, the villain felt a firm sense of satisfaction. If this team could perform like this again, considering that freeing a prisoner wasn't at all easy, then they could surely achieve whatever ambitious plans Noxious had in place.

However, Dean's satisfaction in the following days waned quickly as he saw first hand the consequences of their actions. Police presence in the city had seemingly doubled over night with cops posted everywhere. No doubt that the use of birds would have made its way through the police network as something to look out for, so Dean couldn't amuse himself by doing anything in public with his quirk that might arouse suspicion, or he could attract attention and ruin everything. He quickly became bored to the point of anger, trying to entertain himself doing normal things, or making birds do amusing things within the grounds of his house. So, Dean was extremely grateful when the time came for another meeting.

This one, of course, was not in Alcatraz. Dean had previously found a route to the island that would not have him seen, where he could have his full costume on the journey, and so he was slightly perturbed he had to mess around with something new. He donned an expensive suit, his mask and hat contained within a fancy leather bag on his shoulder - he wouldn't dare suffer the indignity of using a backpack - before setting off for this warehouse. A pair of his ravens was following him, as subtly as possible, flying from rooftop to rooftop. He reached the warehouse within decent time, hoping that he might be the first one inside so he could freely scope it out. When he was sure that no cops were a threat, the ravens flew down and back onto his shoulder.

He slipped on his mask and hat as he crept towards the doors, before stopping at the sound of voices. He wouldn't usually be so careful, but considering this was a new location... He spotted a pigeon pecking the ground not too far away, which soon became a spy, walking casually through the sliding doors and looking around. Well, there were no cops in here, and the people certainly looked villainous. He recognised a couple, so the pigeon slipped out and Dean slipped in after he released the sentry from his control.

He was greeted with the sight of people that he knew. Sana, Noxious, Molly - a more recent addition, but still someone Dean recognised. And then, there was a decent amount of people who he did not know. New additions he supposed. The first, a man sitting on a chair casually, wearing frighteningly casual clothes for a meeting such as this. Dean scowled through his mask, before glancing around again. A man in what looked like a police jacket that had been crudely modified with a flower. That could be worse. Ah, now this was more like it. Two more people, who were both impeccably dressed in suits. He gave them both a nod, before unclasping his mask and holding it under his shoulder.

"New additions to our team, I suppose. Well, it's good to see that at least two people here have any sense of how to dress appropriately... just a shame it couldn't be all of you." He glanced at the man in the jacket, then glared at the man in the seat. "Our last mission has seemingly alerted law enforcement, and they are now crawling all over this city like angry vermin. Perhaps doing something like... wearing a vandalised police jacket, for example, is not the smartest idea."