Still Not Safe [M&M 2nd ed]

[Matar]

"No! I will not accept that! If we had played better, we would have won even if Devon didn't score those three points!"

Todd takes off his bright green shirt and tosses it on the ground.

"I swore on my honor, so I have no choice. I can't do this for three hours, but at the very least I must jog back to my room."

Todd takes off his pants and throws them aside, smacking Emi right in the face with them by accident. You are not sure what scares you more, the fact that he just striped naked in front of you all with no trouble what so ever, or the fact that he hasn't been wearing underwear this who time.

Before anyone has a chance to say or so anything, Todd begins jogging back to his room in his birthday suite, shedding manly tears the entire way.

[kamikasei]

"Phew!" Cat looks a little disappointed that the game is over. "Well, I guess we're free to go but I don't know where to... I'm gonna hit the showers first, anyway, but should we find out if we're just on standby all day or if we're supposed to head to classes later?" She looks around at the others. "If not, I suppose we could try exploring the base..."

It's a long-standing habit of Cat's to look around when she's speaking in a group, making eye contact with everyone in turn. It's a habit Todd will break her of soon enough if the recent trend in his behaviour continues. She facepalms.

"...I could really have done without seeing that. Would anyone who is not me like to volunteer to stop him before he gets us all in trouble?"

[Haven]

Todd takes off his pants and throws them aside, smacking Emi right in the face with them by accident. You are not sure what scares you more, the fact that he just striped naked in front of you all with no trouble what so ever, or the fact that he hasn't been wearing underwear this who time.

"...the Commander can hand out demerits or something for that, right?"

"Phew!" Cat looks a little disappointed that the game is over. "Well, I guess we're free to go but I don't know where to... I'm gonna hit the showers first, anyway, but should we find out if we're just on standby all day or if we're supposed to head to classes later?" She looks around at the others. "If not, I suppose we could try exploring the base..."

"Exploring the base would be nice...haven't gotten a chance to see any of it outside the lab, really."

[Drascin]

"Roger, Frank. We'll be ready"

"Phew!" Cat looks a little disappointed that the game is over. "Well, I guess we're free to go but I don't know where to... I'm gonna hit the showers first, anyway, but should we find out if we're just on standby all day or if we're supposed to head to classes later?" She looks around at the others. "If not, I suppose we could try exploring the base..."

"I'd love to go explore the area, if you don't mind me coming, the maps yesterday only gave me a headache..." he turns... and sees Todd.

"Ew! Dude, cover the **** up! If you want to do naked laps, at least have the manners to wait until we've gone - we don't want to see you naked!"

"...I could really have done without seeing that. Would anyone who is not me like to volunteer to stop him before he gets us all in trouble?"

Andy looks conflicted. On the one hand he really wants to save the others further mental scars. On the other, he really doesn't want to have to touch a naked guy. In the end, the fact that Cat was the one that asked tips the balance slightly.

"...I'll do it" he sounds like a man resigned to his death. "But please, let's not talk of this ever again" If nobody says anything, he'll run after Todd and shoulder-tackle him to the ground (by the back. He's not touching the front of Todd even if you threatened him with a gun, just in case of a... miss).

[Matar]

Todd's already run off. Except for the ID he wears around his neck he's basically naked.

On the plus side, even if you don't chase after him security is BOUND to stop him and make him put something on.... I guess.

[Tengu_temp]

"Eee! Hey, watch where you're throwing your smelly..." Emi pulls off Todd's pants from her face, clearly annoyed. And then her eyes widen and she goes pale, immediately starting to regret that decision.
"Oh my God... He's really doing it..."
She turns around, quickly getting red from embarassment.
"Tell me when he's gone!"

[Fri]

James wheezes, hand in his knees, rather disappointed in how the game ends. "Great, another anticlimax." And then..

"Oh god. My shades do nothing!" said James as he tries to look wherever Todd isn't there.

"... The only way to stop him now is by tackling him, and there's no way in hell that can make me do that. Let's just pretend... he's an oyster or something and leave him here."

[kamikasei]

Cat picks up Todd's shirt and, using it to avoid having to actually touch them, carefully plucks his pants off Emi's head out of Emi's hand, depositing both on a handy bench or somewhere else that they can easily be found later. If this seems overly fastidious, take it as commentary on Todd more than on Cat.

"He's gone now," she assures the other girl.

[Matar]

"...I'll do it" he sounds like a man resigned to his death. "But please, let's not talk of this ever again" If nobody says anything, he'll run after Todd and shoulder-tackle him to the ground (by the back. He's not touching the front of Todd even if you threatened him with a gun, just in case of a... miss).

"Arghle blargh!"

Todd is tackled from behind, obviously not expecting anyone to actually DO that. He seems to take the hint preaty quickly.

"...Okay, i'll put my pants back on. But I want everyone to know that I do so only under duress!"

Assuming Andy doesn't keep him pinned, Todd walks back to the group and asks Cat for his cloths. Assuming Andy DOES keep him pinned, he doesn't fight back and waits for someone to give him his cloths.

[Drascin]

Andy lands on him and pins him by the neck. "Yeah, you do that. Now stay on the ground, FACE DOWN, and I'll bring you your stuff. And if you do this again, I'm bolting your pants to you with an industrial bolter" Andy sounds genuinely angry. He then goes, grabs the stuff while directing Cat a very poignant "I don't want to talk about this EVER again", and then gets it to Todd.

Then heads back to the group. "Okay, now that's solved, and we all need to find brain bleach urgently, so let's start the exploration. They're fighting cosmic horrors here, they have to have some stored" he tries to joke weakly, to get the mood back up a bit.

[Matar]

Todd salutes Andy, a grin on his face.

"Talk about what, sir!?"

[kamikasei]

Cat hands Andy the clothes with a grateful look.

She nods agreement when he returns. "Yeah. Lorne, you missed the park yesterday, but we'll probably end up there later anyway. Let's try a direction we haven't been at all." She sighs. "But we should check whether we have class first - or for that matter if they'll let us wander. We can probably find someone between here and the showers."

[Tengu_temp]

"I'll be in my room. Call me if anything important happens." Emi feels the desire to be alone. Unless anyone stops her, she does as announced - she lies down on her bed and stares at the ceiling for several minutes, before reaching for the manga she's been reading recently. Shower can wait for a while - she doesn't plan to go to the class anyway.

[kamikasei]

Cat watches Emi go with a "Hmmm...", but says nothing to her. Instead she simply leads the way back to the accomodation block, quickly showering and changing from exercise gear into something more casual. Although the base is never terribly warm, and although her father has followed ancient parenting protocol in ensuring she's packed plenty of warm clothes, her actual dress sense doesn't seem to reflect this, and the cold doesn't seem to bother her regardless.

In a few minutes, she meets the others (or whoever of the others chose to come along) outside their rooms, ready either to explore the base if their classes are cancelled, kill time until class starts if they've been able to confirm that they're on, or find someone who can settle the issue one way or another if they haven't managed to do so already.

[Matar]

"Well..."

Todd clicks his toung and thinks about what he should do next.

"I'm gonna work out some more, alright? Er, with my cloths on, no worries. I'll met you all for class later, if we have it.

Todd runs off, not waiting for a responce from anyone. He looks around for a gym, and when he finds one he practices hitting a punching bag.

[Cubey]

To disappointment of some, classes were NOT cancelled. It seems SECT planned them to last 4 hours every day, from noon to 4 PM - and what you have today is maths, followed by physics and two hours of literature.
Your classroom is situated in a small, but well-lit building - that's because its outside walls are all glass with metal ribs. You feel like in a big aquarium...

Your tutor turns out to be someone Lorne knows - a ~30 year old, smartly dressed woman with shoulder-long brown hair.
"Greetings. I am professor Emily Kovak. Remember that name, because I will teach you not just mathematics, but also physics and biology." She nods to everyone present.
"Our today's topic is simple - a test. I want to assess your mathematical proficiency, so that I know on what level you all are. Try to solve this test as well as you can, but no randomly answering questions you're not sure about. We want reliable results, and not blind luck." She hands everyone a sheet of paper. The questions start out easy, but quickly rocket up into levels that you didn't expect a high school student could solve.
"Oh, and do not think about answering below your ability in hope of having an easier time on future classes. Suspiciously low scores will result in additional classes to catch up! One last thing - I see some are not here... I will interpret their absence as scoring 0%." (Retcon the last sentence out if by some miracle everyone is present!)

Physics came after Math - still with miss Kovak, and she had another assessment test for you prepared. Only this time on physics, obviously. Joy!

Literature is next - you are tutored by a middle-aged, balding man with glasses. He looks like a stereotypical scientist.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Peter Gallagher, you can call me mr Gallagher." He rubs his chin. "I will be your Lit teacher as of today. This organisation, SECT, has provided me with a list of books they'd suggest I go through with you, but." He raises a finger into the air. "I discarded it. It is important to study books that you find interesting, so I have picked a collection that a young man or woman your age might be interesting in. Our first subject of study will be a dramatic story about loss of humanity in extreme conditions - Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. But we must not forget about a movie that was loosely based on this novella, and became vastly more popular, Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola. We obviously didn't have a chance to study the book yet - I hope you will have at least some of it read by the time of our next meeting. This base's library should have enough copies for everyone. Anyway, for now let us read an excerpt of the book, and compare with how mr Coppola presented the scene in his movie - what is similiar, and what is different..."
That was a surprisingly relaxed class - mister Gallagher is really laid-back.

You finish around 3:30 PM - the rest of the day is free. Laura and Devon are nowhere around to be seen, but that's no surprise since the HQ is so big. But the base still stands in one piece, so things didn't take a turn for the violent, like Frank Symes was worried about.

[Matar]

Todd didn't do too well in math or physics. Though he wasn't a total idiot, he just wasn't good at it. He scored a bit below average for someone his level, on both subjects.

He was a bt more into his Lit class. Though he hated bookwork, he had a strong passion for acting and making speeches, and when he read a book he always tried to figure out a way to act out the scenes.

After it all Todd asks the everyone else who went to class.

"So, uh. Anyone wanna do something?"

[kamikasei]

Cat scores a little above average on the tests, slightly better on physics than math - she has no particular aptitude for the subjects, but has been a reasonably diligent student and is able to perform as expected for her age and background. In Lit, it may be noticeable (but probably isn't) that while she participates in the discussions, most of her contributions are by way of agreeing with or challenging something put forward by another - she volunteers few new ideas or arguments of her own.

When class is over and they gather outside, she shrugs in answer to Todd. "I'm still up for whatever - might as well use the quiet time to get to know the place, so that we know where to go when things heat up. But we've got the whole evening now, so if anyone has any more interesting ideas..." She says this with a slight wry smile, as if holding out the initiative and inviting someone else to take it.

[Drascin]

Andy is bad at sciences. Like, really bad. He manages with math, scraping a pass, but his physics test can only be described as absolute catastrophe.

He, however, gets a lot more into the class in the thrid period. As a total bibliophile, Literature appeals to him a lot. And he has, in fact, already read the book mentioned, so he's at quite an advantage.

When class is over he packs his stuff, dawdles a bit reading the recommendations list the teacher mentioned, and then gets out with the rest. He arrives in time to hear that last remark "Cat! You sure you want to ask Todd for ideas, of all people?" he laughs as he approaches. "But yeah, I'm all for exploring the base, and then the island. Can't be totally lost forever".

[Matar]

Todd laughs and nods.

"Indeed! I'm up for looking around the base. I already did my own personal work out, so getting to know this place better is a good idea."

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Ben didn't go to class.

He was so furious when Devon dropped in, he could hardly speak. He just balled up his fists and tried not to hyperventilate. If she'd had the gall to expect him to answer her question he would have just turned his back. He had half a mind just to beat the hell out of her, but he was too chivalrous to punch a girl...at least when she wasn't wearing her PSA. Unfortunately, he did notice that she wasn't wearing an amplifier. So, when the game broke up and everyone started to go their separate ways, Ben snuck off to follow Laura and Devon into their meeting with Commander Clayton. He had to know what that unholy bitch was doing here and why she wasn't just being arrested on the spot.

Ben went through any guard posts by showing his ID and walking fast, trying to stick just a turn or so behind them at any given moment so that maybe they wouldn't see him. When they got to Commander Clayton's office he would try to just go right in, telling the guard he had to be part of the meeting and it was Shifter Squad business or something similar to that. If nothing else worked he'd try to push or run his way in before they could stop him.

[Cubey]

Clayton's office is in fact set up on the top floor of one of the two buildings that surround the underground entrance. You arrive there via lift - the fancy kind with huge glass windows that allow you to observe the outside as you move up. Laura and Devon took a similar lift to go to the top.

No guard nor receptionist gives Ben any trouble - apparently being able to see the commander at any given time for next to no reason is one of priviledges of the PSA squad.
"Sir, Benjamin Brooks is here to see you." One of the guards in front of the office opens the door. You can see that the interior is utilitarian, but that's not important - what is important is that indeed all three people you sought are there. And they were talking, which was interrupted by the door opening.

"Ben? You followed us?" Laura's genuinely surprised.

"Good morning - I heard you had a run into with Devon before she came here." The commander nods in your direction, and although he tries to sound jovial, there is a note of nervousness as well.
"She came bearing bad news to us. I planned to let everyone know in the evening, but it won't hurt if you hear it now. The Thoughts of Ascension are active again. I know that..."

"It is obvious." Devon interrupts him sharply. She stares straight at Ben. "They know SEs are appearing again. I had an encounter with one of them. Your future operations will include human opponents - this is certain."
"Have you not noticed how reluctant the SEs were to attack? This will change. They will be fiercer and even harder to defeat. I want to save the human race, and I need a good challenge, so I will lend my strength to SECT once again."

Laura's expression, after the initial surprise of your barging, really looked glad and happy. It must be because of that. Commander Clayton does not say anything, only hands Devon her ID and keycard.

Which she immediately drops into a nearby dustbin.

"I suggest you work on your attitude, madam. You must know that you are no longer irreplacable." You have to give it to the commander - he managed to remain calm and polite.

"I will manage." Devon's reaction is just as neutral as always.

As for Laura, she gave you a very uneasy look, then went to the bin and picked both discared items up. She turned back to Devon.
"Please... take the key at least, you won't be able to move around the base without it!"

The tall woman's reaction? She walks out without a word, leaving Laura with the keycard and the ID in her held out hands.

"Unless you have any questions for me, I ask you to let me be alone at least for a few minutes. You did nothing wrong, I just have to think." It seems the Commander is barely holding his composure. You can see a vein popping right under his beret.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Ben had followed them just to see what Devon was up to because he didn't trust her. These new developments didn't do anything to help that lack of faith in the "PMS Avenger". What was worse, the girl that he actually liked and respected looked nothing but happy that Devon wanted to come back. He knew they were old teammates and had been through a lot together, but that only went so far with him.

"What?! We don't need her!" Ben shouted, surprised that the Commander was actually considering letting Devon back into SECT. "If she's going to pull that crap then she can just leave! She's a bitch and a wild card and I don't trust her to fight alongside us! You're trying to make a team here, aren't you? How is that person going to be of any help? She's more likely to get us all killed!" he snarled, matching the Commander's quiet anger with his usual brash temper.

[Cubey]

"Mister Brooks..." The commander draws a breath and puts a hand on the bridge of his nose - not quite a facepalm, but it seems to calm him down a bit.
"Devon is an incredibly rude and disrespectful person, we both see that. But none of her actions that I know of were morally questionable - her dedication to defeating SEs does not falter. I may not like her as a person, but I am still a leader - and she is too powerful as an asset to simply pass. I do not want anyone to risk lives when it could be avoided with having one more Shifter in SECT. Do not worry, she will not be a part of your team - she will work in an independent unit."

"She wasn't so mean before..." Laura whispers. Her hands have fallen down helplessly now that Devon has left. "I think she hates us all for letting the rest of the team die. We were all friends - even her. Oh..." She starts to breathe heavily.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"You just keep that woman away from me and my teammates." Ben growled. "She's dangerous and unstable and I won't have her putting us all at risk." he said with a certain finality.

Ben turned and put a hand on Laura's shoulder. "You should go lie down, Laura." he said, looking concerned. "Sorry if I frightened you. I'll see you later." he managed a tight smile despite the situation, just to reassure her.

"Commander." Ben bid Clayton a terse farewell before striding out the door...and heading after Devon.

[Cubey]

"I can assure you, Devon won't attack anyone without provocation, especially other SECT members. But she will be acting seperately from your team - even if not ordered to do so. She is a loner in nature." The commander answers Ben.

"I'm not... afraid." Laura offers an apologetic smile. "Just... some very sad memories returned. My teammates... they were wonderful people. And they're gone now." The smile breaks into a small frown. "I feel alright. Let's go down."

"Have a good day. Don't let Devon ruin it." Clayton salutes as you leave his room. As for Devon herself, she is nowhere to be found. If asked, nobody around saw her enter or leave the lift.

(Nothing else of interest happens this day - unless something interesting happens by your own actions that is!)

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"Too late for that." Ben muttered and opened the door for Laura now that she was coming along. He almost expected not to see hide nor hair of Devon given the ten or fifteen seconds that had passed since she left the room, but was disappointed nonetheless when he couldn't catch her. He knew that they were going to have it out sometime soon. It was almost like Devon was taunting him by showing up after what he'd told her at the battle site. Then again, she'd taken the wind out of his threat to treat her like an enemy by simply joining SECT again, which was what he'd been all about in the first place. All he knew was that she infuriated him.

"I think I'm missing class." Ben said as they passed a wall clock. "If I'm skipping I might as well make the most of it. Want to go see what fun there is to be had around this place? I think there's a mall or something like it somewhere. Come on, I'll buy you lunch." he smiled at Laura as they approached the elevator.

[Cubey]

"Thank you. I am on a diet, but..." Laura looks conflicted. "I think it won't hurt to eat something right now."

She stays quiet as the lift arrives, but as soon as you enter and it starts to drop, Laura speaks up again.
"So, you have classes? Almost everyone skipped theirs in our team. Only Adam didn't... and Yelena." She looks saddened all out of sudden. "I must stop thinking about the past, right? It's gone now. But... I really miss them all."

[Haven]

Lorne solves the physics and math problems as easily as you'd expect, though some of the ones near the end might pose a challenge. He goes over his work very thoroughly, so he doesn't put down his pencil until after most of the rest of the team is done.

He enjoys the literature discussion, though he speaks up only infrequently in it.

But we've got the whole evening now, so if anyone has any more interesting ideas..."[/COLOR] She says this with a slight wry smile, as if holding out the initiative and inviting someone else to take it.

"I'd like to take a look at the area around the base, it looked breathtaking when we approached it by helicopter. We've got rein of the whole island, we should take advantage of the chance to stretch our legs."

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"Thank you. I am on a diet, but..." Laura looks conflicted. "I think it won't hurt to eat something right now."

She stays quiet as the lift arrives, but as soon as you enter and it starts to drop, Laura speaks up again.
"So, you have classes? Almost everyone skipped theirs in our team. Only Adam didn't... and Yelena." She looks saddened all out of sudden. "I must stop thinking about the past, right? It's gone now. But... I really miss them all."

A diet? What for? Maybe she means she has special dietary needs because of her weak constitution out of the armor, Ben thought as they waited for the lift. Someone as fit as Laura was surely didn't need to lose any weight.

"No, it's okay. The past happened. You shouldn't just forget it. You can't just forget the people you knew and loved either. It's not fair to them." he said. "Besides, I'd like to know more about them if you feel up to it. I mean, I've read the files on the old SE encounters, but they never told us what the first team was actually like."