A Heroes Challenge IC (Worm-Verse Game)

[Ramsus]

Quiet Words

Avelina nods, picking up the hint that Bella wants her to leave. Which results in her basically spinning around when Bella asks her to stay as she'd already begun turning to leave. "Oh. Um, sure. I'm free yeah." she replies a bit caught off-guard.

((If I understand how the scenes progressed I don't think Avelina would have been aware of Bella's power testing. As far as Volta's first day out on patrol, Avelina would probably be thinking "extra patrol? No. I can get to know her later. Not like we won't be patrolling together sooner or later."))

[3SecondCultist]

Quiet Words

Bella shifts on the bed, sliding the blanket she's wearing aside to reveal her bare legs. She's not entirely sure that Avelina took her meaning, but the display should dispel any doubts. She considers just going for it, but given that she's one of the heroes now, it's probably best not to just make those kinds of assumptions. "How free are you, really?" She looks the other girl up and down, before reaching out to take Avelina by the hand and pull her towards the bed. "I'm sorry, but it's just... a girl gets lonely sometimes, you know? How would you like to spend the night? I'm not looking for anything serious, but maybe you're willing to have a little fun, let loose a bit?" She knows, deep down, that she probably shouldn't be doing this. There are so many reasons not to do this. Jacquie, for one. But she knew, they both knew that what they had wasn't going to last, especially after Bella went to join the PRT.

And yet, here she was, ready to get physical again. Was she making a huge mistake? Probably. But f*ck it, she wasn't going to sleep alone tonight.


Experiment Bella

Bella's been more than willing to play along with the attempts to test her powers, and this afternoon is no exception. She sits languidly in the chair across from Patch, staring out the windows of the headquarters at the Miami skyline beyond. Not for the first time, she wishes she could be out and about in the city, and not stuck in this big cage. Just be patient, you'll get to flex your wings soon. Maybe a drive out on the water, when she gets the chance? But for now, she'll focus on the task in front of her.

"If you're sure you want to do this, then let's do it. Just a fair warning: this might take a little while. I've never exposed anyone to my power for more than a few minutes, and usually the longest it's worked after that is a few hours." It's a lie, but one that needs to be told. The PRT can't know about her father. She also doesn't mention the first cop to take her statement, after that night with Jacquie at the Docks. No need for them to make a connection there. "My guess is we'll be sitting here for at least an hour, maybe longer. Hope you've got some paperwork with you, maybe you can be productive with your time." Then she focuses on him, her voice dropping to a low register as the words slip past her lips.

"You love paperwork... you love paperwork... you love paperwork... you love paperwork..."


First Day on the Job

"Yeah, I remember," Volta replies as the van peels out from the PRT headquarters. She sighs to herself, before straightening up and brightening her smile from beneath her costume. Let's hope that nobody decides to f*ck around and get themselves in trouble today. "Don't worry, I can keep in touch via comms if you want, Patch," Volta says over the basic radio. It's a bit disappointing that the Telepath isn't ready for her yet, but it's just as well, since her actual costume isn't finished yet. Adjusting in the seat, she steals a glance at Echo. She isn't quite sure what to think of the Miami team leader yet. They've talked a bit - mostly practical stuff - but she hasn't had a chance to sit down and actually get to know the Echo. Any of the Echoes, really.

After about a minute or so of not talking, she looks back towards the driver's seat and says with a laugh, "so how long have you been working in the Miami branch? I was just wondering how long it'll take for me to become leader."

[Silent_p]

Moving In

Ji Yu gave Avelina a bright smile. "That's nice of you, thanks. I'll get back to you once I go through my current t-shirt selection. Just be prepared for having to drag me around. I usually complain frequently but I'll try and go easy on you since we're only getting to know each other." She chuckled and wandered off with a few more books to shelve.

Nodding approvingly at Avelina's pizza choices, Ji Yu helped herself to a slice of each and a plate. "Man, some real college flashbacks here," she said at length, looking around as she relaxed. "Few more people, little bit of... recreational material and I'd be right back there," she added, waggling her eyebrows briefly. She sighed. "Doubt we'll get much time to do this often though. We definitely playing catch-up and there is a mountain of work to do out there." She gazed out the window, seemingly becoming lost in thought.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Ji Yu would leave, to be honest. Wouldn't want to crowd Avelina.

Snap-Trap Attack

She'd gotten a laugh. Success! Smiling, Snap pulled the net she'd been holding fully out of the box and, moving to a clearer area, started arranging it at her feet as Echo talked. Satisfied, she looked over at the woman. "This is a good idea," she said, with a decisive nod. "Just hope I can do it justice..."

With that, she crouched over the net, holding a fist of it in one hand, then looking over, tried snapping above a target dummy and releasing the net onto it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

GoC: can you let me know if this works? Thanks!

Getting the Wards on board

She'd commandeered a small meeting room and emailed Titania and Inertia about the date, time and location, hoping they'd be able to make it. In preparation, she put a few notepads and pencils on the table with some bottled water and a box of assorted donuts at one end.

Standing, Snap held a dry-erase marker and stared at the white board in the room before finally writing "WARDS" in the top left corner. She underlined it for good measure, then stepped back and sat down.

[Ramsus]

Quiet Words

Avelina totally doesn't pick up any of the social cues up until Bella actually pulls her over to the bed. At which point she blushes furiously and squeeks out, "Oh! Um... yes I um... er... I understand." Her eyes dart around the room for a moment as she tries to clear her head a bit. As she allows herself to be drawn onto the bed she asks, "Um... do you want ahhh, this is going to sound weird probably. But um... yes. Do you want me to be... me or... someone else?" As she asks the question she holds up both of her hands as if they were holding some invisible objects and looks to each and motions as if shifting the weight of the non-objects, meaning to convey the idea of weighing choices.

[n0ble]

Power Testing- Max

"Sure" Max went around and offered out the power to anyone who wanted to test drive it before he went back to practicing. Wonder if they'll lemme use guns at some point. Rubber bullets obviously.

First Day on Patrol

Max cracked his knuckles before sliding a pair of dusters over each one, followed by gloves. It left him fully in his old costume but for his helmet. He checked his darts, ball bearings and the slingshot at his left, and a small short sword on the right, before making his way downstairs to where his first patrol partner was meant to be. He cradled the helmet in the crook of his arm. Wonder who it is. Getting re-adjusted to the city, finding an apartment and getting his áss handed to him three times a week by Yosef hadn't left a lot of time to check up on who was patrolling with him. He put the helmet on in anticipation of meeting someone. Cant pick your friends.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Happy to have anyone onboard for the first patrol!

[Ramsus]

First Day on Patrol

Titania is there in her colorful armor and with the two elves. (There's also two cait sith but they're not visible.) She looks at him as he approaches and gives him a nod in greeting.

[3SecondCultist]

Quiet Words

Seeing Avelina allow herself to be drawn closer only boosts Bella's confidence. Her other hand moves up to gently caress her new teammate's face, fingertips brushing the unfamiliar features with a slight tingle of excitement. In that moment, the doubts that Bella was harboring about this fully slip away. Any concerns she had about the viability of this idea go out the window entirely, and she commits herself to the here and now. "Just you is fine," she says as she takes in Avelina's incredibly fair skin and blue eyes at a much more intimate distance, "I don't need anyone else." She takes that opportunity to go in for a proper kiss, no holds barred. The time for talking is already over.

[Chivy]

Snap-Trap Attack

"You’ll do fine." Josie said confidently, giving her companion a quick squeeze on the shoulder. She was sure the woman could be one of their most effective capes, feared by their opponents for her ability to appear and simply take out an opponent, then disappear again.
"Otherwise we’ll adapt the idea to what works or come up with something new."

Power Testing(Bella)

"No.. yes. I don’t know Patch. "Echo sub vocalised
"If we hold funds to the end of the month we’ll be able to use them to help counter a threat or problems like this, but that means we’ll be slower in getting what we need to the field. There’s no good answer to that question."
"Sorry if this sounds like a copout, but I trust you with what you’re doing. We’ll deal with it either way."
She looked at Patch apologetically, then realised it was a copout.
"If you want my advice, do what you do, but if it fits in your planning try and have a thousand or so for things in the last week of the month. If nothing else we wouldn’t want to have you have nothing to do at the end of the month except paperwork."
She gave him a toothy smile.

First Day on the Job

Echo drove the first vehicle from the garage, using the looking around for other traffic and to check if the young cape with her looked tense. She grinned at Volta’s question. Since Peacemeal she had been thinking things over and she had found she enjoyed being the ‘team leader’, helping young capes find their stride was a definite part of that.
"I’ll tell you how long it takes as soon as I get promoted to team leader."
Keeping her eye on the road she glanced at Volta and continued her explanation
"Until I’ve proven myself, I’ll just have the responsibility, not the pay, security clearance or the spot on the ‘leaders of the protectorate’ photo shoots where I’d be able to meet the Triumvirate. " From her inflection it would be easy to tell that meeting the Triumvirate was what she was hoping for the most.

She turned a corner, still keeping her eyes out for possible trouble
"But I’ve been in Miami a little over a month. A little over a half year in the PRT in Orlando before that and a while as a rogue on the streets before that. "
"How long have you been in Miami?"

First Day on Patrol

It was Echo’s third patrol of the day, her power would still take about half an hour to return from the last patrol, but she still gave Apogee a friendly smile and a nod as he entered the Garage.
As soon as he’d checked out on patrols and Patch had him properly outfitted, she’d be able to ease up on her own patrol schedule a bit. For the hundredth time she blessed and cursed Patch for his vile brew. As soon as everybody arrived she quickly ran down what the patrol was about. She had adjusted the patrol locations for the patrols with Apogee and Isabella. She’d keep them out of the problem areas until they had been outfitted by Patch.
"We have a South Beach patrol, so it should be fairly uneventful. Heatwave, the local villains who have claimed the area, have their own methods to keep crime down, but we have very little information on them so keep your eyes open. Anything we can learn will be a help and it’ll be more people seeing us on the streets. Don’t get complacent. We’ve walked into parahuman gang wars before."

She had chosen one of the larger PRT vans to make sure there was enough space for Titania’s usual menagerie as well as additional seats for the team.
"Can you drive?" She tossed Apogee the keys before taking the shotgun seat.
"Take a left at the corner."

[3SecondCultist]

First Day on the Job

Volta takes the second of continuing to observe their route through the city to seem nonchalant. "Been here a few years now. Dropped out of high school last year, I was working for my dad when I... you know." It's all technically true, even if the order of things isn't exactly right. Either way, the girl beneath the mask doesn't see the need to add more detail. That might just look more conspicuous.

"Well if it means anything, I think they'd have to be complete ret-morons to not promote you as soon as they get the chance. The problems of Miami not having a proper Protectorate captain aside, it's obvious that the rest of the team looks up to you. You watch; you'll get that position sooner than you think." In truth, Bella has no idea about whether Echo will even get what she's looking for. She's heard of the PRT moving around more experienced capes to get them to lead teams, make sure that the whole works better together and avoid scenarios where one team feels isolated from the rest of the organization. But words cost nothing, and hopefully in this case they'll make Echo feel a bit better.

While thinking along these lines, she stumbles over an idea. "Say," Volta begins conversationally, "it might make you look even better if we were to really clean up the streets, right? Well, from what I've been seeing of my power in experimentation, I can sorta change how people think. And you've got those two Shining Path prisoners still in lock-up, right? What if they were to suddenly, I dunno, divulge their friends' plans and where their bases are and everything? That might be a good start."


No Bad Cops

Bella stands behind the glass, looking down at the first prisoner. Wind Fist looks way too comfortable sitting there. A not insignificant part of her is reminded of Paolo, of his smugness. It irritates her more than she'd like. Let's see if he breaks quickly. She waits for the silence that is the sound of the camera monitor at the top corner of the cell being turned off. It's the signal to begin. It's not that the PRT needs to be kept in the dark about this, but... well, what she's about to do isn't entirely above board.

She's had Wind Fist blindfolded, to make sure he doesn't see her. He probably knows that something is coming, but he hopefully won't be expecting the words. They spill from her lips, already prepared on the way over here and designed to get the maximum information without breaking the unwritten rules. She finds a chair and repeats them, despite the man's protests, from behind the safety of the glass and the anonymity of the blindfold. They become monotonous, the words themselves losing some of their meaning, but she needs to keep saying them, longer than she has since she first joined the team.

"It's in your best interests to share everything you know about the Shining Path's plans, bases, resources, and connections with the Protectorate team."

When she's done, and the interrogators are taking down all of Wind Fist's statements, Bella will move on to Pyro, to make sure all the info gets confirmed.

[Chivy]

First Day on the Job (Volta)

"Been here a few years now. Dropped out of high school last year, I was working for my dad when I... you know."
"Mmm." Echo replied non-committingly initially. If Isabella dropped out of high school last year she’d of been a senior when she left. Less than a year away from graduating.
"You might want to try and finish school once you’re more settled down. Maybe you could take online classes or try and get your high school equivalency." Echo gave Volta an inquisitive look, then tried to make sure that she didn’t take it as the interim team leader ordering her around or somebody mothering her.
"It’s an option you might want to think about. If nothing else it will be good for your civilian identity and if you want a leadership position in the Protectorate schooling is important. I take online college classes myself whenever I can swing it time wise."

"Well if it means anything, I think they'd have to be complete ret-morons to not promote you as soon as they get the chance. The problems of Miami not having a proper Protectorate captain aside, it's obvious that the rest of the team looks up to you. You watch; you'll get that position sooner than you think."
"We’ll see. Either I’ll get promoted, someone else on the team will or they’ll bring somebody with more experienced in to lead us. " She sounded perfectly at peace with any of the options, which she was surprised she found she was. If she wasn’t promoted, the exposure she had gotten for the Peacemeal fight and the interviews would catapult her career.
" For now I have more important things to worry about than something I can’t influence. " Shining Path, Panther’s Fang, the Wards and her team’s safety all sprang up in her mind.
"Like getting you up to speed..." she started with a quick rundown on a few things she had learned from her team leader in Orlando. Keeping an eye out even when in a vehicle, remembering that there was a good chance that you could always be filmed and that your first priority was keeping civilians, yourself and your team safe. Volta probably knew them already but she mentioned the highlights of the unwritten rules anyway. Then made sure that she stressed that not all villains follow the rules.

"Say,"
"it might make you look even better if we were to really clean up the streets, right? Well, from what I've been seeing of my power in experimentation, I can sorta change how people think. And you've got those two Shining Path prisoners still in lock-up, right? What if they were to suddenly, I dunno, divulge their friends' plans and where their bases are and everything? That might be a good start."
"That’s...." brilliant she was about to say, thinking about the founts of information the two prisoners could be. It would solve so many issues she was having in collecting information on the Shining Path.
"Technically I think it would be against the Fifth amendment. The one that protects witnesses from being forced to incriminate themselves."
She elaborated before musing on the possibilities
"But learning about the Shining Path, their base of operations, composition of members. Fallback plans. As well as anything they know about the rest of Miami’s villains... Their cooperation would help fill in our massive deficit in information we have.. "

Echo then nodded to herself. The information would save lives.
"It is an excellent idea Volta. Bring it up with the Director and see what kind of possibilities there are. I’ll go with you to back you up if you want. If she goes for it, we’ll get on it as soon as possible. If she doesn’t, we’ll find another way."
She unconsciously scratched her throat as she turned the car around another corner, closing in on their destination.

[GameOfChampions]

Snap-Trap Attack

The snap itself goes off fine, you travel to the spot you were aiming for and the net comes along with you. The net spreads open and traps the training dummy, not perfectly on center but close enough to still trap the target.

Spoiler

Show

The idea is sound and is usable in combat and stuff but would still use a roll to see success and stuff.

Psych - Avelina

You hear a soft baritone voice call out in response to your knock "Door's open. Please come in."

The room is a mid sized office with a view overlooking the ocean, there is a soft green felt couch, several well cushioned arm chairs as well, some bookshelves with a variety of books on them, and finally a hardwood desk with a smiling but small Hispanic looking man behind it. He gestures to the various seats "Please take a seat. It's Avelina yes? Am I saying that right? Or do you prefer to go by a nickname of some sort? You can call me Dr. Linters."
(You would be asked to come out of costume. Also this description is for everyone in the office.)

Psychoterapy - Mallory

Dr. Linters grins "Yes it is taught in psych 101, there's a special site you buy them from once your a licensed therapist. However if you want to borrow any of the books that would be fine."

The small Hispanic man nods "Hmm well I'll try to brake the mold then. Is there anything you would like to talk about Mallory? How are you adjusting to Miami?"

Psych - Max

Dr. Linters steeples his fingers together "Well Max that kind of depends on what you want to happen right now. This can be a more casual relationship, you chat about your day and maybe I offer you you some advice every now and then or maybe we can do things in a more traditional manner. We delve into your past and any problems from your past."

Psych - Patch

Dr. Linters purses his lips and tilts his head a bit "Well having a friendly ear is never a bad thing Alex, or would you prefer Patch? This doesn't need to be about talking about any personal issues, maybe you just need someone to vent to? Maybe someone who is bound to keep it secret? How about we start easy, how has your day been? Also as friends I hope you will call me Mateo."

PR Madness

The Director purses her lips as she thinks "No just those things, dropping Parahuman crime numbers and the capture of high risk individuals. As far as what high risk individuals, Insight and Vitalis are top priority right now with the rest of Shining Path on that list."

Brawling in the Streets

The PR departments official stance on the Grey Hand to the public is that what the Grey Hand is doing is wrong, as brutal vigilantes a lot of what they are doing is not sanctioned by the law. Legally the PRT says that if found in action they would have to be subdued and that is what they tell the public authorities. The Grey Hand is a PR nightmare, they are ex-members of the organization who are illegally going around the law to enforce their ideals. They're still associated with the PRT by name and their past so it's constantly causing problems.

Off the record though, and they include this, there is hope that the Grey Hand can be brought back into the fold and the department here still remembers them as Wards/kids and working with them. They want this to be settled without any violence, if possible, and recommend any interaction with them that is out of the public eye should not turn to violence.

No Bad Cops

"It's in your best interests to share everything you know about the Shining Path's plans, bases, resources, and connections with the Protectorate team."

Once it starts Wind Fist looks around curiously then his eyes widen and he starts to curse explosively and tries holding his hands over his ears. When that doesn't work he starts to sing a loud drinking song at the top of his lungs. After around thirty seconds of that he start to clench his jaw but he is muttering several things through the clenched jaw. Finally after another few seconds his hands snap down and he starts to mechanically spout all the info you asked about Shining Path.

"We have two main bases, one in the docks and another one in South Beach. We pay Heatwave to let us have it, we don't bother them and they don't bother us. We'll switch back and forth depending on the jobs we're pulling or what we're doing. On top of that we own several warehouses throughout the city where we store drugs in and distribute them to our buyers, some are our own dealers within the city and others are out of town buyers who buy in bulk. We bring in the drugs through massive shipments once or twice a month, the next one should be around two weeks from now. It all works for us, we really just want the drugs on the streets in America to cause problems. The money is good but we don't even get to keep most of it, we send it back to Peru. We have hundreds of thousands in cocaine in the warehouses. As I mentioned most of what we make is sent back to Peru, some in cash but a lot of it is sent back in American made weapons. Our plans right now are really the same as they've always been, try to control the drug market and destabilize the city... it's lots of fun. We don't deal with the PRT or Protectorate, they're all pigs who should get deserve to end up in an Endbringer's gullet."

Spoiler

Show

I'm not gonna write out all the street addresses or times but he will have given you the addresses of the two bases, the Docks and South Beach one, and the four warehouses they have throughout the city, two in the Docks, one in the Outskirts, and another in Downtown. You will also know the date and time of the drug shipment coming by boat though not the ship in particular. Fun fact the South Beach HQ is only 15 min away from the PRT HQ.

[Ramsus]

Psych - Avelina

Avelina comes in, closing the door behind her, and takes a seat at whichever spot is nearest to the bookshelf so she can examine it's contents as they speak. "Avelina is correct and fine Dr. Linters. Do you have my files from my previous psychiatrist with the Wards?" she asks, hoping the answer is yes as that'll save some amount of time.

[3SecondCultist]

First Day on the Job

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that." That part isn't a lie either. Before she had to leave Gulliver Prep, she had actually just started getting into some of her classes: History, Geography, Law, and especially English. Hell, she'd taken her name after a particularly meaningful poetry lesson. Of course, there's the slight problem of her having faked her last name, and any high school credits would be under the name of 'Santiago'. Still, there's probably a way for her to work around that, right? "I'd definitely like to find somewhere to take classes. Maybe online, like what you're doing. Could be fun, actually."

The rest of the time is spent looking out for threats, listening to Echo's instructions and teaching. Turns out, there's more than one way to learn: getting into the rhythm of parceling out the information while keeping her senses honed on the street and other vehicles on the road. It's basically multitasking, but so much more important than that. Inwardly, Volta thanks Echo for taking the time to bring her up to speed on cape rules as well. Her Law class had a unit on parahuman affairs, but the teacher had sorta glossed over it.

On the topic of talking to the locked up Shining Path members, Volta doesn't speak up at first. Echo's objections make a lot of sense, and she doesn't have a lot of counterpoints. She makes a note to ask either the PRT Director or somebody else in his office for the okay when they get back.


No Bad Cops

"Okay, okay good. Thanks." Bella says as she absorbs all of this new information as she passes everything along to her nearest teammate. What to do about all of this? It doesn't really change anything, at least not that she could tell. From what everyone's told her over the past few weeks, the Shining Path are already at the top of the Protectorate's 'hit list'. They're already training every day and going out on patrol looking for them. All this really does is give them the edge when confronting the villains. Still, Bella hopes that she's been useful in getting this to the rest of the group. While the higher-ups had given her the 'go ahead' of sorts, they'd wanted some sort of plausible deniability - hence the cameras. Watching Wind Fist and Pyro resist her first attempts was kinda freaky. They're criminals, she tells herself. They probably deserve what's coming their way if people find out they've snitched.

Once she's satisfied that she has everything she needs, Bella takes her leave with all of the basic points in note form for the rest of the team to study.

[n0ble]

Psych-Max

The shrinks last statement caught Max off guard. He'd not spoken to Tammy in six months? Eight. Dumbáss. She still hadn't called him. Quite frankly Max couldnt blame her. Max waved a dismissive backhand at Dr. Linters, "Bah. Only past problems I've had was the food in Chicago. They don't make food half as good there as they do here, lemme tell ya. But even then I don't think any of it caused me lasting harm. Lets talk about my day yeah?"

First Day on Patrol

Max returned Avelina's nod just in time to catch the keys as they were thrown at him. He gave an Echo a nod as well, just by way of confirming that he could drive. "Sounds good to me m'am." He took the left at a steady clip. It'd been a while since he'd driven anything but it came back to him soon enough.

Doubt started to seep in amid the silence in the van. Your a thirty year old man. Wearing a halloween costume. Back home from a vacation. He spun the wheel, taking the left. A long vacation. The city hadn't changed all that much based on what he'd seen so far. At least that was promising. And the van had some air conditioning which helped offset how stuffy and sweaty his costume was getting him. Just driving the truck. Full of...elves. Maybe whoop some áss. Or make an arch-nemisis. Without him even registering it, Max's hands tightened about the steering wheel as the last two thoughts slid across his brain. Most of the doubt left his body too.

[Ramsus]

First Day on Patrol

"So... you came from Chicago right? How's the pizza?" Titania asks from the back seat, just trying to make small talk and start off the whole "relationship" thing. She was pretty sure not much would come of it if she just stayed in the back silent.

[Sønderjye]

Power Testing(Bella)

'That's not a bad idea'

Patch makes an appropriate face at the mention of paperwork. 'On that topic I actually have an idea...'

Experiment Bella

"I brought some", Patch confirms.

During the process Patch will record his attitude towards paperwork on regular time interval in addition to filling out some paperwork.

Spoiler: GoC

Show

How does Patch's attitude towards paperwork change?

Mutual Interest

From: Patch
To: Max
Subject: Ideas

Hi Maxwell

What are your schedule for today? If you have time to swing by the lab whenever I would like to hear your oppinion on some ideas for new gear.

[Not in mail]Patch stares for a long time at the message. It sucked. The excuse for spending time together and establishing a relationship was weak at best, and he knew it. After minutes of staring blankly at the screen he shakes his head, he really wasn't good at things like this, and moves on to the next problem, the signature. Here too he also has struggles deciding but eventually decides that a more professional might yield a more professional trump power so he signs with.[end not in mail.]

Patch

Psych - Patch

Despite being asked to come out of costume, Patch non-the-less shows up in costume. [Assuming that this is at the PRT station and not at some remote location that would require him to walk around in costume]

Alex makes a small jump hearing his name. Someone had read the file. "I prefer Patch, thank you", he politely responds.

A bound ear? Cheap words with no substance behind them. He had little doubt that what he told to Linter would go straight to the director. Even so he knew that he needed to play along if he were to hope for his ban to be lifted some day: "Mateo", he nods: "My day have been rather uneventful and aside from patrol I expect that they will be until the start of next month. I had oats for breakfast and chili for lunch and some coffee. And I practiced hand-to-hand earlier today followed by shooting practice. I also spent some time fiddling with some computer stuff."

No Bad Informant

Patch moves slightly to the right and flashes a grin, in a direction that the camera in the room can't see, as Bella ends.

The tinker can't help but be pleased with their new recruit. Apprently they are more similar than he thought, he would have done the same in her place.

"Good information to know. Did you by chance ask him what their security is like and how their relationship with Insight is compared to before he broke the unwritten rules?"

Stalker rating, Cath Sith

At some point Patch approaches Lina: "So I was just curious, is it correct that Cath Sith would be your preferred creature for information gathering?"
If she says yes Patch'll ask the questions below. If no Patch will ask similar questions that fits the new creature.
"If so, how does their invisibility work? Can they be seen through cameras? Do they fool infrared, etc?"

Armor and Telepath

As soon as the new month introduces itself Patch starts working on the armor and the telepath for the two new capes. He works with both Bella and Max, and the PR department on the costumes to be sure that they stylistically enjoy it, and finishes everything up the 2nd morning before they are going on patrol.

Spoiler: Armor

Show

The armor can midigate hard impacts and only high caliber bullets or powers can penetrate it. The helmet has two modes, open and closed, which I leave up to you to design(although they are mechanic rather than electronic). The open is intended to allow you to display more facial features and for comfort while the close makes it so no skin is revealed

Spoiler: Telepath

Show

Let's you talk to the team, individual teamates or over the comms without moving your mouth.

[Ramsus]

Stalker rating, Cat Sith

"Kind of? Mostly I'm just using it so, um, that even if our enemies know every detail about the encounter with Piecemeal they won't know.... more things I can summon. And well... it's invisible so if they don't and we run into some kind of um... trouble on a patrol... there's that. Maybe could even blame their actions on the uh... let's just call them elves for convenience. There are other invisible creatures I could summon though that might be better." Avelina answers, trying to explain her thinking.

Assuming Patch still asks the other questions, she answers, "Normal cameras? No. I haven't tested infrared though. But um... maybe the sensors of the building will have records? That should be easy enough to check."

((I'm assuming that the building has security sensors that include something as common as infrared given Stalkers. We'll have to see what GoC thinks about how their invisibility works. I figure it's pretty safe to say it fools regular cameras though.))

Moving In Part 2

Once she was alone again, Avelina went about placing orders online for furnishings she needed for the apartment. She took care to pick out things that matched her fictional civilian lifestyle in price and wouldn't clash with the style and colors of the apartment itself or with each other. She does indulge a bit in getting a fairly large bed and several bookshelves. In fact after they've arrived and she's set everything up, the second room is basically wall to wall bookshelves with a writing desk.

Later she goes shopping for utensils, dishes, and of course food. Also some clothes in the variety of local styles.

[3SecondCultist]

No Bad Informants

Glad to have somebody else to back up her info but more than a little uncomfortable at the way she obtained it, Bella smiles weakly back. All of her attempts to justify the act don't make her feel any better. "Thanks," she says after a moment of perusing her notes. When Patch asks her about their security and relationship to Insight, however, her demeanor falls more visibly. "I didn't think to ask those questions, sorry. If you want, I can do it again for you, try to get some more answers." She nervously looks at the camera though, not sure when it'll be turned back on. Based on the response she got from Director Sanderson, they aren't all that thrilled at this idea, and Echo wasn't either on their ride earlier.

In the end, even though she's tried to convince herself that her qualms are practical ones, she fails.

"Honestly... we should probably leave it at that," she tells the tinker. "I really don't need the PRT seeing me as a threat, and they weren't super cool with this to start with, so we'll just have to fill in the gaps."

[GameOfChampions]

Experiment Bella

The power takes hold more easily since you were expecting it and not fighting it. Within seconds your hatred of paperwork fades away and is replaced with a deep seated and, seemingly, longstanding love of paperwork. As time goes on the feeling is much more natural and it seems that you'd always loved paperwork. The hour or two slips by and when Bella lifts her power your hatred for paperwork comes back just as easily as it had left.

Psych - Patch

Mateo nods along "All right so fairly simple day all things considered. Why are they so simple? Forgive me but I thought Tinkers were usually up to their eyes in work or planning?"

"What do you expect to change next month? I don't exactly follow what's going on with the Director and your teams master plans, that isn't exactly my department."

Psych - Max

Mateo's eyebrows shoot up and he holds up a hand "Whoa whoa whoa. If you don't like Chicago deep dish pizza we're gonna have a problem." He throws a playful wink to show his lack of seriousness though.

"Yes so how was your day? Any ups or downs? How is it being back?"

Psych - Avelina

Dr. Linters nods "Yes I do have them and I've read them but I find it is much more helpful to our process if we discuss it in person. Let's start easy. How has the transfer to Miami been? It's a big change for someone so young."

Drug King of Miami

Vitalis swaggers around to the the passenger side of the first of three massive eighteen wheelers in a row that he and his gang have stopped about half an hour outside of Miami. He raps on the window, his voice dripping with fake sympathy "Well how kind of you to bring us a shipment of drugs just when we were running low. You're a dear but don't worry we can take it from here.

After a second goes by and the driver doesn't move though his voice gets ugly "Get out if you want to live."

The driver bursts into motion, bringing up a sawed off shotgun from beside his chair to level at Vitalis. He just lifts his hand with lazy grace and a sickly green orb forms and blasts through the window into the drivers chest before he can get the gun even close. The driver collapses and Vitalis pops open the door and tosses the driver with ease to the side of the road.

The gang leader heads to the back and throws open the back revealing piles upon piles of cocaine bricks in the back. He face splits into a savage grin and he whistles to the rest of the group "Let's roll boys."

He turns back to the cocaine "Ohhh I would kill to see Tempests face when she hears this."

---

Everyone is called into the boardroom two days after the turn of the month, the Director is waiting there in a chair nursing a mug of Patches tinker coffee that smells suspiciously like something stronger had been added. She nods to everyone as they enter and tosses several pictures onto the boardroom table "All right everyone so there have been some complications recently. State police picked up a driver unconscious on the road, he had a few serious crimes under his belt and after a few days languishing in the states care confessed that he had been robbed by Vitalis. Now this is bad but the driver also confessed what he was driving, he was part of a brigade bringing in a quarter million in drugs."

At this point she takes several long swigs from her cup before continuing "Now we don't know who was necessarily bringing in those drugs but in that quantity it seems safe to assume that it was Panthers Fang, they are the only other major player in town who deals in drugs that much. So we are looking at a possible gang war here, Panthers Fang won't take this laying down and Shining Path won't be looking to make amends with them anytime soon. I've approved transfer of Pyro and Wind fist to a prison in the northern part of the state, I'm getting them out of here and out of Shining Paths reach ASAP. They'll be gone by 3pm."

She gestures to the pictures right now "We don't know how Panthers Fang will react and how this will effect the dynamic in the city. Frankly this could go several different ways. Panthers Fang could take them out nice and quiet or go full on blood war. I'd like your guys thoughts."

[Sønderjye]

Experiment Bella

Patch notices how his attitude towards paperwork improves and improves and by the end of the process he is quite hopeful. When Bella's power is lifted his face drops in disappointment.

"I'm back to normal", he sighs: "Well, at least we know it isn't permanent."

Psych - Patch

Patch shrugs. "We used up all the budget for this month already. There's nothing I can start working on before next month's budget and I already know the first 4 things I'll make so there's little reason to make detailed plans".

"Next month we're going to get a next injection of capita which means new inventions", Patch pauses and considers for a moment if he could tell their plans to this individual and ends up deciding that some of the other members probably are going to mention it anyway. "We're also going to be taking Shining Path down".

Drug King of Miami

"This seems suspiciuos. If Vitalis were to steal from another criminal organization why would he leave witnesses? If he wanted them to attack him he should have gone for the big shots and if he was only going for the drugs there are no reason to leave obvious cues. Were they using lie detectors?"

"But if we assume that the driver's statement is true I suggest that we should be reactive.
Let Titania use her minions to scout out the base of Shining Path. Have our eyes out, cut down on regular patrols and instead have everyone ready to head out the moment we learn that they fight. Focus on containing the damage and only actively go in when they have blown some stuff after each other. If we can get a member from Panther's Fang we can probably learn where they have their bases."

He then adresses the director directly: "What's the PRT information network like? Do we get information as soon as anybody fights or would it help if I connected all the camera's in town and made a surveillance program?"

[3SecondCultist]

Experiment Bella

Bella decides to nod along as Patch informs her that he's back to normal, adopting a little grin. "Alright then, well being able to boss people around in the here and now is still good enough for me!" She doesn't add that she has seen her power have longer-duration effects before. Then again, since Bella isn't all that keen on testing her upper limits, it's probably best that the PRT keeps this as a rough ceiling on her ability for now.

As the experiment comes to an end, Bella gathers herself up before heading down to combat training. This has been fun, but I should probably get back to it. It's funny, at school she was always something of a slacker. Her looks and charm usually meant she didn't need to put much effort into anything. But here, the role of 'good teammate' means putting in the extra mile sometimes. If the past few days have taught her anything, it's that she's going to have to work a hell of a lot harder if she's going to really be pulling her weight on this team.

And I didn't even want to be a hero in the first place.


Drug King of Miami

Bella is quiet, exactly the kind of quiet one would expect from the most inexperienced hero on the team. She looks at the pictures expressionlessly. Beneath her cool outer exterior, however, an inner struggle rages within her. Beyond her brother's affiliation with the Fang, Bella was never privy to the inner workings of his operation beyond staking out a few drug deals for her father, but it's enough that she doesn't want to risk opening her mouth. On the other hand, she's read the PRT briefing files on all of the Miami gangs since joining the team, so she has at least a pretty good idea of what kinds of details to avoid divulging. F*ck, what do I do?

Eventually, Bella comes to an accord with herself: since she has nothing to add to the discussion that wouldn't bear any further scrutiny, she just says: "Heard they like to hit back hard and fast when they're crossed. They're Colombians: they don't take getting stepped to all that well, you know?" She then lets Patch take the floor, bringing up a bunch of practical points and useful questions. On some level, she's sad that she didn't jump right into survey mode like the tinker, but then again, that might have just as easily been somebody trying to cover their a*s. When he's done speaking, however, she asks another question.

"Weren't we going to hit the Shining Path anyways? Seems like the easiest way to do this might be to handle them first, see where that gets us with the Fang."

[Ramsus]

Psych - Avelina

"Yeah it's... pretty different. A lot of stress. I mean.... I knew it would be since I was coming in specifically for a fight the members they had weren't enough for. But it's also the first time I've lived on my own. I guess uh... that might be pretty common to hear from anyone just out of the Wards though. Furnishing the apartment was both interesting and stressful. Would have been nice if the Director had warned me there wasn't going to be a bed in the apartment.... Wound up having to sleep on the floor. Um.... the city itself is way busier than I'm used to. A long more crime than I was expecting so soon in my uh..... career? Is that the right word? I'm a bit nervous about going up against um.... not just gangs but.... cartel connected kinds of gangs. I don't think I'll be able to expect them to even try not to kill me."

Drug King of Miami

"I don't know if we want to change our plans or not... but, um... if we happen to run into them while dealing with the Shining Path it would maybe be good to uh.... let them know we're not there to tangle with them. Maybe even not object if they want to fight with the Shining Path themselves? As long as they don't start trying to make off with shipments of drugs or burning down buildings right in front of us I guess." Avelina offers.

[n0ble]

First Day on Patrol

"Eh," Max cranked the wheel to the left, taking a steep turn along with it, "Nothing to write home about really. Didn't have much time to eat either what with whooping the bad guys and all. Plus Myrddin always called for Chinese take out. Not that that was bad or anything..."

Mutual Interest

"Patch? Hey Patch you in here? Gotcher email, just thought i'd swing by if ya wanted to bounce some ideas offa me."

Psych- Max

"Hell I aint got no problem with their pizza doc, just glad to be back for home cooking." He stopped and readjusted in the chair, "My day? S'alright, bought some groceries and a phone for the place I moved into. It's good stuff, nice view of a park, gym in the same complex, good stuff overall. Being back well... y'know I honestly don't remember Miami being this hot. Must be that I'm getting old or some shít."

Drug King of Miami

Huh. A lifetime past the idea of a score that big would've made Max practically salivate. He blinked away any greedy thoughts and focused on the rest of the directors words. Max listened to everyone else before interjecting, "Do we know where the drugs are headed? Could track down the location, leak it to the Shining Path then tackle the whole bunch of them when the Shining Path and the Panthers when throw down at the lab. Could get some of the product off the street as well. Could also take a while mind you. Leaking it and all."

"Otherwise hitting the people that are jonesing for the Pathers or taking out the object of the Shining Path's aggression s'fine with me."

He finished off talking with a shrug. Getting all of them in one place to take them out didn't sound half bad to him.

[Chivy]

Psych - Josie

Josephine knocked and then entered the shrink’s office at exactly the time she had made her appointment. With her usual habit of being at least five minutes early, she felt like she was late.
"Hello Doctor Linters, I’m Echo. It’s good to meet you." she held out her hand for him to shake.

First Day on Patrol (Apogee)

"I prefer the thin Italian style pies myself. "
"Next right." Echo said, she was keeping her usual eye out on their surroundings as well as keeping an eye on Apogee. He seemed confident in what he was doing, comfortable even, he’d been here before. She noticed the stiffening of the knuckles, but she ascribed it to the first day on the job with the de-facto team leader watching him.
"I assume I won’t need to give you the first day on the job cape basics? Camera’s watching you, keeping civilians and your team safe, the unwritten rules" she elaborated
"I’ve never spoken to anybody from the Houston Protectorate before, so do they have any procedures or habits that would help us out over here?"
"Did you have meals together often?" Josie liked the idea of having a few sit down meals with her teammates between patrols. One of her could even cook... and then they’d order in afterwards.

Drug King of Miami

Echo listened to the Director and her team discuss the Shining Path’s attack on the Panther’s Fang, nodding along to various opinions.
"It does feel off." she finally spoke up.
" The Shining Path has lost two members to us and has a member down because the Grey Hand attacked them. The Panther’s Fang is arguably the strongest group of villains in the city."
" To attack them while being the weakest they’ve ever been... It’s either insanity or they have something big up their sleeve."
She sighed
"We’re short on information. So Inertia scouting out their locations with her cats and getting some of the information we are missing is a good idea, if she’s willing and with some backup."
"Reducing the patrols I’m not sure about. It might tip people off that we’re up to something. Maybe we can rearrange them to throw of anybody keeping an eye out and make sure we all have enough rest for when the Fang strikes back. "

"And I’m sorry to say I don’t much like the idea of playing them against each other or getting between them when they finally go at it. There’s a good chance civilians or even one of us will get seriously hurt in the three way battle."
"Our best chance to stop all this from going down is moving on the Shining Path as soon as possible, so using the information Volta got for us is the best place to start. We might learn what they have planned to defend against the Fang. "
She mentally kicked herself for not forcing a quick preparation for the strike in that meeting two weeks ago. They would have been ready by now instead of still playing catch up.
" I think that if they go at it our priority should be keeping the civilians in the area safe, and only then trying to take them down as safely as we can."

Spoiler

Show

Left the snap leaving and subsequent grey hand scene as well as the Miami PD scene out until everybody has had their say in the ooc.

[3SecondCultist]

Drug King of Miami

"That sounds good to me," Bella - no, Volta - chimes in when Echo suggests keeping to a simpler plan. While it's a little self-serving to be propping up acting on her intelligence alone, she agrees with the 'team leader' that it's probably better to go off of what they know for sure then any guesswork. Besides, she already suggested it earlier. For an absurd moment, she flashes back to one of the last math classes she was in. Ms. McCann: what a b*tch. But she remembers the old sourpuss telling her never to make guesses on information she doesn't have. It definitely applies here.

"If we can get into place and just take out the Shining Path, it'll give us less to worry about when dealing with the Fang. Echo's plan makes the most sense, I think. If we can scout out their bases, we can get a sense of where their guys are and hit them there with the team." As Volta looks at the faces of the other team members present, as well as Director Sanderson and the other PRT drones, she does her best to appear confident in her backing up Echo's position. "From what I got from Pyro and Wind Fist, there are six places we gotta hit at once. I don't know if we should split up when we do go for them, but my bet would be that at least a few will be down at their base at the Docks waiting to secure their next coke shipment."

[Sønderjye]

Experiment Bella

"I could imagine it to be" Patch says with a distant look, clearing having a specific purpose in mind.

Mutual Interest

Patch jumps in his chair and accidently spils a little coffee on the floor. He had been very concentrated on a particular piece of tech.

"That savage, doesn't let people know he's comming", the tinker grumbles as he takes a moment to clean up the mess. "One sec, I'll be right there" Max hears from the door.

After a moment the door opens and Patch's face appears. "Hi Maxwell, come in."

The lab looks like it did last time Max was there and once they're inside the lab Patch pulls out some blueprints from a more or less organized shelf. "So I'm having a hard time choosing how it would be best to use our limited funds after giving you guys the armor and the Telepath. " he pauses and gives a look to the blueprints. "There's essentially three things to consider. The obvious one being what a device can give us contra what we need. Another obvious is how much the parts to make it will cost altogether. However almost most important to me is how much it will cost to maintain and sustain it, the upkeep. You see, we're already using 1500 every month in just maintaining stuff. Add another 700 on top of that if all of the armors need to be repaired. If we end up having a lot of equiptment with high upkeep we'll be unable to adjust to new threats."

He pulls a blueprint up of something that looks like a factory machine: "This is a prime example of that. It's a machine that produces CF(Containment Foam) bullets, CF arrowheads and CF grenades. It'll cost 5000 straight up but it won't increase our upkeep at all."

Patch then proceeds to show Max the following inventions and in the end asks for his oppinion:

Spoiler: Stuff

Show

Boots that'll make us fly. 1500 to make. 500 upkeep. Per pair.
Nano bots that repair continually repair wounds. 2500 to make. 200 in upkeep. Per person.
A program that collects footage from all video camera's in town and can alarm us on specific conditions live. 4000 to make. 500 upkeep. Can also be expanded to 1000 upkeep to incoorporate satalites.
Drug A that gives us something similar to a low tinker/mover ratings, giving enhanced senses and reflexes as well as improved resistance towards mind-controlling powers. Costs 1000 for 10 doses.
Drug B that can bring someone back from the brink of death. Can also be injected into limbs that aren't working(such as broken leg) to make them work for a little while, there are backlash. Costs 5000 for 5 doses.

Drug King of Miami

"Weren't we going to hit the Shining Path anyways? Seems like the easiest way to do this might be to handle them first, see where that gets us with the Fang."

"Or we could wait for them to beat each other up a little and then go in and scoop up both of them", The tinker suggests.

"Reducing the patrols I’m not sure about. It might tip people off that we’re up to something. Maybe we can rearrange them to throw of anybody keeping an eye out and make sure we all have enough rest for when the Fang strikes back. "

"I think that our patrols have been sporadic and at different enough places that I find it unlikely that anyone will sniff it out. That said I admit that there is a risk but I think it's worth it to give us the mental break we need to be able to move out."

"And I’m sorry to say I don’t much like the idea of playing them against each other or getting between them when they finally go at it. There’s a good chance civilians or even one of us will get seriously hurt in the three way battle."
"Our best chance to stop all this from going down is moving on the Shining Path as soon as possible, so using the information Volta got for us is the best place to start. We might learn what they have planned to defend against the Fang. "

Patch discretely eyes director before turning his eyes back to Josie. He had been about to point out that they weren't equipted enough to take out the two organizations simultaneously or to even stop them from hurting civilians if they attempted to do so, and that fewer civilians would be hurt in the long run if they could take care of both organizations now instead of taking out one and maybe another later. However he reminds himself that chances were higher that he'd be allowed to biotinker if he presented a less utilitiarinistic viewpoint.

Cams, cams everywhere!!

With his paranoia growing Patch decides that the security of his home isn't enough. He buys a bunch of video camera's, infrared vision thingies and combines them with the already existing exterior parts of his house to have very discrete camera's. He then links the camera's with his supercomputer in the PRT. His probationary contract prohibits him from circulating creations outside of the PRT but this wasn't really circulating was it?

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I didn't check this with GoC but I don't imagine that this would cost more than the 5000 they got in bonus from catching Piecemeal. Let me know if this isn't fine. Also Patch will of course take precautions against being seen working.

[GameOfChampions]

Psych - Patch

Mateo jots down a note or two "What kind of inventions are you thinking about? Do you have a preference to the type of inventions you like to make? Like armors or utility pieces or offensive pieces?"

"Are you nervous at all about the idea of taking on the Shining Path? I know they're a pretty dangerous group."

Psych - Avelina

Dr. Linters nods along and playfully winces "Ya that must be tough, let me know if you need any help with the furnishing. Believe it or not but I've had to help several Wards and transfers with this problem before. The PRT never does provide much in the way of furnishings for those apartments of theirs, which is weird considering how nice the apartments are."

"Well it's all right to be nervous about this Avelina. This is a big step in your career and it'll put you in some trying scenarios but work with your team and the director and I'm sure you'll make it through no problem. Now that being said I'm always here to talk about any problems you have."

Psych- Max

Mateo scoffs "Please you can't be that old, you're in your, what, mid thirties? So do you think Miami is different from the last time you were here? Besides the heat?"

Psych - Josie

The small hispanic man gets up from his desk and walks over to shake your hand "Please call me Mateo and if it's all right I'd like to call you Josie. Now take a seat, any one you like."

He gestures to the couch and seats that populate the room and then sits back down behind his desk "So what's going on, is everything all right with you? I imagine it must be stressful with the added work load as team leader."

Drug King of Miami

The director looks at Patch with a raised eyebrow "You mean besides the obvious reasons of morality and a hesitancy to murder people. Well the reason could be because if they rack up to large of a kill count they'll get a kill order on the main group, which will mean any villain can kill them with impunity and get a reward out of it. If that happens it will just as easily damage their holdings as it would to leave them alive."

She pulls out a file from the pile she had in front of her "Yes the state police had the standard polygraph tests and several veteran detectives doing the interview. I do think that's a smart idea though to be reactive to the situation."

She frowns a bit and drums her fingers against the table "Well our information network isn't perfect, it really depends on where in the city the fight takes place. We have access to the public cameras and the police let us know if they hear of anything going down. Other then that we rely on civilian calls to let us know whats going on which sometimes comes to late for us to act. Fights in the more populous parts of the city are usually caught pretty fast but stuff that goes down in the outer parts and docks are harder to hear about. Connecting them may help a bit, especially if we get access to some private companies cameras but the problem is in those areas without the cameras like the docks and outer areas."

"As far as this changing plans this is up to you guys, this got a lot more complicated and possibly dangerous. You guys make the call."

She looks over to Snap across the table, "Snap I've gotten a message from the New York PRT branch. They watched the footage of the Peacemeal fight and with my testimony of your abilities and attitude they're transferring you over to the Lancer team in New York. They'll be training you in fast response and I think you'll be a great fit there. They want you ASAP so Strider will be teleporting in to bring you to New York and they'll handle the rest of your transfer there. It was nice working with you when we had the chance Snap and I'm sure you'll do well in New York."

Spoiler

Show

So just addressing Snap leaving there. Didn't kill her which is nice.

Spoiler: Unbiased Media

Show

Unbiased Media

As a Verified Hero your Parahumans account gets several messages if not a dozen a day, usually obsessive fans or threatening gang members. The spam and ads are kept out but unfortunately regular messages cannot. There was the usual garbage but one was a bit different.

Message
From: ParaPeopleLive
Subject: Podcast featuring Titania

Hi Titania

I'm messaging you to see if you'd be interested in participating in a podcast that myself and several longtime moderators located in Miami help produce. We focus on the ongoing Parahuman climate in Miami, ongoing issues with villains and rogues in the city. We sometimes get gang members on and have had a small handful of rogues and villains from some of the friendlier groups. The hero teams exposure and rapid replacement has been a topic of discussion for a while now and we've had some word from other groups but not any heroes yet.

We would love to get you on our next podcast and get the thoughts of a new hero on our fair city and the Parahuman climate within. If interested please connect to this server at 9pm tonight. ######

Regards
ParaPeopleLive

---

After getting the green light from PR(otectorate), Avelina listens to a few of the ParaPeopleLive podcasts (the first, the latest, and one in the middle) to gauge the way they do things (for example if she'll be essentially walking into a hostile environment) and familiarizing herself with the names and voices of the hosts so she won't get them mixed up or confuse them with any other guests if she's not appearing alone.

About five minutes before scheduled time, Titania connects to the linked server. (Better early than late.)

---

The PR department warns you to be prepared and to consider how any answers will reflect on the PRT as a whole because that can cause major setbacks. However the PRT cannot ban you from doing interviews and whatnot so you don't need their permission for any public things in the future, they are fine with this though. The podcasts seemed objective and did not pander to any side, they called out several PRT decisions in the past and several villains specifically as well as villainous groups. They weren't afraid to address problem areas and sling some mud when it was deserved.

As you connect the screen connects to another and you can see a tanned brunette figure wearing a simple and classic black mask to conceal his features. "Hi Titania it's nice that you decided to join us, we've been dying to get a perspective from your side for a while now. Now I'm Gladstone, this'll be a quick and easy segment no more then 15 min or so." You know that Gladstone is one of the three hosts that routinely hosts the podcast.

"We'll be addressing some recent topics, namely the leaving of the previous team and the recent Piecemeal incident. Do you have any questions before we get started?"

---

"Thank you for inviting me Gladstone. I believe I'm ready." Titania replies.

---

The head bobs "Great then I guess we'll get started."

You see him nod his head and then raise a small remote and click it before starting to speak "Hello everyone, Gladstone here. This week we will be having a special guest speaker to address us and hopefully clear up some issues we have had on several subjects we've been curious about for a while now. Let me introduce our guest speaker Titania who is one of the new replacement heroes here in Miami."

He turns to you before continuing "So Titania we have a couple questions that you can hopefully you can shed some light on. Some relating to you and others of a more general nature. What exactly was the Piecemeal incident? We have a lot of conflicting information and are unsure what to make of the incident; several things are being swept under the rug such as where he came from, why he couldn't speak, was he working alone, and the level of destruction he has caused. Finally why was he sentenced to death without a testimony from him, it seems that our law system has been subverted for the PRT's goals."

"Another important incident that has been equally unclear was the previous teams unveiling. All of their identities were leaked and they were quickly relocated and we now have you. What does this mean? Is someone targeting the PRT and have you caught the culprit or have any idea of who caused the leak. This person or persons would have broken the 'unwritten rules' but the cape community has been fairly tight lipped when this subject comes up. Are you worried for your own safety should your identities be leaked, especially with the aggression that you had with the Shining Path who are a notoriously aggressive group? Thoughts?"

---

"First off I'd like to thank you for having me on your podcast Gladstone. I'm glad my first solo interaction with the media is as reputable a program as yours." she says with warmth and what sounds like a hint or relief.

"I wouldn't say things are being 'swept under the rug' as much as the Protectorate public relations team probably wants to make sure they have all the facts before making an official statement. Then again, that's not my department so I suppose I can't speak for them, just myself." This is delivered in a more "this is my opinion, my friend" manner, not in a correcting/rebuking way. She specifically trying to avoid her tone coming off as rehearsed.

"Piecemeal was the codename given to a parahuman with a rather powerful and destructive ability. His exact origin is still being investigated, but..." (at this point Titania details the earliest known siting and the path he traveled).

"We're not sure why he was unable to speak. My teammate Patch theorizes it might have been a side effect of his parahuman ability. Such communication impairing or altering side effects have been heard of before, such as in the case of Hellhound."

"As far as I'm aware Picemeal was working alone. We didn't encounter anyone with him and none of the footage I've seen of him engaging the PRT showed any sign of an accomplice."

"His power caused a lot of damage to the locations he passed through and he killed and injured several others, civilians and members of the PRT alike. I believe he leveled a number of structures."

"As we mentioned before, we were unable to find any means of communication with him so a testimony was impossible. During the trial I don't think he was even aware of the situation. In the fight he sustained grave injuries. While I'm not privy to the exact reasoning behind perusing a death sentence, I believe it was an act of mercy as much as it was likely the only viable solution. His power was such that even in the Birdcage he would have been a harm to others and as far as I'm aware he was no longer capable of non-violent action as he seemed to be driven only by violent instinct without thought to self preservation. Even if he wasn't a harm to others or put in a situation where others would not seek to harm him to protect themselves, given his state of mind I can't imagine his remaining life would have been anything but some kind of endless agony."

"Unfortunately I can't say much about any investigation into the incident where the previous Miami team was outed. It's a very sensitive matter. You bring up 'the unwritten rules' and that has a lot to do with it. As a community I'm not surprised most of us don't have much to say about the matter. The 'unwritten rules' as you put them are something we self-police as a whole for the benefit of all of us no matter what we each identify or are labeled as. Barring very rare cases I believe we all wish such things to be conducted as quickly and low key as possible, to ensure the incident doesn't spiral off into more.... breaches. All I can say on the matter is that if the responsible party or parties have not already been dealt with, then the parahuman community in addition to the Protectorate's own investigators will be seeking to do so as swiftly as they can."

"Given the repercussions of such actions, I'm not overly concerned such an outing of identities is likely to occur again any time soon. As for my personal safety, of course it's a concern if that should ever occur, but... well I suppose if I felt my safety was a bigger concern than the safety of others, I probably wouldn't be in this line of work." She ends the statement with a bit of a chuckle. She considers saying something about the Shining Path, but realizes this is a bad idea as there's nothing to gain my antagonizing them or giving off the impression that their team is overconfident. Better to just dodge that issues entirely.

---

The masked man nods along "Hmm that does explain a lot of the questions revolving around Piecemeal. The conflicting info was causing lots of confusion. However some of the information still leaves some of our questions unanswered. Namely his origins, it is possible that he was a parahuman who triggered and got the short end of the stick but that adds up a little to well for our liking. You believe that the PRT is not sweeping anything under the rug so what if we could find proof that they were? Proof that the PRT is not the shining standard they hold themselves to be. Would you be willing to come back onto our show to discuss this?"

He coughs slightly clearing his through and looks off to the side where you hear some murmuring "Now we have heard a lot of 'we believe' and 'we thing' but what about you in particular. Do you have any particular thoughts on these issues?"

---

"Proof of keeping secrets and proof of not being perfect are pretty different things. There are plenty of government agencies that keep secrets for good reason. And we all know that nobody is perfect. Which isn't to say we shouldn't try or that people shouldn't be held accountable if they've done something wrong. So yes, I'd be ok coming back. I would say happy, but that wouldn't be much of a happy circumstance I suppose." Titania replies with a little chuckle.

"Personally, I think no matter what the story with Piecemeal is, it was a tragic one. To the best of my knowledge the PRT handled it as best we could, but that makes it no less tragic. As for the outing of the Miami Protectorate... Well I think what I said before mostly covers it. Aside from saying that I'm hoping my team and theirs can open some kind of dialog at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later."

---

The masked guy shrugs "They can be different, that doesn't always mean that they are. Though we could debate about that point back and forth and it won't matter until there is proof. Glad to hear you'd be willing to come back, we need more perspective from the heroes side of things."

He turns away from you to talk to the other monitor as well "This was Titania of the new PRT team here to talk with us. Hopefully we'll have her back on soon, thank you and good afternoon everyone."

Spoiler: Cities Eyes

Show

Cities Eyes

It had been maybe a week since the Piecemeal incident and the teams press conference when you get an email from MMM, Midtown Miami Magazine. A writer for their local news section had sent an email to the PRT to get in touch with you and after a quick check had forwarded the email he had sent to you

Hello Echo

Hear at MMM we pride ourselves on keeping up with our heroes down at the PRT HQ, needless to say there has been little to keep up with over the last month but then you and your team came soaring in to save the city! We would love to jump back on top of the hero scene and get to know the new team starting with their fearless leader. Let's start small, here is my number ###-###-#### please give me a call if you're interested. It'll be an easy going and casual phone interview.

Regards
Harrison Linterman

---

Even with being warned to expect the interview requests, Echo was still a combination of surprised, excited and a little scared when the first one came in. She’d expected to have a little trepidation about things like a television interview, not a simple phone call where cameras wouldn’t be aimed at her.

She quickly set out to verify with the Protectorate PR department that this Harrison Linterman actually worked for the Midtown Miami Magazine and the number given was actually his. That this was an actual magazine and not written trash like the Enquirer. She contacted Alpha Girl again for tips and things to keep in mind, before replying to the email.

Dear mister Linterman,

I would be honoured to be interviewed by you. Would 16:00 this afternoon be an acceptable time for you?

Kind regards,
Echo

That afternoon Echo sequestered herself before phoning the number provided.
"Good afternoon mister Linterman, this is Echo."

---

A man with a deep jovial baritone is on the other end and he practically booms at you over the phone. "Echo! I'm so pleased you decided to call. It's so nice to talk to you and please call me Harrison. I just have a few key questions and several fluff questions to try and get a feel for you as a hero and a person. Our readers love to know what a heroes favorite pastime is as well as how well they kick ass. So lets get to it."

There is a brief pause and you hear some pages flip before he starts to talk again. "So I guess we'll start easy. 1) What is your favorite pastime? How do you spend your downtime? 2) What do you look for in that special someone and is there anyone special in your life? 3) How do you have time for anything with the state that the city is in right now. 4) Will it be possible to bring the city back to the same rate of crime that it was at before the previous heroes were removed. 5) How do you feel being thrust into this team and possibly a leadership position. We've received a few tips that you've been functioning as a temporary team leader, how must that feel in this type of environment and with your level of experience?"

---

"Alright, Harrison it is." The jovial man brings a smile to Echo and puts her a bit at ease.
"This is my first official interview here in Miami, so taking it easy sounds good."
She answered
"What is your favourite pastime? How do you spend your downtime? "
"Hhhmmm." Echo started
"Well my favourite pastime isn’t much different from most girls I think. I love the beach, just relaxing in the sunshine or swimming. I enjoy rock climbing, cooking and having a nice meal with friends, but I’m a horrible cook, so I also enjoy ordered in good food. My guilty pleasure is probably sappy romantic movies, not particularly the image a Cape wants to project, but I think secretly everybody likes movies with love and happy endings. I’m just up front about it."

"What do you look for in that special someone and is there anyone special in your life?"
Echo laughed at the question before saying
"I thought we were starting off easy. Is this actually what people want to know?"
She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, this wasn’t a question she had expected beforehand.
"No. I’m sorry to say there’s no one special right now, unless you count my plant at home. I think what I look for is probably acceptance first and foremost. Acceptance that my primary focus will be on my job and that whoever I end up with will always come second to my work. The hours are long and irregular and I can be called out at any time. Most days I don’t even get home but bunk at headquarters. That’s a lot to ask of anybody, even with the additional things I’d demand like being smart, funny and being a great hugger. So I’m actively single for now. There’s been very little free time to meet people since I joined the Protectorate anyway. "

"How do you have time for anything with the state that the city is in right now."
The question hadn’t been an unexpected one. ‘What where you doing when...’ was a question often aimed at Protectorate members. Usually in hate and while demanding answers. At least she could get in front of it by telling them about her days, as well as mention the Wards program.
"I don’t mostly, even with my power making it possible for me to able to be in multiple places at once, there’s always things to do. We’re still very much in the stage of getting things off the ground. We’re working out how best to apply our talents and abilities, learning the particulars of the people living here, patrolling, preventing any crimes we can and working on getting the best team we can get together to serve the people of Miami. We’re also working on re-instituting the Wards program for youths with abilities in Miami, we’re hoping on attracting a lot of new Wards."

"It all takes a lot of time, thankfully we have a great team of extremely talented and dedicated people working at the PRT. The Capes, PRT officers, support staff and leadership are among the best I have ever worked with and they inspire me to put in a hundred percent every day. Which is a LOT if you're a multiform Cape."

"Will it be possible to bring the city back to the same rate of crime that it was at before the previous heroes were removed."
Another question Alpha girl had warned her about beforehand and she had prepared
"I’ve only been in Miami for a few weeks, but yes from what I can see I think we’ll get it back down. I hope we eventually even get the crime rate to be even lower than it was, but that is still a long way off. Like I said the people of Miami have a great team working for them at the PRT and Miami PD is amazing at what they do. Together we should be able to figure a workable strategy and bring the crime rate back down."

"How do you feel being thrust into this team and possibly a leadership position. We've received a few tips that you've been functioning as a temporary team leader, how must that feel in this type of environment and with your level of experience?"
Echo had also expected the question and had something prepared. She just had no idea how it would be received. She needed a speech writer.
"Well I wasn’t exactly thrust into the team here. I was asked if I wanted to move to Miami and be part of the new Protectorate team here.
I didn’t have to think about it for long. Sunny weather, great people, a beautiful city and the ocean only a short drive away, who wouldn’t love a place like this? Add the job I’m doing and the people I’m working with to the mix and it’s a dream come true."

"The team leader thing… It’s many things. It was a shock at first, I thought that there would be an established Cape here to take the leadership position. It’s something I had considered from time to time, but I thought it would be years off before I got the chance.
I’m honored and a little humbled that the higher ups think so much of me that they’d trust me with the position. It’s also a little scary because I have to make decisions that affect what happens to other people. But I think I’m growing into that, especially after the Peacemail encounter."
"It’s also a lot of paper work. A LOT. I’m glad I can do multiple things at once because otherwise I don’t think I would get anything done except paperwork. It’s really a mindboggling amount."
She laughed before continuing
"There is a lot on my plate with all the things happening in Miami, and initially it looked like an overwhelming amount, but we’re tackling things and helping to make things better. That helps a lot. Makes the extra hours worth it. But mostly it just makes me appreciate my team. They’re all helping out where they can, supporting where they can and giving me the advice I need to not make any large mistakes and the trust and time I need to grow into the position."

---

You hear the scratching of a pen on paper as Harrison writes down your answers and will occasionally murmur along encouraging you to continue. After you finish he speaks up again "That was great Echo! Perfect! Well I mean perfect for you I wouldn't have minded some juicy insider gossip but what can you do, you are after all a PRT employee. I really enjoyed this talk, feel free to email me if you have any PR questions or whatnot that you'd rather handle outside of the PRT."

He coughs awkwardly a bit "Now I would also hope that you would favor MMM with any interviews or info you're going to release in the future."

---

"Well we are still a new team, there isn't much gossip to be shared yet. The closest thing is that we're restarting the Miami Wards program and that we're always looking for Parahumans to join us at the PRT. I don't think the others have mentioned it yet in any interview so getting that out there would be a scoop for you and help us get the word out. Sorry, I'm afraid I have nothing else for you right now."
Having added additional focus to the Wards program Echo added her own pleasantries to what was essentially a painless interview.
"I'll remember the PR questions thank you. And thank you for taking the time to speak to me. I'll remember MMM, but I'm sure you understand that I can't only speak to you. Apparently people want to see capes on TV as well, but feel free to email me if you have any more questions that you want answered."
After she hung up she disconnected the recording device and uploaded the file to her PRT dropbox. Now all she could do was wait for the actual article to see how well it had actually gone.

[Ramsus]

Psych - Avelina

"I'm good. I already handled the furnishing. Even had one of the team, Ji Yu, help me with a lot of the unpacking. Which was... nice. Though... I did invite everyone and she was the only one who came. I was a little disappointed by that."

She pauses a moment before saying, "Speaking of team....relations." She gives a false cough at the word relations. "There are a couple things that I was hoping to talk about. The first is that...um... I had a casual sexual uh.... encounter?... with one of my new teammates. Bella. Uh... that's not a problem for me. The casualness. I was part of a theater group." She just blushes a bit at that for a bit before continuing. "I'm just wondering if you had any advice in case that or another relationship goes in a... a more serious direction? I get the feeling that the Protectorate has probably seen it's share of relationship drama and tragedies and that uh, there might be pitfalls to avoid I haven't considered. Um... not that I intend to try and have that kind of relationship, but.... love has it's own schedule."

[3SecondCultist]

Drug King of Miami

Volta nods along with Director Sanderson's reasoning, before chiming in again. "If we move now, we're going to have less casualties on our hands. I'm... not sure what the Panther's Fang will do, but we know where the Shining Path will probably be, and we're in a position to hit them hard." She finds, much to her surprise, that her voice is getting impassioned. She's probably being more vocal than she needs to. Inwardly, she wonders whether or not she's trying to cover up her own issues about the Fang by being more outspoken about not fighting them.

"I think what Echo and the Director are trying to say is that we shouldn't look a gift bird in the mouth. Or was it about a horse in the hand? Whatever. Point is, we've got the info on one gang, we should use it now before the Fang f*cks everything up and nothing we got from our captives downstairs will amount to sh*t." She stops, before apologizing about the swearing. "We should stick with the plan as is: get the Shining Path out of the way. Six places to hit at the same time is probably gonna be hard enough, especially if we have to split up our cape numbers. That's my vote, anyway."

[Sønderjye]

Psych - Patch

Patch studies Mateo for a second. He didn't trust the psychiatrist "confidentiality" for one second. However, even if Patch suspected that everything he said would be given to the higher-ups, it should be safe to talk about the potential inventions.

"Nothing is set yet but some ideas are containment foam grenades, nanobots that repair people's wounds as they appear, a virtual reality system, a drug that gives a mild tinker/mover rating and a drug to make people come back from the brink of death. And yeah we'll also need armor for our new members."

He considers for a moment and eventually decides that they could easily figure it out by themselves if they just looked a little into his published research. "Ideally I would like to make an invention that makes people unable to die from age but that will have to wait until I am allowed to biotinker."

"I am somewhat nervous but not too much for myself. I won't be the one in the front and in fact I probably be the one furthest away from the actual battle given that I fight with a sniper rifle. The others however will be in the middle of the fray"

Drug King of Miami

"You mean besides the obvious reasons of morality and a hesitancy to murder people. "

"Do you think that the shining path is conserned with that? I'll admit I don't have much to base this on but I always assumed that you put about such conserns when you became a drug distributor."

Well the reason could be because if they rack up to large of a kill count they'll get a kill order on the main group, which will mean any villain can kill them with impunity and get a reward out of it. If that happens it will just as easily damage their holdings as it would to leave them alive.

"But noone would have known, right? Surely Panthers would do what they could do to avoid an investigation into a missing truck and driver filled with their drugs and there's plenty of suspect for something like that. How would Shining Path have been put as the ones responsible if both the driver and truck had disappeared?"

She pulls out a file from the pile she had in front of her "Yes the state police had the standard polygraph tests and several veteran detectives doing the interview. I do think that's a smart idea though to be reactive to the situation."

"Thank you", Patch says as he takes the file and starts reading through it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I assume that the file contains information that makes it appear as if information is valid, correct?

Patch looks up from the file in suprise when the director mentions Snap's transfer. Had the PRT realized that he wouldn't open up just because someone also were on probation? That would have been strange because he had started like Ji Yu. He closely watches Ji Yu, trying to see their reaction.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'll hold off commenting on what we should do next for a few days, hopefully giving Chivy time to come back.

Home, sweet home

After getting out of costume Patch turns his back to his bed and allows himself to fall backwards, crashing down into the bed. He then just lies there and stares up into the beige ceiling of his bedroom. This cape thing was exhauting and having to watch all of his words out of the possibility that someone might rapport non-ideal behaviour to the PRT was nerve wracking. *Sigh* And even will all this effort he hadn't been able to make any progress in almost two month now.

He rolls over on the side to face a diploma he got for some research a few years back. Things had been simpler then. He had been able to focus on his research instead of chasing bad guys and playing politics, something he genuinely felt inadequately equipted for. A brief moment he wishes that he wouldn't have triggered but almost immediately a surge of anger passed through him. He had been given a gift and even if being a strict biotinker would have been ideal, being a tinker and a genetist offered him way more opportunities than just being a genetist.

He lies there for almost half an hour before finally having gathered enough energy to turn on his laptop, opening a safe internet portal and starting to research his next project. How could one create a company in such a way that it wouldn't point towards him?

Spoiler: OOC

Show

@GoC, I have no idea how one does this in real life but I'm sure there are resources or at least some way to find people who can make a fake persona for you to registrer a company under. Or however that works.