Realistic or Modern A Matter of Worth [In-Character]

[June Verles]

Time: Time to spice it up
Location: The newly refurbished Madison square garden.

By the time people the heroes were showing up the mood at Madison Square garden already relaxed to a boring standstill, obviously no one from the audience wanted to square up to the blue mythological figure who fucked with Thor and Loki at the same time and got away scot free. Still Eik being the stubborn old mule he is he just waited until someone showed up. Hell the two fighters who were meant to fight decided that it wasn't worth it and reprogrammed the fight to be happening later this week before just leaving.

"Fucking finally for Odin's sake!" he said while getting up from the canvas, patting his trousers to get some of the dust off. The atmosphere of the Arena and the casual attitude of the old man certainly took away some of the excitement from the heroes showing up but finally some challengers were here, so they could get on with the program.

"Look lads and laddettes." he spoke calmly to the hero team, not even somewhat threatened. "You could probably knock me out and after a while the entire Arena will return to normal. But some members of the audience wouldn't certainly appreciate the show being cancelled after they were summoned all the way from Utgard, if you get what I mean. Look just fight 5 of my champions, you guys get some free publicity and then we can all go home satisfied after putting on a good show?"

Birdsie Thepotatogod Eldarkon Space_Kaiser Epiphany Shinrinyuko _gallifrog_ Damafaud Kana.M.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Kit Sanches-Martin
Location: Madison Square Garden

Kit boarded the jet with the others, Lucien perched firmly on her shoulders. The flight time was short, but she spent it all starting out the window at the New York skyline. It was beautiful, in its own way, but it was also fragile. The jet passed over the area of the city where her apartment was.

Literally two minutes later they landed. The landing pad opened, giving the accesses to the building. The first thing Kit thought of when she walked inside was the TARDIS. It was way bigger on the inside. Yet an again she wondered how much money had been spent on it.

The door was locked, but this was, of course, no problem to Avatar, who just blasted through it. Kit made a mental note to bulk up her spell arsenal and to make a first to the random magical crap shop. Avatar went out first, naturally and the entire human crowd lit up with joy.

Rogue instructed them to strike a pose and stand in a v-formation. She rolled her eyes but grudgingly obliged. Before walking out she whispered the word θωράκιση and cast mage armour. Her body was instantly surrounded by a transparent black and very title magic armour. She stood at the back of the v, arms crossed. Lucien lit himself alight with black fire and sat up straight on her shoulder.

Rogue said something cheesy about justice and Kit couldn't help but say quietly and snarkily out loud "what he said" which made Chris explode into fits of laughter.

The mage, who looked more like a crumbling corpse than an all-powerful badass was of course not perturbed by their power stances and posturing. He turned to them and spoke.

Look lads and laddettes." he spoke calmly to the hero team, not even somewhat threatened. "You could probably knock me out and after a while the entire Arena will return to normal. But some members of the audience wouldn't certainly appreciate the show being cancelled after they were summoned all the way from Utgard, if you get what I mean. Look just fight 5 of my champions, you guys get some free publicity and then we can all go home satisfied after putting on a good show?"

On a normal day Kit would have teleported behind him and knocked him out, but instead decided to wait and watch.

Birdsie Thepotatogod Kana.M. Eldarkon Epiphany Shinrinyuko Damafaud June Verles

 

[Kana.M.]

Yuudai Takanosu
Madison Square Garden, NYC

​

The team boarded onto the helicopter and soon took off, flying through New York City for only a short minute. Yuudai took in the scenery although he could tell the air was polluted the sight was very pretty. When they all arrived at the scene and got off of the helicopter it was only a mere moment before they were on there way down to the seating. The Avatar lead them forward to double doors and proceeded to blast it with energy powerful enough to break through although very quiet. Yuudai's eyebrows rose as he was taken aback by the move but his posture stayed undisturbed.

Avatar floated in, and the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge stayed behind and gave the team instructions on what to do. Being a superhero was itself marketing, many heroes had original catchphrases or performances the differentiated them from one another in the eyes of the media, although it would be hard to find something "brand new." But Yuudai being the person he was simply nodded in agreement and decided on the two-finger salute combined with a smile and wink.

They walked inside in a "V" formation following the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge's lead. Yuudai carried out his actions when the two pro-heroes stood side by side, giving the magician only but two options. Fight or flight; and from what Yuudai made of this man, he couldn't care any less. No sense of intimidation, no reckless behaviors, he just seemed like he wanted a fight, and it pumped Yuudai up. His blank expression morphed into a smirk, he couldn't do much with his powers but if this guy was anything like he thought it would be a fun fight.

Birdsie Thepotatogod _gallifrog_ Eldarkon Epiphany Shinrinyuko Damafaud June Verles

 

[Damafaud]

Brie Amara​

Mekanik
Madison Square
Interaction: Eik, Rouge, Avatar, Nebula Brigade
​

Brie followed after Rouge enthusiastically. Why pose was important! This was briefly mentioned in the manual. It was difficult for media to capture a a good picture once the fight truly start, so in case they didn't manage to get one throughout the fight, they would use the picture from the initial pose before the fight.

She made a victory sign with her left hand and put it over her left brow. As her eyes met with that of a kid, she gave him a wink and a warm smile. From the flash of camera and the delighted shriek, she hoped that was a success.

"You are disturbing the public with your act. Please surrender and we can solve this peacefully!" she ignored the old man's words and instead started on her own tangent. There was no reason for her to go with his flow of conversation, right? Besides, cheesy quotes were good!

Mention: GM ( Birdsie ), Others ( _gallifrog_ Shinrinyuko June Verles Eldarkon ] Thepotatogod Epiphany )

 

[Epiphany]

Mercy

Reunited with her husband, Mercy is only too pleased to follow the call to action. As orders come in, the world resumes its normal color, noise and the air no longer has the lustrous quality of honey. At the command to suit up, Mercy simply looks down at her robes and smiles before saying, "I'm ready now."

Their field commander, the master fencer Rouge, seems content to have them play more of a theatrical role. Perhaps owing to the incredible presence of the Avatar whose powers really were god-like. Certainly she'd never seen that kind of ability displayed by any save for divinities far greater than herself. Thankfully, she's familiar with parades and the importance of presenting an appealing image to the public. Obediently, Mercy joins the v-shape with her husband and brandishes her hengdang blade in one hand, while waving benevolently at any of the public in evidence.

 

[Birdsie]

[NPCs]

Avatar seemed to gauge the offer for a second, thought better on it, and flew over the railing, approaching Eik with his hands raised in a placating gesture.

"Eik, I'm sure you have good intentions. In fact, I love the idea of having metahumans fight Nordic monsters as a form of entertainment, but, please understand that what you're doing is illegal. Forcing people to stay here for a thing they haven't paid for is illegal on many levels, and so is summoning creatures using magic in a public place - at least without oversight. Would you be willing to come with me and talk to the manager here? I'm sure we could figure out some deal that pleases everyone, like a weekly show kind of deal, or something like that. I wouldn't mind making an appearance, myself, but for now, I have to ask that you dispel your magic, okay?"

Rouge lowered his blade, muttering, "Spoilsport..." but not sheathing his weapon, knowing there might be a struggle from the old magician.

Damafaud _gallifrog_ June Verles Epiphany Inheritance fin

 

[fin]

Lucas King Jr.
aka Silver
location Madison Square Garden​

Spoiler: Prelude

Luke's eyes slowly peered open, vision blurry and balance disoriented. He could roughly make out the second couch placed perpendicular to the one he'd already fell asleep on, then to the light of the working television in front of him. Lucas groaned slightly, sitting up slowly in the couch, and adjusting himself again in an upright position. He tossed the pillow beneath him onto the coffee table ahead, before staring at the ceiling in hopes of piecing together his memories and cognitive function before starting the day. When Lucas King slept, he slept. Lucas wiped a stray strand of drool from his bottom lip, standing up in his underwear and 'Mister Tomorrow' t-shirt. "Hey, Eddie. I swear if you took the last cinnamon bun, I won't hold back this time." Lucas called as he made way to the apartment kitchen. Most of the room stayed unfurnished besides the living room, kitchen, and bedroom turned office-room. His teammate only replied in snores, and was equally as knocked out as Lucas once was. Damn, I hate night shifts. He thought to himself.

Lucas placed the cinnamon bun into the microwave, staring down at the television whilst also scrolling his phone for the latest sports announcements, and comparing his social media feed with other young adults in the area. Usual. "A group of Nebula Brigade operatives, lead by Avatar and Bleu-Blanc-Rouge have confronted what sources have deemed a 'crazed old man' with blue skin metahuman abilities. He's fortified an arena around Madison Square Garden where our heroes lie within, alongside multiple civilians and what's most likely guests invited by the old man. Garcia, back to you." Lucas' ears perked at what was being displayed on the news, a subtle crack in his lips to form a smirk. He'd been in the super hero business not much more than a year, and was in it partially to avenge his old lad, yatta yatta yatta, but it was honestly fun for him too. Adrenaline rush. "Seems the old man has challenged our heroes to a battle against 5 of his own champions!" Now, that. That was the last straw for Lucas.

Running (cautiously to avoid slipping on the hardwood in his socks) back into the living room, Lucas tossed aside his t-shirt, kicked off his socks, and donned a pair of dark green cargo shorts over his boxers. The microwave sounded, and our young hero was not going to pass up the last bun, even if it meant being a little more late than he already was for the MSG reunion. Jogging back to the kitchen, Lucas grabbed his bun in what was now a silver-colored left hand, creeping slowly like scales being peeled off a fish upwards his arm. The same effects began on his feet, and torso, as Lucas jogged towards the balcony door and out of it, taking bites out of his bun as he made way. His steps turned from the regular sound of feet slapping the floor, now to more of a hammering of metal sound you'd hear at a blacksmiths. Glancing down the sixth story balcony, Lucas turned to spread his palm wide against a larger surf board pitted up against the apartment wall, and like the rest of his body, would soon be coated in his silver product. The board hovered slowly off the ground, and off the balcony, levitating midair. Lucas' hair slicked back under the metal transformation, until he was now a bald-headed, all silver man, shirtless, with a pair of cargo shorts and boxers beneath. After being "suited" up, Lucas leaped over the ledge of the balcony, and landed on all fours onto the board. Metal goo stretched from the board and wrapped itself around Lucas' ankles for a sturdy grip. His smirk turned into a wild smile (which looked even more weird as he choked down the last of his cinnamon bun) as the board dipped, and he sped off, hovering slightly over the New York traffic.

From his Manhattan apartment down to Madison Square Garden was not the longest trip. Lucas arrived in what was only a couple minutes, cat-calling girls he felt were reasonably close to his age, and signing an autograph for a small civilian boy. In hopes of bypassing any land security that might've been put up by Eik, Lucas ascended over the arena walls, and surfed downwards towards the bleachers and the rest of the Nebula Brigade he'd recognized from above. He descended slowly, and went from being perched in a surfer's position on two feet, to sitting down, knees to chest on the metal surf board, the metal wrapping itself slowly from his ankles to his buttocks.

At final descent, Lucas hovered directly behind Rouge, about two feet off of the ground. "Sorry, I'm late, folks. Hope I didn't miss all the fun now?" Lucas' now grey eyes scanned the team around him, nodding at those he recognized before turning his eyes towards the blue sorcerer and Avatar.

Birdsie Damafaud _gallifrog_ June Verles Epiphany Inheritance

 

[June Verles]

Time: Time to spice it up
Location: The newly refurbished Madison square garden.

Eik groaned angrily when he saw the silver bastard of a good guy that was the Avatar show up again. He now couldn't do anything because this guy kept using logic and reason to combat his wholesome, gods loving fun attempts at making the world a better place. Looking around the ring he would look at the 3 Norns, who now served as ring girls and then Utgard Loki who all just gave him shrugs as if they weren't involved.

After groaning for a solid 30 seconds yet again he just used his thunderous voice again;

"You heard him lads, come back next week I'll have something sort out by then but don't expect fights to the death since the athletic commission doesn't understand that you're meant to die fighting."

The mythical part of the audience, even some of the normal audience, begun booing but after a few minutes they all started going back through the portals they came from and getting on their magical mounts. Eik on the other hand would take the suit off an then put on his iconic saggy coat and leave the arena, if you tried to stop him he'd just tell him he's going to play bingo.


Birdsie Thepotatogod Eldarkon Space_Kaiser Epiphany Shinrinyuko _gallifrog_ Damafaud Kana.M.

 

[Birdsie]

[NPCs]

Avatar floated up to the Brigade, and nodded to their newest arrival. "Silver, pleased to make your acquiantance, I'm the Avatar. I'm also afraid that you're a tad late." He turned to the rest of the team, to Rouge in particular. "I've met Mr. Yfirgefin prior to this. His old age has affected his rational thinking, but he is good at heart, so I'm afraid our visit here was mostly null, except for the media coverage."

He flashed a smile just in time for a photographer to catch the best profile, before he snapped back to Rouge. "Take the team out for lunch. I have something else to attend to, but I'll try to catch up later if I can. If not, I'll give you a call."

The French hero, finally sheathing his rapier, nodded a little disappointedly. His pouting was noticed by the Avatar who rolled his eyes. His sniffle went ignored, as Avatar raised his altitude and flew through the ceiling, phasing like a ghost.

Rouge drew his lips into a thin line and turned on one foot with a shrug, masterfully rolling under Silver's surfboard. As he straightened, he kept walking, as though he had never performed a... moderately impressive gymnastic feat, though nowhere near his previous displays of celerity. He turned to half-look at the Brigadiers, before asking, "How do you feel about pizza? I haven't had any in months."

- - - - -

Meanwhile...

The Avatar flew above the city at hypersonic speed, then slowed down as he descended onto the rooftop where he was to meet Carbon Dragon and awaited the arrival of the other party, as well as the explanation for why he wanted to meet.

Damafaud _gallifrog_ June Verles Epiphany Inheritance fin Space_Kaiser

 

[Space_Kaiser]

Carbon Dragon
Location: New York City
​

After his encounter with the New Predators, a mage, and the Avatar himself Carbon went back to normal business. He patrolled the streets and alleys of The Bronx, showing up at drug deals and illegal weapon trades. Despite his reputation at least one of these deals would fight back, who would then be promptly dealt with, but today was different. Everyone he encountered immediately surrendered and turned themselves over once the authorities arrived. It would see that his fight with some of new york's top dogs of the underground convinced some of the non-believers that he wasn't tough. Speaking of the fight, what was recorded apparently went viral. Of course, the main talking point was Avatar himself, but Carbon didn't care about that. What he did care about was being seen and his location confirmed to the public. With all of this in mind, Carbon went to the meeting.

As he arrived he saw Avatar already there. He approached him and spoke. "Thanks for coming out here to meet me." He said rather straightforwardly. "Let me explain why I wanted to talk to you in the first place."

Carbon said as he stood next to Avatar, not caring the status of the other man. "To make a long story short, it involves Shadow."

He then took a pause, almost as if he was gathering his thoughts. "Someone, or something, is reuniting all of the splinter groups of Shadow under a singular command. What's more, is that they're going for another attempt at a world attack, but this time they already got entire nations supporting them. The U.S. itself has nearly fallen to Shadow, with much of our military, R&D, and politicians already in Shadow's pockets."

This time he turned to Avatar directly, giving him a serious look through his helmet that Avatar could sense. "I know all of this because I was trained to become a shadow agent and use this armor to defeat and kill people they wanted to be killed."

He said as he placed a hand on his chest to emphasize the point about his armor. "I won't say who I am exactly yet, I have family and friends to protect. What I will say is that I was in the military, I was recruited into a project that was run by Shadow, found out about it, and booked for it once I had the chance. Now they plan on launching another attack, but this time it's gonna be bigger and stronger than it was in the '70s."

Interactions: Avatar ( Birdsie ), @Everyone_else since this is some pretty important plot shit.

 

[Damafaud]

Brie Amara​

Mekanik
Madison Square
Interaction: Eik, Rouge, Avatar, Nebula Brigade
​

Well, that was anticlimactic. To be honest, the wizard's offer was a bit persuasive. A good show would be good for her reputation, but as a hero, the path without fighting or collateral damage was the ideal one. Still, she found it a bit disappointing.

Brie turned Super Swiss Knife into a pencil and put it behind her ear. Rouge at least performed a cool acrobatic feat before the moment passed. She resisted the urge to clap. That was good. And from the sounds of shutter clicking and the grinning face of media people, some of them had a nice picture stored for the news. She should learn how to look good in the heat of the moment too.

She answered Rouge's call for pizza with a wave.

"Sure! Lots of cheese for me, please."

Mention: GM ( Birdsie ), Others ( _gallifrog_ Shinrinyuko June Verles Eldarkon ] Thepotatogod Epiphany )

 

[fin]

Lucas King Jr.
aka Silver
location Madison Square Garden​

Lucas definitely wanted to get in on a fight in the giant arena, and face off whatever monsters the blue old man had planned for the Nebula Brigade. Laying flat, stomach-to-board, Lucas' eyes squinted to focus on Avatar and the old man's shapes in the middle of the arena. Avatar returned after the short conversation, and he nodded in greeting to the man, wincing slightly when he'd mentioned his tardiness. He glanced over towards Bleu-Blanc-Rouge once he'd been ordered to take the rest of the group out to lunch, and wasn't quite sure how to react when the French super soldier rolled under the metal surf board like it was an everyday routine.

Silver willed the board to turn slowly in the direction Rouge had made off in. "As long as there's plenty meat, I'm up, coach."

Birdsie Damafaud _gallifrog_ Shinrinyuko June Verles Eldarkon Thepotatogod

 

[Birdsie]

[Avatar]

There was a lull in the Avatar's aura, as his polite smile turned into a grim frown.

His eyes didn't quite drop down or go up, but he stopped looking into Carbon Dragon's eyes (or where his eyes would be,) and looked at something else past him, that was infinitely more attention-demanding. There was something else in his expression, rather difficult to pinpoint: a certain depth of thought, as if he was considering a thousand distantly related elements and how they played into some elaborate puzzle he'd been waiting to complete for the last week.

His aura didn't diminish. Not as much as it changed frequencies, and the peace and majesty shifted into something like anger.

The Avatar clenched his fists. "This is grave news. If you're an ex-agent of theirs, you're in danger. Especially with that fight today. There are--" he paused briefly, eyes looking up, before going back down "--eighteen videos of the fight we were in, and the most popular one has over two-hundred thousand views, and will reach over fifty million and go viral by the end of the week. Partly, because I'm in it. Shadow will send someone after you to retrieve the suit and silence you, and knowing how things usually are, they'll have weapons similar to yours."

It was a difficult thought; that over two-hundred people had seen the fight in just a few hours, and were spreading the video to more of their friends.

"I consider it at least partly my responsibility that you're a target, now. While it's true you associated with Shadow in the past, for reasons I won't pry into, I am the one who attracted heat to you. So, instead of acting hastily, and as a form of thanks for bringing this to my attention, I will tell you this:

"I will, after this meeting is over, go to Venture City and inform the Global Champions of everything you've said. We will proceed to comb through every network we have to find information, and then try to piece together a plan and gather information on the US government, particularly the politicians and military. I will crack down on every Shadow member I find, and I will personally make sure they don't get away."

He dropped to the rooftop, halting his flight. "What do you intend to do?"

Space_Kaiser

 

[_gallifrog_]

Kit Sanches-Martin
Location: Madison Square Garden

Avatar turned to the old man, who Kit vaguely recognised from somewhere. He spouted out a whole pile of logical facts, that only an idiot with disagreeing with. The old man relented, albeit extremely reluctantly. But there was mention of a regular fighting show, which she would definitely consider joining, both for the money and the experience. The fight now over, Chris decided to pipe up. "well that was the most anti-climatic fight ever. We didn't even do anything except standing there and looking good! And even then, the poses were ridiculous. Except yours, of course, that was damn edgy. The only thing we achieved was getting your masked face splashed across every newspaper cover and social media site to ever even sniff in the direction of New York!" he grumbled.

A silver man on a glowing surfboard then appeared. This didn't phase Kit at all. She was becoming immune to weird things by now. The guy evidently knew Rogue and Avatar, but then again, who didn't? Rogue skillfully rolled under it, as Avatar disappeared to do whatever world-renowned heroes do in their spare time. Probably doing something incredibly normal like binging Netflix with copious amounts of popcorn or getting his laundry dry cleaned or doing therapeutic yoga or stuffing his face with freshly made Italien pizza. Though she doubted it. "the day I see a world-renowned superhero eating pizza is the day I dance the macarena naked around the kitchen" Kit laughed at the thought, but Chris was right Avatar or Rogue would probably never be seen dead eating pizza.

Then Rogue did the unexpected and the ironic. He suggested pizza for lunch. Had Chris been in charge of the body he would have fallen over with shock. Kit snickered slightly at this and said to her brother "you do know what you have to do now" she couldn't keep the smirk out of her tone. Chris sighed.

The other team members responded positively to this. Kit smiled under her mask. Pizza definitely was a good idea

"I'm in, and I know a great pizza place not too far from here"

Birdsie Thepotatogod Kana.M. Eldarkon Epiphany Shinrinyuko Damafaud June Verles

 

[Space_Kaiser]

Carbon Dragon
Location: New York City
​

Carbon was slightly surprised that Avatar's mood shifted, but anyone in his position would be after they had dealt with the problem the first time now that it's rearing it's ugly head up again. "It isn't your fault at all. If it's anyone's it would be myself for stepping up my actions in the underworld, prompting a response from the New Predators." He said with his voice modifier still on.

He then looked directly at Avatar, eye-to-eye. "As for what I will do. Business as normal, with a small exception. If it's not too much trouble, for my own safety I would like to become a member of the Global Champions with a condition. All I ask is to keep my identity secret. Given my position, I can't afford to have my family and friends targeted because of me." He said looking into the palm of his hand.

He then looked back up at Avatar. "Oh and two more things I should mention. The moment they find out what you're doing is the moment they'll act, so you ought to be slow, methodical, and secretive. I should also mention that if you could find the upgrades for the ICS, this thing I'm wearing, I would like them."

Interactions: Avatar ( Birdsie )

 

[Birdsie]

[Avatar]

Avatar gave Carbon a kind smile, muted by his anger, even though the hero's fury took a back-seat for now. There was a hint of pride in his voice as he said, "Don't worry, I've been down for the rodeo for ninety-nine years. I know how to deal with secret organizations, and where I have shortcomings, my team is ready to step in." There wasn't a hint of slowing down in his tone or posture.

The silver-gold hero nodded. "Well, then. I'm off to sign you up for a tentative seat at the Global Champions. Do note, you will have very limited resources and will have equally limited privileges, and we'll have to talk about the details later. Consider yourself a probationary member. Use this badge to prove your identity and contact us."

The Avatar held out his hand, silver light swirling in his palm and forming into a badge — a platinum Earth on a shield, and a single stripe of dark gold on its outline. The side of the badge, a little wide, had two buttons - one red and the other yellow, marked 'COMM' and 'SEAL' respectively; one for opening the aforementioned communications channel and the other to enable and disable a molecular adhesion effect that let the badge stick to any surface as if glued.

With that, the Avatar said goodbye and ascended into the firmament, leaving behind a streak of gold.

- - - Outro - - -

Once he hit the altitude of six kilometers, he blasted off at Mach 10, accelerating to Mach 30 once he was outside of the Big Apple, and then Mach 70 as he began to ascend further into the atmosphere.

He pressed the button on his comms device - stowed away in his ear - telekinetically and said, "Avatar to GC Console. Urgent information." There was a beep sound. "I've assigned a probationary rank to Carbon Dragon. He asked not to have his civilian name documented, but for now, he has the rank and privilege of a probationary member."

A humorless snort came from the other side, from Techno-Paladin. "That is to say, none?"

Avatar frowned, and sensing it, Technopaladin continued, "Look, I won't question your judgment since you can read intent like I can read maser readouts from an alien spaceship, but I'll ask just for posterity: Are you sure we can trust him? Not in the sense he's planning to betray us, but in the sense that four years down the line, darkness will strike his heart and corrupt him, or whatever it was you said about Johnathan from accounting?"

Avatar rolled his eyes. "Like a carbon-based microchip, Paladin."

That caught a chuckle from the armored tinker, who answered, "Okay, so, why the rank, though? He save a school bus full of kittens from falling down into East River?"

"Something like that," Avatar answered coldly.

"Wait, really?"

"No."

Silence dominated the line for several seconds, before Avatar said, "Shadow is back, in full force, if what he says is true, and they have agents in every layer of the US government. I've already started to make a mental map of the senators, but I'll check them later. I want you to hack the servers of every agency there is, check their datalogs. If you can, make a physical check of deleted data with drones, and if not, send Phantom to do it. No half-assing on this. Check all data, and then have Tracer Pulse double-check it and write down his conclusions. Have Causality help him out with all magic she can muster; I'm talking scrying, mental enhancement, retrocognition, and precognition. Schedule a meeting; me, Mimic, the president, and the White House."

Paladin whistled, not quite appreciatively as much as taken aback. "Damn, really not going to go easy on this, huh?"

"Shadow has been plaguing the world for forty years and more. I think it's time it became history."

"Alright, boss," the tinker said. There was a drollness in his voice, as he comically drawled, "Should I send Mister Tomorrow with you as well, so he can check if the president is secretly a reptilian?"

In a no-nonsense tone, Avatar asked, "He can do that?"

Techno-Paladin's eyeroll was almost audible through the link. "Sure."

"I want him there, too, then."

"Aren't you getting paranoid? Why hurry? What could Shadow possibly do, besides establishing a regime that they know we'll overthrow anyway?"

The Avatar's lips parted, then joined again, only to part again, as he grit his teeth in what he didn't, himself, quite recognize for what it was. Ruthlessness.

"I'm not making the same mistakes I made previously, and I'm not letting them off the hook anymore. We're doing this for good, this time. No hit and miss, no second chances, and no half-measures. Do what you have to do to make sure Shadow doesn't walk this earth again. Avatar out." The device beeped again, and there was silence.

= = = End of Prologue = = =

Rouge bit down into his slice of pizza, ignoring the people filming and making photographs. "This is pretty good. Pizza was a good call," he said, after chewing on the food. "The white sauce is definitely ten times better, though."

Damafaud _gallifrog_ June Verles Epiphany Inheritance fin Space_Kaiser

Chapter 2 begins in circa 24 hours.

 

[Epiphany]

Mercy

Whatever she expected, it wasn't pizza.

Assembled with her new teammates, her beloved husband at her side, Mercy looks uncertainly at the dish. It's...crude. Not finely spiced jasmine rice or even fish freshly caught from the river. It's so quintessentially American; bold, loud, uneven and of dubious virtue. But then, her team mates have already begun eating without hesitation or reservation. The Goddess casts a swift gaze about the restaurant, and sure enough others are eating without reserve. It's a scene of gluttony. But it's also a scene of camaraderie, of building friendships and family.

With her husband at her side, all is right with the world once more. Surely 'pizza' is nothing but another trial to overcome.

Taking an experimental nibble, Mercy is briefly overcome. Another bite and her mouth is dazzled with a myriad of powerful tastes. Then she rises from the table with her team, proceeds to the cashier counter and reaches out to touch the young man's arm. "It's wonderful!" she exclaims, her eyes shiny and bright with unshed tears. "You should be very proud."

 

[Birdsie]

***
May 12th, 2019 (Wednesday)
13:25

Director Jepsen stared at the e-mail, massaging the bridge of her nose.

She put down the thick mug of coffee, sighing exasperatedly.

Her team wasn't involved in the capture of Brick and Graviton, but for them to escape this soon after being captured... and by some new upstart called Deathrat, no less. Apparently, the new villain appeared last week in NYC, as an almost complete unknown. He somehow managed to break into Rikers' Island and broke out with Brick and Graviton - the two villains riding on his back.

It was a small irritation, as, besides this incident, the week had passed rather well. Especially for a first week of work for a team of mostly-newbie superheroes.

The Nebula Brigade managed to stop six muggings and three robberies; one of which was at a jeweler's store, and had a small skirmish with a mutant working for the Acceturo; one Graham Kleijberg. The media reception was suitably favorable, and the PR department and spin director managed to build on top of the team's success. Merchandise was selling hot, and parents were bending to the pressure and kept bringing their kids on tours around the base's first floor.

The Liberty League was nice enough to offer to focus purely on the large-profile stuff and the big fights, while the Nebula Brigade got the hang of the game. The director stared hard and long at the corkboard next to her desk, and put together some vague ideas of what she might send the heroes after.

Definitely not having them fight the New Predators. Not yet.

A small picture of a cleared-out junkyard. A total thirty-thousand square meters of space, once occupied by thousands of broken cars, heap piles of scrap and broken metal.

Now empty, with nothing but a flat field of dirt and sand.

She was terrified at the prospect of what might've happened to all of that. In the wrong tinker's hands, that was enough to build a mech-suit the size of a low-rise apartment complex. And how could anyone clean all of that out?

Hopefully, the team could get along - the city's fate might depend on it someday. But for now, another member of the Global Champions would arrive to provide oversight and look upon their progress. She was yet to get any notice of who it might be.

- - - - -
Meanwhile
Nebula HQ
17th Floor; "The Living Room"

...​

Damafaud _gallifrog_ June Verles Epiphany Inheritance fin Space_Kaiser

 

[Damafaud]

Brie Amara​

Mekanik
Nebula HQ - Living Room
Interaction: Open
​

"Someone catch that lamp!"

The sound of door sliding open followed the frantic shout. What came next was definitely scandalous news-worthy.

A lamp walked in. A two meters tall lamp, shaped like a human with white skin. The lamp faintly resembled a male mannequin with faintly outlined abs and smooth, well-shaped limbs. There were two noteworthy features of the lamp: one, it was walking. Two, it was wearing a frilly pink bra.

"You lamp aren't supposed to walk around like that!" Brie jumped on it and grabbed a hold of its neck with her hands. She hated mestruation upgrade compulsion! What part of 'lamp that runs away from people' sounded like a good idea? And why on earth didn't she finish programming the definition of wearing clothes?! Rather, why did she program it to wear clothes at the first place!

The lamp, as if under a command, started running around the room to release itself from the tinker. Brie, unfortunately, wasn't wearing any of her strength enhancement. She cling stubbornly to the lamp as it dragged her around the room in an attempt to lose her.

"Don't just stand there. Help me!" she shouted at anyone who might be in the room.

Spoiler: Lamp and Bra

Mention: GM ( Birdsie ), Others ( _gallifrog_ Shinrinyuko June Verles Eldarkon ] Thepotatogod Epiphany )

 

[June Verles]

Sasha Korneev
Time: 13:25
Location: Living room, Nebula Brigade HQ

It's safe to say that Sasha adapted to her work environment over the few couple days she stayed here. Her schedule would consists of waking up at 4 am, 6 am if it was a lazy day, work out in the gym and then go to lacrosse practice and after that school. In the free time she had after school and weekends she'd try to improve her equipment and "increase" her affinity with her fellow teammates.

Currently she's managed to get everyone's phone numbers without having to give them back, expertly saying she had to do something every time they asked. Still it wasn't all sunshine, she couldn't get a good enough listening device on the avatar, all of the available ones either were too small so the energy emitted by him would interfere with the signal or they would be too obvious. Maybe she should buy a pair for friendship bracelets and then modify it into tracking/listening devices, he seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn't refuse.

However she wasn't working on how to better do illegal and questionably ethical surveillance on her fellow team, no, she finally got her hands on the technology that a low scale Villain called Graviton used the other day. After her fight with Bleu on their first meeting she realized that flash bangs would be too weak, so she was currently reverse engineering his grenades to better suit her. As she was finishing with the design she'd see Mekanik and an anthropomorphic lamp enter the lounge area, perfect excuse to try out.

"Dodge." she'd beckon Brie, not like it would matter though. The grenade's area of effect would be 3 meters around detonation and would increase the local gravity experienced by a factor of 3.

Birdsie Thepotatogod Eldarkon Space_Kaiser Epiphany Shinrinyuko _gallifrog_ Damafaud Kana.M.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Christopher Sanches-Martin
location: Nebula Brigade living room
Time: 13:25
The sound of a scuffle caused Chris looked up from his corner of the lounge. The first day they had entered the lounge, he had instantly claimed the large charcoal grey beanbag in the corner by the wall to wall windows. There were two reasons for this: one it was extremely comfortable, and two, it was near a series of plug sockets and a low table. This was where he could be found most free days, sitting there doing paperwork from the NYPD or Nebula Brigade (he had become the designated paperwork guy) or with headphones in, watching lectures on his laptop and taking notes. It was very common for a Brigade member to enter the room to be confronted by Chris levitating the beanbag he was sitting on and all the things around him.

Kit and Chris had agreed that it was best for Chris to be the main body when in plainclothes around the Brigade, while both bodies were used for the actual in costume combat. Shortly after his first days with the Brigade, Chris dramatically lost a bet and as a result, let his friends decide his new haircut and ended up with an extremely badass looking mohawk with black dyed tips. It looked completly different from the messy mop that Top had seen on the first day.

The bet had also resulted in Kit shaiving half her hair off, which in Chris's opinion made her look even more terrifying than usual. The next day he showed up for brigade work with the hood down, and ever since then, Parabellum was known as the badass mohawk guy. (He still hadn't told them his real name). He had also started showing up in plainclothes but still kept the domino mask on.

When he looked up from the paperwork he was greeted by a very strange sight. It appeared to be a hi!an combined with a lamp post. It was wearing a bra and walking around. Brie was yelling and running after it. He couldn't even imagine how this thing had been created. "what the...? How...? I'm so confused.." was the only thing Kit could say that began to even remotely express her thoughts. Chris chuckled to himself at the hilarity of it and couldn't suppress the grin that spread across his face.

The soldier girl jumped up to help and threw some kind of grenade device at the lamp person. Instinctively Chris threw up a protective dome around himself and his paperwork, and a second one around all the others in the room. He never quite knew what her devices were going to do, and besides, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Birdsie Thepotatogod Kana.M. Eldarkon Epiphany Shinrinyuko Damafaud June Verles

 

[fin]

Lucas had settled himself before the large Nebula Brigade television, belly-down on the floor and eyes glued to the screen. His thumbs scrambled wildly against the controller as his virtual basketball team reacted in a barrage of scoring and display of unrealistic athleticism. He was giving whatever online noob that'd made the mistake of joining his server, and just as the Tinker had barged into the room chasing a humanoid lamp, his opponent had forfeited the match. He glanced up towards where the noise seemed to radiate from the most, squinting slightly while his eyes adjusted to regular room lighting instead of the bright intensity of the huge screen down his pupils.

"...Hey..! What the hell is that?" He exclaimed, jumping from his place on the carpet before tripping against the metal surf-board shaped plank next to him, and toppling again. His eyes turned towards the second loudest voice in the room, Sasha, he remembered her name from the awkward conversation they'd had when she'd asked his phone number out of the blue and rushed to the washroom just as fast. Lucas' eyes widened as he saw her release the grenade. His eyes transformed from brown to a lighter gray tint, throwing his left hand in front of himself. From his elbow up was the silver, metallic skin, flattened into a large semi-circle shield in front of his body from the floor up. If anyone was behind him, they'd notice his left leg had suddenly turned the metallic grey as well, and was slightly shorter than the other as the metal transferred from that leg into the shield to protect him.

_gallifrog_ Birdsie Thepotatogod Kana.M. Eldarkon Epiphany Shinrinyuko Damafaud June Verles

 

[Inheritance]

Dr. Solstice ​

What could go wrong now, that the love of his life was with him? Of course that's what was said when something was about to go- but that didn't matter. He had Riya now, and that was all that mattered. Watching her try pizza for the first time- something he had already tried and took a great liking too- was brilliant.

He knew there were some who would be giving her strange looks, but they only saw an outsider. He saw a gem who had such compassion that she would thank the person who made it before doing anything else. The sight was amusing yes, but it just reminded him of why he had fallen in love with her in the first place. Laughing, he stood up and followed her. From his understanding, these men that handled the green paper didn't actually make it, they just took the currency and stuffed it into a machine.

"My dear" he said putting his arm around her, "I believe the chef is to thank for this! I'm surprised you haven't tried this yet, it's one of the better things about this place!"

COMMANDER LIBERTY​

Another day in the great United States of America. He stated the morning waking up with two beautiful women in his bed, and finished the morning with a donut and a few hours surfing. As he emerged from the waves, he heard sirens, and was excited to do something else. After tossing someone that probably wasn't in the country legally out of a stall, he flew out of the beach bathroom in his suit. Gasps of wonder and awe rose from the crowd, and after a bow and a wink to some ladies, he launched off faster than a jet.

It was just someone speeding, to his disappointment. The driver was panicked and screamed loudly as he carefully picked the car up and shook it a bit, but dropped it a bit too hard when he found out he just gave up the beach for someone going 8 over the speed limit. Well, he was already in costume, he might as well go for a stroll-or a flight.

Casually hopping off of buildings and pretending to fall until he flew up, he looked around the city bored. Man, ever since he used the head of E.A.G.L.E.'a car to beat the hell out of a monster, he wasn't allowed to hang out there. There was nothing happening, and he started to grow annoyed that this great morning would turn out to a very dull day... until he saw a mannequin wearing a pink bra.

He had to stop and do a double take as he saw it through a window, and couldn't help but start falling with laughter. Of course, floating in the air would cause his 'fall' to be an actual fall, though he caught himself before he actually landed. He flew back up to look at what was going on, and almost fell again as he saw the lamp seemed to have a mind of its own, sending everyone after it.

What caught his attention for real, was a grenade being tossed. He didn't recognize it as something of the US government, but he still knew it could be dangerous. Mustering his strength, he blitzed in and exploded through the wall, grabbing the device and hurling it out the newly created gap in the wall.

"What the hell is wong with you? Throwing an explosive near people like that!"

It only slightly occured to him that he probably did more damage there than the grenade would have done.


Birdsie Epiphany Damafaud fin June Verles

 

[Epiphany]

Mercy

A week has been enough time to begin to get to know her...colleagues? Team mates? The social organizations of this plane are hard to parse sometimes. But this adoptive band of warriors fight for justice and truth and the preservation of life and that is worthy to her. What's not worthy? Dealing with a cross-dressing rogue mannequin.

Mercy looks up from the book she'd been reading on and stammers, "Why-why...wh-why is there a lamp shaped like a man wearing women's undergarments?"

Sasha's choice to throw a grenade at it is only slightly less alarming than a man smashing through the wall and throwing the grenade back out. Despite how utterly ridiculous this scenario is, clearly action is still called for. The lamp remains a threat. And since she can't put a lamp to sleep, and since its creator remains in imminent peril, her instincts leave her with only one recourse.

Mercy lunges out of her seat on the couch, draws her enchanted sword and promptly skewers the mannequin neatly through the chest, sliding the blade in beneath one arm pit and out the other to avoid harming Brie. "Die, unholy creation!" she exclaims.

 

[Damafaud]

Brie Amara​

Mekanik
Nebula HQ - Living Room
Interaction: Mercy, Commander Liberty
​

Brie's eyes widened when she saw a grenade falling her way. She must be joking, right? Dodge? This was a fucking grenade and she was a fucking uni grads woman. Without her Super Suit she was like a level 1 villager without his level 9 armour.

"Are you crazy?!"

Of course, the question was rhetorical. Anyone throwing a grenade in a closed room was crazy. The scene turned from 'embarrassing' to 'alarming' to 'what the hell is going on again' when someone blasted through the wall, catch the grenade and flung it out of the hole he made. The man said 'what the hell is wrong with you?' to Sasha. Well, she wanted to say 'what the fuck is wrong with you!' to the man!

And someone help her already!

Her knight on a white horse was Mercy, who skewered the lamp right through its torso. The lamp went limp. Brie released her hold from the lamp's neck. It fell to the floor with a thud.

"Thanks, Mercy," Brie grinned at the centuries old woman. Then her eyes moved toward the lamp. She rolled the lamp to its back and unclipped the bra-- her bra-- and stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans. Now...

"You're paying for the wall, right?" she addressed the man that threw the grenade out. "I spent too much on stupid things like this lamp at this time of the month."

Mention: GM ( Birdsie ), Others ( _gallifrog_ Shinrinyuko June Verles Eldarkon ] Thepotatogod Epiphany )