Earlier, Edwards AFB...

The air force base was a swarm of activity. Oficially, the cause was the X-37 spaceplane that landed on the runway thirty minutes ago. Half of the personnel though was not members of the Airforce, as idnetified by a rather corporate shoulder patches on their overalls. The Strke Enterprises crew was swarming over one of the hangars, with the doors slammed shut and any window blanketed over. Over the last two hours, trucks were arriving with equipment for something even most of the air force base was not informed about. What many found strange was that some of the flatbed trucks ony carried one crate, and yet seemed to sag quite a lot under it, suggesting a big weight was being carried.

Inside, the answer to that lied, or rater, stood still. Alex was watching as techs were assembling the re-purposed Titanius Mk III suit-up system. The re-fit included upgrading of the hydraulics suite so the arms would even be able to handle the extra weight. In front of her was the reason - the modules of the ASTRA suit. Alex smiled, recalling her father's words about, as he put it, her 'graduation gift'. The general thought behind the suit was very Starke, but if one comapred the ASTRA to the Titanius, it would be like comparing a steamroller to a hammer.

She had only seen the suit today for the first time as well. Alex could not help but think it funny that she, someone who was pretending to be this petite, lanky girl, was to fly a suit of armor more rough and brutal looking than the Warmachine. The press was going to go bonkers the first time they would catch her on film without the helmet on...

"We're ready, ma'am." one of the techs called out, and Alex nodded, stepping onto the platform. Activating the until-now dormant protocols, her skin shifted back to its natural silver, with golden stripes akin to printed circuits running along. The arms strained under the weight a bit, but eventually craned on every module of the suit. The modules lit up as soona s they came into contact with her or one another, power coursing through them for the first time outside of a laboratory.

To Alex, it felt as though she was finally alive, her powerplant finally needing to output more than 5% of it's designed power. "All modules reporting power and self diagnostic is in the green." Alex reported. She wished Dad could be here, but the Avengers were holding him in preparation for what was to come later today. At least she wasn't alone here for her big moment. "I'm ready, colonel Rhodes. You said you had some space garbage you needed to de-orbit?"

'Unca James' smiled at her, nodding. "It's time you learned how to play proper catch. We have a failing suveillance satellite on polar orbit. Control will upload orbital data to your suit. Your mission is to intercept the satelite and ascertain it's state. If you can, perform a repair, but the satellite is from the cold-war era and thus, repair mission is not economically viable. If it is nto salvageable, you are to dismount the data storage module and bring it back to the base after altering the satelite's orbit to burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific." Alex nodded in understanding, making a note that Colonel rhodes knew the best games. How many uncles would elt their nieces go to space to fiddle with multimillion dollar pieces of military technology?

The door of the hangar finally opened and Alex put on the helmet, downloading the navigational data from the suit into her own memory. Of course, there were only three men in the world privy to her true nature, so Control uploaded the info into the suit first. Only Thomas, James, and to their neverending dismay, Nikolai Fury knew the truth behind her.

"STARKE-3, EDW Control. You are clear for takeoff. Good hunting."

"EDW Control, STARKE-3. 10-4, keep the lights on." Alex responded over the radio and linked into the multifield generators. Selecting a gravitational field, she gently lifted off of the pavement, having much greater control and stealthiness than Titanius or Warmachine who relied on repulsor based flight. Once she cleared the specified altitude though, she too switched the generators from projecting a gravity field into repulsor propulsion, giving herself much greater acceleration.

She shot upwards with an excited 'yeehaw', following a trajectory that would take her on approach to the faulty satellite. Soon the air around her started ionizing, as her suit battled the resistance of the atmosphere. The heavy defensive capabilities of the ASTRA suit were bought with abysmal aerodynamic properties, relying on power alone to keep it in flight and on course. Alex however linked into the chest generator, setting it to project a cone shaped, vectored repulsor field in fornt of her, essentially creating an aerodynamic shround in front of herself like the payload fairings on the common rockets. With that, her speed increased an order of magnitude and soon enough the sky started to turn from blue to black.

"STARKE-2, STARKE-3. I have visual on the target. I can see damage, likely solar wind and micrometeorites. Proceeding to have a closer look." She reported down.

"Three, two. Can you give us video?" came Rhodey's question from the ground. Acknowledging, Alex opened a channel through the Iridium constellation and started streaming what she saw to the base.

"Damage is not severe, but the section that housed the RTGs had been blown off, looks like a micrometeorite at work. The satelite lost power. Primary objective is a failure, proceeding with secondary objective." she reported, raising her hand and launching a tractor beam, pulling the satellite to her. Reachign around, she unplugged the drives and stored them in one of the armor's compartments, then she turned around and fired a low power repulsor blast at the satellite in a precisely calculated moment, slwoing it down enough to enter the atmosphere on a desired de-orbit. "Complete."

"Roger that, return to base."

turning around herself, Alex watched the Earth as she flown over it. It was so serene and beautiful. She could see the antarctica below her, before passing over China, the Arctic and then back to over the USA. When she was nearing her descent point, she manuvered aorund and engaged the repulsors again, coming virtually to a halt over the base and letting the gravity take a grip of her.

She started falling straight down at tremendous speed, slamming onto the atmosphere like a bag of bricks. Her excitememnt escalated into mad laughter as fire exploded around her and the armor's surface turned black with scorch marks.

Present time, Avengers tower...

One short stop at Edwards to offload the data droves and ehr her ear chewed out by Rhodey for 'attracting attention with her flaming atmospheric cannonball in a flamboyant manner only an offspring of Thomas Starke would be capable of', Alex was on her way to the Tower. She wanted to take the armor, but the techs insisted on running a detailed diagnostic after her maiden space flight, and so she had to lower herself to taking a military truck and then the subway.

Mirage was already waiting for her at the reception, arms folded on the chest and foot tapping in annoyed inpatience. "I know, I know, I'm going." Alex grunted as she hurried to the elevator, inputting her security code and selecting the floor where the meeting was to take place, wondering what band of misfits would she become a part of.

After a long flight Carver Edson arrived at Champion's peak. He was arriving dressed very casual. White tank top muscle shirt, black trench coat jacket and some blue jeans. He didnt carry anything with him, or stuff that many belongings. So he packed very light upon arrival he made his way to where he was suppose to go and tried to listen to the orientation.

'Well this sure is a big tower, wonder if they would get mad if I decided tot try and climb this place. Couldnt image having to clean all these windows...' These were the thoughts of one Carver Edson when he first arrived at Champion's peak. A voice in his head answers him, 'We best not, should we fall, you turn to splat'] The voice was its own entity,a symbiote that is attached to Carver. The Sliver symbiote and Carver replies by thinking, 'Hey, we have only fell about ten times now...' the klytar interupts his thoughts again, "Fifty times, we fell Fifty times over the last week. Half of them you let go of the in the middle of a web swing into a billboard." Carver replies, 'Well whatever maybe we should pay attention to what is being said..." Carver missed almost the complete introductions of everyone, only to hear Blackbird ask, 'With all of that in mind, do any of you have questions?'

Carver had many questions but only asked one which he just goes and asks right out, "Where are our rooms at in this big place?" His only concern was where was he going to hold his head at night around here. Although Carver did have another question but it was one he kept to himself and that is when will they see some action. Carver also taking mental of who was around and who was still ariving. Everyone hear is suppose to be an ally, and Carver was just wanting to make sure he knows who is who. Especially if he is going to end up living with these super powered people in this tower.

OOC: Sorry it is a little short.

IC:

Sera Grey hadn’t said much since she and the other had arrived in San Francisco. This was partly because she could be a quite person in new situations and it also had to do with her not being in the best mood. She had just broken up with her longtime girlfriend, Sonic Beam, the day before, after she got mad about the fact she was leaving. It wasn’t even the fact that she didn’t want a long distance relationship, but was the fact that she was mad Seraphina had been chosen over herself.

“Selfish..she is so fucking selfish…” She thought to herself angrily. It was a good thing had learn to hide her emptions rather well, otherwise her face was have been contorted into a look of utter irritation. A look which would not have been good to have on her face in such an important meeting. Sera had originally been shocked when Wolverine and Dr. X suggested her for the spot on this mysterious team. She had gotten better with her powers, but still greatly struggled with some things. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Blackbird first began to speak. There was a look of awe that passed over Sera’s face as she looked at the legendary assassin. It was hard not to look at all the legendary hero’s standing before them that way. Even Logan with his grumpy attitude and snappy comments was hard not to admire. They had all done so much and trying to fill their shoes was going to be the hardest thing any of them would do.

"With all of that in mind, do any of you have questions?"

“When do we start training?” She asked after Carver’s question, looking around the impressive building.

She had officially been interrogated out of her ass, making her momentarily wonder if dying would have been simpler. With her track record of teammates dying on her missions, speaking of an 8 year old mutant who had managed to kill an entire cell of P.R.O.T.E.C.T agents had been a hard concept to grasp. Especially when said child was now dead she had been the only survivor… if one would call it that. Anomie had lost nearly 27% of her blood due to her injuries, and as soon as she was strong enough to walk, she had been whisked away into interrogation where they molested her mind.

By the time she was actually allowed to go, the whole ordeal felt like a lifetime ago and all she wanted to do was collapse into bed.

Dying would have been smoother and less stressful, but the desire to live was what had made her abandon her dying comrades and ultimately kill the unfortunate mutant who had followed her. The boy had lost control of his powers, being used as an experimental puppet for a terrorist organisation. She had tried to make up for her cowardice by downloading all the information on the terrorist group - which had ultimately led to the arrest and fall of a national threat, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t be able to get rid of the stain on her name.

“Ah, look at that, it’s the Shadow of a Coward.”

“For someone with nine lives, she was afraid to spare even one.”

“I see she still landed on her feet though, even if the blood of her comrades that was on the ground caused everyone else to slip.”

Anomie supposed she did see the taunting coming, but nothing could prepare her completely for the whispering. The wound was fresh and every word brought a further knife her skin. She could tell the other agents had no care for her, most calling her Coward in hushed tones as she strode down the hall, attempting to keep her head held high as their words clouded her mind.

They always left the dirty missions to her; the gritty immoral ones that nobody wanted to touch, and then judged her for carrying them out. And as she read over the file for her next mission, she raised a single eyebrow at her supervisor who went by the same of Soren. “Is this P.R.O.T.E.C.T’s nice way of telling me I’m suspended? Putting me on a team of children?”



________________________________



Her amber irises slid right, glancing towards her fellow newcomers, lingering for a fraction of a second before flickering back to Fury’s famed heroes. She had been waiting there for some time by this stage and she had to wonder if this uneventful security detail was some kind of sick joke handed down from the Director - she definitely wouldn't put it past him. Restlessness was an unusual feeling for The Shadow... but then again, everything about the mission felt unusual.

Her lips parted slightly so to voice these strange unusual feelings to Soren, only to be bitterly disappointed as she remembered he had not accompanied her. She slightly released the unnecessarily tight grip she had unconsciously held her forearm, only for the feeling of absolute muscle exhaustion to seep down her wrist and flood into her fingers like her body had been poisoned. Her eyes narrowed and she stretched her fingers before hiding the tremble once more by dropping her folded arms and placing her hand on her hip, her fingers digging into the denim material of her high waisted short-shorts.

It seemed quite often nowadays that she found herself wondering just when she'd grown so weak... mentally and physically. The lack of sleep and insufficient amount of food were rapidly catching up with her, but the thought of any substance in her body caused the burn in her throat to creep upwards and the idea of sleep sent shivers down her spine as the screams of those who once were echoed through her memories, the same way they plagued her dreams every time she dared close her eyes. Too many times had she jolted awake in the dead of the night - coated in the blood of innocents, only to find, after hours of scrubbing, that it had only been sweat.

She had once wondered whether or not she'd ever be able to wash the blood off. She had since found the answer... and it was no.

She hadn’t much to say about The Libertist’s explanation, nor did her expression change much, save for a slight frown of distaste in the team name. Her eyes narrowed into a small glare for a moment as her gaze found Fury; for some reason she felt like she was being punished… but the thought would exit her mind as soon as it came, interrupted by the flashy entrance of the Wakandan King. She shuffled to place her weight on her other leg, her oversized white sweater falling off her shoulders slightly, allowing the milky white skin to peek out, dipping into shadow as it stretched over her collarbone.

This gesture is good in nature, T'zarri was sure of it. However, with morale low like this in his homeland, his people needed him there more than this Avengers needed him here. To be 'housed' here would appear to be more like a cowardly move and his people needed strength and reassurance. His father, while still strong, was getting weaker by the day. His mother stated she would look after things as their queen in his absence to become better here. Furthermore, the Dogs of War still watched on Wakanda in the shadows. The machinations of the young man's mind, although a little troubling, didn't come to an expression on his face. Professor Brashear could see the boy's father in his eyes.

The lad reminded the Professor of himself when he was much younger, before he was drafted into the military, given the training, and went to the varying colleges. He was a kid with good intentions and a sense of responsibility to what he believed in. This gave Brashear some hope that, given the proper lanes, that he'd be very effective in a team setting. He knew that he was probably going to have to convince him that he'd be needed on this team and that it would ultimately benefit his people for the better. T'zarri already had the tools at his disposal, all he had to do was put it to work. He'd probably best fit the leader role for this team.

The Professor further looked on the team that was set up. He was preparing ways in his mind as to how to train each of them, and what ways would be effective. He didn't really worry too much about Stark's daughter, her training was simply just making sure she knew how to play a team game. Brashear hoped they could get this team up and running to be an inspiration for future recruits. It was full of uncertainty, but that was simply life today. It couldn't be scientifically measured and many things would come unexpected. It was just a matter of keeping adapting to those situations as they arose.

Variables, Variables, Variables....What the team had in skill and energy projection, they needed in strength and potentially magical energy. While the puzzle-piece for the magic base was yet to be found, he knew of another route he could take to find strength. Alexandra was probably the physically strongest one on this team, and while that was nice, they'd need more than that.. Though, the question was, should he go that route...Was it worth risking it...?

His thoughts were interrupted by the first question asked. From this young man who seemed to mimic the Arachnid from the East side. He seemed a good kid, just a little out of it at times.

"That's actually where Lance is going to take you all next." Blackbird answered him first, though the second question, from Seraphina, was answered by the Professor.

"I'm going to give you lot a bit to settle in for tomorrow's training simulations, but first I'll need to scan your bodies to prepare for that." He answered, though looking around a bit. Thomas' girl is running a little late, and he didn't want to just have the recruits go along without her. She already missed the explanation from Rodgers, not like she needed it. Still, he wanted for there to be a team atmosphere to be built so he delayed a little by beginning this here. Originally, he'd have just scanned them all tomorrow morning right along in the simulator room. However, being that they were all here and ready, Brashear decided that this was the best course of action.

He pulled a sphere from his pocket and tossed it to the ground in front of him. It spread out from its spherical shape into a disk that extended with a three-foot radius. The ebony man looked up at the recruits again. "This device is of my design and Mr. Starke's craftsmanship. When standing on the pad, it's imperative that you stay perfectly still, otherwise it may come off incomplete and your training simulation may possibly malfunction."

"While this whole thing sounds great 'nd all, I think my reason for sittin' here is done. I'm outta here." There was some silence, as no one seemed to really see a need to oppose his decision to leave. That, and trying to stop him could have negative effects. Logan took several steps over to Seraphina.

"Alright kid, you know how'ta reach me if you need anything." Speaking of her X-Communicator or even of her mind powers if she could reach far enough. His tone was gentler, no so rough-edged when he addressed her and he even gently touched her shoulder. "Be a good girl." The Canadian teased, before he walked off, leaving in the same direction that the Libertist took.

Blackbird took notice of this gentler side of him that she hadn't quite seen, but didn't comment on it. Instead, she turned to Anomie, whom she had seen before among the ranks of SHIELD. The scarlet haired woman gestured with her head to the disk's direction. "Care to demonstrate for our newly recruited ones here?" She asked cordially.

Anomie’s gaze danced around the other members present, it seemed she recognised every person in one way or another - save for one. It was kind of impossible to to forget the web-slinger, considering his story was one of the bigger disasters of S.H.I.E.L.D history. Agents giggle between themselves when colossal fucks of his kind happen - she wasn't too sure who made the mistake of labelling a weapon of that caliber, but whoever it was, she did question their loyalty. S.H.I.E.L.D agents weren't that dumb... and if they were - they had no business being in S.H.I.E.L.D. Aside from his creation, Anomie didn't know too much about the man himself - she wondered about his ability to work with the team, considering his alter-ego, but then again, she wondered about her own abilities too.

The Wakandan Prince sparked her interest slightly more than the Spider. His presence confused her a little, one didn’t have to be an agent to know the state his country was in at the moment - the news channels had been happy to report on it. She had to wonder if it was a great idea, him up and leaving his country to come and join a band of supers who called themselves “heros”. His age had been a debate across the world, whether or not he was ready to take his Father’s place. Anomie couldn’t have cared either way, there were many monarchs in history who had taken over their kingdoms at even younger ages; and he had left a well experienced Regent in his Fathers stead before heading to America: The Land of Opportunity... the line was laughable now that she thought about it.

Her eyes connected with those of the blonde to receive a wink, which caused a coy smirk to play on her lips. At least someone in this group had a visible sense of humor... but how could she not, Anomie wondered simply looking at the girl - she looked the kind to enjoy getting into shenanigans. She found herself drawing blanks to the girls name or anything about her, which caused her brow to furrow slightly. She prided herself on knowing a lot about a lot of things and to not quite know who this girl was threw her off slightly - causing her to take a far deeper interest in the girl.

Her attention was drawn to Seraphina as Logan spoke to her. She noticed the gentler tone he took with the girl and wondered just how deep this girl had burrowed into his heart... how far he'd be willing to go for her. She tilted her head to the side slightly, her amber eyes blank with an unreadable expression - perhaps she was looking too far into it. Perhaps he was just kinder and gentler with those he knew well and trusted - but he still didn't seem the type.

She was pulled out of her analysation by Blackbird as she spoke directly to Anomie, to which she responded with a small nod before stepping onto the sphere. Out of all the well known agents, she liked Blackbird the most. Perhaps it was due to their similar training - perhaps it was because the Blackbird could understand the kind of person Anomie was and how she operated better than most - she wasn unsure... but she felt the oddest sense of comfort with the woman.

she didn't look at any member in particular as the scan began, she simply stood, her hands clasped behind her back, as still as a stone statue while the machine worked.

Champion's peak...

"Sorry I'm late!" Alex shouted from the door as she slammed on the brakes, nearly tumbling into her would be-teammates like a bowling ball. Falling in line with them, she straightened up. "Don't worry, hacked the security cams, I heard and saw everything." she whispered to the closest attending Avenger, partly to make them know she actually knew what was going on, but partly also because bragging was one of the personality traits that rubbed off on her from her father.

Considering said footage, she was reviewing it in another processing thread, trying to get a glimpse on the other future Champions that she would spend most of her time with from now on. They seemed like an interesting bunch, as soon as she found her way into the SHIELD database and started pulling data on them. She didn't need the camera to get a look at the one right next to her, instead turning an eye to her and winking playfuly. This one was well documented, as an active SHIELD agent. Her powers were interesting, and at least partially able to do something that Alex couldn't on any scale. There was the minor threat of her attempting to possess the ASTRA and finding out, but Alex was reasonably certain she could keep her off. Perhaps a gravitational field to cause a bit of a blow in the air? they'll see in the training.

It was hard not to place the Wakandan, he stuck out like a sore thumb. The new black panther would be joining them for now, albeit reluctantly it seemed form his body language. She made a note to mind the anti-metal claws on his suit, although both her nano skin and her own suit's composite armor panels should be immune, if he sank the claws deep enough, she would be in trouble.

Then there was an X-Man, someone she didn't think would be attending this party. They tended to stick with their own. Alex never quite understood that - if one wanted to be recognized as equal, why would they intentionally segregate themselves? Finding the PROTECT recruit files on the infonet, she found out the 'soulless' redhead was a telepath. That could be a cause of significant consternation, when she looked into her head and found either nothing, unintelligible static or a bunch of qubits. Alex was wondering jsut how long her cover will hold.

The SHIELD tech finally noticed her entry into the system, and she promptly withdrawn. She could of course outsmart one techie, but if the whole cyber security department was alerted, her cover would be blown for sure. Better not risk it and find out about the others the good old fashioned way. Looking on, she watched as the Shadow went to demonstrate the method of training they were supposed to use, curious to see how it would compare to the Starke Industries built air force training simulators she was using until now, courtesy of unca Rhodes.

Listening to his question being answered, Carver listened to the his unasked question that was asked by another, and it turns out they were going to be going through some sort of scan to decide the training simulations. Seeing the others reactions T'zarri the Black Panther. Carver didnt understand why someone would be so concerned with his age. While he seems alright by Carver's perspective but the only thing Carver didnt like was the whole nobility thing that T'zarri had going on.

The others, one was a member of the X-men. Carver was trying to remember what was her abilities, 'Isn't she telepathic or something?' Carver thought to himself and his symbiote responded to him 'If she is then we better not think about it too much. Sliver knows this...' Carver then thinks back to Sliver to respond, 'Alright, I get it. Dont need to nag me...'

Then there is the girl from Protect, shield or whatever it is. Carver didnt know anything from her other then knowing the organization she is part of. The Sliver symbiote the offspring of the older Klyntar symbiote has residual memories of Protect from its time being created by Aqua, while it only escape thanks to Protect it just distrusts them. Carver personally knows nothing much other then he knows Sliver distrusts them and that feeling of distrust runs through Carver as they share emotions constantly. The last member of this group was the one who entered late. Alex, Starke's daughter or at least something along those lines Carver thinks. Her announcement how she knew what happen through the cameras in the room. Carver instantly started to look around for those cameras.

Quickly forgetting and stopped looking for the camera Carver remembered about the scan and says, "I can go first for this scanning thing if you want. I am kind of interested to see how this works." Once Carver stopped speaking his clothing turned into a chrome white like color. His jacket slowly morphed around the rest of his body as the white goop turns into a white and black suit, similar to the arachnid's.

After a bit of stretching he cracks his neck once and pops his arm he then says his voice changing sounding as if two people were speaking instead of just himself, "Alright! We are ready. Scan us when ready" Carver or rather Sliver was ready for to get this scan done and over with.

"I'm going to give you lot a bit to settle in for tomorrow's training simulations, but first I'll need to scan your bodies to prepare for that."

Serephina nodded as her question had been answered. It was nice that they had a day to settle in before training actually started. She figured they would give them sometime before throwing them into the fray, but sometimes you just never knew if they would or not. After addressing the questions that had been asked, the Professor pulled some form of small sphere from his pocket before tossing it to the ground. She watched as it grew in size when it hit the floor, turning in a disk like object that a person could step onto.
"This device is of my design and Mr. Starke's craftsmanship. When standing on the pad, it's imperative that you stay perfectly still, otherwise it may come off incomplete and your training simulation may possibly malfunction."

The device itself intrigued her quite a bit as the professor talked about it more. She wondered what he meant by their training session malfunctioning, but decided the keep the question to herself and not interrupt him. The small thought of looking into his mind to find out instead crossed her mind for a moment, but she quickly shook the thought away. It was rude to look into someone’s mind without their permission. It was one thing to do it while on a mission and you have no choice, but to do it because she didn’t want to ask another question was a whole other story.

"While this whole thing sounds great 'nd all, I think my reason for sittin' here is done. I'm outta here." Logan said, rising from the chair he had been sitting in. Seraphina smiled as he strolled up to her, unafraid of him like most of the others were. He talked a big game, but was actually a decent guy deep down. He just didn’t show that too many people. "Alright kid, you know how'ta reach me if you need anything." His tone was different from when he spoke to everyone else. There was a slight softness to it that he only reserved for certain people, Seraphina being one of those people. "Be a good girl."

“I’ll try! Wont make any promises though.” She said back with a smile. Sera was a little sad he was leaving already, but knew he wasn’t one to stick around a baby sit a bunch of young kids. He did that enough whenever he was at the school. After he left, she turned her attention back to everyone else in the room and waited for someone to tell them how this scanner thing worked. It seemed like you would just step on it and let it do its thing, but then again she wasn’t the genius who made it, so she calmly stood there and waited as Anomie prepared to show them.