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[color=9f7f39]"There are exactly nine of you. Have some faith, Keystone. You will find that your teammates aren't as inept as you think,"[/color]

[color=a36209]"Nine!? Jesus, did you guys drive to the local high school for crime fighters or something!? Offer puppies and bikes as a sign-on bonus? I mean c'mon, before getting nearly a dozen cape kids, shouldn't you guys be replenishing-"[/color]

[i][b]DON'T[/b][/i]

Ethan stopped in his tracks, a cold insight brought on by his power. To him it was stupid, hiring nearly double the number of capes in the Bridgewater Protectorate to join the kiddy team. But Ethan knew when to pick his battles, and bringing up the dead teammates of one of the most dangerous capes in the city was a pretty stupid move. A tense few seconds passed before Ethan backed off, the light from his eye lenses dipping a few centimeters as he tilted his head down.

[color=a36209]"...My bad. You're right, they've probably been drilled for this or have experience. Shouldn't judge a book by its title or whatever..."[/color]

[i]Cover.[/i]

Several more Wards entered the room, each a few minutes later than the last. Normally Ethan might have been a bit annoyed at the lack of adherence to deadlines, but anything to distract him from the scene he just caused was more than welcome. He needed to watch himself a lot more carefully here, especially considering the room was filling with people who could kill by looking at him the wrong way or something.

The first brat was freakishly tall, draped in massive wings and black feathers. A changer of some kind, or at the very least a Case 53. The guy looked like a crow and a fox had a bipedal mothman baby, with green scales near the end of his limbs. He was slouched and anxious-looking, and still dwarfed everyone in the room. One of the more intimidating figures at first glance, giving Ethan a bit of pause... but as soon as the boy finished introducing himself, he immediately lunged for the nearest sofa, and curled into as tight of a ball as he could manage.

[i]Hollow bones to reduce weight during flight, snap his arms and legs with well-placed kicks to the joints before going in with a hammer. Call him a failure, he's feeling inadequate joining the wards and his self-confidence can be tanked even further. Desperate for any social connections, especially with peers - sabotage him, degrade him, ruin his connections, he will break down, then cave his skull in with a rock and-[/i]

Ethan physically had to turn and look in another direction, a look of disgust hidden under his mask.

[color=a36209][i]Jesus fucking Christ, this kid needs therapy. Er, well, more than everyone else here, at least.[/i][/color]

Landon was a ball of neuroses, and despite having a brute rating, had physical vulnerabilities that could easily be exploited - all things that lit him up like a Christmas tree to Ethan's power. If he wasn't trying to have good behavior, Ethan probably would have lashed out then and there. Whatever respite Jen gave his OCPD, Landon more than made up for it.

[i]He's scared of you. Use it - stare at him the whole meeting, don't let-[/i]

Thankfully, another Ward entered only a minute later, giving Ethan something else to shift his focus onto. A blonde girl, tall and a little older than Ethan himself.  Her costume was much more 'formal' than Ethan expected, a white dress with gold highlights, with a white mask made of some kind of paper-mache or plaster. She didn't look half bad, though while the aesthetics of her design were appealing, the lack of practicality threw Ethan off.

[i]Inexperienced in costume, trip her up quickly and slice her throat before she can speak. Pepper spray in the eyes, mouth, and sinuses can also serve as a distraction, give you time to cover your ears. Takes solace in her religion, can really get under her skin-[/i]

This was getting annoying - Ethan was starting to remember why he disliked parahumans even more than normal people. It was this kind of shit nonstop... He sighed, resorting to the breathing exercises the Bridgewater PRT Therapist told him about. 

It helped a bit, but that was probably more a result of closing his eyes and shutting out the disturbances. He could hear the two new arrivals talk to one another briefly, presumably trying to break the ice and fill the silence. 

[i][color=a36209]God it would be so easy. 'Turds of a feather drop together', maybe throw in a Jesus quip for bible thumper over there.[/color][/i]

He stayed like that, breathing and ignoring the chatter that was spreading throughout the room. A few more Wards came in - two girls, one in thick yellow-black armor and the other in a simple black bodysuit. Ethan managed to focus on the tiles on the floor and the ventilation system before his power got too into the nitty-gritty with those two, and Ethan allowed himself a small smirk of satisfaction at that. When three more girls who looked and dressed identically came in, Ethan's smirk quickly disappeared.

She looked vaguely familiar - probably on the news at one point or another, but Ethan wasn't into the cape scene enough to recognize her. Hopefully, that was one of the 'hivemind' kind of cloners, and not the 'throw a bunch of flailing bodies at the bad guy' kind.

Eventually, Grandmaster and Axiom began to talk amongst one another, presumably about the missing 9th Ward member. It didn't last long though, and Axiom quickly manifested several cases of tinkertech origin, containing earpieces. Ethan was one of the first to snatch his from the table, already looking over the device and muttering to himself while Axiom spoke.

[color=a36209]"Casing is hard enough, and I don't see any cracks into the wiring... probably observes brain waves rather than neural connections, and I'm guessing bone conduction and vibrations to clear deviated thought patterns? No fucking clue... How would it work against something like that super-LSD Chemtrail made a few months bac-"[/color]

Before he could continue muttering to himself like an idiot (or speak louder and get talked down to by the actual Tinker around here), the door to the room slammed open with a crash. A knife was already in Ethan's hand by the time he turned around, raised to chest height as he shook with adrenaline.

Embarrassing. It was just the last ward, looking to make an entrance/disturbance. Thankfully the annoying boy's scream was enough to conceal Ethan's surprise, and he quickly sheathed the knife. He wasn't a cape geek like a lot of the kids at his school, but even he knew who Shattercrash was.

At least Ethan wasn't the only bad kid on the team. That was a plus. 

[i]Poison and sneak attacks works best, don't attack with blunt force and avoid melee combat as much as possible. Grenades? Not an option, pepper spray and a lighter can work as a sudden distraction. Overconfident with her experience, play into it a-[/i]

[color=a36209]"Hmph, quite the entrance. Must have been a nice catch for you guys, isn't this the chick that made the Protectorate look bad for, like, a year? Two? Pretty crazy. How come Miss Breaking and Entering here-"[/color]

[i]Temper, instigate a fight with authority so she gets humiliated in front of everyone. Complex about joining the team of her old friends, tell her how she should be bloody ashamed after everything Karnstein did-[/i]

Ethan bit his tongue before continuing, backing off. He didn't look into the gore pics about the Karnstein incident, but shitting on dead loved ones wasn't something he usually did. A bit too close for comfort.

And he didn't want to get his chest caved in today. Ethan shook his head, turning to the protectorate heroes and shaking the small earpiece case.

[color=a36209]"Whatever, not important. Axiom, can I put in a request for power dampeners too, or is that a privilege after a month or two of baby's first drug bust or whatever we're doing?"[/color]