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[color=00a651][b]Date/Time:[/b][/color] November 11th, 2022. 6:10 PM.
[color=00a651][b]Location(s):[/b][/color] Redline PRT Headquarters
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Aliyah shrugged at the mock inquiry, before offering her own input on the matter. Will returned her shrug and kept his smug grin in place, but his insides were still coiling. He was really hoping that she was wrong - if this wasn't a meeting or something PR-related, it was probably a fight. 

Will had never been in a fist fight before, let alone a 'throwing fireballs at each other' fight. He wasn't eager to change that either.

Thankfully, he didn't have to keep up the unbothered act for long. Soon, part of the wall near the sofa just bent in on itself, opening up to reveal a woman in a fashionable suit. Will remembered her pretty well - Rachel was the person that inspired his costume. Or, more specifically, he just liked her outfit when they first met, and essentially copied it while adding a helmet. She wasn't the most dominant figure, but considering how Will felt about the Director, 'Fashionista' may as well have been the one really in charge of the kid.

Will noted the silent staring contest between the two directors, but quickly went back to his fake grin when Rachel started talking again.

[color=6ecff6]"You all can call me what you wish, though Rachel's fine! Sadly, due to some...Unforeseen circumstances, we're gonna need to move things along faster than we would have hoped. ...But enough about that! I'll fill you all in on what's what as we go, and I'll get to show you all your costumes! My favorite part!"[/color]

She quickly strode to one of the other doors that was in the spartan-like lounge, heels clicking as she did so. The door was thick and looked like some kind of blast shield or vault door, rather than the doors upstairs had been... Actually, that's how most of the doors down here looked. [i][color=00a651]'Maybe I'm not the only one that struggles to control his power.' [/color][/i] Will smirked at the thought. It was easy to Will-proof, just give out some earplugs. How would they 'Blaster-proof' a team of people? Give them all fire-retardant costumes?

Instantly, the smug grin fell from Will's face. That would have been a great thing to ask for! Dammit!

A few seconds passed as Rachel scanned her palm, and the door eventually hissed and slid to the side, allowing the group to enter.

The locker room, at a superficial glance, seemed pretty similar to what Will was used to from his school - lockers lined the walls, white tile floors, and benches to sit on. Of course, it was only similar on the first inspection. Actually looking closely, everything was clearly leagues more developed than a school locker room ([i][color=00a651]'As it should be'[/color][/i], Will thought). Each of the lockers seemed to have another one of those panels that Rachel had used to open the Locker room in the first place, and everything here looked specifically designed to take a beating.

Will was confused for a second, but he quickly rationalized it. Some brutes don't know their strength, and if this is where they keep costumes, it's probably where Tinkers will keep their armor. It would make sense for everything here to be built for durability.

Rachel gave a brief run down about where their equipment would be located and where to return it, which made Will a bit relieved. With how things were going, he was seriously thinking that they'd expect him to keep his costume on him - the last thing he wanted was a reminder of this nightmare situation when he was off the clock. Rachel passed out their ID cards, Will taking it from her with little fanfare. His face on the card has a smug, shit-eating grin - it had been taken only a few minutes after he had spiked the coffee in the HQ with laxatives, and 30 minutes after he had clogged every toilet on that floor. 

Just looking at it made him realize why some people probably didn't like him. Even Will kind of wanted to wipe that look off his own face.

By now, he had finally given up hope. They were absolutely going into a fight. The look the directors gave one another, the tension in the air - maybe the psychos on this team that signed up willingly were excited, but Will was rapidly losing faith. 

The only redeeming factor to this was that, in all likelihood, Will would never actually fight someone. He'd stick with the PRT in the far back, maybe only get sent in to deal with hostages or something. They'd have to be pretty incompetent to send him in to fight with the others...

Will kept silent as he made his way into the male changing rooms and retrieved his costume, slowly getting changed into the much nicer formal wear. 

[i][color=00a651]'They're going to send me in with the others, aren't they?'[/color][/i]

It was an errant thought - probably more of his pessimistic streak showing. It didn't really make sense to send a Master like him to a fight, but maybe they'd want to use it for PR or as a team-building exercise - Will was focusing on the absolute worst-case scenario, his mood spoiled even further.

Shut up. Breathe. Will leaned against the wall of the changing room, inhaling as deeply as he could, before slowly releasing, the tension in his shoulder ebbing at the motion. 

[color=00a651][i]'Another difference from this locker room and the school's - this locker room doesn't smell like ass.'[/i][/color]

His panic attack safely avoided, Will took the moment to admire himself in the mirror. The black jacket of the suit was snug and heavier than his 'casual' one, but hugged his torso better - despite his shrimpy body, he actually looked pretty damn good in the thing. The trousers and undershirt weren't anything to write home about, but that was probably for the best. Will wanted to be able to pass off as an average guy, and a suit jacket as expensive-looking as this one just meant that he'd probably get mugged on his patrol. He'd be able to dress down if necessary, and the dress shoes felt like Will could run in them without cutting into his ankles.

The most notable part of the costume, however, was the helmet. Despite the visor being completely blackened, the thing didn't hinder his field of view in the slightest - almost like it was one-way glass or something. With this, he wouldn't need to worry about keeping fake smiles all the time - just has to keep the body language up and he's golden. More importantly, though, the thing had enough cushioning within that it wasn't just comfortable to wear, but would probably keep even someone as fragile as Will from getting a concussion.

All in all, the outfit was basic and discreet - but that was exactly what Will had wanted when he requested it on his last visit. He'd have to thank Rachel. This job so far had been pretty terrible, with the prospect of meeting crazy people that dress in spandex and fly around for a living being one of the worst parts. 

But if everyone on the team acted like they have so far, maybe this job wouldn't be as bad as Will thought it would be.

Just as Will thought this, he left the changing rooms and immediately walked in on Caiden poking at the cloth of his costume with some kind of glowing sword. He commented on the durability of the costume, before the others that had also finished began complimenting his ability. He was about to give his own compliment, if only to fit in with the others, when he felt a strange kind of thudding. 

Coming from the women's side of the changing room, someone in [i]power armor[/i] began walking toward the rest of the group. Will didn't even need to wait for her voice to recognize who it was - they only had two tinkers on the team, and one of them was already here. Jane was now one of the scariest members of the team in Will's mind, and she had instantly shattered the little bit of confidence his costume had given him. 

Probably for the best though - last thing Will needed was getting invested in this Hero shit. 

Maybe it was because his expectations had already been pretty low, but Will seemed to snap out of the shock of seeing Jane's suit pretty quickly. The boy let loose a long whistle, glad to see that his helmet didn't seem to muffle his voice.

[color=00a651]"Yeesh, looks like we found who wins at costumes. Jesus! How long did you have to work on it? I'm not really keen on the Tinker stuff."[/color]

Will made a fist and tapped the knuckles on his helmet, eliciting a soft clicking sound as he turned to Rachel. 

[color=00a651]"Not that I don't appreciate what I got going on - thanks for the hard work, Rachel. Just what I wanted."[/color]

Now seemed like a good time to lay praise on her, since everyone else was too - though, she might not have registered it, considering the shock on her face. Will could give her a more sincere thanks when the others weren't around, or maybe send her a gift basket. 

He'd been pretending to ignore it, but Will was carefully listening in on Fukuda and Morie's conversation. He hadn't expected her to be the one to be direct about things - as a matter of fact, Will was planning to bitch and moan until they finally gave him an answer to that question. But it didn't really matter how the answer came out - all Will wanted was to know if he'd have to actually do anything for this... Mission? Assignment? 

It sounded so ridiculous. All of this was stupid. 

But of course, just when he started focusing, things had to go wrong.

A loud clang of metal rang out, and Will snapped towards it, jumping back. He was thankful that his helmet had been darkened as much as it was - otherwise those around him would see the fear on his face. 

It sounded too familiar. Too-

Will pushed it down. He quickly made his way to Bev, gently slinging her arm over his shoulder and trying to get her back to her feet.

[color=00a651]"Yep, power armor is real cool, no need to fall-"[/color]

He only realized halfway through the motion that he was one of the weakest people in the room, second only to the middle school girl Carmen. 

[color=00a651]"Ah crap, crap... Crap! Okay I'm a twig, someone help please!"[/color]

Will didn't see who came to his aid - for all he knew Bev just helped herself back up. This failure only served to cement his position on the team in his mind, however.

Looking at everyone in the room, Will couldn't help but feel a little annoyed - one of them could make swords out of light, another could make a gun out of thin air. One of them was apparently so good that they had a fanboy on the team, and one girl had a damn suit of power armor. Everyone here could kick his ass. Most of them could do it with both hands tied behind their back.

Will was out of his league here, and he knew it. He just... 

He just really hoped that the Directors knew it too.