[color=gold][center][h1][i][b]7:19am in 91711[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color]

[color=skyblue][center][h2][i][b]James Speight[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

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[img]https://claremont-courier.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/bw.Morning-sunrise-12-26-24-Betsy-WEB-1.jpg[/img]
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The alarm clock hit. Another grotty morning. Covers thrown, slippers on.

Toothbrush, spit, shaver, stubble wicking off. Wash face. Revealing a pale, brown-red haired Mancunian who was on the wrong side of 30 last time he checked. Off-grey shirt and grey trousers on, vaguely outdoorsy looking black trainers, designer prescription glasses, smartwatch, and already, James could feel the braincells vaguely come back after a late last night of prep work for this morning.

Sophie had already left, opting to get moving this morning early. He could tell from the suit that was taken from the wall in the corridor. 

And the burn marks she left by the bare cables she'd made by ripping out a 110V plug to get her morning dose for the commute in. Like a Tesla, Sophie needed power to fly, and saw a simple solution to electrocuting herself, barely made safe now by a couple of rubber prongs. 

She still used that setup, James remarked. That was classic her. Landlord would throw a fit if he found out though. 

Despite trying not to get electrocuted this morning, James had to say that he appreciated crashing at hers in her little 2-bed house in a quiet bit of suburbia, this little slice of Devore Heights on the very edge of LA doing its job for now. While he looked around for places to lease, the spare bedroom would do. He barely stopped for breakfast, sipping down a bottle of strawberry Kefir from the fridge, taking it with him to the car. He didn't stop for a coffee, or anything else. He was in his routine.

He'd caffeinate with some tea when he got in so he could be alive then, as he turned on the radio, the Civic turning over easily into life on the drive, the automatic making it pretty much a continued bleh to drive into work as he put it into drive. And like that, his playlist began.

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGdOfyWC_XI]The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored[/url]
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The traffic choked the streets almost immediately on the Interstate. Sitting inside the grey Honda Civic he'd barely bought last week and discovered the air con didn't work in, the lack of warmth in the morning at least didn't add to his woes of being sunburnt all the time. He'd already gotten a nasty amount of trucker tan on his arms, as he sighed, sitting in traffic on I-15.

James had to admit, he didn't remember much of his commute in. Nobody ever did. But there was always something new, a consultant never stayed still, there was always some project he had to deal with, some bullshit that went badly wrong, some hero that needed a 1-2-1 and James knew how to deal with them. Even if he didn't have powers, envying forever any hero that could fly, like the green-caped fellow he saw in his mirror that was headed deeper into town on his morning commute. Did he have to worry about traffic? No. Course that fucker didn't. James was glad he didn't have to deal with the bullshit that came with having powers. But sometimes, he wondered how much easier it must have been for Sophie to just throw electricity at most of her problems. She'd carried him into work a few times, back when he was new and waiting to sort the car- but now, he didn't want to be dependent on her, certainly not when she decided to get up even earlier than he did.

James put it back in drive, as the traffic finally got moving again, and he indicated to get off on the freeway ramp. LA was incredibly boring, so much for DTLA, this was the reality of it. Not even Compton or Long Beach, the gangster rap was so far it was barely audible in this mild, boring bit of suburbia that he wasn't quite sure how Sophie had landed on. Desperation? Or just an offer gone wrong? He hadn't actually figured that out. A massive yawn closing out his commute followed, as he put the turn signal on.

Driving up to the gate and swiping his card at the sensor, he found a spot in the parking underneath the building, at last, getting a spot that would be in the shade later. He was early, really early. SDN Claremont. A small, provincial branch in a massive network, Superhero Dispatch Network, to be precise. 

And once again, James was putting his "Visitor" parking pass in his window. He wasn't an SDN employee. He was "Other", and strangely, despite knowing more about the company than some who worked there, he wondered how five years had gone by this fast contracting. But in week two of working in sunny Claremont, he could see what Sophie meant. Sunny California. No sea breeze, but from the San Bernadino Mountains, from the outside in, he could just about get it. This was the high life. Real heroes. Even for this early, a few other heroes were in, going to the gym like Sophie had, or just getting set up in their usual routine as he walked through the glass-fronted doors into reception, seeing the lifts come to the bottom.

Running inside, he waved to reception and signed in (something the others didn't have to do) and therefore he missed the elevator. It made him divert to a different stint of the lift with a group of other employees, the small talk absolutely dead. He leaned against the side, waiting for the two-pronged ding to indicate the floor, and stepped on out onto carpet and wood, his lanyard still on around his neck with his name, face and title. 

[u][b]James Speight, Hero Development Consultant, Speight Hero Consulting.[/b][/u]

He had work to do. Kat was too busy to see, but he had his own affairs. He basically worked almost without a boss, at least, he seemed to be thrown around like a ragdoll between SDN's HR, Training, Marketing and Dispatch centres on a daily basis. Never a part of any office really, just there to fill in the gaps nobody could actually figure out how to hire for.

The work kept him busy, as he finished his bottle of Kefir, crushing the plastic bottle and hurling it across the room, bouncing it off the rim of the bin. Joining two others that the cleaner hadn't gotten to removing this week.

[color=gold][center][h1][i][b]Morning Brew[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color]

[img]https://freerangestock.com/sample/161692/work-from-home-setup-with-coffee-cup.jpg[/img]

Earpods in, James kept through the morning grind, having worked before Riley had come in, and a little through Riley's meeting with Kat.

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7h-eSEGtGA]Maribou State- Kingdom[/url]
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It was a frantic early morning. Mostly answering calls, updating his spreadsheet and sitting in the boardroom, as he didn't have a desk at this time, the spot next to Riley occupied for now. Some shit had gone down in Torrance, but he was taken off that job really fast. Burbank had recently done some redundancies, but, for the most part he just had a few heroes to call into, check in with and see that they were put under new dispatchers and "happy" with their careers. And Denver had some work left over (given they were on MST, rather than PST), where a couple of heroes and their dispatcher were at odds. So, he made some reassignments and wrote a small memo to recommend why he was changing them, within the first 30 minutes. It felt strange getting on Zoom and asking how people felt, when nobody really bothered James at all and asked him how he was.

Dead inside.

So, tea time it was, much earlier than he could continue to deal with this bullshit, Riley likely having to meet the team for the morning anytime soon. So he got up to his usual ritual. Keep the Chief Dispatcher happy, you could do anything, James reasoned. He might have a thermos, but more coffee wouldn't hurt a man who loved his nanites, probably.

Peeling the teabag out, James took a sip and drank the thing black, a tasting sip, the kind to check it was about right, even though it scathed his tongue. Again. He took the other mug that had a tiny amount of milk and sugar in it, as Lightning Girl ran in, mask and cape on, yoinking her cup in gloved hand, already dressed for work and having been at the gym in the office this morning, to just make sure she was still up to it. She'd drained a bit of herself already doing it, but then again, you did not keep up her figure without a bit of pre-morning crunch.

"Thank you!" Lightning Girl called out. Nobody had actually put two and two together that they were brother and sister, at least, not obviously. They were two Brits in the same office. Perhaps it was like a shittier version of Lunara and Solaris, in a more crap, sort of disappointing way. He poured out the black coffee from the press, taking it in his now spare hand, looking back to her, as she sipped it down, already soothed with the warm taste of Earl Grey.

"You're welcome. You know, you should really be getting a disciplinary for...." James began, as they walked and talked, Sophie rolling her eyes as she looked over her shoulder.

"I know, water and metal don't mix with high voltage. I already wrote up my apology. And Kat said it was fine. It was an unfortunate collateral, you know I totally didn't mean it!" Sophie replied, as James sighed, realising Sophie had left a bit out.

"I think those weren't her all of her words. Careful, yeah? This isn't...you know." James replied, a bit of older brother still coming out, despite the fact Sophie was absolutely more experienced, and knowledgeable here, in perhaps more control, standing tall over him.

"Yeah, yeah. Rumour has it we have some Phoenix Programme on my team. Do you know them? I didn't fuck up that bad, did I?" Lightning Girl asked, walking alongside James as they walked out of the cafeteria, James not really able to answer all of her energy this morning.

"Not really, but hey, give them a chance? One's a thief that really likes magnets. The other used to make meth for supers, I think. Then Solaris and Lunara, they're....uhhh, I don't even get them. Solaris is like what you looked like before you lost all your hair pigment."

"Yes, and went fucking nearly grey. Great. HR is testing me. Half the team decide to get in the way of a perfectly good save, and suddenly, I'm in with crooks." Lightning Girl uttered, as if she carried a slight air of grudge, despite having nothing to do with the Phoenix Programme herself, wondering what on earth she had done so bad to end up here. That would emerge, James would no doubt feel.

"They aren't. Just don't do anything silly, and I'm sure it'll be fine. Have a good shift, yeah?" James added, Sophie shrugging, before heading out to the smoking area, with her having nothing to really add, nodding back to him.

"Yeah sure. Catch up later." Sophie seemed to peer through Lightning Girl's voice, parting away, heading outside to go sort herself out for the start of her shift.

James breathed a deep sigh, as he carried his remaining mug, spotting that the desk on the other side of the cubicle divider to him, and moving quick, putting a coffee in front of Riley, down on his placemat.

[b]"Morning, Riley. We still on for the meeting? Gonna say, your new team are a right bunch of misfits. And you paired them with Lightning Girl. I didn't think she would take it well....but she takes time with these sorts of things."[/b] James greeted him, dropping a lot of info on him, as no doubt, he was about to have his morning filled with the new team. He took a seat at the now vacant quadrant, and quickly jogged to grab his laptop, power cable, bag, mouse and other peripherals in a well practiced snatch and grab to put down by the Lenhart machine, setting himself up whilst Riley replied.

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[color=gold][center][h1][i][b]Shock Therapy[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color]

[color=yellow][center][h2][i][b]Lightning Girl[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

[quote]"Morning, Alpha Team. This is your Dispatcher Riley Rider checking in. Since losing Tsunami and Meta-Man last week, we've got new team members joining us. Feel free to say hello and make them feel 'welcome'".[/quote]

The response from Lightning Girl was a bit delayed to Riley's question, the white-haired British heroine a bit....occupied.

[i]"Yeah, yeah, you.....hang on!" [/i]

And like that, Lightning Girl hung onto the transformer again, yelling out, not realising she had left comms open. It was a yell of pleasure, probably not far off her hitting orgasm, but getting hit by that much energy just switched on every neuron inside her, a yelp of joy. It was genuinely a bit unnerving, because the electricity picked her up off the ground and held her in a cloud of static after she contacted it, as she proactively *giggled*. She could feel herself going from a bit plugged in from the morning tea and waffle she'd had coupled with five minutes on charge to the wall, to straight up feeling like she could start absolutely fucking blasting. Which she did as she peeled her hands away from the coil, pinging a nearby Lightning rod with her pointed fingers, blowing smoke from the end of her hand like she had a gun. 

Not the best move, considering she was still back at the office. On the neighbouring roof. Probably causing the main office to have a slight oscillation in power as the lights flickered inside from her juicing off a distribution cable.

"Shit, sorry that was a bit loud! Left my comms open! Okay, now I'm good....all juiced up, and ready to go kick some arse! Good morning to you too, Riley!" Lightning Girl postured into her earpiece in her transtantic, British hinged accent, standing on the roof, her cape billowing in the wind, standing on the roof of SDN Claremont, looking out. Classic superhero move, but then again, if you felt good, you were doing good. Taking in the city, as if to reinforce her own confidence. Tell herself, you can do this.

Lightning Girl was absolutely not in the morning mood James was. She was willing to go out and do some harm to those who would wish to do that upon people, and her feeling was good. Her white hair blew in the breeze, her cape billowing a little too, the suit squeaking from the time she'd had it resown after a particularly nasty hit. Her Factor 50 was on, her feeling was positively like she was full of lots of amps, and ready to get moving, black carbon mask covering her forehead and eyes, white hair kept loose to her shoulders, leather boots creaking a little, and her teeny little yellow hip-pack sitting on the small of her back where her medical kit, rubber gloves and first responder gear were when she was working with EMTs.

Now she was in a position to reply, adjusting her headset, the adapted device able to survive her running live with current and currently smelling a little of ozone.

[b][i]"Hi team, I'm Lightning Girl! I'm an electricity based kind of person.....Riley, please send my apologies to Tsunami and Meta-Man if you don't mind. They uhhh.....I mean, I did tell them I could handle it. I look forward to working with you all, just please don't run in front of me if I'm throwing bolts at baddies! I'm just by the smoking area, good to go when you lot are!"[/i][/b] She exclaimed, rather excited at first, before turning to the elephant in the room, realising she should probably do something else than stand *magnificently* on the roof, her focus back to her as she dropped down into the smoker's balcony with a practiced ease, looking around for the others, who would no doubt find it impossible to miss her.