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Following his declaration, the big long haired man was the next to speak, then summoned two weapons to his hands. Cade actually wrinkled his nose when Andrew mentioned that they could refer to him as [i]Mr. Callum[/i]. Did he think he was a teacher or something? ...wait, maybe he actually was a teacher? Awakening didn't seem to discriminate in the kinds of people it happened to after all. Well, it didn't matter, he wasn't about to call the man mister anything. After all, everyone there stood as equals, allegedly. Though it would only be a matter of time before Cade ended up at the top of the totem pole.

Then, the familiar feeling of warm knuckles on his shoulder, his head, a hand in his hair. Contrary to what the rest of the group might have assumed he'd do when subjected to such teasing, Cade only rolled his eyes and leaned away slightly. If he was bothered at all by the fingers of molten rock touching him, he was remarkably good at not showing it - which only implied that he was not, in fact, bothered. 

Physically, at least.

[i][color=8B98F2]"CC,"[/color][/i] he said, the two letters drawn out slightly, a hint of exasperation in his voice. 

She was really using him as a springboard today. If she was anyone else he would not have tolerated it, but being Cade's twin sister came with the perk of having to do something serious to draw any ire out of him. As it stood he just shoved his hands back into his pockets and hunched his shoulders. She always managed to do this, cut through tension (that often times her brother had created in the first place) and fit in. She would make a great hero. 

The thought made his chest tighten, but he forced the feeling to pass with one deep breath. He'd make sure he was just as well suited for it, no matter how hard he had to work or how long he had to fake it 'til he made it. On that note, CC was right and he should probably introduce himself properly. He clenched his jaw briefly, but the expression on his face looked more like a pout than anything with real bite in it. He ran his tongue over his teeth, slowly shedding his stubbornness until he turned back to the rest of the group, his expression back to showing that he was not very impressed with any of them.

[color=8B98F2]"It's [i]Cade[/i]. Cade Sinclair. CC's [i]big brother.[/i]"[/color] 

He cut a quick, sideways look at CC, his eyes squinting just slightly. It was as good as sticking his tongue out at her without actually doing it.

[color=8B98F2]"And I'm serious. You run into trouble during the test, you call out for one of us."[/color] 

There. That was better. And now that the floodgates were open, most of the others jumped into their own introductions. 

First there was [i]Shining Girl.[/i] It was a better hero name than [i]Speak Easy[/i], and since it was the only name she provided it looked like that's what Cade would end up calling her. But beyond the name, the dumb pose, and the girl's general vibe of friendly ditz, she followed the trend and summoned up her weapons. It was that which drew Cade's attention because... what. Not only did she have the most equipment of any of them, but he had no idea what the hoop or dinner plates were for - especially when she balanced and stood on top of the latter. He found his gaze flicking back to the short woman every now and then throughout the rest of the intros just out of pure curiosity. 

The next woman also neglected to provide anything other than a moniker, but her introduction was only a little less bewildering as she summoned an old school picnic basket into existence and started snacking. At least it was easier to connect the dots as to what [i]Red Riding's[/i] Awakening had led to, but it didn't inspire any confidence in Cade. Were they actually going to fail this assessment?

No, no, no. Not on his watch. 

Lee's intro was short and simple, which Cade could appreciate. She certainly had a lot more optimism than he did at the moment if she could say that she believed in everyone with such confidence right after the last two introductions. Her gaze was heavier than he expected, assessing, but with little else to go off of Cade couldn't place any more faith in her than he did in the other strangers.

Her calm, steady confidence contrasted the next would be hero, who ended up being one of the people that definitely wasn't taking this seriously. After the back flip (was he trying to show up Shining Girl's front flip??) Cade looked over at Clive's outburst, getting an eyeful of abs first. Out of habit he looked up to search for a face but only ended up looking at the guy's crotch since he was [i]upside down.[/i] Cade shifted his gaze down to find Clive's actual face, a spark of annoyance in his icy eyes rather than any embarrassment. 

The final introductions came as the simulation's set up finished. Rashad, Elias, June, Kira, and finally Sarah. All of them more or less cemented Cade's first impressions of them, but he filed away all of the information they offered up. If he was going to made sure this ragtag group all passed, he'd have to keep some of what he was learning in mind. Of course it looked like there was someone else that everyone had decided was team leader. Cade muttered something disparaging under his breath while he cast his eyes up at the false sky. A moment later he looked ahead at the scene in front of them all, brushing past the other examinees to approach the line of cops outside of the warehouse. 

Recently Cade had been at odds with law enforcement, but it wasn't like he was actually a criminal. Besides, these were fake cops. Holograms. No matter how real they seemed. And if he was going to be a professional hero then step one was cooperating with them. Taking initiative. Gathering informa—

Ah, there was one more introduction, the real last member of the group: that woman who somehow appeared mousy even when she was bigger than most of the other examinees. Now she was even larger still, and Cade looked up at her with surprise when she stated her name. Her transformation was even more extreme than CC's who so far had been the only person Cade had seen that had changed so much from her Awakening. Of course, CC did not have the luxury of turning hers off. A shadow crossed Cade's features as he regarded Clara, brief but unsubtle. [i]"I can protect people,"[/i] she'd said. There was an unspoken question in his stare, skeptical and accusatory at once. [i]Can you?[/i] it seemed to ask. 

He turned away from her, half-snapping the words of her inner monologue. [color=8B98F2]"Gee, I'd hope so - you're half horse."[/color] Then, not much softer, he said something more constructive. [color=8B98F2]"We'll see what's going on first, then make an opening for you to run in and grab anyone that needs help if we need to."[/color] 

Now back to step one. The realism of the simulation was crazy; Cade could hear, see, and smell everything he'd expect to as if he was really on the street. He could even feel the slight dampness of the air on what little of his skin was exposed. It stood to reason then that the holograms would be as realistic as possible. They should be able to respond if spoken to. 

Moving to stand in front of the officer in charge, Cade spoke up for the rest of the group, completely ignoring the fact that a lot of said group had elected Andrew as their representative. [color=8B98F2]"What's the situation?"[/color]