[IC] Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Previously at SDN Claremont:

roleplayerguild.com/posts/5637543

[FourtyTwo]

Monday
12:31
Claremont SDN Offices,
Claremont, Los Angeles, California

The End of the Morning at SDN Claremont

Soundtrack: Swales - Higher (Call My Name)

The morning shift went as well as it could have. The team had gone out and solved plenty of relatively low level crimes, Lightening Girl kept away from the other heroes for now, but finishing all of her dispatches successfully.

From peeling a cat out of a tree to stopping kids graffiting outside a big box store, it had been quiet, but all had worked out in the end. Service with a smile. Like home, but somehow, less....manic. Less gritty. All sunny, in the big, bright, 28C day. Eclipse and Payback seemed to be hitting the ground running once more, taking on a variety of dispatches successfully, killing the time to of course, the clock hitting 12:30.

Lunch time!

On that note, Lightning Girl made her way back to the office, right on time, her earpod in, even a flying hero wanting something to take her mind off the time it took to travel the distance about a quarter of the speed of sound. She needed to recharge, clearly. She wasn't as fast as she could go normally. Lately she hadn't taken a truly biblical charge on.

With a soft drop onto the smoking balcony, she was back inside and already throwing the kettle on, a device most Americans would likely be shocked by, And leaning by a countertop, the yawn came big, Eclipse and Payback making back in with time, the caped heroine forcing more tea down her gullet as the kettle went click.

"Anyone else for tea?" She asked, polite, but half hoping they'd say no. Her supply was low. It was just a English-like polite for the sake of it, almost. She had to get friendly with the team. And with things going well so far, best she made sure not to repeat what she had to others in hospital...

She'd still serve anyway. And with her fingers attached to a bare wire, she was slowly, surely, on "charge".

So far, so good.

Until Riley got up and for some reason, didn't return.

Not that she knew that.

---

The Pickle

James Speight

It was a bit odd Riley had vanished. Nothing said. Something personal? Must have been. But as James finished up his brew, the buzz from his phone came through with a Slack message, not even aware that Riley had gone.

Just about the worst he wanted to imagine.

Overtime.

No sooner had James peeked over the cubicle, Kat was already there, filling the space where Riley might have sat by leaning against his chair.

"James, you seen my message?" The Director's words were driven in authority, her voice more anxious than ever before. She might have been former special forces, an extremely experienced hero, but with James, she was short on the leash. Especially when she wanted something.

"No?" James tried to make more words, as Kat beat him to it. She wasn't messing around. Even by her nature, she was keeping sentences short, which meant, something serious had gone down.

"I'm gonna need you for a few more hours. It's a mess....."

"What is going on?" James asked, finally interrupting, as Kat sighed.

"You really don't want to know. Other branches need rosters from our end, urgently. Nothing I can tell you about, but internally, it's crazy. Including dispatchers. Can you cover for Riley and hold the fort until we figure out what the hell is going on?" Kat asked, the request not an option, James realised. It was a long term, if Riley didn't come back. He hoped he did. Dispatching was a pain in the ass. And absolutely not what he had signed up to here.

But then again, a consultant did, what a consultant was told, when he was getting paid by the hour. And when someone was desperate? Oh, there was a very sweet paycheck then.

"If you need me to. I'll write a PO. What about the rest, logins, accounts, the rest? I don't have credentials to the Dispatch system, but I know what I'm doing, did some in Baltimore. You fine with that?" James was quick to cut to money. Remembering at least he could name a price. Unlike a normal staff member.

"We'll forgive the protocol for now. We'll pay you for now and sort that all later. I'll talk to IT and get you an account tomorrow. Just run it on Riley's credentials for now, for now, I need all hands on deck." Kat asked, as James shrugged, looking at his tablet in hand still as she moved away, turning.

"Got it." James's reaction was short, as even he wasn't sure what the fuck he had agreed to. Only that Kat wasn't gonna accept no for an answer, as she walked backwards, replying.

"Good. We need to talk to the team and get them in. You got an idea of who you're managing?" Kat asked, as James nodded, conformingly.

"Sure, Eclipse, Solaris, Payback, Lightning Girl...yeah, usual suspects."

"Best we have right now. Let them know we need to talk this out. I'll meet you in the Meeting Room when you get them." Kat with that note, left as fast as she could, already accosted by HR, and then by the Finance team, with James unsure if she'd shapeshift into something that could do all eight at once. Would an octopus be able to multi-manage that many plates? He wasn't sure.

So it had been a blur. Barely five minutes had passed and James set up his work laptop with a Do Not Disturb adjacent to the ancient Lenart machine, and he took the headset. He wasn't an octopus. But he had to play like one to spin the plates that were going on.

It felt probably too fast. The A Team barely had a chance to digest the sandwiches or ramen bowls they'd brought in before they digested the news, with James sending the update via Riley's terminal, headset on.

"A-Team, this is James, need you all in the meeting room, now. Got a bit of a situation, bit of a change in plans today." The voice was not one they were used to. But with Riley gone for a while, both right now for the last 40 minutes, and now, for potentially a lot longer, it looked like his cubicle neighbour was picking up the slack.

---

Monday
13:10
Meeting Room
Claremont SDN

Emergency Meeting

"So, we've had a problem. Our afternoon shift has had to be redeployed to SDN Pasadena. And your dispatcher has been reallocated for another task. Too complicated to explain, but, in a nutshell, we need you to work late." Kat addressed the team, looking to James, introducing him. "This is James Speight. Some of you may have worked with him, but he'll be your interim dispatcher. He knows SDN well. Treat him with respect, and he'll get you through this afternoon."

Lightning Girl smirked, cracking her knuckles, internally howling with laughter with the fact her brother was dispatching her. Like old times.

What the hell had come to make this happen?

"Sure. We getting paid extra, Kat?" She asked, knowing James would gut her for asking, but then again, she was the more experienced one in this branch. And she had to ask. The others certainly did not know James as well as Sophie did, so she didn't go in for the juglar of the question of - where the fuck was our dispatcher?

Kat had a reply to her question, anyhow.

"Standard rates of overtime." Kat chirped as Lightening Girl shrugged.

"I do have a thing on later, so come on, can't you...."

"Standard. Rates. And per contract, we ask you to adjust your hours to the needs of the business. We'll be fair. But need some help. Now." Kat reinforced, the presence of the Director enough to make Lightning Girl, and maybe the rest of the team, reconsider.

"Oh.....kay." Lightening Girl sank back into her seat, glaring to James, as Kat stepped aside.

"It's not what we wanted. And I appreciate we don't ask you to go the extra mile often. But tonight, we'd appreciate it. We'll sort out all the formalities later. If you have PTO, we'll find a way to make it work. And if you're looking for good payroll reviews, now would be a really good time if any of you want to show you're demonstrating above and beyond performance. So yeah, it is what it is. But plus side, you don't have to wake up early tomorrow and sit in traffic. That sound good?" James commented, rather formal, detached, until right at the end, where something of a person who dealt with heroes was beginning to spire out of corporate speak.

It was gonna be a long day. The team had questions to ask, but in that dusty meeting room, they could formulate a plan.

---

The Dispatch Terminal

"This is it. Best we can do..." James said to himself, muttering a curse, as he adjusted the headset. Sitting at Riley's desk was weird, the seat height, fit of everything was all wrong.

The numbers on his list were poor. Four. Turns out when you had an entire shift get lost, well, you'd have to make do with what you had. He slurped down the rest of the tea, and realised the rest of his shift, he was going without.

Nobody was bringing him one. So a Fisherman's Friend was getting sucked on instead. Two at a time.

He was clunky in getting himself online with Riley's credentials (until Kat could get IT to work out the backend), but James managed to navigate the 90s, nay, early 00s grade software this was?

And the map loaded.

It was incredible how bad investment was into technology that was mission crtical. Like weighbridges, or the back end of tills in retail, everything ran on an operating software. But the map of Claremont, with the fringes of Pomona, La Verne and Montclair, showed the field in play. Coverage area, flanked by SDN West Puente, SDN Ontario, SDN San Bernadino and just beyond, SDN Pasadena.

The call centre cut through, and immediately, James was picking up the calls from the others in the office that were answering subscriber phones, and he was listening in, and immediately getting to allocating them on map, and then, assigning them.

"Okay, A-Team, appreciate the change in plan is a bit different. Keep the comms clear, and I'll get you through this. Sending co-ordinates, first batch of calls are screened and allocated. I hate this from a compliance standpoint more than you do. But let's focus on the overtime pay and keeping the subscribers happy."

James sat there, clattering away, mouse clicking, moving, shifting items.

"This is bullshit. I was going to actually go to the DTLA ball, go see how..." Lightning Girl commented, as James interrupted her sister, knowing this was absolutely fucking insane. She had some nerve to speak up, but then again, maybe there was something else going on. Not expecting this for sure, but James being in charge, well, that was stranger.

"Yeah, well, let's focus on the here and now. We'll stop at 4pm for a breather. Then keep going till 7pm, like we discussed. You won't needed early in the morning because the shift pattern's moved." James added, trying to make some sort of speech, but he was equally as pissed about it. "Oh, and Solaris, if your.....companion decides she wants to rear her head, remind her, she needs to get a pass if she wants to get in the building at the end of the night. I'm not dealing with security." He had to make that comment for posterity.

Then again, he was on an hourly rate. And the team likely knew that.

The full system activated, as Lightning Girl finished her cup of tea, sliding it across to where the other mugs were, and put rubber gloved hand to her combined GPS and comms device, putting the earpiece in, and coming online.

----

The map James had was flashing red with plenty of amber-level warnings, which were much better than the red or black he was expecting to come into.

"Okay, Solaris, I have reports of a drug bust going wrong, officers in need of assistance, multiple assailants. Pin sent. Non-lethal if you can, let's talk them down." James went through in sequence, logically, as best as he could remember doing this.

"Uhhh, Payback, I've got reports of some trouble at the AMOCA, someone trying to break in and steal some art. Need you on that one. It's all ceramics, so mind your magnets, would you?" Onto the next.

"Eclipse, I've got a school that's asking for us to cover a speech that Meta-Man was gonna be at. Can you go there? The elephant in the room was left. He looked out the window, the final job needing allocation.

"Lightning Girl, I've got a series of break ins in some student blocks, perp on site. Need you on it."

First group. But if any more hit, this was about to be a manic afternoon. And a later night.

Another name popped up. Princess. Okay, that one wasn't expected. But, he'd take anyone he can get. He wasn't sure what she had heard, but from the break room shenanigans, and the fact she was....well, a shapeshifter like the Director was, always made him a little antsy. Terrifying, in a word.

"Princess, we've got a weird call down at the Metro station, something about an altercation? Can you bring them apart....ideally without getting them killed?

And suddenly, one more. Shit, this team as getting staffed up! Okay, he had to thank the IT guy for this. Maybe today wasn't so fucked after all? Asteroid was a gravity controller. But this job was not exactly....ideal.

"Asteroid, I've got a report of an abandoned trailer left in front of the Packing House that the City Council wants us to investigate. Not sure what it is, but can you find a way to identify who dumped it there? Find some clues, figure out if there's anything in the waste that gives it away, and report in when you come back."

And lastly, if he could...bring himself to count him.

"Madcap, I've got a request from the Sandy Hills Nursing Home to help an old lady get to the local supermarket and back. Could you help her?"

One more? Go on then.

"Hat Trick, the Botanical Gardens are asking if we have anyone who's able to help manage some escaped Canadian Goose? I'd send Matthieu but.....I will take the other Canadian we get. Please don't kill them. Or you're doing our PR."

---

Monday
13:21
Break Room
Claremont SDN

Lightning Girl

The white-haired hero put the mug down, finishing her own tea as James got the assignments out. They weren't officially hitting the beat, until the calls came in, and they left to go sort them out. From the quiet, cryptic Payback with her magnetism occasionally stuttering the electricity in her fingers, Princess just looking....*terrifying* in her dress and tiara, from an entirely different time altogether, and Eclipse, sitting in shadow, Sophie wondered quite how this had played out.

And Sophie had to admit, a breaking and entering, well, that was relatively simple, at least, in principle right?

"Crikey. When it rains it pours. Have fun." Her words seemed short to Eclipse, Solaris and Payback relative to earlier. She got a move on, heading out of the balcony, and with it, catching flight. She had a different direction to go than the others.

"So, have we got any idea why things went so badly wrong? Like, they fighting a wildfire in Pasadena again? Floods? Giant kaiju? On the plus side......our timesheets are gonna look good, right?" She asked in the comms in half confidence, half covering empty noise to the team, the earpiece remarkably cutting out the audible hurling of windnoise, wondering what her new team-mates opinion was.

[Auragreedia]

SDN Claremont Break room

^{@FourtyTwo@Thayr@Sadu@Redking0380}

---

One thought: morning shift was easy. Another thought: he really, really hoped he made it to the break room before anyone saw. He sinks from a shadow in the break room, eyes adjusting to stale lights. He was carrying about three or four party-sized bags of Cheetos, the bright reds and yellows contrasting heavily against his armor. It takes him a second or so to reorient himself, and he stumbles forward. Lightning Girl already made her way in, and if Payback had come in a little after, she'd have seen an armored-up Cheeto junky unloading his stash onto the nearest table.

Internally swearing, he puts his helmet aside, cracks open a bag, and kicks his feet up.

"Anyone else for tea?"

"No." He says it immediately. "I only drink water."

Which was also partially a lie; he'd totally down a bottle of fruit punch or soda, but tea? Unless it was sweet, honestly, he'd rather not. God, his parents would kill him if they saw him now, not an ounce of healthiness in his body.

He gets about one or two handfuls of chips in before he's called to an emergency meeting.

"A-Team, this is James, need you all in the meeting room, now. Got a bit of a situation, bit of a change in plans today." The voice was not one they were used to. But with Riley gone for a while, both right now for the last 40 minutes, and now, for potentially a lot longer, it looked like his cubicle neighbour was picking up the slack.

He grumbles, haphazardly closes up his bag, and walks out with his helmet stuffed under his arm. He mildly recognizes the voice; the guy who told him about that one safety meeting? Right. Stupid, but good. Knowing how heroes play, it only makes sense.

---

Emergency Meeting

The meeting feels like it takes forever. Eclipse sits to the side, he's listening attentively, or at least trying to appear that way. The only part that really gets attention is when they talk about how 'now would be a really good time if any of you want to show you're demonstrating above and beyond performance.' That's good. Great, even. If he does an exceptional job, he might just be allowed to make drugs again. One simple step forward. Impress the higher-ups, they turn a blind eye to some of his more... back-alley methods and hobbies.

That was how this all worked, right? Suck up to higher-ups enough, and then they just let you do whatever you want as long as you don't make them look bad?

---

School Speech

^{Getting there, being there, speaking there}

Eclipse was busy suiting up for his next dispatch. He checks the knives he hid in his gauntlets; sharp, clean. He frowns a little harder, staring at his reflection.

"Okay, Solaris, I have reports of a drug bust going wrong, officers in need of assistance, multiple assailants. Pin sent. Non-lethal if you can, let's talk them down."

He tests the shooting mechanism for his gauntlets, wrists flicking up a few times to no avail. The knife won't come out no matter what he tries. He mutters a few swears under his breath.

Fuck. Solaris got the job instead of him. You'd think sending a former drug dealer to a drug bust would be a natural decision, but guess not. He has to suppress himself from speaking up; he doesn't want to look bad. But he was a bit pissed off.

"Uhhh, Payback, I've got reports of some trouble at the AMOCA, someone trying to break in and steal some art. Need you on that one. It's all ceramics, so mind your magnets, would you?"

Click, click, click. The mechanism still isn't budging, his name hasn't been called, and hey, didn't Payback have some kind of... magnet field power? He clicks his tongue. It shouldn't have affected him, he doesn't remember standing that close to her, but.

He's getting really pissed off.

He'd be perfect for stopping a break-in! And he maybe knows that place. Taking down a petty art thief would take like 5 seconds! Come on!

"Eclipse, I've got a school that's asking for us to cover a speech that Meta-Man was gonna be at. Can you go there?"

"You're fucking joking." The knife under his gauntlet finally shoots out into his hand. He pushes it back down with another click. The mechanism was working again, but clearly, this dispatcher has no fucking idea what he's doing. What would he even talk about to a bunch of kids anyways? That anyone can become a hero or a super-powered badass as long as they know a little chemistry?

Yeah, fuck looking good for higher-ups.

"You send the knight to a drug bust, a magnet girl to stop a break-in, and then you send me." He straps his forearm blades on. "To a school."

Helmet goes on next, and he's already on the move. Can't teleport there, he doesn't know the layout.

"Idiot." He mutters that mostly to himself, but it comes in clearly over comms.

He stops paying attention to James's comms after that. Not worth listening to someone who seemed to not know shit anyways. At least Riley dispatched him onto fitting missions, not... this, of all things. Lightning Girl is dispatched after him, something about break-ins. He could stop a break-in. He did them all the time in Red Ring.

Whatever. Lightning Girl was a real hero.

Of course. The real hero doesn't have to talk to a bunch of school kids about... something. He'd have to figure that out later. Frankly, he wanted more action, more chips, and a quick look at the school's chemistry classrooms before he did anything, but he knew he'd be fired should he try the last part.

Then something about another person named Princess getting dispatched? He stopped paying attention.

"So, have we got any idea why things went so badly wrong? Like, they fighting a wildfire in Pasadena again? Floods? Giant kaiju? On the plus side......our timesheets are gonna look good, right?"

"Probably wildfire. Probably not wildfire." Probably mismanagement. Maybe Red Ring was finally bailing him out? Too late for that, and from what he's heard, that gang has long since dissolved after what happened to Shroud.

Eclipse makes it to the school, checks through a metal detector, and has his armor (yes, all of it) taken away by security. Can't bring weapons inside a school. Or armor, apparently. They let him keep the earpiece communicator, though. He's left in a black uwagi and pants, and thankfully, he wasn't stuck walking around barefoot after they confiscated his leg armor.

School staff is quick to lead him to an auditorium.

Lights are all off except for the spotlight aimed at the stage; that's good. Not the spotlight, that was bad, but he liked the darkness everywhere else.

"Alright, everyone, we've brought in a hero to talk to you all today," a guy in a suit and tie leads Eclipse in front of a microphone, "Eclipse! Share your story--what inspired you to become a hero?"

The crowd of kids claps, but most look bored out of their minds or barely amused. Some are a little more receptive, if not excited, to see a live ninja, but most are just tired. The man in the suit eggs him on a bit more, but it's obvious he wasn't prepared for a former villain to get sent. What inspired you to become a hero? That's a dumb question, what is he supposed to say it was an easy paycheck? They wanted Meta-man, not a former Red Ring member, let alone a recovering addict.

Eclipse pinches the bridge of his nose. What the fuck was James thinking?

"Um." The mic lets out a screech as he adjusts it. The man in the suit walks off backstage and shoots him a glare. Don't fuck this up for the kids. "I'm..."

He squints his eyes; he can't say 'sorry, kids, I'm not a hero, want me to talk about how bad my life is for an hour?', that was just bad. He also can't walk off-stage without saying anything, that'd set him back big-time. He's not inspiring, not a cool guy in custom-fitted armor (not right now, at least), no, he's just some junkie in a ninja suit talking to a crowd of kids.

But what he does have is darkness, and a whole lot of it at that.

He can make this work.

"... I don't," he clears his throat, "like the lights." He gestures for the spotlight be moved off of him and more towards the wall. It's still bright, but at the very least, it's off him now. His mind clears, he can finally act.

A thunk echoes through the auditorium, and a shadow jumps onto the screen. It's a giant kaiju. Eclipse can feel himself sweating as he listens to the crowd gasp. For what he lacked in words, he'd make up for with a special shadow puppet show. Buildings spring up next, tiny civilians run in fear, the monster is untouched until a hero appears atop a skyscraper. He glances back at the audience, and he can see the joyous sparks in their eyes.

"A noble hero appears from the shadows," the hero looks a lot like him in his armor, nothing wrong with a bit of self-love, "and strikes the beast in the throat!"

The hero leaps down from the building and defeats the beast in one foul strike! A stream of fire is expunged from its mouth as it screams bloody-murder (courtesy of Eclipse for doing the vocals and sound effects), and the hero stands tall over its corpse!

"And the day is saved once again," the spotlight falls back over Eclipse; the shadow puppet show is over.

He bows before the audience reacts, a deep bow, with his arms firmly behind his back. He's sweating like crazy, both due to his light sensitivity thing and the fact that messing with shadows like that was exhausting. That was the most he's ever used his powers outside of teleporting or restraining someone...

The audience erupts into a thunderous cheer, a chorus of claps filling the auditorium.

He'd crack a smile, but he's busy bolting offstage for a drink of water.

d10 result

"Who knew the worst guy to talk to could be so... inspiring!"

---

Student Block Confrontation

^{Lightning Girl}

By the time Lightning Girl arrives at the scene, she can already tell it's a bit of a mess. Namely, windows have been broken; glass is all over the ground, some with a bit of blood, others not; a few doors are broken down. Whoever the prep was, it was obvious they had either had something against the school or the students.

CRASH!

"AND THAT'S THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY bbbbbBBBBBRICK FROG!" The prep just threw another brick into some poor kid's window. It's a guy wearing the silliest frog costume imaginable, a hefty bag strapped around his shoulders.

Most of the area is blocked off with police cars; 'Brick Frog' stands in the middle of it all, police cowering behind their makeshift car barriers. One of them addresses Lightning Girl. "Some civilians are still in there. Get them out safely, we'll cover you." The officer sucks air in through their teeth. "And take down... Brick Frog. He's already gotten some of the other reinforcements."

There are a few bodies scattered around, most with bleeding heads and bricks near their heads.

Yes.

The police were actually having trouble fighting Brick Frog.

Brick Frog.

The perp is quick to turn around and notice Lightning Girl, hurling a brick in her direction.

---

Sudden Arrival!

^{Many grandmas were harmed}

---

"Madcap, I've got a request from the Sandy Hills Nursing Home to help an old lady get to the local supermarket and back. Could you help her?"

"AN OLD LADY IN NEED OF HELP?!" Madcap is already on the move--no one has a single idea as to how or where this guy came from, but the IT Guy was moving fast with all the new team additions. He's cackling like a madman as he rides a motorcycle (which was either given to him by SDN as equipment or he stole it from some unlucky employee beforehand). "I see her. RIGHT. NOW."

He drifts his motorcycle and leaps off of it, landing in front of a confused old lady before striking a pose. "In the name of heroism, justice, and peace," he doesn't turn his head, but the sound of his motorcycle crashing rings through his ears clear as day, "The great ex-vigilante turned official hero shall save the day!"

"Oh! Could you please help me carry my gro--" The old lady is suddenly lifted from the ground, Madcap is holding her like he's ready to pitch a baseball.

He angles himself to face the nursery home...

"GET READY, MISS! THIS WILL BE THE BEST ROAD CROSSING OF YOUR LIFE!" He holds her with two hands now, and sends the old lady and her groceries flying across the street and over incoming traffic. Just as she's about to land, Madcap spins on his heel as car horns blare in his ear, and strikes another pose just as the old lady crashes into a window and a house alarm goes off!

"The day is saved once more," he crouches down and opens comms once again,"Another successful job, dispatcher! APPLAUD YOUR HERO."

If James or anyone else questions the multiple alarms blaring in the background, Madcap just says, "THOSE ARE THE HORNS OF VICTORY PLAYING IN LIGHT OF MY SUCCESS!"

Of course, the dispatch terminal says otherwise--it's a fat failure and a potential error screen.

roll results

Got a nat 1 and sent the roll video in discord DMs!

[Redking0380]

The Princess

---

Faint scratching of charcoal on paper rolls across the rooftop. A dull sun illuminates a page written in greys, charcoal and snow intermixed into an obscure image. That corner might be a tree, and that box might be a cabin with a winding path up towards it.

She who is known as Princess hums softly, not quite ignoring the earpiece that rests gently on her ear but dimming the static of it. Orders are received with a muted interest and simple flick of a button to acknowledge.

The sketchbook is handed off into the claws of a bird, her eyes focused on the distant horizon. Then steps off the ledge, dress billowing out as a soft landing is achieved. For Princess that is, the slightly indented concrete is not a concern.

It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. Days like these are perfect for handling things not seen before. Like a metro scuffle! Fight? Semantics to keep her mind occupied as one heeled foot is set in front of the other.

There was no urgency, so what if her response time was slow? Strutting around as a human was refreshing and nothing called for anything unique. Suffice to say by the time she had arrived at the open air train station, walking by the gates and ticket booths to find…

A group around a chess game? Least she thinks it's chess, with the multiple pieces and checkered board. Those surrounding the players are quiet, and there seems to be no actual altercation happening. Just… a game.

One she did step up to watch. Pondering the many moves that have and will be taken between them, predicting that black would likely win with a French Defense. As minutes drag by, concentration and sweat increases until a victor is determined. Rippling groans and subdued cheers come from the group as some money is exchanged. Princess still sees no reason as to why she was called to this.

That is until the seated man who had lost notices her and stands with posthaste. “Aha, the ref is here!” He adjusts his glasses and steps around the table to swiftly approach her.

Princess, to her credit, merely tilts her head in confusion as he keeps talking. “I’m sure you have better things to do Ms. Hero, but rules are rules!”

Rules are something that tend to…cause issues for one such as her, but she does respond. Asking, “What rules?”

The chessplayer laughs, more nervously with a slight scratch at his temple. “Well, uh… We are SDNs junior chess club and we need an official to judge our matches. How else are we supposed to gain rank?”

“So you called me?” Now the princess is properly confused.

“Well, this is an emergency and any hero would have done it! We just need a card carrying member of SDN to sign off on this sheet.” He does indeed produce a sheet almost from nowhere. Clipped to a sturdy clipboard with a pen at the top. It clearly states ‘SDN Chess Witness Form A3-21’.

“I feel as if this shouldn’t be taking place in a train station if you need a witness to it.”

Another subdued chuckle. “Well uh, the club just so happens to be banned from SDN buildings…”

There is a story there, one that even she would like to hear but decides to not press into it. A thought is had, then two, before she simply decides to go along with it. She hadn’t seen a chess match in quiet some time after all.

A swift press of ink on paper leaves a mark that could be a signature and she sits in an available chair, acting as regal as her name as she presides over the next match.

[SonnetNSunbeam]

SDN Claremont Locker Room

Jet's uniform hung half unzipped, pooling around him on the bench in front of his locker. The small black notebook in his left hand was a calendar, and he was inscribing his hours so he could verify SDN wasn't miscounting them. Someone yelled into the locker room making him nearly jump out of his skin. "Asteroid, you missed an emergency meeting, you're on mandatory overtime. Didn't you check your email?"

Incredulous, Jet shouted "I don't have a phone? How can overtime be mandatory?"

The office staffer just laughed turning on their heel "it sure sucks to be the new guy." Jet wasn't even that new, he'd had his training wheels off for almost a few months.

Grumbling, he stood too fast and hit his head on the bottom his open locker door. In his ear, his communicator chimed like some kind of gong. He had to reach out and steady himself, and reground himself in reality. It had reconnected to the server. After a couple beats of silence, a new dispatcher came thru the line.

"Asteroid, I've got a report of an abandoned trailer left in front of the Packing House that the City Council wants us to investigate. Not sure what it is, but can you find a way to identify who dumped it there? Find some clues, figure out if there's anything in the waste that gives it away, and report in when you come back."

"Ooh great, another new mysterious voice to get used to in my ear. Yeah, on the way." Pulling the zipper up and slamming his locker shut, he was enroute less than 2 minutes later.

---

Abandoned Trailer - Packing House

---

Asteroid barrels thru the air, body bent backwards feet first. His already damp suit chafes against his lower back. In a last second decision, he pulls his body to the left, and lands next to the trailer rather than atop it.

It was a two axle trailer, not attached to a vehicle. Balanced on the two sets of wheels in the back, and three cinderblocks in the front, it didn't seem to rock at all when he pushed it. Someone had built this trailer themselves from odds and ends, but it was completely enclosed and wrapped in white metal & vinyl sheeting. "No, Knit" was stuck to the side in large purple vinyl letters.

He presses the side of his head to the trailer, listening for any sort of noise from the inside. All he hears is a very quiet series for slow beeps. Taking a look around at his surroundings, he finds a very crowded street, plenty of people ambling about, some kind of makers festival happening inside the building."Nobody told me there was going to be a party." Smugly, Asteroid thinks for a few minutes about what to do next.

Does it count as unlawful search if he's not a lawmen?

Attempt one, he tries to pull back a panel beside the door, he nicks a finger and decides the vinyl is too sharp to bend with his bare hands. Attempt two, he wonders if moving the trailer is the best bet, being that it's beeping in a crowded place. Reaching out with his powers, he tests the mass of the trailer, and unhappily finds it out of his weight class. On attempt three, he pulls on the six dial lock, hoping they didn't just leave the default pin programmed. Turns out, they hadn't even pushed the bar into it's mechanism. Six dials. Zero effort.

The trailer door springs away and upwards before Asteroid can stop it. The walls inside are completely covered in wire baskets, the contents every color of yarn he can imagine. In the middle is a folding card table surrounded by 5 women, who are passing a joint with knitting projects in their hands. "Can we help you?" One of the women is holding a large needle above her like she's going to bring it down into his neck.

"Oh sorry ladies," he fakes a chuckle, eyes locked on the end of the improvised weapon "I was looking for the.. uh unattractive ladies sewing group, and I seem to have stumbled into the attractive one."

A few smiles and laughs spill out of the trailer, and his eyes find a heart monitor attached to the oldest woman in the group. The slow beeping was a heart monitor. Trapped in her chapped lips is the joint. Now he knows that this is just another part of the yarn festival. "It's actually a knitting group, dear."

"Well I'll leave you ladies too it-" the weaponized needle in the air comes down slowly.

Like nails on a chalkboard, the oldest woman makes him an offer, all gums and no teeth. "Want a hit sugar?" He learns her name is Ruth.

That's how Asteroid spends the next 20 minutes passing a joint and learning how to make a slipknot from Jeanine, a flirtatous woman, old enough to be his mother.

He leaves, confused, a little high, and unsure if this mission counts as a success.

"Uh- yeah- dispatch? Trailer's full of.. textiles. And marijuana. And an ancient woman with a cardiac device. No threat unless the city council is anti knitting."

If someone asks him what took him so long, "Not my fault one of them needed help crossing the street."

roll results

Got a 5 on a physical die.

[Thayr]

Φ PAYBACK Φ

Meeting Room

One long gulp of coffee. Maybe two. Myla sat in one of the folding chairs, listened to the way it squealed under each person’s weight. The team itself wasn’t all that impressive, sure, a mismatch of goody two-shoes like ‘Lightning Girl’ - fukkin nightmare of time she seemed to be - and near-psychopaths like Eclipse, who as far as Myla could tell was just…Red Ring to the max. Dude needed to switch-up his theme, really, show some self-respect. Oh, and a few near-crazies.

It almost reminded Myla of prison.

Then a new guy came in, someone that Myla didn’t really recognize, along with the boss. Well, that wasn’t all that uncommon. She didn’t know a lot of the people who hung around the place. They just kinda kept to themselves, most of the time. She didn’t really blame them. All the had to talk to was either one-another, the boy scouts, or former criminals. Out of that group, she’d probably choose the first option too. It just seemed a bit safer.

"So, we've had a problem. Our afternoon shift has had to be redeployed to SDN Pasadena. And your dispatcher has been reallocated for another task. Too complicated to explain, but, in a nutshell, we need you to work late. This is James Speight. Some of you may have worked with him, but he'll be your interim dispatcher. He knows SDN well. Treat him with respect, and he'll get you through this afternoon."

The sound of cracking knuckles echoed through the bare room. Myla turned her head to it, staring for a moment at the cause. Did she know the guy? Was there…something there? Ex’s? Hell, she really didn’t know. The smile seemed to have something there that was different to that kinda energy though. In any case, Myla just shook her head at it, breathing out.

As the girl scout kept on by asking for extra pay, that second fact stuck out to her. Yeah, work late. She knew they wouldn’t be getting any time off the next day, or a week from now. Getting paid back like that just didn’t happen. So, hey, a shit day today, a shit start tomorrow, great. Seemed they were, though. ‘Standard rate of overtime’. Boss kept on talking, though, even as the girl scout had gotten put in her place. What she deserved, anyways. The conversation got cut down pretty quick though, and they were off.

Another gulp of coffee as they all stared to file out of the meeting room. There was a good reason why Myla didn’t like to run around in that stupid building. Always bad news, always annoying fukkin people, always a stupid time. The warmth of that free coffee from the break room was the nicest thing there. She raised it up again, just a little sip while walking along. She’d need that.

---

Dispatch Parking Lot

Myla had her bag over the shoulder, leaning on the back of a bench while the new dispatch guy seemed to settle in. The shape of a little rubber ruler made itself known in her pocket, a little 6 inch yellow and happy thing you’d expect from an elementary school. What was the name…Paul? Paul’s desk was kinda like that. Lots of little things here and there. She’d seen that knitted container full of rulers and just knew she had to have one. Why? Well, hey, because she could.

Yeah, it was another reason why she never liked being in that building. Too much stuff. Too many people used to looking out for their stuff. Paul definitely wasn’t the kinda guy to be used to that. Sucks. The rubber ear-piece snapped to life, though, and a tinny little voice came on through. Well. Several tinny little voices.

"Okay, A-Team, appreciate the change in plan is a bit different. Keep the comms clear, and I'll get you through this. Sending co-ordinates, first batch of calls are screened and allocated. I hate this from a compliance standpoint more than you do. But let's focus on the overtime pay and keeping the subscribers happy."

"This is bullshit. I was going to actually go to the DTLA ball, go see how…”

"Yeah, well, let's focus on the here and now. We'll stop at 4pm for a breather. Then keep going till 7pm, like we discussed. You won't needed early in the morning because the shift pattern's moved." James added, trying to make some sort of speech, but he was equally as pissed about it. "Oh, and Solaris, if your.....companion decides she wants to rear her head, remind her, she needs to get a pass if she wants to get in the building at the end of the night. I'm not dealing with security."

She really was tempted to take the thing out. Who the fuck cares about a ball? Was that tonight? Shit, Myla might care about that. It would have been perfect to take some things, especially maybe a fe- no, no. Stealing some cars would be bad, especially from the place where all her alleged co-workers would be. That wouldn’t go well. ‘You don’t shit where you eat’ and all that. Then the various locations came on in.

"Okay, Solaris, I have reports of a drug bust going wrong, officers in need of assistance, multiple assailants. Pin sent. Non-lethal if you can, let's talk them down."

"Uhhh, Payback, I've got reports of some trouble at the AMOCA, someone trying to break in and steal some art. Need you on that one. It's all ceramics, so mind your magnets, would you?"

"Eclipse, I've got a school that's asking for us to cover a speech that Meta-Man was gonna be at. Can you go there?”

Myla listened for her own friggin thing, but hey - there were a few different things that she clicked in on. Drug bust gone wrong, yeah that sounded about right but there wasn’t enough information. How many, what sort of wea- hey, there was her call. AMOCA…the fuck was that? Museum, ‘Ceramic Art’. Who the hell steals art in the middle of the day? What kind of amateur hour nonsense was this?

She exhaled at it, rummaging about her pocket for the most wrinkled map known to mankind. AMOCA, AMOCA…down in Pomona. E Holt Ave, then down on South Garey. Had she been there before? Probably. Of course, while thinking that through the call for Eclipse came. A school. What a joke. What a real big joke. Yeah, we’ll send the drug-guy to a school for a talk Meta-Man was going to go to. Poor friggin kids, expect Meta-Man and get that. She wasn’t the only one who thought that, though, because another voice came in.

"Idiot."

Yeah that was right. She would have laughed, really, if it didn’t look so crazy. Putting the map away, she tapped a response out on the Timex.

”K.”

---

American Museum of Ceramic Arts

Well, maybe that was why the amateurs were trying for the middle of the day. AMOCA was closed.

She stood outside the place, watching as a van had pulled up in the parking lot out back. A group of maybe five or so, all in blue coveralls, were moving boxes in and out, in and out, another guy standing to the side with a clip-board like he was all official. Maybe they weren’t amateurs after all, trying for the ‘Act like you belong’ shtick. Yeah, cool for em. Sucked that whatever they were trying for clearly hadn’t really worked all that well. What, did it have some kind of silent alarm? Weird museum, honestly. It wasn’t even that big a building, though, most of it being one floor with a little tower of another. Had she been there before? It felt familiar. Maybe.

The bag was still slung over her shoulder. Yeah, she’d wait it out. Just a little bit. Hey, that was a pretty interesting building over…there, yeah, real pretty building. Look around down this way or the street and that like she was waiting for a ride. Let em all keep on moving, keep on moving…yeah, a few were waiting around the end of the van. They were about finished. Great. Good. Move the bag off the shoulder, crouch down to mess with it…unzip the end just halfway. Last two boxes were coming out. Yeah, was about time for that.

Myla got up, brisk-walked across the street real, real fast. Clip-board dude noticed first, pointing with the end of his pen. Other guys turned around, beetle-brows raised at the idea that someone would run up then. The two with boxes set em down, clearly ready for some kind of problem or another. She brought the bag up into the crook of her shoulder though, wrapping an arm around it. A quick unzip. She could see their eyes grow like saucers. Holy fuck, it was perfect.

The pull of a cord. Four Type 50 bulbs flashed off, reflecting from the hidden cone in a flash that could be described only as ‘biblical’. Stark shadows painted out from each of the guys, the little green columns by the door, reflected off of the windows too. Each of them screamed, hands coming up as she pulled the cord again. Another flash. Another painting of shadows, the windows lighting-up like snow in the sun.

Drop the bag, hand going for the metal rod in her belt, Myla took it out before whipping the thing down to the ground. Nearly two feet of metal baton was there, then, and she held out one hand. Just a pull there, that magnetic field, and pass the rod on through…she could feel it flex in her hand…and it seemed to crackle just a bit. Three were still on the ground, hands to eyes as the sirens sounded in the distance. One got up quicker than the rest, eyes pinched. Reach out with the baton like it was a pointing, and she zapped the first right there on the forehead. He stumbled back as the other two, who were trying to get up, took a pause.

“We didn’t sign up for this, man. Look. It’s all neat, too,” complained one still on the ground.

“Shut the hell up, Keith. We know.”

She could see them still thinking through their odds of getting out, making a run for it, and passed the baton through her hand again. It crackled again. The guys against the side of the van swallowed, eyes fixed for a second on that before they looked at something else. The cops had finally came into view. Yeah, they deflated. What suckers. She watched for a bit as the cops did their shtick, got em cuffed and handled into the cars, then for the evidence people from the police came in to get the van and everything else.

Fuck it, was a Jack in the Box on the way over. Might as well have something real quick. She tapped out on the Timex, though, before making her way down the street.

”Break in done. All good.”

[BigPapaBelial]

The Public Relations Monster

Everything Burns - Tom Morello featuring Beartooth

Monday
13:10
Meeting Room
Claremont SDN

Fine ass suit, confident smile, sure step. Big ol Tyler Ermineskin strode into the meeting room, and there's the rest of Team A. He finds a place to wait and watch and listen. One hand in his pocket the other slowly clenching and unclenching beside his shoulder. His eyebrow flew up towards his hairline, "An entire team got reassigned and a Dispatcher got pulled? What the heck is happening in Pasadena?" He rubbed his thumb along one of the many scars on his face. Thinking to himself, curious what is going on beyond Claremont. He looked out into the rest of the office, "It's not just our team right? Claremont is pretty big just us covering the entire city is gonna be abit of a push if you ask me. But hey it's why we're here right? Push ourselves?" He grins abit. Then around at the faces of the heroes, and reformed villians on the team. "We got this."

As the room went around, people making faces, asking questions, asking for more money. He had to chuckle at that one. You get what you get around here.

But as things started to break up he figured he better go get suited up. Can't go back to the PR department at this point. Darn he does have a few Socials he has to check in on, but he can do that on the go as well. #HatTrick3timeOfficial can make some posts too. #SDNClaremont isn't the only thing on his docket.

The most Dangerous of adversaries

After getting suited up, Hat Trick, resplendent in armor, bladed hockey stick strapped to his back, tomahawk at his hip. He stretches to limber up when the Dispatch App pings him. Bringing up his phone he checks...

"Hat Trick, the Botanical Gardens are asking if we have anyone who's able to help manage some escaped Canadian Goose? I'd send Matthieu but.....I will take the other Canadian we get. Please don't kill them. Or you're doing our PR."

He had to stop and look at the dispatch for a second before he stomped out the door, and with a crunch a layer of rink grade ice extended ahead of him. Typing into the app he responds, "Hat Trick here, gotcha, hey can I get a verification before I get there, is this goose as in singular, or was that supposed to be Canada Geese like in plural...because I read it as Geese, and that scares me...I'll take care of it."

Stepping onto the ice he pushes off, more sheets extending out in front of him, more then a few people jump up and out of the way as his strong legs carry him towards the Botanical Gardens. He didn't even know the place housed Canadian Geese at all. This ought to be interesting.

Takes him abit to get there, flashing his SDN approved Hero Credentials, a security guard stopping him to point out that there is indeed more then one! And more then one of them is a little irate. Hat Trick winces as he watches no less then three harrass Garden patrons, "Yeah...okay...sure. I thought I left all these Cobra Chickens back home in Canada. Alright just...try and keep people out of the way." With a deep breath, because even the strongest of Canadians know that a Canada Goose can lay waste to the bravest of men he extends some ice ahead of him. Reaching down he clicks his mic and speaker set on, "CLAREMONT!" His voice roars. More then a few people, kids, adults, teens, hear the call, someone whispering, "Is that Hat Trick! Oh my god!" Hat Trick calling again, "CLAREMONT!" And this time people answer, "All ears!" He grins, "Come on now! CLAREMONT!" And a larger answer as people come closer but stay well out of the way of the irate Murder Birds. The answer of, "All ears!" Comes again.

He skates a ring around the geese carefully, "There we go! Claremont I can hear you! We got a problem, and here they are sending your man! Your Ice Track Bruiser. Let's get some noise!" A cheer goes up as he lowers his stance, and shoots forward, a low thin glaze of ice to allow him to slide forward, he hunkers down, holds out his hand...and snatches the first of the three geese before it can round on him, the beast flapping and crying out and hissing at the black haired rink rat. Hat Trick lets out a sound somewhere between Triumph and "I-near-crapped-my-pants".

With Goose in hand, and power strides to get himself moving again he curls back around and makes for the second of the irate cobra chickens. Cheering begins as the crowd watches. Keeping his capture out of range of a face ripping, he leans down to make two grabs at the second danger bird. Missin gthe first and catching a tail on the second, hauling it back up, held by the neck with the first.

And the crowd lets out a horrified gasp as the third goose realizes something is wrong. Hat Trick comes back around to get a goose in the face! And he can't help but call out, "Ahhh Cobra Chicken!" But somehow he catches it with his free hand. Looses his balance and rolls to a stop on a grassy patch. Even as cheers go up for a good job, he can see people taking pictures, that's gonna be all over the Net in no time.

The App pings, Dispatch getting an update "Mission Complete. I got a face full of feathers and three irate Canadian Murder Chickens in hand. I'll hand them off to Animal Control then start my trip back."

[FourtyTwo]

Monday
13:32
Claremont College

The Massive, Era Defining, Heavyweight Hero Fight

Lightning Girl

Moving in a haze of static, the light grey-suited was on the scene to witness what was a robbery turned into a mental episode. Floating down, she noticed as the police kept a cordon and were moving.

Lightning Girl nodded to the officer as she spoke and joined them in cover, a brick flying overhead that had been aimed at her, from afar.

This was not expected, but hey, it was what she was paid to do, as she turned back to the officer in cover.

"Where is he getting those bricks from? Right. Hold cordon and get ready to treat the civies. I'm going in." She nodded to the officer, with confidence. A couple of officers had been knocked out, and it seemed like Brick Frog was moving around, the entire dorm turning into a warzone. A robbery gone, very, very badly wrong.

It was getting unruly. She charged past into one of the dorms at a side door, running inside, hearing sobbing inside one of them.
"SDN, Lightning Girl here! I'll get you to safety! Follow on me, and I'll keep you safe!" She called out, as the door opened, and four college students who were cowering looked up, Sophie's aura and greyed eyes showing she wasn't someone else.

She was Lightning Girl. Here to save the day. Maybe she hadn't been around the block much, but, SDN's socials, thanks to Hat Trick, had made sure her face was getting about. A part of her wondered if being this was perhaps too cheesy, too old school, too classic. But she loved it really. The suit, the aura, and well, in a moment like this, putting herself to the best use she could. Lightning was such a villain power. But she put it to positives.

She didn't take them by the hand (for obvious reasons), but knocked on each of the doors, and with it, found a small gaggle of people. Lightning Girl led them through a corridor, going in front, as there he suddenly was, outside again, smashing a window in a kitchen.

Brick Frog.

The man in a frog costume with a massive bag full of bricks.

And one in his hand.

"Drop the brick, Brick Frog!" Lightning Girl called, as Brick Frog yelled back.

"No." She sighed a lot. Fucking hell. Why did they not get it when a real hero turned up they'd rethink it? She let the power flow, and her hands seemed to sizzle, all that built up potency now unleashing it, her eyes turning grey. Lightning Girl ushered the civies behind her, yelling a simple "Go!" to them, as she built up power in her hands, looking him dead in the eye, closing the distance. She was taller than him, and the aura was intimidating.

"Last chance. Drop it. Come on, you can go quietly...."

She didn't have superhuman reactions, they were just enhanced when she had about a Tesla's worth of power inside of her, but Brick Frog decided to test them anyway, as those last words left her. Like he wanted her to shut up.

The brick was aimed dead at her face, and at close range, hard to miss. Better her than them. But she could at least shock it before it hit her.

She recoiled as the brick didn't disintegrate fully, but seemed to turn into a cloud of red dust, the scowl on her face growing as the brick turned to red powder and ruined her immaculately white and grey visage, the remainder of the bolt dissipating the brick bouncing off his rubbery-textile Frog-self. With little effect other than knockback.

Her step forward past the cloud of red and ozone, hands visibly still shaking with electricity, her pride turned to a scowl. A hero scorned. And not all for show.

"Or you can go painfully. I did warn you...." Lightning Girl put hand up, and picked her shot.

She didn't aim at his body anymore, the rubbery suit needing far too much power to smack open from her earlier bolt. So instead, she just went for the face that stuck out of the costume. Turned down the power.

But didn't forget she was gonna need to wash her hair out fully after this and she ruined a perfectly cleaned suit.

And boy, did it work.

---

A short while later, Lightning Girl had him in yellow zip ties that she carried in her hip bag, letting the police officer take.

She had to brush the crushed up brick out of her hair and face, but not entirely from her suit, the big bolt of red across the side of Brick Frog's face illustrating where she'd tazed him, and then proceeded to smack him hard in the body with a lot more voltage than she would have liked, to overcome the icky rubber, punching him into the floor and dragging him into zip ties. She had to contain the situation. It was brutal, but there were civilians on the line. And her first properly successful dispatch since....the event, well, was a pleasant one to have.

The officers eyed him up and down, then Lightning Girl.

"He's yours. I think he's learned his lesson. Haven't you?" She turned to his face, as he muttered, sighing, the police taking it from there, as she wasn't sure how the fuck this much property damage would be dealt with. Probably by the university itself, it would be a civil matter, as the civies behind the cordon cheered, Lightning Girl giving a smile. A few of them were headed to hospital for some checks, cuts, bruises, the police that dropped also getting a check up.

This is why she did it. The feeling of doing good was unbeatable as she waved to them, and the dusty, white-haired heroine was done with her work here. As beautifully as she could be. Sophie floated up onto a lamp-post, peeling a bit of power from it, knowing the job was all done and dusted, and her levels were feeling a little drained.

She could hear them talk about giving him a misdemeanour charge. Probably for the best. Kid needed some mental help, not getting fuego'd in prison for being a Frog. Even though for assault, he really should have been, this was barely an adult.

"Brick Frog is in custody. Civies are safe. Ready to go again, James. Where to?" She uttered into her comms, as she then lept off the post, and caught flight, cape fluttering in the wind against cordura, back to the offices.

---

Dispatch Response

James Speight

In the office, the green ticks from successful jobs were coming back positive.

"Good stuff, Lightning Girl. Standby. I'm sure Brick Frog's terrifying supervillain presence will be no longer a threat." James kept the response simple to his sister, his eyes wide open that Eclipse had done exceptionally well at the school. He even had an email hit his phone, redirected from Gayatri's management of the SDN Claremont mailbox.

"Wow, well done, Eclipse. I know that wasn't your strength, but you smashed it anyway. They've already sent me an email about how happy they were with you. Good work." James gave the shadowy Phoenix Programme member a bit of a lift, the optimism.

Even if he'd been called an idiot. But who the fuck else did he have? They were a subscriber, and well, with the others scaled up according to his spreadsheet, he....ah, yeah he fucked that up. Oh well.

That was just a 40yd strike without a goalkeeper in the net then. Or some football analogy that the Americans wouldn't get. Basically, a fluke executed perfectly.

"Nice work, Princess. Though.....you telling me those geeks faked a call? I mean, I'll make a note of it. Oh well. That's a win, hope they feel they got what they paid for." James shrugged, not quite sure why a chess club had asked for SDN to come out, but if they were paying, they got service. And, it sounded like Princess had settled some disputes successfully.

The other call seemed oddly the same.

"Nicely done, Asteroid, though.....Christ, we're having an anti-drugs talk. I get it, it's Cali, you frankly inhale the stuff walking in the street, but I can't have you stoned and picking up boulders. Still, good work. The City Council will take it from here and decide if they should stay. Probably will." James chuckled, knowing he had to put criticism in there but sandwiched it with a laugh, generally happy the job was resolved. And another big green tick. AMOCA's theft had been stopped too.

"Well done, Payback. That was a serious cultural asset you saved there. See, takes an ex-thief to know how to stop thieves. Don't get any ideas about their security system though..." James gave some encouragement, knowing that he wouldn't react to wordy speeches, but a little bit of a pick up. Cynical as he was, he wasn't afraid of praise. Especially for Phoenix Programme, who no doubt, were already close to being cut and needed something to keep them aloft.

Even Hat Trick was on a roll. A PR hero that shouted more about himself than maybe the team, but, he was still out there and kicking ass. Rounding up the geese and returning them safely was certainly akin to foiling a robbery, given the threat a singular Canadian Goose could present. The ice-hockey adjacent hero was near perfect, perhaps more so than say, Eclipse had been earlier. But you took your wins and losses.

"Nice work, Hat Trick. Clean yourself up, and take a few minutes to round up some socials where you can. Those geese are evil, so I'm sure that's not the last we've seen of them." James replied back to the Canadian, glad civilians and people were saved from the scourge of the Canadian Geese.

Then, the comms exploded with noise.

And James for a moment just exhaled, one, continuous breath. He wasn't angry. He wasn't disappointed. He just.....questioned reality now.

His hand shook on the mouse. He wanted to throw his headphones into a wall. But realised that a replacement set would be stupidly hard to find for this antique, fucking bullshit, crappy machine that seemed to manage one insanely dense, donut of a fucking person.....

Was Madcap just high too?

He normally didn't swear on the phone, this was a recorded call, after all. But to kill the comms, he hit the override, as he switched to a subscriber camera, seeing an elderly lady in a glass shaped hole like something from Tom and Jerry, struggling to move, EMT already on the way.

And just inhaled as he replied.

"Madcap, what the fu....."

---

Until Breaktime

Soundtrack: The Who- Eminence Front

The rest of the early afternoon shift went a little more tame than the first job the team had all been sent out. The sun slowly ported its way across the sky, the big orange scattering into a haze on the horizon, the sunset beginning to come in. James looked out through the window, the office getting emptied out, as people left, rather than came in. James kept the music on in his right earbud, his headset draped across his left, with an option to kill his phone's music on moment's notice. Not that he had to often, so, it played out to their second third of their shift.

A small montage then. From social media, cameras, and the team getting into work.

This was SDN Claremont in action, working their day away. Heroes in the mix. Doing what heroes did. The unglamorous bit not really anyone wanted to remember.

More talking to police. Witness statements. Paperwork. Filling in witness forms. Helping police, security, other people to do their jobs. But with a bit of SDN magic on top.

Cleaning, tidying up the mess at crime scenes that were too heavy or too messy to sort.

In the office, James was throwing another two packets of Fisherman's Friend into Riley's bin, and chewing down more. Getting a cup of tea from Lightning Girl, between her deployment as she whizzed out of the balcony again, and sipping it down, a calm ahhh.....

And back to the heroes.

From helping police on patrol and shadowing them, community liaison work where heroes would meet the public and do some marketing for SDN, to stints in the office doing timesheets, requesting holiday, and general admin work. Smaller jobs, here and there, simple, easy and passed back to the police who paid SDN a pretty penny every time a hero had gone out. Lightning Girl had even gone and helped the local distribution grid poke a really high voltage cable back into place, which was a one minute job, in exchange for lots of free electrical juice.

Then, the team had a mandatory session with James at 4pm.

That was mostly forgettable.

For some reason, mostly aimed at "Drugs in the Workplace".

That there was random drugs testing.

It was what James called a "Toolbox Talk", not really a proper training, but a reminder of some policies. Particularly, for two members of the team (and perhaps for a third for fucking it up so hard), but it felt like they were all there despite it not being targeted. They probably hated it. But Riley had done the same, just James had to put it in his report at the end, with his big stack of papers he stamped, signed and filled in for each dispatch. They may have hated it, but then again, James didn't hide that he was just doing his job, something he enforced dispatchers on himself.

"So, in short, while California has a policy that there are multiple strikes, I need to remind you all, don't do drugs at work." James seemed almost exasperated. He wondered if Madcap was high right now. That would explain a lot. How in the actual fuck did you throw an old lady through a window and call that a success? Shit, if they weren't so in demand right now, he would have suspended him there and then, but that wasn't his call. Even Kat had thrown her cup at the wall of her glass office.

"Any questions?" James asked, as Lightning Girl put her hand up, a shit-eating, soul destroying grin on her face.

"If you really, really needed to take drugs to keep your powers, as per your contract with SDN, wouldn't that be a breach of contract because you'd be out of work here? Like you are, addicted to Fisherman's Friends." Sophie didn't glance at Eclipse, not really needing to, as she then giggled with a grin.

James sighed, leaning against the table. Her sister, as usual, was deciding to be a bitch. What had he done to earn this?

"It depends. The policy has more details. And you all need a break." James answered, with a long, beleaguered sigh, looking at everyone.

If he could kick the shit out of Madcap, he would right now. But the others, they were doing well. And he didn't hide his respect they were stepping up, even now.

---

Monday
17:04
Break Room
Claremont SDN

Going Long

The break room was full of heroes of the new afternoon shift, and given the new additions, it made the place feel crowded, but in a way that James, who had popped in and gone back to his desk to keep working to file paperwork, appreciated. Most people were finishing and leaving the office though. From Gayita to Matthieu, they all waved and said goodbye, the eight armed Office Manager bringing in a massive box of jelly donuts that James had requested they get to keep spirits high.

They were all working late, and James and a couple of other dispatchers getting the Night Shift ready, were all that were left.

Lightning Girl, had also brought a packet of Rich Tea biscuits in as well. They were plain, so significantly less attractive than the donut box, as everyone grabbed at least one.

At this point, the team had worked together very little, but the white/grey haired heroine that was Lightning Girl was now so full of juice she seemed to have more than the morning stint. She wasn't even the loudest anymore, no doubt Eclipse and Payback wanted to absolutely put Madcap on mute, but, she still remained ever friendly.

She had brought a bag of Cheetos from her last dispatch while between jobs, taking the notion it was probably best to leave it with Eclipse after their long chat.

Before say, Payback stole it, probably best to give it direct..

"Crisps for you. Don't inhale them all at once....sounds like you did a nice job at that school, inspired a lot of kids. If you ask me, sounds like something a hero would do." Lightning Girl noted and posted him with a smile, the carbon fibre black-masked heroine adjusting her straps a little, the cowl covering her nose to her forehead, as she took the bag of Cheetos from her hip bag and left it on his table.

"And you did okay too! I reckon in your heyday you'd have been so much better at stealing ceramics than those losers were. Right?" She smiled at Payback with a little sarcasm, who was quiet as hell over the comms, Myla's casual look very different to the suited and booted appearance of much of the team. Sophie then realised, she was using understatement in a British tone. "Okay" could mean like six different things in England. It meant very specifically one here. She guessed. She worried.

"Sorry, I forget I'm so English sometimes! Like you did good. Sorry, that's what I meant!" She clarified it. Hopefully that wasn't sarcastic. It came across as a little bit more afraid from the person that was normally, a bastion of glow. Sophie inside was still trying to manage that.

Lightning Girl kept going in the kitchen after wrapping that up, turning on the kettle, water boiling in the tank as she drew out a mug, coming across Princess, Asteroid and Hat Trick. The beautiful, after her origins, Princess that shapeshifted, the gravity-altering, black costume having Asteroid, and the indigenous, hockey armoured up Hat Trick were all rather different, but among them, Sophie seemed still the most traditionally planted of a hero, even if those three were on a broad spectrum from eldritch terror to PR glow.

"Hey, I don't think we've met properly in person. I'm Lightning Girl. Princess, I think someone said to me you're really good at shapeshifting? And you do gravity stuff Asteroid, and Hat Trick you're.....just Captain Canada? Shit, even geese scare me. I think I'd make a much bigger mess than just feathers, so well done." Lightning Girl might not have majored in charisma, she was mostly a face for show, after all, but she was absolutely a a beam of good. It felt genuine with her, even when the sarcasm dripped in, as she smiled. She would offer a hand, but, thought better of it given lots of electricity in her.

"Good to meet you all. You all finding the team okay? Like I said to the others before you arrived, you deal with James's.....way of stuff better with time. He used to dispatch me a long, long time ago. Kinda shocked he's looking after us now." She didn't reveal she was his sister.

They might have put it together, but their hair being so different, and so on, made it feel a little like they weren't the same. He wasn't powered, and was in a different line of work, so with so many British people in LA (including Prince Harry, of whom James had already received about four references to, and immediately decided not to chat to those people again), it felt like a small coincidence.

She poured out the hot water and left some for others to make coffee with, pouring it into her usual mug, which had a massive blue bolt across it, a gift from her mum. Sipping it down, Sophie was not sure what to make of the day so far, especially with the fact she lost out on going to the ball later that she wanted to go to, but, a job was a job. And she had to bite her teeth. Maybe if she asked one of them nicely, they could cover for her and she could go? She wasn't sure. She'd have to earn that, but for now, she played it back in her mind what she could do to get that option at all.

And then there was Madcap. Who, with a bug mask, and his powers of invulnerability, had thrown an old lady across the road. She hoped he would realise maybe that wasn't exactly the best way to introduce himself into the A-Team. Holy shit, it was so bad, it actually took heat off her for shocking two heroes. Like, his fuck up had managed to make even her own look pale.

"Fucking bullshit we have to stay. But crime never sleeps and all that...."

[Aku the Samurai]

Tyler Harven

Wish Therapy

---

“You know, I never thought I’d end up here.”

“What? Lying in a shitty alley?”

“Language. And, no. I meant alive.”

“That’s pretty grim. Are you this bleak all the time?”

“Pretty much. Optimism is overrated. It never really appealed to me. World’s too fried for that.”

“Hm. Ever considered going to therapy?”

“... Nah. Wouldn’t work out.”

“You won’t know unless you try. Who knows? It might even help.”

“I’ll pass, thanks. I have a hard enough time not scaring people who don’t know me. I’d give a therapist a heart attack with what all goes on in my head. Good talk, though.”

“... Good enough to let me go?”

“... Yeah, not happening. You’re a lot braver than you look. Most people would have already pissed themselves by now.”

“Who says I haven’t?”

“TMI. Well, anyway, it’s about time I get going now.”

Tyler stood and brushed his pants off, cracking his neck both ways with a satisfying sigh, the glow of his eyes dimming slightly. The half-naked, dark-haired man hanging from the streetlight swayed slightly in the wind.

“Leaving so soon? I thought we were having a moment there.”

Tyler chose not to acknowledge that last sentence.

“The cops will be here in a few, and I have a job to get to. Good conversationalist or not, you are not gonna make me late on my first day.”

Tyler paused with his back turned. “Oh, and try not to do this offal again. Trust me, it’s not worth it. Find a hobby or something. Ciao.”

The sirens started the moment he stepped out of sight. Hands stuffed into his pockets half-consciously, his eyes began to wander, taking in the sights of the city he was about to leave behind. Grand buildings pierced the sky, filled with bright lights that made him squint and avert his gaze from the blinding semi-skyline. His eyes flickered to the street to his left, watching a junkie puke his guts out onto the pavement, graffiti-covered wall.

Wow, that was some impressive art. Never seen those words used like that before. Too bad whoever made it decided that this was the best use of their talent.

Tyler sighed.

... God, this place was a five-star mess. He was gonna miss it. Just a little, though. He wasn’t one for sentiment, and he didn’t hold as high an opinion of this city as some people did, for whatever reason. But, he had spent quite a bit of time making a name for himself here as a...

On second thought, maybe he wasn’t going to miss it nearly as much as he first thought.

He was certainly not going to miss his “fans”. Those people were absolutely baked in the noggin’, and that wasn’t a statement he made lightly. Seriously, what kind of person sees something like him in action and gets excited about it? No, thank you. He was content to stay well away from that nonsense. He did not need that kind of energy in his life.

Tyler checked his watch.

Three hours left. That was plenty of time.

---

Claremont Arrival

---

Claremont was... different.

That was his first thought. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing by any means. It was refreshing, in a way. He’d gotten way too used to living in DTLA. He was way too used to living in the US in general, actually. Not that he missed home or anything. There was a good reason that the entire place was burned down.

It was a poison that needed to be purged one way or another.

In less dreadful news, there was the SDN building on the map. And, it was all the way over there.

...

...

He had half a mind to just throw caution to the wind and book it, but he wasn’t that stupid. It was tempting, though. It really, really was.

Taking a cab was too much of a hassle right now, so he just started walking. It wasn’t like he’d be late. Shorter legs or not, it wasn’t actually that far off. Well within walking distance, really, just... this type of walking distance was a bit different than he was used to.

Was it too much to ask for a curse to be a little proportional in its effects?

... Of course, it was.

Eventually, Tyler found his way to his destination. His gaze roved over the building for a brief moment before he entered the building and made his way through the corridor. He watched everything, his eyes darting around to take it all in as he walked.

He carried nothing but a bag slung over his shoulder. Usually, he’d carry his things like a normal person. Not anymore.

He pushed a door open and found himself in the middle of... something. Or nothing at all. Most of them were just standing around, but the costumes gave him an idea of what exactly was going on.

“Ah. Hello. I assume you must be the heroes? Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you all.”

He would have offered a smile, but his face never really cooperated when it came to that.

[Auragreedia]

Back to Base - Running Hot

^{Everyone is here!}

---

Water splashes over Eclipse's face before he finally leaves the school, back in his usual armor. Helmet comes on next, as usual, and he finds himself inside a dimly lit janitor's closet to teleport back to base.

Lightning Girl's defeat of the all-terrifying Brick Frog rings over comms, and he has to stifle a laugh.

"Wow, well done, Eclipse. I know that wasn't your strength, but you smashed it anyway. They've already sent me an email about how happy they were with you. Good work."

The statement gives him pause. "... Thanks."

Should he say something about calling this dispatcher an idiot? Would that ruin the moment? Cause it'd totally ruin the moment, but now he was feeling bad. He didn't think he did that well, not by any means. Crowds cheer for just about anything, and frankly, he hated public speaking.

"... And sorry." He sighs. "Don't send me on another dispatch like this again. I got lucky."

He tunes out the rest and starts his slow descent into shadows. He’s hoping he never gets another job like that ever again, email recommendation or not.

---

Meanwhile, Madcap is carrying the remains of his ruined, dented motorcycle back to the office. He listens to each and every word of praise James gives out to the rest of his team. Lightning Girl defeated his arch-nemesis Brick Frog?! Something about a school speech? Ahh, chess geeks! The metro's worst enemies. Then thievery, a newly scheduled drug talk (someone got high on the job?), and makeshift animal control by the amazing Hat Trick!

Ohhh, this team is on FIRE! He is so happy to be here, working with real heroes! And... villains. Who definitely didn't belong with big names like him, Hat Trick, and Lightning Girl, no way.

"Madcap, what the fu....."

"Huh? What did I do?!" He has to duck into an alleyway when some ruffians get sight of him. More people against the great Madcap! "It was a perfect job, right? RIGHT?!"

"I thought the police got your ass weeks ago! Piece of shit!"

"Oops, gotta go." More villains are chasing him; it's just like old times. Madcap runs further into the alleyway. "I'm enroute to base!"

---

Drugs in The Workplace

The rest of the afternoon is spent mostly doing busywork. Time sheets, marketing (that, thankfully, Eclipse didn't get assigned to), and other kinds of menial work. Madcap was lucky enough to guard his favorite bakery and surprisingly not fuck it up, earning some free food to share. Eclipse, on the other hand, just followed police patrols in the shadows, occasionally pointing out secret drug deals and the like happening in any blind spots. Can't say he enjoyed it though, he hated being a narc considering his old occupation, but snitches get... rewards.

Then came the 4pm meeting with James about drugs.

Don't do drugs on the job, blah, blah, blah. Eclipse is already zoning out; he's heard this crap a thousand times before coming into Phoenix Program, and two thousand times more from concerned family and friends back in college before he finally left with Red Ring. It was a load of crap.

"If you really, really needed to take drugs to keep your powers, as per your contract with SDN, wouldn't that be a breach of contract because you'd be out of work here? Like you are, addicted to Fisherman's Friends."

"It depends. The policy has more details. And you all need a break."

If it weren't for his helmet, everyone would probably laugh at the uncharacteristic surprise on Eclipse's face. He needs to see more on that policy. Desperately. And he'd have to thank Lightning Girl for bringing it up in the first place; that was... unexpected. Highly unexpected, and he can't quite pinpoint why she'd do that for him, but he's thankful.

"I-"

Madcap leaps from his seat and does the most Boy Scout salute he's ever seen. "SIR, YES, SIR! No drugs will be done in the workplace regardless of policy exemptions. Because drugs... ARE. EVIL."

This guy is not real.

After the meeting ends and every hero leaves for break, James finds Raúl, the resident IT guy, tapping him on the shoulder. "Got your Dispatch account ready, gonna be a bit lacking compared to Riley's, but I'll get it all in order tomorrow. Oh, and, found another dispatch terminal for you to use. Sacred stuff, keep it clean, use it carefully. I'll take you to it right now."

---

Break Room

Eclipse finds himself reading over the SDN Employee Handbook. He needed to find out more about SDN's drug policy. A special exception could be made for him? He needed to make his darkness drug to keep his strength up, and no one wants a regular guy out on the field, right? Excluding Mecha-Man, obviously, but that's another case entirely. Having an expensive, high-tech mech counts as a superpower. Most of what he's reading is gibberish. Just a bunch of corporate-speak in 12px Times New Roman.

Double-spaced?

Double-spaced.

He groans. Lightning Girl appears in front of him and produces a Cheetos bag.

"Crisps for you. Don't inhale them all at once....sounds like you did a nice job at that school, inspired a lot of kids. If you ask me, sounds like something a hero would do."

"Don't think of me as a hero yet. And I--thank you." He clears his throat awkwardly, the hero comment catching him off guard. Frankly, everything about Lightning Girl caught him off guard. When was the last time someone paid to attention to him outside of drug stuff? It's been a while. "About earlier, I mean. You didn't have to say that."

Another page turns, more corporate bullshit. He doesn't want to admit he read from page one to now instead of following the table of contents. His finger twitches as he swipes to another page; he really, really wants to start over. "Do people actually read this? It's like a corporate suicide note."

He opens the bag of Cheetos, leans back, and gets right back to reading. He occasionally intercepts on the others' conversations on how badly the handbook is written and how stupid company policy is. Otherwise, he's trying hard not to run the hell away from all the heroes in the room. Hat Trick and Lightning Girl were the real deal, and if this were a few years ago, he'd be getting his ass kicked by them.

Or maybe he'd be kicking their asses. He was strong back then.

The break room door slams open, and Madcap barges into the room. "Hello, A-TEAM!" He raises a plastic bag and begins to walk by everyone. "One pork bun for everyone! And if you can't eat pork, then custard! And if you can't eat custard, then air!"

Madcap goes by Payback first, haphazardly tossing two buns in her direction. "Don't even think about stealing the others' snacks, I. Am. Watching. You."

"And one for your highness!" He gracefully hands Princess two buns, then moves over to Asteroid and Hat Trick. "And one for you, make it float! And one for my. FREAKIN'. HERO! God, this is so cool! I am such a fan of your work, Hat Trick!"

"Oh, and Lightning Girl!" Like usual, Madcap is quick to hand her two buns; one custard, one pork. Cantonese bakery staples. "I am. SO here for this! It's like all my childhood heroes coming together and kicking ass!"

He practically leaps into the air, hands a disgruntled Eclipse two buns, and leaves the room. Just one more round of gifts to go!

A little after, Tyler arrives in the break room and makes his presence known. Eclipse says this mostly for himself. "Another one?"

More and more people were getting added to the...

What the fuck?

He knows this kid. Vaguely. Recognizes the face a bit, and swears he's seen someone from DTLA with a similar look back when he was with Red Ring. But, he just... can't pin point who this person is. He remembers some RR members quitting after encountering a hero named Sin Eater, total villain name, but a good hero from what he's heard.

---

Dispatch Terminal Setup

"Alright, sticky note with your temporary account on it," Raúl slaps the top of the old terminal a few times, it turns on shortly after, "loads up just fine. Should be good-to-go next shift."

The dispatch terminal and the cubicle it's in are a far cry from Riley's. Dusty. In fact, everything is covered in a fine layer of dust. This cubicle hasn't seen action in a while. The terminal works just fine, though, and despite it being in the corner of the office, it's a decent spot, albeit somewhat isolated. Should James try to test logging in, the dispatch screen takes a few minutes to boot up, but works perfectly fine after. The dispatch roster is filled out, at least.

The hum of the AC is broken as Madcap loudly marches over. "Found you! Catch!"

Two buns are launched at James and Raúl. The latter is quick enough to catch one, and should James fail to catch this, the bun slams into the terminal monitor and falls onto the keyboard.

"I'm giving out snacks to everyone in A-Team," Madcap salutes again, "'cause we are AWESOME!"

[Sadu]

Bust Gone Wrong

Solaris had been out since the sun came up, yet despite that didn't seem very talkative as the comms came alive and orders started being handed out. Even the mention of Lunara didn't get much out of her. She was off on her own, so far that one might wonder if she had actually shown up to the HQ in the first place, but given her powers, she could be anywhere in a matter of minutes. But when the word finally came in, a drug bust that wasn't going to smoothly, she stretched her arms to her sides before standing from the park bench she had found herself on.

With little more than a brief "Talk down the angry drug dealers... got it." And with a flash, she launched into the air, looking like a rocket as her light was visible all across the city. It took her only a few minutes to reach the location, where she found quite the standoff. Police hiding behind bullet-riddled patrol cars, a few armored cars that weren't faring much better, lots of yelling... and of course the drug castle, or whatever it was, from which most of the bullets were coming. In particular, there was a loading bay, and a large group of whoever this gang was had gathered there to hold off the police.

Lunara shrugged at the situation, and walked forward into the line of fire, which caused everything to calm down... except for one single bullet that pinged off her shoulder armor, making her look down at the scuff mark, and say "... Right, so anyway..." she took a deep breath, thinking of her words. Should she appeal to the good in them or something? Hm... nah.

"Okay, as cliche as it is, we can do this the hard way, or the easy way. The easy way is you all put your guns down, come out, and turn yourselves in, and nobody gets charged with murdering a police officer. The hard way... well look, my power isn't fire. But have any of you ever shined light on a bug with a magnifying glass? Yeah, I know you all have..." They looked the type, like Sid from Toy Story. Hell, some of them even looked like they could be him but older. "So basically that. Any questions, concerns, or random threats for me to disregard?"

There was, some time of deliberation among the criminals, but they weren't shooting at least. But, after some time... the first handful of people came out, hands in the air, and the police started taking them into custody one by one. It seemed nobody in there was willing to deal with a Super... which begs the question why they bothered with all this in the first place. Dumb desperation?

With a full row of handcuffed criminals, she walked back and forth in front of them all, eyeing them up and down. "Now, what exactly did you all think was going to happen. Maybe you kill all the officers on sight, and then what? Another wave shows up? A SWAT team? The military? A super was going to show up eventually, and then what... even if you took them down, that would just get a full response of an entire team cracking down on you." She didn't understand the criminal mindset. The desperation to make a stand against impossible odds. "Look, next time, even though there better not be a next time... just accept when it's over." She started to walk away, but idly mentioned "Oh and by the way, you all are going to be collectively fined for the damages to all these vehicles. Good luck paying that off." And with a flash, she was in the sky again.

---

RTB

It looked like someone had fired a missile right at SDN, landing right in the parking lot, though there was no big crash or anything, just the fading light as she brushed herself off and headed inside. She heard mention of Lunara needing a pass or some such, and gave the most deadpan response.

"Lunara is SDN's problem, not mine. I'm only here as part of the agreement that SDN keeps a leash on her, and I cover the day shift when she's useless." She was anything but a ray of sunshine on the topic of her opposite. She wasn't her babysitter... but it wasn't the worst deal ever. After all, working for SDN, she was doing what she would have been doing anyway, just now she had more direction than flying around until she saw something happening.

[Thayr]

Φ PAYBACK Φ

Meeting Room

Who the fuck decided to do a drugs talk when you get to do morning and afternoon shifts. What absolute idiot decided that. Myla was, honestly enough, annoyed by that fact and by the great glorious fact that Lightning Girl for some good reason decided she needed to make a joke out of every thing under the sun, to include the dispatcher whose name Myla had already forgotten. What was it? Jamie? John? Jackie? James. Why the fuck did she feel the need to make so many jokes about his nonsense.

Of course, then one of the officer guys brought in donuts. What could a guy do with eight arms? Does that mean eight funny bones? Did he have a dominant hand or a dominant side? What the fuck did his clothing bill look like? So, so many questions for the eight armed office guy, and more than Myla would probably never ask. Wait, there was another good one. Why the fuck did eight-arms decide he wanted to work in an office. He could be out there doing…well, heck, massages or something. She didn’t touch the donuts though. Too much sugar, and Myla knew the brand well enough that she remembered they always tasted underdone or some weirdness. Honestly, she just had another coffee. Five packets of sugar, a quarter of the cup as creamer…hey, they needed to restock that…Irish Cream? What twit bought Irish Cream. Bullshit, she swore, absolute bullshit.

Then Lightning Girl started talking to Myla. Again.

"And you did okay too! I reckon in your heyday you'd have been so much better at stealing ceramics than those losers were. Right?"

"Sorry, I forget I'm so English sometimes! Like you did good. Sorry, that's what I meant!"

Long stare at that one. A peptalk, is that what that was supposed to be, from the girl scout of all people? Myla swallowed, nodding with her eyebrows up and a long drink of her coffee. Irish Cream. She’ll have to fight someone over that. Who the heck buys that over French Vanilla. Bullshit. She watched the girl go around the place after, talking to each person, congratulating them. Yeah yeah, we need someone else to tell us we did good. Like we weren’t there. Yeah. Myla started to take another sip. No. No, she just couldn’t do it with the Irish Cream. Down the sink it went, as Myla watched the whole thing from the side.

Then Madcap appeared and started throwing food left and right. What sort of wacky nonsense was this? Was everyone high as fuck or something?

Of course, that’s when a kid walked in. He looked like he was early teens, pre-teens, something like that, a little skinny kid with brown hair and everything. Myla stared, swallowing. Surely they didn’t have a fucking kid around, as a…a hero or even a dispatcher? Surely not. That’d be such utterly stupid bullshit, considering like…what, there were child labor laws. Was it someone’s kid or…something? What was going on?

“Ah. Hello. I assume you must be the heroes? Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you all.”

Fucking what. Myla stared for a second longer.

”When did we start having fucking kids working here? The hell’s this?”

[BigPapaBelial]

The Hockey Addict and Social Flare Skater

A slightly battered Indigenous man glided his way back to SDN Claremont building. He's got his phone out in one hand, streaming a short Social as he goes.

"Claremont!" He shouts as he pushes along his ice sheets, "It's your Ice Bound Boss, that's right, Three Times! LEt's say it again, Three Times! It's Hat Trick." He glided along and spun doing a loop around a family, mother father, their teen daughter and maybe 12 year old son. Tyler hands them each a Hat Trick fan button, "That's right we're cruisin the streets here, doing the SDN Hero thing. Now I know what you're thinking, "there are socials of his tumble at the Botan. Gardens!" He chuckles, "Well yeah I took a spill, but if you know what I know about Canada Geese you'd have been as careful as I was trying to be. Those Greasy lil thing will rip your nose of and then spit down your sinuses. Lemme tell you."

He rounded the corner, "Now I tell ya, support your SDN detachment, keep an eye out, and if you feel you need help, remember your Clarmeont PD is ready to jump in, but if it's something they can't handle you get a hold of SDN. Hey it might even be me to come out and help. Now you remember Claremont, we in this together. So you remember the Call. Claremont!" The chat erupted, "Hit!" came up, emojis of body checks, hip checks and poke checks, "You right one more time! Claremont!" Another round of "Hit!" and more emojis, "Alright Claremont, I gotta sign out, back to the Office. You keep your heads up and your stick on the ice. Hat Trick out!"

---

He came around the corner of the driveway up to the SDN building at a decent clip, several people trailing behind him, a few people using his existing ice sheets to slip and slide in his wake. He gives a wave as he shuts off the ice sheets in front of him and walks the rest of the way.

Once inside he heads for the break room, "Wooo! See that's why the call me Hat Trick!, three Cobra chickens, one go. I ain't gonna lie that was scary. Those things are dangerous." He reaches up and plucks some duck down from his hair.

He finds a place to sit and relaxes, "Ohhh...yeah..." He joined those already here in some earned RnR.

He grins up as LG came in, "Hey saw the Dispatch reports. Nice job with the villian." He nods, then bursts out laughing, "Me? Captain Canada? Ahhh no, no no, I ain't stepping on Capt. Can's turf. I'm Hat Trick, Hero of the Rink. Captain Canada works out of SDN Toronto Central, benches 1000 pounds easy, hits like a ballistic missile and moves like a Half Back. Seriously he's a step up and beyond."

He holds out his hand, "Nice to meet you Lightning Girl."

And then the exuberance of Eclipse coming in is infectious, "Ahhh Young'un don't put yourself down you hear? There's still time." He walks over and clasps Eclipse's hand, "Give it time, give it some determination. Not everyone starts off great. I sure as hell didn't."

And then Madcap. He turns and catches his share, "Oh ho! He brings Food!" HE tears the package open, and munches down, "Emmm that's some good pork bun." He reaches out and gives Madcap a one armed bro hug, "You keep doing this and you'll go far. Hang on. Eclipse, Lightning Girl, Madcap...yeah come in here." And out comes his phone. And before they can stop him, snap snap snap snap, individual photos, a group photo of the breakroom, and then a selfie with them in the back ground, "And these are going on the Claremont company social." He chuckles.

And retreats before anyone tries to smack him for taking photos.

[Auragreedia]

Clocking Out?

^@Sadu

---

An unassuming employee is heading out, a bag in one hand and car keys in the other. They stop the moment they meet Solaris's gaze. "Oh, uh," they clear their throat awkwardly, "didn't think you'd clock in or... out? Do you need any help getting in?"

The name tag on their shirt reads Samson. They open the door for Solaris. "We, uh, weren't expecting you to come in. Heard about your drug bust thing, though. Go Solaris! Yeah.... The, uh, rest of A-team is in the break room if you're looking for them; most of the others clocked out already. _{And I should get going too, I gotta feed my cat...}"

---

Group Photos and a Surprise!

^{@BigPapaBelial@Thayr@Aku the Samurai
A little before Madcap leaves, and after!}

---

Eclipse finds himself juggling a book, a bag of chips, and two types of buns. Not what he wanted to do. What was up with people and giving him food today? Was he a stray cat or something? Was that it? He scowls as Hat Trick grabs his hand--the previous items he was handling falling on either his lap or the table. "

"Ahhh Young'un don't put yourself down you hear? There's still time." He walks over and clasps Eclipse's hand, "Give it time, give it some determination. Not everyone starts off great. I sure as hell didn't."

He grumbles. Yeah, like he wants to be a hero.

... Right.

How bad did Hat Trick start off anyway?

There's no way a guy like them, all jovial and happy, started off that bad, right? Although ice powers were a bit of a villain power, maybe not as much as shadow powers, but still. He looked like the hero type, acted like one too, he couldn't imagine Hat Trick started off that roughly. A good smile and attitude make a hero, after all.

Madcap hugs Hat Trick back with unmatched vigor, attempting to go in for an impromptu 'awesome' handshake, before quickly retracting his hand. "Oh. My. God. You are SO much cooler in real life! I'M THE LUCKIEST HERO IN THE WORLD!" He's practically jumping for joy.

Then came the photos...

Eclipse has a permanent scowl and maybe doesn't even realize that he's being photographed until it's too late. Madcap, on the other hand, manages to pose for each and every photo before promptly leaving the room.

Eclipse watches both Hat Trick and Madcap slink out of the break room, and he's half tempted to chase after them for the whole photo session (god knows he doesn't want his face on social media), but finds himself frozen as Payback speaks up about the new kid.

”When did we start having fucking kids working here? The hell’s this?”

He stares at her with uncharacteristic surprise.

"You can actually speak?"

[SonnetNSunbeam]

Mission Success & Drugs in the Workplace

Nicely done, Asteroid, though.....Christ, we're having an anti-drugs talk. I get it, it's Cali, you frankly inhale the stuff walking in the street, but I can't have you stoned and picking up boulders. Still, good work. The City Council will take it from here and decide if they should stay. Probably will.

Asteroid is astounded by the fact he was clocked as barely stoned while on the clock. He sputters- "I didn't say I smoked it? Whatever man." The last bit comes out with a bit of attitude. The rest of the shift, he just tries to keep his head down, not wanting any more negative attention.

- - -

Jet sits with his arms crossed at the end of the table farthest away from James during the drugs in the workplace talk. To begin with, he couldn't begin to understand how the dispatcher had figured out he'd hit the old ladies joint before coming back. It had been two puffs, probably not even enough to show up on a drug test. James got thru his entire spiel, and he was glad to hide his annoyance beneath his mask. The whole thing left a bad taste on in his mouth. He couldn't help but feel James was targeting him with this, that was until Madcap-

"SIR, YES, SIR! No drugs will be done in the workplace regardless of policy exemptions. Because drugs... ARE. EVIL."

Three sentences and Asteroid is rubbing his eyes thru the mask holes on his costume. Who is this guy? Is he joking? He has to pull his lips down into an exaggerated frown to keep from laughing aloud at the exchange. "Is this guy for real?" He whispers to whoever is sitting beside him.

Break

When Jet gets to the breakroom, he passes Eclipse at the table, and stares longingly at the vending machine. His dinner meal prep was in the fridge at home, delicious beef loin mein he'd made in a big batch at the start of his week. Mouth watering, he punches in the numbers to free a cup o' noodle from it's metal pusher. The thunk of it hitting the bottom coincides perfectly with Eclipse's groan.

He looks up to find Lightning Girl standing in front of him with a bag of chips. Ok- whatever that's about. Shifting his body as to not graze hers, he slides by Lightning Girl and approaches the sink.

And you do gravity stuff Asteroid,

Jet looks over at Lightning Girl and nods. "Ever hear the phrase 'falling with style?' He's filling up his dinner to the line. By the time he's pressing buttons on the microwave she's finished making her way thru the group. He too looks the group over- Princess for giving him the creeps, Eclipse as he squints at the employee handbook, the child who comes in, Payback for being immediately hostile towards said child, Lightning Girl for being so damn friendly, and finally Hat Trick- whose energy he cannot determine if he likes.

Then, Madcap, of course comes in with his bag of buns, and he finds himself pleasantly surprised to have some extra fuel to get him thru the day. "Yo- thanks? Where are these from?"

When Hat Trick starts taking photos, Jet leans farther forward in each consecutive photo as he rushes toward the camera trying to get the Hockey Player to quit it. "One of those is me from the back! And I don't have my shoes on?" Instead of the red bottomed black booties he wore with his costume, that lie kicked under a chair, he only sports a pair of mismatched black and white socks. He stops his pursuit at the door knowing that he ultimately doesn't have the cash to buy another cup of noodle if this one gets gross. So he turns back to the group seated at the table, and flops himself into an empty chair.

"So one more stretch before we get to go home? I'm supposed to be in bed in an hour" He lifts the bottom of his mask to just above the tip of his nose so he can shovel the noodles into his mouth and drink out of the cup.

[FourtyTwo]

Return to Base

@Sadu

"Lunara is SDN's problem, not mine. I'm only here as part of the agreement that SDN keeps a leash on her, and I cover the day shift when she's useless."

James heard the comms on return, chuckling. Was she the same person? Probably. Like how him and Lightning Girl were siblings? Technically, no....

"I won't question it. Just, I don't want to come in tomorrow to a broken window. Or a stuck Phoenix that loves the moonlight getting crispy in sunshine when it hits the office. I am sure it'll be fine." James poetically put, physically seeing heroes return, back to office, in time for his little Toolbox Talk.

----------

@Auragreedia

After the meeting ends and every hero leaves for break, James finds Raúl, the resident IT guy, tapping him on the shoulder. "Got your Dispatch account ready, gonna be a bit lacking compared to Riley's, but I'll get it all in order tomorrow. Oh, and, found another dispatch terminal for you to use. Sacred stuff, keep it clean, use it carefully. I'll take you to it right now."

"Thanks. Let's get to it. I apparently might have another guy joining later. Assistant Dispatcher." James replied, following along, and letting Raul do his stuff. It was a few minutes of fucking around, but within time, the Mexican-American started to get his ancient machine up and running (via a ritual and a handy new login), and that was enough.

That and a pork bun from Madcap. Who James hadn't yet gotten around to telling off. The words would leave him when Madcap was already out of view, but right now, he wasn't even quite sure how he led the talk with him to calm the fuck down with old women at retirement homes. How did anyone?

---

Monday
17:20
Break Room
Claremont SDN

Team Social

Lightning Girl

As Lightning Girl carried on chatting to the team, a new figure emerged, a kid that barely looked 18. Fuck. SDN were hiring young. Or this guy was more shapeshifting than Princess was.

“Ah. Hello. I assume you must be the heroes? Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you all.”
@Aku the Samurai

Lightning Girl made sure to be that friendly face, of course, in costume, the spandex and cordura wearing, cliche setting forward for everyone who either was too shy, quiet, disgruntled, or into their pork belly bun to reply.

"Hello Tyler! Welcome to Claremont's A-Team. You're a dispatcher, right? You're.....yeah, blue shirt. Okay. James said he might need some help, he's out there at the end of the office, he might be able to lend you a hand? We'll appreciate the oversight, and he'll appreciate the help. But yeah. We're a friendly bunch....won't cause you too many problems." She replied with a classic, English-accented Transatlantic charm, giving an indication om where to go- but seeing Myla mutter, Lightning Girl's usually polite and nice demeanour crackled as she chuckled in hearing it. Agreeing. But not quite there.

”When did we start having fucking kids working here? The hell’s this?”

"Tends to be when they look baby faced they have something about them. Super smarts? Or would he eat every one of us ass first? I'm not sure which. But, he's here to help. And right now we're gonna need it. If what happened in Pasadena happens to us, we are, screwed!" Lightning Girl almost evangelised with a tail off at the end with a chuckle to keep it light, knowing how much it must have pissed off Payback, as she shrugged. "And I like my ass not eaten." A comment you could take so, so many ways, and if James would have been the room, hand would have hit face as she could not help innuendo, even if she meant it fully well. Oh well. There was time to be awkward later, Sophie reasoned, so she smiled through the pain and no doubt, how absolutely insanely awful that was, and absolutely not what she meant! "Not like literally!" She butted in, hand up, the damage, already, all but done, and the conversation all but moved on.

She had zero idea of his powers, but, it would be rather funny if anyone did, or even had a vague idea about Tyler.

Eclipse's comments from earlier rang in her head as she turned back to him.

@Auragreedia

"Don't think of me as a hero yet. And I--thank you." He clears his throat awkwardly, the hero comment catching him off guard. Frankly, everything about Lightning Girl caught him off guard. When was the last time someone paid to attention to him outside of drug stuff? It's been a while. "About earlier, I mean. You didn't have to say that."

Another page turns, more corporate bullshit. He doesn't want to admit he read from page one to now instead of following the table of contents. His finger twitches as he swipes to another page; he really, really wants to start over. "Do people actually read this? It's like a corporate suicide note."

"Eh. It will help you sleep at night then. Basically just don't do anything highlighted in bold is what James told me. The rest is....filler." She added, patting the paper, leaving a little static on it. She looked at him, and smiled, him being noticed something she absolutely meant.

The others might have been rough around the edges. But she could see past that visor, past that look on his face. There was someone in there with a lot of hurt. Maybe with Payback it would take time. Or with anyone else in the team that was still finding their feet, like Asteroid, or Princess. So why?

"I said it because the corporate stuff sucks sometimes. Worth calling it out when you get a chance. We're not in a work camp, they follow their own rules as much as we do. James knows it too. Just won't say it. And much as I like working alone, sounds like a lot of people could do with help. Being a hero means realising the nerds should do paperwork while you get stuff done." Sophie replied, Eclipse maybe noticing that slight change in tone, as she leaned back against the cabinet and worktop, sighing.

"Nobody's perfect, Eclipse. But helping others helps us find our own way forward. Doing good means you're....doing something that isn't destructive. Usually. I think." Sophie said, a little reluctance in her words right at the end, as if she was on the cusp of saying something more.

That was before the Canadian of the team reacted and broke that conversation perhaps at a good juncture, friendly as they came. Her rubber gloved hand shook his to avoid shocking the hell out of him, a smile returning back.

@BigPapaBelial

"Someone is envious of the Maple himself. Pleasure is mine, Hat Trick. Bring out my best look, and I'm sure we'll make it work, anytime." Lightning Girl replied, her enthusiasm, as ever, constant, returning after a brief blip. It was a postcard grin. The kind you put on buses. She may not have eeked traditional charisma, but the stereotype, at least on the outside, permeated.

Even if inside, holy shit, this was a LOT, a FUCKING LOT, of people. It was a small team before. How the fuck had it grown this big? Was she still okay working with people?

What if she electrocuted another one of them? Sophie's mind rattled.

But Lightning Girl did not let her carbon mask go.

Breaking that thought, Madcap threw a bacon bun. She caught it, giving a thumbs up and a finger gun back, smiling back at him and chomping it.

"Thanks, Madcap! Appreciate the food!" She gave a nod to Madcap, letting him absorb the energy of the room, though man, she hoped he'd be flinging less old ladies over the road. Why hadn't James done anything? He had power to suspend him, or do something, right? There was an unease about it. She respected his courage. But something was up. She wasn't complaining.....as Hat Trick pulled his cameraphone and she moved immediately into frame.

Lightning Girl smiled with a big teethy grin, fingers out, smiling in the selfie. She always came out well in photos, she was that kind of girl-next-door pretty, her rosy, slightly burnt cheeks contrasting against her pale white/grey hair that looked less old lady, more like she'd run fluorescent dye into her curls. She was never one too far from a camera, or at least, a good marketing opportunity. Her own socials had picked up nicely since landing in America, it turns out, people went absolutely wild for a hero with a white costume and an absolutely unattainable fitness regime. With a lot of electricity came a metabolism that cranked itself up and up. Hitting the gym these days meant she could probably embarrass half the people here now, which was handy given she felt made of glass relative to Madcap or Hat Trick. Asteroid broke that chain of thought.

Jet looks over at Lightning Girl and nods. "Ever hear the phrase 'falling with style?' He's filling up his dinner to the line.

"Yeah, tends to be how gravity works. But, that is cool though. Gonna have to figure out how on earth our stuff combines!" She replied with an almost gleeful, British enthusiasm, as if it really was her first time. Cynical as she may have been beneath the surface, she accepted her lot today. She had to just deal with whoever she was working with. And work something out.

With bun in hand, she continued demolishing it in a method not befitting her grace, before ripping a glove back off and shoving it into a plug socket with a reliable bzt of her cape fluttering, and leaning up against the wall with a cup of tea in one hand, and a 110V socket in her hand in the other.

This was jack shit compared to the power line. But, it was like steadily filling up her battery, and if it didn't feel *nice*. And looking on at the diverse team, from the eldrich, regal to the shadowy, dark, to the inbetween. This was Claremont A-Team. And damn, if they weren't hitting the afternoon. She looked to the nearest people to her, and made a quiet note.

"I would not recommend coming close to me when I've got my hand in a socket. It's.....a long process to explain, but the more charge I have, the more potent I am out there. That's why I sometimes hang off pylons or transformers in the morning. It makes me very, very hyper. But if I don't, I'm not as helpful as I could be. Also, SDN allow me to have free electricity! How good is that!" She remarked, forcing a smile, yet almost laughing it off awkwardly, like she was becoming David Brent herself.

---

Monday
17:31
Office
Claremont SDN

New Dispatch Terminal

James Speight

Soundtrack: Andrew Arcadi- Lana Works In The Mailroom

Brushing off the dust on the desk, the machine chirped into life. James was appreciative of the strange Mexican-American's approach, given he seemed to be a techpriest more than an IT guy. But he was a good dude. Didn't have to be a hero on the frontlines to do good. That much James had learned from working behind the scenes.

"Thanks Raul. I'll take it from here, looks like everything is ported, it's talking to everything I need. Have a good evening dude, I'll let you know if any other shit crashes over Slack." The IT guy had got him up and running, and on an official system of his own. No more shared credentials. He didn't have the master view that Riley did, but enough to manage the evening. Calls, pass through, alerts, cameras, all of it working about as good as it could.

To say that it was crap was an understatement, but, like anyone who knew SDN, you just made it work.

Claremont dead centre, mountains to the north, fringes of the other cities and the very edge of the Inland Empire to the east, Pomona to the west, all in fewer pixels than his smart watch. He adjusted his glasses, as he fiddled with the seat, for the fifth time today, getting it just right, before pulling in. Tyler had a seat next to him, and his own interface, a slightly less powerful dispatch screen, and an opportunity to join on CCTV and on minor tasks that James sent to his to resolve.

The display was up and running, as he munched down the pork belly, astonished that Madcap thought this was a good day. He had so many words for Madcap. So many. If he was a depressed bastard, he would be no good to him right now, and given the state of how badly today was going, not even James had the energy to be angry now. He just had to get on with the task. Cynical as he was, he at least understood how the Yanks worked, even if Kat wouldn't agree at all. Too much information would flatten them in a moment where there was a crisis going on, especially, especially, the Phoenix Programme. Bunch of criminals were the best that Claremont had against the terrors out there were all he had. But, dammit if it wasn't actually working a bit.

Another packet in hand, he tapped his fingers along his desk, looking outside as the darkening sky continued to turn more hazy orange and black, the glow of strip lighting in the office giving a low, warm hue to everything. He looked across the desk, the introduction brief between Tyler and James from earlier, given there was plenty to cover and not much time to do it in. His headphones sat around his head, but both earcups were back, the transmit manually turned off. He wasn't making that mistake again.

"Welcome to the sandbox, Tyler, hopefully you're logged in. Okay, so, given Riley was previously Head Dispatcher, it makes sense we work together to keep this afloat, cos fuck, we have a lot of ground to cover. Keep an eye on the CCTV, and keep track of where they end up, condition, that kind of thing. Guide the teams in, and give them a picture. I can't see it all. So you're my eyes on anything else I can't pick up and can deal with the minor dispatches between the serious stuff, that sound good?" James asked Tyler, as he clattered away on his own keyboard, making conversation as they worked, James already fixing some paperwork, writing up some notes, performance, shift runs, timestamps.

"Anyway, if we're here for the long term, I gotta ask. You look like you fell out of the womb. Super smarts? Or you got some Ben Button shit going on?" James asked, sighing mid sentence as he allocated away. Talking away as he worked. That was a Speight thing. "Actually, no, I shouldn't ask, that's rude of me. Before you ask, no, I don't have powers, and technically, no, I'm not an SDN employee. I'm a consultant by trade. Means I don't work here permanent, which is why I don't have your shirt. And it means, I work by the hour." James added, clattering away, looking over.

"Look, not sure why I'm telling you this, but you seem fresh faced. What that means is, it's in my interest this team does well so I stay in work, and while I'm technically meant to make sure SDN works by its own rules, I don't play by theirs. My metrics aren't on your board, but they go up to Kat and a few senior managers in SDN. Means I'm here to make sure they get through however long they need me to, but how you do it, I don't care, so long as you get the work done and don't take the piss. Especially when this is the best we have." James broke, taking a moment, realising Tyler might not have understood this. Either because he was fresh faced, as young as he was, or at least, might not have realised the scale of the problem yet.

"And while some of the team are pretty good, a few of them are ex-Phoenixes. Eclipse is a real scary fucker. Drug dealer. While Payback fucking hates everyone. And seems most likely to jump if she doesn't get something out of this soon. Princess seems to have some forms I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. And then there's Madcap. Oh god. Among others. You'll figure them out, mix of heroes and non-heroes that makes it all work.." James narrated, clattering keys still, sending a few more pins, minor jobs, to the team to kick things off.

"So yeah, fun bunch. But, I'll get you through tonight. Get up to speed." James added, adjusting his comms, talking to the whole team. One last pep talk, comms clicked on.

"Okay, A-Team. Let's get this shift done, and go home safe and dry, we're on till 7pm. We're gonna make sure Claremont's a tough nut to crack given what's happened in LA today, and show face. You've all done good so far. Let's get this over the line and reset tomorrow." James reassured the team, knowing that some of them certainly would hate him, but right now, he was all that stood between them and a sea of shit within SDN itself.

If the Phoenix Programme collapsed, many of them were back in prison, out of their parole, and hunted by the very heroes they'd worked with. So James reasoned as well as anyone could, they'd just want this over and done with. Actual life, with pay, responsibilities, a guaranteed job when you had powers versus a cell where you were contained in a Supermax was as good as any reason would be to get after it. He didn't remind the team of that.

Maybe he was too optimistic. But he had a plate full of bread and shit, and he was being forced to make sandwiches. He wanted to sleep, fucking bad. But the fifth cup of tea today was keeping him going, as was the Red Bull he'd now added to his caffeine mountain. Fuck, he could feel palpitations, but at this point, he was gonna get himself and the team through this. His team had to or else tomorrow would be a bigger mess. Tyler was maybe more awake than he was.

The first couple went easy. Small jobs for the team in the sunset. As darkness descended completely, the team were out and about, sometimes together, sometimes separate. James had grouped up the team, going for a different approach than the early afternoon stint of individuals on response, trying to cover the area he had to now manage given a few other shifts were off in Montclair and Pomona. That meant they could break off when on patrol, getting smaller tasks, like providing some support to police, post-break in check ups, among many many other small tasks not worthy of note.

The team were at least familiar with what was going on, and in the night, there lay many terrors beyond the street lights and signs. Even if it was mostly some drunk hobo that probably needed a hand to a a homeless shelter. Lightning Girl hadn't needed to do that even in spite of him not being a subscriber, but, reasoned that it was as good of a use of her time as any between the jobs that involved keeping the peace on a student night out, among the many, many other jobs that the team were on in the night economy of the college city. But carrying Princess over the low-level night sky of the suburb, they at least had the chance to enjoy the view of it all between a few minor jobs.

He grouped them like this:

Lightning Girl, Princess and Hat Trick (Team 1)

Madcap and Lunara (Team 2)

Eclipse, Payback and Asteroid (Team 3)

So far, so good. This might actually be quiet. Okay, apart from the one or two dispatches that always went a bit pear shaped. But nothing too bad. Subscribers were happy. The fort was held. The night was safe.

For at least the first couple of hours. The two orange alerts arose on his screen of Claremont.

James sighed, realising he'd need to make some picks. Compared to the occasional split of the teams to go out and finish some dispatches, as the darkness approached and the clock neared 6:30. But then both switched from amber to red.

"Shit. We got incoming." James said to nobody in particular (though he was vaguely pointed at Tyler). It wasn't good. This wasn't like earlier. The dispatches were significantly more difficult, but then again, the bigger jobs that came up in the night came, with bigger alerts. He'd need to send all he had on these jobs. Especially when he listened in on the dispatch call, looking at Tyler, pointing to his own headset and turning in his chair and broadcasting.

----

"Team 1, Vanderstenk Labs have a possible breach in their Archaeological Labs off campus. Something about some Mayan lump of rock coming back to life, it looks sentient and it's ripping up the floor. Security's got it contained for now, but someone's gonna need to calm it down before it breaks loose. Find a way to lull it back inside, and power it down." He watched the feed, sighing as he saw the gigantic crystal sticking out of it. From possibly the worst area anyone could imagine, because if a lump of basalt rock could twerk while it threw chairs at a wall, it meant James could describe what he was seeing correctly.

"Dickheads. You shoved a massive crystal up it's arse? Really?" James said, uttering words, realising he was still on comms. "Not directed at you, Team. The said crystal up its arse might have something to do with it though." He commentated, switching to another feed as another alert came in. He was cynical, but no less sarcastic.

------

Another alert. Fuck. This was getting hairy. Three of the worst ones hit at the worst time, and he had to keep reserve. Just if something else happened. On jobs like these, James knew sending heroes alone was a stupid call.

"Team 3, I've got a handful of augmented gangsters trying to steal a train full of tanks of concentrated Phenylacetic Acid, by the railyards. Might be ex-Red Ring. This might be tough. Keep your wits about you. Standby, pin sent." James started, watching on at the state of it, the CCTV feed coming in from what Tyler was working on.

"One of them looks like they've got a flamethrower. And a fair amount of body armour. And has bunny ears. Damn, she looks like someone threw Big Chungus in a vat of tar." They were wearing a hell of a lot of armour, and James noted that was Pyress. Flamer who had a napalm tank to help. Not a particularly powerful supe, but, with some Red Ring augments, any fire was now her desire. God, he'd heard that on a record somewhere and it was stuck in his head. Fuckers. Like Flambae but shittier.

"Clear to use lethal force, or smack the hell out of them. But you're gonna need to get creative with that heavy. She goes up next to that acid, I'll smell the acid burn through metal from the office."

--

Then one more alert went up. He'd have nobody left if he went all in on this, but he reasoned at this point, given just how much the situation had escalated, he had to give it everything he had. He turned to the cameras, watching on. This wasn't yet red on his warning system. But it would be if he didn't do something.

Fuck's sake.

"Team 2, I have reports of a student fight club within the evac'd dorms at Claremont College. It's....yeah, bunch of college age kids fighting. Lots, like, 20 of 'em." James sighed, watching the CCTV.

There was a Wilhelm scream as one got yeeted out of a second floor window into a dumpster followed by lots of cheers, as James watched the footage on, with all the ensuing chaos of some kid get thrown out of another glass window that Brick Frog had smashed up earlier. Into concrete.

"And they're shitfaced."

While Brick Frog was not there, it seemed chaos was a ladder, and a bunch of skinheads had decided to occupy that void. It would be a sleepless night until they were sorted out. James wasn't an expert in this situation, that was literally the job of Lunara and Madcap. But he could offer moral support, and he continued.

"Pin sent. Your pick if you make a point with one of them, scare the shit out of them, talk them out of it, or knock them all out. Get this dispersed, and use reasonable force....even if they might deserve it."

---

Monday
18:40
Shipton Railyard, North Pomona

Eclipse, Payback and Asteroid (Team 3)

Team 3 turning up would find that the train was almost ready to go, in the midst of the large trainyard's darkness between carriages and motors depending on their approach- yet their target was lit up from afar by a pyro's fire and floodlighting.

If they didn't stop it, all hell would let loose, as Pyress unleashed a massive gulp of fire, two of the ex goons leaping on the crew cab, and honking the horn, trying to get it started. She was defending them, but they were armed too with plasma pistols, and wouldn't hesitate to fire. So this was a lethal situation. They might have bene matched in numbers, but Pyress, she had a lot of fire and a lot of taunting to give them.

If that train left, there was no telling where it might end up. The black market was one thing given that Phenylacetic Acid was used for making meth, and probably what they wanted to do. Pyress, in her gas mask, was a chef. But if it left and wasn't stopped, that thing was gonna go straight into the LA Harbour and make one hell of a fireball for Torrance to clean up. If they could stop it now, that would help, but a leak of acid here would be not exactly an ideal situation either.

That would be up to how fast they acted, and if they stopped it at all.

James looked on at the CCTV, sighing.
"Shit. Don't let that train leave, but whatever you do, don't let that acid leak out...."

Pyress didn't hear James, but she did see Eclipse. With his new crew he wasn't supplying. Out to stop her new found drug work. After all, the market abhorred a vacuum. And there were crackheads to be supplying.

"Back away, Shadowbitch! And your two friends trying to cosplay goths! Acid's ours, or else! We're running the drug game now!" She muffled a roar, recognising Payback and Asteroid too, or at least, she thought she did through the oppressive holes of her gas mask.

---

Monday
18:40
Claremont College Dorms, Claremont

Lunara and Madcap (Team 2)

Team 2 turning up to the dorms, would realise that the scene was a lot lighter than they anticipated. But two heroes fighting this fight club? Well, it was like something from a movie.

A TRUE, test. For the students. For the heroes, this was Monday night.

"Hey you, supes, you think you can take on Kevin the Destroyer?" One of them called out. "I bet you can't do shit. Kevin's beaten up six guys in a row!"

Madcap and Lunara would discover that Kevin was some dweeby yet super strong looking 6"5 guy who was shaven bald with square glasses, with a slight shadow beard, being hyped up by some 5"9 student who had the same haircut. Which was weird. Was this some Tate Drew inspired group? Was he on something the Red Ring cooked up? It was hard to say. He was unusually strong. And nerdy.

Watching on over Tyler's shoulder at the camera feed, James wondered how they would sort this.
"I'm taking odds that Madcap's gonna beat the living shit out of him. And they'll all run after. Come on. Put your powers to something useful. Don't get beaten up by Tate Drew's nerdy doppelganger. Or apologising to old ladies is gonna be the last of your issues in the break room." He almost hyped the hypeman behind the screen talking to himself, hoping that at least some redemption would come or else he was gonna be a lot more vincible than invincible.

"Or, Lunara is gonna do some really cool shit. Bets, Tyler? Actually, I'll let you watch this one. I'll handle the train and Xylotam."

---

Monday
18:40
Vanderstenk Labs, Claremont

Lightning Girl, Princess and Hat Trick (Team 1)

"Crystal up it's arse? Sorry, what?" Lightning Girl reacted, carrying Princess, knowing Hat Trick could maybe skate his way over. The labs were huge, a sprawling complex built next to the College to benefit from all the creative capital and PhDs that were there. Landing gracefully, Lightning Girl ran ahead, cape billowing in the breeze, running immediately to security already on scene. Lightning against rock wasn't great, but fuck it, they had the freakiest eldrich horror to combat the scariest thing the Mayan pantheon could throw when combined with some life-making crystals. And a Canadian who was currently SDN's Goose Expert. That counted for something, the white-haired hero thought to herself.

Righting herself at least when she approached the security guards, rifles in hand. Princess put down. She was light at least!

"Shit, we have a situation! Big Mayan rock thing has gone crazy!" Security Guard A yelled, pointing inwards, not sure if he signed up for the right gig given it was all going on.

"Yeah, we know! How?" Lightning Girl felt she wanted some answer.

"Crystal!" Security Guard B, her voice trembling, yelled.

"Also noted! Not helpful! Hold cordon, we're going in!" Lightning Girl replied, getting nothing more, hearing the massive shatter of glass, and a other-worldly roar. That sounded like a rock with a crystal up it's arse. However the fuck that had happened? The glass test chamber opened to an observation room, and the glass pane was shattered to pieces, and the polymer floor was getting torn up.

She led the way, as glass got thrown by the rocky being's embrace, the team firmly inside the chamber with Xylotam, as the name said on the vault they'd just gone through and inside of. It looked like a laboratory alright, though the glass had been broken and Xylotam wanted to escape and be free.

And return to Cancun. Urgently. It couldn't of course, say this in a language anyone bar maybe Princess understood.

This was some SCP level shit, and yet, Lightning Girl wondered why on earth they had this fucking thing here. And why on earth they'd decided to put a crystal up it's derriere this late at night? Why? It made sense seeing Xylotam's bronze visage what they meant, but again, why? Was that the real test of this chamber?

Until she realised....

Ahhh, beers were left inside. Of course. The cans crushed with four left and a couple of incapacitated scientists. Drunk passed out? No. Xylotam had thrown them across the room with his gigantic rocky maw. It looked vaguely anthropomorphised, chunky legs, skinny arms, wide torso, headless somehow bar a teeny stump.

Dodging the stool thrown by the rock being, she stunned it, projecting electricity with a fierce, ozone like howl, lighting up the relative darkness of the room and holding the Mayan lump of rock in place.

"Argh! Okay, we need to probably find a way to uhh.....remove the crystal? Stop the rock? Calm it down? Princess, Hat Trick, any ideas? I'll hold, but it isn't easy....fuck!" Lightning Girl strained as she beamed nearly an electric car's worth of electricity into the sentient rock, stunning and holding it in stasis, but not permanent.

[Thayr]

Φ PAYBACK Φ

Shipton Railyard, North Pomona

”Fucking amateurs,” whispered Myla, watching from a corner.

Yeah, they were trying to steal a goddamn train. Fucking amateurs, trying to steal a whole goddamn train of acid like chumps instead of waiting for it to get to some warehouse or at the loading docks or this or that or the other. Amateurs, because they had to be flashy and steal a whole-ass train with a flamethrower and future-guns. Yeah. She had some little annoyance, because she knew that she would’ve taken it some other route than this dumb nonsense.

They could’ve done so many things, could have just…paid off the driver to stop off somewhere where there weren’t any cameras, to offload a bunch, could have pretended to be the driver and gotten it to a different location, could have done so many things, but no, the chumps decided to be loud. Hell, the museum-idiots were smarter than these people. They knew to just be quiet and move in and do their thing, but these idiots? A flamethrower? She felt insulted, as a thief. Fucking amateurs, because there was such an easy way to stop the bullshit right there and then.

Her eyes went to the engine. Yeah, it was diesel out of the 80s or something, a piece that looked maintained enough. That also meant it wasn’t some stupid nonsense steam thing with mechanical controls. It meant it had electronics.

”Eclipse, Asteroid, I’ve got the engine. No heist for these shit-heads,” she whispered to the other two - no real comms for her after all, and it’d be some regular, true bullshit as the lady made her way around the yard. The flamethrower, Pyress - stupid friggin name too - had her attention solely on Eclipse, and that sort of lapse was a real big mistake.

Yeah, there’s the engine, there’s the goons instead. They were just two shapes, really, inside that lit cabin. Set the bag down, crouch a few steps forward beside a pallet…hey, there’s that field. Myla knew she could kill those electronics without making it rock, make them notice her. That was a hell of a lot of metal, after all. She could feel that field, started it up, and watched the lights from inside the cabin sputter and die. Fuck em.

She watched the two work around, concerned solely with the whole part of their job - getting the engine up and moving. Yeah, that sure wasn’t happening now, Myla thought, picking the bag back up and working her way up to the cabin. Unzip that front, front towards enemy…yeah, there that door was. Did she want to climb up to open it? Hell no. She got up anyways though, slowly moving along the walkway to get to the door. They were still moving around, frantic enough. Prop that bag on the door, the edge of the window, because all that light would really, really reflect off of everything. Once, twice, three times she pulled that cord as the lightbulbs lit right against the glass, turning the cabin into a strobe for a second. Were they yelling? Damn straight they were. Bag back, she opened the door, and they were real loud about being blind.

Bag was pretty heavy though - she made it that way, after all. One hand on the carry handle, one on the back, and she let it swing down once, twice on each of their heads. It was quiet again.

Yeah, time to leave. Myla climbed back out, jumping the rail and moving back into the pallets before the flamethrower circled around with the absolute noise the two goons had made.

[Redking0380]

Team Uno
The Princess

---

"I have an Idea!" Lighting Girl flinches back as the voice of Princess comes from behind her, louder and raspier than she had heard before.

Metal crunches, and the small electric vehicle that had just been drained goes over her head. Its carapace folding round the Mayan golem before the much, much larger Princess leaps forth and hits it with a lamp post.

Once small and demure, now the self-proclaimed royal is a towering figure of muscles and joy. Joy at being able to fight, joy at an opponent, joy at Adversity.

Stone starts to peel metal off of its form, but it quickly finds itself smacked down once more into the ground. The Princess grabbing with the shorter being with a wide smile, proceeding with a wrestling match that does little beyond cause even more collateral damage.

It is hard to say if either one has an upper hand, Princess enjoying it too much and Xylotam…speaking? It is hard to make out beyond the sounds of grinding stone and weighty impacts but underneath it all is the sound of something musical that makes the smile on Princesses face twitch.

[Auragreedia]

The Dispatch Corner

^{@FourtyTwo@Aku the Samurai}

---

"Right, I'll stick around just in case. This corner is freaky." Raúl walks off for a few minutes, then rolls in an elaborate shrine of machinery and candles. Candle lights go up, Raúl hangs around in his corner, chanting in Spanish as the afternoon stretches on.

Whether the nearby dispatch terminals ran better due to this ritual is anyone's guess, but having an IT specialist on standby seems to boost the remaining dispatchers' morale.

---

Break Room Chatting

^{Nothing about drug policy yet...}

---

Apparently the kid was a dispatcher named Tyler. Huh. SDN just takes in anyone, it seems.

Still, it doesn't quell his curiosity or answer any of his questions. He vaguely knows the kid's face from somewhere, and it definitely wasn't from earlier in the afternoon. He shoves the thought aside as Lightning Girl addresses him again, slightly disgruntled by the sheer number of people crammed into the break room. This wasn't his scene.

"Eh. It will help you sleep at night then. Basically just don't do anything highlighted in bold is what James told me. The rest is....filler." She added, patting the paper, leaving a little static on it.

He stares at her awkwardly, feeling a minor jolt as he flips to the next page. Just read the highlighted parts. Okay.

"So that's why it was hard to read. Funny."

"I said it because the corporate stuff sucks sometimes. Worth calling it out when you get a chance. We're not in a work camp, they follow their own rules as much as we do. James knows it too. Just won't say it. And much as I like working alone, sounds like a lot of people could do with help. Being a hero means realising the nerds should do paperwork while you get stuff done."

"Nobody's perfect, Eclipse. But helping others helps us find our own way forward. Doing good means you're....doing something that isn't destructive. Usually. I think."

He notices the change in tone, but struggles to respond. Now that he thought about it, this was a lot of attention on him specifically. Payback, she seemed to focus on too, but their conversations were short-lived at best. Just bored? Hat Trick and Asteroid were more sociable by a long shot, Madcap, maybe, though he doubts anyone would willingly talk to that guy.

Good gift giver, though. He takes a bite out of the pork bun he was given; the flavor doesn't exactly mesh with the Cheetos he was munching on earlier, and it's slightly cold.

He used to help others back then. In a different way, obviously. Did that make him a hero? Making sure people didn't go through withdrawal after they got hooked on his product? The appeal of heroing isn't all that obvious yet, not really. Most of the earlier shift was spent tailing officers and being a narc; not enough action, he didn't feel like he was making any sort of noticeable impact, either.

Halfway through his whole inner monologue, he realizes that he's been staring at Lightning Girl for an uncomfortable amount of time before responding.

He flashes her an appreciative smile. That's all he can muster before he goes back to reading.

---

Shipton Railyard, North Pomona

^{@Thayr@SonnetNSunbeam}

roll result

"Literally cooked."

---

It's dark. He likes that. Reminds him of how it all started. Doesn't last long, obviously, not when their target is lit up like a Christmas tree; whatever operation this is, they don't understand anything about stealth.

And neither does he, it seems.

His armor reflects a bit of light from the fire. Target locks onto him instantly.

Payback whispers to him and Asteroid--she'd take care of the train. That's good. What's not good is that he's frozen like a deer in headlights as Pyress continues to shout at him.

"Back away, Shadowbitch! And your two friends trying to cosplay goths! Acid's ours, or else! We're running the drug game now!"

What the fuck was Pyress doing in Claremont? He used to work her back in Red Ring, and from what he knew, she hadn't left DTLA. Probably just missed the news, she wasn't like this back when he first saw her, either. There was no one better to fill the void he left? Really?

Pyress is spewing out fire everywhere--Eclipse is staring her down in an attempt to restrain her with her own shadow, but fuck it's too bright. And hot. He fucking hates fire.

Few years back, he would've wrapped this up in a few minutes. Her flamethrower stops for a second; he's quick to run in. One of his arm blades gets stuck in her armor. She has high quality gear. That's bad.

She starts her flamethrower up again and blasts him in the arm.

That's even worse.

"... Ridiculous!" He's gnashing his teeth together and uses his free hand to stab her shoulder with his blade. Probably didn't do anything aside from look stupid, but she's distracted, he's digging his feet in the ground to try and push his blades in further; awkward position for both of them.

"Asteroid," the pain in his right arm is getting harder to ignore, "ACT! NOW!"

Rusty. He's gotten rusty.

The itch comes back stronger now.

---

Claremont College Dorms, Claremont

^@Sadu

roll result

"I SWEAR he's not a complete liability."

---

The college is still a mess from when Brick Frog was wreaking havoc on it. The people all look the same, though, bald, shitty glasses, downright idiotic. Kevin the Destroyer looks particularly strong, but nothing the mighty Madcap and his trusty sidekick and reformed criminal Lunara can't handle!

Just beat Kevin the Destroyer and...

And...

"Urk!" Madcap feels a pang of regret hit his chest as today's events replay in his mind. He turns to Lunara first, clutching her shoulders. "Am I a bad person?!" Comms come up next; it plays in everyone's ears. "A-Team, I am a bad person?! I'm not bad, right? I'm good?"

No instant response from anyone, all the students in the room are either laughing at him or staring awkwardly.

Madcap finds himself curled up on the ground with his hands over his helmet's eye holes. Some assholes start kicking him, but he's too lost in his sadness to really notice.

"I was possessed by a villain and made to hurt that old lady, wasn't I? I hate myself.... Ow!"

[SonnetNSunbeam]

Shipton Railyard, North Pomona

^{@Thayr@Auragreedia}

"Shit. Don't let that train leave, but whatever you do, don't let that acid leak out...."

Asteroid reaches out with his powers to feel the objects around them, what can he use as a weapon? Lots of flammable shaped objects. It's a guess really for a lot of it, but some of it is very obviously flammable. Like the gas tanker car on the reserve track beside the acid. It shifts in it's tank at him, as he manipulates the gravity of it's molecules.

He doesn't always have the opportunity to fling flammable liquid at a walking impending forest fire. So it's tempting, it really is. Especially when she opens her stupid-

"Back away, Shadowbitch! And your two friends trying to cosplay goths! Acid's ours, or else! We're running the drug game now!"

And oh how Asteroid hates Pyress in particular. He nearly pops the cap on the powder keg beside her. A heavy breath, Pyress is not worth going back to jail over. She's nimble with her flamethrower, and easily pivots around. Except, upwards towards her head, of course. He shifts on his feet taking in the scene prepping some of this orbs in his gauntlet.

"Eclipse, Asteroid, I’ve got the engine. No heist for these shit-heads,"

"Heard that. I'll drop on her from above." And then he's moving. He throws he body weight to the side, following a path very similar to Paybacks but he stops a car or two short. Flinging himself up and onto the car he searches for the best angle to knock into her with as much force as he can. From the highest point on the car, he begins to do the math for his arc. Eclipse is in Pyress's direct line of fire. His armor looks hot under her aim, and he watches as one of Eclipse's blades comes up in an attempt to strike her.

"Asteroid, ACT! NOW!"

He stops calculating and full sends his best estimate. It's not dead on, he can tell, but it'll do the job. Asteroid jumps into a double somersault like he's taking a high dive, but he's rising instead of falling. His ankles extend out at the apex of his arch, back tracing it's parabola. Then he's falling fast towards the crown of her head. Both heels make contact, and it's enough for her finger to fall off the trigger of the weapon. The red soles of his shoes maintain contact until her head bounces off the ground beside Eclipse. Then his shins ache as the rebound from the bounce of her head sends him backwards.

It's only his gravity that catches him, and when he looks down, she looks like a mess. A normal human would probably be at least concussed. he tries to ignore the crack her head makes against the ground. But she's a villain, and he's willing to bet if they don't deactivate her weapon, she'll be a problem before they know to expect it.

"We all in one piece? Eclipse- that fire was real close to ya- you good?" He looks back at Eclipse as he's blindly digging around Pyress's arms for some sort of release for the fuel valve. When his fingers catch on it, he yanks the hose off. He then zip ties her arms together behind her back, waiting for some sort of transport to pick her up.

"And not a drop spilled."

[Sadu]

Who Installed The 'Attackable Children' Mod?

Roll Result

7

Her first job... was to go to a fight club... for college kids? Children? Some might say College kids weren't children but as far as she was concerned, none of them had grown up, they were acting like children, so she was going to treat them like children. But when they arrived... it seemed her 'partner' wanted to join in rather than break it up. And she wasn't going to stop him, she didn't really care... in fact, her level of caring was in the negative, like... was he winning the fight? She wasn't actually watching. She was standing there, arms crossed, staring at the floor, asking herself the big questions...

'What really is 'reasonable force' in this situation?' She mulled the question over in her mind. They were told to use reasonable force... that likely was meant to say not to use too much force, but was the amount of force that was considered reasonable not 'whatever amount of force gets the job done'? Sure she couldn't kill them, but... well she could. They'd probably never start another fight club like this again if the last memory they had of a fight club was a bunch of their friends dying. Okay fine, killing them all wasn't going to earn her any favors at SDN... not that she needed them, or wanted them.

It was about the time her partner was getting kicked in three different places at once that she rolled her eyes with a sigh, and put her sword in the ground... not on it, in it. She walked out, into the middle of the floor, and pointed at this... Kevin the Destroyer. Some kid who probably beat up the class nerd last Friday and thought that meant he was strong, so he decided to base his entire identity around it... because as far as tough kids went, this one looked like an absolute loser. He'd never survive in her gang.. when she had one. She gave the 'come on' motion to him, and aside from yelling something about not being afraid to hit a girl... ooh, tough guy, real rebel here ...he charged her and went for the swing.

Which was quickly sidestepped, and his arm pulled under her own in a binding lock, and with little effort and a twist of her hips... a cracking noise. The kid fell onto the ground screaming and holding his arm, which now had one hell of a broken bone in it. With a sigh she raised her arms to both sides. "This is a fight club right? You fight, you get hurt... that's what fighting is all about. So you idiots going to fight in this club or what?" Then, both hands gave the 'come on' motion...

Pretty much every kid at once erupted with angered screams and charged her at once with absolutely no cohesion. They must have figured the age old line of 'She can't take us all down'. Funny, kids used to respect the strength of Villains. Now Villains are just the laughing stock of the world, punching bags for Heroes and SDN holding their leash...

Her hair lifted up, with a bright white glow, and her eyes matched the brightness. She didn't need her powers to deal with these idiots. But you know... 'need' is such a strong word.

Two kids took fists to the face the moment they got close enough, allowing a third to come in with a swing right into her back... which damn near broke his hand. Her only thought was 'yeah, punch the metal armor, not the completely unprotected face, idiot.' as she leaned forward and gave him a heal to the groin that sent him flying. Those were the ones who had been beating up on Madcap, leaving the rest to all fall in at once.

She moved like a dancer, dodging this way, elbow to the face here, dodging that way, knee around a guy's head to slam him face first into the floor there. It reached a point that there was only a few left, and they quickly realized their advantage in numbers, for what little it mattered, was just about gone. They started to run... that was the plan, right? To get them all to leave? But something about that ending to this mission wasn't good enough. She had to send a message, that was what being a Villain was about, sending a message. And maybe she wasn't one anymore, but that didn't mean anything about her had truly changed.

Lunara's eyes closed, and a blast of moonlight emanated from her, flowing out like a ring. As it passed over the fleeing college idiots, they were pushed away, only for the ring to reverse direction, and drag them back in toward her. And when they reached arm's length, there was a blast that singed their eyebrows off, temporarily blinded them, and sent them flying all in one.

There... job done...

She reached up to click her earpiece, and simply said "Subjects were uncooperative. 'Reasonable' Force has been applied, might want to call an ambulance or two." She looked down at Madcap... and added "And wake up the company therapist."

Maybe she shouldn't be around Children...