None have balcony's or skylights, but there's several on the top floor near the stairwell leading up to the roof.
Unless you count the large lit double doors for the access to the temple outdoor balcony on the 7th floor, but those would be much more noticeable than the roof and stairwell.
As any kid on their first trip to a candy store would do, Violet squeals at a pitch that only animals and mosquitos can hear when laying claim to her room. It has a bathroom and a shower and a window and that's all she cares about. The rest of the world can hang, for all she knows.
At some point, she will show up at Ty's door with a chessboard and two packs of goodies under her arm. One is a pack of oreos (for Violet), the other a bag of glow bracelets in various colors (bug no green ones).
She also leaves a note for Aegis, which lists her qualifications as Personal Executive Assistant with the following items:
* Already own a professional wardrobe
* Able to use mental powers to convince people you're very busy and can't talk to them now
* Highly proficient in BS-ing the BS-ers
* Won't ask questions when you have to suddenly leave to save the world
After having a chance to settle in, and get used to people watching from her window (they look like specs! Need to get binoculars!), Hotaru calls a group meeting.
"Alright... now that we have a hidey hole, we need to figure out how exactly we're going to go about our jobs. We need costumes, something to help us blend in is better than something that makes us stand out... I think. I can listen in on police bands to get ideas of what's going on, but that won't always get us up to date information. We also need to have a way to move around the city quickly under cover. Really quickly without cover. Any ideas for any of those?"
Aegis would hand Violet her note back at the group meeting."Nice resume." before listening and responding to Pulse. "These top floors should be fairly safe and we have the theater which is off limits to the workers and public So Whip can use it for some minor flying. The car I brought us here in is also our and should hide us pretty well but as far as gathering information I don't have much, We could buy a normal police radio and cross reference it with you?"
"Well, I can't listen all the time." Hotaru grins. "Plus, I can communicate through it... so there's that. Any other ideas on how to directly hear about ways we can help? Any other tips for mobility?" she says, looking to the others. "Any other neat things we want to buy for the base?" she grins.
Listening to Pulse talk about her powers, Goo ventures a question, "Could you use your powers to tran
"Not really, no. It's like... trying to use a nintendo controller for a sega dreamcast. They just don't really mix and match. I'm aware of the television coding, and can scramble it, but I don't know how to do much more than make static. I'd have to practice a bit to figure that out... but in theory... eventually." Hotaru shakes her head. "It'd probably have to be the right environment, too. So I could pick apart just that, until I knew what I was feeling."
"No way!" Briana exclaimed to the empty room.
It had been a tough series of weeks for her. She had tried to keep busy, but there was only so much one could do when you couldn't step outside or even venture near a window with the curtains open. When she wasn't putting Violet through her paces in hand-to-hand combat training, exercising herself or practicing flying in the ballrooms, she decided to scroll through local news websites for stories that might have clues to metahuman activities.
After going through each day's current events, she would then go through archives of old stories. Anything crime related, human interest, or news of the weird would get skimmed, then possibly printed out for filing. It was tedious work, and she didn't really expect to find anything but vague leads or references to Ace and his team. She really hadn't expected to see a familiar face in one of the articles.
She double-checked, but it didn't take much to confirm it. There couldn't have been many six-foot-eight black men named Sean O'Brien in the world. Especially since his family really was from Ireland, though there's a pretty good chance they were from somewhere else first. She shook her head, marveling at the article which detailed his promotion to police captain in the St. Louis police force. "You became a cop? And you hated Irish stereotypes," Briana tells the computer screen.
=========================
It took several days, calling from a prepaid phone, to finally get through. As Captain of the Department's Special Operations, she knew O'Brien was going to be hard to reach. So, she called as some nut to complain about the department placing police dogs in harm's way. Then she called to complain about how the first person treated her complaint. Then she needed to complain about that person's response to her complaint, and so on, until finally O'Brien picked up the call.
She couldn't help but grin when she heard his strong baritone on the other end, steeling himself for this conversation. "Hello, Captain O'Brien. Still practicing your donuts?"
There was a pause. Finally, "Excuse me?"
Briana's smile split her mouth wide. "I asked you if you're still practicing your donuts." When she had worked with Coyote Solutions, she had been stationed with a recon force of U.S. Army Rangers in Turkey, including O'Brien. One night after a rather heavy amount of drinking, they decided to do donuts in the parade field with the Army's Humvees. It was also the night in which she tried to knock out a tank with her bare fist. "My hand is much better now, in case you were wondering."
"...This isn't about our K-9 program, is it?"
"Not really. But when I found out that Sean O'Brien made captain, I had to express my concerns about the wee doggies." She affects a perfectly awful Irish brogue.
"Oh, my God," O'Brien says, genuinely shocked. "It really is you, isn't it? Br--?
"Yeah, it's me," she says hurriedly, before he can say her name. "And I'd really love to see you. It's been what, seven years?"
"Eight, I think. So why not just stop by? Why this?"
"It's really complicated. But I need to call in the solid you owe me." Their two units had worked together on a covert op, and they did a lot more than donuts.
O'Brien draws in a sharp breath. "You in trouble?"
"I'm way beyond trouble. This is big, bigger than me." Briana hated doing it this way, but she didn't see any other option. "Tower Grove Park, two a.m. I'll meet you in the field east of the circle on West Drive. Can you be there?"
A long pause. "Yeah."
==================
Briana had slipped out at night and took flight through the lights of the city. She stayed low as she could and avoided the brightest-lit areas until she reached the 289-acre Tower Grove Park. She circled the western section until she saw a vehicle slowly drive into the park and pull to a stop on the drive she had instructed. She saw a figure step out, and move into the grassy field illuminated by the headlamps of the car still idling.
Silently, Briana swoops overhead and alights on the roof of the car. After checking the passenger compartment and finding it empty, she calls out to him. "O'Brien!"
He spins, surprised that she had appeared behind him. "Briana! Get off of there!" he says as he starts back toward the car.
She hops down, staying behind the car, making sure that if he had a dash camera running, she would be out of its view. "Sorry; had to make sure you were alone. And don't mention my name, please."
O'Brien takes several strides back to his car, circling around a bit to get out of the headlights, which made it hard for him to see the woman. "All right; I'm here. What's this abou--" his voice trails off. "What am I seeing? What's behind you?"
Briana sighs as he approaches and holds out her arms to show their empty. "What's behind me will change your world," she says with a hint of sadness in her voice. When he finally comes close enough to see, she turns around slowly, letting him see her wings in the reflected light of his vehicle.
"Wings? Do you expect me to believe this?" He steps close and grabs one, tugging hard.
Whippoorwill flexes her wing, its powerful muscles far stronger than O'Brien's hold and it wrenches free. They flap several times before settling down. His face suddenly takes on a look of wonder as he puts his hands on them again, feeling their living warmth beneath the feathers. He runs his hands along their length all the way to her shoulders and feels the transition from feathers to skin.
"Bree, I can't believe this. They're real? How can this be?"
She turns back around to face him and gives him a hug. "I wish I could explain it, but I barely understand it myself. Basically, there are people with powers that exist. I'm one of them now. I grew wings. I can fly."
O'Brien returns the hug, then holds her at arms' length, looking at her. "I think I need to know everything."
==============
Briana doesn't tell him everything.
She does, however, explain the growing number of super powered individuals, the "metahumans" as they call themselves, and the need for secrecy. She tells him that she returned to the States after getting sick of the soldier-for-hire business, but some sort of chemical exposure likely triggered this crazy mutation. She explains that she wants to help, and that most of the unexplained occurrences in recent years could be tied back to the metahumans who have passed through St. Louis.
"So you see," she finishes, "we could use some inside information." They had been sitting in the park for a couple hours after a brief flying demonstration. "You could use some backup in case there's a meta that guns can't stop. I'm offering you a silent partnership. Find something that doesn't make sense, and me and my team will lend our... unique perspective. How does that sound?"
O'Brien studies her for a little bit. Then he gives her a wide grin and laughs. "You know, I just can't get over you as a blonde. Yeah, the wings are a change, but really, blonde?"
Briana laughs along with him. "So is that a yes?"
He checks his watch. "I'll sleep on it. It's late." He pushes himself to his feet and gets in the car. The window slides down and he leans out of it. "You going to tell me where you are staying?"
"Nope. Sorry, Sean. I trust you, but I have to work on earning their trust. They like their privacy. I'll be in touch," she says, leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek.
As O'Brien starts the engine, Briana steps back into the dark grounds of the park. She watches the car pull away, then launches herself into the night.
"What if Pulse and Rocket started a super power tracking group? Something like an online blog about "Metas"." She uses her fingers for air quotes around metas."Like that thing Stan lee did looking for real life superheroes. It gives them an excuse to ask about strange things or powers, no one's going to take them very serious most people will think their just fans of the show and they get to indulge their comic book fetish making a blog about them."
"Well... just based on television... anything we did would leave a trail back to us. Either IPs or the people we paid, or whatever... which would get us investigated, and if we're investigated, we're being watched... which would make our job a lot harder, I think. I'm not saying it isn't a good idea, but changing the name for Metas would definitely help, yeah. Go with the term 'mutants' or something. Make it look like it's about trying to find people like Nightcrawler and Cyclops. Yeah, tht might work." she thinks for a moment. "Maybe we could bounce it around in the college to make it harder?" she asks after a moment.
Having no actual computer, Hotaru's brain isn't susceptible to viruses, if she were to spend time learning how to communicate with wi-fi's, rather than listening to random white noise, she'd be able to communicate to any open wi'fis around and do internet searches in relative safety, as she'd be all but untraceable.
"Alternately... if I learned how to understand wifi, I could probably just be the forum. It'd take a lot of effort, though, I think. I could at least do better than a Smart Phone, though." she offers with a small grin.
Whippoorwill had been staying silent more and more during these planning sessions. Usually, she hangs back as the group talks about possible uses of their powers and throws out ideas of gathering information. She didn't have much to contribute.
This time, her phone rings. It's one of the cheap, prepaid flip-phones that they've equipped themselves with. She listens, gives a couple "Uh huh's" in response, and then finishes with, "All right, yeah. We'll be here. Hey, I can't promise you won't regret this, but... thanks."
She pockets the phone. "Well, we've got ourselves a contact with the SLPD. He'll give me word of any weird cases that may involve metahumans."
"Neat! But... do you really think the police would know about this sort of thing?" she asks, tilting her head slightly. "Do you have any other ideas for what we could be doing? Remember, you're our strategist!"
"We should be careful about what the po Takes a second and cautions, "Someone at the department could leak the same inform Goo looks around and points out, "The Feds have to be getting their infor
Your police friend arranges a drop off, it's a package, copies of a file.
Case #HD-STL-238-A5 : There have been a half-dozen unexplained deaths in St. Louis over the last two years, one every three months. The bodies are later found partially or completely devoured by wild animals. Biologists indicate the animals involved are unusual, the bite marks match a panther or cougar's bite marks, but, are nearly twice the normal size. That's not the weird part though, the weird part is that there are human bite marks on the bodies as well, although the human bites have enlarged canines. It is believed that it's a serial killer using fake bite apparatuses, possibly someone who's had vampiric canine replacements. The next death would be expected in about 2 months.
Rocket manages to make friends with the local skater group, which is also the local tagger group.
When Rocket asks about weird stuff, he get's a bunch of different things over the weeks, but mostly they are things like who cheated on who and why would they cheat on A with B, especially B, or things like that.
However, today he got the story of one of the tagger's cousins being in the hospital with frostbite. There's been some snow going on lately, and some cold, but it's been mostly at night as things get cold. However, Richie Cooper, the cousin, was caught out partying with friends. He went missing, and was found with frostbite the next morning. The odd thing was that he was only missing for about 4 hours.
Violet get's an e-mail from Uncle Bill. After she runs it through a decoder a couple of times (which takes a few days, as she has to go to the library, find the right books and editions, and then do the difficult substitutions. Very very old school, but also very very difficult to decipher otherwise.
It leads to an IP address, which when she visits it, shows a video of her brother. It's grainy, obviously security video, but it shows him attacking security guards, ignoring their small arms fire as he kills them. Then he enters the frame again, dragging a woman by her hair.
The location is Kansas City. The note with the IP link says that since you're in the neighborhood, and he just got the info, he forwarded it to you. The date of the attack was 3 weeks ago. It was a research facility on the outskirts of town. Fourteen dead, three missing, everyone at the facility.
Whippoorwill sits down and puts her elbows on the table. Looking at Pulse, she nods. "The police have to know something. They don't know the whole picture, but they're going to have pieces of the puzzle. I'm sure they explain away what they can rationalize, but there's going to be questions. The fact that Ace and his crew operated here for a while made that a certainty.
"My contact, he's ex U.S. military. We worked together before my Cadre days, just so you know. And before you ask, yes, there were times when the U.S. employed my company's services. So anyway, I trust him, he trusts me."
She turns to Goo when he cautions the use of the police information. She scrunches her face while she thinks, then shakes her head. "There was this little event that happened on September 11th a few years ago. Ever since then, Homeland Security developed an interconnected database for all law enforcement agencies, city, county, state, and federal. Whatever SLPD knows, the Feds are going to know as well. It's that simple.
"But that doesn't mean they're going to be dropping in every time there's a discrepancy in a police report. There's no way they can follow up every lead, every strange report, every sighting. If they did, people would notice. Then, even if people still weren't aware of metas, they'd know something was up. Plus, can you imagine going through all that data?"
She pinches her brow as she considers strategy. "I'm working on it. Our best bet to be able to operate with minimal chance of observation is to identify dark zones -- areas with few civilians and other types of surveillance. Can't do much about satellite feeds, but they have their limitations too. So areas like warehouse and industrial zones. Our engagements should be in those areas. There's still likely to be cameras -- they're everywhere -- but hopefully Pulse can knock them out before they show anything that'll bring unwanted attention on us."
She smiles. "That's the easy part."
Pulse nods slowly. "In those instances, sending Rocket through once..." she stops, "Well. We need to figure out what his top speed is without wrecking everything around him. After that, he can scout out where the cameras are, or Goo, and I should be able to knock them out. In theory, at least."
"Right. Then comes the hard part. Making sure our engagements occur in those areas. Picking the spot you want to fight is easy, but getting your opponent to agree is hard."
She looks around at everyone. "Although, maybe that won't be so tough. Metas have been operational for a while, now, and the lid still seems to be pretty tight on it. Since all it takes is one of these guys going on a rampage through a populated area, there's been remarkable restraint so far."
When Violet points out the speed that his mind works, Rocket blushes a little with pride. Until that point he’d mostly been trying to bust a blood vessel in his forehead, and with little success. He’s more excited that his speed could protect him. Over the next few weeks--with plenty more coaching from Vi as to what effectively thwarts her and what is just ‘spinning his wheels’--he finds himself able to at least diminish the volume...and (once or twice) to block her out entirely.
Emboldened by this smallish victory, Rocket says ”Vi, you’re amazing! I think you’ve got me on the right track. Now though I need you to really try surprising me sometimes, around the base.
“You know, while I’m making a sandwich or something.” he adds as he polishes off some sliced roast beef on rye.
Rocket’s impatience and distractability lead him in various directions. One of his first projects is a comprehensive survey of the menus at just about every fast-and-cheap restaurant within a several mile radius. He tends to get to them on his racing bike, which (with patience) he manages to keep down to just under world championship racing speeds.
It turns out that--in his opinion--Lily’s makes better Mexican food than he’d feared. ”I’m not sure I’d have gone there all that often back in Oakland, and I think their Tamales are a bit crumbly, but I have to admit they do a pretty respectable carne asada.”
...Which turns out to be one of the staples he brings home semiregularly.
Rocket makes the same offer he’d made at the silo, calling dibs on sweeping, mopping, dusting, and dishwashing. He tries his hands plenty at cooking too...but again seems to be overusing fire and seasonings to try to get things cooked quickly.
When not eating, making sandwiches, cooking, getting groceries, going to restaurants, or talking about food, Rocket starts spending more and more time out painting and hanging out with the street painters he's met so far. He hears about a big public even he just missed called Paint Louis, but it generated some sweet pieces along the Riverwall. As he gets to know local artists, he finds some participated and others didn’t, fearing that the cops were watching to put faces to tags.
Rocket comes in in a blur just as Hotaru mentions his name. ”Well, it’s when I break the sound barrier that I seem to cause real trouble. Otherwise, it seems like it’s less a specific speed and more about I’m around. When folks have been raking up leaves: forget it!”
He takes off his bike helmet, opens his panniers, and drops three bags of takeout on the table from Lily’s. He slides a few tacos toward Pulse, Whip, and anyone else in the room, and then starts working on his own carne asada taco. Between bites he says ”I heard something funny today. Jack, one of the of the artists I hang around with has a cousin, Richie Cooper, who went out partying with friends the other night. He went missing, and was found with frostbite the next morning. The odd thing was that he was only missing for about 4 hours. It was a cold night but not that cold, right?
“I feel like I heard someone talk about some freeze-type meta, right? Who was that? Jack said Richie was too out of it to talk yesterday but I’m thinking maybe I should go try myself today. What do you think? It could be our first real caper!”
"That'd be me. But... I don't think really cold would fit the MO. I think 'dead' is more likely. Hm." she thinks for a moment. "We might have actually gotten lucky here. It might actually be a new Meta that we can help!"
Aegis perks up when Whippoorwill mentions a contact outside the house."Does he know about your powers or where you live?"
Answering Aegis, Whip shakes her head. "No, he doesn't know where I live. He's going to provide us files at a drop; he said there's a few cases that jumped out when I told him about the metahumans. It didn't take that much convincing, since, you know, wings. He obviously knows about that, but I've left out the part about my quills."
"Anyway, my contact said he's already got something for us. I'll go pick it up this evening, unless Rocket wants to go get it real quick. But it sounds like there's something already going on. It makes sense to talk with him, see what he remembers."
Aegis gives whip a strange stare."That's incredibly dangerous to not tell the group about. I guess we should split into groups and follow the leads we have then?"
Whippoorwill presses her lips tight. "Dangerous? It could be, but Sean and I've been through a lot together. I knew he'd hear me out. He's smart. I've earned his respect." A smile grows on her face and she leans in conspiratorially. "Plus, he's gorgeous."
Zach bites his lip, looks down, and blushes a bit at Whips last comment. Then he quickly digs into his next taco.
"Did you tell him about us or just yourself? Cause as long as he thinks it's just you, it won't really hurt too much." Hotaru offers. "For the cold kid... we should definitely visit him. He could be the Meta. Assuming he's not, we need to check out the area he disappeared in. I don't really know how we'd normally approach another new meta... I guess defenses up, and cautiously?" Hotaru suggests.
Goo nods at Pulse's remarks, "Yes care
"He knows there are others, but doesn't know the specifics. That way, there's no surprises."
"I'd suggest Rocket go and visit with Richie and find out what he remembers. If he gets any sense that Richie's the meta, then he gets out of there. He should have the speed to do it. He gets us, and we go in force. In the meantime, I'll find out what SLPD has for us."
Training Rocket!
When Violet points out the speed that his mind works, Rocket blushes a little with pride. Until that point he’d mostly been trying to bust a blood vessel in his forehead, and with little success. He’s more excited that his speed could protect him. Over the next few weeks--with plenty more coaching from Vi as to what effectively thwarts her and what is just ‘spinning his wheels’--he finds himself able to at least diminish the volume...and (once or twice) to block her out entirely.
Emboldened by this smallish victory, Rocket says ”Vi, you’re amazing! I think you’ve got me on the right track. Now though I need you to really try surprising me sometimes, around the base.
“You know, while I’m making a sandwich or something.” he adds as he polishes off some sliced roast beef on rye.
Violet is pleased that he's learning how to block her out, and encourages him tremendously once he starts to show progress. At his suggestion of surprising him, she just smiles.
"What makes you think I'm not doing that right now?" she asks him, grinnin. "How's the pimento loaf?"
Violet also takes special care to not freak Zach out with strange illusions or whispers in his brain when he's not awake. She knows what that's like, and never does it. Her favorite thing to show him in his mind appears to be either a Matrix-style black cat, or butterflies made of light.
About the fourth day of set-up, Violet finds Goo wherever he may be and clears her throat. *cough cough*
When she has his attention:
"Ty, are you okay?" Her concern is written across her face. "I know there's not a lot for you to interact with here, yet. And I don't want to pry, but it's pretty clear to me that you're not feeling like your usual self."
"I know what it's like to be locked away all the time," she says. She holds up the chess board and glow sticks. "I brought chess and snacks?"
Violet will try to engage him as best she can, and if he'd like, will spend a good bit of time broadcasting mental images of what she can see from her bedroom window. Or, if he'd prefer, she can move the chess board into her room and have the windows tinted so no one outside can see in, enabling him to get some time observing the world.
It's evident that she sympathizes with his rat-in-a-cage situation, and wants to help him get out of it.
About a day after Violet gives Saffron her resume, Violet shows up downstairs in the public section of the building, while Saffron is overseeing the installation of various sundries and official office stuff. She's dressed as a consummate office professional, hair stripped of its usual purple dye (actually a wig), glasses (no-correction lenses), and eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man. She's got a clipboard and a pen in her hands.
*cough cough*
"So, I'm not sure you thought I was being serious," she says, waggling her pen absently. "But I am. You're going to need someone to assist you, someone who's not going to ask questions..."
Violet smiles and points at herself. "No questions, no mystery with me."
"You never have to explain where you've been. You know I can hold my own in this environment. I can cover for you. You need someone to cover for you. I can do that." She moves her hands a-la Vanna White on Jeopardy, from her head downward. "Bonus: Killer wardrobe."
She waits for Saffron's reply.
"Great!" she grins. "First order of business, ridiculous coffee. Then, we find out why they're putting those cubes in at half the rate they promised you."
"Well, okay. But the offer's still open. I'm going to get some coffee. Want some? Oh, and they're installing those cubes at half the speed they promised you."
Violet's training doesn't go nearly as well as she had hoped. Violet is not the physical combatant of her family. More than once, she gets incredibly frustrated, sometimes almost to the verge of tears. But, she always gets back up, and always tries again.
One afternoon, after showering up, she takes a moment to catch Briana by the hand and thank her. "I know this isn't going quickly at all. I'm a massive wimp. But I have to try. My brother was the strong one, but he's... Gone, now. Thank you for being here and helping me learn how to be strong again."
At some point, if Briana's interested, Violet will offer her the entire, sordid, freaky details of her history, including the kidnapping of her brother, the murder of her father... all of it. This, she explains, is why it's so important to her that she be able to carry her own weight, and why she wants to learn to fight.
It also becomes fairly evident that she's begun to consider Briana less a peer and more a member of her family. Any time Violet is out and about shopping, Briana gets numerous texts and selfies asking for opinions on clothing, or showing cute kids at a mall, or any such normal day-to-day things one might find while outside. Unless suggested otherwise, frequent hugs also take place, often at completely random intervals.
One Night During The Planning Session
When Violet notices Zach's reaction to Whip's commentary, and mentally pats his hand. "You're not so bad yourself, Zach. And you should tell her about that crush some time... SOON..."
She takes a half-hearted bite of her burrito and sighs, raising her hand to show she wants to speak.
Violet frowns and opens her laptop. She's clearly not happy about doing this, but is doing it because it's important.
"I think we need to check out some goings on in Kansas City. I... I think my brother's involved in something that happened there. And... it's not good."
(The information) leads to an IP address, which when she visits it, shows a video of her brother. It's grainy, obviously security video, but it shows him attacking security guards, ignoring their small arms fire as he kills them. Then he enters the frame again, dragging a woman by her hair.The location is Kansas City. The note with the IP link says that since you're in the neighborhood, and he just got the info, he forwarded it to you. The date of the attack was 3 weeks ago. It was a research facility on the outskirts of town. Fourteen dead, three missing, everyone at the facility.
"So... This is a bad thing, and I think we should look at it."
She pokes at her burrito, clearly not interested in eating any more.
Goo listens to Violets offer, "Thank you Violet, chess wo As they continue to talk he confesses, "I am a little stir crazy, but I will be better on
To Whip he replies, "I think its better to stick together I don't like sending Rocket in alone. We could be in the b
+++++++++++
When Violet shows the group the video he feels sorry for the girl but agrees with her assesment."Yes we should ch
Aegis clenched her fist while whip continued to explain her contact.
What kind of leader would take that risk?
"I agree with Goo we should travel in groups but I think groups of two would be enough."
Saffron continues her work as she speaks with Violet. "No I've never seen the appeal of being an assistant unless you just needed the money, if you just want more cash I'll have more to spare once everything gets running." She motions around her when she says everything. "If you want work for whatever other reason you're welcome to, I'm not sure you'll be able to sit at a desk when something happens so you may need someone to cover for you instead of you covering for me." She shrugs.
"Looks like the frost bite can wait."
Saffron continues her work as she speaks with Violet. "No I've never seen the appeal of being an assistant unless you just needed the money, if you just want more cash I'll have more to spare once everything gets running." She motions around her when she says everything. "If you want work for whatever other reason you're welcome to, I'm not sure you'll be able to sit at a desk when something happens so you may need someone to cover for you instead of you covering for me." She shrugs.
"I don't need the money," Violet shrugs. "And corporations thrive on layers of management. Assistants to the Executive Assistants happen all the time. You take me on business trips, out to 'field work,' all of that. Besides, I have to do something around here. Or do you really think we should start up that Private Eye thing and call it a day? Is that a thing we can do?"
"Looks like the frost bite can wait."
"I think they're both worrisome," Violet says. "I just don't... I'm not sure... This wasn't in the news at all. Someone's covering something up."
"Can we look into both? I don't want to leave one sitting. If it is a new meta, scared and alone." she looks to Whip and Goo. "Not all of us have as easy a time of it as I did."
Violet finds Whippoorwill to be a patient teacher. Though she puts her on the ground every time, she always extends a hand to help her up and gives her encouragement. "You're not a wimp. It's commendable that you are spending this effort to learn to fight, since you never know when you'll need it. There's always someone out there who's tougher, no matter how good you get. I'd only be worried about you if you didn't feel the need to improve."
She does listen attentively to Violet's history and accepts the hugs whenever they're offered.
After they all watch the video, Briana holds her chin in thought as she considers the different suggestions.
Not looking pleased, she folds her arms and leans against the table. She meets Pulse's eyes and nods. "The time frame is key, here. The closest, most immediate situation is Frostbite Kid. Kansas City happened three weeks ago." She gives Violet a sympathetic glance.
"Here's my suggestion: Rocket goes to meet Richie and see if he knows anything. We can be in the bus close by. Depending on what Rocket learns, we'll either have something to go on, or it'll turn out to be a freak localized weather event. Then, we head to Kansas City to see if there's any clues left behind. On our way out, we pick up my drop and see what my contact has left for us."
She glances around the room. "How does that sound?"
"Sounds good to me." Hotaru nods, looking to Aegis, with an apologetic shrug.
"YeS," Goo replies to whips plan.
At the mention of the time frame involved, Violet reluctantly nods.
"You're right, you're right." She taps her right forefingers against her left wrist a few times, something she only does when she's anxious, and returns her attention to her burrito. "Focus on the living first, right? Get them out of the building when it's burning down. It's the right choice."
"Or again we could use groups, Rocket and someone else goes to talk to the kid and he can easily get us if somethings wrong or bring the other person to us if it's nothing."
Zach nods, excited to have a real mission. "Richie might think it's weird if I show up with a bunch of folks, but if Vi stays in contact with me from the bus you all can be right outside, and you can bust in fast if things go really bad."
Turning to Violet he asks, "First though, are you OK? I'd be freaked out to know my brother has been...involved in something like this. What do you know about him? And who's this that sent you the link?"
"How would you want to split us up, Aegis?" Hotaru asks, "Who to where, and why?"
Violet smiles weakly at Zach. "As okay as can be expected. I haven't seen him in years..."
Violet explains that she'll bring Zach and anyone else who wants to know what's going on with her up to speed, but later, after a course of action is decided. She doesn't want to influence things any more than she already has.
Briana stands up straight as her wings stretch briefly. "I don't think splitting up is wise, at least at first. It's a good way to get overwhelmed. Once everyone gets some field experience, then we'll consider splitting into teams, but only then to cover immediate crises. I think we've got the time, so let's make sure we get it right."
She moves to the door. "Grab whatever you need, the bus is leaving in five. Rocket, you know where Richie is? If not, find out quick."
"OK Violet. You'll let us know if there's anything we can do, right?"
Rocket nods to Whip and texts [jack: wheres richie? hows he doing? visitor ok now?] Then he says "Yall are staying in the bus though, right, unless things heat up? What do you think of my suggestion to have Violet and me stay in communication, mentally with you ready to come in fast if needed?
"I mean, I know we're calling this a mission but it's really probably just talking to a kid who stayed out late on a night that got colder than we thought--or passed out drunk in a walk-in freezer or something.
"Now with Violet's brother..." Zach looks at her and then stops talking.
"Vi might also want to come in at some point. So she can double check things. We'll figure something out, for you, too, Vi." She gives her best encouraging smile.
Hotaru just heads straight for the bus, and climbs in, after she gets her answer.