An elderly man is crossing the warehouse pushing a box cart full of what appears to be various electronic components. He hears the young woman call out and changes his path to approach her. As he draws close, he pushes the cart to the side, and bows.
"Hello. I am here, but I think that I am the only one of our new team that is so far."
The man is tiny, looking up even towards this young woman. His English is perfect, but it is wrapped in the edges of a Japanese accent.
"I am Riku Hasagawa, codename Rashōmon. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
His baring is friendly, but carries an air of old fashioned formality.
"Hi. My name is Angel, Angel Kasden. I...guess I don't really have a codename yet. But it is a pleasure to meet you." She holds out a hand. If taken, you find that her grip is surprisingly strong, for one so slight.
As if the world finally wishes spite upon the frailty of Mr. Hasagawa and his claim that no one from the new team had arrived yet. A signal, old but valid, keys open the hidden garage port at the back of the warehouse base, where an old-beaten up unmarked van sits. The ripping downshift roar of a street bike sending an echo through the structure punctuating the new arrival.
Idling into the makeshift repair bay atop a sported out street bike, clad in road leathers among other things, is a crimson skinned woman with eyes like burning coals. She glances over at the two further people in the warehouse, killing the engine the bike continues to roll and lists to a stop closer to the center of the warehouse.
"It's old, but glad to see it hasn't changed too much. I take it you two are also being assigned here? Since the elderly guy seems to be moving in already."[b]
The woman straddling the bike has a sword sheathed and strapped to her back sitting upright and planting her combat booted feet to keep the bike from tipping she gives a two finger salute to the pair.
[b]"Heya, name's Hellion. Good to see new faces settling in honestly." She points towards one of the offshoot rooms. "That one's mine, unless the old crew decided to move into my old space. Might wanna mind any glowing puddles, never know if Death Oozicus left any of his wonder goop around would not recommend touching it."
Unzipping the front of the worn leather jacket Hellion reveals a heavy metal band tee, must be a recent one given the skeletal shark head screaming fire. Which doesn't speak much to a super hero outfit, but hey the world just got out of the death grip of a fascist alien fish race and she wasn't one for tights and spandex. She let one hand rest on the engine of the bike and the other steady her stance by resting on her left thigh towards the group.
"So, any news yet?"
Altho your PC's wouldn't know this, the base was stripped of all equipment, personal items, etc. of the previous tenants before you arrived, except the main computer station and comms link with Meros. About six rooms have been outfitted as private quarters, with beds, shelves, and a chest of drawers.
Observers of Hellion's entry might be forgiven for failing to immediately notice a passenger on the back. She is a somewhat skinny teenager, apparently around 14 or 15, with black hair flowing out from under a bicycle helmet. Her eyes are hidden behind reflecting steampunk-like goggles, so her face is not really visible at first. She wears jeans with lots of holes, and the kind of holes that developed with wear, not the kind that have them off the rack. She wears equally worn sneakers and bicycle gloves with finger-tips exposed. She's chewing gum.
She slips off the back of the motorcycle as Hellion introduces herself, looking around cautiously, she removes her goggles and lets them hang around her neck, to see better. She keeps Hellion between her an the other two occupants, as if shy or worried about their actions.
After judging the situation safe, she removes her helmet. She has a pretty face with dark eyes. A simple infinity symbol tattoo is visible on her forehead. Her bare arms also have tatts. On her right is a pentacle and a sword or dagger; on the left, an elaborate cup and a wand. She wears a black tee-shirt with sleeves cut off, with orange letters that declare, "Resting Witch Face."
Her only apparent weapon is a dagger in a sheath at her left side and something that looks like a Harry Potter wand in a sheath on her right. Her belt also has a pouch large enough to hold a large deck of cards. She has a backpack with the end of a skateboard poking up behind her head.
When inevitably, attention focuses on her and introductions are made, she says, "Call me Fortune Brav0. I'm a witch." Then she pops her gum and wanders toward the rooms to claim hers.
Dr. Hasagawa Bows to each if the young women in turn.
"A pleasure to meet you. Each of you. I look forward to getting to know each of you."
As he had been with Angel minutes before, his inflection is formal, but not unkind.
"Hellion. Your name was mentioned in a few of the records surrounding one of the Star City resistance cells. Is it true that one of your progenitors was an extra-dimensional entity? I would enjoy discussing that history sometime, if you were willing. I have a passing interest in dimensional theory."
Angel nods to the newcomers. "I'm Angel. I guess that I don't have a codename yet. I'm very pleased to meet you."
Hellion finally kicks the stand out and dismounts the bike on the side with Angel and Rashōmon. "Don't care to talk about either of my deadbeat dads, but if you wanna talk dimensional excursions fine by me."
Running a hand through her short black hair she sighs at the nearly stripped away base. "Looks like a lot of stuff's been moved around. But if you two got in, then I' guessing you've got passcodes. Which means new team stuff."
She points to Angel, "What can ya do princess?"
Hellion finally kicks the stand out and dismounts the bike on the side with Angel and Rashōmon. "Don't care to talk about either of my deadbeat dads, but if you wanna talk dimensional excursions fine by me."
Running a hand through her short black hair she sighs at the nearly stripped away base. "Looks like a lot of stuff's been moved around. But if you two got in, then I' guessing you've got passcodes. Which means new team stuff."
She points to Angel, "What can ya do princess?"
"Of course. I meant no offense. Whatever you felt willing to discuss would be fine."
"I didn't check the passcodes, I rarely bother with the door."
He gestures with a hand and two portals open up at angles across from the group. The party can see themselves through each, but from different angles. He walks a few steps towards one, and while his back is visible to the group in the warehouse, he appears to be walking towards the group from the portal he is not approaching. Stepping through the portal when he reaches it, the version walking towards the other portal steps out and walks towards the group. His back is visible walking away through the first portal.
"The angles can be confusing at first. Remembering linear momentum and changes in gravity can be even more confounding. On the bright side, it really cuts down on commuting time.
Fortune returns from picking her room, sans backpack and riding her skateboard. While Rashōmon has his portals open for demonstration, Fortune skates through one to test it, coming out at another part of the room. "Crooked," she says with an air of being impressed.
She steps off her board, tipping the end with her foot so it pops up where she can catch and hold it in one hand. "Show an' tell time, is it?" She taps her belt pouch and a Tarot card appears in her hand. "I can tap the power of the Tarot to cast spells." The card she is holding has an image of a female figure floating in front of a globe with four animal heads around the corners, with the words The World and XXI.
"With this card, I could do that portal trick or teleport myself or someone else. I'd demonstrate but I can only do a few a day, so I save them for emergencies."
"Beyond the card tricks, I can read minds if I can touch the person I'm reading--don't worry, I won't use it on you. I can touch objects and get impressions of what happened to it in the recent past. I can sometimes heal wounds with a touch. I'm better in a fight than I might appear to be." She draws her dagger and moves about very rapidly as if fighting someone; she does appear to have excellent moves.
She sheathes her dagger and leans against a wall to observe what the others say and do, doing her best to look bored.
Rashomon looks on with interest at Fortune as she describes her powers.
"Hmm, very interesting. Does the power flow from the cards themselves, or are they merely a focus that allows you to shape power emanating from yourself?"
"I have some familiarity with the concept of Psychometry. I maintain a curiosity about how the information is stored. My abilities are connected to Temporal energies; I've theorized that a signature in those energy patterns could be what sensitives pick up on when handling such items. If that were true, I might be able to develop a similar ability myself."
After the V’Sori left, the world began to pick up the pieces. Ruined cities began to rebuild, and tentative steps were taken to restore some semblance of order. National governments had to be re-built from scratch, and there were power struggles in each nation to determine who would lead it.
Those gangs who had cooperated with the V’Sori were loathe to give up their power, and continued to run their territories with an iron fist. Concerned citizens, worried about this, formed their own police forces, but again the command structure had to be determined, old laws brought back, and court systems had to be re-formed. Some normal humans took to being vigilantes, but their chances of survival working on their own were slim.
It could take years for the world to return to a sense of order and justice.
But the departure of the majority of the V’Sori was not a clean break. Not all of the V’Sori left. Some remained behind, lurking in the shadows, hiding underground, and continuing their activities in secret.
Rumors began to spread of strange sightings in abandoned buildings and underground tunnels. People would disappear, only to return days later with no memory of where they had been, or worse, never return at all. In the cities, whispers of "the ones who stayed behind" grew, a chilling reminder that the V’Sori’s grip on Earth was not fully loosened.
The remnants of humanity that had banded together after the invasion—the survivors, the rebels, the ones who had never given up—began to investigate. They knew that the V’Sori who stayed behind were not here by accident; they had a purpose. They sent scouts into the underground, into the forgotten places where the V’Sori were rumored to be hiding.
What they found was chilling. The V’Sori had not abandoned their plans; they had merely changed tactics. Beneath the earth, in the vast networks of tunnels and caverns, they continued their experiments. There were reports of laboratories filled with strange machines, where the air was thick with an unnatural energy. There were whispers of human captives, still being used for cruel experiments. And there were hints of something even darker—a new project, something that required extreme secrecy.
The few who managed to return from these reconnaissance missions spoke of an eerie stillness in the underground. They described the V’Sori moving with a strange purpose, as if they were waiting for something, or someone. But what that was, no one could say. Those who ventured too deep, who got too close to the truth, did not return.
The resistance leaders debated what to do. Some argued for a full-scale assault on the underground bases, to wipe out the last of the V’Sori once and for all. Others cautioned restraint, fearing that any aggressive action might provoke the V’Sori to call for reinforcements or trigger some kind of catastrophic response. Without knowing what the aliens were planning, any move could be the wrong one.
And so, a tense stalemate settled over the planet. Above ground, humanity began the long process of rebuilding, reclaiming their world inch by inch. But there was always the fear, the gnawing uncertainty that at any moment, the V’Sori could emerge from their hiding places with some new terror. People looked over their shoulders, wary of the dark places, the forgotten corners where the V’Sori might be lurking.
In the deep places, the V’Sori continued their work, their true purpose hidden behind layers of secrecy. They moved in the shadows, their presence a constant reminder that Earth was not yet free. They were fewer in number, but no less dangerous. Whatever their plans, they were not finished with Earth.
And so, the world waited, caught between the relief of the V’Sori’s departure and the fear of their lingering presence. For now, the V’Sori were content to remain underground, hidden from sight. But the question remained: for how long? And when they finally emerged, what would they bring with them?
No one knew. And that uncertainty was the V’Sori's greatest weapon of all.
Meros, after being hailed the savior of the human race, disappeared from public view. He still had his secret network of supers, and made them all an offer. Go straight, stop being criminals, and they could stay in his organization. But if they took to a life of crime again, his organization would now be hunting for them. He also scoured the world for supers that had remained in the shadows to avoid any attention from the V’Sori at all, and offered them a place in his organization.
To all those supers who joined him, he revealed his plan : he has vowed to take down the gangs and the remaining V’Sori on his own, with their help. But they must still work in secret, lest the V’Sori or gangs locate them and try to take them out.
"Well, I'm pretty strong and I'm a good shot with this blaster that I took from a V'Sori."
This is the right address, Six thought as he looked at the warehouse before him. The sound of a motorcycle engine startled him for a moment, but calm voices he heard in the distance told him he was at least safe. As he found his way inside, he could hear the voices conversing about themselves. It was apparent that none of them knew each other. At least they had that in common. When he felt it was an appropriate time, he stepped into the light where he could be seen.
VeeSix stands over six feet tall and looks as if he was chiseled from a stone mold. His features are almost too perfectly symmetrical to be human, but what draws your attention the most is that he is wearing V’Sori armor and has a V’Sori Pain Staff attached to his back. When he realizes you are staring, he speaks: ”I am called Six. Or, more correctly, MetaHuman Deviation Neutralizer Experimental Model Version Six. I was… designed by the V’Sori. Now I hunt them.”
"You look like you ate the other five. You hunt V'Sori now? Good enough. Welcome to the team. I am called Rashomon. I may not be as big as you, but at least I am better looking, yes?"
"What do you do, Mr. Six? Classic apex human design, hybridization, or did the V'Sori have a specific task in mind when they built you?"
Rashomon's tone is not disrespectful, he seems genuinely curious, but at the same time, he doesn't seem embarrassed about asking such personal questions.
"Of course. I meant no offense. Whatever you felt willing to discuss would be fine.""I didn't check the passcodes, I rarely bother with the door."
He gestures with a hand and two portals open up at angles across from the group. The party can see themselves through each, but from different angles. He walks a few steps towards one, and while his back is visible to the group in the warehouse, he appears to be walking towards the group from the portal he is not approaching. Stepping through the portal when he reaches it, the version walking towards the other portal steps out and walks towards the group. His back is visible walking away through the first portal.
"The angles can be confusing at first. Remembering linear momentum and changes in gravity can be even more confounding. On the bright side, it really cuts down on commuting time.
Hellion nodded, "Ah, I used to mess with dimensional stuff, but after fighting the V'sori enough Lex stopped doing that and just boosted my own innate abilities a bit more. Guessing limbo has sort of calmed down now that the world is less chaotic, meaning it's just harder to dip into that dimension." She thumbs back to the hilt of the blade on her back when bringing up Lex. She watches the whole display including Fortune zipping through one of the portals.
"Well, I'm pretty strong and I'm a good shot with this blaster that I took from a V'Sori."
Giving Angel a shrug she points at the blaster in question. "Hope you took plenty of their ammunition, they're big and dumb but tell you what they sure take a lot to put down. One of the bastards broke my old gun, not that the old girl was that great at dealing with their armor anyway."
When he felt it was an appropriate time, he stepped into the light where he could be seen.
VeeSix stands over six feet tall and looks as if he was chiseled from a stone mold. His features are almost too perfectly symmetrical to be human, but what draws your attention the most is that he is wearing V’Sori armor and has a V’Sori Pain Staff attached to his back. When he realizes you are staring, he speaks: ”I am called Six. Or, more correctly, MetaHuman Deviation Neutralizer Experimental Model Version Six. I was… designed by the V’Sori. Now I hunt them.”
"F+%#, Fin!" Hellion shouts and instinctively reaches for her sword and nearly draws when she spots the V'sori power armor and begins to move, before realizing it's a human in it, or something too human at least. She listens cautiously keeping her stance wide as if expecting a fight to break out. "Right... you hunt the fins now huh? You get checked out to make sure you're not a walking bomb before all that, what about tracking devices, hidden kill commands hmm?"
Rashomon looks on with interest at Fortune as she describes her powers.
"Hmm, very interesting. Does the power flow from the cards themselves, or are they merely a focus that allows you to shape power emanating from yourself?"
Fortune shrugs and says, "I'm not sure. I learn spells by meditating on certain cards. I enter the card, interact with the others in the card, learn what powers are available, and when I finish, I can cast spells. The card appears as I begin the casting, but I think I can make the magic work without the cards. I think their magic resides in me. I could even use an ordinary deck of playing cards in a pinch, but the cards were a gift from my mother, so I protect them from harm or loss."
Fortune reacts to VeeSix's appearance much as Hellion does, moving over to stand by her, also apparently ready to cast a spell or draw her knife.
Once things defuse a bit, she says, "F@%Xing Fins tried to convert my mother into one of their puppets, but her will was too strong so they just killed her. An enemy of the Fins is my friend. Name's Fortune."
After giving him an appraising look, she adds. "You should gets some tats. Define your own look."
Fortune shrugs and says, "I'm not sure. I learn spells by meditating on certain cards. I enter the card, interact with the others in the card, learn what powers are available, and when I finish, I can cast spells. The card appears as I begin the casting, but I think I can make the magic work without the cards. I think their magic resides in me. I could even use an ordinary deck of playing cards in a pinch, but the cards were a gift from my mother, so I protect them from harm or loss."
"Interesting. Perhaps an energy matrix inherent in a genetic line, or access to an extra dimensional power source, passed on from mentor to pupil. In either event, it sounds like the energy is shaped by the user before it can be applied to a specific task. But you say you can do it only a few times per day? Is the limitation there because the energy source becomes depleted and has to recharge, or is it more a matter of the strain channeling the energy has on your physical and mental abilities?"
He loses himself in thought for a moment, but then suddenly smiles and shakes himself out of it. "Forgive me, my curiosity runs away with me some times. Regardless, figuring out the answers to a few questions might help us figure out how to increase, or even maximize, your powers' potential applications towards our team."
Seeing the rest of the team still staring at VeeSix and his armour, he says, "Oh, still hung up on the armour? Well Mr. Six, do you like it this way, or should we see if we can find a few tools and adapt the shape into something a little less provocative?"
Six bristles at the sudden reactions to his appearance, but he doesn’t react in the same way. Instead he raises his hands in peace. ”By no means that I am aware of can I be tracked, but they do tend to find me when I am more active. And no, there is no kill switch or command or they would have used it by now.” You note that as he speaks, there are no scars, no identifying marks of any kind on him. ”I have heard of these ‘tats’, but have never tried one. My body would more than likely reject it, like anything else that has been done to it.” To illustrate, he takes out a knife and begins cutting along his forearm like it was a slab of steak. As you watch, the wound starts to stitch itself closed and within moments, it’s like it never happened. ”My exact purpose was unknown to me at the time. All I could gather was that the V’Sori were attempting to battle the rebellion with metas of their own. I am hoping that together, we can stop them from doing any more and perhaps find a better way for me to, how did you say, Fortune? Define my own look.” He then nods at Rashomon. ”I am more than willing to have this altered in some way, if I could find someone with the skills to do it.”
To questions about why Fortune can only cast a few times, she again shrugs. "It seems more a matter of fate to me. Am I destined to be able to use the powers of the Tarot? I don't decide that. I think it's more luck than anything."
Hellion sighs and relaxes finally, "Well if you say you're good then I guess we both get to fight on that proving ground."
She turns and heads off to deposit her belongings in one of the rooms, "Get your bunk big guy, sure we'll all be needing them sooner rather than later."
”I look forward to working with you all in our combined efforts.”, Six says as he goes to find a room.
After a bit Hellion returns to the group, "So, dunno about you all but. I'm hungry, we should hit up something close by, a little team building and all that."
She shrugs, "Heroes gotta eat too ya know."
There's a devilish look in her eye, not that they aren't always like that though, "Who knows maybe we'll even end up saving some people, or having a reason to show off our skills. And if bit we can always set some stuff up here or wait till our first real team outting."
Fortune's taste in food runs decidedly toward the junk variety. She visits a few music stores (whatever the current medium is, assuming sales have not gone completely digital) and picks up some posters of her favorite artists, which are all female, some from the punk rock era, some more recent. She is keen to decorate her room in a manner that makes it clearly her territory. When there is nothing super-hero-y to do, she tends to play music through her cell phone with earbuds. She often keeps the door closed but sounds of dancing can be heard at odd hours.
She uses the ramp descending into the vehicle storage area to skateboard and tries various stunts. She also studies her Tarot deck daily, in meditation, working on new spells. After living on the streets for a while, she seems genuinely pleased with having her own room, although like any self-respecting teenager, she won't let the old folks know that. (All the other supers are old folks to her, not just Rashōmon.)
Angel's room is spartan, without even a bed. There is a couch and a few chairs for visitors, as well as a desk and a computer, but that's about it. She has few possessions beyond an electrician's bag.
Fortune eventually gets curious about Angel. She begins to watch her carefully, engages her in conversation small talk, trying to get a sense of her story.
Angel is designed to pass perfectly as a human female, short of a medical examination. Her mannerisms may give her away, as she is only 3 months old at this point. She is afraid of revealing her true nature as she has seen the reactions of humans to strange and new things, and she was told by her creator that she would never be fully accepted into the world.
Hellion's appetite doesn't seem to be refined, just searching for new flavors in a post-v'sori world. "You know I was good with the stuff we were getting before. But honestly anything beat the old SIF rations. Never really got to experience pre-fin controlled food joints."
Her room is kept rather simple, but one could expect that from having just moved in. She managed to bring a few posters, old crossed out calls for heroes, various formerly underground bands that moonlit as gatherings for the super community, a few broken nicknacs who's origin wasn't immediately apparent at a glance. The bed was perhaps the most dressed up with a nice comforter and a few uncharacteristically cute plush figures, who knew the demon had a soft spot for soft and squishy.
Eventually she finds her way to the main room and lacking much to do approaches Veesix. Sizing him up, "With you around we might need to get some lifting equipment, what's yer bench?"
As Hellion walks in to Six’s room, she notices that the floor, walls, and practically everything is bare, save for the pile of V’Sori artifacts he has collected in a neat pile on the floor. The bed is in one of his hands off the floor and he is attempting to place it against the wall, at a slight angle. He looks at her quizzically when she asks him her question. ”Bench? I believe this is called a bed, though I am not as up to date on the current vernacular as I would like to be.” He sets it down and leans back, testing the bed/ wall setup. ”Though I think some extra equipment to help lift things would probably be.. helpful.”
Hellion laughs, "Oh that's adorable. The bed joke I mean. But yeah even super strong folks like us need to keep in shape and push ourselves, so we should get some actual equipment."
She notes the V'sori artifacts. "And where'd all these come from? Souvenirs from your escape from Fintanamo bay?" Knowing better than to touch random unknown pieces of tech, she squats next to them. "Bet they'd sell for a pretty penny maybe even to an interested Atlantian buyer, one of whom I happen to know. Though I'm not sure i'll be able to just ring him up." Twirling her finger absently in the air, "He usually was the one who made the calls."
Six raises an eyebrow in reference to the joke. He wasn’t aware that he was making one. A strange person, this demonic being, but she seemed to genuinely interested in his collection. ”They are for study. I collect pieces of equipment from those I have defeated to study them so that I can fight better next time. It is something I have always done. I believe the V’Sori added the need to my thoughts. I do not wish to sell them. Not until the V’Sori are truly gone from this world.” He lets that sit for a moment and then says, ”I presume we will be fighting more of them soon. You are welcome to study them yourself.”
After a day or two, Fortune seems to be getting bored. During a meal, she asks, "So how are things supposed to operate here? Do we have a boss who says jump and we say, how high? Or do we plan our own missions? Are we supposed to be out lookin' for Fin remnants?"
Rashomon smiles in a grandfatherly way.
"This is a new endeavour, so there is no usual. From what I understand, when this cell operated during the occupation, King Meros, under the identity of Dr. Destruction, would send the team mission assignments he wished them to carry out. Those assignments might be part of larger operations, or independent assignments."
"I think there will be some of that here as well, as Meros coordinates teams in order to help track and counter the remaining V'sori presence. However, there is a lot of chaos since the withdrawal, and little government to speak of, as well as numerous local warlords wishing to assert dominance. I believe part of our duties as a hero team should be to patrol and counter those influences, as well as attempt to protect the typical citizens just trying to survive. Gangs, warlords, organized crime, as well as regular old supervillains will probably all try to take advantage of the current lack of oversight. We should do our best to... discourage them."
Another Rashomon walks by, this one wearing greasy coveralls and carrying an automotive wrench that looks comically oversized when carried by the diminutive man. This second Rashomon walks into the garage area and begins assisting a third Rashomon who is working under the van, doing a bit of standard maintenance.
"You sure they aren't coded to dissolve the second a 'meta' touches em? Not that i'm sure they'd find a way to classify someone like me as a meta, or how to detect it anyway. I mean at least half of me is literally born of a plane beyond this one." She laughs in jest more for herself, giving one of the orby-looking bits a solid prod with a finger. "I'll probably take a look at em later though, Rosh could probably also give em a good once or twice over. Still lots we don't know about V-tech."
She stands and heads towards the door, "See you around big guy."
Helion hums at Roshōmon's take on the situation.
"That's about right, who knows maybe we should go out and patrol some, I mean rebuilding basically all of society probably takes a lot out of the guy compared to wrangling a bunch of rowdy goons to do your bidding and overthrow an alien regime."
She eyes the various copies heading iver to the van. "So like.. are they clones, extra dimensional copies, not quite paradoxes?"
"Simultaneous multilocation. Something to do with the saturation of temporal energies in my body. It allows me to exist in multiple locations at once, and interact independently at each location. There is only one me, regardless of how many places I might be located."
He directs Hellion's attention to where he is working on the van. That Rashomon waves and then picks up a lug-nut. The Rashomon standing next to her then tosses it to her, and the Rashomon by the van holds up both hands to show they are empty. He smiles, and then turns back to continue working on the van.
"That is wonderful!" Angel exclaims and her eyes support her genuine excitement. "Can you teach me to do that?"
Fortune rolls her eyes and fidgets impatiently as Rashōmon drones on. Once all the monologuing is done, she says, "So no one really knows. I say we get on the Cortex and out on the streets looking for some V'sorry heads ta bust. If Meros has an assignment for us, he has our numbers."
She gets out her phone and begins doing Cortex searches for news of V'sori sightings.
"That is wonderful!" Angel exclaims and her eyes support her genuine excitement. "Can you teach me to do that?"
Rashomon looks at Angel quizzically, trying to figure out if she is mocking him. Seeing the look of naive innocence on her face, he tries to hide his initial reaction.
"I don't think it is a teachable skill. There are a few mentions in history of mythical beings that could be in multiple places at once, but as far as I know, I'm the only being on the planet that can do it. Of course, since my powers are temporal in nature, it is possible I may discover time travel I the future, and some of those mythical beings might be me, for all I know."
Summing up, he offers Angel a polite bow, "I'm honoured. If I ever learn how to teach others this skill, I will think of you.
In the last couple of months, you've learned that most V'Sori "sightings" turn out to be made by people who panic easily or see the shape of the V'Sori in any shadows.
The speakers on the computer system come alive with the sound of Meros' voice. All traces of the sinister Dr. Destruction are gone. "Welcome, all, thanks for joining the Reconstruction of Earth. I will have specific missions for you to accomplish from time-to-time. In the meantime, you can canvas your local neighborhoods for any gang-related problems, and take care of them as you see fit. But I will not tolerate any wanton killing, try to take as many gang members alive so they can be handled by the police. Of course, if they refuse to surrender to the last man... I expect to have a mission for you ready in a couple of days. Any questions?"
Fortune gets her skateboard and her bicycle helmet, ready to hit the streets to look for gangs causing people grief. She's spent enough time on the streets to have had some run-ins with gangs. She's ready to go.
Six walks into the common area as the loudspeakers come to life. He listens intently and as Meros finishes, he watches as Fortune prepares to head out. ”We should probably not travel alone, or at least stay in communication. I have heard that these gangs of trouble makers tend to operate at night, so that is when we will most likely find them.”
I'll go with her," Angel volunteers.
Hellion listens to the message wondering if it was another recording sent through some back channel.
"Ah well there's the actual answer I suppose. Six is right though tough as some of us are, best to at least work in pairs if not as a whole unit for a while. That way we can learn to work together. Everyone got a cell? Afraid the base doesn't come with handy dandy ultra long range encrypted walkie talkies."
"Going in pair or as a team sounds logical. I can go with each team. If any group encounters trouble, I can quickly portal the other teams to the site of the disturbance. I have a phone, though anywhere I am, I am also aware of everything happening at each of the other locations I am present at. This could be a useful element for communication in the future. Four locations is my current limit, but if we include here at the base as one of my locations, it would allow me to constantly be aware of the status of each team, and coordinate their activities from here."
"For tonight, if we split into two teams, I'd suggest Hellion, Angel and myself as one team, and FortuneBrav0, VeeSix, and myself as the second. That give each party a member capable of dealing with close interactions, one with range capability, and someone familiar with the Supernatural in each group. I can serve as technological expert for each team."
Still wrapping his head around the idea that Rash can be in multiple places at once, Six says, ”I think that being in multiple places could be helpful, but I think these things in our ear will allow us to talk to each other as long as we don’t leave the city.”
"Indeed. However, if I am with each team, we can very rapidly consolidate the team in a single location whenever needed."
"Why don't we stick together?" Fortune says. "We can be our own gang. If we go into another gang's territory, they'll challenge us, so we may as well be all together. I don't mind playing decoy, if the rest of you are close by and can show up if any gang takes the bait and tries anything."
"Let's check news reports for indications where gang activity is known, so we don't just wander about for hours."