Project Daedalus (Issue #4)

[Agamon]

Freedom Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, NY

0905 hours, EDT, Friday July 11th, 2014

Everyone was greeted this morning by what should be another pleasant day in New York. You each made your way through the morning traffic to lower Manhattan and Freedom Plaza, headquarters for American Freedom, as well as the new team you’ll be joining.

Freedom Plaza was built in 2006 on the site where the World Trade Center once stood. The lone building, used commercially, was surrounded by a park and a grand statue, commemorating the Twin Towers and those that lost their lives in the tragedy there. In 2011, while some of the commercial offices remained, most of the building was retrofitted to become home to the new American elite team, American Freedom.

Everyone now stands in the lobby of the building. The lobby is usually open to the public at this time of the day, but is currently closed to anyone not part of the orientation. Along with the seven of you, Sarah Edwards is here (an athletic woman with short, blonde hair for those of you who don’t know her), though by the look on her face, she doesn’t seem very happy to be here.

Also in the lobby, having just joined you, is Screaming Eagle, whom everyone knows, or at least knows of, as well as two other members of AF: Daniel Broadtree, a huge Native American man, whose long mane of dark hair pierced down the center with a shock of pure white, better known as Silvertip; and Andrew Fischer, aka Jersey Devil, the sight of whom causes you to pause seeing him in person. His hairy, hoofed, winged form is a bit disconcerting, but he has a broad smile as he scans the room. Another woman, this one dark haired, whom most of you don’t recognize, also stands in the room. She has a businesslike demeanor as she looks about the lobby.

“Thanks for coming,” Screaming Eagle says. “Everybody is here, that’s great,” she adds looking at each of you. “You all know why you’re here. Each of you has an opportunity to serve this country in its newest elite team. I’m Screaming Eagle, this is Silvertip and Jersey Devil, and over there, is your team’s government liaison, Angela Winters.”

“So, to start, each of you can introduce yourselves to your future teammates,” she says, waving her hand allowing signaling each of you to speak in turn.

 

[Tokiwong]

Misha scanned the room wearing his normal clothes, but with a new addition to his normally somber clothes. A smile. He seemed to have a great amount of presence in the room, despite not actually doing anything, besides just sitting. He glanced around the room, and seeing no one else step up to Screaming Eagle’s question he walks forward and clears his throat.

“Misha Werner, Washington DC police department,” he cracks a smile, “just a cop, nothing fancy. I dealt with homicide and did some SWAT training but I am just your average cop, the money wasn’t all that great, but the satisfaction was more then enough. Yeah I am one of those guys, I need to be doing something that matters,” he gestures to Tyroc, “and I am glad to be apart of this. It wasn’t my first choice but a friend talked me into it,” he says as he turns his attention to Screaming Eagle, giving her a subtle look as he moves aside.

 

[Shalimar]

Rachel scans the room nervously, her nose working on overdrive to pick up all the unfamiliar scents in the room. She shifts nervously from foot to foot in her new, and only set of clothes, looking for all the world like just another high school girl. She doesn't rightly know who it is she should be paying attention to, Screaming Eagle, Silver Tip, and Jersey Devil are all very famous, and Devil, well he wouldn't be so bad to be around in her Werewolf form, he wouldn't jump to conclusions or be disgusted, then again, here was her new pack, she should be getting to know their scents, to know who they were. Torn as she was, she looks from the American Freedom members to the others that were here and back again, warily taking everything that she can with her super-human senses.

When Misha introduces hmself, Rachel's sense's go into over-drive, trying to puzzle out exactly what it is about him that makes him stand out so much, that gives him so much, prescence. She decided that it was partly his appearance, but, he just seemed to radiate charisma and charm.

"Hi, I'm Rachel, uh, Rachel Masters." she says nervously, crossing her hands behind her back, rocking back on her heels. "I...I'm not a cop or anything really cool, I just a graduated a month or so ago."

 

[Calinon]

"Hey, glad to..." Tyroc starts as he's interrupted by the other guy. Holy rude, Tyrone thinks. Or just way too gung ho. He rolls his eyes at the 'average cop' comment. He's just about to speak again when the girl speaks up. It's a conspiracy to keep me shut up, he jokes to himself, listening to her short introduction.

"Just graduated, yo? That's nothin' to sneeze at, babe. Just don't quit there," he adds with a reassuring smile. "Nothin' will ever serve as well as a good education. Oh, and come on, brother," he says at Misha. "If you're just an average cop, you'd never have gotten the attention of the selection committee. But hey, whatever story you wanna stick with, buckeroo.

"Yo, I'm Tyroc, and pretty much everyone here already knows me or knows of me. Actually, I'd guess that would be everyone, unless you been livin' in a hole or out of the country for a long time. Now, I know this will come as a horrible shock to you all," he says warningly, looking very seriously, before adding with a returning smile, "but I'm black."

"I live here in New York, with my mama, and for the time being, Miguel and his girl are stayin' with mama too," he says, pointing out Miguel. "I have my bachelor degree in computer programmin' and science, and programmed part of the original VSC operating system. I worked for VSC until my abduction and incarceration by Biogen.

"Now, unlike furball, Wolfman Jack and Angel here who fancy themselves elites, I am a super hero," he says with a smile. "I try to do what's in the comic books, just in the real world. I help stop crime, break up gang wars, fund some after school programs and scholarships, and generally am just as great as all the press indicates," he grins. "And I've been super heroin' for eight years, probably as long as Angel has been, just self trained and without official endorsement. And for those of you wantin' autographs, I'm sure I have some 8x12 glossies in the trunk of my car," he says, half jokingly... especially since he does. "And for some reason, people say I sometimes talk too much," he quips.

"If you wanna know anything else, just ask me or you can visit my official website," he adds with a laugh. "I should have my sidekick's page up by tomorrow night," he says, smiling at Aaron. "I've given up on keepin' my private life secret, yo. Kinda pointless after my interview in Denver."

Glancing over at Sarah, he gives a slight nod and squintes his eyes to get her attention, trying to get her to initiate a mental link as he walks over to stand next to her. Hey, good to see you again, but you look pretty stressed out. You ok?

Powers: I'll use innuendo to try to get her to talk mentally.

Note: Tyroc is dressed in his cowboy boots, leather pants, and black cotton, long sleeve, pullover shirt. His sunglasses are tucked into his front pants pocket. And like the members of AF, he too is famous (fame feat) and should be quite recognizeable to anyone living in the USA.

 

[Agamon]

Screaming Eagle notices Misha's look, but she doesn't return it, obviously doing her best to not give anyone in the room any extra attention.

Once Tyroc quiets to mentally 'speak' with Sarah, Jersey Devil quips, "Tyroc forgot to mention that he's also the leader of the team. And you can see why: he likes to hear himself talk. Good thing he's good at it, 'cause whenever you guys need to speak to anyone, he'll be there, flapping his gums." Devil smirks at Tyroc, allowing the next person to speak.

Innuendo check 20, Sarah notices Tyroc's willingness to 'converse'.

Sarah, looking at Tyroc, simply replies, "I'm fine." Though short, her response seens genuine, maybe she's just tired or something.

Sarah then turns to the others. "I'm Sarah Edwards, I'm a telepath. I used to be a cop, as well. In fact, I'd still be with the force if they'd take me back. But apparently I'm difficult to trust now that my powers have become public knowledge," she says, her words becoming more bitter as she continues to speak. Perhaps she's not just tired. "I came here because I really don't have anywhere else to go, so, what the hell," she says, shrugging.

Winters and Silvertip both arch an eyebrow at this. Devil just sort of looks sideways at Screaming Eagle, who simply looks at Sarah with narrowed eyes, obviously not much liking that response.

 

[Hammerhead]

Smiling warm-heartedly around the room, the other dark-haired woman in business attire begins to mentally classify her new teammates. Misha's attractive appearance and charismatic demeanor instantly intrigued Jennifer, although she smelled a fellow military officer as well. She idly wondered what her chances were with him. Not good.

The teenage girl was shy, and needed self-confidence. Perhaps I can help her, like a big sister or something?

The African-American was...Good God, he likes to talk! I thought he was done! Eagle's later comment also took her by surprise. He's the team leader? I figured Misha to be...I guess the government had good reason. Jennifer mentally tunes out the rest of Tyroc's extended introduction.

The blond's bitterness and defeatism immediately turned her off. You're given a rare opportunity to serve your country and do far more good than any police officer, and this is how you show appreciation? Not to mention the disrespect you show everyone else here? Bitch.

Jennifer smiles again, adjusts her posture, and introduces herself. My name is Jennifer Laroux, a former US Army sergeant and mountain climber. If you need a drink chilled, I'm the person you see. I can transmute my body mass into a swirling cloud of ice.

It's a pleasure to meet you all.

 

[Calinon]

"Hey," Tyroc says to Sarah with a nod of his chin. "I trust ya," he says, not making an issue of her attitude. "That's gotta count for something, don't it?" he asks rhetorically with a smile. He taps his left temple and thinks, You always have a place to go if you need it, Sarah, no strings attached.

I don't know what happened since you got back, and I won't pry, but this gig? This is going to let you help ten times the people you could in the NYPD. It's their loss if they want to be paranoid and prejudiced, and our gain. And if you ever wanna talk about whatever happened, well, uh... I'd probably suck as a choice, but mama's got a pretty good ear, he thinks, though he chuckles audibly.

"And you know what's gonna be really cool? I'm pretty sure you just got way more weight behind you than your former boss can ever hope to muster," he says confidently.

"I'm really glad you're on the team, Sarah. So yeah, what the hell," he finishes with a grin.

 

[Tokiwong]

"Oh, and come on, brother," he says at Misha. "If you're just an average cop, you'd never have gotten the attention of the selection committee. But hey, whatever story you wanna stick with, buckeroo.

"The average cop is more of a hero then 90% of the elites on the earth. I am proud of my occuptaion. I also apologize for interrupting you, I see that you wanted to get the first word in," Misha replies not raising his voice.

"Army Sergeant?" he smiles genuinely, "Air Force Special Operations, before I was a cop, you will forgive me if I was commissioned though..." he says in an honest manner to Jennifer.

"Nice to meet you Rachel," he turns to Rachel, "I hope you guys don't mind if I just have you all call me Misha."

 

[Elementor]

With a bit of a nervous look a young blonde haired and blue eyed teen steps forward. "Umm, hey. My name is Aaron and I'm from Vancouver, Canada. Similar to you," he says with a nod towards Jennifer, "I can change myself into any of the 4 basic elements and can also control and manipulate them. According to my school counsellor I am also supposedly some kind of super genius but I'm feeling pretty dumb after our last little adventure with American Freedom. As for why I am here I guess my parents really didnt know what else to do with me. They arent exactly what you would call elite-tolerant."

As he turns to step back again he pipes up once more, "Oh yeah! I go by the name of Elementor and Ty put me on his superhero website. Also my 15th birthday is just a week away so feel free to shower me with gifts," he finishes with a broad grin.

 

[Shalimar]

Rachel smiles happily when Aaron steps forward, she was afraid she was going to be the only nervous one, not to mention the youngest, everyone else had already sone so much, been in the army, been cops, Tyroc had been doing this for 8 years already, but with Aaron, at least she wasn't the youngest anymore.

"I don't really have the money to go to sch...hmm, well I guess I do, but I wouldn't do that too myself, my powers make me really really hate being cooped up in a classroom, if I can't be out doing stuff, I really can get stir crazy, besides, I already know what I'm gonna do, and my powers are pretty much perfect for it, I mean I already have a lot of experience with it from them, it shouldn't be too hard to get a job as a Park Ranger."

"I don't have any kind of super name or anything," Rachel says with a small shrug, "I guess you guys could give me one if I have to have it." she offers. She looks from Tyrone to Misha and back again, "Are you sure that Misha's not in charge?" she asks curiously, "its just, well, his scent is more uh, just more commanding, you know?" she asks, then blushes, that hadn't been a very human thing to say.

"Uh, sorry, I can become a wolf, well, and a, well I guess a Were-wolf too, and that makes me really into my senses since they are so sharp, and well, thats how wolves decide things, you can tall an awful lot about people from their scents, you can tell if they are lieing, how they feel, if they are upset, who is dominant, all kinds of stuff. I well...I guess I'll just be quiet now." she says embaressedly.