Aspiring to Greatness IC Thread

[Callos_DeTerran]

One hot night in Coast City, something remarkable was happening in a rather inauspicious location. Not on one of the city's famous white sand beaches that were the main draw of the booming tourism trade, or the numerous hotels that cropped up seemingly overnight to accommodate travelers to go out of business nearly as fast. Nor was this meeting of modern day titans held on the steps of the surprisingly immaculate looking Juance Ponce de Leon Memorial that was the seat of governance for the city. No, the notice that a new chapter of Guild aspirants had told of a remarkably simple location at one of the many small 'parks' that commemorated either an explorer or animal that barely covered even a square block of territory and was filled with big, showy plants if it was still being tended to or a great big mess of decaying brown foliage if it wasn't. It turns out that, in this case, it was a resounding 'not'.

The light from street lamps provided scant illumination of the shady depths of the park's nature trail-like interior, a natural stomping ground for predators of the bestial and human nature alike but this night it has been turned into a spot quiet safety by merit of the people meeting there. And the one who already was there, waiting for the others to make an appearance. From a distance, he wouldn't draw any particular notice for being unusual but once one got closer, they would begin to recognize him for who he was, one of the mighty members of the Guild that had helped repel the Scion and his forces. Xenoo stood up to inspection at a distance as a regular human, but up close the subtle traits that marked him as an alien species made themselves more apparent. While he had a humanoid shape, there was a yellow cast to his skin that grew even lighter at the tips of his pointed ears and the ridges that sweep back across his bald scalp into a line of hard scales that go down his spine. Three large digits fumble with the little red spreader from a pack of cheese crackers, frustration obviously building in his slitted green eyes as he worked to enjoy his snack while waiting for the prospective Guild members who sought a chance to do more with their extraordinary gifts than just protect one small city or region.

"These human snacks are more infuriating than a Ketral spinal graft," the hero glowered to himself before throwing away the small plastic container in disgust and glancing up at the sky through the drooping fronds above. "It is almost time, I pray that they arrive soon..."

Okay, I'm not going to lie, this post was originally much more elaborate with an entrance designed around each of your character's specifics...but then I realized that I genuinely don't know enough about your characters to do such a thing and not make it kind of cheesy...or to suppose details about your characters that you might not prefer.

So I'm going to leave it up to you guys, the Guild has many resources at it's disposal and can contact most people almost anywhere. Nor are they trying to give the meeting invitation in a threatening manner, so in some cases they likely used mundane message carriers (bike messengers, the postal service, UPS, email, etc.) depending on how easy your heroes' contact information is to acquire. The only thing they likely didn't do was send an actual guild member to deliver it in person, if only because most guild members are very, very busy most of the time.

[Arcran]

Centurion strides through the city, his presence made quite clear by the resounding thuds of stone on stone. When had first arrived Centurion had always stepped down hard in the fashion of Romans, cracking the roads, but had slowly learned to not stomp quite so hard.

He was a little anxious about the meeting, a feeling the Centurion rarely felt. What if they held the fall of Rome against him? On the surface he knew it wasn't his fault but deep down he held more than a little guilt over the fall of the great city.

At least the Guild had been clear with their message. An inconspicuous piece of paper taped to his chest when acting as his alter ego. He'd almost tossed it, and likely would have, had he not seen the G.o.H. on it. It had been simple, to the point. A short note with a date, time, and place. Jane had temporarily shut off the alarm so he could sneak out. Hopefully the museum wasn't attacked while he was out; without him the defenses were a little weak.

Soon enough Centurion finds himself approaching the meeting place, marching quickly. He slows to a slow walk, body crackling slightly, as he approaches the streetlight, lightly pushing fronds aside. In one smooth motion he draws his sword and raises it in a salute to the alien that had so helped mankind.

"Sir," he says in a deep, gravely voice before sheathing his blade. This was his chance. He better no mess it up.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Trinity came flying in over the park at speed, halting just a moment to get his bearings before descending towards the meeting's location. The angel wore a broad smile. This was what he needed to do some serious good for this world, in shorter time. If he had learned anything about humanity in his time here, it was the weight of impending mortality. His hosts were young yet, didn't seem to even notice it themselves, but Trinity was acutely aware of the fact that his time on this world was likely at least a quarter over.

"Greetings," he said as he landed.

[GenericMook]

Sean looked at the computer screen once more, triple-checking that the suit's calibration was properly done, before closing the panel for rhe reactor housing, causing the suit's teal highlights to glow to life. The suit itself seperated, allowing Sean to step in and begin operating it. Once inside, Sean scanned the user interface, triple-checked the suit's calibration, and began turned on the forcefield as he walked down towards the exit to his base. He had a meeting to attend to in a bit. Sean knew that the message - sent via a letter with no return address and only the guild logo on the front - was for something important, so he had to make haste.

That didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the flight there.

Flight system initializing... read the UI. Sean felt the odd sensation as he gradually began to lift from the ground. While the primary thrusters were in his boots, the rest on the armor had stabilizers to ease the difficulty of flying. He stared down the long corridor that led to the fake sewer entrance, and gradually increased his flight module's power. Sean accelerated steadily, and by the time he exited his HQ, he was almost flying at his maximum speed.

At the exit, Sean immediately decreased the forward propulsion from the secondary thrusters, and boosted the upwards propulsion, causing the emerald streak to rise upwards in the night sky.Once he was at a suitable altitude, Sean turned around, until he had a direct flight path to the park. Once he had locked on to its coordinates, Sean triggered the hoverboard, and felt as the parts emerging from his boots made an audible click.

Beginning auto-navigation

Bastion watched his surroundings as his suit took over flying. Coast City was magnificent in the night, especially when you were flying high enough to observe it. In ten minutes, Bastion had arrived at the designated meeting spot. Three others were already there, although his suit didn't identify them until he was closer. The angel and the stone soldier had arrived first, in addition to their contact.

Bastion slowed down the thrusters, and steadily landed, only turning off the thrusters fully when he was about five feet above the ground. His suit made an audible crunch as it made a heavy landing.

"Evening," he said, his voice slightly distorted by the suit's voice filters.

[AmberVael]

The countless lights that lit up the coastal city night flashed over a sleek black car as it cruised down the streets, shining on the polished and the tinted windows. Its driver worked the wheel and pedals with practiced, casual ease, smoothly taking it to its destination as the passenger in the back leaned into the cushioned seats, speaking into a phone as she contemplated a small notepad in her free hand. A small smile settled onto her lips as she carelessly flipped the notepad shut and looked out the window, noting a garishly illuminated club as it passed by.

"No, I don't mind at all. Really." The woman chuckled as she heard a response. "I can see why you'd think that, but I find it rather flattering. Give them the go ahead. Schedule them a time to work out details if they need it and make a note of it for me later. You know I like keeping tabs on everything."

"Annie are you okay. So, Annie are you okay, are you okay-" The driver tapped a button on the phone in the passenger seat to turn off the alarm and spared a glance at it before looking to the road. A careless rap of the driver's gloved hand on the window separating the front of the car from the back got the passenger's attention as the car turned slowly into the parking lot of a dingy fast food restaurant. "Ah, I've got to go. I need to keep this appointment if we're going to have any more exploits to exploit- I'll call you back when its over."

When the car was parked the driver got out first and opened the door, offering a hand to help the passenger out of the car while speaking to her. "I'll walk from here." The passenger gave a nod and didn't even blink as the driver swept the white hat off her head, crumbling the illusion that had been set around them both. Viper smiled and set her hat on her own head, then pulled off her leather driving gloves and placed them in her pocket. "You'll be off the hook for a few hours- drive where you want, but be back when I call for you, alright?" Viper turned away with a parting wave and then strode off towards the nearby park. She casually checked to make sure Fang was in its hidden sheath as she approached the meeting point, and then stepped up to meet the others.

"Almost everyone's here, I see. Not too fashionably late, am I?" She asked in a casual tone, hands in the pockets of her immaculate white suit.

[Phobia]

Mama Louise had no need to arrive, she was already in town. That nice young man from the flower shop near her Bayou had come out and found her to give her a bouquet and a message. She liked getting flowers, so he was likely one of the few people they could find to go out there. UPS sure wouldn't do it.

The elderly woman had promised to bring him something back, and her animal friends wanted some souvenirs too. With her obviously out of town attire she'd been playing tourist all day in the shops before making her way over to the park about mid-day because she didn't want to be late, you see. Here she had feed the birds for a while and even talked a runaway teen she was sharing the park bench with into going back home.

Then she fell asleep.

It was hours later when she finally woke up, nearby to where everyone was gathering. With her large sun-hat, thick sunglasses, and a bag full of tourist trap memorabilia this sleeping elderly woman was hardly recognizable as the other requested hero. They had most likely just passed her by having no idea. She made her way over to the group slowly.

"I hope you kids haven't been waiting on me. Don't y'all worry, Mama Louise might be gettin' a little slow, but she still made it, children." She said in a thick Cajun accent.

[Callos_DeTerran]

The yellow skinned alien being looked up as the five meta-beings began to arrive in their own, telling ways with a solemn look in his solid red eyes. There was no verbal response to any individual entrance, just a simple and respectful nod of the head. Once everyone had arrived though, Xenoo stood up and straightened to his full, imposing height before opening up enough to talk.

"Greetings to all," he says in a grim tone of voice though he does seem to flounder for a bit when faced with Mama Louise's thick accent. "I see all of my messages arrived in good time, I was worried about some of them to be perfectly frank. I believe the custom is to inquire about how each of your lives is doing but we are here for more important matters, so forgive me for skipping the formality."

The alien hero pauses for a moment to gaze around at each of the five once more before he holds out one hand and taps the chrome bracer encircling his wrist, a short cone of light appearing in the air above his palm to show the logo of the guild of heroes.

You are here because you aspire to join the Guild and take a greater role in protecting your planet with the resources and support that the Guild can offer and I am here because I am your...sponsoring Guild member," he informs in a serious tone. "After some...heavy debate, the founding members have decided that you've each earned the chance through your own exploits to join the Guild but being able to act your own is only a part of any heroes duties. We must measure how well you work in unison and also if you can handle the responsibilities that will be expected of you. Mayor Ravenstahl graciously agreed to allow you to use Coast City as your testing ground for these purposes."

The guild logo disappears to be replaced by a simple technological device that looks like an inverted metal pillar that is quickly disassembled into its component pieces with small, in-depth descriptions of the function of each close by. It proves to be surprisingly complex and the almost harsh writing around the broad 'top' of it suggest that it is of alien origin. Soon enough the hologram of the device minimizes down and is replaced by the image of the Terran Defense private military contractors.

"At this very moment humanity is deservedly scrambling for every piece of alien technology that it can find in an attempt to disassemble it and advance your own culture and technology. Remnants of Sejilic arms and armor lay scattered across the globe to be claimed by any who can find them and it is one of the growing problems that the Guild has found itself faced with," Xenoo intones as the hologram flickers and fades away, allowing him to drop his arm beneath the long cape that he wears to be hidden from sight once more. "The very nature of the Sejilic debris left behind makes it incredibly simple for those with ill intentions to take advantage of a lucky find to cause havoc and mayhem, but the research derived from them is still valuable. Your species has a peculiar knack for devising peaceful uses of war-time productions after all and the Guild does not want to stop this chance to make some good of your occupation."

"More importantly, this is a relatively simple task to first entrust all of you with to see how well you can pull together in times of stress. The TD military contractors have been hired to transport a Sejilic device of unknown purpose to the proper authorities for study and disposal if necessary while several decoy convoys take notice off them with official Guild protection, my own." The alien pauses for a moment to look at each of the heroes in turn and he gives a quiet nod as if reaching some silent decision before he continues on. "...Normally this would be enough, something that has been done in the past without any major complications but something has happened this time. Over the past two weeks several TP captains were found in compromising situations in a euphoric state, mumbling clandestine secrets about Terran Defense's inner workings and missions. It is unknown if this device's transport was revealed or not, but now there is worry that someone or something may be planning the theft of this salvage for their selves. With your experiences with such things, I imagine coming up with a plan to stop this will not prove difficult but they also should not be discussed in the open. Is there somewhere we can go to figure out our course of action in private?"



If you want, you can roll technology to discover the purpose of the device.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Trinity gave a slight smile at the casual analysis of humanity's ingenuity. It made him curious as to just how they did appear to the rest of the intergalactic community, what insights beings from other worlds might be able to provide on them. He made a mental note to explore that angle further in the future, but decided that now was not the time.

He listened closely to the details of the mission. Heeding the hero's warning, he didn't put forth any ideas yet...outwardly at least.

~Thoughts?~

~Just changing the transit method should work, for this particular mission at least. Come up with a new route that they don't know about, should be as secure as ever. Have us on guard just in case.~

~Perhaps in that case, simply flying it to its destination personally would be preferable, although I'm not entirely sure of the size of the device from the...mmm...~

~Hologram.~

~Thank you.~

~Eh, sounds to me like securing this particular item is kinda a secondary concern. If Terran Defense is being infiltrated, what we really need to do is learn who is doing it and stop them. To that end, keep the route the same, we'll be on as additional defense, can arrest anyone who makes a play for the tech. And it might actually be a half-decent "test" for the guild, whereas just...flying the thing safely to its destination in somewhere under an hour, while efficient, isn't exactly a strong indicator of our teamwork under stress, and all. Also more fun that way.~

~And more dangerous. If we do something like that, maybe we should be the transport rather than simply joining it, so the normal guards and drivers and stuff aren't at risk.~

[GenericMook]

Making my tech roll.
[roll0]

Bastion nodded slowly as Xenoo finished his briefing. "I've got a few ideas myself as to what we could do, but I agree, running through this at a separate location would be better. I wouldn't mind inviting people to my HQ, but it's going to be somewhat long route, especially if you can't fly," said Bastion, casually folding his hands.

Sean, however was more preoccupied with figuring out what the device in particular was. As far as he could tell, he and Xenoo were the only people present that would be able to deduce the real nature of the device, and he himself wasn't sure of Xenoo's capacity as a scientist.

[AmberVael]

Viper gave them all a winning smile as she withdrew her hand a piece of chalk from one of her pockets. "Say no more! Allow me to be the host of this humble party- if we are to be located here, then I need to attune my home to the city anyway."

The illusionist knelt on the paved path of the park and began carefully drawing out a magic circle. "It will take a bit to get this set up just right, but once I have it we'll be able to just step right inside. Much more convenient than taking a trip somewhere."

It swiftly became clear that this was no small work of magic- at least literally speaking. The diameter of the spell diagram was easily larger than the height of a man, and laced with smaller circles and arcane phrases. Memorizing the general outline of it would take some time, let alone all the exacting details. Still, Viper went through it all with practiced familiarity, and when she was finally finished she stood and nodded at her work, dropping the chalk in her pocket and exchanging it for a small pin that she promptly pricked her finger with, carelessly flicking a drop of blood onto the diagram.

With a wavering hum the circle activated, causing the air above the diagram to ripple weirdly. Viper smartly stepped to one side and gestured grandly to the shimmering portal as it opened. "May I welcome you to Alabaster Alcazar?"

Just beyond the portal was a wide, circular fountain with four statues of beautiful women holding celestial objects in cupped hands, all of it made of marble and bordered by a stone path. A lush green hedge surrounded all this and expanded beyond, twisting off into a veritable garden maze. Overshadowing all, however, was a shining white palace that sprawled out around the garden, its massive wings stretching out alongside the garden so that the palace itself formed three of the garden's borders.

[Arcran]

Centurion listens intently, understanding the gist of what is being said but frankly getting lost when it comes to the technology. Alien supertechnology was not exactly his forte.

Fortunately, fixing the problem would be easy. Wait for whoever wants to steal the technology to come, beat them on the field of battle, then ensure the continued safe delivery of the object.

When the courtyard appears from nothing Centurion grips his sword hilt hard, hands cracking. While he was likely some magical creature himself he never felt quite at home when magic was involved. Humans and aliens can be expected to be able to be fought, able to be killed but magic was a whole different issue. At least the house had marble. That always made him feel at home.

"A fine home," he says with his gravely voice, looking around to try to take it all in. "Good craftsmanship," he says, knocking softly on one of the statues.

"So if the enemy knows of the delivery route would not be the best course of action be to let them come to us? We could easily avoid the conflict but would that not be both cowardly and foolish? If somebody is trying to acquire powerful weapons, should we not find out who and for what purpose?"

If somebody was trying to get alien weapons it likely was not for a good purpose; Centurion knew that much. He would not let those devastating tools be used by the wrong men.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Trinity was, admittedly, more impressed with the casual performance of what was clearly a feat of very intricate spellcraft than the home itself. He was still a little...sketchy on his comprehension of material luxuries. He did, however, gather from the rather awed responses of the siblings inside his head that the manor itself was equally impressive.

He followed along inside. Once assured they were secure, he said, "I concur. While the immediate risk might be slightly greater, it would give us a chance to deal with the root problem in a way that avoidance alone would not. However, it would also mean the guards and drivers taking on additional risk. Would it be possible for us to handle the transit personally, to minimize their risk, or would that run afoul their protocols?"

~I wouldn't necessarily call the "fly it safely to its destination" idea cowardly though.~

~Nah, yeah, I'm with the statue on that one. Hey, Trin, other option is to shell game it. Have someone get it where it needs to go quick and easy, but send out the "normal" transport to draw the attack. Best of both worlds, and all.~

"It may, however, also be possible to secure the device by an alternate route - flying it directly to its destination, being perhaps the simplest option - while still deploying the expected transit to draw out the enemy."

[Phobia]

Mama Louise listened to the alien, Xenoo, talk about the big problems facing them. It looked like they mainly needed extra hands to deal with a world-wide cleanup, with alien pollution everywhere. But this pollution could be used to hurt someone and that wasn't good for anyone.

"What they need is a little personal growth, then maybe they'll be ready for some technological growth." Mama Louise scolded the theoretical people that would come after something like this.

She reacted with little surprise at being transported along with White Viper.

"I recognize that voice. Oh, Viper, hun, is that you? These old eyes aren't quite what they used to be!" The old priestess exclaimed, lifting her cane off the ground in order to walk more quickly over to her and give her a hug. "I'm so proud to see you here." She told her in a hushed voice when she was close by.

Still standing over by Viper, Mama Louise turned a stink-eye on the Centurion. "It's never a mistake to avoid conflict, Mr. Statue-Man. I'm sorry, sonny, what's your name again? The best battle is the one unfought. You'd do well to remember that." She said, still in her thick accent, shaking her cane at him a bit before setting it back on the ground and leaning on it.

"If it's in their heart to drive the truck for us, I say bless 'em, I wouldn't want to detour their personal journey." She chuckled and whipped the corner of one of her eyes. "It'll just be up to us to be twice as alert and twice as heroic so as to not let these nice folks come to any harm." The older woman seemed quite confident.

"Besides, whoever is after this technology might not even show, but they're probably just misguided. I'll talk to them."

[GenericMook]

Sean, within hit suit, raised an eyebrow at the magic circle. While it was nice, he didn't particularly take too well to works of magic. They didn't mess up his suit or anything, but he didn't like the fact that there were forces that worked more to emotion and willpower than logic and reason. Still, the architecture was impressive. That's at least something.

"Saying that the immediate risk is only 'slightly' greater is a bit of an understatement. We don't have much idea on who our would-be thieves are," said Bastion, who had begun to pace about. "Of course, we could always send the TD escorts - all of them, mind you - with decoys, and send the real device with a third party, or with us. I might even be able to fabricate fake versions of the device, given some time. Considering that there's a leak within TD, I don't think that we should necessarily actually hand the device to them for the escort. Not exactly the bravest option, but it minimizes the risk of this device falling into the wrong hands."

[Arcran]

Centurion barely recognizes Bastion's voice and can't quite place it despite knowing it was somewhat familiar. Was he in the invasion? There were so many other heroes there...

"That is perhaps the better plan. Using a fake envoy is far less of a risk and can still draw out our enemy, although we will need to keep that fact quite."

"If we spread the word about fake envoys but keep the real one a secret our opponent will have to spread out to cover more. We won't have to fight quite as large a force and, after capturing our enemy, we can go save the other convoys."

He then turns to the old woman, almost laughing as she scolds him like a child. "You're mistaken. In some cases, yes. When we have a hostile force sabotaging efforts to make good use of alien technology? The best battle fought is the one where we eliminate that threat before it can cause serious damage."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Bastion:

Obviously there's a big gap in how things are made between two different species with two vastly different ways of producing technology, but Bastion is a rather smart fellow and he's still able to figure out some small details.

The device itself doesn't appear to be a weapon in and of itself, lacking any known method of causing harm or generating destruction. In fact it seems designed to be hooked up to a larger whole.

Xenoo was the last one through the portal and in fact shows some apprehension when he does go through, but the alien hero returns to the same stoic expression once he's on the other side and finds a regular home. Or rather a very opulent one but one without anything that might make him nervous. Still, he listens silently as the others begin to sound out ideas for what to do, seeming content to let them sound out their own ideas.

"There is a problem with simply changing the route, he finally interrupts. "As you can imagine, tests were run on the individuals found to have been tampered with and our discoveries were troubling. It seems that the affected's comatose state was not the result of someone tampering with their mind but rather a side effect of the control being lifted. In other words they only demonstrated signs of being controlled after the individual or individuals had gotten what they wanted."

"It is entirely possible that there may be sleeper agents still within Terran Defense who will report any changes made to the thief or thieves." Xenoo pauses for a moment as he walks around the wide fountain to approach the hedge, bending over at the waist to inhale the fragrance before abruptly sneezing and standing up straight. "Moreover the salvage of alien artifacts is monitored by the Guild to ensure there is no abuse...but it is not controlled by the Guild. The owner of this particular device needs to have it cataloged and recorded but otherwise is in control of how it is to be handled. Terran Defense is willing to take suggestions for defense and will happily accommodate you if you wish to protect it yourselves...but they have no desire to lose business either."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Perhaps it would be best to set up a meeting with the one in charge of the transport, to see precisely what they are willing to do. Although it would, I think, primarily be an exercise in risk mitigation rather than a strict necessity; I have every confidence that simply including us as an additional guard for the transit would be sufficient to overcome whatever forces are sent to acquire the device."

~If we're going to do that, we'd need to know that whoever we talk to isn't a sleeper. Really, that would be a good thing to be able to do one way or another, so we can make sure the people involved in the transport aren't going to sabotage it.~

~Indeed. How to do that, is the question.~

~Ask Sean. I bet he can.~

~Which one is Sean?~

~I...think that's his powered armor, isn't it? I mean, it's been a while, but I'm pretty sure. Anyway, if I recall right, he can invent, like, anything.~

Trinity paused for a moment, and then looked Bastion's way. "Would it be possible for you to devise some sort of device that could be used to detect these sleepers? It would be necessary if we're going to talk to anyone in TD, and even if not, it would be good to be able to scan any personnel involved in the transport."

[Arcran]

"I agree with the seraphim; moving it to another truck is an unnecessary exercise. Perhaps the simplest plan is to act without informing the Defense Force; if we act without their knowledge there is no chance of the plan being leaked. We simply acquire which truck is traveling and tail it, intervening when the inevitable heist occurs."

[GenericMook]

"I could probably come up with something, but that might take a bit of time. I'm assuming you're asking me to look for nonmagical interference, and that's something I could probably manage. I can't guarantee that it'll work for very long, especially if I make it under short notice, said Bastion. "Either way, however, it looks like we're in something serious. From my best guess, I think that our device here is only a part of something bigger. That, plus the apparent sleeper agents, means that someone - or a group - is throwing a lot of resources at trying to get this. I think it's best if we provide decoys. I might be able to turn the decoys into trackers, or cause it to detonate when it's hooked up to whatever it's supposed to go into. I personally don't think that we can entirely trust TD on this. It looks like they've been compromised. I don't mind Centurion's idea, but it assumes that we even are going to have a heist. What if they just drive to whatever location that our thieves want them to? We wouldn't be able to stop them like that."

[AmberVael]

Viper closed the entryway behind them once Xenoo had come in, a satisfied smirk on her face, her posture regal and proud, perhaps with a bit of calculated pomp to it- an effect that was largely ruined as the old mambo came up to her and hugged her. The illusionist seemed rather embarrassed, but hugged Louise in return (if briefly) and murmured a very quiet thanks to her before pulling back and trying to reclaim at least some of her dignity and poise.

"We can hold our meeting here in the gardens if you'd like," Viper began, speaking to the group in general, "But we can take it inside as well."

"As for how to deal with this..." She considered the situation carefully, taking a seat on the edge of the fountain for now. "If we want decoys, I can definitely provide some of that. Illusions are what I do, and it wouldn't take long to craft something suitable."

To herself, Viper wondered if maybe she shouldn't just share all of her ideas though. Sleeper agents... maybe it would be better to approach this as a villain than a hero. How did she know she could trust the others? Oh, she doubted they were agents, but they were heroes, not like her. They did rules and honesty and cooperation, and while that was all well and good, sometimes to succeed you needed a little less honor.

"I have a few questions. First, where are these authorities the device is being taken to- where exactly is this convoy going, and where is starting? Second, who is the owner and who are the authorities? Third... that hologram you showed earlier. Was that the device, or was it a random example? It looked pretty well figured out, but you said the purpose of this one is unknown?"