AKA [IC]

[San Har Jasta]

Chief
Switzerland

Chief was happy he was able to reconcile so quickly. "I would have come over to meet you eventually, so you don't have to be an asshole. I hope we can still be friends, because Pending is not my first name and I need help deciding on one." Chief looked at her hopefully and said "Would you help me come up with a name, and could you also tell me yours?" He gave her a quick smile and was thinking he may have made a new friend. If his old keepers could see him now, they would be very proud- except for the outburst of rage. Maybe this new friend could find him more friends, and he could help her get noticed.

[Sadakoyama]

Quandary
Switzerland

"I would love to be friends, Chief. You'd be the first. You can just call me 'Quandary'. Or 'Q'."

She studied his face for a second. She liked animals, more than people most times.

"What sort of name do you want? I mean, you could stick with 'Pending', we could call you 'Pen'. And it sounds like you're second in command or something."

[San Har Jasta]

Pending Chief
Switzerland

Chief smiled and was very happy he made a friend. Q would technically be his first, since his keepers died before he knew what friends were. Nonetheless, the two held a special place in Chief's simian heart.

"Well, the name I want should be heroic. I would keep Chief as my last name and as my hero alias." He kept thinking hard, "Maybe Pending could be my name." Pending Chief sounded nice to the ape. Chief flashed a big grin towards Quandary, and said very excitedly "My name is now Pending Chief! Thanks Q!"
He looked back down at his contract and signed it quickly, as many times as he could, barely reading what he was signing. Once he was sure every line that could be signed was signed, he felt complete. "Let's go meet the other members of our team, why don't we?" Pending said, very excited to introduce himself with his new identity. He grabbed Q's hand and dragged her towards the next person who was on their own- The white-haired, pale, scrawny lad with his head in his hands.

"Hello, my fellow meta! My name is Pending Chief, what's yours?" Chief knew that heads in hands means sadness, so it was time to for the primate to cheer this lanky man up. But Pending has never dealt with sad people, he has only seen what to do in movies and heard about it in songs "Don't be sad, friend. I am here, and you can be happy now." Chief patted the sad man's shoulder reassuringly.

[Skyggeheim]

Tara Redmast
Zurich, Switzerland
March 2020

---

"Yeah, I've got a question," a voice called out from the back of the room. As heads turned, they saw a red-haired female leaning against the rear wall of the room, hands in her pockets. Her left arm was almost entirely robotic, and small lines running across her exposed midsection and up towards her neck exuded a notion that she was not altogether human. Her eyes were a strange amber, and as they surveyed the room they seemed to rotate and shift in a way that no regular eye would. She settled her gaze on Hollands and Owens, a neutral expression that could be interpreted as a scowl displayed on her face.

"Then please, do share, Ms. Redmast," Hollands replied dryly.

"So," Tara began, "You guys plan on organizing us into teams, right? And then having us vote on our own team leaders?"

She seemed nonchalant about the question, as if it wasn't information disclosed in private information shared between Hollands, Owens, and their higher ups. She, as it happened, had read the correspondence. It wasn't particularly difficult to decrypt, as it seems that Argus slipped up and plugged her into the Argonauts database without adding all the necessary tethers to keep her from snooping. And where there was a loophole, Tara would find it. She was...naturally inquisitive, to say the least.

Holland's eyes grew dark and cloudy, a rare demonstration of his power at work, before settling back to normal. "That was our original suggestion, yes. Two teams to share the work load."

"Yeah, so like, that doesn't make any sense," Tara said flatly, sighing, "We don't know each other's powers or psychological powers. Well, actually, I do, but nobody else does except you guys. But from what I can tell, we basically fall into three categories. Shall I continue, or am I already in trouble? Because if I should just stop right here, put me in chains."

With that, Tara held out her hands and exposed her wrists, smiling knowingly at Hollands. She had a history of being testy with Argus agents, but had always known exactly where to draw the line. Her disregard of authority was easy to ignore when considering the advantages she brought to any team she was with on the battlefield.

"That is yet to be decided. But please, now I'm curious." Hollands replied, making no move to restrain her.

"So basically, I read everyone's powers and psych information. Some of you need therapy," Tara said, waving her hand to the group, "Anyways, subcategories - yeah. Those people that hit hard and fight well? Strikers. The sneaky folks? Hunters. And the flex or people who don't fit into either of those? Augmenters. Wouldn't it make more sense to just divide us up that way, so we can train with other people in the same way? Sneaky folk don't need to practice how to take a hit like Strikers do, and Strikers don't need to train to sneak into heavily guarded facilities. That way, too, you guys can pick and choose who you send on missions. Not everyone on Team Alpha might be suited for a stealth mission, or a humanitarian mission, or a mission where the Argonauts just need to crack some skulls. Be better to divide us based on skillset, and cherry pick for the uh...'mission requirements'. You followin'?"

"I understand perfectly; It is a good suggestion, but it is your team that needs to cooperate with such a design, not myself nor Mr. Owens."

Tara surveyed the room, raising her hands and slightly shrugging. She didn't exactly expect everyone to agree with her, but she felt as if she made enough logical sense for her point to be clear.

"Well, yes or no?" She inquired.

[Sadakoyama]

"I'm with the Borg Queen," Quandary said, waving her hand vigorously and hoping that holding hands with Pen would help her be heard. "I do not want to take any hits, please. I will be less than useless in combat."
That was what the Argus instructors had told her, anyway, more than a few times.

[Okayanos]

Fionn Szabo
Avalerion
Zurich, Switzerland - Conference Room 2-C

A large hand on Fionn's shoulder woke him from his stupor of boredom. The owner of said meaty grip was, against all logic, a very well-dressed chimpanzee. With sunglasses, no less. Fionn raised his head, taking a moment to process the ape and... who was that standing there? A plain-looking girl, brown wavy hair- he hadn't even noticed her. Still, the ape wasn't being rude or anything. "...Fionn Szabo, but my registered alias is Avalerion." He considered explaining the actual meaning of the word, but held off on it. "I'm not sad, just kind of... bored. I have stuff that I need to be working on. Uh, mech suit. That's all I have for powers. What kind of power does a, uh... person like you end up with?" He gestured toward the ape. Try though as he might, Fionn couldn't help but feel a strange sense of wonder at the bizarre nature of Pending's entire being. A chimp gaining powers could potentially change the entire understanding of how metahuman abilities work.

It's at this moment that Tara made her assertive presence known. Fionn was personally offended at her noting that some of them need therapy- because he knew she was referring to him, and was wrong to do so. However, her suggestions for team organization are nothing but right. "I kind of like it. It makes us more flexible, and makes it so that the strong ones don't have to babysit the sneaky ones when we're fighting." He imagined someone like Nick trying to walk into a meta battlefield and being nuked off the face of the earth, or the forgettable girl taking a missile through the torso, or one of the prissy rich kids trying to throw a punch against anyone tougher than a sheet of paper. "Or even me without my suit." Fionn added. "But who's going to decide which of us is best for each mission?"

[Harbertia]

Melora
Melora also added her support; "I agree, if we are to be effective we should make sure each team has at least one individual of a specific role. To be flexible when faced with any situation, however the capacity to work together will be crucial as with flexibility comes the capacity to bend over under certain circumstances. I propose we move into groups based on the role we would best serve and then one of us move to the wall. That one then should choose someone from another group. That person will then select another until half of those gathered are selected. The remaining half will form it's own team." Melora looked over towards Tara, "She should be able to inform us of what group- the subcategories- we fall under."

[Nagakawa]

Zurich, Switzerland
Argus HQ
22/03/2020

A most interesting bunch indeed! Barely an hour or so into the first day of work, and someone- specifically, the young lady with the cybernetic attachments who had been in the room prior to the other group coming in- had already proposed major changes to the structure of their functional group. As premature as it probably was to decide whether or not he liked this new workplace, Kenny could not help but smile to himself.

In the army, this sort of radical new idea would not have stood its ground for a moment. New ideas, it seemed, were illegal in the military. Here, on the other hand...

Kenny quickly checked his phone, having felt a buzz. Sighing to himself, he switched off the vibrate function and put his phone back into his pocket.

Even aside from Pending Chief the ape, whom Kenny found to be a rather endearing break from all the other "ordinary" humans in the room, this was a pretty interesting bunch. Where else, for example, could you see a snarky cybernetically-enhanced woman (if it wasn't the other way round) back-chatting a future boss in the same room as a freakishly tall girl with a tail and, among others, a sentient ape fully capable of intelligent speech?

Strange fascinations.

While reading the contract over and over again, one particular question continued to bug Kenny. It wasn't a question of tactical significance or anything like that- rather, it was more a QOL thing than anything else. It perhaps wasn't much use asking, but then again, if a newbie's proposal to change the entire structure of the new functional group had been given serious deliberation, perhaps it wasn't so silly to inquire. Of course, it seemed that people were busy with that earlier discussion, so...

"Say", said Kenny to Claude, the aristocratic French guy, leaning closer and speaking to him in a hushed voice, as if testing the water before actually speaking out. "By any chance, do you happen to know... ah, never mind."

Why would a fellow new recruit know anything? No point asking him, dumb-dumb.

Kenny raised his hand, meekly trying to steal the attention of the others in the room away for just a bit.

"Sorry if I'm a nuisance", he sheepishly said, "but I was wondering... how's our bunking plan gonna work? Is it one to a room? Two to a room? Four? I don't know..."

...

[Mercatus]

Zurich, Switzerland

Marty Sullivan

As Marty sat down in his seat, he gave the contract naught but a glance. He hated paperwork. It just slowed things down and made everything more complicated than it needed to be, so he just signed the damn paper.

When the red-haired lady with a robotic arm suggested a way to divide the teams, Marty offered his own input, "I believe Miss Terminator has some valid points. However, we still need a system to decide who will lead each team. What I propose may not be popular, but it would ensure that we get the most capable leader. Instead of voting, we should test every metahuman here with a simulation of a dangerous situation, combat or otherwise, that requires swift and effective action by the commanding figure in order to neutralize that situation. Whoever proves to be the most decisively successful leader will be determined by either Mr. Hollands or Mr. Owens, or perhaps both. I think that if we vote, most of us would choose the candidate that would be the nicest in our eyes. However, we need leaders who can stay calm under pressure, and also push the members under their command to push themselves in training, both mentally and physically. I agree with the tall french lady too, we should have varied teams suited to multirole operations, and I say we start with everyone saying who they are, what they can do, and what they did before coming here. I'll start, my name is Marty Sullivan, and I am able to form solid metal shapes and weapons from my own mass." Marty pauses to show this ability, and his forearms flattened, his fingers fused together, and a black, metallic double edged-blade formed on both of his arms. He reformed his normal limbs, and this time, a black mass seemed to grow and slowly take form in his hand, and a truncheon materialized. "So, now with that out of the way, I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I was a police officer for 3 years in Albany, Georgia, and for 2 of those years I worked in collaboration with the GBI in capturing or killing high-priority gang-affiliated targets, and also dismantled some of the smaller, local gangs during my time as a police officer. I pursued a 4 year degree in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, and graduated rather recently. I should also mention my other abilities: I can deliver blunt blows of increible force and am able to put a deep dent in a steel wall, and can punch through other metals. I have extremely fast reaction and attack speeds, for instance I can empty a 20 round magazine in about 3 seconds. I can also reload extremely fast, and do just about any work you want on any gun you want. Now, who's next?"

[Sadakoyama]

Quandary

Emboldened by her new friendship, and still holding Pen's hand, Q took a half step forward.

"My name is Quandary, just Quandary, or you can call me 'Q'. I don't want to be a leader. I didn't know I had powers a month ago. I'm not strong, I don't like guns, I don't even like confrontation. People... people don't notice me. I thought it was just me, or that people were jerks, but the scientists say no, it's powers. People's eyes see me,I can see them seeing me, but they don't see me. If that makes sense. Even now, I can see that some of you, your attention is slipping away... Mostly to her," she said, gesturing to Alessia.

She stepped back, and quietly, sadly muttered to herself, "and in twenty minutes none of you will remember I said anything at all."

[Khasinkonia]

Carmagnola

It wasn’t as if I had much of a choice in the matter. I’d already agreed to the terms outlined, albeit in a few areas begrudgingly, and had come to terms with the reality of hero work. It really had never been my life’s goal to enter into such dangerous work, but perhaps a clean head with little vain interest in having a heroic career and a public spotlight would prove a helpful addition, as there seemed to be a few people around here with quite the swagger in their step. Maybe they were right to do so though, as it was understood that we were supposed to act personable and help give this organisation some good PR. Our presumptive crew certainly had the constitution of a cartoon about superhumans. I was guilty of the stereotype, as was the giant with a tail, not to mention a lady with some robotic modifications, or the actual simian in a suit. Just where did they find us? Certainly, there was someone around here with a deliciously abundant flow of imagination. Maybe enough to make a new long-term hole link into my universe. It would be nice to see my pets and my bits and bobbles. It would probably be polite to check on the senients I kickstarted last month. Based on how I let the time proceed at an accelerated rate while I was away, I should probably be ready to check in on a lovely Stone Age after dinner. Even when I was little, it was interesting to me to see what sentient races did with the objective knowledge of having a god. I could never decide though, had they reacted more hilariously to finding out their “god” was really a child, or that I was a kindergarten teacher? I always revealed it as they were beginning to explore the stars. Once, they had a religious breakdown over learning their god was a child, and destroyed themselves. Whoops. The last time, they thought it was hilarious and spent months coping with the deeply ridiculous reality that their “god” was, in her own world, an elementary school teacher. Always fascinating.

And yet, though I had a universe under my command, and had toyed with godhood ever since a child, the rather humbling reality of signing a contract on someone else’s terms was a deeply ridiculous circumstance. It was almost like the makings of a comedy! But then, everything to do with my powers was. In one world, a god, in this world, a wacky former elementary school teacher. It’s a good thing for my own sake that I learned perspective, because the situations are so spectacularly different.

Nonetheless, as funny as I found the entire thing, I of course still needed to sign. So I did. In neat curly letters, with a heart over the i. "Evanthuccia Formosa.”

Naturally, as first meetings and conferences went, it wasn’t long before someone took charge, and all hell broke loose. The woman with the robotic arm suggested radically shaking up team organisation. Plenty of people agreed. It seemed like the greater part of the verbal affirmations felt for some reason compelled to refer to her using various robot-related terms that seemed rather pejorative considering we’d all just met. But, as working with small children had taught me, it was best to abstain from commentary before getting a better picture of what was going on, as hurt feelings could mean tantrums. As it seemed that all had more or less agreed, someone else raised his hand like a polite first grader, and then asked his question regarding boarding situations. Yes, that was an important detail that hadn’t really gotten as much attention as was strictly useful to us. How big were the rooms? How many amenities would be right there? And then someone plain ignored him in favour of introducing themselves and adding. No doubt, some people did not respect the sanctity of the raised hand, and needed to put on their listening ears. I rolled my two open eyes, and took a sip from my thermos. Maybe our host could get this chatty lot under control.

[Futrellia]

Richard Reyne

---

Unbuttoning his dress jacket as he took his seat, Richard took the time to quietly scan over the entire document that would need to have his signature before the day was over. Though he paid scant attention to the debate about how the teams would be organized, he couldn't help but glance from the papers to the one known as Marty Sullivan as he gave his seemingly endless tirade of how he was the best fit for Team Leader. Richard allowed a half smile to show through his silent exterior as he panned back down to his paperwork, looking over the section about compensation. "So, divide that by....sufficient to fund research on that project..." Richard thought, placing whatever he would receive as a paycheck towards one of the many Knight Owl projects. He didn't need the money, but it would help in some of the logistical concerns that would arise from procuring Salus funds. With every bit of the Charter examined and re-examined, Richard signed his name, gently laying the pen down on the table. He leaned back in the chair, his eyes scanning across the table at his teammates. His eyes panned to Quandary, who seemed to be following the trend set by Marty. He genuinely seemed intrigued by her statements. "People....people don't notice me." She said, his eyes focused on her. "They don't see you? I'm seeing you right now..." he said to himself as she took her seat. She would claim that their attention was slipping away from her and towards Alessia. He couldn't confirm how true that was but it wasn't his. Though her words became a fog in his head, he kept eye contact, he stared. Not in a menacing, unapproachable fashion, but one that could paint the words in her own brain, "I see you.".

[Okayanos]

Fionn Szabo
Avalerion

Fionn watched as the room began what would surely be a slow descent into anarchy. His mind was alive with ideas on how to add noise-cancelling into his suit's helmet, which would clearly be a boon if he'd be working with this lot. And, as for less petty applications, he'd scribbled down concepts for high-yield kinetic weaponry that would give him even more firepower on the field- but it would be loud. Much louder than the primarily energy-based weapons that he currently had set up. A giant sniper rifle, or maybe a rocket launcher... he'd only have the space to mount one or the other, though. Or, as an entirely different line of thought, a heavier melee weapon. It was comforting, to let his tragic excuse for a power come over him and pull ideas into his head. The same way one could become immersed in building a model, or drafting some architecture, or things of that nature.

He rubbed at one of his temples when the black-suited man started talking, some kind of rich guy bullshit meant to put himself as leader over everyone else. Fionn found an intense interest in twirling his pen around on one finger as the suited meta began to demonstrate his flashy powers. The double-edged blades made Fionn refuse to pay attention. The truncheon made him stop the pen twirling and sink down a little further into his seat. When the guy- whose name was Marty- began to share the details of his oh-so-amazing ability, Fionn waited until he finished, then flicked the pen cap towards the guy. If anyone asked, it was testing the claim of 'extremely fast reactions'.

When someone holding the ape's hand started talking as well, Fionn tried and failed to resist yawning. He was already forgetting what she'd sad after she finished saying it. The only thing keeping him from overlooking her entirely was the primate holding her hand, which apparently named itself 'Pending Chief'. "Thanks for sharing your Tinder bios, I guess." He said, lamenting that he had nothing to flick at Quandary as well. Then Rich Asshole #2 started eyeballing her, and Fionn lamented that he had nothing to flick at that guy. "I'm Fionn Szabo, I'm registered as Avalerion, and I don't feel like talking about my power. Can we pick roommates if that's going to be a thing?" His ideal roommate was, of course, no one.

[San Har Jasta]

Pending Chief
Switzerland

Chief was happy to see his new friends talking to others. Soon, everyone would be his friend. He didn't like how Q said people will forget her. He'd make sure she got friends, and that they'd remember her just like he would. But before that could happen, he had to introduce himself. Chief climbed onto the table, where everyone could see him. It was time to give an introduction, and share exactly what the Chimp had on his mind.

"Good day to you all. I am Pending Chief, aka Chief. Yes, I am a chimpanzee, and no, that doesn't mean I am stupid or of lesser value than you. However, I think that when we have to determine a leader, a human perspective may be too limiting, or too biased. But when I look at you, all of you, I don't see race, or gender, or age. You all look the same to me. When I look at you all, I see potential. There is a leader inside each and every one of you. And in this trying time, we need leaders. We need that spark of imagination and ingenuity I see within you all. That indefinable attribute you all possess. The question isn't who will be leader, but which of you leaders will use that spark and lead."

Chief sat down after this speech. It meant nothing, and got nothing done, but it made him happy. All the TV heroes gave awesome speeches, and he'd just given his. He honestly didn't know who should be leader, since he wanted all of them to be his friends. His ideal roommate was, of course, everyone.

[Skyggeheim]

Tara Redmast
Zurich, Switzerland
March 2020

---

Tara winced at the Borg Queen comment. Not only was it unnecessary, but it played on one of her biggest insecurities: the fact that she didn't ask to be made this way. She would've been perfectly fine living out the rest of her days as flesh and blood, but evil men do evil deeds and she was an unfortunate byproduct of that. She balled up her fist, but bit her lip and stayed silent. Surely enough, she would remember that comment. Ironically enough, the woman later mentioned how people seemed to forget her. But Tara didn't. Tara saw her just fine. She looked the woman up and down, still internally debating whether to say anything. Soon enough, she decided to wait. Best to let your prey get comfortable before you strike.

But the 'Miss Terminator' comment? That about sent her over the edge. She turned with a hateful glare the kid who made it. Relatively tall, and he was showing off his powers. She recognized him from reading his profile and dossier in the Argus database. A few others got up and spoke in rapid succession after him, but Tara didn't hear any of it. All she could hear was a dull whine as her anger built up to a point where she could no longer contain it. Almost without conscious thought, she was moving towards him. A chair stood in her way, and it was briefly airborne as she tossed it aside. Soon enough, she was inches from his face, and she spoke.

"Hey, fuck you dude. I'd make you swallow your own fucking teeth if I didn't think Papa Hollands would revoke my sanctioned status," She seethed, her voice taking on a metallic tinge as she jabbed an accusatory finger in Marty's chest, "How about we strap you to a table, grab a scalpel, and then start peeling away at your flesh and bones until there's nothing left but a brain? Then, we take that brain and we upload your awareness, your memories, and your entire consciousness to a server. Then, we graft on some metallic parts, cut up your insides some more so you have some weird abilities, and call it a day? Oh, and no painkillers, no anesthetic, and you are painfully aware the entire time. They want you to be. They want you to hurt. Then, we'll kill your best friend too for good measure. Sound good? I bet."

Tara turned and surveyed the rest of the metahumans in the room, who were no doubt staring at her in the wake of her outburst. She still had a snarl on her face, and she realized her finger was still jammed very forcefully into this kids chest. Lowering it, she turned on her heel to walk out of the room.

"Marty Sullivan, fuckin' straight A student and a narc. You're the type of kid I would beat up in high school," She grunted as she moved towards the door, "I suggested the idea, pick your own fucking leaders, unless you're all ready to act like adults and not name-calling kindergartners. I'm out."

With that, she whipped open the door to the room and slammed it shut as she exited. She took a brief moment to lean against the wall and take a deep breath, trying to calm herself, before righting herself and walking away, trying to find her room and get away from these people.

What a good first day.

[Mercatus]

Marty Sullivan

When one of the other guys flicked his pen cap at Marty, his hand seemed to almost teleport to the cap, which was still in mid air when he caught it between his fingers. He tossed back to the man who threw it, saying, "See what I mean? I'm not full of bullshit, which I'm assuming all of you think I am right now. Believe me, I'm not asserting myself as the leader of any team, I simply stated that the person best qualified for the job, should get the job." As he listened to the one named "Quandary", Marty was disturbed by her apparent lack of morale. "You may not want to be team leader, but training and improving your skills, physical strength, and mental toughness will leave you with a sense of accomplishment and usefulness. Everybody here, including me, must train themselves to be tougher, which is why we need team leaders that will make themselves and their members strive for perfection." Marty said. When the ape called "Chief" finished what Marty assumed was a speech meant to boost morale, he simply replied, "Thank you, Chief." Marty's head suddenly looked to his side as the cybernetic woman approached him in an obvious fit of rage. Marty still had the truncheon hidden behind his back in case she decided to assault him. When she finished expressing her wish to have Marty gruesomely tortured and his consciousness placed into robotic parts, he was unfazed, and simply looked at her with a blank, cold expression. "Well, I don't see the point of such a punishment if you simply hand me such an ascendancy when your seemingly psychotic procedures are done. Also, by the way, I buried my best friend two months ago, so your tirade has proven... meaningless. You said some of us need therapy, but from the looks of things, it seems you are the one who needs therapy. What a fucking hypocrite. If you can't handle some name-calling, then you obviously aren't mentally tough enough to do what we are likely going to be tasked with while we are over here." said Marty in a rather harsh and somewhat angry tone. He turned back to the audience as the woman angrily left the room. "So, shall we continue?" asked Marty.

[Okayanos]

Fionn Szabo
Avalerion

The pen cap tinked flaccidly onto the table in front of Fionn. In less than a minute, an ape gave a motivational speech, a cyborg lost her shit spectacularly, and a weird man in sunglasses shilled himself for leader. Pending Chief's speech was... decently uplifting, if a bit cliche, but it brought a mood over the room. That mood was kind of destroyed by Tara's outburst, and ruined even more by Marty's response. Fionn re-capped his pen, looked over the contract one last time, and slid it down the table toward Holland and James.

"No take backs on my signature. I'm one of your Argonauts now, whatever that means for the future." Again brushing aside an errant strand of white hair, Fionn rose from his seat. "I nominate myself for leader, first act as leader is for you guys to do whatever you want. I'm gonna go get the angry cyborg lady. Redmast, or whatever." Fionn strode towards the door, passing by Marty's chair and giving it a little pat on the back. "Sucks about your friend, bro. Avalerion signing out from... meeting. I'll be back some time, probably. Peace." He raised up two fingers in a V shape before slipping out the door. Redmast was unfortunately vanished from the face of the earth, but it wouldn't take a genius to figure out where she'd gone.

The barracks, or dormitories, or whatever one would call the rooms that the team was to stay at. That'd be where she would have to be heading- if he was lucky, or she was walking slow, he'd catch up and get to drop some leaderly wisdom, which would obviously prove his eligibility for the role. The ape and the girl who Fionn had a fuzzy recollection of were nice, and the people who hadn't talked were whatever, but the guy with black knives in his hands was proving difficult. As a nominee leader, Fionn would of course deal with that asshole in due time. But first, a robot. Some dumb part of Fionn's mind thought that, due to being a cyborg and all, maybe his power would be slightly less useless for dealing with Redmast.

When he finally caught sight of half-shaved red hair, Fionn made an attempt to try and get the cyborg's attention. "Hey, uh, Redmast? That's your name? Need to talk for like a second, please."

[Nagakawa]

Zurich, Switzerland
Argus HQ
22/03/2020

"Sheesh, guys..."

So much for hunky dory, Kenny thought to himself, as his raised hand fell limply by his side in the face of the whole altercation that had just unrolled before his eyes. Some guy named Marty had just stood up and given a monologue on why he was best suited to be team leader, and then it all spiralled away into Tara the cybernetic young lady threatening to rip him apart for his arrogance before herself storming away.

Personally, Kenny himself had had little interest in leadership positions. His father was a department leader in one of the largest multinational corporations in East Asia, and though the job earned him big bucks, it didn't seem to make him any better or tolerable of a person. Not that leadership was bad in and of itself, just... a tad overrated, and often attracting the wrong kind of person to boot.

Marty, talented as he was, seemed like just another arrogant young hotshot; Kenny had seen a lot of people like that in the army, people who would later go on out into the working world and throw their credentials in everybody else's faces, only to be eaten alive by the very people they'd hoped to command. But Tara, on the other hand... she was fascinating. Not someone he'd trust to lead the team, judging by her being unable to control her emotions and all... but she definitely had depth. As Tara stormed out the room, Marty had begun furiously backpedalling, to which Kenny surreptitiously rolled his eyes.

Some things never changed.

"Sorry, but... is nobody going to explain the, well, logistical side of things here?" Poor Kenny's voice was nearly completely drowned out by the din into which the conference room had descended. "The bunk plan, annual leave, insurance- ah, screw it."

He sat down and read through the contract one more time. Standard legalese, he thought to himself. Nothing seemed off about it.

Reaching into his small satchel bag, which had been on him since the flight (it was his personal bag after all), Kenny rummaged about his belongings looking for his pen. A leather-bound notebook, a small bottle of Allegra for those annoying morning sniffles, a charger and several adapters inside a pencil case, his combat medic handbook from his army days, paperbacks of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit and Junji Itō's Uzumaki... Ah, the pen.

A cute pen, shaped like a carrot. A present from Grandma. Real pleasant to write with, and perfect for putting signatures onto contracts.

"Here, sir." Kenny timidly handed his signed contract to James, smiling in an attempt to soften the palpably tachypnoeic atmosphere in the room. "What happens next?"

[Sadakoyama]

Quandary

She wanted to run. She wanted to run, to hide, to disappear into the woodwork and go. These people, these things terrified her. She should go. She should go. Go. That's what she did. That's what she was good at.

Because you're one of them.

If she left now, what then? Go back to being Claire Elise? A useless life, a shalllow, empty life? Wearing stolen clothes, eating stolen or discarded food, waiting out the clock in a fog of obscurity, waiting for the howling lonliness to consume her at last? That was the easy way, the familiar way.

"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." It was something she heard once, in one of the many churches she passed through over the years. Something she heard and didn't realise she remembered.

Yeah, these folks were scary. But the robot girl stared daggers at her when she left. One of the intense young men was looking at her still. They saw her. They heard her. Maybe they, if anyone, would remember her. For sure, no one outside these walls did.

If there was a better life for her, any sort of life at all, it was here. As the Asian boy approached the table, she squeezed Chief's hand and released it, going after the white-haired one and the Borg- no, Ms. Redmast.

Running down the hall, she silently chanted to herself:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration...

[HypErcApitAl]

Firebrand





(flashback)

She looked in the mirror, hyping herself up. "Grace, you've got this. Don't worry, you'll do excellent. Everything you've done has led you to this point, to now." She walked out of her parents' bathroom, looking at the dufflebag full of her stuff. "What's with the duffie?" Her mom asked. "You're not going to Summer Camp." She joked. Grace laughed and smiled. "I know, but this technically is Summer Camp. I have a whole lot ahead of me, mom." She walked towards her mom, who was sitting on the couch. She kissed her mom on the cheek. "I got you. Don't worry, mom. I'll always be there for you." She gently told her. Her dad was standing, drinking some Coffee. "I'd say the same." He said. "You're wonderful, sweetie. Don't worry about us, or how they think of you. You've got this, girl."

Grace was happy, anxious, and kinda worried, all at the same time. She had this gut feeling, this part of her 'tell' her things like "Don't be a jerk. Don't mess this up. Don't make yourself look stupid. Don't act weird. Remember, you're a superhero," but she played it off. She went back into the bathroom, and hyped herself up once more. She walked out, and her mom walked towards her and hugged her. "I know I said all that stuff years and years ago about you 'not being normal,' or whatever, but you're our normal." She said.

"Take care of my room, take care of everything, Pa, and just, um, be safe." She said, with a pinch of worry in her voice. Her personality didn't allow her to freak out like others did. Although she was in her early twenties, she sorta carried herself like a teenager. It was weird, since she had emotionally matured since then, but she was just prone to laughter and wasn't one to be ultra-serious about things. She smiled through situations, infact, she was doing it right now.

(Present)


She was on the dropship, buckled, and daydreaming - just daydreaming and thinking about her entire life and what'd led her to this exact point. She was deep in thought. It was like she had two sides, the "Cat Valentine"-like side, where she'd laugh at everything and not take certain things seriously. Then, the contrast; her superhero-ing. She was worried that she wasn't skilled enough. She was waiting for them to land so that she'd go into Argus' gym or practice room or whatever and practice. Practice, practice, practice. Practice her flute. Practice her drawing skills. Her hand-to-hand combat. Her fire powers. She wasn't one of those that constantly worried, but maybe she was turning into one.

She laughed aloud at the thought of it all.

One of the staff/agents of the ship walked towards her. He made eye-contact and said; "You okay? Look, if you're worried about being an Argonaut, or skill, or whatever, it's gonna be fine. Look, I believe in you." Grace smiled back at him, and said; "This gut feeling's making me feel... inadequate. Like I can't do something, or like I'm going to always mess up somehow." He intently listened and said; "Look, I know you're normally not like that, but it's like that to everyone. Everyone has that devil or whatever on their shoulder telling them weird or messed-up shit all the time. It's okay, girl." She giggled. "Okayyyy! I think I got it!" She cheerfully said, before taking a catnap.


Around thirty-or-twenty eight minutes went by, and she woke up. She heard the pilot say; "Okay, guys. We're about to land. Welcome to Europe, folks. Welcome to Switzerland. About one of the coldest places. Hope you're dressed right." over the intercom/PA system. She thought; "Heck yeah, I'm dressed right. I have a sweater and some jeans on, I have a nice black biker-type jacket on, I have some bracelets
on. I think I'm good. I don't think I'll freeze-to-Death in the Swiss Alps." She remembered she'd went to Scotland, once, and had a fight with this boomerang-based villain. Her brain was like; "Ooh! I remember Scotland! It was a nice place, but I was fighting this dude and he kept throwing Australian boomerangs at me, and, I think I burned most of the stuff down there, and.." She tried to continue thinking about that experience, but it was like a fleeting memory. Came-and-went. Vanished.

She took another catnap, and the same agent from earlier woke her up. "Rise and shine!" He told her. She unbuckled, hugged him, and grabbed her dufflebag, and walked out. It was like an orientation-type-thing. Argus agents were showing the newly initiated around. She continued to walk, following them. A female Argus agent walked by her. "You're an Argonaut, sweetie. It's this way."

She followed the agent. She was antsy to go to a training room, though. The agent opened a door. She walked in the room. The agent showed her the other Argonauts. She looked up-and-down the room, but was mainly focused on the ape in formal-type clothing. She heard them talk and explain things, and how they worked around here. She decided to greet them. She cheerfully said; "Hiiiiiiiiiiii," waved, and then laughed.

She sat down, and played around with her powers. She wasn't quite interested in what they were saying, but she gave them all eye contact. She noticed one guy had a French accent. She decided to greet him. "Saluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!" She cheered, before returning to her silence, possibly thinking about her old villains that she faced and the new ones she'll probably face in the Future. She looked around, and noticed one of them was staring at her. "A new friend! I didn't really meet [i]meet anyone and now, I have a new friend! This is awesome! Genial![/i]" She thought.

[Futrellia]

"This whole fuckin' thing's falling apart. The name calling, the threats, what the hell? I certainly don't want to be here, but are we really going to conduct ourselves like children? What happened to being adults?" Richard thought to himself as he watched the altercation unfold, Ms. Redmast storm out, Fionn throw in his vie for leadership, though it seemed a weak attempt. He didn't seem to want to be here, either. In Richard's honest opinion, leadership material was lacking in this room. The next to fall was Quandary, who bolted from the room. Richard had hoped he didn't make her feel uncomfortable by acknowledging her. Her lack of confidence in herself or her abilities actually concerned him. Though he was reluctant to be here and probably came across as unfriendly, he still had a heart....somewhere. He would hope that the longer she stayed here, the more her confidence grew. His train of thought was brutally derailed by the "Hiiiiii!" followed by an almost schoolgirlish laugh or giggle, or whatever it was. He nearly jumped out of his skin as his head turned towards the door. His eyes squinted in disbelief. He continued to watch her as she sat down and interacted with her powers. "What'dya'know. A walking flamethrower." he said to himself as she made eye contact with him. For the sake of politeness, he gave her a small smile and a nod.

"Saluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!" She said to one of the other members. Richard looked around to the others, his eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. Richard finally spoke up. "Maybe this would be a good time to break for a bit?"

[The Cyberiad Council]

Edwin "Grey" Hollands
A.I.D. Director

"A good question Mr. Lim," Hollands cleared his throat, only to be interrupted by an explosion of faltering logic and shortsightedness. He simply held up a palm towards Kenny as if to say, "Pardon, me for a moment."

When the row subsided enough that his voice could be heard without shouting, Hollands continued, "You will each have access to individual living spaces; including a bedroom and lavatory. Your individual spaces will then be connected to a common area.

Holland's powers then turned his eyes gray and cloudy as he made sure Quandary was alright in some semblance of the word, at least for a moment.

When his vision returned to his person, he noticed Kenny handing his copy of the Charter to James, and Marty trying to wrest order back from the precipice of chaos.

"No, Mr. Sullivan, I believe we will not. My function is no longer required; what occurs from here is not a matter of "we" but a matter for the Argonauts, solely. I wish you well, but it seems incompetence and ego have already struck twice in the same morning. Until the team is sorted, I will instruct Mr. Owens to refrain from giving you any missions. The facilities of Argus are open to you, but active duty is not.

And Mr. Reyne," Hollands said, turning to Knight Owl. "I have been informed that your equipment has passed its screening and is now ready for you at the workshop. Ask for Arsenal, and he will direct you to your work station. With that, I bid you all a good day."

Hollands stood and buttoned his suit before carrying himself out the door and down the hall towards his office.

[Union Princes]

"This whole fuckin' thing's falling apart. The name calling, the threats, what the hell? I certainly don't want to be here, but are we really going to conduct ourselves like children? What happened to being adults?" Richard thought to himself as he watched the altercation unfold, Ms. Redmast storm out, Fionn throw in his vie for leadership, though it seemed a weak attempt. He didn't seem to want to be here, either. In Richard's honest opinion, leadership material was lacking in this room. The next to fall was Quandary, who bolted from the room. Richard had hoped he didn't make her feel uncomfortable by acknowledging her. Her lack of confidence in herself or her abilities actually concerned him. Though he was reluctant to be here and probably came across as unfriendly, he still had a heart....somewhere. He would hope that the longer she stayed here, the more her confidence grew. His train of thought was brutally derailed by the "Hiiiiii!" followed by an almost schoolgirlish laugh or giggle, or whatever it was. He nearly jumped out of his skin as his head turned towards the door. His eyes squinted in disbelief. He continued to watch her as she sat down and interacted with her powers. "What'dya'know. A walking flamethrower." he said to himself as she made eye contact with him. For the sake of politeness, he gave her a small smile and a nod.

"Saluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!" She said to one of the other members. Richard looked around to the others, his eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. Richard finally spoke up. "Maybe this would be a good time to break for a bit?"

Robespierre

"Bonjour, ma rose." Claude respectfully greeted back to the fiery redhead that was all too enthusiastic to get started. However, what would've been a great first impression for everyone died when contrasting personalities clashed the moment they met each other. As if it was consolation, he wished the French Parliament acted as mature as this. Such a shame really, there were good ideas exchanged between the individuals. When the American spoke up, Claude got up from his seat in acknowledgement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he extended his hand to Reyna as a polite gesture, "The American is right. Since not everyone here is present anymore, we should at least start using the utilities Argus has provided us. Maybe then cooler heads would prevail and we can reconvene at a later time to discuss the team matters. And, if God willing, you think you can get those hot heads to reconcile with each other, I recommend a rendezvous with them in order to settle out their differences. For now, au revoir! I'll be in the shooting range if you seek company."

[Futrellia]

Knight Owl and Arsenal

---

It was the best news he'd heard all day. With his armor and tech now available to him, Richard Reyne nodded as Mr. Hollands walked out of the room. Mr. Reyne took a final look back at the rest of the team before turning and doing the same. Being a team player was going to be a new concept for him. Operating alone, operating on his terms, it's what made him so successful against the Yakuza and against the lower echelons of the Syndicate. His Amplified Special Combat System, or Owlsuit, as he liked to call it sometimes, was what made him who he was. When he stepped into that suit, he was Knight Owl. Without it, he was no better than any of the subpar Argus agents here. Sure, he had combat training, he had the ability to wipe out an entire crew of gangsters with just a single mag and a Glock 26, but he was vulnerable. The only difference now was that even in the suit he was vulnerable. He's going toe-to-toe with metahumans now, not just gang scum. This was a new playing field, one that would generally put Richard as the losing player. He'd need to bury his head in upgrades, he'd need to make serious adjustments, as well as train harder than he ever has. His competition just got alot bigger, stronger and faster. He picked up his pace, transitioning from a normal walking pace to just below a jog. Time was essential and much needed to be done. After a good bit of walking, he found his way to the Workshop, ran through the security scanner and was escorted to his own working space. There it was. The ASCS "Owlsuit", hanging on an array of steel pipes from a coat rack-like rig, giving the appearance that it was occupied. For the first time since being here, Richard smiled. "There you are." He said as he approached the suit. The suit's black and and gray accents shined in the LED lighting from the industrial light bars hanging from the ceiling. He looked around his area, which was quite lacking, to say the least.

"Quite an impressive bit of tech you've got there," a voice rang out from behind Richard. Mr. Reyne's focus on the Owlsuit was broken by the voice. Richard stepped to the side and turned his head to see Arsenal, the Argus equivalent to a quartermaster, he was sure. "Thank you. Took a long time to perfect just the suit alone."

"I'd imagine so," Arsenal nodded, walking over to Richard's work area.

"Arsenal, but you can just call me Joseph," the man announced, offering a mechanical hand to shake. With an impressed expression upon his face, he shook the hand as he examined it. "Impressive hand." He said as his head tilted a little to further see more. "Thank you. It was an...unforeseen consequence of my powers," Arsenal said, as green lightning raced down the metal limb, causing it to disassemble itself, and the parts to hover in the air with a faint halo of light surrounding them.

"Useful, but not the real thing," Arsenal said, causing the pieces to re-assemble.

"Anyways, is there anything I can do to help you get more settled in here? Argus put me in charge of this sandbox, and I can get you whatever kinds of equipment you'd need."

At first, Richard was amazed by the way his limb deconstructed itself, the parts floating in mid-air added further mysticism. He regained himself rather quickly as it pulled itself back together. "Hm, how'd you like to work for Salus?" He said, a smile on his face, a mere joke that played upon Arsenal's amazing skill. He turned around once more to examine the workshop. It was bare, very little to it. That's why Joseph was here, and not a moment too soon. "The current work bench here will suffice, it's large enough that I should be able to implant my upgrades to it from there. I will need a private terminal that I connect to my network. It has my projects saved on them and if I am going to be any good as an Argonaut, it takes constant improving. I can't be Knight Owl without it."

"We can rig up a private terminal, but we'll have to keep it separate from the Argus mainframe; for security reasons, of course," Arsenal muttered, almost subconsciously using his powers.

Various parts from around the workshop began to converge on the two men, some partially configuring themselves and others waiting their turn. "Of course." He said, not against playing by their rules as long as it meant he got what he needed to operate. "With that, I can access the mind/suit interface, it'll make it easier to determine the status of the suit without actually being inside. He watched as the terminal began to assemble itself. Richard compiled the list of materials, machinery and equipment he would need to complete the upgrades to his suit as well as create a few more gadgets that would assist in the new environment he was thrust into. He pulled out a small notepad in the inner pocket of his jacket and began to write down models and makes of various equipment. He ripped the two pages of notes out of book and handed them to Joseph. "You're gonna need this." he said to the quartermaster. Once the terminal was complete, Arsenal took the note and read over it. He gave a quick nod and smile, "Yeah, I think I can get everything here. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"If you can get me all of that, I'll be just fine. How long might the wait time be until I can get to work?" He said, examining his suit once more. "The place is yours to do what you want; as for the equipment, I can get the smaller tools right now, but might be a bit to track down some of the bigger machines."

Gathering the parts and equipment needed was going to take quite a bit of time, as does everything. Richard stroked his chin for a moment as he contemplated his next move. "Wouldn't happen to know where the gym is, would you?"

"Of course, helped design most of it!" Arsenal said, turning and pointing to where the building was in relation to them. "If you head out of the workshop, it's the building over that way just past the Hall of Heroes."

"Alright, thanks, Joseph. Might go work up a sweat while I wait." he said, turning to Arsenal and patting him on the shoulder. Richard exited the workshop, making his way towards the Gym.

[Okayanos]

Tara Redmast, Claire Endicott-Grey, and Fionn Szabo
Argonauts HQ
March 2020

---

It didn't take long for Tara to find a place where she felt sufficiently alone enough to sit down. A bench that overlooked some of the greener portions of the headquarters seemed a reasonable enough area, and so she sat down and reached into her pocket. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes and placing one between her lips, she raised a finger and let a spark of lighting generate an adequate amount of heat to light it. Being more robot than human offered a unique feeling when some of her "skin" was exposed to the cold: it didn't bite at her flesh, but she felt its harshness when she inhaled from the cigarette. Slowly, she let herself decompress. Being around so many people gave her anxiety, and the name-calling certainly didn't help. Not to say that she felt bad about threatening the petulant boy, because given a second chance she would have thrown a punch, but she certainly had felt some stronger feelings in the room because of the crowd.

Fionn had to tail Tara for some time before she finally came to a stop. Her steps were long, quick, and mechanically efficient in a way that most people's wouldn't be, which meant Fionn slowly began to lose ground on her until she finally came to a stop. His mind was almost like a broken record at this point with how much he kept thinking about wanting his suit back. A couple high-powered thrusters behind him would have made this whole pursuit thing at least 5 times easier.

Moreover, it'd also help protect him from the cold. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to preserve some small amount of body heat, and eventually found Tara on a bench, smoking. The smell of nicotine made him wrinkle his nose up, but giving up because of something so small wouldn't be fitting for a member of the Argonauts. So Fionn approached the bench, not sitting down on it or being in range for Tara to punch him without having to take a few steps.
"Hey, Redmast. Can I talk to you for a second? Won't take long."

"Fuck off." Came the simple reply. Tara slid Fionn a sideways glance as she took another drag from her cigarette, but refused to fully acknowledge that Fionn was there, "And my name is Tara."

Quandary walked in the direction she thought the others had gone, the click of her low heels echoing - loudly, to her - on the tile. There were doors they could have disappeared into, but she continued along the corridor, following some instinct until she picked up cigarette smoke and the rumble of low voices. Cautiously, she approached the pair. Click, click, click.

"If I fuck off, that Marty guy wins and probably becomes the team's leader, unless Chief pulls something crazy. I dunno, I don't want a chimpanzee to be the only thing standing between me and having to be ordered around by a guy who polished his uncle's knob for a small loan of a million dollars." He put his back to the wall, leaning against it about three feet away from the bench. "So, Tara, what did he do that pissed you off so much? 'Cause it wasn't just him advertising himself like a fuckin' telemarketer."

Tara sighed, taking a momentary pause to pinch the bridge of her nose as she heard Quandary approaching as the click of her heels echoed across the relatively quiet area. She sighed, muttering something under her breath, before finally turning and looking at Fionn.

"Look, I didn't ever want to be turned into this. I was perfectly content being, well, human. This?" She said, motioning to her body and its various robotic components, "Is an abomination. So the fact that he called me Miss Terminator? It's frustrating to say the least."

"Uh-huh, figured as much..." Fionn wisely decided not to mention that the Terminator ended up being a hero, and the most popular character from the franchise. "I think most of us were perfectly content until some kinda something put us on ARGUS' radar. You said it yourself, most of us need therapy. Marty, though? Don't think he's one of the therapy ones." He stands up from the wall, facing Tara more head-on.

"But we're all stuck here together, and we have to choose our own leader instead of acting like, uh, 'name-calling kindergarteners'. Storming out of the conference room after threatening a dude with death is ballsy but it doesn't really give you a say about who'll be running your and everyone else's lives for the next however-many years. I think what I'm trying to say is, if you hate someone, stand and fight against them instead of dipping out. Marty started bad-mouthing you after you left, are you just gonna let him get away with that?"

"No, but I'm not stupid. I'm not gonna start a fistfight with another person who's supposed to be part of my 'team'," Tara replied, putting air quotes around the word 'team', "And I'm not gonna push myself for leader because, simply put, I don't want to."

She thought for a moment, seeming to lose the scowl that was on her face. Looking Fionn up and down, she took another drag from her cigarette and shot her gaze to Quandary, who was still eavesdropping.

"Would you like to contribute, or just stand there?" Tara asked the girl.

Quandary flinched at being addressed directly, not a thing she was accustomed to. "I... I just wanted to say, I'm sorry," she said, stepping closer. "I think, I know I started the name calling, and there's reasons I do some of the things I do but they're just excuses. The truth is I didn't see you as a person and that's all kinds of wrong." She pushed her hair behind her ear, forced herself to look the woman in those intimidating amber eyes.

"Tara, right? Tara, I'm utterly humiliated and horrified I ever once felt sorry for myself when you've..." she gestured at Tara, "That..." waved her hand behind her in the vague direction of the conference room. "I realize all my bad days together would probably still be a pretty good day for you and... well. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you that, to your face. Before you forget."
She hesitated, then turned to go.

"Wait," Tara commanded, hoping Quandary would stay.

Quandary stopped, turned, wiping a tear from her eye with a trembling hand. "Yeah?"

"Two things," Tara said, holding up her pointer and middle finger, "One, your powers don't work on me. I'm not gonna forget you. My brain isn't in here."

Tara tapped her temple, giving the girl a hard look. It was much more difficult to erase computer data, and as long as Quandary didn't get anywhere in the vicinity of the server housing Tara's consciousness, there would be relatively little issue. She switched her glance between Claire and Fionn.

"And two, if you both want to do some good and create some semblance of a solution out of this entire fucking mess, then I suggest you sit down and listen to what I have to say."

Visibly shaken, Quandary walked up and, with a quaking finger pointed at the cigarette. "Can I have one of those?"

"I'm all ears," Fionn answered. "But I'll pass on the cig."

Tara slipped Claire a cigarette, letting her place it between her lips before sparking it with lightning to light it. She then thought for a moment, her amber eyes twisting and rotating as she ran through available information in her head.

"I don't know much about leadership, but I do know that talk is cheap," She began, looking at Fionn directly, "Actions speak louder than words. You want to separate yourself from the rest of these folks? Show that you're prepared to lead the team. Recommend a team training in the simulation room, play nice-nice for a bit, and let's see who's really worth their salt."

She paused for a moment, then looking at Quandary and choosing her next words carefully.

"And you, Q," She said, not asking permission to call the girl that, "I need your backup. If we want to make things right, and make sure we're a team with a strong leader and good synergy, we need support. If you help us support Fionn for team leader, that will be hard to forget."

Quandary took a long drag on the cigarette, savored it. Blew it out slowly.
"I... " It was a big ask. She'd spent her whole life unentangled, so this was stepping into darkness with no flashlight.
"I want this to work, but this group stuff; I don't know what I'm doing." She turned to look at Fionn. "Are you a better choice than that other kid?"

"I guess so." Fionn shrugged as suddenly two people kinda-sorta vouched for him to legitimately take the leader position. "I mean, I got Tara's support, I think. That's already ahead of what the other guy's got. I don't know how everyone else is gonna take orders from me, though. Might have to try and start a team training session and just see who actually shows up."

"Let's do that, then; see how it goes." She inhaled again, burned the cigarette down to the filter. "I can promise I don't not have your back, and I'm not a fan of the other guy. Let me ponder on it?"

"At the very least, we can call each other acquaintances," Tara said, looking at the other two, "And, when push comes to shove, I'd rather have someone at my back. Less about something set in stone, and more about finding people you can rely on. If I can count on you two, I'll feel a little less... isolated."

Tara took a long pause to finish off her cigarette, looking up at Claire as the woman started to put the filter of the cigarette in her mouth for another pull. Reacting rapidly, she snatched the thing out of Q's hand, flicking both onto the sidewalk.

"I hope you're not already addicted to those things," Tara said, then looking at Fionn, "So, what do you say?"

Quandary startled like she just woke up. "Not... isolated." She said quietly smiling.

"I mean, I'll try it. I kinda put my name in the running for leader before I left the conference room, so the others won't be suspicious about all this shady shit." Fionn answered. "And hey, maybe if one of your mechanical parts gets busted up on a mission, I can put it back together. That's pretty much all my power's good for when I'm not armored." Not being isolated was a good thing too. He'd only barely interacted with any members of the Argonauts, and one of those was a talking ape that would have trouble being taken seriously.
"But enough about that. I'm going to go find my fucking suit. Try and get everyone in for a training session in... let's say five to ten minutes?" That'd be long enough to allow him sufficient alone time with his gear. "Also, Tara, if you still have those psychological profiles that you mentioned, I kinda want to look at them. If I'm going to try and be leader."

Let's hold off on that, for now. I'm gonna get crucified by Hollands for pulling them from the directory in the first place, I can't imagine how bad it'll be if he finds out I sent them to someone else," Tara replied, "But yeah, 5-10 minutes sounds good. I figured out how to run the thing already, so I'm gonna head that way and start setting up."

With that, Tara nodded to Fionn and started towards the gym, pulling up the map in her corneal display as she walked.

"Tara," Quandary called out, jogging behind her.

"Yeah?" Came the reply, Tara slowly down her mechanical pace to match Claire's.

"Is it true, what you said? I don't know anything about computers, like, at all. About remembering?"

Tara nodded in confirmation.

"Your information field is proximity-based. I, quite literally, don't think in this subunit, so your, ah, forgetability... it doesn't work on me. The Athenian particles that are created when I process information aren't interrupted when you're around," Tara said, then pausing for a long moment, "You...don't know exactly how your powers work, do you?"

"No. Even the scientists who first examined me didn't seem to," she said. "Will you do me a favor, though? When you see me tomorrow, will you just, say something, so I know you do?"

Tara gave Claire a terse nod.

"Of course," She said, "Now, let's head to the gym?"

"I gotta change," Claire said, gesturing to the skirt and heels.

"Gotcha, I don't, so I'll meet you there," Tara said, mirroring the gesture to the functional clothes she always wore. And with that, she turned and walked towards the gym.

---

While the two women headed toward the gym, Fionn made his way back toward the conference room. With any luck, James or Hollands would still be there, and could make his new goal a reality. Upon arriving, he leaned his head in, just enough to see that most of the team had already left.
"...Hey, James? Can you put out an announcement thing? I'm trying to get everyone together for our first team training session in 10 minutes, it'd make it easier if I could tell them all at once." He paused for a moment. "Also, has my gear been screened?"

"Uh, sure, I'll get security on the message asap. And Hollands said your suit was ready in the workshop just after you left," James replied.

"Oh, thanks." Fionn said, finally feeling some kind of relief. All of his stuff would be waiting for him, safe and free from scrutiny. He'd get a solid amount of work time done, which in turn would leave him in a much better mindset for team training. Maybe this leader thing would be possible.