ASSEMBLE! {superhero meeting}

[Max Rose]

Oh, this was turning out to be so very much awesome. Screw the oddballs; this stuff was going to be legen, wait for it....

"Alright, alright, let's get some of this stuff down," said Max, holding out her hands. "Genetica, you and the tall guy get the roster thing down. We'll kinda fill that thing out as people show up. It's time for us to pool our stuff and get this down."

She waved her hands again, trying to think. Just as she was about to suggest something else, a guy materialized next to her, a pretty attractive guy, a guy that took Max a few seconds to recognize. Aether? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Who cared; it meant that Isaac had finally shown up, the loser.

"Right, Aether here makes bitchin' costumes," she said, flinging her arm around her friend. "Plus we can use Illusika's input and stuff. So next time, you won't show up looking like," she waved her hand toward confused blonde boy. Timeout? Was that his name? Sounded decent, at least. "Bruce Wayne, I mean, Breakdown, you're totally cool with renting us a building to meet? I don't know if we wanna go the secret base route, or just meet in secret. I mean, there's already the friggin' X-mansion up there, and we're kinda all Dumbledore's army as is."

Max shrugged, finally letting go of Isaac. Again, this was where having an extended plan beyond "Tell everyone we're going to be superheroes" would have helped. Just keep going; things would sort themselves out, especially with this group.

"Okay, so we got the outfit people down, we got the roster thing sorted, we kinda know where we're meeting, or got some choices. We totally need to buy a ride or something. Let's, like, get a group on this. I'll go pick out a ride, so anyone who wants to come, that'll be awesome. Someone else needs to scope some locations out for meeting and shit. Also, we need to figure out if there's some kinda creepy group meeting. Check Rumor's blog and shit," Max prattled all this off, then paused, feeling like she was forgetting something. She tapped her forehead with a finger, swaying slightly as she tried to think of something. There should be... ah!

"And we need to get some kinda symbol or something for our group, a unifying thing. Am I forgetting something else?" like the name, maybe, Max?

Give her some credit though, she was sounding sorta leaderish, for someone who hadn't had a clue a few hours ago.

[Jordan Scholl]

Jordan had been there the whole time, believe it or not. But he was doing well with his whole "invisibility" shtick. This didn't involve him actually turning invisible, for the most part, but rather involved him standing in a back corner of the room, carefully placed behind some other more brightly colored individuals, wearing all black.

He had a large black jacket with a hood pulled way down over his face and was wearing sunglasses. Black gloves, black pants, black shoes, the whole nine yards. The whole point was to fade, and the poor lighting in the room was helping magnificently with that. He'd wanted to get a basic idea of what was going on here before he really stepped in. Last time he had jumped head-first into a pile of mess, so this time he would be ready.

The good news was that Izzy was there, so at least he wasn't surrounded by a bunch of people he knew only by name and power. And he even kind of liked Izzy. But the bad news was that Jared was also there, and he couldn't stand "Ninja Squirrel." What kind of a stupid name was that? But now was not the time to get into a big fight.

He saw that the red-headed girl was in charge, so he carefully stepped away from his corner and, moving slowly, reached up to touch her shoulder from behind. "Do you have a name for the group yet?" he asked quietly, pitching his voice lower in order to try and sound older. Or at least disguise his voice. The hood would only do so much to conceal his identity.

"Perhaps we could be the Hero League," he said. "Or Alliance of Metas. And for a symbol, perhaps we should base it off the name that we choose, creating an acronym. It works well in the stories."

He shuffled off to the side almost immediately, not wanting to be drawn too much into the spotlight. That wasn't the point of this. He wasn't here to be a superstar, he was here to watch and to gather information. The real business would come later. He only hoped now that no one else had really seen him or recognized him.

[Aaron Walker]

AJ had been unable to sit still since Jared had informed him about the new super-hero club, literally. Even during their brainstorming sessions while the two hid under a made-shift blanket tent he'd set up in the corner of his room, he'd bounced around so much they had to re-set it up every few minutes. In AJ's mind, being a superhero meant an endless supply of fun-filled adventures. This was heaven.

On the day of the big meet up, AJ was up in a tree trying to think of the perfect name for himself. So far he hadn't been able to settle on anything that seemed to fit just right. Jared had tried to help out, but AJ wasn't having a hard time making a decision as usual.

His cell phone was currently covered in dust bunnies in the corner of his closet (AJ only used it to check in with his mother a couple times a month). So he missed all of the frantic texts from his pal Jared. When he happened to glance down at his watch, he jumped up, hit is head on the branch above him, and fell half-way out of the tree.

A few minutes later, he burst into the cafe with bits of twigs and leaves still sticking out of his hair. "I'm here!" he yelled, running over to grab a seat next to Jared and Izzy. "So, what'd I miss?" he asked his pals, grinning like an idiot. "Do we have a secret mission yet?"

[Max Rose]

Some suggestions and some people moving about. This was really starting to take off. More and more people filled the area, and Max was almost starting to get worried. She really didn't think of herself as "leader" material, even if she was totally a Gryffindor. Still, what was she supposed to do? Try to get someone else to step up? Maybe during a mission or something.

"Right," she said, pointing at the kid who'd talked, "we totally need a name. Something cool and catchy, to strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers everywhere. And lift spirits. and all that cool stuff. Hero League's kinda lame-o though, and really generic."

And probably copyrighted, though Max wasn't quite going to suggest that. She started to comment upon the second name, which certainly sounded better, when another late comer straggled in. The guy seemed to know people, though one of those people happened to be "plain clothes spacy guy." Whatever.

"Hey, you, late guy," said Max, pointing. "Go sign up on the roster and stuff. For, uh, the Meta Alliance. That's what we decided on for a name, right? It sounds cool, and kinda like what that guy said," she pointed at that guy, meaning Jordan. "Right. Totally sounds badass. Anybody got any more suggestions? Maybe Meta Rangers or Team Awesome?"

She was half tempted to suggest Sensational and Her Amazing Friends, but, really, there was only so much.

"C'mon, we need at least a few, otherwise this is gonna end up a Maxtatorship."

[Lex Barlow]

Lex was new to the area. Well, new to work here at least, she had attended the institute in high school. Her first few days on the job as a security officer had been as she had expected, fairly uneventful. She'd heard rumors about this group starting and had been excited, thinking it sounded exactly like something she would love to be a part of. One of the reasons she had come back to Hammel was because her brother had been involved with some pretty shady characters around here before his disappearance and she thought maybe being in this group would be a good way to come into contact with some of those people. Plus, Lex was all for truth and justice. She was almost annoyingly Good. She never lied, cheated, stole, hurt an innocent person or any other thing people just weren't supposed to do and she had lost a few friends from being too brutally honest. Oh well. Her brother and her while still close, had been almost exact opposites.. Where he had been dark and sneaky, Lex was peppy and truthful and not shy about getting what she wanted.
As far as a costume was concerned, Lex had absolutely no idea what she should have worn. The only uniform she had ever truly felt comfortable in had been her police uniform. So she tried to stick as close to that as she could. Sorry to everyone that expected a flashy costume, Lex was more practical and to the point. Tight black cargo pants, a knife holder held tight on her thigh by two straps, holding three throwing knives. Another knife was hidden in her left boot. At her waist, also on the left (she was a Lefty), was a gun holster carrying a Beretta 92FS stainless 9mm pistol. The gun had been a gift from her father on the day she had become a police officer. How disappointed he had been when she had left the force to go search for her missing bad-boy brother. Her shirt was simple and pure white, covered by a black form fitting leather jacket. Her brown hair spilled down to her shoulders from under her black cowboy hat. (She had a not-so-secret thing for cowboys and old westerns. She admired the grit and steel behind a cowboy with a good heart.)
She wasn't exactly sure if being able to talk to dogs was a good enough power to be considered a "super power" or very helpful, but she did know she came from a cop family and protecting the innocent was in her blood.
She slipped in behind the boy with twigs in his hair. Clear blue eyes peered from under the brim of her hat and scanned the entire room, her mind filing away every visible tiny detail of every person there for future use if need be. Her father had forced her to be observant of her surroundings since early childhood, often playing "memory games" wherever they went. If you could walk into an amusement park and after five minutes close your eyes and describe everything, down to tiny details, you would get to ride the rides and play games. If not, you watched as the rest of the family enjoyed the fun. She'd often won that game, while her brother was left sitting back with her parents, watching her ride the roller coaster. Though she had never ever intentionally won to make him angry, she just did it because she could and it was being asked of her. If her brother couldn't do the task at hand, he should not get to reap the rewards. Simple as that. She made her way to the bar, her heavy boots loud on the floor. Dizz and Libby padded silently behind her and sat at her side. She hoped whoever owned the place didn't mind she'd brought them. They were well trained and stayed by her side.
She heard others discussing their super hero names and her brows furrowed in thought. What the heck would she be? The Dog Whisperer?! Ha! Yeah, maybe she would leave that up to someone else. She wasn't good at being too creative. Another look around the room made her feel a little old for this group..

"Meta Alliance... I think that has an excellent ring to it, in my opinion." she said when the one who seemed to be in control looked her way.

[Delilah Grande]

If Delilah hadn't missed the bus from the park to the Kafe she would have been there sooner. If Delilah hadn't knocked that kid down will jogging through the park who'd then screamed and wailed and Lily had felt so guilty she'd dished up about a fifteen dollars for the kid to stop crying, Lily would have been there at Kali's Kafe on time. Damn that kid had seemed proud of it's efforts in conning the flustered young girl and what had made Lily even more late was the fact that she's stood like a lost tourist frowning after the boy with her head tilted to the side.

Oh yeah and there was the part where she hadn't slept a wink the night before. Another dream walking experience had lead her into a nightmare but at least the guy who'd been the owner of the dream had someone to run away from Jason and his chainsaw with. She swore that in the morning her hands had been bruised from the boy's clinging fingers. Then again the boy had been kinda sorta cute and she didn't mind a few bumps and bruises if she'd gotten a kiss at the end... which she didn't. She assume he'd woken up cause she'd gotten kicked out the dream.

Delilah finally ran across the street towards Kali's making a car squeal to a stop. She hadn't even looked. What was worse was the little scream that had fallen from her lips and the driver cursing at her when she wouldn't immediately move out the way.
"Please don't let anybody have seen that..."
Lily whispered to the tarmac on the road as she crossed to the other side, shoulders slumped. Lily hurried up the steps to Kali's and open the door.

She let out a little scream as she fell through the door and hit the ground hard enough to make her huff out all the air that had been left in her lungs. Lily scrambled to her feet, stared at the group then twisted round and walked right back out. She stopped in the doorway and the door hit her back hard enough to make the back of her head sting painfully. Who'd want a superhero that was only light footed and smooth in the astral plane? Lily sighed and turned to Kali's again, still rubbing the back of her head with her hand as she carefully entered this time moving over toward the group.

"I'm late and none of you know me but I promise I'll do my very best if you still have room for one more person."
Lily almost whispered out glancing around at the faces before her.

[Henry Ballo]

Him being here was a really stupid idea. He wasn’t really helping with much. Genetica—right?—seemed to have it well under control. And the outfit comments, he guessed, were directed more toward himself and toward the boy who had arrived in, of all things, sweatpants. But he had to admit, in terms or practicality it was probably pretty high up there. It would be pretty easy to fight someone in sweatpants. If they were going to fight someone. Which he sincerely doubted. In reality, they were a bunch of teenagers trying to act like the heroes from Kick Ass—and yes, he’d seen that movie too. Superheroes didn’t really exist. Nor did villains. He was beginning to feel very foolish.

Well, he thought. The plus was, if he did end up getting one of those costumes, at least there was no chance that anyone he knew would recognize him. Mostly because the Henry they knew—the practical, normal Henry—would never dress up in that. Still, he worked with Genetica to create the list, even dutifully writing down “Ninja Squirrel,” although he did end up giving Jared a look that said really? But the he went back to writing things. As much as he didn’t like this and thought it was, perhaps, a little foolish, he was going to put his best effort into it anyways. He glanced up at the late arrivals and motioned them forward, but refused to speak. Yes, he was here. Yes, he was going to make the best of it. But even that couldn’t incite Henry to speak. Not if he didn’t want to.

[Max Rose]

"Pfft, we've totally got room for more people," insisted Max, waving a hand inclusively toward the newcomer. Max wouldn't have likely shown up on time herself, had she not been the ringleader behind this whole operation. Again, she couldn't help but stand amazed at how well things were going. She knew that had to be the work of someone else. Max was loud; loudness generally didn't translate well into leadership.

"Well," said Max, clapping her hands together decisively. "I'll send out an email thingy to everyone here then, and, like, send out the name through that. Whatshisface and Jem will get down everyone's names, so check that. Uh, anybody else got anything else to say, or should I call this first official meeting closed? Oh, wait, you totally should all go on patrol and save people and stuff."

Max extended a finger, nodded, and looked around the room toward everyone else, making sure to make lots of eye contact as she did. Everyone seemed on board with what she was saying, so something like patrolling shouldn't have been a stretch. That was kind of what superheroes did. Besides, if you weren't going to wander around and do heroic things, what was the point of calling yourself a superhero?

"You guys can talk amongst yourselves now, and, you know, kinda drift off and stuff. Form pods for the patrols. We'll get the more official organization stuff down for next week, when we get it all together. Alright, should we sing a song or something?"

Max was grinning, trying to fully communicate just how much she was joking. They should be able to tell, more or less, but sometimes they needed another little gesture to make sure things sunk in.