ic How To Get A Nice Suit

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Hey, I'm not done with you!" The pale guy shouted then stopped and reached for his ears. "Hey!" The other two looked around, the big guy opening his mouth and saying "What?" followed by some more shouting back and forth. It seemed pretty clear that, for the moment at least, they had completely forgotten all about Naomi, Raya and Elliot, and isntead stood around talking among themselves. Or trying to, at least.

 

It mostly evolved into a series of "I can't hear you!"s and "What!?"

[RocketLord]

REBELLION

 

Elliot let Naomi pull him away while the group stood and bickered, or at least tried to. He had to admit that he got at least some pleasure out of that.

 

"Elysian Academy's fun like that."

 

Of course, he was also far from stupid. He had seen plenty of powers in use before, and there was no way this was just a coincidence. Not when it just suddenly stuck like that. Wells had offered the limo, so why not follow for now? And maybe learn something. Once they were far enough away, he let go of Naomi and crossed his arms.

 

"So, who are you guys, really? I'm pretty sure three bullies don't just go deaf all at once."

[EternalPhoenix]

Waverider

 

Safe from people who might break her phone, she pulled it back out and slid the pad and pen back in. [I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking. They couldn’t hear anymore? Is that why they just let us leave like that? How strange.] She wasn’t even technically lying. She had been facing the wrong way, and who would expect someone who was deaf to notice things like what happened to that trio when their back was turned? Had she turned off the effect yet? Haha no. She was tempted, in fact, to leave it running until she was out of sensory range. Because she could still feel them back there, not being even close to out of Vibration Feeling range. But she should be kind. She ended the effect with a twitch of a finger on her free hand. But she wasn't so kind that she didn't time it for when one of them was at full throated top of his lungs yell with the other two close to his face. Not at all. With that said, she was still going to keep an “eye” on them, though.

[Shofet]

The Meta-Naut

 

"I really am Raya Wells," Raya said. She reached inside her jacket pocket and produced a little wallet and with it, her driver's license which proclaimed her to be, in fact, Raya Wells. It also said she was born in the late 90s which technically wasn't true but her real birthdate would require a lot of explaining and the US government decided to spare her that, thank God.

 

"Gimme a second, though," Raya said. She slid back her sleeve and fiddled with her smart watch as they spoke. Thankfully she still had SOME technology. She spoke into it. "Call Lewis." For a few moments, she chattered into her watch about being at the Riverfront and needing a pickup. Then, quickly as the call started, she ended it.

 

"Sorry about that. He should be here in like... Ten minutes," Raya said with a smile. "Anyway, yeah, I really am Raya Wells."

 

[RocketLord]

REBELLION

 

"Yeah, sure." He stared straight at Naomi. "You had nothing to do with that at all."

 

No need to press it any further, then. Either of them could have powers that made the bullies deaf, but he kind of doubted it was Wells. He'd "met" her before, after all. It was kind of uncanny how spot on the Meta-Naut's impression had been. 

 

Ten minutes was an eternity, wasn't it? "So, why did you feel like coming up to me like this? I kinda doubt its just for my charming personality."

[EternalPhoenix]

Waverider

 

And now Naomi felt bad. She had a secret identity to protect, you know? He didn’t even call her on it despite obviously knowing she was lying. She sighed noiselessly. A little trust went a long way, probably. [You’re right. I’m sorry, that was me. I can do stuff with sound. But you can’t tell anyone, okay? I really am deaf, too. So it’s not as useful as you might think.] She could do more than just sound stuff, but eh…Waverider was known as a vibration controller, not a sound one. So maybe her secret would remain safer this way. But to the point. [Don’t put yourself down like that. You were nice to me when we fell down. But this is about the Ultio suit. We’re with some people who don’t quite trust Max Mars’s intentions and we’d like to take a peek under the hood.] She was gonna come clean about this part anyway later, when they were getting coffee.

[Shofet]

The Meta-Naut

 

"Yeah, I've got a nose for bad dudes and Mars stinks to space of baditude," Raya said. "I also have a lot of experience with tech, given I do run an aerospace company, so I thought I might be able to lend my skills - and dollars - to this little quest."

 

Raya produced her vape pen again, and blew out another cloud. The great thing about vaping was that it kind of added to her general 'self-absorbed tech-broette' angle she shot for. That and where else could you get cherry flavoured fog?

 

"Oh by the way, where am I taking people?"

[RocketLord]

REBELLION

 

Mars was a bad guy, now? Made some kind of sense, at least. The whole Ultio Suit thing seemed rotten, anyway. 

 

Elliot looked at what Naomi was writing, then over to Wells. "You still sound like you're just trying to figure out what someone with more money than you are doing, y'know."

 

Still, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a shiny, high tech looking belt. He held it close, looking between them. "Its a stupid toy with way too much power. I've seen kids at Elysian Academy start to use them to get into trouble, but they shut down before they do anything too illegal." He paused, looking down at the belt in his hand and grimaced. "But why do you want it, anyway? What do you need it for?"

[EternalPhoenix]

Waverider

 

Naomi considered. He seemed on the level and trustable.  [Our people are going to take it apart and examine it. Our associate thinks this is their tech adapted for others to use.] And if he thought this was a corporate turf way, well whatever. At least he wouldn’t be making the superhero connection. [So it’s possibly stolen. And if Max Mars can put in something to prevent law breaking, he can just as easily take it out and have a readymade army. Even if he’s on the level about this and the tech isn’t stolen, he’s still basically selling the ability to become Daedalus Lite without any of the training and experience real superheroes have. That’s dangerous, and it doesn’t sound like the kind of clever move a genius like Mars would make. He’s got to have something up his sleeve.] And we wrap by appealing to both his better nature and his intelligence. Let’s see if that’s some good work, Counselor.

[Shofet]

The Meta-Naut

 

Raya stared at the two of them, her mouth formed into a near-flat line. Somehow, neither of them had answered her question. That was fine. This was fine. She'd just ask it again later, and then if they ignored her then, just keep interrupting them with the question until they answered. For now, though, she'd let it slide. It was fine. This was fine.

 

"Yeah I mean, dude, you can think whatever you like but it's not like I can just suddenly switch the resources out of thin air to make a supersuit. My facilities make spaceship parts and satellites. Like, even if I did, the amount of product testing and creation would take actual years before I could bring my own to market, at which point MarsTech would have a commanding share of the market. That's not even to mention the amount of permissions I would need to get from the government to manufacture that stuff," Raya said.

 

"But sure, yeah, just because I'm jealous and trying to steal business secrets. For an entirely different industry."

[RocketLord]

REBELLION

 

"Right. Just concerned citizens." His tone was rather deadpan as he stared directly at Raya's eyes, then held out the belt towards her. "Take it. I really don't need it anyway, I'm really not into the whole hero thing. Just be sure that it can't be traced back to me, alright? I don't wanna end up with Mars suing my family or something for the suit being hacked or whatever you're going to do."

 

They made a lot of sense, yeah. And from the sounds of it all, he would need to look into Mars. And Wells. Might be something important there.

 

"Really, just keep me out of it, if anyone asks I'll just say someone grabbed my bag and the belt or something like that. Probably better if I don't get that ride, too."

[EternalPhoenix]

Waverider

 

Naomi took the belt and managed to fit it in her backpack. She liked Raya well enough, but this investigation was Justice’s idea and so she wanted to give it to her. [Thank you, Eliot. This won’t come back on you if I can do anything about it.] He was probably right. They shouldn’t get that coffee. Still. [My name is Naomi Suleiman. You can find me at ECU, if you need a friend. Or just someone to talk to.] She could feel some bitterness and  a bit of a jaded mentality from me. That was bad in someone so young. Maybe she could help. She didn’t know, really, but it was the kind thing to do.

[RocketLord]

REBELLION

 

Elliot had turned to walk away, but paused, looking down at his phone and the message from Naomi. He turned back to them again, shaking his head. "Maybe. I don't really know what you could do, anyway, but don't worry, I'll deal with these things." 

 

He stopped, he looked like he was thinking about something, like a thousand thoughts were racing through his mind all at once. 

 

Finally, he took the chance. "Look, if you're looking into MarsTech and everything... maybe try to look into a place called Elysian Academy too. Might be something, might be nothing, but its probably worth a look at least." 

 

He quickly turned and walked away.

 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The heroes had their prize, Naomi held the belt in her hand. A nice suit, ready to be put on and put to use, or to have someone scientifically minded dig through its contents.

 

The first step in their plan was complete. The first step towards discovering just what MarsTech was up to.

 

And maybe, there was a lead for something else. A connection to MarsTech, or something else entirely? The kid had been vague about it, but maybe it was worth a look.