Two's Company, Four's a Party(IC)

[Ari]

GM

2.40 P.M., Late October, 2011

The gloomy autumn sky above the Claremont Academy was a mess of gray and white far above, the chill winds blowing in from the sea sending most of the students and faculty indoors to enjoy or endure the various tasks or leisure they had before them.

Two students had chosen to wander the campus for the same reason it was abandoned, so as to keep the discovery of the vaguely-imagined secrets of the bizarre school from being spoiled by the presence of others.

One of them was a stocky and powerfully-built Hispanic boy with a markedly intense expression, given to brooding on things entirely fictional; the other a leaner fair-haired youth with a much firmer interest in the real world and the physical sciences.

They happened to meet by the old tree in the quad that had been the frequent nemesis of fellow student Morgan(also known as the superhero Crow)and his attempts at teleportation on campus. Neither had had much luck finding anything all that interesting, and they were total strangers to each other.

[Vahnyu]

Serge had just started attending classes at the Claremont Academy. While he is not entirely unfamiliar with his skills and capabilities, he had come to know his shortcomings all to well. The point was really driven to him when, during a routine chase, as the superhero Net Fly, he misshot and accidentally blew up an empty car, which twirled in the air and almost crushed a pedestrian. Net Fly managed to save him, but he was disoriented, and the thieves took the chance to take Net Fly by surprize and mercilessly beat him. With considerable effort, Net Fly managed to overpower them, and render them unconcious for the police to take care, but the event served as a wake-up call. Serge had realized that if he didn't up his game as Net Fly, then even regular street thugs would cause him problems.

Searching for a school for superheroes wasn't as simple as typing 'super hero school' in an internet browser, but Serge knew his way through the net just as well as he knew his way through a computer. It wasn't hard finding a peculiar school which stood out for it's nonsensically strict admitance procedure, cavalier refusal to consistently admit-despite it's prestigious stature-wealthy entrants, many vague connections to a number of peculiar incidents, and an exhorbitant amount of budget, even for a prestigious school. Following events and links, Serge was able to piece together the fact that Claremont Academy was far more than it advertised. Getting himself admitted took considerably more effort, but he managed to impress Duncan Summers, the headmaster of Claremont Academy(that is to say, he impressed him enough for Summers to allow Serge to enroll).

The first day on the academy had ended for Serge, and now, he decided to take in the view of the campus, find his way around the corridors, explore the facilities, and get aquaintanted with the school grounds in general. While walking in the now almost deserted quad, Serge stumbled upon another student. The boy wasn't tall, but he certainly looked imposing. Waving at him, and with a cheery face, he said "Hello!" Walking closer towards him, Serge said, extending his hand "Hi. I am a new student here. My name's Serge. Pleased to make your aquaintance."

[Ari]

For Subito, the first few hectic weeks of life at his new and bizarre school had faded into a worrying routine. While still relatively clumsy he had managed to make the acquaintance of several other students without much in the way of incident, and that was precisely the problem for the earnest young man. He loved it when things happened, when every day was unusual and was shaken up before it became an exercise in boredom. Instead he found increasingly that most of the other students had powers that left him rather..problematic as a sparring comrade, not to mention most of them being better fighters than he.

As a result of this he had taken to wandering the school after class hoping vaguely that something would happen. Today something had. Who's that guy? Don't think I've seen him be-oh he might be new he thought as he walked through the quad, shifting course to meet the blonde teen. At the greeting his previously dulled eyes lit up, and he smiled(toothlessly, as he had been taught)at the next new acquaintance.

Grasping the proffered hand, he declared eagerly "An' I'm pleased to meet you, Serge! Subito Sondo's my name" regarding the other youth he added "How new are we talking, do you need to find the administrations building or have you been here a day or two?"

[Vahnyu]

"An' I'm pleased to meet you, Serge! Subito Sondo's my name. How new are we talking, do you need to find the administrations building or have you been here a day or two?"

"Just a day, though I'm still familiarizing myself with the grounds." Serge responded, while the two boys shook hands. "I was feeling a bit bored, actually, and decided to have a walk and look around. No..." he interrupted himself, looking slightly sideways "...not bored. Excited. I was feeling way too excited to just stay in the dorms. And what about you?" Serge regarded the other boy, who had introduced himself as Subito. "You don't seem the lost kind, so I gather you are looking around as well. Subito, you said, correct? That's latin... Italian, if I recall correctly, emm... fast? Quick? Quickly?"

[Ari]

Subito looked surprised at Serge's knowledge of languages "Yeah, that's my name/ It does mean 'quick' and stuff in Latin, but my parents called me that because in Spanish it means 'sudden'. Mom wasn't expecting that I'd be born a a month and two weeks before I was supposed to. My dad wanted to call me 'Brusco', but my mom didn't think that would be a nice name to say, it's why my sister's name is 'Galanta' and not 'Galan'" he shrugged awkwardly "A lot of my family is really into the aesthetics of things" seeming to abruptly recall the earlier parts of Serge's questions, he answered cheerfully "Been here since mid September, I know my way around here pretty well but there's a lot of places I just keep finding. Hidden rooms and secret passages, stuff like that" he scowled abruptly and his eyes lowered "Only problem is I can't seem to find the really interesting ones more than once or maybe twice" he looked back up at Serge, brightening up greatly "What's your name mean Serge? Is it Russian or something?" he asked with interest.

[Vahnyu]

"A lot of my family is really into the aesthetics of things"

"Heh, ain't nothing wrong with that." Serge reassured Subito with a light chuckle.

"Been here since mid September, I know my way around here pretty well but there's a lot of places I just keep finding. Hidden rooms and secret passages, stuff like that. Only problem is I can't seem to find the really interesting ones more than once or maybe twice... What's your name mean Serge? Is it Russian or something?"

"Well, uhh, see..." Serge replied somewhat awkwardly, while scratching the back of his head "I'm not sure what my name means. It's root is basically the latin name Sergius, but what that, in turn, means is a mystery even to profesional linguists." he finished lamely. "I'm pretty sure it does mean something-I mean, all names do-but it's meaning eludes me..."

After the metaphorical tumbleweed rolled by, Serge decided that a change of topic was in order "So, Subito, tell me, why did you decide to enroll here? Was there any particularly special reason?"

[Ari]

"That's a shame" the hefty teen muttered in the awkward silence after Serge's explanation of his ignorance regarding his name's meaning.

At the question, Subito's face briefly switched from pensive to worried to uncomfortable and back again in an almost ludicrously short space of time. On the one hand, my case isn't really harmful to anyone, but I get the idea being told "I didn't choose this" doesn't sound much like the sort of thing a hero in the making ought to say. But if I lie it won't help anyone will it?

Upon arriving at his decision Subito explained bluntly "I didn't choose to come here Serge, when the powers granted to me manifested Mr. Summers came to tell my parents to enroll me. I was working at a factory and a fellow worker fell against a rail that was weak or something. Anyway, it broke and as he fell I caught him but was pulled along off the railing. If not for my powers I wouldn't be alive, there were vats of boiling paint strengthener uncovered below us for some reason, which I saw in great detail when I opened my eyes to see why I had stopped falling" the boy shuddered despite himself, paling a little "Mr. Summers mentioned that the Raven told him about what had happened, that it was a booby trap laid by the villain called Toy Boy, and that if I wanted to use my powers right I'd best get some training. Then he stopped talking to me to hammer out the details with my parents and explained at great length to my sister why she couldn't come along to keep and eye on me"

Subito took a deep breath, concluding "So, I don't mind being here, and if it had been my choice I would have gone anyway, but it wasn't mine to make" he shrugged "Some of the other guys' stories are way better than mine, ask Golbatso(little guy, just a few inches tall) his sometime. You won't believe your ears"

[Vahnyu]

"Better? Hah!" Serge asked incredulously. He looked Subito up and down, once again, and he responded with honesty "...perhaps. But as you do not sell your height short, so should you not sell your story short." he said, beaming a sincere smile at Subito. "When you first got your powers, and the opportunity, you arose to the challenge, you stood your ground, and you saved two lives; your fellow worker's and yours! Be proud of that. I, for one, know I am proud to be talking to you."

But as Serge said that, his smile suddenly started wanning a bit. a sorrowful look formed in his eyes, as he reminisced his own beginnings. "I know I can't say the same for myself. When I got my powers, I thought it was cool, sure, but super-heroing? Going out of my way to help people? That wasn't part of my plans, not at all. I needed a wake-up call to do so, and even then, it was too late; someone had payed for my indecissiveness with their own life..."

"Oh, well." Giving out a sigh, Serge regained some light in his eyes, as he and Subito continued talking "No sense dwelling in the past, I suppose. What's important right now is that we are here, and we have the opportunity to improve ourselves..." pausing a bit, a thought occured to him, as he continued "...though, now that I think about it, I didn't have any opportunity to do some improving yet. I mean, yeah, I figured there would be theoretical lessons, but I figured that we would also try some more hands-on training, you know? Flex our muscles and powers, as well as our brains."

[Ari]

Serge's speech took Subito entirely by surprise. He had gotten the idea that his own accidental discovery of his powers was almost frowned upon due to such accidents frequently leading to the injury or death of someone. More than once he had had to clarify that the other worker hadn't died or been hurt in any way. Outright praise was completely out of his expectations. Nonetheless, Serge hit onto an identical nerve with his complaint about wanting a chance to test and improve himself beyond theory.

"I know what you mean, I've been trying to figure out a way to properly train as well. I found out recently about this training center called the 'Doom Room' by the other students, it has holographic prjectors, obstacle courses, everything we need to really test us..." he scowled gumly "...but we need to pass a bunch of tests throughout the next month or so to prove we will be able to use it right, and we'll need at least one other student to go into it on our first times. I don't think we'll be able to get into it until late November. We'll need a senior student to go along as well to keep us safe" he looked up suddenly, fire in his eyes "How about it Serge?"

[Vahnyu]

"A whole month, huh? I guess we'd better give it our best and pass those exams, then. We can worry about finding a supervisor later." Serge looked back at Subito, the same determination taking over him. "You know, Subito, it's always nice making new friends in your new school, and I would very much like hanging around with you. You seem like a cool person. So, what do you say, huh? We could go out, one of these days, and watch a movie, or play some billiards or go bowling." he said, while extending his hand towards Subito, gesturing for a handshake. "And who knows, we may even get to team up on a patrol, one day."

[Ari]

The herald of Puerto Rico shook the vibration-controlling mutant's hand "The feeling's mutual, I rarely meet people like you. I'll be happy to tag along Serge, it'll be great! Hope we don't run into any trouble! I love billiards" he added happily, beginning to walk back to his dorm, waving to Serge as he went. Well, that went well. Hope our training goes as smoothly as this!

[Ari]

GM

1.45 P.M., Mid-November, 2011

It was shortly after lunch, and the two had been informed a week ago that this day was to be the day of their first permitted session in the Doom Room. Successful completion of the assigned exercises would guarantee them all-but unrestricted access to it so long as they made sure to tell the Doom Room's supervisor about their intended visit.

The days had grown shorter, colder and windier. The ground was still frosted over in some places, the trees' branches were dusted with frozen particles and the wind whipping in from over the sea did little to help.

Serge and Subito were waiting next to a patch of trees near the Athletic Field. They had both been told to wait for the other two who would be their partners for their first Doom Room training. The place was poorly-shielded from the wind, and in general a miserable place to wait...

[Scuffles]

Kristin stuffed her map of the campus into a jacket pocket as she reached the sports fields, then broke into a jog as she spotted two boys at the opposite end. The wind blustered around her and she was glad for an excuse to run across the field and warm up a little. As always, the run improved her mood, and she smiled at the way her breath fogged in the cold air.

As she reached the other two students she stopped and adjusted the sports bag she carried on her shoulder, then asked "Are you guys here waiting for a Doom room exercise thing? I'm Kristin!". She shook hands with Subito and gave him a bright smile, then looked at Serge curiously as she held her gloved hand out towards him. "I think I've met you, you're in my maths class right? I don't remember your name.. Sorry! I'm always bad at that!"

"Wow why are we meeting out here anyway, this is a horrible place to stand if you're not playing football!" she chuckled as the wind picked up once again.

[Vahnyu]

The last month had gone by relatively calmly for Serge, without many occurences, save for one mall-related incident. During that time, Serge had studied hard, in order to make sure he would pass the tests. He and Subito had become good friends, especially after taking down the illusionist super villainness that goes by the name Looking Glass. Upon hearing about that incident, Old man Summers, as the students affectionally called him, had called the two boys to scold them for taking part in an unauthorised excericise of vigilantism, and grounded them for the rest of the month. On the record. Off the record, he congratulated them for their decisiveness, bravery, and effectiveness in containing the situation. Say what you will about the headmaster. Serge thought. He is strict, but also fair.

Now, the time for Serge and Subito to test their mettle once again, this time under more regulated conditions, but that wasn't to say that it would be any easier. Far from it, the Doom Room is notorious for the challenge it provides even for senior staff members. As Serge and Subito were waiting in the Athletic Field, another student approached them and greeted them.

"Are you guys here waiting for a Doom room exercise thing? I'm Kristin! I think I've met you, you're in my maths class right? I don't remember your name.. Sorry! I'm always bad at that!"

Serge smiled at her, as he waved her concerns away "Hahahaha, nonsense. You don't have to apologize for that, Kristin. We didn't get the chance to hang out outside of a class, so it's only natural. I'm Serge Explinker, and this wonderful fellow by my side is one Subito Sondo, superhero-on-the-making extraordinaire!" Serge announced with dramatic flair, accompanied with motions he made with his hands. "So, Kristin. You are also scheduled for the training excercise in the Doom Room, is that correct? Are you feeling nervous?" He inquired.

[Scuffles]

Kristin nodded, and repeated the names back to make sure they stuck in her head. "Serge, Subito. Nice to meet you guys! Interesting names! They kinda don't sound like you'd be from around here either right?"

She smiled at Serge. "Yep, I guess I'm teaming up with you guys for this Doom room thing. And yes I'm feeling nervous! I think I'm equal parts terrified and excited! I've heard some pretty scary things from a couple of other girls. People getting blasted, robots, simulated deathtraps, all kinds! I'm not sure I'm really ready for all that yet!"

A thought struck her and she laughed a little as she rubbed her throat. "Still, I guess it probably can't be any harder than trying to spar with Etain. I think the closest I came to actually doing anything to her was the breeze of my attacks zipping past messing her hair up a bit!"

"Uh.. I guess if we're teaming up I should ask what you guys can do? Might be helpful to know in advance.."

[Ari]

"Serge, Subito. Nice to meet you guys! Interesting names! They kinda don't sound like you'd be from around here either right?"

The Subito in question had, after the energetic handshake offered by Kristin, been busy re-stuffing an astonishing number of scarves back into the various crevices of his coats that had come loose. He glanced up from the highly delicate work and smiled at that though "The names aren't, no. I'm the only foreigner of us two, born in Adjuntas municipality of Peurto Rico. Serge's a native Freedonian and just has a weird" he accented the word with exaggerated scorn "name that neither of us has any idea what it means" he stopped short, gingerly pulling a length of cloth from behind his back "As for what we can do..well I can call upon the spirit of Peurto Rico to grant me vast strength and endurance as well as the power to fly, the ability to live through crushing pressures, waters of the sea, the most freezing cold and poisons" he frowned at the last. Truth be told, he had no idea what the connection was "Also I can understand pretty much every language spoken, and this banner I have can let me withstand bullet and fill people with hope" he gave a sigh of relief as he wound the last piece of wool around his hand "Good things to be able to do, but hardly unstoppable"

[Vahnyu]

"As for me," Serge responded, "well, my cells can vibrate in high frequencies at will, granting me with a slightly above average strength, superhuman speed, the ability to fly and even cling on walls. Pretty mundane and boring stuff, actually. This, however..." he said, pointing at the grey suit he was wearing, "...is a special suit. Anyone else wearing it, and it may protect them from mild temperatures. Me, on the other hand..." looking quite proud, Serge explained with an abridged version some of the finer intricacies of the Vibro Suit "...when I wear it, my vibrational capabilities power the suit, which in turn, amplifies said capabilities, creating a short loop between suit and innate powers, up to a point. It magnifies my strength by many degrees, it sharpens my reflexes and reaction times, slows down the impact from attacks, and, what is possibly the coolest part..." at that point, Serge made two fists in front of him, facing upwards. The fists soon became covered by blueish-hued vibrational energy waves that coursed back and forth. "...it allows me to harnesh vibrational beams, which I can use to punch my opponents really hard, or throw them from a distance!" Taking a more proud look on the suit, Serge explained "My invention. Well, mostly. Except for the blaster gloves, everything else. So, with that in mind, what is your specialty, Kristin?"

[Scuffles]

"Man! You can both fly? That's really cool!" She chuckled with a shake of her head. "I can't do that.. yet anyway. Hopefully I might be able to learn. I'm a telekinetic. I move things with my mind. Pretty much anything so long as I can see it."

She shivered as the wind picked up again for a moment. "I'm not really sure what the limits of that are yet, but when I first broke it out I was lifting a car along with some other stuff. I can also manage to block things with it. Like a telekinetic barrier. Compressing the air and stuff. Anyway, mostly I'm still learning what I'm capable of."

"You guys sound pretty powerful.." she said with an grin. "Hope I don't get in the way! I might just hide behind you guys and then take all the credit at the end!" The mischievous expression on her face made it pretty clear she was kidding, but it was also pretty obvious that she was more than a little nervous about the upcoming exercise.

[Ari]

The stocky youth waved a hand dismissively "The point of the exercises isn't to prove you're powerful or to stay out of danger, it's to teach us how to act and react as a team to make ourselves better protectors" he slumped against a tree, leaping forward and glaring at it reproachfully before leaning more slowly on a less knobby section of the trunk. Turning back to Kristin he continued "Besides, I may be tough but your shield and telekinesis means you can keep from being hit at all, just like how my strength doesn't make me a better fighter than Serge, who can hit me from much farther away than I him" he glanced around the windy desolation surrounding them "Wonder who the senior is going to be? My letter didn't say, what about you guys, Serge, Kristin?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin grinned "Not getting hit sounds like a pretty good plan. Fair warning though, I'm not a hundred percent on top of controlling my telekinesis yet. I don't mess it up too often, but it does still happen. And this is going to be my first time using it under any kind of press as well as my first time working with a team for anything other than football. I'll do my best though! Have you guys done anything like this before?"

She shrugged as she looked around to find the last member of the team was still nowhere in sight. "I have no idea who we're teaming up with. I don't even know what we're going to be doing exactly, just that we're going to the doom room. And according to a couple of girls from my class that I should be ready to get my butt kicked!" A grin lit up her face as she thought about that. "Should be fun though!"

[Vahnyu]

"The point of the exercises isn't to prove you're powerful or to stay out of danger, it's to teach us how to act and react as a team to make ourselves better protectors"

"That's true. It's not your powers that make you a hero, it's how you use them." Serge mused.

"Not getting hit sounds like a pretty good plan. Fair warning though, I'm not a hundred percent on top of controlling my telekinesis yet. I don't mess it up too often, but it does still happen. And this is going to be my first time using it under any kind of press as well as my first time working with a team for anything other than football. I'll do my best though! Have you guys done anything like this before?"

Serge looked uncomfortably at Subito, for a moment, before responding "Well, see, uh... I wouldn't call it practice, per se... but there was an incident where me and Subito had to work together, in order to get things under control, and, suffice to say, we almost got our socks handed to us. Thankfully, we had some outside help from a free agent." he explained, while scratching the back of his head.

"Wonder who the senior is going to be? My letter didn't say, what about you guys, Serge, Kristin?"

"Not a clue, I'm afraid. I'm as much in the dark as you two are..." Serge responded uncertainly. "I think it would be best for us to just wait. Patience, after all, is a virtue." he sagely quoted, while his hands shook visibly. Of course, that's easier said than done.

[GranspearZX]

Being a senior was quickly turning out to be a hassle for which Marcus Irons wasn't entirely ready.

His fall had started out in a rocky, and most people didn't even know he was still dealing with the death of his friend, Leroy Tucker. It weighed heavily on his mind and Marcus had become significantly more withdrawn. He wasn't sure if the depression was normal or from the fact that he'd been using the Shadow Rune--magic and mood often went hand in hand with Marcus's particular talents. It was starting to affect his art, putting him behind on his senior art project.

On top of everything else, he'd learned that he was going to have to start training with other students. Marcus was hardly an anti-social person, but skepticism washed over his features when he heard. He didn't refuse, of course, but he hadn't even met his teammates yet. There was little that made Marcus more nervous than uncertainty... Then again, he'd been trying to get into a more frequent habit of improvising and thinking on his feet. The jury was still out on how well that particular course of action was working.

Marcus looked at his watch. He was at least 15 minutes late getting to the designated spot to meet the other students, but the truth of the matter was that he was watching the spot from a distance for 20. Scouting and people-watching had become a habit in the last year; never mind that he often filled his sketchbook with natural settings and people just doing things in the park. Observation was something he was starting to become accustomed to as his own abilities grew. After a few moments, he finally shut the book he'd been half-reading half-hiding behind and approached the group.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late... Hopefully you weren't waiting long?"

[Scuffles]

Wow! They've already been getting mixed up in things and solving an incident or something! Even with help that's pretty big! I hope I'm not going to be the weak link and let the team down!

The thought didn't bother Kristin for too long however, as her natural optimism helped to wipe away her worries. She smiled at Marcus as he arrived and thought Wow he's pretty big! as she stepped forward to offer her hand for him to shake. "I think I was a little bit late too, so don't worry about it! I'm Kristin! It's really nice to meet you! You're the senior we're supposed to team up with I guess?"

"Hopefully you can help us not get our butts kicked too much or something!" she chuckled.

[Ari]

Startled out of a reverie on whether or not he ought to go flying off to see the front desk for any news of any problems with the assigned senior, Subito turned and smiled politely at the imposing figure of whom he guessed was the senior. "Nah, we were just waiting for a few minutes, no problem!" walking up he shook the older boy's hand emphatically "I'm Subito Sondo, you must be the senior, nice to meet you! Hope I can be of help on our training"

Gee, he looks a bit dour, might be a good idea to keep from acting too chummy, might rub him the wrong way he thought anxiously to himself.

[GranspearZX]

"I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you." Marcus smiled faintly as he shook Kristin's hand, then Subito's. All three of them seemed nice enough, and while he wasn't clear on what exactly their talents were, It didn't give him nearly as much pause as he thought it would. Optimism was contagious, after all, and he was fairly certain none of them were messing with his mind to inspire false confidence. At least, he hoped so... Psychics and necromancers were often triggers to very bad memories of the past year, and Marcus really, really didn't need a freak-out episode in front of people he didn't even know.

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at Kristen's comment and chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll... uh... do what I can." Inwardly, he bit back an irritated retort; lately, he had been feeling pressured to be everything to everyone at the same time, and he'd snapped at a friend or two because of it. His entire demeanor, while polite, was still reserved and cautious, keeping everything at arm's length. He was trying to open up, although at the moment he felt like he was falling back into his same, cautionary habits.

"So I guess I should ask what it is everyone can do... Don't feel obligated to answer if you don't want to. Lord knows I don't like talking about it all the time." Marcus didn't feel particularly obligated to tell everyone about his magic either, but it was a way to build an at least temporary trust among them.