Burnout Heroes

"Make a difference"....right. Jules looked up from her hands at Fiver. "Maybe we'll be better suited to this kind of work anyway," she said. "They might overwork us, but it feels like we have more freedom than before, and it'll be harder to get things wrong." She wasn't convinced by her own words or Fiver's, but the other woman looked to have more experience. If she could be optimistic, Jules could at least try.

Allister - ToB HQ, Meeting Room

"Tch." He couldn't help but narrow his eyes in disgust at that answer—then again, this was Babel, human experimentation wasn't too far beyond what they'd done already. But the hyprocrisy in that statement wouldn't escape Allister's notice. Intentionally pushing many of their so-called "humanity's last hopes" over the edge, then turning around to proclaim they needed them enough to be willing to break the very same Burnouts for it.

It was a vicious cycle. And evidently they were nothing but guinea pigs in it.

"Not the time, Sentinel boy," Allister hissed under his breath, seeing Raphael somehow decide this was the perfect moment to show off his powers...and then storm off in a huff when he wasn't so much as greeted by a standing ovation. Surprising no one. Except the guy pounding his fist on the table, maybe.

Admittedly, he was beginning to see why this kid was so infamous.

His attention turned when Fiver took the lapse to speak. "Same to you," he said drily, flickering an even gaze between her and where his pistol lay on the table in front of him. Lazarescu, wasn't it? "Though if you were expecting any bushy-tailed optimism, you might want to check if you have the wrong room number."

Edited by unfortunatezorua on May 7th 2020 at 11:35:37 PM

Tom Vale

Tom looked at Fiver for a moment, then looked to the side at Allister. Raphael was gone, but was probably feeling pretty unwanted right now. Looking down, Tom wondered if the whole burnout thing was not playing well with Raphael's ego and mindset. It seemed he was really attached to the veneration and the feeling of being adored...probably difficult for him now.

Looking back at Fiver when she spoke, cupping his chin in a hand and taking a seat as he contemplated. He'd never really told all that many people about the whole situation he'd come out of that led to his Burnout, at least other Burnouts.

He slowly nodded in response to Fiver, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Tom bit at his lip a little bit as he thought about the cult stuff, and straightened his stance a little bit thinking about everything else.

Edited by NickTheSwing on May 7th 2020 at 8:00:16 AM

"Don't talk down to us," said Jules, with defensiveness that surprised her. "She's been through the exact same thing that you have. Acting like this is as pointless isn't going to help anyone even if it is true. At least Raphael wanted to be our friend." This was similar to what she told herself often. She actually had a similar attitude to him, but she didn't like to hear it coming from anyone else.

Fiver

She nodded at Allister's words. "Optimism?" A large foxtail popped into view behind her and just as quickly vanished. "No. But being practical? Sure. We all have training, and more power than the regular person. If you want, you can go turn in your pistol and shuffle paper until you die, go insane, retire, or go insane and retire. Your choice." Fiver shrugged. "Getting to know everyone's powers isn't a bad idea, really. After all, if we're facing giant slugs and no one knows you can sneeze salt, there's going to be trouble."

The young woman leaned back in her chair. "And yes, we've all been through the wringer. I don't know what happened to you to put you in that seat, and I mostly don't want to know. Sometimes picking at scabs helps them heal. Sometimes not." She shrugged again. "I'll go first. I can....make my ink real." Fiver rolled up one sleeve of her shirt to reveal a mass of melted skin and a small tattoo of a raven on her forearm. There was a flicker, and the bird was sitting on her shoulder, staring at everyone with disturbingly bright eyes.    Caw    The raven took wing, flew in an easy circle around the cavernous room, then seemingly dove into her and vanished.

Allister - ToB HQ, Meeting Room

"Was that directed at me?" Said by anyone else, that might've sounded incredulous, but Allister's tone was decidedly devoid of feeling altogether; the question in his words only indicated by a miniscule quirk of his brow. "We've all come from the same situation. I'm aware." he replied flatly. "But there's no need to decorate the fact that we landed here with noble impressions."

A blunt statement, even in its wordy bent. He gave a look, somehow curious as it was indifferent. "And I can't speak on your behalf, but the purpose of all this isn't exactly 'making friends'." Then he simply paused to hear Fiver out instead—her tattooed raven was gliding overhead now.

Allister watched as it swooped into an arc, crying out a haunting call, and receding as if it had never sprung to life in the first place. Well. She did have a point there.

"I'll have you know I have nothing against practicality, though," he added. Pointedly meeting Jules's gaze again, he made for a water goblet on one of the tables and closed his grip lightly around it. It vanished into thin air.

Once a brief moment passed, Allister opened his hand.

There, perching on top of his palm, would be not the cup that once existed, but a glass sculpture in the image of an origami crane. After a contemplative moment's inspection, he set it down on the tabletop.
Of course, they would probably be wanting an explanation after that no-context display. So he turned to the others.

"Officially, that's molecular disassembly and rearrangement to you. Or 'redefinition', so they say. Either one." Casting his eyes down to the crane again, what looked like layers of frost began creeping up its sides. "Used for...a number of things."

He didn't bother to mention that said count had been about halved since his Burnout.

Jules blushed slightly hearing their words, and did her best to avoid Allister's gaze. They were both right.

And judging by their powers, probably more effective than she could ever hope to be. The origami crane had to be one of the least "practical" things Jules had ever seen, but even if Allister's display was melodramatic, it was impressive, not to mention Fiver's raven. Although it wasn't around for long (probably the Burnout side-effect), Jules could already think of hundreds of uses, not to mention Fiver's other tattoos. Allister didn't seem to have any problems. It was like he'd never burned out at all.

Only she and Nancy hadn't shown the group their abilities yet. Might as well get it over with. Before anyone could blink, Jules was on the other side of the room. "Technically time dilation," she said. "I don't have to run to be this fast, even though it helps." Stars were dancing in front of her eyes, and she already felt off balance.

"Also, slightly enhanced strength, but I can't use it for much longer than this..." she forgot what she was saying, or rather was distracted by the downpour of thoughts. Trying to concentrate was like trying to track the path of a single raindrop in a hurricane.

The thoughts started to clear slightly, and soon she was conscious again. Had she missed anything?

Eventually the food would disappear, the new agents would either say their goodbyes or simple leave for the last rest they would get before their new duties began. And then as noon approached they would find themselves guided to a large room without much in the way of decoration besides a circle of computers along with chairs in front of them, each already opened with their names displayed on the screens to identify what seat belonged to which person.

On the computer itself a small tone chimed as messages flooded the systems. The first of which was simply an introduction with a reminder of their duties and how to clock the hours for review with the higher ups and where to send messages to acquire any gear they thought they might need along with numbers to program into their phones that would link them directly with the normal security forces and the investigation department if they ran into something and needed more information.

And after that sat a few emails marked with Open case files which contained the following.

- The sewers are being flooded by creatures of unknown origin. Through no one seems to know where they came from. Find the source or eliminate them.

-A string of robberies targeting scrap sellers is halting the recycling of damaged and outdated goods. The long term damage could result in halting the cities growth.

- Illegal sale of high class weapons have been reported throughout the city, ending up in the hands of suspected Cult members and anti-T.o.B extremists. Find or eliminate the leak.

- A new street drug causing people to quickly grow expanded muscles and sudden explosive anger issues is spreading around, track it down to the source.

After being led into the room, Raphael immediately took his seat, avoiding eye contact with anyone else. He wouldn't be lying if he said he wasn't just a little embarrassed over the fiasco that had been yesterday. Maybe he'd get lucky and they'd give him another chance?

...nah, probably not.

He programmed the numbers into his phone, then scanned the mission list. He frowned at the first one—damn things wouldn't stay dead no matter how many times Neptune flooded the sewers—then considered his options.

The first one was out—if he had to fight them one more time, he was going to scream. Number two would do more damage long-term, but four's effects were being felt now, and three would definitely be the most destructive. Maybe they'd assign the other three teams to the cases they didn't take, but...

Raphael stood up. "Well," he said, loudly enough that everyone could hear him, "I'm off to patch a leak. Who's with me?" He waited for a response.

"I don't know," said Jules, eyes on the computer. Robberies sound like more our speed. We could stake out a dealership, wait for it to get robbed, and boom— stuff like this probably isn't the Cults and we can for sure handle a mundane criminal." She didn't think she could fight a sewer monster, a feeling exacerbated as she swiped through a set of blurry, ominous images. Was sewer water deep enough to stand in? The drug sounded creepy, and she didn't like the thought of fighting people stronger than her.

"Also, I don't think any of us are smooth enough to go undercover and find a leak."

Nancy Weaver

"I'd go for either the drug bust or the weapons conspiracy or whatever," yawned Nancy. "Those two seem like the most immediately dangerous things in the city right now. Other than that, I'm up for whatever missions y'all decide to do."

Edited by JumpingFruit on May 9th 2020 at 8:58:42 AM

Allister - ToB HQ

"Not 'smooth enough'?" Standing over his computer now and flicking through the assignments with one hand on the desk, today Allister managed to look particularly tired when he glanced for Jules over his shoulder. As if he could get any paler, anyway. "I don't know if you've seen his file, but you're talking to the one person here who's far enough from a Burned-Out social recluse to be able to pull that off." He nodded at Raphael. Credit's due where credit's due, even if it was for a narcissist, he supposed.

"It's as Weaver says. And I'm not just saying that to be mean," noted Allister, his expression distinctly no-nonsense. "Robberies or sewer mutants aren't unimportant, obviously, but the latter two won't wait to stir up trouble. Unless you're confident in the goodwill of armed, rabid drug addicts."

Allister couldn't really help sneaking in that last quip.

Do you have to criticize every goddamn thing I say? Though, to be fair, Jules hadn't read Raphael's file. He couldn't have been all talk; if he was, we wouldn't have been alive. Still, the longer Jules spent in Allister's company, the less she liked him.

"Fine, I take it back. But do you think you can handle them? They're probably more powerful than we are." She glanced at Nancy. "But maybe we can stop the weapons conspiracy. It's at least straightforward."

Fiver

She was smoking again as she entered the computer room, with the offending item tucked into a cupped hand. Crossing to a computer, she scanned the offered items. "Mutants would make the National Guard get off their butts, so I'd be tempted to push it off to them if I thought that would work. The weapons and scrap dealers look intriguing to me for a starter, unless you guys really want to jump into the deep end and confront roided-up wackos. Because I'm betting asking those guys to play nice will work. It would not be my first or second choices. Bear in mind whatever we do we will be in the public eye, so it better make good press too."

Fiver cocked an eye at Allister's words. She glanced at Raphael and sighed just a bit. Then she turned to Raph, speaking to him directly. "Look. You don't always make the first impression. I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you that. But on the other hand, none of us are the best people to be shoved together like this. So.....if you're off to find the leak, I'll back you up. Not least because if there's a leak on this, it can only grow."

Edited by Booky on May 10th 2020 at 8:32:29 AM

Raphael grinned at hearing Allister's compliment. "Thank you! You'd think it would be easier to get some respect around here..." He paused, thinking.

"Alright, here's my idea," he said, loudly enough to draw the attention back to him. "Three of us go take down the leak and the other three figure out what's going on with the drugs. Everybody got that?"

"Oh, and also?" He looked at Fiver and smiled—a small smile, but it looked genuine. "Thanks for the assistance. I appreciate it."

Edited by LilyTheLitten on May 10th 2020 at 8:35:15 AM

Tom Vale

Tom remained quiet while the others got into their discussions and arguments, looking over the mission debrief details. He didn't like to involve himself in these arguments and back and forths - it was all way too much stress for him. Probably would involve a little bit too much anger, enough it would make him react a certain way. And Tom was actively trying not to engage in that kind of behavior.

He finally spoke up and said, "I'll volunteer to join the drug bust team." He was no physical slouch, and he figured he could handle himself against a bunch of steroid cases. Though there was the point of location. Where was this going to be taking place...?

Allister - ToB HQ

"I'm not railroading you into anything." He crossed his arms, cocking his head curiously. "Even if I'm for stopping the leak first, whichever works. Really. If you'd rather the robbers, and you're that worried about firepower, I'll go along. Like I said, suggestion, not a decision."

Allister stared blankly at Raphael for a moment when he seemed to take his observation as personal praise, then just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose briefly. "Here's the deal; if we're going to split up, I'll take the drug bust. The others would be more useful. I can't say I have anything towards intel gathering."

Then he turned to address Jules. "And, Jacobson. A word of advice. Getting yourself killed by thoughtlessly rushing in against people ten times your calibre is one thing, avoiding confrontation with anyone you think is stronger because you believe you can't win is another. Even in the sorry state we're in." He leaned back from the screen. "It matters to act even when success isn't 100% certain. If you're going to carry around that attitude on the field, you might as well be on desk duty for the rest of your life."

An awfully harsh and long-winded way just to say "don't undermine yourself or it'll bite you in the ass later", but from the looks of it, he was being sincere. How annoying.

Jules kept her eyes on the screen, skimming incident logs to try to find any relevant information. People had been injured in their homes by their drugged neighbors. She was trying to make it look like Allister's words had no effect on her, but in reality, she had changed her mind. In order to salvage her pride, she told herself to take his words as a challenge. She could take down anyone she needed to.

Sure. She probably belonged on the drug bust team—she was much better at fighting than negotiating. Unfortunately, this left her on a team with Allister and Tom.

Tom didn't seem particularly mean or angry, but Jules found him somewhat intimidating. She honestly had no idea whether he liked any of them or not. Maybe she could get to know him better. That wasn't likely either, but she would have to try. Can't go any worse than last time.

"I'll go on the drug bust, too. Unless you want to go more," she added, addressing Nancy. Why couldn't she be on Fiver and Raphael's team? Stop whining for five minutes and do your job, alright? Be grateful you even get a choice, because the people getting killed every day by cults, monsters, or even whatever pathetic problems they gave you to take care of don't.

Nancy Weaver

“Alright, I’m with Fiver and Raph then. I can call you Raph, right?” she asked Raphael, before carrying on. “Right, let’s be cautious carrying on, we don’t quite know what to expect. Other than that, don’t be afraid to call for backup, we’re not the great and mighty Heroes we used to be.”

“Are we moving out soon? We’re moving out soon,” she concluded, twiddling her thumbs.

Edited by JumpingFruit on May 10th 2020 at 6:34:25 AM

"Call me what you want. No shame in it!" Raphael grinned. "Back on my old team, we were required to notify the higher-ups whenever we'd taken a case. I'm guessing we have to do the same thing here." He didn't mention that even though it was required, they didn't always do it. Though with his luck, everyone on this group knew already.

(He absently wondered if maybe he could talk one of them into giving him Neptune's file, but he decided to put it out of his mind. For now.)

"So. We have to start somewhere." said Jules, turning toward her teammates. "We could try to talk to some victims or any currently captured users, since we don't have any leads on where this stuff is coming from." According to some files, a few users were currently in custody, though their mugshots didn't make her any more optimistic about their chances.

Edited by tomfool on May 12th 2020 at 8:17:01 AM

Tom Vale

Tom looked at Jules and supposed he was on her team for the time being, meaning he'd need to probably take care of some of the physical work on this. With powers on the fritz, they'd need him to be physically reliable, and while he was good under pressure, he hoped he didn't let anyone down at some point. Jules seemed to be talking about where they'd begin, so Tom started to contemplate.

He'd been on the inside of a gym more than a few times himself. And he was familiar with the kind of person who'd get mixed into this kind of affair - supernatural or no, these were basically steroids.

He nodded slowly to what Jules was saying, "...we should look at the captured users, see how they got this stuff, and what the before and after was like, who they were going in." Tom looked around then stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Jessie Alburn

Jessie didn't say much during the briefing. Nor did she say much afterward. She had been too busy chugging bottles of bourbon in the corner and wallowing in self-pity. She didn't care about briefings. She didn't care about making nice or getting to know her teammates. Because fuck them. Fuck her high and mighty superiors. Fuck EVERYTHING. All that mattered was doing the damn job and doing the one thing she excelled at. Burning shit up.

Because what else was she good for?

Waiting until the others had left, she guzzled down the last drops in her second (or was it third?) bottle before stumbling after them, hastily grabbing another before bumping down the hallways like a pinball in slow motion. By the time she got there, she was just sober enough to make out what the hell they were talking about. Even if she didn't care.

"Fuck that shit. You all wanna go tracking down no-name dealers or druggies, that's your business. Me, I'm goin' after those damn mutants. At least that sounds like a fucking challenge."

She took another swig. The smell of bourbon wafted from her mouth. Even without a bottle in her hands, anyone could tell she was far from the pinnacle of sobriety.

Not that she gave a damn.

Edited by kkhohoho on May 15th 2020 at 9:25:04 AM

"If you light shit on fire in a sewer, you're going to die from gas explosions." Jules couldn't want Jessie on her team less, but she probably couldn't be pawned off to the infiltration, and she didn't trust the pyromaniac to handle the robberies by herself.

She continued with great reluctance: "We're the brute strength team. You should come with us." Jules didn't mind people who didn't care about the mission. Against all odds, she felt bad for Jessie. Jules had read Jessie's file after wondering what her deal was at the initial meetings; she couldn't imagine what it was like to spend time at the top only to crash so spectacularly.

That said, fire could kill her easily, and Jessie didn't look like she had a great deal of control or desire to make sure her teammates were safe. I'll just have to be careful.

"No-name? No-name?" Raphael stared at Jessie incredulously. "One of the weapons going around has enough power to level a city. You think that's not important?" He scowled. "Besides, the mutants aren't even that challenging. Clearing them out whenever they infested the sewers made up, like...a quarter of my missions."

With that said, he started going through the file for his mission. "Alright," he said, beckoning Fiver and Nancy over so they could read it. "Looks like we're going undercover. Hope both of you can be inconspicuous."

Edited by LilyTheLitten on May 15th 2020 at 9:27:31 AM