George looked to Akiko, taking what she said into consideration, pondering it a few moments with a smile of his own on his face. "If I can be perfectly frank with you Akiko, knowledge of First Contact getting out may soon become very moot. Certainly, I want to avoid it, especially because I fear it will lead to a… Proliferation, of sorts. More on that in a moment."

He turned first to Henry, then Sasha as they made their points as to where to start their next mission. All hands counted, the decision was quickly made. "Seems democracy prevails, the West Coast it shall be. I’ll have our people look into this little black book and see if we can’t start putting red strings up on our investigation board." He cast a glance over at Akiko with a friendly, joking grin.

"As for where to start, Los Angeles is a good place, as well as Anthem. If no trails can be picked up there, Oregon or Washington may also be locations to search."

"Now, I think that’s enough stalling. I’ll answer several of your questions at once, as many of them are directly related. Akiko, that artifact you found is, in some way, tied to the First Contact event. I do not know how, but those symbols are very clearly the same as what we witnessed back then. Whatever that artifact is, I fear it will pose a serious threat to humanity."

Before anyone else could speak, George rose and went to one of the side rooms, returning with a single box which he began to unpack. Inside were photographs, tapes, and several files. "This is only a portion of the evidence, but I’ll explain it all before we go into the evidence itself. On February 24th, 1974, our organization was contacted by British Scientific teams on the South Georgia Island, a British dependency very close to Antarctica."

He raised one photo and laid it down in the center of the table for all to see.

It was an enormous, black sphere, sitting nestled into the dirt, snow, and rock of some cold and desolate island.

"This is The Sphere, First Contact. You can’t see it from the outside, but the markings on the artifact you mentioned Akiko match perfectly to markings from inside The Sphere. And to be clear; in our research of The Sphere, short as it was, we never encountered the artifact you mentioned. I’m not sure how it was acquired by the individual you encountered, but what you’ve told me of so far, and what we have observed with The Sphere, suggests interdimensional travel plays a large role…"

As that information took a moment to seep in, George stood up again and took a tape from the table. He placed it into a tape player that had been hooked up to the screen behind him, and began playing the first of several recordings.

"Our organization was called in to see what this Sphere was. Dr. Wright was part of a team meant to observe it, only from the outside at first. Unfortunately, fate chose to force a more unconventional decision. A hurricane had been forming, and the island was forced to evacuate, unfortunately so fast that the team had been abandoned. They managed to find an entrance into the Sphere, and… Well…"

The video showed the team caught up in a torrential storm, rain and wind whipping them mercilessly as they fled towards a black opening in the sphere, taking whatever equipment they could salvage with them. Once inside, everything went black.



The minutes that followed didn’t tell the heroes what they needed to know, it showed it to them. They watched as the inside of this sphere, with it’s dark, engraved halls and rooms, atriums and crawlspaces, shifted in size, shape position, even material. It was as if the entire inside of the structure was alive, and never ending in terms of its space. The heroes watched as rooms changed before their very eyes, and as they did so, horrors (both unimaginable, and imaginable) were released upon the scientists.

It was as though the worst fears of those inside were being realized, and they were being slaughtered by them in gruesome fashion. Many of the things that appeared seemed to do so out of thin air…

As the minutes passed, and George skipped through parts to get what was most relevant, they saw a strange portion of the video where a man, dressed in strange, and ancient looking regalia, appeared in what looked to them like a hologram, speaking in a language none of them had ever heard.

The image quickly shifted as the camera was turned on towards its operator, and the face of Doctor Heather Wright was finally visible.

"This is Doctor Heather Wright! If you’re seeing this, I may already be dead, but I pray not. The date is March 5th, 1974. I’m currently in the South Georgia and Sandwich Islands. We were sent here to investigate what we believe to be first contact, but what we’ve found is a structure of unimaginable danger to the Earth! We must find a way to destroy this thing! It can’t continue to exist! All of humankind depends on our containing or eliminating The Sphere and everything inside of it! I don’t know what these things are, whether they’re demons, or spirits, or a figment of our imaginations. I’m…. I’m going to perform a ritual. Whatever these things are, they’re…. Inside of me now. This ritual may kill me, or it may save me, but I must do it…. If I fail…. I don’t know what will happen."

The video continued, showing Heather grabbing an ornate vase filled with a strange, viscous, oil like fluid. It was a vibrant, light blue color, but had a sheen like an oil slick that gave it a colorful, almost beautiful, vibrancy. She stood now before an open doorway leading back out to the island, and before she stepped out, took a deep drink from of the oil from the vase. She set it back down, and proceeded out the door way, stumbling as she went, doubling over as she grabbed at her stomach with one hand.

When she’d made it safely away from The Sphere, the camera turned back to see the entrance was gone. Heather dropped to her knees, laying the camera down, as she heaved up a thick, black liquid. Thin wisps of black vapor and smoke wafted up from what she’d expelled from her body, and as it evaporated, the dark liquid dissipated, quickly disappearing from the soil and leaving nothing behind but the natural ground.

A loud noise and rumbling caused Heather to grab the camera and point it towards The Sphere. It was moving, pushing through the dirt and rock as it rolled closer and closer towards the shoreline.

The Sphere reached the water, slowly slipping deeper and deeper beneath its surface as it got further away. Eventually, it was gone completely, leaving only a path behind where it had been before.

Heather was breathing heavy, deep breaths, intercut with painful sobs and weeping.



George looked to the heroes again. "We searched for The Sphere all throughout the Atlantic. It’s not there. It’s not anywhere. All we found was a track that indicated where it should have been, but the spot was completely empty. I’m not sure if it would be relieving or more terrifying to speculate if another country was able to acquire it, but based on its sheer size and our thorough investigation, I very much doubt that theory has much weight to it."

Richard felt a pit open inside of him. Were these real demons? Was this thing something from Hell itself? He wanted his questions answered, but in doing so only more questions had been raised. "George… How do we fight whatever it is that we’re dealing with? How do we kill it?"

George sat down once more, and offered a soft, yet confident, smile to the team. "That’s what I’m working on. Myself and my colleagues. It is my hope that we’ll be able to equip all of you with the necessary tools to save this planet. In fact, it may very well be that inside all of you, locked away, is such an ability to do this. It is my hope we can work towards unlocking this."

The sense of fear was powerful within Richard, but he knew he had to snuff that out. He had to try to trust that George knew what he was doing, and he had to be willing to put his life on the line. His mind went back to his own past, the things he’d seen and witnessed. There were too many innocent lives, too many lives in general, on the line. If there was any way he could help…

He had an obligation to do it.

Richard now looked to the rest of his colleagues, an inquisitive look on his face. "Well, how about the rest of you? Has anyone seen anything like this before? The world seems to be getting stranger and stranger by the day and, well… We are a bit of a strange bunch."

Maxwell pursed his lips as the reporting began. So far, not satisfactory. They'd put themselves in a position to be exposed, which was bad enough on its own. Worse still, the whole thing felt like some kind of set up. Had the producers of the new Super Drugs been behind this? The Witchfinders themselves? Someone totally different? Maxwell had been under the impression they wouldn't have any obstructions at the warehouse. Clearly that information was wrong.

And then there was the loss of Zeke. Maxwell let out a soft sigh. That was a terrible waste of potential, and likable potential at that. Zeke was easy to get along with (at least for most people in the organization), didn't tend to cause Maxwell any problems. He'd be sorely missed. But the talk of the 'Ghost Girl'....

Maxwell's attention was drawn to the screen, to the people fighting. It took only a moment for a realization to hit him as well.

He knew some of those heroes too.

"The red headed one. She was at Atomic Anne's. Was trying to detain a client I was meeting. Went badly for him, and for her. The shapeshifter was there as well, and likely that Gunslinger was too, though I can't tell for sure with his gear on. Only oddities are the Ghost Girl and the Famous One, but I'm fairly confident I saw the Ghost Girl on television during the events of the Attack on Atlas City. And the famous one... Well, hard to be sure, but there was another woman at Atomic Anne's who'd been quite powerful as well, though it's hard to say if they have the same powers or not."

After he finished with his observations, he'd noted that Vicki seemed a little more... Unsettled.

"She's quite alright cousin, no need to concern yourself. But I do appreciate your offer to look into this more, and I'll do what I can on my end to find out about both these heroes, and whoever it was that leveled the warehouse. Now then..."

Maxwell clasped his hands together and looked between everyone gathered. When he spoke, there was an almost uncharacteristic coldness and bite to it at the start. "We truly screwed this up. I include myself in that, I should have been much more cautious about how we tackled this investigation, and a lot less reckless. But I have to ask, is there any chance a sample was obtained of the drugs there? Or anything else we could use to further our findings?"

Henry grimaced as he watched the footage displayed before the group, however difficult it was to watch. They had all been told repeatedly the magnitude of the mission they had all been recruited for, seen it themselves at the Beach. But to witness this, to try and make sense of the madness before them, made Henry's heart sink to his stomach once again.

There was a long silence before he spoke up again. "I've seen something like this before...or something close to it." Henry scratched the back of his head. "...Actually, there's probably a few things I should mention...kinda forgot with all the excitement. But maybe it's best saved for the trip to the warehouse. It...may be a lot to take in."

It didn't take long for the sub to get moving and truth be told, Henry barely could tell if he hadn't taken a glance out of the window on the way there. The first stop would be a bit before the Gulf of Mexico, where the sub would finally resurface from it's underwater trek and they would take off in VTOLS. Numerous alarms rang, as the crew took off to their positions. It was a sight to behold as if they'd run the drills hundreds of times until they became perfectly synchronized. When all had quieted down, Henry would explain to the others as they sat still in the submarine's meeting room on their way to the Gulf.

"Where I'm from, I was taught Time-Space is like a chain. Parallel universes and alternate timelines constantly interlocking and intersecting with each other.." he began. "And like all chains, there are gaps and spaces between the loops. And that's where other things lie. Things that don't belong in reality the way we make sense of it. And they don't care to. They have an interest in universes like ours. What that interest is, I can't tell you, but it's never to our benefit. I can't even tell you if these things are the same as what I've encountered before."

"Around...I guess about 800 B.C, they arrived in droves," Henry continued, placing his blaster on the table. It began to display symbols, runes like hieroglyphs except foreign all earthly language. "Only to be repelled by the deities of Earth and a handful of immigrants from the edge of the known universe. I was one of 'em." Henry shrugged a bit, before inclining back in his chair. "That...was the Last Cosmic War. And I don't think those things were quite the same as the Beast or the Sphere or if they even come from the same place...but if there's an even an off chance that these things are gonna pour in with the same magnitude, we ain't even close to being ready."

Klaus stood in the darkness of his new accommodations. A sizable room not unlike a studio apartment, more than generous of George to offer on such a grand ship. It had only been a few hours but Klaus could feel something was off. They'd come aboard shortly after the attempt on the man's life, and the failed capturing of the Cyborg that had fired the shot. Some left them, and others were clearly hesitant to move forward. However, for a man out of time, what was forward? What was backward? Klaus could simply travel back, find the would-be assassin and delay him, what harm could it do? He sat on the memory foam bed and rested his head in his hands. "Well no point dwelling on it now, is there?" He muttered, lifting his head towards the door.

A second later, Klaus had taped up a hastily written note to his door: Back in a second! Well...a second to you, the reader, not me the--BRB


Klaus emerged from his room, his arm in a loose sling, his right hand wrapped poorly in a red-stained bandage. He made his way to the meeting space with a pained smile and nodded a greeting to all in attendance. He'd no idea what had been discussed but made sure to look with interest at the runes and text displayed by Henry's unique device. He recognized only a couple, from his various travels into the Time Tunnels dug out by the Roaches. He winced as a particular rune displayed, one he'd encountered quite recently. He subconsciously flexed his fingers on his right hand and winced again.

"Apologies for being so late," he began, "I hope you'll all forgive me!" He smiled softly.

Scourge turned his gaze towards his navel. He thought for a moment, then spoke up. "WELL… being tossed around through WALLS led me to some interesting places."

Scourge let out a low cackle. "I RECOVERED the drugs alright..." He brought a finger to his stitched-up, ripplingly muscular abdomen. "...And they're right. HERE."

Scourge paused, so that the rest of the room might digest the information.

"Don't worry, I'm an eco-friendly, solar-powered MONSTROSITY… my guts are just for fun."

The towering pillar of flesh looked around the room, from Gauss to Lilian. "But, uhh… does anyone here know how to use a scalpel?"

"Well enough," Maeve answered. "And I can stitch you back together after. The real question is how we'll be able to do anythin' with the drug now our chemist's in the wind."

She side-eyed the green Frankenstein. "Assumin' any of it is intact and untainted, of course."

"I'll never forgive you. Never," Akiko announced as she slapped her hand on the table with the most serious look on her face. This quickly fell apart though as she laughed, getting up to take a closer look at Klaus' makeshift sling. "You, uh, you sure you didn't want to go see a doctor first though? We can give you the tldr when you're not, uh, not bleeding your fluids out."

As her hands reached out to examine the sling, if Klaus looked closely, he would notice that her hands were shaking slightly. Her face betrayed nothing however and the others, they would hear the cheerfulness in her tone despite the horrors they had just witnessed. They had a job to do however, people to protect. The regular hero business she was officially a part of now.

"We're going from little black books to huge cosmic wars after all," she continued with a small grin. Akiko did reel it back in a bit as she turned back to the others however, raising an eyebrow as she asked, "Is there some kind of intergalactic committee we can turn to, maybe inquire if they've seen massive black spheres that house demons apparently? Maybe a church would be more appropriate... Or an ETA on when we can see those weapons and armor helping us fight these things?"

She paused for a second, thinking over the information again.

"Wait..." she said, her gaze falling on Henry. "Are you... an astronaut?"

Henry nodded to Klaus as he made his entrance. "You know we have an infirmary here, right?" he inquired. "Might wanna get that fixed up before we head out on our mission, man."

He then answered Akiko, "...more or less, yeah. Just not from Earth," he grinned. "I wouldn't count on help any time soon, though from what I hear there more eyes on this planet now more than ever before. In all honesty, there's not much we can do to prepare at the moment given that we don't know the full scope of what's about to happen. For now, all we can do is focus on the mission ahead of us and prepare when needed for whatever's heading out way."

When Henry had mentioned the chain, Sasha's eyes had sharpened in interest, and a smirk had crossed his face very briefly when he mentioned the things in-between and their interest in the world. He opened his mouth to speak, but Klaus's entrance interrupted him. Sasha closed his mouth and smiled politely to the time traveler.

"I agree, we should all be in our best condition before we get into the thick of it," Sasha nodded to Henry. "Whatever this Sphere was, whatever it contains, there's no sense worrying about it now. Let's focus on the task at hand."

Sasha clapped his hands together and smiled. "Remember, we're all a team now. But that doesn't mean we know how to work together. So let's use this opportunity to learn, and along the way, help a lot of people."

Maxwell was upset, she had known him long enough to tell that much, not that she could blame him. Nor could she blame anyone else assembled, she had been against this endeavor from the beginning, the ambush only proved her threat analysis correct. If the Toy Store hadn’t run out of its supply, the whole mission would have been a bust regardless. Though, if the warehouse had been attacked, there is a chance that ordering a larger amount would have resulted in becoming a target herself.

"She's quite alright cousin,”

Lilian made a mental note that the owner of the nanomachines was related to Maxwell, putting further queries pertaining to that aside. She waited while Maxwell scolded the gathering and started to run damage control, something in his voice told her that he was more worried than he was letting on. Heroes are applauded for the death and destruction they cause, paid for it even, while the assembled supers in Club Shape were the target of a perpetual manhunt. They were truly outnumbered, such was the life of being labeled a villain by society.

The viridescent pillar of sculpted flesh let out a maniacal chuckle, before pointing to his abdomen and informing the assembly that he had a supply of the drugs in his body. Her eyes rolled with mild contempt, why it had chosen to put them into its digestive system was anyone’s guess. It queried, “…does anyone here know how to use a scalpel?"

Before she had a chance to answer, the Ivory lady offered her services in extracting the pharmaceuticals, before posing an interesting query, “The real question is how we'll be able to do anythin' with the drug now our chemist's in the wind."

Without missing a beat, Lilian tilted her head slightly to the right, “I’ve already started tertiary analysis on what I’ve dubbed Compound Delta. I should have the equipment necessary to take a more in-depth look in short order, assuming the compound wasn’t damaged.” She nodded acknowledgment at the Ivory figure before turning to the pillar seated next to her, “On future retrievals, may I suggest you store sensitive materials in your thoracic cavity, away from your digestive bits?”

Waving a hand in front of her face she assured everyone, “Even if the drug has been completely digested, it isn’t a total loss, I’ll simply need to take tissue samples from, uh, Scourge was it?”

Scourge's eyes lit up. Lilian had stayed silent before, but the more she spoke, the more she piqued his interest. She was… smart. Eloquent. And her confidence was equal parts intimidating and captivating.

“On future retrievals, may I suggest you store sensitive materials in your thoracic cavity, away from your digestive bits?”

"Hoooo…" The flesh-behemoth chuckled. "WELL, since you asked so NICELY… How could I say no?"

"Even if the drug has been completely digested, it isn’t a total loss, I’ll simply need to take tissue samples from, uh, Scourge was it?”

Scourge gave an enthusiastic nod in response to her question. "That's right! 'Unit Number Four of the Anti-Super Experiment "Carnifex"', as my Creator called me. Speaking of..." He leaned close, taking her in with great interest as his form enveloped her in his shadow.

"Judging by your fancy talk, you're one of them smart Supers, aren't you? A… tinker?"

His pupil-less, yellow eyes leered at her from top to bottom, and he let out a chortle like crumbling gravel. "He he he… I LIKE you. I hope you're less FICKLE than our last one."

Henry was one of the first in the group to respond to what George had to say, unsurprisingly. Besides the whole turning into a giant that could shoot energy, he'd always given off the vibe that he knew a lot more than he let on. Richard almost felt a little annoyed by that, seeing as they could have used a lot more of this intel at a much earlier point, but there was no sense butting heads over it now. Plus, what Henry had to reveal was strange enough. "Cosmic War? And 800 B.C.? Henry, I definitely think there is a lot to your story you're skipping over here..."

Richard gave a half smile as he uneasily tried to grapple with what Henry had said, and trying to determine how much of it was true, or if even all of it was. "I mean, does that make you some kind of immortal or something?"

Before Richard could continue, George interjected. "Fascinating... Some of what you say Henry seems to corroborate some... Let's call it 'Intra-Organizational Testimonies'. Of course, this is the first I'm hearing of such stories as you have, but there are other stories I'm familiar with that leads credence to what you've said."

Richard perked up an eyebrow. "How so?"

"I think that's best left for another day. Nothing that will change the current circumstances we find ourselves in, for better or worse."

"Do we really need more secrets to be kept in the dark about?"

"When they pertain to the secrecy and effectiveness of my colleagues, yes. Just know that Earth has had her share of 'defenders' stretching back well into ancient history. Some it sounds Mr. Stewart is familiar with, and some I suspect he is unfamiliar with."

Shortly after, Klaus entered the room, looking a little worse for wear. "Klaus, no need to worry on the lateness, I can fill you in on all the details a bit later if that's alright. Though I must say, you perhaps should have-"

"Definitely seen a doctor." Richard concurred with his other team mates. "What exactly happened to you anyways?"

Before the time traveler could respond, Henry and Akiko had chimed in about some of what had been disclosed as well. George quirked a smile at one part of what Akiko had asked specifically. "I believe Henry's response will have to suffice. I've had no contact with any sort of extraterrestrial political or judicial body. Perhaps that's for the best?"

He offered a more sympathetic smile after, in regards to their fears over the scope of the missions they were facing. "As Sasha said, it would be best for you all not to concern yourselves too much over the Beast and the Sphere at the immediate moment. They could arrive at any time, true, but we've gone decades without sightings of them before. Rather than wasting your time waiting for an enemy that could be fifty years away from us, I'd like you all to focus on what you can do to try and strengthen yourselves and your skills, help maintain some semblance of global peace, and do what you can to help save as many lives as possible."

"And the 'weapons and armor' Akiko mentioned? Is that actually something you've been working on?"

George nodded, looking pleased by what he had to offer next. "Yes, as a matter of fact we have some early iterations available for you all now. I say 'early iterations' as the R&D department would like to do more to improve on them, but they should be ready for field service now. Ah yes, and that reminds me of one last thing..."

The old man pressed an intercom button located underneath the table. "You can send him in now, thank you."

Behind them, the door to the conference room opened, allowing entrance to a tall figure, likely 6'3" to 6'5", with short, well groomed, pitch black hair. He wore a simple, blue and white stripped dress shirt, with the top button on the collar undone, and the sleeves rolled up. It was tucked into a pair of charcoal grey dress pants, held up by a black leather belt. The black leather shoes he wore shone brilliantly from the military grade shining they'd been given.

As the man stopped at the end of the table, standing next to George, he adjusted his glasses.

"Sasha, as you mentioned, you're all a team now, and you'll need to learn to work together. That also means you'll need to learn to take care of yourselves, and be at your best. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Doctor Sithis, the ship's resident therapist, trained in both psychology and psychiatry."

The tall man offered a pleasant, serene grin. "Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I hope you don't mind my saying Doctor, but your name sounds a little... Ominous almost." Richard chuckled slightly. "Though likewise, it's nice to meet you."

Sithis merely continued to look quite serene and comfortable with the comment made. "Yes, I do get that sometimes. It's a Greek name though, one that predates any sci-fi fantasy movies, I assure you."

George looked to the rest of the team. "Doctor Sithis will be here to provide you all with specialized mental health care. Being a hero is, on its own, very mentally and emotionally taxing, with the events in Atlas City no doubt adding tremendously to that. He's here to help you be at your healthiest, and while I'm not making it mandatory for any of you to see him, I would highly recommend it."

Sithis smiled and nodded. "Or if you even just need someone to listen to you, I'm more than happy to offer. My office doors are always open."

Maxwell breathed a soft sigh of relief at what Scourge had said. So the mission hadn't been entirely a loss. Still though, it came with a heavy cost, and such mistakes could not be afforded again. "Scourge, I thank you for your diligence. Lily, you've come at a most excellent time it appears, your skills are going to be in demand perhaps more than ever before. But I know you're up for the challenge." There was a momentary, soft smile on his face, but it disappeared after a moment as he briefly glanced at Vicky, then back to the others.

"So we'll need this sample retrieved and tested, and from there we can hopefully start revealing who produced it. On that note... It occurs to me that those heroes were likely at the warehouse for the same reason we were. It may be worth our while to see what we can find about them, where they might be right now, and if they have any more information that might lead to the makers of these drugs."

He glanced around the room to his lieutenants and associates, trying not to linger too much on Vicky as the thought reoccurred to him that both he, her, and most of those heroes had all been near Atomic Anne's that day.

Klaus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as everyone mentioned seeing a doctor. He had planned on doing that...at some point but was interested in seeing just how quickly his recently altered body healed. Not quickly enough clearly. His eyes darted to Richard, "It's, it's a long story, not important right now! What is important is what Geroge has said, and I appreciate your willingness to fill me in later, for now, I'm going to make my way to that infirmary you mentioned, Henry."

Klaus nodded and took his leave, making for the infirmary. It had only been a few days since they boarded, but it may as well have been a few months for Klaus. He tried his best to remember the tour they were given but repeatedly found himself at a dead end. The pain was sharp and the bleeding wasn't stopping. He sighed seeing the small trail of blood that had begun to mark his whereabouts.

Eventually, he managed to find a crew member and they graciously brought him to the doctor who's eyes grew as wide as saucers seeing the gash on Klaus's arm. "Don't think you'll buy the, "I fell" as an excuse eh?" Klaus said with a smile.

"Not at all, but you hero types always have your secrets. None of my business how you managed a knife wound under the ocean among friendlies, but hey, I'm just here to patch you up and keep you going. Whatever you want me to put in your chart is between you and whatever god you worship."

"I appreciate the understanding Doctor, I'll try not to make this a habit."

"I get paid, either way, might as well get paid to do my job, but really, how'd you manage such a serious wound while aboard?"

"Who said anything about getting wounded on board the ship?" Klaus chuckled and gestured to the Chrono Dialer on his wrist. It had been the reason for the wound. He was grateful he'd stopped the knife from cutting the band.

"this handy device lets me be anywhere, anytime. I left the ship shortly after boarding, a way to collect my thoughts I guess? Well, I didn't get very long before needing to get to work." The doctor nodded along, pulling supplies to stitch Klaus's forearm back together.

"Still doesn't fully explain how this happened..."

Klaus chuckled, "Well, I was just getting to that..."

Devon listened with interest to Henry's explanation of his experiences, while mere weeks ago he would have passed it off as crazy talk... Well most of what has happened in the last few weeks would have sounded like crazy talk, now things were a little bit different. Though he still couldn't tell front from back in many of these situations, he after all was more used to the minefield of strict rules that was the field of chemistry.

He sat in near complete silence trying to put some pieces of the puzzle together, or at least trying to see if he could make any sensible connections in what truthfully still sounded too outlandish for his mind to accept as reality. Subconsciously he fiddled with his dog tags as the mood shifted for a moment from the usual banter between Henry and Akiko to a rather seriously wounded Klaus apologizing for being late. A chronomancer coming late, you don't hear about that everyday.

As George continued on with explanations a couple words lay heavily on his vocal chords, but he just couldn't make himself speak up. As George's explanation glossed over the new experimental weapons that were available in their early iterations he found his voice again, but with a very different thought being released from it. "It might be useful to get one into my hands as soon as possible, even if I can't point out some design flaws my power should allow me to make improvements to one. Though only I would be able to use that improved weapon." Devon said to George, trying to get the point across without having to bore everyone with the details of his powers. Though he would probably at least give a half explanation to Henry later as he needed to have a few words with him concerning a certain patron saint? Deity? Entity? that had been giving him some really vivid dreams and hallucinations.

After the conversation shifted towards a new topic and a new face who was introduced as Doctor Sithis and Richard made his remark on the rather ominous connotation of the name in more recent times and the good doctors rebuttal. "Who better than one with an ominous name to dig into the deepest and darkest crevices of the mind. Besides names have for the most part lost their meanings, found that out the hard way when trying to create a brand name with some more depth to it." He added to the Doctors rebuttal.

"...for our other new attendee. Miss Vortex, I believe."

Ahhh... shit. Vic rolled her head to Maxwell, shooting a pointed look at him across the table. Her annoyance was alleviated, a little, when he dismissed the stranger's concerns and she settled back in her seat. Her nail tapped the rim of her cup as she sipped. It was getting hot in here. She did not belong in this room at all, but as the meeting went on, she knew someone disagreed with that. The way George's business card pressed against her thigh in her jean's pocket became the only sensation she could think about.

"It may be worth our while to see what we can find about them, where they might be right now, and if they have any more information that might lead to the makers of these drugs."

PHHHHHHHHHT.

The loud, hollow slurp of a straw reaching the end of the drink answered Maxwell first. Vic kept sucking the straw for just enough seconds to make it awkward then set the cup down without saying anything and slouched back in her seat, shrugging.

"Judging by your fancy talk, you're one of them smart Supers, aren't you? A… tinker?"

She returned his leer with a coy smile "That is what they call us these days." She ran a finger down the creation's chest, along the threading that held him together. "Marvelous stitchwork." The words came out in a low whisper.

It seemed to share her approval. "He he he… I LIKE you. I hope you're less FICKLE than our last one."

"I think you'll find I'm far from capricious, and nothing like the last one."

Lilian offered Maxwell a warm smile as he began to wrap up the meeting; it seemed she would be receiving assistance from the lady of Ivory in further processing Scourge and whatever he had managed to salvage from the mission. Not that she had time to do anything immediately, Ava's babysitter had some sort of class in the morning, so Lilian needed to be there to drive Ava to school.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Jane Doe's beverage, or lack thereof. It was going to be hard getting along with that one. At least John Doe had ended up being copacetic. She politely watched Maxwell look about the room, and how his eyes lingered slightly on Jane Doe, there was more to the look than a pure annoyance. The sensors on her helmet confirmed that Maxwell had looked at Jane for slightly longer than everyone else, and his breathing stopped for a fraction of a second upon doing so. The plot thickened.

When Maxwell's eyes found hers she cleared her throat and spoke up. "Well, it sounds like I have clear orders for now. I'll get my equipment and be back here as soon as I'm able. In the meantime..." She turned towards the tall woman who had offered her skills with a scalpel, "Feel free to exhume as much of the compound as you can from Scourge."

Rising to her feet, Lilian grabbed her helmet off the table in front of her, holding it in front of her stomach with a hand on either side. Before leaving, she studied Maxwell's face for a long couple of seconds. Seeming to find something there, she shrugged, "We face trying times. Unity without veracity is no better than conspiracy." Her vocal cords shifted down several octaves as she put her helmet back on. "I look forward to working with you all." Hurrying out of the room, she could only hope she would have a few hours to sleep before Ava woke up.

A satisfied Scourge stood up. "WELL, I'm off to get dissected. Call me when we've got a lead on the heroes, Boss." Scourge drove his right fist onto his left palm. "I've got a SCORE to SETTLE. He he he..." His eyes narrowed, and horrific fantasies played behind those stark yellow sclera. "Ohhh, the THINGS I'd do to that gunslinger…"

The green behemoth nodded his goodbyes, then departed, making sure to pat Vic's back on his way out.

Maeve stood after the homunculus, the legs of her chair squeaking across the floor. "Suppose I'm off to perform a vivisection," she said, eyes sliding between the Shape and Vortex. "Let me know if there's any pressing insight into the matter with our interlopers. In the meantime I'll…"

She trailed off for a moment, eyes coming to a brief rest on the holographic relief of Atlas City's incumbent mayor. "...Put out some feelers."

Then she turned and left, the coat of her suit fluttering in her wake as she whisked it off the chair.

"I'm going to see what I can uncover as well..." Gideon's holographic voice informed Maxwell. "Through the usual channels. Wave enough money in their general direction and some of these supers like to sing..." he concluded as the nanomachines cut off their transmission, retreating back to perform the next task.

***

"Estimated Arrival: One hour. Estimated arrival: one hour."

A voice blared across the sub's intercoms. Henry stood up from his seat, greeting the doctor with a nod. "Nice to meet you, doctor. We're gonna see a loooooootta stressful shit in the near future. But for now...I gotta do some flight preparations for the VTOLS. See y'all topside," Henry smiled at the rest of the group before grabbing his gear and taking his leave.

Alone with Maxwell. Maybe.

Vic didn't trust it.

"I don't like you giving my name to voices I don't know."

Her feet lifted off the table, hitting the ground one at a time, and she swiped off her sunglasses as she got up from her seat. Her voice, carried on vibrating air molecules, reached Maxwell's ears - and only his. The molecules everywhere but for a channel between her and him were still. Vic's eyes narrowed, in curiosity and concentration.

"So you let me in the room. Just groovy. What am I, part of the gang now? You haven't briefed me on that yet, 'the gang'. But I've already got a clue," she spoke casually, walking around the table to sit on a corner nearer to him and taking her earphone out. "I don't think someone like you, who hires what you do, is taking these drugs off the market out of benevolence. This is competition."

Vic tapped the table in a standard 4/4 rock beat, looking to the ceiling with a labored inhale. Well... surely, it couldn't hurt to help bad people do a good thing - if it helped herself, no pretense there. She ran her tongue over her teeth, and took George's card from her pocket.

"You'll want a squiz at this," she said, absentmindedly flipping it around her fingers like it was one of her drum sticks. Then it paused, held out towards him. "But I want to know what you're doing with it. Where's your... 'organization' in a year?" She brought the card back towards herself, and her eyes slid to him. "And where am I?"

George gave an affirmative nod to Devon. "We should still have a short time for you to make a few modifications, everyone's new gear is available with the Quartermaster in the armory. And of course, you're more than welcome to make use of the facilities and equipment in there to make any improvements you'd like."

At Devon's words to the doctor, Sithis offered a slight chuckle and pleased grin. "Well I hope it offers you some comfort when I say that, when delving into the darkness, it often serves one well to bring some light with them. But, as far as names are concerned, you may very well be correct, minus a few... Notable exceptions. What did you come up with for a brand name, if I may ask?"

The room was soon interrupted by the sound of the ship's intercom announcing their approach to the Gulf of Mexico.

As Henry prepared to leave, the Doctor cast him a quick glance and appreciative nod. "A pleasure to meet you as well. I certainly hope to be of some help in alleviating some of those stresses you'll encounter. Like I said, my office door is always open."

Richard stood as the others began to conclude the meeting. "Thanks for some of the information George. I'm sure we all have more questions, I certainly do, but I'm glad to finally at least know some of what's really going on." He offered a hand to the doctor, who had a surprisingly firm grip for someone in his field. Maybe that was a bad assumption on Richard's part, but he just thought it would be less confident.

"I'm going to head down to the armory then, may as well get geared up now if we'll be leaving soon. So you all soon."



The armory was certainly an impressive one. Similar in aesthetic design to the rest of the ship, it was a long corridor with various offices lining it, each filled with scientists, weapons experts, and tinkers working on new equipment. These rooms were occasionally broken up by smaller hallways that lead to what appeared to be larger testing rooms, or in some cases firing ranges. At the end of the corridor was a larger, open space, with a fountain in the middle. The aesthetic was the typical white, blue, and silver of the ship, but the pool that the water flowed down into was full of small rocks and pebbles at the bottom. Richard thought he may have even spied the glint of a few coins.

Against the walls of the polygonal circle of a room, there were displays that seemed... Themed? It wasn't difficult to figure out that in each spot were weapons and equipment specifically selected and designed for each of the heroes. Richard knew this because he immediately recognized his armor, only in white. Huh, looked like George decided the 'White Death' needed an updated color palette. He went over to his display, noticing some lines around the wall that indicated something could be pulled out. Grabbing at a handle on a sheet of what appeared to be black glass, he pulled a lengthy display out from the wall. Sitting neatly hung up was his traditional black uniform, color unchanged from when he last wore it. There was a definite sense of relief knowing that it hadn't been tarnished in any way.



As the meeting began to conclude, Maxwell bid each member of the team adieu. First, he locked eyes with Lilian, who understood her next objective, to which he gave her an appreciative smile. But what she said last to him struck him. It certainly gave him pause for reflection, especially on how best to have the team achieve their goals...

"Thank you again Lily, good to have you back." And with that, she was gone, perhaps with a bit too much urgency. Could be her other business to attend to, or perhaps some feelings towards her new colleagues.

Scourge was next, almost immediately eliciting a chuckle from Maxwell. "Plenty of time for that, I assure you. We still need information from those heroes, but perhaps we can leave that task to you, Scourge. It sounds like you'd enjoy it."

Gideon was next, to whom Maxwell cast an appreciative nod. "Keep me posted cousin, I'll let you know what we find out on our end."

Finally, it was just Vicky Vortex. After a moment to let the silence settle in, she began. Maxwell sat patiently as she spoke, letting her get everything she had to say out, feeling an odd sensation in his ears though. As if he were the only one that was able to hear it? Might be connected with some powers.

"You'll want a squiz at this. But I want to know what you're doing with it. Where's your... 'organization' in a year? And where am I?"

Maxwell eyed the card for a moment, a little confused by exactly what it was supposed to be, but quickly connecting the dots that it may have something to do with those heroes. His eyes met hers, and as they did, a small smirk formed at the corner of his lips. "Vic, I think you've already figured out most of what I'm doing. As you said, this is about 'competition'. Well... Mostly."

He paused for a moment as he rapped his fingers across the surface of the table. "The other part is survival. You know... I actually used to be the leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations on Earth? Used to being the operative word. And one doesn't lose such a position easily, so I'm sure you can start to piece together why I'm concerned about someone coming in with some fairly dangerous product, that also happens to be making it into the hands of terrorists. They're either some young and stupid upstarts who foolishly moved in on the wrong person's territory, or..." He gave a slight shrug.

"They know what they're doing, and pose an existential threat to me. So, where's my organization in a year? Well, I'd say it ends up one of three ways. Either I'm dead, and the organization with it. I'm in prison, and the organization is defunct." The grin grew a little wider as he got to the last part.

"Or I wipe out potentially some of my most dangerous enemies, and put myself on track to be one of the most powerful supers in the world. In terms of money, connections, influence, and who knows, maybe even my powers themselves. And you? Well, look to the others for a second. This organization certainly isn't what it used to be, but I know how to reward those who earn it. I know how to give back more than fairly. I guess really the question isn't where will you be Vic. The question is, where do you want to be?"

Vic's head lulled back as she heard him out. Where do you want to be? Turning it back on her, huh. George had done something similar on the plane. Extended a hand of promises, nothing solid and said, but, Whatever you want... I'll make sure you have it. Something to really stoke the imagination. There was just one problem when it came to playing that hand on Vicki.

She'd already gotten where she wanted, and she already had everything she'd striven for.

And wow, it sucked.

Sleazy management, hit pieces, entitled fans, deepfake porn, the social media mob and accusations of not - the demands to risk her life and save the world from the next big supervillain the news was pushing. Childhood dream come true. The crazy thing? She'd probably just keep on going. Maybe she owed it to the kid who practiced until her hands bled to get here. Or maybe... being real, it was scary to throw away the dream that motivated you for your whole life and be left with... what?

"Hm," she said, and shrugged off the question like it meant nothing to her at all. "I don't know. But I've got time to kill right now." Her tongue flicked over the teeth she flashed, and the look in her eyes suddenly made her appear much older. "Let's hope the world ends before I get an answer to that."

She sent the card spinning on a short-lived journey into Maxwell's hand. "That's George Carlisle's card. You know him? He abducted me. Took a bunch of other supes, too, up in his plane from Atlas Beach. Think he managed to steal us from SINS? Anyway, big player." Her hands drummed the table as she recapped. "Those heroes, yeah. They were on the plane. George talked about putting a team together to save Earth from 'ThE beAsT', and now his team is out here snooping around warehouses stocked with super drugs." She squirmed her cigarette box out from her tiger print jeans. "So either, somehow, this all has something to do with blob that shat acid on the beach, or they just like getting in your way." She grinned, cigarette crushed between her teeth. "Like heroes do."

"Right," she suddenly changed her tone, and waved at the card, her expression flat. "Send me over there and I'm breaking up the band. I can't deal with heroes."

She laid back on the table, hands folded over her stomach, cigarette unlit and crooked and eyes fixed to the ceiling.

"They make me feel like shit."

"You and I, you and I are gonna be spending a lot of time together," Akiko whispered loudly to Doctor Sithis, giving him a thumbs up before skedaddling after the Henry and Richard.

~*~

On Akiko's display, there were a few options presented. Her current suits were displayed first with the option to add or delete in the left and right corner of the screen. Shinigami Gray. Earthbreaker. Moon Oath. Violet Dance. Even Witchfire was available, Akiko noted, watching the suit come front and center on the screen as she clicked on it. There were weapon suggestions on the left with weapon tweaks on the right. It was surprising to say the least since Akiko hadn't expected anyone besides the Alpheum Foundation to be able to change it.

"Man, I wonder if I can make myself a clown form..." she wondered out loud as she looked through the different options. The weapons intrigued her the most since she wasn't a fan of the current ones she had. Still, she had little time to play with it. There was a mission to go on.

"Why would you want to?" Sasha demanded angrily of Akiko, seating himself down on one of the chairs. His own armoire held only a rifle of Russian make - Sasha glanced at it, but didn't touch the weapon.