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Mutants & Masterminds: A House Divided - The Dark Side


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The assignments were sent out after the third "incident" in less than a week. They still had time, it was determined, but a team needed to be in place; profiles were reviewed and members selected. Each person received a priority encrypted OpMail with directions to the orientation meeting, including the warp-pass for those that did not live on Luna.

The facility was impressive and large, one of the DeVries buildings on the industrial far-side of Earth's moon. Their passes were checked and rechecked by DeVries personnel before they were escorted to a plush meeting room with just enough chairs for the team and holowalls that gave the incredibly realistic impression that they were sitting in a skyscraper over the Elysium Urbem skyline on Mars.

So far, the mission lead, Peacekeeper Krayton, had not yet arrived, but then there is still a few minutes before the briefing is to begin.

DeVries Employees
This facility is a training center for DeVries Elites, specifically those to be trained for off-Earth or space missions. The security is normal for a facility like this, and being assigned here is usually a sign of a rising esteem in the company. Successfully completing training for off-world missions usually comes with a nice pay increase and qualification for much more dangerous missions - the double-edged sword of advancement with DeVries. Also, it requires successfully completing the training; many trainees drop out or are removed before the end of the first week, though most trainees have to spend years requesting training before being given their shot.

Utopians
Peacekeeper Krayton is one of the higher ranking members of the Martian Team, the Utopian team that oversees Mars as a whole. He's also a brilliant tactician, able to keep his own even with some mentally-oriented novas. He is also incredibly demanding and exacting with people under his command, a consequence of focused, moderate OCD. It's highly unusual for Krayton to be away from his team or Mars and he hasn't trained new Peacekeepers for years - a fact that many older Peacekeepers bemoan, as they claim new recruits are coddled and soft without the 'trial by Krayton'.

Everyone
Please post your character arriving. This is a chance for some on-the-job socializing, but mostly I just want a 'roll call' to make sure everyone is here and ready to go. ;)
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Dash arrived with a touch of satisfaction. This was the kind of place to be for rising stars. He'd gone through a number of missions, completed the training... Normally he should remain focused and prepared for the mission, but he had a few minutes to feel smug before composing himself.

The proper Elite, yeah.

That wording suddenly removed his smile, as it was the kind of phrase his father commonly used in adolescent years past, to excoriate him for any kind of slow start, or tiredness or weakening in his sparring and training. It was always some sort of indulgence, be it with Samantha, or any other pleasure that was holding him back - making him pathetic.

That bastard... when did he ever really care about Dash, except for not wanting to appear 'the father of a soft soldier'? His smile disappeared, but he reasserted control, taking a few breaths and straightening up and focusing in his seat with military stiffness. It was time for Golden Tiger to come out.

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Henry arrived not long after Dash. He was in his best suit (Donna, his godmother, had picked it out), all pristine midnight black with a snow white tie. He also carried with him a briefcase, slightly larger than normal and with no visable locks, seam or hinges. It was black as his suit and had the texture of leather, but it reflected light like metal.

Henry's social graces, or lack thereof, showed visably as he noticed the almost empty room and froze. He could sit next to the person already here (who had seemed friendly enough when he welcomed Henry to the poker table), but then he would be socially required to talk to him. It wasn't that he didn't want to, or that he didn't like... Dash... but his lack of knowledge of socializing could come out in extended conversation. Of course, Henry could always sit at the other end of the table, but that would also have social overtones, and ones that he didn't really want to give.

Henry's moment of frozen indecision over, he have a cheerful "Hey." to Dash, complete with half nod and wave, and then took a seat close to the middle of the table, though closer to Dash than the empty side.

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Chaos came into the room, ready to rumble. Gone was the pleasant, flirty man who’d hosted the poker game not so long ago. In his place was an imposing figure, sculpted muscles betraying the superior strength that Chaos possessed. His signature uniform with its ever-shifting, muted colors transformed him into a vaguely sinister force, unknown and unstable. His mask was the same; his only eyes were the black-shaded holes.

Chaos entered and nodded to Henry. “Golden Tiger,” he said to Dash, then took a seat at one end of the table. Silently, he waited for their leader to get here. Inside, he was nervous and eager; this was the mission that would make his career. If he nailed this one, he’d be set for life. That sounded pretty good to the young man who always sought to keep something for himself.

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The door to the meeting room pinged open and the plush chamber seemed to get a little brighter as Sunny swished in. She was beaming, literally beaming, with her long blonde hair shining with incandescence in addition to the wattage of her wide smile and perfect little teeth all in a row. On any other face that big smile might have seemed affected, but on Sunny it was as natural as a child's. She was in a DeVries uniform, and her lunar passcard dangled from a lanyard draped around her neck.

"Good morning, everyone," she bubbled happily as she went around the table, distributing little electronic pads to each Elite. "The briefing will start momentarily. This is your reference material and mission files. I'm Nora Sun, but you can call me Sunny."

She gave Sean a quick wink, then took a seat a little apart from the rest.

"I'm really excited to be working with you all!"

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Iris enters waving to the others. She was wearing a black sweatshirt and sweatpants and has a pair of earphones on and carried a small bag with her. Anyone with good enough sight can see the outline of a small device. For what, that's for Iris to tell.

She sits down near Nora.

"Hey! You were at Poker Night!" She said looking at Nora "Nice to see you"

Despite her cheerful demenor, Iris keeps a little tense. What with this being her first mission as a Peacekeeper

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  • 3 weeks later...

At exactly on-time, a small and deeply scarred man walked into the room wearing the dark blue and silver Peacekeeper uniform. There were no bars or pips or any other mark of rank, but the swarthy-skinned baseline walked with the clip of command, uncowed by the novas now surrounding him. He nodded sharply to Sunny, an acknowledgement that she had done her duty and to sit down now.

"Officers and Elites," he motioned to the view around them, "Elysium Urbem, Mars. In the past three months there have been nearly a dozen confirmed mutinous actions taken in the sector, from illegal protests to equipment sabotage. Several murders are suspected to be linked to this 'Independent Mars Movement' that has claimed responsibility for most of the incidents. They claim to be a peaceful movement." He grunted and turned away from the vidwalls to actually look at the group for the first time. "Two days ago a munitions silo for Utopia was raided. Two Peacekeepers were wounded and one rebel was captured alive. She is a member of the Movement and a telepathic scan has revealed that they are preparing for an all-out war, though the woman didn't know much more than that."

"We've been trying to infiltrate the Movement since we first learned of its existence. All efforts so far have failed, and we suspect they have at least one nova backing them." He clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace around the long table. "So far, this is a minor annoyance for the Martian states, but it has the potential to become...troublesome. You are new faces, barely trained in some cases, but you have avenues available to you that older, more known, novas would not. To that end, you will be trained at this facility until I am satisfied that all of you are capable of working together as a team and accomplishing at least one of the objectives for the Elysium missions. Then you will be sent to Mars to deal with the Movement."

He peered at each nova in turn, his expression unreadable and cold. "Am I understood so far?"

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Sunny, having sat immediately when bid...in a seat next to Sean...nodded with alacrity and piped, "Yes sir!"

She seemed a bit intimidated, even cowed, by the cold menace in the Peacekeeper's eyes, and dropped her eyes to the table after her acknowledgement.

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Henry chimed in, in crisp, new recruit tones. "Sir, yes sir!"

More training. That meant that he'd get further chances to test the capabilities of his suit, possibly even modify and upgrade it, as well as further discovering practical ways to use his abilities in the field. The thought that they may not make it through training, or not make it in time to be useful never even entered Henry's mind.

All in all, he was looking forward towards what was ahead. The reality that there was a war brewing didn't seem to have sunk in.

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"Yes, sir." Dash responded, cold, crisp and professionally straight, but with none of the direct enthusiasm of Henry. War was not a pleasant thing, and the potential for trouble on Mars when the Inner Sphere was battling the Teragen around Jupiter amplified that.

All in all, he did not feel concerned of any lack of faith towards the group. The UN simply needed to be certain they were ready to go.

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Sean felt his stomach sink a bit, even as his reserve hardened. This sounded like an infiltration mission and he’d never done one of those. DeVries had kept him focused on combat missions—Sean was really good at those. He was a strong fighter who didn’t lose his head in combat. Maybe it was his ability to stay calm in a fight that had gotten him selected for this mission. Regardless of the reason, Sean was going to do his best.

“I understand, sir,” Chaos replied. “May I ask what kind of training we’ll be receiving?” He hoped it would be security and infiltration; he sorely needed some pointers on those. And he was guessing that the others did as well, based on what he knew about them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Iris gives a salute and looks him. "Yes sir. Read you loud and clear."

Iris said looking less neverous. Guess finding out your being put through more training before being tossed out to the sharks made her calmer. She looks over at the assembled team before looking at Sean

"That is a good question. " she said nodding.

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