ic Recruitment, or Sometimes Things Go Awry.

[TheAbsurdist]

October 23rd, 2011.

How do you get a bunch of superheroes to meet? Mostly it seemed like chance and circumstance were the best ways. And fortunately circumstance and his money had become a bit of a confluence. He had passed his contact info amongst various people during the Harvestfair, where a bunch of heroes had been. All he hoped was that someone would listen. And then the press conference three days earlier helped.

So a meeting was arranged, he had sent out invites to the responses he got, and to some he didn't get.

"I apologize for the impersonal nature of this, but you likely are aware of my recent efforts. As such I wish to discuss with you the possibility of affiliating yourself with what I am building. I prose a meeting atop the opera house. 7 P.M. on the 23rd of October. Myself and King of Suits will be there, barring some catastrophe that might arise."

It was a little form letter-ish and he regretted that as he raced with Weaver towards Hanover on the Arug. But it looks like he wasn't going to be make his appointment, a call to the contact information he had for King, and he hoped everything would go smoothly in his absence. though it was more a little fear, than something legitimate. He understood he could not force things to go according to plan, as right now showed.

[Ari]

With a scrabble of metal on the heavy stones making up the roof of the ancient entertainment house, the red and black cowled figure rolled over the edge onto his back, pulling the rest of the grapple line with him. He lay motionless for a minute, panting from the exertion of getting from West End to the Theater District in under a half hour on foot. The grapple gun had been an enormous help, allowing him to cross the rooftops with great speed and clearing otherwise suicidal gaps, but even it couldn't make the trip any less exhausting.

Clad in his high-collared cape, snug cowl, white-ensigned red breastplate and boots, with black kevlar-woven ballistic cloth acting as the base costume, Marceau Suvou cursed himself for not watching the time as closely as he ought to have. He had gone to investigate a possible gang of powered-criminals rumored to be forming in that area of the city. He had discovered that the rumor was just that, unfounded hearsay with little basis on fact. The worst he had found was a shifty teenager who acted as a go-between for an adult narcotics dealer and a local high-school. It hadn't taken much talk to convince the kid that the guy wearing a costume and carrying an arsenal of bizarre weapons was much more likely to be of help to him than the cash-strapped guy with a single automatic pistol to his name and no fighting experience.

After leaving the dealer at the nearest police station, the King of Suits had realized the time, and had only then recalled his appointment with Asad and the group of heroes he was forming. It was no small relief on his part to find the rooftop empty of others, and he murmured a thanks to whatever power had permitted that. Hoisting himself into seated position cross-legged, he leaned against a ventilator and waited for whoever else would show up. He found himself much more eager to meet his future comrades-in-arms than was usual even for him, and the cheerful crime-fighter loved meeting people and making friends.

In the half-light of a city night, he knew it would be tricky to make out the arrivals from the black sky above, but he still watched the surrounding skies with minute care, hoping to see them before they landed.

[Tiffany Korta]

Agnes put herself down a little distance from the meeting place and walked the last few meters to the spot. First because she was worried that Asad would turn this into a Media circus, he was cute but she still didn’t have to trust him 100%. Secondly she knew a few of the more prowly types didn’t like being lit up like a Christmas tree.

Turning her glow down to a faint glow she walked into the spot where Asad were waiting.

“Ill met by moonlight, proud Asad?†she gave a broad grin “Where do I sign up? Will there’ll be cake?â€

[Ironox]

The sound of a grapple line catching on a nearby flagpole signaled the arrival of another invitee. After a few seconds of running cable, a young man in a grey suit, hat, and domino mask landed adroitly on the roof. The hook recalled into the grapple gun that he carried, and the man in the suit took a moment to tuck the grapple gun into a holster inside his jacket and adjust his hat on his head, before turning towards the people already on the roof. Seeing only two people, his eyes narrowed slightly, though he didn't visibly tense up.

He was cautious of this whole situation, to be honest. While he liked the idea of working with others of a similar mindset, he wasn't sure if this was all on the up and up, and how much about himself he should reveal. He also wasn't exactly in the mood to be a media darling, which seemed to be this Asad's MO. For now, he came, but he wasn't sure yet if he was going to take anyone up on any offers.

"Guess I'm early?" He looked towards the costumed and cowled man who he didn't recognize. By the look of him, at least, he seemed to be a pro at this kind of thing. Not someone he probably wanted to tangle with, in any case. "Take it you're this King of Suits the note mentioned? They call me the Bluesman."

[Ari]

“Ill met by moonlight, proud Asad?â€...“Where do I sign up? Will there’ll be cake?â€

" Guess I'm early?"... "Take it you're this King of Suits the note mentioned? They call me the Bluesman."

At the voices of the two arrivals marceau's eyes snapped back to(what was for now)ground level, where he saw the be-suited man and glowing young lady he leaped briskly to his feet, a friendly grin already on his face.

"Hello! Welcome! A pleasure to meet you Bluesman, Mz., I am indeed the King of Suits, and not Asad, who seems to have been delayed, and I am afraid I have no cake. However, if you have any questions about the confederation our mutual acquaintance is trying to put together, I'd be happy to answer them as best I can. Asad and I met in a rather leisurely fashion, so I dare say he had the time to make mention of some details he might not have the opportunity to express fully in his meetings with you two"

Looking from one to the other he asked with unabated enthisiasm "How about we break the ice with a short explanation of how we first learned about this team-to-be? I found out about it when while out on patrol I stumbled upon Asad having a late night snack on this very roof, we had sandwiches from a shop just down the street he owns, told me about this villainous man named Recall. Supposed to be a dangerous mercenary with a perfect memory who learns his target's fighting style by sending hired thugs at them, then uses that knowledge to get an edge in battle against them"

[Ironox]

Bluesman nodded, adjusting his hat on his head and making sure that his mask sat squarely over most of his face. "Yeah, I've met Asad, and unless he changed up his style a lot, you two don't look too alike." He listened to this King of Suits' story with a bit of interest. He had only a few tangles with the super-powered, and even at the park, he had mostly dealt with the thugs. It was hard to punch a man made of mist, after all. Maybe Asad could cook something up for him to help with that kind of thing in the future, should this little partnership thing pan out. Of course, that was all in the future.

"Sounds like a bad dude to tangle with. But I guess it's part of this whole thing, right? Anyway, I ran into Asad and a couple other capes in the park, fighting some kind of mist-man. Guess I made some sort of impression on him, because I got a little note talking about meeting up and discussing some things. And since it doesn't seem like anyone is trying to kill me, I thought I might be interested."

[Tiffany Korta]

The light around Young Britannia seemed to retreat slightly and pulsed almost nervously.

“Oh sorry I didn’t see you, heh, ironically I couldn’t see you in this light.â€

The light brightened slightly as she listened to the other two stories and began to relax a little.

“Yeah I meet Asad defending a social function; he made quite an impression on me.†Luck for her the glowing light hid her blushes. “If this guy is such a bad deal why haven’t you taken him down yet, is he hiding or just not enough proof?â€

[Ari]

“If this guy is such a bad deal why haven’t you taken him down yet, is he hiding or just not enough proof?â€

The cowled man looked deeply embarrassed at Young Britannia's question "Well..I have no idea where he is, where to start looking for him, what kind of clues to look for or what strategy to take in hunting him. Besides, I have a lot on my plate already with street crime in the Fens, I rarely have enough time to fight actual supervillains" he shrugged awkwardly "So in short he's both hiding and I haven't had the time to find any proof of whatever he's done"

With a sudden gleam of pearly white hi grinned from ear to ear, and striding briskly forward he happily offered the two fellow vigilantes a handshake in turn "But that's a subject for later. For now, I'm very pleased to make your acquaintances. Now I'm sure you have many questions, so please ask them!" that said, he turned and jumped lightly onto a nearby long-corroded and forgotten statue of a woman raising a hand as if in diction. Taking off his cape as an afterthought, he tossed it carelessly onto the roof.

[Ironox]

Bluesman chuckled at the woman's question, turning towards her with a grin playing on his features. "Come on, don't be hard on the guy. I've only got one super-villain fight under my belt, and that's only on a technicality. I mostly cleaned out his goons while everyone else wailed on him. Guess I wouldn't mind a crack at him myself, though."

Bluesman returned a firm handshake to the cowled man as he turned the conversation to the business at hand. "Well, most of my questions would probably be directed at Asad, but I'll hit you with them. What exactly would I be signing up for here? What's the plan for this thing that Asad said he's building? What exactly is our goals? We protecting the city, going global Freedom League style? Or is this just more of a social club kind of thing?"

[Ari]

Marceau turned a positive lighthouse of good cheer towards the blue-clad man. "What Asad is trying to build is a cooperation of heroes, with himself as the financial and corporate backer. The idea is to provide a network of heroes who can assist each other with the multitude of threats facing this city. We'll be expected to play to our strengths, so you or I won't be called on to fight giant robot monsters from the 527th dimension or whatever. Likewise," he added, looking to Young Britannia "you won't be asked to sneak into somebody's headquarters through the sewers. Everyone will fill their niche, and the group will be strengthened by it" taking a sip of water from a small canteen hidden somewhere in his armor, he continued "As for goals, the plan is to provide a platform for heroes to realize theirs, whether they need allies to help defeat some evil that only they had known about, want to be a force for good in greater strength than they could be alone, want to keep an eye on a large group of po-supers" he corrected himself with a jolt "with no known previous affiliation or interest in each other suddenly flocking to Amir ibn Jafar ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Misri, and if it has anything to do with his recent press conferences where he revealed his powers and name of Asad. As for scope, it will be as vast as intended by its members, who can use it as a pool of resources for fighting anything from the Mafia families here in Freedom to supervillains on the other side of the world"

Stretching one of his arms a little, and correcting a crease in the ballistic cloth beneath the plates of his costume, smiling at the two with no decrease of geniality "Does that answer your questions?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Young Britannia stood there still feeling a little guilty about her comment and her aura of light had shrunk back to a ting spiking nimbus of light.

“Yeah unlike you fine Gentlemen I don’t really do the stealth.†She gave a little nerve giggle “What kind of resources is he offering? I mean do we all get decoder ring and access to the Asad-cave?â€

Of cause this was a contract negotiation, a very weird one on a dark roof with two masked figure. But then she could deal with contract negotiations, she’d recently had plenty of practice.

“And do we have agree with any kind of code of conduct? Do you know of anything that he’ll insist of any kind of commitment we might have to agree to? I like the man butt I’m not sure I’d want to promote his business interests.â€

[Ari]

The King of Suits shook his head emphatically. "No need to worry Mz. We aren't even working for Asad unless you specifically ask for employment from him" adjusting his seat to ward off a slight numbing sensation in his left leg, he thought back to his conversation with Amir those weeks ago. "As for a code of conduct: we're totally autonomous so long as we don't try to harm the group, things like trying to discover each others' secret identities and such are right out. Other than that our only real duty is to be ready to aid each other if needed. What this group is supposed to be I can't stress enough: a loose confederation intended to give a large number of answers to any problem that comes up" he leaned against a chimney "Asad supplies the base and general financial means to get where we need to go, as well as whatever intelligence he can get from the assigned intel gatherers, along with a communicator badge tuned to a certain frequency that does what you would expect it to" he waited for any response to what he had said.

[Tiffany Korta]

She hated to be the one show up the negative, but she’d been burned by contract deal before. And it wasn’t just her she had to worry about this time. But she didn’t want to upset this King of Suits, he seemed like a fairly upstanding type of guy.

Oh well nothing to do but resort to the brutal truth. Agnes took a little nervous breath, and Young Britannia spoke..

“Okay there’s no easy way to say this without sounding like a right cow. So I’m just going to come right out and say it.â€

“I mean I know about you by your reputation, and I trust everything that you've said. You believe every word you say. But what guarantees that Asad will stand by the promises that you’ve given us on this windy rooftop?â€

[Ari]

The King of Suits looked a little surprised at the question, clearly never having thought of that before. "That is quite easily answered: Mz. Asad has absolutely no reason to try and force other duties upon us, and as a public pow-super(pardon me), he will want people close to him in case he gets in trouble with something truly dangerous. People who will have a reason to work with him due to their goals being achievable through cooperation and assistance with him. If that isn't enough, I am sure Asad will be happy to write out a legal contract explaining just what and what not he will require of you, and I don't think for an instant he won't let you dictate what duties you want him to require of you" he looked from the Bluesman to the young lady "Is that satisfactory?"