[Saturday, October 18th. 7:30 PM] [In the aftermath of Thursday's confrontation against Panzermensch, and the loss of Mizuki, Solaris has given you all the past day-and-a-half off, figuring (correctly or incorrectly) that you would all need some time.] [The two unconcious young heroes received treatment for their injuries, which were serious but not life-threatening. Daegal's injuries healed by themselves, but he left the base even more despondant than the last remaining Super Sibling, blaming himself for leading the villains to the meet-up spot.] [Mizuki's body was never recovered from beneath the tons of rubble; only her staff and a bloody chunk of her robe were found.] [Eternal Warrior has been on a rampage the past couple of days, brutally stomping any supervillain activity that pops up. But curiously, there hasn't been that much activity. And Panzermensch hasn't been seen yet either...] [Tonight, you've been called to a small, side-street bar in an oddly quiet section of the Lower East Side called O'Steel's. Inside is a fairly typical Irish bar, empty except for Solaris, Sister Admin, and a robot behind the bar.] [Session Start] [Also, anyone who read a local paper, watched the local news, or went online probably would've seen photos or video of Christian outside a cosplay club with an attractive blonde in a less-than-tasteful Horus costume. Not his finest moment.] * Horus opens the door and walks in, looking around. Seems she got there first, but she can fly ridiculously fast. And she probably is the real Horus, given she's actually glowing (but minus wings at the moment). "Hey." [Solaris waves from the bar, nursing a beer. "Sit down, get a drink, wait for the others to get here."] Arright. What's goin' on? * Horus walks over and sits at a table nearby. If the bot comes over, she asks for a rum and coke. [The bot does come over, and places a rum and coke in front of Horus as Solaris replies. "I'll explain when everyone gets here. Figured everyone could use a drink."] ... Yeah. Sure. * Horus sips her drink. [Sis Admin, who, being non-corporeal at the moment, does not have a drink, nods. "And that getting out of the base would be good for everyone. Solaris included." Solaris glances back at SA with a raised eyebrow, then nods and takes a sip.] * Christian opens the door to the bar, looking curiously around. He looks a bit confused as he steps in and flops down in the corner. He seems...tired, but looks up a moment later. "Oh. Hey." He straightens up a little. "What's all this then?' [The robot bartender replies: "A bar."] * Christian glares at the robot bartender. "And what are you? Fuckin' Sherlock?" He kicks up hsi feet and leans back in the booth, shifting his bandanna down a bit lower and slumping in the seat. * Horus looks up from her drink and at Christian. "Don't be a dick. Not his fault he's a robot." Yeah well I ain't feelin' much like not bein' a dick right now. Sorry. * Horus rolls her eyes and turns to the robot. "Get him a beer. He fuckin' needs one." [The bartender shrugs. "It is okay. I have been accused of being overly literal in the past." He pauses. "What'll it be?"] * Jacqueline arrives without obvious weapons(which means that she's totally still armed), and wearing an actual blouse and skirt beneath her labcoat rather than her leathery costume. Or, you know, chains. She's also got her arm tightly around the Redcoat's shoulders and a large smile plastered across her lips as she strolls through the door, pretty much fully dependant on the Russian to avoid falling over. * Christian looks at the bartender for a second. "What's the strongest ya got?" * Christian *eyes* Jackie and Redcoat coming in now. * Horus then sees Dr. Hyde and the Redcoat, and her mood somehow sours further. * TheRedcoat is doing a mostly okay job supporting our favorite scientist as they enter. She's in full costume, but with her mask down, though her sunglasses are still on, and she's laughing softly as they enter. "An atomic hamster? Oh, you didn't!" You know what they say about New Jersey. It was very poetic. [Solaris frowns. "Probably what they had." The robot bartender, meanwhile, pours Christian a shot of bourbon.] Yeah. I'll get double it. * TheRedcoat actually giggles a bit. "I've not been in this country so long, but I can definitely agree with...with zat." * Christian picks up the shot and downs it in record time. * TheRedcoat gives everyone a friendly wave. "Ah, my dear comrades! What a party you missed!" [Solaris picks up her beer and starts to walk over to a table, before pausing a shooting a look at Jacky. "The party. Right." She shakes her head. "Get a drink, come sit down, and we'll do this. Shouldn't take long."] * TheRedcoat staggers up to the bar with Jackie and, with some maneuvering, manages to get them both settled into seats without either falling down. * Horus just stares at the pair of them, then has a healthy swallow of her drink. She clearly needs to get that drunk. * Christian pulls his bandanna down further at Redcoat's cheerful greeting and stretches to take up a lot of room in the booth he's in, letting out a long sigh. Keep 'em comin' till I say stop or fuckin' pass out. * Jacqueline doesn't so much fall as she does tilt forward to rest her arms on the bartop as if it was what she'd intended all along. She sets eyes on the robot and crooks her finger to beckon it nearer as she says, "Really, you /should/ have made it. We could have had this little pow-wow /there/, you know, and it would have been a fair sight cheerier." * Jacqueline glances sidelong towards Christian. "You could have even brought a plus one!" * Horus says, "Glad you guys had a good time," even though she's obviously not glad at all. She turns her attention to Solaris. [The robot extends an arm with a double of bourbon to Christian, then turns to regard Jacky impassively.] * Christian downs that one too. Good thing this robot isn't programmed to check ID. [Solaris takes a long swig and sits down, SA standing to her left. "Right then. This place is a cape bar, as you might've guessed by Steel Bartender up there. Tradition is, when we lose one of our own, we come here to mourn, celebrate, and drink ourselves stupid. So get your drinks, raise 'em high, and if you've got anything to say, say it."] Wait, this is a tradition? ["Yes."] * Horus finishes her drink and waves the bartender over for a margarita. * TheRedcoat blinks owlishly a bit. "Ah, this is like a part two in that case.." She waves at the bartender. "A sakebomb for a fallen comrade please, good metallic sir!" * TheRedcoat smiles hazily at everyone. "It is for a good cause, after all." * Jacqueline folds her arms on the bar with a little wrinkle of the nose, and after ordering a sake bomb of her own she murmurs, "A shame you aren't human; I can't tempt /you/ with alchemical blasphemy in exchange for alcohol, can I?" * Christian hehs slightly. "Not half as fun when you don't have to sneak into the bar. Ah what the hell." He orders a tequila shot. [Solaris raises her bottle as the bartender delivers expertly-mixed drinks all around. "To Mizuki. Lost too long, gone too soon."] * TheRedcoat raises her drink. "Hear, hear! To one of our best! Budiem zdoroviy!" * Christian raises his glass. "Here's to you, Priestess." He downs it quickly. * Jacqueline can't immediately raise her drink, as she has to drop one small glass into a much larger one first; once her mug is bubbling with comingling liqours, however, she joins in with bringing her glass up, mumbles something in a mixture of Chinese and Japanese, and guzzles her drink down. * Horus raises her drink as well. "She was fuckin' awesome." * Horus has a sip of her new drink. ["Here here." Solaris takes a swig of her beer as SA bows her head.] * TheRedcoat downs the entire two-in-one drinks. [Solaris reaches out a hand, and a fresh bottle is in it a moment later. "Now, down to a quick bit of business."] Yeah? * Horus is still drinking her drink. As it were. * TheRedcoat slams the empty glasses down, and shakes her head rapidly. * Christian slouches in the corner a bit after finishing his drink, glancing casually at Solaris. ["As best we can tell, Mizuki managed to take down Panzermensch, amazing as that is. We haven't seen any sign of him the last couple of days, and the son of a bitch was far too arrogant to let the idea that he might've been beaten last this long."] * Jacqueline somberly murmurs, "I never /did/ ask her to weigh in on the magical girl phenom--" A beat, and then she exhales a long-suffering sigh and turns her attention to Solaris. * Horus nods, slowly. ["This'll make things a bit easier. The other side has more than a few heavy hitters, but Panzermensch was one of their two real super-heavyweights, along with Centaurion." She shakes her head. "Way Eternal Warrior's been going the last couple of days, though, we might've been okay regardless."] * Christian appears to be listening. Or at least half listening. Or at least looking at Solaris in a half-foggy glaze with the semblance of paying attention. He can't keep that up. Y'know that. Try tellin' him that. * Christian orders another shot. * Horus shrugs. [Solaris nods at Christian as he gets his shot. "As angry as he is? I'm not sure he'll let himself stop."] [SA speaks up. "Stone's people have been investigating the attack. They found the signal jamming device, and figure it must've been planted a fair bit in advance. There was also evidence that Panzermensch was in the area before the start of the meeting."] Elephant tranquilizers. ...oh. * Horus responds to Solaris: "That's what I'm fuckin' saying. He keeps this up, and he'll get himself killed. Just like American Dream. Fuck." Sho...so they knew the meeting area in advance. How earllly did Redd...boy...set up the rendez-vous? And this'll be a guy we actually like... * Christian eyes Jackie. "Well...most of us." [Solaris shrugs. "I've tried talking to him. Only seen him like this a couple of times... there's no reasoning with him."] He's hardly a 'guy', anyway. * Jacqueline says this after drinking her second sake/beer concoction. [SA turns to Redcoat. "Working theory is that they had a tail on Redd Hook when he scouted the place out a few days before the meet-up. Redd Hook himself seems to think that's the case... he's not taking it well."] ...someone who can tail him? He's fffaasht. Well they musta considered it a pretty good threat to send out Panzer. 'Less he jus' laughed at the chance to smash up shit. * Jacqueline glances sidelong at Redcoat and nudges her ribs with an elbow as she murmurs, "/Obviously/, someone faster. Or as fast. Or slightly less fast? The point /is/, they /could/ have been a teleporter of some sort." So's Disco Ninja. We spotted a few of his clones there, didn't we? Fuck if I know. I'm not the one who's s'posed to figure this out. * Christian finally downs his shot. Wee. * TheRedcoat nods. "Oh yeh! Eta pravda. Kovo...Kto...who do we--oh yes. That's one. Yeh. Bastard." [Solaris shrugs. "Fast isn't an issue. And Redd Hook... the other kids were upset. The little girl, Kinderguardian, was in shock. Scary kinda calm. Redd Hook's blaming himself."] Well, I could understand, what with children dying on his watch. [SA speaks up again. "It makes sense, though. Redd Hook's work with the police makes him an unusually public figure. Spends a lot of time at SPLEE-NY headquarters, so if you have the capability to keep up with him, you know where to start from."] * TheRedcoat nodnods. "Good ppoint." * Christian looks at his drink and mutters. "Fuckin' depressed supers. Wonderful." He throws the glass aside and lets it shatter, not much caring that it's not his. Right, so what do we do? [Solaris ignores the shattering glass. "Regardless of how it happened, it's three more supers dead, two more seriously injured. And at this point, we've gotta assume Master Magus was telling the truth and the missing heroes aren't coming back."] * TheRedcoat makes a spitting noise (with no actual spit) at the mention of MM's name. [Sister Admin's eyes goes wide, and she turns to Solaris. "... take that back."] * Jacqueline raises another glass of alcohol as she proclaims, "Then it's well and truly down to /us/ to save the world, as it /should/ be," before gulping. * Christian looks up at Sister Admin for a second. "Someone you knew?" What the FUCK, Hyde? * Horus turns to look at Jacqueline. "Seriously, can you not be a bitch for one fucking second?" * Christian ignores the cat fight and keeps his focus on Sister Admin. [Solaris blinks as she looks over at SA. "... sorry, but it's true. You know th-" Solaris is interrupted as SA tries to slap Solaris, her hand going through Solaris' face. "You shut your goddamn mouth. They're coming back!"] * Jacqueline glances towards Horus with a quirk of the eyebrow as she crisply says, "Really, you could do with sparing me from your stunning void of self-confidence; I would think that a woman with /your/ figure would be a little unsure of herself when placed in such an important position." [Solaris looks vaguely stunned. Sister Admin freezes and looks around the room, eyes still wide, before disappearing.] * Jacqueline , with that, raises her glass in Horus' direction with a smile, and then turns to regard SA and Solaris impassively. Or, rather, Solaris, once SA disappears. * Christian stands up quickly at that. "Holy fuck." He looks hard at Sister Admin. "What the--" He blinks as she disappears, then turns to Solaris, half-yelling. "What the fuck was *that* all about?" * Horus grits her teeth. She completely misses the other catfight because she's busy with one of her own. "YOU could do with more- what was what about?" * Horus gets distracted by Christian interrupting her. * TheRedcoat winces at the noise and gestures at the bartender. "Caipirinha, please." * Christian ignores Horus, keeping his gaze on Solaris. [Solaris, after a moment, rubs her eyes, then takes a long swig of her beer. "Coupla people she cares about a lot were on that space mission. If you want details..."] ["... another time. Or ask her."] Fine. We done here? * TheRedcoat yawns. "Not the details ve--we are interested in right now. You bet. You just had to open your fuckin' mouth. Like we *need* another doomsayer in here. ["Pretty much. Just one last quick thing."] * Horus glares at Christian, then looks to Solaris. "Yeah?" * Christian swivels around quickly. He looks like if he had another glass, he would have broke that, but he does take off his shades and throw them. "Jesus fuckin' christ." [The hairs on the back of Horus and Redcoat's necks stand up as they get a strange feeling like they're being watched from near the front door.] * TheRedcoat twitches and looks discreetly over at the door, though it's less smooth than usual. * Horus glances over as well. * Christian doesn't. Back's to the door. [A man's voice calls out of the air near the front door. "Impressive. And here I was hoping for a surprise dramatic entrance." The area in front of the door wobbles, and the etherial image of a man appears.] * TheRedcoat growls a bit in the back of her throat. [Well, the top half of a man. Young, in his early twenties, handsome with short black hair. He's wearing an impeccable white three-piece suit with a blood red tie and pocket-handkerchief under a blood red cloak, which seems to pulse and undulate on its own.] ["Ladies and gentleman, we haven't been properly introduced. For publicity's sake, I go by Half-Man-Half-A-Magus. But among friends, I'm just plain old Master Magus." He smirks widely.] * Christian freezes for a second then goes to pick up his glasses and put them on. "Good. I'll call you Asshole then." * Jacqueline flips her goggles down into place to save her the trouble of having to turn in place to regard the ghostly demi-man, and after another sip of alcohol she wonders aloud, "My, what they say /is/ true; no wonder you're cranky." [Master Magus floats lazily over to the table where Solaris is sitting, ignoring Christian for the moment. "Solaris, so good to see you. What with you not out in the field, it's been nowhere near as fun. Too many miles on the old tires, hmm?" Solaris just stares back at him, stone faced, knuckles white gripping her beer.] * Horus just sits, watching him and glowing softly. * TheRedcoat yawns a mighty yawn and folds her arms on the table, setting her head down on them, tilted to the side so that if her glasses weren't hiding it, she would be able to see him out the corner of one eye. [He then turns to Jacky, and bows, which looks odd on someone with no legs. "Jacqueline Hyde. It truly is an honor. You were a huge inspiration to me when I was starting out. The style, the *panache*... there was nobody like you back in the day."] Well. Yes. It's true. That day was yesterday, though. [He grins widely. "Oh, I do hope that's true."] [He then floats over to Redcoat. "I must say, my dear, I was terribly disappointed when I came back from the dead and found out you'd gone over to the side of angels. I'd heard great things about your work, and was rather hoping we could collaborate sometime. C'est la vie, though."] * TheRedcoat burps a little. "'Scushe me." ["That's quite alright. Death of a friend and all. So sad, so sad..." He floats over to Christian! "Remind me, what name are you going by now?"] * Christian gives Master Magus some ID in the form of a glare. "What the fuck's it to you?" [Master Magus chuckles softly. "Such energy! Such youthful vigor! Full of piss and vinegar." He tilts his head at Christian, wearing a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy having you around."] [Finally, he floats over to Horus. "I never did have the chance to battle with your predecessor. I hear you've been carrying on the name quite well though, hmm? Very good, very good. With so many of the big names out of play, it'd be a shame if we were left with a subpar Horus."] * TheRedcoat mumbles. "Ugh. Moya golova..." She rubs her head. * Horus watches him, like she has been doing. "Wanna go now?" [Master Magus reels back, feigning shock. "Oh, heavens no! I'm not here to fight you! I'm not even here to gloat! I'm here to congratulate you all!"] Great. I'm here to tell you I don't give a shit. * Christian goes to get another drink. * Horus sighs in a 'too bad' sort of way and goes about finishing her drink. [He moves to the middle of the room, spinning to regard you all. "I thought you were just another bunch of boring, generic do-gooders, like those nobodies that Set dismantled a few days back." He turns back to Horus. "That guy's got a hell of a man-on for you. Not much of a team player, either. Very old-school."] Yeah, I heard he told you to fuck off. ["Can't win them all." He grins widely. "As I was saying. I was despairing at having to deal with another generic group of heroes... and then your priestess goes and shows me how wrong I was."] * Jacqueline takes to using her blaster's low yield pulse setting to carefully file and trim her nails as she murmurs, "The least you could do, if you're going to tell us things that we should already know, is buy us a round of drinks." ["Such pathos! Just returned to this world, falling in love... and she sacrifices herself to save those adorable little super brats, and takes out Panzermensch to boot!" He looks genuinely excited as he talks.] ["Of course! Robot bartender, a round for the house! This is a time for celebration! Here I thought I was going to just have to systematically stomp a bunch of staid, boring hero types... and then you guys show me that you've got that special something. You have no idea how excited I was!"] * Christian waves off-hand behind his back at Master Magus. "Glad we could be here for your fuckin' amusement." [He floats over next to Solaris. "I mean, how am I supposed to get worked up to go up against ol' Grumpy Pants here? Eternal Warrior? Blah. American Dream? Pleeeeeeeze. But you all... you've got *it*."] And what would 'it' be? * Horus accepts her drink from the robot and sets it on the table as she folds one leg over another and continues to watch. * TheRedcoat reaches out without looking and cradles the drink to her. ["Ever since I was just a little Magus, I've wanted just one thing... when I float down the street, I want fathers to stop their sons, point, and say 'There goes Master Magus. The greatest who ever lived.' But what's a villain without proper heroes to oppose him? Drama's a two-way street, you know."] ["You bunch... I apologize. Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart. I've been wasting your talents, trying to kill you with brute force, when you deserve so much better."] * TheRedcoat yawns again. "If you are offering record deal, only 5 percent for you." [He runs his hands through his hair, full of manic energy. "I've got to take some time, work you into my plans, figure out how to give you the effort you truly deserve. Capturing the other heroes was great, but this... you lot are going to be my *masterpiece*."] * Christian turns to Horus for a second. "Do villains like this *ever* shut up?" Invite us to your house, we'll give you birzh...briz...birzhday party. * Horus lets out a little snort and replies, "Look at Hyde." Good point. * Jacqueline smiles brightly as she gestures a hand down along herself and says, "By all means, do." [Master Magus leans his head back, taking a deep breath through his nose, then looks back at the group. "When I'm done with you... when it all comes together... I promise you, nobody's ever going to forget this. I'm gonna make you all legends."] ["So thank you. Truly. You're the wind beneath my wings. You complete me." He smirks. "See ya soon." And then he's gone.] * TheRedcoat puts up a hand without taking her head off her elbow. "Botender! A bucket for puking, if you please!" [The bartender hands Redcoat a bucket.] * TheRedcoat takes it. "Thank you, my good bot!" She lifts her head and lets a mighty spit into said bucket. "Damn fucker asshole fucker." No. Fucking. Shit. * Horus picks up her drink, reaches over, and dumps her own drink into the bucket. * TheRedcoat sets it out for Horus, then sits up and leans back in her chair, rubbing her forehead. * Christian holds up his drink in toast, downs it, and throws it in the bucket as well. * TheRedcoat just leaves hers on the table. [Solaris finishes off the last of her beer. "The psychos I can deal with. The power-mongers I can deal with. This type... these are the kind that get to you."] Yeah. * Christian goes to grab his coat. "I think I'm gonna get goin'." ["Stay if you want, leave if you want. I'm gonna stay here and see if I can develop beer-related powers."] * TheRedcoat burps again, a little more ladylike this time. "Excuse me. Jackie, do you think Midriff Boy was serious about that private showing?" * Jacqueline glances over at Redcoat, and flatly she replies, "Something tells me he won't be able to find the balls for it." * TheRedcoat sighs. "Pity." * Christian makes his way to the door, giving a bit of a nod to Horus as he goes, then glancing at the other two and their conversation before heading out. * Horus looks at her empty glass. "Sorry, Mizuki. You deserved better." She gets to her feet. See ya. * Horus walks on out. * TheRedcoat waves at Christian and Horus. "Farewell." [Session End]