[Saturday, October 18th. 9:30 PM] [After a few rounds of drinks and a meeting with our designated villain, Christian returns to the base. Nobody's there, aside from Sister Admin, in her usual place at the computer terminals, processing data from supers around the city.] [If she's noticed Christian's arrival, she hasn't shown it.] [Mini Start] * Christian heads down into the base. He doesn't seem to have had too many drinks to affect him that badly, but he's probably lucky no cops tried to smell his breath on the way here. Perks of being in costume. He takes his glasses and bandanna off as he walks towards the console. "'ey. You okay?" [Sister Admin actually starts, a first as far as you've seen, and nearly falls out of her chair as she turns around. "Christ! Where the hell did you come from?"] * Christian snorts a bit. "The bar. Where else?" He runs his fingers through his hair. "Party got crashed. Kinda stopped bein' fun at that point." [SA regains her composure a bit. "I heard. Steel Bartender patched me into a feed once Master Magus showed up. Guy's the dangerous kinda nuts."] You're tellin' me... * Christian sets his glasses and bandanna down on the nearest table and then gets closer to her. "So what happened?" [She shrugs. "Magician. Figure he must have ways of findin' us when we're outside the base. This place is shielded like you wouldn't believe. The bar has some protective measures, but what we've got here's on another level."] * Christian shakes his head. "Not talking about that. I'm talkin' 'bout you and Solaris. Looked like you were gonna be at her mother fuckin' throat if you weren't a hologram." [A pause. "Oh." Beat. "That."] * Christian runs his hand over his scalp. "Yeah. That." [She falls silent for a few moments. "Lost my temper. Lotta stress."] * Christian takes a deep breath. "We all are. So why didn't you come out for drinks?" ["Rules. I don't make personal appearances. For security reasons." The taps her head. "Too much up here."] * Christian snorts. "I'd smuggle some down but..." He shrugs slightly. "Age. I'm surprised as hell nobody said anything. Not that I'd think they'd care but..." * Christian takes a seat calmly and looks at her slightly. "You've got someone along the missin', don'tcha?" ["Oh, I'm not here either. More security rules..." She trails off. "... pretty obvious, yeah?"] * Christian smirks. "Like a three-dollar bill, babe." He takes in a deep breath, picking something off his coat. "Y'know it's gotta be pretty damned obvious if the densest guy on the team gets it." [She chuckles lightly, shaking her head. "Yeah, the attempted slap was a bit of a give-away." She takes a deep breath. "S'a long story."] I got all night. [She runs a hand through her short, spiky hair. "Right then... from the beginning... powers popped when I was ten. Technopathy, advanced computational and data processing abilities. Somehow ended up on the radar of one of the darker corners of the government, who 'recruited' me."] * Christian gestures vaguely with his hand. "Kidnapped, right?" ["Technically, it was all above board, but yeah. Kept me underground in a bunker somewhere for two years, coalating and interpreting data for them. Plus some hacking here'n there... I'm good at that."] * Christian snorts. "Kinda figured." [She taps at her terminal for a moment, and a picture comes up on screen of a solidly built man in a three-piece suit, trenchoat, fedora, and alligator mask. "Scales of Justice. Greatest investigative mind the world's ever seen. Found out about me, didn't like it, spent a month tracking down where I was."] ["Should've been impossible to track me down, but he didn't get a rep as the world's foremost investigator for nothing."] We all got our little surprises in us, yeah. [She types a bit more. "But find me he did. Pummeled the crap outta my handlers, along with... him." Another image comes up, of a bald young black man in a tweed coat.] * Christian blinks at that sight. "I know that guy from somewhere..." ["Scales' sidekick, Sherlock Homey. Brilliant detective in his own right. He's the one that actually broke me outta my holding room, carried be outta the bunker..."] * Christian stares at Sister's reaction for a bit, watching her carefully. ["They set me up with this Sister Admin gig. Taught me the rules of the game, gave me a purpose I wanted to get behind. Scales' wa- is like a surrogate father to me."] ["And Sherlock..." She trails off.] * Christian sighs and asks the obvious question. "When did he go missing?" [She winces. "They were both on the space mission."] I thought so... * Christian lets out a breath. "We saw how crazy that Magus guy is. Who knows if he's tellin' the truth or not. Or even knows what the truth is?" ["It makes too much sense. Magus is powerful enough to do it, and if he doesn't have them... what happens to that many superheroes that they just disappear without a trace?"] * Christian looks at her strangely. "You're askin' me? Hell if I know. Hell, I was pulled into this gig because someone was tryin' ta kill me remember? Ain't sure I woulda even paid attention otherwise..." He snorts. "Stupid or not." [She takes off her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose. "You woulda. You don't give yourself enough credit, but you're a good guy."] * Christian blows out a breath and looks off to the side, putting his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Right." ["Even if your taste in women needs work."] * Christian winces. "Don't remind me. I'm not surprised you saw that." ["I see everything. It's my job." She replaces her glasses. "Seriously, though, you gotta be more careful. What if she'd been some kinda psycho, instead of just a giant hosebeast?"] * Christian runs his fingers through his hair. "I knew she wanted somethin'. But I just thought she was a regular super chaser. Not that she was tryin' to promote her damned career. I'm lucky I didn't smash some of those damned cameras." ["Wouldn't be the first time, but yeah, probably for the best. Like it or not, you and the others are high profile now. Good'n bad comes with that."] * Christian rubs his brow. "I know, I know..." He slumps down in the chair. ["Don't feel too bad. Something like this happens to a lot of noobs when they hit the big time." A beat. "Though usually not with someone dressed as a teammate."] * Christian tilts his head slightly as he looks at Sis Admin for a while. Then lets out a breath. "Which game?" [Sister Admin looks puzzled for a moment before figuring out what Christian's referring to. "Superhero game. If I was gonna play this role, certain rules hadta be in place. No tracking people out of costume. No attempts to figure out secret identities. No personal appearances, 'cause if I ever got captured..."] Well of course. * Christian snickers. "So I can't ask your handle. That blows. But come on, *no one* says noob in the real world. [She smirks. "I don't live in the real world."] It's a nice place to get out to every once and a while. Gets ya drunk for one thing. ["No go. I'm on call 24/7. Don't need sleep, can't afford it anyway, not right now."] * Christian stands up slowly. "You're lucky for that. But you can run up your nerves too." He cracks his neck. "I should go crash though." [She nods. "Thanks for coming by."] If they are still around, we're gonna find 'em. You can bet on that. ["He's still around. I know it."] * Christian nods slightly. "I'll catch ya later, SA." He heads on towards the porters, grabbing his shades and bandanna as he goes and putting them back on before he's out on the streets. [SA looks back up at the screen. "I know it, dammit."] [Mini End]