Follow the Money

She listens to Fear speak his piece and continues in response to Trevor. "As I said our assumption was that you would use your existing contacts to reach out to each other. Some of you who aren't known to each other are at least public figures you have likely seen or heard of before." she says gesturing to Fear, Archangel, and Constance. "And as for the 'civilian' I assumed she wouldn't be seen. Let me repeat myself, you were given all of the information we had about the robbery, the teleporter was news to us as well. I'll admit it could have been handled differently but we made our decision. And you did end up catching them. Do you really believe things would have gone much differently had you known about each other?" Doctor Weird asks with an eyebrow raised.

Shade waves his hands as though clearing bad smells. "I feel like we're drifting a bit. This was your first shot at recruitment, and our first shot at a big team job. Lessons learned, water under the bridge, three guys apprehended, minor property damage. Obviously not all of us are ready to make up our minds immediately, and it sounds like you aren't pushing for us to jump now. You've said your piece, and we've asked our questions. Anyone have anything else? If not, what's the next move here?"

Doctor Weird nods to Shade in appreciation. She picks up a napkin and gives it a little shake before setting it in the middle of the table. Numbers begin to form as if ink was seeping up from the underside of the napkin.
"This is my number. Feel free to call me whenever, I can't promise I'll be able to answer it but I'll always get back to you. If you haven't decided or need time to think give me a call when you have an answer. For those of you who are on board I'd like you to collaborate on what sort of things you would like to help make you a better team. Feel free to text me if you come up with things later or let me know if you have anything now. We have a temporary base setup that Beacon will show you tomorrow along with handing out some lines of communication. He'll be able to better lay out what our steps are moving forward. You can meet him at the ORACLE building I picked you up today at ten tomorrow morning." She looks around the group her eyes passing through each member at the table.

"Let me know if you have anything else otherwise I can return anyone who needs it to the ORACLE building to get vehicles."

I was unseen, Logan thinks, sneering to herself, during the robbery. She thinks that parts of the operation could have gone differently, but everything tends to look that way in hindsight. As it was, she had been the only one going in with knowledge that she wasn't alone, and had very much botched the opportunity for collaboration.

Somewhat grumpily, Logan adds Doctor Weird's number to the small list of contacts in her phone, most of which are professional. She lays out some cash on the table to pay for her food.

As kind of an afterthought, Logan opens up a new contact and nudges Trevor beside her. She hands him the phone, hoping he'll punch in his number, and glances around dubiously at the other people who could (potentially) become her teammates. She might try to get Shade's number, too, before they leave.

Without attempting to touch the napkin with Doctor Weird's number, Nadia scrutinizes it from different angles as though looking for a hidden mechanism that may have accomplished the trick. Reluctantly, she copies down the phone number onto a scrap of paper, but doesn't take her phone out. She slips a couple dollars under her unused silverware, and surreptitiously watches the rest of the group for a tacit consensus about what to do next.

Shade enters the number into his phone, drops a few bills onto the table, and stands. "A ride back to ORACLE would be great, thanks." He turns to the others. "If the rest of you feel like chatting about this, we could drop back to ORACLE briefly and then chat there or head somewhere else? Not that we all need to, but if we want to, you know, bring up concerns or brainstorm or just do a few 'get to know you' activities?"

Fear pulls out what looks approximately like a Wii-U device and does what might look like the equivalent of entering a phone number into a phone. He stows it and nods at Shade, granting affirmative to his question. He then simply states, I'm ready."

Trevor punches his info into Logan's phone, puts Doc Weird's number in his own phone, tosses some cash on the table, and files out the door. I suppose I should probably pick my car up, here to ORACLE is a bit more of a walk than I feel like doing right now.

Nodding at Shade's suggestion, he says, "Sure, I'm in."

"Meet you guys there, then." Nadia follows the group outside and switches back to fight mode, taking off before the others can gather to teleport back to ORACLE.

Nadia jets off toward the ORACLE building as the others gather up outside. Doctor weird reaches into her pocket and once more pulls out the sword giving it a little flourish "I appreciate all of you hearing me out and I look forwarding to working with any and all of you in the future." with a genuine smile she pushes the blade into the ground once again creating the soft glowing circle. The group once again experiences the jerking motion as the scenery around them changes, somewhat expecting it this time the experience is a little less jarring but a stomach full of food doesn't help much. They arrive outside of the ORACLE building finding things more or less how they had left them. Doctor Weird is nowhere to be found. The group hangs around thinking their own thoughts about the experience as they wait for Nadia to arrive. A couple of minutes later and she descends to join them.

Nadia nods at Fear and heads toward the building. "Yeah, we need to discuss this whole thing. It's probably worth showing up tomorrow to meet with these people, but nothing truly comes without strings attached."

Shade follows, wrinkling his face a bit. "I agree that we should definitely do some talking, but I don't know if I agree with the 'no such thing as a free lunch' sentiment. You're ORACLE registered, I'm assuming you do a bit of civic service. When you pull Fluffy out of a tree, you don't hand the old lady a bill, right? It's possible this whole thing is that same idea on a larger scale. Doing good for its own sake. Suspicion is probably smart, but I'd hate for it to cripple us."

The group moves inside finding a free table in a quiet corner. The place is mostly empty except for a few robotic caretakers and a couple of ordinary capes in colorful costumes.

Nadia sits and folds her hands on the table in front of her, affecting a businesslike air. "So. Prima facie, it seems like a very attractive offer: resources and information in exchange for working the case we were already tacitly on. But typically, 'no strings' also means no safety net, so if Dr. Weird is unwilling to codify the nature of the agreement we're entering, and something goes wrong down the line, everything could backfire on us with no warning. And quite frankly, I registered with ORACLE because of the implicit legal protection, not because I wanted to put my damn cape-rriculum vitae up on SuperMonster or whatever." She looks pointedly at Archangel, who she knows to be unregistered, and Logan, who might be more than just Constance's groupie as Nadia had originally thought.

Archangel kicks her boots up onto the table nonchalantly. "It sounds like an opportunity to do more than catching purse snatchers and stopping armed robberies. As far as I can see as long as we don't get to reliant on them there isn't any repercussions for backing out later if things don't feel right. I'm willing to give Beacon and Doctor Weird the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to do good. Tentatively I'm in. I want a chance to do more than I have been and take on some real heavy hitters and this sounds like my chance to do just that."

Tremor leans against the wall nearest the table, occasionally pacing around as the group talks. "I guess we don't know how much the big league Capes are gonna be involved, but I don't really see how this is gonna get us in any more trouble than working alone. If anything, this way we can be like 'hey, Beacon sent us on this mission' and people will probably give us a little more space."

"If we make it look legit and professional, with a team name and costumes and a base and all that, the cops will probably be more willing to work with us. I know some of the beat cops that work downtown, but I think we've already seen that they're not gonna give us a whole lot when we go to headquarters or whatever." Tremor starts drumming absent-mindedly on the wall before he continues. "I guess my thing is, how much are we signing up for? Do we follow orders, can we quit later on, do we have to play along if Doctor Weird shows up and says 'here's a new guy, he's on your team now'?"

"I don't think we can get any real, concrete assurance that things won't go fuckwards in the future. So far, the tone of the offer has been 'drop out when you want', and until we actually sign some legal contract or get fitted for explosive collars, I'm inclined to believe that. However, if we progress with this and anyone feels uncomfortable with any step, I for one won't be at all upset if they want to dip. And if it looks like there's gonna be pushback from *up top* on that, then I think we all walk. But I do feel a lot more confident braving this whole potential agreement if I've got a couple other outsiders who also are keeping their eyes open and are ready to jump out if it gets hot. And I agree with Archangel and Tremor. I think this could be a step towards making some real change, and establishing a positive rep with the community." Shade folds his arms and leans back in his chair.

Well, it sounds like the rest of them are considering this with a healthy degree of skepticism, at least... I just don't want to be going in alone against the higher-ups if this all goes to shit.

"What the hell," Nadia mutters to herself, "it's not like I have a day job to quit."

She shifts back in her seat, crossing her arms in front of her. "All right, it seems like we agree that we should try it out, but be wary of making too much of an official commitment. For my part, I at least want to see this case through, but I'm suspicious that Dr. Weird disavowed any governmental connection. If the police decide they can't tolerate organized vigilantism--well, it might mean less to those of you who have the luxury of maintaining an alternate identity..." Her voice trails off as she glances around the group, her gaze landing on Trevor, the most distinctive face at the table.

I'm in, Logan writes. She licks her fingers, wipes the saliva on her forehead, and crookedly sticks the paper to it. Logan casually leans on the table and rests her chin on the heel of her hand.

"That sounds like five 'yes' so far?" Nadia looks at Fear and Constance to see if they have anything to add. "So, now what--do we have more to discuss before we meet the guy tomorrow morning? Are you serious about wanting team costumes?" She addresses the last comment to Trevor, who had mentioned uniforms while the group spoke to Doctor Weird.

"Well, yeah, I mean, why not? It's really just an image thing. We all show up in civvies, we look like we don't know what we're doing. We wear costumes, we look professional. I'm not saying I'd run around in spandex most of the time, but..."

Tremor trails off as his flesh shifts to match the brickwork of the building. His head nearly brushes against the ceiling before he stops growing; his previously oversized shirt is clearly straining at the seams. "Maybe I can start wearing clothes that fit both sizes." His voice is noticeably deeper when he speaks.

"I guess it depends how we wanna run this thing. Are we running as a crew most of the time or do we just come together for the big stuff?"

"Personally, I can always use backup. I wouldn't mind partnering with a person or two a majority of the time. Doesn't have to be all the time, doesn't need to be the same person. Probably shouldn't be too many people for the small stuff, either. I don't think the group of us showing up to bust a small time crook is going to accomplish too much more than a few of us, and would probably just terrify people."
Liiiike at the rental shop. Probably a two person job.
"As far as uniforms, I think everyone probably has their own ideas for what works for them, but at least a consistent color scheme or logo? Also, what are we feeling for team name?"

Having watched the proceedings patiently Constance addresses the group. She explains that while this all seems like a wonderful project it just isn't for her at the moment. She informs them she would be happy to help in the future but that at this time won't be joining the team. She says her goodbyes and ensures that anyone who wants it has her contact information before saying goodbyes and leaving the group to it's conversation.

Getting back to the points raised Archangel speaks up "Personally I kind of already have a thing going on..." she says gesturing to her costume. "I'm not opposed to a logo or maybe adding some racing stripes in a team color or something but Orange is kind of my thing." Archangel continues, the eye holes in her helm briefly flaring with orange flames. "As for a team name it's probably best to steer clear of using numbers like the stupendous six seeing as we may add or lose members in the future." she points to the door that Constance sped through moments ago. "We could be, like, the Rook Patrol or The Ultras. Maybe something mysterious like the Shadow Squad or Knightwatch with a K. Ooh! or an acronym Heroes of Action Working with Kindred Spirits, HAWKS!" Archangel gets visibly more excited as she talks about a team name taking her feet off the table and leaning forward. Noticing her outburst she leans back trying to feign nonchalance "Or you know whatever."