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The 'Usual Suspects' find their table ready as usual.  As everyone arrives Dave hands you a slip of paper that has name, address, phone number and cell phone (if you have one).  There are other spaces for info on them also.  If asked he tells you it's for a fake ID, and so everyone can be reachable if something comes up.

Sylvia looks worried even as she hands Dave her information.  "Why do we need fake ID?"

Samantha does what Samantha does...  for lunch today,  she has ham,cheese, tomato and lettuce  on a whole wheat kaiser roll, a homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and an apple.  She's plugged in to her iPod, listening to some music which El recommended.

"I figure we'll need several over the course of the year.  Most with fake last names.  Just in case you guys have to stop and talk to any police officers.  I have a line on cell phones too if you need one."

Megan made her way into the lunch room with the other cheerleaders as normal, waving as Sylvia as they pass nearby the “Usual Suspects” table.  Though she appeared no different than any other day, inside she was fuming over the fact that lecherous idiot Spark was ruining the good name she had managed to get so far as Velocity with his little scam. 

The problem was she really didn’t know what to do about it.  If she managed to catch Spark and tie him up for the cops, it would be a bit hard to prove he was the one behind it all.  She thought maybe avoiding the areas with the high numbers of drug dealers and just trying to do other good deeds where she helps people, but that was no guarantee that the problem would go away, likely just get worse.  Another option was to just throw in the towel and give up being Velocity, it was not as if she owed anything to anyone really, she had never asked to get grabbed by that creepy water guy and thrown down into the lab to have whatever spill on her.  But the newscast with the wife of the cop she had helped that first night as Velocity kept coming back to her, he might well be dead if she had not been there.

With an unnoticed sigh as she pushed the thoughts form her head as she sat down with the others, she focused back in on talking with Lisa about their ideas for a new dance for the upcoming school pep rally, wanting to use Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback as the song for the dance.

A pox on Sylvia and her bothersome ethics.  "These aren't stolen cells, are they?"

"Ah, no."  Dave says shaking his head.  "do I look like someone who would boost cell phones for his friends?"

GREG: "Yeah, don't knock him.  I haven't seen him this motivated for anything since 6th grade."

Sylvia has her doubts but decides to ignore them.  She waves when she spots Megan and then remembers what she wanted to tell the others.  "So the Avengers got in touch.  I sent a letter off a while ago, and they sent someone out to check on us."

Colin frowns.

"Dave, seriously, look at me. Chris is a detective, and a good one at that. Who do you think he's going to look for if he ever hears anything about a 'short teenager, probably native american, lean, with neck long black hair and large glasses, carrying a fake ID'? I really appreciate the offer, but I think I'd be better served asking directly for him, or for one of his friends. Wouldn't I?"


"They what?!!!"

"This guy, David Banner, and his wife came by my house.  They want to talk to us sometime.  They might be able to help us figure things out."

The police was just one example Colin.  There are other reasons to have a fake ID, and you might need one."

"That's nice. We could use some help. Now... Banner... I'm sure I heard it before... It reminds me something... uhmm..."

OOC: Knowledge check (1d20+2=17) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=656273)

"Wasn't the Hulk something Banner... maybe Bruce or D-"

He stares at Sylvia with eyes wide as tea plates.



"Uhm. You are probably right. I just never thought of it. What should I write here?"

Sylvia rolls her eyes.  She doesn't want to get the guys all excited over nothing.  "I think you and Matt are jumping to conclusions.  This guy was, like, old enough to be somebody's grandfather.  He wasn't even vaguely Hulk-like.  He was more like Mr. Rogers with a degree in physics."

Colin shrugs.

"Still, I can't wait to meet them. Did they tell you when?"

"They said to call them, but they'll only be in town for a few days."

Kel walks in, and settles in at the table, earlier than usual today, he nods at Dave and says, "Good thinking, these could come in real handy."  He says in reference to the fake IDs, in his head though he merely thinks that who needs a fake idea when your whole face is obscured and you're calling yourself some flashy moniker.  He then leans back and starts eating, listening to the conversation as usual.

Sylvia nods at Kel.  She hasn't seen as much of him lately as she did over the summer, and the look she flashes him is sort of wistful--until he glances her way.  Then she tries to play it cool.  "Hey, Kel.  I heard something weird happened at your house.  Mom said she saw police outside when she came back from work."

Kel looks at her and then around the group, he leans in and says, "That superman stuff has been getting way out of control.  A few guys hopped up on it, tried to trash and rob my house.  I got home just in time and beat up one or two, then they started running when they heard the sirens, I guess someone called the cops."  He shrugs and then shakes his head, "It was pretty nuts.  I think that hero, Velocity was there too, maybe that's what scared them off."  He then seems to smile in remembrance and kind of laughs a bit, "I don't know why, she seemed pretty hot, not the type of person you'd run from."

"Isn't she responsible for killing some drug dealers or something?"

Kel's eyes bulge, "What?" He then laughs loudly, "If its the same girl I saw, I don't think she could rough up a drug dealer let alone kill them!"  Kel calms himself a bit then goes, "Maybe run circles around them, but hurt them.  No, probably not."

"Wait."  Sylvia squints.  "'Girl'?  You mean like someone our age?"

Sarah comes into the cafeteria and looks around for a little bit before heading over to join the usual suspects.  Squeezing in next to Colin she gives him a warm grin.  When she's shown Dave's plan she nods, "It's a good idea.  Dave, you already know all of my information right?"

She smiles at everyone and then excuses herself and heads up to the cafeteria line and gets lunch.  She comes back with a chef salad, no dressing and a diet coke.  She rabbits her way through it and soaks up the conversation. 

Kel shrugs, "Girl, young woman.  She was like, I don't know 5'6-ish, 5 foot, somewhere in this region," He gestures vaguely with his hand at some random height that could probably be anywhere between 4'10'' and 5'6'', "Pretty thin, like a runner's build, but uhhh."  He seems uncomfortable stating the next part of the description, "Kind of big in the uh, chest region."

Sylvia gives Kel a look like she's trying to see inside the mind of Man--or at least Boy.  "Could you identify her if you got another look at her chest?" she asks drily.

Kel blushes ever so slightly and then says slightly embarassed, "No, I didn't really get a good look at her.  Just sort of noticed them, that they were, ya know, bigger than...uh...average.  She kind of just ran off at high speeds after the guys ran off."

Sylvia suffers a moment of envy.  She's built like a gymnast, which means she's more on the flat side of average herself.  She regrets Kel's not an ass man like Donnie.  "What was she doing in our neighborhood, you think?  I haven't seen any drug dealers around.  At least, not away from the Tasty Dog."

Kel shrugs, "Passing through I'd figure, maybe chasing down the guys who were at the house."

Sylvia nods, thinking things through.  "You said she was speedy?  What do you mean?  Like Roadrunner speedy?"

Kel nods, "Just missing the 'meep, meep'."

"Then why'd she wait till they broke in, you think?"

Colin can't help laughing out loud at Kel's description and following embarassment. Also, having Sarah by his side smiling at him is bound to put him in a good mood. He offers her the cookies he brought from home. They smell of chocolate and cinnamon.
"Uh, you don't have to, if you'd rather not." he says then, looking at her salad and diet coke and wondering if she's on a diet. She looks just fine to him.

"Sylvia, you're not thinking of Velocity, but of the Black Hat. It was in the news today that they gathered a task force to deal with him after he made a drug factory explode. I wouldn't mind that, but there were several injured. It looks like Velocity only roughs them up and take their money. Tough times for pushers. I can't say I feel for them. Anyway, when do we go meet the Banners? I can hardly wait."

Kel shrugs once more, he says, "I don't know why she was around, maybe she lives around us?  Maybe it was just luck?  At this point, I'd say any guess is as good as any other."

"Uuh, hey guys..." Matt say as he comes up to the table, his eyes are slightly red and somewhat sunken from lack of sleep. He sits down at the table - preferrably at least one chair away from everyone else as usual - and opens his bag and starts digging around in it. "I got the, uh, stuff Sylvia, uh, on Hulk that is." He looks up as he realizes what they were talking about. "Huh, drug-dealers? There's more drugdealers around here? Next thing you'll tell me is that the Vandross guy is from around here as well or something, heh. And more superheroes? This is so wicked weird..."

He brings out a few print-outs from the net about David Banner as well as a notebook entitled 'The Avengers'. "Speaking of which, the Hulk's in town," he nods at Sylvia, not aware that she's already mentioned it. "And, uh, he wants to talk to us. If any of you, like, want to know about him before we go meet him I'm your, uh, geek." He slumps back in the chair with a half-comatose expression on his face.

ooc: HAhAHHAHAHAHAH!

Donnie comes in tossing his notebook (and several new ones beneath it) on the table. He looks wiped dark circ;es under his eyes and slumped shoulders, but has a gleam of excitement in his eyes. "Hey guys. How's it going?"  He nods at the greetings, eyes lingering a bit on Sylvia when she isn't looking before he wanders off towards the lunch line. He comes back with a tuna-fish, bag of pretzels and only two cans of coke. He immediately opens his notebook and starts writing in his cramped, tiny handwriting while absent-mindedly eating with the other hand. The notebook seems to be filled with pages and pages of notes and crossed out lines.

"Brief us, Agent Maddox."

Donnie kind of chokes a bit on a pretzel, drinking down half a can of coke to clear his throat. "The hulk is in town? Wants to meet with us? Where did this come from?"

Colin realizes Matt didn't have lunch with them the day before and shifts uncomfortably.

"Matt, you kinda missed the last news. Have you got a minute?"

He takes him aside and shows him his notebook, pointing out what he gathered on Vandross, and his theory he could be a teacher, or anyway someone in the school.

"That's why I called you about going to Rory's. The police have no trail, and I hoped we could find one. Did you ask Shelia?"

"Mah-maddox? That's the muh-muh-maaaah" he yawns "Multiple Man. Don't you mean, like Mulder. Nah, I like Maddox better, I'll go with him."

He picks through the printouts. "Okay... David Bruce Banner was a leading physicist who got exposed to, well, something in the early 70s or so that changed him on an atomic level, the exact reason of which is classified for obvious reasons but that has also apparently led to a deeper understanding since of how the R-Factor gene works. He was a founding member of the original Avengers in '73 as well as with the most recent incarnation, and his daughter the She-Hulk has also been a member of both the Avengers and currently the Defenders, while his other daughter is Charade from Omega Squad. They've always tried to keep a low profile and various aliases but when your primary power is to turn into a 10 feet tall invincible green (or grey) giant and happen to be one of the most well-known superheroes in the world that's not all that easy. Those problems that you/we" he glances at Sarah with a smile, "may or will go through in regards to hiding the superpowers from family and others, well that's pretty much nothing compared to what this guy's been going through, he's even had the US military on his neck a few times-- and emerged victorious from it.

"Contrary to popular belief the Hulk is not a mindless monster or anything, David Banner is after all one of the smartest people in the world and most of that intellect stays with him when he hulks out, except a few rare occasions when the rage took over completely and he transformed into a 'Mega Hulk' version that was literally unstoppable, but those those instances have been super-rare and it's been a few years at least since the last time it happened, so I doubt he'll eat or rape us if we go see him." He smiles at Sylvia briefly.

"Okay, that should cover the main parts of it. The most important bit is that this guy's been around the block, heck he's been around the solar system and whatever we might encounter he's already lived it, so whatever he may know will be helpful to us. Plus, he's the Hulk, how cool is that?" Matt grins, clearly more awake now that he's been allowed to geek out a little.

"Oh..." he looks down at the notes, a strange calmness settling over him. He's fully awake by now. "Uh, no. No I was going to look for her at the end of lunch, talk to her then. Maybe we'll talk to her together just as well?"

Donnie thinks about Colin and ponders discussing with him what he had been working on, but shakes his head and goes back to his notes. Colin doesn't know what he is doing half the time either. Why burden him with this? I'll tell him once I have nailed it down..

Colin beams hearing Matt's report on Banner, thinking about meeting him, and maybe taking some photos...
Then a thought strikes him.

"Are you hiding your powers from your family?"


-------------------



"If you think if would be the case... I really don't want to cause her or her family trouble."


-------------------


Colin remembers something he decided to do, and looks around for Rob.

"Huh? Me? I don't even have powers." He glances over at Sarah again. "Well, at least I'm reasonably sure I don't have powers, even though it would be pretty awesome... unless you'd count superhero knowledge and general geekery a power."


"Well, it's up to you, if you think that there's even a slightest chance that this could lead to something then we should do it regardless, even if it's painful for them it's way more painful for them not knowing what killed Rory..."

"Matt, it look like there's one more each week, you only have to wait your turn. I was talking to all of you though. Sarah? Sylvia? Kel?"

He looks at Seth too, but he doesn't call him out.

Sammy looks up from the book  she is  reading and spots Kel at his table.  When she thinks he sees her, she smiles briefly in greeting, then looks back down.  The book is one of those oversized tomes on Greek gods and goddesses, the kind with lots of illustrations.

Sarah scarfs the cookies, abandoning her salad with a grin.  "Thanks Colin!  Better than flowers any day.  Hey listen... I've got something for you to.. but not here, it's at my locker." 

Sylvia looks uncomfortable, nervous.  "Not yet.  I haven't told them yet."

Sylvia had an alfalfa sprout stuck in her teeth.  She sucks it out and tries again.  "Mannox.  Agent Mannox."

Donnie finishes his sandwich, looking around the table at his friends, specifically the ones with powers. (His eyes do linger on Seth. The broken door and crushed lock were his doing. Donnie would bet money on it) "I got some work to do. Good luck with your powers discussion. This 'normal' will be in the library."  He gives a small smile to Sylvia show he was half-kidding, gathers his work and heads out.

Sylvia watches Donnie leave, wondering if she can come up with any excuse to chase him.  The crack about being normal may have been in jest, but she hates even that hint of exclusion.  But maybe he really does have something important to do in the library, and maybe she'd just get in his way if she chased him.  Troubled, she sighs.  "Hey, you know?  Having powers, fighting crime--it's exciting and all, but maybe we should get out and do something that has nothing to do with all this."

Colin grins. Mama Walters strikes again. He just looks at her crunching them with a dreamy look on his face, until he realize he's staring and lowers his eyes on his plate in embarassment.


"Uh, sure. Any time you like."


Colin can't help thinking that there must be something wrong in Sylvia's family, if she reacts this way whenever it's mentioned.

"You think... things would get complicated?"


"It's not too late for that picnic I proposed, you know?"

Sylvia stops to think about that.  "I don't know.  My parents will freak out, but whose wouldn't?"


Sylvia's head swings toward Matt.  She imagines him wearing a giant comic-book sleeve and staring in horror at the grass and trees.  She imagines Donnie clutching a cramp after a hike or a bicycle ride.  "Picnic might be nice.  Indoors might be nice, too."  She shrugs a little.  "Movie night?  Laser tag?  We could even just go looking for Halloween costumes or something."

"Okay then, I'll catch you later.  I'm going to go catch up on some work in the library until then."  Sarah grabs her Diet Coke and heads out of the cafeteria with a wave to all. 

Sarah sees Donnie in the library, notebooks open in front of him, several thick college-level textbooks open and stacked. He is resting his forehead in one hand, unconsciously spiking up his blonde hair, furiously writing with the other. He seems oblivious to everything around him.

T.J walks into the lunch room with a worn out expression. He sits down and rests his head on the table. From this peculiar position he asks. "When are we having the next meeting, Dave? The wierdest thing happened to me yesterday, even weirder then Colin's killer handshakes and the snake-spirit of doom." He yawns tiredly and ponders on what exactly happened yesterday.

Dave looks up from his reading as TJ asks about the next meeting.  "No official schedule yet.  You look tired, want a soda or something?"

"Wait.  We might need to schedule something.  The Banners are only going to be in town for a few days.  We should talk to them, see if they can help us."

T.J looks at Dave form the table. "No I'm fine, thanks." He pauses and then adds. "I got attacked by the water man from the lab yesterday."

"Well, Sylvia, I'd say you call them and see when they can meet us. This kinda has the precedence over the rest. I'll find Calvin and tell him too. Too bad we haven't find out the UFG yet. I'd bet he/she would be interested."


"God and Great Spirit! Where? Are you all right? And your family?"

As the girls finished talking about the new dance, Megan was somewhat glad to have all that decided for the moment.  She would try to talk with Sylvia about the new dance before practice to get any input she might have as well, before they finalized everything.  With the business handled, the blond teen looked at the other girls on the team as she asks, “so, what are the plans for Halloween?”

After looking at many pictures in the Greek mythology book, Sammy closes the book with a sigh.  I'll never be able to pull off a costume like this.  I wouldn't even know how to begin to put something like this together!  Guess it's time to visit the thrift store.

Heather looks up from her copy of Vanity Fair.  "What about the drama kids, they do soctume stuff all the time.  Greg Pierce is pretty big with that crowd, he was my date to the Janush party.  I could ask him for help."

Lisa leans in close, and the others follow suit.  "Elrod is trying to set up a big party in a warehouse downtown.  Sort of a Halloween party slash rave.  He's gonna actually see about getting a real band and everything.  After the last party I don't want to have one at our house, besides my folks are probably gonna have a party again this year."

[OOC: Heather reads minds?  I thought Sammy just thought this!  I guess she used her outside voice after all.]

Sammy jumps, somewhat startled by a response to something she didn't realize she had said out loud.  "Umm, yeah, I guess... I wouldn't want to be a bother, its just a costume idea."

OOC: My bad.  I can delete it, or you can be uncertain weather or not you said it outload :)

OOC:  uncertainty is always more fun.

"It can't hurt to ask.  you have a picture you want to use?"

Sammy opens the book to a tabbed page.  "I like the way this looks."
(http://www.rasterized.org/en/images/artwork/609.jpg)

"Cool"  Heather says.  "I'll talk to Greg today and see if he can get the costume people to do that."

A wide grin came to Megan’s face as she listened to Lisa’s revelation about her brother’s plans.  “That sounds awesome.”  She says.  “I’ve already got a great costume.”

OOC: Sorry, I wanted to answer this post but I somehow lost it in the fray.


"But your power doesn't turn you into a monster or anything. It doesn't wreak havoc in your life. You are always Sylvia. If anything, it opens you a career in special effects." he offers with a friendly smile.


"Halloween costumes? I like that. It would be fun."

OOC: Is Rob anywhere around?

Sylvia gives Colin a weak smile in return.  She's been thinking a lot about destiny and duty, and she's beginning to think destiny dealt her a weak hand against the villains of the world.


"Cool."

Probably having lunch with some of the guys from his other classes.

"Halloween? I dunno, I always found it kinda silly... but mostly because when I was younger I used to play dress-up with a cloth as a cape a few days a week." He reddens. "Eh, much younger that is."

"Still, you guys are obviously going to be super heroes at least a few of you, so maybe finding a Halloween costume could be good practice for a 'real' costume..."

Sylvia stares into the unformed future and sees them wearing leotards and capes and looking like professional wrestlers.  "We'd need names, too.  Colin could be The Electric Handshake."

"I could be the floating mass of blobs?" T.J offers. He lifts his head of the table and sighs. "The water dude attacked me and tried to kill me. But it turns out I have super powers to. I can disperse my mass into a cloud of tiny bubbles and I can reform my body into kind of weapons. I managed to turn my arm into a lance and I stabbed the water guy. Then a bunch of soldiers form the lab came in and dealt with him."

He stays silent for a minute then adds. "I think my dad may know why he ended up like that. It might also explain why I can do this."

"You put your arm through somebody?"  That's just creepy.

T.J smiles creepily and nods. "Yep, right through his shoulder. But then he was made of water."

That makes some sense.  It's not quite the same as stabbing a flesh-and-blood person through the shoulder with your own hand, and despite TJ's creepy smile, Sylvia takes comfort.  "Your dad's lab has soldiers?  You mean like Army?"