Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

[SirNitram]

"Well, then if our team leader doesn't object," Templar said, motioning toward Inferno as he looked at everyone gathered, "just how much property damage and assorted mayhem did we rack up for today?"

"Approximately nine thousand American dollars, utilizing existing pricelists, probably contractor fees, and estimations on repairs to one high priced foreign import car." NeXT replied. "Three serious injuries, eleven minor."

[Charon]

Inferno looked at Gemini, "Jerri's account."

The meta nodded to Mark as he gave his report, then turned to Templar.

"There were three serious injured, 11 others treated for minor injuries. We'll see how those medical bills and the law suits finish out. Five cars were damaged due to destruction from the criminals and the fleeing panic. Roughly $20,000 in damage to vehicles, damage to the bank was approximately 70,000 between windows, structual damage and the new vault door. Luckily, most of that isn't our problem."

[rhoenix]

Shaking his head, Templar leaned back into his chair, rubbing his left hand over his weary eyes as he replied. "I suppose it could be worse, then. Look, I'm not going to wait for this to be brought up, since today was a clusterfuck, due to no coordination, no real teamwork, and some bad judgement calls that came as a result. I'll be upfront and say I've never been on a team before, but I'll do my part proudly so that today could be considered a one-time occurance."

Sitting back up, he looked more resolute. "Apparently Omega Squad is notorious for ending their missions surrounded by an ocean of blood; I'd personally like to work toward the reputation of being the quickest and cleanest to finish a mission, all while keeping the public good in mind."

[Charon]

Inferno shot a glare at Templar. "I haven't asked you for your opinion or your report yet, Agent Templar. You want to do your part? Follow procedure and keep your trap shut during debriefing until I ask you for your part in this."

[LadyTevar]

Heidi sighed and grumbled, then leaned her head back and closed her eyes, so better to hear Jerri. As Jerri 'talked', Heidi repeated it word for word.

We arrived ahead of the rest of the party, and the OmniCorp Unit had already subdued all four robbers, and Starfighter, using non-lethal means. As Agent Mark stated, we presented ourselves to the Unit as Government Agents, since I felt that would be the fastest, easiest way to get him to stand down and listen.
"And not get shot out of the air like certain idiots," Heidi added unnecessarily, grinning as she raised her head up long enough to give her opinion. Then she went back to her recital.

They didn't need that....
Either way, as Agent Mark and I were beginning a discussion with the Unit, and hoping to end this with no further conflict, Agent Templar entered the scene and joined the conversation.
Heidi again lifted her head and shot Templar a dirty look. "She's being nice. You butted in without checking with anyone, and You Offered It A Job. Nice work, Caffeine-boy." Her commentary done, Heidi put her head back again.

Please stop interrupting.
Heidi just grinned as she repeated that.
*sigh*
That was an impressive sight, as Heidi's ample chest heaved dramatically.

After that point, Heidi managed to make Jerri sound annoyed. the rest of the team entered, and Agent Inferno asked me to continue speaking to the OmniCorp Unit, as we were already seeming to get through to it. Then, Agent Sunrise went to help with crowd control...
Heidi's head jerked up and she glared at the turtle. "Really bright idea, considering not ten minutes before, in this very room, you'd been bitching about how Human civilians can't see past your looks and shun you." She gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up. "Great job, Michalangelo."

HEIDI!
"Yeah yeah.. back to Jerri..."
At that point, we backed away to allow Agents Inferno and Legion to take over negotiations, and simply removed the captured meta to the holding van. Afterward, we rejoined Agent Mark on his motorcycle, and preceded back to base as ordered.

Heidi sat back straight, rotating her shoulders and neck to get the knot out of it from keeping her head back in that position. "Just to add... I think Jerri's idea was working, and we almost had it listening to us until the crowd started panicking. Knowing who was in charge might have helped afterward, as you and Legion were both giving orders, then NeXT and Sunrise started snipping at each other."

[rhoenix]

There was a split second where it looked as if Agent Templar was going to say something very different, but it passed. "Yessir."

He took a long drink of his coffee, especially after current events began to be recounted.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike simply sat quietly, jotting in his notebook, every so often looking up at the team, before returning to his work. He wisely kept any comments to himself. After all, he was the outsider here. As Heidi/Jerri talked, Mike was distracted by that wonderful sigh, before shaking his head and smiling softly. Finally, she finished and Mike looked over at Inferno, wondering who would be next for a talking too, either Templar, or perhaps Sunrise.

[Charon]

Inferno did not seem impressed by the sigh. "Heidi, if you don't want to spend every minute you've got in control on paperwork and janitorial duty you'll keep your comments to yourself unless asked otherwise. Am I clear?" Inferno paused, "Thank you Jerri."

Inferno turned to look at Templar. "Now Agent Templar, it's your turn. I'm gonna be honest, this had better be good. NeXT, give your report as well."

[LadyTevar]

Heidi's eyebrows rose and inside, Jerri was also surprised.
I guess he did get in trouble

Heidi pulled the laptop close and typed as silently as possible
== Reamed and reamed good, it sounds. Time to keep the head down.
If you manage to keep your mouth shut, I'll be impressed

[rhoenix]

Oh, here we go, Templar thought to himself as the attention of the room turned to him, though his facial expression or body language didn't change from "professional." Let's get this over with, he thought as he began.

He addressed the room as if giving a report, which he was. "Upon arrival at the scene, I judged the behavior of the various agents' present to be counterproductive to the end goal of convincing the mech to peacefully and of its own free will to accompany us back to this field office, as they were using threats and confrontational language when addressing the mech.

"After Starfighter's unintentional further agitation of the situation, I then decided to address it directly, in an effort to salvage the situation. In going from the meeting, the mech appeared autonomous, and its behavior suggested that it was following some internal protocol, with the possibility of sentience. I then tailored my responses and addresses to the mech with the goal of having its view of accompanying us be the best of all available options.

"In my judgement at the time, I thought that legitimacy would be the best way to gain the mech's attention, which is when I mentioned the possibility of employment, though I never spoke of it as a certainty. Following this is when Agents Inferno and Legion began assuming command."

Upon finishing, he took another gulp of his coffee, getting up to refill it once more. Upon seeing that he was draining the last of it, he rapidly went through the motions of making another.

[Charon]

Inferno nodded slowly. "The mission parameters did not include the mech being brought back peacefully and of its own free will, Agent Templar. Our orders were to bring it back with minimal risk to civilians and minimal collateral damage. We wanted to bring this thing in without a fight but that was a secondary condition. Regardless you were not in a position to even hint at a possible job, even if you thought that was the best way to diffuse the situation."

"Secondly," anger began to rise in Inferno's voice. Before now, even his threats had been cold and calculated. "You somehow thought that it would be a good idea to offer a job to something affiliated with the worldwide murder of tens of thousands of humans? In front of a crowd of civilians?! The war is still going on in case you were so damn busy drinking coffees that you missed that! Christ one of those things we missed in Texas managed to kill 40 fucking people before Ultima got on the scene, and that was last fucking week! You didn't manage to get the attention of the 'bot with the offer but you sure as hell got the fucking news' attention! You might not realize this Agent Templar, but our words have far-reaching consequences. If you are in public you assume that every God-damn word out of your mouth is being recorded and will be on the 11 o'clock news!"

Inferno stopped for a few second, collecting himself again. "Thirdly, Agent Gemini had control of the situation, speaking to the robot as you did, twice I might add, while other Agents were in deliberations only confused the situation worse than it already was."

Inferno looked away from Templar and he didn't need to be a telepath to know that Inferno did not want to hear a response right now.

[rhoenix]

Well, that went about as could be expected, Templar thought while taking a slow, deep breath. Other than that, he betrayed no emotion from his body language. I just hope the rest of this goes by relatively fast, he thought.

(EDIT: content)

[SirNitram]

"Upon arrival on the site, attempts were made to subdue the metahuman criminals, on the reasoning that the Omnicorp tactical combat unit was behaving according to law enforcement protocols. In the process, one security camera was rendered inoperable due to use as a laser weapon emittor. Damage appeared superficial only, so priority shifted to optimizing response times for BMA and emergency personnel to the location. Use of fire alarm systems were considered to evacuate civilians, but following the arrival of Omega Team, judgement was incorrectly made that the situation would be defused and an alarm would only cause panic. Majority of following report redundant, although unauthorized countermanding by Agent Sunrise caused automated response of lethal-force threat. This programming has been altered since. Digital video and audio availiable for review."

[Charon]

Inferno had been writing down, taking notes on what everyone was saying. When NExT said something to the effect of turning a security camera into a laser cannon there was a pause in the writing. Inferno seemed for a moment like he wanted to ask a question about that, but decided to move along. Inferno finished writing and then looked as though he was going to say something before he stopped, it was a machine, it didn't need a word of thanks.

"Agent Gordon, Agent Sunrise, and Agent Legion, your reports."

[Agent Fisher]

Mike looked up, considering if he should point out he wasn't an agent. But it seemed like Inferno wasn't interested in commentary.

He nodded, looking at his notebook. "Yes sir." He said.

"As you know, we loaded into the van and headed to the incident site. Arriving, we dismounted from the vehicle. Agents Legion, Sunrise and myself were assigned crowd control. Legion and Sunrise moved towards the crowd, as did I. I believe Legion was in the center, with Sunrise on the far side, and myself with the other flank." Mike looked up from his book. "At this time, I informed the crowd that we were federal agents and requested that they give us room. I heard Legion and Sunrise inform the crowd that they were either in danger, or could become in danger."

Mike took a breath then continued. "I choose not to warn the crowd, simply requesting that they disperse, I didn't want to increase the chance of an incident. Once the crowd began to disperse, albeit more disorderly than we had hoped, I assisted the containment truck team in loading the captured metas." He closed his book and leaned back. "After the team convinced the Omni-Corp bot to return to base, I loaded Stafighter into the van, and we returned to base."

[Charon]

Inferno only nodded as Mike spoke, continuing to write. After Mike finished Inferno looked up, "Thank you."

[Comrade Tortoise]

Sunrise spoke up as his turn came. He took the verbal beating from Heidi/Herri. He had made a tactical error, and deserved it afterall. Her had made a good number of errors.

"I arrived on scene with the rest, and while the Robot was being talked to Agent Gemini, had control of the situation and it was requested of me, along with Legion and Mike, to assist in criminal apprehension and crowd control. I will admit I likely misinterpreted this request and made an error in judgment stemming from it. I interpreted the request as an inclusive one, as opposed to a more specified request, and prioritized crowd control in the interests of public safety. The perps were not going anywhere and I thought the prospect of a massive fight within tossing distance of civilians to be of greater import. I informed the crowd that this risk existed and that it would be in their best interests to calmly disperse. I discounted the risk of my very presence starting a mass panic. It does not usually have that effect. If it did I would not be able to go out in public at all. It has a lot of others, but not usually that one. In any case, a small child cried out "Look a Ninja Turtle" and like children do attempted to get a closer look. His mom panicked, like mothers apparently do, her scream of shock sparked off a panic in what was apparently a nervous as well as curious crowd of gawkers. " He paused

"When I heard the riot squad get called in, I assumed they would be used and in perhaps a somewhat unorthodox fashion explained that this was bad and that they ought be called off. I misinterpreted that apparently, as my explanation also seemed to have been misinterpreted as a countermand though I can see how my word choice could be interpreted that way. In any case I learned that the riot police were on standby and not to be deployed and thus my objection was moot. From there, perpetrators were processed for transport, and I was given a command to essentially wait in the van after a De Facto chain of command was established."

[Charon]

"There was error in the lack of specificity in your orders, but you suffered from a clear lack of good judgment, Agent Sunrise. The situation was already obviously tense, and has been pointed out you know very well that normal people do not generally react well to you. So why did you decide to wade into the crowd? A second option was clearly presented to be taken and no one else had moved to do it. Two other agents were also in the process of crowd control and more were close enough that they could have done the job in a pinch. You further showed a lack of good judgement in countermanding orders from a superior, namely Legion. Riot control was being called in on the chance that things got worse than they already were, which frankly seemed like it was pretty damn likely at that point. From now on Agent Sunrise, if you believe an order has been issued that you do not agree with you will pose a question to your superior officer, not give them an order, as you did when you told Legion to call off the riot squad."

Inferno broke his attention on Sunrise, making it clear that like the others, he wasn't interested in discussing the issue any further at this point in time.

[Dark Silver]

Sipping his coffee, Legion listened to the others debriefs, and when it came time for his turn, he set the cup down on the table, fixed his gloves yet again, and crossed his hands in his lap. Cleared his throat, and with the words which came easily from three decades of giving reports, repeated the report he already had typed in his Blackberry, edited for the things Inferno didn't need to hear.

"Approximately 0900 hours this morning, we were called into this same room for a team-meet by Senior Agent Hawk. We were then assigned to apprehend the Omnicorp Sentinel Units designate: Alpha. When dismissed by Agent Hawk, we proceeded to the motor pool, Agent Starfighter apparently decided that he would take off on his own. Upon arriving at the motor pool, Agents Inferno, Sunrise, Attache Gordan and myself obtained a van, while Agents Mark25, Gemini and Templar obtained motorcycles. Agent NeXT arrived via the transmission cables and his debrief details his experiences there. Agents Mark25 and Gemini reported arriving at the scene at approximately 0945 hours, followed by Agent Templar. Agent Starfighter had already arrived and been subdued by Omnicorp Sentinel Unit Alpha."

"Agents Mark25 and Gemini reported entering into negotiations with the Omnicorp Mecha, and were apparently interrupted by Agent Templar. The van contained Agents Inferno, Sunrise, Attache' Gordan and myself arrived approximately five minutes later. Agent Inferno moved to assist Agents MArk25 and Gemini in the negotiations, and ordered Sunrise, Gordan and myself to begin crowd dispersal."

"Unfortunately, this did not go as anticipated. Shortly after Agent Sunrise addressed the crowd, there was a scream, and the crowd began to disperse in a chaotic fashion. I proceeded to utilize my Force Field projection abilities to attempt to funnel traffic away from the scene, as I issued orders to Agent Sunrise, Mark25 and Gemini to assist in crowd control - ordering Agent Sunrise to help bring in the detained meta-criminals. At about this time, I switched comm frequencies to alert the Chicago Police Department, ordering in several squad cards to the scene, along with the Riot Control Squad, as backup, alerting them to the situation as best I could. Agent Inferno, by then, had ordered me to fall back, due to my Power Draining abilities, in which a accidental contact with my bare flesh could have caused injury, and sparked off the feared riot."

"Agent Sunrise attempted to countermand my order as I was informing Agent NeXT to assure them a clear path to the scene, and Agent NeXT threatened lethal force. Shortly there after, the situation was settled as the Unit-Alpha deemed the situation to be a danger to Civilians, and deemed to escort us back to the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs building here."

With the report given, Legion picked back up his cup of coffee, and sipped again, looking at Inferno.

[Charon]

Inferno had looked up at Legion when he finished his report. "So you ordered a 6 foot tall turtle who had not half an hour before mentioned that he got poor reactions from normal humans to do crowd control? What was your reasoning for this?"

[Dark Silver]

"Actually..Agent, you ordered us to do crowd dispersal and apprehend the meta-criminals. I assumed Agent Sunrise would tend to the meta-criminals, seeing as he was the one who spoke up concerning the baseline populace's..reactions to his personage, and thus I did not feel the need to order him specifically to tend to the criminals. A failure in my part, granted, and one which was ultimately able to be precluded had any of us been thinking at the time."

[Charon]

Inferno nodded and then wrote down some more notes before looking up again. "Does anyone else have anything else they would like to add?" He looked over at Gemini. "Yes Heidi, you can contribute to this."

[LadyTevar]

"Thank you," Heidi answered with only a slight trace of a smile. "While it was a clusterfuck, and Ultima's got egg on their faces again... we did it without a fight. That's got to count for something."

[Dark Silver]

"Ultimately, had we a clear chain of command going into this...then we could have avoided a lot of what happened," Legion added to Heidi's comment.

"We went in with no idea who, really, was in charge, we had three senior agents, you, Mark25 and myself..but only two of us were affiliated with Ultima. It especially hurt when the panic started, when orders were being handed out by both myself and you, Inferno. Things are clearer now with you being Team Lead, but it didn't help on our previous assignment."

[Charon]

Inferno nodded. "Yes, there was no actual fight and what damage was caused by the panic was minor, nothing lasting. The worst fallout is gonna be in Public Relations, it's gonna take awhile for the 'offering an Omnicorp robot a job' story to play it's way through the news cycle. But since we aren't actually hiring the damn thing, the media will eventually quit running the story and it'll be forgotten."