Villain's league (IC)

[Miaka]

((here we go, here's hoping all turns out okay.))

Kate, like many others, she'd assumed, had received an invitation... a recognisation of her abilities and prowess as rebel and defier of the law. She'd snorted at the offer, but after a long night of curiosity over this strange offer, she'd decided to give it a try.

Now the small woman found herself staring down the door to the building she'd been told to meet in, as if willing it to open of it's own accord- things were strange and tended to do that sometimes, she'd learned. Figuring that no, it was just a simple door, she walked in, and was promptly greeted by several, almost robotic- in fact, almost definately robotic- little... servants? Minions? Was that the proper  term? They bustled around, pushing at the backs of her leather-clad legs, moving the ever-more aggravated woman into the elevator, going so far as to push the buttons for her, and pushing her into a door leading into a large conference room, where they bowed to some unseen presense(Which Kate was not happy to have made such a less-than graceful entry before) and left the room hurriedly.

"Welcome, Kate... Please, have a seat." The unsees voice required, and the small woman obliged, as far from the shadows at the end of the dimly-lit table as possible.
Sure had a flair for the dramatic, whoever this guy was...

((Let me kow if you think I'm doing anything wrong. >> ))

[lucas marcone]

A large crocodillian man enters with a slightly shorter companion. A metallic arm is dangleing from his mouth and his craw looks like it has something in it. "Did you really have to EAT it?" inquired Dile Lass in a less than thrilled voice. Then it moved. Croc swallowed it. "*Belch* Mmmm" were the only sounds out of him. They both sat near, but not beside, the cat lady.

[Miaka]

Kate rolled her eyes at the two newcomers. Amateurs. She thought simply. He looks strong, but obviously none too bright, and the girl looks like she'd rather be back in college. She gave an obviously dissaproving look, and settled down further into her chair, glaring.

"So how many more are expected? The faster we get started, the faster we can get out of this god-forsaken place." She said, sharply, each word pronounced clearly, quickly, and with a definite sting.
The unseen presence simply laughed to itself, which, of course, only angered Kate even more.
"Fine if you're not going to answer even that, you can count me out." She got up, walked quickly over to the door, and opened it, only to find the small robotic creatures pointing what must have been some form of firearm at the small woman. She turned, and reluctantly closed the door behind her, going back to her seat, mumbling things entirely not fit for polite company.

[Angel]

"...Don't worry Crystal, I'm just going to finance them... yes, I'll try to avoid killing anyone... I'll call you whenever I can...love you too. Bye."

Liz snapped his cell phone shut and walked up to the door. He had never seen this building before, but he had received an invitation asking him to come here. All he knew was that whoever had asked knew he was less-than-moral, and that was fine with him. Crystal was fine with it, too, so long as he didn't die and called her once a week.

He entered the building, only to be greeted by odd mechanical creatures. Stepping around the robots, and twirling once to bat them away with his tail, he stepped into the elevator and only allowed them in to press the buttons for him. How else would he know where to go?

Then he was shooed into the conference hall, and after sticking out his tongue at the leaving robots, he turned and smirked at the three others in the hall.

"So you're the people I'm working with, hm?" he said, tugging at the lapels of his coat.

[Miaka]

"Apparently." Kate said, without looking up. When she did, she gave him a quick once-over, sizing him up. He seemed a little too much of a joker at first glance, though he seemed as if he knew what he was doing. The way he held himself suggested a little more to him than what met the eye originally, but she shrugged it off.

"Let's just hope we can get things done. From what I've seen of them-" She nodded her head in their direction "- it's unlikely." She said quickly, not giving a whit for how rude she was sounding, or the obvious strength of the man she was insulting. She was faster, that was just about certain, and she doubted their unseen host would tolerate anything he'd try to stir.

[Angel]

Liz did a once-over on the three in the room. The human didn't look like she wanted to be there, or if she did, she was itching with impatience, waiting for something to happen already and unable to leave. The crocodile creature had a dull look on his face, but he looked like he could knock you through the wall if he wanted. Best be careful of him. The last girl looked a little too bubblegum to be really evil. She was most likely a tagalong.

"Careful, m'dear. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that no-one can be judged by looks alone, no matter how incompetent they might look," he smirked to the human, walking up to the table and pulling out a chair two seats from her. But before he sat, he looked to the shadowy end of the table. No doubt someone was there - the darkness was too cliché for someone who wanted to stay hidden. The smirk faded from Liz's face.

"Who's over there?" he called to the shadows.

[Miaka]

"Damned if I know. I think he's the guy that told us to get here. He won't answer any questions now though. He just laughs."

As if on cue, the voice chuckled.

"I'm not worried about the muscleman over there. Very few reptilians are at all fast enough to catch me." She smirked, obviously too confident in herself.

[Boog]

Anastasia entered followed by a similar entourage of the mechanical minions. She despirately wanted to take one apart, but there would be time for such things later. The genius looked over the rooms occupants and sighed.
Great. she rolled her eyes with a level of contempt that suggested that she practiced it every morning, Anger issues, dumb muscle, ditz, rich boy with nice toys, and of course the mysterious employer. Why is it always so cliche? She simply took a seat fairly far from the others in the room and waited. Presumably, this person had work for her. And that, eventually, translated to having money for her.

[Stygian]

There was a slight shuffling and a cough from the side of the large room, and then, from the shadows stepped a handsome, though somewhat flustered-looking man, looking somewhere in his late twenties, dressed in an immaculate white suit, black shirt and white tie, and carrying a briefcase of the flat, slim kind that most often holds full-size documents or perhaps larger laptops. He looked them all over curiously from behind slimmed glasses, hidden slightly under the bangs of hair not put up into the tidy pale golden ponytail that fell down the back of his neck and shoulders, and then turned toward the figure in the shadows.
   "Was that... really necessary?" he said, gesturing with one large, long-fingered hand toward the little machines now tailing him. Though it seemed that they had only turned their attention toward him just a few moments ago.

[Miaka]

"They got you here, didn't they?" the voice responded, still sounding very amused.

"Any chance of us getting to business now?" Kate asked, getting more and more cross by the moment. But, of course, it's not like she could really leave.

"Oh, no... Don't rush things, never rush things... I want all of you dears to get to know each other, socialize for a while longer... Some more should still be coming, and I want you all to get to know your colleagues." The voice had a smooth, almost musical quality, and was very androgynous- the speaker could either be male or female, and it's up to anyone's guess which.

"Oh, brilliant." Kate muttered. "First he looks to hire me, then he goes about it so.. so.. unprofessionally." She rolled her eyes. "At least have a little professionalism in your profession!"

[Angel]

Liz sat down at last and rolled his blue eyes lazily. "I should at least get to know my employer..." he muttered, eyeing the newcomers: a rabbit in a lab coat and a jittery, well-dressed human. Not too fishy-looking, but still, Liz noticed a few things about them. For one, the bunny looked even less happy to be there than the human next to him, and much more disdainful than even Liz himself could ever be. The 'human' had some odd-looking scars, which made the gecko wonder if his shyness was an act.

But hey. The shadow-guy had said they should get to know each other. He leaned back in his chair.

"Well, why not introduce ourselves, if that's what you want," Liz said aloud, glancing to the shadows. He looked back at the others. "Call me Liz," he said, scanning the room once with uncharacteristically cold eyes to make sure no-one was giggling at his name. Why his parents hadn't named him Scott or Bill, he'd never know. "I'm here as a kind of...unlimited financial aid," he explained, wondering if he should show off what he could do just yet.

[Miaka]

"if you insist. I'm Kate. most likely here for these." a quick shing as her long claws slid out of one clenched fist, which, after a few moments, she opened, and the claws slid back in. "Working with other people is going to be a new thing for me. But so long as work gets done, and you all have some semblance of an IQ, which I'm beginning to doubt, There should be no problems with me." She said all of this as quickly and sharply as anything else that had come from her mouth this meeting. It led one to think if she ever relaxed, even for sleep.

[Stygian]

The blond man eyed the newcomer, and then sat down, putting his briefcase down next to his chair and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, before taking out a Longines pocketwatch from within the pitch-black lining of his white jacket, inspecting it, and then putting it back. He looked settled in enough, but upon the next comment from the small woman he turned his head toward her and eyed her somewhat confusedly.
   "You're a quick one to make judgement, aren't you?" he said, cocking his head to the side a bit, and then looking toward Liz with somewhat more of a pleased tone to his face and voice. "And thank you. It's nice to know. Though I don't think I would be quite comfortable drawing on those assets. I don't take being indebted well." He smiled, and leaned back somewhat.
   "I'm here because I am the best at what I do, or so I have heard," he said, with an intonation upon the latter part that said clearly it was not his opinion.

[Boog]

"Oh. Well if we're all expected to be such great pals then," Anastasia added snidely, adjusting her lab coat, "By the way, spoken properly that sentence would be 'if any of you have any semblance of intelligence.' An IQ score is just a measurement of intelligence; technically, a banana has one. Apparently, what I'm here for is to add an," and even with her lab coat covering the lower half of her face, one got the impression of a smirk, "IQ."
"But enough about me," she turned to look at the comparatively better dressed reptile in the room with what could only be called a predatory look in her eye, "Unlimited financial aid, you say?"

[Miaka]

Kate couldn't suppress a smirk at the small Lapine's comment which, had she been just about anyone else, likely would have left them sputtering for a recovery. But no, a smirk, and a quiet noise of approval.
"Thank you for the correction." She nodded her head towards Anastasia. "I should have caught myself, but... I suppose my genius should keep itself where it continues to act as genius, and allow the others to keep superiority where it falls short." She said, laying on the sarcasm almost enough to feel. More and more verbose for a woman who simply wanted business started, but now she had a reason to drop her normal businesslike manner- her overconfidence led to a want to prove herself as what she perceived herself to be, instead of what the others seemes to be seeing her as.

The unseen Host remained silent, though it couldn't be heped but seem as if they were smirking, and moments away from laughter.

[Angel]

Liz smiled genially at the blond human with the fancy watch. "No need to pay me back. To say the least, I have too much money. So I'm glad to help out. No charge."
  When Kate spoke up, he looked over at the smaller woman calmly. "Glad to see you're warming up." Then he felt hungry eyes on him when Anastasia asked her question. He looked nervously at the bunny, who was eyeing him as if he were a big pile of cash - which, in a sense, he was.

"Will you quit looking at me like that?!" he finally cried indignantly. "I'm not a cheeseburger! I'm just a living ATM!"

[Boog]

"Stick with waving the claws around, kid. So, a living ATM?" said Lapine didn't take her eyes off of Liz for a second. He wasn't completely out of luck though. She would have to blink eventually. Hopefully, "I don't suppose I could get a demonstration?"

[Angel]

Liz paused. He had intended the "living ATM" thing to be a metaphor, but clearly, it worked either way regardless of what he meant. After enduring about 15 seconds of Anastasia's curious gaze, he slouched, a little resigned, but secretly excited. He had considered hiding his power for an opportune moment, but this surely counted. If he didn't, Anastasia might threaten him.

"...All right. I'll give you a taste. Nothing more." He smirked and removed his suit jacket, gesturing to his short-sleeved arms.

"Nothing up my sleeves..." he said quietly, with a little singsong to his tone. He held his hand palm down over the table, curling it into a fist. With inborn ease, he thought of diamonds. Lots and lots of tiny, earring-sized diamonds.

"....And...presto." He opened his fist, and sure enough, scores of little diamonds fell out of his hand and skittered over the surface of the table.

[lucas marcone]

Croc reached out to shake Liz's hand. "Hey there, you're a little too clean cut for this kind of work arn't you?"As if realizeing some sort of faux pas he started to correct himself. "I'm sorry I mean you look like one of those preppy kids back in school." Dile Lass was glareing at him as if he'd forgotten something. One would guess as to some sort of social training between the two. "I mean I'm sorry I shouldn't be one to judge." Dile lass sort of nodded and turned away to greet kate. Croc sort of started to withdraw like a shy person on a full ampithetere stage. Croc started "Oh uhhh so tell me about your self."
Dile lass adressing Kate started "I'm Dile Lass pleased to meet you. You'll have to excuse my partner, but I don't know what I would do without him. It seems im a sort of disasterous genious. He has to carry out my plans for me, but he does a DAMNED good job at it."

[Arcalane]

An Undisclosed Island:

The Inner Sanctum

The soft hiss and whirr of the bulkhead announced the arrival of Sheridanna's second in command, a wolf morph somewhere in his 30s named Langdon. She glanced up at him and nodded.

"Ma'am? Another one of those invitations arrived." Langdon held up a letter disdainfully.
"Another? They're getting persistant, huh?"
"This one seemed a little more... urgent than the last, ma'am." Langdon gives it another glance, muttering under his breath.
"Very well. I will leave in half an hour."
"By which route, ma'am?"
"Helicopter, I think. I want four with me and..."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Find the others something to... acquire for me. They seem to be getting bored."
"At once, m'lady."

Langdon salutes smartly and walks out, the door shutting behind him. Sheridanna prepares for her departure...

~

Helipad

Fully suited up, Sheridanna boards the helicopter with her four guards, looking out at Langdon. She raises her voice in a yell over the noise of the rotors.

"I'll be back soon enough! You know how to find me if I'm not!"

Langdon flashes a thumbs up. "Don't worry, I'm sure those four will protect you, ma'am!"

"They bloody well better!"

The helicopter lifts off and heads away from the island to...

~~

Undisclosed Location:

Rooftop

The four soldiers go first, then Sheridanna herself hops off of the Helicopter, which soon takes off and departs once more, back to the island. They quickly make their way inside the building via the roof access stairwell, and down into the meeting room. The soldiers take up positions around the room, holding their assault rifles and watching the occupants as Sheridanna selects a chair, preferably one in a good vantage point.

"My apologies, my transport got held up by a thunderstorm over the channel and we had to divert to avoid flying through it." She straightens out her labcoat and takes out her clipboard, starting to take notes already. "Are we all here?"

[Angel]

Liz looked surprised at the croc-human, who had remained silent for much of the time. But he smiled and shook his hand nonetheless. "Don't worry about it, I get that reaction a lot." He released the croc-man's hand and rested his elbows on the table, brushing a few diamonds away and facing him and Dile lass. "And there's not much more to tell about myself than what I mentioned. I grew up normally, I live with my girlfriend Crystal, and my work is to act as invisible funding for people like you." He gestured to the table at large. "What about you and your friend?"

Then the feline with the clipboard entered, and Liz glanced at her once to see what she was like. Another lab-coat. But this one seems more attentive than Anastasia. Then he looked back to the table.

[lucas marcone]

"I like money....and power, I guess thats why i do it. Dile lass is new to the game but I'll learn her a thing ot two heh." Croc stood up a bit un easily and looked everyone over. Everyone seemed to be smart. He knew he was none too bright and being the dimist bulb in the pack generally comes with embarassment and mockery. If he was going to get any respect he would have to come of as a military genious or an unstoppable force to be reckoned with....or both. This liz person could be useful as finance but even more useful as an ally. all this was going through his head like a crowded room of polititions debateing diffrent topics and haveing diffrent personal views on each one. however one thought was amazeingly clear. I'm diffrent and need to seem like one of them.

[Boog]

Anastasia snatched up a few of the diamonds and looked at them closely, and then pocketed the stones.
"Just gonna check these out later. Wouldn't do if the goose only laid pyrite eggs," she snickered. Then, finally, Croc stepped forward.
Huh. Talks well, for a brute. Wonder how he manages to speak normally with all those huge teeth and the oddly shaped jaws? He seemed more nervous than dangerous, really. She nodded to the both of them.
"Croc and Dile Lass. Got it," it took nearly every bone in her body to resist the urge to raise an eyebrow and say 'Dile Lass?' incredulously. They sounded almost like a comic book superhero and sidekick team.

[nikename2]

It seemed like it would be just another day, another day through the endless grind, another day of rising above this seemingly endless opposition, these people and their sad excuse for existence. Yes, to Daemon, it seemed like it would be just another day, atleast it would have been had he not found a letter nailed to his door. It was an invitation, an offer of support with the promise of all of our ends being met. Daemon was skeptical about accepting this offering, but if they could prove useful he figured it wouldn't hurt to find out what this was all about.

To that end, he later made his way to the building described in the letter and opened the door. It seemed kind of run down, yet he was greeted by a score of small robotic men. Daemon held up the letter and they began to scramble and urged Daemon onto an elevator down the hall. As he got on the elevator he heard a voice coming from the built-in intercom.

"You are late, although I suppose late is better then never. It would have been a shame, but I'm glad you made the right choice. Within moments all will be made clear.",the mysterious voice said. As the elevator slowed to a stop Daemon took off his helmet and the doors opened. Everyone stared at him as he entered the room.

Sensing the awkwardness of the situation seeing as he was the only one in a suit of armor he broke the silence as he took a seat,"My apologizes for being late, it couldn't be helped. So, I take each of you have received some kind of an invite as well?"

[Stygian]

Looking around with a face demonstrating an emotion somewhere in between skepticism, surprise and dislike, the blond white-suit followed each and every new arrival in with his eyes, all in turn, eying them all head to toe quickly and clinically. Then, he made a nearly inaudible sigh, as his expression turned into one of resignation. He seemed to disapprove somewhat of the situation, to put it mildly, and the weary sideway glints he continued to give hinted that this was most likely due to the behavior of the company.
   "Professionalism..." he muttered to himself, reaching into his jacket again, and taking out a pack of cigarettes, doffing it slightly and slipping a slim, white roll into his mouth.
   "You don't mind, do you?" the blond said, already flicking open a golden lighter. He lit his smoke, and breathed deeply, exhaling a long, wispy cloud. "And yes, we did receive an invitation, us too." By the sound of that, likely he wasn't speaking of the others in the room.

[lucas marcone]

Seeing the stranger light up was like an invatatiopn for Croc. He pulled out a slim tin of Tatiana's high end cigars. These were the kind that cost almost 100$ a tin. Croc opened it and a smell of honey dipped cigars filled the room. He put one in his mouth and pulled out a box of matches. He struck one and the fine flame burnt clean as he lit his cigar. he took a long drag and let the smoke bellow from his nostrils. Hey there he said looks like we have something in common. The name's Croc."

[Angel]

Liz shot a look at Anastasia. "They're quite real, I assure you," he said, with a faint edge to his voice. Perhaps the golden goose reference had struck a nerve, because he continued. "In fact, any precious stone or metal I produce is real. And don't think I'm just here to provide money. I can make basic weapons, and I'm pretty good at armed combat." The vague threat was unnecessary, but it felt good.

He sniffed once when Croc and the male human lit up. He didn't approve of smoking so much, but he didn't mind the smell. And the well-dressed human was definitely worth keeping an eye on. When he had said "us", something hadn't sounded right. He couldn't place what, but he knew it was there. Croc seemed a little less nervous than before, which, in a weird way, comforted Liz. Seeing the brawniest guy at the table act jumpy had made him a bit worried.

When the armored figure entered, Liz turned his head to face the newcomer. "Well, you'll probably end up being the best prepared person here. And I'm pretty sure we all got invitations."

[nikename2]

Daemon cracked a smile as he heard the gecko's comment, although he was fairly sure he was being sarcastic. It looked as if the feline in the lab coat was the one who brought the entourage of soldiers. If things got out of hand he was sure they would open fire on everyone in here. The other scientist seemed more concerned with the diamonds spread out on the table. She didn't look very well armed, although he was sure she had something up her sleeve.

"Never hurts to make sure. I'm not entirely convinced that this isn't some kind of setup, but I'll play along for now.", Daemon replied as he let out a sigh. More or less though the others in the room seemed to be on the level and Daemon wasn't interested in picking a fight.

"There is a time for everything.", he thought to himself as he reclined in his chair. "For now I'll let the meeting decide whether anyone will leave this room." With that final thought Daemon rested his eyes, he figured showing false weakness was better for now then letting one of them find a real one.

[lucas marcone]

Dile Lass saw that Kate looked slightly preoccupied, so she left her to her ponderings to meet friendlier faces. She strode up to Liz. "Hi Dile Lass pleased to meet you, I saw you talking with Croc. I hope he didn't offend you. His schooling wasn't too good as he grew up in a very under funded district, and being magicly mutated into a crocodile anthromorph in your formitive years can put the kabash on anyone's social life. Suffice it to say he's a bit behind socially too. I'm trying to correct that though."

[Stygian]

As the crocodile-man lit up and spoke, the white-suit raised an eyebrow, and then made a little smile. An amused one, hardly interpretable as sardonic. Even if it actually was.
   "Honestly, I think we are quite dissimilar, for obvious reasons. Nothing ill intended," he said, still smiling. "As for the precious items, I'd be hesitant to ever use that. Useful sometimes, perhaps, but hardly good for interest." Creating gold and diamonds out of thin air would be every industryman's amazement, and every market economist's horror.
   Still breathing streams of smoke, the man sat back and allowed himself to study the armored fellow more openly. Patience, temperance, wit, purpose and professionalism, and now subtlety. These people were throwing all virtues out the window as they went, it seemed. He wondered very plainly if this was going to be worth taking time with, or whether if he should just take a few of those diamonds and then leave the place very messily.
   "The name's Sebastian, by the way," he said in a friendly fashion, not hinting at his thoughts the slightest.