The Horizon Initiative | Open/Accepting

[Wormgod]

A hundred years ago, strange events started happening all over the globe. Babies were born deformed or with odd powers, strange creatures fell from the sky and invaded Earth, and superpowered criminals ran rampant. The crime rate skyrocketed. People lived in fear of the next attack.

Five years later, the government proposed a plan: registration and training. Superpowered individuals would be registered and taken out of the public. Young or inexperienced individuals were sent to the Academy, and after graduation were put under the Horizon Initiative. Some people turned themselves in, all others were arrested or destroyed. The crime rate fell back to normal levels and life returned to normal. With the existence of superpowers, a new form of entertainment flourished. Books, movies, and TV shows based on actual Initiative members or on fake ones were all the rage.

In the present, life is safe again. No longer to random civilians need to worry about ending up in a match between two superpowered individuals. Supervillains are a rare thing nowadays, and any that pop up are arrested or destroyed by the Horizon Initiative. When they aren't fighting supervillains, these odd celebrities live on the Compound, a heavily guarded complex outside of the city. Occasionally the Horizon Initiative "donates" one of their members for a humanitarian mission like stopping a natural disaster or providing publicity for a government-approved charity. But other than that, these members don't leave, because they can't.

In reality, the Horizon Initiative has their superheroes under lock and key. Remember that registry? There is no third option: a superpowered person is either arrested or destroyed. All rebellion is quashed. They can try to hide, but very, very few people can escape the long arm of the law. On top of that, the Initiative has contingency plans for all their supers. Most members have control gauntlets that prevent their powers from being used until they are needed. Some of the more powerful of 'flighty' ones also have tracker implants that can remotely destroy an escaped member. Initiative supers may be beloved celebrities and live in luxury, but they are still prisoners.

We are members of the Horizon Initiative, having already graduated the Academy and been fitted with our contingencies. But we do not forget how we got here.

Discussion

[Wormgod]

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[Wormgod]

The Compound - Building 2000

In a darkened corner of a certain office, the red phone rang. The office worker picked up on the second ring. He only asked one thing, “Where?”

Five minutes later he answered, “Okay. Expect a team within a half hour. Give any further details to them.”

He checked the clock. 2:39 AM. Crime sure likes to pick the wee hours. The supers better not have any trouble taking down this perp just because they’re sleepy. They had trained for this type of mission, after all.

The man picked up a different phone, “Assemble Team E. We’ve got a mission.”

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Phoebe Jones — Her Room —> Meeting Room

BRRRRIIIINNNNNNG!

Phoebe clamped her hands over her ears and swiftly rolled out of her hammock. The assembly alarm blasted overhead, jerking her out of her sleep and causing pain all over. Luckily the alarm was only set to ring once in her room, but still. It hurt.

Phoebe checked her clock. Neon lights softly showed the time: 2:40 AM. Ugh. Criminals loved to do their thing at the worst times, and especially on days when she had an interview go all the way to 11 PM, too. Phoebe got back to the Compound just before midnight.

The spider hero shook the stiffness out of her limbs and quickly set about putting on her battle uniform. Arachne’s was a simple tank top and shorts in black with a red diamond pattern on the front, leaving all her ‘peach fuzz’ bare. She checked the hidden pouch, as she always did, confirming that one dose of antivenom was safely stored away, just in case.

With her pre-battle check done, Phoebe stepped out and walked to the meeting room.

This time she got there first. Phoebe nodded to the Horizon representative who was already there with a presentation ready. It showed live satellite footage of the ocean, zoomed out so they could see the harbor at the edge of the screen. A tiny cruise ship sat a fair distance away. It looked dead in the water: not even the fog lights were on.

Once everyone else arrived, the Initiative man started the meeting. As usual, he didn’t greet anyone or thank them for arriving swiftly. This one never bothers with pleasantries. Sometimes the other people do. Phoebe prefers them over this man.

“This is the Maiden’s Glory, a cruise ship with one thousand, one hundred and fourteen people aboard, including staff. At 1:14 AM the ship sent out a distress call on all open communication channels. Four other private ships and the harbor master received the distress call. It was rushed and painted a partial picture.”

The man tapped his laptop and the call suddenly played with a transcript displayed on screen. A woman and a man’s voice could be heard: the man rushing his words and stammering about a passenger taking the ship hostage while the woman provided some details. The call abruptly cut off to a wave of static.

The Horizon employee clicked his screen, showing a time lapse of the ship approaching harbor, stopping, and then all lights cut out. Curiously as the lights cut, big flash of light burst out from the bridge, “We believe this passenger has an unidentified power or technology that cut the ship’s power. Even the engines are cut. The Horizon’s satellites have been tracking it, and it has drifted a hundred feet from the waves.”

“All data points to this being a hostage situation with a dangerous and unstable criminal. All we know about the perp is he is a male passenger with no prior incidents aboard the cruise. He used a display of an unknown superpower or technology to take the Maiden’s Glory hostage and steal some money. He then was distracted or diverted his attention elsewhere and cut the ship’s power. Thanks to that, we have no data on his powers or equipment. You’ll be going in blind.

Our first priority is to secure the hostages. Do whatever you need to to get the civilians to safety. We’ll have medical teams and lifeboats on standby. If possible, secure the criminal. He most likely won’t go quietly, so knock him out.”

The Horizon employee paused and took a grave look around the room, “Any questions?”

[Kirous]

Ezra Thompson - Meeting Room

Ezra woke with a jolt. The ear shattering screech of the assembly alarm broke the sleep he had only managed to obtain moments before. Placing a hand over his ears he slid out of his bed. The sudden temperature shift from his warm bedding to the cool concrete of his floors sent a shiver down his spine. He really needed to ask for a rug, or at least start sleeping with socks. Groggy, he slipped on his super uniform. The light fabric felt extra cool in the late night air. After attaching his pouched belt, and slipping on his mirrored gloves, he made his way toward the meeting room. Fidgeting with the seams of his gloves as he walked down the halls.

On entering the meeting room and seeing Phoebe, he calmed. The familiar face managing to ease his heart slightly. He took the seat across from her and rubbed his palm in a soothing manner. After watching the other members pile into the room he directed his gaze to the Horizon representative. The man went on to explain the situation. The more gaps that were left in the information, the more uneasy Ezra became. Drawing him to once more fidget with the seams of his gloves.

At the representative asking if they had any questions Ezra looked around at the group. After waiting a few moments he chimed in with an all to small voice, “How will we be getting on the ship?”

[--I am Sherlocked--]

Katarina:

Katarina was deep in sleep when she was jolted awake by the wailing sound of the alarm bell. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, feeling groggy. She had been sleeping well and was irritable to have been woken up. However, with horror, she realised this meant that another mission was going to be underway. She wondered as to what was going on and who were the people who needed the Horizon Initiative's assistance. After laying in bed for five more minutes, Katarina swung her legs out of her bed and stood up. She walked over to her clothing cupboard and pulled out her silver and blue uniform. She shivered as the cold fabric touched her skin and pulled some black boots onto her feet.

Finally, she was ready to leave and quickly hurried out her room and down the passage to the Meeting Room. As she entered, she saw that Phoebe and Ezra had already arrived.

"Morning." She muttered and took a seat next to Ezra. As she listened to the Initiative man describe the mission, concern and delight sunk in. She was concerned over the lives of the passages on the ship but knew that she would be in her element, considering they would be surrounded by water. When the man asked if there were any questions, Katarina couldn't think of any. All that Katarina was focused on was the fact that they would need to get the hostages to safety. However, she was curious as to what had driven the criminal to do what he was doing. Didn't he realise that what he was doing would only land him in trouble? Katarina sighed heavily, hoping the mission would be quick and swift.

[Lemon Tea Rain]

Florence
20 - Magpie - her room -> meeting room

Florence couldn't help but let out a groan as the alarm blared, forcing her out of what had been a very comfortable slumber. She was very reluctant to pull herself out of bed and change in to her super outfit; a black tank top and grey shorts. She hadn't exactly had much in mind when choosing that apart from wanting to have as much skin to store things as possible, and so she had been made to add some sort of hoodie cloak to wear over the top of it. She had agreed to this decision, since let's be honest, a tank top and shorts aren't exactly the warmest option she could have gone with.

Finally dressed, Florence took a marble and pressed it in to her palm for good luck before making her way to the meeting room. She wasn't the first to arrive, but at least she wasn't late this time, as she had been once before. She slipped in to place and listened to the presentation. She wasn't all that pleased about the lack of information - nasty surprises always seemed to pop up, no matter how much they knew, so knowing next to nothing didn't exactly help that. She just hoped it would be an easy enough mission, and that this guy had some interesting souvenir she could take afterwards.

[Ploegy]

⇀Ｔａｔｓｕｏ Ｈａｓｈｉｍｏｔｏ!!
xxxxmale • twenty-three years old • duplication powers • location: meeting room
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Sleep hadn't yet found Tatsuo when the alarm rang out through the building. That wasn't all too unusual. He was one that stayed up into the late hours of the night and to sleep the mornings away. He often was scolded for such behavior, but he never paid much mind to it. Besides, today hadn't been the most thrilling nor productive day for him so he was making up for it in the middle of the night. It wasn't his fault that his cybernetics needed updating and such usually took an entire day. At least he had gotten the cute nurse this time around though he was sure that she wanted nothing to do with him. His light flirting with her probably never helped, but it was worth a shot.

After dealing with such a boring day though, Tatsuo had gotten to his usual training until he had been scolded for pushing himself too far yet again. It wasn't unusual for such to happen. He was always under a watchful eye given how often he was willing to push the limits of his cybernetic body and cause it to have issues. As soon as someone thought he was overdoing it, he was immediately told to return to his quarters. As much as he hated it, he couldn't deny their request. That was where he had found himself now as the alarm was ringing out. It must have been at least an hour since he had started meditating, but even he could not be sure. He easily lost track of time when doing such. Either way, it seemed that he needed to get ready.

Admittedly, he was surprised that he was even being called upon. Sure, he was well aware that the Horizon Initiative wished to push his story to the public, but he had no desire pursuing most missions that were thrown his way these days. He knew how most people reacted to him and he wished to avoid it. Ever since that accident his appearances overall had been greatly diminished and he was entirely fine with that. At one point he had loved the spotlight, but now he rather avoid it all together. It wasn't only his failure that made him think this way, but his appearance as well. As much as he tried to hide the scars that would quickly remind others of what had happened, it was near impossible to do so with the ones on his face. They were a constant reminder of the event.

Giving his head a shake, Tatsuo rose from his place on the floor and let a soft sigh escape his lips. There was no point in moping around. He might as well see what was being requested from him. Changing into his usual hero attire, he pulled the scarf up to cover the lower half of his face. It was a habit he had picked up after the accident. As comfortable as he felt around the other supers, he still felt they judged him for it despite how many years ago it had been now. The only thing this habit did was put him at ease even if it was only slightly. Everything he could do to make himself feel comfortable was for the better at this point.

Once he was dressed and had the katana on his back, Tatsuo made his way to the meeting room. As he entered, he was quick to noticed that he was one of the last ones to arrive. That wasn't a rare occurrence. However, he was never late despite how he seemed to lag behind the others. Taking a brief look around, he noted the sleepy looks of his comrades. It was clear that unlike him, they had been woken from their slumber. He supposed that was normal at a time like this. Quietly making his way across the room, he leaned up against the far wall, away from the others and allowed himself to listen to the representative that was speaking.

Taking in the information that was put forth to them, the Japanese man couldn't help but give a shake of his head. If anything this seemed like a dangerous mission to be sending him on. If this man could take out an entire ship's power then what was stopping him from possibly doing something to the cybernetics on his body? It was possible they would have no effect on him, but still even a small possibility of such should be enough to consider if sending him was the right idea or not. Then again, he supposed this was some test in the story they wanted to push with him. What better comeback for him than one that was overcoming a weakness of his? Tatsuo wanted to laugh at the thought of such, but instead kept it to himself.

There were other issues he had with the missions as well that went beyond simply having his cybernetics overridden. If he were to find himself overboard then he'd also be in major trouble. Despite having been able to swim prior to his accident, he struggled to do such with his new limbs even after years of trying to overcome such struggles. It wasn't that the water shorted them out or anything, there was always some disconnect with his natural body and them when it happened though. They never seemed to function the way he wanted as soon as he hit the water. Maybe that was thanks to the Horizon Initiative. He wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Drawing himself from those thoughts, Tatsuo stayed quiet despite the many questions he had floating around in his head. It was probably for the better that he didn't raise questions that only applied to himself at a time like this. He was sure that such things would have been taken into consideration and if there was some problem he would be pulled aside before leaving to be talked to.

[Wormgod]

Phoebe Jones — Meeting Room

As the others arrived to the meeting room, Phoebe took a look over them. Most of them looked just as tired as she felt. She took care to listen to the mission details so she didn’t miss anything important. Disturbingly, there was very little data on the actual guy. Heck, not even his name was known, just that he was a passenger and not part of the cruise staff! Unknown powers or tech and an unstable personality to boot. Great.

Phoebe perked up at Ezra’s question. The Initiative employee looked over at him, “You will be arriving via helicopter. The helicopter will not land on the ship. It will stay in the air a safe distance away until the team and the criminal need to be picked up.”

Well that was interesting. Why did the Horizon Initiative choose a helicopter instead of a boat? Did they expect to need a faster pickup and drop off? It was normal for the Initiative to hang around during a mission, though. ‘Supers weren’t to be trusted’, as Phoebe’s old Academy teacher used to say.

“No more questions? Good. To the hanger.” The Horizon man ordered.

Phoebe sighed and stood, briefly looking at her fellow supers again. They would have to quickly devise a plan on the flight over. Katarina was always good in aquatic environments, and Ezra could blind the criminal. If the man was using technology, Florence might have a chance to steal it from him. Phoebe herself was good at intimidation and arresting criminals. Her webs were ridiculously strong and requires a special solvent to dissolve. But Tatsuo...he was at risk on this mission. He couldn’t swim well, and this man had some power or technology that shut off electricity. Why did Horizon choose to Tatsuo? We’re they testing him? Phoebe hopes not. He might get hurt.

The group was escorted down the hallways and outside to the hanger. Their helicopter was already outside and running, its propeller kicking up the morning dew, “So, any ideas?” Phoebe shouted over the noise.

[Lemon Tea Rain]

Florence
20 - Magpie - her room -> meeting room

Florence followed along in the group to the hanger, removing the marble from her palm and rolling it around between her fingers just to have something to do. It was only a small marble ball, black with iridescent flakes, but it happened to be one of her favourite anyway. The way the flakes shifted colours in the light was always something Florence appreciated.

She was brought out of her appreciating the ball as they neared the hanger, the sound of the helicopter already easy to hear over all else. She closed her hand and pressed the marble back in to her palm, storing it as a tattoo again so she could focus on what they were supposed to be doing.

The helicopter was kicking up little dew droplets, and the way they sparkled and shone in the air caught Florence's keen gaze almost immediately. Between the loud whirring of the helicopter and her focus now being on the dewdrops, Florence didn't have much attention left for Phoebe's question. She was more or less lost in a daydream.

[Ploegy]

⇀Ｔａｔｓｕｏ Ｈａｓｈｉｍｏｔｏ!!
xxxxmale • twenty-three years old • duplication powers • location: hanger
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It was strange to him that they would be going in by helicopter, but he had no complaints. He only hoped that the helicopter wouldn't be seen and immediately attacked by this unstable man. Again Tatsuo was concerned that it would easily be possible for their ride in to be taken down. In his mind there were many things that could go wrong at this point, but he had no idea how easy it would be to stop them. Strategy had never been his forte to begin with. If he had been better with strategies he was sure he wouldn't have ended up the way he was. It was too late for that though. He couldn't undo the past and he had live with the mistakes he had made although sometimes he wished the initiative hadn't decided to save him. Perhaps that was a dark thought to have, but it was one that often crossed his mind even as the years passed by. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things though. Negativity at a time like this would only make this mission worse for him and he did not need that.

Letting a soft sigh escaped his lips, though it was muffled by the scarf over his mouth, the cyborg gave a small shake of his head as he dismissed his thoughts. Hopefully nobody would take notice of such a thing though part of him doubted anyone was paying much mind to him anyways. Trying to focus on what was being spoken, Tatsuo heard the rep dismiss them to take off. It was surprising that there was no mention of pulling him aside to talk things over with him, but he did not mind all too much. While he had concerns for his own safety, it seemed the ones who had assigned him to this team did not. While he didn't trust their judgement, he decided not to voice it and simply go with it anyways. Maybe he had become too lax with his own well being. As some of the others began to file out of the room, he hung back for a moment to compose himself. Closing his eyes briefly, the cyborg sucked in a deep breath before pushing himself away from the wall to follow behind the others.

Keeping his distance, Tatsuo stuck to the back of the group with his gaze cast down, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. It was yet another habit he had picked up since his accident and one he found hard to shake. No matter how much time passed, his struggle to look the others in the face never went away. In that moment, he would have gotten lost in his own thoughts again if it hadn't been for the sound of the helicopter. It had been quite some time since he had last been on one. Admittedly, he never had been a fan of riding in them. They were too loud for his liking. He supposed he preferred things to be a bit more stealthy.

Moving his gaze up to look at their ride, Tatsuo heard Phoebe's voice over the roaring engine. Her question was a difficult one for him though. This was exactly the kind of stuff he was terrible at and it was only made worse by the lack of information and how unsure he was about his own part in all of this. "I have no specific ideas, but I assume I should keep my distance from whoever this super is to avoid my cybernetics being overrun," he mused, though his voice was soft and probably difficult to hear. He thought of suggesting to use his clones to draw out the perp, but decided against it. There was no harm in sending them in first though. Besides, they needed to figure out where exactly on the ship he was and where the other passengers were as well. Their safety was important in all this. If they could corner this man without any hostages around then things would go smoothly, but he doubted that would be the case.