HEROism

Gungnir put her head in her hands. "Oh god, that's awful! I love it!"

Looking around, Sigrun saw what appeared to be a consensus and spoke up, "All right, I think we've done it there. Unless you have any problems, Red, I think we can call it. We are now The Pride of New Lyon."

Cardinal giggled and smiled, before asking "What now?"

"Ooh! Are we going to make matching patches or something to put on our outfits?"

Sigrun smiled, "Well, we can do that if people want to, but uniforms or any other unique identifiers for the team are not required. No, right now, I thought it might be good for us all to properly introduce ourselves. Say what exactly we can do, a little about ourselves, where we come from, what we do, that sort of thing. Also, as an exercise in trust, I thought it might be good to reveal our real identities, but if people aren't okay with that, I understand."

"Um..." Cardinal said, "I don't have any powers...I'm just good with tech. I graduated from high school last year...what else?"

Kay was a little shocked, first that the group had taken her suggestion seriously and second, that they were actually planning on adopting it. That said, it might make uniforms easier.

Lots of gold, Kay mused, Maybe brown and gold. And there's five of us and five letters in "pride". Definite possibilities. We just have to make sure that we do some marketing beforehand so that the public's first impression isn't a Dad joke.

Aloud, she introduced herself.

"I'm Kay. I've got super strength and toughness, and as to exactly how strong and tough, your guess is as good as mine. You probably know I make a career out of heroing, but this will be the first time I'm officially signed up with anyone. So, it's going to take a while to adjust to doing things different. Try to call me out if I'm being a bitch."

"Red Mirage," Mik reintroduced himself, "I turn invisible by bending light around me using micro-crystals that are between the layers of my skin. Similar to how your chameleons change colour. Considering how you'll find out eventually, I might as well be the one who informs you that I'm an alien spy. The job I was going to speak to Cardinal about was if she could fix my ticket home."

"Im' Gungnir, and I shoot energy from my right arm." She he held the arm in question up. "This is the symbiote that let's me do that. It hit me from space!" And a bit quieter, said, "Nearly killed me in the process." She continued with her introduction. "My real name is Lucia Olander. I run a small vintage boutique, and I'm a major share holder with Fortress International. If we ever need to spruce this place up a bit, I can be of aid with that."

"Sounds like a varied group..." Cardinal said, "I'm Rosemary. We'll need a way to stay in contact when we're out heroing...oh! I have an idea for a small communicator we can use! I can try and make it look like a crest or something if that interests people..."

Sigrun was smiling. "Thank you very much, everyone. My name is Sigrun, and I'm a shapeshifter. I don't know exactly how I got these abilities; until about five years ago I was a perfectly ordinary human being. I do know that I was involved in an accident in a lab working with experimental serums intended to alter human biochemistry, but I don't remember the accident itself, so I can't say what actually happened. I do know that I haven't found a limit to what I can do, per se, but large changes are exhausting, so doing a lot at once can be draining. And Lucia, thank you for your name." With her next words, Sigrun altered her appearance, becoming much slimmer and less muscled, her face softening, and her hair turning a rich brown, more than tripling in length, "My name is Theresa MacTaggert, but please, call me Tess."

"hmm.." Cardinal said, "interesting...does it take much energy for a change like that? or is that not considered a large change?"

"Oh, and I'm technically still a minor, but I live sort of on my own..."

Gungnir stared at Sigrun-- no, Tess a bit before saying, "Huh."

Kay raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that was dramatic enough. Though I have to point out that, being a shapeshifter, there's no way for any of us to know that this is your real form either."

Tess smiled, wincing slightly at Kay's astute remark, "Yes, a fair point." She thought for a moment, "In the interest of transparency..." she trailed off, reaching for her pocket, and pulling out her wallet. After a moment of hesitation, she withdrew her driver's license from it and tossed it at the table, in front of Kay. "Unless you also intend to accuse me of theft, that should be enough."

Kay pushed the driver's license back toward Tess without looking at it.

"Hey, never said I needed proof. I don't care about who you are day to day, just who you are on the team."

"I thought there'd be more interest in the 'Alien Spy' title I used earlier." Red Mirage stated slightly confused.

"I'll admit, the spy part is odd." Tess said, picking her driver's license up and putting it away, "But I kinda figured you for an alien. Nobody's that red all the time."

"So it was the skin tone," Mik responded, "I thought it'd be the hair that gave that part away."

"The hair could be tech, or related to your power in some other way, but it didn't hurt." Tess replied.

Cardinal smiled at the others and said, "what else must be done? I have some other stuff to do today.."

Tess frowned, "I did say to try and keep an open schedule for today, but if you have somewhere to be, the rest of the day is less imperative. If you want, you are free to go, and I can fill you in later. For the most part I just have a few things I want to discuss one-on-one. Lucia, I'd like to talk to you about our headquarters, Cardinal, there are a few matters concerning gear that would be good to sort, and Kay, we still need to go over financials. I don't have much for you at the moment, now, Red, but if you want to talk about something, please let me know."

"It's not urgent, but I did want to work on some projects today. I can put them off till later though..."

"In that case, perhaps you wouldn't mind coming into my office over here to discuss things one-on-one first." Tess said, indicating towards a small room off to the side with a desk visible through the open door.

Cardinal shrugged and made her way into the office.