Society of Justice 3: Crisis on the Earth

[CounterAttack]

"Alright, I'll look into it. I assume this involves picking up a game or two for it as well, so... yeah. If I have some spare time I'll head out and pick that up for you. If not... well, I don't think there'd be a problem with getting it a day late," Katie answered with a cheeky smile. Making a mental note to head out and buy the requested gift, she spotted Alex and Richard in the lounge and hurried over.

"Hey, guys," she said brightly. "Just wanted to let you know the potion I've been working on is pretty much done. Just have to let it cool down, and I left it alone some time earlier, so... if you want me to check and see if it's ready, say the word."

[hr]

"Exactly, my Canadian friend," Rowan answered with a wink. "It's all about balance, finding an equal amount of contribution on both sides when you're just starting out. But anyway, I'll leave you with that. Gotta call Sabrina back." With that he left Brian to think over what he had said, pulling out his cellphone and hitting the redial button. Sabrina answered on the first ring. "Heya! So are you good to go?"

"Yep, I've got most of the afternoon free. Shall we meet up at the old haunt?"

"Sure, when? I'll take about... fifteen minutes or so to get there if you want to meet up right now," Sabrina answered. She sounded pretty excited to be meeting up with Rowan; the thought made him smile.

"Sure, now's good. I'll be there in ten, look out for the fancy car," Rowan said, grinning at the idea of Sabi gawking at his newest mode of transport. "See you then."

"Alright, looking forward to it," Sabrina replied before she hung up. Putting his phone back in his pocket, Rowan hurried back to his room to grab his keys and wallet. With those in hand he stopped into the lounge to say he was heading out and wave goodbye to the rest of the Society, and moved on to the garage.

 

[blaze96]

"I'll leave that one up to Alex, ultimately she is the one who has to drink it." Richard said after saying hello to Katie.

"Now if you'll please excuse me I need to make sure my gift ends up on that table." He said before walking up to his room and grabbing the already wrapped box and returned downstairs to place it on the table.

 

[Lizmichi]

"Thank you Katie, I'll take a look in a bit." alex said smiling and hugged Katie. "Oh Happy birthday Tommy." Alex said warmly. "Time to get you shit faced." Alex said laughing some.

Eric took a seat in the dinning room and looked around looking at a happy Alex. "God damn." he said to him self.

 

[NeoAC]

Brian mulled over Rowan's words as the shapeshifter departed. Balance, is that what I was lacking? I thought I was doing pretty well. But look where that's gotten me. Stuck here by myself. Sigh, I dunno. I guess I gotta give it a shot, worst case is it gets me back here by myself. Not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts, Brian moved to the kitchen where everyone else had gathered.

He moved to the kitchen where the bottles of Atlantean liquor were still held prominently on the counter. He picked up one of the glowing bottles and flipped it around, trying to guess at what it could be. "So what is this?" he asked no one in particular. "We get Tommy a bunch of lava lamps for his birthday there?"

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson mentioned that it was no problem to Garrus before he went after Renton. Tyson walked back to the kitchen with a small smirk on his face. What he said wasn't entirely true. In all actuality he was attacked in the middle of the rain forest on his way back and stumbled upon some ruins while fight off the jaguar.

As Tyson entered the kitchen he heard Brian's question. "Try magically altered Atlantean liquor. It was a gift from his parents." Tyson pulled the tray out from the fridge and placed it on the counter before removing the lid and checking it to see if it needed cleaning. Seeing nothing Tyson just put it back away before grabbing a bowl from a cabinet and a bag of chips from another. Pouring the whole bag into the bowl and throwing out the bag Tyson brought both of them over to the coffee table in the lounge.

 

[Pm0n3y]

Somewhere Else...

The time spent in that newly expanded bakery gave Jason time to catch up with his sister, the two enjoying a casual conversation on current events. How the family was doing, what condition the Corps was in, if Jason's sentence will ever be lifted. It felt good to finally be able to have a chat with someone from the Corps after all these years, without the two being in midst a battle. Eventually, Felix reappeared and ushered the two back beyond the counter, and into the weapons room, where Felix presented Jason with a small metal attaché case. Unable to contain himself, Jason hurriedly opening the case, grimacing in confusion as he looked at what inside.

"Felix...these are knuckle dusters. Light ones at that." Jason replied as he took one out and tried it on. Felix smirked as he put his hands together.

"See the gold hourglass emblem, the one on the button under your thumb? Press it." He answered. Jason quickly did so, him and his sister jumping back as the small rings on Jason's fingers expanded and spread across his hand and began to crawl up his arm. Jason's eyes widened in amazement as he flexed his fingers in the newly crafted gauntlets.

"Felix! How did you make this?! These...these are awesome!" Jason exclaimed.

"It's all in the metal. Some type of bio-alloy stuff the seller nicked from Masterson Industries. Stuff's fresh off the black market. The guy didn't know what it did, so he sold it at a reasonably low price. When I tested it, it seemed to be shatter resistant, and impervious to most extreme conditions. The metal does it all. All I had to was mold them into their brass knuckle-like shape. Perfect for the unexpected mugging from someone that just so happens to have superpowers. Pull one of these out, and they'll be like 'Please. Brass knuckles? Think that'll do any thing to me? Doubtful'. And then you press the button, and considering how well your friend can fight, they'll be all like 'Oh no, all of my bones!'" Felix verbally explained as Jason and Marrissa looked on, Jason realizing something.

"Um...Felix? You did say that the metal came from...Masterson Industries...right?"

"Well, that's what the guy told me."

"Felix...one of my co-workers is the owner of Masterson Industries."

"Wow...the Richard Masterson? You know some important people."

"Yeah, and you'll know him too once he finds out that you were in ownership of one of his products...illegally. He has a very bad habit of beheading his enemies."

"Well, I got no beef with the guy, if anything, he's more of role model for a weapons maker like me (seriously, get in a good word for me when you have the chance). Besides, I used the whole sample making the knuckles. So if anything, it's like giving back to the community." Felix said as the metal slid down to reform back into it's original shape. As Jason packed it back into the foam casing held in the metal case, Jason looked up at his good friend.

"Ok...how much will they be." He asked bluntly.

"I'll give 'em to you for...eh...$3000."

"Really? Thought they'd be more." Jason replied slightly surprised as the three walked towards the cash register.

"Well, I wasn't gonna sell them to you for higher than what I bought them for. You know i'm not that kind of person." Felix said with a smile. The pay up was quick and simple, within minutes, Jason and his sister departed from the bakery, giving their goodbyes to the friendly baker/gunsmith and his daughter. As the glass door closed behind him, Marrissa decided to speak up.

"Finally. Can we go to the party now?" She whined.

"Well yeah. How else am I gonna get ho-" Before he could finish, Marrissa aggressively yanked her older brother away by the arm, the two racing towards the exit.

 

[RBMidknight]

"Alright." Taryn took one of the bags of frosting and cut the tip as directed. 'Rainbow colored, huh...interesting' Though she felt like there was an easier way to frost the cake Taryn followed Leland's instructions for the base layer. The coat of white frosting was applied quickly and efficiently. Well, there was a bit of icing on one side that had kind of gotten messed up...but Taryn solved that problem by smoothing down the frosting on the entire cake with a clean butter knife. Next up was "-you did say rainbow, right?" Taryn asked Leland as she picked up another bag of white frosting.

 

[NeoAC]

"Liquor, huh?" Brian said picking up one of the bottles on the counter. He held it in his hands, swirling it around, trying to get an idea of what it could actually be. "Well, you know, maybe someone should taste it first, make sure it's all good and all that. I'll be happy to do that for the group, if I can find a glass there." He went to the cabinet, still clutching the bottle as he searched for a suitable glass capable of attaining the proper booze/ice ratio.

 

[CounterAttack]

Katie briefly returned the hug, then let go of Alex and hurried out of the lounge to check on the potion. A quick examination and temperature check revealed that it was ready to drink, according to the book. With that out of the way she headed for the garage after picking up her usual gear. Comm in one ear to keep up to date on the events taking place, she got on her motorbike - helmet in place - and headed out to The Dawn to see where she could find a 3DS and a couple of games for it.

On her way, she caught up to a slightly shinier version of her car at an intersection; Rowan had mentioned that he was heading out. The two split off in different directions soon enough.

[hr]

While his car was flashy and fairly noticeable, Rowan had no trouble with any photography from people in neighbouring vehicles. Gawkers, though, he noticed aplenty, and occasionally waved or smiled at the more amusing sights of civilians with their mouths and eyes open. It seemed that the café that he had referred to as 'the old haunt' was as popular as ever when he pulled up and parked outside it: while it looked like a regular old place that had a good reputation, Lang's held sentimental value to Rowan and Sabrina, which could be guessed at easily. An oft-used cliché, but a good one, Rowan thought to himself as he entered and took a seat in one of the more secluded spots.

 

[tsatoma]

"There will be more than enough time for drinking later Brian. Plus I think only Tommy knows what they do unless the bottles themselves say," Leland told him after listening to the conversation whilst he watched Taryn put on the base layer of frosting.

"It looks good Taryn. Can you do that for the two other tiers with the base white frosting so that I can work on icing with the colored frosting? It'd certainly be helpful and it'd get done faster," he asked her as he grabbed the red frosting and went to work on the cake, starting out in the center of the cake before moving outward to the edges. Once the red stripe was done he smoothed it out with a butter knife before grabbing the next bag of frosting and making the next stripe of color.

 

[RBMidknight]

"Sure." Taryn replied. She tilted the bag of frosting up so that it wouldn't drip on the floor before stepping around Leland. On the other side of the table the two remaining cake sections lay on large pieces of wax paper. While Leland worked on the colored stripes Taryn carefully covered the next layer with white frosting. This time she did a little better. But there was still a few places that needed smoothing out. Taryn glanced at where she'd left her knife. But there was only an empty space. Apparently Leland had 'borrowed' the utensil. So Taryn retrieved another knife from the kitchen drawer and began smoothing out the first, or rather second section of cake. When she was finished she moved on to the last section.

"How's it coming?" Taryn asked Leland without looking up from her task.

 

[socialtangent]

"I didn't know we were cracking open the liquor already," Levi quipped as he watched Brian search for a glass. He debated trying a little of whatever Brian was going to serve himself, but he still wasn't entirely sure about the exotic magical alcohol from Atlantis. On one hand, it could be good. It had to be decently aged, considering their origin. On the other hand, one of those could be a potion that could turn him into a frog.

Should I?

Eeeeh...why not? Levi thought. If worse came to worse, at least Leland was nearby.

"Actually, get me a glass too, while you're at it," he said to Brian. "I'm a little curious myself. That is, if Tommy doesn't mind". Today was a party, so it gave him ample excuse to do something stupid and ill-advised. Consuming a glass of Atlantean liquor just happened to be that something today.

 

[Pm0n3y]

The black Ferrari pulled into the closed driveway, slowing steadily as Jason parked amongst the other cars of the Society.

"Welp, here we are. I wonder if they started the festivities yet." Jason said, he and his sister stepping out of the low sports car. With Tommy's gift in tow, Marrissa followed closely behind her brother as the two entered the large facility, the sounds of chatter reverberating from the rear of the building, growing louder as they entered the lounge area. Jason signaled for his sister to place the amongst the others, tossing his hoodie on the couch as he approached the others.

"My sister decided to tag along. Hope you guys don't mind." He stated simply, Marrissa skipping up behind him to hug the birthday boy.

"Happy birthday Tommy! How old are you now?" The small girl asking the much taller man.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson grabbed a carrot, dipping it in the dip, and proceeded to eat it as he walked back to the kitchen. "I don't remembering Tommy offering you guys open access to gift he received from his parents. Maybe you should ask him if you drink some and what potential effects each liquor might have on your bodies. You need to remember he's magical and what might not harm him could be the death of you." Tyson said to Brian and Levi as he entered the kitchen.

As he finished his sentence Jason and Marrissa entered the kitchen. Tyson didn't really like the idea of her being here. Jason may trust her, but that didn't deter the fact that she was hanging out with before. Beyond that the rest of Jason's family didn't seem all to friendly and Tyson still had a bone to pick with that freak in the red armor with the black cracks. "I don't mind on two conditions. Number one, she's your baggage. Number two that freak in the red armor with the black cracks doesn't join the party as well. I still have a bone to pick with him and I don't want to start a body count during Tommy's party." Tyson said in pure honesty. He was willing to let the girl go for this event if he didn't have to watch her. Beyond that Tyson was going to damn well kill that guy for the good of everyone but had no want for that to happen, here, today.

 

[Captainguy42]

" Oh, hey Marrissa, I'm turning 21 now, hence all the booze." Tommy said, " Speaking of which, Jason, do you think it's alright to have her around today, what with all the bad influences and stuff?"

" It's cool Brian, just don't get too drunk before we get to the cake." Tommy told the Canuck before checking the bottle and giggling a little bit, " And don't worry my dad made sure these drinks are safe for anybody."

 

[NeoAC]

While Leland's comment gave him pause, getting a drinking buddy confirmed in Levi was more than enough for Brian to act. He fished two glasses out of the cabinet that were suitable size to hold a few ice cubes, and acquired those out of the ice maker on the fridge. As Tyson voiced his displeasure, Brian moved to set him at ease. "Relax there, buddy," he told him. "I'm the Healer there now, remember? I ain't gonna go down from a little drink."

He brought the ice-filled glasses to the counter and selected one of the bottles at random. He opened it up and poured out a healthy dose for both him and Levi, before sliding one of the glasses over to the other side of the table. "There you go Levi. Cheers, man!"

 

[CounterAttack]

Katie reached the super-mall named The Dawn soon enough, parking her bike in an appropriately-designed space. She briefly checked her appearance in one of the mirrors; it was a shame she didn't have anything to disguise herself. She would have to resort to asking for no photography and refusing to comment on anything if the media appeared out of nowhere as they tended to do.

Thankfully the place was crowded, so no-one gave the super a second look as she weaved her way through the crowds towards the section dedicated to electronics stores and gaming places. The first two game shops had the 3DS on sale, although Katie saw little in regards to customers in either one. "Darn it," she muttered to herself as she made her way into the more aesthetically-pleasing of the two, though she kept her expression cheerful.

The lone fresh-out-of-high-school employee behind the counter did a not very subtle double-take when he saw Katie walk right up to him. "Um, er... hi. How - how can I help you, Miss Southe?" he stammered, clearly out of his depth even though he knew who she was. But then, that was a given considering he was talking to a famously orphaned super who was in a relationship with an internationally-acclaimed musical sensation.

"I'm looking to buy a 3DS and a couple of games for it. It's for a friend of mine," Katie explained. "And please, call me Katie," she added as an afterthought, trying to put the guy at ease.

"Um, sure. Which colour system would you like?" the guy asked. A brief conversation ensued, ending with Katie purchasing a plain white 3DS and three games, the details of which were provided by the employee. "Have a good day," he said, handing her the receipt. As Katie walked out of the store, she distinctly heard the click of a phone being picked up, and slightly hushed words soon after. "Robin? You are not gonna believe what just happened..."

Giggling a little to herself, Katie mingled with the crowds once more, pausing momentarily at a supermarket to pick up a few edibles for herself and some for Leland as a surprise, and a clothes place because she liked one of the skirts on display. Her purchases complete about twenty minutes after she entered the mall, she returned to the parking lot where she packed her acquisitions into the two compartments she had had installed, and began to head back to the Promenade.

[hr]

Sure enough, Sabrina's timing was accurate. Rowan caught sight of her when she walked into the café, and seeing her there with a smile on her face, he had to smile in kind. She spotted him and quickly made her way over, taking a seat opposite him. A year younger than Rowan, Sabrina bore a close resemblance to the actress Stana Katic; she'd even grown her hair out a few inches over the past couple of years, enhancing the comparison; it was mostly blonde rather than light brown as he remembered.

"Been a while since we last met, hasn't it?" Sabi said with a bubbly giggle. "So tell me, who are you these days? Still the same old Rowan J. Ward I used to know?"

The question gave Rowan pause for thought. Cadizki had changed him, but he wasn't sure how to tell Sabrina. It didn't help that his gaze kept flickering between her luminescent blue eyes that only Irish girls such as herself possessed, and the faint touches of brown in her hair. "Um..." he began, uncertain of how to answer. "I guess you could say that," was his eventual, quiet response. The sudden need to come clean overtook him, and his tongue loosened.

"I've changed since then, Sabrina. A lot has happened in the short time I've been with the Society. You remember when I told you about my powers?" At her nod of confirmation, he continued. "Um... well, the best way to phrase it is that I've been upgraded." To demonstrate, he shifted into Sabrina's form and back again, the sound of a blowing breeze emanating from his body as he did so.

"I can shift whenever I want to now, there's no waiting period," he said to finish up. Sabrina's look was one of awe and shock. "How did it happen?" she asked after a short pause.

"You don't want to know, believe me. Let's just say that I went to see a doctor."

"All right. But enough about that. What are you doing with yourself?" Sabrina asked, inadvertently diverting the subject away from Cadizki. Rowan happily began to fill her in on most of the events that had happened since he joined the Society, the civilian nodding and asking the occasional question as he did so. In particular, she didn't understand his recount of the time the Society entered Levi's mind; he simply stated that he still didn't get it either.

 

[Pm0n3y]

"Well, considering the fact that Takashi actually wants me dead...I wouldn't want him at this party either. And besides, I practically raised Marrissa myself. She's a good egg. If she was bad, then she would've ratted me out already. You won't have to worry about any trouble from her." Jason reassuringly explained to Tyson as he looked towards his sister, still conversing with Tommy.

"Oh please. Mercenary-ninja-assassin-killer in training right here. I've had to learn how to kill people before I could even talk. I'm sure I can handle watching a bunch of superpowered 20-somethings drink. Also...you said you turned 21, right? Tell me Tommy...Think you can take a punch?" Marrissa replied, raising an eyebrow before burrowing a fist into his right shoulder, sending him spinning through the doorway, and into the hallway. Jason rushed up to her, tugging on her hood as she attempted to chase after Tommy.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He exclaimed.

"Relax J. It's just birthday punches. C'mon, he's got 20 more to go!" He told him, oblivious to the emotions of the heroes surrounding her. As she followed after the floored hero, Jason breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay everyone...it's just birthday punches." He calmly attempted to lower the excitement in the room before taking after his sister.

"Don't punch him through a wall! We just got this place fixed!" He said as he rushed out the room.

 

[tsatoma]

"It's coming along well over here even though it seems that we're losing our work room," Leland replied as he smoothed out the frosting of the last stripe (violet), backing up as much as he could to examine their work. "Everything looks good so far. I think that we'll leave the top of the last tier all white just so that the writing will be more visible...maybe just make a nice border around it. We can get this done pretty soon," he added as he moved the base layer to the side and started to work on the next tier, adding, "Unless of course whatever Brian and Levi drink makes them spontaneously want to destroy birthday cakes..."

 

[Captainguy42]

" Huh, and here I thought I was gonna get away scott-free this year." Tommy muttered as he picked himself up and got ready for Marrissa's next punch. He had to admit though, the girl could punch.

"Is that all you got? Feh, I bet Renton can punch harder!" He goaded, right before Marrissa connected a second punch and sent him even further down the hall.

"It's obvious Jason got all the strength in the family." He mocked again as he pick himself up.