[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Megan Daniels

Megan's attitude was refreshingly simple and open. She might not have envisioned herself joining the Hero Program in the first place, but now she had she certainly seemed to be taking to her new responsibilities with gusto. It made a nice change from some of the more image and fame obsessed individuals who walked through the door with godlike powers. Hopefully they could avoid some of those fame obsessed individuals on their way through the building looking for others. It wouldn't be a great look for someone that had just joined the Program, it would be better if she met one of the stalwarts. Perhaps Alice was in the building, he was pretty sure she was on patrol today, but that could place her anywhere from here to the other side of the city. The girl could move quick when she wanted to. "Come on," he gestured to the young woman sat in the armchair in his office. "Let's go looking. There's usually one or two people about." He led the way, stepping out through the glass door of his office and having a quiet word with Gregory. "I'm taking Menagerie on a quick tour if anyone asks. You know how to find me." The silver-haired personal assistant nodded with a slight smile. He knew the coded message, But don't find me if I don't want to see them. He led the way down the corridor and through a large open room filled with men and women. Each was sat with a rack of screens mounted before them. It was a mix and match of CCTV, live news channels and police bands from the look and sound of things. Clearly this building was the hub of the Program in San Francisco, where Heroes were directed from. "These guys analyse the chatter and goings on of the city to try and pinpoint where best to send Heroes, you'll rarely have much direct contact with them, their data is relayed to a liaison, the person in your ear piece. They'll keep you in touch with what's actually going on." Spotting a familiar figure in the distance, Dominic attempted to steer Megan and the conversation in another direction, though it was too late. The figure that called out to them across the room was male, muscular, and still in costume. A couple of the people at the desks looked up at his shout, before returning to their work. Faces were kept deliberately blank. Loquacious' name was appropriate, he was a talkative guy, and when he turned on his ability he could hammer a car flat with a shout. Unfortunately he seemed to also be excessively loud just by default, and had expensive tastes. He'd used his mask and badge once or twice to get into night clubs, a practice that was certainly frowned upon by the Program, though not actively discouraged. At least not yet. Wearing a silvery suit with a stylised loudspeaker emblazoned on the chest, Loquacious grinned as he approached. "Dominic, when are you going to get me in with Sony? You know they'd love to use me to sell their next headphones." Dominic sighed. "Good to see you too L, but you know it's not my job to represent you in brand deals, you have your own agent for that. And this is Megan." He carefully didn't use her Hero name, Hero identities were their own, if she wanted to attach her face to her Hero name she could, but that was her decision, not his. The masked Hero very clearly looked her up and down appreciatively. "On a tour of the building with Mr Weaver eh? You win a raffle or something?"

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[Megan Daniels]

Megan wasn't the most obvious choice for the Hero Program and she knew it. She was easy to distract, had low respect in authority, and a power that most people found terrifying. However it did seem that Dominic and whoever it was in the program that first noticed her though she had the right qualities, and that wasn't the sort of opportunity to be passed up on without a very good reason. She hadn't lived in California long, knowing of only a few heroes here outside those famous throughout the country. Still from what she did know the sheer range of powers in existence was quite remarkable, and she did of course still have to conduct more research or her noting that most metahuman's powers compliment their personality.

For all these reasons Megan was quite interested in taking a tour of the building, not even mentioning the practical need to know where things are. "Still not used to being called Menagerie and I'm the one who thought of the name" she mused after Dominic gave his assistant instructions. The next room looked like something out of TV show, with people watching what very well seemed to be every broadcast in the city. the sight was dizzying, albeit not quite as much so as the costumed man who approached them next. He clearly had either never heard of the concept of an inside voice or he regarded it as some sort of joke, by volume alone his words fit the bill of shouting, though she also strongly suspected this was his normal speaking voice. The costume was it's own sort of odd... was that a speaker? She though maybe it would be better not to focus on that for now.

Whatever Megan had expected him to want to talk to Dominic about, headphones would not have made her list. To be honest his suit kind of looked like a fancy pair of headphones somehow expanded to cover the entire body. She was introduced gave him a wave saying "Hello there. As stated I'm Megan, good to meet you?" the last part ended up sounding more like a question. He was looking at her in a way that she didn't quite recognize but definitely made her uncomfortable "Oh yes, most definitely something" 

[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Megan Daniels

Megan wasn't a big fan of Loquacious, that Dominic could see. The guy was a B-tier Hero at best, and while his ability was powerful, it didn't really get him much in the way of exposure. His turbo-frat attitude didn't help much either. He was well-meaning, but clearly didn't quite understand the negative aspects of his behaviour that seemed to put people off. Maybe if he had a better agent then he would, but that was beyond Dominic's job description. "Megan, this is Loquacious, he's been with us for about a year, and he's proving pretty popular with night clubs and sound brands." It took a moment for Loquacious' eyes to leave Megan and return to Dominic, though the younger man had disguised his frown by the time they got there. "You got Paladin in with Nike." He sounded reproachful, but Dominic kept his tone neutral. "You know that I represent Paladin, part of my job is to get her sponsorships, if you want something with Sony then your agent needs to put you up for that. It's not up to me." The Hero looked disappointed, though not surprised. "Yeah I guess." He threw Megan a grin, this one seeming a little more wholesome than the previous looks. "If only it was all kicking bad guys asses. Enjoy the tour Megan." With that he continued on, his long legs carrying him away down the corridor with surprising speed. Dominic glanced after him. "Sorry, L is… an interesting guy… Anyway, lets keep going." There was a ping, and he pulled out his phone. "Ah, there's someone in that you might enjoy meeting a bit more." He tapped out a message in response, then gestured towards the elevator. "You've got your costume here right?"

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[Megan Daniels]

Even for a fairly friendly person like Megan, some people are clearly not anyone one wants to spend more time with then needed, and Loquacious was almost immediately falling under that umbrella for her. He was clearly trying to be friendly but he was loud in personality as well as voice in a way that was rather off-putting. Still, even if his best efforts at friendliness were not very great, she gave him credit for at least making the attempt. "Night clubs and sound brands that, well, I suppose that makes sense"

She just about managed to avoid rolling her eyes at the arguments about branding. With Dominic's general friendliness she could see why people would rather talk to him, but deliberately asking him to do somebody else's job wasn't the smoothest of moves by any means. Normally not a very quiet person, Megan stayed quiet until he left, feeling the room had enough sounds in it without her help. "Interesting indeed. I've met less tolerable people, though I can't really say he's going to be anywhere near my top picks of any type among Heroes unless there were very few other options" this was her somewhat roundabout way of saying that she definitely didn't like him, but didn't really dislike him much either.
 
 She perked up again when Dominic mentioned another meeting. Even the relatively uncomfortable previous meeting had been rather exciting if for no other reason then she had yet another good example of power-personality connection for whenever she got down to thinking more about this "Oh yes, I made sure about that ahead of time. It's a reinforced outfit lined with bone weighting a bit over ten pounds. Not the sort of thing you just leave lying around" she was curious why it was needed though considering the previous part had been out of costume. Perhaps the encounter with Loquacious had reminded him that it was rather odd for him to be seen giving a tour to freelance voice actor Megan Daniels of all people. Honestly she would have suspected herself as an out-of-costume hero in that circumstance. Such a number of metahumans in the world meant most probably were also the sort of people that if their identity was revealed the most common reaction would be 'who's that?'. The secrecy still had its comforts even for someone who didn't really have much to gain from it though, as she knew that she could always fall back into the other role to be safe if one was in danger. People didn't tend to target individual cops or such when not on duty, but they didn't get the kind of publicity heroes did.

[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Megan Daniels

Smiling, Dominic restrained a chuckle, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll meet a few that qualify for those lists before long." They reached the elevator, and one arrived within a few seconds of Dominic pressing the button to summon it. "No matter what kind of career you end up in you're going to have a mix of people involved. But not everyone can be at the top of the heap, so I'm glad that L's in the Program, even if I wouldn't invite him round for dinner." Entering the metal box, Dominic taps the button he wants with only a glance. "You're going to need to change, you don't have to have your mask on when you meet another Hero, but we find that it's good practice to keep information as separate as possible. Of course if you want to reveal your identity to someone you can, but we advise you only do so if you truly trust the individual." He nodded back in the direction from which they had come. "L won't make the connection, but the next person probably will." The door opens on the floor the contains what are, for want of a better word, changing rooms. Dominic produced his phone again as it pings. "She says she'll be right here. You can find the changing room OK?"

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[Megan Daniels]

Megan had never been a huge fan of elevators, though the reason why was admittedly rather ridiculous even to her. When she was a little kid she had never liked the way elevator doors opened, always scared something would jump out from behind them. While this was no longer an issue she had to admit that she got a sense of claustrophobia in elevators she didn't get in any other enclosed spaces. "I get that. When it comes down to it even if not everybody is ideal, it doesn't hurt to have more hands on deck" she listed carefully to his advise about identities. Megan never liked keeping secrets but at least ensuring you could trust the other person was a good precaution. Besides while her hair was tied back when in costume it still was dyed bright red, and while people with that color hair were not that rare, there couldn't be that many who went on private tours of the Hero Program building. 

Emerging into the hall, she replied "Ah yes, I think I can find it." Changing room was, as it turned out, not a bad description. While slightly larger then the average changing area in a store it had a very similar feel to it, probably just a natural result of having a room with a purpose as specific as putting on clothing. Megan opened up the rather conspicuous container, taking out a chalky white suit of light body armor. The bottom layer was a somewhat onesie-like underlayer of some very elastic sort of material, and attached over the top everywhere save joints was stark white plates of some sort of thick plastic. Just as accents along the limbs but making up the chests main material was plates of bone. It was far from the most flattering sort of outfit, but not only did it fit, it certainly helped that like most non-human puppeteers she was vulnerable to being attacked directly. Avoiding getting a hit would of course be the goal, but she felt far better knowing she had some protection. The final item left was her mask, a helmet-like cover for all of her head save her mouth and chin, and a small area of her pinned-back hair.

Walking out of the changing room after taking a minute to adjust to the suddenly different weight distribution, she called out playfully "All right, Menagerie is all suited up and ready to go!" before stepping out.

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Megan Daniels + wearing

A shock of bright blue hair and a broad grin greets her in the corridor. The owner of both the hair and the grin stands noticeably taller than Menagerie, partly through natural height, partly through the heavy duty boots that complete her costume. Said costume could not contrast Menagerie's any more distinctly. Where Menagerie's suit was a distinctly off-white, this one had pure white highlights up both sides and across the shoulders, with purple emblazoned down the centre and a single piece of lightweight body armour on the chest and vambraces. Not that the person wearing the costume needed the armour built into their costume, their power took care of keeping them in one piece. Paladin winked, her pale blue eyes glinting from behind the purple mask that covered most of her face. "I should hope so, otherwise I wouldn't be asking if you want to join me?" She took a couple of long-legged stride forwards, one hand extended to shake. There was a positive buzz of energy around the Hero, like the air itself was dancing. Paladin was the most famous Hero in the Program, and probably the world. When they'd launched, she'd been front and centre, and for good reason. Her ability put her in the top tier of Heroes even two years after the launch and she had a genuine good nature about her that was hard to miss. Her symbol was emblazoned on merchandise across the nation and she had sponsorships with Nike, Under Armour and Gatorade along with a whole host of smaller deals. Last month a reporter discovered that the vast majority of the money Paladin made from these deals was immediately passed on to a wide variety of charities, mostly associated with children and communities. Of course the fact that she'd never told anyone had only made the country love her more. Despite all of that, she still introduced herself to the bone-themed Hero as if it was unlikely that she knew who she was. "Hey. I'm Paladin! It's great to met you Menagerie!" She sounded a little like an excited schoolgirl.

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[Megan Daniels]

She had certainly walked out to quite the sight. Even if you didn't really follow the news, the Hero who Menagerie had walked out to find standing there was unmistakable, there simply was no avoiding the name Paladin these days. Though the iconic Hero was fairly tall and only seemed to fill even more of the room from the excited buzz she seemed to have, from this close up even with a mask covering a lot of her face Menagerie realized she couldn't be much if any older than she was, which felt a bit odd.

Menagerie tried to return the wink, quickly realized that a mask covering everything from her lips up made this a poor idea, and settled for a playful smile instead. "Join you for what? The answer will probably be yes but it'd be rather foolish to agree to something if I didn't know what it was". She vigorously took up the offered handshake. Then despite the fact that Paladin was one of the most recognizable people In the nation and couldn't possibly have been oblivious enough to not know that, she still introduced herself. This certainly brought up the new Hero's opinion of her. She had of course previously held a positive opinion of Paladin on a more general level, but knowing how somebody acted around others from personal experience was another matter.

"I... did sort of recognize you, but great meeting you regardless. I'm still rather surprised that I'm here, but I'm certainly glad for it. What brings you to be here seeing me Paladin?"

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Megan Daniels + wearing

"Dom told me there was someone new here." Paladin's enthusiasm is evident, infectious even. "I always try to meet a new Hero, got to get to know the people I might be working next to." Having shaken Menagerie's hand she nudged an elbow into her side gently, "Especially one with such a cool costume. I wish I could pull that off." She turned, walking back towards the elevator, again her long legs easily ate up the distance. Glancing over her shoulders, she beckons for the bony Hero to join her. "Dominic did suggest that we could spar, but I thought that was a bit intense for your first day. Anyway, I'm due out on patrol. Thought you could join me?" There's no suggestion that she's expecting a rejection. It's not arrogance, just the sort of natural confidence that comes from being the most powerful, and most popular person in most rooms. She probably wouldn't have even realised it herself. Out of the costume she was just a slightly awkward twenty-year-old wannabe chef. Paladin was very much an alter ego in more ways than she realised. It was so much easier to be confident when you could vanish into the crowd simply by taking off the mask. At the elevator, she turned back to Menagerie. "Up or down?"

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[Megan Daniels]

Menagerie was by no means a very shy person, and her own sort of excited energy usually seemed to fill the room, but it seemed to be drowned out by the sheer enthusiasm of the other Hero. "Makes sense Heroes would need to know each other now that I think about it, glad you like my costume but I think yours has a sort of classic elegance to it... maybe it's just that I like purple."

Considering how intense the job of being a Hero was, it seemed surprising that somebody who had been doing it for so long remained so chipper and upbeat, but maybe that was the point. In hard circumstances people with energy and excitement helped everyone do better, she'd known she'd had that affect on some people in Film School. Shaken from that thought by seeing Paladin across the hall- how does she walk so fast?- scurrying to follow her to the elevator "Ah, I really do not think sparring would be too great an idea. Not the intensiveness but I'm uh, not very physically strong by any means. Be happy to join for your patrol though." she kept cursing her sudden strange bursts of social anxiety. Oddly enough she felt slightly less confidant as Menagerie then as herself, more unsure of who she was and what people would think about and expect of her. She figured she would probably get over this soon enough but it did make meeting other Heroes a challenge. Still, she supposed that Paladin had almost certainly had far worse first meeting issues than a bit of nerves. "Well as far as I'm aware neither of us can fly so I imagine if we're going on patrol than exiting from the ground level would be ideal." she said with a chuckle.

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Megan Daniels + wearing

Not for lack of trying. Trust me. Still, I can get pretty close." Paladin grinned as the elevator announced its arrival. "Maybe not on your first trip out though." Stepping inside, she hit the button for the lobby, standing out the way so that there was plenty of room should anyone else want to join the elevator at other floors on the way down. "I will call you out on the sparring later though, it's better to keep mixing up opponents, otherwise you get lazy." The elevator started moving, accelerating smoothly and with almost no sound. One wall is curved and composed entirely of glass, said glass allowing the sunlight to pour in once the elevator emerged into the ten-storey lobby. Nobody in the lobby looked up. Heroes were a common occurrence here obviously, and while Paladin was popular enough amongst the regular employees of the Program, you became inoculated to fame once you spent enough time with the real thing. In truth, Paladin preferred it that way. True she loved when the kids got excited, and she got to do things like Make-a-Wish and open sports centres, but she hated the cameras and the limelight. "So what's your power? No… don't tell me… You can manipulate your bones to make like… blades and stuff?" Paladin seems just as excited to find out Menagerie's ability as a child might be. Hero she might be, but she's clearly lost none of the appreciation for comic books she grew up with. "If you want to keep it secret though that's cool too. I totally won't take it personally. I know some Heroes like to keep it close to the chest."

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[Megan Daniels]

Menagerie walked into the elevator slightly awkwardly, while she'd trained a little to get used to it she was still not quite acclimated to the different weight distribution she had in armor. "Fine, fine" she said in an exaggeratedly exasperated tone, never ceasing her impish grin "I'll do sparring some time, just don't expect me to be any good at it". She certainly was relatively in shape, but she was by no means that strong or durable, her strategy was always going to be to try and avoid fighting with her own body if possible.

She had of course seen the lobby on the way in but somehow it was even more impressive on the way down through the transparent wall of the elevator. Having such an extensive lobby seemed something of a waste of space, but it undeniably made an impression. The entire building had a feeling of absolute hugeness that the lobby only really was a small part of.

Menagerie was shaken from contemplation by Paladin's question "It's not that, though I have to admit that's a pretty cool idea that someone should make a book or something about, I'm perfectly willing to give a demonstration, It'll just probably be easier outside though, I'd rather not damage anything in here if I can help it" At that the elevator doors opened into the lobby.

She rushed across the lobby, eager to give the demonstration. This did in fact turn a couple of heads though almost certainly this was just because she was a new arrival. Or maybe that she was walking so fast in a way that utterly clashed with her outfit's impression... nah, it had to be that she was new. Upon exiting she quickly moved to the nearest spot of exposed dirt. While she could do this anywhere she had found that it very slightly deformed the ground it had been done to, which was no problem with dirt or sand but would be with a floor or road. Concentrating on filtering out all the background noise and sensation Menagerie solely focused on the sort of dull buzzing she got in her mind constantly telling her the number and size of local skeletons. She focused on a small signal, one she was very familiar with from the number of times she'd raised one before. As she focused onto it specifically the ground fell flat like it was made of water, and floating up from it came dozens upon dozens of tiny yellow-white bones, she held her hands palms up and in them the bones shifted and locked together, within a few seconds she had a tiny skeleton in her palms. Turning around it climbed over her fingers to the edge of her hand as she turned to show it to Paladin. "Here we are... it's a squirrel if you couldn't tell."

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Megan Daniels + wearing

Excited to see the demonstration, Paladin takes Menagerie's rushing out of the elevator in her stride. She follows the smaller woman across the lobby and out of the building, though at her own pace, otherwise people might think there is a reason to panic. Instead she strolls through the lobby, easily covering the distance before emerging into the stiff breeze coming off the bay. She looks around until she spots the flash a bright red amongst the off-white that denotes Menagerie's location. She is crouched over one of areas where the trees grow along this street. The sidewalk has been carefully constructed around a small patch of earth from which emerges a flourishing sweet bay. There are a dozen lining the street. Coming up behind Menagerie, Paladin goes as if to lean over her shoulder, then stops as the red-head turns, holding up her hands to present something small and as off-white as her uniform. Curious, Paladin leans closer, before her eyes widen in shock and she takes a half-step back. She certainly hadn't been expecting that. It takes her a second to recover before the grin returns to her face. "That thing is sooooo cute!" Its probably not even the weirdest thing she's seen since the Event. Leaning down, she reaches out with one hand to scratch the top of the 'squirrel's' skull. Paladin glances up at Menagerie, "Creepy as all hell… But still super cute! What's his name?"

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[Megan Daniels]

People had had a few reactions to Menageries skeletons before. Some were disgusted or horrified, and some impressed and awed, but so far the kind of reaction she hadn't encountered and had been expecting the very least was having her creatures called 'cute'. It was rather nice actually to have somebody, once they got over the inevitable shock that would naturally come from seeing an animate skeleton, who didn't find them incredibly off-putting.
 
Menagerie was still maintaining the impish smile, the skeleton stretching slowly and crouching down with it's head facing Paladin "I'm really glad you think so, it creeped me the hell out first few times I did this honestly" She seemed taken aback by the question "Name? Well he... she?... it?... whatever, has only been a coherent thing instead of a scattered bunch of bones for about a minute, so no name. Doubt the squirrel had one when alive either. I can only bring up animal skeletons from within a few miles so it's not like I have that constant a supply of the same ones. Even if I stay still enough for that there are hundreds of squirrels all over the place, hard to keep track really"

Menagerie certainly would have named her skeletons, but there was such a minimal chance she would bring the same one up more than once or twice that it seemed rather a futile endeavor, especially for something as common as squirrels.

Stay on me.

The squirrel climbed around her arm onto her shoulder. While not precisely alive, the skeletons had always shown an ability to determine how to follow her instructions, although her testing had shown they would do nothing but stand there if given no instructions. "You can certainly come up with one if you want though." After all, he was within range to be brought up right around the Hero Program building, she might be able to keep him.

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Megan Daniels + wearing

"Hmmm…" Paladin puts a finger to her lips as she thinks. "How about… Frank… He looks like a Frank…" They have attracted some attention on the street. People are used to seeing Heroes coming in and out of the building, but Paladin always draws the eye. That and the Hero that she is accompanying is new. That clearly is sparking some interest. It probably also helped that one of them was holding an animate animal skeleton. Even in a world of godlike powers, that was something you didn't see every day. Already a small crowd is beginning to gather as phones are produced and pictures are taken. They haven't quite plucked up the courage to come closer, but Paladin knows that it is only a matter of time before they do and the two of them are stuck answering questions and signing autographs for much longer than she'd like. She can see that several individuals in the crowd are ones that she has seen before, reporters. If they'd been at the front of the group they'd already be on them. As it is they have a pack of fans and casual passers-by to forge through before they actually manage to reach the costumed Heroes. Turning her attention back to Menagerie and her companion, Paladin scratches the top of the Squirrel's skull once more. She can't quite feel the surface through the thick material of her gloves, but she's aware that the little creature doesn't react quite as she'd expect an animal to. The experience is subtly disquieting, though not disturbing. Paladin looks up, then extends an arm with a grin. "You showed me yours, now let me show you mine."

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