[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Mason Warner + Alice Morrow

Dominic was not entirely surprised to hear Mason's criticism of the building, even if he was trying to be positive about it. He was a salesman, a corporate politician, which meant he was accustomed to reading between the lines and hearing the words that people didn't say. He took no offence though, he had picked up the lease for a song and had been slightly surprised that it was as intact as it was. He'd expected bullet holes and police tape. At least the roof seemed to keep the worst of the rain out. He nodded in agreement, "Well I wouldn't know where to begin with something like that, and I don't really want to reveal too much of what's going on here. So tell me what we need to do and we'll do it. I bow to your expertise in this." The problem of communication was an issue though. After all, it wasn't as though Dominic could simply have a conversation with thin air. It wouldn't be long before strange looks turned into worried calls to the authorities. "What about a phone, can you keep that invisible with you? Then you could just text me. It might feel a bit weird standing next to each other and texting, but at least I won't look like a lunatic." He waved away Mason's concern about money though, "By all means, but don't stress about it, this is an amazing opportunity for all of us, but I accept that I might be taking it away a bit. This is too exciting to worry about money." The challenge was a little unexpected, as was the fact that Mason accepted it. Dom raised his eyebrow, but didn't see any reason to object. He cast about the room for something of the right height, and spotted a small windowed room at the far end that looked like it might be an office. Exploring it proved that his assumption had been right, it was an office, it was dirty, but seemed in better condition than the rest of the warehouse. There was an ikea table that had obviously been pressed into service as a desk, and he dragged it out into the main area. "Step up to your challenger!"

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Dominic Weaver

Alice was glad when they moved on from the topic of money. It wasn't exactly a comfortable situation for her when other people were talking about making fair contributions. Alice had currently contributed nothing other than pancakes and the vandalism of the shelves. Mason was right though, Dominic did seem to be the driving force behind this. She might be the comic book nerd, but he was the one who really seemed to have an idea of how to turn their powers into something that could help people. Her only ideas really consisted of wandering the streets in a mask stopping muggers. Dominic could turn that into something that could really make a difference, something that could really bring hope. She glared at the empty space that Mason appeared to be occupying, "I'm going to make you eat that tiara... with maple syrup… and nutella…" Dom disappeared into a door at the far end of the huge room, but reappeared a moment later dragging a table. Maybe that room had been some kind of office for the last person to occupy the building. Now his desk would be reappropriated into the table for their arm wrestling match. She stepped up to it, making a show of rolling up her sleeves and stretching dramatically. If this had been a couple of weeks ago she wouldn't have stood a chance. She was a skinny, unintimidating teenager. She should stand no chance against a fully grown man. It wasn't as if this was a real challenge, but even so, she was banking on her ability being able to absorb Mason's efforts. She leant forwards and placed her elbow on the table, her hand lifted and opened ready for the invisible man to clasp it. "Bring it on."

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[Mason Warner]

Training?

Maybe it was the way Dominic had with words, or maybe it was the actual sentiment behind them, but Mason couldn’t help but feel mollified at the idea of him bowing to Mason’s expertise. Yeah, he could definitely put together a plan of action in his spare time – the work that he’d been assigned to do from home barely filled his afternoons. The only things that really took up time were the occasional Skype meeting. As far as his colleagues knew, Mason’s webcam was broken. It was the perfect way to hide in plain sight (or… lack thereof).

He though back to his attempts at hiding the coin. “I could try and keep a phone hidden, it should be possible once I work out how to manipulate the power,” he said, trying not to consider that it was more of a case of "if" than "when" he figured it out. “That’s… that’s a really good idea though. Nice one, AC/DC.” Mason grinned.

Alice’s challenge was accompanied by a rather cute attempt at fighting talk.

“As her majesty commands,” he retorted spiritedly.

He slowly made his way to the table Dom had produced, watching with amusement as Alice put on a performance. Had he not just seen her demolish furniture, Mason would have been completely and utterly bemused. He still was, obviously, but the amusement was coloured now with the knowledge that there was very much a source of power within that skinny frame.

It was tempting to throw himself suddenly and with full force into the arm wrestling match, but that didn’t seem quite fair. At the very least, he should follow Alice’s example and sit himself down with elbow firmly planted on the table before they began.

He made his movements as noisy as possible so that she realised he was in position, but held back from taking her hand. He was enjoying the playful tension in the room and the competitive look on Alice’s face. Dom hadn’t looked all that convinced by the sudden turn in events but he seemed to have readily joined in the fun now.

Mason darted his hand forwards, grasping Alice’s open palm and giving it a quick jerk to the side. As a grown man against a teenager, Mason couldn’t help but hold back from truly slamming her hand down against the table, but he was nevertheless surprised when the motion suddenly halted, stopping his arm dead in the air.

He looked into Alice’s eyes, wishing with all his might that she could see the look in his. “So… is this a stalemate? Dom could lead a double crowning ceremony…”

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Dominic Weaver + Mason Warner

Alice hadn’t quite expected the sudden speed or ferocity with which Mason made his move. It didn’t help that she couldn’t see what he was doing, but he had been fair enough to be louder in advance of his movements. She certainly hadn’t been fully prepared, expecting too feel his hand before he went all out. For a moment it seemed certain that she had lost, until she suddenly allowed the energy to drain into her. Her arm stopped, apparently crooked at a slightly awkward angle, a strange sight when her opponent was impossible to see. She was hardly putting any effort in now, and her arm simply refused to move. She looked up, trying her best to stare into Mason’s eyes, and smirked. It was a little cocky perhaps, but she certainly shouldn’t be able to hold him here so easily, even if it was her ability doing all the work. It was a heady, powerful feeling. At his comment she raised an eyebrow, then grinned. He’d been trying to push her arm down for the last few seconds, and she could feel the energy bouncing around within her skin. She pushed it back out. Her arm suddenly reversed in direction, taking Mason’s with it. There was a bang as the back of Mason’s hand hit the table. It had sounded loud, and she heard a sudden intake of breath from across the table. She let go quickly, as though he was suddenly hot. “Oh my god I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you ok?”

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[Mason Warner]

Training?

He shouldn’t have been so surprised – Mason had seen just what Alice could do only moments previously after all – but it was just bizarre to watch that skinny little arm first hold his in place with ease, and then whip it across his face to slam his hand down against the makeshift battleground. He gasped in shock, registering his astonishment long before belatedly noticing the sharp, brief pain of having one’s hand smacked against a table.

“Woah.” He pulled his arm away to flex his fingers tentatively, feeling for anything more serious than a potential bruise. “I’m okay, Your Highness. No damage done.”

Mason then swooned dramatically, letting out an appropriately ridiculous sigh of suffering. “Except to my dignity of course. Beaten by a girl! My superhero career is in tatters before it’s even begun…”

He was secretly quite pleased that his initial terms had decreed that the winner received a tiara. Now Alice could never escape the title of Prom Queen no matter how cool the “official” name she eventually decided upon was. He was less pleased that Alice had threatened to force-feed him said tiara, but fortunately the tiara was a metaphor. For now.

He wondered if a tiara would go invisible if he wore it. The power had some natural flex of its own, after all. He guessed that depended on how lavish the tiara was… What a weird mental image.

Mason reached into his pocket, clutching the penny in safe secrecy within his fist. Surely he could force his ability to follow his will.

No.

No, that approach didn’t work. He knew it didn’t work. He needed to treat it like a surly colleague further down the chain of command – less like a subordinate and more like a team member. Hey, he should probably treat it as the leader because it clearly knew much more about invisibility than he did.

Mason decided against experimenting for now but kept the coin clenched firmly in his hand, just in case he suddenly figured it out.

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Mason Warner + Alice Morrow

Dom watched with a raised eyebrow as Alice stepped up to the table. She'd obviously been taking tips from him, as she shook her arms out dramatically. Like a boxer stepping into the ring. He certainly couldn't blame her; he'd be doing exactly the same thing in her position. Albeit with a little more panache. He heard, rather than saw, her challenger stepping up to the table. The sudden movement was as much a surprise to him as to Alice, but her hand suddenly stopping was not. He'd tried punching her, and it had felt as if he was tapping a pillow. It was quite a nasty sounding crack as Mason's invisible extremity hit the surface of the table, and Dom resisted the urge to take a concerned step forward. "Well that is certainly interesting. I wonder what else it lets you do?" He would have to rely more on Alice in this, none of them had any real experience in science, but Alice was the closest they had to a super hero expert. After all, that was what they were going to be, at least in the public eye. They might be able to look the part easily, having costumes made wasn't difficult, but they needed to be able to perform the part as well, and that meant they needed to train their powers first. "I think you wrote a check with your mouth you couldn't cash, now I have to go out and find a Tiara so she can feed it to you. You guys do know I have a job on top of this right?" His eyes twinkled with humour though, it was exhilarating. Everything was changing, and here he was, right at the centre of it, riding the wave.

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Dominic Weaver

Alice scowled at Mason's persistence with the Prom Queen thing. She had been to prom of course, but she had never been popular enough to even dream of being Prom Queen, or to understand the ferocious desire of others if she was honest. She'd been regarded as a bit weird in school, but had never really experienced the sort of social exile that was often associated with reading comic books. At least in the movies. Real life was so rarely like the movies. Even now, Peter Parker seemed to have picked up his powers in no time. One quick montage later and he was a super hero, dodging bullets and saving New York City from evil plans. It was much more complicated in real life. At least she was making some progress though. She'd gone from having no power this morning to being able to hurl heavy objects across the room and make a grown man look weak. Well not exactly look, as he didn't exactly look anymore. What with being invisible and all. She shrugged at Dominic's musings, "I don't know, I mean I can absorb stuff from an arm wrestle right? And that's not like it was going to hurt me, maybe I absorb movement or something?" It was strange, Mason's, Claire's and Dom's power all seemed simple enough, so why couldn't she work out hers? She was too happy about even having a power to worry about it now, but she knew she would have to spend a lot of time trying to work it out over the next few days. Maybe there would be some clue in her comic books. They might not be about real events, but they were all the information she had about super powers, at the very least it might help her think about it. She stuck her tongue out at Dom, "we all have jobs here, just some of us don't have flash jobs like you."

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[Mason Warner]

Training?

Yeah, Alice’s suggestions were probably going to be the best suggestions by several leagues, but that didn’t mean that Mason couldn’t attempt to contribute. He had watched quite a few mainstream-geeky movies on relevant subject matter after all. “It might let you do all kinds of things! Maybe you can channel it into like… energy blasts or something,” Mason said, unable to keep the awed, childish hush out of his voice. A mushroom cloud temporarily bloomed in his mind’s eye.

“Yeah I probably should know better than to challenge this shelf-destroyer,” he laughed. “And I will happily eat that tiara – have you tried her pancakes?” Mason kissed his fingers. “Divine.”

Seriously, Alice was going to have to learn to put up with Mason making frequent spontaneous breakfast visits over the coming weeks, months, years because oh boy was the man a big fan of lovingly home-cooked breakfast food. Hmm, maybe he could persuade her to make deliveries…

Did Mason know that Dom had a job? Well, not only did Mason know that he had a job, he was pretty sure that Dom’s job was the child he never had – or wanted. “Well he is extra… flashy now.” He just couldn’t help himself.

Fuelled by the joy of making a terrible pun, Mason pulled the coin out and willed it with all the power of his awful humour to join him in invisibility. With a quick flip, the coin circled in the air and landed back down in his palm. “You guys see that?” he asked excitedly.

It hadn’t felt any different, but maybe his power had finally decided to cooperate.

He could only hope.

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