Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ Will Chase

It wasn't an agreement, but it was a start. The lieutenant didn't seem like the kind of person that would be easily convinced, but that he had gotten this far told him that he still had a chance. That meant that what came next would be the make or break of the deal. In business it was important to keep momentum, if you let people stop to think they might reconsider their decision, in this case he felt like rushing Regas would work against him rather than for him.

"I would expect nothing less Lieutenant."

He glanced at the screen opposite him on the desk, a calendar was displayed there. It was mostly full, different coloured blocks filling every day, starting early in the morning and clearly continuing well into each night. Even the weekends seemed to be spoken for. He scanned through it, then pressed a button on his phone. "Gregory?"

"Yes Mr Weaver?"

"Can we clear some space on Thursday or Friday? I'm going to take the Lieutenant to see the training facilities."

"Already done Mr Weaver. I've made some time on Thursday."

There was a hint of amusement in the PA's tone, as though he'd already known what would come of this meeting. Gregory always seemed to know. Why the man was content to remain as a PA Dom would never know, but he made sure to reimburse him generously for his skills. It would be a sorry day in his office when Gregory moved on to better things.

Dom turned back to Regas, "The facilities are out of the city, for obvious reasons, be at Pier 6 by 9:30."

---

The flight had been uneventful. The helicopter was a commercial model, the kind frequently used for government business. It was relatively small, comfortable in a bare minimum sort of way, and fast. It had taken them out of the city, continuing until the tightly pack urban conglomerate below turned into fields and roads. The view had eventually been marred by a set of decidedly uninteresting concrete buildings. There was still construction going on at one end of the site, dozens of men in hi-vis vests and hard hats clustering around another concrete block that was being raised.

Dominic had spoken into the headsets as the facility hove into view. "It's not much to look at from outside, but our researchers are very excited about the stuff that goes on inside. We've got another two as well, all built along the same lines."

The helicopter set down on a landing pad about two hundred feet away from what seemed like the dominant building. This one was bigger, and had more windows, clearly it was some sort of administrative centre. Dom didn't wait for the blades to stop rotating, leaping out his door and moving around the helicopter, squinting against the dust whipped up by the artificial wind.

He moved towards the building with long-legged strides, easily eating up the short distance in the way that tall men do. No one came out to meet them, but that didn't give him pause, clearly he knew his way around here. He paused at the door, pulling it open and gesturing that Regas should proceed inside. There was something of a reception in there, a wide desk that looked like it had been built to withstand armour piercing missiles, along with a few plant pots that had clearly been added as an afterthought. There were two women sat behind the desk, one glancing up and smiling as she recognised the man who had just entered. "Mr Weaver, and this must be Lieutenant Regas."

It was a statement rather than a question, the reason for that particular behaviour revealed once the woman slid a plastic keycard across the desk. The little magnetic card had a clip attached on one side, and an image of Regas, clearly taken from her official file, had been printed on the front. "Your guest pass lieutenant."

The woman didn't offer any gratitude for Regas' service, but sported the kind of upright posture that Regas had demonstrated in the chair in Dom's office only a few days ago. While Regas clipped on her own pass, Dom produced one of his own from his pocket, clipping it onto the front of his suit.

---

The tour took quite a while, even with skipping several buildings. There were multiple large gymnasiums, and there was little point seeing all of them when they were all modelled in the same way. Instead they saw one with a current training session going on. As they watched one of recruits staggered away from the group and heaved his guts up, no sooner had he done that than the young man made his way back to the shuttle runs. "They work them hard here, only two Heroes have graduated from this facility so far, but already they're showing definite improvement over several of our earlier Heroes."

He clearly avoided saying all earlier Heroes. There were very clear differences in standards amongst the first few waves of Heroes. One could tell the Heroes that Dominic had represented personally, to those that had been brought in by others. But then Dom had gone toe to toe with a truly terrifying metahuman. He knew just how powerless one could be in the face of a god. He chose people who understood that.

They continued into another building. This one was more specialised. There was a muffled boom as the entered through the door, and he guided Regas up a set of stairs to an observation room. The glass here was thick, blast proof, and overlooking a room with a young woman in it. There was a steel wall in the centre of the room, it had been divided in half, ruptured from some apparently immense pressure. Dominic nodded. "I have high hopes for this one, she's on a whole other level compared to most metahumans. I don't understand most of it but the guys in the labs tell me she's some sort of universal constant. Like an unstoppable object." He reached to the side and tapped a small touch screen placed beside the window. The TV above the observation port flickered to life and replayed what had apparently just happened in the room. The woman had walked slowly towards the steel wall, then just kept going. The steel had slowly bent and deformed, groaning under the immense pressure until it had ruptured with the immense boom they had heard earlier.

---

The next training space was different again. This one was clearly an observation room for the cordoned off area next to it. The walls were filled with screens, each displaying a different camera feed. There were several men and women there watching the screens intently. Two or three were wearing lab coats, while the rest were in a mixture of matched training clothes and some kind of uniform. One or two glanced over, nodding at Dom and Regas as they entered, then turned their attention back to the screen. The rest ignored them.

Each video feed displayed what looked like parts of a city. The cordoned off area was a facsimile of a small city. Rooms were clearly unfinished, mostly bare concrete squares with a smattering of furniture, but the roads and alleyways were littered with cars. There no pedestrians, though a counter on another screen displayed what appeared to be a simulation of potential population.

There was some sort of combat going on within the city. A bright beam of white light cut through one of the screens, whiting out the camera feed for a moment, before the software compensated. The individual responsible for it strode into view a second later, a red band on both arms. There was a blur, and suddenly the young woman was down, one arm clearly broken. A man stood above her, panting, the clothes he was wearing clearly singed and smoking, though blue bands were clearly visible on both of his arms. A siren sounded, clearly signalling the end of the exercise. Further inspection of the people around the room they were in would reveal that most look tired, with one or two wearing ripped or damaged clothing. They watched the screens a moment longer as the speedster helped the woman up, then disappeared in a blur once more, taking both of them out of view.

"We have a healer on site, for training situations like this. Things can get… realistic."

Dom turned back to Regas. "So... What do you think? Still interested?"

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ Sophia Blood

Well that was interesting, and suggested that Sophia Hewitt had brough Olivia as her date with every intention of setting her up with someone else. Clearly Miss Hewitt was rather more adept at playing the socialite than a movie star was typically presented. He wondered what favour she might be repaying to their host.

Smiling at her question, he took another sip of champagne before he replied. "Me? A date? No."

Dominic rarely bothered with such things, for one, he was a person of considerable influence in the Program. That might make him an attractive suitor, but it also made him an attractive target for any news organisation that had a story to sell on the Hero Program. He could just see the headlines now. He had more important things to consider at the minute than his live life. Besides, it wasn't as if there were many people that had caught his eye. Before the event his life had been a succession of high profile business deals, fast cars and attractive women. Now it still included the first two, but the latter had lost something of its lustre.

Besides, it wasn't as if he really had the time to focus on a relationship, he'd tried briefly after the launch of the Program, but he'd always been married to his job before he would dedicate time to anything else. That had only intensified with the importance he now attached to the Program.

"No, there is rather more interest in my personal life than I'd like, I wouldn't particularly want to expose anyone else to that."

He sipped the wine again. Really, their host had spared no expense on the evening, the food was good, the décor lavish, and the wine certainly wasn't the cheap stuff. Hopefully that lavish spending would pay off for the Program, and some investment would come in their direction, recruitment could do with a boost, that had dipped after the attacks, understandably.

He glanced around, catching the eye of Paladin across the room, she was engaged in conversation with someone he was pretty sure sat on the board of Mars and her husband. The Hero looked decidedly out of place in this ornate and black tie setting. She'd joked she should have a 'smart' costume specially for them, maybe it would have helped.

Still, at least when she left she could take off the mask and be invisible once more. Sometimes he missed that. "Sometimes I'm jealous." He nodded in the direction of Paladin, drawing Sophia's attention to the blue haired Hero. "She leaves here and she just goes back to a normal life. I miss that a little bit, things were simpler before the Event."

"Anyway, enough of that, you're filming aren't you? My PA mentioned you were in town for some project, he's a huge fan by the way."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ Sophia Blood

Surprisingly, Dominic did not particularly like fundraisers. He was comfortable here, and moved with his usual easy familiarity, but he wasn't at home. Dominic was a self-made man, he'd come from a working class family, skipped college, and gone straight into the world of work. He'd not been an exceptional student, and no-one had thought he would amount to much. Certainly no one had thought he would now be moving amongst people this rich and this powerful.

Here he was though, chatting casually with one of the richest men in the country about the good the Program was doing and just why he should bring his money and his company into a partnership with them. It was rote, easy, the Hero Program almost sold itself, especially in San Francisco, with household names like Paladin and Gravity Girl it wasn't as if he needed to be here. He glanced around, searching for a sight of the Heroes. The Program often rolled them out for events like this, especially with this many high rollers in attendance.

After all, they were both attractive women, and both of them had millions of fans across the country. They raked in huge amounts of money for themselves and the Hero Program through sponsorship deals and franchises. Dominic knew that Paladin gave most of her money to charity, primarily those that supported children in care. Her support for such charities was no secret, she regularly made public appearances for them, but the amount of money she funnelled in that direction was far from public knowledge.

He shouldn't really spend too much time talking with them anyway, all of their jobs tonight was to pull in potential investors, men and women who wanted to improve the public image of their company, and god knows he'd need some more after the unfortunate conversation he'd had with Maxfield. It was looking increasingly likely that the Program would have to link with Axin, and that would not be good for the reputation. They needed someone more positive than a controversial arms company.

He scanned the room again, finding himself surprised when he met the eyes of someone doing the same thing. It took him a moment to place her. Sophia Hewiit. She was an actress, a Hollywood star. If it hadn't been for the Hero Program she'd probably be the most well-known person in this room. As it was she was only just edged out of the top five.

There was a faint smile on her lips, framed by her long blonde hair. Her expression was knowing. Perhaps she was as bored as he was. Not perhaps, almost certainly she was as bored as he was, if not more so. Dominic frowned as he noticed the woman that had evidently come with her walking away.

His conversation with the CEO came to a natural close, the man promising to strongly consider a deal with the Program in exchange for links with prominent Heroes. No guarantees were made but Dominic knew that there would be a new contract landing on his desk in a matter of days.

That left him temporarily unaccompanied, and so he wandered in the direction of the woman, plucking a wine glass from a passing tray as he did so. "Sophia Hewitt? Right? This doesn't seem like the kind of place I'd expect to meet a Hollywood star. An awful lot of dry old women and even drier old men. I thought movie stars were more about excitement…"

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @trevor

There was something about metahumans, some strange aura they seemed to give off. Dominic wasn't sure if it was because of the fact that he was a metahuman himself, or some other subconscious sense. It was partly why Killian seemed so unusual to him. Paladin had the kind of presence that suggested overwhelming, unstoppable power, Killian was totally different. Killian felt like a razor blade, absolute precision, entirely lethal.

For some reason it made Dominic subtly uncomfortable about using the metahuman. He knew that violence was necessary, hell, it was half of what Heroes did, but it wasn't something he wanted associated with metahumans. He was one himself, but it was relatively unknown. Most people outside of the upper echelons of the program didn't know of his past as Surge, a vigilante and early member of the Hero Programme. People thought he had retired. In truth he'd simply stepped into another role.

Things like this was why he should have stayed a Hero.

"You know about the attacks, but before them there were several other incidents that just… don't make sense."

He tapped his fingers on the desk in thought. "I think they're linked, and I'm struggling to get clearance. What do I know? I'm just a PR guy. But you have connections, and you know how to track these things down. I want you to find the people behind the New York attacks before the last set of bombings."

He pulled a manila folder out of the top drawer of his desk, sliding it across the glass surface. "That's everything I've managed to get out of the cops and the FBI. My clearance doesn't go as high as I wished it would, but it should be enough to give you a start."

"I want to know who's doing it, and I want to know why. Once I get that I can push for something more, call in the big guns."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @trevor

Dominic was beginning to consider refurnishing his office in New York. It wasn't technically 'his office' it belonged to the Program, but the situation was so delicate in New York City that he seemed to spend more time here than he did at home in San Francisco. He was fortunate he had such a good team at Ascendant, otherwise the company might be struggling with it's CEO so absent so frequently. He might have faced more resistance if it weren't for the fact that the Program brought in millions, and just their association with the Hero Program meant they were fighting off approaches from other companies with a stick.

Gregory wasn't here this week, helping Dominic's people hold the fort back in San Francisco. He missed having him around, not least because he'd never met a PA that could compare with the slender platinum haired man. He seemed to have every single detail at his fingertips at every moment, and he was insanely organised. Dominic knew he owed a great deal of his success to him.

It was his PA's absence that led to Dominic's surprise at the man's arrival. Engrossed in his current proposal, he had completely forgotten the meeting he had scheduled now. Saving his work, he swiftly swept the notes from his desk into a draw, before standing and registering who it was who had actually walked in.

The man wasn't tall, but he held himself with the kind of excellent posture that made him look tall. Even without the uniform it would have been obvious that he was military or ex-military. As it was, it simply drove the point home, the immaculate uniform made eye-catching by the dozen or so medals pinned onto the chest. Dominic imagined there were some Generals with less evidence of their success. It was a dramatic contrast to the suit Dominic wore, the jacket hung over the back of the chair.

Eventually Dominic's eyes made their way to the man's face, although he'd already worked out who it was before they got there. With a broad grin he crossed the office, extending a hand. "Captain Killian. A pleasure to see you again."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ Lt. Isabelle Regas

"No."

He waved a hand and sat back, looking away. "They’re not military, and if I have my way they never will be."

Shrugging, he looked back at her. "But they’re not properly trained. Most of them. They don't know how to deal with so many of the situations they're forced into. We have a training program, but it is too brief. When the Program was founded we desperately needed a solution. Now that solution has problems of its own."

Dominic stood up, he felt antsy if he stayed behind a desk too long, despite, or perhaps because of his business abilities. He'd never made any real money by being sat behind his desk, that wasn't how he'd made his company the success that it was now. It wasn't how he'd convinced the government to support the Hero Program either.

"I don't know you that well Lieutenant, but I like to consider Captain Morris a friend. I know it can be hard for people like you, coming back from what is, to people like me, probably a whole different world. Now I'm offering you a chance to do something that might help you with that."

He walked around the desk, "It's not going to be the same, and to be honest, you'll probably hate some of the people you'll end up working with."

He smiled the irresistible smile that had made him so much money. "But most of them are doing it for the right reasons, and they're good people. And… honestly, they could do with someone like you in their corner."

"The attacks were carried out by people that the public didn't know existed, metahumans that could go toe to toe with our Heroes. We need someone like you to give them an edge, to keep them from risking their lives too much…"

"I think you'd be pretty good at it."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ Vincent Maxfield

Dominic stood. "No."

He was angry, but he kept his emotions in check. Vincent's reaction to Dominic's clear warning had been relaxed, too relaxed. Clearly he was confident in his sources, and in how much his company valued him. And maybe he was right, maybe they would go to the wall for him, Dominic doubted it, but it was entirely possible.

"You're right Vincent, maybe this is politics, and I was never a politician, I hate people that don't mean what they say. People that lie. People that see others just as tools."

He turned around to look out of the window. "I'm sure your company has a very large influence, I'm aware of rising anti-metahuman sentiments, but I will not be blackmailed."

If they were willing to reveal a hand that included extortion and Federal crimes then they were after more than a simple licensing deal. No one went to that kind of expense and risk just to improve their image. Axin wanted something, and they thought the Program was the best way to get it. He didn't know what they wanted and that set alarm bells ringing.

He shook his head, a rueful smile on his face. The Program was supposed to make things better, but as with anything that involved money and power, there were people that wanted to take advantage. He'd never been a particularly violent man, even when he'd worn a costume as Surge he hadn't enjoyed the violence, but the urge to turn and punch Vincent was a hard one to resist now.

"You will have no such agreement from me." He turned a little away from the window. "Do what you will, reveal identities, wield your influence. I have influence too, and there are many people that value the Program now for what it is. If you wish to risk widening such a divide then so be it, but if you won't tell me what it is that your company wants then there will be no deal between us."