Atlantis Arising [M] [Most Original 4Q '11] [Best Veteran 1Q '12]

[SV]

Leon Nef-Syndicate HQ-Birmingham England

"I can cut objects just by looking at them." Archie said as he demonstrated his power to Leon, cutting through the tin of the bean can. It all looked rather impressive to Leon, but he'd never admit it to Archie. Instead, Leon stared back into Archie's eyes as he stared in his and gave him an affirmative nod. "Not bad." He said. It was as he first thought. Looks can be deceiving. It was a very interesting ability, and it gave Leon a little bit of insight on the range of abilities that people had. It was also dangerous. To make matters worse, or better depending on how you look at it, Leon didn't really know the extent of his powers. Still, even though it appeared they would all be on the same side, it gave Leon more motivation to get even stronger.

Leon's thought process was interrupted by the clearing of the throat. Leon turned to find the Directive standing with another person, a guy with tanned skin, black hair and a hoodie. He was, as the Directive revealed, another new recruit by the name of Jericho, or Jerri. Leon covered his mouth to contain a laugh. To Leon, this had to be stupidest collection of names he had ever heard. He wondered what kind of parents would ever bare to name their children thus. Sending his gaze over to Jericho, Leon gave him a nod, deciding to hold and comments, for now. Archie then spoke, asking a good question. The most important one. Why were they recruited? Why were they here.

"We recruited you Archie, because we saw you as someone who could achieve great power and become something much more than another body in the crowd." He spoke to everyone in the kitchen now. "you were all hand-picked because you show potential to achieve a lot of things."

Leon gave the Directive a blank stare. It was probably not the exact answer they were looking for, because in reality, he didn't say much, other than the usual bullsh** anyone would say if leading an organization based no doubt on secrecy. Leon understood he wasn't going to get any real answers from him, even if he attempted to pry him with answers. But from what Leon was able to gather, the Syndicate was after something; and since they needed Atlanteans, probably in mass, it was something huge. Despite his attempts to push the memories away, Leon's mind wandered to the forest, and the four Atlanteans he was sent to kill. If they were truly gathering Atlanteans, why not gather those four as well? Leon figured it out by putting two together: they were most likely from another group, probably a rival group, perhaps the AUP or Atlantean Royal Family the Directive mentioned before. Leon didn't know what he was in store for, but if he truly had, as the Directive put it, "potential to achieve a lot of things", exactly how many on the other sides had that same potential.

Leon's mind stopped it's wandering, and returned to the situation at hand. His eyes scanned around the room at the group of Atlanteans in it. He shrugged as he spoke.

"I'm sure we'll get along fabulously." Leon said, giving a grin to the rest of them. "But...well, if these are the, how you say, 'cream of the crop', then I suppose I shall make due. I guess I'll see how well you handle yourselves, because to be honest, you don't look like much to me..."

 

[TornZero]

Cira & Alex Gaile - Under the Vatican, Rome, Italy

"Please, Alex, Cira, follow me to my dining room!" The Librarian cheered with a clap of his hands. Along the way, Cira took in the view of the place. Still beautiful to look at, even after the first glance. The room they were led to was no less eye-catching, with an amazing kitchen and a well-crafted dining set. Overtop of the tables were a stunning amount of fresh sweets and treats, Alex almost couldn't resist dropping his jaw.

"Please, sit!" Otto had already taken her seat, and looked pretty bored... or tired. Maybe both. "Eat what you wish, I made it all myself while waiting for dearest Adeline here. It's all delicious, I assure you." With only four seats at the table, the father-son pair took the chairs situated next to each other. After the Librarian split the aforementioned tart amongst everyone (after which Cira politely thanked him, and Alex tried his best to not make a mess, though he usually finished all his dessert anyways), he started to explain himself... sort of. He got off-topic on Otto's nickname.

"You see, Adeline's ability is a fascinating one. Spiderweb from her fingertips! And if you don't know Italian, 'Otto' is 'eight' in Italian! Do you see it? A spider? Eight legs?" It roused a chuckle out of Cira's father, and Adeline had to get him back on track.

"Now, yes, my life's work is the history and abilities of Atlantis and its people," and he started to list off a few questions. When he was finished, he turned more directly to Alex and Cira, "What I need from you two is a small donation and with that, I get closer and closer. I'm closing in on these answers and with two from the same family with such different abilties, it could just answer so many questions!"

Cira continued the mostly one-sided conversation, his father currently more interested in the delicious food. "What kind of 'donation' are you looking for? It'd be difficult to believe you need monetary support." The options weren't scarce, even for a three minute span like Otto described. Blood sample, genetic material, even showing off what they could of their abilities.

 

[The warden]

Archie Stevens - Location Unknown

Leon's response to Archie's demonstration was simply to stare back and nod at him, adding a "Not bad." Archie returned the nod. October's reaction was a little more, alarming. She began to clap a little too enthusiastically for Archie's tastes. He was starting to get a creeping suspicion that this woman really was scary, like if he had just decapitated a puppy she would still be clapping scary, and it was not a good feeling.

"well, looks like we have another amazing ability to add to the list. I myself am a Seismokinetic, pretty much I make earthquakes, don't I Leon?" She said, glancing at Leon and laughing. It disturbed Archie the way that she said the last bit and the way that she laughed. Yes she was definitely someone he should be careful around. Though her power didn't seem too much to be afraid of, she could cause earthquakes but unless she could create really high magnitude ones she wasn't that dangerous was she. "You've experienced Jeremy's teleportation abduction, Leon can tell you about himself, the only other person we have here is Adrian, who should be back sometime soon." So that left two people who's powers were still unknown, Leon's and this Adrian's.

"Well I can only manage to cut metals at the moment. I haven't worked out why, it could be an intrinsic limitation of my power or just I haven't mastered it that well yet." Archie said, to October. Since none of them had picked up on the fact he had slightly mislead them he would have to assume they didn't know what his power was before hand or at least not his current limitations.

Both October and Jeremy declined Archie's offer of food, which was fine with him. The arrival of another person startled Archie slightly, well to to be precise but it was one of them clearing his throat caused the alarm. Archie turned to face the new arrivals. Instantly recognising one of them but forgetting the name that went with the face.

"Jericho, I believe you have met Jeremy and Archie here, the female is October and the other man over there is Leon. October and Leon, this is Jericho, sorry Jerri." The well dressed man with the sunglasses presented Jeri to the group, who raised a hand as a welcome.
"Nice to meet you Jeri." Archie said, trying to remember if he actually spoke to the guy when he was in the warehouse. So much had gone on today it was feeling like it had been weeks since he left his flat. If Jeri was here now that meant that the warehouse wasn't too far away, that was unless they had another Jeremy.

"we recruited you Archie, because we saw you as someone who could achieve great power and become something much more than another body in the crowd." The 'leader' said, then speaking to the group as a whole "you were all hand-picked because you show potential to achieve a lot of things." So in other word they have been watching us and we showed the most potential out of all the people they spied on.

"I'm sure we'll get along fabulously." Leon said, giving a grin to the rest of them. "But...well, if these are the, how you say, 'cream of the crop', then I suppose I shall make due. I guess I'll see how well you handle yourselves, because to be honest, you don't look like much to me..." Leon's attitude was starting to annoy Archie, why was this guy so full of himself. He would have to find a way to show this guy up when he got the chance.

"If you don't mind my asking, who are you?" Archie asked the guy who had answered his question.

"Leon, Jeri what are your powers guys?" Archie asked, he was eager to find out what they could do, it could well help him if they ever ended up working together.

 

[Skymin]

Oakley North – Atlantean Mansion, Boston, England

Oakley looked up from her dinner plate that Kieran had placed in front of her. It looked lovely, the roast beef looked tender and the mash potato seemed to just ooze flavour. Despite how nice the food looked, Oakley felt rather un-hungry though Kieran insisted she ate. Instead of that, she stared into Christian's icy cold eyes. Not cold as in it made him seem like an unlikable person, but that she could almost see the north pole in his eyes (though that simile was probably a little bit farfetched; she had never been to the north pole).

"Yes, hello," she said with a tired smile. "You're Christian, aren't you?" He continued and Oakley began to frown. Oh, what had happened before… yes, yeah. She had no real way of explaining how it made her felt, she only kept up her smile, which she had to fake as the images from yesterday bled into her mind.

"It's okay," she looked back at her plate, picking up a fork and playing with her mash potato. Kieran frowned at Christian, exchanging glances with Christian and Oakley who would not look at him. "It's fine. We're all a little unhinged, aren't we?" she added a nervous chuckle.

"What happened?" Kieran said, Oakley not sure if he was genuinely worried or just liked the gossip.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Oakley shook her head, tasting a little of the mash. It was indeed delicious, but still made her feel queasy to swallow anything.

"Alright…" he said, swallowing a mouthful of vegetables. "Well it's great you learned a lot! See Oakley? I told you this place helps people."

"Yep," she said, not bothering to make eye contact, rolling a pea around. Honestly, she wanted to go speak to her brother, but she doubted that Kieran would let her now. Of course, she could argue that she was old enough to look after herself but Kieran was a few years older than her and would argue otherwise. Track record was also against her. And it would be rather rude to Christian and… um, whatever her name was to leave abruptly so, she would stay. She could feel Kieran's gentle smile on her shoulder and it didn't make her any less annoyed. Instead of responding to him, she looked up at the girl next to Christian. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"​

 

[Swolligator]

Michael Cale – Atlantean Mansion, Boston, England

Michael felt a soft hand on his shoulder and a tiny whisper in his ear, "are you alright?" Michael spun around, heart racing a thousand miles an hour, to look at the girl that was crouching down beside him. He wiped the tears away from his eyes, feeling like a complete idiot for crying in front of the girl and pushing himself up off the ground, dusting the grass and dirt from his clothes as he sat down. She smiled widely at him, her shiny white teeth seemed even white when contrast with her tanned skin. Beneath a fringe of slightly curly hair sat two beautifully green eyes almost cat like. Michael's heart continued to race, no longer due to the fright.

"Haha, yeah I'm fine." He smiled back at her half-heartedly; he was flustered and didn't know what to say.

The girl took a seat next to him, "I'm Stephanie by the way, and you are?" Michael was taken aback that this girl had decided to talk to him; he wasn't much for socialising, nor was he a lady's man, so when it came to women, his flatmates exempt, he was completely useless.

"I'm Michael, Michael Cale. N-nice to meet you Stephanie." He winced as he stuttered slightly, but watched as she didn't comment on his stutter, but rather laugh instead.

"Your accent is cute! I wish I had an accent like yours. So if you're here, that means you have an ability of some kind. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours first." Stephanie again smiled that perfect smile at Michael, making his heart flutter.

Michael was starting to feel at ease around Stephanie, he couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something about her, maybe her ability or just some natural air she gave off that made Michael feel more relaxed around her. "It's pretty useless, all I can do is see through walls. Oh, and somehow I managed to see in infra-red today, but that's all I know about it."

"That's an interesting ability, I've encountered several interesting abilities, but none quite like yours, Michael." Again, she smiled at him making him feel better about himself for a brief moment.

"Yeah, but it's pretty useless, though." He lowered his head.

"We are all like that in the beginning, but you can probably do more, you just don't know it yet." She gracefully put her fingers under Michael's chin, lifting his face up so she could look into his eyes. "You have an amazing pair of blue eyes there Michael."

Instantly, he began to blush, "Ah, thanks, haha. So what is your ability, Stephanie?"

"Call me Steph," she started, when she was going to continue Blayze arrived on the scene, having walked from the mansion over to the both of them.

"Michael, what are you doing out here? The food is back that way dude." He let out a laugh, seeming to have ignored Steph sitting on the ground beside him.

Michael took a quick glance at Stephanie and she held up her finger to her mouth in a motion of silence to Michael, which he understood to mean that she didn't want him talking about her, before turning back to Blayze. "Uh, sure," he took Blayze's hand his stomach growling as he got up off the ground, "I'll follow you in." Blayze simply nodded, turning to return inside.

Michael look quizzically at Stephanie, as if to say 'what the hell was that?' but she let out a silent laugh, coming up close to his ear and whispering, "Pheromone Manipulation, I'm here, but people just don't notice me; just one of my many tricks." Michael was awestruck, amazed by this girl who had quite literally just walked into his life.

"I'll meet you in your room after," Stephanie winked at him before departing across the field. Immediately Michael felt a drop in his emotions as she left, he really like this girl, and something about her just made Michael feel as if he was on cloud nine. He never considered the fact that she could be manipulating him; the thought never crosses his mind.

He walked into the hall and joined the cue for food, noticing out the corner of his eye as the big biker dude and his girlfriend sat at a table with Oakley and Kieran, Michael feeling something deep inside him stir as his eyes fell across Kieran looking at his sister. He turned back to grab some food before sitting at a nearby table. He remained silent for the meal, despite the attempts at conversation people tried with him; finishing quickly before hurrying off to his bedroom.

He slowly left the dining room, turning left and sprinting down the hall, past the garage, turning right up past the hospital and up the stairs to the boy's wing. His heart raced as he looked forward to seeing Stephanie, arriving at his door huffing and puffing.

His heart dropped as he realised that she was not waiting for him in his room. Letting out a sigh, he dropped to his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

 

[Silver Rogue]

Nikolai Afon - AUP Headquaters, France

"Ah, two good questions! First off, Mr. Afon, we will head off to dinner, show you where you'll be sleeping for now then you two will go off to do a bit of training. Tomorrow will be far more eventful, I promise. And Ms. Andersson," he smiled at her. "That conversation is far more appropriate over a hot meal. But, no need to be so serious, Ms. Andersson! You may call me Emil! Now, let's be off! I've had dinner prepared in my office. Come now!" The leader of the AUP was not what Nikolai had expected. From what he had experienced with his father in the world of business was that most CEOs and leaders of big businesses were just self conceited men obsessed with money. Emil seemed to be much more happy and easy going. Nikolai wondered how Emil had founded the AUP, or if he had inherited it from someone.

They walked out of the hanger into a long hallway, stopping at the first set of elevators. Emil pressed the button and the elevator immediately dinged, and its doors opened to let the group in. As they walked in, the boy Devon immediately made his way to the back of the elevator, seeming to avoid the rest of the group. Nikolai wondered about him. he had remembered being somewhat like the boy in his childhood, when his father took him on business trips. Nikolai never enjoyed them, and always tried to avoid everyone else and find things to entertain him until his father was finished. Often times he would just stay in the hotel till the meeting was over, rather than have to deal with the boredom of corporate dealings. So Nikolai sympathized with Devon. He briefly wondered if he had any Atlantean powers, or if Emil had any powers. Nikolai decided to ask later.

The elevator dinged once again, the doors opening revealing a large room with ceiling to floor windows giving a fantastic view of the city below them. In the center of the room was a large table set out with all sorts of different foods already laid out on it. Devon immediately excused himself, and left for his room. Once again Nikolai felt sympathetic to the boy. All thoughts of Devon were forgotten when Helena spoke up. "Annie? My wound... it's nothing serious, I think. But it would be nice to clean it after we've had dinner at least. Also... do you know where the toilets are here? It's like, I need one."

There were some exclamations, words quickly spoken. It would have seemed that the entire group had forgotten that Helena had been shot in the first place. Cooper quickly rushed off to get the first aid kit, then returned and spoke to Helena in Swedish. He was done after only a few moments, after which Helena left down the hall for the restroom. The group calmed down a bit and settled down into their chairs. Nikolai sat a chair away from Atticus, figuring that Helena would want to sit by him for the meal. A light conversation ensued, headed by Emil of course, until Helena returned. Once she did, she settled won in her seat, saying a brief "Tack" to Cooper, who returned the remark with a smile.

After eating for a few minutes, Nikolai brought up the point once again. "So Emil, how about answering our questions now?

 

[Skymin]

Adeline "Otto" Russo - Under the Vatican, Rome, Italy

"Yes, money is something that I am in no need for," he gestured around the room without seeming too pompous about his ridiculous wealth and what he had bought with it. "Cira, what I need is... Adeline, how would you put this?"

"The Librarian is a vampire," she said rather bluntly.

"Thank-you Adeline," he grinned, probably a little nervously and nodded. Her answer was probably not the most subtle approach which was what he was going for but Adeline was not want to dilly-dally. She understood he did not want to scare off his guests but the word would have been brought up sooner or later. "Yes, if you want to put it like that. But not in the same sense you hear of in myths or tales. I do not need blood to survive, but it gives me a different purpose. See, your ability is contained within your DNA. It is not something you can just get rid of easily. But, my own ability is to somehow absorb this genetic code by, uh, sampling a small amount of your blood." He opened his mouth and gestured to his canine teeth. They were only slightly longer and slightly sharper-looking than your average person, nothing that would bring a lot of attention to ones-self.

"It does not hurt much and it heals very quickly," she added.

"Yes, well, as you may or may not know, I am one of the original Atlanteans. I have been alive for a very long time and over time collected a lot of different Atlantean abilities. When I obtain an ability, I start from the very beginning, like you did as of last week. I have to learn how to control the ability and how to use it. It's a tedious process but as I learn, I write down my experiences. I keep them... actually, why don't I show you?" The Librarian rose from the table and gestured to the two, chucking at the father's enthusiasm. "You may bring some treats with you as long as you don't spill anything!"

Adeline also stood and stepped in front of the Librarian, leading them down a hallway into a rather large room, probably as big as a ballroom dancing hall. It would probably have been a lot bigger if it was not for the bookcases that lined the entire room and in them, millions of books of different colours and sizes sitting neatly on the shelves. (OOC: think Beauty and the Beast)

"This is why they call me 'The Librarian'!" he announced, his voice echoing off the walls. "Every single one of these books is filled with information about different powers and each one of these powers I contain within my body," he turned to the father and son and smiled politely. "There are so many interesting abilities held by Atlanteans! Jean, a wonderful lady, leant me her wings," he opened up his arms and a pair of wings spontaneously sprouted from his back. "And Mr. Andrey Moruyev, a very polite chap, had such an interest in fine arts and food! He also taught me how to make the nicest creme brulee! He gave me his spikes," the wings folded back, disappeared and crystal spikes formed in his hands. "And the lovely Ms. Sherry, many, many years ago, she was kind enough to lend me her ability to changer rapidement la langue que je parle sogar ohne Pause des Nachdenkens über sie!"

"Change the language he is speaking without thinking about it," Adeline translated.

"Yes, well," the spikes disappeared, "you may decline if you wish. The great Johnathan refused to give me his power of persuasion many years ago when I asked him. I respect his decision, but it seemed like such an interesting ability, but I do see why he would not hand it over. And poor, dear Eris and time travel. She feared it was too big of a burden to share it with another. Poor girl," he shook his head sadly, "do you remember her Adeline?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, yes," The Librarian nodded. "So, what do you say? Will you accept? In exchange, I will offer Cira some training since I do already have your fascinating ability. I will also offer you sanctuary here in my home for you to stay for however long you wish!"​

 

[Kikpanther]

Jericho Heiko: Syndicate HQ?

Wait, what? Heheh. Really, who was this dude? So, Annoying Kid, as originally expected, was totally annoying. He seemed to have this odd belief that he'd be "working with them." Well, he may have been working with them, but he wasn't working with him. Jericho wasn't here for... Him. Whoever he was. Jeri wasn't ashamed to admit he was slowly forgetting his name. He remembered Stevens (well, not his first name (it was Arthur or something, probably)) and Jeremy because he'd known them (somewhat) prior to this. And he remembered Ms. October because well... She seemed important. However, this kid--Lenny or something--was a joke and was going to go through this "I don't know your name" thing a couple times over.

Jeri smiled as Lenny or whoever made his spiel, finding it humorous, to a degree. He laughed quietly behind closed lips and then said, "Wait, wait." He laughed again and then continued, smiling. "Who are you supposed to be? Don't get me wrong or anything, not trying 'offend' you or anything. You know I'm new here uh... Lenny? Is that your name? Yeah," he nodded his head in remembrance, "Lenny. I'm sorry, but... Are you supposed to be important or something? You don't seem important." His smile widened, and he shrugged, an innocent ignorant. Stevens asked a question to the Directive, wondering who he was. Well he's the Directive, of course! Jeri thought in his mind. He really didn't quite get what it meant to be "the Directive". What was that even? A directive... Was that just another way of saying he was in charge of them, basically? It seemed like it. Alternatively, he could always be there to... You know... "Direct" them. Direct them where? Who knew? Howeveer, Jericho wasn't all that interested in the where. He just wanted to figure out how to get this power thing down and then he was... You know... Finished. With this uh... Syndicate thing.

Stevens then asked him and Lenny what their powers were. Honestly, Jericho had no real clue. He was pretty sure it had something to do with pyrokenetics, but Peter seemed to have a different idea. He was dead set on it before, but suddenly a doubt started to come over him. It was true! He could shoot fire, at some point, maybe, but if Peter had this twisted, messed up thought in his head that it had nothing to do with fire, then who was he to argue? It's not like he watched himself make fire or anything. But Peter was smart, so maybe there was more to it? Jericho didn't really feel like explaining to them that he had no idea what it was. In fact, he didn't feel like telling them what it was even if he did know. Why was it so important? Just wait and see! Maybe he was just being unreasonably hostile. He could always just answer the question and get it over with. Unfortunately, it was never that simple. People liked to see things. First he's explaining, then he'd demonstrating. He figured he'd just tell them something that would stop the questions immediately.

"I explode things," he said half-sarcastically, and then added, "not everything, though. Just organic things, so no cars," he shrugged, as if disappointed. "And they have to be alive, you know... Right now." And that's all he really needed to explain. He really doubted that was his actual power, but no one would be asking him to demonstrate. Unless... Unless they drug in some expendable worker. That would be tragic and just a little (heh, a little) scary. If it turned out he could really explode things, that would be awesome, but realistically (because you never got more than you expect, or even just that) he probably didn't. How great would that be? To be the the guy. The really cool guy who could just make things explode randomly. Mm. Only in an ideal world... He half wondered if the Directive--who seemed to already know what his power was--would just tell them what his power actually was. He wouldn't have minded since that would have given him an idea on what it really was. It didn't really matter... They'd probably figure it out soon anyways.

After he finished the short summary of his power that didn't exist, he looked towards the really annoying Lenny and raised a brow, waiting to find out what his power was. He was kind of obligated to listen (it wasn't like he was really concerned or anything).

 

[Skymin]

Atticus Forsberg - AUP Headquarters, France

The food was delicious which was what Atticus had expected. Definitely from the AUP and definitely for their leader. Emil swallowed his mouthful of chicken politely at the mention of his name, smiling at Nikolai.

"Why I started the AUP, you mean?" Emil put his cutlery down neatly on his plate, crossed over with each other. Atticus then remembered that Natalia had told him once that that meant he was not finished with his food. Any person could see that, with the amount of food left on the plate, but obviously Emil liked to show manners or whatever. "Well, many years ago, I chanced upon my heritage by touching an Atlantean Crystal in a bayside market in France. As you might already know, Atlantean Crystals are rare stone that grow only on the original island of Atlantis. Coming in contact with a Crystal releases you from your mortal coil and lets you live to your full potential, abilities and all. Well, after this incident, it wasn't long before I was found by a group known as the Atlantean Royal Family who are the leaders of the race, much like a Prime Minster does with a country. Well, at the time, Cooper here was working for Roscoe Beleren, the leader of the House of Water back then, and he was the one that taught me the ways of Atlantis and about the Universe and stuff like that," Emil nodded at Cooper, giving him a gracious smile. "I was a little bit of a brat then, wasn't I?"

"I've never regretted teaching you," Cooper added, bowing his head back at Emil.

"Haha, I'm sure you do sometimes, Cooper," Emil tapped his nose, then continued with his story. "Well, we were always told if we went out in public to never reveal ourselves because the mortals would soon catch on and kick up a storm."

"Mortals are what some Atlanteans call, uh, normal people," Atticus told Helena, his mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Atticus!" Annie teased. He swallowed and narrowed his eyes before taking another mouthful of chicken.

"Well," Emil butted in before anyone else could interrupt, "I always wondered why we had to hide ourselves from the public. Surely we were entitled to live the same lives as mortals, perhaps entitled to even more? Then Cooper showed me the corruption of mortals, the way they warred over such trivial things, like oil and land and weapons. Why couldn't we just all live in peace? It was then I realised that we Atlanteans were different from mortals and we deserve to live in a way which we deserve. So, I left the Family and created my own. Mortals and Atlanteans are like cats and dogs; we can live together, but we were never meant to thrive together, mortals will always be jealous of us. All us members have been hurt somehow by the cruelty of mortals," he gestured to the older members of the table, one by one. "Natalia's parents taken by war and panic, Annie's family and legs taken by jealousy and greed, Atticus'--"

"Yeah, we don't need to talk about that," he put his hand up, shaking his head.

"As you wish," Emil nodded. "But yes, the AUP strives to unify Atlanteans as a people. That is what we're working towards."

The plates on the table were now mostly empty, everyone had finished their dinner. Emil stood up, taking plates and gathering them up in a stack. He then passed the stack to Cooper who took it over to a small kitchen and began to pile them up in a dishwasher.

"Yes, now that we're finished, we'll get onto training! You two are still very raw with your abilities so hopefully with a little training, we can get you to have a better grip on them. Helena, if you don't mind, will be going off with Natalia. Nikolai, you'll be training with Wade Harrison. He has an interesting ability that's quite similar to yours, in a way. After training, we'll show you your rooms."

"Wouldn't I be best suited with Nikolai's ability?" Annie asked, frowning at Emil.

"Yes, but you need to rest, Annie. Cooper told me you haven't slept for a while now."

"Right," Annie said, her eyes falling to her lap.

"Well, Ms. Andersson? Mr. Afon? Was there anything else you needed before you set off?"​

 

[Legend]

Christian Calaway- Atlantean Mansion, Boston England.

"It's okay. It's fine. We're all a little unhinged, aren't we?" Oakley replied with a nervous chuckle. Clearly, Oakley was feigning happiness. It seemed to bring up bad memories for her, which of course was not Christian's intent. A simple apology was his only wish. He immediately tried to think of ways to make up for it, and when about eating hoping an epiphany would strike him. Of course, nothing did. Christian took a few bites of his food, not really tasting it. He looked over to Antonia who smiled. Christian smiled back, failing to gather any words to speak.

"Yeah, unhinged. That is a fair way to put it," Christian finally said after she finished her exchange with the other person at the table, who rubbed Christian the wrong way. That might be a nice way to put it. He couldn't put his finger on why Christian fail to come up with any terms of endearment to describe the man in. Perhaps it was the fact he asked too many questions. Or maybe it was his tone. Voice perhaps? Didn't really matter right now. He could easily pretend to like him for the sake of avoiding any confrontation. If he was Oakley's friend, it would probably be a better idea than fighting him. Though, if they had anything resembling a friendship it was a weak one from his perspective.

Christian was not particularly good at comforting people. In that regard, it was not much better than the man he was complaining about. But in Christian's opinion, she needed a bit of "pick me up" and he was willing to give it a try. A pep talk? No, maybe not that. Recalling the whole situation at the center was rather easy and images of Oakley being almost tormented by her ability was haunting in a manner of speaking. Asking her about her training would either be a great idea as she may have made strides in a day of training! Christian certainly did. But, there was also the plausibility that she didn't. Not everyone was a guaranteed over night sensation like a pop singer who composed a hit single. Perhaps avoiding training would be a good idea. He and Antonia didn't really talk about other than a brief summary on her part. So who said they needed to discuss that?

"I'm sorry, what was your name?" Oakley directed to Antonia.

Antonia immediately swallowed the bite of food she had in her mouth. "Hi, I'm Antonia. Your name is Oakley, I take it. Nice to meet you," she replied with a genuine smile. "I was on the helicopter with you guys. I'm not sure if you remember though."

"I'm sure she does," Christian said, lightly rubbing Oakley's head with his knuckles innocently, trying his best to be like a troublesome brother who just wanted to bother his little sister a bit. "Right?" He wanted to say 'Hey, cheer up!' But the words never left his mouth. Instead, a sincere expression of concern was painted on his face, his cold eyes becoming a bit warmer. Christian perked up to the other person on the table. "Hello. My name is Christian. I am sorry, but I don't recall yours offhand," he said offering a handshake as a weak apology. Pretending to like the guy in that second was a struggle, but Christian was used to talking to people he didn't like.

 

[TornZero]

Cira & Alex Gaile - Under the Vatican, Rome, Italy

A vampire? Well, at least he wasn't sparkling. He didn't need blood, either, but the Librarian clarified what makes him like that. His canines really weren't that big, on top of it. With his age, too, he could probably do anything by now.

Following along to his library, Alex was polite enough to leave the delectables behind, after the last bite of the tart on his plate.

"Amazing..." Cira noted, looking at books upon shelves upon floors of journals, all detailing The Librarian's experiences obtaining peoples' powers. "There are so many." It was incredible, as each book had a different ability. The Librarian exhibited a few that he acquired over the many years he's lived, from growing wings to spikes made out of crystals, and even changing what language he was talking in without a thought about it. Cira only heard French and Deutsch, but he expected that The Librarian knew at least three more if he hadn't acquired an omnilinguistic ability along the way.

"You may decline if you wish," he added, pulling a few anecdotes out about some of the people who refused before. Cira really didn't doubt that he'd have acquired similar abilities, considering the sheer number of books. Even if half of them were actually volumes on a single ability, chances are there were just as many that only took up half a journal. The Librarian gave the prospect of training in Cira's ability, having already gotten his. That piqued his interest, to say the least, and Alex liked the assurance that it wouldn't hurt much when it was done to him.

Before they got into anything, though, "Otto said something that caught my attention on the train," Cira started, looking between the girl in question and James. "This 'Royal Family' is its own thing. She said they misled us, and that you want to help understand our purpose as Atlanteans, but where do you really stand? You have to be in some kind of organization or syndicate if you're sending people to get us."

 

[moon]

Helena Andersson - AUP Headquarters, France

While Emil talked, Helena sat and listened, interested, at first. She leaned her head in her hand and propped it up with her elbow on the table. But the longer the story got, the more terrified the look on her face became. Her elbow dropped from the table and she leaned back in her chair. She quickly glanced at Atticus beside her. He interrupted Emil when the man wanted to mention his background. But what he said about Natalia and Annie... It sure sounded bad but it could just be talk to get her to join more easily. For some reason, her mind exaggerated Emil's spoken words. All he said really was that Atlanteans should stand up for themselves. But what Helena heard was something worse, because all she could think of was her family back home. Her human family.

Yes, that's right. Helena said yes to Atticus when she stepped into his car in Stockholm; she agreed on being taken to the AUP. But she hadn't completely told them that she was really on their side yet, had she?

The thing that troubled the Swedish girl was the outlook Emil had on regular humans. It hadn't really dawned to Helena yet that they were two different races; she still thought of Atlanteans as superpowered humans. Therefore, it sounded absurd to want to unite all the Atlanteans and make them look more important than humans. She looked down on her lap with a worried face when Emil finished his story and told her to join Natalia for some training. Training... training to do what? Fight humans?

She turned to Atticus before he could get up and leave. With a stern look, she said: "I told you that I would follow you if it would be the safest thing for my family. I don't... I don't think this sounds like that anymore. Everyone here has lost something. I haven't. Are you going to make me lose my family? I won't... no."

Before he could reply, she was gone. Invisible. She almost flipped the chair over when she started running across the room. She tried to find the elevator, tried to get back to wherever they were before. Tried to get out! With her parkour techniques, she would not let them capture her easily, was the thought that made her dare to do this. She found the elevator and stopped before it, pressing the button. It lighted up beneath her finger and she didn't think about that someone might see that, despite her being invisible.


((OOC: muwahaha. ))​

 

[Skymin]

Oakley North - Atlantean Mansion, Boston, England

"I... remember," she said, lightly rubbing her head with her left hand where Christian had... was that a noogie? She kind of remembered. In fact, she could remember up until getting pulled out of the helicopter after her brother, then it was all blank. Obviously they had gotten to the ground somehow, but the inbetween would be a mystery to her. Like her mind blank from before. What was up with that? "Antonia, sorry. I'll remember it next time."

"Hello. My name is Christian. I am sorry, but I don't recall yours offhand."

"Kieran," Kieran leant over the table to accept Christian's handshake and fell back into his seat when he had shook it an acceptable number of times. "Kieran Davis. Nice to meet you too, Christian. I'm guessing you're the Christian that owns the motorcycle they brought over last night? That's a pretty sweet bike you got there."

Oakley had zoned out as Kieran made light chatter, not really caring much for motorcycles nor having enough knowledge on them to make any kind of input into the conversation. Instead, she turned her head and leant on her left arm, her right arm resting in her lap still clutching the Crystal tightly. Her eyes chanced upon her brother who had stood up to take his plate away from a nearby table. Oakley frowned at him as his attention was drawn to the exit and felt compelled to follow him. She wanted to talk to him while she still could. She was allowed the Crystal until before bed, right? She wanted to talk before she was afraid that it would hurt her. Her body seemed to move for her and she began to stand up, her eyes fixated on him as he left the dining hall. She was barely at full height (which wasn't tall at all, mind you) before she felt a gentle grip on her arm.

"Where are you going, Oakley?" Kieran tugged softly on her arm. "You shouldn't wander off especially when you just got out of the the first aid room." Kieran looked back at Christian and tried to explain to their slightly confused faces. "Yeah, there was a slight incident during training," he gestured to her right palm, the one that was bandaged and clutching the Crystal. "Oakley fell onto my swords," he then motioned to his arms though his bone swords were hidden by his jacket, "and I accidently hurt her. It was an accident and she had to go to the first aid room."

Oakley let the arm guide her back down to her chair and slumped into it. She knew she couldn't convince Kieran to let her go see her brother. What she needed was a back up plan.

"Christian," she said, changing the subject, "do you speak any other languages other than English?"​

Adeline "Otto" Russo - Under The Vatican, Rome, Italy

"I have no organisation, I am The Librarian and this is my student, my apprentice and my assistant, Adeline Russo. Yes, the Royal Family was who you would have originally been sent to if you had taken that train to Boston. The Atlantean Mansion where they currently reside is located there," The Librarian said, offering the father and son seats in one of the reading corners, taking on himself. Otto sat herself down adjacent to The Librarian. "Me? I have pledged no alliance with any of the other organisations out there that are run only by Atlanteans. If you must know, so far I know of two others plus an assortment of small, random rebel groups who have inevitably surfaced with the reveal of Atlanteans. The big ones other than the Royal Family are a group called 'The Syndicate' and 'The Atlantean Unification Project'. I have contact with the AUP, as they like to call it since it is such a mouthful, but we work on a 'give and you shall recieve' basis," his face turned bitter for just a moment before it returned to a smile.

"The AUP have not been telling us a lot of things," Otto added.

"Yes. Usually, I'm on good terms with dear Emil and Mr. Cooper but lately, they have not been... honest, with their replies. I suspect they are not telling me whole truths so because of that, I have not told them what I have learned of The Syndicate," he winked at them as if he was being cheeky to a child as opposed to some kind of 'deadly' organisation. "I am not afraid of them, they cannot surprise me with something I have not seen before."

"Are you confused?"

"What Adeline means is," the Librarian continued, "is that are you confused by me telling you this? It is because I like to keep my guests well informed. They are my friends. When I recieve something, I like to give something in return!" he smiled at them, nodding. "So, Alex, Cira, what do you say?"​

 

[Legend]

Christian Calaway- Atlantean Mansion, Boston, England

"Don't worry about it," Antonia said with a gesture of her hand as if she was sweeping the problem under the rug. "Some of us forget things," he laughed lightly. Antonia was tempted to continue conversing with Oakley at the point, but any effort was immediately drowned out by Kieran's chatter with Christian. It didn't help that Oakley appeared to space out. There goes any attempt at conversation with someone other than Christian. Why did he have to go and talk to Kieran?

"Kieran," the boy said leaning over to accept Christian's handshake. It was a firm grip and after a few good shakes, Kieran sunk back into his seat. Maybe he wasn't too bad after all. A handshake can tell a lot about a man. His confidence. His strength of character. A weak handshake is a bad first impression, but Kieran managed to at least provide an acceptable one. He spoke with clarity as well. Christian perhaps was a bit quick to judge. "Kieran Davis. Nice to meet you too, Christian. I'm guessing you're the Christian that owns the motorcycle they brought over last night? That's a pretty sweet bike you got there."

"Yes. That's mine. Thank you. Bought her myself. Been tweaking her around a bit. She is quite fast and handles beautifully. I was hoping to take her out for a ride tomorrow, but to be honest I never took her off road. I don't want mud to ruin the paint job," Christian finished with deep concern in his voice followed by a nervous chuckle. In hindsight it probably sounded like a father being over protective of his dear child. It would only make sense as the bike in many cases represented a step in independence and responsibility in Christian's life. It was his first major purchase without his dictator of a mother breathing his neck and his often passive father supporting him but conveniently forgetting when his mother stormed in, taking her side immediately. It was a culmination of his work as an individual, forging his own destiny. It was probably why he always took such pride in his work on the motorcycle. It was something he always turn to and smile. Working on it, even if it was something as simple as maintenance became a labor of love and a moment of zen. It allowed the usually uptight man to ease his mind.

"Where are you going, Oakley?" Kieran spoke suddenly, shattering Christian's internal monologue in a matter of speaking. "You shouldn't wander off especially when you just got out of the the first aid room." Kieran looked back at Christian and Antonia, who exchanged looks of confusion. Their eyes met, swapping theories on why Oakley had to have any sort of wounds attended to. To their credit, the way their eyes met almost suggested that they were on the same page, though Christian would sooner admit that his theory was probably far more grand and complex and Antonia (being his better half at this point) had a far more sensible and believable theory. "Yeah, there was a slight incident during training," he gestured to her right palm, the one that was medically attended to, gripping a crystal of some sort bearing some resemblance to one Christian saw earlier. "Oakley fell onto my swords," he then motioned to his own arms, "and I accidentally hurt her. It was an accident and she had to go to the first aid room."

So swords were Kieran's power? Christian couldn't recall off hand if Kieran's power was mentioned to him and who could blame him? With training and the prophecy preoccupying his mind, forgetting a minor detail like that could be excused. Christian doubted that Kieran could create steel swords from his being. Bone perhaps? That sounded the most likely. Bone manipulation was a plausible and interesting power. Sounded more useful than his own in his own opinion. After all, smoke wasn't exactly that deadly. At least not at the moment.

"Doesn't sound like a slight incident to me," Christian said taking a quick gulp of his drink. "I thought you were one of the most experienced members of the school here. If your control over your ability is no better than hers or mine, I would advise you not to intervene in anyone's training, unless you want to cause more accidents. Allow the members of the Royal Family to handle 'incidents' in the future. They know what they are doing," Christian spoke with disdain, bordering on disgust. Kieran now sounded like an ignorant fool. Kieran now proved himself to be a "rookie" like many of the other students, completely unaware of the destructive potential of his powers. But unlike the other rookies, Kieran did not appear to act responsibly. Sure, Christian did not know they exact circumstances of this accident, and many of the situations he painted in his mind made Kieran look almost justified in his actions. But in each scenario, there was a better way to handle things. There is always a better way. Looks like Christian's first impression was right. Forget the handshake. Kieran was a fool. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Christian," Oakley spoke up, clearly trying to change the subject, "do you speak any other languages other than English?"

Christian calmed down or tried to. Ridding thoughts of Kieran's bumbling accident was difficult. "I can speak a bit of Spanish. I took a few classes in high school. I did…okay. Not great. Better than most I suppose. New York has a large Spanish speaking population, so I never lost at least. It helped in my job when you got the occasional customer who couldn't speak in English as well. But even so, I can understand far more than I can speak."

 

[Skymin]

Atticus Forsberg - AUP Headquarters, France

"What? Helena, hey, wait!" but she was gone as Atticus went to grab the invisible Helena in front of him but only ended up with a fistful of air. She was going? But Atticus had worked so hard to have her on board! Lose her family? What was she talking about? "Helena!"

"Let her be, Atticus," Emil had put a hand on Atticus chest to stop him from chasing after something he could not see, though it was pretty obvious where she would be going if she was trying to escape. "The AUP is all about freedom and free will. Are you going to deny her that?"

"No, but, I think she misunderstood what you said as--"

"Leave her be."

Atticus exchanged looks with the rest of the members, recieving a stern look from Natalia, a sad look from Annie and a nod from Cooper. He stopped pushing and stepped back into his chair.

"Well, alright then."

"She'll come back when her time is right, trust me."​

Devon "Evo" Bernot - AUP Headquarters, France

Peace and quiet. It was kind of ridiculous how something so trivial could be so hard to find in an empty place like this. Sure, his father's floor was usually empty but it wasn't like being alone. He felt like eyes were always on him when he sat in his room and here? He could just sit. Devon found his peace in the headquarter elevator. He was sure that this would probably not be approved by his father, that's why he had to sneak past them at the dinner table as his father rambled on about something to come here. Sure, people came in an out of it all the time but that silence that he could feel as it stopped on a floor and stayed there until it was needed again.

Devon was sitting with his back towards the door, leaning against the other side where the people pushed the buttons to pick their floor. His eyes were closed and he was just sitting there, breathing, alone with his thoughts. He sometimes eaves dropped on conversation when partners or friends or co-workers or whatever they were came and chatted or replied when he heard a 'hello' from voices above him.

The elevator shuffled again, heading upwards until it rested again a short time later. He didn't really care which floor he was coming from or going to, opening his eyes a little as the doors opened to make sure the person was not startled and thought he was dead or asleep or anything. Instead of seeing a pair of legs shuffle in the elevator, Devon saw nothing but heard footsteps on the metal base. At first, Devon thought ghost but his mind reminded him that things were not as they seemed now. His father had spoken to him of his Atlantean ability a week ago, just after his tattoo had revealed itself on the inside of his right arm. Three shapes; a crescent, a semi-circle and a full circle. At first, his father's confession had seemed like a big joke; that he was the creator of a secret, organisation of a thought-to-be-dead-race and that he had kept it all a secret from Devon all this time and perhaps his mother before she had left both of them seven years ago. But, as his father proved more and more strange truths to him, Devon's dream of having super powers came a reality. There was only one problem; Devon's ability. His father insisted the absense of it was that it just needed a time and place to come and somehow mingling with other members of this AUP would help.

Well it had been just about a week now and mingling with members and following his father around had grown boring and tiresome. Devon just wanted things to be real again.

"Hello?" Devon said to the footsteps, raising his voice into a quesion to make sure that he wasn't just talking to air. If it was someone, they probably had not seen him when they walked in; Devon had stayed quite concealed to those who entered by sticking himself close behind the wall. "Who is there?"​

 

[TornZero]

Cira & Alex Gaile - Under the Vatican, Rome, Italy

The Librarian cleared up Otto's question, "Are you confused by me telling you this? It is because I like to keep my guests well informed. They are my friends. When I receive something, I like to give something in return!"

They weren't confused, it just took a few seconds to process all the information properly.

Let's see, he works solo with an assistant, and he has contact with a 'Unification Project', as it's called. Two other organizations, and one aptly named according to its likely purpose, assuming there are supposed to be bad guys as this gets more complicated. He's on good terms with a few members of the AUP, or at least he used to be, so something may be up with them. Cira and his father looked at each other for a moment, then at the Librarian.

"We accept," Alex answered. Of course, he enjoyed the lack of pain that would come from the Librarian's bite, and he started to think it would be nice for his kid to learn a few things.

"If it's alright, I'd love to read through some of your journals, too." Cira was curious about what he could find out from the books in this place. If they were organized alphabetically, they would be easier to go through. Maybe they're in order of time; that could actually be less troublesome since he expected a lot of powers to be under multiple names.

 

[moon]

Helena Andersson - AUP Headquarters, France

Helena entered the elevator before anyone had time to stop her. She didn't look around herself particularly carefully when she entered, and just pushed some buttons hastily. The doors closed. Then she closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. What was she doing? She was in France, for crying out loud! Where would she go? She wished suddenly that she hadn't reacted like this. Atticus' face had been so disappointed...

"Hello?" a voice startled her suddenly. "Who is there?"

She turned around and saw Devon sitting on the floor. Emil's son. Helena blinked, then realized that he couldn't see her. She was still invisible! Interesting. She usually lost focus when she was startled. Now, would she just keep quiet and pretend that she wasn't there? Devon might try to usher her back to the AUP group. Then again... he hadn't participated in the dinner himself. He had apparently been sitting in the elevator instead. She wondered why. He seemed thoughtful. Maybe he didn't agree on the ideals of the AUP either?

The elevator started moving, but she didn't know in which direction. She sunk down beside him on the floor, leaning her back towards another wall, still invisible and without touching him.

"It's me, Helena. I'm invisible," she said, watching him. "What... what are you doing in here?"​

 

[Skymin]

Oakley North - Atlantean Mansion, Boston, England

"Spanish!" Oakley said, counting her lucky stars. She kept up the conversation so it wasn't so obvious she didn't just want to talk to Christian. "Do you speak another language Antonia? Kieran, what about you?"

"It was an accident," Kieran said, narrowing his eyes. "And I've only been here a few days, thanks very much. I'm not an expert at being an Atlantean. How do you even know what happened? It could have been a group training session! It could have been sparring. It could have been anything that happened. It wasn't," he added to Oakley, who was slowly sinking into her chair, "but it could have been. My power was a reaction to a giant armoured... Oakley falling on me. My bones don't go away, okay? They're always there. It was an accident. She's okay, see? I've seen far worse things happen to other new students. Don't accuse me of anything. What did you do to Oakley that was worth apologising about?" he turned to Oakley, still worked up a little. "No, I only speak English. Before my mum and dad and my brother and I went on a trip to Berlin a few weeks ago."

"Um," Oakley bit her lip. It was true that Kieran was being a jerk but she felt Christian was going a little harsh on him. What about that blast of smoke that he did that blew the wall next to her hours earlier? Still, the conversation was making Oakley nervous. If she didn't have the Crystal, she was sure that she would currently be in a lot of pain. "Um, so you speak Spanish, Christian? ¿Sabes dónde los dormitorios de los chicos son?" She was hoping that Kieran didn't pick any of that up and by an exchange of looks, he just looked interested that she spoke another language.

"¡Buenos dias, amigos!" he said, smiling at her. "That's all I know, heh."​

Adeline "Otto" Russo - Under the Vatican, Rome, Italy

"Excellent!" The Librarian clapped his hands together, standing up from the couch. "I am so glad you accepted. I wouldn't know what I would do if I couldn't have a wonderful power such as your own, Alex. Now, we must prepare, it won't take long. Oh, and long as you are careful, Cira!" He disappeared through the doors they came through as Otto slowly stood up herself.

"The Librarian is just cleaning his teeth," Otto blinked at Cira. "With toothpaste. The books are sorted by similarity. There are some signs up, but not a lot since the Librarian obtained an enhanced memory ability. You will most likely have to look around manually. Good luck."

The Librarian returned, grinning widely at the father like he was getting ready for a photo. He looked rather excited too.

"Sorry, sorry, dear Alex. As Adeline may have said, I was cleaning my teeth. I don't want to get any tarte tatin on you! Now," The Librarian motioned to one of the comfortable reading chairs for Alex to sit in, "please sit and tell me when you are ready!" The Librarian looked estatic even, like a child in a toy shop. Though, this probably was a new toy to him. To play with a new Atlantean ability until he knew everything about it.

"I'm all set," Alex gave the thumbs up as he sat in the chair the Librarian offered.

"Excellent!" The Librarian clapped his hands together. "Now please, hold still." He gently took Alex's arm and with a nod, bit it. He didn't have to bite hard; his teeth were sharp enough that it would pierce the skin easily, the same way you can barely feel a needle. He sat there for maybe half a minute, slowly sucking the blood he needed and when he had done, he let go, taking a towel off the table to wipe his mouth then offered it to Alex to clean himself. With his other hand, he placed it on where he had bit Alex then pulled away, the two pin-pricks now disappeared, leaving only a smear of blood from what was on the surface. "It was a present from Ms. Skylee Jennifer!"

Otto however had joined Cira.

"Would you like any help? I know where some sections are but it is much more interesting to read through until you get there. It did take me days to find my own ability, however."​

Devon "Evo" Bernot - AUP Headquarters, France

Helena? Devon hadn't really been listening when his father had been introduced to the new recruits. As far as he was concerned, they were just people who walked in and out of his lives and never really were worth remembering. Though, if he had to dig deep to the bottom of his brain, Helena had to be one of the the girls, right? And there was three to choose from. Or it could've been four. Oh well, she wasn't even visible.

"What am I doing?" Devon leant an arm on his knee, supporting his head with it as the other hand made circles on the cold floor. "I'm hiding, I suppose. What are you doing? Aren't you meant to be, like, in there? Licking my father's boots or something?"

He didn't really mean to sound rude but it was the truth. This was what had been happening all week with the new recruits; he'd take them up to his office with Devon by his side to make him seem like the caring father. Then, they'd converse over dinner. Or breakfast. Or lunch. Or brunch. Whichever meal was most convienient to them. Then they'd go to training, get shown their dorms and after that, if they had passed his trust test, take them to the next level, which was probably the only time Devon really went with his father willingly.

"...Sorry," he said, trying to make eye contact with the invisible girl. "My father's just a... yeah." Yeah, there were too many words.​

 

[Silver Rogue]

Nikolai Afon - AUP Headquarters, France


"Why I started the AUP, you mean? Well, many years ago, I chanced upon my heritage by touching an Atlantean Crystal in a bayside market in France. As you might already know, Atlantean Crystals are rare stone that grow only on the original island of Atlantis. Coming in contact with a Crystal releases you from your mortal coil and lets you live to your full potential, abilities and all. Well, after this incident, it wasn't long before I was found by a group known as the Atlantean Royal Family who are the leaders of the race, much like a Prime Minster does with a country. Well, at the time, Cooper here was working for Roscoe Beleren, the leader of the House of Water back then, and he was the one that taught me the ways of Atlantis and about the Universe and stuff like that," Emil nodded at Cooper, giving him a gracious smile. "I was a little bit of a brat then, wasn't I?"

"I've never regretted teaching you," Cooper added, bowing his head back at Emil.

"Haha, I'm sure you do sometimes, Cooper," Emil tapped his nose, then continued with his story. "Well, we were always told if we went out in public to never reveal ourselves because the mortals would soon catch on and kick up a storm."

"Mortals are what some Atlanteans call, uh, normal people," Atticus said, directing his attention at Helena.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Atticus!" Annie teased. He responded by taking another bite of his chicken.

"Well," Emil butted in before anyone else could interrupt, "I always wondered why we had to hide ourselves from the public. Surely we were entitled to live the same lives as mortals, perhaps entitled to even more? Then Cooper showed me the corruption of mortals, the way they warred over such trivial things, like oil and land and weapons. Why couldn't we just all live in peace? It was then I realised that we Atlanteans were different from mortals and we deserve to live in a way which we deserve. So, I left the Family and created my own. Mortals and Atlanteans are like cats and dogs; we can live together, but we were never meant to thrive together, mortals will always be jealous of us. All us members have been hurt somehow by the cruelty of mortals," he gestured to the older members of the table, one by one. "Natalia's parents taken by war and panic, Annie's family and legs taken by jealousy and greed, Atticus'--"

"Yeah, we don't need to talk about that," he put his hand up, shaking his head.

"As you wish," Emil nodded. "But yes, the AUP strives to unify Atlanteans as a people. That is what we're working towards."

As they finished eating, Nikolai thought about what he might loose by joining the AUP. His father was already long dead, claimed by an automobile accident, and his mother was gone, most likely dead as well. The more Nikolai thought about it, the more he realized that he wasn't really close to anybody. Sure, he had some friends back in Moscow, but nobody really close. He already felt somewhat close to the group that he was in now, but even then, not that close.

The plates on the table were now mostly empty, everyone had finished their dinner. Emil stood up, taking plates and gathering them up in a stack. He then passed the stack to Cooper who took it over to a small kitchen and began to pile them up in a dishwasher.

"Yes, now that we're finished, we'll get onto training! You two are still very raw with your abilities so hopefully with a little training, we can get you to have a better grip on them. Helena, if you don't mind, will be going off with Natalia. Nikolai, you'll be training with Wade Harrison. He has an interesting ability that's quite similar to yours, in a way. After training, we'll show you your rooms."

"Wouldn't I be best suited with Nikolai's ability?" Annie asked, frowning at Emil.

"Yes, but you need to rest, Annie. Cooper told me you haven't slept for a while now."

"Right," Annie said, sounding disappointing. Nikolai was disappointed too. He liked Annie, and her ability with computers and technology would have been a great help to developing his ability. He was intrigued by Wade Harris, and how his ability was similar to Nikolai's. From what he had learned, no Atlantean had the same ability as another, so that fact that Harris had a similar ability intrigued Nikolai all the more.

"Well, Ms. Andersson? Mr. Afon? Was there anything else you needed before you set off?"

There was a silence for a moment, then Helena spoke up, "I told you that I would follow you if it would be the safest thing for my family. I don't... I don't think this sounds like that anymore. Everyone here has lost something. I haven't. Are you going to make me lose my family? I won't... no." She rushed out of her chair, and immediately turned invisible, her footsteps echoing against the walls.

"What? Helena, hey, wait!" but she was gone as Atticus went to grab the invisible Helena in front of him but only ended up with a fistful of air. "Helena!"

"Let her be, Atticus," Emil had put a hand on Atticus chest to stop him. "The AUP is all about freedom and free will. Are you going to deny her that?"

"No, but, I think she misunderstood what you said as--"

"Leave her be."

Atticus exchanged looks with the rest of the members, then sighed. "Well, alright then."

"She'll come back when her time is right, trust me." Nikolai could only hope that he was right. From the short time that Nikolai had known Helena, she seemed like a good person. He fought the urge to follow her to undoubtedly the elevator, the only way that Nikolai knew down to ground level.

There was an awkward pause for a moment before Nikolai spoke up. "So, um. If were just going to leave her be, does that mean I should go to training now?" He didn't want to seem insensitive to Helena right now, but he knew that there was probably nothing that he could do to help her right now. It frustrated Nikolai, not being able to help. But what could he do?

 

[Swolligator]

Adrian Santoro – America en-route to England

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief as Erika accepted his proposal of a leap of faith to join him in the Syndicate. He was quite new to the whole recruiting business, despite having been with the Syndicate for quite a while now. Erika had been his first recruitment assignment, so having it as a success was a good thing. They took a short taxi ride to the airport, checking in and hanging around until their plane arrived and they boarded it. It was a relatively slow and uneventful plane ride, although Adrian started getting annoyed at the Asian man sitting beside him moving around uncomfortably in his suit, continually reminding Adrian of his own ability hidden beneath the folds of his clothing.

Their plane landed in Heathrow Airport in the afternoon, and Adrian was glad to see that the Syndicate had sent them a driver and a car to take them up to Birmingham. Once in the black, tinted window car, they began their long ride to Birmingham, their estimated arrival time somewhere in the evening, meaning that Adrian would get to see October again.

Once out of London, Adrian apologised to Erika, "firstly, this must seem scary for you, it was pretty scary for me coming all the way from Rio in Brazil to here, but you will learn a lot, it's quite a nice place." Adrian then flexed his muscles, pushing out against his shirt until it ripped revealing a skin tight black shirt beneath custom made to fit the extra set of arms that protruded from around the bottom of his ribcage. "I've felt suffocated having to hide these, people just don't understand us." Adrian smiled his perfect smile at her again before cracking knuckles and fingers.

It was only a couple more hours before they pulled into the parking lot under the Syndicate's tower, the driver pulling up to the lone elevator that stood in the rather empty parking lot. Adrian got out, offering one of his hands to Erika as a gesture out of the car before calling for the elevator and entering once it came.

"The Syndicate sorts everything for you. If there is anything you need, just call reception from the phone in your room and they will help you. Twenty-four hours service is nice to have." The elevator dinged and the doors rolled open to the room in front of them. Adrian stepped out and motioned for Erika to join them.

"Adrian!" called October before she leapt into his arms, hugging him tight and planting a big kiss on his cheeks.

Adrian let her down after a couple of seconds before directing her attention to Erika, "October, this is Erika, Erika, this is October, so far the only other female with us." Adrian watched as October smiled at her, extending out her hand in a handshake gesture.

"Finally good to have another girl around here!" October exclaimed before gesturing to the boys behind her, "…these guys are the other new recruits, if you need anything, I'll be glad to help." She returned to Adrian's side, cuddling into one side of him.

Cobalt Chimura – America en-route to England

"Excellent, I'm glad to have you aboard, Brian," Cobalt was relieved that Brian had accepted, he wasn't really sure what the Oracle wanted with an Empath, but if it was the difference between winning and losing, then it was good to have the deciding factor. The car rolled onto the airport and they boarded the plane, Cobalt finding his plane seat even more uncomfortable with the suit on. It had been interesting checking in, they pair got an interesting look from the lady who took their tickets, but she would have seen much weirder than a grown man and a teenager boarding a plane; despite their racial and name differences.

If the plane ride wasn't long enough, then the train ride from London to Boston was even longer. On the train, Cobalt decided to inform Brian about them, "So we are heading to our mansion in Boston, where we help to train promising young Atlanteans to better control their abilities. We have quite a few around the high school bracket, some above in their twenties, so I'm sure you will be able to find a friend. We do teach other things than how to control your ability, have to keep you up to date with your schooling too." When Cobalt and the others had been young, they had lived in the mansion with their parents, only when their parents had passed on and they had acquired the inheritance did they turn from being so select to opening it up to teach others, mostly children of Atlanteans their parents had been friends with.

Once they arrived in Boston, Cobalt grabbed a taxi which took them out to the mansion. After paying the man a fair bit of money, Cobalt led Brian through the entrance and to the dining hall which was now empty save for a few stragglers. He went over to the table picking up a selection of food onto his plate, some of the warmer dishes still fairly warm, motion for Brian to do the same before sitting down at a nearby table to eat.

"Before I show you the mansion and your room," he began talking to Brian between mouthfuls, "I have someone who would wish to see you, The Oracle is a nice lady," he finished another mouthful before continuing, "then we can get you to bed, hopefully we can also get some training done tomorrow morning, how does that sound?"