(This thread is for anybody on the team or any other fellow novas in the Chicago area. The location would have been well advertised as this is big publicity for the pub.)

Bandwidth walks into the pub and looks around. He is one of the lesser known members of the Windy City Knights, and he can pass for a baseline easily except for the green metallic diamond hovering over his head effortlessly. He slides through the people and makes his way to the bar where he sees the owner he had discussed with earlier.

The bartender speaks "Hiya Bandwidth, how many of ya can we expec' ta see?"

"I let the entire team know about it, there should be a few of us here for the night."

People finally start to realize who Bandwidth is when they begin comparing his image to that of the one on the poster. Nobody really realizes what his costume is though. Bandwidth takes a seat at the bar and grabs a pint of the most expensive Ale on tap and awaits the arrival of some of his teammates, hoping some of them show up. The interest really didn't seem all that great when he first brought it up.

April just about materializes on the barstool next to Bandwidth, her arrival presaged only by a sudden swing of the door and a sudden swirl of air. Almost immediately after coming to a stop, she apologizes to the bartender, turning on a sunny smile as she tells him that she should have been more considerate and asks for a glass of tomato juice in the same breath.

Turning to Bandwidth, she says with a touch of embarrassment: "Hi. Sorry I'm late - it took forever for me to find the place. Yeah, so ... I'm not exactly legal to drink. Still 20, and I guess it wouldn't be too good an idea to fudge that, right? Probably gonna be on camera sometime tonight ..."

Bandwidth turns to April as she materializes, "Cameras won't surprise me at all here tonight. This thing has been pretty well advertised. You should probably stick to a Soda, the last thing we want is a sponsor to pull out after we're getting these contracts all set up."

Bandwidth smiles as he thinks back a few weeks. "The entrances happen, when I first met Interceptor, I popped out of the secretary's OpNet terminal and almost knocked her out of her chair."

Bandwidth downs his Ale...almost frowning at it's lack of effect. He begins swivelling in his barstool looking around the place. A few patrons keep eyeballing him and April realizing they are the reason for the gathering anyway.

"It's still pretty empty, I'm anxious to see some of the costumes we can think of. I'm sure most people currently under 30 will understand the video game reference in my costume. Do you have any idea who else is going to show up?"

Move along.

Freezing for an instant, April snaps her fingers explosively, saying, "That's it! 'Scuse."

With a flurry of movement, April disappears into an undifferentiated blur - entering the women's restroom and returning within a handful of seconds. Coming to a rest again next to Bandwidth, she is now wearing a near authentic Lindbergian aviator's costume, right down to the Buzz Rickson's aviator jacket. Tossing Bandwidth a lopsided smile, she takes her glass from the bartender and says, "Knew I was forgetting something important. It's been a hectic day. Sims, right?"

"Not a clue about the other's, though. Figure Interceptor'll come, but maybe not. Alchemist ... I have no idea. Hm. I haven't really seen too much of the others, yet. You?"

The bar is beginning to fill with patrons looking to mingle with the towns new Nova defenders. A line is even beginning to form outside, and it will likely be very long before the party really gets started. But one man reaches the door just in time to avoid the wait.

His head is completely bald with a form fitting black skullcap. His eyebrows are large and black. On his face is a fu-manchu and a mustache that comes to two points. And his costume is cut like a royal robe, in shiny crimson, with paramilitary markings in gold and ebony. Most startling of all is the collar of his costume, which reaches past his shoulders and extends to nearly the top of his head, done up in eye bending crimson and gold stripes.

He marches imperiously to the bar near Bandwidth, where he fixes the bartender with a stealy glare. In a commanding tone, he orders a Long Island iced tea, just before cracking up.

Turning towards his friends, Alchemist raises a single eyebrow and sighs, "Neither one of you has even heard of Flash Gordon, have you?"

Interceptor arrives at the bar in a strange assortment of futuristic leather and cloth, designed in a way to give homage to medieval dress. Mostly in black, his feet have boots, his hands are wrapped in leather bands up to the elbow, his tunic is dark loose and billowing, showing his muscled chest, he has a futuristic looking belt with atachments on it, and his hair is covered by a bald prostethic application and covered with scars. His identity is preserved through make up, to add metallic cyborg features over both eyes and down the right side of his face, with impressive scars there as well. What he is seems unknown until the device in his hand is waved about, a distinctive lightsaber, with a glowing red plastic blade. A jedi from the Dark Side apparently. It's obvious he spent some money on his costume idea.

"Hey guys." he says stepping up to the bar. "Nice costumes." as he inspects everyone's apparel. "Beer please, Honey Brown." he says to the bartender. "This was one of my favorites." he says indicating his own with a gesture. "It might not be obvious but I'm a bit of a comic book geek, I wanted to be a comic book artist when I grew up. My favorites were always the villains, and this was one I designed for Dark Horse's Star Wars comics, though never got published of course. Henshin Yar, a dark Jedi. I always wanted to be him for Halloween. Too expensive, I tried before but always gave up, never got the look right. When I opened my company though, I met up with this make-up and costume guy, we were both in the entertainment biz y'know? And he gave me his card and we've been working and planning on this since August. I love it. No one will recognize him but that's cool."

"Ooh! Ming the Merciless! Awesome! I could be your flunky!" he laughs as his beer arrives. Pete apparently really loves his sci-fi and Halloween.

"Yep, the Sims. I thought I was the only person this young that played old games. I had to buy me an old Dell of the web to get some of these things to run right, that was all pre-eruption though"

He turns to the door seing some more of his teammates walking in. "I'm glad I'm not the only schmuck that couldn't pass up free beer."

He watches as Alchemist walks in the door, admiring his craftsmanship the entire time. Makes me feel like I cheated by levitating a metal diamond over my head the entire night.

"Now what type of geek would I be if I didn't know what Flash Gordon is?" he speaks with a smirk on his face.

Interceptor walks through the door not too long after Alchemist. Bandwidth admires the costume from afar, this one appeals to his geeky side as well.

"Interceptor, love the Jedi suit, but I'll work on something better then a plastic light sabre for you next year as long as you promise not to use it on me, it would be all show of course."

Bandwidth orders another drink, this time it's a McEwans. He pops the lid off of it magnetically, and sips from it.

April laughs at Alchemist's spectacular entrance, but soon asks quizzically of him and Bandwidth, "Flash Gordon?" and adds with Interceptor's arrival, "Ming the Merciless?"

Responding to Interceptor, she says with a whistle, "You've been working on that since August? I guess I never really got into Halloween. Mi mamá was always about All Souls Day and All Saints Day, so going out trick or treating was never something my family did. Last year was really my first Halloween - with being at college and all."

'Ming' grins malevolently at April and says, "Perhaps some day, I'll force you to sit through some ancient videos from the dawn of television."

Dropping the act, he shakes his head. "Nah. Too cruel."

Alchemist rests against the bar surveying the crowd. His attention is caught by a group just entering the bar. It's a group of four college-aged guys in costume. One is dressed in a mockup of Interceptor's costume, one is bald and dressed in a lab coat, one is a black man in a muscle shirt with a ponytail-wig, and the last is dressed as a school-girl with makeup and a long dark wig. They've all got on big buttons that say 'Windy City Knights'.

Alchemist grins, and points them out. "Looks like we've got fans here tonight. I especially like the 'April' costume."

"Guess I'm not quite popular enough for a fan. I'm sure there is some underground hacking website devoted to me or something, but nobody dressed as me."

He looks at the guy cross-dressed as April. "So April do you think he pulls you off very well?"

"Right ... so, that's a little more than I can handle. Man, I almost wish Ashnod and Apep had signed on. At least then I wouldn't be the only girl on the team, right?"

Turning back to the bar (and away from her fan base), April tells Bandwidth: "You'll probably start seeing some fans before long. You just haven't been out as much as the rest of us. I mean, most of the others have been around for a while. The only newbies are you, me, and I guess maybe Epicenter, and of the three of us, you're the only one who hasn't been seen much. Prolly just a matter of time."

Then, with a toss of her head back in the direction of the four 'Knights,' she adds with a wry smile, "Though I guess that assumes you want fans. If not, too bad. You're just as screwed as the rest of us."

"Take it as a compliment, April. I'm pretty sure that guy over there is supposed to be Ragnarockette." Alchemist points out the offender of good taste. He glances around for other examples, but those are the only examples of obvious crossdressing (so far).

"I'm guessing the only reson someone is dressing as me is because the costume is cheap. Though, the gold-spraypainted lead pipe is a nice touch."

Alchemist turns back to the bar and begins nursing his long island iced tea. Not because he fears getting drunk, but because it's not particularly good.

Jager slides another Tomato Juice over to April and smiles if she looks at him. If she notices him, he winks in a conspiratorial manner.

He is dressed like a Wild West bartender, including the slicked back hair and the handlebar mustache. As an actual bartender, he is remarkably proficient, handling multiple orders, spinning bottles and sliding drinks to the exact spots on the bar they need to be.

The Dark Jedi gets his Honey Brown and Ming gets something green that boils ominously. Bandwidth gets a mug of frothy, brown sugar-water.
"Sim-beer," the 'new' bartender mutters under his breathe.

"Hey there's me! Could use some work on the hair though." laughs Interceptor as he takes a swig off his beer. "It's funny you should mention the lightsaber," he says to Bandwidth "I was thinking I could go to the resident 'brains' of the team and see if one of you had the time to whip something up. I guess I was a little too nervous."

"So, what do you think so far? A bit more famous, a bit more money, a lot more support and exposure. How do you like it? Me? I'm really worried about screwing up. When Sakurako came into town and we worked together to rescue that chopper, I would never have done it without her y'know? If it was just me, they'd have all died, and then I don't know what I'd do."

"Tell you the truth, I'm also worried if we have to fight any Novas. I haven't been in a fight since 4th grade, except for when I erupted, and I don't remember much of that. But I could tell by the way the mayor and police chief were talking, they expect me to be like their version of Kikjak! Makes me worried." He takes another swig and pats Bandwidth and Alchemist and anyone else he can reach on the back or shoulder.

"But hey, it's because of that we got a team right? Put 'em up. C'mon raise 'em high. A toast, to the Windy Cith Knights!" says Interceptor as he raises his bottle up.

April absently takes her tomato juice and turns back to the room to follow Alchemist's indications. After a moment, though, she twists around to eye the 'bartender' - breaking out into a grin and rolling her eyes as Jager winks back at her. With a look of mock suspicion, she makes a show of checking over her drink before taking another sip.

Toasting with Interceptor, she replies: "I'm kind of worried about being in any fights. I mean, I had some self-defense training before I erupted, and I got some more from Utopia, but I've never actually been in a fight before. And I've definitely never been in a fight where someone was trying to kill me."

"To the Knights. May we get through this without too many scrapes and bruises."

'Ming' grins wickedly and downs the midori sour Jager sent him in one gulp, leaving the dry ice among the real ice at the bottom.

He gives it an appreciative look, and then raises his empty glass to the 'bartender' in salute.

Jager tips his imaginary hat in salute to the Knights. He smiles shyly back at April then goes back to rushing the drinks out to the gathering throngs.

When Alchemist salutes him, the bartender responds with an Red River drawl,
"Freshen that up for ya, Mister?"