In most cities, the headquarters for the city defenders is a building of light and glass, a monument to the power and influence that the city gave its defenders. Inside these buildings, fantastic computers and labs were manned by the best and the brightest minds that could be convinced to work for the city's defenders. Many had training areas and the kind of equipment that you find only in a spy movie. Some had their own prisons, full of foolish villains. They were clear places of power.

The Biscayne Building in downtown Harmony City was none of these things. The City Council was currently working to raise the funds to build the typical building for its heroes, but for now, the renovated Biscayne building on West Flagler Street would have to suffice. It had a laboratory on the top floor, with state of the art equipment. The computer lab on the fourth floor had state of the art machinery. There was no "Danger Room" or "Hazard Area" for training, only a gym on the fifth floor, next to the kitchen. No armory filled with lasers and top-secret equipment were encased in these walls, merely conventional weaponry. There was a solitary force cell in the basement, along with a handful of regular cells. In short, the city had built the headquarters as best they could, with equipment that any 'real' superhero would turn his nose up at. But the city was building from the ground up; it was a work in progress.

But it had a bitchin' coffee maker.

Or so Samantha thought as she poured a stream of the dark liquid into her 'Employee of the Month - Dade County Emergency Services' mug. She needed the caffeine for her case of first day on the job jitters. As she waited for the first of the heroes to show up, she wondered what they'd be like, and if they'd like her. She was confident in her ability to make a good impression on must humans, but she knew that some heroes weren't human. And she didn't know if everyone here would be human or not. Silently, she agonized, worried and waiting for them to arrive.

Mike knew the setup was a far cry from what some of the other big teams boasted of in an HQ, but Harmony City hadn't even needed to consider this before. He and the others would make do with what was provided, and from what he'd read of the files on the other members of the team, make their own modifications as needed.

He walked into the Lounge area he spied another soul bound to the team. He poured a cup of the obviously fresh coffee into a mug labled LAPD and sat down across from the other person.

He took a sip of his coffee and cracked a smile. "That's some good coffee." He looks over to the young woman sitting there. "Good morning, I'm Michael Guitierrez, it's a pleasure to meet you."

His badge is fastened to the left breast of his jacket, and she can see the strap of his standard issue PD .45 beneath it. His image screams "Cop" at the moment, but he seems friendly enough. He seems to relax some as he drinks down the coffee, contrary to how most people react to it.

Roxanne sat on a bench, facing the building, eating a sandwich, and trying to get the butterflies out of her stomach.

She'd already given notice of a leave of absence from work; no one had really blamed her. Waking up one day and discovering you could suddenly walk was bound to change your priorities. And in a way, it had - just not in the way that they thought.

She thought of the vision - everything in this city skewed and wrong, like a painting turned slightly off angle. Like a room where everything moved a few inches from when you last entered. She wanted to dismiss it as merely a hallucination, nerves, whatever...

Except she couldn't, could she? She was walking. She could fly, when she wanted to. When she did so she looked like something out of mythology, a fox-like woman with three tails. She could make one thing become another, just by wanting it to be. None of that had a scientific explanation. She was int he dark here.

But superheroes... they dealt with that sort of thing all the time. There would doubtlessly be opportunities to pick people's brains. And if what she saw was true, then having super-humans around who she knew well could help stop it or reverse it.

It was just like changing jobs, really.

She got up, and walked down an alleyway. Once she was certain that no one was watching, she reached deep down, and touched the small blue flame that burned within her soul.

She transformed - her face became a muzzle, her skin erupted in red and white and black fur. Tails snaked out behind her. Her clothing changed too, into a red and gold dress that she fancied. Her shoes vanished, leaving her barefoot on the pavement.

She flew straight up and smiled. Then she flew back down, and fighting down a twinge of shyness, she entered the building.

Sam smiled at Officer Guitierrez as he took a seat across from her. "H-hi!" she said, stumbling as part of her brain was trying to determine whether he was human or not. "I'm Sam With- uh, Samantha Withers," she said, nodding. "I'm your daytime Admin... astrive... Assist... ant."

Michael caught her staring over his shoulder and turned to see an anthropomorphic fox woman with multiple tails walking through the doors. "Wow," Sam whispered, her coffee cup slowly tipping over as she stare at the Vixen walking into the lobby.

"Good morning Samantha. Am I glad to see you, I have enough paperwork at the precinct, having someone who can help with the workload is going to be really great." he gives her his friendliest smile and then follows her gaze to where The Vixen stood. "Good morning, and you are?"

It's a friendly greeting, he has an idea of who he's talking to, but with supers one can never tell.

"Uh - oh, hello. I'm - "

She pauses for a moment. I'm Roxanne Richardson. A few weeks ago I was in a wheelchair, then a magical fox bit me and made me super-powerful. I have magical powers and might be able to do absolutely anything I want. Please don't kill my family!

"I'm Vixen."

Well, that's original. ... but... 'Vixen.' Huh! I like it. Yeah. 'Vixen.'

She spies a sign that specifies that footwear must be worn within the building. A ripple appears on her feet as sandals appear.

"I'm - " She coughs. "I am here about the job. About the need for civic defenders."

Michael nods and smiles. "You've come to the right place then. I am Michael Guitierrez, The "official" liason between Harmony City Police Department and the team the City is hoping to put together. Care for a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee? Yes, absolutely. Cream, no sugar."

Vixen walks over to the desk, and smiles - trying not to show her teeth - at the receptionist. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."

"Scare? Oh, no!" Samantha exclaimed, wincing as her cup tipped over and some coffee sloshed across the table. "Ms. Vixen, I just didn't... haven't seen a superhero like you before! You're like Felinixa, in New York City. She's cat based, like you're fox based, and she's furred, too." As she's been talking, Sam rose to her feet and fixed Vixen a cup of coffee.

Once the coffee was warming Vixen's hands, Sam hired over to her desk and yanked a drawer open. She pulled out a neatly bundled clip of papers and bought them over to Vixen. "These are the papers for the job," Sam said. "Fill them out, then the city will want to see proof of your powers-" She paused to look Vixen head to toe once and added with a smile, "That won't be a problem, I'm sure. Anyway, if you want to maintain your secret identity, there are forms in there that let you operate and recieve payment. If you have any questions... well, that's what I'm here for!"

Meanwhile, across town...

Dr. Beverly Long yawned widely, the force of her sleepy expression sending her stumbling into a wall. Too much work and too little sleep were the enemy, and Dr. Long was losing to them. But she had a couple of more things to do before trying to drive home, or more likely grabbing a few hours of sleep on her couch.

She'd come to work at the Harmony City Rehibiliation Facility Mental Hospital with high hopes. She knew that she was brilliant; a genius when it came to decoding the fine lines between chemical imbalances and pure psychological instability. After all, once you leaned it was chemicals, you couldtreat that with other drugs. And if it's all in their head, well that was harder to treat, yet more rewarding: to show someone the way back to mental stability.

And yet for all her genius, there was one person she couldn't help. It ate at her in her quiet moments, when she was supposed to leave work behind. It was her failure, her greatest failure, and only her personal belief that the answer was there, if only she could see it kept her from giving up.

The cell was ahead on the right, and though Dr. Long recognized that she was engaging in obssessive behavior, she still stopped and peered at the small monitoring screen next to the door. The huddled figure shivered on the foam matress on the floor, the straight jacket forcing the young man's form into a long, lean shape of flesh and bone. His long hair trailed forward, shrouding his lowered face completely. Against her better judgement, Dr. Long triggered the intercom. "Mikey? How are you doing tonight?"

Ouside of the Biscayne Building, at a little sign with 13 on it, a bus came to a stop. No one was waiting to get on, and only one person got off. It roared off again, leaving the young girl that disembarked sniffling in the exhaust. With a quick glance either way, she crossed the street, heading for the building entrance.

Lily was pretty enough; if a bit tomboyish with short, discheveled brown hair and strong cheekbones. She looked like she'd seen better days though. Dark bags hung under her eyes, and she was dressed in an improved dirty poncho that had probably been a knit afghan at one time. Under it she had a thin, skyblue jacket, an old white tanktop T shirt, and a pair of jeans that were held to her hips by a piece of tied rope. She wore sandals on her feet, but no socks. Where she'd been finding clothes, the socks were still too nasty to be worn. She wasn't that desperate yet. She was shapely, but a bit skinny...this was exagerrated by the oversized jeans and jacket.

On the whole, she looked she'd been sleeping in parks, and had managed to scrub herself up at the Y before coming here. Largely because that was exactly so.

Fiddling nervously at the edge of the 'poncho,' Lily slipped through the glass doors into the Biscayne Building and padded across the polished marble floor. Her eyes immediately locked on the rich-looking gal in the fancy dress with the red hair...no, not red hair. The fake ears were a giveaway. Some kind of hat, maybe or headress. Probably cost a fortune too.

"Uh, excuse me," she said quietly to the lady behind the desk. "I'm here to...uh...you know. Sign up? For the super thing?"

Tim landed on the roof with a satisfying crunch of gravel. Over a hundred feet that time. I'm getting better at this. He proudly thought to himself as he strode to the edge of the building. Below him and across the street was the front of the Biscayne Building; the supposed super hero headquarters of the fledgling Harmony City sponsored team. A team he was still having doubts about joining.

He pondered everything that had brought him to this point. From that fateful night robbing the Government lab, to prison, to the giant robot attack back in Chicago. Tim could see the line of progression. Wish as he might, he knew there was no way he could be neutral, just lead a normal life. Walt had been right about one thing. Fate didn't leave people with powers sitting on the sidelines.

Tim brushed the lingering doubts from his mind. This was it. His way of making amends for past mistakes. He took a couple of steps back from the edge to gain some running distance and lept out and away from the building.

The pedestrians below gaped and pointed as Tim sailed off the top of the 75 foot building in a graceful dive that took him clear accross the mid morning traffic. He tumbled lazily, almost casually, in the decent to land in crouch with a loud thump. Tim quickly strod to the front doors of the building and paused briefly to check his appearence before stepping over the threshold.

Upon entering the lobby Tim immediately noticed a throng of people around what must be the reception and security desk. He strode confidantly across the room, all trace of his previous doubt gone. "Hello," he said in his strong, confident voice as he approached the desk. "My name is Spartan."

"Oh, uh, wow!" Sam said, smiling at Lily, her green eyes wide. "Yeah... here!" Sam handled Lily another set of forms, brushing her red hair back as she passed the papers. Seeing that Lily didn't have a pen, Sam efficiently snatched one out of a cup and presented it to the young nova.

But Lily was forgotten when Sam saw who was behind her. "Hi..." she whispered, her jaw dropping as she looked at the massive man standing in front of her desk. "I'm Samantha," she said, gazing up at the man without blinking.

"Nice to meet you Sam," he said with a genuine smile as he stuck out his hand to shake. "Am I too late to apply?"

Vixen went through the forms. Please select the source of your extranormal abilities that best describes them.

She thought for a moment. God, I hate even writing the word. She put down "sorcery."

Please describe your abilities.

"Where do I begin," she muttered. She wrote some more. Transmutative capabilities. Flight. Resiliency to damage. Fire generation. Lightning generation. Seeing things from far away. Healing the sick. Highly developed sense of smell...

As if to prove it to herself, she sniffed the air, and noticed the new scents. She turns around. "Oh, hello. I didn't hear any of you come in."

Following the receptionist's doe-eyed look, Lily twists around to see a behemoth of a man walking up behind her. Seeing him drove home the sheer...brainless hubris of what she was doing. Did she think she compared to...to -that-?

"Uh...hi..." she stammered, gripping the pen harder and suddenly wishing she could vanish into the floor.

Then the woman in the red dress turned too, and shock blasted everything else out of Lily's head. She leaped back, straight into Spartan and yelped, "Jesus Christ it's real!"

Mike smiled to each of the new arrivals. "Good morning to you both. I'm Michael Guitierrez. I will be the official liason between the team that's assembled and the Harmony City Police Department." He offered his hand to each of them with a smile.

"Can I offer you each a cup of coffee?"

Blushing furiously, Lily disengaged from Spartacus with a mumbled "sorry," and looked at Michael shakily.

"Hell yes...yes please. Decaf. Please."

Finally she managed to look Vixen in the face and say, "Sorry about that...I thought...I only saw you from the back, I thought it was a hat or one of those masks...sorry."

"Oh, this is Vixen, one of us!" Sam exclaimed, then blushed and said, "Um, one of the heroes. Since I'm not one of the heroes."

Turning back to Spartan, Sam pulled a bundle of papers out and shyly handed it to him. "Here. You'll need these to join." She looked him up and down. "Don't worry. I don't think you'll have a problem qualifying."

Realizing that she'd been ignoring Lily, Sam turned to her with an ever-deepening blush. "You'll make it too, it's just that Vixen and Spartan are... obvious. You're more subtle, right?"

Shivering, wide eyed and barely alert Michael Jensen thought he heard a voice. He always heard voices; they were everywhere. Three sleepless years had driven him to the brink of madness.

Please stop reading up on our client. I need you to be able to do your job... It's a moral gray area. / Mmm... It smells so good in here. Doesn't it smell good in here? I love it! I just want to eat what's in my nose right now! / My son has pneumonia, but everyone else is alright. / I don't have time to read my emails. There's too much information in them. If you send me an important email give me a call to let me know I need to check it. / I can't believe you're trying to learn Spanish just so you can hook up with that waiter. / My mom says y'all are Yankees. / I wish my boobs were bigger. I can't wait until one day when I'm pregnant -- then they'll grow. / I would eat my own hand just for some fun. / Last night? I don't remember what happened last night! All I know is I woke up naked spooning with Claire! / Okay, girls, our goal for this weekend is to not end up on the Internet again.

Lord only knows how far he could ‘hear’. Wriggling around on his mattress ‘Mikey’ managed to filter the electronic feminine voice through all the others.

“S-s-s-s-still cr-crazy Doc… you?” He stuttered out. “Can’t… y-y-y-ou jussst k-k-k-ill me?”

Tears filled his eyes from beneath his long oily hair. "KILL MEEEEE!!!" He bellowed before mixing his crying with his cries.

Ugh, it has ice. I'm allergic to ice. / Really? Veggie burgers? What do they use? Like, turkey? / Yeah... If I was one of those nerdy, ugly white guys I'd be pulling mad Oriental ass. / I'm great! How's your walrus? / Oh, man, I would hate to die from constipation... I think I almost did, once. / Hey, John, look at the dolphins! You're missing them! You're missing them like you miss everything! You're just like your mother! / Mikey… I’m sorry. You know we can’t.

He spasmed on his mattress tears mixing with dirt as he slammed his head repeatedly against the rubber wall.

Michael fixed the coffee silently. Great, one musclebound tank, and a girl who seems to be intimidated by every super she meets. Vixen seems nice enough though, though I wager that isn't the first time someone reacted like that to her. Hopefully there's more to come on all fronts.

He handed the steaming cup of coffee to Lily and smiled. "There you go. Just remember they're all your potential teammates. Out in the field they'll have your back, and you'll have theirs."

Tim watched the next few mintues mutely. He hid his suprise at Vixen's appearance, and ignored the cop completely. When Samantha handed him the papers he smiled again. "Thanks. You have a pen I can use?"

Lily nodded wanly and took the coffee. "Yeah...I'm sorry. I haven't slept too good this last week. Fact is, I'm trying to get my life back together here because what I do is about as subtle as a shot in the face." She nods at Sam.

"It kind of messed everything up for me."

She looks at Vixen and nods. "I really am sorry though. You...I was just startled. It's cool."

Tim looked up from his paperwork as the young girl explained herself. "Just what do you do?" he gave the girl a friendly smile. Clearly she was nervous and while it made him feel better to know he wasn't the only one, he still felt for her.

Lily picks her paperwork back up and shrugs awkwardly.

"It's hard to explain. I change. Like...when something's threatening me, or I feel like I have to do something that I can't do, I change so that...you know, so that I can do it. Or so it can't hurt me. But I can't MAKE it happen. It just does."

She starts filling out the form.

At first, Vixen is startled, then looks a bit hurt. But as oil is spread over troubled waters, she nods. "I understand. I admit - I look rather striking."

Huh! I didn't think there were this many super-people out there in this city. Heroes. She called us heroes. Ha. Like I've done anything to deserve that.

She fills out the rest of her form. "There you are, then - " She hands it back to the receptionist. "I'll fill out the private stuff in, you know, private, a bit later on."

"Of course," Sam said, making a label from a little machine, pasting it to a folder, and sticking Vixen's paperwork inside. "Just let me know a good time for you, or if you decide to move into the headquarters, I can leave it in your room."

"Move?" someone in the room asked; Sam couldn't see whom. So she nodded to everyone, smiling. "Yes, there are small apartments in the building for you guys to move into. It would give you round-the-clock access to all the equipment here in headquarters, like the medical center and the laboratory. It is, of course, your choice."

Meanwhile, back in the Harmony City Rehibiliation Facility Mental Hospital...

Dr. Long shook her head warily as she backed away from Mickey. "Maybe it's time to change his medication," she murmured, unaware that he could hear her thoughts.

She walked to her office, still musing over the possiblities. She was thinking so diligently that she never saw the hidden form in her office, and she had no warning when it brought her "Psychiatrist of the Year" plaque down over her head. Dr. Long tumbled bonelessly to the floor and was very still.

Micheal watched her face left the view of his window. Stil lthey came en masse ,the voices the thougts of people from every where and never were they silent.

Well, that's the order you think of it when you see him. It's like, 'Gee, his face sure is long. I wonder why? Oh, I see, it's to hold all that evil.' / So, let me get this straight: You think that a giant penis trumps a logical argument? / Huh! I didn't think there were this many super-people out there in this city. Heroes. She called us heroes. Ha. Like I've done anything to deserve that. / I don't care. I am wearing two pairs of tights and granny panties. / No, I don't like that water. It's too watery. I like Poland Spring.

He rocked back and forth. Occasinally twitching violently and rapping his head once more against rubber wall. "HEORES! HAHAHA!!!! HEROES DOC! YOU HEAR ME?!" He yelled through the sound proof room. After moments he realized she was gone and mumbled woefully to himself. "Heroes know that things must happen, when it is time for them to happen." He giggled to himself as the tears ran from his eyes and down his soiled cheeks. "A quest may not simply be abandoned Doctor! Oh nonononono! Unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever, not forever Doc!" He curled into a ball and shoved his face into the corver to prevent any light from catching his gaze. "A happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story."

In the rubber cell, as the voices of the world continued thier influx to his mind Micheal Jensen wept. Sorrowfully waiting for his hero.

Medical center? Laboratory?

"Moving in sounds perfect. I'll gladly see what you have."

Vixen leaned back against the counter, and couldn't help but smile, at finally meeting everyone at eye level. She wasn't quite used to her new face, however, and her grin came off as a bit "toothy."

Overclock has the worst choice in travel routes. That, and forgetting her GPS Mapper at home further annoys her as she's stuck in traffic, with only the view of the Atlantic Ocean, and the relatively near-by Bermuda anomaly, as she has become calling it.

Just a little while ago she had saved 3 boaters out on that water, within the "triangle" formed by Miami, Bermuda, and it's lat point touching Puerto Rico. The scientifically minded Overclock takes it just as a geographic coincidence, also with the theorized methane pockets that are out there that could change the bouyancy of objects on the surface when they erupt.

But her recent encounter makes her question if just science can explain the recent explosion of paranormal and supernatural activity in the area. Overclock may be a scientist, but she isn't closed minded. If an explaination cannot be concieved through science alone, eventually exploration and ferreting out a solution may be the better approach.

But something about this scares her... and not much does.

Finally, a break in the traffic! Overclock thinks, and by just pointing her thoughts in the right direction, she heads down an offramp, and heads for her destination on side streets. There's still traffic, but it's lighter.

"Okay... no.... no... ah... The Biscayne Building! Just gotta pull up here and..."

She pulls in, and sets her Motorcycle in a stall near the front lobby doors. She pulls her dead-switch chip from the motorcycle, disengaging the power system of the suprisingly emmission-less vehicle of choice she built, and begins walking in, after taking her greyish-steel helmet off.

Then again, seeing her helmet-hair in a reflection on the door begins the first-day jitters.

"So... I gotta find a Samantha huh?" She looks around the main lobby, which looks more at the moment as a co-opted office tower than a fully-realized Superhero abode. Then again, this group has just started up. "I hope that guy at City Hall pointed me in the right direction, I wouldn't want to step on anyone's.... toes..."

For a moment, Overclock sees the form of a... Fox-Woman?

Even with the pile of wierdness she's seen so far, this is unusual. Overclock is struck incredulous.

Lily pauses, and looks up at Sam hopefully.

"I can stay here?" she asks. "There's rooms here? Does it cost anything? Do I have pass a test or something? What's the catch?"

Michael nods. "I'd wager being accepted to be a part of the team is enough to take up residence here."

He notices the other new arrival and smiles "Good morning."

"Umm... uh..." Overclock rubs the top of her head in embarassment. "Hello... Uh... I'm looking for a Samantha I'm... oh, how rude of me, I'm Ami Kurata.... oh... are we supposed to be going by our nicknames or something?"

Obviously, she's trying too hard.