Tumult steps out of the limo wearing pretty much what he was wearing earlier just a bit dressier. The coat is a sleek long black trench, the shirt is a green dress shirt instead of a tee-shirt, his pants a sleek looking black dress pants, and he is wearing black dress shoes. He has an acoustic guitar strapped to his back and is wearing dark sunglasses. He steps out onto the carpet and makes his way forward looking his best for everyone watching.

Victor's attire fit him well. A light grey buttondown, compimented by jet-black slacks and comfortable black leather shoes. Both the shirt and the pants were accented by thin piping of the same argent color he became in his metal form. It was formal in that it looked to be of high quality silk, but casual in that it allowed him a full range emotion.

He gives the crowd a genial smile and moves along and up beside his teammates on the platform. He stands at a slightly modified parade rest aand waits for the introductions.

The night seemed to drag on. The dinner/press release was tedious, and the only people who didn't seem bored were the press. Each countries press payed extra attention to their countries heroes, and some extra to Tumult for not being seen at the incident in Japan. The food was mediocre, and each of the heroes were told to report to the Church's office the next morning.

((If anyone plans on doing anything interesting, PM it to me and I'll screw with this post.))

"Your first mission." Church said, handing a folder out to each of the Nova's. The folder contained the same materials for each Nova, a picture of a teenage boy, a picture of a man who looks to be in his mid-thirties. The nova's would remember him as a villain from several months back. He was found guilty for several murders against baselines, and was accosted after a showdown with a newly erupted Nova. The Nova wore a mask as to hide his identity, and seemed to have a personal grudge against the villain. The villains media name was "Shark DeChaos", and the new nova didn't and still doesn't have a name. The files indicate that the teenage boy, named Pete Giovanni, is the unknown Nova. He lives on the outskirts of Rome. DeChaos' real name was Langor Marina. Pre-eruption, he was a scientist, who decided to disregard the rules and laws of society. He had three victims, a fifteen year old girl named Stacy, and a man and a wife. Their identities are unknown.

"DeChaos has broken from his prison cell. Sources say that it was an intelligent break, which means that he had people working with him to get him out. You are protect the kid. We know that DeChaos will go after him. He holds a serious grudge, and doesn't keep quiet about it. Any questions?"

The dinner seemed like a nursing home banquet. He was sure he had been to gatherings like this, because of what he knew about his past..which was very little, and he hoped that eventually he would get used to these sort of things.

After Church briefed them on the generalities of the case, Ingot, once again dressed in his business attire, rose. "Do we know what kind of abilities DeChaos possesses?"

Vajas felt sligthly at ease on the banquet, as a teacher in a prestigious university, he knew how this banquets could get, and actually had an oPod on the inside of his Duster, he was playing some ample selection of music on it. Passing half the banquet listening to music, and half the banquet making chit chat with old mone users, old money creatores and entrepeneurs, Vajas decided that the best way to pass the night would be to pass it with company, and he landed himself a cute girl from among the banquet guests, probably the daugther or mistress of one of the old money users, they wouldn't miss her for a day.

---

The file before him showed him the identity of two people, a young italian kid and a man on his mid thirties. "So this Pete, what abilities did he manifested? If we know he can defend himself in a certain area, we could better spend our resources on his defense. Will we be given a safe house or will we be following him all day and night?"

Vajas looked around the room, Tumult, Rapido, Virago, Eisenfaust, Dougal and Ingot. A Big team for sure, 7 Novas to protect a single man? this DaChaos must be one hell of a bad-ass to garner this kind of response.

"Do we know if DeChaos knows where he is yet? who he is? Does he have hired help? is he alone or with baselines or other Novas?" Vajas scanned everyone around the room once more, a tinge of violet light escaping his pupils as his brain started going fast thanks to Quantum acutness. "Contact in the underworld? Political? Law-enforcements? Black-Tech possesion? Base of Operations? Access to sensitive Databases?" Vajas relaxes sligthly once the violet shine dies on his eyes. "Sorry about that, but all those questions are needed to formulate a tactic that will bring his sorry rear back into a prison cell."

"DeChaos' powers are not completely within our intelligence. When he erupted, he went crazy. There was no facility to help him, there was no training. Nothing could be done. From what we've examined of his dwellings, and scenes of crime, he possesses incredible strength. Incredible as in unheard of. He's one of the more intelligent beings we've come across, but he was like that before the eruption. Also, we cannot seem to get a beat on him. He's incredibly evasive." Church lowered the tone of his voice for the next part.

"There is something you need to know about Pete. This is kept in the black by the higher-ups of the Project, but Pete plays a super hero. He wears a costume and fights crime. He sleeks through the shadows of Rome, and takes criminals into his own hands. Unlike DeChaos, we actually know the full extent of this kids abilities. He can move through walls. Thats pretty much it. He's intelligent, and the kid can do most anything he wants. But the only extraordinary capabilities he has is being able to move through walls. And as a side note, Pete is incredibly lucky."

Church raises his voice back to normal to finish the questions. "We know almost no more on DeChaos. We are uncertain of, if he even has, help. We don't know where he is. From what we gathered of his baseline life, he was a genetic scientist. No known connections to criminals, no political connections. No law-enforcement. He has no criminal record pre-eruption.


"You will find in your notes that Pete does not know that he will be watched. We would find that it is best for him to not know, either. We need him in normal routine, otherwise if DeChaos is watching him, he will know something is up. Unfortunately, it is logical to believe DeChaos will know who you are if he see's you. Thats an unfortunate side effect of fame. We're leaving the rest up to you. If you want a safe house, we can procure one for you. Whatever you need, we can hook you up. But the plan is for you to make." A technotronic ringtone begans to play, and Church excuses himself for a moment.

He returns a few minutes later, his face looking grim. "We just got a lead. Murder, Venice. Clues point to DeChaos."

Tumult seems to take about as much pleasure in the events of the party as everyone else. He smiles and waves for the cameras and answers some questions but nothing to big. At one point during the night he begins to play his guitar. He is really good at it by baseline standards but nothing really special by nova standards. After he plays for awhile he stops but while walking around will play if asked.


At the meeting in the morning he listens intently and looks through the file. He seems excited about the upcoming mission but says nothing.

Virago is cool and aloof at the party, as befitting her persona, but generally remains polite.

During the later meeting, she listens carefully, not saying a word. When it comes to rise, she stands, prepared to go.

Almost alone amongst the team members, Rapido thoroughly enjoys the evening. His life was more interesting now then any teenager had any right to be. When introduced to the press and those attending he shamelessly mugs for the camera, his knives glittering in the glare of the photographers flashbulbs against the dull matte black of his leather fighting kit. He had intended to brand himself as the team “bad boy” early on but to his simultaneous joy and horror Utopia and the Italian government had arranged for his mother and two sisters to attend. Consequentially, he remains on his best behavior throughout the night.

- - - - - -

He listens to the mission briefing, paying polite attention while juggling 4 knives with one hand to keep himself occupied.



Somewhere after the “c” and before the “l” in “clues” Rapido disappears. Any loose paper in the room is thrown up in the gale force wind his sudden departure causes in such a confined area. Before Church can finish the word you can already hear glass tinkling in the hallway as Rapido quickly decides to forgo the door and leave by the more direct route of the nearest available window in the hallway.

((Rapido is speeding full tilt towards Venice, spending the 2 quantum to activate hypermovement. He pauses ever so briefly at the waters edge to spend a willpower point to max out the power. If the roll is successful he will double his movement rate, breaking the sound barrier and allowing him to run atop the water as long as he is in motion. He will continue in this manner until he either reaches Venice or some attempt is made to contact or restrain him))

Victor enjoys the party,it isn't the first he'd been to.

At the team meeting Victor nods wheere appropriate, his mind going over all the know facts. The exit of Rapido disturbs him. "Seems like our young Italian friend has rushed off home, alright, This is doable. With him headed there I hope he'll have some more up-to-date intelligence for us when we arrive. It's either that, or he'll have blown the entire operationby alerting both involved parties that we're coming."

He looks to Church. "When do we leave?"

"Lets hope he DOESN'T get himself into any trouble before the team arrives. I'd hate to see DeChaos take out one of us, before we even get a crack at him." Ingot looked mildly irritated at Rapido's dash towards Venice. "A supersonic Italian is like a Lambourghini..both are flashy, fast, and stick out in public." This was an attempt at humor, and he hoped that his European teammates sppreciated the joke. He was sure MacDougal would..but he was unsure of the others.

"I think we should get going. The sooner we get there, the better."

"We won't get there before Rapido, that's what I can tell you. But I still lack any kind of real tactical knowledge on DaChaos. We are being sent here blind and deaf Mr.Church." Vajas looked sligthly displeased at the situation.

"As far as we know, we don't know who we are defending, our ward dosn't know we are defending him, DaChaos will probably know we are coming thanks to Rapido there, our ward also has the ability to get away from us without us being able to do alot about it." Vajas puts his hands on his face.

"I'm going to need a supply of Nova sized aspirins for this, we are going to war unarmed, unarmored, and possibly pantless." Vajas got up. "Might as well take the files and go wait for the jet to start, we need to catch up to Rapido. Don't you agree Mr.Church?"

Church stood up as Vajas addressed him. He didn't seemed concerned about Vajas. "I am not your father." He said, than looked around to each of them. "I have a daughter at home. I have a wife at home. I am a human. I work for a organization, just as you do. Difference? You are not human. You six, and including Rapido, are the Nova's who work for this organization. We are doing what we can to provide you with information. Blind and deaf? You know who you are protecting. You know his face. You know where he lives, you know where he works, you know where he goes to school. Its all right there. You should be thankful that he can get away. Remember, he is not running from you. If he does not know you are there, than you shouldn't worry about it. As for weapons? You are walking weapons. He doesn't know you are coming. Use that.

"I am not your father. You can do this by yourselves." Church was doing his best to not yell at Vajas, but it was obvious he was very, very annoyed. "Your plane is waiting. Theres a car outside waiting for you. If you need, we can get another plane so you can have two teams, one in Venice and one in Rome. But that is up to you, and just a suggestion." He moves to the door and opens it.

Somewhere in the Euganean vineyards between Venice and Verona a great thunderclap echoes in a clear sky. Rapido managed to decelerate in the middle of a field, however...the damage is limited a few deafened songbirds. It felt odd hearing Vaja's voice echo in his own head but he immediately realized it was sound advice and complied.

He had put himself in quite a predicament. He couldn't well be seen in town...not the day after the Teams unveiling. He was probably the most recognizable face in Venice this morning.

"Uh, Vajas?" he spoke aloud and thought as loudly as he could."I can't go into town at all. I'll be recognized right away." Vajas senses a brief twinge of bowl lequifying fear shudder down the telepathic link "Mr. Church is going to be angry, isn't he?"

Dougal enjoyed the party as much as possible spending most of his time flirting with the more attractive reporters and generally looking good for the cameras.

****

At the meeting Dougal listens quietly through the whole thing and goes over the files carefully before making any response. The lack of tactical intel on the hostile was regrettable, but he'd gone into battle before with less so this was doable. "For my part I'll do what I'm good at. I'll take up tactical positions with good views of the bait and wait for the hostile to come into my sights." He smiles grimly, "I would appreciate a spotter if someone would care to join me. It would be very nice if someone that can scan mentally or otherwise has enhanced senses join me." Looking to the rest of the group, between us we should be able to cover most of the approaches to the bait and take out the target with some concentrated fire. All I need is line of sight and I should be able to take him down. What concerns me is that if he is as intelligent as they say he may anticipate the trap and come at us before the bait."

Vajas sighed, the echoes of a far away cry for help from Rapido reached his mental ears. "Eh, I guess you are right. Try to get to the airport in Rome without being seen, our best option will be to stick in one team and protect the Mark, splitting won't help us at all." The echoes of his mental voice left Vaja's minds one at a time, the ex-teacher felt the quantum running through his synapses and erupting outwards like a radio station would emit it's signals. "As for Church, don't sweat it kid I put a red cloth infront of his eyes and took the flak for you. Don't do that again." The last words had a stronger intonation to them.

---

Leaving the room with the others, Vajas ignited a cigarret on his lips, largely ignoring the signs of prohibition. "No Mr.Church, you are not my father. Probably because my father is old enough to also be your father." Vajas leaves the room, mumbling something along the lines of 'Where does he get calling me a Weapon, I will show him true bio weapons'.

As they walk to the Plane, Vajas turns to Tumult to ask him. "I never quiet got what you said before, What is it specifically your powers let you do? I ask because if you can do something no one else in the team can, I need to know to see if we can make a real strategy and assign real positions."

"Oh sorry, I probably should have said something about my powers before now. I can control types of entropy and probability, also I look pretty good and am a quick thinker. That is about it I think, I hope it is useful in the upcoming mission"

"Well then Dougal, what I think what we need to do first; is to strategize." Ingot had raised an eyebrow upon hearing Timult's brief explanation of his powers. "We can do it on the plane."

Ingot was already packing up his briefcase and making mental notes. His quick mind was formulating different scenarios and situation that might befall the group. He leaned over to Timult and, not having done it before, shook his hand. As he does, he exchanges information about himself. "I am also a very quick thinker. We should look at our options when it comes to DeChaos. I think coming up with several plans would be our best bet. By the way, I am...or was, a wealthy investment banker. I still am wealthy, but I don't do any banking anymore. I can also create and control the element Gold."

The limo that they road in seemed only to be a limo so that it might fit them all properly. With the mood they left Church in, it was a wonder they weren't being transported in a small school bus. The Limo had drinks, however, and that made it a comfortable short trip. They had a small escort of black BMW's.

The plane was a modest private jet, and it seemed that Project Utopia were sparing expenses where they could. It was large enough to have a few different compartments, storage, seating, and cockpit, but that was the extent. There was a main pilot, and a co-pilot which doubled for a stewardest. They were part of the escort, and greeted the passengers as they entered the plane.

It took off several minutes later.

Rapido proceeds at a more reasonable pace towards Rome, where the deposits himself at the Rashoud Lab there to await pickup by the term.

"Well, that helps a bit Tumult, not what we really needed but your contributions will be greatly appreciated." Vajas takes a laptop from his back and sets it down on his little table once he is sitted on the plane.

"So far we know this team:
- A crazy psycopath is going to try to kill a kid.
- The Kid is able to decrease his impact on the real world and pass through solid walls and obstacles, this is a plus if he is to survive.
- The kid dosen't know we are protecting him, which defeats the purpose of us being a famous team.
- We don't actually know what DaChaos does.
This can all be summed up in that when expecting the unexpected, prepare for evertyhing. There are 7 of us, and unfortunetly I don't quiet have the hang of being able to mantain multiple mental links, we will use old fashioned OpTransmiters."

Turnings to his partners in crime, he tries to seize them up. "Realistically we are more built towards taking out threats that on investigate research but all of us had lives before we entered this training program, we are not just blank papers with powers." Focusing on specific team-mates as he talks, he seems to have the idea of a plan.
"Dougal, you are an ex military man, you can help us on the usage of Stealth in this mision, we are going to need it if we are to keep this kid watched."

"Tumult, Eisenfaust and Ingot all three of you can pass as normal people with a good enough disguise, you can keep tabs on the kid by following him around separetly." Looking at the three men with differant ranges of ages, types of build and nationalities, he was sure making a connection between them would be hard.

"Virago you are sligthly problematic, since you are a complete and total knockout on the apperance department, tryingto follow him might rise suspicions, but I'm open to suggestions" He looks at the rest of the team "I'm open to suggestions from all of you, we are a team on this and if we don't stick together we might as well give up the mission right now." Vajas eyes glaze over sligthly "Which reminds me, Rapido will be waiting in Rome, if we make a plan right now, we need to feed it to him once we get there."

Ingot nods to Vajas in understanding and approval. "I don't have any outward traits that would distinguish me from a normal person. If I wear baggy clothing, or something that hides my physique, there should not be a problem."

Victor rubs his forehead in thought. He looks at the other team members and proposes a plan of action. "How to get close to him without him suspecting will be the hard part. If he goes to a bar or club, I can try and befriend him. Once I have done that, I can make him a job offer. If he works for me, I can keep him close. If anyone has a better idea, speak up."

He grins at Virago, and gives her a teasing wink in response to Vaja's comment about her stunning looks. "You could always play the part of 'girlfriend'".

The plane ride was short, as Paris to Rome was not far. The team was not treated with a reception in Rome, and drew little attention. Some people would look their way, but all disregarded them as fakes or the like. After a minute or two of preparing to leave the airport, they spot a man waving to them, looking like a chauffer.

"Does anyone remember Church talking about a chauffer?" Ingot queried his partners. "After the explosion in Japan, I am wary of unanounced strangers."

While onboard the plane, Ingot had his eufiber change to a more modest business attire, with the top unbottoned and the tie loosened. The suit itself was also less ostentatious, looking more like a $200 cotton/wool blend, than the normal $5000.00 Armani cashmier/silk. He was asuming that the Kid did not come from the upper crust of Italian society, and would stay near him modest roots. Victor could be wrong. For now, looking like a weary business traveler would be less inconspicuous than a wealthy banking magnate.

"No, nobody mentioned a chauffer. Which just makes me thing we should take a cab for now." Vajas walks straight pass the man and waves down a cab. "I won't fall for the same trick again this time."

While the cabbie awaits, Vajas would like to mentally scan the chauffer, profoundly and looking for anything that might incriminate him as having even an ounce of malice for them on his mind.

Victor had been following along in silence but stops as something catches his eye. It was the same pink-checkered pattern Ping had been wearing. Immediately he he thinks hard in the direction of Vajas. Look I think that's Ping. He indicates where he saw her with his eyes and nods. React quietly and tell the others. I think we ought to follow her. I know we need to find Rapido, but we need to tie up this loose end.

Victor watches the others for their reactions. This situations was awkward. None of them had been alerted about a chauffer, they already mistrusted everyone, and there were people who were trying to kill them. Even with all this going on, they still had to save The Kid, and capture DeChaos.

Something was bothering Eisenfaust. He had been walking along with them, but was now stopped and staring intently at Vajas.

"What is it?" Victor says as he walks over to Eisenfaust.

"I just saw Ping. I'm hoping we can follow her and get some answers."

Ping? Here? Vajas doesn't want to miss a beat on this opportunity to redeem himself. Eisenfaust, Ingot. Entretain the Chauffer, find out who sent him. Tumult, Dougal help me out I'm going to try to find Ping with a mental scan, see if you can find her using your eyes

Vajas casually closes his eyes, holding onto the bridge of his nose as if he had a big headache, releasing back the dam that his node presented to his quantum flow, he breathed out softly as he sent a telepathic probe as far as he could reach, looking specifically for Ping.

Tumult looked around for a minute then stopped.
"Who is Ping?"

"Ping?!" Ingot was alarmed, and the name hissed from his lips. "I have a few questions for her."



Victor really wanted to search for that pink-checkered wench, but he knew that Vajas would have a better chance. when they did catch her, Victor would make sure that he got some answers.

"Ping is one of the people we suspect that blew up my jet" He says to Timult.

He turns toward the Chauffer, and with a smile, he looks at the man before shaking his hand. "You say you are here to pick us up? Might I ask if you have a copy of your orders, and who called for you to pick us up? As a chauffer, you should keep copies of all that information with you."

[OOC: I fugured that he has had enough exp. with limousines and chauffers that he would know if this was true.]

As Vajas scans the Chauffer, he only smiles. His thoughts are very plain and knowing. He obviously expected it being as Vajas was a psychic, and he did not resist at all. "I had orders from a Mr. Church, ser." He said. "My papers are legit, but in the limo. Would you like me to retrieve them, or.. " He looked at Vajas. "Or would you just like to scan my mind once more and get a mental picture of them?"

He seems perfectly legitimate.

As Vajas scans the entire crowd, looking for anything that might indicate Ping, he notices two things weird. The first being that he does not sense Ping whatsoever. Even with visual contact, he doesn't see a thing. The second thing is that he locates another Nova in the Airport. The psychic profile leaves the best indication of Shark DeChaos.

Virago reacts to the news of Ping with a slight panic, but more anger and determination. She immediately runs off into the crowd and is very quickly out of sight.

Vajas ignores the chauffer completely, Ping was not appearing, once was his fault, twice in a row was a dirty trick. I'm going to get you Ping, you will not be able to evade me forever, and when I get you? You won't want to have been alive in the first place. While Vajas was sligthly distracted with that tought the second wave of quantum scanning came back and it hit him like a ton of rocks.

"...DeChaos?" the voice was low, but strong enough for Ingot and Tumult and he barely misses Virago as her perfectly honed and toned body reacts in anger to the news of Ping and bolts towards it in less than a second.

"...Shit! Ingot, Tumult, help me get Virago and E