Issue 1 Downtime

The bus had dropped them all off a ways away from Maldon, roughly towards London from the school. The area had apparently been a prospective industrial area that just hadn't worked. There was a very small village they'd passed through a little ways away, but right now? Their focus was on this one abandoned factory.

The factory stood looming over them, the gates creaking in the evening wind now that the chains bolting them shut had been cut. All in all, it looked extremely unsafe. Ryan stood, waiting for the chattering to die down before he started instructing.

Mars looked excited, with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Please tell me that you're going Battle Royale on us," Regan says, smirking.

"OMFG," One of Riot's proxies says, "It's is w-w-way too fucking bright out here."

In Britain. In November.

"Yeah, I've seen this movie, the serial killer starts picking us off one by one when we get inside, right?" Cal muttered, making sure the teachers couldn't hear him.

Theresa disliked mandatory things as a general rule, but Ryan had helped her out and she was determined to at least attempt to enjoy herself, depending on what exactly they were doing here. She looked at the sky while she waited for Ryan to start, trying to read any oncoming weather.

Haley poked Cal in the ribs playfully. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. The cute blonde chick usually makes it to the end alive. Unless she's the first to die," she teased.

Steph held a tablet in an all-weather case, and did a careful head count, standing next to Ryan.

"Looks like the lair of the diabolical Doctor Tetanus," Steve observed.

"Or a set for the next Silent Hill movie."

"Oh hey look, I'm back home in Flint." Kay mumbles to herself.

Riot had collapsed onto the ground, holding a cell phone, "No bars? WTFBBQ?"

"This sssssuuuuuucccckkssss...."

Alex looked around dubiously. "Is this... even safe?"

Mars takes her quiver and bow out of her duffel bag, swinging both over her shoulder.

Regan snorts, "Since when do you care about being safe?"

Alex glared at Regan, then frowned slightly. He thought a minute, then shook his head, looking up at the teachers again.

"All right!" Ryan called over the group. "This test is simple! We start here. You walk through this gate. Past the factory is a field. Past the field is a forest. In the forest is a beacon. At least three people need to touch the beacon, and the test is over."

"The rules! No leaving anyone behind! There will be no kamikaze plans, there will be no waiting while everyone else goes and does all the work! On the grounds we have X-Corp employees with paintball guns. THere are also security drones to report your position to them, and to activate remote guns. Again, it's all paintballs, nothing dangerous. But if someone gets hit enough times, you all start at a checkpoint you've already passed. And there is no offensive use of your powers against any of the guards."

"That doesn't sound so hard," Steve whispered to Mars.

Wayne grumbled and kicked a rock.

"With this group?" Mars whispers back, "It's going to be like herding cats."

"FYI, dying," RIot says, still sprawled across the ground, "Someone c-c-carry me."

Riot grins lecherously, "Preferably one of the p-p-pretty boys."

"Quick question," Theresa said, raising her hand, "Lethal on the guards is against the rules. Are the drones a part of that or can we get rough with them?"

Ryan smirked. "You can try. Creativity is going to be graded better than overwhelming brute force."

"Just want to understand the encounter before the group takes it on," she responded, looking around as if she was taking stock.

Steve quietly wondered if he'd get to use his powers at all.

"Hey, how many people can you link up?" Mars asks Steve, "You should network the group. Make it easier for us to communicate."

"I... umm..." he said, self-consciously scratching the back of his head, "Haven't tried that..."

"First time for everything," Mars says with a grin.

"And if nothing else, you can help us figure out where the guards are," Theresa pointed out. "Come on, Riot. Get up. We're going to need your duplicates."

With a put upon groan, Riot gets to her feet, "FML."

Lillian stood among the flock of chatty students, staring at what awaited just ahead. She worried her bottom lip. This wasn't what she had in mind of a field trip. She had pictured going to a museum or some sort of landmark not ...whatever this place was.

"So...we should probably like...actually try and work together on this. Maybe split up into a couple of groups and each go a little different way maybe?"

"Like...Steve and I could try to keep the differnt groups on contact...and we sorta split up like...with powers that work together...can you shift okay Lillian?"

"Looks like they're getting to things," Ryan whispered to Steph. "Let's make ourselves scarce."

"Huh?" She blinked a few times to break her stare and turned her head to Haley. "Oh, uh-Yeah, sort of."

"I think that we should stick together." a disembodied voice said near Haley's shoulder "I could try going a little be ahead to scout."

"The sooner you guys get this finished, the sooner you get us out of your hair," he said, smirking. "So get moving." With that, he headed back to the bus to leave them to their devices.

Mariuset, who had been hanging back shyly said "I may be able to help with the drones as well."

"Whelp, time for everyone but Kay to be useful." she mumbles to herself.

"Probably should see what they've got for us, first," Cal said, not seeing any point in being a dick until this was over.

Theresa tapped her chin in thought and her eyes flared. "If you can fly, we need you in the air keeping an eye out for the guards. Kay, Brigid, Alex, can you trail us a little bit? Make sure we don't lose anyone as we move. Riot, create as many duplicates as you can comfortably maintain and scatter them around the group to help confuse things. Cal, I trust you can help us figure out where the drones are. They have to be transmitting somehow, see if you can pick up on it. Haley, if you can shield us with TK when we come under fire, that should help us keep moving. Steve, see if you can keep a mind out for the guards' minds. That will give us a heads up. Mars, Mariuset, stick with Cal. If he can pick out a drone for you, see if you can disable it. Aisha and Lillian, if you're comfortable with it Lillian, scout ahead and come right back to us if you've find something we need to know about. We also need to know where that beacon is once we get to the forest." She seemed to be feeling in her element as a light fog started gathering. "Make sense?"

"I vote her leader," Steve said with a smirk, pointing at Theresa.

"Who... am I with though?"