Ladena Valley Heroes

TheGreenerGrey

TheGreenerGrey

Self-proclaimed everything expert.
Ladena Valley, newly established college town, part of the good ol' US of A and seemingly constantly alive as the sounds of music flood the downtown while rooms are filled eith the murmuring of students up at the college of the League. The valley is full to the brim by young college students, all flocking to the one place in the country where tuition costs next to nothing curtesy of the Justice League. You are one of these students.

But unlike the majority of those around you, you are aware of the true purpose of the valley. The entire town, funded by the likes of Green Arrow and Batman, rising up over the course of a few years in the name of keeping a secret. That secret is you and the rest of your team.

An entire town was raised in order to keep your team, the newly established group of protégés and trainees of members of the league or close associates, a secret. In the name of training and preparing the next generation, you have been brought together (voluntarily or otherwise) by the league to get experience in the job of being a hero, as well as turn over a new leaf.

A new town would mean new villains and new problems, so it is up to you to safeguard the people of Ladena Valley against any who may threaten them.

-----

You and the rest of the crew are currently housed in your secret base, a down trodden gym in what was made the seedier side of town. On the corner of the block, the gym is a two story, beat up looking building. In the front the doors are boarded up and a closed sign has been permanently placed in the dark tinted window. It's been closed long before the League built Ladena Valley University, and no one can really remember a time when it was open.

Inside, though, the gym is brightly lit. The ground floor hosts the work out area with the weights and treadmills and such , a small training room that was likely used for gym classes and now contains punching bags and the like. Also on the bottom floor are the locker rooms. Two showers, two bathroom stalls, and a set of fifteen lockers in each.

Upstairs there's a recon room designed for meeting and strategizing. There's a large conference table, a map of their humble city, and a paper taped to the wall with the numbers of the League members. Outside of the conference room is what appears to be a long area. Bookshelves line one wall, there's a tv in the corner with comfortable couches lined up. A small kitchenette is in another corner and piled up near the dining table is a stack of brand new, unopened board games.

Closer to the rear of the building is the Garage, which houses the vehicles available to the team. The team has bene given a large and powerful jeep, armour plated on all sides and filled to the brim with technology. However, members of the team with previously owned vehicles have been given their own space, and their rides have also been upgraded by the league. The Garage also doubles as the equipment room, as along the back wall of the area are spare costumes and weapons of the team, each neatly sorted by hero with the equipment below the costume.

[You and your team vaguely know of each other, having met a day ago with the rest of the League. You are now in your base of operations for the first time.]
 
Last edited:
Lark plucked at the fabric of her costume, eyeing the others in the group cautiously. The meeting with them yesterday had been brief--long enough to internally mock or appreciate all of their costumes--and she wasn't sure how she felt about this little initiative.

The gym was a nice enough space, she'd decided as she'd walked all around the downstairs; the shower heads seemed to be quality, and there were a few books on the bookshelves that had caught her eyes when she'd finally made it upstairs.

Prancing a bit, she finally made it into the conference room; she wanted to sit on the table, but opted for a chair like a normal person, since the room was looking so official. Except, she couldn't stay like that long and pretty soon she'd hopped up and sat on the table, tucking her feet onto the comfy executive style chair. Behind that mask, sharp eyes darted between the other members of their little group. She was seated near-ish to Red Sentinel since she knew the most about him, even if that wasn't much. Shard, she remembered, was more or less in charge.

She'd never really considered the concept that someone would be in charge of her. Clearing her throat and moving her chair back and forth with her feet, Lark finally spoke up. "So. Now what?"
 
If Lila could be described in one word, it would be 'exotic' with that incredibly dark hair cut in that saucy bob, blue eyes, and Russian features. She was dressed in a black cotton sheath with patterned black and gray leggings and black flats. She was incredibly shy and only found solace with the mask to her identity or with a chemistry set. This business of communicating outside of a classroom setting was disturbing on a new level for her.

Yesterday had not gone as horribly wrong as she had anticipated, and she had done her usual of standing near the back on the tour and taking notes as they walked. Today, however, the jury was still out on today. She was not certain how this was going to go at all, but she figured as long as she did not say much, perhaps she would not draw attention to herself.

Stepping into the conference room, she barely looked at anyone as she made a beeline for the nearest empty chair and sat. From her bag, she pulled out a notebook and black pen, thumb nervously clicking until she caught the eye of someone glaring across the table at her and she lay her pen on the notebook until they got started.

Idly she wondered why the one girl was literally sitting on the table. Odd, that one, but she supposed they were all a little weird to begin with. When the girl spoke up, Lila lifted her shoulders slightly in a shrug, shaking her head. She had no idea what was going on.
 
The first thing Rikki thought entering the building was "wow, I could live in here". Her next thought was "I wouldn't have to pay for the water bills...right?"Because lets face it, the base looked more liveable than her messy run-down apartment with its faulty light bulbs.

Unable to decide whether to go in full costume or just in her casual clothes, Rikki had opted for just slapping on her mask while still wearing her civilian clothing. She dressed simple in a dark blue parka over a simple t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of well-worn black sneakers.

Upon entering the conference room, she took a while to take in her surroundings before plopping her ass onto one of the comfy office chairs and then bringing her knees up to her chest, feet on the edge of the seat. She looks up as one of her teammates , Lark , spoke.

" I dunno. This a meeting or something ? "
 
Despite all the training Shard had endured when he was in the League, he had never once been taught how to be a good leader and that scared him.

Where do I start? He questioned himself, adjusting his posture on the wall he'd been leaning against. Taking what little comfort his disguise could give him. Because the real Shard would know what to say in this situation and when he wore this outfit, he was Shard. He would have to speak up, talk to these people and lead them towards the true justice that the world needed so desperately.

Shard drew a blank and he was beginning to feel like the whole meeting would be done in silence before Lark spoke up, snapping him out of the deeper thoughts he was getting lost in.

"Yes. This is a meeting." Shard responded to Tanglerat directly, turning his head to look at her. He felt himself become more comfortable after speaking and so he continued. "I think the first thing we need to establish between all of us is a little more familiarity. We'll be out there in the streets soon, protecting the innocent and risking our lives. The only back up we have is each other. There will be a lot of trust involved in this."

Pausing his little speech, Shard fought back the urge to sigh. He didn't want to sound uneasy in front of everyone, not so soon...but he'd already run out of things to say.

"Anyone have any ideas on how we can do this?"
 
Last edited:
The others were quiet.

So much so that it was starting to actually frighten the girl who buried her head in her arms, settling for the comfort of the large table splayed out in the living room. . Not that she was complaining, but she was used to loud noises and frequent yelling. Her soft light blue onesie, although an odd choice, seemed completely normal when in a room with some edgy boy wonder and kids who got lost on the way to a cosplay convention. Although her goggles obstructed her face from her pillow-like arms. Lifting her head up, she lazily listened in to whatever the others were saying. This would at least help her to keep up with the conversation and prevent her from being misinformed. The Rat girl from before seemed pretty lost in particular, as if she didn't know what was going on. Poor her.

When their supposed leader speaks up, seemingly abruptly aware of the current situation, Zoila laughed internally as if his inability to form cohesive sentences without taking two goddamn minutes to think about a brilliant way to deliver it was hilarious.

Ahhhh. Socially inept people.

With that, she took it as her cue to place her hand up as to draw attention and speak up through her very simplistic bandanna. "We can be assigned to be partners with different people every day, given tasks to do together. I guess that will help us learn about each other in an effective way."
 
Jordan looked up from where he had been sitting, reclining into one of the comfy chairs as his feet rest upon the table. As the others had filed in at sat awkwardly, the teen had fiddled with his silver piercings. He was unmasked, his face in full view as his helmet was tucked underneath the crook of his arm. He was dressed in his casual clothes, a simple t-shirt and jeans that went rather well with his dark complexion.

When Shard and the lazy one started talking, he removed his feet form the desk and sat forward, placing his helmet upon the table. "Or we could just, you know, introduce ourselves. I know the boyscout did it for us yesterday, but if we did it ourselves it might be better." He says, refferring to the previous day when Superman himself had brought the group into one room.

"'Course, we could just go out now. We're supposed to be a team, right? Something like that? So just making pairs wouldn't work on the whole." He says, continuing on before anyone could cut him off. "And while I ain't that big on the whole 'letting psychopaths and mass murderers live to do it again' thing, i'm also a fan of not being in arkham, so i'm willing to give this a shot if you guys are."

He finishes his litte speech, reclining back into his chair and feeling somewhat proud of himself. Look at him go, giving the goody two-shoes and Lark a chance before he found out how to hide from superman.
 
Right. A meeting.

She'd almost forgotten the quiet Shard was in charge. He wouldn't have been her first vote, but she supposed he would do. He certainly seemed to fit the type of Golden Child. Hm.

Lark, the psychology major, spoke up with a bit of a snort. "You know we can't just manifest trust. It's something that has to be... I don't know, earned?" Her sarcasm would be hard to miss. "I mean, there are studies that show people gain grow closer to people when they share a moment of adrenaline. They had this whole experiment where they had a guy wait on a rickety bridge and ask girls for phone numbers. The same guy would try to get numbers in a safer environment and he was extremely more successful on the bridge."

She paused. Her nerd was showing. The girl cleared her throat. "Anyway. I'm Lark. I trained under The Joker and Harley for a time, and then it was just me and Aunt Harls." Her head tilted to the side, "I suppose you'll know I trust you when I tell who my 'normal' identity is, though honestly I still prefer Lark. But my identity is my safe place from you guys, so. That's me. I like cookies, mayhem, and fluffy animals and many, many other things." She kicked the chair her feet had been resting in forward and looked around to see who would introduce themselves next.
 
As the others spoke, Rikki would idly swiveled her comfy chair in gentle rotations from time to time. Don't get her wrong, she was paying attention even if it didn't seem that way. It was just how she was. And if she appeared lost, that's because she is. As far as social situations go, she didn't know up from down. But hell, she's gonna try anyways. She supposed she'd screw up one way or another, eventually, so might as well go ahead.

A few seconds after Lark finished, Rikki spoke up, leaning a little ways forward in her chair. "N-name's Tanglerat." Was she doing this right? "Honestly I don't think my secret identity's even a secret, no one's gonna recognise me anyways." And with that she just pushes her mask up, revealing her face in full. Might as well show them now so there won't be any confusion if she ever forgets to wear her mask inside the base. "I'll probably be hanging around this base often, just a heads up."
 
The scritch of a pen nib on paper followed every suggestion with notes and her own ideas branching out from each circled suggestion in some form of a demented word map until finally the furious writing stopped abruptly and the pen was laid precisely on the pad. Blue eyes fringed in long, sooty lashes rose to soberly and directly take in each person. Being of a clinical mind and a shy personality, she normally waited until a full thought had formed and been examined for ramifications before speaking, and this was similarly the case.

“What about a game night...?” She let that thought hang in the air a moment before continuing, “There are a number of unopened boxes of games here. I saw Sorry, Cards Against Humanity, Apples to Apples, Monopoly, and I'm sure there are others. We can order pizza, make popcorn, drink, if so inclined. With board games you have the opportunity to get to know others, sometimes work as a team or with a partner depending on the game, and the competition adds an adrenalin rush. You get the best of all suggestions.”

As an afterthought, she stated, “I'm Lila, by the way. Protege of Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter.”
 
Jordan clicked his tongue as Lila finished talking, giving her a glare from across the table. The Hatter's antics had cost many a life, and the whole aspect of brainwashing made him uncomfortable to say the least. Leaning forward, he placines his left hand over his helmet as he looks at the woman. "I very much doubt Monopoly is gonna help increase our trust. I mean, i've only played it once but it ended up with Jason and I at gunpoint with each other." He states, his attitude confrontational. "But aside from that, I suppose a game night could be fun." He adds grudgingly.

Looking around and away from Lila, he relaxes a little more as he looks into his helmet, avoiding the looks of the others. "Name's Jordan Bellows, also known as Red Sentinel. I was adopted and trained under Red Hood. You could probably tell that that's where I get the name from. I enjoy cooking, renovating and driving. I think my place here is the muscle? The boyscout wasn't really that clear." He says seriously, looking up from his helmet for a brief moment to inspect the other members.

"Uhhh, aside from that I suppose I should add that the red and black motorbike in the garage is mine and I am one hundred percent willing to use lethal force if anyone here so much as touches my baby without my say so. That goes for you too Lark. You already tried to steal it once."
 
Good. At least they're talking now. Shard's tension was entirely gone now as his teammates started to name themselves and even gave some suggestions for his question. For a second, he even felt like some things were going in a good direction.

He ignored his first reaction to the game nights. The concept was foreign to him and didn't seem to be a good, productive use of time. But that was his League training kicking in. That was not how he was going to do things.

Once introductions were made, he spoke up again. "I'm Shard. As some of you may know, I've been appointed as the leader of our unit. That said, I expect that I don't have to babysit any of you. We've all seen our own share of action or darkness in our lives, and we've managed to get here anyways. If you do need help, just ask."

He took a moment to let everything sink in and spoke again.

"As for games... why don't we play one right now? Tag perhaps?" That was what people played these days, right? Tag? "Powers are allowed. Combat is to be kept non-lethal and non-crippling. We'll have a time limit. 10 minutes. The person who's 'It' at the end will have clean-up duty for the next two days."

He scanned the room, looking to see if anyone was interested. He wanted to see their strengths and weaknesses for themselves. Aside from fighting them one on one, he supposed a 'game' could make it more fun.
 
Before Zoila could raise her voice and introduce herself, the mighty leader of the group had spoken out first, not only disallowing her to introduce herself, but also making suggestions far beyond her area of expertise. Firsty off, she narrowed her eyes as he said that the group has had a fair share of ‘action’ or ‘darkness’ in their life. What does that even mean? Isn’t coming here the part where they experience said action and darkness? Or is everyone else here some kind of trained vigilante hero that have been going on missions since they got out of the womb or something? Because knowing Red Hood, judging by Lark’s ‘defined personality and the fact that she was trained by The Joker and Harley Quinn as well as the Russian chick’s mentor, they’ve probably... actually she wasn’t really sure. Shit must’ve went down at some point in their life and to be completely honest, Zoila couldn’t care less.

Then there was Shard, who is obviously also part of the group who has experienced some form of ‘darkness’ or ‘action’ but she couldn’t really pinpoint it with him. He also didn’t seem to be fond of sharing personal information, judging by his introduction. Tanglerat seemed to be the only one that’s seemed trustworthy in the room, and that was only because her mentor wouldn’t shut up about her boyfriend’s protégée.

God.

A game of tag.

What are we, five?

A loud sound of protest echoed in the room as the telekinetic rolled backwards on her chair and gave out an exasperated sigh.

“As much as the destruction of our conference room would be greatly amusing....”

She stopped in her complaining, remembering what she came here to do. Become a hero. So that she could prove that lowlife nobody that she could do whatever the hell she wanted. In the midst of her whining, she abruptly got up, clapped her hands and smiled at the group. A complete 180 degree mood shift.

“I think that’s wonderful idea!”
 
Last edited:
Lark didn't bat an eye at the sudden shift in mood from Zoila. It didn't seem that odd to her, considering her mentors, but she supposed it might be odd to some of the others. Honestly, though, the idea of playing games to get to know each other was not Lark's first choice. But she was supposed to be a team player, right? "Sure we can..." Monopoly ruined families. Imagine what it could do to a newly formed team? She paused in her thought and then Shard spoke up once more.

Tag.

He wanted to play tag?

She raised a brow and glanced around at the small room. "Uh, might I make a suggestion. How about instead of destroying our base... we play hide and seek tag, but out in the city? You did say powers could be used, right?" Never mind that neither she nor Red had powers. She still wasn't sure what the Queen of Heart's powers were and she might not have any. "I just think it might be... more of a challenge if we spread out a bit. It would also give us a chance to explore what is now our domain."

She hopped off the table. "Um. Not it."
 
Tanglerat had taken their newly appointed leader to be the voice of reason or at least their designated dad friend. So when he suggested tag of all games, she had almost let out a little laugh. But that would be rude, to laugh at their leader right in front of him, so she had fake coughed to cover that up.

Tag. In a conference room. Powers allowed. Tangle could barely think of a single thing that could go right from that. And then Lark brought up bringing the game out into the city. Oh...so instead of destroying their base they were going to possibly destroy the rest of the town? Still, that was better than playing tag in a conference room.A childlike part of her had to admit though, tag did sound like it could be fun

"Wait. Are we really going with this? Seriously?" Her words could have been taken as a refusal if it wasn't for the big ol' grin of amusement on her face. "Well...there's six of us, so how 'bout we each pick a number and decide who's 'it' with a dice roll? They should have at least one for the boardgames right?"
 
Instantly on alert at the fact Jordan dismissed her with a click of his tongue, Lila's delicate dark brows sank downward with each disparaging word. Despite wanting to aim a kick at his shins beneath the table, Lila waited patiently for him to finish his spiel before replying, as was only mannerly. And when there was an opening, she stated mildly, “It was only a suggestion, Jordan, and might I say that the way you are glaring daggers at me, not to mention your tone of voice, are not doing much to foster trust either.”

After a lingering, perhaps unreadable look at Jordan, Lila slid her eyes back down to her paper, clicked the pen once more and began to make a few more notes as the others spoke. It did not matter to her if no one liked her idea of a game night, but she was not much of the rowdy sort like some of the others, so tag was not high up in her esteem, and she especially did not want to play it here in a conference room. It would last all of five seconds before the entire room was destroyed. However, a city-wide game of tag...perhaps that had more merit despite her not actually having powers. Her blue eyes flicked up to Lark in approval with a small smile before flicking back down to the paper and her notes.

Lila considered Tanglerat's suggestion of the dice and then nodded, “I second that motion.”
 
Jordan harrumphed as he diverted his eyes from the vixen. While he admitted he may not have been doing his best efforts to foster trust, he wasn't exactly repentant. He didn't like mind control, brainwashing, anything like that. It just felt so... invasive. Touching, editing and controlling something that only one person should ever be able to claim ownership of.

It didn't help that when he had been trained he had had extensive encounters with Professor Pyg's little puppets. The 'perfect' soldiers with their single minded ferocity and creepy little masks... well, he hadn't slept well after his first encounter with them.

Getting back to the task at hand, he quickly realised that the Tag idea was gaining tract. Looking at the rest of the crew, he figured he had a shot at evading two of the five, Tangle and Lila. Huh. Two Ls. Funny. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he managed to catch the tail end of Tanglerat's suggestion and Lila's folowing support. For a moment he simoly continued to watch, until a though struck him and Jordan bent over in his chair to reach into his backpack that was on the floor containing his few possessions.

Rifling through, he mutters under his breath about how he 'could have sworn they were here somewhere'. Eventually, he lets out a triumphant shout and withdraws a red and faded six sided die. "One is me, two is Lark, three is Tangle, four is Telek, five is Lila and six is Shard." He says simply, before throwing the die down.

The moment he threw it he didn't bother to look at the results. That single die there was weighted to be a three. Usually it was part of a set, but it did pretty well here. He felt somewhat sorry, but Tangle was the most... inexperienced, he supposed.

He looked over the desk for a second, saw the three and stood up. Grabbing his helmet, he begins to talk as he places it on. "There gonna be a prize or something?" He asks, the last word distorted and demonic as his helmet fits over his head and the sound of locking mechanisms were heard. His was a lot more... advanced than his master's, but it was also expensive as hell.
 
Last edited:
Telek looked at the die and grimaced. Poor Tanglerat. Such an amateur and naive soul shouldn't have to go through the shit she knows the others are gonna pull. Better than it being her though, she's hatched the perfect master plan for the entire tag. Recording her footsteps and flying the phone around town to act as if she's doing something. Whilst simultaneously praying Shard doesn't find out. That would be awkward to explain.

"A prize...? Why would we need an incentive other than us bonding and having a good time?!" Telek stretched her arms out lazily above her head as the sleeves of her hoodie pulled on her wrists. "Además... No quiero recompensar cualquiera egoísta..." Muttering under her breath, she looked towards Shard and smiled politely.

"So? Should we start?"
 
As much as it felt nice having people actually agree to a suggestion she made - a rare occurrence - Tanglerat couldn't help but noticed how fast that was. She didn't even have to go get a dice from the stack of unopened boardgames.

He just happened to have a dice on hand , huh ? Well that wasn't exactly grounds for suspicion but it did feel just a little too off for Tangle. And just like that, Red Sentinel went ahead with the numbers and rolled the dice. Wait , don't the others have to agree before going ahead with the suggestion ? She wasn't all that sure. She wasn't very experienced when it comes to being part of a group.

However, she was experienced in being cheated. And she did know enough that when someone brings up their own dice and rolls it straight away, there's definitely something up.

Tangle let out an audible "aww " as the dice settled on a side. It appeared that she was 'It'. Not wanting the others to think her a spoilsport or anything , Tanglerat would play along for now. Plus , it was just a game , wasn't it ? A fun little game.

Almost a bit too rapidly, a grin spread across her face as she pulled her mask back down over her face. It was a good thing Red asked if there was a prize , because now maybe he would stick around for a little while for an answer. While Telek , the only other seemingly reliable person in the room spoke , the rat had silently and swiftly slid off her chair and under the table. Despite her skill in stealth , Tangle had no doubt that anyone paying attention to her would have noticed that fairly quickly. Which meant she needed to be quicker. Or at least , quicker than Red.

Yeah , she's definitely going for him once she sees any sign of the game starting. From what she recalled about tag , the game starts once anyone who isn't 'It' starts running.
 
Shard may have been able to pinpoint the exact moment things started to get a little out of control: the beginning. He should've had a plan, that was his mistake. Now, they were going out into the streets to play a game of tag.

What would Talia think of this? Everything about the situation was so foreign and improper for him that it was almost painful to let it continue. But this seemed to be what his group wanted to do, maybe they considered stuff like this to be fun. He'd give it a shot.

He had to think about what should be given as a prize. "What kind of prize would be fair a cheap? Food? No chores?" he glanced around the room, looking for some sort of suggestion. He was running with this, though he'd have a harder time now being able to judge how well they moved. He'd try to get something positive out of all of this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top