Slade Inc. (Slade and Eliza)

[slade]

A pair of feet walked over the concrete floor, a look of speculation poured out of the only piece of flesh visible from the figure, a single eyeball. He regarded figures moving through the abandoned tunnels with authority, this place was his and he walked through it as if everything else was as well, what other people thought was immaterial. They were misinformed. Each of his steps was quiet, confident and almost predatory despite his relaxed posture and pose. He held his hands clasped behind his back as he directed the construction going on. It was very makeshift at the moment but man helmed with a familiar black and orange helmet could see the potential. He stopped from time to time to point out the destinations for supplies and materials and to get hands on a bit as he connected another flood light to the high energy generator he had 'acquired' a few years back. The lights as they turned on placed him in stark relief from the darkness. Slade gazed forth from the one eyed helm and nodded a bit in satisfaction.
"While it is true my apprentice that there is no place like home and home is where the heart is for people in our unique position it is nice to have a place where you can plan and process data in peace. Where machines can be constructed and items enchanted... so you could say home for us is where the mind is."

He smirked at the comment but he spent much of his time smirking these days, things had not progressed as he had planned that was true, the Titans had stopped his last plan to destroy that hated city and for his troubles he had been thrown in a pool of magma and sent to Hell itself... but even that he had been able to turn to his advantage, outwitting a demon lord even, working together with Robin, and bringing himself back to life... all had been so satisfying. It had well been worth the price of previous failure.

He had even been nice enough to give Terra a going away present before he had left to gather new resources. Sadly it looked like he was going to have to take back part of the present but he was ever so certain she would understand. He would stake his life on it... in fact he probably was going to have to. If it didn't work as planned... he banished the thought, it would go as planned because this plan had been in motion sense he revival. This time things would be different, he had gone a differant direction this time... rather then associating with demons.. he was going quite the opposite direction it seemed. Smirking still he progressed through the cave and side stepped a swarm of opal beetles. Their shells shining in the light.

Nodding at them he approached where his apprentice, her guardian, and her friend "Mr. Bitey" were gathered. He didn't mind talking to her creatures and having her talk through them but he prefered face to face communication even if her eyes were closed as she meditated.

"Well Eliza, how is my old friend Jinx doing? and while your at it give me the progress reports on the other projects, we have so many friends to meet."

[echidna]

The Broodmother had doffed her helmet, the breather and goggles combo beeped and ran with a soft, computational sound as data she was ignoring sped across the heads up display. She must have looked a sight - Mr. Bitey lay curled around her, his long, sinew-coated body pulsing with steady, perfectly relaxed breath. He had nothing to fear, no concerns aside this unity with his mother, and she, with a furrowed brow of concentration, did not breach it a lick to speak with Slade.

Mr. Bitingston picked up his hat gently in a clawed pair of fingers, and positioned it comfortably on his head, opening his multitude of eyes to focus each and every one on Slade. A few words crossed his mind - words from his mind, words from Mother's. Friend, teacher, predator, dangerous, wolf... and something along the lines of 'Jinx went to see a movie and is walking down words-words-words avenue and looks like she's about to have a good time at somebody else's bodily injury, but she's looking healthy and back to her old tricks again', and 'you'd better not give him a shortened version again, kid'. He nodded.

"Purnkhead lurks goord, hur head ees beeg and floorfy!" he began in his deep, awkward conversational gait, sitting up a little straighter when he recieved an unseen psychic jab to stay on topic. "Purnkhead irs... Jurnks? Jeernks? Yeh. Murstur Burty wud lurk ter choor on hur head. Ma irs furrlowing hur wurth turstyburgs." He gave slade a dopey grin. It wasn't a condensed version like his mother forbade him. IT was his version. He didn't recollect that some of the details were important, his or his mother's.

He looked at his cherished mother again, and his long, thin ears flicked a little, then looked again to Slade. "Ohhhhh urkur." he said with a little resignation. "Mur surblurngs urs be nurly curmplurted urn teh... wurky thurng... urt lurst teh burr ursurn...churls." god it must be hard talking with all those teeth. It was a miracle of tongue that he could. But he was a resourceful creature. Somewhere in the darkness, a dispute between two other devourers - screaming and hissing, all of it unintelligible - rose from the tunnel. Mr bitey furrowed his several brows and rippled with muscle as he stood, and screamed off into the darkness.

"Hurr yew hurribur rittur bursturds! shurt yur murfs urn gurt ter werk ur Ral Kurk yur gurhulurg hurds urn!" at the top of his lungs, his bellowing overtaking all their voices. He sat again, and they, without another squeak, returned to work. Big brother was a scary Devourer - among the Devourers, his head and the hat that sat on it were legends. They fantasized about being as close to mother as he was, about eating people who tried to hurt her... so on so forth. "Murstur Burteh" as he was known... was a god of Devourer... whatever.

And he looked silly with that hat. Nobody said so.

[slade]

Slade nodded along with the report, translating the report in his head. Granted he wished he had more data like street names and times but till Eliza was done with her meditations he was stuck with 'Mr. Bitey's' report. He made a mental note about talking to Eliza about enhancing the devourer's ability to talk. The current level of communication would work for now but might present long term issues so it would behoove them to bite that in the bud in the short term if possible. There were enough complications for the current plan without borrowing trouble. As he told Eliza 'if you are borrowing trouble you are not loaning enough to others' after all they were the ones who were supposed to be causing the mayhem... not yet but in time and the current location was perfect for that.

New York without a designated super team protecting it, a few free lancers but most heroes didn't want to make their home here. The New Yorkers didn't tend to be very grateful for people sticking their noses where they believed they didn't belong. Heroes liked being thanked, liked parades and celebrations and fan-clubs. Hard to get those in New York. That was probably why he designated prey had moved here, each for their different reasons... Gizmo was a high priority but he already knew where to find him, Terra he wasn't sure about but once he was ready to contact Gizmo that problem would solve itself, and Jinx... Well that was why Eliza was stalk.... running reconnaissance on her, so when Slade was ready to move they would be able to gather their forces. Sadly Slade still didn't have any word on the location of Mammoth but perhaps that was as well, his strength was an attribute but that was about all Mammoth had to his name. He was sure given time Eliza would be able to cook up ten times the tank for the new H.I.V.E. to use.

He watched the hatted devourer yell at it's sibling and contemplated the next step, right now the current priority was to get this place together and that was going well... would probably go better if he had his robot minions but he was doing without, the last generation had had teething problems he had of yet been unable to resolve so he was attempting a more hands on approach as of late. So far it was going well and was quite enjoyable as a side benefit. He still had to study that rune he had recovered and compare it to the others, take farther study in the current players in the game... but right now it seemed like it was time to teach his apprentice another lesson.

"Eliza, make sure you get nice and close to Jinx. I need to know who she is occupying her time with nowadays, I need to know for sure that her relationship with Kid Flash or Impulse as I hear he is currently being called... is going. I did feel ever so bad when I heard their relationship had hit rocky ground and I believe she would do better surrounded by trustworthy friends wouldn't you agree?"

Smiling in the helm he none the less spoke with authority.

"Apprentice, you have been under my training for a while now tell me in your own words what is the most important aspect of your training."

[echidna]

"Eliza, make sure you get nice and close to Jinx. I need to know who she is occupying her time with nowadays, I need to know for sure that her relationship with Kid Flash or Impulse as I hear he is currently being called... is going. I did feel ever so bad when I heard their relationship had hit rocky ground and I believe she would do better surrounded by trustworthy friends wouldn't you agree?"

Eliza thought about that for a good long few moments. Sensei didn't just... say things. No sir, Slade wasn't a man of words, even if he spoke eloquently. She knew him - at least, she knew how he'd operated in the past... hell, she'd even seen the 'red tapes' - reels of things that happened at the so-called 'end' of the road.

She didn't need him to tell her what he really meant - he was not a nice man. She knew, oh so well. Instantly, her mind began spinning, the keenly oiled machine Slade helped build coming to life with practiced speed and efficiency. Slade wanted her to fix the odds - So fragile were human bonds, but so too was human trust. The best way she could do it would be to make Slade look like the father she could fall back on, taking only minimal role in the girl's life. But that would be difficult.. time consuming... require a lot of intelligence on the girl's life, perhaps... even personal involvement.

It was not her style to manipulate. That said, she stood as he spoke to her again, eyes slitting open - She broke concentration, but the reigns were still held, her eyes glowing faintly. "Most important aspect of my training?" she asked rhetorically, and smiled at her teacher as silver hair spilled down her shoulders.

"Its not combat skill, or my powers, even. No, I'd say the most important aspect... is teaching me how to think, Sensei. Thats the real point... isn't it?"

[slade]

Slade nodded curtly at his apprentices wise response, it was something he had never come out and said but he was glad she had picked up on it nonetheless, she was diligent, hard working, she was one of the most intriguing girls he had had under his care. Her connection to her mother was just one of the reasons he had wanted to acquire her help, in fact that was a long term priority, short term he abilities might rival or even exceed Terra's power making her useful. Slade never got rid of anything useful, it just wasn't productive.

"You are correct Eliza, teaching you how to think is one of the most important lessons there is. A warrior can get by being a poor fighter if they know how to think, how to plan, how to use their head and stay calm. If nothing else you can get the money to afford people who are better fighters then you."

He shrugged as he said this.

"That said you have the talent to be an excellent fighter you just need the experience thus the combat training. Besides if you are going to command warriors you need to know what they are capable, that includes your friends. And you are very very good at making friends it seems."

He waved to encompass her children, her sons and daughters, she was assembling a army and he intended to be it's general.

"So apprentice. With what I have taught you about the Titans, the footage I have shown you... what would you do to prepare to welcome them to the party that we are making all these favors for?"

[echidna]

Eliza suddenly winced and reached up to touch her face a little, pain reflecting across her link. When that happened, she got a certain look on her face - a confused sort of irritation, like something bit her and she couldn't swat it dead. She reached across time and space with her mind, across the link that she and Alesis shared, and scowled at the taste of gravel that ghosted its way into her mouth. Whatever it was that hurt Alesis like that, it had been enough to kill her if she'd been anything but what she was.

To Slade's praise and his question, she smiled a little at him and gave it some thought before she spoke. She had so much on her mind - the collective flow of all her children around herself and her sensei was distracting enough without Alesis screwing up and getting her ass kicked. She'd need some backup, it seemed... and Eliza knew just the creature for the job. Turning her head to Mr. Bitingston, the creature straightened up in a manner comparable to any "splendid" gentleman in line, posture and everything - it was just his style.

She didn't have to say a thing - the hatted Devourer knew what she meant. He nodded - he rather liked Alesis... She brought him food - and anything that got in the way of the foods - like some little girl giving her trouble, well... that was just unacceptable. He turned and began to slink off quickly towards the exit of the tunnel system Eliza had been preparing for ten hours so far.

Eliza cleared her throat and called after him, to which the creature hesitated and turned. "Make some noise, would you Mr. Bitingston? We wouldn't want things like this to keep happening, now would we?" Eliza said with some biting authority at the creature. "Mom is watching - keep safe out there." and with that, she turned to Slade, and Mr. Bitingston bounded off into the darkness, his hulking shape vanishing.

Regarding the Titans... the truth was, she'd spent hours... days, even, poring over the reels, over every single video record she could get her hands on. Slade had an impressive array of video footage, tactical data, capability assessments, devices, techniques... the list went on and on, and she was talking about categories of information about only them and their abilities.

She felt like she knew them like she was their stalker. After the events that brought Slade back, they were on... some kind of hiatus.... who could blame them, after all... But they would come back. If the past was any indication, and if the sky was blue, they'd be coming back again. And Sensei was their target.

Truth was, she'd already given some thought to this.

"Sensei, as you know I've been watching the old data... for how reliable it is, I think I've got a few plans lined up... but nothing beats some versatility, right?" She smiled, and motioned to the Vivems as they were literally heating and bending rebars, welding things into place with red-hot teeth set on their jaws.

"I've been teaching the Vivems how to use their webs and fire... They're actually pretty clever - with a bit of supervision, and enclosed spaces, I think they could give the Titans some serious trouble with their flames... and as for the webs, they're flammable and stick... It can melt metal like that - should be enough to make any of them have to think pretty hard about how they engage.

She then motioned to the Devourers helping the Vivems, lifting at least half-tons and upward of three... with ease. She looked proud of her children. "And the Devourers, from what I've been able to deduce... they're about as fast as Robin and... pretty close to what I've been able to deduce about Cyborg in physical power. If we can get them the food they need... and teach one or two of them some fighting technique - Mr. Bitingston, I should think, for starters - we aught to be able to get them to teach the others to use all that strength and speed - it'd behoove us to do so."

"Best thing we could hope to do is keep training, Sensei, and have fun little places set aside for just such a party." She walked with him toward something the Vivems were working on diligently. Now that they had power and lights enough to get around - not too much, mind - they could focus on something else important.

"To that end... I'm working on a Danger Room. If getting stronger - and we must, Sensei - is our highest priority right now... a thing like this must not be secondhand." she smiled. The structure was impressive so far - she'd found a manmade cavern that had obviously been used at one point to make and/or store trains - there was tons of scrap metal from old trains, pleanty of things they needed... but...

"The metal and electronics here is good and all - I can make a lot of use out of it, but we'll need some special supplies to get it up and running. For that... this secondhand steel and electronic gear for running trains is trash... but it will be more than enough to get accomodations and the basics up to speed."

"Once our home is working properly, I'll put some of the scouting the Beetles have done to use - you just wouldn't believe the things people just leave lying about."