"Xavier Relaford..."  Phi repeated the name back to the person on the other end of the phone, squinting hard as she tried to place the name.  "No. No, I don't have any recollection of that name."

Several moments passed as the small DiSantiago paced around the deluxe suite at her cousin's wedding, the ever present cell phone perched against her ear.  With each lap she got more and more agitated, glaring at her brother as if it was somehow his fault.

"Put him off as long as you can.  Please.  I will convene with my team first thing tomorrow morning and get to the bottom of it.  "Bury it, whatever you have to do.  All I need is 24 hours."  Her tone was commanding and yet still pleasant.  Bastian had to admire the way she could work people to her will, even over the phone.

"Thank you!  I owe you one."  She smiled then.  "Yes, an exclusive with who ever you want.  I promise.  I'll get back with you tomorrow."

With an inquisitive look, Sebastián asked his sister "What was that about?"

"I'm not sure."  Ophilia replied candidly.  "It sounds like there was some excitement in Hudson City yesterday, and we missed it.  Soldier Boy was technically in charge, and now we have a possible PR nightmare on the horizon..."  She shook her head, "...I can't even begin to guess at what he did to make it a PR worthy event."

* * * * *

16 Hours Later 

Celeste was at her vanity table. Three mirrors each ringed with halogen lights reflected her face, a study in concentration. Snap! A small steel bar slammed down onto the fingers of her right hand. She reset the mousetrap with her left and placed it back in the centre of the table. Again she reached for the trigger plate with her right. Again the spring drove the wicked bar down onto her exposed fingers.  She shook the pain away as she reset it.

This time things went differently. Her fingers deliberately triggered the spring and waited for the impact, but before the bar reached them the trap was gone. It reappeared two feet away just as the distinctive crack of metal on wood was heard.

Celeste wasn’t satisfied and began the process again. She had been rapped repeatedly on the knuckles before she finally managed to avoid the pain three times in succession. The cheap trap was hidden in a secret draw and Celeste gingerly pulled on a pair of lace gloves to cover her fingers which were already turning from bright red to smudged blue. Then in a blink she was outside the cathedral pushing open the back door and strutting down the corridor to Phi’s office, late again.

* * * * *

The last thing that Soldier Boy or JACE wanted to be doing after their very eventful yesterday, was meet with Ophilia DiSantiago.  They could only guess that Carnival World had complained, or one of the news stories hadn't been favorable.

It seemed that the only time the PR Rep called meetings any more was to talk about her concerns and their upcoming events.  As of late she hadn't been as plugged in as she was in the beginning.  Most meetings now were with Nemesis or Soldier Boy, her role in them was minor, and she always seemed to be in a hurry to get out of them.

JACE sat in his chair working on his latest prototype on his HUD.  He had no interest in meeting with Ophilia, but some things were necessary.  He only hoped the meeting could be kept short.  He was working on further modification of the virus with Emily's help and would much rather be back in the lab with her than here listening to Ophilia's drivel.  As he moved a reactor buffer on his wireframe diagram, JACE made sure his recorder was ready.  He would need a transcript of the meeting to send to the senior DiSantiagos.

Heatwave tried to remain relaxed and unconcerned about the meeting though she knew their boss had planned on taking at least another day or two off. Even Soldier Boy had admitted to being impressed at her performance yesterday so it was unlikely it had been anything she had done but things had not gone as smoothly as they could have. Maybe Ophillia was finally beginning to see the truth about certain team members.

As each of them were lost in their own thoughts, Ophilia entered the room.  She smiled at them briefly and looked at the empty seats next to Heatwave.

"Will Orion or Phase be joining us?"  She asked the group pleasantly.

"Orion won't be coming," Soldier Boy said as he sat up straight. He had been pretending to nap. This was the last place he wanted to be, figuring he'd been through enough for one day. If Ophelia tried to get him to talk about his feelings he figured he'd throw something at her head for a change. "I don't know what kind of shit he's got going on, but he made it sound important."

If Soldier Boy had been going to continue he was interrupted by the door. Celeste opened it without knocking and headed for an empty chair. “Sorry, breakfast overran.” She breezed.

"Alright. That answers that. I don't think I'll need Orion, and if I do, I'll track him down myself."  Phi gave a quick nod of her head to dismiss the issue.  She wasn't really surprised.  It was just like a DiSantiago to leave without asking permission.  ...and Celeste Frazier was Celeste Frazier, the less attention paid to her plays for attention, the better.

Ophilia settled into her seat and skimmed through some papers in her portfolio before she spoke again.  "Listen. I don't want to be here either. I'm suppose to be on vacation."  She gave them a quick look of apology, her skills of empathy shining through.  "I'll try to make this as quick as possible."

JACE hoped as quick as possible was actually quick, for once, he still hoped to be able to accomplish something important today.  Of course, Ophilia had proven to be like most of the Conquistadors, she was unable to do her job or make any decisions without hours of wasted time discussing what everyone knew.  Thus he continued to adjust the prototype design while quietly switching on his recorder.

"The issue, is that I received a call from a friend at the local network. She says that there is an interview scheduled with a man named Xavier Relaford. He claims to have knowledge of the Conquistadors and how they mishandled a weapon of mass destruction?"  Phi's voice and eyes were full of confusion when they finally settled on Soldier Boy.  "What happened yesterday?"

Heatwave could not help glancing at Phase as Ophilia revealed what the meeting was about.

JACE sighed quietly as he changed the density of the ceramic he was using for reactor shielding.  He wasn't surprised that the man was trying to discredit the Conquistadors.  He was obviously unstable and showed a significant lack of social abilities.  Fortunately, it was Ophilia's job to deal with situations like this, so it shouldn't affect JACE significantly, especially since no such weapon was present at the incident.  With a little work, Dr. Relaford could easily be made into another Former President Bush and discredited just as easily.  When he saw that the increased density of the ceramic created instability problems due to the mass increase, JACE returned it to its previous density and increased the wall thickness by 10%.  That was a satisfactory, if clumsy, solution to the problem.

"We had a simple case of a reality warping vigilante being possessed by a psychically powerful ghost who was possessed by an evil extradimensional being. Nothing too freaky," Soldier Boy said. " Relaford is a local wizard or some shit like that. He's a prissy little bitch who can't play well with others. I'm still not too clear how he got involved, but he pulled it out for us. He gave us the win."

Ophilia continued to look at Jag for a few moments, waiting for him to crack a smile and tell her that he was 'shittin' her', but that smile never came.  "Okay.  ...so, an extradimensional being and a psychic...phenomenon."  She nodded her head, waiting one more second to make sure this wasn't a prank.  "Okay, then.  It sounds like he was an asset, this Releford, guy.  With Avatar out yesterday, I guess you didn't have anyone with expertise in the bizarre."

There was a clamoring just then, outside the conference room in Ophilia's office, as Nemesis, Stone and Avatar entered.  They were road weary and dropping off the keys and necessary reports before retiring to their personal business.  From what they could observe, Phi seemed confused and everyone in the room looked like they'd rather be somewhere else.  They weren't sure who needed saving from who, in this meeting.

Stone, who had just put a cigarette in his mouth, noticed the crowd over Nemesis's shoulder and bumped his friend on the shoulder.

"Hey man, you go.  I got that thing," he said quietly, pointing down the hall, but Nemesis only made a stern face and pulled the reluctant biker into the meeting room by his jacket's lapel.  With a heavy sigh, Stone made his way to his seat next to Heatwave and plopped down into it.  Then he took the cigarette from his mouth and stuck it behind his ear.  Avatar followed suit, with neither a sigh nor any sign of enthusiasm.

"Gentlemen."  Ophilia said, pleasantly enough.  "I trust that you got Mister Macabre all tucked away, and that there isn't going to some huge PR backlash that I need to know about."

Stone, Nemesis, and Avatar exchanges glances for a moment before the biker replied, "Define 'huge'."

A small chuckle escaped at that.  "Just tell me that nobody was killed or maimed and that you didn't destroy any buildings or armored cars, and we should be okay."

"Nobody was killed, maimed and we didn't destroy any buildings or armored cars," Nemesis replied with a straight face. Injuries abounded, there was some property damage, and one citizen was not going to be happy that his sedan was now a compact, but technically speaking everything he said was true. He paused, then offered a winning smile.

Ophilia hesitated a moment and cleared her throat, damn that smile.  "Where was I?  Oh yes.  A reality warping vigilante possessed by a psychically powerful ghost who was possessed by an evil extradimensional being.  What I'm not hearing is the reference to a weapon of mass destruction.  Is he completely making this up?"  She lifted both of her hands up in a help me gesture.

Heatwave looked down at the table torn between her anger with Phase and her loyalty to the team. She might be planning to file a formal complaint with Nemesis over Phase's behavior but that was a little bit different then telling the one who paid the bills, especially in front of said person. After the meeting was over she would take her concerns to Nemesis but she was not going to speak up now.

Celeste looked up and smiled. If there was mud being thrown she was happy to help "Well if I could add Relaford might be described as the vigilante, Raven's, sidekick. And it was through their meddling that the whole situation was stirred up. They disturbed the Ghost, which was possessing poor Emily Elise at the time, two days ago but having riled it they just walked away. If anyone mishandled the situation I would say it was those two, before we were even involved."

Avatar perked up at the mention of Relaford. He leaned on his elbows and listened intently.

"At least Professor Relaford was trying to do something about it. If it had been up to you we wouldn't have even been there. You didn't think a missing child was worth our time, remember?" Heatwave spat vehemently.

"Again.  Weapons of mass destruction.  Any one?  Any one?  Bombs, chemicals, biological agents, anything with nuclear in the title, or perhaps Wile E. Coyote and a stick of dynamite?  Seriously, are you telling me that this Relaford guy has absolutely nothing to say of relevance, and it's just some grudge against us?"  Her already raised hands made another help me gesture.

Celeste wracked her brain. The magician had been on the ground the whole time. He hadn't seen anything. Raven hadn't been in the car either and JACE had whisked the girl off straight away. Neither of them had anything other than loose talk. Soldier Boy and JACE should have kept quiet. No way was Celese going to give the DiSantiago anything she didn't have too. She gave her best what can I say he must be confused shrug.

Again Heatwave looked down at the table without saying anything. Phase was a liability the team did not need but it was not her place to say anything to Ophilia. She would let Nemesis make that decision after she talked to him.

Ophilia waited patiently hoping that someone would have something else to add, before she continued.  The fire that she'd sensed beneath Heatwave's calm demeanor had already shown itself, but even so - she didn't reveal enough.  While she waited she hit a button on the high tech conference table.  "Danny.  We're having an unexpected meeting if you'd like to join us."  The expression on her face had changed subtly and those that had made a habit of studying her, had a feeling that she had an ace up her sleeve.

"Sure," came the reply from the speaker. "Be right there."

"I'm not fishing for trouble, here.  When it comes to team related mistakes, that's not my area.  What is my area is that the Conquistadors are seen as the good guys, and that when you save the city from an extradimensional ghost, you get credit for it. From the lack of information that you're giving me, it sounds like this Xavier fellow is out of line.  Soldier Boy admits that he was the one that gave you guys the win yesterday, so perhaps his head grew too big for his shoulders and he wants to make sure he gets credit for it?"  Ophilia's eyes lingered on Heatwave for a moment, hoping that she'd provide more information, but she understood that there were some underlying team loyalties at stake.

Heatwave shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "The entity managed to get its hands on some sort of experimental virus. Maybe that's what Professor Relaford is talking about." She was relieved when JACE took up the explanation.

JACE sighed again and paused his wire frame test.  In a bored tone he spoke.  "There was no weapon of mass destruction.  That is obviously a ploy by Dr. Relaford.  He proved himself capable of supernatural abilities, but socially and intellectually inept.  There was, however, a hazardous biological test agent present at the scene.  It posed no significant danger to the public.  It certainly was not capable of destruction on any scale.  In fact the only person endangered by it was Miss Eisele and that was only through Phase's incompetence and gross stupidity."

At the mention of Phase being incompetent, Phi's eyes darted to look at Nemesis. That was his area, and she'd let him deal with it if and when he felt the time was appropriate.  In her minds eye, she was slowly coming to realize what was behind Heatwave's building anger towards Celeste.

Nemesis nodded with minimal eye-rolling. He'd have to speak with the scientist about tact.

Without further comment JACE reactivated his diagram just in time for it to explode dramatically as the reactor shielding proved insufficient to the task of containing the reaction.  Measuring the estimated destructive output, JACE moved the current reactor plans to his weapons folder, then reactivated the program and considered the shielding problem once again.

The newest Conquistador, arrived, dressed for tennis - white shorts, salmon polo and trainers. He took an empty seat next to Celeste and leaned forward on his elbows, eyes sweeping the room. "What'd I miss?" 

Ophilia gave Danny a small smile. "Well there was some excitement here yesterday, and a civilian is causing a bit of a PR stir.  I plan on meeting with him, but before I did, I wanted to understand what happened.  Apparently it was just your everyday reality warping vigilante possessed by a psychically powerful ghost who was possessed by an evil extradimensional being."

Turning her attention back to the others, she shrugged her shoulders.  "Well, then, okay.  It's not like one of us gave them the biological agent.  I'll speak to him and try to make this go away. Bastian is at Carnival World now.  I understand there were some damages.  All acceptable.  They want us to cover their lost profits for the day, and some minor structural damage.  He's also using his abilities to take a closer look into yesterday's events..."  Here Ophilia paused for a moment and raised an inquiring brow.  "...so if anyone has any other information, I'd prefer hearing it from you than from him.  Any clue as to why he has a beef with us?"

Soldier Boy shrugged. "He's a dick?"

Danny opened his mouth to say something, saw the "What?" expression on Solider Boy's face, and decided to remain silent. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, waiting to see what the others might have to say. 

"Listen," Soldier Boy said, "I don't give a rats ass what this guy says about us. Only thing I care about is the pickle jar Relaford shoved that monster into. I want to know where the damn thing is, and I want to know if it's secure, because I'll be god damned if that thing's ever going to see the light of day again."

Nemesis nodded. "He has a point. Part of our job is prevention, so if there's even a small chance that this whatever-it-is might be a danger in the future we'll need to know where it is." He paused. "Have we had this Relaford guy thoroughly checked out yet? If there's a new player on the scene I'd like to know something about him." It was obvious that by 'something' Nemesis meant 'everything'.

"Not sure how new he is," Avatar piped up. "Been around a few years I think." Avatar had done a bit of digging into the magician's background. Now he wished he'd done more. "Guy's quiet, keeps to himself," he continued. "There have been rumors, but I never knew he had the kind of mojo you guys are talking about." He sounded a little defensive.

Nemesis made a placating gesture and gave a little shake of the head. There was no way to keep track of everyone in Hudson City with a mask, power, ability or whatever. As was the case now, if he didn't do something to call attention to himself then someone like Relaford might never have been noticed at all.

"Wow."  Ophilia said, still recovering from Soldier Boy's revelation.  "...so, this man, walked off with whatever villain you were fighting?  I'm not sure that's a safe thing.  Why didn't we take possession of it?"

"I'll take the heat for that," Soldier Boy said. "I should have put somebody on it. Guess I had other things on my mind."

From the emotions in the room, particularly those emanating from Soldier Boy, Ophilia new that she was never going to fully understand what happened at Carnival World.

"Okay then."  Ophilia replied.  "I will go meet with this Xavier Relaford fellow.  I have someone getting his personal information now, and I'll go meet with him later this afternoon.  I'll try to get him to rethink his position on yesterday's events and see if I can get him to hand over this...uh...pickle jar of evil."  The frustrated lilt of her brow made it sound more like a question than a statement.

Soldier Boy nodded. "I was thinking of talking to him, but it'd be a lot better if you did it. He and I don't communicate too good."

"Wonderful."  Ophilia said in appreciation.  She had expected that Soldier Boy or Nemesis would consider it too big of a risk to take on her own.  And it pleased her greatly that she wouldn't be needing a chaperone. 

"I need to check in with Bastian, he's at the park now, and taking a look at what happened yesterday.  Just in case there's something important that you guys might have forgotten to share.  Once I get his report and talk to Mr. Relaford, we can hopefully close this matter."  Ophilia looked at them all, annoyed by the obvious disinterest that shrouded JACE, and then nodded her head.  "If you have anything related to the mission, itself, you can get with Nemesis on that."

"And I recommend it," Nemesis added. "If mistakes were made let's learn from them. If we did things right, well, we can learn from that, too."

? -

Looking through the wireframe drawing on his HUD, JACE said calmly.  "Excellent, Ms. DiSantiago.  If that is all I have important work to attend to in my laboratory." 

"Yes, thank you all for coming."  Phi said as she lounged back in her swivel chair watching as the team readied themselves to depart   "Oh.  One last thing.  Stone and Nemesis, don't forget the auction tomorrow... and try to have some fun with it.  It's for a good cause."

Without further comment, JACE stood up and strode out of the room, already considering how to increase the stress resistance of the shielding by 10% while dropping the weight by 12%.  If this power source was going to be used in cars, it had to be lighter to meet federal requirements. 

The biker turned and gave the black-clad vigilante a "dude, a little help?" look.

Nemesis grinned. "Oh, we'll be there. Both of us." He waggled his brows at his teammate, enjoying his discomfort. As much as he dreaded it himself, the idea of Stone being auctioned off to a wealthy socialite amused the hell out of him. "It should be fun."

Ophilia watched them without comment, but it was easy to tell that something was going on behind those dark disinterested eyes of hers.

"So, seriously..." Danny said. "There's somebody walkin' around with a bottled evil devil thing? And we don't even know where he is?" He looked around the room. Heatwave had turned a bright red and was staring at her hands twisting in her lap. "Seriously?"

"Don't get your hot pants in a twist, Irish," Stone said to the new guy without looking at him as he pushed himself away from the table.  "The guy with the pickle jar's got mojo."  When he said 'mojo', he made chest-high twiddling motions with his fingers.

"I'll catch you later, man," the biker added to Nemesis before walking off for parts unknown.

"He's also got a jar full of evil devil thing," Danny replied dryly. "And yer just jealous, cause ya got no ass at all," he called after the departing biker, who merely flipped Danny the bird on his way out the door. He stood and stretched, a full-body thing that would have had an entire class of 8th grade girls out burning their "I Luv Edward" pics and taking up tennis. "Anything ya need me for?" he asked Ophilia as he readied to leave.

"Nah."  Phi said with a smile.  "Just come looking for me if I'm not back by tomorrow."

Avatar watched the interaction intently. For a moment he caught Phi's eye, but she gave him no signal. The psychic shrugged minutely, heaved himself up, and walked out of the room.

Heatwave's flush deepened at her teammate's comment about Stone's ass, she really didn't agree with Danny's assessment but would never tell either of them that. It deepened even more as he stood and stretched showing off his own body and in an effort to distract herself from the show she turned her attention on Nemesis. "Can I speak to you after the meeting?

"Of course," Nemesis nodded.

"Well, that's it for me," Soldier Boy said as he stood and stretched. Unlike Danny, Soldier Boy's stretch was a wretched thing that squeezed a grimace out of the old soldier. "Danny, Phi is on top of the devil jar thing. If you have anything useful to contribute in that area, I suggest you take it up with her. Otherwise, don't be such a little girl about it. You're a superhero for god's sake. Now, if you'll all excuse me I gotta take a leak." He gave Heatwave a quick nod as he left the room.

Danny watched him go, a peculiar expression on his face, there and gone again in a flash. Only Heatwave caught it, as the young man was in her direct line of sight. Ophilia was busy gathering up her notes, and Nemesis was focusing his attention on her in preparation for whatever it was she was about to speak with him about. She almost doubted she'd seen it at all, as it was so out of place on Danny's usually grinning and open countenance. 

Calculation. Like a scientist studying some mutant strain of bacterium. Like JACE, when he was really focused on something in the lab.  Cool appraisal.   

She blinked and it was gone, and she wondered if she'd even seen it in the first place. Danny was looking right at her now, and he winked at her, merrily - good old Danny. "He's an old birk, really," the young man quipped, then he too left the room, whistling some lively tune she'd never hear before. 

Nemesis smiled. "Go on upstairs," he said to Heatwave. "I'll catch up with you in a few." He gave a jerk of his head to indicate he was staying to talk with Ophilia.

"I'll be in the cafeteria." Heatwave said as she got up to leave. She nodded at everyone left in the room and followed the others out into the hall.

ooc: The conference room is below the apartments and cafeteria.

Ophilia clicked her stack of papers on the table a couple of times to straighten them and then placed them back down.  She watched as the others left, knowing that they were as curious as she was about what Nemesis had on his mind.  The light air in the room left with Danny as the two of them found themselves alone in the big conference room.  Things hadn't been right with them for quite some time, but it was getting more bearable.

"Sebastian will be along shortly."  Ophilia offered, obviously uncomfortable with the silence in the room.  "I've asked him to look into yesterday's events.  Which is probably a good thing, because these guys didn't seem to have much to offer."