When Our Team First Came Together... [Background]

Answer your playbook's questions related to this topic, in the follow order: Link (Bull) Concord (Nova) Ghost Girl (Outsider) Jason Quill (Doomed) Mercury (Legacy)

We defeated a dangerous enemy. Who or what was it? Hannibal Lectric, a high-society supervillain who wields electricity and can use it to accelerate his nervous system and muscles - but at the risk of overloading himself.

We destroyed our surroundings in the fight. Where was it? What did we destroy? It was at the Halcyon Derby, Halcyon City's annual horse racing gala (similar to the Kentucky Derby, with all the old-timeyness that implies).  During the fight, the horse stables were destroyed and some of the priceless thoroughbreds got loose.  Guess who had go round them up afterwards?  (I'm sure Mercury's parents pressured him into it.)

(Parenthetical comment: we will actually need a team name.)

We didn't trust each other at first, but that changed. How? Why? Most of the folk knew each other by name from adventures in-city, but had never been thrown together before. Jason and Harry were both at the Derby (representing their respective families, ironically, with Harry's parents off at a Homeland Security meeting in Atlanta along with most of the other heroes of Halcyon). They individually tried tackling Lectric when he landed his silvery flyer in the middle of the race course  and EMPed the power to the whole stadium, but were caught in his lighting cages. Ghost Girl, quietly there for the tradition of it all (she was at the first running of the Derby, in fact) let loose with one of her screams -- which was overheard by a passing Concord, who zoomed in himself and got tossed into the stables; the resulting explosion (see above) in turn caught the attention of Link, who was in the parking lot for the Derby Car Show (Otto insisted).  The individual heroes attempted to take Lectric down one at a time (cf. every martial arts movie ever), unsuccessfully. There were even some doubts expressed as to whether Link was there to stop Lectric, pretend to try and stop him, or perhaps take him down so that he  could take the Platinum Rider Cup. That gave Link the idea to free the ones who'd been trapped, to demonstrate his innocence and  gang up on Lectric.  With a few additional complications (see below), they ended up being successful in taking down the villain -- and found that they actually worked better together than expected. Link didn't seem to be a criminal, Jason didn't turn out to be as stuck-up as people thought, Ghost Girl turned out to be much nicer than one might think of a ghost, Concord put the finishing touches on Letric, and Mercury was a good sport about rounding up the horses. When Jason suggested they might get together again some time, everyone actually agreed ...

We paid a high cost for victory. What was it? Some might not consider it a cost -- but it was. These young individuals had all been flying somewhat under the radar. Concord was still learning the ropes. Link had been keeping a low profile, worried about his father's rep. Jason had been adventuring a bit, but most folks still knew him from that damned cartoon. Ghost Girl was the object of (scary) rumors. Mercury was known mostly as ... well, as the kid from, y'know, that really heroic family. After this, though, their most public appearance, together, in the face of the high society and media of Halcyon City? Well, attention of the press and public were on these young heroes. Human interest stories. Gossip sheets. Editorials. National coverage. Has Link actually chosen another course than his father? How can someone as young as Concord be trusted with such power? Can Jason Quinn live up to his heritage? Why can't Mercury vibrate through walls? Who is this mysterious "Ghost Girl"? Expectations of (and scrutiny by) the other heroes of the city grew. And expectations, as well, that this team would continue as such. Once the media has the story, after all .. They lost, to a degree, their anonymity. It was a mixed blessing, to be sure, but they would never be the same again -- individually, or as a group. (For himself, Jason paid a cost, too. This struggle was the first time he pushed himself quite this intensely -- and his first clue that something was wrong with his nanobots.) (On a lighter note, everyone's hair was frizzy for a month. Electricity, you know. Except Ghost Girl, whose hair is always sort of waving around in a slow, aquatic wind that nobody else can see. That seems minor -- but not for a bunch of teen boys.)

N.B. the Venn diagram of "people who know Leo Snow is the son of a villain" and "people who know this armored guy named Link is actually Leo Snow" has very very small overlap. If we're outing Link-in-his-super-ID as a villain's son to the public, I'm okay taking that as a cost for myself, though I wasn't planning on it, and I'd like to think through how they'd get wind of that.

Oops. Didn't realize that, and didn't intend to be outing you without it being collaborative. I would be happy to revise the above -- instead it could just be Jason actually having an epiphany that his  family were always stronger when they cooperated, and so pulling back from the battle to free those trapped, kind of rallying the troops (not as the leader -- everyone throws in ad hoc suggestions on collaboration and strategy). There can still be some questions raised by the press about Link and who he is and &c. -- nothing specific, but now he's more under the public eyeball, probably to his dismay.

All things considered, we did well and impressed an established hero.  Who was it? Hyena, a mysterious superheroine vigilante who takes the heroic nightshift, rounding up muggers and keeping the clean.  It is unknown who she really is or even her motives, as she has never spoken to the press, despite her strong influence as a solo and team hero.  However one thing is certain: many people owe their lives to Hyena.

Thanks for all the replies! My first couple thoughts are: * Let's not out Link to the public yet. There's some folks in power who'd know because the son of a robotics super-villain who is himself ALSO really good with robotics WOULD have surveillance on him. :) * I need to think about "the high cost" thing, because I'm not sure we're there yet. There's a reason the Doomed gets that question - they're the playbook that puts Death on the table as an option, and generally makes potential fallout more severe, so I want to scale this high cost appropriately.

Hey Katherine, what does your family think of Hyena? :) Any dinner table chat about her vigilante exploits?

My family has mixed feelings about Hyena and, just like religion and politics, talk of her exploits is off the table.  It's led to many fights and contrary to popular belief, they are not over in the blink of an eye.  Grandma Swift is strictly against her, saying that "Back in my day, heroes were out in the light and they talked to people.  She's just scaring everyone.  And who does she think she is, dressing as such a fierce predator.  It's not ladylike."  Uncle Chase is more open minded about her and always points out that she's helping save people too.  My parents are more on Grandma's side, mainly because they find her back alley heroing disgusting and beneath them.  They would sooner converse with a disease-ridden rat than such a distasteful "hero".

Love it. :)

*** Dave H. said: (Parenthetical comment: we will actually need a team name.) "The Mutually Antagonistic Five" is taken. Other than that, it comes down to what we want to stand for, I think. For example, if the team decides it wants to take an active stance against something, and wants to play off of our first fight with Hannibal Lectric, "the Resisters" would fit. So the question is, what do we think we all represent when we're together?

I'm not in a rush to get a team name set up - though I like Resisters for the pun and the fact it would annoy Harry's parents. ("First, that's a terrible pun, second, resisting what? You're not rebels , for pity's sake.")

("This isn't one of those 'Occupy' things, is it?")

God that's perfect. I'm going to have way too much fun playing the Gales.

@Bill -- That's the key question. Why are we together -- not just how did we end up together in the same place, but what would we be accomplishing by doing so. Are we just hanging out? Do we have a common cause? Are we protecting the downtrodden, or combatting street crime, or organizing against the evils of Alycia Chin, or angling for a Wheaties contract, or what? When asked why he was with the group, Jason's answer was personal -- he doesn't have anyone else. That's probably not a good mission statement (unless this was the Doom Patrol or something). If pressed for a mission, he would be more focused: "There are people that hurt other people, innocent people. We should stop them, and help people wherever we can. That sounds sort of -- well, dumb, saying it out loud. But it makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, that's what we -- that's what heroes do, right?" He would leave it without saying (unless he had to say it) that they are stronger together than apart.

With all this talk about names, I just wish that A) the Gales were open about their identities and B) Mercury was taking a leading role so I could suggest Gale Force Five with any amount of seriousness.  I've always been a fan of longer, more alliterative team names, possibly with numbers involved (while it doesn't fit the second part of that, Big Hero 6 is a recent favorite of mine).

Off the top of my head: Jason's looking for a family, though he'd probably never articulate this out loud. He's also coping with the fallout from events a year ago, and looking to do some good. The Foundation does Good, but ... his dad was always out there in the public eye, too. And that mattered. Link (no surprise) seems to have had a similar, almost 'hungry' response to the possibility of a team and/or doing some good with his abilities. Also he's looking to stop either Minion Maker directly, OR people who are using his dad's tech. So... yeah. Two guys attracted to the idea of a team for reasons they probably can't/won't articulate, who want to get out there and do something because of their dads. For Adam/Concord, the team is also pretty much necessary. He's got to use his powers just to keep them in check, and he needs/wants some people around to emulate, because he is seriously winging it. Ghost Girl finds these people ground her in a way she hasn't encountered since she first started to fade in and out of consciousness. And Harry - well, this is pure win-win for him. He's on a team, so his family gets off his back, but it's NOT the Junior HHL or some other team his parents picked out. I mean, that's just personal drives. Doesn't necessarily point to a team purpose, and I'm not sure the fight at the Derby is definitive enough to provide that identity. Hmmmm.

Mike said: With all this talk about names, I just wish that A) the Gales were open about their identities and B) Mercury was taking a leading role so I could suggest Gale Force Five with any amount of seriousness.  I've always been a fan of longer, more alliterative team names, possibly with numbers involved (while it doesn't fit the second part of that, Big Hero 6 is a recent favorite of mine). Five For Fighting: also taken. :)

@Doyce - So, yes, you have articulated what I was thinking here re Jason. (And the others sound good, too.)

Doyce T. said: Five For Fighting: also taken. :) As is "Six for Science" (quoth Jason in People, "Those a*holes?")

Alternative names for the Fantastic Four include "Doctor Doom Patrol". Another option is that the media or somebody else names us first and it sticks. Neither Link nor I have a burning need for a name right at this moment, but within a couple sessions I hope we and the world know who we are. That said, even Big Hero 6 didn't get names until the end of their movie. :)