look out to the future

[assembles]

Who: The Avengers, Wonderland-style (Steve Rogers, Thor Odinson, Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Barnes, Billy Kaplan, Rocket)
Where: The training area
When: 08/16 and the following days
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Let's get down to business...! Mingle training log for the Avengers!
The Story:
A few days have passed since the event ended, enough time for everyone to recover from being thrown into the zombie apocalypse. Steve's heard a few whispers about people getting infected and having to be put down, though he's relieved to know that as far as he's aware, no one he's close to went through something that scarring.

He's also relieved to be back to what he considers "normal," and it's that which has him down in the training area on Sunday afternoon. He finds it empty, which is a pretty rare thing, although he soon realizes he could change that, presumably with nothing more than a text message. He's put this off for too long already and he can't say for sure that his new team has been proactive enough to seek each other out on their own time, so what better moment than the present?

Each of the five other members of the team will receive a text message: Avengers Assemble. 1500 hours at the training center.

Steve waits (in full uniform, no less) for them all to arrive one-by-one until everyone has gathered, at which point he stands before them to deliver a brief speech. Thankfully this sort of thing comes naturally to him by now, so there's no awkwardness in his tone or bearing.

"I know I threw this team together pretty unexpectedly, but I thought it was important for the Avengers to exist even here in Wonderland. We're not really gonna be a team unless we start acting like one, though, so pair off, get to know each other, show everyone what you can do. We can start to figure out strategies and make sure we know the best way to cooperate with each other in a fight. We've all got our own talents, let's put them to good use, all right?"

They have the entire training room to themselves, though Steve won't mind if someone pokes their head in to watch. The place is huge, with all different kinds of training courses meant to cater to various skillsets, so Steve's pretty sure the six of them can spend a lot of time here in the coming days.


[ OOC: It's a mingle log! Post open comments, tag around, play out whatever combination you see fit! ]

Comments

[mindbend]

"All of your soldiers wear these?"

Her gaze darkens slightly, concerned. Reminiscent of Stark's own Iron Legion, but with people inside each and every one of them. That had interesting potential, and yet was a troubling thought all the same.

Still, she offers him a cautious half smile.

"Perhaps you should avoid that in the future."

[beforeblue]

"Not all of them. There's different types of body armour. Mine is kind of unique to the project I'm part of." Mjolnir armour did not come cheap, and this was still a pared down version, the kind that humans who had minimal modifications could use effectively.

He smiles back, a wry expression. "Probably. It was necessary for a mission."

[mindbend]

"Sounds like some mission." Her smile cracks just a little wider-- as short as her time with the Avengers had been, she'd already seen similar dangerous, missions that required even greater risks than being thrown from the roof of a building. An entire city had been raised so high above the ground that the fall would have been fatal even before the body in question hit Earth-- and not all of them were fortunate enough to have armor like Stark's.

"What sort of project, if you don't mind my asking?"

[beforeblue]

"Eh, we do usually try to get away without destroying major buildings." Did try. Is it past tense? He can't remember. What had happened to them? North had left him, and the others...

He forces his attention back to the woman in front of him. "Military project. Special Operations."

[mindbend]

"That is better than some do."

She's not sure the Avengers have ever had a mission where something didn't get hopelessly destroyed, even long before her involvement. Perhaps best not to quote her on that, but it seems likely.

"So 'secret,' then." She'd already known he was military, but Special Operations could apply to so many things, it didn't narrow it down much-- not that he was required to share details. That was his prerogative.

[beforeblue]

"Better than glassing a planet, yeah," Wash agreed. In the end, they were trying to save humanity (dead, they're dead, he couldn't save them, he just needs more time).

'Pretty secret, yeah. We're fighting a war. Need every advantage we can get."

[mindbend]

"I've seen more war than I care to," she tells him with a frown; she's not envious of him in the least, if that's the sort of world he comes from. It's the only world she's never known, personally: one where bombs rain from the sky and soldiers patrol the streets, both foreign and those who are meant to protect their people, mowing down innocent bystanders in the process no matter their allegiance.

"Do you fight to protect something?"

Or simply because he likes the violence? She's seen both types of soldiers. One was significantly more admirable than the other.

[beforeblue]

He gives a small, wry smile. "Yeah. I know that feeling." He'd spent enough time on the front lines, seen enough people slaughtered, enough squadmates killed before he got transferred to the project.

"Yeah, humanity. No species just sits by and waits for extinction. Everyone's looking for a magic bullet to survive."

[mindbend]

"Humanity."

The looks she gives him is dubious, at best.

"That's a big job." Not that most of the Avengers wouldn't say the same-- but that very concern, the desire to protect all mankind was how Ultron had come about. "Be careful it doesn't get away from you. Sometimes good intentions-- they can fall short."

[beforeblue]

"We're at war," Wash says seriously. "The Covvies don't give a fuck. They'll wipe us out and every year they get closer to Earth, glassing planets in their wake."

He shrugged at the assertion, trying to force down the unease that crawled through him at that. Connie's defection, hearing what had happened to her... Maine becoming so distant, Carolina's obsession. "Maybe. It's a job needs doing though, otherwise no-one will be left to regret it."

[mindbend]

"Covvies?"

The name doesn't mean anything to her, but she knows enough to guess that they're the opposition. She grimaces for a moment, nodding.

"You are right. It does need doing." Something Barton had done well to remind her of back in Sokovia. "It doesn't matter who's to blame or who started it, but it needs doing."

[beforeblue]

"The Covenant. Big alien alliance. They decided humanity should be wiped out."

But they weren't going to go down without a fight, even if every year things looked more bleak.

"So that's why I signed up. Why I ended up doing what I'm doing now." Why he'd agreed to join a dangerous and highly experimental program.