Sins of the Father (event thread)

"Well yeah as far as just physical strength, there really isn't anyone I can think of who's stronger," Eddie said, but then stopped for a moment. He held up his index finger and nodded. "Except the alien that invaded. The Omega. It was the only thing, person, whatever, that was physically stronger, that I'm aware of." Thinking back, he couldn't even imagine being that strong, that powerful. To this day he still wasn't sure how they defeated the invader. Back to the point at hand, though, it was no small thing her protecting the innocent civilians like she had. It would have been impossible for him to do the same and defeat the soldier as well. He was thankful that she'd been there, and at the same time sorrowful that her shop had been destroyed. "Yeah, that's the mantra," he answered. "A lot of powered individuals live life the way you do though. I'm just glad to have finally met one," he said with a smile.

"Pretty close? Yes and no." He thought about that for a moment as well. The team was all familiar with each other on the level of friendship, but their real bond came while they were out on missions. "We know each other well enough, but the thing is that we work as a team better than any out there." Well, that sounded arrogant. That wasn't his intention. "Of course, we've had plenty of practice to make that teamwork even better. You'd think a group of muscleheads like us wouldn't have that, being as most of us have the same power set that I have." Even with that said, they knew how to work together, who was stronger in certain situations, who would work better in a tactical or strategic spot. They were damn good, the best. And that showed every mission.

He smiled all the way through her answers on working for yourself, including the little joke about getting a hobby or a day job. He shook his head just a bit. "You could always come take a visit on the Thermopylae. We've got plenty of room up there, you could meet the team. You could get first hand knowledge of what it's like to live on a floating boat." It was an idea, and whether or not she'd bite only she knew. "I don't think it will take that long to get your shop fixed up."

It was true that there were rumors about that he had been with Glory, but in all honesty, Eddie wouldn't even consider it. She was too much of a bitch for his liking, way too confident. No, not confident, arrogant. No. There was no way. An attraction, sure. Glory was insanely gorgeous, but that better than everyone personality just didn't do it for him. Now Conflict and her had a tryst or two, that he knew of, but that was another story. Eddie took another sip from his coffee and set the cup down, nearly finished with it. It was better than he'd remembered.

Maybe, if she came with him, she'd get to meet the members of his team. If that were to happen then she'd figure out easily enough just how hard Eddie's job was. Keeping that group together was enough to make a preacher cuss. There were many times when Eddie had lost it, but he never let the team see that. That was the key. He kept it together while they were around him, and let out his frustrations later, on his alone time. Usually he'd just go for a fly around the city, or he'd hit the heavy bags on the Thermopylae. Whatever he did, he'd keep to himself. There was a lot of weight on the shoulders of the team's leader. Luckily, he could bear that weight easily enough. Being able to lift an insane amount of weight didn't help that, being a more figurative thing, of course. Eddie was just as mentally tough as he was physically.

"Technically," he said with a small grin. "Magnetism is akin to telekinesis. You're able to move things made of metal, with your mind. Kind of makes you a musclehead too." Eddie shrugged and chuckled. "Not in the sense that myself or Monster are, but still," he shrugged. It wasn't meant as any sort of knock, of course. It was just an observation. "It kind of applies here too." He was glad to hear that she was interested in going to the base. Very glad. "No, no need for permission. It's a recruiting without an actual recruiting. Not saying I wouldn't want you on the team, because I think you'd be a great addition. If you want, we can go whenever you're ready, let you look around, meet people."

Eddie let out a hearty chuckle when she asked if it would make her queen musclehead. The 'challenge' didn't even bother him. There were plenty out there who could lift more than he could. Monster was one of them, and both Glory and Conflict were close if not right on par. "I don't know about queen musclehead, but I can assure you the team would be quite impressed." As the leader of a team consisting mainly of a rowdy warrior, a gentle bruiser and an ego maniacal bitch, Eddie had gotten very good at meshing personalities together and getting them to think and act like a single unit. That was the strategist/tactician inside of him that was able to do that. It was never easy, but every time he saw the results of the team's work, saving people, all that trouble was worth it. He couldn't help but to see a little bit of that in Erin today. Without even really knowing what she was doing, not fully untrained but obviously not prepared to deal with such a situation, she'd still had the presence of mind to know exactly the right thing to do. "Honestly, the queen part might have something to it too, since I see someone who could be a damned good leader in you."

There was a brief pause as he looked across the table at her. In that moment he studied her face, the gentle slope of her high cheekbones, the strength and fragility of her jawline, the cute little lift of the tip of her nose, and then he took a deep breath. There was no mistaking how beautiful she was, and he wasn't joking at all when he said she was prettier than Glory. One of the things that Eddie really took pride in was his professionalism. In the field, he was all business, same as when he was in a briefing. He ran a tight ship. He had to in order to keep his team's differing personalities in line. He had no doubt that despite the attraction he felt towards Erin, that he could keep it together. But he was getting ahead of himself. She had a life, and a good one. She was happy with her day to day. What more could he really ask for? Then again, it wasn't every day that someone got recruited to join the premiere super hero team.

He laughed when she scolded herself about his flight. "I fly? I didn't know that," he teased. Chances are that she probably could too using the metal in her body. Of course, that was also probably something she just hadn't bothered to experiment with yet. And it would quite possibly take a lot out of her to do so. "Hold on tight," he said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. "Damn, you smell good," he remarked as he hopped up into the air, a gentle take off, and gained speed just enough to ensure her comfort as they went up, up, and up until they came to a stop. "Elite, calling in. Entry code alpha, beta, kappa, gamma, alpha," he called out to seemingly nothing. That's when a small port opened over head, and he flew up into it. "The tour's about to begin," he said with a smile.

It wasn't difficult for Eddie to see Erin in a leadership role. She'd acted quickly earlier, and that took the type of initiative that only a leader truly had. He just shrugged at her answer though. He'd expected such humility anyway. She was humble, despite her obvious beauty and her sharp mind as well. Clearly she was very intelligent. It took that to run your own business. But it could also be tiresome, so there had to be a will about you to do such a thing as well. So many good things he could see in her, it made him wonder if there was anything bad about her at all. He couldn't see there being anything.

He laughed at her comment about her smell, or lack of smell, of gasoline and gunpowder. It made sense, of course, considering they'd just been in one hell of a fight. Most of the time his team would come back smelling like that, or worse, from their battles. This one wasn't so earth shattering as the fights the Spartans got in, but it was still just as important to keep the people in the city alive. There was nothing more important than keeping people safe. He had to admit, at least to himself, that it felt good having her arms wrapped around his neck, her body pressed up against his. He found it difficult to keep composed, but luckily he was trained to keep a cool head under extreme circumstances. No one was in danger here, but it still qualified as that sort of situation, extreme.

They'd come to a landing in the room just outside of the bridge. There was a large windshield separating the two areas, and the ship's captain gave a small wave to the two as they arrived. "That's Captain Faulkner. He's piloted this thing since it was built. That's the bridge, and we're in the meeting area." He smiled at her comment about the floating boat being invisible. "Yeah, I couldn't reveal all the secrets, now could I?" he added with a smirk. He grudgingly let go of her waist, as he'd realized that he was still holding on, his hand lingering just above her left hip. "Not really sure where the team is, but they're probably around somewhere. We'll see if you can meet any of them." He motioned with his head for her to follow.

"Yeah, that's for sure," Eddie said with a laugh. There was no way that Faulkner could ever be replaced. They'd be a fool to even try. The man was a legend in the field of flying machinery. There was nothing the man couldn't keep in the air. His daughter, seated in one of the control seats to his left, was nearly just as adept. Genetics, he figured, but her father was the most dependable person he knew. Eddie was happy that he had such a great crew as well. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he answered with a laugh. "But keeping our location secret is sort of a paramount thing. Just shows that I trust you with it." He finished the last part of his statement with a sly smile.

And yes, his hand did manage to stay hovering just over her hip. He couldn't deny just how beautiful the woman was, and really at this point he didn't even care about professionalism. He just wanted to stay close to her while they walked through the flying fortress. They passed by the training area, and he led her in for a brief view. "This is where we train for missions. We work on our teamwork and other things. Sometimes it's just used like a gym. Conflict is bad about that. He destroys the place. It's actually kinda funny to see sometimes." There were a lot of times actually that he'd stop and watch. The guy could really trash the place. "It's all hologram stuff, so no one really gets hurt and nothing really gets wrecked." Then there were times when Conflict and Monster would get in there to see who would cause the most damage. Monster didn't really get into it that much, but he and Conflict were friends and Logan was a good guy like that.

There were Eagle's Nest agents all over the place today. The crew comprised mostly of them, but they typically weren't in their covert gear like they were today. It probably had a lot to do with the situation down below. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'll be sure to put in the call today to get that handled for you. In the meantime though you're more than welcome here as long as you'd like to stay."

To be fair, Eddie was almost always recruiting. As good, damn good, as his current teammates were, they were still a small team volume wise. And for their abundance of strength and toughness, they lacked some of the more subtle abilities that a team needed to truly be successful. They didn't have anyone with any real stealth skill. The majority of the team's attacking abilities were melee. Really, Conflict was the only one who had any range, even though he rarely used it. Eddie knew that Hale was training his teams to eventually join the Spartans, or even replace them, but his team needed to expand and it needed to do so quickly. One day there was going to come a threat that brute force just can't overcome. Eddie shuddered at the thought of that.

On the subject of the holograms, Erin was right. They had to be very realistic and very tangible. And indeed they were. "It's a crazy detailed program, really. I don't even understand the specifics. Logic built and coded the whole thing, almost by himself. Super brain power there, but I know it also took a lot out of him. Not that he'd admit that." This area of the flying fortress was a place that Eddie, other than training, didn't have much use for. It was good to be prepared and to blow off steam from time to time, but there was only so much that holograms in a fake environment could get you ready for.

"I know. Still I wish it hadn't happened," he responded about him being apologetic about her store. He knew that it had to mean a lot to her. Everyone he knew had something to be proud of and that was her thing. Still, she'd have it back soon enough. "You won't be in the way at all." Of that he was certain. Then came the question of where she would stay. "Like I'd let you sleep on a couch. You could stay in my place though." Shit...did he really just say that. Never mind that his hand still hadn't moved from her hip. "Whatever you're most comfortable with, I mean. But no couches. Plenty of beds on board," he said sharply, bashfully.