I sat on that bench for about 5 minutes until anyone showed up. The first arrival was a young kid, maybe 19, who looked almost as nerdy as he was nervous. He was somehow both short and lanky, though still far beyond my immaculate 5' ass. He wandered over to stand vaguely near me, and tried not look as if he was examining me. I ignored him, and focussed on the next pair of arrivals. It was two people, one tall Scandinavian looking chick, with the typical shield maiden look to her, and an enormous black dude. Like, 7 foot, 100+ kilos of pure chocolate muscle. He was dressed in a pleasingly tight tank top too, which really gave me a great view of his impeccable abs. Not to say I was exclusively checking him out, since the woman was just as hot. She was basically just five feet of legs, with a pair of tits and a breathtaking head on top. The last three were all roughly the same size as well. All in all, these were probably the two most attractive people I had ever seen, and considering my ego and the amount of mirrors around these days, that's saying something.
The two chatted as they walked together, and the nerd stopped checking me out to stare at the northern goddess instead. Fair enough, really. Following them at a reasonable distance was a dude ripped straight out of a highschool movie. Varsity jacket, jeans, cap, and that swagger that only school yard bullies have. He almost ate shit when he tripped over a random stick that was left lying around, the dude was clearly looking nowhere else except the probably perfect asses in front of him. However, he threw out his hand, and his face first fall just, sort of, stopped. Then he bounced back up like the clay surface was a trampoline. Interesting, some kind of force projection?
He got up and continued like nothing had happened, and shortly we were all in a loose cluster on one end. I was on my bench, the nerd was awkwardly to one side, the perfect duo were still chatting, and the jock leant against a nearby wall. I sat there examining what I assumed was my new team. Judging from appearance alone, and contrary to popular belief you can actually tell a lot about a book by its cover, we were a fairly diverse group. I had to assume our powers were equally diverse. I certainly hoped that there was at least some thought put in beyond what our benefactor thought would be entertaining, but hey, wishes and fishes and all that.
Another few minutes went by before an older guy hobbled over from the main building. He was dressed in an old battered trench coat, had shoulder length, matted grey locks and was supporting himself with a cane. This was either my boss or my coach, and I was inclined towards coach, since this dude didn't look like an eccentric rich dude, but more like a battered war vet. He stopped about halfway across the field, and we all wandered over to meet him, with various degrees of enthusiasm. When we got there he levelled his blank, unimpressed stare at us. I got the feeling that it was his default look. I was also about 90% sure it was why he was chosen. The rest of us seemed to be picked to fill a stereotype, so it made sense the coach would be too.
"Now that we're all here." He said, his gaze firmly fixed on me, "We can get started. We'll start with introductions." He pointed at the jock. "You, name, power, HCL experience, go."
The jock shrugged, and spoke in his nasal american tones. "Mick Jackson. My hands repel things. My dad was a HCL legend, I've done some."
The coach nodded. "James Jackson?" He asked.
"That's him."
"I know the name." He studied the jock, or Mick, as I should probably start referring to him for a few more seconds, before turning to the blonde.
"You, go"
She replied quickly and smoothly, with a voice that caressed the ears like fine silken lingerie.
"I'm Charlotte. Charlotte Axel. I've got no experience. As for my powers, I'm a succubus. Wings, seduction and dark magic. The full package."
This got the nerd's attention. He had been staring at the floor, but at her declaration, his head snapped up. I don't blame him, the promise of a sexy lust demon as a teammate was certainly something. It wasn't particularly surprising or unusual either. I've already made my opinions on her looks clear, so the powers certainly suited her, and for whatever reason, super abilities were often ripped straight from pop culture or folk lore. There were plenty of vampires, werewolves and the like, so a succubus, while not common, I had never heard of anyone with both magic and lust powers, was not strange.
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The coach studied her for a bit, then shrugged and moved on. Apparently he agreed that it wasn't really worth commenting on. He instead shifted his attention to the hunk next to her.
"I'm Kyle." He said, unprompted. "Kyle Davis." He had that slow and low rumbled that tickled the ears and the loins just right. Between him and the succubus just talking, even I was feeling a little randy, and I don't really do the whole "Libido" thing. Requires more chemicals and hormones than I am really capable of. Still, even a blind man can appreciate a sculpture to some degree.
"I'm a shifter." He finished.
"What do you shift into?" I asked, curious. Shifter was a bit of a non answer as far as describing powers, it was so diverse. I once knew a man who could shift into stationery, which was pretty well useless unless someone needs to borrow a pen. It could honestly be anything.
To my surprise, he hesitated before answering. My first impression of him was that he was a pile of meat and confidence, however it seemed as if he was embarrassed by his transformation. That meant it had to be juicy.
"A witch." He said finally, and when he didn't elaborate further, I decided to leave it at that. No doubt I would find out soon enough anyway, and I thought it best to go at least and hour before I pissed off any of my new teammates.
Having also decided that he either didn't want to press the issue either, or didn't care enough to, the coach then moved on, pointing at the nerd.
Nerd, a lanky, greasy kid who looked nice enough, if just a bit awkward, answered fairly promptly.
"I'm Peter" He said, not quite stammering but also not entirely clearly, "And my power is to make portals."
"Holy fuck, what?"
That line didn't come from me, surprisingly, but instead from the succubus, Charlotte. Everyone else present seemed to agree with her statement though, since we were all staring at him with equal shock.
He seemed a little taken aback by our reaction, and began to explain. "I can make sort of doorways that let objects pass through and…"
"I know what a portal is," interrupted Charlotte. "Why in the sexiest part of hell are you here if you can open god damn portals? That shit is like the biggest gold mine power there is."
She was right. There was an enormous range of abilities out there, from flying to super whistling, but there were a number of powers that were sort after by just about every possible employer. Things like teleportation and healing abilities were so damn useful that having them, even in a limited capacity, ensured one was set up for life. Having someone with portal powers here was insane, when they could make an absolute killing just working for a courier service.
Nerd/Peter flushed at this, and examined his shoes. "Anything that goes through my portals explodes."
Ouch, that would do it. There were uses for targeted explosions, but none of the ones I could think of were particularly… savoury. Though that did bring up a second question.
"Explode how?" I asked.
"Like they're packed with dynamite." He replied
"So anything tough enough could survive?" I pressed.
"Maybe." He conceded. "But I haven't found anything that can survive yet."
"What about people?" Asked Mick, his curiosity apparently also peeked.
"Never met anyone stupid enough to try."
"I'll do it." I volunteered, and everyone looked at me strangely.
"What?" I asked them, looking around at their stunned faces.
"You just volunteered to probably explode." Kyle pointed out.
"Well, yeah." I said. "Either my power protects me and I'm fine, or I explode and die. Either way it's a win win."
"Dying is a win?"
"What is your power?" Asked Peter and Charlotte simultaneously.
"Well, yeah, it is. I'd like to die someday, and my power is basically immortality, so if this kills me it would save me searching for a method later." I replied. "I'm Anna by the way." I added a second after.
"You're shitting me." Said Charlotte flatly. "Immortality?"
"No, and not quite. It's more like… stasis? I don't know, it's complicated. Basically, I'm at my physical peak, and I remain there permanently, despite any influences otherwise. Think of me like an unchanging, eternal teenager, since that was when my powers kicked in."
"So you can't be hurt or?" Began Peter, clearly unsure of exactly what I was saying.
"I can't anything." I said. "Anything that would alter my current body does nothing. I don't eat, sleep or even breathe if I don't want to. I haven't grown, been tired, hungry or even felt any real emotional extremes since I was 15."
"That's… incredible." Said Charlotte, a little wide eyed at my explanations.
"Incredibly fucking boring. Now hurry the fuck up and open a portal. Give me fun or give me death. Or both. I don't care."
"I'm not sure about this." Said Peter, his uncertainty clear in his voice, posture and entire being.
"I'm unsure about why you haven't done it already. Come on, don't be a pussy."
He battled with himself internally for a few seconds, then he sighed.
"Fine, everyone stand back, and don't blame me if it goes wrong. She told me to do it, you all heard."
"Yeah yeah, just get on with it."
We all stepped back, coach included, who had been entirely ignoring us for the last couple of minutes while we argued, and Peter waved his hand. An ominous glowing red oval appeared in the air before us, about two metres high and one across, the edges rimmed with what looked like fire, while the middle was almost black.
I turned to the others, and saluted, before turning and running at the portal. I lept head first, torpedo style, and was soon engulfed by red.