Volume 1: Calling Cards

Old school poise? And did he say class? The flattery went straight to Tentacular's head, did a little two-step, and danced right back out in the form of a goofy smile which Tentacular tried to suppress. "Dr Gennison, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am a huge fan of polymers myself! I find it fascinating that sufficient nano microfibres on a suitable substrate can be made to perform with the same adhesivity over and over again for thousands of times before needing renewal, see?" He shot one of his tentacles out, picking up a whisky glass without spilling its contents. "If you have some time I would love to discuss -" That was well Tentacular caught himself shooting off, - oh, perhaps another time. Sure, I'd gladly offer my services." Gennison hadn't gone into the specifics yet, but Tentacular was ready to sign up whatever it is that he was meant to be signing up for.

Hmm, a doctorate in polymerization. Wonder if I can get some stuff to add to the power suit. Remembering that she had a drink, Brigid takes a sip of her drink, and immediately spits it back out into the shot glass, sticking her tongue out in disgust. Blegh. Straining to keep the grimace off of her face, Brigid addresses Dr. Gennison.

"So, by non-conventional approach, you mean...?"

"I agree, praise is all well and good, but what is the purpose of this little meeting?
She perches cross-legged on a chair as she speaks

"Wait, steal and destroy? Isn't that a little redundant? Do you need these documents back or are we sending a message?" ElectroLite poured another shot.

"I think hes asking us to retrieve what was stolen and destroy any reproductions"

Well, Brigid would've honestly preferred a more showy job, but she decided that the promise of future jobs was worth exploring. The paycheck would also help kickstart her career.

"Sounds simple enough. Any catches we should know about?"

"Wasn't this the plot to the pilot episode of Leverage? I mean...almost literally. Am I Eliot? I call the Hitter role. Which one of you is Hardison? Riven laughs at her own joke.

"Yeah, ok, I can get on board with this job. But, unlike the characters in that show, this Hitter won't hesitate to come after you if you double cross me. I promise no one here will be able to stop me.

"What is Leverage?" Tentacular's private weakness was Downton Abbey, and further back, Jersey Shore, which he thought was one and the same thing. "Which one am I?" He asked Riven, curious.

"Do you need all of five of us to steal a hard drive?" Flashes of each of them using their own area of expertise when their time came in order to fulfil the mission populated Tentacular's imagination. It was time for some details!

"Woah, now, hold up. I may be a thief but I draw the line at being involved with murder

"Murder? Who's talking about murder?" Not that that bothered Tentacular. In fact, missing the connection between murder and this Leverage show bothered him much more.

An eerie tension fell over the room at the mention of "heroes". It wasn't a phrase commonly uttered in the presence of those gathered. It wasn't quite taboo, but suffice to say that opportunities to bring it up were...scarce. ElectroLite considered pouring a third drink, but pulled back.

Floating breeze, calming pool,... ElectroLite took a long, deep breath, mindful of the mantra. "Listen, Gennison, I'm sure you mean no offense, but that word tends to conjure a very particular mold to which few, dare I say none of us particularly adhere."

"...heed no mind..." "Not to speak for the others, but I reckon you're free to leave your moralizing at the door. ElectroLite turned back towards the open bottle and the empty glass on the counter. If this were a job for heroes, I'm sure you'd have called the hotline by now.

Brigid had no reason to mind the whole hero vs. villain thing personally, but she knew the others here might. If anything, the transparent jab at them annoyed her more than the topic itself. Well, ElectroLite's response was clearly and firmly stated, so Brigid didn't feel like she needed to say anything. Though that didn't stop her opinion of the good doctor from dropping.

"Okay. Like he says, I won't be killing anyone unless it really hits the fan. I'm a Bad Guy(tm), not a bad person. So don't worry about it now. And I agree with Electrolite. This isn't hero work. If it were they'd be on the job."

You need 'plausible deniability' here for some reason. If you were as close to perfecting your product as you claim, you could just go public right now and let the 'Court of Public Opinion' win you the day."

"With that settled for now, I'm ready to move on to specifics. When do you want us to do the job? And where are we hitting them? In this day and age the could have cloud backups. You sure your intel is good enough? No chance we miss something you need?"

Well I'm decent enough at sneaking. I could do some recon

Brigid hones in on the fact that they'll be facing supers. After all, a super's battles against other supers is essential to one's image and reputation.

"What do you know about the supers that are going to be there?"