Team Banter

[Paragon Avenger]

(Paragon City, Rhode Island, U.S.A - sometime before they pulled the plug)
"Radios in Kings!"  Dr. Sam Banter cried.  He was trying to get a team together to help save the city as it were.  The city always needed saving, which is a good thing, because one can make a lot of loot saving the city.  One can also become well known, and be admired by children.  And adult people will like you as well, maybe even a little hanky-panky if you know what I mean.

"I'll join."  The Golden Emerald said.
"I love radios."  The Red Flame responded.
"Can I join?"  The Crisco Kid asked.
"Toss me an invite."  Claws McScrapper snapped.
"Anybody running missions in Kings?"  Lock Down asked.

"We will be running radios in Kings."  Dr. Banter replied.
"Count me in."  Lock Down answered.
"Dr. Banter, remember me?  You running a team?"  Repo Dave asked.
"Oh Repo, yes and radios in Kings.  I have to say, you are one helluva tank."  Dr. Banter remarked.
"Well invite me already, oh there it is, ok."  Repo Dave said.

It was a pretty good looking team, Dr. Sam Banter was not a medical doctor, but he had perfected healing devices that allowed supers, super-powered being, to regain health and stamina during battle.  The Golden Emerald is a rock solid earth controller.  She has a pet living emerald crystal.  Red Flame is a very seasoned fire blaster.  Don't let her skimpy costume fool you, she is all business fighting crime. 

And there is one in every bunch, on this team it is a water blaster called The Crisco Kid.  He is a good blaster, but he is also a prankster.  And then there are heroes who leave little doubt what they do.  Claws McScrapper is a claws scrapper.  Claws looks like a lovely little girl, but stand clear when the claws come out.  Lock Down is a dark controller.  She can easily lock down an entire room of baddies with fear. 

The last member of the team is a tanker, Repo Dave.  he wanted a name that meant something to him.  Those who repossess cars and other items when the owner is a couple minutes late with this months back-breaking payment, are not well liked.  So it stands to reason that a group of baddies kind of have a purpose in beating on him.

"Welcome people.  In case you don't know me, or have forgotten, my name is Doctor Sam Banter.  I am in charge of this team.  What I say goes.  My goal is to fight crime and make money doing it.  We might even gain experience and strength.  Anyway, I have the ability to heal my fellow supers.  If I don't heal you, it is because you wandered off and did something stupid."

"Just one minute, I don't want to have to ask permission to kill something."  Claws McScrapper interjected.
"That is a good point.  Here is how I like to play.  The tanker guy brings a group to us.  The controllers lock them down.  The blasters pick them off, and the scrappers protect the squishies."  Dr. Banter laid down the law.

"Every time?"
"No, we will mix it up a little."
"I don't want to play nurse maid to a bunch of squishies."  Claws McScrapper protested.
"By protect, I mean kill any baddies that get past the tank."
"Oh, ok, I guess."

"I'm just letting you know that I expect you guys to stay with the team.  Scrappers or blasters that get ahead of the team might not get the full support of the team."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Ok, some guy is calling me out, let's teach him that Dr. Sam Banter or any hero is not to be messed with."

"Yeah!"  They all shouted.
And with that they all proceeded to the mission door.  It was a big boulder in the middle of a field.  When they got close to it, they could see a door in the side of it.  They each went in.

[Paragon Avenger]

In this ever-changing world, there is one thing we all can rely on.  That is that City of Heroes will be weird.  The boulder with a door on one side opened up to an office building.  You can almost hear the Musack playing in the background.  The team gathered inside the front doors.
"Of course, it's an office building, why would it be a cave."  Golden Emerald spoke.

"Ok, listen up people."  Dr. Banter started.
"Great, what did I do wrong, now?"  The Crisco Kid asked.
"Shut it, let the good doctor speak."  Repo Dave demanded.
"Ok, ok, don't hurt me."  The Crisco Kid replied.
Red Flame rolled her eyes.

"I think we all need code names."  Dr. Banter continued.
"I want to be called GEM."  Golden Emerald announced.
"Me?  Claws."  Claws McScrapper countered.
"Call me doc."  Dr. Sam Banter joined-in.
"Red?  RF?  Flame?"  Red Flame asked.

"Red!"  They all answered back.
"Just call me Dave will be good enough."  Repo Dave added.
"L.D. for me."  Lock Down said.
"How about Locks, instead?"  The Crisco Kid suggested.
"'K, locks it is."  Lock Down replied.

"That leaves The Kid."  GEM said.
"The Kid works."  Red remarked.
"Hang-on one second."  The Crisco Kid stormed.
"What's the matter, Kid?"  Locks asked.
"I'm not a kid."  The Crisco Kid insisted.

"It is either Kid or Cris."  Dave demanded.
"The Kid, I like it."  The Crisco Kid replied.
"Dave, grab point, blasters next, Claws follow them, controllers after her and I'll bring up the rear."  Doc ordered.
"I'm new here, what does 'grab point' mean?"  GEM asked.

"It means to take the lead, so try to keep up."  Dave informed.
The team began walking down the corridor, pausing to check around corners.  Soon they were about to enter a huge room.
"This is it guys, I looked around the corner, and there is a huge room there.  It is two stories with a balcony around the sides and the far wall.  On the second story are offices."  Dave reported.

"Did you see any baddies?"  Locks asked.
"No, but they could be hiding."  Dave replied.
"Ok, get your weapons ready, Claws you know what to do."  Doc ordered.
Claws went in the room.  She went around it clockwise as she was taught in scrapper school.  She then checked the balconies.  She then mentioned for the team to join her.

"What did you find?"  Dave asked as he walked into the room.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
"Doc, the room is clear."  Dave shouted back.

The rest of the group walked in.
"This will be our base, for now.  In case of emergency, come back here."  Doc ordered.
"Dump some of your gear here too.  Since this isn't a cave, we can leave that stuff here."  GEM advised.
"Good thinking."  Locks concurred.

They setup a base station in the huge room.  The blasters guarded the room while the scrapper and tanker explored the rest of the area.

[Paragon Avenger]

"You know, GEM, emeralds aren't golden."  Locks remarked.
"Oh yeah, it refers to being good or rare, like we are golden."  GEM countered.
"I don't know; a color is a color."  Red said.
"Until you tasted Ham's."  The Kid interjected.
"What?"

"Never mind."  The Kid said.
"The rest of this level is clear."  Dave informed returning to the base camp.
"The Emerald Flame is kind of a cool name, don't you think?"  Doc asked.
"Hey, I don't swing that way."  Red giggled.
"Doesn't anybody care, this floor is clear."  Claws insisted.

"How about Lock Flame, or The Emerald Repo Man."  Doc asked.
Locks, Red, GEM, Doc and The Kid started laughing.
"What's so funny about no bad guys in the area?"  Claws asked.
"Forget it, they're drunk or something."  Dave remarked.
"But how?  Why?"

"You leave the room for one minute, and the squishies dive into the punch."
"Dave the Kid or Doc Crisco."  GEM added.
Another round of laughter filled the room.
"Alright!  Can we focus people?"  Claws tried to restore order.
"Emerald Claws!"

By this time most of the team were rolling on the floor laughing at the jumbled up names of their teammates.
"There must be some sort of intoxicating agent in the air ... "  Dave started.
"Agent Banter."  Claws interrupted, and laughed.
Doc Banter stopped laughing and stood up.

"Team, this way come on."  Doc ordered.
"I'd follow him to hell and back."  Red giggled
"Who's Helen Beck?"  The Kid inquired also giggling.
As the team managed to move around and leave the room, they felt a sobering effect.
"Hey, that metallic smell is gone."  GEM noticed.

"Yeah, and I can think clearer."  Red offered.
"Of course, Nitrous Oxide!"  Doc proclaimed.
"Laughing Gas?"  Dave asked.
"Laughing Gas."  Locks assured.
"The baddies must have been pumping that junk into that room."  Claws observed.

"That's why we didn't see any of them around."  Dave relized.
"Chemical warfare, isn't that cheating?" The Kid asked.

They all laughed.

[Paragon Avenger]

"I like teaming and going on missions."  Red said.
"Yeah, when the team acts like a well trained squad."  Gem agreed.
"Everybody knows their parts."
"I know my parts very well."  The Kid interrupted.
"That's NOT what I mean."  Claws countered.

"I know what you mean; it's like when I go into a room to round them up."  Dave remarked.
"And nobody does nothing stupid, like stealing agro."  Locks added.
"Yes, it is very easy to wreck the best laid plans of any team."  Doc stated.
"I hate it when I got everybody in stone cages and some blaster cranks off raining fire."  Gem offered.

"I hate it when I'm playing yoyo with some baddies and some controller freezes him."  Red said.
"Well I hate it when scrappers go off wondering away when I'm trying to heal people."  Doc complained.
"I hate it when some tanker tries to aggro the entire room leaving nothing for us scrappers."  Claws interjected.

"I hate it when some controller tries to lock down a room that I already had locked down."  Locks snapped.
"I hate it when some defender treats us like children and orders us to rest because our endurance to a little low; I can always pop a blue."  Dave flashed.
"Oh yeah, well I hate it when tanks drop their toggles and get killed because their defenses dropped.  And I'm supposed to keep everybody alive---how?"  Doc barked.

"Well I hate it when some over eager blaster steals aggro from me and then face-plants allowing the baddie to attack us squishies."  Gem complained.
"Hold it."  Dave demanded.
"And I hate it when tanks try to take over the team."  Doc shot-back.
"Why are we sniping at each other?"  Dave asked.
"Something to do."  The Kid said.

They all laughed.

[Paragon Avenger]

The team continued down the long corridor, stopping at each side room to check for baddies.  The light resistance seemed to have little effect the team.
"I was thinking about updating my costume."  GEM said.
"I kind of like your current costume, what did you have in mind?"  Red asked.

"Something black with emerald green accents."
"I don't know."
"I mean something like a bodysuit and high heel boots."  GEM added.
"Hey, you could do your hair like that too, jet black with green steaks."  The Kid said.

"Now that might be too much."
"Maybe I should re-do my costume too?"  Locks said.
"Yeah, I can't decide on a costume either.  I mean, what does a repo man wear?"  Dave asked.
"I was thinking that I could try to look more like a cat."  Claws offered.

"Most of us healers wear scrubs, but I'm thinking that is a bit trite."  Doc confessed.
"It does help us to identify a good healer."  Claws countered.
"True that."  GEM replied.
"I wish I knew somebody like 'E' from 'The Incredibles' movie to help me with my costume."  The Kid admitted.

"Maybe we could go to ICON and help each other out."  Red suggested.
"Oh no, I'm not taking off my clothes in front of everybody." Locks demanded.
"But you have a beautiful body, you should show it off."  The Kid argued.
"Hey!"

"They have changing rooms; you wouldn't be running around naked or anything."  GEM reassured.
"Would anyone take a healer seriously if he wore a kilt?"  Doc asked.

They all laughed.