Change of Heart (BCAD)

[Kitten]

Spencer David Jefferds took a deep breath as he checked his phone one last time. The twenty-five year old was one of the youngest men in history to hold his position, Liaison of Superhuman Affairs, and the weight of the position still made him feel like panic was clawing up his throat sometimes. The man took off his black rimmed glasses and cleaned them, a nervous habit to be honest, tucking his cleaning cloth back into the pockets of his black suit, the man opened the door to the conference room.

His dark brown loafers clicked smartly on the tile of the floor and he kept his green eyes locked on the table as the press cameras flashed all around him. If Spencer let himself think about what he was doing, with whom, and what all parties involved would have to say about it, then he was going to lose his nerve. He could only hope that his friend would understand.

The brunette sat down at the long table and waited for one of the most notorious Super Villains in the world to walk through the door on the other side. He knew, logically, that the other was here to surrender, to give up the secrets of his comrades and sue for peace. It didn't make his pale hands shake any less as he leveled the guards at the other side of the room with a calm look and a nod.

As soon as the doors opened it would be all over, hopefully he'd have time to explain himself before his friend saw the whole spectacle on television that night.

[BCAD]

Isaac Rice looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. Reflected back at him was a somewhat handsome, if atypical looking man of twenty-seven. He had been told he looked younger than his age. He could understand why. He was of a slight build and stood at just 165cm with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. Hardly what one might think of when they thought of a super villain. His hair was black and typically styled messily on top of his head. Although today he had combed it into a more formal style, it was important to make a visible impression that he was different from the version of himself that had been notorious and feared and on the front of every newspaper in the country at one time or another.

He straightened his tie for about the dozenth time. He didn't feel nervous, but he understood the weight of what he was about to do. Every ounce of it.

It wasn't that he felt remorse for his past actions, but he was a pragmatist. Better to bow out from the villain schtick and reform when one was still at the top of their game than come begging later when he had been beaten down by more powerful and fearful opponents. Give it a few months and he might be forced to do that. Super villains were on the rise, it seemed. Ones with such powers that he couldn't hope to compete with. It was true that he had intelligence, he could read a book and remember and learn whatever contents were inside of it, so long as his body was capable. It had proven very useful as a criminal, but when it came to brute strength and manpower, he was at a disadvantage, and that disadvantage could become deadly if he left things as they were.

He had information on several of the up and coming villains and he was more than willing to stab his former allies in the back if it meant saving his hide. It wasn't nobility that motivated him to turn sides and be 'one of the good guys', but logic.

He made his way out of the bathroom and made his to the meeting room. He opened the door and set his dark grey eyes upon the representation from Superhuman Affairs. He smiled as charmingly as he could manage and walked towards the young man, he stuck his hand out, offering a handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I hope that we can do a lot of good things together."

[Kitten]

Spencer couldn't help but look relieved as the infamous Isaac Rice stepped out into the open. Some of the Superhumans he'd met in his short time working for the Office of Superhuman Affairs, or OSA, had been so over the top huge and scary that he'd shook in his shiny leather shoes just looking at them. Isaac... well he was smart and that was it's own kind of dangerous, but if the man leapt at him or tried to grab him, then Spencer was confident that he'd be alright.

He was also handsome, sort of roguish but in a more cute and charming than debonair and dangerous way. The man felt his cheeks heat up behind his glasses as he clasped hands and turned towards the press cameras. "The pleasure is mine. Welcome to the team." He said as he sat down and gestured to the contract.

"I'm sure your lawyer looked the over with you. Feel free to look it over again, but we haven't altered it at all." It was more for the Government than for the dark haired man anyway, if Isaac reneged on the contract then he was just as much an outlaw as he'd always been, but if Spencer's office and the world at large didn't hold up their end of the bargain then any other Villain's thinking of coming over to the good side would think again.

"Here you are," Spencer offered the other man a shiny silver pen and another smile. What a great day for the side of good!

[BCAD]

"Thank you," Isaac said politely.

He'd made sure to find out what he could about the young man beforehand. He hadn't been able to find as much as he would have liked at first, but his computer hacking knowledge (something he had read about and originally acquired around ten years ago and updated every year or so, as computers changed very quickly) had come in handy and he had been able to find out more. A last bit of illegal activity before joining the 'good guys'. Amongst other things, he'd read that Spencer was the youngest person to hold his post. Yet, he came across as somewhat anxious. He was obviously pleased at the moment, but there was a slightly flustered edge to his speech and mannerisms. Someone who probably lacked self belief despite their considerable talents. It was something worth remembering.

He quickly looked over the papers and then signed his name, his signature showy and elaborate but he did it in an instant. The villain handed Spencer his pen back, while enjoying the applause of the press present for the occasion. There was something quite nice about having people's approval rather than their fear for once.

[Kitten]

Spencer was happy to take the signed contract and put it back in his smart leather briefcase. The whole thing had gone off without a hitch, but he still felt his stomach drop. There wasn't going to be time to explain the whole situation to the Superhero duo before he brought Isaac to meet them. He should have realized that his superiors would want there to be as little time as possible for the other young man to back out of his end of the bargain. He kept his smile pasted on his face, but inside he was starting to freak out a little.

"Mr. Rice, if you'll just follow me." Spencer took off his glasses to clean them, now that the big event was over the press was more than happy to trickle off on their own and start writing about this 'momentous event'. "There's a car outside to take us to the second meeting point." This part of the whole affair had been kept mostly a secret from the public. For one it would expose the identity of the men Isaac had been put onto a team with, and for two there was a slight but good chance that either or both of the Heroes on the team would take exception to being stuck 'watching out for' the Villain turn coat.

At least they had the short car ride over for Spencer to send a very important message. With that in mind he gestured for the other man to follow him out of the building, it felt good to be out of the spotlight, for however briefly he'd been in it. He didn't like being the center of attention.

[BCAD]

Isaac nodded compliantly, noting the change in Spencer's demeanour. He smirked slightly to himself, but lowered his head to keep it hidden. He had been right. The young man was the nervous type.

As he was about to step into the car, he flinched as he heard the sound of fast, running footsteps approach them and his eyes widened as he saw the figures of two men he very much recognised. He tried to regain his cool, remembering that he was officially on their side now, even if their expressions looked far from pleased.

"How good of you to come. Are you my new team mates? I had gotten the impression that we were to come to you." Isaac said smoothly, unable to hide some amusement on his face even if he felt somewhat uneasy that they both looked so displeased.

"Can it, Rice." One of the two men snapped. He was not normally short tempered, but he was out of breath and had just heard some very worrying news.

Isaac Rice was to be on their team? He'd only heard about it ten minutes before and had ran at full speed to go to the place where the meeting would be held. A meeting that Spencer had apparently taken upon himself to go to without so much as an email to them.

The man who had snapped was named Max Hawks, known for his superhuman agility and reflexes. He was also incredibly strong and had quite a fan following on social media due to his good looks. He had it all, a chiseled jaw, a well muscled and tanned body, and a mane of golden brown hair that complimented his dark brown eyes. Max stood at 6'6, and so he dwarfed both Isaac and Spencer. He had a strong sense of justice, to the extent that he could be inflexible. He believed that crime had to be punished and goodness had to be rewarded, no matter what. He certainly didn't trust a man like Isaac Rice, even if he had just signed a fancy contract saying he was now one of them.

"I want an explanation, Spencer." The hero demanded, one of his fingers pointing at the smaller man. He usually thought highly of him, Spencer was a good, likeable person whose heart was always in the right place. But that wouldn't stop him from chewing him out over this.

[Kitten]

Beside Hawks stood William Chadwick, he was almost nose to nose with his partner at an intimidating 6' 5", so it was easy to look down his tan nose at Isaac. Their morning had started off promising, only a couple of small cases and the two men might have been able to take an incredibly rare half day. Superhero-ing was a full time job, but even heroes needed to sit and veg in front of the TV sometimes. Then they'd gotten their little bit of 'good news' and he'd flown in behind Max straight to the doors where the former villain was signing up to be one of the good guys.

William was more of a 'tall, dark, and handsome' figure. His dark hair fell almost to his shoulders and he fixed Isaac with his dark blue eyes. There was something intriguing about the former, well possibly former, villain and it didn't hurt that the man was easy on the eyes. As furious as he was, the muscular Superhuman couldn't help but want to map those glorious freckles out with his tongue.

Crossing his tan arms over his large chest the dark haired man waited to hear the explanation for all of this. Unfortunately this wasn't a matter that he could use his power to blast away. William's powers were simple, a shock wave like blast he could conjure with his hands gentle enough to knock a book off of a table or strong enough to decimate a city block. He could concentrate the power around himself as a sort of impermeable second skin. He had used the ability to 'fly' over here just a few moments ago.

Spencer put his hands up in a placating gesture as he looked at the duo. "Al-alright listen." He started to stammer as he looked up, way up, at Max. He hated disappointing the other, not just because they were friends, but also because he'd had a crush on the big man forever and a day. The brunette pushed his glasses up his nose and drew in a deep breath.

"I wanted to tell you, I really did." He licked his lips and considered what to say. "But you know it was classified. My supervisors didn't want you to know that they decided to place Mr. Rice with you. They thought, however, that once he'd signed his contract you might not mind as much. We're friends," he flushed with pleasure at that thought.

"But that doesn't mean that I can tell you everything that the higher ups are thinking." That actually had nothing to do with it, Spencer broke confidentiality to tell Max things all of the time. But this was bad news and the only thing the younger man hated than disappointing his friend, was delivering bad news of any kind to anyone. "A-anyway," he scrubbed a hand through the back of his short cropped brown hair. "What's done is done and now... well we have a job to do." He gestured between the three of them and then to the car. "Starting by showing him to the office."

[BCAD]

Max listened to Spencer's excuse, the smaller man's words doing little to placate him. He knew Spencer well enough to tell that it had been his nervousness of his reaction to the news that had prevented him from telling them, not the alleged secrecy of it. If he had admitted that he had simply not been sure how to break it to them and had wanted to tell them later, he would have at least respected his honesty.

However, he was aware that he couldn't very well start an argument in front of Isaac. Not when it had literally been minutes since he'd been signed in. That would hardly reflect well on the organisation. He had probably come across as a bit unprofessional already, but it had been difficult to stay calm when he'd been told that he was expected to be working alongside such a fiend.

"I see. I suppose we had been go to the office and do that then, but we'll talk more about this later." Max said with a slightly clipped tone. He moved towards the car, apparently inviting himself and William along for the ride to the office as well. There was no point in running back when that was already there. Besides, his distrust of Isaac made him wary of leaving the raven haired villain alone with someone as goodhearted and (in his opinion) naive as Spencer. Even if he had been annoyed at him, Max did care for the younger man. He wasn't always someone who typically found it easy to express that he cared about someone, but he hoped that Spencer was bright enough to work it out.

Isaac had barely heard any of the interaction between Max and Spencer, instead he found himself rather trapped by William's dark blue eyes. He had met him before, but never actually spoken to him, and when they had last met they had been on opposing sides. He tried not to stare, but he had a bit of a weakness for the 'tall, dark and handsome' type.

Truthfully, he was feeling rather fortunate to have such an attractive team mate, even if he seemed to share his friend's disapproval at his presence.

[Kitten]

Will narrowed his eyes in consideration as they headed for the car and set a heavy hand on Isaac's shoulder. He didn't trust the genius, not by a long shot, but if the small man was willing to come with them, especially after realizing who he'd be dealing with and answering to, then the blue eyed hero would reserve his judgment. At least until Isaac gave him a reason not to trust him.

"You're moving in," Will said in his deep voice, tossing his shaggy black hair. It was a statement, not a question. He didn't know anything about the contract that had been signed, but he did know that if they didn't keep a close eye on the young man that he'd be up to no good in the blink of an eye. "We have apartments above the office." After a moment of thought he followed that statement up, "they're nice for apartments in the middle of the city. I'll go with you to get your things."

Spencer slid into his seat with a relieved sigh. Once he dropped the others off at the office then he would have a perfect excuse to get out of this very strained situation. He didn't really like the way Max said that they would be talking about this whole debacle later, but that was more of a problem for future Spencer.

He raised a slender hand up to readjust his glasses again and sighed. This was going to be a fight every step of the way, and it wasn't going to be Isaac doing the fighting. "There wasn't anything in the contract about Mr. Rice living at the office." He said gently, looking between the two large men and willing them to understand his position here. "He'll be here to work, and he has the option of living there of course, use of the gym and all that. But he doesn't have to do anything not already specified in his contract."

Normally he'd look to Max for assistance in these matters, but it was pretty obvious where his friends mind was in this.

[BCAD]

Isaac felt his heart rate increase as the larger man's hand was put on his shoulder. Even though the man wasn't being aggressive, he was reminded of the difference in their size and strength. That he should tread carefully in this new arrangement and that he'd do well not to anger either of the two heroes.

He didn't much like the sound of moving in. Will might have been handsome, but that didn't mean he wanted to be around him more than he needed to be. The man was still a hero, and would be looking him over with scrutiny and just waiting for him to slip up. Even though Isaac had no plans to betray them, since this deal had been made with his safety in mind and he didn't want to jeopardise his contract, having two men who seemed none to fond of him looking over his shoulder was something he could do without.

He was grateful that Spencer spoke up when he did, and he made sure to use them to speak up in his own defence. "Exactly. I want to cooperate with you and your organisation, I really do, but moving in full-time seems excessive. I mean, it is in my best interests to stay true to the contract. I have no intentions of doing anything that would jeopardise that." He assured them. When he had finished he looked up at Will, whose large hand was still clamped on his shoulder. He smiled as charmingly as he could, "I understand your worry, I've done many things that I'm not proud of, but please. If this is to work, we will all need to trust one and other."

The last remarks earned a scoff from Max and he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "Spoken like a true rat. 'It's in my best interests', those sound like the words of someone who doesn't give a damn about the greater good or doing the right thing but someone who is just trying to cover their butt now that they've been backed into a corner by bigger, tougher bad guys. So forgive me if I'm skeptical."

Isaac laughed slightly, "You have me all wrong, I assure you."
However, inside he felt a rising annoyance. The big lug was surprisingly perceptive.