BENJAMIN "SEISMOS" ZAYNE
DGR +2 FRK +1 SVR -1 SPR 0 MND +1
"Oh, good. This is happening. Great."
Benjamin Zayne, known to some as Seismos, sighs and checks his phone. His last message to the group had been for them to meet here ASAP. Ben had received an inadvertent tipoff that something would be going down here at around this time, from a friend of his in HUAC-Jeffrey, one of the many young men seduced by his father's preaching into joining Humans United Against Chaos. Well, it was obvious that HUAC's intel had been correct. Not only was someone making a move, they were making the boldest, most out-in-the-open, middle-of-broad-daylight move Ben had seen... well, since before he turned his coat. Since before his mom was taken.
A tall, thin young man with fair skin and blonde hair, Ben is dressed in fewer layers than he'd prefer: a white T-shirt with a logo for Steel Faith, his favorite band (as far as his "friends" in HUAC knew), an unbuttoned white-and-green plaid shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and a pair of brown, steel-toed workboots that seem a bit oversized at the ends of his skinny legs. With the excuse of the glaring sun, he's also wearing a light blue baseball cap with the Halcyon Guardians' logo and a pair of black-lensed shield sunglasses. He doesn't appear to be anything more than a gangly, slightly underfed kid in his late teens, busily texting his friends about the first exciting thing to happen to him in awhile.
It's going down, he taps out on his screen. Where are you guys?
Ben has no idea who the big guy with the megaphone is, but he definitely recognizes the HUAC officer in charge of the response: Jabari Okonkwo. A large, dark-skinned man in his fifties who immigrated from Rwanda decades ago, Jabari is a true believer in Blair Zeal's purported ideals of peace and order; he doesn't like to speak about his past, but Ben has always sensed he has a personal stake in ensuring his new home doesn't fall to chaos. Ben had first met him at one of his father's famous barbeques, just a couple of weeks before he announced HUAC's formation; it was an event attended by most of the men (and handful of women) now running the organization. Ben had been almost a foot shorter than he was now and had unfortunately little experience interacting with people who looked like Jabari; he'd initially found the man rather intimidating. But after a few jokes and anecdotes, Ben decided that Jabari was just about the most likable person he had ever met. This is going to be the first time Ben has had to face the man from the other side of his divided allegiance.
Even though Jabari and his son Jeffrey might be on the wrong side of this, Ben knows them, and knows that they're good people. A lot of folks in HUAC are. Many of them are bullies and sadists, sure, but some are just misguided. People like Jabari, Jeffrey... and, of course, Ben himself.
Of course, Jabari's presence complicates things. If someone like John Breyfield was here, leading his squad of goons and psychopaths, this would be more cut-and-dry. Whoever the tall guy in the suit is, there's no way he's as bad as Breyfield. But now, the team's going to have to figure out what's going on, minimize the damage on all sides, and get out of here without blowing Ben's cover.
He's closed his eyes and started whispering a short prayer before he realizes he's doing it. An old, ingrained reflex instilled in him by his father. Ben grits his teeth and bites off the rest of the prayer, then puts away his phone and starts moving towards the fray, looking for a dark corner where he can observe things for a bit without being seen. As he does, he reaches into another pocket and produces a brown bandana, which he ties around his mouth and nose. The disguise isn't as concealing as his Seismos costume, but it should work well enough.