This is where the villains RP. The Rogue Isles are the setting.

Angel is sitting near Arbiter Orr and checking a clipboard in her hand. The papers flitter a little from the breeze that carries over the nearby waters. A smile crosses her face as she checks a spot next to Medic. "Almost at a milestone. It's coming. Slowly, but surely. Day at a time..."

Angel then stands up and looks around to see if her officers Garner and Metal Mettle are around. At seeing they were not conveniently there just yet, she gets on her phone. "Angel to Garner and Metal. Come in."

Garner answers the call immediately.  "Garner here."

  Sometimes video footage could make for a handy teaching aid.

  ”Now, what are they doing wrong here?”

  “Their lasers are the wrong color?”  “They’re screaming Cobra? And we hate cobras?”  “I melted my crayons...”  Killbot 3 (He’d asked if they wanted better names, but all involved were too lazy to consider any) has some issues.  But considering their source, that was a given for any of them.

  “No, what they are doing wrong is missing.  Repeatedly.  At close range.  Please stop doing that.”  Some called it Tactics.  He called it aiming and/or just filling the entire area with Laser death.

  This bit of advice given, Metal Mettle learned that just because you emulated an actual cell phone for the hell of it when comminuting long distance at times, that one shouldn’t leave it set to vibrate when the component nanites are in what passes for your skull.

  “You called fearless leader?”  Needlessly gesturing for the Guardian to skip getting the youngest (Well, also oldest in terms of recent reconstructions) more crayons.  There was likely Laser to be done... What? in this Job, work usually defaulted to laser after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Sun 27 July 2008.

Angel says, "Have there been any promising recruits? Have you teamed up with anyone who seems plausable? I know this place is full of losers, but there have to be a few diamonds who stand out and yet don't intend to lead a team."

"Useful idiots abound here, Angel," Garner answers in his usual lack-luster tone, "Those more useful than idiot are soon snatched up by the local government or other major faction.  If I may suggest, we could focus our search in Mercy Island, the so-called 'proving ground' for new arrivals on the scene.  We may be able to find a diamond or two there before anyone else."

  “I suppose we could also put to use the fact that Arachnos doesn’t bother to attack people in their larger Mercy Island facilities, where such new arrivals kind of mill around.”  At least when they were outdoors.  He felt sorry for any fresh into the situation being who went inside looking for a restroom.

  “I’ve already gone about more direct help additions..." This comment said as a second Guardian finished forming  "And I’m sure you will be able to as well.  But for more, unique, aid. We will have to look more carefully it seems.  Though I suppose we could also just pick willing people at random, and see if they survive.”

  Catastrophic injury happens, and had to all in their little group (if much more frequently to his and fearless leaders personal help, but Metal Mettle’s get better).  However the frequency and cause of such could provide some insight.

  Edit: One, desperate level before passing out.  Yay for Photon Grenade and second Protector Bot.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:24, Mon 28 July 2008.

Angel nods. "I'm going to take a trip and be busy for the next 34 or so hours. If you two have the time, do me a favor and help out some newbies. Test the waters... see who appreciates it, who is annoying and who is downright loyal. I'll leave it to your discressions who will be invited. If you prefer, you can go in disguise and learn some new skillsets while you're at it. But either way is fine with me. If you need anything, I won't be available until I return from my trip. Over and out."

(ooc style: Translation, if you guys have the time and feel like it, be a pair of pals and go to Mercy and help some newbs and use that as recruitment. Could help in the prestige our group gets. We have enough ppl in HVG for now that we don't need to actively search. And congradulations, Joe!)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:37, Mon 28 July 2008.

"Very well," Garner answers.  With that he speeds off to begin the search.

(ooc: Gratz, MM!  As for recruitment, may introduce Electro-Melon.  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Mon 28 July 2008.

It's been a couple days and Angel returns from her trip. Having gotten her second costume and cape, Angel heads for the base and calls Garner and Mettle for a meeting. She waits in the meeting room (Of all places), sitting on the table itself, kicking her legs and staring at that same clipboard from earlier.

  Metal Mettle had discovered that more awesome than one small army of robots, is two of them in some recent efforts at getting help.  Although he was dismayed by the complete lack of Lasers they had used themselves.

  This of course, was somewhat made up by the fact he now had flamethrowers to point at enemies instead of them being directed his way.

  They entered the base and put seating to its obvious use as opposed to the table.  “Good to have you back Angel.  I’d ask how the trip went, but I figure you’ll be waiting for the both of use to be around so you don’t have to repeat yourself.”

Angel nods to Mettle's statement.

When Garner arrives (Because it goes without saying that he will), Angel begins. "Good news, you two.. Tharcon found us a couple new recruits. He informed me this person who goes by the name G-C-G is a kid or some such... or at least acts like it. I just love moldable minds." she says the last part with a smirk.

"On a side note, in the process, Tharcon also invited a demon or half-demon of some kind - Not sure yet - who goes by the name of Lucifaric. He seemed to go with the flow and agreed with Tharcon about everything. So that's two loyal, useful bodies at our disposal. Now for the bad news..."

Angel frowns and flips the paper on her clipboard. "Now... I have faith in you both. You know that. But do you two care to explain why I am already being labeled a coward running from everyone when I've only been gone for 2 days? I would have thought your collective presence would have been sufficient to keep people from daring to invent such lies."

She's calm, but it does look like she wants to vent some frustration. And soon.

Garner nods slowly, his expression unaffected by Angel's pleasure and displeasure.

"Apparently the natives have little better to do than to follow every little detail of the lives of every single super-powered person around," he answers.  The term "super-powered" of course excluding the remarkably taken for granted invulnerability and super strength of all those who have NOT signed up as a card-carrying super villain.  Any pedestrian can not only completely ignore being shot at by a machine gun like it's shooting air, they can also shove giant robots around like they were over-sized balloons.

"The walls have ears around here and none of our efforts could cloak the fact that you were absent," Garner continues, "However, this lack of privacy could work in your favor.  It seems to be standard operating procedure for one so accused to kidnap the author of the article and intimidate them not to do so in the future."

This method works well enough.  Even the invulnerable citizenry find it inconvenient for the Hellions to show up, take them away from their house, and force them to stand in a sewer for who-knows-how-long waiting to be "kidnapped" again.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:55, Tue 12 Aug 2008.

  “Clearly the media has trouble finding accurate sources.  They said I was dead.  This is an obvious mistake, I am merely not alive.”  They had pointed this out to the author of that particular article while showing that Laser > Magic to the rapidly decreasing Circle of Thorns population in the area.

  “I was unable to put these misstated facts to my advantage, seeing how everyone seemed to know I was still alive. If trying hard to ensure the accuracy of the article.”


  Metal Mettle shrugged, “The fact this occurred on a particularly busy day for me, and not one of my own absences makes me further stop wanting to consider what kind of logic is behind it, and go directly to plan A.  Which will work probably work out, as for some reason many people one would want to kidnap, already have been by various organizations.”

  Tabloid reporter talking trash about robots kidnapped by dark eldritch arts oriented group because...  Logic failed. Resorting to Laser.

Angel nods. "So be it." she says and heads for the secret entrance. "Let's go find out where this person is and make them regret spreading deadly rumors."

Angel privately wonders how well it works anyway since it seems to happen so often. But right now, she doesn't care and just wants to vent some annoyance. "As a side note... while I was gone, I got a pair of promising prospects for recruitment. After the mission, remind me and I'll tell you all about them."

Garner nods and follows Angel's lead.  It comes as no surprise that his heads-up display has already been updated with the location of where the reporter is being held.  A hop and a skip later, all that remains is to persuade whatever criminal organization inside to hand over the prisoner.  What else comes as no surprise is that they can only be persuaded by force.  Garner readies his rifle for combat like he's lived out this scene a hundred times before.

"You'd think by now these people would have learned to flee," Garner sighs, like it's time to mow the lawn or something.

  “There is only one exit to most of these places” Terrible breach of fire safety, but then so were all those people who wandered around lit on fire.
  “Even if they did, would we be able to tell the difference as we deal with everyone in our path as usual?”

  You know the variations of the saying ‘a little part of me dies when...’?  Well this was the case for Metal Mettle whenever one of robotic horde fell in a literal sense.  But these things happen when a trio of Laser cannon for hands robots and a larger one with a side in glowy bubbles formed out of your billions of nanoscopic robots bits and pieces.

  “Crush!”
  “Kill!”
  “Hugs!”
  “Protect
  Killbot 3 still had some issues beyond ‘I have no hands!’.  And yet that made their crayon drawings all the more impressive for it.  Have you tried drawing with laser guns for hands?  HAVE YOU?!

Angel begins the mission with Garner and Mettel only to come to the end and find the person who had written the article. Thankfully, since it's a kidnap mission, her target is invincible and thus doesn't get killed too quickly for her to notice it's someone she knew from earlier in her carreir. Once out of the mission, Angel seems sufficiently vented, but looks at the recent kidnapee and says, "Why you of all people?"

Angel takes the kidnapee and her two faithful followers back to base. "Sorry to interrupt our fun, boys, but this is someone I know personally... if things go over well, we may be able to recruit him to write articles in our favor..."

"Very well," Garner answers in his typical detached tone.  Just before leaving the room he secretly drops a tiny listening/tracking device into the pocket of the prisoner.  He then pulls up a chair in the workshop and pretends to maintenance his assault rifle while listening to Angel's conversation.  Though has every confidence in Angel's self defense skills, and she's never without bodyguards at her fingertips, he's made it a habit to keep an eye on her at all times just in case.

  Metal Mettle would have a different approach to listening in, had he bothered to put it to use.  No, not taking advantage of the fact he could replace the dust population of the base with himself.  Rather the fact that Angel had never asked them to leave, so he could put to use standing right next to them if he had wanted.

  "Is this one of those coincidence things, or one of those 'the insults were to get your attention and get me the hell out of here' things?"  After all, they did have to retrieve them from a heavily armed group of people they didn't seem to like.

  "I know you asked me to remind you to tell us about the two prospects once we were done."  Which they were.  "But it seems this more recent development is something that needs to be dealt with now, understandably."

Angel thinks on this a bit. Then looks at Mettel. "No... you were right to bring it up. I'll talk with this guy. You and Garner can split up and listen in on the goings on of any secretive science organization. Especially in the genetic soldier department. The other prospect, well... I think Hell itself has opened an opportunity for us to take advantage of in the form of a demonic agent willing to aid anyone's cause. I want to be that anyone. Find these prospects." She re-emphasizes before turning her attention to the recently rescued man. "Interesting to find you here..." she begins, pretty well assuming Mettle got the idea she meant now.

  Mettle’s advanced (they were past expiration date after all, ba dum tish) brainage was able to grasp the ‘please leave now’ implications just fine.  It was paying attention to them that was an issue from time to time.  Conveniently, now wasn’t one of those times as he headed off commenting “I doubt you need Hell to get the job done.  You could even probably do it without lasers.”

  The usage of com devices was skipped in favor of personally informing Garner of the situation... Well, as personal as a Robotic drone that grew out of you can be anyways.

  “Angel wants us to look into Genetic soldier research separately.  They didn’t specify what kind, so it could be any from physically boosted Normal to ‘Genetically altered to shoot Bee’s from their hands’.”  The Guardian drone skipped the need for listening to replies by way of dissolving.

  Don’t worry, they totally don’t feel pain.  Not to mention Mettle just remade them on the other side of the porter.

Garners response to the dissolving robot's message is to simply open a laptop and begin browsing the newspaper archives for leads.  Seems "secret" is a relative term around these parts and leans more toward "only those who bother to read know" than "only those with security clearance know," so may as look for what's hidden in plain view first.

Hidden in plane view are reports that an "experimental soldier" has escaped and there is a reward for bringing this mutant of scientific origin back to her captors. The quest describes this mutant as a raccoon looking person. But if Garner and Mettle know Angel, they know her hinting at this being a possible new member of the super group means she considers this person more valuable as an asset than any reward. A gift that keeps giving is any recruit who is loyal... and nobody more loyal than a rescued science experiment who probably feels like property by now.

  Metal has found ‘because I feel like it’ to be an adequate source of loyalty.  But then what works for him may not work for others.

  As he had pointed out that Angel mentioned they work separately, and pointed out the science soldier end of things, Metal figured he would take a look at that Demonic Agent side of things they had also talked about.

  This was followed up through shooting Circle of Thorns members indiscriminately preliminary investigative work.  “You’re doing it wrong.  You’re supposed to say helpful information, not ‘aaaaaarg!’.”

  The robotic laserholic considered what he may be doing wrong...  No, there wasn’t anything wrong with his methods (at least according to him).  So clearly, the problem was the scale at which he was working.

  He too turned to the newspaper for his purpose.  But not in the same way Garner and countless others did, considering the resulting article.

Metal Mettle claims he can totally kill more Circle of Thorns members in ten minutes than any ‘Demonic Agent’.  Puts 500,000 Infamy on the line.

Garner continues to eavesdrop on Angel's conversation as he heads off in search of loyal mutant experimental soldiers.

Angel talks her "old friend" into joining her forces with relative ease. It goes fine without any hitches for Garner to worry about. Angel finds a seat and plops. "Well they say good help is so hard to find. But I say if you are smart enough and know where to look, it can be easier..." she smirks, seeming to cheer herself up.

Metal Mettle's brilliant strategy is met with a demoness showing up to some spot near a bunch of Circle of Thorns. She stays just out of harm's distance and seems more interested in watching this "Metal Mettle" kick their butts.

(OOC: The demon was GOING to be a demon character Dretastic made. But lately, his ability to access the internet has diminished greatly. So in place of him, I'm using Burning Animus. Sorry for all the girls running rampant villain side.)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

Among the searching of Garner, a raccoon girl shows up. Not hard to find a girl who wreaks havoc wherever she goes. Throwing fire and tearing people apart with her bare hands, Katy seems obsessed with destroying anything in her way... how Garner approaches this could mean the difference between her loyalty and her ire.

Garner fires a shot at someone who would have attacked Katy from behind then immediately lowers his rifle.

"That one was sneaking up on you," he says in his typical unenthusiastic way.

He waits for Katy's reaction while he continues to listen in on Angel.

  Metal Mettle had always liked plans that result in a form of success regardless of the result.  No demons show up, he shoots Circle of Thorns people with lasers.  Demon shows up, he shoots Circle of Thorns people with lasers.

  Admittedly, several other robots were also widely spread across the area shooting them with lasers.  But how this could be considered a problem was something Metal Mettle likely couldn't grasp if he tried.

  "Why do they always seem so surprised when I personally kill them?  It's as if everyone expected me to have forgone any form of Lasers in favor of random esoteric shenanigans."

  If there was one downside he saw to the times he worked directly with his boss, it would be the fact he and the rest of his little horde held back on the laser.  They wouldn’t learn anything if he removed everything in their path before they got started.  But he doubted this would be the case for long.

  Angel showed so much promise.  And all without any lasers no less.

  "As pleasant keeping what passes for my wallet more filled would be a good thing, feel free to jump in any time if you feel like it.  Though despite their reputation for demon worship and all that, they never seemed very inclined to not shoot at most demony types.  So avoiding that wouldn't exactly be a bad move either."

Angel sends her latest recruit to serve as a monitor of conversations between members of the Tharian Empire. She then pulls her gun from it's holster. "It used to be just you and I..." she says quietly before she turns to head out of the base herself.

Katy crouches for a moment, staring daggers as Garner, but is interrupted by the other enemies before she tears them all a new one, unleashing fire powers alongside incredible strength. When the last one falls, Katy eventually speaks, "Who are you and why are you helping me?"

Burning Animus watches Mettle until he speaks up. When he does, she demonstrates her demonic power as she waves her hand and causes a mass fire that entraps every last one of them in circles of flame that continue to burn them. They shriek as their clothes catch fire and the demoness approaches Mettle. "Still believe you can kill more Circle than I can in ten minutes? Or should I show you that the number of them really doesn't matter and that I can entrap as many as I like?"

(OOC: Controller, or in this case, Dominator, is soooo much fun.)

  Metal Mettle's initial reply was interrupted by one of the KillBots enthusiastic use of fully automatic lasers upon the previously burning yet alive annoyances, turning them previously alive yet still burning "*BEEP* HUGS!" Two guesses which KillBot that one was.  It wouldn't be fair to give three guesses when there were three KillBots.

  "Well, technically I could say that I'd still kill them faster.  And Photon Grenades aside being all I'd need to steal kills en masse, technically you could say I had help."

  He shrugged, and tasered a passing Archer to death.  "But honestly, I don't really care about that part, so much as the fact the Circle of Thorns reminds me that I am capable of feeling emotion, specifically seething annoyance.  So how about I forget to keep count and you can tell me if you deserve the payoff when it's all over?"

  In his short run of existence, he had learned both that crime does indeed pay, and that money can buy happiness provided you know what to shop for.  While other forms of happiness meanwhile were sill free.

  "OBLITERATE"  Yup, he was so proud of his children?/clones?/whateverthehells?  Even if that one didn't use lasers at all.  Plasma, flamethrowers, and missiles would just have to do.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:48, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

"To recruit you," Garner answers plainly, "I work for someone who plans to overthrow organizations like the one that held you prisoner.  In return for your allegiance, you will be rewarded with whatever matters to you most..."

He surveys Katy's fallen foes.

"...which I'm guessing would be 5 minutes alone with your former captors."

Burning Animus folds her arms, moves her mouth to the side and raises an eyebrow while tilting her head. "This isn't about some silly bet... is it. Tell me what you're really after."

Katy growls, "Five minutes? I plan to have much longer than that..." she then stands up straight. "Fine. If there is no intent of slavery, experimentation, or whatever, I'm in. Anything to get back at the ones responsible for making my life Hell."

Angel uses her own tracker to find where Garner and Mettle are. She notices Mettle is closer and heads his way via super jumping. Figuring he could be in a conversation and she is headed his direction anyhow, Angel decides to simply text Mettle with "I'm on my way your direction."

  “Well, for my part I really just don’t like the Circle of Thorns.  I think it started off with a good reason, but now it’s more that they just don’t listen when I try to calmly explain that I don’t have a freaking soul to steal/devour/misc.”

  The rather well put together pile of nanomachines considered the text message, and said “But personal amusements aside, my main reason can probably be put better by the one headed our way.”  Sure, it was a simple concept.  Hey, wanna join us while we do Evil things?  But as was probably obvious by now, Metal Mettle sometimes lacked a grasp on putting simple concepts to simple words.

"Nope," Garner answers plainly, "No plans to enslave you or experiment on you.  Let's go."

Garner takes the liberty of making Katy's entrance into the Empire official and takes her to the base to show her the ropes.  He then texts Angel with his progress.

"First thing's first I suppose," he says to Katy, "Let's get you a raptor pack.  You ready?"

Katy looks at Garner like he's from Mars. "What's a raptor pack?"

But she follows him, nonetheless.

The bunny rabbit of doom arrives soon enough and lands near the two. "Good job, Mettle. Is this the one we've been waiting for?"

  "That was the idea.  Angel, Demon I don't know the name of.  Demon I don't know the name of, Angel."  Does it count as a better than usual introduction if usually you don't bother with introductions at all?

  "I'll let you two talk while I... oh.  I thought there was less screaming than Laser death tended to cause."  Funny thing about attacking a group of those much weaker than you.  It tends to not last very long for the obvious reason.

"It's a jet pack," Ganer answers on the way to the contact, "Saves a lot of time in this maze of a place."

(Garner sidekicks her and teaches other basic lessons on how to survive.  "Avoid things with purple names," for example.)

Angel nods to the demon and then to Mettle. "Well let's pack it up and get to the base. I'm sure Garner will be there waiting by the time we get there."

And with that, she leaps off in the direction of the base!

Burning huhs and nods, beginning to follow. "Umm..." she looks at Mettle. "You can call me Annie if you want. And I don't have a travel power yet." that said, she sprints after Angel. "Care to show me the way?"

After being shown the ropes, Katy follows Garner to the SG base, looking more curious than angry, having calmed a bit from earlier.

  The small army of Killbots were all capable of super leaping.
  Technically, there are no vehicles for personal in zone use.
  But then technically, Metal Mettle phased through his robots (at least in his case, there was some 'all made of the same nanite pile' fake science reasoning)
  And technically, everyone else did not phase through the robots.

  Add this last detail on top of the fact Annie was more than capable of steering herself better than a literal tank, and you've got possibilities.

  "I'll get you a map later.  For now if you want you can get a piggyback ride on a killer robot.  Just don’t grab onto the front of the missile racks and you should be fine." Of course, there was on such thing as friendly fire either.  A very important fact when entire rooms have more lasers than a German disco light show.  "Incidentally, you can call me either part of my name, not that it would make a huge difference which you opted to say."

Garner gives Katy a brief tour of the tiny base.

"As you can see the Empire focuses more on it's members than making individual planetary outposts look impressive."

He googles "Death Star" on his laptop and shows Katy the image.  "Although, seeing as how Base 3 looks a lot like this, looking impressive is kind of unavoidable in that regard."

Garner keeps his poker face, but Angel would easily have noticed the glint of pride in his eyes.

"Now.  Without further ado.  Tell me all you know about those you seek vengeance on."

He prepares his fingers to take notes on the computer.

Katy looks around. "I've never been in a supergroup base, so I wouldn't know that this is considered unimpressive." she then hears him mention vengeance and begins listing what she knows about Arachnos' secret division of scientific exploration in the field of genetic engineering.

Angel enters the base and smiles as she holds her hand up, stretching her fingers a bit to make sure the gloves are on comfortably before she walks her way over towards Garner, listening to what's going on.

Anni decides to take Metal up on his offer and mounts his back before saying, "Alright... I'll have to try out both, Metal."
She fully intends to call him Metal and Mettle interchangeably. Not that it makes much of a difference, but she finds the concept amusing and kinda challenging. And she plans to make a game of it to see if Metal catches on.

  He hadn't expected to give the piggyback ride personally, considering the small army of killer robots capable such and suggested for the task.  But then, who could fault her for thinking he fell under the category of killer robot too?

  Nevermind the fact that for those who see such things, there was the fact he was named 'The Killer Robotic Metal Mettle'.  Of course that sort of thing will be why he will be able tell the difference between the spelling of a word.  So much easier than technobabble regarding audio sensors and stuff.

  "Off we go then.  I have the feeling you'll do just fine on your own eventually."  This said, he leapt tall buildings in a single bound.  Seriously, his experiences with wide spread fire meant that annoying Annie in the future would be a very bad plan.

  He was obviously much cooler than them at the moment though, or would be if it wasn't for the -10000 debuff to cool giving a piggyback ride caused.

  One prolonged leap later, they touched down by the universal front door to bases everywhere.  "Ladies first.  Because holding the door open isn't a politeness option available in this case."

Garner takes notes on what Katy tells him till he notices Angel enter the room.  He immediately drops what he's doing to stand at attention and salute her with a Tharian salute.

"Empress Angel," he says, "This is Katy, the person you sent me to rescue.  Katy, this is Empress Angel, the leader of the Tharian Empire."

Angel smiles. Garner normally doesn't have to do that, but Angel knows he is setting an example of respect for her. "Good job, Garner. As you were." she says while respectfully giving him the same salute back. "Katy... to be frank, the big difference between us and the people who once had you prisoner is that you are free here. You may leave any time. You are no prisoner here. But I'll give you fair warning that we do have rules here. They are there for good reason, though and you will find yourself more than capable of working within our rules. And some exceptions to the rules are made from time to time as well."

When the two arrive at the base, Animus follows Mettle inside the base and has a look around. When she notices the salute Garner is giving to Angel, she raises an eyebrow and wonders if she'll be expected to do the same. But for now, she continues to be casual since she knows she is not a member of Angel's empire just yet.

Katy watches Garner curiously and then looks back at Angel when she talks to Katy. "Free...." she says like the word itself washes her over with warmth. "Well if I'm free to leave, then I may as well hear you out. What are the rules?" to which Angel simply looks to Garner as if prompting him to answer Katy's question.

  One could say Metal Mettle did a good job at obeying the rules of Angel's little group.  Technically this was true.  But it was more a case of 'Wait, there were rules?' and his general methods working out anyways.

  "I figure the exceptions are less than 'only light teamets on fire if it’s a buff' obvious."

"Our basic rule is the rule of iron," Garner explains, "If someone wants to harm you, they had better be prepared for the pay-back.  Our hierarchy is founded on this basic ideal.  Because Angel has earned the respect of so many in the empire, she's the boss.  Because I've earned her respect, I'm her right hand man, and so on."

Angel bothers herself with some crafting while Garner explains things.

Katy looks from Angel to Garner, giving them both suspicious glares. "OK... so what is it you want *me* to do? Just beat up people who get in your way?"

Anni smirks. "Sounds like fun, really..." she comments to Katy's suggestion.

  The one Robot army by way of technicality shrugged.  "That does tend to help.  Although even I usually limit myself to those directly acting against us at the time.  The Circle just annoys me though."

  Killbot Hugs (formerly known as Killbot Three) meanwhile, finishes the daunting task of crayon drawing  (you try that with a laser gun for one hand, but at least they are better off than their largest counterpart by actually having hands).

  "HUGS!" Killbot Hugs exclaims, as it tapes up a crayon drawing of Katy and Annie on a wall by the largely disused podium.

Garner nods.  "...that get in our way.  You are part of the team now.  That means your mission of vengeance against those who hurt you is now Angel's mission too.  If in doing so she earns your respect, her mission of bringing vengeance to all such people will become your mission."

He looks directly into Katy's eyes and reaches to gently pet her shoulder.

"Like you, she has deep personal reasons to take on such a task.  If anyone can understand you, Angel can."

Katy squirms, but seems to understand quite clearly what Garner is getting at. She nods. "....thanks. I guess it makes sense why you all are helping then..."

She looks curiously to Mettle. "Why does the Circle annoy you? What's their story?"

Annie looks at Killbot Hug's drawing. "Nice picture." she says with a raised eyebrow. Then looks at Mettle. "Your robots like the new recruits?"

Angel smirks over her shoulder as she overhears how things are going. "Oh... Hugs is such a valued member of the team, he likes to show how much he values the other members of the team... and their destructive power. Am I right, Mettle?"

  Killbot Hug's response is as expected.  "HUGS!  Metal Mettle says "They like you because I like you.  Probably comes from being made out of me.  As for the Circle..."

  He /e curseyou's "They just won't shut up about stealing my Immortal Soul.  Hello, mechanical construct?  I just stood there and let them pull off their ritual one time, just to enjoy the metaphorical look on their hood obscured faces when it did nothing and I introduced them to more lasers than their possessed puny minds could fathom."

Garner nods and folds his arms.  While the others discuss Mettle's composition and crayon drawings, he busies himself again with the latest current events publication.

Katy earpirks at Mettle. "....why do you like me? I don't remember doing you any favors..."

She watches Garner with some curiousity, her head tilting slightly while her ears turn towards Garner.

Annie doesn't bother asking why Mettle likes her. She helped set things on fire with him. In her book, that's usually enough to like someone.

Angel ahs and nods to Mettle's answer. Then looks at Katy. She let's Mettle answer since, chances are, the answer will likely be the same as her own answer. She walks over to Garner just to see what he's working on and hopefully, assess what's been done already.

  Metal Mettle shrugs,  "To the surprise of many, I don't want to destroy all organic and some forms of inorganic life for no apparent reason.  Double standards to my methods of course will apply when I feel like it."

   The robot eyes Katy (so far as something without any apparent eyes or facial features can do so)  "Was there something I should dislike you over I missed?"

Garner turns his laptop to face Angel.

"I believe I've found a contact that may know where we can find the scientists who tormented Katy.  Of course they can only be reached in person until they trust one of us enough to hand out contact info.  Shall I assemble a team?"

Garner already knows Angel's answer.

Angel smiles and says, "Why assemble one when we're already here? But you knew that, didn't you, Garner?" she grins knowingly. "Let's go, guys and gals! Time to kick some tail. Street-justice style."

Katy looks at MM. "I dunno... nobody else seemed to like me until now."

Annie smiles. "You mean... I get to burn more stuff? Cool."

  "I'm all set to commit laser related and miscellaneous offenses to whatever you point oh Space Bunny."  This said as the small army of more modern looking robots gather into the room.

  "And you must have dealt with many stupid people before now Katy.  This unfortunately is not likely to change and I may be a related statistic there at times.  Fortunately, as Annie said yes, you will both be burning things.  Don't make it a competition unless the results of such are awesome... So yes, make it a competition."

  The frequently renamed Assault Bot raised a gun for a hand.  "Yes, you can compete too.  You're so going to lose in the strictly Fire burning things department though."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:16, Tue 12 Jan 2010.

Garner nods and leads the way to the eastern part of Mercy Island with all the sewage treatment.  There's a mad scientist there doling out chores for the newly super-powered villains to do for him.

"I heard you have no love for a certain group of gene-splicing scientists," Garner says, "Me and some allies of mine could settle that score for you, but you'll have to tell us where they're hiding."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:37, Wed 13 Jan 2010.

Angel grins at the scientist. The mad scientist looks from Garner to Angel and back. "You two! I'm almost frightened you would offer your assistance, but honored would be a better term. Heee... and vindicated. Everyone knows you two mean business. I'll GLADLY tell you!" with that, he reveals where the secret lab is. "Can you keep one of the higher-level ones alive for me please? I'm hoping to keep him as a lab rat. The man's name is Julious Gremmer."

Angel nods. "Sure thing. We can do that."

Annie and Katy remain quiet.

  Metal Makes a note to not stick to close to the intended hostage, as wide radius stealth had the unfortunate tendency of making certain morons stop in place at inopportune times.

  "Don't worry, if they have a name worth mentioning then they can survive a sizable amount of burning before we take them with us."

This has the makings for a one mission arc, but Garner and his player both know better than to jinx it by saying "Well THAT was easy!"  He leads the way to the labratory.


This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Fri 15 Jan 2010.

Many mutated freaks roam this run-down place, but the deeper Angel and her crew go, the higher the tech and the more organized the place becomes.

Most of the mutated freaks don't put up much of a fight. Especially compared to the likes of Angel and those who are with her.

Katy is pretty hecktic and doesn't seem to care whether she burns them or claws them to death. She seems to do both just fine and tears through her enemies with much energy and a good helping of anger. Not angst. That's different. Angst hints at brooding as opposed to taking action.

Annie seems to be turning this into a competition as she keeps count of how many she downs compared to how many MM downs. She doesn't bother keeping count of how many Katy downs because she knows Katy would care so little on the matter it would defeat the purpose.

  A kill count comparison between Annie and Metal Mettle is a complicated thing.  On the one hand, you have enemies immobilized by fire becoming well ventilated shells of their former selves through liberal usage of LASERS.  On the other hand, you have people the frequently renamed Assault Bot initially set on fire, really really set on fire by Annie.

  As well as of course, that whole 'Robot army of the Laser all killing things' angle compared to 'oh wow that's a lot of area effect powers'.  The robotic horde was technically just MM's nanocolony structure taking creative shape (like that shadowy haze granting stealth for the party within a radius, that was MM all over them... Don't think about it too hard).  However if you wanted to get nitpicky, Annie was outdoing MM's 'Main' body in carnage.  Even a Mastermind who has learned all of their attack powers is still a Mastermind.

  "Run, it makes the burning worse.  Theoretically.  I've never actually seen movement alter the effect of fire, or water put out flames for that matter."

Running for the enemy is slow and aimless due to the effects of caltrops.  Sadly, this incarnation of Garner isn't the one with the handy speed boost powers, but devices lend themselves more to being in character for a child sized alien wolfman with a machine gun.  Maybe.  Amid the chaos and lasery-burny-slashy-shooty-punchy carnage, Garner is tracking something more important to him than kill count: supergroup prestige.

"Anyone who isn't already in supergroup mode, please correct this before the next battle," he requests, "This will earn our group more prestige.  If you don't know how to enter supergroup mode, I can show you how it's done."

Katy and Annie comply, though Katy needs some help doing so. Angel looks over her shoulder at Garner and smiles at him. "Oh thanks, Garner... totally slipped my mind earlier..."

She pummels an enemy with her dark punching and then takes note of a door. Once opened, she spots the NPC they're supposed to kidnap. "Oh look who it is..."

The NPC says, "Metal Mettle?! I had no idea my old partner had such high-up connections! No matter! These others shall dispense of you quick enough."

The people surrounding said NPC go forth to attack Angel. She is holding her own, of course, but now all the leuts and bosses are out and it's all she can do to simply keep her HP from dropping more than a third...

  Metal Mettle along with the Butler so good at hiding they could hide off panel indefinitely had paid for most of the base.  And Oh sure, comment on one party member yet attempt to completely brutalize another...  Works for the Robot.  "Well, you know.  Helping people beat up capeless Heroes to steal the cape they did not have is something I've done for many people I don't remember the names of.  And people I remember the names of."  This guy was of the first sort until they viewed the name floating over their head.  They also now had an area debuff radiating from them, good times for all.  Well, all that worked for the Space Bunny.

  The killbot trio showed their glass cannon stuff as they Lasered one of the bosses hassling said bunny do death in all of one second (even accounting for MM's habit of making themselves equal to Angel when working with them) before Killbot Crush and Killbot Hugs were sploded across the scenery by a second Melee oriented boss assaulting Angel they drew aggro from.  "Melee enemies, I love it when they are far away getting shot but hate it when they actually do anything."  MM muttered as the Laser Pulsed it onto it's backside as one of the Protect Bot's repaired Killbot Kill.

  Crushington (The Assault Bot), just went on an area attack rampage across anything that had the poor fortune to be a Minion that wasn't dead yet, and Metal Mettle finally managed to pull off Heal Allying Angel Bard without the process getting interrupted.  They tossed a pile of themselves Tar Pit over to Angel's Area out of spite and/or teamwork.

  Elsewhere, the lair's Butler paid the rent and found that he was currently listed as 'Empress'.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:34, Tue 02 Mar 2010.

Garner adds to the boss frustrating chaos by throwing down caltrops on the tar pit surrounding Angel and lighting it on fire with his flame thrower.  Convenient that none of that harms her at all.  And how even bosses tend to go berserk when their feet are sticking to stabby burny viscous doom.  How DOES Metal turn himself into tar?  Perhaps that's a puddle of his waste product.  Best not to think about it too hard.

"Focus your most damaging attacks on the enemy Angel attacks," he tactics to the others, following his own advice, "The rest, distract."

He fires a poison mortar at the foes, causing them to vomit.  Once again, handy how it doesn't harm allies.  Once again, best not to think too hard on the resulting puddle.

Angel agrees with Mettle's assessment. "Well, Mettle, that's what you have me for now, isn't it?" she grins, panching one of the melee guys that was JUST about to go for MM. "Thanks for the focus fire! Hey professor! You'll wanna hit the floor!" When she gets healed and then sees the tar pit, Angel smiles. "Thanks, Mettle! That feels great!" spite or not, she approves.

No worries for BB, as he and Angel will sort that out later on. The paperwork monsters apparently give leadership status on their paperwork to anyone who's been minding the SG base the most. Angel considers changing the title from Empress to Supreme Ruler or something so it's less embarrassing for BB when it happens, but then all her male members would aspire to take the title. So she keeps it as is.

Katy throws FIRE at people. It hurts them. Oh, and Annie throws FIRE at people too. That fire? It hurts too.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:35, Wed 18 Aug 2010.

  Metal Mettle Raul Julia's  "Of course." in response to Angel's commentary of her use.  "Even our Butler can not beat you in a straight fight."  The faceless machine's 'bodyguards' tromp over to the fiery newbies and give them nice shiny bubbles before heading back to their usual distance.

  Metal observes the carnage caused by Katy and Annie, as KillATon and Killbot Kill join them with flamethrower and pulse laser "So, is this that pride feeling people keep mentioning, or do I just enjoy seeing my enemies burn regardless?"

Garner shoots at people.  It hurts them.

"I wouldn't know, Mettle," he replies.

He moves to stand next to the hostage so that when the last enemy drops, the NPC will latch onto him rather than inconvenience any of the others with the baby-sit hand-holding to lead the guy out chore.

"You'll be following me," he explains, "I won't kill you.  But if you don't keep up, you'll wish I had."

Angel loves Garner. He baby-sits hostages for her! She gives him an honestly endearing smile. "Thanks for taking care of that, Garner." she offers before looking to the others. "Time to get outta here." she says as the last enemy falls.

The professor is, of course, scared of Garner, but feels he has no choice but to follow. "What the heck ARE you?!" he asks, looking at the wolf.

Angel answers for Garner. "His name is Garner. And you will address him as sir, or I will burn science books in front of you."

The professor is even more horrified. "M-monsterrrr I mean, y-yes sir!"

Katy narrows her eyes at the professor, but says nothing. She heads over to Metal Mettle, fur standing on end.

Annie says, "All in a day's work? Seems too easy..."

Just then, an ambush starts showing up. "Get Garner!"

Angel huhs. "How about you get my fists instead?" she asks in a nonchalant manner before charging at the enemy.

  So, when you swarm someone with a layer of your nanite selt so light it is beyond physical perception, does it count as giving your teamates a hug?  It definitely counts as giving them several significant resistances and sad tiny defense increase though, even if the 'stealth' aspect is only good for making the Hostage not able to see you while ambushes deal with you just fine.

  "All work days are easy until the moment you get brutalized out of nowhere.  A fact of existence we share in the result, if not the frequency of those we inflict it on.  Scream in agony if you need immediate healing, slump into a pile if you need resuscitation."

  Every single robot including Metal Mettle... Well technically the are all him but you get the idea, shoot at the same minion at the same time.  It could be considered overkill, but when you consider the fact it kills a Minion in one go while attempting to do the same to a Lieutenant would take *gasp* more than one volley of laser fire, the options are 'overkill' and 'not enough kill'.

Even no-nonsense Garner can't help but chuckle at Angel's threat to the professor.  Fires a grenade into the mass of enemies followed by a handful of caltrops, not so concerned whether he takes any out in a single volley.

"I'm afraid most present are too proud to scream for help," Garner says.

"Oh god my foot!" an enemy screams!

"...I was talking about our allies of course.  Conveniently, your heads-up display will display most conditions of your allies.  In fact, it should display for you which enemy I'm targeting.  Stand close to my target for healing from my kinetic gadgets."

This said more for the benefit of the newbies since he expects Mettle to be used to the team list window and targeting off allies and such.

The ambush is dealt with readily enough. And the newbies listen to Garner's instructions as they follow him like ducklings. Granted, Annie keeps wanting to stay away from the fray, but Katy is just fine in the thick of things with Angel.

Angel gets in an elevator with the group and all the sudden the chaos is quieted to mere elevator music. Angel relaxes against the side of the elevator. "Good job, everyone. We should get about 1 or 2 more ambushes before we reach the exit."

She starts examining Katy and Annie to see if they are doing alright. Then nods with an impressed frown. She looks at Garner. "Do I know how to pick 'em, or what?"

The elevator opens. No ambush waiting... yet.

  "Terribly sorry if my health aids are somewhat indiscriminate to what team members are taken care of." Area Heals, good times.  More impressive is how the entire team + robot army is able to fit into an elevator without a horrible accident.  But, sometimes it's best not to think about those things.

  "I'd suggest the possibility of simply evading them to save time.  But that never works with ambushes, and I don't think most of us would care to save them the injury."

When traveling through trains and elevators, giant robot army probably goes the same place that Optimus' trailer goes.  Or where the gun type heroes keep all that ammo.

"Thanks, Angel," Garner answers, "You sure do.  And your health aids beat the heck out of no aids at all, Mettle."

He keeps an eye out for good places to force the ambushes through small openings such as doors, and points them out.  Should he see enemies approach, he scatters caltrops in front of said opening.

Angel heads down the elevator with her allies and comes out on the lower floor. Someone in the distance can be heard, "Get Garner!"

Angel chuckles. "They're like broken records, I swear..." before getting back into the fray and beating up some more enemies. "Don't worry, Mettle! We have plenty of time for these people! But if I find a way to save time, I'll be sure to let you know!"

  Gun type Heroes, Villains, (Misc. in between), and Summons don't even recycle.  Have you seen the mess Dual Pistols users or Mercenaries Summons leave? It's a disgrace.  Now Lasers? Toootaly better for the environment.

  Alas, the pesky annoyances of escort duty mean no group stealth with side benefits.  And his battle drones are being idiots and running up to punch people instead of using their LASERS.  Metal's gotten mildly less annoyed at this when he realized said punches hurt more than their lasers...  Not that he will ever admit this shameful fact.

  "The most swift course of action would be Garner temporarily self terminating as he is the focus of these ambushes, then I retrieve his body and revive it once we reach the exit.  Though I suppose the fact we do not employ such methods of logic abuse is why loyalty remains higher than average examples."

  OOC Style: Seriously, smashing being up there with Lethal on commonly resisted damages aside, looking at my Battle Drones I noticed their 'smash' melee does more damage than their pulse and heavy lasers -.o ... And also takes 16 seconds to recharge.  For the best, otherwise they would always be trying to punch things.

Garner makes with the shooting of enemies without comment.  The player considers it might be a good idea to think up a more talkative villain.