Timothius and Liberty soon follow Mittens, hopping behind her. Eli is too shy to join in.

Ariel nods and says, "...thank you." before walking inside. She curiously watches Mittens and the others hopping while singing about roos. "Didn't know you liked kangaroos so much. Lucky me."

  "Horror movies wouldn't really start out with the well adjusted end result.  Also we're not doing this for vague scientific in name only reasons, like expecting zombie bees to increase cattle production."

  At Ariel's comment, he shrugs.  "First time it's really come up, to be honest.  Though I guess we've all got more reason than most to think of you as a person first."

"You're welcome!" Mits chimes with a happy smile.

She acknowledges that Joe has a point about the story not fitting a lot of scifi horror flicks, but sometimes chimera ants just happen without human intervention.  But regardless of how it happens, once smart animal happens, they always want to make more.  Which always leads to a Planet of the Apes plot.

Mits shrugs and types on the H.Q. computer.  "Unsurprisingly, I'm not getting any matches.  No known member in the Citizen's Patrol has a superpower that makes animals become fluent in English."

Ariel ohs and slouches some. "I guess that's to be expected. I just hoped... so I'm the only one like me then?"

Emerald says, "In that you were once an animal, became able to speak English and changed to look somewhat humanoid? Yes. The rest of us here were either once human or in my case, born this way. But I had human parents."

Ariel says, "Well I guess then the other thing I can ask for is your friendship. I have a few friends, but none of them are mutants."

  "Honestly, I'd probably be getting the better friendship deal out of that than you.  Good thing everyone else in the room more than makes up for me."

"The only one like you that we know of.  Could be a whole bunch who haven't come to our attention.  And there might be a work-around for talking to your folks.  Telepathy for example."

She smiles at Joe then looks back to Ariel.  "There he goes again being the opposite of arrogant.  Well I think it safe to say that everyone here will be happy to be your friend.  Help yourself to a cupcake.  There's plenty left."

(Ready for a time skip if you all are.)

Liberty says, "You sound emo, Joe."

Timothius says, "He's just being nice..."

Liberty says, "A very polite, lovable emo." she goes to hug Joe.

Emerald says, "You'll fit in just fine, Ariel." She looks at Mittens. "Good idea with the telepathy. On the topic of my power; I can communicate with animals who have languages. Such as dolphins, whales, wolves, elephants... but animals that don't have languages? Not so much. So we'll see."

Ariel blushes and stuffs her mouth with a cupcake. Then widens her eyes and mmmms at it.

(Also good for time skip)

  Joe totally gets hugged.  "I may go a bit overboard trying to avoid the opposite extreme."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:08, Fri 29 July 2016.

Mits smiles and gives Emmy a sweeping bow.  "Thank you.  Thank you."

Nathan's beaming and chimes in, "She's a real good singer too!  Music's the universal language after all."

He flies over to Ariel and offers her a paper flower, smiling.  "Welcome to the club!"

<< Time Skip! >>

Mits texts the group with the following:

"Homeland Security Special Task Force has invited me to help a sting!  Wunna come see the setup?"

The location is given.

Ariel isn't ready for all that crazy heroics stuff, so she stays behind (was mostly just intro-ing her). Tim, Lib, Eli and Emmy all show up, though.

Eli is there as a curiosity and hopeful that he can learn non-violent solutions to criminal problems from the professionals.

Liberty is there because she wants to protect others from any injury that could potentially result.

Timothius is there to make sure his sister is OK (And to up his manly cred by being "involved in a homeland security sting", but he hasn't consciously realized this reason yet)

Emerald is there because she feels it her duty as one of the adults of the group to set an example and be at every Citizen's Patrol event. And honestly, who wouldn't want to gain some brownie points with homeland security?

  Joe thinks that a sudden crowd for what is supposed to be a surprise might defeat the point, but also hardly wants to leave them dealing with this sort of thing alone more than she already does.

  More so with the others heading along as it is.

There's several vans and other vehicles all parked in an out-of-the-way parking lot.  Most are sporting the Homeland Security logo and color scheme.  Mits is leaning back in a folding chair busily fiddling with her smartphone, updating social media and whatnot.  An agent is pacing back and forth nearby, chatting away on the phone.  Some agents are hurrying about with one urgent task or another, while others are leaning against vehicles and shooting the breeze while sipping coffee.

Mits smiles and waves when friends arrive.  "Hey hey!  Thanks for comin'!"

One of the busy bodies hands out visitor badges to the new arrivals.

Emerald and the others thank the busybody and then head over to Mittens.

Liberty says, "No problem, Mittens. So what's the plan?"

Emerald says, "I'm sure we'll be told our part soon enough."

Timothius finds a place to sit.

Eli sits near Timothius.

  Considering half the stuff the Government drags Mittens along to, Joe is surprised this latest situation is apparently one not worth complete seriousness.  Not that he actually expects it to go that well, but still better than starting out at full carnage.

  "Least I could do, considering how much you put up with alone."

Mits grins and peace-signs in reply to Joe's comment.  It's true that it's a lot of work, but she's having fun, so it's all good.

"So there's allegedly a militant pro-mutant group in Burma that's being funded by a nearby corporation.  Breaks some treaty or another if it's true.  H.S. suspects that either they're really good at covering their tracks or someone's trying to frame them.  Either way, the warrant is for a covert search.  I was invited to go in with a wire for two reasons.  One, it'll be a great diversion for the real agents to find evidence.  Two, they might just try and recruit me to their cause.  Anyone who wants to tag along is welcome to."

Timothius says, "I know you like adventure and all, but your power is best used outside of that place; where you can warn others if danger is about to happen. If the danger is the people you are with, you can't warn them they are about to kill you."

Liberty says, "Hey... wouldn't it make more sense to send me? If they decide to try to hurt me, I won't die where you normally would."

Emerald says, "While I may agree with Timothius, I think the best people to decide who goes in are the professionals who invited us here. Not us. So we'll fill them in on who is here, what abilities are at their disposal, and let the pros decide from there."

Eli is so glad his power has nothing to do with being bait.

  "Do these guys have no TVs or internet connections?  Because most of us are pretty well known for going out of our way to help normal people not get killed by mutants and lab creations."

Mits chuckles.  "Chill, guys.  This isn't a dragon or tornado.  It's a bureaucracy.  Office full of little old ladies in sneakers.  The biggest risk here is the chance that important files might get deleted.  And all my adventure sense is picking up is, 'Oh boy!  I get to wear a wire for Homeland Security!'

"As for what super-powers we'll be using, that would be the super-power of Fame.  Yes, we're well known for championing genetic equality, but there's plenty of people who've been saying that, 'All it would take would be for one of them Citizen's Patrol people to be put on trial for all that property damage.  Then WHAM!  Watch how quickly they turn those super-powers on honest citizens just for supporting the law.'

"You might be surprised at how many idiot mutant supremacists are eager for that to happen.  And keep writing to us that we should overthrow the lawful government.  No matter how many times Roz forwards their stuff to the authorities.  We're tasty bait for any group to try and persuade to their side, really.  Simply because we're famous."

Liberty says, "Given our earlier conversation, I can't say I would be surprised at how many there are. Nor would I call them idiots. Treat someone like a villain enough times, and they might get the idea they have no choice but to be a villain."

Emerald nods. "Yes, but the kind Mittens is talking about are people who just use it as an excuse to do what they would have done eventually if the convenient excuse to blame didn't arrive. And excuse or no, rampaging against innocent people for the wrongdoings of others is wrong. Law or no law."

Timothius says, "Besides. Here we are, working on the side of the law for the... fourth time? I haven't been keeping count. But if the law is on our side, then when people try to defame us or hurt us, we know we can trust the law enforcement to do right by us."

Eli is studying schematics for alternate power source engines for cars and airplanes.

  "I would be surprised there are not more of them ready to be violently stupid, but then you know how much of a ball of optimistic sunshine I can be.  Though my turning on the citizens would very likely be limited to verbal assault."

Mits shrugs.  "I for one am not going to let people turn me into a villain no matter how much they slander me.  Fortunately, that's pretty easy right now, considering how much more encouragement I get than slander.  And yes!  A history of being Lawful Good goes a long way toward boosting loyalty towards us!"

She chuckles at Joe's sunshine sarcasm.  "Wouldn't be the first time.  So yay for having armed officers just a breath away."

The agent on the phone hangs up and smiles at the group.  "Thanks for coming!"

Eli doesn't want to contradict Mittens, but he certainly is thinking about how nobody knows their limit or if they would break and become a villain under certain stresses until it happens...

Liberty mutters, "I wouldn't become a villain either. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be justified in caving in a face or two..."

When the agent approaches, though, the children all start getting a little star-struck and bashful.

Emerald nods and offers a hand to the agent. "Thanks for having us. Mittens explained why we're here. I'm willing to help out, of course, but I don't know how many you need for this, or if you even want certain members to stay behind for anything?" she's just as star-struck as the children, but is very practiced at hiding her emotions when needed.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:11, Tue 23 Aug 2016.

  "While it can feel less than productive, knowing if I should just stay out of the way for a while beats screwing things up for everyone."  Being a loose cannon is for when that solves the case, not ruins it, duh.

  He hopes for the sake of the people inside, there are no highly punchable faces.  Liberty can bench more than he can.

If Mittens could read minds, she'd reassure Eli. But alas, she can't. She nods to Lib. "While violence is a last resort, it is unfortunately often the only resort that will stop evil. Fortunately, most people do not need to cave their own faces in to prevent themselves from becoming a villain."

(Reminder for agent face to reply to Emmy)