Mits calls a meeting at HQ.

"Bunch of stuff.  Counterfeit C.P. groups have been demanding payment in exchange for their 'protection.'  Others are a bit more subtle about using and abusing our good name for their own ends.  So I've been invited by a number of different levels of government to further legitimize our organization by formally associating with one or more of theirs.  Each offers unique percs, but the main reason is to show the world that we're good, law-abiding types, and we're not trying to build our own little empire.  We'd be issued official law-enforcement style badges, and some are offering generous support and paychecks.

"In other news, FBI guy says they're closing in on the villain who's been turning people into elemental monsters.  He wants to talk with us about how we can help catch the guy.

"Also... cupcakes!  They should be ready any minute now!"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:27, Sat 20 Feb 2016.

Liberty says, "So that's what was smelling so nice..."

Timothius smiles and wiggles his nose in the air.

Emerald says, "So... are we going to be official when we take down this villain? Or are we going to take down the villain before they can get all the paperwork in order? Just curious, really."

Angel is frowning and looking out the window.

One of those subjects is not like the others.

"Any ideas which of them would be less legal fine print stalkerish, as opposed to what they are promising as perks?"

Mits puts on some oven mits and grins impishly.  She pulls the cupcakes out of the oven and answers, "The simple answer to both questions is, 'I don't know.'  FBI guy made it sound super urgent, so judging from the usual speed of big paperwork stalker stuff, I'm guessing we'll be catching the badguy in our usual capacity long before we have any official legal authority.  I asked legal which of the agreements was the shortest, and the answer was, 'The Coast Guard.'  Of course, they also were the ones offering the fewest goodies.  My first reaction was to kinda dismiss the whole idea, but legal tells me that it is in our long-term best interest to associate more closely with a public organization of some kind.  So long as we're not under some kind of government umbrella, we're vulnerable to lawsuits.

"For example.  Suppose ye olde bus full of children is balanced dangerously at the edge of a cliff.  Then suppose Tree Man roots himself and tries to pull the bus to safety.  The bumper rips off and the bus falls.  Investigators discover that had he simply held the bus in place rather than pull, the kids would have escaped out the back door.  The C.P. gets sued for 123 million.  Our insurance only covers 7 million.  Our supergroup goes bankrupt.

"But if instead we were under the umbrella of the National Guard, the government would absorb that 123 mil and we could continue our heroing.  So I was thinking...  What if instead we were to become our own agency?  I mean, the FBI didn't exist before 1908 and they didn't have to join the Coast Guard for legitimacy.  That said, I'm also thinking smaller is better.  Rather than one big national department, we should have lots of little ones.  Like city fire department sized.  Much less potential for big, costly, screw-ups that way.  And much fewer strings attached."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:27, Wed 02 Mar 2016.

Timothius says, "What? I thought the point of joining someone else was to absorb high-end law suits."

Liberty says in an ever-increasing angry tone, "If someone sued us that much for trying to save lives, I would have some heads on a platter and go villain! If that's the kind of reaction we can expect from people for saving lives, I quit! And God help those people because only God will help them."

Emerald says, "Calm down, Liberty... the fact is that nobody has sued us. But... my lack of legal knowledge means I'm asking the same thing Timothius is; how would we absorb hundreds of millions of dollars just because we call our club something else?"

Angel says, "Well you know... for only 100,000, you can hire an assassin who can kill the people suing you, erase all traces, and then make it look like others like them were the murderers..."

  "Liberty, we both know you wouldn't go Evil over that."  So, not gonna specify about the severed heads thing?

  He facepalms at Angel's suggestion, even if he hopes she's joking.  "I'd like to keep that as merely dark wishful thinking rather than something that actually happens"

  Back to hard working red tape juggling kitty cat.  "I'd prefer to avoid any of the ones linked to the military regardless of perks, if sanely possible."  That NEVER works out well in the comics.  Not even in Canada.

Mits nod-nods.  "Agree.  Agree.  True true.  Etc. Etc.  Also: Cupcakes!  Fudge middles!  Take your pick of frosting."

She lays out the toppings.  "Drinks in the fridge.  Help yourselves."

She tops her own with white frosting and sprinkles and pours herself a glass of milk.

"Ok.  So.  To clarify.  1) Yes.  Avoid lawsuits.  Second example.  Suppose Vine Man injures an armed burglar fleeing from ye olde bank with alarm blaring.  Takes him to police station.  Finds out burglar was an actor helping with a safety demo.  Actor tries to sue Vine Man for assault and kidnapping...  Doesn't work!  Because Vine Man was granted legal authority to catch suspects.

"2) Don't be so quick to be angry for Tree Man being punished.  He was actually a self-centered, grandstanding, glory seeking fake hero who didn't really care about the safety of children.  He only bothered to try and save the bus because someone was videoing the emergency.  And in spite of knowing the risk, he pulled on the bumper simply because he wanted to show off.  And fatal disaster followed.  Remember: The reason I was suggesting we go official and subdivide is so anti-heroes won't drag us down.

"3) Handy side-effect.  Should real heroes mess up big time, such as threatening to behead people they are angry with or hire an assassin, that won't drag us down either.  Because somehow, if a person has an official badge, they are nearly immune to getting their pants sued off.

"So.  Agree we should not attach to the military.  And not changing our name.  Instead gain legal authority to stop badguys and rescue people by another means.  And it is that legal authority that will be how we avoid being dragged down by lawsuits."

Nom cupcake and milk!

Emerald shrugs, takes a bite of cupcake and says, "Well I'll be the first to admit I have no idea how this works. I guess paper beats rock AND scissors after all, in this case."

Liberty says, "I wouldn't consider it a mistake to behead people who sue you for trying to save their lives. Even a grand-standing jerk doesn't deserve to be crucified just because he made an error in judgement. Someone like that would probably have rather saved the lives, no matter how you look at it. And by "villain", I mostly meant that when you are in a nation where villains rule and win, it is the heroes who become labeled villain." Grumpy bite of cupcake to punctuate her irritation is go.

Angel noms a cupcake. "Signing our names on a few pieces of paper to kick lawyers where it hurts sounds good to me."

Timothius returns from the fridge with a cup of milk and nibbles a cupcake. "So long as we are going in with both eyes open. I don't want to sign something that has small print saying we can be bossed around to do things we don't want to."

  Joe uses his immaturity powers to chomp cupcake in one go successfully.  Milk after the fact certainly helps matters on being able to properly talk again sooner, though.

  "Well okay, I KNEW knew you actually thought that way Liberty, but I need to work on my PR tact as it is."

Mits grins and thubs-ups at Joe's successful Swallow Whole attack.  "I for one am real excited about the chance to cut down on my busy work.  As far as fine print goes, I trust our legal team because I trust Angel to have made sure no villains are among them.  I'm glad you guys are with me on the idea of becoming more of an officially established institution to cover our butts.  Even if such formal words sound less than exciting.

"On the topic of our being labeled villain..."

Mits takes out a photo of a huge crowd of demonstrators holding pro-Citizen's Patrol signs.

"This is a picture of a recent Anti-Mutant ralley.  So many C.P. supporters showed up that it was harder to find protesters than Waldo in a Where's Waldo puzzle.  We've received so many awards for contributions to society that we need a warehouse to store them, and we're about to get a whole bunch more.  And now we even have nearly every level of government practically begging us to team up with them.  So don't let one made-up example problem that may never happen cloud your view of what's really going on.

"Right now we're so overwhelmingly popular, my biggest worry is that it would be easy for a member to trigger a riot among our more rabid supporters simply by getting on TV and griping about the unfair parking ticket I was given.  So let's please keep the angry venting between just us.

"I'll leave it to someone else to explain that beheading a grieving parent is hard to prove as justified.  Even if they were armed."

Emerald looks surprised by Joe's one-gulp wonder and looks at her cupcake as if trying to figure out how to do it.

Liberty begins calming down until Mittens says that last part. Then Liberty just folds her arms indignantly and says, "It won't matter if it is justified or not if you are already in trouble with the law for someone's death anyway. See how that works? When there is no justice, then justification doesn't matter and you may as well do whatever you want."

Timothius says, "Speaking of not mattering, Mittens is right; we are too popular for that scenario to even be a thing. But even so, we're about to cover all that by signing papers or something."

Emerald says, "You've obviously researched this, right Mitts? So what's the first step? We going anywhere or do we just print out some forms you already know about?"

Angel quietly listens.

  Liberty can manage being more cynical than him, he's so proud-I mean, that's terrible.

  "While probably not the most responsible outlook, do any of them mean less paperwork and red tape for you to juggle, Mittens?"

Mits blushes, rubbing behind her head.

"Appreciate that, Joe.  Yes.  I researched it carefully.  Short term, just the founding members signing an agreement to join some agency would be simple enough.  Long term..?

"It's worth the up-front work on my part to ensure that not only will we be near untouchable by crippling lawsuits, we'll also be free from micro-managed by some agency.

"But what I've been trying to make clear is that there's a downside.  This independence and freedom risks anti-heroes taking advantage of our umbrella to get away with murder.

"Sooo...  On top of fragmenting into smaller fire station sized clubs, I was going to pile on even more up-front work by creating our own 'Internal Affairs' of sorts.  What I found out in my research is that legitimate organizations remain independent because they work hard at cleaning up after themselves.

"For example: Suppose some greedo joins the Red Cross and starts leeching money from the donations.  Feds eventually figure him out.  But since he got away with it for so long, and the Red Cross didn't catch him, the charity's own reputation suffers.  But in reality the Red Cross has their own Internal Affairs that will check the books every month.  They found him out fast.  He got fired and handed over to the police before he could even buy a new computer with the stolen money.  Everyone wins.

"That's the nitty-gritty.  To sum it up: No matter how much good or bad there is around you, and no matter how good or bad your group is, it is very very important to appear good.  I'll be doing the legwork to make that happen without having to attach us an agency.  You guys don't really need to sign anything yet.  I just wanted to make sure no one objected to me turning down the offers I've been getting in favor of the more independent approach."

Angel gives a skeptical look. "Are we even big enough for an internal affairs?"

Emerald asks, "And how do we keep people from giving us grief about our selection of who watches us?"

Liberty says, "I don't speak legalese. Just point me at the bad guys and I'll punch 'em. Beyond that, I'd sooner ask my mom and dad before signing documents I don't even understand."

Timothius says, "Smart. Granted, we'll be getting people smarter than our parents on these matters to look things over."

  "Honestly I'm not expecting anything so convenient to work out, even with all the effort involved.  But it would be nice if it did, thanks for the heads up Mittens."

Mits grins and blushes.  "Eheh...  Yes, and I don't know.  Our Citizen's Patrol is nation wide with a chapter in dozens of American cities.  But there's a gazillion copy-cat C.P.s out there that make ours a global movement with thousands of individual groups in dozens of countries.  So yeah.  We're kinda overdue for some oversight.

"Ooh!  One idea to keep the griping to a minimum.  After emulating long-standing global charities such as the Red Cross.  When people gripe, we can embarrass them by saying stuff like,  'Then you object to the Red Cross too.  Because our oversight legalese is word-for-word identical to theirs.'  Stuff like that.  The rest I'll leave in the very capable hands of Angel.

"Don't worry about having to sign anything.  At worst, you'll simply be given the option to quit the team if you strongly object to our becoming more Red Cross-ish in our legalese."

She gives Joe a thumbs-up and smile.  Her attempt at cupcake in one bite ends in a frosting mustache on her lip.

Angel shrugs. "Dunno how capable my hands are. Thankfully, money can buy competence."

Liberty looks to still be lightly grumpy until Timothius stuffs a cupcake in her mouth and makes her blush and giggle.

Emerald says, "Is there anything else you need, Mittens? Or are you ready to race me?" She has the race car videogame turned on.

Eli hasn't said a thing about all this, but he was paying attention.

  We'd better hope Angel is allowed to use her feet too then, apparently those can get a bullseye-wait are we mixing up which angels are pro archers again?

  "Ah yes, mutually assured destruction legal.  The most entertaining of legals outside of reading about comedicly stupid trials."

  He offers Mittens napkins.

Mits winks and thumbs-ups at Angel, "I trust you to be competent in spending it well."

Nathan giggles as well, happy to have a break from the confusing serious talk.  Then Emmy made things even better by changing the focus to gaming!  To Eli, he passes a note, smirking impishly.

Then he says, "Me too!" and opens his mouth for Timothius.

Mits chuckles and accepts the napkins to wipe her face clean.  "Thanks, Joe!"

She pulls up Weird Al's "I'll Sue Ya" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeXQBHLIPcw on her phone, snatches a controller, and hops on the couch with a smile and tail-wag.

"You're on, Emmy!  Prepare to have your foxy socks blown of!"

Crash!  Mits never was good at slowing down for turns.

Emerald just calmly lets up on the gas, gently applies the breaks, and takes the turn at just the right time. Look, the very song that inspired Emerald's creation was from the soundtrack to a race car anime, OK? Emmy is good at race cars.

Emerald says with a confident smile, "Huh... I'm ahead of you. But you were so much faster than me..." not trying to be a snoot. Just standard video game smack-talk banter.

Eli blushes at the contents of the note. Then when Timothius stuffs a cupcake in Nathan's mouth, Eli's face looks like it will catch fire shortly.

Angel is nodding and tapping her foot to the song. Liberty would be eye-twitching if not for still blushing from Timothius stuffing her mouth.

Also: This Angel is a pro archer.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Sat 23 Apr 2016.

  "Well, the explosions was big enough to send socks flying. Does that count?"  Probably not.

Mits giggles at Emmy's teases and Joe's socks comment.  "Oh!  That reminds me!  One of the tempting offers was from the Secret Service.  Among other things, they train agents in real life stunt driving!  Sounded like so much fun!  Maybe we can find some other way to get our stunt driving lessons."

Nathan happily noms the cupcake.  When he notices Eli's reaction, he grins bashfully like a kid caught sneaking a cookie.  Not the reaction he was aiming for.  He was hoping to get a laugh from Eli.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:29, Tue 10 May 2016.

Liberty scriggly-faces. "I could learn stunt driving?"

Timothius says, "Why not? Farmer kids get to learn to drive at age 4. And if anyone could survive a car crash without real injuries, it'd be you."

Emerald says, "Liberty has a point in that if we join anyone, we should make sure the benefits are for everyone."

Angel shrugs. "They'll likely say they will teach it to her once she has a driver's license."

Liberty says, "That's forever from now. Like... years!"

  "While I'm sure they are a respectable organization, we have enough worried parents without ties to 'your job is to die for the president' incorporated."

Mits laughs from Joe's point.  "Fer reals."

Nathan isn't so jovial about the reminder about worried parents.

Mits nods to Timo.  "Maybe we should have a field trip to a farm some time.  Go mucking about ina four-wheeler."

Crash!  "Oops.  Guess hitting the boost before that ramp was overkill.  But fun!  Who's next challenging Speedy McEmerald?"

Liberty and Timothius take turns, but Emerald lets someone else play before long so she can chat it up with the grownups.

Timothius nudges Nathan's wing with his own wing, smiling. "You ever fly over the ocean since you started coming here?"

Liberty says, "Wish I could fly."

---

Angel heads to the balcony to admire the ocean.

Emerald sits on Mittens' lap and tilts her head back to look up at her, smiling.

There is a knock at the front door.

  "Well, I'm sure the way things are going these days helicopter lessons are somewhere in your future, Liberty."

  With the others otherwise off panel of holding their elders in their lap, Joe ends up the default door guy.  Though he checks the security feed that the clearly have by now (a few kidnappings will do that do you as an organization) on his way over.

Turns out Nathan is worse than even Mits at the racing game.  Steering is hard!

"I'm not allowed to fly far over the water, but yeah!  It's fun to drag your hand along the waves!  We should go the beach together some time."

Mits blushy-smiles at the adorable music fox boldly invading her space.  "Daw!  So kyoot!  Willpower... collapsing..."

Glomp cuddle!

The security camera shows that kangaroo red-head that showed up back at the recruitment drive. She is looking at a piece of paper as if double-checking she is reading it right.

Timothius nods and says, "Maybe while we still have off from the craziness, we should all get our bathing suits and enjoy the beach here."

Meanwhile, Emmy giggles and hugs back. Speaking of her music-fox status, she starts singing for Mitts.

Angel turns at the sound of knocking and seeing Joe go to check it out.

Well, Joe probably won't get kicked across the room for opening the door for her.

So Joe actually opens said door this time.  "Hello, what can I do for you?"

Mits squees and softly squeezes Emmy as she tries to sing along.  Nathan nods enthusiastically to Timo's suggestion.  He gasps and covers his mouth when Emmy starts singing, enraptured by her beautiful voice.

"Wow..." he whispers in awe.

Ariel says, "Hi... my name's Ariel. I'm here to ask for help. And my request will seem a bit... oh... off?" she looks kind of confused herself, but is trying to stay confident.

Meanwhile, Timothius is sitting in awe of the music also. As is Lib and Eli. A nice voice is a nice voice, after all.

Emerald takes advantage of Mitts singing along and harmonizes for a bit, brushing Mitt's side with her tail as she gets to a stopping point in her music and then says, "Mittens sang along. I want to hear your voices too, kids. You can learn to sing better, you know. And I know the techniques. So! One at a time... Nathan! Sing for me, please."

Timothius curiously looks towards the door, but sees Joe hasn't been impaled or electrocuted or any other indications of a bad visi-oh... what if he's being mind-controlled? He shakes off the paranoid thought, does a quick check of security and notices Joe doesn't have that "empty eyes" look people supposedly have when mind-controlled. Still only a child, this is enough for his limited paranoia and he continues to pay attention to Emerald.

  "Well, you might as well ask.  May not even be bizarre by comparison."  Meanwhile, Timothius is hardly being paranoid enough.  But we'll get him there, for his own good.

  Joe seems fine, so far as Joe ever seems fine.

Mits is all blushes from the tail brushes!  And for getting to enjoy singing along with Emmy.

Nathan is conflicted.  He's super-excited to get a private audience with his idol.  but he's also super nervous about messing up in front of her.  So he gulps and tries something simple.

♪ "Twinkle Twinkle Lii..." ♫

Nathan's voice breaks on the high note and his face turns beat red.  "...sorry."

Ariel says, "I am here to ask for help to make my parents... intelligent." her cheeks turn red. "You see... I'm not a normal mutant like you. I was born a kangaroo and became what you now see; somewhat human-looking and intelligent enough to talk. But with my parents being still normal kangas... well there's things I simply can not communicate with them being that way."

Emerald smiles and says, "You were doin' OK, Nathan. Just need more confidence. Liberty?"

Liberty has confidence to spare. "Amerrrrrica! Amerrrrrica! God shed his grace on theeeee!" but she sings loud and a little flat. Emerald says, "Good confidence. We'll work a bit on your note transition. Timothius?"

Timothius sings... sort of? He sounds OK initially, but doesn't stop to breath and sings while inhaling halfway through, "The itsy bitsy spiiider climbed up the water spout. Down came the waaater and washed the spider out." Emerald says, "For you, we need to work on how to take breaths between words... Mittens?"

  Definitely not the craziest thing for him to expect (Though the value of crazy is so skewed these days), but still not something he has a good answer for.

  "Uplifting doesn't seem to be in our organization's skillset, as far as I know.  Emerald has a good handle on languages, but offhand the only 'animal' I know she's talked to is also a mutation."  Cockroaches, easier to talk to than Kangaroos?

  "Still, you may as well come inside.  You came out here, the least we can do is get you a drink and ask around instead of saying 'Probably not, bye!'"

Mits is all kinds of curious about the talking roo.  She's been keeping up with all the news on mutant animals and this is the first she's heard of one who speaks English.  If news gets out about her there'll be a maelstrom of animal and human rights debates, demands from scientists that she be scanned and tested up one side and down the other, and a whole host of other wacky complications such as whether or not she has to school or if she's allowed to go to school without a birth certificate and human inoculations.

As for what Ariel's asking for, Mits sweatdrops.  "Wasn't that the plot for like, a bazillion horror flicks?  Either way.  Ditto to what Joe said."

Nathan really needed that tiny bit of encouragement from Emmy or he might've burst into tears.  So instead he bows his head in shame, nods, and blushes.

Mits smiles and claps for the singing children.  When her turn comes up, she taps her cheek, trying to figure what to sing.  Lightbulb!  The one about a mommy 'roo!  Mits jumps to her feet and starts hopping to the beat of the song as she sings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5s3lAr_uTA
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Sun 10 July 2016.

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)