Gizmo

"I am rich... in friendship," Chitin quipped, raising an index finger in the air and placing the opposite hand over his heart. "But yeah, anyway! Stay safe, May!" With a quick wave he took off for the nearest exit, hopping over ruined booths and broken tables, flashing a thumbs up to the reporter still holding her fire extinguisher over the unconscious criminal. Ignoring the protestations of a still disoriented security guard getting unsteadily to his feet the armoured hero slipped outside with Nocturne close behind.

Chitin gave a brief laugh and nodded amicably. "Ha, well that's lucky! Officially." He glanced over at Nocturne's impatient expression and bobbed his head. "Alright, we better get going but since the, uh, monkey guys are wrapped up - and boy I have a lot of questions about those two - and you're probably getting out for good behaviour soon can I convince you to hold off on kidnapping anybody or taking crime jobs at least for a bit? Maybe see if some other job offers turn up?" There was a silent pause, then he pointed to the upper portion of his helmet's large eye pieces. "You can't tell but I'm doing a suggestive eyebrow thing."

"Experimentation is about taking risks, Utsuwa!" Ryder told his roommate cheerfully once the specifics of his order were settled. He followed the attention of the other patrons out the front window. Not limited by Utsuwa's carefully crafted lack of investment he shifted to get a clearer look through the front window. "Oh yikes, Mr. It's Fine can't catch a break. Meter maid." The middle-aged enforcement officer didn't look at all impressed by the business man's assertions, continuing to scribble in her notepad. With a high pitched sound of peaking indignation the blond man jabbed a finger into the back of the notepad, hard enough to push the whole thing into her chest. She swatted his whole arm away with a shout, knocking him off balance and spilling his incorrect lentil bowl order all over his already suffering suit. The onlookers reacted in unison with a variety of gasps, murmurs or barks of laughter. Ryder opened his mouth to comment himself but closed it, frowning slightly as he tilted his head to one side. "Where is that music coming from?" The crunchy elective guitar power chords crescendoed to bone shaking intensity as the business man, red in the face, threw back his head and let out an enraged scream, the sounds blending together indistinguishably. Just as abruptly his eyes went wide and he doubled over, clutching his chest as waves of sickly yellow energy began to radiate off of him in time with the aggressive song. The meter maid backed away as LentALL's windows rattled and car alarms went off, drowned out by the impossibly loud music. People on the street took shelter where they could, covering their ears and pulling out smartphones to record the bizarre spectacle. The yellow light intensified and took shape until the man collapsed to the sidewalk unconscious and the song was abruptly silenced Above him stood a translucent yellow monster, something built like a centaur with the body of a rhinoceros the size of a compact car leading into a humanoid torso with long, alien proportions and a vaguely goat-like head. Its mouth was filled with too-large teeth that curved outward, its eyes balls of yellow flame, its human hands ending in machete-like claws. When it opened its maw to roar it was with the sound of a thrashing electric guitar, its entire body rippling at the edges like a sound wave. A single stomp of one of its feet crushed the offending parking meter before it began looking about for other targets upon which to vent its fury.

"Still kinda want to find that guy in charge and-- alright, alright." Chitin gave a little huff as Magenta disengaged from his helmet's faceplate, the additional armour components of the Mantis Instar returning to their dimensional pocket to recharge, leaving him in his suit's base state. He nodded to the little robotic insect and tilted his head toward one of the booths left in shambles by the fight. She raised a curved forelimb in salute and scuttled off to perform some task. "Let's just check in on May real quick and then we can get out of here." Jogging over to robotic ex-gorilla display, he gave the disaffected inventor a wave. "Hey! Told you I was going to check-in, right?" Scanning the room to make sure none of the remaining journalists were too close by he lowered his voice to add, "You didn't actually hurt your leg too bad playing it up for The Man, did you?"

Nightmare in Colour Chitin 20/20 Hindsight Vignette Greater Freedom City, 20XX “Danger! Poison!” The billowing green mist obscured the intruder as the lab’s in-house security forces opened fire, forcing them back to a safer distance and sending up sparks where the corrosive gas ate into sensitive circuitry. Only the silhouette of their scuffed black armour could be seen racing down the hallway, fluorescent overhead lights glinting off of gunmetal spikes. They turned to look back just long enough to show the red glow of their helmet’s X shaped visor before sliding under the next security checkpoint door before it could slam closed. “Stand down. I’ll handle this.” The green cloud dispersed ahead of the Carapace Corp officer who’d responded to the alarm as he spun his lance sidearm like a fan, the speed assist of his glossy white and mirror sheen armour accelerating it into a blur of movement. He gave the guards a reassuring thumbs up with his free hand while snapping his lance to a halt in the other. “Everybody goes home to their families today. That’s a Carapace Commitment.” The tilt of his head gave the distinct impression he was winking behind the large oval lenses of his helmet. The intruder grabbed a protesting scientist by the collar of his lab coat and tossed him into the wall at the back of the control room, cracking an expensive looking touch screen whiteboard in the process. Yanking out a universal jack, connected by a brightly coloured ribbon cable to the wrist of their armour, they connected to the terminal in front of them and began typing furiously on the projected holographic keyboard, swiping repeatedly in the air to dismiss warning pop-ups with the motion controls. Just as the pneumatic locks on the door to the adjoining chamber disengaged the ribbon cable was sliced in half by a lance strike that only barely missed the intruder. Sparks sizzled against their patch-emblazoned leather jacket as they vaulted over the terminal bank to avoid Carapace’s follow-up swing. Landing in a crouch next to a small pyramid of fuel tanks they produced a red capped cylinder, gave it a vigorous shake and slammed it lengthwise into the cobbled together components attached to their belt. “Danger! Flammable!” A gout of flame erupted from above their wrist with a low roar, encompassing most of the control room and bathing it in angry orange light. Carapace calmly lowered his lance to point at the centre of the conflagration and racked the slide back with a satisfying clack. “Drop your weapon!” The expanding blaze reversed course as it was sucked into the tip of the lance. The converted energy traveled up the length of the sidearm in a cascade of reds and oranges, up his armour’s arm and across the chest plate in a stylish starburst pattern. “Copy! Paste! Go!” “You know what this means, right?” the peacekeeping officer asked not unkindly, tapping a finger to the centre of the pattern. “Sure,” the intruder’s voice rasped through their helmet’s heavy audio filters. “Means I don’t have to feel bad about this.” Hooking a booted toe under the edge of one of the fuel tanks they popped it into the air like a soccer ball before launching it at Carapace with a spin kick. Simultaneously they gave a new, blue capped canister a rattling shake and shoved it into their belt. “Danger! Under pressure!” The shockwave struck the tank midair and pierced it, each of the armoured combatants leaping away in opposite directions just before it exploded. The control room’s equipment came crashing down all around Carapace, who had just enough presence of mind to use himself to shield the unconscious scientist. Pinned under the weight of a fallen bank of supercomputers, his heads-up display rapidly adjusting for the afterimages of the explosion, he strained to make out the intruder through the shattered remains of the window to the adjoining chamber. “Hnh! Who-- who are you?!” “Chitin Runner Canister.” They stepped onto the pad of the experimental and clearly no longer top secret temporal shunt machine. The startup sequence already locked in by the malware they’d uploaded, the damaged readout to their left read ‘2021’. As a blinding blue light engulfed them and a rising hum filled the room they added, “But all you need to know is I’m the one who’s going to kill Ryder Fujioka.”

"Madness? Or genius?" Ryder posed with a toothy grin and an exaggerated raised eyebrow as if he had presented Utsuwa with a true conundrum for the ages. Reading his expression had become a point of study for his less outgoing roommate; it was less that Ryder's almost perpetual smile got larger or smaller in response to different things and more that the specific cant and shape of the smile changes to reflect a specific flavour of enthusiasm. Just so as Utsuwa insisted on paying, his smile softening around the corners. "Aw, that's so nice, man! Thank you!" He produced a creased two-can-dine coupon from his jacket pocket and slid it across the counter to the cashier anyway. While Ryder was getting her expert opinion on how much extra pineapple could be added to the curry before it presented a structural issue the muffled sounds of raised voice could be heard from just outside the restaurant, increasing in pitch to a heated argument.

"It'll probably happen less if you don't decide to stay, uh, involved in the community. But in my experience there seems to be this sort of parabola thing where immortals or nigh-immortals get all wise and mature for a bit then get bored and start acting like teenagers again and that's why I have so many sobrinas y sobrinos." Ellie took a long drink from her cocoa rather than elaborate on that any further. She cleared her throat consciously and allowed the topic to change. "The obvious stuff is gauze in a few different sizes and shapes with adhesive tape 'cause you're always going to run out of one type of bandaid and have way too many of another and they only sell them in those combo packs. Antiseptic wipes, some roller bandages, scissors... actually, how much first aid have they taught you here? Where would you put your comfort level?"

The erstwhile gunman's first indication that someone had indeed noticed his attempted escape was a droning buzz growing steadily louder. The source became clear as a bright yellow wasp about the size of a baseball began circling his head. Simultaneously a sort of similarly oversized, light blue grasshopper began leaping about his feet, forcing him to dance back and forth as it seemed to be anywhere he was about to step. Amidst the chaos he was just barely able to notice a glossy black horned beetle watching from the side of a support column, slowly shaking its head back and forth in warning disapproval. Chitin rubbed the back of his head as Nocturne berated the restrained Monkey Brother. "I'm not going to pretend that isn't pretty impressive. It's not great for the armour to do this too often but..." "CYMKutters!" Wisps of superheated condensation rose from the panels of his armour as he stood over the finally incapacitated besuited criminal. "Hoo. Gotta make some heavy duty cuffs or something for these situations. Thanks for keeping all that so contained, Nocturne; could have really gotten out of hand!"

Chitin Hero Point: Avoid Fatigue Standard Action: Attack Monkey Brother 2; All-Out Attack 5, Power Attack 5: 1d20+6 25 The Mantis Instar has Improved Critical so that's a DC 35 Toughness save!

"Buddy, c'mon. They're not real missiles. Please just surrender, okay?" Chitin called to the panicking flunky with a hand to the side of where his mouth was underneath his helmet's faceplate. Shaking his head sadly he turned back to the kneeling Monkey Brother. "Well. This doesn't feel great." He'd have said it didn't feel sporting if he'd found any sport in these sorts of confrontations in the first place. He couldn't just leave Nocturne holding the enraged criminal in place indefinitely but still, it was clear his heart wasn't entirely in it as he unloaded a powerful one-two punch combination across the monkey-man's brow. Seeing his target battered but still clinging to consciousness Chitin let his shoulders slump and rolled his head back to stare upward. "Maaaaan..."

Surge: Attack Monkey Brother 2; All-Out Attack 5, Power Attack 5: 1d20+6 21

Chitin Standard Action: Attack Monkey Brother 2; All-Out Attack 5, Power Attack 5: 1d20+6 15 Probably hits since he's bound, but just in case: Hero Point: Attack Monkey Brother 2; AOA 5, PA 5, HP Reroll: 1d20+6 22 That's a DC 30 Toughness Save for him!

"Whoop!" Chitin somersaulted under a burly blow that broke a booth's desk in half, rolling from the remaining Monkey Brother's left side to his right before popping back up to his feet. "Oh hey, what am I seeing here? Physical transformation tied to emotional state? That's actually super interesting!" He took a pair of swipes at his hulking opponent's flank but was forced back by a mighty two-handed smash. Hopping back a few steps the armoured teen bounced from foot to foot, focusing on evasion for the moment. "Right, sorry, we're doing inarticulate rage right now, got it!"

Chitin Move Action: Acrobatic Bluff: 1d20+5 17 Standard Action: Attack Monkey Brother 2: 1d20+6 9 Wah-wah.

"I don't really think of myself as a cop at all,” Chitin confided quietly as the Monkey Brother holding his wrists went abruptly stock still. “Like, I'm just one guy like everybody else, yeah? But she's gonna be mad enough I let you grab me without me messing up her cool line about the bananas, too." As shots rang out next to May's barrier, however, the armoured hero's demeanour changed dramatically. “Yeah, we're done with that." He broke his hands free from the frozen grip with a sharp jerk and dropped low as the gang member angling for a clean shot turned their gun toward him. Ducking under the Monkey Brother's raised arm he rose in an uppercut powered by the suit's motors that took the gunman clean off of his feet and continued through two more audible impacts off of his mantis-like weapon before the man hit the ground. Spinning on his heel to face the first of the gang's leaders again, Chitin toggled the chambers of his belt. "I warned you this wasn't going to go the way you imagined it. You need to wake up." The magenta light coming from the inner arcs of his arm extensions grew in intensity as power was rerouted, glowing from behind the edges of his armour's panels. "CYMKutters!" the belt announced cheerfully just before Chitin crossed his arms in front of his helmet then swung them wide in a pair of blows that rocketed his target clean through one booth and its exhibit and most of the way into another. The after image of pink X lingered in the air where the hirsute muscle man had been a moment before. Without further discussion he took off in a sprint toward the intruder firing on May.

Ellie looked nonplused for a moment as she tried to work through the ramifications of slowing the aging of Danica's parents - Temporarily? Conditionally? - and ultimately decided to focus on the medical marvel in front of her for the time being. "That seems like... a lot." She took a seat across from the pseudo-teenager and cupped her hands around the insulated cup, leaving it untouched for the moment. "Oh, that was just sort of a mess. Mi hermano helped some space adventurers rescue Iana from some kidnappers when she was a kid so a few years later when her parents got kidnapped because I guess that happens a lot in space politics she came looking for his help. Except I was babysitting one of my nieces at the time and apparently using a genetic lock for a teleporter isn't an exact science or at least the guy operating it was in a rush so instead we got dumped into the middle of a firefight with a handful of friends who were nearby you can probably fill in the rest from there." She explained the whole situation in a clipped tone as though it were all very rote. "That sort of thing happens a lot when you hang out with our sort of people: teleporting, portals, summons. Always a good idea to keep a basic first aid kit on you, just in case."

Chitin Move Action: Extricate himself from the immobilized Monkey Brother 1 and... Standard Action: Attack Monkey Gang 4: 1d20+6 7 Gah. Getting pretty low on HP but... Hero Point: Attack Monkey Gang 4; HP Reroll: 1d20+6 16, raised to 26 That's a DC 25 Toughness Save for the gang member. If that knocks him out then... Takedown Attack 2: Attack Monkey Brother 1: 1d20+6 23 Either way... Move-By Action: Use the rest of his movement to run toward Monkey Gang 5!

It hits! Toughness Save vs DC 23: 1d20+5 23 Yoooooo! Opposed Grapple Check: 1d20+11 16 Noooooo! EDIT: Notice Check: 1d20+5 23

Chitin shook his head with a little sigh then rolled his shoulders. As he did the curving attachments on his forearms sprang outward, locking into place at an angle to resemble the forearms of a praying mantis. With a faint hum a brilliant pink energy filled the inner arcs to form glowing energy blades. The armoured teen hopped off of his precarious perch with a soft, “Hup!” and dove directly into the left group of armed intruders. His boot connected with the shoulder of the first gang member on his way to the floor, knocking the man's gun off centre, where a slash of his arm blade bisected it into two lumps of metal. A whirling snap kick went wide of the next closest target but led into a backhanded blow with the blunt side of an arm blade, cracking audibly into a jaw. A leg sweep and pair of armour-assisted punches dropped the third, leaving Chitin standing between one of the monkey-like leaders and May's installation. “I did ask about the guns, man. We don't have to do this."

Chitin Move Action: Jump down to the left group. Standard Action: Attack Monkey Gang; Takedown Attack 2: 3#1d20+6 17, 11, 18 Going to reroll the middle one: Attack Monkey Gang; HP Reroll: 1d20+6 16 Which becomes a 26. That's a DC 25 Toughness Check for each of the gang members in sequence, assuming they fail! Obviously won't bother rerolling if the first doesn't fail.

Chitin Diplomacy Check: 1d20+15 26 ?

"I usually go for the daily special 'cause I figure that's what the cooks actually felt like making that day and food's always better when the person making it is into it, y'know?" Ryder replied philosophically, resting a knuckle on his chin and nodding. If he'd noticed the specific source of Utsuwa's discomfort he had the good grace not to mention it further. Scrawled in marker on one of the dry erase boards behind the counter the special of the day was a sort of lentil-based pineapple curry with fried cauliflower. Other offerings included build-your-own bowls and bowls themed around being high in protein, low in calories or promoting 'gut health'. "I'm really sorry about the mix-up, sir. We can get that made up again right away," the freckled teenager manning the cash register was telling a customer holding a takeout bag as the boys joined the line. "Hnngh, no, it's fine, it's fine," the man with dishevelled blonde hair told her in a tone that indicated it was anything but. "I can't wait, I'm already running late." His slate grey business suit was a little rumbled, one shirt sleeve sticking out further than it should have from the cuff of the jacket, the collar misaligned on one side. "I can get you a gift card, then--" "It's fine!" he reiterated a little more loudly than would have been polite, snatching up the bag and hurrying his way back out to the street, shouldering past another customer and muttering something under his breath.

"She is rad!" Whereas hearing herself referred to as 'Dr. Espadas' was still taking some getting used to being able to being able to call Mara her wife still came with a bit of a giddy rush. "She runs an engineering consulting company in the city. Magic is technically more my area but, well, it's complicated." She accepted the cocoa from the disaffected server with a nod of thanks and considered her own eclectic experience and how it applied to Danica's situation. "I know a few people with unusually long lifespans, too but I don't know if any of them actually had to deal with maturing more slowly, too. That seems like a tough go. Any chance we can give this tortoise spirit a ring and get some answers? Instructional manual? Or is this more of a deadbeat deal?" She wasn't inclined to be terribly generous with any being that dumped weird powers on a kid only to up and leave without explanation.

N-not a Diplomacy check? ? Chitin Initiative: 1d20+10 14

“Wow!” Chitin’s voice rang out from overhead, boosted by his helmet’s speakers. He shimmered into view mid-backflip, tumbling down from the ceiling to land in a couch atop a huge display of a rocket’s cross-section. Glossy white armour over matte black with bright magenta pops of colour made for a stark contrast for the suits of the varied primates on the showroom floor. “I was starting to worry you guys weren’t going to show up but I get it now! Had to nail the outfits, totally.” He gave a broad, apologetic shrug. “Now, the bad news is this really isn’t going to do the way you were planning on. Which is probably frustrating so I wanted to get that out there right off the bat, yeah? Any chance I could convince you all to put down the guns before anybody gets hurt?”