Gizmo

A combination of muffled buzzing and chirping from Ryder’s satchel drew his attention toward the platform with the partially repaired robot gorilla. He patted the bag affectionately while shushing its occupants softly and indicating that direction with a tilt of his head to Natalia. He sidled up casually toward the pair of legs, which for Ryder still involved more enthusiasm and energy than the proverbial kid in a candy shoppe, ducking under the stanchions. “Hi! Ma- uh, Ms. Mechanica? Or is it Doctor? My colleague and I are here on behalf of Hallomen Advanced Experts, do you have a minute?”

Chitin Notice Check: 1d20+5 20 He’ll specifically be looking for anything that seems to fit May’s design sensibilities based on the robot gorilla.

“Wow,” Ryder breathed with an air of awe, holding an old fashioned film camera he’d produced once they’d arrived as part of his cover. “What a massive tool. Normally people are a lot less direct about the ‘using prisoners for labour’ thing. What do you think makes the air American? Jeeeeez.” It was about the most negativity Natalia had yet to hear from him all at once and even so he seemed almost impressed by the sheer scale of the repugnant personality on display.

“Ah, one sec, yeah!” Natalia could hear something heavy clank to the floor before Ryder appeared in the doorway. His yellow jacket had been hastily tossed over one arm, the sleeves of his sweater rolled up to his elbows and a torque screwdriver between two fingers. At some point a smear of grease had appeared across his right cheek. “Sorry, got an idea after talking to you. I’m good to go!” He lifted his hand to give a thumbs up and noticed the screwdriver there. He unceremoniously tossed it back into the room and gave a whistle. The remaining three Robugs scurried out before he closed the door, dragging a satchel with a designs in a dozen spray painted colours behind them. “Oh hey, is that coat another one of yours? Nice!”

Ryder grinned even wider and with a small sound of exertion heaved himself back in through his window before hopping up onto the sill with both feet and leaning far out, holding onto the top edge of the opening with one hand. “Whenever you’re ready! The shows running all week and we have passes for the whole thing. I don’t figure we’ll need more than a day to...” He gestured in a vague circle with the hand stretching into the open air. “You know, do our thing.” Ms. Hallomen had specifically asked that he try not to cause trouble but he never tried and it just seemed realistic to prepare for the eventuality.

“I’ve never been allowed near a tank!” Ryder exclaimed, throwing his arms wide in emphasis then struggling to regain his balance. Natalia could just make out Cyan and Magenta on his windowsill attempting to hold him down, not accomplishing much beyond stretching his black pants a little. “And I was explicitly told to dress however I wanted. I mean, I would have anyway but it’s nice to have permission. I dunno, I could change if you wanted?” His expression became a little more serious, as much as it could given his pose. “You remember May? With the robot gorilla? She showed up at a trade show thing and I wanted to check in. And since we made a pretty good team before...”

A soft tapping sound drew Natalia’s attention to the window of the dormitory room she shared with Tori. Black the robotic beetle was perched half in the window sill and half on the brick wall next to it, tapping his glossy horn against the glass pane in a slow, deliberate rhythm. When she obligingly, if reluctantly, slid the window open and looked downward she was unsurprised to find Ryder most of the way out into the cool December air, with only his knees hooked inside his own window so that he could hold himself perpendicular to the wall to grin up at her. His bright red scarf was looped around his neck over a sweater with a stitched design that combined peacock feathers and paisley, topped with a canary yellow blazer that was about the most professional piece of clothing he owned. “Hey! Wanna go check out some cool supervillain tanks and stuff?”

Hard Bargain Sense Motive vs DC 29: 1d20+10 15 26 - Hard Bargain - Uninjured, Demoralized, Feinted 25 - Thru - Bruised x1 23 - Lou - Uninjured, 3HP 23 - Wadjet - Uninjured 23 - Lady Horus - Uninjured, 0HP 22 - Gremlin - Uninjured, 3HP > 21 - U-CRZY - Uninjured 12 - Dr. Thorne - Uninjured, 3HP 6 - Judex - Dazed, 0HP 5 - Meza - Uninjured

Reasonable! It'll give Lou an opportunity to hit him at least. Go for Gremlin, @Fox! 26 - Hard Bargain - Uninjured, Demoralized 25 - Thru - Bruised x1 23 - Lou - Uninjured, 3HP 23 - Wadjet - Uninjured 23 - Lady Horus - Uninjured, 0HP > 22 - Gremlin - Uninjured, 4HP 21 - U-CRZY - Uninjured 12 - Dr. Thorne - Uninjured, 3HP 6 - Judex - Uninjured, 1HP 5 - Meza - Uninjured Edited 14 minutes ago by Gizmo

Oh yeah, he can't beat that. Are you just going for a Demoralized status or trying to Trick him into doing something specific?

Lou had reflexively thrown an arm across Alice as Thorne's car had begun juking violently, holding the smaller woman back against the seat. He left it there as he craned his whole body to look out the rear windshield to try to keep track of the assassins' cars. "These two are just keeping us busy while the third one ices Meza." He made a displeased sound in the back of his throat and rubbed the bridge of his nose while making up his mind about something. Looking to Wadjet he said, "Tell your boss I could use a lift." Then, shifting over top of Alice from the middle of the back seat he grabbed the door handle and with a grunt forced it open against the rushing wind and tucked and rolled out onto the cement. As he launched himself the hand that had touched the door turned the same orange brown as the car's paint job, scored by wide scratches the revealed the metal beneath it. By the time he impacted the road the colour had spread to the rest of his visible skin, his eyes a glossy yellow that matched the headlights and his hair the same olive green as the upholstery. He got to his feet, brushing dirt from his now beaten and torn jacket and cracking his neck with a sound like a beer can being crushed against a forehead. "Pain in my ass..."

Lou Free Action(s): Activate his Alternate Form and use Object Mimicry on the car door: Speed 3 (50 MPH) [3PP] Impervious 2 (to 6 Total) [2PP] Move Action: Open car door and throw himself out of car. Let's call hitting the road a rank 7 Damage effect because Lou never has a good day. Toughness Save vs Road, DC 22: 1d20+12 22 Standard Action: Hold unarmed attack against Hard Bargain's car when it gets close enough. 34 - Lady Horus - Uninjured, 0HP 26 - Hard Bargain - Uninjured 25 - Thru - Bruised x1 23 - Lou - Uninjured, 3HP > 23 - Wadjet - Uninjured 22 - Gremlin - Uninjured, 4HP 21 - U-CRZY - Uninjured 12 - Dr. Thorne - Uninjured, 3HP 6 - Judex - Uninjured, 1HP 5 - Meza - Uninjured

Hard Bargain's rally car pirouetted out of the way of the near-collision and darted back so that he was lined up behind Thorne's beleaguered sedan. The barking laugh aimed at the private eye's impressive evasion made it clear he planned to toy with her a while longer. The gleaming paragon flying overhead seemed like a more immediate concern by far. "Could've done a bit of research going in, found out if you were bulletproof or not," he called over his car's sound system, "but I'm more've a trial 'n' error sort of bloke." The twin machine guns built into the grill of his car angled upward and sent a hail of gunfire in a sweeping arc toward Lady Horus! Judex impacted the reinforced windshield of the baby blue battering ram like it was a brick wall. Miraculously the mountain man caught his balance and hung on, spreading himself across the driver's field of vision. The man inside the car was almost as broad as Judex himself, with a pronounced dimpled chin, military-short blond hair and aviator sunglasses despite the late hour. Thru looked from his unwanted passenger to the spiderweb of cracks radiating out from where the hero's knees had collided with the windshield and grimaced. "Hippy," he accused in a flat growl while flipping an overhead switch. Immediately the body of the car crackled with violent arcs of electricity!

Hard Bargain He's going to swing back around so that he's behind Thorne's car, sandwiching our heroes between himself and Thru. Then he'll open fire on Lady Horus, the most immediate threat. Machine Guns vs Lady Horus: 1d20+12 25 With Autofire that's a DC 24 Toughness Save. Thru We'll call Judex crashing into his window an unarmed attack. Toughness Save vs Fastball Judex: 1d20+14 16 His car takes a bruise! He'll reciprocate by activating the car's electric Damage Aura; that's a DC 25 Toughness Save for Judex. 34 - Lady Horus - Uninjured, 1HP 26 - Hard Bargain - Uninjured 25 - Thru - Bruised x1 > 23 - Lou - Uninjured, 3HP 23 - Wadjet - Uninjured 22 - Gremlin - Uninjured, 4HP 21 - U-CRZY - Uninjured 12 - Dr. Thorne - Uninjured, 3HP 6 - Judex - Uninjured, 1HP 5 - Meza - Uninjured

Meza-Wolf: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/860013]Initiative[/url]: [u]1d20+3[/u] [b]5[/b] Lou Lubrano: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/860017]Initiative[/url]: [u]1d20+7[/u] [b]23[/b] Hard Bargain: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/860014]Initiative[/url]: [u]1d20+12[/u] [b]26[/b] U-CRZY: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/860015]Initiative[/url]: [u]1d20+10[/u] [b]21[/b] Thru: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/860016]Initiative[/url]: [u]1d20+8[/u] [b]25[/b] Okay, let's get an IC post from @Tiffany Korta swerving out of the way of crashing into Thru's car, then from @KnightDisciple of Judex jumping to the roof of Thru's car then @Avenger Assembled is up with Lady Horus. Phew! > 34 - Lady Horus - Uninjured, 1HP 26 - Hard Bargain - Uninjured 25 - Thru - Uninjured 23 - Lou - Uninjured, 3HP 23 - Wadjet - Uninjured 22 - Gremlin - Uninjured, 4HP 21 - U-CRZY - Uninjured 12 - Dr. Thorne - Uninjured, 3HP 6 - Judex - Uninjured, 1HP 5 - Meza

@KnightDisciple Give me an Acrobatics check. I'll also take an initiative check from everyone to order things from here on out.

@Tiffany Korta Give me a Drive check from Thorne to avoid rear-ending Thru's car!

Thorne's car didn't have much hope of keeping up with the trio of bizarre vehicles ahead of them even without a mountain of hirsute muscle on the roof but thankfully it only needed to catch up with the werewolf those cars were pursuing. Unfortunately that point wasn't lost on the hired guns either and while the green muscle car pulled a hand break turn to continue after Meza he juked about side streets and and swung from fire escape ladders the rally car spun about and began driving in reverse in front of the carpooling heroes so that they could see the gregarious smile of its driver. With a shaved head and chiseled cheekbones accentuated by light stubble he could be seen causally flipping a switch near his rearview mirror before his voice boomed over the car's sound system. "Hullo Bedlam and Happy goddamn Halloween, eh?" he greeted with a pronounced Derbyshire accent. "Werewolves! You really know how to show out-of-towners a good time and we want to thank you by putting on a show." Despite looking straight at Thorne's car he was managing to artfully avoid the cars abandoned in the middle of the road by fleeing citizens. "Introductions! We're the Drive-Bys. Our adoring public call me Hard Bargain and the spicy stunt driver currently turning your snitch into roadkill is U-Crazy. But I guess the one you ought to be worried about is my mate Thru!" Hard Bargain's glossy red racer abruptly spun out of the way revealing the third car slamming on its breaks in front of the heroes, creating a wall of armour plates directly in Thorne's path!

You're looking at DC 22 to hit the rally car.

"Appreciate you noticing," Lou drawled in response to Lady Horus affirming his gender in a manner he chose to interpret as a compliment. He produced a brick of a phone with a screen shattered just shy of becoming unreadable from his jacket while giving Alice a short, "No cadaverine, Jesus," without looking up. By the time he'd fumbled around the touchscreen menus to dial the provided number Thorne was already whistling for their attention. The officers with their guns drawn looked back and forth in distress as a wild man charged past like a galloping horse on one side and Lady Horus shot off like a comet on the other. The blond uniform cop's shoulder slumped in bewildered defeat as the remaining apparently mortal but very mouthy group walked right past them to jump in Thorne's car and head off in pursuit of the Meza's lupine form. With her head start Lady Horus soon caught sight of three far more outrageous vehicles racing after her quarry. Out front was a compact rally car in gleaming candy apple red with black and white racing stripes across the roof and the muzzles of two business like machine guns dovetailing out of the hood, spray short bursts of fire as the car wove nimbly through oncoming traffic. It quickly closed the distance to Meza and raced past before spinning in a tight 180 degree turn to cut of his escape, nearby store windows shattering as bullets flew with abandon. Just behind was a long nosed muscle car in faded green marred by scrapes that exposed unpainted metal with wide tires and a half dozen exhaust pipes belching gouts of flame. As the werewolf abruptly changed direction and sprinted down a side street the green car drifted effortlessly to one side, used a nearby parked car as a ramp and soared through an airborne spin to land in the correct direction and continue racing after him. Bringing up the rear was a vehicle that seemed more battering ram than car. Broad, boxy and armoured, the portions that weren't covered in wrought iron spikes and blades were a cheerful baby blue. As Anna watched it rode up onto the sidewalk and plowed the its vicious looking front end into a fire hydrant, sending the metal cylinder flying away and continuing on without slowing for an instant, sending any remaining pedestrians fleeing in all directions.

"Or I'll convince you not everything needs to be a weapon first!" Ryder replied to Natalia with a cheerful laugh and a wink which was in fact worryingly disarming. "Biology and robotics are both great! Porque no los dos, right?" He extended an open hand and accepted a high five from one of Magenta's curved forelegs. "I respect Davyd's commitment to the aesthetic anyway. Like, you don't need to colour coordinate with your powers or have big shiny wings but that sounds like a deeply boring way to go through life." Paint splattered overalls with the straps hanging about his waist paired with a tight black t-shirt emblazoned with an enlarged panel of pop art done in Ben Day dots made it clear where Ryder stood on the issue. "I want to know more about the magic cupboard! Is that defining a set of liminal dimensional coordinates to bridge two separate physical spaces while disregarding geographic causality?" He leaned over Abby's shoulder to examine the cupboard door. "That's what my belt does!"

Having him face plant in his first direct interaction with most of these characters would be - checks notes - totally bogus for real though, so no. Go ahead!

"I did, yeah!" Ryder confirmed enthusiastically, taking the opportunity to give Yellow a reassuring pat on the head with fruit juice stained fingers. "Magenta's the youngest but they've all been online for almost a year now! Of course we're always trying out different upgrades so I don't know if they'll ever really be 'done', ha!" Cyan hopped up to take his customary place on Ryder's shoulder as though supervising the arranging of the various fruits into colourful piles. "Sometimes I feel like it's more like they made themselves though, y'know? They all started with the same basic behaviour program but figured out their own personalities pretty much right away! Kinda reminds me that everybody gets to decide who they're going to be for themselves!" His grin was broad enough the Davyd could pick it up with echolocation alone.

"No, I can't turn into a friggin' werewolf. Probably. That was Meza," Lou grumbled to Alice through his earpiece as he stepped out through the hole left where the metal door in the station's wall had been torn from its hinges and taken chunks of brick along with it. "And don't try to touch wolves. Christ." He looked to the brightly lit figure of Lady Horus and and paused for a moment, expression stoic. He paused to rummage in his pants pocket for a lighter and lit the cigarette still held in his mouth. He took a long drag then gave the heroine a small wave. "Hey, how you doin'. Lou Lubrano. Not a cop." As if on cue a trio of uniformed officers rounded the corner from the front of the station and drew their sidearms, pointing them at Lady Horus. "Freeze!" the one in the front of the pack shouted, a blond with an impressively thick neck straining the collar of his shirt. "You can tell 'cause I didn't immediately embarrass myself like a $#@%," Lou clarified, raising his voice to address the officers. "The guy that just turned into a huge friggin' wolf man and booked it out of here is supposed to be testifying right now. Kinda need him back." He didn't seem at all concerned that he was standing in the line of fire as well. Meza's rampage had taken him out of view of Wadjet and Alice's respective perches but from the ground level Judex and Thorne were able to see him hang a right, knocking a mailbox high into the air as he went. Another howl pieced the night but was abruptly drowned out by the sound of thundering engines as three shapes sped down the street after the arsonist turned werewolf down the cross street.

Go ahead and establish where your characters are as werewolves are suddenly appearing across the city!