Fox

They are extremely unlikely to make that, but let's find out: Toughness Saves vs. Chitin, DC25: 3#1d20+6 12 8 20 Down they go!

"Terms and conditions may apply," Dragonfly dryly quipped. She'd been largely quiet since the meeting started, outside of the usual minor pleasantries - Miss Americana had always been the better diplomat, and that wasn't a field in which Mara saw fit to compete. "Secret identities are not in danger regardless - even the original Lab had people here as heroes and not civilians." She was proof enough of that - even now she was in full armor, as anonymous as ever, metal-plated hands folded on the table in front of her. "Anyone who wants spotlights can probably do better than this, or doesn't deserve spotlights. The Lab did some fundraisers, meet-and-greets...bad for personal glory, though. Science for public good, no individual profit, no personal good. Other than helping people and promoting good science." That turned her attention back to earlier comments, tilting her head Terrifica's way. "Definitely worth having perspective about our work," she agreed. "Staff would help, but uncertain it needs to come from non-scientists, non-engineers. If you have enough people, enough priorities, enough methodologies, we can keep each other in check. Usually more practical than experimental, anyway."

GM The sound of Nocturne's hand hitting her face was entirely drowned out by the guffawing of the first of the suspiciously monkey-like men. "I like him!" he said, anger momentarily forgotten as he elbowed his brother in the ribs hard enough to shove him sideways. "Look at him! At least he knows style when he sees it." The other brother seemed less amused, tugging his jacket back into place. "Anyone could. What's frustrating is that we're on the clock. You wanna talk, hero, you talk, but we've got business to take care of." The criminals broke down the middle, each brother cutting a path across the floor around the sides of Chitin's display. Their flunkies did the same, sticking close to their boss and waving their weapons at the bystanders to keep them at bay. If May noticed, she didn't show it - as soon as the besuited crime muscle had shown up, she'd reached into the guts of her machine and started tinkering with something. And all the while, the civilians alternated between cowering away from the guns and trying to tend to the security personnel, still down in pain....

With that dex bonus, they'll be...not moved, per se, but willing to let Chitin stand aside, and they won't all jump him at once right at the start of combat. Initiatives: Nocturne: 12 Monkey Brother 1: 14 Monkey Brother 2: 13 Monkey Gang 1-6: 12, 14, 11, 11, 8, 4 Normally, we'd just break ties by dex bonus - but since that'd still leave us with a tie between Chitin and Monkey Brother 1, I'll do it by init bonus. Round 1 14: Chitin, 3HP 14: Monkey Brother 1, flanking left 14: Monkey Gang 2, w/ MB1 13: Monkey Brother 2, flanking right 12: Monkey Gang 1, w/MB1 12: Nocturne, 2HP 11: Monkey Gang 3, minion, w/MB1 11: Monkey Gang 4, minion, w/MB2 8: Monkey Gang 5, minion, w/MB2 4: Monkey Gang 6, minion, w/MB2 General notes: May is unharmed, standing near her robot. The crowd has thinned, and is panicking. The security forces are stunned but conscious. GM post coming, then Chitin's up.

They aren't really here for diplomacy! But, sure, make one of those too why not.

Wraith eyed the last of the zombies and, perhaps more in pity than anything else, calmly swung one sharp forelimb to remove its head from its shoulders. When she was reasonably sure it wasn't still trying to attack anyone - and after gently prodding its body in the chest to make it fall over properly - she brought the metal limb back down. You never knew with these types. "You said, 'not again'," she observed, craning her face toward the head. Her vorpal'd arm was busy wiping itself against the sand. "I do not fault you for determination, but perhaps it would be best if you rested properly. Other attempts to kidnap presidents will not go better than this."

She'll take 10 for an attack 'roll' of 22, and inflict a DC27 toughness save on it.

Go ahead and give me an initiative roll, Gizmo.

GM With Chitin along the ceiling and Nocturne hidden at ground level, their waiting could begin. And continue. And continue, long enough to make one worry that it might never really end. Even the expo floor started to empty out a bit, though it was never quite empty - the crowds instead thinning down to the enthusiasts, the staff, and the reporters who still smelled a story in the air. Nocturne had long since stashed herself in a booth, but from his position Chitin suddenly observed a number of things in rapid succession: first, his suit's radio picked up a high-power radio signal that was noise to him, but apparently deeply unpleasant to the security staff - they all clutched their ear and fell in varying states of conscious distress. Second, May (who had snapped her head up from her work, but seemed far less distressed) very calmly reached under her gorilla and activated something - likely her sound barrier, given the barely-visible distortion around the edge of the podium. And, third, the doors at the far end of the expo floor burst open and a fair group of men stormed in. They wore suits, all of them, in an assortment of styles and fit, all but two armed and masked. Those two were clearly brothers, if not twins, and stood at least a head above their peers - and what heads they were! Square, scowling faces with heavy (if neatly-trimmed) brows and long sideburns, growling with teeth too long and too wide for comfort. Large, broad hands on long forearms so hairy they may as well have been furred, sticking out of rolled-up sleeves and cracking their knuckles in anticipation of a fight. They were, in the most literal sense, either very man-like monkeys or very monkey-like men. In Freedom City, they were probably both. "MECHANICA!" one of them roared; the literal chest-beating that accompanied the challenge might have been amusing if he hadn't followed it up by grabbing a heavy table one-handed and flung it over the heads of the remaining (and panicking) crowd. "SETTLE UP! EVERYONE ELSE DOWN!"

Alright. Give me a Notice check for Ryder.

Wraith's initiative: Initiative Roll: 1d20+7 13

Nocturne Natalia held her breath for a moment, sinking back against the booth wall as she waited to see if anyone had noticed Ryder's...display. Fortunately, security seemed stretched thin with all the sudden attention their bait was attracting, and there weren't many passers-by at this end of the booths, unused as they were. She let the breath out, folding her robe over one arm. "I appreciate your dedication to style in your armor-summoning, Cricket, I do. But, to be clear," she said, unbuttoning her blouse to reveal a simple undershirt. The former got stashed in her bag; the latter would be more comfortable under the costume. The pants would have to do as they were. "You can design and build a set of armor that comes out of nowhere and turns you invisible on demand, and you can't design an build a mute button? Or a volume knob, I'd have settled for that if you'd turned it all the way down." She wouldn't have, but she could pretend. Either way, she felt better once she had the robe on. Sunglasses joined the blouse in her bag, swapped for a mask that she apparently hid well under the already-concealing hood. Her favorite were the boots - a tall cuff of leather and some subtle metal around the base of the foot redesigned them completely, good for her ankles and anonymity both. "I cannot turn invisible, however, so unless you can cover both of us I think I'll be staking the expo out from here."

Wraith stepped forward to flank with Agent Sadler, covering as much of the rest of the crowd as she could - which was at least slightly easier for her, large and spindly as her current shape was. "I do not have a taser," she coolly observed, "nor do I have a gun, but what I have I guarantee will work on you. I do not prefer violence but I would happily bring peace to the unclaimed dead." She pulled one spike-forearm out of the sand to resettle it, which was both practical and a threat. She didn't seem to find the pistol immediately concerning, but she did take a moment to eye the zombie and his crew a bit better. "....what year do you think it is?" she asked, carefully. "I do not think you have thought this plan through. If you plan to conquer America with a very small army and a pistol, you are in a great deal of trouble."

Nocturne It took Natalia a half-second too long to drag her eyes back up and reply; her sunglasses could hide the former but the latter was an unforgivable weakness. ".....no, I don't think we'll be telling May. She can enjoy the mystery of it." There had been other words in there. What had the other words been? Oh, right. "I am an ideal influence, Cricket, and you would be well-served by learning everything I have to teach." She popped open a hidden seam on the side of her bag, pulling a long and flowing black garment from what should have been padded lining. "We've known each other for...how long? And already you're lying to the press and setting ambushes to free known villains. Just imagine what depravities I'll have you doing in good time. If you're going to use that belt," she added, frowning, "I don't suppose it has a 'subtle' setting? They're all distracted, but not quite that distracted, Cricket."

GM The effect on the other expo attendees was immediate and, for an improvised performance, remarkably effective. The newer news types broke ranks first - the blog-keepers, the fresh voices, the little people with something to prove. Then came the bigger names, the newspapers, the capital-R Reporters, who wouldn't bear to be beaten to the punch...or at least couldn't afford to not evaluate the lead. Even the reporter wielding her high-impact notepad got swept up in the mix, though she seemed a bit less sold than the rest. From the heroes' position, they couldn't see May and her robot clearly anymore - nor could they hear her, the engineer's lack of enthusiasm failing to carry even after she reluctantly stepped out of her bubble. The reporters had fervor to spare, though, and their voices would sometimes drift over each other and some increasingly-confused security (who were already checking in with each other over comms): "Of course it has to be the future of-" "-could never replace the well-known heroes, but could you imagine-" "-never gonna work, the budget's not-" "Basically creates its OWN budget-" "Probably better without the monkey-" "Can't be worse than last year's program of-" "-nestly prefer it headless, can't imagine..." "Surprised the guards could even contain this, much less keep the rest-" Somewhere, the servers hosting multiple blogs, media centers, and social media platforms started to spin up to accommodate a series of new pictures and short-form articles about robotic gorillas and the future of armored warfare, domestic and abroad. It wasn't the story of the century, but it had caught traction in a way too improbable to be random and too random to lose steam.

Nocturne Natalia was, all at once, the spitting image of a dutiful assistant - no more or less than half a pace behind Ryder, hair pulled neatly back in a simple band conjured from her bag, coat buttoned across her torso to play the serious professional to Ryder's exuberant new-media manic. "If Tabitha can get Henry and their camera down here within the hour, we could beat the rest to a full picture spread," she noted, glancing over her sunglasses as she typed away at her phone. Her voice was entirely too clipped and professional to be Natalia's. "Tag line: 'an army of armored heroes'? Perhaps 'guerilla gorilla', to play up the masterpiece hidden under questionable gorilla aesthetics." She wasn't used to lying and manipulating as anything but a solo act. It was a novel experience - she looked forward to doing it again. Smiling wouldn't behoove the part she was playing, though, so she saved that for their hiding spot where she position herself out of sight of both crowd and Ryder.

Wraith (maxed) Auspicious Season (3) Gremlin Gremlin (1) Nocturne Monkeys on Parade (9) GM Monkeys on Parade (6) Ref point to Nocturne. 12 effective GM posts to distribute, along with 3 rollover from Wraith; please give 1 post each to Nocturne, Grim, and Masque. The rest go to Gremlin to bring her up to the 10+ line.

Hmm! Make me...a Bluff check! Nat's quick on the uptake and will aid it: Aid, DC10: Bluff Check: 1d20+12 32 ....yeah, alright. Take a +4 bonus on your check, Ryder.

Nocturne "No, you've basically got it." There was approval in her voice somewhere, but she didn't dwell on it, instead ticking items off on her fingers. "Greed, glory, anger, intimidation, mis-aimed conviction. And insanity, I suppose, but it's rarer than you'd think." She paused. "Rarer than some people think. You know, Cricket, I don't think you'd fall for that one, media or not. Well done." She laced her fingers behind her back, eyebrow still raised. "In my expert opinion? May's not stupid, and probably doesn't do business with anyone who's really crazy. If they're really connected to proper criminal groups they probably want to send a message...and recoup their losses. They can't afford to look like fools, it invites trouble and makes them look weak to their competition. So, either we wait and hope they show up, or make this a more appealing target, or prick their pride somehow until they have no choice but to charge in no matter what security looks like."

Nocturne "Your faith in my grasp of the villainous mindset is noticed and appreciated," Natalia deadpanned. He probably wasn't wrong. She took another careful glance around the building, trying to think like...well, a fair number of the people she'd known. Back-and-forth banter when she'd been old enough to retain it and too young to have been allowed to retain it. "....I might be less interested in the fake engineer's comms, and more interested in security's, assuming they didn't put them all in the same channel. It's a good bet that their boss just volunteered the soldiers he thought looked most villainous for the job, anyway, without...thinking too much about it. He seems the type." She drawled that last bit, unsure how she felt about the stereotypes. If the shoe fit, maybe. "I'd be interested if I was going to break in, too, and was careful enough to plan my attack - which I am. I wonder if they're already listening," she added, idly curious. "The rest is harder. If you were a villain, why would you break in to a show like this?" The question was, apparently, not rhetorical - it was meant to be, at first, but there was genuine entertainment value there and toward the question mark she pitched her voice up, raising an eyebrow at her classmate in expectation.

Wraith was very still as she surveyed the situation, eyes flexing wide to take in as much of the beach as possible. Too many civilians; too many people whose abilities she didn't know. Jessie's reaction was less than ideal, if her sister was anything to go by. Okay. She said a short prayer to herself as her body elongated, torso reshaping and head flattening and arms becoming forelimbs, long and sharp and piercing the sand as she gently stepped forward toward the zombie crew. She looked like some kind of eight-foot alien insect, if the insect had been cast of solid steel - not aggressive, but dangerous. And, hopefully, a bigger target than anyone else if the zombies wanted to start biting people. "The dead should rest," she mused by way of greeting, dipping her head down to look at their new guests, "but if you cannot we would ask that you not scare anyone without need. You came by...submarine?"

Nocturne "Cricket...." Natalia still had her hands behind her back, and was eyeing their surroundings to make sure nobody could listen in. They were probably fine? "Cricket. Nobody is ever going to believe that you're a hardened criminal. It's really not you, and you're a profoundly bad liar. If I set a trap like this, I'd...." She paused a moment, face going flat as she looked around the room again. "....well, it would be a much better trap, for one. But even more so then, I wouldn't be happy to catch some teenage boy in my net. If you're really determined to help her out, why not just help catch these clients of hers when they show up? If they show up. It really is such an awful trap."

GM "One bad decision at a time," opined May. She didn't sound optimistic about the whole thing. She didn't seem like she was optimistic about a lot in general. "The whole 'let's use bad science' thing is real, I guess it's been a thing for a while, but it was never good press to talk about. Probably dates back to Nazi-scientist rocket programs or whatever." She shrugged, but her mouth was pulled down a bit. Even she could spare distaste for Nazis. "I got a pretty good deal because I got caught mid-project, and the guys who paid me really want their money back, and the state wants those guys more than they want me. Something about organized crime." She was ticking items off on her fingers, now, running down a boring mental list. "So I'm bait to draw out those guys, and I get my sentence knocked down if they get caught, plus extra if I get hurt, so that's something, okay. And in the meantime they get my input on other projects, which is also time off, okay. And then the really loud guy - did you get his speech? It's exactly the same every time - the really loud guy decides he can do his show-and-tell and set a trap for my clients, which is fine, except he thinks they're going to show up when we're still setting up and security's low, but they don't, and he doesn't want to delay his science fair because he's already on some kind of thin ice and has no budget to do it over, so he just added more security and wired them all together into the worst-protected comm system I think I've ever seen, and figures he has control over all of it." She'd run out of fingers; giving up, she dropped her hands and shrugged again. "He has control over basically nothing, but it's gotten him this far. I kind of hope it does work out, though, if no one else gets hurt - the deal's pretty good for me, I could basically walk."

Nocturne "I'm sure they'll take the concerns of a random teenage boy very seriously, you should definitely do that," said Natalia, arms folded behind her. She could probably stop Ryder if she had to, but she might have to cheat to do it and that wasn't plan A. "I am a little surprised those journalists haven't absolutely turned him inside out by now, though." She'd turned her gaze on a spot more toward the entrance, where that notepad-wielding reporter was still trying to find out if she could make a military aide shrink into his suit like a turtle. "I'm only a little more surprised that things got this far to begin with. How do you make it to this point without someone wiser tearing a few medals off your chest?"

GM May glanced between the two for a moment before shrugging, throwing the rag over a loose bit of machinery, and hopping up to sit on the edge of her creation's open 'cockpit'. "I'm really not supposed to talk about it," she said, "but you've basically figured it out so I'm not really going to care. If they wanted secrets they should pay me more. Or, at all." She shrugged, ever the living incarnation of bored apathy, and gestured at her robot with one mechanical hand. "It's alright, it's a piece of junk. The original was okay but didn't have the budget for anything fun, and now it just kind of hurts to look at, I guess?" She paused a moment, looking around at the other exhibits. "The stuff's real, I think? Warehoused projects, usually mothballed after somebody gets their lair busted or plans foiled. A couple of these guys are real, too - the bird guy, I think the missile guy, but missile guy wasn't allowed real toys so they're having a hard time keeping him quiet. I'm totally bait, though, yeah. That was the deal. Mostly it means looking busy, and letting them get sick of enough of my music that they let me put the sound bubble up. That was a good trick."