Charles comes in behind the bear and transforms into his chimera form. From three throats he speaks. "What he means is that a few little lasers are not going to be near enough to 'f us up', and there's only so much to be done about claws being non-lethal."
☀️☀️☀️
Nissa approaches the defeated dude-bro. She releases the flooded Big Red, leaving it on the sandy beach.
She approaches the man and works her charm—
—giving a vibe like duuude just got your ass kicked in Mario Kart 34 by your best bud’s hot sister, and she’s like all excited and that makes her look hotter, and like it’s just a game, bro! And now the hottie’s like, duuude, you show a girl a good time. Duuude.
She’s pretty confident she can play a guy who peaked at his third frat party, and decides the explody death threat can be the ace up her sleeve.
In a hot-sisterly way, she says, “I gotta admit, the robo-battle was fun. Smart play bringing the fight under water! Glad we got you out safely though… as I said, my job’s to save lives, not end ’em.
“So, what can you tell me about Ms. Gray. It seems you figured out she’s an alien chick. She had government agents fooled into thinking she’s from the future! Duh, right?”
Upon arriving on the boat after everyoen else has gone to the sea or into the boat. Zellgato will take up a spot on the deck where he can watch for incoming boats or aircraft. WHile also pipping a message to Gristlethorn. "Maintaining a perminiter budd. Shout if you're in trouble."
The two robots chatter in their high pitched voices, "Fire away, boss?", "Can we shoot 'em now.", "Let Big Time f@#@ 'em up, bossman?", "Small fry can fire now, sarge?"
Kai attempts to persuade and Charles threatens.
The robots continue to chatter, "We just gonna sit here draining our batteries, chief?" asks Big Time.
The robots pause in their nagging as the dudebro considers his options. He can't seem to decide between 'I'm calling my lawyer' and 'Do you even know who my father is?'. After 2 seconds of silence, he snaps and shouts, "Will everybody please just shut up!"
Lasers remain pointed.
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The defeated pilot of Big Red looks defeated, "Who are you guys anyway? I mean, what the f%!& is this? We're just trying make a buck for humanity and bring goodness and peace and a decent return on investment, and you ..."
He pauses to look at Nissa a bit, and mutters something into his wrist-band communicator. "Where the f@+~ are you, man? Hottie alert on the beach."
He returns to persuasive mode, but less defensively, "Look, it's not too late to invest in Red Shirt Labs. Through our new partnership with the planet Sessa-b-mud We are on the breakthrough of offering the world interplanetary teleportation technology! What we are about to offer will make the automobile revolution look like a sad failed experiment."
He smiles slimily and says, "Red Shirt Labs is about to change the world. Get in bed with us." It doesn't sound like this is the first time he's used that pitch.
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"Or you know, we could just hug it out." Gristlethron says with what he thinks is a friendly grin, but please remember is coming from a nine-foot tall bear.
"Frankly, if you just want to make your way off the ship all nice a peaceful like, I am sure my friend and I could forget we ever saw you."
The number of people piling up in the hallway, and the fact some of them are quite scary looking, makes Gristlethorn's diplomatic offer tempting. "I ... uh ... heard there are some hotties on the beach. Heading there now. I think I'll skip the bear hug, though, bro."
Dudebro 2 lowers his laser.
"Big Shot wants bear hug," chirps the larger of the two robots, lowering its laser.
"Small Fry no fire now?" whines the smaller of the robots, also lowering its laser.
Theo is still running to catch up with Charles on the boat.
Theo is still running to catch up with Charles on the boat.
As Theo runs towards the boat, the Starfish begins to surface. It spins slightly until one of its arms touches a dock and then the arm latches on and a portal opens to allow the supermodels and social influencers to exit the craft.
Kai tries to catch Gristlethorn's eye with a nod of gratitude and a smile.
"Heading to the beach sounds like a good idea. We can have a barbecue and talk about things."
Kai glances at the two robots, trying to figure out how to disable them later, in case they become a problem.
Nissa has to admit, though the pitch is a notch sleazier than the average salesman, this dude’s a pro.
“Heh. I don’t wanna go to bed. I just got back from another planet a couple days ago. Meeting people from other worlds, who for some reason all speak English, is fascinating… but Ms. Gray’s a dangerous partner.
“She murdered a man, remotely, and right in front of me, she set a bomb under my girlfriend’s chair that she was tied to. If I reacted just a little slower—”
Nissa shrinks to a particle. The straps inside Big Blue still maintain their shape as, forty feet above, there is a blast large enough to engulf a mech!
In a flash, Nissa reverses her course, and is back as she was—strapped in Big Blue’s cockpit like she never left.
“You should have seen that cold look on her face. The woman she tried to kill is more important to me than anyone. To Ms. Gray, ending a life is nothing, she’s done it so many times.”
Dudebro starts grinning lasciviously when Nissa says "girlfriend" and doesn't stop even when a blast appears overhead. When Nissa's finished talking, he asks, "So, your girlfriend ... is she h- ... h- ... is she okay?" It seemed like he was about to say 'hot' for a second but changed his mind.
Kai sees a removable panel. If there's an off-button, it would be under there. Big Shot stares at Kai, "Keep your eyes off my private panels," chirps the robot.
“Yes,” Nissa replies to the spoken question. “And yes,” to the unspoken question.
Theo dodges and leaps to get past those exiting the Starfish.
Theo expertly avoids the social influencers. As they climb out of the portal, they pause, one after the other, to pose for a quick vid with one of the Thin Spot crew. "My heroes!" says one while embracing them. This happens repeatedly as the social influencers exit the boat.
“Yes,” Nissa replies to the spoken question. “And yes,” to the unspoken question.
[dice=Supermodel (look hot while saying that)]d20+12+1
"So, this alien chick ... you're calling her Ms. Grey ... you're saying she's dangerous or something? We've put a lot of money into this interplanetary teleportation project. Do you know about anyone else on Sessa-b-mud? We really want this to work... and she said that teleportation was a strong growth industry on her world."
Nissa doesn’t open the cockpit to exit Big Blue. She shrinks to nothing, and a few seconds later, she grows from a spark and is clothed by other sparks. Dude-Bro surely notices she’s wearing a red shirt with his logo.
She holds up her comm, displaying the image of Ms. Gray as drawn by the sketch artist.
“This is Ms. Gray. She’s definitely dangerous. Not just bomb-under-your-girlfriend’s-chair dangerous. She’s kick-your-dad-in-the-balls-so-you-won’t-be-born dangerous.
“Is she the one telling you about this supposed growth industry?”
Dude-bro looks at the pic a bit and grimaces with embarrassment, "Well, she was kind of blue and not so ... fully dressed, but, yeah, that looks like her."
Nissa has a crooked smile. “Are you saying… no, wait.” She thinks about it. “I mean, you couldn’t have, like, been with her. Oh! I mean, you could totally—just not without her able to leave her planet.
“So if you didn’t, then… she didn’t, y’know… bare it all on a call?” Nissa looks a little shy.
Yet she goes on, “I mean, I do that for my girl when one of us is outta town. Don’t tell me the lady who almost killed my girl has that in common with me!” She says this as if she really could get off watching the equivalent of pole-dancing Hitler.
I don’t need full frontal. But if the face comes with…!
Nissa has a crooked smile. “Are you saying… no, wait.” She thinks about it. “I mean, you couldn’t have, like, been with her. Oh! I mean, you could totally—just not without her able to leave her planet.
“So if you didn’t, then… she didn’t, y’know… bare it all on a call?” Nissa looks a little shy.
[dice=Bluff, Sidereal Influence]d20+12+d6
Yet she goes on, “I mean, I do that for my girl when one of us is outta town. Don’t tell me the lady who almost killed my girl has that in common with me!” She says this as if she really could get off watching the equivalent of pole-dancing Hitler.
I don’t need full frontal. But if the face comes with…!
With some embarrassment and a lack of any terms to describe women's clothing, he describes revealing outfit that would fit some 1970s B-movie sci-fi alien cheesecake.
"The important part here is that you've been lied to," Charles interjects with his jaguar head. Hix fox head continues, "The only growth industry 'Ms. Gray' is interested in is growing an empire--and not the business kind. The, you know, tyrannize people kind. Some of us have been fighting her longer than others," his space-dinosaur head nods at the bear. "How'd she get in contact with you in the first place?"
On the beach, Charles, Kai, Theo, Zellgato, Gristlethorn, and Dudebro 2 join Nissa and Dudebro 1. He introduces himself as Tosh Williams and introduces his business partner as Channer Dylan Smyth III. They wait for you to be impressed, but it would take a hell of a culture check to actually have heard of them, despite their high opinions of themselves.
"The important part here is that you've been lied to," Charles interjects with his jaguar head. Hix fox head continues, "The only growth industry 'Ms. Gray' is interested in is growing an empire--and not the business kind. The, you know, tyrannize people kind. Some of us have been fighting her longer than others," his space-dinosaur head nods at the bear. "How'd she get in contact with you in the first place?"
Channer gets a nod from Tosh and, then, answers Charles' question, "Red Shirt Labs found this thing ... a long crystal shard of some sort ... while we were investigating the Thin Spot crew's whole Atlantis story. This thing .... it gives off a type radiation we've never encountered before, but it also seemed to absorb small amounts of energy very slowly, eventually we realized it was sending that energy somewhere. Then, sometimes it would burst with energy that didn't seem stored within it."
Tosh cuts in, " We've come to think of it as a transmitter/receiver. We figured if we could modulate that energy, we could send signals through it. So, Channer hooked it up ..."
Channer continues "...And Tosh got the band back together. We decided to share our music with the rest of the universe ... where ever that energy was going."
Dozens of social influencers and models are waving to Channer and Tosh as they walk along the beach. The less human looking among you get some looks and more than one of them tries to discretely take a quick-vid as they walk by.
"Then, one day, someone sent us a signal back. Alien music. Really weird. Then, we figured out how to chat and refined it to get the video signal ... Channer's really good at that s#$$."
Channer nods, "That's when we first saw the alien babe and figured we'd go where no Earth man has gone before!"
The bros hi-five each other. Nissa was right when she said they peaked, developmentally, at their 3rd frat party. Looking at their faces in the full light of the sun, you could guess that might have been about 12 years ago. They look about 30 or so.
Nissa has a crooked smile. “Are you saying… no, wait.” She thinks about it. “I mean, you couldn’t have, like, been with her. Oh! I mean, you could totally—just not without her able to leave her planet."
"I mean, we only talked to her through the device, but, this was supposed to be it. We are supposed to open the portal tonight and step through it with the crystal antenna ... first humans on Sessa-B-Mud!"
"But, now that you've trashed our suits, I don't know that it would be safe even."
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Zellgato is sure to keep his mask on, and try to avoid getting in photos. Social media and Influencers... are not really a thing where he comes from. "What.. is all the camera and pictures about really. Strange hobbies. Are they sending it to people right now? That.. sounds .."
Having mumbled that to himself, and anyone close, he will however, take a moment while the talking goes on to make sure Dude-Bros are in fact Dude Bros.
Pearking up on the comment "Did they tell you to bring a suit? Or did they simply say "come get some hot stuff. Bring my antenna too" ? Speaking medically... Ya'll know Intergalatic booty calls can lead to unfortunate illnesses right?"
Pearking up on the comment "Did they tell you to bring a suit? Or did they simply say "come get some hot stuff. Bring my antenna too" ? Speaking medically... Ya'll know Intergalatic booty calls can lead to unfortunate illnesses right?"
Channer and Tosh find Zellgato's speech quite amusing and worthy of a few more high fives.
Kai is rather impressed with the technical aspect of their story and makes some quick mental notes. Then, figuring that honey works better on these types, begins fishing for more information.
"And the portal plans, did you come up with them? Quite the elegant design, I must say. And if I'm not mistaken, the components are articulated so that they can fold in and make the whole thing compact. Very clever."
The crystal shard is the main interest, though.
"And the place where you found this crystal, I assume you investigated the entire area quite thoroughly. Found anything else interesting?"
“Oh! Mask Man and Bear Guy! You’re back!” Noting something different about them, she says, “Did you like… spend the day at a rejuvenation clinic?”
To Tosh, “Well, Big Blue’s unscathed…”
“…but the danger ain’t setting foot there with or without a mech. It’s opening a path for her to come here. And what’s unsettling is how she took a different approach than she did with the government agent and President Wallace. Makes me wonder who else she played, and if she’s after another world.
“Do you have any images of her unmasked?
“Or—” Seeing how Mask Man and Bear Guy are already back, she asks them, “Have you guys figured out Ms. Gray’s identity?”
Zellgato is sure to keep his mask on, and try to avoid getting in photos. Social media and Influencers... are not really a thing where he comes from. "What.. is all the camera and pictures about really. Strange hobbies. Are they sending it to people right now? That.. sounds .."
Having mumbled that to himself, and anyone close, he will however, take a moment while the talking goes on to make sure Dude-Bros are in fact Dude Bros.
Zellgato's scans are confusing initially; the amount of genetic tampering, plastic surgery, and other beauty-enhancing body modification sends up a bunch of false signals at first. Re-examining the data shows this group to be made up entirely of humans.
Kai is rather impressed with the technical aspect of their story and makes some quick mental notes. Then, figuring that honey works better on these types, begins fishing for more information.
"And the portal plans, did you come up with them? Quite the elegant design, I must say. And if I'm not mistaken, the components are articulated so that they can fold in and make the whole thing compact. Very clever."
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+7
The crystal shard is the main interest, though.
"And the place where you found this crystal, I assume you investigated the entire area quite thoroughly. Found anything else interesting?"
Channer accepts Kai's praise, but when it comes to the question of where they found the crystal, he says, "Red Shirts Lab has an exclusive research contract with the Thin Spot team regarding that site."
The Thin Spot team already told Nissa that RSL renegged on their end of this contract.
Tosh decides to add something regardless "...and we will continue to explore the ruins once we get our mecha repaired. We had a little trouble with a giant octopus last time."
The Thin Spot team already told Nissa that RSL renegged on their end of this contract.
Ohhhh, Nissa hasn’t forgotten that.
“Yeah, Ian was telling me all about it.”
“Or—”[/b] Seeing how Mask Man and Bear Guy are already back, she asks them, “Have you guys figured out Ms. Gray’s identity?”
"Wrong timezone for that question. Try asking later. I've got jet lag."
"Ah, I see, exclusive contract, of course." Kai turns to Nissa. "Speaking of Ian, we should see how they're doing. And if the Starfish took any damage."
Walking over to the Thin Spot crew, first makes sure they're alright, then starts inspecting their submersible, recalling Legion to help with any repairs that might be needed and could be done with the available tools and materials.
Nissa watches the Thin Spot crew getting photos with bikini models. Ohhhh, they’re doing just fine.
She then starts to conjure a new design for her stellar armor…
"Wrong timezone for that question. Try asking later. I've got jet lag."
Nissa ponders, when I asked if he’d been to the rejuvenation clinic, I was thinking of that scene when Doc… no! Yes! It can’t be, but… it CAN!
“Great Scott!” she says to Zellgato, “You’re not pulling a Doc Brown from Back to the Future Two… you’re pulling a Doc Brown from Back to the Future Three!”
Nissa doesn’t even try to explain the reference to a centuries-old film from her favorite class. Maybe the one centuries-old guy in the group gets her meaning.
Likely, no one else does.
Charles, back in bipedal form, frowns in thought. "One thing that bugs me... we've found how Ms. Gray contacted these guys... but we haven't tracked down what she used to contact Portly. You don't suppose there's another wand around, do you? Or maybe we should ask these guys if they put her in contact with anybody else."
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"Ah, I see, exclusive contract, of course." Kai turns to Nissa. "Speaking of Ian, we should see how they're doing. And if the Starfish took any damage."
Walking over to the Thin Spot crew, first makes sure they're alright, then starts inspecting their submersible, recalling Legion to help with any repairs that might be needed and could be done with the available tools and materials.
[dice=Engineering]1d20+15
Ian is taking care of the repairs. The large windows aren't the smartest feature in a submersible vehicle and one of them is now allowing water in.
The other two Thin Spot guys are thanking everyone for what they posted on social media. They're amazed at how quickly they are trending--a speed that is causing news-spotting algorithms to send alerts to other trendspotters and investment AIs. Mackie says his tour-booking AI has proposed ordering another Starfish and already got a loan approved.
Ian seems happy to avoid the beach right now. He's working alone but happily accepts Kai's help.
Charles, back in bipedal form, frowns in thought. "One thing that bugs me... we've found how Ms. Gray contacted these guys... but we haven't tracked down what she used to contact Portly. You don't suppose there's another wand around, do you? Or maybe we should ask these guys if they put her in contact with anybody else."
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“Great Scott!” she says to Zellgato, “You’re not pulling a Doc Brown from Back to the Future Two… you’re pulling a Doc Brown from Back to the Future Three!”
"I..What? Doctor yea , Scott Brown no. I've only been back from the future once so far.. Or well twice to you I guess? or.. You met a "Scott Brown" -which is a horrible name- so three for you then? Youu'll have to fill me in on this Doc Brown later. With less cameras"
Charles, back in bipedal form, frowns in thought. "One thing that bugs me... we've found how Ms. Gray contacted these guys... but we haven't tracked down what she used to contact Portly. You don't suppose there's another wand around, do you? Or maybe we should ask these guys if they put her in contact with anybody else."
Nissa replies to Zellgato, “I think… um… never mind the Brown thing, uhhh………okay.”
She really doesn’t want to just ask. Time travel shouldn’t be. Meeting your other self really shouldn’t be. But…
“Lemme test a theory. Have you ever seen me do…”
Nissa glows brightly! Her clothing and gear become orange sparks—while the rest of her becomes the fiery silhouette of a winged woman mere inches tall!
“…this?”
The glowing fairy that Nissa has become hovers at eye-level.
Zellgato blinks several times "Well, not before today no. I saw you do something similiar earlier. I.. don't think I understand how you do that though, Seems like a good way to leave tiny listening devices for spying.
Gristlethorn says nothing, trying to line up his thoughts again.
"Dude, I know who these guys are!" says Channer. "They're the ones who took down Flora and Fauna!"
"Ha. That's right. I hate those two," replies Tosh.
“Yeah, that’s us,” Nissa admits. “So how do you know of those two psychos?”
"Skiing. Conferences. They're social climbers. Their father made a lot of money in gene-patenting and they spend it for him," says Channer before smiling and asking, "Hey, didn't they escape from you?"
The party gets started on the beach. Channer and Tosh shout at Mackie and Ian to make sure they're filming the party even if there isn't going to a big event at the end in which they walk their giant mecha through a transdimensional gateway.
Charles grunts sourly. "We told those gusys they'd escape as soon as we left..." he grumbles, then shakes his head slightly and looks at the Red Shirt guys. "Did you tell anyone else about your off-world contacting? Do anything else for this 'Ms. Gray'? You're the second group we've met that she's talke with, but I don't know what the connection is."
Theo comes back from making sure everyone from the Starfish got out safely, and notices a real balling party is starting. The godling shrugs and starts to party along with everyone else.
Kai stays at the edges of the party, far happier to nerd out over new research findings or the design of the mechas than be surrounded by slightly inebriated people. In a quiet moment, Kai approaches Nissa.
"How much do we want to tell them about what is really going on with Ms. Grey and the monumental mistake they almost made? At the very least, we should discourage them from communicating with her again, or continuing research on the gate device." Kai indicates the two dudebros with a glance, who are currently in the process of building some sort of pyramid from beer glasses.
"And what do we do now? I'd like to get some lawyers on this 'exclusive contract' that Thin Spot has with Red Shirts Lab and see if we can get them out of it so they can work with us and help us explore the area around here. And there's of course the crystal back at the labs, which I want to study more." Kai's attention drifts for a moment, gazing at Zellgato and Gristlethorn. "And I'd like to know how they got here... It's not that I suspect them of anything, but they're awfully cagey."