Chaos, Steel, and Wolves (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

GM Post

Fenris and Dragonfly's skills, combined with their innate connection to machines, meant it was fairly trivial to tear down the firewalls and dig into the system. Fenris isolated segments of data and code, and Dragonfly ruthlessly eliminated them. First to go were the security and alarm protocols, followed by their collected proprietary data, followed by everything but the most basic operational software. Fenris actually requested Dragonfly not slag the systems, as he thought Baron Magnus might want to recover the facility and turn it to more...wholesome...pursuits.

Bee-Keeper's watchful eyes were....kind of bored. Empousa stayed unconscious the entire time, having been propped up near Kobalos. The...man? cyborg? robot?...simply sat there, a smirk on his face, not moving, not talking. Just smirking.

Ironclad's progress on the worm was slow going as she analyzed code fragments as Dragonfly and Fenris tore the computers apart (metaphorically), but she had a string of successes in her simulations after several minutes of effort.

As the two gray-clad heroes wrapped up, and the heroine in green and gold stepped forward, Kobalos suddenly spoke.

"A worm, huh? Not bad, not bad. Sounds like a tasty snack for the boss-lady. She does so enjoy amateur efforts."

He chuckled.

"I mean, not a bad effort. You stopped this venture, and it looks like you've slagged our recovery of your tech this time. But the fact you think we're "working for" someone makes me wonder how smart you are. We're the Foundry, little girl. We work for ourselves. We decided to try finding a way to wipe out a few of you meatbags, cow the rest of you into compliance. If we wiped this city off the map, how many of you "heroes" would be left, huh? Especially if we followed up with more focused blasts. I'd wager not many."

He suddenly snapped his restraints, and Empousa's eyes snapped open as she too stood up alongside her speaking companion.

"No matter now. All we can do is take your combat data back to base."

Empousa gave a smirk, and actually winked at Bee-Keeper somewhat suggestively.

"We can test your hardware out some other time, Bee-Keeper."

Kobalos rolled his eyes.

"Getting into character a bit much there, Empousa?"

She shrugged.

"Let's toodle."

"Yes, lets."

And with that, their eyes suddenly shone bright, electricity arced across their forms, and they both fell down limp. Scans showed their artificial (for both of them) brains utterly wiped of programming. As the light had turned brightest, there had been a surge of radio activity that dropped off only moments later.

Likely a mind upload back to their base...

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"Careless,"[/bg] Dragonfly observed, frowning at where the two had been standing. [bg=#555555]"Very. Should have checked them better, or neutralized bodies. Caged or pocketed, maybe. ....next time."[/bg]

Little lights could be seen in the heroine's lenses as she tilted her head to poke at the now-vacated shells of their enemies. [bg=#555555]"...still. Foundry. Known threat, can work with that. Can probably track down local technology deals, make them regret the thefts. Unprofitable. Best revenge."[/bg]

She'd made her way over to the ruined, would-be orbital weapon as she spoke, not-so-carefully extracting HAX's gravity lens and associated components from the business end of the devastated device. [bg=#555555]"Need to get this back to safety - can't leave it behind. Assuming you'll have to do the same for whoever called you."[/bg]

[Raveled]

Ironclad was moderately proud of the worm she'd whipped up in just a few minutes, so Kobalos's casual dismissal of her work stung. Not nearly as much as the purple-armored woman trying to put some moves on Baxter though, which carried with it a side order of confusion and conflict. Why should she care if Baxter thought a crazy robot villain type was cuter than Jessica (oh god why couldn't she stop thinking about this!).

She resisted the urge to slam her head against a nearby wall and instead turned to the ruined laser cannon. With servo-assisted strength it didn't take long for her to extricate DTS's laser relay; at least the parts that weren't chopped into fine rubble. "Really did a number on this one, 'Fly," Ironclad said appreciatively. "Speaking of which." She toed the inactive robots with a metal toe. "Drop these off at the Lab, or ArcheTech? Or just let AEGIS pull them apart?"

[SpicyWaffle]

Blinking in disbelief -- both at the clumsy come-on from the android woman and then their subsequent collapse -- the Bee-Keeper was at a loss for words! Not only had the cadre of villains praised them for their success, but also spilled the beans for their whole plot before crumpling to the ground. Their death ray was dismantled, the bad guys more or less defeated, and everyone was a-okay -- it should have been a sound victory! But the Bee-Keeper didn't feel victorious. He wasn't even sure this constituted as winning if the culprits just fell down, swearing vengeance in a round-about manner.

 

"Zzo... doezz thizz mean we win?" the apiary themed avenger inquired, perhaps unnecessarily as he looked between the entourage of battlesuit-clad heroes. "They kinda got away. Won't they juzzt, y'know, try zzomething like thizz again?"

[KnightDisciple]

"I'd say The Lab; they seem like enough of a "central hub" that they could forward the appropriate things on to Archetech, AEGIS, or whoever. Something of a neutral party, as it were."

 

He turned to Bee-Keeper, and his helmet actually smiled. Which...wasn't a completely reassuring sight, but still, it was the thought that counted?

 

"Yes. We won. We stopped them from even getting the weapon to their launch vehicle, let alone getting it to orbit. We wrecked the weapon beyond repair. We claimed a large facility from them. And best of all, we ensured they don't have access to the same data, either via their own databanks, or via their various victim companies. I'm quite sure the security loopholes exploited these past few weeks will be closed by tomorrow at the latest. 

 

The Foundry agents themselves are free, but we have information on their capabilities and constructions sitting with us right here. We might not be able to shut the whole Foundry down, but between these two ladies and their companies, as well as Baron Katastrof's resources, I would wager they'll be hampered for a while. They'll try something again at some point, but it won't be this." 

 

He looked around speculatively for a moment, before continuing.

 

"I thought we worked pretty well together today, especially for having been "thrown together" in less than half an hour. We should at least make sure all of us can get in contact with each other in the future. Maybe even look at working together on other issues that pop up. We technological heroes ought to try to stick together, hm?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly tilted her head, distracted by her umpteenth pass through the computer system; she was determined to make sure not a single picture, not a word, not a character, not a byte of HAX's data was left anywhere. She'd have just found the servers and totaled them if she didn't think there might be something useful there for the others or the police. "Easily reached through The Lab," she noted, apparently missing the point. "Can't always respond immediately, can't guarantee help, but should be able to leave messages there. Or go through Ironclad - she might have better luck."

[Raveled]

Ironclad laughed. "Yeah, I can put up the Science Sign. Gee, that'd look weird, though -- a wolf head with dragonfly wings and jets, all imposed on a honeycomb?" She sighed and looked down at the laser assembly in her hands. "You're right, though, Fenris. These guys are going to try something like this again, and if we respond instead of a random sampling, we can at least bring some knowledge of what they can do to the fight. Will be a lot more effective than just hoping we're around when it happens."

[Fox]

wait - what Dragonfly snapped her head up from the ring she'd been inspecting, glancing at Ironclad as she clarified something that the armored engineer had apparently missed. "Science Si--mmh! Team. No, sorry." Her tone wasn't impolite, but it was awfully final. "Don't do the team thing. Not very good at it, don't have the time. The Lab is only sort of an exception - not really crime-fighting. Science. Different area."

She shrugged, shaking her head. "Still. Shouldn't rely on me. Team isn't a bad idea if you three want to make one."

[SpicyWaffle]

"Aww, man..." bemoaned the Bee-Keeper as Dragonfly refused the invitation. Baxter was positively brimming at the prospect of slapping together some sort of super-crew, doling out justice en masse under a unified guise -- it just wouldn't be the same without all of them! "C'mon! You zzure? 'Clad'zz already got an awezzome logo going for uzz. We could totezz get matching uniformzz!~" smiled the energetic hero behind his insect-like facade. Taking a second look at Dragonfly, though, he quickly quashed pressuring her further.

 

"Alright. Yeah. I'm totally in on thizz! And, y'know, if you ever change your mind, Dee, I'm zzure Fenrizz'll alwayzz have a zzpot open."

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris nods at Dragonfly's words.

 

"Can't say I'm not a bit sad, but I can respect that, Dragonfly. Is it alright if we pass along relevant or interesting information when we come across it, and perhaps send requests your way if we feel the need for additional help? No "commitment" necessary, but I think we worked well together."

 

He smiled again at Bee-Keeper's eager words.

 

"I'm sure between Ironclad and the rest of us we can work up t-shirts, mugs, and some sort of phone signal or the like. Dragonfly's an honorary member and would be eligible for the shirt and mug. And yes, there will always be a spot open; I don't intend to necessarily "close the doors" at just 3 or 4, either. But this is a very solid start. I'll try to contact both of you in a few days to start trying to coordinate things."

 

He cast one more gaze around the wrecked lab, before tilting his head to one side.

 

"The police and personnel from the Lab are here. I believe it's time to give our statements and let them secure the location. Perhaps in time, this place can be put to better use."

 

The heroes weren't kept long by the authorities, and the robots were quickly carted off to The Lab for initial analysis, before representatives from HAX, Archetech, AEGIS, and other interested parties came by to further inspect them. 

 

The complex itself was locked up, the lights soon going out....

Edited March 4, 2013 by KnightDisciple

[KnightDisciple]

GM POST  

 

In a location hidden from, well, everyone, a computer terminal blinked to life. In seconds, three other terminals came to life as well. Each of them displayed a metallic face, and if any of the armor-wearing heroes had been present, they would recognize the four Foundry operatives who had stolen tech and tried to make a "death ray" out of it. 

 

"That was an unsuccessful experiment. The quick and heavy resistance was unexpected."

 

"The one known as "Ironclad" is the leader of the corporation Dawes Tech. The others are either connected to her, one of our other targets, or both. Their intervention is not surprising."

 

"Fearless leader didn't cover her tracks well enough."

 

Arachne scowled.

 

"Unimportant. What data was salvaged?"

 

"Tch. Not much. Only the information on KST's new alloys, which are useful but not inherently better than our best materials. They stopped us before we recovered anything else."

 

"Regrettable. Our...associate...will be displeased."