capitalooc | ISSUE #3: DEAD DOGS

BREAKING NEWS

City hall has issued a Level 4 Outbreak warning after dozens of reported sighting of "mutant cyborgs" around the Los Angeles area. With descriptions ranging everywhere from "bipedal dogs" to "humanoid machines", CONDOR has suggested it may be the work of a Rank A super villian, or even a new alien invasion. Citizens are advised to stay in doors and well protected, and to move in groups where necessary. CONDOR agents have been assigned to locations across the city for the purposes of public safety, and all registered super heroes are being asked to aid them in the protection of the civilian population.

Despite many sightings made by the public, only two injuries have been reported. Correlations to recent missing persons cases are still being investigated.

Is this the nefarious work of Fake Dr Dynamo...? The answer is definitely yes.

As many of you have already guessed, the disappearance of the vigilante team Nightforce has coincided with a rise of dangerous activity in Los Angeles, presumably at the hands of that weird asshole shitposting on #The Watch. If characters investigate, they will discover many cases of missing pets and other animals over the last few months, as well as some suspicious missing persons.

Worse yet, there are now some really freaky creatures roaming the street at night. The most common forms appear to be animals that have been mutilated with cyborg parts that force them to look more human - usually in the form of walking in a bipedal gate, with augmented "hands" and "feet", as well as cosmetic adjustments such as the removal of snouts, ears, and tails. While the bodies look heavily damaged, they are shockingly fast and strong, and many have robotic parts built into them that make them very good at what they're built for. What are they built for, you ask? Capturing inhuman creatures, including humanoids with powers.

Along with them seem to be sharp looking robotic creatures of various sizes, that are just human enough looking to make the fact that they aren't more unsettling. Some of them have scary human masks. Some of them look like half mannequins. Use your imagination. Almost all of these have dangerous energy weapons built for attacking and restraining. The average creature will be around a C Rank in power, though some of the larger ones could be considered either B or A Rank at their best.

These creatures will occasionally attempt to capture regular humans, but they will not hurt them if they can avoid it. (Though they might by accident because not all of them are super smart.) Non-humans, however, or humans with superhuman powers, they will attack, capture, and even kill without much care for their well being. If they kill someone or manage to restrain them, they will run off with the body.

There are three hot spots:
1) Several square blocks in downtown Los Angeles.
2) A particular area in the Mojave Desert.
3) The La Brea Tar Pits. (Wikipedia.)

There are lots of things you can do to start off with: the only thing that is off the table for now is actually rescuing anybody because the source has not been unveiled yet. Beyond that, you can:

1) FIGHT CYBORGS
- These guys are definitely around. You can FIGHT them. With your FISTS. Or OTHERWISE.
- They are pretty tough.
- Interrogating them won't do anything because they don't talk.
- However, you can definitely capture one or take a dead body for research if you want. (Ask a mod if you do this.)

2) INVESTIGATE
- Investigating can be done by simply asking mods questions or by arranging an interview scene with some NPCs (as played by mods via IM).
- You can cut up the bodies! We know how much you scientists like doing that.
- Ask witnesses things.
- Research missing persons.
- Etc. Just let us know what you're looking for. Be specific.

3) GET KIDNAPPED
- You can get kidnapped by these monsters, but this will mean something really terrible either will, or will be at risk of, happening to your character.
- There is potential body horror available, though we're going to want to keep this limited to a few people for tone reasons.
- Body horrors involve the things you would expect, like cyborg parts and removing "inhuman" qualities.
- Robots may get brainwashed, also, if they run off of any sort of code.
- If you do this there will be SECRET STUFF, so just let us know in this post if you're looking at getting kidnapped.
- It will probably put you out of play for a a few IC days.

4) ESCAPE
- UNLESS YOU ESCAPE but you're not really allowed to escape until the beginning of the next phase of the plot because reasons.
- Obviously you have to do number 3 before you can do this one.

5) GET AMNESIA I GUESS
- This one is kind of weird, but if you think it would be fun for your character to forget everything that's happened to them since just before Dr Dynamo's post, let us know.
- No long term consequences.
- But having a couple amnesia dust volunteers could be fun, for reasons.
- Only do this if your character has actually seen things related to this plot.

6) OTHER...?
- Seriously guys, get creative. If you aren't sure, just ask Harry or Quix.