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[piratejoe]

The reason why I say we should go on a roaring rampage of revenge with our two guys is simple. We will get three things from it, we will get reputation which is good as it will allow us to have a better shot at recruiting other villains into our group, it will give us favors, which we need to finish up our work in getting that AI up and running, and it will most likely make our villains more loyal to our cause.

[helmacon]

Project: Meta-Human Research

Rolls*: Time (1) Cost (3)

Further research into the Meta-human phenomenon was always inevitable, and now that the worlds governments are getting in on the action it's high time to draw up some plans of your own. It's a daunting task. The variety of powers and abilities displayed by meta-humans seems to follow no overarching pattern, and many of them seemingly defy the laws of physics, nature, and always common sense. Collecting and analyzing all the variables at play will take a long time, and while there is no real ethical violations for a change the fact that you are researching meta-humans at all means you have to crawl through a mountain of regulations and red tape from the various governments. You have to pull a few strings to get the project going in the first place.

This project will increase your general knowledge of meta-humans, and may produce other effects.

Project Cost: 2 favors and 3 million $ per turn of work
Project Time: 2 turns of work to complete

*Initial rolls for the project are always unmodified. Modifiers affect the second set of rolls. (effect, price, bugs.)

Deployment phase

During the deployment phase, each character you control can take one (1) action. There are a number of different actions they can take.

Research:
Assign a character to one of you projects, if you have the money and favors available to fund it.

Recruitment:
Assign a character to recruit another hero or villain to your group, up to your current maximum. You can spend renown to modify the recruitment roll. 100 renown is a 1.0 modifier. (An unmodified roll) You can spend as much or as little as you like, but you cannot roll something outside of the 1-6 range.

Movement:
Move a character to another area on the map. They cannot perform other actions during this time. Unless special measures have been taken (ie. research or a project) a character cannot be intercepted or otherwise engaged during travel.

Engagement:
Send a character to influence the city they are currently in. If no plan is specified, they will take generic actions. Robbing banks or stopping muggers, depending on your side. It will produce about an even ration of $ and influence.

You can also create a specific plan for your characters engagement that will effect the outcome. There are no generic presets to these. You can do whatever you scheme up. For example, a terror bombing may produce no real money, but a lot of influence. You could also take on bigger targets. Instead of stopping muggers, you might try to break up an organized crime ring. This will see you facing a number of weak generic enemies, and might be dangerous for a lone or inexperienced character, but will provide greater rewards than generic action.

Battles occur when heroes and villains attempt to engage in the same city during the same turn. If either side has uninjured characters after the battle they will still attempt to carry out the original plan. (provided the character is not uninjured because of a retreat) If you were attempting a high value target, the little mooks will usually show up during the battle, so a lone surviving rookie will always succeed on a mission after a battle.

[piratejoe]

Well, thats nice...Now to do der plan

Operation Beatrix
Harvestman and Darkhand will work together on striking out and killing different people from the company that Harvestman worked for before, and the government officials and scientists that worked on/allowed the Psychic program to exist, slowly getting their revenge on what had been done to them. Of course, it is doubtful that they would be finished getting their revenge by the time it would be for them to get new orders, but it would be a good first step at the very least. While this is going on, Brian will set some time aside from whatever research project he decides to work on to make sure the replacements are more favorable to him and our cause.

Without fluff.mechanically, just have Harvestman and Darkhand work on getting reputation and maybe one or two favors while Brian does something else.

Plan Beatrix (1): Piratejoe

Resarch project
Cerebral Enhancer(0):
AI(1): Piratejoe
Meta humans(0):

[thatroleplayerGal]

I hereby resubmit Dark Klaw for the Council's consideration.

Operation Dark Klaw

Dark Hand will meticulously hunt down each of the government scientists and officials that were responsible for the psychic program, seeking revenge against them. Under order from Brian Matter, she will kill them in ways that cannot be labeled as anything more than an odd string of freak accidents, whereupon Brian will replace the officials with his own associates, giving them more power but leaving them indebted to Matters Inc.
Mechanically, this deployment carries an emphasis on Favors.

Meanwhile, rather than anything fancy with Harvestman, I propose we send her on some very basic robbery-murders, to build some reputation and get some money. In time, once she's fairly notorious, we can use her to take over the seedy criminal underbelly.

Operation Dark Klaw (1): thatroleplayergal
Basic Deployment (Harvestman) (1): thatroleplayergal

Operation Beatrix (1): piratejoe

[Detoxicated]

Operation Dark Klaw (2): thatroleplayergal, detoxicated
Basic Deployment (Harvestman) (1): thatroleplayergal

Operation Beatrix (1): piratejoe

[Rockeater]

Operation Dark Klaw (2): thatroleplayergal, detoxicated
Basic Deployment (Harvestman) (1): thatroleplayergal

Operation Beatrix (2): piratejoe,Rockeater

Reaserch by brian matter
AI (2):piratejoe,Rockeater

[flazeo25]

Operation Dark Klaw (2): thatroleplayergal, detoxicated
Basic Deployment (Harvestman) (1): thatroleplayergal

Operation Beatrix (3): piratejoe, Rockeater. Flazeo25

Reaserch by brian matter
AI (3):piratejoe, Rockeater, Flazoe25

[birdy51]

Operation Dark Klaw (2): thatroleplayergal, detoxicated
Basic Deployment (Harvestman) (1): thatroleplayergal

Operation Beatrix (4): piratejoe, Rockeater. Flazeo25, Birdy51

Research by Brian Matter
AI (4):piratejoe, Rockeater, Flazoe25, Birdy51

[thatroleplayerGal]

Guys, Operation Beatrix is too specific. I think we need to focus on Harvestman leveling up right now, while Dark Hand handles acquiring favors, not send them both on a favor-reputation mission. Without generic mooks to fight, they aren't going to level up.

[piratejoe]

How is being specific a bad thing? In fact, because of its specifications, it means is they will fight a few weak mooks, and considering they are together, which I should add is a major bonus to their combat effectiveness, they should be able to deal with said mooks without getting too injured.

Besides, the reputation we will get can be used to get more and better villains in the future, part of the plan is to make Darkhand and Harvestman infamous enough that we can get more people on our side. As more villains means more actions, and more actions means more resources.

And on top of all of that, if Operation Beatrix doesn't get Darkhand and Harvestman mooks to fight, what makes you think Operation Dark Klaw will? Its basically Dark Klaw + Harvestman getting some revenge and both of them helping each other get revenge.

[thatroleplayerGal]

How is being specific a bad thing? In fact, because of its specifications, it means is they will fight a few weak mooks, and considering they are together, which I should add is a major bonus to their combat effectiveness, they should be able to deal with said mooks without getting too injured.

Besides, the reputation we will get can be used to get more and better villains in the future, part of the plan is to make Darkhand and Harvestman infamous enough that we can get more people on our side. As more villains means more actions, and more actions means more resources.

And on top of all of that, if Operation Beatrix doesn't get Darkhand and Harvestman mooks to fight, what makes you think Operation Dark Klaw will? Its basically Dark Klaw + Harvestman getting some revenge and both of them helping each other get revenge.

Operation Dark Klaw doesn't have Harvestman in it, which is why I suggested Dark Hand gathers favors while Harvestman is deployed in an unrelated deployment and takes down some generic mooks to level up.

[piratejoe]

Why is that better then just having both of them go and get revenge? Not only would it presumably make their loyalty better, but it would still give them combat and they would benefit from each others help. Again, my plan will still result in mooks fighting them, so there really isn't any reason not to make them more loyal and get reputation while doing it.

[birdy51]

Well, they are targeting researchers, right? It goes without saying that they can pick up some of their research on the side; which we then can perhaps sell back to interested parties in exchange for Favors.

[helmacon]

Update!

Engagement: Operation Beatrix
While Harvestman is eager at the idea of revenge, Melissa is decidedly less so. The psychic program she was a part of was volunteer based, and while she certainly harbors resentment at the VA for her treatment afterwards, she is not particularly angry with the program itself. Additionally, perfunctory research would indicate that the project was shut down, and there is nothing to target anyways. They decide to just double down on Harvestman’s targets. They begin with the small stuff, tracking down and killing the safety inspectors for the lab she worked on. It goes easy enough. From there they move up to larger targets. The ethics board that approved the research, the doctors that couldn’t save her face. It’s a murder spree to behold, and soon the rumors start to spread. Eventually the police begin to connect the dots, and on leaving a penthouse in west Dagos one night they are greeted by a police barricade.

Engagement: “Harvestman” and “Dark Hand” vs (5) Police officers

Wet Report**

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Coming out of the elevator into the hotel lobby, both girls immediately notice the missing receptionist. They share a look, and Melissa scans the area with her mind. It seems the block is deserted but for a group of 5 individuals just outside. It seems an ambush. The police seem to have not noticed them yet, and they quickly prepare their plan. They decide to attack the barricade and make a break for it, using the element of surprise to get the drop on them. They take positions on opposite sides of the lobby, hidden behind two pillars. Harvestman clicks a bolt into place nodding at Dark Hand, and they both step out simultaneously.
Melissa strikes out with her mind, intending to strike one of the cops. Unfortunately, she is nervous and the attack is unfocused. It comes out as a pressure wave instead of a solid strike, shattering the windows of the police cars and setting off the alarms, but leaving the police themselves unharmed. Lisa has similarly bad luck, with her opening shot thrown off course when it breaks through the glass of the lobby windows. It strikes the bricks of the building across the street and explodes into a bubbling mess.
Melissa recovers immediately, striking out again. This time she has more success and catches a cop by the legs flinging him across the road. He lands out of sight, with an audible thud.
Two of the cops open fire, aiming for Harvestman as she is the only one visibly shooting at them. The first cop shoots far wide, chipping the bricks of the building. The other cop puts 2 shots into the pillar beside Lisa, spraying chunks of drywall in the air. Lisa sends another shot wide and ducks back behind the pillar to reload.
Just as She pops back out the other two cops open up, and Lisa is struck by two bullets one after another. The first shatters her mask and spins her around with the force, and the second clips her in the side. Winded and wounded, she drops back into cover. She is bleeding a little, but miraculously it seems that neither of the shots really connected.
Melissa steps out and shoves hard at a cop car in front of the two closest cops with her mind, sending it flying sideways. The police duck down, and somehow it misses all of them. Another dart zips past one of the officer, who is now in the open and both go running for cover. The other two officers send a hail of bullets towards Dark Hand, but she ducks back to cover safe and sound. The two exposed officers are to busy running to join in at the moment.
Melissa seizes a chair from the lobby and sends it flying towards the barricade, but it bounces off the other car. All four cops open up again aiming at Dark hand and shredding the lobby, and a ricochet clips hits her in the arm. 
Lisa uses the opportunity though to take a clear shot and puts a dart right through one of the officer’s eyes. He was likely dead on impact, but his face explodes a moment later just to clear all doubts. She follows it up with another shot into his partners side, and the man goes into convulsions. The other officers duck down again, and Melissa flips the car pinning one of the remaining officers. The last cop fires off a desperate shot that whips past Harvestman’s head, before the two ladies hit him at the same time. With the barricade broken they start to book it, but just out the door they stop again. The cop who was in convulsions survived and is climbing to his feet again. Melissa panics and almost trips, but Lisa calmly pulls the gun out of the handle of her crossbow and puts two bullets into his chest in quick succession. The last threat dealt with, they escape into the night. The rumors swirling before will explode after this, but they both agree it would be best to lie low for a while.

Lisa and Melissa passed 1/1 intelligence checks this engagement.
Final HP is 80/100 for Dark Hand, and 160/200 for harvestman. (They will both be at full health again by next turn)
Harvestman has gained 90 renown and Dark Hand has gained 60 renown. Additionally, you have gained 6 favors and 2 million $ 1 more favor from your connections you have built this turn.
Lisa has developed "Relationship: Dark Hand: Friendly"
Melissa, being the moody edgelord that she is, has not developed any relationships with anyone this turn.
Sentient Computer project
Work is nearing completion on the SI project. The amount of data collected and processed is truly staggering. Were this public work, it would be revolutionary.
Studying the data by lamplight one night, Brian has a sudden epiphany. With a thorough understanding of how an ordinary human brain works, it would be incredibly easy to find the neurological differences in a Supers brain, given that the powers have a neurological component. Most of the Metas on the street are irrelevant, but there is one person in particular he is almost sure would have a neurological basis for their powers. His own lacky, the sulky “Dark Hand” Melissa Aniya. Were he to scan her in the same manner as the other subjects, he is certain he could isolate the source of her powers.

Should you choose to do so, Brian must engage and win against “Dark Hand” and the subsequent sequencing will likely kill her. However, this will allow you to understand, and possibly replicate her powers upon completion of this project.

You have spent 3$ and 6 favors on the research this turn. There is 1 turn of research remaining.

Please vote on this during phase 2.

** There are two kind of reports. Wet reports and Dry reports. A dry report is just the basic actions and numbers. A wet report is a bit of fluff built around the dry report. You will always get a wet report for a super vs super engagement, but if it's just some mooks and it's pretty one sided I might just post the dry report.

Spoiler: Excerpt from this turns dry report, for reference (click to show/hide)

...Initiative Rolls: 1 (Dark Hand) 4 (Harvestman)
Dark Hand - (5) Hit
(10+3) damage. 12/25 - Target is wounded.
Cop - (1) miss
Cop - (4) miss
Harvestman (2) miss
Cop (5) hit (tails) 20 dmg
Cop (6) hit (tails) 20 dmg
Initiative Rolls: ....

[Ardent Debater]

Hmm, after some thought, I'm going to vote No on reverse-engineering the Dark Hand's psychic abilities. Here's why:

1.) The research would almost certainly kill the Dark Hand, and while that's little concern considering how easily we could recruit another minion, the Harvestman is her friend and there's a significant chance her loyalty would be compromised.
2.) Researching the cause of her psychic power and developing a way to safely replicate it in future cannon fodder would be not one, but two difficult tasks. I'm confident our staggering intellect could do so, but we're in the process of researching the Cerebral Enhancer and Sentient Computer, and I don't think we should divide our attention if we can help it.
3.) Combined, the Cerebral Enhancer and Sentient Computer will boost our research capacity at least twofold, which will make the task of non-fatally researching what it is that makes the Dark Hand's brain unique far more feasible than it is at the moment.
4.) Were we to go ahead with the research, assuming we weren't killed or crippled by our subordinates, once we'd finished, we wouldn't have anyone but ourselves to enhance. I'd much rather wait until we have the Goon Squad project up and running, and are able to maximize the benefit.
5.) Whatever else, the Dark Hand has proven to be a highly competent subordinate and at least loyal enough to kill for us. We should reward that kind of excellence in our employees, be they mundane or superpowered.