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[IronyOwl]

Pop the top and invite those people inside the tank.  Vine squad, the Nemesis, and the Cloy.  Looks like I've got them shortlisted.  Then close up, head outside and see if I can add the star with the halo to the group I'm considering.

[5][6][3][2] You pop the top and shout "GET IN NERDS WE'RE GOING SINGING!" Several things then happen.

One, the Vines look at each other for a moment before scrambling to put their toys away again and hop into the tank.

Two, that flying Nemesis dives straight for the hatch while cackling about "Foolish fools leaving themselves wide opeeeeeeeeeeeen!"

Three, the Cloy says "Totally bro," while casually climbing up the tank.

Four, the terrified rabble sees their chance and turns on you.

By the time you get the tank sealed again, all three candidates are on top of you, along with half a dozen other mooks. A high explosive canister rolls around the inside of the tank, merrily making its escape from the Vine weapons team. You cannot at the moment reach the controls to go fetch your other candidate, and there is ominous but probably ineffectual banging coming from the outside of the now goodie-filled tank.

Dariel holds up a palm.
"Hold up. Right now, I need to find the Audition Center and get it working. The people who set this up didn't put any real thought into this, and they just kinda threw us into the middle of it without telling us jack. So, I need to figure out what the actual situation is.
Now, do you know if this place actually has an Audition Center?"

"Alright, good. I was worried they'd have skimped on that, too. Can you guide me to it?"

*sigh* "Of course they don't. Incompetent assholes. Ok, I'll need to make sure everyone else knows so we can figure out some other method. I need to go back up. Feel free to follow me."

"Fair enough, I suppose. Listen, I'm looking for some hardware connections..." Describe the connections and why I'm looking for them to Gunboat, so that we can both look for them.

"Uh... no! But I can find out!"

You ask her how she intends to do that.

"I don't know!" she says, holding up what appears to be a military-grade explosive. "But if I overload the system, I can probably get a burnout reading of the existing connections!"

You stare at her for a few seconds while she fiddles with some wires. Then you suggest that perhaps she could take that same approach but... you know, just physically find the connections (or lack thereof) instead of reading their presence or absence in the ashes of what used to be the electrical network?

She gasps as though she's just done something terribly embarrassing, and indeed begins blushing faintly greenish.

"Oh! Right! Right, much better idea! Hey, I can get us there quicker with the-"

You cut her off to remind her that you'd like to arrive in one piece, to which she nods furiously.

"Right! Right! It should be... this way?"

[2] It is not that way. Or if it is that way, it's past the gaggle of...

[3] "Alright, so after we kick their asses-"

"We send em the ears!"

"What is it with you and cutting people's ears off? Just deliver the ransom note!"

"Don't be such a pussy, when else are we gonna get an opportunity to cut everyone's ears off?"

"I'm gettin real sick of you complicating all our plans by lopping off everyone's ears, you know!"

You're not sure if these are potential "idols" or just a violent street gang that wandered in (the distinction is never as clear as it should be), but they've wormed their way in here as well and you don't think you can stay hidden for very long. Gunboat is licking her lips while gauging how best to throw her explosive, which if you're any judge of anything will cause far more problems than it solves.

“Hello. What is it you’re trying to overthrow? I am a manager looking for an idol. I like helping people, and I would like to help you. My name is Quipzee Wit, what’s yours?”

[5] She squawks in surprise as you make yourself known.

"WH- OVERTHROW WHAT THIS IS ENTRAPMENT YOU CAN'T PROVE A THING THE WITNESS IS- eh?"

She squints at you.

"What are... uh... oh! Uh, hahahahaha, funny... funny joke, just... my name is Qillrial-10018374B-734, but my friends call me Q! Since we're uh... very good friends now, I hope you'll call me Q too!"

She flashes a desperately wide, fake smile.

“The name of this command unit is C0M-ER0N, my diagnosis of your biological makeup as translated you to be a Nemesis. Now this unit requests your name as well as would you make good idol material for my starting-up idol-managing business?”

C0MMY shall need to learn all of the delicious information that is needed to know if this Incubus is snuff enough to be an Idol for the robot. The Glamour Girl’s still needs to grabber claw one more Idol out of the ground, before they earn their nonexistent wages

The Incubus stares at you for a good few moments. Well, you assume it's staring, outwardly it's just sitting there.

"Designation: Jormungara. Quality: Peerless. I am without question the idol you are looking for," it finally responds in its mechanically assisted voice.

[6] Your Glamor Gals throw themselves over the edge again, and are promptly thrown back, sprawling out all over the floor as they lose their grip on each other.

A moment later, a figure in gleaming white armor jumps up onto the edge, striking a pose and glowing softly.

"What perfidy is this?!" she demands in a loud, commanding voice. "Abducting hopeful idols? This will not stand!"

The Nemesis glances between the two of you, then takes a few steps back.

Fly out the window, and find a suitable peasant. Weak, desperate, and manipulable. Offer that they make a contract with me as a "base security intern", with a bonus of the crown and initial orders to establish order here.

Claim the northeastern wing of the upstairs and deploy the [untranslatable] there.

[2] You fly around, screaming "DOOM HAS COME FOR YOU! SUBMIT TO THE BLACK WINGS WITH A THOUSAND EYES AND FIND PURPOSE IN SLAVERY, HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

This may be a slightly aggressive marketing approach, as you are unable to locate any volunteers. In fact, there seems to be an influx of volunteers for the venerable task of running away from you. At least you're breaking up the riots?

[Devastator]

Let things cool down a bit, and then try to retrieve angel-girl and her squad.  Meanwhile, get a breakdown of these candidates, who they are, and what they can do.

[Glass]

-_-
[quietly] "First off, put away the explosives. I don't have any other backup bodies right now and therefore rather dislike the idea of losing this one.
Second, I think I might have a better idea." From under his labcoat, Dariel extends an electrified appendage.
"Ranged combat is unlikely to work well at all in here. If they're close enough to try attacking me, I'll have been close enough to zap them a while ago.
Follow closely, but stay quiet."
Dariel will attempt to apprehend the interlopers.
(This will begin with trying to sneak up behind one, putting the electric weapon very close to them, and saying "Identify yourselves. And before you ask about ears, I haven't got any.")

[Shadowclaw777]

“Greeting and Well Met, Jormungara. If you are the Idol at my command than request the naming of your signing price to join my gang of robots.” C0MMY rotates it’s red eye sensors to look at the white figure, “I’m a simple and innocent business owner trying to make my way in the universe, my salon is to die for with its effectively good and fashionable results, you should really have some of my Glamour Gals give your a makeover to a more post-modern look, free of charge”

C0MMY requests whether or not Jormungara will join my team for free or if she’s looking for a bit of credits to join my managing business. Asking if the loud white-armored figure would want to see if she has interest in my salon. Command the Glamour Gals to piggyback off each other to get back on the upper floors of the base

[IronyOwl]

Let things cool down a bit, and then try to retrieve angel-girl and her squad.  Meanwhile, get a breakdown of these candidates, who they are, and what they can do.

[6] As expected, they cling to you like barnacles on a hull, loudly shouting their names and accomplishments. You have no idea how accurate these claims are, nor can you remember which shouting goes with which face.

Physically, you have:
-A squad of Vines in matching semimilitary uniforms
-An Imp in a pod
-A beefy Cloy
-Podless Imp
-Cancer of all things- Nemesis crablike heavy weapons platform caste
-Orange boy with forehead stalks (probably Murk)
-Star with a pink mohawk
-Muscular woman with horns
-Girl with cat ears

The jobs or qualifications you hear shouted include:
-Hoverboarder
-Singer
-Pizza Delivery Girl
-Good with lasers
-Nemesis Spy
-Went camping once
-Goes camping a lot
-Beats criminals for money
-Beats criminals for fun
-Beats criminals to deflect suspicion
-War Criminal
-Owns a sirrigot. You don't know what that is.

You give up on trying to remember names at this junction.

[1] The pounding on the tank grows louder and starts to include suspiciously deliberate-sounding mechanical noises. If you didn't know any better you'd say somebody has a plan up there.

-_-
[quietly] "First off, put away the explosives. I don't have any other backup bodies right now and therefore rather dislike the idea of losing this one.
Second, I think I might have a better idea." From under his labcoat, Dariel extends an electrified appendage.
"Ranged combat is unlikely to work well at all in here. If they're close enough to try attacking me, I'll have been close enough to zap them a while ago.
Follow closely, but stay quiet."
Dariel will attempt to apprehend the interlopers.
(This will begin with trying to sneak up behind one, putting the electric weapon very close to them, and saying "Identify yourselves. And before you ask about ears, I haven't got any.")

[3] You crawl over to the relatively spacious frame the thugs are sitting in, grab one from behind, and immediately get elbowed in the gut.

[1] What follows is an intense taze-vs-knife battle that sees you thoroughly manhandled by hooligans. You are after all a scientist not a street fighter.

[5] Gunboat handles herself considerably better, which is to say she pulls a laser pistol from somewhere and opens fire, taking down two thugs and then knee-kicking and pistol whipping the third as she closes in.

[5] She beams at you proudly, apparently not noticing the shiv sticking out of her shoulder. To be fair it's a thin shiv.

[5] While dealing with that, you find that you're not far from the local hub. In fact, you realize this particular hub was meant to be extendible- most likely there are local power cores in each dome, meant to be extended through the ceiling and into the second floor should the need arise. Specifically, placing a power core next to rooms can give them additional effects if they have a way to use that extra power. This also explains why the rooms on the second floor are arranged in rings with nothing in the middle- it's saving space for the core, if any.

Moreover, you can tell that this hub is servicing a power core and three workshops. This is interesting because it implies both that the hubs are arranged by purpose, and that there are only three places to repair or manufacture things allotted to six managers.

It doesn't tell you whether there's an Audition Center somewhere in here or not, though.

“Greeting and Well Met, Jormungara. If you are the Idol at my command than request the naming of your signing price to join my gang of robots.” C0MMY rotates it’s red eye sensors to look at the white figure, “I’m a simple and innocent business owner trying to make my way in the universe, my salon is to die for with its effectively good and fashionable results, you should really have some of my Glamour Gals give your a makeover to a more post-modern look, free of charge”

C0MMY requests whether or not Jormungara will join my team for free or if she’s looking for a bit of credits to join my managing business. Asking if the loud white-armored figure would want to see if she has interest in my salon. Command the Glamour Gals to piggyback off each other to get back on the upper floors of the base

[3] Jormungara insists that for an Idol of her stature, a modest fee would be appropriate (maybe... 50 credits?). She also says you should draft up a contract immediately before anyone changes their minds.

[1] The white one just starts savagely pummeling you when you ask about the salon. Maybe she doesn't like salons.

Your Glamour Girls reassemble behind you and then clinically ask whether they should do anything about you being viciously assaulted.

[Egan_BW]

Enter the lower floor and assess the situation. Be sure to fly above the crowds.

[TricMagic]

As for what Tim has been doing all this time, it's setting up her prefab clinic. Along with a hacking the camera network for the second floor by the time they inevitably make it up here, attaching alarms to her Starlight 100k.(The best in programming a schedule along with just about anything else you might need to do, like downloading books, hooking up to the Stellar Net[which is currently down but for the current planet], and storing cute images and videos.)

During all this, she here's the sound of a potential magical girl in training, and goes to investigate.

“Greeting and Well Met, Jormungara. If you are the Idol at my command than request the naming of your signing price to join my gang of robots.” C0MMY rotates it’s red eye sensors to look at the white figure, “I’m a simple and innocent business owner trying to make my way in the universe, my salon is to die for with its effectively good and fashionable results, you should really have some of my Glamour Gals give your a makeover to a more post-modern look, free of charge”

C0MMY requests whether or not Jormungara will join my team for free or if she’s looking for a bit of credits to join my managing business. Asking if the loud white-armored figure would want to see if she has interest in my salon. Command the Glamour Gals to piggyback off each other to get back on the upper floors of the base

[3] Jormungara insists that for an Idol of her stature, a modest fee would be appropriate (maybe... 50 credits?). She also says you should draft up a contract immediately before anyone changes their minds.

[1] The white one just starts savagely pummeling you when you ask about the salon. Maybe she doesn't like salons.

Your Glamour Girls reassemble behind you and then clinically ask whether they should do anything about you being viciously assaulted.

"Talk about pep! Need any help, or are you going to keep beating up one of the Idol managers? If so, I'll help!"

Gets ready to jump into the fight. Time to put the all those years on stage and the streets to use. Ah, and Coldfire Torc!

"Starlight Rain!" and from the Torc comes a thousand stars raining down like a star shower on everything in front of her.

[Glass]

“You know what, it doesn’t matter what else happens, you’re very hired. By the way, shiv in your shoulder.”
Take any useful-looking equipment from these goons, and let’s get exploring again. The fact of these workshops is useful information, but a damn Audition Center is what we really need right now.

[Naturegirl1999]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Quipzee Wit (Naturegirl)
[Heroic/Passionate]
-
Biology
Comedy
-
Credits: 5000
Prefab Emotion Foundry. Condenses emotions into solid materials. Can be set up in any base tile and moved later.
Pet: Emotion Slime. Magnifies emotions, loves cuddling.
Contact: 'Recon' Rick Tammer, Happystone Charms Company. Pilot and ex-soldier.

“Nice to meet you Q. I have a foundry that converts emotions into materials, but we need to clear out the lower levels of the building to get there. How good are you at crowd control?”

[Shadowclaw777]

“C0M-ER0N would requests you stop your assault before it results in your ill-termination, and you haven’t even gave a name, consider it a sign-in bonus for me to request that you relieve this woman in white armor out of her living status, Miss Jormungara. Glamor Gals, chop chop!

While C0M-ER0N leaves the premises and melee engagement range that the woman in white armor is having with him and will try and just watch the fight, C0MMY shall request that Jormungara joins his idol-managing company with money to be discussed later and the first task to work for me is to terminate that idol, with the assistance of the Glamour Gals ganging up on her.

[IronyOwl]

Enter the lower floor and assess the situation. Be sure to fly above the crowds.

[6] You fly out a window somebody helpfully blew out, possibly the floating triangle robot, dozen matching humanoid robots, robotic Nemesis, or one of the two glowing white girls all engaged in a brawl right next to it. You then fly down into the lower levels, which are...

'A mess' would be an understatement. The obvious entry point you fly in through could be worse; there's a relatively moderate density of rioters, and a lot of them are setting up some kind of drilling rig on top of an absurdly large tank. Further in, it's wall-to-wall anarchy, with girls trying to burrow through the walls, punch out the ceiling, eat each other to gain their strength, and just generally acting as though the end of the world was upon them.

One even appears to be wearing makeshift armor fashioned from what you assume are household appliances, riding a jeep-thing likewise cobbled together from at least one refrigerator and four sewing machines, shouting loudly into a microphone about the end times.

[1] She also has a gang, a member of which manages to snag you in a net made out of lingerie tied to what appears to be plasma piping. You really hope they didn't pry that out of somewhere in here.

"FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!" the deranged group of cannibals chants, staring at you.

As for what Tim has been doing all this time, it's setting up her prefab clinic. Along with a hacking the camera network for the second floor by the time they inevitably make it up here, attaching alarms to her Starlight 100k.(The best in programming a schedule along with just about anything else you might need to do, like downloading books, hooking up to the Stellar Net[which is currently down but for the current planet], and storing cute images and videos.)

[6] Alarms are rigged. They should start alerting you the instant anything moves up here. ...oh, yeah, you suppose they would be blaring constantly. Hrm.

Well, no time to fix that because there's FRIENDSHIP afoot!

During all this, she here's the sound of a potential magical girl in training, and goes to investigate.

"Talk about pep! Need any help, or are you going to keep beating up one of the Idol managers? If so, I'll help!"

Gets ready to jump into the fight. Time to put the all those years on stage and the streets to use. Ah, and Coldfire Torc!

"Starlight Rain!" and from the Torc comes a thousand stars raining down like a star shower on everything in front of her.

“C0M-ER0N would requests you stop your assault before it results in your ill-termination, and you haven’t even gave a name, consider it a sign-in bonus for me to request that you relieve this woman in white armor out of her living status, Miss Jormungara. Glamor Gals, chop chop!

While C0M-ER0N leaves the premises and melee engagement range that the woman in white armor is having with him and will try and just watch the fight, C0MMY shall request that Jormungara joins his idol-managing company with money to be discussed later and the first task to work for me is to terminate that idol, with the assistance of the Glamour Gals ganging up on her.

[4][2][4]vs[2]vs[2] C0MMY floats away to safety as his Glamour Girls and new lackey attack. The Glamour Gals are scattered in a single punch, sent flying into the air and away, but Jormungara has more luck, focusing purple waves of energy at the newcomer. She clutches her head and falls to her knees.

Tim joins in, but ends up in the same cone of fire as the girl in white, and likewise feels like the world is constantly spinning.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter what else happens, you’re very hired. By the way, shiv in your shoulder.”
Take any useful-looking equipment from these goons, and let’s get exploring again. The fact of these workshops is useful information, but a damn Audition Center is what we really need right now.

[2] Unless a rusty shiv, empty bottle, or personal communicators count as useful, the thugs are broke.

Gunboat makes a shrill happy noise and begins dancing in place. This does not stop. Ever. If she heard you about the shiv she opts not to act on this information.

[1] Your concerns about Gunboat's incessant glee attracting more attention prove irrelevant when the both of you fall right out of the ceiling in a thunderous crashing noise. You both catch onto some wires as you fall, but are now dangling above the packed-with-rioters first floor as parts of the ceiling come down on them. A quick glance down suggests the irresponsible use of grenade launchers to be at least partially responsible for this turn of events. A quick glance down does not suggest where multiple irresponsible angry people got compact grenade launchers from.

And yes, the crowd has noticed you.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Quipzee Wit (Naturegirl)
[Heroic/Passionate]
-
Biology
Comedy
-
Credits: 5000
Prefab Emotion Foundry. Condenses emotions into solid materials. Can be set up in any base tile and moved later.
Pet: Emotion Slime. Magnifies emotions, loves cuddling.
Contact: 'Recon' Rick Tammer, Happystone Charms Company. Pilot and ex-soldier.

“Nice to meet you Q. I have a foundry that converts emotions into materials, but we need to clear out the lower levels of the building to get there. How good are you at crowd control?”

[5] She stares blankly at you for a few seconds.

"Uhhhhhhhh... hold that thought!"

She quickly turns around and pulls out her communicator again.

"Yeah- SHUT UP I NEED CROWD SUPPRESSION RIGHT NOW! RIGHT RIGHT NOW DON'T YOU DARE FUCK THIS UP FOR ME! YES! YES! OBVIOUSLY! ABSOLUTELY! Yes. N- You know what? Fuck it. All in. All all all in. Do it."

She puts her communicator away and turns back to you, unconvincingly smiling as wide her mouth will go.

"Haha, just gimme a few minutes okay? I have a, uh... I am very good at crowd control but I need a few minutes to um... prepare."

She stands there with a desperate smile frozen on her face. You think you hear a noise approaching from the distance.

[Egan_BW]

Convince these apocalyptic loons that I am their god. Or a prophet or something.

[Glass]

[Quietly] “Why did this happen to me.”

[Loudly] “Listen, my name is Dariel Aegis, I’m one of the managers, and I assure you, we want Idols just as much as you all want to pilot the things! But before any of that can happen, I need to know if we even have an Audition Center where we can assess you, let alone knowing where it is! So if you are even hoping to get a position with us, I suggest you stop rioting and start being productive and looking for this thing!”
Dariel also gets ready to deploy a force shield in the case the nearby crowd responds poorly to his declaration and tried to attack him.

[Naturegirl1999]

”Who is that you are talking to? Do you lead a group? I’ve never seen people smile that wide before, if it starts to hurt your mouth you can lower the smile intensity”

[TricMagic]

Spoiler: GM only (click to show/hide)

dizzy think right right left left up down... ah,

Right, cutthroat business. Star Flash!

FLASH. Blind everyone else and grab the white one next to me. Time to make a retreat to the medical center. In one direction