The thing about Buck attracting the Professor's attention is... he's still got the Professor's attention.

"It's not a flying squirrel. It must be some previously undiscovered species of gliding rodent." murmurs the Professor, sneaking towards Buck, butterfly net at the ready. "If I get him, I bet I can get my picture on the cover of Mad Scientist's Monthly." The Professor closes the distance between him and Buck, while Buck fires a few potshots:

Buck: Guns: 4 Roll: 3 Total: 7
Professor: Athletics: 0 Roll: 0 Total: 0

Stress tracks:

Professor: OOOOOOXOO
Buck: O

"Yow!" The Professor hops aside as Buck's laser strikes his ankle, while Hex throws a rope over the side of the cat's prison (making sure to tie his end to the Professor's desk first)... almost immediately, cats begin climbing out, most of them heavily charged with static.

The professor attempts to capture Buck with a butterfly net:

Professor: Athletics: 0 Roll: 1 Total: 1
Buck (on the ground): Athletics: 3 Roll: 0 Total: 3

The Professor tries to swoop up Buck in his butterfly net, but Buck manages to roll aside in good time (though he is forced to leave the remote on the floor). The tangled dog, in the meantime, being more flexible than an Imperial AT-AT, manages to bite through Buck's string with its metal teeth, and... heads off to the reset spot along with the other two dogs.

"Help me, you stupid dogs!" shouts the Professor. "Get that flying rodent!"

'Oh you did NOT just swing that swizzle stick at me, you megalomaniacal mutton-head. It is ON!"

Buck stomps down on the reset button of the remote control and spot welds it place with the cutter/welder function of his raygun, hopefully to take the dogs out of the fight.

"Hex, Kip, keep those cats moving, and keep an eye on the remote. I'm going to go play King Kong with the professor."

The smile on Buck's face as he jets to the top of the lightning generator would send shivers down the spines of any onlookers due to how cold their blood just ran.

OOG: Thanks, was going to mention tying the rope off, just hadn't gotten quite that far yet. =)

Once the rope is secure and the cats begin climbing out, Hex goes over and climbs up on top of the professor's desk.

"Hey, Cats, the exit is that way," he yells, pointing toward the doggy door. (Which should be free of robo-mutts for the moment.)

OOG: Spending a fate point to have a phone on the desk.

After that, Hex tips the phone receiver off the base, and quickly dials 911. (Or whatever the equivalent number is in N.A.)

OOG: Assuming they work the same way as they do here, a land-line is an easy/automatic trace and they'll send cops to investigate if they can't get a response.

"Right!"

Kip isn't good at herding cats. As far as he knows, no-one is good at herding cats. He could probably get a couple of the cats to chase him, but right now perhaps talking would do it.

He leans down and yells out at the cats.

"Hey guys! You all do know that the next step this crazy guy was planning was a BATH, right?"

Buck welds down the button and flies to the lightning generator. The Professor's jaw drops. "That's - that's not just gliding..." He tries to take a swipe with the butterfly net again...

Professor: Athletics: 0 Roll: -2 Total: -2
Buck: Piloting: +5 Roll: -2 Total: +3

...and Buck doesn't even bother to dodge, the Professor's swipe is so wide. The Professor notices the dogs going back to the reset location again and the cats leaving and yells "Get those fleeing felines, you dumb dogs!" The dogs glare at the Professor, and one of them (the one that ran into the wall earlier) appears to mouth "dumb dogs!" when the Professor's not looking, but they start chasing after the cats in any case.

Hex dials 911, and gets an immediate response. "911, what is the nature of your emergency?"

Kip very clearly does not attempt to herd the cats...

Kip: Rapport: 1 Roll: 0 Total: 1
Cats: Resolve: 2 Roll: -2 Total: 0

"A bath?" yowls one of the cats (two having escaped so far).

"A BATH!" yells the other.

With screams of anger, they charge at the Professor, followed by two of the dogs (the damaged one heads for the door). No-one threatens to give an alley cat a bath!

Hex holds onto the phone for a few moments, then places the handset back on the base. He'll watch the cats and robo-mutts for a little while, tossing a juggling ball or two into the mix if it'll help cause confusion for the professor, then go back and repeat his call to 911. (Eventually, someone should get annoyed enough to send a police car out, to bust the joker if nothing else. =) )

"Yes!"

Kip punches his fist into the air, quite proud of the commotion he's caused. Now, with the dog's attention on the cats, seems to be the time to sow a little more chaos.

He watches the melee carefully, judging his time and then leaps for the back of one of the dogs. There might be a chance here, and he's just the squirrel to take it.

From atop the lightning generator, Buck takes careful aim at the professor, before unleashing a withering hail of weaponized coherent light.

[OOG]Can I place the temporary aspect "in my sights" on the professor?[/OOG]

The Professor has no intention of remaining in melee with the cats. He flees... around the lightning generator. He's followed by both cats, who are in turn followed the two dogs not guarding the doggy door...

Professor: Athletics: 0 Roll: -4 Total: -4
Cat 1: Athletics: 1 Roll: -1 Total: 0
Cat 2: Athletics: 1 Roll: -1 Total: 0
Dog 1: Athletics: 2 Roll: +2 Total: 4
Dog 2: Athletics: 2 Roll: -1 Total: 1
Kip: Athletics: 3 Roll: 0 Total: 3

The Professor trips over an untied shoelace and goes down, fast. Both cats land on him. One is immediately captured by a dog, while the other cat leaps aside at the last moment, leading to the dog landing on the professor (much to his very vocal anger). "Get off me you idiot!" he yells.

Kip manages to grab hold of the tail of Dog 2 as it passes.

"911, what is the nature of your emergency?" asks the operator on the phone.

In the meantime, Buck carefully aims at the downed professor...



Only by taking a full turn to aim carefully.

Hex watches, amused, as Kip grabs a hold of the robo-mutt's tail.

"Ya know, Kip, Dogs usually don't like having their tails pulled," Hex wryly informs his friend. "You might wanna hang on tight."

That said, once the operator on the phone has had a moment to hear the professor's yells Hex hangs up the phone again. Once that's done, he gives the contents of the desk a cursory once over to check for anything interesting.

Hex is also keeping an eye on Buck and the Professor, but will let Buck have his fun so long as he isn't in any immediate danger. (If the Professor gets too close Hex will tag him with a juggling ball or three to distract him and give Buck a chance to relocate if needed.)



OOG: Kinda feel like I should be getting a bucket of popcorn or something.

The Professor's desk is covered in miscellaneous bits of paper, racks of test tubes, and general items pertaining to mad science. There is no popcorn.

The dog ignores Kip on its antenna/tail.

Buck unleashes a hail of laser fire:

Buck Guns: 4 In My Sights: +2 Roll: 0 Total: 6
Professor: Athletics: 0 Trapped: -2 Roll: 1 Total: -1

Professor: OOOOOOXXO

...causing the Professor to scream in pained rage.

"GET THAT CAT!" yells the Professor, and both dogs leap to obey.

Professor: Athletics: 0 Roll: 3 Total: 3
Cat: Athletics: 1 Roll: 2 Total: 3
Dog 1: Athletics: 2 Roll: -4 Total: -2
Dog 2: Athletics: 2 Roll: 3 Total: 5

Dog 2 swallows the cat as requested, while Dog 1 manages to do nothing at all. Despite the rope, the cats peering out from the generator seem reluctant to leave and face the Dogs again.

...

Spend one FP for indoor fire sprinkler system.

After laying down some truly righteous suppressing fire on the professor, Buck turns to look at Hex, almost as if he expected him to do something, and in turning spots something out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh yes. Perfect."

He takes flight once more, this time to the fire suppression sprinkler system built into the roof. Buck places his raygun against the heat sensitive activator, and squeezes the trigger.

"Bath Time."

pssshhhhhhhhhhht

Water sprays out over the lab. The cats in the lightning machine begin to scream with anger at their soaking - or maybe it's at the fact that the water is making them deliver painful electric shocks to each other.

"Ha!" says the professor. "My genius has prepared for even this unlikely eventuality! My dogs are waterproof! Bwha-ha-BWHA-HA-HA-HA!"

However, there's a faint pop and a smell of burnt electronics from the remote; the Claws start jerking about randomly. They grab the telephone, the damaged remote, and a set of rapidly-becoming-soggy blueprints and throw them into the lightning machine with the cats. (There's a further screech of rage from the cat whose head the telephone hits). One of the dogs raises an eyebrow at this, but they otherwise ignore the development.

"Ah, me, I seem to have forgotten my umbrella today," Hex complains as he scampers across the desk looking for something to hide under to keep him out of the deluge.