The AntAgonizer

AntAgonizer is a woman that seems to have some kind of control over giant ants. She is fighting her nemesis, the Mechanist in the town of Canterbury Commons and is dressed in an ant costume, emulating a comical 'supervillainess' style persona.

Talking to Joe Porter reveals that her name is "Tanya Christoff" and also reveals her background.

In truth, her family was killed by ants when she was younger, and she has become deluded into believing that ants are superior to humans, citing their instinctual willingness to work together to accomplish goals unlike humans' desire to kill one another through warfare. The Lone Wanderer can receive a quest to stop her battle with the Mechanist, and with enough Speech skill (or the Black Widow/Lady Killer perk), she can be talked out of the attack without any need for violence. You will need to perform the side quests asking the townspeople about the AntAgonizer before you are offered dialogue to pacify her. However, if the player attempts to talk to her while wearing the Mechanist's costume, she will attack without any option for dialogue.

Interestingly, if you go to Hubris Comics Publishing in Arlington, you'll find a terminal. A letter to the editor actually mentions the "Antagonizer" as one of Grognak's villains. The letter expresses sadness as the villain was "never developed fully". The Antagonizer's background matches the comic book Antagonizer exactly and she was to appear in "Grognak and the Ants of Agony", but it appears the comic was thrown out due to bad writing. If the player has read this terminal BEFORE encountering the AntAgonizer, he will be able to pacify her without even a speech check. The author of that letter mentions Mr. Moorellis, a reference to the well-known comic book writers Alan Moore and Warren Ellis.

If you talk to her not having the Mechanist's Costume yet, she will send you away to get it. She then may leave her lair and wander around the wasteland, hard to find again.

If you kill the Mechanist or convince him to give up and then go talk to the AntAgonizer, you can give the AntAgonizer The Mechanist's Costume and receive the Ant's Sting.

Alternately, if you kill the AntAgonizer or convince her to give up the act before visiting The Mechanist, you can give The Mechanist the AntAgonizer's Costume in exchange for Protectron's Gaze as well.