Indeed many of the same gangs are present in both places - some because they are widespread organizations such as The Council, the Family and the Malta Group (just to mention a few) and others because they want to carve a future for themselves away from the established regime.
Such is the case with the Freakshow - the cybernetic enhancement cult feared by common citizens and heroes alike in The City; and I do mean cult - they might be organized like a gang, committing roberies, acts of wanton destruction and stealing high-tech shipments from anywhere they can find - but the underlying purpose is always to finance their obsession with enhancing their bodies with cybernetic implants and becoming more machine than men.
The Freakshow you can encounter on the Rogue Isles are probably the equivalent of a "splinter cell" - if by splinter cell we understand a bunch of people far away from the force that normally beats them into submission so they can act like rebellious teenagers; in this case, the non-presence of Dreck means that the Freaks are under no particular control and are evolving into a stand-alone faction. This is further complicated by the addition of new members to the Freakshow cult who have never been to Paragon City and never been under the iron fist of Dreck's rule and have a hard time seeing why they should obey a guy they've never seen when the credo of the Freakshow is unlimited freedom.
Ah - you gotta love how anarchy have a way of eating it's own tail.
At any rate - you can always count on the Freakshow to put on a great fight no matter where you encounter them - with all their hooks, claws and regime of combat drugs these boys are ready to give as good as they get, and if you don't watch out, you might be the one needing limb replacement after a scrap with them. The massive Tank Freaks, the nasty Swipers, the Smashers and the Stunners - even the regular thugs that haven't made enough of a name for themselves to get implants - they are all tough opponents and with the drugs in their system, you better make sure they are down before you turn your back on them if you don't want a fistfull of sharp, rusty metal in it - i've seen more than one Freak rise from a beating that have killed other men.
They might not be the smartest boys on the block, but you have to respect their mad dedication to their ideals and their drive to cause mayhem and destruction - and have a good time while doing it.
Ah yes, but given the Freakshows desire to explore "self-improvement" it is hardly surprising that they fall in with all sorts of people here on the Rogue Isles. It's common knowledge they have formed an alliance with the renegade servants of Doctor Vahzilok known as "Meat Doctors" who assist them with their crazed cybernetic implant fixation - and in return get a host of willing test-subjects for all their mad experiments.
But I recently ran across another a new branch of their search for new ways to alter themselves - a branch of the Sharkhead chapter had somehow come into contact with an ancient representative of the Coralax species (the same semi-coral creatures native to the Rogue Isles waters) and entered into something called "The Cult of the Shaper." I stumbled upon it by accident but have since then devoted some time and effort into stamping this cult out.
If the result is magically enhanced Freaks burning with the energy of the mystic Red Corals and who effectively become living metal and almost impossible to damage, that is something I want to see an end to.
I had a run-in with one of their priests and that is not something I wish to repeat anytime soon - liquid metal flowing to repair damaged areas, swirls of black magic energy surrounding them, capable of calling up Slag Golems to assist them in addition to their regular features of horrible strength and lethal mechanical limbs.
At least I was able to eliminate the cult part I found and with the cave-in I caused afterwards, their secrets should be safe. But the investigation will continue - there are just some things even a villain don't want to see walking the earth.
