World War II - The Vanguard Issue #6 Deal with the devil...

NoMan and Bulletman sped off, the alien following the fledging hero through the hole and noting the way Bulletman would simply charge at the metal walls... only for the field to repulse him and leave him rubbing his head! NoMan helped him up and the pair disappeared from view as they made their way through the ship.

Lionheart scooped Guillotine up and she held on as he sped off!

Anyman slammed a foot into the floor... the metal rippled, the lights went out and somewhere in the ship a great crack and bending of metal sounded! This time the lights were longer to come back on and the glow from the robots was the only thing lighting Anymans way! They were coming at him from both sides now, enough to make even he pause for thought... for nearly a second! He didn't let up and smashed again and again! The lights stayed off and now there was visible damage as the deck started tilting!

=========

"Bloody hell, I had no idea about that bloke!" shouted Bulletman as they made their way through the darkness.

NoMan nodded "indeed. But with him and the others about, I rather feel we are redundant! No, this way!"

Bulletman paused, then followed the alien. "Our time will come!" he shouted, then added "Assuming we get out of this mess! One corridor looks like... hold on!"

The corridors were collapsing inwards now, the metal crumpling and buckling! "Grab on!" shouted Bulletman "Time to do my party trick!" NoMan replied "I can do better than that!" and became a second skin for Bulletman as the Justiciar launched upwards, head first at the ceiling! "Just hope that energy field stays off or we'll be crushed under a zillion tons of metal!"

=========

Lionheart paused "Can't get through that way!"

Guilltine looked at the collapsed corridor and shook her head "Truth told I'm not sure that whatever we did would matter - Anyman has done enough damage to this thing to ensure that even if the power came back on..."

As she said the words lights came on in the corridors - well, what lights remained in the remaining corridors! "Hope he got out!" she shouted as Lionheart whisked them away from a falling roof!

=========

Anyman felt his strength ebb and used the last of the Dark Power as the robots reached him!

Their metal hands passed through his form and he sighed with relief as he moved quickly as he could through the walls, bulkheads and shattered superstructure! When the intangibility wore off, he was in a darkened corridor that'd been crumpled so only small animals could get through the gaps. He considered using the dark power, then stretched and flowed like water instead through the darkness, hoping that he could find a way out!

=========

ELSEWHERE: "Well? What news?"*

Damon Trowers held a finger to the earpiece placed in his ear and listened, looking about at German high command - including Hitler himself - sat around this large table. Herr Hitler stood and placed hands on the table "WELL? You promised the fall of the British, used our mined stocks of the moon metal and created a machine to bring forth that killing machine - from the future you say..."

"A possible future..." said Trowers, pained. "And it failed. I don't know how, but it went down just south of London near Royal Tunbridge Wells."

"ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS?" spluttered Hitler, eyes wild and wringing his hands! "WHAT?"

"Nice place. In my time its a toxic wasteland with ooze on the ground that would make your moustache fall off at 20 metres. Yes, we don't know... actually, I think my associate Mr Bentham has a theory. Your 'Anyman' and our 'Lionheart'. Again."

Hitler paled at the mention of the name and sagged back into the chair! Instantly an aide ran forward with a glass of water! Despite his 6'6" frame, fresh grown from a vat, Hitlers mind was unaltered and he still suffered sleepless nights remembering how the Vanguard had thus far thwarted his plans to conquer all of Europe.

"Can..." he whispered, reaching for the water with a shaking hand "Can we do something? Remote detonate it?"

"Thought you might say that. Claude is on it. We'll have to cut our losses on this one. I just hope the data we have is enough for our needs..." he said, annoyed.

Just then Trowers touched his finger to the commlink again "It's Bentham...about the ship..."

*Translated from German

=========

Guillotine sagged back in relief.

"Good job you're so fast!" she laughed. Lionheart sagged into a chair on the ruins of the vast vessels bridge. They'd gotten to the bridge just before the ship was about to hit the ground and discovered a remote signal had been sent to detonate the vessel with the power of a 100 megaton bomb!

Guillotine had discovered that an 8 digit code was required to turn off the countdown, and had come up with a program in seconds with one of the few remaining consoles to store codes that had been tried already, then turned to Lionheart. "We have seconds before the ship crashes and we die!" she said then looked at the screen. "How fast are you?"

Now, Lionheart looked at the smoking, melted sagging keyboard, the green light on the cracked screen and the 8 digit code blinking on it. He rubbed at sore fingers and sagged into a half collapsed chair.

"fast enough." he replied, sweat rolling from his face. All about, metal still fell from upper decks after the vessel had smashed into the floor and gouged a huge piece of Kents countryside up...

=========

Anyman poured from a gap in the metal and reformed into his human shape

He climbed up to stand on the remains of the deck that still stood above ground, with most of the mangled huge vessel nose down and spread across a number of fields, burning in places and smoking in others. He looked down, some 30m to see a road running alongside the field and an astonished farmer with a pipe falling from his lips as he sat on his tractor, having missed death by metres... "Well blow me down..." muttered the Farmer, gaping...

=========

"Are we alive?" groaned Bulletman

NoMan reformed into human shape, wobbled, then dropped onto his backside. The pair were in a field not far from the crash sight, and both were battered. "That is an impressive helmet." muttered NoMan. Bulletman took it off, and saw how the metal was flattened and useless. "Was. I think the last few walls were me ramming it at speed and nothing to do with the gizmos inside. I have the MOTHER of all headches..." he groaned and fell back, lying in the ploughed field with the huge smoking wreck a couple of hundred metres away in the background.

NoMan laughed "That's good!'

"Good? my head is killing me!"

"No my friend, it tells you you are ALIVE!"

=========

ELSEWHERE: "So what did we destroy? A town? An airforce base?" asked Hitler

"Probably a few sheep." said Trowers. The outraged German officers got up and pulled lugers on Damon Trowers who sat there, calm as you like! "In a way I'm glad. My little side project is still on. I'm coming for you Lionheart..."

"And we're coming for YOU!" shouted a German officer, levelling his pistol and firing!

=========

In the ruins of the smashed ship....

"Protocol 99 received." said a metallic sphere. Others repeated it, but most were smashed. Through the wreckage the robots picked their way, intent on their original destination... They numbered far, far less than their original thousands, but against the primitive targets they would soon accomplish the task that Protocol 99 dictated - the eradication of all human life encountered!

Shifting back into Sir Francis Drake, Anyman formed a flag and pole with his arm, "I claim this ship in the Name of His Royal Magesty!"

He was giddy, which made him worried. This mission was actually easy and no one got killed. He waited there on top of the destroyed ship for the other shoe to drop. He knew his luck couldn't be this good!

Lionheart looked at Guillotine, "Ok that wasn't easy, but we both now Trowers and Bentham have contingency plans for their contingency plans. So we'd better see if there is any data or information we can salvage from this wreck. I want to make sure that nothing left here, gets to bite us in the backside, the moments our attention is drawn to the next disaster.

Looking at the shattered remains of the cockpit it was hard to know where to look, but look they must. Lionheart knew better than to trust Bentham or Trowers.

OOC:
Ok though I don't know about the robots, I do know Bentham and Trowers and anything that we can pull from this ship to be helpful, or find out if there are any clues to what they're really up to would be much appreciated.

Sj

"Avast there, me hearties," "Sir Francis" yelled down to NoMan and Bulletman, "prepare to repel boarders! Keep the scum away from me ship! And watch for rats trying to escape it as well!"

He had a bad feeling about this.

'Sir Francis' and his crew had conquered another ship - London was saved, and the Nazis thwarted again! So why...? Where Anyman was stood suddenly started shaking and the ruins of the ship - it would never fly again and the field resembled a great sprawling burning scrapyard - started falling inwards and shaking! Dust rose from the soil of the field as Lionheart and Guillotine sped over to the great ruin of the still burning vessel, and saw great chunks collapse in on itself.

"Perhaps its just that great weight crashing in on the lower decks?" shouted Bulletman, flying to join the others with NoMan dangling from his team mates leg like a piece of elastic before dropping off and reforming into a humanoid shape.

"No..." said Guillotine, looking at the vast vessel. "This is something..."

"Down!" shouted Lionheart as he leapt through the air to 'tackle' Guillotine, though he made sure he landed on the ground underneath her as they slid on the floor. Both looked up as a metal sphere punched through the side of the smashed vessel... and another did the same, then another, another...

Where Anyman stood suddenly seemed unstable and he was having a hard time trying to avoid being drawn in with the collapsing decks as more and more spheres punched through the metal of the ship to bounce and tumble through the air, spinning and rolling at high speed over the fields, smashing through dry stone walls on their relentless course towards London!

As the ship collapsed inwards, various fuel and power lines ignited, causing a number of explosions that sent metal spinning through the air in a deadly razor sharp shower! And yet more spheres burst from the ships ruins! The hole thing seemed to be alive as the spheres tried to break free from their metal prison!

"At least we know where they are going!" said NoMan, ducking as a metal sphere bounced just over him to head towards the far distant City of London!

Lionheart looked at the field and the stream of spheres already streaming and bouncing towards the Capital "One hundred and thirty eight... forty six...seventy seven..." he said, able to count each individual sphere at super speed.

Just then he turned and looked at the ruin of the ship. "LOOK OUT!" he bellowed. The ship was shaking and rumbling! Fires burst from holes in the structure and a great rumbling could be heard!

OOC you have nearly two hundred spheres bouncing rolling and tumbling at around 50-60mph towards London, and they aren't stopping or slowing down when they hit something! Imagine someone tossing a bucket full of ball bearings down some hard stone stairs and you get the idea... Plus... the ship is about to blow! It won't be as big as the explosion Lionheart averted, but it will hurt if the team are caught in it!

Admin wrote:OOC you have nearly two hundred spheres bouncing rolling and tumbling at around 50-60mph towards London, and they aren't stopping or slowing down when they hit something! Imagine someone tossing a bucket full of ball bearings down some hard stone stairs and you get the idea... Plus... the ship is about to blow! It won't be as big as the explosion Lionheart averted, but it will hurt if the team are caught in it!

OOC:
I'm reluctant to chip in, because Dave might have a game changing plan up his sleeve, besides which Lionheart can run after these things but taking them down one at a time isn't going to do a lot before they get to London. So perhaps its time for Dave to magnetise them and send them screaming into the sun or something. I'll reply properly when Dave has done.

Sj

ooc: Lost my hard drive with all my gaming stuff on it and doing this at work so off the top of my head ...


"Down," yells Anyman, diving to the ground and using his great strength and shapeshifting and stretching powers to dig a foxhole for everyone to dive into to ride out the explosion that was coming.

"I had hoped you had reprogrammed those things," he said from the foxhole. "Can they be magnetized or use that electro magnetic wave thingie against them?"

ooc: Ride out explosion, covering the foxhole with his stretchable body. Then depending on the answer, calling on the Dark Powers and trying to stop as many of them as possible. Putting 12 points into the power roll.

Anyman whirled, and 'Sir Francis Drake' stretched his arms out into a shovel shape and slammed them into the soft ploughed earth of the field!

As he dug, he asked about the robots. "We managed to stop some kind of self destruct going off, but it looks like the engines are going into meltdown! Won't be as big an explosion, but big enough!" said Guillotine as she hopped into the hole and crouched. Bulletman and NoMan sped over and dropped in, followed by Anyman and Lionheart.

The engines went off a moment later!

Everyone was deafened by the thunderous roar and the earth shook! Anyman cried out as rubble a lot of it sharp, rained down on him but that was far better than being engulfed in fire! After what seemed an age Anyman popped his head up, moved shattered metal off himself and reformed into a man. The others rose.

The field was a mess - destroyed for the most part, and fires burned everywhere with blinding smoke all about. Debris was still raining from the sky and Lionheart telekinetically deflected a number of larger pieces with a thought. Of the ship there was only basic structure sections left, and that was burning. The rest had been spread for hundreds of metres in every direction.

Coughing, Guillotine added "In answer to your question, the robots weren't a problem. The mainframe was damaged so there should've been no way they got commands through to do anything. I think the command was hard coded and sent remotely."

"She means by my former Mentor Damon Trowers, and his lackey, Claude Bentham. That thing went down relatively easily because its a machine of war. It's designed to fight armies of great size, not a few individuals with the power of several armies." He turned and looked across the fields, through the smoke. "Those robots are on their way towards London" he reminded the others.

Anyman called on the dark power...

OOC Dark Power growth is 1 so effective Dark Power ego is 13. Roll of 7+12 Ego for Anyman, DOUBLE 6 (!) for Dark Power, plus 4,1. That's a total of 30 for the Dark Power and 19 for Anyman! I will assume a hero point is used... here we go... Roll of 6+8. A roll of 10 or less would've been disastrous and made the explosion here seem like a campside fire, with all the consequences that follow...Dark power points 7,10,10,2,6,2,7,3,10,7,7,5. Whole lotta 7s and 10s. Those 10s get you an extra 4, 4 and 5 points. 89x2 (Dark Power level 2)= 178 Dark power points. Must be one of the highest totals we've had so far! How you gonna spend em? (You are on Dark Power Growth 2 and 10 Hero points now, Anyman)

Lionheart watched Anyman carefully and cringed as emotions crossed his team mates face. They'd been rage, fury and hate! He recovered, and Lionheart gave a sigh of relief. What on earth could he do if Anyman lost control? He was faster, stronger, tougher and more powerful than before, but it was still like a drop in the ocean compared to the Dark Power! He turned to the distant spheres. They were nearly a mile away now, but he knew he could catch them in a flash!

Admin wrote:Lionheart watched Anyman carefully and cringed as emotions crossed his team mates face. They'd been rage, fury and hate! He recovered, and Lionheart gave a sigh of relief. What on earth could he do if Anyman lost control? He was faster, stronger, tougher and more powerful than before, but it was still like a drop in the ocean compared to the Dark Power! He turned to the distant spheres. They were nearly a mile away now, but he knew he could catch them in a flash!

Relieved, Lionheart fought back a quip he was about to offer, how Anyman continually used and yet held back the power he had, both frightened and disturbed Lionheart. But beggars couldn't be choosers. With yet another threat looming on London, they had to get a move on.

"Whilst you get ready, I'll take Guillotine ahead and keep an eye on what is going on, keep in touch." He added with a tap toward his head. Before offering a life, once again to Guillotine. He was unsure how Bulletman and NoMan might keep up, but right now, he needed to make sure that someone was keeping an eye out for the citizens of London, when the Robots slowed down to start attacking.

Sj

OOC that 'lost hard drive' comment by David is ominous - Been there, done that (I think it was 3 times in one year, my record). Anyway, we may be delayed by a day or three I suspect. My shift has been awful today (13 hours) so I won't be able to update properly till Sunday (I'm up at 0600 in 6 and a bit hours for more train related rubbish). Apologies, but I'd rather not rush posts than just knock anything out before I whizz off to bed :S That said, Lionheart+Guillotine splitting up from the others can keep things moving.

Lionheart and Guillotine sped off. In moments he started to catch the rearmost of the tumbling, bouncing robots. He was only a couple of hundred metres behind, running across a field, when he got a strange feeling.

Guillotine confirmed "Look out!" Lionheart had seen it. Tiny spheres, like ball bearings, tumbled from the large metal spheres. "I'm willing to bet they are..."

Lionheart zipped to the side of the small bearings - just in time - they exploded! Each had the power of a conventional grenade, and each robot had released dozens of them!

OOC Are you going to follow, zip round in front or take them on one at a time? Or perhaps get to London and make some preparations - to the air raid shelters for instance. What of Lionhearts power allocations? Speed, Strength, Force Field etc. Update tomorrow, where more of the Robots insidious plan is revealed.

Admin wrote:OOC Are you going to follow, zip round in front or take them on one at a time? Or perhaps get to London and make some preparations - to the air raid shelters for instance. What of Lionhearts power allocations? Speed, Strength, Force Field etc. Update tomorrow, where more of the Robots insidious plan is revealed.

Lionheart muttered under his breath as he allocated more of his resources defensively. Allocating more to speed, to supersede the Robots and make preparations to defend London, whilst increasing his own force field so as to be able to withstand any incoming attacks should come his way.

Turning to Guillotine he simple said, "Hang on!" And then, he began to take several bounds as if within he was changing up gears and with a tremendous push his speed suddenly increased dramatically as he then began to overtake the Robots gaining ground at a incredible pace.

OOC:
1. Ok increase speed, drop Psi and decrease strength to one grade, and then up speed and force field so it can include us both.

2. Get to town get men to start using the air raid sirens, so that people make their way to the bunkers like you suggested.

3. Try and get the army here, although I know that might be futile, but anything like mortars, or tanks to try and shot at the oncoming Robots.

4. Then reappraise the situation and see further counsel.

As for Guillotine I want her to call Bletechly get Spartan, a v ship and Frostbot here asap.

As regards work, no worries, I might be ready to drop in a reply anytime but don't ever feel pressured by me when real life or work gets heavy. No worries. Do what you need to - this is meant to be fun, not a burden. Its then that it starts getting to you and you feel burnt out. But appreciate letting us know, all the same.

Sj

ooc: Okay, something at a loss here as what to do. I don't know enough about the robots to know if I have any powers I can call upon to take out large groups of them. If they were hardwired, would an EMP work against them? Do they have somewhat delicate innards so I can phase through large numbers of them and damage them from the inside? Am I going to have to resort to a megablast that puts a huge hole in the ground and hopefully stops most of them?

With the clock ticking on my powers, I know I can probably do one or possibly two of these things before I run out of power and have to try calling it up again. And I will also need speed to catch up with them. So any suggests would help.

OOC ok his Hyper Field costs 3 points at grade 2. Add another 2 points to make it a bubble, 'Incredibles' style. That's 5 points, 10 left. Grade 3 speed, 6 points, Grade 1 strength, 1 point. That leaves 3 points left.

Lionheart gave the merest fraction of a thought to what he wanted to do. An energy bubble popped up around him, with Guillotine gasping "Oh! That's new!" then Lionheart grinned and said "Hold on!"

He sped off.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

The sound barrier was bypassed in short order as he moved to his full speed, somewhere about 1500mph at this level of Hyper Speed! The floor behind was furrowed by the forcefield and in place, set alight! A trail of fire across fields and grassland marked his passing, only to be doused as the air rushing inwards 'clapped' it out!

He shot past the bouncing, rolling robots, gone before they could 'draw a bead' on him and through more fields, coming to villages and towns on the outskirts of London before zipping through the capital! Inside the bubble, held in Lionhearts arms, Guillotine gasped "Amazing! There's no wind rush, noise, anything! The forcefield must somehow help to cut through the air, otherwise we'd shatter every window and deafen everyone on the way!"

The sphere came to a halt at the Ministry of Defense buildings, with soldiers moving to and fro, uniformed personnel carrying despatches between buildings. "Halt!" cried an MP, followed by half a dozen suprised others. "Oo goes there?" he shouted, bringing his rifle to bear. Lionheart looked about, then shouted "68!"

A Peeler, the name given to the special agents of DICE, turned at the sound. Imprinted on his bowler hat in dark grey (on black) letters was the number to identify him. He hurried over. "Wait!" he said, stepping between Lionheart and the MPs. "He has the highest clearance, level 1!"

"Yeah, and oo are you?" asked the MP, suspicious. "This bloke and the lady come from nowhere."

The Peeler smiled. "Agent Robertson of DICE." He pulled a wallet, showed his ID. "I suggest you head back to your post sergeant, and thankyou for your vigilance." The Sergeant glanced at the ID, saw the Peeler, who outranked some higher echelons of the armed forces, was a 'level 4'. And that was still so far above the MPs pay grade that he could only pale, salute and snap to attention in response. "Yes SIR!" he said, as did the others. They turned and saluted Lionheart.

At 'level 1' he'd been designated of equal importance to the Prime Minister, the Royal Family, and precious few others! Lionheart turned to Robertson. "Get the air raid sirens going. Contact Bletchley. Tell them we stopped the Nazi air carrier but it dropped off a little package as a going away present." he glanced about, making sure no one was in earshot. "Robots. Around 200 of them, heading towards London. The type normal weapons won't stop. Get people indoors and the army on the streets. They are coming from the south east, and will be here in under half an hour!"

"I'll sort out the call to Bletchley" said Guillotine, pulling her level 3 Clearance out to show when challenged. "You sort out the home guard. Get the PM and the Cabinet to safety!" The Peeler nodded, then raced into action! Lionheart watched Guillotine go, then was left standing in the street as uniformed personnel went about their business.

OOC things have been set in motion - back to face the robots or coordinate the defences?

"God help us all, if I fail what I am about to do," Anyman prays aloud. "If you all die in the next few seconds, it was an honor to serve with you and I am sorry I killed you," he says to the two men. "Now stand back!"

With that, he again summons the Dark Powers, more power than he is used to summoning. He screams in agony as he does so as his body contorts and shifts as he tries to grow to giant size and plans to take off after the robots.

actions: Okay, here's the plan. First, I don't have access to the rules at the moment, so shift things around so it works as I want please. I'm going to take Growth - two or three grades of it, if they have grades. I'm going to take Speed - will two grades be enough to catch up or do I need more? Whatever I need, that's what I will take. Third, I'm going to again raise my Strength, Grade 4 or better - though growth will add to my strength as well. Fourth, some more armor to survive what I'm about to do.

Then using speed, stretching, strength and growth, I'm going after the robots as a giant stretchy thing; scoop them all up in my huge arms and crush them to my chest hoping my armored form can take the damage as they try to kill me while I crush them. At speed, I should be able to grab up lots if not all of them before they can spread out too far.

I'm guessing I need around 225+ power points to accomplish this. Figuring an average of 5 on a die roll, I need 45 or so Dark Power points. So lets round it off to an even 50 points. Any extra points going into whatever powers will help destory them faster and as a group - strength or growth or whatever.

I'm putting in as many hero points as I need not to go nuclear and destroy outer London.

[honestly, using this much power should have some kind of dire consequences for Anyman - coma, permanent disfigurement so he actually does need the bandages or permanent lumpuous form when in 'natural' state or something bad like that. Leastwise, I think something like that should happen.]

Admin wrote:OOC things have been set in motion - back to face the robots or coordinate the defences?

Lionheart was torn, what could he do here that these men, weren't capable of doing already? But then against the rolling army of robots descending on London, taking them on one at a time was also not going to do much. He turned looking for Anyman, wondering what dark forces pulled at him to use his power. The need was great, but so was the risk, what would he choose?

Lionheart made up his mind, after a quick check in with Guillotine, he shot back off to intercept the Robots. He had to get accurate information as to their intended targets and try to avert disaster as best as possible.

OOC:
Ok will head back to intercept Robots and try taking them on, Guillotine is welcome to come, but might be better off waiting for the V ship etc, so am happy to go tackle this on my own.

But should Anyman open a warp gate or some such,, for the Robots to be sucked into the Sun, I'm also out of there. Not going to engage unless I am sure I can be of help, rather than hindrance.

Sj

Going for: One Grade Growth, One more grade of Strength, one more grade of Vigour and two grades of Speed. Figure 17 Dark Points to cover that. Hero Point not to go nuclear.

Speed, strength, stretching and size to smash into as many robots as I can and destroy them. If grade two speed isn't enough and I get more points than I need on the roll, put them into speed first and Strength second.

OOC Anyman reconsidered, the analogy akin to trying to catch a tidal wave in a bucket with what he was after from the Dark power. Instead he aimed his sights lower... Ego 12 vs Dark Power Ego 17+1 Growth. Double 2 + 17 for Anyman, total 21+Ego 12=33. 18 for Dark power, total 36. Hero point required... That adds 11. He's home and dry with 17D10 of points, times 2. 4,2,5,6,3,3,5,4,10,3, 9,7,9,10, 4,3,2 total 89 plus 8 and 2, 99. That's 198 Dark power points to spend... Growth costs 20, Strength 15, Vigour 15, Speed 35. That's 85 points. Extra grade of speed (15) and strength (15) brings that to 115. That's plus 30 strength in all (to 70) and +12 Vigour (+72 htc/htk) with 83 Dark power points remaining and powers in effect for 2 rounds.

Anyman grew (OOC as usual, growth, like everything else in the GH rules, is a bit underwhelming. Less super powered and more reasonably moderate to low powered. You grow to 9' tall with grade 1 growth... Adding grades increases height by about 3' per time.) then stretched, reaching out his hand like a massive pancake! He sped along the floor, leaving a stunned Bulletman and NoMan in his wake!

"Now I seen it all..." muttered Bulletman. "I thought I looked odd, but this guy? No wonder he drives the Nazis crazy - he's like a one man circus. You don't know what stunt he's going to pull next!" They took off after the receding Anyman, and shouted "Wait!"

With his amazing speed Anyman rapidly sped across fields in the robots wake. Even so, he knew he would quickly have to deal with them before his power waned! The Dark Power was a boost, rather than an improvement and the more it was used, the bigger the risk! He stretched out to sweep attack at several of the robots...

OOC His stretching, costing 1htc per 5m over 20, is his main effect here. Even with that, there are only so many he can grab at because they are spread out, tumbling and bouncing. It's like trying to catch a bucket full of bouncy rubber balls that someone tips out onto a hard floor. Roll of 11 to hit with a general area attack (against DC10). I assumed he'd hit one target for every 2 points of accuracy, and he only scored 7 points with that hit. Still, that's 3 robots. I assume damage is Htk so he does plus 55. That's impressive, but these things have dividers of 5...

Anyman swung out, clattering three of the bouncing robots.

The deviated from there course somewhat, then continued on their way!

'As nuisance value, human, you certainly rank amongst the greats' yawned the Dark Power within.

'Ignore him!' said Putty, the other voice inside Anymans head. 'Physical force will avail you little against these things! Think more about slowing them down! If only it were raining - their weight and speed would cause them to sink in the mud and slow them right down!'

Anyman, frustrated, swiped at more robots as he sprinted along behind them, arm stretched out like a giant fly swatter!

OOC Roll 10, 6 accuracy, another 3 hit for the same rough effect - clatter them around like snooker balls, but aside form a couple of dents, not much else! You have 1 round with the powers you have, then they fade, and after that your remaining dark power points fade too.

Lionheart sped through the streets. Everywhere people were running for air raid shelters, scanning the skies. He poured on the speed.

Appearing in a cloud of dust next to an anti aircraft battery, he surprised the home guard somewhat, till they recognised his ID after he'd shown it. They relaxed, lowering guns, and one of them offered "Ere, you're one o them Sooper 'eroes innit? You got a fancy name, like th' papers say? I think that picture they put out the other day was some kinda trick. I mean, no one got wings like a bird, and that guy wi' the bandages, ees a right un. Still, accordin' to th' wireless you lot are causin' jerry a right kerfuffle, an' no mistake, so good on yer, son! Lion 'eart? Weren't you s'posed ta be dressed in some kinda uniform? Like what the papers called it, Secret Identity? Y'know, to keep ya family safe from spies an' that?"

"Ey Bert. Watcha thinka that?" said another, peering through binoculars. The small group squinted into the distance at a dust cloud. With his superior vision Lionheart could see the distant dots, bouncing and tumbling their way across the fields. At that rate they still had around 15 minutes before they got to the outskirts of London. Time for everyone to get indoors. He looked to the skies. Possibly time for Spartan and Frostbot to get here too.

Suddenly the wireless crackled again.

"...emergency announcement. All citizens of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, heed your air raid sirens! Axis aircraft of unknown designation and tremendous size have been spotted heading to your locales! This is not a drill! Immediately direct your movements towards the nearest air raid shelter, and don't forget your gas masks!"

"Did you eer that?" said one of the AA gunners.

Lionheart yelped as his earpiece, part of the equipment from the V-Ships, crackled into life. "CALLING ALL VANGUARDIANS! THIS IS SPARTAN! Radar and ground forces have spotted three more of those enormous air carriers heading to other cities! Britain is under major attack!"

Taking on the powers of Element Lad of the Legion of SuperHeroes I will change my power set to Transmutation and turn all the ground around me into a death sucking bog then. Arrange points for the power and range as needed. Just where I am standing does the land stay normal. Willing to take HTC in order to get a big enough range and deep enough.

Anyman considered his next move, then cocked his head to one side as his earpiece, standard equipment that linked him to V-Ships within range, crackled into life!

"CALLING ALL VANGUARDIANS! THIS IS SPARTAN! Radar and ground forces have spotted three more of those enormous air carriers heading to other cities! Britain is under major attack!"

NoMan and Bulletman heard it too.

Anyman paused for thought, though at superspeed it was a fraction of a second. That sounded an awful lot like more of these vast carriers were heading towards those other cities!

OOC Looks like our posts crossed. Using 65 points for a grade 4 transmutation power similar to Element lad then... Mechanics? *tosses out of the window*. As far as I am concerned, the Dark Power operates outside of GH rules limits. More power to the argument to use the DC Heroes game (house ruled as per Lore Knights). Sounds like 'Matter Manipulation' - like that Firestorm uses - will do the trick as well.

Frustrated, Anyman concentrated...

Every single bouncing ball immediately SPLATTED into soft, deep mud! Even the road transformed into the thick, sucking stuff! Without solid ground to bounce off, the nigh on two hundred bouncing balls had little purchase! For a mile square, the mud was thick, cloying and sticky. Anyman considered changing it into toffee, or syrup instead, or perhaps acid. The power he held was incredible! He turned and picked up a rock and concentrated for a moment. It changed into gold! With another wiggle of his nose and a thought, it changed into a gold statue of him, complete with hat and trenchcoat! He turned back to the task at hand. The Robot Spheres would be trapped in the floor when the mud changed back to solid ground, but his powers wouldn't last long. Whatever he wanted to change that ground into, he figured he'd better make it quick!

=========

Lionheart saw the steel balls disappear from view into a mile square muddy bog!

He chuckled, knowing Anyman had 'done his thing' but this new threat was weighing over him now. Three more vessels, like the one they'd downed?

"Damn you Trowers!" he muttered.

"These things came out of a different time," Lance said, starting a conversation with his other two halves, their heads growing on his shoulders and strecthing so that they could see each other. "Do we have the power to snap them back to their own time?"

"You mean that since they shouldn't be here," Putty put in, "that they are like two objects trying to occupy the same space. We send them back to where they belong so that they don't occupy this space/time?"

"Um ... sure. That's what I meant," Lance agrees, not understanding a thing Putty said but it sounded right.

The two heads looked at the third devilish head.

"If you can control the power," their Dark Prince said, "then if we don't split the planet in half, we might be able to do that."

"Okay, let's finish these guys off and then go see about someone flying us out to those ships and trying," Lance decided.

actions: Since he can transmute anything, transmute the entire area to lead, robots, ground, trees and the scattering of animals that may have gotten stuck in it as well. England will have a great source of lead for a bit.

Admin wrote:Lionheart saw the steel balls disappear from view into a mile square muddy bog!

He chuckled, knowing Anyman had 'done his thing' but this new threat was weighing over him now. Three more vessels, like the one they'd downed? "Damn you Trowers!" he muttered.

Lionheart knew that even with his superior speed, they needed the V Ship and the combined forces it represented with it. No way could they scoop up the others and still race toward the other threatened cities without its superior speed and the valuable resources it carried.

Changing power suits again, this time for flight, Lionheart lept into the air, scanning about for the V Ship.
(OOC: Assuming it is coming) He then sped in that direction to meet it, so he could use the time they had left to start to regroup with the others and start to gain a plan of attack.

OOC:
Ok regroup the others, with the V Ship, once Anyman has stopped having fun with the Robots and seek out the first of the ships and how we might try to tackle them.

Sj