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

Anyman thrust a hand out, and with a thought transmuted the mud into lead! Instantly there was a seismic disturbance, and the land around him started to cave in! It crashed nearly thirty feet down into a crater over a mile across as countless tons of lead smashed rock and collapsed natural underground caverns below. Whilst some of the robots might survive the pressing of thousands of tons of lead upon them, what little did still remain would be immobilised and useless. Unfortunately any underground streams the lead had collapsed would also be poisoned.

Uneasy at that, but comforted by the fact he'd saved London, Anyman looked for the others and found tow of them flying towards him. "Is there anything you can't do?" shouted Bulletman, holding NoMan with him as he floated above the vast crater. "Uh oh. Looks like the farmer isn't too impressed..." he said, looking at the distant form of a man, shotgun in hand, dashing towards his tractor half a mile away.

=========

Lionheart sped into the air, freeing himself of the bonds of gravity with but a thought!

He saw in the distance a vast crater, filled with a dull grey rock or metal, and knew Anyman had performed another miracle. Looking about, he saw the glitter of the distant V-Ship, the last of the vessels the Vanguard used that still required painting in RAF colours. It homed in on his position.

"This is Major Steed, Lionheart. We're inbound on your position. Spartan, Frostbot and Boadicea are with us, but the latter is incapacitated. There are three more Nazi air carriers heading towards Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. Our radar didn't pick them up at first until General Wynn told us of great amounts of air being quickly displaced thanks to that uncanny weather sense he has. After that, the radar stations recalibrated to track them. Where on earth are they coming from? We've never seen the like! I can only assume this is something that you, being from the future, could understand. Hold position..." her voice moved away from the microphone. "Eta 30 seconds. Step on it, Spartan!"

=========

The V-Ship, having taken Lionheart on board, hovered over the land near the crater where Anyman, NoMan and Bulletman waited.

"Oy! OY!" shouted a Farmer, getting out of his tractor. "What th' bleedin 'ell do ya think ya doin' eh, dumpin' that on my land! I mean... LOOK!" he waved a hand.

His farmlands were decimated! He pulled up his shotgun. "You ain't goin' nowhere wi'out talkin' to th' old bill! Hands up! All o...ya?"

He looked up, saw the V-Ship in the air and fainted!

OOC Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham are all under threat from these things. Where next?

ooc: Which is closest? Head for that one.


"These ships are from out of time," Anyman says to the others, especially the brainy types. "I'm thinking we use the Dark Power to send them back to their own time, like snapping a rubber band back to normal. Do you think that would work or are we going to have to try to demolish them all?"

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc: Which is closest? Head for that one.

"These ships are from out of time," Anyman says to the others, especially the brainy types. "I'm thinking we use the Dark Power to send them back to their own time, like snapping a rubber band back to normal. Do you think that would work or are we going to have to try to demolish them all?"

Lionheart thought long and heard about what he knew before speaking up, "Well I've seen you do amazing things, but at the same time wrestle for control of the power within you.

I know our needs are desperate, so the the temptation to use this power is great with time against us? I guess I wonder what our alternatives there might be - what if you enhanced Frostbot, or took on his powers and took over the ships, rather than sent them back? Having those robots on our side would make a formidable difference to our defences? I guess until we've got no other alternative I am hesitant to agree to what you've suggested."

OOC:
Besides which I think that the power needed would be so great that you'd go apocalyptic. But if you gained a cybernetic brain, like Frostbot, even become cybernetic, for a period to fight the machine from within, then I think we could put a halt to things far better. Sort of equivalent of a electronic version of Psi power directed at the ships systems and computers. Frostbot and the ladies could certainly help, tell you where and how!

Sj

As Frostbot joined Lionheart and Anyman on the bridge, Gravity Girl (Emma Steed) wheeled in the Captains chair, nodding to Anyman and turning to where Spartan directed things at the helm. "Birmingham."

Spartan nodded, then looked at another console. He conferred with a Skrall Technician who spoke robotically thanks to a translation device it wore, and Spartan turned. "Some kind of spacial disturbance." He glanced at Bulletman and Anyman before adding. "A 'hole' if you like in time and space. Our scanners are advanced, and can pick these ... wait. There are more..."

He furrowed his brow, then pressed a combination of buttons. The team gathered around the large circular table in the centre of the room and looked to see a holographic projection of planet Earth, fixed on the UK and zoomed in to their present location, but it soon zoomed out. There were several red dots - three to be precise - near the UK. One had opened up near Iceland and the blue dot issuing from it was the Nazi Carrier, heading towards the North of Scotland. Another had opened on the western side of Ireland over the Atlantic, and two blue dots were comping forth, for Manchester and Birmingham. Spartan then added "Look at this." he rotated the map and zoomed in on Germany, and a section of France. More red dots, three over each country. "And this."

He rolled the map over so it rotated and showed the globe.

Every continent - Asia, North and South America, Africa, Europe, even Australia. Every major country with red dots - and presumably, though the curvature of the Earth made detection impossible at this range - blue dots signifying robot carriers.

Spartan sagged back into a chair, but it was Major Steed who gasped. "Full scale invasion! This could be the end of the human race as we know it!"

=========

Elsewhere...

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" spluttered Hitler.

Trowers looked uneasily at Bentham. His force field in place, he had no need to worry about the guns the Nazis in the war room trained on him. Bentham licked his lips nervously. "We opened a time portal to a future - a possible future - of humanity. This is not an exact science, you understand? What we do in the here and now affects the future, so that things are constantly in motion, shifting. It's like... a tree falls into a stream and breaks into pieces. As the stream drags the branches away you reach out and grab one, but the others drift on. Did you grab the right branch? Would it be better to grab another before they are out of reach?"

"What is this man blithering on about?" spluttered Goebbels.

"Like explaining quantum physics to an Ant." muttered Bentham. He sighed, then thought. "We reached into a future to pull a single machine into our past. The lunarium gate we made should only have had enough power to capture one object and pull it through. We didn't open these other gates." he said, looking at the laptop on the table in front of him, and the holographic image it used as a monitor. The Nazis had been astonished when he'd gotten it out and started to throw up a picture of the global situation. Now it showed - alarmingly - invasion fleets spewing forth from the future, all across the world.

"These computers come from a time where they are self aware. They analysed the readings they got, mined lunarium from the moon and created their own time portals for their invasion fleet to pass through." said Bentham, his mind running through a myriad of possibilities.

Trowers kept his anger in check, mostly, as he asked. "So our plans are dust? We're about to be conquered by robots?"

"Not conquered." said Claude Bentham. "Wiped out."

Trowers sagged back in his chair. He pondered a number of possibilities. "Herr Hitler, I believe there are things at stake that make is necessary to take certain steps. Do not consider this a threat, merely a statement. If you continue your expansion of territories across Europe and Russia, your lives will be extinguished by the robot invasion force."

"Our Ubermensch...?"

"...will stem the tide in places and be overrun by sheer numbers eventually."

Bentham turned to Trowers. "Surely you don't mean...?"

Trowers glanced at Bentham, then shrugged. "Either that, or we take our cadre of futurists to another time and place."

Bentham smiled ruefully. "You know that could well result in our deaths. We are out of our time, but tethered in a way to our original time. Only the Vanguard seem able to move from time to time without risking being torn apart." He left the next part of his statement unsaid, but Hitler voiced it.

"You want us to ask the Vanguard... that... that... ANYMAN, for help? YOU ARE MAD!"

INTERLUDE ENDS

OOC well, the issue is called 'Deal with the Devil'. I just didn't say 'which' devil...

Admin wrote:Every continent - Asia, North and South America, Africa, Europe, even Australia. Every major country with red dots - and presumably, though the curvature of the Earth made detection impossible at this range - blue dots signifying robot carriers.

Spartan sagged back into a chair, but it was Major Steed who gasped. "Full scale invasion! This could be the end of the human race as we know it!"

Lionheart looked on, with a tremendous effort he controlled his mounting rage but still let out a long extended gasp as he said, "Bentham! That...that idiot genius!"

Lionheart didn't feel like explaining, but after calming down postulated that Bentham's actions in drawing into this present some unforeseen element of the future, had ended up being a very big carrot to whatever was behind these robots, to hope into our world.

Turning to Anyman, Lionheart said, "I think we'd better rethink our plans, perhaps its time we recalled the others, whatever they are in the middle off, if they don't get back here soon, they may as well stay as they'll be little to return for!"

OOC:
Well I read this and thought, "BLINKING NORA" Like you do, I can't believe how with the Nazi's the Devourer and now this things are going to turn out! Colour me Overwhelmed. Lets hope we don't have to wait till Monday for Dave to respond, if his computer is still down at home!

Sj

"Right," Anyman says, "time for Plan B! You are in the Captain's Chair, Gravity Girl. So what's Plan B?"

He smiles sweetly at her and waits for a bit.

"In a 'normal' situation," he finallys continues, "we would just go to the head of a monster and cut it off. But these things seem to have their own programming and even if we tried, I doubt we could reprogram them all to stop attacking us."

"Masive EMP," Putty says out of Anyman's mouth.

"Right," continues Anyman, "we fire off a massive Imp at them. What's an Imp, Putty?"

"Not Imp," Putty says, forming a second head on Anyman's shoulder, "EMP. It stands for Electro-Magnetic Impulse. These robots are protected against things like that I imagine, but we get one big enough, the equivalent of an armor piercing shell fired at a battleship, we could take out lots of them. And in this time period, hardly anything else, excepts our V-Ships would be affected."

"I suggest we gather all those with the Dark Powers, place all around the world, probably up in the strastophere, probably in a high altitude balloon, and have them all release such a massive pulse at roughly the same time. It might take them all out."

Anyman looks over at the scientists to see if they followed what Putty said and if it might work.

DavidMcMahon wrote:Anyman looks over at the scientists to see if they followed what Putty said and if it might work.

Lionheart looked on, shaking his head, as he said the Putty head, "There are times when I miss the old you!"

Lionheart then went on looking back to Anyman, "Ok well its up to you to contact the rest of the team, you've got the means to communicate with them. As to how we can make an EMP that will effect the Robots so that they can't mount an good enough defence against it..." Lionheart just shrugged his shoulders, looking across to Guillotine he gestured for her input at this point.

OOC:
Ok not sure where, time line wise we are at with Frostbite and Sentinel, but who else has Dark Power we can all upon. Wynn is pretty much out of the running and Sky Eagle! Does he even have the dark power?

Paul, the interlude you gave suggested Bentham and Trowers were interested in contacting us, deal with the devil etc. So I guess in addition to what we're thinking, 'oh look isn't that the bottom of the barrel', we should be hearing from them with some counter offer - possibly!

Which should prove interesting, but also those guys are such snakes, trusting them anywhere near us, will only give Bentham the grist he needs for him to try and get some fancy plan to capture, kill or subdue us in some way. I'm not keen, but I guess we'll have to wait and see if they come to us and what they put on the table, if they do.

Sj

After hearing what was said, Spartan sat uneasily. "This smacks very much of what Lionheart suggested. A 'pandoras box' whereby the evils of the world were stored until released. Bentham and Trowers, and who knows who else from the future made a grave error of judgement. I suspect that the robot army put up very little resistance to their reprogramming of one of its ships in order for that ship to send back information." He pondered. Guillotine butted in. "There may be a way of sending them back to their own time. It's a theory I have, something I considered in my spare time in between fixing the broken V-Ships Anyman supplied. When you exist, as a being, an object, anything, you are tethered, as it were, to a place and time. When you move through time to another place, some strand of... existence ... trails from the place you were originally from into every other time you visit. With the right knowledge and enough power, it may be possible to send these things back to their own time."

Gravity Girl raised an eyebrow. "And what about setting time straight? After all, Lionheart and the Vanguard are - in a way - from the future. A possible future. I don't know how all this works! It makes my head spin!"

Guillotine smiled. "Indeed, that's what makes it so enjoyable. Anymans idea of an EMP is sound. These things come from a time where EMP weapons are the norm, however, and wartime advances technology like no other period in history. Therefore we must assume they would be shielded against such events. Still, a big enough blast, as Anyman suggests, should effect them, but it might also have other, negative effects."

"Such as?" asked Bulletman.

"Knocking the earth out of its orbit." said Frostbot.

There were a few nervous glances at that. The robot continued. "The Earths poles at the north and south as viewed on a globe would be vulnerable to a burst of electro magnetism so powerful that it covered the planet. That might set the earth into an uncontrollable 'wobble' that would cause the seas and the balance of the Earth itself to tip, thus engulfing all land masses and exposing the sea bed to the air."

Gravity Girl laughed without humour. "Ok, what's the bad news? Really, are we doomed, is that what you're saying?"

Just then Spartan looked over at a console, then across at the others. "There's an incoming message."

"It's Damon Trowers. Be warned, this man is a genius from the future. Bentham is worse, or smarter, in a bad way. If we open this communique it may render the ships computers vulnerable to a virus." said Spartan. He turned to Anyman. "When Frostbite is absent, you're in charge. Your call. Do I open the channels?"

"It's Damon Trowers. Be warned, this man is a genius from the future. Bentham is worse, or smarter, in a bad way. If we open this communique it may render the ships computers vulnerable to a virus." said Spartan. He turned to Anyman. "When Frostbite is absent, you're in charge. Your call. Do I open the channels?"

"How can a 'computer' by a 'virus' if we just talk to him," Anyman asked confusedly. "I mean it's just a radio signal we are getting, right? If not, then get him to radio us a message instead of using the 'computer'."

Guillotine shrugged. "The computer turns your words into a signal and beams them across thousands of miles. A radio doesn't go anywhere near that distance without being amplified in some manner. Well, not in this day and age. I'll try to run a filter on it, but that will make the transmission fuzzy and in some places, inaudible. It will, however, protect against intrusion. If Bentham wanted to, he could 'piggy back' a virus onto the message being sent, and he's smart enough to overcome any encryption. In many ways he's the more dangerous of the two, but it's Trowers who pulls the strings. Hold on. Here..."

"...is Damon Trowers for Lionheart. Agent King... you and your friends have made quite a name for yourselves. As you know, we need a sample of your blood in order to create an empire that will save all of humanity. Perhaps that can wait for the moment. We have... used a device that opened a portal up to another time, another possible Future. The future is not set as we speak - anything can and will happen. Consider time as a series of infinite streams running alongside one another, stretching into infinity. We reached upstream into another time and opened a gate to the past, the here and now for us. Unfortunately... the computers in that time got smart. They figured out how we used Lunarium and our future technology to create a time gate, and sent more of their robot invasion forces through."

"In short, mankind faces annihilation. You might blame us, but this is war. If you want to play by the rules, get a chess board and pieces. I am telling you this because your friends, the Vanguard, are - somehow, and we don't know how - the most powerful beings on this planet. They are a mystery to us. Your friend Anyman, 'scourge' of the Nazis, is impossible. He should not still be alive. My friend Claude states the mathematical probabilities the man throws up makes even his head spin! Therefore, Planet Earth needs you, and us. To save the world, I propose a truce. There will be a price to pay. Note that if you choose to combat the robotic force alone, we shall simply depart for another world, and leave this place to you. The best of luck to you. You will, however, fail, unless you can stop an infinite number of robots pouring into this time! It is your choice. Choose quickly. Mankinds time is running out!"

Admin wrote:To save the world, I propose a truce. There will be a price to pay. Note that if you choose to combat the robotic force alone, we shall simply depart for another world, and leave this place to you. The best of luck to you. You will, however, fail, unless you can stop an infinite number of robots pouring into this time! It is your choice. Choose quickly. Mankinds time is running out!"

Lionheart chewed on his bottom lip, a bad habit he'd got into recently. His mind whirled as he thought about what Trowers had said, the truth was they could hop somewhere else and then he would feel bound to go get them there. Moreover they couldn't abandon this Earth and the mess Trowers and Bentham had caused either. A truce was the only way forward, but it would be like making a deal with the devil.

Looking to Anyman, Lionheart shrugged then nodded. Anyman had already some idea of what these men where capable of, they knew how slippery they could be. But Anyman was in charge and as much as Lionheart didn't like being told what to do, he knew better than to be cavalier about it in front of Trowers.

OOC:
Dave looks like we got a truce to broker, though I didn't like the inference that there would be a price to pay as a result! Not sure what Trowers wants, but I am assuming in return for their co-operation they want something from us/me!!!!

Sj

"IF they can leave and start over again," Anyman says to those around him, "then why are they staying and trying to broker a truce? I think that they are bluffing about having a full house when all they have is a pair."

"Send back a message from me," he decides, "tell them that I will grant them a chance to talk without being shot."

ooc: Have to listen to what they say and then decide.

"You are most impressive, Anyman. Not to behold, but for the fear you instil in the Nazis." said Trowers. "Impressive. I thought it luck that you survived through the situations you have been in through sheer luck and incompetence on the part of the Nazis. That may be so, but my friend Claude says otherwise. We can't scan you. We can map every superhuman on planet Earth, and that includes Lionheart - unless he's near you or the others, then he winks out of view. Claude has a theory. I have my own ideas. Here is our proposition."

There was a pause.

"We use enough Lunarium, our machines, and your own unique powers to force time back to the 'natural' way of things. A clean slate, let history take its natural course. Millions.. Billions of lives saved. Earth will cease to exist if the robots have their way. The technology in this time period, even with the Skrall and our own knowledge from the future, isn't enough. This Earth will cease to exist. We will have to make our own ... arrangements ... and I am sure you will too. Unless you can travel through time though, you will be left with a planet bereft of human life. Claude has run the numbers... three times. He was right first time. Earth is doomed. He mentioned something else, some... probability that the Earth is soon to be wiped out by an alien force, but I don't understand how his complex mathematical equations work. The price of this alliance?"

"Lionheart. Willingly, and without tricks, resistance, or any of his usual shenanigans. Agent King was the laziest, poorest excuse for an Agent in the PSI Corps. And yet the numbers Claude ran suggested it was he, more than any other, that must be sent back in time to 'stop' Saladin. Ha. We needed Saladin and Lionheart together for our plan to work. Our plan is as ash now. We can put things right though. You can save the world."

"Get back to your own time. Set time back on its original path. Think about it..."

"There is a Devourer coming to destroy all life on Earth," Anyman shoots back. "Will setting time right stop it or him from coming? Will the other alien species forget us here or will they come without us present and destroy the Earth on their own?"

DavidMcMahon wrote:"There is a Devourer coming to destroy all life on Earth," Anyman shoots back. "Will setting time right stop it or him from coming? Will the other alien species forget us here or will they come without us present and destroy the Earth on their own?"

More than that, Lionheart wanted to shout back NO! For whatever was gained it would also leave Bentham & Trowers with the upper hand. They'd have an army of clones that could do for them what they had planned to do through Hitler, only without the need for any such madman.

Lionheart calmed himself. He knew that Anyman had to know all this, but still it made him mad that Bentham and Trowers were one step closer to their ultimate plan, whilst it appeared all they had done was keep things as they were!

For the time being, he had to bide his time, see how this played out.

OOC:
Man talk about over a barrel!

I have to say I won't be disappointed if the time line doesn't get restored, just yet! I won't mind as things have continued to surprise and infuriate in equal measure ;-) which makes for an engaging game. Although I kinda like the idea of playing across all three time zones (four if you count the Law Knights as well) .

Sj

ooc: don't forget, Putty isn't from the "original" timeline, so he is going to be wiped out as well if we somehow do this. Which means, if this happens, I will be making a brand new stretchy strong shapeshifting hero who has no memory of anyone.
And that was the original plan for him anyways, to have a new identity and no memories of any other alternate versions of himself.

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc: don't forget, Putty isn't from the "original" timeline, so he is going to be wiped out as well if we somehow do this. Which means, if this happens, I will be making a brand new stretchy strong shapeshifting hero who has no memory of anyone.
And that was the original plan for him anyways, to have a new identity and no memories of any other alternate versions of himself.

OOC:
Not again - how much amnesia can one character suffer ;-)

Sj

Well, last I heard everyone in the entire universe forgot Peter Parker was married to Mary Jane Watson for years and they 'apparently' just met a short time ago. That's what I'm told since I don't read Marvel anymore.
Looking forward to the Avengers movie this May though.

OOC The 'one more day' and 'brand new day' thing for Spiderman was a mess. The king of all retcons, save perhaps for the original Crisis on infinite Earths and Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower with an entire season of Dallas being 'just a dream'. Also looking forwards to the Avengers film. Trailer looks good so fingers crossed...

After Anyman mentioned the Devourer, there was silence on the other end of the line. It lasted so long Anyman had to prompt "Trowers?"

"Yes... yes I'm here. Bentham was running the probabilities... "

More silence, then... "He says we're all doomed. This isn't down to us though."

Another pause.

"It's down to you. Whatever it is that makes you so... powerful... this interstellar force wants it. It's interested in the Lunarium we suspect, but anything that can wipe out a planet on multiple planes of existence really needs a very good reason to get out of bed on a morning, if you pardon the analogy, and you are it. I need you to be straight with me Anyman. We are enemies, but I want to create a Utopian society for mankind to my own design, you want to stop the Nazis winning the war. Essentially, the only reason we personally would be opposed is your friend, Agent King. The Nazis are small fry compared to this. Give him over to us, and we will ...."

When he paused this time, there was a sigh, and Anyman imagined the man on the other end of the line running his hands through his hair, his genius level intellect formulating plans, counter plans, ways and means of doing things.

"Claude. I want you to theorise quasi-spacial temporal mechanical possibilities. Anyman, I have... a plan. I have two ways of doing this. Either you work with me, give me what I want, and we work together to save the World, or I and my friends jump into a Skrall ship and set up elsewhere. Leave Earth to its fate. Not an ideal solution, but the human body can only withstand so much time hopping before the bonds of temporal stability that anchor us to the multi dimensional planes of reality break down, and you are set adrift. No one can survive that."

Anyman glanced at Lionheart. Actually, Trowers wasn't quite right on that score.

Nowhere Man had been to dozens of different timelines, and whilst his head was a mess, a jumble of collected personalities, he had found a way of surviving the process. Could Anyman and the others do so to?

"This thing you call the Devourer - catchy, by the way - it will track you across time and space. Our plan, and we're still running numbers on it, is to transport it through time, to either the future or the past. If we can send it far enough, to a time when you are not present, it will, we hope, lose interest. The alternative is for you to defeat it, destroy it, or leave, using yourselves as bait to draw it away from Earth. If you are a hero, I'd have thought the choice would be clear. If you want our help, remember the price... You can contact me on this scrambled frequency again. Don't bother to track it - Claude is quite, quite thorough."

Guillotine shook her head as the signal went off. "Couldn't track it. He's right. According to our readings, it was broadcast from the Tower of London. Your friends have a strange sense of humour Lionheart... You can't honestly be considering their offer though, can you?

All eyes turned to Lionheart and Anyman, and the bridge went quiet...

Admin wrote:Guillotine shook her head as the signal went off. "Couldn't track it. He's right. According to our readings, it was broadcast from the Tower of London. Your friends have a strange sense of humour Lionheart... You can't honestly be considering their offer though, can you?

All eyes turned to Lionheart and Anyman, and the bridge went quiet...

Lionheart leant forward his hand supporting his chin as he slowly let out a long sigh. He glanced up at Anyman, his face inscrutable beneath its bandages. "I don't know how much time we've got but we'd better have a talk with Nowhere Man, I mean Boy. And the others. Wynn ought to know what is going on to!"

With that Lionheart turned around and walked off the deck to get some space to think and breath again.

OOC:

I wish at this point I had some nifty plan that would catch Bentham and Trowers at their own game using me as the bait. But there is soooo much we don't know, like how truthful they are being. One suspects they wouldn't be lying. Moreover their plan to let the Devourer go forward or backward, sounds fine - but lets be honest about it they've not proven the be a deft hand at this, I wonder if we might well make things worse.

So many possibilities - leads to the paradox of choice! Anyway I vote for Nowhere Boy to be contacted, he got the Vanguard assembled in the first place, maybe he has an idea we can use?

Sj

Admin wrote:OOC the last anyone saw of the boy in question he left for deep space a few days ago to sue for peace with an Alien empire. Of course, the Dark power has few, if any limits. I shouldn't think a thousand light years would be much of a problem for one as versed in the Dark power as Nowhere Boy. That said, whilst he is the most powerful practitioner of the Dark power, he is also the least reliable and most like to properly go 'super nova'. One or two of you guys have gone nova before, and almost got to that stage. Nowhere Boy is more likely to fail, but when he succeeds, he succeeds big...

OOC:Sure, I am just thinking about contacting him. His collective understanding might help - then again it might not.

Sj

"Can we get a message to Nowhere Boy," Anyman asks. "After all, he is out deep in space on a diplomatic "show the flag" mission. Can our ... um ... space radio? reach him?"

"What about our missing members? Do we have any idea if they will be back soon or at all?"

ooc: Yeah lots of possibilities here. The one that jumped immediately to my mind was getting all of us together and go out and meet the Devourer, after the two futuremen leave the timeline, and using our combined Dark Powers to either kill him or send him far into the future - which would probably drag us along the time stream too to drop us in some other time period, facing other brand new menaces.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"...far into the future - which would probably drag us along the time stream too to drop us in some other time period, facing other brand new menaces.

OOC:
Yes leaving us looking like the Quantum Leap heroes!!!

Ok but the problem is sorting out the Devourer is not our first priority - stopping these robots is! Without the others you can't do this on you own, so that leaves us reliant on Trowers and Bentham! If after getting rid of the Robots the others are back to take on the Devourer so be it. But in the meantime Lionheart has to give himself up - we might not like to think it, but we've little choice.

If Lionheart dies/gets reprogrammed/etc at least you and the others can visit justice on Trowers and Bentham then his loss won't be in vain.

Hearing the deliberation and the clear unanswered question hanging in the air, Lionheart stepped back in. "Ok lets do this. Guillotine put a message out to Trowers. I want to know how we are going to secure their efforts without them double crossing us, and just leaving with me!

Lionheart faltered before regaining his composure, "I'm ready to go!"

As the others sought to voice their dissent, Lionheart's look silenced them all. He clearly was intent on doing this -and doubted that anyone had a better suggestion.

Sj

In Anymans head, a voice echoed 'You rang?'

It sounded squeaky and faint (coming from a 10 year old hundreds of light years away) but Nowhere Boy continued 'I'm kind of getting the low down on what you're thinking of doing. Lionheart knows these people better than anyone. If his gut tells him that he's walking into some kind of trap, he probably is. He was doing this Superhero thing before I was, all those years ago, so leave the choice to him. If it were me? I'd bring some kind of backup. You.'

'As for the Devourer, I've been giving it some thought. It's an extradimensional entity that exists in multiple universes and that's why it's so powerful. Any threat that one universe version somehow cannot stop is crushed when it draws in more 'devourer bots' from other universes. It must have known about the Lunarium all this time and the stuff probably doesn't interest it. We do. The Dark Power Shadow Demons can feed off negative emotions and energies, in other words the very reasons we are superheroes. If there were no negative emotions or events, there'd be no need for us, and the Shadow Demons would starve. If Bentham and Trowers achieve their goal of Utopia in the future, can you see the Shadow Demons getting much in the way of sustenance? With no war, no crime, no want, no desire, no hope or freedom? I don't see the point of living in a time like that, and to have a small bunch of guys decide the fate of the future by cloning - or whatever they plan for Lionheart - to smash their enemies... well. We'd be saving the past to doom the future. I plan to petition these aliens to help us beat the Devourer. That will take time. I also have an idea about how we can get the negative energy we need to beat the devourer... you won't like it. We declare war... ON THE UNIVERSE!'

Anyman blinked. The kid was clearly deranged.

Spartan moved over to Lionheart. "Now, I know you don't want persuading, but just hear me out. If those people can grow us from vats, and we can take on half a dozen soldiers at any time, think what an army of clones you would make? Be serious!"

Guillotine turned from a console. "ETA 2 minutes till we see a robot carrier. They are over the Irish sea and closing fast on Birmingham and Manchester. Word is Sky Eagle is taking on the Manchester Carrier - by himself!"

Spartan shook his head. "Brave but foolish. Like what Lionheart is proposing. They may have something up their sleeve which can help, but whatever it is, it's not worth the cost. You people have saved the world over and over. Now it's time to save the universe! Just.. think bigger!"

Guillotine, ever the strategist, leant back against a console. "Send them Lionheart. Or rather, a convincing copy that can overcome anything they have planned." and she looked at Anyman. "You do Francis Drake well. What about Agent King, PSI Corps Mk II operative from the future? Lionheart can help us take out this carrier. He has the most raw power of anyone here, until Anyman pulls his party trick and upsets the Nazis again."