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

OOC If I recall Bulletmans' flying attack does his strength score (34htk with -2dd) if he strikes a metallic object. Let's see how that works for him. Roll of 17+WC2+DC6-17=8 accuracy +34htk=42htk. The robot has dividers of 5 for htk reduced to 3 so 14 points are inflicted. That's more than Lionheart with 58 strength was doling out!

With a terrific CLANG! Bulletman clattered off the robot which staggered on its feet, then turned to face the superhuman who floated near the ceiling, ready to swoop and attack again! He adjusted his helmet and grinned "Seems to work just fine!" he laughs. "Didn't feel a thing! You?" he asks the dented robot.

Guillotine frowns. "Can't use grenades in this enclosed area." She pulls a gun out, sighs, then starts to take aim.

NoMan turns to Anyman. "May I copy your abilities sir?" he asks.

OOC Guillotine will aim for 2 frames then fire. NoMan wants to mimic Anyman (1 action) and move to attack the bad guy, Bulletman charged for 1 action and has a frame left. He's not in reach of the robot but could easily cut his flight off and take a swing. Anyman has 3 frames.

Lionheart waited, then sped, using his incredible speed, up the chute and through into the room beyond even as another sphere dropped just after he'd gone. This 'feed tube' continued for a few seconds at his speed, leading him to believe that he was heading deep into the ship, which was his objective. His eyes adjusted...

He climbed onto a platform of sorts, and heard a loud clattering sound like "click, click clack, click". It was random, and sounded like a bag of marbles - an ancient Earth game from the 19th and 20th century Richard King had read about - being handled. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness a great light came on, and he looked about.



Each ball was a robot.

Suddenly an alarm blared, and the lights in the room turned red! And across the sea of spheres, a tiny red light winked onto their shiny smooth surface... and one near him turned green, then another, then another...

Admin wrote:Lionheart
Suddenly an alarm blared, and the lights in the room turned red! And across the sea of spheres, a tiny red light winked onto their shiny smooth surface... and one near him turned green, then another, then another...

OOC:
I just saw this after reading what you wrote and thought, "Oh Mummy!" Except Lionheart was grown in a vat etc.

Lionheart's mouth fell open, clearly Anyman wasn't wrong, but it was a Lunarium bomb that was about to be dropped it was these hundreds, possible thousands of them. Would the Nazi's subdue or just annihilate the British people. Clearly they were trying to make a point. 'But none of this makes sense!' Lionheart thought to himself.

'How is it possible that with the limitations the Nazi's had been working with they got these kind of a break through? Unless one or more ally had come up trumps and started selling them weapons?'

It was a mystery that would have to wait, taking off from the platform, Lionheart began to scan the area as best he could for some sort of service hatch, some way out of this chamber, before he was completely overwhelmed.

OOC:

Ok as if it needs to be said again, looking for the exit, or where I can make an exit!

Sj

OOC These spheres are ball-bots - like the one you beat up. There's just a few more of them in here (like, hundreds)...

Lionheart looked about. The hatch he'd just come through hissed closed behind his feet and he was aware of movement behind him. He turned to see a sphere unfolding into a robot, another beside it and another behind it! The spheres had a sea of green lights on them showing they were activated... that must mean they were getting close to their destination - London!

Some memory, doubtless of a history holo-vid he'd more or less slept through, sprang to mind.

"...mid 22nd century when automated armies fought for warring countries. The companies that manufactured these robots grew enormous, like countries themselves, and with their increased size lessened the ability to regulate and monitor them. When anyone with money - including rogue 3rd world and extremist states - was able to purchase their own army, neatly transported by a flying 'carrier', the World League of Unified Nations tried to take action. They were too late. The 'genie' was out of the bag, in that the machines became self aware, changing their own programming to remove the source of what they saw as the underlying problem of humanity - humanity itself."

In a flash Lionheart knew what Bentham and Trowers had done. They had used their time travel technology to open a gate to 'steal' one of the carriers and launch it at Britain - the 'final' solution. The Vanguard had proven too resistant to defeat, at least in the time frame allowed by the Axis powers, and so they'd decided not to conquer the people of Britain.

They would wipe them out. All of them.

Starting with London.

Another sphere snicked into life. Lionheart faced four now, and that only because they seemed to know how many could effectively attack the human without getting in each others way!

The walls were coated with these things, all the way across the domed ceiling. The floor was covered with them. The hatch that Lionheart had sped through was one of half a dozen in the huge room, each one a feed tube to different areas of the ship but one in the middle, like a funnel where a mound of spheres was stacked would spew robotic death down from above when it opened!

OOC depends on whether you want to fight these things or act but initiative will be rolled if you fight. You have, at best, an action to act before they move in...

Admin wrote:OOC depends on whether you want to fight these things or act but initiative will be rolled if you fight. You have, at best, an action to act before they move in...

Lionheart looked about, there was no time and little point in fighting these things. As soon as they got loose London would be torched. In which case, trying to get control from the Engine room was probably a mistake, perhaps he needed to head for the bridge? First he'd try and find a way out, before another wild and unpredictable thought came to him.

OOC:

ok by passing the how did they do this...

I want and need to get out of here, or I'll be pieces in a moment, esp with their damage dividers.

As an aside, if I can't get out of this place, I might try and turn the tables and offer to surrender. Might try and catch them out. Except I end up in the Brig or bridge instead of the Engine room, but the way things are going... that might be the only way to turn complete disaster into snatched victory.

But I've got a feeling with what we're up against, unless Anyman really lets loose, we've not got the means to turn this around and we'd be as good as cooked anyway! But whilst I'm alive I'm going to keep trying.


Sj

ooc: That is one cool picture!!!!!!!!!

Guillotine frowns. "Can't use grenades in this enclosed area." She pulls a gun out, sighs, then starts to take aim.

NoMan turns to Anyman. "May I copy your abilities sir?" he asks.

OOC Guillotine will aim for 2 frames then fire. NoMan wants to mimic Anyman (1 action) and move to attack the bad guy, Bulletman charged for 1 action and has a frame left. He's not in reach of the robot but could easily cut his flight off and take a swing. Anyman has 3 frames.

Anyman pause for a moment. "If you think you can control your power well enough not to try to absorb the Dark Power inside me," he tells NoMan, "then go ahead and try for my 'normal' set of powers."

And with that, he stretches and tries punching out the robot.

OOC Anyman attacks 3 times at range... Hit 4 accuracy, total 29htk (/5=5htk), Hit, 4 accuracy again (another 5htk), Missed

Stretching his arm out, he delivers a couple of solid blows to the robots' chin! It clangs each time, and though leaving dents in the thing, Anyman is sure it still has *some* fight in it...

NoMan places a hand gently on Anymans' shoulder. He shudders, then takes on the appearance of the man he copied! Turning, he speaks and looks like Anyman! "I have copied your abilities but can find no reference to 'The Dark power'. Your abilities should more than suffice, however!" He stretches out an arm to strike the robot.

OOC Hit, 6 accuracy, inflicts 6htk after dividers. It's taken 30htk so far

"Unit damaged." the robot notes. "Combat abilities 100% operational."

Guillotine fires the gun, having aimed it at the robot.

OOC gave her +1 per frame sizing up. 9 accuracy, gun does extra 12htk, divided by 5=4htk. Robot has taken 34htk

Bulletman waits for his chance to charge the robot again (OOC hold frame) Whilst the robot pulls it's 'crowd control' party trick! The air charges and POW! flashes bright white as electricity sparks outwards from the machine, striking all those in range!

OOC area attack auto hit like Field Manipulation. Bulletman takes 8htk,16htc (after dividers), NoMan takes 3htk, 3htk, Anyman takes 3htk, 3htc, Guillotine takes 17htk, 17htc

The group cries out as their bodies arc with electricity! The robot moves forward (1 frame) and reaches out a long arm at NoMan!

OOC Roll 3, miss. Bulletman has 2 frames, NoMan and Anyman have 1 frame each, Guillotine has 1 frame.

Lionheart took a step back... the robots stepped forward...

Then he slammed a foot on the ground - where the sphincter opening was, and his strength crumpled the doorway in the middle! He dropped through the gap and slid down the vertical shaft like a slide! Glancing above as he plummeted down, he saw the robots wait for the aperture to open, then start to rip at it when it was clear it was jammed!

Sliding at speed and easily hopping to his feet Lionheart skidded to a halt in a fighting stance on the straight and level section of the feed corridor - face to face with the robot that he'd passed on the way up!

OOC initiative 8 Lionheart, 6 Robot, 1 frame to the Lionhearted one. It's blocking the corridor and spoiling for a fight - and the longer it stalls you, the more chance it's fellows have of getting through that door and after you!

"Take it down," Anyman orders, putting words into action by attacking again with his stretchy punch.

Admin wrote:OOC initiative 8 Lionheart, 6 Robot, 1 frame to the Lionhearted one. It's blocking the corridor and spoiling for a fight - and the longer it stalls you, the more chance it's fellows have of getting through that door and after you!

Lionheart jumped forward seeking to time it so that his jump took him around the robot. But he knew he still face the problem of having nowhere to turn beyond the Robot. The corridor ahead was still blocked by a force wall of some sort.

OOC:

Ok so if that wasn't clear I am trying to dodge around the Robot and run back the way I came.

I'm sort of running out of options here, taking on these Robots one at a time is a no no, since they'll get me before I can get them. But I know the corridor ahead is trapped.

Ok so there is no going forward, maybe I need to go back up to the deck, run along the top and then duck in from that way? I'm sort of running out of options?

Sj

With Anymans order, Bulletman plunges once more in a dive towards the robot!

OOC Roll of 15, 6 accuracy doing 40htk/4=10htk

The robot staggers, sparks flying from overloaded inners! Bulletman looks up from the ground where he'd rebounded and crashed into the floor. He straightens his helmet then sees the robot intends to flatten his head! Luckily Anyman and NoMan strike!

OOC Both hit, Anyman with 5 accuracy, NoMan with 4. After dividers the thing takes 6 and 5htk, pushing it over the edge (it's taken 51htk when it has 50)

NoMan delivers the finishing blow that punches into the things chest after Anyman had rattled it's head with a jaw shattering blow! The metal monstrosity crashes to the ground, sparking and whirring, before it sags and leaks oozing green fluid over the floor...

Guillotine moves forward. She's wounded, but otherwise able to operate. Pulling a knife from her belt she reaches inside the robot, slashes a few thick cords of wire and yanks a metal black box out. "There may be a way to send a message to their central core command neuro net and shut the things down. If Frostbot were here it would be easier, but these things receive networked commands in pulses. Reprogramming one is no good when there are thousands of them! Somewhere in the ship there must be a giant neural net cpu sending out..."

She looked at the blank faces on the others. NoMan was P'utinarian, but the terms she used were alien to him as well. "There will be a big brain that sends messages out to the little brains. Like this." she said, holding up the box. "Destroying it will be no good. They will simply run their last command. We need to send out a new message from that core!"

A distant clanking sound made everyone look up.

"More on the way." stated NoMan. "Go. Find this brain. I shall attempt to hold them off for as long as I am able!"

Bulletman shook his head. "No way man! No one gets left behind!"

Guillotine turns to Anyman. "Much as I hate to admit it, we don't have the time or the manpower to fight our way through these things. If more turn up, all they have to do is delay us, and win by default. They will either bomb London, or more likely drop thousands of these robots down there to wipe everyone out, and leave the place ready for Nazis to move in!" The sound of rolling metal spheres echoed through distant corridors, getting closer. Anyman glanced at his team and agonised... stay together and doom London, or split up, get a slim chance of stopping the robot invasion and sacrifice two - or more - of his team?

Lionheart hopped past the robots outstretched amrs and sped down the corridor - to where he knew there was a dead end! He racked his brain, trying to come up with options...

OOC If you as a player run out of options, don't worry too much - Lionheart knows his powers and their limits better than you do! Options:

1) Use Telekinesis to expand the corridor by projecting a bubble that expands outwards like a fist opening. The energy fields will react by strengthening the field that holds this entire ship together and burn up more power - hopefully slowing the ship down if Lionheart can make it burn enough! Plus the energy field will try to frazzle what it sees and feels as an attack... except with telekinesis there is nothing to see or feel...

2) Bang absolutely everything into the forcefield and run at the energy field. Maybe the forcefield will be enough to protect Lionheart and the ship may ... as in just might... decide that such a power expenditure required to ensure this section of the ships structure is not worth keeping in one piece, and shut down the energy to it, allowing Lionheart to pound away at normal metal.

3) Hyper Speed ram the forcefield, take it to the limit and hit it at top speed. Overcome the ships ability to divert power to the field that holds the thing together and break through. Running into things hurts though. Running into things at very high speed might hurt. A lot!

4) Disable - but don't destroy - the robot and when it's htk is low enough (5 or less) use that as a battering ram against the bulkhead, hoping that there are inbuilt safeties that stop the energy field frazzling the robot and therefore allowing Lionheart to escape this death trap! The entire ship is made of metal but actually held together by this great powerful energy field which is fed from the engines. If not for that field it would collapse and break apart under its own weight, like a supertanker lifted out of water - it would just break in half and decks collapse in on one another.

5) Surrender - and hope this thing listens to reason. Bentham and Trowers are undoubtedly behind it and by now aware that you are onboard the vessel. Securing you might be a bigger prize for them than destroying London for the Nazis, and you may be able to secure a deal... albeit at cost to yourself.

There ya go - you might not like 'em, but there's a few options

Admin wrote:There ya go - you might not like 'em, but there's a few options [/i]

OOC:
Thank you Paul I really appreciate that there are things Lionheart can do that give me the player options I am not aware of until confronted with a situation in which I need to ask for more.

Now I am tempted by option 2, telekenisis is but one grade, my force field is many more, the problem being that I'll have that robot behind me still. But wait even if I incapcitate the robot, his friends will catch up, so I think I'm going to have to go for option 2. Put everything into forcefield and then use hyper speed and my current strengh and dropping anything else - i.e. flight, and Psi to get through.

Lionheart's brain (OOC: i.e. GM), many times faster than the average persons analysed the many possibilities he faced and weighed them all, less than a hairs breadth later he choose the one option he felt favoured him best. But in truth it was all a gamble. Speeding forward, he made the mental adjustments ready as he increased his speed, so he increased the depth and thickness of his forcefield and gained speed charging toward the force wall.

OOC:
Ok this is kind of desperate, but it could also be the straw that breaks the camels back, so to speak. So given you little talk about how it might have a compromising effect on the ship, I want to put in some hero points (2-3 depending on what you think without it being overkill) to making this work beyond getting me down the corridor and into compromising the ship in some way. Maybe not flight but its defences, etc.

Sj

They will either bomb London, or more likely drop thousands of these robots down there to wipe everyone out, and leave the place ready for Nazis to move in!" The sound of rolling metal spheres echoed through distant corridors, getting closer. Anyman glanced at his team and agonised... stay together and doom London, or split up, get a slim chance of stopping the robot invasion and sacrifice two - or more - of his team?

"Dammit! We have to split up," Anyman growls. "I can't protect you three and save London. I want you to hide or at least make a fighting withdrawal to some place where you have the best chance of suriving. I'm going to go ghost and move through the walls, if I can, and find the engine room or maybe this big brain you mention."


ooc: Call on Dark Powers and get Speed and Intangibility. Um ... probably grade two speed. I'm at work and have to leave right away so I can't look up how many power points I need for those two powers. Give me an appropriate number of power points, enough that even if you roll mostly 4s, I still get those powers.

Phase through and speed through the ship looking for the power core, which I will then try to disable or blow up.

Lionheart figured his time for action was running out! He concentrated, shifting his Hyper Kinetic energies into different abilities. In many ways he'd been drastically depowered - he could no longer split into two, had lost his ability to upload new knowledge into his mind, couldn't pick and choose powers as he wished, having to switch between them, and his mental abilities seemed to have taken a back seat, when they were always his main form of attack.

But then, for everything he'd lost, he'd gained in return. Perhaps some strange 'cosmic balance' at work! He chuckled at the abstract thought in a such a deadly situation and concentrated on the task at hand.

OOC ok Hyper Speed Grade 2 costs 3 points. Strength grade 1 (+20) is 1 point, Force Field grade 4 (72htk) is 10 points. He has 1 point left for flight or a mental power, or whatever else he fancies from his abilities (grade 1)

Knowing the robot would be rushing at him, he moved to the corridor end and rammed his shoulder into the metal bulkhead! Where metal should have crumpled it was instead strengthened by the energy field holding and binding this colossal vessel together! As a 'natural defence' it amped up the power to jolt him away from the door, and the corridor darkened, the lights flickering! Lionheart felt the Force Field being tested as energy coursed about it, and he pressed on with his barging the doorway! The robot loomed large behind and he cursed! Come on! MORE! He took a step back and rammed the doorway again! This time the ship seemed to expect it and shot forth a POWERFUL pulse that would have frazzled a normal man, and probably killed most superhumans!

OOC Lionheart just took a 100htk hit with -3DD. Of course, he's not bothered about the dividers and the forcefield takes 72htk so LH takes 28htk. He is on 82/125htk

This time the lights went out completely and though in pain, Lionheart felt the metal groan and bend! He pulled a leg back and rammed it into the door, then grabbed it off the hinges and flung it at the robot behind! It clattered off the automatons form and he hopped through the doorway as the lights hummed back on into life... as the robot stepped up to the now open doorway! It paused as the energy field pulsed across the gap, inches away from Lionheart. The ship seemed to know that if it lowered the field here there would be structural damage elsewhere, and whatever had just damaged it might use the opportunity to damage it further! The standoff continued for a second or two, then Lionheart turned and sped off down the corridor, out of sight!

He came across another sealed door, but this one opened before he could touch it. Listening, he cocked his head to the side and heard more metallic rumblings as the spherical droids clattered through the ship to find him!

He had the inklings of an idea. This thing was vast, and the energy field that protected and bound it together was a pain in the backside, to say the least! He might eventually find the engine room, but the ship might know that and misdirect him at every turn. Or... he looked at the walls, then placed a hand on one. He felt the energy field pulse in the metal, reinforcing it and strengthening it... The field was all about. He'd dimmed the lights for second with just one assault on it.

Could he find Anyman and the others and coordinate attacks to drain so much power that the ship slowed, or even stopped?

Perhaps even fall from the skies?

He heard metallic sounds coming from where he'd just come from. Those robots wouldn't give up!

"Protect us?" said Bulletman. "I say, that's a bit presumptuous isn't it old chap? I know you're Anyman, scourge of the Nazis and all that, but we're hardly schoolchildren who need looking after, what?"

NoMan nodded "You cannot shoulder the burden yourself. Even as you use your amazing powers there will be more robots coming at you. We will hold them off for as long as we can."

Suddenly the lights dimmed, and went out! There was an audible powering down of the might engines deep inside this colossal vessel, and a flashlight flicked on as Guillotine popped a tiny led light from her belt, which had the others looking on in wonder. "Always come prepared!" she said cheerfully. "The lights and engines. Something..."

The lights hummed back into life and the engines powered up again, with the floor shaking slightly and the corridor walls rattling some. Guillotine frowned and place a hand against a wall. "Strange. You know, this is an ENORMOUS vessel. It has to weigh well in excess of a MILLION tons!" That figure had Bulletman gasping. "Impossible! The Nazis have a ship, the BISMARK that is by far and away the largest battleship ever built! She weighs, estimated, 45-50,000 tons! And you say... Impossible!" he laughed. Then he frowned. "Hold on a minute."

Guillotine shook her head "It's like I've woken up from a deep sleep and been transported back to the dark ages! Look about you! You've seen robots, planes of futuristic design, a flying battleship that will EASILY hold half a dozen - or more - Bismarks in its hold! What I'm saying is this. Metal is only so strong. Without water to counter some of the weight this thing is a giant dead weight that should break apart into heavy pieces and collapse under its own weight, and yet it flies through the air... my theory is this..."

The echo of approaching robots got louder. "Make it quick" growled Anyman "I have to call on my friend real soon!"

Guillotine nodded, pulled out a pistol and fired it, point blank, at the wall. There wasn't a mark, and the bullet didn't bounce it. It simply flattened and clattered to the corridor floor! "The metal is reinforced. When the bullet struck it, an energy field immediately set up behind it giving nowhere for the metal to go or deform. The bullet flattened and fell to the floor."

"So?" asked Noman.

"So this ship is held together by a vast energy field generated by the engines. It flies by the same engine, and its lights, guns, equipment is all powered by the same engine. If we can ... overload the field that strengthens it, it will try to compensate and bolster the field wherever we strike it. Do it with enough power... explosives..." she glanced at Anyman meaningfully "Or other means, perhaps with Lionhearts help, wherever he is... Point is, enough damage to one spot, ANY spot, and the field will reinforce to protect the structure. It will drain resources from the engines, the equipment, the navigation systems, even the robots!"

The sound of robots getting closer was very loud now - they'd be there in moments!

OOC Still want the Dark power? You'll have to fend robots off in moments - and more than one. Lionheart might be able to hook up with you, if he uses the right powers to find you...

ooc: Call the Dark Power, go for Grade 5+ superstrength. I'm grade two, so that's ... what? ... 45 power points? So give me 12 Dark Power Points for superstrength. Then I'm going to hit a wall with all my strength.

"NoMan is one of the very few people who have gone on missions with me," Anyman says as he steps to one side and prepares to call upon the Dark Power, "and survived. And he was pretty much a stretcher case at the end of that! Normal Nazis, I wouldn't worry so much about you guys, but we keep going up against folks my level of power, and you are just like babies going up against trained armed soldiers at that power level."

"Stand back and hope this works and be prepared for anything!"

He summons forth the Dark Power and hits the nearest wall as hard as he can.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Stand back and hope this works and be prepared for anything!"

He summons forth the Dark Power and hits the nearest wall as hard as he can.

Meanwhile Lionheart realised if he could combine his efforts with that of the others they might be able to bring this ship to its figurative knees, even stopping the robots form attacking.

"Gotta find the others..." He hesitate for a moment realising that before he could call on his vast powers, perhaps to communicate telepathically and find their location, he had to deal with this annoying Robot. He couldn't chance sending his mind to the others all the while his body was vulnerable to attack.

"Ok old chap, put em up!"

Lionheart raised his fists, his force field still intack he intended to run full strength straight at the robot and bowl it over, hopefully ramming it in to the force wall, from which he'd just come through.

OOC:
Ok since I think in your previous post you are referring to me using telepathy to contact and 'find' the other, but I can't use this whilst doing physical activity, I need to take down said robot first. So I am going to use my current power list, strength and force field to ram it back into the wall, bulkhead or force field I can from. And try and do as much damage to it as possible. Whether to attacks on two separate and one now vulnerable areas at the same time, if you assume Anyman's and mind are going off at the same time, then so be it.

Sj

OOC Dark power for Anyman... Roll of 15 + Anymans ego (12) total 27 vs roll of 10 plus Dark Power ego of 12. Easy. 12D10, x2. I think you'll be able to summon rather more than an extra 5 grades of strength, but we'll see what the dice come up with. 5,2,4,6,8,5,7,6,4,1,9,3. No 10s and a mixed bag, total 60, x2 for 120 Dark power points. +1 Dark power experience (just a note for me as I'm away from my main box - it's freezing in there, great for the computer, not so good for my feet!). Ok 15 per grade. You want to settle for 5 extra grades? I'll assume you want to put in a lot and leave some left over in case you need it in the next 2 rounds. 6 Grades=90 points, leaves you with 30 Dark Power Points left. Adds 72 strength to Anyman, giving him 112 strength, which is somewhere north of Captain Marvel, Superman and just about anyone else I can think of off the top of my head...

"Wait a minute. Shouldn't we all combine our strength?" asked Bulletman. "After all, I can nearly lift a couple of tons, and NoMan here is as strong as... say, what are you guys doing? How come...?" he started, then moved across the corridor to where the others were standing clear. The sounds of robots getting closer rang out, echoing through the corridors!

Anyman rolled his eyes at Bulletman and rolled up his sleeves. Then he delivered a solid, jarring straight right to the wall, followed by a kick!

OOC uhm, Bang? +97 damage per blow. Roll of 11+WC3+D12-17=9 accuracy, 106htk damage. Next roll 18 (double!) plus 10 = 26 accuracy, 123htk!

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The lights instantly winked out, the hum of the engines stopped, and the walls, ceilings, everything around the group groaned! The trio with Anyman were shaken from their feet to land in an undignified heap, and the deck started to tilt!

"What the bloody...!" spluttered Bulletman, grabbing a door frame, whilst NoMan calmly stuck to the floor and stretched out an arm for Guillotine!

The lights flickered again, coming on and the hum of the engines shuddered into life but Anymans follow up blow shut everything down again! This time the wall was completely destroyed, and the fragments of metal smashed into a room, through the wall opposite and into corridors beyond! There was a great groaning sound again, and a very loud KEEERRRRACK!

"Look!" said Guillotine. All eyes looked up to see cracks in the ceiling and the walls compressing as countless tons weighed down on them! The field had tried to blunt Anymans damaging punch, but had been unable to completely block it. It hadn't had enough energy to even send a damaging jolt through his arm!

=========

Lionheart sped at the robot coming towards him...

Suddenly the lights went out and he bounced off the robot which went limp and crashed to the floor! Lionheart looked about in the darkness, then steadied himself as the deck tilted! He grinned, and took the opportunity to reach out with his mind... 'Guillotine, Anyman, Bulletman, NoMan... this is Lionheart. Can you hear me?'

=========

Guillotine twitched and grinned "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" spluttered Bulletman, "I'm trying to figure out if our buddy here is going to get us killed! Aside from... wait... where is Lionheart? Did he just...?"

Guillotine ignored him and whispered "Richard... look through my mind, my thoughts, my eyes..."

=========

Lionheart gasped, and dabbed blood t=from his nose

He 'saw' where Guillotine was. More, he could somehow know how to find her! He sped off, leaving the flickering lights coming on in his wake and speeding through the corridors of the ship!

OOC Lionheart loses 13HTC or Htk (your choice) from using the 1 mile range of the telepathy. Small price to pay for the range...

=========

Anyman heard the robots coming at the same time as the others

They were coming from both directions of the corridor and he cursed. He was empowered by the Dark Power, and his strength was colossal! His companions though...

Guillotine got up "Before you hit the ship again, I suggest we move! The ship will send as many robots at us as it takes to wipe us out! They might have tens - or more of those things - heading this way!"

Lionheart sped up, screeching to a halt. "Just passed a whole horde of robots - dozens - coming right this way!" he said, barely out of breath. He looked at the mess of the corridor wall and the subsequent holes into the ship. "They are coming, Anyman. And Guillotine? Not tens, or dozens... THOUSANDS!"

OOC Whilst he still has the Dark Power Anyman (and Lionheart) could pound away at the ship to drain its power and 'distract' its power distribution systems - in other words, make it crash! Whilst they are doing that though, the robots will arrive in force in this corridor! North and south exits are where they are coming from. Anyman just made a hole big enough to get through in the east wall leading deeper into the ship if you're still after the engine room, but very, very soon you are going to have to fight through hordes of angry robots...

"How do we reprogram these robots," Anyman asked Guillotine and Lionheart. "Where do we need to go to do that? I have power for just a short bit of time left, so we need to act now to stop them enmass."

ooc: Whatever gets us to wherever we need to go to do the reprogramming, and "us" doesn't mean us all if time and distance is against us, just those who can do the reprogrammming while the rest try to stay alive until that happens.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"How do we reprogram these robots," Anyman asked Guillotine and Lionheart. "Where do we need to go to do that? I have power for just a short bit of time left, so we need to act now to stop them enmass."

ooc: Whatever gets us to wherever we need to go to do the reprogramming, and "us" doesn't mean us all if time and distance is against us, just those who can do the reprogrammming while the rest try to stay alive until that happens.

OOC:
Otherwise I suggest that we just dive through the bulkhead to find out where we can cause more damage to the ship. My only problem with this is that we don't know what we're flying over? Wouldn't want to see this ship fall on an urban area full of people?

As to programming the robots, man I wish we had Frostbot with us, anyway you could take computer brain and or some sort of field manipulation and try and do it yourself, with the remainder of the Dark Power points, or get more!
==
"Whatever we do, we'd better do it fast, can't you..." Lionheart twisted his finger around his head whilst looking at Anyman, indicating some sort of control over the robots, via Anyman's dark power.

Sj

Bulletman tensed. "I hear them coming closer!"

NoMan stated "I am ready" though he didn't specify on what exactly he was ready for - to fight, or to die?

Guillotine said "We should move. But... whilst Anyman has the power within him, he should continue to pound on the ship to weaken its structure and hamper its ability to fly. Lionheart... I don't know how you do the things you do. I am a 2nd generation PSI Corps agent, like you are... were. You can do things that... anyway. If Frostbot is the only one who can help us with programming, I suggest you get a message to him. If I recall he was on a V-Ship with Spartan. If you can reach Spartan, we may yet be able to stop this ship...but..."

CLANK!

She looked down the corridor where three ball bots rolled to a halt and unfurled into deadly killing machines! Behind them... the corridor was filled with more ball bots!

Admin wrote:Bulletman tensed. "I hear them coming closer!"

CLANK!

She looked down the corridor where three ball bots rolled to a halt and unfurled into deadly killing machines! Behind them... the corridor was filled with more ball bots!

OOC:
Dave with the limited time we've got I don't think we've got chance to do fancy stuff. Lets go for all making one last strike, the ship is already damaged! I will say my one worry is we've no idea what we'll drop on if we down the ship though. So you might need to save your Dark points for something spectacular like saving St Paul's Cathedral ;-)

Sj

"Lionheart, with your new speed, you are best at finding the computer system to reprogram the robots," Anyman decides. "Take Guillotine and go find it and reprogram the computer. While Putty inside of me is from the future, he has no real memories of that time and doesn't know much about computers, so I am useless at that kind of thing."

"NoMan and Bulletman, go through the hole I made and work your way away from the robots and get outside, do what you think needs to be done there. You may have to jump because this thing is going to crash or my name isn't Anyman!"

"I'm going to hit things for a bit to continue to drain its power and then go intangible to get away from the robots when they are about to swarm me."

"Only good thing to come out of this attack," he says somewhat musingly, "is that Britain is going to literally have tons of scrap metal it can use in the war effort delivered right to its door."

actions: Hit things. Use last of Dark Power to get Intangibility, when time is right, or call upon more Dark Power to do so. Get out of Dodge and hope Lionheart has stopped the robots.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Lionheart, with your new speed, you are best at finding the computer system to reprogram the robots," Anyman decides. "Take Guillotine and go find it and reprogram the computer. While Putty inside of me is from the future, he has no real memories of that time and doesn't know much about computers, so I am useless at that kind of thing."

Lionheart smiled, "Shucks, I'm always missing out on all the fun! With that he bowed majestically to Guillotine and she hoped into his arms, before he speed off as directed.

OOC:
Ok so I'm sure Guillotine will have a much better idea of where to head than me, so I will happily follow her directions to see if we can't find an unconventional way to turn this around yet.

Sj