World War II - Lionheart Issue #3

"Can you hear me...?" asked the voice again. Female. Bright lights. A headache.

He groaned and opened his eyes, lifting a hand to shield them and shredding the leather restraining strap like it was made of paper! Guillotine gently placed hands on his arm and said "relax, Richard, you're back."

Lionheart opened his eyes fully to look across the lab at a large pink tub, several feet across running from floor to ceiling. The liquid inside was pink and bubbling, and floating, suspended in the middle of the tube with various pipes running from it, was an infant child, days old at best.

"Saladin?" groaned Lionheart. Guillotine nodded. "The growth process should kick in soon, question is... do you want it to?"

She pointed to a control panel section on a console, and added "One flick of a switch and..." her voice trailed off, but Lionheart knew what it meant. End Saladins' life, and any threat he might represent. once and for all complete his mission.

And then what? What contribution could he make amidst the demi-gods of the Vanguard? He sighed and sat up on the bed in his white gown. "What's happening?"

Guillotine shrugged, polished then bit into an apple. She looked at Lionhearts face, shrugged again and tossed him it - at speed! He caught it in the blink of an eye and she grinned. "your reactions are as as good as they ever were!" Lionheart smiled, bit into the apple, and between mouthfuls added "Well?"

"Frostbite and Silver Sentinel are AWOL. General Wynn says they have entered another dimension to recruit an army. Sky Eagle - one of the newer Justiciars though according to Wynn he's a Vanguardian and all that entails - is on a mission in France to recover General De Gaulle and bring him back here to lead the French resistance effort. Anyman is en route to head off some Nazi 'super bomber' that's heading towards London. Nowhere Boy went with an Alien back to its home star system to convince them not to attack Earth, and offer Lunarium in return for aid. The Shadow Demons offered an alliance - albeit at a high cost whereby they gained half a dozen powerful individuals. Anyman turned them down. Word is they won't cause any trouble between now and when the Devourer gets here. That's some terrible intergalactic entity that eats planets and star systems that's headed to Earth. only we know about it, but it rather keeps the Second World War in perspective. Bentham and Trowers have been keeping a low profile, no idea what they are up to. The Nazis are finally putting their futuristic designs into practise. Spy reports that I heard say they are on their second phase 'Ubermensch' project now, but on the lookout for Anyman."

"Other than that? Usual. Churchill rattles on about how we should never give in, nothing heard about the Ani-men or the evil P'utinarians (called the K'atinarians) and there's been no contact with the kingdom of Atlantis. America is still staying out of the war, but the word is that Japan, already at war with China, is really ramping up military production."

"As Squadron leader Dawson expects you to jump in a plane and start shooting Nazis down, but I don't think you're ready, and it'd be a waste. Still, it's your call."

Richard...

"Eh?" said Lionheart looking about. "Did you...?"

Richard...

"Beth?" spluttered Lionheart. Was there something wrong with him? Beth Carter had been killed in the North Pole battle in that weird lost world jungle full of dinosaurs! Was she somehow still alive?

OOC You have options - join the war again and try to hook up with some of the others, help Anyman out etc, look more into this mysterious voice that might or might not be Beth Carter, and what to do about Saladin. I also have another thought - I can knock out a character sheet for the Lore Knights game with Lionhearts stats that will boost his power considerably, but he'll have to go into the Lore Knights game with different stats (or we just use GH stats when he interacts with the Vanguard, Lore Knights game stats (still haven't a name for it. Probably the 'Vanguard' System. It's coming along. Did more today.) when he goes solo. Your call, but basically one is 2d10 + Abilities/powers/Skills vs target number or opponents total, the other is GH system, house ruled but with Lionheart running around at 60mph or whatever Grade 2 speed is. He's still probably the most powerful Metahuman on Earth, barring the Vanguard, but the Nazis will soon be catching up..

Admin wrote:OOC You have options -

1. join the war again and try to hook up with some of the others, help Anyman out etc,
2. look more into this mysterious voice that might or might not be Beth Carter, and what to do about Saladin.

3. I also have another thought - I can knock out a character sheet for the Lore Knights game with Lionhearts stats that will boost his power considerably, but he'll have to go into the Lore Knights game with different stats (or we just use GH stats when he interacts with the Vanguard, Lore Knights game stats (still haven't a name for it. Probably the 'Vanguard' System. It's coming along. Did more today.) when he goes solo. Your call, but basically one is 2d10 + Abilities/powers/Skills vs target number or opponents total, the other is GH system, house ruled but with Lionheart running around at 60mph or whatever Grade 2 speed is. He's still probably the most powerful Metahuman on Earth, barring the Vanguard, but the Nazis will soon be catching up..

OOC:

ok if I go with the Vanguard Rules, can I still interact with the current time line and heroes? Let me clarify, as I see it my priorities are:

1. Saladin - I agreed to do what needed to be done so that I could regain control of my body. But know I know the lengths he will go to, to get his own way, I am also no less trusting of him. Once he gets Benthem and Trowers will he then want to rule the world in his own way? If there is a way that now we've got him out of my system can keep him isolated so that we can make a decision about what happens next then that is good and well. Just not sure what options I have with regard to Saladin, how far things have gone, has he gone from my mind so there is no flipping back and forth etc. Too little information to know what to do, but know I need to do something about him. As I reckon with a new body he will go AWOL asap.

2. Beth - I'd want to know a) I wasn't going mad, b) that it wasn't a lure to trap me c) what is anything I could do. Lionheart cares about Beth, but has moved on thinking her dead. Unless she was in mortal danger, it would be difficult in the present circumstances to justify leaving it all to swing by the Antartic, and even harder to know how. So again need more info.

3. I am happy to go with the Vanguard rules, but the issue for me, as to what I do next depends on what is the situation with regard to the above to priorities. Then I go to Whinn and the others. I might bend the rules but I don't break them without a very good reason.

Ok nice summery of everything going on as well.

As an aside what powers do I have assuming Saladin has left me?

Sj

Admin wrote:
3) I'll work on a Vanguard version of the Lionheart character. It will be significantly more powerful than the GH one (Strength will be in line with his current levels but speed, fighting skills, powers etc will all be higher, simply because the Vanguard version is more generous. A 'street level' Flight power in GH is 30mph, Vanguard version 125mph, that sort of thing, and that's not being overly generous (Flight of 6 points) ). Until then we'll stick with the current ruleset and character sheet if you're ok with that. I'm still working on the Vanguard rules every day and will start/finish the combat section soon. The powers/character creation section will take the longest, but there I am working from the old DC Heroes game as a base, modifying the mechanics to suit. In truth a player of the DC Heroes game would need showing how to play this one, so it's only vaguely related, mechanics wise. I intend to spruce up the document with public domain art from comic books of the 40s and 50s (copyright expired) which no one would object to am sure (everyone who published the things will be long dead).

You have all the powers of the Lionheart 'evo' version but no longer have the power to split into two. You have a green light to improve on what you have as well, so he will gain more and more power over time. Lionheart is/was always intended to be a Vanguardian, but to do that he needs to be very powerful. At some point the Vanguard will become greater than he is, but that can't be helped. For now, he rules the roost in terms of outright power unless someone calls on the dark power.

OOC: That is all great Paul, thanks mate. I look forward to Vanguard Lionheart, but playing him alongside the others still using GH rules would be difficult and so its not worth it. I'd love to play the vanguard rules when he is on his own, but that would be a difficult going back and forth so lets stick with what we've got for now.

"Oooh I feel...lighter!" Lionheart said as he tried to get his head together, which in his case was no easy matter.

"Ok I better get to see Wynn, find out what's what!" Despite what he was saying, Lionheart's usual confident tone sounded far away and distant. He was thinking about Beth, somehow he wanted to believe that she was ok, but given his mental state and all he'd undergone, perhaps it was just his imagination. He couldn't do more, Wynn would have forty fits if he took off using the limited resources they had to go on the basis of a hunch.

[Updated] After leaving the lab, Lionheart veered off and found an unused office. If Beth was somehow, unthinkably alive, he had to know. Taking a seat he let his mind reach out, following the thread the hint of a voice that came to him seeking to follow it back and somehow see if the connection remained open.

OOC:

Ok I thought about this some more and if Beth was alive, Lionheart would want to know about it. So I've amended the above to think on that. I'd like to try and contact her and then take what I find to Wynn, to see where we go and how that effects my orders/assignment etc.

Sj

OOC I was thinking that since he'd split from Saladin the 'Golden Lion' power would be defunct (essentially that'd be Saladins' psyche allowing him to split in two) but I'm not so sure. I will take a look at the character and revamp (not depower) things to tidy it all up and present for your approval. We'll agree on middle ground on some things, and disagree on others, no doubt, but since that post in the SQUK yahoo group I'm really itching to do something about speed, Defence class and powers. Kind of defeats the object of writing a different game though which I'm doing for the Vanguard rules, so I'll restrain myself. Still... knowing its outdated and needs changing... nnnngh. Must ... resist... meddling! (Changing DC to get lower the faster you are and having tough guys at DC10 but with higher dividers (+1 for each) to make up for their being easier to hit is the first thing I'd change)

Lionheart sat in an office and listened to the hustle/bustle of the Bletchley Park manor building. Outside a V-Ship was being powered up, and he didn't doubt it was Anyman off on another suicide mission. He'd only been out of it a couple of days but things had changed again. In a way it was good - staying the same whilst the enemy evolved would see them all dead, but what could he, Lionheart, do about the devourer? This was one for the 'demi-gods' - the other Vanguard - he figured. Bentham and trowers were still out there, and doubtless up to no good. With Hitlers failure to contain the Vanguard and their own limitless ambition, he wondered what their next move would be.

He stepped to look out of the window, then looked up. The Moon. Source of Lunarium, key to the Nazi war effort and target for every space faring empire out there. Only the lack of understanding about the stuff limited the Axis powers from using it to make holocaust weapons, but that wasn't a limitation that Bentham suffered from, nor Trowers with his in depth knowledge of the PSI Corps. Troubled, Lionheart sagged into a seat and thought of Beth. They'd gone on a couple of missions together - the Ani-Men and the Antartic jungle region - and she'd died there in the jungle, only to be whisked away by that mysterious computer mind from the future time of Bruno Hawkes, one of the sole survivors of the crashed mission to save mankind from it's own folly. Hidden from the world - and the ravages of the snow that may have been caused by the ship crashing, ironically - the original Ani-men lived in peace now, he hoped. But what of Beth?

He calmed himself, reaching out.

"Beth... can you hear me?"

Nothing, silence.

He waited long minutes, then sighed, getting up.

"Richard..." the thought went like an arrow into his mind and he turned to face a wall, which instinctively he knew would head due south. Was she alive? What had happened to her? She had died in her arms yet the computer mind had said it would re-knit her form. Did it have the power of life and death? She been gone only moments, but if there was a chance of saving her? Further attempts to contact her met with silence, and Lionheart cursed himself for not having sufficient range, then chuckled. He'd apparently made contact with a person thousands of miles away, and he was moaning? He clenched a fist and saw it crackle with energy. Something had changed about him. He didn't know what, but it felt like Saladin had been the key to unlock a potential that Bentham never foresaw when he started the science part of the Psi Corps program. Now that door was unlocked, and his potential with it. He wasn't as powerful as the other Vanguard, and could never be, but he was, in his own way, still the most powerful person on planet Earth!

=========

Wynn looked up. "Come in" he said at the knock on the door.

"Ah, King! Good to see you're on your feet! I swear, this place has no bloody chain of command or authority. Everyone comes and goes willy nilly!" he chuckled, whilst Slobotham at the window raised an eyebrow - and a glass - to Lionheart, with a nod to the man.

Lionheart took a seat and explained his dilemma.

"Damn. this will be hard to push past Forbes and Dawson, and if the PM knows we want to let our best super go chasing around some filly in the south pole because he thinks she might be alive, he'd have my guts for garters, what? That said..." he glanced at Slobotham who exchanged a knowing glance "I'm of the mind that you never leave a man - or woman - behind. And who knows, if she is alive, there may be secrets she can tell us, things we can use in the war effort. We have, what..."

"Three. I think." interjected Slobotham.

"Yes, three. Possibly four." said Wynn. "Enough at any rate. We have enough V-Ships thanks to Mr Allards' one fool crusade against the Nazis. He really is adept at getting up their noses, yet insists on dashing out to go do the same or worse to them again! One of these days what he's done will get out, and our own people will stop him from leaving the building to ensure he doesn't bring the wrath of the whole bally universe down on us!" The General was only half joking it seemed.

"We have other problems, as you know." he said gravely. "Frostbite and Sentinel are... MIA. As is Sky Eagle, who was a justiciar that the Dark powers chose to become a host. He's in over his head and it was a fool mission to save one man that could cost us dearly! As for the Justiciars, what few remain are retired, save for the girl who becomes a plant and Fastback, but she's been badly shaken by events. Mist Maiden is in the funny farm getting help, and the others have been de-powered, discharged from special duties and reassigned to support ops. They moaned, but in truth what happened at Dunkirk scarred the whole bally lot of 'em. All that death and destruction, leaving men behind to be slaughtered. Jerry laughs at the Geneva convention, which makes us better men but weaker for it." he sighed. "I'll have to run by any request you make to check out Peeler 33's possible resurrection and can't guarantee what they'll say. Stick around till then. Don't go off base without permission!" he said, though had a twinkle in his eye. There was little anyone could do to stop Lionheart - he'd be gone in the blink of an eye!

Leaving the office Lionheart glanced at the moon in the pale blue sky above. Bentham and Trowers were there, he was sure of it. His mind powers would never work on them, but his fists would.

"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Guillotine, who'd snuck up to stand in front of him. "We still have the keys to the V-Ship we've been working on...?"

Admin wrote:"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Guillotine, who'd snuck up to stand in front of him.

Lionheart smiled, looking up he nodded once again at the silvery moon, "Just thinking about our maker, what he and plans might mean for us next! One thing is for sure, Bentham won't be quiet for long, even now he'll be at work!"

Lionheart sighed, perhaps the message from Beth, had caught him at a bad time. The thought that she may or may not be alive, brought up in him emotions that conflicted. Things he'd not thought about...ever, he realised. Duty and sacrifice and the time line was all. But now he knew the truth, it all seemed so distant. Moreover he had something worth fighting for.

Admin wrote:"We still have the keys to the V-Ship we've been working on...?"

"Hmm, yes I know...I just can't play games like I used to. cracking funnies whilst everyone you know is dying, isn't funny anymore. I was sad to hear about the Justicars, and now half the team is who knows where. I think, just for once in my life I'd better attempt to follow orders. Besides who knows..."

Lionheart's voice trailed off. He continued to stare at the ship, whilst he did what he was told. One of the fastest men alive, yet why did it seem time was going so slow?

OOC:

Ok love the idea about the changes, all for that. Besides you know me I'm quiet compliant.

Ok since I've been told to wait and in the absence of no new information I'll wait till I get orders.

Sj