Shadowland - The Vanguard FINAL ISSUE!!!

Anyman tossed Lunarium-Charged undead aside with his colossal strength, knowing full well they would recover from any wound short of obliteration!

Frostbot, in the battered robot it inhabited, turned from the large undead monster, pointed to the ceiling and fired a hand cannon, causing a huge section of ceiling to crash down on some of the undead and its fellow robots alike! In the swirling dust it turned and marched over to Anyman and his companions. "I suggest you leave." it said, looking at Trowers and the former Lunarium Man. "This one..." it said, referring to Bentham "Will be required to calibrate the machine he has created." To that end Frostbot opened a chest cavity for Bentham to crawl in!

After a moments hesitation, he did so. Trowers wasn't happy. "Bentham you fool! If you go down there you'll die! The radiation...!"

Claude Bentham looked out then smiled sadly. "Our dreams of Empire are shattered Damon. We may have deluded ourselves into thinking we would forge a greater good for humanities future, with ourselves as ultimate overlords, but we instead face disaster. Let our deaths count for something! We must at least try to atone for our sins! Get top side and coordinate with this mans friends, if they show. In what little time we have left, I refuse to spend it cowering and waiting for death! If these beings want to destroy me, I intend to make them work for it! Even without the isotope I project we require to affect these things, causing a chain reaction in the Moons core will destroy the Planet if directed inward! Perhaps we can use that as a bargaining chip..."

Without a further word the cavity sealed and Frostbot turned to Anyman "Scanners indicate the level of Lunarium radiation should have affected you some time ago, but your levels read normal. These others have suits that will protect them no longer, though the one in my cavity should be offered protection for a while longer. Let us go, into the heart of the mine!"

The other robots, on Frostbots command, pushed outwards and attacked with full force against the undead, creating a path for Trowers and Lunarium man to run out and into the corridors beyond, where robots would sacrifice their existence for the pair to escape!

Even as Anyman and Frostbot set off deeper into the mine, the tumbled rocks were tossed aside as the undead monster and several of its zombies comrades broke free of their rocky tomb and rose to give chase into the glowing red caverns!

OOC What happens next depends on Frostbite and Sentinel...

Admin wrote:OOC Just a nudge for Frostbite and Sentinel to say hi and start interacting and I'll move us on to the next (final) stage of the Vanguard adventure...

OOC:Sorry mate don't know how I missed this!

Frostbite placed a hand on the side of the sphere, wondering what had made Sentinel come to this decision. Carefully he let his mind probe and find if Sentinel was even alive within.

Sentinel. Steve, can you hear me, you're with friends open up its Frostbite!

As he probed further, he realised he didn't have long for a chatty exchange, the Devourer would leave him little time to get away. "Ship best speed for the lunar base on the moon, take evasive action if you have to. But get us there as quick as you can!

Sj

OOC: Being a bit of a mind probe virgin i don't know if Steve would hear this without the dark power???

IC: Steve slipped in and out of consciousness, he was unaware how much time had passed. Was it hours or weeks all he knew was how brave sunburst was to give the remainder of the life, her essence to keep him alive as long as she could. For in the bitter cold dark he could only assume that she had winked out of existence as surely if her essence had remained she could she burn.

OOC: Did i kill her with the sphere or did she slowly die as i hoped to trap us both inside. Even without a sun i thought her life force would still be contained.

Im going to assume sentinel for whatever reason lowers the sphere at the same time as frostbite is there.

IC: 'Im not going to die like a rat in a trap' sentinel thought or at least he thought he thought as he was now starting to hallucinate,well he was hoping it was that and not that the sphere was filled with floating boxes with pink smoke pouring out of them.

Maybe in a moment of madness or in a last ditch attempt to control his fate he lowered the metal sphere

Without the Dark Power Frostbites' mind to mind message fell on Sentinels' deaf ears!

Even so, Sentinel dropped the sphere around him - the metal crashed like broken china onto the floor of the airlock, and Steve Jenson felt the mind numbing cold of the void seep into his limbs!

In the corridor Frostbite saw his friend alive and turned to speak into the comm system to advise the robots on the bridge of the shuttle to head for the moon at top speed! With that done he opened the airlock door upon seeing the air was good to breathe and entered, kneeling to help his friend up. Once more he was without legs, and his skin looked to have suffered from the effects of hard vacuum!

A glance at a temperature reading on the wall showed the room to be slowly building up temperature, so Frostbite helped it along by absorbing the cold from the room, allowing the temperature to build up that much faster!

Steve looked about, then saw his friend. Making sure Frostbite didn't get too close to the white crystal shard he carried, he looked around and saw a small metal sphere on the floor amidst the shattered metal. The sphere was dented and the delicate circuitry on its surface looked to have been damaged by the effects of over exertion as Sunburst had done all in her power to keep Silver Sentinel alive. Now all that the Vanguard had to remind them that Beth Carter had ever lived was this damaged metal sphere.

That would be all that remained of Sunburst, save their memories of a fallen, valued, valiant friend.

=========

The screen showed the death throes of the Robo Carrier...

Firing one nuclear warhead after another, the ship tried all it could to slow down the progress of the Dark Emissary and buy the Vanguardians time. That it did, not through being able to hurt the Emissary, but by annoying it, and capturing it's attention long enough for the god like being to turn its full wrath on the vast vessel.

Both Vanguardians shielded their eyes as the final explosion of the Robo Carrier filled the sky like a small sun, and sent molten debris in every direction.

Silver Sentinel had a few minutes to eat, and had already formed some of the ships non essential bulkhead into a new steel suit, complete with legs. Now they headed to the moon, and their team mate Anyman who was fighting for his life against an undead force!

The screen showed the Robo Carriers still in orbit were congregating to form a metal barrier against the might of the Devourer, interposing themselves between the sun and the Earth, with a number assigned to defend the Moon.

Metal dots spewed from one Robo Carrier as robots flew down to the moon to wage war on the nazi army of the dead. Hitlers ultimate solution to not just what he saw as the jewish issue, but to all of the free right thinking people of the world was to create an invincible Undead army, that could not be killed, stopped or reasoned with. It would create an unstoppable third reich that would last a thousand years or more, with an immortal Adolf Hitler at it's head! The madman had been stopped by the Vanguard, though his army was somewhat more stubborn.

ALARM! ALARM! INCOMING PROJECTILE!

Sentinel and Frostbite turned to the screen once again even as the moon loomed large in their sight. A robo carrier was manoeuvring and thundering past them, it's mile long mass dwarfing the tiny shuttle that held the key to the slim hope of defeating the Devourer! The robo carriers purpose was simple - to slow, delay or destroy the Dark Emissaries and stop them reaching the moon before the Vanguards' shuttle could!

It lasted only a few seconds...

The resulting explosion caused a massive shock wave and sent a huge half mile chunk of robo carrier spinning through space to crash into another Robo Carrier orbitting the Earth! That was smashed almost in half, and rather than crash to Earth and kill thousands of people it self destructed, the other Robo Carriers close by having been warned a few seconds before and used the time to turn away from the blast with full shields!

Onboard the shuttle, Frostbite and Sentinel staggered to their feet, looking about. The Shuttle was stricken, smashed, on fire and about to crash into the moons surface! Alarms blared, there was smoke and fire everywhere, and the shattered screen showed glimpses of their impending doom as the moon loomed ever larger! Had they gotten so close, only to be obliterated by a high speed impact with the moon!

OOC We're nearly there chaps - next post (assuming Frostbite and Sentinel figure some way out of certain death by crashing into the moon) will hook you up with Anyman who is getting Frostbot/Claude Bentham and his machine into place in the Lunarium mines and have a last, final hurrah for this storyline...

Admin wrote:OOC We're nearly there chaps - next post (assuming Frostbite and Sentinel figure some way out of certain death by crashing into the moon) will hook you up with Anyman who is getting Frostbot/Claude Bentham and his machine into place in the Lunarium mines and have a last, final hurrah for this storyline...

Thinking quickly, Frostbite grabbed space suits as he shouted to Sentinel, "Make sure that, rock is covered in metal, I need to be able to operate if I going to get us out of this ship in one piece!

With that Frostbite donned his suit, made final checks and used whatever ships thrusters existed to use their momentum to get them as close as they could to Anyman's last known location.

After which he helped Sentinel into his suit.

OOC:
Ok assuming the Lunarium can be covered in metal so as to stop it effecting me and my powers I intend to grab us both as the ship goes to crash, phase us both out of the ship and fly down under my own power. I will use hero points, as many as needed to get us out. And then hope we land within easy reach of the base so as to be able to get to Anyman.

Had I enough phasing power I'd phase the whole ship into the base, let the momentum carry us there and then let it crash and us phase out. But hey ho, good intentions and all that.

Sj

Had I enough phasing power I'd phase the whole ship into the base, let the momentum carry us there and then let it crash and us phase out. But hey ho, good intentions and all that.


ooc: Well, you know, you could always use your Dark Powers to do just that!

DavidMcMahon wrote:Had I enough phasing power I'd phase the whole ship into the base, let the momentum carry us there and then let it crash and us phase out. But hey ho, good intentions and all that.


ooc: Well, you know, you could always use your Dark Powers to do just that!

OOC: True but with unforeseen consequences, having said that I might just need to do it, if what I have in mind doesn't work.

Sj

Sentinel heard Frostbite over the dying whine of the engines, and nodded

With a gesture he tossed the White Lunarium fragment onto the deck which came alive and wrapped around the strange pulsing stone! So close by it, Frostbite felt the pull of the Dark Power within him as the stone tried to draw it out!

He knew then, without a doubt, that the mere touch of a finger on that thing would make his Dark Power completely vanish!

For now it was safely encapsulated in metal, and he turned to the controls of the ship, calling on a damaged robot to try it's best and guide the stricken ship towards Anymans location... it did so, and the Vanguardians gasped!

They were heading directly for the centre of the huge Nazi swastika/base on the surface of the moon!

The robot turned to Frostbite "Tik... whirrr... receiving a signal from... buzzz.... crkkle... Frostbot... homing ... whirrr... pop!... in!"

Sentinel glanced at Frostbite "That base is getting very close!" he yelled over the sound of the shuttle tearing itself to pieces!

Frostbite grinned and nodded "Hold on - we won't get a second chance at this!"

With both men in space suits, hurriedly donned and with Sentinel creating a pair of metal legs for himself, they turned to what remained of the screen...

The Nazi base was upon them!

"Frostbite! If this doesn't work, it's been an honour to..." shouted Sentinel

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Anyman looked up

Somewhere above there had been a huge explosion, and the mine supports creaked and trembled. All around, the deadly red glow of Lunarium illuminated his face. He watched as Frostbot, in the form of the battered robot from the smashed carrier, used attachments to drill deeper into the core of the moon!

The robot turned "The human, Bentham, is succumbing to radiation sickness" it said of the man inside it's chest compartment. "He gave instructions on the preparation of his machine, but without the catalyst element he mentions, feels it will be doomed to failure. A remarkable human being, save for his questionable morals. I do not believe his intellect can be measured by standard methods of Intelligence Quotient scoring."

Anyman was about to reply when he heard growls and moans from above!

The undead had followed him into the mine and would be climbing down into the main shaft where he and Frostbot had descended!

Fires burned all about...

Thick acrid smoke boiled around the pair of Vanguardians as they strode through, unharmed, the ruins of the shuttle.

The vessel had punched through several levels of the Nazi based and smashed deep into the upper levels of the mine.

Now a new threat had become apparent - the place was teeming with glowing Nazi undead, shambling towards the newcomers!

In amongst the wreckage the pair saw the entrance to the mine... and dozens of glowing, irradiated undead in the way!

There was something else.

This place was positively pulsing with radiation... how long would their suits last in protecting them? Would all this be for naught?

OOC and another twist is coming up shortly...

Admin wrote:OOC and another twist is coming up shortly...

"Sentinel as I understand it that chunk reverses the effects of Lunarium, since these creatures are in some way empowered by it, do you think we can open the container and just use it?"

OOC: Sorry if I've missed something, but will that convert the existing lunarium around us? If so I'd better get ahead of the game, to a place where Lunarium isn't so that I'm away from its effective range. To do so I'll turn intangible and speed ahead. Hoping that Sentinel, would be ok to follow when the undead fall. However if this isn't going to make a blind bit of difference then I'd best grab sentinel and make us both intangible, and get us to the front of the cue, asap.

Sj

Anyman could see Bentham was suffering from the radiation...

As was Frostbot. Whilst 'frostbot' was in essence a 'living' computer program the robot which housed that program was having all sorts of problems. Wires burnt out, coolant hoses split, even the metal began to tarnish and peel!

Bentham cried out as his hair fell out in clumps, but continued to work at the machine he'd made. With a SNIKT! blades jutted out from it's central column to slam into the Lunarium coated rocks all about it. He looked up at Anyman.

In the narrowest part of the mine shaft the Vanguardian was tireless, slamming the shambling undead into the walls and tearing at them, smashing with fists, tossing them back up the mine shaft and fighting like a man possessed! Even when that vile abomination that was formed of dozens of undead Nazis barged its way to the front of the undead army he didn't give an inch. He was faced with a foe stronger and more durable than he was, but not smarter.

Time and again he evaded the monstrous creature by flattening himself against the wall, coiling around it like a snake and pulling as hard as he could, and using his environment as a weapon, pounding the Lunarium into shards that punched into the creature!

He successfully amputated the creatures arm at the elbow by stretching around it again and again then lunging as hard as he could... only for the beast to reach for another undead soldier and grow another near instantly!

Frustrated, battered, wounded, outnumbered, only his indomitable spirit and what remained of his failing health could hold back the tide and buy Bentham the precious minutes he needed!

For his part Bentham worked through a haze of pain. The robot no longer shielded him and he could feel his insides liquifying from the deadly radiation! His mind raced, running through a thousand scenarios and possible outcomes, and all pointed to the fact that he would fail - in some way. The machine would cause a chain reaction that detonated the Lunarium core of the moon and send a massive wave of force out towards the sun, but he felt sure now that his calculations were correct - the Lunarium explosion would hurt the Devourer, but might ultimately make it more powerful when it adapted to absorb the radiation!

His one consolation was that the radiation leak from the wave would kill most of the people on Earth, and turn the rest into irradiated mutants, thus sparing them from the final hours of terror the Devourer would put them through and thwart the unfathomable monstrosity from across space and time!

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't" he chuckled, then gulped and spat blood, along with a couple of teeth.

Even as his eyesight failed, he finished adjusting the final settings to his machine. This was it.

"Anyman!" he screamed, with vocal chords that croaked and hissed. "It's ready! The big red button!" he shouted. "Slam a shard of Lunarium into the slot and hit the button!"

He sagged back, falling from the belly of the broken robot which keeled over and started to leak various fluids as vital components melted and failed.

"I'd do it..." he muttered "But I'm blind and... my heart is... failing..."

Anyman, knee deep in undead, turned and glanced at Bentham. His form was glowing red, shining brightly and almost too painful to look at!

Then his skin melted from his face and his bones de-calcified, turning him into a fleshy puddle inside his space suit...

A blow from the undead monstrosity slammed home against Anymans chest, and he felt something give. His pliable skeleton shattered and he grunted with pain, finally having to give a little ground. Now the air supply was running low, and he looked up.

There were hundreds of undead crowding around the mine shaft, waiting to tear at him and rend his flesh with their teeth...

OOC to be continued...

OOC: I don't know how useful sentinel will be without the dark power from within but he certainly is pissed and feels like he has major score to settle a many a dear friend to avenge. He'll gladly do what he can especially if it means holding the enemy off and crushing some heads.

How's sentinels stats looking at the mo?

OOC Don't worry too much about stats at the minute - let's just say that having lost the lower half of his legs Sentinel has seen better days, but being superhuman saved his life. Sorry for not updating this the other day - as soon as I finish work I'm on kid watching duty. Makes me wish I was back at work!!!

Sentinel strode clumsily through the wreckage of the ship as support beams from the base fell in and around the remains...

Frostbite turned and pointed to the glowing undead. He turned intangible, and looked about. They'd come in directly above the level above the mine entrance, as directed from Frostbot. His signal had been lost, though whether that was from the ship crashing or a mishap that had befallen Frostbot, Frostbite wasn't sure. He didn't even know if the sentient computer program could die... or would merely revert to the glowing plate in his chest!

Silver Sentinel reshaped his legs and was better able to walk on them. He glanced back at the ship and saw what a mangled wreck it was. At the last moment he'd pressed a hand to the ship and willed it to hold together rather than collapse like a pack of cards, a trick he'd learned from his older self, now sadly lost to the void of space...

Suddenly Frostbite shuddered, and the plate on his chest began to glow again!

'Rebooting' announced a voice in his head! Then Frostbot spoke up. 'My host form suffered irreparable damage. I was transferred back to the base unit'. Assuming that he was 'the base unit' Frostbite was able to query his computer persona about using the white Lunarium to counter the effects of the red. There was a momentary pause - an age for a computer - and Frostbot replied 'The White Lunarium I have scanned from your memory would not affect the Red Lunarium in that fashion. Lunarium is somehow linked to the Shadow Demons. In controlled amounts used specifically to alter human genetic codes, it can grant superhuman powers, though this era does not have the required technology to prevent accidental overdoses or radiation sickness, which can be fatal, and was so for the Nazi superhumans which you have battled before the war ended. The White Lunarium is a mutated isotope, of origin unknown. Having scanned your memory and projected all possible uses, this unit can state clearly for the record it would have no effect on Red Lunarium radiation. However, an appropriate explosion and splitting of atoms would trigger a chain reaction which would change all Lunariums molecules to the different type. For instance, trigger the atom splitting of red Lunarium, and all Lunarium, of any variant, in range of the explosion will change to the red variant. Apply the explosion to the White variant, and all Lunarium in range will change to white. The resulting explosion would also cause a shock wave that...'

As Frostbot continued to speak in the background, the Dark Power spoke in Frostbites' mind...

"The machine does go on, but it is basically stating that the White Lunarium can be used to trigger an explosion that will bathe the solar system in White Lunarium radiation. White Lunarium wipes out all Dark Power energy." rasped the Shadow Demon inside Frostbot (OOC Sentinel can no longer hear the Dark Power within him).

"That would mean the end of the Devourer, as it feeds and lives off the Dark Power, gleaned from the death of planets. It would also mean the end of the Shadow Demons in this dimension. They are beings that depend on the Dark Power for their very existence, and have gorged since your world was plunged into war. Without Dark Power in their bodies they would lose all of their special powers and abilities, including the ability to breathe air and tolerate sunlight, for example. As for us? The Shadow Demon Royalty tied to you? As your friend Sentinel has found out, the Dark Power would be denied. He could go down to Earth and establish a link, start to drink on the Dark Power, but it would be a wasted effort now. You cannot fight the Devourer on terms you understand. Only this way, by destroying ALL the Shadow Demons, the Devourer and removing the ability to call on the Dark Power, can you 'win'."

Frostbite understood what that meant, at least. The Vanguard would no longer have their godlike abilities. This was a one shot deal. If it went wrong in some way, they would end up as superhumans without the Dark Power, ranged against countless raging gods! If this failed, it would mean the end of humanity!

The Zombies around Frostbite stumbled towards Silver Sentinel. He was holding the small metal case holding the White Lunarium shard. If he opened it, Frostbite was close enough to lose his Dark Power, probably forever!

OOC Stick around to kill zombies, or turn Sentinel intangible and fly down to Anyman in the mines below? Also, hope that techno-babble didn't look too confusing. Basically, the White Lunarium removes Dark Power, and nothing else...

Admin wrote:OOC Stick around to kill zombies, or turn Sentinel intangible and fly down to Anyman in the mines below? Also, hope that techno-babble didn't look too confusing. Basically, the White Lunarium removes Dark Power, and nothing else...

OOC: No I got it, but thanks for the clarity in talking it through. Sorry you've been so busy, but I've been there done that etc.

Frostbite nodded to Sentinel, "Time to go, we'd better catch up to the others, we've got a one shot deal that will either save mankind or..."

Frostbite let the words hang in the air, he didn't need to say more. Both men knew full well what they could expect if the Devourer was not bested and like it or not this desperate attempt seemed to be their best. Grabbing ahold of Sentinel once again, Frostbite simple said, "Don't forget to hold you're breath when we go through rock."

Before pushing off effortlessly as he rendered them both intangible, concentrating to maintain the effect as he queried, Frostbot as to the quickest route they needed to take, to get to Anyman.

Sj

Anyman was suddenly alone...

The red glare of the Lunarium lit the mine shaft up and he realized something else...

The Undead, with limited success, had broken like a wave against the immovable object that was Anyman. Now they tried a different tactic, and applied their supernatural strength to the metal beam supports holding up the rock tunnels - they meant to bury him alive under thousands of tons of rock!

The robot holding Frostbot had collapsed in on itself, delicate machinery workings inside having been irradiated and frozen up, causing the robots own mass to crush vital pipes and hydraulic systems. Bentham had vanished, presumably killed, when his own body had given out. The criminal from the future had it seemed managed to redeem himself by setting up the torpedo shaped device in the mine shaft, requiring only Lunarium to be placed into a slot and a large red button needing pressing. The resultant explosion would probably destroy the moon and kill Anyman, and wasn't guaranteed to stop the Devourer!

Now Anyman was weakened, hurting and the undead hordes clawed at him even though his punched and shoved them back. There were too many, and the Vanguardians strength was failing! The miraculous serum Bentham had provided would not last forever, but Anyman knew the undead would have overrun him by then. If not that, then he would be buried under a mountain of rocks!

He'd had better days...

Suddenly a blue glow broke into the mine shaft from above, clashing with the red of the Lunarium mine!

Frostbite and Silver Sentinel entered the mine area, flying and intangible, and ignoring the questing hands that groped for them, only to catch air!

Immediately the pair gasped - though intangible, the radiation in the mine was more than powerful enough to make them feel ill! Worse, prolonged exposure would change, or kill them!

Silver Sentinel saw armies of zombies tearing at the metal supports in the mine tunnels - in moments they would bring the place down!

Frostbite saw Anyman battling alone to stop a huge undead monster which appeared to be composed of dozens of Nazi zombies making up its body, and was sorely besieged!

Behind, down the mine shaft itself, the remains of a robot and an empty spacesuit marked where Claude Bentham and Frostbots old form had perished. The device which Bentham had given his life to construct and put in place was there - a torpedo like tube with four arm/claws jutting from the central shaft into the Lunarium coated walls of the mine.

Then, all of a sudden, the situation changed...



Appearing between the device and the Vanguardians, four Devourer Emissaries appeared! Each had the power of a god, as well the Vanguardians knew! Without their own dark power these four could easily destroy them with a thought!

The roof creaked as the metal supports shuddered - they were about to give way!

"We know why you are here. We have toyed with you, watched as you struggled against impossible odds! I was once KITTEN, a being like you devoting myself to the cause of helping others! How misguided I was! Now you shall die, before you even get chance to use your so called 'White Lunarium'! We shall take it from your dead hands and study it at our leisure. You appear to have found the only element in the universe which can slow us down..." she chuckled.

The big man laughed "I was once STORMWARDEN, in my own world. A place much like your own, but I was persecuted for having superhuman powers and wanting to use them to help others! The government outlawed all superhumans! Fools!"

"I was SILVER SENTINEL" proclaimed another, pointing at Silver Sentinel who floated, intangible with Frostbites hand on his arm. "Like him, but not weak or foolish! He gave everything for these ants, even disabling himself for the cause! How noble! How stupid."

The last paused for a moment. "You know me." It rasped quietly...

OOC There's no point rolling for initiative - these things have every power in the book and then some. This is one you'll have to talk your way out of. Fighting will get you killed! Oh, and the mine shaft is shuddering, about to collapse!

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Please tell me you brought what we need," Anyman gasped, still fighting the hordes, while now trying to brace himself against the shaft to support it. He was too tired and emotionally wasted to care about the four gods in their midsts. "All you need do is place it in that slot there and push that button." He grows an extra limb to point to where he is talking about.

Despite the danger they were in, Frostbot had revealed what had happened and indeed what the White Lunarium was capable of turning briefly to Sentinel, Frostbite said, "you'd better reveal our final guest to this little shindig."

Frostbite knew what this would mean, his own powers somehow given by means of the dark power within him, might well mean his entire being as a superhuman would come to a crashing halt. That he'd not only loose the presence and power of the dark prince within, but all his powers that he had come to since first he woke up from the coma, would also leave. But what choice did they have. Talking wasn't going to get them far this was the one trick they had up their sleeve.

OOC: Time to see what happens when we level the playing field. Sentinel needs to open the box and expose everyone to the Lunarium, whilst he does I'll move back as best I can and suggest Sentinel get to the missile where he can deposit the lunarium after we've rendered the emissaries impotent. Don't want them sabotaging the missile.

Sj

The Dark Emissaries seemed to move faster than the Vanguardians could think...

The 'Kitten' gestured, and surrounded Frostbite in some kind of energy field that crackled around him...

'WARNING!' blared Frostbot. 'Energy field of unknown designation surrounding host form! Estimation - variable frequency will affect intangible form!'

'Stormwarden' turned to Anyman and instantly unleashed a hail of freezing cold hail from his hand, coating Anyman so thoroughly it chilled him to his core and left him nigh on immobile! the Undead around him were affected in the same way, perhaps more so as they turned into blue tinged statues!

The real Silver Sentinel found his own suit morphing and twisting to become a prison around him! The metal formed a complete seal, leaving him in darkness and unaware of what was going on!

Silver Sentinel heard his evil counterpart laugh and his muffled voice through the confines of his own suit. "Test your power stripling! Yours, against mine! Try to move, why don't you!"

Anyman, through almost frozen eyeballs, and Frostbite, hovering and surrounded by a crackling energy field, saw Sentinels metal form clang to the floor, immobile and sealed!

The last Emissary with the hood took a step forward and looked at the Vanguardians. He rasped "Enough of the messing about. Let's finish this."

'Kitten', 'Stormwarden' and 'Silver Sentinel' (evil version) raised their hands to point at the Vanguardians...

OOC Anyman is coated in ice, Frostbite surrounded by an energy field (which isn't touching him but is around 1cm away from his skin) and Sentinel is trapped in his own suit! It's not quite a no win scenario, but you are horribly outmatched - as you yourselves outmatched the Nazi superhumans when using the Dark Power.

ooc: Is Anyman able to move at all? If so, he is going to grab the box that was pointed out and open it.
Otherwise, I will have to come up with Plan Z.

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc: Is Anyman able to move at all? If so, he is going to grab the box that was pointed out and open it. Otherwise, I will have to come up with Plan Z.

Frostbite struggled with the field around him, was there anyway out of this using brute force? He doubted it. So he then tried his last power, his voice, "So this is how you live, like children squashing bugs, gaining momentary satisfaction, but knowing full well that those you squash have served your appetite and nothing more. You are beings of immeasurable power and potential but are like spiteful children serving their base instincts. See from what heights you've fallen

At least the bugs you squash serve a purpose and feed as they need. Whereas you reveal in wanton destruction, in my book that makes you less powerful that the beasts you crush. You like drug addicts, serving an appetite that will be the death of you all. Like every junky, what you sow you'll reap. All your actions will cause a reaction that like of which the Devourer cannot protect you from. Because when all is said and done, you'll turn on yourselves..."

Frostbite felt that if no other power was available to him, and he knew full well without the dark power he'd just be an ordinary man, albeit with a computer brain. But that didn't stop him being a man who sort to do what was right, to be a man of integrity and virtue to the end. That was his one power, his one choice left and something no one could take away. He would not betray his principles. But maybe the same could be said for these as well...

He continued, finding his voice as he went. Unsure but determined to try and see if Nowhere man's efforts might have affected these shadows as it had others. "Once you were heroes. You can choose a better path, that power was bound to you so you could take it and channel it in a way that served light and life, not snuff it out. How would those you loved, those you'd fight for, lay down your life for, feel about what you have become?"

Frostbite held their stare, determined to let the power of whatever humanity, whatever memories remained, speak if it could. If they'd let it.

OOC: You did say we might end up having to talk our way of this, I've never been slow in that department, so that's my opening barrage unless they put a gag on me, lets see if Nowhere's efforts have struck a cord even here?

Sj

OOC: Didn't you say the box with the white crystal in was lead? Can sentinel manipulate lead i assume he can us we are so terribly out numbered he would seriously consider stripping everyone in the vicinity of there powers although he obviously can't hear the other vanguards thoughts although if i can see anyman reaching for the box that would be a good indicator

Silver Sentinel tried to use his power to manipulate metals, and open the box containing the White Lunarium...

He was still able to use his power - but it was as if he were pushing against a solid steel block miles high, wide and deep using ordinary human strength!

"HAHAHAHA!" laughed his evil counterpart. "See how that one rails against us? I was never that naive, surely? I must admit though, I never was one to give in!" He started to squeeze, slowly, and Sentinel cried out inside his metal prison - his suit was tightening all about him!

Anyman managed to move an arm, and crack some of the ice! Instantly the cold intensified and he felt his skin freezing, the blood inside chilling! It started to slow in his veins, and he felt pain as never before! The Dark Emissaries laughed, pointing at his efforts - all save one.

Frostbite said his piece, and the sneering laughs of the Dark Emissaries turned to anger as they stopped messing around and the woman who had been Kitten declared "You chose not to join us, to take your rightful place as a god over all other beings! You hold value to the worthless beings who are nought but food to us and ..."

SQUELCH!

"Do be quiet." hissed the Emissary on the end with the head shaped like a hood, and wearing a cape. His arm had shot out, extending like Anymans and formed a point that had punched through 'Kittens' head and caused her to dangle, limp, on the spike of his arm!

The others whirled about, and the 'turncoat' shouted "Don't just bloody stand there lads! Do something!" as the 'Stormwarden' leapt on him, titanic strength throwing the intangible form of Nowhere Man back through the rock walls of the mine, where they vanished form view!

That left Silver Sentinels' dark copy, who glanced at 'Kitten' to see her form vanish, thanks to Nowhere Mans' sacrificing of dozens of alternate selves which had entered Kittens form and attacked it at the cellular level! It whirled about to see Anyman thawing out, Silver Sentinel regain control of his metal morphing powers and his mobility, and Frostbite lose the energy field around him!

The Vanguard faced a dark god, and somewhere in the bowels of the moon two more dark deities punched it out, intangible to everything save each other, and causing seismic shocks with every blow!

The walls of the mine shook and rock, as well as Lunarium, fell in free fall around them as beams and supports creaked ominously! Behind the Dark Sentinel the machine that was ready to be triggered looked in danger of being destroyed by falling rock, and with it the last best hope of the Vanguard defeating the Devourer!

OOC The final act is on us my friends, over to you. You face the Dark Alternate form of Silver Sentinel and have 2 frames (1 action) before he completely obliterates you... use 'em wisely...