The Vanguard! Issue #2 - Shadow from the past, a future in tatters!

Home of the Vanguard. A secret series of caves beneath the ancestral home of Justin St Johns, former crime fighter and now crusader for justice and order in the halls of Government! Many of the caves are dark, dank places, other the opposite, humming with electronics and the best equipment money can't buy!

Joe Rigdon sat in the meeting room. It was a grand cavern, long and high ceilinged, with coloured stalactites hanging from it. The lights had been arranged to show off their splendor and provide a dim moody lighting to the room, contrasting with the lowered glare from large flat LED televisions mounted all around the wall. Though the sound was turned off, they all showed news channels from around the globe when required. Now, they emitted a soothing light as a screensaver, bathing the lone occupant of the room as he pondered the events of the past day.

Abby hadn't returned his calls. The design had been finished, and whisked away to put through computer simulations and prototyping. In order to save the Awoken in SMITEs' prison, he would have to betray fellow crimefighters such as himself. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Rigdon checked the phone again. Wandafar had summoned everyone to the meeting "A metter of great urgency!" he'd wailed. Joe had finished work anyway, checked the phone for Abby’s call - nothing - and headed on over via the teleportation 'lamp' in his home.

The others would be here soon. The the real business at hand would be revealed. The man otherwise known as Frostbite sighed, reached for his hot drink and sipped it, staring at the marble table.

"Hey Joe!" said Jack Robertson, Yeoman. He limped in, slumping in the chair a couple down from Frostbite so he could stretch out, feet on table. He grimaced as he did so, ruefully clutching his ribs. "Been over to see Dr Morris. She wasn't pleased but helped me anyway. Wouldn't talk about Nowhere Man. I think she and him had... I dunno. Never pegged him for the type to be close to anyone. Still hard to believe he's gone."

It had only been a couple of days, but Frostbite felt the weight of responsibility on him. He'd still got the USB key Nowhere Man had given him. Still yet to rescue the woman in SMITEs prison... He hoped his plan would work - keep SMITE going long enough to nab his fellow Awoken before they moved her...

=========

Jason Ashe had woken to hear the USB Key buzzing its way across the dresser before more or less falling out of bed and checking the time. Just gone 6. He groaned, scooped the key up and fired up the laptop. Last night had been a blast, and more revealing than perhaps any other since he'd gained his fantastic powers! It'd been hard to sleep knowing the energy and sheer might he contained within him! The temptation to use it all the time was powerful indeed, but he needed to keep his feet on the ground till he knew what he was dealing with. Hearing the snoring from the lounge confirmed Kevin hadn't gone for any nocturnal wanderings. Whilst talking, he had revealed a theory - that helping the nation and her people, in any way shape or form, would sate the beast within and leave him more in control, maybe even to the point of looking more like his old self! He could but hope!

The USB key slotted in the side, and Jason glanced at the list of crimes, petty and small scale, that scrolled down the screen slowly as the email box popped up. Most were away from the capital, but he couldn't be everywhere at once!

"Come at once!" went the message from Wandafar. "I have startling news about the powder sample you sent!"

Jason looked at the screen for a moment, then whipped on a nightgown, into the TV room and over to the kitchen, sticking the kettle on. With a nudge on the shoulder to Kevin, slumped on the sofa, he yelled "Wake up! We gotta go to a meeting! Our l'il buddy found something about that crazy powder stuff we nabbed last night!" as he headed to the bathroom. As he stepped in the shower, Jason considered work - he was due in at 8am. Would the meeting overrun? He didn't need the money but felt he owed his employer for sticking by him. He would stay for the basics, get back here then get to work, he decided. He heard a groan in the TV room "Do you know how bloody early it is? Tell the little twerp to bog off!"

Jason laughed, then started singing in the shower. Minutes later, he was dried and dressed. Ten minutes after that, both men stood in the glow of the lamp and vanished, reappearing in the caves below Justin St Johns' home at Caer Alwyn.

"We had something swankier at the Exec." remarked Kevin. "But I kind of like the place. It's ... 'me', if that makes sense." he said as the pair walked to the meeting room.

=========

Guys Saint Ives was already up, munching on toast and finishing up on the laptop. His article would please Fiona he reckoned. Everything she wanted from the exhibit with a report from an eyewitness on the museum incident. Whilst that one wouldn't get him any money, he knew she'd pass it on to her contacts in the quality daily newspapers who would in turn do favours for her, and in turn, Guy.

He read again, and wondered how much more he should put in. When Stormwarden had arrived, battled the German, codenamed "Fire Eagle" according to the authorities and what had happened to the terrorists' colleagues. Seemed an awful lot of effort and bother to get some dusty old relics from a museum. A growing unease filled him. Then of course, there was the power inside. Hungry, reaching for release, always, and he knew that it would recover from its exertions and yearn once more for Stormwarden to use it.

He glanced up from his thoughts at the laptop to see the USB key flashing and buzzing on the coffee table. He inserted it, read the message, then checked the time. Plenty. Just over 2 hours before he was due to meet Fiona for breakfast.

Minutes later, he was stepping into the cool dark caves under Caer Alwyn, and heading to the meeting hall.

=========

Wandafar stood on a chair at the end of the table. The Vanguard - Frostbite, Stormwarden, DarkShadow, Yeoman, with honorary members Steeplejack (still injured) and British Bulldog - were sat at the other end. Right, at the other end.

"Do you HAVE to sit so bloody far away?" sighed Yeoman. The table was over twenty feet long, with carved oak chairs, enough to seat 10 on either side and two at the ends.

"It's for dremetic effect." said Wandafar.

"What?" replied Yeoman, rolling his eyes. "I didn't hear..."

Wandafar waddled down, huffing all the way as he climbed up to a chair beside Steeplejack. "I heard you." offered John Gibbs (Steeplejack). "Creep!" grinned Yeoman. "What's this about?" asked Kevin Hammill-Hope.

"Yes, I'd like to know as well." said Justin St Johns, coming into the room at the far end. "I was due to get on a flight at 9. I've put it off till this afternoon. Hope this is important!"

Wandafar turned to the far wall, activated a remote and a screen rolled down. "I'll bet THAT cost me a fortune." groaned St Johns.

Images started playing of a microscope reading, with cells moving to attach themselves to other cells, bonding together, and the whole mass moving to bond to others.

"Ok, I'll bite." said St Johns, sitting down and helping himself to one of the croissants on the table. There were teapots, an array of breakfast type food and all the refreshments the Vanguard needed, as per their preference. "What are we looking at?"

"I played around with zat powder. Ze plant Darkshadow found makes a compound which, when combined wiz other chemicals, makes a powder. Zat is still inert, in zat it does nothing." Wandafar explained, glancing at Yeoman. "But, ven ve expose it to a certain low frequency und intensity of ultraviolet light, zis heppens. It mutates, und changes composition. Still, it is of no use you may think, und you vould be right. But treat it with heat and it becomes a liquid. Inject it into ze bloodstream of a living being und... it still does nothing."

The silence that met him was about to break when a number of the Vanguard were about to ask why Wandafar had wasted their time! He answered by gesturing for St Johns butler to come in with a covered box. He did so, and pulled a sheet away. It was a cage, and it in, a rat. The rat was extremely hostile, hissing and spitting, snarling and gnawing at the bars to get out!

"Nasty l'il bugger!" remarked Yeoman. "One of your girlfriends, Kev?" he asked Bulldog, who grinned and gave him a rude gesture.

"I sedated und killed zis ret to see vot hed heppened to it efter injecting it vith zis powder stuff." said Wandafar.

Steeplejack, quick on the uptake, said "Hold on. Killed? It looks alive to me!"

Wandafar pointed a strobe at those around the table. It picked up their heartbeats, life signs, proof they were, in fact, alive. He turned it on the rat.

Nothing. It continued to gnaw and ripped at the bars of its cage, hissing and spitting to get out! Untouched in the cage was a small bowl of dog meat, something a rat would devour without question! Visible on the rat as the team members leant in was a large incision/score down the rats underside, where Wandafar had cut it open. Though it's organs were visible, they looked rather like they'd been rotting for weeks, not hours, and there was no blood coming from the wound... Wanadafar pushed the probe up close, moved it all about. Then passed it over the Vanguard again to prove it worked.

"Darkshedow und ze British Bulldog vent beatin' up bed guys lest night und found a varehouse full of zis powder stuff. SMITE hef it now, but vot ve hef here, gentlemens, is a powder zet cen bring people back from ze dead should zey die. Und turn zem into ravening undead beasts zet make Bulldog over zere look like a poodle. Zey spread virus vis ze bite, people die und turn into more beasts zet make Bulldog look like a poodle."

"Questions?" asked Wandafar.

Frostbite
Joe Rigdon

Earlier

Frostbite was glad to be in costume and away from work, he had backed up all the date his USB keys had contained on a new set of keys that he had stashed secretly away should anything happen to the information they contained. Too high a price had already been paid for their loss to occur should anything happen. He also left instructions with Stormwarden in a sealed note via Wandafar, as to where to get the keys should anything happen to him. He hadn't meant to become so fatalistic, but it was in his nature to try and think of at least one back up plan and with the way things had happened of late, he didn't want to cost the team if anything happened to him or the keys.

As Yeoman Jack Robertson limped in, Frostbite was glad of the distraction. Things of late had got complicated, his concerns for Abby were probably unfounded, she was more likely in a huff with him for not calling sooner. He'd want to deal with that but, right now it was good to focus on the work at hand.

Turning to Jack, Frostbite got up shook his hand warmly and chatted until the others arrived.

Now

Letting what Wandafar had said sink in, Frostbite continued to stare somewhat mesmerised by what he was seeing.
"Wandafar is what we are seeing is true for humans as well as animals then this is out of some zombie flick. Is there any way to control this creature, or even cure it? And more importantly what sort of nutter would make such stuff what's the plan?"

Frostbite chewed on his finger as he looked at the creature the both fascinated him and turned his stomach at the same time. Zombie rats, if this stuff got out it would be like the worst form of plague causing untold damage. And then it hit him an even worse thought.

"What if this were to infect a Metahuman...?" he left the question hanging in the air aware of the full ramifications of a metahuman all but indestructible to normal attacks, what would it take to stop such a thing?"

He turned to Wandafar,

"We've got to stop this, any idea where we can start?"

OOC:

1. Ok my earlier interlude wasn't be trying to be fatalistic but just cautious, I wanted back up plans as so far all the data we've got is on these keys and if I was captured or they were damaged etc, so I want to be cautious. I would have hidden them some place not easy to find, some place fiendishly clever and totally safe, giving Stormwarden geo cash data or something to find them.

2. I wanted to ask a number of questions so didn't wait for answers so as to keep the pace up. You can insert the answers as appropriate.

3. I guess my next move would be to find out what we can find out as to the source of this powder, how it and or those infected might be stopped, and what we can do to protect people from its effects, before we charge in to go get it.

Sj

Jason leaned forward and put his head in his hands, shaking his head in disbelieif, "bloody hell, they have stepped up the war, the shadows no longer want to conquer us, they want to destroy us, to let lose this hellpowder and let us all kill eachother, and do their business for them, Wandafar I hate SMITE as much as everyone, but your research needs to be given to them, The government HAS to know what they are going to fight in a few months, do you have any "contacts" in science community??"

"The Bastards want to wipe us off the face of the Earth.." he said " ... well I for one, wont go without a fight!"

H

Frostbite/The Vanguard as a whole
(Joe Rigdon)

Joe thanked his stars that he'd taken the time to order those extra high capacity memory sticks. They'd arrived in the post and waited for him to come home. Though the process of transferral for all the files from the one Nowhere Man had given him took all night, he now had three backups. One he secreted under the floorboards of his bedroom, another he'd put aside to go in a safe deposit box and the third he'd mailed to his parents with a "Keep this safe never open it" style message. He could trust them to do both. He half expected it to be buried in the back garden somewhere in a box. Then fully expected it, a few minutes later. (OOC I can't remember if Joes' parents are alive or not, so that may need change. Otherwise you can alter those locations to suit.)

Letting what Wandafar had said sink in, Frostbite continued to stare somewhat mesmerised by what he was seeing.
"Wandafar is what we are seeing is true for humans as well as animals then this is out of some zombie flick. Is there any way to control this creature, or even cure it? And more importantly what sort of nutter would make such stuff what's the plan?"

"I hypothesis zat anyone injected viz zis stuff vill be a normal geezer und be no different in any vay. If zey die of old age zey vill become za old age zombie. If zey die younger zan old age und smelling of vee vee und esking for dinner all za bloody time, zen ve hef problem. I sink ze brain is ze key. Blow zere brains out und zey fall over. Just like in za zombie films ya? Ze brain is also za key to control. Zey vill have za inclination to do vot zey vould do normally, unless someone viz za varm blood is near, in vich case zey vill vant to eat zem. I... hef another theory. Ze dosage must be measured precisely to ze subject. I killed 18 rets before zis vun did not die. I em holding ze funeral service later. You are all invited. If you use it on a human zen zere is the possibility of overdose BUT if you get it right you cen double or triple ze dose. I do not know vot vill heppen zen." said Wandafar, a grave expression on his face.

Frostbite chewed on his finger as he looked at the creature the both fascinated him and turned his stomach at the same time. Zombie rats, if this stuff got out it would be like the worst form of plague causing untold damage. And then it hit him an even worse thought.

"What if this were to infect a Metahuman...?" he left the question hanging in the air aware of the full ramifications of a metahuman all but indestructible to normal attacks, what would it take to stop such a thing?"

"Again, zis depends. Dosage required to effect von of you vill be much higher. Whether it vill or not is another metter. You all are different, no two alike. In some cases it is hard to tell if you are human. In Yeomans' case it is hard to tell whether he is awake or just brain dead."

Yeoman started at this, yelling "Hey!" before Wandafar ignored him and continued.

"It vud indeed be bed. But I sink ve not to worry. Only worry about zis getting out. It transmit the viral code via bite. If you die, you become von. If you don't die, then you die later und become von. Blood tranfusion may help but may be too late. Depends on subject. If you get bitten is only matter of time, I sink. Maybe wrong, maybe right. You want try?" he said, offering the cage, and rat therein.

He turned to Wandafar,

"We've got to stop this, any idea where we can start?"

Wandafar scratched his head. "Ze people who made zis are ze vuns wiz answers. Unfortunately is soudns like Darkshadow let zem get avay. Und he smashed ze main bad guy to pieces. Zey are, I sink, just vun part of ze whole chain..."

British Bulldog looked up "This is something bigger I think. Gut instinct tells me this is an iceberg and these ... zombies ... are just the tip. Something else is going on. Huge. God know what mind."

Yeoman offered "We go back to the warehouse, poke about. SMITE will still be there. We can't reveal too much other than to burn the stuff they nabbed. I just hope they don't inject anyone with it, but they don't have anyone smarter than Dr Zhivago over there, thank god. I'd hate to think there were two of that numpty out there."

Wandafar chuckled "Ya, likevise. You lower ze average IQ of ze nation by 10% just by being alive." he countered. "But maybe yes. Ze thick bloke is probably right in zis case."

Justin frowned, looked up "You're team leader Frostbite. Your call. I will work behind the scenes, drop an anonymous note in the halls of power that a dangerous chemical weapon is stashed in some SMITE warehouse. Will try and find where they've moved it, because if these people go looking for their powder and get it, it's game over, people. Who's to say this is all of it? There must be a supply chain somewhere. Darkshadow mentioned in his report that they were on a production line. Perhaps they mixed the various ingredients on the line and packed it away - into teddys, of all things. Who'd chop a teddy up to go looking for drugs that, by all accounts, have no scent a dog would track. We're dealing with bad people. Luckily, we're the right people for the job!"

Darkshadow
(Jason Ashe)

Jason leaned forward and put his head in his hands, shaking his head in disbelieif, "bloody hell, they have stepped up the war, the shadows no longer want to conquer us, they want to destroy us, to let lose this hellpowder and let us all kill each other, and do their business for them! Wandafar I hate SMITE as much as everyone, but your research needs to be given to them. The government HAS to know what they are going to fight in a few months, do you have any "contacts" in science community??"

Justin nodded, trying to calm the passionate Dark Avenger. "I agree... we'll get right on it. If need be we will take the findings directly to the Government and SMITE, but that brings risks. They could, concievably, track it back to Wandafar. He's one of.. what, three people in the UK who could've figured all this out from a few hours in the lab. We'll set the experiment up again, record it on video and make sure it gets to the right people. If the press got hold via a leak we'd have mass panic on our hands."

His eyes widened at the thought "And the Shadows would darken again. Just think, the terror something like this would inspire! It would.. might even be, the tipping point to allow the Shadow Demons to invade!"

"The Bastards want to wipe us off the face of the Earth.." Darkshadow said " ... well I for one, wont go without a fight!"

Yeoman jabbed him on the shoulder "I'm with you. They've crossed the line. Time for us to climb down in the pit. It's gonna get dirty, but we need to rip this serpents head off before it raises up to bite us."

"It's a ret." said Wandafar, helpfully. Yeoman gestured, prompting Wandafar to say "Vell zet vas not nice."

Frostbite/The Vanguard as a whole
(Joe Rigdon)

Joe thanked his stars that he'd taken the time to order those extra high capacity memory sticks. They'd arrived in the post and waited for him to come home. Though the process of transferral for all the files from the one Nowhere Man had given him took all night, he now had three backups. One he secreted under the floorboards of his bedroom, another he'd put aside to go in a safe deposit box and the third he'd mailed to his parents with a "Keep this safe never open it" style message. He could trust them to do both. He half expected it to be buried in the back garden somewhere in a box. Then fully expected it, a few minutes later. (OOC I can't remember if Joes' parents are alive or not, so that may need change. Otherwise you can alter those locations to suit.)

Yup still alive and Joe is close to them, so what you've written here Paul works really well for me.

IC

"Right men this is what we are going to do. Stormwarden, Darkshadow, Bulldog and myself are going to check out the warehouse to see if we can't track down some clues as to what is going on here. Hopefully it will have been too hot, for those who had been running it to have totally wiped it clean.

Wandafar, before you do that tape, can you throw up some schematics to my onboard computer and see if you can patch Steeplejack and Yeoman in with us. I want you guys to be our spying eyes, the codes we've got hopefully should allow us a back door into SMITE communications, which means we can know what they know, before they do.

Ok unless there is anything else I suggest we get on with it, time is against us folks. The clocks ticking and we don't know whose these people are, what their plan is or where they are, but we all know what is at stake. So lets get to it.

If there is nothing else we can deal with stuff on the way. Lets go."

OOC
1. I will need to arrange with Wandafar transport, but otherwise I think we can deal with any other issues in transit, if everyone is ok with that.

Sj

Stormwarden
(Guy St Ives)

"Blimey!" He shook his head as he stood up. "Vikings and Nazis, now Zombies. Are you absolutely sure we're not in a movie?" he asked wonderingly. "I know this is the big threat, but I'm still damned if I know how that Fire Eagle bloke got away. Or what they were after. Too much power, all at once."

He looked at the others. "And that includes us, too!"

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

[quote author=Limerickcot link=topic=103.msg2344#msg2344 date=1270620770]
Stormwarden
(Guy St Ives)

"Blimey!" He shook his head as he stood up. "Vikings and Nazis, now Zombies...Too much power, all at once."

He looked at the others. "And that includes us, too!"
[/quote]

Frostbite nodded. It certainly did seem that larger forces were at work in a multiplicity of ways and means.

"Well I don't know if this mission is going to answer your questions Stormwarden, but in truth I can't help feeling that any number of enemies are looking to exploit our current predicament to their advantage. And all of that plays into the Shadow Demons hands.

It does seem that events have conspired together for just such a time as this..."

Frostbite wasn't really a deep philosopher and discussion about what may or may not be going on where open to a great deal of unhelpful speculation. He preferred to deal in facts, in the concrete and the real, with that in mind he motioned to the others, not wanting to stop the discussion but equally not wanting to delay the task at hand.

He felt somewhat frustrated, as much as Stormwarden, that yet again another problem loomed large and yet again they had many more questions and yet so little with which to answer.

Sj

The Vanguard

The team got up glanced at one another, and filed out. Wandafar piped up "I fill fit ze other guys viz headsets und cameras. Zey vill conenct virelessly viz your headset und your computer can sort out a look see on your hud. Ven can I scoop your brain out to see how zet is all done?"

Yeoman replied "Hey! I want in! I may be carrying a few knocks but... ouch!" Steeplejack held both hands up to ward Yeoman off. "I only lightly prodded you mate."

"Good point."

"I'm in the same boat. I broke so many bones there's no telling when I'll get back to full combat effectiveness." Steeplejack sighed. "Still, I can't do this full time anyway."

The team walked through several caves before coming into a larger, deeper one. In there, the Vanguard Flyer sat on a platform. "Don't be creshing it. Or bending it, or nothing." said Wandafar. "I made a lot of special modifications myself. She'll make point five past lightspeed und did the kessel run in 12 parsecs. Heh, heh."

Bulldog rolled his eyes, fitted the headset and rolled his neck. Though his costume would grow with his when he changed, still his size continued to trouble him. As did the pent up fury he always had to reign in!

The team filed onboard. "I'll fly." offered Hammill-Hope, dropping into the pilots seat. "No idea if you guys have any experience, but this baby looks like one of our old Exec runabouts."

"I made is zet vay. For nostalgia you know. Good to hev you beck Bulldog." said Wandafar, a tear in his eye.

=========

En route...

In stealth mode the flyer bent light around it. Whilst that took vital power and speed from its' engines, still the team were able to make good time from Wales to London. In under 30 minutes from boarding, the team had reached the outskirts of the nations capital, and all the while invisible to air traffic control, military surveillance and onlookers!

"Down there." said Darkshadow. "That's the place."

Bulldog nodded, expertly guided the craft in. The warehouse in question was in the middle of an industrial estate. The place was cordoned off, SMITE agents blocking traffic and guiding people around, whereas normal police kept the majority of press and onlookers away. It would be tricky to land anywhere near without attracting attention.

"Looks like a walk in." said Bulldog. Then he glanced about. "Did you feel that?" he hissed. "I... urkh!" Bulldog clutched his chest, and the flyer veered violently to the side, levelled by Darkshadow in the co-pilot seat!

"Something... happening... the land!" hissed Bulldog!

Then, before everyones eyes, British Bulldog started to fade away, becoming insubstantial!

"Help him!" said Yeoman, before he glanced down. He too, was suffering the same! The flyer was becoming transparent, and Steeplejack looked at his hand "What's happen..." before he winked out of sight!

(To be continued... Need to dash out )

The Vanguard

What happened before... The Vanguard are en route to investigate a warehouse where two of their members had busted a drugs ring. Unbeknown at the time to the Vanguardians, the drug was, when administered in the right amount and heat treated for the correct time, some means of bringing the dead back to life... as... The Undead!
As they closed in on the site, several of the Vanguardians felt strange, and their flying ship, the Vanguard Flyer, started to disappear around them!

And then there were three.

Where the team had been, moments before flying across London, now they hovered under their own power in... well, it sure didn't look like London!



Whilst they let that sink in, a voice echoed through the threes' minds!

'We are your... inner demons, if you will.' said three voices, speaking almost in time. 'We are resting. 'Hatching' from your form as we did recently takes large amounts of energy to break through interspacial barriers and enter your world. However, we felt a need to intervene. Your reality is changing. Has been changed. There remains only several things that can threaten the change from being made permenant. You three. There are three more of you, out there, but because they were only 'awoken' and not 'hatched' they have been affected by the reality change. How this came about is not clear, but we suspect that someone in your present opened a portal to the past at the same time someone in the past opened one. Creating, of sorts, a gateway. Closing the gateway at this end will not restore your time. It must be closed in the past too. Whomever has done this has taken advantage of a knowledge of world history and changed it, it seems. You have a choice. Stay here and exist in this altered future, or go into the past, and try to destroy the gate. You have not been affected because our power was used to prevent the time wave from touching you. Were we to drop the shield we hold over you, you would have no memory of your life as was, only the life it became. You would be changed, irrevocably, and we would lose our link to your reality.'

<<Scanning. Picking up wireless signals. They are being transmitted in German.>> said Frostbites inner computer. <<I have no access to translations programs else I could translate the words for you. Suggest accessing a terminal to gain translation capabilities from the internet.>>

The team looked out over the city. Too many flying machines to count were flitting here and there, whilst thick black cloying industrial fumes wafted up from belching factories, and thousands of vehicles buzzed like ants on the roads. Certain sections of the city were clean, pristine, shining in the sun, whilst others were brown or dark grey, filthy from pollution and grime.

"Aufmerksamkeit! Identifizieren Sie sich und Kraft hinunter! Sie werden zu Verarbeitung für Untersuchung genommen werden!"* bellowed the loudspeaker from a hovering gunship. It was about the size of a large helicopter, a two man craft with very large calibre weapons protruding! It was joined by three more, four in total.



Still gaping at the change that'd come over the land they knew and lived in, the three remaining Vanguardians hadn't heard the approach of the Gunships until they were almost on top of them!

*Translation, though your characters don't know this! 'Attention! Identify yourselves and power down! You will be taken to processing for interrogation!'

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

"Toto we're not in Kansas now!"

Frostbite said, as he snapped back into reality, he stretched out his fingers and spoke internally to his onboard computer. OK I need you to access conversational German or we are going to be sitting ducks up here.

The aloud he said to the others,

"Guys I might be able get us up to speed with speaking German and even flying this bucket of bolts, Stormwarden we could use a distraction to get this heat off our tales, can you knock up a some pea soap fog to go, with added electrical charge if at all possible?

Darkshadow see if you can't knock some static back to the other craft so they think we're having communication problems.

OOC

1. Ok Kendal if its possible to get some cover and buy us some time, why does this feel like the crew of the enterprise on Star Trek 5 (the Undiscovered Country I think that is 5!) when they are trying to slip in past the klingons

2. Harry I think you were up front at the co-pilot seat anyway, so not sure if we can get some static broadcast across or just try to make it look like we're struggling here to keep them guessing.

Any other ideas you gents have got would be welcome. please don't think I am trying to meta game for you, as this is my first time out in the leadership seat, so I feel I ought to be suggesting things as the designated leader, but in truth I want this to be a team enterprise where all good ideas get incorporated into the final mix. So chip in, in or out of character and we can always then make our decisions based on that, rather than just on what I say. The main thing is I'd like to try and keep things moving, where possible.

3. Meanwhile Paul if I can access the either the ship or some wireless transmission, enough to learn conversational German, I think that might stand us (and you save you having to write in German) all in good stead.

4. Not sure what we can do about flying the craft, is there a way to download the manual? Or at least let the my onboard computer fly the craft?

In any case our priority is to shake these guys off, land in one piece and find the gateway so that we can try and get back in time to close the loop and snap time back into place as we've known it.

Ok - what does everyone else think?

Sj

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

With the shock of what had happened, the presence of the flying machine was the final straw for Stormwarden. He needed time to think, with the others. What was best to do?

For the moment. "Fog it shall be!" he declared, summoning a thick blanket to come in. With the nearby pollution it might be best to describe it as thick smog, but the result was going to be what he remembered his granddad, a londonder born and bred, complaining about from the 1920's.

"Gentlemen." he said to the rest of them. "I don't know exactly whats gone on here, but this is like any number of alternate history books I've read." He chuckled softly. "and one I didn't get round to finishing! As I remember the rough phrase - a twig can divert a stream at its source but not even an elephant can dam a mighty river. If time is the river then we need to cope with this at its source."

He sighed mournfully. "There wasn't a male of my family who wasn't in the armed forces back then. I wonder if they'd still survive to this time in this alter world. If this is the work of that bloody nazi, Fire Eagle, then I might find them all in a gas oven. That nose of ours looks more jewish than scandanavian. So.. If its up to a vote then going back gets mine but...I say we try and find out what happened, where we diverged if we can. "

The Vanguard

At Stormwardens' thought, suddenly the air grew chill and moisture condensed so rapidly not even the team could see each other in the thick fog! The exception, of course, was Stormwarden. He didn't need to see with his eyes - the shapes in the fog were as clear to him as if he had sonar! He sensed his team mates in the fog and the enemy gunships. Even their engines weren't enough to dispersed the thick, cloying mist!

'Access their wireless transmissions!' ordered Frostbite of his computer.

<<Accessing. Code protected. Circumventing... circumvented. Accessing. Uploading translation program. I can translate their words and translate your own but your pronounciation and the delay may be insufficient for a normal conversation. Program uploaded. Interesting. The United States of Germany is the predominat world power. Imperial Japan encompasses China, but is subservient to Germany. America stands alone but is on the brink of war - and annihalation from the combined former Axis powers of World War II. Italy controls most of the mediterranean states and large parts of Africa but is a puppet nation, controlled by Germany. Russia is a wasteland, mined and controlled by Germany for her resources, her peoples enslaved or hunted down and killed. An Alien race, the Vangids, has relocated to the moon. They are aligned with the German Superstate and her allies, and have been since 1940 or so, when the Axis powers won the Battle of Britain. From then the European nations fought a losing battle. Beware! The Schutzstaffel, or 'Shield Squadron' has an army of superhumans at its command! You are in great danger! I have jammed the gunships transmission.>>

OOC didn't move you but the fog is blocking sight for the gunships and you are too small/close to show up on radar, for the gunships, who can't fire for fear of hitting each other! With comms down they are shouting furiously into their radios, but this holding tactic will only work for so long!

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

As the super fast fog coalesced around them, Frostbite thanked Stormwarden as his computer went to work accessing the information he'd requested.

<<Accessing. Beware! The Schutzstaffel, or 'Shield Squadron' has an army of superhumans at its command! You are in great danger! I have jammed the gunships transmission.>>

"Oh great" Frostbite intoned. "Ok folks this is where things go haywire, Stormwarden since you've concocted this I suggest you lead the way. Get us somewhere safe...."

OOC

Kendal if you or Harry want to suggest anything different I'm good with that, otherwise I suggest...

1. OK thanks for the info, I will pass that onto the others as time allows, whilst now trying to fly out of the sight and detection of the patrol ship.
2. I suggest we get somewhere we're we can locate some sort of attire that we can blend in and find out more about what is going on?

Sj

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

"Then follow me and keep up!" With that Stormwarden made his way down through a thickening bank of fog. Once below the interceptors he felt his way to the river, something that likely had not changed its course in this reality. And from there he could find his way to Battersea Park. He idly wondered if they'd kept the circus.

The Vanguard

The three Vanguardians make their way to a lower level, down through the fog and to nigh on street level. As the fog drifts away behind them (OOC I assume Stormwarden figures anyone looking from afar might see if strange that a large bank of fog is moving quickly across London) the heroes see the architecture, streets, even the traffic has changed!



The people wear identical clothing, man and woman. There are no overweight - or underweight people, and hair is mostly blonde. They stand out little against the backdrop of grey and brown, though the city of London itself appears to have been raised 100m or more off the ground by huge columns of concrete metres thick. A glance between roads reveals there is a darker slum like area far below, where the street level used to be.

Stormwarden leads the trio to where he knew battersea park to be, on the bank of the Thames. However, when he gets there, the power station is not only operational, but heavily guarded by armoured 'stormtroopers'.



Taken aback somewhat, everywhere the trio look there is evidence that everything has changed. They stand out due to their vibrant colours and powers, it can be only a matter of time before the authorities find them! Added to that, were they to call on their 'dark power' inside, the moment the 'time shield' was dropped the Vanguardian would cease to exist in their present form!

Frostbite scans about. As the three float in the shadow of a building near the modern looking nuclear power station that is now Battersea, he sees there's a group of workers leavingt he place. On foot, whilst others cycle or the more fortunate ones go by car. The cars themselves are uninspiring bubbles, designed to seat several adults and humming away on electric power.



The group of workers is stood by what appears to be some kind of bus stop. None talk to each other, and all seem to be listening to earpieces whilst staring vacantly ahead.

An armed patrol is marching down the road in the opposite direction towards the powerstation, 6 armed men.

Just then Darkshadow spots a young child dressed in rags, a street urchin. The child, a young girl no more than 8 or 10, runs over to a machine set into the stone wall of a building, probably a cash machine, and pulls out some kind of home made contraption. She's so engrossed in what she's doing at the terminal that she doesn't think to look around the corner where the armed guards are approaching from. In moments they'll be seeing her...
[size=8pt]
OOC The team is in the shadow of a building, some 100m away from the child who is stood on the street corner. The streets are fairly quiet round here. They are out of sight so long as no one looks up. The sun is fairly high in the sky so deep shadows are cast. Darkshadow can't be seen at all in the shadows unless he wants to be. There's also the option of Stormwarden blanketing the area in Fog, which would take but a thought (Grade 3 will do that for ya).[/size]

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon


"What kind of a nightmare have we stepped into?" Frostbite said, through gritted teeth.

Quickly weighing up the options, he spoke quietly to the team...

"I don't suppose anyone here has any second thoughts about rescuing a desperate girl from almost certain death at the hands of fascist Nazi's?"

Hardly waiting for a pause he continued, "Good that's agreed then, lets rescue that girl and see if we can't get us some more information?"

Turning to Darkshadow, he said,

"Time to do what you do best, I want you to get the girl and keep her safe, get her back to us here and Stormwarden how about some more of that London fog you do so well. That ought to give us some cover unless they are using some sort of advance scanning.

Once again turning back to Darkshadow, Frostbite said,

"If things get nasty, get out. Stormwarden and I will provide a distraction, we can rendezvous in an hour. I suggest using these slum areas below us, maybe we can more easily shake them and then meet up at the Embankment in an hour. Ok?"



OOC OK assuming questions and what not, hopefully we proceed.

Sj

Bill Canyon
(Cannonball)

OOC Translated from German

"It's not that, father, it's just that... I feel... I was *meant* to do something else." said Bill, exasperated. He stood attired in his dark grey suit, several shades deeper than the rank and file of the common man on the street to show his rank. He spoke to his father via video link to America. Relations had been frosty lately. The United States of Germany was pushing for more concessions and tributes, America resisted, and that meant people like Bill, over here as part of the diplomatic corp, found their job harder. Now he was mostly confined to quarters here in London. With a sigh he cut the link and went into the living room. Flicking on the 60" flat screen he watched the news. Carefully controlled and filtered by the state, the people knew only what they needed to know.

"And today in other news another food riot was quelled. Terrorists attempted to storm the Municipal food distribution centre but were purged by the Police. Officials state a number were taken into custody for questioning but the majority were purged to nevermore sully our glorious streets! Heil Hitler!"

Bill turned away. Even at home, things were... strained. Martial law had been declared again, and anyone of foreign descent, be they European, Mexican or otherwise, was quarantined and questioned. It was a tit for tat move after the USG (United States of Germany) had detained all foreign nationals as a matter of 'precaution' against submersive elements.

Right now, the only thing stopping all out war between the Americas and what was Europe was the prescence of the deterrents. Adjutant and the USG Champions ranged against the American supers. The nuclear deterrent was more or less ignored - a number of the supers could withstand a nuclear explosion without harm, and quite a few of them could intercept and destroy missiles in the air.

It was a bad time.

He checked the clock. Time to go to work.

Gathering his briefcase he went down the lift and out into the lobby, then the street.

Strange.

There was no forecast for fog, and yet it was thick as pea soup!

Glancing to the side Bill stepped back as the SS strode past. It was impossibel to see through the black screens of the helmets but he knew he was watched and scrutinised. He was allowed out today only because he was tagged, expected to go to the Embassy, and do his work. He glanced ruefully at the ankle bracelet, sighed, and walked after the half dozen SS at a safe distance.

'You were meant for greater things' whispered the voice inside. That again! He'd seen the embassay doctor who given him tranqs to help him sleep. Great, whilst he was asleep, now he was hearing the voice again. 'Heed the call. You are needed. Soon...'

OOC In a nutshell. A group of mega villains has banded their resources to gather certain materials and somehow open a gate through time. They have gone into the past and changed the reality Bill Canyon lived in. Because he had not yet embraced the power within (like the others had) he was changed llike the others. He has NO superhuman powers at the moment. He is a diplomatic assistant for the US Embassy in London. The US and USG are in the midst of a Cold War like Russia and the US were in the 80s. At the end of World War II the USG covered most of Europe and the USA sued for peace. Since then it has been a difficult time. Bill grew up in a world where anyone looking or sounding different was viewed as a spy. It's not a nice place to be. He hears a voice inside, more often as of late, and despite trying to ignore it, he feels that it has something to do with his feeling that he was meant for better things.

Right now (see the map in my previous post) he is walking down the street towards the bus stop and some 10m or so behind a group of SS. It's foggy.

turning invisable and intangable, DS floated down the road, past the intersection and towards the cash machine,
turning round so he faced his teammates, he started to create a Force Wall a thick bank of "fog" cutting off the whole street, to block the guards getting to her, then making his head, arms and shoulders visable he flew towards the girl " Ach Dung Ach Dun En Englisher int un minenfield!!!" he said wishing he had paid attention in school, only german he knew was from reading Commando Comics and old movies, "Shnell Shnell, Achdung......" he said towards the girl seaching his mind for any words of warning. "Look love RUN !!!!!!!" he shouted.


H

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

Stormwarden slowly continued his own floating advance up the street, allowing the fog to thickly condense around him. to anyone else it would just seem that this was just a thicker mass of air. He flexed his fists, ready in case he had to do anything.

"Tally-ho, old bean." he muttered under his breath. And then he had a thought. With a swoop he soared up and over towards the column of stormtroopers. He had no knowledge of this time, this place, but a distraction could be many things. Above and just behind them, he stopped. In his loudest voice he boomed out. [size=18pt]"God save the Queen!" [/size]

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ooc: I have no idea if this will do the trick - but then neither does stormy. But anyone yelling behind an armed squad is likely to get some kind of attention.

Darkshadow
(Jason Ashe)

Dredging up every bit of german - or german sounding words - that he could, Darkshadow suddenly appeared near the girl whilst speaking! His 'power' as such hovered in a grey area between 'peak of human ability' and 'superhuman'. As such when he made his prescence known - by speaking, or using his powers, it didn't work so well. Nonetheless, it'd done it's job. The Nazis hadn't seen him flit across the street. Coupled to that the solid obsidian wall stretched across the road meant they'd not be able to see the girl, much less chase her!

The girl stood open mouthed, the hand held device attached via ribbon cable to a dummy card in the machine. "You... you speak English?" she stammered. Up close Darkshadow could see she was very young. The thick coating of grime on her face and hair covered most of her up. She spoke with a foreign accent, and clean crisp well pronounced words, much like a German might. "Are you... are you with the resistance? And your clothes! Your mask! Who ARE you?"

Behind her the machine pinged. A slot in the machine opened and a tube, around 6" long, 4" across popped out. There was no fancy packaging on it, only a few simple words in German. The little girl grinned "Food! We haven't eaten in days!" she grinned. "You want to come with me? You want some food?" she offered Darkshadow.

From across the street a hissed voice came "Helga! Come on! Who are you talking to? The Nazis will be here soon!"

Darkshadow glanced across the street. It was hard to see through the fog, but he could see just fine the young boy stood in shadow. He looked to be in his early teens. He brandished a metal pipe as a weapon but clearly didn't fancy his chances against the costumed man talking to his little sister! "COME ON!" he hissed.

Stormwarden and Frostbite
(Guy Saint Ives and Joe Rigdon)

OOC I assume Frostbite is Intangible. There were no specific details about what you wanted Frosty to do Dave, so hopefully what I've run with is ok with you.

"God save the Queen!"

The troops stopped, turned round, confused, and looked about. Then up. Instantly they pulled guns and started shouting in German!

<<I have jammed their signals as requested. I could not silence them completely but I attached a piggyback static sound to each audio signal that should result in a garbled noise at the other end, unless they run the sound through a filter.>> said the reassuring voice in Frostbites' head. <<They were reporting that a rogue metahuman has been found and they needed backup to their location immediately.>>

The troops were well trained! They pulled guns, took aim, and started to fire at the huge superhuman floating above and behind them! One shouted, and three diverted their fire towards a strange blue skinned man with a pulsing chest plate!

OOC three on each. Initiative and actions please gents! I'll roll the initiative... 1d10=5 Heroes, 1d10=6 Nazis. HOWEVER I'm giving you a +3 bonus to initiative for the element of surprise. Even though you missed out on the chance of a free surprise attack by announcing yourselves, these guys would have to be Quick Draw McGraw to beat you to the punch. So, uh, one frame each. It's thick as a bag (foggy) out there too.



Stormwarden - Y12
Frostbite - X11
Darkshadow - Q18
Street Urchins - P18 (little girl - Helga) and N21 (big brother)
Bill Canyon (Cannonball) - X7
Darkshadows Force Wall - W18-19

Frostbite
Joe Rigdon

Somewhat bemused and by Stormwaden's shout, was it even necessary if he fog covered Darkshadow, he thought now they had no choice to but to tackle the guards and see if they could provide Darkshadow the cover he needed to get away.

OOC:

With one frame only I will take flight with Stormwarden to draw the fire of the nazi guards giving Darkshadow time to get away.

Once we can see they are gone, we to should bid a hasty retreat until we know what we are dealing with, and will suggest that we do that asap.

Sj

Stormwarden
[guy St Ives]

Stormwarden dived in and out of the fog, fading quickly backwards as shots came towards him. Thankfully the sound of the firing was going to be well muffled by the fog, and the fog was providing an excellent source of cover, but he was having to remember that he wasn't invulnerable here.

Backing off, he saw the guards start to move after him. There wasn't much here on the grimy streets that he could use to throw at them. NOt that he could see anyway. But he only needed to draw them off long enough to get the little girl out of the way. And hopefully give them some kind of local contact.

"Over Herreeee." He called out, instantly flying behind another bank of fog as shots came whizzing past.

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ooc. I hope that this covers why hes doing this. He doesn't see the need to actually get into a slugfest at this time, he's just making time and drawing them away. Mind you, give him a bench, car or something handy to throw and he'll do so.

His intention is that, once we've drawn them away, then to blanket the area truly thickly and then dive over the buildings back to the food machine.