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

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

"Nice distraction, Stormwarden, now lets retreat so Darkshadow can help he girl."

OOC

Ok Kendal my bad, thanks for making things clearer. Ok lets move away from Darkshadows direction distracting the guards as we go.

Sj

Stormwarden and Frostbite
(Guy Saint Ives and Joe Rigdon)

OOC Smoothly done.

Stormwarden used his fog to drift in and out of sight of the 'Stormtroopers' They fired blind into the air, shouting into their garbled radios and looking about. At least two got an accurate shot in on Frostbite, though to no avail.

Seconds later, the group were split up and spread ou in the fog, running around the streets and looking for two who'd flown over the top of them and back towards where Darkshadow and the girl were.

OOC for non-critical stuff I'll npc characters where needed.

"Oh no!" said the young boy stood in the Shadows across the street from Helga and Darkshadow. "Helga!" he spat "We need to go! NOW!" and he pointed...

From the fog two figures emerge - Darkshadow breathes a sigh of relief as he sees it's Frostbite and Stormwarden. Though he was more or less fearless thanks to his incredible powers, but protecting two children AND himself would be a different proposition!

Frostbite and Stormwarden fly through the thick fog towards where Darkshadow is. Without Stormwarden to lead the way Frostbite knew he could've easily gotten lost, such is the density of the fog!

The young lad came across the street brandishing a bent metal pipe. "You leave my sister alone!" he snarled "Or... or... I'll get you!" he said. He spoke in clear accented English, almost as if ... or more likely probably as if it were a second language.

OOC You don't have long. There are armed men scouring the streets.

"Hey Matey, Were the Good Guys !!!" Darkshadow said in his Northen Accent. "I'm a True Brit, Thru and Thru so stop messin about the get your sister out of here. " he said turning solid and human in fround of the two kids. "They call me DarkShadow, This is Frostbite and Stormwarden, they my mates, and if your not bloody careful those wannabe stromtroopers would of got her if I havnt of but that wall up," he cocked his head to the side and added "So give us a break and lets get the hell out of here before the Big Guns arrive ok ???"

H

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

'tuning-in' allowed Stormwarden to detect movement throughout the neighborhood covered by the fog. Some of those guards were going to be here within a very short while if they weren't careful. He turned to the children.

"Guards are coming. Is there someplace we can get out of this fog and be unseen?" he asked in a gentle, more cultured voice than the thicker accent being used by Darkshadow.

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

OOC Nicely done guys...

IC

Frostbite smiled, hoping more to reassure the young lad than anything else. He nodded as his friends seemed to be better able to deal with the kids, then he felt.

Motioning for the others to make haste, he stayed behind to watch their backs as they let the young lead the way.

OOC:

Ok allow the lad to lead us away and try and see if we can't plug these guys for more information and assistance.

Sj

The Vanguard

The boy looked at the three strangely garbed individuals. Two looked weird - one was a hulking man mountain that looked like he could punch through a Panzer, another looked like there was some kind of energy flickering in the globe on his chest, and it was cold simply to be near him! The other one seemed more human - when he spoke it was in a normal voice, but strange, like there was some kind of accent. In fact, all three spoke strangely.

"Von wo sind Sie? Ich denke nicht, dass Sie von herum hier sind." he tried. He looked at the three in turn.

<<I will translate: Where are you from? I don't think you are from round here.>> said the computer in Frostbites' head. Frostbite in turn, glanced about. Time was running out. "We are from round here, but it's a long story. He replied. And one we don't have time for!"

The clatter of footsteps could be heard nearby...

=========

The guards rounded the corner. At the other end of the street had been a solid obsidian barrier, impossible to break through and unsettling to touch. The guards had tried shooting at it, their silent guns phutt! phutt! blasting away at the barrier, to no effect. With barked orders, they'd gone round the block, and now figured they were closing in. There was a food station on the corner. Clearly it was the work of more insurgents! With luck they'd catch them and...

Gone.

The guards looked about, spread around, searching for clues...

=========

Below, the children gasped and whooped as Stormwarden carried the pair below the level of the bright, clean buildings and streets to what lay below the overpasses and high rise buildings. The lower levels of buildings sat in partial darkness, becoming more complete save for basic lighting flickering away every now and again. Lower and lower, the grime and murk intensified. It was clear that rubbish was generally tosse dout the window or between the roadways to land far below. There people lived, sifting through the rubble to find useful objects, food even.

At ground level, amidst derelict but still habited buildings, on streets thick with clutter and filth, children poked about with sticks in gaps and yelled with delight when they produced a rat, shielding it from other 'scavvies' who sought to tear it from their grasp.

The three superheroes stood out like a sore thumb, and Darkshadwo remembered himself, fading into the darkness whilst still hovering feet away from Frostbites' glow.

London as was, as they remembered, was still down here, but since world war II, it had been nuilt on the top of, ever higher, so that the old city was but a forgotten memory and dumping ground compared to the bright shining metropolis nearly half a mile above. As the trio floated lower, they saw flashing neon signs buzzing and flickering, groups of shouting cheering scavvies (OOC people dressed in rags with filth matted skin and hair) as a pair of dogs battled, in some cases humans in makeshift circles of people. There was a constant drizzle. Whether it was surplus rainwater from high above or some punctured pipe spraying water - or perhaps sewage - from the city, was unknown.

"People live here so they don't have to follow rules." whispered the little girl. "The Nazis come down every now and again with flame throwers, dogs and robots. That's when it's hidin' time. We needs to scurry and stay quiet, or they'll get us."

The boy was awestruck, flying in the mans' great arms. "Who ARE you people? I mean, you do.. do things that are amazing! Are you like those others we hear about? The ones that work for the Nazis? That battle the Americans?" A look came across his face "You're not spies are you? We ain't got nothin'" he said, struggling to speak in English as his panic increased "Just let me n Helga go, please!"

The group landed at London bottom. Shin deep in sludge, grime, muck and rubbish, it was hard to equate this with what they'd known only this morning!

"Let the kids go!" hissed a man from the Shadows.

Darkshadow was in his element. Darkness, gloom, save that this was different. It made him angry to stand in it. He looked across at the figure in the darkness.



A man Darkshadow knew well, but who clearly, from the looks of him, didn't know the three men in front of him!

"Kevin?" asked Darkshadow. "Kevin Hammil-Hope? Bulldog?"

"No, Kurt Hammil-Schmidt. But you clearly know me somehow. And your accent. Not from round here? The clothes stick out like a sore thumb round here too. Let the kids go and then I'll talk. Other than that, it'll be a fight."

<<Detecting mutiple energy signatures - weapons of some kind, all around.>> said the Computer in Frostbites head.

The heroic trio glanced about. The glow of energised makeshift weapons hummed and stood out against the murk and grime. Chains with batteries attached, metal pipes the same, save with nails and shards of glass hammered through, all manner of makeshift weapons buzzed and crackled in the darkness, their wielders dressed in dark brown or grey, bandanas covering their faces. The normal to and fro of people in the streets who'd stopped to look at the strange newcomers made themselves scarce, finding a safer place to watch.

Darkshadow could see clearly, there were around a dozen or so 'Scavvies', armed with weapons that posed little threat to the Vanguard.

Then all three turned at the voice of another man.

"Tell us who you are, before something bad happens. Kids! Move out the way!"

Frostbite gasped! Despite the accent, when he looked at the man there could be no mistaking!

James Caldwell repeated "Well?"



Stormwarden and Darkshadow knew him better by his superheroic name.

Nowhere Man.

Stormwarden

Stormwarden had leaned over to let the little girl down from his shoulder. Now he stopped dead, her arms still wrapped around his left arm as she slid down to the street. He gaped, astounded, as he stared at the man in front of him, forgetting just where they were. "Bloody Hell Fire!" he gasped. "You're alive!" his tone of incredulity wasn't feigned. He shook himself, as he suddenly realised that this wasn't their nowhere man. This was another, possibly not even a super, but it was so...uncanny.

A tug on his arm and he looked down into the wide eyes of the girl. "Oh." he sighed. "Sorry little one." He took out her food parcel from where he had tucked it into his belt and stooped to hand it to her. "Take care now." he added softly as he straightened again and turned to the men around them.

"Who we are." he started, paused and then started again. "Who we are is difficult. We come from a place where our past is not your past. Not since world war two, at any rate. And we're here to find out how this " and he waved an arm around "happened, so that we can stop it. And change all your presents."

This was going to sound like a right tall story, but their very presence might tip the scales. he hoped.

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

Echo in the stunned sentiments of Stormwarden, Frostbite, who'd perhaps known James best, regained the gift of speech as he spoke...

"James, we're not enemies nor allies of this state, my friends are not known to you but you are known to us."

Frostbite spoke carefully, although he didn't fear these scavengers, they were clearly frightened and they didn't work on the basis of instilling fear but hope. And hope is what these people desperately needed.

Lets us explain as best we can. From what I understand of your time line, it isn't unlike our own apart from at one decisive point, when Germany won World War 2. In our time line the allies won and proceeded along very different lines. We understand that someone in our time wanted to cheat, somehow with the benefit of hindsight and no doubt a few other well laid plans, some how was able to effect the course of time and history, setting it, not unlike a damned river into a new course."


Gesturing about him, Frostbite continued, "Namely this one. We alone from our time line retain our original memories and identity, and have crossed over into this time at the same point we left our own. Somehow in order to set things straight we have to find out who did this and use the same technology to reverse this terrible injustice."

Moving slowly Frostbite, seemingly at ease, sat down on a pile of rubble as he finished what he had to say.

"We collectively call ourselves the Vanguard, as individuals we were brought together to fight a terrible evil, in our world it was someone called Nowhere Man aka the Wraith aka James Caldwell, who brought us together. You bear more than a passing resemblance to that man, perhaps the same heart that would have beaten in James' heart beats in yours to. In which case you share more than a passing resemblance to our friend, and we share more than a passing interest in one another."

OOC:

Hopefully our little stirring speech might begin to warm this crowd up since we all have no love for the Nazi's.

BTW I don't think these people look so bad ;-). Nice to know that though times changed these characters retain the same sense of higher values.

sj

The Vanguard

"Another one? What's going on?" asked Kurt (Bulldog). He glanced over at Caldwell. He in turn looked to the others around him. "Stand down. If I'm right, whatever we do will get us killed if we move against these people. And besides... I have the strangest feeling they're ok."

"You've been wrong before." said a pretty (albeit coated in muck like everyone else) Blonde woman.

"I'll say he has." added another man. He was tall and thin, but his eyes were the scariest part of him. He looked like a stone cold killer.

"Toni... Reggie... we've been through this. We *have* to trust someone. We're dying out here. Much more of this and we'll all be wiped out. Maybe these people are what we've been hoping for." said Caldwell. "And Reggie, don't start coming out with that retribution crap either. We know you want revenge on everybody and everything. These people will simply kick your butt and leave you in the gutter if you try anything. Look at them!"

Reginald Davington (OOC Retribution from the Exec game) growled, stared each of the Vanguard in the eye and turned away. He was a bitter man, driven to one goal only - the destruction of the Nazis. Antoinette (Toni) Kidney (OOC Iron Lady from the Exec...) placed a hand on his shoulder. "Caldwell's right on this one."

"I-I-I th-think so t-too" said another man. He adjusted his glasses (one lens was shattered) and finished playing about with a hand-held scanner with wires dangling out the side. "Th-these people d-don't resemble anything I've e-ever scanned b-before"

"Wendell..." (OOC he's referring to Wendell Maclain from the Lore Knights Game. Tor.) "Let's just see what the others think first, eh?" said Jack Robertson.

Jack Robertson, The Vanguards team mate, otherwise known as Yeoman.

James Caldwell turned to the three of you. "We met two people from another timeline recently. One decided to go see the Nazis and told them where to find us. We barely escaped with our lives. He was, like you, from another time, that's why it's so easy for us to believe."

He started to walk (OOC I assume the Vanguard walk with him) whilst his team fade into the shadows all about, weapons at the ready but knowing they've be of little use. Turning as he walked, he spoke on "I don't know who this other 'me' is you're referring to, but you know at least two of us it seems. And I'm 50/50 right so far. Another guy who turned up was looking for the first one we let into our group. He's still here. He calls himself Richard King. Codename Lionheart."

Heading into the darker murky depths of London, what used to be underground car parks and the like, the group moved into a series of tunnels. Most were clogged up with desperate looking people, rubbish and general filthy clutter. Caldwells' team dispersed, handing out what food they'd managed to find, whilst Jack Robertson and Toni Kidney walked with you. The group walked through a tunnel into a wider area, what might have been a sports arena or stadium at some point. The cover over the roof had partially collapsed but the place still functioned as an amphitheatre for 40,000+ people. The Vanguard recognised it as the ground (once upon a time) of White Hart lane. It was as it had been in the war, so there were terraces and no seats.

People were gathered in small groups, huddled round fires and cleaning weapons, eating, chatting, resting. All looked weary, worn out and defeated.

"You been gathering more strays Caldwell?" came a voice from above and behind. Walking down the terraces was a man who stood out, like you. He'd been giving out medical care to injured people. He glanced at the three of you. "I'm Lionheart. And you are...?"

OOC got the idea from the lack of posts that my last one was a 'closed' post - one that didn't really merit a reply :S Hence...

The Vanguard

Introductions out of the way, the man known as Lionheart sat with James Caldwell, Antoinette Kidney and Jack Robertson, along with the Vanguard. Despite this being a different time, it was clear that heroic individuals stayed true whomever and wherever they were.

"...Interesting." said Lionheart after hearing a shortened version of events. "I came from the far future. The man I followed was sent to investigate a temporal rupture in the space time continuum. It was caused by no machine, I can tell you that. It appears to have been opened, as best as I can tell, by a powerful magical incantation cast with the same artifact in two different time frames on the same day. One day in 1940, the other, in 2020, your time. A gate was opened, and whomever opened it went through and changed history. Because Saladin and I were travelling through time via our machine in the future, things were messed up and changed for us. There is another thing. Saladin, who's genetically more or less identical to me, went rogue. I found out he wasn't meant to go back and investigate the rupture, someone else was. He killed her and took her place before anyone could stop him. With the future changing all around us I had moments to go through after him. My future, everything I knew, is gone now, changed forever."

"I still intend to stop Saladin. Whatever he's trying to do can't be of benefit to anyone but himself. But there's the 'bigger picture' to consider. Changing all this..." he waved his hand around, "Back to what it was."

Caldwell looked at you three, then laid out a map of Great Britain as was now. It was called Großbritannien now. "Here, New Munich. Or London, actually to those of us who escaped the Nazi yoke and became the underground resistance. The Tower of London, there." he pointed. "Something... is going on there. We can't get near the place. Guarded by too many soldiers, including metahumans. Here..." he pointed. "Stonehenge. There was a mad man in the ruins of old London who called himself... Weißer Hexer or White Warlock. Quite mad, but his ramblings tallied with yours, that time had been changed, things were wrong and needed setting right. He tried to persuade me and some others to go to Stonehenge with him, reckoned he could use 'old power' to transport us into the Tower. I'm ashamed to say we ignored him..."

"We had other things on our mind." said Toni. "Like escaping with our lives after Saladin gave out the location of our old base, and then later burying our dead."

Jack spoke up. "We think the Warlock is in a concentration camp. They're for people who the Nazis consider of no worth." He hawed and spat. "Old, disabled, and worse. Foreigners, in fact, anyone who doesn't fit their profile. You know what I mean."

Caldwell finished up. "There's a concentration camp on the site of the old Wembley stadium. A guard we captured yesterday told us a large shipment of prisoners was to be executed tomorrow. The Warlock is, we believe, amongst them."

Lionheart chuckled "Oh well, that's easy then! The four of us I'm sure would have enough firepower to..."

Caldwell held up his hand, prompting Lionheart to silence. "The place will be VERY well guarded. There will be a number of metahumans there, not least of which is the Nazis' main metahuman operative in Europe."

"He goes by the codename 'Adjutant'."

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

OOC: Ok just got back, last 24 hours were really busy and without my home computer I couldn't reply satisfactorily, so sorry not to jump in sooner. Anyway so as not to make a hash of things I'll carry on from your last post Paul.

"ADJUTANT" Frostbite shouted, and groaned at the same time. "It would have to be that man mountain beefcake. Ordinarily we might have been able to even the odds, but this isn't ordinarily which means that option isn't open to us."

Frostbite stood up to pace around, wondering how on earth they could get to this White Warlock, in order to be sent back and rectify time. As always it seemed life wasn't playing with a fair hand.


"Look we appreciate the risks of going up against Adjutant, but clearly getting into the tower is also just as risky! But of the two rescuing innocent lives and getting to the White Warlock seems more preferable to me"

Rounding on James, Frostbite continued, "James, you were always our master strategist, always one step ahead planning always looking for contingencies. What can you or your sources tell us about this situation, is there anyway we can exploit some sort of weak point?

I can tell you one thing killing civilians, won't sit easy with Adjutant regardless of the side he is working for. Times might have changed but clearly people haven't. He might be working for our enemies, but destroying innocent people on account of what they got handed out at birth, won't sit well with him, I'm sure his conscience would be troubled. Therefore he might be persuaded to at least stand aside, if he won't help us to rescue these people from mass genocide. But of course this all depends on what you can tell us about how we might even get near to get these folk out?"



Sj

stormwarden
Guy St Ives

"I think I'll go along with that one. Where we came from. Well we had a good heart to heart there. Whatever he is here, I've got to hope that his fundamental nature is the same - he won't kill for the sake of it, he won't just blindly obey."

Stormwarden sighed. "This is getting far too complicated. Its not just a case of stomping the guards down - we also need places for the people to go, And a way out for ourselves, this warlock, and whomever else. Even if we succeed we need a secure place whilst the hue and cry contines around us."

He shuddered. Its a scary thought for me, this. I know 'our' smite people had scanners to detect metahumans. And a criminal I ran into had one too. But I don't think he could tell I was 'this' (he waved at himself) when I was travelling .. er.. as a human. I'm willing to go in, then assume the form I am now - but only if we know that they can't detect me. If they can, then its a bit too much of a risk. We'd lose my abilities in that case."

He laughed grimly. "Jeez. That sounds really pretentious don't it? The question though is, will it work. One of us on the inside. Even then we'd need to make sure that I can get caught, processed and on the inside before tomorrow. Is it possible?"


----------------------------------------------------------------------
ooc - I'm not even beleiving that I'm volunteering him for this! But it fits in with what he observed on the plane.

The Vanguard

James Caldwell looked first to Frostbite, then Stormwarden and finally Darkshadow. Blowing out, he leaned back, scratching his head and rubbing his eyes. "Adjutant. What do I know... Well, I used to be, once upon a time, a fair computer scientist until the Nazis burnt my University down to set an example to all the students who were protesting about their foul ways. Back then I would hack into the Nazis' main computers at Weiße Halle (OOC Whitehall) for a laugh with my friends. I may still have a back door in to root around, see what info I can gleam on 'the Great Man'. If there's a weakness to be found, and it's on record, I'll find it. In a way it makes sense - Adjutant is so powerful that the Nazis would need some way of controlling him, or turning him off should he ever decide they were a bunch of goose stepping book burning scumbags. In others words, if he ever opened his eyes..."

Lionheart stepped up, addressed Stormwarden. "I'm not happy with you risking yourself like that. You are, right now, one quarter of the firepower of the entire metahuman resources of the resistance movement here. I am a man out of my own time, and unable to go back, so perhaps I should be the one to go in. I can speak German fluently." he said, patting a small pack on his belt. "And I'm fast enough to avoid a lot of trouble. Plus..." he turned, looked about, gestured to a piece of concrete rubble. It floated up from the ground, turned in the air then settled down gently. "There are other things I can do. It should be me. If all else fails, you need to set time straight. If you do then all of this... might never happen."

Caldwell chuckled. "I feel like we are 'fake', like we don't belong here, thanks to the way you lot talk. And yet, you are living proof that somewhere better exists. I'm at the point where any plan is worth a try - we're days away from the Nazis sending death squads into the sprawl... And whilst some will escape, the majority will be torched. I can't sleep at night. All I hear is the screams..."

He shook his head. Toni put her hand on his shoulder and looked to you all. "We were betrayed by Saladin, then Lionheart showed up. And now you. It doesn't matter if you betray us now - the Resistance is more or less finished. We're on borrowed time. I have... the strangest feeling about you all though. We've never met, but I think, in another place, another time, I'd have been proud to know you..."

Darkshadow said nothing. In another place, another time, Toni Kidney, as Iron Lady, had been seriously injured in battle and paralysed from the waist down. She never gave up fighting though, and he knew that wherever she was, in whatever time, she was a true hero.

Lionheart grinned, clapped his hands and stood up. "Mr Caldwell here needs to get to a Nazi watchpost, and from their access their computers. He'll need help. The rest of us... I suggest we go look at the detention area. Ok?" He was about to step away, then turned to Stormwarden. "But if you insist on going, I'll go with you. Strength in numbers and all that. That will leave these two to create a distraction, and that will be the hardest job. Because the might of the 3rd Reich and their metahuman Übermäßige Männer (OOC super men) will be out to get them..."

Jack Robertson stood up "As for getting the people out." he said, addressing Frostbites' point "That will be the biggest problem. I'll think on it, but..." He paused for thought. "All under Londons streets, the sewers run. Maybe there's a way we can get people out by that method. It will be unpleasant, and dangerous - god knows what's down there these days - but travelling with hundreds of prisoners will be no easy task through the streets of London. And even then, the Nazis won't take it lying down. If you mission succeeds, then maybe we'll all be in a better place. If we fail..."

He didn't need to answer.

It was clear to everyone at the meeting that thousands of people would die should the Vanguard fail and that the light of freedom would finally go out on this accursed version of planet Earth!

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

Frostbite looked concerned as he threw a glance at Stormwarden, unsure as to how he, let alone Lionheart might gain access unnoticed. It was a sure bet that the Nazi's easily had the potential to weed out Meta humans, to further their own ends. He didn't like the thought of any of the team going in undercover when he knew so little of what was going on.

Turning to James he asked, "Ok so we need to first get you to a terminal from which we can access information, before working on some diversion at which Lionheart and Stormwarden can use to break the prisoners out. And all this with the clock ticking before the Nazi's wipe this place out?"

[OOC: Assumes answer is in the affirmative]

Frostbite just wanted to make sure he understood what was being asked for them, because from the moment this alternate reality had laid itself over their own, he wasn't sure what he understood.

"So where do we need to go to get this terminal first?"


Sj

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

"And before we even start that, I need to start doing things. If we need some cover, then my fog banks are great - but a dead give away. But its not if the weather starts off that way in the first place. And I need to set some patterns in place to allow that. Its also far easier to call on the weather if I don't have to change it first."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ooc- Stormwarden will take the time to put the necessary weather patterns in place so that there is a deepening haze for the following day, followed by strong storms. Based on the coversations so far, there are quite a number of hours to go before we start anything at the stadium.

The Vanguard

Stormwarden sets into motion a weather front that will develop into mist, then storms. Whatever the time, wherever he was, the weather, it seemed Mother Nature herself, answered his call. He knew over the next 36 hours or so the weather would get steadily worse, not just over the immediate area, but probably over the whole South of England! He continued to focus, building wave upon wave of power. Such a thing required his attention constantly, letting it build until it gained life enough to become a living thing, and act of its' own accord! (OOC To affect such a massive affect, a 'time bomb' of weather so to speak, will take a fair bit of time. It may exclude you from the assault on the terminal building. Let me know if you're ok with this...)

Caldwell watched Stormwarden work, shaking his head. "I don't know how you people do what you do. It seems to come naturally. I can't imagine the power you must have at your disposal! There was a time when I had strange dreams, years ago now. I felt compelled to go to a place, somewhere in Wales I think, but at the time martial law was in place. It was hard to justify heading to some village on a whim, at the risk of breaking curfew and being shot. Caer Alwyn I think it was. Anyway, I soon had other things on my mind, as we all did." He starts to walk back to the entrance. "To access a Nazi terminal I need to get into one of their watchtowers. There's one stationed a few streets away. They are heavily fortified bunkers, weapons galore, and it's hard to get near the place without being seen or blown to pieces." He grinned. "That shouldn't be a problem for you guys, though, right?"

OOC Who's going on this assault group? I'll cook up maps and my (badly drawn) effort to describe the fortified outpost. Think of it as a windmill, without the sails, a gun on top, fortified with steel plating, gun positions and windows, and a massive great AA gun on the top. These are scattered around London, so that even if the place was bombed, at least the Nazi troops inside would be afforded protection whilst the city burns without...

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

OOC Who's going on this assault group? I'll cook up maps and my (badly drawn) effort to describe the fortified outpost. Think of it as a windmill, without the sails, a gun on top, fortified with steel plating, gun positions and windows, and a massive great AA gun on the top. These are scattered around London, so that even if the place was bombed, at least the Nazi troops inside would be afforded protection whilst the city burns without...
[/quote]

I'd like myself and Harry to go, Darkshadow can get James in intangibly (?) correct me if I'm wrong, where as I can only get myself in. With Darkshadows's stealth ability and my onboard computer we should be best suited to this role and I'm kind of assuming Stormwarden is all tied up at present?

Harry you want to come in here with any comments or suggestions?

Otherwise lets go for it?


IC:
Frostbite told the others his thoughts and waited for comment and reaction. It clearly wasn't going to be easy to get into this building, even with their meta human powers and abilities.

He spoke to James as to what preparations they needed to make, plans times and any intel they might have on guard movements and patrols plus internal security before getting ready to go. [OOC depending on how critical this information is I'm happy for you to hand wave this part I just want you to know we are availing ourselves of all available intel.]

Then finally when the time came, Frostbite assembled the team to make their attack on the Nazi satellite.

Sj




Sj

Stormwarden


Stormwarden opened an eye and looked at the storming party. "Are you OK with this?" he half whispered. "I still need another hour before the weather pattern is self-sustaining." In his minds eye, it was like watching a huge jigsaw puzzle. "You up ..there," he muttered. And again, in a gentle whisper. "No, not there, move up,,over, thats right." It seemed to those around him as if he were talking to real people.

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

"Are you OK with this?" he half whispered. "I still need another hour before the weather pattern is self-sustaining."

Frostbite nodded, not wanting to disturb Stormwarden's vital concentration if things were going to proceed as planned.

"Take all the time you need, whilst we still have it." He half grinned, back knowing that Stormwarden had already focused on the larger things at hand.

Sj

Stormwarden
Guy St Ives

"Take all the time you need, whilst we still have it." He half grinned, back knowing that Stormwarden had already focused on the larger things at hand.

He could see only clouds, pressure, feel winds, current, changes..but.

"Oh." He kept his eyes closed as he continued to merge everything but this could be of use. "stick a brick in the gun barrels, mate. Whilst your ghosting, like." He grinned viciously!

Frostbite and Darkshadow

James Caldwell led the pair away from the arena and down into the depths of the sprawl. The place was dark, murky and hazardous to health, with rusting metal jutting from most places dripping with collected muck and sludge from decades of littering from 'the surface world'. The Vanguard pairing wondered if all of Britain was like that.

"The Scottish people - as a whole - decided to rise up and declare independence from Britain and the Nazis. The Nazis seemed to take it in good grace, even offering to open dialogue. It was a front. They stalled whilst their warships, bombers and tanks could get into position, but they held off from attacking. They sent in the real artillery. Metahumans, like you. It's... terrifying, the amount of damage even one of you people can do. I'm talking to you now, like this, because I am bereft of hope and ideas. We've run out of time and options. This is one of our last strongholds. We can defend it all we like, but when it's overrun, there'll be no place left to go. Scotland? It's uninhabited, by humans anyway." he said, letting that sink in as he walked. "The Irish and the Welsh had declared support for the Scottish and were mobilising their people, until word of the slaughter came in. Since then, aside from small underground movements like ours, the majority of people toe the line. It's that, or death. No choice really..."

The three walked through the gloom to a shack , with Caldwell glancing about and disappearing into a hidden entrance. He'd literally.. .'vanished'! He popped out from behind another sheet of corrugated metal "Come on in!" he offered, still glancing about.

Inside, the place was as tidy as could be managed. Cannibalised computers were piled in a corner, old furniture spruced up as best that could be and a small table with two chairs, cot bed in the corner, represented James Caldwells sole possessions. He fished out two makeshift ponchos made out of tarpaulin and bid you wear them. "Even here, in the sprawl there are some who would sell out their fellow stragglers to the Nazis for food, wealth, any way out of here. You two stick out like a sore thumb, as do Lionheart and Stormwarden. I think it's the like of dirt and grime..."

=========

Flying would have aroused even more notice, so the trio trudged through the gloom and only when presented with a collapsed sewage tunnel did the three choose to fly rather than clamber 'upstairs' through the sludge.

Minutes later, clinging to shadows in the fog that Stormwarden had set in place not long before, the trio avoided contact with others, waited until cars had passed, and moved with all due stealth through the streets. The contrast between upper and lower worlds was startling. Bright, clean, grey, uniform, with the odd sparkling white or shining steel tower sticking out of the fog.

Always, the ever present threat of detection dictated the group erred on the side of caution, and so minutes would tick away until the coast was clear. Finally, the came in sight of the bunker. It was a large structure, some 20-25m tall, like a disused windmill constructed of gleaming grey metal. On top was what could only be described as a laser turret. It rotated steadily and gave menace to its otherwise innocuous appearance. The bunker stood on a large area of concrete, like a parade square, that stretched on for hundreds of metres on the other sides of it, providing no cover at all.

It didn't look like a tough nut to crack, so why did the Vanguard members have a bad feeling in their gut...?



OOC Red dot is you guys. It's foggy, visibility around 40m or so, so it's thinning (Stormwarden has other things on his mind). At the moment the streets are quiet - this is the edge of this particular section of town. Beyond the turret is bear ground that looks like a great concrete slab running for a few hundred metres to the North and West of the picture, probably future building site. It's late afternoon, the odd car goes by. If you have any specific plans on how to get into the turret/bunker, we can go with that. Failing that, you could just walk up to it...

Stormwarden

"Can I get you anything?" asked Jack Robertson (Yeoman) "We have some triple filtered water. The socks we used were a new packet as well, we dug them from the ruins ..."

Stormwarden kept on concentrating. His efforts were ambitious, but within his capabilities given time, focus and planning. He could feel the winds, clouds, temperature changing at various altitudes, imagining a giant pair of hands reaching down to drag segments of weather here, there, mixing and swirling it about, moulding it to his whim. At the right time he would set the wind blowing in the right direction and time it to coincide with the assault on the detention camp...

Without the dark power inside, this mission seemed to be some kind of mountainous struggle. That said, he and the others knew that without the Dark Power holding back the effects of the time change, he'd be somewhere else right now, maybe even someone else. And time - the time he'd come from - would be lost forever.

He kept at it.

=========

The dark figure moved back into the shadows. He lowered a pair of old binoculars, ignoring the fact one of the lenses was cracked, and he watched the other strangers - the blue one, the dark clad one - leave with the man Caldwell. Biting his lip, he considered his options. He owed these people nothing, and yet... his actions felt treacherous! Still... what choice did he have?

He reached into his pocket, checked about, and pulled out a small earpiece, pressing the button that the agent had directed him to use.

"Ja?" came the answer on the other end.

(OOC This is translated from german)

In a low voice, the man spoke <Where I'm calling from, right now. That's the latest rebel base. If you strike now, you can get them all. Some just left though. They were... strangers. Dressed weird, like the other two I told you about.>

<Saladin and Lionheart?>

<Yes. Saladin left. Seems he didn't care for eating rats and living in slums. The other one stayed. He is a skilled medic, and I saw him do... something. He moved an object with his mind.>

<Interesting. And the others. Where did they go?>

<I don't know. I could follow them?>

<No. I will deal with them myself. You have done well.>

<My family! Will you... free them now?>

<We'll see. Whilst you are still of use you are better off acting as our agent. Make no further contact for now. We will contact you...>

The man sighed, pulled the earpiece away. He looked about the deserted arena, then at the man, Stormwarden, sat cross legged and concentrating on something.

=========

Now, 15 minutes later...

Yes... Stormwarden felt segments drop into place. The weather pattern was forming as planned. He would soon...

"AAAIIIIIIRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"[size=36pt]
FWOOSH!!
[/size]

Stormwarden opened his eyes. Others in the great old stadium looked about, shocked. Unless the big man was mistaken, that sound quite a lot like someone being toasted by a flamethrower...

That's when the screaming really started...

OOC Stormwarden is sat in the stands of the old football arena. Above, no light enters thanks to the highways and byways of the upper city overhead. The tunnels out of the stadium lead out into the streets and slums of the sprawl, and the sounds are coming from down the tunnels, and from beyond the walls. There's also a glow building that Stormwarden sees reflected above the rim of the stadium sides...

Frostbite
Joe Rigdon

OOC:Harry/Paul Question thinking about how to get ourselves to the tower I am aware that the use of powers may alert the enemy to our presence, so we either just walk up to the big old place and hope our mere presence doesn't cause something to go off, or try to use our powers regardless and try to sneak forward, hoping that its not in vain.

I suspect that the reason this area is so clear is that it eliminates the possibility of people just strolling up to the tower, no one who didn't have the means to get here would come here, I suspect? I had thought we could take the intangible route, but in truth, I see from Darkshadow's character sheet he, like me, only has intangibility grde 1 so we can't get James through the sneaky way anyway.

I think we are going to have to either wait for a more opportune moment and risk detection, or go for it. I think it can't be long before the enemy knows we're here and if they know they will be on high alert, the longer we wait the easier it'll be to be found.

IC:

Frostbite mulled over the plans and shared his thoughts (OOC see above) with James and Darkshadow. Reluctant though he was, he really saw no other choice than to boldly walk toward the tower seeking to look as if they were trying to cut across the plaza, innocently as they might.

"If this goes pare shaped, as it could very well do, I suggest you, " He said pointing to Darkshadow, "take James, yiou've a better chance of avoiding detection, whilst I try to lead them away to cover your tracks."

Nodding to them both, Frostbite then looked toward their goal and said, "Ok lets do it,"

Sj

OOC just want to say, ARGGGGHHHH. I've never been in such an engaging pbem that makes me so tense sometimes. Congratulations Paul I'll bill you for the R&R I need after this issue is over ;-).

ooc sorry for the delay , moved house suddenly and didnt have net access

Darkshadow
(jason Ashe)

Darkshadow removed his cowl, Feck it he thought, hes stuck in a pararell dimension anyway

"Call me Jason, we are all friends here!!..... I hope ?" he said,

"We need to get them out the night before they face the firing squad, I can turn to mist form and float in undercover of Strormwardens fog, find out where they are held and help protect them till you Big Guns arrive, I'm not much of a grunt, so please bear that in mind" He said smiling

"what worries me is that the White Warlock from our world is a 400 year old Puritan from the time of Oliver Cromwell, he hasnt aged a day since, and looks about 30, in this world hes an old man, jeeez i'm just worried about what else is changed, I know the Loreknights used to use a stone circle to teleport about, and as Stone Henge is a main power nexus for ley lines... it could work, if he casts the right spell"
Jason sighed, "Well its got my vote if its needed!"

H

Frostbite & Darkshadow

With the 'plan' to simply walk up to the tower, the three knew only one thing - they didn't know what was coming next! The turret gun turned to track them automatically until they moved under its arc. It seemed like an awful long way to walk...

And they got to the base, unmolested or harmed, and with no other apparent interference. The tower doors, resembling those found in a bank vault with regards how sturdy they were, remained closed.

"I don't like it. Too easy." muttered Caldwell. "I'd have expected something... an order to halt, the doors opening, the bunker itself sprouting more guns, guards coming out. But this?" He looked about nervously. "Feels wrong. What now?" The tower/bunker loomed above the trio. It was made of what looked to be some kind of ceramic that glinted like steel.

OOC It's still foggy. The gun on top appears to be automated, tracked you for so far then you went below its tracking/firing arc as you neared the tower base. It's really quiet round here, no cars, no people around...