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

Frostbite
Joe Rigdon

"I don't like it. Too easy." muttered Caldwell. "I'd have expected something...

Frostbite nodded, "I know what you mean, I can only wonder if we are walking into a trap, but unless you have any better ideas, then we carry on as planned."

"Darkshadow, of the two of us you're more stealthy than me, I suggest you go in and find a way to open these doors from the other side."

Frostbite looked past him to the big doors as he thought for a moment before continuing,
"We'll wait three minutes if I've not heard anything I'll come in after you. If after five neither of us are back, James you need to leave. Understood." Frostbite said, looking toward his companions and wondering if the margin for error, was too long or too short.

He didn't like the fact they were up against so much and yet felt so helpless in the face of it all. But what else could they do, but try and step out trusting that they'd yet find a way through.

Nodding to Darkshadow, Frostbite asked the computer to keep a count of three minutes...

OOC:

Ok Harry I hope you can still reply despite your unexpected move, sorry to hear that mate, over to you and Paul for the moment.

Sj

Nodding to frostbite, Darkshadow turned invisable and intangable in smoke form and floated up and over the barrier. Drifting thru the night air, he searched thru the camp, looking around for the White Warlock and any other metas in prison.
Avoiding guards and search lights etc, quickly quietly moving from barrack to barrack

Stormwarden

Now, 15 minutes later...

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

"AAAIIIIIIRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"[size=36]
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...
[/quote]

"Bugger." Stormwarden muttered to himself. He didn't think it happened to be coincidence that a strike was happening at this place and at this time. He could just be thankful that the others weren't being caught up in it. At least his work was finished and he could leave his workmanship to brew gently along, building up power and momentum, ready to call upon when he needed it. A better arrangement than they'd had before they'd called on the shadow powers.

But now....

Well. If they were going to use flamethrowers he would do what he had done at the museum. He couldn't do it as easily, but he could still backfill the air supply to the flamethrowers. And here, amid the ruination, was plenty of ammunition for him to use. Gently, and keeping to the shadows, he moved, picking up a bench, and then floated to the ceiling, ready for what was coming.

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ooc. Nearly mucked this post as well. That blasted Kapersky keeps throwing my posts out!

As posted above, grab something to throw, and if he sees anyone with the flamethower he will effectively change the backblast back onto the firer & support troops.

Stormwarden

OOC You're in the ruins of the old White Hart Lane Stadium. There's no ceiling to the stadium, but the light from the sky is blocked out by bridges and buildings built high above the level of old London, so the world is in perpetual shadow round here.

Stormwarden tore up a pile of seating. At one point, it'd been a managers dugout. Now? He glanced about, at the panicked people running here, there, screaming, running for cover...

He heard automatic fire - bullets from high calibre weapons, and more screaming. This wasn't like his old life. There was no wanton killing, no casual wiping out of human life back there. Here? It was hell on earth.

He summoned up the trick where the pollution would gather, wind funnelling and herding it to do his bidding, then his heart sank.

It might not do any good against these foes.

Nazi Cyborgs marched through the ruins of old London, crunching fallen bodies and rubble under their titanium heels. Those who surrendered, pleading for life, were electrocuted, to be gathered by supporting conventional troops like those Stormwarden had seen on the surface. Those who resisted? They were gunned down by the BRRRRRRRRRRRR of the guns, or torched by the support troops flamethrowers...



Stormwarden hovered high above the old stadium, looking down on the terror and destruction. Towards the entrances to the old stadium marched the half human half machine nightmares, indiscriminately blasting at anything that moved. People screamed, panicked, ran for cover. Some chose to stand their ground, getting gunned down in the process...

"Stormwarden! Down here!" shouted Lionheart. "This is... this is nothing like what... We need to get out of here!" he yelled. "There's too many! We need to save who we can and go!" he shouted from the upper tiers of the stadium. He sped about like a roadrunner, and reappeared with a child under each arm. Both were wailing, but he ignored them. "There are hundreds of those things! They are here to wipe out the resistance!"

Darkshadow

Darkshadow moved through the wall of the bunker. He felt unsettled by the motion - there was something about the material he'd moved through... still, he emerged on the other side. It was pitch black, and that was no problem whatsoever for the Vanguardian.

Moving swiftly he moved through empty corridors. It was quiet. Too quiet. The place was smooth, clean, bare grey corridors going around the structure with rooms built around the central core. In the event of a superhuman or nuclear attack the bunker was designed to resist attack and provide means for the Nazis to fight back, a base for supplies and ammunition, and a staging point for troops. This would be manned at all times, Darkshadow figured. So where were the troops?

He was going down towards the ground level, and there to figure out the door controls to let Caldwell in. Once in the trio would find a computer access point for Caldwell to hack, and he'd find some means of defeating Adjutant. They needed to do that to stand any chance of ...

He held that thought. In the dim light of the ground floor room, he saw the gate controls. Guarded.



OOC we'll number them, from left, 1, 2, 3, 4

"We have been expecting you. It looks like our source was correct, ja?" said the big man (no.1) The girl spoke up "He's nothing like I have scanned before." she warned.

"And he's insubstantial. It will make no difference." said the one with stone skin. All spoke with accented English. Clearly German was their first tongue.

The slightly plumper one (no.2) spoke out "You think we should get backup?"

The big man spoke up again. "No. He can't escape. You know how the defences on these towers work..."

Darkshadow glanced at the walls of the towers. He knew he'd felt something strange when he passed through them but... he was insubstantial. That shouldn't matter. Should it? If nothing else, it was very dark in here. All four of the ones facing him appeared to be wearing some kind of contact lens that allowed them to see in low light.

Darkshadow smiled. He was outnumbered, possibly trapped. They'd mentioned something about the walls. Maybe there was something that allowed them to block the insubstantial. He needed to get the others in.That meant going through these goons...

"Surrender is a viable option." said the girl. "We have no wish to hurt y..."

"Who are you kidding?" said the stone skinned one "I'm going to enjoy this!" he growled. (He's no. 3)

OOC You are insubstantial, flying, on full health and energy. Your dark power is not working (its stopping you from being affected by the time change) and you appear to be trapped in a tower with four metahuman Nazis. Things could be going better right now, but you are in the dark, your powers are more effective, and they don't know that... Actions?

Frostbite and James Caldwell

"How long do you think it'll take for him to find the room with the gate controls?" asked Caldwell. He looked nervous. Standing out here... nothing about... unmolested and no ... Oh no."

He looked about.

Charging in were several of what could only be described as Mechs...



Then to make matters worse, armoured cars started to zoom in from various directions! And the distant thrum of gunship rotors could be heard getting closer...



"SURRENDER REBELS! YOU ARE SURROUNDED AND OUTGUNNED! FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN TERMINATION!" bellowed the loudspeaker from a mech!

It was some kind of trap!

Caldwell looked about. The only way out seemed to be to fly off with Frostbite - and leave Darkshadow alone in there! "Damn." He muttered. "Frostbite! Get out of here! You have to go warn Stormwarden and Lionheart, get the people out of the shanty town! They knew we were coming somehow! It's the only explanation!"

OOC They are going to be there in one full round, so you have a free round to act, though should you attack they may retaliate at long range...

Frostbite
Joe Ridgon

Frostbite's heart sank, as it was their chances were slim but now...!

Since it was clear they'd been detected, Frostbite lifted radio silence and communicated via the receivers to Darkshadow.

"Darkshadow, we're surrounded, its trap get out of there, we've got to try and get back to rescue the resistance."

[OOC: ok what I do next depends on if I can communicated with Darkshadow or not...I'm not leaving him behind basically but at this point I'm really not sure what to do.]

Frostbite turned to Caldwell, "James have you any other means of escape, unless Darkshadow can open these doors I can only fly you away but there is no guarantee that you'll be safe?"

Frostbite bit down the bile and first flutterings of rising panic so often a part of a soldiers life before entering into conflict, especially one in which things had gone so horrible wrong.

OCC:

I am now just thinking of those words from hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, where it says on the guide, "DON'T PANIC"!

1. OK so I want to make sure Darkshadow is ok, clearly he isn't so my problem is how to keep James safe whilst helping Darkshadow get out and getting help to the resistance - which clearly I don't know are in trouble.

2. So if I can talk with Darkshadow I will then have to work out how I can get in the tower with James, this might be a one off it costs me everything to extend the field of my intangibility so as to get him through as well?

3. If I cannot get through to Darkshadow, I'll work on the principle of, we never normally leave anyone behind, so I still try and get in and if this proves impossible have little choice but to fly off with James, unless he has an alternative plan.

4. Either way sticking around where we are is going to be pointless, we're divided and easier to overwhelm so trying to get into the tower or trying to regroup with the resistance is what we've got to do now, as its James who leaves us vulnerable since they can use him to get at us to force our surrender and then its game over for him if not for me and the rest of us.

Well I thought things had got bad before, I clearly spoke too soon. :-\

Sj

Frostbite

Frostbite spoke into the earpiece the Vanguardians wore... all he got back was static! It worked by piggybacking the telephone networks but still managed to transmit over a short range, so should have worked... He could only deduce the bunker was shielded in some way!

Caldwell turned to Frostbite. "Go. GO!" he hissed. "I'll be fine... or I'll be dead. Remember this! If you succeed, none of this will be as it is. It will be a better future. Presumably I live happily ever after in that one. Maybe Sarah is still alive..." he smiled at the thought, looking at the rapidly approaching forces. "I'll tell them I'm a leader of the resistance, it'll buy time. Go!"

As Frostbite spent seconds deciding what to do, Caldwell had a thought. "You're a cold guy, right? I checked out the specs of this stuff a while back when we planned to hit 'em." He said, tapping on the wall of the bunker. "Variable Molecular ceramic shielding. Reacts to heat and shock and its energised with a force field too. You bomb it, set fire to it, it hardens dramatically. I thought it might stop intangibles too, but obviously not. Remember these Nazis have been developing metahumans for decades and know how to counter the other side, with all the powers at their disposal."

The Nazis were getting closer!

"Only a theory, but you wanna try freezing this? Getting inside will be safer than staying out here! It will have to be cold though and..." he looked about "Needs to be done in the next 5 seconds!"

OOC You are both in imminent danger of being completely surrounded!

Frostbite

"Only a theory, but you wanna try freezing this? Getting inside will be safer than staying out here! It will have to be cold though and..." he looked about "Needs to be done in the next 5 seconds!"

Frostbite took a long hard look at James, he wasn't an overly emotional man, but something like sorry threatened to catch him out, but biting it back he nodded and applied his power to the wall.

Taking a moment to disrupt its surface by lower the temperature rapidly before becoming intangible and singing into the surface, with one last look back to James. Briefly his mind flited with the idea of grabbing James and trying to take him to, but his powers didn't seem to work that way. He didn't like the idea of James being captured but, he may remain alive. Besides, as always he was right, the mission was what mattered most of all, but Frostbite couldn't pretend to like it. Grimly he sank into the now frozen wall.

OOC
OK use field manipulation to freeze the wall and sink in intangibly. With little else I can do this seems to be sensible.

Once I'm inside I will see if I can locate Darkshadow asap and still try and get this information we need to get our original plan in motion.

Sj

Frostbite

Frostbite lowered the temperature around an area around 5' square for Caldwell to squeeze through, hopeful it would make the ceramic brittle. A kick from Caldwell, unfortunately, proved it otherwise. Aside from surface frost there seemed no real effect against the surface of the blast bunker...

Caldwell cursed, looked about. Though they'd not opened fire the Nazi forces were now just about on top of them. "Out of time!" he sighed, holding up his hands and turned to face the Nazis to surrender. "Good luck friend! If we don't meet again in this life... see you in the next!"

OOC You want to head inside the bunker? The Field Manipulation is too weak to freeze the Ceramic surface - you'd have needed to use energy blast and got a decent roll on damage...out of time now though unless you fancy facing off against the Nazi forces! Over to you

Frostbite

OOC:Oh blast I interpreted your post to suggest I was to use field manipulation not energy blast? So I don't know what to do?

I can have a go at blasting it, but I thought from your post you meant me to disrupt the field with cold then sink into it intangibly.

Since I'm out of time now I don't know what to do? If I've got time I'll blast the wall and get in but if not then I'll have to go out in a blaze of glory and might as well go ought fighting.

Man alive, sorry mate I might have wrecked things now if Frostbite gets killed!

Sj

OOC Hey, this is comic books. No one dies forever

Frostbite

"Did you hear me?" hissed Caldwell, stepping forwards "GO!" he spat. With a curse Caldwell stepped forwards, hands in the air. "I'm the leader of the resistance. I surrender!" he shouted. The oncoming forces stopped around 5-10m away, engines thrumming and weapons locked.

"TELL YOUR COMPANION TO STEP AWAY FROM THE BUNKER. NON COMPLIANCE WILL RESULT IN TERMINATION." went the amplified voice from an armoured car.

Caldwell turned "Step away. [size=6pt]Use me as cover...[/size]" he muttered, then turned back to grin at the gathered forces. "I am thinking of defecting. I have valuable information on the whereabouts of all resistance cells in the United... ah.. in Britain. And I know some on the continent as well. If you don't harm us, you may be rewarded..."

He muttered again[size=6pt] "When they give the word, try again..."[/size] He stepped forwards, and kept walking slowly.

"FREEZE!" came the bellowed voice.

Frostbite took that as his cue!

OOC 6d6=25 Htk. Enough to overcome the 20Htk required to freeze the wall. If you were using fire, heat, explosive force, you'd have to hit it a lot harder! And the harder you hit it, the more resistant it becomes!

There was an outrushing of freezing mist - Frostbite obviously didn't feel it, but Caldwell did! He dropped, turning blue and shivering, whilst thick white cold vapour blanketed the area and crawled to the side. "G-g-get r-ready to m-move!"

Frostbite didn't have to. He turned intangible, just before the jumpy Nazi forces opened fire on him!

BRATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!!!!!! BOOOM! THOOM! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Caldwell lay flat on the floor, shielding his body and seeing reflected shells bounce off the bunker. When enough smoke covered the area, he turned, painfully shimmying across the floor to clamber into the hole the Nazis had conveniently shot through the bunker for them! Meanwhile automated defence systems on the bunker turned on, sprouting weapons from concealed windows trained on their own forces! They opened fire!

"y-y-you wanna shut that h-hole?" stammered Caldwell. Both he and Frostbite were inside a room with a neat 'punched through' hole in the wall. With a gesture a thick ice wall filled the gap. From outside the battle raged as the Turret defended itself with automated systems against what it considered a terrorist attack, with vehicles commandeered from its own side!

Frostbite and James Caldwell looked about. They were in a small barracks room, with half a dozen bunks lining the walls of the place. Empty weapon racks suggested the occupants of this place were somewhere else inside - in other words they were ready for them!

"I love it when a plan comes together." Caldwell grinned, blowing heat into his hands. "Didn't know if you could freeze the wall cold enough, guess there was only one way to find out..."

Neither man mentioned what would've happened had it not worked. Frostbite had been tangible, Caldwell was all too human. Arrayed against that sort of firepower... it didn't bear thinking about!

OOC Frosty used 10d6 of his energy to freeze the wall. The bonus is that he and Caldwell are in, and didn't have to go via the doorway!

Frostbite
Joe Rigdon

OOC Hey, this is comic books. No one dies forever

Arh Ha but I wasn't to know that, death may not be permanent but I wasn't looking forward to waiting for a new 12 part limited maxi series to find out how I survived ;-).

Also I didn't think I'd be able to act sufficiently fast to save Caldwell either, I thought my options were up! Anyway I'm not complaining.

IC:

Frostbite glanced briefly at his make shift handywork.


"It won't last, they'll find a way in and we still need to get this info and find our way out. You wouldn't know if this German built bunker conforms to standard industrial German efficiency so that its all laid out the same easy to follow manner?"

Frostbite cocked his head listening, "But then again since it seems we're expected, I think on second thoughts I'd better lead they way in case we get jumped. We might need to quell the natives in order for you to access the computers here."

Moving forward he floated up so he was off the floor aiding his ability to move more stealthily and began to move forward carefully listening as he sought to find out where Darkshadow might be.

OOC:

OK so I am moving stealthily by floating and flying slowly as we find our way around this building. If Caldwell can access the computers whilst I help Darkshadow, so much the better, but first priority is to find Darkshadow and go from there.

Sj

Stormwarden

"Stormwarden! Down here!" shouted Lionheart. "This is... this is nothing like what... We need to get out of here!" he yelled. "There's too many! We need to save who we can and go!" he shouted from the upper tiers of the stadium. He sped about like a roadrunner, and reappeared with a child under each arm. Both were wailing, but he ignored them. "There are hundreds of those things! They are here to wipe out the resistance!"

"Damn it!" Stormwarden swore. Against a few he could do it but against hundreds? If he stayed they'd swarm him under and the only other way was to reach... He stopped himself. If he did that then he would be lost to the team - there was no guarantee who he would 'be' if he took on the mantle of the dark powers.

In a single movement he threw the dugout at the nearest cyborgs. It wouldn't matter if they couldn't be hurt by such things - they could still be knocked off their feet. He flew down to lionheart. "How are we going to get them out? We're surrounded." But in the meantime, in hte bakc of his mind he kept a thread tied into the weather system.

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ooc:
as stated - throw at the cyborgs - just to keep them down,
move to Lionheart
Prepare to bring in a tornado (which thankfully are very frequent in the UK - but this one is going to be a heck of a lot stronger than the highest we tend to get)

Frostbite

OOC There is a 'penalty' for the save - being on 5/15 energy certainly won't help when you come across Darkshadow - and you'll need to get there quick if you are going to save him...

Frostbite glanced briefly at his make shift handywork.

"It won't last, they'll find a way in and we still need to get this info and find our way out. You wouldn't know if this German built bunker conforms to standard industrial German efficiency so that its all laid out the same easy to follow manner?"

"Oh the Nazis are efficient alright. Interesting you call them Germans. We do too, but they prefer the term Nazis these days. There was a growing movement of Germans who hated what their country had become and tried to overthrow it. The Nazis called them traitors and crushed them. Since then... well, the dark stain of Nazi-ism has been spreading across the globe... Things are bad." said Caldwell. The pair moved into a corridor. "The layout of this place suggests we need to follow the corridor round then down the lift to get to the heart of the sensitive stuff. It'll be underground where the protection is best."

Frostbite cocked his head listening, "But then again since it seems we're expected, I think on second thoughts I'd better lead they way in case we get jumped. We might need to quell the natives in order for you to access the computers here."



"Be my guest!" said Caldwell. Frostbite floated in front of him and down the corridor.

Moving forward he floated up so he was off the floor aiding his ability to move more stealthily and began to move forward carefully listening as he sought to find out where Darkshadow might be.

"Darkshadow will be down a floor I reckon. The floors above this one are more of the same. I'm amazed we haven't come across scores of soldiers yet. These places are like barracks, work areas, staging points... Where are they all? Unless...?" he left the question unanswered. If the majority of soldiers had left to go somewhere else, he had a horrible feeling he knew where.

"Here. The lift." said Caldwell, but he wobbled on unshaky legs and sagged against the wall. "Unnnnh."

At Frostbites concerned glance he saw Caldwell pull a hand away. Gut wound. "Caught one back there from the ricochet. It's not bad." he said, sweat pouring from his face. Blood soaked the front of his shirt now as he lacked the strength to press the wound. How he'd managed to walk these few metres was beyond Frostbite! "We need to get you that information. Access codes in... the guard rota... defensive measures... how to stop ... Adjutant. It's got to be in there. I have... " he held up a USB Key. "... a program I wrote a while back. Tried to use it but never been this close to the bunker though I know the layout like the back of my hand." He grinned. "I must've been through here a hundred times in my mind. Here." he pressed a button on the elevator panel. "Be ready."

He pulled a small capsule from his bag, and a can of aerosol spray as the Lift started to descend. Lifting his shirt to reveal the awful wound he sprayed the gaping bloody mess... and it covered with some kind of plastic film. "Do my back?" he asked, gasping. "It'll stop me from leaking away until we're done." Whilst Frostbite did the back - where the bullet had exited, making an awful mess - Caldwell bit down on a pain killer, then another for good luck.

The elevator had gone down two floors and the lift door was about to open...

OOC I assume you switch back to being intangible. You are, effectively, on round 2 of 5 before recharge energy. You can be on a later round, but by then Darkshadows fight will be over... your choice... With regards that fight we really need Harry in to assign actions. I'll give it another day or so and run as NPC for the first round so as not to stall things too bad. Hopefully he'll turn up, but from the sounds he's had a rough time.

Stormwarden and Lionheart

The cyborgs had started to come into the arena on the old pitch (which was hard, barren mud by now). Firing indiscriminately, they scattered the fleeing scavengers as they ran for cover. Those who surrendered were giving an electric shock, dropping them and making them shake uncontrollably. The old, infirm, injured... anyone who couldn't move fast enough, were simply mown down.

OOC 1d20+6+2 → [2,6,2] = (10) Miss

Stormwarden tossed the bench from the dug out. It bounced, rolled and smashed into fragments. Whilst it didn't hit the cyborgs, it did attract the attention of three of them!

The big man flew down to Lionheart who crouched behind the concrete wall of the dugout. Suddenly the concrete exploded in a flurry of shattered pieces, pinging and splintering in every direction as the deafening roar from three miniguns turned it into rubble!

"We need to get out of here. My mental powers are no good against those things. I'm fast enough to evade them but that won't help these people. And every moment we delay... dammit." he turned, thrusting a hand out to Stormwarden. "Would've like to have known you better, friend. Get gone. Get away as best you can. Go find the others at the bunker they were heading for, find out what you need for the prison camp, and get the White Warlock out." he turned back to peer round the shattered wall at the advancing cyborgs coming across the old field. "Saladin, looks like you got away this time. Someone wll stop you though, you son of a ..."

More gunfire rolled through the air before Lionheart grinned. "One of those 'wished you'd stayed in beds' days, eh?" before he disappeared! He sprinted across the distance to the cyborgs, stood between two of them. Both swivelled, levelled weapons... and blasted each other to smithereens, Lionheart simply having dodged between the pair with superhuman reflexes. Such a tactic couldn't work forever though - he'd run out of time. Time he was buying Stormwarden! "Go!" he hissed, waving you away as a crowd of half a dozen cyborgs closed in on Lionheart...

Stormwarden felt the weather pattern growing that he'd set in motion, massaged it to speed its growth and concentrated again. This time winds started to pick up around the stadium, swirling rubbish and dust up into the air!

OOC The Cyborgs initiative 1, Heroes 5. Two frames... Do you need a map? Basically you're stood in the stands of the old stadium, looking down at the pitch where Lionheart is distracting the cyborgs. Half a dozen are walking towards him, wary now as two of their number chopped the other up. Both are wounded and down - those weapons pack a serious punch (armour piercing). Whilst Lionheart is distracting the Cyborgs the scavvies (people) are running for cover and escaping. From the sounds of things though they may not have far to run - the Nazis are making a concerted effort to finish the resistance here!

Stormwarden and Lionheart

Stormwarden peeked out from behind the barrier. He had to create a barrier of some sort but Lionheart should be able to cope with it. He concentrated, summoning the winds, half hidden as he was behind the barrier he thought it would be bad enough here. "Come on, old girl." he muttered as mentally directed the funnel down, down, down and into the midst of the cyborgs.

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ooc: He is concentrating on bringing down a tornado funnel right on top of the Cyborgs. By concentrating there (and making the overspill go back on the support troops behind them) he hopes that the cover will be enough to let the civilians make a break for it.

Stormwarden and Lionheart

Suddenly amongst the cyborgs the wind intensified, spinning up, whipping about, and proving too much even for the cyborgs to aim straight! And it only got stronger!

Lionheart sped out of the way, stumbled, fell and righted himself, all the way followed by a trail of inaccurate weapons fire as computer targeting tried to compensate but failed in the face of the powerful winds! All about the sprawl itself, dust and clutter whipped up into the air. Somewhere a gunship was 'nudged' into a concrete pylon and fell to the floor in a heap of smashed metal, the pilot scurrying out before the thing caught fire. Scavvies ran here, there, shielding their eyes against the brown grit that permeated the air itself, and found cover where they could.

Inside the stadium, the tornado was in full flow now, and started to fling the cyborgs about. Where they landed, concrete smashed, but the automatons staggered to their feet. However, with the fine control Stormwarden showed, the main force of the wind was centred on the Nazis allowing the scavvies to disappear into the ruins and rubble of the undercity!

Lionheart, breathless, grinned as he appeared alongside Stormwarden. He looked at the fallen scavvies, but reflected on the fact that more had escaped. "Ok, that's it. Let's get out of here before they call an airstrike down on us!" yelled Lionheart over the howl of the wind. "I suggest we head for the camp itself, or go to the bunker where the others were intending to hack into the mainframe!"

Frostbite
Joe Rigdon

Access codes in... the guard rota... defensive measures... how to stop ... Adjutant. It's got to be in there. I have... " he held up a USB Key. "... a program I wrote a while back. Tried to use it but never been this close to the bunker though I know the layout like the back of my hand." He grinned. "I must've been through here a hundred times in my mind. Here." he pressed a button on the elevator panel. "Be ready."

Frostbite looked at the innocent looking usb key wondering if even in alternate time lines could history repeat itself. Still he hadn't time to worry about that, clearly things were further along than either of them had imagined, and now they could get a whole lot worse.

A curt nod was all he could give as he turned intangible, unsure of what he'd find. Darkshadow was alone and potentially in great trouble, he needed to get to him and fast.

OOC:
As the lift goes down I want to try something as an alternative. I want to suggest to Caldwell that whilst he remains to the side of the doors so that on a casual look in, he'd not be seen, I float down ahead and to the side of the lift. So that whilst the lift comes down and the doors open, distracting anyone who might be trained on it, I come out from the some point along the side, I'm guessing here, but so I can get the element of surprise on whoever is down here. And yeah I am not waiting to recharge, Darkshadow could be in too much trouble me thinks.

Yeah sorry to hear about Harry's woes, but do what you need to. I am around and on internet contact until Friday morning, then I'm off the scene for four days although again as before I may have internet access, but cannot be sure.

Sj

Stormwarden and Lionheart

"I suggest we head for the camp itself, or go to the bunker where the others were intending to hack into the mainframe!"

Over the rising howl of the wind, Stormwarden nodded back as they stumbled upwards and outwards. It seemed to Guy that there were a myriad ways and means out of this place. As they entered one such way, the shattering howl of wind died away and allowed him to talk again. "That was a set-up! They knew we were there - do we expect the same to have happened at the bunker? If so, lets take our action there."

Frostbite and Darkshadow
(Joe Rigdon and Jason Ashe)

Frostbite saw Caldwell nod, grind his teeth and settle down against the wall of the lift. As he slid down to the floor a smear of blood marked the rear wall of the elevator.

No matter what happened, and how Frostbite or the others tried to change things, it seemed James Caldwell was doomed to die!

Frostbite moved through the walls, waiting until the lift pinged before he poked his head in what turned out to be a dark room.


(numbered from left 1 through to no 4 on the right, the lady)

Four white clad figures were standing in the room, apparently talking to... no one?

Along the walls were machines, computers of various kinds and doubtless the controls to the main doors as well as the terminal Caldwell wanted access to. The four people in white were getting agitated, and all turned at once when the lift pinged! One (OOC no.2 on the picture) held up a hand, flames bursting from it, and about to blast - until he saw the wounded man slumped in the lift!

"Who is that?" he said, in accented English. The one with the stone skin spat an insult in German <Speak your native tongue, fool! The dark clad stranger must still be in here somewhere! We need to turn on the lights!>

Of course! Frostbite looked about. Darkshadow must be around here somewhere! The darkened room was his element! These four had no idea what they were letting themselves in for!

"I have an idea!" said the 1st man (OOC on the left of the pic). He grinned, looking around. "Oh mystery man... If you do not show yourself, I will... take the man from the lift and slowly, deliberately, pull his arms and legs off. If you do not reveal yourself after that, I will go from here and kill every lowlife scavenger I find within a mile of this place! Perhaps there is amongst them someone you care about?" he cackled.

OOC Initiative 1d10=9 Heroes, 1d10=1 Bad Guys. Four frames to you guys...

Stormwarden and Lionheart
(Guy Saint Ives and Richard King)

Lionheart spat dust from his mouth. The wind howled all about, whipping dirt and dust through the air to make a noxious blinding mist! It hampered the Nazis enough that finding the 'scavvies' was no easy task, and of course those used to living down there simply pulled a scarf or similar over their face, and goggles across their eyes. "I'll bet it was a traitor of some kind." he snarled. "There's always someone willing to line their pockets, sell out their fellow man. Saladin is one such. It's why I need to find and stop him!"

The pair rose ever higher, amidst the highest of the old derelict buildings of old London, and between the colossal steel and concrete supports holding up the city above! It seemed inconceivable that event he resources of this horrendous third reich could manage to build such edifices, but Stormwarden recalled that superhumans were not only present in this era, but used as valuable resources.

Nothing was beyond their capabilities, especially with the likes of Adjutant on their side!

It was that realisation that drove home the point of Darkshadow and Frostbites mission - they simply had to find some way to slow down or stop Adjutant. Deprived of the Dark Power within that protected them from the time change, the Vanguard were severely outgunned by the likes of Adjutant and who knew how many others worked for the Nazis.

The pair emerged between roadways to the city streets above. Sirens were blaring now, and people rushed to their homes, a curfew being imposed on the streets. All about, Nazi troops jogged about, weapons in hand, and took up positions on the roadways aiming down into the darkness below.

Stormwardan and Lionheart had a choice to make - they could keep to the shadows of buildings and try to keep a low profile, or fly directly to the bunker where the others had gone.

Stormwarden
(Guy St Ives)

Over the whistling of the wind, Stormwarden looked over to Lionheart. "We're restricted in what we can do!" he shouted over the wind. "We're protected against the time-stream changes but at the cost of losing the kind of powers that Adjutant has! If we dip into that, there's no knowing what we'll be or on whose side. Together we stand a chance. And I bet they're in trouble the same way we got hit, so I say head straight for the tower. See if we can take any of that trouble from behind."

They diverted now, skimming through the air. Stormwarden was worried about was happening but he still had the power of the storm to call upon. He was surely going to need it again. Taking on supers was possible - as long as their backup could be dealt with.

FROSTBITE
Joe Rigdon

Frostbite didn't like the way these people played. It was more than arrogance, a cold merciless casual brutality that struck him as cold as it was devoid of any humanity. But whilst he had the element of surprise, he had to make it count for him.

First Frostbite had to wonder if there was any way to turn this base to his advantage. "Computer..." He said within himself, "I want you to find out if we can use this terminal or any of the equipment here to our advantage." Whilst he concentrated, simultaneously dropping his intangible state to be able to apply some cold to the room, which he sincerely hoped wouldn't impinge Darkshadow or Caldwell too much.

Concentrating on the one who'd made the threat to Caldwell, Frostbite frozen the air in a concentrated burst around his head, hoping to add to his pain with confusion and the worst cold chill to his head he'd ever felt.

OOC:
[2d6 HTK, to the no 1 aiming for the head in particular to try and hinder him further = 12htk]

Assuming the request to the computer need not involve him, Frostbite is going to use his field manipulation to also do the same thing to the stone guy...for 2d6=7 htk

IC:
Frostbite hoped he'd add to the confusion in the darkness and that his two attacks might help him and hinder them, but in truth he knew he wasn't going to be able to attack these four and subdue them on his own. He had to bide his time and play it smart, even superior odds can be overcome with the right strategy and luck. And from what he'd heard these lot were more than a little arrogant and overconfident.

Sj