The New Vanguard! The Haunt Issue#3 - Country Imperilled!

Rush King yawned and stretched. He checked the clock. With a groan he clambered from bed and stumbled to the toilet.

He'd only been asleep an hour. The nightmare had been vivid and all too real. Fire... giant demons... searing fire.. pain.. unable to escape...

The moon was high in the night sky. The aches and pains of the evenings work had gone, even the searing headache and pain - imagined or real - inflicted by Arrangers' powerful mental attack.

Grabbing a bowl of cereal and setting down on the couch, the actor/superhero flicked on the television.

"...breaking news, the superhuman incarceration facility near Trefeglwys in Wales has been attacked and severely compromised. There has been no official word from the government other than to say there is an 'ongoing situation' and that local residents must stay in their homes at all costs. Police and Army are on the scene and the UKChampions have been alerted. Unfortunately our sources have suggested the Champions are under strength right now with their strongest members, including Adjutant, away on a mission. More from this breaking story as we get it..."

The helicopter was staying a respectful distance from the place but zoomed in enough to see gunfire and orange clad inmates running unhindered about the place.

Some were using super powers.

Haunt felt pretty sure that the supers he'd met earlier would have gone to investigate that.

He could go back to bed, try to get some sleep or find some way to get to Wales as quickly as possible... which might involve contacting Wandafar, DICE, the UKChampions or anyone else with a really fast vehicle.

OOC Your call - you can continue to solo or join up with the others in a improbable comic style character in two places at once wolverine style thing...

Oh I like the idea of joining up.    Would Omni-Arm or Self manipulation get me there faster on my own or roughly the same time if I took time to look for help getting there?

Haunt considered flying under his own power.

From London to Wales. He frowned and sighed, wondering what other options were available. Then he remembered, and plucked a small earpiece from a belt pouch. With a frown under the mask he pressed a button on the earpiece. Yeoman had given it to him.

It run for a couple of times, before being answered. "Hold on!" THWACK SMACK! OOOF! "Yeah, won't be a..." Whud! Doof! Smeck!

"What is it? Who is... oh wait. Haunt? What's up?"

Haunt explained that there was a major incident going on at the super prison facility and he needed to get there in a hurry. There was a few moments of silence, then Yeoman muttered "Yeah, that sounds bad. Got my hands full a bit here, and will have to talk to the rozzers, but I think I can sort you out. Gimme a sec."

The sound went off. Then the earpiece 'rung'. Haunt frowned then put it in his ear. "Sorted. Right. The earpiece will lead you to a safehouse we use. One of my friends will meet you there. Right... OY! get back there sunshine or I'll knock your 'ed off!" he bellowed.

The line went dead, but an automated voice spoke up. "Calibrating north. Please turn... That direction, 1.7 miles." it stated. Clearly some kind of satellite navigation. Rush King/Haunt looked over to the costume and sighed. No rest of the wicked... and none for him that hunted them down.

He flowed like liquid into the costume.

OOC I assume you want to go to the place specified by the earpiece/Yeoman? if there's anything else you need you can assume to have done it/gotten it (within reason)

Not long later the earpiece directed him down... to a derelict chimney stack fenced and boarded off to mere mortals that couldn't climb twenty foot high barbed wire fences or get past a dog patrol.

"Yeoman said to wait for someone that stuck out like a sore thumb" said a voice from the shadows. Haunt looked about. Just then from the shadows of the chimney vaulted a blue garbed figure with amazing agility who landed on the edge of the chimney without even looking at it. "I'm Steeplejack. You must be Haunt I'm guessing. Question. Do you trust technology, specifically that which deconstructs your molecular structure and beams you up to a satellite that's due overhead in..." he glanced at a wristwatch "just under a minute?"

"Yeoman said to wait for someone that stuck out like a sore thumb" said a voice from the shadows. Haunt looked about. Just then from the shadows of the chimney vaulted a blue garbed figure with amazing agility who landed on the edge of the chimney without even looking at it. "I'm Steeplejack. You must be Haunt I'm guessing. Question. Do you trust technology, specifically that which deconstructs your molecular structure and beams you up to a satellite that's due overhead in..." he glanced at a wristwatch "just under a minute?"

"You mean like in Star Trek," the Haunt asks, a bit off balanced. "Um ... I assume it has a safer recorder than driving? In that case, Beam Me Up, Scotty!"

Steeplejack smiled. He seemed like an older hero by what Haunt could tell from the half face mask. With an assuredness that spoke of superhuman agility and years of practise he dropped into the depths of the chimney stack and into the darkness...

Which vanished as lights activated by sensors illuminated every twenty feet. Steeplejack landed on a platform then looked up as Haunt joined him. "Place has been condemned for years, but protected by a preservation order and mountains of red tape. If one were to follow it, they'd find a certain Lord St Johns at the end of it, but you'd have to be able to unravel a pan full of spaghetti to do that, and his lordship 'tripwired' the trail. Basically it means no one can touch this place. Wandafars' machines keep anyone from getting too close."

He stepped up to a scanner type device set on a post. A light shone on Steeplejacks face, scanning.

"Steeplejack. Velcome." said Wandafars voice. "Scan shows you are viz someone else. Are zey friend or foe?"

"Friend" replied Steeplejack. Without further ado a hatch opened in the floor. Steeplejack turned to explain. "We went through dozens of scenarios and voice training. Basically we're prepared for any eventuality. And this place..." he says, with a wave of his hand at the thirty foot width chimney "Is a trap for any would be bad guys. Power nullifiers, neural jammers, heck, we even have a few tricks from the White Warlock. If you don't know of his area of expertise, let's just say 'the metaphysical' and have done. Come on."

They dropped into a cramped metal room lined with computers on the walls and pipes/conduits/wires everywhere. It looked lashed up. Though Steeplejack couldn't see through Haunts mask he smiled and spoke up "Looks haphazard, amateurish, right? This could never work? Well Wandafar isn't only one of the smartest people I've ever met, when it comes to gadgets, well that's his superhuman power. He can turn junk into..." he gave a wave of the hand. "plus we have friends in the industry who help with hard to get stuff. There's enough gold in here to solve a few national debt problems. Right."

He turned to point at a raised dais and an area with four lit up circles on it. "I can't join you." he explained, seeming troubled. "I have... family business to attend to, I'm afraid, and it can't be put off. Wandafar will be joining me. Use the communicator Yeoman gave you to contact one of us. We'll arrange for transport back, though I've seen what's happening. You need more than luck. We've tried every channel we can to raise the UKChampions. There's something else going on. We think there's either diversions been set up or that the British Isles are under siege. Some of the Champions are en route, but we don't get on too well with them after the events of a few years ago."

He turned to a panel, checked his watch, half a dozen clocks on the wall, the panel again, and frowned. Leaning over he tapped a clock, took it from the wall and gave it a shake, then put it aside. "I'm sure it's nothing." he smiled.

With a wave of his hand he pointed at the circles. "pick one, pull your cape in, then get ready. There are safeguards in place meaning we can't get you nearer than a couple of miles from the prison for your own safety, and you'll be appearing twenty feet off the ground. best we can do. That stuff you see on Star Trek? Wandafar tried to set it up just like that. Let's just say it took a long time for Justin to forgive Wandafar for what happened to his cat."

Without further ado he turned to the clocks, waited, then slapped a large red button...

The world flashed! Then it shimmered...

With a wave of his hand he pointed at the circles. "pick one, pull your cape in, then get ready. There are safeguards in place meaning we can't get you nearer than a couple of miles from the prison for your own safety, and you'll be appearing twenty feet off the ground. best we can do. That stuff you see on Star Trek? Wandafar tried to set it up just like that. Let's just say it took a long time for Justin to forgive Wandafar for what happened to his cat."

Without further ado he turned to the clocks, waited, then slapped a large red button...

The world flashed! Then it shimmered...

The Haunt couldn't resist the impulse. When told to pull his cape in, he morphed into an exact duplicate of Captain James T. Kirk, as he was in the original show. Then he gulped ass the button was pushed.

Steeplejack grinned. "There's always one joker in the pack. In my day it was Lio..." he frowned, as if remembering something that wasn't quite right...

Haunt reappeared with a stomach churning lurch above the moorland of Wales, mountains around him and driving rain lashing into into his body which dropped twenty feet to land with a mud splattered SQUELCH. A filthy James T Kirk stood, scraping mud from himself and looking up.

It was a foul night, and foul business afoot. Even from 2 miles away he could hear explosions and gunshots ringing out. The whup of distant choppers echoed from the valley walls, and made it tricky to determine their location.

There was also something else - the distinctive BANG!!! of something crashing. Could only have been about a mile or two from his location... A distant boiling cloud of orange coiled into the dark night sky.

Haunt could head for that, the crashing of what sounded like a Helicopter, or instead turn to the distant prison, a place which looked under siege with fires breaking out and running gun fights taking place between guards, police, army and superhuman convicts.

It was a mess.

There was also something else - the distinctive BANG!!! of something crashing. Could only have been about a mile or two from his location... A distant boiling cloud of orange coiled into the dark night sky.

Haunt could head for that, the crashing of what sounded like a Helicopter, or instead turn to the distant prison, a place which looked under siege with fires breaking out and running gun fights taking place between guards, police, army and superhuman convicts.

It was a mess.

Summoning his Fog, and then turning his legs into oversized tires, James T. Kirk headed for the prison.

"Let's see how the evildoers like my Aura of Fear," he muttered justifiably to himself.

actions: hit the prison, morph back into the Haunt, make dramatic speech and hit every prisoner in range with Aura of Fear.

OOC The power allows you to exclude people as you wish from the effects, but when you can't see the people it would be impossible (without using some other power like telepathy) to tell who was who - guard, prisoner or other staff.

What I've done is make three rolls. The middle roll will apply to all the targets you can see. You could choose to apply it to everyone in range, but that would leave a lot of staff, police, soldiers and even maybe your friends in the Vanguard suffering another case of filling their pants. Again.

Rolls (Invisible castle down, had to use WOTC version):
Roll(2d10)+0: 10,9,+0 Total:19
Roll(2d10)+0: 5,9,+0 Total:14
Roll(2d10)+0: 10,7,+0 Total:17

Ok, that was better than expected. 17 roll applies to all the bad guys you can see in range.

Haunt did his best 'Chorlton and the wheelies' impression* and sped across the rough terrain with ease and speed

As he approached the prison he saw a cordon around it of armed police and soldiers. Without payinng too much attention to the astonished policeman who vaguely raised a hand for him to stop even whilst his jaw was dropping Haunt sped past.

Several gunshots were fired in his general direction, but without being able to identify him as friend or foe Haunt knew they would be warning him away. In several places the outer fence had been flattened, the walls breached and left in ruins. Gunshots rang out as soldiers tried to hold criminals at bay. Some had recovered their powers fully, others partially and some were still rendered powerless, but all were dangerous.

Haunt skidded to a halt and wheeled about, taking in the scene. A dozen criminals were giving soldiers the run around. One was firing torrents/jets of caustic acid from his hands in all directions, sending people running for cover.

Anyone who didn't run was pretty much reduced to a sizzling puddle of gunk...

Glancing in the direction of those criminals he could see, Haunt unleashed his power...

All but one criminal screamed and dropped into a foetal position.

The last screamed, and sped off inside the prison as fast as he could.

The surprised soldiers and police looked about, relieved they were alive and that the dangerous enemies they'd been fighting had suddenly surrendered when they were in the strongest position. One of the soldiers calls out to Haunt. "Hey! You! You... ah... you a good guy? 'Cause me n the lads don't recognise you, like... ya know, with the wheels an that. An' the cowboy hat."

OOC Into the prison or help these guys to clear the area of prisoners? Those guys you incapacitated will be down for a while, and you have (without doubt) saved lives. More may need saving.

*

The surprised soldiers and police looked about, relieved they were alive and that the dangerous enemies they'd been fighting had suddenly surrendered when they were in the strongest position. One of the soldiers calls out to Haunt. "Hey! You! You... ah... you a good guy? 'Cause me n the lads don't recognise you, like... ya know, with the wheels an that. An' the cowboy hat."

OOC Into the prison or help these guys to clear the area of prisoners? Those guys you incapacitated will be down for a while, and you have (without doubt) saved lives. More may need saving.

action: Change back into my normal outfit. Don't really have a lot of details as to what is going on and where the most danger lies, so for now, help out the cops, get their take on what's going on and take out more crooks with his Aura of Fear. [And yeah, it makes sense that I would have to either see or be willing to take out everyone I can't see. Though since this power is "mechanical" in nature, I guess we could, at a later date, supply each of the team with a protective device or personal nullifier so that they won't be affected by it. Wandafar or the guy who made my costume could probably whip those up in a few hours.]

Once I've spent a bit of time out here helping out and finding out what's what, then I will decide if I need to get inside or not.


"I am the Haunt," he intones. "I am the Spirit of Justice made flesh! I cannot allow those whom Justice has seen fit to incarcerate, to run wild and act in an unjust matter. They will pay for such deeds!"

He looks around for more crooks to zap with his Justice Force! [hehehe!]

"Tell me what goes on here and how it happened, will you please officers."

Once of the police officers, in full riot gear, steps forward and lowers his machine gun

"I'm Sergeant Crowe. Whoever you are..." he looked at the slumped criminals. "Thank you! We'll sort the paperwork out later. There was a ... HUGE guy smashed his way through the walls and into the main body of the prison." he pointed to said hole, smashed concrete falling about.

"There's more in there, plus some other guys showed up. We didn't know them either, but they seemed to want to help. One was a guy with ice for skin, another was like this robot thing. The other guy looked ... well it was hard to tell. he only slowed down for a few seconds and then he was off, too fast to get a good look at!"

"Oh and something else. A bright light. We think it looked like a woman, but to be honest this place is going crazy. We have hostage situations, blaring alarms, criminals getting out and onto the moors, and we've all just been told to evacuate." he said as police dragged convicts away behind him. "I hate to say this, but this place is powered by a nuclear reactor..."

He looked about, shaking his head, and shrugged "And I just heard on my earpiece that the high pitched alarm says we have 10 minutes to get out of here before we have another Chernobyl on our hands... We're doomed."

He looked about, shaking his head, and shrugged "And I just heard on my earpiece that the high pitched alarm says we have 10 minutes to get out of here before we have another Chernobyl on our hands... We're doomed."

"I know of the three that came to help," the Haunt replies, having a little fog form around his feet, "good men. I do not know of the woman."

"Where is this reactor? Perhaps I can stop it," he adds.

actions: get directions, go to the reactor and realize he knows squat about such things and hopes that there is a big red button that says something like "emergency shutdown."     

"Stop the... are you mad?" gasps Crowe. "Saying that, we have people to get out, and it doesn't matter any more. All of this place... for miles... will go up."

With a sigh he shrugged "You men!" he ordered to several personnel. "Get those prisoners secured and ... out of the way."

He winced, knowing what he'd said was futile. They would all die here, today. Jane and the kids... He bit back a trembling lip and put on his best poker face for the white garbed superhero. "This way. May as well take you to the service shaft."

He ran through, over and around the rubble as Haunt stayed with him. Gunshots rang out in other areas of the prison whilst water gushed from splintered pipes. Ice told Haunt that Frostbite had passed this way. The walls had been smashed as if by some huge force and something hadn't slowed down as it passed through here.

Crowe was troubled. "That's what happened then. Something didn't break out, it broke in." The alarm continued to blare as dust fell and distant crashing continued. Crowe stopped and pressed a button panel on the wall where a pair of solid looking steel doors were set. "Damn. Emergency lockdown has sealed the doors. There's another way, it will take longer but..."

CCCCRUUUUNCH!

He gaped as Haunt peeled the door back like a tin can

OOC Roll 2d10 → [10,5] = (15) Even reinforced, against 13 AP strength a door such as this is little in the way of obstacle.

Haunt popped his head in. The shaft led up and down. Emergency lights strobed down its depths which went deeper than Haunt could've imagined.

"They built it on an old mine. Not much need to dig, solid rock all round, left just one way in or out - up." explained Crowe. "The reactor was said to be foolproof. Some superhero called Wandafar changed the design, made it more powerful and efficient. I guess he's not as smart as they say he was. I remember those guys... the Executive. Few years back now..."

Haunt looked at Crowe. The man was sweating and looking slightly dizzy. He seemed to realise, then came to his senses. "Somethings' going on."

A glance at a patch on his arm showed it was changing from black to grey around the circular edges. "Damn. Radiation leak has started, unless it's something else. Weird. Would've thought it would have gone all at once instead of leaving residual like this."

He turned back at the sound of a distant scream. "My men. I have to go! Listen... even if you can't... just... thank you. For trying." He paused, nodded, then turned and ran towards the outside of the building again.

Haunt glanced down the shaft again. He couldn't be sure - it must be a mile down or more - but there were flashing lights of different colours than the usual strobe ones, right down at the bottom levels.

Drop down the shaft all hero-like. Turn legs into giant springs to absorb the shock of the fall when I hit bottom.

The fall seemed to take an age!

Clearly the mine - as was - had channelled deep into the mountains of Wales. Along the way with the seemingly endless drop there were flashes of explosions from behind lift doors, gas and liquids vented, sparks flared and the emergency lighting flickered.

Forming huge springs from his legs he prepared himself for the landing... when it came, seconds later, he THUMPED into the floor throwing up a huge black cloud of dust! Looking down, Haunt discovered that his speed, strength and weight had done enough to shatter the floor! With a cough and sweep of a hand to clear dust, he hopped out of the hole he'd made and stepped up to where a pair of double doors stood ajar.

The blinding flash that greeted him contrasted with the absolute darkness, and whilst not directly in his eyes, he could only imagine what was going on in the reactor room for a few seconds as his eyes recovered...

OOC Will introduce you to the fight in the main reactor room at the end of the NEXT round... So there is a round to resolver, then another and you are able to act at the end of that second round... Will be updating that thread tomorrow if I run out of time tonight. Up early for work. Again.

The Haunt, not sure what to expect, brings up his Fog to both shield him and make any entrance that much more spooky and dramatic!