The NEW Vanguard! The HAUNT Issue #4

Haunt got stuck in to pull out the dangerous parts of this thing - notably its explosive 'heart'

Without the time for subtlety, he oozed himself into the hole in the thing and filled every crevice, creating hundreds of pairs of snipper claws inside the robot and snipping anything that felt like a wire, tube, or something that might shut it down! Aware that the other robots were escaping - somehow - with the captives out of his sight (with him still in the tunnel) Haunt knew he would only get one shot at taking this thing down!

OOC If Haunt doesn't take it down, it WILL exploded in his face!
1d10 → [1] = (1) 1d10 → [10] = (10) It's ok... but with his reduced strength, not enough! The Robot explodes!

1d10 → [6] = (6) 1d10 → [1] = (1) BOOOOM!!!!!

Haunt spins away, skin smoking and covered in rubble... and there was more to come - the ceiling of the tunnel exit was about to come down on top of him!

OOC Haunt failed to stop the robot, and it exploded, taking away evidence he might have given to Wandafar. The upside is he took no damage from the explosion but it's slowed him down. Outside the tunnel the other robots with their captives are making their escape...

Haunt struggles up, stumbling out of the dust and smoke... Looking about, he checks the river, whose bank he is on, and the sky, seeing buildings and high rise blocks all about.

OOC Perception check 2d10 → [3,10] = (13) There's a whirr of a helicopter close by, but has it had time to pick up the robots and their captives and move out of sight? Or there's the river. No boats nearby, but it's wide and dark. he had a choice to make. Take to the skies, or take a plunge into the murky depths... or perhaps on the surface - had they made off in a boat? He couldn't see anything nearby on the surface. Along the waterfront are warehouses and piers/docks with the high rises set back a little from them.

Detective skill to see if I spot some kind of tracks or other clues?


[replying at 8:14 am east coast time which is either 4 or 5 hours behind GMT]

OOC Perception first, then Detective (so he looks for clues, then uses Detective to deduce information from the clues...)

2d10 → [5,6] = (11) Perception

2d10 → [8,7] = (15) Detective

Haunt looks to the skies...

He wonders if the robots had some kind of teleportation device, an invisible flying vehicle, or some other means to get away...

All of which would be very very expensive, and hard to get hold of. Certainly the robots were fantastic advanced machines, but still.. he looked at the water and noticed the swirling waves near the centre of the river.

His keen mind figured...

1) Chances were it would be easier and faster to escape via river as flying in a city where air traffic control, the police and numerous superheroes could give chase and track them meant it was a bad idea

2) No foaming wakes on the river in either direction, probably meant that no speedboats or the like had been used, which meant...

3) An underwater vessel. A Submarine! Slower, but big enough to carry the robots and their captives. And probably still there under the murky brown depths...

Time to turn myself into a human torpedo and hit the water and see what I can find.

The ghostly white form splashed beneath the waves to swim about...

OOC Using self manipulation Haunt gives himself...

Sonar 5
Swimming 3
Water Freedom 1

His eyes are less useful than the inbuilt sonar of the torpedo as he glides through the murky waters of the Thames. Instantly he catches something at the edge of his range, a large shape around 20m long and shaped like a tube - probably a submarine. That gives Haunt a choice. He's not at his best under the waves, whereas this thing, which was waiting and ready for a fast getaway - might have defensive systems that could give him problems.

OOC After the sub to follow or take it on?

The Haunt decides to follow the sub for the moment. He is not sure he wants to have a battle on a crowded river with such a thing and maybe finding where its base is is the better way to go.

Haunt tracked the Sub...

This thing was FAST!

He switched his abilities to increase his speed and reduce his sonar, keeping it at the edge of his range. The Thames was a mazy winding river, but the sub kept up a good pace.

Then it stopped.

Haunt held back. His sonar picked up something else. The bottom of the river was typically bumpy, with the detritus of ages littering the bed. However here was a a large 'bump'. A dome? Some kind of underwater base at the bottom of the River Thames?

The sub approached the dome, which seemed to split open, and the dome started to close, to 'swallow' the dome...

move in as quickly as possible. Hugging the bottom as I go to reduce any sonar contact with me.

Haunt slipped in as the door started to close, and emerged into what appeared to be a dock of sorts for the sub.

Water started to drain, pumped out somewhere, as the sub seemed to rise as it pulled alongside a mooring platform.

So far so good. The ghostly white shape had been able to slip unseen into what appeared to be a villainous hideout in the Thames, of all places! In essence it was genius. Strike from a submarine, escape to a mobile base at the bottom of the river and move away. The Thames was big enough, deep enough and busy enough that it was difficult for the police to effectively search, and it gave a perfect platform to strike anywhere in London thanks to the Rivers winding nature! Only the flood barrier prevented escape to the sea, but Haunt figured this base would have a way round that problem too.

He watched as the remaining robots were met by 3 more on the dock side. Six in total now, three dragged each captive towards a doorway that led into the base.

Follow, take on the robots now, or search around this dock/submarine when the robots were gone?

Coming out of the water and taking on the shape of the robots, The Haunt searches for clues in the sub and the docking areas.

Taking n the shape but not the colour of the robots, The Haunt searched the area of the docks, trying to find some clue as to what was going on here...

Unhindered by robotic 'goons' with weapons that neutralized superhuman abilities, Haunt quickly flitted through the submarine and onto the docks to where a computer console was mounted onto a wall.

OOC Perception check

Roll(2d10)+0:
3,1,+0
Total:4 Ouch. That's not good. Haunt wastes time and finds nothing of interest in the sub. Aside from the usual controls there is little he can see that might give some clue as to who put this operation together, or indeed who manufactured the submarine.

Haunt can try to hack into the computer console and hopefully gain access to the mainframe of this place, where doubtless more can be learned. Unfortunately the guy you need in your corner (Frostbot/Frostbite) is elsewhere... your call. Attempting and failing will certainly alert whoever runs this place that something is afoot...

Time to find out where the prisoners are kept, the Haunt muses to himself. Now how to get down those corridors without being spotted by robots or humans, if any humans are around.

Keeping his robot form, hoping any robots he runs across are color-blind, the Haunt moves quietly out of the dockyard and further into the base.

actions: sneaking as best as I can.

OOC If I recall Haunt is pretty sneaky. At the weekend I will rescue my laptop hard drive and get the details that I need of the characters. I'm also moving more and more stuff to Google Drive (cloud storage) for future use. Of course, that requires a functioning internet connection. Between dying hard drives and dodgy internet there's no way of being 100% certain of keeping all your stuff :S

Haunt moved into the corridor of the base and noted that he almost had to stoop. It was more functional than presentable, and the metal was rusty in places.

In fact, Haunts' keen mind deduced, on closer inspection, that the metal for the construction of the vessel had come from a number of sources and was of more than one type. More incredible was the seamless welding of different metals, not something normally possible thanks to their different thermal capacities Haunt assumed. Where Aluminium met rusted iron which met green coated copper and patches of white lead, all were joined in a smooth way that suggested they'd not been welded at all, merely 'merged'.

He moved on.

Pausing at a crossroads he ducked his head around a corner and back again. A camera set on the ceiling! It was of the dome type and it was hard to tell if he'd been seen or not. He was about to find some doorway to duck into when he heard a SWISH and the clanking of metal feet coming his way!



OOC Let me know if that comes out ok. I use a forty odd inch tv as my monitor and I'm sat a foot from it so things tend to look fine. I know (from past experience) that laptops tend to view things differently...

The robots are approaching towards the crossroads. There are no doors near Haunt, but he's not so far from the dock area. The floor is smooth panelled metal as are the walls and floor. Whoever cooked this thing up might have raided a scrap yard but they could certainly teach big industry a thing or two on how to put stuff together! You have moments - seconds - before the robots are at the intersection...

ooc: map was ok. Sorry for delay, Pathfinder Online just got more active and I lost track of the days.

The Haunt quickly pressed himself against the wall, flattening himself and making himself look like the wall, albeit all white. His plan was to hope that they didn't see him, then turn into a duplicate of them and follow them.

HAUNT

OOC No problem on delay - I've had my own problems. I tend to do my posting from my laptop but that went belly up (files and all, though I can get those with a screwdriver and a few minutes I reckon) then the old, rubbish, nigh on non functional laptop I have as spare started blue screening so no wonder my mum gave it to me after 'having had enough with it'. That means I post from my desktop - after the kids have gone to bed - and it's freezing in here. A former coal bunker in my Victorian era house, am sure there's a hole to the outside somewhere. Keeps the computer very cool Unfortunately my right hand has gone numb and my legs are starting to go too now BRRRRR!

Haunt tried his best to go unnoticed...

OOC Do they spot him? 2d10 → [7,9] = (16)

The first robots - looking less like humans now he was up close, with clearly latex skin and emotionless features - walked past but the last one stopped. Then turned, slowly...

OOC Haunt wins initiative - bluff it out and hope it doesn't look to close at the white wall with cartoon eyes or spring into action, which will get the attention of the rest!

Bluff it out

"This is not the wall you are looking for, you will move along," The Haunt thinks loudly inside his head to the robot.

Haunt tries to convince the murderous Robot that he is not the wall they are looking for...

It would take a long shot!

OOC 2d10 → [7,8] = (15) Well whaddyaknow.

The robot stared closely at the wall... And turned away! Haunt had done it! He breathed a sigh of relief... and the robot stopped!

Turning, it swung a punch at the wall!

OOC Meaning the 15 wasn't high enough! 2d10 → [5,6] = (11) Hit, but causes no damage.

Rolling with the blow Haunt knew the gig was up! He faced off against a robot in front of him and the others turning about!

OOC try to take all of them on, run, or come up with some other crazy plan? it's no consolation but an 18+ would have done it...

"Well Carp Doodle," the Haunt mutters as he summons his fog and prepares to bash robots.

actions: Summon fog and then punch robot

Billowing white fog spewed out in every direction from the Haunts form...

The robot seemed to try to adjust, its eyes turning red, then purple...

Haunt didn't bother waiting for it to work out where he was - he simply slammed a fist out from the fog and let his knuckles do the talking!

OOC 2d10 → [4,4] = (8) DOUBLE plus 2d10 → [5,1] = (6) 14 total. Hit, 2 columns.

Haunt felt a satisfying crumple as he realised he had recovered his full superhuman strength, and saw the robot fly backwards in the air towards the others!

Seeing one of their comrades injured, the others morphed their arms into guns... the kind that nullified powers! Haunt was in trouble!

OOC You can stick around in the fog or move, your call, then they shoot.

Stay in Fog and flatten myself to the floor and hope they miss then attack.

The robots fired with what they thought a 'sure shot' based on the position of their target...

OOC And hitting the floor flat is as good a tactic as any. So much so they need a better than decent roll to hit.

2d10 → [5,6] = (11)
2d10 → [2,8] = (10)
2d10 → [5,7] = (12)
2d10 → [4,8] = (12)

Not good enough (really needed a double)

With beams crisscrossing through the fog Haunt knew that he was on borrowed time - one hit from a beam would see his strength sapped, or his shapechanging, or even his superhuman endurance!

He was no quitter though, and lashed out with a white fist from the fog!

OOC 2d10 → [5,7] = (12) CLANG!

Landing a solid hit he knew he'd damaged a 'bot, but probably not taken it down. They were tough, and made to take down superhuman opponents. And there were more of them.

Suddenly a voice rang out "Surrender!" it said in a very English accent, probably Etonian.

He heard a CLANG! as doors slammed down somewhere in the tunnels.

"In moments deadly Chlyrodine gas, of my own devising, shall pump into the tunnels. You might survive that - a number of superhumans do. It wasn't designed to kill you freaks. It was designed to slow you down. Your much vaunted speed and reflexes will be dulled to glacial levels. Ordinary humans die. Nobody pays for ordinary humans. You've piqued my interest. I want you alive. Resist and I will content myself with an autopsy on your steaming corpse!" it cackled.

hmmmm ....

"Who are you," the Haunt asks. "You are not my normal prey. But you have me curious. Speak mortal!"

ations: gonna surrender after trying to get a bit of information out of him, if possible. Otherwise, wait for him to tell me his plan after I'm captured.

"Take him!" cackled the voice over the loudspeaker!

The robots launched in, landing blow after blow with the energy beams and draining Haunts powers! Physical blows followed, and the ground raced up to meet him...

=========

It didn't take long for Haunt to recover...

His healing ability was perhaps most unsung, but probably his most useful ability! Already beneath his mask he could feel the bruises shrinking, and he knew his powers would return quickly.

Carefully glancing out the side of his eyeslits he saw his arms were spread, the hands and wrists covered in shiny chrome restraints, the same on his feet and ankles. Energy from each crackled from the ceiling and floor, leaving him suspended.

The room was huge, carved from some forgotten underground cavern. Banks of servers and computers ran down one wall, whilst what looked to be a home made robot fabrication facility/production line ran down another wall! Huge ten foot screens - three of them - hung from the ceiling, and on a raised dais a man in a wheelchair studied the news reports on one screen whilst another was split into dozens of smaller screens.

The third screen flickered into life, and a woman appeared on it. She looked petrified, and glanced constantly to her left as sounds of explosions and a battle rang out from somewhere. "Dr Exitium! I need help! The facility... the superhumans..."

The 'doctor' in question, a bald man in a hover chair with pipes and wires from it into his head, faced the screen, his back to Haunt.

"Foolish woman! What have you done? You paid me to capture and deliver superhumans, and I have done! You wanted the machines to adapt their powers and channel them into a form of limitless bio-kinetic energy... and I did this! I, Exitium! No one else has the intellect, the pure processing power to..."

"They've gotten loose! You must help me! How can I get them under control! And ... and..." spluttered the woman.

"HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT EXITIUM!" he screeched. "And what else? What are you not telling me?"

The woman, petrified, added "We used them to create an interdimensional portal, a doorway to another place. The knowledge of such wonders we could find were... too much! We opened a door onto another plane and... and... it wouldn't close! The beings on the other side kept it open! Then they started coming through! Now Behemoth is loose, and the other superhumans have been released by someone, a man of ice! He at least seems to be trying to stop the creatures from the other dimension, but should he fail..."

"BAH! You have opened pandoras box and now you require the genius of Exitium to close it? Foolish woman. We made a bargain, I delivered on my end, and I am still waiting on payment for the last shipment, never mind the choice examples I have for you now! BEGONE!"

Before she could answer he cut the feed and turned to two robots without human skin who stood in a corner. "You two! Check on the captives. Exitium must ponder this development."

He turned to the TV screens to watch the news on a dozen feeds, chin in hand.

Ice Man? Might he mean Frostbite? What was going on?

Haunt tested his strength. It had recovered, but he knew these things might set off an alarm should he use his powers. He would have to be careful...

using Detective/Acting skills to question Exitium - who is he, where are we, why is he doing this, who else has he captured, who is he selling folks too and anything else I can think of.

"So ... you are capturing heroes to sell to the highest bidder," the Haunt asks for his opening gambit. "Or do you capture super-powered villains too? Seems kind of a step down for such an obvious genius as yourself, salesman."


ooc: guess I should catch up on the other threads and see what's going on.

The Madman/Genius turns in his hover chair...

"Awake? My scanners picked nothing up! Truly you... 'Freaks' are unique, no two alike! As for who I am, what I want? Well, why not? I have only my robotic minions to appreciate my brilliance, and you soon will be a captive elsewhere. I scan and extract DNA for my own nefarious...."

He pondered for a moment, scanned the readout confirming Haunt was secured, and seemed to relax a little. "Superhumans are an amazing resource. Did you know that there are no less than seven in the United Kingdom capable of producing enough power to mothball 30% of the countries power stations? Some have amazing regenerative abilities, others can read minds, the list is endless! As you see before you, this decrepit shell which houses my mind is dying. I, Exitium, I alone have the mind necessary in order that death can be cheated! I will be immortal! By analyzing and extracting DNA from the superhumans I capture, I inch ever closer to the key - being able to create a superhuman body without peer, one that can house my immeasurable mind!"

"Unfortunately such research comes at a huge cost, and committing petty crimes is beneath me. What need I of diamonds, gold or the like? The only thing I need is others to do my bidding, and the lure of money to others ensures they are enslaved to my genius. Fools! Once I am done with the sampling and scanning, you will be passed over to another organisation that will use you in their own crude way. The irony is, all of this is done indirectly for the Government! It is the taxpayer who pays for all this, through a string of dummy corporations and paper trails. They do so in the knowledge that superhumans are kept off the streets, where no harm can be done. The scars of a few years ago are still fresh, I suppose. They are right to fear you! Some of you possess incredible firepower. Unchecked, you represent the greatest thret to humanity since the birth of the atomic age!"

He cackled, then collapsed into a hacking cough, tended by a robot that held up a handkerchief that the man snatched and held to his mouth.

"I suspect the shadow corporation that is charged with incarceration is using kinetic energy from your superhuman cells to channel into bio electrical energy and power some machine. I care not. I warned them that opening gates to other worlds would net them more than the treasures and resources they crave. They seek riches untold. They will find horrors untold. All of which means nothing to me so long as my minions obtain the machinery I need, and soon I will achieve my goal. The ultimate mind in the ultimate body!!!"

He cackled, then turned to a panel and slid fingers up on it... suddenly Haunt screamed, every nerve ending on fire!

"The most durable superhumans thus far have survived level 4 on my machine, my spectral friend! One died at five, and that after a short time! How far do you think you'll go?" he laughed, cackling.

Haunt was in so much pain it was hard to concentrate and use his powers! He might have to talk and think his way out of this one!