The NEW Vanguard - LIONHEART Issue #3 - The Mission, Part 1

Arrrgh. The pain continues (lousy Laptop). Anyhow, on we go - I will post the remainder of the updates tomorrow (writing out in notepad first because the internet is so slow on this thing it will take longer than I have just to connect to the internet...) Unnngh. And when I was trying to post this it went into hibernate mode. Reminds me of the bad old days of dial up and 25mhz processors...

LIONHEART - The Mission, Part 1

When the helicopter landed, Agent X turned to Lionheart. "Being part of something bigger, better, brighter, means a few sacrifices. Your personal freedom for one. For a while. Come, walk with me."

Lionheart looked about. They were on a military base, not one he recognised but he knew roughly which way to head towards London. At his top speed he figured it would be less than half an hour anywhere in the United Kingdom.

There were black jumpsuited military personnel - men an women - wearing bulletproof vests, armed, and all going about their business.

"In the wake of DICE a number of solutions were proposed to the problem of who would fill the void. We are but one. There were a number of... visionaries in the Government that felt the intelligence services were being asked to cope with threats beyond their control. DICE tried, but was woefully outgunned and underfunded. Someone came up with the idea of fighting fire with fire. We ae but one manifestation of that philosophy. We gather mentalists, mystics, psychics, psychics, anyone with a level of ability that can make a difference. We train them, and we watch. We found you. Your... mental prowess is considerable. Not the most powerful, because it fluctuates. You ARE powerful though, and a resource we sorely need. If Adjutant stays gone, we need a figure head to put out there. Someone the people can look up to, someone the Press can rally round. Someone to bear the burden that is too heavy for anyone else. It's more important now more than ever because... well, because we... the Government, the intelligence services, screwed up."

He sighed, and sat down on a bench by the side of the road that led between army buildings/barracks. "Twenty years ago someone decided to set up and arrange funding for a paramilitary organisation that took the best of the best from the Police, Army, Navy, Air Force... special forces... and equip them with enough firepower to settle a war between rampaging superhumans. The project was cancelled after it was discovered that experiments - illegal experiments - were being done on the agents to hone them, improve them. To make them better at what they did, certain things were removed. Morality, compassion, love even. Anything that might be seen as a weakness or get in the way of 'the Mission'. The Mission in question? Destroy all superhumans and shape the world to become a better place under their guidance... and crush anyone who disagrees. Part of our remit was to find them, infiltrate them, gather enough evidence and intel to stop them for good. Unfortunately, one of the things they are very good at is evading mental scanning. Maybe it's machines they use, or perhaps its the conditioning and the drugs. Whatever it is, they've evaded us, and the other security services of not just Britain, but Europe as well. We think they are 'global' and anything we uncover in the UK will be the tip of a very large iceberg. With their hands in every pie imaginable, calling on benefactors and people of influence who all share their single minded vision, this 'Mission' has taken it on themselves o forge a new world order."

"Sound familiar? It should. Adolf Hitler had a single minded vision too. If comparing this lot to him sounds melodramatic, I would ask you not to
underestimate these people. Anyone... anywhere... could be affiliated with them. Even me. Even you for all I know. You see that's part of their plan. Sow mistrust, fear, irrational thought.. then strike."

"So where are we right no with them? One of our agents, a lovely young woman named Tara Wright, thought she was onto something several nights ago. She 'overhead' something - stray thoughts about plans, plots - and we called her in. You see Tara is a dreamer, and her dreams quite often turn out to be real. She can't control them, so whenever they pop up we need to log them and just... wait, with hopefully enough warning and reading the signs right to intervene. Tara dreamed months ago about a creature rising from the depths to stride across the land bringing death in its wake. You stopped that, thankfully. We were waiting, ready to go whenever we 'heard' of such a thing happening, and needed serious firepower to stop it. In Adjutants absence you stepped up, and here you are."

He looked about at the marching personnel who strode past, running a hand through thinning hair. "Tara was scared when she called, but sharp enough to dictate what she'd dreamed into her dictaphone. Our agents found her flat empty, with signs of a scuffle and blood on the floor. Tara was gone, and the dictaphone with it. If what she dreamt came true, it means that at some point these people, this 'Mission' will conquer Britain. There will be concentration camps holding supers, anyone who disagrees with them or their vision. They will win, and anyone who doesn't want to goose step to their tune will lose."

"You see, we believe Tara dreamed of a sequence of steps that, if they all, or enough of them, came to pass, meant the Mission would succeed. If we can stop some, or all of those steps, be it assassinations, bombings, bribery, corruption, political scheming, whatever it is, then the path to their victory will be spoiled. We need to find Tara, find that tape, and stop the Mission. It's not just a matter of being strong, powerful and blasting stuff. We need to track down and destroy the weeds before they overtake the garden."

"And we don't have long."

OOC Strewth took ages to get this one post out. More tomorrow (Frostbite, Haunt and Centurion, then Lionheart)

Admin wrote:"And we don't have long."

OOC Strewth took ages to get this one post out. More tomorrow (Frostbite, Haunt and Centurion, then Lionheart)

OOC: Well thanks for persisting mate, great lead in to what will clearly be an excellent and exciting new chapter in Lionheart's chequered career.

As the man spoke, Lionheart couldn't help but think of past 'visionaries' who subverted what was the agreed path to their own ends. Warping the vision making way for dictators and fascists seemed to be something humans were signally good at raising. Still he couldn't worry about that now. A pang of guilt did leave him momentarily when he wondered how he might relay back to the others just what he had got himself into. He doubted even Justin St John's knew of this existence of this group, let alone how to communicate with them. But hopefully at somepoint Lionheart would take or make an opportunity to get an unmonitored message to Wandafar and the others, so they at least knew what he was up to. It may even turn out for the best he was 'in' with the authorities, its not like he had a secret identity, family or unprotected friends. But this organisation, this Mission, had a defined brutish and ugly purpose which could threaten even his friends.

As Agent X finally caught him up on everything, Lionheart turned a steely look to his gaze and a hard and determined set to his jaw. "Where do we start?"

Sj

Agent X smiled slightly. "Start? At the beginning. Tara's flat"

"Our agents maintain quarters at the base and their own. Despite the long hours and need to pursue with near relentless efficiency the threats that bring danger to our nation, we found out - the hard way - that 24/7 is not a great way to use the human mind. Struggled myself for a time. The job was everything. Couldn't let it go. Sleep escaped me, and things started going wrong, The human mind is a fragile thing, even when its super powered. ESPECIALLY when its super powered. So Agents maintain their own private retreat. Assumed identity, background and a place to unwind. Watched round the clock mind, cameras and our own people. Something happened. We need to find out what."

=========

A short time later Lionheart and Agent X stepped up to the doorway of the flat, having travelled via helicopter and car to Tara's place.

An agent, posing as a policeman, admitted them and they stepped into the room.

"We are at a loss. Our people get static when trying to 'read' this place. It's like they know we were watching, and the cameras..." he pointed at the lamp shade, a cabinet, the tv and waved a hand generally about "We all deactivated."

The place had been given a thorough going over. Looked like it'd been trashed, possibly from a fight or to make it look like one. Or a common burglary.

Agent X turned to Lionheart "Well, anything you can do that might shed some light as to what happened and where to go next?"

Admin wrote:The place had been given a thorough going over. Looked like it'd been trashed, possibly from a fight or to make it look like one. Or a common burglary.

Agent X turned to Lionheart "Well, anything you can do that might shed some light as to what happened and where to go next?"

Lionheart breathed slowly deeply and took in the sight before him. Beginning where he was, he began to sweep the room, methodically. Moving from telescopic vision, through his other enhanced senses, stopping, rescanning, double checking. Being careful to move only where needed, often levitating so as to get around the room without disturbing things as best as possible. Then only moving items to sniff, or look, or sense as best he could on some level that defied even his full comprehension.

Slowly as he moved about the rooms, the areas that seemed to be untrashed as well as those that did. Then the walls, windows and doors, looking for signs of entry or escape. Wondering if this was a set up, or a situation Tara had engineered or as it appeared to be some sinister force who'd kidnapped this precious girl for her abilities.

Lionheart gave the place a full sweep taking his time and taking his full attention, before returning back to where he began with his assessment.

OOC: I think that you can see I am taking a fairly comprehensive stab at things and seeking to find out what I can, particularly sifting what is a clue from a guess, a fact from fiction or conjecture and being open to all possibilities before settling on anyone that the evidence might suggest.

Sj

Despite his superhuman speed Lionheart took his time...

He found the usual detritus of humankind, in this case Tara. Hair, skin, dust and clothing threads aside, there were also fragments of food and other bits of non interest. He paused for a moment. It was in fact, too perfect a crime scene, if indeed one took place here. The camera deactivation and the 'mental static' along with Tara completely dropping off the grid - both physically and psychically - suggested that something had happened here, but ...

"Drawing a blank?" said Agent X. "So did we. We scanned with psychics, whatever machines we thought might do the trick, even got a bloodhound in. Nothing. A dead end. I hoped one of you chaps - the higher powered kind - might offer options but I suppose some things are just..."

Lionheart stood, chin in hand. He'd looked everywhere. In the cupboards, under the furniture, even in the cracks in the wood floor. He'd used every superhuman ability he had.

OOC 2d10 → [10,9] = (19) Oh. Maybe there IS something to spot then.

Lionheart walked past the bathroom, then stopped. Turning, he looked into the room, and narrowed his eyes. The plant. An ordinary house plant on the window sill.

The plants leaves on one side were shrivelled... Lionheart squinted, using his super senses. And still shrivelling, albeit slowly. He called Agent X over and pointed. The man raised an eyebrow, then pulled out a small handheld device, which registered... radiation?

"We need to analyse these readings. Hang on."

Minutes passed and he pressed a finger to an earpiece. "Interesting. The radiation is of a kind we haven't encountered before. Not directly dangerous to humans as far as we can tell, but the plant didn't like it. And having scanned the plant, we now know what to look for and..."

He spread an arm about. "This whole place is saturated with it. It's possible that this is the reason our psychics can't draw anything from this room. I need to make some calls."

Lionheart drew his own conclusions.

OOC He could follow up leads on:

1) Scientists who might be able to suggest a source for the radiation
2) The criminal community to see if anyone knows anything
3) Try something else (there is a thing I have in mind but waiting in case you come up with that or your own suggestion) to track/find the radioactive source.

Admin wrote:Lionheart drew his own conclusions.

OOC He could follow up leads on:

1) Scientists who might be able to suggest a source for the radiation
2) The criminal community to see if anyone knows anything
3) Try something else (there is a thing I have in mind but waiting in case you come up with that or your own suggestion) to track/find the radioactive source.

OOC: Ok my thought would be to see if my Postcongition might return something on the plant and or the room.  Just one thing I know that the number I am up against depends on the hours/days since events past, so it might be worth using a HP or two or more to effect the roll if I have a significant match to attempt.

Moving over to the plant, ignoring Agent X's look, Lionheart stripped off his glove and let his hand rest gently on the plant, first the good side then the badly damaged area.  Since this was the only plant he noticed that had got this 'scorched' treatment, he had to assume this was where a concentrated burst of the resident back radiation had been used.  He let his mind 'drift' as he entered another world superimposed on the one ghostly looking for clues as to what had happened here.  

OOC: As regards to what happens next, it depends on what information I derive from what has gone on here.  But I suspect that I could set Agent X to tell me about scientist who could use our data to help us.  Criminals might be an angle, but I feel this is likely a longshot since I don't know any I've not incarcerated or who are long gone. Therefore my only other thought was that I might try and track the radiation to see, like a bloodhound, if there is a trail fresh enough to follow and seek any further clues. For instance the device that Agent X used to work out what was going on in the room, might along with my own senses or apart from them help us follow any trail of the raditation that remains. If its here, maybe its also out there...

Sj

LIONHEART
HP: 130
Improvement HP: 130

Agent X stood back, watching and trying to figure out what Lionheart was doing. Suprrisingly enough, he managed to offer up a guess. "Some kind of postcognition? We have a few of those. All of them drew a blank thanks to the static, but be my guest."

OOC Lionheart has postcognition 4, which is a bit rubbish. Essentially you can see back in time for 1 minute (4APs) if you roll 11 or more. HOWEVER, Lionheart has of course got his Power reserve (8APs) which can be added and makes things more interesting because 12APs is 4 Hours. If you want to boost your Postcognition further with Hero Points just let me know how many to add. You have your ACTING value (12 for Postcognition) and EFFECT value (again, 12, for postcognition) vs the amount of time you wish to look back. Agent X reckons 20 or so hours when things went pear shaped for their agent. That's an opposing value of 15AP (1 day). HOWEVER this static in the place makes things harder.

So, decide how many HP you wish to add to Acting Value (currently 12) and Effect value (12). You can spend HP up to a value of 10 (you can spend up to 12 but there's no point) on each. Once you spend points, then we roll the dice...

Admin wrote:LIONHEART
HP: 130
Improvement HP: 130

Agent X stood back, watching and trying to figure out what Lionheart was doing. Suprrisingly enough, he managed to offer up a guess. "Some kind of postcognition? We have a few of those. All of them drew a blank thanks to the static, but be my guest."

OOC Lionheart has postcognition 4, which is a bit rubbish. Essentially you can see back in time for 1 minute (4APs) if you roll 11 or more. HOWEVER, Lionheart has of course got his Power reserve (8APs) which can be added and makes things more interesting because 12APs is 4 Hours. If you want to boost your Postcognition further with Hero Points just let me know how many to add. You have your ACTING value (12 for Postcognition) and EFFECT value (again, 12, for postcognition) vs the amount of time you wish to look back. Agent X reckons 20 or so hours when things went pear shaped for their agent. That's an opposing value of 15AP (1 day). HOWEVER this static in the place makes things harder.

So, decide how many HP you wish to add to Acting Value (currently 12) and Effect value (12). You can spend HP up to a value of 10 (you can spend up to 12 but there's no point) on each. Once you spend points, then we roll the dice...

OOC: Feel free to spend what you think it will take to mitigate the static and have a decent chance of success. If this fails, after all, I am not sure I fancy my chance for reawaken and already cold trail. Sorry should have said something earlier about HP and Power reserve. Lets use the full power reserve that I can and whatever HP we need. Will try and do this in future to save a admin post which can get us moving a bit quicker.

Sj

Lionheart
HP: 118
Improvement Fund: 130

Concentrating, Lionheart looked about the apartment and lightly touched the furniture, floor, walls, anything that might have come into close proximity of Tara and her abductor.

OOC 6HP on AV and 6HP on EV. Roll is: Roll(2d10)+0:4,9,+0 Total:13

Lionheart starts to get... something. Something was of course better than nothing, but it wasn't clear enough to make out details. No help then. There was something 'blurring' the apartment as he looked about. Concentrating on the blur, he narrowed his eyes. It was more like... a buzzing cloud of insects? Straining as hard as he could, aware that the image was fading, he zoomed in on the blur. It was - sort of - humanoid shape but only in that the cloud formed with arms and legs, and something that passed for a head. It was made up of millions of tiny... what, insects? They were too small to see details, but they formed a constantly shifting buzzing 'cloud'. Through the blur he saw a human shape - Tara! She was pretty, twenty something, and had just gotten out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her. Despite her shock as her home being invaded, she took up a combat pose and her eyes glowed - a powerful mentalist, as well as a 'dreamer' then. The blast erupted from her mind... into the cloud and through it!

The cloud seemed to shift and blur as the blast shot through the creature, and then it 'engulfed' her, the countless microscopic creatures encapsulating Tara and invading her body through her airways, ears, even through her skin! She cried out silently, before slumping to the floor!

A heartbeat later Tara rose mechanically, and the vacant look in her eyes, along with a purple glow about her body, told Lionheart she was in thrall to whatever had attacked her. The image started to fade as she dropped the towel and started to dress, taking whatever clothes were about.

Lionheart shuddered. Who... what were those things? Too small to see except through the most powerful microscope, he knew now what the problem had been. They were powerful, given their tiny size, but together, they were nigh unstoppable! He wondered if they could penetrate his force field, and figured he'd have to 'harden' it to prevent air going through it.

Agent X asked "Well?"

Lionheart was looking at the floor, kneeling down. Chances were some of the things Tara had blasted were on the floor, too small to see. Maybe something Wandafar could help with. Or someone who could shrink down to take a look.

That last phrase niggled, as if it were something that might come back to haunt Lionheart, and the country, in the near future. Were they facing a race of creatures too small to see, but collectively representing the greatest threat the country had ever faced?

Admin wrote:Agent X asked "Well?"

Lionheart was looking at the floor, kneeling down. Chances were some of the things Tara had blasted were on the floor, too small to see. Maybe something Wandafar could help with. Or someone who could shrink down to take a look.

That last phrase niggled, as if it were something that might come back to haunt Lionheart, and the country, in the near future. Were they facing a race of creatures too small to see, but collectively representing the greatest threat the country had ever faced?

Lionheart looked back to Agent X, "Tara, was attacked by a swarm, a living swarm of individual creatures or maybe nanite type creatures that could work as a collective or individually.  They literally swarmed over her, then took her over from within.  She then walked out of here.  The radiation we've noted is all the trace they'd given.  Although there might be microscopic residue or even some of the critters on the floor here, if you can spot them with microscopic vision."

Lionheart thought for a bit, thinking that at some point he'd like to request that Wandafar came and see the site and any clues for himself.  Then turning to Agent X again Lionheart asked, "So what do we do now?  Do we have any experts in nanite tec especially of the alien verity?"

OOC: Ok so assuming that we've not much else we can do save follow up with some experts, and besides the question of whether Lionheart could resist these critters, we've got the open question of still finding Tara.  Difficult to know if there would be anyone who'd know unless these aliens or otherwise very clever people behind the bugs might talk or leave any kind of a trace of their passing.  

As an aside as soon as I can contact Wandafar, I will do letting him choose the where, when and how of being able to come look see as to what has been going on here.  If anyone would know about these things it would be him.

Sj

"Ah Lionheart. Good to hear from you. Now zet you hef buckled under ze pressure und dropped your pants for 'the man' how does it feel to be government stooge? Heheh. By ze vay you know zis payphone signal vill be crackable in short time yes? I hef set to record all zet is said. Ve hef ... 8 seconds of call time left. Go."

Lionheart spoke at superhuman speed, glancing across at the flat across the street where Agent X and the others continued their analysis of the site. He held a tray of coffees as the phone was cradled under his chin. Chances were they'd find out he was speaking to Wandafar sooner or later, but he figured - correctly - that Wandafar had long since lost faith in governmental organisations. There was no way that the genius would work with them, but Lionheart could be the bridge between near unlimited resources and vast intelligence, plus outside of the law superhuman resources. Wandafar would record everything that Lionheart explained, then play it back, slower, to get the details.

=========

"We have a few leads to follow. A number of universities have prominent Professor types who are experts in the field of nano technology. It's a start. We've sorted out some micro scanning gear and it'll be here tomorrow. We'll go over the place millimetre by millimetre." explained Agent X. "You've done good work. You can rest up, take stock, get with the PR people and decide on a uniform. There's... a LOT of reading up to do on the law and procedure. At your speed, should take only hours what someone might take years to scratch the surface of."

The Agent cracked a wry smile. "Not very interesting mind."

=========

The light flicked on in the London apartment.

Overlooking the Thames in an exclusive tower block with commanding views over the London Skyline, Lionheart was impressed. He expected Government operatives to be low key, out of sight, out of mind. They were usually - to protect their families and friends. Without those considerations Lionheart could take his pick from a list so had chosen one at random, for now. Of course the Agency would be watching. He looked about. There were cameras. Some obvious, others... he'd have to look harder for, but he knew they were there. Watching, listening, scanning.

In the blink of an eye he vanished...

...and moments later sped to a halt at the cave entrance to the base under Caer Alwyn castle.

"You hef not forgotten your old friends, zen?" laughed Wandafar as his chair rotated on the dais. The cave was being rebuilt by robots under the Dwarves direction. "Of course, it hez only been a day or two. I hef decoded some of the communications."

Lionheart thought this impressive as most of those 'communications' were sent psychically. "You can 'pick up' thought transmissions?"

"Not really." admitted Wandafar. "Zis is Tara."

A chair wheeled about, and a young woman - the woman Agent X and Lionheart were looking for, stood up. She sported several bandages and looked banged up, but otherwise in one piece. Pretty, though with a haunted look on her face, she smiled nervously. "Your friend saved me. You see, I foresaw the attack on me, and our meeting here, and because of that I was able to contact Wandafar whilst I was being attacked. He..."

"..Teleported her here, from the midst of zet swarm. Tricky as hell. Too complicated to explain. Blew that up." he pointed to a bank of machinery on the wall. "Justin is going to be pissed. Again. Because I played back ze details und knew vot she was on about ven she contacted me, I knew zet it vas no hoax. Of course, bouncing ze signal off several dimensions to snatch her from 24 hours ago vas never going to be easy, and in fect a one shot deal. I kind of used some ... well all... of a unique element to open a rift in space time to snatch Tara away. If I knew vere to get more, I could vin ze lottery every veek..."

"The world is in dire peril of annihilation, Lionheart. And it won't even know it until it's too late!" Tara gasped.

Wandafar held up an empty sample dish. "You need to see under ze mega microscope, but we should not look to ze stars for ze bad guys, or anywhere on earth. Instead we should look closely at... vell, everything. You see, a trillion trillion universe hef declared war on humankind! Actually it's kind of cool, I always figured zere was a microverse, just not zet zere was so many..."

Admin wrote:"The world is in dire peril of annihilation, Lionheart. And it won't even know it until it's too late!" Tara gasped.

Wandafar held up an empty sample dish. "You need to see under ze mega microscope, but we should not look to ze stars for ze bad guys, or anywhere on earth. Instead we should look closely at... vell, everything. You see, a trillion trillion universe hef declared war on humankind! Actually it's kind of cool, I always figured zere was a microverse, just not zet zere was so many..."

OOC: Love the idea of the microverse, this is going to be good.

Lionheart blinked back his amazement, taken aback momentarily by the turn of events. Moving to the microscope gave Lionheart sufficient time to replay back the events as described to make sure his brain wasn't somehow lagging behind his other senses. Then at the microscope, he looked down to behold a world, that his heart told him was there even if his mind was still struggling to comprehend the Physics of it all.

OOC: Ok got a feeling I know what I'll see down the scope, but the question then becomes what next? Firstly what is it that Tara foresee and in what way will it be too late. Secondly how has these many microverses been talking to one another and sharing the grievances such as to work together. And I guess the question becomes then, how do we engage with them, before they inflict harm or hurt - what might we do to build the first diplomatic core to the Microverse? If the natives are restless wouldn't do to make things worse.

Sj

The trio moved over to a large booth style machine in the corner...

Tara looked uncomfortable, but Wandafar assured her. "Moving through time und space does that. It makes you feel... weird. Time travel. It is a thing, like super speed, flying and squirting energy out of your ... eyes."

"So where is the 'now' me?" she asked, looking at the back of her hand with some concern, and hugging herself, shivering.

"You are here. You see we changed time. Sure there is knock on effects, you know step of butterfly and you never exist stuff. We figure out if anything bad comes from it. Another time. Right now you know we snatched you from past, so whatever they do to you as prisoner in the 30 or so hours never happened. Let's hope you did not do something great zet benefits menkind cause it never happened."

Tara nodded, looking distinctly nauseous. "You saved me. Thank you. I was at home, I had a dream... the tape!"

She fished in her pocket and brought out a dictaphone. "We need to let the X Division know! There's an invasion soon to take place! We need to..."

"Ahahahahaha..." said Wandafar, tutting. "Hold your horses whoa nelly missus. We do not know who we can trust. Him." he said pointing to Lionheart "You can trust. Me, yes. Mostly. Those times I blow people up purely mistake. Mostly. Heh."

He turned to the machine. "Ze process zet got you here grabbed YOU, and your personal stuff. Anything else, like, like well other stuff, stays behind. Mostly. But zis showed up on ze computers und I extract mit ze teleportatron. Is just a name I cooked up. Also reason you feel a bit sick. Was in your stomach. Zere."

He turned and pointed to a jar of... well, whatever Tara had for lunch the day before. She gagged, covered her mouth, and sprinted for the toilet. Over the sounds of her groaning and coughing Wandafar shrugged "Zey all do zat. I mean what I said about ze stuff i use though. To break time und space, you need Lunarium. Lots of it. Too much und you make a big tear which is kind of like nuclear bomb going off. Further forward or backward you go, more you need. More you use, greater risk. Thanks to your report I can use right amount, grab woman, she escapes, we have lead. Observe."

He adjusted the machine and placed the dish under a scanner.

On the screens showed a blur.

"Need more magnification. Hold on." said the diminutive genius. "TARA! You ok in there? You need drink of water or something?"

Coughing.

Wandafar cringed. "Uh. Zese sings are dead, right? Zey did not survive ze process of time travel. But, in one pin head size sample. Here. You see."

On the screen it blurred and contrasted. "Max zoom."

It was just about clear enough to see what looked to be winged insectoids. Vaguely part humanoid with insect heads. All manner of shapes, not just one kind. Hundreds of them. Thousands.

More.

"Zey latch on. Zey drain mental energy. Zey.... do something viz it. Ve need to stop zis before..."

Sounds of coughing and throwing up from the bathroom. "Before more bad stuff happens. Zis is only start..."

OOC Pictures to follow if I can find some...

The magnification of the image increased, zooming in, and in...

Still nothing showed up.

"You see how small zis problem is, and yet how large? How to convince someone they are in danger ven zey cannot see ze enemy mit zere own eyes, and even most powerful microscope shows nothing. Let me try. Ah." said Wandafar

"I found von of ze bigger vons."



"On ze head of a pin you vud fit thousands of zese things, millions even. yet each one, I believe, is capable of draining psionic energy, like zat used by young Tara, and present in ze minds of humankind..." said Wandafar.

Tara raised an eyebrow. "Human... you mean, when they dream?"

"Exactly! Imagination is mental energy, of a random and fabulous nature. Inventors dare to dream when awake, to bend reality and the boundaries of all that is known to create something new and amazing. But every human dreams when they rest, and such energy is food to their creatures." said Wandafar. "From vat Lionheart told me it was clear zet you were targeted for a specific reason and I hef scanned you as a matter of course. Your psionic potential is off ze chart. You vould provide vast sustenance for zese things..."

"But they are so tiny, what..."

"Tiny in stature yes, but zey hef mind powers und psionic abilities zet far outstrip their physical abilities. Note also zet insects, by their nature, reproduce in multitudes. With zet in mind, without natural predators, these creatures would eventually find themselves turning on each other... unless they find a new, unlimited form of food. More than that though. Is there something else these things can do beyond feed? These creatures under the microscope are dead. The process I used to grab Tara cleared her of all foreign bodies... She is 100% Tara, but for how long, and who else is on these creatures shopping list? We must take ze fight to them. This vill be a war fought on a scale beyond imagination, for to defeat these creatures you must fight them on their terms - our minds are simply calibrated to ignore them as too small a threat, and yet if they gather enough mental energy, we could find ourselves in an endless sleep in thrall to them, and never wake!"

"Thus I plen to shrink a team and send zem into... Ze Microverse!" he cackled, with a wild gleam in his eye and giving his best 'mad scientist' pose.

Admin wrote:"Thus I plen to shrink a team and send zem into... Ze Microverse!" he cackled, with a wild gleam in his eye and giving his best 'mad scientist' pose.

Up until this point, Lionheart thought the pain in his head might be his first headache, but he realised he was probably rubbing the bridge of his nose too tightly.  Listening to Wandafar was like opera, only best done in small doses.  The man meant well, but his slightly unhitched genius was well...unhitched.  Putting aside any personal feelings, Lionheart shook himself awake at the last words.  

"Wait, what!  We can't take them on as we are, so we go toe to toe with them - where they have the clear advantage of numbers?  How does that work in our favour?  Surely what we need to do, is scout out their weaknesses, preferably with someone who isn't going to light up like some kind of 'all you can eat' buffet?  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for sorting things out and getting some sort of motion to stop this before these things get stronger, but Tara and I would be devoured at that level by shear numbers, wouldn't we?

Lionheart stopped, pinched his nose and sat back so as to appear relaxed as Wandafar wound himself up to answer in his usual exuberant manner.

OOC: Ok great to shrink down, need some sort of shielding do hikky, so that we can go 'underdetected' but without the loss of our powers, hopefully.

Sj

"Zat is better plen zan mine. I figured you fight until zey fall over but zet might take a while. Your plen is better. Shrink down, find out vat makes zem tick und stop zem or come back to normal size and ve make plen to finish zer plen before zey can put it in motion." said Wandafar.

Tara raised an eyebrow. "We need to get a move on..."

Wandafar nodded. "I hef many sings in place. in my time as a hero I got to pick up a load of stuff from bad guys lairs und stash it away for rainy days. Or to save ze vorld, whichever comes first. Zet said it never seems to stops raining. Why Wales for ze base, of all places?"

Tara glanced at Lionheart "So we can ... shrink? Go now?"

"Now? Oh no. I need vun thing for my machine. White Dwarf Star matter. I hef found some. Database shows a bed guy uses it to commit crimes viz, und shrink down and stuff. Only catch is he's in America. Chicago. Across the sea..."

"I know where that ..." started Tara

He turned to Lionheart "I figure at your top speed you can be there in less zen an hour. Vell? Vat you vaiting for? A bus?" he chuckled, even as he was typing and glancing at a screen where he was typing computer code at an impressive speed, even to Lionheart who was a speedster!

"I em finding all ze info I can about zis guy. I vill send it to you en route."

OOC Lionheart is currently in a jumpsuit (I guess) but can select/change into a costume or civilian clothes as he wishes (Wandafar has a costume machine). The USA is technically out of his jurisdiction but the red tape would slow things down. Creating an international incident might not be advisable...

Admin wrote:"I em finding all ze info I can about zis guy. I vill send it to you en route."

OOC Lionheart is currently in a jumpsuit (I guess) but can select/change into a costume or civilian clothes as he wishes (Wandafar has a costume machine). The USA is technically out of his jurisdiction but the red tape would slow things down. Creating an international incident might not be advisable...

After a knowing look at Tara, Lionheart keyed in some info into Wandafar's custom maker. He needed something that was going to make him look decent without compromising anything that might come back to him in the UK. He didn't want a diplomatic incident. IN moments he was ready, a dark, all in one, face mask, apart from his mouth. He hated that.

And with a nod to Wandafar, he speed out, and on his way to the states, muttering to himself. "Little guy was right, never rains when it pours!"

Sj

"You are looking for a men called Frederick Timpson. He runs a company called Dwarfstar und he is bed men. Initially he vas Vanted for crimes like kidnepping, extortion, recketeerinng und all zet stuff" said Wandafar in the earpiece as Lionheart soared up, up and away!

"Ze problem is zis men is very clever und hes lawyers und stuff zet get his people out of prison pronto. Nothing committed by him or his men has ever stuck, und he successfully sued a superhero group for harassment. Zey hed to pay up, de-mask und face ze music, or be considered outlaws. Zis clever svine caused zem to go underground and operate outside ze law, all ze vile giving money to charities und standing with babies und stuff for ze cameras. Now he is rich. Powerful. Owns many businesses und properties. Contacts in ze city hall, rumours he backed ze mayors election... Police Commissioner plays golf mit him... It's a mess. Zis fellow has, I believe, ze only supply of white dwarf star matter on ze planet. I don't know vere he gets it from. It is a super dense rock zet, ven properly agitated und handled, manipulates ze laws of gravity und space/time, cause all zet stuff is mixed up. You saw zet film Interstellar? Rubbish. Anyvay, zey vere wrong about everything in it, und Matthew Mahogany is like vatching a tree walk round he is so wooden. Vere vas I? Oh yes. You could zip in und out but zis men is very very clever. Do not underestimate zis vunder material. If used correctly it can affect gravity in different vays, break reality so to speak. Do all sorts of stuff. He is not likely to hand some over. Of course, if it comes down to it, I should not sink too many vud complain if he gets bashed up a bit in ze process."

Blasting through the sky, Lionheart considered his options.

His target was an alleged criminal who had avoided prison and had his fingers in all sorts of pies, a popular public figure and well liked by the man on the street for philanthropic causes.With money to spare his motivations would lay in securing power to get others to do his bidding rather than acquiring more money, Lionheart figured.

He could just zoom up to the fellows skyscraper headquarters and demand he hand over this White Dwarf matter stuff... or he might have to work around that.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

He flashed across the landscape and saw the distant coastline of America looking into view. Having to slow down some (using full speed wore him out) nonetheless he'd made good time and it would be morning when he got to Chicago, just in time for breakfast!

OOC Go straight for Timpson, or try a different approach?

Admin wrote:He flashed across the landscape and saw the distant coastline of America looking into view. Having to slow down some (using full speed wore him out) nonetheless he'd made good time and it would be morning when he got to Chicago, just in time for breakfast!

OOC Go straight for Timpson, or try a different approach?

Taking into account all that he had been told, Lionheart wondered if the smart move was to go head on. He suspected that a man who'd turned being a super villainy into such a lucrative means to make money, was not going to be caught out by a head on attack. He must have faced such threats before and so it would probably prove prudent to do some research. That wouldn't be easy, Lionheart knew no one in this timeline, let alone in the States. But he had no doubt that Wandafar could easily supply him with additional data.

But before he went down that route, Lionheart was keen to find out what he could first hand.

OOC: Sorry to hear about your friend at the other work Paul, sounds tough. Like you said you dodged the bullet but not easy nonetheless. Anyway hope your week proves to be better. Know it cannot be easy with the kids back off school. Still were not going anywhere and right now the more sedate pace suits me, well it does until things hot up and then its torture to have to wait for a response ;-)

Anyway my plan of actions is as follows. Using my skill set I want to observe our quarry, park opposite get a good view point and watch him discreetly. Listen in and find out what I can, see what I can find out, names, places that sort of thing - anything that he might be cagey about and see if I can't leverage that against him in some way. Enemies that could become allies etc. And then see if I can't get Wandafar to find out where I might meet up with such folk in order to make the most of allying with them.

Sj

Admin wrote:He flashed across the landscape and saw the distant coastline of America looking into view. Having to slow down some (using full speed wore him out) nonetheless he'd made good time and it would be morning when he got to Chicago, just in time for breakfast!

OOC Go straight for Timpson, or try a different approach?

Taking into account all that he had been told, Lionheart wondered if the smart move was to go head on.  He suspected that a man who'd turned being a super villainy into such a lucrative means to make money, was not going to be caught out by a head on attack.  He must have faced such threats before and so it would probably prove prudent to do some research.  That wouldn't be easy, Lionheart knew no one in this timeline, let alone in the States.  But he had no doubt that Wandafar could easily supply him with additional data.  

But before he went down that route, Lionheart was keen to find out what he could first hand.  

OOC: Sorry to hear about your friend at the other work Paul, sounds tough.  Like you said you dodged the bullet but not easy nonetheless.  Anyway hope your week proves to be better.  Know it cannot be easy with the kids back off school.  Still were not going anywhere and right now the more sedate pace suits me, well it does until things hot up and then its torture to have to wait for a response ;-)

Anyway my plan of actions is as follows.  Using my skill set I want to observe our quarry, park opposite get a good view point and watch him discreetly.  Listen in and find out what I can, see what I can find out, names, places that sort of thing - anything that he might be cagey about and see if I can't leverage that against him in some way.  Enemies that could become allies etc.  And then see if I can't get Wandafar to find out where I might meet up with such folk in order to make the most of allying with them.

Sj

OOC You hit the nail on the head Dave, as usual. Kids off means that my time is someone elses for the next 2 weeks There is always an upside, that being that when the weather gets nicer I get more time off work (because people aren't stuck in the house using electricity). That's the theory anyway...

Lionheart paced himself as he flew low and fast over the ocean...

He could have blasted at top speed but by doing so he ran the risk of one of those brain shattering headaches. He figured if one was bad enough it could make him black out completely (OOC i.e. if the roll is a double, and maybe another double. Unlikely, but it could happen...)

He'd been to America before, but was effectively an illegal alien here. Or would have been, had Wandafar not changed certain computer records to give an alternate identity of Raymond Knight.Mr Knight was a businessman, dealing in IT hardware, on a short trip to Chicago.

Landing discretely, he changed at super speed into the civilian clothing (business suit) provided by Wandafar for his cover. Walking out into the street he looked about. A busy city, but his super senses instantly saw what others might miss. A tension on faces. Furtive glances, a need to give people more personal space on the sidewalk.

Something was going on.

Before he could do anything else, like perhaps head for the largest building in the city, a skyscraper dominating the skyline with the huge letter T on it, a distant siren became louder. At the far end of the street - a fair distance given the long straight nature of the city blocks - a police escort surrounded a SWAT style armoured van... and it was heading down the street in Lionhearts direction!

He glanced about.

People had fear on their faces. Fear of the people around them!

Admin wrote:He glanced about.

People had fear on their faces. Fear of the people around them!

Lionheart wondered what had caused people to be so distrustful and what the cause of the present commotion was. However being as he wasn't on native soil and let alone native time, he hated to rush in without knowing what might be the cause of distress. Drawing attention to himself was not really his purpose for being here, so he found a quiet spot to pretend to be doing nothing and took the time to glean what he could from those around. Meanwhile whilst nonchalantly looking about he also took the trouble to make sure he was well aware of what the swat team were doing, deploying and what he might be dealing with.

OOC: Ok playing it super cool, Frostbites take I know, but trying to find out what is going on before I jump in and make myself the unwitting target. Complicating this mission is super simple, so I'll play it safe till I know more about the cause of this present distress. When the Swat team gets in, I'll make sure I am not far from command, and listening, looking and seeking whatever info I can by fair means or super means.

Sj

The police cars roared down the street towards where Lionheart was stood...

Had they detected him somehow? He stepped back into the shadows of an alley. His attempts to lie low might be short lived! Before he considered his next move the police cars screeched to a halt and the SWAT type van pulled up. Armoured, all black, save for... a 'METAFORCE' logo on the side. The back doors opened, white hazmat suited men piled out the back and started running across the plaza, scattering panicking civilians...

The police formed up, keeping people back and setting a perimeter even as the Hazmat suits closed in on an outdoor restaurant. The clientèle started getting up, panicking in some cases...

And one of them, a young man in jeans and t shirt, sat with an older couple, probably his parents, cried out then burst into what appeared to be living electricity! His parents screamed, falling back, and lightning arced about, sparking and flashing off everything metal! The vague human shape was too bright to look at directly, and when it spoke it sounded like a dodgy radio connected voice "WHa...? WHazzzzz happenin...? Mooooom? Ddddddad?"

The Hazmat suits formed up, pulling up what appeared to be weapons from the packs they carried on their backs! It looked like they were ready and set to go to contain the metahuman... except Lionheart hadn't seen the kid do anything wrong, and his reaction - seen with the speed of a man for whom everyday life was seen in slow motion for the most part - appeared to be one of total surprise, shock and fear at his transformation!

Fear could be dangerous though. Flight or Fight, all that.

When one of the Hazmat suits fired off what appeared to be some kind of illuminous yellow foam at the teen, he cried out, throwing up his arms to shield himself...

And lighting shot out in random directions, shattering windows, arcing along metal surfaces, and throwing several people off their feet, including a policeman! That was all the police needed! they turned to train their guns on the youngster - this was a situation about to go supernova!

Admin wrote:And lighting shot out in random directions, shattering windows, arcing along metal surfaces, and throwing several people off their feet, including a policeman! That was all the police needed! they turned to train their guns on the youngster - this was a situation about to go supernova!

Lionheart flinched, he didn't want to give anything away, but found it hard to restrain himself from intervening. But in truth, he didn't know who or what was going on. It was fairly obvious the youth was new to his powers, and out of control. The police, however were treating this incident as if he were a major criminal. He did take kindly to the heavy handed approach, especially when guns started appearing. The place was clearly crowded with people let alone the kid and his parents. But to intervene would risk the very reason Lionheart was here, let alone drawing unwanted attention to himself, which may alert his true quarry. He couldn't risk that, better to play it cool see how this plays out and what he could learn before he started down the path from which there was little chance to come back.

Lionheart watched intently, his senses, doing their usual thing of filtering all the assembled input and sensory information as it came at him, His super quick brain able to process it and latch on to that which had potential use to him. Com speak, raised emotion, anger, fear, sweat beads, clenched muscles, it all seemed to be in agonising slow motion, but that afforded him time to think, reflect and act as needed.

OOC: Ok for the moment I want to wait and see what happens next, try and get some idea of if this is normal police enforcement behaviour and or if this is an extension of what Frostbite had been through recently. If push comes to shove, I'll try and use my telekinetic powers to make things accidentally 'drop' or 'spoil aim' people, have them trip into one another or so on and so forth. Try and protect more than stop things. Until I've got a lot more to go on and also greater justification for intervention. Which would kind of ruin the whole stealth thing I am supposed to be trying to work with here.

Sj

The guys in the Hazmat suits seemed like professionals.

To Lionhearts trained eyes they positioned correctly, spread out, then executed as one with the spraying of expanding foam that doused and covered the young electrical discharging man. His sparking energy was reduced to mere flickers inside the hardening foam.

Then, as quick as it started, it was over!

The police helped the young mans parents up and took them towards a squad car, despite their protestations. One of the Hazmat guys turned away to speak into a headset and the others set to with what seemed to be laser pens. Then sliced the hardened foam, shaping and forming it into an oblong shape. Black jumpsuited men with ski masks and METAFORCE logos on their chests quickly moved up to take the block of yellow into the back of one of the trucks. Others started cleanup, and the whole place was quickly being cordoned off and sealed.

Lionheart had seen the 'birth' so to speak of a metahuman, and just as quickly seen that metahuman put down, captured and about to be taken away. The efficiency of their operation was astounding. Amazing, even...

The vans started to pack up and made to leave.