The NEW Vanguard! Haunt Issue #7

Pierre will quietly, as he walks past, give Bradford a "Dah, Dah, Dah, Daaaah" whispered/sung to him as he goes past. {it's Morse Code for "V", which in WW2 meant V for Victory}. Bradford should pick that up, hopefully. At least it will let the man know he hasn't been forgotten.

The day passes with Haunt doing his best impression of a man driven to work as hard as possible - assuming their job is to shuffle papers, drink coffee, talk by the water cooler and check papers on a clipboard.

The Aliens are none the wiser. If anything they are more suspicious of the other workers. A buzzer rings out and the workers in here start to gather stuff. The message Haunt had given the semi conscious Bradford had the man eyeing him through his only still open eye. The other was bruised and swollen so as to be useless.

OOC Are you helping Bradford or leaving a smoke or Acid grenade for him somehow? Or is Haunt going to get out whilst the going is good? Essentially he will abandon/fail the mission to save Bradford but he knows he has bigger fish to fry. He could instead look to sabotage this place somehow on the way out, but that might doom Bradford, who's a brave man vital to the resistance effort.

ooc: Gonna try to slip him one or two acid grenades on my way out, if possible. Maybe he can use them to break his restraints and give him a fighting chance or thrown them in the face of his next tormentor. But not going to do anything active beyond that to help him or for sabotage on the way out. Need to get out quickly and quietly so as to not arouse suspicion for my trip north.

Does sleight on hand come under Thief skill or is it's own skill? I forget. Maybe throw some Hp into giving him the acid grenades.

More used to pick pocketing than concealing and handing something off, Haunt nonetheless enjoyed the challenge of using his skill in a different manner...

OOC Thief effectively works differently in this way, rather than adding dice to Haunts roll they add the APs of skill (Thief:7) to the OV of the check. The OV/RV of spotting Haunt do this are 4 (boosted to 11) and 4. The Advent Troopers stood about (the Thin men filed out first to brief those coming into the room with the next shift and the methods required for breaking the resistance of those in the hellish/scientific torture chamber).

Advent Trooper to spot Haunt (two can possibly see him, so two checks) Int 4 + Roll(2d10)+0: 7,3,+0 Total: 14 vs
OV 11 + Roll(2d10)+0: 2,2,+0 Total: 15 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 2,10,+0 Total:27 FAILED

Advent Trooper to spot Haunt (two can possibly see him, so two checks) Int 4 + Roll(2d10)+0: 10,3,+0 Total:17 vs
OV 11 + Roll(2d10)+0: 4,6,+0 Total: 21 FAILED

Haunt moves close enough to Bradford to offer an insult to the man and spit close to him, threatening to pull a hand back to slap him theatrically. One of the guards starts forward and 'Pierre' turns with apparent shock and steps back, palming two small grenades into Bradfords hand. The man is smart and quick enough to palm them and recognises them for what they were. He helped design them.

He might get a burn on his hand for his trouble but popping the cap on one of those and holding it to the metal bands on his wrist might *just* weaken it enough to break him free. He had only minutes to find out and had to feign unconsciousness till then.

"Thank... you..." he breathed through swollen, battered lips. Haunt steeled himself at the outrage he felt at the treatment of this brave man, of ALL the resistance fighters in here. They would all break, or die in the breaking.

A guard dragged Pierre away and shoved him towards the door. in his depowered state he was weaker than the guards and had to go with the flow unless he wanted to divert his focus (power) towards super strength and set off various alarms in the place.

=========

An hour, and a boring debrief by a human scientist in a room full of scientists later, Pierre gathered his things and made ready to leave.

"A moment, Dr Lubensche" said the man who'd been briefing the room. Uh oh. Haunt glanced about whilst seeming gathering his things. Two exits, both covered by a guard on each side of the door. The aged scientist with a stern face and bald head came over. "Your workload was practically non existent today Lubensche. Are you ... 'partying' again? Need I remind you that your position in this Advent facility is dependent on maintaining the targets and work output set by our ... 'paymasters'." he growled.

"Take this as a warning. I'm watching you. I have BEEN watching you." he said with a pointed finger in Haunts face. He leaned in, menacing look in his eye, then muttered "I shall see that Bradford gets a diversion and chance to escape. Long live the resistance." Louder, he adds "ANY MORE SLACKING AND YOU'RE OUT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS? NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" A number of looks from retreating workers before heads were bowed showed how ominous that dressing down had been.

Haunt queued to leave and ignored the sneering chuckle from the Advent Trooper. A glance back at the head scientist who was signing a clipboard note. The man was speaking, then flicked a glance at 'Pierre'.

That look told volumes.

He would help Bradford try and escape, and probably lose his life in the attempt. Long live the resistance.

OOC Next post I will move Haunt on...

Whew! Had me worried there for a bit.

Pierre waited outside for a car, only to be told he was 'on watch' and would have to wait for the bus that 'lesser' scientists used. How humiliating.

Everyone left, head down. Many had hoodies on to cover their features. The bus turned up guarded by a single Advent trooper whilst the VIP cars were let out first.

=========

Minutes later the bus filed away and Haunt kept his head down. He'd failed in his mission to see Bradford freed. That sat ill with him. Sure, he'd given the man a chance, but no more than that.

He turned to look in the distance.

The building was a dot now in the darkness. As he turned he saw something - a flicker - like a ball of orange light rising from it? An explosion?

The bus rumbled on into the darkness.

=========

"Thanks for the ..." started 'Pierre' only for the door to shut in his face and the bus to move off.

He stood in the darkness slightly away from the street lamps. Across the road his house, no longer guarded or important. His fall from grace wasn't assured, but the threat was obvious. Toe the line, excel, and you get to keep what we give you. Fail, and become one of the 'little' people, who were beneath notice or contempt. That suited Haunt just fine.

He glanced about, tucked his hands into his pockets and walked away. Minutes later he'd hailed a cab to take him towards the coast. The credit card had accepted the fee, thankfully. Should he say anything to the resistance, or his friend Dr Praetorious? What about Yeoman?

A sour taste in his mouth, he glanced at the mobile phone in his hand. The Advent sim had been dumped and a 'burner sim' was in its place.

If he made the call, someone somewhere might be listening. If he didn't make the call Dr P and Yeoman would move heaven and earth to find and rescue him.

He glanced out of the window, longing for the days when a bank robber would declare "NOBODY MOVE!" before he swirled in, all mist and scariness and flying fists.

Time to make the call, while the cab was still moving and in the city. He called Dr. P and when he got a reply all he said was, "It's me, can't talk long. I did a subpar performance today. Results not as expected, pretty bad actually. I have a new opportunity to do something else that might help make things better and I will be taking it up. Not sure when I will get back in touch. Keep your fingers crossed. Bye."

He then removed the SIM card, bent/snapped it and threw it out the window and a little later, the burner phone went out as well.

"Now, let's see what the future will bring," he said quietly.

A change of vehicles. Bus. Hitch hiking. Taxi. Walking.

Finally Haunt stood on the beach of Sangatte looking out at the English Channel. The port of Calais was a mile or so up the coast. Running away from a mission? From a challenge too tough to take on?

Maybe.

Or maybe he'd decided to take on a bigger challenge, one where winner took all. Chances were if the timeline were left to the Aliens to tamper with, Haunt himself might not even exist! He needed to get out this timeline and to be immune to changes so he could strike back. Could he do it on his own, powers reduced? the odds were stacked against him succeeding.

He thought of the friends he'd just left back there. The message would be cryptic and raise more questions than answers.

With a sigh he looked about. What to do? Swim? Look for a boat and risk detection?

Use his powers and get across the channel like a speedboat...?

OOC Final post for Haunt on his escape from occupied France from you then we'll get Haunt and Steeplejack started over the weekend...

Use a combination of Detective and Thief skills to find a smuggler who will take him across. If not … aren't his stats strong enough that he could swim the English Channel? Get a certain distance away and then use his powers to swim even faster or fly the rest of the way.

OOC With the current climate smugglers keep a low, low profile. The Advent led government doesn't mess about with prisons for those it deems unworthy of correction to the Advent ideal...

Hours later Haunt staggered from the sea on the English side...

He'd been wary of using his powers but when it got choppy hadn't had a choice. Patrols on the French side throughout the night threatened to detect him so he had to use his powers on the English side.

Even then he saw mobile bases set up on the English side to watch for incursions from France. It was far easier to fly across but the surface-ground missiles and heavy calibre machine guns suggested that wasn't much of an option.

The world had been turned into a series of unconnected Police states. Those under Advents umbrella jealously guarded their borders and those resisting Advents expansion had to ensure their borders were safe. It made for a nervy tinderbox situation everywhere you went. Police were trigger happy, many streets had armed soldiers stood guard on them.

Haunt was an expert at stealth and made his way with patience and speed through the blockade. It saddened him that his home country was effectively under siege from a continent that had sided with Advent.

He squelched away from the beach and into the night....

==========

Stepping off a bus several hours later, exhausted, hungry and feeling low, Haunt opened the door to his own flat using his finger as a unique key that no metal key would fit.

He looked inside, senses alert, but aside from the pile of junk mail on the mat there seemed nothing amiss. Plenty of final demands. Dr P was independently wealthy in such a way that he'd paid the rent and bills while Haunt was away but credit cards and so on piled up. He'd have to see what his bank account looked like after a year away.

First though...

He looked at his bed and fell onto it, asleep before his head hit the pillow...

OOC That's a wrap.

I'll come up with HP awards which will be lower than had you liberated France from Advents grip but will come in handy for the next (larger!) challenge. Watch for something new over the weekend, and I'll put a reminder in here with link...