The New Vanguard! Miss Victory issue #1 Fighting for the Flag!

As if in response the lights pulsed along the corridor, flashed once then returned to their usual dim tone.

The pair made a careful way along the corridor and eventually, after some minutes, arrived at another door. The comm panel beside it spoke in a robotic voice. "Beyond this door is the prison proper. There are a number of checkpoints and guards who are under siege from rioting prisoners. I've found... someone else... in the system. Someone like me. I may have my hands full."

"I can sense multiple minds beyond the door. Prison guards. They're scared. Weapons are being handed out. The power restrainers have gone offline in the general prison population area and villains are starting to get their abilities back. They are wondering if their guns will affect the bad guys now they're repowered." she said with a far off voice that was no longer frightened and shaking.

Shellghost added "If the 'other' in the system is able to access systems before I do the power nullifier might be activated. You need to be careful. It could reduce or remove your powers completely. I'm trying to reinstate it but I'm locked out. They know someone else is in here by now due to that door opening despite the lockdown."

Mind Maiden turned. She took a deep breath and seemed more sure, less oppressed by her claustrophobia. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yep, better let me go first though, I am a bit more bulletproof than you are, I think," Miss Victory said with a smile.

She gives a quick knock of "Shave and a Haircut" on the door then opens in almost casually, though ready for battle in an instant.

{Still keeping power as it was until she feels it needs to be changed.}

"HANDS UP! GET DOWN! FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR!" screamed multiple voices as armoured guards aimed arm mounted weapons at the pair as they entered a large room.

There were screens along one wall showing men and women trashing the prison and occasionally a camera would blink off as the camera was trashed. Some people in shirts and ties look harassed, worn down and at their wits end.

There were a dozen powered armour guards in here and they all gathered around the doorway entrance whilst another one guarded another entrance/exit from the room.

A man with thinning hair in shirt and loosened tie shouted "Hold fire! HOLD FIRE!" before addressing Mind Maiden and Miss Victory. "You have five seconds to identify yourselves before these guys put you down! Use the time well!"

The armoured guards bristled, weapons readied.

"Hello boys! I'm Miss Victory and this is Mind Maiden. We are superheroes that the Ultrahumans have sent to help out with this riot. We need to subdue them and get them back into their cells. We have a few others around, mostly outside stopping some nasty men from trying to get in and free some of these prisoners."

She gives them all a dazzling smile after she stops talking. [Charisma!]

OOC Persuasion...

Infl 8 + Charisma dice +4 extra rolled + Roll(6d12)+0: 8,4,7,5,1,1,+0 Total: 15 (23)
vs highest infl 6 + attractive -2 + modifier for situation +4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,3,+0 Total:4 (12)

+5 EV (to Aura 6=11) vs highest rv 6 = 5 RAPs. Success!

One of the guards lowered his arm. "We had word the Ultrahumans would come. I don't recognise these two but the villainous types aren't usually such dolls!"

Some of the other armoured men laughed and they relaxed their guard a little but the man in the shirt and tie scowled. Nonetheless he walked forward. "If you are from the Ultrahumans, I'd expect more than this. Where are the others? Where are Silver Sentinel, Thunder Woman, Atomic Champion? Where's Rockslide or even Cliff Edge? I'd have thought this was right up Edges' street."

"He was supposed to be dead sir." said an armoured man. "They had a funeral and everything."

"Hmmph. That's the point about Edge. I've met him when he handed over some of our inmates. He never gives up and he's been written off more times than the Packers. He'll be back." he replied.

One or two of the guards snickered and the man scowled again. "I'm Tom Carlson, deputy warden. We've lost contact with the rest of the prison staff and the place has been under cyber attack for a while. We dare not access certain systems so as not to give access to whoever is on the other side of that door. These guys..." he says referring to the armoured men "May talk tough but without power suppressors we're looking at dozens of the most powerful, nastiest, most violent super villains anywhere in the world! The other supermax is on full lockdown and we still haven't figured out what they're after. I mean, who gathers an army of supervillains to break into a prison, then release everyone so that a riot occurs, then wait...?"

"Someone is planning to open the doors." said Mind Maiden. "We haven't figured out who, but the why is obvious. If the inmates here..."

"...we have class 1s all the way up to suspected Class 5s lady." said Carlson.

"Well, me and Miss Victory can handle ourselves but we can't hold off an army. There are two bad guys up above watching the place. If they somehow manage to coordinate with the inside, they will crack this place open..."

"And we'll have a superhuman villain army the likes of which the world has never encountered before running free! The power inhibitors were the first to go down, then the cells as people recovered their ability to shred steel like paper. The Promethium still holds but for how long? All the doors are in lockdown so no one in or out... or they were. How you two got in is beyond me. So what's the plan?" he asked. He slumped in a chair, took a sip of cold coffee, winced and looked about. "Even the drinks machine is dry now. This can't get much worse." he mumbled.

"IF we can take back the control room and whoever is in there trying to hack through the defenses," Miss Victory says, "we can get the defenses back online and start rounding up all the criminals and quell this riot. So, can you give us the layouts that will lead Mind Maiden and I there?"

Being an actual doctor, Miss V does a quick once over to see if any of the guards present need anything beyond any first aid that they've already received, while she speaks with them.

"And I must says you gentlemen are doing a wonderful job here. Such a stressful job and dangerous but you have stayed at your posts. I applaud you for that.

Mind Maiden muttered "Chances are they wouldn't be able to go anywhere else so holed up in here waiting to be rescued" whilst putting on a fake smile.

Carlson seemed not to hear and the men in armour were chatting amongst themselves thankfully. He did however rummage around in a cupboard for printed maps of the facilities. Once the dust was blown off them, the rolled them out on a table and explained. "Everything is online but these old blueprint copies were kept around in case of a situation like this. When the internal computers are in lockdown or compromised, like they are today, it pays to be able to 'go analogue'."

Miss V and Mind Maiden looked at the unfurled blueprints and Mind Maiden declared "I can remember these. It's one of my least used abilities but I have near a photographic memory."

The layout suggested the current backup control room/back way out was at one edge of the facility and the main control room was in the middle.

"We have to assume the main control room has fallen, hence the locks on the cells opened and the power dampeners failed. However..." he pointed to a corridor that appeared to go nowhere. "This point is the location of the first control room until the original building team hit hard bedrock and for cost purposes they had to stop work and relocate it. Making it more vulnerable, as it turned out. At this point..." he says "I could access the maintenance panel and whilst I couldn't lock the cells up..."

"There'd be no point with the prisoners out..." suggested Mind Maiden.

"Quite. But if I can access this point I think I could restore the power dampening field to most of the prison. It would only be the main corridors but the prisoners would have to go BACK into their cells to regain their powers! It's just a thought, but these guys..." he looked at the guards...



"Don't have the sheer raw power to get me there. Out there are some of the nastiest, most powerful villains and criminals in America! The more powerful villains are either at large or at the other Supermax. It won't be easy and though you two must be powerful to get this far, I can't offer any guarantees to your safety should all this go wrong. More likely you'll be used as hostages like we will..."

Mind Maiden tried to keep the fear from her eyes but failed. "I..." she looked at Miss Victory "Your call."

"We're doing this," She said forcefully. "We have to, no one else is around to do it. So let's go!"
She heads for the door and readies herself.

The guardsmen glanced at each, 'sucked it up' and readied themselves.

Carlson looked about to argue then nodded and looked away before calling out. "Alright you guys! Ready to support these brave ladies! Anyone but them tries to get through this door BLAST EM BACK!"

"Are we to go with them sir?" asked one.

"No. We HAVE to hold this room at all costs. No one can get past us!"

Mind Maiden glanced about then at Miss Victory. "Ready."

OOC Miss Victory Dex 20 Str 9 Body 16

Miss Victory opened the vault type door easily... and was attacked as soon as she did so while her hands were full!

OOC Dex 9 + Martial Artist four dice Roll(6d12)+0: 4,5,6,3,8,2,+0 Total:14 (23) vs
Dex 20 + Acrobatics two dice Roll(4d12)+0: 4,11,1,3,+0 Total:15 (35) MISSED

Miss Victory easily steps aside as a clubbing fist slams into the Vault door! Other hands grab at the door from the prison side whilst the Guardsmen scramble for something to grab onto and shut the door!

Another prisoner blasts at the heroine with laser beam eyes!

OOC Heat Vision 14 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,2,+0 Total:11 (25) vs
Dex 20 + Acrobatics dice Roll(2d12)+0: 9,2,+0 Total:16 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 10,8,+0 Total:34 (54) MISSED

With astonishing agility Miss Victory ducks the blasts that fizzle into the vault door! They don't even leave a mark but would do on ordinary human flesh. Thankfully she was anything but ordinary! Miss Victory saw half a dozen men and two women in the room beyond, all in prison orange! Two had attacked, three were trying to pull the door open, one had run down a corridor and was yelling and another had placed hands on the side of her head and was staring at Miss Victory!

"No you don't." muttered Mind Maiden as she blasted her own mental energy at the woman about to attack Miss Victory!

OOC Crit Blow Mind Blast 18 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,8,+0 Total:19 (37) vs
Int 10 + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,12,+0 Total:29

+4 EV (to 22) vs RV 15 - 6 (crit blow) = 12 RAPs

With a scream the woman clutches her head as Mind Maiden delivers a mental bolt to her target and drops her like a stone!

"They aren't at full power yet!" screamed Mind Maiden. "The power nullifier effects are slow to wear off! We may have a chance!"

OOC Miss Victory is up, then initiative when she's acted...

There are four targets in sight. One is swinging at Miss V, another blasted eye beams, two are pulling the door open and the other two are out of sight - one downed the other ran off.

actions: Drop Body and Dex by 3 each to give me a +6 to Strength for a Strength of 15. Martial Arts to Attack, Acrobatics to Defend.

I want to attack the two trying to open the door. I want to grab them, pull them from the door and whirl around using them as a shield against the other two. I guess that would be some kind of multi-attack grab?

Yep, let's go with using these guys as clubs to batter the others. I want to attack Eyebeam Guy as he is probably the most dangerous foe for me since Skin Armor doesn't work so well against energy attacks.

"The Mighty Vickie is at the Bat! And she takes a swing and a ...!" as she uses one thug to attack Eyebeam Guy and the other thug as a shield against the others.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_at_the_Bat

Miss Victory swings a burly prisoner at the fellow with eye beams!

OOC Dex 17 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,4,+0 Total:16 (33) vs
Dex 8 + Trick Shot 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,9,+0 Total:19 (31)

+2 EV (to Str 17. The guy would inflict damage equal to his body or miss V's str whichever higher) vs RV7 (not up to full power) = 9 damage!

The guy with the eyebeams goes down with a THUD in a mess of flailing arms and legs! The guy Miss V had thrown would get up but looked somewhat dizzy!

Mind Maiden yelled "Hey!" to the man in Miss Victorys' grasp and blasted both him and the guy she'd just thrown!

OOC Mind Blast 18 + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,1,+0 Total:9 (27) vs
Highest Int 8 + multi attack 2 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,11,+0 Total:14 (24)

+2EV (to 20) vs highest RV 12 + 2 multi attack = 6 damage apiece.

Both criminals clutched their heads but were still up!

The villain in Miss V's grasp tried to break free (OOC good luck with that...)

OOC Villain Strength 13 (still rising) + Roll(2d12)+0: 5,9,+0 Total:14 (27) vs
Miss V str 15 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,5,+0 Total:6 (21)

+3EV (to 16) vs RV15= 1 RAP. The villain wriggles free!

The remaining criminal turns to Mind Maiden and opens his mouth...

OOC Sonic beam 14 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,1,+0 Total:3 FAILED and POWER BURNS OUT!

And... nothing happened! The man croaked, clutched at his throat and his eyes widened!

OOC okay, we have one guy wriggled free from Miss V's grip and is still up but has taken 6 Mind Damage, another guy who can blast sonic beams but has burned that out. Another who just got thrown across the room and both him and has also taken 6 Mind Damage courtesy of Mind Maiden. Eyebeam guy is down and so is another. Miss V first, Mind Maiden next then the bad guys who are rapidly recovering their abilities...

ooc: So 3 left to fight?

Go for the guy who opened his mouth and failed. He seems healthiest. Mind Maiden probably has the other two on the ropes and hopefully can take them down this round.

"Hey, wait I don't..." started 'no longer sonic beam' man...

OOC easiest takedown ever, this...

Miss V Dex 17 + One extra Martial Artist Dice (one saved for Acrobatics/dodging) + Roll(3d12)+0: 6,6,4,+0 Total:12 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 5,1,+0 Total:18 (35) vs
Sonic Guy Dex 8 (really) + acrobatics two extra dice Roll(4d12)+0: 9,12,3,7,+0 Total:21 (29)

+3EV (to Str 18) vs... RV6= 12 Damage.

BANG!

Miss V socks the bad guy in the mouth, he bounces off the wall and pings so hard she has to duck him as he sails over her head!

Even the villain with the smarting head takes a glance down and mutters "I KNEW that guy was all mouth. He gotta glass jaw!"

Mind Maiden grinned and placed her fingers on her temples. "Nighty night boys!" she laughed.

OOC Mind Blast 18 + Roll(2d12)+0: 7,11,+0 Total:18 (36) vs
Highest Int 8 + multi attack 2 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,3,+0 Total:14 (24)

+5 EV (to 23) vs highest RV 12 + 2 multi attack = 9 damage apiece. ALL VILLAINS IN THIS AREA NOW DOWN!

Both criminals dropped like rocks to the floor and Mind Maiden breathed a sigh of relief. "I get the idea it won't be that easy from now on. This place suppressed their powers and they are coming back. Hopefully not all at once but some may be able to heal faster than others."

Carlson looked like a frightened rabbit when he popped his head through the door and sighed relief. "You two are amazing! You should know that the criminals will regain their powers though..."

Mind Maiden glanced at Miss V.

"... and I fished something out of the first aid kit. It's not much and there are only half a dozen doses. It's a promethium needle syringe contains tranquilliser that would floor a herd of elephants. It's still not enough for most of the people in here but it's better than nothing. I suggest you tranq these guys so they don't get up and use whatever's left on whoever else you find in there. There are dozens of criminals though... hmmm. If you can find a medical station or doctors room - there are a number scattered about - you might be able to get more of this stuff." He passed it to Miss Victory.

"We'll seal the door when you've gone and you'll be on your own until. uh, the rest of the team arrives." he added hopefully. "Hopefully the Sentinel or Thunder Woman among them..."

Mind Maiden looked nervous and nodded. "Hopefully that won't be too long. Let them in when they get down here!"

Carlson nodded then shook both ladies hands. "For the record I think you are both brave and crazy at the same time! Being in here with super villains that can melt through steal, rob your mind or turn you into ash is a crazy career choice and one I intend to reconsider if I make it out alive!"

OOC Anything else to say before you move into the prison? What's the general plan - move towards the centre where the control room is and flick on the controls to depower everyone outside it? Something else?

"Hey, you forgot devastatingly beautiful when you described the two of us," Miss Victory says with a cheeky grin. She then uses the syringes on the dropped foes and piles them up in a corner out of the way. She originally thought to have them go into the room with the guards but then thought better of it if they revived they could take down the guards and open the way out.

"Well, let's get going, waiting will just give them time to get stronger."

ooc: Head for the central control room while gathering up more syringes, making only small detours for that, and see how far we can get.

Moving back to Dex 20, Str 9, Body 16.

Having used five doses of the syringe fluid and only one left, Miss V pocketed the other one and the pair made their way through the corridors of the prison.

Coming to an end door after a bare featureless corridor the pair heard shouting and loud voices on the other side but couldn't make out what was being said. The door was unlocked which was worrying as this led onto one of the main wings in this place...

Mind Maiden whispered "There sounds to be quite a few people on the other side of that door! Do you think we should find another way or see who's there?"

"Can you like read their minds or influence them to go away," Miss Victory asks. "Note to self, see if you can invent formula for X-Ray vision."

"I once tried to force my powers along the 'mind control' route but it was too hard and I felt... wrong doing it. I may be able to sense life forms behind the door but this door... all the walls of this corridor and most of this building are lined with Promethium."

"Besides being practically indestructible it also blocks mental AND mystical powers to a degree. It was formulated, I believe, by three of the greatest minds in the universe. Or the neververse, I don't recall the details exactly but it cannot be made to this specification without the three inventors input and all at the same time." explained Mind Maiden. "It's not impenetrable but it is enough to drain power from any attack thrown at it so that whatever is left is not strong enough to pass through. I'll try. Watch."

OOC Life Sense 25 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,11,+0 Total:21 (46) vs
Promethium 35 + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,12,+0 Total:18 (53) FAILED

The wall glowed bright where Mind Maiden directed her scan at it and the entire corridor seemed to glow!

"The trick, I believe, is to direct enough high powered attacks or scans at it to overload the specific area which draws power from other areas and weakens those areas. Then attack the weakened areas and break through whilst hammering one spot. It is ... alive in some respects. Self healing, the perfect prison. that's why it's not for sale to anyone, at any price. The prison was built to house evil that no one else could hold. The other supermax has it too."

"The only way to see what's past that door is to open it and look!"

OOC this is the Vanguard version of Promethium. the DC version adds +100APs cost to anything made from it and a building made of the stuff would cost something like 700 trillion times more money than there is on Earth to construct. Or some strange fact like that.

OOC this is the Vanguard version of Promethium. the DC version adds +100APs cost to anything made from it and a building made of the stuff would cost something like 700 trillion times more money than there is on Earth to construct. Or some strange fact like that.

_________________

ooc: Guess our world has trillionaires in it! Lex Luthor being only a billionaire would be a piker in our universe!

"Well, let's open this door up slowly and see what we can hear and listen for what we can see," Miss Victory replies with a shrug. Then slowly turning the handle or push the bar or whatever opens the door, she cracks it open enough to hear the voices more clearly. Hopefully without being noticed.

Miss Victory peers through the crack of the door and is alarmed! There is a walkway adjacent to the door that runs along this level and a railing looking down on lower floors. Each is lined with cells.

A group of about seven or so are gathered round listening to one Prisoner and a glance about reveals another running about, making gestures and shouting and moving to the next group!

Some of the prisoners are clearly not human. One is red skinned and looks like a devil. Another looks like a green skinned Rhino/human hybrid and there are others congregating together with the heads of animals. All manner of criminals are gathered in groups or moving around after months or years of incarceration!

She peers about on the same level and sees a medical bay. The contents of the room appear to have been ransacked. Counting up.. in sight there must be nearly forty criminals on this level and the one below gathered in groups of 2-10! uh oh!

"What can you see? Can we take them?" asks Mind Maiden from behind.

"It would be very very hard to do so," Miss Victory replies slowly, "We are totally outnumbered by something like 40 to 1, counting both levels. I see a medbay but it looks ransacked. There is one man here in front of us who seems to be giving orders, can you sneak a peak and "listen in" on what he is saying?"

Miss Victory concentrates on the medbay. Maybe there would be enough syringes to take out most of the criminals here? Maybe not.

But while she could run fast enough to be considered a speedster, she didn't have the powers of a speedster who could do multiple things in just a few seconds, she could just run really fast and far in those same seconds. But maybe she could run into the medbay faster than the others could see her and then look for more syringes? Then she could take out the leader by a surprise attack and then retreat to the doorway and stick each criminal that came at her while Mind Maiden backed her up by mind blasting those with range attacks?

Boy, she would really love to have another half dozen powerful heroes show up and help out about now!

"Note to self, create powerful knockout gas pellets," she mumbles.

"I'm not too good at mind reading if the person has a strong will. Many of the people in here could resist me, I suspect. Lesser criminals are no problem." explained Mind Maiden.

"I concentrated mostly on flattening them and worrying about other stuff later." she explained. "Still maybe instead of the leader I can read a dumb looking brute and see what's in their brain as they get the plan from the boss."

OOC Mind Probe 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,1,+0 Total:13 (23) vs
OV 3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,11,+0 Total:21 (24) FAILED!

"ARRRRGGH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! SOMEONE IS IN HERE!" screamed the seven foot tall brute with muscles like basketballs. The group immediately burst into life with charging about, spreading out and looking for the intruders!

"Erm. Oops?" said Mind Maiden with a glance at Miss Victory. A number of bad people were heading for this door!

"Guess we fight here," Miss Victory says with a grin.  "You take down the range brutes and I will handle the manhandling brutes.  Unless ...."

"Who's the first to feel my Victory Punch," she yells out to the overwhelming number of criminals.

ooc:  Maybe I misread it but this door opens onto a walkway out in the middle of the room?  Is it normal reinforced concrete or something similar?  If so, smash the walkway, dropping the crooks down to the floor below.  That would give us time to leap over to the medbay and see if we can find more syringes.  If not, like it is the promethium built like the walls, then stand in the doorway so that they can only come at her one at a time and go for an old fashion beatdown.

Miss Victory Dex 17 Str 15 Body 13