The Ultrahumans! Issue #2 Starring Miss Victory and Lionheart! "World under siege!"

Admin wrote:The man took a deep breath, glanced at Omega Man then slowed his words "I'm Fastback, one of the Washington Super Stars. Local heroes. Are you guys part of the Ultrahumans? We got a situation! Reports of orange suited guys like THAT guy are coming in with them attacking prisons and police stations! The National Guard has been mobilised but we're talking HEAVY hitters! We need help! We're not mega powerful but we're doing our best! I was sent to find help as all the communications seem to be down!" He looked about. "Damn. I could really do with a burger or fifteen right about now."

Lionheart held out his hands, "OK slow down for the benefit of my friends. Pleased to meet you, all the same, my friend. But first things first, we've taken care of one guy, we don't need this little fishy swimming off, so do you have some means to nullify bad guys like Mr O here and his powers or I'm going to have to keep mind-blasting him so he doesn't wake up?"

OOC: First things first, we got to sort out this dude, Omega Man, before we do anything else I thought we were going to schooled hard in that last combat. I don't know about you Dave, but I am beginning to wonder if we rush after the President if it will all be a bit too little a bit too late. Besides which I suspect that the real puppet masters behind this will have her on a flight and then on the Ultrahuman's space station post haste. But to be honest, it galls me not to finish of rescuing the President, so I am open especially if we "could" intercept her before she was taken aboard a plane or something and then teleported to the station? What do you think?

Sj

"Why don't we throw him into or towards the sun," Miss Victory asks. "Isn't one or more of the most powerful Ultrahumans in that vicinity? If we send him in their direction, they can take care of him."

"And can you find the President again or maybe Superman can if we can wake him up? I can try to give him some medical treatment to help bring him around."


ooc: Yeah, lots of lots of fires to put out but I think if we can find the President, we should stick with that. If not ... just keep putting fires out until Advent overwhelms us and the planet falls to them. Yeah, I'm feeling kind of negative right now. It's been Kobyashi Maru for Miss Victory since she has put on her costume.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Why don't we throw him into or towards the sun," Miss Victory asks.  "Isn't one or more of the most powerful Ultrahumans in that vicinity?  If we send him in their direction, they can take care of him."

"And can you find the President again or maybe Superman can if we can wake him up?  I can try to give him some medical treatment to help bring him around."


ooc:  Yeah, lots of lots of fires to put out but I think if we can find the President, we should stick with that.  If not ... just keep putting fires out until Advent overwhelms us and the planet falls to them.   Yeah, I'm feeling kind of negative right now.  It's been Kobyashi Maru for Miss Victory since she has put on her costume.  

OOC: Stick with it Dave, though I know it can be tough, I remember when Frostbite was first introduced in the first fight he was so hopelessly bad, I mean really bad. We started with the Golden Heroes rules, which didn't really help with the level of hero he was. And I seem to remember he'd have died or been seriously injured so we had to upgrade him on the fly. I then went through a horrible period of constantly never rolling a good score, I mean ever. But somehow I lived to tell that tale. And I think I find Frostbite a more enjoyable character for the fact he started from such humble beginnings. I've never forgotten that in the 10+ years I've been playing him. I think the thing is Miss V is in a mixed world where let's face it even Lionheart has had some large servings of humble pie. I'd be so sorry to lose any of my characters, but if they went out doing the right thing, then that is the path of a hero, just like Jesus.

Sj

ooc:
Miss Victory is just way different than the Haunt and Prof. Wynde and even Lightning Bullet, in the fact that she didn't start out, let's call it "slowly" with a fairly simple mission or adventure that she was able to show her mettle and win, with the villains defeated, but was thrown into the deep end of the pool [the villain prison] and lost over and over again and pretty much all her teammates died. She is still in the deep end of the pool and is still losing.

Just barely surviving while the villains get away is not counted as a "win" in her mind.

She has gotten zero positive re-enforcement since becoming a superhero, unlike all my other characters. She has gotten nothing but negative re-enforcement since becoming a superhero.

So it is hard to maintain the bright, perky, can do, patriotic attitude with her that she started out with. Quite honestly, her confidence is rapidly declining and I am struggling to keep her from spiraling downward into a defeatist attitude. I'll be honest with ya, if we or someone else fails to save the President, Miss Victory will probably fade away and just go spend her days with her husband and wait for the world to end.

It's kind of funny, she was meant to be my most outgoing positive character and she is actually becoming the opposite. The Haunt, who was meant to be my Batman/Plastic Man/Specter terrifying/spooky mash-up is turning into my most positive outgoing character.

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc:
Just barely surviving while the villains get away is not counted as a "win" in her mind.

She has gotten zero positive re-enforcement since becoming a superhero, unlike all my other characters.  She has gotten nothing but negative re-enforcement since becoming a superhero.

OOC: That is a fair point, apart from here have you talked it over with Paul? I know he is very fair-minded.

Sj

Steeple_jackuk wrote:

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc:
Just barely surviving while the villains get away is not counted as a "win" in her mind.

She has gotten zero positive re-enforcement since becoming a superhero, unlike all my other characters.  She has gotten nothing but negative re-enforcement since becoming a superhero.

OOC: That is a fair point, apart from here have you talked it over with Paul?  I know he is very fair-minded.

Sj

ooc:  No I haven't really.  But just like you don't really like using the game mechanics/knowledge for battles and such, rather prefer using what you want to try and let the chip lie where they may, this is what SHE feels.  And I usually end up writing as and feeling as my characters when I write something here.  So depending on how things turn out at the end of this adventure, this may be her last adventure or the leaping off point for a long run of adventures for her.  We will see.

Though thinking about this a bit, this game is really hard for anyone to try to join now.  While we call ourselves a superhero game, we are not one.  Once upon a time we were but not anymore.  Rather we are super-soldiers in a war game.  Superhero conventions are in many ways out the door.  This is basically a World War 3 game with the players being super-soldiers, and we are really one step away from becoming a post-apocalyptic game with super-survivors, depending on how much longer ADVENT and the free villains keep running wild.

The 1950s game in the alternate universe [maybe it is or maybe it isn't] is the superhero game.  But our main game is now a WW3 game.  There is no way a new player can join the main game without having to deal with Advent and the escaped supervillains and half or more of the world under alien control, so they could never play a conventional superhero here if they wanted to.  It is just something we need to be aware of if we ever get another perspective player looking us over.

OOC:  No I haven't really.  But just like you don't really like using the game mechanics/knowledge for battles and such, rather prefer using what you want to try and let the chip lie where they may, this is what SHE feels.  And I usually end up writing as and feeling as my characters when I write something here.  So depending on how things turn out at the end of this adventure, this may be her last adventure or the leaping off point for a long run of adventures for her.  We will see.

Though thinking about this a bit, this game is really hard for anyone to try to join now.  While we call ourselves a superhero game, we are not one.  Once upon a time we were but not anymore.  Rather we are super-soldiers in a war game.  Superhero conventions are in many ways out the door.  This is basically a World War 3 game with the players being super-soldiers, and we are really one step away from becoming a post-apocalyptic game with super-survivors, depending on how much longer ADVENT and the free villains keep running wild. [/quote]

OOC: I thought about this and I have to say Dave that Comics have always switched genres, whether going to the Wild Wild West, or the future, or space, they've always embraced and enfolded other aspects. However I know what you mean, if this was a straight-up superhero comic, like in the Marvel or DC universe no matter how apocalyptic, it would return back to the same aspects of 'normal life' that we know for heroes. I do enjoy the changes, and when my last two threads began, Frostbite with building the New Vanguard and Lionheart in America they were both more like this, so it's not that we don't return to the 4 colour staple either. I understand what can seem like a mismatch and that you do need a victory for Miss Victory, in Paul's defence I think he does an amazing job given all he has going on in his personal/work life...so I am sure he is very open to this as he wants this to work for you, otherwise, it doesn't work for him either. Talk to him, and let him know, I've never known him not to be open to suggestions. As to others jumping on, well that is something that could happen the comics always had their - perfect time to start reading - kind of moments, maybe we can to.

Sj

Captain Marvel, bruised and battered as he was, pondered with chin in hand. "We can keep putting these guys down but it will be like the world's worst game of whack a mole. I hate to say it, but Superman's Phantom Zone has to be the only way we can keep them from getting up behind us."

He looked at the downed form of Omega Man. "When me and Kal El were the biggest hitters in the school yard we were able to keep the bullies in check. Now? I feel like my talents are more suited if I think my way through situations when my punches seem to have less and less effect against the villains of today. Hold on."

He whisked off and back again at speed with Superman, who was definitely looking worse for wear! Laying him down gently, Captain Marvel knelt by him and gently slapped his face, shaking him and ...

"Wha... did anyone get the number of that asteroid?" asked Superman, last son of Krypton.

OOC Captain Marvel paid 15HP for desperation recovery.

Letting the Man of Steel get to his feet, Captain Marvel explained the problem. Superman pulled a face and nodded. "I'd hoped that society had moved on beyond having to use that... void like gulag. It's inhuman. However, the forces arrayed against us are too powerful. Until the Ultrahumans gather in strength we need to put the threats down and keep them there. I'll be back shortly."

OOC unless anyone has any other ideas Superman is on his way to the fortress of solitude for a phantom zone projector.

Captain Marvel watched him go then sighed. "We need to rescue the President. Do either of you have any powers that..."

There was a distant CRACK and BOOM and a bright flare int he sky indicated the arrival of somebody else!

OOC Lionhearts danger sense is NOT going off.

D Sense 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,5,+0 Total:8 (17) Didn't fail.

The bright flare of light changed direction and started to soar down to where the heroes were stood. Fastback breathed "Whoa. This is too much! I'm just a kid from the 'burbs an' I'm mixing it with..." he glanced about. "A guy I had a picture up of on my wall, some British dude and a hottie. I have literally no idea what I'm doing here. The other guys'll never believe all of this. It's so far above our pay grade..."

His voice trailed off as a glowing form sped down, then slowed and hovered over the battle scene....



"LIONHEART!" called out Thunder Woman. "This... what's happened? We lost contact with the space station and according to what we can tell, it's been overrun by escaped villains! Where are the other Ultrahumans? I see Captain Marvel there... I thought he retired and..." she looked about, clearly aghast at the devastation about Washington DC and concentrated on the White House in particular. "Silver Sentinel is still injured, still in the heart of the sun but we think he's healing. Atomic Champion is still out there with him. Until then... we need to get a handle on the situation! Report!"

OOC She's only been on her way back from deep space since January 12th. Can't rush these things...

ooc: What you might want to do instead of upping the power levels is up the smartness of villains who flat can't go toe to toe with our heroes. Luthor, Prankster, Toyman - were Superman's Big 3 foes in the 1940s. Captain Marvel vs Dr. Sivanna. Super-gadgets, distractions, teleporting the heroes to another planet or time or dimension and they have to get back, that sort of thing.

The places that they go to might not be a big challenge but figuring how to get back would be. It's like the time Iron Man and Dr. Doom wound up trapped in the past in, I believe, it was King Arthur's age. Their armors were damaged and they had to get some basic metals and strip their armor of their circuitry to build a one-way, one-time time machine. And having to worry about Dr. Doom backstabbing him at the last moment, which I think he tried in that story.

What would happen if one or more of our heroes wound up in the Silly Cartoon Animal Dimension? Sort of like Roger Rabbit. That might be a short fun, funny adventure.

Toyman, for example, disguised himself as a street vendor and sold wind-up Superman dolls in one story but they were loaded with explosives. So when he went to rob a bank and Superman arrived, he activated the dolls and they began to fly and explode on contact, basically becoming flying bombs. So Superman had the choice of stopping Toyman robbing the bank or flying all over the city and destroying the flying bomb dolls before they harmed innocent people. Even with Superman's superspeed, it took time to find all the flying bombs before anyone was harmed, enough time for Toyman to rob the bank and get out of Superman's sight and hearing. So a setback a time or two and then he caught Toyman. That's something that would work.

I also wouldn't mind doing short low HP reward adventures mixed in with the high level ones. We call ourselves superheroes, but in Miss Victory's case, outside of the government types, she isn't known to the public as she hasn't done any super-heroic stuff in the public's eye like stopping bank robbers or saving a person from a kidnapper or breaking up a drug ring or a car jacking ring.

How many of our PC's are actually known for superheroic deeds that have made it into the press or have been interviewed by the press? How many of our heroes are well-known enough to have fan sites dedicated to them?
as of mine:
Miss Victory - no
Prof. Wynde - maybe some folks know him from the one or two public fights he was in and he stuck around to talk to folks before being sent back in time.
The Haunt - yes, he has been around long enough and appeared in enough action that folks would know something about him if not a lot.
the other player's PCs? Outside of the government and other hero and villain groups, do the public know about them and rely on them to be a superhero who saves the day?

We got skills or lack some skills, so having an adventure that relies more on the skills rather than the powers would also be interesting if a short adventure. The Haunt's first few adventures were investigating type adventures, which wound up with him meeting actual werewolves and vampires but it was more skilled based until the end fights.

We have criminal geniuses in the prison adventure who have gotten their hands on Miss Victory's Vita Pills and were looking at recreating it. Just like organizations both governmental, private and criminal have tried to recreate Captain America's super-soldier formula over the years. So what if one or more of them set up labs and sold weaker variations of it on the street? The new Drug of Choice amongst the bored, the addicts and petty criminals who want power? And the powers that they got could be random and anywhere near her power level as the genius villains are missing a few key ingredients or the proper mixing order or the ratio of the ingredients. That could be an interesting adventure after this current one. She has zero detective or thief skills so she would have to find a hero who has those skills, either PC or NPC hero, to help her find the source and stop them and bring them in. And that kind of story can pop up from time to time with every hero as there are a number of criminal scientist types.

I guess what I am saying is that there is a number of adventures our characters can get into without having to up the power level of the villains.

I do want Advent taken down ... someday. Not right now because we are spread all over time and place fighting them and it is a fun challenge. WW2 lasted 4 years for us Americans and 6 for you Brits so I wouldn't want to see them still around as a main world conquering foe in, say, five years from now.

And I do and have taken exception to the idea that Miss Victory is one of the more uber-powerful characters. Yes, she can raise one stat or power to 23 but at the risk of not being able to defend herself or even hitting her foe. What good is her brain blast or super-strength if she doesn't have the stat needed to hit someone with it? It's why her default setting has all her physical stats in the mid/high teens. Yeah, she can go toe to toe with the Captain Marvel listed in the 3rd Ed of DC Heroes and could worry Superman a bit with her stats in default setting. But they have other powers and skills that might make it a bit easier for them to take her down.

OK, yes she is really powerful but not one of the top tiers. Defining that a "top tier" character, to me, is one who has two or more stats/powers at 20 or better. She can only get one stat or power into the 20 or better range.

So my definition of power tiers would be:
Low-powered - All but maybe one stat or power at 10 or less
Med Powered - two or more stats/powers in the 11-19 range
High Powered - two or more stats/powers in the 20s range

So Lightning Bullet is low-powered.
Prof. Wynde is just barely in the medium powered range with 11s in Air Control, Magic, Blast, Magic Shield and Aura.
The Haunt is med-powered
Miss Victory is medium powered.

and Carp! I got to be at work in 30 minutes! Got to go get ready!

Admin wrote:

OOC unless anyone has any other ideas Superman is on his way to the fortress of solitude for a phantom zone projector.

Captain Marvel watched him go then sighed. "We need to rescue the President. Do either of you have any powers that..."

There was a distant CRACK and BOOM and a bright flare int he sky indicated the arrival of somebody else!

OOC Lionhearts danger sense is NOT going off.

D Sense 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,5,+0 Total:8 (17) Didn't fail.

The bright flare of light changed direction and started to soar down to where the heroes were stood. Fastback breathed "Whoa. This is too much! I'm just a kid from the 'burbs an' I'm mixing it with..." he glanced about. "A guy I had a picture up of on my wall, some British dude and a hottie. I have literally no idea what I'm doing here. The other guys'll never believe all of this. It's so far above our pay grade..."

His voice trailed off as a glowing form sped down, then slowed and hovered over the battle scene....



"LIONHEART!" called out [b]Thunder Woman. "This... what's happened? We lost contact with the space station and according to what we can tell, it's been overrun by escaped villains! Where are the other Ultrahumans? I see Captain Marvel there... I thought he retired and..." she looked about, clearly aghast at the devastation about Washington DC and concentrated on the White House in particular. "Silver Sentinel is still injured, still in the heart of the sun but we think he's healing. Atomic Champion is still out there with him. Until then... we need to get a handle on the situation! Report!"

OOC She's only been on her way back from deep space since January 12th. Can't rush these things...

ooc: LOL!!!!!

Miss Victory was a bit off-center learning that there was something called a "Phantom Zone" and Superman has a gadget that could send people to it. Then she was a bit miffed to be called a "hottie". Only her husband got to call her that ... and other fun things. After all, he knew she had a brain just as "hot" as her body was. This other hero didn't know her and only saw her body, so ... miffed [and also secretly a bit pleased that even after how bad she looked from all the rough and tumble that had been going she still looked nice.]

"You don't recognize Lionheart," she instead asks Fastback, leaving Lionheart to answer Thunder Woman's questions, moving closer to him. "He is one of the most powerful heroes on the planet. Though I guess most of his Earth adventures happened in England and Europe, so you might not have heard of him over here. For some reason, American news never really spends much time telling their readers and viewers what goes on in the rest of the world unless Americans are involved or hurt by those events."

"I'm Miss Victory, by the way. New heroine on the block and newest member of the Ultrahumans. This is my first mission with them as a matter of fact."

She holds out her hand to shake his.

[quote="DavidMcMahon"]

Admin wrote:

"I'm Miss Victory, by the way.  New heroine on the block and newest member of the Ultrahumans. This is my first mission with them as a matter of fact."

She holds out her hand to shake his.

OOC Day out at work and loads of responses at once, so trying to catch up now.

1. Anyway I don't mind Dave's idea of leaning on skills, not just brawn.
2. Glad he is happy with Advent remaining - I don't want to end our time travel caper till its done.
3. Happy to keep going as we are...

Nodding in approval to Miss Victory for the stand-up defence, Lionheart turned to Thunder Woman and explained all that had gone wrong ending with.

"We were totally blindsided, they saw us coming and where six moves ahead of us. Superman is now going to put this guy in the Phantom Zone else wise we'll only end up having to defeat him all over again. As it was we had to leave off trying to rescue a kidnapped president whom we believe is on the way to our Space Station, to stop this joker from going on a mass killing spree."

There was a taste of bitterness in the otherwise jovial and upbeat Lionheart. They had won but had lost so much already. It was tough to see how this Pandora's box was going to be tidied up and there yet remained the issue of the president to contend with.

OOC: As I say happy to go on as is, and see this through. Though it's been tough, it has been fun - but I can appreciate that Miss V hasn't had as many opportunities to shine...YET .

Sj

STUPID BUTTON! I almost finished what I was going to type and hit some kind of back button and lost it all.

ooc: So Comic Book Geek Trivia. Krypton practiced executions for the most hardened criminals and shooting lesser criminals into space to orbit Krypton in cryogenically sealed capsules and then returning them back to Krypton when their sentence expired. Jor-El, Superman's dad, was the one who discovered the Phantom Zone and built the Phantom Zone communicator and PZ Ray. He convinced the Science Counsel, the ruling body of Krypton, that using the Phantom Zone was more humane than execution and freezing criminals. It allowed the criminals time to reflect on their misdeeds and kept them from harming anyone until their sentence was up. So capital punishment was forbidden after that and the phantom used until Krypton's destruction.

Fastback was somewhat starstruck and shook Miss Vic's hand, with tongue practically hanging out. "The others are not going to be... oh no way! Thunder Woman???"

He gaped as Lionheart gave a full report of what had happened.

Thunder Woman frowned. "The prison break... basically all of our most powerful enemies were released at once. Not just the most powerful, but the smartest too. They know the space station is easy to defend once they gain access to the mainframe and defence systems, and that we won't be able to blast our way in for fear of the President being harmed or... or sucked out into space. What a mess. You did great Lionheart. Honestly. You too Miss Victory. For new guys you held the fort as well as you could whilst more established heroes fell by the wayside. Once all this is done, you can bet your asses there will be a reckoning and a change in the way things are done."

A distant CRACK and BOOM with Lionhearts telescopic vision confirming Superman's return with a device in hand eased the fears of Police and emergency responders as they sifted through flattened buildings.

Thunder Woman looked angry but determined. "I'm going to contact the other teams... New York, Los Angeles, Houston... we also have contacts in Edmonton (Canada) and other regional spots. We'll have to make sure that no one is left to fend for themselves whilst escaped prisoners run amok. As for the President... well... we're outgunned, outnumbered and for now, out manoeuvred. The next move is there's but we need to be ready." She turned to Captain Marvel and Superman. "Gentlemen, I've only met you once before this and the honour was all mine. I have to ask though, can we count on your help through this, and how many of the Justice League are still active?"

Superman, rubbed a bruised jaw, rolling it around a little. "Hits harder than Doomsday." He glanced at Omega Man on the ground. "The League were flattened today. Badly. Humiliating but we're not beyond admitting we're out of our ... pardon the pun... league. That said if we combine our forces we will be more effective than today's showing. There was one notable absence and his mind would have made the difference, I think."

"Batman?" asked Thunder Woman.

"Batman. He will know what has gone on. We aren't as pally as we used to be. There's muddied waters between us now but he'll come through, I hope." Superman turned the Phantom Zone projector on, asking everyone to stand back. With the simple flick of a switch a strange dark light shone out on Omega Man who simply vanished!

"Done. When he wakes up he can rage all he likes but he won't escape. Unfortunately there's only one of these devices and I'd like to be the one who uses it - it's my technology, my responsibility and I will bear the burden of what happens to those in the Phantom Zone."

Thunder Woman looked ready to argue but she was tired and conceded the point. "The Avengers haven't been a 'thing' for years since we took up the reins of Earths mightiest heroes. The big hitters - Captain Marvel, Thor, Hercules and others - are off world so far as I know. Tony Stark retired years ago. Captain America... well, this is above his pay grade but he's a fighter. Assuming he's still active. He must be ... over a hundred years old now. Maybe the shield has passed to someone else"

She sucked in a breath, narrowed her eyes, fists clenched and determined. "First things first. Omega Man was a major threat. He's gone, thanks to you people. You have a relieved nation's thanks. Get some rest, a change of clothes and report to the New York HQ of the Ultrahumans. I will arrange a video conference call of all aligned super groups and I will reach out to our friends abroad. There is group called the Vanguard who we had dealings with some years back. Their power levels were... off the charts... but some of our mystics gave off huge warnings about their alignment with so called 'Dark powers'. The UKChampions will help. Some of them would slot neatly into our team. We don't know anything about the Lore Knights and whether they are still going and the Executive disbanded years ago. Mind you Wandafar is still going strong." she smiled, shaking her head. "Still watching crappy soap operas too I'll bet."

"Europe is a bust. ADVENT hold sway there. Japan says they can't spare anyone because ADVENT aligned China have threatened to make a move, and here we are unable to stop it. It's messy, but we'll get through it. You have six hours to straighten things out personally then get to New York. Agreed?"

Superman nodded, Captain Marvel shrugged agreement.

Fastback held up a finger "Erm, did you mean me too?"

Thunder Woman smiled gently "I'm afraid not young man. You are willing and able I'm sure but running a couple of hundred miles an hour, whilst useful, puts you way below the pay grade required to take on the bad guys we are facing. There's so much you can do though to help local law enforcement and stop looting and the like. We can't be everywhere and without you guys... well, we'd be nowhere, overwhelmed. I will arrange for official deputy Ultrahuman status to be applied to your group for the duration, and who knows, in a few years...?"

Fastback grinned and saluted "Yes, Ma'am! The others are gonna be stoked!" He sped off.

"Were any of us ever THAT young?" she said as she watched him go.

OOC your characters have 6 hours till assembly time at New York HQ of the Ultrahumans...

ooc: Miss Victory will send a coded message to her husband and see if he is free, then head to her place in New Jersey, get cleaned up and get some food in her and if he can't make it, just putter around her lab and de-stress, and a quick nap.

Admin wrote:"Were any of us ever THAT young?" she said as she watched him go.

OOC your characters have 6 hours till assembly time at New York HQ of the Ultrahumans...

Lionheart looked wistfully at the young speedster. "Oh to be young" he said quietly, he had been grown to an adult as a clone within a vat. Cloned as a soldier, law enforcer whatever was needed. His memories were all of his training, nothing before, no family, parents apart from the scientist whom he had vague recollections of as he came to understand his place from within a vat and they looked on.

Looking around at the world, not his, ruined, smoke, and the team of heroes he'd come to know as brothers in arms in such a short space of time he found he couldn't ask for a better "family" young or not.

With a nod to Thunder Woman, Lionheart helped to do whatever he could at the scene. He had no reason to go anywhere until things he could do were done here. And what was he going to do, go to NY and watch a movie, or one of Wandafar's precious soaps? Uh he thought the only reason Wandafar could watch them was his alien physiology meant they didn't rot his brain.

He'd head back to NY as soon as he'd finished here! It was only a hop skip and a jump for him, but he did think that before they tried to contact the Vanguard he might like to phone home and see how they were doing without him.

OOC: OK so that is me, for now. Oh one thing, since coms is down with the satellite and our own coms was compromised I do hope that when we start communicating we don't have anyone listening in, or else we'll have to go for tin cans and string :afraid:


Sj

"Hi, this is Dr Clark Wylde. I'm not here right now but leave a message and I'll get one of my staff to process the appropriate response. Oh, if it's V call me on Dr J's number, I'm up to my ears in an experiment of his."

Voice mail. Again. Comms were down and Miss Victory was surprised even to get through to voice mail . It seemed not all comms were down but what few remained were massively overloaded. Dr J. Dr Elias Johanson, a friend, associate and sometime adventuring companion of her husband. He was independently wealthy and had an enclosed estate in upstate New York complete with lab facilities and a very nice nine bedroom mansion.

A phone call to that number got nothing, not even a dead tone. She was sure Clark was ok but without actually knowing... and she'd been off the grid for days... and there were escaped prisoners, anarchy in the streets, the country teetering on the edge of total breakdown...

Checking her watch then noting how little vita power remained, she did a quick mental calculation and took a route that stuck to freeways that were relatively quiet. Having to keep her speed down was an issue and it would take a while to get to New Jersey. It was a distance of around 197 miles, give or take. She winced.

Apart from needing another pill she'd need to replace her shoes soles as well. Heck, her costume was tatters anyway. Miss Victory set off.

=========

Lionheart looked about, saw firefighters putting fires out, ambulance workers trying to climb over and into rubble to fish people out, police helping people from gridlocked cars...

A severed gas main caused a fountain of flame to burst high into the air after a spark ignited it. A fire hydrant several streets away was turning a partially collpased street into a lake.

His costume's communications were down - even Wandafar couldn't perform miracles it seemed. or maybe he could, but in this case he relied on satellites that were overloaded or simply not there any more. He looked up. Too much cloud to pierce with his telescopic vision but he knew he would see the space station if he waited long enough and that the President would be on it now.

He sighed. Richard King had friends but no one else. His job was his life and he had no...

"Ummm excuse me?" asked a female voice as Lionheart stared around, his genius level mind projecting where best his powers might help.

He blinked. His reverie had lasted only a couple of seconds but that was an age to someone who could move as fast as he could. A dirty faced police officer, hair all over the place and nursing a cut hand, was stood only a few feet away. "I was told... are you... are you an Ultrahuman? We could really use some help. There's a hostage situation at a bank and we're outgunned by ... by well, one of you. Not like you. They are dressed in orange so they are escaped prisoners like those we heard about but..." she looked at the gun in her holster. "Our guns don't work on them. We're... we're useless."

OOC there's a whole bunch of fires, floods, gas leaks, toppling buildings, smoke, gridlocked cars, people that need transporting to hospital and now, across Washington, anarchy reigns as opportunist thieves help themselves to stores and loot supermarkets. On top of that, there are super villains who think bigger and are taking advantage to score big...

Admin wrote:...she looked at the gun in her holster. "Our guns don't work on them. We're... we're useless."

OOC there's a whole bunch of fires, floods, gas leaks, toppling buildings, smoke, gridlocked cars, people that need transporting to hospital and now, across Washington, anarchy reigns as opportunist thieves help themselves to stores and loot supermarkets. On top of that, there are super villains who think bigger and are taking advantage to score big...

Lionheart smiled, it was good to remember that things were bad but not to forget the little things that made us all 'human' well nearly.

"I'd be glad to help...Emm I'm pretty quick so best you just tell me where. If that is OK?"

He smiled again, being a bit new to this whole thing with people. But his training in the Corp meant he had basic social skills down pat. He was once only a police officer, albeit one with amazing powers - but he had respect for those who do what he did but without such abilities. That was bravery for you.

OOC: OK on the way to the bank, if I can help anyone as I go I will do. The hostage situation isn't going to change (one hopes) if I do a slight detour to offer the help I can with the immediate needs on the way. That falling building sounds up my street, either get folk out, before it falls or hold it up whilst others getaway etc. And then I'll scoot over to the bank, have a quick reckie and see if I can find an officer in charge to let me know what they know.

Sj

Checking her watch then noting how little vita power remained, she did a quick mental calculation and took a route that stuck to freeways that were relatively quiet. Having to keep her speed down was an issue and it would take a while to get to New Jersey. It was a distance of around 197 miles, give or take. She winced.

Apart from needing another pill she'd need to replace her shoes soles as well. Heck, her costume was tatters anyway. Miss Victory set off.




Miss Victory kept her speed under 700 MPH. She frowned as she ran and jumped ... running past folks stuck in traffic, stuck because of the fighting and of various accidents on the interstate bringing all traffic to a halt. She didn't want to be distracted trying to help everyone as she would never make it home to get more Vita pills and a new costume if she did. But it stuck in her craw to do so.

Plus, she really really needed to just decompress even if it was for only an hour or so. She was more stressed out now than she was when working under her Russian Masters, trying to finalize her Vita formula and then figuring out how to flee the country to America.

How to get American money for her escape was even harder and she didn't like she had to get it from some fairly unsavory types but luckily they accepted money, after she punch two bruisers in the face, breaking their jaws. Even with her powers, running and jumping across Siberia was COLD! Same with swimming the Bering Sea when she fell through the ice while jumping across it.

Running and jumping down Alaska and Canada wasn't too hard in comparison. Then she hit the town of Idaho Falls in Idaho. With a population of just over 55,000 people, it was an interesting place. She spend a few days looking around, trying out different kinds of American foods. She had visited its museum and zoo. Even went to one of the Idaho Falls Chukars baseball games, a minor league team.

It was while she was sitting at a small family run restaurant that a tall, handsome, heavily tanned man with bronze colored [an interesting mix of red and brown hair] sat down at her table unasked and smiled at her. It was her first meeting with the famed Dr. Clark Wylde. Even in Russia, the man's name was known as a scientific and medical genius as well as some kind of independent adventurer or troubleshooter. This same man, who once he heard her story, helped her get proper entrance into the US, setting up a new identity for her and the man she eventually fell in love with and secretly married.

But she did stop for any people she saw were in life-threatening conditions and there was no one else around that could help them. But it took time to do this.

LIONHEART

The world slowed.

Droplets of water almost hung in the air, exploding gas spread slowly in each direction until a hand was clamped around the severed main, the heat and force doing nothing against the force field protecting the superhuman ultra dense muscle, skin and bone of the man who pinched the pipe shut. A blur of motion, a rock slammed down hard on the hydrant plugging it for the most part.

The collapsing building, on fire with brave Fire men and women getting people out as best they could... and suddenly finding themselves with the people and pets from the building about fifty feet away all in a daze.

Moving on. The car fire snuffed out as the superhuman telekinetically scrunched the car into a tight ball. Moving on.

The damage inflicted on the capital was immense. With every punch thrown by superhuman beings shock waves had been flung outwards, destroying every window and shattering even brick in some cases.

Emergency services and national guard were everywhere, helping people from vehicles and buildings. Most wore a look of shock.

The bank itself was surrounded by a thin ring of police. They looked terrified. One man spun as Lionheart screeched to a halt, the megaphone falling from his fingers which were shaking in fear. The Police turned, panicked and suddenly Lionheart faced off against 11 cops with pistols and shotguns!

MISS VICTORY

The shower washed off muck, grime and blood. It felt scalding hot but she didn't mind. Even without the Vita Pill she was practically immune to small arms fire and normal environmental issues.

The good part about being a millionaire was that it bought privacy. The top floor of the brownstone faced a park and Veronika knew there was little chance of her being seen when coming or going. Wrapped in a towel and with one on her hair she moved through the apartment to the closet and accessed a hidden panel which retina scanned and activated a slide back wall with her costumes and pill stash.

Dressed and with pills (she needed to get round to making more but had half a dozen) in a pouch, she pressed play on the answerphone.

"Vicky? Honey it's me. I gotta situation. I'm at Johansons' place. There's... there's a situation. He activated a gate and... and I need some EXTRA help." he'd said, aware that anyone listening on a tapped line or accessing the answerphone would have no clue he was speaking to his wife the superheroine.

"There's something happening. A green gas. It's expanding on contact with the air and SKRRRRZZZZZZZ!!!!"

Miss Victory gaped at the phone, played the message again! Clark! Her husband was in danger!

ooc: I hate you so much right now! Will post tomorrow. Still hating you.

Admin wrote:LIONHEART

The bank itself was surrounded by a thin ring of police. They looked terrified. One man spun as Lionheart screeched to a halt, the megaphone falling from his fingers which were shaking in fear. The Police turned, panicked and suddenly Lionheart faced off against 11 cops with pistols and shotguns!

Moving slowly, for them as Lionheart held up his hands. He wasn't worried about them hurting him, but that it would announce his arrival and lose him the element of surprise and potentially hurt others with ricocheting bullets and automatic weapons fire.

"OK I am one of the good guys, an Ultrahuman. See no prison Orange. I'm called Lionheart and a lovely lady from your own ranks told me what was happening here so I thought I'd stop by. I'd say call it in, but that isn't going to happen unless one of you is handy with smoke signals! But think about this if I with them, why stop and explain all this and not just wreck this place? That would be because I am a friend, who wants to help. And unless any of you has another bright idea a friend could be just what you and these hostages need right now. OK?"

Lionheart waited for them to respond. He could just have charged in, a super-speed he might even have got it done without much detection. But he couldn't take the chance that the hostages would be unsafe. He had to figure out a way to be smart and separate the bad guys from their prize in some way. He had to wonder who was in there, if they were that powerful they'd not worry about such a small ring-fence of cops and bother to take hostages. Then again might there be something else at work here?

Meanwhile, he waited for the cops to pull themselves together whilst he continued to survey the situation and see what he could discern from the scene.

Sj

LIONHEART

The cops looked terrified but one spoke up "My kid is crazy mad on the Ultras! Buys all their Merch! His room is covered in that crap, the action figures... everything! I don't recognise you!"

Another pointed out. "We need to call the hotline number, they could confirm this guy up straight away except..."

"Except the phones are down. EVERYTHING is down." muttered a grizzled older fellow, a sergeant from the looks. He glanced at the Captain with the megaphone and shook his head. "Stand down guys. Eyes on the bank. If this guy appears in the middle of us chances are he could have taken all of us down before we even knew it!"

"I still think we should..." started the Captain, who was still fumbling at his holster for his sidearm.

"Captain... stick to the desk job pal. Out here? We've had it easy for so long because of the Ultrahumans we're having to figure out how to do our jobs again instead of writing up fender benders and neighbour nuisance stuff. Heck, even drug crime has been way down. Ok pal... I won't hold the fact you're a limey against you..."

He turned to the bank and Lionheart saw the other cops turning away, bringing weapons to bear on the bank.

"Here's what we know. Five orange suited escapees - three men, a woman and... what I can only describe as half man half octopus... are in that bank." he said, pointing. "We got all this stuff going on but even the radios are down. Nothing works. I sent most of our people out to patrol and keep looting down or help people... the world's gone crazy. That leaves us. I was hoping SWAT would turn up sometime soon but they must be stuck in traffic. The freeways are gridlocked. The National guard are clearing the way steadily but its slow going. The bank has at least a dozen staff and maybe that many customers as hostage. They are after the vaults obviously. No one seems too bothered about cash any more. Can't find out anything about what's in that place but maybe in the vault or safe desposit boxes... I'd say these guys are crazy what with the Ultrahumans about but it looks like you guys AREN'T about. Kinda caught everyone on the hop."



"All it means is that when this thing is over... assuming it IS over... is that we can't rely on you capes any more. We gotta be our own line o defence." growled the cop.

"Sarge." said a beat cop with a shotgun aimed at the bank. "You kiddin? We shot that Octopus guy. ALL of us did. You saw what happened! Bullets just... well... kinda sank in. Then he spat them out." he glanced at the shattered glass of the squad cars and a couple of bloodstains on the floor. "Sure hope Murphy and Lewis are ok..."

"Point is, there's places we gotta be. Places YOU have to be too." said the Sergeant with a wave of his hand and a glance at the dozens of smoke palls rising from the shattered landscape of the nations capital confirmed it. "Longer this goes on, more chance of bad stuff happening elsewhere. I need them people OUT, NOW. The bad ones in lockup, the innocents in one piece. Can you do that?"