The Ultrahumans! Issue #3 starring Miss Victory and Lionheart "And there came a reckoning!"

The shower felt good. She didn't have much time but felt a need to de-gunge and try her best to look like she'd not been battered from pillar to post then near drowned in green alien sludge and body parts.

Miss Victory ached and rolled her neck. The Vita Pills granted her staggering power, more than most people on this planet. Most, but some of the people due at the meeting had even more. It was perhaps the most powerful gathering of individuals on Earth when the Ultrahumans came together.

That said, many would be there virtually, on screen or via hologram. The base/space station was still in enemy hands and all over America orange suited super criminals ran amok. Small local teams of supers all operating under the 'Ultrahumans' brand and umbrella code of conduct battled as best they could to bring them to justice. The President had been kidnapped, the White House nigh on destroyed.

Martial law had been declared in every major city and overstretched emergency services augmented by the National guard were woefully outgunned when a supervillain who could toss a tank into orbit or topple a building with a punch was up against them.

She'd been thrown in the deep end and only now been able to come up for air.

Regardless. She was Miss Victory, and whilst she drew breath, evil doers had better beware!

Washed, dressed and with a fresh supply of Vita pills in s small box tucked on her person the heroine hastily grabbed a sandwich and headed for the concealed exit of her penthouse, a home she'd barely seen for the last few days!

=========

"Thanks pal. You might talk funny but there's no doubt when someone like you offers help against someone like them we won't turn it down!" said the beat cop, looking at three trussed up orange suited villains.

Lower powered, they'd given the cops and National guard the run around until Lionheart - en route to New York - had seen the fight and swooped down. Operating on a level far higher than the three men who'd been overturning cars and deafening people with a sonic blast, the fight had been over near instantly and they were now wrapped together with a ruined street lamp.

With a salute Lionheart took off again, mindful to accelerate only when over a certain altitude. His speed allowed him to deep into near space, accelerate hard then swoop down and decelerate to New York, there in a matter of seconds.

Lionheart inspected his new costume. Intelligent nano technology designed by Wandafar, his alien friend and a former superhero himself (OOC and in a different reality, team mate in the Executive) the suit was self healing and appeared as new. He chuckled to himself. His skin healed almost as fast but some of the bad guys he'd been up against could hit even harder than he could. Literally, mountain shattering punches!

He remembered Omega Man and how he'd 'one shotted' the retired legend that was Superman. It had taken a combined team effort to put him down and it would be fair to say most superheroes privately hoped the guy would be thrown back in the supermax prison and the key tossed away.

Slowing to see the sprawling Metropolis that was New York he headed to a large area off limits to civilians. A sprawling complex that rivalled the Pentagon in size and scope acting as the earth bound headquarters of the most powerful collection of superhumans on planet Earth.

The Ultrahumans.

Of which Lionheart was one...

=========

"Please step up to the scanner" said the armoured guard, politely enough.

They couldn't take any chances with identification and a retina scan, body density scan through an archway and 'safe word' questions with answers only the member would know were part of the security, as were low powered supers who weren't effective in the field but were powerful empaths and precognitives/danger sensitives who could spot a phony or imposter.

Miss Victory turned and saw Lionheart stepping through the scanner and given, like her, a visitors pass. Waiting for her team mate and battle companion the pair walked through pristine silver steel corridors as armoured guards and technicians, administrators and black jumpsuited agents went about their business.

OOC Feel free to add a 'flavour' post or the heroes' private thoughts and I'll hopefully update later on tonight, dependent on time. I've not locked the previous thread so you can spend your HP stash in there and I will update the characters as required.

Admin wrote:"Please step up to the scanner" said the armoured guard, politely enough.

They couldn't take any chances with identification and a retina scan, body density scan through an archway and 'safe word' questions with answers only the member would know were part of the security, as were low powered supers who weren't effective in the field but were powerful empaths and precognitives/danger sensitives who could spot a phony or imposter.

Miss Victory turned and saw Lionheart stepping through the scanner and given, like her, a visitors pass. Waiting for her team mate and battle companion the pair walked through pristine silver steel corridors as armoured guards and technicians, administrators and black jumpsuited agents went about their business.

OOC Feel free to add a 'flavour' post or the heroes' private thoughts and I'll hopefully update later on tonight, dependent on time. I've not locked the previous thread so you can spend your HP stash in there and I will update the characters as required.

Lionheart had seen a thing or two in his 'life' but even he had to admit that this was all very impressive. Looking up from the scanner through the milling crowds, he saw the familiar form of Miss Victory, hailing her, he moved over.

"Hi, you made it ok, you wouldn't believe the trouble I had getting over here..."

He was about to say but realised that Miss V clearly had, had some tale to tell of her own. Since he was naturally imbibed with gentlemanly instincts he sensing she had a story to tell, said, "Ah, you first..."

And let her explain what she had been up to since they parted back in Washington.

Sj

"Other dimension microbe lizards that grew and adapted and ate everyone in it's path but had problems with our air," Miss Victory said with a grim smile.  "One grew into a man-size lizard and started copying my powers and learned to breath our air.  Managed to take him down with a mental blast before he could copy it but will probably be a problem in the future for us.  Then one turned into a Godzilla-sized monster but luckily died as it couldn't adapt to its giant-size and still breathe.  It sort of exploded and turned into some kind of sludge.  Luckily, I managed to get it to an area away from people but the EPA or whoever handles that kind of thing is going to have a field day trying to clean it up."

"Had to take another shower and another costume was destroyed. Honestly! Does that happen to you guys or only superheroines? Think I need to find a sidekick who has cleaning and repair powers otherwise I am going to get arrested for Indecent Exposure one of these days and I am NOT an exhibitionist! I do not need those kinds of photos floating around the Internet!"

"So what happened to you?"

DavidMcMahon wrote:"So what happened to you?"

Lionheart nodded his eyes widening at some of the things that Miss V had been involved in a short while ago since parting company.

Then he took a deep breath and reiterated his own adventures, "I thought I had it bad, I, of course, found no end of distractions to keep me going. What with disasters by the minute going on and any number of orange-clad goons running around. I came across a hostage situation, very nasty. Some local heroes had gone in but not done so well. I nearly didn't do so well. I had to be quite stealthy which isn't my usual modus operandi. But hey. who said an old dog can't learn some new tricks. Anyway, I found out these goons, were part of a splinter group from Nexus and they were looking for a piece of paper with some particular information on it. I had to go toe to toe with these guys, without tipping off the others - who had hostages to use as leverage that I was there. It got really hairy when one, a psychic inhabited all of the hostages at once. He could use them to do for him whatever he wanted. That was tricky until I realised he had to have his body somewhere. I managed to find it, and break the link by flying him away from the others over such a distance he couldn't maintain his hold. Then took some anaesthesia to put him to sleep before handing him and the others over to the cops. I then went looking for that oh so valuable piece of paper. It led me to a deposit box with a nasty booby trap inside. Fortunately, it was all good, and I have a certain something to return to our leaders. Only this time I hope it doesn't go missing again."

Lionheart didn't say much more nor reveal that about his person was Nexus famed and rather innocuous looking glove. He didn't like the fact it had gone missing once, and he didn't care to leave it out of his sight carefully secured in his costume till he felt it could be kept safer with the Ultrahumans than with himself.

"Right I am hungry we'd best get to see what is what. Bound to be a briefing happening any time and place soon."

Sj

Lionheart didn't say much more nor reveal that about his person was Nexus famed and rather innocuous looking glove. He didn't like the fact it had gone missing once, and he didn't care to leave it out of his sight carefully secured in his costume till he felt it could be kept safer with the Ultrahumans than with himself.

"Right I am hungry we'd best get to see what is what. Bound to be a briefing happening any time and place soon."


"Managed to get a sandwich but could use a bit more of something too," Miss Victory said with a small grin.  "Greatest Superhero Team in the World better have some good food to go with that title!  So let's find some To-Go and then figure out where we go after that."

Asking a console in the wall to direct the pair to a cafeteria wasn't hard and their eyes were drawn to the floor in the corners of the corridor which occasionally pulsed with a soft blue light to guide their way.

Other lights pulsed occasionally indicating directions being handed out to other people, so they weren't he only ones who needed showing around!

The place was huge. A sprawling complex large enough to rival most shopping malls and with people going to and fro. Many were in costume and the pair got quite a few glances and greetings but the dark blue jumpsuited technicians and agents were all business. With over 100 hundred active members the Ultrahumans was pretty much a small army and countered on more than three times that number with reserve and affiliate groups including power levels from street to cosmic.

The main 'core' of the team, of which Miss Victory and Lionheart were part of, was generally formed of a dozen or so of the most powerful and versatile members. The team makeup changed according to the mission of course and who was available. The Silver Sentinel, team leader and probably the most powerful superhuman on Earth (though that was from the 'good' guys point of view - Nexus and quite a few others in the supermax prison had a fair claim to the title as well. Nexus himself had battled and almost beaten the 'best of the best' Ultrahumans including Thunder Woman and Silver Sentinel even though he'd been on his own, for example) was still MIA and his progress was no doubt being monitored by operatives in this building.

A semi government funded organisation, the Ultrahumans had a comfortable alliance with the US Government though some administrations strained that. The current President, held hostage on the Ultrahumans satellite, had been 'pro' Ultrahumans and had been trying to get a budget increase passed through congress, amongst other things. Now she was captive and in serious danger. Any assault on the space station might see a disaster of serious, cataclysmic proportions. The space station weighed hundreds of thousands of tons and had only been possible in terms of construction and funding because of the power the Ultrahumans had. A previous base, on the moon, had been the staging point for the Earths defence against an invasion and was still a burnt out wreck.

OOC At work, run out of time so... TO BE CONTINUED!

As you guys know I'm kind of burning the candles at both ends. Decorating by day, working by... whenever. This will (hopefully) ease next week as my Mum and her partner are helping me out and doing a grand job. Two rooms pretty much done and four to go, then carpets and wood floor (which I'll be doing) and start moving stuff in. As such it's a busy time, so I hope you understand!

Admin wrote:OOC At work, run out of time so... TO BE CONTINUED!

As you guys know I'm kind of burning the candles at both ends. Decorating by day, working by... whenever. This will (hopefully) ease next week as my Mum and her partner are helping me out and doing a grand job. Two rooms pretty much done and four to go, then carpets and wood floor (which I'll be doing) and start moving stuff in. As such it's a busy time, so I hope you understand!

OOC: Paul you should know better, but absolutely no problem at all. Take the rest of the week off and don't come back on till next week at the earliest unless you want to. That way we know when to expect a reply and not worry that you've got carted of to the Hosptial after putting your back out laying flooring Glad the house is coming along so well.

Sj

"You know," Miss Victory says casually to Lionheart, "I've never really realized that there were so many superheroes in the Free World. I'm not really a superhero fan or groupie. I figured maybe a few dozen or at most a hundred or so superheroes in North America and Europe. Could it be that there are actually thousands of them? Or were before the Advent showed up?"

Admin wrote:Asking a console in the wall to direct the pair to a cafeteria wasn't hard and their eyes were drawn to the floor in the corners of the corridor which occasionally pulsed with a soft blue light to guide their way.

Other lights pulsed occasionally indicating directions being handed out to other people, so they weren't he only ones who needed showing around!

The place was huge. A sprawling complex large enough to rival most shopping malls and with people going to and fro. Many were in costume and the pair got quite a few glances and greetings but the dark blue jumpsuited technicians and agents were all business. With over 100 hundred active members the Ultrahumans was pretty much a small army and countered on more than three times that number with reserve and affiliate groups including power levels from street to cosmic.

The main 'core' of the team, of which Miss Victory and Lionheart were part of, was generally formed of a dozen or so of the most powerful and versatile members. The team makeup changed according to the mission of course and who was available. The Silver Sentinel, team leader and probably the most powerful superhuman on Earth (though that was from the 'good' guys point of view - Nexus and quite a few others in the supermax prison had a fair claim to the title as well. Nexus himself had battled and almost beaten the 'best of the best' Ultrahumans including Thunder Woman and Silver Sentinel even though he'd been on his own, for example) was still MIA and his progress was no doubt being monitored by operatives in this building.

A semi government funded organisation, the Ultrahumans had a comfortable alliance with the US Government though some administrations strained that. The current President, held hostage on the Ultrahumans satellite, had been 'pro' Ultrahumans and had been trying to get a budget increase passed through congress, amongst other things. Now she was captive and in serious danger. Any assault on the space station might see a disaster of serious, cataclysmic proportions. The space station weighed hundreds of thousands of tons and had only been possible in terms of construction and funding because of the power the Ultrahumans had. A previous base, on the moon, had been the staging point for the Earths defence against an invasion and was still a burnt out wreck.

OOC At work, run out of time so... TO BE CONTINUED!

As you guys know I'm kind of burning the candles at both ends. Decorating by day, working by... whenever. This will (hopefully) ease next week as my Mum and her partner are helping me out and doing a grand job. Two rooms pretty much done and four to go, then carpets and wood floor (which I'll be doing) and start moving stuff in. As such it's a busy time, so I hope you understand!

DavidMcMahon wrote:"You know," Miss Victory says casually to Lionheart, "I've never really realized that there were so many superheroes in the Free World.  I'm not really a superhero fan or groupie.  I figured maybe a few dozen or at most a hundred or so superheroes in North America and Europe.  Could it be that there are actually thousands of them?  Or were before the Advent showed up?"

Lionheart nodded, "I feel like I've landed in some sort of cosplay convention or something. Except those aren't plastic claws..." he said nodding to one hairy looking man? He wasn't sure about that last point. He'd been all over the universe and seen a lot, but Earth still proved it could surprise him.

"I'll be glad to meet with Thunder Woman and find out what the situ is with Sentinel, Nexus and his cronies have hit a home run so far, and it's about time there as some kind of reckoning. But with the President as a hostage, and that space base locked up tighter than a misers wallet, who knows. Either way, this has the potential to turn the tide not only on this but on this war for hearts and minds that Advent has been waging. A win here would do some greater good for the cause against Advent let alone bringing so much needed stability here. The question I have is where are we going to put these escapees if we capture them. What they had was definitely not due process!"

Sj

OOC Just a quick update. Home Broadband has gone but I'm tethered to my mobile albeit at dialup speeds The perils of living in the middle of nowhere. Turns out my new house (on the edge of Leeds) is no better with my current provider either so that's another change to sort out. These things are sent to try us.

As they stood in a fast moving queue for access to a cafeteria the pair of heroes chatted and couldn't help overhear some of the other cape 'chat' around them.

"You hear what's goin on? Man, I didn't think we'd EVER get called up ta the big leagues but it looks like the country's in a real mess."

"I heard there was one of those orange suited guys busted up the New Orleans Champions real good. Yeah, even Monsoon, and she's badass, right? Man, I wouldn't wanna run into one of..."

"I heard that there was some big thing goin' on. Like MAJOR. Every registered hero on the books and even the off the grid masks who like their privacy are bein hauled in. Anyone who's anyone I heard."

"Why?"

"The President. She was taken to some secret base of the bad guys or somethin. We're gonna bust her out."

"How'd ya know?"

"Well, it didn't come from me, but you know that chick Mindread? She can't control her power too well an hears all sort o chatter mostly but picked out a few bits. I heard she got some useful stuff on the ether too that she handed over to the Ultras."

"Man, I wouldn't be happy with anyone lurking about in MY head. I mean, sure, I'm a good guy an all but if there's stuff I wanna keep private, I don't want anyone else knowing it!"

"Yeah? Do tell! Come on, spill the beans!"

"Pfft in ya dreams flyboy."

"I heard that Silver Sentinel is still missing in action. Got injured real bad."

"Man, if they can do that to the 'Gods' what chance do we have?"

"Gods?"

"Yeah, just a nickname. They get everyone in these 'bands' depending on powers, abilities, experience and so on. Sometimes you might change a grade if the mission suits your abilities. Alphas are the most powerful, aside from the 'Gods'."

"Gods? Look man, what..."

"Omegas. We call them gods because, well, compared to the rest of us, they are so far out of our league that anything THEY can't handle means the rest of us are pretty much screwed. There ain't many of em. Eight I think, but rumour has it they found two or three more."

"Found? Found some Omegas? Where do you 'Find' Omegas? I mean, come on, those guys can smash mountains and insurance rates go sky high whenever they..."

Suddenly there was an announcement over the tannoy.

"ALL DELTA GRADE OPERATIVES PLEASE FOLLOW THE BLUE SIGNS."

Blue lights lit up on the floor and walls and started pulsing softly. People got up from where they were sat and chatting, looking about at the kaleidoscope of cape and costume colours in the place.

"BRAVO GRADE OPERATIVES PLEASE FOLLOW GREEN SIGNS. ALPHA GRADE OPERATIVES FOLLOW RED SIGNS."

Lionheart and Miss Victory glanced at the name badges each had been issued with, wondering which colour they'd have to follow.

"OMEGA LEVEL OPERATIVES. PLEASE CLEAR A SPACE OF SEVERAL FEET AROUND YOU AND PREPARE FOR TELEPORT."

Suddenly two lights shone down from the ceiling illuminating Lionheart and Miss Victory!

The mass - dozens of superheroes in all shapes, sizes, colours and variations - gaped at the two 'gods' in their midst. There was genuine astonishment from the people around the pair as they realised they'd been stood near to two of the most powerful people on the planet!

"All this time..." muttered one of the guys behind Lionheart in the queue. Lionheart was a blur for a moment then handed coffee over to Miss Victory whilst he held a tea in hand.

Then both vanished in a flash of light!

=========

And appeared in a large round darkened room. There was a circular table in the middle of the room and only one person sat at it who was peering at a tablet and shaking his head.

Atomic Champion looked up and stood. He looked tired. "Lionheart, Miss Victory. Normally there'd be more of us but there are a few out in space helping with Silver Sentinel. Thunder Woman sends her apologies as she had to shoot off and realises you two have been dumped in the deep end but that she thinks you can handle... wait. Is that ... Nexus' gauntlet? Oh man, I wasn't sure about you, being a limey and all and the fact that most of those guys can't even throw a double a decker bus but if you got that... you really came through."

"We need to hide it. Get it under lock and key. The problem is that if the bad guys know where it is they can direct all their firepower to this place. They'd be mad to normally but we're somewhat short staffed at the moment." he said, glancing around at the table. "We made the table bigger to admit you two. I wasn't happy about it and to be honest I voted against expanding the Omega grade but you definitely proved you can handle the pressure that comes with it. That prison break... man, what a cluster."

He sat on the edge of the table and continued. "We're waiting for some others to turn up then the plan is to split up and go after the meanest, baddest prisoners still out there with a mix of Deltas, Bravos and Alphas under the command of an Omega. You might have worked in a team before, you might not, but as an Omega you are expected to lead at some point and we reached that point. I prefer to work solo myself so I can cut loose but even I got told to button it and do as I was told by the boss woman." He rolled his fiery eyes. "Nurse maiding some chump who can control reptiles or who thinks being able to flip an SUV with one hand is impressive is about as much fun as painting and decorating a house. That's NOT any fun by the way, ask me how I know." he muttered.



"Anyway, the powers that be figured that any attempt to rescue the president would need as many Omegas as we can muster in one place. Problem is while we're doing that the Prison escapees will be up to no good and the President herself would say that everyone else is the priority before her. She's right, but it boils my already radioactive blood to admit it. So, we're waiting for a few more like I say then we'll dish out the targets and the teams. Any questions whilst we wait?"

ooc: Keep enjoying home ownership and all its freedoms and wonders!


[quote="Admin"]OOC Just a quick update. Home Broadband has gone but I'm tethered to my mobile albeit at dialup speeds The perils of living in the middle of nowhere. Turns out my new house (on the edge of Leeds) is no better with my current provider either so that's another change to sort out. These things are sent to try us.

As they stood in a fast moving queue for access to a cafeteria the pair of heroes chatted and couldn't help overhear some of the other cape 'chat' around them.

"You hear what's goin on? Man, I didn't think we'd EVER get called up ta the big leagues but it looks like the country's in a real mess."

"I heard there was one of those orange suited guys busted up the New Orleans Champions real good. Yeah, even Monsoon, and she's badass, right? Man, I wouldn't wanna run into one of..."

"I heard that there was some big thing goin' on. Like MAJOR. Every registered hero on the books and even the off the grid masks who like their privacy are bein hauled in. Anyone who's anyone I heard."

"Why?"

"The President. She was taken to some secret base of the bad guys or somethin. We're gonna bust her out."

"How'd ya know?"

"Well, it didn't come from me, but you know that chick Mindread? She can't control her power too well an hears all sort o chatter mostly but picked out a few bits. I heard she got some useful stuff on the ether too that she handed over to the Ultras."

"Man, I wouldn't be happy with anyone lurking about in MY head. I mean, sure, I'm a good guy an all but if there's stuff I wanna keep private, I don't want anyone else knowing it!"

"Yeah? Do tell! Come on, spill the beans!"

"Pfft in ya dreams flyboy."

"I heard that Silver Sentinel is still missing in action. Got injured real bad."

"Man, if they can do that to the 'Gods' what chance do we have?"

"Gods?"

"Yeah, just a nickname. They get everyone in these 'bands' depending on powers, abilities, experience and so on. Sometimes you might change a grade if the mission suits your abilities. Alphas are the most powerful, aside from the 'Gods'."

"Gods? Look man, what..."

"Omegas. We call them gods because, well, compared to the rest of us, they are so far out of our league that anything THEY can't handle means the rest of us are pretty much screwed. There ain't many of em. Eight I think, but rumour has it they found two or three more."

"Found? Found some Omegas? Where do you 'Find' Omegas? I mean, come on, those guys can smash mountains and insurance rates go sky high whenever they..."

Suddenly there was an announcement over the tannoy.

"ALL DELTA GRADE OPERATIVES PLEASE FOLLOW THE BLUE SIGNS."

Blue lights lit up on the floor and walls and started pulsing softly. People got up from where they were sat and chatting, looking about at the kaleidoscope of cape and costume colours in the place.

"BRAVO GRADE OPERATIVES PLEASE FOLLOW GREEN SIGNS. ALPHA GRADE OPERATIVES FOLLOW RED SIGNS."

Lionheart and Miss Victory glanced at the name badges each had been issued with, wondering which colour they'd have to follow.

"OMEGA LEVEL OPERATIVES. PLEASE CLEAR A SPACE OF SEVERAL FEET AROUND YOU AND PREPARE FOR TELEPORT."

Suddenly two lights shone down from the ceiling illuminating Lionheart and Miss Victory!

The mass - dozens of superheroes in all shapes, sizes, colours and variations - gaped at the two 'gods' in their midst. There was genuine astonishment from the people around the pair as they realised they'd been stood near to two of the most powerful people on the planet!

"All this time..." muttered one of the guys behind Lionheart in the queue. Lionheart was a blur for a moment then handed coffee over to Miss Victory whilst he held a tea in hand.

"Wait! I haven't finished reading those two guys' minds yet," Miss Victory yells out, putting her fingers up to her temples in the classic Mind Reading pose and grinning at the two chatterboxes.

ooc: Just cause I'm in a weird mood when I read this.

Then both vanished in a flash of light!

=========

DavidMcMahon wrote:
"Wait!  I haven't finished reading those two guys' minds yet," Miss Victory yells out, putting her fingers up to her temples in the classic Mind Reading pose and grinning at the two chatterboxes.

Then both vanished in a flash of light!

Lionheart looked at Miss V and then startled members with a nod and a wink.

Admin wrote:"Anyway, the powers that be figured that any attempt to rescue the president would need as many Omegas as we can muster in one place. Problem is while we're doing that the Prison escapees will be up to no good and the President herself would say that everyone else is the priority before her. She's right, but it boils my already radioactive blood to admit it. So, we're waiting for a few more like I say then we'll dish out the targets and the teams. Any questions whilst we wait?"

Lionheart nodded sagely taking it all in, America was in a pickle but two things bothered him, what was Nexus and their merry band up whilst merry chaos reigned, the fact that the team had gone with the glove was a setback surely? And secondly the ever-growing threat of Advent! What intelligence was there on their presence and threat at this time?

Lionheart having thought about how he wanted to phrase the questions then put them to their would-be host, as they waited for others to arrive and he darted to the screens to assess intelligence as it was coming in on various screens.

OOC: Glad things are working out with the house, what a pain that you are having to do so much around work. But it sounds like you are cracking on. Not quite Stone Lords pad but it will do ;-)

Sj

As the pair of heroes pondered on questions for Atomic Champion about what was going to happen next there was a flash of light from the far side of the room and a dark clad figure stepped from a teleport pad.



Manta Man was one of less out and out powerful members of the Ultrahumans and seemed an odd choice of hero to have at a meeting like this where the best of the best would be involved. However his keen mind and strategic brilliance made him more than a match for practically anyone. He was known for having a gadget or some work around for pretty much any opponent and had never been beaten. Indeed, when the question came up about his inclusion in the 'core' of the Ultrahumans had come up he'd demonstrated his ability to defeat any of the other core members through a mixture of physical, mental or mystical means. Even Silver Sentinel had been nullified, albeit temporarily, and Manta Man's inclusion had never been questioned since.

He tended to stick around his home town of Chicago and dealing with that Cities organised crime problem. He'd demonstrated some effectiveness with his lower key approach as it had been proven that the criminals escalated things if a heavy hitter was called in. Indeed, Silver Sentinel was far less effective despite all his power as the criminals simply went to ground.

"This better be good." growled Manta Man as he stalked across to the large table. "I was in the middle of something. Big."

"This is as big as it gets MM. Silver Sentinel is still out of action, Thunder Woman is trying to help him and the President is held captive aboard OUR space station which we've lost contact with. Prison escapees in every city are drop kicking the police and national guard for fun and we're strung out so thin that we're just not coping..." said Atomic Champion.

"So you think that gathering everyone HERE is the best way? Are you mad?" snarled the masked man.

Atomic Champion glowered, looking angry. There was little love between these two it seemed. He was about to speak when Manta Man interrupted...

"Has it occurred to you that the villains have been waiting for everyone to gather here in order to organise into groups and go out, all orderly and united front for the media to present a picture of hope for the media? If I were them this would be the PERFECT time to mount an attack on our headquarters!" snarled Manta Man.

"That's insane! No one would be stupid enough to attack this place! We have over one hundred of the most powerful superhumans on Earth..." replied Atomic Champion.

"Exactly. What better opportunity to take everyone out in one fell swoop?" said Manta Man.

Even as he finished the sentence a loud blaring alarm rang out... A female computer voice spoke over the tannoy...

"Attention Ultrahumans. There have been MULTIPLE detection of THERMONUCLEAR weapon launches and scans indicate Ultrahumans HQ as the target!"

Manta Man chuckled. "I hate being right all the time." he muttered.

Atomic Champion was about to answer and shook his head. "Dammit. Computer! Lockdown Protocol! Null field defences active." He turned to the three gathered heroes. "Whoever sorted this out must know we're able to pluck those missiles from the sky without much bother. This is not something we should be worried abou..."

"WARNING!" said the Computer. "My systems have been hacked! NULL FIELD IS DOWN! NULL FIELD IS DOWN!"

Manta Man flipped a cover on his right gauntlet and tapped into a wrist computer. "We're being hacked... from the inside. We have a traitor in our midst..." he turned to Lionheart and Miss Victory. "Pick a missile and take it out. From what I know Lionheart you can withstand thermonuclear. Miss Victory I know little about you but don't doubt you are resourceful enough to get the job done."

Atomic Champion marched to the teleport pad. "I'll take out a missile or two."

OOC You have a choice of actions from here. You can head out to stop an incoming ICBM or investigate to find the traitor, or attempt to reset the computer so the null field is restored.

ooc: I forget, where is the base we are currently in? Space, underwater, a cave, a Kansas farmhouse as cover for an underground base?

Admin wrote:Atomic Champion marched to the teleport pad. "I'll take out a missile or two."

OOC You have a choice of actions from here. You can head out to stop an incoming ICBM or investigate to find the traitor, or attempt to reset the computer so the null field is restored.

Lionheart turned quickly to Miss V, "I've got the edge on stopping those missiles but someone here can alter that if they make a way for the villains to teleport in whilst I am out there trying to stop them. We need to find and stop the traitor."

Lionheart didn't wait for an answer he knew what he had to do and stepped onto the teleporter pad to get ready to do whatever he could to stop the fightback from being beaten before it had begun.

Sj

ooc: I see Miss Victory's character sheet hasn't been updated to include her telescopic vision of 8.

If this base we are in is on land somewhere instead of space or underwater, then she will go after an ICBM as well. If it isn't on land, then she will try to find the traitor, though she is rather lacking in detective skills, though Charisma may help here. Also lacking in any computer programming skills. So fighting atomic missiles is probably the best use of her powers and abilities.

OOC The Ultrahumans HQ is on the outskirts of New York in a sprawling Pentagon style site. However when you teleported you moved away from there to an undisclosed location - the 'core' of the Ultrahumans like their privacy. Still, things are linked - so the computer sounds alarms that are going off in the main base.

I'll update Miss V when I get home. Currently at work (posting from Manchester when I live across the pennines) and the computer I need has Windows 7 with an XP emulator to run the character creation program. The thing I'm posting from is 10 and I haven't figured out if it has an XP emulation mode.

Hmm, quick search reveals I may have to do some messing about to get Virtualbox and windows xp running on this thing.

Manta Man nodded at Lionheart's decisive move. "The computer will update you with coordinates and directions. From the files I have you will be fast enough to intercept ANY ICBM. if you can, trash the engines and collect the war heads for return to the US Government. These things have a dollar value attached to them despite their being hijacked to use on our owl soil against ourselves..."

He turned to Miss Victory. "As far as I can tell you are able to switch your energies between various abilities... off the scale strength and reflexes, durability and running speed. I don't doubt you are capable but if you need help now's the time to ask it and I'll assign a team to help you, though few if any will have powers near your scale."

OOC I'll update when I get home. Have to go shortly to sort a train out and head back to York...

"I should be able to catch it," Miss Victory says, deciding she was best doing that than doing detective stuff, "If I can spot it in time. I assume you and some of your comrades will handle the mole here and the hacking of the computer? They have someone who is probably one of the best 5 hackers in the world working for them."


ooc: 8 Telescopic is a mile, right?

Lionheart and Miss Victory stepped onto the teleport pad and reappeared near instantly in the light, bright area that was the Ultrahumans HQ.

A klaxon was going off, though not deafening, and a pulsing red light had replaced the normal warm white lighting indicating the sprawling Headquarters was under imminent attack!

The pair had to avoid running people as they moved through the corridor and many of these wore bright coloured spandex uniforms - it seemed even supers weren't immune to feeling some fear!

The pair sped up and arrived at a large wide area with several armoured jet type vehicles and a door hatch that was opening. A number of other supers were stood awaiting the roof to slide open. Their roles would be to provide assistance, backup and a last gasp chance to avert disaster if the Omega level supers failed.

A holographic woman appeared next to the pair.



"LIONHEART, your target is over the mojave desert in the next four minutes. Please wear this wrist computer..." she said with a wave to the left where a dark blue suited operative handed over a forearm bracelet that projected the woman assistant as a small hologram.

Another was handed to Miss Victory and the hologram continued "Your target is expected to be over the city of Louisiana in seven minutes MISS VICTORY. You should be aware that the area is currently under attack by a number of escaped convicts from the Supermax."

She turned to Lionheart "Your missile is of the Excelsior class of experimental munitions Lionheart. You need to be made aware that an explosion of this type over a populated area will result in a 100% loss of life and habitable dwellings for an undetermined radius stretching for miles. It was designed to affect the mightiest of superhumans."

"It may have a powerful superhuman escort. Our precognitives and far seers are now being blocked after initially finding useful information about... about... about... about... Apologies. I am being hack..."

The holgram winked out and the large hanger doors overhead stopped moving. The klaxon stopped and the place was plunged into near total darkness!

All we had to change was adding telescopic vision so looks okay to me. Thanks

Admin wrote:OOC Seem to spend most of my time cleaning drains out So far, guttering, next doors drains and now mine this morning in an attempt to find out why my garage is flooding. After the latest smelly pile of muck pulled up (ugh!) I'm crossing fingers that it isn't going to be big bills to shell out to sort the drainage. Anyway, mentioning this because it just took up my time to update the game These things are sent to test us.

Meanwhile David M, latest Miss Victory character sheet for your approval. Think everything is ok, I'll post to the character sheet area when you ok...

"This can't be good," Miss Victory said as an aside to Lionheart. "How do we get there now and are villains actually stupid enough to escort a nuclear missile that could probably kill them when it goes off?

She starts wondering if she could leap there in time or even if she knows which way to go to get where she needs to be as she isn't too clear on where exactly the Ultrahumans base is in relation to where she needs to be.

Admin wrote:Lionheart and Miss Victory stepped onto the teleport pad and reappeared near instantly in the light, bright area that was the Ultrahumans HQ.

A klaxon was going off, though not deafening, and a pulsing red light had replaced the normal warm white lighting indicating the sprawling Headquarters was under imminent attack!

The pair had to avoid running people as they moved through the corridor and many of these wore bright coloured spandex uniforms - it seemed even supers weren't immune to feeling some fear!

The pair sped up and arrived at a large wide area with several armoured jet type vehicles and a door hatch that was opening. A number of other supers were stood awaiting the roof to slide open. Their roles would be to provide assistance, backup and a last gasp chance to avert disaster if the Omega level supers failed.

A holographic woman appeared next to the pair.



"LIONHEART, your target is over the mojave desert in the next four minutes. Please wear this wrist computer..." she said with a wave to the left where a dark blue suited operative handed over a forearm bracelet that projected the woman assistant as a small hologram.

Another was handed to Miss Victory and the hologram continued "Your target is expected to be over the city of Louisiana in seven minutes MISS VICTORY. You should be aware that the area is currently under attack by a number of escaped convicts from the Supermax."

She turned to Lionheart "Your missile is of the Excelsior class of experimental munitions Lionheart. You need to be made aware that an explosion of this type over a populated area will result in a 100% loss of life and habitable dwellings for an undetermined radius stretching for miles. It was designed to affect the mightiest of superhumans."

"It may have a powerful superhuman escort. Our precognitives and far seers are now being blocked after initially finding useful information about... about... about... about... Apologies. I am being hack..."

The holgram winked out and the large hanger doors overhead stopped moving. The klaxon stopped and the place was plunged into near total darkness!

Before Lionheart and Miss Victory stepped onto the teleport pad, Manta Man called out for them to wait a second...

Jogging up the dark clad vigilante glanced back to where Atomic Champion was pulling the panel off a wall.

"The emergency generators should be kicking into overdrive any time soon. As part of the redundancy I put into the infrastructure this place is pretty much 'off the grid' when it needs to be. I'll find out who is tinkering from the inside and sort it out, but in the meantime..." he leaned in closer "Trust no one. Stop the missiles. Try to stop the bad guys who are with them. I don't understand what's going on here - yet - but there is something that the bad guys want here, and I'm not talking about that gauntlet. Hang onto it until we can ... figure... Hmmm. I need to check something."

He stepped back. "Good hunting. Ultrahumans."

OOC you guys ready to save New York from incoming nukes?

Another was handed to Miss Victory and the hologram continued "Your target is expected to be over the city of Louisiana in seven minutes MISS VICTORY. You should be aware that the area is currently under attack by a number of escaped convicts from the Supermax.


ooc: SO there is a city of Louisiana in the state of Louisiana? Or did you mean St. Louis?

And yeah, ready to have another nuke dropped on Miss Victory.