The Vanguard! Issue #5 - Portal to the past!

OOC I think we've lost a few days to this so I'm going to move us on with this 'fix'. If anyone has any major objections, I'm happy to run things as they are, but I don't want to get too bogged down in one situation or another, more keep the flow ... flowing, so to speak.

Dark Kitten

She knew she was fast. But fast enough to change time? Even if it were possible, there was an alarming voice in her head 'No! Do not even try! There are three of your new companions who are 'out' of their own timelines, and another, the one known as Lionheart, has travelled back in time. Were you to do the same, the timelines would become inextricably garbled - you would not have met these people, and the Shadows would darken over reality, with the Shadow Demons winning! You, and the others, are an imperative part in a whole, one that must stand together as one to fight against the Shadow Demons!' said the voice, sounding very concerned. Kylie wasn't sure who, or what, these Shadow Demons were, but if they were a greater threat than the Nazis... things would be bad indeed if she and the others failed in whatever grand plan these inner voices had for them!

Shaking that off, Kitten concentrated.

OOC Used an action (2 frames) for an attempt... 76. No good. Another action (2 fr) ... 01. That's more like it

She envisaged beams falling in such a way that they would support walls, and in turn support other beams, with pipes and wires holding sections together. The crashing noise around her suggested she'd failed. She opened her eyes to see Frostbites' concerned face. They were depending on her! But what could she do? These people would die! Somewhere, inside of Kitten, there was a power, some ability, some untapped source of energy that would save hundreds of people! And she was letting them down! Failing!

Her eyes flashed red, glowing, and Frostbite took a step back. He'd seen something like this before... All of a sudden the building falling represented the least of their worries!

His fears were unfounded. Kylie concentrated harder, more intensely than before. It just wasn't happening! She gasped, letting air from lungs that didn't need to inhale for hours, and sagged back against a wall. It was no good. She'd failed them. Why bother with all this straining? Suddenly she had it. She'd relaxed, and caught a glimpse in her minds eye of a wall collapsing, propping against another, and the building, whilst listing to the side, stopped moving...

Frostbite looked about. She'd done it, somehow! He saw also that cracks, new ones, started forming up the walls and across the ceiling... It was a temporary measure at best!

OOC And that's the actions more or less completed - what's next is the 'moving on' part. Any objections, or if you want to play it out, let me know, otherwise...

Putty, outside, felt the building in his grasp stop shifting, The other stood on its own for now, and he felt sure that he could easily punish any further Nazi interference. Seeing the cyclone whipping them about, he figured they'd be trapped for now and turned his attentions to the building. Nowhere Man looked back, and up at Putty. "Putty! Make like your namesake! Be the bandage for the building!"

Putty frowned, his giant oozing head monstrous to behold. Then he understood. Flowing like his namesake he oozed across the outside of the building, stretching and wrapping around it, filling gaps and cracks and pulling it together with strength that could shatter diamond! The impossible started to happen and Nowhere Man, like a conductor, yelled through one of the windows to Frostbite. "Joe! The water in the pipes! Everything can help hold it together! Freeze it!" Frostbite heard, then moved to the radiators in the office, concentrating. Cold flowed from his hands into the central heating system of the office, causing pipes to stiffen as ultra hard ice filled them, overcoming the heat with ease! The building groaned and strengthened as pipes shored up crumbling walls, becoming a metal framework running throughout the place. Frostbite stumbled with the effort, and hoped it would be enough.

Kitten didn't waste any time - she sped through the building, gathering people until she literally stacked bodies on top of another. All were unconscious, but thanks to her superhuman strength and unearthly balance, it was child's plays. But now what?

Nowhere Man , again like the conductor of an orchestra save one that moved through walls in his intangible form, called out "Toss them out of the window! Stormwarden can catch them with his cyclone!"

Stormwarden glanced over at his team mate, then at the Nazis. They were recovering, and he knew they would have enough power to break free of his cyclone... Cursing, he switched his efforts to moving the cyclone between the buildings, and sped it up - dust and debris cleared instantly, tossed aside and bouncing harmlessly from Puttys hide as the Vanguardian formed a living bandage around the lower half of the building. He hovered, nodding to Nowhere Man and glancing back to the Nazis... GONE! The one he and Putty had rendered unconscious, Soarer, still lay where she'd fallen though...

Grinding his teeth he turned to concentrating his efforts on creating layers within layers of the cyclone - Kitten would toss groups of people from the windows into the mouth of the cyclone and Stormwarden would gradually slow their fall until they landed, dazed but in one piece on the ground. Meanwhile, Lionheart lifted collapsed walls and pipes from the inside of rooms, dragging people out.

For some it was too late.

The Vanguard worked tirelessly, all the while knowing they were on borrowed time. The former Nazi Adjutant flew about, fusing rock with beams from his eyes in a hope of buying more time for the others to rescue people. All the while sirens wailed as the emergency services drew in, and that presented another problem for the Vanguard. They would soon have to contend with the ordinary emergency services, press, armed forces and army of Nazi metahumans bearing down on this place!

Nowhere Man and Frostbite flew through the place, solid walls no barrier to their intangible forms, and pointed out the trapped or fallen in the rubble, whilst Putty continued to fill gaps in. With some thought he could transmute broken rock into fused material, but knew he was fighting a losing battle. Kitten sped through, tossing more limp forms from the windows, expertly caught by Stormwarden, and suddenly the building groaned again. Putty pulled back, his strength and power no longer sufficient to hold together a building that should have collapsed minutes ago. The Vanguard moved away, many of them exhausted and battered from the fight, but knowing that their efforts had saved hundreds of lives. They also knew their powers had not been enough to save others, and thought their own thoughts of the Nazis that had sacrificed their own citizens to save themselves.

The building collapsed, dust and rubble rising into the air, but controlled and funnelled by Stormwarden, and to a lesser extent Frostbite with his little used powers of control over the weather. Putty acted as a vast shield to protect the adjoining building, and Kitten caught huge, massive chunks of stone that were too big for winds to funnel, lowering them down with ease thanks to her unbelievable strength!

As the dust settled, the Vanguard turned.

Hundreds of police, firemen, press, ambulance crew, ordinary civilians and passers by were gathered in the neighbouring streets. They'd watched in awe and silence at the unfolding drama, and many had seen the truth of what had happened, and spread the word, which swept like wildfire through the massed numbers. The police, weapons out and trained in the direction of the Vanguard, looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

The state had said enemies. Terrorists.

Their own eyes, and the tears of joy from the recovering survivors, said otherwise. And then, so did the claps from the crowd. It started in ones, twos, then spread rapidly, as a great cheer went up, cheers of gratitude, joy, adulation! The police joined in, holstering or dropping their guns to put their hands together, and the Vanguard stood against the backdrop of a vast dust cloud in the sure knowledge that what they had done today was out there. Whether they succeeded or failed in their mission to go back in time, they had changed hearts and minds with this single, spectacular act of bravery and power, putting themselves on the line against a Nazi foe that cared nothing for its own people, and rescuing the innocent from a building that would have slain them in their hundreds!

Nowhere Man turned to the team, his voice barely heard over the roars of the crowd. "We still have a job to do people. The prison and a certain occupant. You still have that cup?" he asked of Putty. To answer, Putty held out a hand... flowing down his arm on the inside, a lump the size of a cup, and it emerged from the palm of his hand. The Holy Grail.

"Good. Let's get to it." rasped the Vanguardian, turning his back on the crowd and flying into the air.

"He's a cold one." remarked Lionheart, exhausted. "Always the never ending fight with him, eh?" he said, looking about. Then he saw Stormwarden floating up, Frostbite turning to move, Putty and Kitten making ready, and Adjutant, who stared longingly at the crowd, then turned to Lionheart.

"Not just with the Nowhere Man. All of them. They will never give in, never rest, until their task is done. No matter that the powers ranged against them are legion, the challenge colossal, they will not stop, or surrender. They are the silent protectors, the watchful guardians, the Vanguard against the evil that threatens to overwhelm all, and which I was party to until I opened my eyes. Everything in fact, I should have been, and will now dedicate my life to being." said the battered looking former Nazi.

Lionheart watched Adjutant soar up, and shook his head "A normal life of peace and quiet is overrated anyway." before he sped off after the group.

=========

END OF PART 1

OOC Part 2 coming up tonight. I need time to cook up a picture of hundreds of Nazi metahumans flying towards you as one great, massed army. Oh oops.

Paul I may say your writing, which I felt was always good, has turned up a notch or seven. I really like your turn of phrase and this last part (I'm grateful for the fast forward in any case as it was getting a bit slowed down trying to do the impossible or as it turned out improbable. Moreover for some reason I'm still not getting notifications of posts going up, I just happened to check and seen you'd written - weird) and the sense with which you summoned up both the huge challenge stood over us in the darkening shadows and the effort with which we try to stand against it.

Good end to that part I thought anyway.

Sj

Steeple_jackuk wrote:Paul I may say your writing, which I felt was always good, has turned up a notch or seven. I really like your turn of phrase and this last part (I'm grateful for the fast forward in any case as it was getting a bit slowed down trying to do the impossible or as it turned out improbable. Moreover for some reason I'm still not getting notifications of posts going up, I just happened to check and seen you'd written - weird) and the sense with which you summoned up both the huge challenge stood over us in the darkening shadows and the effort with which we try to stand against it.

Good end to that part I thought anyway.

Sj

You're damned with small praise there Paul. The writing and interpretation on your part were nothing short of inventive brilliance. Well done and keep it up! This is what I truly love about GH - the sheer flexibility that you get in the hands of a master.

Moreover for some reason I'm still not getting notifications of posts going up, I just happened to check and seen you'd written - weird) and the sense with which you summoned up both the huge challenge stood over us in the darkening shadows and the effort with which we try to stand against it.

Double check to see if you are still clicked on to recieve update notices. It is off to the side but it is possible that you accidentally clicked it off.

OOC Cheers guys, I try my best for you cause you're worth it Only wish sometimes I had more time, but we all have busy schedules, and I'm glad you understand. With regards the 'mini wrap up', in too many online games I've played and the GM hasn't made a decisive decision to end a particular scene so instead it gets to the point where it flounders or drags on because the post rate drops. That's with players either not sure where it is they need to go next or real life slowing things down. It's a fine line between doing some necessary railroading to finish a scene and seeing if things will play out, possibly letting it drag too long and seeing players lose interest as a result. That's play by post for ya though, as you all know.

It was my mistake to introduce the power for Kitten that had everyone - including me - scratching their heads wondering how it was implemented. I *think* I know what I was getting at - some means of moving so fast she could do things very very quickly like the Flash does, and in this case save people in the building. However, my description was misleading, and it led to delays so I hold my hands up and tried to correct the mistake. I'll come up with a way of implementing the Hyper Speed as I will for a signature power for the rest of you - something that the others can't duplicate. We have some discussing to do anyway at the end of this issue, and it has some to do with what David M (Putty) wanted to do with his character.

We have to get there first though, so I'll stop waffling and and without further ado head into...



Issue #5 - Part 2



OOC My computer is acting weird - thought I'd lost the post, saved it (or hoped I had) and rebooted, and seems to be ok now, but something is definitely going on. Oh well, I never get too attached to a particular install of windows anyway...Hope y'all can see the catchup bit...Tried doing the picture too. Hmmm. Best just leave it to your imaginations...

Only several hundred yards from the vast White Hart Lane prison complex, and with the cloud of dust from the shattered building behind them, the Vanguard looked upon a scene of devastation! The air was split with sirens from the prison proclaiming an emergency, and everywhere there was shattered glass, legacy of the multiple sonic low altitude passes from the Nazi Soarer.

Speaking of which, she lay slumped against the wall of a building, battered and bloodied from her bruising encounter with Puttys head and Stormwardens fierce cyclone! Dark Kittens senses picked up her strengthening heartbeat, breath quickening and a stirring as her limbs found strength again. She was waking up.

The Vanguard had other worries though. The sky to the south and west of London was filled with tiny dots - flying forms of Nazis. Most trailed a curling cloud of smoke from their forms thanks to the jet packs they wore, but some flew under their own power. They were accompanied by jets of the kind Stormwarden himself had tried to commandeer (and ended up crashing in), doubtless packed to the roof with soldiers or worse - Nazi Metahumans!

All about London in this area people staggered, ordinary citizens struggling to overcome the effects of the low speed passes. Some vomited, others bled from the nose and ear, whilst others still lay where they'd fallen, a victim of the powers that were supposed to protect them. The wind of change, more powerful than even Stormwardens cyclone, spread across London as news agencies digested the truth and wondered what exactly they should report, whilst pirate tv stations run by the remnants of the smashed resistance movement ran unedited tapes shot from afar by cameraphone. Blurred images of a great creature made of oozing grey liquid battling against the cream of Nazi power, and smashing them! More than that - evidence that the Nazis themselves had caused much,or all of the damage that had almost resulted in a catastrophic loss of life were it not for the so called terrorists! As the signal cut in over the top of legitimate signals and people gasped as they sat at their televisions, the scene was yet to play out its final act.

Nowhere Man turned to the group. "Clearly, we're going to have company. Kitten, Putty..." he paused, looking at the pair. "The temptation is strong to use the power, and we'll need it, but know this. You must voluntarily release it as soon as you can, or it will consume you. I'd say do it now but..." He looked back at the incoming forces, too many to easily count with a glance. "...we need all the firepower we can get. It seems that crazed madwomans' attacks worked for us as well. The prison is in disarray, and the guards, as well as the inmates, will be suffering from the same effects we suffered from the low altitude passes. We need to use the time." he rasped. "Kitten, Putty, you've not been with us long, but we need you now more than ever to hold off the entire Nazi forces. Stormwarden, Frostbite, we need to get into the prison and find the Warlock, get him out. Adjutant, Lionheart.. you both have your own worries and agendas. We thank you both for your efforts, but only you can make the decision to stay the course or take another path."

The dark clad Vanguardian looked around at the group. "We'll be out of contact for most of this. I'm open to suggestions about strategy. The Nazis know we're coming, and will do their best to stop us. Our mission is clear. We get the Grail to the White Warlock and he uses it to cast a spell on Stonehenge to open the gate to the past. We can't afford to leave anyone behind but we MUST open that gate and get at least some of us through - otherwise... we get used to the way things are right now, forever."

Adjutant spoke up. "I will do my part, with your friends, in holding off the Nazis. The prison is a large place. Your target will not be known as the White Warlock here.... how will you find him?"

Nowhere Man thought about it "We need to check out their records. I'm sure I knew the man back in my Lore Knight days, but I'll be damned if I can remember his name."

Adjutant turned to face the oncoming forces "They are less than a mile away, slowing to group up and attack en masse. I suggest whatever you do, you do it quickly!"

OOC Status check -



As you can see, most of the team is fairly battered. The exceptions are the two Dark Vanguardians, but as the more experienced Vanguardians know, the more you use the Dark Power the greater its lure.

The prison is shaped as a huge hexagon from above. The walls are twenty feet high, covered on the top with razor wire and every 30m or so there is a gun emplacement point set onto the walls top. These are manned, though the guards are currently on the floor of the emplacement trying to recover from a very bad case of earache. The prison itself is a sprawling mass of reasonably modern buildings that started with a definite shape and plan and grew to include more places to stash those who displeased the state and there were quite a few of those. Somewhere in all of that place are guards, both human and the robot kind, and inmates, near enough 2,000 of them, and one is the man the Vanguard seek. There is one man amongst your number (Nowhere Man) who met the fellow in your own time when he was Wraith in the Lore Knights, and another amongst your number who can access information about the man they seek. I'll leave you to figure out who that is. Proper needle in a haystack stuff. The incoming Nazis are numerous - there must be a hundred incoming bogies, mostly small jet pack equipped low grade Nazi metahumans, or highly trained elite agents with special weapons. There are a number of packed to the rafter Nazi transport jets, each ready to disgorge more mayhem in the form of higher grade Nazi metahumans. In short, this place is going to become very dangerous very fast. Oh, and there are still two of the Excelsior out there who escaped Putty and Stormwardens' wrath. Over to you. If you need maps and pictures, I'll knock them out over the course of tomorrow. Being a weekend I'll have to do the family man thing. No rest of the wicked *evil cackle*...

PUTTY

The dark clad Vanguardian looked around at the group. "We'll be out of contact for most of this. I'm open to suggestions about strategy. The Nazis know we're coming, and will do their best to stop us. Our mission is clear. We get the Grail to the White Warlock and he uses it to cast a spell on Stonehenge to open the gate to the past. We can't afford to leave anyone behind but we MUST open that gate and get at least some of us through - otherwise... we get used to the way things are right now, forever."

"We will take care of those coming this way," Putty said in his massive voice, having not released the power and still giant sized. "Hmmm ... let's me try something."

He concentrates and then leans over to the ground, lightly placing the fingertipss of his left hand on the ground. There is a gurgling sound and then he removes his fingers from the ground but left behind are five normal sized Puttys.

"Take these with you to help you out," he says. "They are linked to me mentally so what they know, I know and what I know, they know. Their powers are mostly as mine were without the dark power now inside me. I could have tried making all five with the Dark Power inside them but I think that would invite the same kind of disaster as on the island."

action: Used the Replication power to make five Puttys more or less of his original power set, minus super-strength since stats can't go any higher than 20 for duplicates and giving them those 20 stats where he can. Figure the Gm can run them in NPC mode

Frostbite

"OK folks we all know what we've got to do." He spoke quickly aware that in the midst of all this Nowhere Man was becoming more himself and wondering how they'd find the Warlock and still escape. Looking at the Putty's disgorged about the floor, he smiled and nodded in Putty's direction. Before leaping into the air and flying toward the Prison.

Meanwhile...

Lionheart

Looked on at the oncoming storm of meta humans, he knew that he knew Saladin would probably be among them, but he was torn, between stopping him and helping his friends. In truth he knew that in the confusion even if he did get to his enemy, there would be little chance of stopping him alone and even less chance of getting the blood he needed. Truth was he'd be more of a liability in that fight than with those going to the prison. At least he could go knowing that Saladin would be stopped, especially if they restored the time line where his counter part from the Vanguard's time had succeeded. With that he waved at Putty and the new girl then speed off following Nowhere Man and the others toward the prison.

ooc: Hated to do that, I've got quite attached to Lionheart, but I think on low power he is going to be so out of his league in a big bad fight and he doesn't want his presence to distract the others from what they need to do. But RPG's are about making meaningful choices, either way isn't going to be easy and part of me really wanted to stay.

Paul just to pick up on your comments about wrapping things up - I think you are 100% right on that. And yet there isn't railroading where a leading character gets to make a critical decision as Lionheart has done (and Frostbite many times before) where there really does appear to be the choice and consequnces and not just its illusion.

Sj

Dark Kitten

The dark clad Vanguardian looked around at the group. "We'll be out of contact for most of this. I'm open to suggestions about strategy. The Nazis know we're coming, and will do their best to stop us. Our mission is clear. We get the Grail to the White Warlock and he uses it to cast a spell on Stonehenge to open the gate to the past. We can't afford to leave anyone behind but we MUST open that gate and get at least some of us through - otherwise... we get used to the way things are right now, forever."

It might have been their mission, but Kylie wasn't officially on board with their agenda. She was here to rescue her father (if he was even in here) or any other of Robbie's friends from the resistance movement that may have been captured. If this White Warlock person happened to be there too, she'd make the effort to get him out along with any other prisoner. She just didn't consider it a priority.

In a selfish way, Kylie didn't want these strangers to leave either. There were finally other powerful superhumans here on their side that could thwart the Nazi efforts and eventually free Britain from their rule. It wouldn't be getting 'used to the way thing are right now' as the dark clad man had said, but it would finally be a chance to make things better. However, she wasn't going to get in their way and stop their efforts either. If they needed her help, she was still going to give it to them even if it meant that she would remain behind to face the entire Nazi empire herself.

"Even with the addition of the Dark Powers, I think that they are better suited against individuals instead of getting something that can be used to fight large armies," Kylie explained. "I think I'll be more useful in getting through what's left of the prison quickly and finding your Warlock than trying to hold off all of those forces headed our way."

It might have seemed like she was abandoning them, but if everyone had their role, they would understand and trust her to do the right thing.

PUTTY

"Even with the addition of the Dark Powers, I think that they are better suited against individuals instead of getting something that can be used to fight large armies," Kylie explained. "I think I'll be more useful in getting through what's left of the prison quickly and finding your Warlock than trying to hold off all of those forces headed our way."

It might have seemed like she was abandoning them, but if everyone had their role, they would understand and trust her to do the right thing.

"If she has some way of moving around the prison faster than the rest of us," Putty says, not knowing of her superspeed but suspecting it, "I say let her go look. Between a quick physical or mental search and a computer search, you should find him fast."

The Vanguard

Putty touched a finger down, and from it oozed separate puddles that formed up into replicas of himself! Each of them formed up, a small army to do the bidding of their 'master'. It was strange but somehow logical - Putty was so far removed from the concept of a normal human that being able to split into separate free willed forms seemed like an ability his people might have anyway!

OOC Stats are based off your Dark Putty form, powers off normal form. 18/20/18/20 120htc & coma Powers: Stretch (G2) Armour (G1) Shapeshift (G1) Agility (G1) Wallcrawl

Nowhere Man looked uneasy. "Kitten, your power far outweighs any of us save for Putty. It's up to you, but remember this: You are limited only by your imagination and what you perceive to be your limits. Look at Putty!" he said, glancing up. "His size, his power... he was born to do this, and so were you. You just didn't know it until now. That said, it is your choice, but I didn't want to leave Putty out here to hold off an army on his own." He seemed to chew on his words. "I'll stand beside Putty. I'm no good in a straight up fight but the idea is to slow them down, not take them out. Frostbite!" he said, seeing Joe float up "See if you can't get your... friend..." he said, tapping his chest then pointing at Joe's own, where the blue chestplate pulsed and flickered with artificial life "To talk to the computers. From what I remember of Lionheart, he should be a big help too with that gadget of his, assuming he still has it." Lionheart frowned. He'd never met Nowhere Man before until recently. But the man spoke as if he knew him of old? "As usual, you're in charge Joe. We'll buy as much time for you as we can. Might be an idea if you can open a few of the cells, see if you can't make the day a good one for those wrongly imprisoned people in there. Knowing what we know of this timeline, that might be all of them..."

With that Nowhere Man pulled forth a rusty dagger from his belt, took a deep breath and hissed "Excalibur! I call on your power..." The dagger glowed, then shone, and flashed, becoming a shining silver sword instantly! "Anyone with Lunarium X weapons bear in mind they'll be useful to mow through this crowd. Stormwarden! You in the prison or with me and Putty outside?" Nowhere Man pulled the Lunarium X sword off his back where it had been tied up under his cloak, and handed it to one of Puttys replicants. "Hold it at that end, wave the other end at Nazis" he advised helpfully.

Adjutant stood, arms crossed, watching the Nazis all the while as they closed in. He absently turned to Nowhere Man "I'm with you, outside. I'd prefer to see the metahumans unharmed, for the most part, so nothing too serious please?" He asked of the giant Putty beside him. "I understand if you have scores to settle but not all of them will be die hard Nazis."

OOC Just so we're clear, Dark Putty, Adjutant, Nowhere Man and the replicants are outside ready to face off against the Nazi army. The 'in crowd' are Frostbite, Lionheart, Dark Kitten and Stormwarden yet to declare. If that's ok tomorrow we'll get stuck in. Ok, later today then *checking time*

OOC Just so we're clear, Dark Putty, Adjutant, Nowhere Man and the replicants are outside ready to face off against the Nazi army. The 'in crowd' are Frostbite, Lionheart, Dark Kitten and Stormwarden yet to declare. If that's ok tomorrow we'll get stuck in. Ok, later today then *checking time*

Actually, I was going to have most if not all of the replicants go inside with that team, using them to help free prisoners, stop guards, find the man of the hour and most important - keep in mental contact so each team knows what is going on with each other team.

PUTTY

"Here," Big Putty says to the little Puttys. He hands each of them one of the Lunarian X arrowheads he had been using for brass knuckles. "That may help you."

Frostbite

Noddy to Nowhere Man, he nodded to the prison, "Lets go people we've not got all day."

And with that he made for the place, "Computer." He said as the wind whipped past him, "Lets have any schematics you can get off this place, we need to find the control room, which is likely to be most busy."

Meanwhile, Lionheart

Was again torn with indecision, the desire on Kylie's part to join the others to find her father, made him realise that he might be of more use with the others outside. But then Nowhere Man had indicated he knew him better than he realised. He knew his place and speed off in pursuit of the others.

OOC:

My suggest gang is that all but one of Putty's replica's get out and free people where they can, add to the guard chaos and confusion. Whilst the rest of us first find the control point and make sure nothing lethal is done to the prisoners, before we can free them. It would be just like the Nazi's to trap the place.

Sj

Stormwarden

"I think that, despite the beating I took earlier, I'd better stay outside. I just work better that way." He scanned the sky and smiled at the ongoming Nazi's. "You know. There's a reason why professional pilots won't fly through electrical storms. It tends to knock their jets out." He stared up at the storm he'd called into force earlier. Now he bent down and concentrated, bring it, whipping up its power so that it would form a powerful electical storm. "I'll try and keep to keep it to sky level mainly. If I can." He sat down abruptly. The recent fights had left him feeling drained, but most of that had been purely physical. Eyes half closed, he kept his concentration on the storm. Getting up could wait until they needed it.

OOC Ok, Stormwarden, Dark Putty, Nowhere Man, Adjutant outside, all others into the prison. Fair enough

The Vanguard
Dark Putty, Stormwarden, Nowhere Man & Adjutant

Stormwardens eyes glowed. He projected his will, and mother nature responded! Clouds boiled and churned, flowing across the sky which darkened though the rest of that surrounding the British Isles was mostly clear after the pounding the weather had given it over the past day or so!

The smell of ozone thickened in the air and the Vanguardians noticed hairs standing on their arms in response. Adjutant looked over "Good call. I'm going to take the fight to them, and see if I can't get a few to reconsider. Most of them will be recruits. They use jet packs and aren't in full control of any powers that the Nazis have given them just yet, but will be dangerous nonetheless because of the sheer numbers. Some might be strong, others be able to blast energy and the like, but they won't have the range of powers we have. It's probably our best advantage. I count..." he paused for less than a second "Including those in the ships there are 317, and of those I'd say 50 or so were class two or higher. Some are class 4. That's where I'm headed. Hold the line..." he looked about, then at Dark Putty. "Remember my request. Don't... don't lose control..."

'Ha! The Nazi IS powerful, for sure, but the spirits within him are ... different to us. He is no longer human, and therefore not suitable as a host. Besides that, there remains a weakness in him, a streak of it that permeates the very fibre of his being, regardless of which timeline he occurs in. Compassion. Honour. Trust. When this is over and your enemies lie smoking in ruins at your feet, he will come to you. Then we can demonstrate our power and total dominance over him and the rest of the Nazi race! Crush him! But before him... crush them...' said the voice in Puttys head.

Nowhere Man frowned, then looked about, his eyes resting on the oozing giant. His gaze lingered, and he looked at Stormwarden. The other Vanguardian was concentrating on forming the storm, but he seemed to have heard something, a faint voice, as the dark clad Nowhere Man had. Sharing a meaningful glance with Nowhere Man Stormwarden continued to form the storm.



As predicted by Adjutant, rocketpack wearing Nazi metahumans, most of them possessing a single, or at best two or three powers and marking them as 'Class 1-2 at best' on the classification scale (OOC the Vanguard are class 3, and in 'Dark' form Class 5, which is the highest classification for 'mortal' style heroes and villains) They shot across the sky like arrows, homing in on their target, the massive terrorist reported by their superiors as being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of ordinary citizens when it caved in a building! With grim faces under the full face hoods, they shot in. Some pulled high powered pistols from holsters at their sides, others still kept their distance to focus their efforts on bringing their powers to bear!

The Jets thundered on in...

OOC ok guys, I'm going to have to play this one differently from every other combat we've had yet. No dice, just descriptions. I'll tell you what happens and report on the Nazi attacks on you. For critical results I'll pull the dice out but you generally will bring down a Nazi in 1-3 attacks, unless they are of the more conventional (Class 3 or 4) kind. posts will take longer for me to write but it will be all descriptive rather than mechanics of dice rolling and looking up results.

On Board an incoming jet...

OOC Translated from German...

"This is Delta seven four four three foxtrot two closing in on target. Scans show... Mein Gott!" said the co-pilot, looking at the readings. One of the Nazi metahumans, Blood Knight, came into the cockpit. "Are we there yet? What are those readings? And where has this weather come from? Is it safe to..."



Once more Stormwarden demonstrated his ability to destroy Nazi jets as a brace of several lightning bolts struck simultaneously across D7443F2's hull. Explosions rocked across it, and a fuselage exploded in a wing, causing the jet to spiral down and clatter into the floor, grinding across a street before crashing into the side of a building and out of sight.

Adjutant grimaced, glanced at Stormwarden, and knew the Vanguardians had little choice. He took off into the air, a dot in the sky in a heartbeat as he came across the first few of the jetpack wearing Nazis. "Listen to me!" he bellowed, voice amplified by powerful lungs. "Do not do this! Everything we know is a lie!" Even as he shouted the words, Adjutant could hear how nonsensical they sounded. These men, and some women, had been trained since an early age in the Nazi doctrines held dear by the Third Reich. His words would crash like droplets against a cliff, ineffectual and forgotten without another thought.

They opened fire on him.

Nowhere Man looked from where he stood and shouted "This is it! We buy enough time for the others to find the White Warlock!" he pulled Excalibur out and up, then disappeared from view!

He couldn't escape Dark Puttys senses though. Nowhere Man soared upwards and towards the Nazi army, but would take seconds to get there instead of the instantaneous speed used by Adjutant.

Stormwarden felt his storm building. It would be hard to control and direct - storms were, by their nature, wild - and he hoped innocents had the sense to stay clear!

OOC Ok, describe your frames/actions and I'll do the results. We'll see how this goes.

The Vanguard
Dark Kitten, Frostbite, Lionheart, Putty replicants

The prison was still surrounded by a large wall topped with wire, but a little teamwork from the Vanguardians saw everyone in. Dark Kitten simply hopped over it. Frostbite carried Lionheart over and the Putty replicants formed a living bridge and levered themselves over before splitting on the other side. Guards were scattered all over, their guns and duties forgotten as they lay curled up clutching their burst eardrums. Glass from every shattered window littered the large courtyards, and the large prison buildings showed signs of structural damage thanks to the Nazi Soarers' careless actions.

<<Scanning. The Nazi computers are encrypted. However, using your own visual senses and a probability matrix, there is a good chance any of the three large blocks in front of you...>> Frostbite looked at the high (6 storey or so) long, wide buildings around 50m away from the walls - or killing ground, as it could be viewed. There was a strong chance that no one had ever left here alive, one Frostbite intended to test! <<All display characteristics representative in prisons with regards barred windows, heavy duty construction and security gates, though whilst these are technically manned, the guards in attendance are incapacitated. Other buildings spread across the complex will be workshops, special detention areas and administration offices. I am... detecting signs of Mech power up. It appears the defence systems of this place have kicked in as a backup...>>

Dark Kitten felt the danger before it appeared in her view. A circular hole appeared in the floor, sphincter action of the hatch opening up to let three thick metal tentacles thrust out from the floor! They seemed to have a life of their own and probed about, scanning with miniature cameras send in the end as they continued extending from the hole! IN a heartbeat they had discovered the Vanguardians, but a quick call and point from Dark Putty ensured the group was not caught unawares! Nonetheless the dangerous devices continued to extend from the hole and thrust at the intruders! The air around them crackled with incredibly high voltage...



OOC Same story as the other thread - this will get mess if we break down into conventional rounds so give me your actions/frames and I'll describe the results. Some will go for you, others against, but I'll try to be fair.

Whilst maintaining a subtle mean streak...

Frostbite & Lionheart,[/color]

Admin wrote:
OOC Same story as the other thread - this will get mess if we break down into conventional rounds so give me your actions/frames and I'll describe the results. Some will go for you, others against, but I'll try to be fair.

Oh love it mate.

IC:

Frostbite turned to Kylie, "Kylie your up, the three buildings in front are likely to be the best bet for us to get to our targets. We'll move on to get to the control panel, we don't want the Nazi's getting itchy fingers near the prisoners, you take that out. Catch us up when you're done."

Allowing Kylie the change to move, Frostbite indicated that the others should move toward the buildings, as he went he spoke to the Putty replicants. "Putty's split up two to the building on the right, two to the building on the left, the rest of us to the building in the middle. First person to find our targets or the control room alerts the rest. Lets go."

Hearing Frostbite's take on command, Lionheart did wonder if he should run interference for Kylie, but realised that with the power of her dark guest, she was likely more than a match for this trap. But a quick nod to Frostbite gave him the get go to speed off and to scout ahead the central building ahead.

Sj

Admin wrote:[
The smell of ozone thickened in the air and the Vanguardians noticed hairs standing on their arms in response. Adjutant looked over "Good call. I'm going to take the fight to them, and see if I can't get a few to reconsider. Most of them will be recruits. They use jet packs and aren't in full control of any powers that the Nazis have given them just yet, but will be dangerous nonetheless because of the sheer numbers. Some might be strong, others be able to blast energy and the like, but they won't have the range of powers we have. It's probably our best advantage. I count..." he paused for less than a second "Including those in the ships there are 317, and of those I'd say 50 or so were class two or higher. Some are class 4. That's where I'm headed. Hold the line..." he looked about, then at Dark Putty. "Remember my request. Don't... don't lose control..."

The Jets thundered on in...

Adjutant grimaced, glanced at Stormwarden, and knew the Vanguardians had little choice. He took off into the air, a dot in the sky in a heartbeat as he came across the first few of the jetpack wearing Nazis. "Listen to me!" he bellowed, voice amplified by powerful lungs. "Do not do this! Everything we know is a lie!" Even as he shouted the words, Adjutant could hear how nonsensical they sounded. These men, and some women, had been trained since an early age in the Nazi doctrines held dear by the Third Reich. His words would crash like droplets against a cliff, ineffectual and forgotten without another thought.

Stormwarden's face flickered briefly. He'd had to harden his heart before. He muttered softly. "He should have told them they were all about to die." he shook his had softly. "That was going to be the result if the Vanguard won, and how many were going to suffer before they could acheive this? He started humming as he concentrated the storms power as best he could, aiming for the places, and smothering the belt of storm with elextrical bolts. The planes were bigger, the jet packs far more vulnerable. The humming persisted as he concentrated and he hardly noticed as he started bringing words into the music. A song of summer, of his England. Fiona had always said it was one of his most annoying habits.

"Jolly old Bashing weather,
And a good gale force breeze
brings them all together
brings them down to their knees"

He heaved a breath, as he gathered more concentration together. He had to make sure he didn't overstep the mark accidentally.

"And its swing, swing, together
Let your bodies swat them like fleas
And its swing, swing, together
Let your bodies swat them like fleas"

He barely heard the words as he readied himself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ooc: More weather control, mainly electrical and winds, trying to bring down what we can here. And we now take you to the Eaton Boat song.

DARK PUTTY

Ha! The Nazi IS powerful, for sure, but the spirits within him are ... different to us. He is no longer human, and therefore not suitable as a host. Besides that, there remains a weakness in him, a streak of it that permeates the very fibre of his being, regardless of which timeline he occurs in. Compassion. Honour. Trust. When this is over and your enemies lie smoking in ruins at your feet, he will come to you. Then we can demonstrate our power and total dominance over him and the rest of the Nazi race! Crush him! But before him... crush them...' said the voice in Puttys head.

"Shut up," Dark Putty growls. He is so incensed at the voice and to be frank, scared of it, that he totally changes what he planned to do. He refuses to attack.

He stretches out to his maximum comfortable length, thinning himself, bracing himself against the prison's outer wall. He then gives himself the power to cast hallucinations - sight and sound. He basically turns himself into a movie screen and shows what really happened to the buildings, replaying the real action as best to his ability, showing to everyone that it was their comrades who did all the killing and all the destruction. Showing the crowds thanking them. He maxes out all his points to do what needs to be done.

ooc: not sure if this should be magical hallucinations or psi hallucinations. I guess since this dark power is magical in nature, magic should be used.

Dark Kitten, Frostbite, Lionheart, Putty replicants

A Putty Replicant attaches itself to Dark Kitten, Frostbite and Lionheart. Their job is to protect those three. The other two are going to use their stretching, wallcrawlling, shapeshifting abilties to slip inside the prison and try to free as many prisoners as possible. There is probably some kind of main switch that opens and closes cell door on each level and each wing, so they will be looking for those while disguised as guards or whatever seems appropriate.

Dark Kitten

"Everyone, move now!", Kylie commanded after her heightened senses picked up on the threat of the electrified tentacles whipping towards where the were standing. Moving with incredible speed, she attempted to leap out of their way, yet at the same timem try to draw their attention away from her teammates.

OOC: The way that I read the set-up post, the threat was to the whole team, not just Kitten. She just happened to be able to detect it.
Actions would be primarily leaping out of the way, while trying to manipulate the probability such that they became entangled with each other (maybe shorting each other out?) and finding some way to get the roof of one of the buildings where the ground-based tentacles might be less of a threat. I'm not sure if she has enough leaping capability to get six stories up, but she'll go for the highest point which might allow her to get to the top on the next turn/frame.

The Vanguard
Dark Kitten, Frostbite, Lionheart, Putty replicants

Dark Kitten bellowed her order for everyone to move and herself moved closer to the tentacles as the others split up into smaller groups, a replicant Putty going with them. When a tentacle tried to veer off the grab at the others, Kitten was there, moving so fast as to seem to be in several places at once!

The Tentacles danced about, seeking to snare their prey and hammer thousands of volts through her body! Everywhere they lunged... she wasn't. The others paused, even Lionheart, to gape at her speed and agility. She literally moved faster than their eyes could follow, darting in, out, left and right at such a blinding speed smoke began to pour from the hatch where the tentacles jutted from as the computers poured on more energy for the arms to keep up.

Frostbite moved, his chaperone close behind. It seemed they had some thought of their own - or instructions from Dark Putty - to split up and go with the Vanguardians as bodyguards of sorts. Well, they were about to be tested!

As the heroes crossed the courtyard, larger, square, holes appeared, hydraulics hissing with effort as they propelled... Nazi Robots into view!



The automatons took less than a second to assess the situation, and tilted shoulder mounted gatling guns forward, raising arms that housed a rocket launcher in the palm! They seemed uncaring about the prone Nazi guards sprawled around the courtyard and advanced on the intruders, the guns spinning up!



The robots towered over the Vanguardians, one of them bellowing "INTRUDERS! DESTROY!!!!!" in passable English. Clearly they'd been programmed to pacify the population of the country they deployed in, though the attention to detail was lost on the Vanguard!

Three robots in total deployed, 2 close up and another strode across the courtyard. Alarms wailed and the Vanguardians saw guns on turrets sprout from every buildings corner, then turn automatically to train on anything that moved!

Dark Kitten stepped back from the tentacles. They writhed and stretched, but having been tied into a complete knot thanks to the inhuman agility and speed of their target, the high voltage current had overloaded the motors and there was little life left in the vile things. Occasionally one would make a feeble attempt at yanking itself free, but would drag the other two and they in turn would pull. Motors sparked and banged! The odds of such a thing happening, given that computers were in control, was phenomenal.

Or actually pretty likely if a Dark Vanguardian was involved...

Lionheart was about to speed off, his replicant desperate to keep up, but a robot now blocked his path! Frostbite looked up.. and up... <<The robot has closed loop programming, I cannot reprogram it. However, it seems to be a basic combat model, able to fight and destroy, but not much else. For instance, this unit predicts the robots have never been... ice skating.>>

OOC Tentacles neutralised. You now how robots striding towards you and sentry guns on the roof. You have... a frame or two then all hell will break loose! Pictures courtesy of the internet, modified to suit but I take no credit for drawing them!!! Bed time then will try to update the other group before I go to work at 1.40am

Frostbite & Lionheart

Frostbite nodded at the prompting of his internal computer, "Time to get your skates on. Stay wide people." With that Frostbite shot out ice, along the area underneath the robots feet. Hopefully opening up an opportunity for the others to use the precarious footing against them.

Meanwhile Lionheart seeing Frostbite's move, waited to see what move he could make. If he could leap in and off the Robot perhaps he could make it slip over letting them get past.

Sj

Dark Kitten

Whoa. Change of plans. Not going up there now. Kylie thought upon noticing the sudden appearance of the turrets on the rooftops. Instead, she changed course and raced over to assist the others with the approaching robots. Heeding Frostbite's warning, she leaped over the area where she anticipated his ice to be and lashed out against the robot as she passed by, hoping that the sharp claws could pierce metal as well as they could flesh.

OOC: Using claws to slash robot or maybe catch enough of a grip on it to send it spinning around on top of Frosbite's ice patch.

The Vanguard
Dark Putty, Stormwarden, Nowhere Man, Adjutant

"Ingenious" remarked Adjutant as he looked back. The P'utinarian - though truth be told he was far removed from what one of those aliens was - had formed a living screen, as wide as he was tall, and replayed the scene just spun out only a minute or so ago. For proof the Nazis had only to look to their left where clouds of dust still hung in the air in places!

"Ooof!" remarked Adjutant as his attention was distracted by a shoulder mounted launch of an air-to-air missile which thumped into him. He turned, then with a grim face sped into the midst of the oncoming rocket troopers!

Onboard the Nazi jets...

"What is that? Look!" remarked a pilot. He and his co-pilot gaped at the giant 'screen', and the events that unfolded on it. They glanced at each other. It was a move repeated on other jets, as was the next. The Nazi metahuman commandant of the vessel strode forward. "Why have we... " he paused for a moment. "You fools! It is a trick! Blast it!" and reached forward to slam down on a 'launch' button!

Rockets fired from underneath the jet, spiralling with smoke trail forward and down towards Putty!

Others got the same idea... in seconds dozens of rockets would impact against Putty!

Meanwhile...

Nowhere Man sped towards the jets, flashing the sword out and remaining intangible, knowing his timing would have to be... perfect! By making only the legendary sword tangible, as he could any part of his body as opposed to the whole, he was able to slash through a wing of a jet! He watched in satisfaction as it spun wildly towards the floor, only for Adjutant to break off where he was and speed down to catch it, turning it in his arms steadily and thrusting straight down. The jet slammed into the floor, collapsing in on itself to a degree, and the engines winding down. "You people!" he bellowed. "No deaths I sa..." His protests were cut off as half a dozen Nazi Metahumans concentrated energy attacks at him, and, caught unawares from behind, the former Nazi took the full brunt! He crashed into the floor near the jet that was just downed and looked up as more metahumans boiled from the wrecked jet to attack him on the ground!

"Wise up." rasped Nowhere Man. "Being on no ones side will get you killed."

Putty saw the incoming rockets. One, ahead of the others, struck him high in the corner of his body. The damage was minimal, a sting! That despite the explosive power to destroy a tank!

Stormwarden saw the rockets, his song mostly lost as his wind whipped up, but with every version of the chorus it seemed to intensify, and a white out sheet of lightning flashed, blinding several troopers that sputtered and nosedived to the floor! Inbuilt mechanisms on the rocket packs deployed chutes - not enough to stop a high speed impact from hurting, but enough to save their lives! He thrust out a hand... fork lightning flashed down amidst the Rocket troopers who neared the site. They scattered, several lighting up like christmas trees! The effects were diminished thanks to their not being grounded, but Stormwarden watched, satisfied, as half a dozen or so floated dazed to the ground on parachutes, their rocket packs destroyed!

Incoming fire caused Stormwarden to turn, and he gasped as a laser struck him. Where his arm had been scored the smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils and the score mark along the costume left fabric flapping! He looked up, and saw an incoming wave of Nazi Rocket Troopers and jets! More?!?!?

Putty was directly in the firing line of Dozens of rockets now! Were he to move, they would strike the prison! As it happened, several spun wildly off course and spiralled up and out, towards the sky, the ground... the city!

The distant watching crowd, agape hundreds of yards away, suddenly screamed in terror as a rocket headed for the vast bulk of it!

And still the Nazis came on. Criss crossing laser fire spat out. Adjutant, buried under a mass of bodies that pounded on him, stood, then staggered, flinging his attackers into the air! He was immediately set upon again by energy attacks, and stood, lit up by different types of energy, on the spot! His reluctance to fight the Nazis would get him killed!

Nowhere Man cursed, looking at the rocket. "PUTTY!" he yelled, but knew the Vanguardian had problems of his own.

Rockets thudded against Puttys living screen, each no more than a sting but collectively he was starting to notice them. Then he saw the stray rocket, and heard Nowhere Man's shout!

Incoming Nazis poured from Jets, and five headed for Stormwarden! Nowhere Man saw, then turned visible, diverting two of them to break off and head towards him! The majority seemed to be heading towards the Prison, but thus far, their efforts were hampered by the wild storm and the huge screen dominating the landscape!

OOC Next post we get down to the nitty gritty - Nazi metahumans up close and personal. You have a number of incoming problems, an ally that won't fight, and a rocket heading towards innocents... This will get nasty before it gets nice... Pictures and personal combat next.