World War II - Kitten Issue #2

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten

"Don't worry. I have no intention of giving them that sword," Joanna tried to reassure the men in the farmhouse that she was not about to accept their offer. She had already witnessed how ruthless they were at Mr. Hall's house. As soon as they had the sword, they would do the same thing by trying to eliminate any witnesses, whether it was burning down the farmhouse or shooting them as they tried to flee.

"I'm going back out there before they find a way to force themselves inside," she informed them. "Try to find a place to hide that sword. We don't want to make it too easy for them if this doesn't work out."

Kitten crept up to a window, quickly trying to sneak a peek to determine which side of the house that the Nazis were on. As soon as she could find a place where she could exit relatively unseen, she would shrink down again to her tiny size, slip out the window, and take the fight to them before they could get in to the building.

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten
Htk 43/43 Htc: 49/49 E10 S30 D12 V12 DC6 WC3 D2d6Htc/1d6-6 (+15) or D2d6Htk/1d6htc (+15)

"Don't get yourself killed girl!" gasped the Farmer. "They can take that sword rather than me being stubborn and someone dying for it!" he said, pulling himself up to a seating position. "I read 'The Purloined Letter' not so long ago..." he said with a wink.

Pondering his words Kitten shrank to a tiny size and slipped out through the bathroom window, shimmied down the drain pipe and landed in the soft snow. A heartbeat later she sliced a path through the snow and headed out into the cold.

=========

The snow was falling gently as the man curled his fingers around a grenade...

"Do you wish to destroy what we came for?" hissed another man twenty feet away. They watched the front and one side of the house, weapons trained on it.

The man with the grenade replied "Put it this way. That woman came from nowhere and she struck Hans with a power I wouldn't see in a Heavyweight Boxing match! He's still out! If zet weapon is still in there, and it is what the informant said it would be, then the grenade will not harm it."

Twenty feet away, hidden by the depth of the snow, Kitten considered her options. She could get to one man, then another, but where was the third? She heard the Nazi spies speak again.

"Look! Johann thinks the same thing!" Both men drew their faze up. Despite the urge to strike Kitten turned to see... the third man on the roof, shimmying ever closer to the chimney and with a grenade bulging in his jacket side pocket!

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten

Those grenades will kill everyone in the room! Joanna realized. Both Mr. Hall and the farmer had already been shot but there was still a chance that they could survive their wounds. A grenade would be just too much additional trauma for them to survive.

The one on the ground was holding his grenade while the one on the roof had yet to prepare it. That made going after the man on the ground the priority. With any luck, maybe the guy on the roof would hit a slick spot and end up sliding back down before he could reach his destination.

Emerging from her tiny snowbank, Kitten hurled herself at the man with the grenade. If she couldn't knock him down, maybe she could at least dislodge it from his grasp.

OOC: Martial arts attack on the man with the grenade on the ground. If she can get access to his grenade, she might even consider arming it and tossing it up on the roof to try to stop the other man. However, if the second man on the ground is the bigger threat, she'll deal with him first before trying to stop the man on the roof. But if something goes wrong with her attack and it ends up that there's a live grenade on the ground, she's going to dive for cover and hope for the best.

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten
Htk 43/43 Htc: 49/49 E10 S30 D12 V12 DC6 WC3 D2d6Htc/1d6-6 (+15) or D2d6Htk/1d6htc (+15)

Kitten sprang from 'nowhere' punching the Nazi on the ground and sending him sliding across the snow to lie limp and unconscious! (OOC remember, Kitten only really needs a hit on these guys to KO them. Even trained agents, as they are, are no match for a superhuman!) The second man cried out, fumbled for his gun, dropped it, and reached for it in the snow. he smiled as he took a hold of it and curled his finger around the trigger... and looked up, at a foot, a long leg, and the woman attached to it. Where was the other...

He found out where the other leg was when it swung and connected to his chin! The agent tumbled head over heels to crash into the snow!

"Hold it right there!" yelled a desperate voice. Clinging with fingertips to the edge of the chimney the final Nazi fumbled about with his coat to pull forth the grenade! "One false move..." he shouted "And this house, and everyone in it, goes up! I want you to go into the house, and bring me ze sword of Wayland! The man we tortured...he said it was here!"

Something struck Kitten then about what the Farmer had said... He'd read 'the Purloined Letter' was that important? Something in it relevant?

The Nazi shouted again "No tricks girl! Anyone leaves before you bring the sword out and they'll get this grenade!"

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten

"Okay! Okay! Don't do it!" Joanna shouted up to the man in the roof. "I'll go back in and bring out the sword!"

She initially said that to stall him, but since she couldn't immediately come up with a substitute plan that would prevent the other two men inside the house from being harmed, she had little choice but to go back in.

"Hello?!!!" she called near the window, hoping that it wouldn't be answered by a blast from the shotgun. "I'm coming back in.... alone!" She approached the shattered window -- not the easiest way in, but it could be managed thanks to her special abilities. "Don't shoot!"

Placing her hands along the window ledge, she activated her powers to reduce to her tiny size and pulled herself up to stand next to the gaping hole in the glass. A few careful taps widened the hole large enough for her to pass through safely. Once on the other side, she restored herself back to her regular height.

"There's a man on the roof with a grenade," she emphasized quietly. "I won't be able to get the both of you out of here before he could use it, either inside or outside of the building."

Looking up at the sword hanging above the fireplace, Joanna advised them, "I don't know what else to do but give them the sword and try to stop them afterwards."

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten
Htk 43/43 Htc: 49/49 E10 S30 D12 V12 DC6 WC3 D2d6Htc/1d6-6 (+15) or D2d6Htk/1d6htc (+15)

The wounded farmer looked over. He hadn't the strength even to lift the gun. "I knew this day would come! When we swore that oath years ago to protect the blades, I never thought you would betray me or the oath!" he spat at Hall.

Mr Hall, gasping for breath due to the pain of his wounds spluttered "I had no choice! They were going to kill my staff! Innocents! How on earth did they found out about me? About the swords?"

The farmer waved his protestation away. He turned to Kitten and grinned "Give them the sword, girl, fat lot of good it will do them! Remember what I said? The Edgar Allen Poe book? I took it to heart.. the sword isn't here!"

'it's true' rasped the voice inside. 'If you mean to find some mythical magical weapon, that ornament above the fireplace isn't it! Perhaps it was made to look like it was to fool the enemy...'

The Farmer groaned as he shifted his weight, looking as best he could out of the window. "I gave the sword to my father. He guards it still..."

"But your father is... " started Hall.

"Your time is up!" shouted a voice from outside. "The sword will survive the blast!"

Suddenly Kitten heard a rattling sound coming from down the fireplace!

"Find my Father!" shouted the Farmer. "Thomas William Challince!"

Something about the way Hall had said 'But your father is...' puzzled Kitten, but the grenade rattling down the chimney refocused her thoughts!

OOC Grenade bouncing down the chimney, about to go off!

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten

"No!" Joanna shouted upon hearing the grenade tumbling down the chimney. As she had expected, the Nazi on the rooftop had no intention of keeping his end of the deal. His men were going to kill them whether they handed the sword over or not.

OOC: Her actions will depend on whether or not the grenade bounces out to the floor or gets stuck in... whatever the main part of the fireplace is called. If it falls out on the floor, she's going to hope that her speed can get her there before it goes off and then use her incredible strength to propel it out the window. If it doesn't bounce out, she's going to throw something heavy in front of the fireplace and dive for cover.
If it doesn't look like she can get there in time, she'll dive for cover and hope that she and the others will survive the blast... or that the grenade turns out to be a dud.

Major Joanna Van Der Berg
Code Name: Kitten
Htk 43/43 Htc: 49/49 E10 S30 D12 V12 DC6 WC3 D2d6Htc/1d6-6 (+15) or D2d6Htk/1d6htc (+15)

The Grenade bounced and clattered onto the floor of the room even as Kitten started towards the fireplace. Then something happened... everything seemed to freeze!

'You need help... sister.' said a grudging voice. 'Try not to waste the gifts I grant you' it added in a sneering tone...

Kittens senses became ultra, superhuman level sharp! She heard the TICK TICK TICK TICK of a tiny spinning mechanism in the grenade, turned and saw the shout of the Farmer as he mouthed "GET..." and Hall gasp in fear as the grenade tumbled steadily end over end into the room with a trail of soot following it! It seemed to be tumbling slower and slower, even as she crossed the distance to the other side of the room and scooped it up. She knew there were fractions of a second to go before it exploded, and yet also knew with absolutely certainty she would have enough time to do whatever she wanted with the grenade before it went off! She glanced down at the soot dust moving near imperceptibly, floating gently to the ground and glanced to the window. The lightly falling snow appeared frozen in mid-air!

OOC Kitten is moving at super, SUPER, S U P E R human speed right now. What you decide to do with the speed - and the grenade in her hand - is up to you

OOC Wrapping this thread/adventure up.

Kitten glanced back at the house. She'd moved at a speed she'd not thought possible, grabbed the grenade and tossed it... well, higher than she could see! It didn't go off, suggesting it was either a dud or way beyond her ability to see. The farmer had been grateful, and imparted the secret he'd guarded these long years. His father, buried in the local graveyard at the family plot, had long been the custodian of one of the legendary seven swords of Wayland. His son, having no interest in the sword but honouring his fathers wishes, had kept it safe - by displaying a fake sword over the mantelpiece for anyone curious about the legends and resourceful enough to track him down. Until the Nazis came with Mr Hall, there'd been no trouble. The real sword, as Kitten found out, stood now in the graveyard, was hidden in the open. The statue marking the former custodians grave was of a knight, holding a stone sword aloft. Carefully standing on the plinth and using her superhuman strength, Kitten broke the sword free, giving a guilty look about at the church and snow covered surrounding area, but there was no one about. With stone sword in hand, she frowned, then swung it against a dry stone wall. The thin layer of sculpted concrete shattered, falling away to reveal ... a sword of Wayland!

Determined that it be taken to a safe place, Kitten set off down the hill, and back towards the farmers house where she would procure a vehicle.

=========

Meanwhile the Nazi speeding away from the site of the battle cried out!

His features began to shift, change... becoming those of Wade Donohms, the man Kitten had defeated in Scotland! He looked at his flesh, already rotting and felt his face, glancing in the mirror and seeing skin peeling from the nose, blood red eyes, and fangs. He would never pass for a human, so why had...? He turned, sniffing, and smiled. Revenge! They'd sent him back to kill the Princess! He whipped the car about, heading back to the farmhouse, and muttered an incantation...

Above, the skies boiled and darkened, and shadows were cast across the land! Donohms smiled, then cursed as he saw a skeletal hand gripping the wheel, and more flesh falling off the other one!

=========

As Kitten neared the farmhouse she looked up, and knew something was badly wrong!

Seeing long shadows cast from every tree, rock, building and snow covered mound, she knew they'd found her! Sure enough, the shadows begun to seeth, a boiling mass where clawed hands and feet sprang from, followed by jet black shadow demons, winged, horned and snarling! And not just a few... hundreds!

Kitten, or rather Joanna Van Der Berg, ignored the screaming voice inside her to fight, and instead ran to the farmhouse, determined to save Hall and the Farmer, and get away from this place!

Too late!

She saw the Farmer stagger from the house, wound forgotten and with blood red eyes, fangs and an evil leer on his face! Stepping from around the side of the building, a face, or rather, the remains of a face, that Joanna knew! Wade Donohms, the human possessed by a shadow demon!

Suddenly something stirred inside of Kitten. They would not take her without a fight! And yet, if she used the Shadow Demons full unfettered might, this whole place would be lain waste! "Dammit! Isn't there anything else you can do, other than figth, and kill?" she asked of the Shadow Demon Princess inside her as hundreds of Shadow Demons closed in around her!

'There is, but you won't like it...' said the inner voice, sadly. 'Ready yourself girl! And know that you are a true warrior! But first.. cast the sword upwards!'

The air above Kittens head shimmered, and Donohms cried out "The sword! get the sword!" Hundreds of Shadow Demons responded, but the first half dozen to move within range were backhanded with a single sweep of Kittens fist! All splattered black ichor across the ground before dissipating, only to be replaced by more!

'Thrust the sword up girl!' cried the inner voice.

Kitten did so, and at some point in the past, a womans hand jutted from a lake, brandishing a sword that a youngster would wield and use to carve a legend in the annals of history! Kitten felt the sword taken from her hand, then pulled it down, dealing out thunderous blows to those who came near!

"You are finished girl! The sword is no loss! You are the main prize! The sword shall be recovered another day, so that we may make our own Dark knights of Lore to ride out and bring shadow, despair and terror to this... NO! What are you doing?" cried Donohms. Kitten has used that incredible speed to run around the group of Shadow Demons and draw in the snow a great pentangle, a five pointed star! Instantly it glowed, shining bright and causing the Shadow Demons to cry out!

"NOOOOOO!!!!" cried Donohms, shrieking as the last flesh was flayed from his bones!

There was a bright, blinding flash, then all of the shadow demons, as well as Donohms and Kitten, were gone! All that was left was the dazed farmer, still wounded and looking about at the sizzling shape carved in his field! He stood, and walked to the point where Kitten had stood. "You were brave girl. I never listened much to the tales my father told, but I reckon that he's looking down on me right now and wishing I was more like you. I'm sorry Dad, but it could never be. I'm no hero, just a farmer... that girl?"

He looked about as the skies cleared and the landscape brightened to white again, the shadows driven away.

"She was the stuff that legends are made of. She won't be forgotten."

He turned to walk back to the Farmhouse, and tend his old friend.

In the field, the remains of the Nazis, caught in the great pentangle, sizzled and fizzed away to nothing, victims of their own deep rooted evil!

OOC Kitten is gone... possibly to the place Darkshadow went, or somewhere else...