World War II The Vanguard Issue #3 - Operation Dynamo - SILVER SENTINELS TEAM

Silver Sentinels Team
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)

Edit: And Lionhearts team/Vanguards ship

OOC You have done exactly what you needed to do (but I'm sure Sentinel was sweating along the way!) That is, Delay the Nazis long enough for the injured team members to get clear and the Vanguards ship to get in there and rescue them! You have to remember, when taking on an army by yourself, it's best to have a plan 'B', be it escape (flight and by motorcycle were denied to him, but at least he tried), some kind of devastating 'nova' blast (the Dark Power, though you wisely held off on that even though it seemed the easiest option) or to bluff/delay the foe, which you've just done.

The Germans started shouting and waving their guns in Sentinels face. He wasn't sure what they were saying, but he figured it must have been along the lines of 'Get down! On the floor! Or we shoot!'. Making confused hand motions, then putting on the weakest German accent he could seemed to anger the Nazis, but they seemed to want to take him alive. Sentinel scanned the skies. Still nothing!

He looked past the growing crowd of Germans all about him, into the woods. He really was surrounded now, dozens deep, and above the jet pack troopers trained their flame throwers on him. Thankfully he saw no sign of the others havng been captured, though he had no idea how he was going to get out of this mess!

=========

"ETA 10 seconds" stated Frostbot on the bridge as he was having a new leg attached by Technicians.

Clad in their uniforms once more, Spartan and Lionheart watched on the screen as the columns of smoke rising from the forest got closer. "He certainly knows how to make a mess!" said Spartan. Lionheart was more worried though. Essentially, Silver Sentinel was a young kid, untested in combat, given the most powerful weapon on Planet Earth to share the use of! plus he was being thrust into his first command... so many things could go wrong!

The other two PSI agents were showering, but the bridge was a hive of activity as the Skrall technicians continued to operate at full efficiency, their programming aligning them to whomever commanded the ship. "There!" said Spartan, pointing at a series of dots hovering above the forest canopy. He turned to Lionheart for the nod, then stated "Open fire!"

=========

Sentinel knew it was now or never. He would have to fight his way out and...

BOOOM!!!!

Everyone looked up to see a pair of Nazi Jetpackers explode! The roar of distant engines closed in, and the jetpackers scattered into the sky! Confusion reigned then, and Sentinel grinned behind his helmet. "About bloody time!" he laughed, then slotted the nearest three Nazis with terrific punches, sending them flying back and dragging loads of others with them!

OOC Lionheart will need 2 frames to fly from the ship into the fray, the Ship will hover overhead and blast any Nazis it sees, though is limited to what it can see from its position over the canopy of the trees. Sentinel has about 30 or so Nazis on their feet around him. About a Dozen can shoot at him, for all the good it will do them unless one gets a lucky shot. Initiative... Heroes 8, Bad guys 2. 3 frames to the good guys, then the Nazis 2 frames apiece (allowing them 1 shot each), then remaining frames for the heroes. The Ship is closing in all the time. It will take 3 frames for Sentinel to fly to the ship. He flies at the same combat speed as Lionheart, but LH has the advantage of already moving at several hundred miles an hour when he bails out... The ships weapons are picking off the Nazi Jetpackers.

Silver Sentinels Team
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)

Edit: And Lionhearts team/Vanguards ship

Admin wrote:
OOC 3 frames to the good guys, then the Nazis 2 frames apiece (allowing them 1 shot each), then remaining frames for the heroes. The Ship is closing in all the time. It will take 3 frames for Sentinel to fly to the ship. He flies at the same combat speed as Lionheart, but LH has the advantage of already moving at several hundred miles an hour when he bails out... The ships weapons are picking off the Nazi Jetpackers.[/i]

Lionheart had already got into position having give the nod to Spartan to set about lay suppression fire.

"I'll help out Sentinel, Spartan find the others, get them onboard however you find them. Those people deserve no less. Frostbot continue to monitor the situation, no doubt the Nazi's will try and get their own people here soon. So be mindful and make sure we know when its looking hairy."

As he leapt out gathering speed, he cannonballed into the front line of Nazi soldiers ready to create as much mess as he could.

"Someone said there was some fun to be had. But all I find is some boring Nazi goose steppers beating up on a friend of mine."

With that Lionheart dove into the front line using his momentum to smack as many as he could knocking them down line dominoes as they were so obligingly close together.

OOC:

2d10=14 to hit.

I'll stay loose use the Nazi's to shield me and pick em up and thrown them at one another or else push so that they fall ontop of one another and make it harder to fire at us. Then when Sentinel is free, get to the others to try and find the rest of the Vanguard team and get aboard.

As a parting gift I don't mind filling the space with gun fire and blowing up any remaining soft targets in the column that remain below.

Sj

OOC: 'Here he comes to save the day' woop woop

With that Lionheart dove into the front line using his momentum to smack as many as he could knocking them down line dominoes as they were so obligingly close together.

"I didnt think you would let me go to this party unchaperoned" sentinel bellowed to Lionheart as his friend sent bodies flying.

As the two heroes made there way to each other through the bloody fray, swating the nazis to one side as of they were just pesky flys. Then nodded to each other and stood back to back.

"Its good to see you again old boy, things were starting to look hairy." BOOOFFFFF The heros fist interupted as it drove the closest nazi face back into his helmet.
"Hotshot and the others are about a click (OOC: Not sure if click is an american term) from here in a large thicket........" no sooner had he started the sentence Hotshot fired a glowing ball of fire in the air as a flare. ".......nevermind"

"Looks like you boys have this rapped up" said Spartan through Lionhearts ear piece and the ship accelerated to responed to the signal.

Just then a couple of gouts of flame licked towards the two heroes from above
"Ah yes I almost forgot about them. Would you mind terribly?" Sentinel quipt to Lionheart indicating to the threat above and lauched himself into the air to intercept.

OOC: While im up here any sign of that mechincal 'thing' from the woods? Can I attempt to remove the jet packs from the troopers while Lionheart finishs up below? If that thing is in the woods I wonder if throwing the jet packs at it and burning the woods would be a good idea ......well a better idea than letting the packs drop on the nazis below (dont think LH would be very amused)

Silver Sentinels Team
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)
Lionheart

OOC Will interpret your posts as best I can... There's little need to roll dice when the pair of you so obviously punch far above your opponents weight. The only thing they had going was numbers. They still have that, except now it means more of them will get flattened rather than anything else!

Suddenly the tide turned. From a single outnumbered superhuman fighting for his life there was a complete about face as Lionheart launched himself into the fray, forcefield crackling around his body! Seeing his chance, Sentinel stepped forward, hammered a blow into a Nazi face, then grabbed the man, swinging him around to bat others to the floor. Wild gunfire erupted, and the huge ship hovering above the forest used weapons primarily meant for targeting meteorites, but doubling up nicely as a means to pick off the Jetpacking Nazis!

Lionheart smashed another face in, kicked another oncoming Nazi backwards to become a human pinball, and swept up a fallen tree to 'batter up' and send a dozen men flying. (OOC We're still on D20 for Golden heroes, but changing to 2D10 might not be a bad idea. Doubles would mean some hellish high rolls though. Fights would last a much shorter time...) As bullets pinged off both Vanguardians the remaining Nazis were reinforced as more came running through the woods. Tens.. hundreds of them! An order was barked out in German and the Nazi troops started pulling back, some grabbing injured comrades, others laying down fire with machine guns, sending sparks and bullets pinging from the heroes ineffectually!

Lionheart suddenly had a 'bad feeling' (OOC Intuition) and waved Sentinel back into the trees.

Sentinel looked about in the trees. There were Nazis running from every direction now! (OOC which thing are you after? The Ani-Man (wolfman?) or something else? Cyborg that Lionhearts lot came across?) One rushed in, twisting a grenade to throw it! Suddenly Sentinel closed the distance between them, snatched the startled man up by the shirt and groin, and tossed him in the direction of more oncoming Nazis!

The explosion set off a dozen more, causing Sentinel to shelter behind a tree! he popped his head round and saw his path cleared, albeit full of smoke, which would also help hide his passage.

The ship overhead hummed its way towards where Hotshot and the others were hiding out, and Sentinel took up the chase as a pair of Jetpackers smashed into the trunks of trees, exploding!

Lionheart ducked under a grenade, took to the air and caught two more, taking a split second to analyse the flight of the dozens of grenades heading his way! They appeared to move in slow motion! He tossed one grenade towards another, and did the same to the one in his left hand. The grenades cannoned into others, which collided with yet more. It didn't come off as Lionheart planned (OOC He doesn't have precision) but the Nazis still found their own grenades dropping to the floor around them! They had a second to register what was about to happen before the forest literally leaped upwards, dozens of trees uprooting and exploding into shards, taking dozens of Nazis with them!

Lionheart didn't spare a second glance as he dove between two trees, glancing to the side to see two Jetpackers come in behind him. He sped up, concentrated, and brought a branch down in front of one, causing the man to cry out and ram head first into the floor at speed! The other he turned to face and charged towards, causing him to swerve and smack straight into a tree!

In moments the Vanguardians were clear and the Nazis behind them were in disarray, their force shattered, the cries of the dead and dying filling the air, and the panicked filling the smoke strewn forest with random gunfire!

Sentinel saw Hotshots flare and made his way there just as Spartan and Guillotine were helping Thunderclap with pain killers and special bandages to stop the bleeding. Boudicea had helped Sterling Silver onto a stretcher, the man charred and scorched, the opposite of his movie star appearance of only minutes ago!

"Incoming. Radar detects both conventional Nazi warplanes and future tech starfighters closing!" said the Robot, squawking over the wrist radios the PSI Agents wore. Then, as Lionheart turned up and landed, the Robot spoke again. Lionheart already knew though... "oh no." he muttered.

"Attention! Incoming metahumans! They are approaching from the front lines!" (OOC Frostbite chose North, these guys were wreaking havoc to the south so he missed out on their company... When recalled to Germany they saw the smoke, flames and battle going on and... well, here they are. The Nazi Lightning League...)



Spartan cursed, moving to shield the stricken Thunderclap with his own body. There were five Nazi superhumans, one on foot whilst the others flew. The leader, a man in red, white and black, with a swastika on his chest, spoke out.

"My instinct was right! We could not ignore the distress calls!" said the blond haired blue eyed leader! He looked down as he floated below the canopy of the trees, ignoring the hovering Skrall vessel that served the Vanguardians and which was hovering above them. "I believe you have something of ours and..." he glanced up at the huge column of smoke rising above the trees. "You've been making a mess. We are en route back to Berlin, but I think we can make time in our schedule to deal with you!"

OOC These guys are all Class 3-4 superhumans. The cream of the Nazi crop (Anyman faced one in Berlin, who can fly faster even than these guys, otherwise he'd have had to face these - and others) too). Be very very careful about what you want to achieve from taking them on, as you're so close to getting the injured guys out and away! Sorry, but nothing comes easy in the Vanguard, and pounding on nazi foot soldiers is light relief for you guys.. here is where you earn your keep! Initiative... Heroes 9, Bad Guys 7. Just the one frame, then the nazis gets their 5 frames apiece. The ship is hovering above the scene and may have a surprise or two in store for the nazis, but you guys would be in the line of fire too. Lionheart can hold his own against any one, maybe two of these guys, but five? Of course, Sentinel has his own trick up his sleeve, but is now the right time to use it? perhaps there is a way to talk these guys around, but you've ruined the Nazi assault for at least a day with your striking of the columns. Brief rundown of the foes you face:



1) The Leader. Flight, probably extremely strong, very durable and tough, fast, heat vision, other senses. Class 4
2) The Warrior. Flight, very strong, very durable, fast, expert fighter. Class 4
3) The Speedster. Incredibly fast, able to deliver hundreds of punches per second, nigh on impossible to lay a hand on! Class 4
4) The Scout. Good fighter, flight, wields a mace able to smash through stone (reduces dividers) Class 3
5) The other scout. Good Fighter, flight, agile, another mace wielder. Class 3

Silver Sentinels Team
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)
Lionheart


====
Lionheart felt himself groan as he saw that this was going to be a tough match, was there going to be any chance that they'd be allowed to go? And if not at what point could Sentinel contain the Dark force that swirled within him, would any of them survive, if he got let loose.

Lionheart thought about fighting, but in truth, he didn't want to fight anymore than he had to. Pausing for breath, he spoke up, hopefully giving the others chance to load the injured upon the ship.

"Hi funny you folk should drop by, isn't Berlin where you ought to be? Only I heard that your most wanted criminal is tearing the place up, causing mayhem and havoc. Do you want to face Hitler when he finds out his best and brightest were taking time out to involve themselves in a small fight like this? I'm sure on any other day this would be important, but I think Berlin and your people might need your power more today, then this little skirmish, don't you!"

Lionheart knew his ploy wouldn't carry far, but had hoped that he might still be able to raise a doubt and give Sentinel chance to back down from letting loose. If he did go for it, Lionheart feared for his own life let alone the others.

OOC:

I want these guys to leave, but I suspect that isn't going to happen. So I'm ready to attack their leader with a Psi attack, but I'll hold my frame for now, as there isn't much I can do with one frame that's worth much. I will however keep a close eye on Sentinel, from what you told me in the Frostbite thread and from what I know there is every chance that everything living within miles will be decimated including the heroes which would be a hard thing for Sentinel to live with, let alone me! ''

Sj

Silver Sentinels Team
Lionheart, Anchor, and the PSI Squad
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)


"He lies!" spat the woman (OOC Number 2. Right now I'll just use numbers. I intend that you'll meet these guys again, but it depends on what happens here - no one is indestructible!) as she pointed at Lionheart. "Let's take them, Übermenschen!"

The two with Hawk like wings spiralled about, their speed and agility obvious. The weapons they carried crackled with energy, and despite their archaic appearance were clearly deadly! They had a red glow about them, and looked as if they could cause some damage!

The fast man leaned against a tree, calmly watching. To Lionhearts superhuman senses though it was clear he was vibrating rapidly! Any attacks aimed at his would pass harmlessly through his body!

The man in the middle frowned. "He's telling the truth. I heard his heartbeat!" He snarled, pointing at the group "He means the Anyman!" At the mention of the name the other looked around, gasping. Clearly Lance Allard - Anymans - legend was growing so that all the Nazi forces knew to look out for a mysterious bandaged figure, a man who could become anyone, anytime!

"I say we kill them anyway!" spat the woman, flexing her fists. "Some are injured, and we can take back our ship!"

Just then a voice squawked over the comm. "This unit had modified the tractor beam to slow down the movement of objects on a molecular level. Whilst it is experimental and may not work for long, this unit believes the ship can be made to project a stasis beam to cover an area."

Spartan looked up. "Hear that? What's it to be Nazis? We can exchange words all day, but we both need to be elsewhere, now! You have the upper hand... but don't think for a minute you won't get a fight!"

Übermenschen (OOC No.1) narrowed his eyes. Was he about to attack, or leave?

OOC I'll wait for Ross to chime in - if he wants to use the Dark power that changes things completely, but the Frostbot appears to have jury rigged a ships system to aid the team. Unless, of course, its bluffing...

Silver Sentinels Team
Lionheart, Anchor, and the PSI Squad
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)

Admin wrote:OOC I'll wait for Ross to chime in - if he wants to use the Dark power that changes things completely, but the Frostbot appears to have jury rigged a ships system to aid the team. Unless, of course, its bluffing...

Bluffing!!!! Surely not! Where could he learn it from! ''

Sj

OOC: I'll post as often as I can but Im at wedding this weekend. I'll hold on the dark power....................... for now mwharr (evil laugh)

IC: Steve grimiced trying to hold the dark power back

Silver Sentinels Team
Lionheart, Anchor, and the PSI Squad
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)


The leader of the Nazis glanced up. "I am ... not completely versed in the full use of my superhuman senses but... I can't see through the hull of the Skrall vessel."

The flying woman snarled. "We can take them!"

The leader turned "Yes, but at what cost? Every moment we delay here... leaves Anyman to run riot in Berlin!"

The expression on the others changed visibly, once the implications of that were clear. "He can be anyone, anytime, anywhere! Imagine the chaos! He will sew dissent, discord, chaos! The man is a demon! We need to stop him!"

He turned to Lionheart, floating closer. "Another time. You and I. Soon."

With that they turned and sped off! The Woman Warrior was the last to go. She looked about to say something, furious, and bit back the words before flying off!

A heartbeat later the PSI Agents started floating upwards courtesy of the tractor beam from the ship.

==========

Minutes later, Lionheart and Silver Sentinel stood on the bridge of the ship.

The Frostbot, now just about mobile having gotten a new pair of legs, clanked over. "As mentioned the stasis beam is almost ready for use, sirs. With testing and ironing out the bugs, it should be operational in about a week."

Lionheart shook his head, stifling a chuckle, but failed. Sentinel, exhausted, battered, leaned against a console and ran a hand through his sweat soaked hair. He'd been close. Real close. In the Vanguard, there was a fine line between life, death, and unleashing the Dark Power. Crossing that line had never been closer for the young warrior.

Spartan came onto the bridge. "Thunderclap will be fixed up with prosthetic legs. The Skralls have technology that will even improve on his original limbs, but he will need time to adjust. Sterling Silver will need longer. He has extensive burns, and initial medical scans indicate he will survive, but the nerve damage is irreparable. We have no idea if he will recover enough to return to active duty."

"Scans show there are vessels on intercept course. Their speed outstrips ours, so we should expect to come under fire. Course sir? Anyman is in need of extraction, and Frostbite will need help battling the Nazis forces on the front." said the Frostbot.

Silver Sentinels Team
Lionheart, Anchor, and the PSI Squad
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)

Admin wrote:"Scans show there are vessels on intercept course. Their speed outstrips ours, so we should expect to come under fire. Course sir? Anyman is in need of extraction, and Frostbite will need help battling the Nazis forces on the front." said the Frostbot.

The Nazi's words floated into Lionheart's mind, the implication of a threat soon to come.

"Well we may get that wish sooner than we think." Lionheart said to himself wondering if the Vanguards unleashed their power in an already burnt out Berlin, might they have a greater control over what happens. Certainly flying into the next of stirred up hornets, wasn't any kind of clever. That additional firepower may just be what they need to survive.

"Frostbite will have to wait, Anyman has drawn more than enough flak, we need to get him out. Lay in a course, and try and shake off the pursuit, let us know if there is anything we can do?"

OOC:

Ok lets go For Anyman and team.

Sj

OOC: Could agree with you more, team up with anyman and maybe kick the evil justice leagues ass

Silver Sentinels Team
Lionheart, Anchor, and the PSI Squad
Hotshot
Sterling Silver (Hospitalised but stable)
Thunderclap (Dying - legs destroyed from knees down)


The ship took off, blasting low over the trees and causing those that intercepted it to pull up. There was a mixture of advanced Alien craft and upgraded German conventional aircraft. Unfortunately, the Vanguards ship was nowhere near its best operating in atmosphere, with power directed to shields OR speed OR weapons. A mixture of the three, tried on a number of occasions over Belgium, saw the Vanguard swarmed about by the Nazis and their allies by aircraft like wasps around a nest!

The ships shields were holding though - until the Nazis started getting the idea to ram the vessel! Then all power to the shields solved that problem - and the ship had slowed to a crawl - relatively speaking.

Finally, when the ship was entering German airspace, the Frostbot came up with a plan. "Having analysed the ships systems there are a number of 'shielded' areas, life support, propulsion and guidance, and basic shielding to stop very small, slow moving objects. The transmitter can be jury rigged to emit an electro magnetic pulse that should 'black out' any computer systems in the vicinity, like those used on the Alien craft. The Nazi fighters can be taken out with the rail guns manned by the crew.

With the command crew in general agreement to do this (OOC I assume?) , the pulse went out, immediately shutting down a dozen or so alien fighters which slammed into the floor at high speed, flames mushrooming upwards in the Vanguards wake! The bridge, the whole of the Vanguards ship in fact, went quiet, and that included the Skrall technicians! They were interconnected with the ships systems and went down as it did. So did the Frostbot.

The Vanguard, knowing their tasks, set top manning the gun emplacements manually. A simple case of using a viewscreen and a joystick to operate the various rail guns dotted about the vessel. Rather than blast meteors from the sky they were as effective blasting through the nazi aeroplanes, and multitudes of Messerschmitts plunged to their doom, gunned down by marksmen with superhuman agility!

Finally, the Germans got the message, and the few remaining fighters peeled off, low on fuel and morale after being shot down with relative ease having made little impact save some hull scoring on the renegade craft!

As the Vanguards ship neared the designated pickup spot, the ship hummed back into life, an hour or so since the pulse had gone off. it sped up, the shields were restored, and the crew sprang back into life.

Then they had a new problem. Nazi Jet packers, closing in on Anymans position in their droves!

Such small targets would prove far harder to hit with the rail guns, being more agile and far smaller than the planes.

On the bridge the Vanguardians watched the forest extraction area approach, but saw the glow from Berlin in the background! The place was ablaze, thick choking smoke boiling into the air! The centre of the City was a ruin, obliterated by a thermonuclear blast of several megatons in strength, whilst the outlying areas were catching fire as combustibles set alight and spread.

Each other the team had their own thoughts as thousands of Berlin residents died. Had Anyman done this somehow? What then, if he had? Had it been justified? Was he under the influence of the Dark power, and if so, would he turn on his team mates?

The ship slowed, automatically activating shields and rail guns as the jetpackers soared in.

OOC Switch to Anymans Operation Dynamo thread now please gents!