Vanguard Roll Call!

Vanguard Roll Call!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Issue 2: Terror, One Hundred Stories Up!

High atop the Empire State Building, four amazing individuals, each with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, encounter each other for the very first time!! But there is no sign of the mysterious Mr. Grey! As the Blue Comet kept his distance, electrical arcs flared from Lightning Strike in an impressive show of pyrotechnics that defied the others to attack him.

As Sentinel prepared to do just that, Viper suddenly, unexpectedly lunged at him! The human serpent was much faster than he looked. He crashed into Sentinel and was stopped short by a gold colored energy screen that enveloped the masked beacon of liberty. The force of Viper’s blow would’ve flattened an ordinary man, and it left a spider web of cracks across the surface of Sentinel’s force field.
Sentinel’s energy staff fired back at Viper. With surprising speed, the snake man leapt backwards, just dodging the crackling energy bolt with an inch to spare! He landed on his feet and seemed ready for another strike.
Before anyone could make another move, sirens erupting across the city! The four men looked out from atop the Empire State Building.

From out of the east, flies a mechanical leviathan! A gigantic, hundred foot tall, iron robot is hurtling toward the top of the Empire State Building, propelled by deafening rockets in its legs. Emblazoned upon its massive grey chest is the symbol of a skull! It slows upon arrival, hovering as it methodically, menacingly observes the scene. When its great cyclopean eye finally rests upon the mighty zeppelin, white energy crackles from it!

The screams of passengers and crew erupt from the aircraft, but there is no escape, lashed as it is to the mooring tower of the skyscraper's docking needle! The two dozen or so civilians on the observation deck begin to panic!
Titanic hydraulics roar as The Robot slowly raises a huge, ominous hand toward the helpless craft!


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Viper:
Viper slams into The Sentinel and quickly realizes this guy is no lightweight. It was like running into the Fat Lady and the Strong Man times 10! Viper thinks to himself, "Well I've run into a few fat ladies in my day.."

Viper dodges the energy bolt and says...."Missed me! Apparently you didn't read the instructions when you bought that staff... Point, Aim and THEN Shoot! I'd bring that back to K-Mart, get your money back. Find a Taser or something why don't you...."
The sirens, the screams and a 100 foot tall giant robot interrupt Viper's barrage of insults.
Screams.
Viper turns from the other 3 circus performers and makes a dash for the tower. "We need to help those people!" Viper shouts back to the others as he races up the tower to the docking tube.
Viper will head to the docking tube and attempt getting passengers to safety.
[Jeff: I'm assuming the docking is at a higher level than where the heroes are. If it's on the same level, Viper will gather up as many as he can (throwing them over his shoulder if need be) and show them the elevator or the stairs. If it's at a higher level, Viper makes a dash up the stairs/ladder or whatever it takes to get to the top.]

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Blue Comet:

"Fools all of you!" "This is the best Grey can assemble? Bickering washwomen all of you!"

The Blue Comet begins to make for the mooring cables but, seeing Viper has already moved to escorting passengers, moving the zeppelin would be unwise. Besides, even if it was free, The comet might not be able to pull the doomed airship to safety fast enough without ripping it to shreds. No, the only thing to do now is distract the iron monstrosity.
The Comet might not win the fight, but all he needs to do is buy some time. Maybe even some of the washwomen would help, but he wouldn't count on it.
The Comet sends a blast of searing blue flame at the eye of the menacing robotic Cyclops."Better set your sights on me you bucket of bolts!"
(OCC fire and move right?)
Then, faster than can be seen by the human eye, he spins a dizzying halo of flame around the robot's head to obscure its vision. The Comet ends his path behind the head of the iron beast. "Hey Rusty! I'm behind you!"

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Sentinel:
As Sentinel is about to reply to Viper's taunt, he is distracted by the screams and commotion. Hearing Viper speak and move towards helping the people, he replies.

"I don't know why'd you'd want to attack me, but at least you have the right idea in helping those people! If they aren't already exiting the ramp maybe you can get the dock clamps loosened so the zeppelin can move them all to safety... I'll try to hold off his attack!"
He glances in the direction of Lightning Strike and shouts, "If you're more than just pyrotechnics and temper tantrums, then how about trying to short out some of the system's of that mechanical behemoth!"
With that Sentinel flies off the roof towards the giant intruder and as he clears the roof he starts to grow in size, growing larger and larger as he approaches the robot; suddenly there are two 100 foot tall figures in the sky!
"Why don't pick on someone your own size you oversized bucket of bolts!", he shouts as he zooms towards the menacing figure trying to prevent the massive arm from striking the unprotected zeppelin.

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Lightning Strike:
After scanning the situation, Lightning Strike sets his eyes on the robotic monstrosity. "Obviously, Mr. Grey has bigger fish to fry than you bunch of costumed clowns. Of course, sending a man of metal against the master of electricity is a fait accompli."

Lightning Strike transforms himself into a bolt of electricity and seeks the nearest point of contact with the giant robot (perhaps the arm reaching for the zeppelin), seeking the higher brain functions in an effort to short out the robot.
OOC: Looking forward to see the results!!