Vanguard: Issue 219: Detente?

In the special projects room of the CHESS Omni-Carrier, suddenly Vanguard is not alone.
Standing next to them is…

Sentinel doesn’t detect the energy signature of the mysterious Mystic or the heinous Dr. Swastika on the SSS.  There are no marks visible on the backs of their necks.

Led by the Clone Collective, a detente is forged between Vanguard and the Soviet Super Soldiers. They are united by their common enemy, Dr. Swastika, who now seemingly possesses the form of Mystic, enigmatic ally of the WWII super team, the Liberty League.

The most powerful sorcerer-superhero in history, controlled by the twisted mind of the most evil, occult, mad scientist in history. The threat is almost unimaginable.

Vanguard and the SSS pool their knowledge of Dr. Swastika:

Once a brilliant German aristocrat scientist of the 19th century, Swastika might have been the inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein. A member of such occult secret societies as the Thules and the Bavarian Illuminati, his immoral experiments with science and sorcery were guided by his obsession for eternal life. His twisted genius created:
-the undead creature known as Doc Monster
-the means to extend his lifespan
-the first extranormals in history: the Ubermensch, Nazi villains of WWII.
-the Nazi expedition to the Lost Lands in Antarctica
-the means to enslave the otherworldly Star Giant
-the ‘Body Farm’ technology, a means to possess other people
-the subversive terrorists known as SKULL
-a method to remain alive after the death of his original body!

Disguised as Mystic, he stole the artifacts of power from Vanguard and the SSS before Vanguard invaded his eldritch pocket dimension and took them all back!

In Mystic’s body, Swastika is this world’s sorcerer supreme. It is clear his goal is to summon the entire Cthulhu pantheon to this world, in 43 hours. But he needs the artifacts to do it. And Vanguard has them.

Hoping against hope that they have time before the Dr. Swastika-possessed Mystic arrives, Vanguard urgently returns to shoring up their defenses. The Soviets help.

Countdown:  43 hours until the End of the World.
• Rebuilding the Janus Chair: 18 hours remaining.
• Aperture’s Dimensional Travel Portal from his modular nanotech power: Already complete!
• Aperture inventing a Digital Pulse Cannon from his nanotech power: 1 hour remaining.
• Menagerie and Avatar re-inventing a spell to block teleportation: 1 hour remaining.

Siberian, Shatter, Slingshot, Aperture, Sentinel and Clones urgently work on the Digital Pulse “anti-magic” Cannon.
Menagerie and Avatar continue on their arcane studies!
Nanite recovers from having healed Vanguard with her namesake power. (last ish!)
Nemesis, Lightning Strike and Symbiote continue repairs on the Omni-Carrier mainframe.

CHESS Rooks stand guard, to secure the rest of the carrier from the SSS.
Fully regenerated, Aperture uses his modular nanotech power to enhance his artificial mind (+15 to Intelligence) to speed the process.

They are 10 minutes away from completing the Digital Pulse Cannon when emergency claxons make their hearts sink.

CHESS Director Grey patches in to the special projects room: “The Ubermensch and the Imperial Guard are a quarter mile out and moving quickly toward us. Pulled out of the time stream, hijacked from an alternate reality, or rebuilt from the ground up by Swastika’s mad sorcery and science, I can’t tell.”

Mother Russia says, “We shall engage them. Keep working Vanguard! Super Soldiers, with me!”

The SSS fly out to meet the fascist supervillains of WWII and a super-battle erupts high above the Atlantic Ocean!

Then, BOOM!!!

The dimensional gate of Mystic rips apart the fabric of reality in Vanguard’s projects room!
From the eye of the otherworldly swirling kaleidoscopic vortex of raw energy, Mystic appears.

Within the maelstrom halo of writhing iridescence, he speaks in an acidic, aristocratic voice:

“Jew loving, mongrel masters of this despicable Earth, return to me what you have stolen. Now. Or I shall rend asunder this warship, killing the lives of everyone aboard. Just as I did your precious Vanguard Vault.”

“It would pain me, to be certain. For it is my fervent wish that all of you detestable subhumans witness my complete victory, in less than two days’ time. Please don’t make me destroy you before then. In truth, I sent your former teammates here in order to spare your wretched lives.

“And don’t fear. The artifacts are powerful enough to survive any holocaust I can wield.

“You have My Word that I will spare this craft if you obey tis request without hesitation. 

“Any one of you can act now to save innocent lives! Release the artifacts to me. Now!”

Aperture and Slingshot can’t help but think of Nanite.

If Vanguard pays this ransom to save the hostages of the ship’s crew and passengers, they will still soon have the digital pulse cannon complete, a spell to block teleportation, and the Janus Chair rebuilt in order to track the artifacts… and Swastika.

What will Vanguard do?!?!


Actions!


Current Conditions: 
Aperture: Hit Points: 35, Power Points: 58, Nanotech: Heightened Intelligence
Avatar: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 85, Manifestation: None
Clone: Bodies: 1, Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 67, Hit Point Pool: 23
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 59: Electrical form
Menagerie: Hit Points: 24, Power Points: 66, Form: Man
Sentinel: Hit Points: 15, Power Points: 61, Creation Points: 122, Shields: 100%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 92, Invulnerability: 8, Damage that can’t be regenerated: 56!


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Slingshot:
OOC:
I've been expecting this one for a while. So Close! Only 10 minutes to spare! I'm on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what to do..

My orders below.  Those who have not read the issue, you really should read it before the below.

SPOILERS:

I know I move like molasses. So depending on what happens before I move, in order of priority:

1- I'll attempt to remove the device as I did with our former team mates. I realize that we have moving and unwilling participants and it would be more difficult to do so. I expect to use my malleable self to the best effect.
2- if the above has been done and threat is not removed (or there's a new one), move towards the threat and bash
3- if the above has been done and threat is removed, move towards the outside and evade as action

The above assumes that nothing else happens or there's no great change of plans.

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Aperture:
OOC: I know the Digital Cannon is not ready, and won’t be for ten minutes, but I think Aperture would have a good understanding of what he’s doing at this point… maybe working on focusing/targeting… etc… What I’m wondering is, would there be a chance he could make it overload?  Not modify it, but use it as a one shot weapon (bomb) instead of a gun?  I’m sure we might need it in another situation, but if we can freeze or lock Swastika/Mystic here, maybe we can end this now.

IC: IF it’s possible, Aperture would offer to turn over the artifacts, triggering the device as soon as he was sure he was close enough to get Swastika/Mystic in the blast area:

“Dad, we have to give them to him… You saw what he did to the Vault, we can’t let that happen to Mom.”

If it’s not possible, is there another possibility?  Use it with diminished affects, minus to aim, limited range, etc… if so:

“Say hello to my little friend.” (OK, that was a joke, but you get the idea…) Aperture would hope someone could keep him distracted long enough to get him in range of the weapon.

I don’t know that Vanguard or anyone has ever trusted Swastika, or that there is any reason he would keep his word if they did, but it strikes me that the very fact that he’s asking for the artifacts might mean something… we’ve defeated his allies/lackeys, thwarted his plans, and stolen back what he had taken.  Maybe he’s at his wit’s end.  Cthulhu is probably not someone you want to disappoint.

My half a nickel rounded down,

Jon


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Sentinel:
OOC: Hey everyone...
First big Kirk post in a while since this seemed like a dialogue scene.

Use it or don't use it. But I think with the toll on Kirk with the loss of everyone and everything that has been his life since this game began and his mourning as well as the 'shift to modern age' this is where he goes at this point.

Without further introduction ...
PDF attached for the below also if easier to read:

“You have My Word that I will spare this craft if you obey tis request without hesitation. “Any one of you can act now to save innocent lives! Release the artifacts to me. Now!”

Kirk walked towards Swastika to address him.  He didn’t wait to discuss it with Vanguard.  He was non-threatening and for those paying attention he was again almost detached from the events, there but not there.

“I believe you. And I’m tired of all this,” and he waved his hands in a motion.

“For days now we have been racing around, chasing our tails, ‘find the artifacts’, ‘secure the artifacts’, ‘oops we’ve lost them’, ‘no wait we got them back’ and here we are two days away and THIS again.  I’m sick of it.
Time is our enemy now.  Not you.  And right now you continue to weave time to your advantage and we can’t match that.  The only thing that we DO HAVE is that apparently you need that LINEAR EVENT in roughly forty-two hours ten minutes.”

As he continued speaking Kirk half turned towards his teammates still continuing his dialogue addressing them too.
“We fight you now, I’d guess even if somehow we pull out a win here, we still have TWO days more of this and who knows what other power-mad nut-job will show up at our door next for the artifacts.  Or what other contingency plan you have out of time yourself.”

He turned fully back towards Swastika, now speaking directly to him again as if they were at a table in a crowded fine restaurant surrounding but alone.
“From my perspective we really have no shot here.  The last few days have proven it.  I’d bet you truly ARE the smartest guy in the room.  You’re surely the most powerful here since you’ve got both science and mystical power on your side especially since you’ve taken Mystic, “and he broke form and inquired, “Out of curiosity, exactly when did he become your puppet? Were you already pulling his strings when we met him in the past or was he that much of an ass himself?”  Kirk then continued his, “You’re able to bend time and space to your will. And even more important than all that, you have the knowledge.  You actually understand the significance of everything going on.  You’ve got it all.”

At this point Kirk paused, if they were in that fine restaurant discussing the fate of the world he’d be swirling some fine wine in it glass bringing it to bouquet to perfection to enjoy it before the taste.
“But that’s me.  You still have everyone else in the room,” and he swirled his finger in the air indicating it.
“You said anyone of us can act now to save innocent lives, here’s what I want.  I want your word not only that you spare the craft, but that ‘we’ are done until THAT TIME.  No more attacks or interference from you or your minions.  No more hindrances.  We prepare unabated until the endgame.  Really, should be no big deal for you since you’ll be holding all the cards anyway, you have everything you need from us.”

And if in that fine restaurant making private deals on the fate of the world, now Kirk would put down that wine glass before drinking, lean inward and say locking eyes firmly …
“I also want something else personally.  I figure with all your mental and mystical power you can convince me that you’ll honor that bargain with a mind link.  I’ll need to truly believe you so that I can convince them.  After all, there is a certain amount of honesty in telepathy that transcends the physical.
But with that I also want something more only you can impart; knowledge and understanding.  I want to understand how you’ve extended your life and how your essence continues.  I need to know that.  Because when we meet in two days I want to be sure it’s our last meeting.
Surely you’ll be able to savor that final victory so much more, it will be that much sweeter if we feel we maintain the hope of victory until the end.  After all you have a special hatred towards our kind, don’t you?  And this will be your last chance to prove your ultimate superiority over us; something for you to cherish, your final battle and legacy since only the world you frame will be left with no true challenges, no opposition, for you.
So what will it be?”

If Swastika questions Kirk’s motives here or reason for hope his reply would be:
“After taking all the facts into account seems like the only thing we have going for us here is that we are the good guys.   I’ll always believe that somehow in these times of crisis we will always pull it off in the end.  We always have.  I don’t know, maybe existence itself, all that is, decides ‘enough is enough’ and lends us a hand and empowers us to save it.  I’ll always believe that.
But I also know that when it comes to these desperate times the victory only comes at great personal cost.
I’m paying that ticket Swastika.
Back at that symbolic meal Kirk raises his glass, ‘See you in hell,’ and drinks deeply.

OOC I:
Kirk is playing on Swastika’s egocentric weakness here.  Hopefully getting the information for his ultimate defeat and destruction and buying Vanguard the time to prepare.
From the moment of his appearance he will be using all of his powers to get a lock on his physical and mental energy signatures and telepathic patterns.  Swastika is the reason that Kirk ultimately discovered his ability to read unique energy signatures and was driven down the road towards the mental disciplines… for this confrontation.  Hopefully he can get enough to be sure Swastika does not escape again should they defeat him and should Kirk survive to that point.  If Swastika agrees Kirk will do his best to shore up his defenses for the mental contact and further gather information as best he can.

OOC II:
Back when Vanguard’s Vault was destroyed you’d said we were leaving the silver/bronze age and entering the modern age of comics… Kirk has arrived.  Hopefully there will be something playable left of him when this is done (if he survives, which is very questionable in my mind at this point).

 OOC III:
I/Kirk in no way shape or form think whatever Kirk does here binding on Vanguard/other players.  They are his undiscussed conclusions on things.  If others want to do something here and now Kirk has bought them more time to figure it out.  But he does feel it pointless as outlined.  And he gets that others may take issue here with his actions and this may permanently fracture the team but hopes they can hold it together for the next couple of days… he feels not taking on Swastika now, unprepared, is their only hope for long-term victory and preventing the Cthulhu apocalypse.

Hope all that have the day off enjoy it.

Seth

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Clone:
OOC:

WOW!!! Seth that was amazing! I truly enjoyed reading that and seeing Kirk take the reins like that - absolutely AWESOME! I am absolutely speechless - I wouldn't try to follow that in a million years - well done sir!

Jeff, the only thing Clone is going to do is stand proudly beside Kirk as he speaks and stare at Mystic/Swastika defiantly the entire time. He wants Mystic/Swastika to know that he/we support our leader and that he speaks for us all (At least I'm assuming that he does - anyone have a different plan in mind?) - Vanguard stands united!

-Kev

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Menagerie:
Menagerie listened to Kirk carefully and watched Mystic intently. He silently and without motion prepared his Essence of Life spell. He would use in an attempt to disrupt any spell Mystic tried to cast. He wasn't sure Kirk was making the right decision but again Frank was sure what the correct decision was.

More than anything else Menagerie wanted to destroy Mystic. If now wasn't the time then he would be patient until the time was right.

Tensely Frank waited to see if Mystic would allow the telepathic connection with Sentinel. At any moment Menagerie was prepared to strike, all that was needed was one false move from Mystic.

He kept his battle cry "For Archimedes, The Lady of the Lake, and Nature itself!" bottled up tight with himself.

"Kirk, you better know what you are doing", Frank thought to himself as he watched, ready to strike.

Via Vanguard
Tom


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GM:
OOC: Thanks everyone.

Great stuff!

Jon: does Aperture still try to jerry-rig his anti-magic cannon into a single-use bomb?
Or does he play along with Sentinel's gambit? Or something else?

Once I get an answer, I can get going asap on the next pulse-pounding issue!

Thanks,
Jeff

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Aperture:
Aperture will go along with Sentinel’s gambit, but he will jerry-rig the cannon, and use the distraction to get as close to Swastika/Mystic as possible.

If the fit hit’s the shan, he’ll pop the weasel.

Jon

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Sentinel:
OOC: Thanks Kev.

Didn't want to assume anything here for anyone else and honestly didn't know how others would feel as Kirk took this action to 'deal' which is very modern age but absolutely not silver/bronze.

It seemed like the most prudent move and Kirk wanted to save those torn in the decision from having to make it.
And of course he could be wrong and Swastika may eliminate him now in the process... but at least Vanguard will know.

It was a tough call... along with Kirk's decision regarding his ultimate goal with Swastika here.

In terms of both this story arc along with the Vanguard campaign and all that has happened to Kirk in recent hours and in his character 'growth' it all makes sense... along with his behavior pattern of seeing the 'end' in terms of heroic lore.

It seems to be what he must do in character but succeed or fail ultimately Kirk even if he survives will have changed with the times and tone of the campaign and in his moral compass.

I will say that we have been in some tough spots before and this is the worst.  I'm excited to see how Jeff plays this one out and truly question victory and pulling this one off... and ultimately if we do Kirk's survival and where Vanguard goes from here.

It's actually mind-numbing.  And I find it surprising based on past IC interactions at Kirk's growth in this regard and how he seems to have grown from the beginning until now to make this calculated conclusion of what he must do here.  I don't think he/I would have foreseen him doing this but it really makes sense.  Others may see it as an act of vengeance, but really it is not.

This is Luke turning to Vader and instead of saying "I sense the good in you" he says "I know you are beyond redemption and will never change".  Of course Swastika is no Vader... he's more the emperor who had to go.

But it is a turning point where Kirk calculates things and sees a threat that way - someone so evil that they will never change, cannot be contained, and must be removed.

In most story arcs it isn't the hero with that 'you can help anyone' mindset that actually gets to the point where he realizes the threat is irredeemable.  In all I can remember a character like that is 'saved' from making that decision because a character, typically a friend, whose values aren't as 'high' take the decision from him and eliminate the threat so he doesn't have to do so.  I don't know what Jeff will do here in that regard but I do know that Kirk has committed to his decision.

Looking forward to the resolution here and to see what is left of Kirk and Vanguard.

Seth

Vanguard: Issue 218: "We Meet Again."

Onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, Aperture slumps against a nearby wall, the Artifacts of Power clattering to the floor. “Mystic is coming.  I escaped to the Salt Flats, but he was able to track me down.  I barely escaped.”  The scion of cyberspace reconfigures his modular nanite power to Regeneration.

Sentinel’s extranormal senses confirm that all is as it seems with Aperture and his precious cargo. The golden age guardian looks over the badly injured team and says, “Unless we can figure a way to tap into the power of the artifacts for 'good' here or take a step out of time with them to recoup there doesn't seem to be a viable solution presenting itself to give us hope of pulling this off.” In scanning the room for options, he sees that the reservists’ weapons were carried out with them to sickbay.

Vanguard update each other and then weigh and discuss options for their next steps.

Slingshot absorbs raw materials in order to fuel a regeneration as he alerts Grey that they need to expect another assault from teleportation. “Put the Omni-carrier into high alert.”

“Damn,” growls Grey as he returns to the bridge to lead the defense of the Omni-Carrier. The massive craft moves further out to sea.

The threat is almost unimaginable. The most powerful sorcerer-superhero in history, controlled by the twisted mind of the most evil, occultic, mad scientist in history.

Hoping against hope they have time before the Dr. Swastika-possessed Mystic arrives, Vanguard urgently returns to shoring up their defenses:

Countdown:  43.4 hours until the End of the World.
• Rebuilding the Janus Chair: 18.4 hours remaining.
• Aperture’s Dimensional Travel Portal from his modular nanotech power: Already complete!
• Aperture inventing a Digital Pulse Cannon from his nanotech power: 1.4 hours remaining.
• Menagerie and Avatar re-inventing a spell to block teleportation: 1.4 hours remaining.

Slingshot, Aperture, Sentinel and Clones urgently work on the Digital Pulse “anti-magic” Cannon.
Menagerie and Avatar continue on their arcane studies!
Nanite reunites with and heals Vanguard with her namesake power. (+ 8 hit points per PC )
Nemesis, Lightning Strike and Symbiote continue repairs on the Omni-Carrier mainframe.

24 minutes later, the air in the special projects room electrifies and hums. There is a bright light and suddenly Vanguard is not alone. Standing next to them is…

The Soviet Super Soldiers!

Mother Russia! Strong, invulnerable and courageous!
Siberian! Vanguard knew the original frozen fiend was in custody in CHESS Castle!
The Collective! This man looked like the Clone when Vanguard first met him in the Lost Lands!
Polar Bear! The ursine abomination and former member of the Freedom Force!
Shatter! One who could disassemble and reassemble matter itself!
Proletariat! Vanguard knew his appearance and names but little more!
Hammer and Sickle! Experienced, ruthless super-agents of the KGB!

Mother Russia says, “Vanguard. We meet again.” Then she looked to the Collective.

Actions?!? 


Current Conditions: 
Aperture: Hit Points: 35, Power Points: 73, Nanotech: Regeneration
Avatar: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 85, Manifestation: none
Clone: Bodies: 4/1, Hit Points: 4/7, Power Points: 67/67, Hit Point Pool: 23 (16/7) (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 59: Electrical form
Menagerie: Hit Points: 24, Power Points: 66, Form: Man
Sentinel: Hit Points: 15, Power Points: 70, Creation Points: 140, Shields: 0%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 92, Invulnerability: 8, Damage that can’t be regenerated: 56!

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Menagerie:
Menagerie replied, "Yes, so we do meet again. How are you Mother Russia? It is time for us to join forces. We are defenders of the world and the world is threaten by the single enemy. It won't be the first time that the we have united against the sign of the Swastika and it is time to do it again."

Menagerie used his Charisma as much as possible and prayed his words of Wisdom affected the Soviet Super Soldiers. He used his Willpower to not show how tired and trouble he was but to show gladness and relief that reinforcements have arrived.

Menagerie glanced to Clone and then the Collective. Speaking to Clone, he said "You didn't tell us you had a brother. Obviously he was Mom's favorite."

Menagerie held his action to see what the Soviets did next.

Via Vanguard
Tom

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Sentinel:
Kirk looked up matter of factly as the Soviet Super Soldiers arrived and said, “Oh Excellent!  You’ve arrived. Just a sec.”  He put a completion of whatever he was doing and walked over with no surprise or alarm and in a non-threatening way to Mother Russia the leader of the SSS.

He added, ‘Oh yea, Vanguard, stand down.”
Addressing her he said, “I assume we are at the point where you are coming here to combine our forces and save the world.  You know, the whole enemy of my enemy thing; the fact that we were both played and betrayed, desperate times desperate measures.
I sure hope so because we could use your help to pull this one off.  And frankly if you’re here to just fight over possession of the artifacts again I’m not playing.  I’m out.  I’ve no time or energy for any more of that nonsense.  I’m not going to fight you.”

OOC: We can play out this discussion longer if it appears she needs more convincing.  Either with both teams listening or lower key stepping aside as the teams stare each other down.  If the leader of SSS changed from Mother Russia then he walks over to the current leader (if I forgot that).

Action:
From the moment they appear Kirk begins to read their energy patterns to be sure there are no indications of control or influence in any way from Mystic/Swastika.  He is not expecting the SSS to be totally under their control, however he wouldn’t be surprised if he found one of two members as secret agents.  He won’t change his play if he does at this point, but depending on whom it may influence his further actions.
Bottom line for Kirk this isn’t a feint.  At this point as long as the SSS isn’t under control if they are here to fight for possession they can have the damn artifacts and they can get attacked and we can just monitor the situation and come in at the end game with our plans ready to go.  It would actually be more prudent and give us a better chance of pulling this off then fighting off attacks for the next two days.  I just want to be sure we aren’t handing them off directly to Mystic/Swastika.  And if we can combine forces, of course not trusting each other, that works too.  Kirk doesn't want to give up possession of them but at this point it would be more prudent than fighting them and then fighting whatever Mystic/Swastika sends momentarily... unless this is his attack and they are totally controlled by him...

Kirk will be alert and ready to bring up his shields instantly if necessary but unless you let him do so before a battle begins, if it becomes necessary with his speed he will likely be hit and out before the battle starts anyway.

Again, hope the above doesn't mess with other postings already done, but this is Kirk's play here.

Best,
Seth

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Aperture:
Aperture looks up from his work briefly, but as none of the other team members seem surprised or concerned with the appearance, he returns to the Digital Pulse Cannon, using all of his abilities to finish it as quickly as possible.

OOC: Would Apertures power allow him to somehow speed up the work, like could he switch his ability to Heightened Intelligence, or something that would hasten the completion of the cannon… as it doesn’t appear we have much time.

Sorry for the abbreviated response…

Jon

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Slingshot:

Slingshot, feeling pretty beat up himself, nods to Kirk. "We need to join forces here." If it comes down to it, Slingshot is willing to split the loot equally. This would allow both team to potentially be better allies in the future.

He'll take part of the negotiations if necesary, but he's more interested into sharing information of their situation and ours and see if there's any way to get to a concensus.

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Avatar:
If the talking tactic seems to be gaining ground then Avatar will use Heightened Charisma and Oratory to help sway them more.

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Clone:
Mother Russia says, “Vanguard. We meet again.” Then she looked to the Collective.

The Collective then stepped forward and said in an urgent tone, “Comrades, it is being me – Clone. I am finally being back to you after being away for very long. I am having most urgent of news from my father Doctor X.”

The Clone standing next to Menagerie then steps forward and gets instantly re-absorbed by The Collective. Their thoughts and memories finally become one after a long time apart, and the Collective finally understands what has been happening since he’s been away and what must be done.

“Please to be listening most carefully my fiends, there is no time to be wasting,” he continued. “Before you are leaving for the middle of Atlantic Ocean where you are encountering the Ubermensch ( Issue 190 – September 2014 ), I am splitting into two of me and one is being teleported to Moscow by the most evil of villains there is being – Mystic. There I am trying to steal Artifacts of Power from Soviet Super Soldiers, but I am first running into Doctor X.”

Clone’s tone then changes a bit to the whimsical as he digresses, “. . . who it is turning out is to be my father. I am not knowing of this of course, but this is most unexpected of things that is happening I am thinking . . .” Mother Russia then turns to The Collective with a stern look in her eyes, clears her throat, and then says aloud, “Comrade Collective . . .”

Realizing that he was straying off topic, The Collective quickly switches gears with a look of apology on his face and returns to what he was originally telling Vanguard, “ . . . but this is tale for another time I am thinking. Any way, it is there that I am being deceived by Mystic as he is following me to Russia and trying to kill me and my father as he is stealing Artifacts of Power that are there. It is not long before it is that I am being captured and then released, but only if it is that I am making of promise to Doctor X - make alliance between Vanguard and Soviet Super Soldiers. My father is telling me that it is being most important that we are team and defeating this evil that is going to kill us all.”

The Collective gives Vanguard a moment to absorb everything he just said before continuing, “Comrades, I am not knowing exactly what it is that we are to be doing to win this fight, but I am knowing that we are needing to be doing it together.” Looking around the room slowly at everyone present; Vanguard and SSS members alike, The Collective makes a heartfelt plea, “Please Comrades, let us be putting aside all of past differences and save our world together. Together we can defeat this evil, I am knowing of this in my heart . . . but separately . . . separately we will lose and all that each of us is loving the most will be dying too. So what is it that you are all saying – are we going to be making of one group and winning as comrades?”

Clone then looks around the room for a response from everyone present . . .

OOC:

I gave it a lot of thought and I think the above response is the way that Clone/Collective would act/behave. I started writing out a somewhat longer and more detailed piece, but I think the above response is more consistent with the erratic and excitable nature he’s displayed since day one. I think there's a LOT more that can be developed ( e.g. Doctor X being his father, his new relationship with the SSS, etc. ) given the opportunity for some 'down time' with his friends (any one up for a heart-to-heart with Clone?), but at the moment even Clone knows that things of that nature need to take a backseat to whats currently going on.

Guys, again my apologies – the last couple of months have been a mess for me. Half the time I don’t know if I should be scratching my watch or winding my ass. Jeff, I hope this response works for you, if you need me to make changes or add any details that I may have left out – let me know.

Talk to you guys soon,

-Kev

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Slingshot:
Scott's eye brow raises dramatically at that revelation.

Scott hadn't realized that he had held his breath until that moment. He finally took a great breath and nodded at Clone/Collective. "I think we've always had a plan to see if we could unite with SSS. We just weren't sure of their, your, motives. I think we've resolved that now." He looked at each member of SSS team, making eye contact and giving them a small nod each. Making that contact as personal and personable as possible.

[OOC:give space for others to interject.. the following assumes that there's no objections]

Scott looks around the room for a free moment, "We need to work together. I think we need to make sure we pool our information about Mystic and about the whole end of the world scenario... Who wants to start?"

--------------------------------------------------

Menagerie:
Menagerie dropped his head and placed his palm against his face (classic palm face pose). "Now his brother says that Doctor X is his father." Menagerie muttered to himself. He  looked for Symbiote. Menagerie wanted to ask whether they really were clones. He was beginning to suspect that Clone was pulling versions of himself from alternate realities and just calling them clones. Menagerie decided the his suspicions should be kept quiet until later.

"Please to meet you Clone's clone. Do you go by Collective, Clone-1, or Clone Russia?"

The Clone standing next to Menagerie then steps forward and gets instantly re-absorbed by The Collective. Their thoughts and memories finally become one after a long time apart, and the Collective finally understands what has been happening since he’s been away and what must be done.

"So ... do I call you The Collective now?" Menagerie said staring at Clone/Collective, he looked to the other members of the Soviet Super Soldiers & Vanguard then sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

Scott hadn't realized that he had held his breath until that moment. He finally took a great breath and nodded at Clone/Collective. "I think we've always had a plan to see if we could unite with SSS. We just weren't sure of their, your, motives. I think we've resolved that now." He looked at each member of SSS team, making eye contact and giving them a small nod each. Making that contact as personal and personable as possible.

"I couldn't agree more," Menagerie said. "This is about saving the world. That has all of our allegiance."

Scott looks around the room for a free moment, "We need to work together. I think we need to make sure we pool our information about Mystic and about the whole end of the world scenario... Who wants to start?"

"First, we need to focus on Dr Swastika. He has captured Mystic and is inhibiting his body. Mother Russia what can your team share with us about the vile Doctor and his brain control/swapping abilities"?

Viva Vanguard
Tom

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
"We need to expect that we will have more people that are controlled." said Scott," We need to assume they figured out that we figured out. So they will be ready for us. We need to figure out another way to neutralize them."

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
Scott will take Aperture by the shoulder and lead him out of the room. "We'll see you in a bit, we need to have a family chat before we go further."

[OOC: I will go to Nan with Aperture and try to see if we can detect the specific signals that Dr Swastika's mind control devices emit. Can we detect them with the ship's detection arrays? I'm looking for something quick and dirty. Have the scientists on board been able to detect the emissions? The goal is to make sure we can check the SSS for the signals before we go further. I have a single Luck Point left, I'm not fond of using it, especially if it is only to detect the signals. If it is to block or short them, that would be a different thing.]

--------------------------------------------------

Vanguard: Issue 217: Herald of Doom

Onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, the war room is soaked in crimson. The Vanguard Reserves are losing blood. Viper manages a weak smile and says, “…thank you…” before he loses consciousness.

Menagerie removes the last insidious device from the neck of Hip Hop and then assumes the Shape of Man.
Avatar relinquishes the power of mighty Zeus and collapses into a chair in utter exhaustion.

Vanguard begins to administer first aid. Slingshot uses his malleable lungs to cry: “MEDIC!”
Soon, CHESS emergency technicians burst in and assume control of the tragic Vanguard Reservists, and of Doc Monster who was grievously wounded by Inhuman in the brief, volatile battle. They are soon carefully transported to sickbay.

With the Omni-Carrier back under control, Director Grey reports that he’s leaving the bridge and heading to you. Nanite disengages from the leviathan ship’s mainframe, but Nemesis, Lightning Strike and Symbiote continue their electronic interface, to check for any lingering effects of the SKULL technology that took all Omni-Carrier computer systems offline.

Vanguard discuss their next move. They think they can track the artifacts. But so can their enemy.
Suddenly static forms in mid-space, like the changing of a channel. The air crackles and hums. Vanguard grimly steel themselves for another onslaught.

Suddenly, a fuzzy hologram of Aperture appears, jumping and flickering like old video footage.

The resolution increases. The scion of cyberspace comes into sharper focus and suddenly he is actually there.

Aperture is wounded and his demeanor is that of one who has just fled a battlefield overrun by murderous enemies. He has brought the Artifacts of Power here!


Actions?!? 


Current Conditions: 
Aperture: Hit Points: 2, Power Points: 49, Nanotech: Teleportation
Avatar: Hit Points: 8, Power Points: 5, Manifestation: Hermes, Athena, Zeus
Clone: Bodies: 4/1, Hit Points: 1/6, Power Points: 64/67, Hit Point Pool: 13 (7/6) (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 59: Electrical form
Menagerie: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 58, Form: Man
Sentinel: Hit Points: 7, Power Points: 45, Creation Points: 90, Shields: 72%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 3, Power Points: 64, Invulnerability: 8, Damage that can’t be regenerated: 64!

Countdown:  43.4 hours until the End of the World.

--------------------------------------------------

Sentinel:
Kirk immediately does an energy scan of Aperture and the artifacts as they begin to appear to be sure all is what it seems.
He asks, "What happened?  Where did you go and who attacked you?"

Assuming this is Aperture and no other immediate threats follow him they will compare notes and wait  for Grey to meet and update them with hopefully something useful to proceed ahead.

Unless something else presents itself it seems that at this point those still standing (which are all just barely) need to take the artifacts and go elsewhere before they are tracked again and the Omni-Carrier and what is left of CHESS are lost in the attack.  Not that there seems to be a way Vanguard could ward off another attack, let alone make a final stand in their current state.  Unless we can figure a way to tap into the power of the artifacts for 'good' here or take a step out of time with them to recoup there doesn't seem to be a viable solution presenting itself to give us hope of pulling this off.

Seth

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
OOC: Reading through the issue.. We need to have a plan. We are reacting so much, it's not funny.

Remember the last sentence of the issue:

Countdown: 43.4 hours until the End of the World.

Just to let that sink in..

(I'll just fall silent now, because I don't have a proper plan either)

--------------------------------------------------

Aperture:
OOC: So glad to be back in the same thread, I can’t wait to find out what happened here!

IC: Aperture slumped against a nearby wall, “Mystic is coming.  I escaped to the Salt Flats, but he was able to track me down.  I barely escaped.”  

Aperture switches powers back to Regeneration.


--------------------------------------------------

OOC:

I think I have a couple of possible solutions to Vanguard's current problem(s).

IC:

One of the Clone duplicates walks towards the main group with one of the Mind-Control devices that were just ripped out of the Vanguard Reservists in his hand and asks innocently, "If Mystic is coming; is it being possible that we are to be defeating him, perhaps we are to be using this as means of Trojan Horse on him?"

A moment later, another one of the replicants points to the Ring of Eon (OOC: Did I remember that name correctly?) and adds, ". . . or perhaps it is that I can be using of this to go back in past to be giving us more time, no?"

OOC:

The first suggestion is to use one of the Mind-Control devices on Mystic if he should come to the Omni-Carrier and we could defeat him. Maybe we could 'use' him' to get close to Cthulhu in order to defeat him some how . . . assuming we knew how to defeat him . . .

The other suggestion is to send one of the Clones back in time to perhaps warn the Vanguard of the past of the Vanguard Reservists attack or some other such thing. It's not the greatest plan, but we wouldn't technically be risking anyone's life (its a duplicate after all) and it might allow us to be fully healed with the Reservists at our side instead of at our feet.

Again - just a couple of wacky Clone-ish ideas.

Just a heads up - I may be 'out of contact' for a couple of days - 'Big Moving Day' today - not sure when I'll have internet up and running next (hopefully very very soon).

Talk to you guys soon,

-Kev

--------------------------------------------------

Sentinel:
How quickly did he locate you previously? Did he arrive by portal?  What forces or special defenses did he bring?

Kirk began to shift his senses to be aware of Mystic's arrival and the energy cascade of his port and prepared to point it out and attack the moment he appeared.  He looked around for anything he could use as a weapon if Mystic took out his energy as he had done in the forties (anything he could salvage from the reserves at this point that he could perhaps surprise Mystic with? - maybe some of Forester's arrows or a weapon from Soldier  Talon or something along those lines if he is going to appear momentarily before we regroup)

Seth

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
We need to prepare for Mystic's arrival. I would assume that we have an hour. That was the situation when mystic was looking for the artifacts with us.

A couple of options:
1) Can we use Menagerie's Teleport blocking spell on the helicarrier?
2) Can we mask the artifact signatures?

I want to alert Grey that we need to expect another assault from teleportation and put the helicarrier into high alert.

Slingshot will sit in a plastic chair, and regenerate from it. he's running out of hitpoints. He'll talk to Aperture and catch him up as well as get a run down on what has happened to him.

Slingshot asks,"Ethan, You brought the artifacts back! Good job! What happened to you?!"

Slingshot explains to his son what happened in the short time he was away:"We figured the other heroes were under control, so we used Avatar's lightning powers to cause interference and block the control. While that happened, we ripped the control system out of their necks. They are all in the Medical center getting looked after."

Stephane/Slingshot

--------------------------------------------------

Aperture:
Aperture took a deep breath, “I’m not sure how he arrived, he surprised me as I was preparing to return here.  I didn’t see anyone with him, he was alone as far as I could tell, but he was after the artifacts.  He had some way of tracking them, and if he found me there, he’ll know they are here.”

Aperture relates his trip to the Salt Flats to Slingshot and anyone else who is listening.

“I’m glad you’re OK, where is mom?”

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
Scott frowned, "Mom should be good. She was taking care of the mainframe holding this boat afloat. I haven't checked on her, yet."

--------------------------------------------------

Menagerie:
OOC: I don't have the luck point needed to create the anti-teleportation barrier.

I am thinking based on the premise that Mystic is controlled by the disk maybe our scientist/engineer types could use the ones we have to create a feedback signal/charge/blast. That would short out the device in Mystic.

So we take the Artifacts and give one each to a Clone. The Clones stand in the center of the hanger with the artifacts. The rest of the Guardians spread out ready to attack Mystic when he appears.

Menagerie has his devitalization spell, So he could be prepared to hit Mystic with it as soon as he appeared. Slate hit Mystic with his Anti-Magic Cannon. Then while he is drain we could perform special attacks by Lightning Strike, Avatar, and the new device to short the controlling device. With 3 special attacks hopefully 1 will succeed to take the device out.

Last ditch would be the Clones using the artifacts to attack Mystic.

That is my idea, let me know what you think and modify as you think best.

Thanks
Tom

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
OOC: Tom! Ah crap.. You hit it on the head.

Man.. I totally missed that.

Did we use a Luck point for the setting up the electrical field?

--------------------------------------------------

Aperture:
OOC: I think we may be luck challenged.  I believe we already “paid” for the Anti-Magic Cannon, it was just a matter of time.  Which we ran out of.

If we get a moment to breath, and Aperture can heal up a little, he’ll get back to work on the cannon.

Jon

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
OOC: I should have one luck point left, I'll contribute it to the cause. This one works for me.

Stephane

--------------------------------------------------

Sentinel:
Kirk will go along with the plans and contribute and help as needed.

Quick question - recalling back to the original Swastika campaign (ie first case) - did he always need those  electronic devices?  Wasn't he able to possess some without using it?  Especially long term victims?

I'm wondering if Swastika can take victims over without it but the devices are used for him to allow others to take control like he did with the reserves... but I can't remember.

Seth


--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
OOC: IIRC, he was able to do it without the devices, but this increased the range and allowed for others to do so.

Vanguard: Issue 216: Triage

Onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, as emergency claxons blare, Sentinel succeeds in rousing Viper, who suddenly reels, surprised to find himself where he is. The big, brawling roughneck automatically grabs the back of his head and looks with pain and terror into the eyes of his former allies as he croaks, “… Body… farm!…”

“…Dr. Swastika is alive!... He’s using his Body Farm technology to have SKULL agents controlling us… I’ve been controlled for years!

“And that isn’t all… Swastika’s placed his own mind inside the body of the Mystic!

“Help us, Vanguard…. Help…”

Avatar grits his teeth and continues to jam the transmission, preserving the Vanguard Reserves’ free will. But how much longer can he hold out??? [OOC: another -5 to Power Points]

Sentinel wonders how Oracle didn’t see this future and then realizes that Vanguard had travelled back in time to retrieve the Ring of Eon. That disruption in time, where they had encountered the Ubermensch of 1943, who no doubt would have made a full report to their master, could have altered the timeline, sending ripples of disturbance through the long decades until today, obscuring the future in Oracle’s eyes. In fact, it was right after their time travelling journey to 1943 that Oracle suddenly wasn’t seen. Soon after that, Vanguard Vault was bombed by SKULL (in the now infamous Vanguard Issue 200!).

Sentinel sees no other choice and tells his team mates what must be done. “Jake my friend, I am so sorry.  We didn’t know!  So sorry we failed you and let this happen. There is so much to say, but we have no time.  In less than a minute and a half my friend Avatar will die and you and the Vanguard Reserves will fall back under the sway of Swastika and SKULL.  If Vanguard falls, the world dies in less than two days. I’m going to remove the control device.  I swear to you; I won’t let him control you again.”

Clone softly recites the Lord’s Prayer.

Slingshot grimly concurs. He examines the implant on the back of Viper’s neck with his expertise in robotics and engineering and realizes the insidious implants are unaffected by the World Storm because they are not using communication satellites. They receive mental transmissions, which Avatar can disrupt because brainwaves are electrical impulses.

Slingshot shares his findings.

“Get them out,” grunts Viper.  “Do it… I don’t care… I can’t go on like this… please… I’m begging you…”

Sentinel nods gravely and assumes the lotus position. He extends razor thin energy constructs the implant in Viper’s neck and quickly extracts it as Jake stifles a scream.

Clone rips one out from Talon’s neck in a burst of blood.

Slingshot gouges out an implant from Inhuman with his bare hand transformed into a scalpel.

Menagerie carves one from Forester with his animal claw!

[OOC: Next turn…]

Avatar grimaces in agony. [OOC: another -5 to Power Points]

Sentinel surgically removes the SKULL implant from Soldier.

Menagerie savagely claws the last one from Blue Comet.

The war room is soaked in crimson. The Vanguard Reserves are losing blood.

Viper manages a weak smile and says, “…thank you…” before he loses consciousness.


Actions?!?


Current Condition:

Avatar: Hit Points: 8, Power Points: 5, Manifestation: Hermes, Athena, Zeus
Clone: Bodies: 4/1, Hit Points: 1/6, Power Points: 63/67, Hit Point Pool: 13 (7/6) (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 63: Electrical form
Menagerie: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 60, Form: Honey Badger
Sentinel: Hit Points: 7, Power Points: 46, Creation Points: 100, Shields: 72%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 3, Power Points: 65, Invulnerability: 8, Damage that can’t be regenerated: 64!

Countdown:  43.4 hours until the End of the World.


--------------------------------------------------

Avatar:
Avatar stops the electrical interference and rests

--------------------------------------------------

Sentinel:
We need to stop the blood loss.  If any Vanguard has the skill to properly seal these wounds we do so.  If not perhaps Kirk can cause a temporary seal with his powers to stop the blood loss via small constructs and they can move the team to the medical facility of the ship to someone that can do so.  If that doesn't seem possible for some reason we can use something to cauterize the wounds.  I'd prefer medical treatment to do so if possible.

Assuming that no other attacks are eminent from another source at this point we can try to get power restored and aid in further stabilizing the ship.  We need communications and monitoring back online to be sure that the attacks are done, at least for now.

And we need to determine Slate's whereabouts with the artifacts, since it seems that Swastika can track them (makes sense and how else did he find us amidst the chaos of the world storm with us in motion).

Any chance we could use the devices taken from the Reserves to track Swastika and get the jump on him?

And just a comment on your in-issue comment about Oracle - she was more than not seen, she was listed as those found dead in the explosion.  She isn't missing at this point.  Or am I misunderstanding the situation and/or comment.

Best,
Seth

--------------------------------------------------

Menagerie:
He checked on Hip Hop. Menagerie will use his claws to rip out Doctor Swastika's device out of Hip Hop.
Then he changes into a rat. He enters the vent he hid in. He retrieves Hip Hop cell phone he had hidden.

Menagerie returned to Vanguard with it. Menagerie takes the form of a man.  "Hip Hop was using this to track the artifacts.  We can use it to lead us to Slate and where he is hiding them".

Viva Vanguard
Tom

--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
Not pretty.

Can Nan help here? She has some healing ability.

There are multiple type of foams that can block blood loss. (http://www.medicaldaily.com/life-saving-sprayable-foam-stops-trauma-wounds-bleeding-340454). Wondering if we would have something like that on the helicarrier.

[ooc]I've always wanted to do what comes next.. [/ooc]  Slingshot Inhales and prepares to project his voice and yells out, "MEDIC!!!"

Slingshot will use his maleability to put pressure on as many wounds as possible (extending a finger to each and plugging the wounds), Hopefully he'll plug them all.

Slingshot will keep all these receptor/to study for later.

Stephane

--------------------------------------------------

Menagerie:
Before Menagerie changes to retrieve Hip Hop's cell phone.  He checked on Hip Hop. Menagerie will use his claws to rip out Doctor Swastika's device out of Hip Hop.

OOC: Jeff once that is done use my previous email about Menagerie retrieving the artifacts tracker he took from Hip Hop.

Best
Tom


--------------------------------------------------

Clone:
Three of the four Clone duplicates split into additional duplicates (OOC: three more duplicates if possible) as they all scrabble desperately to help the bleeding Vanguard Reservist. Ripping sleeves off of uniforms and applying direct pressure to the gaping wounds in their necks, they do all that they can to keep them from dying.

The fourth Clone races to Avatar's side to check on his old friends condition and to provide him with whatever First Aid he might require. "Be hanging in there, Comrade Avatar. I am being here to be of help to you!" he says as he accidentally bumps into Avatar and causes the 'Master of Myth and Might' to wince in rage at his replicating rescuer.


--------------------------------------------------

Vanguard: Issue 215: Horror From the Past!

Avatar, barely conscious, looks at his grievously wounded team mates and his pupiless eyes land on Slingshot. He says with the godly intellect of Athena: “Our only hope is that the puppet masters be stopped. Brainwaves are electrical impulses. We must jam the transmission. If Lightning Strike or Symbiote were here, perhaps they could do it. Since, they are not, I have no recourse but to try!”
With the powers of Zeus, Avatar electrifies the air with everchanging modulations in an attempt to locate the frequency the puppetmasters are using, and jam their bioelectric transmissions! Lightning arcs from his flesh as he cries out from the mental and physical effort! SHA-KA-KOW!

All the Vanguard communicators short out!
Soldier’s bionic systems and arrows in Forester’s quiver begin to spark and flare!
All electrical equipment in the room that is powered, shorts out!

All the Vanguard reservists suddenly go limp in midair, like puppets who have just had their strings cut!

But Avatar must continue to concentrate, must continue to jam the bioelectric transmission (i.e.: spend every action doing this), or else the puppetmasters will regain control!

Suddenly, everyone crashes to the floor as gravity is restored! Lightning Strike and Symbiote are powering the Omni-Carrier engines with their own electrical blasts (and must continue to do so) while Nemesis and Nanite, interfacing with the ship’s mainframe computers, have ordered the engines to re-activate!

Power comes back on across the ship, except for the Meeting Room (M-1) where Avatar’s EMP shorted it all out!
It’s 4:17am EST.

Avatar concentrates with all his might to continue to jam the puppetmasters’ transmission! (costs his action and 4 PP to do this for 15 more seconds, during which, this transpires…)

Another minute and a half of this exertion and Avatar will be dead! (see Current Conditions!)

Sentinel ponders the possibility of some magical or technological virus that could follow the ‘mind control transmission’ back to its source, and infect it. He and Menagerie know it would require time to develop, study, and invent. They’re not yet sure how long such a thing could take to create, or even if it would be possible. And could it be done while Avatar was jamming the transmission?

As they consider that, the golden age hero tries to awaken the limp, unconscious members of the Vanguard Reserves to question them.

Slingshot instinctively turns to his son Aperture to ask him for advice and aid, and suddenly realizes he’s gone, and so are the Artifacts of Power! (see last issue)
He tries to raise him on his communicator and discovers it was fried by Avatar’s electromagnetic pulse!
The malleable man of might absorbs some console plastic that was also slagged by the EMP of Zeus’ power (gains 2 hit points), as he considers his next move!

Clone absorbs his unconscious duplicates, and searches the Vanguard reservists for devices that could be controlling their minds. He starts at the back of the neck and finds something right away! A small steel implant, at the base of the neck, on every reservist!

Sentinel succeeds in rousing Viper, who suddenly reels, surprised to find himself where he is. The big, brawling roughneck automatically grabs the back of his head and looks with pain and terror into the eyes of his former allies as he croaks, “… Body… farm!…”

Sentinel and Slingshot remember, even though they wish they didn’t.


Flashback! From Vanguard: Issue 19!

In their first mission together, Forester, Lightning Strike, Sentinel, Slingshot and Viper had been defeated by the Ubermensch, aboard the colossal cyborg Star Giant!

Darkness. And then the grey twilight sense of slow awakening and dawning realization.

Our heroes awoke in tube-like booths of clear glass. The tubes were human sized and each held one hero. The room was vast and filled with more of the anachronistic, fantastic technology. Arrayed in a circle, the heroes could see each other, and that there were dozens of other booths as well! One held what appeared to be the superhero Aquon, who was motionless and silent, almost sleeping.
Another booth held the supervillain Ratman, one of the fearsome Destroyers, now motionless as if in hibernation.
Another booth held someone that Sentinel recognized: Miles Hudson, also dormant.
There were other booths as well. One held a US senator!
But Sgt. Stone and Agent Grey were not immediately apparent.

Only our heroes seemed to be awake, but even they could not move. Each was paralyzed from the neck down!  An insidious, green energy beam emanated from the back of the stasis booth and touched their spines at the neck. (They could see this beam in every other booth but their own of course.)

The heroes also felt weak. But they could speak if they desired.

In the center of this large circle of stasis booths was equipment that connected the booths all together in a central nexus hub of futuristic technology and equipment. Atop that nexus was a final stasis tube, smaller than the others and in that, a human head floated in clear liquid. It was the head of Dr. Swastika! The head was alive!

Swastika was not alone. A swarm of SKULL technicians, scientists and soldiers with Baroness Von Zero, Panzer, Aryan and U-Man (the last two visibly injured and angry) were present in the great chamber.

The Nazi super-scientist looked at the heroes and said: ‘”Ah. You are all awake. Good.” Wires sprouted from the head’s bald pate, and its voice was transmitted through a speaker in the nexus hub.
“Soon you will be prepared for your final purpose… to service me forever with your likenesses and your formidable powers!”

The heroes were trapped in the body farm of Dr. Swastika!

End flashback!

Viper groaned, “…Dr. Swastika is alive!... He’s using his Body Farm technology to have SKULL agents controlling us…. I’ve been controlled for years!

“And that isn’t all… Swastika’s placed his own mind inside the body of the Mystic!

“Help us, Vanguard…. Help…”


Actions?!? 


Current Condition: 
Avatar: Hit Points: 8, Power Points: 15, Manifestation: Hermes, Athena, Zeus
Clone: Bodies: 4/1, Hit Points: 1/6, Power Points: 64/67, Hit Point Pool: 13 (7/6) (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 63: Electrical form
Menagerie: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 62, Form: Man
Sentinel: Hit Points: 7, Power Points: 50, Creation Points: 100, Shields: 72%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 3, Power Points: 65, Invulnerability: 8, Damage that can’t be regenerated: 64!

Countdown:  43.5 hours until the End of the World.


--------------------------------------------------

Slingshot:
OOC: Holy crap..

Can't leave any loose ends.. they all seem to come back and bite you in the ass!

Wow.

--------------------------------------------------

Menagerie:

Wow indeed.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't I got to talk about it. Hopefully this is enough warning.


!!SPOILER!!


Does anyone remember how to destroy those devices? I think cutting them out will be too slow and will hurt the hosts but I could be wrong.

I keep raking my brain but I can't think of anything Menagerie's powers can help with.

Here is the best I can come up with. If anyone can think of something different or better let me know.

Jeff, what is Menagerie's Luck Point total? How long to invent a new spell or a variant of a previous one shot?

I am thinking of the opposite of my Teleportation barrier spell. That spell blocked unnatural movement. This spell would do the opposite it would expel unnatural items from the body. Hopefully none of these Skull captured heroes have pacemakers too.

I would pay triple the costs of the spell in PP to accelerate the casting process.I open to anything, appearance of Archimedes' ghost, lost of powers in the attempt, gaining of weaknesses, sacrificing Menagerie to save Avatar, Vanguard, and the World! (Of course, I would want to roll up a new character).

I am thinking of this as a one shot Hail Mary spell attempt. Let me know what kind of wiggle room to make this a one turn attempt.

 Whatever GM Madness you can think of .

Loving this issue and storyline. It is fantastic!

Thanks
Tom

--------------------------------------------------

GM:
OOC: Hi Tom,

Thanks!

Unfortunately, Menagerie is down to 0.5 Luck Points, having spent his last full point in Issue 206.

He can't invent a spell to get him out of this one.

What else you got, my friend?  :)  :D

Best,
Jeff

--------------------------------------------------

Avatar:
OOC: Whatever we do, people, we better do it fast!  Avatar is about done through accumulation of injuries and exhaustion from PR expenditure for various things.  Need some time to rest.

--------------------------------------------------

Sentinel:
OOC: I think I have this but wanted to post in character with Kirk's reaction to this revelation and this situation.  This is yet another blow to hit him hard.  Frankly I don't see Kirk surviving this mission at this point even if we somehow pull this off and if so he will be forever changed and not for the better.

Bottom line is Kirk is doing surgery here and now.  We know the devices were removed by Chess last time around, he hopes that Swastika hasn't changed them so that removal kills the victims or that his method of forceful removal will do that.

He will use his heightened energy senses to focus on the line between where the aura of the hero and the aura of the device meet as his guide.  He will endeavor as best he can to use his energy construct to follow that line and in essence, cut around the device.  Once encircled by his energy he will either crush that device or remove it.  His energy can cut through the skin following directed by his energy sense and then it should be strong enough to crush it if necessary or remove it.  Whatever works.  I pictured him closing his eyes and his body in almost meditative stance as he concentrates to get this done.  Sight isn't going to matter here... concentration and focusing his unique senses and his will guiding his energies will.
Sadly I doubt it will be as precise a job as he'd like because he has less than a minute and a half to get this done on all of the heroes because they cannot become active again under Skulls influence.  Vanguard won't survive in their current state and the world dies after they do if this isn't done.

It is the best chance we have of saving the Vanguard Reserves that I see.  If anyone else has any means to remove the devices please do so.  Only other option I thought was if  Aperture were around he could teleport them to the other side of the planet for the time being to buy time, but they'd just be back and he isn't here. At least this gives them and Vanguard a chance to survive.

And it has to be done before Avatar makes the ultimate sacrifice here which even that wouldn't matter if they revert back to their controlled selves.

If anyone else has other alternates that we can work in the next minute I'm all for it, but Kirk is starting to move immediately on this.

I hope to write it up in character.

And to emphasize this is comments of Seth the player here and not Kirk in any way especially from here on:
Seth totally out of character comments on this mess:

Jeff - if Kirk doesn't have a shot at this I see no other option myself here that will even remotely allow Vanguard to continue operating as heroes (ie we simply cannot allow the reserves to be taken over again - if it happens Vanguard will be beaten by them here and now and the world dies - the only option would have to be  for the reserves to be killed in their current state or beaten to the point of death so that they were incapacitated - not even remotely the act of a hero - it would be a horrific act of evil no one could ever recover from even if they could bring themselves to do it out of necessity).

Seth


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Slingshot:
OOC:
1) I'm thinking along the same lines as Sentinel.

I'm an engineer with robotics and computers background. There are two ways of getting around this, rip the whole thing out or just disable the comms part of it. Right now we are blocking the antenna/comm links through Avatar.

If Sentinel can "see" more details and he's sharing his thoughts about his actions, if he focused on disabling the antenna parts, without ripping out the whole thing and potentially hurting the heroes.

I'll do my best to assist as well - If there's anything I can think of to disable the comms (is there an antenna?) or help rip them out in as human way as possible?

2) I'm still struggling to understand how are these things working with the world wide storms taking any communications being down. Does it mean that they are close by (the controllers?) or does it mean that they have a special configuration to avoid the comms problem?

Can I roll some form of skill to see what I can come up with. Depending on the results, I'm willing to use up my last luck point on this.

Stephane

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Menagerie:
Menagerie will stay in Honey badger form. He will assist in ripping out antennas or entire devices as he can. He is all about saving Avatar. He will get them out in a quick and dirty manner if he has to.

"I helping get these things out. Hang on Avatar!" Menagerie thought sent to Vanguard. "Let me know who I should remove the device from first."

Best
Tom

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Sentinel:
OOC:
Didn't get to pen the 'in character' response by the deadline... which is too bad.  But Kirk is more than willing to cooperate with Slingshot or anyone else that can make this process work better and/or less evasive/dangerous.  That was why I thought perhaps encircling and crushing the devices within via his energies might be an option as opposed to blunt ripping them out... and I figured at least Kirk using his energies could remove in the least traumatic way.  But I am open to whatever will work here.

Thanks.

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Sentinel:

OOC: Blame Jeff kiddies (for the extension that allowed this)...

A long overdue 'in character' Kirk posting with the inner angst, revelation, and long-windedness you have grown to love  (or is it hate... I know for sure which one with Tony!).

Word document version also attached which might be easier to read.  I recommend using it as it makes the thought separation clearer.

IC:
The big, brawling roughneck automatically grabs the back of his head and looks with pain and terror into the eyes of his former allies as he croaks, “… Body… farm!…”

Before the rush of memories with those two words... he knew!  He knew, and it was far worse than anything he had imagined.  He had tried to prepare for Swastika’s return, looked for his presence… to the point of no longer discussing it because he feared his teammates would think him obsessed (and he knew some did anyway) but even he had never thought it was this far.  That Swastika was still using a Body Farm and even worse that it involved their own.

It happened again.  And this time ON HIS WATCH.  TO HIS TEAM.
While others might have gloated in the revelation, had some sense of satisfaction or feelings of vindication in being right when no one else believed, there was nothing.
Instead, if he had even the slightest hope of undoing all of this, of righting the course of events and saving the life they all knew, it dissipated with those words.

He couldn’t understand how Oracle would not have seen this.  Until now her being dead didn’t matter…  he felt she could have pulled them back before she died giving them the opportunity to do things differently this time, as she had last time.  Or they would have found some other way.  They always did.  He thought they always would.
But somehow, now, that had changed.  His sense or heroic lore and the pathways of the heroes that he knew from his childhood onward, second to none, now told him it was done.  He had seen the patterns as this crisis began… how everything from their first mission onward seemed to be entwined in the current happenings as if heading to a final resolution or universal change, all the players returning for one final appearance before the final act.  As if some universal force, some master of the game called life was pushing them in one direction that none of them had the power to alter.

And he knew something else, whatever was to come, he couldn’t be part of a world that removed free will and as long as he existed, he would fight that with all of his being.  The entity they knew as Swastika, whatever he truly was, with his agenda could not, would not, stand.  Not as long as Kirk had any life, any conscious existence left.  The Sentinel simply would not allow it.

“Jake my friend, I am so sorry.  We didn’t know!  So sorry we failed you and let this happen.  There is so much to say, but we have no time.  In less than a minute and a half my friend Avatar will die and you and the Vanguard Reserves will fall back under the sway of Swastika and SKULL.  If Vanguard falls, the world dies in less than two days. I’m going to remove the control device.  I swear to you; I won’t let him control you again.”
And he added, “and I promise you that the threat of that blight against all existence will see its demise too.”
He knew that Viper wouldn’t want to continue as a puppet, a helpless observer as his body served another. He hoped Viper would grant him a signal that he agreed to what he was about to do.  Sadly, he knew that whatever Viper’s feelings, the device and the control of SKULL had to come to its end.  And that had to happen for all the Reserves, and before Vanguard lost Avatar.
And he said to Vanguard, “No matter what, those devices have to be out of the Reserves before we lose Avatar… NO MATTER WHAT.”

As Kirk was speaking he assumed the lotus position, hovering and concentrating on the form of Viper.  He closed his eyes as if his sight was a distraction and began to map the area surrounding him, perceiving it from the view of his sixth sense, his energy sense.  At an exacting level he was mapping where Viper the man ended and where that damnable device began.  At a microscopic level he saw where they were interacting and when he believed (hoped) he had it, on that same level he used his energy to begin encircling the device, performing surgery, cutting a path around it, separating it from his friend.  Once he had the device, felt exactly where it was and weaved his energy around it, he began to exert his power against it.  He hoped to crush that horror out of existence or if necessary extract it.  However, he could do it, it would no longer be controlling his friend.
Kirk will move on to the other RESERVES to assist them as needed if his teammates need him to do so.

Best,
Seth


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Clone:
Hearing Sentinel’s heartfelt apology to Viper, Clone looks down remorsefully at his old friend Talon and bows his head. Making the sign of the cross upon himself, he begins to softly recite The Lords Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done . . . *Yank*! With one quick motion, Clone had pulled as hard as he could on Talon’s SKULL implant device.

[OOC: From the replies, I only recall Sentinel and Menagerie attempting to remove a SKULL implant – if need be, any of the other three Clones will remove any others that need to be removed. The duplicate(s) will act in unison with Clone (e.g. kneeling, praying, etc.)]

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Aperture:
Looking at the fires in the distance, Aperture takes stock of the objects of power, fingering the orb in his pouch, the dagger at his waist.  Copying Soldier's nanotech, he changes his power to regeneration,  and rests, getting his strength back.

If he can do this with his saved action, all the better.  Once he is up to full strength, he'll switch his power to flight, and shoots into the sky like a comet, using his enhanced comprehension to calculate the location of the hover carrier, based on it's previous location, speed, and direction.

He'll head that way scanning as he goes, prepared to rejoin his team mates, or to destroy their enemies.

Jon

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Vanguard: Issue 214: Battle For (the Artifacts of ) Power!

A badly injured Vanguard faces off against its former members, and Hip Hop, aboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier as it plummets out of the sky!

(OOC: Map: Every square = 5 feet or 1” in game scale.
Right hand outer wall has portholes.
Left hand ‘outer’ wall has 4 doors into other side of the Omni-Carrier.
E=Industrial elevator
Lower left hand corner is a nuclear missile silo)

Suddenly, everyone’s feet leave the floor! The deck has achieved zero gravity due to the free fall speeds of the plummeting CHESS Omni-Carrier!
(OOC: If you can’t fly, your speed is quartered as you push off walls and ceilings. All muscle-powered projectiles have ¼ range for purpose of Accuracy)

Slingshot yells to Doc Monster: “"Damnit! You are right! They are our friends! We need to help them! But I don't know how they are being controlled! We need to cut them off from the possession or whatever the connection is to the SKULL puppeteers! Any suggestions? Mystical? Scientific?”

Avatar nods in agreement. Hovering weightlessly, he manifests the wisdom of Athena and says, “You’re correct. We’ll not outhammer this foe. Nor would we want to. We must outsmart SKULL. Break this connection. But how?”

Slingshot says, “If Lightning Strike were here, I’d say EMP the room!”

But Lightning Strike was busy saving the lives of everyone on the plummeting Omni-Carrier, by trying to recharge her massive engines!

Avatar, eyes white and otherworldly, has an idea, borne of the wisdom of Athena. He summons the heavenly powers of Zeus and looks visibly weakened from the exertion of pushing his powers to their limit! “Perhaps… there is… another way…”

Clone uses his saved action to Evade!

Aperture recalibrates his nanotech, coding a new power: Teleportation! Then he miraculously transmits himself inside of Sentinel’s energy sphere, with Sentinel, Hip Hop and the Artifacts of Power!

Blue Comet cries, “Plan B!” and fires flames at the nearest hero, Avatar! VROOOSH!!! (9 points of damage. Rolls with 4 and takes 5 from hit points.)

Viper leaps at Slingshot with a roundhouse punch! KRAK! (12 points of damage. Rolls with 8. Takes 4 from hits.) “I can’t get over this! I’m a young man again! Serve SKULL! Sanctify SKULL! Immortality is the reward to any soldier who embraces Death in the sacred service of SKULL!”
Slingshot flies back weightlessly, almost slamming into the wall behind him!

Talon flies at an evading Clone with his deadly, razor sharp claws and misses him!

Forester, still scowling about his “meager” powers, deftly fires another deadly exploding arrow into a crowd of heroes! Phoooo! KA-BOOM! Slingshot, Sentinel and one Clone are caught in the blast! The other Clone successfully evades.
(12 points of damage each. Sentinel’s shields take 12 points. The hit Clone is knocked out. The explosion counts as heat damage for Slingy’s Vulnerability and he takes double damage. After rolling with 7, he has 1 hit point left!)
Slingshot is on the ropes and one Clone is down!

Soldier says, “That’s it, people! These mooks ain’t so tough!” As he fires his isometric smart pistol at Aperture! BLAM! BLAM! (Sentinel’s damaged shields fail to protect him and Aperture is hit for 17 points of damage. Rolls with 6 and takes 11 from hit points)

Menagerie, in rat form, hiding in the ventilation ducts, telepathically speaks to his fellow members of Vanguard, "Hip Hop's device is an artifact tracking!" He shamanic shapeshift hides the cell phone in the duct work where it won't be found and returns to the fight, transforming into a fearless Honey Badger! (adds minor Invulnerability)

Sentinel wills his energy construct to silently form a club-like pseudopod out of the sphere wall behind Hip Hop, and bludgeon the young teleporter into unconsciousness. WHAM!
Hip Hop, badly battered by Slingshot earlier, collapses and hovers in zero G weightlessness.

Clone’s four remaining bodies attack the enemies nearest to them with their battle staffs! Two hit, striking Forester and Inhuman soundly. KRAK! WHACK! Both “heroes” still stand!

Aperture sees that Hip Hop is unconscious. The young hero quickly collects all the artifacts of power in Sentinel’s energy sphere and teleports out with them! Where? No one knows!

Dr. Monster, still holding his head from Inhuman’s attack, cries out and falls unconscious, hovering in midair!

Inhuman smirks at Doc Monster and says, “Serve SKULL, traitor. Serve SKULL!”
Then he looks at the nearest Clone and says, “You’re next Russkie,” and attempts to seize control over the water inside the body of the nearest evading Clone, and misses!

Blue Comet fires again at Avatar, laughing, “Burn, baby, burn!” VROOOSSHHH!!!  (10 points of damage. Avatar rolls with 2 and takes 8 from hit points!)

Avatar, barely conscious, looks at his grievously wounded team mates and his pupiless eyes land on Slingshot. He says with the godly intellect of Athena: “Our only hope is that the puppet masters be stopped. Brainwaves are electrical impulses. We must jam the transmission. If Lightning Strike or Symbiote were here, perhaps they could do it. Since, they are not, I have no recourse but to try!”  (OOC: Avatar will spend 2 Luck Points on the following one shot invention…)

With the powers of Zeus, Avatar electrifies the air with everchanging modulations in an attempt to locate the frequency the puppetmasters are using, and jam their bioelectric transmissions! Lightning arcs from his flesh as he cries out from the mental and physical effort! SHA-KA-KOW!

All the Vanguard communicators short out!
Soldier’s bionic systems and arrows in Forester’s quiver begin to spark and flare!
All electrical equipment in the room that is powered, shorts out!

All the Vanguard reservists suddenly go limp in midair, like puppets who have just had their strings cut!

But Avatar must continue to concentrate, must continue to jam the bioelectric transmission (i.e.: spend every action doing this), or else the puppetmasters will regain control!

Suddenly, everyone crashes to the floor as gravity is restored! Lightning Strike and Symbiote are powering the Omni-Carrier engines with their own electrical blasts (and must continue to do so) while Nemesis and Nanite, interfacing with the ship’s mainframe computers, have ordered the engines to re-activate!

Power comes back on across the ship, except for the Meeting Room (M-1) where Avatar’s EMP shorted it all out!
It’s 4:17am EST.

Actions?!?

Meanwhile:
The transmission of Aperture’s molecules ends at the Salt Flats, where they, and those of the artifacts of power, reassemble.

It’s 1:17am PST and Aperture sees lights on the distant horizon. Fires.

Actions?


Current Conditions: 
Aperture: Hit Points: 14, Power Points: 49, Nanotech: Teleportation
Avatar: Hit Points: 8, Power Points: 20, Manifestation: Hermes, Athena, Zeus
Clone: Bodies: 4/1, Hit Points: 1/6, Power Points: 65/67, Hit Point Pool: 13 (7/6) (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 63: Electrical form
Menagerie: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 62, Form: Honey Badger, Invulnerability: 5
Sentinel: Hit Points: 7, Power Points: 51, Creation Points: 102, Shields: 72%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 1, Power Points: 67, Invulnerability: 0 til Issue 215, Damage that can’t be regenerated: 64!

Countdown:  43.7 hours until the End of the World.


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Sentinel:
OOC: Ok, how about a quick out of the box thought.  If I have it straight we have a brief reprieve here which is taking its toll on Avatar and burning him out before the Reserves lose their free will again.

Aside from free talk from what they can tell us how about the possibility of uploading a virus along the transmission that is being used to control them.  I know that Kirk has a certain intimate knowledge of Soldier's Nanites and their working perhaps it might be a combo of a computer (scientific) virus and magical energy.  Although we are sadly lacking Aperature at this point Kirk has a high skill on the computer end and he is versed in magical energies and its workings and we have Menagerie's powers and knowledge to combine with it.  The virus would be of some design to undo what is being done with them and perhaps could even crawl into their other systems unknowingly sabotaging Skull's efforts in some other ways.

Does anything like that sound possible?

And what can we get from them about how this is happening and any further Skull plans... or who is behind it (yes, I know they will likely come out of it remembering nothing but I had to ask - perhaps Kirk could even lock in to their thoughts to see if he can read residue of anything more).

And I'm open to any other ideas here from the team for sure as part of this or alternative.

Seth

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Aperture:
IC: Aperture fights an almost uncontrollable desire to open a portal to the Digital Zone.  He can’t determine if it’s his own desire to let someone else take responsibility, or something in his programming that draws him to IT.  He fights the urge and turns to face the fires in the distance, their dancing light reflected in his metal eyes.

Unwilling to change his power in the event he needs to get out quickly, Aperture quickly takes stock of the artifacts, ensuring they are secure on his person, in one of his pouches, or the leather Indiana Jones style satchel he has taken to carrying.  All except for the Spear of Destiny, which he holds as a weapon if needed.

Aperture will attempt to use his communicator to contact Lightning Strike or Symbiote to see how things are going on the carrier.

OOC: Saves action

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Slingshot:
OOC: Sorry.. busy couple of weeks on the home side as well as the work side.

I'm really on the ropes.. 1 hit point? 64 HP I can't regenerate? Ouch. I need a break.

First things first, If avatar needs to keep the jamming up, we need to look at what's allowing them to take control.

I would ask for Aperture to see if he can change his powers to a form or scanning where he can focus on the reservists and "see" if he can find the device that they are tapping into.

Then we can focus on fixing them.

I'm willing to use any skills I have to help.

If not, I'll absorb whatever plastic is on hand to regenerate whatever I can and keep an eye on the reservists.

Stephane


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Clone:
IC: The Clones that are still standing quickly reabsorb their unconscious doppelgangers, as they make their way towards the Omni-Carrier's unconscious 'Intruders'. They understand that Avatar's electric blast must have disabled whatever device was allowing them to be controlled, and they begin searching frantically for any signs of a foreign or unusual device on any of them.

OOC: If Clone locates any odd devices on any of the unconscious 'heroes', he will immediately let the other members of Vanguard know and ask for their guidance on what to do with it/them.

Clone will begin his search on the 'heroes' necks - he's watched entirely too many sci-fi movies not to start his search there lol,

That was a really crazy little brawl - I was almost worried that it wasn't going to work out for us.

-Kev

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Menagerie:
Menagerie will use in Intelligence and Charisma to help the rest of Vanguard figure out how to break the hold that Skull has on the original Vanguard Heroes. He will assist Kirk with his plan to create Magical Computer Virus out of Soldier's Nanites.

Best
Tom

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Avatar:
Avatar will keep doing what he is doing until the rest of the team comes to some consensus.


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