Comet saw the masks and completely froze! Falling through the hole in his memory, the Comet suddenly flashbacked to the day of his arrest, back when he was Tornado Man:
Tornado Man, the disaffected, disgruntled ex-superhero, was so down on his luck and in 
need of cash that he agreed to be hired by known criminal, Jim Harrik, aka The Mercenary, to rob the federal reserve in New York City. Turned out that Tornado Man was part of a team of mercenary supervillains Harrik recruited just for this job. They included Elemento, Blackout, Shockwave, Gangrene (aka Ray Argo) and Harrik.
The job went down according to plan, but during the heist, Tornado Man discovered what Harrik was really up to: a plot to destroy the federal reserve’s gold and the credit history of everyone in the USA, bringing the world economy to its knees! Then SKULL, Harrik’s secret employer, would move in and take over in the ensuing anarchy. Tornado Man vaguely knew that SKULL was a worldwide subversive, semi-occultic organization dedicated to global domination.
A bank job was one thing, but bringing down the USA was something else! Tornado Man was about to turn the tables on Harrik and his gang of mercs, when the Freedom Force showed up. The FF saved the day, prevented economic armageddon, and arrested everyone except The Mercenary, who escaped in the battle. Tornado Man went to jail, where he later learned…
BZZAT! One of the SKULL agents on the Weapons Deck fired a futuristic energy pistol at the Comet. The red beam hit his chest ( 9 hit points damage! ) snapping him out of his flashback.
“An intruder,” the SKULL agent snarled. “Kill him!”
The Sentinel, meanwhile, recreates the gigantic Sentinel construct, layer by layer, and positioned himself and it between the Robot and the innocents exiting the zeppelin. The fingers on the left hand of the giant gestures towards the Doomsday Robot, in effect waving him closer and telling him to bring it on! "Is that the best you've got? And here I thought this was going to be a challenge!"
The Doomsday Robot, a gaping hole in its head, leans back and raises its terrible titanic fist again, poised to attack Sentinel. Then, suddenly, it flies straight up and fires its sonic screamer! RRRRRROOOOOOOOAARRRRRRRR!!!!
The feint allowed the Robot to fire around Sentinel, hitting the zeppelin squarely! The British aircraft disintegrates!
Viper and Grey leapt off the dislodged disembarkation tube in the nick of time, each with two passengers in their arms, including Doc Rocket! All the passengers were now safe on the observation deck! Or as safe as was possible while still in the shadow of the terrifying Doomsday Robot! The crowd of innocents stampeded to the exits!
Grey looked at Viper’s disguise’s disguise. “Incognito, huh?” Then: “They’d be only too happy to kill Doc here,” answering Viper’s original question.
“I’m afraid it’s true, my good man,” said the elderly Englishman. Viper noticed for the first time that Doc Rocket was holding a large package in his hand. It was wrapped in brown paper and twine.
“But we’d better get into the building anyhow,” added Grey, as he squinted up at the twin titans. “We’re sitting ducks out here.”
Doc and Grey followed the fedora-sporting Viper into the crush of panicked humanity. No use. The crowd was too large for the exits. It would take agonizing minutes to get Doc off the roof!
need of cash that he agreed to be hired by known criminal, Jim Harrik, aka The Mercenary, to rob the federal reserve in New York City. Turned out that Tornado Man was part of a team of mercenary supervillains Harrik recruited just for this job. They included Elemento, Blackout, Shockwave, Gangrene (aka Ray Argo) and Harrik.The job went down according to plan, but during the heist, Tornado Man discovered what Harrik was really up to: a plot to destroy the federal reserve’s gold and the credit history of everyone in the USA, bringing the world economy to its knees! Then SKULL, Harrik’s secret employer, would move in and take over in the ensuing anarchy. Tornado Man vaguely knew that SKULL was a worldwide subversive, semi-occultic organization dedicated to global domination.
A bank job was one thing, but bringing down the USA was something else! Tornado Man was about to turn the tables on Harrik and his gang of mercs, when the Freedom Force showed up. The FF saved the day, prevented economic armageddon, and arrested everyone except The Mercenary, who escaped in the battle. Tornado Man went to jail, where he later learned…
BZZAT! One of the SKULL agents on the Weapons Deck fired a futuristic energy pistol at the Comet. The red beam hit his chest ( 9 hit points damage! ) snapping him out of his flashback.
“An intruder,” the SKULL agent snarled. “Kill him!”
The Sentinel, meanwhile, recreates the gigantic Sentinel construct, layer by layer, and positioned himself and it between the Robot and the innocents exiting the zeppelin. The fingers on the left hand of the giant gestures towards the Doomsday Robot, in effect waving him closer and telling him to bring it on! "Is that the best you've got? And here I thought this was going to be a challenge!"
The Doomsday Robot, a gaping hole in its head, leans back and raises its terrible titanic fist again, poised to attack Sentinel. Then, suddenly, it flies straight up and fires its sonic screamer! RRRRRROOOOOOOOAARRRRRRRR!!!!
The feint allowed the Robot to fire around Sentinel, hitting the zeppelin squarely! The British aircraft disintegrates!
Viper and Grey leapt off the dislodged disembarkation tube in the nick of time, each with two passengers in their arms, including Doc Rocket! All the passengers were now safe on the observation deck! Or as safe as was possible while still in the shadow of the terrifying Doomsday Robot! The crowd of innocents stampeded to the exits!
Grey looked at Viper’s disguise’s disguise. “Incognito, huh?” Then: “They’d be only too happy to kill Doc here,” answering Viper’s original question.
“I’m afraid it’s true, my good man,” said the elderly Englishman. Viper noticed for the first time that Doc Rocket was holding a large package in his hand. It was wrapped in brown paper and twine.
“But we’d better get into the building anyhow,” added Grey, as he squinted up at the twin titans. “We’re sitting ducks out here.”
Doc and Grey followed the fedora-sporting Viper into the crush of panicked humanity. No use. The crowd was too large for the exits. It would take agonizing minutes to get Doc off the roof!
Lightning Strike, still in “electricial form,” shouts to the rest of the heroes over the Doomsday Robot's exterior PA system: "Get those people out of here! I will try to get this mechanical monster out of the area."
Lightning Strike engages the Navigation/ Flight System. But rather than short it out, he triggers it and forces the Robot to fly away from the area, where the team can attempt to disable it at a safe distance! The leg jets of the mighty iron leviathan activate. White-hot fire roars and the Robot takes off, hurtling at impossible speeds, up, up and away from the city, away from innocents that can be harmed!
The passengers on the observation deck cheer as the Robot hurtles toward the Statue of Liberty!
The passengers on the observation deck cheer as the Robot hurtles toward the Statue of Liberty!
The Blue Comet is buffeted about the inside of the Weapons Deck of the wildly accelerating Doomsday Robot. The SKULL agents are still strapped into their chairs. Then the ship stabilizes and Comet springs into action!
The walls of the Weapons Deck are covered in technology. In the 10’ x 10’ space, there are three consoles, a ladder leading up into a tunnel, and a hatch in the floor!
Comet blasts the floor hatch to bits with his cyan flames and flies down a shaft that ends in another hatch door. The Comet blows it apart and zooms into the Command Deck of the Doomsday Robot! There are five SKULL agents on deck! But before any can react, Comet’s blinding speed whirls him around the 20’ x 20’ foot chamber. The walls have large viewer screens showing the outside, in every direction from the Robot. Comet sees another ladder up and another hatch down.
“It’s not working, captain!” shouted the agent at the flight control console, which was currently sparking and smoking!
“Kill him! In the name of SKULL!” commands the captain of the Doomsday Robot, with a finger pointed at the Comet. But in the wink of an eye, the Comet destroys another floor hatch and descends deeper into the bowels of the man made monster. After another short tunnel, Comet bursts into the Engineering Deck!
Three SKULL agents, surprised by his sudden arrival, are too slow to prevent the Blue Comet from firing repeatedly upon the Doomsday Robot’s mighty engines. BARAK-KA-BOOOOM!
The explosion knocked Comet and the agents back! The engines were severely damaged from the fiery onslaught! Systems are shutting down across the fantastic vehicle. Comet felt the Robot starting to descend!
The Captain of the Doomsday Robot calmly listened to his men’s reports:
“Engine power is gone, my master!”
“We’ve no control over navigation and flight systems, my master!”
“Enough!” barked the captain. He switched on the intercom. Lightning Strike and Comet could hear every terrible word. “This is the captain! Blow all hatches!” he roared. “All hands, abandon ship!” Sirens sounded across the Doomsday Robot.
A calm, robotic voice said: “The ship will self destruct in ten seconds… nine… eight…”
The captain said: “The mission remains! Kill Doc Rocket! And serve SKULL!!!”
The Agents of SKULL abandoned ship with their jetpacks! The Comet watched the three in engineering leap out of the blown wall-hatch, activate jet packs, and take off!
13 SKULL soldiers with jet packs come pouring out of the abandoned hulk of the Doomsday Robot like a horde of flying vermin. They have futuristic pistols in their fists. The suicidal soldiers of SKULL are screaming maniacally, chanting:
“Serve SKULL! Sanctify SKULL! Immortality is the reward to any soldier who embraces Death in the sacred service of SKULL!”
13 SKULL soldiers with jet packs come pouring out of the abandoned hulk of the Doomsday Robot like a horde of flying vermin. They have futuristic pistols in their fists. The suicidal soldiers of SKULL are screaming maniacally, chanting:
“Serve SKULL! Sanctify SKULL! Immortality is the reward to any soldier who embraces Death in the sacred service of SKULL!”
With the Captain of the Doomsday Robot leading the charge, they come zooming in toward the Empire State Building, Viper, the giant Sentinel, Mr. Grey, Doc Rocket and the zeppelin passengers!
Lightning Strike, from the cyberspace pocket dimension onboard the Robot, could see that the self-destruct mechanism had its own power source, and its process could not be reversed once begun! Strike had no way of predicting the power of the explosion, but part of the self-destruct sequence included a melt down of all computer circuitry on the ship 
so that nothing could be recovered by the enemies of SKULL! He didn’t know what would happen to him if he was trapped inside melting circuitry! Lightning Strike had to get out of the Robot now!
so that nothing could be recovered by the enemies of SKULL! He didn’t know what would happen to him if he was trapped inside melting circuitry! Lightning Strike had to get out of the Robot now!Comet was now alone in Engineering. The Robot was falling out of the sky. The voice on the intercom said. “four… three… two… ”
To be continued!!
OOC: Actions, everyone!
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Sentinel:
Sentinel recognizes the insignia of Skull as the screaming hordes of agents begin to descend downward.
As quickly as he can move he tries to meet them while they are still in a group close together. As he flies towards them, the giant Sentinel image begins to morph into an image that resembles the uniform of a baseball player, a Yankee uniform, with the Sentinel insignia where the player's number would be, and the staff morphs into a giant size baseball bat.
Hearing their screaming cries of,
“Serve SKULL! Sanctify SKULL! Immortality is the reward to any soldier who embraces Death in the sacred service of SKULL!”
Sentinel replies (first more to himself), "I know of that insane ideology only too well... (and then louder) Here's some American Pie in your face! Liberty Lives!!!"
The giant Sentinel swings the bat to hit a home run with the hordes of Skull standing in as the baseball!
As quickly as he can move he tries to meet them while they are still in a group close together. As he flies towards them, the giant Sentinel image begins to morph into an image that resembles the uniform of a baseball player, a Yankee uniform, with the Sentinel insignia where the player's number would be, and the staff morphs into a giant size baseball bat.
Hearing their screaming cries of,
“Serve SKULL! Sanctify SKULL! Immortality is the reward to any soldier who embraces Death in the sacred service of SKULL!”
Sentinel replies (first more to himself), "I know of that insane ideology only too well... (and then louder) Here's some American Pie in your face! Liberty Lives!!!"
The giant Sentinel swings the bat to hit a home run with the hordes of Skull standing in as the baseball!
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Viper:
Viper catches himself being a spectator in the 'beat up the robot' show and chuckles until he sees the Skull Agents flying towards the observation deck.
"Damn!" Viper glances to Grey and the Doc.
"Better continue to the exits, I'll watch your backs."
Viper puts a hand on Doc Rocket's shoulder. "What's in the bag Pop? Is that what they're after? Come on now. If that (Viper motions towards the package) can buy us and these people some time, then hand it over."
Viper is watching the Skull agents as he speaks, holding the rear of the crowd as they slowly enter the stairs.
[OOC: If Doc Rocket says the package is what they're after, Viper is going to make a move to take it from him. Viper will use it to distract the Skull agents from the crowd. If Doc doesn't let go of the package, Viper stays at the ready to attack and will attack the first Skull agent onto the deck.]
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Viper catches himself being a spectator in the 'beat up the robot' show and chuckles until he sees the Skull Agents flying towards the observation deck.
"Damn!" Viper glances to Grey and the Doc.
"Better continue to the exits, I'll watch your backs."
Viper puts a hand on Doc Rocket's shoulder. "What's in the bag Pop? Is that what they're after? Come on now. If that (Viper motions towards the package) can buy us and these people some time, then hand it over."
Viper is watching the Skull agents as he speaks, holding the rear of the crowd as they slowly enter the stairs.
[OOC: If Doc Rocket says the package is what they're after, Viper is going to make a move to take it from him. Viper will use it to distract the Skull agents from the crowd. If Doc doesn't let go of the package, Viper stays at the ready to attack and will attack the first Skull agent onto the deck.]
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Lightning Strike:
Lightning Strike realizing that the rats have deserted their sinking ship, metaphorically speaking, uses the loudspeaker to contact Comet. "They've set this monstrosity to blow. We've got to get out of here. I am not sure how I can help you in my current form."
Lightning Strike has to decide in a split second what to do. He can't leave a man to face certain doom. Perhaps if he attempts to absorb the remaining power from the robot he can remove the electricity from the detonating device. It's risky since he hasn't ever absorbed this much in such a short time but if it works, he can certainly unleash a storm on the Skull agents like they have never seen before.
He decides it worth the risk and begins to channel all of the electrical impulses of the robot back into himself, hopefully rendering it a lifeless hulk that can be recovered later.
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Lightning Strike realizing that the rats have deserted their sinking ship, metaphorically speaking, uses the loudspeaker to contact Comet. "They've set this monstrosity to blow. We've got to get out of here. I am not sure how I can help you in my current form."
Lightning Strike has to decide in a split second what to do. He can't leave a man to face certain doom. Perhaps if he attempts to absorb the remaining power from the robot he can remove the electricity from the detonating device. It's risky since he hasn't ever absorbed this much in such a short time but if it works, he can certainly unleash a storm on the Skull agents like they have never seen before.
He decides it worth the risk and begins to channel all of the electrical impulses of the robot back into himself, hopefully rendering it a lifeless hulk that can be recovered later.
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Blue Comet:
Comet was now alone in Engineering. The Robot was falling out of the sky. The voice on the intercom said. "four... three... two... " To any other man having only two seconds left would have been a death sentence, but for the Blue Comet it was all the time in the world.
(OCC: first action 'searching')
The world seemed to stand still as he took a survey around the smoking Engineering deck. Then, in his mind’s eye, he combed over the interior decks he had just passed through. Anything of interest he would have made a dash to retrieve (or memorize) and then he would have hurtledhimself out of the nearest hatch.
(OCC: second action, saving and warning civilians below)
Realizing there might still be civilians directly below the plummeting metal monster, the cobalt crusader rockets earthward to try to clear the street below of innocent victims. Realizing that there are limits to even his authority and powers, Comet must rely on the populace's sense of personal responsibility to avoid danger. With a thunderous boom and burst of flame, Cobalt gives those below fair warning of the impending doom and the consequence ofremaining. Still others may be too sick, old or stupid to move, so the blue brave heart will provide a 'safety net' to those truly in need.
Go Comet!
