Near the AEGIS Spire, Athens, Greece. 8:05pm local time.
Oracle had shown Vanguard what the future held in store, like Kairos had requested. It had all been too real. They had experienced their own deaths, followed by the death of the world. Apparently, so did Oracle. Her eyes shed tears.
They had seen everything that would soon transpire. They knew about Inhuman’s communicator. And that in one minute, the Pachyderm would begin his descent down into the AEGIS Spire from a circular craft hovering high above them all!
Vanguard leapt into action!
Lightning Strike evaporated in a flash of electricity! He transmitted himself into the communications system of the mysterious circular craft! He moved to the navigation system and discovered the flight plan of the craft! It included Ossining, New York (the secret site of CHESS Castle!) and before that, Congo, Africa. Strike got the exact coordinates and then set out to find a way to notify his team without using the compromised Vanguard communicators!
Sentinel and Slingshot flew up to intercept and redirect Pachyderm. At Sentinel’s speed, they collided three miles above the burning city! Pachyderm never saw them coming.
Using Slingshot’s engineering skills, and Sentinel’s powers, the pair formed a flexible, whiplash-chute that caught Pachyderm and fired him out horizontally! KER-RACKK! Thus, he was hurtling for the Aegean Sea, roaring with anger! “RHAAAARRRRR!” This close, the grey-skinned giant seemed huge, powerful and deadly dangerous!
Symbiote, using powers he simulated from Slingshot, gathered together Vanguard for an assault on the flying craft!
Viper said, “Deal me in!”
Symbiote requested Forester’s aid, and the troubled shooter regained his composure and complied.
Kairos (and his weakness) felt compelled to join them as if it were his destiny to fight.
Oracle elects to stay behind. Did she know something about what the future held in store?!
The four donned AEGIS oxygen masks, with Oracle’s assistance, and were enveloped in Symbiote’s newly elastic, ebony epidermis and were slungshot straight up! With Slingshot’s powers, Symbiote could shoot himself almost nine miles up!
They passed Sentinel, Slingshot and Pachyderm and kept going! They closed on the mysterious circular craft! Hal marveled at the technological engineering of the amazing ship!
As they grew closer still, they spied an irising portal in the bottom of the saucer’s hull! It was how Pachyderm departed the ship, and it was slowly closing!
With no time to lose, Symbiote, using flexible fins, guided he and his team right inside the craft! Zoom!
Vanguard burst into a pressurized, large cargo area and Symbiote unfurled, releasing Vanguard!
Inside the cargo bay was Hyena! Crab Man! Jellyfish! Cockroach! Gator! And an extranormal they did not recognize! Gator inadvertently introduced the last man, yelling: “Look out, Web!”
Hyena barked: “What the?!!”
Symbiote requested Forester’s aid, and the troubled shooter regained his composure and complied.
Kairos (and his weakness) felt compelled to join them as if it were his destiny to fight.
Oracle elects to stay behind. Did she know something about what the future held in store?!
The four donned AEGIS oxygen masks, with Oracle’s assistance, and were enveloped in Symbiote’s newly elastic, ebony epidermis and were slungshot straight up! With Slingshot’s powers, Symbiote could shoot himself almost nine miles up!
They passed Sentinel, Slingshot and Pachyderm and kept going! They closed on the mysterious circular craft! Hal marveled at the technological engineering of the amazing ship!
As they grew closer still, they spied an irising portal in the bottom of the saucer’s hull! It was how Pachyderm departed the ship, and it was slowly closing!
With no time to lose, Symbiote, using flexible fins, guided he and his team right inside the craft! Zoom!
Vanguard burst into a pressurized, large cargo area and Symbiote unfurled, releasing Vanguard!
Inside the cargo bay was Hyena! Crab Man! Jellyfish! Cockroach! Gator! And an extranormal they did not recognize! Gator inadvertently introduced the last man, yelling: “Look out, Web!”
Hyena barked: “What the?!!”
The villains were surprised at the sudden appearance of Vanguard! The cargo bay held controls and a power source for the personnel tractor beam that Vanguard witnessed at CHESS Castle prison break! The iris portal beneath them was still closing, but not closed entirely! Pressurized air kept the elements out of the high tech chamber!
Then Lightning Strike, wanting to tell Vanguard what he had learned about the ship’s flight plans, suddenly materialized inside the cargo bay in a crack of electricity! KRA-KAKOOOM!
(OOC: Actions? Sentinel and Slingy: do you follow Pachyderm or head to the circular craft?)
Best,
Jeff
Current Conditions:
Forester: Hit Points: 18 Power Points: 69
Kairos: Hit Points: 42 Power Points: 82
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 40 Power Points: 67
Sentinel: Hit Points: 20 Power Points: 44 Energy: 88 Construct: 80
Slingshot: Hit Points: 55 Power Points: 90 Invulnerability: 8
Symbiote: Hit Points: 86 Power Points: 102 Invulnerability: 8 Charges: 12
Viper: Hit Points: 47 Power Points: 85
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Kairos:
Kairos unsheathes the silver sword and charges Hyena, shouting, "Let's see how you like the taste of this!"
OOC: He'll be staying relatively low and out of the direct path from Forester to Hyena since John finds it likely that Forester, too, might end up attacking Hyena.
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Symbiote:
Hal quickly assessed the situation. He really felt he owed Hyena a few lumps from their last fight in New York, but Kairos, armed with the silver sword, seemed uniquely qualified to handle the situation.
Jellyfish could be a problem but Hal didn't want to attack her in hand to hand, with her paralysis touch. He hoped somebody with a distance attack--Forester or Lightning Strike--could take her down.
No, the logical choice was Crab Man. Symbiote remembered how the Aquatic Evildoer had thrown a 20 foot slab of concrete at the Manta Craft back at CHESS Castle--he was clearly one tough customer. At the moment Symbiote was probably the team member best suited to absorb any damage, and he could (hopefully!) copy Crab Man's powers if the Ani-Man proved too difficult.
Symbiote squared off and launched an enlarged fist across the cargo bay at the Crustacean of Crime. "Hey, Crabby Patties!" Hal yelled. "EAT THIS!"
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Sentinel:
As Kirk and Slingshot completed their maneuver knowing it had worked,
Kirk enthusiastically said in loud undertone "Yes!" and he closed his fist in triumph emphasizing it, knowing the initial vision of horror they had witnesses had now been averted.
As Kirk did this his eyes caught the rest of the team ‘slingshotting” towards the enemy craft as they passed them and he turned to Scott and said with surprise (and unintentional comical effect), “Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!”
Knowing Scott’s intention had been to take the battle to the enemy from their take-off he added, “What say we avoid the sideshow (pointing a thumbs down towards the direction of the careening Pachyderm) and follow your plan to the main event?”
(Assuming Slingshot is in agreement with his previous planned actions)
Kirk wasted not a second more and took off in immediate pursuit following the path of the rest of Vanguard.
Jeff: Can we make it onto the ship following the rest of the team or do we need to find another means of entrance? If the portal is even slightly open, either of us should be able to keep it open for us to get in… and I suppose if it is even slightly open at least Slingshot should make it aboard with his malleable body. Also, at this point, what’s the status of energy readings for Kirk regarding inhabitants of the ship and their energy levels (normal vs extranormal) – is he getting a reading on more than the initial grouping (assuming he gets even that)? If they can’t make it aboard following the rest of the team, any energy readings to give them a clue to the best area to try to enter? Anything that indicates that this ship is part of the ‘relay’ system transmitting Primate’s commands that they can take out and hopefully stop the rampaging animals?
If they don’t make it aboard as Kirk tries to use his energy analysis to assist their entry he circles the craft to assist in his ‘readings’ and give Slingshot the full perspective of the ship; having just witnessed the engineering expertise of his teammate firsthand and spotting no weakness in design with his novice eyes he asks Scott, “Spot anything in the design that would suggest our best means to enter?”
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Forester:
The vision of dying, then not dying, had left Forester surprisingly beside himself. Dream or no dream, it had meaning for him. As though he in died in a way, only to be reincarnated again as himself. He saw the experience as a fortuitous reminded to value every day as though it were his last day, and to feel grateful for his own humanity.
Forester fired a flash arrow at cockroach. Blinding light seemed like the best way to keep the oversized arthropod at bay. He'd get back to navel contemplation another day.
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Slingshot:
As Kirk and Slingshot completed their maneuver knowing it had worked, Kirk enthusiastically said in loud undertone "Yes!" and he closed his fist in triumph emphasizing it, knowing the initial vision of horror they had witnesses had now been averted.
Slingshot nods with a self-satisfied smile and a wink at Sentinel. "I love it when things turns out"
Knowing Scott's intention had been to take the battle to the enemy from their take-off he added, "What say we avoid the sideshow (pointing a thumbs down towards the direction of the careening Pachyderm) and follow your plan to the main event?"
Scott agrees, "I could do without having to deal with Pachyderm. We will have to do so something soon about him. Let's hope they can't just beam him up and chuck him down at will. So let's make sure we keep them busy up there."
If they don't make it aboard as Kirk tries to use his energy analysis to assist their entry he circles the craft to assist in his 'readings' and give Slingshot the full perspective of the ship; having just witnessed the engineering expertise of his teammate firsthand and spotting no weakness in design with his novice eyes he asks Scott, "Spot anything in the design that would suggest our best means to enter?"
"Give me a moment, I'll try."[OOC] With regards to getting into the ship. If I can and if necessary, I'll squeeze my hands in trap doors/sliding doors and pull them open. So make sure both of us get in.[/ooc]
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Sentinel:
Just a final thought since Jeff never answered my questions, so I'm assuming that info is part of my action this turn. If Slingshot and I get in this turn I'd be happy helping anyone who appeared that they needed an assist - but primary concern would be turned to disrupting the signal sent by Primate and stopping the worldwide destructive rampage. If Kirk's energy sense or computer skills (or Slingshot's engineering skill) spots anything that appears to be the cause of the signal or that messing with it might stop it, that would take precedent.
Hope everyone enjoyed the day off (and had the day off).
Seth
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Lightning Strike:
As LS materialized in the hangar, he realized action was needed at once. He looked over the villians that he recognized from the files and quickly targeted Jellyfish. His assumption was that given a regular jellyfish is mostly water, that this villain would conduct electricity just as well.
Lightning Strike spoke to Jellyfish, "Time to put you on the shore to dry out my friend." With that said, he let loose a blast at Jellyfish.
OK, hope I am not too late. Anyway, I am going away on Saturday and won't have access to a computer until the following Saturday. Hope everyone has a good week.
Take care,
Tony
