Earth Victoriana: Yanks in Tanks (IC)

[Supercape]

GM

"Wait! Wait!" shouted Finnigan straight back at Siphon, pinned to the floor and helpless. He was battered now, with a looming big black eye.

"I don't know who you are, thinking you can bust into my place...but I gotta hand it to you, you pack a mean punch, and.." he nodded at Catalyst "..some guns that are even better than my little stockpile..."

He groaned.

"What do you want from me, anyhow? You got me, I give it to ya...but why?"

He looked subdued. At least, he looked subdued. The Irishman was a slippery as the snake that Siphon had drained.

[Raveled]

Starlight touched down, walking through the rubble until she stood over Finnegan. After a moment she bent over, sitting on her haunches so that her face was level with his. "Because you had power," she said, "and you abused it. Perhaps you could have brought freedom, but instead you brought a different brand of tyranny, a different face under the same crown. Now, you will tell us where the rest of your weapons are stockpiled so that we may destroy those as well."

[Supercape]

GM

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" retorted Finnigan, a touch of defiance resurging in his voice.

"But I'll tell you, so I will!" he sneered with a curl of his lip "It was from a Chinaman! a right weasel, he is locked up in London, working for the Government now, but that doesn't stop him making a little money on the side, right? he sells us the plans for his newest invention...something that will make us unstoppable! First Texas, then the south America's, then...well...who knows?" he smiled.

In the distance, a rumbling sound could be heard.

"That will be them now! The prototypes!" he laughed "You may have defeated an old gunslinger, but you wont defeat my Steam Landships!"

Outside, rolling up the streets, came three of the oddest looking tanks the heroes had ever seen. Mounted with Gatling guns, hissing steam, and with ornate and apparently cumbersome heavy steel plating.

[Raveled]

Starlight narrowed her eyes at the tanks and sniffed derisively, quite a feat for someone with no nose. They were hardly the most elegant machines she had ever faced, but she had also learned long ago that ugly could be very effective and quite deadly enough. "Quiet," she said to Finnegan, charging power into her hand letting him take a blast of it in the head. With the gunslinger put down, the alien floated into the air and flew out to confront the advancing armor. She quickly wove a curved shield of yellowish energy in front of her, a haze that separated her from the tanks. "I am Starlight," she said, "champion of liberty and compassion. What you are doing here is not advancing the cause of freedom. You are imposing your tyranny and your laws on people that are already free." She pointed past the tanks. "Abandon these machines, that they may be dismantled and the resources used to the common good. Or you shall be destroyed!"

[Supercape]

GM

"Abandon these machines, that they may be dismantled and the resources used to the common good. Or you shall be destroyed!"

The steam powered tanks slowed slightly, the hissing from various orifices quieting down a little. There advance did not stop however.

A head popped up from the central tank. A dusty, oily face, grubby with sweat, and wearing an outrageous metal helmet and equally outrageous steampunk goggles.

"Who ya think ya are, fool?" he shouted back, oblivious to the danger.

"This here is Finnigan's Bulls!" he pointed left and right simultaneously, before jabbing a finger at his own chest.

"And I'm Erasmus Steel, the guy who built them! And I know what my babies can do!" he shouted in defiance, before ducking under the shell of the central tank.

With an outrageous boom of steam, the central tank fired its central cannon, a blistering shot of chained steel, that flew straight into Starlights field of energy, cracking it.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst kept her cover as best she could even as Finnigan was defeated. It wasn't like she had to make a scene, Starlight was doing quite a good job of saying what needed to be said and drawing the attention and fire. She'd feel bad about it later, but the shapeshifter seemed more ready and able to take a bullet then she ever was and she took a good time to assess her options when the new cavallery arrived. They were tanks, strangely built, buzzing with steam and weird components, but still tanks. She'd never fought a tank, and really didn't want to. She didn't know how the others felt about it, but she wasn't going to try and avoid tank fire, even if she cleared the shots the debree could skewer her and everyone else around. Which meant that she had to stop the fire.

She creep to the window ledge, trying to get the best angle she could as she loaded up her rifle. It was hard to tell whether this would work, but then again these were likely only first generation tanks, they weren't as powerful as earth primes, and definitely not battle tested enough to take it. They likely have never even thought what would happen if she managed to accomplish this. Then again, her stuff wasn't designed or tested either, but it was worth a try. Squeezing the trigger, she shot a round down each barrel and watched with nervous eyes beneath her goggles as they filled with the white foam and hardened. Hopefully it would hold, but in case it didn't, she was already moving to lower ground and better cover.

[Supercape]

GM

The target was small, but stationary. It was not an easy shot, by any means, but Catalyst was a gunslinger who could put any in Texas to shame.

Plop...Blurp...Glup! the three blobs of white foam popped with an amusing sound into each of the three barrels...

On Earth Prime, it might not have worked. But the tank's cannons here seemed to be powered just as much by steams and springs as by explosives, and the gloop of Catalyst oozed into those precisely calibrated and powerful parts, gumming them up.

Within seconds, the cannon barrels had a seizure, rumbling, vibrating, and hissing steam...

"How did ya do that!" yelled Erasmus Steel in a voice half anger and half admiration...

[Azuth65]

Siphon, lacking a power that would be of much use against a collection of tanks, walked over to the unconscious Finnigan and picked up his revolver. Noticing the belt of extra bullets the man still wore, the hero unbuckled it and yanked it off. Kyle had never actually fired a gun himself but it seemed a fairly straight forward operation. Flipping open the cylinder he tilted the bullets out. After dropping the empty shell casings and refilling the empty chambers he slapped the cylinder closed.

Moving quickly the man was able to literally slither down the pile of rubble like a python before coming to his feet a few yards from Starlight. Pointing the weapon low and to the side he called, "Shut off the tanks and maybe we can have a nice discussion on how she did that. Maybe even come to a profitable business arrangement for the recipe," he finished with a shrug.

[Raveled]

Starlight floated over until she was hovering above the central tank, the one containing Erasmus Steel. She lowered herself until she was straddling the hatch, and staring down at the mechanic with a featureless white face. It split and revealed a lipless mouth, through which she delivered her threat. "Our methods are as far beyond you as the sun beyond a candle," she informed him. The heroine gathered power in one hand and brought it around to point directly at Erasmus. "I'm sure you've been burned by a candle before. If you don't want to be burned by the sun, call off your machines."

[Supercape]

GM

"Ho ho ho! what a pretty candle!" laughed Erasmus straight at Ironclad.

"Let me show you some fire of our own! Let her have it boys! All barrels!" he shouted, before ducking back into his tank.

All three gatling guns swivelled directly at Starlight, and with a hiss of steam, they rained bullets left and right, tearing up the town with high callibre shells.

Ever wondered how I got the plans for these from a guy in London when I never left Texas? came a voice in Ironclad's head.

I gotta knack you see, don't know how, don't know why. Maybe the Injun' blood in me. But I got this knack...let me show you another trick....

With that, a stream of shouts rebounded in Starlights's head, left, right, everywhere, like she was being overloaded with a stream of thoughts and conversations and full volume...

[Raveled]

As soon as Erasmus ducked inside, Starlight held out her hands in front of herself. She was planning to put up another wall of energy in front of her, but the tanks fired first. Hundreds of bullets punished her fleshy form and drove her back. She ended up in the wreckage of Finnegan's casino/bar. The wind was knocked out of her, and she wasn't prepared for Erasmus's mental assault. She felt his mental energy pressing against the walls of her mind -- but the former Grue drone had plenty of experience in psychic intrusion. If you think your little mind can break mine, she thought back at him, you have got another thing coming.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst found cover as best she could, but realized up close the tanks were much more armed then before sporting gattling guns Starlight took the brute of first hand. At least they seemed weaker then the cannons because even if she took the bullets, she didn't seem like she was dead. Hopefully, it wasn't that serious. She couldn't help but think things like being shot full of bullets were something less then lethal to Starlight, her anatomy certainly was strange with ability to shapeshift into any form. Either way the barrage made it clear that the tanks needed a more direct approach so pulling her rifle off her back she switched to some acid rounds and leveled them. Shooting from her position she hit each tank exactly once as a tester to see whether or not she may would need a stronger acid.

[Azuth65]

Kyle shoved his newly stolen toy in one of the spacious pockets of the borrowed duster as he moved forward, the hem of the coat snapping as it trailed him. He noticed idly the small impacts of Catalyst's chemical filled paintballs as they struck the tank's secondary guns even as tried to avoid thinking about how poorly it would end for him if she missed or one of the gunners to notice his movements.

Jumping up and scrambling onto the hatch of the lead tank he managed to turn the seal on the hatch. Laying prone he was able to reach down and, with a hand covered in thin silver veins, grab hold of the man who seemed to be Finnigan's second in command.

[Supercape]

GM

"What? Who?" Erasmus Steel's neck snapped upwards inside the cramped tank, which was hot and humid beyond tolerance. Nobody could survive long in that environment without popping the hatch open - or, in this case, leaving the hatch a little ajar to get let some steam out.

"Who left the damn hatch open!" he screamed in fear as Siphon bore down on him. The answer was self evident...the tanks were two men crew. There was only him and the gunner.

He raised his hands to shield himself, but the tank inside was so tiny it was almost impossible to evade Siphon.

"No! No! What are you doing!" he said, clutching his head and furiously shaking off Siphon, but all to late...

[Aoiroo]

As the fire came, Catalyst ducked out of her cover for a better chance, outrunning the turning gun turrets before she switched her ammo. She went for the strongest rounds she could muster. She pushed forward but on her first shot tripped into the dirt, rolling with the pain before pushing back onto her knees and stomach and aiming low at the tanks. This time she got a solid hit as she did rapid fire on the metal outside of the tanks. The acid covered and oozed on the surface, first bubbling slightly then started to eat through the metal as it disolved under it's impact causing various stages of satisfying creeking from the tanks as the outer structure lost some of it's structural integrety to the weight bearing down on it's various melting parts.

[Supercape]

GM

Erasmus Steel regained a little composure, placing his hands to his temples in the crumbling tank, and concentrating.

"You'll pay for that you cur!" he shouted at Siphon, through the smoke and the heat that was rapidly becoming unbearable. His tank was completely wrecked from Catalyst's barrage. Even as he spoke, a large metal plate of armor fell from the wreck onto the dusty street with a resounding clang.

"What? What? What are you?" he screamed at Siphon as his mental powers slammed ineffectively against his own mental defences that Siphon had acquired.

"Get him! Get him!" he screeched at the Gunner, who swung his spanner at Siphon's head...

Meanwhile, the remaining two tanks, belching smoke and steam, turned their Gatling Guns onto Catalyst and unloaded a stream of lead at her...

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst was quick, but bullets were quicker, and two in particular dug into her and made her have to drop down to get her bearings. Looking at the turrets she repeated what she did to the barrels. Leveling her guns she hit the turrents straight in the barrel covering each one with a thick layer of foam as she looked at the others doing. It seemed Siphon had taking a bite out of whatever advantage mister tank runner thought he had exclusively, and Starlight, well honestly she didn't think they really had what it takes to stop her. Not in this world at least.

[Azuth65]

Siphon reached back into the cramped confines of the steam-tank, his hand covered in silver veins criss-crossing over his skin as he grabbed Steel's wrist. For a brief second the veins under Steel's skin appeared as silver lines beneath the flesh before his attacker released him to slump back in his seat.

Figuring now was a good time to get out of reach of the mook with the wrench, the power thief pulled back and slid off the rear edge of the tank, landing on his feet a few feet behind it.

[Aoiroo]

This fight was going on longer then she'd of like. Rolling to the side, Catalyst switched her rounds. This needed to end, and she was just about ready to do it in her normal method. She loaded up the gunk shot and hit the treads of the remaining tanks while getting a shot off at Steele as well. If everything could just stick and stay still, then maybe she could sit down for a little bit and stop being sore from the hits she's taken. She needed some more body armor under her suit, because it was getting rediculous how much cloths she had to wear to cover all the bruises she's been getting lately, maybe this was why she prefered a long perch to getting so close.

[Raveled]

Starlight rose from the rubble of the house she'd been shot into, the pounding in her head contributing to her wobbling flight path. She managed to make it to the space above the tanks, where she would hopefully be out of their line of fire. Part of her burned for the chance to tear Erasmus's tank apart, plate by steel plate, but she recognized that the active tanks still posed too great a threat to the town. If they started firing indiscriminately, they could demolish the town and kill a lot of people.

[Supercape]

GM

The Tank, already gummed up by Catalysts chemical assault, was no match for Starlight at this point. Steam poured out at every orifice, followed swiftly but its hot and bothered crew. With a satisfying hiss, the tank stooped, and fell flat on the ground, kicking up dust.

Erasmus looked on in horror at the devastation the three heroes had caused.

He fell to his knees, clasping his hands in a prayer.

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me! Finnigan paid me do it...errr...I mean made me do it!" he wailed, crocodile tears streaming down his dust and oil painted face. "I'm innocent! I was just doing what he told me!" he cried.

[Raveled]

Starlight kept a hand focused on Erasmus. She easily saw through his deception, and a part of her wanted to obliterate this human stain from this world; he had crawled around in her head, an action too close to the Meta-Mind for her to easily let it go. After a moment she decided that killing him would assuage her immediate desire for vengeance, but seeing an alien blow a surrendering man to dust wouldn't go over well.

She floated to the ground, never letting her eyes stray off Erasmus. When her feet touched the ground she gestured and a energy bubble appeared around the man, lifting him into the air. "You will take us to where you made these machines," she said, "and we will destroy all the plans and prototypes. And then we shall decide what to do with you."

[Supercape]

GM

"You will take us to where you made these machines, and we will destroy all the plans and prototypes. And then we shall decide what to do with you."

"Sure...sure! Whaddever yah say!" gulped Erasmus, in no position, at this stage, to argue...

A little later...just outside of town...

The warehouse was surprisingly well camouflaged, almost built into the rock. Inside, steel, forges, and smelters all in good order littered the floor. Two more tanks, nearly fully built, lay inside, gatling guns mounted. If anything, the new models seemed even more advanced than the ones that had assailed the Texan Free States just before.

It would not take long to destroy the warehouse, either by the natural power of the heroes, or the vast stockpiles of explosives that had been built there.

Sgt McSaunders, having heard of the battle - and, by way of a few bribes and a few bottles of whiskey, the warehouse, landed the zepplin just outside and came to join the party.

"Excellent job if I do say so myself!" he said with jollity, swigging a generous amount of gin from his hip flask and twirling his magnificent moustache.

"There is a place for you in the Special Zepplin Squad if you ever need a job and an adventure!" he said, slapping them all on the back.

"Although I imagine the old man 'M' will want to pin a medal to your lapel and give you a cup of tea and all that. Probably slip you a few gold sterling's if you can squeeze one out of his tight fists too!"

[Aoiroo]

"What does the local government know about this?"

Catalyst sat on the zepplin but she looked inquiringly at the man. It had been quite a trip, but there were lots of questions,

"While this all seems very laissez faire, those could of started a war with those machines, and win."

She leaned forward,

"This isn't going to be the last of it either, if someone created these more are to follow. Who in this local government can stop this, or at least regulate it? We aren't from this dimension, we can't always be here to solve it's problem, and I doubt they'd take kindly to you asserting your countries power over their matters."