Vanguard#1- The Inevitable, The Inexorable...

[Blue Rose]

Or, they can just get over the elevator, cut the cable, and drop it down past any traps, but it's a moot point.

"We can fly," she points out. "Either route, it doesn't particularly matter. We take the stairs, and we blow out every door on the way. I can read the air well enough to map out the floor well enough at that point. We keep going until we find something important. How fast are you?"

She doesn't wait for an answer as an updraft billows up beneath her and propels her forward, towards the stairwell. She doesn't let him fall back out of her protective bubble, but she proceeds as fast as she can.

[Thunder King]

Voltage took off the moment she did, and quickly proved her equal in flight. He rarely had an opportunity to push himself in flight, but he proved remarkably fast in the air. That, combined with his teleportation made him an incredibly mobile hero. Normally, it might be a bad idea to go that fast in an underground area with tight corners and little room to maneuver. Voltage, however, could calculate every angle and turn long before it happened, giving him incredible agility in the air as well.

"I'm as fast as you, it seems..." He said with a chuckle. It was obvious that, on some level, he was enjoying a chance to really move.

[Ari]

GM

The two airborne heroes made their rapid ways down the stairs, which were just as damp and unpleasant as might be imagined, with most of the doors sufficiently boarded-up that they withstood most of the gusts and blasts used against them before falling apart.

As they soared down the stairs and into the dimmed ground floor, a concrete and joyless place, the updraft of humid air from the floor below carried up the the sounds of idle talk among the guards, who were leaning against the walls of the ascetic and unadorned lobby in various states of being wholly unprepared for the arrival of the pair, few of them even wearing their helmets or with guns at the ready. They were twenty in number, spread out in clusters of two or five, mostly at the corners of hallways and around recesses in the walls where small tables and pamphlet stands had once been put. At the very least, they weren't wholly careless.

Seeing the pair as they came into view, one of the soldiers called out sharply to the others as she sprang into cover "Hey! Que tenemos compañía!"

Startled at the cry, the soldiers were galvanized into action, beginning to head for their positions in a dull thudding of rubber soles on the uncushioned slabs. All things considered, not a very promising start.

[Blue Rose]

As Silvia speeds along, she gathers a sheath of air around her, moving at her same speed for when they find a target. The bursts that take out the doors are a small thing, a petty little flick, but when they find the twenty, it's time to loose the gathered storm. When they find the twenty, she calls back to Voltage, "Fall back a few feet!" and then she continues her descent at full speed, driving her fist into the ground. With a thunderous roar, she slams her fist into the ground, the column of wind she dragged along washing over her and radiating outward like an explosion, blowing away all in its path.

Silvia rises from her crouch, looking around unimpressed. "We don't have time for trash like you."

[Ari]

GM

"" exclaimed one of the soldiers, just before being flung against the bare concrete wall hard enough to knock jim out. The raging explosion of air scattered the few guards who had been stationed near the stairway, most of them sent crashing into the walls, floor and ceiling in the first billow, though two of them managed to stand firm against it enough to be swept away soundly thrashed by the follow-up wave.

The groans of the ones who had briefly retained consciousness mingled with the noise of clacking gunmetal as the now-terrified soldiery prepared for a desperate counter-attack, which by the look of things was highly unlikely to be mounted as effectively as they hoped...

[Thunder King]

Voltage didn't even slow down, rocketing into the midst of his foes. His body lit up, crackling with electric energy as he flew, a silvery glow emanating throughout the room.

Faster than the eye could see, he charged through the air, a black and silvery blur. The moment he was within range, he began to calculate.

The area he was in, the location of the various individuals, the power he'd need to use to avoid hurting them. A combination of instinct and bewildering mental abilities enabled him to always avoid lethal blasts.

Suddenly, current erupted from his flying form in all directions, lighting the room up with silvery light. Various armed men felt powerful jolts of energy course through their bodies. Strong enough to knock out, maybe give them headaches, but not to kill.

He made sure they all fled, but otherwise didn't slow down. He kept his bewildering flight speed up, wanting to ensure he got to the one responsible for all of this in time.

[Blue Rose]

Silvia tenses up, ready to take every last one of them out with her bare hand if need be when the enemies start to scatter. That works, too.

Instead, she takes off again after Voltage, making her move to take the lead. He can only see, after all, whilst she can hear a map of her surroundings. As she rounds corners with a roll and a blast of air or bolts forward in a draft, she keeps her ears open, in search of the real enemy, the lab, prisoners, anything more worth their time than a handful of so-called guards and a broken-down hallway.

[Ari]

GM

The pounding feet of the retreating 'soldiers' quickly receded into the distance. The abandoned hospital was now silent as the grave. Besides the bubbling noises coming from beyond the barred metal door behind the two heroes, of course.

This close to the inelegant slab of steel Stormbreaker could hear something else: the sound of metallic scrapes and sharp clicks. Voltage could something generating a powerful current.

The jungle outside was now silent, the would-be guards passing out of range entirely, and only the quick steps of a cautious bird detectable.

[Blue Rose]

Silvia lands in front of the door, listening to what lies beyond. That clicking could be the sound of robot troops getting into position for ambush. It could be some mad scientist's torture device. It could be It could be one of those bizarre kitchen gadgets earthlings seem so fond of. It could even be something she can sell off for a pretty penny.

The air pressure grows, popping Voltage's ears as the captain grows ready to strike. "I am certain some mechanism can open this door. Can you override it, or shall I employ more... 'traditional' methods?"

[Thunder King]

Voltage chuckled and closed his eyes. After a few moments, it was obvious that the door was beginning to shake slightly. Between Stormbreaker's wind and his apparent power over the door, it wasn't going to last long. Suddenly, the door exploded inward, sending it flying.

Voltage looked up. His magnetic control loosened the door, and Stormbreaker's wind pushed it down. He just gave it a little bit more oomph.

[Ari]

GM

The now-vacant doorway revealed a large and very dark chemist's lab. A small clear container of liquid was over a Bunsen burner, bubbling over with a viscous green fluid, the excited molecules popping so enthusiastically that they had sounded like a much larger amount of liquid. It contained several strange coffin-shaped containers stacked near a corrugated metal door on a track, each marked with a Greek letter starting from 'Phi' and endinging in 'Sigma'. At the desk set against the wall on the right, face lit a faint blue by the glowing monitor before him, sat the short and lean figure of Dr. Green, blue eyes tracing the mutations of a simulated strand of DNA. At his side were two silent human-like monsters, one fading in and out of view, the other with a metallic sheen to their skin. The doctor glanced over at the pair as the shattered door and heavy electrical trap that had been bolted to it flew in pieces across the room, clattering noisily along the floor and through more than a few canisters of the green liquid.

"Welcome" he said absently, eyes flicking back to the rotating mock-up of DNA "You seem in much better form than I thought. I should have taken greater pains to exploit your strengths."

[Blue Rose]

Stormbreaker steps through the blasted-down door, ready to come swinging, but then she sees the tiny mouse of a man sitting at a desk. One glance makes it clear; there is no glory here. Just spineless minions and tricks.

"Let me guess. This was all a ploy to gather data, which is why everything was tailored to make our coming here easier, and now you have no further use for us, and you have some trick up your sleeve to keep me from ending this in a single blast right now."

She raises her hand and gathers a swirling ball of air the size of a marble, so dense it's just barely visible, and fires it like a bullet at the mad doctor's monitor, half expecting it to hit some sort of energy shield. Though that may be wishful thinking; she could sell a quality energy shield.

[Ari]

GM

The air bullet did its job flawlessly, slamming into the monitor and splintering the screen, punching a hole through it and dissipating into the wall behind it. Jumping back and shielding his face from the burst of shards that flung from the sparking, smoking screen, Dr. Green landed ungainly on the floor, taking a few seconds to get back up. The two monsters beside him didn't move a muscle. He looked accusingly at Stormbreaker "Do you know how hard it is to get good monitors here?" he demanded angrily "They don't come nearly as cheap as you'd think!" smoothing out his lab coat he went on "And yes, this was meant to gather data from you, and I now have all I can get from you while you live. After my two newest experiments in hyprothized metatoxine have battered you into the floor I will dissect you two, and find out what makes you so..unique. Buenos dias, as they say here, and goodbye."

He turned and walked to the door at the rear of the lab "It's a shame your development was unable to support my hypothesis on electromagnetic powers, Thomas," he added wearily to Voltage, tapping a short code on a numberpad next to the exit "but I suppose my expectations were a little higher than warranted." The door slid open, sunlight streaming in and blotting out all but his silhouette. Over his shoulder he said

"Code five-oh-gamma"

The silent monsters awoke, and turned on the two heroes.

[Ari]

GM

Without further ado, Dr. Green dashed out into the jungle behind the abandoned hospital, his footsteps cracking twigs and rustling undergrowth as he hurtled onwards to some place he thought safe. He ran without a backward glance.

With nearly synchronized movements the two minions of Dr. Green charged forward, the flickering one suddenly darting aside in its path and lashing out at Stormbreaker with an arm that had gone from merely difficult to see to wholly invisible. The slashing movement proved to be indicative, the attack cutting a thin slice across her upper arm as it swung past. A breathy mutter of disappointment followed the strike, obviously not what the creature had been expecting. It wavered in the air, preparing for another try.

The metal man simply bashed into Voltage,slamming its shoulder into his chest with wild abandon and leaving a darkening and painful bruise, a grating sound coming from his throat at it separated from him and leaped into the concrete hallway, blank metal eyes staring at Thomas along with the rest of its immobile face.

[Thunder King]

Voltage vanished, transforming into silvery bolts of lightning as he suddenly hovered overhead. Energy crackled through his body for a moment as he aimed his hands down towards the metal man. He grimaced through the pain of his recent injury and felt the sparks fly.

The energy coursed from Voltage into the large thing, shocking it suddenly and throwing it off balance momentarily. It couldn't take too many hits like that, could it?

[Blue Rose]

The good captain's armor eats the minion's cut, ending in little more than a gash in her cloak. Not a threat, but certainly annoying, and fast enough that in her shock, she lets Dr. Green get away, letting her spare attention enough to spare on these two.

She does not lash out. She doesn't toss around some flashy light show. She barely even moves. Instead, she just glowers at the flickering creature, the intensity of her gaze seeming to bring with it a great pressure in the room.

This has been a long, frustrating day, and she's about to let every bit of that frustration out.

A breeze begins whipping at her hair. A breeze becomes a wind, becomes a storm that grows stronger and wider, smashing everything it touches by virtue of her mere presence. At the center of it all, she stands there calm and unphased, slowly drawing her sword, watching her foes and taking a fencing stance, as if from her place in the eye of this hurricane, the fight hasn't even begun.

[Ari]

GM

The lashing whirlwind did a number on the aging abandoned hospital, slashing and scoring the concrete walls, floor and ceiling to the point where chunks of it went sailing through the air and bounced madly around the hallway in a hail of shards. The shimmering..thing that guarded Dr. Green was at first taken off guard by the slicing air, before with an eerie glow it seemed to distend and warp in ways that no solid body every should, dodging and lunging away from the attack with great speed and a breathy mutter. Springing forward it hurled itself again at Sotrmbreaker, its left hand coiling into a lance and stabbing directly at her heart.

The metal man was less lucky, and much less light on his feet, several divots and long cuts carved into his body in a matter of moments, with one that seemed fit to tear him clean in half! With a tremendous effort and a groan like iron in pain it flooded itself with streams of liquid metal from within itself, sealing the worst of the cracks with a hiss and a loathsome smell. Glaring at the swashbuckling dragon for an instant it snorted like a furnace before leaping up onto the ceiling, it dug its hands into the surface and kicked out at Voltage with a powerful movement blow aimed at his side, just beneath the hauberk of his ribs.

In the jungle, Dr. Green reached a small podium, on which he tapped his thumb for a few moments before being sealed into a blue shield, and was whisked away underground.

[Thunder King]

Voltage was growing tired of these foes, his enemy, the true target, was getting away, and this wasn't good. He vanished into silvery current and turned, blasting the enemy who targeted him from a respectable range. The foe convulsed for a moment as the blast coursed through his body, no doubt effected by the sudden burst of energy.

[Blue Rose]

The creature thrusts straight for the heart, only to have what could have been a killing blow casually knocked aside. "Pshaw. Amateur." The parry sends the thing off balance as she steps past, then seeing Voltage faring well she throws her weight back against her own dance partner, sending him stumbling along a few steps further, lining up a clean shot.

She raises her blade high and brings it down, calling forth the gale once more, ripping and tearing at both her enemies, and hopefully taking out the metal man. Preferably before taking down the building.

[Ari]

GM

The ray of electrical power flashed and sizzled at incredible speed through the air, leaving a strong smell of ozone hanging briefly in the room as it slammed into the metal man. It knocked the creature clean off the ceiling, landing with a sizable *WHNG* as he landed in a gently smoking heap on the floor, a distant grating sound emitting from him as he twitched, lightning arcing across his bronze-like body.

The wispy fellow breathed something that sounded like "Well yes, I am an amateur." as his stab was batted away, which turned into total incoherence as he was sent staggering, and then the blade-like gale struck. In moments the room was once again filled with a whirling mass of air pushed to a razor sharp edge, meaning that it was filled also with a hail of shards of concrete cement, shards that flew through the air like daggers from an explosion, and which seemed fit to nearly tear the wavering man asunder. Thin plumes of whatever it was that made him up drifted upwards in the stillness after the storm, to say nothing of the manifold cuts and slices that lined his riddled form, leaking liquid metal that hissed as it struck the cold floor.

[Thunder King]

Voltage panted, this guy was beginning to get on his nerves. He just would not go down. "Stay down!" He roared, sending another silvery blast through his foe's body. He wanted to stop Dr. Green, whatever he was trying to do. Still, his foe was hurt, but not yet down. Voltage knew what had to be done, he knew what he had to do to knock the enemy out. It wasn't going to be easy, though.

[Blue Rose]

The retort causes Silvia pause. Either it is beyond terrible at banter or something ominous is going on. But there's nothing for that now. As the sky explodes and the thing is blown back, she walks calmly towards him, looking him over. An odd invention. He might be worth a coin to somebody, if it can be dismantled. She walks right up to him calmly, then sweeps out its ankle, bringing the hilt of her sword to the side of its head and slamming it to the ground with a crash.

That taken care of, she steps back to make sure Voltage doesn't suddenly get trounced by his dance partner, and make sure this one isn't about to explode or anything unfortunate.

[Ari]

GM

The vaporous man floated rather than fell to the slashed and shattered ground, resting peacefully on the floor after being smacked across the wavering skull. Getting to his feet with a rasp and growl, the metal man took one look at his fallen comrade before barking out savagely "You! You'll pay for that. Electric Man too!" he added furiously, leaping up onto the ceiling and digging in with his feet, lashing out with a powerful punch from his ferrous arm at Voltage.

[Thunder King]

Voltage growled in pain as he flew away from the vicious fighter. He fired off a blast of electricity, but couldn't seem to hurt his foe. This was getting ludicrous, these foes were taking far more punishment than they should have, and he knew that the time was coming where Dr. Green would be able to escape despite his attempts to stop him.

It wasn't working, there must be a way to deal with the quickly.

[Blue Rose]

Her foe defeated, Silvia's gaze turns towards Voltage's fight. An adequate showing, not a matter she need interfere with, which frees her up for other tasks.

"Follow when you finish your dance. I shall leave a trail."

With that, she sheathes her sword and closes her eyes, concentrating her energies and tracking their rude host by sound alone. Then, suddenly, the pressure in the room crashes, popping her companion's ears as she gathers a raging ball of mist in her hand. A beat and she thrusts that ball at the concrete and is spirals upon itself, birthing the bastard spawn of a drill and a tornado, tearing through everything in its path, its vacuum drawing Silvia along all the way to Green's apparent safe room. Or doom room. Whatever it is, she can figure that out later, as she floats over the still-deepening hole she's dug. As dust settles, hair and cape blow in the still swirling draft.

"To abandon guests who have traveled so far?" she asks nonchalantly. "In some circles, that might be considered rude."