It is January 1985. The group has been deployed to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. An aircraft hangar has been reserved for their use. There has at this point been no mission briefing, all that you know is the Golden Heroes reserve has been activated. You know of one another but have not worked together before, nor do you actually know each other well.
As the game starts, you're in the hangar. It has been fitted with basic living facilities and each of you has been provided with a simple prefabricated living space, about the size of a small caravan (this is the British Army, not the American one!), again located within the hangar.
Finally. If I had to sit through one more of those psychological tests, I would have actually gone insane.
Lightning Blade looks at each of his new allies with a confident smirk.
"So, the Golden Heroes finally make their debut! Now, I'm sure you've all heard of me, but please allow me to formally introduce myself."
He bows dramatically.
"I am Lightning Blade! The legendary swordsman who cuts through evil at the speed of light!"
In the blink of an eye, he appears to the far end of the hangar, holding his rapier aloft.
"My incredible speed is matched only by my skill with the blade!"
He dashes back to his starting position, holding his sword outward in a poignant thrust. The blade is producing small sparks and a crackle of electricity (though it appears to be a largely cosmetic effect).
"I have taken down petty thieves, gangs, and small-time criminals with almost no effort. I look forward to testing my skills against a worthy foe, and seeing what you all are capable of."
He sheathes his blade with a dramatic flourish.
The tall, thick-set woman raises an eyebrow and smiles in friendly amusement at the Lightning Blade's melodramatics. She then looks more surprised at the professor. "You? The giant? I--" She cuts off before she muses aloud on whatever transformation Kendrick alludes to, and instead remarks wryly, "Well, nice for once not to be the tallest one in the group."
She looks around. "They call me 'Good Knight Gracie.' I'm here to help."
She brushes some imaginary dust off her armor, modern tactical materials yet shaped to suggest more old fashioned gear. She shifts, perhaps a little shyly--this is the first time she's really met a number of people like her who weren't criminals she was helping the police take down--but offers a friendly open smile to any who looks at her.
"Well, and to George Burns' famous farewell," Gracie chuckles, "But yes, my friend who made the armor is quite fond of King Arthur and other things. Since I was 'helping Britain, 'what better?' she said. If it were historically accurate though, it'd be a heck of a lot heavier for one thing! I'll take the tradeoff." She smiles.
A thickset, but otherwise ordinary fellow watches the interplay.
He has no costume of sorts, just some sturdy clothing as if he was going to do some manual labor.
Better announce myself or they'll just think I'm here to service the loo or somesuch. he thinks to himself.
"Hello. I'm Challenger. I've been assigned to be your team by her Majesties Government. I've been working for them for a bit now. If you just think of me like the tank I'm named after, I expect that would explain what I do. "
Juliana stands quietly, listening carefully to the conversation. She says nothing, looking out of place in her school uniform. Her eyes, however, miss no detail and she observes carefully as Lightning Blade demonstrates his ability. Am I on a par with these people? she wonders.
"Actually no. This is a very different bit of work than I've been doing so far. This whole spandex superhero business" he says while looking at lightningblade "is rather a different sort of thing. I was doing things... well things I can't very well talk about. "
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Lightning Blade scoffs at Challenger's comment.
"Spandex? I'll have you know that every part of this suit is pure cotton or wool, specially treated to withstand my super speed! I would accept nothing less for my ensemble."
"Sorry. Never been known for my fashion sense. "
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"Yes, I assumed as much. Tell me, would you be open to a change in wardrobe? I have friends in the fashion industry, and I'm sure they would be glad to create a new look for you. Something that'll make you look a little more bold and imposing!"
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He looks down at his clothes, and back at the fop. "Umm, no. "
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Lightning Blade looks disappointed, but simply shrugs.
"Hm. Well, your loss, really."
Stepping out of a corner, the man wearing a dark grey costume with a subdued silver arrowhead set at an angle on his chest and belt leans against the wall. He says nothing, just observes the proceedings, while occasionally touching the inside part of his right wrist.
"I love your outfit, Lightning Blade, but maybe best we're all comfortable in whatever we have?" Gracie offers both men a smile.
She jumps a little when she realizes there's yet another man present, and nods at Longbow. "And what's your name, sir?"
Lightning Blade smiles back, looking quite flattered.
"Oh, well, I suppose I can accept that. At least someone here appreciates fashion."
He turns toward Longbow. "Yes, and I'm still curious about what you can do." Then to Spellbound. "And you, for that matter! Come now, this is no time to be shy."
Theres a loud crash as the hangar door opens, and a man wearing an officer's uniform enters, followed by four armed soldiers.
The officer speaks. "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Captain Fowlds, of Delta 20, a branch of Her Majesty's intelligence services. You're probably wondering why you're here. Well, you're here in case of an incident, and in fact said incident has now occurred and we have need of your particular skills. I'd like to spend the time to get to know you better, but that will have to wait."
Your transport awaits outside; I can brief you on the way. Follow me!"
Captain Fowlds leads the team out of the hangar. Outside a number of other soldiers are armed and ready to go, along with a small group of civilians. About forty yards away, there is a helicopter waiting - a white Chinook, adorned with Delta 20 markings. The soldiers and civilians first board the flight, followed by the team, then finally Captain Fowlds. When all are aboard and seated, the helicopter takes off and heads north.
Juliana is unexcited by the helicopter flight and instead spends much of the journey alternating between staring out of the window and idly fingering the hem of her skirt. She is the perfect picture of the stereotypical schoolgirl, in her grey jacket and skirt, white shirt, and red collar tab.
When Lightning Blade addresses her, she shyly turns away and says in a distant voice, "I can use magic. Real magic. Not the normal "influencing fate" kind of stuff, but things you read about in comics."
"Sounds impressive. I can hardly wait to see it in action."
On the helicopter, Lightning Blade leans back in his seat.
"So, Captain, what's this "incident" you speak of?"
Harry marches out to the helicopter and boards as ordered. He doesn't ask any questions since he is very familiar with need to know.
They'll brief us in due course. he thinks to himself as he watches out the window.
Fowlds leans forward to make himself heard over the noise from the helicopter's double rotors.
"You've all signed the Official Secrets Act, I believe ? We have a high profile prisoner - a Delta 20 asset - in the process of being moved from one of our long term medical facilities to a new lockdown location at an old RAF base in Acklington, near Alnwick. We're using a low security prison there as cover. We had word that persons unknown are intending to intercept our asset. So we are going to intercept these persons unknown, before they can do any harm. That's why we have had you at Catterick since this morning."
He looks at his watch.
"We're about half an hour away, I think. If you need to prepare anything you should do it now. And also be aware - these people may well be using lethal force."
Harry listens with interest to the briefing.
"Do we have any knowledge of particulars of these threats? Are they just well armed normals or specials? "
"If they thought the 'persons unknown' were expected to be 'normal' I doubt we would have been asked in... let alone required to sign the OSA."
"You can arm normals pretty heavily and we could have been brought in to reduce casualties. Unlike a lot of us, soldiers and police aren't bulletproof. The OSA is as likely to do with the prisoner transfer as anything. " he replies.
Fowlds frowns. "We don't know whether the enemy has access to powers, at this point. But the asset does, and will be dangerous if released."
For the first time since making himself visible, the man speaks, his voice quiet but resolute "What do you know of these attackers. Are they enhanced or normal? Do you have an idea as to their numbers?"
Fowlds looks at the man. "No, sorry, I was just telling your friends here. We don't know. But the asset we're transporting is indeed enhanced, and pretty powerful - more so than any of you, I dare say. And he's insane. So this is a high risk situation."
"We're approaching intercept now. You'd better have these."
He hands each of them an earpiece - he's already, you notice, wearing something similar. "It's a kind of miniaturised walkie-talkie. There's a button on the side; listen is always on, you can speak with the button pressed down. We'll relay through the helicopter, from a safe distance. Hence these civilian boffins ..." - he nods in the direction of the un-uniformed team, now strapped into seats at a series of what look like computer consoles, towards the front of the helicopter's hold.
"I should add, when you speak, everyone can hear, so please mind your language." He smiles, but seems to mean it.
Harry notably does not take on of the ear pieces. He just seems to concentrate a moment once people start playing with the devices.
He does a com check Challenger here. which seems odd to the rest since he doesn't have to move his mouth to do it and you only hear it over the earpiece.
Gracie checks her comm, saying her name into the earpiece, then pauses to note: "We still don't even know everyone's name," she raises an eyebrow at the stealthy man, "let alone what you expect us to do, besides 'stop someone who might show up who might be freeing someone else.'"
Gracie looks around. "I don't know if any you've heard of me or what you've heard. I help the police sometimes in London. But I... well honestly, I'm a secretary." She smiles wryly, adding, "Just a very, very strong one. I've only worked on my own, or with officers providing me guidance. Mr. Challenger here, obviously, is some kind of agent or soldier. But the rest of us appear to be civilians--" she nods at Spellbound, "Some of us quite young. We need to know--is there a chain of command? Who answers to whom? Who goes offense or defense? What..." she pales a little, "What level of force do you want us to use?"
Harry keeps a firm handle on expression while thinking to himself Great, now I'm in the pot. No intel, a big threat, and a team of rooks.
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Fowlds looks sternly at Gracie. "Who goes offence or defence? I think you've been watching too much of that gridiron football on Channel 4. Look, I've been working with powered individuals for a while now, maybe too long. You can turn any one of the rest of us on this chopper into mince meat, some of you without a thought. So cut it with the young civilian ingenue act - and far be it from me to command you. I can advise you as best I can. But, because each of you is unique, without training - which we haven't had time for - the rhythm of the team is going to emerge from the combination of abilities you have."
Fowlds gives Challenger a keep an eye on this one look.
"We're approaching the intercept point now, and will set you down."
There's a call from the front of the helicopter, near the cockpit: "Sir, check the port side window, bandits approaching ..."
From the left side of the helicopter, you can see a 2 lane road, containing no traffic apart from, in one direction a long white truck, unmarked, and in the other, a long blue one. The trucks are closing with one another.
"Damn," says Fowlds, "we're late."
He picks up a corded microphone from the side of the helicopter and presses a nearby switch. "Dice cup, Dice cup, this is Delta 20 November Kilo with payload Golf Hotel One. Bandits encountered, provenance unknown. Landing payload and going clear, request engagement clearance code Madding Crowd Crimson, over?"
Through a speaker above the buttons and cord, there's a tinny response: "Roger Delta 20 November Kilo, Dice cup clearance code Ruy Lopez Blue, clear to engage, clear to engage, over."
Fowlds presses a separate switch near to the microphone cord. "Crew, this is Fowlds. You know what's expected here, just do your best. One thing and per orders, in order to provide a comms relay for Golf Hotel One we are going in uncloaked and will remain so. Be on your guard. That's it. Clear to unseal orders; engagement start, repeat engagement start."
Several of the civilians pick up sealed brown envelopes from the consoles in front of them and start to break them open. Fowlds turns to the group. "Looks like the show's on. That blue lorry, there, contains the malefactors. Time to join the dance."
The helicopter lowers to the ground and the cargo door at the rear descends, white afternoon sunlight entering the darkness of the hold.
As the group gets ready to disembark, Fowlds calls after them "And, Mister Longbow, sounds like you owe this young lady an introduction!"
Once the chopper lands, Harry immediately jumps to place himself in the path of the blue lorry.
The man who is yet unidentified again fiddles with something on the right inside wrist, yet in the relative dark of the helicopter a dim light shines. Through the mic, you then hear "Longbow here." then adds in aloud. "My name is Longbow. I'm here because they clearly need my help. What can you tell us about the enhanced being that they're trying to extract? what are his or her abilities?"
Fowlds voice comes back through the comm.
"All right, Mr Longbow, here's a tactical tip: use the tactical comm for tactics. But since you finally asked, the asset's name is Anderson. Also known as Protector. He used to lead the EAGLES. He is, basically, Superman. Gone mad."
As the team disembark, the white Chinook closes it's cargo door and starts to lift away. The two trucks are now about a mile away from each other. Something is lifting out of the top of the blue truck, effectively a platform containing a number of cannons. One of them fires in the direction of the white truck, ignoring the presence of Challenger, over whose head a rocket flames directly into the front window of the white truck. There's a loud explosion.
Someone - not Fowlds and not one of the group - shouts over the comm "Bandits gone live, repeat bandits gone live. RPG!"
... the man's heavy furred coat, stretching across an massive form as it slowly stands - almost double the height of the Professor it was, and several times his mass.
The brutish face turns to the others in the group, casting small eyes down from a heavy brow.
A glint of recognition flashes across the giant's features and it nods with a low grunt as it jabs a heavy thumb into a barrel chest;
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Lightning Blade checks his earpiece: "Lightning Blade here. Ready to roll."
He gives an approving nod at the professor's transformation.
"Not bad, not bad at all! Now, watch this..."
He begins running back and forth on the spot, moving faster and faster, until suddenly...
There now seems to be a second Lightning Blade standing next to the original. Upon closer inspection, there is a very slight blur between the two.
Then, in perfect unison, both images draw their swords and swish them about dramatically.
"Alright, Eoten, what say we take out that RPG before it really hurts someone?"
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Fowlds looks sternly at Gracie. "Who goes offence or defence? I think you've been watching too much of that gridiron football on Channel 4. Look, I've been working with powered individuals for a while now, maybe too long. You can turn any one of the rest of us on this chopper into mince meat, some of you without a thought. So cut it with the young civilian ingenue act - and far be it from me to command you. I can advise you as best I can. But, because each of you is unique, without training - which we haven't had time for - the rhythm of the team is going to emerge from the combination of abilities you have."
Gracie flushes with embarrassment, because her 'ingenue civilian' attitude is certainly not an act, and truly doesn't know what's expected of her apart from "be strong and wear armor." Then the shame turns to a scowl--an unusual expression for her. "Then you can cut it with the heartless soldier act and stuff it up your arse. So no one's got a plan, then? Hell's teeth, the police are better organized than you lot."
She folds her arms and looks away. Well then, at least that makes my job clear. This is the sort of a$%#$#*$ who calls human beings 'assets'--doesn't care whether we live or die. So I better make sure the others are protected if things go bad.
"All right, Mr Longbow, here's a tactical tip: use the tactical comm for tactics. But since you finally asked, the asset's name is Anderson. Also known as Protector. He used to lead the EAGLES. He is, basically, Superman. Gone mad."
When the revelation that the prisoner's a member of the EAGLES Gracie goes particularly silent, trying to process the revelation that this man would have known her aunt... that he's alive... and that he's insane. Questions begin to reel in her head, and she tries to shove them away to focus on what's about to happen.
As the team disembark, the white Chinook closes it's cargo door and starts to lift away. The two trucks are now about a mile away from each other. Something is lifting out of the top of the blue truck, effectively a platform containing a number of cannons. One of them fires in the direction of the white truck, ignoring the presence of Challenger, over whose head a rocket flames directly into the front window of the white truck. There's a loud explosion.
Gracie pulls her helmet's visor down and takes note of her comrades' positions, then assesses the condition of the white truck.
"Call me Spellbound," Juliana says to no one in particular. She takes to the air, stopping her ascent at roughly 9 meters. She takes careful aim on the blue lorry and throws an eldritch bolt right into the engine.
(DC 27)
Longbow pulls what appears to be a small box from his utility belt and clicks a button on it, which causes it to extend into a full compound bow. He will then begin running in the direction the rocket came from.
Fowlds' voice bristles over the comm. "Young lady, please realise that in order to hold this comm line open around forty people are risking their lives. Any further comments like that and I will switch off your comm and you can deal with the consequences when you return to London."
From the white truck, there is a loud CRUMP sound as something smashes through the side of the truck and bursts into the air, a muscular man wearing a blue and yellow costume with a white helmet. He's moving too quickly to make out any form of expression. The white truck's cab is on fire; it's doubtful anyone survived the blast.
The blue truck draws to a stop a couple of hundred yards from its white counterpart. From the back of blue truck, six soldiers emerge, dressed from head to toe in black and carrying some form of modified rifle. Behind them, a further figure hops down, all in white, wearing a full mask with a blue bolt across his forehead and with another similar symbol on his chest. He carries what looks like a large pistol.
The observer, whoever it is, on the comm continues to commentate: "Bandit truck has halted. Six bandits, look like normals, armed, emerging from back of truck. One other, probably enhanced, armed, also emerged. And ... Jesus ... Asset Zero is loose!"
Now Fowlds' voice, again. "Crew, execute fail-safe. Arm main guns, repeat arm main guns. Golf Hotel One, clear to engage with lethal force."
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Lightning Blade notices the masked figure and grins.
"That one has a superb fashion sense. He is clearly their leader."
Then he sees the muscular man escaping from the white truck...and his grin widens.
"Ah, is this the legendary Protector? Now things are getting interesting!"