The Protectors -- Issue #2 -- "Crisis 19"

[Jalinth]

Journey

"Sounds like a plan people. I'm not the pilot that Mannequin is, but I can bring the jet along. Those of us on the plane will orbit nearby until you call us in."

[StickMan]

Path raises his visor and looks each of his team members in the eyes and says to them

"Today we fight the Infinite Empire, I have fought wars against these people. I've seen weapons worse than any known to this world used on civilians, horrors that at the time I was unable to stop, seen friends like you die in the fight. They will stop at nothing to take over the entire multiverse of earths an impossible task, but one they will try none the less, no matter how much pain they must cause. Right now they are turning these people in to drones, mindless workers in factory worlds that fuel there wars and paradise earths. But this is my earth this is were I draw my line sand. This blue and green pearl will not be another tarnished gem in the claws of Emperor Nkomo."

You see William's eyes water right before he closes his visor.

"You known what your all good at, Dawn your with me, Mannequin if you can make the thing work be my guest"

With that he gives enough time for Mannequin to posses the PDA touch Dawn's hand and then they blink out then back in 800 feet away then gone again this time out of sight headed to the central factory.

[Jalinth]

Journey

Journey nods gravely at Path. This would would NOT fall. As soon as Path disappeared, he turned to and flew at top speed to the Glaive.

He started on the pre-flight while the others joined him. "Might want to forward our findings thus far back to base. They might be able to come up with something, and if the worst happens they can at least tell the world what is happening here."

[Justice_USA]

Path raises his visor and looks each of his team members in the eyes and says to them

"Today we fight the Infinite Empire, I have fought wars against these people. I've seen weapons worse than any known to this world used on civilians, horrors that at the time I was unable to stop, seen friends like you die in the fight. They will stop at nothing to take over the entire multiverse of earths an impossible task, but one they will try none the less, no matter how much pain they must cause. Right now they are turning these people in to drones, mindless workers in factory worlds that fuel there wars and paradise earths. But this is my earth this is were I draw my line sand. This blue and green pearl will not be another tarnished gem in the claws of Emperor Nkomo."

You see William's eyes water right before he closes his visor.

"You known what your all good at, Dawn your with me, Mannequin if you can make the thing work be my guest"

With that he gives enough time for Mannequin to posses the PDA touch Dawn's hand and then they blink out then back in 800 feet away then gone again this time out of sight headed to the central factory.

Before going with, Dawn says "So you've fought them before? What do you know about their weapons? Their force composition? Tactics? Weaknesses maybe? We should all get this info now rather than later."

[StickMan]

Before leaving William says this "The Infinite Empire is made of hundreds of worlds and they have gained hundreds of different kinds of weapons. They have common ground troops, Robots, nanites, metahuman and worse. Their over all force is greater than the population of this planet. However I believe this is an automated invasion one ran by a computer set to invade a new world once its done with the last, not the a main invasion force. I've never fought against this kind of initial invasion against them. I don't know what kind of weapons they will use until I see them and even then I may have never seen this system before. If we win today it just means we are putting off another fight for tomorrow you don't say NO to the Empire. This is all I can tell you for now. Once we finish this, and we will, I'll give you all a full report of my experiences as well as plans I believe we must put in place for the next fight."

[samca]

On the Glaive, Dr. Cavanaugh's voice crackles through the radio. He sounds grave, once the threat is explained.

"Weaponized Von Neumann machines. Good lord. I'll get the entire team working on this immediately."

He pauses, then adds, "When this thing cracked open, it took about twenty-five minutes before the infection shut down the population and the machinery. Now, several of you have enhanced regenerative capabilities, and I can honestly say I have no idea how this stuff will interact with Doombot or Xeno. But we have to assume you've all been exposed, and that you may be on a clock before it begins converting you the same way it has everything else in the region."

---

Blinking along with high-speed teleportation, it takes only a few minutes to reach the Changeheart. It's a huge, pulsing, mechanical spike thrust up from the ground. And, seeing it from the ground rather than on a vertical satellite photograph, Path recognizes it immediately. It's small, immature, still growing... but he's seen adult Changehearts on Factory Earths in the past, regulating production and operating the drones...

There is a symbol emblazoned across the side of the tower -- a stylized image of a hawk, a lightning bolt held in its beak, each talon grasping a glittering, blue-green Earth. The brand of the Infinite Empire.

There are no doors, no windows, no obvious points of entry. The Changeheart is almost a living thing, and it's a closed system. If they want in, they're not just going to walk in the front door.

And here, they see the first movement they've seen since they arrived in the country. There are cars and trucks, a handful of tanks, driving around the base of the still-growing spire -- without any human drivers. The metal growths they saw before are more advanced here, forming odd mechanical camera-eyes, insectile manipulator-limbs sprouting from under the hoods of some of the cars, the paint peeling back and being replaced by odd circuitry...

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

"…If we win today it just means we are putting off another fight for tomorrow you don't say NO to the Empire.…"

"We probably have one of the few lines of work where job security is a terrible thing."

[StickMan]

Path:

"We're going to have to get insider there somehow, even without doors I should be able to teleport us in but were going to have to get closer without alerting them of our presents. Any ideas?"

[hero4hire]

Path:

"We're going to have to get inside there somehow, even without doors I should be able to teleport us in but were going to have to get closer without alerting them of our presence. Any ideas?"

Mannequin spoke through Path's PDA. His voice was a strange combination of the devices alert beeps and tones yet it was still comprehensible. "I can probably phase into the ground and approach that way. Then you could lock onto my comm signal and teleport in."

[StickMan]

"Sounds like a good plan to me. Even if I teleported us in we could end up in front of enemies or be detected if we go in blind. So it looks like its up to you to find us a safe spot. If you get into any trouble just call on the comlink, if we lose contact with you will move in as well."

[hero4hire]

"Sounds like a good plan to me. Even if I teleported us in we could end up in front of enemies or be detected if we go in blind. So it looks like its up to you to find us a safe spot. If you get into any trouble just call on the commlink, if we lose contact with you we will move in as well."

"Got it!" The PDA said before Mannequin 'lept' out of the device and straight into the ground as if he were jumping into an olympic sized pool.
Within its relative safety he began to 'wade' towards the Changeheart.

OOC: Permeate into ground use Spatial awareness to guide me.

[samca]

His body transformed into the same odd energetic state that allows him to possess machinery, Mannequin moves quickly through the substance of the Earth. Not quite as insubstantial as when he merges with machinery, he still has to poke his head up occasionally to take in a lungful of air; he doesn't even pretend to understand the physics or biology of it.

Still, he's not seen, and he's able to flow up through the ground, and into the base of the Changeheart.

Poking his head into the innards of the spire, he finds the inside of the structure to be pulsing with an unsettling, red light. There is a deep, bass throbbing that echoes through the whole of the inner chamber in time with the red, glowing pulse. The walls are a mixture of circuitry and what looks like living tissue. Wires and more silver tubes fill the entire chamber, crisscrossing and forming webs of steel up through the entire area.

In the center of the still-growing tower is a huge, translucent oblong of metallic, slick tissue. Dozens of the silvery tubes run into the huge ovoid, and it is the source of both the red glow and the deep, pulsing noise. It is beating, and Mannequin can see where the name Changeheart comes from.

Inside the ovoid, he can see the outlines of a creature, its limbs tucked up in front of its body, its myriad eyes closed. In his vision, he felt the nanite memories of the Base Commander that operates them. This must be the new Base Commander for their Earth, still in its fetal stage. That would explain why the machines and the population outside are still dormant. Their central controller has not yet been born...

Suddenly, a hideous buzzing squeal cuts through the air. The circuitry of the walls closest to him light up with strobing white arcs of power, and dozens of tiny camera-eyes sprout newly formed from the walls of the tower and swivel toward him. The wall ripples, and huge clawed tentacles start to extrude themselves as well.

Outside, the horns on all the cars begin to honk, and the vehicles all start revving their engines. To Path and Red Dragon, it looks like someone's just kicked a hornet's nest.

On the Glaive, the plane's radar and other instruments begin to make small, insistent warning noises.

There are objects in the air, now. Not close, yet, but across the country, aircraft have just begun taking off.

Dr. Cavanaugh's static-laced voice confirms it.

"The satellites are showing massive activity! Every damn airstrip in the country just lit up! Helicopters, passenger jets... Some old Cold War fighters the Ugandan military has picked up... You've got incoming, people!"

[hero4hire]

Suddenly, a hideous buzzing squeal cuts through the air. The circuitry of the walls closest to him light up with strobing white arcs of power, and dozens of tiny camera-eyes sprout newly formed from the walls of the tower and swivel toward him. The wall ripples, and huge clawed tentacles start to extrude themselves as well.

"Crap! I knew this was going to well!" Mannequin cursed and then transmitted to the others. Been discovered encountering heavy resistance. Over. and then tried to blast the hell out of the tentacles with his ion rifle before they reached him.

[Justice_USA]

Great, an army. Of robots. One of the few things this form can't handle. "I think I need to go dragon for this. I don't like resorting to this so early, but against an army like this, I have no choice. Journey, if you'r close enough, I can at least think at you, but my commlink doesn't work in this form."

(Unless someone objects...)

(Never mind, someone kinda did by telling me to follow indoors rather than fight the army.)

(Hearing Path.) "In that case, just get on my back. I can get you there as a human, and I don't want to be stuck as the dragon in close quarters." If Path does so, and they aren't more than about a couple miles from the Changeheart, she takes Path to the Changeheart, bashing through guards as she gets close to the Changeheart itself and nears the ground, shouting "Charging Tiger Thins The Herd!" before she jumps from vehicle to vehicle smashing them with mighty blows more dangerous than tank cannons and occasionally picking them up and kicking them from below.

[StickMan]

Path:

"Crap" Path takes in the news and has to think for a second "Dawn we can let the others take care of this mess, we need to get to the Change Heart, to back up Mannequin I may be the only one other than him that can get threw that wall. You can fly a lot faster than I can teleport and I think time is of the essence so I'm afraid I need a ride." Path looks at the Dragon Dawn's back and sudden appears on top of it "I hope you don't find this indecent put it is a bit of an emergency, just get me to the Change Heart and then I can teleport in."

Path then fires with his gun at one of the suddenly swarming robots.