Incursion: Spirit of the Blitz (IC)

[Tiffany Korta]

This wasn't time she’d seen a sky full of attackers and she had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be the last. Now as always the best idea would be to clear as many of them as she could.

 

Okay let’s try and get rid of many of them as we can before they get to the ground. It’s like a literal giant game of Space Invaders.

 

To prove her point she concentrated drawing all her power into a massive ball of energy that she deftly threw into the advancing hordes of Antibodies. really it was difficult not to hit something , there were just so many of them.

[Thevshi]

GM

<Well, it is somewhat shorter than that now.> Synapse replied to Coiled Lightning's comment about how long they needed to keep the Communion at bay.

The torrent of blasts of light Young Britannia unleashed into the sky connected with ten of the needle fighters that were dropping down from low orbit. But the thin spindly craft proved more durable than expected, as only four exploded under the barrage, the other six weathering the storm and continued their descent.

Two aimed toward Young Britannia, unleashing blasts of green energy toward the heroine. However Young Britannia was already moving after unleashing her attack, and avoided both attacks.

Stella d'Argento did not prove as fortunate, as a blast of green energy struck her squarely in the black, sending her spinning out of control before she started into a freefall.

A pair of the allied aircraft exploded as well under the blasts from the needle fighters, as another five dove past the aerial defenders and down toward the surface, slamming into the ground near the UNISON headquarters and unleashing more of the Communion antibodies into the ground battle.

Seeing Ulysses in trouble, Professor Chiron charged forward toward the antibody that had just dazed the steam powered hero. The cyborg armored hero delivered a powerful blow, which smashed in the antibody’s chest and sent it flying backward to land in a heap a short distance away.

<We are holding firm for the moment.> The Professor replied over the mental network. <But the Communion's number certainly appear unending.> He then added at the sight of more of the antibodies moving toward the heroes, even as one went down under combined fire from UNISON guards.

Up in the sky, Young Britannia suddenly seemed to be surrounded by explosions, as well over a dozen of the Communion needle fighters exploded. Glancing about, the heroine spotted several dozen aircraft approaching the battle from a number of directions. More than half were Eurofighter Typhoons that appeared to be from UK, German and Italian units. There was also a fair number of US F-22 Raptors as well.

[Thevshi]

GM

Even as the sky was almost cleared of needle fighters for the moment, a new wave of antibodies began rushing toward the UNISON headquarters and its defenders.

A pair of the Communion closed with Foreshadow, the first lunging at the dark clad hero, trying to cause him to move into the path of the second antibody’s attack. But Foreshadow knew what was coming before it even happened, and ducked under the first attack and sidestepped the second with ease as he remained close to Coiled Lightning.

The blue clad hero also had an antibody attacking him, but blocked the incoming attack as he held his ground.

On the opposite side of the building, two antibodies rushed toward Professor Chiron and Ulysses. The first went after the cybernetic Greek hero, who reared up on his hind legs to block the attack with the front hooves of his cybernetic harness.

The other antibody moved around Professor Chiron, its hand cracking with green energy as it reached out to grab Ulssyes' arm. The electrical current washed over the steam powered hero, causing him to stagger back a few more steps as black dots flashed in his eyes.

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow kept near enough Coiled Lightning so as to trust the man with his back.  Leaving him to defend the whip wielder's flank.  Foreshadow ducked down and and stepped forward.  Striking an Antibody in the waist with the side of his escrima stick.  Weaving out a sloppily hamfisted attempted of retaliation he repeatedly bobbed, weaved and worked the Antibody's body until it crumpled to the ground.   He attempted to do the same with the second Antibody.

 

But a dedication to holding his ground and not exposing Coiled Lightning made his initial blow shallow.  And Foreshadow felt it.  Rather than attempting to follow through, he pulled back.  Twirling both Escrima sticks well in hand.  "Looks like the fireworks have started."  Referring to the timely explosions occurring overhead.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie was realling getting building up a rhythm, snapping his whip at every antibody that got close, while ducking and knocking aside each claw sought him out. It would be a good workout, almost fun if he forgot how deadly serious this was.

 

As Foreshadow weaved his sticks behind him, Coiled Lightning's whip curled around the antibody before him, pouring jolts of electricity in to the alien body. With a grunt, Charlie pulled the whip away and slapped it against the one Foreshadow had just tried to knock down, but it proved too sturdy, unfazed by the combined attacks.

[Tiffany Korta]

Without hesitation Agnus dived down after her fallen colleague rapidly gaining speed on the dive before matching speed and plucking the unconscious Stella out of the air. Turning in the air she touched down on the ground rather heavily, taking the impact rather than inflict more harm on Stella, causing the concrete to crack.

 

She then gently put the woman on the ground making sure that no antibodies were around to harm her, then she took back to the air to rejoin the battle.

[Thevshi]

GM

Up in the air, the few remaining Communion needle fighters zipped around, trying to evade the various aircraft that had arrived to defend the UNISON headquaters. For the moment the air battle seemed to have turned in favor of the defenders, at least until the next wave of Communion ships arrived.

Down on the ground, the combat was still more intense.

Professor Chiron swung backhand at the antibody that have moved up and shocked Ulysses. The bracer on the cybernetic hero's forearm caught the antibody in the side of the head, knocking it flat onto the ground where it stopped moving.

Elsewhere, positions of UNISON troops were firing at antibodies, dropping a few, but several antibodies shook of the attacks with little effect.

[Exaccus]

Shaking himself back to his senses. Ulysses springs into action, drawing as much air as he can muster into his lungs and issuing it forth again in a surging cone that sends smaller bits of rubble tumbling away like dust bunnies as it crashes against the mass of drones before him, such was his haste however that his strength; not yet fully returned to him, failed to leverage itself effectively against the mismatched weights of the antibodies and their various augmentations and though one or two teetered none quite fell..

 

"Huff....Not quite back to full steam yet it would seem."

[Thevshi]

GM 

The antibodies proved far more agile than they would appear, either able to avoid Ulysses gust of air or resist it altogether.  All around the UNISON building, the Communion rushed forward, attacking the various defenders around the different sides.   

Stella managed to dodge an attack, as did Foreshadow, although just barely.   

One of the antibodies' claws slashed across Professor Chiron's back, causing the cybernetic hero to stumble forward slightly in dazed pain.   

Ulysses managed to easily side step the next antibody that came at him with the crackling green energy dancing along its claws, having learned it was best to try to avoid that now. 

Coiled Lightning was not as lucky, as one of the antibodies moved over towards him and slashed its wicked claws across his left shoulder.

[Thevshi]

GM 

Stella d'Argento dodged away from one of the attacking antibodies, her head clearing from the hit she had taken up in the sky from one of the needle fighters.  The Italian heroine's hands came up and a bright beam of light shot out, striking the antibody square in the torso.  The force of the blast sent the antibody flying backward dozens of meters, where in landed in a heap near the needle fighter it had emerged from. 

Glowing brightly, Stella lifted up into the air once more, out of melee range with any of the other antibodies as she began to scan the scene around her for anyone else that needed her help.  Spotting a group of UNISON troops that were being attacked by a pair of antibodies, she prepared to move to assist them.

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow stepped forward and rolled over the Antibody that had been tanking their combined assault to no avail.  Combining both of his escrima sticks to their full bo staff length he spun around.  Twisting his body to catch the Antibody flush on the side of the head.  Hoping to twist back and take the other one with it.  <"To quote a beautiful woman.  Bugger.">

The Antibody swiped backwards in awkward acknowledgement of the attack that had no visible affect.  Prompting Foreshadow to roll underneath the arm back to his position directly behind Coiled Lightning.  "Now's an awkward time to bring this up.  An entire army right in front of us and all.  But you're not looking so hot."  Foreshadow was referring to how nasty the scratch on his shoulders looked.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Pain coursed through Charlie's shoulder as the antibody cut in to him. He tried to back away from the creature, take cover behind Foreshadow, but the pain and shock made it difficult to think, unable to focus himself.

"Too damn cocky." he said, his voice cracking "They got me pretty bad." He needed to pull himself together, too many Communion still coming to stand around like this. Bravado got him hurt, but hesitation could get him killed.

[Tiffany Korta]

After making sure her college would be safe from Antibody attack Agnus took back to the air in a streak of bright white light. As she rapidly climbed every upwards the light grew brighter and brighter until it was almost too bright to look at directly.

As she climbed she dodged and weaved past Antibodies and allies looking for a spot where she could safely let off this charge without harming any of her friends.  Once she got to the perfect spot she let off the energy she’d gathered in a massive explosion of light.

[Thevshi]

GM 

As Young Britannia climbed back up towards the aerial dogfight, she spotted a group of Communion fighters that were separated enough from the various fighter aircraft which had arrived from numerous countries.  Unleashing a torrent of light at the group, she was rewarded by seeing four of the needle fighters explode into silver dust from the blast.   

However, two of the Communion fighters survived the blast, one of them turning toward her and opening fire with the burst of green energy which struck Young Britannia squarely in her torso.  The impact knocked her back slightly in the air, causing black spots to appear before her eyes, as she began to drop out of the sky towards the ground far below....

[Thevshi]

Inside the control center, Synapse was "hearing" the various mental traffic among her teammates and their allies, as well as the information coming over the radio from the various forces that had arrived to try to help fight off the Communion attack.  At the same time she had been focusing on that ringing sensation she was feeling in the back of her mind. 

The young Englishwoman was now convinced that it was some sort of means for the various Communion forces to communicate that was at least partially psychic in nature.  Now that she had that, she through she could try to send some sort of psychic feedback through the link and maybe take out most of the Communion ground forces.

Aright everyone, I'm afraid our network is going down.  She communicated over the psychic link she had established.  I have an idea that can hopefully deal with a lot of the Communion on the ground.
 

Dropping the mental connection she had established, Dee began focusing her mind on the Communion signal, building up psychic energy as she did.  Then, after a few moments, when her head felt as if it was going to explode, the Englishwoman unleashed it in a massive burst of red psychic energy.  The burst rippled out of the building, leaving a strange tingling sensation to UNISON personnel and her allies that it washed over, but otherwise causing them no harm. 

The same was not true for the Communion antibodies.

The majority of the antibodies currently on the ground crackled with the red psychic energy as they seemed to suddenly seize up and freeze.  Then they crumpled to the ground in a heap, unmoving.  In the end, only three antibodies remained active on the grounds of the UNISON headquarters, at least for the moment...

[Exaccus]

Feeling his neurons firing with the familiar tingle of synapses psychic influence as the wall of red passes over him he can't help but smile, it felt good to know there was someone out their so much stronger than himself in-case his lodger got axe happy again and if he was honest he was slightly vindictive towards those silvery sods for zapping him and took pleasure in watching them crumple under the tidal wave of mental energy.

looking back to call out to the professor however he sees it wasn't quite a total wipe out and rocks in, striking the disfigured and frazzled drone on the back of its neck with a audible crunching of its armour and following through with a lariat to its partners chest cavity, caving it with the force of the blow. "You allright proff? Whatever that thing they did to me is, its pretty nasty." he says with empathy even as he manoeuvres to provide support to the dazed cybernetic centaur.

[Thevshi]

GM 

If the fact that the majority of the Communion forces on the ground had just been dealt with in one attack bothered the antibody facing Foreshadow and Coiled Lightining, it showed no sign of it.  This antibody had thus far resisted multiple attacks, even shaking off whatever it was that Synapse had done to the others. 

The antibody lunged after Foreshadow once again, its wicked claws flashing in the faint light.  But Foreshadow was far too quick for the Communion, in part aided by having forewarning of its attack, and easily avoided the slash. 

Seeing the Communion antibodies crumple under the psychic wave projected by Synapse, Stella turned her attention back up to the battle in the air, just in time to spot Young Britannia starting to fall back to Earth.  Quickly closing the distance to the plummeting woman, Stealla easily caught her.

"Looks like I get to return the favor."  She stated with a faint smile. 

Meanwhile, the gathered aircraft sent by the United States and a number of European nations managed to destroy several more of the Communion fighters, momentarily clearing the sky of any threats.

[Brown Dynamite]

As the bodies of Communion forces dropped all around them Foreshadow whistled impressed.  I don't tell her enough how scary she can be.  He wasn't sure how Synapse did that thing she does so well.  But, he wasn't about to complain either.  "Well I guess she wins."  Foreshadow openly mused before lightly tapping the Antibody in front of him the side of the face.  It was a light smack that barely made contact.  

Just light enough to get it's attention.  It swung wildly, but Foreshadow was way ahead of the creature bending backwards far enough to narrowly avoid the claws coming for him.  Before it had time to reposition itself Foreshadow had already stood up and positioned him perfectly in the creature's blind spot.  Swinging his arms as hard as he could possibly muster, Foreshadow slammed the side of the Bo Staff directly in its head.

"And stay off my planet!"  The Antibody's head was visibly smashed in.  Pieces of computronium falling everywhere.  

[ca_lazerdwarf]

As Charlie saw the last antibody fall under Foreshadow's staff, he dropped to his knees to catch his breath and clutched at his injured shoulder. "Is that it?" he asked tentatively, hopefully. They'd bought enough time for the Uni-storm to launch, hadn't they?

He looked up in the sky, finally free to watch Earth's aircraft hold off the the invaders. At that distance, hard to tell who was who, but it looked like it was calming down. Who knows how much more there might be still up there, too far away to see.

[Brown Dynamite]

"Let's not get the banner ready yet."  Foreshadow replied while leaning on his staff.  The sky was filled with fireworks due to coalition forces shooting down every bird they could see.  It was a great blow to Communion forces.  It wasn't, however, confirmation of a victory.

If the Communion were seeking to win on sheer numbers.  Then they had plenty of bodies to spare.  There was the possibility that there would be more bodies touching down on the ground.  Up until the moment UNI-Storm was up in the air, Foreshadow wasn't going to feel any bit relieved.

At best anything before then was just a moment to catch one's breath.

[Exaccus]

After ensuring the good professor was alright, Ulysses allows himself a moment to enjoy what he suspects to be a small break in the storm; for from what he understood the communion had taken half dozen or so worlds since it turned up, it had billions of bodies to throw against earth like the raging waves and so far they'd broken on the shore but there were many more yet to come, he steels himself anew, now was not a time to be taking chances or experimenting for the simple curiosity of it, now was the time to bring his full might to bear against the foe before him and hopefully see them driven back.

[Thevshi]

GM 

With the tide of enemy momentarily halted, and Young Britannia recovered from the needle fighter attack, Stella flew back down to the ground, where UNISON medics had come out to help move some of the soldiers too injured to continue fighting.  Others made do with a few bandages as they did their best to reinforce their positions. 

Up in the sky, the gathered fighter aircraft fanned out in a wide radius around the UNISON headquarters, ready to intercept the next wave of approaching Communion fighters.  How long they could continue to engage the enemy was a bit of an issue, as they were starting to run low on missiles.    

Seeing Coiled Lightning struggling some to remain on his feet, Stella glided over to land near him and Foreshadow.  "You look like you can use some assistance friend."  The Italian heroine stated as she gently placed her hand on Coiled Lightning's right shoulder.  A warm glow surrounded the hero, as he felt a refreshing light wash over him, removing his pain and fatigue in mere moments.  When the glow subsided, he felt as good as new.

[Thevshi]

Inside the control room of the UNISON headquarters, Synapse was still seated with her legs crossed on one of the desks, her eyes closed in concentration as she felt exhaustion wash over her after exerting herself as she had to stop the Communion ground forces.  As she could hear from the reports of the technicians manning the various stations around her, it was only a temporary respite, as more of the Communion needle fighters were on their way even now. 

Resisting the urge to just fall asleep, the Englishwoman reached out with her mind once more to the area around the building, finding the minds of her teammates and their allies once again.  Don't get too complacent.  More of the buggers are on the way now.  She relayed into everyone's mind.  That last stunt took quite a bit out of me, but I think I can manage one or two more attempts once more of them are here.  For now, I can keep us connected as long as you lot stay within three hundred meters or so of the headquarters.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled Lightning smiled at Stella as the warmth washed over him, taking away the pain. "Thanks, one of these things got the better of me. I was afraid I was going to let you all down and get swarmed. Or at least explain a nasty wound to my girlfriend. I'll buy first round of drinks when this is all over."

Just give us warning when they're getting close. he thought in response to Synapse's message. How are the Unistorm fighters coming?

If more were coming, he'd just have to keep standing and fight them off, and try not to get himself half-killed again.

[Thevshi]

Professor Chiron soon recovered from the attack of one of the antibodies, given Ulysses a small nod as the team power hero asked if he was alright.  "Yes, thank you, just caught a bit off guard by that attack."  The Greek hero replied.  "They do seem to have a number of offensive abilities.  Beyond the claws, I would guess that electrical shock you were affected by targets the nervous system." 

They are coming along, but not nearly quickly enough.  Synapse responded to Coiled Lightning’s question about the UniStorm fighters.  The Communion still has a shot at catching them on the ground if we do not hold the line. 

The Englishwoman hazard to open her eyes and glance at the monitors inside the control room, quickly taking in the telemetry tracking the Communion forces.  And speaking of….the next wave of Communion fighters should be coming into view in moments.  She then transmitted, closing her eyes once more and taking a deep breath as she began preparing herself if she was needed to try to help stop any more of the Communion’s ground forces.