Fighting for Independence - Chapter 2

Simone Baptiste

Simone Baptiste - French

Rolf - German - Simone’s Dog

Sampson Strong - English - PJ

Leonid Rokossovsky - Russian - Sukh

Rosalyn De Steel - English - Dabe

Marcel Ventoux - French - Kell

Leopoldo Lugones - Argentina - Rich

Poncio Medina Jimenez - Spanish - PhilJ

Chuck Naldrett - Canadian - DaveG - Not here for this session

Milan Zadradnik - Czech - NPC

Richard Bering - English - NPC

Next morning I noticed more changes in powers, I no longer seem to be see other people’s auras any more but I can almost literally feel as if I am Rolf, with his strength, speed and his senses. Oh yes his senses, when you sense the world, the way a dog senses the world, its mind blowing! With a dog’s sense of smell the world looks so different, if seeing is the correct term, so multi coloured with a different layer of colour and texture on everything

Milan Zadradnik

So with a new sense a wonder I joined the rest of the party as we trooped out to do the favour for Richard. Our party is made up of Leonid, Marcel, Leopoldo (still wearing his codpiece), Rosalyn, Chuck (strangely distant), Rolf and me.

After a twenty minute walk down the indicated road we come to the temple nestling in a clearing, or what was the temple. It certain looks like it has seen better days with the roof having large holes. On one corner there is what looks like a minaret but it does not look too stable to me. We all venture inside and I try and get Milan’s attention. Since I had been told that Milan is a Czech I speak out in his native language to get his attention. He does appear, so I succeeded so far, but then he brushes me off “as a mere girl” and says that someone here is more worthy of his attention. Milan is a lot older than I expected looking like someone 70+, in fact thinking about what I know about the Czech’s he could have been involved in the Czechoslovakian rebellion of the 60’s, he was that old. That supposition was only further enforced with the tirade Milan directed in Leonid’s direction who took the criticism of the Russians as well as he normally did.

Then Milan turned his attention to Leopoldo saying that he showed promise but would need to be tested to see if he could put in the effort required to master his craft. Then both Leopoldo and Milan disappeared. A few minutes later we heard some explosions from the top of the minaret so it sounded like that is where they had gone. But when we tried to get up the tower we found that we could not, as the stairs had rotted and collapsed. We could hear voices from up there with Milan’s voice taking on a more exasperated tone over time telling Leopoldo to put in more effort. Suddenly around the temple a wall of green tentacles shot up completely enclosing us inside. It even shot over the roof to stop us getting out that way, as if we could fly. In the dim green light Milan and Leopoldo reappeared with a bang. Milan said that we were all worthless and deserved our fate. He then rips off his fingers and throws them onto on the ground, whereupon they all turn into Demons. Oh yes the situation was not good and things proceeded to get worse. These Demons seemed to be immune to most of our weapons and I wish I could say the same for us but I can’t. Even invisibility seemed to provide no defence as the demons seemed able to sense people even when hidden. I used super speed to keep myself at a distance while shooting, while Rolf would nip in and out for attacks in support of Leonid. Marcel got caught by two of the Demons and pounded into the ground. Chuck teleported in, grabbed Marcel and then teleported him out just before he was hammered again. It was not all one way as we did take out a few of the smaller demons but two of them did seem particularly hard. It all came to a head when one of the big Demons landed a particularly powerful blow on Leonid. He flew backwards about 10m into the base of the Minaret where his landing was softened by encountering Rosalyn and Leopoldo. Because of this Leonid was down but not out, very Russian you might say. Shame the same could not be said for Rosalyn and Leopoldo who were definitely down and out.

At this point I truly know where the battle was going and it was not going to be good. But I had an inkling of an idea that might get us out of the merde. I would try talking to Milan again as talking had saved me in the village and it was our best hope here. I called out to Milan” to stop as we did not want to fight him”. Milan answered “and that is not of my concern little girl”. But now I was beginning to fire on all cylinders and I responded “you are no better than the Russians in Czechoslovakia, just killing people who cannot defend against you. You say you hate them and everything they did to your country and then here you are, now acting like them”. Things went very cold and dark, and then suddenly I was taken to a church in some other dimension to talk to Milan. I then talked very rapidly and passionately to Milan, explaining that we meant him no harm but needed his help otherwise the American military would roll over us, all of us, like the Russians did in Czechoslovakia. Milan said he did not want to get involved, but I said “that like in the 60’s there would be no place to hide, as the military would kill us all, so we needed everyone to help and he was so very powerful. Would he at least talk to Richard?” Milan said he was willing to do this and suddenly we were back in the temple. With a whisk of his hands the tentacles disappeared along with the demons bar the two big ones who changed into men who then promptly collapsed. Then Milan disappeared again leaving us alone in the temple. I then sent Rolf to give a healing lick to the injured members of our party. It was only later that the thought occurred to me that if I can take on Rolf’s powers I can also take on his healing kiss, wonder who I should bestow that favour on? I find it hard to stop a smile crossing my face.

New Companions and Mission

After a bit of discussion we decide to revive the two unconscious ex-Demons. They seem to be very disoriented when they come around asking where did the demons go that they had been fighting. Rosalyn does a quick mind probe to confirm this and yes apparently they had been fooled into seeing us as Demons. We start to see if we did not before, why Richard wanted to recruit Milan. So we all troop back to Mweki where I informed Richard that Milan was willing to talk to him. I give Richard a briefing on my conversation with Milan so he does not ruin the foundations I have laid. He seems very pleased with me and what has been achieved. Sadly Richard’s flying friend Alexander was not about.

Richard then calls the group together to say it appears that the military have apparently got some informers in a town on the coast called Estevelo. Well that is what there communication intercepts are telling them. This does feel a bit like the French revolution with the people been oppressed and used by the military machine. I am beginning to feel a bit like a heroine.

Well anyway Richard would like us to go to Estevelo to investigate and find out what is going on. He thinks he can trust us as we have shown resilience in coping with situations so far.

On this mission the new guys decide to join us. Sampson Strong looks like a body builder and used to be part of a strong man act in a circus so a clever naming strategy there.

The other more rounded fatherly figure is called Poncio Medina Jimenez. He describes himself as a simple Spanish fisherman.

Estevelo

Next day we set out for Estevelo and after most of a day of solid walking we arrived in the late afternoon, feeling a bit foot sore. When there I enquire with the locals for a good place to stay. They direct us to a lodging house where apparently all the foreigners stay. Wonder what about our party gave us away. Well since we were tired, the lodging house was as good a place to start our investigation as anywhere. When we arrived we booked ourselves in and then met the other guests in the communal living/eating area. There were not many other guests, only 5 in number. Like our own party they were a mix of nationalities. The only thing they had in common was that they were all supers and were on the run from the military like us. One thing that we were doing though was that we were fighting back unlike them! We did try and persuade them to join the resistance but they just did not want to get involved. Three were US citizens who whilst not liking the situation, felt uncomfortable going up against their own government. The other two said they would help where they could but did not want anything to do with any fighting. Even though they had super powers, at heart they were just scared people who wanted their old life back. While I understood their attitude I thought they were falling into the same trap as Milan. There was no way they could wish their powers away so they would be part of the war if they liked it or not. We asked them about other strangers in town but they knew nothing. We resolved to start our investigation of town tomorrow.

Into Town

Next morning we decide to disperse all over town to find any leads to new people in town, military sympathisers etc. Just looking for anyone or anything out of place really. One firm idea we did come up with is for Chuck to ensconce himself at the local phone exchange to see if he can intercept any Military calls and if so, identify where they originated from. The rest of us would meet up at the harbour at midday to discuss our findings. I personally did not have much luck in finding out anything suspicious. The only strangers in town were the ones at the lodging house and us apparently.

I checked in on Chuck before I went to the harbour to see what progress he had made. He told me had got some leads but because of the analog nature of the exchange he was finding it difficult to pin down the actual location. He would get there eventually though. I said I would tell the others and we would see him later.

When I arrived at the harbour it seemed like a big impromptu beach party had been kicked off by Poncio with his fine culinary skills and Sampson was helping to haul fishing boats out of the water. Rosalyn had managed to get a nifty Western Office suit and a pair of heels. I have no idea how she afforded that as we had no money. But other than that success, none of us had found out anything other than Chuck. But being the relaxed kind of group that we are, people started to get actively into the party mood.

Leopoldo starting to get a feeling that someone was watching our people, when he looked round he spotted that it was a young lad. This lad then started to run towards the centre of town so Leopoldo decided to follow. They went down a street towards the exchange so Leopoldo thought he should warn Chuck. He went into a shop to use their phone and rang up Chuck at the exchange.

Chuck announced himself with “Chuck!”

Leopoldo says “Leopoldo!”

...silence...click. Leopoldo puts the phone down, he can only speak Spanish.

He comes out of the shop where he is confronted by the young lad on why Leopoldo is following him. This soon degenerates into a fight where it turns out that the young lad is in fact a Super with Mimic powers. After hitting Leopoldo he uses teleport to escape. At the harbour, Leonid and I had noticed that Leopoldo had gone missing so when explosions started happening we shot off into town at max speed. Rolf and I were fast but Leonid was that bit faster. We found Leopoldo battered and bruised in the street but basically ok. So we decided to leave him to be taken care by the rest of our group who were following along in our wake, while we go and see how Chuck is. When we arrived we found the exchange was under attack and Chuck was down. Rolf and Leonid charged in to engage the enemy Super while I shot at him with my pistol. After he had taken some damage he decided to bug out by using Leopoldo’s mimicked teleport power. The exchange had been wrecked and the best that Chuck can do now is give us an area of town for the origin point of the military transmissions.

Tracking

While the others checked over the exchange I went out to see if I could find any trace of the bad Super. By using Rolf’s senses I started to search for the scent path of the Super by searching in greater circles round the exchange. I eventually picked up his trail and followed it out of town. This was all going fine until we came to a river. He had evidently teleported across which was fine for him. To me it was going to be a bit more difficult, since this was no stream, this was a full blown river off the mountains and I had never learnt to swim!

Since I had been blocked in my pursuit I decided to reverse direction and work out where he came from rather than where he was going to. So I popped back to the exchange to see what everyone else was up to. When I arrived they had all finished their investigation so I explained my plan. In the absence of anything better they decided to follow my plan. Best not fail on my tracking then.

So we set off, Rolf soon lost the scent and just ran around as though it was a game. Fortunately I was on top form and the scent trail could not have been brighter if it had been painted with a fluorescent orange paint. As well as the harbour and exchange, he had spent some serious amount of time scouting out the lodging house from positions where he could remain hidden. From there the trail led out to a big house at the edge of town. Since I had done my job I was happy to step back into the background to let the others plan the next stage of the investigation.

House Break In

I was feeling fatigued after all my exertions of the day so my recollections of the next stage of operations are a bit vague so I will just summarize what I can recall

The house had a high wall round it with what looked like some sort of security system also in place.

When we got into the compound we found a large colonial house with attached garage and yard.

There was an old man in the hallway, who was monitoring the cameras. He then got killed by Leonid who did not know his own strength.

We found more staff upstairs, a young girl and her Grandmother, apparently Granddad was downstairs *cough*. I stayed with them to make certain they did not interfere with our search of the house. They told us that the owner had left some days ago and then returned. He had acted a bit strange since then as though he was not himself. From the smell in the owners room, he was the Super that I had tracked all afternoon. There was also the smell of someone else who had apparently visited the Super but this scent was very faint. We were told he looked like a Philippino, an army officer from his mannerisms.

Some of the others found a large satellite dish + equipment in the yard. This equipment was checked out for any information we could find before we disabled it.

The police then arrived.

We all scarpered in all directions, some over the wall and others past the police via invisibility or speed. This worked well for the majority but not for everyone. Leonid was fast, very fast but not fast enough, getting hit by a pistol shot as he exited the area. This took him out where upon he was rescued by another member of the party.

R & R

It been early evening we headed back to the lodgings. Leonid was ensconced in his room upstairs while I headed to my own room as I had things to do. In my room using materials I had obtained from Pitik Loshang in Mweki I proceeded to change my appearance. The thought had occurred to me that my description would have been reported to the police so maybe a change of appearance would be called for. When I finished I was really impressed with the change that I had effected, so I thought that I would go see how Leonid was faring. When I went into his room he was initially very shaken as apparently as I looked completely different. He was still not feeling well so using a healing power that I copied from Rolf; I held his hands created a feeling of wellbeing in him which enabled him to shake off his injuries.

While all this was going on upstairs, downstairs we had been visited by the police. Apparently it had not been a hard bit of deduction by them that Supers had been involved and they were all staying at the lodgings. Apparently they had been scared of us so had just issued a warning. I have no idea how we got away with the death of the old man.

Since Leonid was now feeling much better, we went downstairs to join the others to discuss what we could/should do next. This did not take long as we only had one remaining lead and that was the area of town which Chuck had identified as the origin point of the military calls. One of the other Supers in the lodgings was sent off to Mweki to tell Pitik Loshang, and Richard what was going on and what our next action was going to be.

Beach Road

The area of town we needed to explore was spread along a beach road which has a range of bungalows along it, some with dormers. These bungalows backed onto the beach so would have been nice to stay in, in happier times. Not particularly wanting to investigate every bungalow we decide to do a sweep of the area, Chuck seeing if he can spot any dodgy electromagnetic transmissions and Rolf & I using our more old fashioned senses to see if we can spot any smell out of place. We worked our way along the front before I identified the smell that I had noticed at the big house. It was the smell of the visitor to the Super, so we had our target bungalow. We decided to split our group into two even sized groups with people who could speak the same language. Going into the back of the bungalow from the beach side we had Leopoldo, Poncio, Rolf & me. Ok I know Rolf can not speak Spanish but at least I could control him. At the front of the house we had Sampson, Leonid, Marcel & Rosalyn. Chuck stayed outside to keep watch for anyone else arriving.

Our team entered the house by the backdoor which was not locked. Ahead of us was a short hallway with a door to the right. At the end it turned left with a stairs straight ahead dog-legged upstairs. We all crept in and opened the door to the right, it was a bedroom and unoccupied. There were signs of occupation but no one there at the moment so we continued down the hall to the corner. Down the hall to the left were doors to the right and left with a door at the end. The door to the right led into another unoccupied bedroom while the left also led into a bedroom. In this room all the furniture had been pushed to one side and various equipment had been set up. I guess its communication stuff as I can see a microphone and speakers & what looks like a satellite dish aiming out of the window across the beach and out to sea. I now went to investigate upstairs with Rolf while Leopoldo and Poncio checked out the door at the end of the hall.

A bit of a Tussle

Now this description of what happened at the front of the house I pieced together from talking to various people after the event.

Chuck picked the lock on the front door for team Frontal before going on sentry duty. They looked in to the room which seemed to be a living room judging by the sofas and chairs. Asleep on the sofas were two guys in military uniforms. Team Frontal now felt very happy as here was an opportunity to take down some guards down before they could fight back. They managed to sneak in without waking the soldiers and then lined up their most powerful attacks. This was going to be too easy!!! Then in a display of ineptitude that has not been seen for years, they did zip, nothing, zero damage to the guards. The sofa took a bit though. Then in a long, long drawn out fight the living room was trashed, it only came to an end when Leopoldo and Poncio came in from the kitchen and finished off the soldiers. A woman was also taken prisoner who had been sleeping in a bedroom above the living room. So victory for 6 of our team over 3 sleeping military personnel! Hurrah.

Elsewhere in the house things were very different. Rolf and I sneaked upstairs where we found a door at the top. When I tried the door handle it was locked but the door looked very flimsy so a quick shoulder charge and it should be open. Unfortunately that proved incorrect and it took two before we had burst into the room. In there we found a fully alert officer, a Philippino by the look of him, i.e. the top man, top boss, the big cheese. He also proved to be very skilled in martial arts as you would expect any top combat officer to be. The problem we had was that he was very hard to hit while he could hit us at will. Rolf fought protectively for a serious for amount of time, with me trying to get an accurate shot off to take him down but the guy was just too evasive. After the rest of the party managed to eventually overcome the sleeping soldiers Poncio and Samson came up to help. The enemy officer was more than capable of avoiding them also. During this period he was choked Rolf until Rolf blacked out. As more people arrived in the room I lined up an aimed shot to give myself the maximum possible chance of getting a hit. At that point he leapt out of the window before he could be shot. I leapt out of the window after him, tumbling down the roof to fall to the ground 10ft below. Everyone else did not seem keen to follow so I gave up the pursuit and ran back in to check on Rolf. When I arrived he was recovering so I gave him a healing hug.

After talking to the female prisoner we found out that the military had been strong arming Supers into helping them and there was going to be an imminent military invasion from the sea at this point in the next few hours. Oh merde!! Even though it was only supposed to be 30 odd marines none of us were confident of us stopping them after our last combat experiences.