Chapter 8: chapter eight

“It really wasn't,” said Stan. “You guys were supposed to fall back and regroup while they held the city hostage. I underestimated how much of a game changer that Hexing things could be.”

“It's still bad,” said Gail. “We have three big ships with an unknown number of crew on them grounded, two intact landing vehicles with whatever they have on them, one wounded landing vehicle with its crew, and sixty eight fighters flying around in the air. This is still bad.”

“At least Arnold blew that one up with his lightning blast,” said George.

“They rolled a one,” said Arnold. “I can't take much credit for that.”

“You singlehandedly stopped a fourth of their ground troops from making a landing,” said Gail. “Good job. If there are any survivors, they are going to be ticked at you.”

“At least the kid got out of the fighting before things got bad,” said Marv. “I did all right there, even though we need more manpower to help us stop the Imperial Musicians from trying to carry out whatever their plan had been before we got to work.”

“We need to come up with a plan,” said George. “If those big ships get back in the air, they could still pound the city.”

“I'm more worried about what will happen if they try to fire at ground level,” said Marv. “Grail City could be wrecked depending on what we do next.”

“I don't see how we can stop anything unless we each take out a crew, and then gang up on the figthers,” said Nick. “They are too spread out and I don't think any one of us can deal with a mass except Punch. He has invulnerabilty and supernatural strength, right?”

“Yep,” said George. “We just have to keep the power on the capital ships off while we deal with the smaller groups of aliens, right?”

“I could maybe keep the ships busy if I could see them,” said Marv. “Hexing can do a lot of weird effects but I need to see the target.”

“Do you think you could turn on the internal security systems?,” asked George.

“Maybe if I rolled low enough, and they had such systems in the first place,” said Marv.

“What are you thinking, George?,” asked Nick.

“I'm thinking that Gail can break the exterior connections on the two damaged ships with her power punch, I can get Marv over to that third one and work on permanently grounding it with his hex power,” said George. “Nick, you're going to have to do something about the landers if you can. Maybe bomb them. Arnold is going to have to deal with the fighters if he can. They're going to want to shoot at him while he is shooting at them.”

The group examined the map on the table. Stan made some adjustment to a couple of pieces.

“What's this?,” asked Nick.

“This is the robbery suspects fleeing from their successful robbery since no one was there to stop them,” said Stan. “They're heading to their headquarters to wait for the invasion to stop.”

“We'll deal with them when we get done with our primary enemy first,” said Marv. “Once we stop the aliens, we can turn our interest to these side quests.”

“All right,” said George. “Does anybody see any flaws in the plan?”

“The only problem is they are going to be chasing Sighter and me while you guys get to slack off,” said Nick.

“I don't think that's going to happen,” said George. “I think once things are going, they will try to stop us from doing good, but not to the extent of getting in our way.”

“They're going to get in the way,” said Arnold. “They're the bad guys, and that's what bad guys do. Let's roll initiative, then try to put this wacky plan in place.”

Stan marked down the rolls, shaking his head at Marv's.

“I have to wait on George anyway,” said Marv. “So it doesn't matter how good the roll is.”

“Fighters are going to break off and chase Gadget, and Punch. Some will try to strafe Sighter,” said Stan. “None of them have seen Shade and Jonah yet.”

“Let's do this,” said Nick.

The fighters, shaped like their mother ships, broke off to chase after the three defenders they could see. A reserve circled the capital ships to keep people away while repairs were trying to be made. Another three groups circled over the landers. No one was getting through their lines.

Gadget dodged the incoming energy weapon fire while keeping control of the Gadget Mobile. He needed to do something about the numbers. There were just too many of the invaders in the air with him.

Punch took fire and just punched through the lead fighter's engine. He flew out the other side and headed for where he could Jonah standing in the street, trying to aim his hex at something in the air.

Sighter ducked from the strafing pulses digging up the ground in front of him. He needed to knock a few of them down before he checked on the crashed lander.

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Gadget banked his craft and fired missiles at a fighter that crossed in front of him, He groaned because it looked like he was going to miss, but then the enemy turned into the projectile and blew up.He looked around for more ships to blow up.

Sighter used his supervision to lock in on the closest fighter. He blasted lightning into the cockpit. The fighter dove into the ground with the pilot stunned by his electric shock.

Shade circled the sail of the mothership she had boarded. She smiled at the engine outlets being directly in front of her. She jogged over and punched the first one as hard as she could.

A huge section of metal fell off the back of the ship as Shade hit the right spot to cause that to happen. She stepped back. She hadn't expected that to happen. She would take any win she could until the fighting was done.

Punch landed long enough to grab his companion and pull him into the air. Now they had to come up with a winning strategy other than torching everything.

“Fly straight up,” said Jonah. “I need a clear shot.”

“All right,” said Punch. He followed the command. He wondered what his friend was going to do.

Jonah threw out a hex at the ship. He didn't want the aliens to take off and wreck the middle of the city. He wanted to shut them down for good.

His hex caused a weapon to shoot into the ground under the ship. The explosion rocked the space ship where it lay.

“That didn't go like I planned,” said Jonah.

“We can't all cause explosions for no reason,” said Punch. He circled the big ship looking for something else he could use to finish the fight.

The fighters went after the three flying targets they wanted to kill. They missed their shots as the heroes dodged around them.

Gadget fired a volley of missiles into the wounded Lander. He wanted to take that out before they got it in air.

He was rewarded with some of it going up, but no way to tell what's going on inside.

Sighter fired into the nearest fighter. He missed with his lightning bolt.

Punch couldn't attack the fighter attacking with Jonah right there. He dropped Jonah on a roof top first.

Shade decided to try to cripple the other ship even further. She teleported to the other ship's top deck. Now she had to work her way back to reach the engine.

Jonah fired a hex and missed as the fighter he was shooting at moved by so fast he couldn't properly track it.

The fighters decided to blast Gadget out of the sky. The sustained firepower blasted the Gadget Mobile to pieces. He was going to have to ditch in the ocean if he wanted to survive.

At least they hadn't rolled high enough to pierce the cabin and kill him.

Gadget brought the craft to a rolling stop. He undid the harness as the Gadget Mobile started to sink under the waves. He ran to grab his arsenal and clip it on as water started pouring into the downed aircraft.

“By rolling stop, I mean the Gadget Mobile rolled across the ocean and then started sinking upside down to the bottom,” said Stan. “Gadget is out of the combat for the next little bit. I'll let you know when you can get back into the action, Nick. It's your move, George.”

“I can't help Gadget and I have three more attacks,” said George. “I'm going to hit the nearest fighter as hard as I can.”

“I got a three to dodge,” said Stan.

“I got a three plus,” said George with a small smile. “It's not a critical, but it's a hit.”

Punch threw himself at the closest fighter and punched the cockpit. He scratched the polish with the hit.

Shade punched the engine outlet on the other ship. The metal resisted the attack. She frowned as she looked for a better spot to cause an explosion.

Jonah fired another hex at the third ship. He wanted it to shoot the fighters down with its guns. Instead one of the engines exploded.

It would be a miracle if it flew home.

Punch swung at the fighter he was engaged with one more time. He cracked the windshield some. He needed to better if he wanted to send the fighter into the street.

“I think that was the last attack,” said Stan. “Roll initiative for the third melee. You guys are doing a lot of damage. I think this will be the last round as the surviving ships start lifting off. Downtown is wrecked by the explosions and laser bolts and stuff.”

“As soon as the attack breaks off, one of us has to help Gadget,” said Gail.

“Don't worry about it,” said Nick. “I have enough gear to get to the surface and swim to the beach. I'm good.”

“That'll be your melee actions, getting to the surface, Nick,” said Stan.

“No problem,” said Nick.

Everyone else rolled for initiative with George going first, and Stan moving his fighters last.

“I'm throwing the fighter at another fighter,” said George. “That's my opening move.”

“All right,” said Stan.

Punch slammed against the fighter. It crashed into another fighter and both lost control. They headed for the street, and plowed the road.

Shade punched the engine again, hoping for critical damage to result like the first ship she had wrecked. She created a hole that vented burning energy into the air. She didn't know how much damage she had done, but that couldn't be good.

Jonah fired another hex into the downed ship. Please, please, baby needs a new pair of shoes. One of the upper guns began firing at the fighters circling the area with light beams.

“Finally, it worked on the lowest attack roll from me tonight,” said Marv.

Sighter sent up a lightning bolt to knock one of the fighters out of the air. He wanted to help the others, but he didn't have a movement power that would help at the moment. He could glide, but he needed a way to get in the air before he could use it.

His target dug into the road and stayed there as the pilot tried to figure out what had happened to him.

The two unharmed landers started their engines and lifted off from their landing spots. The mission was a failure. Someone had to escape with news. Fighters formed up on the landers to follow them into space.

“I don't think I can stop them,” said George.

“We're going to be busy trying to pry the ones we have left on the ground to worry about them,” said Marv. “I think we should regroup.”

“If we have to do a bug hunt,” said Gail. “We should meet somewhere.”

“All right,” said Marv. “Let's meet where I'm at since I don't have any way to get to the rest of you.”

“I'll call Gadget for a ride,” said Arnold. “Gliding is good for slowing falls but not much else.”

“I'll teleport to a roof top, and then over to where Jonah is,” said Gail.

“I'll pick up Gadget and Sighter so we can get together faster,” said George.

“All right,” said Stan. “That sounds like a plan. We'll regroup over the third ship still blasting the air at anything trying to get too close to the ship.”

“We'll have to turn that off before we can make an entry,” said Gail.

“I'll hex it,” said Marv. He rolled the dice. He frowned at the roll. “I'm back to random effects.”

“The gun quits firing even though you can tell it wants to,” said Stan.