Zero Hour views the Contagion and those who seek to profit from its menace as the prime targets of its efforts. By focusing their efforts, the Unit can use its Operatives’ strengths to throw their infectious opponent into disarray while inflicting more harm on it. The more members of the Unit involved in the vector, the more efficient it becomes. Each Operative lends their skills and talents to the battle. Not every Operative must throw themselves into the line of fire; some stand at the back, directing the hostilities against their enemies with the same ease as they commit a hostile takeover of a rival’s company.
The hunter teaches the mummy for the hundredth time how to work the receiver on their modern assault rifle while the mummy tells her once again about the more civilized times of spear and javelin. A werewolf picks a Promethean out of the snow, showing her how to move properly through Arctic conditions while being chased by an opponent. A Sin-Eater and a vampire sit at a table and regale each other with their exploits from across the eons before setting out to crush a Contagion outbreak once and for all.
System: Each Unit must appoint a leader before the next expected battle. For the duration of the fight, every member of the Unit treats their Physical Skills as being one dot higher for the purposes of combat, without exceeding their trait maximums. They also gain +1 to their Defense. The leader gains two dots in their Intimidation or Persuasion, as chosen by the player.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Requirement: The Unit must drill regularly and have a familiarity with what each other can do in combat, whether it is fighting actively against their enemies or providing support through other means. In practical terms, the Unit must have fought and won three battles, fights, or even street scuffles as a team before this vector is usable. This vector requires the participation of at least two characters in the faction.
Dice Pool: Wits + Survival
Action: Instant; in one scene prior to violence Duration: One scene
Edges
Beasts: Combat can always be unpredictable even for the most measured and veteran Begotten, and the urge to satisfy their hunger can push them hard. At the beginning of combat, Beasts can either consume the fear and horror of battle or let it wash over them, reducing or increasing their Satiety by one level, making Atavisms more dangerous or focusing the Beast as they see fit.
Changelings: By drawing upon your past trauma, you can push yourself and your teammate to force one another to fight through the pain. As long as you are within sight of one of your allies, they may ignore the effects of a Tilt or Condition afflicting them if they so choose.
Demons: Maintaining their Cover is one of the hardest things for a demon to do while utilizing the full strength of their powers. Through training with their Unit, you are able to regain some of the flexibility you once had when you fought on the side of the angels and the God-Machine. You gain three points of Willpower for the purposes of spending it to avoid testing to see you break your Cover. This allows a demon to exceed their maximum Willpower temporarily. It goes away if not spent by the time the vector ends.
Deviants: The torment you endured to get you to where you are now is nothing compared to the deep-seated desire for revenge against the ones who did this to you. Your next opponent serves as the vessel for your wrath. The target suffers –2 to their Defense.
Hunters: You are not sure if you were the first thing to walk on this rock, but you promise your faction will be the last creatures standing when the dust clears. If your Health boxes are all filled with damage during the course of this vector’s use, you regain an immediate three Health that disappears again after the vector’s duration ends, unless you are medically stabilized.
Mages: Although some rituals require strict planning, by coordinating with your allies you are able to become more flexible in your manipulations of reality. Your Fraying and Unmaking spells with a duration of a scene or less reduce their Reach from exceeding spell control by one.
Mummies: The power of your eternal Sekhem conveys a resilience against being harmed. You ignore the damage inflicted upon you from the first attack successfully hitting you this combat.
Prometheans: The legendary resilience of the Created becomes stronger when fighting alongside your comrades. As long you are not the last one standing among your Unit, your Armor increases by 2 against ballistics and general attacks.
Sin-Eaters: Surrounding herself with the ghosts of glorious warriors who triumphed in past battles, the Sin- Eater fills herself with newfound glory and purpose. You gain two free points of Plasm to spend during the combat, which count as being spent the first time any Plasm is spent by the Sin-Eater. These can exceed the maximum limit, but disappear if not used once the vector is over.
Vampires: When operating in a Unit, you can predict your opponent’s moves before they’ve even drawn their gun. You gain +2 to your Initiative and can activate one effect from the Disciplines of Auspex, Dominate, Majesty, Obfuscate, and Protean reflexively at the beginning of com- bat, even if your power usually takes longer to yield results.
Werewolves: Striking from a position of fury and strength when surrounded by the pack can be the quick, ruthless key to cutting your opponent’s lives short. You can auto-win one Down and Dirty Combat with any supernatural creature.
Specializations
Unfleshed: Some Prometheans were created precisely for the purpose of war, and may be capable of fashioning weapons of their body or accessing an armory of which they were once a part. Unfleshed Operatives using this vector can provide their faction-mates with any form of non-supernatural weaponry subject to their location and capacity to carry or store said weaponry.
Union: Teamwork and relying upon your comrades in arms in the Union helps you work alongside Operatives you’d normally be at odds with. By explaining your plan before activating this power, everyone in the Unit may ignore any penalties to Social or Mental Skills during combat.