Kid Kinetic issue #1 - Junk food is great!

"I come in peac. ... YEOOOW! Jeez, lady. For an escape from an alien prison ship you sure are rude."

Kid Kinetic hates when the bad guys can fly. He dashed after Depthcharge.

"Where do you think you're going? You still have my friend!"

The words sounded strange coming out of his mouth. Were they friends? He hated to admit it but he was worried about Cutthroat.

Moving through mud even with near superhuman strength and definitely superhuman speed wasn't that easy!

Still, he made faster work of it than Depthcharge and splattered/slopped his way up the bank to where the trees were on the top of the slop and presumably, cover...

Depthcharge turned "As much as a pain that Cutthroat is, she's worse!" he growled. "And I don't have my sonic blast... she can pick us off from the air..." he croaked with a sore throat. "Change of plan kid. You can KEEP Cutthroat, I need to get out of here! I wanted information from him... the stuff you call 'alien tech' is laced with nannites the Psion Police can detect... and the more of them in one place? Well, the signal just got stronger! With me AND Cutthroat AND her in the same place, and all of us injected with those infernal things..."

He didn't have to add 'it was like putting a pin on a map to the cops'.

"There are others I'm sure that have survived the crash!" growled DepthCharge looking through the trees to find sight of the moth woman. "If they are ... I don't know, set up to find concentrations of the tech or nannites then they will be drawn here too!" he kept looking. "Where is she? I can't..."

Zeeeeeeackkkk!

A tree was blasted not twenty feet from where they stood!

"I hate fliers." growled the villain. "You want Cutthroat?" he snarled. "You can have him... if you get rid of her!"

"Deal! I will draw her fire. Can you douse her with a blast of water?"

DepthCharge scowled "I can douse her but only in a manner that would annoy her. It is neither powerful enough nor accurate enough to cause her any problems but may provide a distraction."

The blue giant looked down on Kid Kinetic. "However, your thinking shows a tactical awareness beyond your years. getting her wings wet is a sure fire way to bring her down to earth. How can you...?" He looked about. "Ah, perhaps the earth insects which she resembles have a similar difficulty and you made an observation - correctly - that she might suffer in the same way. I am impressed boy. Cutthroat saw something in you and now I see it. You are young, undeveloped and yet to fully explore the limits of your abilities and skills. Yet... you have the mark of something else about you." He narrowed his eyes.

"Distract her enough that I can get to the water and escape. Cutthroat is yours then and I wish you luck in dealing with her. As for you? I will... owe you." He flicked his head over his shoulder to a clump of bushes. "Look in that direction. I have not harmed Cutthroat. Watch out for the PSION POLICE youngster. They are coming here, for us. They must know by now that there were survivors from the prison ship and will want us... all of us..." he said with a glance into the sky "back. I needed the gems to make a sensors deflection device to allow us to hide but have not the time nor the means to legally acquire them. Now I suspect we are out of time."

He made to leave "The PSION Police are not like your police. They will take what they want and crush all in their path. Resist them... and they may call down a strike from space that would render this world an apocalyptic wasteland."

OOC Depthcharge is making to leave and a quick check shows that Cutthroat is in the bushes and is alive and unharmed, albeit unconscious. That buzzy nasty in the sky is flying over the trees though and looking for a way to kill two sources of the tracking nannites that threaten her own survival as so many of them in the same place must present a HUGE blip on the PSION Police radar... and they don't sound like nice people. At all...

"One distraction, coming up!" Kid Kinetic started pelting his opponent with globs of mud.

Kid Kinetic moved to the edge of the trees and started scooping up gobbets of mud to throw at the moth woman...

She was agile and flitted about in the air with remarkable evasive capability ... and Depthcharge moved through the trees, paused to see the kid flinging mud up and the moth woman circling higher and higher to get out of range...

"heh." muttered Depthcharge. "Not bad Kid." he muttered, then ran for the river and dived in!

From her vantage point the mothlike woman alien saw her target dive under the water of the river... and knew her chance to get him had gone! The other one... Cutthroat... would have to suffice!

She swooped in, dodging mud and knowing that her fragile wings could not function properly with damp or mud on them... but she could blast at a distance! She sent down a couple of warning blasts into the trees...

Kid Kinetic saw Depthcharge make his getaway and looked up. The moth woman was swooping down again... and ZeeeeeAAPPPPP!!!!

A tree exploded nearby and the speedster avoided the fragments, but a blast like that which could split a tree in half would make short work of Kid Kinetic!

Then he heard a groan and looked over... Cutthroat was coming to but would be groggy for a short time meaning he'd be vulnerable to the blasts from the Mothlike woman alien!

OOC She's coming lower down and back in range of mud and will probably start blasting at the trees...

Kid Kinetic ran over to his fallen comrade and scooped him up. "Rise and shine, pal. Or whatever it is they say on your world. We have to bug out before the bug zaps us!" Kid Kinetic then took off at a sprint weaving in and out of the trees.

Cutthroat groaned but didn't resist as Kid Kinetic took off, weaving in and out of the trees and appearing half a mile later in a clearing by a road.

Looking back he saw the distant form of the moth woman like creature scouring the trees and being careful to be at such a range where she would not be pelted by mud, water or anything else.

As far as Kid Kinetic could make out these escaped prisoners were being hunted by someone called the Psion Police who were themselves not very nice people. To make prisoners ingest nannites in their food that could be used to track them across... well, solar systems at least and possibly galaxies was very big brother and suggested the viewed the Prisoners more along the lines of property which would soon be reclaimed! The more nannites in one place, the stronger the signal and so the prisoners had to split up but knew eventually the Psion Police would track them down. That meant his new 'buddy' the mercenary Cutthroat who it had to be said had kept his end of the bargain to work with Kid Kinetic, would soon be targeted by an intergalactic Police force. Where would Kid Kinetic stand in that argument, and what would Father think?

Cutthroat came to but was still groggy (OOC it's not been an hour for recovery so whilst he might be talking and walking slowly he's not using his powers or making any dice actions and has effectively OV0 vs attacks) and barely able to it up.

"Uhhh thanks Kid. I owe ya one. When I came to this planet and saw a chance to... blend in with all the weird and wonderful types I never thought I'd consider any of them worth having dealings with, but ya know what? You're alright." he groaned again and lay back.

Kid Kinetic looked in the sky.  The moth woman had been hovering for a while but now she was heading steadily in their direction. "She'll be... using... a tracker..." mumbled Cutthroat as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"I have no idea how fast she is. She might get us with a lucky shot. Running into a building is out of the question as there might be people in there. That leaves one option., Kid Kinetic mused.

Kid Kinetic lifted a manhole cover. "Let's see her try to fly after us down here. Going down!"

Finding a manhole cover with Cutthroat over his shoulder wasn't easy but at speed that seemed to make things pretty simple, covering a lot of ground in a short space of time...

OOC Superspeed 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,5,+0 Total:15 (24) vs
Ov5 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,6,+0 Total:7 (12) +5 (to 14) vs RV5=9 RAPs. Perception check passed.

Kid Kinetic winced then dropped Cutthroat down the hole. He landed with a splash then he followed, pulling the manhole cover over behind him... It was too low to stand up in and KK was suddenly aware that if he had to fight he'd be in BIG trouble down here....

Looking up he waited... and waited...

Nothing. Was the coast clear?

Kid Kinetic did not intend to find out. "That alien moth lady could not fly down here but she could still fry him with a zap. Better get moving." Kid Kinetic scooped up Cutthroat and proceeded to waddle his way to safety.

On hands and knees through the slurry, muck and foul smelling dankness of the place Kid Kinetic plodded through the sewers in the dark.

It took an age and he was aware, suddenly, of his stomach growling. He'd eaten not so long ago but his body was telling him of his needs!

Finally the sewer tunnel appeared in another intersection with a tunnel down, one across and a ladder leading up to the street. He'd been going for minutes... maybe a short while and gagged the whole way with a watery mouth. Cutthroat was still out and he knew the moth woman was - possibly - out there still.

OOC How long do you want to stay down here? Till Cutthroat revives?

Kid Kinetic opted to take the ladder down. "We ought to be safe down here. At least, long enough for you to get back on your feet." Kid Kinetic sniffed the air and made a face. "I hope you recover soon. It takes a lot to make me sick but this is pushing it!"

Deeper into the darkness and the roar of water rang out.

Finally at the bottom of the rusted ladder they stepped out into a wider passage, flowing like a stream with... well, best not to be described.

The smell was overwhelming and even Kid Kinetic couldn't hold in his breakfast! Noisily throwing up into the stream he coughed and wiped spit from his mouth and noticed immediately the trembling shakes. He was now officially in trouble and needed to eat something.

The smell roused Cutthroat who groaned and gagged, then bent over and retched himself. Again and again and he leaned back with a pounding headache. He groaned and turned to Kid Kinetic. "I owe you kid, and I won't forget it. Whatever else happens from here I will not go against you. Thankyou." he offered a hand to shake.

Explaining the moth woman was still out there somewhere Cutthroat nodded. "We were all prisoners on the same ship. Some of us were freedom fighters but they called us terrorists anyway. Bad as they are, all of those who survived the crash are frightened of one main thing - being rounded up by the Psion Police again. There may be more than us three. The problem is we will remain to be a living beacon on this planet and draw trouble to it. Only death or leaving this place will save your planet from being caught up in it, and I'd rather die than be dragged into their prisons again for torture to give up my fellows and friends."

"That leaves you a choice young man. My methods will have put us as odds before but like I said, I consider you a friend." said Cutthroat, peeling off his mask and morphing to his true, alien form. "I need to get off this planet and I hope you can help me. I also have a very dangerous suggestion to make..."

He sighed, ran his hand through the spines that were his hair and added "Find all the others who were prisoners, gather them together then we get the heck off this rock before we bring danger and destruction to it. The PSION POLICE will bomb a city from orbit simply to sift through the rubble for our corpse if they can't capture us. Your planet has many like you with superhuman abilities, but what can they do against a galaxy wide organisation? Even those ADVENT lot know of the Psion Police and tread carefully. The Psion coalition is a myriad mix of planets and empires all signing up to law enforcement by what you would call as superhuman peacekeepers. They aren't human but their powers are... extensive."

"You've helped me now... can you... will you... help me further?" he asked.

OOC think the Green Lantern corps, albeit a fascist version...

My original premise behind the idea is that we were college buddies who made a vow that if we ever somehow got superpowers, we would form our own team of superheroes and fight crime together. We all got powers somehow or other over the six years or so since making that vow, each in our own way, got in contact with each other and are now teaming up.

The other part of the idea was that we would be in a different time period instead of modern era. I'm suggesting we do that sweet spot between the end of the Golden Age and the rise of the Silver Age. So 1953-1956. The publication of the Barry Allen/Flash in 1956 in Showcase Comics is considered the marking point for the start of the Silver Age.

Things that would affect us if we are in the mid-50s: Schlocky Sci-Fi. Commies. Beginning of the Space Race. Rock n Roll. Korean War has ended. Castro hasn't taken control of Cuba.

Here's the Out of Character chat where I was looking at superheroes of the Golden Age ending publication and short lived 50s supers.

https://darkeningshadows.darkbb.com/t217-superheroes-published-between-1951-and-1956-dead-space-between-golden-age-and-silver-age#14393


The other ideas is to be set during WW2, starting say late 1941 or being set near the end or right after WW2, say late 1945.

I've created Lightning Bullet for this group adventure if we have one.
https://darkeningshadows.darkbb.com/t214-lightning-bullet-a-new-hero

Admin wrote:OOC By the way, one of the other players (David M - who runs the Haunt) wants to start up another campaign (alongside all those already running in the same game world) with starting characters in street level adventures. Any interest in joining in? I should have asked last month but I've been up to my eyes and not really able to juggle other stuff but it shouldn't be too bad now. I may also see if people from outside the group fancy joining in to get a group of players together about 3-5 in number...

Cheers, Paul

I'd better stick with Kid Kinetic's solo adventures. I don't have enough free time or knowledge of the rules to play in a campaign. Thank you for the invite.

Kid Kinetic rifled through his goody bags in search of nourishment.

"Well, of course I will help you! And you dont owe me a thing. Saving cities is what we hero types do," he said with a grin.

"I think we can get Depthcharge to join us. He doesnt seem too villainous just really intent on getting as far from here as possible. Plus, he could have killed me but he didnt. The moth lady might prove a tough sell. That lady is nutso."

Kid Kinetic peered up the ladder. "I think we have waited long enough. I will radio my friends for pick up when we reach the top. Something tells me I am going to have a lot of explaining to do."

Scoffing sweet and nut bars, crisps, fruit and practically everything in the bag, Kid Kinetic soon found himself emptying it within seconds!

"Take it easy Kid! You'll give yourself heartburn!" said Cutthroat. He chuckled, shaking his head. "Depthcharge join us? Huh. Maybe. You never know, if we can persuade the Moth woman and the other aliens who escaped from the ship we can combine our efforts to get off this rock and out of your hair. One thing is for sure - alone we are going to be picked off and thrown back into the prisons of the PSION Police."

At the top of the ladder the youngster effortlessly lifted the manhole cover and peeking out. Then up. The coast was clear. He waved Cutthroat up and the pair slithered out of the sewer, finally. Filthy, stinking and wary of a new attack by the Moth Woman they were in a quiet street with stores and parked cars about.

Calling Johnson he waited for a response. "Kid? Where the heck have you been? I've got orders to come get you wherever you are! Stay put! I'm tracking your location now!"

Cutthroat watched the skies nervously. "If she comes back..."

OOC Stay out in the street for the 10-15 minutes that Johnson needs to come get you?

OOC Yes!

The minutes ticked away. Dripping wet and stinking, Cutthroat and Kid Kinetic watched the skies, ready for trouble.

"Come on... where are they?" asked Cutthroat, pacing about and ducking into an alley as a car came past. "I've been battered around so much even I'm feeling nervous about getting into any more fights."

Kid Kinetic knew how he felt. He was now out of food and snacks but was 'full' for the moment, a situation that would change if he needed to use his super speed!

Just then there was a whirring sound.

"What is ... is that your craft?" asked Cutthroat.

Kid Kinetic looked around... then up.

A metallic gold device was floating about and scanning with some kind blue scanning beam... and heading to the manhole cover...



"Oh no... NO!" hissed Cutthroat. "They're here! Somewhere!"

"Who?" asked Kid Kinetic.

"The PSION Police! They've tracked us down, finally!" hissed Cutthroat!

"Wow, cool! Er, I mean .You hide and I'll get it."
Kid Kinetic will dash over and attempt to sway it with the manhole cover.

The drone starts to back away and up from Kid Kinetic as if it had an inbuilt (zone) keeping it away from any threats (which it does).

He could still throw the manhole cover like a frisbee but it would be out of range in moments!

OOC Dex 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,3,+0 Total:12 (21) vs
OV6 + Range 1 + Unskilled thrown weapon penalty 2 + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,10,+0 Total:16 (25)

The Drone weaves out of the way and the manhole cover sails through the air...

Kid Kinetic is quick enough to race in front of the car it's about to thud into and intercept it (OOC will take a dice action next round if you want to sacrifice your attack action).

The drone continues to rise and presumably scan from a higher altitude, now some seventy feet up.

Cutthroat calls out "Kid! Over here! I can nail that thing!" he calls out for the manhole cover.

The drone, meanwhile, starts spinning in place...

"Coming at you!" Kid Kinetic flips the disc to Cutthroat.

Kid Kinetic races to catch the manhole cover before it can trash the car...

OOC Dex 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,6,+0 Total:16 (25) vs
OV5 + Roll(2d12)+0: 7,1,+0 Total:8 (13)
+5 (to 14) vs RV5=9 RAPs. A cinch.

Sprinting back with the cover the youngster hands it to Cutthroat. "Huh, nice trick kid, On my home planet you'd be a star at a sport that's played."

Cutthroat hefts the manhole cover and frowns. "Lighter than I thought." With a shrug he takes aim at the drone...

OOC Dex 10 + 4D Weaponry + Roll(6d12)+0: 6,12,1,7,10,6,+0 Total:12 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 10,12,+0 Total:34 (44) vs
OV6 + range 3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,11,+0 Total:13 (22)
+7 (to 16) vs RV7=9RAPs.

BASH!

The manhole cover smashes through the drone which drops from the sky whilst the manhole cover keeps going... and going... "Uhhh kid? Mind getting..."

FWOOOOSH!

There is a rush of air then another FWOOOOSH! moments later with Kid Kinetic settling the manhole cover back in place.

"that." finished Cutthroat. "You'd make a fortune." he muttered.

Examining the remains of the smashed drone Cutthroat looks inside. Kid Kinetic peers over his shoulder. He's no electronics expert but this doesn't look like the inside of a PC or any other gadget he's ever seen. It's alien in origin he guesses and backs up Cutthroats' claims. The PSION Police are somewhere around and worse than that - they knew where Cutthroat was. Looking up... up... up into the sky Kid Kinetic knew there must be some kind of alien vessel.

"Yeah, it's PSION technology. They are here." sighed Cutthroat. "Look kid, I appreciate all you've done to help me. I owe you. It's not fair for me to drag you into danger just by hanging around near me. These guys don't mess about. They have the right planet, continent and city. Heck, even the right street. I'm screwed."