DC Villains #28: Star Heist
DC Villains
Episode 28:
"Star Heist"
[Inspired by:
Justice League of America #111 "Balance of Power!" by Len Wein
Action Comics #443 "At Last! Clark Kent -- Superhero!" by Elliot S! Maggin
Action Comics Vol. 2 #18 "Superman's Last Stand" by Grant Morrison]
Roll Call:
Bucky
Captain Republican
Chemical Lad
Mr. Roboto
The Secret Society of Super-Villains gathered to hear the latest briefing from their commander, Manhunter. He filled them in on the history of a short-lived group called the Injustice Gang of the World, who had built a satellite full of high-tech weaponry as part of their plan to destroy the Justice League of America. Needless to say, things didn't quite go according to their plans, and the JLA defeated them. The IGW's satellite was supposed to have been destroyed, but Manhunter had intel that it was still up there, orbiting the Earth, ripe for the picking.
The Society's resources did not include spacecraft, so they would have to "borrow" one (Chemical Lad: "Why don't we just catch a ride with the Russians, like everyone else?"). Ferris Aircraft in Coast City had recently unveiled a prototype space shuttle that would do the job nicely.
Arriving at the Ferris testing grounds, the villains discovered that they had been expected. Their old nemesis, Captain Comet, was waiting for them with a new team of warriors from different worlds, The Cometeers:
Captain Comet himself, a mutant "man of the future".
[Devitalization Ray, Flight, Force Field, Invulnerability (Biochemical), Mental Blast]
Elvith, staff-wielding martial artist.
[Heightened Defense, Special Weapon (Staff), Super Speed]
Photine, the living light.
[Disintegration Field, Invulnerability (Energy), Laser]
Quiller, brutish man-monster.
[Density Increase, Natural Weaponry]
Xudar, master archer.
[Armor, Electrical Bolt, Special Weapon (Bow - Auto Fire)]
Susie Tompkins, six-year-old Earthling(?)
[Heightened Defense, Heightened Senses (Thoughts, Usable on Others), Size Change (Smaller, Stays Active), Weakness Detection (Usable on Others)]
Susie jumped up on Captain Comet's back, and her psychic guidance helped him hone in on his targets, including the invisible Bucky. She also detected the presence of Mother Box in Chemical Lad's back pocket ("He's got a computer...and it's SUPER EVIL!"). When Captain Comet fell in battle, Susie jumped over to Xudar's back, helping his arrows find their mark. But when Xudar was taken out, there was no one nearby to pick her up, and the Society had no compunctions about knocking the daylights out of her to keep her from "helping" anyone else. Before long, the other Cometeers had fallen, and the spacecraft was theirs for the taking. Mother Box plugged into the navigation controls, and set a course for the satellite.
[Loot Drops: Captain Comet's Pistol (Devitalization Ray), Susie Tompkins' Hair Ribbon (Weakness Detection)]
Evidently, the Society was not the only group who had heard about the abandoned satellite. Once they had come on board, they saw another team of villains had gotten their ahead of them, and was stripping out all the equipment:
Brainiac, the living computer.
[Disintegration Ray, Force Field, Transmutation (Shrinking)]
Clayface, man of a 1000 forms.
[Stretching Abilities (Oozing, Plasticity), Shape-Shifting (Creatures), Multi-Ability (Flight, Flame Blast, Natural Weaponry, Poison/Venom)]
Harpy, the grotesque bird-woman hybrid.
[Chemical Body, Flight (Wings), Natural Weaponry, Sonic Blast]
Merlyn, (another) master archer.
[Arsenal (Gravity Increase, Poison/Venom, Sonic Blast), Flight, Special Weapon (Bow - Auto Fire and Armor Piercing)]
Ocean Master, Aquaman's brother and chief rival.
[Adaptation (Drowning, High Pressure, Low Temperatures), Armor, Power Blast, Special Weapon (Spear), Speed (Fast Swimming)]
Queen Bee, deposed alien monarch, and the ringleader of the crew.
[Armor, Flight (Wings), Mind Control, Power Blast, Summoning (Bees)]
Queen Bee attempted and failed to take control of several of the Society members. That was enough to make her a priority target, and the team soon brought her down. Once she lost consciousness, her summoned bee swarms likewise lost interest in the fight and wandered off (Mr. Roboto imagined the bees' reaction upon "waking up" from the Queen's control: "Holy crap, we're in space!").
Brainiac used his shrink-ray to reduce Captain Republican to a few inches tall [reducing his Strength and Endurance, and giving him a penalty on "to hit" rolls]. That didn't please him at all, and once he'd managed to throw off the effect, he and Bucky pounded through Brainiac's "impenetrable" force field with a vengeance.
Merlyn and Ocean Master fell relatively quickly, but Clayface (alternating between the forms of grizzly bear and fire-breathing dragon) and Harpy (her filthy claws causing infections with every scratch) took a while longer to defeat. But ultimately, the Society was able to take control of the satellite, and Mother Box began transmitting information about it's systems back to their anonymous leader.
[Loot Drops: Brainiac's Belt (Force Field), Merlyn's Bow (Special Weapon with Auto Fire and Armor Piercing)]
Flush from their victory in space, Manhunter had a more down-to-Earth task for his team. Like any good dictator, their mysterious boss was no fan of the free press. A prestigious journalism awards ceremony was set to take place in Metropolis that evening, and the Society's job was to disrupt it and terrorize the attendees.
But, as always seemed to be the case whenever the villains attacked civilian gatherings, there were a number of super-heroes in the crowd ready to face them:
Captain Marvel - Billy Batson, radio reporter imbued with the power of ancient gods.
[Armor, Flight, Transformation (Linked to Electrical Bolt)]
Creeper - TV commentator Jack Ryder, superhumanly nimble and strong, with an unnerving laugh.
[Emotion Control (Fear-Area Effect), Sonic Blast, Regeneration]
Masterman - Newspaper editor Perry White, using the last of his "super-cigars" to re-create the temporary powers he once got by eating alien fruit.
[Armor, Flight, Flame Blast, Force Bolt]
The Ray - Reporter "Happy" Terrill, master of light.
[Flight, Force Field, Invisibility, Laser, Non-Corporealness]
Son of Vulcan - International correspondent Johnny Mann, *also* imbued with the power of ancient gods.
[Armor, Electrical Bolt, Invulnerability (Heat Energy), Shield, Special Weapon (Sword)]
The battle was joined, with heavy losses on both sides. The middle-aged Masterman fell first, and then Son of Vulcan, his shield buckling under the withering assault of Cap and Bucky. But both Bucky and Mr. Roboto went down as well, under the sizzling laser blasts of the invisible and intangible Ray, and the Herculean punches of Captain Marvel. Meanwhile, the ever-elusive Creeper's disturbing laughter kept causing them to hesitate [lose actions]. The battle went down to the wire, but finally, Chemical Lad and Captain Republican stood (barely) triumphant over the unconscious forms of their foes.
And a chill went down the spines of journalists around the world, as they realized that none of them were safe.
[Loot Drops: Creeper's Laugh (Emotion Control-Fear), Masterman's Lungs (Force Bolt), Son of Vulcan's Breastplate (Armor, Invulnerability-Heat Energy)]
[The player characters earned 3 character points each, giving them a total of 184.]