Icons
This is from Victory RPG’s Sewer Kings.
House Rules:
- Prone people are +2 to hit hand-to-hand, absent cover.
- Spend an advantage when using Regeneration and get your Regeneration level in Strength back.
The Ambush
Flip-Flop was above the buildings, using binoculars to look down at the roar. “Traffic’s heavy. Why don’t they transfer prisoners at three a.m.?”[1]
The Reach was striding from building to building. “Mind on the job.”
Succubus was in the police car behind the van with the prisoners. “Keep them from making a getaway and don’t have to pay overtime. Why are we slowing down?”
“Car accident up ahead blocking the intersection,” said Flip-Flop. “Gridlock imminent.”
“Keep alert,” said The Reach. “Could be a distraction—”
He was interrupted by the sound of an explosion, followed a second later by a second explosion.[2]
Flip-Flop said, “Reach, I saw where the rockets came from. Regent Hotel. Heading there now.” She dove down toward the hotel. The rockets had come from the bottom half of the building, and she knew the rough area. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ribbon of The Reach heading down to the front police car.
“No answer yet from Succubus. At least I can get to these guys; car is opened like a cat food tin at dinner.”
“Eww.” Down below, six men were rushing the prisoner van. “Hold on, moving the van.”
“It’s too heavy for you—”
“Hush; this is hard.”[3] She stopped in mid-air and sweat popped out on her forehead as she lifted the prisoner van to the top of the lowest building nearby: three storeys tall. The van was armored; she hoped the roof could handle the weight.
The Reach stretched his hands under the driver to create a lattice work and lifted the driver out of the car, setting him on a clear patch of pavement. “I can’t help all these people in time; I need you, Flip-Flop.”
The six men looked at the space where the prisoner van had been, and then ran after it.
“That van’s going to have hostiles in a moment,” Flip-Flop said as she dove to the second car. It had been opened too, but in this one the air bags had gone off, and were slowly deflating. They blocked her view of the injuries. She used her mind to yank away the passenger’s airbag, shouting, “Succubus! Succubus, wake up! I need your help!”
Succubus did not respond.[4]
The Reach called out, “I need someone with first aid, now!”[5]
“I can help,” said a woman in a car.
“Do it,” said The Reach and immediately moved to get the other police officer.[6] He was hurt, too, but The Reach managed to get him out and on the ground without (he hoped) moving the man too much.
“You’re not supposed to move them!” the woman said.
“Do you smell that gas? I don’t think there’s a choice. This guy next, I’ll go to the other car.” He stretched over to the other car, where Flip-Flop was opening the back seat, where Succubus was.
“The officers first,” The Reach said. He extended his hand so it oozed under the driver and gently moved him out.
“Succubus? Do you hear me?” Flip-Flop asked. “I will do dad jokes unless you wake up right now.” She lifted the injured officer out and set him on the sidewalk.
An RPG rocket crashed into the nearby building.[7] The Reach felt the heat, and the noise deafened him. He spared a moment to look closely: it had damaged the structure, and there were screams, but no one seemed hurt.[8]
If I can stabilize these guys, Flip-Flop can stop the RPG. He tried to signal Flip-Flop but she was deliberately looking away from him and mouthing words that he couldn’t lip-read.[9] He risked a glance to the front: the woman had stabilized both men.
Flip-Flop’s force field had kept her from losing her hearing as she ripped metal off the police car to get to the back seat. “Hear that, Succubus? We need you. You’ll get better, you’ve told me so yourself. Well, get better now.” [10]
“I’ll get her next,” The Reach lied, not knowing if his voice was loud enough.
Flip-Flop looked back at him and then at Succubus, whose eyes fluttered open. “Go,” murmured Succubus. “Stop them. Another shot like that…might kill me.”
The Reach said, “Go! Go! Somewhere in the hotel.” The officer seemed stable until medical help came. The other one that Flip-Flop had rescued looked bad. He moved over. “Succubus, you have a car headrest in your shoulder.”
“That’s…just not…proper,” said Succubus. She stood and pulled it free. This was not the right thing to do, because her shoulder started spurting bright red blood. Succubus clamped a hand over it.[11] Blood oozed between her fingers.
The Reach shouted, “Hold on,” and moved to the next police officer, who was already near death. Where is that woman who was helping? He managed to stabilize the officer, but he had no idea how long that would last. “Medic!” he shouted. “I need a medic for this man!”
Flip-Flop looked at the wall of windows.[12] She had no idea which one had been fired the shot; a third of them had windows open, because the Regent was an old hotel, with windows that opened. She had to wait until the next shot and then hope she could telekinetically catch it.
Succubus looked up from the blood leaking from her hands and saw the glint of the rocket launcher. It was within range, and the room was shadowed. She ’ported to the room and[13] grabbed his leg so she could feed. It helped some. The man[14] kicked her in the head.
Flip-Flop[15] saw a rocket launcher barrel poke out of a window, and she formed her force field over the barrel[16] — and the rocket exploded in the barrel, blowing out the window.
Dammit, she thought.
The Reach had the officers stabilized and he could finally take time for Succubus — but she was gone. Someone moved her? She teleported? Where?
His thoughts were broken by an explosion in the Regent hotel; he saw Flip-Flop heading for it.
The injured people that I can see seem to be stable, time to check the van. He stretched up to the roof of Bell’s Kitchen. The van was there, and the six men with machine pistols had surrounded it. Don’t let them in, he silently implored the driver, I’m not there yet.
Succubus could feel the blood ebbing away, so she grabbed the man again[17] and fed until he was unconscious. It wasn’t going to be enough, though; her regeneration couldn’t keep up with the hole in her artery or whatever it was. She hoped to stay conscious long enough—
As The Reach was still arriving, one of the Sewer Kings emptied his machine pistol into the driver’s door. It’s armored, he’ll be okay, hoped The Reach. The driver slumped and the other men swarmed the doors, popping them open with crowbars.
Save the life first, The Reach reminded himself. Silkworm had not, and the failure had eaten her up.
(Of course, Blackout didn’t seem to mind leaving a trail.)
He stretched[18] out and knocked out the Sewer King member in the way of the door, then eased the door open.
Succubus tried to keep her wits about her. There must be a shadow she could teleport to, except her vision was fuzzy.[19] She couldn’t make one out. Her blood scent filled her nostrils.
No one shot at The Reach, but they hustled the four prisoners out.[20] “Hey,” said the one woman as they moved her out, “remember that you love me!”
God help him, he did. He tried to keep helping the hurt man, even though he had the urge to escort her down the stairs and make sure nothing bad happened to her.[21] He fought against it while he fixed pressure on the wounds. Three bullet wounds—this man needed medical attention.
Flip-Flop got the mangled man out. That woman over there, she was doing medical work. “Here, rocket blast. How’s Succubus?”
“One of your friends? Only one I’ve seen is The Reach,” said the woman.
“Then where is she?”
“Went off to help, I presume.” She started tending to the man.
Flip-Flop considered. Succubus would speak up if she were okay, so she wasn’t okay. She could only teleport from shadow to shadow. Inside the car was shadowed, so she could have left from there, but where would she go? Out of the car, sure, but where? Flip-Flop looked around.[22]
The alley that the Sewer King members came out of, there was something pale there. Maybe paper, maybe not—
Succubus was lying there, unconscious. Flip-Flop moved her telekinetically over to the woman giving medical aid. “Help her! Save her!”
The Reach came down carrying a police officer. “She got away. Can you save this man?”
“She’s busy with Succubus,” said Flip-Flop. “Why’d you say it that way? She with emphasis.”
“I’ve been borked,” explained The Reach. “Mostly okay, but totally in love with Her. Doesn’t matter that I know it’s because of her mental powers, I’m totally in love with her.”
“Very hinky,” said Flip-Flop.
Succubus’ eyes fluttered open. “I hurt a lot.”
“Hey,” said The Reach.
“You can stretch, right?” The Reach nodded. “Reach in here and hold this until the ambulance comes here.” The woman guided The Reach’s hand, and then started to move to the police officer.
“Okay. How is he?”
“I hope the ambulances get here soon,” she said. “These guys are on the edge. I don’t know what—”
There was another explosion: the rear car chose that moment to blow up. Everyone ducked, and then the woman scuttled crouching between all the injured. Flip-Flop shouted, “Over there! That man!” and headed over to a man on the sidewalk who had collapsed.
“Fourth floor. Rocket launcher.”
“Flip-Flop caught him,” The Reach assured her.
“There were two,” whispered Succubus. “Send police for him. His life energy kept me going.” She closed her eyes again.
The Reach thought, Would She be happier if I took my finger off and let Succubus die? And then he felt ashamed for thinking it, and kept his finger in place.
The ambulances arrived; Flip-Flop’s telekinetic powers were as good as a backboard in helping get the injured into the ambulances. She insisted that Succubus be loaded last so that she could ride in the ambulance.
“We, uh, we don’t let people ride in the ambulances,” one paramedic said.
“Now you do,” said Flip-Flop firmly.
They wanted to keep Succubus for a month; they said it would take that long to heal. Succubus insisted on going home after emergency surgery.
“That artery—” said the doctor.
“You have fixed it. By next week it will be fine.”
“We can’t prevent you from going…but that’s just been stitched up. You were almost dead, miss. It’ll be at least a month before you’re healthy enough to go back to work, let alone again.”
“I promise not to exert myself.” She lowered her voice. “If you see reports of Succubus activity, it will be one of my Succubus robots.”
The doctor, a young man, smiled. “Yeah, right. Rest. I can’t keep you here, but rest.” He looked up at Flip-Flop. “You’ll make sure she rests, right?”
Flip-Flop nodded. “And I’ll tune up the Succubus robots.”
He frowned. “There are really Succubus robots?”
“Oh, sure. Robots for each of us, in case of something like this,” Flip-Flop lied. “But you can’t tell anyone.”
He looked from one to the other, not sure if they were kidding.
The Reach met them at the headquarters. Flip-Flop said, “Let me summarize. Demo, Fusion, Scrap Iron, and … the other one are all free. You’re compromised, and Succubus is injured. That about right?”
“Yeah.” The Reach looked like he was about to say something and this was a poor second choice. “I have a friend coming in who should be able to clear the compulsion.”[23]
Succubus opened her eyes and said, “When?”
“Tomorrow,” said The Reach. He looked deeply ashamed.
“Good. Flip-Flop, check that he does.” She closed her eyes. “I am going to sleep for a week. After I call my manager.”
“Secret identities, am I right?” Flip-Flip said, and held up her hand for a high-five, but Succubus was already asleep. Flip-Flop called her manager for her.
- To previous chapter (Flying Solo)
- To previous chapter in Sewer Kings
- To next and last chapter in Sewer Kings
Cast
Everyone has been seen before, but the rocket launchers haven't. So Sewer King gang members with rocket launchers are given here.
Sewer King gang member
Only one of the supers acts, and that’s Lovebite. Here she is.
Game Mechanics (Footnotes)
[1] Flip-Flop is an obvious choice to fly above, largely out of sight. What about the other two? 2d6, 2-4 front car, 5-7 back car, 8-10 outside some way, 11-12 prisoner wagon: 10 for Reach so he’s pacing the prisoners on rooftops, 7 for Succubus, so she’s in the car behind the prisoner wagon
[2] The RPG does 7 burst damage, so the policemen in both cars are dying. Succubus is knocked unconscious and might be dying…except she has Regeneration. She’s knocked down to 3 Stamina.
[3] She spends a determination point to increase her TK to 7, activates “Mind Over Matter.”
[4] One of the four police officers is being helped, so he’s just unconscious. But the other three lose one Strength each, and Succubus spends her determination point to avoid losing one Strength.
[5] On a 1 or 2, there is someone with first aid nearby. A 1 — so there is.
[6] Does he smell gas leaking out? Difficulty 3, 4+0>3, so he does.
[7] Man, what a terrible shot. 3-4<3. They missed everyone .
[8] That’s the third action for this page; we don’t count the six thugs because they’re off-panel.
[9] However, he is going to use that one point of Determination he can assign because of Leadership, and he’s going to prevent Succubus from losing a level of Strength. In-story, the reason is Flip-Flop’s constant monologue.
[10] But it has been long enough for Succubus’ Regeneration to kick in a bit. She’s conscious now, with 5 Stamina.
[11] That’s a maneuver to get an Advantage, which will be spent on not losing Strength. Strength versus difficulty 5. She does not make it. (5-4<5)
[12] Awareness check, difficulty 4: 4-3<4. Nope.
[13] Lucky: Prowess is 5-1+2 (for surprise)>3. Energy drain is 5+1>2, or 4 Stamina.
[14] Prowess 3, she’s lying down so Prowess 3, but he gets 3+1, a moderate hit, worth 4 Stamina.
[15] Does she spot the other one, though? Difficulty 4: 4+1>4. Yes.
[16] Stunting Constructs is I think the way to do it; has to be still for aiming but it’s small, so say it’s a called shot, difficulty 2. She uses Willpower to aim, so that’s 6+2>4; that’s a major success.
[17] She manages: 5+2 is a major hit against someone Prowess 3. The energy drain is 5+1>2, but he only has 2 Stamina.
[18] Sounds like a Prowess Maneuver, difficulty 4: 4+1>4; he makes it, and spends the Advantage on Fast Attack, because he’s going to have to do multiple things.
[19] We call that Trouble, and she gets a Determination Point for -2 to all vision rolls. She’s going to try and see anyway, with an effective Awareness of 2, difficulty 3 (average)...and gets a 4-1-2, or a 1. She can’t see it. She loses another Strength level, which puts her at 3.
[20] Of course Lovebite is going to try. She gets 5+1+3>5, so
[21] Sounds like a willpower maneuver, difficulty 8 (her power); he’s going to take extra time (lost page) to activate “Not his first rodeo” and I think that Leadership counts here…got to set the right example! He’s also going to activate Training The Next Generation (same reason) and he has to apply Disability to Transformation (Objects) for that Advantage. 5+1+2+2+0>8. Oy.
[22] Awareness test, difficulty 4: 4+0=4 marginal success, because I’ve hidden that Succubus managed to teleport to the street last page. She’s unconscious now.
[23] Activating the quality “Not his first rodeo” for free.
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