[The Power Posse!] Issue 1: First Contact

"Is there anything you want for dessert?" Shelly starts stacking the plates, clearing your table as she talks. "Chocolate fudge? A slice of cheesecake?"

You’ve just finished lunch at the Lemp Mansion. The dining room is a little old and a little formal: high ceiling, dark wood, long curtains over the windows. The four of you came here to talk shop, about your newly formed superhero team, and how best to do some good in this city.

Shelly picks up another plate.

That is when the first siren goes. Police, by the sound of it: a loud wail that passes the mansion and keeps going. Then a second. Then a third, from a different direction, the three sirens blare into each other in one ugly noisy cacophony. A kid by the windows pushes the curtain aside, looks out, shrugs, and goes back to his chicken strips.

Then you hear it. A single loud 'bang' from somewhere south. Could be a blown tire. Could be a gun.

You don't have to keep guessing for long. A burst of gunfire follows, five or six shots in irregular intervals. It can’t be coming from too far away. More gunshots follow, as if entire magazines are being emptied into something.

All four of your phones light up at once. It’s NotifySTL, the city alert app you all installed to keep track of anything unusual. The banner at the top is bright red."Think about it, I’ll be right back" Shelly says, and walks away, carrying your plates with her.
What do you do?

Shawn rocks back on his seat as he skims through the alert as if ordering from a menu.

"Think I'll have the violent retribution."

He plops forward to stand, stuffing his phone and pulling free his wallet as he turns to call after the waitress.

"Just the bill, Shelly. Matter of fact. I'll pay for the table."

He looks back to the newly formed group with a wink.

"Showtime folks. Get whatever you need ready while I square this away and join back up."

A few short moments later you all find yourself in the intersection. Three SLMPD cruisers are parked behind the edge of the building. The doors are open, the roof lights on, as officers crouch down behind the engines and fire their pistols in useless bursts. The bullets simply bounce off their target’s chitin armor, ricocheting dangerously in all directions.

The monster. The monster the police are firing at is easily eleven feet tall – probably taller if it could straighten up. The body looks like a giant mantis, but part of the gaunt torso also looks human, with ribs under the insect’s shell. The head is almost like a man’s; it has wispy black hair, a couple of antennas, and a mouth, rather than insect’s mandibles.

Between the cruisers and that thing, is an officer on his back.

He is closer to the Man-tis. His right leg, below the knee, is missing. He has both of his hands holding the stump, but he is quickly losing blood. The officers behind the cars can see him, but they can’t reach him. Every time one of them starts to move, the creature turns its head toward them, and they get back down.

Cluck-cluck-cluck

The Man-tis raises his barbed arms. It is standing right above a school bus. You can’t tell from here if there is anyone still inside, though judging by the panic of the police officers, and their attempt to distract the creature – there must be still children trapped inside.

Cluck-cluck-cluck

For half a second, the antennas straighten, and the Man-tis head turns to look at the newcomers far away. Then his attention turns back to the school bus, and the appetizing meal awaiting it.

What do you do?

The creature turns its head at the sight of the appetizing multiplying meat morsels. Those have the benefit of not being encased in metal, and therefore that much more attractive. It turns its body toward the Anne(s), a decision she might live to regret. IF she lives.

The shot goes wide above it’s almost human head. More bullets ricochet off its Armor. The Man-tis takes no notice. His attention is focused on the Annet(s). Then it hears something from behind, and turns its head to look at Inkredible.

There is something human in its eyes. Some faint recognition. Its mouth opens to make sounds, but all that comes out of it is spit. Then the flicker of humanity dies. The words from Inkredible are but muffled sounds that are incomprehensible to its insect part.

It turns back toward the crowd of fleshy women standing not too fat away from it. It’s a reflex now. The creature is hungry, and there is meat right in front of it. It covers the short distance in a single leap, the barbed bladed arm swinging like a giant scythe at the women...

The Man-tis makes a sound like half a wail and half a clicking ‘cluck-cluck-cluck’ when the round(s) from showstopper gun slam into its body. It’s in pain, terrible pain. It’s human like face wishes it could scream, but it doesn’t remember how. It staggers on all four of its legs as it tries to get its bearing.

And then Inkredible slams into it. His fist actually cracks his chitine plate – the one that was impervious to small arms shots from the police. Green-brown ichor spills out. The entire eleven-foot creature folds from the punch and is pushed a few giant steps backward from the momentum.

The insect now takes the wheel. It no longer looks for a Annette, or the bus, or the cops, or even whomever shot at it from the rooftop. Every one of its limbs slash at his new assailant – the one right in front of it. For the first time, it is fighting to stay live, hacking at Inkredible with everything it has.