Gaslands meets Golden Age of Pulp

The year was 1936.

The city was Detroit.

Death, the dashing villain of science was battling the mysterious masked duo Bat and Banshee after he had raided Wainwright Enterprises for the last ingredients he needed for his nefarious new weapon he called the death ray. He’d sweep the villain awards this year for sure with original weapon title without a doubt if he could only loose these troublesome do-gooders.

Traffic was chockers this time of night, the rain didn’t help and the taxis were out in force with the amount of vehicular traffic being greater than usual.  With no care for all and sundry Death mounted the curb and careened through the pedestrians, hydrants, paper kiosks and other non substantial structures knocking them out of his way. Metal scraped on metal as his vehicle pressed it way to freedom followed by the sound of bullets and the screams of the innocents.  The majority of the Bats bullets thudded off his vehicles body work but more than often many would found the warm body of the casual bystander caught up in the carnage that followed the lethal pursuit.  Whoever said justice didn’t pay a price was blind to the situation.

Swerving back into a gap in the traffic Death found his way onto the highway and headed to the factory district where his hidden lair was.  The Bat was most likely thinking he has cornered the villain and would have won the day and recovered the stolen property. The hero was wrong though, the villain is always stronger on his home ground, and every villain knows that... right?

Crashing through the doors and down into his underground laboratory Death knew he didn’t have long before the Bat turned up to spoil his day. Grabbing his contraband of the day he wrapped them tightly to his chest with his flowing opera cape and prepared to entered the labyrinthine tunnels that led to his workshop destination. It was at this time the winged motor of the Bat crashed into the docking bay beside his vehicle causing a cascade of conveniently empty wooden shipping containers to collapse.  Death idly noted that even in his haste his motor was legally parked, had its lights off and doors locked. He’d even activated the lethal anti-theft system, what fiendish foresight he evidenced under pressure amused him. The dazed crime fighting duo was climbing out of their motors shattered windows as Death entered the maze. Death mused to himself that they had left their engine running and the lights on. He wondered if his insurance covered fires started by hero incompetence?

Twisting and turning through the dim light, Death made his way through the maze as if he knew every veracious vein on his pale hairless legs. Hmm, maybe that was too much information for some to know he thought as he reached the door and the key lock to his inner sanctum.  Choosing the four digit secret number had given him headaches as he spent hours coming to a decision.  In the end he chose one that he was sure no one in their right mind would choose. Swiftly entering the code the lock clicked open, the door latch unlocked and Death entered his laboratory. He finally felt he could feel safe.

Closing the door behind him Death heard the doors safeties click back into place. He reflectively reached for the light switch and flipped it on. Lights flickered to illumination showing the contents in all their glory. Banks of sophisticated logic engines reached down into the subbasements giving death access to the processing capability of the world’s greatest scientists a hundredfold. His machine workshop would have been the envy of Howard Hughes or any of the other visionaries the world possessed.  But he was being modest; no one was as great as he. He was even in the process of cheating death as his name denoted. Around the centre of the chamber was a honey comb device so complex in technical achievement that even he marvelled at how he had put it together.

Striding to his work bench he unfurled his cape from his chest and deposited the largesse from his heist at Wainwright Enterprises.  Four canisters of darkest dark matter stared out of their glass and metal rimmed prisons.  Death could almost swear that the material swirled and took shape within the inky darkness, but that was impossible.  His understanding of the dark matter indicated that...

The sound of his door attempting to be stealthily opened had Death spinning around to confront the interruption.  The Bat stood framed in the doorway way shocked at being discovered, his appearance just as shocking. One whole side of his body was charred and blackened, the pain he must have been in was clearly not being registered.  Clearly some heroes are too brain dead for pain to register on any level Death thought.

“You shall pay for your perfidious actions Agent of Evil.”

Death shot Bat in the chest.  Never go for a showy head shot he had learnt during the Great War, always go for the greatest body mass.

“You shot me?”

“Villain,” replied Death and shot Bat again. Hmmm he thought, clearly this fool of a hero was a lot tougher or he had a defective batch of bullets.

“You shot me... again? Stop that it’s annoying.”

The Bat collapsed to the floor after taking several steps into the room, blood flowing freely from his gunshot wounds.

“Where’s your sidekick Bat?”

Bat looked up with a slightly glazed expression. Anger growing as the nature of the question sunk in.

“She’s dead. We went to look in your car and she triggered your security device. There’s not much left of her but charred flesh and bone, I was lucky I was on the other side of your motor.”

Death smiled, which infuriated Bat.

“I guess I’ll have to replace the battery then.”

With speed brought on by a hatred born of fury the Bat leapt from defeat to aggression drawing a bowie knife in his boot he drove it deep into the chest of Death as his opponent emptied the last of his bullets into him.  Bat collapsed looking up as Death stared at the knife sticking out of his chest, his pale complexion rapidly growing paler quicker by the moment.

Death knew he did not have long. He staggered to the logic engines and triggered the omega sequence. Next he made his way to the honey comb chamber at the centre of the room, all the while being acutely watched by the dying Bat. He pulled a sequence of switches and pressed a button, a amber chamber opened and Death entered. He then plucked the knife from his chest and screamed as the chamber sealed and a fluid filled the space and sealed Death away. Deaths last waking moments were the sounds of distant explosions and Bat crawling towards him.

The year is 2018.

Death woke to persistent and annoying sounds. It sounded like knocking. Where was he? He could not open his eyes properly they were gummed up.  That noise, what is it?

Then it all came back to him his last moments. Carefully he raised one hand. He found he couldn’t, it was as though he was invalid and wasted. He probably was he thought. Just how long has he been in here waiting for his wound to heal? Now that that memory had resurfaced he thought about this fatal chest wound, he did not feel the pain. No pain, no...  well, no death. His senses were slowly returning and he could feel that he was still suspended in two thirds of his jelly suspension material. Scrunching facial features and rolling his eye balls around their socket he succeeded in working his eyelids open. While doing this the knocking stopped.

Opening his eyes he saw the future! 

The future saw the past!

Heroes and Villains came back to television?

 

Dr Death – Motor of Death

Performance Car, Middle Weight, Hull: 8, Handling: 4, Max Gear: 6, Crew:1, Build Slots: 2, Special Rules: Slip Away, Cost: 15

Death Ray: Range: Double, Attack Dice: 3D6, Special Rules: Ammo:1 Electrical, Build Slots: 1, Cost: 3

Heavy Machine Gun:  Range: Double, Attack Dice: 3D6, Build Slots: 1, Cost: 3

RC Car Bombs: Range: Dropped, Attack Dice: 4D6, Special Rules: Ammo: 3, Large Burst, Cost: 3

 (24 Points)

Bat & Banshee – The Bullet of Justice

Car, Middle Weight, Hull: 10, Handling: 3, Max Gear: 5, Crew: 2, Build Slots: 2, Cost: 12

Heavy Machine Gun:  Range: Double, Attack Dice: 3D6, Build Slots: 1, Cost: 3

Ram: Build Slot: 1, Cost: 4

Smoke Dropper: Range: Dropped, Ammo: 3, Large Burst, Cost: 1

Oil Slick Dropper: Range: Dropped, Ammo: 3, Large Burst, Cost: 2

Steel Nets: Range: Short, Attack Dice (3D6) Crew fired, Blast, Cost: 2

(24 Points)