Harsh TImes

General Summary

Seabridge Comics Presents

The Vandals In:

Harsh Times

Kinetic and Disruptr fled through the broken windows of Guttersnipe and onto the rooftops of The Lowlands, pursued by Steel Panthers looking for revenge. The bikers failed to recognize any difference between the Vandals and the Nightstalkers, and blamed the young heroes for the massacre.

They decided to split up and lose the bikers, before heading back to The Clinic. Kinetic was cut off on route to an alley, but dropped the pack of bikers with a display of super charged martial arts skill. Disruptr ran into his mother, Scarlet Fox, who had been spying on White Cobra. Scarlett Fox was upset that Wendy was even considering working with her enemy, regardless of any good that might come of it. She tried to get Wendy to promise not to speak with White Cobra again, but Wendy wasn't interested, because she doesn't trust her mother anymore.

Back at the Clinic, Yeti Boy had collapsed after saving Vendetta and Big Sis from the Nightstalkers. Joni got her little brother into the med bay and helped Vendetta as she worked desperately to save him. It was a close call, but Charity was able to get Colt stitched up and stabilize his vital signs. Yeti Boy would be fine, but he needed time to rest, and they left him in the med bay, heavily medicated.

The team regrouped and went to the debrief room, where everyone sort of freaked out on Vendetta for awhile. The Nightstalkers had posted a video on the Vandals Defacer page, in which Wrath chopped off the right arm of Brett Buchanan. It was agreed all around that they would need a plan to defeat the Nightstalkers, and they resolved to face them again on their own terms. Disruptr remembered that she had stuck a tracker on the mysterious contact, but when she checked the signal was out of range.

The team went to visit Martin Scragland at Grindstone, to ask if he had the equipment to pick up the tracker signal wherever it had ended up. Martin couldn't do it himself, but put them in touch with Casimira Bojan and her clone, Casimir, known collectively as Binary. Casimira was happy to help, and revealed that she and Casimir watched over Edge City regularly from their satellite, EO-12. They said the city was the most interesting place in the world, and they had been following the Vandals exploits.

Binary was able to quickly locate the signal in an abandoned residential building to the northeast. Knowing full well that is was a trap, the heroes went after the mysterious stranger. They found the building, and scouted around to make sure there wasn't an ambush set up. The team found the body of the mystery man on the top floor, with his brains blown out. There was another mystery man waiting for them. He spoke cryptically and made some veiled threats before Vendetta grabbed him and used her Liminal Heart to see into his recent past. She had a vision of a facility of some sort, all steel surfaces and white paint, she saw a man having his fingerprints burned off and his retinal pattern scattered; and she saw a symbol of a great serpent, coiled in a circle with it's tail in its own mouth.

Before there was a chance to ask any questions, a series of detonations went off throughout the building, which began to quickly collapse. Kinetic was able to absorb enough energy to rocket herself away to safety, grabbing Disruptr on the way out. Kinetic revealed that she was actually Rani Rao to Disruptr, who promised to keep her secret. Vendetta managed to get a sticky foam grenade attached to Big Sis to break their fall, and Big Sis freed them from the wreckage after the smoke cleared.

The Vandals returned to the Clinic to find the back door open and Colt's bed in the med bay empty.

Report Date

18 Jan 2021