WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

[Lucius]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Your team is approached by a group of teenagers who are dressed as younger versions of yourselves. They claim to be your sidekicks' date=' and have abilities similar to your own, but at reduced levels. No one else has ever heard of them, either, but the press and authorities take it for granted that these are, in fact, your teenage sidekicks. How do you deal with this development?[/quote']

 

I was going to say "A younger version of Quetzelcoatl Dragon's Kin could still be old enough to be a grandfather" but then I went back and saw that it says literally "Teenager."

 

"Dressed like me" eh? Well, Dragon's Kin uses powered armor, but it's disguised to look "natural" - he wants the general public to see him as a draconic humanoid, perhaps a mutant or alien or who-knows-what. Always keep 'em guessing is his motto.

 

"Abilities similar...but at reduced levels." Hoo boy. If the abilities are those of the armor, and at REDUCED levels, they're pretty low. Although the armor is the most obvious aspect of the character, most of its powers come in at under 20 active points. I think it has like +10 PD, only +5 resistant. At Champions levels, that's not much.

 

If it's someone who looks like him, but it's NOT a costume, that is a strange and interesting circumstance. If the kid looks like that all the time, one thing is sure, he has no "normal" life.

 

Whatever the circumstances, he will be suspicious, because he didn't live to be so old by NOT being suspicious. Several young people turning up with similar costumes, similar powers, similar schticks - that's too much for coincidence, ESPECIALLY when they turn up already conveniently teamed up. He's going to put his contacts and detective skills to work and try to figure out what's REALLY going on. Meanwhile, he'll

1. Not reveal too much to the kids if he can help it, but

2. Try to keep an eye on them....as in, "Sure, you can go on patrol with Uncle Quetzelcoatl!" And keep in radio or mental (one of the team mates is a mentalist) contact with the rest of the group the whole time, keep the entire group of "Sidekicks" under observation with as many of his sensors and recording devices as possible, and watch what they do...

 

Assuming, of course, he's not overruled. Fortune Force DOES have a nominal leader, and more to the point, a sponsor who may have an opinion on the situation.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary reminds me I should be printing up the new update of my character for tomorrow....

[Mike W]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Your team is approached by a group of teenagers who are dressed as younger versions of yourselves. They claim to be your sidekicks' date=' and have abilities similar to your own, but at reduced levels. No one else has ever heard of them, either, but the press and authorities take it for granted that these are, in fact, your teenage sidekicks. How do you deal with this development?[/quote']

 

Proteus - Since he was an unwilling subject in a military experiment, try to find out how the kid got his powers...then encourage him to get out of the "hero game", at least until he was old enough to better understand what he was getting into.

 

Katana - again, try to find out where he got his powers, then find someone with more time to devote to mentoring the kid. Luckily, Katana's a veteran with Contacts on almost every existing superteam, so it shouldn't be hard.

[dbsousa]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Golden Eagle would shut them down quickly. "One, Eagle Scouts are a registered trademark of the BSA; I don't want to be involved in a lawsuit with them. Second, I am scanning your battlesuits for any sign of DexCorp tech, and shutting it down. Third, by associating second rate copies of DexCorp Tech with Golden Eagle, you are devaluing the DexCorp brand, and you will be sued if you continue, got it?"

 

"Now, I have had an interest in starting an intern program at Good Guys Inc. strictly non-combat, but if you qualify, you will each get some suit time. But only if you surrender your weapons, and bring permission slips from your parents..."

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Getting back to this ...

 

If War Wolf's sidekick was a kid genius in a battlesuit that resembled him ... "Okay, kid, put 'em up and let's see what you got." Since he's got Tactics, Teamwork, and Analyze: Combat, he can determine if the kid has skills or if he's just a hotshot in a pretty tin can. If the kid's not up to snuff, the team could use a decent tech/scientist sort, and he can work on training him until he's battle ready.

 

If War Wolf's sidekick claims to be an offshoot of some sort ... worry time, since he was made by the Warlord (from ostensibly un-reproduceable Hzeel alien tech, no less), he'd be naturally suspicious and demand to be allowed to perform a full diagnostic complete with an 'invasive' inspection ("Check under the hood.") and then see what develops from there.

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Vitus D'rhazz would boggle, for some time. "Sidekicks? What is a sidekick?" and probably spiral off into another paranoid interrogation of his colleagues.

 

And when it gets explained to him, would reject the sidekick violently, recalling all to well the horrific fate of his adopted son. Vitus has almost always been far too busy and dedicated for any sort of family or faux-family life - and look how badly the only exception ended up. If mutilation and being fed alive to a monster was the fate of the only individual Vitus ever felt responsible for, anyone wanting to be in the same position is clearly out of their minds.

[Sundog]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Terminus would sit them down, explain that to be like him they would have to dedicate themselves to the ideals of his Earth's Earth Directorate, undergo at least two years of intensive training, and abandon their citizenship, and then serve a minimum of five years in the war against the Disruption.

 

Anyone still willing after that - on to basic training...

[Black Rose]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Your team is approached by a group of teenagers who are dressed as younger versions of yourselves. They claim to be your sidekicks' date=' and have abilities similar to your own, but at reduced levels. No one else has ever heard of them, either, but the press and authorities take it for granted that these are, in fact, your teenage sidekicks. How do you deal with this development?[/quote']

Penumbra would be suitably freaked out. His powers come through a legacy from his grandfather, a Waffen-SS Meta; he's a bit above average in the non-physical stats, more than a bit above average in the physical ones, wields pretty potent shadow-based magics... and all this was before he started working as a hero. As a rule he tends to focus on two "heroing areas" - dark magic and Batman-level criminal activity.

 

If some kid showed up with the same kind of magics Pen has, he'd most likely be one of the (way too many) scions of the Prince of Darkness. The PoD has been trying to get Pen to "come over" for a while, and he's got some ****-eyed ideas about how best to do that. For all Pen knows, sticking him with an "impressionable youngster" might seem like a solid plan to someone who's been around for millennia and thinks a half-breed shadow-wielder is a good choice for his heir. Then again, the kid could honestly be interested in doing this stuff, crazy as that idea is; heck, Pen does it, and he's none too balanced at this stage of the game.

 

Kunou Kodachi would be much more comfortable with someone who wanted to emulate her gymnastic prowess than someone taking after her studies in the occult. So far she's found that people not "bound" to a strong enough source of "goodness" tend to become something she has to call in markers to put down. Though the girl could be following in her footsteps in the "alchemical arts" (sleep and paralysis drugs, mostly). In that case, she would enjoy being able to talk shop, but try to instill Tendou Kasumi's ethics on her (they worked so well for Kodachi! )

 

----- ----- -----

 

Either way, my characters tend toward Raven-esque sarcasm users; much preferring to see others (like Virtue! she needs a sidekick... baaaad.) stuck with sidekicks rather than having one themselves.

[Weldun]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Kunou Kodachi would be much more comfortable with someone who wanted to emulate her gymnastic prowess than someone taking after her studies in the occult. So far she's found that people not "bound" to a strong enough source of "goodness" tend to become something she has to call in markers to put down. Though the girl could be following in her footsteps in the "alchemical arts" (sleep and paralysis drugs' date=' mostly). In that case, she would enjoy being able to talk shop, but try to instill Tendou Kasumi's ethics on her (they worked so well for Kodachi! )[/quote']:nonp:Great to see someone give that girl the benefit of the doubt.

[Tom]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Your team is approached by a group of teenagers who are dressed as younger versions of yourselves. They claim to be your sidekicks' date=' and have abilities similar to your own, but at reduced levels. No one else has ever heard of them, either, but the press and authorities take it for granted that these are, in fact, your teenage sidekicks. How do you deal with this development?[/quote']

 

So you're where Recluse came up with the idea... *sigh*

 

Since I'm having a blast dealing with the kid, and I'll be chuckling about the 'act of god' roll for a long time, I'll let you live...

 

More in the spirit of the question:

 

Speedzone: Having only had his powers for a few weeks, and is already hunted by two insane metapowered women who really seem to want to kill him, in a city with no 'senior' heroes to turn to calls on Dr Silverback to find out about Ravenswood...

 

Kodiak: Rolls his eyes and wonders what he did to deserve this again as he pulls out his phone...

 

"Doc, got another one. Room for another in class?"

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Fisteel -- "Go home, Buddy. Nothing personal, but with curfew laws and school, you couldn't work my hours."

 

(When you're a brick who masses nearly two metric tons, who has to live in a basement and have everything modified to super-extra-sturdy, you get surly sometimes.)

 

Low-Rent -- "I'm flattered, but you'd better get back to the 'burbs. It isn't safe around here after dark, even when I'm around."

 

Matt "Brute-force-ugly" Frisbee

[Spiral]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

MS Mystic would take the kid and enroll him or her into the Academy so they could be trained in use of their powers. She would visit often and take them out on patrol ever once in a while.

 

Savage would tell the kid not to get in his way and that he gets first dibs on any blonde females. Savage is well very blunt in most things.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

...nice try Mhoram...

 

 

NOT FAIR, MAN !

I'm Velocity Girl, I am your biggest fan ! I invented gadgets that give me powers that will let me help you ! I'm 14 and you need an extra pair of eyes to help you watch your back!

 

 

Missed this the first time around.

That is a truer responce than you think. TV has a "He's a dreamboat" distinctive features, and flirts shamelessly with his female fans - he is turning into a teen hearthrob.

He'd be all flusted, and turn her over to Jepeordy "to teach her how to be a better superhero" while giving her advice himself. That would likely end the whole thing (Jep being a fairly intense and over forceful teammate - she's intimitaded TV on more than one occasion).

[wrestlinggeek]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

I forgot to add: Those who are school age are in school. If the question of "Who trained you?" comes up, the answer is "You did!" And they know everything about their respective "mentors," from secret IDs to their favorite flavor of ice cream, to when their favorite DNPC's birthday is. And if your character is an alien or dimensional traveller, so is your side-kick.

[FTJoshua]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Presuming this is legit and not a ploy by some enemy -- which would be all three PC's first theory...

 

Felix - PRE attack and faux attack - Then a long discourse about the blood he's spilled and lives he's taken. "You really want to sign up for that? There are better ways to be a hero."

 

Tracy - "Oh, yeah? Well, knock me down and we'll talk." Find Weakness, Legsweep, all CSL to OCV.

 

Joshua - "Fools." And fly away.

 

Poor kids. But it has the seed of being a fun adventure...!

[Certified]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Fallout: (An intellect suspended within collected radiation) If the sidekick’s powers are truly similar it would depend primarily if he was still human looking or not. (Fallout looked normal kid and only absorbed ambient radiation until they tested the limits of his mutant power.) If he still looks human Fallout would encourage the kid to keep his humanity for as long as he could and stay away from hospitals with radiotherapy equipment. He would want to see the same fate forced on another. If the sidekick were another collected consciousness he would keep the entity as close as possible. In either case Falout would have the sidekick tested to see if he released any levels of radiation. (The nature of Fallout’s powers allows him to be close to others without endangering them as he’s constantly internalizing radiation not emitting it.)

[6-Sided_Buddha]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

In patented SABLE-VISION:

 

 

So someone comes along, with the same powers and claiming to be his sidekick.

 

Any male sidekicks will be turned away. "This job is far too dangerous."

 

Any female sidekicks will be given a whole different set of questions:

 

First question Sable would ask, "How old are you?", and hope that the answer is at least Legal.

 

Second question would be, "Adventurous? Open to new experiences?" and hope that the answer is affirmative.

 

Third question would be, "Seeing anyone?" and if the answer is no, he'd proceed immediately with...

 

"Those real?" with a grin.

[JackValhalla]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

In patented SABLE-VISION:

 

So someone comes along, with the same powers and claiming to be his sidekick.

[sNIPSNIP]

"Those real?" with a grin.

 

LOL! Funfunny.

 

Well, for mine...

 

Snow Leopard - One of the following sentences will come up:

"Uh, which timeline are you guys from?"

"No, no, no. Technically I'm a villain. Villains don't get sidekicks."

"You're not... you know, posessed or anything, are you?"

"Whatever. You hold the bag, I'll take out security."

[Amber Nytstar]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

The Flying Kittens - Look at each other, then at the three teens. "Don't you have it backwards, dudes? We're young enough to be Your sidekicks." (The 'Kittens' are all 9 years old.)

 

Luna Moth - Would probably react much the same way as Snow Leopard, with these sentences added in.

"Please tell me you haven't talked to my dad."

"Got any info on the remaining Shards?"

"Care to tell me when I found the time to train you?"

"I could use an accomp... *cough cough* I mean 'assistant'."

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Tao would think this most like the missing Tao unit. She's a bioeningeered super soldier and when she was recovered by the rest of the team the other artifical womb was already empty. Either that or her creators have begun producing more of her. In either case it warrants investigation as finding out what here she comes and what she is a big motivation in her life.

 

Eve would be really happy to have a big sister. Eve is younger than a teenager, emotionally anyway.

 

Ivy could test her double to see if it was some kind of duplicate but assume at first she's a well meaning but misguided mutant with similar powers and she couldn't dissuade her from superheroics, Jane would try to at least help her develop her powers.

[Weldun]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

I know that I already answered this, but I have had to change characters recently.

 

The Swarmling:

Swarmling: We are here, who are you?

Kid-Swarmling: I'm your sidekick. See, I can turn into a bunch of rats too.

Swarmling: Who are you?

Kid-Swarmling: Do you mean my secret identity?

Swarmling: You are who you are. Who are you.

Kid-Swarmling: Oh, I get it. I'm Kid-Swarmling, the prince of rats.

Swarmling: We are not a lord of rodents. We are here.

Kid-Swarmling: Well, yeah. I can see that you're here. Where else would you be?

Swarmling: Not where. Who.

Kid-Swarmling: ...Who?

Swarmling: We are here.

 

It would pretty much continue down those lines until the poor sod went barking mad. You see, The Swarmling is actually a physical manifestation of the campaign city's spirit, that just happens to have manifested within 500 of the largest rats around. These rats can teleport from all over the city to one specific location to come together and form The Swarmling's battle form, a pile of rats all desperately clinging to each other, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. When it says, "We are here", it literally means that that is it's identity. It is Kingdom City.

[ThothAmon]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

You wish to be my student? Excellent! We will test your abilities. First you will fight student #1. Then you will fight student #2. And then you will fight student #3. After that you will fight student #4, student #5 and student #6. Then we will travel to Los Angeles and you will fight my students there. And then to Hong Kong, Beijing, London...

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Microman II: Is an android. Would be relatively unsurprised, as according to his databanks, something similar happened with the prior Sentinels some decades past. Would probably spend alot of time speaking with the even younger android, trying to figure out if the android *is*, in fact, younger. The rest of the team would be busy freaking out, though, for a wide variety of reasons.

 

Diomedes: He, OTOH, would be asking such questions as "How did a group of teenagers coincidentally get powers that match with our own?" and searching for proof of this being a plot by VIPER. If it were just him getting a sidekick, though, he'd probably accept as long as the kid isn't too young ( no twelve years olds without pants ), and he's willing to take his training and the risks involved seriously. After all, he's a walking demonstration of what dedication can let an ordinary human do.

 

Jack Frost: If the whole team, see Diomedes, except with more sarcastic jokes and an even wider range of possible enemies. If its just him, hell, odds are it already *has* happened. While I never filled in the entirety of his backstory, the inspirational idea was "Spider-man without the world hating him," so there is plenty of room for almost any conceivable prior subplot. He'd probably try and hook the kid up with an established super youth organization of some type, though. He's pretty young himself, after all.

 

Hermes: *thinks* Oh, boy, this is so out of genre its not even funny. . . and so hilarious a mental image it *is* funny. If this occured while Hermes or his whole group were visiting, say, the 1930s through 1970s, the general response would probably be "What kind of crazy world have we landed in?!" If its in their home time. . . Aral would suspect a plot by our enemies, Hermes would consider time travel a likely cause, Artemis might start mothering them a bit, and Quetzlcoatl would probably do something to get them all hurled into the White Void.

[Vondy]

Re: WWYCD: Hi! We're your Sidekicks!

 

Well, the Freedom Patrol was a government black operations team. I'm pretty sure the kids would be detained, "debriefed," warned/scared witless (depends which players/characters were involved), and sent home to momma.