BoloOfEarth

Well, the obvious choice for an enemy group is Road Kill. 
 
Another possibility is Deathstroke.  You can go old-school and use the 2E versions with Deathsinger, Frost, Arrowhead, et al.  Heck, if you have the 2E module, you could revamp that and run it - IMO it has the feel of an 80s superhero cartoon.

Your denial means nothing! We now know that you spend hours watching GoT speculation videos, your brain going gradually numb, along with your lower body. "Another one, I'll just watch one," Starlord mutters into his greasy, unkempt beard. "I can quit any time. Just not yet." 
 
"Please, Daddy," his eleven children, three adopted pets, two sentient laptop computers and live-in Nasa-evading space alien boarder say. Well, not "Daddy," in the cast of the ET. That would be weird. Anyway, "Please, Daddy, please stop watching GoT speculation videos and go in to work today. We're hungry and the dining room is on fire."
 
"The fire extinguisher is in the kitchen," Starlord says. "Now hush. The video is about to explain how the Jojen paste theory relates to the dragons-come-from-Asshai theory." 
 
. . . . 
Yep, I'm pretty sure that this is the only possible interpretation of that last post. 

A natural 20.
 
On 3d6.

I turn around all the soup cans in your cupboard so the nutrition labels are facing out instead of the name/picture of the soup!
 
Tee-hee!
 

Some great entries, but I think I like Thunderblast the most. 
 
Wcw43921, you win the NGD No-Prize, and get to post the next pic.

Ah, okay. In that case Cassandra's suggestion of the Pantheon from Alien Enemies would be directly relevant. And that opens some other possibilities.
 
From Challenges for Champions, the villain Starhand of the Hand supervillain group is another human bonded to an alien symbiote. So too is the Mexican matter-transmuting villain, the Chemichameleon, from Enemies: The International File.
 
From the adventure, Atlas Unleashed, all the Atlas supervillains gained powers by tapping the "Q'rrm Effect," the combined psychic energy of the extinct Gobylite race. While the Seven Horsemen (from the module of the same name) had their origins due to an artifact of a Lovecraftian race of "Old Ones" that was explicitly extraterrestrial.
 
 

The geomagnetic poles have been shifting quickly over the last 40 years or so
 
In the box at upper left, select "Modeled Historical Track of Poles" and "Observed Pole Locations"; in the box at upper right, check out both the "Arctic" and "Antarctic" view tabs.
 
Maybe the next pole reversal is sooner to come than people had thought.

And a pickpocket!

Don't feel bad.  I once came up with a plotline in a past Champions campaign, with a mind-controller who was using his powers to manipulate the heroes to help get himself into the Presidency.  Thought I was being so original.  It was only afterward that I realized I was mirroring a lot of the Puppetman plotline from Wild Cards.

So here's an attempt at a list of suggested motivations, with the understanding that some motivations might have overlap.  And if I missed any, or if you object to my combining any, my apologies:
Greed World Domination Revolution Revenge Seeking Knowledge / Science! Clearing My Name Ends Justify the Means / Greater Good My Powers Made Me This Way / Madness! I Can Do What I Want / Entitlement Seeking Love Being In Love Political Motives / Ideologies Thrill-Seeker Old Mistake Existential Dread Collection Property Rights The Challenge Trying to Get Home Amass Personal Power Extortion Make a Fool of X Mutual Assistance Against X Social Affinity Societal Transformation Playing a Game Extreme Personal Goal We Are Family Leave Me / Us Alone

Champions - Return to Edge City : Heart of Darkness
In Old Monterey, tracking down the Black Paladin’s powered armour army, and shortly to suffer the most grievous blow the team has yet endured. Hero Shrew points excitedly at his zombie detector. Flux, pointing with less excitement at the actual zombies.

Hero Shrew: Flux. Flux. FLUX.
Flux: Yes, I know, OK?
Hardlight: There’s zombies?
Flux: Yes, they’re RIGHT THERE.
Hardlight: Oh. Shambly.
Flux: Well, let’s HOPE they’re the shambling type and not the ‘i’m in your face eating it now’ type.
GM: No, they’re not murder-wraiths.

Hero Shrew: Wait, I’m Hero Shrew, not Hero Zombie.
Flux: Give it a few minutes.

At least Hardlight has tweaked his hardlight field to turn himself invisible now - maybe he can sneak past the zombies to see whatever is in the abandoned bungalow they’re protecting.

GM: It’s been abandoned for years - it’s been vandalised, graffitied, etc.
Hero Shrew: Maybe that’s what they made the zombies from.
GM: Then their average IQ went up.

And, indeed the inside of the building has been excavated, and the Black Paladin and his entire crew, three magic circles, a bunch of other minions doing fine engraving work, and multiple copies of the suits are in there. Incredibly, they don’t notice Hardlight creeping around. Or as he tiptoes away again, tripping over a bucket.

Minion: The basic concept is sound my lord, but we overreached - we shouldn’t have gone for such a powerful animating force.
GM: I can’t believe how badly I rolled for their awareness checks.

It will take at least an hour for anybody that could survive a fight against the Black Paladin and the others to get here. We’re on our own.

Hero Shrew: Well, at this point I’d ask if we know anybody with an Orbital Laser Weapon, but…
Fireflash: There’s one person with that tech. And he doesn’t let anybody else have it.
Allana: And it’s kind of unpopular after what happened to Detroit.

There’s also the problem that anything heavy enough that we can drop on Black Paladin is going to be unhealthy for his human thralls. We instead plan to glide down onto the roof - right up until Scooter spots all the crows on the roof.

Hero Shrew: Doesn’t the Black Paladin call himself the Knight of Crows or something?
Fireflash: Can any of you dig a tunnel?
Hero Shrew: I can.
All: …
Hero Shrew: What? You’ve never asked me to before.

Of course, Allana won’t fit through Scooter’s tunnel - so she’ll have to infiltrate through the roof anyway. Flux can teleport in along the old cable tv lines.

Hardlight: How can I move silently? Oh wait, I can fly.

Flux: Scooter just need to pop through the floor like a horrible fluffy flower.

Unfortunately, the roof of the building can’t even support the weight of Allana anymore, because all the internal walls of the building have been knocked out. Allana and Fireflash drop in, just as Scooter bursts out of the ground. And then the invisible figure on the roof jumps down the hole after Allana and Fireflash, talons out. Just as well Fireflash put her forcefield up. Even better, Allana has four arms, so she can hold onto Fireflash as Fireflash blasts people, and still grab Lady Crow by the ankles and throw her at Talisman. Morningstar tries to play Whackamole with Scooter.

Morningstar: Round Two, fuzzball!

Black Paladin: Really, Miss Helstrom?
Fireflash: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Hardlight resists the impulse to telegraph his attack, and stays invisible and silent long enough to blast Black Paladin in the back. All it does is make the Black Paladin laugh. The swarm of crows mobs Allana and Fireflash, which doesn’t do her echolocation any good. But with her wings, toughness, and Fireflash’s forcefield, they’re as safe as if they were sitting in an Abrams tank. In fact, safer.

Black Paladin: I’m disappointed Miss Helstrom - you KNOW my plan, and you STILL brought him?

He teleports over to Flux and attempts to knock him out with his mace, the Crusher of Hope, and Talisman attempts to teleport the stunned Flux and her team away. Allana snatches Flux into her embrace next to Fireflash - if she can keep moving, Talisman won’t be able to snatch him. Fireflash attempts to blind the badguys, and the flash illuminates one of the side rooms - Scooter sees immobile figures - a lot of immobile figures.

Hero Shrew: Hey, guys? I’ve found the exo-suits.
Fireflash: Then smash them!

Talisman might be intangible right now (since there’s a bunch of people in the room swinging highly energetic objects like fists, maces, and high-energy particle blasts around) but that doesn’t stop Hardlight blasting her out through the ceiling.

Hardlight: Team Rocket is blasting off again!

Morningstar, now blinded by the Black Paladin’s Fog Spell, is not having a good day, and seems incapable of hitting anything. Likewise, Shadow Dragon is being unpleasantly reminded how vulnerable he is to Fireflash’s blasts.

Fireflash: Fate has chosen him to be the buttmonkey.

Flux risks a blind teleport towards the exo-suits - and they’re bunched up nice and tight for his electrical attack. No point letting Black Paladin KEEP all the armour for his order of anti-paladins. Black Paladin is getting increasingly frustrated, since we’ve apparently learned how to tank - his hardest attack bounces harmlessly off Allana’s skull, and when she unfurls her wings Flux isn’t there.

Black Paladin: WHAT?!?

Unfortunately Talisman DID notice his teleport, and uses a mind control spell on our technomage. It’s pretty convincing, especially since he’ll get to tinker with things like the exo-suits.

Talisman: Why resist us? We offer you Knowledge. Power. Safety. Come with us. Come with us.
GM: And the rest of you have no idea what’s happening.
Flux OoC: *groan* the city is going to suffer.

Hardlight tries to clear the fog with a holographic giant industrial fan. Black Paladin draws his sword, the Eater of Shadows, and tries a shadow blast on Allana.

Allana: Good idea, target my even stronger defence. *stalks forward, cracking her knuckles*

Hardlight: Where the f*** are Flux and Hero Shrew?
Flux OOC: Well, Scooter is over here near me, but hasn’t seen anything yet, and Sonja is still tucked under bat boobs.

Hardlight’s submillimeter radar does see Flux and Talisman standing over in the other room.

Hardlight: F***!!!!!!!! Whathername! She’s over there! Trying to kidnap thingy!

Not very useful when we’re all blinded by fog and squawking crows. Allana grabs Black Paladin by the head and throws him through the wall in the direction of Talisman. Too late to stop Talisman, Morningstar, Shadow Dragon and Flux teleporting out. At least Black Paladin is still here, since he was moving at high speed at the time, through two walls.

Fireflash: Grab an arm each and make a wish.

Sadly, while the rest of us pile on the attacks, the bastard teleports himself away before we can twist his head off. We’ve got the exo-suits, but lost our friend.

GM: Why is that even still installed?
Me: So, ‘No’ then?
GM: Yes. I mean, yes to No.
Me: that’s not very helpful - I’ve already pressed No.
GM: I’m a computer engineer!
Onka’s player: Then Yes and No should be your bread and butter.

Patching up all the holes after our encounter with remarkably carnivorous grasshoppers, we proceed over the rooftops to the glassblower’s shop we were told about. One of the Elegiac Compasses is there, and apparently intact - with one important exception. The copper-wrapped quartz crystal that should be making up the core is missing. Happily, it was removed so recently that we can track the thief - apparently a young dragon.

Zenobia: *sigh* So it saw something shiny and nicked it.

Perhaps a blue dragon? The desert locale, and electrical properties of copper and quartz, would suggest it. But maybe not.

Nemat: A juvenile blue dragon would be larger.

The tracks lead to a large sinkhole behind the glassblowers, happily in a courtyard not crawling with zombies.

Zenobia: Do we need to send up a Dancing Lights signal?
Onka: What signal? ‘Here be Dragons’?

Nemat: I’ve got rope. My parents gave me it, along with the rest of my kit. ‘It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this. And this. And this.’

Asrian carefully climbs down, and since her low-light vision is full colour, realises that the dragon isn’t a blue. It’s something much more unusual. It does explain why it wanted a 50-pound quartz crystal though.

Asrian: It’s a crystal dragon. And it’s asleep.

Nemat argues that diplomacy will be more successful than theft or killing her in her sleep.

Nemat: Ahem! Cough! AHEM!
Dragon: Five more minutes mummy…
Nemat: AHEM!
Dragon: WTF??? *jumps up and tries to look big* Who are you? Did Mum send you? How did you find me?
Nemat: We followed your tracks.
Dragon: … what tracks? *trying to look innocent*
Nemat: From the compass.
Dragon: Compass?
Nemat: The one you took the crystal from.
Dragon: What crystal?
Nemat: *sigh* that crystal right there.
Dragon: Oh, the shiny thing from the clock thing.
Nemat: We kind of need that back. Look, why not use the glassblower’s shop as your lair, there’s plenty of shiny stuff in there.
Dragon: Uh, zombies, duh?

Nemat negotiates a deal - we clear out the zombie infestation, and she can be the guardian of the compass, as well as having a nice location for future business.

Zenobia: Diplomancy wins again!
Nemat: And I didn’t even have to use my penis. Yet.
GM: You would have had a penalty at that - she’s not into males. Human males anyway. She looks at Zenobia with interest though.
Asrian: MINE.

Nemat’s player digs out his 140 year-old copy of ‘Enquire Within Upon Everything’

Zenobia’s player: Anything in there about clearing out zombie infestations?

We stick our heads down the chimney of the shop. From the smell, it actually seems like the glassblower’s kilns have been in use recently, which is odd. Even more so, the bricks are still warm. Asrian starts climbing down - and gets grabbed at by a long black hand. What ever owns the hand soon regrets it.

Zenobia: So, basically the same result as grabbing a cat by the belly?

There is a lot of swearing, in a variety of languages.

Asrian: That sounds like Zenobia, when I- nevermind.
The Owner of the Hand: Palm! Oshwyt! Worm! We have intruders!

Apparently somebody is using the glassblower’s workshop as an alchemy lab. Nemat soon deduces that the whole rumour about mumia use is true, at least if you’re careful with your abuse of the drug. Although it doesn’t do your bodily hygiene any favours.

Nemat: But they don’t smell so bad when they’re dead.
Zenobia: IgiveyouhalfasecondtosurrenderCHOP

Nemat Petrifies one of the minions. The players all launch into ‘I Will Survive’. A little while later (and perhaps because the NPCs didn't join in the song) Zenobia is looking at the last surviving minion, who is still Petrified, and also on fire.

Zenobia: Is he still alive?
Nemat: I think so?
Zenobia: … should we do something about that?
Asrian: I could pick him up and put him outside.
Nemat: He might have useful information. And it would be nice to take a prisoner back with us for once.
Onka: We are law-abiding citizens, supposedly.

Either way, these mumia-producers were very lucky that their stockpile of raw materials weren’t woken up by that necromantic pulse a week ago.

Zenobia OoC: Well, Miss Crystal Dragon, it wasn’t zombies, it was Mumia producers. So if your new place of business has a reputation as a meth lab, that’s why.
Nemat: Also, there’s a roomful of potential zombies in the side room, but we sealed it up and they should be fine if you leave them alone.

Once we get it repaired, the Elegiac Compass projects a beam out across the rooftops, towards the centre of the Necropolis. Not entirely surprising. We still need to find another compass to triangulate it properly.

Flux, our technomage, has been mind-controlled and kidnapped by Talisman and the other bad guys. He’ll probably realise that going off with them was a bad idea, but not until the spell wears off.

GM: 24 hours later you go B**** F***ing MINDCONTROL!

Not that some of us have actually realised this yet - we’re still in a smoke and crow-filled California bungalow, where we were trying to pull Black Paladin apart like a stewed chicken. He teleported out before we could.

Hero Shrew: Coward! Come back and fight like a man! *looks around* Where’s Flux?
Allana: He got teleported out. Willingly.
Hero Shrew: … what?
Flux OoC: I’m going to put it all down to mind control.
GM: You’ve seen the way Talisman dresses, right? There will be debate which brain you were thinking with.

Scooter is bit upset. Quite more upset than the rest of the team are used to.

Flux OoC: You weren’t nearly as upset when Fireflash was kidnapped.
Hero Shrew OoC: Letting her be kidnapped was the PLAN. Then it went pear-shaped.
Flux OoC: That’s true. We all panicked a bit when my thingy-detector stopped detecting.
GM: ‘Thingy-detector’ - this is the level of competency Quadrant had before Allana joined.

GM: Does ANYBODY in this team apart from Flux have any occult knowledge?
Allana: Of course not. *pointing around the team from herself, to Scooter, to Fireflash, to Hardlight* Mundane, mundane, mundane, mundane and an idiot.

And least there’s a few minions half-buried in the wreckage we can apprehend. Less happily half the magic circles were destroyed when Scooter burrowed up from underground. And the bungalow is still surrounding by guardian undead.

Fireflash Hi, my name is Fireflash, this is my ID. You’re under arrest.
Minions: Lawyer. Lawyer. Lawyer.

GM: Sonya recognises some of the symbols though ‘Those are planetary symbols! They keep showing up in Sailor M- … never mind’. Her Geek is showing.

Flux OoC: Are these headshot zombies? *BLAM* Nope, still moving - limbs it is then.
Hero Shrew OoC: Unless it’s Saturday Morning Cartoons zombies, who always seem to revert to human at the end of the episode.
GM: Even in Saturday Morning Cthulhu - I mean Inhumanoids.

Hero Shrew: I’m going to have to ask Colin for time off from my other job. I’m going to have to concentrate on finding my friend.
GM: You could always rent out one of those new Sleep Pods.
Flux OoC: Non-zero chance of psychosis though.
Hero Shrew: If we don’t find Flux soon, I’m probably going to go psychotic anyway.

We DO try to track down where the bad guys got the generator, inflatable mattresses, and porta-potty from, but it’s hardly likely that Black Paladin, Talisman, and Shadow Dragon would have been hiding out here eating microwave dinners. This site was probably just one of their attempts to get their Big Project to work, and they’ve probably taken Flux back to their actual hide-out. And we’ve got no way to contact Alberich, the mage that showed up to assist in the previous battle. That doesn’t stop him and his Cabal (which apparently includes a necromancer, a former vampire, and a Moreau voodoo-practitioner) from finding us.

Allana: Mr. Alberich is here. Sorry, I never found out if Alberich was a first or last name.

From the scent Allana picks up, the wolf-Moreau apparently used some of Scooter’s hair to locate the team, but she doesn’t stick around long enough to ask. She used her magic to get Alberich here in a hurry.

Alberich: So, there was a magic circle here. Which you destroyed.
Allana: Scooter came up through it and the roof couldn’t support my weight.
Alberich: A collective ‘you’.

Apparently they were trying to bind a fire elemental. Our new Harry-Dresden-wannabe also analyses the residual magic to get us a bearing on wherever Flux was taken, and opens a portal. Using the same black smoky energy Talisman uses. This doesn't reassure Fireflash and Allana. But they’ll have to hold Scooter back once Alberich explains.

Allana wisely waves her smartphone through the portal to get a GPS signal first - it’s Ellison Heights, a few blocks from Fireflash’s home. Allana’s plan is to grab Flux and bug out. The room on the other side is nice enough, but Allana can hear somebody watching porn nearby.

GM: The guy watching porn has a stab vest and a shock rod. He uses it on Girl Scouts.
Hero Shrew: What???
GM: Ok, that come out wrong - he uses it on anybody that comes knocking on the front door and won’t go away. Jehovah’s Witnesses.

GM: The rest of the guys have gone to get everything on Flux’s shopping list. Flux IS there, gesturing and chanting over a pile of crystals.
Allana: Sorry about this *punches Flux out*

We grab Flux and everything that looks expensive or important and try and sneak out again. Happily, Alberich obliges with another portal. Scooter thinks he recognises one of the Moreaus in the porn, but doesn’t alert the bad guys by ejaculating something to that effect.

GM: And in related news Dysprosium Dawn have a reduced presence on the streets for a while, because somebody rolled them, and they don’t want to say who. That’s because Flux told Black Paladin and Talisman they should steal the materials they need from Dysprosium Dawn.
Flux: I was mind-controlled at the time.

It also takes Allana to remind us we got our copies of Superhero Teams For Dummies from PRIMUS, and we all put it to one side because we were busy.

Fireflash I was in the middle of exams at the time. My copy is back at Mum’s place, at the bottom of the ‘to read’ pile. Or maybe in storage.

And Scooter is back working the door at the Collar Club when some guy in a suit apparently offers a job. He’s one of those excessively friendly people that leave Scooter baffled.

Hero Shrew: Um, OK? My shift ends in an hour.
Strange Guy: Great! I’ll meet you inside - take in the ambience. You stay you, champ.

Hero Shrew: So what’s this job? I’m already working two.
Strange Guy: It’s not a job offer, it’s a revenue stream. Call me Rep.

Rep: You’re an important guy, Scooter - working a place like this isn’t really image-friendly.
Hero Shrew: Hey, it’s the best titty-bar in the Zoo.

Rep: We’re talking endorsement deals, licensed merchandise. You eat a lot of those food bars, right?
Hero Shrew: Wow, you’ve really been doing your research.

He also knows where the other team members live and work - or at least those with public identities. He also knows all about the importance of keeping secret identities secret. But apparently going to Allana’s clinic or Fireflash’s home would be more sleazy than going to the Collar Club. He only wants 15% of whatever deal he arranges for us, after Scooter talks it over with the rest of the team. Scooter calls Fireflash, at 3AM. She answers the videophone naked, but he doesn’t comment.

GM: He works at a titty-bar.
Hero Shrew: I see LOTS of co-workers naked.

Fireflash So what impression did you get?
Hero Shrew: 15% seemed fair?
Flux: Net or gross?

Hero Shrew: Can I get an action figure?

Apparently the Rep also represents people like Sapphire, and a few of the Bay Area teams. Fireflash calls her mom to get advice - she’s a commerce attorney for accounting firms - and arranges a lunchtime meeting with the Rep, herself, her mom, and Flux. Hero Shrew needs to sleep, Hardlight has a krill-farming meeting he can’t afford to miss, and Allana wouldn’t fit in the chairs. Or perhaps she would have - the Rep has actually arranged reinforced steel chairs with the restaurant.

Rep: Miss Helstrom, Mr Flux! And this gorgeous creature must be your sister? I know, I know, it’s an old compliment, I know she’s your mother. Afternoon, Mrs Helstrom, charmed to meet you.

Rep: I can see Nocturne as the spokesperson for brassieres. What’s the biggest complaint for large-chested women? Lack of support!
Fireflash *comparatively flat-chested* Really.
Rep: And swimsuits for you!

Rep: I’m talking those three magic words in marketing - Collect. Them. All.

Fireflash’s mom certainly likes everything she’s hearing, and the example contract he brought with him is comprehensive.

Flux: Why us?
Rep: You’re new! Used to be Hero Shrew might have come across as tokenism - too much of an uphill battle for me. But now you have Nocturne - two Moreaus on the team, and two women! Great visuals.

Fireflash What do you think, Mom?
Ellen Helstrom: Well, I feel like I need a shower after this, but he really seems to been looking after your interests, not his own.

Fireflash I think we can introduce him to the rest of the team.
GM: At the very least it’ll be fun to watch fur crawl.

Rep: Sonya, you change your outfits all the time, that’s great! Flux, you never change yours. We’ll ramp up the Snake-eyes aspect - all your details are redacted. It’s a SECRET!
Allana: Glowy axes and shields...
Rep: Hardlight is the Accessory Hound! Scooter has to be brushable.
Allana: My toy is going to be HUGE.

Don't feel bad.  I once came up with a plotline in a past Champions campaign, with a mind-controller who was using his powers to manipulate the heroes to help get himself into the Presidency.  Thought I was being so original.  It was only afterward that I realized I was mirroring a lot of the Puppetman plotline from Wild Cards.

So here's an attempt at a list of suggested motivations, with the understanding that some motivations might have overlap.  And if I missed any, or if you object to my combining any, my apologies:
Greed World Domination Revolution Revenge Seeking Knowledge / Science! Clearing My Name Ends Justify the Means / Greater Good My Powers Made Me This Way / Madness! I Can Do What I Want / Entitlement Seeking Love Being In Love Political Motives / Ideologies Thrill-Seeker Old Mistake Existential Dread Collection Property Rights The Challenge Trying to Get Home Amass Personal Power Extortion Make a Fool of X Mutual Assistance Against X Social Affinity Societal Transformation Playing a Game Extreme Personal Goal We Are Family Leave Me / Us Alone

This could be a team goal.  For instance, a group of mutants hiding in the sewers might just want to be left in peace. 

This could be a team goal.  For instance, a group of mutants hiding in the sewers might just want to be left in peace. 

Satyr, definitely.  Especially musical satyr, like Weird Al Yankovic does. 
 
More awesome musical instrument:
 
Accordion vs. Bagpipes

Mick the Mauler
 
Do you want someone punched ? Do you want someone hurt ? You do ? Then get Mick the Mauler ! He will do all your beating up needs and can survive police and paranormal intervention if they get in the way. So if you need someone punched ring 1-800-EAT-FIST

Aaron Vickers is a ferropath - a mutant with the ability to control and reshape iron at a touch and a thought.  A fairly strong, buff guy, he always admired superheroes, and discovering his mutant powers gave him the opportunity to be one.  He fashioned a suit of iron (due to his ferropathy, iron is effectively weightless and fully flexible to Aaron) and set out to be a hero.  Since his preferred name was already taken (and he didn't want to tangle with Marvel or Disney lawyers), he decided to take the name of The Armorer.
 
While the Armorer's default outfit is a full-body iron suit, he often concentrates the iron in his boots and gauntlets, as well as a neck/back-of-head guard when not in combat, to appear less menacing.  (An incident early on destroyed his chances of having a secret identity, so he has no worries about showing his face.)  In addition to forming an armored suit, he frequently molds some metal into various hand-to-hand weapons like iron maces, swords, flails, etc.

The City of Apple Cove was not large as cities went. It wasn't a New York City, hell, it wasn't even an Albany. It had become quite the stop over for VIPER activities though. It seemed green and yellow scumwads pulled a new heist every month or so, perhaps as training for the 'real cities'.  Banks would get hit, not even carrying that much. Whole lower class neighborhoods would get raided, the cops would get hammered and then nothing. You might hear about a similar battle on a larger scale in some metropolis hundreds of miles away.
 
Requests for official government sanctioned super teams, or at least a PRIMUS unit were sent, but due to 'budgetary constraints' and 'New rules requiring prioritization' were ignored . And civilian superhero teams?  Well, why would you come to a town with a monthly flare up when cities like Chicago were facing world conquerors every other day? 
 
Apple Cove just wasn't in trouble enough.
 
Until... they came.
 
Doctor Menace, Catty-Corner, Killer Nimbus, and Dark Magus!
 
Swearing they put crush the city entirely! Already they've caused a black out! They seized a limo of a local millionaire in a failed kidnapping attempt
 
Of course, they're all fakes...it's a con. 
Doctor Menace is NOT the Doctor Destroyer look alike he pretends to be. He's a theatre major, and maybe his mother, a police officer, getting nearly killed by VIPER isn't important to bean counters, but she's important to  him!
Catty-Corner is a shy girl normally, but she's quite enjoying the cosplay angle. She's never been the 'sexy girl' before. She was the one who proposed 'kidnapping' her father, a millionaire who might have the pull to push on the federal level for help. Of course, it had to fail...not like they'd really hurt him geez. Dad doesn't know that the private all girls school had an elective in 'self defense' courses.
Killer Nimbus wouldn't hurt a soul. She's a drone enthusiast and a pretty good hacker. Easy to 'plunge a city into darkness' when can hack the electric company while folks think it's demonic magic or what not.
Dark Magus is a stage magician pretending to be the real thing.
They can't take on VIPER
They're risking their lives taking on the cops
but if they cause enough trouble, make it look like a real super villain team has set up shop... PRIMUS will re prioritize Apple Cove, or maybe some REAL Superhero will show up. They just have to hope the protective gear they have set up will let them survive it.
 
As far as they know, they're the only supervillain team motivated by federal bureaucratic requirements
 
 
 
 

When does a joke become a Dad joke?
 
 
When it becomes apparent.

Well, your players would certainly have to use their noodles to figure that one out...
 
I feel like I should be offering you some garlic bread and pointing you toward the nearest Italian restaurant.

The problem with multiple possible outcomes is that is a lot more work for the GM, and I’m not generally in favour of that ?
 
You can structure things though so that most of the scenario bits you write will have to be completed and the important thing is doing them in the right order (otherwise it may make no sense to the PCs) and doing it quickly because this is a time sensitive mission.  It feels more freeform than it actually is, but it is like an escape room - you have to do all the bits, to get to the end, except for a few red herrings.
 
So…
 
Luigi Linguini, mob boss, has been trying to increase his revenue stream, which is usually fed by drugs and prostitution, to the lucrative area of child pornography, the bastard.
 
Fiona Fettuccini is a working girl and sometime squeeze on the side of Linguini.  No angel, but heart of gold.
 
Robbie Ravioli is a small time dealer who works indirectly for Linguini and was with Fettuccini when they both saw four frightened kids being delivered to one of Linguini’s warehouses three days ago.  Fettuccini took a picture on her phone which shows the kids and Linguini in the frame.  Ravioli and Fettuccini are low lives, but that is far beyond what either of them are happy to turn a blind eye to.  They have been making not so discrete enquiries about what Linguini is up to and meeting up to discuss their options, and they have decided that they have no choice but to go to the police.  Tonight word got back to Linguini and he had a couple of his boys drive the streets looking for them.  They shot Ravioli and bundled Fettuccini into a car to take her back to Linguini who plans to interrogate her to find out what she knows and who she told before killing her.
 
Hungry Henry is a former history professor who suffered a serious mental breakdown and is now homeless and on the streets.  Hungry Henry loves hamburgers.  He was the sole witness to the shooting of Ravioli and the kidnapping of Fettuccini.  He can give some details of the car and the two men in it and is the only one who knows that Fettuccini has been taken.  He can describe her but he does not know who she is.
 
Rachel Ravioli is Robbie’s wife and she’s pretty mad at him because he has been hanging round with Fettuccini and acting all secretive for several days, and she suspects they are having an affair.  She will be an emotional wreck when she finds out he is dead but recognises Fettuccini from Hungry Henry’s description, but only if she is specifically asked.
 
Peter Penne and Steve Sagnarelli are the two heavies who offed Ravioli and took Fettuccini back to Linguini, and all four are at the warehouse where Linguini is threatening to move into snuff movies.  Fettuccini is threatening him with the photograph and trying to exchange her life for the phone’s location.
 
The PCs respond to a call – gunshots heard, possible shooting and find a crowd around Ravioli’s body.  Initial enquiries (appropriate social skills) reveal that none of the bystanders were present when the shooting occurred.  There are no street cameras in this part of town.  If the PCs can work out who was first on the scene and get them to talk they find out that Hungry Henry was there when they arrived, but he’s gone now, the mad old bugger.
 
PCs can:
1.       Speak to Ravioli’s wife (Conversation, Persuasion).  She can tell them about Fettuccini, but unless they have spoken to Henry they won’t know she is missing and might waste some time looking for her.
2.       Try to find Henry (Streetwise) and talk to him (Bribery – he will only talk in exchange for hamburgers). He can tell them that Ravioli was shot by two men in a grey sedan with the bumper hanging off and that they took a girl who he can describe.
3.       Try to find more witnesses – there are none, so that just wastes time, but make them make several rolls and, possibly have some gloryhound called Andy Anelli come forward with a story they will have to discount, just to waste their time.  He describes a guy in a white Impala shooting Ravioli.  The white Impala is real and belongs to the Anelli's neighbour who Anelli hates because he had an affair with Angela Anelli, Andy's wife.
4.       Check cameras at local intersections.  They won’t find anything unless they know about the bumper hanging off the sedan as there are just too many vehicles and they won't see Fettuccini – there was a collision at a red light less than a block away and a grey sedan drove away with the bumper hanging off.  Cameras can ID the plate and it can be traced to Peter Penne, but he’s not at home and his car is not there.  Further enquiries will eventually trace it, but by then Fettuccini has met her end.  Steve Sagnarelli is a known associate and they are both known to work for Linguini.  Linguini has a lot of properties across the city.  He is not at home and it going to take far too long to check them all.
5.       Check at Fettuccini’s place. Another girl who lives there, Therese Taglierini, can tell the PCs that Fettuccini has been acting jumpy for some days and left her phone with Taglierini, but she pawned it, she'll get it back Friday.  Fettuccini’s been her hanging round with someone who fits Ravioli’s description but only for the last few days.  She assumed Fettuccini was jumpy because of Ravioli.  She was talking about going to the police but was clearly scared.
6.       It is the middle of the night and the pawn shop is closed.  The PCs can break in, try and find the owner or get a warrant.  Breaking in is quickest, but might cause problems later down the line with chains of evidence and such.
7.       The picture on the phone is clearly of a warehouse near the docks and shows someone who could be Linguini and four frightened kids.  There are missing person reports for two of them, one of them is diabetic.  If you want to you can have some fun with them trying to guess the unlock code.
8.       This leads them to the warehouse.  Depending on how long they took, Fettuccini might be mildly distressed, badly beaten or dead.  There are four traumatised kids in cages.  One is in a diabetic coma and may not make it if the PCs have dawdled too much.  Linguini will try to escape and get Penne and Sagnarelli to cover his get away along with however many other goons you need to make it an interesting fight.
9.       Aftermath: best case scenario, everyone (apart from Ravioli) lives and Linguni  is arrested at the warehouse and is taken into custody and Fettuccini agrees to testify against him.  There might be some shenanigans providing protective custody.  Worst case scenario, the warehouse is empty by the time they arrive, except for Fettuccini's body.  Linguini gets away and the phone evidence gets thrown out either because they obtained it illegally or because the picture identifying Linguini is not clear enough.  The kids are never found.  Linguini will arrange to have the PCs watched and may cause them further problems down the line.
 
I obviously don't have enough to do...