DP 7 Issue Guide #3

Issue 5:
Exorcism

Shortly after their encounter with the mercenary football players of Kickers, Inc. (as seen in Kickers, Inc. issue 5), our Seven Displaced Paranormals, also known as the Dead Plains Seven, were driving along in central Wisconsin when Dave saw a bus off the road. It appeared to have had a blowout in one of its tires, and swerved off the highway with a load full of children and religious figures as a result!

Knowing that Randy would want to help as he always does, David gave him a hassle for a few moments, and then backed the trailer up to go help the stricken bus and its former occupants. While most of the others were skittish about doing so for various reasons, David and Randy stepped out to lend assistance. Inside the trailer, Stephanie had a breakdown upon seeing all those children.

She begged Lenore to knock her out so she wouldn't feel such pain, but Lenore's ability curiously had no effect on Stephanie - in fact, Stephanie's ability actively fought it off! Meanwhile, David and Randy, joined by Scuzz, pulled a fallen tree off the bus (a result of its loss of control) and hauled the thing back to the road proper - a feat which truly impressed the passengers as well as themselves!

Happy that they were once again able to do good things with their abilities, the trio then returned to the trailer and took off. Meanwhile, Scuzz was trying to figure out why he was hanging out with those other 'clowns' still, when he discovered a new application of his power. Instead of just burning things, he could concentrate his destructive power into explosive acidic spit-balls!

Deciding to keep that new trick a secret, Scuzz then talked with Jeffrey for a minute before the speedster took off. Wanting to call his family, Jeffrey found himself a pay phone and did just that, at which point his mom told him she'd contacted none other than an exorcist to help him deal with his little 'problem'. Thinking it a good idea, he ran back to the others to implore them to go along with it.

Having David pull the trailer over, he asked them to join him on a trek to his mom's house and this priest of hers. This naturally spawned one of the group's infamous debates, and they spent a considerable amount of time arguing about what they should do. Some of them believed it could be possible that they were the victims of demonic possession, while others thought the very notion was ludicrous.

Noticing that Scuzz was quiet on the matter for once, Randy asked him what he thought - at which point Scuzz blew up. Convinced that none of them cared what he thought in any event, he wondered why Randy even asked. Thinking they were stupid for wanting to get rid of their powers, Scuzz decided that he'd had enough, and walked out of the trailer, intent on leaving the group once and for all.

This prompted the others to follow, trying to reason with him. While at first they were just trying to reassure Scuzz that he was a valued member of their group, the talk quickly devolved into a brawl. Scuzz wasn't about to be forced (as he saw it) to stay with the others, regardless of their need to stick together for protection, and quickly turned on them with his new spitball trick.

After a few injuries were dealt, the other paranormals decided that if Scuzz really wanted to go it alone, they had no right to stop him. With that, they drove off, and started heading towards Jeffrey's mom's house. Of course, they paused that night to sleep on the way, and Stephanie was so dead set on making this exorcism thing work that she insisted the group share a sort of group prayer before going to bed.

To mixed results.

Anyway, they met up with Jeffrey's mom in the morning, who then escorted them to Reverend Armand Koehn, who talked to the six paranormals and got their story. He then explained what he was all about and what it is he could do. And though he felt no evil in them, per se, it was obvious that something strange was going on, so the man told them he'd at least attempt the exorcism to see if it could help solve their problems.

In the process of the exorcism, Randy's antibody left his body and flew into the priest, imparting the memories it had collected since Randy's powers first manifested. Overwhelmed by this, the Reverend stopped the exorcism, proclaiming that whatever has caused them to develop these fantastic abilities, it sure wasn't demonic influence. The Reverend then wished them all well, and promised to pray for their well being.

Issue 6:
Revenge

Our tale began at the headquarters of the National Institute for Paranormal Research, at an undisclosed location somewhere in North America, where we find Philip Nolan Voigt briefing a group of headhunting mercenaries on the abilities of the Dead Plains Seven. He gave this squad of hit-men all the necessary details on each of the seven paranormals, but focused on Scuzz - the first of their group to break away from the others.

Speaking of Scuzz, we catch up with him outsize of the Bean City tavern, a biker bar where the underage paranormal finds himself alone. He's eyeballing the beautiful rides parked outside, and wishing he could find a bite to eat when the bar's patrons come rushing out. Thinking he was messing with their bikes, they accosted him, but found that Scuzz wasn't about to take no guff from the likes of them!

When the bikers started manhandling Scuzz, he lashed out with his powers instinctively. Though they ultimately got the best of him, Scuzz managed to wound several of the biker thugs that assaulted him, including one who he managed to blind in one eye permanently! Of course, this only enraged them further, and the goons beat Scuzz senseless with pipes, chains, and just about anything else they had handy...

Elsewhere, the other six refugees from therapy group C of the Clinic were pulled over at a rest stop outside of Clintonville. Stephanie was giving David a haircut, primarily because he hadn't had one in a very long time... and looked positively neolithic as a result. By the time she was done, David felt almost 'normal' for a change, despite his immense bulk, feeling that he looked almost civilized!

The goal of all this was to make David more recognizable to his uncle Art - which would be hard enough with his new found muscle. While driving the group to his uncle's place, David was talking with Stephanie in the truck, contemplating a plan of theirs that would let her see her children again. Of course, they also got to talking about Scuzz, a conversation which was overheard by Randy's antibody again.

Pulling over, David confronted Randy about the kid. Though Randy insisted that the group go looking for him again, most of the others were actually quite happy to have him gone. Having no intention of looking for Scuzz, David told Randy to just take his truck and go looking for the little monster, while he and Stephanie went through with their plan to help her visit her children once more.

Naturally, Randy liked that even less, knowing the Clinic would catch up to them if they split up any further.

David was done talking to Randy for now though, and finished the drive to his uncle Art's place. Upon arriving, David tried to trade him his trailer for a ride, but instead was given the use of the old man's Winnebago for a while. After all, he wasn't about to let his nephew go on without a roof over his head! Thankful, David left his truck with Randy, and was joined by Stephanie and Lenore in the Winnebago.

The others, meanwhile, went on looking for Scuzz. He, meanwhile, had woke up at the hospital in Wausau, and was being doted upon by a waitress from the bar where he got his epic beat-down. She liked him so much that she eventually invited him home upon his being released from the place... though this took a couple of days. In the meantime, Randy, Charlotte and Jeffrey finally arrived at Scuzz's dad's place.

There, they learned that Scuzz never came back home after leaving the rest of the paranormals... and that his dad didn't know where he was. Not that he cared all that much, really. Randy also got a good idea just why Scuzz turned out the way he did - his dad was something of a drunken slob, and seemed to care more about himself than the welfare of his only son. Disheartened, Randy left the blighted home.

Scuzz, by this time, was making himself at home in the house of Mary Perzentka, who'd offered him a place to recover. Over the next two weeks, he got more and more comfortable with both her and her place, until she put the moves on him one night. Not that Scuzz minded of course, but though his power had reduced itself to a low ebb after his beating, it reared up full force once more, burning Mary in the process.

Furious at the implication that he could never touch another person again, Scuzz left Mary's place in a huff - even as she recoiled from the inadvertent burns he'd given her. He then resolved to end his miserable life... though he wasn't about to leave a thing or two undone first. Stomping off into the night, Scuzz made his way back to the Bean Town tavern - with bedlam on his mind!

Having worked up a good mad-on, Scuzz was greeted by the same man whose eye he put out a few weeks ago, and let his power erupt explosively! He then made quick work of the man's friends, his power amped up so much that he was literally ablaze with destructive chemical might! Destroying all but one of their motorcycles, Scuzz then stole the leftover bike and tried to blow it up - with himself on it!

Just then, his power finally cut out.

Despondent, Scuzz drove off into the November night, cold and naked. Little did he know that he was being observed... by Voigt's hit-men!

Issue 7:
Kidnaped

A few minutes after the end of last issue, we catch up with Dennis 'Scuzz' Cuzinski as he wheels down the back roads of Wisconsin in his stolen motorcycle. Sullen, cold and naked, he was particularly unhappy that his suicide attempt had failed him so miserably. Sulking about his current lot in life, he decided the first thing he needed to do was get himself some clothes before he froze to death.

As he approached an isolated farm, Scuzz was observed by several of the Clinic's headhunters, though he didn't know it at the time. Focused on his imminent crimes, Scuzz broke into the barn at the remote farm he'd targeted, but couldn't find anything inside. Thus, he resorted to breaking into the farm house proper, though this quickly got him a shotgun in the face for his trouble.

That farmer had seen him pull up and break into his barn you see, so he was more than ready for Scuzz. While the farmer covered him, his wife got him some clothes, not wanting to watch him shiver to death on her kitchen floor. Once he realized the man was going to call the cops on him, Scuzz made a break for it, but got himself tranquilized by the those hit men Voigt had hired before he could make his getaway.

That next morning, in the suburbs of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, we turn our gaze to David, Lenore and Stephanie, as the trio travel to collect the latter's children from school. Grabbing her first child, Ben, Stephanie brought him into David's Winnebago and the group then drove off, headed towards Stephanie's mother in law's home. There they expected to find her other two kids.

On the way there, Ben enlightened Stephanie regarding all the terrible things her husband, Chuck, had been saying about her. Less than amused, Stephanie bucked up for Ben's sake and prepared to pick up the other kids. This proved more difficult than she would've liked, as her mother in law, Helen, wasn't about to let her just walk off - even if they were her own children. Thus, Lenore knocked her out cold.

While Stephanie scooped up Jill, David continued to wait outside in the Winnebago, not liking sitting still so long at all. He felt like the trio were sitting ducks, either for the Clinic's goons or for Chuck, should he show up before Stephanie'd finished grabbing her kids. And sure enough, more of those headhunters were observing him nearby, waiting for the right moment to subdue the paranormals.

Elsewhere, Randy had arrived at the Bean Town tavern, and heard all kinds of wacky stories about Scuzz and the terrible things he'd done - not that Randy was sure they were actually speaking about him in the first place. This because he wasn't familiar with the fiery aspect of Scuzz's powers, and started to think the patrons were talking about some other violent, minor paranormal miscreant. Somehow.

Outside the Bean Town tavern, Jeffrey and Charlotte are debating the point of looking for Scuzz in the first place - he did ditch them, after all. Furthermore, Charlotte was pretty sure that the Clinic wasn't on their tail any longer, what with them having been gone since the trouncing they took at Stephanie's house. This, of course, while they were being covertly observed by the Clinic's goons.

Back in Sheboygan, David moved to intercept Stephanie's husband, Chuck, as he returned to his mother's house. Trying to play it up as a Clinic representative, David quickly found out this wasn't a good idea... when Chuck tried to attack him. This violence quickly escalated, with David trying hard not to hurt the man - at least, until he smashed David in the face with a baseball bat. Hard.

In a bloody rage, David seized the man and flung him straight up into the air - causing him to bounce off the roof of his mother's home - and crash land on his own station wagon. Seeing this, Stephanie quickly did what she could to heal the two men, but her children had gone hysterical upon seeing David almost kill their dad. In order to stop this, Lenore zapped them with her power and put them to sleep.

With nothing else for it, Stephanie and the others made their getaway with her kids before the police arrived - as they assumed someone in the neighborhood called them by now.

At around this time, Randy made it to the hospital that Scuzz had been interred within for a short time, and interviewed one of the biker thugs he'd hospitalized. While he did this, Jeffrey made a phone call to his mother while Charlotte waited in the truck. All alone, she was easy prey for the Clinic's headhunters, who scooped her up and drove her off before either Randy or Jeffrey were even aware there was a problem.

Similarly, at a Sheboygan hospital, Stephanie went in to make sure her husband was all right, and to heal him a bit more now that his broken bones had been set. While she did this, she too was ambushed by two of the Clinic's headhunters, and zonked out with an extra dose of tranquilizers whilst she was riding the elevator back down to the Winnebago, waiting below, leaving David and Lenore on their own...!

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