A Really Good Bad Guy - Kineto

By the end of the 1970s, the threat of general supervillain crime and violence was secondary to the danger of two supervillains fighting each other. The major metahuman villains had gone to war and Human society was caught in the crossfire. The Champions and other heroes made the decision to go on the offensive to remedy this situation, tracking down and defeating the big players before they could cause more harm. Sadly, Kineto and Sundown remained at large. 

These two men truly hated each other. Kineto viewed Sundown as a megalomaniac, a would-be world conqueror completely wasting his intellect on a meaningless quest for personal power. He could be benefiting Humanity with his knowledge and intelligence. To Sundown, Kineto was the world's biggest hypocrite. Kineto's high and mighty attitude and moral code hid his desire to control the planet and its people the way he controlled kinetic energy and inertia. 

In 1982, Sundown and Kineto decided to end their feud with a showdown. The Champions found out about the duel and planned to intercept and prevent it., as well as apprehend the two villains. Unfortunately, an argument broke out among the members of the team on how to proceed. Garrison quits the team. The rest of the group arrived on the scene too late; the battle had already begun and numerous civilians had been injured by incidental exchanges by the villain teams. 

The Allies of Kineto

Left to Right: Icewing, Firebird, Doctor Helix, Battlefront, Passion Storm, and Gigaton

Initially, Legionnaire and Tachyon focused on thwarting the henchmen and lieutenants of their antagonistic adversaries while Omni protected the citizens of New York. This and similar actions cemented Omni as a favorite, trusted superhero among the common people in spite of him being an alien. Meanwhile the Champions team leader, Tower, scaled a building just below Sundown using his size-changing powers to aid in his sneaky approach  At some point, Sundown descended to the roof of said building and generated a force field of intense heat around himself. He then began to form a medicine ball sized Sun over his head which rapidly increased in circumference, becoming roughly 50 ft. in diameter in under a minute. 

Sundown threatened to release it towards New York City's Madison Square Garden as PRIMUS's re-enforcements arrived to assist with crowd control and medical aid. Tachyon immediately disengaged from fighting two of Kineto's gang to try and talk Sundown out of the attack, all while preparing to absorb as much of the energy as he could. Kineto himself, hovering over Madison Square Garden, started to draw in kinetic energy and compress it into a shield to protect the edifice and the citizens therein. As things drew to a very tense head, Tower leaped at Sundown from behind, increasing to his maximum height of 100 feet and tried to grab the villain, his hand and arm sizzling from Sundown's heat field. That's when Sundown suddenly increased the heat in a blistering wave! Tower fell backward in pain and shock, tumbling off the building and crashing to the street below. 

Sundown launched his Sun Sphere - now almost 300 feet in diameter - and Tachyon teamed with Kineto to stop it. As the former absorbed massive amounts of radiation, taxing himself beyond his limit and reducing the sphere's size and power, Kineto altered the attack's trajectory. Along with his kinetic shield, he managed to deflect the mini-Sun into space. Then, before anyone could react, a short, sharp 'CRACk' - a clap of thunder the size of a firecracker - pierced the din of battle. Sundown toppled over, blood boiling out from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. Everyone and everything stopped and the entire scene held its breath. A sniper had somehow taken out Sundown with a clearly high-tech rifle and a bullet coated with atmospheric re-entry level heat shielding. A heartbeat later and crowds on site and watching their TVs nationwide cheered, mostly for Tachyon and Kineto. 

Kineto departed here along with Gigaton and Passion Storm. No attempt was made to follow as there would be time for that later. Tachyon's powers had overloaded, preventing him from ever activating them again less he release the stored energy accidently. Tower was dead. The Champions disbanded amid their own guilt over what had happened and public opinion that it was really Kineto and an unknown sharpshooter, probably working with PRIMUS, that saved the day. Legionnaire retired to continue his research into Parallel Worlds and Alternate Dimensions. Omni took a short break and then returned to crime fighting alone.

Kineto laid low for a bit after this, rebuilding his forces. Passion Storm left his group, though on good terms. Things had gotten too brutal for the aging activist. Icewing, Firebird, and Battlefront were now in prison. 

About two years later, the United Nations Tactical Intelligence League - UNTIL - calls upon Omni to help establish and run a world wide superhero response network for dealing with supervillains, natural disasters, and the like. In short order UNITY is organized and implemented to great success.

The Kineto 'Family'

 Left to Right: Terminatrix, Adamant, Kineto, The Druid, and Inferno. 

An ally and confidant of Kineto at this time was one Professor Felix Henrich, also known as Prof. Helix. Unable to track down Dr. Genius (who went into seclusion in the 50's and has not been seen publicly since), Kineto recruited Helix to assist him with all his scientific and engineering projects. These projects include things such as secret bases, the super-science of superpowers, and the development of weapons and equipment for his henchmen. Kineto not only shared his goals with the Professor but various personal concerns and regrets as well. Kennison confessed that never having had children pained him greatly. 

During the Winter of 1984, Professor Henrich wanted to gain favor with his employer and used the medical technology he installed in Kineto's largest base to clone the King of Kinetic Energy. The result was 'Adam', a 'son' who was nearly identical to Kipling Kennison at a younger age. Initially, Kineto was ecstatic and took to the lad immediately.

Unfortunately, there were some issues: Adam aged rapidly, though Prof. Helix was able to stop his accelerated progression. Adam appeared to be about 20 in the end and following his treatment aged extremely slowly [like Kineto himself]. Adam's powers manifested quite differently. He was only able to manipulate the movement and energy of his own molecules. This manifests as the ability to transform himself into different materials. He normally touches an object, locks in on its molecular structure, and then changes himself into it: steel, wood, volcanic rock, aluminum, and a practically endless selection of others. Adam is unable to fly like his 'father'.  Adam took on the super-moniker 'Adamant'. 

Over the next few years, Adamant served as a key part of Kineto's plans but there was a lot of trouble between the two of them behind the scenes. Adamant, who liked to work out and wasn't particularly interested in philosophy and the sciences, was viewed as 'dim' by his 'father'. Kineto talked down to his 'young son' and gave him very little to do beyond 'muscle work'. Finally, they disagreed about Kineto's endgame but more on that later. 

Professor Helix wanted to try again. This time he informed Kineto of his plan and suggested that instead of a traditional clone, this one should be a biological hybrid - a 'clone' meets in vitro fertilization - a test tube baby combing Kineto's DNA with that of a female counterpart. Kineto knew exactly who he'd like the donor to be and traveled to England. There he infiltrated a diplomatic function being attended by, among others, Maiden Fair. While in disguise as a foreign military leader, Kineto danced with Maiden Fair who seemed under the weather. She soon had to sit down and grew visibly pale. Kineto offered her his handkerchief which she coughed into, confiding that she had very recently been injured in battle and was still recuperating. The disguised Kineto requested an attendant assist Maiden Fair back to her room to rest and regain her strength. He then excused himself, noting blood on handkerchief. 

I like to imagine he thought twice about what he'd obtained but made the poor decision to go through with the scheme anyway. This does not go well. Unbeknownst to Kineto, Maiden Fair had been part of an international strike team who went after the villain known as Plague. Plague had afflicted Maiden Fair with a superhuman virus that caused rapid cellular degeneration. Only her superpowers - increased Strength, Speed, Vitality, and Healing based on 'how much the people of England love and believe in their country and her' - were keeping her alive. Thankfully, she was much beloved by the public in Britain and beyond. 

Kineto and Professor Helix combined the DNA of Kineto and Maiden Fair and created a daughter - Katherine - but before they could celebrate their success the young woman began to literally decompose. Some mysterious virus (See above) was destroying her cells at an alarming rate. Helix did everything he could to stop the process as Kineto simply broke down in silent tears, pain, and anger. A stasis field with life support capacity saved what remained but Kineto took one look and told the Professor, "Get rid of it. When I return, I want it to be as if this was never done. This was never here."

Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately depending on your perspective - the Professor couldn't do that. He contacted a colleague at the Advanced Research Genetics and Engineering Network Team - ARGENT - to see if their Super-Science could save 'Kate'. At a top secret lab they did just that, integrating the remains into the most advanced cybernetic body ever developed - complete with a host of deadly weapons and defenses. When Kate woke up she understandably freaked out and murdered all the ARGENT scientists in the room. She escaped the facility and after laying low for a while she resurfaced as Terminatrix, an assassin for hire who would only take contracts against superpowered targets. Terminatrix refuses to kill normals, even super-normals*. She makes her first public appearance in late 1984 or early 1985. She despises her 'father' Kineto as she can clearly remember his last words to her deteriorating body. She is unaware of her mother's identity. 

A third attempt to create a 'child' for Kineto was made a few years later by Lord Dweomer, a supervillain mage and alchemist who asked for Kineto's aid with a complex scheme of his own. Dweomer offered this as part of the payment to Kineto for the latter's help. Magic was always a concern for Kineto as it's something he doesn't completely understand and which his powers sometimes have trouble effecting. The end result was ''Hermes', also known as 'The Druid', whose powers are mystical in nature and deal with the control and alteration of living matter. Fanatically devoted to Kineto and his father's cause, Druid tries too hard, viewed as a 'brown noser' and 'suck up' by Adamant. Kineto has little respect for him either, seeing him as a 'yes man' of the worst sort. Additionally, Kineto mistrusts him because of the magical nature Druid's arcane abilities.

The Druid's power over living matter enables him to shape-change. 

He often takes this form to appear less physically imposing and dangerous.

There was a fourth but he came to be much later. We'll address him in the next and hopefully final chapter in the life and times of Kineto...

Coming Soon,

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