Flesh-eating bacteria are bad enough, but they're even worse when they're big enough to bite your hand off.
Strain Zeta
Strain Zeta started off as a variety of genetically engineered micro-organisms cooked up in a super-science lab for use as easily tweaked bio-research test specimens. Then some idiot tested an experimental growth ray on them and turned them into fast-breeding macroscopic omnivores with the potential to depopulate an entire continent in weeks if allowed to get out of control. The individual Zetas are fairly small and nearly mindless, but they generally form in larger collective pseudo-organisms that display slightly more awareness. While destroying any given Zeta isn't difficult for a superhero or even a well-equipped human, letting any of them escape guarantees another outbreak at some point in the future.
If you're looking for potential creators of these things, the researchers of SIN are likely culprits, as are the Moseby Twins (with the Zetas being a sort of proto-protoid). Horde has already had one major failure when dabbling in growth technology and might repeat his mistake, and his cousin Miniac might well have sabotaged any experiment involving embiggening stuff. And there's always master mega-genius Mordecai Mentallax, who comes up with this kind of stuff in his spare time between doing "real" science and planning to conquer the world. Might also be the harbingers of an invasion from a hostile microversal civilization, or maybe the whole thing's an accident and the Zetas actually started as a single micro-kaiju shot into our continuum like the end of the first Gamera movie.
Strain Zeta Gestalt
Description: A seething mass of amoebic blobs, about the size of a haystack. The whole mess is fringed with writhing cilia and lashing flagella, and its interior is dotted with countless organelles and vacuoles. The only sounds it makes are the burbling squelches of digestive juices as it wriggles about.
Gender: None Age: Unclear Height: Variable (Usually About Eight Feet) Eyes: None
Hair: Do Cilia Count? Cell Membranes: Translucent Oily Blue-Green Build: Blob-Like
Approach: Underpowered Archetype: Legion
Health: 5 + (5 x H)
Powers: Part Detachment d8, Elasticity d6, Swimming d6, Wall-Crawling d6
Qualities: Close Combat d10, Mega-Bacterial Collective d8, Fitness d6, Self-Discipline d6
Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4
Abilities:
Cell Division (A) Roll your single status die. Deal yourself that much irreducible damage. Create that many d6 Legion minions.
Mass Consumption (A) Attack multiple targets using Close Combat. Defend yourself against all Attacks using your Min die until your next turn.
Mindless (I) Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.
Reabsorb (R) When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die and Recover that much Health.
Resistant Strain (I) Whenever you would be reduced to zero or fewer Health, prevent that damage and reduce all of your power dice by one die size. If this reduces any die below d4 you are knocked out.
Smother (A) Attack using Elasticity. If you roll doubles, add that value to your Attack. If you roll triples, add all three dice to your Attack.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Hardier Minions + 5 Health. Gain Embiggen (A) Upgrade a number of your minions equal to the number of heroes in the scene by increasing their die size by one (max d12).
Master of Enforced Order (I) If you have complete control over your surroundings, automatically succeed in an Overcome to organize rabble to accomplish a task.
Tactics
Strain Zeta Gestalts rarely stick together long in combat, using Cell Division to break down into minions whenever it can without too much risk of defeating itself - although if it's caught very low on Health and Resistant Strain has already been used it may just deliberately go out one last batch of hungry macrobes. Their effectiveness is a bit limited by Mindless (even as a collective they're none too bright) but Reabsorb will help keep the Gestalt in action longer. If a Gestalt is too weak to spawn more minions it has two offensive options to use, with Smother potentially inflicting a hard hit to a single foe and Mass Consumption harming multiple targets while providing some minor damage mitigation.
With its upgrade the Gestalt can also increase the die size of one group of minions. I'd define a group as "all the ones from a single use of Cell Division" for this ability. Its mastery makes Overcomes a lot easier while there are minions in play.
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Strain Zeta Legion Spawn d6 minion (created through Cell Division)
Description: An irregular lump of squirming cilia and translucent blue-green protoplasm, roughly a foot in diameter and dripping with digestive enzymes.
Mindless: Whenever multiple Legion Spawn minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.
Shapeless: You may move as though you had Swimming d4 and Wall-Crawling d4 and can slowly ooze through small openings, under doors, and similar tight spots.
Strain Zeta Macrobe d6 minion
Description: A larger mass of squirming cilia and translucent blue-green protoplasm, roughly two feet in diameter and dripping with digestive enzymes.
Basic Organism: As an action, you may sacrifice yourself to either roll your die and restore that much Health to a nearby Strain Zeta Gestalt villain, or to increase the die size of a nearby Strain Zeta Vector lieutenant by one (max d12).
Shapeless: You may move as though you had Swimming d4 and Wall-Crawling d4 and can slowly ooze through small openings, under doors, and similar tight spots.
Strain Zeta Conglomerate d10 lieutenant
Description: A formidable collective of translucent blue-green protoplasm, lashing flagella and squirming cilia, roughly four feet in diameter and dripping with digestive enzymes.
Intermediate Organism: As an action, you may sacrifice yourself and remove H nearby Strain Zeta Macrobe minions from the scene, then add a Strain Zeta Gestalt villain to the scene at full Health but with no Upgrade or Mastery.
Shapeless: You may move as though you had Swimming d4 and Wall-Crawling d4 and can slowly ooze through small openings, under doors, and similar tight spots.
Unstable Mass: As an action, you may roll your die to Hinder yourself and add a number of Strain Zeta Macrobe minions equal to your roll to the scene.
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Design Notes: The "Strain Zeta Gestalt" villain form is about as fragile as a villain can be, but its job is mostly to spawn a bunch of minions before it goes Out. If it manages to throw (or draw) an Attack or two before it gets finished off that's just a bonus. Bringing along some Macrobe minions as scene elements will let the gestalt last a bit longer, but you could also just bring multiple Gestalts or create new ones using the Conglomerate lieutenant's sacrifice ability. Unlike most villains they're definitely not unique, just something that forms whenever enough of the smaller Zetas are around.
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