Newsflash Classic Archive (Pre December 3091 (2009))

= TRIAD Newsflash October 11, 3085 =

HERO ACADEMY ON THE CASE


 Hero Academy . The latest class at Hero Academy, still smarting from their battle with the strange rat-man, welcomed several new recruits this week, including the illegitimate daughter of Alec Brady and the late villainess known as Poison and half-sister to David and Frostfire, Midnight, and a young man of unknown origin named Alexander. After everyone got settled, the first day’s exercises kicked off, a game of capture the flag between two teams of students using the exclusive Blue Star Holo-Booth technology. The outcome was, as GraveRobber put it, “a massacre” as the students wiped each other out. GraveRobber chastised them a bit and Magenta pointed out the advantages to teamwork, and everyone received their lessons for the day.

 That night, David gathered a group of students together to inform them that his police scanner reported that the Grayfolk P.D. had cornered some sort to beast-person in an alley on the west side of Grayfolk. The group made due haste there, taking advantage of a copy of Magenta’s car keys that Kid Psycho had made. Unexpectedly, they were joined by TRIAD agent Kat, who assisted them in getting police permission to check out what was going on. The creature responded by launching projectiles at the students, so the students retaliated, but in a frenzy of telekinetic might, the entire alley’s contents were hurled out into the street, knocking out the police, overturning the police car, and injuring several people. The source was the one-time Enforcer and daughter of the late Bobby Talon, Laura Talon, AKA Plasmafire. She asked the students to stop trying to kill her god-daughter, whom she identified as Jennifer Fox, daughter of the late Goldrabbit, Andrew Foxx, who now possessed the powers of Silverfox! Plasmafire further explained that several nights ago, Silverfox had a run-in with a Lycanthrope that bit her, and since it was now a full moon, Silverfox had lost control. With that, morning arrived and Silverfox returned to normal. Upon learning that the students were Hero Academy, Plasmafire and Silverfox agreed that Hero Academy would be the best place for Silverfox right now, and Plasmafire set out to fast-track Silverfox’s enrollment in Hero Academy. Kat, meanwhile, let the students know she would be working on tracking down the suspect with high-tech scanning gear.

 The next night, the group then returned to the sewers to try again to track down the creature they had fought the night before. They were not disappointed, as they again came face to face with the humanoid rat-creature and his two giant rat minions. But it turned out that those three were not responsible for the attacks on the city personnel. He identified himself simply as “Rat” and added that there was another giant rat in the sewers besides he and his minions, “Bert” and “Ernie”. He called this giant rat “Mongo” and informed the students that Mongo served a werewolf named “Lupe’”, the same Lycanthrope Kat was tracking down in order to end her own infection of Lycanthropism. He also informed the students that he had been living in the sewers since the rats came and took his parents away. The students offered him the chance to join them at Hero Academy. He accepted and further volunteered to help the students locate the missing city worker via his ability to communicate with rats. The group then returned to the surface and persuaded the instructors to let Rat join the Academy. In addition, two late arrivals made it in by the mandatory second day of Academy training, the newest incarnation of the eternal force for good, Paladin, and the son of Kim Allen and Psycho and Kid Psycho’s older brother, Garret, who had finally decided that Hero Academy might be worth a shot. Further, Skybird of the M-13 flew in and dropped off former Hero Academy student and dropout Parabola. The teachers welcomed him back much to his chagrin, and then made him student teacher, since he had spent time on the streets with the urban vigilante Vagrant.

 Later that night, Rat reported that Bert and Ernie had found something. Coincidentally, Kat arrived, too, saying that her scanners had picked up a trace, though a different one from what Rat had located. So the students broke into two groups to investigate. Both groups then went back into the sewers. One group found the giant rat, Mongo, and a number of wolf-were animals that were guarding him. The group engaged and won a decisive victory. At the same time, the second group found Lupe’, the city worker, who was now fully a werewolf, too, and Pumpkin Jack! Before the students could mount much offense, however, they ran into a problem as Lupe’ brought out an item she called the “Gaze of Rhea”, which bathed the group in magical moonlight, causing Silverfox and Kat to wolf out, further, the talisman gave Lupe’ control of them! It looked grim, and Kid Psycho and Revolution exchanged goodbyes. Luckily for them, one of Murder’s crows had followed that group and that immediately gave Murder the image of what was happening. Unexpectedly, Murder’s crows began sweeping up everyone and dropping them off in the Realm of the Dead. There, they paid a Ferryman to take them across a black river. From the opposite bank, the crows again swept everyone up and deposited them in the tunnel where Revolution and Kid Psycho were facing imminent death. The reinforcements proved enough to turn the battle, and soon Kat, John Ambuli (the city worker), and Silverfox had been knocked out, Lupe’ vanquished, and Pumpkin Jack fled. Kat recovered and found herself unable to kill Lupe’ in cold blood, the only known way to break the curse of Lycanthropism, and took her and the city worker with her, apparently to TRIAD Base 10 for further analysis. Triumphant, the students returned to the surface and to their classes.



= TRIAD Newsflash November 23, 3085 =

"THE BRITISH ARE COMING!"


 Hero Academy. The latest crop of students at Hero Academy, fresh from a major victory over Pumpkin Jack and Lupe' began gearing up to face their next major challenge, midterms! After a long day,   Cheetah, Kid Psycho, and Revolution prepared to bed down for the night but found their rest interrupted by what appeared to be a contingent of Undead soldiers brandishing energy-ball-firing muskets! Revolution in particular reacted very poorly, seeming downright rattled! The battle was short, however, as Kid Psycho, Cheetah, and Murder helped defeat the soldiers. This proved only to be a tiny sample of what was to come when a much larger group of soldiers began advancing on the academy,   led by a ghost the group came to know as "The Brigadier". Every student in the compound and instructors GraveRobber and Magenta engaged the soldiers, identified by David Brady as Old Earth Revolutionary War-era Hessians that fought on the side of the British during the American War of Independence. Things took a sinister turn, however, when the Brigadier boasted that he had the power to control Undead and was able to psychically take control of Magenta, who is Undead, and GraveRobber who, at the time, was channeling the energy of the dead, evidently making him susceptible to the Brigadier's power. Also, the Brigadier was generating two Hessians for every one Hessian the students destroyed. With the odds mounting, Revolution confessed that he knew why they were attacking. Unknown to the others, Revolution's powers come from a Revolutionary War-era Flag once flown by soldiers under the command of George Washington himself. It had somehow become enchanted with magical energy that gave Revolution his powers and it seemed to be the target of the Brigadier's attack. Revolution told them that he had taken the flag from a museum exhibit in the ruins of Old Sydney, Australia on Old Earth, and that there was a British flag there, too. The students gambled that the British flag might be the source of the Brigadier's powers, so they made the decision to run for the parking lot. There they would take one of the staff cars to the starport and book a flight to Old Earth. Despite being slowed down by an unconscious Kid Psycho, who had been badly injured in the second attack, they were faster than the advancing Hessians, but not faster than GraveRobber, who flew via his jet-pack. Making full use of his one gift, David managed a one-in-a-million shot and popped open the catch on GraveRobber's jet-pack harness, causing it to release and fly free, dropping GraveRobber to the ground. The students then beat a hasty retreat but found the route to the starport blocked by advancing Undead Hessians. Garret had a suggestion, however, and had them change course for the Winters Estate. There in the vehicle bay was the modified Winnebago once used by a TRIAD Member and Seeker ally Rhino. When he was killed, the teleport-drive equipped Winnebago was willed to the Seekers and Velvet ended up with it. Since Kid Psycho, Garret, David, Cheetah, and Wildestryke all lived at the mansion prior to coming to Hero Academy, they had the access codes to the garage and made use of the Winnebago. This proved less than ideal, though, for Murder, as she evidently suffers from Teleport Sickness. Other than that, however, the trip was speedy and uneventful.

 Once on Old Earth, Revolution shed further light on his situation, informing the other students that he was bunking down in the old Sydney Museum when it was over-run by raiders, a group called the Scorpions, one of the larger wasteland gangs in that area. He tried to avoid them, but he eventually took some stray bullets aimed at another wanderer that had stumbled across the museum. Critically wounded, he crawled to the exhibit where the flag was found and expected to die there. When he awoke, though, not only was he not dead, but he was not wounded, and he was much more powerful. Using this newfound power, he fought his way past a small contingent of raiders using nothing by a tomahawk and escaped the museum. It was then that he stowed away aboard a cruiser bound for Altair before arriving at Hero Academy. Things took an ironic turn when the group arrived at the museum and found that a fairly large contingent of Scorpions were still there and were looting the museum for valuables and weapons. Using some guile and strategy, the students ultimately slipped into the museum, raiders in pursuit, and they hunkered down in an exhibit hall. There, the students used their fantastic powers to pick off the advancing raiders one by one until Lord Scorpion, the cybernetic leader of the raiders, took the field of battle. The students used a bit of teamwork, however, and defeated him, revealing him to be nothing more than a child-like humanoid mutant that wore the cybernetic scorpion armor to make himself more powerful. They then left the museum, British flag in hand, just in time to see the Brigadier, Magenta, and GraveRobber leading a massive number of Hessians down on them. Acting quickly, Murder ignited the flag and destroyed it utterly, breaking the Brigadier's control over the teachers. A half-second later, GraveRobber seemingly destroyed the Brigadier with a massive haymaker. Victorious, the students and teachers headed back for Altair via Winnebago, much to Murder's chagrin.

MIDTERM CARNAGE


 Hero Academy. Once safe and at home, the students and teachers made preparations for the midterm exams and break. GraveRobber announced that those who passed the midterm exam would do some field work with members of the super-hero team The Champions. Those who did not would receive additional education during the break with the intention of catching the students up to their peers. The midterm exam was brutal, but everyone passed except Wildestryke, Revolution, and Rat. Wildstryke stormed off, angry that she could not pass the math section. Rat and Revolution met with GraveRobber and it was revealed that they were both illiterate! GraveRobber made arrangements to get them special assistance during break, warning them that it would be critical that they gain those skills. Afterwards, the students began packing. When Kid Psycho and Cheetah returned to their cabin to collect Revolution, they found that he, too, was gone! However, there was a strange young woman named Rhea there, seemingly lost. Not knowing what else to do with her, the students invited her along. Magenta was interested in the sudden appearance of Rhea and noted that her name is the same as the name of the lost Moon Goddess from ancient Altair. Magenta also noted that the young woman was apparently of Elven descent. Further, the young woman understood Magenta when she spoke something to her in Ancient Altairian, a dead language to the general populace. Magenta agreed that the young woman should accompany the students until the teachers could figure out what to do with her.



 Once at the rather public Champions Base in Grayfolk, the students met Champions Aurora, Manbomb, Adrenaline, Professor Dusk, and Ballard Cathan. The students then were shown to quarters and given initial assignments. While the first   academic classes kicked off chaired by Professor Dusk, groups of students were assigned patrols with members of the Champions. First up, the students Valkyrie, Murder, and Rhea paired up with Champions Adrenaline and Ballard to the Capitol City patrol. They set out in the Champions' aircraft and were given an overview of the patrol route and the function of the aircraft when they intercepted a report of the known parahuman felon, Skyscream, in the outskirts of rural Capitol City. They responded to the appearance of the sonic-powered madman and braced for action. Unexpectedly, the initial attacks from Adrenaline and Ballard caused Skyscream to spawn duplicates of himself of seemingly endless numbers! Student Valkyrie, daughter of the Dimension member Barith, recognized that Skyscream was wearing what appeared to be one of the ancient Rings of Power. She did not spend long contemplating the ring, though, when Skyscream erupted forth nine additional duplicates that surrounded her! Adrenaline, on the other hand, noticed that each time one of the duplicates fell, the original seemed to experience pain, so she fired a couple volleys of her S-66 Heavy Pistol into the group of ten Skyscreams, felling several. Evidently, the pain was too much and the original went down, and all his duplicates vanished. ARMADA was called in and the heroes resumed patrol, victorious.



 The second patrol was headed up by ManBomb, Hell Hound, and Aurora. Joining them were students Gina, Blake, and Kid Psycho. They were on the Grayfolk city foot patrol and quickly found themselves faced with a hurled police squad car! The group sprang into action, and quickly found the perpetrator- the overpoweringly strong ex-TRIAD member, Kobron! The initial attacks proved ineffective, so Hell Hound moved in and engaged some of the magical Demonic powers at his disposal, peering into Kobron's very soul to stun him into unconsciousness. Kobron shrugged off the initial attack, however, and leapt behind a three-story building. As the heroes continued to move in and the students Blake and Kid Psycho tended to the badly shaken policemen, a tremendous rumble could be heard as Kobron, in a rage, toppled the entire building upon the heroes! Moving quickly, ManBomb, Aurora, and Kid Psycho braced, trying to stop the building from crushing them or any innocent bystanders! Gina leapt at Kobron in vengeance, but Kobron intercepted her attack and sent her crashing down into the rubble. Meantime, Kid Psycho and Blake, who were trapped underneath all the rubble with the wounded policemen, attempted to get the police to safety before the rubble shifted and crushed them, protected only by a fading fire-aura structure generated by Aurora! Blake cast an ancient strength spell enabling the diminutive Alger-Cat to drag the two human officers to safety while Kid Psycho melted a hole in the rubble. At the same time, ManBomb blasted free and told Hell Hound to take out Kobron by any means necessary. Hell Hound once again assaulted Kobron's soul, and the mighty villain tried to pit his almost boundless rage against the eternal depth of Hell Hound's Soul Gaze, but it was not enough and the powerful monster fell. Exhausted, the heroes finished digging out of the rubble and attempted to contact the main base for assistance in digging for survivors but, strangely, the base's communication system was dangerously silent...



<p class="MsoBodyText"> Quote of the Week: 

<p class="MsoBodyText"> "Why did you puke?" –Revolution

<p class="MsoBodyText"> "The ash tray was full!" –Murder

<p class="MsoBodyText"> "Not where did you puke... why did you puke?!?" –Revolution

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= TRIAD Newsflash May 8, 3086 =

THE RETURN OF THE DARK LEGION
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Champions HQ, Grayfolk. A number of Hero Academy students that were unable to pass the midterm exam began an intensive two-week study session with the more technically minded members of the Champions. But the week of study was interrupted when the group fell under attack by Parliament and his Dark Legion! The students and their tutors fought a running retreat to the central control chamber, unable to match firepower with the more experienced Dark Legion. Things seemed to go from bad to worse, however, when Dark Lord himself showed up with a small group of villains at his beck and call. Expecting a battle on two fronts, the Champions and Hero Academy students prepared for the worst, but things suddenly turned with Dark Lord began engaging his former team mates! As it turns out, Parliament was unwilling to return the reigns of power to Dark Lord. As a result, numerous defections ensued, most of the old-guard Dark Legion turning on Parliament and the newer recruits. The battle was decided when new recruit Sovereign hit Parliament with some sort of bomb that seemingly melted him to raw liquid protein! At that point, the rest of the Dark Legion either rejoined Dark Lord or fled. The tide was still against the heroes, however, simply on sheer numbers so as the battle intensified, they withdrew and decided to regroup with the heroes on patrol.

LIVEWIRE KICKS OFF A NEW RINGQUEST
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk. Elsewhere in Grayfolk, the two Champions patrols united at the scene of the battle with Kobron to search for survivors, still concerned by the fact that they were unable to raise the Champions base. They were joined by the one-time leader of the youth hero group New Blood and former bearer of ten of the Rings of Power, Livewire. He warned that he suspected that Dark Legion, whether Parliament’s or Dark Lord’s, was seeking the Ring of Abstractions, one that would grant its wielder nearly invincible psychic powers. Nightlyn, leader of the Negronian hero group Phoenix Force also arrived on scene and was immediately distrustful of Livewire’s intentions. At this point, the heroes from the Champions base arrived and gave the lowdown on what had just happened. Almost as if on cue, as the group concluded their tale, a plume of flame and smoke visible from the entire city of Grayfolk burst forth into the sky as the Champions base exploded! Livewire expressed that he thought what the Dark Legion was seeking was the Ring of Abstractions and Champions leader Adrenaline agreed that they had recently installed a satellite uplink system which gave them the use of a powerful government surveillance satellite which could, in fact, be used to locate the ring if it was in range. Livewire then revealed that he knew where to find the Ring of Vision which could be used to locate the Ring of Abstractions. Nightlyn felt that this fact only further confirmed that Livewire was not to be trusted. Livewire revealed that the ring was hidden on Ra’ and that a small team should head there to retrieve it and could then use it to see where Dark Lord’s scan led.

<p class="MsoBodyText"> Valkyrie, Livewire, Little Mo, Paladin, and Rhea headed for the moon. There, they unexpectedly encountered a group of parahumans led by the ancient one-time Warlord, Earth! They now called themselves the RingLords and had pledged to carry on the tradition of the original mortal RingBearers. Among the members was one-time team mate of Livewire’s and ex-girlfriend Lightshow! A brief battle ensued, with Earth and his team unwilling to trust Livewire with any of the Rings. Eventually, they were persuaded however, and despite a poorly timed appearance of   Asdarathe, the Possessor Demon, the heroes were given the Ring of Vision in the care of Paladin. A small contingent of Dark Legion members then arrived and tried to take the ring, but they were unable to contend with the might of the Champions, Hero Academy, and the self-proclaimed RingLords. Once back on Altair, the ring revealed that while Dark Lord was headed for the McAlister Range at the North Pole, after the Ring of the Heavens, the only easy way to jump between dimensions. Dark Lord evidently already knew what the ring revealed next. It revealed that the Ring of Abstractions was in the dimension of Geomodrizzle, in the care of the realm's patron god, Geon. The group of heroes broke into two groups, one heading for the McAlister Range, the other heading for Geomodrizzle.

<p class="MsoBodyText"> The group headed for Geomodrizzle consisted of Mannequin, Kid Psycho, Murder and her crows, ManBomb, and David Brady. Murder had learned that her crows could take people to the Realm of the Dead and from the Realm of the Dead, almost any other dimension could be reached. Unfortunately, the journey took a tragic turn when a Death Reaper attacked the heroes and killed David Brady as he leapt in the path of a strike meant for Murder. Despite this setback, the group continued on and made way for Geomodrizzle.

<p class="MsoBodyText"> Meanwhile, the other group consisting of Adrenaline, Gina, Garret, Vigilante, Professor Dusk, and Crimson made their way to the pole where they engaged the Dark Legion in a bloody battle. Dark Legion member Shotgun was killed by fire from Vigilante, and Crimson sustained a terrible wound. Ultimately the Dark Legion triumphed and escaped with the Ring of the Heavens. In a strange turn of events, however, Dark Lord was abandoned by Sovereign who came to the Champions and Hero Academy students to fill them in on what Dark Lord was up to. She revealed that she was, in fact, the original Doctor Entropy, sworn enemy of the Dark Legion. Evidently her plan had been all along to infiltrate the Dark Legion until such time as she had the chance to avenge the destruction of her team, the original Entropy Inc.! But now Dark Lord was on the cusp of increasing his power to the point at which she would no longer be able to hide her identity from him! Further, she outfitted the heroes with technological devices that would help make the team harder for Dark Lord to mind-control, essentially hiding their minds from his probing Telepathy.

<p class="MsoBodyText"> Unfortunately for both groups, Dark Lord successfully obtained the Ring of Abstractions in Geomodrizzle while ManBomb's group contended with some of the denizens of Geomodrizzle and Matrix himself. Apparently, Dark Lord used the Ring of the Heavens to get there and Geon simply gave him the ring.

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WIN THE BATTLE, LOSE THE WAR?
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Hero Academy. Regrouping and armed with Sovereign’s new devices, the group then made plans to strike back at Dark Lord but thought they would need the Ring of Tranquility to protect one of them from Dark Lord’s influence and the Ring of Unity, the only ring capable of negating the powers of all of the other rings. Unexpectedly, Ashara Grimm, daughter of the legendary godling Geoff Grimm and keeper of the Ring of Unity came forth and volunteered to help. They were also joined by would-be Hero Academy applicant Crowbar, evidently the son of the hero Anyman, and his sponsor and member of the Garage Boyz, Cougar. Planning was short lived, though, as reports came in of rioting of in Grayfolk that seemed to be spreading! Garret, Livewire, Polaris, Crowbar, Ashara, Red Line, Blake, and Rhea headed for the site. What they encountered appeared to be a telepathically influenced mob of civilians, attacking the heroes with anything they had on hand! Further, several missing Champions and Hero Academy students that had been previously in that zone were also enthralled. Among them was Monk, Cheetah, Wildstryke, Rat, Gina, Silverfox, and Forgotten member Wingman! The team was able to contain the mob and subdue the errant heroes.

<p class="MsoBodyText"> Meanwhile, a second team consisting of Forefather, Aurora, Little Mo, Ballard Cathan, Kid Psycho, Murder, ManBomb, Adrenaline, Paladin, Sovereign, and Hero Academy teacher Hollow Point made plans to take the fight to the Dark Legion and reclaim the Ring of Abstractions at any cost. The group arrived at the Dark Legion base and engaged some unusually powerful civilians that were serving as guards. These civilians were evidently somehow powered-up, making them stronger and more durable than usual but they proved no match for the heroes. Unexpectedly, the group was joined by a strange new freelancer calling himself Terminal Man who was evidently planning on tackling this mission solo. Once the group fought their way through the guards, they faced the assembled might of the Dark Legion, now joined by a new version of Electric Lord! The battle was bloody, with multiple turns of momentum. During the fray, Ballard Cathan was inadvertently turned into a newt by life-saving Wild Magic! ManBomb engaged Dark Lord directly as his kinetic-energy meter reached critical mass after evidently powering himself up with a vial of Focus! Kid Psycho meanwhile, with a big assist from Adrenaline’s ghostly protector, Spirit, incinerated the Ring of Unity, temporarily negating the powers of all the other rings, and an incredibly precise shot from Hollow Point literally took off Dark Lord’s ring finger, and Crimson opened a portal beneath it to reclaim the Ring of Abstractions! ManBomb, about to detonate, warned the others to flee, as he was about to explode. Covering their exit, Sovereign threw some sort of device which in turn reconstituted Parliament, who immediately went after Dark Lord. In the confusion, the heroes grabbed several of the powered-up civilians and some of the fallen, both hero and Dark Legion, and got out just as ManBomb exploded. Terminal Man, Dark Lord, Little Mo, Monolith, and several other Dark Legion members were caught in the blast, status now unknown. Monarch and Katana of the Dark Legion were then turned over to the proper authorities, the mission and the war over.

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= TRIAD Newsflash April 9, 3087 =

THE GARAGE BOYZ RETURN TO ALTAIR
<p class="MsoBodyText"> The almost urban-legend team of "The Garage Boyz " consisting of Old Earthlings Jake "Flak" Nikodemus, Dagg "Dangerman!" Nikodemus, and ex-villainess Cougar returned to Altair by way of Jammin' Jim and Rhino's teleport-drive-enabled Winnebago from an extended holiday on Old Earth. Their return was more than a little eventful, however, when a gang war between members of the Negronian-based street-gang, "The Teeth" and the local gang "The Grayfolk Kings" erupted practically in their front yard.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Garage Boyz quickly leapt into action as Flak flew into the melee as Cougar and Dangerman! skulked in on foot. It quickly became clear that The Teeth were fighting a losing battle. Further, it became apparent that many members of the attacking gang were cybernetically enhanced! The battle was also then joined by rogue hero and ex-Storm Watch member, Hacker, who was at the time running surveillance on the Grayfolk Kings, whose influence had been expanding significantly in the absence of the Garage Boyz. Jester, Madwand's apprentice, who was in the area, joined the fray as well.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> As the battle wore on and despite the efforts of the heroes, the members of the Teeth were killed or wounded to the last man, though one of the wounded escaped. Some members of the Kings were captured in part due to a clever ruse by Hacker who used his flight boots and hologram device to appear to be a police helicopter. He also used his particular gift for accessing computer systems remotely to shut down several of the cybernetically enhanced gang bangers. Flak also netted quite a few members of the Kings with his electronics-disrupting web power.

MISTAKING THEM FOR SUPER-VILLAINS...
<p class="MsoBodyText"> After the Garage Boyz delivered the bundled gang bangers to the police with some of the illicit equipment, they gathered up some advanced weapons some of the Kings were using and cybernetic parts from some of the dead gang members for later analysis. Field review turned up the information that the cybernetics and rocket-pistols appeared to be Bordaxi Infiltration Unit technology or, rather, bad copies of such technology. But they were never given the chance for further analysis.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Unexpectedly, an unmarked van charged the heroes and their salvaged equipment. The van deployed an unidentified parahuman on a motorcycle before crashing right through the pile of equipment, ruining it. A brief battle ensued with the van crashing, evidently killing one of the occupants who was thrown from the vehicle, crashing through a streetlight post, and Jester snaring (via Web spell) the motorcycle, throwing its rider to the ground, unhurt!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The attackers turned out to be local hero Relic, the immortal MorDak, who regenerated shortly after being thrown through the light post, and a newcomer calling himself Luther. They destroyed the salvaged equipment because they mistook the Garage Boyz for another parahuman-augmented street gang. Well, mistook might be too strong a word...

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Luther then informed the Garage Boyz that he has been tracking this sudden influx of replicated technology to the local street gangs and, more to the point, had some indication as to who was behind it. He showed the Boyz a picture of a woman they, rather Jake and Dagg, immediately recognized- the scientist kidnapped out from under them by Bordaxi Infiltration Units back on Old Earth, Jenna Sheridan. The woman whom Jake, Dagg, Firecracker, and Falcon originally pursued from Old Earth to Altair! Until now, they had been unable to pick up her trail and so they had pursued other activities, making a name for themselves as the Garage Boyz.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The following night, Luther and the Garage Boyz were joined by Flak's latest recruit, a newcomer named Orbital capable of producing forcefields and beams of radiation. Luther told the heroes that the dealers of the cybernetics and weapons would be making another shipment to the Kings at the West Grayfolk docks at midnight. The Garage Boyz and allies then formulated a plan and mobilized. Flak would sneak in first and do recon while the rest of the group observed from a nearby hilltop with some vehicles including Flak's own Old Earth battle-vehicle and Luther's motorcycle.

<p class="MsoBodyText"> Unfortunately, things went south quickly as Flak was seen by an especially lucky thug. Complicating matters was the fact that the arms shipment was being escorted by a pair of advanced U.R.S.A stealth vehicles and the dealers were evidently Bordaxi Infiltration Units themselves. So the well-thought-out plan quickly became an exercise in improvisation.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Dangerman! crashed their van through the vehicle bay door as Luther leapt out the back of the van on his motorcycle. Orbital, meanwhile, protected Dangerman!, himself, and Hacker with forcefields so they would survive the crash. Their van was destroyed in the attack and they, in turn, engaged the gangsters and dealers inside the warehouse. Flak, dogged by the assassin Target, made his way outside as the first of the U.R.S.A. vehicles engaged and he and Cougar quickly disabled it. They were unable to commandeer it, despite Hacker's assistance, because of a new Artificial Intelligence program that managed to keep them from taking over the vehicle. Dangerman! then seized control of one of the two shipment vans, shipment still inside, and ran it out of the fight. Inside, Luther rammed the apparent leader of the Kings there, but he turned out to be the kinetic-absorbing villain Braxton and Luther was hurled, motorcycle and all, through the warehouse wall. Luther survived only because of his mystically-oriented defense power.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Meanwhile outside, the second U.R.S.A. vehicle attacked. Dangerman! and Cougar engaged it. Dangerman! took over Flak's Old Earth battle-wagon, which they had stashed near the warehouse and attempted to destroy the stealth-vehicle with it. Ultimately, that proved unnecessary as Cougar dispatched its driver and she and Dangerman! (with a big assist to Hacker and Flak) disabled the vehicle. While unable to capture the vehicle intact, Hacker was able to download the AI into a portable computer.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Eventually Flak went one-on-one with Braxton as the others mopped up the gangsters and dealers. Flak was nearly killed in the encounter, but he and his allies were victorious. The dealers did, in fact, turn out to be Bordaxi Infiltration Units or something very similar, though all but one self-destructed. The heroes did, however, recover a single transponder, evidently used by the dealers to teleport aboard a stealth-shielded aircraft or spacecraft they were using to deliver the shipments. While Jenna Sheridan's role in this affair remains a mystery, one thing was certain. The Garage Boyz struck a serious blow against local gang activity and they are now hot on her trail.

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= TRIAD Newsflash September 17, 3087 =

THE GUARDIANS FAIL TO FOIL BANK ROBBERY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Flashback, September 17th, 3057. Originally meeting to discuss Gypsy’s recent absence from all Guardians Roll-Calls, FireLord, The Flag, Decoy, Inquisitor, and Kingfisher became first responders to a bank robbery. The Guardians had just begun discussing Gypsy’s situation when they overheard a police band transmission about a fire at a nearby warehouse. They mobilized for action, but before reaching the warehouse, they heard a bank alarm.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Moving quickly, they regrouped and began recon of the First Federated Bank of Grayfolk. They were almost immediately met by what could only be described as “Agonizer Bunnies”, giant pink android rabbits that generate fields of crushing sonic energy via a high-tech drum system and a man going by the name of “Psycho Samurai”, who began firing on them with what appeared to be a paintball gun, though the ordinance in the gun was anything but ordinary.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Guardians engaged these garish characters, Kingfisher inadvertently killing Psycho Samurai. Luckily, the Psycho Samurai he killed was actually an energy-based duplicate of the original, and it vanished as soon as it “died”. The Agonizer Bunnies met a similar fate and another costumed criminal, this one called “Laughtrack,” began attacking them with a strange assortment of gimmick weapons.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Pressing further into the bank, they encountered additional Psycho Samurai duplicates and yet another bizarre individual called “Toon”. Having vanquished all the duplicates, all the androids, Laughtrack, Toon, and the original Psycho Samurai escaped into an “Acme Portable Hole ™” from Laughtrack’s bag of tricks. They escaped with a great deal of money and the Guardians’ attempts to pursue them were thwarted when the strange egress ceased to function.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Still stinging from their less-than-successful outing against the brightly-costumed “Toon Patrol”, The Guardians pressed on to the warehouse that was the source of the initial alarm and found police surrounding the area with shots evidently having been fired from within. Noxious purple smoke poured out of the warehouse, making visibility poor at best, and the Guardians, joined by telekinetic sniper Psych, entered the smoking building.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> They immediately found several street toughs dead evidently of gunfire. The source of the fire appeared to be several stacks of crates. They were attacked by several additional thugs hurling automatic weapons fire. The thugs seemed surprisingly fearful and seemed to think the Guardians were somehow connected to the murders of the dead thugs in the north end of the warehouse.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> As they pushed further into the warehouse, they came under heavy weapons fire. The source of that fire turned out to be an unknown female mercenary brandishing a custom-built cannon, a sniper called “Hawk” and an evidently Were-Gator mercenary the others referred to as “Croc”. The mercenary group battled a steady fighting retreat and headed for the east vehicle bay. Their exact mission in the warehouse is as yet unclear, but they appear to have been responsible for both the dead thugs and the burning crates. Joined by the renegade Patchwork, they posed a formidable force, dropping Kingfisher, though his duplicate remained. Despite a persistent offense from the Guardians, the mercenaries fled under cover of a tear-gas grenade via a manhole. Afterwards, FireLord collected some of the charred remains of the contents of one of the crates and the police indicated that the warehouse was supposed to be vacant, though six months ago it was operated by Spartan Industries, a robotics and body armor producer.

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= TRIAD Newsflash October 29, 3087 =

DREAM DIMENSION TERRORIZED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Realm of Dreams. A group of well-known heroes found themselves in some sort of shared dream experience. Among the legendary heroes involved could be found the ex-Enforcer Sidewinder, Champions members Cryos and Jester, TRIAD member Sunbird, and ex-Phoenix Force member Blue Jay. It took them some time to determine where it is they had appeared and before they had come to a conclusion, they were drawn to the figure of a man that appeared to be suspended from a spider web. Upon closer examination, the man appeared to be the guardian of the Dream Realm, Dreamweaver, and he appeared to be suspended by his own veins, which were _nailed_ to the ruins around him! The group carefully removed the nails and after some healing spells, Dreamweaver came around. He informed them that _something_   more powerful them anyone else in the Dream Dimension had been awakened by Psychedelic and it was that _something_ that had left Dreamweaver in that condition. The heroes then set out to locate Psychedelic.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> They found him. At least they were pretty certain they had, as they found something vaguely human except, of course, for the fact that it had been turned inside-out but was _still alive_! The nearby fedora hat with the rainbow-colored band attested to the fact that regardless of his condition, this was the dream-raider called Psychedelic. Using information given them by Dreamweaver, the heroes pooled their collective will and restored Psychedelic. In return, he gave them some hints as to the nature of the creature and the fact that it had left the Dream Dimension. Psychedelic helped guide them to a likely point of exit from the Dream Dimension and they took it.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The heroes found themselves on unfamiliar soil near a huge rock formation. Eventually they deduced that they had found their way to Old Earth, Australia, and the rock formation was “Uluru” or “Ayers Rock”, home of Terradawn, Madwand’s Old Earth vigilante group. Madwand himself and several members of Terradawn appeared shortly thereafter and, without a word, attacked the heroes! Sidewinder and Blue Jay separately deduced that Terradawn was being mind-controlled somehow. The heroes fought a difficult, careful battle and were able to subdue their would-be allies without killing any of them. As the last of the Terradawn members fell, some sort of Ethereal projection left the body and re-entered Ayers Rock. As Terradawn recovered, it was determined that the projection was an entity known as DreamStalker, sworn enemy of Terradawn and normally an inhabitant of the Dream Dimension. It seemed as though he had fled the Dream Dimension himself and in fear had exerted his powers to reside within Madwand and the other members of Terradawn.

ATTACK WITHOUT WARNING
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Hero Academy, Altair. In the middle of the night, with no warning, Hero Academy came under attack by an unknown assailant. One of the instructors and a reformed ex-villain, Template, led the counter-attack. She was joined by Barith’s daughters, Gina and Valkyrie, Murder, Terminal Man, and Blake Stevens. The attacker was revealed to be infamous hero-killer, Composite, a Channaki known for the murders of nine heroes several years ago. Where he has been these last years remains a mystery but his attack was very real.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The students fought hard against an enemy with a wide array of powers, all stolen from those he had killed. Terminal Man was struck by a   bolt of lightning and apparently killed. GraveRobber, one of the head teachers of the Academy, then joined the battle and things started turning the other way. Soon, Composite was on the ropes and a mystically powered bullet from GraveRobber finished the job, blowing Composite to bits. In the aftermath of the battle, GraveRobber seemed unimpressed by carnage and left without further explanation.

HIVE DESTROYED, HERO KILLED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Hive, Maximum Security Parahuman Detention Facility, Altair. Strange events continued to be the order of the night as the Parahuman Detention Facility known as “The Hive” came under attack from one of the most powerful villains Altair had ever seen, Wrath! Members of the M-13 and TRIAD responded to the attack, but they were quickly being overpowered. After White Wolf fell to a psychic backlash, Skybird then put out an all-frequencies distress signal which was picked up on the Interstellar T-Space Array.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The message was received light-years away on Old Earth by Terradawn and the heroes from the sojourn to the Dream Dimension. Leaving a small crew of heroes behind, the two groups mobilized and headed for the battle, Sunbird in battle form as Ironwolf, Blue Jay in Ferrumwolf form. They arrived just in time to see Wrath rip the nigh-invulnerable Skybird in two! The only hero still standing was Doctor Fusion, formerly of the Vigilants, and she was only barely hanging in there on the back of her magnetic powers, one of the few forces Wrath cannot twist and manipulate. The returning heroes leapt into battle, and Ironwolf was among the next to fall. Fortunately, he was not killed, but the blow was still demoralizing to the heroes nonetheless. Ferrumwolf then used her Meld power to draw in Ironwolf and increase her own power.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Ultimately, Wrath manifested a plasma-based forcefield absorbed from Sidewinder. Doctor Fusion then made a plan with Ferrumwolf- Doctor Fusion would open a small hole in the plasma-field, and Ferrumwolf would fire her best shot, the Wolf Bow, through that hole. And that is precisely what they did. The blow was swift and merciful and struck with lethal effectiveness! In an instant, Wrath’s altered body fell away, and his powers faded. Unexpectedly, the Meld power turned off, casting Ironwolf out, and Blue Jay was left without Ferrumwolf powers! Sidewinder quickly theorized why as he examined Wrath’s remains. All that was left was a young girl named Veronika Lee, 13, and daughter of the warden of The Hive!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The heroes were given little time to comprehend what had happened, however, as the rubble of the Hive began shifting and the most powerful of the surviving inmates began breaking free!

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= TRIAD Newsflash January 7th, 3088 =

ARMADA LAYS DOWN THE LAW
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Gammador, Altair. The urban vigilante gang known as The Garage Boyz escaped from the Crystilium Mines of Gammador after pursuing one-time teammate Jenna Sheridan to the outskirts of the island nation where they had been captured by Gammadorian military. With some help from an unusual band of heroes, New Hope, led by second-generation hero Ibis, and consisting of the last surviving member of the Power Triplets, Torpedo, former Enforcer Cold Foot, and bounty hunter Starhunter, the Garage Boyz escaped from the mines. Things got stranger as they ran into what ultimately turned out to be a group called The Redeemers, a team from the 37th century! The time-jockeying adventurers told the Garage Boyz that they were seeking the source of what appeared to them to be the destruction of planet Altair! Despite this serious mission, the Redeemers helped the Garage Boyz escape from the island nation of Gammador! Unfortunately, things did not improve for them once arriving back on mainland as, just blocks from their base, they found themselves confronted by Major Disaster, FIST, Xavion, and ARMADA! Major D was clearly torn as he demanded that they surrender Cougar because of her outstanding warrants from her time as a villain. For the briefest of moments, the Boyz and the Redeemers considered fighting but Flak, Jake Nikodemus, saw the light of reason with Cougar’s insistence and she was handed over to ARMADA! The demoralized Garage Boyz and Redeemers then retired to Flak’s shop.

STORMWATCH FACED WITH JURY DUTY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> StormWatch Base, The DemonRealm. The dishonored ex-villain team StormWatch, lead by the former Teleguan, now calling himself Polygraph, found themselves presented with magical invitations to join what appeared to be a villain organization known only as “Foundation” that was rising from the ashes of the New Earth-based former F.O.R.T. StormWatch was, rightfully, concerned about what this could mean and sought some assistance from some of the locals, including a Demonic salesman known as “Karnak”. He told them that the cards bore several unusual spells including a variation on Madwand’s original spell, “Fate’s Messenger” that employs unaware third parties in unconsciously delivering messages to intended targets. All the StormWatch members that got such invitations found that the invitations were addressed to their original villain identities! Karnak also told them that the invitations contained several active spells of unknown function and origin. The group then returned to their bases. There they decided that if they accept the invitations, they may have a chance at escaping once and for all from the DemonRealm. Additionally, they decided that if nothing else, they could attempt to infiltrate this group. They all checked the box on the invitation for “I accept” and waited.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The invitations burst into flames and left strange rings in their place. Former F.O.R.T. member Tavac then appeared to them and explained that they would have to prove their loyalty and they should don the rings. Tavac then vanished as quickly as he had appeared! Continuing the gamble, the heroes put the rings on. Soon, they found themselves in a different building and the members of StormWatch that were not former villains were not with them! However, they retained Polygraph’s telepathic link with the team members, so they knew they were still in the DemonRealm. There they met another villain, this one called Briquette, who explained to them that they must kill some other villains, ones that were not going to join Foundation. They were told that they would be engaging the villain team Zodiac and each would-be Foundation member must kill a Zodiac member.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Briquette, then, too, vanished but not before a portal appeared that would take the heroes to Zodiac. Polygraph then teleported the missing members to them and they all jumped through the portal. They were immediately locked in combat as they appeared all around the entrenched Zodiac members in the dimensional nexus known as Tihsing! The battle was short and bloody, especially since the StormWatch members were outnumbered almost two to one. In the end, nobody on StormWatch had been killed, and StormWatch had claimed the lives of seven members of Zodiac! Having completed the mission, Polygraph attempted to teleport our of Tihsing and back to Altair. He was, however, unsuccessful, and StormWatch found themselves on Negron!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Within moments, things went from bad to worse for the battered and bruised StormWatch as a swarm of camera-bots heralded the arrival of Negron’s parahuman law enforcement team and game show hosts, The Jury! Knowing that his team was in bad shape, Polygraph desperately tried to talk and then mind control his way out of a battle! He suddenly came under nearly undetectable telepathic scan and a familiar telepathic voice came to him. It was Mega-Brain, Teleguan’s one-time partner in the Dark Legion! Mega-Brain then telepathically told The Jury to stand down and Mega-Brain himself came out from hiding (after deactivating the camera-bots)! He then deduced that StormWatch was, in fact, villains disguised as heroes. Polygraph agreed, but then Mega-Brain dropped an enormous bombshell on Polygraph- The Jury were villains, too! All the members of the villain group Chaos, many ex-members of the Dark Legion from Teleguan’s tenure to boot! Both teams appreciated the irony of this situation and discussed their impressions of Foundation. Mega-Brain confessed that he was not aware of anyone on Negron having received invites so far, but he offered Polygraph the support of the Jury if they needed a place to lay low. The two teams then departed to discuss what would be the next step in the Foundation strategy.

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= TRIAD Newsflash January 28th, 3088 =

MURDER AND THE REALM OF THE DEAD
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Hero Academy, Altair. During holiday break, Ironwolf came to Hero Academy in search of the Hero Academy student known as “Murder”. He was in need of one of the powers possessed by the mystically powered crows apparently under her control- the ability to travel from this realm to the Realm of the Dead. The grounds at Hero Academy were, for the most part, abandoned, except for students Murder and Blake Stevens. Ironwolf met with the students and Murder agreed to take him to the Realm of the Dead, though he wouldn’t explain precisely what he wanted to do there. Before they could leave, however, they were interrupted by the sudden appearance of the one-time Enforcer, Epsilon, who had apparently been “resting” there invisibly for quite some time! Ironwolf, the students, and Epsilon, exchanged greetings and pleasantries before the calm night was shattered by a barrage of lasers and a short-range teleport of the intended target, a legendary assassin known as “Phayze”!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Unaware of Phayze’s identity, or perhaps unconcerned by it, the heroes fanned out to locate his would-be invisible attacker! It turned out to be none other than Huntarr, the famed alien assassin! Epsilon, the students, and Ironwolf fought Huntarr to something of a standstill until Epsilon teleported out with Blake Stevens and the badly wounded Phayze. Realizing that while Huntarr was highly unlikely to seriously injure Ironwolf, but that Ironwolf could not find and defeat Huntarr either, Ironwolf and Murder made the decision to fly away from Academy grounds with Murder in tow, as he was not sure he could protect her from Huntarr’s attacks. Since the grounds were otherwise abandoned anyway, Ironwolf then put in a call to the Champions to sweep the area and make sure Huntarr was gone.

<p class="MsoBodyText">

<p class="MsoBodyText"> At the same time, Blake Stevens healed up Phayze, not knowing that the legendary assassin was, in fact, an Immortal, and would have healed eventually anyway. Epsilon then interrogated Phayze and determined that Huntarr’s attack was related to this ongoing Foundation situation. Phayze had evidently refused to join, so Huntarr was sent to destroy him. Seeing as Phayze had no outstanding warrants for his arrest, Epsilon had no other choice but to free Phayze.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Finally, after all this distraction, the group got back to what they had originally planned- a trip to the Realm of the Dead. The quartet decided to stick together as they made the jump to the dark dimension of the recently deceased. It didn’t take them long to run afoul of some denizens of that sinister place- these appeared to be the remains of a number of the Undead Hessians the Hero Academy students fought against alongside Revolutionary! The quartet was more than enough to handle them, however, with Ironwolf and Epsilon forming a devastating front rank. The Undead Hessians were quickly dispatched, and Epsilon decided to keep one of their muzzle-loaders as a trophy, particularly because his own primary weapon, a PPC, was malfunctioning.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Just outside Mora’s Tower, the heroes were faced by a much more dangerous challenge, a group of Black Reapers riding spectral mounts! These are the elite guard of the Realm of the Dead, and the heroes knew they were in for a battle. It was a desperate fight, with Ironwolf and Epsilon engaging in melee combat and acting as a screen to defend Blake and the wounded Murder from the fatal might of the Reapers! Ultimately, though, the heroes were victorious. Ironwolf then made his way to the gate to Mora’s tower and asked Mora himself to allow Ironwolf to speak to Marna, Collector of the Slain, Mora’s herald.

GARAGE BOYZ HIRED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Ganamon, West Grayfolk. The Garage Boyz, still hurting from Cougar’s arrest and the disappearance of one-time ally Jenna Sheridan, were visited by none other than top Talon Industries executive and former Enforcer, Laura Talon! She had heard about the recent theft of a Bordaxi Gene Bomb by the phony Enforcer Black Beast and the possessed Enigma and had just found out about a second theft! A second Gene Bomb had been stolen from PowerStar Energy Alternatives, a research company once affiliated with Talon Industries, and Ms. Talon was not sure who she could trust within Talon Industries or the government of Altair. She offered to fund the Garage Boyz’ pursuit of this case   and she would, in person, assist in closing it, as she was once an Enforcer under the costumed identity of Plasmafire. The Garage Boyz agreed and set to work investigating the case and brought ally Cryos in for backup. After rattling some local thug-for-hire types, they managed to get a line on a fast-tracked shipment of unknown contraband matching the size specifications of the Gene Bomb at a West Grayfolk dock.

<p class="MsoBodyText">

<p class="MsoBodyText"> Having apparently located their prize in a van at the docks, the Garage Boyz and Plasmafire moved in to try to retake it. They were met with some pretty tough resistance including MALICE members Assassin and Cubic Inch! Plasmafire had nearly captured what she thought was the Gene Bomb before being ambushed and knocked out by Cubic Inch. Meanwhile, the others tried to capture some thugs and defeat Assassin. As the boat that was apparently to receive the bomb pulled away, Cryos blasted Assassin with a tremendous cold volley, shattering him into so much cocktail ice! The bomb they captured turned out to be a phony and the Boyz realized they had been fooled. Thankfully, they had a survivor to interrogate, and interrogate him they did. It turns out he had seen a nautical chart and the apparent destination for the bomb, so the Garage Boyz pulled themselves together and headed for the site.

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STORMWATCH ENGAGES IN A DESPERATE PLOY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Secret Meeting Site, Unknown Location. StormWatch, having apparently fulfilled their obligations in dispatching the bulk of Zodiac. They were approached by Foundation lieutenant Tavac and told that the would be going before Foundation leader, Alexander Synn who would “look into their souls” and determine their suitability to join Foundation. The group decided that they would use Polygraph’s formidable telepathic powers to “hide” the group’s intentions from the rest of Foundation, deducing that his ability to “look into their souls” was little more than a telepathic scan. With this plan in place, they hesitantly stepped through Tavac’s portal and arrived in a private convention hall in some unknown location. There, they found themselves face-to-face with Alexander Synn himself and several of his lieutenants, Briquette, Tavac, Carbo, and Max Copenhagen. They also found themselves face-to-face with dozens of villains, evidently all potential Foundation members! The lieutenants began lining people up for scans as Synn prepared to gaze into their souls!

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= TRIAD Newsflash May 6th, 3088 =

A TRAP REVEALED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Sixteen Miles out to Sea, Altair. The Garage Boyz and sponsor Laura Talon, former Enforcer Plasmafire, followed the only lead they had as to the whereabouts of the missing Bordaxi Gene Bomb currently in the hands of   members of MALICE, a set of coordinates sixteen miles off the southern coast of Grakador! As they approached in a hastily-rigged stealth hovercraft, they quickly realized that they may be in over their heads as they saw members of MALICE, Wyvern, Limestone, and Marauder, and a number of golem-like guards! Worse, what should have been the abandoned remains of an old oil rig appeared to have been upgraded to include high-powered directed electrical weapons, known as “Lightning Rods”! As they contemplated an approach, the Garage Boyz saw a private jetcraft flying in on a low-altitude approach pattern. It quickly came under fire from the rig’s Lightning Rod! It was piloted by none other than the Champions’ sponsor, Adrenaline, and was occupied by ARMADA’s Major Disaster, former Seeker Derek Lightfoot, freelancer Blindside, Champion Crimson, former Enforcer Telestar, and Hero Academy student Revolutionary, but despite their best efforts, it could not survive the onslaught!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Crimson teleported away Blindside and Derek, Major Disaster used his molecular powers to surround himself in a sphere of metal, Telestar ported himself away, Adrenaline’s ghostly guardian Spirit teleported her clear, and poor Revolutionary was left with nothing else to do as his plane was disintegrated around him but secure his seat belt! Major D and his armored bowling ball crashed into the rig, and Revolutionary skipped across the surface of the water until he collided with one of the support pylons!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Meanwhile, things went from bad to worse as Carcinogen, Evolutionist, Cat, Maus, Force of Nature, Grumbar Troll Lord, Raging Riot, and Doc Entropy of Entropy, Incorporated started coming out from various structures! The battle was on, and the Garage Boyz and Bullseye hadn’t even left the cover of their stealth craft! During the battle, there was massive property damage as, apparently, Entropy, Inc. was dealing in armaments! Worse, Revolutionary hurled the crate containing the Gene Bomb at Marauder! The Garage Boyz quickly joined the battle and things started turning their way! Ultimately, however, the bomb was spirited away in the chaos as Doc Entropy turned out to be yet another explosive android doppelganger, thought the heroes survived without serious injury!

CRAZYAPE DISAPPEARS
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Three Years Ago, Grayfolk. A recently uncovered journal account revealed that rookie freelance hero Crazyape, a Simian, had his final known battle on Altair when he helped temporally dislocated former Guardian and co-founder of the present version of the then-present Guardians team, Analog, battle against Beta Maximus and members of her Deviants. The battle was a serious affair with Crazyape and Analog both taking horrendous blows from Hammer, Molten Man, and Beta Maximus herself! They fought valiantly, however, driving off Hammer and knocking out Molten Man before Analog nailed Beta Maximus with powerfields that had absorbed one of her own blows. Evidently, this reacted poorly with her unstable radiation form and there was a tremendous discharge of energy! When his vision returned, Crazyape found himself in the year 3058 but in the same location he had been in as of 3088!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Unexpectedly, he found himself under attack again as several policemen started surrounding him, accusing him of having nearly beaten to death a security guard! They were joined by Analog (again!) and the duo of Kronos the Magician and Fury member Saber, all of whom moved in to try to arrest the baffled Crazyape!

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<p class="MsoNormal">'''<span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This Just In 6/11/3048

Dateline: Somewhere over the Western Sea '''<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"">

The enigmatic Crazyape joined the sinister Doctor Simian in stealing a rare power crystal from the Altairian World Government under the noses of the famed Guardians! Pilot Mainframe brought Doctor Simian and Crazyape in for a daring high-speed extravehicular maneuver enabling them to get aboard one of sixteen identical transports, this one the only non-decoy transport. There, they battled the experienced Guardians the Archer and Condo and defeated them! The villains then took the rare element Crystillium, sabotaged the nav computer of the transport, and were picked back up by Mainframe. The only evidence remaining at the site was an emergency medical device designed for battlefield use. It was left near the unconscious body of The Archer. Stay tuned for more details!

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= TRIAD Newsflash October 21st, 3088 =

A MASTERSTROKE IS DELIVERED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Hidden Foundation Base, Somewhere. War was declared when Alexander Synn and Foundation delivered a devastating alpha-strike against the Trinity Union and all its members. Using a comlink belonging to one-time TRIAD member John Striek, now known as Accelerator, Alexander Synn directed his generals, Crescendo and Frequency to hack into the Trinity Union’s communications systems, activate a high-priority emergency alert called an “All Call” to trigger every comlink in range, then use those activated comlinks to deliver a tremendous electromagnetic pulse! The results were incredibly disastrous for the Trinity Union as many members were severely injured when their comlinks overloaded with the EMP. Worse, Crescendo was able to track the locations of many isolated heroes via the communications network and teams of Foundation members were dispatched to take out those heroes. Dozens of Trinity Union members and allies were hurt or killed in the opening volleys. Worse, the EMP took out communications planet-wide as it disabled or destroyed several major communications satellites, so neither the Trinity Union members or even local authorities could reach each other via satellite communication.

ARMADA AMONG THE FIRST TO REACT
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk, Altair. ARMADA was among the first agencies to respond to Foundation’s sudden attack as veteran ARMADA agents Major Disaster, Falconn, and Max Flint accompanied by former Seeker Derek Lightfoot, a.k.a. Quickshot and former Enforcer Telestar fell under attack from a team of Foundation members headed up by Negronian mentalist Stormfire and lycanthropic powerhouse Headstone after defeating a group of heavily-armed thugs that were apparently dealing experimental Unstable Plasma weapons. The battle was quick and bloody as a number of armored ARMADA agents were killed by the savage attack, but the tide quickly turned when Telestar used his Universal Teleport power to whisk away Conan Puskas to Donner’s World and the powerhouse Headstone to one of the now-uninhabited twin worlds of Kittaer, former stomping-grounds of the cosmic hero team UltraWatch: Omega. Unfortunately, he was apparently captured when Stormfire used his psychic abilities to determine where Telestar had went, then used his own Universal Teleport power to follow and ambush Telestar. However, robbed of Headstone’s raw power and Stormfire’s leadership, his team quickly fell to the ARMADA agents and allies, especially once they were joined by the enigmatic former Seeker Morgue.

GARAGE BOYZ REPEL ATTACK
<p class="MsoBodyText"> West Grayfolk, Altair. The urban street-vigilante team the Garage Boyz stumbled across a gang of Foundation members consisting largely of members of Beta Maximus’ Deviants that were attempting to kill Forgotten member Jerrid in the streets of West Grayfolk. Using their rental vehicle as a rolling barricade, the Garage Boyz covered Jerrid and engaged the Deviants and their allies Gato, Bishop (formerly of CHESS), and Atomic Hawk. As Bishop and Hyprus destroyed the rental van, the sometimes-ally of the Garage Boyz, Spectre, joined the battle and quickly tipped the scale by possessing Hyprus and pretending to still be working for Foundation while seemingly accidentally whittling down the numbers of Foundation members. Further reinforcements for the heroes arrived when GoldRabbit and Forgotten member Nebula joined the battle. Once the villains had been defeated, the heroes then set course for the main TRIAD Base, Base 10, arriving just in time to see the initial stages of a massive attack by Foundation on the TRIAD Base, spearheaded by an apparently revived depleted-Uranium battle android, Holocaust!

VENGEANCE AND JUSTICE UNITED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Ancient Aqueducts near TRIAD Outpost 1. Responding to the savage and brutal murders of TRIAD agents Quicksilver, Whendigo, and Paul by members of Foundation, the Angel of Vengeance, Argal found the urban hero Penance examining the bodies. Not recognizing each other in the half-light, Argal and Penance battled more or less to a standstill. After both men had delivered fatal blows to each other, with neither man falling, Argal then recognized Penance and something of a truce was declared just in time for former Enforcer Fireball, former Guardian Hell Hound, and current Champion Ballard to arrive. Not wanting to repeat a mistake, Argal and Penance joined the other heroes in hunting down the Foundation members that had killed the TRIAD members. Using his supernatural ability to locate the source of suffering in others, Penance led the group of heroes to a small group of Foundation members consisting of Lizard, Trapline, Bob, Shadowcaster, the armored Shadolyte, and the wounded Neutralizer. The heroes struck decisively and very quickly vanquished the Foundation members, with Hell Hound the only hero sustaining significant injury. Neutralizer and Trapline ran for it, ultimately leaving only Neutralizer holding the bag. Penance delivered unto Neutralizer the pain he had caused Paul and Quicksilver and interrogated him before releasing him! The heroes then decided to make all due haste to the TRIAD Outpost to see what the situation is there.

TRIAD BASE 10 ATTACKED
<p class="MsoBodyText"> TRIAD Base 10, Altair. After sustaining tremendous damage from the initial EMP attack that knocked out all its main defenses, TRIAD Base 10 was reeling. Base commander Shayra Fighting Bear tried to get things under control as she dispatched agents to try to reboot the powerhouse Transformer Robots, all of whom were in varying stages of out of control. Worse, as some systems came back online, she detected more than a hundred parahuman villains converging on the base! As she scrambled to get the defenses back online, Hero Academy student Wildestryke arrived on scene with an electronic video game toy that Rejected leader Empire was using to try to re-establish communications. He informed her as to what Foundation was up to and Shayra Fighting Bear prepared for the worst, hoping reinforcements would arrive before it was too late! And things went from bad to worse as the almost unstoppable Holocaust was fired via an old-style artillery piece into the heart of TRIAD Base territory!

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= TRIAD Newsflash December 16th, 3048 =

GUARDIANS THWARTED AGAIN!
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk Museum, Grayfolk. Guardians member Condo and associates in FURY, rookies Gorilla Girl and Physique, responded to a break-in code at the Grayfolk Museum and found themselves tangling once again with members of the “Toon Patrol”, the unusual villains with cartoon-like powers! Apparently, the garishly-garbed villains broke into an exhibit on maps of the ancient world, and stole a map of a region known as the “Frostspire Mountains”, a rugged and remote mountain range dotted with the remains of ancient temples and groups of isolationist monks dedicated to the old ways. The Toon Patrol was able to escape from the museum with the map, but Gorilla Girl, the alien Physique, and Condo pursued them to a rendezvous with known associate of the renegade Siphon, Barret Hoyt, whom Gorilla Girl confessed was her brother, and his minions, including the Western-themed weapons-master Cinnamon, the logistics expert Mainframe, and the walking riot, Catfight! The Toon Patrol and Barret Hoyt’s minions outnumbered the valiant Guardians and despite the efforts of the heroes, Barret Hoyt, Mainframe, and Cinnamon escaped via an aircraft equipped with near-invisibility stealth rigging!

DESTRUCTAGONS LAY A DOUBLE-TRAP
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk, Altair. Still attempting to ferret out the mercenary group that has been devastating local dealers of the parahuman-enhancing drug “Focus” with sometimes lethal force, Guardians members Kingfisher, Xavier, the Flag, and Inquisitor stumbled across an armored-car heist near a major retail outlet in the downtown area of Grayfolk! They responded, aided by an apparently new hero known as “Cipher” who was, in actuality, an alternate identity of the nearly-immortal Guardians member Lazarus Brady, and quickly found themselves locked in combat with heavily armed thugs. Despite a numbers disadvantage, the Guardians and allies quickly defeated the thugs, but as Inquisitor tried to cut off the potential escape-route of the robbers, the true intention of the operation was revealed when Destructagons members Catapult and Joe Spirithand, led by The Piper, attacked with some apparently new allies.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> As the Guardians battled these apparent new Destructagons to something of a standstill, Kingfisher’s Duplicate stumbled upon another group on the roof of a building overlooking the alley where the intense battle raged. It turned out to be none other than members of the mercenary band the Guardians were tracking in the first place, specifically the powerhouse alien Croc, the heavy-weapon-wielding Kat, and sniper Hawk! Kingfisher’s duplicate engaged the trio unbeknownst to the rest of the Guardians or even Kingfisher himself! As the battle below raged on, Kingfisher’s duplicate was unable to keep the sniper Hawk from drawing a bead, apparently on Inquisitor himself, who was locked in combat with Catapult, Joe Spirithand, and The Piper. Hawk then fired a single fateful shot and despite a warning from the original Kingfisher, the shot found its mark. But it wasn’t Inquisitor, as the Guardians suspected, rather Hawk struck The Piper’s magic flute, the source of most of his powers, including a mind-control type ability! Hawk fired a second shot as the flute was knocked into the air and hit the flute a second time, this time destroying it! Unexpectedly, the would-be new Destructagons that were battling the Guardians then fell unconscious, apparently all victims of The Piper’s sinister skills! The Piper tried to beat a hasty retreat, but Cipher remotely took control of the Piper’s would-be escape vehicle, a civilian hovercraft and, worse, Catapult inadvertently summoned the craft with his unusual super power to summon objects to hurl, and hurled the hovercraft at Inquisitor, forcing The Piper to abandon the craft! Stripped of most of his offense and his only means of escape, The Piper was vanquished quickly.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Comparing notes during an uneasy truce, the Guardians and this new mercenary group determined that this armored car job was actually a trap laid by the Destructagons to snare the mercenaries, and the presence of the Guardians was an unlucky accident. Further, Kat revealed that the mind-controlled parahumans were Whendigo, Spider-Ninja, Nitro, and White Knight, members of her own group, and that group was known as “TRIAD”! Additional members and apparent leaders of TRIAD appeared, the androids Blitz, Shades, and Lockjaw, and indicated that they wanted to come to some sort of working arrangement with the Guardians so that they would not continue to step on each other’s proverbial toes. The groups agreed to meet later at a back room at the Grayfolk Guzzling Bar in the rougher district of town known as “the Knife and Gun Club”. The meeting convened late that night, and Inquisitor, speaking as the field leader of the group refused to come to any agreement with TRIAD without speaking to the core leadership of The Guardians, due in particular to the sometimes extreme methods TRIAD is willing to go to in the war against crime. Blitz of TRIAD agreed that TRIAD’s core leadership would meet with the founders of the Guardians to try to come to some arrangement, so the groups then collected at the Guardians’ Base. Unfortunately, before much progress could be made, an alert came in from Condo and the members of FURY requesting backup in pursuit of Barret Hoyt! FireLord bade Inquisitor to assemble a team and join Condo, so Inquisitor gathered Xavier, the Flag, Kingfisher, and Cipher and departed.

GUARDIANS FACE UNEXPECTED RESISTANCE
<p class="MsoBodyText"> The Frostspire Mountains, Altair. Now joined by Inquisitor’s group, Condo’s group began a preemptive effort to stop Barret Hoyt after Gorilla Girl confessed that she knew where Barret was headed and why, since she gained her super powers at a site covered by Barret’s stolen map. She confessed that she thought Barret was trying to gain ancient super powers similar to hers and she warned that the isolationist monks that guard the site would not take kindly to any trespassers, Guardians or otherwise. The Guardians got to the site first, or so they thought, and set up surveillance in two of the three potential access points to the ancient temple, but unexpectedly Barret’s aircraft appeared and attacked the modestly-armed aircraft carrying the Guardians. Despite the best efforts of the heroes, their aircraft was shot down, but there were no casualties due to the heroics of Cipher and many of the Guardians.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Before the Guardians could work out a way to rejoin pursuit, they came under fire from poisoned shuriken-wielding monks of surprising physical prowess. The monks mounted a tremendous offense, taking out Gorilla Girl early with poison, and wounding Xavier, but the Guardians battled back. Things became more puzzling when Kingfisher inadvertently hit one of the monks with what should have been more than deadly force based on the monk’s wounded condition, but the monk was not killed! The reason quickly became apparent as the two lead monks assumed the forms of a Werebear and a Wereboar! Apparently, the monks are nearly-immortal Lycanthropes! Despite this unexpected turn of events, the Guardians vanquished the monks and Xavier teleported the fallen monks away from the site. Once the Guardians recovered their strength, they then set out to try to pursue Barret Hoyt through the third access point of the ancient temple, a network of underground passages leading to the heart of the edifice.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> More as received!

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This Just In 4/7/3049 

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dateline: FrostSpire Mountains, Prekura-Thai Island <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">

Rookie FURY member Gorilla Girl led her team of Guardians and FURY members consisting of The Flag, Xavier, Condo, Kingfisher, and Physique in pursuit of her brother, Barret Hoyt and his minions, Cinnamon, Catfight, and Mainframe as they followed a map stolen from the Capitol City museum to an ancient temple hidden deep in the mountainous forests of southwestern Prekura-Thai Island. Gorilla Girl's team did not have the benefit of the map, but Gorilla Girl apparently already knew the lay of the land, having been here once before, and though she did not elaborate, it was quite clear that Barret came to these ancient temples in search of something that would give him powers like hers.

The initial attempt at stopping the robbery had failed, but since Gorilla Girl had some inside information, she tried to beat Barret to the temple. Unfortunately, he got there quickly and was able to ambush the Guardians as they set a trap for him! He shot down their aircraft, and they found themselves in the treacherous foothills of the mountains. Worse, they would have to contend with the mysterious monks that maintain the ancient temples. And it wasn't long before they came in direct conflict with those very monks. Worse, it turned out that a number of the monks were actually lycanthropes, powerful Werebears, and the Guardians would have to work   their way past them. After several battles, the Guardians stumbled across a campsite in the woods, occupied solely by a man calling himself Simon Kobaine, apparently something of a freelance adventurer, but in actuality a nearly two-thousand-year-old Immortal. He asked to join the group, and, having no other good options, Gorilla Girl's group agreed to take him in.

The group found its way to the southernmost entrance to the ancient temple and overcame two animated stone guardians that tried to stop them. They also overcame a number of sinister and clever traps, including an effect that apparently caused teleportation to have unpredictable (and painful) effects, causing The Flag to temporarily become turned inside-out! Thankfully, due to the quick thinking of Xavier, who pushed him back through the teleportal they were attempting to use, and The Flag's phenomenal healing ability, he survived.

Soon the group came to the central chamber of the temple, and found it to be guarded by some of the ninja-style enforcers of the temple. They vanquished these guards quickly and quietly and entered the main chamber of the temple. There, a massive stone guardian stood, head adorned with a massive gemstone called "The Heart of the Bear". Also there was another group of ninja-enforcers and a high-priest of some sort that called himself "Kelleth of the Bear Clan". The heroes also found that the priest and his minions had captured Catfight, Barret, and Cinnamon! The Guardians attacked, attempting both to capture the Heart of the Bear and to free Barret and his lackeys and bring them to justice. This proved to be a more difficult task than initially thought, as several of the ninja-enforcers also turned out to be Werebears, and the priest, an impressive parahuman fighter himself, also had the ability to bring the massive stone guardian to life!

Condo, Gorilla Girl, and the others attacked in earnest, and Simon Kobaine determined that Kelleth was an Immortal, too, and attempted to challenge him to an Immortal duel, but Kelleth refused, confirming Simon's feeling that they were on Holy Ground, a place where no Immortals may duel. That didn't stop the others, however, and soon it became a three-way fight, between the Guardians, the monks, and Barret and his minions, who freed themselves while the others were in battle.

Eventually it came to something of a stalemate as the Guardians defeated the massive stone creature, the monks, and the high-priest, but the Heart of the Bear had fallen into Barret's hands, and while Gorilla Girl prevented them from escaping by literally blocking the door of the recently-arrived escape ship, she was only one good hit away from death. Seeing that victory would be at a potentially intolerable cost, Barret offered a truce. He offered to cease hostilities and provide the Guardians a much-needed lift back to the mainland if they allowed him to keep the Heart of the Bear. He pointed out that they had, at the very least, taken it away from people that were undoubtedly up to no good and Condo, the ranking Guardian that was still conscious reluctantly agreed. The fight stopped and Barret kept his word, spiriting the Guardians away and leaving them back in Capitol City before himself disappearing in his stealth-equipped aircraft. While it wasn't the victory for which they had hoped, the Guardians conceeded that for them, too, the cost would have been too high. Barret's whereabouts are unknown at this time, and the Guardians retired to their headquarters in Grayfolk.

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= TRIAD Newsflash May 26th, 3089 =

WHO IS VOID WALKER?
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk, Altair. Derek Lightfoot, once a member of the Seekers and unofficial liaison to ARMADA since Foundation struck, parted ways with ARMADA agents Major Disaster and Falconn, only to run into more action with ex-soldier Carmine Bomber and the mysterious creature known as “Void Walker”. Derek found himself under attack from members of Foundation led by Negronian telepath Stingray. He was aided by local Grayfolk Police Department member and ex-superhero Terry Adams, once known as “Atom” and Operation EndGame: Trojan Horse recon members Goalie, Faces, and Chrome. Derek and his newfound allies defeated the mind-controlled civilians sent against them, and eventually ran off the Foundation members, though Goalie was killed in the firefight. Officer Terry Adams tried to arrest Carmine Bomber due to the ex-soldier’s possession of illegal firearms, but Carmine was pulled from the area by the enigmatic Void Walker and found himself in a pocket dimension known as “The Void”. There he remained, for a time.

A TRIP TO HELL GOES AWRY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk, Altair. Joined by ex-wrestler-turned superhero Dingo, ally of the Champions, Derek Lightfoot then offered to help Faces and Chrome rescue allies Cougar and Wrestler from the DemonRealm, but not before being rejoined by Void Walker and Carmine Bomber. Officer Terry Adams gave Carmine an ultimatum to join a hero group and get proper clearance for his illegal weapons or go to jail, but they had little time to discuss it as Dingo attempted to transport the group to the DemonRealm. Instead of ending up in the DemonRealm, they found themselves sucked into some kind of strange trap! It appeared to be a giant bottle of sorts but apparently served the purpose of collecting interdimensional energies. It was being operated by an odd assortment of scientists including a man calling himself Doctor Tangent and his apparent assistant Synthia. Doctor Tangent regretfully ordered the destruction of the heroes trapped in the bottle, and Synthia fired up a huge fan at the top of the bottle. Dingo tried to jam the fan blades with his cable-launcher in his Dingo Suit armor, but instead was dragged towards the whirling blades. As the heroes tried to disable the blade, the scientists started filling the bottle with anesthetic gas, and Dingo was drawn into the descending cloud, knocking him out. Void Walker managed to isolate the heroes from the gas as it settled, using his unusual polymorph abilities to make like a giant diaphragm. Officer Terry Adams, meanwhile, assumed gaseous form, a variation on his molecular control powers that made him a valuable hero ten years ago, and tried to fight his way up through the gas stream and out the pressure nozzles in the top of the jar. He was successful and burst free from the gas canister, and Doctor Tangent ordered his allies to attack Officer Adams.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Meanwhile, Void Walker and the others worked their way out of the jar and joined the battle as a gigantic monsters entered the chamber. After a short battle, the heroes and the scientists came to something of an understanding. Doctor Tangent introduced the rest of his colleges, including Professor Derranged, a cybernetic Leguanian that opposed TRIAD thirty years ago, The Overmaster, a giant-monster-controlling villain that opposed The Enforcers many years ago, and Zigmund’s Brain, the remaining brain-in-a-jar that once was Golden Age villain Zigmund Notsomuch. Apparently these retired mad scientists found this pocket dimension and dubbed it “The Think Tank” and have been here ever since, seeking the holy grail of quantum physics, the aptly named “unstable molecule”, a type of pseudo-matter that can take on the characteristics of almost anything and can replicate itself by nanotechnology. The heroes also met Outsider, an energy-based alien entity that was active ten or more years ago, a group of spacefarers calling themselves Menagerie, and a young woman calling herself Trinity II, the apparent heir-apparent to the legendary Golden Age hero Trinity.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> While the heroes were there, the scientists managed to draw out the first Unstable Molecule, and it rapidly created a chain-reaction and began filling the stasis jar to capacity. It then began to exert incredible amounts of interdimensional pressure and looked poised to break free of the stasis jar and consume the entire contents of the Think Tank. With the help of the heroes, the scientists of the Think Tank came up with a plan to shunt the extra Unstable Molecules into Void Walkers “Void”, then Synthia would enter the matter stream, as she is composed of nanobots, and detonate her Crystillium reactor, sealing off the dimensional breach into the Think Tank, and cutting off the interdimensional pressure to stop the destructive flow of Unstable Molecules. With great cooperation, the scientists and heroes fled the Think Tank and enacted the plan, saving this dimension by sacrificing the Think Tank, Synthia, and possibly Doctor Tangent!

THE REJECTED VERSUS THE FORGOTTEN
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Grayfolk, Altair. After successfully saving the Material Realm, Derek Lightfoot, Void Walker, Dingo, Trinity II, Officer Terry Adams, and the others returned home. Dingo connected back up with Goalie and Faces, and they set off to try to work out a more reliable way to get to the DemonRealm. Officer Terry Adams returned to the station house after reminding Carmine that he needs to get legal and quickly. Things remained peaceful for only a couple days, however, before Derek, Void Walker, Carmine, and Trinity II responded to a Talon Industries warehouse robbery in progress! They made all due haste to the scene where they were joined by heroes Argon 5, Green Gobbler, Empire, and Hero Academy student Revolutionary. They overpowered the thugs quickly and determined that the robbery was targeting a crate of TL-6 laser rifles and pristine next-generation Argon AI chips. But there was more to the robbery than that, as members of The Forgotten appeared, veteran hero Blitz’s current team! Though expressionless and speechless, the heroes of the Forgotten attacked nonetheless and started driving back Derek Lightfoot and his allies.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Other members of The Rejected joined the fray, and eventually the battle evened out, and even began turning the way of The Rejected. It was then that Revolutionary, already suspecting some sort of shenanigans, confirmed his fears via the enhanced-spectrum vision of Rejected member Ocular Man- the Forgotten were being mind-controlled somehow, even the robotic leader, Blitz, and the Leguanian Jerrid. The Rejected, Derek, and allies managed to vanquish the heroes of The Forgotten and got in contact with Adrenaline and The Champions for assistance in putting the mind-controlled heroes in stasis. Adrenaline was able to track the unusual UV communications signals being used to control the heroes to a communication satellite. Void Walker used his Cosmic Awareness and Adrenaline used technology to pick out the source of the rebounded signal to a small space vessel, apparently a T’Karr Interceptor using Stealth Shields! Having no battle-ready space fighters available, Adrenaline offered the heroes use of one of the VTOL air-to-space shuttle aircrafts belonging to The Champions. She warned the heroes, however, that compared to a T’Karr Interceptor, this aircraft was very lightly armed and had almost nonexistent defenses to space-based weapons, so they would only get one good shot at taking out the signal generator. Revolutionary, an accomplished pilot, took the helm and Derek and Carmine took up weapons stations and moved quickly and decisively to the low-orbit Interceptor. They delivered as mighty of an alpha-strike as they were capable, and it proved to be enough as they breached the hull of the Interceptor, disabled the transmission beam, and blew the crew into space! This knocked out the control signal and freed the members of The Forgotten from control so that Adrenaline and her allies could turn their attention to removing the techno-organic microchips that were receiving the signals.

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TRAGEDY TAINTS HERO ACADEMY GRADUATION
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Hero Academy, Altair. Just one day before Hero Academy’s graduation ceremony that would turn a number of newly-trained superheroes out into the world, tragedy struck. It all began the night before graduation when student Rhea joined peers Terminal Man, Murder, Garret, and Blake “Black Cat” Stevens and instructor Atomx broke up a drug deal between Grayfolk Kings gang members and the super powered street-gang Disorderly Conduct. It was a short, messy battle with something of a miscue, an attempt by Rhea to Dazzle DC member Dee Jay, who was able to deflect a fair bit of the disorienting light-blast back into the faces of Rhea, Murder, and Terminal Man. A victim of the disorientation, Dee Jay smashed into a billboard post, and in response, the equally disoriented Murder hurled spiny feather quills, striking Terminal Man in the head and taking him out. Ultimately, most of Disorderly Conduct went down, as did Blake Stevens, though Eight-Ball and Baby escaped, and Purple Haze surrendered. Apparently the Kings sold Disorderly Conduct a decent-sized stash of Focus derivative, a parahuman-specific drug that causes significant spikes in a parahuman’s power-level, but the Academy students captured both the cash and the drugs.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> The real tragedy, however, came during the next morning when the Academy prepared to kick off its annual graduation picnic cookout and ceremony. While the bulk of the students and instructors Template, Jameson Deveraux, and Atomx got ready for the big event, a huge Guardian Demon materialized in the middle of the group! Despite the devastating power of the demon, the students soon vanquished him, but things got worse as the Teachers’ Cabin exploded! The students rallied and were met by a small group of gunmen, and the bulk of the Anti-Socialists, led by former Demon HighLady Prodigal, a disciple of the enigmatic Savage! A bloody battle ensued, with former New Blood member and field leader of the Anti-Socialists, the young Kid Quantum among the dead, killed by an increasingly erratic Jameson Deveraux who twice suggested Garret and Terminal Man kill him!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> As the Hero Academy students got the upper hand, Prodigal demanded to know where teacher GraveRobber was, and as fellow teacher Magenta emerged unscathed but annoyed from the burning cabin joined the waning battle, Prodigal tossed the students what turned out to be Savage’s head! She informed the students that she had it on good authority that GraveRobber had attacked Savage in his lair and killed him, using reality-warping powers. Magenta insisted that GraveRobber no longer had those powers since the Wrath entity split off of him. Prodigal countered by summoning Savage’s right-hand man and top protégé, Jarrok, who had been turned inside out! Academy student Silverfox recognized that signature from the original Silverfox’s memories of the Golden Age Wrath! Magenta bit the inside-out Immortal Jarrok’s heart, causing him to regenerate and turn right-side-out. Jarrok confirmed that he had seen what appeared to be GraveRobber kill Savage, but he was using reality-control powers, so the combined group agreed that they need to find GraveRobber and quickly to unravel this unexpected turn of events!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> More as received!

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= TRIAD Newsflash April 20th, 3090 =

NEW RECRUITS BATTLE THE JURY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Captol City, Negron. Fresh off an all-star rescue of the surviving members of Operation: Trojan Horse, Derek Lightfoot, once a member of the Seekers and unofficial liaison to ARMADA since Foundation struck, Telestar, and the rookie heroine Trinity were joined by new heroes Streetbreaker and Jingles, a demonic clown, and veteran ex-Phoenix Force member Crimson Mist upon arriving, inadvertently, on the planet Negron, a police state under the control of The Jury, when the erratic powerhouse Kobron attacked, still seeking Dakin. The fight was short and decisive with the heroes defeating Kobron. However, things didn’t end there when the Jury decended on them. Again battle ensued, with a narrow margin of victory being won by Lightfoot’s people. They were then joined by the seemingly-robotic Skeletan, SKULL, and he offered to give them a ride back to Altair, so they took him up on it, including Jingles and Trinity.

RUMBLE ON THE MOON
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Ra, the moon of Altair. Derek and his new allies made it all the way to Altair before unexpectedly encountering a cosmic-level battle in the skies above Altair’s Moon between Galaxy and Oblivion, incredibly powerful archenemies that haven’t been seen in years. The battle was soon joined by the cosmic-powered TRIAD member Starhawk, GraveRobber from Hero Academy, and the cadre of cosmic badness, Maelstrom, New Wave, Stellara, and the believed-dead mastermind of the infamous Battle at the North Pole, Old One’s minion, Armageddon.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> A stray blast of cosmic energy, fired as Galaxy was sent crashing into the moon, nearly striking SKULL’s starship, and struck another ship that was entering orbit. SKULL beamed down his “cargo”, the former Seeker, Tyro, and he immediately entered the battle. Unfortunately, the near-miss caused a reactor containment failure, and SKULL was too busy piloting to notice. Sadly nobody else on board had the proper technical skills, so as the reactor breached, the ship’s automatic emergency teleporters went off, beaming the people on board to the last valid teleport target, the spot on Ra where Tyro had landed!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> By this time, the various cosmic entities had entered the atmospheric bubble around the old Moorceyan colony on Ra, the location Galaxy crashed into. The battle was of an incredible magnitude and the first victory went to the heroes, with a combined effort from Tyro, Streetbreaker, and Derek Lightfoot to apparently kill Oblivion! A moment later, Galaxy cried out in pain and suddenly vanished, as did Oblivion’s body! Stellara, enraged, and having lost her opponent, Galaxy, continued to attack, and the rest of her allies followed suit. Another cosmic entity entered the fray, Cormac the Destroyer, and his directives bade him attack Armageddon and his apparent allies. Tyro took out Stellara, Armageddon took out Tyro and Starhawk and, unexpectedly, GraveRobber shot the incapacitated Starhawk in the head. Despite a valiant effort from Derek Lightfoot, Starhawk was killed. GraveRobber then triggered a remote device and was teleported off the surface of the moon. The battle continued for some minutes with New Wave, going down, Maelstrom apparently getting killed, and Armageddon being vanquished. Cormac, however, was not satisfied and delivered the coup de grace to Armageddon, apparently vaporizing him!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Moments later, Flash Froggie and Lizzie Slimeskin, crew members of the starship Rebel teleported down and informed Derek and his men that they had a vector on GraveRobber’s ship and could track it through T-Space, so the group teleported up and they made chase. Derek was also reunited with Trinity, Void Walker, and Carmine, whom the crew of the Rebel had picked up.

A COLONY FAR AWAY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Donner’s World Colony, Donner’s World. The heroes tracked GraveRobber’s ship to the remote Alliance colony on Donner’s World. They picked up three ships in orbit and located the smallest on, determining that it might be the best target. Working on data given him by the owner of the Rebel and primary Engineer, Duedll Lorikeet, Derek Lightfoot was able to draw a bead on GraveRobber’s ship with the humble weaponry the Rebel offered. After one good pulse cannon volley, GraveRobber’s ship’s stealth shields buckled, and Derek tried to target its engines. A laser barrage proved to be _too_ effective and GraveRobber’s ship was destroyed, but there was no sign of human remains in the rubble. Using Void Walker’s Cosmic Awareness, they located GraveRobber and teleported down.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> Upon arrival, they found GraveRobber, but he was not alone- he was surrounded by what turned out to be a small army of Bordaxi Infiltration Units and most unexpectedly, Archimedes Veldt, better known as Black Hand, and several survivors of the crash of the colony ship Odyssey and some outcasts from the Exodus’ colony! After everyone introduced themselves, it was revealed that GraveRobber had struck a deal with Black Hand- and he wasn’t GraveRobber. Without warning, he transformed into the phenomenally powerful, and, now courtesy of the murdered Starhawk, the cosmically-powered Wrath! The heroes made ready, but they were surrounded and outnumbered. Their status at this time is unknown!

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> More as received!

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= TRIAD Newsflash November 29th, 2090 =

VICTORY OUT OF DEFEAT
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Donner’s World Colony, Rim Space. Derek Lightfoot, one time Seeker led a small team from one side of the Galaxy to the other. Consisting of one-time Phoenix Force member Crimson Mist, rookie hero Void Walker, rookie hero Carmine Bomber, rookie heroine Trinity (II), mercenary SKULL, and others were at the mercy of exiled colonist Archimedes Veldt, also known as Black Hand, some survivors from the Odysseus disaster, and some turncoats from the Exodus disaster survivors, as well as a small army of Bordaxi Infiltration Units _and_ the enigmatic villain Wrath! The heroes were unsure as to what Black Hand and Wrath would do, but it did not matter as a group of parahumans from the Donner’s World colony, mostly Exodus survivors, attacked Black Hand and his men. A battle broke out, but it quickly turned against the colony heroes when the parahumans under Black Hand summoned the composite entity known as “Collective”, a being that seemed to embody the powers of all the remaining Exodus and Odysseus survivors loyal to Black Hand. The most powerful of the colonists, a parahuman known as “Tower” cleared the escape for the heroes while Black Hand and Wrath began pulling back, lifting off in the now-repaired Bordaxi Battlecruiser Black Hand had been using as a base! None of the colonists were killed, though Tower was badly injured. Black Hand launched a savage attack on the Donner’s World colony, bombarding it with missiles from orbit! Ally to Derek Lightfoot’s team, Cormac the Destroyer, fought a noble battle trying to defend the colony, but there were simply too many missiles. Black Hand then began to break orbit. The crew of the Rebel, who had also joined Derek Lightfoot’s people, teleported the heroes on board and they took to pursuing Wrath and Black Hand’s crew. Unexpectedly, the chase took them all the way to the T’Karr home world!

A SUICIDE ATTACK
<p class="MsoBodyText"> T’Karr, Throne World to the T’Karri Empire. Suspicions were confirmed when Derek Lightfoot’s team and the crew of the Rebel, as well as most of the surviving Exodus disaster parahumans arrived, in fact, at the T’Karr home world. They expected stiff resistance and an unending stream of T’Karri, but instead they found total desolation. There was evidence of a massive space battle, the size of which had never been seen before in the history of space combat. It looked as though the entire Alliance star fleet had jumped into this system via wormhole drives and met the entire T’Karri fleet right in the T’Karri’s back yard! There appeared to be no survivors on either side and unexpectedly the T’Karr home world was completely uninhabited! The reason quickly became apparent when they found Wrath in open space, attempting to siphon off what appeared to be a huge cloud of unstable molecules! In fact, it looked like the Alliance had attacked with a massive deployment of weapons using these unpredictable quantum particles, and they had devastated the T’Karr home world with these weapons. The cost was phenomenal, though as the wreckage accounted for more than a thousand warships, the bulk of the Alliance star fleet. Unexpectedly, the heroes found a single survivor- a strange parahuman known as “Epitaph”, a young man who survived by jumping from corpse to corpse. He had been one of the over two hundred heroes that the Alliance deployed as shock troops for this suicidal attack on the T’Karri, and the only one that had survived. However, he had been living alone in open space among the wreckage since the attack was launched two years ago! Needless to say, he was affected by his trauma. There was little time to worry about that, though, as Wrath once again was on the move. The heroes mounted up and followed him, back to the heart of the Alliance, the planet Altair, home for most of them.

HOME SWEET HOME
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Altair. What should have been a glorious homecoming turned out to be a nightmare when the heroes returned to Altair and found the planet under martial law, with an occupation force of more than a million T’Karri! Apparently the T’Karri had mounted a suicidal attack of their own during the time Derek and his crew were pursuing Wrath! The Rebel was nearly shot down upon arrival and there was no sign of Wrath or Black Hand. The Rebel and its growing occupants dropped beneath the radar, fending off a squad of T’Karri and three Interceptors in the process. They were joined by the urban hero team, The Garage Boyz, who themselves were fleeing the T’Karri. Flak, leader of the Garage Boyz, then made an unexpected request- he could only think of one place that the T’Karri may not have conquered already- the island of Gammador, the kingdom of the immortal despot Oragoth! So the crew headed for Gammador, having no better plan in mind. Upon arrival, they were met by the Dreaded Four, Oragoth’s elite enforcers, and his bodyguard, the almost indestructible Black Lance. Flak pled his case and unexpectedly, Oragoth bade them enter! Flak’s hunch was right, Oragoth’s kingdom had not yet fallen, though Oragoth knew an attack was imminent. Worse, he had lost some key men, including the leader of his official superhero team, Vendetta, a woman known as Timelapse. So Oragoth struck a deal with Flak and the folks on board the Rebel. Gammador would be sanctuary to them as long as it remained free if they rescued Timelapse from the T’Karri. Flak and company agreed and they headed out in a Gammadorian VTOL aircraft with Black Lance and Psychosia at their side to a known T’Karri coastal prison camp.

ENEMY OF MY ENEMY
<p class="MsoBodyText"> 30 Miles East of Capitol City on the Eastern Coast of Grakador, Altair. The crew of the Rebel and their ever increasing allies split into two teams, one would remain with the jet, the other would approach the T’Karr camp from the west, away from the stationary anti-aircraft guns. Psychosia remained with the plane with everyone but Flak, Dangerman!, Crimson Mist, Carmine Bomber, Void Walker, and Trinity. The trip overland was through thick woods but despite the difficult travel, the heroes encountered several small squads of T’Karri including a Warmech! The battle with the Warmech was brutal, with Trinity falling almost immediately. Eventually a desperate ploy by Void Walker paid off when he banished the Warmech into the Void Dimension! As the weary heroes recovered and made their way to the camp, they suddenly lost contact with Psychosia and the Rebel! Having the choice of finishing the trip to the camp or backtracking all the way back to the plane, they decided to push on and attacked the T’Karri prison camp. The camp was defended by what appeared to be the legendary Enforcer, Black Beast, though it turned out to be the T’Karri’s robotic copy of the hero, a couple squads of T’Karri grunts, and almost the entire hero team of the Champions, all of whom turned out to be conscripted by the T’Karri with mind-control chips.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> A pitched battle was fought, with the T’Karri initially controlling the conflict, but once the heroes discovered the Champions were being controlled and how to break that control, the battle quickly turned. One-time team-mate of Flak, Firecracker, helped the heroes breach the containment forcefield in the camp, and that freed the Gammadorian parahuman Furious and the Champions leader, Adrenaline, as well as man called Dr. Jack. As the T’Karr forces fell, Void Walker again tried to use a Void Hole and the Warmech escaped from the Void Dimension and attacked! Having rescued Timelapse and the Champions, the heroes fled to the mountains via teleportal as Outlander covered their escape! The heroes arrived in a cave in the Eastern Mountains and Dr. Jack revealed himself to be none other than Pumpkin Jack! Everyone was too battered to engage, however, and the group decided to try to come up with a plan of action.

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<p class="MsoBodyText"> More as received!

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