Steve Coops

Impact and Prowler


CLEA DATA FILE

Team Identities:

  • Dexter Gray – Impact
  • Julia Engel – Prowler

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability –  Gray’s body has the means to absorb kinetic energy and convert it to strength. Simply put the harder he is hit the stronger he becomes. His ability also gives him invulnerability to almost all direct physical attacks
  • Alpha ability – Engels has the means to track anyone anywhere. Her abilities are part “animal” and part psychic. The pychic side allows her to “detect” Alphas and track them whilst the animal side allows her to track other people via scent. A secondary “enhancement” linked to her animal senses gives her improved strength, balance and agility.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Dexter has to be “using” his Alpha ability to withstand physical attacks. If his body becomes over worked and he becomes fatigued he cannot access his Alpha ability and is vulnerable. None physical attacks such as psychic or drugs render his ability useless.
  • Engels tracking ability of normal people is limited to a couple of miles. If the person she is tracking masks their scent she cannot follow them. Her Alpha tracking ability works on a range of ten to fifteen miles. Though an Alpha cannot “mask” their signature if they are aware Engels is following they can “lead” her into a trap.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Like a lot of hero partnerships that did not initially start up together the teaming up of Impact and Tracker began with a chance encounter.

For years Dexter Gray had protected the people of Walker Heights one of the poorer Atlantica districts located on the west side, close to the outskirts. Here life was tough and those that were not strong enough to cope were preyed upon by all manner of criminals with street gangs being particularly problematic.
Having been brought up by his mother and learned the values of community support when Dexter discovered he had some “unusual talents” he decided to put them to good use and protect those that fell victim to the gangs. By adopting a stance of zero tolerance Dexter ensured anyone that anyone with the intent of making some innocent person a victim, would in fact find he, she or they became the victims.
In time most “pond life ” in the area became highly wary of taking part in criminal activities because they knew something lurked in the shadows that would hunt them down. However to outsiders the area looked devoid of crime gangs so they saw Walker’s Heights as easy pickings. Consequently Dexter’s work was never done.

Once Black Shadow was gone Dexter was able to patrol more. Whilst he hated the idea of being a costumed hero, he did wear a distinctive under suit with Red Markings. This was not deliberate but down to the fact the suit was created from anti stab material, and he had got it on the black market. The markings were supposed to be the symbol used by a private security company but the company went bust and the employees never received their “outfits”. That was how come Dexter ended up with one, but for most part he covered the suit over with a large trench coat to avoid “standing out”. People, particularly his victims did see the outfit and assumed he was a costumed hero so in the end he adopted the “Impact” persona. Dexter thought if word got around that a “hero” was in Walker’s Heights the criminal scum might leave but that ploy never quite worked out as he had anticipated.

Impact though was a champion of the people and whenever anyone vied for power in his district they knew who they had to depose. Some gangs even began hiring allies to take care of the Impact problem but Dexter was not scared easily. Bigger and worse criminals though made his life tougher and he was placed under great strain to continue his nightly patrols. By the time Julia Engel arrived in the neighbourhood he was beginning to think he would lose the “war” simply from his body and mind being pushed to breaking point.

Julia was an extreme sports fanatic and got her kicks in life from taking part in activities that pushed her adrenalin levels to the max. Since Black Shadow’s apparent demise and the return of Alpha Heroes she had been fascinated by them and imagined what it would be like to have “powers”. Little did she know was she was fated to be like them but until her Alpha ability activated she was not even aware she was an Alpha.
When she learnt what she could do Julia, who tended to care about those around her, felt it was her duty to use those gifts to protect them. The excitement certainly appealed to her, but wanted to be a costumed adventurer and being one where two different things. Compared to Dexter who had adopted a subtle approach to hero work and built on it, Julia was impatient and had dived right in. Picking fights with powerful people would have ended in disaster if she had not met “Endurance”. After rescuing her during one of her “incidents” he chose to train her so she would not keep making “rookie” mistakes. He also suggested she use and outfit so that she could have some anonymity from her “civilian” life. Though she made her own outfit and went with the cat idea Endurance had suggested she always hated wearing the cowl because she thought it made her look stupid. The dart weapons though were not built or designed by her but simply “arrived.” (They would later turn out to be a “gift” from Cade Lewis, the Armourer who had tried to help several amateur heroes anonymously before joining the Knight’s Forge.)

Once trained she had chosen to fight crime alone rather than partnering with her mentor. Though she rarely operated outside of her own district, when she went on a trail of strange robberies to solve the mystery she found herself tracking the culprit far away from her home territory. The culprit was obviously an Alpha which made her job easier, but her quarry seemed adept at being able to move unseen because the first time she saw the robber in the open, Julia had made it all the way to Walker’s Heights.
The robber turned out to be Knockout and as with every other criminal, Julia planned to get in strike range and use her darts to take down the culprit. Having never seen Knockout before, Julia made the mistake of thinking her armour was light duty and could be penetrated by her darts but instead of seeding her prey to sleep the darts glanced of the armour.
Having exposed herself Knockout chose to react in kind and took down the wall Julia had been standing on with a single punch partially burying her in the process. The villain then moved in for the kill and found Impact blocking her way. Unperturbed Knockout directed her attention at him and though she sent him flying was amazed when he stood back up and challenged her. She attacked again, and again not realising as she reigned in blow after blow she was in fact supercharging Impact’s Alpha ability. Once he’d had enough with an almighty uppercut he sent Knockout flying for nearly three hundred yards stunning her in the process.

Police then started swarming into the area so Dexter decided they could clear up the mess. Rather than wait around and be left with some awkward questions he thought it was best to make himself scarce. Though the police knew of “Impact” and some even appreciated what he did, his methods often flouted the law and so Dexter knew it was not a good idea to be found in an area where there had been extensive collateral damage.

However he felt that without him being around the police might just blame the other woman Knockout had been fighting for the damage caused and so decided to take her comatose body back to his place. He knew she should have been taken to hospital but in doing that he would be left with a lot of explaining. Instead he called in a doctor who knew of his night time “activities.” The doctor echoed Dexter’s thoughts in that she should really be in hospital but offered to help. For two days Dexter watched over the young woman and was debating on taking her to hospital when on the second day she finally awoke.

As she recovered formal introductions were made and they told each other their respective stories. Having spent some time dealing with petty “ordinary” criminals, Julia explained she had decided it was time for her to hunt some bigger fish. Dexter thought warned her that as she had already found out the bigger fish often bit back. He continued by explaining that she might be out of her depth taking on people such as Knockout alone as he was finding it difficult dealing with the problems in Walker’s Heights since the recent influx of Alpha criminals that seemed to be targeting him and his neighbourhood.

She would not be dissuaded from her goal and the dedication and courage Julia was showing despite the near fatal encounter was a spirit he could not help but admire. However he considered the area was too dangerous for her so sent her away after she recovered. Several days later he had a rethink after someone tried jumping him outside his apartment. This had led to a meeting with the head of the Atlantica Streetz gang, the Lady who gave him information to the culprit behind the attack, a villain known as Hardcopy. The Lady wanted Hardcopy out of the neighbouring area so “loaned” him an ally, “Turbo” who she used on a semiregular basis.
Dexter along with Turbo were to find Hardcopy’s hideout and put a stop to him. Dexter though thought something was amiss and so had contacted Julia as backup. Julia arrived too late as the pair had already left, and when Turbo and Dexter found Hardcopy, he discovered it was all an elaborate trap. The Lady and Hardcopy had made a deal and part of that deal was removing Impact from Walker’s Heights. Turbo fulfilled her part of the arrangement by ensuring Dexter had been unable to “charge” his Alpha abilities on the journey and so he had nothing in his arsenal to fight. Dexter was captured easily so Turbo left as her service were no longer required. Hardcopy then left Dexter as bait, since he had picked up on rumours of another Alpha in the area recently.

Julia though was not so easily taken for a fool and managed to set Dexter free but was unable to then escape herself. Hardcopy’s henchmen though made the mistake of throwing Dexter out of a third floor window which super charged his Alpha abilities at which point he reappeared and rescued the rescuer.

Having messed up the Lady’s plans by defeating Hardcopy, Dexter left him for the police to deal with and he staggered out of the building with Julia. He then decided that perhaps they should work together after all rather than struggling on his own. She had proven her worth and risked everything to save his life and that meant something to him.

During the “trial” period working together they quickly found their individual skills and abilities complemented each other and it was not long before they decided to make their partnership permanent. Not wishing to abandon her established friends Julia chose not to move directly to Walker’s Heights area but instead “commutes” there to do her crime fighting duties with Dexter.

Save

The Interrogator


CLEA DATA FILE

Asset of:

Identity:

  • Dante Belmont

CLEA Classification:

  • Skilled Human/Information Broker

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Information extraction through mental and physical torture by way of his own skills as well as using drugs and equipment.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Avoids direct confrontation, and only engages victims when he is in complete control.
  • Takes time to set up his various “dungeons”.
  • Well protected by Black Shadow but when taking work outside the organisation he is far more vulnerable to capture.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Assault
  • Assault and Battery
  • Aggravated Assault
  • Kidnapping
  • False Imprisonment
  • Sadist

Notes/History

As with many serious criminals Dante Belmont is well known for his actions than the man behind those actions. Whilst his personal history is something of a mystery his reputation is a different matter. As his alias suggests the one thing Dante is good at is extracting information from his victims and he is so good at his job that his services are in demand.
Clients are normally high level crime bosses and being such a valuable asset to them Dante is afforded their protection. Because of this whilst CLEA and other law enforcement agencies has obtained plenty of intelligence on Dante, he has always evaded capture due to the actions of the people in power.

Psychiatrists speculate that Dante is a sadist bordering on psychopathy since he takes great pleasure in hurting his people. Statements made by victims indicate that whilst he appears to be quite well spoken and charismatic his external facade hides the true horror underneath. Many times witness report that whilst they have the option to reveal what he has been paid to find out, Dante seems to enjoy it when they resist. When this happens he employs a vast array of physical and psychological pressure to make them talk and in the case of the latter has an array of equipment that would not look out of place ina medieval torture chamber. All the while he goes about his business those subjected to his methods have all reported that Dante shows absolutely no empathy. One victim even claimed that looking into his eyes was like staring into a void and considered him to have no soul. Always skilled at his work Dante takes great steps to ensure his victims do not succumb for if they die he would not be able to complete his work. In the case of tough individuals that would rather die than talk it is not unknown for Dante to capture that person’s friends or family members and torture them as a psychological ploy.

Iron Clad


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Greg Baker

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – He is permanently comprised of pure energy with a “metal shell” exterior and no physical body. He can radiate microwave and heat energy through any part of his exterior shell or produce focused blasts from his mouth or eyes. He can also levitate.
  • His energy form gives him great strength and since he has no physical body he cannot be hurt by conventional means.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Can be neutralised by a device or Alpha Superior that can absorb energy.
  • If outer shell is penetrated he can explode with a force to level a city.
  • Wary or working with others in case they get harmed by his “power”.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Greg Baker, Iron Clad was originally known as Carbon. He was never born an Alpha but became one after a serious road traffic accident when he needed a kidney transplant to replace his own which had been irreparably damaged. What the surgeons did not know was the donor who had died had been an Alpha Inferior. Nothing was on her medical records to indicate her being an Alpha due to an error on the files.

With the new kidney in place and part of Greg’s body he was actually “turned” into an Alpha Inferior. To this day it is still considered an impossible outcome since Alpha Inferiors had been used a donors before and since and there has never been another case of a non Alpha becoming “converted” in this manner, Greg is considered a medical anomaly.

It took months for him to recover after the accident but during this time he felt something was “different”. Wanting answers the doctors performed various tests and then the truth was revealed when they studied his medical records and learned that though he tested as being an Alpha Inferior he had been ill as a child. That was when the mix up with the donor’s records was discovered.

Though tempted to sue the hospital for negligence, Greg was happy to be alive and he did not see what he had to gain since most of the people that had taken care of him had been generally decent doctors and nurses. It somehow felt wrong for him to obtain compensation when his health was not affected and had ironically been improved by him being changed into an Alpha Inferior.

Two years onwards from the accident and enjoying the fact he never suffered from allergies of the common cold, Greg was surprised when his eyes suddenly became sensitive to light. At first he was not sure what was going on until he remembered that after the mix up had been discovered at the hospital, he had wanted to learn more about Alphas (and how it affected him) and somewhere in all the literature he had read something about light sensitive. A quick computer search later and Greg was aware that he was changing to an Alpha Superior.

Always grateful of the fact he had been given a second chance at life, Greg wanted to make the most of what was happening to him and give back something to the world. He therefore decided to approach CLEA since they seemed desperate to recruit Alpha Superiors for their White Guardian program. Despite the fact his light sensitivity had not abated he went to CLEA’s Europa office and made enquiries. Though he had yet to complete the transition CLEA were eager to get him into their program. He was thus with the organisation when the process was complete. Using their resources the organisation was able to quickly identify what Greg’s Alpha ability was and thus they learned he could mimic the Alpha ability on another Alpha Superior. He settled on the name Carbon (from carbon copy) which he used when on missions.

However it was not all good news for it soon became apparent that like most Alpha Superiors who had not developed “naturally” Greg’s Alpha ability was unstable. Around other White Guardians he would switch powers uncontrollably which made him more of a liability than an asset. To get around this problem he was placed in a special team where he was the only Alpha Superior. This at least gave him some control for all he needed to do was copy the ability of an Alpha Superior and then stay clear of them. Like the Gemini Twins with Team Zodiac, Greg was very useful to provide back up when an White Guardian was needed in to places at the same time.

For three years he served CLEA without incident and proved to be a valuable asset. However Greg was all too aware that he would eventually enter a situation where whatever safeguards were in place it would not be enough and he would become a danger to those around him. That day came when the Justiciars attacked a research complex on the outskirts of Europa and they were being supported by Chaos.

With the danger they represented CLEA scrambled as many White Guardians to counter the threat which had turned from a stand-off to an all-out battle. Aware that the situation was getting out of hand CLEA top brass issued a code red which asked for outside help from amateur vigilantes. As Europa was the home city of the Phoenix Alliance joined the battle and a few other Alpha heroes.

Greg tried to keep his distance from other heroes and White Guardians as they converged on the complex but after Chaos rebuffed the attempt to retake the facility, Greg found himself close to Miss Fusion. The inevitable then happened and he duplicated her powers but unlike “normal” the process did not seem correct. Something was wrong, or rather different.

Out of desperation he tried to get close to another Alpha Superior in the hope he could reset whatever was happening by mimicking someone else’s powers but nothing happened. Whatever had happened when he had inadvertently tried to copy Miss Fusion had somehow changed him permanently and he was starting to mutate in a manner never seen before. Rapidly the cells in his body started to transform into pure energy shedding his organic form which had the effect of creating an exponential build up that he knew was reaching dangerous levels.

Miss Fusion tried to syphon off the excess by absorbing it in her “star” form but that only set her on the path towards a nova discharge and it did not stop the chain reaction in Greg’s body. Miss Fusion did all she could before having to launch herself into the stratosphere to eject the excess mass and avert a catastrophe but without her help Greg instinctively knew if he could not gain control on his own he would level half the city.

It was at that moment that Chaos and the Justiciars chose to use the distraction to make their escape.
Meanwhile Greg was thinking fast of a means to prevent himself causing a disaster but the only way he could guarantee everyone’s safety was by making the ultimate sacrifice. He therefore called to the mixed group of vigilantes and White Guardians and asked them to kill him.

Since he was now pure energy that was not an easy task and with every failed attempt valuable time was being lost. When all hope was lost Aurora arrived. She had sensed a disruption in the Earth’s magnetic fields and tracked it to the source. Without checking with anyone else what the plan was or even if there was a plan she rapidly began sealing Greg in a cocoon of built from scrap metal she manipulated from the debris.

There was no explosion so whatever she had done had saved the day even if she had killed Greg. However when the cocoon was scanned there were still signs of life on the inside. The metal was somehow containing the energy which meant Greg could never be free and since he was pure energy that meant he would forever remain imprisoned. Aurora’s conscience could not allow Greg to suffer that fate so she compromised and manipulated the metal again so that it took on a human form, albeit something that was not exactly pleasing to the eye. In that moment the White Guardian known as Carbon was no more and “Iron Clad” was born.

After the battle was over Greg fled the area. He felt he was no longer safe to be around. For months CLEA looked for him since they did not want to lose one of their valuable White Guardians but he managed to avoid their efforts. No longer human and wearing a monstrous form Greg had much to deal with. He did not blame Aurora for his current look as he knew she had acted in everyone’s best interest.

In time he eventually learned to accept what he was and after learning how his mutated form “worked” and he could control it he decided to return to civilisation to fulfil his original promise of giving something back to the world.

As Iron Clad, Greg has immense strength since he is pure energy inside the metal shell. He also has the means to radiate heat and microwave energy from his external body or produce a focused beam of the same energy his eyes or mouth.

Save

Judgement


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Yu Liu Fang

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha+ Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – allows her to read the thoughts of others through physical contact.
  • Alpha ability – prolonged contact regenerates her body whilst at the same time ageing her victim, effectively making her immortal.
  • Highly skilled fighter

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Despite her Alpha ability she can easily be neutralised with ranged weapons (darts etc.) unless she has recently “fed” on a victim which seems to give her extra resilience.
  • Having absorbed so many thoughts her mind has been warped by the sum of so many negative influences.
  • Disagrees with her brother’s (Lock Box) solution to her ideals regarding mankind’s development which can serve as a distraction.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Under the delusion that her longevity has put her on Earth for a purpose and that purpose is to remove the unworthy from society for the betterment of mankind.
  • Homicide – she reads peoples minds and if they are unworthy in her (twisted) opinion she uses the victim to regenerate.

Notes/History

Under normal circumstances Zhang Jie would have been dead well over 900 years ago but being an Alpha an inheriting his fathers “gift” of aging very slowly meant he had survived the passage of time. The loss of his mother at an early age and driven insane by a continuous existence has led Zhang Jie to believe his near immortality is a gift from fate and he has been charged with ensuring the human race’s survival by making sure only the strongest survive. For centuries he was incarecerated but after escaping in the modern world he has become known by CLEA as Lock Box. This is down to his habit of playing “games” of survival by abducting people and placing them in elaborate dungeons with lethal puzzles. If a person escapes then they are obviously worthy of their role in society and if they die then Zhang Jie has done his job. He also likes “arranging” games of jeopardy whereby he places two people in situations where one will survive at the expense of another, so proving who is the stronger. Due to their prominence in society public heroes are his frequent targets and since those that manage to escape usually want pay back he has taken to wearing a powered armored suit which provides a means of protection and escape (via jet thrusters).

Much of what is known about Zhang Jie was voluntarily surrendered by his father Yu Jianjun. (aka The Oracle). Initially Jianjun was not believed which allowed Zhang Jie to get organised and thus become a far bigger problem.
Jianjun explained that Zhang Jie’s life started nearly a millennia before CLEA had ever existed. He explained that the meteor impact which had “created” the present day Alphas had not been the first incident of its kind but rather the second for a smaller celestial body had landed in a remote region of China a thousand years earlier.
Just like in the present day, in time people began exhibiting strange abilities but unlike in the current time period there was not the same movement of people so Alpha humans never really spread beyond the village and valley they inhabited.
The Alpha ability Jianjun received was extremely slow ageing and a form of unique insight where by nobody could hide the truth from him and he had the means to “see” an Alpha’s potential before they even made the transition to an Alpha Superior.
As with the current day, an Alpha parent could pass on the Alpha effect to their children and this happened with Jianjun and his wife when their children Liu Fang and Zhang Jie were born.
Zhang Jie their son seemed to gain something akin to his father’s ability in that he aged very slowly because he could rapidly repair any injury. Liu Fang also gained a similar form of immortality in that she could literally steal the aging process of another person which enabled her to heal aging her victims rapidly. Upon touching them she could also see inside the soul much like Jianjun.
Both children though did not know their capabilities until a local warlord attacked their village. At the time Zhang Jie was twenty nine and Liu Fang was twenty seven. The warlord had heard of a remote village filled with “magical” people. Fearing such people could undermine his power he sent soldiers in to eliminate those who he believed might challenge his status. The appearance of soldiers and their culling of the village triggered Zhang Ji and Liu Fang’s Alpha abilities. The family tried to escape with their parents but Jianjun’s wife, their mother was killed. Liu Fang also received a mortal blow from a sword but instinctively she grabbed hold of the soldier, at which point he rapidly changed from a young man to an old one and Liu Fang’s injury healed. At the same time she could feel the soldiers fear and panic and see into his thoughts.
Zhang Ji had a similar experience only his was much more straight forwards. Taking his ability to heal as a sign that he was destined for something special he fought back. Unable to get killed by bladed weapons certainly instilled fear into the warlord’s party. This along with the fact the other village Alpha’s were beating back the raiders led them into a retreat.

Having lost his soldiers the warlord sent an envoy to parlay with the villagers. He would leave them alone and protect them providing they would not usurp his position. Since the villagers had never had an interest in fighting in the first place an agreement was reached. However the deal was not acceptable to Zhang Jie. Full of grief for the loss of his mother, he wanted revenge. Jianjun tried to talk him out of the idea stating the path he was on would lead to no good end but it was no use.
Zhang Jie would not listen and so headed out of the village. Several days later he found his target but before he killed the warlord he wanted to know why his mother had been murdered along with a good proportion of the village.
The warlord was quite honest in explaining how he was forced to deal with threats to avoid being taken advantage of by rivals. He explained that only the strongest survived and this was the natural rule of survival for everything. Zhang Jie agreed and challenged him to a duel based on those words. Rather than lose face the warlord agreed to the terms without knowing that the challenger could not in fact be killed.

After the warlord was dead Zhang Jie was now the new leader and had an army at his disposal. For many years he controlled the region without any trouble. He acted justly and for a while rules wisely. However the passage of time made him grow bored. He grew tired of an endless precession of people wanting his help and that’s when the words of the warlord returned to his mind. He began to figure in constantly “helping” people he was defying nature by helping the weak flourish. Whenever anyone wanted his help, he would set them a challenge first. If they succeeded then he would help them. This progressed to the idea of pitting rivals against each other when two people wanted the same thing from him.
Eventually he concluded that the gift given him was to be used to cull the worthless from society. Since he could not die he considered that must be his purpose for existing.

After Zhang Jie had gone all that remained of the family was Jianjun and Liu Fang. They remained in the village and after hearing of how Zhang Jie was now the new warlord, Jianjun was desperate that his other child would not take a dark path. Years past and the population in the village declined. Having seen the devastation his gifts were bringing to the world the entire village decided that their gifts should be lost in the annals of time and so they chose not to have any more children. Consequently within a couple of generations the village and its people were nothing more than a memory apart from two surviving residents Jianjun and Liu Fang.

Without anyone else around Jianjun felt his daughter would not have anything to tempt her, and she would grow old and die but live a normal life. He however underestimated Liu Fang’s compulsion to survive and she would sneak away for weeks at a time only to return with a youthful appearance.
Each time she regenerated her body in that manner not only did she regain her youth but significantly she also gained some of the memories and motivations of her victims. While an average person might gather feelings of anger, malice and aggression over time, in Liu Fang’s case hers was multiplied many times over.

Jianjun was aware of what she was doing since her appearance made it obvious and whilst he tried his best to get her to stop stealing the lives of others, any hopes of doing that were lost when on one of her “trips” away from home she learned that her brother had come up with an idea of ensuring mankind’s future.
Though he was ensuring the survival of the fittest through competition she believed she could do the same only better, by looking inside people and deciding if they were worthy enough to survive. She informed her father that she would do as he had asked and not steal the lives of others providing the individual was worthy in the first place. Those that were not worthy she would sacrifice.

When she told him this Jianjun realised that Liu Fang’s mind had been corrupted through exposure to too many negative influences via contact with their minds. He also realised that when she was reading the minds of others if those people were full of potential but had a low opinion of themselves she would make the assumption that they were not worthy when the trust was in fact probably the opposite. With his son running amok all over China kidnapping victims and putting them on trials against each other, he knew he had to stop his children, only he could not bring himself to find a means to kill them.

Instead he tricked the pair into going to a monastery where he had the monks imprison them hoping they could educate the pair and show them a way to live in peace and the potential for good they had. However both children were convinced what they were doing was for the good of people in general.
Days became, weeks, weeks became months and months became years. Centuries would pass with the pair incarcerated and refusing to change their ways. In Liu Fang’s case she would take every opportunity to steal the lives from the monks holding her prisoner which is how she survived for centuries without ageing.

Jianjun meanwhile set about using his slow aging to train successions of warriors of the ages in preparation for the time his children would eventually escape their prison. Whilst he felt unable to kill them he knew what needed to be done if events took a drastic change.
The only time this came close was during the second meteorite strike but the ancient monastery survived. Jianjun continued training warriors right into the era when new Alphas began appearing. The Grey Man was of particular interest to him because he thought that particular Alpha had similarities to Liu Fang and that maybe he could use him to neutralise her.
Modern times became something of a problem for unlike in the past, groups of sword wielding warriors could operate without raising an eyebrow in modern society they would have to remain a secret. As training warriors became harder he had to change tactics and simply find allies rather than training his own army.
He therefore began freely training some Alpha heroes in the belief that when the time came they would use their skills to help him. Whatever his eventual goal was the plans were upset when an earthquake struck the monastery and his children escaped into the modern world.
Though it took some time for them to adjust to the technology and the way things worked once they were acclimatised they quickly returned to the old ways and like before since their methods were different they did not stay with each other but set out into the world alone.

With two of the most dangerous people, free to do as they wanted, Jianjun stepped up his campaign to find allies. This was when he hit upon the idea of contacting CLEA, since they had the proven skills to deal with troublesome Alphas. However they did not believe him when he initially told them the story so Jianjun was left to find other allies. This was despite the fact they were already aware of the actions of his children since they had attracted enough attention for them to be given code names by the agency.
When word of the statement made by Jianjun eventually reached Chief Johnathon Hunter’s desk he immediately requested they locate Jianjun, now known as “Oracle” in order to learn more. By that time though he had slipped into the shadows after CLEA had not rallied to his cause. Ironically though Jianjun felt he needed CLEA’s help to deal with his children the agency needed his intel in order to understand how to deal with them and Hunter believed if Jianjun was as old as he had stated and the Alpha phenomenon had occurred before then the “old man” could have been a valuable source of information.
With such a missed opportunity training methods were changed in regards to handling “unusual” statements.

Of Jianjun’s children, Liu Fang is known to the agency as “Judgement” and has been spotted in a variety of locations around the world, each time leaving a path of dead bodies in her wake as she tests prominent individuals to see if they are worthy. She is considered danger for if backed into a corner she does not seem to hesitate in stealing the life of another in order to continue her quest. Psychologists analysing her actions think that she truly believes her actions are just but since her morals have been warped by the minds of others she is no longer able to differentiate between right and wrong and the part of her Alpha ability that absorbs the life force of others is so strong she has a desire to use it in much the same way as drug addicts feel the need to find their next fix.

Zhang Jie is known to the agency as Lock Box. Since first reported incidents involving this Alpha he has reportedly now managed to obtain an armoured suit capable of generating force fields. He continues to test the human race in cruel a viscous games which he believed weeds out the weak and has recently taken to testing what the public perceive as heroes. As such people are regarded as being prominent enough to be considered as role models for society Lock Box seems to be focused on testing that hypothesis. Psychologists presume Lock Box could not handle the loneliness that immortality brought to him and his tests are little more than a sadistic form of pleasure to provide a distraction from his mundane existence. Obviously and heroes that escape his games tend to want some measure of justice which is probably why he obtained the suit since such people may well have the means to end his life and for the first time in a millennia he is no longer totally invulnerable.

Jurassic


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Charles Henderson

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – allows Charge to shape shift into prehistoric creatures. So far the following forms have been seen although this may not be a complete list;-
    Spinosaurus
    Kentrosaurus
    Utahraptor
    Brachiosaurus
    Apatosaurus
    Euoplocephalus
    Diceratops
    Tarbosaurus

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Though at first he was unaware of his changes at first and had no memory he now retains memory and to a certain extent control although he likens this to steering a car than direct access to his creature form.
  • Whilst he is able to “choose” which form his change will take often he will inadvertently transform into a creature that matches his emotions. Aggression sees him become predatory dinosaurs whilst when he’s on the defensive he will often become an armoured dinosaur.
  • He has been known to lose all control of his creature form.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Before he discovered he was an Alpha Superior Charles had been working as a security guard for the Pacifica natural history museum during a time when some new exhibits were being shipped in. The warehouse used for storage became a scene of carnage when Alpha Strike retreated there during a confrontation with the Phoenix Alliance.
During the ensuing battle Alpha Strike managed to grab “Boost” and coerced her into augmenting their Alpha abilities. Aware that her own allies would mount a rescue she did as asked in order to buy them some time and to cause as much disruption as possible she pushed the abilities of Animorph and Bulldozer to the limit which caused their respective abilities to mutate uncontrollably.
Unbeknownst to her, some of the energy Boost expelled “leaked” into some of the crates close to Animorph and Bulldozer and this “energy” took with it copies of their mutated abilities.

The Phoenix Alliance managed to rescue Boost and with Alpha Strike’s plans in ruins the criminal group fled. The warehouse was then left for the various services to clean up the mess and seeing as some of the crates were destined for the museum the curator sent a small security team to assess and damage. When Charles came across a large crate that were described as fossils on the paperwork he would not help but notice a strange blue energy ball dancing over the crate.
The instant he touched it he complete the catalyst and had his Alpha Superior status jumpstarted. Instantly he gained the size shifting abilities of Bulldozer combined with the shape shifting abilities of Animorph, and the fossils provided him with the template.

Like every other Alpha Superior that gained their “powers” unnaturally, Charles’s Alpha abilities were unstable and erratic. His first full transformation occurred two days later and he had no idea of what had happened when he found himself waking up in the street completely naked. Even stranger was a rumour a large monster had been seen in the area but since a drunk reported it the police had ignored the report.

He lost several more days over the period of a few months until he awoke in the company of the Phoenix Alliance. It was them that filled in the missing blanks and for the first time he learned about his ability to change into a dinosaur form.
Accepting an offer of help they studied him under a variety of conditions and learned that he would spontaneously transform when under stress or when his mind perceived a threat or danger. The actual emotional response such reactions produced then determined what animal form he became.
Anger and aggression usually “created” predatory dinosaur forms whilst a dangerous environmental might result in one of the armoured herbivore forms. Once transformed his mental reasoning would also change to that of instinct. Depending on what he had changed into that was potentially dangerous for any innocent bystander.
Only after being exposed to a barrage of tests the Phoenix Alliance were able to give Charles some mental condition training which gave him some modicum of control over his animal guise. The training allowed him to dampen down some of the instinctive drives and influence the “creatures” decision making but that was the best they could do for him.
In time the training allowed him to retain some memory and what happened but in many cases he preferred not to “see” what had happened. The only thing he was thankful of was that somehow the part of him that remained inside his changed form prevented him killing people, even in his predatory guises. The Knight’s Forge also stepped into help and gave him an implant that could trigger his transformation and when he did this he was often able to choose which guise he took. However the device could not prevent an emotional transformation. Despite the overall lack of control the Phoenix Alliance considered him more of an asset than a liability.

As a crime fighter Charles spend quite some time with the group and was happy for quite some time until other groups and authorities perceived him as a threat. The military wanted to capture him and use him as a weapon, the police considered him a danger to everyone and there was whole host of other people that wanted to use him or kill him. Only CLEA decided to adopt a neutral response.
Though the Alliance had gained enough political clout to hold off the attentions of the military in America and Canada, Charles believing the excitement regarding his presence on the team served as an unwanted distraction and would prevent the group working effectively.
Charles therefore elected to become a reserve member and lower his profile and thus avoid both attracting trouble as well as causing it. Upon leaving the group he began travelling. Never staying long enough for his “enemies” to find him was the key to survival but despite this he could not escape the compulsion to help people when he had the opportunity which is why instead of disappearing into oblivion the hero known as Jurassic has been seen reported many times along with his menagerie of transformations. Where and when he will appear next in the world CLEA dares not speculate.

Save

The Justiciars

Left-Right: Parasite, Outbreak, Alphaman, Trojan, Technoform and Miss C

Left-Right: Parasite, Outbreak, Alphaman, Trojan, Technoform and Miss C

The Justiciars are an unusual criminal group in that their outward goal is not for money. Each of them is classed as an Alpha+ because they each have a means to “control” ordinary people. Though they are recognised as a group the Justiciars rarely team up which was why it took CLEA a long time to realise the members were all linked.

CLEA DATA FILE

Group Identities:

  • Jada Butler – Parasite
  • Christian Ward – Outbreak
  • Brandon Freeman – Alphaman
  • Amy Schneider – Trojan
  • Gethin Pritchard – Technoform
  • Catalina Sievers –  Miss C

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha+ Superior (Entire Group)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – Butler (Parasite) can produce worm like creatures inside her body which when regurgitated have the means to latch on to any person linking the host to her mind. She wears a mask to prevent accidental “discharge”.
  • Alpha abiltiy – Ward’s (Outbreak) skin produces various toxins that he can vary according to his will. He can even replicate airborne viruses that he has come in contact with some of which are lethal although it appears he chooses to “create” less harmful bye-products and CLEA believes he is the “source” for the recreational drug “Marathon”, a substance which gives the user a sustained burst of adrenalin.
  • Alpha ability – Freeman (Alphaman) has the means to duplicate and use the power of any other Alpha he comes in contact with. CLEA is unsure of his limits but believes he can simultaneously control and mimic the abilities of ten or more Alphas at any given time.
  • Alpha ability – Schneider (Trojan) has the means to interact directly with computer systems. Using her new powers she can send out an electrical charge and reprogram a person’s mind at will. The effect is not usually permanent but she can “top up” her control. Her mutated Alpha ability can target groups of people at a time making her extremely dangerous.
  • Alpha ability – Pritchard (Technoform) is not an android but can change his skin to a technorganic form making his appear as a cyborg. Using his abilities he can change other organic matter in this way, essentially turning animals into robots. If such creatures were to “bite” a human they cannot transform that person into a machine like entity but can act as an interface and link them to the “network” controlled by Technoform. In this respect he has similar “control” means to Parasite and Trojan. In most cases a person that has become part of the “network” is unaware they are serving as Technoform’s eyes and ears even when he remotely takes charge of their bodies.
  • Alpha ability – Seivers (Miss C) can affect people senses specifically pain receptors. If she sees you with her own eyes she can cause a massive burst of pain so excruciating her victims wish they were dead which is precisely what happens if anyone actually touches her. CLEA is unsure exactly how her powers are transmitted in the visual spectrum and whilst they operate line-of-sight their range can be extended with visual aids. She wears a special visor which prevents her abilities from working via series of filters. These can instantly be switched out to “reveal” her eyes. It is also believed the visor contains a wide angle lens which when locked in place turns her into a an area effect weapon.
    Recent intel has revealed she can “absorb” the pain of another person and she uses this to torture her victims by removing their pain and punishing their bodies brutally before allowing them to feel pain which is far more devastating than her simply making them feel pain in the first place

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Bulter cannot stop producing her “worms” as long as her body breathes air “normally”. The more worms she produces in quick succession the weaker she becomes physically.
  • The strain placed upon Freeman’s body in using and processing the Alpha abilities of others is so great he has to wear a special suit at all times to stop it literally being torn apart by internal forces.
  • Pritchard has one weakness and that is if he is worn down and unable to sustain his Alpha ability he reverts to his human form and the “network” collapses and those linked to him are free.
  • The group rarely work together as they believe that if they stayed in one location they could be defeated in one go. Though alone they are more vulnerable CLEA agents are advised to NEVER tackle one of these individuals alone.
  • They consider anyone not willing to join their cause an enemy. This includes Alphas who attack other Alphas and the Justiciars will punish such individuals as they see fit. These actions have seen the group gain many enemies from vigilante and criminal circles.
  • Instead of “punishing” an Alpha “traitor” the Justiciars have been known to coerce such people into doing their own dirty work for them when it suits their convenience. Again this has led rise to them creating more friends than enemies.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Terrorism
  • Aggravated assault
  • Attempted homicide
  • Homicide (suspected)
  • Hostage taking
  • Kidnapping
  • Wilful destruction of property

Notes/History

How these individuals actually started wroking together is open to debate since most of them dropped of the grid for a long time before the Justiciars appeared and during that time most of the group eradicated any links they had with their past lives. Records have revealed that most of the group have little or no family which seems to be to big a coincidence to ignore. CLEA analyists speculate that there is an as of yet unknown party who links the Justiciars and that same person probably assembled the team from individuals that could not be subjected to leverage by family members.

The first known appearance of the Justiciars appeared in an anonymous press release. The group then made it clear that they were setting about ensuring Alphas everywhere that had been subjected to persecution or abuse would be duly compensated. The group refer to themselves as Justiciars as they believe they are providing justice for their own kind.

Often when it comes to attacking those with political power the Justiciars do not go for a direct attack on their intended target but attack civilians instead (who they consider as non Alphas and therefore expendable) and use the resulting confusion and negative reactions from the people to do the work for them. A known example of this happening was when Outbreak first “appeared” and he wanted the local Atlantica government to pay substantial funds into an account to be used to give compensation to Alphas and their families who had been affected by Black Shadow in the past. The mayor’s office refused denying so Outbreak began distributing “Marathon” to drug users in Atlantica. This led to a rise in civil unrest which cost more in police time and effort than the original ransom demand.

Other known targets for the Justiciars that have received direct action have been businesses and organisations that the group believe had profited one way or another from the suffering of Alphas.

After some of the other Justiciars had made themselves known around the world they then chose to attack CLEA. At first the attacks were believed to have been a simple act of terrorism since the Justiciars believed the agency had failed Alphas in their opinion but after a few more attacks CLEA high command realised that they were after one of their own, Amy Schneider.

Schneider was originally a White Guardian and when her base came under a cyber attack she interfaced with the mainframe to stop the virus which affected her. She became the living manifestation of the virus and started replicating and deploying it at will. She was stopped and placed in a special cell and CLEA believed even after she had “recovered” she was too dangerous to be released due to her mutated powers.

The Justiciars though felt she had been unfairly imprisoned and so had formed a plan to keep CLEA off-guard long enough for them to attack the facility she was being held. Once freed she joined their ranks and was the last known person to have become a member of the group.

Save

Karma


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Trudy Forrest

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha Ability – Trudy has the means to siphon off the negative emotions of others and use the psychic energy to gain strength, resilience and stamina…..the angrier you are the more she can fight and the harder she can hit.
  • Armoured suit protects her from physical harm.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • She is vulnerable against opponents that can control their emotions or display inappropriate ones such as psychopaths feeling pleasure at the harm the cause.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Trudy Forrest had a difficult childhood. Right from an early age she was exposed to violence. Her father was an alcoholic and when drunk had a tendency to attack her moths. Like most victims of domestic violence her mother felt unable to break free of the relationship and when Trudy reached her early teens she ended up getting sucked into the circle of violence.

Determined to “escape” at the first opportunity she fell into a relationship with an older boy, Richard Haskins and since he was working and had an apartment Trudy saw this as an ideal opportunity to get free of her father. However it was only after she had move in did Trudy discover she had traded one nightmare for another. Not only was Richard as violent as her father but he did not need a drink to set him off.

Every time she turned up at the hospital she made some excuse for her bruises and occasionally the odd broken bone. The nurses tried to help Trudy by giving her advice but since the violence seemed to follow her around she thought it was all somehow her fault. Richard of course apologised each time and promised to control his temper but that would last a few weeks and then he would return to normal. Things got even worse when she began experiencing mysterious health problems. She became sensitive to light and then her skin developed an itchy rash. The last thing she wanted to do was satisfy Richard’s sexual demands and when she did not comply a beating would follow.

What neither Trudy nor Richard realised was, she was an Alpha Inferior and was making the transition from Inferior to Superior status. She had never been identified as a child since the family troubles tended to occupy so much of the family routine and Trudy had never wondered why she did not get ill like the other children. This was perhaps why she was caught by total surprise for like most Alpha Inferiors changing status, this was the first time she had ever experienced illness.

A few weeks passed and the mystery illness cleared itself up. Trudy had taken everything that had happened as a “sign” and decided to finally leave Richard but on the day she was set to move in with a friend he got wind of what she was doing and came home from work early. He tried to talk her out of it but inevitably his temper flared and he went on the attack. As he rained blows on her, she tried to fight back. Against a bigger man she stood little chance but the act of defiance gave her a boost in adrenalin and it was enough for her Alpha abilities to trigger for the first time.

An instant later she felt all of Richard’s anger and rage flowing through her veins. She felt a power like she had never felt before and an unbelievable strength. At the same time Richard suddenly felt some of his anger and rage slip away but he did not have time to think long for Trudy proceeded to throw him around the apartment. By the time she finished he was broken and bloody, and the extra strength was gone. She put her experience down to “blind rage.”

After moving in with her friend she began to put the past behind her, or at least she tried because every time she was around people with negative emotions she seemed to gain a strange surge of energy whilst at the same time the people she was near started to lose their negativity.

By the time a few months of this had been happening Trudy felt she was going nuts and decided to confide in her friend. Much to her amazement her friend did not judge but listened and when Trudy had finished suggested that perhaps she was an Alpha. It was her friend who then suggested they test out a theory.

This involved finding an “angry” group of people and seeing what happened to Trudy and they did this by getting close to a protest march that took place near the Pacifica city centre. Once near the crowd Turdy felt an intense surge of power and then when the crowd turned violent she found herself joining in. Such strength enabled her to perform super human feats, tipping over vehicles hurling trash cans hundreds of feet and at one point she even punched her fist through a wall. Lost in the violence it was her friend that finally snapped Trudy out of the enraged state. Later on when she recalled what she was done she was shocked and vowed never to use her gift again.

Her friend suggested that perhaps it was a matter of mental discipline but Trudy decided it was too risky. Not only did she not want to lose control but smashing her hand through the wall have resulted in her getting injured.

More time passed and Trudy did her best to avoid socially negative situations. However fate intervened when the Mechaniac chose to launch an attack in Pacifica. The Phoenix Alliance fought back and the TV cameras were there to show the progress of the battle. From well away from the city centre Trudy could feel the negative emotions and when footage was shown of a group of civilians trapped and in danger from one of the Mechaniac’s automatons she decided she had to act.

Despite the risk to herself she broke through the police cordon and made it to the civilians and joined the battle. Unlike massed anger, massed fear, though a negative emotion did not feel quite as potent. She still got a boost in strength and resilience but now found it easier not to lose control.

Her actions were enough to slow the attack of the Mechaniac’s machines and allow the Phoenix Alliance to get to her position but by the time they found Trudy she was out cold, having burned out from using her Alpha ability.

Waking up in hospital a few days later Trudy was surprised to find she had been hailed a here. Gary Wynter, leader of the Alliance met her personally and offered membership of the Alliance. Though she thought he was kind she felt she was too dangerous to be around. He suggested perhaps if she was trained she might view her gift as an asset rather than a liability. Taking this to heart she accepted an offer for the Phoenix Alliance to train her but would not commit herself to the team. They were based in Europe and she wanted to remain in her home city.

Once Trudy began training she managed to learn the full extent of her gifts. The team discovered she had far greater capabilities but she first had to learn how to correctly channel the psychic energy she sapped off those around her. Though some negative emotions were difficult to absorb and process into “power” Trudy learned to counteract problems by using her own will power. She also learned that as well as “sucking” negative emotions from people to give her strength, at the same time because the other people were deprived of their negativity they experienced a feeling of euphoria and well being which could be used as a weapon in its own right.

Once training was complete as far as Trudy was concerned, before heading back to Pacifica she received a gift in the form of an armoured body suit which would protect her from physical damage. The survivors of the battle called her their Guardian Angel and for a while she chose to keep the name before finding one she felt more appropriate, Karma for she could reverse the negativity of a criminal and use it against them. Though she considers herself a lone player, Trudy is not above teaming up with others and accepted status as a reserve member of the Phoenix Alliance.

Aware that she could be vulnerable if people knew her real identity, unlike other heroes Trudy has taken her anonymity to new levels by completely covering her head, the hair most people “see” is actually a wig she fixes to her head piece.

Save

The Knights Forge

Left-Right: Cade Lewis, Sam Burrows, Griffin, Blackhawk, Silver Streak, Steel Wing

Left-Right: Cade Lewis, Sam Burrows, Griffin, Blackhawk, Silver Streak, Steel Wing

The Knight’s Forge refers both to a research and development organisation and a sub group of field agents known as Knight’s Sword. Despite the Knight’s Sword team being classed as a “hero” group, they do not actively pursue known villains directly. Instead the team’s primary goal is the acquisition of advanced and/or dangerous technology that is in the hands of villains.
Once retrieved such tech is then given to the Knight’s Forge research and development lab who reverse engineers the technology. Information gained is then combined with its own developments before filtering back new designs to the hero community or CLEA.

CLEA DATA FILE

Personnel

Organisation Heads:

  • Cade Lewis – The Armourer (Director of the Organisation)
  • Samantha “Sam” Burrows – Deputy Director

Knight’s Sword Retrieval Team:

  • Steve Griffin – Griffin
  • Sonja Lebedeva – Blackhawk
  • Haru Fujimoto – Steel Wing
  • Rylee Jefferson – Silver Streak

Tech Specialists:
(people that are trusted and frequently called upon to lend their assistance to the Forge)

  • Gary Wynter – G Wiz co-founder of the Knights Forge and inventor. Leader of the Phoenix Alliance
  • Alicia Knight – Architect (See Night Rangers)
  • Hawk – Ex-Raider, cyborg specialist
  • Dr Marcus Hellen – Merlin, human biology specialist.
  • Agent Alpha – Cyborg specialist

CLEA Classification:
(Not including Tech Specialists)

  • Specialist Engineer (Lewis and Burrows)
  • Tech Augmented Humans (Knight’s Sword Team)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Lewis is believed to be the worlds leading specialist in armoured clothing design.
  • Burrows is a well renowned weapons and engineering designer.
  • Griffin is the driver of the advanced “Destrier” attack car.
  • Lebedeva (Blackhawk) is the rider of the advanced “Courser” attack motorcycle.
  • Fujimoto (Steel Wing), specialises in aerial attack/infiltration and is outfitted with a unique winged outfit the “Eaglesuit.”
  • Jefferson (Silver Streak) is the teams code breaker and hacker. She is equipped with a more advanced version of the “Eaglesuit.”

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Knight’s Forge in general has to maintain a high amount of secrecy since their “work” would be considered highly valuable to many criminals or third world dictators. They can never maintain a base for too long in the same location for fear of attack.
  • Knight’s Sword has made many enemies due to the fact they steal tech from the criminal community for the scientists/engineering team working for the Forge to reverse engineer. The team can rarely remain active in the open for too long without a contract being put out on them.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Theft (Lebedeva)
  • Espionage (Lebedeva)

Notes/History

Stephanie Naylor, CLEA’s North American chief was inadvertently the person that led to the creation of the Knight’s Forge. Along with the other chiefs she had noticed how villains always seemed to get their hands on technology better than theirs. Players such as the Mechaniac and ARGO were clear indicators just how dangerous technology in the wrong hands was becoming.

CLEA found itself always one step behind the “bad guys” when it came to technology and no sooner had they appeared to level the playing field then the criminal community were already making CLEA’s tech obsolete.

As with everything there was only a finite budget available for R and D so CLEA would tender out contracts to the best bidder. Such companies always wanted to make money so Naylor began to suspect that they always kept something in reserve so they could “sell” a later development in order to make even more money.

Naylor really wanted a subcontractor that was more interested in ethics than profit but that simply was not going to fly under normal circumstances. However she had noticed that two hero groups did seem to be keeping up with villains and since they had backing from very powerful companies she decided to approach Andrew McCabe of Zodiac (and MCI’s CEO) and Gary Wynter who was leader of the Phoenix Alliance (and owner of Wynter Technologies).

Meeting in Atlantica, Naylor discussed her fears that CLEA always playing catchup when it came to technology and wanted to know if they could help her. She knew both the Phoenix Alliance and Zodiac had advanced tech they did not share and wondered if it would be in everyone’s best interest is CLEA had access to some of it. Both McCabe and Wynter were not really sure about handing CLEA their tech but did understand Naylor’s point so they agreed to think about it.

The meeting ended without any firm decisions but McCabe and Wynter contacted each other over the coming weeks and began thinking that if “heroes” and CLEA could be supplied with descent tech then it might make their jobs crime fighting jobs easier. Wynter had a further radical idea and that was in order to make better tech and keep one step ahead of the villains then perhaps they should steal of the villains. Having personal experience of his “commercial” designs being stolen and ending up in the hands of competitors he liked the idea of reversing the status quo.

Further discussions between the pair decided that if they amalgamated their R and D then both teams would benefit from a more efficient operation. Also if they started to supply recognised heroes with equipment then they would be aware of any design weaknesses. Whilst that could potentially be used to stop a hero that had turned criminal it also meant that a villain attacking their combined R and D base would effectively be able to use the same information.

In the end the pair decided that the combined R and D company needed to be kept as secret as possible, even from trusted members on their own teams. That meant it also had to be isolated from MCI and Wynter Technologies. The fewer people that knew where it was the better for all. Gary proposed the codename of Knight’s Forge as reference to supplying Knight’s with tools and armour before going into battle. Since McCabe had nothing better the name stuck.

Withdrawing funds from their companies the pair set about building a small secret research base. They even managed to hire some scientists that they felt could cope with working in complete isolation. However since the pair were busy with their own teams neither could run the operation. That is when McCabe suggested they locate Cade Lewis aka the Armourer.

McCabe knew Lewis ran a small family business that specialised in unique military apparel as used by private security firms. Rumours where that his brother had been blackmailed by Black Shadow and to save his sister in law he had been coerced into making “special” outfits that were used currently by Alpha Strike.
Realising he would never be free of Black Shadow his brother had faked his own death and became Blue Flame with Cade’s help. Blue Flame then rescued his wife and Cade had gone into hiding but not before Black Shadow had managed to steal his precious data. Since then a number of criminals had got hold of such designs and Cade felt an obligation to redress the balance of power by secretly supply various heroes with specialist armour or clothing. Doing such acts though was at great personal risk because it could expose him to Black Shadow.

McCabe highly respected Cade for trying to make amends for a situation he had no control of. He also found it ironic that Cade was already doing what the Knight’s Forge were planning to do. By hiring him to run the Forge they would gain someone experienced at designing specialist clothing and also knowing how the criminal underworld worked. Wynter had no objections.

Finding Cade who was hiding somewhere in Pacifica proved to be harder than it appeared. McCabe and Zodiac were tasked with that job and convincing Cade to join a secret R and D operation was even harder. He like to think he was a “hands on guy” as opposed to a manager but accepted the position when he realised just how much he could bring to the new venture.

Though Cade was certainly qualified in many aspects of design he was not a true engineer and was lacking in creating weapons tech. Figuring he would need help to manage scientists working on that side of the operation, Wynter suggested Sam Burrows. In his opinion she had a brilliant mind but was now dogged by her past.

Having been headhunted by the Protectorate, she was manipulated into believing their ideals. Consequently she had gone on to make many of the weapons that Orion used to hunt Alphas. Eventually she was given the chance to see the facility with the detainees and that was when Sam began to have second thoughts.

She arranged a business trip that to buy some knew tech but in reality she was simply trying to get as far away from her employers as possible. When the Protectorate realised her duplicity, she was considered a security risk and Orion was dispatched to return her to work. After a narrow escape from Orion, Sam contacted as many hero groups as she could find (since the Protectorate kept detailed records) but when they discovered who she worked for they gave her a wide birth.

Only the Phoenix Alliance answered her call, although Gary had to admit some member had reservations about helping her. Snatching her from under the noses of Orion felt quite good and now she had been spirited away Wynter arranged for her to have a new identity and a new life. The problem for her was since her “new name” was unknown in engineering circles she could not get a decent job that made use of her talents.

Gary always believed in giving people second chances so when the idea of the Knight’s Forge came about he thought she deserved a chance to shine at what she did best and this time do it for the right reasons. Wynter thought McCabe might have a problem with her appointment seeing he was an Alpha. McCabe though also believed in second chances since three members of Zodiac came from “suspect” backgrounds.

Having sorted the Knight’s Forge’s director and deputy positions then came the difficult task of diverting funds in order to build an actual laboratory and workshops. Since every villain in the known world would like to get their hands on the technology, secrecy was tantamount. (It has been rumoured for years the Knight’s Forge base is located in the Antarctic but CLEA has no firm intel.)

With the Knight’s Forge operational, Naylor was surprised to receive a simple untraceable and somewhat cryptic message that said “Regarding your idea for supplying technology to CLEA, the Knight’s Forge is here to help.” Sometime after that CLEA began to receive prototype tech for use by its agents in their fight against crime and it did not take her too long to work out where its origin came from.
Eventually Wynter and McCabe confirmed the origin of Knight’s Forge to Chief Naylor when they realised CLEA was investigating elements surrounding their operation. They needed her help to make the investigations go away. Though the Knight’s Forge had given CLEA plenty of material help, before Naylor agreed to intervene she wanted access to know what the Knight’s Forge was up to.
Since Wynter and McCabe felt they could trust her (in the case of the latter she had kept certain information regarding Zodiac secret) they agreed on the principal that if she had the heads up then she could divert attention away. However McCabe wanted something in return and that was when the second part of the operation was put into play they did not want Knight’s Forge agents to be interfered with by over enthusiastic CLEA agents.

The latter was a tall order as it meant getting every other chief on board. However since she was so well respected, when it came to a vote she won by a majority and CLEA added a new mandate which involved keeping the Knight’s Forge a secret on account to have them exposed then they would lose a valuable ally when it came to the supply of tech.

Having set up one part of the Knight’s Forge, before McCabe and Wynter handed it over to the staff to run the operation they had to take care of the second part, namely the “strike” team or agents who would recover valuable technology from the wrong hands (which later became known as Knight’s Sword). They believed whomever they hired would have to be part detective and part soldier and one name that appeared rather quickly was Steve Griffin.

A member of intelligence gathering service for the British Government, Griffin had been forced into an office job role after rather too much risk taking resulted in political “problems”. Since politics would not be an issue for the Knight’s Forge he was approached and when given the chance to go back into the field, he immediately handed in his notice.

The next two people chosen came by way of Naylor’s recommendations. Since McCabe and Wynter were having problems selecting appropriate people they turned to her to look for people to match the skills they needed. Naylor in return accessed the CLEA database and got several names and at the top of the list where to names that would eventually join the Forge.

Haru Fujimoto was an experience CLEA agent working in New Tokyo and had performed a fair amount of undercover work and had managed to survive attempts on his life from Alphas and other dangerous villains. He had even come up against the Twelve and escaped. As a member of Knight’s Forge he would be expected to go toe to toe with such people in order to steal their tech so to McCabe and Wynter he seemed perfectly qualified.

The second name Naylor selected was Rylee Jefferson. Though younger than and not as experienced as Haru, she had one of the highest scores for the CLEA aptitude test and excelled in code breaking. As Chief Naylor described her, “You want to get in anywhere then she is your man.”

The trio then began training exercises to get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Once they felt they were ready they decided to call themselves “Knight’s Sword”. Relying on nothing more than a fast transport jet, some basic tech and just their wits meant the trio had a difficult few early months. However with the Knight’s Forge in full operation they soon got access to much better gear.

Since some of the work involved basic intelligence gathering they tended to wear normal clothes to blend in. However once a “target” was confirmed the trio needed something a lot better since most villains liked to hand onto their acquisitions. For this reason Cade created a lightly armoured bodysuit for Griffin. He also received a gift from Sam in the form of the “Destrier” an automobile design which was practically a mobile arsenal.

Haru and Rylee also received armoured bodysuits that had the means to allow them to fly. The trio had asked for such a unit because the team tended to use  multiple entry points when trying to steal tech.. Whilst Griffin distracted the “enemy” below the other two would enter a building or storage faciltiy higher up. Previously this had needed to be done with a lot of physical climbing. Cade built the suits based on the Blue Flame design he had created for his brother. To make them stealthier Cade added retractable bird like wings so they cut turn of the microjets and silently glide to their destination. Haru ended up with the first version of the suit whilst Rylee ended up with the second slightly improved unit.

Even with the latest tech at their disposal, when it came to missions in Russia, the trio were dogged by a woman who seemed to be on a similar mission to theirs, albeit she was stealing tech and giving it to the highest bidder. The woman was known in criminal circles as the “Blackhawk” and many regarded her as a master thief. Her real name was Sonja Lebedeva and she had left a trail of chaos all over her native Russia.

On the two occasions the Knight’s Sword came face to face with her she outwitted them on both occasions much to their annoyance. However months after their last encounter her glorious criminal career came to an end when she was double-crossed by someone she was working for and taken to prison for a twenty year stretch. Griffin saw great “potential” in her and suggested to Cade that they break her out of prison as a diplomatic release was not going to be on the cards with CLEA or anyone else.
Though the venture was risky, Cade gave the Knight’s Sword permission and they found “stealing” her was no different than stealing an item of tech. Once clear of the Russian authorities Sonja was given the choice, work with the Knight’s Forge or be left for the police. There was only one answer she could give and though she felt she was blackmailed into working for the Knight’s Forge, in time she came to realise that it wasn’t stealing stuff that she liked doing as a criminal but rather the excitement of doing that.
Normally a loner she eventually allowed herself to accept working with Griffin and the others. Since she seemed to pilot the “Destrier” when Griffin was otherwise engaged, Sam decided to make Sonja her own vehicle. Based on the fact that in the past the ex-thief liked using a motorcycle as a getaway vehicle of choice, Sam built her the “Courser” an advanced motorcycle. Like the Destrier it was outfitted with suitable weaponry to deal with “problems”.

As the Knight’s Forge has grown over time, Cade as director has elected to reveal its secrets to a number of people both in order to help them and to learn about their technology. The first of these was the ex-Raider Hawk whom had problems with a malfunctioning circuit system. He would later return to help C.L.A.R.A. in breaking her programming. Another “hero” that eventually became a semi-regular attendee at the Forge was “Architect”. Other “heroes” have since then been through the facility but few are permitted to know its location so are often transported in a condition that does not allow them to know their whereabouts.

Equipment Types

When originally conceived by the Armourer, every outfit was of custom design. For such a small garage industry this mode of operation was the most logical. However once the Forge was “officially” created with backing from Wynter and McCabe a method of streamlining the operation was put in place. Just like Lewis Wynter and McCabe had been creating outfits for various heroes on a one to one basis. Now working together and supplying CLEA it was decided to create standardised designs.

Three main variants exist

Knights Super Suit (KSS) – For individuals who’s abilities mean they have limited need for extra protection or where bulky armour would physical characteristics. These give the individual the classic “superhero” look and though the materials are thinner extra protection is often woven into the fabric.
The original design is based on the suit used by Dr Marcus Hellen this was modified further and used to supply White Guardians and then current heroes. White Guardians unlike vigilantes adopted a “standardised” colour scheme. In time newer materials allowed for an updated design which had greater strength but reduced flexibility. This was handier for vigilantes who operated alone and were move vulnerable. CLEA chose to keep using the existing design whereas vigilantes who have chosen to use the KSS have either retained the original design, switched to the newer unit or actually used a combination of both.

All over Armour (AOA Armour) – For individuals who often lack enhancements such as Bio, Alpha Abilities or cybernetic parts. Unlike the supersuits the armor provides good protection from a wide range of weapons, projectile and energy based.
Three types of AOA exist. The First released was the “S8” suit which featured a full helmet and face guard. Having proved itself with amateurs CLEA showed an interest but wanted a design that could be hermetically sealed to use in gas or water and so the “Hydron” suit was created which had all the functionality of the S8 but with a helmet that could be sealed to the suit to protect from water/gas ingress. However in keeping with a slim design emergency oxygen packs have to be installed when used in this configuration. A third variant the “Solar” suit was created to use in warmer less hazardous environments and named after the White Guardian “Solar” for whom it was initially developed. Almost identical to the Hydron, it has a lighter open helmet. All three suits have been used with both vigilantes and CLEA but CLEA tends to use the Hydron and Solar suits whereas the superhero community uses the older S8.

Light Armourer Suit (LAS) – More similar to the type of equipment used by the military. Though it has less protection it is cheaper and faster to build. It is often supplied to CLEA security personnel to protect against lower level types of threats.

Though all the outfits are “standardised” the KSS and AOA models are often used as a start point and extra customisation is added as per individual needs. Often individuals are accustomed to older equipment such as flight/jet packs that they wish to retain having mastered their usage. Therefore existing equipment can often be found grafted onto newer units.

Also though many heroes supplied before the Forge came into being were offered upgraded outfits, many chose to keep their existing older outfits considering it part of their heroic “identity”. In supplying both CLEA and vigilantes, the Knight’s Forge has only one rule and that is once a suit is “retired” it is returned to them for destruction, to prevent the technology falling into criminal hands.

Knockout


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Madison Reece

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – allows her to generate a forcefield at the five extremities of her body. This makes her head, hands and feet impervious to damage.
  • Alpha ability – increase in strength to nearly double that of an average adult male. Can smash her way through walls and other similar objects

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Forcefield does not cover all of her body so she wears amour to protect it which slows her down.
  • Use of her Alpha ability tires her quickly preventing her from accessing it.
  • Relies on strength over tactics. Can be defeated by smarter opponents.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Muscle for hire
  • Robbery
  • Wilful damage to property
  • Assault and battery
  • Aggravated Assault

Notes/History

As an Alpha Criminal Madison is normally employed as an enforcer or to retrieve people. Owing to the fact that her Alpha abilities enables her to get into most places because once she activated her Alpha ability her hands and feet become protected by a localised forcefield making then almost invulnerable and her strength also increases to the point she can hit through tough materials such as stone without any ill effects. She is also able to kick just as hard but prefers to use her fists.

Due to the fact only her hands, head and feet become invulnerable Madison is forced to wear body armour to protect the rest of her body. This limits her movements and makes her a largely grounded fighter. Despite these minor problems, Madison still gets the job done though her brute force tactics means she is about as subtle as a train wreck.

Lady Luck


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Christina Noltan

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – Gives Christina the means to instinctibely alter the laws of probability. For this to happen the outcome has to be possible even if highly improbable and can be used consciously or subconsciously.
  • Though not trained she is an agile fighter due to her sporty interests.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • If she allows her mind to focus on an outcome not being possible then that result will often occur. Also making the mistake of trying to use a gift when an outcome is impossible often results in her gift backfiring.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Before her Alpha abilities activated Christina was always a social person. Since an early age she liked to help others worse of than herself and was a member of a couple of Atlantica base charities that helped the homeless. Away from her job and community work she was a bit of a fitness fanatic and had a lot of interest in sport and it was leaving her local gym one day that her change to an Alpha Superior was triggered.

Crossing the road she failed to notice an approaching van until it was too late. The shock of impending doom triggered the adrenalin rush and acitvated her dormant Alpha abilties. As she braced for the inevitable impact the van suddenly mounted the pavement struck the wall and spun back out into the road taking a wide arc around her, an almost impossible outcome. Had she moved from her position she would have been hit but somehow she felt she was okay even though she did not know why.

As time continued Christina noticed she was somehow managing to avoid accidents, even simple ones and she began to get intrigued. Testing her theory she ran a number of experiments and eventually ascertained that she could manipulate probability in her favour. Sometimes that would happen subconsciously such as when the van had missed her. Other times she could use it on a conscious basis but for that to happen two criteria had to be met, the first being that the intended outcome could be possible even if highly improbable. This meant she avoid a falling object by having it deflect of multiple objects in its path to avoid her but expecting it to defy gravity and float upwards, would not work as it was against the laws of physics. The second limitation of her gift was that she had to avoid the usage of “negative willpower”. Focusing on believing the outcome was impossible would create that result.

Having a strong desire to use her gift for something other than herself, Christina decided on becoming a costumed adventurer. Quickly she earned the name Lady Luck by performing improbable acts. Never being one to play nice with others, the life of a lone hero suited her so she amazed herself when she got involved with the Guardian Alliance by volunteering to become a reserve member.
After disaster struck on the first mission and Striker decided to quite and suggested disbanding the Alliance, she along with Discus (Paul Smith) and Digitise decided to continued with Paul in charge. That meant she changed from a reserve to a full time member and that meant extra resposibilities.

Never one to back down from a challenge Christina took her new duties in her stride. The team was renamed the Phoenix Alliance and along with the other two she even managed to help recruit new members. After a period of stability Paul decided to quit in order to solve a “family crisis” and as one of the most experienced members Christina found herself in charge. Though it was not a job she really wanted she continued as best as she could until Gary Wynter (G-Whizz) took over and relocated the team to Europa.

Not fancying the move to another continent Christina stood down and became a reserve member once more and returned to her life of a solo hero. Despite the status she has returend to the Alliance on more than one occassion, either when her “hero” work took her to Europa or the Alliance came over to Atlantica but she has never took up a full time position.

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