Issue # 7

Sparrow Hawk, Rampart, Troyus, and Apex received a radio communication from Crusader just moments after debriefing the assault on the Sea Drake at UNTIL HQ. Crusader related that he had followed Arrowhead after the night's events, tracking him to a brownstone in a rundown section of the city. He could see strange lights emanating from a top-floor window in the brownstone. Before he could explain further, however, Crusader was cut off by a surprise attack and knocked unconscious.

Sparrow Hawk was able to trace the location of Crusader's still-active communicator, and the heroes rushed to the rescue. Landing on the rooftop where Crusader had made his report, the heroes saw the strange lights emanating from the brownstone in question. Sparrow Hawk glided across the street to the brownstone's window and tried to peer in. Although the drapes were drawn, she could just barely make out Crusader, tied to a chair and guarded by men with guns. From a slightly different angle, she could also see a strange device sporting Tesla coils and other high tech accouterments.

Troyus and Apex decided to break into the brownstone via the rooftop entrance. Flying down a flight of stairs, they came face-to-face with Arrowhead. The villain tried his usual brand of diplomacy, trying to convince the heroes that there was some sort of misunderstanding and that they were all actually on the same side, but with a friend in trouble the heroes weren't having it. Troyus blew past Arrowhead, while Apex engaged the criminal in combat.

Meanwhile, Sparrow Hawk attempted to disrupt the proceedings in the apartment by firing her grapple at the strange machine. Her hope was to damage it or pull it through the window, but blast doors on the windows snapped shut the moment the grapple struck its target. Rampart, now in giant form, charged across the street, grabbed the cable, and pulled it through. The heroes could hear a crash from within, but the cable snapped. Rampart then dug his hand into the side of the building and pulled out the wall, exposing the interior of the apartment. A balding, bespectacled, lab-coat wearing, elderly man yelled, "Get them you fools! They've destroyed my machine!" At his feet, in the wreckage of the machine, lay a man with charcoal grey skin and a black suit. He was coughing, up smoke and seemed in a great deal of pain. "Pomegranate!" he screamed between coughs, "What have you done to me!" Sparrow Hawk and Rampart recognized his voice as that of "Ricky" - Arrowhead's partner in crime. At that point Troyus burst through the interior door, and the battle was joined.

Troyus engaged the thugs. Sparrow Hawk directed Rampart to help Apex and then moved to cut Crusader free. "That's three times you save my life, Pretty Bird," said the hero. "Maybe I'm getting to old for this." Sparrow Hawk's eyes narrowed, but the moment was interrupted as more thugs spilled into the room. The heroes made short work of the opposition, captured Dr. Pythias Pomegranate, and tried to contain Ricky, who was still writhing in agony. To make matters worse, he was starting to lose cohesion and turn into smoke.

Meanwhile, the fight between Apex and Arrowhead spilled out into the city street. Apex caught Arrowhead in a telekinetic hold, but the villain attacked him with his psionic blasts. Apex then smashed Arrowhead into a parked car, but the crafty criminal managed to grab the vehicle and fling it at the hero - catching the him by surprise. Apex dropped Arrowhead, and the two squared off. Shrugging off Apex's TK Wave, Arrowhead charged at the hero, but had to change course as Rampart arrived on the scene. Dodging one of the giant's blows, Arrowhead charged at Rampart as if to attack, but instead leaped onto and over the hero, landing feet first onto a manhole cover and punching through into the sewers below. Apex and Rampart tried to give chase, but Arrowhead managed to outmaneuver them and escaped.

Rampart and Apex then rejoined the heroes at the brownstone. Apex used his telekinetic powers to gather up the writhing, screaming, smoke that Ricky had turned into. Dr. Pythias Pomegranate claimed that he had been kidnapped by the Spumoni family and forced to bestow his enforcers with superpowers, but the heroes saw through his lies. They called UNTIL for back-up, and Martinez sent Sgt. Evelyn Knight to pick up the criminals in a hover transport.

As the heroes disbanded for the night, Crusader approached Rampart about Sparrow Hawk. He shared that he worried about "Pretty Bird's" intensity. He also asked about her age, her motivations, and her disposition towards him. Rampart laughed and wished him luck if he tried to start a relationship with her.

Before going home, Troyus swung by the Roberts home. He was surprised and alarmed to find his adopted father, Tor Hallam, perusing some items in Joe's study. The elder Hallam asked if Troyus had learned his lesson. Troyus, he explained, was meant to uplift mankind. He was an instrument for greatness - a champion of order in a chaotic world. VIPER's activities, he continued, were only an extreme version of modern moralities that valorized greed, competition, mindless power, and chaos. Such values enabled rule by the mediocre at best. Indeed, the chaotic tendencies of modernity had empowered many who were racially and mentally inferior to the aristocracies of old. Only a return to such an aristocracy could save humanity. Tor Hallam was convinced that with the proper tutelage Troyus could lead humanity to a new golden age. It therefore sickened him to see his adopted son mingle with racial degenerates like Joe Roberts, his mutant grandaughter, and the rest of those so-called superheroes. Besides, the old man pointed out, it was Troyus' decision to reject his destiny and socialize with such inferiors that resulted in their current predicament. Needless to say, Troyus rejected Tor Hallam's words, warning his adopted father to leave the Roberts home or else. Tor Hallam agreed to do so, but promised that they would meet again soon.

By the next day, UNTIL’s crews managed to salvage the Sea Drake’s mini-sub. Inside they found a high-tech crate with radioactivity symbols displayed on the sides. Early the next morning, Juan Martinez summoned Sparrow Hawk, Nightshift, Apex, Troyus, Rampart and Crusader for another debriefing. The crate, he explained, contained large quantities of Kevalrite – a meteoric substance known to bestow superpowers on those exposed to its radioactive emissions. The substance was extremely rare on Earth, and its effects were usually unpredictable. In fact, the only time that Martinez had come into contact with Kevalrite in the amounts contained on the Sea Drake was in the 1960s, when a joint UNTIL / US force took down the island fortress of mad scientist and international criminal mastermind, Dr. Lirby Koo. Koo had not been seen for years, but the contents of the crate made him wonder if the old villain was in some way involved with VIPER. Martinez also reported that the machine used by Dr. Pomegranate employed a highly unstable synthetic Kevalrite of the doctor's design. The Spumonis, it seems, were attempting to fight off a VIPER-backed Careli offensive by creating a superpowered force of their own. Left with many questions, the heroes at least began their day with the knowledge that VIPER had finally suffered a major defeat at their hands.

Issue # 8

After a long day of debriefings at UNTIL HQ regarding the Sea Drake and Pomegranate affairs, the heroes were faced with a series of new challenges. For days, Tom Clayborn (A.K.A. Rampart) had neglected his commitment to his band, which was on the verge of performing a very important concert. He therefore told his teammates that he might be unreachable for the next couple of days, but that he would be in touch as soon as possible. Similarly, Alex Lamberton (A.K.A. Apex) received word that his estranged family was suffering through a crisis, the nature of which required his immediate attention. Keeping the nature of his troubles private, he announced to his allies that he had to leave town, but promised to return as soon as possible. With Nightshift still failing to answer his radio and Starburst still recovering from the injuries he suffered at Tanghal Tower, only Sparrow Hawk, Troyus, and Crusader remained to deal with VIPER.

Things heated up that night, when Troyus returned to his New York apartment to find Cheshire Cat waiting for him. The teleporting villain assured Troyus that his surrogate family was safe and sound. He also promised the hero that they would remain unharmed as long as Troyus cooperated with VIPER’s demands. Specifically, Troyus was to secure the shipment of kevalrite that VIPER lost in the Sea Drake affair and deliver it to the Statue of Liberty that evening. VIPER would aid Troyus in securing the kevalrite by shutting down UNTIL HQ’s main security systems, but the kevalrite was contained in a separate storage facility that was off the UNTIL mainframe and therefore out of reach of VIPER’s hackers. In addition, the kevalrite was being kept in a chamber that dampened superpowers, which is why Cheshire Cat couldn’t teleport into UNTIL HQ and secure the kevalrite himself. In exchange for Troyus’ help, VIPER would release one of their captives to the hero. Troyus demanded that they all be released, but Cheshire Cat only said, “We’ll see!” before teleporting away.

Troyus immediately informed Sparrow Hawk and Crusader about his conversation with Cheshire Cat, and they agreed to confer with Major Martinez to set a trap for VIPER. The heroes knew that VIPER would scan anything they delivered that evening, so they proposed using the synthetic kevalrite developed by Dr. Pomegranate as a decoy. Knowing that UNTIL had been infiltrated by VIPER, they assumed that their every move would be watched. Having UNTIL simply hand over the synthetic kevalrite, therefore, might seem suspicious. They therefore planned a staged assault of UNTIL HQ. This would involve Troyus storming into the base and taking the real kevalrite by force just after the security systems went haywire. Troyus would then switch out the real kevalrite for the synthetic one just before leaving the base. Martinez and a couple of his most trusted agents would handle this transfer. As for the meeting with VIPER, Sparrow Hawk suggested coating the top of the Statue of Liberty’s head with a radioactive dust that would stick to anything that touched it. That way they would have something to trace via geiger counter, even if Cheshire Cat teleported the kevalrite away. The problem, of course, is that Cheshire Cat could teleport rather long distances, making it nearly impossible to trace him effectively with their limited sensory equipment. To compensate for this, they decided to call in a favor in the form of Fleetfoot, the only remaining active member of the Minutemen who the heroes had saved months earlier. As a speedster, Fleetfoot might be able to crisscross the city with a geiger counter at superspeed, therefore covering a wide area in short order. Although hesitant to turn over any form of kevalrite, synthetic or not, Martinez agreed to the plan. He immediately began to make his own plans to discover the infiltrator in the midst of his organization. Meanwhile, the heroes called Fleetfoot, who enthusiastically agreed to lend his assistance.

After receiving approval, the heroes began to make preparations. Reasoning that a hidden VIPER base needed a vast power supply, she hacked into the computer systems that tracked the city’s power usage and set up a program that would monitor that data for any irregularities. She then decided to visit the Statue of Liberty in her normal identity as Rebeca Glass in order to stealth away and remain behind when the park closed. Upon reaching the observation deck, she noticed a man staring at her in surprise and horror. She turned to meet his gaze, and he turned from her and hurried away. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn’t immediately figure out where she’d seen him before. Then it came to her. Place the face behind a VIPER helmet, and it’s the agent who killed her parents a decade earlier. Place his face behind a blue and white mask, and it’s CRUSADER! Her heart pounding, she raced to catch up to him, but he was gone. Without saying a word to anyone, she returned to base to conduct some research. She then returned to assume her post at the Statue of Liberty and wait.

Minutes before the appointed hour, Troyus, Sparrow Hawk and Fleetfoot were in place, but there was no sign of Crusader. As scheduled, UNTIL’s security systems went down, and Troyus made his move. His force field at maximum, Troyus was able to easily fly by the lighter armed guards that Martinez had placed in his path. He grabbed the kevalrite and flew out of the base, switching it with the synthetic kevalrite as planned. He then flew towards the Statue of Liberty. Seconds before getting there, Martinez radioed in, “We’ve discovered the infiltrator,” he reported. “It was Moliere. He’s dead.” Troyus’ heart sank. Moliere, the undercover UNTIL agent who had worked with him as a mechanic in Joe Robert’s shop, had been a great comfort to him in recent days. Pushing those thoughts from his mind, he focused on the mission at hand. Landing on top of the Statue of Liberty, he was instantly joined by Cheshire Cat. He smiled, inspected the container, and then scanned its contents. While he was doing this, Troyus noticed the flare of jet packs descending from the dark clouds above, as two VIPER air cavalry agents carried Joe Roberts roughly by his armpits towards the Statue of Liberty. “You’ve done well,” said Cheshire Cat. “Boys! Turn him over!” With that the VIPER agents dropped Joe Roberts, letting him drop towards the ground. Troyus dove after him, only to see Sparrow Hawk dive from the Lady Liberty’s crown to reach him first. Moments later, he noticed Crusader, jump boots blazing, rocketing towards the scene of the battle. Seeing that Joe was safe and that Cheshire Cat had taken the opportunity to teleport away with the synthetic kevalrite, Troyus launched after the VIPER agents, who were already speeding towards the cloud cover with their jet packs.

Sparrow Hawk carried Joe Roberts safely to the Statue of Liberty’s observation deck, only to be joined by Crusader seconds later. “Hey, prettybird, let’s catch us some – umph!” Sparrow Hawk kicked him in the stomach. He reeled back, surprised and in pain. “What was that for?” he croaked.

“Don’t play games with me,” replied Sparrow Hawk. “You’re one of them, and you always have been. You killed Rebeca Glass’ parents ten years ago. Security tapes show that you were working for days at Glass Industries before Ogre broke out – before VIPER moved in. You betrayed us, and you’re going down.”

Joe Robert’s watched as the heroes battled it out, Sparrow Hawk striking in a barely controlled fury, and Crusader fighting defensively, trying to plead with her. He insisted that “the snakes” captured him a decade earlier. They tortured him and brainwashed him into serving as their operative. Yes, he’d killed for VIPER, but only once. He broke his conditioning as a consequence of that moment and escaped. Feeling guilty over the murder he committed, he donned the identity of Crusader and had been fighting VIPER ever since. Doing so was the only way he knew how to make amends. Crusader said all of this, but Sparrow Hawk wasn’t having it. “So that’s the way it’s going to be? Fine. But I won’t sit in jail while VIPER gets away with more murder. It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t justice. Goodbye, Prettybird. I wish it could have been different.” With that, he leapt off the observation deck and escaped using his glider wings. Deciding it best not to leave Joe Roberts alone, Sparrow Hawk decided to let him go.

Meanwhile, Troyus followed the VIPER agents to a VIPER troop transport hovering in the clouds above the Statue of Liberty. He downed the VIPER agents easily, and then gave chase as the plane rocketed away. His intention was to follow the vehicle to VIPER HQ, but the pilot seemed aware of this possibility. The troop transport opened fire on Troyus with its turrents, all of which were easily disabled by the young hero. Troyus smile of triumph turned to a wide-eyed expression of alarm when he realized the pilot’s last ditch plan to fly the transport into the Chrysler Building. Troyus dove towards the troop transport as the VIPER agents bailed out in jet packs. Flying up from underneath the craft, he strained his muscles and flew into it, trying to divert its course away from the skyscraper. Exerting himself beyond all known limits, Troyus blanked out from pain and exertion. He awoke minutes later, lying on the rooftop of a building several blocks away from the docks. Hearing the sounds of a city gone mad below him, he stood up and was gratified to see the back end of the troop transport sticking out of the Hudson River. Moments later, both he and Sparrow Hawk responded to a radio communiqué from Fleetfoot. “Guys?” he said. “It was touch and go there for a second, but I’m pretty sure I’ve found where Cheshire’s got to. With any luck, we’ve got ourselves a VIPER’s Nest!”

Issue # 9

After a long band rehearsal, Tom Clayborn turned on the TV just in time to catch special news coverage of how Troyus prevented a VIPER transport from ramming into the Chrysler Building. Realizing that he missed something important, he activated his communicator and contacted his fellow team members. Sparrow Hawk responded, caught him up on the night’s events, and informed him that they would all be meeting at UNTIL HQ to discuss how to assault the VIPER HQ that Fleetfoot seemed to have pinpointed. Tom agreed to join them and, after promising his band that he would be back for their set at that night’s performance, transformed into Rampart (“Rock On!”) before heading off to meet the others.

Troyus and Joe Roberts were reunited at UNTIL HQ. The old man thanked Troyus and the other heroes for rescuing him, but expressed great concern that Vanessa (his wife) and Sophie (his granddaughter) were still in VIPER’s hands. Meanwhile, Sparrow Hawk revealed to everyone present that Crusader was actually a VIPER agent and that their security was compromised. She then changed the frequencies on all the team communicators to prevent Crusader from spying on them. That out of the way, the heroes sat down to discuss their next move. It was agreed that they would all descend on the Mercer Building, where Fleetfoot had been led by his Geiger counter, find the entrance to the VIPER’s Nest, and strike quickly. A large contingent of UNTIL agents would be nearby, waiting for the heroes to call for back-up.

Their plan proved difficult to execute. Upon arriving at the Mercer Building, the heroes had a hard time finding an obvious entrance to the VIPER base. Shortly thereafter they discovered cameras observing their every move. Entering the top floor of offices, Rampart finally noticed signage designating one of the office suites as occupied by Carelli Construction. Remembering that the Carelli family was the crime family backed by VIPER, they entered their offices to search for a hidden entrance. They managed to avoid a sleeping gas attack, found a hidden elevator, called for UNTIL back-up, and proceeded to descend into what they knew would be an ambush.

Rampart blocked the elevator entrance and took the full brunt of eight energy bazookas wielded by a two squads of “brickbuster” VIPER agents. One shot in particular struck his face, blowing off a significant chunk of his stony armor, but Rampart stepped into the hall, absorbed part of the concrete floor, grew to 10’ in height, and bowled over four VIPER agents with a single sweep or his arm. Left with an opening, Fleetfoot darted past his giant ally and dispatched the other “brickbuster” agents on his way to engaging the other 36 agents that stood in the hallway to the right of the first wave. Standing among the “brickbuster” agents was Brick, VIPER’s own rocky super-powered operative, who moved to meet his heroic counterpart in hand-to-hand combat. One punch from his opponent, and the significantly weakened Rampart knew he was in trouble.

Seeing that Fleetfoot was handling the VIPER squads to the right of the battle between Brick and Rampart, Sparrow Hawk chose to engage the 36 agents occupying the hall directly behind the battling titans. Throwing a smoke grenade into the corridor, she activated her infrared lenses and leapt into their midst as Troyus moved to back-up Fleetfoot, eye-beams blasting.

A flurry of kicks and punches later, Sparrow Hawk stood over a pile of unconscious VIPER agents. Then she heard a braggart’s voice barking commands at the VIPER agents that stood beyond the smoke cloud created by her grenade. “C’mon, ya ninnies! What’re you waiting for!? Open fire and blast the birdie!” The remaining VIPER agents obeyed, but Sparrow Hawk dodged all of their attacks barring one that nicked her shoulder armor. “You guys suck!” exclaimed the man shouting orders. “Let Pulsar show you how it’s done!” With that the villain cut loose with a powerful blast. Still shrouded by the smoke cloud, Sparrow Hawk narrowly evaded Pulsar’s attack, which continued down the hall and melted the wall next to Rampart.

Weakened from taking an energy bazooka to the face and a powerful body blow from Brick, Rampart had gone into defensive mode, parrying Brick’s blows as he absorbed even more of the concrete floor to reconstitute the weakened sections of his rocky frame. Alerted by Pulsar’s blast, he glanced down the hall, faintly seeing the glow of Pulsar’s force field through the dissipating smoke cloud created by Sparrow Hawk. Grabbing Brick, he hefted the villain over his head and chucked him at Pulsar. Pulsar and Brick landed in a heap, as Sparrow Hawk stepped out of the smoke towards them, cracking her knuckles as if she’d just delivered a powerful punch and directing a menacing, “You’re next,” to the VIPER agents remaining in that hall. Her intimidation attempt was successful, and the agents broke into a full retreat.

The fight proved more challenging for Troyus and Fleetfoot, who faced five squads of VIPER agents in the adjoining corridor. Lacking proper cover, even Fleetfoot found it difficult to evade the well-coordinated weapons fire of 36 VIPER agents, and their powerful weapons managed to penetrate Troyus’ force field and stun him momentarily. Shaking it off, however, the two heroes poured it on and were able to defeat the agents just as Rampart hurled Brick at Pulsar.

Getting up from Rampart’s attack, Brick and Pulsar faced off against the combined might of Troyus, Sparrow Hawk, Rampart, and Fleetfoot. In his arrogance, Pulsar ordered them to surrender, but once Sparrow Hawk insulted his masculinity, the fight was on. Sparrow Hawk entangled Pulsar with a mini-bola from her utility belt, and the braggart spent most of the fight making threats and trying to burn off the restraints. Brick proved more difficult to defeat. Fleetfoot hurt his hand pounding away at Brick’s stony hide. Figuring that his skills were better suited to scouting, the speedster ran off in the direction of the retreating VIPER agents, leaving Brick to the others. Brick put up a good fight, but the heroes proved too much for him. After taking a series of energy blasts, martial strikes, and rocky fists, one final uppercut from Rampart sent Brick flying through the wall of lockers to his left and into the VIPER base’s two story gymnasium. Landing in a heap of barbells and dumbbells, Brick was down for the count. Only then was Pulsar able to blast his way out of Sparrow Hawk’s mini-bola, but before he could do anything he was cut down by a hail of blaster fire. Turning their attention towards the elevators, the heroes were greeted by Captain Jensen and a squad of UNTIL agents.

Just then, Fleetfoot contacted the heroes via their communicators. The base, he reported, was three levels deep, with a control center on the bottom floor. Also on the bottom floor was a monorail, which was being used to evacuate all VIPER personnel, along with the Vanessa and Sophia Roberts. Captain Jensen guessed that VIPER had probably activated the base’s self-destruct system and ordered his men to evacuate the building. Sparrow Hawk asked Fleetfoot, Troyus and Rampart to pursue the monorail, while she and Captain Jensen made their way to the command center to attempt to deactivate the self-destruct mechanism. Upon entering the chamber, Sparrow Hawk was horrified to find that the countdown was already at ten seconds. She rushed to the controls, but it was too late. The bomb exploded with her at ground zero.

After his fight with Sparrow Hawk at the Statue of Liberty, Crusader tracked down his old ally, Starburst. Just recovered from his wounds at Tanghal Tower, Starburst was hesitant to pursue the case any further. Fearing that he was getting too old for the superhero game, he’d been considering retirement for the better part of a year. Crusader, however, convinced him to finish off this case before hanging up the cape. Together they monitored UNTIL HQ and followed the agents and the heroes to the Mercer Building. They watched as the heroes went in, but they held back, given Crusader’s earlier tussle with Sparrow Hawk. Once Captain Jensen mobilized his troops, however, Crusader and Starburst followed them into the building. Staying out of sight, they made their way through the base and arrived in the control center just as the bomb went off. Thinking quickly, Starburst shielded everyone in the room with a force field, barely absorbing the effects of the blast. His endurance was then strained nearly beyond his capabilities, as the Mercer Building collapsed onto his energy bubble. “Now I only owe you one,” said Crusader to Sparrow Hawk, with a wry smile.

Sensing the shockwave of the explosion down the monorail tunnel, Fleetfoot contacted Sparrow Hawk via communicator and reported the situation to the others. Rampart and Troyus head back towards the Mercer Building, while Fleetfoot kept up with the monorail. Pushing his limits, Rampart used his powers to absorb a portion of the wreckage and grew to tremendous heights. He then lifted the debris off of Starburst’s energy bubble. Moments later, Captain Jensen received a communiqué from UNTIL Sergeant Victoria Knight. Major Juan Martinez had been shot and was in critical condition. Apparently, agent Moliere had not been the double agent. Instead, he’d been framed by the actual double agent, Sgt. Henry Wadsworth, who was also the assassin known as Death Commando. With most of UNTIL’s forces at the Mercer Building, Death Commando moved to steal the kelvarite that was still being held at UNTIL HQ. Martinez confronted him, but the older man was wounded in the fight and Death Commando was successful in his mission. Martinez, however, managed to tag the villain’s hover cycle with a tracer before falling unconscious, so Sgt. Knight still had hopes of catching up to the traitorous Wadsworth.

At that point, Fleetfoot reported that the subway had stopped and that its passengers were debarking. Sparrow Hawk asked UNTIL to triangulate on Fleetfoot’s signal, and they determined that he was near the docks, at a warehouse facility owned by the Carelli Moving Company. Captain Jensen offered to amass a force to strike the Carelli Moving Company, but Sparrow Hawk asked that he allow the heroes to get into position first. That way the UNTIL attack could provide a diversion as the heroes slipped into the base via the subway tunnel entrance.

Arriving on the scene, the heroes knocked out a few VIPER guards and toyed with the idea of sneaking in wearing their uniforms, but Troyus, who was worried about the Roberts family, had no stomach for such subtlety and brazenly flew into the base the moment the UNTIL attack began, forcing the heroes to battle their way to the control center. Punching his way through the control center wall, Rampart was immediately attacked by the supervillains Piledriver and Sledge. Beyond these two thuggish foes was a two tiered control room. On the lower level were a series of technicians. On the upper level, looking down from a catwalk, were Cheshire Cat and the Nest Leader. The former stood combat ready, the latter held a gun to Vanessa and Sophia Roberts. Standing behind Cheshire Cat was a slight, tan-skinned, Eurasian man, with smartly combed grey hair, wearing a simple tunic. He glanced impassively at the heroes, before turning his attention back to the control panel that he was manning.

Reacting with lightning speed, Fleetfoot ran up the wall and onto the catwalk, snatching the gun from the Nest Leader’s hand as he zipped past, only to be kicked off the catwalk by an expert kick delivered by Cheshire Cat. Crusader and Pulsar both attacked the teleporting martial artist, one by throwing his buckler and the other with his light blasts, but the rakish villain easily deflected their onslaught with his combat batons. Troyus and Sparrow Hawk moved to attack as well, but the Nest Leader grabbed Vanessa Roberts before they could do so, held a knife to her neck, and ordered everybody to stand down. After a tense couple of seconds, the room was filled with a horrifying shriek. Sophia, fully transmogrified into a monstrous lizard girl, leapt onto the nest leader, sinking her teeth into his knife hand, and knocking him off the catwalk. When that occurred, the tunic wearing Eurasian man turned to Cheshire Cat and said, “Cheshire. We’re done here.” Cheshire Cat then touched the old man on the shoulder and teleported away with him.

Rampart grew to full height and moved to attack Piledriver and Sledge, but they were in the mood to negotiate. “Hey, man,” Sledge began. “We don’t want any part of this! We were their guinea pigs, man! And you’ve got bigger things to worry about. Do you know who that was? His name was Dr. Lirby Koo, and he’s rigged this place to blow! But that’s not all, man. He’s using that stuff he took from you? That fake stuff? Well, he’s rigged THAT to blow, and he says it’ll turn everybody in the Big Apple into, into, into monsters! Like her!” With that, he pointed to Sophie Roberts, who the other heroes were busy trying to pull off of the Nest Leader, now revealed to be Mario Carelli, the eldest son of mob boss Antonio Carelli.

Swinging up to the catwalk, Sparrow Hawk found the synthetic Kevalrite taken by VIPER earlier that evening, sheathed in a force field and attached to a timing mechanism with 30 seconds left on the clock. She asked Fleetfoot and the other heroes to evacuate the base, and then turned towards the task before her. Realizing that the force field was keeping the radiation from the kelvarite contained and that Sparrow Hawk would have to drop it to defuse the bomb, Starburst stayed behind to shield her from its effects by extending his own skin tight force field to cover her as well. Rampart stayed behind as well, in case there was call for him to do something brash and heroic. Sparrow Hawk, however, managed to shut down the device with five seconds left on the clock.

Sparrow Hawk, Rampart, and Starburst emerged from the VIPER Nest to find that the Carelli Moving Company had been secured by UNTIL. Captain Jensen’s forces had encountered Death Commando at the compound, and although the villain managed to escape, UNTIL did manage to secure the stolen kevalrite. UNTIL also had four supervillains in custody, including Brick, Pulsar, Piledriver, and Sledge, not to mention dozens of VIPER agents and Mario Carelli. Jensen, however, reported that Ogre had emerged from the complex during UNTIL’s assault. Knocking aside anything in his way, the monster leapt away from the scene, apparently angry and confused.

A very cooperative Sledge explained what he’d been able to piece together during his time with VIPER. As far as he could tell, Carelli was an ambitious man, eager to advance in the organization by successfully taking down UNTIL, all the while using VIPER’s influence to secure his family’s hold on NYC’s criminal underworld. Dr. Lirby Koo, however, was the real mastermind behind VIPER’s New York operations. Although not traditionally a VIPER operative, Dr. Koo had a personal vendetta against UNTIL (and Major Juan Martinez in particular) dating back to a 1967 raid on one of his secret installations that resulted in the death of his only son. In 1975 Dr. Koo offered his services to VIPER, UNTIL’s primary rival in the world, in hopes of using their resources to exact his revenge. Agreeing to develop VIPER’s Man-Mutation Project, he began making supervillains for the organization. Piledriver and Sledge were early attempts, Brick an intermediary effort, and Pulsar and Cheshire Cat were more recent, and therefore more stable, test cases. Initially, as far as Sledge could tell, Dr. Koo was content simply to allow VIPER to unleash his creations on UNTIL. Eventually, however, Dr. Koo discovered evidence of mind control technology, developed by a criminal scientist in the 1940s. Dr. Koo’s research led him to believe that blueprints of the mind control device were hidden by their creator in the foundation stone of Tanghal Tower as it was being built in the 1940s. He then began to develop a plan. Using the technology developed for the Man-Mutation project, he would secretly create a mutation bomb that would transform everybody in NYC into a super-powered being, like Pulsar and Cheshire Cat. He wouldn’t do this, however, until he could secure the plans for the mind control device and use them to build a second device that would give him control over his super-powered army. Unleashing such a force on UNTIL would bring him great satisfaction. He could then focus on bringing his creations to bare on the nation’s of the world. When things fell apart due to the heroes’ actions, Dr. Koo opted for a hastily conceived Plan B, which was to use the synthetic kevalrite to create a “dirty” bomb. Such a device would undoubtedly result in mass deaths, insanity, and random mutations, leaving the city in chaos and ruins. The heroes may have stopped the mad scientist’s plot, but they certainly earned the enmity of a dangerous foe.

As things were winding down, Crusader approached Sparrow Hawk. “Did I prove myself to you?” he asked?

“You’re still wanted for murder,” accused Sparrow Hawk.

“I was a young FBI agent, infiltrating VIPER,” explained Crusader. “They discovered this, captured me, tortured me, and brainwashed me. I broke the conditioning, but not before committing the most heinous crime of my life. I swore on that day that I would spend the rest of my life fighting VIPER and other scum like them. Every day I do that is a day of atonement for me. Every day I do that, there is just a little more justice in this world. I’ve tried to convince myself of this ever since, but maybe it’s time that I allowed somebody else to judge me. If you think the world is better off with me behind bars, I surrender myself to you.”

“Just get out of my sight,” replied Sparrow Hawk, turning her gaze away from Crusader. Without another word, Crusader disappeared into the shadows and left the scene.

As this conversation was taking place, Troyus was caring for Vanessa and Sophia. The five-year-old had reverted back to her human form, but seemed shaken by the night’s events. Captain Jensen suggested that they all return to UNTIL HQ where Joe Roberts was waiting for them. The heroes also received word that Major Martinez would survive his injuries. In good spirits, Fleetfoot congratulated everybody before excusing himself. Before leaving, however, he spoke to Troyus, warning him that the Roberts family would not be safe. They probably needed to go into some sort of witness protection program, and he promised to use his Minutemen contacts to get him in touch with people who could make the necessary arrangements. He did, however, warn that Sohpie’s mutation could be an issue, as the authorities might become overly curious about her nature. Promising not to do anything until Troyus could discuss options with the Roberts family, Fleetfoot zipped away home. Finally, Rampart rushed back to his band. Although he’d missed the first half of the concert, he got there in time to play their set. Whatever was in store for the heroes from this point on, Rampart was determined to “Rock On!”