Brimstone

Vanguard Mission Log:

In the aftermath of the Viper raid, we manage to work well talking to the press. I did ok, and Tripleforte seems to have a real knack for public speaking. All the press was great, just the thing our fledgling group needed.

We talked to the solo hero's about possible membership in the Freedom League. Mr. Nobody and Starburst agree to become reserve members. Having Starburst to call on will be a nice reserve bit of power if we need it. Mr. Nobody has many skills that could help us during investigations. Sgt. Eagle agrees to join at least on a probationary basis. This makes a lot of sense, he doesn't know us very well and we really don't know him.

Black Phantom warns us that Brother Hood is trying to start a race war. He's bringing in some heavy hitters. Phantom says that he will let us know if he finds out more.

It seemed like a good time for a team meeting to get our bearings. I take a role of open "cases":

• The Knights of Genetic Purity: Led by Flare, these are the guys responsible for the Flea's condition. We need to find them and get justice.
  
• The Endicot situation: Mason is working on it, and Sgt. Eagle says he may have some contacts that might prove useful.
  
• Trauma says something call "The Church of the Army of the Lord" attacked him. He doesn't seem to have many details or information beyond that, but that's Trauma for you.
  
• Nicodimus escaped from Canada: not sure where to begin with that one
• Hooligan is working on a series of murders that appear to be connected. He needs assistance from Mason and Trauma.
  
• Tripleforte says he needs help to find "Micheal." He doesn't give a whole lot of other details. I confess that "Mystic Shit" gives me the creeps.
  

We were just getting into the meat of the open cases when a disguised Foxbat shows up looking to join the team! I was temped to just knock him around and be done with it, but then I figured, why not have some fun? I told him he had to spar with The Hooligan as his first test. I didn't think I'd need a second test. I was wrong. I think our attempts to real in the Hooligan may have worked too well. Foxbat left him in the dust. I quickly came up with a essay hoping to keep Foxbat busy for a while.

Meanwhile, Legion returns. Not sure where he's been but it was good to see him. He warns us that Viper is already arranging hit squads to come after us. I hope Legion can turn up some more information.

If that wasn't enough, Jeremiah Gabriel shows up (more Mystic Shit!) with a friend. He tells us that the "thing" is causing them all kinds of trouble with DEMON and they want to give it back. This seems like a really bad idea to me. All of use are essentially part-time so I'm not sure how we can guard it full-time. He also informs us that the entire inner circle of DEMON is believed to be in L.A. Ok, that cannot be good at all. Something big is about to go down.

As if on cue, a portal opens up in our freakin' conference room. At least you can't fault DEMON for not getting to the point. In pours zombies, DEMON agents, Morbanes, and some awful looking "Death Knight."

Of course the battle rages. Things went pretty well despite the odds. I tried to stay in the back and trouble shoot a little, throwing a shield over Gabriel at one point, but I ended up face to face with the ex-Knight. Tripleforte assisted me to take the big ugly down. Sgt. Eagle spent most of the battle surrounded by zombies, but managed to come out mostly unscathed and he took a bunch down single handedly. He never panicked; he's gonna be a good addition I can tell. I'm not sure what all Trauma was doing, but I'm never usually sure.

Mason discovered other elements of DEMON doing something else in the base. Gabriel went to assist and I sent Legion with him. I can't think of a better member to send when we don't know what we are getting into. Later, Mason and Gabriel asked for more backup. I hated to pull someone off the main battle, but sounded important. I sent Hooligan to back them up. It turned out to be a good choice, as he was able to subdue an inner circle member with his special brand of hospitality. As much as Hooligan sometimes gives me a headache, it's nice to have someone who knows how to kick ass and take names once in a while.

We managed to take out the entire strike force. Another problem surfaced, as we discovered Gabriel offing DEMON agents with a hideous knife. I managed to get him to stop, but this in going to be a stick issue to deal with. More on that later.