*Editing magic performed by Shyqash, plus contributions by the regular gang of brigands and neer-do-wells*

*This tale is a bit tongue and cheek as well as kinky, so be warned.*

*The carnage of unintended consequences*

[PRELUDE]

[LATER THAT NIGHT]

Liberty Lincoln lying there in her ICU hospital bed looked like hell warmed over. They had blown her the fuck up. The 'they' was yet unknown, but I was going to find out who they were before I paid them back tenfold for what they had done to ... my friend.

"Is she going to be safe in there?" Arachne fidgeted.

"Why are you asking him?" Lucky Dead reacted before her spoken word engaged with her brain.

"She is asking me because she already knows what you can bring to bear," I snapped back.

"You guys ...," Arachne played peacemaker once more.

"To answer your question, Arachne, I've let people in Freedom Force know about this and I've got their pledge they will be looking after her from here on out," I put a comforting hand on Arachne's shoulder.

"Is this the end of ... us ... working together," Lucky Dead deflated.

"No," both Arachne and I said at the same time.

"Lucky, whomever did this isn't going to like the cost of their escalation. They dropped a city block on Liberty ... untold 'normies' buried in that mess plus Liberty," I assured her. "We are going to drop the whole city on them."

"But we don't even know who did this?" Arachne worried.

"So we start busting heads until we get the answer we are looking for," I insisted.

"But what are we looking for?" Arachne fretted.

"Bomb-makers aren't a dime a dozen," I started. "Furthermore, someone had to be scouting Liberty's neighborhood. We check over surveillance cameras at the local stores for anyone, or anything, which seems out of place."

"How do we do that?" Lucky Dead wasn't convinced.

"You two get the surveillance data and go over it. I'll go looking for the bomb-maker," I suggested. "We keep in touch because it makes sense we are next on the hit parade."

"You think any of us could be getting blown up?" Arachne asked.

"It depends on how tight a secret identity we have," I reasoned. "Liberty lived out in the open thus was easy to find. They will be looking for us looking for them from here on out - ambush us as we look for information on them."

"Fine ... that makes sense, so what do we do?"

"Be damn careful," I demanded. "I'm going to find out who would dare make a bomb big enough to drop a city block - even in Brocton. That kind of sick fuck shouldn't be that hard to locate."

"If it is that easy, why haven't the cops found them yet?" Luck Dead mused.

"The people I'll be talking to don't normally talk to the cops," I smirked.

"But they will talk to you?"

"I'll make them an offer they can't refuse," I let my smirk grow into a full-blooded predatory smile.

[~]

"Tell me about the bomb maker, Eddie," I insisted.

"Fuck you!" he spat back. The wisdom of that response was questionable because I had said criminal flunky known as Eddie Grover by the heel and a hundred feet off the ground. Beneath us was the back alleyway filled with junk and asphalt.

"I don't like that answer, Eddie," I mocked him ... then let him go.

"AAAAAHHHH!!" he screamed as he plummeted toward the ground. I gave him a moment to really feel the likelihood of death then raced to catch him with my TK gauntlets. Inches over the ground, I secured his heel once more.

"You ... you fucker," he gasped.

"Your attitude hasn't improve with your change in altitude," I shook my head. Up we went again.

"Noooo," he groaned.

"Let's see how much closer to the ground you'll get this time," I chuckled.

Three drops later, Eddie was a mess and willing to talk. He gave up what he knew about someone seeking the talents of a bomb-maker and I was one step closer to finding out who was behind all this. The reality was I was willing to do whatever was necessary to get to the truth while Arachne wasn't. Worse, the street level goons knew this about her. She wouldn't kill them while the people behind the attack on Liberty Lincoln just might kill her, or them for ratting the bomber out.

Four contacts later and I had an identity, though not the real name of the paymaster behind all this. The name of the paymaster ... The Orchid. I couldn't pursue my leads further though. I had to return to my public life and that meant a late brunch with Boniface Franklin ... plus a dozen other members of the Press as I was now one of the Ten Most Eligible Bachelors of Megalopolis. Ugh.

[CHAOS AT THE CONTEST]

I barely made it in time to my appointment. I was still adjusting my tie when I approached the table where Boniface was waiting for me.

"You just made it," Boniface smiled. "Tough night?"

"I count tardiness as a crime on par with Involuntary Manslaughter in my hierarchy of sins," I responded.

"Ouch!" she snorted. "Remind me to always be on time around you."

"That shouldn't be a problem," I physically greeted her ~ an arm stroke and a kiss on the cheek. I even held her chair for her as she resumed her seat.

"You are also a gentleman," she noted.

"I'm behaving special just for you," I winked.

That earned me another laugh.

"I'm glad you see me as something more than a pocketbook," she chuckled.

"That has never been a problem," I agreed. Nah, she knew who murdered my Mother, or so she claimed. She also claimed Mom was a Monster yet I never remembered her being that way.

That was the highlight of our brunch. During a break in the shooting the female producer asked us to 'spice up' the encounter.

"Like what ~ sit in her lap?" I joked.

"That might appear to be a bit too much," the producer mused thoughtfully. Noting she had really missed my sarcasm, Boniface and I did our best to make brunch a rather confusing blast.

As we were leaving, she turned to me and gave me the first truly authentic smile.

"Calling me Boniface is getting old," she regaled me. "Call me Bonny. All my friends do."

"We aren't friends," I reminded her.

"No, but we could be," she winked. Oh Boy!

[~]

It didn't take a Svengali to realize something was wrong when Bonny and I arrived for the late morning contest in Patriots' Park. We had been scheduled for an obstacle course filled with brain games at eleven. It turned out Barry 'the Brush' Bushnell, Point Guard for the Megalopolis Magicians NBA franchise, was missing and his 'highest bidder' was a bit distraught.

It appeared he'd missed his 'brunch date' as well. I could see the headlines already: 'The Brush brushes off Brunch'. Real catchy, I know.

It turned out I was wrong about ole Barry. He'd been kidnapped - names and nature of the kidnappers unknown. Their demands, if any, were unknown as well. As word of this trickled down to the small number of police cordoning off the contest from our adoring masses, the cops closed in on the nine survivors ... and our 'dates'.

The first questions the responding detectives aimed our way was about our well-being. Had any of us noticed anyone stalking us? Had anything been misplaced in our dwellings? Was anyone we regularly knew who had access to our dwelling missing / non-communicative?

After they ascertained (came to the erroneous conclusion) none of us were in immediate danger, the inevitable questions about how we felt about the victim came up. In essence, they wanted to know which one of us would want Bushnell removed from the contest. Was winning this dumb contest enough of a motive? Apparently the cops thought so.

What could I use as an alibi ... 'gosh, Mr. Policeman, I went to the hospital room of a known vigilante you failed to protect then beat up some street toughs in order to figure out who built the bomb which dropped a city block on her' ... That wasn't going to fly so I plead the 'Fifth'.

But wait, I wasn't a suspect so I couldn't plead the 'Fifth', or so the FBI Special Agent claimed. Then I declared I wanted to see a lawyer ... which they claimed I wasn't eligible for because I wasn't a suspect - yet. Then I said I didn't feel like answering their questions because I was a citizen of a supposedly free country and their fascist Police State tactics disgusted me (they were actually very polite, if determined).

"What's your problem, smart guy?" the aging police detective sergeant who came over to me got gruff.

"Lying to the police is a crime," I elaborated. "So, I'm telling you I don't want to tell you where I was last night at the same time insinuating I'm not your guy."

"Why don't you let us handle that bit of information?"

"Fine, 'tough guy," I leaned into him and lowered my volume, "I'm a costumed vigilante who was doing illegal shit last night. I'm not going to tell you what I did - because then you could A-R-R-E-S-T me for this shit which had nothing to do with what happened to Barry."

"Why don't I just arrest you on 'suspicion'?" he glared right back.

"Suspicion of what?" I simmered. "My lawyer will bust open your ass if you try to detain me on something so insubstantial. All the while, the investigation into who kidnapped Barry Bushnell will be going nowhere."

"Who says Mr. Bushnell was kidnapped?" he thought he'd tricked me.

"There being the three FBI agents I've talked to in the past hour," I pondered. "FBI special agents don't investigate many local crimes - except kidnappings - thus my supposition Mr. Bushnell was kidnapped."

"Fine, Mr. Einstein, don't do anywhere," he responded. Off he went while I hung around.

"You are not making friends," Bonny, along with several others, migrated my way.

"I'm not prepared to sacrifice the portion of my soul which allows me to be impolite to law enforcement types," I simmered.

"Your bad attitude doesn't help anyone," was her mote of wisdom.

"My bad attitude allows me to sleep soundly at night," I countered.

"You slept well last night?" Kyle Rodney inquired playfully.

"Not really. I had some late night school work to attend to," I lied.

"I can't believe we are throwing so many detectives at this with the bombing down in Brocton last night," Inez Neustadt, the young police detective griped. Mind you, she was currently assigned to Narcotics; not Counter-Terrorism, or some kidnapping taskforce.

"Well, I heard Barry was kidnapped by the Uptown Crew," Louise Dresser, the workout icon, whispered in a rather conspiratorial manner.

"Damn it!" Inez spat. "That was something they should have been holding back." By 'they' I assumed she meant the FBI Special Agents, or their assorted group of MMPD (Megalopolis Metropolitan Police Department) detectives.

"Who is the 'Uptown Crew'? I've never heard of them," Louise looked suitably worried.

"As the name suggests they are some rich clique operating out of one of the finer neighborhoods uptown," I explained.

"Oh My God ... like 'High Society'?" Louise gasped.

"No," Inez enlightened the majority of us, "The Uptown Crew hates High Society, though they are both criminals. Really just sick fucks in costumes."

"You have something against the costumed types?" I inquired.

"They shouldn't need some special piece of federal legislation to protect them, that's for damn sure," she grumbled. "They should also leave law enforcement to the professionals too."

"What about taking down super-villains?" Bonny queried.

"They hide behind the CAA (Costumed Actors Act of 1952) as much as everyone else," she stuck to her guns.

"Keep deluding yourself," Bonny muttered.

"I don't know," Kyle spoke up. "You two (meaning myself and Bonny) handled the Festival of Crime pretty well last night with no super-powered help."

I didn't like the way Inez studied us ... as if she was waiting for us to lie.

"My training in things like jujutsu, acrobatics and Parkour go back to an early age," I stated. "My Father was an ogre of a disciplinarian."

"I never said I wasn't super-powered," Bonny added.

"Who would you be then?" India Figueroa prodded.

"Ultima."

"The fuck you say," I croaked.

"Yes, Reynard, I'm Ultima. I don't have a 'secret' secret Identity. I was born Boniface Franklin back in 1919. I rarely come out for 'normie' activities anymore. I haven't done so ... since the Bicentennial (1976)."

There was a major pause for a variety of reasons. For starters, Ultima was the World's premier superheroine / hero and leader of the Ultimates. The Ultimates included some of the baddest-ass heroic types on the planet ... and beyond. Had Mom crossed paths with them ... well, she had ... and she was dead now.

Sadly, I was never one to fall back from a challenge nor find forgiveness in my heart when it was the wiser of the two options. Nah ... the Ultimates had to pay for my Mother's death. I was that kind of maladjusted moron.

"So who are you, Reynard?" Inez, the fastest to recover, turned on me.

"I'm nobody," I snapped. "I'm certainly not an Ultimate."

"Reynard hasn't lied to you about his origins," Ultima answered for me as well.

"Origins?" Kyle pondered.

"Even if I was a super, I would be covered by the Costumed Character Act," I elaborated. "If I had a secret identity, there would most likely be a reason behind it."

"Something criminal," Inez muttered.

"Oh, stop it," India rallied to my defense. "Reynard risked his life to save lives last night which was far more than the rest of you accomplished." 'You' meaning the Megalopolis Metropolitan Police Department no doubt.

"Proper procedure was to bring in a police negotiator unless civilian lives were immediately endangered. Besides, the only civilian endangered was Ms. Dresser ... who was put at risk only once the villains began their hasty escape," Inez made her case.

"The Resurrecting Bunny?" Kyle offered up a sign of their malfeasance.

"Who is immortal," Inez countered.

"That still equated to rounds being fired," Kyle quipped.

"Fine ... we didn't have things fully in hand - YET," Inez snapped. "Happy now?"

"No," I exhaled deeply. "Normally I would agree with you in that in a hostage situation the costumed sorts should let the police do their thing ... except this time as the Festival of Crime is hardly sane by any metric. They are all unstable entities."

"Fine," Inez conceded. "I'll give you that one. They are all nuts."

"Sssoooo ... Rey, who are you, really? You can trust us," Louise Dresser cuddled up to me.

"No, I can't," I shook my head. "I don't really know you people from Adam and that includes Ultima here ... who bought my last night at auction without letting me know who she was."

"Oh ... I thought you were in this together," Louise pouted. "You make such a cute couple."

'NO! No, we did NOT!' I screamed internally.

"I'm growing on him," Ultima grinned.

"No - you are not," I corrected that misconception. "As far as I know, you've been yanking my chain since before you even gave me your name."

"Cool it, dude," Kyle pulled me somewhat aside, "You don't want to piss her off. She is like ... the most powerful person on the planet."

"She also has hyper-hearing," I whispered back, "so she heard everything you just said."

"Besides," Bonny / Ultima announced, "I like his emotional honesty. It is rather rare for a woman in my position."

"Are you afraid of her?" India inquired.

"No, but I probably should be," I confessed. "In reality, she is not doing my desire to live a quiet public life any good. At any time she is going to reveal her identity and then the Press is going to start going over my background with a fine toothed comb."

"What are you afraid of coming out?" Inez wouldn't let go. Since I was a secret villain that was probably for the best as far as the general public welfare went.

"All kinds of crap normal people wouldn't understand," I blasted back. "Shit regular people should leave well enough alone."

"Like us 'normies'," she did a 'gotchya'.

"I didn't use that term - she did," I pointed to Ultima.

"Oh - that is where you were last night," Kyle Rodney had his own 'eureka' moment. "You were investigating the building block which was blown up!"

"You mean the natural gas main explosion in the 'Bricks'?" India murmured. That was the police's current cover story for the bombing.

"I can neither confirm nor deny said accusation," I sighed.

"That would make sense," Ultima nodded. "Someone attempted to kill Liberty Lincoln in that blast ... making the whole occurrence rather suspicious."

"And Liberty Lincoln is the prime suspect in the death of Kori Ivankov," Inez nodded putting her own suspicions in order. "So Reynard, you work with Liberty. That would make you the mysterious fourth man ... who some are calling 'Dark Son'."

"I can neither confirm nor deny said accusation," I sighed yet again.

"Well that would certainly explain your life being in danger," Kyle nodded. We had WAY too many people nodding around me. It put me on edge.

"Why did you do it?" Louise questioned me.

"Do what?"

"Take out Kori Ivankov," she murmured.

"I didn't take out anybody," I clarified. "Furthermore, I'm not some vigilante who likes to engage in free-for-alls with villains and villainous sidekicks for shits and giggles. I'm a freelance entrepreneur."

"You are a mercenary?" from Inez.

"You are a free agent?" from Kyle.

"You are a money-for-hire kind of guy?" Louise pondered.

"No comment, I'm not in anyone's league, and not really - my loyalty is not for sale," I answered each allegation in turn. "I'm my own man and the type of guy who takes exception with someone blowing up a whole damn city block - end of story."

"Especially if you could be the next one to have a whole building drop on them," Inez insinuated my ulterior motive.

"If that was the case, I would be leaving town, Detective," I riposted. "I'm not afraid of jack right now. Bombers aren't terribly brave people and I'm not someone you want to attempt to drop a building on and fail to connect."

"That sounds positively villainous," India remarked.

"I'm glad we are all on the same page now," I exhibited my inner Tiger Shark ~ plenty of teeth with soulless eyes.

"You've come across as a totally legit guy," Kyle Rodney reexamined me.

"I'm still the same guy, Kyle," I cooled my jets a bit. I liked the guy. "My unwillingness to take shit shouldn't change your assessment of who I am - which is a man of my word."

"I think this is the first time he's known someone who threatens to kill someone and really means it," India replied.

"I don't like to threaten. I like to make promises and stick to what I've promised to do," I explained. "Empty threats are abhorrent to me."

"You are young. You will learn," Ultima advised me.

"Not this man," I brutally shut down that path of reasoning. "I will live by my word and be-damned the consequences."

That was to become my battle cry - my anthem ~ I will live by my word and be-damned the consequences.

"That almost sounds noble," India muttered.

"Noble is nice," I grinned, "but finding out what happened to Ole Barry should take precedence. He has gone missing and any of us could be next."

"Yeah ...," Kyle Rodney agreed.

"We should let the professionals handle this," Inez disapproved.

"He was kidnapped," Louise repeated. "He was a big guy and in good health ... so how does something like that happen? Couldn't he have fought them off, or made an escape by now?"

"They could have threatened him with metahuman force," Inez suggested, "which is all the more reason for us to leave this alone."

"I prize remaining free and at large," I countered.

"Me too," Kyle added. India and Louise agreed.

"We don't even know Mr. Bushnell being kidnapped had anything to do with this stupid contest," Inez pointed out.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Louise complained.

"Your bad feelings," Inez mocked, "don't equate to real evidence."

"Fine - fine," I persevered. "Why don't we initiate our own investigation from our end?"

"Count me in," Louise insisted. This time Kyle and India did the nodding. Ugh.

"Fine! Fine, but I ride shotgun on this madness," Inez insisted ... and so it began.

[~]

Ole Barry's 14th story apartment was a mess. Entry ... and presumably the exit ... were by one of the living room windows. The midday breeze was rather pleasant for this early in Spring. 'The Brush' had put up some kind of fight, or run for it. It wasn't initially quite clear from the way the rooms had been ransacked.

"What do you think happened?" Kyle asked Inez.

"No you don't. I'm just here as an impartial observer and to keep you four out of trouble," Inez responded.

"Fine ... Ultima?"

"I'm just here to keep an eye on Reynard. I did spend a million dollars on him after all," she avoided responsibility for these proceedings.

"Reynard?" Kyle turned to me.

"Ummm ... okay," I scanned our surroundings once more. "It appears Barry came home late last night, the Uptown Crew blew in the window and then attacked him. They chased him into his bedroom where they finally wrestled him down then departed with him. That's where the trail of destruction leads."

"But why Barry?" India inquired.

"Straight up ... I guess Barry and Kyle have the highest salaries of the group here. That means they intend to ransom him back for a portion of that salary. That is guess number one."

"Good guess," Ultima smiled in my direction.

"You agree with him?" Louise pondered.

"I didn't say that," Bonny serenely shook her head.

"Who are you people and what are you doing here?" a man whose suit screamed 'Federal Agent' called out to us.

"We are some of the contestants from the same contest Mr. Bushnell was in," I addressed him.

"Well, you shouldn't be up here," he frowned. Apparently we had accidently snuck past the guy. "Let's see some ID's."

"You first," I glared. I was almost tired and definitely not in the mood to be pushed around.

"You first, Smart Guy," he put his hand on his hip holstered piece.

"I think I'd rather exit the window over there," I bit back.

"Reynard, don't be an ass. Show the man some identification so we can all exit this place peaceably," Bonny touched my arm.

"Fine - okay, but I'm only doing it to keep you off my case," I verbally retreated. I proffered up my Student ID and State Driver's License.

"Reynard Haven ... okay, you check out," he examined my bona fides then returned them to me. The rest of the gang went as smoothly until it was Bonny's turn. Apparently she had an ID which gave both her real name as well as her moniker. The guy blanched then profusely apologized. Inez's cop ID was virtually an afterthought for the guy.

"I didn't know the Ultimates had been brought in on this case," the Fed addressed Bonny.

"We haven't. My interest in this case is strictly personal - as in Reynard Haven is a person of interest to me," she explained. "With your permission we will be leaving now."

"Of course," the FBI guy couldn't get out of our way fast enough, much to my chagrin.

In the lobby of Barry's high rise, we gathered together again to see what else we could do.

"Inez, do you think you could locate the hangout of the 'Uptown Crew'?" Kyle began.

"No. That would be a horrible idea," she shook her head vehemently.

"Oh, come on," India pressed. "We have Ultima with us. What could go wrong?"

"Be careful how you use my presence," Bonny cautioned us. "I may be called away with barely a moment's notice. It is the nature of who I am."

"But we would still have Reynard with us," Louise hugged my arm. She was doing that way too often for my comfort level, damn it.

"Who is no one any of them would know," I evaded.

"I don't know about that," Inez let her eyes bore into me. "After all, you just might be Dark Son ... who took down Kori Ivankov."

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," I glared right back. "Besides, if I have a secret identity, there might be a reason behind it." Then I had a brain storm. "But I know who we can ask and it is getting late enough in the day he might actually be awake and willing to accept visitors."

"Who would that be?" Inez queried.

"Romeo Dusk."

"The reputed number one contender to replace the late, unlamented Mr. Ivankov - that Romeo Dusk?" she blinked in surprise.

"Yeah - him," I grinned all shark-like. "Rumor has it he knows everything going on in the Criminal Underworld."

"This should be interesting," Bonny wrapped up my other arm in hers. All this proximity ... oh man. It was pissing me off. The only one I liked getting this close to me was Skye (Angelheart), damn it.

"Sounds like a plan," Kyle smiled.

"I'll let HQ know where we are going," Inez groaned ... and off we went.

[MEETING ROMEO DUSK]

The Walls of Jericho nightclub wasn't open when we showed up, but we had several things working in our favor - Inez, the metropolitan detective, Bonny aka Ultima, and Kyle Rodney, Quarterback for the Megalopolis Champion (it turned out the chief bouncer at the door was a HUGE Champions fan). That got us through the front door and a bit of fancy footwork got us to meet the man upstairs in his office sanctum.

He looked rather young for a man in his position - mid 20's perhaps - with black hair, dark, piercing eyes and a steady demeanor which belied any nervousness about meeting someone as exulted as Ultima. With him, leaning against his high-backed chair was the metahuman mercenary known as Winter Frost. Winter had long white hair and a blue cast to her skin and eyes which threatened every red-blooded man in the room with a chilly death ... except for Romeo Dusk, who she appeared to have some sort of attachment to.

"Ms. Ultima," he greeted without standing the most prominent of us first then, "Mr. Rodney. The rest of you ... I don't know."

"I'm just along for the ride this afternoon, Mr. Dusk," Bonny responded.

"Pleasure to meet you," Kyle responded.

"As usual, sucks to be me," India mumbled. She was as star player for her team, the Megalopolis Stars, after all.

"I'm Detective Inez Neustadt, Mr. Dusk, and we have some questions for you."

"I don't talk to the police without my lawyers present," Romeo smiled pleasantly enough.

"Got something to hide?" she bristled.

"I'm Louise Dresser. You haven't heard of me?"

"Afraid not. Are you auditioning for a spot in my club's lineup?" he offered.

"No ... she's not," I interjected. "I'm Reynard Haven and I'm not a cop. Care to answer a few questions?"

"I'm willing to listen to you ... Mr. Haven," Romeo Dusk turned his barracuda countenance my way.

"We have heard the Uptown Crew kidnapped Barry Bushnell and we were wondering if you knew why they did so," I began.

"As a personal favor to you, Mr. Haven ... sources unknown to me have put a bounty on the killers of Kori Ivankov - $5 million dead, or alive. The Uptown Crew decided, from what my sources have been able to decipher, to kidnap 'The Brush' in order to get the Metropolitan Police hand over all their information on the costumed vigilantes who did the deed."

"That makes no sense," Inez interrupted. "The Metropolitan Police would never deal with kidnappers that way."

Romeo rolled his eyes instead of responding.

"That plan sounds awfully weak," I continued.

"The Uptown Crew are hardly criminal masterminds," Romeo shrugged. "I imagine the idea made more sense when they were half-coked out of their minds."

"So, what's going to happen when the MMPD refuses to play ball - to Barry?" I wondered.

"I wouldn't care to hazard a guess. Smart money would be they sell him back to his franchise. Morons might waste Mr. Bushnell in a pique of misplaced rage. As I said, they aren't the brightest bulbs in the skyline."

"Well, thanks for the input," I said. He definitely appeared to be a regular human being, but with a few interesting gadgets whose function I couldn't immediately fathom. Still, if he was in the running for the number one spot in Megalopolis' Criminal Underworld, he had to have something else working in his favor. What? I had no clue ... and now I owed him a personal favor. I hadn't missed him interjecting that into our conversation and, by the looks of things, neither had Bonny.

"As part of that 'personal favor', could you tell us how we might contact the Uptown Crew ... to make sure our fellow contestant is alright?" I decided to push things a bit more.

"For you, Mr. Haven, why not," Romeo grinned. He wrote down something on a slip of paper then slid it halfway across the table too me.

I reached the rest of the way and secured the folded up sticky-paper.

114B West Holland Place the note read. He hadn't given us a contact number. He had given us - hopefully - their address.

"Thank you. For everything," I tacked on.

"Have a nice, productive day," Romeo Dusk dismissed us. We filed out back the way we had arrived.

Once we were outside, Inez separated from us long enough to make a call back to her superiors ... who proceeded to ream her ass out over the stunt she had pulled with us going to Romeo Dusk's. I wanted to immediately retire and call Lucky Dead and Arachne, except I didn't have either of their numbers. Arachne had mine, but had never given me a call so I could have figured out her digits for a reverse trace. Yeah, I'm that kind of paranoid guy.

"So, what was on the piece of paper?" Kyle questioned me. The others closed in.

"He gave us an address. It might be the address of the Uptown Crew, or it might be something different, or worse," I cautioned the normies.

"Let's go check it out," Louise got all excited.

"Do you think you can handle them?" India asked Bonny.

"How many are there?" she asked back.

"Five," I answered. The Underworld rumor mill was running at full tilt and the Uptown Crew weren't exactly secret about who was on their current roster.

India shot me a curious look. The rest were too hyped up / scared to wonder how I had that gem of information.

"I'm not sure I can take the five fast enough to make sure Mr. Bushnell remains unharmed," Bonny replied. "It would be nice to have someone backing me up," was clearly aimed at me.

"I'll do it," I grumped.

"I'll help too," Kyle volunteered. Considering how much his livelihood relied on him being relatively intact and uninjured ... Kyle stepping up to face some metahumans made me like him all the more.

"You can count on me," India stepped up too. Seeing me eyeing her, she misinterpreted my glance. "I kick really hard, damn it."

"Oh, I believe you," I grinned. "I do."

"Aaahhh ..." Louise mumbled.

"Louise, we'll need you to call the cops the moment we go in. Someone has to stay outside and keep the MMPD in the communication loop," I reminded her.

She didn't have to have a combative role to have a place in our little rescue party. We had only one flaw left in the endeavor. Inez came back, looking fumed.

"We need to end this madness now," she grumbled.

"We have one place left to check out," I stated.

"No ... would this have to do with that piece of paper?" she studied me.

"I'm not saying it does and I'm not saying it doesn't. What I'm saying is we are going to this address and unless you arrest us ... for what - I'm not sure - we are going," I laid things out for her. "Or, you could tag along and see what develops."

"This is most certainly criminal," she glowered. "Gang - don't do this."

I looked around giving everyone else a chance to back out. None did.

"We are going," Kyle spoke first.

"Fine ... fine ... I'm coming along too ... to make sure none of you get yourself killed," Inez allowed. I thought secretly she wanted to do this as well. Getting two taxis was easy. The drive over was filled with nervous energy ... for everyone who wasn't Bonny, or me. For Bonny ... well she kept looking at me and smiling ever so slightly, as if she liked me for reasons she wasn't willing to get into here and now.

We arrived a block down from the address then walked the rest of the way.

"I'll go in first," Bonny explained. "Then it is Rey, Inez, Kyle and India. The moment we go in, Louise, you make that call."

"No - I should be the one coming after you, Ms. Franklin," Inez shook her head. "I'm the law enforcement officer."

"Just this time, Detective Neustadt, I want Rey backing me up. I'm not going to explain why. I'm just asking to accept my decision on this matter as based on my long expertise in dealing with these kinds of matters - professional consideration."

"So, he is a metahuman ... and somewhat bulletproof," Inez responded.

"I'm not saying he is. I'm not saying he isn't."

"One of these days, I'm going to get a straight answer out of you," Inez turned on me.

"I hope it isn't one day soon," I replied. I wanted to keep my secret identity as long as possible.

"Okay everybody? Let's go," Bonny led the way to the lower level apartment at 114 West Holland Place. It was a nice Georgetown townhouse. A place were up and coming professionals lived ... thus likely to be occupied on a Saturday afternoon.

[THE UPTOWN CREW]

For starters, the five members of the Uptown Crew were the Heir Apparent - their leader, the Dilettante, the Socialite, Touché and the groups' Butler - I kid you not. What did any of them do? No one was quite sure because the group was that new. No one suspected the group to have any heavy hitters among them, being rich trust-fund kids who either bought some augmentations, or were lucky enough to be born metahuman yet without the work ethic to go legit.

Instead of busting down the door and rushing in, Bonny led off with a polite knock. She had to knock a second time before someone answered the door. It was a slender brunette with an oval face and big brown eyes. My glasses revealed her to be an unknown metahuman.

"Yes?" she greeted us with a bored voice.

"We are here for Barry Bushnell," Bonny answered.

For a second, the girl at the door froze up.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she blathered.

"Wrong answer, Sweetie," Bonny said right before she pushed the door all the way open and brushed the young lady aside. I was right behind her. Inez cursed as she drew her firearm and followed.

"MMPD!" Inez hollered. "Everyone hit the deck!"

Inside the front room was a cultured metahuman man sitting on a sofa watching TV. He was clearly panicking. A pale man with black hair, dressed like a butler, was standing behind the sofa and regarded us dispassionately. Far into the open concept was a kitchen with a large island. Another metahuman male with a half-eaten sandwich half way to his mouth was sitting at the island. Between the sofa and the kitchen, among other things, was a set of stairs going down.

"Rey - Stairs!" Bonny commanded. Off I went. "Everyone else - sit your asses down and nobody gets hurt!"

As I was racing toward the stairs, I noticed the Uptown Crew not heeding her warning. The guy came off his sofa and pointed at Bonny.

"Get her!" he directed the butler, the poor sap.

The guy eating the sandwich was coming my way, looking to vault the stairwell in an attempt to block me. The girl who had answered the door chopped down at Inez's gun arm, disarming her.

"Okay then," Kyle grunted then punched the girl, sending her tumbling. He hadn't held back - good man.

Bonnie hit the guy coming off the sofa in the chest, slamming him back down. In her next step she collided with the butler ... and they began wrestling. What the hell? I couldn't make out happened next because I was engaged. It was also not lost on me we still had a member of the Uptown Crew unaccounted for. I didn't have time to play with this guy.

I dove (flew) down the stairs, so Sandwich Guy came down behind me ... and higher up on the stairs. He was facing me so he missed a fierce India Figueroa launch into him from behind with a lightning fast kick to his spine. Ouch! Down he came. I was faced with a dilemma in the form of three doors down here on the subbasement level.

"Ooohhh ..." Sandwich Guy moaned. India was clomping down the stairs after him.

"I've got this bozo," she let her smile blossom. "You find Barry."

Speaking of which ...

"Help," came from the second door to my left. There I went. I slammed into the structure, blowing the door off the hinges. Inside this small bedroom was Barry ... naked ... and being ridden by an equally naked russet haired feminine beauty. She didn't read as metahuman.

"This White bitch be crazy!" Barry screamed at me.

"Who are you?" she said at the same time. She was also seeking to dismount Ole Barry. I wasn't here to play around. I moved up two quick steps and clocked her hard, throwing her over the other side of the bed and bouncing her off the far wall.

"I'm Reynard Haven," I answered after the fact.

"Ow!" came a female voice from behind me. New dilemma: release a bound Barry - bound spread eagle on the bed - or go check on India. I had the feeling the female molester was out for the count so I turned and went aback into the hall only to run into Sandwich Guy. I shoved him before he shoved me, but he didn't bounce back toward me like he should have. No ... instead, he raised up his right hand and pointed it at me, pistol-like.

"Thanks for the boost," he grinned wickedly. A beam of light emanated from his fingertip and struck me in the left shoulder. My jacket and shirt vaporized, but thanks to my current bonding with Angelheart, I felt none of the heat. Not to be outdone, I launched myself at him. I punched him again and he shot me another blast of heat - this time to my stomach. My wardrobe was taking a beating.

"I can keep this up all day," he laughed at me and my efforts.

"Oh ... Touché," I gained sudden insight.

"Got it in one, you dumb brawler," he came my way. His hit was what you could expect from a regular human - nothing special. This time I shifted passed his extended arm, twisted the offered appendage and maneuvered myself behind him.

"What the ..." he got out before I put him in a sleeper hold. As I was doing so, I saw a bruised India picking herself up off the stairs. Above us a fight was still going on though it had migrated to the kitchen. I had to wonder who, or what, was keeping Bonny occupied. Meanwhile, Touché was struggling mightily to escape my hold. He even tried to blast me in the face with a feeble heat blast. I ducked my head aside because I didn't want the blast to mess up my glasses.

"Let me kick him one more time," India came my way.

"No. That makes him stronger. Go free Barry. He's naked in bed so be prepared," I informed the cute soccer star.

India nodded then scooted passed me into the room.

"Damn, Barry," she chuckled. "Here we are worrying about you and you're busy getting some tail."

Touché went limp in my grasp so after one good shake, I let him slide to the ground. India was busy untying Barry so I decided to go upstairs to see what the problem was. At the top of the stairs I had dilemma number three: Kyle and Inez were squared off against the guy who I assumed was 'Heir Apparent' while Bonny was having a hell of a time landing a blow on the butler.

Mind you, when he hit Bonny, he had minimal, if any, effect ... so I went to help Kyle and Inez instead. The girl who had opened the door began moaning, so I deviated just enough to give her a sharp left blow to the chin. Her head bounced off the wall and she rolled over from a seated position to the floor - definitely out. Meanwhile Kyle and Inez were revealed to be in a world of trouble fighting the Heir Apparent, who appeared to be a phenomenal martial artist.

In I went. He attempted to dodge my lunge, but I managed to tackle him and take him to the floor. He dropped an expert elbow jab to my neck, but my nerve cluster failed to deliver on the expected release. No. I had hold of this joker now and I wasn't planning to let go.

"Let go, damn you," he seethed even as he brought a series of punishing knee strikes up against my stomach and diaphragm.

"Not likely," I growled. I responded to his blows with some gut punches of my own. I could tell I was really hurting the bastard too. A few more blows and I'd exhaust him.

"Butler, save me!" Heir Apparent shouted.

In the next second, a body went slamming past me. Bonny had hit the butler.

"Reynard, look out," Bonny yelled. "He's a ...

And the butler reached out, touched Heir Apparent's shoulder and they both vanished. The guy I had grappled with was just gone. For a moment I felt myself getting dragged along with them to wherever ... but I chose to let go instead.

"... demon," Bonny finished up. "Oh damn."

"Well, we've got three of them and Barry who is physically alright, if a bit naked," I responded to her. Inez went over, retrieved her firearm and then knelt to check on the girl who had answered the door.

"She's out cold," Inez remarked. "Did you have to hit her so hard?"

"Yeah ... yeah, I did. She was an unknown metahuman, so I put her down because I didn't want her helping out Heir Apparent ... who was fighting you and Kyle, less you forget."

Inez grunted in response.

"Well, I for one am thanking you," Kyle grinned. "Also, how did you know he was Heir Apparent?"

"I fought with Touché downstairs, the butler was self-evident and the Uptown Crew only has three men in its ranks."

"Making our guy the group's leader. Thanks again for saving our asses. The guy was manhandling us both without much effort," Kyle explained.

"He was an amateur," Bonny grumped. "The butler is a high ranking demon. I'm going to have to let the Supreme Mystic know about this." The Supreme Mystic was in the Ultimates and the Earth dimension's chief magical guardian.

"Let's gather up the others," I told Bonny. I left the other woman and Touché downstairs with India and Barry."

She gave me a curt nod then went down the stairs to retrieve the others. Soon enough we had everyone upstairs including a dressed Barry. About that time the police crashed our party. Inez identified herself as did Bonny.

The MMPD brought in their Metahuman Containment Unit to take care of the three members of the Uptown Crew we had managed to apprehend. With them arrived the FBI guys and the MMPD officers who had been assigned to the case. Bonny refused to let them drag off Inez for a private ass-reaming, which was something.

"You still haven't done my career any favors," she griped.

"Why?" Kyle spoke up first. "You were the officer on scene when Barry was rescued. It was your legwork, not theirs, which got the guy home alive."

"That's not how they will see it," she frowned. "They will see it as me going rouge with a bunch of metahumans and civilians."

"You were heroic," Louise insisted.

"No. I could have gotten you, Kyle and India hurt, or even killed," Inez frowned.

"I don't see it that way," Bonny shook her head. "Sometimes you have to bend procedure when lives are on the line. These people had a major, bad-ass demon in their mix. I, for one, am glad I've found out about that critter. I'll be ready for him next time."

"Was he really that tough?" India asked.

"Not tough - just hard to it," Bonny sighed. "He had up some pretty powerful 'wind' enchantments which allowed him to do things like dodge bullets and teleport. Your average demon is big, strong and dumb. This was a wholly different matter."

"Then we count this as a win for the good guys," India smiled.

"We got Barry back alive and unharmed ... well, sort of unharmed, and that is what we set out to do. Destroying the Uptown Crew wasn't ...," Bonny agreed.

"Was what Romeo Dusk wanted us to do," I put two and two together.

"With a slip of paper we have removed some rivals of his," Inez nodded.

"What do we do about that guy?" Kyle wondered.

"We do nothing," Inez put her foot down. "He hasn't broken any laws. Perhaps we - as in the MMPD - could bring him in to know how he knew where the Uptown Crew was hold-up, but his lawyers would get him out so fast ..."

"So we just let him get away with being a bad guy?" Louise worried her lower lip.

"Until he crosses the line and we catch him at it," Bonny backed up Inez. I, for one, will never be part of a vigilante posse."

"What do you think about all this?" Kyle asked me.

"I think there will be a day of reckoning for Romeo Dusk and I plan to be there when it comes to pass, but I'm not going to break the law to get at him either," I answered.

I was lying about that last part two. He had used me ... and the others ... to take down the Heir Apparent and his team. Romeo had also sent his own flunkies - the Night Crew - after Liberty Lincoln, Arachne and Lucky Dead and he was going to have to answer to me about that. I would simply have to make it at a time and place of my choosing. Romeo Dusk played mind games and I was going to show him I wasn't someone you played with.

[DINNER WITH BONNY AND BEYOND]

[BONNY AND THE END OF MY OLD LIFE]

Boniface (aka Ultima) called me and told me she wanted to meet for dinner at some upscale eatery. I knew the MMPD was keeping an eye on me, but since I was going on a date with the most powerful metahuman known to Mankind, I didn't feel bad about ditching them. The ever-present contest film crew was close by, recording everything we said for eternity.

"You look really nice tonight," I complemented her, mentally adding 'for an old chick'.

"You look as good as ever."

"You are just saying that because you think you own me," I bit back.

"I do own you," she whispered over the table.

My phone rang at that most inopportune moment. Reluctantly I answered it.

"Dark Son, this is ... Arachne," she gasped through her pain. "I'm being hunted down ... I need your assistance immediately!"

Holy shit, she sounded bad ... as well as bad off.

"I'm on my way," I declared.

"What was that about?" Bonny questioned me.

"None of your business, but I've got to go right now," I declared as I stood. "We'll pick up our conversation later," and I headed for the kitchen.

"Mr. Haven?" from my film crew. "Mr. Haven!" when they realized I was ditching them too. Through the busy kitchen I went and out the back door. I was moving too fast for them and the kitchen was too crowded for them, as a group, to keep up. Out the door I went and the up - way up. I had to get away from the majority of obstructions if I was going to effectively teleport using my emergency teleportation device.

I 'blinked' away right as the film crew came rushing out the same back door I had so recently exited. I was pretty sure they didn't get a picture of me leaving as they weren't even looking up when they appeared. A second later I was in my Dad's most secret base. I sprinted to the chamber which held my suit while simultaneously giving orders to the base's computer system.

"Jasper (the computer's name), track the last phone to make contact with me. I'll be teleporting to that location."

"On it, Sir," Jasper complied. It took me too many seconds to don my suit. Still, I was moving as quickly as possible. "Sir, what is the reason for this action?"

"Huh?" I grunted. It wasn't like Jasper to question me. "I'm going to save Arachne - good enough?" I barked.

"As Sir wishes," Jasper sighed electronically.

"Listen," I calmed a bit, "I will explain this later when I get back."

"Yes Sir," Jasper replied.

I finished prepping myself and headed back to the teleportation disc, taking the prime location on the pad as this device could teleport up to ten people at a time.

"Teleport me," I commanded.

[~]

I arrived hovering over a chaotic scene. Patrol cars were all about, some overturned. My glasses reported eight hostiles and one friendly - Arachne. She was in a world of hurt - fighting the entire Night Crew by herself. I swore to God right then and there, Romeo Dusk was going to pay for this ... and in I went.

[~]

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Arachne muttered as she escaped another one of Psy Lord's illusions. Frenzy and Berserk were right on her heels, she had several cracked ribs and a concussion - she was sure. If Dark Son didn't arrive soon ... and then Backlash snagged her ankle with one of her sashes. 'Oh Fuck!!"

"I'll answer that after we win," she answered with her own sly smile. Once again, the so-called villain hadn't let her down. They really were going to have to go out on that promised date alright.

[~]

Having momentarily disposed of the two toughest brawlers, I back-pedaled out of the room I'd placed them in order to take in the greater scene. Sinister Syd and Hammer Storm were closing on me on the ground. Brain Bane was swooping down to take me unaware, or so he thought, from above. The building in front of me was a series of offices zoned 'Industrial' and unoccupied at this hour. I had a plan.

With my TK gauntlets I telekinetically reached out and grabbed Syd and Hammer Storm. Into the room they went. Dodging Brain Bane was risky, but I survived the gambit. Next I tore down the entire building from above, burying half of the Night Crew underneath the wreckage. Four on two were much better odds.

Better yet, Sonic Scythe was occupied keeping law enforcement at bay making this more of a one on one (Backlash was still recovering from Arachne's punch).

"You are going to pay for humiliating me," Brain Bane slashed his sword back and forth with a flourish.

"Yeah - whatever," I yawned, getting further underneath his skin.

"Rrraaarrr," he bellowed before charging in.

"Oh - frack," Arachne cursed as she fell into another one of Psy Lord's telepathic illusions.

I quickly drew my own (Dad's really) broadsword and activated the encompassing force field which both protected it and gave it a mono-molecular edge.

Brain Bane and I clashed blades rapidly in succession three times. I could feel his mind trying to weasel is way past my defenses so he could figure out my moves before I could enact them - giving Brain Bane a nearly insurmountable edge in our fight. Sadly for him, he wasn't succeeding.

Worse, I was stronger and my tech was better. On the fourth parry, his blade chipped and on the seventh - it snapped off entirely. I could have let this guy off with a warning, but after the damage Liberty had taken from the explosion and their attempt to overwhelm Arachne, I wasn't in a forgiving mood.

"Regenerate this, Bitch," I growled as I severed both his hands in one mighty swoop. Brain Blade howled, staggered back (in the air) and began weeping in pain and indignation. "One more peep out of you and I'm cutting off our head," I promised, adding emphasis by putting the tip of my blade to his throat.

I didn't get a response, but then I wasn't expecting one. Brain Bane had to be in a shit-ton of pain. I headed over toward Psy Lord, who started to panic. As I came on, he gave up on his illusion and fled. Right as he exited the field, the rubble behind me shifted and Berserk rose out of the ruins ... really, really pissed. Frenzy tossed another wall section away so she too could enjoy the upcoming fun.

"Let's get them," Arachne declared jubilantly. She was (perhaps) less happy with what I did next. She had a Code Against Killing. I didn't. I tossed my blade at Berserk, cleaving his sternum in twain and causing him to stagger backwards then fall over. "Did you just kill him?" Arachne gasped.

"Not yet, but it's coming if he doesn't get the fuck out of here," I proclaimed.

I knew for a fact Berserk regenerated (slowly), so I left the sword were it was, vibrant and alive within his soon to be corpse. Frenzy launched herself at me, but Arachne intercepted her, going down in a fur-ball of flying fists, kicks and elbows. Given a moment's respite, I telekinetically picked up more wreckage and brought it down on the still trapped Sinister Syd and Hammer Storm ... oh yeah, and the gravely wounded Berserk. Fuck him.

As I was playing wack-a-mole with the trapped members of the Night Crew, Sonic Scythe realized their dire predicament and came to save her companions. Her blows staggered me and made me drop my wreckage on her compatriots. I back-flipped in the air then charged her. Another wave of sonic death washed over me then I slammed into her ... HARD! Something went crunch and she screamed.

I had broken one of her collarbones - YAY ME! Her discomfort allowed me to pick her up and hurl her at the recovering Backlash, knocking that metahuman back into unconsciousness. In fact, both of them were hors de combat after that attack. Which was fine, because Sinister Syd had belched up an acidic cloud of something to disintegrate the debris above him and Hammer Storm, freeing them both.

Hammer Storm quickly hurled a mini-sledgehammer at me, only to see me deflect it with my vambrace. I wasn't going to fight Sinister Syd in close combat unless I could help it, or until I could give him a whole container of breath mints. Even with my armored suit I was leery of what his toxins could do. Fuck it all, I had to buck up!

I launched a barrage of mini-missiles upon those two, concentrating on choking out Syd with fire-retardant. He met my attack with a wave of acidic toxins of his own. The resulting cloud still allowed me to get close enough to him to launch a TK-accentuated punch into his face. His nose broke and blood fountained from his mouth as he pitched over backwards.

The cost was my sensors telling me I'd lost some of the augmented functions from my left gauntlet which had to push through his toxic fog. Worse, for my troubles, Hammer Storm hammered me into the ground with twin sledgehammer blows. My suit's optimum operating capacity dropped to 91%. I put my telekinetic field into 'self-repair' then rolled over just in time to catch one of the two tandem hammer blows - my hand landing on the shaft.

"You're dead!" Hammer Storm snarled.

I took the other blow to my chest plate. My suit's optimum operating capacity dropped to 89%. I compensated by bringing my feet up and slamming them into his crotch and left knee. Away he went.

With my right TK gauntlet I brought down more of the ruins around me down on Sinister Syd putting him out for the fight. Six down - two to go. Hammer Storm landed twenty feet away. My left gauntlet was trashed so my attempt to shove him up in the air failed to take hold. On he came, twin sledgehammers spinning around.

"I'm going to kill you," he gloated ... prematurely.

"Not in this lifetime," I growled right back. Now it was fists versus hammers. I was more agile and hit harder, quickly deflating Hammer Storm's bravado. Back and forth we traded blows. My armor held while he had to soak up the real damage my fists dished out to him.

Finally, I caught another one of his hammer shafts in mid-strike. My palm hurt yet I was able to keep the hammer stuck between us.

"Give it back ..." he got out before I educated him on the use of helmets with several rapid fired head-butts. HS's eyes crossed and lost focus. I wrenched one hammer away and threw it over my shoulder.

My weakened left fist then landed a series of crushing body blows which drove the air out of him. An uppercut from my more potent right finished him off - rendering him unconscious. I looked over to Arachne just in time to see her vomit webbing all over an unconscious Frenzy. None left.

"Bravo," another figure saluted us from a building top above us. We had been observed while we fought for our lives. "You both are worth $5 million a head. Do you want to come along quietly, or are you going to really make us earn it?"

By 'us' I assumed the talker - wearing a black cloak, black and white body stocking and a haughty, condescending glare plus her four back up metahumans - meant Arachne and I. These jokers had to be 'High Society'.

"I don't know about you," Arachne addressed me, "but I'm just getting started." She also stumbled slightly, suggesting she was much the worse for wear after dispatching the last of the Night Crew.

"They are not alone," came from on high. Angelheart had arrived and with her, I assumed, the rest of Freedom Force was soon to make an appearance.

"Don't be so hasty," a different voice announced from around the block across the street. The leader flourished an orchid before his all-girl squad made an appearance. They - the Masquerade of Mystery - were the ones I was looking for as they had a bomb-maker in their midst. One of the TEN of them that was.

[END]

(1204)

A Few 'Good Guys'

The Ultimates [12]

Ultima [Earth's most powerful metahuman]

Elite 99 [An AI/android created by Prodigy]

The Supreme Mystic [Guardian of the mystic forces of the Earth-Nexus dimension]

Prodigy [Not regularly a field member] [2nd smartest person on Earth]

Lady Domino [Controls the forces of Space/Time and Luck]

Warhawk [Metahuman in an armored suit created by Vulcan]

Starborne [Alien - controls Cosmic Forces]

Chaos Theory [Controls the forces of Order and Chaos]

Vulcan [Not always a field member] [Claims to be the God Vulcan / Hephaestus]

Storm Lord [Controls elemental forces]

Lady Spectrum [Controls electromagnetic forces]

The Moon Huntress [Immortal avatar of the Egyptian Pantheon]

[13+1] Metahuman Team-X

Ruby Lenses ~ fires lethal eyebeams of destructive power

Seraphim ~ angel-winged metahuman acrobat and charismatic face man

X-Girl ~ telepathic and telekinetic metahuman wonder-kin yet to come into her own

Animus ~ engineering genius who can assume the powers of various animals

Deluge ~ metahuman mistress of the Elemental Storm

War Cry ~ Sonic powered metahuman

Phantom Girl ~ metahuman able to control her density

Weapon-Y2 ~ a 2nd, female attempt at the Weapon-Y project ... using a young metahuman girl with rage issues ...

Gremlin ~ a metahuman with the ability to jinx others as well as alter her own luck

Futurista & Warbeast ~ a metahuman girl able to utilize super-science equations they appear to be magic plus her pet baby dragon-like creature

Chromium Steel ~ a metahuman who can transform into a living Chromium Steel colossus

Star Stepper ~ metahuman misfit with the ability to rapidly teleport around as well as possessing superhuman agility and coordination

Soul Stealer ~ touch mimicry with a horrible Cajun accent

[5] The Sidekick Super-Squad

Night Owl

Nova Blaze

Starling

Techno

Animal Lad

Nightingale

A Host of Villainy

[5] The Uptown Crew ~ they HATE 'High Society'.

Heir Apparent ~ a physical metahuman with above normal characteristics in all fields of physical, mental and social endeavors.

The Dilettante - uses a variety of "store-bought" gadgets to make up for her lack of personal abilities.

Touché ~ an exceedingly capable acrobat with the ability to absorb attacks and redirect the energy as heat rays.

The Socialite ~ a telepathic networker with impressive martial arts abilities.

The (Black) Butler ~ the team's 'tank'. Exact abilities unknown.

[8] The Night Crew ~ currently working for criminal kingpin Romeo Dusk

Brain Bane ~ a flying telepathic telekinetic with a huge ego and much of the power to back it up. Love to exult in the 'reality' all other powers are merely weakened versions of telepathy and telekinetics.

Backlash ~ female mistress of the whip / sash used as a weapon. Uses her sashes to bind and beat her opponents.

Berserk ~ the team's toughest brawler. Once he goes berserk he becomes immune to pain and mind controlling effects. One mean hand-to-hand combatant.

Frenzy ~ the female 'twin' of Berserk, or a 'Berserk' in training.

Hammer Storm ~ an augmented 'normie' who utilizes a variety of hammers in his attacks including his trademark twin sledgehammers in 'hand-to-hand' combat.

Psy Lord ~ a lesser version of Brain Bane with a greater emphasis on telepathic abilities. Able to create area effecting mental illusions.

Sinister Syd ~ a metahuman capable of breathing forth, or spitting, a variety of toxins ... which makes him less than popular with the ladies.

Sonic Scythe ~ a metahuman who sends forth sonic death from her fingertips capable of severing steel I-beams.

[5] High Society

Francesca Fury ~ She possesses the ability to channel incoming attacks and either absorb them for latter, or redirect them toward other foes.

Pricilla Posh ~ the teams hyper-inventory she is known to use a variety of gizmos and gadgets unique to each encounter.

Serena Spotlight ~ possesses a variety of light-based stunts including the ability to dazzle an audience.

Josh Starlight ~ the ability to summon star- and (micro) meteor-strikes makes him less than popular in combat within tight confines.

Raven Wilde ~ a mistress of Monkey Kung-Fu and Parkour, she has above normal human strength and dexterity.

[5] Femme Force

Mannequin ~ a metahuman possesses the ability to turn other people into puppets she controls. Oddly enough she appears to be a rather nice person and has a Code Against Killing.

Doctor Mindbender ~ a psychic (not a metahuman) who utilizes Invisible Telepathy to manipulate those around her ... including her own teammates.

Femme Fatale ~ a super-soldier from another dimension who has a black-hole generator trapped inside her super-tough body. She also utilizes impressive levels of bio-manipulation on herself (only).

Hell Cat ~ a demon-possessed female assassin who uses darkness powers and the ability to transit to Hell to move around in extreme circumstances.

Nympho ~ a very tough metahuman bruiser who can exude a Sexual Promiscuity Field around herself out to several dozen meters. She only keeps the field in check with the help of psychic blocks put in place by Dr. Mindbender.

[6] The Sinister Six

Lightning Lord (Jordan Rains) ~ electrical control and manipulation

Rockwell (Dr. Bartholomew Rockwell) ~ very smart hyper-inventor; goes into combat in an armored battlesuit. Known for creating and tweaking clones.

The Gamroid (Lamont McGraw) ~ big, glowing violet 'tank'; not too bright and prone to rages

Prairie Fire (Tejal Khatri) ~ mystic fire Elementalist; unwitting pawn of the Fire God Surtur.

Metaman 2nd (Bruno Kos) ~ has 'metas' in all physical, mental and social categories.

Nebula Inferno (unknown) ~ pyro-/cryokinetic metahuman rights activist; metahuman supremacist.

[8] The Elite Eight

Acme Avenger ~ team's gadget master

Apex the Assassin ~ team's best all-around assassin

Apogee ~ team's best infiltrator / con-man

Halo ~ team's technical expert

Periphery ~ team's teleporter

Pinnacle ~ team's explosive expert

Vertex ~ team's best burglar

Zenith Zephyr ~ team's speedster

[10] The Masquerade of Mystery

The Orchid ~ aka Trousseau Masquerade

Hacker Hermes

Specialist Aphrodite

Sniper Luna

Padre Ares

Ranger Zeus

Medic Hera

Spotter Poseidon

Pilot Caelus

Scout Hades

[9] Death's Cabal

Ghost Chill

Screaming Banshee

Killer Corpse

Vilemost, the Necromancer

(The undead) Solomon Caine

Moloch the Unclean

Magnus Dragoș

The Phantom Seductress

Dance Macabre