Morningstar : the Northern Light (rpg campaign journal)

Morningstar: The Northern Light

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...rningstar4.jpg

Real name: Trevor Jones
Identity: Known to the Canadian government
Legal status: Citizen of Canada with no criminal record
Place of birth: Yellowknife, NWT, Canada.
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Nathaniel Jones/Thunder (deceased)

Height: 6’3�
Weight: 265 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: No body hair. Blonde paste on eye-brows.
**Note**: The Morningstar synthoid looks almost physically identical to the Thunder synthoid, save for eye colour.

Strength Level: The Morningstar synthoid can lift/press about 10 tons under normal circumstances. When amplified by solar energy however, he has demostrated feats of strength that place him in the Class 100 category, ie. can lift/press 100+ tons.

Known Powers
The Morningstar synthoid is remarkably durable and resilient to damage; such that small calibre bullets bounce off of him virtually unnoticed, and even 7.62 mm rounds only cause welts and bruising. He can withstand temperature extremes ranging from 150 degrees F to -30 degrees F with little to no discomfort, levels of radiation en pare with those released by a modern nuclear missle at ground zero, and is immune to all known terrestial poisons, toxins and diseases. Beyond these attributes, Morningstar can also channel stored solar energy to amplified his recuperative abilities expontentially, and with enough solar energy at his disposal can heal all but the most serious of injuries in seconds.

Morningstar's eyes are capable of instanteously screening out or amplifying existing light, granting him normal vision in both blinding light and considerable darkness.

The synthoids greatest physical susceptability is energy, which he is only somewhat more resistent to than a normal human; though even here with his raw physical strength and hardiness the snythoid could shrug off a jolt or two from a lightning strike or contact with high tension wires.

As previously mentioned, Morningstar is capable of absorbing vast amounts of solar energy. This stored solar energy can be put to a variety of uses ranging from life support (eg. nourishment, oxygen) to the amplification of his regenerative powers, his strength level, and his powers of light manipulation. This power is however subject to various environmental conditions; most noteably Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, which screen out vast amounts of solar radiation and thus allow Morningstar only limited access to his full potential.

The synthoid is also capable of both generating and manipulating light. He can use this to shape a variety of objects (eg. forcefields, weapons, ladders, etc.) out of "solid light", emit dazzling bursts of light capable of stunning opponents, and fire focused burts of photons capable of punching through titanium... and even secondary adamantium if fed with enough solar energy.

Beyond this sizeable array of powers, the Morningstar synthoid also has the ability to fly, and is capable of reaching speeds of up to 300 mph.

History
The Morningstar synthoid is the second in GenTech's line of super-synthoids; super-powered genetically engineered humanoid lifeforms raised in various energy wombs, which grow to adult proportions within a year and a half of their being released from their "womb".

Morningstar emerged from his womb at GenTech Research and Developement Facility just outside of Yellowknife, NWT, roughly two years ago. However, most of that time was been spent in the confines of GenTech. Only recently has he reached full growth and begun to undertake the "Advanced Socialization" program. Overseeing his developement (as the frontman for an entire team of GenTech psychologists and sociologists), is Dr. Jessica Banks.

Like the Thunder synthoid (see Thunder's Campaign Journal ), Morningstar has been conditioned according to ethical guidelines, and with very strong instincts toward compassion for the human species. While no where near as "spacey/thick" as Thunder, Morningstar nevertheless has an open, quiestioning, and somewhat niave disposition.

Morningstar #1

While out shopping in Yellowknife with Dr. Banks (as part of his socialization program) a great commotion of rage filled yells and horror filled shrieks began to split the air from outside. As the two made their way for the small parkade and the Doc.'s car, they were confronted by a trio of hideous, demonic mad-men intent on killing them.

These creatures were quickly subdued by Morningstar.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5.../broodling.jpg

Despite the terrified Doc's orders for him to get in the car, the synthoid quickly retrieved his costume, donned it, and then made his way outside ... where the commotion persisted.

Once outside, he spotted a winged-insectoid mutate just up the street destroying a police car. It immediately turned to glare at him, gurgling a barely intelligable word, "kiiiillllllll" from its drooling and chittering mouth.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...ingfarhill.jpg

Morningstar and the strangly familiar creature then charged each other, and a struggle began. It culminted when the synthoid called upon an enormous amount of his solar energy stores and sent the insectoid-mutate hurling back with a Herculean blow.

At that moment, the Dr.Banks came pulling up in her car. She jumped out and told Morningstar that she just heard from GenTech, and then related that these "madmen" must be restrained and detained -- as apparently their condition will pass -- following which the synthoid was to return with all due haste to GenTech.

At that moment, even as the insectoid-mutate rose up into the air and began to fly off, roughly a dozen of those formerly injured by it rose to their feet ... the "demonic madness" upon them.

Morningstar was quick to wrap both himself and Dr.Banks in a lightshield, and then fly to the roof of a nearby office building. Setting the Doctor down, he next trapped a small cluster of the "madmen" in a half-sphere of soldified light, before flying after a couple that had chased a lady down a back alley. Even as he pursued these two, an Epsilon Shuttle descended to the street, depositing a trio of Epsilon troopers, before once again rising into the sky and blasting off toward GenTech.

With the aid of the Epsilon troopers, the remaining "madmen" were quickly tracked down and incapacitated. And, after a brief exchange of introductions, the local authorities were mustered to detain the "madmen".

Morningstar #2

With the "madmen" restrained and detained, Morningstar offered the trio of Epsilon troopers a ride to GenTech; creating a "basket" of solid light, loading them in, and then taking to the sky with all due haste.

They arrived to find the Epsilon Shuttle landed in the GenTech parking lot, the pilot and a number of GenTech "suits" standing near it -- Chief Administrator David Durham amongst them -- and a large crowd of personel gathered on the far side of the craft, away from the facility.

A number of cars lay wrecked and in flames in the parking lot, and whisps of smoke still eminated from the shattered and broken main entrance.

Landing near the shuttle, Morningstar and the Epsilons made their way over to Durham. He informed them that the "Broodling" reached the facility about 20 minutes ago, cutting a swathe through the assembled security force and numerous personel, and leaving numerous "Drones" in it's wake. Thankfully, the Epsilon Troopers arrived hot on the Broodling's heels, and managed to both incapacitate the drones and secure the groundlevel before pursuing the Broodling itself into the sublevels of the facility.

* (see Thunder #27 to learn more of Broodling and it's relationship to GenTech)

Durham further related that he had been in touch with Dr. Stone of GenTech HQ in Toronto. He was in transit to this site even as they spoke, and had reason to believe that the creature would be heading for area C15 in the north-wing of sublevel 2. Stone stressed the importance of containing the threat, and enforcing a quarentine on all personel.

Even as Durham explained this, the Epsilons received a communication from their unit commander, Captain Geoffrey London. He explained that the sublevels were crawling with both drones and regs, but that the unit was nevertheless approaching the target area. He then ordered the trio to remain topside, help enforce the quarentine, and stop anything that might get past them.

Morningstar however, enjoyed no such luxury. Durham, under the order of Stone, insisted that the "synth" proceed to the defense of area C15 with all due haste.

So, penetrating to sublevel 2, Morningstar heard numerous growls and screams coming from the south wing. He saved 3 lab techs from a number of drones, and then as the lot of them returned to the elevator foray, he saved a group of 5 others from 2 more drones. The people in this second group seemed oddly familiar to the synthoid, but of course, they did work here ... where he lived.

After locking the drones in a room and aiding the survivors to the surface,
Morningstar at last proceeded to area C15. He arrived to find a large room containing 5 large cylinders all hooked up to numerous computers and machines along the walls via capables and tubes. Much of this equipment was damaged and shooting sparks, while a goodly number of torn and bloody bodies lined the floor of the room; lab techs., security guards, Epsilon troopers, some laying naked. And in the midst of it all, drooling profusely, and chittering and gittering about, stood the Broodling.

The battle was quickly joined as each went at the other. Morningstar thought to end the fight fast and so channelled nearly all of his solar energy into one titanic punch. And while this did manage to slam the Broodling back and leave it momentarily stunned, it then happened that 4 of the Epsilons, their helmets shattered but their armour fully intact, rose up as drones.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5..._broodling.jpg

After a brief exchange with the Epsilon drones, and with the Broodling rising back to its feet, Morningstar decided on a strategic retreat. However, such was the fury of the Broodling that the synthoid was crushed by it's charging mass even as he entered the elevator shaft. It then took Morningstar's unconscious body and hurled it down to the bottom of the shaft ... some 20 floors below.

Morningstar #3

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...mstarbrood.jpg

Having been located and hauled up to the surface, Morningstar at last regained conscious outsdie of GenTech. He was in the company of Dr. Stone (Head of GenTech; think a business suavey version of Jeff Goldblum's character in Independence Day or the Fly), Dr.Banks, Mr. Durham and a few other GenTech employees.

After helping the synthoid to his feet, Stone excused the others and performed a brief examination of Morningstar. Though the synthoids body had suffered much trauma in his fight with the Broodling, the Doctor was very pleased with the speed of recovery once exposed to direct sunlight.

When Morningstar asked what happened to the Broodling, Stone explained that it emerged from the facility just before his own arrival some 20 minutes ago, attacked a few (more) security guards, and then flew off to the southeast. More importantly though, stressed the doctor, was the fact that the Broodling succeed in releasing 5 hostile xenomorph's that were being held in stasis in area C15.

Nearly a decade ago, Stone explained, an alien craft crashlanded near a isolated GenTech research centre here in the NWT. This ship contained a number of hostile aliens that "impregnated" a team of GenTech scientists that had gone to investigate the crash. No one knows exactly what went on, but when others at last arrived to relieve this team, the centre's power was gone and the scientists were found, apparently frozen to death from the winter cold.

It was eventually discovered however, that the scientists were not dead, but had somehow merely entered a cryogenic sleep. And it was soon discovered why, as the first to be unthawed quickly underwent a metamorphosis into a terrible creature that called itself a "Brood". This one was groggy and quickly slain by attendent security guards. It's corpse dissolved within a moment of it's death, and so it was decided that the other infested scientists, while they would be brought out of their cyrogenic sleep, would nevertheless be placed directly into stasis-tubes. And there they had remained ... until now. If such creatures were to establish a foothold on Earth, the consequences could be ... apocolyptic.

Thankfully, Stone continued to explain, that each of these "hosts" were tagged with tracking devices while still in stasis, and one of these devices managed to survive the metamorphosis. Presently, the device had come to a dead stop at a small house in Yellowknife.

Dr. Stone then began to lead Morningstar over to the Epsilon Shuttle, its pilot, and it's two remaining troopers. En route to Yellowknife the Doc said that the Brood were able to shift back and forth between their insectoid form and human form, and so gave Morningstar pictures of the five people he would be looking for. The synthoid immediately recognized them as the five lab tech.s he had saved back at GenTech; the one's that seemed strangely familiar.

Arriving in Yellowknife and getting into position, Morningstar was at last given the go ahead, and went in hard and fast. He quickly learned that the Brood had 5 people (3 women, 1 child, and an old man) as hostages, but had no time to free them as the Brood-Warriors, enraged at his prescence, attacked him with savage fury. So great was the synthoid's concern for the hostages that he soon found himself overwhelmed, and restrained by order of their Queen.

She sniffed at him, saying that she could already smell the mark of the Brood upon him, but that in his current state he was but a mockery of her glorious race. She then implanted a Brood egg in him. And while the synthoid struggled, he was soon overwhelmed by pain and fell unconscious.

In due time Morningstar once again regained consciousness. He found an Epsilon trooper in the doorway of the house, his weapon leveled at him, with Dr. Stone "cowering inquisitively" behind him. As he struggled to his feet, the Doc exclaimed his great pleasure about his suspicions being confirmed ... that the Brood gene he used in the creation of GenTech's synthoid's was so tenacious that not even a Brood implant could surivive it's counter-attack. When the synthoid questioned into this, Stone told him that the base structure for all GenTech's clones not only enjoyed an enhanced immune system thanks to Brood DNA -- not to mention the collective germ-line of all life on Earth -- but also their strong fighting instincts along with their base strength and toughness.

Morningstar pondered this information, even as he recalled the great sense of familiarity he had when confronted with the Brood in their human form. Likewise, if to a far lesser extent, with the Broodling.

He didn't dwell on it for more than a moment however, beforer Stone related that the Brood and their hostages were presently speeding North out of the city along the gravel road, bound for Yellowknife Highway.

Taking the hint, Morningstar ran outside and flew off even as Stone and the one remaning Epsilon Trooper made their way back out to the shuttle and followed suit.

Catching up to the van in no time, Morningstar created a suit of solid-light armour around himself and then charged the van. While he missed it, it was not by much, and the vehicle went flying into the air as the road exploded in fornt of it. What followed was a vicious battle against, not four Brood warriors, but seven. In the end, Morningstar was victorious, but only thanks to the help of Lt. Katherine Henderson, the only Epsilon Trooper left standing (other than the pilot of the shuttle).

Unfortunately, the Brood-Queen managed to escape during the melee and was last seen flying back toward Yellowknife. Morningstar did a quick recon of the city, but found nothing.

Morningstar #4

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...Sbroodling.jpg

After losing the Brood-Queen in Yellowknife, Morningstar was contacted over his ear-mike by Dr.Stone. The synthoid informed the Doctor of the situation, the area the Queen was last spotted in, and also, in passing, that he had a vague sense that she was still in the area. When the doctor questioned into this, Morningstar related that he had somekind of limited ability to sense the Brood-Queen. Stone then postulated that this was due to his Brood genes giving him some form of access to the Brood "Hivemind" .... even as it appears to have done with the Farhill-Broodling.

Assuring Morningstar that a door-by-door search of the area was being organized even as they spoke, and that Epsilon reinforcements would soon be arriving from BC and AB, Dr. Stone ordered the synthoid back to GenTech.

Once there, Stone immediately began subjecting Morningstar to a battery of tests as he hoped to isolate the mechanism that allowed acces to the so-called "Hivemind" and develope some means to boost Morningstar's "reception". If he could, the synthetic hero might be able to pinpoint the Queen via this sense, and track her wherever she might flee.

No sooner had Stone begun his tests than he was informed that the Epsilon Guards from the Dungeon in BC had arrived in Yellowknife, and where participating in the quarentine of the city. And no sooner had the good doctor finished with Morningstar and begun to analyze the initial results than they were informed that the Farhill-Broodling had once again appeared, and was currently locked in battle with the Epsilon unit that arrived near simultaneoulsy from AB.

Morningstar lost little time in taking to the air and speeding for Yellowknife ... some 20 minutes off even at sustained top speed. When he at last arrived, smoke rose from the main strip of the tiny city, as Epsilons battled fiercely to contain the Broodling's drones, while the Farhill-Broodling itself continued to increase its ranks with attack after attack.

Charging in at full speed, an angry and spiteful battle began between these two products of Brood DNA ... between these two "brothers". While the Farhill-Broodling was shaken by Morningstar's opening gambit, his sheer hatred and contempt for the synthoid, his rival for the Queen's affections, soon shifted the tide of the battle in the mutates favour. Mounting the fallen synthoid, Farhill cut into it with slash after viscious slash ... until Morningstar at last flashed with the light of a small sun, blinding the Broodling and forcing it up and off of him. Then, shaping a pair of "brass-knuckles" around his already mighty fists, the synthoid began to pummel the Broodling.

In the end, Morningstar stood victorious and the Farhill-Broodling was secured in the Prisoner-Transport Shuttle of those Epilon's that came in from the Dungeon.

Unfortunately, even as Morningstar joined his battle with Farhill, the Brood-Queen was spotted making a low-altitude break for it. She was tracked, at a safe distance for a short while, but eventually disappeared beneath the treeline. And while Stone soon adminstered his amp-drug to Morningstar, it proved to be unsuccessful in locating the xenomorph.

Morningstar #5

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5.../goonii9xr.jpg

Over the next three days Morningstar and the Epsilon troopers spent much time patrolling the surrounding region, and an A.P.B. was put out on the Brood-Queen's host, Brenda Polowski.

During this time the Farhill-Broodling's "drone-virus" ran it's course and those infected returned to normal, thus allowing the human damage to at last be assessed. Between the "riots" in Yellowknife and the outbreak in the sub-levels of GenTech there were a total of 39 casualties.

With no sign of the Brood-Queen, Dr.Stone ordered Dr.Jessica Banks to accompany Morningstar to GenTech HQ in Toronto. Apparenly there was a matter to attend to there that might require Morningstar's assistance, but he would talk more about that in a couple of days time when he joined them there.

Arriving at GenTech HQ, Trevor (Morningstar) was shown to his on-grounds quarters by a young company man named Carl Clausson. He had a very soft and easy-going manner to him, used the phrase "ma'man" alot, and informed Trevor that if he needed anything, all he had to do was buzz. He immediately asked Carl if he could introduce him to Thunder. Carl responded with a laugh, pointing out that it was Trevor who was all buddy-buddy with Dr.Stone. He did however bring Trevor all of the tv footage and newspaper clippings he could find on TO's official superhero.

As Jessica slept in her own quarters, Trevor spent most of his first night in Toronto perusing this material and imagining what it would be like to meet his "brother". And on the odd occassion, as he wandered the halls at GenTech, a couple people greeted him in passing as Nathan (Thunder's civilian name) ... greetings he met with an apprehensive silence.

The following day, Jessica decided to take Trevor into the big city where they could take in some sights, practice his social skills, et al. As they meandered about downtown however, it came to pass that the terrified screams of a woman and a child were heard from a block over, racing across an intersection and then out of sight again continuing down the same street. A thunderous booming followed them as a huge purple skinned freak followed in close pursuit.

With the crowd on the street distracted, Trevor surrounded himself in dark light, changed into his custom, and then went in pursuit. As he followed he noted that the purple skin thing looked remarkably similar to the "Goon" villian he had seen on the Thunder footage ... save that it "melted" at the end of it's fight with Thunder (see Thunder #12, also Thunder #4 and #7 ).

As Morningstar chased after the monster his pursuit was interrupted when it casually scooped up a min-van (contaning a woman, a baby, and a small child) and flung it out of his way, high into the air. No sooner had Morningstar caught the minivan, set it back down in one piece (if not altogether "gentle-as-can-be"), and continued his pursuit when a gasoline truck that swerved to miss the Goon went careening out of control. While Morningstar was unable to prevent it from crashing into a nearby building, he did manange to surround the tank in protective light and prevent it from puncturing and possibly exploding.

The synthoid at last caught up with the purple skinned brute outside of an apartment building. It had corned the kid outside the frontdoor, and the lad screamed tearfully for help, for someone to please come and save him.

Morningstar surrounded himself in light-armour and slammed into the Goons back at over 100 mph. This distracted the brute long enough for the boy to slip inside the building, and caused the purple skinned freak to grunt with pain. As for Morningstar, he bounced off of the Goon and then off the pavement a couple of times, before scrambling to unsteady feet. He then launched a punch at the Goon, only to have the brute grab his arm and begin slammig him into the street over and over again, until finally hurling him into the body of a crane in a nearby construction sight.

Making its way over to the sight, the Goon gathered up the wrecking ball from the collapsed crane, and began to clobber the dazed synthoid with it. Thankfully, it was a sunny day and Morningstar had plenty of energy in his reserves. Thus was he able to pull himself from the wreckage of the crane and at last mount an offensive, reforming his shattered light-armour, along with a morningstar, and laying into his assailent.

And so the battle raged on and on.

In due time, Morningstar's strength began to fail. However, mustering his strength for one final blow, fate smiled on him and Goon walked headlong into it. Rather than knocking the monser out though, the purple skinned mutate simply vanished into thin air.

A couple of photogrpahers took his picture, and one even got his name, Morningstar, before the hero made a quick search for the kid, and then, failing to find him, flew off.

Morningstar #6

Following his fight with the "illusion" of Goon, Morningstar contacted Jessica and then returned immediately to GenTech.

Later that evening Dr.Stone arrived back from Yellowknife and called both Moringstar and Dr.Banks to his office. They discussed what went on with "Goon", and Stone remarked that this was peculiar for a few reasons. First, in previous months, Thunder had encountered and battled somekind of holograms of various metahumans (Thunder 17, 19, 21, and 25). And second, Thunder went missing roughly one week ago (Thunder #28), along with his romanitc interest Susan O'Conner, who just happens to have once been "involved" with he man that became Goon.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210096.jpg

With that, Dr.Stone went on to reveal that Morningstar would be going on a trip to New Jersey, as Thunder's G.P.D. (Global Positioning Device) implant placed him on a small island just of the Jersey coast before it's signal was finally lost. Morningstar would be going into investigate this island, while Banks acted as his chaperon (in strictly non-life threatening climes).

During the trip and for the first while in Jersey there was some friction between Trevor (Morningstar) and Jessica due to the formers lack of confidence and self-direction, but Jessica was at last able to drive home the fact that Morningstar was a superhuman lifeform (while she herself was a mere psychologist). And so, at long last Trevor donned his Morningstar costume and flew off to the specified island.

Arriving at the island, Morningstar found that it was an abandoned amusement park. Landing out front of the biggest structure, a funhouse called "Never, Never Land", the synthoid entered and soon found himself in pursuit of a knight in black platemail dragging off a screaming woman. In his pursuit he had to fight his way over a bridge guarded by a mechanical troll, past nearly a dozen rediculous looking mechanical knights, and through 2 Shrek's before at last confronting the Black Knight at the top of a great tower. During his fight with this knight, he knocked off it's helmet to behold a robotic likeness of himself ... or Nathan, as the woman exclaimed.

For all of that, Morningstar made short work of the robot. He then saw that the woman whose aid he came to was the same as the one that fled with the boy from goon the other day.

Susan explained that she had been kidnapped out of her apartment at least a week ago, and was held in a small, dimly lit room ever since. Then, a couple of days ago, she heard a man and a woman talking about how business was official complete, and that they were now going to kill her. Thankfully, she managed to escape between the walls of this place, and found the tunnels and vents to be so extensive that she has been able to hide for a couple of days now. She had at last decided to make a break for it today, but was captured by the black knight.

With Sue in tow, Morningstar began knocking holes into the walls of the fairyland "set" until he at last found a large vent. Following this, they eventually emerged into a pac-man maze, and not only eluded the lethal pac-man that patrolled the maze, but found a control room at the centre of the maze. Within Morningstar found a hysterically laughing redhaired man wearing a whitesuit and an obnoxious bow-tie. The synthoid tried to get him to reveal the location of Thunder, but he merely kpet on laughing ..... and counting backwards. Realizing what was up at the last moment, Morningstar was able to throw up a solid light barrier around Sue and himself, as the lauhging man (apparently a robotic likeness) exploded.

Soon after, the facility began to shake with multiple explosions. So, with Sue safely within a bubble of solid light, Morningstar blasted his way to the surface and carried her to safety.

Morningstar #7

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...elfailsafe.jpg

Following his ecape from Arcade's Murderworld, Morningstar placed Susuan O'Conner into Dr.Banks' keeping. She in turn helped get Sue in touch with the Canadian embassay and the American authorities.

Returning to Toronot a few days later, Morningstar was debriefed by Dr.Stone. While no body was found, it was concluded that Thunder was probably dead, assassinated by Arcade. Perhaps by Little Princess or one of her associates.

A week or so later Dr.Stone flew to Ottawa to attend the otherwise closed-door trial of Powersurge (see Powersurge's write up and Thunder #22), and took Trevor along with him as his personal bodyguard. It was a brief and surprisingly matter-of-fact affair, lasting only 3 days. A small unit of Epsilon troopers stood guard within the courtroom, while the civilian police controlled the relatively peaceful demonstration outside. When all was said and done, Powersurge was sentenced to a 5 year term of service as an agent of Department H.

As Powersurge was being scorted out of the courthouse to an awaiting Epsilon Shuttle, four 10' tall robots highly reminscient of Sentinels descended from the sky and in one fell swoop took out Powersurge and 4 of the 6 Epsilon troopers. One of them then began to surround the Canadian mutant in an energy field.

At this point the remaning Epsilon's attempted to mount a counter-offense, and were soon aided, not only by Morningstar, but also by an enormous redhaired Scotsman and an Asian man. The Scot quickly tore the arm off of one of the robots, and then smashed its head in with it before going for seconds. And he finished this second off even as the 2 Epsilons, the Asian (armed with an Epsilon energy rifle), and Morningstar finished off a third. The fourth robot however, managed to escape with Powersurge's unconscious form.

As another Epsilon Shuttle arrived to reinforce their fellows, the Asian and Scotsman introduced themselves as Yuri Suzuki (aka the Examiner) and Elmer MacDonald (aka Battlehammer). They presented the Epsilon troopers with their "diplomatic" credentials, and informed Morningstar that they were both team-mates of Powersurge's back when the U.N. Protectors project was still in existence.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/exhammer.jpg

The Epsilon's soon let the lot of them go, assuring them the they would handle this matter, and with an obligatory warning about the unauthorized use of superpowers.

The trio immediately proceeded to the Examiner's hotel room, where he retrieved his optics helmet. Following this, he used it to pick up the energy trail left by the Sentinel that kidnapped Powersurge. And then, after a brief stop at the Examiner's cousin's home (to pick up some additional tech.), Morningstar formed a makeshift shuttle of solid light, had Battlehammer and Examiner climb aboard, and then the trio began to track the energy trail.

They followed it northeast for several hours, till the trail at last disappeared ... at the foot of Mount Caubvik (aka Mont d'Iberville) in the Torngat Mountains that span the border between Quebec and Labradour. Two great iron doors were built into the side of the mountain, indicating some sort of facility within.

Searching for an alternate entrance, it was not long before Battlehammer found some sort of sewage pipe which he was just barely able to squeeze into. So, after tearing off the titanium steel grate, the lot of them piled in.

Following this pipe, the trio eventually found themselves in a maintainence room all full of pipes and boilers and the like. From there they gained access into the facility proper and were immediately confronted by a trio of Sentinels. These were quickly defeated, following which they located a computer node. The Examiner was able to use this to hack into the main computer system, download schematics of the facility, and locate the holding area ... where they believed Powersurge would be.

On their way to this area, they passed hrough a huge foray with numerous entrances. As they reached the centre, Sentinels began to emerge from all of the exits.

Morningstar #8

A moment after finding themselves in the large foray and surrounded by Sentinels, a man's face appeared on a large video monitor that hung from the ceiling on the far wall. The middle aged man was square jawed and stern of face. However, barely had he accused the heroes of breaking and entering when Morningstar destroyed the video monitor ... apparently not wanting the villian to spill the beans on his own "master plan". With that the surrounding Sentinels closed in. And despite a visciously fought battle, the heroes fell one-by-one.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210097.jpg

When all was said and done, both Examiner and Battlehammer were taken captive, while two Sentinels were ordered to take the synthoid outside and dispose of it. And so they did, taking him roughly a mile away from the installation, to a valley floor, where they began to deliver the resilient synthoid his death blows. However, no sooner had they begun their barrage when they received a priority call to return to base. Apparently, Battlehammer had regained consciousness sooner than anticipated and was proving troublesome, while the synthoid's lifesigns had clearly begun a downward spiral.

Thus was Morningstar left on the valley floor. And there he remained for the extent of the long, cold winter night, until at last, some 10 hours later, the light of the rising sun at last crested the mountians peaks and began to rain down on the valley floor.

With that, the solar powered synthoid's lifeforce began to slowly replenish itself. And while the damage that he suffered was far more extensive than his healing factor could heal in a mere few minutes, it was not long before Morningstar was back on his feet with his solar powered cells charged to full.

Returning to the front door of the mountain-installation, Morningstar was able to bend the light around his body, thereby rendering himself invisible to basic visual sensors. Then, when a small group of Sentinel's emerged, he snuck in the open doors.

Morningstar spent over an hour searching the installation, unsure of whether or not he was going in circles, but at last he came upon a room blocked by a translucent green force-wall. Within he saw not only a humble living space, but also the Examiner ... deprived of his technology, but otherwsie unharmed.

The Examiner explained that their captor was a man named Randal North, a former Lt. Colonel in the C.A.F. (Canadian Armed Forces) who lost his wife and family in the "Winnipeg Incident" (a huge explosion that leveled several blocks of Winnipeg, mostly park area, when Powersurge's mutant powers first manifested many years ago). The Examiner explained that North feels that it is his expressed duty to do what the Canadian government refuses to ... protect it's citizenry from rogue superpowered beings and ensure they are punished to the full extent for their crimes, and without regard for the bleeding hearts, their agendas, special interests and double standards.

In fact, years ago when the governement decided to scrap the Flight Program in favour of something more... obedient, Lt. Colonel Randal North's "Project: Failsafe" was one of the proposals offered up as an alternative. It lost the contract to the Epsilon Program, and North retired soon after.

Nevertheless, North pursued his "dream", and with the aid of certain "benefactors" was able to build this base ... which serves as both a Sentinel production plant and as a detention facility. The Examiner went on to explain that North plans on using Powersurge as a power source in order to bring production to full and speed up the completion of his army of peacekeeping Sentinels.

So, after failing to hack the holding room's security code, Morningstar hauled off and blasted through the wall, freeing the Examiner. Then, after a brief search, and a tussell with a pair of Sentinel's, the duo located a tech.workshop. Therein they found the Examiner's equipment.

With that, they decided to first locate and free Battlehammer, hopefully from the Detention Area, and then to make their way to the Generator Room and rescue Powersurge.

Morningstar #9

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...ngstar56rg.jpg

Having made it to the Detention Area, it did not take long for Morningstar and the Examiner to fight their way past the Sentinel guards and free Battlehammer from his reinforced osmium steel cell, gravity field, and nil-leverage osmium restraining bonds.

With Battlehammer free once more, the trio began to make their way to the Generator Room on the otherside of the complex. As they moved on their way, they found the facility to be suspiciously empty. And when they at last arrived at the Generator Room they found out why.

Within the enormous room, surrounded by the last of his current army of Sentinels (9), was Randal North. He stood, awaiting them, on a grated platform suspended over the farside of a large and very deep hole in the floor. Many computers sat behind him on the platform. Hanging over the center of the large hole was a huge tubular generator device, tappering to a point about midway down from the ceiling (about 30' overhead), and with a translucent red globe near it's summit. A quartette of tubes ran out of this globe, and the vague shape of a human could be gleaned within.

North greetec the heroes, stating that he had been expecting them. He began to speak, with increasing anger, of how he was the true hero in all of this, of how the spirits and the families of those slain in the Winnipeg Incident would at last have justice, and of how his "Failsafes" would keep such a tragedy from ever happening again. The heroes attempt to refute his beliefs, and pointed out how it was he who was acting against the law and greater good of the land, but this only brought the matter to a head and the Sentinels were given the order to attack.

And so the battle began in earnest. And no sooner had it, then North went to work on the computers behind him. Within a few moments a great humm filled the chamber and both the energy globe and it's attached tubes began to glow and pulse with energy.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210091.jpg http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210092.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...PB210093-1.jpg http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210095.jpg

Morningstar fired a hastily aimed blast at the generator, grazing it, and in response North warned that destroying the generator would lead to the certain death of their friend.

So, with barely a trio of Sentinels left to take down, the large doors on the far side of the room, leading to the Sentinel production plant, opened, and another Sentinel entered the fray. And a few moments later it was joined by another, then another.

Things were looking bleak for the heroes, when Examiner at last finished his analysis of the generator. He exclaimed tht North was lying, and ordered Battlehammer to take out the device while Morningstar used his powers to pluck the falling Powersurge from the debris.

And so it was, with Battlehammer grabbing a Sentinel, twisting it's head off, hoisting it above his head, and then hurling it into the Generator... shattering it. Likewise did Morningstar quickly reach out with his light powers, surrounding the unconscious body of Powersurge in a protective field of light and then hauling him to safety.

The rest of the debris rained down from the ceiling. Some of it struck the platform North was on, presumably carrying him to his death at the bottom of the hole.

Moments later the installation began to rumble and geysers of energy began to shoot up out of the hole in the floor. The remaning Sentinels were destroyed by the first of these geysers, while Morningstar shielded himself and his comrades with a light shield. Then, making a tunnel of solid light leading to the exit of the Generator Room, the group fled to the front door of the facility. Here, Morningstar again surrounded his friends in a carriage of solid light and then took to the sky with them.

They had barely made it more than a mile away when an enormous geyser of energy blew the peak off of Mount Caubvik.

Settling in a nearby valley, the badly wounded and utterly exhausted heroes gathered their wits. They were soon met by an Epsilon Shuttle and a troop of Epsilons, whom had found the group courtesy of Dr.Stone and Morningstar's G.P.S.

The hereos were lifted back to Department H's HQ in Ottawa, with Morningstar quickly being released into Stone's custody and hospitalized (at GenTech in TO). Both Examiner and Battlehammer were soon released as well, with a gentle warning and a sincere thanks for their help in this matter.

I spent the last day figuring out what issues of true MU titles Powersurge's history and my own campaign rpg "titles" coincides with, ie. what title and issue Powersurge first appeared in, when the Drathlor arc occurred, when the "first issue" of the Protectors was, how many issues it ran, etc.

This stuff was a little difficult to correlate, so I might be a little off, but here is what I've come up with...

First Appearance of Powersurge (Winnipeg Incident, meets Wolverine) = approx. Uncanny X-Men #171 (when Rogue joined as former villaness), Alpha Flight #2, Avengers #236.

Drathlor "Sentinel ruled Future" mini-series = approx. Uncanny X-Men #180, AF #11, Avengers #245. Takes place just prior to the 1st Secret Wars.

Protectors #1 = UXM #189 = AF #20 = Avengers #254

Protectors #39 (estimated "final issue") = UXM #227 (Rogue and X-Men believed dead following Texas affair) = AF #58 = Avengers #292.

Powersurge resurfaces in Winnipeg, Canada to help Thunder take down the Powermongers = Thunder #17 and 18 = UXM #263 and 264 = AF #94 and 95 = Avengers #328.

Powersurge resurfaces in Toronto, Canada, helps repulse attack by the Consortium, surrenders to Canadain authorites = Thunder #22 = UXM #268 = AF #99/#100.

The trial of Powersurge and the Project: Failsafe arc = Morningstar #7 - 9 = UXM #281 - 283 = X=Men #1 - 3 = AF #111 - 113 = Avengers #346 -348.

Powersurge awakens in Department H's medical facility, learns X-Men aren't dead = Morningstar #10 (forthcoming) = the immediate past.

Morningstar #10

Following the Project: Failsafe affair, Morningstar spent nearly a month recovering from his injuries. And when he was at last released, Dr, Banks was given the go ahead to help Trevor establish himself in Toronto.

Over the course of the next two weeks, as Jessica helped Trevor get an apartment, a bank account, hook up his utilities, et al., GenTech was hard at work arranging another public event at the Skydome... this time to showcase Morningstar.

And so it was that the event went ahead. And while Morningstar was at first received with boo's and hisses and calls for Thunder (the crowd chanting the beginning of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck"), he put on such a spectacular display and finished with such a dazzling lightshow, that in the end the crowd had been won over.

Both Chief og Police O'Roarke and Mayor Gillespi were in attendence and took part in the Q&A that followed. It was made public that Thunder had disappeared and was believed dead, and that Morningstar would be replacing him.

However, no sooner had that announcement been made when a rumble of Thunder was heard overhead. And a moment later Thunder appeared at mid-field, his face a mask of rage and his voice booming a condemantion of and a challenge to Morningstar.

When an off balance Morningstar replied that this was neither the time nor the place, Thunder let a sonic blast fly. Morningstar responded by erecting a force-barrier to defend the intervening crowd of reporters from the blast, but was then smashed hard by the charging Thunder.

Morningstar attempted to reason with his brother-synthoid, as he weathered anoher blow that nearly took his head off, but he couldn't pierce Thunder's raging fury. So, the battle began in earnest.

Morningstar took to the air and began to use his superior speed and manuverability to stay a step ahead of Thunder. And the tactic worked. From that point on, the odds slowly began to shift into Morningingstar's favour, till at length, Thunder was nailed with a huge photon blast... disappearing into thin air as though he had never been.

Morningstar #11

After foiling a jewelry store heist in downtown Toronto, Morningstar was approached by an Epsilon Trooper and asked to accompany him to Department H HQ. Once there, the synthoid was introduced to General Jeremy Clarke.

The General began by explaining that, as a sanctioned superhero, Morningstar had certain obligations to the Canadian government. He then began to relate how late last night a trio of mutants broke into Department H and kidnapped a child being treated there. Rolling the security camera footage, three distinct figures could be made out despite the gloom and shadows. The first was identified as Cyclops (leader of the X-Men), the next as Rogue (a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants), and finally the infamous Wolverine (rogue agent of Department H).

Clarke then finished the briefing by expaining that an Epsilon Stealth Shuttle would carry the synthoid to within striking distance of the X-Men's hideout, and then provide Morningstar with a read-out of the locations of all mutants present. It would then be up to him to locate the child and make it back to the shuttle for extraction. And of course, if things went against the synthoid, the Shuttle would make a hastey retreat to Canadian airspace and the Canadian governemt would disavow any knowledge of the synthoid's activities.

And so it it went. Arriving in the vicinity of the Xavier's School, the mutant-scan picked up only a small number of signatures; one in the mansion, another in the car garage, yet another in the estate's wooded area, and finally a trio at the outside pool area.

Morningstar chose to target the one isolated in the woods. He took a subtle and quiet approach, but when he at last arrived at the spot he thought to surprise the mutant, he found no one there. Then, from behind he heard a distinctive "SNIKT", and quickly found that Wolverine had gotten the drop on him. While Morningstar was quick to attempt a parley, it took only a faint whiff of the synthoid's "Brood-ish" scent to set the berserker off and send him charging headlong at the synthoid, claws a-slashing.

While Morningstar's was caught off-balance, he proved to be remarkably resilient, and even managed to take out Rogue with a flash-attack when she came charging to her teammates aid. However, with luck against the synth., it soon happened that Wolverine found a sensitive spot and began exploiting it. And then with the arrival of Gambit, Cyclops and Jubilee, it was not long before Morningstar was subdued.

Morningstar #12

Following his battle with the X-Men, Morningstar awoke in one of the X-Mansion's holding cells. He was very indignant, believing his captors to be kidnappers, and initially responded to all of their questions with threats and accusations. However, the quickly changed when Cyclops cleared the area of all personel save Wolverine, and was almost out the door himself.

He told the X-Men his hero-name, and revealed that he smelled like a "Brood about to hatch" because his creator, Alfred Stone, had utilized Brood DNA in his creation. He went on to reveal his ties to Department H, his mission, and the reasons for it.

After a brief recess, Professor Xavier returned to Mornignstar's cell with Cyclops and Wolverine. He related that Dr.Stone had once been a... "student" of his, and after a few pleasantries went on to assure Morningstar that, despite what the alleged video footage might suggest, the X-Men were all present and accounted for on the night of the kidnapping. Thus, it could not have been them.

This quickly led into talk about the "holographic duplicates" that both Morningstar and Thunder had been encountering over the past year. In response, Professor X suggested that he scan Ontario with Cerebro on the off chance a new mutant was at the root of these incidents.

And so it went, with Xavier donning the Cerebro helm and performing, first, a general scan of Ontario, and then a more isolated scan of Toronto. However, no sooner had the Professor detected a new mutant whose power levels were spiking off the chart, when a burst of "psychic feedback" left him comatose.

After getting the Professor to the infirmary, Cyclops gathered the X-Men in the War Room, and informed them that they would be taking a trip to Toronto. Once there, they would split up into teams and use the handheld Cerebro's to pinpointing the location of this new mutant and contact him or her.

Arriving in Toronto the next day, Cyclops split the teams into Wolverine and Jubilee, Rogue and Gambit, and then himself and Morningstar, before beginning their search. Before long, Morningstar and Cyclops got a bite and tracked the signal to the front door of Thunder's old apartment building.

However, as they got out of the rental car and began making their way over to the building, they found themselves confronted by Vindicator, Sasquatch, and Puck. Accusations were made, heated words were exchanged, and then from out of nowhere (literally) Vindicator was downed by an energy blast.

Thus did the battle begin. And it was soon joined, first, by Gambit and Rogue, and then by Northstar and Aurora. Wolverine and Jubilee were the next to enter the fray, and then finally a confused Powersurge arrived on the scene.

The battle continued to rage until only Morningstar, Powersurge, Sasquatch, Wolverine, Rogue and Jubilee were left standing. Then it happened that the apartment building momentarily shimmered, to be transformed into a stately building, and a great blast of green energy exploded the street between the warring parties.

Looking toward the source of the blast, both groups found themselves confronted by a very angry group of comicbook superheroes*. Emblazoned on the front wall of the stately building were the words "Halls of Justice", and arrayed before it stood the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman, and Hawkgirl.

*NOTE: In my MU there are no Marvel comics, only DC, Wildstorm, and other indies.

Morningstar #13

As the heroes stood in shocked disbelief at the appearance of the comicbook heroes (see last issue), a ferociously angry looking Green Lantern announced that this "villainous rampage" would now be brought to an abrupt end even as he KO'd Powersurge with a blast of his emerald energy.

Thus was the battle joined. And as it raged Hawkgirl fell to Rogue, who then moved to aid Sasquatch and Jubilee against Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, as she moved in to help, the Amazon sprung her trap and Jubilee accidently took Rogue out of the fight with a dazzling blast of fireworks. Nevertheless, Sasquatch quickly took the measure of his enemy, and with Morningstar's assurance that these were all figments of a young mutants imgination, he tore into Wonder Woman and quickly removed her from the fight.

Meanwhile, Batman put up a valiant effort against Wolverine, but was at last KO'd when Morningstar came to the X-Man's aid. Soon after, the Flash fell to the combined efforts of the dazzling Jubilee and Wolverine.

The Green Lantern was managing to hold his own against all comers, until, unbeknownest to him, Powersurge regained consciousness. His revenge was swift and certain.

With the last of the comicbook heroes dealt with, Morningstar began to give a more detailed explantion of events to Sasquatch. Then, suddenly, the big orange wookie was struck by a blow that brought him to his knees and shattered all windows in a one block radius.

Enter Superman.

On shakey knees though they were, the remaining members of the X-Men and Department H had little choice but to fight. Superman tore into Sasquatch. Both he and Morningstar together managed to hold their own for a few moments, but before long, Sasquatch was KO'd. He was soon followed by Wolverine, who had climbed to the roof of a 4 story building, seeking to catch Supe's in a surprise charge/fall attack. He connected... much to his own dismay.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210101.jpg

With Sasquatch dealt with, Superman next turned to Morningstar. Though Powersurge still continued to strafe, effectively, from the air, it did not take Superman that long to pound Morningstar into the pavement. And with that, he quickly overtook Powersurge and smashed him through a 2 story building from 70' in the air, even as he took out Jubilee with his heat vision.

As these events took place, Aurora at last began to recover from the earlier battle. She was not slow to clue in. And a moment later, she hit Superman with the brighest dazzle effect she could muster... and it left the Man of Steel stunned! With that, the recently recovered Vindicator took up proper positioning, activated her shield, and then aligned herself with the rotation of the Earth in an all out Charge attack, but she was, unfortunately(?), a small bit off her mark... and so was carried, temporarily, out of combat.

The battle was next joined by the recently recovered Northstar and Gambit, but both were KO'd again almost as soon as they re-entered the fray.

With things looking grim for the heroes, a recovered Wolverine pulled himself to his feet and quickly tracked down the unconscious Rogue. With a paternal kiss he gave her his regeneration powers and intent. She quickly tracked down Sasquatch and absorbed his powers.

Meanwhile, even as a newly recovered Puck was trying his darnest to occupy Superman, Aurora made her way over to the fallen Morningstar and managed to use her light power to revive him!

Then, even as Puck was slammed through a wall and sent down for another afternoon nap, Rogue began to tear into Superman. She was soon joined by Vindicator.

As that ferocious battle began to rage, Morningstar and Aurora found the portable Cerebro that had been dropped by Cyclops, and entered into the "Halls of Justice". With the aid of the Cerebro they quickly pinpointed the mutant, and entered a apartment and bedroom in which he found a young boy, Brent Smithers, hovering prone over his bed, eminating a maelstrom of blue-black energies, and his frantic mother huddled in the corner screaming for help and nearly out of her mind with fright and hopelessness.

Aurora tried to use her light powers to sooth both mother and child, and after a few moments it seemed to have some feint effect. Nevertheless, great explosions could be heard from outside, so, as Aurora kept it up, Morningstar made his way back to the battle scene.

He found that Wolverine was back on his feet, Rogue was down for the count, and Vindicator was waging a desperate last stand. And then in the next breath, she was KO'd.

So, with the last of their strength, Wolverine and Morningstar threw themselves back into it. Wolverine was immediately KO'd, and Morningstar was again suffering under a massive pounding, when at last the combined might of his photon blast and the newly recovered Cyclop's optic blast at last overcame the Superman "hologram". And with his defeat, bot the Halls of Justice facade, as well and the torrent of blue-black energy pouring out of the boy, ceased.

Within moments Epsilon Troopers were on the scene, along with Department H officials, to take custody of Brent. The situation with the X-Men, ie. the kidnapping, was quickly resolved, and Vindicator promised both the X-Men and Department H officals that AF would be looking into this young mutants fate... especially after the history they had heard from Morningstar.

As Morningstar made his way around to each of the heroes to thank them for their help in this, he spotted Powersurge and Rogue a slight ways down a back alley. As he approached however, Wolverine got in his way, telling the "sleazling" that he had no business down that way, not now, and to go join the others over yonder... gesturing in the direction of a perturbed looking Gambit.

In the end, the Canadians accompanied the X-Men to the airport and saw them off. Powersurge sought out Morningstar and thanked him for helping him out with Randal North and Project: Failsafe.

They shook hands.

Morningstar #14

Over the course of the next month Morningstar eased himself into his role as Toronto's official superhero, going out on regular patrols and establishing a prescence in the city. During that time he responded to a number of calls involving crazed young men on somekind of PCP rampage, displaying heightened strength and resistence to injury.

While Morningstar stopped these rampages with relative ease, one of the men, a weightlifter that had gone on a rampage at his regular gym, was found to have a vial filled with a near flourescent green liquid in his locker.

The case was taken by a Detective Larry Holmes, who did not take well to Morningstar's concern and so shut him out with extreme prejudice.

Nevertheless, after one of a duo of youths that had gone on a rampage fell into a coma and died, Morningstar received a call from a woman, "Investigative Reporter Tanya Sullivan", who set up a meeting between them to discuss the case.

At this meeting Sullivan revealed that a new drug, somekind of super-performance enhancer called "Hype" had recently hit the streets of Toronto and was beginning to circulate. She produced a vial of near flourescent green liquid, and went on to say that she believed it was responsible for these rageful rampages. Finally, she told Morningstar that three of the four people that had rampaged had all visited a shadey medical doctor, Lionel Barthallamew, at a downtown clinic and all within the past 6 weeks.

Before she could go on however, three thugs strolled up to them and one of them plucked the vial from Sullivan's hand. When Morningstar stood up to them, each slapped their own arm with a palm-held injector. A moment later, their faces turned red, the veins on their necks poppoed out, and their muscles swelled.

Nevertheless, Morningstar quickly placed two of the "Hype" powered thugs in restraints of solid light. And while the third hit him with a number of solid blows, he quickly recovered and subdued his assaillent.

The trio were soon turned over to the police. Morningstar thanked Sullivan for the info. and then returned to the station himself to write a report.

Morningstar #15

The next day Morningstar decided to once again try to befriend Larry Holmes. While the Detective was thankful for the information Morningstar provided in his report from last night, it was grudging and accompanied with another warning to butt out of his case.

Later on, Morningstar went to the forensics lab to check the results of the analysis of the "Hype" obtained from the gym rampage. It was found to have much in common with your common "upper", but also contained some properties that couldn't be identified.

The synthoid went on to track down the location of the clinic Dr.Barthallamew worked at, along with a photo and some background, and ended up tailing the good doctor to his apartment building later that evening... for reference sake.

Concluding that GenTech would be able to run a much more through analysis of the "Hype" than the authorites could, Morningstar contacted Tanya Sullivan the following day and asked her to obtain a vial for him; almost letting his synthetic nature slip in the course of the conversation. She said she could, and would, but he would have to provide her with the result of the analysis, and give her an exclusive interview.

And so the following morning, Morningstar met with Ms. Sullivan, successfully navigated the interview (with the help of a bit of coaching in the hours prior), and obtained the sample of the drug. Promising Sullivan that the results would be in within 24 hours, he bid her farewell and immediately made his way to Dr.Stone and the labs at GenTech.

When all was said and done, Dr.Stone called Morningstar into his office to discuss the results of the analysis. As it turned out, the unidentifiable aspect of the drug was a mutagen, custom designed by Stone himself years ago and virtually exclusive to his own private research.

Thus, Morningstar was to keep this information quiet until a better handle could be gained on the situation. Stone said that he personally would immediately begin an internal investigation, while Morningstar focused on this Dr. Barthallamew and uncovering his source.

Later that night, Morningstar again tailed the doctor home form the clinic after it closed. However, halfway to his apartment, the doctor turned around and returned. As the doctor entered the dark building, the synthoid noticed a black van parked in the adjacent lot, and also a car up the street that was the same make as Tanya Sullivan's.

Not more than a few moments later Dr.Barthallamew once again emerged. As he got back in his car and began to pull out of the lot, two very large men (NFL linebacker large) also emerged, carrying a rolled up carpet toward the van.

Fearing the worst, Morningstar wasted no more time with speculation and immediately swept in, took control of the "carpet" and flew it to the safety of a nearby roof. There he unrolled it to find an unconscious Tanya Sullivan.

Making his way back down to the lot, Morningstar engaged the two men, who were now all arush with Hype. They were soon joined by a third even bigger man, also all "hyped-up", but after a long, tough battle, resulting in at least a bit of property damage, Morningstar was victorious.

As the sound of sirens grew ever closer, Morningstar sped off with Ms.Sullivan; landing her at a hospital before returning to the station to, once again, write a report.

Morningstar #16

After being chewed out by the Cheif early the next day -- for neglecting his duties and continuing to stick his nose into a case he wasn't assigned and was asked to stay out of -- Morningstar resumed his regular duties.

He contacted Dr.Stone later that evening. Stone told him that he had a solid lead as to who was accessing his designer mutagen, and was on his way to follow it up. He told Morningstar that he would get back to him by midnight, but in the meantime the synthoid was to continue to watch Dr. Barthallamew and try to discover his source for the Hype-drug.

However, when midnight finally rolled around, there was no word from Dr.Stone.

Making his way to Stone's office at GenTech, Morningstar discovered an out of place file on a Dr.Brendan Olsen. While it was all rather technical, it nevertheless revealed that this Dr.Olsen had long been heading up a research project to produce a super-performance enhancer. His efforts however had been largely unsuccessful and if results were not soon forthcoming soon his project was slated to be scrapped. Also, notes were found in the file indicating that, not only was Olsen using Stone's designer mutagen in his research, but he was using an excessively large quantity of it.

So, snagging Dr.Olsen's address, Morningstar began to head over to the researcher's apartment home, but was "unable" to get passed the security at the front door. However, not long after he received a call from Dr.Stone's cellphone.

A unfamiliar voice on the other end warned that if Morningstar ever wanted to see Stone alive again, he must first fly to Dynamex Industries in Vancouver, BC. and obtain a special solar amplification harness that they were developing on behalf of Stone.

Taking the overly-direct approach, Morningstar smashed into the research hanger, and obtained the harness. Donning it, he felt a sudden and massive increase in the amount of solar energy available for absorption, ie. 60 points per round! He then contacted "the voice" on Stone's cellphone as directed, and was told to fly due south to the state of Nevada. Once there he again contacted the voice, and was directed to specific coordinates, where he was told he would find the Incredible Hulk. Morningstar was to defeat the greenskinned goliath and bring him back to GenTech in Toronto.

So, after a failed attempt at parley, Morningstar engaged the Hulk in a titanic battle. It went back and forth, and would have levelled an entire city as it raged, but Morningstar was careful to keep it away from the nearby city of Las Vegas. In the end, Morningstar, on shakey knees, and having hit Hulk with more than a few charges and photon blasts en par with strikes from Thor's hammer, managed to at last KO the Hulk.

Apologizing to the unconscious form of Bruce Banner, the synthoid collected him up and began to make his way back to Canada and GenTech HQ.

Morningstar #17

As Morningstar neared the city of Toronto with Banner in tow, he received a call from Stone's captor on his cell. The voice directed him to bring the Hulk to loading bay A at GenTech's central building.

Once there, the synthoid was met by three large goons in suits, who ordered him to load Banner in the truck they had there, remove the S.A.H., and then don a set of power-inhibiting manacles. With Stone no where in sight and still in danger, Morningstar reluctantly agreed and submitted.

Once the power-inhibitor was in place, Morningstar was knocked out by the goons.

He awoke sometime later in a small room, the doorway of which was "sealed" with a translucent energy field. Both his hands and feet were encased in power-inhibiting encasements.

He soon learned that Dr.Stone was also being held in a cell next to his. Stone revealed that, indeed, Dr.Brendan Olsen was behind all of this and had gone over the edge, mentally speaking. Morningstar revealed what had gone on with him and the Hulk, which prompted an explanation from Dr.Stone regarding how following his brief friendship with Banner at Caltech, he was inspired to utilized gamma-rays as a key component in the creation of his special mutagen. Thus, Stone had a bad feeling about what Olsen intended with the Hulk.

A few days later Olsen himself appeared outside of the cells holding Dr. Stone and Morningstar. He produced a vial of glowing green liquid and boasted of how he had extracted adrenaline straight from Banner's adrenal gland, and used it, in combination with his past research, to produce and perfect the ultimate performance enhancer. He mocked Stone for his lack of faith, intellect, and foresight, promising him not only a slow death in return, but also to disect his "synth" and unlock it's "pathetic" secrets. He then boasted that Canada would not benefit from his performance-enhancer, as he already had a number off potential buyers lined up on the international black market. All that was required before the bidding would begin was a demonstration of it's effectiveness. Announcing that this would shortly take place, with downtown Toronto as ground-zero, he turned and left in a fit of maniacal laughter.

A short time later, cries of agony and then growls of anger echoed throughout the facility, only to come to an abrupt hault. After several moments of silence, an loud, angry growl again echoed throughout the facility, followed by a very human cry of terror and then a loud smash. This was immedialtey followed by more resounding howls of rage and the sounds of rampent destruction, until, at last, the lights went out, and all fell quiet again.

Slowly, Morningstar began to feel his strength and internal energies return; as the power inhibitors ceased to function. Busting out of his titanium bonds, the synthoid quickly met up with Dr. Stone, and then proceeded to the main lab.

The lab had been destroyed, and a very large hole was in the ceiling, while weak groans could be heard from beneath a pile of debris. Clearing off the debris, Morningstar found Dr. Olsen's broken body beneath. He expired moments later.

Luckily, Morningstar spotted the Solar Amplification Harness amidst other debris. Donning it, he was then order by Stone to pursue whatever monstrosity had been released on the world, as he searched for Banner.

Following a path of destruction from Olsen's secret lab just north of Toronto to the downtown core, Morningstar spotted a 20' tall behemoth, with pitch black skin, dark green hair, and glowing green eyes. A troop of Epsilon Blacks were fighting a losing battle against it amidst the wreckage, and even a the synthoid arrived, an newly arriving Epsilon Shuttle was skimmed by a bus hurled by the brute and sent spinning out of control. While Morningstar was unable to stop it from smashing int othe 4th floor of an apartment building, he did manage to save an old lady that was hurled from her nearby balcony as a result of the crash.

With that, he engaged the brute, which, amidst it's growls and cries of rage, uttered one audible word over and over again... RAMPAGE.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...ic/rampage.jpg

And so the battle was joined, carrying th tweo combatants across the downtown area out into Lake Ontario, and then back again to the downtown core. In the end, Morningstar was brought to his knees, but as "Rampage" was about to deliver the finishing blow, the Hulk entered the battle.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...c/PB210102.jpg

Having been lucky to be able to transform into the Hulk at all as a result of his depleted adrenal stores, the green-skin goliath soon found himself in a bad way. He was soon knocked out by Rampage, but not before landing many mighty blows of his own and buying Morningstar enough time to regain consciousness. However, his S.A.H. was damaged beyond immedaite repair!

Nevertheless, with the Hulk down, Morningstar once again joined Rampage in battle, and was so bold as to stand and trade blows with it; landing many a well placed blow, luckily evading those throwin at him, and dazzling Rampage with bursts of blinding light. Yet still the brute pressed the battle!!

Luckily, Morningstar had kept Rampage occupied long enough for the Hulk to regain consciousness, and so together they went at the brute. Finally, with both on weak and shakey knees, they at last managed to knock Rampage out with a combined leaping punch/photon blast attack. And with that, Rampage reverted to his human form... that of a brutish biker.

After answering the necessary questions, Morningstar turned things over to the Epsilon Troopers, and both he and the Hulk returned to GenTech to meet up with Dr.Stone.

Dr. Stone, Dr. Banner, Dr. Jessica Banks and Morningstar all enjoyed a night out, with much reminiscing between Stone and Banner.

And soon enough, Stone straightened things out with Dynamex Industries in Vancouver, but was sorry to say that it would be a very long time, if ever, before another S.A.H. could be produced.

Heya folks!

For everyone who has been following my campaign journals, I presently have another story-arc in the works... it's really just a matter now of finding the time to play, with new, often conflicting schedules for me and my buddy and all.

The story will see Morningstar once again operating under the direction of Department H. Contact has been lost with both the few remaining residents of Uranium City in NW Saskatchewan, and the Epsilon Squad that was originally sent into investiage. It will be up to Morningstar to find them and discover what, exactly, is going on.

Morningstar #18

While out on patrol over the city of Toronto, Morningstar received a message over his ear-transceiver from an Epsilon Shuttle that quickly appeared in the distance. He was informed that his prescence was required at Department H's HQ in Ottawa and that the Epsilons had been sent to facilitate a speedy journey.

As cooperative as ever, it was not long before Morningstar found himself in a small briefing room in Department H. A map of Saskatchewan was on a large viewing screen at the front of the room, with an enlarged map of it's northwestern reaches partially superimposed upon it.

After a bit of a wait General Jeremy Clarke entered the briefing room. He thanked Morningstar for his cooperation, and then drew his attention to the map and a settlement on the northern shores of Lake Athabasca. He explained that this settlement was called Uranium City. It was established by the provincal government in 1952 to service the Beaverlodge Uranium Area, and it thrived until 1982 when it's population reached the 5,000 mark required to achieve city status. However, with decreased demand for uranium and the closing of the mines in 1983 the city's economy collapsed and the majority of it's population moved; eventually leaving only about 300 people spread across it's 20+ square blocks.

The General then went on to explain that roughly one-week ago all communication was lost with the remaining citizens of the former city. Those R.C.M.P. sent in by helicopter -- as there are no roads connecting the settlement with other populated areas -- to investigate were never heard from again, and a similar fate awaited the Epsilon unit sent in three days ago. Thus, Morningstar was now being sent in.

The synthoid would be taken by an Epsilon Shuttle to within striking distance, survey the area both from the air, then on foot, and then report his findings within the hour.

And so it was that Morningstar was taken by an Epsilon Shuttle and depositted over the southern shores of Lake Athabasca, adjacent Uranium City.

As he made his way across the lake, he used his light manipulation powers to bend light, rendering himself effectively invisible to the naked eye. As he began his approach, he could see that a thick blanket of snow had already fallen on the area and the streets were desolate.

Unable to spot out much from the sky, Morningstar soon landed and began making his way through the eerie streets on foot. Occassionally he would come across a big mound of snow, but mostly found old derelict vehicles, in every way the equal of the houses that line the streets, buried underneath. Eventually however, just outside of an old, severly vandalized school, Morningstar uncovered the shuttle of the missing Epsilon team. He barely had to time to investigate however, when a very tall (7'), gaunt figure in raggedy clothing appeared up the street and began striding toward Morningstar with intent. As the figure drew closer, the synthoid noticed that it was a man, but that he suffered from some form of abnormal bone growth that gave him a freakishly hideous appearance.

Momentarily startled by the man's appearance and features, it took the synthoid a moment to realize that, somehow, the brute was able to see him. And he was quickly made awre of that fact by a crushing blow to the head.

"Stranger don't belong! Strangers bad!!" it growled in barely discernable English, "kill strangers!!!"

Before the brute could land another blow, Morningstar erected a shield and then sent him hurtling back with a powerful photon blast. However, he was then grabbed from behind by a very muscular Native man with four arms. He held Morningstar as the brute got back to it's feet and closed in once again to deliver another blow.

And so the battle was joined. And before long the two freaks were reinforced by another Native man with very droopy skin and uncanny plasticity, a Caucasian surrounded by some form of electrical field, a naked Native that could sweat and vomit concentrated acid, and finally, after being smashed into the derelict school, by a once beautiful Caucasian woman whose skin was covered in lacerations and scar tissue and whose teeth, nails and hair were all razor sharp.

With the odds quickly mounting against him, Morningstar decided it was time for a strategic retreat; above the clouds to replenish his solar energy and report back to the Epsilon Shuttle and Department H.

Morningstar #19

Flying high above the clouds, Morningstar took a moment to bask in the sunshine, thereby replenishing his storehouse of solar energy, and was about to report in when he felt a voice intrude upon his thoughts. It commanded the "interloper" to set back down immediately and surrender to it's "warriors" or the lives of his fellow interlopers would be forfeit. Thus, with little hestitation the synthoid complied.

As he set down on the snow covered ground, Morningstar was met by the tall, slender man with the excessive/abnormal bone growth (Brute), the muscular 4 armed Native (Crusher), and the other whiteman whose body perodically revealed webs of electricity playing over it (Hi-Voltage). All were hostile in their manners, especially Crusher, and it was not long before the synthoid's questions led to a 3 on 1 beat down.

Morningstar awoke in a jail cell sometime later. Silvery metal bands were clasped around either of his wrists, which he recognized as Epsilon inhibitor bands, and these explained his unusual weakness and inability to generate any light greater than a faint glow. Before long, he also noticed that his cell was being guarded by a revolving crew of the mutates he faced upon first arrival in Uranium City. While the synthoid's questions were met with significant hostility -- as were his attempts to flirt with the once beautiful, now hideously cut and scarred Caucasian woman whose body hair had become superstrong and razor sharp (Bloody Mary) -- he did manage to learn a few more evident things. Amongst them, he learned that these mutates considered both himself and all outsiders "interlopers", and held them responsible for their condition. He also learned that the Epsilon Troopers sent here to investigate nearly week ago were still alive, and that the "Overmind" had something special in store for the synthoid tomorrow.

So it was the following day that Crusher placed a bag over Morningstar's head, and led him outside and to another facility before removing the bag. Looking around, Morningstar found himself in the middle of a large "pit", roughly 10' deep, with wire mesh running the other 20' up to the ceiling. Numerous faces could be seen peering into the pit from around it's dimly lit edges, each of them more twisted and freakish than the next. After a few moments, one stood and presented itself -- a tall Caucasian with black hair and no freakishg disfigurements other than his glowing white eyes -- and began to address the crowd. He spoke of how the outsiders had sent yet another interloper to hound and oppress them, how it was they who poisoned the land, turned them into freaks, destroyed their future, and how they would all pay for that... with blood. The crowd cheered or hissed, as appropriate, at intervals throughout the speech and at last broke out in a chant, "blood! Blood! BLooD!!! BLOOD!!!".

As the crowd chanted a big, muscular man wearing an Epsilon jump-suit was thrown into the pit by Brute. The man looked anguished and he apologized to Morningstar, saying that it wasn't his fault and to please forgive him, but that he couldn't help it. As Morningstar asked what he was talking about however, the man grabbed his head and fell to his knees. When he looked back up, his anguish had been replaced by anger and he growled that he couldn't help the desire to the synthoid's "f@#$!-ing head off".

The battle was quickly joined, and while Morningstar found himself significantly weaker and more vulnerable, he was still no push over. The fight was a slobber knocker, and initially it seemed as though the synthoid might lose. In the end though, it was Morningstar, barely able to stand, who delivered the knock out blow. And when he refused to given into the crowds chant for death, or his own feelings of unusual aggression, Brute strode into the ring and broke the Epsilon trooper's neck right before his eyes.

Brute then back handed the interloper, and dragged him out of the pit, down a hallway and into what appeared to be some form of dog-kennel; save that instead of dogs, the cages contained four people dressed in Epsilon jump-suits. Morningstar was thrown in a cage of his own, before Brute turned and left.

The synthoid quickly noticed that he recognized one of the Epsilon troopers; Lt.Katherine Henderson who had been onhand during the Brood Incident over in Yellowknife; the last surviving member of the first response team. She related how her team here arrived roughly a week ago to investigate the loss of contact with the settlement, only to find the place deserted. They were caught with their pants down soon after their initial at-a-glance recon of the area, and half of the unit was taken out via psionic assault. The remainder quickly found themselves surrounded and overwhelmed by a host of "freaks". Since then, the freaks had been forcing them to particpate in daily death matches against one another, presumably using some form of psionic power to incite their more violent and homicidal tendancies. Each of the remaining Epsilons had killed at least one of their former teammates, with the reasons and the rage long since faded, but the memory of every blow forever etched in their heads.

When Morningstar questioned into the nature of all of the mutates, Henderson speculated that they were the natural result of the excessive levels of radiation found in the area (which exceed accept annual limits in a single day of exposure) on the remaining population. As for their anger, well, the population of Uranium City came and went as it pleased. No one forced them to come, or forced them to stay, so the rationalization for the great hatred, and moreover, their bloodlust was a little more of a mystery. Perhaps it was innate, or perhaps the same psionic, the Overmind perhpas, that was inciting bloodlust in the Epsilon's was also influencing the others.

The following day Brute and Crusher escorted both Morningstar and Lt.Henderson out of the kennel to the pit. There they were commanded by the Overmind to fight to the death, and the crowd of freaks once again began it's chant for blood.

Morningstar #20

With the crowd chanting for blood, Morningstar felt the ever-nagging feelings of anger and violence begin to grow more pronounced in him once gain. He gazed across the pit at Lt.Henderson. Her eyes narrowed and the two began to slowy circle each other. When this had gone on for long enough, the Overmind once again stepped forth and commanded the bloodletting to begin. Morningstar refused and proceeded to accuse the Overmind of manipulating the people of Uranium City, but his voice was quickly lost in the roar of the crowd and their growing frenzy for violence. The Overmind touched his temples, his glowing eyes flashed, and then several moments later, Brute and Crusher tossed the remaning three Epsilon troopers into the pit.

The Overmind smiled, as he boasted that the remaining three would not prove so stubborn. Again he touched his temples, and his eyes flashed, and with that the remaning three Epsilon's grabbed their heads and fell to their knees. When next they rose, their faces were masked with rage.

Morningstar and Henderson were left with no choice but to defend themselves. And despite the odds, in the end the two stood, battered and beaten, but nevertheless victorious. The crowd again chanted for death -- all save for one grotesquely deformed little girl, who quickly disappeared into the shadows -- and the Overmind commanded it, but both Morningstar and Lt.Henderson again refused him. When Brute was once again sent in to make the kill, Morningstar led the attempt to stop him, but both were easily battered into submission by the huge mutate.

After snapping the neck of each of the losing Epsilons, Brute pulled the synthoid and Lt. to their feet and began to escort them back to the kennel. As he did, the Overmind declared to the crowd that tomorrow both of the remaining interlopers would face Brute in a fight to the death.

Late that night, Morningstar was awakened by the deformed girl he saw in the crowd. She had opened the door to his cage and was gesturing him to come with her. When he indicated that they should release Lt.Henderson as well, her face grew angry and she spit at the Lt.'s sleeping form before grabbing the synthoid by the hand and pulling him toward the kennel exit.

So, following the girl, she led Morningstar down a couple of halls before leading him through some airducts in order to evade guard posts and roving patrols of mutates. On their way, they had to pass through a couple of rooms. One such room was filled with all kinds of technological devices, reminscient of a Gentech lab, and it's walls were lined with scores of man-sized glass tubes; most of which sat open and empty, but a sparse few contained the corpse of a deformed person. A great iron vault-door also occupied the far wall of this room. The girl remarked that "this is where the doctors brought he sick people". Moving on, another room they came upon was clearly a morgue of some sort and contained some 20 mutate corpses lined in neat rows and covered with bloodstained sheets. The adjacent room contained a chaotic mess of between 40 - 50 dead bodies, apparently just casually thrown in there. While many were horribly multilated, none showed any signs of deformity.

Eventually, Morningstar and the girl won their way to the upper levels of what turned out to be Uranium City hospital, and just outside of this they were met by 3 deformed natives whom the girl greeted before heading back into the hospital.

These three guided Morningstar out of the city, where he found the constant irritation, the urge to anger and violence, had disappeared completely. Eventually, he was led into a mine shaft, which he found was inhabited by a small group of some 20 mutates. He was quickly introduced to their leader, a man of quasimodo-like deformity named Eric, who explained that this community was made up of mutates that were either uneffected or since liberated from the influence of the Overmind.

When Morningstar asked what was going on here in Uranium City, Eric explained that as a result of the levels of radiation contamination in the region, people have for a long time now been showing increasing signs of cancer, sterility, birth defects, and other radiation-related sicknesses. When the uranium industry collapsed, and people began to leave in the hundreds, the doctors at the hospital began selectively abducting their former patients. Such people were taken to a secret facility beneath the hospital and subjected to numerous experiments. Eric said he knows this because he was one of the first so abducted. He told that he could only remember flashes of the years he spent in captivity, but certain faces, of doctors, former friends or neighbours, along with the feelings of pain, loneliness and dispare remained as clear as day.

After taking a moment to collect ihmself, Eric went on to explain how roughly 3 or 4 weeks ago he awoke to find himself and numerous others free; all now horribly deformed. Overwhelmed with feelings of rage, the lot of them began to rampage through the facility, releasing even more mutates from kennel cages, and ruthlessly murdering every "pretty face" they came upon, until all the hospital staff was dead. All save one, one of the chief scientists, Dr.Arnold Lasher, aka the Overmind.

Under the Overmind's direction, the mob of mutates spilled out of the hospital into the streets and continued it's murderous rampage of vengeance. Fortunately, as Eric and a number of others made their way through one household, he came upon the deformed girl that helped Morningstar espace, Pinga by name. Her touch somehow made Eric and the few he was with see through the rage... that, yes, they were outraged at what had been done to them, but that their actions were too, inhuman. And so, with Pinga's help they gathered what others they could and fled into the mines. At times Pinga would would steal into the city and bring another mutate or two back with her.

Eric went on to explain how a week ago a meeting had been arranged with a small pocket of the Overmind's mutates, but it was interrupted those men in black power-armour (the Epsilon Black squad), who immediately opened fire on them with their weapons. Many died, Pinga disappeared, and Eric himself barely escaped with his life.

Since then, a few newcomers arrived with news of the girl and her wellbeing, of the numerous people killed by the government troopers before their defeat, and of course, with news of Morningstar. However, Eric explained that by saving the synthoid, she placed herself in great jeopordy. Thus, as another mutate came forward, laid his hands on the power inhibitors Morningstar wore on his wrists and shorted them out, Eric said that it was up to Morningstar to save her.

The synthoid began to feel his natural strength return, and he promised to not only save Pingu, but to also help the people of Uranium City throw off the yoke of the Overmind and gather all the evidence he could in order to bring to light the inhumane, and "undoubtedly" illegal, experimentations being conducted here.

Morningstar #21

Making his way back to Uranium City, Morningstar arrived as the very first hint of day began to appear in the eastern sky.

Landing just outside of the city, the synthoid bent light to make himself appear invisible and then began to make his way toward the hospital on foot. En route he happened upon a small patrol of mutates and overheard them talking about Lt.Henderson's impending battle with Brute. It would take place at sunrise, and would be followed with a special "treat" involving the young mutate Pinga and a pack of vicious mutated dogs.

Making his way to Uranium City hospital with all due haste, Morningstar easily penetrated the facility undetected and made his way back to the kennel in which he and the Epsilons had been held. While he didn't find Lt.Henderson within, he did discover Pinga in one of the cages. The synthoid was quick to tear the cage door off of it's hinges, but no sooner had he done so when Bloody Mary entered the room. She was quick to attack the interloper, but their scuffle had barely begun when Pinga touched the female mutate and thereby banished whatever unnatural feelings of hatred and rage clouded her mind. With that, Mary sat stunned for a moment before breaking down in tears at the memory of her deeds over the past few weeks.

Knowing that the sun must by now be cresting the horizon, Morningstar gently but firmly took Mary by the arms and demanded to know the whereabouts of Lt.Henderson. Mary replied that she was alreay in the pit. The battle had already begun.

Thus, after Mary assured the synthoid that she would escort Pinga to the surface, Morningstar made his way to the arena; smashing through the doors to find Brute playing a cat and mouse game with a severely battered Lt.Henderson. He quickly stepped in on her behalf, slugging it out with Brute until at last the huge mutate fell beneath his blows.

Morningstar had only a moments respite however, before Hi-Voltage, Crusher, Bile and Droopy entered the pit. The crowd went wild as they engaged the synthoid, but he was soon joined by Lt. Henderson. Together they managed to defeat the mutates, but during the course of the battle a stray photon blast tore a hole in the surrounding cage, and with the battle's end, the crowd began to pour through the opening, wild with bloodlust.

Morningstar and Lt.Henderson quickly found themselves surrounded by mutates, but it was a small enough matter for the synthoid to envelope both himself and Henderson in a field of solid light. He then shaped the field into a tunnel leading out of the pit, and left a wall of force behind to block the exit.

From the pit Morningstar made for the main lab; losing track of Henderson while en route (she has skills). Nevertheless, he made his way inside and immediately stepped up to the huge vault door occupying the far wall of the lab. He was about to attempt to pry it open when he was interrupted by the Overmind and a crowd of mutates lackeys. The synthoid moved to fire a photon blast at the mutate leader, but before he could the Overmind's eyes flashed with white light and the synthoid found that he was no longer in control of his body. The Overmind thence prompted him to power up the labs laser scalpel with the intent of making Morningstar slit his own throat with it. However, with the scalpel powered to full and the synthoid on the verge of carrying out the telepathic command, the Overminds head exploded. Standing in the doorway of an adjacent entrance stood Lt. Henderson; the majority of her Epsilon armour in place and a smoking energy rifle in her hand.

With the Overmind's demise, Morningstar regained control of himself, and many of the mutates stood bewildered. Others however remained as bloodthirsty as ever and surged toward both Morningstar and Lt.Henderson. Other's began to join them, but the duo held their own against the mob. Eventually a free for all broke out as those mutates sickened at the memory of their own deeds attempted to restrain their fellows.

And so the battle raged, and as it did the bloodthirsty mutates unleashed a small pack of mutated attack dogs. However, while this did serve to turn the tide of battle in their favour, the advantage was short lived as energy blasts began to tear indiscriminately through the crowd of mutates. Before long, Morningstar and Lt.Henderson found themselves in the prescence of a fresh squad of Epsilon Blacks.

One of the Epsilon Blacks ordered both Lt.Henderson and Morningstar to get topside, immediately, as he and his troops continued to force the mutates back. However, on their way to the elevator shaft, Morningstar took Henderson by the wrist and virtually dragged her to the computer room. Therein, he ordered her to download all data relevant to the Uranium City facility and it's experiments. She refused, insisting that they get topside, now. When Morningstar again denied her, she scowled at him as she dropped the energy clip out of her rifle and fiddled with it for a moment. When she finished it began to emit a low, but quickly building hum. The synthoid immedaitely surrounded both the energy clip and Henderson's hand in a field of solid light. When the clip exploded a moment later, the Lt's hand was vapourized.

A very frustrated Morningstar then dragged Henderson back to the surface. There he found three Epsilon Shuttles and two squads of Epsilon regulars. In their midst stood General Jeremy Clarke.

Striding over to the Epsilons, the synthoid threw Lt.Henderson to the ground. He then bulled his way through their ranks, took Clarke by the collar, and surrounded them both in a field of solid light. A moment later, he took off skyward.

General Clarke demanded that the synthoid set down immediately, but Morningstar refused, flying even higher and accusing Clarke of conducting illegal experiments of the people of Uranium city; demanding some form of justice for them. The General however remained indignant, reminding the synthoid of his rank and position,and warning him of the possible charges he could face for abducting a General. When Morningstar sought to press the matter further, Clarke cut him short, saying that the synthoid hadn't a clue of what it takes to protect a country's interest against an ever-growing population of superhumans and extraterrestials. He went on to explain that each of the people experimented on in Uranium City had already been diagnosed with terminal illnesses, brought on by cellular mutation, prior to any government expermentation. Thus, if any were still alive today, it was precisely due to the work that took place within the Uranium City facility. He then reminded the "synth" of Yellowknife, GenTech, the Brood, and what, precisely, was responsible for the synthoid's own existence, before once again ordering a return to the hospital.

Frustrated and confused, Morningstar at last complied. And as he brought the General safely back down to the earth, the Epsilon troopers surrounded and levelled their weapons at him, demanding his immediate surrender.

Morningstar complied

Morningstar #22

After his surrender to the Epsilon Troopers, Morningstar was placed in inhibitor bonds and loaded on board an Epsilon Shuttle. From there he was flown back out to Department H HQ in Ottawa and placed in an interrogation room.

While the synthoid sat there, awaiting whatever fate might have in store for him, he lamented his impulsiveness in attacking General Clarke.

At length, General Clarke himself entered the interrogation room. He sat in silent regard of Morningstar for a moment, and then launched into a monologue. He once again reminded the synthoid of how, years ago, a small group of GenTech scientists had been attacked by an alien lifeform known as the Brood and implanted with their embryos; of how GenTech secretly held these scientists in stasis in order to conduct research into Brood DNA. He reminded him of how GenTech's failure to contain the threat of the Brood resulted, not only in a bloodbath in Yellowknife, but also in the ultimate escape of the Brood-Queen; who, so long as she is at large, poses a threat to the very planet. And finally, Clarke reminded Morningstar of how the research conducted into Brood DNA made a significant contribution to the creation of the GenTech line of super-synthoid; most noteably the deceased Thunder and Morningstar himself.

General Clarke went on to explain how, in this world, certain sacrifices must sometimes be made for the sake of the greater good, of how the conscience might suffer for these sacrifices, and of how this was a good thing; proving the presence of conscience and moral regard. He continued on about how there are factions at work in the country, the world, and in the vast universe that surrounds it that are possessed of no such compassion or regard; that operate unrestrained in their activites, with no checks or balances to keep them in place, and which arer limited only by their resources. He then posed the questions, how are we to compete if we allow conventional morality to tie both of our hands;do we roll over and just surrender our world to the enemy; allow them to bring an end to all human conscience and morality? Or do we fight it as best we can, making what sacrifices true heroes are required to make?

After allowing the synthoid to dwell on that for a few moments, General Clarke again spoke. He told Morningstar that he was not asking him to discount his feelings of what went on at Uranium City; as this country needs heroes. He was asking him to see it all in context however, and to understand the very real consequences of inaction in these areas.

He then took on a much sterner tone and warned the synthoid that if he leaked any information of the Uranium City Incident to anyone, then GenTech, Dr.Stone, and indeed all of GenTech's creations would be brought crashing down right along with the Department.

Finally, he asked Morningstar where he stood; would they drag each other down into the mud and leave the door wide open for evil to step in and take control? Or would they stand together against the ever-gathering darkness?

The synthoid told the General that he understood and had never thought of things that way before. He agreed to keep the matter quiet.

With that the General thanked Morningstar for his cooperation and bid him farewell; telling him he would soon be released as he walked out the door.

A few moments after Clarke left, Dr.Albert Stone entered the interrogation room. He apologized to Morningstar for the position he was in, and felt the need to assure him that he and his team did everything they could to save those scientists from the Brood, but that the embryoes had already begun to rewrite their DNA. He then launched into his own clumsy monologue regarding the advancement of science, medicine, and technology, and it's conflcits with the prevailing morality of various Ages. He asked where would medicine be today if it's pioneers had not been "corpse-thieves" and despised as "ghoulish necromancers"? But for all of that, would we trade modern medicine?

The two conversed for awhile more, when Stone remembered what (else) had brought him to Department H and rushed out to keep an appointment. And with that an unarmoured Epsilon Trooper entered the interrogation room, removed the inhibator bonds and told Morningstar that he was free to go.

On his way to the launch bay, Morningstar ran into Powersurge, who once again thanked the synthoid for the rescue from Randal North and his Failsafe project. He then gave Morningstar a contact number he could reach him at if he ever needed any help.

Making his way to the launch bay, Morningstar took to the sky and made it back to GenTech HQ in Toronto by mid-afternoon. He fond a number of messages waiting for him when he got there; one from Dr.Banks regarding the rescheduling of an appointment he missed, and a heap of others from Tanya Sullivan, regarding the "Hype story" and the promised results of GenTech's chemical analysis of the drug.

Calling Sullivan back, Morningstar quickly let certain "vague" details slip regarding the source of the Hype, and from these the reporter easily concluded that a rogue GenTech scientist used GenTech resources to manufacture the drug. Morningstar attempted to deny the specifics of it all, and said that she wasn't aware of the whole story. She said that he could tell the "entire story" tomorrow night over dinner, and he could bring the promised analysis results along with him.

Morningstar agreed.

He then called Dr.Stone to explain the situation and get clearance to obtain a copy of the Hype analysis. Stone told him to tell her everything about the Hype scandal, to satisfy her curiousity, and then to offer her a deal; in exchange for her not printing the story, he would offer to keep "in the know" with all of his future public superheroics, tipping her off, giving exclusive interviews, everything.

Morningstar then called Dr.Banks to reschedule their appointment and asked her if she would help him buy a suit for his dinner date tomorrow. She took him up on the offer, an made it an oppurtunity to go over some of the finer points of human social interaction with the synthoid.

The following evening, Morningstar put his expensive new suit on over his costume, bought a dozen roses, and presented them to Tanya at the restaurant. She was flattered by them, but quickly got over it and down to business. Morningstar did as Dr.Stone advised; he told her everything and then made her the offer. And, after a few moments of consideration, Tanya took him up on the offer and agreed to the terms.

Dinner continued on for some time after, with Tanya drinking one or two more glasses of wine than she probably should have. Morningstar offered to fly her home, and when they landed on her balcony, she immedaitely drew his mask up above his mouth, and kissed him. And, after a moments shock, Morningstar kissed her back.

Their kiss was interrupted by the whine of sirens, as numerous firetrucks raced to a fire that could be seen in another highrise a few blocks away. Waiting a moment for Tanya to grab a camera, Morningstar flew over to the scene and set her down at a safe distance before proceeding to rescue a number of people trapped on the upper floors and roof of the building. He then used his powers to start carrying large amounts of water from Lake Ontario and using it to help douse the flames.

Not long after the fire was brought under control an enormous rumbling was heard from up the street. Morningstar looked to see another towering apartment collapse on itself, sending a thick cloud of dust out in all directios. Throwing up a shield of solid light to protect the scene of the fire, the synthoid again took to the air to investiage.

As he approached the area of the collapsed building, he spotted a man with long black hair and a well trimmed goattee. He wore a dark blue costume and a white cape, and sat hovering high above the buildings debris.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...aviton_003.jpg

Making his way toward this figure, Morningstar identified himself and challenged the man on what had gone on here. His only response was a sardonic grin and a gesture of his hand; which sent the synthoid rocketing back to earth and smashing into the rubble far beneath.

No sooner had he pulled himself out of the debris, when Morningstar found himself falling upward at an ever-increasing speed. Fortunately, he managed to get his shield up before he was flung out of the atmosphere and into space.

However, as the synthoid left the atmosphere, he felt a massive rush of solar energy pour into him... the likes of which he had not felt since he wore the Solar Amplifiaction Harness.

So, putting everything into his shields, the synthoid flew back toward Earth, and on into the atmosphere, at top speed. Within moments his shield was obliterated by the heat, and his flesh hideously burned.

Before long, Morningstar lost consciousness and plummeted back to Earth. He hit the ground with a great impact that left his broken and smouldering body motionless, at the bottom of a small crater.

I just finished reading all of this Thread and I have only one question.


When is the comic coming out and why can't you live somewhere civilized like the GVRD's lower mainland. ;)


QM

Morningstar #23

Having crashed back to Earth within the borders of Latveria, it was not long before the charred and broken remains of the Morningstar synthoid came to the attention of Dr.Doom. These were carried to Doom's castle where they underwent thorough a analysis culminating in Doom's "resurrection" of Morningstar.

But this was not all. Dr.Doom had also tampered with the synthoid's memories, such that Morningstar's last memory was of the Fantastic Four attacking Toronto and sending him hurtling into space.

And with much of the synthoid's brain still in the process of regenerating, it was thence an easy matter for Doom to manipulate Morningstar into travelling to New York in search of the F.F. and vengeance.

Making his way to New York, Morningstar quickly located the Freedom Four Plaza and launched an attack on the Thing and the Human Torch; engulfing the Torch in an airtight field of solid light, and tackling the Thing in an ariel charge that carried both of them several blocks down the street.

As Morningstar and the Thing began to exchange blows, Mr.Fantastic and the Invisible Woman arrove on the scene and Sue was able to save the suffocating Human Torch by using her own forcefield to destroy Morningstar's from the inside out. With that the remaning trio quickly raced to their teammates aid.

They arrived to find the Thing hard pressed against the power and versatility of the synthoid, but with the arrival it did not take long for the F.F. to ground Morningstar and bring his shields down; thus enabling the Thing to get in close to deliver a number of solid shots.

Throughout the battle Morningstar had begun to see flashes of his real memories about the events leading up to his near fatal reentry into Earth's atmosphere. And with the solid blows landed by the Thing, these memories at last reassert their dominance.

As a result, Morningstar ceased struggling and then willingly answered all of the questions posed to him by Mr.Fantastic, who quickly deduced that Dr.Doom had been using Morningstar as a distraction and that they should make with all due haste back to the Freedom Four Plaza.

Once there they found Doom in the process of stealing an experimental piece of technology Mr.Fantastic had recently been working on. The five heroes engaged the villain and after a hard fought battle managed his defeat... only to learn that it was a mere Doombot. Both Invisible Woman and Morningstar easily contained the explosion of both the Doombot and it's nearby escape shuttle when they self-destructed moments after the Doombot's defeat.

And so it was that after a thorough examination of Morningstar by Mr.Fantastic, to ensure that Doom's tampering were no longer in effect, and contact being made with Dr.Stone at GenTech, the synthoid began to make his way back to Ontario.

Morningstar #24

Even as Morningstar drew ever closer to Toronto on his way home from New York, a tangled turn of events began to evolve in the Canadians cities downtown core.

A bank robbery at a local bank had turned into a hostage situation and stand off with local police. This stand off was brought to an end when two masked vigilantes, Roughrider and Canucklehead (essentially good-natured, freedom loving, anti-authority bikers), who had been inside the building at the time of the robbery, at last sprang into action and took the robbers down; although one hostage was left in critical condition as the result of a stray bullet fired during the melee.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...oughcanuck.jpg

When the duo emerged from the bank, police contacted Department H and then attempted to detain them according to the recently enacted Hagon's Law; which governs the public use of super-powers. This quickly led to a second battle, that quickly saw the police on the receiving end.

Fortunately for the police an Epsilon Shuttle soon deposited a squad of Epsilon Troopers on the city streets, not far from the bank. They were led by Powersurge, and with their arrival the police withdrew from the battle.

Confronting the vigilantes, Powersurge identified himself as an agent of Department H. He expressed a stern sympathy for Roughrider's and Canucklehead's heroics in the hostage incident, but in light of the surrounding harm and destruction their refusal to co-operate with the law had caused, he firmly ordered their immediate surrender.

Canucklehead attempted to parley, playing on the rogue-status Powersurge operated under for years, but the mutant was not swayed and again order their immedaite surrender. In response, Canucklehead launched a devastating psychic attack that brought Powersurge to his knees. And with that the duo tore into the surrounding Epsilon Troopers; Roughrider relying on his strength and invulnerability to carry him through the battle and Canucklehead relying on his psychic attack, coupled with the his naturally superb martial prowess enhanced by low-grade telepathy that acted as a "combat/tactical sense" of sorts.

Together they proved to be a fine match for the Epsilon Troopers.

As Morningstar flew over the city bound for GenTech HQ he noticed the battle on the streets below and went in for a closer look. He arrived even as the duo were finishing off the last Epsilon Trooper and immediately surrounded them in a field of solid light. He demanded to know what had gone on here. Canucklehead told the synthoid the story... that he and Roughrider had foiled a bank robbery/hostage taking and that as a result the authorities had attempted to arrest them.

The synthoid was left somewhat confused by this, and announced that he would hold them until he could talk to someone in charge. Roughrider then warned him that being stuck in a cage made both himself and Canucklehead a little ancy, and so he should probably just set them free... now... or else. When Morningstar proved indignant to the request, Canucklehead again launched a devastating psychic attack the brought the synthoid crashing to the earth and caused the field of light to vanish.

With that, the duo tore into Morningstar and, knowing the reputation of the synthoid, began to lay a "merciless beating" in him. This only progreessed so far however, before a blast of energy separated the two from Morningstar.

Powersurge was back on his feet.

The former Protector gave the duo one last warning, and when it received the predictable answer, the battle began in earnest. And it was not long before Morningstar recovered his sense. As he returned to the fight, the tide of the battle turned against the vigilantes.

They were all but defeated when the fourth floor of a tall business building up the street exploded. Powersurge quickly noted dozens of "lights" treaking down from the sky toward the city. He pointed this out before streaking skyward to intercept what turned out to be dozens of meteors. He was soon joined by Morningstar and together they attmpted to destroy as many as they could before impact.

Meanwhile, on the streets below Roughrider and Canucklehead engaged in damage control, saving as many people as they could from the incidental results of multiple meteor strikes.

When all was said and done, and despite the best efforts of the heroes, Toronto looked like it had just suffered a major artillery strike. There was no sign of Roughrider and Canucklehead. And turth be told, no resources could be expanded to engage in any kind of search.

Interlude: the Big Picture

Days prior to Morningstar's battle with the Fantastic Four, scientists across the world detected a signficiant number of large meteors moving on what appeared to be a collision course with Earth. Various governments kept this information on a firm leash as they discussed what should be done about it. At length, it was agreed that Reed Richards would be contacted with a request to investigate this phenomenon, ascertain the swarms course, and author a solution to whatever problem it might present.

This priority call was received by the FF just moments before Morningstar's departure; for, first, the X-Mansion, where he spent several days in the lab of the Beast in experiminets Re:the Brood, and then Canada. The end result of their mission however was that contact was lost with them as they neared the anomolous swarm, and no word had been received from them since.

However, the swarm picked up substantial speed as soon following the loss of contact and within the mere space of a day, devastating meteor swarms began to reign down upon all of the great cities of the Earth... Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, Moscow, Paris, London, Toronto, New York, Rio, Mexico, and Vancouver were all hit over a 24 hour period.

Soon following the last strike, a video message was delivered to leaders of the Earth by none other than the archvillain Graviton; in which he claimed responsibility for the meteor attack and demanded an unconditional surrender lest he unleash another swarm upon the Earth.

Scientists quickly confirmed the veracity of this threat, and aslo marked a number of planet destroyers steadily making their toward the planet. As the various nations of the Earth argued feverishly about what to do, the U.S. took a bold stance and immediately called for the Avengers to address the threat.

With some technical assistence from the Japanese hero, the Examiner, a blind spot was discovered in high orbit around the Earth showing off wild fluxuations in energy reminscient of those found about a Black Hole. With Thor sent out to the fringes of the inner solar system to deal with the planet destroying meteors, the rest of the Avengers made their way to the "blind spot" in hopes of finding Graviton and confronting them. Unfortunately, much like the FF before them, contact with them lost as they began their approach and no word has been received since.

Morningstar #25

Following the meteor strike in Toronto, both Morningstar and Powersurge aided the cities emergency teams in their relief efforts. Within the space of a few hours however, they were summoned to Department H. Once there, they were quickly ushered into a briefing room.

Within they found gathered some two dozen or so costumed superheroes; the members of Alpha Flight foremost amongst them. At the front of the briefing room stood Department H's Chief Director, General Jeremy Clarke, along with a man most recognized as the Commander of of the Epsilon Division, Brigadiere-General Norman McArther, and a female aid.

Clark quickly settled the room and then began to speak of how 6 days ago a number of space observatories thorughout the world spotted an enormous swarm of meteors break free from the asteroid belt that seperates the inner and outer solar system, and begin on a course that hasty estimations suggested could potentially intersect with Earth. The Fantastic Four were soon mustered to investigate this phenomenon, determine what threat it might pose to the planet, and if necessary author a solution, but contact with them was lost soon after they began their approach on the swarm. Mere momenets following this loss of contact, the speed of the meteor swarm increased, exponentially, reaching Earth earlier today and reigning destruction down, not ony on Toronto, but on major cities across the globe -- Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, Moscow, Paris, London, New York, Toronto itself, Rio, and then finally, Mexico City and Vancouver.

Activating a wall monitor, Clarke brought up an image of the costumed villain, Graviton, before going onto explain that the meteor strikes were clearly not "acts of God", but precision strikes orchastrated by the man on the monitor; Franklin Hall by birth, a Canadian scientist who gained massive gravitional powers following an accident that occured while working at a private research facility in the Canadian Rockies. Clarke added that Graviton had resurfaced in Toronto not all that long ago, before momentarily turning the floor over to Morningstar.

The synthoid told of how several weeks ago he witnessed the collapse of a residential high rise in downtown Toronto and upon investigating, found the man on the monitor hovering high above the ruin. Upon approach the villain effortlessly sent him plummeting back to earth before hurling him off the face of the Earth itself and into orbit.

With that, General Clarke clicked the remote in his hand and brought two new images onto the monitor, of a man and a woman, before taking control of the briefing once again. He explained that the man and the woman were Mr. and and Mrs. Joseph and Judy Sinclair. They had worked alongside Graviton in the months leading up to accident that gave him his powers. Hall had reportedly been obsessed with Judy, and she sat at the centre of an incident in which the newly empowered Graviton took over the research facility they all worked at, levitated it, to Manhattan(!), and then handily defeated the Avengers. The America supergroup narrowly managed a reversal of fortunes only by playing on Hall's infatuation for Judy. As chance would have it, both Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair were tenents of the collapsed highrise and both were perished in the disaster.

After a moments pause, Clarke told the room that 20 minutes ago goverments across the globe received the following video message. Clicking the remote again, a video of Graviton began to play in which he identified himself, claimed responsiblity for the meteor strikes, and gave the leaders of the world 36 hours to acknowledge him as their overlord or face another, even greater, bombardment.

With that, Clarke emphasized the power of Graviton, and placed all heroes on high alert; explaining that most would be deployed with Epsilon units across the country, while others would receive special details.

Both Morningstar and Powersurge were briefly sent back to Toronto; where they learned that 4 enormous planet destroying meteors had been detected en route for Earth. And also that, with the discovery of a gravitational anomoly high in Earth's orbit by the Japanese hero the Examiner, the U.S. had decided for immediate action; sending the Avengers (complimented by the mightiest of the West Coast Avengers) to investigate the anomoly, and hopefully confront and defeat Graviton, while Thor was sent to the outer fringes of the inner solar system to deal with the slow moving planet destroyers.

Soon enough, Morningstar and Powersurge were summoned back to Department H. They were gathered by Brigadiere-General McArther into a small brieifing room along with Major Mapleleaf and Major Mapleleaf Junior. He informed them that intel had placed Graviton in the company of the mutant Gypsymoth no more than a year ago, and that the West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, followed this lead. While unable to apprehend the mutant herself, a number of Graviton's notes were found on her premises in which passing mention of an A.I.M. project called the "Gravity Well" was made.

As luck would have it, a joint investiagation of the hi-tech arms distributor, Fabricators Inc., which followed on the heels of the death of Morningstar's predecessor, Thunder, revelaed a link between the black market distributor and A.I.M. Their investigation also turned up the possible location of an A.I.M. facility beneath the Helmsley Building in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The heroes were thence sent to Vancouver to particpate in a raid on the facility.

Circumventing or simply punching their way through the bases defenses - - which included forcefields, reinforced titanium doors, laser turrets, and a squadron of mercs outfitted with hi-tech battle armour - - the heroes at last gained control of the facility and it's computers; thus allowing Epsilon technical experts to move in and finish the job.

It was thus discovered that the "Gravity Well" was the codename of an A.I.M. spacestation that was doing reserarch into the creation and control of micro-blackholes. It had been lost to "forces unknown" roughly 3 months earlier.

As the troop of heroes began to climb back into the Epsilon Shuttle that carried them westward and head back to Ottawa, a communication was received... while Thor had managed to pulverize two of the four planet detroying meteors, contact with the Avengers had been lost, the remaining two planet destroyers had vastly increased their speed, and another meteor swarm had begun to pummel the Earth from the thin ring that now surrounded the planet. As a result of these events, Morningstar and Powersurge were to procede immediately to Vancouver Airport. There they would be greated by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and escorted to the Helicarrier.

By order of the U.N. Security Council, Project: Protectors had been reinstated.

Morningstar #26

Returning to Canada in the wake of the Graviton Affair, Morningstar received a heroes greeting at Department H. He was quickly debriefed, and even given a pat on the back by General Clarke, before being given leave to go. Nevertheless, the synthoid took an hour out to soak up the glory, and socialize in his own clumbsy manner with various Department personel in the lounge before at last taking his leave.

Making his way back to GenTech in Toronto, the synthoid was likewise warmly greet by both Dr.Stone and Dr.Banks, who nonethless, lost little time in subjecting him to a battery of tests and a thorough psycho-physical examination.

Later that week, Morningstar was the guest of a formal celebration held in honour of himself and Powersurge in Ottawa; the latter of whom had only recently emerged from his comatose state and was still under observation onboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and so could not attend. Over the course of the evening, Morninstar ran into none other than Tanya Sullivan, who was there covering the event. During the few moments they had together, she reminded Morningstar of their deal and arranged a time and place for an interview with him.

And so it was the following evening that Tanya made her way to GenTech HQ, there to conduct her interview with Morningstar; touching on everything from his initial encounter with Graviton, his month long disappearance in the wake of that encounter, his subsequent reemergence and tussel with the Fantastic Four in New York, and finally his involvement with the U.N.'s Protectors and the Graviton Affair. And with business at last dealt with, Tanya turned the conversation back to the night of Morningstar's first encounter with Graviton and the kiss they'd shared in her apartment; beginning to get a little touchy-feelly with him all the while. Before things could go very far however, the moment was interrupted by the buzz of the reporter's cellphone.

Taking the call, Tanya quickly readopted a professional demeanor, grabbing her purse and gear, and telling the synthoid that a battle had just broken out between a group of hi-tech soldiers and Major Mapleleaf Senior, even as she speed-dialed her cameraman and told him to hussle over there pronto.

She then offered to tell Morningstar where it was if he agreed to take her there.

And so Morningstar sped for the conflict, setting Sullivan down a safe distance away, before proceeding on the final leg of his journey.

Meanwhile, at the battle site, Major Mapleleaf Senior was locked in combat with a squad of Renegades. Sadler Jr. was also present, but had been forced to duck for cover at the onset of the fight, as his father engaged them, until, at length, the oppurtunity to take control of a Renegade energy rifle and mount of offensive of his own at last present itself. While the athletic and well trained young man was successful in this, he nevertheless left himself open to attack and would have been gunned down if not for the timely intervention of his father, who took the blast meant for him.

As Major Mapleleaf Sr. stood stunned from the blast, Junior was again forced to duck for cover as the Renegades began to hose the area down with weapons fire. Major Mapleleaf went down hard, and would certainly have been joined by his son soon after if not for Morningstar's arrival. He protected Major Mapleleaf Jr. with a photon shield before picking up where Senior had left off and taking the fight to the Renegades.

The Renegades however where apparently no longer game for a confrontation an effected a group teleportation after only a brief of skirmish.

Moving to his father's aid, Major Mapleleaf Jr. quickly got on his cellphone and called for an ambulance, before explaining to Morningstar that he and his father had been out at an evening ballgame, had gone for some food thereafter, and were about to call it a night when the Renegades appeared from out of nowhere and attacked them. Before he could go any further however, Morningstar was struck by a massive discharge of electrical energy, followed by a mighty blow that sent him flying some 20' down the street.

Reorienting himself, Morningstar saw that he was confronted by two costumed villains he recognized from the files on his brother Thunder ... Voltiac and Jackhammer.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...ckhammer-1.jpg

They revealed that Morningstar, Powersurge and especially "the Mapleleafs" had all been marked for termination by A.I.M. and Fabricators Inc. for their various meddlings. And that their time had just run out.

Morningstar #27

With Voltiac and Jackhammer hovering over him, Morningstar was quick to flash with a blinding light. And as they stumbled back and tried to clear the spots from their eyes, the synthoid rose back up to his feet, closed on Jackhammer and clobbered him with a mighty punch.

Unfortunately, the villain was more resilient than he had anticipated, not only absorbing the punch, but striking Morningstar with a solid blow of his own. And this was quickly followed by an electrical attack from Voltiac, which forced the synthoid to fall back and erect a shield of solid light around himself.

Meanwhile Sadler Jr made his way over to Major Mapleleaf, finding him in very rough shape but still conscious. He told his son he'd survived worse than this in his time, and that the lad should get in there and help out the "livin' lightbulb".

While Junior no longer had the Renegade energy rifle -- which had vanished with the rest of the squad during it's group teleport -- he nevertheless moved toward the scuffle without thinking. He saw that Morningstar's shiled had been brought down and the synthoid, while still showing signs of fight, was in the process of weathering a battering from the two villains.

So, picking up a stray can of cola that sat amongst the debris in the vicinity, Louis launched it at the back of Jackhammer's head ... hitting his target dead on before further provoking the villain to attack him. Which of course the thuggish Jackhammer obliged him with in short-order. Nevertheless, Sadler Junior was no mere thug, but a highly sklled combatant, and as such he mananged to out-finese the villain for several moments.

During the course of their scuffle, and in response to Junior's inquiries, Jackhammer revealed that in the wake of his defeat by Thunder was shipped back to the U.S. where he served a tiny portion of sentence, because, as he put it, "even American Judges know that you Canucks are a buncha pansies."

Inevitably though Jackhammer caught Sadler Jr. with a punch that sent him flying back and partially trapped beneath a pile of debris. But as a sneering Jackhammer began to make his way over to the trapped hero, Major Mapleleaf rose back up on shakey legs, calling out a challenge to the villain.

Again, Jackahmmer was more than happy to oblige. And barely able to stand as he was, Major Mapleleaf began to take a severe beating, even as Junior struggled frantically, hopelessly, to free himself.

Meanwhile, Morningstar found his hands more than full with the electical generator, Voltiac, who boasted that he'd received "up-grades" since he faced Morningstar's predecessor, Thunder. However, after the exchgnage of several photon and electical blasts, and a short game of Roman-knuckles, Morningstar shrugged the villain off and and hit him with a punch that sent him flying through a wall and into a nearby office building.

With that he turned to Jackhammer, who the synthoid found still pounding on a Major Mapleleaf that dangled limp in his grip.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...assic/mmsr.jpg

Moving quickly to the WW II heroes aid, Morningstar engaged Jackhammer in an angry fist-i-cuff before, as winded as he was, he began to find himself on the receiving end of it. At this point, the synthoid took to the air, again surrounding himself in a shield of solid light, and completely turned the tables. Nevertheless, while Jackahmmer briefly found himself buffetted by photon blast after photon blast, Voltiac emerged from the office building. He immediately transformed into "living lightning" and arced straight for the synthoid, shattering his shield and sending him plummetting to the other earth once more.

And with that, the two villains began to swarm on the synthoid again, with Morningstar forced completely onto the defensive. And indeed, they might well have been in a position to deliver the coupe de grace, when Aurora suddenly appeared between the hero and the villains and hit them with a flash of blinding light. This was immedaitely followed by a blur (Northstar) that raced through the scene, grabbing Jackhammer and briefly taking him along for the ride before coming to a sudden stop even as he let the villain go ... thus sending him head long into and through a concrete wall.

With the appearance of Northstar and Aurora, and the intel of an approaching Epislon Shuttle they received over their head-sets, Voltiac and Jackhammer would teleported away, courtesy of the Renegades.

At last struggling free, Sadler Jr. raced over ot his father, who he found barely clinging to life. Together with Northstar he did what he could to keep his father alive until the Epsilons and med units arrived. Which they did within moments.

Aurora helped Morningstar back to his feet, and as he thanked her helpiung him out (again), the synthoid noticed a Renegade in severely damaged battle armour trying to crawl into a nearby building.

He immedaitely took control of the injured merc and turned him over to the Epsilons.

Within days of the battle, Powersurge, who had since emerged from his coma and was enjoying some R'N'R in England, was ordered back to Canada.

Sorry for (another) long wait on the final issue of this story-arc, folks.

I have it ready to go, but time has been at a premium as of late. I have some time off coming up in early August, so I'll have it up by then at the latest.

Hope you've been enjoying. The interest is always appreciated! :)

Morningstar #28

Back in the halls of Department H the captured Renegade sat in an interrogation room ... going on some 30 hours. Clarke and a number of Department agents, Morningstar amongst them, stood in the observation room discussing the obstacle the ex-Epsilon Black's psychological conditioning was proving in the interrogation ... even for the Department's ESPers. Fortunately, it was then that Powersurge entered the room, accompanied by none other than, Psylocke, who was currently on loan from the British government.

Invited by General Clarke to take-over the interrogation, it took less than a minute for the powerful mutant telepath to pick the Renegade's and determine that his group was operating out of a mobile headquarters, a ship, who's last known coordinates placed it about 100 miles off the coast of southwestern Vancouver Island. From there, it was a small matter for Department satillites to pin-point the vessel.

As Morningstar and Powersurge prepared to move out, Clarke stopped the latter, saying that he was grounded until further notice. He then presented Sadler Jr. in the Weapon Alpha battle-suit, and said that it would be the new "Weapon Alpha" that accompanied Morningstar. While Powersurge voiced his disapproval, Sadler insisted that what happened to his father wouldn't cloud his judgement, only sharpen it, and that he was hardly a new-comer to the field. General Clarke added that he was a natural, like Powersurge himself, and was already approaching James MacDonald performance levels after only a day in the suit. And so with some further persuasion from Psylocke, Powersurge relented, wishing them luck and telling "Weapon Alpha". not to do anything he might regret.

Catching a ride on an Epsilon Shuttle, Morningstar and Weapon Alpha soon engaged in their assualt on the vessel, tearing through it's defenses, and apprehending not only some half dozen Renegades, but also a Fabricators liason. Back at Department HQ, Psylocke again led the interrogation and learned that the liason was supposed to meet up with Voltiac and Jackhammer at the Casino de Montreal at 8 pm the following evening.

Morningstar #29

With the aid of casino security, Department agents quickly located the large, imposing duo of Voltiac and Jackhammer at the Casino de Montreal. They were kept under surveillance until they both left the casino at some 20 miunutes after the hour. Out in the parking lot, the men went their separate ways in separate vehicles. This info was immediately relayed to Morningstar and Weapon Alpha, who took over the surveilliance from there.

Weapon Alpha went after Jackhammer, who's course soon suggested that he was heading toward the bus terminal. And so, getting the go ahead to apprehend the super-powered thug, Weapon Alpha held until they were in quiet streets and then launched his attack; disabling the car with a blast of energy before descending to the streets. Jackhammer pulled himself out fo the wreckage none the worse for wear and with the usual vulgar threat on his lips. Weapon Alpha lost no time in telling Jackhammer who he was, and that things were going to be a bit differnt this time arund, now that their respective power levels were now more-or-less equal. He then proceeded to put on a fighting clinic, picking apart the super-powered brawler, mercilously pummeling him, and extolling his father's manhood and heroics all the while.

With Jackhammer beaten into unconsciousness, Weapon Alpha was brought to his senses when the city lights began to flicker on and off, eractically, while electical arcs and blinding flashes of light could be seen over the city near the airport.

In the meantime, Morningstar has taken up the tail on Voltiac, and soon learned that he was en route for the airport. Like Weapon Alpha, the synthoid was thence given the go ahead to apprehend to criminal, and quickly brought his car to a dramatic hault. Voltiac however, seeemd to take it all in stride, as though he had expected no less. He weathered Morningstar's initial onslaught, and then trasformed into living lightning and arced over to a nearby power-plant. Morningstar pursued the villain only to find him feeding off, and crackling with the plant's energy.

As the fight recommenced, Morningstar was able to draw upon his solar reserves to go toe-to-toe with Voltiac for a time, but before long his depleted reserves, and the villains ever-replenishing storehouse began to shift the tide in Voltiac's favour.

Fortunately, with Morningstar beginning to falter under the matchless power of the villain, Weapon Alpha arrived on the scene. Knocking Votiac off balance, and buying Morningstar the time to recover, the two heroes pressed on together. While it seemed there would be no end to Voltiac's power, Weapon Alpha was at last able to use some of the more subtle electro-magnetic functions of the battlesuit to cut the villian off from his power source. And with that, the defeat of Voltiac was quick to follow.

The thrill of victory was however not long to last. Within the hour news was received that Major Mapleleaf had passed away in the hospital as a result of his injuries. Many attended the funeral the was soon to follow, from politicians and cops to a host of aged WW II veterans. Amongst the other attendees were also such notables as Captain America, Wolverine and even Nick Fury. While Fury assured Sadler Junior that Voltiac and Jackhammer were all Canada's, he added that he could have it arranged that they be tried in Texas if the young hero so desired.

Later, in the aftermath of the wake, Sadler Jr accepted Carke's offer to stay on as Weapon Alpha ... though in his father's honour he would formally take over the code-name Major Mapleleaf.

Morningstar #30

In the wake of Major Mapleleaf Senior's funeral, Morningstar and Powersurge, the latter with Psylocke in tow, were sent for a well earned vacation to Banff, Alberta courtesy of Department H. It was low tourist season at this time of year, and their jet landed in Banff Airport late in the evening. There the trio borded a shuttle-bus that would carry them to their accomodations in Banff proper.

During the ride, and indeed for the entire flight, Morningstar bemoaned how he had wanted to invite his "reporter friend", Tanya Sullivan, but how their secret identites forbade it. For his own part, when Psylocke wasn't present, Powersurge warned the naieve synthoid to watch out for "that one", as Ms.Sullivan was well known for conducting interviews with Canada's superheroes. And amongst some of them she had built up something of a reputation as "the chick who likes to do men in tights". This "to do" naturally required a bit of explanation on Powersurge's behalf, but when the synthoid at last understood, he stated that "I guess that means she must like me then, hey Powersurge?"

The shuttle bus had barely set out form the airport however, when it deviated from it's course into town and pulled into a resort where a number of police cars were onsite. All passengers were ordered off the bus and into the lobby of the resort. When the heroes questioned into what was going on, they were told that there had been an "accident" in town and that government authorities were already onhand to deal with it. Until then, this resort would serve as a temporary shelter for evacuees from in town and any tourists.

But since when, thay heroes mused, were the entrances of such centres manned by armed soldiers? What precisely was the nature of this "Accident"? And how was it that Department H didn't know about this incident?

Morningstar suggested that Department H DID in fact know about this, and that it had sent them in "blind" as it were for some dark and maligned reason that only a government could fathom, but Powersurge thought it was more likely that these weren't real soldiers or cops they were dealing with here, but something else. A quick mind scan of a few of the soldiers by Psylocke soon revelaed that, while she could read their thoughts, their minds were alien to her. Whatever they were, they weren't human.

From here, Powersurge wanted Morningstar to bend light around himself, and then slip outside and gather as much intel as possible on the situation. but events of the recent weeks had left the synthoid drained and simply not up to the task of bending light, which the synthoid explained was difficult and that there was still alot he didn;t understand avbout how to do it.

And so they decide to play it cool for the meantime. And this lasted until a large influx of evacuated townsfolk sent Morningstar toward the main exit, where, despite Powersurge's telepathically relayed protests, he identified himself as a government agent and demanded to be allowed to exit. When the soldier denied him, he forced his way passed and out. From there he broke into a full sprint across the resort grounds, evading the "police" at hand and escaping out into the countryside bound for Banff proper.

The synthoid's keen nightvision soon revealed a great 100' tall squared tower, with strange lights at it's summit, rising up out of the center of the town. He passed this information onto Powersurge via Psylocke's "mindweb", and hoped to continue on towards it under the cover of the darkness, but within minutes some half dozen hi-tech "skycycles" went zooming by overhead, driven by large men in black and red "Boba Fett-like" battle armour. These cycles immediately turned about, and began to effect various attack patterns against the synthoid. For his own part, Morningstar threw up a photon shield around himself even as he let out a mental cry for help to Psylocke and Powersurge. He then took to the air and engaged the cycle-riders; gradually plucking them off one by one, and culminating in a chase across the mountainous terrain of the surroundings and Morningstar being knocked out of the sky and stunned in a mid-air coliision with the last of the skycycles ... itself destoryed in the collision.

Meanwhile, with Morningstar's telepathically relayed call for help, Powersurge and Psylocke sprung into action; quickly taking out the soldiers watching over what was now a crowd spread throughout the lobby and restruant of the resorts main building. Psylocke was the first outside, but quickly found herself stunned senseless by the energy weapons the police now wielded. Powersurge however didn't sweat their energy weapons, and with the added help of a local with the apparent ability to turn himself into a stone encrusted powerhouse, he made short work of the "police". This one called himself Kid Rock, and said that he and his family were taken here by the soldiers from their own house, as were their neighbours, and that, while the soldiers weren't violent with them, he nevertheless didn't like how they were treating everyone.

Noting some dozen or more lights in the sky, coming toward the resort form the direction of the airport. Powersurge told Kid Rock to grab Psylocke and run, sending him off in the opposite direction of the lights in the sky ... and in the same direction as Morningstar's last known location. Kid Rock complied, growing to a full 18' as he absorbed the variety of stone and minerals at his disposal in the immediate area, even as Powersurge took to the air and sped off toward the lights.

As Powersurge engaged a contigent of skycycles, a trio sped passed the melee, moving towards the last known coordinates of Morningstar. Heedlessly bypassing Kid Rock as they soared overhead, their sensors soon picked up the synthoid and, outfitted with heavier canons than their fellows, they engaged him. While they put up somehwat more of a fight than their fellows, they were still no match for Morningstar, who quickly dispatched of two before Kid Rock arrived on the scene, leaping as hgh as he could into the air and slapping the last cycle out of the air (FTW!) before landing and facing off with Morningstar.

For his own part Morningstar had no idea who this "creature" was, while Kid Rock hadn't exactly been briefed on Morningstar either, but before tensions could mount into a melee, Psylocke awakened and established the good intentions of all present. When asked what had happened to Powersurge, Kid Rock pointed off back towards the resort where a dogfight raged in the sky between the former X-Man and a swarm of skycycles. Morningstar wanted to go to his aid, but after Psylocke reestablished a mindlink with Powersurge, the trio decided to instead head for cover and try to contact Department H regarding the situation.

Within a few minutes Powersurge was again severed from Psylocke's mindweb ... probably as a result of him being taken down mused the British telepath.

Neverthless, with Kid Rock back down to his 6' tall stone proportions, the trio at last happened upon a secluded cabin retreat. Settling down inside, they found that the telephone and internet lines were dead, so it was decided that Morningstar would fly south down to Canmore and try to contact the Department from there or beyond. When Morningstar took to the air however, he quickly ran face first into something a few hundred feet up that stunned him and sent him plummetting back down to the earth. Stunned, but with mostly his pride hurt, the synthoid again took to the air, but this time he ascended much more slowly, until at last he thumped into it again ... something solid ... big ... invisible ... just over head.

Morningstar #31

Informing Psylocke and Kid Rock of the invisible obstacle he ran into over Banff via the British telepath's "mindweb", the synthoid began to trace to dimensions of the invisible object. It was very smooth and flat, but Morningstar soon found that it was gradually descending until after a mile or so it at last touched the ground Apparently, it was some kind of great, invisible force-dome that presumably covered the entire area for several miles ... and for some unkown depth into the earth.

Psylocke suggested that the snythoid continue to move along it's circumference to see if there were any openings. Before long, he spotted what appeared to be some great metal "fang" shaped device, some 10' tall and covered with flashing lights and buttons. Assuming this was some form of forcefield generator, the niaeve synthoid built up his flight speed, erected his shield, and dive-bombed in in hopes of destroying it and bringing down the forcefield that covered the area. Unfortunately for him, the metal encasement of the device was made of something akin to adamantium. It was barely dented by the impact. The same could not be said for Morningstar. And if only to make matters worse, when the synthoid at last regained his senses and struggled back up to his feet, he found himself surrounded a trio of the invaders, complimented by some 10' tall battlemech with heavy cannons mounted on it's arms and football-like shoulder pads that proved to be missle pods.

Morningstar defended himself well against the invaders, but soon found himself on the defensive when the "mech" hit him with a full volley from his missle pods. Luckily for him, Kid Rock and Psylocke soon arrived to reinforce him. And while they thence made short work of the invaders, no sooner had they defeated them then they found themselves faced with, not only 10 more alien soldiers, but two costumed figures as well; one male the other female!

The male identified himself as Starblaster. He must have stood around 8' tall, was of heroic build with a simple white costume, and had jet black skin with red eyes and mouth; the latter of which continuously say agape. He proved to possess the powers of super-strength and durability, as well as the abiulity to fly and fire bolts of energy from his hands.

The female was identified as Nightweaver. She stoood an well proportion 6' tall and wore a simple costume of pitch black, lacking even eyeholes in the mask, but with a long black cape flowing behind her.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j5...sic/KRvsSB.jpg
(Kid Rock faces off agaisnt Starblaster)

The battle was quickly rejoined by the heroes, who found themselves hard pressed against this duo and their lackeys. During the course of the battle, Nightweaver surrounded Morningstar in a globe of darkness, but after a few moments of panic he exploded with light, blinding all of the others. Then with he and his teammates on the ropes, he scoooped them up in bubbles of light and effected a retreat.

Making his way back to the nearby "cabin-mansion" they had holed up in earlier, the trio discussed their next move. For her own part, Psylocke did a scan for Powersurge's thoughts and was quick to find him already calling out for her. AS they had thought he was ultiamtely taken down in his dogfight with the invaders, but as he explained he did in fact take a dive. He further related that these invaders weren't from another planet but another dimension. They were a tall, strong, shadow-skinned race known as the Vengarians, and they planned on taking over the Earth. This however was merely an advanced force sent to establiosh a foothold in this dimension, and establish something called an "interdimensional anchor" which would allow their main force to safely traverse the dimensions. The anchor would be complete in some 23 hours, so Powersurge ordered them to find a way out of the surrounding barrier and get word to Department H. From there, they were to effect a rescue of him from the "great obelisk" in the center of Banff. And once outside of the energy dampening cell they were holding him in, Powersurge would be able to take care of the rest with his pulse-blast.

So, after taking a couple of hours to get their strength back, Morningstar tried once again to bend light around himself. This time he was successful, and so continued his recon of the forcefields circumference. He found that there were in fact several of the devices he had spied earlier, space a generous distance apart for the entire circumference of the field. And each was guarded by a trio of Vengarian soldiers and a mech. Clearly, they were instrumental to the functioning of the field, but Morningstar bemoaned how his solar stores were empty, and how he had already barely been able to dent one. Kid Rock laughed at the synthoid and told him to let him have a crack at it. Psylocke in turn suggested that teamwork would be key here.

So, as it went, Morningstar returned to the cabin to pick up his fellow heroes, followiong which they ambushed the guardians of the generators. From there, with the help of Psylockes mindlink, and with Kid rock at full size and strength, both he and Morningstar tore into the forcefield generator; quickly warping the encasement enough to create and opening that was then pried large and large. Morningstar then let a full force photon blast rip into the hole they created, destroying the internal circuitry ... and succeeding in bringing down a sliver of the forcefield.

However, they had taken less than a step outside of the forcefield when an energy blast from above caused the ground in front of them to explode. Tired and batterd from their previous battles, the heroes now found themselves confronted once again with the powerful Starblaster!

Morningstar #32

The battle with Starblaster was brief and violent, as the desperate heroes threw everything they had at the inter-dimensional powerhouse. But in the end Starblaster was defeated and placed into a coma-like state by the psionic powers of Psylocke. With that, Morningstar quickly got in touch with Department H, relying to them all they had seen and that Powersurge had told them of the invasion force. Then, with the assurance that Alpha Flight would soon be dispatched, Morningstar, Psylocke and Kid Rock gathered up Starblaster's unconscious form and headed for a safe-house in the surroundings of Banff.

Once there, Psylocke again used her powers to bring the alien back to consciousness, but also to render him (temporarily) paralyzed. Nevertheless, the attempts to interrogate him, be it telepathically or conventionally, proved entirely fruitless. So, with the clock ticking, Alpha Flight neither here nor there at the moment, and the invaders undoubtedly already repairing the breach in their impenetrable forcefield, Morningstar came up with a plan to take out some of the soldiers and use their uniforms to gain entry into the towering obelisk undetected; thence to do some scouting about, locate any prisoners, and free Powersurge.

And so it went, with Psylocke and Kid Rock being left behind to guard Starblaster and keep everyone telepathically interfaced, as Morningstar effected his plan; taking out a small patrol of Vengarians, donning their leaders uniform, and walking straight through the obelisk's front door. He then had relatively little difficulty in locating the holding area; which contained, not only Powersurge but also a couple dozen high-profile residents of Banff.

Powersurge ordered Morningstar to get the civilians to safety, as he would be making his own way to the "forcefield nexus" at the summit of the obelisk in order to destroy it and ensure that Alpha Flight would be in a position to help when they at last arrived. En route he encountered some stiff resistence, but between his energy field, energy blasts, and ability to burning through walls and floors at will, the energy generating mutant at last fought his way to the nexus and once there, devastated the device and the upper floors of the obelisk with a pulse-blast that rocked the entire structure. The forcefield surrounding Banff was down.

In the meantime, Morningstar guided the civilians out of the structure, using his own fields of solid light to protect them and/or bar passage to any guards, and finally blasting a hole through an outer wall to freedom. When the last of the civilians exited however, Nightweaver appeared. She and Morningstar squared off and engaged in an epic struggle that at long last had Morningstar beaten and on his knees before her. Before she could deliver the coup de grace however, she let out a scream of pain and collapsed to the ground. Immediately following this a Vengarian scientist revealed himself; helping the synthoid back to his feat as he explained that he was against his people's imperialistic conquests and inspired by this world's heroes. He refused to follow Morningstar to freedom however, explaining that he and his had much left to do in their home dimension.

And even as these events unfolded, Starblaster somehow managed to emerge out of Psylocke's telepathically imposed coma. While deprived of his gauntlet's, which were the source of his own powers of flight and energy generations, the Vengarian powerhouse nevertheless launched a fearless assault on Kid Rock ... KO'ing Psylocke as his opening gambit. Mighty though the alien was, Kid Rock's ability to absorb rock and use it to increase his size, his strength, and even his resistance to damage, proved to be too much for the veteran combatant and in the end, Starblaster was defeated.

Within the hour, a recovered Powersurge met up with Morningstar, Kid Rock and Psylocke, and were informed that Alpha Flight was only a few minutes off. Effecting a junction, the collective might of Canada's most powerful superheroes was then unleashed, and the Vengarian invasion force sent into full retreat.

Department H laid claim to all remaining alien technology, and General Clarke himself made an appearance on scene, congratulating the heroes on their efforts and assuring them that even now the Prime Minister was organizing a hero-celebration for the lot of them.