Volume 3, Issue 8

Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!

Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.                                                             
                                            
Cazmonster began the assault with a powerful hammer-blow to The force field around the Nightmare Engine.  The response was equally powerful; an energy blast threw Cazmonster across the lake shore.  
Inside the force field, an armored power suit formed around Sampson, and six identical drone suits formed outside.  The force field abated for Sampson to exit.
"Careful, newbies," Dragonfly cautioned.  "Sampson runs on hate.  He'll kill you without a second though.

"Yeah, old guy," said Transcender boldly.  "We read the files.". With that, the brash young man ran at one of the drone suits.  Just before reaching it, he disappeared, causing the suit to turn and search for its would-be assailant.  

The distraction was enough for Magma to fly up and unload a firey  blast on the robot, whose systems began to sizzle and melt in the extreme heat.

Dragonfly swooped in and grabbed Transcender who, despite being warned, was now in harm's way as Sampson turned his battle suit's guns on the youth.  "Come on, kid, you're killing me here.". Dropping the new hero in a safer place, Dragonfly zigged in the other direction as Sampson's guns tracked just behind him.  Flying up to Barry Stills, who looked out of place without his American Attitude costume, he said "Adept's port caught you in class?"

"Test," Barry corrected.  

"Want to try an Attitude adjustment?"

Barry nodded.  That sounds really good, DF.  Borrow your sword?"

"But of course," Dragonfly said, handing the weapon to his friend.  Dragonfly thought back to when The Attitude and Triumph had been the new guys.  They'd all Bennett through a lot since then, though only two years had passed.

Grabbing Barry under his arms, Dragonfly flew straight at one of the drones firing at Magma.  "Bombs away!" He shouted, and released Barry, who flew downward and forward.  He slammed into the drone, hitting a vital neck joint, and flipped actobatically back to the ground.

The drone sputtered and sparked, but kept marching on, Dragonfly's sword now lodged in its neck.  "I better get that back," Barry said aloud.

Meanwhile, Sampson chuckled evilly as he tracked The Grey Robe with his guns, but stopped when he got to Cazmonster; the bullets bounced off his resilient hide like raindrops.  Raising both hands, Cazmonster smashed down on Sampson.  The mad scientist's power suit shimmered momentarily, the disappeared.  The Adept quickly ran up and blasted Sampson with mystical energy.

Addled from the combined effort, Sampson struggled to his feet.  But just as Cazmonster reached out to restrain him, he was suddenly gone.  He reappeared a few seconds later back within the safety of the Nightmare Engine's force field.  

"Eh, he he he he he!" The villain cackled insanely.  "I can reform that suit, or anything I want, as often as I need.  But your numbers are limited!".

Suddenly, a blast shot out from the force field, catching Magma unaware.  She shot through the sky into the distance.  Like a streak, Dragonfly was after her.  

Meanwhile, Barry, aka The American Attitude, had climbed back up his robotic foe.  Throwing his weight into Dragonfly's sword, still stuck in its neck, he pushed with all his might, then leapt sideways, dragging the razor-sharp blade through the circuitry.  The drone shimmered and disappeared, and Barry fell to the ground, sword in hand.

For the Grey Robe, the target was easy.  She grabbed a chunk of earth under which one of the drones was standing and flung it into the lake.

Barry and Bill Brown stood back to back against another probe, dodging behind trees and rocks as it fired on them.  Barry concentrated on his super hearing for a moment as the two ducked behind a large rock.   “Bill, on my mark, aim your shotgun at 1 o’clock, about ⅔ of the way up its chest.”

Bill waiting as the bullets passed, and then quickly lifted his shotgun into place.  

“Fire!”  Barry shouted.  

The shell from Barry’s shotgun slammed into a vital join on the drone, and it began swivelling wildly from right to left.  The Nightmare Engine, seeing its creation had lost its usefulness, dissipated the drone and prepared for another attack.  

Meanwhile, Dragonfly found Magma’s unconscious form lying under a burning tree in a rut of dried lava.  Fortunately, her resistance to fire and heat seemed innate; the flames she’d caused were not harming her.  As quickly as he could, Dragonfly grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her out of the flames.  It was not the best idea, since she was obviously injured, but he could’t safely get to her without burning himself seriously.  As it was, his shirt caught fire and he took a second degree burn on his side.  Magma, first name Jan, was seriously injured, a fact Dragonfly could tell looking her over briefly.  His sometime girlfriend Nirmala, the doctor he’d met in Tibet, could have told him the specifics if she were here, but it was obvious there were several broken ribs, a broken leg (compound fracture) and an immense abbrassion across her back and side.  

“Adept, this is Dragonfly.  I’ve got Jan.  She’s in bad shape.  Really bad.  You need to get her to the hospital ASAP.”

“I’ll bring you both back here.  Barry and Bill are down as well.  You and the others finish this!  This guy and this hideous thing need to be taken down, now!”

“I hear you, Rick,” Dragonfly said as he saw the portal open beside him.  Fireman carrying Jan through, he found The Adept standing by the unconscious and wounded forms of Barry Stilles and Bill Brown.  Cazmonster and The Gray Robe were standing up to Sampson and the Nightmare Engine, while Transcender concentrated on something under cover.

Dragonfly charged his humming bomb up to maximum and, as The Adept carefully levitated Jan, Barry and Bill through the portal to the hospital, grabbed the sword he’d loaned to Barry.  Flying directly at the place he’d just seen Cazmonster power-punch, Dragonfly dropped the humming bomb and flew straight up.  Cazmonster, knowing what was coming, leapt out of range.  

The humming bomb went off, and for a brief moment, the shield around the Nightmare Engine, and Sampson, dropped.  That second was all Transcender needed to work with.  Time suddenly stopped.  The instant that happened, Transcender’s nose began to bleed as he expended more control over space-time than he ever had before.  Cazmonster and The Gray Robe found themselves unaffected.  

“Way to go, kid,” Cazmonster said.  With all his might, he tore into the Nightmare Engine.  Every part he could find bigger than a loaf of bread, he either rended or crushed.  Simultaneously, The Gray Robe wrapped a sheath of solid rock around Professor Sampson.  Time snapped back to reality, and Transcender sighed with relief, flopping back onto the ground.  

“Wha?” Sampson hesitated a moment before realizing he was now trapped.  Looking to his side, his triumphant look turned to horror as he saw the Nightmare Engine destroyed, completely and utterly.

“”Wha?” Cazmonster mocked.  “Wha is ‘you failed’!  No more revenge.  No more death.  Just prison.  Prison for you, long time,” he laughed.  

“You think I would be caught without an escape route?  Wrong!”  Suddenly, a dark gate opened behind Sampson, and two winged demons flew out.  Snapping The Gray Robe’s stone prison off the ground, they began to carry Sampson back through the gate with them.  

“I’m sorry,” Syd said.  “I can’t let this happen.”  Cazmonster wondered what she meant briefly.  Then he, Dragonfly, and Transcender watched in shock as the rocks crushed Sampson to death.  “No more; no more sneak attacks of awesome power.  No more unexpected demons.  Just...no more.”

Cazmonster nodded grimly.  The four heroes watched as the demons carried Sampson’s corpse through the gate.  And then it closed, and he was gone.  There was no evidence.  There would be no trial.  Justice had been served, and it was cold, and swift.

Three days later...

The heroes of Triumph, wearing their civilian clothes, gathered to visit Jan at the hospital.  Barry and Bill had been released the same day as they arrived, having suffered only minor injuries.  Jan was going to be here for a few weeks.  But she was getting better, quickly.  

“So, tell me again how you beat Sampson!” she said, sitting up in her bed as the others crowded around her.  Caz told the story, as animatedly as possible.  Aaron noted that he left the part out about Syd murdering a helpless Sampson.  It had been eating at him since they got back.  But what was worse, part of him agreed with her.  Sampson was too evil and too powerful.  He could be contained or defeated only temporarily, and he’d always be back.  And when he came back, people died.  Lives were destroyed.  Aaron sighed, contenting himself with the fact that, agree or not, there was nothing any of them could do about it now.  Confessing or accusing would serve no purpose, and there was no evidence.  It was over, and tomorrow, life would go on.  

Volume 3, Issue 7

Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!

Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.  

It was a rainy day when the alarm sounded.  Aaron Majesky got the text notification as he waited to talk to his abnormal psychology professor.  Helping with the assignment would have to wait.  A few second later, Dragonfly flew from a 3rd story window into the heavy downpour and overcast sky.

Stella, the Citadel's computer intelligence, had detected a disturbance in the vicinity south of campus.  Dragonfly opened a channel on his communicator and answered the incoming called.  

"Dragonfly en route."

"Yo, it's Caz.  Can you check in and let me know what's up?"

"Almost there, CM.  Holy...Caz, get Rick down here, NOW!  Sampson's up to his portal tricks again; this time it's a flood!"  

Dragonfly swooped down on what used to be a residential neighborhood, but was now a raging river.  Skimming the surface of the water, already five feet high, he listened for cries of help, looked for anyone trapped inside a flooding house.  Because it was mid afternoon, most people were at work.  Still, since Stevenson was a city of over 200,000, there were bound to be third shifters, or unemployed people, or the sick, trapped in some of these houses.  It didn't take long to find someone.

Breaking in through a picture window, heedless of the glass, Dragonfly found a young mother with two children neck deep in water.  

"Grab on! I can carry all three of you!". The women wrapped her arms around Dragonfly's muscular trunk, while he picked up the youngest child - a small, crying boy with thick dark hair.  The girl, a slender preteen, grabbed her mother and Dragonfly, and they flew out the remains of the window.  Spotting several citizens taking refuge on top of a two story house, Dragonfly dropped the family off.  

In the ten minutes it took The Adept to arrive with Magma and The Grey Robe, Dragonfly had rescued six more people.   Flying higher above the surface of the water, the rest of the team went to work.  The Adept opened a portal directly above one of the lakes outside of Stevenson.  Using her vast powers over the natural world, the Grey Robe wrenched a huge section of Earth free under one of the roads, allowing the water to drain more quickly into the sewers.  Magma flew to the source of the deluge, a massive portal several blocks away, and began laying down layer after layer of burning lava in front of it; this lava quickly cooled in the water and hardened into rock, slowing the tide.

Meanwhile, Dragonfly continued to work on the human level, finding those trapped by the flood and flying them to safety.

"Syd, you got this?" The Adept asked the Grey Robe.  "I need to get to work closing that portal!"

"We'll manage!  Go!"

With that, the powerful sorcerer known as The Adept opened a portal of his own to the location Magma had pinpointed as the source of the flood.  The portal was at least three stories tall; much bigger than any The Adept had opened himself.  But it was definitely magical.  The Adept could feel the waves of energy flowing around it.  He could also sense its source, that horrible creation known as the Nightmare Engine.  How powerful was that thing, Rick wondered. Sampson's evil fusion of mad science and dark magic?  

Shaking the musings from his head, the Adept began to concentrate on his own connection to the mystic realm, the invisible but ever-present Robe of Merlin. Tapping into the the first power he had discovered, that to open magical portals in space, Rick The Adept began concentrating on closing this one.  He used the same technique he would use to close a portal of his own making, but this was orders of magnitude more difficult.  

Magic had a frequency, and the closer it was in frequency to the source of your power as a sorcerer, the easier it was to manipulate.  The power creating this portal was dark, obviously demonic in nature.  The Adept had squared off against it when the team fought Professor Sampson the first time; it was that confrontation that had pushed The Adept to the next level as a sorcerer.  His powers had opened up that day, and with every day since, they’d grown in complexity and energy.  Rick hoped that the same source that pushed him that time would help him to overcome this challenge as well.  

As he continued his mystical battle with whatever evil will controlled the portal (Rick could tell it wasn’t Sampson; he may be calling the shots, but there was another entity at work here), he heard helicopters overhead as the National Guard arrived.  Stevenson was the largest city in the area, and the guard maintained a base there for deployment elsewhere in the state.  The guard began helping the dozens of people who’d escaped or been rescued into helicopters and boats so they could leave the area.  Meanwhile, Magma and The Grey Robe continued to try to stop the flow of waters as best they could.  

Suddenly, the portal snapped shut, and the water stopped.  The Guardsmen and civilians started cheering; so did Magma and The Grey Robe.  Dragonfly flew up to The Adept as he hovered near where the portal used to be.  “Great job, Adept!” he said, the rain continuing to pour over them.

“Something’s not right, Dragonfly.  I don’t think that was me.  I barely broke a sweat.  I think…”

Just as suddenly as the portal had closed, another opened, this one directly ABOVE the National Guard’s helicopters.  It was even bigger.  Hundreds of thousands of gallons began pouring down on them, and the helicopter was smashed to the ground.  

The heroes watched in shock as at least two dozen men and women went from being safe to probably dead.  The Adept’s eyebrows wrinkled in anger.  “Get as many of those people out as you can, Dragonfly.  I’m going to close this portal.”

Dragonfly hesitated an instant, then flew back into the fray.  He was sweaty, cut up, and tired, but now wasn’t the time.  He did not see The Adept fly through the portal, his mystical shield keeping him from being forced to the ground by the sheer pressure of the water.

Once inside the portal, the Adept glided up through water and found himself at the top of a lake.  He had no idea where he was.  There on the dock was Sampson in a rain slicker, along with the Nightmare Engine, covered in its own forcefield.  As soon as they saw Rick, the portal closed.  

Rick launched himself out of the water and flew toward Sampson, firing blasts of mystical energy at the bald mad scientist.  Sampson ducked into the shield with the Nightmare Engine to avoid the attacks; the mystical energy of that shield was more than powerful enough.  

“Sampson!  Stop this!” Rick shouted angrily.

“Never!  Not until that town is wiped from the face of the earth, and everyone who conspired against me destroyed!  And that means you and all of your friends!” Sampson said with a mixture of glee and hatred.  Rick stopped and hovered in the air above the lake, then opened another portal behind Sampson.  Several groans and complaints at the unexpected transportation gave way to resolute silence, and the members of Triumph stood up behind Sampson and the Nightmare Engine.

All eight heroes were there.  Dragonfly set down a young girl he’d just rescued from the water seconds before being transported.  A girl whose mother had drowned before she could be rescued.  And that was that.  It was a showdown, the final battle: Triumph vs. Professor Sampson.  The battle began.

Volume 3, Issue 6

Triumph:  In memory of their fallen companion, the heroes of the Infinite Seven have chosen to rename their group Triumph!  Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; Palisade, aka Steven Chen - Biosuit powered defender; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; and The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter.

In the end, dragonfly reflected, Misto's plan amounted to little more than “get him”.  Of course, it was far better than he and Cazmonster had been doing; if not for Misto's ability to sense magical energy (an ability shared by most sorcerers, seemingly), they all might very well be wandering around the rubble-strewn yard he found them in.  Instead, moments ago they had broken through a retaining wall leading to a hidden chamber.  There inside the chamber were The Adept, The Gray Robe, and Angela the Vampire, all tied up to some sort of ancient syphoning machine.   Nearby lay an unconscious and bio-suitless Steve Chen. There also was Sarth , a ten-foot tall monolith of a being in traditional ancient Egyptian god form, down to the stylized hyena head he sported.

That head was now being punched in the face, rather ineffectively, by Misto, the white costumed hero with blue cape and mask the heroes of triumph had just met.

"Ummm, didnt't he say he was some sort of great sorcerer or something?" The American attitude asked, dumbfounded by Misto's tactics.

"Something like that," Cazmonster answered, rushing toward the machine that was holding his friends hostage.

"Misto, what gives?" Dragonfly asked as he flew into the giant beast, sword in hand.  This attack was similarly effective to Misto's.  

"Sometimes, you just gotta punch a villain!" Misto replied just before Sarth's powerful arm sent him flying.  

Meanwhile, The Attitude had sent Bill an Transcender to check on Steven Chen.  "He doesn't look good," Bill noted, cutting the chains that were holding Steven.  

"I think I can help.". Transcender concentrated on the temporal field immediately around Steven.  It was like reaching into a fish tank.  He waited for just the right moment, and then grabbed the field.  Using his own aura for fuel, Transcender slowed the flow of time around Steven.

"That should give him a chance," he nodded to Bill.

Magma swooped in and rained fire on Sarth, peppering Dragonfly with shrapnel as she did so.

'Hey, watch it!" Dragonfly shouted back at his new teammate.  So far, he wasn't overly impressed with this new bunch.

“Sorry,” Magma apologized weakly, continuing her assault from a safer angle.  

Sarth, sensing Cazmonster's attempt to free the Adept and the Great Robe, turned and funneled mystical energy through his staff.  Cazmonster barely stood up to the brutal magical assault, but somehow he managed to keep pulling at the contraption with all his might.

Weakly, The Adept looked up at Cazmonster.  "You'll never get it.  It's mystically anchored."

Cazmonster looked up at his friend.  "You watch me."

The battle was not going well.  The heroes were throwing everything they had against Sarth, to little avail.  Finally, with a herculean effort, they managed to drop the behemoth to one knee.  But the assault came at a cost.  From Sarth's staff came a wide burst of magical energy.  As the American Attitude flew toward the godling on his skateboard, the wave hit him, and he passed out, flying through the air from his forward momentum.  Magma crashed to the ground, her flame extinguished to a sinder.

"Almost got it," Cazmonster winced, putting all his weight into one great backwards pull.  The Adept watched in disbelief as his bonds were sundered.  Dropping from the platform he'd been tied to, The Adept struggled to his feet and looked his old friend in the eye.

"Amazing," was the only reply he could manage.  then, getting to his feet, The Adept set about freeing his other two friends, Angela and The Grey Robe.

The Adept freed The Gray Robe first.  Moving to Angela, he was shocked to find her body even more pale and lifeless than usual.  Spending a moment, The Adept shook his head.  “There’s no soul there.  She’s been completely assimilated into Sarth.”  

A look of wrath rarely seen on Cazmonster’s face appeared.  He was beaten, weakened.  But now, Sarth the demigod had angered one of the strongest, fiercest superheroes on the planet.  

Cazmonster turned as Sarth was standing, halfway to his feet from his friends’ attacks.  He started at a powerful run, moving at incredible speed toward his target.  Sarth was only a couple feet bigger than Cazmonster; it was a clash of titans.  THe cyber-werewolf slammed into Sarth with a breathtaking force so powerful the kinetic energy released by the attack knocked all those nearby to their feet.  Cazmonster bounced off Sarth’s powerful force-shield, but in return, that shield was shattered.

Across the room, Misto stood.  Now was the time.  Raising his fists, he channeled all of his mystical energy into one blast; Sarth staggered as the energy hit him square in the chest.  The Adept, seeing the powerful villain on the ropes, entered the magical battle with his own mystic blast.  With no shield against the raw magical energy of two sources, Sarth screamed in pain.  Finally, slamming the foot of his staff on the floor, the Egyptian demigod disappeared in a flash of light, defeated.  

“Hellz yeah,” Misto said from across the room, walking out to his fellow combatants.  “We rocked that fight!”  Misto slapped a somewhat stunned Cazmonster on the back and walked up to The Adept.  

“Hey, name’s Misto.  You must be The Adept.”

“Umm, yeah.  Listen we lost a team member here today...”

“Impressive mystic blast, Adept.  I sense a lot of the juice in you.”

The Adept stood still-faced at the insensitive hero before him.  Nevertheless, he had to agree.  Misto’s own power level was on par with, possibly even beyond his own level, when it came to raw power.  

Transcender broke the silence.  Approaching The Adept, he said “the Chinese guy is in bad shape.  We need to get him to a hospital; I can only hold him so long.”

The Adept nodded, and opened a portal to the best hospital in Chicago.  “Take him on through.”

Dragonfly wandered over to his fellow heroes, nodding to The Adept.  “Nice play, Rick, Misto.”

“Wish I could say the same.  That ninja crap didn’t do a lot of good,” Misto noted abrasively.  

“Glad to see you, Aaron,” Rick said.  Syd gave both gentlemen a big hug before she addressed Misto.

“Look, butt-monkey.  These are my friends.  We’ve been through more than your little macho pea-brain can possibly comprehend, including stopping an alien invasion and cutting off a criminal syndicate’s attempt to take over the world.  You might be the master of fighting god-men, but we take care of our own, best we can.  So take off to where-ever you’re from and leave us to grieve our dead.”

Misto was completely silent.  Nodding assent, he leapt into the air, through the ceiling, and was gone.  

“Nicely done,” Dragonfly said to Syd.  

 
“I get the feeling we haven’t seen the last of him,” Cazmonster noted.

“Maybe not, but next time, he sees us at our best,” The Adept said.  “For now, we need to take care of Angela.”

Three days later, back in Stevenson...

Steven Chen stood at the head of the group.  There was no religious leader in the cemetary, only the heroes of Triumph.  The new members stood quietly back from the core group a bit.  

“I loved her,” Steven said.  “I found out too late how much.  Angela wasn’t human, anymore, not in the biological sense.  But she had feelings, and a soul.  Sarth took that from her, and tore even her tortured existence from me, from all of us.  If I ever see that bastard again, he will die, or I will.

“In the meantime, I’m done.  This has taken all my will.  Triumph will have to continue on without me, as well as Angela.  Palisade died the same time she did.  Since I’m making changes, I think it’s time I tried to make things work with my father.  So, in addition to leaving the team, I’m leaving CIU.”

Aaron came over and put a comforting hand on his friend’s back; Steven was too macho for a hug.  “I understand, man.  We’re gonna miss you, on the battlefield and off.”

“I had a great time working with you guys.  I’m going to miss all of this as well,” Steven said, his thick Chinese accent coming back much stronger suddenly.  

A few days later...

“Okay, team.  Let’s see if everyone’s here,” the Adept said from the head of the table in the Citadel meeting room.  

“The Adept, that’s me.  Dragonfly, check.  Cazmonster, check.  The Gray Robe, check.  The American Attitude, check.  Magma, check.  Magma, you’re melting your water bottle.”

“Oh, sorry,” Magma said, embarrassed.  

“Transcender, check.  BB, check.  I guess that’s everyone now.  We started as three, and then we were the Infinite Seven.  I guess Triumph can make do with eight.”

Volume 3, Issue 5

Triumph:  In memory of their fallen companion, the heroes of the Infinite Seven have chosen to rename their group Triumph!  Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; Palisade, aka Steven Chen - Biosuit powered defender; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; and The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter.

And introducing: Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.  

The American Attitude, Bill Brown, Magma, and Transcender stood guarding Spider Lord as the ERT finished cleaning up the spiders plaguing downtown Stevenson.  

“Attitude.  It’s your dime,” he answered his ringing phone.  

“Attitude, this is Dragonfly.  We’ve had some problems.  Seems there’s more going on up here in Chi-town than vampires.”

“We’ve been a little busy ourselves.  Some kook named Spider Lord tried to make Fairview Street an arachnatorium.”

“We?  You got the others?” Dragonfly asked with interest.

“Yeah, all three.  But, uh, they need some work,” Barry said into the phone quietly, having turned away from the new heroes.

“No time, Attitude.  I need you guys to hop in the chopper and get up here, ASAP.  The Adept and The Gray Robe have both been captured,” Dragonfly said urgently.  

“How the hell did that happen?” Attitude intoned.  

“Like I said, problems.  We ran into someone we didn’t expect.  Some sort of ancient godling or something by the name of Sarth,” Dragonfly explained impatiently.

“Whoa, whoa, god?”    

“God, what god?  Are we gonna fight a god?” Magma asked excitedly.  

“No!” The Attitude shouted to her.

“Yes!” came Dragonfly’s voice over the speaker of his cell, loud enough for the others to hear.

“He’s more of a demigod, really.  You guys seriously need to get up here, now!  This Sarth is serious bad news; he’s got four Triumph members captive already, and he’s planning something weird and mystical.  Cazmonster and I are outgunned.  Get in the helicopter and get up here!  Dragonfly out!”

“He hung up!” The Attitude said, drawing his arm back as if to throw his phone, but stopping himself just in time.

“What’s going on, A?” Bill Brown, who everyone had taken to calling BB, asked.  

“I guess we’re going to Chicago.  Come on guys, back to the HQ.  We’re going for a helicopter ride.”

Meanwhile, in western Chicago, near a large construction area, Cazmonster and Dragonfly stood by, wondering how to progress.  

“Any sign of any of them, Caz?” Dragonfly asked from a height of 30 feet; Cazmonster was using his cyborg senses to search for the others, while Dragonfly hovered above him and scanned the area visually.  They’d tracked Sarth to this location after he grabbed The Adept and The Gray Robe, but honestly they could be anywhere by now.  

Cazmonster looked up at Aaron.  “Nope.  If they’re here, he’s got them hidden pretty well.  Hey, did you call The Wrecker?  Maybe he could help.  I mean this is his turf.”

“Negative on that, CM.  Tim and Megan are in Europe.  Getting married.”

“Married?  When the hell did that happen?  Why weren’t we invited?”

Dragonfly landed next to Cazmonster, his insectoid wings slowly buzzing to a halt as he did so.  “Not sure, but considering the way things are going, I can’t say he made the wrong choice.  Not sure I’d want us around my wedding right now.”

“Yeah, I hear what you’re sayin’,” Cazmonster agreed, starting his scans over as the two heroes moved forward.  “Wait!  Someone’s coming!” Cazmonster said.  He arched his head to look to the sky; Dragonfly instinctively hovered a few feet above ground, ready to go airborne in case of attack.

Dragonfly prepared his humming bomb, but as the figure approached, he realized it was not Sarth; it was a young man, about their age or a little older, dressed in a white costume with dark blue cape and mask.  Another hero?

Dragonfly flew upwards, keeping the humming bomb handy, just in case.  

“Okay, guys, party’s over.  Time to hit the road and go back to the costume shop!” the flying form said as he approached Dragonfly.  

“Not happening, newbie!” Dragonfly said offensively.  “We’re Triumph, in case you haven’t heard.  I’m Dragonfly, and he’s Cazmonster.  And we’ve been doing this a while.”

“Well, you’re done here,” the new arrival said, ignoring the insult.  “Sarth’s my responsibility, and I don’t think wolf-man and bug boy are gonna be able to help much.”

Aaron started to say something, but the new guy had a point.  They hadn’t been much use so far.  Quite frankly, Sarth’s raw mystic power was something they’d never had to face before.  He used magic energy the same way The Adept did, but on a much higher scale.  His magical attacks had shattered The Adept’s shield and incapacitated the entire team except Dragonfly himself, who was scouting ahead at the time.  For some reason, Sarth only took The Adept and The Gray Robe, ignoring Caz completely.  

“What’s your handle?” Cazmonster asked as the other two heroes landed.

“I go by Misto,” he said, folding his shoulders and looking derisively at the lumbering cyber werewolf approaching.  

“Mysto?  Like magic?  Isn’t that a stage magician’s name?” Dragonfly asked aggressively.

“No, MISTO, like MIST, the stuff you see after a rain on a fall day.”

“So you have fog powers?” Aaron continued to jab.

“No, I’m a sorcerer.  Listen, I don’t have to justify myself to you.  I’ve been at this a while, too.  And Sarth’s my opponent.  A dangerous one at that.”

Cazmonster and Dragonfly stood side by side, squaring off with Misto.  

“Look, Misto.  He may be your arch-enemy or whatever, but he’s got OUR friends captive.  We’ve got a stake in this.  Besides.  The rest of our team’s coming.” Cazmonster said boldly.  

“Oh, great, there’s more of you?  Nevermind.  Here’s how this is going to go down.  If you want to stop Sarth, you need to follow my plan, got it?  Not some crazy college kid’s team playbook.  I don’t want your friends to get hurt any more than you do.  But I’ve got to stop Sarth before he gathers more mystical power.”

“Ummm, about that,” Dragonfly said, switching from aggression to a more tentative mode.  “Sarth kind of kidnapped our sorcerer, The Adept.  Oh, and a druid called The Gray Robe.”

“A sorcerer and a druid?  Are you guys playing D&D, or fighting supervillains?” Misto said, slapping his hand to his face.  

“Nevermind.  Forget I asked.  You and Cat Monster...”

“Cazmonster,” Caz interrupted.

“You and Cazmonster are in, but seriously.  Let me take the lead.  I know this guy like, well, like the other half of my soul.  Which is technically pretty close to reality.”

Cazmonster and Dragonfly exchanged glances that said volumes.  Neither one had much respect for this guy’s bravado, but if he was on par with Sarth in power level, they definitely had a better chance of beating him with Misto’s help than without.  

“Deal,” Dragonfly said, holding out his hand.  Misto took it and half-heartedly shook.  

“Now, when’s the rest of your team getting here?”

“I think I hear them now,” Cazmonster said.  “They’re about 10 miles out.”  

“Okay, when they get here, we strike.  Now, here’s what I need you to do...” Misto began explaining his plan to Cazmonster and Dragonfly as the American Attitude approached with Triumph’s new recruits.