Volume 4, Issue 7

Triumph - The Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!  Or so it was.  Join us now, as we peek into the altered lives of the heroes of Triumph, and witness the spark of a new era!

Dragonfly watched in horror toward downtown Chicago from the window of an abandoned South Side building as hundreds of hostile-looking creatures flew out of the sky and descended on the city.  In the air above them was still visible the ghostly face of Triumph’s old enemy, Professor Sampson.  Somehow, the evil genius had caught up with a powerful force from the other side known as a mara.  Now, the two were ready to wreak havoc on the living.  

“Triumph, time to get to work, I need to see what you guys have got!” Dragonfly shouted.  He’d never worked with this new team before; Magma had formed the team in Los Angeles, and it was their investigation of Stephanie Williams’ disappearance that had dragged both Damsel and him into this whole scenario.

Pulling the window open, Magma flew out of the building with Transcender in tow.  Next came Dreamweaver carrying Ace, who was silent and pensive as always.  Finally, Damsel ran and was ready to jump out the window into action.

“Whoa, where are you going?” Dragonfly said, standing in front of her.  

“You said….”

“I said ‘Triumph’.  That’s not you.  There’s no way I’m getting you involved in something like this,” Dragonfly said sternly.  All around him, Graystars were moving.  There were more in this building than Aaron had thought, and they went out as if they were mobilizing for a gang war.  With what was going on outside, war might just be the best description.  And as much as it needed more soldiers, Aaron couldn’t put Jyoti into the middle of it.  This was far more challenging than anything he’d trained her for.

The young Indian girl paused, thought about running past her mentor and going anyway, and then stopped and dropped to a seated position on the bed.  “Yes, sir,” was all she said, but her anger was obvious.  

“Don’t worry,” Dragonfly nodded.  “I’m hoping to make up for your absence with a couple calls.”

A few seconds later, the phone was ringing in Oxford.  Rick Pennington rolled over his bangers in the frying pan; it was early morning several hours later.  Stopping when he heard the phone, Rick pulled the pan away and looked curiously at it.  Who’d be calling at this hour? A moment after asking the question, he felt a sudden wave of fear sweep over him.  Something wasn’t right.  Reaching through the ether, Rick grabbed the phone from across the room through a magical portal and answered.

“Rick Pennington,” he said cautiously.  

“Rick, it’s Dragonfly.”  Rick surmised this call must be related to the experience he’d just had.

“I take it this isn’t a social call,” Rick said.  It wasn’t a question.

“I thought you might sense this.  Rick, we need to get as much of the team together as possible in Chicago, NOW.  Sampson’s back.”  This one even took Rick aback.

“Aaron, Sampson’s dead…”

“I know, that’s a big part of the problem.  I don’t have time to explain.  I’m here with Magma and her new Triumph team, but there are only four of them plus me.  We need big guns!  And only you can get us all together quickly.”  Dragonfly was serious.  Whatever this was about, it was big, bigger than anything any of them had dealt with since the team broke up.  

“Can do, DF.  We’ll be there soon.”

“Rick,” Dragonfly prompted.

“Yes?”

“Be ready for war.”  

Back in Chicago, Dragonfly hung up the phone.  “Now that he’s on that, I need to join the others,” he told Damsel.  The Graystars had already escorted Stephanie to a more internal room, and he and Jyoti were now alone.  “See if you can do anything to help out here, but stay out of battle unless you can’t avoid it.  Depending on how this goes, we may all end up in a fight for our lives.”

With that, he swooped out the window and into danger.

The skies above downtown were now filled with demonic monsters for another realm.  It was fortunate they’d appeared over Downtown - at this time of night, there weren’t many people there.  On the other hand, it wasn’t far to the north or south to hit areas where there WERE large numbers of people out in the night.  

By the time Dragonfly joined the fray, things had already gotten quite heavy.  Transcender was using his powers to slow time around the portal, limiting the speed with which the invaders poured through from whatever the Tibetan version of Hell was.  Even with his limited success, Magma, Ace, and Dreamweaver were out-matched and out-numbered.  Magma was having trouble pinpointing which demons were vulnerable to her lava attacks and which ones were strengthened by it.  Dreamweaver was rapidly blasting away with his coherent light attacks, but was clearly out of his league.  His attacks were effective, but he didn’t know how to react to this many opponents.  Ace had her sword in one hand, a high-powered pistol in the other, and was grimly wading into battle like a soldier.  

Dragonfly landed beside Ace, his own sword drawn, and began helping her push back the demons advancing north.  “Where’d you learn to use that thing?” Aaron asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Now’s not the time for a history lesson!  Shut up and fight!” was her reply.  Aaron raised his eyebrows under his mask.  Wow, talk about all work...he raised his sword and pushed it through the heart of a three-headed demon that had leapt on him from above.    Okay, he admitted to himself, she’s got a point.

Sirens wailed out as it started to become obvious to CPD that something very wrong was happening downtown.  Aaron knew it would still be minutes before the police could arrive, and that they’d be nowhere near prepared for this.  He took a moment to fly up and get an idea of what was happening.  Several of the demons, blocked off by he and Ace from traveling North, had moved laterally toward the lake and were moving up another North-South street instead.  Fortunately, Magma had laid down a river of lava which most of them seemed hesitant to cross.  A couple blocks away, the Graystars were finally moving into the area, armed mostly with wooden staffs or just their fists.  Nevertheless, Aaron could dimly hear their chanting, and knew that they would have powerful wards in place for fighting these demons.  Aaron turned his head side to side for any sign of his old Triumph team, but he saw none.  He swooped back into the battle on the street.  

The police had not yet arrived when a portal opened near Dragonfly and Ace, both still battling strong against an unending onslaught of demonic opponents, but obviously becoming bruised and worn.  

There they were.  Aaron took a quick inventory.  The Adept.  The Gray Robe.  Cazmonster.  White Diamond.  The Wrecker.  And The American Attitude, complete with an entire squad of Stevenson’s Extra-normal Response Team.  A touch of pride came to his heart as Dragonfly realized that this battle was about ready to become a LOT less defensive.

Volume 4, Issue 6

Triumph - The Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!  Or so it was.  Join us now, as we peek into the altered lives of the heroes of Triumph, and witness the spark of a new era!

Chicago night, early November…

Dragonfly, Damsel, Magma, Transcender, Dreamweaver, and Ace stood on the rooftop of an abandoned building in the cool November breeze.  Actually, calling the building abandoned would be inaccurate.  The group faced off against at least a dozen gray robed members of the cult known as the Graystars, a mysterious group of martial artists purportedly staving off the end of the world.       

“I’m Aaron, known as Dragonfly.  These are my friends.  I’m known to your Khenpo.  I come in peace...despite appearances,” he said, noticing Damsel’s drawn weapon.  He unslung his own blade, still sheathed, and set it on the ground in a gesture of peace.  

“Yes, Aaron known as Dragonfly, we are familiar with you,” a young woman, apparently the leader, said, approaching.  “And with your protege,” she said, nodding to Damsel.  “These others are unknown to me.  Is this the new hero team known as Triumph?”

Aaron nodded.  “Yes, this is the new Triumph team from Los Angeles, Magma, Transcender, Dreamweaver, and Ace.”

The light of recognition popped into the woman’s eyes.  “Ah, now I understand.  These are the mysterious assailants who attacked my brothers in California.  I hope you’ve not brought them here for a similar reason, or you will find us less welcoming…”

As the lead monk said that, Aaron could almost feel the muscles of the other Graystars tightening in preparation for battle.  While he had no doubt that the six heroes were more than a match for twelve Graystars, he knew there were more in the building below.  And even at only 12, the battle would be far more difficult than his friends anticipated.

“Nothing of the kind, honored one,” Aaron said, bowing slightly.  “We’re here to determine the reality of the situation involving a young woman named Stephanie Williams.  It appears she is with your group, and my friends from Los Angeles would like a better understanding of the situation.”

The young woman relaxed, noticeably relieved.  She clearly had no desire to fight Dragonfly.  “All is well, then.  Seeking knowledge is a respectable vocation.  If your young friend will sheath her blade, you can follow me to Khenpo Timmy.”

The group followed the young woman toward the stairs.  As Ace passed Dragonfly, she sub-vocalized “Khenpo TIMMY?”  Aaron shrugged.

Inside, the group of heroes was led into a sparsely appointed but clean room with its windows intact. By a desk sat a short, slightly portly man, the beginnings of brown hair sprouting equally on top of head and beard.  He looked up and smiled as the young woman lead the brightly dressed brigade into the room.

“Hey, you must be Dragonfly!  Hear a lot about you!”  Aaron was surprised at how animated the man was.  He was obviously in his early middle-age, but there was a youth in his eyes he saw in very few, let alone in the eyes of a Khenpo of the Graystar cult.  

“Khenpo,” he said, kneeling briefly.  “I don’t believe we’ve met.  What happened to Khenpo Fice?”

Aaron had met Fice when he had worked with the Graystars previously, and he hadn’t been told about Fice’s departure.  He made a note to himself to have Damsel help him revamp his intel system.  

“Tibet.  He had some urgent business with a Lama.  I hear you’ve been?”

Aaron nodded.  “I was, years ago.”

Timmy stood.  “Hope I get a chance to go someday.  How can I help Team Triumph, Dragonfly?”

“There’s a girl I believe you have in custody named Stephanie Williams.  My former teammates thought you’d kidnapped her, I told them you’d be able to explain the situation.”

Timmy nodded to himself, then looked Aaron and the others in the eyes.  “Indeed I can.  Stephanie was being hunted by...a force that normal means cannot protect her from.  Our meditative experts here in Chicago take turns creating the sacred pyramid and chanting the ancient chants in her room.”

“Sacred chants?  A mara?” Aaron asked, a chill running up his spine.  The mara were ancient demonic forces, often held at bay by the diligent work trained monks.  Before his work with Triumph, he wouldn’t have believe in them, but he’d witnessed things like these and stranger a dozen times in the last four years.  

Timmy nodded, “Mmmhm.  Big one.  Bringer of Madness.”

Aaron shuddered.  He’d heard of this creature, or force, really.

“What’s Williams got to do with it?” Transcender asked, stepping forward.  Timmy looked startled suddenly.

“She’s the catalyst.  The niece of an evil man killed in the name of justice.  A man known as Sampson.”

Aaron’s mind flashed back to a time when he and The Gray Robe stood in battle with Sampson in front of a lake.  Sampson had injured several of their teammates, and had half-flooded Stevenson using the powers his Nightmare Engine possessed.  In the end, The Robe had killed Sampson.  She’d said she had no choice, but he knew better.  He knew then that it would come to no good.  And now here it was.  Something evil from an evil deed done with good intentions.  

Jan and Martin’s eyes both went wide at the mention of Sampson.  They’d been part of that last battle, and it had very nearly been the end of them.  Sampson was, arguably, the most dangerous foe the team had ever faced.  And now he threatened them even in death.  

A sudden scream from the hallway of the old building drew everyone’s attention.  Timmy nodded, and the young woman led a team of Graystars toward the door, but Dragonfly was ahead of them.  Zipping through the door, his blade drawn, he flew past several startled Graystar initiates before finding the source of the screaming.  

There, in a closed off room, was Stephanie Williams, being restrained by two Graystars who, despite their training, were barely able to hold this small woman back.  Her eyes ran with blood, and on the floor, one of her meditating guardians lay dead.  As Khenpo Timmy, Damsel, Magma and the other Triumph members charged into the room behind him, Dragonfly heard a horrible, familiar laughter echoing outside the windows.  

Pulling aside the curtain, Dragonfly couldn’t believe his eyes.  Stretched over the massive downtown skyline to the North, he saw the image of his old foe, Professor Sampson, long dead, laughing maniacally in the night sky, stretching from the lake to the West Suburbs.  From his evil, grinning mouth, flew hundreds of forms which looked at first like birds, but turned out to be another thing he’d seen once before: the beginnings of a demon invasion.

“Triumph,” Dragonfly said, closing the curtain, “we’ve got trouble.”   

Volume 4, Issue 5

Triumph - The Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!  Or so it was.  Join us now, as we peek into the altered lives of the heroes of Triumph, and witness the spark of a new era!

Chicago night, early November…

Dragonfly and his new partner in training, Damsel, zip past the Drake along Lake Shore Drive, following a police chase from the air.  

“Keep an eye on the front car,” Dragonfly shouted, “while I zip down and see if I can disarm the guys from the back.  Whatever you do, don’t get separated.  If the car loses the cops, follow from a safe distance if you can, and radio back!”

Dragonfly swooped down, leaving his young partner to follow behind.  “Right,” she nodded.  “Keep an eye on them.  Don’t get involved.”  Jyoti, the young niece of Dragonfly’s girlfriend, flew a little closer to the first car, to keep a better eye on them.

Meanwhile, the former Triumph founding member flew low to the street, hoping to stay out of the gang-members’ sites as he flew up toward them.  The police dropped back slightly to let Dragonfly in.  Suddenly, all hell broke loose.  The air around Dragonfly was filled with shotgun bursts, and he barely avoided being shot as several pellets ripped through one of his wings.  Swooping up, he got out of easy range as the police started shooting.  

Fine, Aaron thought.  You want to play it that way, here.  Pulling his humming bomb from it’s pouch in his belt, Dragonfly laid on the speed toward the vehicle.  Zipping from side to side to avoid being shot, he got parallel with the rear car, and tossed the device into the passenger’s side window, then flew directly upward.  

The humming bomb had been set on a very low setting, but it still had the desired effect.  The driver’s steering became erratic, and the car swerved, smashing a barrier before skidding to a halt.  Police surrounded the car, with one of the officers giving Dragonfly a quick solute.  The young, brown-haired hero smiled, and then flew back into the sky.  

“Damsel, I don’t see you.  Where are you?” Dragonfly asked with concern.  Somehow, the lead car must have peeled off onto a side street without his noticing.  No answer came from his young partner.

Dammit, Aaron thought.  That kid is going to get me into trouble.  He flew higher to get a better view of the area.  The roads here were almost impossible to see unless you were looking straight up them, due to the number of tall buildings in the area.  And the background noise was at a high enough volume that even gunfire wouldn’t be easy to identify.  

Aaron closed his eyes to concentrate, but when he opened them, he was confronted with a strange kid in a hoodie floating on a platform of energy right in front of him.   

“Omigosh!  You’re DRAGONFLY!  THE DRAGONFLY!  This is so amazingly cool!” The kid said excitedly.  Aaron cocked his head and wrinkled his brow.  This was...unexpected.

“Dragonfly!  Lose something?” The young woman before him glowed dark red, with hair and eyes of fire, but he recognized her from her recent TV appearances.

“Magma!” Dragonfly said, flying closer to his former teammate.  Damsel flew up right beside her.

“Looking at her, I figured she had to be with you,” Jan said.  

Aaron looked over at Damsel.  “Why didn’t you answer my call?”

Damsel bit her lower lip nervously.  “I...I dropped the two-way when I flipped around to avoid the shooting.”

“WHAT shooting!!!” Aaron shouted nervously.  He’d asked her to follow the lead car discreetly, not get into a gunfight.  

“They were getting away!  You and the cops had missed the turn-off!”

“I wanted you to NOTIFY me!  All you had to do was tell me what street you were on,” Dragonfly growled.  

“I thought I could handle them, alright?” Jyoti said defensively.  Aaron sighed.  

“We’ll talk more about this later.  Mamga, I don’t suppose you know what happened to the car she was chasing?”

“Sorry, Dragonfly.  I missed it,” Jan admitted.  

“Well, we might as well pack it in for the night,”  Dragonfly said.  “You’ve got school tomorrow, and the police will either find these guys or not.  We’re not going to add much to the search effort.  Not without staking out the entire River North neighborhood for hours.”

“But I want to meet your friends!” Jyoti protested.  “This is Magma, from Triumph?  Hi, I’m Damsel.” The young Indian girl held out her hand, which Magma shook.  

“Nice to meet you.  I didn’t realize Dragonfly had taken on a student.  This is Dreamweaver.”  

“Hey!” Dreamweaver gave Jyoti a friendly greeting.  

“The rest of my team is streetside,” Magma said.

“Your team?” Dragonfly asked curiously.

“Uh, yeah.  Transcender and I decided to re-form Triumph.  So far, it’s just us, Dreamweaver, and Ace.”

Aaron nodded in approval.  “Glad to hear someone’s carrying on the name.”  He took a moment to remember the hero behind the name, who’d died as part of an alien assault on Stevenson.  It was after that battle that The Infinite Seven renamed themselves Triumph, in honor of their dead friend.

“Let’s head down to meet them,” Dragonfly said.  “It’s kind of chilly up here.”  The four heroes had been talking high above downtown, amid skyscrapers, with a gust of cool November air coming in off the lake.

Diving down into the neon-laden streets of River North, Dragonfly, Damsel, Magma and Dreamweaver soon met up with Transcender and Ace.

“You’ve bulked up a bit,” Aaron said to Transcender.  A little over a year ago, he’d been the youngest, somewhat scrawny member of Triumph in Stevenson.  The young man before Aaron now reminded him a lot of himself at 18.  Young, sure, but solid.  He could tell his young partner Damsel had noticed, too.  Her dark eyes were locked on Transcender’s biceps.  

“So, what brings the new Triumph team all the way from Los Angeles?” he hasked.

“We’re looking for a missing person, a young woman named Stephanie Williams,” Magma said.  Trascender showed Dragonfly a picture of a young woman, definitely not a child, but still young, maybe his age or a little older.  

“Not that I’m judging, because Damsel and I work in real world cases all the time, but you guys have a lot of special powers that lend themselves to fighting the extraordinary.  Isn’t a missing persons case a little more FBI?”  As Dragonfly spoke, a small crowd gathered around the team, and they began walking to avoid getting hemmed in.  

“This one’s a little different,” Transcender spoke in a quieted voice as the walked, while Dreamweaver began talking Damsel’s ear off behind them.  In the back, Ace walked with her head down, her long blond hair obscuring her face.  She seemed quite uncomfortable with all the pictures and videos being taken.  

As the walked, Aaron noticed that they were slightly out of sync with the people around them.  Transcender’s doing, obviously.  He had the feeling a lot of the photos being taking were going to be poor quality because of this effect.  

“The girl was abducted by an end of the world cult called The Graystars.”  Aaron looked startled at the mention of the name.

“Say again?”

“A group called The Graystars.  Near as I can tell, their headquarters is in California, but there’s a safehouse here in Chicago.  That’s why we’re here.”  Transcender sensed something wasn’t right.

Aaron shook his head negatively.  “You’re mistaken,” he said bluntly.  

“No, he’s right,” Jan said, defending her partner and boyfriend.  “We fought them off in the High Desert.  One of them let us know they’d had the girl there, but they moved her here.  He warned us that coming here would be dangerous.  They’d be ready for us.”

Aaron thought about it for a minute, then said again, “You’ve misunderstood something.  I’m sure of it.”  Jan and Martin both waited for him to explain.  Dreamweaver, Damsel, and Ace all just sat back and listened to the discussion.  

“I’ve trained with the Graystars.  They’re a doomsday cult, true.  But their focused on stopping these events from occurring.  In particular, they worked with me on hunting down some rogue demons that escaped when Professor Sampson freed a bunch of them in Stevenson a couple years ago.   They don’t kidnap people.  They don’t even take acolytes without a rigorous series of tests.  If they took this woman, they have to be protecting her from something, not harming her.”

Jan thought about the fight in the desert, and looked up at Martin, concerned.  “They could have been trying to protect her at the old motel.  Maybe they thought we were working for whoever they’re afraid of.”

Transcender nodded.  “Yeah, we didn’t exactly work out who was who before the fighting broke out,” he admitted.  

“We were on our way to the safehouse when we ran into you and Damsel,” Jan said.  “Maybe if you come with us, we can work this out.”

Aaron nodded.  “I think that’s best.  but I’m a little concerned.  The Graystars don’t get involved in minor events.  As you said, they’re a doomsday cult.  If they’re involved, it’s something big, and I’m not sure I want Damsel involved.”

“Dragonfly!” he heard his young partner whine, a few milliseconds sooner than he expected.  “You can’t cut me out of this!  This is your team!  I want to fight alongside Triumph!”

Aaron sighed.  “This is NOT my team,” he said gently.  “This is Magma’s team, and we’re not a part of it.”  He saw the disappointment in her face grow, and he knew at that moment that being part of something bigger than Dragonfly and Damsel would do a world of good for the girl’s confidence and, quite frankly, for her training.  

“But,” he added hesitantly, “it appears they could use our help.  Okay, Magma, we’ll go with you and try to get this sorted out.

“But Damsel, this could be the beginning of something very bad.  When I tell you to get out, fall back, or go home, hell, if I tell you to go have a latte and forget about it, you DO IT, got it?”

“Got it, sir,” she said.  It was a little jab back at him; Jyoti knew Aaron hated being called sir, or referred to in any way as old.  

A few minutes later…

The trip to the South Side was quick, considering most of the team of heroes could fly.  Magma carried Transcender, while Dreamweaver carried Ace.  The safehouse was on the 3rd floor of an old brick building which had been abandoned for years. The sides of the building were colorfully decorated with urban art from the last 50 years, some obviously produced by more skillful artists than others.

The heroes landed on the roof.  “How do we get in?” Magma asked.  Aaron just pushed his hand in a backward motion, gesturing for her to hold position.  He took off his Dragonfly mask; these people knew his real identity.  

An instant later, there were suddenly a dozen gray clothed, shaved men and women standing all around them.  Dreamweaver prepared a blast of energy, and Damsel drew her Kris sword.  Ace simply tensed her muscles for action, while Magma and Transcender held still, trusting Dragonfly’s assessment of the situation.  After all, he had been one of their instructors in the arts of being a super hero.

“I’m Aaron, known as Dragonfly.  These are my friends.  I’m known to your Khenpo.  I come in peace...despite appearances,” he said, noticing Damsel’s drawn weapon.  He unslung his own blade, still sheathed, and set it on the ground in a gesture of peace.