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September 24, 2010 For a few weeks now, flyers had been scattered around Freedom City as if they were leaves falling in autumn. The flyers were an advertisement: And the date of the concert had finally come. For tonight, Eddie had done his best to come up with a set list appropriate for the event. And with his encyclopedic knowledge of songs, he had of course succeeded. Come night time, the Freedom Dome was packed. The doors had opened at 7:00, and by 7:30 the venue was packed. Finally, just before 8:00, the house lights dimmed, and the speakers hummed. [groove]22629855[/groove] The band poured out onto the stage as the music began to play. Alexis was playing drums, and practically destroying them in the process. Warren was carving away at his strings as Lead Guitar. The band's newest member, Elise, otherwise known as Bass Girl was laying down a solid bass groove while her red curly hair danced around her head. Eddie himself was up front and center stage with a microphone in his hand and a guitar strapped to his back. He had yet to start playing it, but would soon be dropping chords as Rhythm Guitar to support Warren. When the first song was over, Eddie stepped forward to address the screaming crowd, "HELLO FREEDOM!" They cheered him on, "Doesn't it feel great to be alive?" Eddie had to stop after every sentence to let the din of the crowd calm before continuing, it seemed. The rest of the band began playing the intro to the next song. "We're here tonight to make sure this city never forgets what it has been through. We're here to thank all of heroes, great and small, who helped out the day those damn aliens thought they could take over. We're here to raise money for those that lost their homes, or loved ones that day. But most of all, we're here to rock!" Eddie called out as he began to sing, "Rising up, back on the street..." [groove]22630043[/groove] As the crowed calmed down, Eddie addressed them once more. "During all the fighting, I managed to find my way to Blackstone prison. I'll tell you one thing. The Grue, really had their act together. Releasing all of those prisoners was quite the trump card. Especially when Nexus appeared. He copied the powers of both Dark Star and myself. But none of that matters. He picked a fight with the wrong heroes, and we stopped that jailbreak before it even got started!" [groove]22630149[/groove] The band didn't even stop. They kept rolling, right into the next one: [groove]22630138[/groove] The concert continued well into the night. Eddie retold his own story, as well as the stories of others. Many of whom were normal citizens, rising to the challenge and performing acts of great bravery. Over all, the band raised a great amount of money to help pay for the victims of the Grue Invasion.

Blackstone Prison is what allows the citizens of Freedom City to sleep at night. They know that all of the super villains Freedom City seems to attract are safely locked up inside the formidable walls of Blackstone. That security blanket was shattered as a large scale break out attempt larger than any since the Terminus Invasion began mere moments ago. The Blackguards were fighting valiantly, but it was only a matter of time before they were overrun. Prisoners were already making it to the surface, there only saving grace was that the least powerful of the villains were kept closest to the surface. The longer the prisoners went uncontained, the more likely the guards were to be overrun by Freedom's most wanted.

9:45 pm, March 12, 2010 The pops of pistol fire echoed over police band. "Requesting immediate support on Erin Drive! We are under attack by multiple unknown assailants!" More shots rang out, followed by a high-pitched squeal of pain. "Plants! The damn pl..." The channel went dead. "Rodriguez! Officer down!" Heavy breathing and running footsteps. "Officer down! Need EMS at..." A strange, wet splat echoed in the microphone. Silence. "Units 14 and 15, situation report. Officer Rodriguez, Officer Johns, please respond." All units be advised. Officers down. Shots fired in the vicinity of 315 Erin Drive, Lantern Hill. Units A14 and A15 on scene. Suspected meta-human activity. EMS, Fire and STAR en route. ---- Minutes earlier... A green meteor streaked across the misty skies of Freedom City. Long and needle-like, the falling star cut through the rain and twinkled as it neared the horizon. With a burst of green light, one thin, green line broke into five, showering Wharton Forest and northwestern Freedom City. The winds whipped up in protest. Deep in the heart of Wharton Forest, a small, twisted tree stirred. Leaves sprouted and the trunk bent to look at the sky. Glowing yellow eyes shined from deep within the foliage. A low rumble emanated from the branches themselves. Those of telepathic persuasion felt a dark signal creeping from the forest. My children, the Prophesy is at hand. Bring me the shards of the Green Star. Tonight we shall reclaim the city in the name of the Green!

It took some doing, but if there was a student unaware of the end of the year party at the new AEON building, it wasn't for lack of trying. Now, while some students had... concerns over Alex being the entire decorating committee, when they arrived at the large ballroom near the top of the luxury building, those doubters were pleasantly surprised. The entire room was decked out in creams and dark blues, gold serving as the accent. It was both a nod to the school colors and an elegant color scheme for the high quality linens. There was a dance floor, of course, and a dj set up in the corner along with a small stage. In another corner, a photographer was set up to do professional photos. It was staffed with AEON personnell who had been gently coached to look the other way at any sudden displays of power. Alex had been over seeing the set up for much of the day, but she did vanish to her office to change and reappear shortly before the doors were scheduled to open. As tasteful as the ballroom was, it was no surprise that Alex was a bright spot of color in a dress that started in a butter yellow color at the neckline and slowly deepened to a deep red at the fluttering hem around her ankles. She was standing in the center of the dancefloor, looking up at the net of balloons attached to the vaulted ceiling, making certain that it wouldn't drop away early.

Date: a few days before February 8th, 2010 Earlier at an Undisclosed Location: Grim sat in her chair, legs dangling; the room was small, lit by a single recessed ceiling fixture, and contained nothing more than a table and four chairs, all cold metal and hard plastic. Her sensitive ears could tell the room was soundproofed, and her amazing nose detected little more than stainless steel and traces of Endust. A single sliding door allowed access to the lifeless chamber. Sure, she was restless, but when the boss tells you to wait, you wait; luckily, the young faeling had numerous ways to amuse herself. She conjured forth an oddly-shaped set of wooden blocks that she precariously balanced on the table in various positions, testing her reflexes, control and the lightness of her touch. And she waited some more...

Every now and then people wake up with that feeling in their stomach that the day is going to suck. They’ve got no reason for that belief. As far as they know, this is just another ordinary day, and most of the time it really is just a normal day. Other times however... you wish you had stayed in bed. Today will fall into the latter category. The early morning passes just like any other day. People get up, say good bye to their families and head off to work or to school or run some errands. But then, right before 11 o’clock things turned real sour, real fast. Monsters were lose in the streets, seemingly appearing out of no where. Heedless of the danger, the heroes sprang into action as the first explosion broke the early morning silence. The scene before you was one of wanton destruction. It was a rampage, nothing but the after effects of brutal savagery. And judging from the roars and shockwaves, there was still something out there hell bent on destroying everything it came across. Smoke was already billowing high into the sky, and you could taste the ash in the air.

With the rumble of a well tuned engine, a black motorcycle pulled up to Claremont Academy's main entrance. Of a noticeably older design, the bike's surfaces still gleamed thanks to studious maintenance. As it came to a stop, its rider, dressed in dark jeans and a protective jacket, swung a long leg over to dismount. Tossing his leather gloves into a saddlebag, he removed his helmet to reveal a young man with black hair a little too long to be well kempt and angular features that emphasized the lankiness of his frame. Clipping the helmet to a strap on the bike, he swung his dusty brown knapsack from his back to retrieve a beaten fedora, which he deftly flipped onto his head before taking stock of his surroundings. As it was the first day of spring break, Trevor Hunter assumed there wouldn't be too many people around, allowing him to move into his dormitory with a minimum of fanfare. The rest of his things would be arriving from his grandfather's manor later that day, but he'd decided to go on ahead to make sure all of his registration was in order and to take a look around. Although he'd been invited to attend Claremont weeks ago, it was not until now that the seventeen year old had gotten a chance to visit the campus. Hitching his pack over one shoulder, he dug a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and tried to follow the directions on it to the main office.

James was tired of all this cold and snow. He liked warm weather. And there were certain fun activities associated with winter; it still wasn’t his favorite time of the year. It got dreary too. Wore on people too. He’d had enough of it. He couldn’t change the seasons, but he could certainly make some minor adjustments. And now that he had some good friends who’d enjoy the change, he’d make it happen. A rather nice, if small, resort outside of the city was in their slow period. They were more than willing to rent the entire facility to James. A few dozen bungalows, a large pool, a volleyball court. Perfect place for a party of a couple hundred people easy. Saturday and Sunday would be pretty crowded. Not that there would be that many at first of course. Friday was just for a smaller group. Those who knew about their powers mainly, or at least those would wouldn’t reveal anything. Some would be heroes, others not. Well, the others that is. James didn’t really have a secret life given the Family name. James had showed up early on Friday. It took a little while for the snow to melt, the water in the pool to warm up nicely and the ground to dry. It was just like afternoon in the middle of summer, within the confines of the little resort anyway.

Some sort of mix up (which a good half of Young Freedom blamed Next Gen's antics for), led to their time in the training room being taken up. With some grumbling, they'd headed out to the quad for team manuevers instead. Thus, they were arrayed on the field debating the merits of touch football versus capture the flag for training time. After some debate, capture the flag was decided on. With the gold team comprised of Hellion, Psyche, Wander, and Edge on the gold team and Zephyr, Breakdown, Phalanx, and Geckoman on the blue team. Each one went off to hide their flag to the best of their ability and discuss tactics. As usual, Mark had left the rules confined to 'good sportsmanship' so really, anything went. Psyche trailed after the other three after they'd hidden their flag, leaving it up to Mark to plot out the strategy while she scanned the quad for the other half of the team's and their scrap of blue.

That day started like so many others in Freedom City. The sun was shining, a few light and fluffy clouds in the sky. People went about their business as usual. The day started like any other; but it certainly didn’t stay that way… The first warning was quiet, subtle even if there wasn’t a lot of lead up time. Seers and psychics, ESPers and precogs felt like someone shoved a hot needle in their brain as the horror of what was coming crashed over them like a tidal wave. They saw the destruction of everything, the death of all life coming. And not just coming eventually; it was standing on their doorstep and knocking. The coming event and the things they saw crushed them and kept them from doing anything but try and pull themselves together. Elsewhere: At the base of Centurion’s statue, a young man appeared. He seemed to have arrived in mid-stride. His skins was dark reddish-brown, his eyes were black. Beyond that, he could have been human. He looked around the park, taking everyone in with his contemptuous gaze. He turned and looked up at the symbol for righteousness and all that was good in the city and sneered. He threw his hands forward and massive lances of black flame struck the statue. For an instant the statue held, before breaking off at the knees and falling backward. The tremor from the impacts was felt for hundreds of yards. Quickly, the broken legs of the statue became darker, an ugly color of stone as they changed. An arc formed, connecting the two towering stone legs. The space between flickered changed and, with a tear that screamed into the horrified citizens, a rent in the fabric of the world opened and filled the space with a gateway. On the other side, waiting, stood rank after rank after rank of nightmares of various shapes and sizes. With a roar and scream, the demonic horde charge through the opening as their summoner leaned against a pillar and smiled coldly. Everywhere: Across the city, the sky darkened. This was no eclipse, there were no clouds. It was as if the sun died and went out. While it was dark, a harsh reddish glow filled the city with enough light to see. The gloom of a hellish eternal night settled over the city. The city itself began to change. Slowly at first, starting in the city center and quickly moving outward. Grass and plants withered and died; just dead husks as the life was drained from them. Roads became pitted and cracked as if they had not been used in ages. There were splits in the earth where magma burst forth, creating new rivers of destructions. Fire burned everywhere; some just springing into being. Even the buildings and landscape were altered. Things twisted and changed; sometimes no longer even recognizable. Everything took on a dark and malicious appearance. Horrific creatures, demons of all shapes and sizes quickly appeared. Some came from the hellish glow in the city center while others came from the numerous small portals that opened everywhere. A wave of fear, terror, hatred, sadness and hopelessness seemed to engulf the city. People shook in fear, cowered or ran. They knew in their souls the end had come and they were powerless to stop it. Nowhere was safe now. No place was untouched. The world of heroes was over. Suffering and death was all that remained. Freedom City was gone. Hell had come to Earth and it wasn’t going anywhere… Amidst the darkness, amidst the terrified people, there were those that stood strong. Those who shook off the darkness and rose above it despite how it ate at the center of their being. They could still feel this new city/world trying to tear them down, but they were strong enough to fight through it. The world may have gone to hell, but not everyone was willing to give up and quit. Some were not going to go down without a fight… Over in the North End, visible for miles around, a pillar of golden-white light rose to pierce the darkness. It shone like a beacon in the tainted city; a sign that not everywhere was changed; not everywhere was Fallen. It called to the hearts and souls of the terrified people. Hope wasn’t completely gone yet. heading to Liberty Park in Riverside It had been a rough week for the young heroes. After James was lost at the cemetery, it wasn’t an easy thing to bear. And it wasn’t hard for them to guess what was coming. It was only a matter of time after all. They were gathered in their base when the other shoe dropped. The lights dimmed, colors changed. Things go darker, both physically and emotionally. Their less than cheering moods were now mirrored in the world around them. It was time. Now they just needed to know where to go. What they would do when they go there? That was still a little fuzzy.

James waited for everyone to exit the bus, not saying anything until the entire group had gathered. He’d put the word out he was springing for a trip to the Ocean Heights Amusement Park for his seventeenth birthday, making sure people knew it was free for them to get in at the least. (He didn’t expect gifts, indeed had said to the few people who’d asked that there were to be none.) Since it was only a short drive from their school to the place, he had made sure a bus was provided in case some people needed it. He’d headed over in his own car earlier, making sure things were in order, and was now just waiting. He wasn’t sharing or talking about this until he was ready. Once everyone was gathered, he spoke up. “Ok, I’ve got your all-inclusive cards here. They included passes to the various paid rides so you’re good there too. As a happy birthday bonus, I’ve included a little gift. Each card doubles as a prepaid card you can use in there for various things. Toys, clothes, whatever. Even after you use it, it’ll still get you food and access to the rides. The numbers won’t be bad today, so waiting in lines should be pretty short as well. Basically, just have fun. Everything’s covered.†He quickly handed out the card for people, complete with clips and neckloops. “Alright, get in there.†He really did want everyone to have a good time. He had a few ulterior motives of course, but this was the main focus after all. He'd originally not planned to celebrate this at all but that didn't quite work out. He was part of this group now. With responsibilities to them. Least he do was make sure they had some fun. For as long as he could.

Date: August 5th, 2009 (Continued from Daikaiju Days, Morning in America, and Team Science!) When all was said and done, the return to Earth-Prime took the space of only an hour or two. First came the triumphant return of the Young Freedom stranded in Japan, and the happy reunion of the two teams. Then came the quick trip back to the Resistance base with their stolen hardware, leaving behind the smashed Nazi base that never did explode behind them. Everyone had a chance to see the grim horror that was Erde and understand the magnitude of the struggle the Resistance was facing there. Agent H chose to return with her friends from Young Freedom back to Earth Prime, leaving behind her world with a tearful farewell and a sharp, precise salute to the Resistance and the fallen heroes there. Lilith was delighted to hear of the twin victories on both Kaiju Island and over the robot fortress near Freedom City, and left all the teen heroes with a salute of her own and a job well-done. They'd done a lot of good that day, even if they could tell how much help these people might need in the future. And with that, they were gone in a flash, reappearing on the teleport pad recently retrofitted by Dr. Archeville and his two trusty assistants. It had been a very good day to be a hero...even if they were going to have quite a story to tell Mr. Summers.

As this was the first birthday that Alex had more than one friend as well as being the last real teen-birthday, she'd been given a stack of invitations to hand out to 'all her new friends'. So, over the course of the week, she had dutifully passed the invitations on to the classmates she thought might be interested which was mostly the members of Young Freedom. Without real variation, each invitation had been handed out with, "If you're busy or anything, its really no big deal. We're probably just going to watch movies and stuff like that, I think. It's really low key." Then she'd spent the week arguing with her mom, ("No clowns, please!" "My baby's all grown up!" "Mom!") But each invitation invited the teens to a nice house in Hanover with a big yard and a pool for a summer sweet-sixteen party for their resident psychic.

The sky overhead was a gorgeous shade of impossibly clear blue, the sandy beach beneath their feet a gorgeous, luscious white that spoke of unspoiled beauty and splendor. From the incredibly lush tropical jungle behind them, the sound of tens of thousands of animals came in a symphony of natural wonders. Behind the trees, volcanic peaks rose high into the sky like hands of the Earth reaching up to touch the heavens themselves. It would all have been really wonderful if they'd arrived under other circumstances. "Oh God! Oh God!" Hope had gone for her pistol the second the beam of light had come crashing down from the ceiling, carrying them all away to this bizarre new place. Looking around, the Young Freedom members on the beach could see Agent H, Psyche, Breakdown, and Hellion, but there was no sign of any other members of their team. They'd taken with them only what they'd had in their hands or been carrying; the table and chairs they'd been sitting in having been left far behind. An exceedingly large crab scuttled by them, evidently attracted by the noise, a coconut in its weighty claws.

Zöe noticed that Erin was still walking with her as she left the Admin Office on her way to the dorms. "Look, do you get it now? I know theoretical temporal physics isn't exactly your cup of coffee, but I don't know if this is a closed loop or not. Stuff that happens here might affect me, or I might be effectively outside the timestream and ripple-proof. I dunno yet. So if Mom and Dad never hook up, maybe I'll stick around, or maybe I'll disappear. And if I don't exist anymore, then I can't figure out how to save them thirty years from now." "But if I just tell them they have to be together, I'll kill the spark and make sure they never fall in love. So I gotta play this cool. Please, please don't rat me out. Mom didn't want me to worry about this kinda stuff when I was 16. It's not fair if I do it to her." As they were walking, a brightly-colored flier caught Zöe's eye. "Huh. Bandmates wanted..." She tore off one of the perforated strips of paper, studied the phone number, then crumpled it up and shoved it into her bag.

New students got faculty and students together to greet them when they arrived at the school, but potential faculty was something else entirely. When the taxi from Hanover left Dr. Estelle de Haviland off at the front gates of the Claremont Academy, Dr. de Haviland was greeted at the door by the headmaster of the academy himself. "Hello, Dr. de Haviland. Welcome to Claremont Academy." The old man's grip was firm as he shook Estelle's hand, his hair grey but his back straight and eyes perfectly alert. "Let me offer you a belated welcome back to Freedom City." He was friendly, but it looked like he was making an effort.

Summer time was a relatively lazy time at Claremont, with a healthy mix of classes and extra-curricular activities for its unique student body. Today was no exception. For those students interested, the school was providing complementary tickets to a Freedom City Comets game at the Liberty Dome. Even a few students that were living at home for the summer were showing up for today's outing so the entrance to the school was busier than usual as students found their respective shuttles to the game. As the tickets were donations, there were broken up blocks of seats all over the stadium and kids were busy switching tickets with others so that they were sitting near their friends. This of course led to quite a bit of a headache for the few teachers trying to get everyone sorted out. Alex was out in the middle of the activity, blinking at the confusion and trying to search out her friends amongst the chaos.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon when Mike came back just in time to see his new roommate on the phone. With the exception of his interest in Alex, Mark was certainly a model roommate by most standards. He'd filled his desktop bookshelf with books that on closer inspection turned out to be the assigned and suggested reading for the summer history classes as well as various other books on the history of Freedom City's superheroes, and usually left his top-of-the-line laptop sitting on his desk when he wasn't out doing things. His half of the walls had a couple of posters up, a retro B&W shot of the old Liberty League and a more recent Alex Ross painting of the League active in the late 1960s. As Mike came in, Mark was sitting in his desk chair, flipping a silver dollar over and over again as he listened intently to whoever he was talking to on his cell. "Yes! Yes, I am here!" Just as he started speaking, a white-toothed grin on his handsome face, the coin he'd been flipping landed perfectly on its edge dead center of his desk. "Yes! All right, I'll print the tickets off pronto. And I love The Entity for all my alternative rock! Woo!" Grinning, he hung up the phone and jumped up, grabbing the coin off his desk and slipping it into his pocket. "Hey Mike, guess what?" He grinned at his roommate, who he'd started treating as his best buddy the minute he walked in. "I was caller number eleven at WNTT, and so I got six free tickets to the Madman Finale concert tonight at FCU! You want to go rock out with the college kids? It'll be great!"

It was Breakdown's second day in the city. He had spent the entire first day helping his parents move stuff into their new home. (They sure were glad he could teleport now that he had powers! Otherwise they would have had to hire a mover. And wouldn't you know it, they would not let him hear the end of it!) Eddie loved his parents, but sometimes he couldn't stand them either. By the end of the day, he had to get out of the house. He had left after dinner (take out) and walked to Claremont (where he would be going to school in the fall). No one had been around, but he had assumed that it was simply because it had been getting late. He had left soon after sunset and gone back home. He had decided he would try again today. He just hoped he would run into somebody...

In the middle of one of his DJ nights at the Millennium, Eddie suddenly feels the urge to break out in song. In front of a crowd full of people, he leaps over the DJ table, self-projecting the music to Sublime's "What I Got" And putting his own words too it. His song is a little bit of a confession about how he knows he's not the best hero around, and he isn't that confident about his abilities, but he doesn't let it get him down, because his music encourages him. The song is as follows: What I got – Breakdown – June Vingette Early in the morning, risin' to the street Start me up that iPOD and I strap shoes on my feet Got to find a reason, a reason ta’do what I want Got to find a reason why I should be a hero I got a Jazz record, and I can still fly high Wish I could play the guitar like a *explitive deleted* riot Life is too short, so use the stuff you got 'Cause you might get run over or you might get shot Never start no static, I just get it off my chest Never had to battle with none’ma powers yet Take a small example, take a tip from me Take all of your money, use it to make music free! Music’s what I got, it's within my reach Yeah, and the Breakdown style's still straight from FC! Rhythm comes back to you, you'll fin’ly get the beats you deserve Try and test me, you're bound to get served Music’s what I got, don't start a riot You'll feel it when the dance gets hot Music’s what I got, I said remember that Music’s what I got, I remember that Music’s what I got, I said remember that Music’s what I got Why I don't get nervous ‘bout screwin stuff up I don't get mad at the villains I have to drop I don't get upset, I don’t wanna stop I’m not confident, I just wanna rock! Jamin’ and fightin', it's all the same Livin' with my muic’s the only way to stay sane Let the Music, let the Music come back to me 'Cause Music’s what I got, I said remember that Music’s what I got, I remember that Music’s what I got, I said remember that Music’s what I got, I got, I got, I got