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These wide strings of attacks got the attention of the government almost immediately. These attacks were seemingly too random. There was no earmarks of any involvement from the usual suspects. No demands, no rhyme or reasons behind these attacks at all. All they had in common was that it was 3 monsters in every area just causing as much destruction as they could muster, panicking the citizens and generally sowing chaos. But to what end? AEGIS felt this was jus the tip of the iceberg and recruit some of Freedom’s best and brightest. They wanted to figure out what this was all about before the next stage came to pass. AEGIS sent helicopters to pick up those in the know to bring them to AEGIS HQ.

Through A Glass The sky was gray with the dust and smoke that came with a collapsed building, billows of it that turned everything it touched a waxy, corpselike white itself. The invasion was over, but at the moment it almost seemed like the least of their troubles. This time, unlike in the invasion of hell, the damage remained behind after the invasion was over. And there were a lot of people who needed help. Right now, many of them were waiting outside of a hastily erected barricade, watching her silently and begging them with their eyes to make things better. Erin did the best she could to walk lightly in the rubble that had once been a five story apartment building. Psyche, working remotely from halfway across the city, had assured her there were people alive in here, people who needed help. There were dogs and equipment, not to mention other heroes on the way, but it might be too late on a day like this with so many disasters. One superhero at the right time could make all the difference when lives were on the line. She reminded herself of that even as her stomach churned and twisted, the acrid smell in the air triggering sense memories she couldn't afford to go back to right now. The job was the thing now, and saving lives, and not letting all her power be for nothing this time. “Hello?†she called, straining her ears for any noises. Her ears were her best sense, but she was no Psyche and no search dog. It was almost worse to walk through this carnage and know that there were living people somewhere nearby, that she could help them but only if she didn't screw up. She was listening so hard that at first she thought the noise she actually heard was a figment of her imagination, it was so faint. But it was real, a scratching from halfway across the collapse site, as of someone trying to move the debris. She resisted the urge to leap, unsure of what a landing would do, and instead raced as quickly and lightly as she could to the source of the sound. “Can you hear me?†she called. There was a murmur from the families watching beyond the barricades at her sudden movement, but they quieted quickly, knowing that their silence was her success. “Here!†came a voice from down in the piles of rubble. “We're down here, help us!†Young, Erin thought, sounded like a kid. God... “It's all right!†she called. “I'm Wander, I'm from Young Freedom! I'm going to help you! Just hold on and be brave, okay?†Working quickly and carefully, she sorted out the massive pieces of fallen building, pushing them aside carefully so as to try and disrupt the pile as little as possible. She'd had extensive training in disaster relief as well as combat; she knew what a shifting field of debris could do to a trapped victim. It was an endless five minutes before she opened enough of a clearing to see through to the victims. Two boys, she realized, one maybe twelve or thirteen, the other younger. It looked like they'd gotten lucky, wedging themselves into a closet that had collapsed into a protective triangle over their heads. “We're okay,†the older boy said, his arms wrapped around what had to be his younger sibling. “Kind of... my leg hurts,†he admitted. “My mom... my mom was over in the kitchen, just next to us,†he told Erin urgently. “We heard her yell out when everything was falling. Is she okay? Did she get out?†From where she was, Erin could only see a little bit of the rest of what had once been a decent apartment. She shifted just a little bit to get a better idea of what was around, catching a glimpse of a metal sink and pipes that said kitchen. “Just a second...†Sliding her way across patches of crumbled drywall, she made her way over there and shone her flashlight into a gap between joists. Her light picked up the blood first, and then the casualty. Adult female DOA, Erin told herself, making herself be clinical about it. She had work to do. Returning to the boys, she blanked her face to impassive concentration. “I'm going to get you out of there,†she promised again. “You're going to have to be very brave.†It was only much later, long after the boys were reunited with their father and that building and many others like it were cleared that she allowed herself to acknowledge how long they were going to have to be brave for.

At the Fassbinder pharmaceutical research facitility, the army was preparing to dissiminate some blood testing kits. The latest weapon to stop the Grue invasion, they quickly analysed DNA and could (usually) weed out the Grue Drones, potentially even the more skilled alien metamorphs. Efforts to fight back had been hampered by the infilitration by the Grue, disrupting command structures, co-ordination and organisation. When the armed forces and paramilitary agencies didn't know if they where talking to a trusted ally, or alien spy, things were slow at best, and dangerous at worst. The kits were not 100% reliable, nor were they fast. But they were better than nothing. Three soldiers were lifting the crates onto a forklift truck. They were being supervised by a stiff looking seargant. The soliders bantered whilst they shifted the crates "Man, I hope we can fight these martians off. ", "I hope the Inceptors can pull us out of the fire this time!", "I come across one of 'dem Grue, I'm gonna Kick 'der ass!" The seargant smiled "Soldiers! I am afraid we have no chance against the alien invaders. " His smiled broadened as he brought his pistol to bear on them. "No chance at all. They are superior to to you pathetic earthlings in every way. This planet..." his smiled changed along with his face into that of a Grue... "IS OURS!" BAM BAM BAM! rang the shots, with horrible and deadly accuracy. And the war claimed three more brave lives. Into the facility strode three identical soldiers. The Grue seargent, a Metamorph from the looks of things, started ordering the soldiers, who were presumably drones, to destroy the crates. They set to the task, starting to set incendiary devices throughout the storeroom. The Seargent took one of the kits and sampled his own blood. The readings and data started to appear on the small LED screen. He took out his walkie talkie, and removed the front cover. It was Grue technology, and it appeared to interface with the testing kit. Valuable data streamed to and from the devices. It appeared the Grue wanted to know exactly what they were up against; and destroy it anyway, of course. One of the Soldiers appeared by the Seargant's side. "The devices are all set, commander. " He intoned. "Is the blood testing kit functional? do we proceed with detonation?" The Seargant cocked an eyebrow at the drone, unusually inquisitive, he throught, but probably just doing its job. "Yes we have the data. Proceed with detonation. I shall complete analaysis. " The drone walked away as the Seargant proceeded to use the Grue device to work through the realms of data his own blood and the kit had provided. With this, they could develop a biological counter measure. Of course, the data would be dangerous if it ever got into the hands of the humans. Two muffled cries wafted from behind a crate. Drawing his pistol, the Grue metamorph walked around to see two of the soldiers unconscious, and a Grue drone, in full alien form, standing over them. "One of the soldiers was human! attacked us!" the third Grue intoned. "Fool!" shouted the Metamorph, bending over to examine the soldiers. What had happened, how had a human infilitrated the Grue? Impossible! His thoughts came to a sudden end as a fist crashed into the back of his skull. Above him, the Grue form changed, with oily black secretions trickling down its body, into that of Felix F Fassbinder, the owner of Fassbinder pharmaceuticals. Who also happened to be the shapechanging superhero, Slick. He took the Grue device and the linked blood testing kit from the slack hands of the seargent. "Neat trick, shapeshifting. You know, I think I'll try it myself!" He couldn't resist a broad smile. "You get all sorts of useful information doing it, you know. Really disrupts the enemies plans. " He turned over the device, ripe with data, in his hands. Impossibly, his smile got even broader.

A Reverie on Identity, as Interrupted by Tentacle Monsters 11 AM, Day of the Invasion The Boardwalk was starting to pick up a crowd. It was a fairly cool May, but people still wanted to come down to see the festivities, even if they weren’t willing to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean just yet. Joe walked the streets in his usual gear; he was probably drawing some attention, but he didn’t seem to care. He was mostly lost in thought. When he was younger, he’d come to the Boardwalk regularly – with family, with friends, with girlfriends. He had good memories of the place, and maybe it’d give him a chance to get his head together. It had been three weeks since the incident at the foundry. It had been a week since he lifted his couch up over his head with one hand. And last night, his dad had told him all about his grandpa. That was a hell of a thing to find out – that you were the grandson of a superhero. And the powers were obviously coming in… toughness, if the spill-over was any indicator, super-strength… If the medical records on Legionnaire indicated anything, his grandpa had been able to “cross whole battlefields with one bound†and “run to catch up with a transport going at top speed†by the time he’d died, so he’d probably come into that in time. He pretty much knew what he was going to do now. It wasn’t like you had something like this land on you, then went back to sitting on the sidelines. The question was, could he do it? Pushing the boneheads out of shows was one thing – being a hero meant taking on crooks, mobsters, gangsters, madmen, gods, demons, aliens, monsters, and whatever crackpot had more power than he deserved and a control fetish. Could he do that? More importantly, could he do that and live? His grandfather had been tough, but he wasn’t invincible – Superior proved that. Did he really even know what he was doing? Joe was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of honking. One horn joined another, and another; the familiar rapport of Jersey driving told him something was wrong. He broke away from the Boardwalk and made his way to the main street, where he quickly saw what was wrong. Twenty people were standing in the middle of the road, in four-by-five formation. The crowd was a mix of ages, ethnicities, and genders. They were also standing stock still before a crowd of honking cars. Two traffic cops had already made their way into the middle of the road to try and get the crowd to disperse, but they weren’t having much luck. “Come on, miss, you’re holding up traffic,†the traffic cop said to one of the still women. She didn’t seem to register, so he pulled out the cuffs and grabbed her by the arm. “Miss, you leave me no choice--†The woman reached out, lifted the traffic cop off his feet – one-handed – and threw him through a storefront window well across the street from her. That shut the horns up. Around Joe, people were already starting to run – they didn’t really make ‘em stupid in Freedom. “This is the Three-Lobed Eye of the Grue Empire.†The voice came from one and all of them – they spoke in perfect unison, and their words rung out above the rising chaos. “Your world has been analyzed, and found suitable. Colonization shall begin shortly, but there is no need for distress. Go peacefully, and all will be well.†That was when someone threw a brick at one of the people. It struck them right in the forehead, leaving a solid dent that seemed to knit back together like Silly Putty. Joe grimaced; they also made ‘em brave in Freedom. Sometimes too much for their own good. “The Meta-Mind has accepted this as a sign of defiance,†the chorus said. “Engaging in suppression mode.†Before Joe’s eyes, the people seemed to lengthen, stretching like taffy and growing out of their clothes. They streamed together in the middle like steel being poured from many vats, and then they swelled. The blob grew to the size of a small brownstone, then erupted into a mass of tendrils. A mouth like a cave emerged from the “front†of the mass and let out a terrible roar. That was when the panic really set in. The people around him began running through the streets, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the giant Grue bioweapon. Joe took one look at the rampaging beast, and did the stupidest thing he could think of. He ran forward. It was only when he got up close that he realized just what he was dealing with. The thing towered over him, and was flailing its tentacles wildly, turning over cars and tearing down buildings. Fortunately, it seemed mostly focused on civic destruction. That’d give him an avenue to get in. Before he could move, however, one of the tentacles came thrashing down at him. He managed to slip to the side as the thing slammed down and cracked the asphalt. Joe took advantage of the moment and grabbed the tentacle. It felt like microwaved Play-Doh, and slithered like a snake. The beast roared, and turned to face him. Yeah, that’s not good. The tentacle rose into the air, and took Joe along with it. Despite his strength, it appeared he didn’t exactly have the anchoring necessary to wrestle this thing to the ground. He’d just have to try something else. Once he figured out what the beast was doing… The beast, meanwhile, decided it had better things to do than fight the puny human. It threw him at the row of buildings right across the way. Joe came to rest after tasting brick, lying on an alcove. He looked to the bioweapon… and then to the ocean. It wasn’t that far at all. He couldn’t pick the thing up by a tentacle, but that didn’t get rid of other options. He rolled down the street and started running as fast as he could. The tentacles came down around him, but he managed to dodge them – it was like this thing was still getting its land legs. When he got close enough to the flashy mess, he slipped his hands right under it. It took some effort, but the giant bioweapon slowly lifted up from the street. Joe could feel it convulsing in his hands, like it was trying to find some way to deal with the human underneath it. He took advantage of the few seconds he had before this thing turned into the blob, and lobbed it. It didn’t fly far; instead, it seemed to topple over onto the sidewalk. But that was enough; the thing began shifting, like it was trying to regain its balance. While it struggled, Joe rushed forward again and punched it right in the underside. The thing quavered like Jello, and actually seemed to split a little. It began knitting itself back together, but Joe took the opportunity and tossed it on its side again. He repeated the process, making his way to the ocean. He didn’t know if this would work, but if it did… He felt the water creep over his boots and soak the cuffs of his jeans, even as he pushed the thing further. It struggled all the way, trying to grab him and throw him back onto the land, but he didn’t give it a chance. Once Joe felt the sands shifting under his feet, he leapt back to shore. The beast tried to come after him… and struggled to move, dropping further into the sands. Joe had spent his childhood on these beaches. He and all the other kids who played in the surf knew the sand got soft about twenty-five feet in, and after that was a bit of a drop-off. Easy enough for a kid to swim out and up from… but given the size and composition of the thing, it had to be a lot heavier than your typical kid. And sure enough, it was trying to gain purchase in the water and the shifting sands, and failing. He heard a rush of air, like a kite unfurling. Overhead, he could see The Scarab and Fulcrum, looking down at the thing struggling in the surf. With them would come the press… and he realized he had no mask. He quickly ran back to the street and disappeared into a back alley. He’d make his way back home, but mainly to get changed. Then he needed to get a mask. Joe had made up his mind. He knew what he was going to do next.

Supercape - Gruevasion Supercape had barely arrived in America when the Grue invaded. He had certainly not started being a superhero. True, he had started working on his idea of an unstable quantum lattice of molecules that he could use as a costume - and it was painstaking but hopefully worthwhile work - but actual superheroics was something that was a vague notion at best. When streams of white hot plasma started pelting down from the sky, the alien invaders walked the streets, and the superheroes of Freedom City started fightong back, Professor Quentin Quill had just started work at Freedom University. It was, predictably, pandemonium. Admist all the chaos, some of the scientists had been "asked" to try and analyse the data streaming in from the military and various satellites about the Grue arsenal in space. Quentin had volunteered, of course. As he strode into a ramshakle laboratory, with emergency power only, he found he was paired with professor Liebniz. Quentin felt it was his moral duty to protect the world and the human race. Hence, he had volunteered without hesitation. Liebniz felt it was his moral duty to collate data that he could later publish and thus gain academic prestige. Hence, he had volunteered without hesitation. The two men eyed each other up suspciously as they set about looking at the computers, fax's, and printouts that surrounded them. In the distance, an occassional explosion or sound of artillery fire could be heard. Quentin thought it sounded like the blitz. The two armed soldiers who entered the room didn't help his concentration. One seemed to be a seargant. "Orders of the U.S. Army. Key operations to be guarded at all times" he grunted. The grunt by his side, well...grunted. For all their animosity, Quentin and Liebniz bonded over one thing, they did get excited about science. Poring over the data stream from a military satellite, they started noticing a strange pattern - a Grue Mothership? A Grue Weapon in orbit? they started talking excitedly, almost oblivious to the danger it could represent. "Gracious, look at the gravity fluctuations around this area!" exclaimed Quentin. "Yes, yes, I see them!" answered Liebniz "If we could do a quantum map of the nth space distortions... why, we may be able to track it!" Liebniz was cut short as the but of a rifle from the Grunt crashed down on his head, bringing a moment of agony then unconsciousness. The seargent turned to face Supercape, his features changing to that of a Grue. "You will not defeat our mighty armies, pitiful human!" he shouted. Supercape took a quick look around. Nobody watching, which was good. He decided to feign ignorance and beg for mercy. He wasn't a natural liar, but the words just popped into his head "I'm just a poor boy, give me some sympathy, easy come, easy go, will you let me go?" Any human would have laughed in his face, but the two Grue were unlikely to have an indepth knowledge of fourty year old english rock anthems. At his command, the room filled with a flash of blinding light that completely blinded the two Grue standing before him. As they stood helpless, firing randomly, it was a simple matter for a few pulses of radation to knock the alien invaders out. The few bullets that had strayed his way were frazzled by the forcefield he had erected. Quentin turned back to check Liebniz was unhurt. He was dead cold, but otherwise fine. Sadly, the computer was junked by a stray bullet, and a small fire was eating up the precious data. It looked like the two scientist's wouldn't be helping any more that day. Quentin gazed back at the two unconscious Grue, still glowing a pretty shade of purple, and then at his hand. It seemed he had just taken his first tentative step to being a superhero of Freedom City.

Everything Must Go - set in Midtown's mall Geckoman moved at full speed through the city, pausing occasionally to shoot down some flying alien gribblies. So, Chris, you go off to save the city... and forget about the girl. Good going. "Geckoman to Young Freedom, I am assisting at Millenium Mall. At present, don't need help. Although, if anyone wants to give a cheery pep talk, or make me a sandwich, it'd be much appreciated." He clicked some buttons on a panel somewhere, and hit the autopilot switch. "If you see the Pitcho heading to the Midwest, then... well, that's actually planned, believe it or not." And, with that, he leapt out of the moving airship. "GERONIMO!!!" he yelled as he plummeted towards the large building underneath him... Spellbound stood in front of the advancing aliens, wand held in front of her, crackling with lightning. She'd been trying to hold this mall, with only occasional support, for most of a day, and she was visibly flagging from the effort. "Dammit, Chris," she murmured, glancing back at the unarmed civilians behind her. "This is your job..." With that, she lunged forwards at the charging Grue, blasting one down with lighting and whirling to knock one flat on its back with the force field surrounding her. She jumped up in the air to avoid an attack and was suddenly showered with glass from above as the roof shattered. And a blood-smeared, slightly grimy Geckoman dropped towards the ground, parachute falling away as he did so. "Hey, guys," he grinned, landing on one foot and pivoting on it. "Just dropping in to say hi." And, on that, he roundhoused a Grue away from his bemused looking girlfriend. "Ever considered getting a beeper?" "I figure I can't get rid of you," smirked Liz, shaking her head. "So, shut up, and stop the bad guys so we can go home." Geckoman snapped off a quick salute as he backhanded a Geckorang through the crowd of Grue, backflipping out of his salute into a two-footed jump kick. Having left Spellbound to look after the civilians, Geckoman ran through the mall, spinning off walls, kicking Grue to the ground and occasionally swinging back up to the top level on his grapple line to deposit some poor straggler with the rest of the survivors. But it was then that he saw it. This alien seemed so much bigger than the others, and its eyes glowed with some weird white light. I think I've heard of these things. Can't they read- "Minds?" boomed the creature. Well, that's a yes. And, in a flash, it had elongated its legs to be in front of Geckoman, a fist shaped like a hammer throwing him into a lingerie store. Standing triumphant, the alien's mocking laughter stopped suddenly as a green blur shot out from a pile of scattered clothing and slammed into its stomach. Then, despite it being stunned, the teen hero's second punch missed, giving the monster time to stretch its arm into a baseball bat and send Geckoman flying, the bra which had covered up his goggles falling off in mid-air. Spellbound looked on in horror as Geckoman skidded across the floor, shedding women's underwear from his body as he crashed into a table. "This is not the time to indulge your crossdressing!" she snapped as the huge Grue crashed onto the upper level, tiles splintering underneath him. The people hiding at the back of the level screamed in panic, and started fleeing for the stairs. But once more huge, elongated alien arms came crashing down towards the crowd, only halted by a magnetically levitated cash register. "Get up, Chris! Now!" Then she paused, realising her mistake. "Geckoman!" Getting up in a haze of pain and visions of frilly lace, Geckoman leapt into the air, hurling random objects from his utility belt at the alien. The monster crashed back from three Geckorang impacts, coughed through a huge cloud of multiple smoke bombs and then pausing in bemusement at a pair of furry handcuffs. "C'mon, big guy, read what I'm going to do!" He rolled across the round and came up in a handstand, kicking furiously with his legs into the alien's chest. "Because, I assure you, I don't know what's in my big ol' mind half the time!" He pushed off from the alien with both feet, rolling away and upright as Spellbound fired a bolt of electricity straight at him, which he ducked so fast it soared over his head and into the shapeshifter's chest, throwing it off of the floor they were on. "Wand!" shouted Chris, holding out his arm. Liz managed to throw the wand, despite the fatigue clearly making it hard for her to throw it that hard. "I'll return!" And, once more, Geckoman leapt off of what he was standing on, sliding down the side of a pillar and landing on the alien's chest. "Welcome to Earth... we hope you enjoyed your time here," he growled, emptying the wand's battery into the shapeshifter's chest, leaping clear of the smell of charcoal and returning to defend the civilians upstairs. 10 hours later It was dark over Freedom City. The Pitchoo hovered over the bay, engines humming faintly as it kept itself afloat in the sky. On top of the ship sat a guy and a girl with their arms around each other. "So, what do we do about this?" said Chris softly. Liz looked up at him. "We deal with it. Just like we dealt with the massive alien invasion. Just like how you dealt with Rick. We've come too far to just end it because you enjoy running around in tights too much." Chris suppressed a laugh, and nodded. "Good point. And the tights do make me look pretty."

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.

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.