[Attn: Open]

Silver City - March 3rd, 19XX

Silver City: A testament to the human spirit and a tribute to the human imagination. It is here in this towering futuristic metropolis that the world witnessed its first taste of of what was to come when the Hero Armada was founded. But even with the world's largest super team based here, evil doesn't take a break. Today would be the perfect example. An advocate for metahuman rights stands at the podium before realizing that something was amiss. "Somebody call 911!" He hollers. Suddenly the large set up in the park is struck by a small rocket. The rocket thus explodes with smoke. Suddenly, a number of men in black begin to pour into the area as it clears. They surround everyone, ultimately waiting around with their firearms. In the distance, sirens sound. Following the scene, officers get out from their vehicles.

"This is the police! Put the weapons down and step away from the crowd!" Barks the leading officer.

"You must be joking," laughs the leader of the assailants. "Here you all are with your pathetic weapons, thinking you can prevent the inevitable. The simple fact is that these people have power and they can use it. You wish to keep them from doing so. Anyone smart enough to realize this, you are allowed to come with me and my men. Any of you opposed...will be gunned down here and now. I promise, there is no amount of superhuman durability that will allow you to shrug THESE off."

Suddenly one shot is fired and both the head officer and the head of the villains practically roll their eyes with a sigh as a fire fight erupts around them, most of the crowd running about in a panic. One officer manages to get a good shot through the helmet of one of the assailants and shoot him through the eye, in effect killing him. But in return, another attacker shoots the officer with this strange manner of energy weapon that puts a hole in him and kills him.

Option 1: Help the Police
Option 2: Help the Assailants

From his comfortable home, one Thomas Kensington, attorney at law, witnessed emergency news coverage of some disturbance at the park. Evidently, the police were doing a poor job of handling their attackers, as at least one was dead according to the report. Thomas smirked at the news, deciding to weigh his options. The park was not that far. A few quick teleports and he would be within shooting distance of both sides of the conflict.

On the one hand, he could attack the police. However, that would quickly establish him as a villain, and he was not entirely certain he wanted to go that route quite yet. After all, the villains had a tendency to lose in the end. On the other hand, helping the police could give his recently-established "Warlock" persona a nice reputation boost, especially as he had not done anything majorly destructive with his powers yet. Indeed, if he could get into the good graces of some do-gooder hero, he could gain a powerful ally to turn to and eventually betray. His smirk grew into a smile as he got up to don his costume, consisting of a business-like red andblack suit and tie, and wove an illusion to make his eyes appear red and adding minor touches to his facial features to prevent someone from recognizing him. He grabbed a matching hat and put it on to hide his face in the shadow (though he had to extend the shadow a little with an illusion to properly cover his features) before teleporting out of his home.

A short while later, Thomas, or rather, "Warlock," appeared in a puff of smoke on a rooftop overlooking the park. He quickly surveyed the area below, picking out a good cluster of the group attacking the police. He raised a hand towards the assailants and shot a powerful blast of dark energy at them, intending to either delay and injure them with the small explosion it caused. Without waiting to see if he had hit, he teleported to a different rooftop and wove an illusion to make himself blend in with the background. He looked at the battle again to see if his shot had done any damage to assess whether his powers would be sufficient against the enemies.

Indeed the blast was rather sufficient. Many of the less armored thugs had been knocked out or tosses away as a result of the sheer force. However, this only drew out attention. "So I see that someone has chosen to play the hero," the leader announces. He then snatches one of the energy rifles from one of his men. "You will regret that decision." The exceptionally well armed leader then opens fire in all directions, hitting cops, civilians, even his own men. "There is no safe place for you to hide," he taunts as the battle continues.

Several of the more armored thugs have fun juggle cops like softballs and others terrorize civilians. "Where are your heroes now?!" One of these foreigners shouts as he expertly mows down a row of cops.

Thomas ducked behind some conveniently placed cover on the rooftop he was on, rolling his eyes at the wild antics of the enemy leader. That last statement did give him pause however.

That's a good question, actually, he thought. This city has hundreds of superheroes crawling around, yet not one has shown up to attempt to stop a fairly unsubtle, destructive raid in a public are?

He stirred himself from his thoughts as another blast flew over him. He looked around the corner of his cover and raised a hand toward the leader firing wildly. He fired a large jet of flame at the leader before teleporting to another rooftop and taking cover again.

The leader glances to the side and rolls out of the path of the flames, shooting again at the rooftops all around him, a stray shot occasionally striking an unintended target down with his highly advanced manner of weaponry. In the chaos of the crowd, a lone man removes a card from his pocket and presses a button on its face, sending out a signal.

The brawl at the park goes on for several more minutes when suddenly there comes a shift. The police are very suddenly backed up by a group of Silver City's elite. They were known as the Silver City Special Police. An elite group of officers with highly advanced arms and exceptionally superior training to an average officer. Given that the average police had caused the number of thugs to waver, the arrival of this boost significantly helped in reducing them that much more. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Barked the Special Police Commander as he and his men flooded from the transport, opening fire.

"I see the cavalry has arrived," muttered Thomas to himself. "Perhaps it is time I made my presence more official."

He teleported once more, this time appearing behind the newly arrived Special Police. With a wave of his hand, he fired several dark projectiles at the enemy, occasionally using his other hand to shoot jets of flame at targets who strayed to close to him. Spotting the leader again, Thomas readied a more powerful blast and fired at him.

The leader of the battalion looks about the area. Between the special police and this 'hero', his forces were lost. The hero volleys more blasts in his direction and he only lifts one of his fallen allies, using him as a shield before dropping him. "All of you, forget the rest! Fire on the super!" He demands. He then takes aim himself and begins to shoot in wide sprays at the Special Police and at Warlock.

Muttering a curse under his breath, Thomas ducked beneath a blast and quickly teleported out of the way. He appeared behind the leader, shooting off another volley before teleporting again to another rooftop, from which he conjured several more blasts, which he lobbed in the leader's direction. He teleported once more to a different rooftop, concealing himself with an illusion and taking a few potshots in the direction of the enemy.

Every blast converged on the leader and the sheer concussive force knocked him out on his feet. He dropped his weapon and fell to the ground there. Thus every thug suddenly turned tail and ran. They were far from stupid. This would turn into a massacre on their own blood if they stayed. The transports overhead dropped ladders as quickly retracted who was left, flying off at mach speed once most were secure.

There on the ground was the leader, approached by The Commander of the Special Police squadron. The commander kneels at his side and plucks a pin from the leader's jacket. "Doome is behind this," he mutters. He then glances to the side and sees Warlock, getting up and approaching him. "We appreciate the help," he states formally. "I take it you aren't Armada?"

"No, I'm afraid not," replied Thomas, pausing a moment to ensure that the illusions concealing his identity were still in order. He thought he had heard the commander mutter something, but had not been listening carefully enough to make it out. "In any case, do you have any idea where these thugs came from and what they were trying to accomplish?"

"It was the work of DOOM. They've been trying to hold themselves together ever since their superior, Commander Doome, kicked the bucket back during the Deadwave attack. Didn't think they'd be back on their feet this soon. Do me a favor. There's a situation on the East End that we Special Police need to take care of. Go see someone at the Armada Tower downtown and tell them DOOM just reared its ugly head," the Commander requests before turning to his men. "All right, situation in East End, let's go!" As soon as they'd come, the problem was solved and the Special Police crowded into their transport, taking off.

Yay, I get to be an errand boy, thought Thomas, rolling his eyes as the Commander turned away. He began trying to figure out how he could work the situation to get into the Armada's good graces as he teleported to the Armada Tower and entered.

The receptionist at the front desk looks up as the figure enters. "Hello and welcome to Armada Tower. How may I help you? Might I patch you in to Capitol-Man, Mr. Amazo, or Warrior-Woman?"

"Yes, any of those will do," replied Thomas. "Something's happened which I think will concern the Armada greatly."

He maintained an air of decorum and seriousness, but he was quite happy inside. His actions today alone could probably earn him some sort of benefit, even a fairly minor one. Even so, he had to admit that the news of DOOM's return was disquieting, especially considering how he had stepped in against their forces. He assumed that acting against villainous forces in public would have made a poor first impression on any evil characters who had seen. Indeed, his actions may have caught the attention of the Supercrime Society, a notion which did not excite him at all. He shoved these thoughts away, however, as he spoke to the receptionist.

The receptionist then turns to the computer console behind her and begins to try frequencies. Ultimately, she is brought to Capitol-Man's and steps to the side. "Good Afternoon, sir," she says.

"Hello, Natalie. Is there something you need?" Capitol-Man spoke. He'd been talking into a video watch and his image was projected upon the screen. It appears that he was simply hovering in the sky somewhere.

"Yes, sir. This man would like a word with you, it seems."

Capitol-Man then turns his attention to Warlock who Natalie points out. "Yes, how may I help you?"

"Yeah, remember that DOOM thing? They're apparently back or something. Thought you ought to know," said Thomas. "They kind of wrecked a park where they were having some superhuman rights thing."

Capitol-Man's face is soon overwritten with a grim, serious tone. "Thank you for the information," he finally says after a long and unsteady silence. "Doome himself died some time ago. If DOOM really has returned, we'd best be getting ready. If you can find any more intelligence, please don't hesitate to tell us. Our Moon Base overseer can't pin every threat, after all. Natalie, give him a communicator in case he needs it. I'll tell Madam Control to keep an eye out for him. Capitol-Man out."

"Right away, sir," the receptionist nods as her superior cuts away, pulling a small watch from beneath the desk. "Here you are. This is a standard Hero Armada Transceiver. You should be able to contact other heroes and receive transmissions from the main hub with it. Madam Control is the main person you'll be in communication with, most likely. She is in charge of our Technology and Intelligence Department."

"Thanks," replied Thomas, as he slipped the watch around his wrist, hiding it under his sleeve. "If that's all, I'll be going now." With that, he teleported away, making his way back home to tinker with the device a bit more.

Given little less than a week's time, the transceiver is put to good use. Warlock finds himself suddenly contacted by Madam Control. "Hey, glad you're on this frequency. A lot of our heroes are out on critical missions right now. I'm working hard just to get together the ones I'm scraping together for this missions. Turns out, you were right about DOOM. I don't know how but they dug themselves out of the trenches. We have a new lead. Apparently there's some sort of underground dealing going on for powerful Deadwave weaponry stolen from alien troops from Deadwave's invasion a while back. DOOM plans to raid the place and steal those weapons. We're going to need to get there before them and take the weapons ourselves to make sure the weapons don't fall into the wrong hands. If memory serves, an alien shot my Avatar drone with one of those weapons and put a gaping hole in it. If you decide to head out, meet the other heroes in China Town. Ricochet and War are already en-route. If you guys need any additional back-up, I'll mobilize the Avatar drone but only as a last resort. Last time it took a hit from one of those weapons, it took a month to fix. Anyway, that's all. Madam Control out."

Warlock listened to the message with some interest as he pulled on the suit he reserved for superpowered antics. He teleported away, and found himself in China Town, an area he rarely visited, moments later.