# Mutants & Masterminds: The Legacy (Updated March 27th)



## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

This will be the location of my own Mutants & Masterminds game based in a universe of my design, inspired by Aberrant, Kingdom Come, and my own fevered imagination...

_The world of the Legacy Universe is one going through sever changes, as the world adapts to the appearance of super-human beings with powers beyond the ken of normal mortals.  World Governments have banned together to assess the threat that the Elites pose to normal humanity, or "baselines" as most people refer to non-powered humans.

Elites have been in existence since 2004, after the arrival of Ghenther's Comet, an unknown comet that passed through Earth space in the summer of 2004.  The first documented elite was Michael McCoy, also known as Miracle, an elite capable of controlling the primal forces of the world to great effect.  He was able to manipulate the Earth to create a barrier and shield himself from an out of control semi-truck.  Since his appearance, elites have appeared consistently over the intervening ten years.

One of the best-known elites is the international hero, Paragon, an advocate for peaceful integration of elites and baselines.  He is one of the most powerful elites on the planet and the team leader of Justice Elite, an international team of elites who work in conjunction with the newly strengthened United Nations to protect baselines from elite threats.  They do double duty as spokesman and work on several humanitarian efforts throughout the world, such as the terraforming of the Sahara, and furthering study into the elimination of disease and cancer.

In general elites tend to be viewed with awe by most folks of the world, powerful beings who are capable of either great good, or even greater evil in the eyes of most baselines.  They often make headlines, and live public lives if they do not maintain a secret identity.
_


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Major Organizations of the Legacy Universe*

*Pantheon*

_“Perhaps the most infamous elite organization on the planet, Pantheon is a threat to world security.  They are an organization of zealots, and supremacists.  Their ideals are based on bigotry, and the oppression of those they feel inferior to themselves.  What does Pantheon stand for, the same ideals that any terrorist organization stands for, terror.  They inflict terror upon the baseline populace, and expect their demands to be heard.  Their rhetoric is tired and old, and in the end pointless.  They are evil miscreants and they will be rooted out and brought to justice for their crimes…”_

-	Paragon at a Justice Elite press conference

_“I don’t like Pantheon per se, but I think Razor, that is his name right, he is pretty cool.  I mean anyone willing to screw with the Justice Elite has to have some balls right?  Though I hear they want to destroy the world, or some crap.  I just hope they destroy my school; I really hate my teachers. Razor is cool though, real tough, even if he is a bad guy, he is still cool in my book.”_

-	Richard Dawson, Middle School student

Just what is, Pantheon?  Pantheon is an elite organization, a group that espouses elite superiority to baselines.  The core philosophy behind the Pantheon movement is that elites are the next step in evolution, and therefore are the superior species to baseline humanity.  By that right, baseline justice and law do not apply to them, they are in effect above such things, and they see baselines as mere insects.  Certainly the power distinction between humanity and an insect is quite distinct, even though insects outnumber humanity, humanity is the more dominant species.  This is the same with humanity and elites, even though baselines are more numerous, elites are the dominant species of Earth.  It is elites that will lead the way into the next century, not baselines, who will simply follow in the wake of the elites.

At the heart of Pantheon is the mysterious elite who goes by the name of Cardinal, styling herself as both a political and religious leader.  Deeper into the Pantheon mythos, one finds a quasi Judeo-Christian belief system that espouses that elites are the chosen of God, and they shall inherit the Earth and usher in a time of prosperity and peace.  But first there will be the Time of Chaos, the Long Night before baselines accept the superiority of elites.  Cardinal has gathered around herself a loyal cadre of followers she calls her Acolytes, the most loyal and powerful of her followers, of which it is known that there may be as many as ten and as few as six.  Information about Pantheon is still sketchy; outsiders have yet to pierce the inner veil that shrouds much of the inner circle.  Cardinal has been at large since the group went public, back in 2006, with the defilement of the DC monuments.

The Acolytes form the ring of influence around Cardinal, they owe their allegiance to only Cardinal, and they do not always agree with each other, but try to do what is best for Pantheon for the movement so that they can attain their goal, which at the moment seems simply to defend elites from baseline exploitation, and to counter any baseline actions to curb or limit elite activity.  Pantheon has clashed with Justice Elite, and several other baseline and elite agencies across the globe, on several occasions.  Their general modus operandi for their exploits is that they attack baseline operations, agencies that support baseline exploitation of elites, and threats to the elite way of life.  They are not above using violence and terror to forward their agenda, and see violence against baselines, as most baselines see violence against animals.  A necessity at times, to solve a given problem, for the greater good of the elite species, in the end baselines are the inferior species and are therefore simply tools to be used and disposed of as needed.

*Justice Elite*

_“There are three things you can count on in life, death, taxes, and the Justice Elite.  Anything more then that is just fluff.”_

-	Sarah Miller, Accountant at Vice World Banking

_“Why do we exist?  We exist for one purpose, to better our fellow man, and I want everyone to listen to those words, ‘fellow man’.  We are all in this together, elite, baseline, we all live on this planet, and we will survive and die together, that is the fact of it.  Why did I volunteer to serve my planet, I did it because I have a responsibility to use my gifts in a positive manner, not just for my own immediate benefit.  Like they said in the Spiderman movie, remember that film?  ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’  That is about as best as I can put it in a nutshell…”_

-	Suzuki “Kensei” Kanaka during an interview on 60 Minutes

The cavalry, the good guys, the heroes that make people cry with their unrelenting heroism, the Justice Elite.  Formed August 10th, 2006, after a distinct rise in anti-elite sentiment, the United Nations unveiled Justice Elite to a skeptical public.  But the international team proved to be a great Public Relations boon, and was actually effective, and inspired many world governments to put together their own elite teams, along with private interests.  It should be noted that this was in addition to the more secretive and often Black Ops styled elite teams already in existence at the time.

Justice Elite though, was instantly popular, featuring many of the more popular elites of the time.  The initial roster consisted of Paragon, Kensei, Oracle, Dash, Raptor, and Dr. Stockov.  Of the original roster, two members have been replaced over the intervening seven years.  Dash was killed in action during a particular elite conflict in Belize with a drug cartel employing mercenary elites.  Raptor retired, having been critically injured in a battle with Pantheon Acolyte, Razor in the fall of 2013.  Atlas joined the team shortly after Dash’s death, and in early 2014 Redline joined Justice Elite, and has proven to be a rather popular choice with the general populace at large.  Each of the team members is a celebrity in their own right, and the media, making them high profile individuals, often scrutinizes their every move.

Justice Elite though is more then a public relations coup; they are a United Nations sanctioned team for combating elite violence.  That is their primary objective, and they serve to maintain peace throughout the world, especially areas that lack nationally sanctioned elite teams.  But even Justice Elite cannot be everywhere, and the organization works with both the United Nations Defense Force, and member nations to quell the threat of elite violence.  Though rivalries have cropped up over time between the Justice Elite and various nationally sanctioned elite teams, outright violence has to this point been avoided.  Justice Elite also does many humanitarian projects and efforts; such as the terraforming of the Sahara Desert, assisting in the construction of the first human inhabited orbital expected to be completed in late 2015, and the massive international effort to rebuild Japan and the surrounding region after the Tokyo Quake of 2012.  They act as ambassadors of the United Nations as well, and fulfill many different public roles, using their popularity to sway international opinion.  Since the creation of Justice Elite, the United Nations influence and power has increased greatly, and it is a world power in and of itself.  The UN Intervention of 2011, forced the United States to back down, and allow diplomatic negotiations resolve a nasty matter between the US and China, which ended in no bloodshed.  Since that time, the United Nations has become a force to reckon with, and the United States has shown some resentment to the opposition it faced during the 2011 Negotiations, but so far relations have remained amicable.  Though it should be noted that Justice Elite does not have law enforcement powers on United States soil, they must cooperate with local jurisdiction and authorities.

Currently Justice Elite is looking to expand, and the first step in that process is Justice Elite: Beta, a second tier team to deal with smaller threats, to free up more time for the main team to handle what needs to be handled.   Justice Elite: Beta works on the same principles as the original team, but consists of fairly new elites who have yet to make their mark on the world.  This move was done for two reasons, the first is to free up time for the main team, but also to bring fresh faces to the scene and expand the United Nations influence.  Justice Elite: Beta is just the beginning, the eventual plan is to have Justice Elites in major regions of the world, each team international in makeup to express the United Nations view of a United Earth.  This is a long scope plan, but is being tested with Justice Elite: Beta, if it works as planned, several Gifted Elite Institutes are planned to further educate elites on the proper usage of their abilities, to maintain the safety of themselves and those around them.  These institutes would again serve a twofold purpose, to educate young elites, and to form a pool from which to recruit for future Justice Elite teams.

The general populace of the world recognizes Justice Elite as heroes, they work tirelessly to defend the weak, and work to better everyone’s lot in life.  They are the good guys, the marketing, merchandising, and franchising of Justice Elite supports this.  They make the news, they are the news, and everyone wants to know what they will do next.  Justice Elite is simply a team of men and women gifted with abilities who are trying to do the right thing, despite the politics involved, they earnestly believe they are the good guys.  Besides each of them makes an easy six-figure salary with several perks.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Important Characters of the Legacy Universe*

*Justice Elite*

*Paragon (PL 16):* Paragon is perhaps one of the most powerful elites on the planet, perhaps only because he is one of the earliest of the elites to come onto the scene.  He is a household name, and is an advocate for elites to live peaceably with baselines, and works tirelessly to defend those that can’t defend themselves.  But this is his exterior, he is very much into saving people, but he is a terribly vain hero, who expects to be listened to, and believes he is the authority on how Justice Elite should work.  He is the team leader for Justice Elite, and is a virtual icon synonymous with the team.  Despite his arrogance and pride, he does do good work for the people, and hopes to do so for some time to come.

*Vanessa “Redline” Wilson (PL 12):* Vanessa, better known as Redline, is the resident speedster of Justice Elite, she is also the youngest member, and has a bad girl attitude which has made her instantly popular with both young men, and young women.  She is a fashion conscious woman, and loves to be seen, and enjoys the attention she gets for being apart of Justice Elite.  When not out doing work for Justice Elite, she is typically doing modeling shoots, and promoting her clothing line, Redline Threads.  She is a speed freak and owns several expensive fast cars.  She is flighty in attitude and changes her men just as fast as she runs.  She looks up to Paragon, and sees him as an excellent team leader, despite not being able to work her charms on him.  Redline is inhumanly fast, she has been clocked at breaking the sound barrier with ease, and is even able to vibrate her body so quickly that she can slide through solid structures.

*Suzuki “Kensei” Kanaka (PL 14):* Hailing from the still recovering Japan islands, Kanaka is an old standby of Justice Elite.  He is called the sword-saint by his people, because of his ability to generate an energy blade by sheer force of will, as a matter of fact, Kanaka has excellent mastery of light energy, and can immolate his form in a licking glowing light which causes damage to any that touch him.  This energy is barely contained in his frame and energy occasionally arcs across his body in strands, growing in intensity when he is angered.  Kanaka is a focused man in his late twenties, and a kenjutsu master, and an excellent swordsman.  He and Paragon though have their differences, he sees Paragon as a vain, and arrogant bastard who cares more for his image then the team.  While Paragon views Kanaka as a hothead who is always riding the fence of reliability.  After the Tokyo Quake of 2012, Kanaka lost his wife and child to the damage and the fallout of the natural disaster.  His performance has suffered slightly, but in the end, he has become more focused to the mission at hand, and has taken Redline under his wing, seeing potential in the young girl.

*Doctor Petrova Stockov (PL 14):* Eschewing tradition, Dr. Stockov has no codename, and perhaps one of the most brilliant minds on the planet.  Outside of her incredible genius, she has patented nearly 300 unique devices since her latent elite powers manifested.  She is a master gadgeteer, and a very capable scientist.  She is responsible for the hardsuit technology used by the United Nations Defense Force, which far outclassed the United States designed, powered suit concept.  Dr. Stockov is a visionary, and tends to be one of the most aloof of Justice Elite, but is often present on many of the Science Boards held by the UN Scientific Advancement Council (UNSAC), as they determine technology that will improve the general standard of living, and eliminating any technology that may be deemed as harmful or unethical.

*Magdalena “Oracle” Olivera (PL 13):* Where Redline is the bad girl of the team, Magdalena, Oracle to her fans, is the elegant Latin beauty, with the captivating eyes, and a force of will that makes men and women melt in her hands.  She is a powerful psychic force, and is capable of great telekinetic abilities.  Magdalena was a supermodel before her latent powers manifested, and she was already a celebrity before she joined Justice Elite.  Now she works to further her popularity, and also spends time doing humanitarian work in her native Brazil, where she is a national hero.  Oracle is genteel, and sophisticated, and her manner is disarming, and charming.  She is the second in command of Justice Elite, by sheer force of personality.

*Atlas (PL 13):* The massively strong elite named Atlas is a living mass of stone, given form and function.  He stands at about thirteen feet in height, and gifted with incredible superhuman strength.  Not much is known about Atlas’ past, but he is a favorite among the fans of Justice Elite.  The tough non-nonsense elite is a powerhouse capable of dishing out and sustaining incredible levels of punishment.  Atlas is a long time fixture of the team, and also recently the star of a highly successful action film based on his exploits, where he starred himself.  Despite his popularity, his alien appearance, does keep him distanced from baselines, and more and more he finds more and more in common with some of the beliefs of Pantheon, though he won’t admit this to himself.  For now he is loyal to the cause, for now at least.


*Justice Elite: Beta*

*Malcolm Stamos (PL 6):* Malcolm Stamos is an enhanced baseline; his genes have been enhanced with elite genomes, granting him a stronger immune system, and increased endurance and strength.  Though the project was canned when it was found that enhanced baselines became addicted and dependent upon an infusion of the elite genome weekly.  A street version of this genome has made its way to the streets, and now many gangs and soldiers of petty dictators are boosting.  Malcolm though, the patriot that he is, has worked with Justice Elite since its inception August 10th, 2007.  Malcolm is a calm man, and prefers to deal with things in a calm manner, after dealing with so many elites over the years he has become accustomed to their quirks, and nothing much phases him nowadays.  He volunteered to head up the newly created Justice Elite: Beta, and has an admirable job in assembling a team of young elites, and training them to be ambassadors for the United Nations, and for the Justice Elite namesake.  Malcolm was a trained soldier in the United States Army, and worked for Spec Ops.  His military training and knowledge have proved invaluable, time and time again.



*Pantheon*

*Cardinal (PL 16):* The enigmatic leader of Pantheon, one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in existence, is the demagogue who speaks of elite superiority.  Though she sees things very differently from the UN and Justice Elite.  This is a crusade against baseline tyranny, against the unjust exploitation of elites by baselines.  She first exploded onto the scene in 2006, just after the announcement that the UN had come to the conclusion that elites had all the same rights and privileges of baselines.  Her then small cadre of followers led a daring raid on Washington DC, and defiled several national monuments as a show of disapproval of baseline acceptance.  The relatively harmless act quickly escalated as each of the members of the board that conferred on the International Council of Elite Rights was assassinated or disappeared.

She renounces the fact that any baseline should have to justify the rights of the more superior elites as blasphemy.  Her acolytes spread her word, and she has many elite sympathizers who understand her position, though many of those would never publicly admit that stance.  Cardinal is public enemy number one in many eyes, and all searches by both baseline and elite authorities have turned up nothing on her whereabouts, but she is rumored to be at least as powerful Paragon.  Her known powers are a mystery, and she makes few if any public appearances, though from the few times she has appeared on screen, it is known that she is female and rather attractive with white hair, and robes.  She is attributed with powers that deal with manipulating the fundamental building blocks of the known universe.

*Hidalgo Valdez (PL 9):* A public sympathizer of Pantheon, he is considered a Charlie Class Elite, and although he manifested his powers some time ago, he seems more interested in his social life, then training and mastering his abilities.  He has superhuman charm, and an uncanny ability to manipulate probability and fate, making him a rather lucky fellow.  His power has a negative effect on his enemies, he usually makes a killing when he goes gambling, and is an avid sportsman and gentle man.  Hidalgo likes the philosophy of the Pantheon; it suits his attitude of natural superiority.  He always believes he was meant for the finer things in life, and being the heir to a multi-billionaire dynasty is something he rather enjoys.  He is a victim of “Old Money” and loves it.

*Razor (PL 14):* A trained killer, a sociopath, and a religious zealot, all bad combinations in the case of Razor.  Razor has been with Pantheon since they went public.  The brooding British elite is the most popular Pantheon elite in the eyes of the people.  The general populace just loves to hate him, disturbed youths want to emulate him, and the Justice Elite want him as badly as they want Cardinal.  Razor though is not the most powerful Acolyte, just one of the more vocal of the core Pantheon leaders.  Razor has the ability to turn his whole body into liquid metal, making him a literal living weapon.  He can shape his limbs into weapons, usually long blades, but he can craft blunt weapons as well.  His sense of style, has started a whole youth movement, not too mention his continued love of producing music, his underground band is widely popular in Europe and in the United States, and is gaining popularity in Japan.  Despite his popularity, razor is a killer pure and simple, a warrior for the cause, elite freedom and justice, and nothing will stop him from achieving that goal.  Razor is best known for his crippling of Raptor in the fall of 2012 in downtown Seoul, one of the most watched televised moments in history.  Razor is also linked to murders all across the globe of baseline activists who want to place restrictions or force elites to be registered with the Un or their respective governments.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Legacy Issue #1*

*Legacy Issue #1
The Big Hit- Part 1*

_June 16th, 2014 approximately 1300 hour, Japan local time_

Justice Elite: Beta Tower looms over the city of Neo-Tokyo, constructed after the Tokyo Quake of 2012, it stands as a bright monument to the human spirit of resolve and determination.  JEB Tower is also home to the world newest team of elites, Justice Elite: Beta.  The team currently consists of four members; Order, Identity, Roundhouse, and Black Charger.

Order, born Svetlana Marinav,  is the de facto leader of the team, she hails from Moscow, orphaned though for her elite talents.  She grew up quickly, and has a no-nonsense attitude, she is all business nearly all the time.  She possesses superhuman strength, and is capable of great leaping and also generating a powerful shockwave by punching the ground with her fists.  Upon her fists she wears gauntlets crafted for her by her mentor Raptor, which greatly enhance her damage potential.  Recently Dr. Petrova Stockov created a suit of armor for Order that grants her flight, and great defensive protection.  She is a fierce enemy of Razor, a Pantheon Acolyte who paralyzed her mentor, Raptor nearly two years ago in a battle in Seoul.  She hunts for him, and hopes to bring him to justice one day.

The shapeshifter of the team is Identity, also known as Thomas Heart, he is a cool silent man, with incredible shapeshifting and mimicking ability.   He is capable of becoming just about anyone he meets, and can increase his size to over ten feet in height, and is also capable of shrinking to the size of rodents.  He is the voice of the team, and is a charismatic elite, with a face that people just love.

Hailing from the Bronx, Roundhouse also known Joshua Orlando, is a skilled elite martial artists with incredible dexterity and superhuman wisdom.  He has mastered ninjitsu and has fused the respected martial art with his incredible abilities to create a fairly acrobatic style that keeps his opponents guessing, and always gives him the edge.  His upbringing has made him tough though, a poor street kid with little chances, he first was contacted by Pantheon.  But Joshua wanted no part of any organization, until ran afoul of the law.  He was given two choices, join the JEB and turn his life around or go to jail for a long time.  So far Roundhouse thinks he made the right choice.

The final member of the team is Black Charger, a Chinese born thug, who has a distinct hatred for the press, and seems to hate drawing attention to himself, though he had a knack for getting himself into really bad situations. Sam Xiao, Black Charger, despite his gruff exterior was a man who wanted to help people, and not see innocents suffer.  He just didn’t like the press, he didn’t like the press at all.  He has the ability to change into a black obsidian form, and absorb and deflect most attacks.

Currently as the scene opens on the Justice Elite: Beta, Identity was off in Africa doing Public Relations work amidst the current situation with the Congo Protectorate leader, Adaba Adid, and his growing army in the region.  His territory after several successful invasions now consists of the southern half of Africa, though in the last year due to United Nations sanctions his territory has not increased, and a fierce Demilitarized Zone has been establish along the Congo Protectorate border, and war is believed to break out any time, as negotiations become more tense.

The rest of the team was in the midst of a training simulation started by Order, as she continued to prepare for her final confrontation with Razor.  Both Black Charger and Roundhouse tagged along to work on the team’s combat skills as a unit.  Just as the fighting was getting intense, Malcolm Stamos, JEB Control sent a message to the remaining team to report to his office, it seems that Justice Elite: Beta was about to be given their first real mission.

The three elites, not given a choice to finish their training, report to Malcolm, who is quite eager to see his young team put into the field.  Malcolm speaks, “Welcome, looks like all the training and work is about to pay off, Justice Elite: Beta is about to go live folks, the big boys are headed to the Congo Protectorate, and it seems that we need you all to fill in and do some public relations work in Barcelona.  Yeah, tough job, I know, sun, shopping, and beautiful Latin women.  First off you have to attend a fashion show held by Ivana Renoir, the premier elite fashion designer out of France.  And she just happens to be both sexy, and all artistic.  Anyways, after that you will attend the opening of the Barcelona Gifted Elite Institute, on behalf of the United Nations, and of course Justice Elite: Beta.   Pretty simple, just smile for the camera, and use the training we have given you, and all should be fine.”

There first mission, and they were relegated to doing Public Relations work, though the location as rather pleasant, Barcelona would be a nice vacation for the team.  At east it would break up the monotony of training, and the normal routine around JEB Tower.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Legacy Issue #1*

*The Big Hit- Part 2*

Outside of that the flight was uneventful, and the team landed in Barcelona in the morning.  The press was out in force, and the team strutted out in their black uniforms with purple and white lettering, the standard uniform of the JEB, though each tailored to the specific elite to show off their given personality or nature.  Order kept her self-dignified and strayed from answering questions, while Roundhouse showed off his latest girl, and she was equally proud to be on the elite’s arm.  Black Charger put on his wide brim hat and walked out shoving the press out of his way, he didn’t have time for the fools, and just wanted to get to the matter at hand.  Of course questions were flying about Roundhouse’s new lady, it was a good day to be an elite.  The team despite themselves enjoyed the time to be in the spotlight.

They met their Barcelona contact, a Justice Elite Associate by the name of Victor Ortiz, he was in charge of making sure the team had their needs tended to and that everything went smoothly, as far making it to their appointments and such.  He handed each of them an itinerary, which consisted of a press conference later in the day, a tour of a school for elite youths on the following day, following that a fashion show by Ivana Renoir, and then finally on the day after the official opening of the Barcelona Gifted Elite Institute.  Thankfully after the press conference they would have the rest of the day to relax and have some fun.

Victor ushered the team to their five star hotel, Palacio Beatifico, and each given a suite with all the amenities.  They did not have long to rest, as they had to appear at a press conference, which they were not looking forward to.  But because of their position, they had little choice…

The hush in the large hall was immense as Victor Ortiz introduced the three heroes, and then opened the floor to questions.  The first reporter stood, after being recognized by Order, “Miguel Sanchez, Barcelona Chronicle, is it true that the only reason Justice Elite is not present is because they are tied up with the war effort in Africa?”

Black Charger replied gruffly, “Yeah, so what.”

Order sighed, and spoke up, “The reason we are present here is because, the United Nations felt it was time for Justice Elite: Beta to represent the Justice Elite name.  As you all know, the creation and implementation of JEB has been a long progress in the making, with our team now in existence we can take some of the weight off of the shoulders of the Justice Elite, and hopefully increase our capability to deal with more threats to the world population, and perhaps even give them some time to unwind.  Even elites need a vacation.”

Another reporter stood, “Josh Cartwright of CNN, is it true that one of the current members of Justice Elite: Beta has or has had ties with Pantheon, and also what is your stance on the Pantheon phenomenon?”

Order took a moment to collect herself before replying, as Roundhouse squirmed ever so slightly, “Well to answer your first question, I know that myself, and I am sure my two comrades have had no contact with Pantheon that could be considered favorable.  We stand against their ideals, we stand against their way of life, and I find it abhorrent that you would suggest one of my companions would be in league with such miscreants.  There is no truth to such a rumor.  As far as our stance on Pantheon, that should be quite obvious, by now.”

Josh nodded and replied quickly, “Well what do you have to say about Razor, and the song he recently released on the net?”

“What song?” Order replied sharply.

“The One that got Away…” the CNN reporter replied matter of flatly.

Order scowled, “I would have to say, I hate it on principle alone,” she turned to the camera pointed scowling, “and Razor I know you are out there, you can’t hide forever, I will find you, and bring you to justice.”

The CNN reporter sat down, as Roundhouse recognized a perky Japanese woman.  She stood and spoke, “Hamada Sakura, Japanese Allied Press, I had two questions, first the inquiring public would like to know about this mystery woman you arrived with?”

Roundhouse smirked, “Just a friend, I care for her more then most, but she is just a friend, your second question?”

Sakura replied, “Where do you stand on the stance of Spanish Industrialist Eduardo Valentino and his controversial proposal to enforce registration of all elites, worldwide with the United Nations?”

Roundhouse lost his candor, “I think it is crap, plain and simple.  I mean who does he think he is, I mean is he trying to say we are not human?  What is the point of it, that is what I want to ask him!”

The reporter replied, “Well according to his comments at the UN, and I quote ‘elites pose a potential danger to baselines, it is imperative that we identify all elites so as to better stay abreast of their numbers and capabilities, as pantheon has shown, these elites if they so choose can strike anywhere and anytime,’ end quote.”

“Humph, is that it, that is a load of crap.  He is infringing on my rights, as a human being, and I say he should register himself for being a jackass!” Roundhouse replied.

Order tried to smooth things over, “What I would like to say is that we at Justice Elite, believe that democracy will prevail, and in the end we should leave such a matter in the hands of the general populace at large, and see how things play out.”

"Thank you, Order, but I would like to hear the rest of Roundhouse’s comments,” the reporter replied.

Roundhouse smirked slightly, “Basically what it comes down to, is that we are all human, sure I am an elite, but I am a human being first.  And it pisses me off that someone would try to take my rights away from me, so yeah I am against it, all the way.”

Sakura sat down, and the rest of the press conference continued on without a hitch.  The team answered the questions in turn, and put on a great show for the press, dodging the tougher questions, as needed, but finally the ordeal was over.  The team finally got some downtime, at least until the morrow.  The team scattered to the three winds; Order went to do research on some past foes, Black Charger went to find some underground fighting, and Roundhouse decided that it was time to find a new girl.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Legacy Issue #1*

*The Big Hit- Part 3*

After literally throwing the young girl out, Roundhouse began to call around to find a place to go skydiving, once he secured some jump time, he left the hotel and went out to find himself a new girl.  During this time, Order after some thorough research turned up some data on a past opponent, a Pantheon agent named Phase, a woman the power to become incorporeal, and skilled in breaking and entering.  Order grimaced after finally putting a name to a face that haunted her for sometime, and decided to relax by patrolling the area around their hotel.  

Across town, at a seedy bar, Black Charger had tracked down an underground fighting ring, and was able to get access to the arena by greasing the palm of the owner.  It did not take him long to get in of the action, and he was able to get into a match against a tough baseline thug, that he easily won, without a scratch.  The fighters called Black Charger an elite, though he had yet to use his abilities.  The fighters attacked him en masse, but thanks to incredible toughness he was able to fight them off, and stumbled out of the place without a scratch, quite an adventure for the elite.

Roundhouse though was having better luck, having found a bar, which doubled as a dance club as well called the Coco-Bongo.  It was a high-class kind of place, with waiting lists, good liquor, and very fine women.  Roundhouse though found his eyes settling on one woman in particular; a white haired beauty wearing knee high white stilettos and a skintight white jumpsuit, she glanced over at him with her blue eyes.  Roundhouse found what he was looking for.  He bought her some drinks, and eventually struck up a conversation with the young woman, who instantly recognized him from the press conference earlier in the morning.  She introduced herself as Sachana, in English though her voice was accented as if from Western Europe.  They spoke about Roundhouse’s fiery speech at the press conference, Sachana in particular seemed very impressed by his words, and his sense of character, if only she knew.

Roundhouse sensing that he had the woman where he wanted her, invited her to go skydiving.  She agreed wholeheartedly, and the two were off to go and enjoy the freedom of falling.  Roundhouse decided it would be best if they “tandem” jumped, and Sachana agreed.  The two jumped, harnessed together, and fell through the air, beautifully.  The city and coast of Barcelona was visible even in the fading light of the setting sun, but not all things go as planned.  Roundhouse deployed his parachute, though instead of the usual jerk back, he heard a snap, and looked back to see the parachute flying away, and the two of them still falling!  He frantically pulled the safety but it failed to deploy, as he braced himself for impact, the ground racing towards them.  He clenched his teeth prepared for the worst, and felt the two of them stop just before impact.

“Aren’t we supposed to be slowing down now?” Sachana replied slyly.

“Well, yeah, don’t worry about it, Roundhouse hurriedly replied.

Just as the two were about to impact to the ground, they both stopped in mid-air, Sachana laughed slightly, “I don’t think that was part of your plan, right?”

Roundhouse gulped, “Uh yeah, well had some difficulties, but I had it under control,” as the floated down and landed on the ground.

Sachana smiled, “That was a fun time, but I have to get going, maybe I could call you some time?”

Roundhouse being the smooth operative that he is simply nodded dumbly, and then sputtered out his number, “Uh yeah, give me a call sometime.”

Sachana continued to smile, and kissed him on the cheek and then the lips and flew off into the night sky, leaving Roundhouse all alone.  Meanwhile back at the hotel, Order returned from her patrol, and found a video message waiting for her.  She played the video message, it was  an emergency message from Malcolm!

“Order, this is an emergency message, I just got word that a Pantheon agent has been spotted in Barcelona, I have attached a video feed to the message.  Review the video footage, and report back to me as quickly as you can,” the message was quick and to the point.  The attached video feed showed a lithe woman with white hair and shades walking through the aerodyne port, on the side of the fee, was informational data about the suspect.  She was a pantheon agent, Synapse, an elite with strong mental abilities, and was capable of mounting a mental assault upon her enemies and had incredible telekinetic ability.  She was considered a Charlie Class threat, and that the team should use caution in approaching her.

Order called up both Roundhouse, and Black Charger, and told them that they needed to report back to the hotel immediately.  Things just got interesting, Pantheon was in the area.  Once Roundhouse and Black Charger were brought up to speed, Order asked, “So any thoughts or questions?”

Roundhouse squirmed slightly, “Well I think I might have had a run-in with the enemy, totally innocent mind you.  I got her drinks, we chatted and went skydiving; you know normal stuff.”

Both Order and Black Charger turned and looked at Roundhouse, “What!?”

“Hey , how was I supposed to know she was working for Pantheon, I was just trying to find me a hot date.  Synapse knows we are in town, but I doubt that my meeting her would have changed that, our faces are all over the news for one reason or another,” he replied.

Order sighed, “Well let’s call Malcolm and find out if knows anything more.”

Malcolm appeared on the video screen, “Thanks for returning my call Order, sorry to interrupt your vacation like this, but we don’t take the presence of Pantheon agents lightly.”

“Well what do you want us to do?” Black Charger replied, puffing on a cigar.

“I mean do we go in and apprehend her?   Or is there some other reason why she would be here?” Roundhouse added.

Malcolm gathered his thoughts then spoke, “We believe her presence may be tied to Eduardo Valentino, his views are counter the Pantheon philosophy.  We think he may be a target for assassination, Pantheon has done it before, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they did it again.”

“So you think they are going to go after Eduardo Valentino, looks like we need to track him down and quickly,” Order replied.

“He should be at the Fashion Show tomorrow, so there is a start, and he maintains a residence in the vicinity of Barcelona.  Both should give you pretty of leads, to go on.  Now I am aware of how some of you feel about Eduardo Valentino, and his views but you are Justice Elite: Beta first, and this is what we do.  We protect people, sometimes people we do not agree with, got that!”

Roundhouse grimaced, “Affirmative, read you loud and clear.”

Order smirked at the chiding, and continued, “Alright Malcolm, we will handle this on our end, you keep us posted if anything else comes up.”

Malcolm nodded in reply, “Good luck,” as the video feed ended.

The team conferred for a few moments before deciding that it was high time that they checked out the convention center where the fashion show would be held.  Roundhouse though wanted to check out the Coco-Bongo once more to see if he could drag up any clues about Sachana, he would meet up with them at the convention center once his business was concluded.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Legacy Issue #1*

*Big Hit- Part 4*

Roundhouse was able to get back into the Coco-Bongo still early in the evening, about 1700 hours local time.  He parked his Lamborghini out front, one of the perks of working for Justice Elite: Beta was the six-figure salary.  The place was filled with the regulars, as he made his towards the bar, “Scotch on the rocks please.”

“Welcome back, I see you walked out of here with that female earlier, back so soon, you must be quite the playboy,” the bartender replied in smooth Spanish.

“Well I have my ways compadre, I have my ways, but I really wanted to know is if, this woman came here alone, or well if she was here with friends?” Roundhouse replied.

“She came alone amigo, I know cause I was thinking about trying to get her attention myself, but alas, I just couldn’t the chica to bite, eh?  Not like you, why you ask?” he replied.

“Just wondering, tell yah what if anything comes to light in your head, give me a call,” Roundhouse finished his drink and slid his number, and about $2,000 U.S., over to the bartender, “call me if you hear anything, about this woman.”

The bartender smiled, “Don’t worry mi amigo I got you covered.”

Meanwhile back at the convention center, Black Charger decided to walk in the front and get himself acquainted with the local workers, diligently trying to finish the last bit of work for the fashion show.  Order decided to check the roof, landing and using her preternatural senses to sniff the air, thankfully her keen senses sensed another person in the area.  A woman by the smell, Order dropped down closest to the smell only to see a woman of Chinese descent slide through the roof into the building below.  Order cursed, it was the Pantheon agent known as Phase, a past opponent, and a rained killer with the ability to turn her body incorporeal, and still attack her targets via her ghost pistols, twin magnums she used with extreme prejudice.

Order flew from the roof and into the convention center via a side window, smashing her way through in typical Order style.  The workers inside all looked up and instantly recognized the new hero, some claiming they even had her poster, but Order was not up for a public appearance, this was all business.  Order shouted to the workers to flee the building, as she watched Phase continue down through the air right behind Black Charger, smiling mockingly.  

Order shouted, “Behind you!”

Black Charger spun around, “What, what!” he turned back to Order, “I don’t see anything!”

“She went through the floor, I am going to chase her down!” Order replied flying towards the doorway that lead to the basement.

Black Charger sighed, and continued to make sure all the workers got outside, alright.  Meanwhile downstairs in the darkly lit basement storage area, Order tried to stalk Phase, in the darkness via scent.  Feeling that she might be out of her element Order called Black Charger, “Get down here right now, I need your help!”

Black Charger, shifted into his obsidian form and smashed through the floor, dropping right into a large storage area filled with crates.  Black Charger looked around, using his blind sight to keep him abreast of his surroundings.  He felt the cool steel of a pistol on the back of his head, “Justice Elite, eh, you guys are a bunch of amateurs,” the husky female voice replied in broken English.

Black Charger spun around, his obsidian fist passing right through Phase as she lurched back firing her pistols in quick succession, both shots hit home, but thankfully Black Charger was able to absorb one of the blasts, and boost up his regenerative abilities as the other bullet struck home more true, biting into his chest.  Black Charger rushed forward trying to punch the ghost-like elite, but was unable to connect, as she continued to fire shots into his chest, most not having an effect besides keeping the tough elite off-balance, though he used his form to deflect quite a few shots.

Order shattered the wall as she rushed into the storage room and engaged Phase again unable to hurt the woman, lacking any attack that could harm the ghost-like elite.  Meanwhile Roundhouse pulled up in the parking lot, only to see complete chaos, as the workers rushed out of the building, curiously he stopped to question one, “Hey what is going here?”

“Justice Elite: Beta is in there, they told us to evacuate, but I am not sure why, you better go too!” the man replied.

“Well I left something inside, I have to find it,” as Roundhouse began to sense something not quite right about the stranger.

“I don’t think so,” as the man changed his frame into that of pure stone, and swung his massive fist at the agile elite.  Roundhouse danced out of the way of the granite-like elite as he retaliated with a spinning kick to the head, only to see the elite smile.  His attack did not affect the granite warrior at all.  He followed up the attack with a spinning, leaping kick, but still nothing.  The massively strong elite countered with a powerful punch, but once again the nimble Roundhouse, spun away from the attack.

Back in the basement, Order decided that another plan of attack was needed.  She flew upwards through the ceiling , and then through the roof, and still higher as she looked down on the scene below.  She spotted Roundhouse in vicious combat with the granite-like elite and decided that she would go to help him out.  Meanwhile Phase seeing that it would be tough going against Black Charger fled upwards through the ceiling as well, leaving Black Charger to rush back upstairs and towards the parking lot where the melee would become intense indeed.

Between Order and Roundhouse, the granite elite stood no chance, the both of them pummeled him into unconsciousness, as Phase rose up and began firing her pistols at Roundhouse.  Not surprisingly, the agile martial artist spun in the air, easily evading the hail of spectral gunfire.  Order continued to pummel the dazed granite-like elite, after noticing his wounds continued to heal no matter what kind of punishment he was placed under.  

It was about then that the police showed up on the scene, though powerless to stop the fight, they hoped that they could keep it from getting out of hand.  An aerodyne owned by CNN circled overhead while a similar police aerodyne circled as well.  Justice Elite: Beta was being filmed live, over the CNN news video feed.  Roundhouse trying to put the massively tough granite-like hero away rushed towards a police car, jumped on the hood using it as a makeshift spring board and used his incredible leaping abilities for a wrestling like elbow maneuver, though impressive in appearance had little effect on the tough elite.  Phase turned her attention to Order and let the bullets fly, injuring the elite heroine with her spectral bullets.  Black Charger, rushed out the front door into the melee, just as Synapse made her untimely appearance descending from the sky, taking in the scene.  The stage was set for an out and out brawl.

Black Charger focused his attentions on Phase at first, but was still unable to hurt her, as she simply smiled at the obsidian elite.  She smiled seeing Synapse arrived and unleashed more bullets into the chest of Black Charger, to little effect but kept the elite off balance.  Synapse tried to use her mental powers on Roundhouse, but the stalwart hero was able to shake off the attack, with ease, his mind much tougher then he looked.  

Phase shouted to Synapse, “Get them off Granite, I can handle these amateurs!”

Granite, the aptly named granite-like elite, continued to struggle under the assault of Order, as she finally knocked him out with a swift punch from her hardened gauntlets.  Granite folded under the blow, and he laid on the ground, breathing, but out cold.  Phase seeing Granite go down, focused her attacks on Order, but the Russian elite’s armor kept her safe from any actual harm.  Black Charger acted, seeing the threat from Synapse, he picked up a delivery truck and chucked it at the floating Pantheon agent.  The truck exploded around Synapse, as she shielded herself using her telekinetic force field to great effect.  Despite the blast, she was still alive, without a scratch.  Roundhouse decided to get flashy and rushed forward leapt onto a light post and bounced high into the air doing a makeshift bicycle kick at Synapse, her force field though protected her from any serious harm.  She turned her attention to Black Charger and fried his mind, with her intense mental blast as she continued to press the assault.  Order flew upwards, surging forward with purpose as she slammed her gauntlets into  Synapse, but was unable to break the powerful psychic’s concentration.  Synapse pressed the assault on the now unconscious Black Charger, as Phase focused her ghost-pistols on Roundhouse who still evaded with excellent skill.  Roundhouse though not undaunted leapt into the air using Order as a brace he leapt out and tried to grab and fling Synapse to the ground using his momentum, but the maneuver failed in bringing the psychic crashing to Earth.  But he broke her concentration, as Roundhouse dropped back down to the ground.  Synapse turned her attention to Order, as she flew upward another thirty feet, and broke Order’s will with ease frying the elite’s mind with a mental assault, causing the elite to fall from the sky, and crash down towards the earth.

Synapse called out, “Time to retreat Phase, leave Granite, we can’t save him.”

Phase nodded in reply as Black Charger shrugged off unconsciousness and rushed towards Phase using every last ounce of effort he had.  Amazingly his strike punched into her body sending the incorporeal assassin reeling.  She quickly fled through the ground, as Synapse flew high into the sky, as Order recovered from the mental assault.  

The heroes of the day, quickly apprehended Granite, and allowed the local authorities to handle putting him in custody, as they contemplated several questions in their minds.  It was time that they consulted with Malcolm once more, and took a well-needed rest, it was not surprising that each elite retreated to their respective rooms, for a dip in the Jacuzzi.  Things just got interesting.

_The conclusion is on its way..._


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## Tokiwong (Mar 17, 2003)

*Legacy Issue #1*

*The Big Hit- Part 5*

Back in Neo-Tokyo after receiving the information from the JEB, and watching CNN, and consulting the Intel of the Justice Elite, Malcolm decided that perhaps the team needed their resident shapeshifter, Identity.  Luckily the elite had just return from Africa, and was put on an aerodyne right away for Barcelona.  Identity arrived in country about five hours later, after arriving he was quickly ushered over to the hotel, arriving just as the rest of team was convening after taking a little break from all the action earlier in the day.

The current time was about 2200 local time, as they brought Identity up to speed on the recent events of the day.  They were in the midst of the conversation when Roundhouse’s cell phone began to ring, he quickly reached down and answered it, “Uh hello, Roundhouse here.”

“So this number does work,” Synapse’s voice replied back smoothly, “seems like you went and made things complicated.”

“I don’t think so, you’re the one trying to kill people, remember,” Roundhouse retorted.

“You know he is against us, do you think it is going to stop when they pass that ridiculous act to enforce elite registration?” she replied back to him.

The rest of the team watched tensely as Roundhouse scowled, “That isn’t the point, we can’t speculate on that, and besides it isn’t my place to be judge, jury, and executioner.”

Order scowled, “I want to talk to her!  Give me the phone.”

Roundhouse raised his hand for her to stop talking and waited for Synapse to reply.  There was a slight pause before she spoke, “I guess you have made your choice, weak minded fool, I hope you enjoy working for your baseline masters.”

Roundhouse sighed and tossed the phone to Order who shouted into the phone, “Now listen here, you’re the one.. that is-“ the phone went dead before she could finish her tirade.

Order tossed the phone back to Roundhouse, “She is gone.”

Black Charger smirked, “How about we just use the Caller ID and call her back, would that work?”

Roundhouse nodded and called the number, getting the Coco-Bongo.  He spoke to the bartender, but found little useful, besides the fact that the bartender sounded forced in his speech on the phone.  That clenched it for the team, they moved into action; Identity was to pose as Granite, while the rest of the team was going to scout around the place and drag up any details and hopefully take out Pantheon, completely.

Identity arrived at the Coco-Bongo, in the form of Granite in his human form, having used the Justice Elite files to mimic the man’s posture, voice, and even DNA exactly.  He bluffed his way past the doorman, using the age-old technique of money, and made his way into the anterior of the club.  Outside Roundhouse stood in line, trying to see if anyone looked out of the ordinary.  Luckily he spotted Phase rise out of the ground at the entrance to the Coco-Bongo and then sink back into the ground eerily.  Roundhouse smiled, and sent a message to both Order and Black Charger, their quarry was near, and it was time to move.

Black Charger decided to move around to the back, and force his way in that way.  After ripping the lock off, he stepped into the back kitchen and made his way towards the front, easily by-passing the cooks and servants in the back.  As he walked he passed by a plasma screen monitor, where breaking news on CNN was being displayed.  But Black Charger paid it no mind, and made his way towards the main area of the club.

Meanwhile Identity found himself a seat in the corner, and relaxed, so far so good, right?  Just as he started to scan the room he felt the twinge of cold steel against the back of his skull, and a soft whisper in accented Spanish, “I am quite surprised to see you here, Granite.”

Identity replied in Granite’s voice, “You know me, I work fast.”

“Yeah, I guess you do,” she replied with an edge in her voice, “maybe a little too quick, how do I know I can trust you?”

Identity fumbled for some words, and then shifted his shape to look like Granite, in his alternate form, “Does this help?”

“I would have preferred to just shoot you in the back of the head, but I suppose, this will do for now,” Phase replied.

Identity relaxed, “So what is going on?”

Phase floated forward from the wall, causing a ruckus as the club started to form a ring around the two elites.  She solidified for a moment and gave Identity a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks for coming, I trust you can find your own way out, bye,” she replied with a wink.

Identity blinked in confusion as he sat there, and then stood and made his way for the bathroom.  Meanwhile Order continued to watch the Coco-Bongo for any signs of trouble when she received a call from Malcolm.

“What in the hell is going on over there!?” Malcolm shouted.

“What do you mean Malcolm?” she replied.

“Watch the news. Eduardo Valentino is dead, murdered in his home, where the hell are you guys?!” Malcolm replied.

“We are scouting out…” she trailed off, “we are on our way to find pout what happened to Valentino,” she replied.

“You better, this is not the kind of news I like to hear, call me, when you have something to share!” Malcolm replied.

Order called the rest of the team, it was time to regroup, and cut their losses.  The team quickly reconvened back at the hotel, and realized they had been tricked.  Pantheon used simple misdirection on them, so simple yet so effective.  The team decided it was time to visit the Valentino estate, and see if they could drag up any clues about the murder.  When they arrived the place was crawling with Barcelona cops, and even another team of elites, Strike Force 5, based out of Madrid.  Their leader Cavalier, a Spanish super soldier introduced himself and the team to Justice Elite: Beta.  The rest of Strike Force 5 consisted of Red Falcon, a bird-totem hero, Montana, a huge mountain of a man and a powerhouse, Black Ice, an ice elemental hero, and Matador a female speedster.  Also present was a baseline detective, Inspector Vargas, a shady fellow, who seemed to rub just about everyone on the team wrong.  The two teams passed pleasantries and then went about the dirty business of dragging up information about the murder.  

Roundhouse was the first to find something useful, a single white strand,  which they presumed belonged to Synapse.  Order used her incredible senses to sniff out that Synapse was present though there was another scent, not connected to Valentino.  A second unknown assailant.  The team first interviewed the Head Butler, but found he had nothing useful to add, beyond the fact that he did not know what happened.  They then moved on to the security guard on duty at the time of the murder.  The security guard impressed by the presence of Justice Elite: Beta, allowed them to view the video footage of Valentino’s doorway.  The wealthy Industrialist had no actual cameras in his chamber.

The footage seemed normal at first then it went to static for about a minute before it returned to normal.  The security guard blinked, and ran the video once more only to blink again.  The rest of the team simply watched and asked the guard if he had seen this before, at first he tried to lie, but then admitted he had fallen asleep for about thirty minutes on his shift.  The team went through the rest of the interior camera video feeds, and found a disturbing pattern of the cameras going to static for up to a minute before returning to normal.  This coupled with the fact there was no sign of visible entry made the whole murder smell of elite intervention.  They were certain, Synapse was involved but the second party could be anyone’s guess.  Roundhouse had an idea and decided to pay the Coco-Bongo one more visit, while the rest of the team dealt with finding out who the second unknown party was.  Though before he left, Roundhouse did a nice job of picking the inspector’s pockets and coming up with his wallet.

Roundhouse returned to the Coco-Bongo and was all business this time.  He walked right in, in his public persona and walked right up to the bartender.  He was straight forward and direct, and after a few threats of the United Nations shutting his establishment down, the bartender admitted that Synapse had been by the club after Justice Elite: Beta left.  She was with another man, a black male and they met up with Phase and left the place fairly quickly.  Roundhouse was pleased and decided to take the video feed of Synapse’s arrival with him.  On the video feed was also Phase, and unknown black male with blonde hair, he wore shades, that hid his eyes, though electricity seemed to arc down from his eyes, and across his body.  He wore a long black leather trench coat, and steel toed boots.

The group had a face to go with the unknown assailant, and the video feed showed the stranger demonstrating his powers on the camera causing it to go dead.  They had their second assassin, now to only put a name to the face.  Roundhouse called up the team and passed along the fact that he had footage of the second assassin, which was passed on to Malcolm to try and find the name of the elite, and any applicable information.  But the investigation was not over yet, following a hunch, the team did some searching about Inspector Vargas using his wallet, and respective identification to find out anything about him.  They hit pay dirt, a blanket transfer of $10,000 US dollars had been made to his account in the last 24 hours.  They had a suspect, and it was time to capitalize on their small victory.

Identity who had stayed behind at the estate, used his shapeshifting ability to trail Inspector Vargas, and find out just what he could be up to.  At the same time Roundhouse was on his way over to the detective’s home to drop off the wallet, and maybe drag up just a little bit more information.  After allowing the Inspector to get home, after finding out he lost his wallet the two heroes set to work.  Roundhouse snuck around back, and was nearly inside the building when he got spotted by the inspector and ran around the house while the inspector ran outside with his gun, and searched the backyard.  Identity on the other hand simply watched to see what was going on, but not making any move to help or hinder Roundhouse.  Roundhouse picked the locks of the door, and crept inside the home.  He evaded the small kids playing Justice Elite: Beta toys and made his ways upstairs to the bedroom.  He dropped off the wallet and was about to leave when he saw a blinking voice message on the wall monitor.  The inspector’s wife was sleeping and did not notice the stealthy elite as he played the message.

A computerized voice ushered out from the speakers in Spanish, “Excellent job, Inspector, the second half of the payment will be made shortly, once the operatives are out of the country.  Your children’s lives will be spared, you have done well.”

“Pedro, turn that down, I am trying to sleep,” the inspector’s wife groaned, as Roundhouse copied the message and then quickly made his escape.  It seemed that not everything was at it seemed.  Though he still did not know what purpose the Inspector served in the whole plan.

Thankfully the day had come to an end, Roundhouse setup surveillance on the Inspector’s home, via a noisy neighbor, and then returned home, and shared what he had found.  Identity remained behind, but finding nothing of value returned to the hotel, for a well-needed rest.  By morning time, the news was all over the world, and reactions were mixed.  It would take some time for the fallout to fully form, but things were about to get sticky in the political arena.  Meanwhile the team decided to meat with the children of the Barcelona Gifted Elite Institute, and did their best to put their best face forward.  They met with young elites and did their best to put a good face forward.  The kids were impressed to be meeting Justice Elite: Beta, and for a short time, the team really felt like the heroes they were patterned to be.

During the meeting, the team befriended a young elite by the name of Tommy, a super-intelligent boy with limited cyber kinetic abilities, and an incredible hacker, capable of hacking into the JEB databases.  Which he did with ease, for the enjoyment of Identity.  That sparked an idea, and they had the young boy, run the images from the video feed of the unknown elite with Synapse through his system.  In a matter of minutes, Tommy pulled up some information for the team.  The elites was named Jobana Avasa, from Ethiopia, and his elite name was Power-Surge.  He was a considered a delta class elite, and had powers of electricity, EMP, and cyber-kinesis.   The elite was last seen in Italy prior to coming to Barcelona.  The team finally had a name, and promised Tommy to get him a JEB uniform for the kid, making him an honorary member.

Since the convention center was still recovering from the damage done, the team returned back to Neo-Tokyo, only to find another mission waiting for them.  Malcolm nodded grimly as they entered his office, “How do you feel about Hong-Kong?”

Roundhouse replied, “Seems like a good place to me.”

Black Charger nodded smoking a cigar, “I take it that is where we are going next?”

Malcolm replied tossing a dossier across his desk, “Keep your bags packed, you leave tonight for Hong Kong, our boy Power-Surge has turned up there, this time you will be working with the HK Dragons, they know you are on the way.   I suggest you bone up on your Chinese…”

_That concludes the first exciting Issue, join us next time for *I love Wuxia...* in the second exciting issue of Legacy._


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## MnM_UH (Mar 17, 2003)

*Good Job*

I'm glad you were able to start up your own Story Hour.  I'll be keeping an eye on it.  Definitely a good start.

I thought about introducing the world and then starting up the story, but in mine, I decided to just start the story and reveal the world as the story moves along.

Keep it coming.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 21, 2003)

*Background Info*

*Brass Orchid Triad*

_“These guys make Pantheon, look like saints, I am just glad they seem to take out their aggression on everyone, and not just us, baselines…”_

-Tadaka Hikaru, Japanese Businessman 

_“I am a simple business man, I provide a service, and people pay for it.  Perhaps if people were not so, hypocritical they would understand, that I am a true believer in capitalistic economics.  Perhaps my methods are coarse, but in the end it is simply good business…”_

-Tao, during a court hearing

A ruthless criminal organization, many consider them heroes, locally, but many more have felt the swift sting of the Brass Orchid Triad.  The Brass Orchid Triad, existed before the rise of the elites, but they were among the first to adopt the usage of elites and have risen to prominence in Hong Kong, and across Southeast Asia, and into the America’s.  At the heart of the criminal syndicate is the sinister, and mysterious, Silver Hermit, it is known that the leader is an elite, but and is perhaps an omega class.  His closest lieutenants run various operations across the globe, while the Silver Hermit seems content his simple Zen garden and bonsai plants he maintains at his residence in the hills outside of Hong Kong.

Silver Hermit though, is no fool, he just likes to keep his hands clean of any wrong-doing, and in fact his son runs the show, and most believe that the young man Johnny Chen is the fabled Silver Hermit.  Johnny Chen is a canny baseline, and likes to be flashy with his money, and enjoys being a symbol of success.  The syndicate is split into various groups working different regions all answerable to Johnny Chen, and ultimately the true Silver Hermit.  The Boss of Hong Kong is Tao, a ruthless triad enforcer, who forced his way to the top, and now uses his elite abilities to keep a stranglehold on the crime in Hong Kong.  He has many of the cops in his pocket, and nothing makes a move in the underworld without his knowledge.  Recently Vanguard Secure Computing has begun to muscle on his turf, and he has found them to be much tougher then he originally acknowledged them to be.  A turf war is brewing in Hong Kong, and the collateral damage is going to be incredible.

Tao though is an opportunist, and sees a chance to perhaps extend the influence of the Brass Orchid Triad into other circles, and has begun to court freelance mercenary elites, for more firepower so to speak.  He wants to eventually shift some focus from a full crime syndicate to a more legitimate “Problem Solving Agency” though he knows some members of the group may not accept the change.


*Vanguard Secure Computing (VSC)*

_“We don’t make computer software, user-friendly, we make it people-friendly.”_

-VSC Corporate Motto

_“People ask me, if I like what I do?  Of course I do, I am 18 years of age, and own one of the richest companies in the world, I date supermodels, and I get to have fun, what more could you want out of life then that?  Microsoft?  Thing of the past, sure they still sell their OS, but you compare their latest Windows creation against Vanguard and you will see that they have a ways to go.”_

-Vincent T. Vanguard, CEO of Vanguard Secure Computing

Sometimes good things happen to good people, but that wasn’t the case with the burnout genius Vincent T. Vanguard.  A rising star at the age of 13, earned his bachelor’s at age 15, and had a doctorate in Computer Science by the age of 17, his powers had begun to manifest at age 16, and grew into their own by the advent of his 17th birthday.  But there is a darker side to Vincent, a complex of superiority, he believes because of his intellect; he is the superior of just about anyone he meets, unless they can prove themselves the intellectually superior.  Vincent is driven to succeed, and is a thrill seeker by nature, and has turned his attentions to not only making money, but as much money as possible in any venue h believes he can master.  Which is any category, currently he wishes to corner the underground market in illegal cybernetic technology, and furthering studies into Artificial Intelligent systems.

Vincent continues to keep the front that VSC just wants to compete in the cutthroat business of producing Operating Software, but he has moved into producing Cybernetic enhancements and offers them to the highest bidder including a certain dictator of the Congo Protectorate.  He is also busy trying to perfect an advanced AI for use with military applications, a totally artificial soldier with the power of a platoon and the loyalty that only a machine can possess.  Vincent has created limited AI creations but has yet to make something that he is fully proud of, and would consider mass-producing.

Vincent though is not alone, his top cadre of scientists is similarly devoid of morals, and seek scientific advancement for the simple sake of science. But outside of the scientists, there is a ruthless shadow organization within VSC that furthers Vincent’s less then legal ends.  Head by Linda Walsh, CEO of Company Security, she is a baseline, but a very ruthless, crafty baseline.  She is wholly devoted to her work; she keeps her hands clean of any wrongdoing.  She works through intermediaries and sometimes assassins.  She employs several elites on a freelance basis, and well-trained baselines.  She also deploys cybernetic enhanced enforcers to great effect, since they can easily pass for baselines, usually in retaliation to someone who crosses Vincent or VSC in general.

Linda is loyal to Vincent and works out of the company headquarters in San Francisco, and reports directly to Vincent.  Linda is a cold-calculating woman though and not to be trifled with, though her record is quite clean, and she keeps VSC out of hot water by eliminating any threats to VSC both externally and internally.  No one talks badly about VSC without her knowledge, no one.  She is very good at making people disappear, or changing minds, depending on the need.


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## Tokiwong (Mar 27, 2003)

*Part 1*

*Legacy Issue #2
I Love Wuxia*

_June 19th, 2014 approximately 1600 hours, Japan local time_

Justice Elite: Beta had only been back in country for perhaps an hour before another mission was slapped in their laps hot on the heels of their last fiasco.  Jovana Avasa, also known as Power-Surge, had turned up in Hong Kong.  Still no sign of Synapse or Phase, but at least they had a lead.

But before the crew could set out, a new member was added, Washington Carver, who went by the codename of Judas, the name gave even Malcolm some pause but he let it pass.  Judas was capable of generating kinetic force, and was able to generate a force field as well, which would prove useful on the mean streets of Hong Kong.  After a quick introduction, the team set out for Hong Kong, and this time Judas took the reigns, having been a pilot before he signed on with the Justice Elite: Beta.

Approximately three hours later, the team was in country; well at least in Hong Kong.  They landed on HK Tower, where waiting for them was the HK Dragons, a trio of elites sponsored by Hong Kong, and charged with countering elite level threats in Hong Kong.  The leader of the trio, Thunder Dragon, an elite with incredible sonic control, greeted the heroes with a bow, “Welcome to Hong Kong, Justice Elite: Beta.”

Order spoke first, flipping her blonde hair back, “Thank you, the name is Order, and this is Identity, Black Charger, Judas, and Roundhouse.”

Thunder Dragon replied, “Ah, welcome Order, this,” he gestured to a slim Chinese woman, dressed in a stylized jumpsuit, “is Amanda Wu, and the other is Devil Tiger.”

Devil Tiger stood nearly seven in height, and was well muscled with black stripes on his skin and in his hair, his features were feral, and his hands sported sharpened claws, which look quite deadly.  Amanda Wu though, seemed quite casual compared to her two companions.  Thunder Dragon wore a white suit with a blue dragon running down the right side of the suit.

Thunder Dragon spoke, “The one you are looking for, Power Surge, has been spotted in the company of the Brass Orchid Triad, perhaps one of the most ruthless Triads in Hong Kong, and easily the most dangerous.  I would use great care in approaching them, they have elites in their employ, and the Silver Hermit, the leader of this triad is not known for his mercy.”

Black Charger scowled, “Alright, well at least we have a start, not too familiar with the Brass orchid Triad, but we have a start.  Any recommendation on a place to stay?”

Roundhouse grinned, “Looking at something Five Star, myself, no reason to not live in style,” the early morning light gleaming off his shades.

Thunder Dragon nodded, “I know a few places, though it all depends, on your needs.”

Order spoke up, “Something out of the way, and low-key, unlike Roundhouse here, I don’t feel like making a scene.”

Thunder Dragon thought for a moment, “Roundhouse you may enjoy the Gold Dragon Palace hotel, while I know a smaller more discrete place that does not ask too many questions, for the rest of you.”

Order scowled, “The team sticks together, Roundhouse.”

Roundhouse smirked, “I will just be across town, nothing to worry about,” he replied, engaging her fierce stare, before the two could come to blows Judas cleared his throat.

Judas spoke, “Being the new guy, I think we should get our respective rooms, and well Thunder Dragon, any idea on where the Brass Orchid hang out?”

Amanda Wu spoke up, “They often frequent the Midnight Lotus Gentleman’s Club, downtown, that might be a good place to start your investigating.”

Judas thought for a moment, feeling satisfied, grabbed his bags and followed the team as Thunder Dragon gave directions to Roundhouse.  The two teams said their goodbyes, and Justice Elite: Beta was ready to begin another exciting mission in Hong Kong.


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