Issues 8 -

Marisa Donner, great-granddaughter to the Dupont fortune was found missing from her rural Connecticut home late last Friday. Her husband and children had spent the evening at a charity baseball game and arrived to find the home broken into and Mrs. Donner missing. Clues to her whereabouts are being sought by the police.

The group decides to investigate what is happening in Central Park with the closing of the baseball fields. They travel on foot and are accosted by an aggressive agent calling himself Lee Vng Dangerously. Saying that Keranous needs more market exposure to make them into a "real" super heroes, he promises them market exposure. He forces them to accept his offer by not stopping talking until they agree. He then calls a television station and arranges a demonstration to help give the group the "type of exposure they deserve".

While Mr. Dangerously makes arrangements, the group goes to investigate the ball field only to find Lizard and Roach waiting for someone. Hiro asks for the device he knows Lizard has (see issue 4) and when he is refused, he starts a fight. Cucuru joins the combat asking for help in "capturing this dangerous criminal" named Sekhmet. The battle is interrupted when the real buyer of the device, Timemaster, shows up. Angry at the petty bickering, he decides to slow everyone down and pick up the pieces later. After a few minutes Timemaster decides to take the device from Lizard. The resulting interaction between Timemaster's suit and the teleport device send the heroes and Cucuru far away from the battle.

Action: The heroes find themselves outside a country inn. Entering the building they meet Halor the dwarf and Robin. It appears the heroes were transported either back in time or to a medieval planet where magic and fantasy are real. The two direct the part to Geleb, an insane but powerful elf magician who says he can send the group home for a price. The group has no money so Geleb sends them to retrieve a magical bow that is held by mist giants. (The malfunctioning teleportation device is found by Nyx who attaches it to his belt. He tries several times to tell Hiro about the device but gives up after the third attempt.)

The giant lives outside the land of undead, about 2 days travel by air. The heroes arrive in the afternoon and Nyx volunteers to investigate the area after it gets dark. As night falls, a light fog drifts down the canyon. Nyx hikes up to the mist giant's cave only to be ambushed by two chimeras. The rest of the group arrives, defeats the chimera and mist giant in a battle where Volt plunges into the heavy fog created by the giant and sets off his shockwave. The giant is stunned, Cucuru pulls the giant out of his fog and the group overwhelms him. (Cucuru can feel the vibrations of the air around him.) Inside the cave, the group finds the bow they are looking for, a strange cube that looks like some type of modern technology and the usual assortment of gems, coins and other treasure that one would expect from a giant. Gathering up many of the items, the group returns to Geleb. The spell is cast, the group walks through the teleport and the device on Nyx's belt is again seen to interfere.

Action: Soldiers of the House of Akai in the Qua-Run Empire are preparing the smelter in a large factor when Keranous and Cucuru bursts into the building. The soldiers are trying to destroy the Emperial armor of Hiro's Emperor. Also attempting to rescue the armor is the old weapon's master Sensei Zeahn and two followers. The group saves the armor and leaves the building.

When Hiro arrived on his home world, his armor notified him of the whereabouts of the armor and something else in the Palace. Hiro heads to the Palace with everyone else in tow. During the conversation as group heads to the Palace and dodges armed patrols, Cucuru discovers some of the truth about the group, the Project and how Sekhmet was "changed" from being a killer. At the Palace, Nyx and nightfall helps the group get Akai dress and enters the Palace. Outside the basement door six guards attack the group. Subduing the guards, the group races down the stairs, pursued by a couple dozen more guards. Cutting through the walls and into a secret chamber, Hiro discovers the dead Emperor's children. Four warriors teleport into the basement. Nyx creates shadows leaving only Hiro able to see. The group retreats as Hiro holds off two of the warriors. Nyx brings out the teleport device that Lizard was carrying and the group, without Hiro try to escape. There is not enough power in the device so Nyx has his shadows grab Hiro and with the power of his suit, the device teleports all ten to safety. The last frames of the book show feedback on the teleport device of the Palace Captain.

Action: The teleport device malfunctions as when Hiro was originally teleported to Earth. The entire group finds themselves back on Earth in a very familiar situation, battling the Timemaster. To Keranous' delight, they have been restored to full health, while Timemaster is still suffering the injuries of the combat from before the group was sent on their journey. With a little help from Timemaster's arrogance, the group is able to defeat him. Even better, Lee Vng Dangerously was able to have news cameras capture the final moments. He immediately proclaims Keranous New York's newest Superheroes, appoints himself their agent, and says he will deliver a media blitz. The group is much more skeptical but agree in principal to see what develops.

In the split instant the group was teleporting back to Earth, Hades, Lord of the Underworld (as portrayed by Disney animation studios), has a lengthy conversation with Nyx. He is able to convince Nyx that he was wasting his time with solving petty crime and he should use his powers for a more constructive use "being the Lord of Darkness and all that". In exchange for an "understanding" Hades revived the group and removed some of the limitations on Nyx' powers.

Action: Nyx starts to questions his intentions on Earth and does not like the answers he give himself. He goes off to correct simple crimes in an attempt to reaffirm his fight for good and against evil. He goes to Central Park at night and stops a gang from robbing a jogger. It ends up the jogger was in fact a vigilante and Nyx's interference resulted in two of the muggers getting shot by the jogger. Nyx takes the jogger to the police and the injured to the hospital and again questions his cause. Unbeknownst to Nyx, Hades directed the jogger.

Hades visits Nyx and they have a long conversation about right and wrong. Hades succeeds in convincing Nyx that these are different for Gods and mortals. Hades leaves by saying, "Take it from one who knows. Humans reach immortality only in death." The comic book ends with Nyx apparently testing Hades' theory.

The promotor Lee Vng Dangerously announced after that he represents the hero group calling themselves Keranous, or divine lightning. When asked about Sekhmet he said the creature was on the road to recovery and had undergone a revelation, purging herself of evil….

… And we are now told that Sekhmet is no longer a killer. In this age of Presidential Pardons and creative vote counting, when did we stop asking for proof of this magical conversion? Are we to proclaim a known killer a savior to our city without question? Until justice is brought to bear, we will withhold our coronation for this latest crime fighter.

Early morning workers arriving at the United Nations were welcomed by the grizzly scene of two dead heroes. Part of the local hero team known as the Downtown Defenders, Black Jack and Brain Child were found apparently killed in combat. No witnesses could be found who witness the combat and attempts to reach the other members of the team have so far been unsuccessful. …

As the other members of the Downtown Defenders were pulled from the Hudson, the police are ruling all four deaths murder. This raised questions about the discovery of Black Jack and Brain Child at the United Nations plaza yesterday. Slap-Shot and The Protector were found floating in the Hudson a day after their team mates were found. No leads currently exist and the Police have been unusually quite regarding details of the deaths….

Action: The headquarters, located on upper Manhattan in a warehouse district, is finally completed and the heroes move in. They are soon visited by Freedom Force, a group of heroes hired by the State of New York to hunt down Keranous when they were thought to be villains. (After the Project invaded the apartment in issue #5.) Freedom Force interviews the heroes and finds they are not true villains. They do put them on notice to toe the line but leave without incident. Keranous offers their help if needed in the future and the offer is not rebuffed.

Volt goes back to try and locate Gremlin. He has been using a public library computer and so far been unsuccessful. After spending several hours he leaves, only to be intercepted by three Project agents who are nearly succeed in capturing Volt. Arriving at the headquarters, Volt asks Sekhmet if she can help put him in touch with Lizard to help find Gremlin. She agrees but Lizard refuses to get involved (the price in not high enough.)

After the hero murders, Hiro, Cucuru and Sekhmet try to do some of their own investigation. They end up at Downtown Defenders' offices. Breaking into the office, they end up finding hidden files on Eurostar, Legion of Evil, Islamic Jihad and Keranous(Yikes!). After making copies, they drop off the first three files at the police. They do not find any new clues to help solve the murders.

Action: (Designed as an update book, the battle between the Legion of Evil and Keranous is interspaced with flashbacks of the previous books, how Hiro set up the Emperor in a "safe" house and Cucuru's problems with the Tea Company he works for.)

Eurodisney is rumored to have closed due to terrorist threats against the entertainment park. Park officials could not be reached but news cameras show the park being cleared of all visitors. A press conference has been announced in one hour. We will keep you up to date on this startling news.

The Disney Corporation confirmed in a news conference that their Eurodisney theme park was closed for the remainder of the day today due to credible threats made against their visitors. The company is making a world-wide review of all their security plans and will go ahead with hiring a modern security force to safeguard their parks in the future. When questioned, company officials confirmed they were considering mutants and other super beings.

Action: Cucuru, Hiro and Volt decide to go to the police station handling the Downtown Defender's murder to offer their help. They are met by a rude and jaded officer who asks them to prove they can be of help before he will ask them to help. They leave to find why two of the bodies were in the river although Hiro would have preferred dismembering the police officer.

Sekhmet, in human guise, has her purse snatched. She gives chase and three men give chase. The thief ducks down an alley, then the three men and then Sekhmet. It is a trap set up by Bast. As she runs down the alley a bright light blinds her and the four men call out Sekhmet, changing her into the cat goddess. Bast jumps down from a fire escape and asks if Sekhmet was looking for her. Before the two gods battle, Basts teleports everyone in the alley to Egypt.

Two days later the group gets a telephone call from the testing lab about the glowing silver cube (see issue #9). They cannot figure it out as it appears to be solid. The heroes go to the lab at 7 p.m. to discover the front desk guard knocked out and several employees tied up in back. Volt, looking through the security cameras, says he sees shadows in the basement, but Cucuru, flying around the building, and reports seeing three people on the third floor and breaks though the glass to apprehend the intruders. The intruders, Blowtorch, Armadillo and Wyvern, are unimpressed by Cucuru's entrance and Wyvern nearly kills him. Hiro joins the battle and Volt throws an electrical field over the hallway. Blowtorch and Armadillo are knocked out but Wyvern knocks out Hiro and Volt. The three join with the rest of the group and they leave with a new and improved laser cannon.

Action: At the headquarters, Cucuru, Hiro and Volt start about finding Sekhmet when an ancient Egyptian dressed man walks out of the snowstorm and enters the building. He introduces himself as Seeker and asks if they are friends of Sekhmet and when they answer yes, he teleports them to Memphis, Egypt.

Hiro and Volt are greeted by a short Egyptian businessman who leads them into a sports arena. On the floor is Sekhmet. Cucuru, who was recovering in his room, is greeted personally by Bast, who takes his entrance as an affront by Seeker. Cucuru takes the accusation as an insult and the two battle and, still grievously injured from the battle with Wyvern (last issue), is quickly defeated.

Several days later the heroes go back to the Downtown Defenders headquarters to look for any leads. They are attacked by two Minutemen Mark V robots. The robots are quickly neutralized but not before sending back a recording of the battle.

Action: A mysterious asteroid crashes into earth. Out of the crater a helmeted figure crawls and surveys the surroundings. Translated he says, "I see nothing hostile," and reaches back to help another figure out of the wreckage. The two limp off into the nearby woods.

The smoke has barely cleared the fallen robots when a call comes through from Lee Vng Dangerously. (Questions of how he was able to call over the intercom frequency are left unanswered.) He tells them he just saw members of Eurostar enter Trump Towers and thought Keranous would be interested. They are and they quickly head over to Columbus Circle.

They arrive shortly before the terrorists enter the street and are waiting when the four villains arrive. Volt fires a lightning bolt and the battle commences. Le Sone has rigged his suit for extra flight and he escapes with three large suit-cases. Pantera is nearly killed by Sekhmet and Volt tries to save her, but Bora put up a force field to protect Pantera from the auto traffic. The fight ends with Bora escaping with an unconscious Pantera and Fiacho after blowing a berserk Sekhmet into a crowd of watching pedestrians.

Recovering moments after the terrorists escape, Cucuru calms Sekhmet and Hiro enters the building to demand a review of the security tapes of the fight. Hiro is belligerent and the chief of security refuses. Angered, Hiro destroys the security desk and walks back to the headquarters. Meanwhile, Volt, witnessing Hiro's outburst, decides to find a quiet place to overlook the security's review of the tape. It takes him longer than he had hoped and misses security removing the tapes. When everyone finally returns to base, they notice personal belongs of Hiro, and Hiro himself, missing and a copy of the battle as recorded by a cameraman that Lee Vng Dangerously had rounded up. (Taped on a Sony Camcorder. Was it borrowed from one of the waiting tourists?)

Action: Hiro decides Keranous has nothing further to offer him and he dedicates himself to protecting the Emperor. But something starts bothering him about the Downtown Defender's murders. He notices a correlation between the abilities of Eurostar and the murders and informs Volt by email. Hiro suggests another search of the Downtown Defender's headquarters may turn up the necessary clues and he suggests Sekhmet go out there as soon as possible.

SHORT STORY - a short story introducing Umbris takes up the last few pages. A teenager is skateboarding through New York City when he experiences a strong Déjà vu. He finds a black SUV in an alley, discovers a strange scarab pendent, picks it up and is changed into Umbris. The armor is a gift from RA to those he deems may be worthy and honorable to help fight the minions of darkness.

Action: Volt gets the email from Hiro along with a second email from the anonymous interviewer (issue #15). He says he knows Volt is looking for Eurostar and he will be able to find one of their members at a Brooklyn pier at 8 that evening (signed "GEE"). Volt takes Cucuru to the pier while Sekhmet goes to the Downtown Defenders. "Don't worry. I'll just go in, look around, and I will meet you in plenty of time."

Sekhmet discovers another hidden file, this time the personal diary of Jack Blackmoor who details his suspicion that Eurostar is up to no good. (Blackmail and possibly demolition of an office building.) Leaving with this new information, Sekhmet meets Nyx outside who berates him for squandering his godly powers. After a short conversation Nyx attacks and subdues Sekhmet. Waking, the cat Goddess still is not certain what happened when Volt tells her what happened in Brooklyn.

Perched on top of a crane, Cucuru and Volt see Whip. Cucuru challenges him to combat and the two fight on top of the pier warehouse. Before Volt can join the battle, he is attacked by Gremlin. She rants at Volt about how he ruined her life. Volt responds with a long speech that leaves Gremlin in tears. (See below.) Trying to comfort her, she screams at him and flies away. Meanwhile, a third superbeing recovers stolen Egyptian artifacts from a dishonest museum curator. When Cucuru almost crashed on top of him, after being knocked out by Whip, he climbs up to see an escaping Whip. Volt and an awakened Cucuru invite Umbris to visit with Sekhmet and they head toward Keranous.

"STOP! I was looking for you because I care about you! I was worried that the Project was going to torture you like they did to me! I doubt they let you see some of the stuff they did when I said "no" since you were their pet. Gremlin, my whole body wears scars from the Project. They were experimenting on me and beating me when I didn't cooperate. That's why I panic when I see them … and you.

"I've found more out here in this small world than I ever could from that so called Project. Sure I'm far from well off, but it's the faces of the people I've helped that make it worth all that I have been through. I care about you. but I'm scared of you. you want to take me back to a life of pain and suffering and probably my death! But I still care about you because you've shown me twice now a beauty and a concern that tells me you want something else.

"Don't go. We need to decide this now, one way or another. I am NEVER going back. And if you insist, I will fight you to keep free from their tortures. But I would much rather you reach into your heart and ask yourself what you really want so we can work something out. Please, don't go."

Action: Volt and Cucuru return to find Hiro at the base. He lets them know he has moved back for the meanwhile and they introduce Umbris to Hiro. Later, Umbris is introduced to Sekhmet and tells her he was sent to look after her. She "interviews" him and agrees that he is more an asset than a menace. Cucuru retires early, complaining he is not feeling well.

As Hiro examines the new notebook that Sekhmet found (see issue 19) he starts to put several pieces together. A yacht moored at Battery Park is registered to a Mr. Dinar ____, aka Fiacho. Sekhmet, Hiro, Volt and Umbris decide to pay a little visit to the docks. Nothing is discovered that night but the next day, as Sekhmet distracts the crew of the adjacent ship, Umbris boards the ship and finds that the ship has been abandoned for a few months, and signs of a fight.

Everyone decides to get some rest and awaking after a short nap, Volt gets a call from Gremlin. She asks he come help as soon as possible. He tells her to meet at Battery Park. Without telling anyone where he was going, Volt arrives to find Gremlin half dead and Project agents and members ready to attack. Volt is subdued by Crimerman as Hiro and Umbris arrive. (They reviewed audio tape off the security cameras and followed as soon as they could.) Crimerman is knocked into the river, Ketzl is nearly killed and the Project is forced to retreat.