For those of you who played in the first round of Champions 2012, or watched it, and want to know what transpired in the second round, we offer this story based on 'actual' events.
The game opened immediately following the events of round 1.
As the shocked heroes began to react to the shooting, the
assassin (a cameraman for the pay-per-view broadcast) raised his hands and
surrendered, saying that he could explain. Before he could say more he was shot
and killed by the best man, Gerhardt Shcott. Shcott dropped his weapon and
walked out. Golden Gladiator flew after Shcott and confronted him, furious that
Shcott had denied them a chance to get information from the assassin. Gerhardt
said with cold precision that he was avenging his best friend, and walked away.
Meanwhile, Katie Barnes lay dying beside the body of her
husband Jason. Wraith used his cloak’s power to pour his life force into her.
At first Brimstone and Bolt offered to help, but the cloak’s hunger was too
great. Wraith forced it off of them, feeding Katie his own life instead. Katie
lived, barely. The bullet was still inside her, but with Brimstone’s help the
doctors removed the bullet. Katie began to recover at superhuman speed. (A
power she did not know she had…but never had she been wounded like this.)
The Champions began trying to discover who was behind the
assassination. Bolt, already unhinged from time, reached away from the present
to show a vision of what had taken place. The scene of the shooting itself
revealed nothing new, but when Gerhardt drew his weapon to fire at the
assassin, he moved with superhuman speed. The Champions attempted to find him,
but he had taken an UNTIL jet and vanished.
Lt. Conners was able to determine that the bullet was
experimental technology from World War II Germany, which was confirmed by
Golden Gladiator’s grandfather. The assassin was discovered to be a member of
the White Rose, a Nazi resistance group which was supposed to have died out
during the war. Golden Gladiator’s father and grandfather told him not to give
up, to which he replied: “Gold never tarnishes.”
Following these clues, the team searched Jason’s house and
found a hidden bunker filled with Nazi flags, supposedly “lost” Dr. Destroyer
technology, and a series of files on the Champions. These files detailed each
member’s weaknesses, how to keep them psychologically off balance, and how to
keep them from finding Destroyer. There was also a communications console, with
a mysterious message containing a veiled threat toward Jason. There was also a
cryptic delivery schedule: 100 units to Berlin, 100 units to Moscow, 100 units
to London…and so on, targeting 10 major cities for “100 units” of some unknown
item.
A transmission for Jason came over the console from a woman
identified as “Valkyrie”. Lt. Conners attempted to disguise his voice, but
Valkyrie saw through the illusion, terminated the transmission, and destroyed
the console.
Over the course of these revelations – that Katie’s husband
was a Nazi spy, that she herself was part of a mysterious project – Dr. Gravity
remained excessively cruel to Katie. After a harsh conversation, Wraith dumped
her for this attitude.
The Champions proceeded to Gerhardt’s UNTIL office, where they
found assessments of the team’s risk to “the plan”. Throughout these notes was
evidence that Jason and Katie’s entire relationship was part of a long reaching
Nazi eugenics program. Lady Fabulous’ crush on Golden Gladiator was also
revealed, to the surprise of no one – except Golden Gladiator. Stella Starlight
and Griffin appeared to assist the Champions, leading to a tense confrontation
between Griffin, Lt. Conners, and Wraith which Lady Fabulous managed to defuse.
The team found a communicator in Gerhardt’s office which
Icon promptly crushed, but another was found in Jason’s office next door. While
Dr. Gravity was examining it, a countdown began to be broadcast, along with the
delivery of “100 units” to the cities they had seen before. Dr. Gravity and Lt.
Conners were able to trace the signal to Antarctica. The team rushed there in
Nano’s Legacy.
The trip was full of awkward moments. Lady Fabulous and
Golden Gladiator finally talked about their feelings and kissed. Wraith and Dr.
Gravity very coldly confirmed their relationship was over. Icon and Brimstone
attempted to resolve their issues, but Brimstone’s approach only pushed the
emotionally devastated Icon away. Bolt slept through it all, while Lt. Conners
sat in between the three couples. Poor guy.
The team arrived at the location and discovered a hidden
Nazi base, over 70 years old, hidden in the snow. Inside they found a large
hangar bay full of vehicles ranging from WW2 tanks to the UNTIL jet that
Gerhardt had taken. While the upper floors were disused, at the bottom they
found a room full of hundreds of clones of Icon and Jason, all children!
Shortly thereafter they encountered Dr. Heinrich Zerstoiten, a Nazi scientist
who had been reduced to a disembodied brain in a jar. He inquired about Jason,
and told the Champions that “she” had killed the remaining members of the New
Reich and taken over the program. His vision of the future had been shattered –
Icon and Jason had been his last hope. He would not talk about “her”, but told
the Champions where she could be found. The Bolt and Wraith rushed ahead, while
Heinrich begged the team to end his life, as it was now meaningless. The team
obliged.
As Heinrich’s jar shattered, the Bolt and Wraith were tossed
back into the room in beaten heaps. Rushing forward, the team finds a room
occupied by Valkyrie, Gerhardt, and walls covered with adult clones of Katie
and Jason. Valkyrie explained that she is the REAL Katie Barnes, accidentally
switched at birth with the Project Ubermensch baby who was born early at a
hospital in Iowa. She was raised in a sterile lab by Nazi scientists,
indoctrinated in their hatred and need for revenge, while Katie was raised by
good, loving Iowa farmers. The Nazis believed Valkyrie would develop powers –
so threw her out of a helicopter when she was 12. The fall badly damaged her.
Not wanting to waste twelve years of training, the scientists turned her into a
cyborg. It was not until Icon first appeared in public did they realize what
had happened. Driven to madness, Valkyrie killed Icon’s father (her own
biological father) and took over the New Reich. She told Icon all this, and how
Icon had stolen her life, full of love. Now, the only person who loved her was
Gerhardt. She said this, and then reached out and snapped Gerhardt’s neck,
killing him. “And that is what I
think of Love.”
At that, she released 100 “units” of Katie/Jason clones to
battle the Champions, who swiftly found themselves overpowered. The Wraith
foolishly released his hold on the cloak, hoping it would feed on the clones.
Instead it attacked the Champions. Several of them attacked Valkyrie, but she
was prepared for them: defeating Brimstone’s astral form and shrugging off
Golden Gladiator’s sonic blast. Icon closed and tore Valkyrie’s arm off, but
didn’t slow her down in the least. Meanwhile, Lt. Conners slipped into the
machine which seemed to be controlling the clones, hoping to find a way to shut
it down. Brimstone managed to stop the cloak from eating Dr. Gravity, but the
team was being rapidly overwhelmed by the onslaught of clones. Knowing the team
was otherwise doomed, Bolt stretched time past its normal limit, using his
super speed and sonic booms (which the clones seemed susceptible to) to protect
the team. Bolt knew the cost, but he knew that Icon needed him. Among all the
Champions, only Katie realized what this was costing him – but she was too busy
with Valkyrie to do anything.
As the fight continued, even Bolt’s new power was not enough
on its own. Golden Gladiator and Lady Fabulous stepped up, fighting as a pair.
As his armor began to lose power, she would charge it through her “hair”. As
the clones gathered for one final attack, Icon, in full rage, fired a burst of
Heat Vision (a power she did not know she possessed) into Valkyrie’s face as
the two were locked in combat, burning half of her face off. Just at that
moment, Lt. Conners detonated his lucky C-4 inside the device, triggering an
ultrasonic self-destruct which began to slowly and painfully kill all the
clones – and Icon as well. Knowing there was no time, Bolt rushed Icon all the
way back to Champions HQ in Millennium City. The remaining heroes could only
watch as 1,000 clones died, screaming and begging for help. Gathering their
wounded, the heroes left – but not before Brimstone channeled all of Katie’s
memories into the badly wounded Valkyrie, who they left for dead.
Back at their HQ, Icon awoke, only to find that the man
protecting her was not Brimstone as she expected, but Bolt, who had torn loose
his bonds to time itself in order to saver her. His body aging in seconds all
the years he had missed, Bolt told Katie that no matter what, he wanted her to
find happiness, and then died in her arms.
Epilogue:
As Valkyrie lay on the ground writhing in pain, a familiar
THUMPDRAGTHUMP of footsteps approached. She looked up into the eye of Professor
Muerte.
