Stirling City Stories

The Exalted Alliance: Issue #3

Searching for the Strangler

Part 1: Taking care of Family

15 – 16 June 2017

She had just finished crossing the Old Larston Bridge when Kamgwe’s Herald had received the phone call from her mother. The message had been pretty simple: your grandmother has had a fall, you should come and help fix her up. Of course she would go and use her magic to help, but there was no reason for the attitude, right?

Getting back to the family house in Stirling City hadn’t taken too long, she’d already been on her bike after all. The drive in the family car up to the reservation, though, seemed to take about four thousand years rather than the four hours it had actually taken. This is why she avoided family things.

Grandma Eagle was propped up in her bed and in a lot of pain. She’d broken some bones, maybe her hip, when she’d fallen trying to do something she was too old to be doing. Her children were all there and they were concerned. They had all heard about Kamgwe by now; most, probably, did not believe. But they would. So The Herald stood beside Grandma Eagle’s bed and worked her magic and the old lady was healed.

The Herald wanted to immediately head back to Stirling City, as she had work to do, but this was not to be. They all stayed overnight and Grandma Eagle insisted on cooking for everyone. It was a Thursday night and no-one else had much of anywhere to be, so a great deal was made and no-one left that night. Her family even made noises to indicate that they would be staying for the weekend as well, making a short holiday out of the whole event. Luckily though, during dinner, The Herald’s Uncle, Tom Eagle, did kindly offer to drive her home on the following day, as he had to get back to work in Stirling City.

The following day, of course, things did not quite work out that easy. They planned to get going early, but somehow they ended up having lunch with everyone. Finally they got going, but then there was a lengthy detour that they had to follow, which managed to turn a four hour drive into something even longer. So, it was not until quite late on the Friday night that The Herald arrived back in Stirling City.

Part 2: Searching the Streets

16 – 17 June 2017

The Inquisitor had only just finished working on his invention and was explaining it to the Stirling Slugger when The Herald finally returned to their headquarters. They both immediately set to explaining to her where they had gotten to with the case, as well as explaining about the new so-called monkey attacker case as well.

As they were planning on using the night time to search for the attacker, The Herald made use of her police contacts to get further details about the case (location of attacks, number of victims, etc.). From what she learned they decide to have someone pose as a potential victim and wander through the areas of previous attacks in the hopes of attracting the attacker. While The Inquisitor was happy to be dressed up as a potential victim, his unusual appearance made him a little unsuitable so they eventually settled on disguising the Stirling Slugger as “a drunk guy in between nightclubs”.

While The Herald took her time getting the Stirling Slugger’s disguise to look just right, The Inquisitor spent his time devising their tactics for when (or if) they did encounter the attacker. He also remembered to communicate with the Spirit of Sobek, who had been still hanging out observing the seedy bar they had visited earlier that day. (The Spirit of Sobek agreed to head back to base soon, but then got distracted by something.)

Finally they set out from headquarters at a little after one in the morning. The Stirling Slugger led the way in his disguise, while the other two followed at a little distance (with The Inquisitor carrying the Stirling Slugger’s gear). Slowly they made their way from nightclub to nightclub using predominantly dark shadowy alleys, working their their way from Avery down into Old Stirling.

Luckily, after two and half hours of wandering and hoping, as the Stirling Slugger was walking down yet another dark alley, a hairy figure appeared out of the darkness and grabbed him, stunning him in the process! (Hooray, progress!) As The Inquisitor and The Herald then hurried to catch up, the Stirling Slugger did his best to try and fight off the crushing arms of his attacker. In the dark shadows of the alley The Herald found it difficult to even make out where the attacker and the Stirling Slugger were grappling. The Inquisitor had no such problem and was able to easily close with the grappling pair and hold out the Stirling Slugger’s baseball bat for when he had a free hand (while also firing his own pistol at the monkey-looking attacker to little effect).

Eventually The Herald was able to accurately perceive the attacker (which had been made difficult due to the poor lighting) and was able to mind control the simian attacker. Despite its animalistic appearance it could understand her commands and she was able to make it lie down and allow itself to be handcuffed. With The Herald managing to keep the creature docile, The Inquisitor was able to call the police and they all headed out of the alley to a more well-lit location to wait.

Within a few minutes several police cruisers had arrived and they applied power nullifying restraints to the captive. They had discovered that while the attacker could clearly understand English, it seemed unable to speak (at least in any way that could be understood), so the heroes could not fathom the reasons for an oversized monkey to go around mugging people. For the time being, at least, the police then took the creature away into custody.

At that point, since it was after 4am and they were all pretty tired, they headed back to base to rest.

Much later in the day, when they had begun to rouse, they found that the news outlets were calling their assailant “The Simian Strangler”. Their capture of the creature was the BIG NEWS of the day.

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AUG/2017

The Exalted Alliance: Issue #2

Daylight Robbery (Cont.)

Part 1: Following Leads

15 June 2017

The Herald had only just crossed the Old Larston Bridge when her mobile began ringing. From a nearby rooftop, The Spirit of Sobek watched her pull over to the side of the road to answer and then, moments later turn her bike around and head straight back across the bridge. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but decided to keep tailing her just in case.

Meanwhile, the Stirling Slugger and The Inquisitor had driven to a street in West Larston where they had roughly determined that the armoured car robbers had turned south. Independently they worked their way down the street, talking to people and attempting to get further security video footage (for either themselves of the police) as they went. The rocket pack wearing robbers had left an impression on the locals, though the sight of people flying under their own power wasn’t special enough to have made any of them call the police. After walking for several blocks they crossed a major road and began to find that no-one had seen the criminals, so they must have turned off somewhere. Realising that they needed a different point of view, The Inquisitor called The Spirit of Sobek (who was still trailing after The Herald) who agreed to meet up with them. Thanks to his speed, they knew this would only take a few minutes.

While the two heroes were standing on the corner waiting for The Spirit of Sobek to arrive they noticed a group of five men approaching them. All of the men were wearing distinctive black hoodies that partially concealed their features. The group came to stand in front of the heroes and demanded that the heroes clear out, which they refused. Then, after a small misunderstanding a brief fight broke out in which one of the five thugs pulled out a machine-pistol and tried (successfully) shooting both The Inquisitor and Stirling Slugger (the remaining thugs drew knives, to lesser effect). Despite incurring minor bullet wounds, the heroes were quickly able to overcome the thugs and call the police.

By the time that The Spirit of Sobek had arrived, the police had also arrived and were taking the five assailants into custody. While Stirling Slugger and The Inquisitor gave their statements to the police, the reptilian hero then climbed to a nearby roof to survey the area. The only nearby detail that stood out to him was the three storey parking garage a few buildings away, as he could see security cameras installed on some of the building’s corners.

Once the other heroes had finished with the police they all then walked up to the parking garage where they learned, from the helpful attendant and his limited surveillance cameras, that the bridge robbers landed on the roof level of the garage and climbed into waiting vans before driving off. The van drivers (who were possibly two of the robbers, not wearing helmets) paid their parking fee and left, heading south. The Inquisitor called the police again and reported this new development to Detective Daniels. Before leaving the garage the heroes also arranged for copies of the surveillance tapes to be sent to the police and themselves, and had taken some pictures (on their phones) of the van drivers.

With no further trails to follow, the three heroes head back to headquarters where they found that The Herald had left them a message explaining that a family emergency had cropped up and that she would be back in touch later.

While The Spirit of Sobek and the Stirling Slugger went about their usual business, The Inquisitor then spends some time analysing the evidence they gathered earlier. While he isn’t able to learn anything from most of the evidence, he is able to learn that the bullet casings they had gathered came from custom designed ammunition (for custom weapons) designed and constructed by the now defunct Dynamic Solutions, which had been at the centre of all that controversy (and inter-dimensional invasion) several years earlier.

Part 2: New Directions

16 June 2017

The following morning the heroes go about their usual routine until The Spirit of Sobek hears (from the morning news) that a fourth victim of a possible ape/monkey assailant is recovering in hospital. As this makes him think that The Sewer King, or one of his other experiments, may be involved (if not directly responsible) The Spirit of Sobek takes particular note.

The Inquisitor then gets around to calling Detective Daniels to tell him about the bullet casings (which the police CSIs may very well have already discovered). The Inquisitor asks if there could be any illegal weapon’s deals going on in the city, to explain how people could be using specialised Dynamic Solutions weaponry. Detective Daniels agrees this is a possibility and mentions that there are rumours of arms dealing going on in Larston.

While The Inquisitor is on the phone, The Spirit of Sobek reminds him to ask about the armoured car’s guards (who they had forgotten to inquire about the previous day); as it turned out, they were both fine. The armoured car company had a policy concerning super-powered (or over-powered) attacks and so the guards had stayed out of the robbers way and had not been hurt in the slightest.

After further prompting from The Spirit of Sobek, The Inquisitor also asks Detective Daniels about the so-called monkey attacks. Detective Daniels is happy enough to transfer them through to another Detective for this, as he isn’t handling that case. After being on hold for a minute or two, The Inquisitor is able to talk to Detective Harris who doesn’t seem too impressed at being “in charge” of the “monkey case”. Harris tells them that there have been four attacks in the north Old Stirling/ Avery area, with one fatality so far; the three surviving victims needed some medical attention and all report being attacked by a hairy ape/monkey/person. He does note that the former enhanced animal superhero known as Agent Gibbs is currently a person of interest (The Inquisitor dismisses Agent Gibbs as a suspect, having met the creature the previous day and thinking him incapable of violent, physical attacks). The Inquisitor informs Detective Harris that The Exalted Alliance will be looking into these crimes.

While The Inquisitor initially wants to go and immediately search Stirling Park for the “monkey attacker”, the Stirling Slugger talks him out of this and the three heroes instead hop into The Inquisitor’s car and drive to Larston in search of illegal weapons (and illegal weapons dealers). However, once they had arrived in Larston (and parked the car in a secure facility), they had some difficulty finding anyone who was willing to speak to them, with many passers-by actually crossing the street to avoid them entirely. Eventually they found their way to a seedy bar occupied by half a dozen bikers, where they ordered some drinks and tried to settle in before interrogating the bikers. The bikers decided pretty quickly that the “freaks” should leave, quickly, and reluctantly the heroes complied (after finishing their drinks) to avoid any unnecessary unpleasantness.

After this setback they made their way to a nearby medical clinic, where they managed to find a male nurse who was willing to give them some information “off the record”. He told them that there had been an increase in strange gang related injuries recently, but these were like “laser burns”, not specialised bullets (if they would even look different from normal bullets). He insisted that none of the victims were willing to speak out against the local gang, the New Crusaders, for fear of retribution.

Leaving the medical clinic, the heroes decide that they should observe these New Crusaders to see if they deal in illegal weapons. They also decide that they should have a look around at night for the “monkey attacker” (in the Old Stirling/Avery area). As it was still mid-morning at this point, they split up, with The Spirit of Sobek remaining in Larston to try and observe the New Crusaders while the Stirling Slugger and The Inquisitor headed back the headquarters.

While The Spirit of Sobek spent a long day standing watch over the seedy bar they had so quickly left earlier in the day, The Inquisitor set to work in his lab and constructed a device to allow them to remotely listen in to a specific location, which he felt would be of great use that night.

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JUL/2017

The Exalted Alliance: Issue #1

Daylight Robbery

15 June 2017

While The Herald was visiting a nursing home, trying to pass on knowledge of Kamgwe to the residents, she was contacted by a friend of hers within the Stirling Police, telling her to check out the local news. Without hesitating she arranged this and was able to catch the coverage of the aftermath of a daring daylight attack on an armoured car while it was crossing over the New Larston Bridge. The news footage clearly revealing the seemingly gridlocked bridge, with a ring of flashing police lights and a small plume of smoke indicating where the incident occurred. Upon seeing all of this The Herald contacts the rest of her team and brings them up to speed, before arranging to meet them all at the New Larston Bridge as soon as possible.

The Herald and The Spirit of Sobek arrive at the scene first, as both could ignore the traffic snarls that this bridge incident had sparked. Upon being allowed into the crime scene The Herald speaks to the lead detective, Detective Daniels, while waiting for the others to arrive. From Detective Daniels The Herald learns that: a group of people attacked an armoured car, burst the tires and forced it to stop; they removed the armoured car’s rear door and emptied out a whole lot of money; they escaped by flying off upriver somewhere. By the time Daniels has finished this account The Inquisitor and the Stirling Slugger have arrived at the scene (on foot, having been forced to leave the Stirling Slugger’s car some distance away).

With everyone present, The Inquisitor and The Spirit of Sobek begin searching the crime scene and gathering evidence while The Herald talks to the crime scene techs who have recently processed the scene themselves and she manages to convince them to share their results with the heroes (once they’ve analysed what they have gained). The crime scene techs can confirm that the armoured car’s tyres were taken out first, then some sort of explosive was used on the back. Meanwhile the Stirling Slugger looks to question any witnesses, but instead gets sidetracked by an attractive woman in a nearby car (who is stuck in traffic and not interested in him).

The Inquisitor and The Spirit of Sobek succeed in gathering some evidence for later processing (including: bullet casings, explosives trace, a paint scraping, deformed spent bullets, finger prints). The Inquisitor also takes note of some nearby surveillance cameras that may have caught the attack on film. The Spirit of Sobek climbs up high to survey the surrounding area, but can catch no sight of any fleeing robbers.

At this stage the heroes decided to split up to cover more ground.

The Inquisitor (once again being driven by the Stirling Slugger) headed south to Tron Labs to see if they have any relevant surveillance footage. On the was The Inquisitor also phones the security company that owns the armoured car to enquire into footage from the car’s internal cameras, however the person who answered the phone was not very helpful (they were quite dismissive in fact). The Inquisitor then thinks to talk to The Herald, who arranges for Detective Daniels to give them access to security footage from the bridge as well as any footage from inside the armoured car. At Tron Labs, The Inquisitor and the Stirling Slugger are introduced to Gibbs, a talking blue gibbon who is apparently the head of security for the place. He agrees to check their river facing security footage and to pass on anything they may have caught. The heroes then head on to the Stirling Water Plant.

On the other side of the river (the north side), The Herald, with The Spirit of Sobek following along almost invisibly, manages to eventually find some workers who had potentially witnessed some flying individuals. However, they were viewing them from some distance and were unsure as to what they had actually seen. The workers thought the flying people might have headed south. After a little more looking around, The Herald and The Spirit of Sobek turned around to head back to the bridges to make their way across the river.

At the Stirling Water Plant the two heroes were able to easily gain entrance thanks to the gate security guard recognising the Stirling Slugger (as Billy Butler, the somewhat famous former baseball player). This recognition gained them access to the security office where Frank, the security chief, helped them check through the recent footage of the river. On one camera they were able to distantly make out what could possibly be some flying figures flying along and then flying south into the city. By getting the Stirling Slugger to head outside, The Inquisitor was then able to calculate roughly where the “possible flying figures” turned away from the river and headed inland. Thanking Frank for his assistance, The Inquisitor and Stirling Slugger then headed off to see if they could find any further traces of these mysterious flying attackers.

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JUN/2017

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Jun 16, 2017

Stirling City Stories: Special Issue #1

Heroes Lost!

Part 1: Preparation

Professor Atom lifted his welding mask and looked around his lab, noting the papers and light objects that had suddenly been displaced. As the waiting servo-bots whirred into action he felt a sudden rush of air and, sure enough, he caught sight of Silver Streak leaning casually against the wall pretending that he’s been there all along. The white laboratory lights reflected brightly on the liquid metal skin that covered Silver Streak’s body, making him easy to notice.

Noticing that he now had Professor Atom’s attention, Silver Streak approached at what must have seemed a snail’s pace to him. “How’s the temporal dampener coming along?” the speedster asked, after getting close enough to look at the contraption in the professor’s hands.

“It’s pretty much right to go. I can’t guarantee that the circuits will hold up in the long run, so you wont be able to field test this before deployment.”

“It’ll work though, right?” Professor Atom didn’t both to dignify this with a reply, just a look. “Yeah, sorry. Of course it will work.” Picking up the small device, Silver Streak turned it over in his hands before continuing. “Are you still planning on joining us tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Professor Atom replied. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, just in case The Chrononaut tries anything unexpected.”

“Good. The more the merrier,” Silver Streak replied before leaving in a sudden rush, moving faster than Professor Atom can follow, even with his enhanced eyes. Once again papers and light objects get blown around the lab before being gathered up by servo-bots and put back in there proper place. With a sigh Professor Atom moves over to his lab computer bank to check the readings that were just gathered about Silver Streak. At least now he has more data for his speed dampening field research project…

Part 2: Confrontation

It was a quiet morning in Riverside, particularly around the Meta-Human Research Institute. Though a cool morning, the sky was clear and it looked like it was going to be a good day. A very sharp-eyed observer might have noticed the slight shimmer of an energy field in place around the Meta-Human Research Institute, though it would have been more clearly seen in dim lighting, however this almost invisible field seemed to have no effect on the numerous people passing through it as they went about their morning routines.

This serene morning was then suddenly shattered as The Chrononaut appeared out of thin air in the middle of the sidewalk. Gathered around him were the mercenaries Bramble and Deadeye, as well as two dozen Chronobots, and they were all looking momentarily confused (except for the robots; they tend to conceal their emotions well). Into this confusion the Stirling City Irregulars sprang from their various hiding places, which had been scattered around the institute as they were unsure as to which direction the villains would be approaching from.

The hulking ice giants, Sveln and Njordos, moved to engage the villains head on, as was their preference. Making use of the giants as a distraction, The Black Ghost circled the fight, looking for a way to get close to The Chrononaut, although he was easily spotted by Deadeye and was thus engaged by that mercenary instead. Meanwhile, Lightning Hachi and Silver Streak began carrying away civilians at super speed, while Solrac the Summoner created protective stone walls to shield whole sections of the street from the battle that was already breaking out. Lastly, Professor Atom acted as a foil to the bow-wielding mercenary Bramble, who would otherwise have skewered Solrac with little effort.

Over the crash of ice giants flattening Chronobots, Deadeye called out to The Chrononaut, who was yet to engage the heroes in any way: “Why are you just standing there? Use your powers!”

“Somethings wrong!” he cried back, “Hang on…” and then a look of extreme concentration and effort came over his face. He had no way of knowing that all of his temporal abilities were being dampened by Professor Atom’s hastily constructed device; all that he knew was that his powers had suddenly failed leaving them exposed and vulnerable. Normally his “chrono-suit” enabled him to tap into the latent temporal energy that surrounded all things. He knew how it worked and he knew it should have worked. So, with an extreme effort, he reached down deep into his own previously untapped powers (perhaps powers that had been masked by the use of the “chrono-suit” all along) and reached for elusive powers of the time stream.

Then, in a blinding flash of white light, all of the heroes and villains (and a small number of civilians who were yet to be evacuated) disappeared.

Aftermath

“Heroes Lost!” “Battle at the MHRI!” “Who is The Chrononaut?”

News crews arrived at the scene almost as quickly as the police. Both groups found a scene of confusion. Civilians were wandering around, trying to figure out what had just happened. Everyone told the same story though, The Stirling City Irregulars had intercepted The Chrononaut and then everyone disappeared. The only sign that something had indeed taken place (aside from the security camera footage that would soon be played almost non-stop on all of the local stations) were ten disabled Chronobots and a magically summoned stone wall (that dissipated after a half an hour anyway).

Despite how bad things looked right then and there, everyone kind of expected the Stirling City Irregulars to reappear at any moment. They kept on thinking that for two weeks.

Now, some still hold out hope that they will all just come back; most believe that they all died on that morning in May. On the 18th they even held a memorial service for all of those who went missing in the incident, “The Incident” as some refer to it as.

Ever since that morning, super-crime rates in the city have been on the rise. Heroes such as Scarlet Streak, Water Sprite and Night-Ward are still doing their best, but they have other responsibilities as well and they cannot protect people to the same extent as the Stirling City Irregulars.

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MAY/2017

World at War Special #1

Epilogues

World at War

The invasion of Earth by the inhabitants of Earth-Shadow was over, but what of those who took part in the conflict? Over the following months, as both Berlin and Stirling City entered a reconstruction phase, the following things took place:

Blue Steel: Although she enjoyed catching up with The Other Guys, Blue Steel was eager to return to her movie set out in LA. Then she received word from LA that the producers for her film had vanished, taking her prototype battle suits with them. No record of the producers can now be found.
Bob Nostradamus: Having done everything that he had needed to, Bob slipped away in the confusion at the end of the battle.
Burnished Dawn (& White Lady): White Lady offers Burnished Dawn membership in the Secret Order of Druids, as well as training as a wielder of light magic (not something Burnished Dawn knows anything about yet). White Lady feels that Burnished Dawn has it in her to become a Luminary, one of the leaders of the Secret Order.
Executive Solutions: Thanks to their efforts in Avery, one third of the invading force was bottled up and so they are regarded as heroes by the people of Stirling City, with their obviously xenophobic attitudes being praised by some (and ignored by others). Zodiac (on behalf of his team) is presented with the keys of the city, a move that is frowned upon by many.
Frostbite: With HuBot now recognised as a hero of the city, Frostbite is no longer required to remain in the city to watch over him. However Earth Front gives Frostbite the option of staying on in the city if he wishes.
The MRC: They suffered severe casualties after being the first respondents to the invasion in Berlin, with over 60% of their fighting force being killed or seriously injured. Following the invasion they also find that many of their dead were stripped of their battle suits (some were then finished off, after being stripped of their battle suits). There is talk in the UN, spearheaded by the US, of getting rid of the MRC.
Nova: Nova powers down following the battle and heads off to reunite with his family and friends after so many years away.
Omega Unit: Luckily Omega Unit had been on manoeuvres at Fort Claybourne when the invasion started, otherwise things may have turned out much worse. The President publicly lauds the Omega Unit for their work in protecting America when needed.
Salamander: Having seen The Panther fighting against The Shadow Mage in Stirling Park, Salamander is reminded of why she became a superhero in the first place. Overcome with remorse for the decisions she’s made over the years she turns herself in to the police.
Stirling City Irregulars: Despite their first case ending in disaster, Francis Fabien is convinced that they show strong promise. He tries to find Nova, to offer him a place on the team, but the hero wishes nothing more than to be left alone.
Stirling City: Much rebuilding needs to be done in Stirling City but it is sped along with assistance from Professor Atom (and his constructobots). On the site of the Caville portal they decide to build a memorial to all of those who died during the invasion.
Stirling Heroes & The Other Guys: Thanks to their central role in defeating, or at least containing, the invasion, the Stirling Heroes and The Other Guys are presented with the keys to the city.
The Arc-Angel: Returns to his base to find that it received considerable damage (from the initial rocket attack) resulting in the prisoners escaping. Agent Gibbs turns out to be ok though, just drunk. Luckily, the investigation into his mistreatment of animals gets forgotten about (for now) in the media blitz following the invasion.
The Panther: The spectral hero who, when he was alive, was The Panther manages to disappear without any trouble. He is sure to return when he is needed once more…
The Truth: Was able to present her evidence to the US state department, which led to a thorough investigation of Dynamic Solutions. So far it looks like the company might not survive.
Thorn: Is debriefed by Ice Queen, who is now able to tell her that the head of Omega Unit, Colonel Miles, used to go by the code name Omega-Dawn. Some years ago this former superhero attempted a worldwide coup, but was defeated and has been in hiding ever since. Ice Queen is disquieted by the implications of the US military being willing to reach out to this wanted man.

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SEP/2013

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Sep 18, 2013

Stirling Heroes #74

World at War: Blowing Things Up

Following their earlier battle, The Stirling Heroes had gathered together at the head of the Omega Unit army. They had faced wave upon wave of Shadow Nazi attack, but each had been repulsed with ease. They had been making slow progress, however, due to their wish to keep pace with the Omega Unit troops.

Then five Shadow Nazi super-soldiers came to the fore and attacked the Stirling Heroes. These warriors, armed with dark, mystical lances and wielding strange powers, could almost have been a match for the heroes, but between Frostbite’s ferocity, The Arc-Angel’s elctryfying power, Shadow Stalker’s precise teleporting, Thorn’s accurate shooting and HuBot’s cheerful destructiveness they were able to win through. It was only once these Shadow Nazi Super Soldiers had been defeated that Thorn noticed that the force field, which had been protecting the portal near Dynamic Solutions, was no longer there!

Within seconds HuBot had begun launching his grenades deep into the enemy army and through the portal’s opening. Moments later the deafening explosions were followed by the great portal winking out of existence! (Though they couldn’t see it, the other two portals in Stirling City also winked out at this time.) Despite the closing of the portals there were still a large number of Shadow Nazi soldiers within the city (not to mention the hulking Shadow Colossus, and whatever had appeared in Stirling Park). So the Stirling Heroes kept fighting and HuBot was finally able to get a shot at the Boss Monster (the Shadow Colossus)!

In Stirling Park a small band of misfit adventurers (including Jack, Memoria and others) are holding back an overwhelming swarm of shadow demons, while towering above them, each standing much taller than the nearby buildings, but both being composed of smoke and ether) The Panther battles The Shadow Mage. Bob Nostradamus, Nova, The Other Guys and the Stirling City Irregulars arrive to lend much needed assistance to the forces holding the Shadow Demons at bay. The Shadow Mage, seeing that his forces might soon be overcome, attempts to consolidate his power (activating the magic circles that have been established for him) but the attempt fails when the magic circle within the Gralein Building fails to activate. With renewed desperation he doubles his offensive, driving The Panther to his knees. The Panther then reveals his secret weapon, White Lady, but even her light magic doesn’t seem to be powerful enough to halt The Shadow Mage, until she is joined by Burnished Dawn carrying a Dawn Shard. This extra assistance is enough to destroy The Shadow Mage, sending his essence screaming back to the shadowy dimension that is his home.

With his destruction, the shadow demons, shadow colossi and other creatures of shadow magic fade away, leaving the battered remains of the Shadow Nazi army (in both Stirling City and Berlin) all alone. The surrender of the Shadow Nazi commanders follows shortly afterwards.

Perplexed, HuBot stopped evading his opponent as the giant scorpion thing shattered into a thousand shards of darkness. Must have been one of those bosses.

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SEP/2013

The Other Guys #15

World at War: Getting Out Again

Having crept off stealthily earlier, Bob Nostradamus works his way into where the prisoners are being kept and, after waiting for the guards to be called away, he frees them. He tells the Stirling City Irregulars (being Francis Fabien, The Colt, Water Sprite, Tomorrow Girl, Sveln and Njordos) to lead the two frightened scientists to safety, but Francis Fabien insists on staying to see the job through, telling Water Sprite to get everyone else to the Tennel Enterprises building for safety. Bob doesn’t mention to Water Sprite that her son (Blur) is nearby, but he does apologise to Black Ghost, Lightning Hachi and (particularly) Burnished Dawn who he arranged to captured many months earlier. He tried to explain that what had happened was for the best, but they weren’t interested in his excuses. Burnished Dawn did listen to him, however, when he gave her a glass dagger that he called a Dawn Shard and told her that no matter what, she had to make it to Stirling Park later.

With the sound of many approaching boots sounding around them, Bob lead the newly freed prisoners into an adjoining room where they were able to meet up with Blur, Captain Awesome, Blue Steel, Obfuscate, The Truth and Nova, all of whom had just caught the elevator back to this level in search of Bob. The Other Guys had a brief reunion, before the second elevator’s door opened to reveal a squad of armoured guards!

Dealing with the guards in the elevator (and other guards who had been approaching from behind) was an easy prospect for this band of heroes, but they still didn’t know how to get out. Trying the elevator again, they take it to the top floor where they find a large squad of armoured guards waiting for them. These guards are heavily decimated by the heroes’ initial attack, but are able to counterattack with their modified Multi-Guns! Rockets and rail gun shots flew, seriously hurting the heroes (who were all packed quite closely together in the elevator), with Bob even leaping in front of Burnished Dawn to prevent her from being shot at one point (this shot left him unconscious and bleeding on the ground).

Luckily the heroes were able to persevere, defeating this second group of guards. Burnished Dawn was then able to spend some time healing the varied injuries everyone had incurred (Bob was particularly happy to find out that he had survived the combat, he hadn’t been sure that he would) in their escape, while everyone was also able to peer out the nearby windows to see the hordes of Shadow Nazi Soldiers marching out of the nearby portal (because they were, of course, inside the Dynamic Solutions building).

With everyone healthy again they all agreed to escort Burnished Dawn to Stirling Park for whatever fate awaited her there.

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SEP/2013

The Other Guys #14

World at War: Power

Having appropriated a helmet from an armoured guard, Obfuscate had learned that the helmet’s HUD enabled the wearer to see in a number of different spectrums. A useful thing for him to know, so that he knew not to rely on his invisibility to keep him safe while he scouted around the facility. Encountering guards, he chose to retreat and find back up rather than risk an encounter…

The other heroes had been discussing what they should do, how best to get down to where the force field controls were located and shut them down. With Obfuscate showing up again, it was decided that The Truth should go and stealthily deal with the guard he had found (which she did… and then she dealt with the guard he hadn’t seen). With the guards taken care of, Captain Awesome used his music to win over the loyalty of some technicians (or scientists) working near the force field control panels. With the technicians now fully supportive of whatever Captain Awesome wanted them to do he got them to shut down the force field. For good measure The Truth then destroyed the control panels, which caused a potentially dangerous power build up to begin. From the technicians, The Truth and Obfuscate learned that the power source for the whole facility was apparently a person, so they figured they should prevent this person from exploding.

While The Truth and Obfuscate head off to see to that, Blur races around until he finds another elevator (that will lead them down to where The Truth and Obfuscate are), but in the process he finds more guards. So he, Captain Awesome and Blue Steel do their best to fight off the guards, not realising that Bob Nostradamus has slipped away without telling anyone. The heroes (in two separate areas of the facility) find themselves fighting guards, but they are easily able to deal with their opponents, with The Truth even managing to free the bound “power source” (the missing hero Nova) from his cradle. Only Blue Steel ran into any trouble and then only when she went looking for Bob, for a guard shot her down, leaving her bleeding and alone.

With Nova free and the remaining guards knocked down with a surge of his plasma energy the lights begin to dim in the facility…

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SEP/2013

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Sep 17, 2013

The Other Guys #13

World at War: Incursion

With the sound of feet approaching, the heroes sprang into action. As armoured guards rounded the corner they were met with a blasting attack from Captain Awesome, which sent at least half of their number falling to the floor. The Truth and Obfuscate used this opportunity to begin reconnoitring the area (with Obfuscate going as far as to disguise himself as one of the guards.

Bob and Blur supplied support to Captain Awesome, laying down covering fire and a slippery surface respectively. With their assistance Captain Awesome was able to clean up all of the guards in short order.

A short distance from the combat area, The Truth was able to access a security computer terminal where she was able to create a new password for accessing any areas of the complex they were in before looking into what was going on. She discovered that the whole facility (wherever they were) was in a lockdown situation due to a force field being erected (Operation Lock Out, as it was referred to in the computer files). At this time radio and wi-fi communications are also expected to be disrupted. She figured that this force field would probably prevent them from leaving. Also, The Truth was able to discover that there were a number of special guests (read prisoners) being kept on-site, several of which were listed as requiring special restraints (due to their special abilities). While The Truth was investigating the computer network Obfuscate very nearly sat down on her (one of the draw backs of being both invisible and silent), but he realised what must be going on at the last moment, so he instead took his snooping further into the facility.

At this time Blue Steel caught up to her companions, flying up the now ruined elevator shaft (it was destroyed by several grenades during the earlier combat) and had passed on the glass dagger that Jack had entrusted her with. Blue Steel, Blur and Bob Nostradamus then all met up with The Truth and they determined that dismantling the force field generator and freeing the prisoners was probably what they should be doing.

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AUG/2013

Blue Steel #4

World at War: Looking for Jack

Having arrived at the Gralein Building with Bob, Blue Steel had met up with Obfuscate and then they had all teleported to the top floor where they found that things had been dealt with already (by The Truth, Blur and Captain Awesome). While everyone else prepared to head off to their next location, Bob asked Blue Steel if she could track down Jack (who he had been expecting to join them at the Gralein Building). Blue Steel agreed and began searching the roads and laneways between the Gralein Building and the Magic Club.

No sooner had she set out than she found a group of armoured soldiers flying along (using jet packs). Finding this suspicious, she tried to follow them but was almost immediately spotted. The ensuing combat saw Blue Steel victorious (although one did escape) and on the ground with an unconscious captive standing in front of a surprised looking man who turned out to be Jack.

Talking to Jack, Blue Steel got the impression that he knew more of what was going on than he was letting on. He was unwilling to go with her to join Bob (who he called Bob Nostradamus), but he was willing to give her something that Bob would need. Which is just as weird as it sounds.

Before Blue Steel could convince Jack to accompany her they were attacked by some kind of shadow demon that was able to incapacitate Blue Steel with little effort. When Jack revived her with his healing touch she saw that his clothing had mostly disappeared (revealing his ripped abdomen and rippling chest muscles). He had also grown a pair of fiery wings.

Finally Blue Steel was convinced to head back to meet up with the others, but Jack gave her a dagger made from glass (or crystal) before she left. He, in turn, was preparing to fight more shadow demons.

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AUG/2013

Stirling Heroes #73

World at War: Reinforcements

The Arc-Angel continued with his plan of trying to lure the massive Shadow Colossus on to the Dynamic Solutions building, while keeping out of its reach. This was complicated by the creature starting to fire beams of dark fire from its eyes, but The Arc-Angel was able to dodge these and then used the building as cover. For a few tense moments it seemed like he might be able to outsmart his enormous opponent, but he then lost track of it (while remaining out of the creature’s line of sight, it meant he couldn’t see it either), allowing it to get the drop on him. A well placed hit from the Shadow Colossus then sent The Arc-Angel flying away to land, unconscious, in a dumpster…

Which brings us to HuBot, who managed to recover from his serious wounds and retake the field. Looking for a good opportunity to engage the large amount of enemy soldiers once more he (well Flicker) caught sight of a single flying figure approaching the vicinity. Through his gun sight, HuBot was able to see that this was his nemesis Sidewinder! So he shot him down. Finding the downed Sidewinder (which luckily didn’t take too long), HuBot bound him with some “scavenged” chains and then healed him, only to learn that Sidewinder had been released from jail to serve with the Omega Unit (some kind of super powered community service perhaps). Convinced that Sidewinder was a “good guy” for the moment, HuBot freed him and then headed off to where this Omega Unit had set up a temporary field base…

Shadow Stalker was using his teleportation and possession to keep causing havoc amidst the invaders, but whilst this was happening Thorn caught sight of some helicopters approaching the area. She was able to mentally contact the pilots and discovered that they were US army reconnaissance. They passed on to her that Omega Unit had established a temporary base nearby, which Shadow Stalker was able to take teleport them all (including the unconscious Frostbite) to.

While HuBot kept himself busy healing wounded civilian and army personnel as they were brought into the Omega Unit base, the other Stirling Heroes were introduced to Colonel Fraser Miles, the leader of Omega Unit. He was appreciative of their presence (with most super powered individuals having already gone to Germany) and was able to tell them that there were three inter-dimensional portals currently open in Stirling City. Sidewinder was soon able to report back (via radio contact) that there were Shadow Nazis and Shadow Colossi emerging from each portal. With a bit of digital investigation, The Arc-Angel (who had recovered and had been directed to this base also) was able to determine that one of these portals was appearing near a closed down community radio station (which had been purchased last year by a private trust) and that the other was appearing near an electronics wholesaler that was part owned by Dynamic Solutions! Sidewinder was then kept busy trying to stem the flow of invaders from one of the portals (apparently some other groups of super-powered individuals had arrived to reinforce the other portal).

Thorn (acting as The Rose) also managed to report back to her new boss, the Ice Queen, in Washington. Ice Queen was eager to hear news from ground zero of the American invasion and was also surprised to hear that Colonel Miles was the leader of Omega Unit. She further asked that The Rose keep her apprised of any further developments (and to let her know immediately if Colonel Miles did anything… odd).

Frostbite used this time to see if there was any help to be forthcoming from his Earth Front buddies. Of course, they had all been deployed to Germany, but the admin people he was able to contact were grateful of the information he was able to provide from the situation in Stirling City.

With things looking grim, HuBot and Shadow Stalker were sent back to the Dynamic Solutions portal to see if they could stealthily penetrate the protective force field. While Shadow Stalker provided a distraction (and almost blew himself to pieces with one of HuBot’s grenades) HuBot “snuck” to the top of the force field and tried using his chainsaw to break through. Despite his success, he could only temporarily penetrate the field (with any holes repairing themselves afterwards). He then took the initiative and went looking for another way in…

Back with the Omega Unit, The Arc-Angel, Thorn and Frostbite were engaging the Shadow Nazis in combat (alongside the US Army). The battle was fierce but decisive, with the Shadow Nazis being broken without ever troubling the heroes. With the enemy retreating before them, they allowed themselves to feel that maybe they could win this after all… until they caught sight of a colossal (well, much larger than colossal) figure of darkness materialise in what was probably Stirling Park! To be visible from that distance, the figure would have to have been several hundred feet tall!!! Dread began to seep into the bones and souls of the nearby troops, but then The Panther (who had also just materialised nearby… lot of that going around) told the Stirling Heroes to keep the faith and keep on fighting, before he started flying (!) off towards the super colossal figure, enlarging himself as he went until he could stand on equal footing with the shadowy interloper.

Elsewhere, HuBot had finally found a sewer tunnel that led him towards Dynamic Solutions. Progressing down the tunnel he eventually came to a point where it had been recently upgrade (ooo, chromed sewer tunnels!). At tis point he also encountered the force field once more. Desperately he tried penetrating it once more to no avail.

To be continued…

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AUG/2013

Stirling Heroes #72

World at War: Shadow Nazi Attack

The Stirling Heroes have just watched Quickdraw vanish and have then spoken with Professor Atom (who got teleported to Germany in mid-conversation). Hearing that the Shadow Nazis had opened several large inter-dimensional portals in and around Berlin, the heroes began discussing how best to lend their assistance. Before these plans could get very far they were interrupted by the sounds of explosions from just outside (above) the base. Shadow Stalker used his ESP to determine that someone had set up a rocket launcher platform on a nearby building and was firing a stream of rockets at the concealed base.

Immediately the Stirling Heroes leapt into action, with Shadow Stalker teleporting Frostbite, Thorn and HuBot (and himself) to the rooftop that held the attackers. The Arc-Angel, meanwhile, was trying to ascertain the extent of the damage to his base, but soon flew to join his comrades.

HuBot was able to use his chainsaw to “disable” the rocket launcher and then he Frostbite and Thorn set about dealing with the guards that were stationed on it. They proved to be hard to hit, but by then The Arc-Angel had shown up and quickly fried them with electricity. The guards were all wearing advanced full-body armour, similar to that worn by the security forces of Dynamic Solutions. When they removed the helmet of one of the guards they were even more surprised to find that the man underneath was a shadow nazi! It was at this point that they caught sight of the top of a shimmering portal in the distance, at the point where it was just clearing the roofline.

Without any hesitation they began scouting (via ESP) and then moving closer (via teleportation, which was growing difficult for Shadow Stalker for some reason, but he didn’t mention it to anyone) until Shadow Stalker was able to get a good view of what was going on. On the street just in front of Dynamic Solutions an enormous inter-dimensional portal had opened to allow rank upon rank of infantry (all seemingly wearing the same armour as the guards back on the rooftop) to march onto the streets of Stirling City. Accompanying the infantry were tanks, APCs, motorcycles and a colossal monstrosity that seemed to be the bizarre melding of a scorpion and a man. This monstrosity towered above everything else, and the infantry were easily able to walk beneath its body as it made its way down the street. Some of the infantry would occasionally get stepped on by the creature, as it failed to keep track of the soldiers moving between its multiple segmented legs.

The heroes were horrified, but HuBot (and Flicker) were up to the task of keeping the infantry busy while the others attempted to close the portal. As HuBot went off and engaged roughly 1000 soldiers in combat (which was a new personal best, even if it didn’t end too well for him as he was eventually cut down and left for dead) the other Stirling Heroes got closer to the actual portal. They were able to determine that the portal was being generated from the other side (the world of the shadow Nazis, presumably). An initial attempt by Shadow Stalker and Frostbite to teleport through and attack the generators failed… as Shadow Stalker found himself blocked from teleporting through the portal by a force field that also countered teleportation. So they fell back to Plan B, which involved Shadow Stalker possessing the Shadow Colossus (the colossal scorpion man thing) and trying to batter through the force field with its pincer hands.

All went well, with the creature easily falling under his sway, but it took too long for the beast to walk back to the force field and it was then able to shrug off Shadow Stalker’s possession! Catching sight of the Stirling Heroes, it then chose to attack!!!

Frostbite fell quickly, no match for the pure strength of the massive pincer that enfolded him. Thorn mentally assailed the creature, but to little avail. Shadow Stalker then too those two to safety, while The Arc-Angel did his best to lure the beast into the force field (which it didn’t do) or possibly on to Dynamic Solutions (which seemed to be included inside the force field).

To be continued…

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JUL/2013

The Other Guys #12

Irregular Circumstances: Into the Tunnel

The two groups of heroes stared at each other for a few moments and Captain Awesome went back to countering the sound of the fire alarm. The Truth, a notoriously bad liar, says she’ll have a quick look around to make sure there aren’t any more guards (but no-one believes her, and she just goes invisible and observes everyone). Eventually Bob is able to explain, roughly, why he (and Obfuscate and Blue Steel) have just shown up. Obfuscate then hurries into the penthouse suite of Klaus Richter and, after examining the ritualistic markings still in place, is able to determine that he was in the middle of a ritual to open and stabilise an inter-dimensional gateway. Or something to that effect.

Obfuscate then started going through Richter’s notes and so The Truth “returned” from scouting (much to no-one’s surprise) to lend a hand with the texts in German. Between them, they notice a strange note about a “special delivery” that was made to a certain warehouse in West Larston a few days ago. Bob suggests that tey should check out what this could mean, but sends Blue Steel off on a secret mission of her own before they all set out.

Captain Awesome arrives at the warehouse first and reconnoiters the area. He comes to the conclusion that it looks empty. Which is correct. When the others arrive, in Bob’s shiny new hummer, The Truth then looks around the place and also finds it do be empty on the inside, as though it has never been used. She does find signs that the place has been searched recently, as well as signs of a battle in the warehouse.

Everyone then enters the warehouse and has a look around. They are able to discover a cleverly hidden switch which opens a sliding trapdoor above a secret ramp. This leads down to a dark subterranean tunnel wide enough for a car to drive down.

Bob soon finds the light switch (sending lights flickering into life ahead of the heroes) for the tunnel and Captain Awesome summons his bike (Eddie) and then they all start walking (or riding) down the tunnel. Blur scouts ahead at super speed and finds the first lot of guards (who are stationed roughly 1 mile down the tunnel). They heroes make a plan and then Obfuscate and The Truth lead the attack relying on their invisibility. Things looked worrying for a little bit, but the heroes triumph in the end. The Truth then foams up the guards (who were all wearing the same body armour as the guys back at the Gralein Building) and then they continued down the tunnel (after Bob had armed himself with a dropped assault rifle).

Blur soon found another guard post and once again the two stealthy heroes (Obfuscate and The Truth) moved forward to deal with them first. This time around the group tactics worked a lot better and the guards went down very swiftly.

The second group of guards had been stationed in front of a room at the end of the tunnel. This room contained some seating and two armoured cars… as well as an elevator. Getting into the elevator they found that it only went to one other place (UP!) and so that’s where they went, with everyone making sure they were taking cover in case guards were awaiting them when the elevator doors opened.
The doors opened to reveal a dimly lit metal gantry, some massive machinery (making a huge amount of noise) and, distantly, the sound of approaching feet…

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JUL/2013

The Other Guys #11

Irregular Circumstances: The Other Other Guys

As the reports began coming in, relating the enormous inter-dimensional portals that had opened up in Berlin, The Eagle turned to Captain Awesome and beckoned for him to follow. The master magician had been feeling a mystical force building in Stirling City (a great force, to be felt all the way in New York), centred on the Gralein Building, and he felt that it needed to be investigated. Captain Awesome instantly agreed to check things out while the rest of the heroes, who were assembling at that moment, headed straight to Germany.

A silent wire shot from the opposite building, latching onto the Gralein Building roof. Moments later The Truth swung from across the alley, her movements silent and assured and utterly unseen to anyone else. Pausing on the rooftop she mentally reviewed her plan of action: find Klaus Richter, head of Dynamic Solutions Advanced Solutions Department (whatever that meant) and discover what secrets he was having hidden that would cause three people to wind up dead behind a Dynamic Solutions disposals facility in Silicon Valley.

Blur watched his dad, Scarlet Streak, disappear with a flash of magic as he was whisked away to help save the world. For years his dad had avoided joining the Heroes’ League because he was afraid it would drag him away from his family (like it was doing now) or get him killed (like it did to his mentor). Yet when the whole world was in danger, how could his father not respond? Not and still hold his head high, at any rate. Now the job of finding his mother, Water Sprite (and the rest of the Stirling City Irregulars) fell to Blur. His father had told him not to look, but he must have known Blur wouldn’t listen to him. Besides, he could feel magic being worked out in the city… maybe that was where his mum was and maybe, just maybe, he could save her.

Blur arrived at the source of the magic working in next to no time. The Gralein Building, which had been in the news a bit last year. Slipping in unseen, he grabbed an available elevator and headed to the penthouse, since the magic seemed to be coming from up near the top of the building. Soon he had found that the source of the magical emanations was coming from behind a guarded door… guarded by men with assault rifles and no fear of shooting 13 year old boys! With the first volley of killing shots arcing towards him, Blur was pushed aside by a previously unseen figure who then collapsed (having taken the brunt of the gunshots himself). With no time to check on the valiant man, Blur began dodging attacks and disarming his opponents as best he could, while desperately trying to think “What would dad do now?”

Both The Truth and Captain Awesome (from their separate locations in the Gralein Building) heard the muffled gunshots and began moving to investigate their source. The Truth arrived at the scene first and, unsure what was going on, tried to evaluate the situation before beginning to take down the guards by stealth. Captain Awesome, being a far less stealthy operator, barrelled down the fire escape stairs and rana round until he found a startled guard, with whom he tussled with until finally dropping the man with a well placed blow from his guitar. He then moved on, looking for trouble, only to find his old friend Jack (the owner of the Magic Bar) bleeding from gunshot wounds in the hall. Of course he paused to heal Jack before going on.

Meanwhile, with the coast clear, Blur had moved into the guarded room (and evaded more guards), to discover an ebony skinned man performing a magic rite. With guards all around, it was only the timely intervention of The Truth and Captain Awesome that ended the magic ritual and saved Blur’s life.

While The Truth quickly ransacked the suite (discovering that the strange ebony skinned man was actually Klaus Richter, and also discovering that the armoured guards also had ebony skin) Captain Awesome and Blur trussed up the guards. Captain Awesome also nullified the sounds of the blaring fire alarm that The Truth had set off earlier to get aid for the fallen Jack.

As the three heroes who were brought together by fate exited the penthouse suite and began planning their next move (as either individuals or a group) there was a sudden flash of light and a billow of smoke and there, before them in the hallway, stood a man dressed as a stage magician (who Captain Awesome recognised as Obfuscate), a hulking blue robot (who Captain Awesome recognised as Blue Steel) and a sharply dressed man (who was unrecognised as Bob). After a moment of stunned silence, Bob’s gaze fell on Blur and he uttered, in shock, “What are you doing here?”

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JUL/2013

← Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next →

Searching for the Strangler

Part 1: Taking care of Family

Part 2: Searching the Streets

Daylight Robbery (Cont.)

Part 1: Following Leads

Part 2: New Directions

Daylight Robbery

Heroes Lost!

Part 1: Preparation

Part 2: Confrontation

Aftermath

Epilogues

World at War: Blowing Things Up

World at War: Getting Out Again

World at War: Power

World at War: Incursion

World at War: Looking for Jack

World at War: Reinforcements

World at War: Shadow Nazi Attack

Irregular Circumstances: Into the Tunnel

Irregular Circumstances: The Other Other Guys

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