Metropolis

Jean-Pierre Gironde dies. The Gironde house is shuttered, with one longtime employee resident to keep an eye on the place and make any necessary groundskeeping arrangements. Jean-Claude Gironde tries to maintain his own career as a psychiatrist ((secretly working for the NSA)) while taking one day a week to oversee all Phoenix Industries matters. The balancing act between two high-stakes roles gets excrutiatingly difficult as the 1980s continue.

On a simple trip to pick up groceries, ShadowStar in her civilian identity of Tina Grewal gets taken hostage by the Joker, who needs bait to draw in the current Robin. Joker was not the sort of villain to look around for witnesses; he has no idea that someone witnessed the crime, and is willing to pursue Tina's captors wherever they may go.

The private school, which had spent ten years as part of Metropolis's city-wide college network, now officially opens its doors as a private boarding school for students who need a specific learning environment. Some of these students are metahuman, either born with an active metagene or developing metagene activity due to medical or environmental intervention. Others are more traditionally "human", but come from complex circumstances or have difficult-to-fit learning needs.

Retro takes over the Berkeley Sports Metroplex, Metropolis' major sports stadium, while groundskeepers are still preparing it for the Black Friday Game. He holds it hostage, threatening explosive demolition, unless his demands are met: Wyldfire to surrender to him.

Twisted nightmare versions of some of the world's Greatest Heroes take to the streets of Metropolis for nefarious purposes. The "Dark Captain" version of Captain America is a steroid-abusing brute; the "Dark Robin" version of Robin is a sniper.

Opposing them are any area heroes who can turn up, including (but not limited to) Wyldfire.

A very elegant woman named Susan Taylor comes to the private areas of the Gironde School and tells Jean-Claude Gironde -- whom she had dated about 15 years ago -- that her missing son Jase Taylor was his child. She has been careful not to do anything that might seem like making demands on their old association ... but he has money. He has resource. Susan has exhausted the options available to her; Jean-Claude needs to have someone find her missing son.

Something about Susan Taylor strikes Wyldfire agents as a stone-cold liar. Ms. Taylor is going to get quite a bit more of an investigation than she planned for!

A new domestic terrorism organization calling themselves "The Knights of Genetic Purity" are after two kids from the Metropolis Undercity. They disguised themselves as members of a Chinatown gang, "Wind Dragons", and dragged the kids down a tunnel that opens up in Chinatown. They left a tunnel collapse behind to make people think the kids had died in an accident. Wyldfire to the rescue!

Each following their own trail of stolen items transported across the northeastern U.S., Dr. Doom and Wyldfire agents travel from a Metropolis warehouse to a corporate laboratory in Gotham City, then back to a villain lair in Metropolis where the combined villainy of explosive metahuman Plastique and body-controller Shimmer have chosen to become a single person named Muse.

And to grow themself, in true Rocky Horror fashion, a perfect boyfriend.

Who is going to look a lot like the young Hero of Metropolis known as Silverwing.

Due to a hijacking gone bad, Suicide Slum is cut off and put under martial law. The cops and the National Guard are trying to find the thieves, and/or the crate stolen from Lex Industries. Stuck in the middle are Jack Monroe (out shopping at the mall), Detective Matt Slater (on administrative leave), and The Shadow.

Friends of Jean-Claude Gironde's come to him for help.

Twin gangsters operating a pornography ring attract the attention of MPD Detective Matt Slater when one of their "stars" accidentally gets arrested on soliciting charges. They mutate Slater's new partner and frame several key police officers for crimes ranging from accepting bribes of drugs to murder.

(ties into Corporate Wars 3 in August)

Having heard some of Rafferty's claims to the Rollerboyz against herself, Feral recruits Kraven the Hunter to help infiltrate their hideout and extract Rafferty for questioning.

Dr. Doom puts in an appearance, and winds up adopting "Little George", while Kraven adopts "Big George". Both kids get new names.

Solomon Grundy makes an unexpected appearance in the oldest section of Metropolis' sewer system.

((Rafferty is working for Casanova von Frankenstein on the UniSols restart, all while gathering information for Infinity Inc.))

Vivisected bodies washing up on the Lackawanna River, the kidnapping of a mercenary team, and a theft of organ transplant anti-rejection medicine from Gotham City garners the attention of Batman. He sends Ace into the fray with the Master Thespian (as Humphrey Bogart), Trickshot (as Christopher Lee portraying Van Helsing), and Taki to sort out a web of murder and kidnapping in the name of "science".

Throughout the first half of 2002, the Gironde family mansion including grounds underwent its (hopefully final) major renovation to meet the future needs of the Gironde School.

Rather than allow this rather imperious lady to use her not inconsiderable political connections to stir up a lot of trouble for Blackjack and his former associates, Wyldfire has been assigned to step into the gap and pass themselves off as "Monsieur Paxton's team". Details are as follows....

Trenchcoat Brigade Adventures: LBJs

Agent Chameleon and Litmus meet up at Daniel's Donut Shack to sign the finalized report on the Silent Seven incident. Suddenly everyone's phones ring, including the Top Secret Super Spy phones that the Trenchcoat Brigade have! An accentless male voice says, "Hello, Metropolis. How many Marxists does it take to change a lightbulb?" and then the line goes dead.

It's never good when the Idiot King calls....

Wyldfire Adventures: To be the Fly

a.k.a.

The Three Investigators STILL NOT LEARNING.

The Three Investigators have DONE IT AGAIN. Brian Tanner of same has DISAPPEARED. AGAIN. and Susie and Jeremy have to argue with each other about whether to tell the adults. From checking on the Mason Maul Shippers warehouse that Brian was supposedly surveilling, to a smelting foundry where Brian was last known to lurk, to interfering on the Russian ship Svetlana when Feedback of the Freakshow tries to rob it, this goes about as squirrelly as every other time the Three Investigators decide to ignore protocol.

Mysterious sporadic power losses and brownouts are a danger in this wintry time to regular citizens. They're also strange. Professor Jean-Claude Gironde is tired of these repeat interruptions. He drafts the first three "Special Projects" staff members he finds: Rissa, Steven, and Martin. He brings them to Thomas, who says he has found something "very interesting" about the brownout pattern.