II Crimsonstreak
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Composed, Samson Knight continued with the prepared statement.
“We find you guilty of unconscionable crimes. It the belief of this council that you have committed additional crimes, other than those of which you are convicted,” Knight said, pausing dramatically. “However, as this is a court of law, your convictions stem only from those crimes proven by incontrovertible evidence.”
Even gagged, Chaos attempted to dispute the allegations, but his protestations proved unintelligible.
“We now must turn to the issue of punishment,” Knight continued. “We will decide this at a later date, but I would like Colonel Chaos Secunde to understand the gravity of the situation.
“The unique circumstances in this case give us a variety of options. We can place Chaos Secunde in perpetual stasis, a fate he saw fit for his predecessor. We can exile him back to his own reality, though there are certain difficulties in enforcing that option. We can strip him of his powers, a punishment he was prepared to unleash on others. We could call for his execution.
“Each option shall be weighed according to its advantages and disadvantages. Now, we adjourn.”
Neither Glover nor Knight was available for comment following the day’s proceedings. The tribunal did not set a timetable for the sentencing phase.
Appendix III: NWCW Secret Communiques from Colonel Chaos as Released by Aegis
Declassified
For Public Release
New World Common Wealth
Allies:
It is apparent that the Kiltech threat is all-encompassing. A tactical analysis of their invasion reveals an unconventional approach.
While they seem intent on disrupting the order of our world, it is apparent that their “invasion” is less of a takeover and more of an attempt to find something. At this time, I do not know what or whom they seek.
I recommend all Earth forces treat the Kiltechs as a hostile threat. Termination with extreme prejudice is required.
(signed)
Colonel Chaos
New World Common Wealth
Allies:
The Kiltechs have tried to sway local media organizations by claiming they’re here to help humanity. While some of the weaker among us are being ensnared in that trap, I urge you to recall that the aliens began their “peace mission” by killing dozens of world leaders under the guise of a global summit.
The goodwill campaign that followed was unanticipated and farcical. It is inconceivable that President Conrad would stoop so low as offer the Kiltechs a second chance. There appears to be more to this plot than I anticipated.
Our New World Common Wealth movement is growing as the Kiltechs impose their will upon our world. Earth appears to be a pawn in an intergalactic battle of which I know little. We must not let these alien invaders dictate their terms to us.
(signed)
Colonel Chaos
New World Common Wealth
Allies:
President Conrad stands in our way. The President of the United States is determined to make peace with the extraterrestrial threat.
He must not be allowed to do so.
Agents of the New World Common Wealth have learned of a meeting between the Kiltech leadership and President Conrad. At this meeting, he will be assassinated. This assassination is not the plan of the Kiltechs, but it shall be the end result of their brief summit.
I have contracted an NWCW agent to carry out this mission. As soon as President Conrad is hit, I will arrive on the White House lawn, having arrived “just moments too late” to save the Commander-in-Chief. I will blame the aliens and present evidence of their deception.
His death is a necessary step in repelling the Kiltech threat and strengthening the new world we will build together. We shall turn President Conrad into a martyr; his death shall be an ominous reminder of what collusion with the Kiltechs really means.
(signed)
Colonel Chaos
New World Common Wealth
Allies:
The Kiltechs are threatening to destroy California unless Earth governments bow to their demand to turn over all of our super-powered men and women. This is a demand we cannot meet. We must draw our line here.
We must continue to manufacture discontent, targeted against the alien threat. Our New World Common Wealth movement grows stronger, yet some nations of the world continue to hold out. I am growing more impatient with our European contemporaries. While they harbor no love for the invaders, their unwillingness to commit to our cause reveals the weakness in their hearts.
It is my belief that we must allow the destruction of the state of California. This is a course of action I know will be unpopular with many of you. However, the Kiltechs represent the greatest threat our planet has ever known. Promoting the destruction of California is necessary to unify our power base.
Common Wealth leadership must continue the campaign to undermine the Kiltech race. With public outrage over the destruction of an entire state, we can rally our forces against the invaders. That support will enable us to marshal a force large enough to defeat them.
More importantly, when the dust settles and the invaders are driven away, the New World Common Wealth will be in a position to take complete control.
(signed)
Colonel Chaos
Appendix IV: Oaths of the Bands
Red Band Oath
Red sizzles, Red inflames
Raise our banner, call our names
Red Bands conquer, Red Bands fight
Crushing foes with deadly might
Orange Band Oath
An Orange Band, an Orange Sight
Guiding Power, Orange Light
Orange Bands Unite, Rejoice!
In Orange Power and Orange Voice!
Yellow Band Oath
Amber beacon in the dark
Yellow Bands will make their mark
Color that all evil dreads
Yellow power ’round our heads
Green Band Oath
Green Bands assemble
Taking on our enemies
With blinding Green Light
Green Bands charge forward
Using powers for our cause
Galaxy made Green
Blue Band Oath
Blue!
The color of water
Blue!
The color of sky
Blue!
The color of victory
Blue!
Join us or die!
Indigo Band Oath
We’re Indigo, we’re not like Blue
We’re Indigo, we’re not like you
With Cosmic Indigo we make our mark
Sack empires, tear others apart
We’re Indigo… not Blue!
We’re Indigo!
Violet Band Oath
Last in spectrum, first in fight
Shimmering legions in the night
Violet ways, violet dreams
Violet purpose, violet schemes
A Violet Band ne’er looks back
Forging forward, Bands attack!
Appendix V: Dossiers
Name: Wainwright
Category: Industrialist/Mad Scientist
Real name: John Davison (“J.D.”) Wainwright
Birthplace: Richford, New York
Birthdate: July 8, 1960
Known powers: None/Worst Supervillain Ever
Bio: Born into a family of privilege, John Davison Wainwright inherited a vast fortune from his father, a self-made weapons mogul who specialized in the manufacture of ballistic weapons. His company, Wainwright Innovative Technology (WIT), became a primary military contractor during the height of the Cold War.
While Wainwright’s father, John Pierpont Wainwright, was an efficient and effective designer of weapons, his son wasn’t interested in the finer points of design. He often pursued unsustainable concepts that were too impractical to implement due to Wainwright’s misunderstanding of basic scientific principles.
When control
of WIT passed to the younger Wainwright in 1995, he shifted the company’s focus from manufacturing contemporary weapons for the U.S. military to more esoteric pursuits. New designs included the manufacture of “space-faring exosuits,” “plutonium death rays,” and “gamma cluster bombs.” Despite the fact that WIT never presented the military with a working advanced weapon, the company somehow retained its lucrative defense contracts.
Wainwright’s attention often wandered away from his company toward more personal pursuits. He set up political campaigns and ran unsuccessfully for president on numerous occasions. When that didn’t work, he used his considerable wealth to set up a separate division of WIT with the sole purpose of taking over the world.
Wainwright’s schemes were often outlandish and predictably unsuccessful. On one occasion, he threatened the world with a building-sized automaton resembling the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. World leaders laughed him off as a loon, a perception that intensified when the construct repeatedly tried—and failed—to climb the Empire State Building. On the third try, the robot’s arms and legs simply fell off.
Wainwright’s signature style involves a set of “crush gauntlets” that he inadvertently melded to his forearms during testing. The device was incomplete and emits only weak rays of purplish energy.
Heroes, villains, and the general public consider Wainwright to be the world’s worst supervillain. He strikes little fear in the hearts of people around the world, who often mock him for his immaculately parted hair and assortment of novelty bowties.
Name: Sapphire Twelve
Category: Deposed Extraterrestrial Royalty
Real name: Unknown
Birthplace: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Known powers: Flight, Enhanced Strength, Assortment of Sapphire-Based Beam and Shield Capabilities
Bio: The origins of Sapphire Twelve remain a mystery even by the standards of the Heroic Legion. All that is known about the hero is that she possesses an assortment of powers that appear to originate from the sapphire tiara she wears.
Records from the Heroic Legion trace Sapphire Twelve’s arrival on Earth to a decade before the fall of the United States and the rise of the New World Common Wealth. A steadfast ally of Colonel Chaos, she joined in the resistance against the Kiltech Incursion and was captured by Kiltech forces. Members of the Heroic Legion freed her just before the final, successful operation to drive the invaders away.
Once the Kiltechs left, Sapphire Twelve became increasingly unpredictable, and the Enforcer Corps subsequently locked her in a Supermax facility in Colorado. Once heroes overthrew the NWCW, Sapphire Twelve was freed, rocketing into the upper atmosphere to live among the stars and keep watch against a possible Kiltech return.
After she spent 16 weeks watching and waiting, representatives from the newly formed Champions of Justice convinced her to return to Earth in order to lead them. She agreed.
Psychiatric evaluations show a hero with a tendency to get caught up in delusions of grandeur. She believes she’s the deposed queen of a long-lost civilization called the Sapphire Empire, although no one has been able to verify her claims. According to Sapphire Twelve, she is the 12th Imperial Queen, a ruler forced to leave her planet and seek asylum elsewhere after a conspiracy cost her the throne.
While her origins remain shrouded in mystery and possible delusions, she is a forthright and powerful hero whose loyalties are difficult to secure. Discretion is advised in any dealings with her.
Name: Falcon Gray
Category: Birdman
Real name: Unknown
Birthplace: Aviary XII (unconfirmed)
Birthdate: Unknown
Known powers: Flight, Super-Strength, Squawking
Bio: “The Misplaced Birdman of Aviary XII” came to Earth shortly before the rise of the New World Common Wealth. While the Kiltech Incursion opened the eyes of the world to the possibility of extraterrestrial life, many still regard Falcon Gray’s stories of space travel with skepticism.
An imposing figure, Falcon Gray stands six-foot-four, with broad shoulders and many birdlike physical features. His arms are feathered wings that can bend like human arms but which also support sustained flight. A beak punctuates his feathered face. He has no tail feathers and chooses to wear pants, although his chiseled, feathered upper body remains uncovered.
The hero moves like a bird, shaking his head and bobbing up and down constantly. On many occasions, he will shake and shimmy or perch atop chairs and tables. He has been known to get distracted by fountains and other water features.
From a fighting standpoint, few can match Falcon Gray in intensity and power. When focused, he is capable of incredible strength and speed. Though not a super-speedster, his rapid birdlike metabolism affords him the ability to make lightning-quick strikes. Razor-sharp claws and his deadly beak can quickly and decisively end a fight. Though he typically shies away from killing, opponents have been known to meet his “Death of a Thousand Pecks.”
A noble hero, Falcon Gray would never hesitate to help a fellow hero in need and views all beings as members of his “Great Nest.” His life philosophy revolves around helping others and taking the opportunity to teach “fledglings” the finer points of altruism and justice.
Falcon Gray claims Aviary XII—a distant planet light-years away from Earth—as his home, even though scientists have been unable to verify its existence. Star charts provided by the hero have proved unhelpful due to the “chicken scratch” nature of the writing.
Some believe the birdman may be mentally unbalanced, but those who know Falcon Gray consider him to be a loyal and trustworthy addition to any team.
Name: Samson Knight
Category: Armored Hero with Mystical Helmet
Real name: Garrett (Gary) Lugar Knight
Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio
Birthdate: September 19, 1952
Known powers: Keen Intellect, Enhanced Strength, Bureaucratic Mastery
The son of a sheriff’s deputy, Garrett L. Knight grew up in Dayton, Ohio.
He was a born politician, possessing a serious, analytical mind and a relentless sense of justice. He put his political aspirations on hold, however, after his father suffered near-fatal injuries during a confrontation with technologically advanced bank robbers.
Determined to find the source of the criminals’ weaponry, Knight pursued countless leads before finding the weapons supplier’s warehouse. He then used his political connections to order an inspection. As a result of the findings, the government shut down the operation.
Still, Knight wasn’t satisfied. He felt government red tape served only to slow down the process and believed federal authorities could have acted more swiftly. He decided to pursue another course of action, using his government access to obtain a prototype suit of armor found in the warehouse at the very building he’d shut down.
In tribute to his father, Knight adapted the mechanized suit to fit his body, earning a reputation as a “vigilante” in the Dayton community. He would, however, meet his match during a battle in Columbus against a villain named Maximum. The fight left Knight injured, his battle suit battered. He vowed vengeance upon his enemy, but was forced to regroup.
He heard tales of an indestructible material that had been found in the Middle East. He disappeared for five months, remerging in a spectacular white suit of ceramic alloy, an electro-mace, and an intimidating helmet of mystical origins that slowed the aging process. He now called himself “Samson Knight.”
As his crimefighting reputation grew, Knight gained the attention of the Heroic Legion. He soon joined and began to move up in its ranks, serving on various committees and taking on more influential roles; in effect, he began the political career to which he had once aspired.
His swift rise to power won him both supporters and detractors, but his rivalry with Colonel Chaos came to define his career with the Legion. The two clashed constantly over policy and the handling of supervillain suppression and punishment, with Knigh
t advocating more aggressive tactics. He challenged Chaos for leadership of the group, losing by increasingly narrow margins as the years passed.
Their rivalry came to a head in 1997 during the infamous Trial of Demonspawn, a divisive episode that nearly split the Heroic Legion into separate factions. Many credit the Crusading Comet with preventing the schism.
Unknown to anyone but his closest allies, Knight held a deep affection for Karen Jo Fairborne, a.k.a. Miss Lightspeed. Some associates of Knight believe Lightspeed may have harbored similar feelings for Knight before she met Colonel Chaos. Since then, Knight has resented Chaos and his offspring, though he continues to treat Lightspeed with kindness.
When Chaos’s New World Common Wealth rose to power, Knight allied with other members of the Legion to foment a revolution. Once the battle ended, the Legion chose Knight as its next leader after the Crusading Comet recused himself because of injuries suffered during the rebellion.
About the Author
Matt Adams graduated from Indiana’s Franklin College in 2003 with a degree in journalism. He lives and writes in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his patient wife Anne and a (possibly) man-eating turtle named Willy. He has worked in television news for a decade, which explains his penchant for including fake newspaper articles and other journalism-based devices in his stories. He is the author of the comedic superhero novels I, Crimsonstreak, II Crimsonstreak, and III Crimsonstreak.