“Dark side of Crey Corp” tales of the Atomik Punk, part 9

All around Paragon City you can see the billboards and advertisements for Crey Biotech Corporation. “Bringing the future to life” was their motto. Even before the rise of Optimum and the Robot Wars, the Atomik Punk never trusted big corporations. Secret deals made by executives to benefit themselves at the expense and lives of average citizens. Crey Corp for years was under the suspicion of civilian and super groups alike. Policing Paragon City with it’s own brand of “heroe”. Where did these faceless recruits come from? Who were they? What were Countess Crey’s real motives after the Rikti war? These were all questions everyone wanted to know the answers too.

Massacre had spent months doing surveillance and recon on Crey facilities. Links to the Tsoo, Council and Malta group were undeniable. Midnight shipments coming in from the Rogue Isles, Secret laboratories, experiments shrouded in mystery and these “Super Soldier” hero recruits. Massacre’s DNA was on file so infiltrating Crey Corp would be nearly impossible for him, with such a vast arsenal of technology and information Crey possessed it would have to come from an unknown.

Jonathan Wilkes was a man the Atomik Punk and Massacre had met in Skyway City several months ago suffering from apparent amnesia at the train station. Unable to recall at first who he was, or where he came from, he was taken to the local medical center where he eventually remained and worked as an ER doctor. As he regained his memories, he recounted events and things from 70 years in the future. Massacre had run tests on him and could not find anything to dispute his claims and no record of his life could be found from before the day they found him, including records of his DNA on any file. What was known was he had extra ordinary skill as a doctor and a grasp and knowledge of technology beyond the norm. Massacre and Atomik Punk contacted him and explained the need to infiltrate Crey. Jonathan agreed, he had no love of Crey Corp and knew the rumors of torture and experiments going on behind closed doors.

Jonathan would allow himself to be “recruited” to the Crey Protectors unit and keep Massacre and the Atomik Punk informed on all that went on inside and out.

"Freaks and Nature" Tales of the Atomik Punk, part 8

Whenever the Atomik Punk knocked heads with the Freaks, he was always in danger of being mistaken for one by his fellow heroes. It was a long running joke with the C.O.P. and friends, “Careful! Don’t accidentally blast the Punk!” they would all laugh but it was true. In a way the Atomik Punk felt a strange kin-ship with the Freak Show and could easily blend in walking through Carnival Town and Bricks town. It wasn’t so long ago that he too was an outsider, supped up on radiation and testosterone, hell bent on taking on the world. The big difference was, they were all a bunch of stupid low-lifes and the Atomik Punk was a former scientist.

It didn’t really make any sense why the Freak show with it’s anarchistic world view of destruction, would form an alliance with the walking elementals called “the Devouring Earth”, but then again, a lot of things in Paragon City didn’t make much sense. Deep underground in Perez Park, something bad was happening. The Freaks had gotten ahold of some magic artifacts used to channel forces beyond this world. In exchange for knowledge of the artifacts, the Freaks would help the Devouring Earth reclaim the zone called “Eden” and help take out Heroes and Rikti alike.

The artifacts were still in their unholy reliquaries hidden and protected by the Freaks and D.E. until the next new moon, when the elementals would use their arcane knowledge to unleash their power and transfuse Drek, one of the Freak leaders, into a walking magically infused power house.

Atomik Punk arrived with Fibulator, Outlander, Arctic Night, Lasamos, the Master of Illusion and Dr. Demoriel who carried with him a small ancient clay vessel. The cavern was filled with Freaks and D.E who were taken by surprise at the team’s arrival. Insect swarms, electricity, rockets and mind numbing psychic energy laced the cavern walls and shallow pits as group after group was put down in their icy graves courtesy of Arctic Night. The magical artifacts were reached and Drek was getting ready to unleash their power. As the team converged on the cerimonie there was a giant explosion. From the artifacts a monstrous creature was forming! Most of the remaining Freaks fled in terror as giant tentacles tore them limb from limb or pulled them struggling to one of many gaping mouths. The D.E. were bowing and worshipping the entity!, Drek tried to flee with the others but was engulfed by the glowing green creature of nightmare and began to change shape.
Dr. Demoriel appeared in front of the monster and raised the mysterious clay jar over his head and spoke “ Dark Shubniggurath, Black goat of the woods with a thousand young!, Back to the womb of mother Gaia! I command you!” A loud cry of unearthly anguish wracked the cavern, the D.E. fought back trying in vain to stop Dr. Demoriel from the spell of containment which was unleashed. The entity, and all the D.E worshippers, were sucked in an instant into the magical container with a blinding flash!

When it was all over, Drek was thankful for having his life spared and cursed himself for ever trusting the Devouring Earth. Drek had almost become an avatar for an unholy ancient god.

"Stopping a War" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 7

4 months had passed since the reappearance of Massacre, and a lot of things had changed. The Champions of Paragon had a new HQ in Peregrine Island,located near the Arena in Mera Heights about half a block NE of the Nelson Borough. The new building had a Helipad and large antennae on the roof. Most of the base however was underground and special teleportation devices were used to gain access around Paragon City. Massacre had a new lab deep in Crey’s Foley past Corman Manufacturing in Tangle Town. The place was a dangerous ghost town with groups of Crey, Nemesis and Rikti patrolling the streets and rooftops. The Atomik Punk moved from his rented office space to the Norfolk Building, an old brick high rise in Talos Island over looking a large park near the green line dubbed “the mound” for it’s huge dirt mound in the center. It had a large brick ledge next to the Punks window entrance, perfect for quick access to the city. Dr. Demoriel still lived in Talos as well. His entrance to his lair was hidden away off the rocky shoreline just west of the green line in an old abandoned mine entrance.

For a time a few of the old Guardians paid the Punk a visit. The Tarlord came over from Detroit for a few weeks and even Hastalloy-X and Thrash came into town from Chicago. They were on hand one night in Independence Port when Luska, the giant Octopus surfaced and attacked the port city. With the efforts of about 50 of Paragon’s finest, she was forced back down to the dark waters.

From a contact in Founders Falls the Atomik Punk got wind that the Freakshow were attacking the offices of the web-zine “Hypertypes” in Talos Island. The website followed the activities of the city’s many heroes. The Atomik Punk, Outlander, Pathogen B and Inoculum X were called in to stop the raid. The offices were trashed when they got there and the Freaks were holding several of the reporters hostage. Mike Schwartzwald, the owner was already dead on arrival. Atomik Punk and crew soon had the Freaks in custody and when the smoke cleared they were able to go through some of Schwartzwald’s records. It seems Schwartzwald was investigating the Freaks activities and Drek, one of the Freak Leaders, didn’t like it. Several of Schwartzwald’s leads had come from a Lieutenant in one of the factions called Zik-Zak and a war was brewing over control of Paragon City. Several days later the war was in full scale and the C.O.P came in to stop the Freaks from tearing Paragon inside out in their power struggle. In the end, Drek took control and the war was over. Distrust and questions of loyalty would remain in the Freak organization however, but for the time being, Drek had them under control and the citizens were relatively safe.

"New Enemies, old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 6

"If Duray was dead, then who is behind the Raiders"? asked Vegas holding a photograph of Col. Duray. "That is one mystery i would like you to solve" said Andrea. "Only thing we have to go on is picking through our leads for clues, including sceanes of all the raids" said the Punk.

The Atomik Punk beagn by searching through the rubble of Massacre's lab in Tera Volta. After some time the Punk discovered what looked like a deep underground tunnel leading off from the main building. This must have been one of Massacre's secret entrances. It was intact and so the Punk had to wonder, could it be Massacre had escaped the Explosion? He didn't find any documents or records. Their was however a map of of Dark Astoria with some notes scrawled in Massacre's hand and the letter "D".

Jazno of the C.O.P. was on hand a few days later and the group pooled it's findings over the past few days. Kata had also found refrences to Dark Astoria, that dead zone of Paragon city haunted by ghosts and worse. Irving Katcher had an office in D.A. and so it was a lead they needed to follow. Surveilance of the building over the next 48 hours gave them what they needed. Raider Sky Skiffs hidden under the dark of night and constant fog of Dark Astoria landing in secrecy on the roof top. The Champions of Paragon were assembled at Midnight. The plan was in place and everyone knew the score. They would come in force and look for clues in the aftermath. It was time to send a signal of their own to the Sky Raiders. "Never mess with what might hurt ya"! said T-5000. "Not quite" said Jazno. More like "We came, we saw,we kicked yer ass"! said Casket. "I like that one" replyed Merozan.

Navigating through Dark Astoria is never taken lightly. The fog and lack of visibilty made it easy to get lost. The sounds of rituals being carried out accross the city by the Circle of Thorns and Banished Pantheon could make your senses reel. Moth Cemetary was also home to Zombies and Ghosts haunting crypts and doing their masters bidding. Everywhere they went the group encountered "spectral images of it's former inhabitants", as Dr. Demoriel called them, before the Rikti wars.

The Office building of Irving Katcher was reached near Toffet Terrance and the C.O.P. entered on the ground floor. It didn't take long for all hell to brake loose. The office hadn't been occupied in a long time, perfect for the Raiders to carry out their plans in secret. The Secret was out. Floor by floor the The C.O.P.went until finally the main control room was breached and the heaviest resistance began.Soon the Raiders began fleeing to the roof top. Soon all eyes were on one figure who seemed to be in charge of the retreat. "Get that creep"! yelled D' Monique. And the group converged on his position under withering fire and a wall of force field generators. It was then that they all saw something unexplainable. One of the Raiders was actually fighting his comrades and taking out generators to help the C.O.P. make it to the roof. He finally reached the man in charge just as the Atomik Punk did and as a pair of claws ripped through the gloves of this "helpful" ally, The Punk knew who it had to be. "Nice to see you old friend" came a muffled voice from behind the Raider helmet. The rest of the group caught up to the Punk and MASSACRE9 in disguise as a Sky Raider! "Get your hands off me traitor"! yelled the man in Massacre's grip. Massacre ripped the man's helmet off."Col. Duray"! said Vegas. "Well now we know who is behind the Raiders" said D' Monique.

"New Enemies, old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 5

Independence Port was quite. The only sound was of the distant fog horn and roll of the night tide. The Atomik Punk and fellow members of the Champions of Paragon, "Vegas", "Kata List", "Orion" and "Purple Kitty" had accompanied The Atomik Punk to his contact near Valor Bridge. The attacks on the government scientists by the mysterious group called The Sky-Raiders, still seemed without motive. Andrea Mitchell informed the C.O.P. that nobody was really sure where the Raiders sprang from. Dealing in stolen arms, secrets and carrying out raids in the air and on the ground for their own nefarious reasons. "High tech terrorists with purposes of their own" said Kata. Andrea told the group that the scientists were still scared for their lives and tonight they needed some protection. Dr's Eli Reynolds and Wayne Evans were working late in a government lab and feared another visit by the Raiders. The Punk and friends arrived at the lab hidden away in one of the warehouses in the southern portion of I.P. Several guards patroled the grounds outside and in. Everything went without a hitch until about midnight. Thats when the power went out and roof exploded. Sky-Raiders dropped in from above and the fireworks erupted. Vegas pummeled about a half dozen or so Raiders, bounching them off the walls and splintering jet packs and limbs. Kata took on the visage of a dark, whirling death. The Raiders were taken back by the ferocity of the assault and concentrated their efforts on their main targets, Dr's Reynolds and Evans. Orion, Purple Kitty and the Punk strove to protect the Scientists as best they could and when the walls of the warehouse shattered from a hovering gun-ship, all they could do was watch in horror. Dr. Evans was dead and Dr. Reynolds was in bad shape. Vegas and Orion took out the last of the Raiders on the ground and the Sky Skiff with its crew vanished in the smoke.

Andrea Mitchell had better news the next day. She had learned through research that a former member of "Vigilance" named Irving Katcher had been diverting funds from Vigilance to a Col. Duray and upon searching Katchers office this morning they found another item of interest.Massacre9's name was listed as having been onto the diversion plot several months ago and an order was given for his assasination. They needed to find this Col. Duray and get him into custody, the problem was by all acounts and records, Duray was dead.

"New Enemies, old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 4

“The Champions of Paragon” were a super group Headquartered in Perez Park off of Hells Highway and were formed from the remnants of “The Defenders of Paragon” in 2004. D’ Monique and Martaspahn of the “Rabid Dogs of War” were old friends so when the Atomik Punk was asked to join, he knew he was in good company. A spine scrapper headed the Group with a wicked reputation on the streets named “Casket” and a technology Scrapper, equally deadly, from an alternate future called “Jazno”. The Punk was already familiar with other friends and members Merozan and the Mystical Dr. Demoriel and he soon became familiar with T-5000, Purple Kitty, Fatal Red, Bryon Gyro, Baroness and Orion. The Atomik Punk was there when the D.O.P. crossed over to the new C.O.P. at a meeting in Kings Row. The group was filling out its membership and the Atomik Punk fit the profile.

It didn’t take long for the new C.O.P. to get down to business. With 25 members in the span of a few days things moved at a fast pace. The group stressed “teamwork” and a readiness to get its hands dirty that was reassuring. Paragon City had its share of run of the mill Super Groups and the Atomik Punk wanted to fight along side of professionals.

It was from a contact named John Strobel in Talos Island that the Atomik Punk got the story. The Sky Raiders were planning an assassination of top scientists at a secret conference in New Thebes. This was finally a chance to pay back the Sky Raiders for the “death” of Massacre9. A strike force was assembled from members of the C.O.P., which consisted of D’Monique, Martaspahn, Jazno, T-5000 and Purple Kitty. It was getting dark when the team met up in an alley way in New Thebes. The ocean fog rolled down the alley masking the team’s arrival. T-5000 figured out a way into the old office building, by passing the hastily constructed security cameras in place. The Raiders were already inside in groups holding people hostage and prepping explosives. Were they too late?

The Champions of Paragon swung into action! One by one the parameter guards were taken out quietly as not to alert the other forces. The group expertly worked its way into the buildings interior defusing bombs and freeing hostages along the way. At each step they were effective, powerful and without mercy until finally the open main lobby was reached. Sky Raider force field generators were activated by the Engineers and winged Raiders ignited the room with Flamethrowers. T-5000 blasted the Raiders and yelled, “We have to take out those force fields or this is going to be a long fight”! “I’m on it”! Yelled D’ Monique as she took flight and dove into the Frey with hands blazing. Atomik Punk was busy drawing fire from a dozen Porters and Raiders and knocking some heads.

Purple Kitty and Jazno moved in to give D’Monique some back up. Several Raiders were frantically setting a large explosive on the east wall while holding a cowering scientist at gunpoint. “Don’t let them rig that bomb”! Shouted and pointed Jazno. “Not a chance” said Martaspahn and within seconds the Raiders lay twitching and smoking on the floor surrounded by crackling blue electricity. The last force field generator was destroyed and the remaning Raiders scattered. "Not so fast Boys" said Purple Kitty as she nailed them in their tracks. T-5000 and Jazno filled them full of holes and spines.

One of the wounded scientists explained that they were all part of a secret government group called "Vigilance" a group specializing in hero threats. But why were the Sky Raiders trying to kill them? The answer came a few days later in Independence Port on a Moon lit night.

"New Enemies, old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 3

The 5^th Column was on the move. Independence Port seemed to reverberate with their incessant propaganda of world domination. Like hybrid cockroaches, the 5^th Column seemed to thrive in the chaotic aftermath of the Rikti war. To the Atomik Punk they were just another insect waiting to be squashed. Massacre9 had described their activities in detail weeks before his disappearance. The Mek Men and Hover Bots created by the former Nazi scientist Vandal were on Massacre’s hit list of priority targets. The 5^th Column was arrogant even by other villain’s standards and the Atomik Punk set his sights on their disruption. He made his presence know by dropping in on secret meetings and sending members to the hospital. Soon the 5^th Column was concentrating their efforts to destroy the Punk. Ambushes were common and nighttime meetings were heavily guarded. With Massacre9 missing the Atomik Punk needed to recruit some new friends to the cause.

It didn’t take much persuasion to get the magical fire blaster D’ Monique and the mysterious MartaSpahn in on the action. They like many of the Heroes of Paragon had their share of run-ins with the Column. Through the teams network of city contacts they were able to stay on top of the Columns activities. Nighttime raids and street rallies were crushed and a drop in recruitment was reported by the Paragon Times. After several weeks the 5^th Column’s major bases in Paragon City had been compromised and the Column was forced to regroup. Regrouping was something the 5^th Column was good at. They had perfected it for over 60 years and with it came revenge.

The first wave of attacks came on the morning of September 19^th 2004. Atomik Punk was in Talos Island when he was ambushed by a group of Mek Men, Valkyries, and Nacht Elite and about a dozen Raserei Elite soldiers. Civilians caught in the crossfire ran for their lives when the explosions started and the Atomik Punk began smashing metal and bone. He would make them pay. In minutes it was all over. Smoking scrap metal and robot debris littered the once quiet street and all the Elite soldiers were dead or wounded. The Punk quickly contacted D’ Monique and warned her of this latest scale of ambush. No sooner had she hung up the phone when a dozen Steel Valkyrie hovered into sight on her roof top penthouse in Founders Falls. As the rockets smashed and detonated through the French doors, MartaSpahn swooped across the room and shielded the couple from the explosion. The Penthouse was destroyed and from the wreckage a crackling sphere of electricity emerged as Elite soldiers circled the debris and the Valkyries prepared for another volley. MartaSpahn extended is arms and released electricity jolting and stunning the would be assassins. Fire and Brimstone erupted from D’Monique’s hands melting circuits, wires, metal and skin. The Valkyries combusted and dropped to the ground and the Elite soldiers were dead.

With more attacks probable, the group decided to regroup themselves in Talos and make plans for even more raids. It was obvious the Column was lashing out like a wounded animal and they needed to press the advantage and not give them anymore time. With the help of the hero Bastion, the group formed a task force bent on the Columns destruction. Task Force Titanium included some new muscle. The infernal Ms. Hellfire, a Gypsy orphan raised by demons in search of her former slave master here on earth and the mighty Merozan, a super strength tanker who was a tremendous anchor for the team. With Merozan around, the task force would be unstoppable! The location of several 5^th Column bases was given to the team and over the next 24 hours Task Force Titanium reeked havoc with the Columns supply lines, bases of operation and super soldier programs. Finally when the last base was infiltrated deep in Independence port it was all over and Vandal was killed. The Column was shattered into smaller disorganized bands and in the next few months a darker threat was looming dubbed “the Council”.

"New Enemies old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 2

Atomik Punk had never been to Paragon City. Everyone had heard of the place after the Rikti attacks in 2002 but he had never actually set foot in it. The statues of the fallen heroes made him pause in recognition to those who died. He recognized many of them, they were there with him back in ’96 with the fall of Optimum and many were his friends. The city now was filled with heroes who like him had answered the call and come to Paragon. Most were still wet behind the ears, trying out new powers with mixed results but he admired their courage. Small time hoods and gang members were congregating everywhere. Many of them ran at his approach. Smart. He hadn’t been out of the game that long. Most of the city’s civilians seemed to recognize him, as did most of the heroes he met. They were all glad to see him and wanted to know if they could team up with him at some later date. The first few days in Paragon were just to get himself settled and to find a few more of his old friends.

He had seen a newspaper article a week before with a black and white picture of a dark figure swooping down from a rooftop taking out a dozen or so surprised crooks. He laughed because he knew it was Massacre or should he say “Massacre9” as he was called these days, still deadly in whatever version. The Punk remembered first seeing the Chicago Tribune article back in ’84 with the headline “Gangland Massacre” which gave him his unforgettable and not so heroic name. If Massacre was here he needed to find him and get an update on the city's criminal network.

Several contacts and missions later he found him. Massacre was slashing and blasting his way through a group of Skulls in the Kings Row district. The 2 hadn’t seen each other in over 8 years and it was good to have someone you trusted watch your back in a new and dangerous city. Massacre had set up shop in an abandoned industrial warehouse on the power island of Tera Volta. Massacre brought the Punk up to speed on the city’s nefarious characters, criminals, contacts and villains. And then Massacre started to describe the infestation of robots created by the Clockwork King. The duo created the super group “The Anti-Robot League” on the spot and decided to stem the tide of this scum first. The Punk took up residence in Talos Island in a rented upper floor of an office complex and began their campaign of crushing any and all robot resistance. Within weeks the grip of the Clockwork King was smashed to pieces. New friends were recruited to the fight including the unyielding “Martaspahn” and the combustible “D’Monique”. The electrifying “FatherMaelstrom”, the clawed “Hellshadow” the always wired “Splice” and the Strange “Dr. Demoriel”, another friend and veteran of the robot wars.

Crime was still running rampant in Paragon City. It seemed as if just as the call to arms had been made to earth’s heroes, another call had been made to those of illegal profession. Paragon like any other city had its everyday citizens trying to make a living and feed their families but the large scale of crime in Paragon made it tough. Eventually the group had to concentrate on bigger fish and let some of the newer heroes deal with some of the lesser threats. It was not an easy thing to do, to practically ignore a cry for help while on an important mission for a city hall official. Choices were made and consequences taken as is the way of all existence. Things were beginning to change in Paragon City. With so much crime and limited resources the Anti-Robot league soon found itself down to just the 2 founding members. Commitments to other city contacts and crossover missions with other groups meant that fewer of the group members were left available to tackle some of the tougher villains and threats. Massacre sank deeper and deeper into his world of solo hunting and collecting machine parts for who knows what secret night time experiments deep in the bowels of Tera Volta. Other members moved on to other cities or filled the ranks of emerging super groups in need of their particular talents. When the Atomik Punk was asked to join the Champions of Paragon in December of 2004 he wanted to convince Massacre to join as well. On his way to the secret lab's entrance late one night the Punk saw a column of black smoke coming from the warehouse. The grounds were filled with 40 or 50 Sky Raiders and Freakshow members attacking the warehouse. The Punk jumped into action and soon had them fleeing but the warehouse continued to burn out of control. The explosion that ripped through the remains of the warehouse and the surrounding grounds was felt a mile away. Able to super leap at the last moment the Punk escaped the shockwave and noxious fireball. When it was all over, nothing was left of the warehouse or any signs of its former inhabitant. Whether or not Massacre was incinerated by the blast or why the Sky raiders were intent on blowing up the building will remain a mystery. In the meantime the Atomik Punk would keep an eye out for a darkly clad flying maniac called Massacre9.

"New Enemies, old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 1

In 1984 while doing unauthorized radiation experiments on himself, 23 year old junior scientist and lab technician at Chicago’s Fermilab, Mark Jacobs transforms himself into the “Hot tempered” invulnerable, super strength tanker the Atomik Punk! Teaming up with his super powered girl friend “Thrash”; the Punk begins a 3-month crime spree of destruction stretching from Chicago to New York. Urged to turn himself in by family and friends, the Punk serves 9 months of a 1-year sentence. In February of 1985 the Atomik Punk along with team leader and super tough metallic tanker Hastalloy-X, the lone maniac called “Massacre”, the cosmic “Singularity”, the Fiery “Conflagration” and the mysterious “Mimic” form Chicago’s first super group, The Mid-west Guardians.

On the groups first big mission investigating a series of recent large scale industrial thefts on Chicago’s south side, the Guardians encounter the supervillian group called “Venom” for the first time. In a warehouse battle Conflagration is mortally wounded, crushed by a giant power transformer and Venom escapes.

In the months following the death of Conflagration, the Guardians answer many questions by city hall officials and a possible disbanding of the group is threatened. Eventually the Guardians are given a second chance and begin recruiting new members. Atomik Punks girlfriend and mind control powered Thrash, The Giant stone avatar of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca “Man Monolith”, the four person in one “Fourway”, the brooding and deadly blaster the “Tarlord” the unassuming “Unexpected” and the fiercely clawed female scrapper “the Hellion”. The new group line up works together very well and within 6 months the Guardians have established themselves as a group to be reckoned with. Super villains begin to fear the unparalled “no holds barred” fighting style of the Guardians and Chicago enjoys a drop in crime, a boom in tourism and economical growth. In January of 1987 the Atomik Punk is on the cover of Time magazine with his trademark green Mohawk, black leather jacket, jeans and combat boots with the caption “Is this the face of the new Superhero?”

The newfound fame, love and recognition were short lived. The Guardians had always been in hot water with some city officials who had to clean up after the mess caused by such infamous battles as “Bloodbath at Neiman Marcus” and “Carnival of Death” but finally internal politics at city hall came to a boiling point and the Guardians were all given an order to “cease any and all activities” in the city of Chicago. A new more “family friendly” Guardians are recruited to give the city a more polished look. The new Guardians included such ineffectual heroes as “Green thumb” the “Blue Biker”(a hero with no super powers except for a super powered bicycle)“Muscle Beach” “Perky” “Miss Miracle” “Star Trooper” “Misty Love” “Lady Blue” and Massacre in disguise wearing a bright yellow suit with a big yellow mask as “Mister Smiley face”. It didn’t take long for the word to spread through super villain society that the Guardians were out of business and the city was ripe for picking. Less than 48 hours after the NEW Guardians were introduced in a press conference at city hall the technologically evil super villain group called “TRIAD “ blew back into the windy city. Triad was headed by one of the Mid-West Guardians worst arch villains, the extra dimensional evil genius called “Nemesis”. It was only by the efforts of the disguised Massacre that TRIAD was defeated and Nemesis sent back through his time portal. The battle however leaves several of the new Guardians dead and city hall doing damage control once again.

On June 1^st 1987 the Mid West Guardians are re-instated to full active duty with the condition to have more respect for public and private property. Things were looking bright again for the members of the Guardians and everything was back to business in the city of Chicago. Over the next 4 years the Guardians protected the city and did they’re best to keep the promise they made to the city officials. Many battles were won and some lost but the Guardians reputation grew. With the 1990’s came a slump in the economy and city hall was forced to cut the Guardians roster in half. Massacre simply disappeared, the Hellion retired, Tarlord moved to Detroit, Thrash stayed in Chicago as did Hastalloy and the remaining members of the team and the Atomik Punk moved to Los Angeles.

The Punk appeared on several TV shows and did some public service announcements for the city as a part time member of the super group “the Lost Angels”. The Punk however was keeping a secret from everyone. Since 1989 the Punk had noticed a decline in his super strength and was worried about the revenge that would be extracted by his enemies. No longer able to lift in excess of 100 tons the Punk still was stronger than most heroes but he was worried about just how far his strength was going to drop. Experiments failed and his strength was still dwindling.

The Robot wars began simultaneously on October 28^th 1993 in Chicago and in New York. The global technologies Super Corporation called “Optimum” had unwittingly given birth to a new breed of intelligent robot bent on the destruction of all humans and only the earths super heroes stood in the way. The Robot wars lasted until 1996 when finally Optimum was destroyed. Thousands of innocent lives were taken and hundreds of heroes were killed during the 3-year war. The Atomik Punk reunited for a time with his old teammates to save the city he loved and even Massacre reappeared to help destroy Optimum. New alliances were made and new heroes born from the ashes. A prelude of things to come in another city named Paragon. For the next 7 years the Atomik Punk spent much of his time trying to recapture his draining super strength and impervious physique. Thrash, his former girlfriend helped him with his struggle and old colleges and friends were on hand to lend support. The Punks condition slowly worsened until finally he was barley able to move out of bed. The experiments continued and when it looked as if things were hopeless his strength began to grow.

News of the Rikti attack on Paragon city in 2002 was tough to take for all of earth’s heroes and the Atomik Punk was no exception. More heroes lives were lost, some old friends from the Robot wars and the Atomik Punk was helpless to come to they’re aid. Massacre was killed several times in battle and brought back to life again by the suit of alien technology just as before in the wars against Optimum. When the Rikti were finally defeated and a call for more heroes was put out to fill the ranks, the Atomik Punk heeded the call and putting his personal struggle, fears and ego aside stepped in to take his place as once again defender of a great city. “Nobody rules these streets at night but me! The Atomik Punk!”