1968 - Black Storm

A tallish man of Eastern European descent causally strolls down the road, hands in the pockets of his black leather jacket. His hair is of medium length and is black with brown streaks. His shining blue eyes glow and crackle with power. His brown trousers are rugged while his white cotton shirt is slightly wrinkled.

Power and confidence seems to radiate from him. The half a dozen men and women following him only help him seem more dangerous, especially as they are wearing the same sort of clothing as their leader. Two even have flak jackets.

The man grins as he approaches the line of police cars that has formed there to stop him and his followers.

“Let’s get started shall we,” says man in Bulgarian.

The police cars began to rise into the air. The man laughs as the police officers panic. They are unprepared for such as threat and only two of the nine officers on the scene are armed with guns. Even then, those guns are only small sidearms.

The Bulgarian raises both of his arms, one hand aiming at each of the armed police officers. Beams of lightning leap from his hands and electrocute both of the officers, both of them going flying.

Whether or not they survived, the Bulgarian doesn’t know. Not that he cares either way.

The police cars stop rising before being slammed hard into the ground by the same force that raised them into the air in the first place. Another two officers are crushed by the falling cars whilst a third has his legs trapped.

The remaining officers scattered. With no way of fighting back and half of them already down, it is the only thing they can do.

The Bulgarian lets them go. He already has an objective and this attempt by the local police to stop him was nothing more than a minor distraction if that. The city hall is only a few blocks away.

He and his followers are almost there when another police car intercepts them. The Bulgarian scoffs at this foolishness before unleashing another blast of lightning at the car. Both the vehicle and its occupants are fried and the police car slams through the wall of a building on the other side of the street

The Bulgarian smirks and stops in front of city hall. The large building rumbles and collapses in on itself.

Nothing in this town can stop me. Not until the League of Heroes shows up and even then they’ll have their hands full.

The Black Storm has arrived

***

Lantern drops from the sky, landing next to Commando by the rumble of Birmingham’s former city hall.

“Lightning bolts from his arms and some sort of gravity powers,” says Lantern, “At least that is what the locals are saying. He also has bunch of followers, but they didn’t seem to do anything. Nobody actually saw the gravity powers being used by the person, just the effects so it might be one of his followers. Oh yeah and the guy calls him the Black Storm.”

“He is powerful alright,” replies Commando.

“Any idea on what he wants?” asks Lantern

“I think he might want a war,” answers Commando, “It is my guess he is trying to take a chunk of land to rule and he has chosen here, either has his city to rule or the starting point for his future empire. Unless he just wants destruction or was hired, it is the most likely explanation.”

“I hope you are wrong friend,” says Lantern.

“Me too,” agrees Commando.

“Heroes!” suddenly yells voice with a Bulgarian accent.

“Oh @#-fudge,” curses Commando as he draws a pair of his combat knifes and Lantern floats back up into the air.

“What do you want Black Storm?” demands Lantern as the hero turns to face the villain and crosses his arms.

“Why,” replies Black Storm as he steps out from amongst his followers, “I want a kingdom to rule of course. I wield immense power and I have the capabilities to bestow lesser powers upon my followers and soldiers.”

“You think he’s joking,” whispers Commando over their communicators.

“No, not about either bit,” Lantern whispers back before replying to Black Storm, “I’m afraid we can’t allow that.”

“Of course you can’t,” smirks Black Storm.

“We’re going to have to bring you in for what you done,” continues Lantern regardless of the interruption, “You killed over two dozen people and put another fifty in hospital yesterday.”

“I know, I was there,” drawls Black Storm.

“Surrender!” demands Commando as he takes a pair of steps towards Black Storm and his followers.

“No,” replies Black Storm as he rises into air, until he is at eye level with Lantern, “I don’t think I will.”

Black Storm raises his arm at Lantern, who in turn flies at Black Storm. The aspiring supervillain fires at both a bolt of lightning and a sonic blast at the hero.

Lantern is dazed and staggered by the unexpected strength of the attack. His own attack is halt and he is knocked backwards through the air.

Meanwhile the ground, Commando is fighting his own tense battle. While he was put on guard by Black Storm’s statement about giving powers to his followers, Commando was still mentally unprepared to face a large amount of supers, no matter how weak their powers.

One of the men tosses an ice shard the size of a water bottle at Commando while another sends a fireball no bigger than a tennis ball towards the hero. With his enhanced reflexes, Commando easily blocks both attacks with his knives  

One of the men has some limited superspeed, nothing faster than particularly fast car, but with his own limited superspeed, the veteran soldier catches the speedster with a fist to the gut. The speedster flips over and goes crashing to the rubble of the city hall.

Commando bats another ice shard and fireball aside with his knives before rushing the other followers of Black Storm as Lantern fends off their leader above them.

The two ranged members of their group pull back along with a woman while the remaining man and woman counter charge Commando. Commando punches the man in the jugular and he staggers backwards.

The woman is even more unsuccessful as Commando easily dodges her swing and stabs one of his knives into her knee. The woman drops, screaming in pain, before Commando grabs her with his now free hand.

He pulls her in front of him, using her as a human shield as third ice shard and fireball comes his way. The fireball misses both of them, but the ice shard cuts into the woman, entrenching itself just below her shoulder.

Already a great deal of pain, the woman faints and Commando tosses her body into the man who charged him. Both go tumbling into the ground together and Commando rushes at the other three.

Time to take out the ice shard thrower and fireball thrower.

Suddenly another pair of men appears in front of Commando.

Invisibles? Teleportation? Commando considers and disregards these possibilities in a spilt-second. He can’t hear or smell usual stuff he would from real people that he would given his enhanced senses. They even look fuzzy to his superior eyesight.

Illusions. There must be what that woman does.

Commando runs through the illusion men, but they block the next ice shard and fireball from his sight until it is too late for him to dodge.

The ice shard and fireball both hit him, but his cos-mat costume easily absorbs their blows.

Commando slams into the illusionist woman, knocking her backwards before kicking the ice shard man in balls. He grunts in pain as he drops to the ground, clutching his injured privates. Commando quickly takes him out of the fight proper by kicking him in the face.

The other man takes a swing at Commando, both of his fists engulfed in flames.

Not just fireballs, but weak pyrokinesis.

Commando rolls back and prepares to attack when his side flares up in pain. The hero looks down and sees that he has been cut through his cos-mat costume.

That should have happened. Sentinel’s cos-mat can resist any normal sharp attacks. Unless...

Commando tries to step to the side, but his attacker nicks him in the shoulder, leaving Commando with a light cut. A fireball hits his injured shoulder, cauterising his wound.

“Damn it!” yells Commando as he realises the source of his troubles is the speedster using the knife he left in the woman who charged him.

Now knowing what he is dealing with, Commando is much better prepared to face his foe and is able to parried the next two strikes with his own knife

Unfortunately, Commando also has to dodge another fireball and that leaves an opening for the speedster. The speedster stabs Commando in the stomach, leaving the knife lodged one of Commando’s organs.

The hero grunts in pain before pulling out the bloody knife. At least he has both of his weapons now.

Another fireball hits Commando dead the chest, but his costume takes it again. Commando waits before slicing the speedster in the arm as he goes past. The man cries out in pain before tripping as he tries to hold his injured arm.

Moving quickly, Commando tosses one of his knifes into the chest of the pyrokinetic. The man falls backwards and Commando doesn’t particularly care if he survives.

Shouldn’t have fought me in the first place if he didn’t want to get hurt.

This doesn’t feel like busting some criminals to him. Instead, it feels like a battle in war, something Commando knows all too well.

Only one more to go.

Commando rushes the final man, swinging at fist at him. The man catches and squeezes. Commando winces as the man uses weak super strength to crush his hand.

I am so glad my power allows me to block most of the pain.

The superhero headbutts his opponent before stabbing his remaining knife into the man’s thigh. His opponent lets go Commando’s mushed hand and Commando grabs his throat using his other hand.

His opponent gargles for a couple of moments before going unconscious. Commando laughs. He might have multiple cuts in him, but he has won. Only person still able to fight is the illusionist and her power is useless against Commando.

Commando stops laughing when he sees Lantern slam into the ground behind him.

“Damn it,” mutters Commando as he looks up in time to get a lightning bolt to the face.

He staggers backwards. The bolt didn’t hurt that much as Commando can take the blast between his powers and costume. But his wounds give him some weak spots against the electricity.

“You hurt my people,” growls Black Storm from above Commando.

To Commando’s surprise, Black Storm sounds genuinely angry and upset over what happened to his followers.

I guess he actually cares about them unlike a lot of those we face.

Black Storm tosses lightning bolt after the lightning bolt at Commando whilst unleashing a wailing shriek at him with his sonic powers.

But Commando weathers the attacks. He is a tough old soldier and despite his injuries, he gone through much worse than this.

Eventually it starts to become too much for Commando to bear. He drops to his knee, barely staying conscious.

“Die Commando,” hisses Black Storm as he picks up one yanks one of Commando’s knives from the body of one of his followers.

“No!” yells Lantern, his voice echoing and a flash of light blinds Commando.

***

Lantern gets to feet before just standing there panting for a moment. Black Storm ended up being a tad too strong and he got knocked out of the sky by Black Storm’s gravity powers.

He looks over at Commando, Black Storm and his followers and freezes at what he sees.

All of Black Storm’s followers are down on the ground, but Commando has just dropped to one knee. His fellow Leaguer has smoke coming from his stomach and shoulder and Lantern can smell roasted flesh.

Black Storm lands and acquires one of Commando’s combat knives.

“Die Commando,” hisses the supervillain.

Lantern can’t allow this, he just can’t. Not the death of one of the League of Heroes.

His powers run on willpower and at the moment, Lantern’s will is the only thing keeping upright and awake after the beating Black Storm gave him.

But this is different. When he is particularly determined about something, Lantern has had temporary power boosts before. At the determination to keep his friend alive and stopping Black Storm, something powerful is building up inside him.

“No!” Lantern yells and a beam of white energy bursts from his eyes, going through his visor.

The beam hits the stunned Black Storm straight in the chest, sending him flying into a building across the street. With a resurgence in power, Lantern rises into the air.

Today they won this battle, but not without cost. Commando needs urgent help.

Lantern swoops down and picks up his fallen teammate. Not risking Black Storm or some of his followers finishing the job themselves if he takes Commando to the local hospital, Lantern flies Commando to the hospital in Coventry.

He quickly returns to the Birmingham’s former city hall, but by that time, Black Storm and his followers are long gone.

Why can I shake the feeling I have just fought a battle in a greater war?

1949 - Founding

An armoured man stands next to another man in a white costume with blue gloves and boots. Despite the second man’s pure white hair, he is actually in the peak of health. The first man’s armour is somewhat streamline despite remaining blocky. It looks dangerous yet it remains reassuring.

“So this is it,” says the costumed man, “We’re making it official.”

“It is a good thing Lantern,” replies the man in the power armour, “We have been active for a year now and the public is going to know regardless of what we do. It’s not like we can keep hidden. At least this way we’re keeping on top of things.”

“You don’t need to convince me pal,” replies Lantern, “We already discussed this with the others and 

I agree that it is necessary. And I understand it is harder for you to avoid the public eye whilst running around in that bulky armour of yours Sentinel.”

“It’s not that bulky,” protests Sentinel, “Especially compared to some of the others. Take Iron Defender or Stahl Krieger for example. And don’t even get me started that Russian guy, the Steel Worker.”

“He’s dead you know,” says Lantern, “Steel Worker was slain fighting Sickle and Hammer a few days ago.”

“Damn,” curses Sentinel, “I didn't exactly like that guy, but he was alright for a Red. Especially since he became a Comrade.”

“I agree it’s a shame that those Stalinist scum killed Steel Worker,” says Lantern, “But there isn't much we can do about it. Not anything that we can do when you think about so let’s focus on what we can do here and today.”

“Save the speeches for the press,” says Sentinel in joking tone, “I know you too well for those little speeches of yours to be awe-inspiring.”

“I would say they’re awe-inspiring...” replies Lantern with a shrug and using the small joking tone as his friend, “But even you have to admit they’re pretty good.”

“Paragon’s were better,” counters Sentinel.

“Yeah, but he’s Paragon,” protests Lantern, “At least I’m better than Sarge or that wife of yours.”

“Jean is pretty good at speeches I’ll have you know,” says Sentinel with mock seriousness as he defends his wife.

“I gave, I gave,” says Lantern as he holds his hands up in mock surrender, “But has Sarge decided on a new codename yet? I know he’s not going with Sergeant Strong anymore and we need to announce the codenames of all our members.”

“Commando,” answers Sentinel, “He is a member of the Royal Marine Commandos as his day job.”

“Do you think his bosses will have a problem with-” Lantern starts to speak, but pauses as a smartly dressed man in a suit enters the backroom they’re waiting in.

“Sentinel, Lantern,” the man greets them, “They’re ready for you now.”

“Thanks Steven,” replies Sentinel, “Ready Lantern?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” answers Lantern, “Let get this over with.”

Lantern leads the way as he walks through the door with Sentinel following him.

They enter a large hall with fancy podium at the front. The rest of the room is filled with reporters and photographers sitting down on their chairs.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen,” says Lantern as he strides forward as the cameras flashes die down, “I’m sure you remember me from my role in the war and that the recent actions of myself and my friends have refreshed those memories if you have forgotten. But for formality’s sake, I am Lantern, former captain in the British army.”

“And I am the Sentinel, former RAF sergeant,” says Sentinel as he stands next to Lantern, “Both of us are former members of Lion Squad.”

“Now before we get to questions, I would like to explain the situation and what exacting is happening,” continues Lantern, “That’ll save time as we’ll hopefully be able to answer many of your questions in the process.”

Lantern pauses.

“Now as you know, Lion Squad was a special operation unit formed during the war,” says Lantern, “We were pulled together from many different parts of the military and empire. What we had in common was our powers or gifts. And once the war had ended, Lion Squad was disbanded and the majority of us returned to our lives here in England or started new ones here. Unfortunately, home had changed during the war as while the war was being fought, the mob decided to move in and prey on those that live here. Once we returned, we took offense at such a thing and decided to do something about it. We started our crusade for justice when Sentinel here uncovered a protection racket whilst simply out for coffee.”

Lantern stops speaking and lets Sentinel take over.

“That’s right except for one thing,” says Sentinel, “I was having a cup of tea, not coffee. Upon discovering the racket, I felt that I should do something about it. After all, I fought against the Barbarian, small armies and killer automatons so why should I just roll over for the mob. That night I retrieved the old Sentinel armour prototype from my basement and took down some members of protection racket after they threaten me using some guns left over from the war. As you know, I left them to the police once I had stopped them.”

“After that,” says Lantern, “He informed the rest of us, Lion Squad that is, of what had occurred. We need decided the same thing as Sentinel, that we weren’t going to stand idly by after all that we had been through. We worked together to fight the mob and their enforcers. Due to not being soldiers in a war, we did our best to refrain from killing and maiming our opponents. We also avoided holding them prisoner. Instead we collected evidence and turned it over to the authorities to defeat them long term. While we personally stopped the local mob operations, we haven’t done anything beyond stopping them on a street level. No executions or torturing. Instead we let long term justice be handled by the proper authorities.”

“Last week we took down the leaders of the local mob,” continues Lantern, “As you heard, they had a powered mercenary with them.”

Sentinel smiles beneath his helmet as he remembers that. The poor guy had pretty good powers, some powerful pyrokinesis and a decent amount of superspeed. Unfortunately for him, the Sentinel armour is fireproof and Vibration was much faster.

“We were easily able to take him down, capture the mob bosses and obtain enough evidence for the courts to be able to put them away for a long time,” says Lantern, “Once that was done, we returned to Sergeant Strong’s house to discuss our future. There we realise that was still countless injustice going on and what while we were able to doing something about, we couldn’t just stand idle by. Just as we couldn’t stand idle by when we dealt with the mob. As of such, we decided an organised response would be better than a disorganised response. After discussing it amongst ourselves and sorting out details between us, we approached the authorities with our plans. We will act as vigilantes who act against crime. But we won’t kill or inflict injuries that won’t heal with time. We will hand over those we stop to the proper authorities and let the due process decide their fates. We’ll collect evidence in a proper manner and hand it over to the police to do what they will. We’ll make our activities public and hold ourselves accountable to public even if we keep our identities secret to keep our families safe and to live normal lives. We shall never harm the innocent and we shall protect our country and its people. There eight of us in total. All you should know or heard of them even if they now go by different names. There is myself and our leader, Lantern. You know Sentinel. We also have Sergeant Strong who now goes by Commando. We have Vibration, Shadow Beast and Bolt. Psychic has also joint us. We even have Gateway, former French resistance leader and wife of the Sentinel. Together we form the new League of Heroes!”

1947 - John

John walks down the street. He is a police constable on the night shift. Not that he minds. He has faced much worst in the war then anything the city’s wretches can throw at him.

The darkness of the night conceals his facial features, black hair and soft brown eyes. He has retained his lean and fit body from his time in the army and not even the dark can keep that hidden.

A shrill noise rings out. John looks around, shining the light from his torch.

Nothing.

Despite the noise and darkness, John remains undaunted and tries to figure out the source of the noise.

He is looking at a warehouse, abandoned after the war ended, when the shrill noise strikes the night again. It’s louder this time.

Better find the source of this sound, thinks John as he strides towards the warehouse side door.

John checks to see if the door is locked. It’s not. Cautiously, the policeman pushes the door open and shines his torch inside. Only piles of abandoned crates and containers.

“Hello?” asks John into the darkness, “Is anyone there?”

The noise returns for a third time, definitely nearby now.

“Show yourself!” demands John as he stands in the middle of the warehouse.

The noise rings out, but this time, it is intermixed with a sharp laugh.

“As you wish Officer,” drawls the laughing man.

Something lashes put from the shadows at John. The police officer is slammed into a crate and his torch knocked from this hand.

John grunts as he struggles to his feet.

“Assaulting an officer is against the law!” yells John defiantly.

“You won’t live to report it,” laughs his attacker, “It is so much fun when my prey thinks they can fight back.”

A man steps out of the shadows, covered in black robes and with pale skin. A scythe gleams in his hands.

“Die fool!” screams the man as he rushes John.

John closes his eyes and braces himself. He takes a deep breath as the madman strikes him.

The man lets out a gasp of shock as the sound of breaking metal fills the warehouse.

John looks at his would-be killer, taking in his look of horror and shock.

John’s hair and eyes have turned bright white. The scythe has broken against John’s body.

The robed killer takes a step back as John suddenly floats up. John looks down as he hovers two metres off the ground.

John grins and zooms at his foe.

***

John strolls into the police station in the morning dragging the unconscious body of his roughed up attacker.

“Hey John,” greets another officer, looking over at John, “How was- Whoa! What happened last night?”

“Just catching another criminal,” answers John with a shrug.