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.
“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!”
