Scion

Scion is a robot that vaguely looks like a skeletal version of the Commander armor. It glows with power. In it's chest rotates a diamond shaped crystal eerily similar to the one taken from that armor. If it is possible for a robot can look sullen and pissed off this one does.

Gorillapocalypse

He is a super intelligent ape fluent in the necromantic arts. Yeah. So that exists.

Snakeeye

Snake-Eye is a minor supervillain often tied to the villainess Madame Joy. His real name is Tracy Sadler and he often acts as Madame Joy’s bodyguard. Before his accident with a experimental radioactive snake he was already a career criminal with a rap sheet a mile long. He has radioactive snake powers, can track with his tongue and his bite is venomous.

Welcome to the Chamber

Last time on Vanguard for Victory our heroes were celebrating a major win against the forces of S.C.A.L.E.! The Vanguard mounted a successful assault on Tox Colvera's underwater think tank community Sea Floor City that led to the imprisonment of the Tyrant Lizard, The SCALE Sovereign and Lagarto. Quick thinking by Doctor Robot also resulted in SCALE's doomsday weapon, the Sarcophagus of Aphosis (known to the extradimensional Zenkai as the Tellax Device), teleported deep into the heart of a tropical island volcano in the middle of the Pacific. The mission was not without losses however, Ringo and Adela were both seemingly atomized in a trap set by the Seditious Campaign for Advancing the Lemurian Empire.

   Once back in Emerald City the team had little time to mourn their fallen comrades as they were pressed to prepare for their next publicity opportunity, attending the funeral of the late Majestic20 secret agent and national hero, Somber Quinn. Once there they were confronted by two other members of the Majestic20 agency... former director John Parker Lincoln and current director Wendy Foaly. After a minor disagreement between Lincoln and Foaly the director drives them to the newest M20 Field Office, located across Malory Bay in the city of Bridgeport. There Director Foaly reveal to large surprises. First was the existence of a mysterious Mind Control Field that covers the entirety of Emerald City and their possession of a Stone Age artifact addressed to the Vanguard themselves. The Artifact itself revealed itself as a high tech device and a message from thousands of years before. 

The message explained that Adela and Ringo were sent back in time and that Ringo reconfigured herself into a cocoon capable of suspending Adela life until the Vanguard can find her in the present. The artifact led them to a Mars Communcations site that hid a secret cave containing a degraded empty sarcophagus, the alien gem that powered it for centuries, stolen years ago by Maximillian Mars. Suspiciously enough the same gem that up until recently powered the supersuit of The Commander. Although the cave and cocoon appeared empty there was an unseen presence there... The Super Unknown. 

The Super Unknown revealed herself to be none other Adela. This Adela led them to a hidden away hunting shack on the far side of Mount Forge where they were surprised to find Somber Quinn alive and well and also an ageless member of the Grue alien species that invaded Earth back in the 1950's. There they learned the truth about Adela, Somber Quinn and the Chamber. The Chamber is believed to be shadowy cabal of supervillains that have controlled Emerald City for many years, using the Mind Control Field to ensure that no superheroes survive inside the city for long. It is also revealed that the Chamber is behind the formation of Vanguard for Victory and that something terrible is planned to coincide with Victory Day, in only three days time.

But the Vanguard are not without options or plans. Doctor Robot has learned that his unfortunate existence makes him immune to the Chamber's Mind Control Field. Mayor Talbot has been rescued from Emerald City and replaced by the shape shifting Somber Quinn (who is also immune to the Mind Control Field). The Vanguard has learned of the existence of Majestic20's abandoned underground headquarters on Council Island from the 1970's once called the "Chamber". Could this bunker on the very edge of the Mind Control Field hold the secrets they seek? And what of Alexander Kaspar, the Grandmaster of the Chessmen? What is his connection to the Chamber and what secrets does he hold from within his control room atop Victory Tower? 

The Vanguard is close to the truth, but will they be ready?

Hope you survive the experience.

Somber Quinn

Somber Quinn was one of the most decorated and well respected agents to ever serve in the Majestic20 division. But before that he was one of the Thrillseekers from Outer Space. And before that he was just Squinn, a chameleon skinned defector of the alien race known as the Grue Unity. Squinn never fit in with his scheming Gruen brothers and sisters and was considered a reject and traitor as a result. Somber Quinn has been a resident of Emerald City for sixty year now and has loved every minute of his time on this planet. Well, almost every minute. Lately he has been consumed with uncovering the truth behind the conspiracy of the Chamber. Since his early retirement after the unfortunate death of the New Thrillseekers member Hiro Hosato he has dedicated his life to uncovering the truth behind the memory gaps, the mind control field, the lack of heroes and the unnatural peace that predominates this city. All of his research is leading up to one startling truth... the Chamber is planning something terrible to coincide with Victory Day. It is not too late to stop it.

The Artifact

Presented to you is a ceramic plate that is clearly ancient in origin. Etched into it in a rough scrawl are clear marking that are impossible in nature. On this disk that predates the paleolithic era are scratched the words:

VANGUARD

followed underneath by today's date, and the current time.

It is at that moment that the disk begins to crack in a fractal spiral radiating out from the center of the plate. Hundreds upon hundreds of tiny interlocking ceramic gears spin and thousand of minuscule panels unfold revealing a perfect spherical lens held within a lattice work of delicate entwining golden wires. A glow builds at the center of the lens and a faint holographic image appears hovering translucent in the air above the awaken disk. The wavering rainbow colored visage is of Adela standing in what appears to be a jungle hillside. The web of golden wires begins to vibrate in conjunction with the hologram of Adela as it begins to speak in a tinny metallic approximation of her voice. This is what it says:

"Okay, here goes. Hopefully you are seeing this. The last time you saw me was two hundred thousand years ago. No, wait... from now. Two hundred thousand years from now. Ringo, Shota and I were teleporting to the sarcophagus thing down on the ocean floor. It was a trap. Obviously. Maybe you know that, maybe you don't. There was a bright flash. Ringo and I... we were, well, we were sent back in time. Way back. Ringo tells me this is our world's middle to late Pleistocene era. Really early homosapiens. They are not friendly. Shota didn't appear with us. We can only assume that he was sent to another time or escaped the blast somehow. It's been, what, a few months now. We've tried to figure out a way home. Back to Emerald City then, in the future. No luck. But we, well, Ringo has a plan. But before we try it I have some things to tell you. First..."

The figure bends down out of the edges of the hologram and when Adele stands back up she is holding a distinctly human looking toddler. 

"Say hello to little Shakyamuni Junior. So, long story short. We met some aliens. Ancient outer space multi-dimensional ones. They are raising this little guy here. Don't worry, I am just babysitting. Shota, if you are watching and alive... we are both pretty sure this is you. So you are like, at least two hundred thousand years old. The aliens guys, they are evolving the cavemen to help protect him. So, how is that for an origin myth. Anyway, yeah... it has been a weird couple of months. Second, the sarcophagus this... it is a weapon of last resort. It needs to be taken away from those SCALE whackjobs. It is meant to 'weaponize' the evolved human population when the time comes. I get the feeling that we would not like whatever that means. All the doomsday, Monkey King stuff Ringo and her friends were saying. All real. This is going to be where it all goes down. Trust me, prehistoric aliens told me so."

Adela sets down the boy Shota and he disappears from view.

"Okay, so this is the crazy plan part. So the aliens are extremely resistant with us coming with them. And I get the distinct feeling that teleporting invisible onto their spaceship is a good way to get me killed. Ringo says seeking out the Battle Nexus could drastically affect the time line so that is also out. Obviously we can't time travel back to the present the way we came... so Ringo has an idea. She is going to reconfigure herself into a cocoon and, using some technology we liberated from our alien friends, a message... this message actually. We are currently standing on what will one day be Mount Forge. Ringo assures me her physiology will allow her to keep me in suspended animation until you eventually get this message. Once you do, this message disk should act as a homing beacon that will lead you to us. I assume you will need to bring some shovels. Or a backhoe. Well, so. That is it. I will see you in a few minutes or a few hundred thousand years, depending on which end of this message you are on."

The image wavers for a second and then resumes,

"Oh yeah, one last thing. Apparently the aliens say I am not harmonically consistent with this universal frequency. In other words, I am from another universe. Ain't that some shit? See you on the flip side."

And then the image fades and the lens begins to pulse faintly along one edge glass surface, as if pointing toward a distant something.

Benji Carver

Forty years after becoming a counter-cultural icon, Benji Carver’s hair has grayed and dwindled to little more than his ponytail, and his tie-dye shirts now cover far more waistline. However, his ability to spellbind tourists with pleasingly chilling tall tales of the Undercity is undiminished, and he remains a city fixture.

Carver’s notorious Pack Rat Maze Tours provide him a comfortable living, allowing Carver to spend time on his charity work and political activism, focusing on the environment, social justice, and marijuana legalization. For an activist, Carver has remarkably few enemies, thanks mainly to his overriding good-natured charm. For any hero in need of information about Emerald City, the affable Carver is by far the most knowledgeable and approachable person available. In addition, Carver has made a lot of friends in all walks of life, from politics to entertainment, in the course of his activism. Benji Carver is always willing to help.

Unfortunately Benji Carver is also clearly insane...

...or is he.