The Reliance, #11

DC HEROES RPG

"The Doomsday Program, Part 1"

After completion of their first epic adventure overseas, The Reliance takes some much needed time for rest.

Still bombarded with phone calls from the news media for interviews, the heroes have put responding on the back burner for now.

Alex Noir, AKA Iron Hand, put on a fantastic showing for Amanda Waller (National Security and Defense Representative and head of the Belle Reve Meta-human Incarceration facility), demonstrating the power and flexibility of the armor he designed for WayneTech. Based on his designs for the Iron Hand armor, Noir's "Titan L" and "Titan H" models displayed efficiency in taking down a "volunteer" prisoner named "The Fiddler" as he was given the opportunity to make his escape.

Although Waller saw room for improvement in Noir's designs, she also saw great potential and offered Noir and WayneTech a 5 year contract. In six months she expects an improved version of both models and in one year she expects designs that will be superior to anything LexCorp has to offer in the same department.
Bruce Wayne personally called Alex to congratulate him, although sounded a little distracted by "female companions." It was a good day for Alex Noir.

Tommy Franklin, AKA Surge, also had good fortune as he interviewed at the Coast City STAR Labs branch for an internship with Doctor Tina McGee. He fell a little short in the general intelligence exam but showed tremendous ability in the technical field of project analysis, for which he was specifically interviewing. Dr. McGee saw great promise in Tommy and offered him an internship consisting of 30 hours a week, Monday- Friday from 8am-2pm. The sky is the limit for Franklin's future at STAR labs, provided he makes a habit of coming to work on time.

Phanuel has vanished once again. Although her team-mates have grown used to her times of solitude among her arcane books, they have no idea where she's gone this time. They decide to see a late movie on Sunday night, hoping that when they return to HQ afterward, she will be back. On their walk back from the theatre, however, their plans are interrupted by the sight of Superman, chasing three large robotic wasps across the night sky. To everyone's surpirse, the Man Of Steel is knocked out of the sky by the strange robots. Arriving on the scene as quickly as they can, Surge and Iron Hand find a six-foot crater left by Superman's fall, but no Kryptonian to be found. Instead, they manage to get the jump on two metal wasps the size of mini-vans and a metallic ant the size of a motorcycle.

Iron hand smashes through the exterior of one wasp and gets a good look at its insides. A strange mix of car and home theatre parts, the design of the creature is a puzzle. Eventually scrambling outside again, Iron Hand smashes the wasp into submission, while surge takes advantage of the insect's conductive nature, frying them with a bolt of lightning.

The ant had been loading a wooden crate full of standard circuit boards into one of the wasps, but the heroes have no idea why.

Inside the warehouse they've arrived at, they greet and attack three more ants and a giant robotic spider. But this time they don't find the advantage. Surge takes a crushing blow from hungry steel mandibles while Iron Hand is covered and pinned to the floor by a sticky puss-like substance shot from the giant spider. While surge remains the only hero free, the massive arachnid closes in on Iron Hand for the gruesome kill...