Tar_Heel

After the initial surprise blow to Teen Tar Heel, the two had settled into a strange duel. Fiery Fist rained blow after blow towards Teen Tar Heel, which the teenage hero ducked, evaded and dodged. At the same time, Teen Tar Heel rained kick after kick to the villain’s head and torso with no sign that he was doing enough damage to slow down the Brute. Finally spotting an opening, Teen Tar yelled, “Time to fight fire with fire!” and thrust a kick toward Fiery Fist, not to damage, but to knockback. Fist went flying backwards, landing in the middle of a horde of fire imps controlled by Mr. Slowburn, who proceeded to hold the Brute and allow his chaotic minions to attack.

Suddenly a wave of fear pulsed over Teen Tar Heel. Shaking it off, he turned around and saw the large skull-faced Brute, wrapped in darkness, with two blue Ram’s horns, curiously like Teen Tar’s own, growing out of the forehead of the skull.

“Sorry kid,” said Teen Tar as he leaped above a dark enshrouded fist, “We are all out of Butterfingers, don’t you know to stop trick or treating when the porch light goes off?”

“Insolent child,” breathed the dark Brute, “I must destroy you. You are all that I once was, and I am that what you could have been.”

“Whoops, hang on a sec,” said Teen Tar as he slapped a foot across the Brute’s face, “Let me run that through the villain cryptometer and see what the heck you are saying.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” exclaimed Teen Tar Heel climbing to his feet after a savage knockdown by the Brute, “I know who you are supposed to be! You are Tar Heel Dead! The cursed fan who hung Dean Smith in effigy! I thought you were just an urban legend!”

“Not all the legends are false,” said Tar Heel Dead as he paused and then extended a hand toward Teen Tar.

“Well if that’s the case, I really need to get back home and start forwarding some emails from Bill Gates I’ve been getting,” said Teen Tar Heel. Then, before he could make another quip, another wave of terror swept over Teen Tar. Suddenly helpless, he cowered before the Brute, who began to rain a series of Fury boosted punches on the small 14 year old.

His health dropping faster than Headache Healer could restore, Teen Tar looked like he would soon be out of the fight when a wrapped fist exploded under the Brute’s chin, lifting him off the ground and then landing him in a daze.

The restored Tar Heel straddled his nephew, and beckoned toward the villains with a primal Taunt.

“Tar!?!” shouted Pharma Hawk as she fended off sword wielding ninjas, “You with us?”

“I never really left PH,” shouted Tar Heel. “I had a little help from an old friend and had the brainwashing blocked the whole time!

“What old friend?” shouted back Pharma Hawk.

“I’ll tell you later PH. I don’t want you to get too mad at me. I don’t need the stress. I just came out of a coma you know!” yelled back Tar Heel as he gritted his teeth and waded into a hail of missiles and lasers from the horde of robots that attacked him.

Tar Heel was oblivious to the battle raging around him between the Destined Ones and the EveryNighters. All he knew was pain, waves and waves of pain. Suddenly, the pain lessened enough that he could hear a woman’s voice speaking.

John, John, can you hear me now? John?

Ah, its you, I suppose this is the beginning of one of those journey-through-my-subconscious-and-face-my-greatest-fears-that-personify-my-pain-and-injuries type of adventure?

Not quite that metaphysical John, the female voice chuckled. You are hearing me through a neural transmitter we placed in your head when we had our little operation a few days ago.

You didn’t mention you were doing that.

I knew you’d be mad, and didn’t really expect to need it, explained the woman. But let’s not argue about who did illegal and unauthorized brain surgery on who and focus on your current problem.

Ok, I’ll agree to table that discussion for now.

Excellent, now the problem is that wave of pain little Pharma Hawk put out is interacting with what we did. We think we have a way around the problem, but you have to surrender your mind to our psychic surgeons. They tell me that if you do that, we will get you right back to where you were before Pharma Hawk’s little trick.

His thought dripping with distrust, Tar Heel responded, What happens if I don’t allow them?

Don’t be tiresome John, you will die, or at least be reduced to a brainless vegetable. But if you insist on that route, I hear the Paragon Protector’s are looking for a few good strands of DNA.

Very funny, thought Tar, I guess I don’t have much choice but to agree. With that, Tar descended into another wave of pain.

Without hesitation, Pharma Hawk picked up the gun where Neut had dropped it. Quickly she put two darts in both Neuttrino and Mr. Slowburn who cried out, more in shock than in pain.

“That should at least fight whatever additional controls Ghost Widow has on you two long enough for us to get back the base for a more permanent work-up by Dr. Sheridan.” Giving her best sergeant-on-the-battlefield voice, PH shouted to all the EveryNighters. “We’ve got our people, grab Tar and everybody on get on board the Pirate’s chopper! Let’s get the hell out of here!”

But, before a move could be made toward the chopper, it exploded, raining fire and debris around the stunned heroes. As the smoke cleared over the wreckage, 7 figures were seen striding toward the EveryNighters.

“Looks like this retrieval mission just got a lot more fun,” said Fiery Fist as he ran toward the heroes. “SMASH!!!” he yelled as brought an energy charged fist down toward Teen Tar Heel. Seconds later, the rest of the Destined Ones team crashed into the EveryNighters.

Without hesitation, Pharma Hawk picked up the gun where Neut had dropped it. Quickly she put two darts in both Neuttrino and Mr. Slowburn who cried out, more in shock than in pain.

“That should at least fight whatever additional controls Ghost Widow has on you two long enough for us to get back the base for a more permanent work-up by Dr. Sheridan.” Giving her best sergeant-on-the-battlefield voice, PH shouted to all the EveryNighters. “We’ve got our people, grab Tar and everybody on get on board the Pirate’s chopper! Let’s get the hell out of here!”

But, before a move could be made toward the chopper, it exploded, raining fire and debris around the stunned heroes. As the smoke cleared over the wreckage, 7 figures were seen striding toward the EveryNighters.

“Looks like this retrieval mission just got a lot more fun,” said Fiery Fist as he ran toward the heroes. “SMASH!!!” he yelled as brought an energy charged fist down toward Teen Tar Heel. Seconds later, the rest of the Destined Ones team crashed into the EveryNighters.

Grinding his bone boot into the face of the unconscious, pony-tailed, Longbow agent, the skull-faced, dark enshrouded, Brute surveyed the carnage at the entrance to Blood Bay. The Longbow squad that had been assigned by Pharma Hawk to guard the perimeter proved no match for the team of Destined Ones that had accepted this retrieval mission from Ghost Widow.

“Get these idiot robots out of my way, Defcon!” snarled Fiery Fist, to a slim, faceless, android. Without a comment back to the flame-wrapped Brute Defcon, waved aside his horde of mechanical robots to allow the rest of the team to continue through toward their goal. With the robots guarding one flank and Za SunTsu’s ninjas guarding the other, the dark, skull-faced Brute, Fiery Fist, Fungal, Rube, Screech, Sarge and Chrome Spider ran, flew, jumped and teleported toward the unsuspecting EveryNighters.

In a non-descript tugboat anchored outside of Bloody Bay, Ghost Widow observed the confrontation between the EveryNighters and their renegade friends. She smiled as she watched the power that Pharma Hawk unleashed. I must recruit her for my faction, she thought. Then she frowned as she saw the unconscious bodies of Ice Gost and HHH3 transport away.

“Captain!” she yelled, “Jam all transporter activity in Bloody Bay, and trace the signal that Ice Gost and HHH3 used!”

A furious amount of activity erupted around her as her minions began their work. In seconds, one of the Archnos’ operatives reported back to her. “Ma’am, we have traced the signal to a small cove in the Isles. We have a crew standing by.”

“Very good Captain, they are probably in one of those infernal submarine bases that Longbow keeps. Send in a team of Destined Ones to extract them.”

“Excuse me Ma’am,” nervously stuttered another operative. “I am picking up another chopper incoming to Bloody Bay. Its markings match those of the EN division they call ‘The Pirates.’”

“Excellent,” said Ghost Widow. “Wait until they have exited the chopper and then send in the Alpha and Beta Destined Ones teams. We should be able to turn or destroy the cream of the EveryNighter group.”

“Now Captain,” she said, as a chill entered the air, “We shall discuss why the transporter signals were not jammed sooner…”

Jumping from the chopper, Pharma Hawk barked instructions to her team.

“Warden, take you men and set up a perimeter. We want to keep this a private party. EveryNighters, follow my lead. Let’s see if we can talk to our black sheep and avoid a fight.”

“Do you think that will work?” asked Teen Tar Heel hopefully.

“No,” replied PH, “but the longer we can stall, the better a chance we have to get some help from the rest of the Super Group.”

PH, Teen Tar, Ice Gost and HHH3 proceeded across the war torn landscape of Bloody Bay headed for the last known location of Neuttrino and Tar Heel. In the distance, they heard explosions and whines of power as other heroes and villains engaged in their own private battles.

“PH, you take me to the nicest places!” said Teen Tar nervously.

Finally, they saw at the far end of a small clearing, the three renegade EveryNighters. The three figures saw and silently watched the heroes approach.

“Looks like Slowburn has joined the party,” muttered PH. “That doesn’t make this any easier.”

The heroes came to a halt a few yards from the silent renegades. Teen Tar Heel stared in shock at his uncle. His horns, twin to Teen Tar’s own, had been brutally hacked away.

“Hello guys,” said PH calmly. “I heard a rumor that you may quit the Super Group and thought I’d come and see what was going on.”

Neuttrino giggled. “Yeah, we thought it would be fun to start a new one. How does ‘EvilNighters’ grab you?”

“I don’t think I’d like to be a member of a group controlled by someone like Ghost Widow,” replied PH.

Tar Heel made a low animal growl at the sound of her name, but before he could further respond, Mr. Slowburn spoke.

“On the contrary Pharma Hawk. We are under no one’s control and in fact all of us have several…issues…with Ghost Widow. Actually, we have been freed of the control of society and outdated social mores. It is ridiculous to expect superhumans to obey the moral code of an inferior species.”

“Pretty words Slowburn. If that is true, then you wouldn’t mind coming back to the base and we can reverse whatever Ghost Widow did to you. Then you could be sure that this was a true revelation, and not some deep laid control by her.”

Mr. Slowburn smiled a thin smile. “Ah but then, how would be know that you would not attempt a similar scheme? I think that…”

“Boooorrrrrinnnng,” interrupted Neuttrino. “Hey PH, as one empath to another, look what I can do!”

Teen Tar saw PH cry out in pain and collapse to the ground, just before he felt a stabbing, intense pain. Crying out, Teen Tar dropped the gun that he had been slowly raising toward Slowburn.

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4) The Sonic Concussion power blows through anyones Hold protection, but it only lasts 1/4 of a second. It is working as designed, however, I'll pass this to geko to see if it is too strong of an effect.


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One problem with the .25 sec hold is I don't know my toggles dropped until I'm deep in the red, at which time its usually too late.

That said, it doesn't happen often enough that I really get annoyed about it, and now I target first the guys that throw it.

Smashing out the door of the smoking ruin of the Arachnos’ base, Tar Heel snarled at Neuttrino. “Look Neut, I have to admit, smashing a bunch of giant, robot spiders is fun and all, but that ain’t what we came for. If your info is wrong and Ghost Widow is a no show, I say we go knock over some more casinos and beat up some rent-a-cops. Ghost Widow can’t hide from me forever.”

Her eyes glowing with the excitement of the pain that she had brought, Neut languorously smiled at Tar Heel. “Just a few more bases, Tar hun. My info is usually reliable, and we are having so much FUN!”

“Yeah, well, ok, but we had better see her soon…”

“You won’t.” Stepping around the corner was a slender man with a halo of flame surrounding his eyes. “She sent me instead.”

Tar Heel barked a laugh. “Mr. Slowburn! I always thought you were smarter than being a lackey to a third-rate AV like Ghost Widow.”

Mr. Slowburn smiled a thin smile. “I’m new at being a ‘villain’ so I don’t really monologue well. Ghost Widow wants you to resume your duties as an Arbiter. I’m here to make sure you do so.”

“How exactly are you going to do that Slow? By holding me really, really, still until I get bored and give up?”

“I’ll show you exactly…”

“Boys, boys,” drawled Neuttrino, “No need to fight. Slow what ARE you doing running deliveries for Ghost Widow? I know you. You are just as powerful as she thinks she is. All of Recluse’s lieutenants are complacent and sloppy. We could work together and get rid of all of them, Ghost Widow, Scirroco, Mako and their lot.”

“She’s right Slow,” said Tar Heel. “There was no Arch-Villain that could take us down. For crying out loud, I saw you hold a fragment of a god in the Shadow Shard! And now that we are freed we got nothing holding us back. We could rule these islands and then…beyond. So what do you say? You join with us? Or are you content to be Ghost Widow’s lapdog?”

“Here,” said PH as she, Teen Tar, Ice Gost, HHH3, and a squadron of Longbow agents ran through the hidden base to the chopper pad. She tossed Teen Tar a small pistol. “Gratz,” she said “you just got a temporary power.”

“Awesome!” yelled Teen Tar Heel. “Umm, what’s it do?”

“Weren’t you listening? Oh never mind. The gun will fire pellets of the "Widowwash" antidote that Ice brought and Dr. Sheridan modified. When the fighting starts, try to get close enough to Neut to shoot her with it. It should knock her out of whatever Ghost Widow did to her. Don’t waste it on Tar. It won’t penetrate his skin. We’ll have to knock him out and get him back to the base to give it to him.”

Just then PH’s communicator crackled. “PH, its Blue, you had better hurry up and get here. Tar and Neut are arguing. It looks like Tar wants to leave.”

“Keep watching Blue,” said PH in reply. Switching to general frequency, PH shouted into the communicator. “All available EN, converge on Bloody Bay. My team is on its way. Engage at will. PH out.”

As the chopper lifted off, PH gravely told her team. “I don’t know if anybody will be in range in time. We’ll have to take them out ourselves, or at least hold them until help arrives. We aren’t taking on some brainless DE out here. We are fighting the best of us. I don’t know if we can win or even survive. If you want out, now is the time.”

Ice Gost wordlessly communicated his answer to PH and sat back in the flight harness. Then, Trip spoke, “I haven’t been as active as I used to be PH, but I will never back out on this group.”

“Well I quit,” declared Teen Tar Heel. Startled, the others turned around to look at him. “What? I’m kidding! Geez did everybody’s sense of humor get nerfed?” he said. “Hey PH, can I drive the chopper?”

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Yes he has 100% resistance

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You are referring to the EoB event, yeah, pretty much. The final version won't.

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I know the pratorian version of this guy has 100% resist to all but psi when he hits unstoppable.

You activate the eagles claw power
You eagles claw back alley brawlerleader for 0 smashing damage
You critical back alley brawlerleader with your eagles claw for an additial 0 lethal damage

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No he has only 100% to smashing/lethal. I know because my Illusion/Radiation controller soloed him pre-issue 5.

My energy attacks (Energy EPP) dealt energy damage (albeit very small when he had it going) and the smashing was nullified.

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He actually has the click version of temp invulnerability from way back when, which gives him 100% smashing/lethal resistance. His unstoppable gives him high resistance, but it does not cap him at 100% for anything. I know this from soloing him with my DM/regen scrapper . I would suddenly stop doing any smashing damage with my DM attacks, and be ever so thankful that I wasn't any other primary.

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It is Back Alley Brawler as well as Maurader. My Dark/Dark Brute has fought him twice and both times, toward the end of the fight, he did something that gave him high resistance to the negative energy part of my attacks and 100% resistance to the smash/lethal part.

The midnight black woman curled around behind the large man in the uniform of an Archanos’ Arbiter.

“Hello Tar hun,” the woman said tapping him on his broad shoulder.

“Neut,” he grunted, focused on the dozen new escapees from the Paragon City prison, answering basic questions about the Rogue Isles and giving initial training, beyond the petty theft and simple violence that most had come with. “How’d you know if was me?”

“Don’t be silly Tar,” purred Neuttrino, “I’d know you anywhere. What I want to know is just what are you doing?”

“I am doing what I was instructed to do by my Lord Recluse, training new villains for his purposes.”

“Come on Tar, Ghost Widow…”

Whirling around to face her, Tar Heel snarled at Neut. “Don’t talk to me about Ghost Widow. Look what she had done to me!” With that, he jerked off is Arbiter helmet, revealing two light blue stumps coming out of his forehead, which were all that remained of his ram’s horns.

Suppressing a giggle, Neut thought fast. “Tar, hun, I’m with you. She is a real <bleep> but you have to admit, being freed of all that hero nonsense was a great gift. Such a great gift, that somehow I doubt that you talking to noobs in Mercy Island was what Lord Recluse had in mind when he instructed her to free you. It is probably Ghost Widow who wants you tucked away in this corner. She doesn’t want you to rise in power here in the Isles because she knows that you could rival and surpass her in power. I say we go out, have a little fun, create some mayhem, smash anyone who gets in our way and then maybe we can take a fight to Ghost Widow.”

“Yes,” said Tar Heel thoughtfully. He barked out a laugh. “That stupid <bleep>! As a hero I could only arrest her, but now that I have been freed, I can KILL her for what she did to me!”

“Well,” pouted Neuttrino, “before you kill her, you have to promise me that I can have some fun with her first. My healing powers give delicious pain when I use them in reverse. So what do you say big guy, want to team up?”

Slamming his clipboard on the head of a new escapee, and throwing his Arbiter helmet out towards the sea, Tar Heel turned to Neuttrino. “Yeah,” he said with a smirk, “let’s go have some fun!”

“Booooorrrrrrrrrrrreddddddddddd, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.” Teen Tar muttered to himself as he lay on his back looking at the roof of the hidden submarine bay. This had been the third time in as many days that he had escorted Dr. Sheridan and others to the hidden Longbow base where PH and Trip had been hiding out.

“…not a typical brainwashing,” he heard Dr. Sheridan lecture PH, “aside from a very weak loyalty bond to Lord Recluse, there really is no control function. Basically, the procedure depresses the systems in the brain that govern moral functions. The victims therefore have no conscious or any other moral imperatives. Now, because of the complexity, it is difficult to….”

Teen Tar tuned out the droning scientist and began again his count of the number of tiles on the ceiling. Why don’t we just go in and get them out instead of talking everything to death, he thought. Team 3 and 4 had been successful, Team 2 had achieved their goal with the loss of Tar and Neut (temporary loss he told himself firmly) and Team 1 had…

“Teen Tar if you want to be a member of this team, you will pay attention!” PH’s voice ran out over the bay snapping Teen Tar Heel upright.

“Sorry PH, this science stuff is a little bit above me. I haven’t had 9th grade Biology yet ya know.”

Clearing his throat, Dr. Sheridan continued. “With the information and this ‘antidote’ that Ice Gost received from hid contacts in Crey, I believe that we can reverse the process with a high degree of success, depending on the individual. You may be able to inject Neuttrino in the field and begin the reversal process, but Tar Heel’s mutated epidermis can not be penetrated except under laboratory conditions.”

Teen Tar Heel raised his hand. Without looking, PH spoke. “It means he has a tough hide TTH.” Teen Tar lowered his hand.

PH and Dr. Sheridan began again to engage is a scientific dialogue where Teen Tar recognized about every third word. His brain again slowly drifted off…

BOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEDDDDDDDD, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. He thought.

“Ugh” groaned Teen Tar Heel as he threw down the inert form of Jaster into the holding cell deep within the EN base. “I thought blasters were supposed to be tiny, little things. Looks like Jaster turned down the EveryNighters for the HotDonutsAllNighters.”

Leaving the cell and activating the force field door, Teen Tar quipped to the tall, striking female brunette with skin the red of a Death Valley sunset, “Come on Red, that was funny! Give me something!”

Confused as always over the humor of humans, the alien hybrid Kheldian Jonthoris stared at Teen Tar. Choosing to ignore his odd statements she spoke. “Teen Tar Heel, we have been studying Doc Ranger and have yet to determine how to reverse the brainwashing. We have also began our studies on Eightball and we will begin to determine if this Jaster was also a victim.”

“I don’t think Jaster is brainwashed, I think he went evil the old fashioned way, but you are the fabulously sexy alien scientist, not me. So Peeps came back with Eight? I guess that’s two out of four so far.”

“Yes, Peepopo brought Eightball in shortly before you arrived. He did not tell us what had happened, perhaps someday he will share the story and we and he will sing songs of his battles.”

“You obviously have not heard Peeps sing, Jonny. Look, I’m gonna go get Dr. Sheridan. PH thinks he can help with all this brainwashing stuff. He won’t answer his freakin’ cell. So I gotta jet out to Bricks and catch him outside the hospital on his smoke break. Meantimes hold down the fort and see what you can figure out. Cya!” Teen Tar somersaulted toward the base transporter as Jonthoris turned to contemplate the three one time friends and now prisoners in the EN base.

“Well just what the <bleep> you expect me to do? I had a hard enough time finding a uniform that would fit this guy!” yelled the tiny, grubby, man in a dirty labcoat into a spider-shaped communicator. The hero once known as Tar Heel stood impassively by, now clothed in the Arachnos’ uniform of an Arbiter.

“Look,” the man continued, “we will just have to skip the helmet. I can’t get it to fit. His freakin’ head is like stone anyway. He don’t need it.”

After a pause he continued. “He has horns you idiot! I can’t fit horns under the helmet! I don’t care what SHE says, SHE ain’t…”

Hearing another voice on the communicator, the man straightened up and took a far more conciliatory tone. “Yes, ma’am. No ma’am. It’s the horns ma’am, I can’t…Yes ma’am, I hadn’t thought of that. You don’t think it would kill him? No ma’am. Yes ma’am. Whatever you say ma’am.”

Shaken, the man cut the communications and walked over to Tar Heel. Standing on his tiptoes, the man tapped the two ram’s horns growing out of Tar Heel’s forehead with his fist. Looking thoughtful, the man called out. “Dmitri! Strap this goon down and immobilize the head. And bring me the laser saw!”

“Mr. Ramshorn, make no mistake, my Lord Recluse will get from you whatever he desires, either by the hard way or the easy way. I do hope you will choose the easy way,” Ghost Widow said, as she cupped Tar Heel’s chin with her gloved hand. The weakened hero was powerless to look away from her blank eyes.

“To put this in the idiom of American Football that you enjoy using, consider this a… recruiting visit. My Lord Recluse is putting together a team. A team that will win. He invites you to be a part of that team. In exchange for your loyalty, he will offer you power. Power that has been denied to you. Power that you once had and has been removed from you. Perhaps by your hero Statesman?” She spat out Statesman’s name as if it were a curse.

Standing up, Ghost Widow glided around the room as she continued. “This is your one chance to take this offer Mr. Ramshorn. What will be your reply?”

Nonchalantly scratching the back of his head, Tar Heel responded. “I’ve already got a team. I’m sorry ma’am, as much as I like a girl that talks football, I have to turn you down. I guess you’d better try and do this the hard way.”

With a faint laugh that sounded like the beat of a raven’s wing, Ghost Widow turned and approached Tar Heel with her hands outstretched. “You misunderstand Mr. Ramshorn, that WAS the hard way…”

Tar Heel rested on the hard, tile, floor of his prison cell. He had been methodically hammering on the metal door of the jail for over an hour, with no visible result. He was just rising to his feet to being the pounding again when the door rumbled open. Immediately, Tar gave a colossal footstomp on the ground. As figures in the doorway fell from the miniature earthquake, Tar leapt towards the door, trusting in speed and surprise to make his escape. Before reaching the door however, a single sharp command barked out and the room was flooded with blinding white light. Tar felt all his energy drain away and he collapsed onto the floor.

“I’m sure you have faced those infernal sappers that the Malta Group likes to deploy Mr. Ramshorn.” Tar heard as he tried to gain enough energy to stand. “One of the little tricks of my Lord Recluse is a modification of their guns to contain his more active guests. This entire room is basically the barrel of a giant sapper gun to anyone without…certain protections. Now, can we discuss your situation without resorting to violence?”

Grunting his assent, Tar Heel pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked at the speaker. The woman wore a skin tight leather top and pants, with a flowing black cape. Her skin was a ghostly white, and unblinking, pupilless eyes stared at Tar Heel. Flanked with uniformed Arachnos soldiers who accompanied her, the woman squatted, as if talking to a small child, across from Tar Heel, who remained seated on the floor.

“Very well then, introductions are in order. John Ramshorn, you may call me Ghost Widow, and we have much to discuss.”

“Jaster” Teen Tar heard his uncle’s voice weakly float from EN Chat channel on board Team Three’s EN Chopper. He saw Pharma Hawk in the cockpit frown and lean forward to view a digital picture that had accompanied the broadcast.

“Jaster?” Teen Tar heard her mutter under her breath. “That dumb kid?”

“Hey, Double T,” said Blue turning toward Teen Tar Heel, “Who the heck is Jaster?”

“Well I’ve never met him,” explained Teen Tar. “but my uncle told me a little about him. He’s like the 5th Beatle of the EveryNighters. Back before the SuperGroup was registered, he ran back in Perez Park and King’s Row with Tar Heel, Pharma Hawk, and the rest of the Founders. When they formed the SG, he didn’t join. I don’t know why. After that, he just kinda disappeared.”

“Well it sounds like he is back,” replied Blue.

“Yeah, but don’t worry, there hasn’t been a Blaster born that can take out Uncle Tar in a fair fight. And if he got lucky against my uncle, I don’t like his chances against a very pissed off Pharma Hawk.”

Tar Heel allowed himself a small smile at the initial success of Team Two’s strike. The team had been smashing toward the center of Sharkhead Isle, where their intel had determined the Arbiter formerly known as Doc Ranger was conducting his training. The initial resistance was weak, but continued to scale up as more and more Arachnos troops and other villains came from other parts of the Rogue Isles to stop them. Even then, the resistance felt disorganized and ad hoc, which confirmed Tar’s opinion that his plan of a quick strike was the best way to get the captured EveryNighters out.

The team had quickly settled into a rhythm, with Tar Heel first leaping into any group blocking their way and getting all their attention focused on him. GA Hick then would round up any strays and join Tar in the center of the melee, while MSgt Black and the other members of the team would pick off the villains in singles and groups.

The energy rifles and flamethrowers of the Arachnos troops, along with other exotic weaponry of the general population of villains were putting out extreme damage on Tar. With careful tactics, Tar was able to bring most of them in melee range. Once there, they switched to fists, clubs and swords, and Tar was able to absorb that damage much easier.

Leaping up on the wall of a small fort, decorated with Arachnos logos and propaganda, Tar finally saw their objective. As he feared, Doc Ranger was leading the attack on Tar’s team buffing the mass of troops that began pouring out of the fort and debuffing Tar and his teammates, making their attacks and defenses weaker.

Suddenly, Tar heard Neuttrino cry out and saw her health line go quickly from green to red to black on his HUD. Whipping around, Tar briefly saw a stealthed assassin standing over her body holding a large sword and laughing before his view was blocked by hordes of Arachnos troops. He heard the pop of an inrush of air typical of a transportation, and knew that Lady T had teleported Neut back to the EN jet and she would be all right.

Which was more than he could say for the rest of his team. Deprived of their empath, the horde of soldiers began to wear down the rest of Tar’s team. He saw several of his team go into yellow and red on his HUD and their success seemed in doubt.

“Not on my watch.” Tar snarled to himself as he reached down deep and called on all the reserves of his strength. With a primal roar, Tar began fighting as a man possessed. More and more of the troops pealed off his teammates and attacked him. Now it seemed as though nothing could hurt him. He was unstoppable. Ignoring the piles of minions attacking him, and leaving them for the rest of the regrouped team to pick off, Tar concentrated on Doc. Tar rained punch after punch on his former teammate as Doc screamed incoherently for his troops to stop him. Sensing that the end was near, Tar wound up for a final Knockout Blow.

“Time to log off for the night, Doc,” Tar Heel spat as he unleashed a massive punch on the former Defender that lifted him on his feet and slammed him onto the floor of the fort, unconscious.

Brushing aside the minions that still pestered him, Tar yelled into his communicator. “Doc is down! Jon, grab him and head for the jet! Everybody else provide escort for her. I’ll keep them busy here. When you get safely on the jet teleport me out of here. Good Job everybody!”

As the alien hybrid grabbed Doc and flew away from the fort with the rest of the team following, Tar finally began to concentrate on the minions, lieutenants and bosses that still surrounded him. After another minute of intense fighting, he was able to drop the last of them. With that, Tar saw his own endurance and health drain away as his reserves were exhausted. Kneeling amid the carnage to rest before being teleported away, Tar surveyed the battleground and smiled. How does that song go? He thought to himself. `I’m not a good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was.`

His communicator crackled. It was Lady T. “Tar we have Doc on board. Prepare for teleport.” But before Tar could reply that he was ready, an intense pain slammed into his back, throwing him across the fort where he collided with the opposite wall. Lying on the ground, Tar looked up through a haze of pain and saw a large man with smoking fists from the blast that had hit Tar. The man had dual bandoliers over his large chest and his head was completely covered with a strange, mismatched helmet with an oversized eye targeting sensor on one side.

“Hiya Tar,” the man smirked. “I was on my way to see PH but I thought I’d stop and say hello to you first, old friend.

As Tar Heel’s vision blurred and he slipped into unconsciousness, he managed to transmit on the EN channel a digital image of the man and spoke a single word before surrendering to the darkness.

“Jaster.”

Tar Heel frowned as listened to Pharma Hawk’s speculation on the EN channel. “Well, it makes some sense PH,” he said as he shifted and stretched, trying to find a comfortable spot in the EN jet command chair. “So you think we are the target not because of our super powers, but because of our successful tactics and strategy?”

“That’s the gist of it Tar,” said PH’s voice, floating over the channel.

“Yeah, well, God knows it was the rare villain that we fought that wasn’t dumb as a bag of hammers, and if Archanos wants to take over P City, he has got to do more than just send waves of bad guys at us. If our people can teach them tactics and grand strategy, they may have a shot and taking over Paragon and then the rest of the eastern seaboard. I still can’t shake the feeling that somehow it’s personal though. I mean, we can’t be the only Super Group with good tactics and strategy.”

Giving up on finding a comfortable spot, Tar stood up and leaned over the communicator pad. “Anyway,” he continued firmly, “it really doesn’t change what we have to do. We still have to get our people out and the best way to do it is to hit them hard and fast. We HAVE to engage them now. Even if the other teams weren’t on hide, I don’t think we could call them off. I’ll keep what you said in mind, just keep a lookout for anything strange, and don’t be shy about calling in the pirates for backup. Oh, and by the way,” he smirked, “take care of Teen Tar Heel. EN2 out.”

On the other end of the line, PH frowned, “What?” she said into the dead communicator. “Why would I need to take care of Teen Tar Heel?”

“You got it PH!” shouted Teen Tar as he dropped down out of the overhead utility storage where he had been hiding. “With this scrapper-light team ya got, I gotta take care of you! I figured it was just an oversight I didn’t get picked for your team, but I didn’t want to bother you with the paperwork so I just hopped on board.”

“Good luck PH,” said Tar Heel as the EveryNighters filed out of the assembly room.

“Good luck to you, Mr. Heel,” said Pharma Hawk jauntily. She then added with a more serious tone upon seeing his face, “Don’t worry Tar, we’ll get them back.”

“Getting them back isn’t what worries me,” said Tar Heel. “What I’m worried about is what happens after we get them back. How are we gonna break the brain-washing or mind control or demon possession or whatever it is? And then I keep coming back to the original question Sarge asked, ‘why us?’ What is is about the EveryNighters that has Arachnos coming after us? Was there some mission we went on that makes us more susceptible? Or is it personal somehow? One thing is for sure though. We had better figure out what is going on and find a way to stop it or Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx might decide to solve the problem for us.

Tar Heel popped a blue and washed it down with the rest of the pot of coffee.

“Ok,” he said, “We have been going at this all night. I think we’ve reached a consensus on what we need to do, so here is the plan.”

Tar looked around the crowded assembly room. Every member of the EveryNighters that were available was there. One of Tar’s few contributions to the layout of the base was a request that the assembly room be purposely smaller than the full membership roster. It was standing room only when all members were present and Tar had felt it added to a sense of urgency. He admitted to himself that he hadn’t counted on an entire division of under 4’ heroes who were straining to see.

He continued. “We have recon from Yarrrr’s group and more…traditional…recon that Statesman has supplied from the undercover Longbow agents. We have identified three and possibly four of our members operating as these ‘Arbiters’ out in the Rogue Isles. HHH3, Mr. Slowburn, Doc Ranger, and based on this surveillance tape, Eightball."

“I know it’s 8,” a small voice whispered. “I can tell.”

Tar looked at Neut silently and then continued.

“Well, thanks to 8’s doppelganger, they know we are coming. Hopefully they won’t expect us so soon or on multiple fronts. That’s why we are leaving tonight with 4 separate strike teams for each of our friends. Each team will have a tactical leader and an empath. We are out of Paragon’s hospital transporter range so keep your empath on their feet, people. In addition, each team will have a lower level teleporter on-board each EN-Jet in the zone for emergency extraction.

Team One will have Super Swamp as lead and Headache Healer as the empath. They will go after Mr. Slowburn. I’ll lead Team Two with Neut as our empath to extract Doc Ranger. PH will wear both hats for Team Three who will go get Trip. Finally, Team Four will have Peeps as lead with Taja’ as the empath and go after Eightball.

I’ve notified Yarrrr that he and the pirates need to be ready to back up any of the teams that get in trouble. Otherwise, he should just wreck havoc in the Isles and draw some of the attention away from us.

Team Leaders will choose the rest of their team. You should have no shortage of volunteers. The mission is to get in, get our teammate and get out. This is not a defeat all mission. Do not clear! Feel free to try and talk it out, but expect resistance from our friends. We don’t know how deep the brainwashing goes. Knock them out and carry them back. We can worry about how to reverse any mind control when they get secured here at the base.

I’ve given the Team Leaders a bit of Council tech that will prevent Arachnos transporters from sending any defeated Arbiter back to their hospitals. It won’t teleport them back here or to the EN-Jet, so you’ll have to carry them out.

Anybody not on a team, hunker down and defend the base against any possible raid or counter-attack. Avenging Ivy got in here somehow so more may follow. Follow up with all your contacts. Let’s see if we can get any more information on what Arachnos is up too.

Any questions?"

"I swear PH, she means nothing to me!" yelled Teen Tar Heel as the burst of energy and healing given to him by Pharma Hawk took effect. "Don't be jealous!"

With that, Teen Tar caught Ivy under the jaw with a Crane Kick that propelled her backward. Landing, Ivy was immeadiatly surrounded by fire. Trojan King, hearing the alert had turned the corner and threw down the Burn patch that Ivy was struggling in. Yelling in fear of the fire, she tried to escape, but fell repeatedly on the Ice Patch that TK has also applied. Seconds later, Ivy was hit by fists, swords and blasts as more of the EveryNighters entered the fray. Finally lapsing into unconsciousness, Ivy faded out of site as a automatic transporter hummed.

"Somehow I don't think she teleported into the Zig," said Pharma Hawk frowning.

"Nice of you guys to show up for the mop-up work," exclaimed Teen Tar Heel. "I must have put down a hundred of her minions and monsters before I go any love from you guys."

"Save it," said Pharma Hawk. "We've got a lot of work to do. Tar is getting recon from the pirates, and he thinks the EveryNighters will pull an all-nighter trying to put together a rescue plan."

"Great," muttered Teen Tar Heel. "I hate these 10 hour Task Forces. Hey! Who are we rescueing anyway?"

Sure. Send me a PM with the name you want.

“Yarrrr!” barked Tar Heel into the communicator. “<bleep>it Yarrrr we have a serious situation here! This in no time for you and your merry men to go off all…all…”

“Willy-Nilly?” supplied Neut helpfully.

“Willy <bleep>ing Nilly! We’ve got enemies that have already taken down HHH3, probably Slowburn, and possibly more! Whoever it is also took out Eightball months ago and replaced him with a look-alike! We need the whole <bleep>ing team for this! What do you and the rest of your idiot crew think you are going to do? Take on the whole <bleep>ing Rogue Islands? Hope Lord Recluse is pre-occupied with the “Jimmy Buffet Live” album you give him? Knock Slow upside the head with a belaying pin and hope that reverses any mind control? DON’T <BLEEP>ING ANSWER THAT! I'm haveing a hard enough problem keeping <bleep>ing Peeps from going off half-cocked! Listen Yarrrr, you and the rest of those pinheads on that boat better limit yourself to recon! RECON <BLEEP>ING ONLY! Let us know what you find and we’ll work on a Plan! DO NOT ENGAGE! If you don’t wait for the rest of the <bleep>ing SuperGroup, the only <bleep>ing team you’ll be on is the <bleep>ing midnight shift at a <bleep>ing Long John <bleep>ing Silver’s! We are clear!” Tar Heel cut the communication without waiting for a reply.

“Ummmmm,” said a blushing Neut. “Don’t you think you were a little hard on him Tar?”

“Hey, he’s a pirate,” grinned Tar Heel. “Do you expect us to talk out our problems?”