Due to their recent actions to save the city, the heroes are invited to an awards ceremony. They’re sitting around Dr. Strange’s house musing over the invitation. All of them except Batman, that is. Dr. Strange encourages them to go as it is good exposure and they deserve the recognition, though he won’t be attending himself on account that he has become incresingly weakened by all the demonic proceedings. While they were talking a news report came on the tv stating Black Widow had attacked Maria Hill and fled the Helicarrier, possibly killing the Director of SHIELD. Batman, meanwhile, thinks over the same question in the Batcave. His predicament is that Batman AND Bruce Wayne were invited. If he went in his secret identity then his allies could recognize him since they had seen him before (when they were captured in the Savage Land) but he couldn’t go as Batman as he thought the awards ceremony was unecessary. To further his internal struggle, Alfred dropped a newspaper nearby that showed the city knew Bruce Wayne was back in town and they were now theorizing the reclusive trillionaire was crippled. He opted to go, but he would watch from a nearby rooftop.

During the ceremony many different heroes were being recognized for their efforts. The mayor began with the Avengers, of which only Captain America was present, and moved on afterwards to the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and other lone wolf types. During the speeches given by the heroes, Batman watched and listened from his post near Central Park when he was approached by a woman in a black leather outfit lined with fur. She introduced herself as Black Cat and made playful banter at the Dark Knight before excusing herself. Batman finished watching the proceedings knowing he could pick up her trail in a few minutes. As the ceremony came to a close, Safer, Ollie, Grey, and the missing Batman were recognized. The mayor gave a rousing speech stating that these ‘outsiders’ had come to the city’s aid when they needed it the most and deserved their gratitude. Ollie gave an impromptu speech to the crowd and the proceedings drew to a close.

Shortly after the ceremony the heroes were met by the Mayor with a set of keys. It seemed several wealthy donors of the city had decided to bequeath a base of operations to the heroes. It wasn’t much, just a warehouse on the edge of town next to the river, but it was more than they had. They accepted the keys and went to check out their new home at the same time Batman was leaping off a rooftop in pursuit of the mysterious Black Cat. He found her several blocks away in the Museum of Modern Art. He had the Batjet he had used to pursue her scan the building to try and locate her. Making his way to the center of the building, he found her stealing all of the paintings from the gallery donated by the Wayne Foundation. Talking with her he learned she had been sent specifically to steal only the stuff donated by the Wayne Foundation and that she knew it was some bid against Bruce Wayne’s power.

While Batman spoke to Black Cat, the other heroes had arrived at a dingy warehouse. The security fence around the property was badly damaged, though the lock still hung unnecessarily from the front gate. They entered the warehouse and Safer conjured some lights to see how big the place actually was, only instead of being empty like they had thought two women were standing there. They did little to introduce themselves before a group of ninja’s appeared out of nowhere next to them. The heroes would learn later their attackers were Elektra and Typhoid Mary, but for the moment they were more worried about their swords than their names. They made short work of several of the ninjas, but had a problem after Typhoid Mary had been hit several times and apparently was losing control.

Fire erupted from the girl who was now squatting in the middle of the warehouse and burst forth to burn the heroes. Ollie and Grey managed to dodge out of the way while Safer conjured a large fan to blow it back towards Mary. A few more hits from Grey rendered her unconscious while Ollie worked against Elektra who had moved into the rafters above. As their new home burned, Batman found himself suddenly attacked by Black Cat. Not trusting the hero to let her thieve and get away with it she whipped out her whip and tried to strike the Batman. A quick batarang thrown lightly turned her hand away and he stepped forward offering to let her go if she would only give him the information about who was paying her for the job. She made the deal.

A few minutes later she was riding away in the back of a truck when she threw a envelope at the Batman and blew him a kiss. Opening it, he found a cell phone inside. Calling the only number on it, he had the Batcomputer trace the call to an address on the other side of town before hanging up on the man who answered. Hopping into the Batjet, he made haste to the address but on the way he saw a building on fire and turned to help. Inside, his allies were surprised at the Batman’s arrival as he quickly helped to dispatch the last of the ninjas and take Elektra down. SHIELD arrived shortly after to take all of the attacker into custody. The rookie who spoke with the group let slip that the beacon placed on the members hadn’t gone off early enough, a beacon they were unaware of. Ollie was being summoned to the SHIELD Helicarrier by Maria Hill herself and was asked to come alone.

After quickly conferring with his teammates, Ollie boarded the SHIELD aircraft along with a camouflaged Batman. They were taken aboard and Ollie led into a conference room. Sneaking past Maria Hill, Batman waited in a corner as they spoke. Maria Hill informed Ollie that Black Widow had turned traitor and had tried to kill her. She was offering Ollie a position with SHIELD again if he agreed to track her down. She held the file that contained all the information on Widow including her current whereabouts, but SHIELD didn’t want to pursue her incase she rabbited. Ollie turned down the offer to rejoin SHIELD, still not trusting Maria Hill entirely. At this point she informed Batman (much to his surprise) and Safer that they should feel free to leave the boat. Ollie tried to convince her to let him have the file and even went so far as to try and take it from her. He failed to do so and had several guns trained on him now. Leaving peacefully, the heroes headed back to their base while pondering their next move.

Spider-Man has always been a nuisance in New York City. The recent devastation by Deneroth has caused enough hysteria and panic to give a few villains the edge they think they need to finally take down the web slinger. Norman Osborn and the Kingpin met in secret and devised a plan. They pulled together a group of villains consisting of Bullseye, Kraven the Hunter, and Mysterio. Rhino was being transported across town in a security vehicle, but with police forces already spread thin the security forces on the truck would be small. These three villains could spring the Rhino and with his help have the chance of killing Spider-Man.

The villains set up their ambush at a busy intersection and waited. As soon as the van came in view they struck. Bullseye began sniping policemen, Kraven took a tiger with him as he plunged into their forces and Mysterio used his gas to spread fear and discord among the civilians and officers. Unbeknownst even to them, Carnage was lying in wait as well (not wanting to miss killing Spider-Man) and sprung out of the sewers where he began eating people.

Realizing the van was secured from the inside, the villains tried to get close. Trying to trick the police into releasing him themselves, Mysterio made them think there was a young girl trapped inside a burning car. This plan was seemingly going to work until Carnage shapeshifted into a young girl to try and get close to the officers. Thinking they had accomplished their task, they retreated from the van and were promptly eaten for their kindness. Realizing Caranage was trying to work with them, Mysterio communicated to the rest about their newest ally. With most of the officers dead, Spider-Man himself showed up to try and save the day.

Spider-Man offered many quips at the villains while fighting them. He got several good hits on them including webbing up Kraven’s tiger. Not to be deterred, Kraven called for an elephant to replace the tiger. Trying to fight the battle on four fronts proved too much for Spider-Man and he fell under the weight of his attackers. With a final blow from Kraven the web-slinger was thrown through several buildings before finding himself at the feet of Batman, Grey, Ollie, and Safer.

The heroes halted their repair efforts and revived Spider-Man. After learning of his attackers they set off to stop the villains. A few blocks away they found Mysterio releasing Rhino from the van. A sedation system was hooked up to the prisoner that had to be constantly fed or he would wake up. Batman immediately set upon the controls to try and prevent his escape. Ollie approached from the roofs and stumbled upon Bullseye so they fought while Safer took care of Carnage and The Grey attack Kraven. The villains were whittled down, but it was apparent Batman could not contain Rhino for much longer. Ollie lunged forward after landing a devastating blow on Bullseye and began to drive the van towards the river. A rampaging elephant carrying Kraven gave pursuit while the remaining heroes took out Carnage and Mysterio.

Now giving chase, Safer and The Grey realized that Kraven had been taken out so a van with Rhino in it was careening towards the bay with an angry elephant in tow. Unfortunately, the sedation wore off and a giant horn tore through the roof of the security van right before the back door exploded open. Ollie swerved the van to try and keep him inside. The big dumb Rhino figured out his driver was his enemy and quickly tried to pierce through the front half of his cage to try and stab him. Ollie narrowly avoided the blow while Batman had to leap out of van to avoid the same blow. Safer tried to create a ramp into the water for Ollie to drive on but the weight of Rhino proved too much for his will. As soon as an opening appeared in traffic, Ollie jerked the wheel to the side and plunged them into the bay.

Rhino began to sink, his immense weight becoming a complication. To try and make him sink further, Grey quickly leapt on his head to drive him down but was grabbed hold of by Rhino. Batman dove into the water to try and save Grey but became ensnared himself. Only by the combined efforts of Safer, Ollie, and Spider-Man were they able to free the two and let Rhino sink until he was unconscious. A few webbed up villains later and the day was saved.

Sitting around the sanctum, the heroes are working to make a translator for The Grey. Reed Richards and Iron Man are on a live feed from their respective workshops while Agent Coulson of SHIELD and Abigail Brand of SWORD are awaiting nearby. Batman places the translator around The Grey’s neck and he can finally talk to his comrades. Safer had gleaned his alien language from him mentally and shared it with the rest, but nobody could speak with him except Abigail Brand who took to it rather quickly. As they sat around congratulating one another Iron Man said he would work on the patent for the technology since Batman couldn’t without revealing his identity.

There was a knock at the door. Wong went to answer and a moment later he was blown back down the hallway. As the heroes rounded the corner they saw a demon stepping over the threshold. The imposing figure began yelling for Ollie and yelling that his soul belonged to him. Abigail rushed forward and tried lighting him on fire with her hands, but he absorbed the fire and batted her aside, knocking her unconscious. A furious battle between the heroes and the demon ensued and all the while it yelled for Ollie. A few well placed bullets from Agent Coulson and a couple of chandeliers later and the demon was whipped outside from an unseen force and thrown into the building across the street. They ran outside to find Ollie along with Namor. Namor explained that Ollie had sunk unconscious and injured to the depths of the ocean where the Atlanteans found him. A few words were said and Namor departed for his home.

As the heroes began to catch up Ollie on their new teammate the building across the street exploded. Fire erupted as the demon broke free of the building and grew and didn’t stop growing until he reached the height of the empire state building. Completely insane and on fire, the demon began to tear through New York City and cause untold amounts of damage. Once again springing into action, the heroes did their best to subdue the creature. Trying not to get close to it, the heroes used nearby water towers, fallen debris, and the Batjet to weaken it. During its rampage it bounced off of the Baxter Building which apparently had a shield. A few moments later and the building glowed. Reed Richards voice was magnified over the city as he yelled at the heroes to get away from the creature. The Baxter Building erupted in a lance of energy that shot forth and struck the creature, lifting it off its feet and throwing it into the nearby bay. Not trusting it to be down for good, everyone went to investigate.

Sure enough, the water began to boil and the demon grew even larger, its top half bursting from the water and towering over the city. It returned its attention to the heroes and did its best to kill them. Small portals opened up around the demon and smaller ones began to appear around his head, flying. Another portal appeared in front of him and a group of figures floated before him. According to his speech with them they were Knight Templars there to stop him. With the templars taking care of the demons, Ollie and the rest were able to work on the larger foe. Batman furiously dodged and avoided the creature, Grey threw everything he could add it, Safer mimicked Grey and ripped things from the city (including every steeple), while Ollie searched for different ways to take it down including electrifying the river. Their plight almost worsened when Mephisto took over Safer, but he was an apparent rival of the other demon. Deneroth (for he named himself in his banter with Mephisto) was apparently a lesser demon with dreams of grandeur. Mephisto fought on the side of the heroes to keep this demon in check. Even after all their fighting they still could not best the demon. Not until the Avengers showed up. Thor struck the demon with lightning a dozen times to get it to submit to the god of thunder. Once again not trusting Deneroth to have truly fallen, they searched the river. In it, they found an Arabic man who was unconscious and taken into custody.

Mephisto released Safer but not before telling the heroes they owed them for his help. Weakened, the heroes regrouped only to have the Knight Templars land nearby. Accusing Safer of being a demon, they lunged to attack though they were severely beaten themselves. Their leader announced his name as Robert de Sablé and he swore to purge Mephisto from this world. Though they were all weakened Safer still managed to pull out a little magic and made the Templars lose their will to fight through Mind Control. Now with everything seemingly safe, the heroes took their leave to attend to their wounds.

Worrying over the apparent death of one of their teammates, the heroes get no rest as a new threat begins rampaging around New York. At SHIELD HQ a 7’ tall alien is released from a cosmic shard that was functioning as a prison. Unable to open it themselves, SHIELD contacted Dr. Strange to try and release the trapped creature. Upon release, the creature burst out of the building and into the middle of New York City.

Batman and Safer responded to the threat immediately. Hovering overhead in the Batjet they saw a grey creature covered in fur. Leaping into action, the two heroes tried to subdue this unknown threat. Stuck in a rage, The Grey began to damage the city and the heroes attacking him. Leaping through a building he managed to grab some debris and take down the Batjet, forcing the hero inside to meet this new foe on the ground. Safer tried to trap the alien in a swirling tornado of flaming Batjet pieces but he smashed through the ground and into the subway tunnel below.

With SHIELD agents now at their side, the heroes followed him downwards as The Grey began to tear up the track. Fighting him, the heroes weren’t able to make much of a dent before he leapt back onto the street.Finally, the heroes were able to take him down and, much to everyone’s surprise, he shrunk down to be only 4’ tall. Once they returned him to SHIELD headquarters, it was explained to them that the creature was an alien and that he had awoken in his rage. Safer tried to probe his mind and discover what might be his intentions. During this process Maria Hill got a report of Doctor Octopus robbing a bank. While everyone turned to the live feed, The Grey woke up and saw Doc Ock kill a police officer. Breaking his bonds, he leapt through the building again.

Safer and Batman caught up to him at the bank robbery where The Grey was trying to take down the robbers. Deciding to help, the group managed to take down all of the robbers. Once they had worked their way inside, Safer closed the vault door and magically locked it to prevent Doc Ock from escaping, only to have him burst through the side of the building, grab a hostage, and crawl away. Unable to keep up with the doctor, they turned their attention to the last few robbers. Once they were stopped, The Grey began leaping across buildings in pursuit of Doctor Octopus. Safer followed The Grey on a flying carpet, while Batman interrogated the remaining thieves to learn of their hideout. Getting the information, he made his way to a warehouse near the river right as the other two arrived.

Once inside, the heroes took out a few more thugs before their final showdown with the doctor. One tentacle wrapped around a hostage, he threatened the heroes to leave or she would die. Unperturbed, Safer tried to rescue the woman, only to fail. The Grey, having a cosmic kusarigama, cut off the arm holding the girl so she could escape. As Doc Ock yelled in fury, Batman snuck up from the side and knocked him out with one hit. SHIELD arrived shortly after to collect the thugs and try to take The Grey back into their custody. Safer convinced them to let The Grey stay with him and Batman since SHIELD obviously couldn’t contain him, and work as a hero until they could figure out what else to do with him.

Before making their trip to Latveria, the heroes sought out the guidance of Thor and the Avengers. They arrived at Stark Tower hoping to catch them there. Batman and Iron Man tested each other for a minute before Thor arrived and informed the heroes that his brother was currently residing in Latveria, but that they couldn’t do anything officially because no laws were being broken. Iron Man flat out refused any involvement, but Thor was convinced to go along. Before leaving, Ollie had Tony Stark scan him to try and figure out what the machine in the Savage Land had done to him, but got little results besides that his genetic material had been changed.

Seeking a little more guidance before heading out, the heroes went to see the Fantastic Four about Doctor Doom and Latveria. Reed and Ben Grimm didn’t know what was going on currently and had no idea why Loki and him would be allied. Oliver asked Reed to check him out as well and they were able to determine that Ollie had, for all intents and purposes, become a mutant. There was no indication of powers, but the possiblity existed.

Finally leaving out, the heroes arrived in Latveria and met a very impatient Thor. They strode up to Loki’s castle (provided by Doom) and announced their presence. Thor and his brother had an argument as they tried to figure out what Loki’s involvement with the breakout was and why he was in Latveria. Not revealing any secrets, Loki turned away the heroes. They immediately struck out against the Doom guards to force there way inside and get the answers they wanted.

After taking out the front gate, the heroes strode in. All except Batman who snuck over the wall and inside the castle while the argument was taking place. Inside the castle the heroes had to find their way through the winding maze of hallways. They were plagued by a security system the whole time (the heroes passed by the security room) but still made short work of the plethora of guards in the castle. Safer, deciding on a different course of action, called out to Loki and convinced him he was trying to work for him. Loki informed him to draw the heroes in so they could finish them together.

After many winding turns the heroes found themselves to the throne room. Fighting frost giants to get inside, they were confronted by multiple Loki’s who revealed that Safer was foolish to try and trick the ultimate trickster. A battle ensued, but thanks to Thor it was short lived. Clearly discovering they were outmatched, Thor elected to harass his brother until they stopped fighting. Loki then answered their questions and sent them on their way. The heroes didn’t learn much, except that Loki was denying having been to Paris. They were back to square one.

On their way home, tragedy struck. Mephisto resurfaced on their flight home and began to attack the teammates. Thor having flown on ahead, made Oliver the only one to defend against the demon as Batman flew the plane. Safer’s arm elongated into a clawed appendage which Mephisto drug through the side of the Batjet. Batman fought to maintain control as Ollie held off the demon. Since they were over the middle of the Atlantic the heroes had to save their transportation or they would be stranded. Realizing the fight wasn’t going to benefit Safer much, Ollie threw Mephisto from the Batjet, but the demon took him with him. While falling through the air Ollie struggled to break free of the demon but was unable to. A long, slender hand pierced him through his heart. An hour later Batman had the crashed Batjet functional and searched for his allies. Only finding Safer’s unconscious body, they returned to the United States.

Now back in New York City, the heroes decided to track down Electro and see if there was more information they could glean about the breakout. First, they needed to locate him. They got a lead from SHIELD that Living Laser and Zzzax were currently hiding in a warehouse in the city. Having gotten away from them before, the heroes decided to make bring in Living Laser and his ally. Meatshield took this opportunity to part from his allies and track down his nemesis who had gotten away in the previous battle.

Quickly arriving at the warehouse in a Batjet, the heroes formed a plan of attack from a nearby building after noticing a few guards outside. They positioned themselves on the roof of the hideout and began their attack. Reaching through the roof, Ollie began to harass the villains while Safer and Batman slipped inside. Safer pulled his magic together and began wiping out the various guards stationed around the warehouse. Batman, seeing the success of his allies decided to search for clues while he was invisible. He located a computer and began to hack it to see if the two electric villains had been in touch with the man who broke them out.

Zzzax, finally realizing his attacker was on the roof, blasted through it taking Ollie with him. Safer was now alone with Laser and his goons, but still held his own. Mentally calling for help from Batman, he was rejected with the comment, “You’re doing fine.” Meanwhile, Ollie landed several blocks away. He quickly found a fire hydrant on the street and tried to soak Zzzax and ground him, but unfortunately he was unable to direct the water accurately. Zzzax took advantage of the newly flooded street and electrocuted the surrounding civliians. Olliver stretched to rescue them all and put them safely in the building behind him.

Back at the warehouse, Safer finished subduing the thugs with his magic and managed to complicate out Living Laser as well. All just in time for Batman to finish his hacking of the computer and discover that Electro had been in touch with the two escapees recently and that he was in Paris. Having what they came for, the two set out to find Oliver again. When they found him, he was still trying to trade blows with Zzzax, but neither was succeeding. Two intangible people fighting each other was very indecisive, so Zzzax flew away before Batman and Safer showed up. Armed with their new info, the heroes headed to Paris.

After landing a few hours later, the heroes managed to track down Electro to a small café where he was sitting with his girlfriend. Oliver and Batman watched from the shadows as Safer approached him pretending to be a waiter. Electro brushed him off to continue speaking with his girlfriend (who he was apparently trying to convince to run away with him). Safer pressed the conversation and, realizing something was wrong, Electro took his girlfriend and began walking down the Parisian street. Following, Safer asked for information in return for letting Electro and his lady go without a fight. Electro provided them a cell phone that payment had been taken through and continued his path to the airport. Batman and Ollie joined Safer at this point to discuss what they had found when they saw Loki standing in the middle of the street. His head tilted upwards with a large smile before he disappeared. A quick examination of the phone showed payment had gone through Latveria and the heroes knew where their next stop would be.

Safer, Ollie, Batman, and Meatshield awoke several hours later, bound and naked, in front of a group of supervillains. Batman and Ollie, being totally reliant on their technology, were mere men, but Meatshield and Safer still had their innate abilities. While the heroes tried to figure out a way to escape, Lykos provided some rather unfriendly banter. He taunted the heroes and stroked his own ego. When they began to talk back he ordered the distraught looking Brainchild to take Oliver Storm to a machine sitting near his throne. Ollie, being weak, could not escape the clutches of his attacker and was placed in an unknown machine that, when turned on, caused immense pain. Once it was done they removed him back to his restraints and brought Meatshield to continue the process.

Meatshield was ready for his captors and used his enhanced speed to quickly run from their grasp. Safer was able to summon a mystical sword for the soldier and he proceeded to destroy equipment until the electronic bindings holding his allies disappeared. The battle was joined. Lykos had Brainchild, Worm, Amphibious, Whiteout, and Crossbones (a mercenary with a grudge against Meathsield) on his side. The heroes quickly scrambled to find their equipment which lay nearby. Batman and Ollie now suited up joined the battle. Lykos’s lackeys proved to be of little help to him, so he fed off of Meatshield to turn into Sauron. Breathing fire and dive bombing he was able to stall the heroes, but the arrival of SHIELD proved to be his undoing. Black Widow, along with a group of regular agents, helped to take down Lykos and bring him into custody.

Natasha Romanoff informed the heroes that SHIELD would take care of all of bad guys and offered them a ride back to the States. While aboard the Helicarrier on its way home the heroes again questioned Maria Hill and she again blew them off. They demanded answers for what was going to happen to Lykos, as well as about the SHIELD outpost and she responded by throwing them off the bridge. This time, she didn’t do it before Oliver Storm resigned from his SHIELD position. Black Widow escorted the heroes back to some quarters while they made the trip home and secretly informed Ollie that she knew something was wrong with SHIELD, but couldn’t say what.

The group got back together once the breakout ended and made their way back to the Helicarrier. Whilst in route they examined the uniform scrap they found and determined it belonged to a Karl Lykos. Once they reached the Helicarrier Director Maria Hill questioned them about the breakout and got as much information as they could. They asked about Lykos but she informed them that their part in the breakout was done and to drop it.

Not to be deterred, the heroes hacked into SHIELD’s systems when they were ordered off the bridge. Batman was able to determine that Lykos was in Antarctica in the Savage Land and also discovered there was a SHIELD base near there that was offline. The heroes all hopped in a new Batjet and took off.

They found a nice clearing to land in and proceeded to set up a perimeter and get their bearings (having elected to go after Lykos than worry about some SHIELD outpost) when a large Tyrannosaurus Rex crashed through the brush and into the Batjet, destroying it. Safer was able to mentally perceive the dinosaur right before it crashed through and warned the others. A furious battle ensued. Safer tried to gain control of the large beast but realized he wasn’t powerful enough. They ended up killing the creature and Meatshield, taking offense, cut its head off. While trying to recuperate Safer caught whiff of more dinosaurs incoming. The group hid while a pack of Velociraptors came out of the jungle and began scavenging off of the large corpse. Our heroes left them to their meal.

After traveling through the jungle for a while they were ambushed by a group of mutates. Along with the group were Barbarus, Lupo, Vertigo, and their leader Brainchild. The heroes found themselves outnumbered, but fought valiantly still. Unfortunately, one of their teammate’s dark secrets came out in this battle. Safer, having previously made a pact with him, had his body taken over by Mephisto. The demon wreaked havoc on heroes and mutates alike, taking them all down. Mephisto did not have the strength to continue possessing Safer after the battle so he reverted to his original form. Some more mutates came along, collected the downed heroes, and brought them to Karl Lykos himself.

After taking out Constrictor, Batman and Oliver Storm started to press forward when Safer suddenly sank to the floor. He ushered them onward, informing them of a mental assault he was defending against. With still no sign of Meat Shield, they made their way after Jigsaw, but turned towards the sound of a large scale battle.

Emerging in a large hangar with a single helicopter, the twosome saw two warring factions of inmates trying to take the vehicle for themselves to escape. There were too many villains to count, but the heroes did notice a few leaders on each side that include The Brothers Grimm, Silver Samurai, Grey Gargoyle , Razorfist, Tombstone, and Tigershark chained to Armadillo.

Rather than insert themselves into the fray, the two heroes snuck around the rafters to get behind the battle where they could take the helicopter for themselves. Batman, turning invisible, snuck to the cockpit of the helicopter to radio for backup, but the radio squelched and attracted the attention of the Brothers Grimm. Attacking Olliver, they were ambushed from behind by the Batman and one of the brothers fell while the other retreated. Figuring subtlety was lost; the pair hopped into the helicopter and opened fire on the inmates below.

After spraying the crowd with tear gas, Batman lunged out of the helicopter and landed on Tombstone, knocking him out cold. He then proceeded to thin out the crowd and fight the rest of the villains. Olliver prepared to join his ally when an explosion signified the entrance of Captain America and Iron Man. The four heroes were able to quickly dispatch the rest of the villains and secure the raft.

Captain America delivered orders indicating that the heroes should rendezvous back at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ for debriefing, so the two collected Safer, who had subdued all villains with mental powers, and Meat Shield who had found part of a prisoner’s uniform in the power plant after escaping Carnage.

Oliver Storm and Meat Shield stood on the bridge of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier. Ollie, a current S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, was introducing Meat Shield personally to Director Maria Hill in the hopes that he could join the organization. A mutant with supernatural speed and a soldier of many wars, he was a perfect candidate. While discussing the particulars of his joining the bridge had an alert from The Raft indicating there was a massive prison break happening. The Director ordered everyone she could to respond to the alert and try to contain some of the most dangerous villains imaginable. Deciding this could be his tryout, she ordered Storm and Meat Shield to the raft as well.

Among the many contacts of S.H.I.E.L.D. that were pulled into action was Safer. A budding sorcerer and friend of Doctor Strange, he received a mental call and requested an airship to pick him up. Now joined with Oliver Storm and Meat Shield, they made their way to the raft where they landed and began to corral citizens to safety.

While the group of heroes secured their landing pad a fourth appeared on the scene. Batman, having heard the distress call through his personal systems, decided to finally put himself to the test in his first action as a superhero. Using an armored suit he designed himself, he flew his Batjet around The Raft trying to get a clear idea of what was happening. A sudden electrical explosion destroyed part of the prison and clipped the Batjet, causing it to crash. Ejecting from the jet, Batman glided into the hole made by the explosion only to see Electro escaping with another prisoner.

Batman landed in the midst of several escaping convicts, which he quickly dispatched with a series of kicks and punches. Making his way through the top level he came upon the landing pad which the other heroes had just cleared. As Meat Shield ran forward to Batman to make contact and determine who he was, another explosion rocked the prison and Count Nefaria emerged from a hole in the landing pad. Our heroes teamed together for the first time and took down the evil Count in a few quick actions, only to have him be replaced by the Living Laser who did not stop to fight, but ran.

Having secured the top level, our heroes decided to descend the broken elevator shaft to put an end to the rioting amongst the more dangerous villains. Deciding to scout ahead, Meat Shield ran to the lowest levels where he found The Sentry sitting alone in his open cell. Meat Shield tried to talk Bob Reynolds into helping the heroes contain the escapees, but to no avail. After giving up on the sulking hero, he turned to investigate where he thought the power plant would be, only to be ambushed by Carnage.

While Meat Shield ventured forth on his own, Safer, Ollie, and Batman took the top of the lower levels and worked to contain the rioters there. They ran across Controller, Crossbones, Constrictor, and Jigsaw. Having not found their weapons, these villains were not very formidable. Ollie reached out to Constrictor, a man he had served with in S.H.I.E.L.D., and made him think twice about attacking people he used to help. While doing so, Safer and Batman quickly knocked out the unarmed Crossbones and made Controller try and flee. Oliver Storm stretched out and grabbed the flying Controller, slamming him back down to prevent his escaping. Jigsaw retreated further into the prison while the heroes knocked out the indecisive Constrictor.