May 13th, 2021

After a few days had passed, during which the team considered the implications of what they had seen and Hardback brainstormed a one-month anniversary gift for Radiant, they were invited to Champions plaza to discuss their recent events. There they met Defender and were shocked at his appearance: his resurrection had returned him to life and health, but his flesh was shockingly twisted, giving him the appearance of severe burns. Despite his looks, Defender was in a cheerful mood, and thanked the Contenders for inadvertently avenging him by destroying the Tiger Squad.

He shared intelligence provided by UNTIL and invited the Contenders to accompany him on a trip to the facility they had seen in Cryptic's stolen footage. Upon their arrival, they saw the signs of hastily-repaired destruction all over the base. After a brief introduction to the base's director (and reintroduction to Vector, a former member of the Tiger Squad who had found new employment with UNTIL), the team was given all the pertinent information from UNTIL's extensive investigation:

* The escapee was 'Ivan,' one of the fungal aliens who had plagued Earth during the events of the blackout. Having spawned in a remote Scandinavian village, Ivan had *not* gone on a rampage, but had been adopted by the villagers and looked after until UNTIL learned of him and brought him in for study.
* Ivan, despite scoring well on IQ tests, had been mostly inert and showed no signs of personality or individual thought
* Ivan showed no evidence of violent tendencies before the day in question
* He made his escape within seconds of a routine security check that caused a brief delay in the base's response. He also made his way down into the High Energy Research Lab to steal the gauntlet, when nobody had told him of the existence of the gauntlet or even of the lab itself
* He left on foot, heading north. The gauntlet was found discarded in Toronto

Obviously this left many questions unanswered. Hardback took the opportunity to breed a tracker-bug to follow Ivan's trail, though he had only modest hope of succeeding where UNTIL had failed. Before the investigation could continue further, however, the base received a distress call from another UNTIL base, this one in Canada, which was under assault. Questioning the convenient timing, the Contenders nevertheless agreed to be teleported to the beleaguered outpost, and were accompanied by both Defender and Vector.

Upon the group's arrival, they were met by a wounded UNTIL security agent who was manning the base's teleportation room. He informed the Contenders that the assault had come out of nowhere with the enemy actually teleporting within the shielded walls of the base, a feat that should have been impossible. He gave them directions to the administration level, reasoning that whatever the attackers' objective, they would need to stop by Admin first before proceeding deeper into the base.

The Contenders descended rapidly via elevator, emerging into a scene of pure bedlam. There were heavily armed VIPER agents pointing guns at terrified scientists, being led by members of the Temeraire Club: Perfidy, Onslaught, Facade, and Ultraviolet were in attendance, along with some unfamiliar faces: Corona, Nightfall, and Breach.

The confusion only multiplied when the heroes rushed to join the fray. Perfidy launched smoke grenades that quickly shrouded the battlefield in darkness, which Ghost Dance attempted to blow away with his wind manipulation. Cameo stumbled in the darkness, attempting to strike Nightfall but only being bit by the vampire for his trouble. Justicarius blasted away with his divine fire, while Hardback took the fight to the VIPER agents, whom he found little challenge even with his senses muffled by the smoke. Facade briefly impersonated Ghost Dance until he was violently unmasked by Justicarius, Perfidy found her armor-piercing blade blunted on Defender's new hardened power suit, and both Corona and Vector played defense for their allies. Onslaught let loose his arsenal but failed to make any kills, frustrating his endless bloodlust. Ghost Dance fell victim to a telepathic command to rush out of the melee and dive into the retreating smoke cloud, only to find Ultraviolet in the fumes and take a swing at the surprised young villain.

As the battle continued, no clear victor was in sight. Facade and Cameo were wounded; Perfidy and Hardback were both trapped in force-fields. Ghost Dance remained under mental domination, and Justicarius was struggling to inflict a conclusive blow on Facade, well away from the rest of the battle. And in all the fighting, nobody paid much attention as Breach made his way to an unguarded computer tower and began to interface with it...

## Table Talk

"As Justicarius has never heard a French accent before, he is immediately entranced."

*- Joe on the first meeting between Justicarius and Perfidy*

"I have spatial awareness, I'm not blinded by anything."

"Except your love of justice."

*- Hardback reminds Justicarius of the obvious*

"I was grappled, drained, bubbled, and attempted to be electrocuted. A lot has happened in the last six seconds."

*- Cameo takes a beat*

"Look here, lady, Justicarius is now *Pissedicarius!"*

*- Joe puts a shining capstone on the evening's running gag*

"What is your mental defense?

"Mine?

"Yes.

"...He didn't go attack someone else?

*- Ghost Dance hopes in vain for clemency*

"I still remember that thing Ultraviolet said. I think it was, "Later, Fuckos!"'

*- Joe*