July 1st, 2021

The Contenders did their best to make use of their time in Amsterdam. Ghost Dance made great strides in his magical studies thanks to Qilak's expert tutelage. Justicarius tried proselytizing to the Dutch people, and found a few sympathetic ears among a populace sick of corruption. Hardback began studying the Danish legal codes as he toyed with the idea of becoming a public defender. Only Cameo took much time to relax, hanging around the Temeraire Club's nightlife scene and even enjoying a brief romantic tryst with African supervillainess Rose Gold.

While the heroes kept their heads down and avoided any super heroics, the world's media was having a field day with the ongoing scandal. With the knowledge that the group had fled to the heart of Amsterdam, the world's most well-known haven of supervillains, and taken up residence in the Club, it was widely assumed that the heroes had turned to evil. This constant mud-slinging by the media had the unintended effect of ingratiating the heroes to the local villain community, and they found themselves more welcome than ever among the super criminals that frequented the Club.

One evening while the team was enjoying a show in one of the Club's music venues, a hush fell over the crowd at the unexpected arrival of Viceroy, a well-known and feared lieutenant of Dr. Destroyer. As the rest of the club-goers quickly vacated, Viceroy approached the heroes and invited Hardback and his "valets" to accompany him to a meeting with his master aboard his island base *Destruga*. The heroes agreed, and followed Viceroy through a dimensional tunnel out of the club and into the heart of the feared mobile fortress. There, surrounded by power-armor-clad troopers, was the Destroyer himself, gazing imperiously down at the nervously bowing heroes.

Speaking mostly to Hardback, the Doctor shared vital intelligence on the looming alien threat. Although the heroes had been aware that Gzad was only the forward scout of an unknown force, they were shocked when Dr. Destroyer showed them images of a large alien fleet hurtling towards Earth. He told them that this fleet was estimated to carry thousands of alien warriors, and would arrive in at most two weeks' time. It was his plan to assemble a force of whatever supers would fight under his banner to carry out a decapitating strike against the leader of this fleet-- presumably Gzad's alien Empress. Destroyer offered the heroes a chance to swear an oath of fealty to him or be destroyed when the aliens reached Earth. Seeing little other option, the heroes agreed.

While the rest of the team made themselves as comfortable as possible in Destroyer's barracks, where they found a number of villains killing time as they awaited orders, the doctor took Hardback up onto the surface of *Destruga* to observe their course. Hardback was surprised to see that the island was approaching the shores of New Canaan, with the genetically-engineered defenders of the colony escorting them in like an honor guard.

The New Canaanites had assembled on the beach to confront these newcomers. They seemed surprised to see Hardback but not the Destroyer himself. The doctor shared some sharp words with Rodin, asking for his assistance with a project and getting only a sharp rebuke in return. While the two former comarades sparred verbally, Hardback conversed with Radiant, who was confused to see him at the side of the "mad doctor" she'd heard about all her life. When Hardback explained his reasoning, however, Radiant decided to put her faith in Hardback and immediately volunteered to join the Destroyer's growing army. Having been rebuffed by Rodin, Destroyer and his crew returned to the shores of *Destruga*, where Slush was waiting with an unconscious Bugaboo in tow. The insectile mutant had been Destroyer's true aim, and now that he had been acquired the island returned to sea and left New Canaan behind.

Over the course of the next week, as the alien threat drew ever closer to Earth, more and more fighters joined Destroyer's army. The Contenders were joined by Victory, who lamented the lack of action by PRIMUS to prepare for the invasion. Finally Destroyer called the elite of his army to a war council, with Hardback representing the Contenders. He revealed his battle plan, where a strike force of individual teams would move from ship to ship, sabotaging, assassinating, and otherwise crippling any vessels they could. Destroyer himself would lead one of these parties to directly confront the fleet's command ship. Meanwhile, the entire alien force would be engaged by a legion of cloned soldiers, each having some of the Plutonian's DNA. These clones were still merely children, but armed with the Plutonian's power and conditioned with total loyalty to Dr. Destroyer, they would prove a powerful and devastating force to pit against the aliens.

Disturbed by the implications of the doctor's deadly cloned army and what it might mean for Earth's future, Hardback returned to brief his team and await the final countdown to commence their mission.

## Table Talk

"Your choices are death, or service to Earth's natural ruler."

"See, it's those words that make it hard to love you."

*- Dr. Destroyer and Hardback*

"Don't tell anybody this, and I would never say it, but Dr. Destroyer is just smarter than me."

*- Cameo lays out the painful truth*

"Let's just say that Slush has proven himself."

"How? This guys sucks??"

*- Nick and Will*

"I fucked up. This guy trusts Slush??"

*- Cameo reconsiders his allegiance*

"Every time anyone walks by his picture, the Destroyer's Anthem plays."

"It's *Disco Night on Bald Mountain."*

*- Joe and Will*