S.U.P.L.E.X. HQ

S.U.P.L.E.X. Museum & Gift Shop (Former S.U.P.L.E.X. HQ)

Background: A former fire station on East 4th Street in Bloomington Indiana, S.U.P.L.E.X. HQ was the first property acquired by S.U.P.L.E.X. in Q4 of 2013. At the time, it was in a fairly run down condition due to being scheduled for demolition, but the keen negotiation skills of Dr. Badtouch made the acquisition cheap and easy for the budding superhero team to run their operations as a purely local group of heroes contracted with the city. It served as the HQ for the team until 2016, when the Rapunzel II launched. At that point, the team converted it to a gift shop and museum for their accomplishments. It is open to the public and features numerous displays, exhibits and interactive educational entertainment related to superheroes, as well as serving as a ticket center for the Multiverse Zoo next door. The museum is run by S.U.P.L.E.X. support staff, including two members of the Southern Indiana Sirens, and holds events such as the retirement party of JudoCat and Apeshit's 35th Birthday party.

History: Fire Station #5 was in such disrepair in 2013 that many people, including the mayor, requested it's demolition. It was widely considered an eyesore and had not been active as a fire station for almost a year. That changed on the night of the First Probability Matrix, when a new superhero team found itself without an operations center and without much in the way of ready capital. Members of S.U.P.L.E.X. expressed an interest in the property when signing their temporary contract with the City of Bloomington for Metahuman Law Enforcement, and the deal was cemented by Dr. Badtouch and sold for pennies on the dollar, even considering the cost of renovations. A group of dedicated volunteers (mostly family members of the nascent superhero group) restored it to working conditions and added the communication and control center to the upper floor while building the attached gym and motor pool. The team officially became active in Q1 of 2014 and the facility was ready to go, though some initial concerns were expressed when an incident on the party deck caused a sizable fire.

The newly christened HQ was a two story facility with a fairly simple design, utilizing advanced dispatch and operations centers upstairs, a lounging area and barracks, a forensics lab, a gym and martial arts dojo, a rooftop greenhouse, a small office suite, a large party deck and an attached parking garage. It was enough to see the team through several rough patches, though at launch it was barely used as most of the team was deployed to Santa Morena for the war with the Hellrazor cult separatists. Still, it became the team's home fairly quickly, with the party deck becoming one of the most wildly popular places for superheroes looking to unwind-even superheroes not affiliated with S.U.P.L.E.X! For the first two years, most of the team lived there full time, although as their financial situation began to improve many took apartments in other parts of the state and only lived in the barracks while on duty.

The HQ was mostly abandoned once the Rapunzel II launched in 2016, with equipment being pulled out and repurposed in the new advanced airship base, but the property was still owned by S.U.P.L.E.X. and was occasionally used for parties or for training events, such as the training of the fifth wave. However, it was finally closed in Q3 of 2016 and the conversion to the current Museum was begun. The team filled it with treasures and trophies from their various adventures around the globe, though most of the doomsday devices are in fact detailed replicas as they could not be safely stored there. It was expanded in 2017 when the team's financial success made it a hit, and began to include interactive displays such as the 'Build a Hero' simulation in VR and the 'Test your Metal' climbing wall. A gift shop and restaurant was added at the end of 2017, as well as a boutique cannabis dispensary for healing blunt weed once the healing blunts were declassified earlier that year.

The Multiverse Zoo being finalized in 2018 meant more revenue than ever before, being the only source for tickets to the multiversal displays of unusual fauna from alien worlds being the HQ. More animal themed displays and exhibits were added, including a 24/7 live feed of the Beast of Busco's holding tank and a petting zoo for the friendly lake squid. As of 2021, S.U.P.L.E.X. HQ is still run by the team, offering superhero outreach, education and metahuman advocacy along with entertainment, fine dining and smokables, and event planning with bookings years in advance.