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With Dr Null teleported back to the bridge full of mechanical spiders, by Blue Bolt, Nano-man searched the ejected control pod's computer for why all the bugbots were beeping. He quickly discovered that their power cells' safety barriers had been turned off and would eventually explode. He was unable to determine how long they had to solve the problem but did manage to send a command for the bugbots to crawl back into the river.
Meanwhile on the bridge, Magni and Blaise managed to intimidate/talk Dr Null from a gloating meglomaniac to a begrudging bot disarmer. While Magni joined Captain Thunder and Megastar in throwing as many spiders off the bridge as they could, Blaise guarded the Dr who discharged the overloading power into the robots hull. Jumping back to avoid the electrical blast Blaise instructed him to do another.
Blue Bolt and Jenny Rocket continued to use their speed to rescue trapped bystanders. One old lady, who found herself teleported out of her car, was so shocked she had a fit; fortunately an ambulance crew were able to help her recover.
Seeing an opportunity to speed up their progress Magni detached one of the bridges supporting cables. With Megastar and Captain Thunder's help they swept twice as many off the bridge.
Moving onto another bugbot Blaise watched Dr Null do his work. As he apparently finished, the bot stopped walking, turned and fired its flame thrower at the ex-marine. This only succeeded in pissing Blaise off. Jumping to the doctor's side he made him feel the heat from his gauntlets which knocked the villain out with severe burns. Not satisfied with that, Blaise jumped onto a spider, making its slow way to the underside of the bridge, and used the power from his boots to knock it completely off the bridge as he landed ready to take on another.
Of the original fifty bugbots only nine remained on the bridge. Nano-man, now back on the bridge with the details he'd gleaned from the bugbot schematics, advised Jenny how to discharge a power cell just ar Dr Null had done. With her lightning speed Jenny easily managed to avoid the resulting electrical blast.
Nano-man is not so nimble. Knocked backwards he stood back up with an unhinged look in his eye. Suddenly his hair turned blue, from its usual white, black wings sprung from his back, one hand burst into flames and the other molded until it held a familiar looking hammer. Roaring its arrival, it appeared Nano-man's pent up rage had found am outlet in Insano-man! In this enraged state he immediately charged one of the remaining bugbots, which at this point all exploded.
When the smoke cleared the damage could be seen. The bridge had survived the significantly reduced blast, although the edges and walkways were all but missing. Only a dozen bystanders were caught in the blast, who were knocked to the ground. Blaise went to the nearest injured civilian stabilising him.
Rising from the wreckage of a mechanical spider Insano-man stood covered with debris but apparently unharmed. Flying to meet Captain Thunder he hit the leader of the Freedom League in the face. This left a dirty mark but did not faze the Captain. Returning fire with bolts of lightning he was disappointed to see them to have no effect too. Magni ripped the top off a deserted van and got Jenny to move all the wounded into it. Once all were aboard Megastar flew it to the emergency services.
Blaise called out to Insano-man to calm down. The out of control hero turned and fired a blast of flame forcing the ex-marine to dive out of the way. Captain Thunder grappled him from behind pinning him in place. Seeing that this was no time for diplomacy Blaise removed one of his gauntlets. Twisting a switch he left the glove behind and retreated. The device began to hum and a white light shone out between the gauntlet's seams. Suddenly exploding no shockwave was felt but the EMP pulse had done its job. The innumerable nano-machines all reset. Seeing his current form as something to heal the friendly face and body
Nano-man returned. Captain Thunder was not amused. Confronting Nano-man he demanded to know what had just happened. Claiming complete ignorance, which appeared genuine, his team mates also jumped to his defense but the leader insisted that Daedalus would need to examine Nano-man before if would be satisfied. Nano-man refused and they parted in this stalemate. Making sure the emergency services could handle the situation the team left for a bonding session in a nearby bar. The events of the evening were evidence for the case that alcohol and super powers don't mix.
The next couple of weeks were quiet. Blue Bolt travelled to an arctic station to find somewhere he could strand foes. Nano-man was contacted by Daedalus to allow him to run some tests. The hero was very reluctant to allow any knowledge of the nano-machines to leave is body but chose to trust the great scientist.
Blaise's friend Barbara Kane contacted him to say that the books Magni wanted copies of were too large to copy. Discussing with Nano-man they devised a plan to use one of his experimental ability. His nano-machines would deconstruct the books and then immediately reconstruct them. Later he believed his machines could produce a duplicate copy of them. The police commissioner allowed them brief access which allowed them to carry out the plan. It worked,so Magni now has the books his follower claimed could send him home.
Finally Captain Thunder contacted the team to meet him. Daedalus had given Nano-man the all clear finding no reason for Insano-man to re-appear. The Freedom League's planned absence would in ahead. The Captain had made the relevant authorities aware of the plan and now wanted the team to meet the press. He also suggested they needed a leader themselves; and if recommended Blaise. No one else appeared to want the role and Blaise accepted the responsibility.
A press conference was called the next day. Captain Thunder took the stage. "There's been a lot of speculation on a new super team in Freedom City and I'd like to introduce them to you now. We like to think of the Freedom League as the day watch. May I introduce to you "Night Guard".
Strolling in from the back Blaise took to the stage greeting the journalists. A swarm flew in from the right, forming briefly into a Night Guard logo, Nano-man reconstructed in front of them. A sonic boom echoed round the arranged area. The press threw themselves to the ground in shock, and the nicely arranged backdrop collapsed, as Magni landed with a crash and a grin. Blue Bolt appeared in a bolt of lightning. Jenny Rocket sped in leaving a rose and a bullet for the people in the front row. Finally Megastar descended his fists glowing.
The journalists got to their feet to see the team finally assembled. An opening question about the brand of cigars Blaise smoked hot the ball rolling. Apart from the destructive entrance and Blue Bolt communicating via the medium of teleporting the conference went well. Captain Thunder closed the proceedings and asked the team to meet him and the rest of the Freedom League on the Lighthouse satellite for more handover discussions.
The heroes assembled in the communal area high above the earth. The voice of Captain Thunder came over the intercom. "We're ready to transport up, see you shortly". They heard the familar hum of the league's telporter spring to life. Almost simultaneously the stations computer sounded an alarm; "Warning foreign program uploaded". The station began to tremble without warning, and the lights flicker ominously. The metallic clang of reinforced doors locking echoes through the Lighthouse.
Suddenly, the monitor screen flares to life and the smug visage of Dr. Stratos appears. “By now, even an assembly of dolts such as yourselves must realize something is wrong. But I thought perhaps I should explain, so in your last moments you might truly appreciate my genius. Not only has the Lighthouse gone into lockdown mode, but the security parameters have been reset so the system doesn’t recognize you. And for good measure, the reaction control thrusters have nudged this little clubhouse into a decaying orbit; with any luck, you will crash into a heavily populated area, killing hundreds if not thousands of innocent people and staining your legacy forever. Farewell, Night Guard !” The screen fades to black as the message ended.
The heroes immediately tried to find a way to the control room. Blue Bolt found that he could still teleport by to earth but was not familiar enough with satellite to travel there. While the rest of the team tackled the locked doors he teleported to Freedom Hall to find the schematics. Magni tried to rip open the steel door but found it tougher than expected. Nano-man stepped up corroding a hole straight through. Looking beyond he saw a corridor which was crossed by another ten feet away. From the ceiling at the crossroads four blasters descended and fired at the two heroes. By the time Blue
Bolt arrived back both Nano-man & Jenny Rocket were entangled by energy bonds and had been repeatedly stunned. Rescuing his team mates they all found themselves in the satellites control room.
Nano-man put his computer skills to good use re-activating the stations attitude thrusters saving it and themselves from entering the plant's atmosphere. Leaving him to further secure the systems Blue Bolt transported the rest of the team back to Freedom Hall.
The home of Freedom League was unusually quiet with no sign of it inhabitants. Going to the monitoring room they found the airwaves were awash with emergency service calls. On further inspection they found that all these calls were in fact coming from the hall itself. Mixed among them two reports stood out. One
described smoke coming from the Goodman Building; home of the super powered Atom Family. The other reported the Centurion sentry statue was striding across Riverside Park.
Will the heroes face the gargantuan Centurion statue again, but this time for real ? Where are the Freedom League ? What is Dr. Stratos' plan ?
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Journals 
