The tide had turned against the villainous group. Nano-man had knocked Rant and Rave out. Magni's lightning left Techno bleeding unconscious. Bass, although still levitating and conscious, looked ashen faced afterBloodthirst's vampiric attack. Most of the armed thugs had been blinded and deafened by Blaise's flash-bang grenade.  Drum was looking slightly better and was now wielding the truck which had moments before crushed him. The only unharmed foe was the speedster but he was being chased by a homing missile.

Speed fully recognised their desperate situation. Avoiding the missile once again, he darted into one of the upstairs rooms and zoomed out of the warehouse. Bass attempting to cut their losses too, dropped to the ground and ran back up the stairs. 

As Bloodthirst closed in on Drum the strong man battered him into the wall with van leaving badly wounded.  Hephaestus fired another of his missiles hoping to take Drum out. The explosion surrounded him but as the smoke cleared Drum was unharmed. 

Blue Bolt and Blaise continued their fight with the power suits. 

Cursing the god's disregard for life, Nano-man moved to prevent Techno being another death on Magni's hands.

The speedster re-appeared to grab a couple of small barrels stacked under the gantry. As he made his exit again the missile finally caught him up. The explosion also engulfed some thugs trying to make their escape too.  A large hole was blown in the end of the warehouse but Speed out ran the blast leaving the scene unharmed. 

Bass ran up the remaining stairs into the room with his unconscious team mates and closed the door.

Hephaestus last missile may have not hurt Drum but it had pissed him off. Releasing Bloodthirst from a wall/truck sandwich, he hurled the vehicle at the power suited hero. Fortunately for Hephaestus the other truck he was using for cover was enough to slow the projectile van.

Switching to force beams he returned fire but this only enraged Drum more.

The two remaining thugs followed Speed's lead and moved to grab a couple of the small barrels.

Blue Bolt intrigued to the barrels contents positioned himself to teleportaway with one. The power suit, which had engaged him, followed blasting him with its heat beams. The shot hit the electrical being squarely and knocked him back so that he passed through the warehouse wall and was left hovering above the river. 

Blaise and the power suit he was battling were matched shot for block.

Nano-man followed Bass. As he opened the door the villain projected his sound field to blow out the coffee room's outside wall. Turning to pick up Rant and Rave he noticed Nano-man. As he moved to blast the hero he was attacked by the nano-bots, knocking him unconscious.

With red face and piercing eyes Drum charged the van he'd just thrown. Hoping to smash it into Hephaestus he was unsuccessful. Bloodthirstrecovered himself pouncing with a vampiric strike to render him Drum unconscious.

Blue Bolt zoomed back through the wall and shot a blast of electricity. With at least equal power the suit was knocked through the corner of the building and disappeared from sight. 

The remaining power suit was quickly disabled and the villainous group were all restrained. 

As they started to take a look around the damaged building Raven appeared. Helping them search they found a chemical laboratory were a drug was being produced. They determined that the drug was a distillation of another substance but none of that could be found.

In amongst some lab notes they did find a phone number with the initials K.H.

Going back to the villains They decided to interrogate Techno. Hephaestus managed to remove him from his suit. He was taken by Blaise, Raven andNano-man to an upstairs office. The ex-marine found that he had the necessary components to make some truth serum, so he laced some coffee with it and asked Nano-man to revive Techno.

Still woosey he drank the coffee and then spilled his guts. He apparently had set up the drugs deal between Speed and a nan called Kyle Harrison. Speed had done all the manufacturing.

While Blaise and Nano-man chose their next victim/contestant (Raven had mysteriously disappeared) Hephaestus and Bloodthirst left to find Kyle Harrison. Minerva had quickly looked up his address in a high class apartment overlooking Liberty Park. The fast flight speeds of the suit and in bat form allowed them to land on the roof of the building in less than a minute. Hephaestus found that the door, allowing access to the internal stairs, was alarmed. Minerva accessed the buildings systems and deactivated the alarm, which was as well as the sensors and lock presented quite a challenge to defeat. Once inside they made their way to the sixth floor where Harrison lived. 

Choosing to question Rant next, Blaise and Nano-man tempted him with the same  laced coffee. Declining the offer, Blaise decided to administer it via injection instead. As he returned with the syringe Rant voiced his displeasure by blasting with his powerful voice. Nano-man immediately used his nano-machines to knock Rant unconscious again. Miraculously Blaise was unharmed and administered the injection. Once re-awakened Rant was compliant with the questions. He conveyed that Rave was his sister and Bass was his brother. He didn't know much about the drug deal as he just did what was needed to make money; no questions asked.

Meanwhile Hephaestus had unlocked Harrison's front door. Still in bat form,Bloodthirst silently flew done the corridor beyond. He could hear snoring from behind one door but could find on other signs of life. Returning to Hephaestus he relayed what he had found. They now both entered the apartment and moved up to the bedroom door. Here they noticed small puddles of water on the floor. These hadn't been there before. They led between the toilet in the bathroom across the hall into the bedroom. Listening the could hear a muddled cry.

Bursting into the room the were surprised to see a man drowning in his bed. An animated watery form was upon his upper body seemingly forcing its weight on him as he tried desperately to fight his way out. As they moved to save the man a mist poured out of a tent forming into the shape of a woman. Hephaestus leaped forwarded knocking the water being off the bed. A powerful blast of water came back at him but did no harm. The vapour lady darted quickly up to Bloodthirst, who had assumed wolf form. Reaching with a wispy tendril it attempted to suffocate the hero. 

Meanwhile the Star Squad had arrived at the warehouse. Captain Bill "Bulldog" Maddicks greeted Blaise, and the two ex-marine's exchanged banter. Not overly impressed with the company he was keeping Bulldog was grateful for the information they had extracted from/about the villains.

With that Blue Bolt teleported the heroes at the warehouse to Liberty Park where he contacted Hephaestus. Upon getting a connection he teleportedthem again to reunite the team. 

Attacking the water and mist forms proved difficult. Equally they had trouble harming the heros. Sylph, the vapour lady, found that Nano-man didn't need to breathe and Professor Fathom's watery blasts were countered byBlaise'sflame gauntlets. Harrison, who Hephaestus was carrying to protect him, was still in a state of shock. 

 

During this time two vibrating crashes could be heard from other parts of the building. 

The bedroom wall suddenly smashed apart and a man made from ice emerged from the hole.

Looking to find a safer place for Harrison, Hephaestus flew through the bedroom window and up onto the roof. Blue Bolt followed.

 

Looking for what was attacking the building, Blaise leaped six floors to the ground; his power boots allowing his to land safely. Looking back at the building he could see two large holes and the external stell bracing hanging limp. Moving round he waited where he suspected the building would be attacked next.

 

Back in Harrison's bedroom the man of fire, Pyre, had appeared. Firing a blast of flame, into the next apartment, he also flew out of the hole in the window.

 

Bloodthirst ran into the burning room looking for its occupants. Followingtheaprtment he found a man and woman running to get their children. Hoping to create a way out he turned into wolf form and rammed the window. With a reverberating slam his head bounced of the window leaving it undamaged.

 

Ice-man encased Nano-man in a block of ice and then disappeared out of the hole too.

 

Using his nano-bots to collapse one side of the block, Nano-man escaped the ice and followed Bloodthirst to aid the rescue.

 

On the roof Hephaestus was hiding inside the roof access door with Harrison. Peering out through a gap he could see the Pyre soaring into air obviously looking for something.

 

Blue Bolt, standing on the roof, saw Ice-man rise up on a pole of ice. Projecting a beam at the Hephaestus' hiding placve he encased it in ice.

 

Blaise's patience paid off as a brown figure appeared on the six floor. Smashing the glass exterior it also wrenched the steel ring holding the steel braces.

 

The heroes inside the building felt the building shift to one side. Its structural integrity apparently compromised.

 

Leaping up to the new hole his magnetic boots secured him to the building. Firing a stream of flame at the rubble like figure he hit it square in the back. Knocked forward by the blast it smashed a hole in the far wall.

 

To be continued....