The Big Villains Thread

Games Sentinel Comics RPG
381

Good thing that technology villain I forgot to write a couple months ago happens to fit here too.

Lampyridae

It started with a problem, and a solution.

In the wake of OblivAeon, when Megalopolis was facing its energy crisis, Isabell Klein, full-time science teacher and part-time inventor, beleived she could be the one to fix it. It just so happened that one of the many invention ideas she worked on in her spare time was one that conserved energy by alternating between thermal and electric. High on the idea that she could be the person who saved the city, she took a leave of absense from the school and began working on her project full-time. While the Freedom Five was off fighting robots or whatever, Isabell got her first prototype working and recieved permission from City Hall to test it out. Not one to waste time, she hooked it right up to the main powergrid, switched it on, and was knocked unconscious from the resulting explosion.

There were no faults in her design, but the moment she turned it on happened to be the same exact moment that Akash'flora connected her roots to the power grid and started flooding it with void energy, overloading the machine and having a strange effect on Isabell herself. When the machine blew up, the void energy somehow "transferred" its function onto Isabell's body, giving her the ability to generate heat and electricity at will.

When she came to and realized all this, she was furious. Not because her only prototype of revolutionary technology was destroyed, not because the past several months she spent working with no pay was wasted, but because some "magic tree" had upstaged what should've been her moment! Isabell, however, was an opportunist, and with these new powers she had a new job lined up for her. If she wasn't gonna be famous as an inventor, she could always become famous as Lampyridae (pronounced lam-peer-i-dee), a master of fire and lightning, and antagonist to any and all magic users.

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Villain of the Day:  July 17 (Asphalt)

Francis T. Alvarado was always bad to the bone.

Once a long-haul truck driver, T-Rich was fired by his parent shipping company after he nearly came to blows with a warehouse dock supervisor.  After punching a hole in his own boss's office door, T-Rich stormed off on his low-rider, more than ready for a long stint of highway riding.  Driving--whether in his big rig, his pickup, or astride his low-rider--was T-Rich's one true passion.  He couldn't get enough.

That Friday afternoon, though, was a humid, sticky one.  Morning rain had made the road a touch slick, though T-Rich was more than capable of handling the roads.  What he didn't count on handling, however, was the road spray.

T-Rich raged as a sedan cut him off, spraying him down with leftover road spray.  And, as it ever seems to do, that road spray just so happened to contain a particle of the enigmatic Isoflux Alpha.  T-Rich opened up the throttle on his motorcycle, roaring up beside the offending sedan and began pounding on the window.  As he fumed, his clenched fist became grey-black and stony, smashing through the sedan's window with ease.  Panicking, the sedan-driver pulled away off a nearby exit ramp as T-Rich pulled to a stop on the shoulder, looking incredulously at his hands.  

The Isoflux Alpha particle in that road spray interacted with T-Rich's biology, transforming him into a being of living Asphalt, providing him proportionate strength and durability.  After making it home, T-Rich found that he could repress or release this form at will, appearing in his normal guise for an indefinite amount of time.  

Naturally, T-Rich's temper made this newfound power into a lethal weapon.  While his local biker gang, the Northtown Outriders, was always prone to drunken violence, T-Rich took command of them and began shaping them into a full-on, violent mercenary company.  Since that day, T-Rich has turned his talents and his resources towards other villains, often hiring out his gang as hired muscle or as armed smugglers.  Asphalt himself takes on particularly high-volatility jobs, and is quick to personally taken on any would-be heroes who would interrupt the job.  When he's paid well, Asphalt is loyal and stalwart as one could want; when the cash runs out, you can be sure that T-Rich and his crew will be back on the road.

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Villain of the Day:  July 18 (Smokescreen)

Bettina Orsolya never thought much of her powers.  That is, until she became a mercenary.

Raised in what is now Macedonia, Bettina grew up in the heart of the Balkan conflicts.  Her childhood was continually interrupted by vicious street-fighting, UN evacuations, and ration days.  Each day where she managed to make it to school, put together a reasonable dinner, and sleep in her own bed was a victory.  In amidst the chaos, Bettina's metahuman abilities--she could hypercondense the water vapor in the air, forming a dense, opaque fog--went almost unrecognized all the way through her 20s.

Bettina's brother, Sergey, knew better.  Sergey was a mercenary with the Kings of Sabor, a group allied with the Serbian government during the Balkan conflicts.  As the conflict raged on and the UN became involved, the Kings of Sabor were desperate for new recruits.  Enter Iyo the Crystalline Man, the known metahuman recruiting agent.  After consulting with Sergey and his commander, Iyo came to approach Bettina with quite the offer.

Four days later, Smokescreen made her first appearance on the battlefield.  She became living cover for her brother and his allies, swirling fog and mist into the Bosnian ranks, making them easy pickings for the more-combative mercenaries.  Better than any smoke grenade, Bettina could shape the cover over time, spreading it through buildings, up and down stairwells, and into inaccessible areas.  With focus and practice, she soon became able to carry dust and debris into her summoned fog, turning it into a churning, choking miasma capable of incapacitating those without proper lung protection.  While creating such a fog is slow and not particularly damaging, Bettina's mastery of her powers has made the Kings of Sabor a force to be reckoned with.

Alongside her unpowered allies (and a few other metahuman recruits), Smokescreen has become a more than capable combatant in both ranged and hand-to-hand combat.  And, if unchecked, the Kings of Sabor may become a destablilizing force the world over.

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Villain of the Day:  July 19 (Fester)

Matt Denning hated vegetables.

As a child, his mother continually insisted that he down every last green bit on his plate, regardless of whether he liked it or no.  Never mind that Mom's favored method of cooking vegetables was simply to put them in a sauce pan, toss a few pats of butter on them, and let them sit until they became a gray-green mush; Matt was going to eat those vegetables or he simply wasn't going to leave the table.

As such, Matt developed an intense dislike for any sort of vegetables.  Broccoli made him gag, brussels sprouts turned his stomach, and asparagus?  Just don't ask about asparagus.

Imagine, then, Mom's surprise when, while Matt was playing out in the yard, every piece of grass upon which Matt sat wilted and began to decompose.  If he climbed a tree, he would leave behind handprints of decay in his wake, in each branch he touched.  After being examined by numerous doctors, none truly understood what happened.  It wasn't until Matt became a teenager, whereupon his powers intensified exponentially.  Matt could decay and rot any plant life within the vicinity with but a thought, turning fresh produce into rotted paste in naught but seconds.

For quite a while, Matt's "party trick" was simply the province of teenage vandalism.  A simple stroll through a farmer's market could turn an enjoyable Saturday morning into a gag-inducing miasma, which amused Matt to no end.  After his mother asked him to please, look into some kind of power-dampener or the like, Matt amped up his efforts, targeting farmers for extortion.  He threatened to annihilate entire fields of crops, unless those farmers paid him handsome monthly sums.  Taking the name Fester, Matt made thousands of dollars at a clip, through his agricultural extortion racket.

While this low-grade villainy rarely comes into conflict with most superheroes, despite Matt's unique powerset, it was only through the intervention of Green Grocer that Fester ended up appearing on the Sentinels' radar.  Incensed upon hearing underworld rumors of Fester's destruction of a massive soybean farm, Green Grocer tracked down Fester, engaging him in battle at a regional corn festival.  The ensuring destruction leveled the festival, though heroes were able to contain the combat and prevent any significant loss of life.  However, both Green Grocer and Fester escaped; their feud will certainly come to a head once more...

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"He's sullen."
 
"He's furtive."
 
"Backstabbing."
 
"He sulks."
 
"I suspect him."
 
"You're unbalanced."
 
"And I hate him. By God, you're right! He is Fester!"

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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All he needs is a light bulb and a black cassock. :P

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 20 (Black Hole)
Robin Molina was born to be a supervillain; it just took her a while to make it happen.
Ever the loner during school, Robin spent most of her time sketching landscapes or writing out lengthy fan-fiction about the various heroes and villains that seemed to be an omnipresent presence in Megalopolis.  Of all the villains that plagued the city, though, Robin was fascinated most by Citizen Dawn and her legion of metahuman followers.  She imagined herself marching as a Citizen of the Sun, roaming the hall's of Dawn's Insula Primalis fortress, and commanding power and awe.
The problem was...she had no superpowers.
That is, until a chance encounter with a man named Moriarty.  After serving him for three days in a row at the Dad's Restaurant where she worked, Robin accidentally left her notebook on the counter near Moriarty while she went into the kitchen to pick up several orders.  When she returned, she found him scanning through one of her recent stories, smirking.  "Dawn allying with Baron Blade?" Moriarty smiled, "As if either of their egos would permit them such an endeavor.  No vision.  No sense of practicality."
Robin froze.  This man spoke as if he knew these people.  As if they were peers or friends.  "Do you...know...these people?"
Moriarty smiled, not answering.  He paid his bill, tipped rather heavily, under which he left a nearly-blank business card, marked only with a phone number.
Three days later, Robin disappeared.  One year to the day after that, Black Hole made her first appearance.
No one seems to know from where Black Hole's powers stem, though her utter brutality and the zeal with which she uses her powers nearly brought about the deaths of four new recruits to the Sentinels of Freedom in a skirmish outside of a Georgia army base.  At first, reports seemed to indicate that Black Hole had a degree of telekinesis, but the truth of her abilities were both stranger and deadlier.  Black Hole seems to have the abilty to eliminate or simply eradicate air within a localized region, creating areas of intense vacuum capable of pulling a person from their feet, flinging objects across rooms, or outright suffocating her foes by preventing any oxygen from reaching their lungs. 
By creating these null fields, she was able to incapacitate several base guards with but a moment of thought, tear the roof from the bunker in which they were stationed, and sling it like a discus towards an oncoming personnel carrier.  While her encounter with the Sentinels of Freedom was minimal, Black Hole flung Starlight nearly a quarter mile away, left Silver Sparrow an unconscious, breathless heap near the front gates, and pinned Freefall and Ki-Rin beneath the aforementioned bunker roof.  What she stole from the base is still anyone's guess, as none of the Sentinels got a good look at any items carried by Black Hole and the military has been particularly tight-lipped as to what was going on in the base at all.  
Black Hole has since reappeared a number of times, each time at a military base or some other location of great strategic import.  However, detaining her has been a task no hero has managed to date.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day: July 21 (Stormbringer)
The being calling itself Stormbringer would likely have looked much different, had The PageMistress actually read Moorcock's seminal fantasy series instead of just skimming the front cover.
The nascent hero group calling themselves the Eldritch Alliance first encountered Stormbringer when attacking a coven of vampires under the Court of Blood. Little did the Eldritch Alliance know, though, that Relict Dorothea had intended to meet with The PageMistress that midnight to discuss the transfer of a series of tomes on blood magic written by the sixth Merlin, Charles Webster Leadbeater.
When the Eldritch Alliance burst in, PageMistress conjured the first being she could pull from her tablet: an albino warrior holding a jet black sword aloft. Of course, she thought, Stormbringer... he controls lightning... What PageMistress didn't bargain, for however, was the interaction between her abilities and the ambient blood magic in the area. Instead of merely creating a fictional simulacrum, PageMistress had conjured a fully functional being of blood magic and arcane power.... totally in thrall to Dorothea. The warrior leapt to attack the Eldritch Alliance, flinging blasts of lightning and screaming a battle cry for "blood and souls to my dark lord Arioch!"
While both the PageMistress and the Eldritch Alliance fled the scene, Stormbringer has remained, a blood simulacrum of the fictional warrior, in complete thrall to the Court of Blood, whom it serves as an omnipresent bodyguard. Apart from its likeness and a few cursory details, it has no true similarity to the tales of fiction. The PageMistress would love to have such a defender of her own back, but all attempts to replicate the occurrence have ended in failure...despite her actually sitting down to actually read the books this time.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:   July 22 (*Name Unknown to Human Tongue*, called Ashes)
The citizens of Magmaria have managed to maintain a tenuous peace with the surface world, despite continual incursions by would-be conquerors, villains and other interlopers.  Each time, an alliance of surface heroes and Magmarian peacekeepers have managed to beat back the invasion, saving both species of Earth.
The being currently codenamed Ashes would see all that come crashing down.
A xenophobic, genocidal maniac, Ashes watched as Baron Blade attempted to tap into the core of the earth, hoping to cause a global volcanic eruption.  Blade's plans were thwarted, but much of Blade's technology remained, albeit in a broken form.  Ashes immediately set to work, stealing the various drilling devices and beginning to establish an anti-surface cult of personality.  While Ashes itself does not stand as the 'face' of its own movement, it manipulates the full group behind the scenes, subtly moving the Magmarian people against the surface.
However, Ashes plan is not one of Magmarian supremacy.  Rather, it is one of annihilation.  Ashes has retrofitted Baron Blade's devices such that, if it completes its research, Ashes will be able to shunt the thermal energy of Earth's inner core into space, via a massive 'chute' of energy.  The Earth's core, so cooled, would utterly devastate both the planet's overall climate, but also its magnetic field, effectively 'demagnetizing' the core.  Should his plans reach fruition, Ashes' plan would not only destroy all life on Earth's surface, but also destroy all of Magmarian society.  Ashes' anti-surface cult has no knowledge of the second part of this plan; they have been sold the plan on the basis of conquering the surface in the name of Magmaria.  
Few clues exist as to this strange plan, but the one person who may know the most about it is the equally-genocidal villain, Fissure.  Fissure, however, wants nothing more than the utter destruction of Magmaria, though this may be yet another case where "the enemy of my enemy is my friend..."

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 23 (Sumac)
Park Ranger Nathan Wilkes loved the outdoors.  He grew up in a family of hikers, spent his summer vacations at camp, and went to college for biology and ecological management.  His greatest love was nothing short of wandering through the American wilderness, getting a glimpse at some vista that only few had ever managed to see.  He'd through-hiked the Appalachian Trail on four separate occasions, once in the middle of Hurricane Ida.  To say that Wilkes loved nature was an understatement.
As you can imagine, though, the devastation left behind in recent years, from Deadline, Progeny, and OblivAeon, had left Wilkes in something of a stupor.  Nearly every one of his waking moments was spent in some sort of recovery effort, whether helping to contain a ruptured oil pipeline, fundraising at some preservation society dinner, or protesting for more government funding.  Between all these, Nathan was exhausted.  His friends could tell, his girlfriend could tell, and most of all, his boss could tell.
As such, supervisor Mary commanded:  "Vacation.  Mandatory.  Two weeks.  And if I see pictures of you anywhere remotely natural on your Instant-Gram, you're fired.  Go do one of those escape rooms or something; take your girlfriend out somewhere that's not vegan."  Much to his chagrin, Wilkes replied.
However, during that vacation, his life took a drastic turn.  Defying his boss's orders, Nathan went on an extended hike through the Laurel Mountains, whereupon he found the strangest glowing meteorite in a patch of poison sumac.  As he approached, he made to touch the rock...and that's when everything went black.  Aida, Nathan's girlfriend, found him several hours later and called EMS Express; Nathan awoke in a county hospital in quarentine, his body covered in the telltale blotches of poison sumac.
Over the next few weeks, Nathan found himself changed.  His body, not even remotely damaged by the toxic leaves of the sumac, had actually absorbed and stored the toxin, allowing him to exude it through his exposed skin.   However, the OblivAeon shard which changed him also changed his mind.  Nathan's zeal to protect nature and return the world to its original form became a mania.  Divesting himself of all worldly possessions, Nathan--now calling himself Sumac--began to travel the world, absorbing all manner of plant and animal toxins and laying waste to any who would defile the environment.
Of late, Sumac has become intensely fixated on Akash'Thriya, viewing her as something of a perfect, deific being.  Torn between romantic and religious love for the ancient earth spirit, Sumac has traveled to Megalopolis, ready to serve the massive Akash'Flora tree....whether it wants a servant or not.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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So he hasn't quite reached the "civilization is a defilement of the natural order" stage yet, huh?

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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He’s working on it, slowly but surely…

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 24 (Scaedukex)
The ancient relics of lost Atlantis, Thule, and Lemuria have always provided a tempting prize for any daring (or foolhardy) enough to seek out such forbidden places.  Genevieve Nelson, the current host for the Scaedukex, has already paid the for her greed countless times over.
A deep-sea researcher working as part of a team investigating the ruins of Atlantis, Genevieve was constantly fascinated by the links between Atlantis and its rumored otherdimensional counterparts.  While the expedition to Atlantis was made with all possible precautions, given the volatile and esoteric nature of Atlantean architecture, particularly in its ruined state.  All researchers were paired off, with mandatory fifteen minute check-ins and constant walkie-talkie channels open.
All that, and it still wasn't enough.
Pulled through a momentary portal, Genevieve found herself shunted outside the Atlantis ruins, subjected to the crushing depth and darkness of the sea.  Realizing she had but seconds to survive, Genevieve grasped for anything that might allow her to get back inside before her scant breath ran out.  What she grabbed, however, was something she should have left well enough alone.
Her hands wrapped around a rod of onyx, with almost imperceptible carvings covering every inch of its surface.  As she swung against the Atlantean crystal dome, the rod pulled her straight through the crystal, as if utterly intangible.  However, as she landed on the floor of a previously-undiscovered room, the rod itself began its suppression of her mind.  Within seconds, Genevieve was no more.  The Scaedukex had taken her.
To the best determination of the world's heroes, The Scaedukex seems to be a malevolent force capable of utilzing and manipulating shadow as if a tangible force.  Heroes have reported seeing Scaedkex, in Genevieve's general silhouette, blast bolts of darkness, teleport through areas of darkness, wrap shadow around herself to move through tiny cracks and crevices, and blind unsuspecting targets.  Further, the darkness conjured by the Scaedkex seems to bear all the crushing pressure of the deep sea, capable of breaking bones and suffocating those who would face it.
Only only one occasion has the Scaedukex rod had been removed from Genevieve's hand.  Within seconds, she had regained her normal form, breathing deep her freedom....for a single instance.  As The Harpy moved to approach Genevieve to offer aid, the shadows coalesced around the Scaedukex rod, slamming it into her sternum...instinctively she reached to stop it and, as her hand made contact with it once more, the Scaedkex took control, fleeing the scene entirely.  Genevieve can be freed, at least temporarily...but on a permanent basis, no one knows.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 25 (Bilious)
Neal Calderon wasn't exactly the most popular fellow around his Rook City accounting office.  His cubicle was continually a mess of used food wrappers and crumpled papers.  His female coworkers complained of leering stares and his continually shrinking personal bubble.  His male coworkers complained of the sour smell that seemed to accompany him everywhere and the off-color commentary that earned Neal more than a few visits to the human resources office.
Neal took this all in stride, as it turns out.  While he wasn't particularly one for personal change or growth, he easily shrugged off such accusations as mere 'trolling' and that these people didn't know the real him.  As it turns out, no one knew the real him.  
Unbeknownst to his coworkers or anyone in his family, Neal had a side job.  His expertise in accounting had earned him the eye of The Chairman, who was sure that he could use someone like Neal to 'cook the books', so to speak.  As such, Neal began spending his evenings working out of a Pike Industries warehouse, tweaking Excel spreadsheets and strategizing market moves to ensure the best investments for his new employers.
In doing so, though, something changed in Neal.  Whatever fumes or remnants that were left in that warehouse interacted with Neal's biochemistry in some strange way, transforming him.  When Neal exhaled after a long session at the computer, his breath emerged as a column of yellow-brown, corrosive fumes, which ate right through the warehouse wall.  Stunned, Neal fell from his chair.  Rising to his feet, he tried again:  a thin stream of breath projected across the room, sizzling through the steel of the warehouse wall.
Of course, The Chairman never loses track of an asset.  He promoted Neal within the Organization, putting him in charge of a number of major illicit financial affairs.  Under the code-name Bilious, Neal supervises a number of illegal gambling dens, dogfighting rings, and bare-knuckles boxing fights.   On the rare occasions where Neal has been confronted, his newfound gaseous ability has managed to allow him to escape each and every time. 
However, in recent weeks, Bilious has found that his grip on his powers--strong since the outset--has become somewhat tenuous.  His body, as well, has been exuding the yellow-brown corrosive mist that he once only exhaled.  Could it be that Bilious may discorporate entirely?  Or, worse, what if his entire body disperses into that foul miasma?

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 26 (Anthracite)
"You load 16 tons / what do you get? / Another day older / Lord, and deeper in debt..."
The being that wrenched itself out of the Morgantown-area coal mine left a trail of destruction in its wake. 
The Red Garrett Mining Company was already reeling in the face of an ongoing labor strike, as the company's mineworkers shared their dissatisfaction with the company's cuts to the miners' health plans and opted against providing the requested 4% cost of living pay increase.  Between the stalled mining efforts during the OblivAeon events and the now-two-week long strike, Red Garrett's staring down the barrel of a third straight year of corporate losses.
The being that emerged from that mine had no care for such mortal matters.  It was interested in only in carnage.
In the midst of a break in the striking--many of the workers had opted to grab a quick lunch at some of the local food trucks--a grey-black fist slammed up through the concrete of the mine entrance, sending shrapnel in all directions.  Two massive black fists ripped apart the earth, pulling up a hominid figure seemingly made of coal.  The creature rampaged through the mine entrance, leaving massive craters in the earth as it walked, crumpling trucks and mining equipment as it passed.  
Police on scene immediately moved to intercept the creature, drawing sidearms and radioing for backup, as the workers scattered.  As the first few bullets landed, the creature's eyes flared with the familiar red-orange glow of embers.  The creature barreled forward, smashing through a police cruiser, tossing it aside as if it were so much detritus.  But, with each stride it made, the creature glowed redder and hotter until it burst aflame!
Heroes arrived on scene within minutes, but by the time they arrived, the only being still extant in the Red Garrett Mining Company was Anthracite, still glowing red-hot.  Bodies littered the mine entrance as Anthracite continued to smash an already-splintered piece of mining equipment.  Combat against Anthracite proved to be particularly difficult, as its flaming exterior seemed to prevent a number of energy-based assaults, while its rocky body proved resistant to all but the most devastating melee attacks.  However, the heroes managed to lure Anthracite back into the mine proper and collapsed the mine atop it, sealing it within.
Unfortunately, doing so may have sealed Morgantown's fate.  Geologists have detected significant thermal activity in the coal veins running under the whole city; effectively, the coal upon which the area was built has caught fire.  The Sentinels of Freedom have already taken heat (pun not intended) for training-based indiscretions, though their confrontation with Anthracite may well result in a whole city requiring evacuation...
As for what Anthracite is or where it came from?  None seem to know.  Some have theorized that it might be some kind of Magmarian enforcer, though Magmarians are never seen so close to the surface and are capable of communication.  Others have surmised that Anthracite is some sort of arcane guardian or golem, though no investigation has yet been made as to the truth of this theory.  Ideally, the world has seen the last of Anthracite.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 27 (James Keller)
The metahuman-repressor holding cells beneath Freedom Plaza are a war-crime waiting to happen.
Not two cells down from Squall--the comatose, snowstorm-summoning Omega from Greenland--sits a sullen young man.  He spends most of his day slumped against the walls of his cell, aimlessly drawing in a sketchpad.  He spends at least an hour each singing; Johnny Cash and Tom Petty are particular favorites, though he also has an affinity for 90s-era alternative.  The power-dampener collar and and cuffs around his neck and wrists often chafe him, so he applies moisturizer beneath each at least 4 times a day.
His name is James Keller and if Meredith Stinson is to be believed, he will destroy the world.
James, yet another metahuman in the wake of OblivAeon, subconsciously manipulates the weak nuclear force in an exponentially expanding radius around him.  Were his powers to be unchecked, the nucleus of every atom surrounding James would speed towards radioactive decay, disintegrating everyone and everything in an ever-expanding circle around him.  
In what surely brooked some diagreement amongst the storied heroes, The Freedom Five collected James at the request of his mother, a leukemia patient who believed something was wrong with her son and was unable to care for him as she approached her deathbed.  Upon significant medical testing, the group isolated James in his family home.  The entire surrounding neighborhood had already become a massive radioactive hotbed, with ambient radiation levels well exceeding the safe limits for humans.
James was taken, his powers nullified, and every person in a sixteen block vicinity of James' home was relocated. 
James' mother has since died, though the controvery of James' seeming "disappearance" has not gone unnoticed by the residents of his former neighborhood.  Led by Morris McMahon, the residents have already filed a class-action lawsuit against the Freedom Five's negligence in the neighboorhood, and their lawyer is already prepping subpoenas to the various F5 members to determine exactly what has happened that fateful day and what happened to James.
Right now, James is unaware.  But, more than anything, he wants to be free.  And if someone were to give him the means of escape, the whole world may suffer the consequences.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 28 (Coronal)
International intelligence agencies have identified him as Brian Wilhite, a native of San Alonzo whose body was identified and interred in a Southern California mausoleum.  Who he claims to be, however, is another matter.  Rather, he goes by Coronal, and claims that he is the son of Citizen Dawn.
Coronal first appeared in the wake of the Progeny event, during a routine aerial patrol over Insula Primalis.  Heroes were forced into evasive action as a bolt of brilliant, coruscating energy whirled up from the ruins of the Citadel of the Sun, disabling the right engine of their aircraft.  After making a (relatively) safe landing, the group entered the ruins, only to find a blond haired boy of no more than 14, sitting atop the shattered throne once held by Dawn Cohen herself.  At first, heroes believed that Coronal was perhaps some holdover Citizen--a minion of Dawn's that had come back to reclaim some relic or piece of technology left behind in the wake of the battles that sundered the Citizens of the Sun.  However, as battle was engaged, this swiftly appeared not to be the case.
Rather, Coronal appears to have full mastery of his powers, utilizing ultraviolet and infrared light as weapons and even charging up his entire body until he becomes a blinding, luminous being.  However, it appears that Coronal can--much like Dawn herself--only hold such a form for a short time before reverting to his normal, organic form.  In truth, the similarities between Dawn's power-set and Coronals are numerous, though Coronal seems to have no ability to animate dead tissue, nor does he have any ability to energize or vitalize his compatriots.  However, his mastery of solar radiation has extended to that of searing, blinding blasts, capable of igniting flammable materials in an instant.
Upon Coronal's appearance, Citizen Dawn was confronted at the nearest opportunity and has, strangely, denied ever siring a son.  While Dawn has lied and deceived about a great many things, the likelihood of her turning down a powerful metahuman heir seems unlikely.  In practice, Dawn has shown herself to want nothing to do with Coronal, outright denying any link between the two.  However, the evidence to link the two seems overwhelming...perhaps only the cosmos knows the truth.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 29 (Bloom)
Eliza Harkins never thought much of plants, until they became her best friends. 
A longtime native of Megalopolis, Eliza's botanical experiences were often relegated to the occasional jog through Centennial Park or the occasional brunch at Hibiscus, the restaurant adjoining to the Megalopolis Botanical Gardens.  However, as the Akash'Flora tree rose through the center of the city, Eliza found herself at the heart of the chaos, with her apartment building literally rent in twain by the massive trees.  As vines and trees cracked the concrete and twisted the steel of her building, Eliza was sure that she was dead.  The limbs closed in around her, sharp spines pierced her flesh, and she prepared for the end.
But the growing stopped.  Eliza, borderline-impaled upon the branches of Akash'Flora, lay trapped in her apartment for two days until fire and rescue managed to extricate her from the branches.  She spent over four weeks in the hospital recovering from her injuries, and another six months on disability.
It wasn't until Eliza went back to work, though, that her powers first manifested.  When coming back to her office, Eliza found a number of flower arrangements across her desk, most in various states of rot and decay.  Reaching out to clear off her desk and return to her once-upon-a-time routine, the potted begonia on her desk glowed with a faint green shimmer.  In but a few seconds, the plants grew from a withered brown stalk to a fully bloomed floral arrangement.  Eliza jumped back, holding the pot at arm's length.  Within minutes, every pot in the office was in full bloom, with vines trailing across her desk chair and buds bursting over her cubicle wall.
Alarmed, Eliza made for the elevator and a breath of fresh air outside.  The green glow had abated, but as she leaned against a tree, the radiance returned as the tree split the concrete, growing from a mere sapling into a massive behemoth in mere moments.  Bloom had sprouted.
Eliza hadn't intended to become a villain, but it was only after she was approached by the Argent Adept, the Naturalist, and Akash'Thriya that she began to use her powers offensively.  Drake attempted to explain that something had happened when Eliza was impaled upon Akash'Flora's branches--that a measure of the tree's power had infused itself in her and that it needed to be returned immediately.  Eliza disagreed, with words at first, then with a lash of vines that nearly snapped the virtuoso's neck.  While the heroic trio tried to reason with Eliza, she was beyond the capacity of reason.  She planned to keep her accidentally-stolen powers, no matter the cost.
Since that day, Bloom has been sighted in a number of locations, mostly offering her services to villains planning to take on the aforementioned natural trio.  While she has no real compunctions towards villainy--no nefarious plots, no intent to do harm to any outside Drake, Conteh, and Akash'Thriya--Bloom has made a life for herself as a natural mercenary for hire, with every plant in the vicinity as a weapon, waiting to be grown.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Villain of the Day:  July 30 (The Rain Man)
Before the storm comes, there's a baking, stagnant heat.  The sort of heat that just intensifies and deepens as the days go one.  The sort of heat that, after the first few days, starts to affect your mood.  Starts to make you irritable and short-tempered.  Hot under the collar.  That's when the storm breaks.
The people of Blue Pastures, Iowa know this phenomenon all too well.  Two years ago, they were paid a visit by The Rain Man.
Very few of the residents of Blue Pastures remembers much about the fellow they now call The Rain Man.  Choctaw County Sheriff Jerry Stane claims that he shared a cup of coffee with the fellow--a non-descript brunette fellow, dressed in a long black raincoat and purple wellies--over at Millie's Lunch 'Em Rite.  Homemaker Sherilynn Bowers claims that he stopped by her daughter's lemonade stand, where he gave little Sheila a whole dollar for the 25 cent cup of sugar water.  At all times, he was affable and pleasant, but always seemed to manipulate the persons he spoke to into venting their frustrations and anger, usually about neighbors or coworkers.
For Jerry Stane, that was one of his deputies, the "damned incompetent" Horace Garfunkle.  For Sherilynn, that was the mother of Sheila's friend Mae, who was "a heinous witch".  After nearly a week of baking heat and subtle influence from The Rain Man, the residents of Blue Pastures were at each others' throats.
Then, the lightning came.  A low rumble sounded across the horizon.  The humidity seemed to rise to a cresendo as The Rain Man strode right down the middle of Maple Street, his purple wellies squelching with each step.  
A shot rang out from the police station, then three more.  Deputy Garfunkle lay across his desk in a pool of rapidly spreading blood.  Mae Hensworthy gagged and clutched at her throat, not realizing the secret ingredients that Sherilynn had dropped into those snickerdoodles.  All across town, neighbor turned against neighbor, with the body count steadily rising as a cacaphonous peal of thunder cracked against the sky and the rain finally came pouring down.
And, standing before the old white gazebo at the town center, The Rain Man stood and raised his arms to the heavens...and simply vanished, searching for another town in need of rain.

            


            

              
              
              
            


          

          

            

              



              
                  
                  
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Great aesthetics. :D