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SABER Journal Mission 1:
Running the Gauntlet After hand-picking his team, Brigadier General Seta of UNTIL is ready to send them on their initiation mission. RIFT, a mysterious being with the ability to control interdimensional portals, CYNAPSE, a predominate expert in cutting-edge cybernetics, SILHOUETTE, a talented mentalist, FLATTOP, who can control the shape and density of his body and VORTEX, with the ability to manipulate time and space, make up this elite team. They arrive at Omega Base outside of Brisbane, Australia. The objective is simple – escort a tanker from its starting point to a warehouse on the far side of a simulated American town. A few surprises to attempt to trip them up (their agent-comrades turn on them in battle), but true to their reputation, the new SABER team makes short order of this mission and begins to work together very effectively. Mission 2:
The Edge of the World On the heels of their successful initiation, SABER is reactivated to investigate a communication loss with the remote maximum security facility called Nadir. Located in Antarctica, near the south pole, the harsh environment makes the journey difficult and to make matters worse, a first response insertion team failed to check in 12 hours prior. Arriving at Nadir, SABER is greeted by a trio of escaped prisoners, STONEWALL, your everyday, run-of-the-mill brick, SEIZURE, who controls bio-electric fields in painful ways, and PSIMON, a teenage mentalist who has staged the whole escape, from a state of unconsciousness, no less! After a few nasty shots to the head (both physically and mentally), the heroes are able to overcome the escapees, restore order to the facility and rescue the captured agents. Mission 3:
Paranoia New Year’s Eve, 2015 and another loony is threatening the city. Over the past few months the rate of random homicides is up, but almost all of them are attributed to ‘temporary insanity’. Playing into the general populations’ fear, a villain called PARANOIA has threatened that there will be even larger scale death and destruction on New Year’s Eve, along with a vague hint of retaliation against a well known organization. Clues lead the group to the psychiatrist who has almost exclusively been treating these patients, a Dr. Jasper Kane. Although not at the hospital he normally frequents, the team investigates his private offices at the Sunrise House Psychiatric Institute. They don’t find the good doctor, but they do find trouble – in the form of RAPTURE, a mind-controlling siren who is as dangerous as she is stunning, SEISM, a two-bit merc who can shake earth or human with quake-like effectiveness and TRACER, who wields a powerful gun, but has trouble holding on to it! The three villains are dealt with quickly, and an investigation of the computers in the office reveals some wiped hard drives and an isolated network cable leading underground. Mission 4:
Twist of Fright Following the cable, SABER discovers that it terminates in the basement of the AMA’s New York headquarters attached to a suspicious-looking device. In the process of disabling the device, another group of miscreants shows up. A ninja-style martial artist called SHROUD, a mysterious strongman named HARDCASE and a quickly departing computer expert called HACKER are joined by the mastermind himself, PARANOIA, who freaks everyone out with his mind-altering powers. In the peak of battle, an uninvited entity called FRIGHT shows up to feed off of the fear and other strong emotions of the combatants. During the free-for-all, PARANOIA and SHROUD make their escape, leaving SABER to deal with FRIGHT, which they do handily with the END-draining attack of their newest member, OMEGA. In the end, disaster is averted, the new year is ushered in and bad guys are carted off in power-manacles. Mission 5:
Heat Signatures Standard investigation, right? An abandoned DOE facility is registering thermal output when it should be out of use. The first investigative team reported something attacking them, then lost communication. SABER is called in for a fairly routine ‘search & rescue’ mission, there is reportedly a radio jamming signal, yet a transcript of the agents last communication indicates otherwise. SETA wants to know why, but is given the run-around – there are many unanswered questions. The team arrives on site and makes its way to the sub-basement level which appears to have been a old base at one time. In the base are two villains, a, energy-sword wielding Scot called CLAYMORE and an illusion-generating woman named MIRAGE. They are working on some sort of stasis chamber with an alien-looking creature within. After overcoming some serious mental illusions from MIRAGE, the team cleans up and ships the aforementioned chamber away for further study, and the wrapped up villains to the nearest prison. Since the agents were found in small pieces, there are still many unanswered questions. Mission 6:
Codename INFINITY On route to the UNTIL research facility, the transport carrying the stasis chamber is attacked and the contents stolen. With the bad news in hand, SETA informs the group, after doing a bit of his own ‘reconnaissance’. SETA doesn’t like unanswered questions. So using some non-standard (read: unauthorized) investigative methods, he finds out some interesting facts. First, the abandoned DOE facility was once a base of operations for an old terrorist group called HYDRA – an archenemy of the now-defunct SHIELD. There have been a number of investigations over the past few months with the following commonalities: most involve old HYDRA bases, or bases with high-energy grids, each team included someone with a paramedic or medical background, and all are directed by a shadow figure within UNTIL, operating within a project codenamed INFINITY. All attempts to find out more information about this project have led to dead ends. Using this train of logic, SETA sends SABER to an old HYDRA base that he knew from his earlier crime-busting days, located off of a tunnel running underground through Central Park. His hunch turns out to be right, but the team also finds that they are up against some tough foes; TEMPEST, who can control the air and winds, RIGOR, a martial artist with the power and defenses of a tank, and WRAITH, a ghost-like entity that can freeze you with a touch, or even just a stare. Things do not turn out well for SABER, and they soon find themselves on the receiving end of the whoop-ass can. Welcome to capture-ville, population you! Mission 7:
The Rescue With most of the team captured, FLATTOP is joined by a trio of special guests, including newly recruited operative NEBULA, foreign exchange operative, CHAKRA and CAPT AM himself! SETA informs all that he had installed a hidden tracer in the UNTIL issue armor that SIL normally wears. CAP is entrusted with several doses of chemicals to counter-affect the drugs used on the captured, as well as a 'special' mystery dose for an unknown recipient. The signal indicates that the kidnapped have been taken to an old mechanical engineering lab at MIT. With military precision (and some heartfelt inspiration by CAP) the group descends upon the kidnappers, finding them a tough crowd, especially with the assistance of two Hydra-designed Mark-II Dreadnoughts. VOODOO is nearly KO'd before she even has a chance to react to the invasion, and only barely escapes. When the dust has settled, the group must beat a hasty retreat due to a self-destruct mechanism activated in one of the DM-II's. CAP recovers another body from cryogenic stasis which to everyone's surprise, turns out to be the long-thought-dead NICK FURY, former head honcho of SHIELD. Someone's got a lot of 'splainin' to do... (Inter)Mission
8: One, Two, Three, Get 'Em! Taking advantage of a period of down-time, three SABER heavies decide to practice their coordinated attack skills with the UNTIL-provided danger room. Starting with a bit of misdirection (one of the opponents took the guise of a child), the group made good work of this program, all the while keeping the danger room relatively in tact. Our heroes can now confidently face the real world with more skill at coordinated attacks and a healthy paranoia for small children. Mission
9: The Children of Fate A woman, Marissa Gonzalez, recently washed ashore near the resort town of Cozumel, Mexico. She was disoriented, but otherwise unharmed. However, the most remarkable thing about her appearance was that she was reported missing and presumed dead in a building collapse in Mexico City, some 1100 miles away! Her story is strange, and tells of a group of people called the "Children of Fate" who have been abducted from disasters around the world and are being used in experiments. UNTIL analysts have discovered a string of natural and unplanned disasters dating back years, where exactly 12 people have been reported missing and presumed dead. SABER has been called in to investigate and finds a small underwater base where 11 other people missing from the Mexico City building collapse are being held. Three villains are guarding the facilities and give them some trouble, especially with the help of INSIGHT, who has the apparent ability to foresee the future and warn her comrades of impending attacks. Eventually, all detainees are released into the custody of UNTIL for further study.
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