(1.A) In Houston, the Project: Eclipse hero known as Mentalus was hard at work in the Eclipse Observatory going through old reports when he was surprised by the appearance of occasional teammate and resident enigma, Ronin. Before he was able to greet her, she brandished her sword and attacked. While he fought valiantly, using every trick in his arsenal, she managed to overcome him and finally dealt a deathblow. She left as silently as she appeared and traveled to a secret location where she met her most recent employer and reported that the mission was finished. Howard Moore emerged from the shadows and paid the assassin with a thick envelope full of bills.

(1.B) In St. Louis, the heroine known as Valkyrie was working in the local museum in her secret identity. In the middle of deciphering an ancient text, she is interrupted by a young woman tapping her on the shoulder. She introduces herself as Diana Evans - her executioner. The young woman pulls out a gun and shoots Val before she has a chance to transform into her heroic persona. As Val takes her final breath, Evans radios in to Moore and reports that phase two is complete.

(1.C) At the Washington branch of the Marshals, several members of the team are leaving after the disbanding of the group. Emerald Knight, while concerned about the folding of the government organization, has already received a request for his audience from a millionaire in Chicago who is reportedly looking to fund a hero group. As they emerge, they find themselves under fire by a volley of arrows. Emerald Knight quickly throws a force wall around himself and his compatriots, only to have it attacked by the second member of the attacking duo. As Siphon touches the wall, he begins to drain Knight's armor energy reserves. Emerald Knight quickly compensates, however, and soon defeats both Siphon and Thunderbow. Seconds later, Bouncer arrives on the scene. The two begin talking and find that they have both been invited to Chicago and agree to travel together.

(2) On Halloween day, Felix Katz and Brainwave again gather to mourn at the funeral of Animus. While the exact cause of her demise was unknown, the pair questioned who would want to murder the retiring heroine. The absence of Mindmeld and Golden Eagle also weighed heavily on them. In addition, Emerald Knight and Bouncer, who had just arrived in the city for a meeting with Ronald Lexington, had learned of her death from the newspaper. While greetings are exchanged and respects are paid, the four mourners are startled by three more costumed people crashing through the far wall. Without any known reason, Shockwave, Black Dog, and an unknown armored person attack the heroes.

It was a (Black) Dog an (Felix) Kat(z) fight. Felix fought cautiously to keep from hurting the fellow hero, until he realized that Black Dog was out for blood. Felix then got rough and knocked him out with a couple of well-placed punches. Shockwave swiftly attacked with unusually good battle sense. He opened with several blasts against Bouncer, who was knocked backward but unharmed. The two of them battled until Bouncer was able to entangle Shockwave. After holding him for several seconds, Shockwave suddenly fell into unconsciousness. The Emerald Knight and Brainwave attempted to subdue the known assailant. It was then that Brainwave realized that it was impossible to subdue him with mind control. The man in armor, realizing what Brainwave was attempting, knocked him unconscious with an explosive shaft. Then he and Emerald Knight traded distant blows, but the Knight's armor proved to be slightly more durable and won the battle. After all of the attackers were subdued, the heroes attempted to wake them for questioning, but found them all in a deep coma. They proceeded to inform the authorities, which sent the unconscious captives to the Alister Institute.

(3) At the same time, Ronald Lexsington and Larry Carter were in New York for a meeting with the Crusader's former leader, Fantastic Man. He was released from the hospital after having a retina replacement operation, which had been financed by Lexington. FM was being driven to the meeting when a black Dodge van sped past them. Fantastic Man notices that the van has no plates or sticker, and Mary notices the frustration on his face of not being able to check it out himself. She informs him that his costume is packed in the trunk as she pulls into a secluded alley. He quickly changes clothes and scales the nearest fire escape. He quickly gets ahead of the van and, in noticing that they are headed into the same building he was to meet Lexington at, goes in ahead of them. He quickly outlines the situation to the pair, and is shown that Carter is actually the hero known as Golden Eagle. The two charge downstairs to head off the men in the van.

Meeting up with them half way, the leader of the three men dressed in black identifies them as the Blasters and levels a rifle at Fantastic Man's chest. Eagle takes the rifle away from him and slams it against his head, knocking him unconscious. The other two men respond to this by transforming into super beings. A mini-battle rages with Fantastic Man briefly loosing consciousness. The heroes also learn that the men are able to switch powers at will. The heroes end up making short work of the men, however. After the fight, the heroes search the van to find a copy of the previous day's Chicago Sun-Times, open to an editorial written by Howard Moore, denouncing the presence of super heroes and blaming them for the emergence of villains. Doing some quick figuring, the heroes realize that, in the time it would take to drive from Chicago to New York, the men must have had the copy of the newspaper before it hit the streets. The heroes return to Lexington with the news and the trio agrees to return to Chicago to investigate it further.

(4) Four hours later, Golden Eagle, Fantastic Man and Lexington arrive in Chicago. Quickly contacting Emerald Knight and Bouncer, who has been joined by Bouncer's D.C. partner Dynamo, the two sets meet at Lexington's Chicago office. After introductions have been made and stories are compared, the group agrees to check out Moore at the Sun-Times offices.

Upon their arrival, they walk in on Moore at his desk, at which point he quickly shuts down his computer. They questioned him about his connection to the Blasters, which he initially denied but soon gets caught up in a web of lies. He then smiled and transformed into Hero's Death. Emerald Knight responds by throwing a force wall around the villain, who proceeds to step into his computer. Knight dropped the bubble to investigate as HD steps out of an electrical outlet on the opposite wall and fires on Fantastic Man. Bouncer counterattacked with a stretching punch and Dynamo and Eagle opened fire. Bouncer followed with a grab while EK and FM attacked with furniture. Once Hero's Death regained his senses from the onslaught, he shrank down and resumed his attack. EK again threw a force wall around their foe and established a standoff. As Knight dropped the force wall to capture the diminutive villain, Hero's Death creates and drops through a hole in the floor and disappears. The heroes are left with a final message through the intercom saying that he wasn't finished yet.

After answering the police officers questions, the group leaves and are informed by Golden Eagle that Lexington would like to see them all again at Lexington Towers. Upon their arrival, he informs them that he is planning to move to the D.C. area and would like to finance them as a super hero group. They all agree that they worked well together and decide to join Bouncer and Dynamo as the D.C. Defenders.

(1) Ronald Lexington sends out a call for the Defenders to meet at the newly built Defenders Mansion, built atop one of the hills between Washington D.C. and Virginia. Emerald Knight, Bouncer and Golden Eagle are the first on the scene and get a tour, introduction to the support staff, and pick out personal rooms. Lexington has also set up a press conference at two o'clock. Golden Eagle is taken away by a telephone call. A few minutes later, Emerald Knight is informed of the prison break of Siphon and Thunderbow in progress. He and Bouncer head out, just missing the arriving Fantastic Man who follows suit. Unknown to him, however, he had a passenger.

Emerald Knight and Bouncer arrived at the prison in time to see Bow and Siphon running through the outer wall of the prison to a jeep driven by a very attractive woman. In the back of the jeep was an orange man and one dressed in a red body suit. Bouncer made quick work of Bow, throwing him back inside the prison where two guards were in pursuit. Knight picked up the jeep with his TK beam, after Poison had jumped free, and turned it over. Second-Hand Rose crawled out of the jeep and started for the woods, but was caught by Bouncer who quickly renewed his game of catch with the guards. As Poison attacked EK, Fantastic Man arrived and went after the fleeing Siphon, which proceeded to add to his strength. Big Red lifted the jeep off himself and threw it at Knight, then started for the woods. Mindmeld, who had ridden along in the Fantasticar, cast a mental illusion in front of Poison for him to attack, freeing up EK to entangle Red in his force bubble. Bouncer was in route towards Red when Rose, who attempted to use her feminine wilds-powers on him, stopped him. After two attempts, he punched her out. Mindmeld telekinetically lifted Siphon 200 feet into the air while Emerald Knight helped in the acceleration of his fall, knocking him out. Red broke out of the bubble just in time to be kicked into unconsciousness by Fantastic Man.

The three Defenders, accompanied by Mindmeld at their insistence, returned to the mansion. They questioned Mindmeld (not knowing that he was really Ronald Lexington) and, satisfied with his answers, offer him membership. He declines active duty, but accepts a communicator and reserve membership. As Mindmeld exits, Eagle returns with a stranger in tow. John tells them about Project: New Moon and the experiments performed on him, basing his powers off of the men who Fantastic Man and Golden Eagle had beaten in New York. He also informed them that Project: Eclipse was handling the New Moon case, but he had to separate himself from them due to a tracking devise, which had since been removed. The Defenders agreed to let John stay at the mansion, with him staying hidden and working to restore his powers without the government's control. Lexington then returns and reminds them about the press conference, where the four heroes are introduced to the public as the D.C. Defenders.

(2.a) Fantastic Man (staying overnight at Defenders Mansion) and Bouncer are awakened early in the morning by Jock Johnson, Head of Security. The heroes are informed that a three-story house has suddenly appeared between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. With Emerald Knight in California helping with the flood crisis and Golden Eagle helping John track down his daughter, the two of them investigated alone. Upon their arrival, they find a multicolored note inviting them in, but warning not to do any property damage or the hostage - Fantastic Man's partner Fantastic Girl - would suffer. Seeing no choice, the pair cautiously entered.

Among the hazards in the multidimensional house are rooms that change the heroes' ages, go from -50F to 120, a giant maze, an otherworldly dimension of trolls, turns them upside-down and a battle scene from World War II. While Fantastic Man wants them to superleap over the battle scene, Bouncer insists on helping the Allied Forces, who are severely outnumbered. He proceeds to start knocking Nazi's around and trashing tanks. Between him, Fantastic and the soldiers, the Nazi's are defeated in seconds and the two heroes flee the scene before any more questions can be asked.

On the other side of the door, Fantastic Man admonishes Bouncer for not following orders. This room turns out to reverse on them so that they have to exit through the same door they entered taking them to a base of a mountain. As they scale it, Fantastic Man mentions his weariness, followed immediately by the appearance of a Hot Dog stand. A tall man with a Picard-ring of hair, black beard, green shirt and black pants is working the counter. He offers them food, which they refuse, and directions. After refreshing themselves at a stream, the pair is caught in an avalanche of foam boulders. At the top are more hallways, including a Godzilla-sized dinosaur, a bottomless pit, a haunted room and a view from space. Finally reaching the top floor, the Defenders free Fantastic Girl and work their way out again. This time, however, the path is far less troublesome with a spiral staircase, distorting mirrors and a barrel-roll hallway. Exiting the building, the heroes are accosted people, including the Hot Dog vendor from inside. He congratulates them on successfully maneuvering through his fun house, and then promptly disappears.

(2.b) Emerald Knight, being one of many heroes in California to work rescue during a major flood, is flying by the dams when he spots a family. Investigating, he learns that the daughter is missing. After re-securing the sandbags with a Force Wall, Knight instructed the family to go to their car. Through the process of elimination, he manages to find the little girl under the platform house, trying to coax out the neighborhood cat. He uses his TK beam to pull out the girl and the cat, reunite the family, and fly them to safety. In route, he is reunited with Spectrum, also flying a family out. The two begin to work in unison out of politeness, with Spectrum apologizing for their past and Emerald Knight stating that there are no hard feelings because he doesn't care one way or the other about him. The two work together long enough to save a town, and part ambiguously.

(3) Ron (Bouncer) Patterson and Jock Johnson is spending the evening at one of the local bars when two attractive women walk in. Within minutes, Jock is leaving with the blonde while Ron stands rejected by the brunette. As he continues to pursue, the bar bouncer asks him to leave. Once he is outside, Bouncer changes into his costume, reenter, and is greeted warmly by everyone. Just as he begins to enjoy himself, his communicator goes off. He goes back to Defenders Mansion to meet up with Fantastic Man and…. Fantastic Man. While Fantastic Man's mentor explains that he was one of the soldiers saved by the duo, and after seeing him in action, the soldier knew his calling. Decades later, he helped Fantastic Man get started with the intention of grooming him to be the third, but only recently realized that he was the original. The Defenders explain about the fun house and Waeron, and Fantastic Man explains to Bouncer that this is a perfect example of how changing the past can effect the future. The elder Fantastic Man informed them that he was grateful to them, and presented the younger man with a gift; a duplicate of his invulnerable costume.

A Few days later, Lexington calls a conference of the Defenders to update them on some facts: A woman named Laura Fitzhugh was filing for custody of Animus' tiger Terry, whom Lexington and Golden Eagle had taken in. Dynamo's tour had lead to a movie role, leaving her in Los Angeles for the next several months. C.A.S.H. (Citizens Against Super Heroes) has filed for a restraining order against the D.C. Defenders against operating in the nation's capital. For the various legal aspects, Lexington had hired Dwight Jones to act as the groups' counselor. Jock interrupts the meeting to inform them that Manifest Density and In-Forcer are currently robbing a jewelry store.

Upon arrival, Golden Eagle drops the heroes off and heads for a landing spot. Emerald Knight spends a good portion of the fight snaring the villains in force bubbles and deflecting shots with his new deflector beams. Bouncer grabs Manifest Density, as Eagle arrives and fires on him with his electric blaster. Once Density goes down, the heroes combine attacks to finish off In-Forcer. After the heroes turn them over to the police, members of C.A.S.H. arrive and begin to berate the heroes. Emerald Knight rebukes them as the group leaves.

When they arrive at Defender's Mansion they find the entire place in turmoil. They stop one of the guards, who tell them that there has been a breach in the electronics lab. The heroes race there to find John beaten to death and the equipment he was working on destroyed. They then turn around to see a figure standing in the door.

(4) The assembled Defenders turn away from the deceased John to see Ex-Patriot standing in the doorway. Golden Eagle reacts by pulling his Tazer gun, which is snatched from his grasp. Ex-Patriot proceeds to explain who he is and that he has been watching the group since their inception. Figuring that he was not the one responsible, the group - now joined by Fantastic Man - begins looking for clues. Emerald Knight checks out the remains of John's work, which is in ashes. Checking with security, they discover the signals John had searched that day, the last of which had triggered an immediate incoming transmission. Hero's Death had returned and struck again. Following up on clues left behind, the heroes arrived, and prepared for an ambush, at the Washington Sun Times, which led them to Washington, North Carolina.

While the house that supposedly belonged to the villain was empty, the home across the street held the Blasters. Emerald Knight throws up a force wall around them just as the house blows up around them. Hero's Death grows out of the basement, leading the Blasters in attack. Knight drops the Force Wall as Ex-Patriot and Bouncer double-teams Hero's Death, knocking him out instantly. Fantastic Man attacks First Strike, caving in several ribs, and is backed up by a Bouncer knockout punch. While Fuji grows to her full height, Knight entangles her in a force bubble. Thunderstorm was grabbed by a leaping Ex-Patriot and then blasted by EK. Shadow Walker moves over to Fuji and encases them both in darkness, which is followed by Knight providing his own encasement. Fuji uses her lava breath to break through, but the pair find themselves out-numbered and surrender.

Three days later, at the funeral of John, the Defenders pay honor to their fallen friend. Also on hand is General Wilcox, John's daughter, Project: Eclipse member Blurr and Champion of Justice Spectrum, who provided a holographic 21-gun salute. Fantastic Man said a few words in memorial, then invited Ex-Patriot to join the Defenders, who agreed to become a reserve member.

(5) The D.C. Defenders were invited to Los Angeles for the premiere of Maria Walker's film debut. Tom Wilson and Ron Patterson had flown cross-country for the debut, with Larry flying in separately later in the Golden Eagle. At the premiere, the villain group Flux (by-products of experimentation performed by Moore) attacked the attendees in a large-scale robbery. While Dynamo and Bouncer slipped off to change and began fighting, Tom worked on clearing potential victims out of harms way. Moments later, however, Eagle arrived on the scene with the Emerald Knight armor in tow. This enraged Tom, as the armor had been in his private quarters and had not seen it as necessary to bring it to a social event. The fact that it was aboard meant that Larry (working on orders of Lexington) had gone into the quarters and brought the suit because "they" deemed it a good idea. After scolding Larry, Emerald Knight did get into costume and proceed to assist his teammates in subduing Flux. After the battle was finished, Eagle decided to head back for D. C. with Knight and Bouncer deciding to stay behind.

(6) The Defenders had been called as witnesses at the trial of Hero's Death, which is heavily covered by the media. When Moore is brought in and released from his bonds, Emerald Knight sees a potential escape route and throws up a force wall between him and the cameras. The wall is incapable of stopping Moore from transforming, however, as the villain makes his escape. The Defenders begin a citywide search for Hero's Death, with Knight correctly calculating that HD was going after his teammates. They arrive in time to see Moore break down into a hystarical fit, asking for repentance for his crimes. A guard then steps out of the shadows. Realizing something is wrong before the heroes do, Moore begins to transform again, only to be stopped by a bullet between the eyes. The guard turns out to be a disguised Richard Moore, who his father had already released. The heroes quickly subdue the villain, and are forced to talk down the enraged Emerald Knight.

Upon the heroes return to Defenders Mansion, they are informed of Ronald Lexington's arrest by the IRS. C.A.S.H. supporters had hired a private investigator, which uncovered the fact that Lexington was the hero Mindmeld. The IRS was brought in under the assumption that Lexington had used his powers to amass his fortune. The team quickly relocates to the D.C. Police Department, where Lexington is being held. When propositions are made to fight the charges, Lexington refuses because even he is unable to say that the charges are not true, preparing himself to plead no contest and attempt to plea bargain. He begs the team to carry on and not let the team disband due to his mistakes.

A couple of weeks later, Lexington is found guilty of misappropriation of funds and unethical business practices. He agrees to pay a multimillion dollar fine, relinquish all control and rights to Lexington International, and retire from both the worlds of business and crime-fighting. He arranges that his long-time friend and confidant Larry Carter is installed as C.E.O. and that the company not only stays open but also continues to fund the D.C. Defenders. Lexington then left for parts unknown, cutting himself off from contact by everyone.

(7) The D.C. Defenders are patrol when they come across the bodies of dead Secret Service agents. Investigating the area around the scene, they discover the aquatic hero Torpedo in pursuit of a pack of IOGWP agents who are giving chase to a government-issue black sedan. After quickly dispatching the IOGWP agents, the heroes discover that Chelsea Clinton is behind the wheel of the fleeing car. Fantastic Man, Torpedo and Vanguard (Ex-Patriot returning to his former heroic identity) began to interrogate the IOGWP agents, while Emerald Knight and Bouncer console and question Chelsea. According to her, the agents were attempting to take her captive, with the secret service agents laying down their lives to provide her with an escape route. Comparing notes, the Defenders find themselves suspicious, but without anything conclusive. They decide to return Chelsea, and attempt to infiltrate the White House to find more answers.

While Emerald Knight, Vanguard, Fantastic Man and Bouncer returned Chelsea, Senator Burt Kelley and a disguised Maria Walker as his aid entered under the guise of government business. When the four heroes began asking questions, they were informed of it being a "government matter", leading to Vanguard getting a bit irate and causing a scene. As the heroes provide a distraction and eventually are escorted out, Kelley and Walker slip past and make there way to the presidential secretary. While Walker argues about the missed appointments with Kelley, he uses his knack for super-speed reading to examine the President's appointment book over her shoulder. Finding obvious holes in the schedule, Kelley waits "impatiently" for his opportunity to see the commander in chief while Walker blends into the secretary pool. It doesn't take her long to discover that one intern is regularly with the president during the holes. Meanwhile, the quartet set out to find any other IOGWP activity in the area. The undivided attention to underground activity soon produces a list of suspected IOGWP supporters. When the two sub-groups reconvene to compare notes, they decide to split once again, with Fantastic Man and Torpedo watching the intern's apartment, Walker (still in disguise) attempting to locate her, Vanguard and Bouncer investigating the names on the IOGWP list, and Emerald Knight going to talk to his government contact.

While investigating the names on the list, Bouncer and Vanguard search the apartments, of which one holds clues. A photo of one of the known sympathizers also holds image of the intern. In digging deeper, they find the woman to have a different name and the man to be her uncle. Relaying said information to the rest of the team, Dynamo pursues the intern and apprehends her. The intern, in turn, makes a phone call, in which Dynamo receives orders to release her.... from the President himself. These actions spark retaliation on two fronts. The Central Security Bureau begins an investigation, while Congress begins the impeachment procedures. It is soon uncovered that IOGWP had been gaining military secrets from the President of the United States. Clinton was quickly found guilty, his entire administration removed from office, and Joe Chillin was installed as the new President.

In the time that followed, several factors occurred to change the face of the Defenders. When The Villain systematically revealed the secret identities of all of the Crusaders, Fantastic Man and Fantastic Girl decided that it was time to hang up the cape and cowls and try to live normal lives. With his retirement, Bouncer once again stepped into the role of leader of the D.C. Defenders. With the loss of his friend and his new responsibilities, Larry Carter likewise retired from the hero business to dedicate himself to running Lexington International full time. Relocating back to his home city of Chicago and starting The Hawk, Carter maintains Lexington's financial support for both teams. Torpedo began appearing in the D. C. area with great frequency, and officially joined the team. After Dynamo's film career was short-lived, she returned to D. C. to once again serve as a active member of the team.

The group continues to protect and serve the nation's capital and strives for a better world.

© Copyright 1991, 2001 - James Caswell