(PROLOGUE) The New Orleans sky was filled with an all-too-familiar sight, though not a pleasant one. A battle was taking place high above between their protector - leader of the city's super team - and one of his many foes. The hero's red cape plastered against his body as he sped through the air, preparing to make contact with a move-through just as the villain prepared to teleport out of the path. A window-shaking bang echoed through the air as both hero and villain disappeared and air rushed in to fill the large void of space.

A woman, clad mostly in blue, flew to where the hero was just moments before, searching the area for her now-missing husband. She raised her hand to her ear, activating her communicator. "Fan out. He has to be here somewhere. We must find The Messenger and make sure he's all right."

(1) Stepping out onto her balcony, Hoshi heard a loud pop, drawing her attention to the sky above the Lake Pontchartrain. Enhancing her vision, she saw an unconscious body dressed in red and black dropping through the sky. Flying out and matching speeds with the plummeting body, she caught the mysterious stranger and brought him back to earth safely. After reviving him, she learned that he had amnesia and super powers. Realizing that he had no place to go, she took him back to her condo to feed and clothe the mystery man.

While there, the duo discovered that there was a robbery in progress down at Harrah's and set out to stop the crime. On the scene before most of the cops, they arrived in time to stop one of the skull-masked gangbangers from firing off a rocket launcher at the one cop car already on the scene. Within seconds, the duo had taken out all six armed men and Hoshi began binding them up and giving them medical attention. The newly-formed New Orleans Strikeforce was quickly called on the scene to investigate the new heroes, allowing Hoshi to ask Bodé about the rumored gargoyle in the city and for The Messenger to recall his heroic title. They departed, still lacking answers about the mysterious rumors.

(2) While pulling to a stop at a stop sign, a young couple is violently pulled from their car by two les Crane members. Moments into their car jacking, however, they find the car covered by a large, winged shadow. Meanwhile, as Hoshi stepped out onto her balcony to do a preliminary scan of the city, she saw the large shadow pursuing the car and she and Messenger launched into action. At the same time, Hailstorm was monitoring the police ban from her dorm room and learned of the carjacking, and Diamant witnessed the pursuit while on a date and decided to investigate.

As the les Cranes began to believe they had gotten away with the crime, they found the car lifted into the air and carried by Fantasia. She, in turn, found herself in a tug of war with Messenger, with the two of them separating the car from its roof. As all of the heroes arrived on the scene, a four-way fight breaks out, ending in Fantasia and Hoshi calling for a cease fire and Diamant and Messenger encased in an ice cage with the gang-bangers and the car. As Hoshi binds the thieves, the ensemble agrees to meet and discuss the protection of the city on a nearby rooftop.

While Diamant began pitching a team-up among the heroes, Fantasia was forced into a vision of a gator farm attacked by a legion of gargoyles. Dedicated to investigating, she invites the others to join her. Minutes later, the group finds the farm and investigates, only to find it to be an ambush by the Slayers, dedicated to destroying the gargoyle. A fight ensues, with the Slayers focusing mainly on Fantasia. Soon, after many of the Slayers had been knocked down at least once and Shaft had been knocked unconscious by a team effort between Fantasia, Hailstorm and Diamant, the Slayers surrendered, vowing to return to finish their strike against the abomination.

After the New Orleans Strikeforce was summoned to the scene, the group of heroes agreed to work together. Diamant took it upon himself to initiate things over the next couple of weeks, custom-building communicators, distributing them to the team and seeking out a potential headquarters for the group.

(3) A couple weeks later, having made crime difficult for the les Cranes both individually and as a group, the team went about their own personal business as dusk approached. Diamont was already out on patrol while Hoshi did her pre-patrol scan of the city. Fantasia was stuck at work, harassed about her constant necessity to leave before dark and assigned to investigate a series of waterfront warehouse fires that point to arson. As she begins to feel the change coming on, she sees on one of the monitors a televised celebration at the train station interrupted by five super-beings. Also seeing this, Hoshi hits the communicator to call in the team.

Messenger, Hoshi, Diamant and Fantasia all arrived in time to see Warrior and Hardbody tear a train in two and the masses attempting to flee. As soon as both sides laid eyes on each other, Warrior let his sword fly and struck Messenger with an earthshaking blow, stunning him with one shot. Diamant was likewise knocked backward by a blow from Stretchon while Hoshi turned invisible and began attacking Warrior. This left Fantasia to face off against Stretchon, Hardbody and Ronin, and Infinity splitting his attention between her and Diamant. Fantasia used half of the train to bash Hardbody and Ronin, who was finished off seconds later by a revived Diamant. Once Messenger regained his senses, he repeated the move using his telekinesis on the other half of the train, this time hitting Hardbody and Infinity. In the end, Fantasia was temporarily knocked out by Hardbody, Diamant by Infinity, and Hoshi by Warrior, leaving Messenger the only one left standing against the four remaining mercenaries. Warrior then took the opportunity to inform Messenger that the heroes needed to leave town because it belonged to the les Cranes, and that next time the mercs would show no mercy. With that, the mercenaries left.

Once all of the heroes had regained consciousness, Hoshi invisibly shape-changed into Warrior in order to demand the taped coverage of the fight, though unable to do anything about the live feed. The heroes then fled the scene before any questions could be asked.

(4) Two days later, Diamant set up a meeting for the team at a newly bought mansion along the bayou. Once everyone but Hailstorm had arrived, Diamant gave a tour of the facilities as an introduction of their new headquarters - including the pending changes that he had in mind - while they discussed a name for themselves. After several options were bandied about, Orleans Force - or Force d'Orleans - was agreed upon and adopted. Once they had arrived at the master bedroom, a debat ensued between Messenger and Fantasia over possession. As a solution, Diamant suggested a sparing match in the back acreage. As the fight progressed, Hoshi switched into her secret ID and sneaked back up to the master bedroom, putting a mesh over the entrance and a sign stating "les Cranes HQ". After several rounds of blows being thrown, Diamant called the fight before Fantasia could be knocked unconscious, but not before Messenger was burned by a flame blast.

As the trio returned to the building, they found Tia lounging about the pool and the message left by Hoshi. This led the group to discuss their current difficulties with the street gang, sparking Fantasia to share her tale of confrontation with them while investigating "Papa" Boulet. With this information in effect, along with Diamant's personal knowledge of the man, Force d'Orleans went to pay a visit to the supposed kingpin.

Upon their arrival, Diamant dispatched Hoshi and Fantasia to disable a set of guards, though Hoshi did the task by herself. Messenger then used his clairvoyance to see into the house, catching the enormous "Papa" Boulet coming out of the shower. Wishing he could "share" the experience with his fellow heroes, Messenger accidentally rediscovered his mental illusion powers, transforming Hoshi's surroundings into a repeat performance. The power also backfired on him, putting himself into a surreal reality in which he was in the room, discovered and shot by an armed guard. The two of them recovered quickly enough, allowing the plan to proceed. Force d'Orleans then broke into the millionaire's mansion, tracking him to his study. With Hoshi binding him with a towel, Diamant explained that they knew Boulet was behind the les Cranes, and that they would be watching. Likewise, they also all but dared him to send the hired mercenaries back after them.

After leaving the Boulet household, the group returned in time to hook up with Hailstorm and fill her in on the evenings activities. Shortly after, a news report was issued about the millionaire's break-in, identifying the local gargoyle and several other masked individuals, leaving another blemish on their public record.

(5) At the beginning of the workday, Diamant sat in his office looking over reports on excavation projects instituted to find more of the power gems he used in his super hero persona, while Fantasia was in a production meeting, covering such news stories as the reoccurrence of fires along the riverfront and the new team of apparent supers in town. When both she and her archrival at the network both provided info on the group (Charisma covering the break-in at Boulet's and Tazi having names), they were assigned to work together to gain as much info as possible on Force d'Orleans. Meanwhile, Diamant received an update call from the survey team, which was interrupted by sounds of an attack. Calling in the other heroes, Hoshi used her enhanced vision to check out the scene to see the survey team attacked by the Rainbow Warriors.

At the same time, Sea Bolt began to regain consciousness several meters from the attack. Hearing an ongoing battle, he made his way through the bijou to find an invisible Hoshi trying to remove the unconscious surveyors from Blue Bolt. He joins in the battle by attacking Golden Goliath as Messenger attempted to cast a mental illusion to intimidate the villains. Moments later, Diamant, Hailstorm and Fantasia also arrived to fight, the latter of whom opened with a mass flame attack, causing Red Rocket to focus on grabbing the object that the Rainbow Warriors had come for. After moments of battle, Red ordered Indigo Ghost to transport the unconscious Golden Goliath, Green Gnome and Blue Bolt away while Orange Obsession and Ultra Violet ran interference. This plan seemed to be a sound one until Red Rocket was knocked out by Sea Bolt, Ultra Violet by Fantasia, and Orange Obsession's images were discovered and Hoshi, Messenger and Hailstorm tracked him down.

After reclaiming the onyx power crystal from Red Rocket, the group attempted to question both he and Orange Obsession, only managing to find out that they considered the jewels theirs, and vowed to return for them. When Strikeforce arrived, Bodé reintroduced himself, as well as his second-in-command, Bianca Fornier. After a question and answer session about Sea Bolt, the "imposters" who broke into Boulet's home, and ways to keep in contact, Messenger - completely captivated by Fornier - attempted flirtation, only to be shot down. Strikeforce then took the three Rainbow Warriors into custody as Force d'Orleans left.

Back at the mansion, Sea Bolt and Hailstorm recognized each other from their childhood and caught up on old times, while Diamant offered him membership to the team, complete with a green card. Sea Bolt declined the offer, which was fine by Diamant as he was unsure about it in the first place. Afterward, Diamant began his research on the crystal and micro-sized scanner left behind by Green Gnome, Hoshi followed Fantasia to learn her secret identity, and suggested to Diamant that some positive press would be in order.

(6.a) Having had Hailstorm return home for the summer break (but promising to return as soon as possible), Diamant and Hoshi (disguised as Fantasia) meet with Tazi Cristo for an interview to clear up misconceptions about Force d'Orleans. During the interview, the question of Papa Boulet was addressed, stating that things are not always as they appear and that crime will be tracked down wherever it may reside.

Meanwhile, Messenger was out on patrol when he spotted the security guards of Drébin Technologies, one of which had an arrow through his hand. He soon learned that the Free Radicals had taken employees hostage. After flying the guards to the roof, Messenger made his way inside.

Back at the TV station, the interview finished and the heroes prepared to depart when the reporters began to scramble in response to the police scanner. Tazi was forced to turn down the assignment, meeting with her teammates on the roof. As Hoshi teleported the trio to the roof of Drébin, they get a debriefing from the guards and head for the elevator shaft.

Messenger, having worked his way through the building, emerges in the lobby in time to face down Deadeye, telekinetically taking her bow away. The rest of the team joined him very soon after, taking out Deadeye and Speedstress immediately. It trying to explain what they wanted, Foxfire and Messenger debated the definition of heroism until the police arrived.

Later that evening, the heroes gathered together to discuss the case. Messenger complained about being made fun of and that the women had a point about not doing enough for the poor of the city. Leaving, he went to the Strikeforce precinct to continue speaking with Foxfire. Hoshi then starts work on establishing more shelters and assistance for the homeless of New Orleans.

(6.b) On his way to the precinct, Messenger walked through the city streets in civilian clothes, wanting to get a better vision of what his new city entailed and if Foxfire's accusations were true. After entering the poor side of town, down near the docks, he soon found one of many Hassid House facilities and began working as a volunteer to help clean up after dinner. After interviewing a teenage volunteer and a Vietnam vet named Ralph, he finally met with one of the managers of the facility and began to learn about the real workings of the shelter, homeless life in New Orleans, and what it means to be a hero. They conclude with Messenger volunteering to spend his free time helping out and promising to make the world a better place.

Leaving the shelter, he then travels to the Strikeforce precinct, where he meets up with Lt. Fornier, who reluctantly agrees to let him visit with Foxfire. As Messenger shares his discoveries of the evening with the villainess, he slowly realizes that his words will not convince her that she's wrong, and only fuels her own beliefs that he is a tool of "the man". In a last ditch effort, Messenger places images of Neo-Nazi Germany in her head, with Foxfire as Hitler. This makes the woman freak out, demanding to see her lawyer, while the escort guard attempts to get Messenger out of the area. A small struggle ensues, ending with Messenger leaving under his own accord, but further angering Fornier, who realizes that this has been a violation of Foxfire's rights and will probably cause her to be released. Meanwhile, Messenger leaves to try and find more evil to vanquish.

(7) A couple of days later, Diamant and Fantasia were patrolling the streets of New Orleans when a call came through the scanner on a reported disturbance. Being in the vicinity, the duo quickly arrived at the home of a well-known local author who was reporting that her creation was stalking around in her back yard. Investigating the apparent kooky situation, they found three sets of footprints running through the back yard and down toward the swamp. Calling in for backup from Messenger, they pursued the trespassers until interrupted by another call, this time in downtown.

Upon their arrival, they found a squad car overturned and police officers quartering off an alley. Taking the lead, the pair found a homeless person making his way over the rooftops, with abilities far beyond those or normal men. When confronted, he showed himself to be able to withstand most of their attacks, even when Messenger eventually arrived. Once the man finally spoke of a game being played and Messenger was shot in the back by an unknown assailant, however, Diamant and Fantasia examined the area to find a sniper nearby. Diamant took out the gunman with a single blast, while Messenger attempted to take the target to the finish line.

On the way to main street, Messenger discovered that the man in his arms was dying, causing him to double back in case cheating was causing the deterioration process. Meanwhile, Diamant found that the sniper was an acquaintance from the country club. When Messenger got back to the duo, the homeless man had already perished. While Messenger recognized the man from the shelter, Diamant remembered reading something about people dying after receiving superhuman abilities, but not the details.

While Messenger went to get paramedics, Diamant and Fantasia left to re-question the homeowner. On their way, however, they heard a pack of motorcycles fleeing the area. Pursuing, they quickly overtook the foursome, with Fantasia using her smoke breath to limit their visibility and escape. When Messenger caught up with them, he used his clairvoyance to see that they were surrendering. Opposed to being able to question the "hounds," however, the heroes discovered that the men were without tongues.

After the police had arrived, Messenger went to the local hospital to further investigate the homeless man. While the hospital had pronounced him D.O.A., the morgue was empty, the body having mysteriously disappeared. He then changed into his civilian clothes and went to the shelter to break the bad news. The boss was obviously upset by the news of another lost soul without explanation.

(8) The next afternoon, the group reconvened with Hoshi having returned from visiting Japan. After discussing the case from the night before, including the information that Diamant had discovered about the enhancement drug known as The Juice, as well as Messenger's other activities, they agreed that Hoshi should go in undercover to the Hessid House as a homeless person. Meanwhile, Messenger would use his position at the house to garner information as well while Fantasia used her position as a reporter to investigate the other local shelters to see if they have had anyone mysteriously disappear.

Diamant began an investigation of his own, going to the county club and joining with the sniper's golf foursome to see what he could learn. After asking some poignant questions, he learned that the man belonged to an exclusive gun club. Establishing a fake identity, he hit the Internet searching for the club, eventually being contacted by an anonymous lead. A meeting was arranged for the following night.

Meanwhile, Hoshi infiltrated the shelter and began going through the entry process. Both her and the other new arrival were greeted and questioned by the Vietnam vet Ralph, who promised a potential job opportunity in the near future. Messenger also witnessed this, placing the old man at the top of the suspect list. Fantasia also learned that none of the other shelters had been loosing homeless people and that over a dozen arson cases had been reported over the past six months, corresponding with the number of missing persons.

The nightly meeting allowed the heroes to correlate facts and continue instituting plans. The next day, Messenger investigated Ralph's reported address, only to find the apartment empty. That night, Diamant met with the gun club coordinators with Fantasia in the wings, arranging that he would join in a hunt of Juice-enhanced people two nights later. One more meeting had the heroes agreeing to have Hoshi relocate the other new homeless person in order to increase her chances of being picked.

(9) Having agreed on a plan of action, Hoshi (disguised as a homeless man) arrives with two others in the back of a van while Diamant and two other hunters met in an open field. Messenger and Fantasia hovered overhead in the night sky as the mysterious organizer and his bodyguard arrived in a fourth limo. Rounding out the crowd were five of the voiceless "hounds," motorcycle-riding assistants for the hunters. As the organizer explains the rules of the game, he neglects to mention the life-ending use of the Juice drug to the bums. Just as they are about to be injected with the drug, Diamant hits his signal devise, bringing Messenger and Fantasia in to swoop off with the potential victims.

Their disappearance triggers a battle, with Hoshi shifting back into her natural form and teleporting behind the Asian hunter with a crossbow, taking him out with one blow. Diamant "accidentally" shoots the other hunter with an entanglement. While Hoshi continues to take out the hounds, Fantasia and Messenger return to join in the fun, causing Tracker to go invisible and attack the female gargoyle, knocking her for a loop. While Hoshi fires off a submachine gun in his general direction, Fantasia makes contact with a giant fire bolt, charring parts of him and making him semi-visible. Messenger uses this to his advantage by flying up to him and punching him into the middle of next week. Diamant finishes things off by capturing the organizer.

The group begins questioning the man and learn that the Juice is made locally based upon information bought from a man named Lee in Los Angeles a couple of years ago. When Messenger asks about the missing Ralph, the man smugly informs them that he is buried in the bay. When he is confronted for his attitude, he simply explains that he has millions to spend on a defense.

Over the next couple of days, Diamant and the local Strikeforce team discovers the lab used, allowing - for the first time - a detailed account of the ingredients for the Juice. Fantasia uses her alter ego as a reporter to give Force d'Orleans their first bit of truly positive publicity, doing an expose on the entire situation and how the heroes brought the threat to an end. Messenger returns the two homeless men to the Hassid House, along with the recovered body of Ralph for a proper burial.

(10) After a chemical accident transformed his DNA, deciding to use his newfound powers for good, adopting the heroic identity of Elastor, and getting the location of the Force d'Orleans Mansion from his cousin, Rex Hudson was in route to offer his services to the group when he encountered three strangers at the front gate. When one of those strangers reached out with an elastic arm and pulled down the crane from the construction being done on the roof, he was forced to dive into the bushes and use his own stretching to circumvent the attack. Meanwhile, François Drébin got a phone call from the foreman working on the renovations to the mansion, reporting the attack. Acting quickly, he signaled his teammates, changed into Diamant, and was in route when picked up by Messenger.

Back at the mansion, Warrior attacked Elastor, being the sole target for the three mercenaries. Doing his best to avoid being hit while still holding the crane, he was relieved to see the hero team arrive. While Fantasia grabbed the falling crane operator, Messenger dropped Diamant's motorcycle and plowed into Hardbody. Once dropped, Diamant tried to fire at Warrior, only to trip while trying to flip off the bike, shot out a window in the mansion, and face-plant into the ground. Noticing the arrival of the heroes, Hardbody announces that they were waiting for Messenger to arrive; while Ronin and Infinity couldn't make it this time, they had a new volunteer who wanted in on the action. At that point, Gladiator teleported in behind Messenger and attacked his arch nemesis.

The fight continued with the Diamant being temporarily stunned by Warrior's sword, Fantasia trading punches with Hardbody, Messenger being leveled by Gladiator, only to be rescued by Elastor. Once it becomes clear that Gladiator is concentrating solely on Messenger, the rest of the group worked together to attack the new villain and allow their teammate to get a second breath.

Allowing Diamant a chance to insert his new onyx jewel into his gauntlet and thus utilize its healing ability, the group continues to attempt to wear down their opponents, with their tenacity if nothing else. As one hero drops, another steps up to divert attention until their partner is able to stand again, eventually managing to knock Hardbody down several times and entangle Warrior and Gladiator. Once the tide had officially shifted, Gladiator warned Messenger that he would be back before teleporting away from the fight. After Hardbody was once again knocked down by Fantasia, Warrior offered the heroes a deal: in exchange for the chance to leave without pursuit, the contract taken out on them by les Crânes would be null and void. Seeing the opportunity, Diamant agrees, allowing the villains to escape.

Once all of the heroes were once again on their feet, Diamant offered membership to Elastor, who gladly accepted. The group decided, now that they had a couple of victories under their belt, to begin working on developing their teamwork skills in combat, as well as continuing the work on their mansion and repairing the damage done to the surrounding neighborhood. They knew that they needed to work on their fighting skills together to prepare for whatever les Crânes might throw at them next.

(11) It was that special time of fall when high schools were already in session while the University of Louisiana was just beginning its semester. Skylar had returned from summer break with Tito in tow, having convinced him to join her in New Orleans. Meanwhile, the local high school was having their "Take Your Child To Work" Day, with Jack Lucas going with his father on the search for gems for Drébin Technologies. It happened that this dig led to success as the crew uncovered a Star Garnet crystal that emitted the energy signatures that they were looking for. Calling in, Frank came out to the site just in time to see RGB: The Color Commando, Lumiere and Lightning Strong Man arrive on the scene. RGB seemed to be following a devise similar to the one used by Green Gnome of the Rainbow Warriors. Upon seeing the workers at the site, LSM fired a lightning bolt at Jack, shattering the star garnet crystal and knocking him into the woods.

As the workers scattered, Frank headed into the woods to change into Diamant and call for backup. On his way, he stumbled over an invisible object, taking a moment to mark the spot before continuing on. After changing and calling in Fantasia, Messenger and Hailstorm (Elastor was in a class and had his communicator shut off), he attempted to sneak back to the site, only to be discovered thanks to the gem detector used by RGB.

As the other heroes arrived on the scene, they began picking their targets. While Sea Bolt grabbed Lumiere with his whip, Messenger altered LSM's reality, making him believe that RGB was Messenger. Meanwhile, Jack regained consciousness to find that he had super powers, racing back to the scene to investigate the fight in progress. This enabled the heroes to gain a seven versus two advantage for several seconds. While RGB would have normally stood up to the local heroes to gain back the gems, he found that the numbers were too much in their advantage and fled the scene. The heroes, clearly having the advantage despite the remaining villains' enormous power level, pounded on them until they were unconscious.

With Lumiere and Lightning Strong Man subdued, Diamant sent Jack to find his father, who was once again looking for his son. He then spoke with Hailstorm and Sea Bolt, learning that they were back in town for school and set them up with rooms in the mansion and a communicator and work visa for Tito.

The next day, Frank visited the Lucas family, offering to help Jack with the examination of his powers. While the father agreed to an examination, he seemed to be looking for a cure rather than training. Taking Jack with him to the lab, he learns that the changes are irreversible. Leaving and returning as Diamant, he offers to take Jack on for training with Force d'Orleans to master his powers. Taking on the code name Black Volt, Jack officially joined the team.

(12) While Diamant was preparing for a combat training session for Force d'Orleans at the mansion, he received a phone call from Lt. Fornier of Strikeforce, relaying a message from Washington, D.C. Dwight Jones of the Department of Paranormal Affairs had called wanting an appointment with the leader of the new group. The two men set an appointment for two days later, which corresponded with the training session.

When Jones arrived, Diamant greeted the infamous politician at the door. The two men sat and discussed the presence of the Rainbow Warriors, RGB: The Color Commando and Lumiere in New Orleans. Diamant shared the fact that they appeared to be after the gems that he used, which Dwight confirmed to be similar to the ones that originally transformed him into Spectrum. He likewise shared the various theories as to the existence of other forms of the crystals. Determining that there were more than just the nine already discovered gems, Spectrum offers his services in tracking down any others. Changing into Spectrum, the two men flew high above the city, enabling Spectrum to examine the entire area at once. Moments later, Spectrum had a lock on the three remaining gems and recovered them.

Returning to the mansion, the two men continue to discuss their common enemies, with Dwight conveying words of wisdom and advice to Diamant, including a suggestion to encase the gems in a dense metal to hide their energy signatures from the villains while not in use. Dwight suggested that Diamant look into using Cesedetanite, a material specifically designed to absorb energy, to build a box for storage and a new gauntlet. Diamant also shares information about his team, discussing the various powers and membership of them. Dwight also asks about the fifth founding member, the missing Hoshi, and volunteers to assist in the search if Diamant ever decides to wonder about her disappearance. Dwight likewise offered Diamant his business card, telling the hero to call if he ever needed information or assistance with the villains in the future. To finish off their conversation, Diamant asks the Champion if he would stick around for their training session to provide instruction, to which Dwight agrees.

Shortly afterward, the rest of the team arrives and is paired up into groups for combat simulation. Several of them seemed to have a difficult time grasping the idea of teamwork in combat, but soon overcame their difficulties. After several tags, the group was introduced to Spectrum, allowing him to gain a firsthand knowledge of the members and them to team together to practice against a target that could withstand their combined might. Working together, they landed several blows against the hero before he congratulated them on good work and prepared to leave. Elastor decided to try to taunt him before the Champion's departure, to which he received a launch into the air. Six miles above, the stretching man was forced to shift into glider form in order to return to terra firma safely, by which time Spectrum had taken his leave.

(13) As Hailstorm covered the monitors while doing homework, Diamant took the afternoon off to relax, Messenger worked at the Hassid House, Fantasia was starting an interview with the Deputy Mayor, and Elastor, Sea Bolt and Black Volt were in their respective classes. As such, when the New Orleans Strikeforce called the team for assistance in investigating a reported robbery by A.R.M.O.R., only the first three were available to respond.

When the three heroes arrived on the scene, Captain Bode and Lt. Fornier greeted them and told them that the villains fled the scene before the police had arrived. After being told that they had been seen flying west, Hailstorm asked how much money was stolen, only to be told that the thieves had fled empty handed. Sending Messenger ahead to scout the villains out, Diamant caught a ride on Hailstorm's ice slide to pursue. Other than spotting a few la Cranes along the way, the pursuit led to the edge of the warehouse district where Messenger spotted Tank and Sureshot landing on a roof. Using his clairvoyance to eavesdrop on their discussion, he learned that Tank was against the contract hit. The two villains then spotted Messenger and Tank gave chase.

Messenger flew back to the nearby factories, rendezvousing with the incoming Hailstorm and Diamant. As the frozen heroine dropped of the team leader on a nearby roof, Messenger engaged Tank in fisticuffs and words, trying to convince the ex-hero to switch sides. While he couldn't be convinced to switch sides, he did agree to feign fighting and, if the heroes won, give them the name of their employer. As the rest of A.R.M.O.R. approached, the heroes called in Strikeforce backup and prepared themselves for a tough battle.

Working in various teams, the heroes began working their way through the ranks of A.R.M.O.R. Starting with Nuke, Messenger and Diamant knocked the nuclear villain for a loop, causing him to drop Doc. At the same time, Hailstorm unleashed a snowball blitz on Sureshot (who had been carried to the battle zone by Ramjet and dropped off on another roof), knocking her out of the action. Doc became the next target with Hailstorm and Diamant teaming up, taking the mentalist out of the action while Messenger traded blows with Ramjet. Overdrive decided to go after Hailstorm, but the numbers turned to the heroes favor as Black Volt arrived on the scene and teamed with Diamant to finish off the returning Nuke. With Hailstorm taking down Overdrive, her brother retrieved the fallen villain and flew off. As Strikeforce approached, Tank kept his word and told the heroes that Poppa Boulet hired them. In return, Messenger let him flee the scene and get away.

As Strikeforce began gathering up the unconscious villains, Diamant debriefed Bode, informing him of the contract hit taken out by Boulet. While the Strikeforce captain doubted the connection to the respected businessman, he told Diamant to make sure he had hard evidence. Diamant then took the group back to the mansion and told them it was time to take the fight to Boulet.

(14.a) Having arranged for an invite to Pappa Boulet's monthly party, François Drébin and his date for the evening (Weathergirl Gwen from a different station than the one Fantasia works for) attended the black tie affair with the hopes of gaining insight on the kingpin's criminal activities. Upon their arrival, Drébin took note of not only the armed guards around the grounds and mansion, but also the big names in business and government that were in attendance, including the Deputy Mayor of New Orleans, the Deputy Governor of Louisiana, the Chief of Police, and the producer of news for Fantasia's station.

While working the crowd, Drébin introduced himself and his date to the Deputy Mayor and Chief of Police, chatting them up until offered to be presented to their host. Once introduced to Pappa, Drébin arranged for a private conversation with his host when he had a free moment. As the two men separated, Pappa Boulet escorted the politicians, several of the businessmen and a couple of unknowns (though Drébin suspected that they may be part of the local underworld) to his den for a clandestine meeting.

Allowing his date to show him around to her circle of influence, Drébin was introduced to Fantasia's boss, who tried to derail the winning endorsement from François for Tazi by questioning her "work ethic," choosing her family and the truth over what he wanted from her. After pointing out that it was the producer who's values were in question, Drébin slipped away to try and learn more about what was going on upstairs. After trying to sneak his way upstairs three times, only to be blocked by the Boulet's human watchdog, Drébin saw the group descend the stairs and was invited by his host of join him in the den.

After a bit of small talk, the two men began discussing business and the effect the superhuman community was having on it. While speaking in circles, Boulet dropped hints that the situation could be controlled. The subject of business also led to the discussion of how Boulet made his money: connecting two groups together to make a higher profit. While talking about investments, Boulet hinted at the fact that he knew Drébin had bought the mansion that Force d'Orleans called home, causing François to admit that he was leasing the property. With the offer to potentially do business together in the near future and work towards becoming "friends," the two men left to rejoin the party in progress.

As they descended the stairs once more, Drébin spotted a semi-familiar face in plainclothes next to the watchdog, identifying him as the man who aided the mercenaries during the attack on the Force d'Orleans mansion - the one who knew Messenger. After receiving an explanation of "extra security" from Boulet, Drébin took his leave.

(14.b) After attending the Boulet party, Diamant recruits Hailstorm to infiltrate the le Cranes to try to find incriminating evidence. Deciding to pose as a teenage boy, Skylar went to Messenger and Fantasia for lessons on acting and disguise. Adopting a haircut, prosthetic facial hair and baggy clothes, she started hanging out in Crane territory in neutral colors, looking to be recruited.

After striking up a "friendship" with two gangbangers, Skylar first found her loyalties tested during a an evening of joyriding that turned into armed robbery of a liquor store, with her driving the getaway car. After her inauguration into the gang, her next assignment was to drive during a trip into rival territory, leading to a drive-by shooting. While she was torn over the criminality of the mission, she subsided her concerns with knowing that she had to be accepted to find the connection between Boulet and the gang.

At the first opportunity, Skylar placed an anonymous call to Strikeforce to report the shooting, but there was o evidence of the crime when they arrived on the scene. Thanks to her "success," however, she was fully accepted into the gang, given a blaster and mask of her own, and introduced to Drew, the leader of le Cranes, who branished a large skull tattoo on his left bicep. Now fully ingrained into the gang, Hailstorm reported in to Diamant to compare notes.

(14.c) After coming together and comparing notes, Hailstorm and Diamant agreed that it was time to bring in the rest of the team and the New Orleans Strikeforce and work towards closing Boulet down permanently. Sharing the common denominator of Drew - the head of the les Cranes - they felt as though that was enough. Garnering support from Captain Bode, the head of Strikeforce did some checking and found an outstanding arrest warrant for the lead gangbanger. Provided that it was indeed Drew that Diamant's "friend" Drébin had seen at the party, it would give the police a reason to follow through on their plan: while Elastor, Sea Bolt and Lieutenant Fornier would lead one division of Strikeforce officers on a bust of les Cranes while Hailstorm accompanied Drébin to the next party as his date to confirm Drew's presence, followed by an attack on the mansion by the rest of Force d'Orleans and Strkeforce. Diamant also announced that Fantasia was to be considered his second-in-command of the group from this point forward.

Once Hailstorm had identified Drew and Boulet called his inner circle together for their meeting, Hailstorm snuck away from her escort to rejoin her teammates, quickly followed by Diamant. With him leading the charge with Hailstorm, Black Volt and Bode through the front door, Fantasia and Messenger entering through the bedroom window, and the Strikeforce officers mopping up the hired guns outside, the heroes launched their attack, scattering the innocent guests and corralling the guilty ones as they exited the meeting.

A battle quickly ensued between the heroes and Boulet's super-powered bodyguard and Gladiator, with Momma Boulet attempting to join in the fray through the use of voodoo magic. Hailstorm formed an ice cage around Boulet and his friends, sparking the mob boss to take Drew's gun away from him and using the gangbanger as a battering ram against the entanglement. Watchdog finished releasing his boss before launching into a fight with Messenger and Fantasia, focusing on the latter after she took out Momma with a fireball. This left Gladiator fighting Diamant and Black Volt, Bode subduing and arresting the remaining members of Boulet's cadre, and Hailstorm being pelted with bullets from Pappa Boulet, who retaliated by encasing him in a solid block of ice. Realizing that the two heroes on the group floor were only nickeling-and-diming Gladiator, Messenger used his mental illusions to make the villain believe Diamant was Boulet, which switched his attention to the second floor and his arch nemesis. Fortunately, Messenger and Fantasia had teemed up to knock down Watchdog (who was finished off by Hailstorm) and quickly continued their efforts to take down Gladiator.

After finishing the fight, Bode and his Strikeforce officers not only arrested Boulet and his henchmen, but also the Chief of Police, Deputy Mayor, Drew and the rest of the men in the meeting. Several of the businessmen began striking deals to testify against one another and the politicians involved, allowing the district attorney to open investigations into various shady deals perpetrated at the highest levels of city decision-making. With Boulet assaulting Drew directly in front of Bode, along with the heroes, he could be brought up on charges of attempted murder, and well as the investigations once the D.A. was able to get into his home for evidence. The other half of Force d'Orleans was likewise successful, bringing over a dozen of les Cranes to justice and dealing a heavy blow to the gang.

(15.a) Following his normal morning routine, Jack Lucas arrived at school at the bright and early hour of seven A.M. after working on his hockey skills at the local ice rink. After being greeted by the principal's secretary, he made his way to his locker and started for the library before strange noises from the cafeteria drew his attention. Going to investigate, he spots several giant rats. Deciding that calling in backup was the better part of valor, he hopped on his communicator to Diamant.

Meanwhile, across town, Jonathan Blake prepared to open Hassid House for breakfast when he too was greeted by a pack of giant rats. When the call came in from Diamant, Messenger relayed his part of the tale, sparking Fantasia to be dispatched to his location and the group's leader going to help out Black Volt. Upon Fantasia's arrival, the two maintained their aerial position while attacking the rats, eventually leading Messenger to use his mental illusion abilities on the rats, turning them against each other by making them think that their fellow rodents were giant chunks of cheese.

Back at the high school, Black Volt managed to get the secretary to evacuate the building by setting off the fire alarm, allowing him and Diamant - once he had arrived - to have free access to the building. The two heroes began searching for the giant rats, eventually finding them in the boys' locker room attempting to open a locker. As each man took a different entrance, they began to attack, only to be eventually overpowered by the giant rats, trapped beneath their massive weight. With only one of the original four rats still conscious, the duo was aided by Fantasia (who left Messenger to clean up the mess at Hassid House).

Once free, Black Volt left to change back into Jack, who was being looked for by the fire department, while Diamant and Fantasia investigated the scene. Both they and Messenger found similar bags of half-eaten rice, grown and produced at a local farm, in the wreckages. Agreeing to get rid of the giant rats by drowning, Fantasia and Messenger set out to dispose of the bodies while Diamant took samples of the rice back to their headquarters for examination.

As Fantasia worked on getting word out to local businesses and authorities about the tainted rice, Diamant was contacted by Bode about the incident, who requested samples of both the rats and the rice for their own crime labs to examine. Likewise, a call had come in from Elastor and was answered by Hailstorm (who lived at the mansion while attending college - Sea Bolt had been kicked out of school for grades and gone home to Mexico). That duo had faced their own group of giant rats at the University of Louisiana - New Orleans (where both of them attended, though they didn't know of the commonality), with Hailstorm bringing back a batch of rice and a giant rat of her own.

(15.b) With Black Volt left behind to attend school, the rest of the group headed for the bayou farm where the rice was being produced. Under the guise of a potential investor, François Drébin (who finally revealed his secret identity to his teammates), Tazi Cristo and Jonathan Blake went to talk to the farm owners while Hailstorm and Elastor went to the fields to take some soil and water samples to compare to the chemicals found in the rice. Inside, the trio learned that the farmers had a visit from their nephew who worked for a scientist in Canada.

With a little bit of work, the group deduces that the nephew probably had the chemical either on his clothes or in his stuff. Because the farm works with complete recycling, the water used to wash the clothes was also circulated out to the crops. When Hailstorm realized that the chemical compound was built to alter DNA, Diamant put two and two together and remembered a report saying that Madame Y was located in Canada. Realizing that this was a bit out of their ballpark, Diamant called Dwight Jones and relayed the details of the case to him. He, in turn, referred to another on-going case on her being pursued by Osprey of Huron City and promiced to pass along the information.

(16) While walking to an afternoon hockey practice after class, Jack Lucas was with his friend Rob when he confided that he was receiving pressure to take some form of enhancement supplement, called O.J. and Tang, as part of the school baseball team. Jack told his friend that, no matter what the reason, it was dangerous to tamper with steroids. When Rob said that the coach was also telling him to take the supplement or get kicked off the team, Jack asked to take a sample to a friend and see what it was.

That evening, he met with Diamant, who ran tests on the sample and concluded that it was a diluted version of the Juice: the superhuman-creating drug that also killed its user. Diamant asked Jack to follow up on the matter, trying to find out where the drug was coming from.

The next day during study hall, Jack went to the coach to ask how to get his hands on some Tang in order to increase his performance during hockey; that his friend Rob had mentioned it to him. The coach asked him to come to his office after school, where he had four of the baseball players waiting to introduce their bats to Jack. Trying very hard to not exhibit his powers, the teen hero managed to slide past the athletes and lock them in the office by frying the lock.

Changing into his Black Volt persona, he watched from the shadows as baseball practice was canceled and the coach and his four players piled into a school van. Following them, he quickly realized that they were headed towards Rob's house (who he had told to skip practice) and cut the van off. When three of the players once again came at him, Black Volt was able to use his Amp Blast to knock them all out in a single spread, then went to the van before the fourth was able to overdose on Tang. After confronting the coach, the man finally surrendered.

As Diamant and Strikeforce arrived on the scene, François recognized the coach as the relative of a member of his staff at Drébin Technologies. Diamant confronted the coach with the identity of his brother, who had been put in charge of analyzing the Juice obtained by Force d'Orleans (see episode 8). Once confirmed, François went to his company, found the proof that the drug was being produced there and had the police present to arrest him the next morning.

(17) (Co-GMed by Kenn Hallaron) * The Great Darkness Saga crossover * Responding to a 911 report of a murder committed by a monster, Lt. Bianca Fornier made the command decision to call on Force d'Orleans to help in the investigation. Reaching Messenger at their headquarters, he in turn called in the team to respond. Being the first to arrive, he began flirting with the Strikeforce second-in-command until movement in the wooded park nearby drew his attention. Flying out to investigate, he found a shadowbeast. After a brief tussle, Messenger sent it flying into the open, where Fantasia opened fire …. literally.

Once Diamant and Elastor arrived on the scene, they quickly learned that the beast had come from the apartments they were located in front of when three more burst through the top-story window. Diamant managed to capture one of them with his entanglement beam crystal while Messenger and Fantasia took care of the other two. When a fourth emerged from the room, Diamant had Elastor carry him up to the apartment to investigate where they found a barely-dressed woman cornered by an open portal. While they tried to encourage her to be calm, she insisted that she hadn't meant to open it.

Meanwhile, outside, Nova and Sean Remington, reservist members of the Champions of Justice, were in route to investigate a report of similar circumstances off the coast of Columbia when they spotted the situation in New Orleans, which led Nova to detour down. Upon her arrival, she dispatched the last beast as Fornier welcomed her and Diamant called down for Messenger to give them a hand upstairs. Nova headed up followed by Messenger, leaving Fantasia and Fornier to discover that Gator of the American Rangers was lurking in the shadows.

Upstairs, Messenger arrived and started acting forceful, which led the young woman to use her darkness-manipulation powers to shove him back out the window. He responded to this by blasting her through the bathroom wall and ticking her off. Diamant ordered Elastor to block the portal while he used his entanglement beam on the girl. As Elastor was clawed at from inside the portal, the girl opened another one inside her energy casing, escaping the room. A scream from outside drew Nova's attention back out while Fantasia came upstairs and Elastor stretched his arms inside trying to grab the beast, only to be blasted backward by explosive fire coming from both portals. This led Messenger to find fire extinguishers while Diamant tended to their fallen comrade and the team working together to evacuate the building and put out the flames.

Back outside, Fornier and Gator heard the scream and saw yet another beast flying around behind the building. Heading toward the new problem, they were joined by Nova and saw the back area of the building on fire and the young woman making a run for it into the park. While Nova tended to the injured bystanders and dispatching the new beast, Gator and Fornier chased after the woman, who proceeded to blast Fornier when they got within reach. Gator then grabbed her and began to squeeze as the woman once again tried to teleport, taking him with her into the bayou.

Once the flames were out inside the building, Force d'Orleans exited the building and continued their firefighting efforts outside while Nova put information gathered by the other Champions of Justice into action and began using her solar powers to close the various portals and kill any emerging beasties. With the help of Force d'Orleans and Lt. Fornier, they also tracked down the new holes opened by the teleporting girl, but were unable to find either her or Gator. The murder case closed and the immediate threat taken care of, Fornier thanks all of the heroes involved for their help and begins organizing the various relief efforts for the area. Nova leaves to meet up with her teammates as Diamant accompanies her, Fantasia and Elastor return to their daily activities and Messenger attempts to impress Fornier (once again) by sticking around to help.

(In The Interum) Since the completion of the Great Darkness Saga, several developments occurred within the city of New Orleans:

With the capture and conviction of Papa Boulet and his sergeants, a power vacuum within the city's underworld community has opened, with other criminal organizations attempting to fill the void. In addition to rumors of crime families from Detroit, Fort Bernard, St. Louis, Houston and Los Angeles moving to town, crimes such as drug and weapon trafficking, extortion and petty theft have been on a steady climb. Gang activity has also been on the rise, with other groups forming and challenging les Crânes for territory. On a personal level, Jack (Black Volt) Lucas has been noticing a rise of new gang colors with the start of the new school year.

Tensions within the city are also on the rise thanks to the ongoing Quebec Separation Movement that has the heavily French parts of Canada trying to attain independent rule. Thanks to their connection to their French heritage, grumbling has also been heard from some members of the New Orleans community supporting the Separatists, leading to political disputes throughout many parts of the city. Protests against American actions and other political aspects occur on a regular basis.

All of this paled in comparison to the news of a hurricane approaching the city limits. Fortunately, however, several members of the superhuman community stepped in to intervene. Druid of San Francisco, le Tempêt of East Africa, Roadwalker (under close watch of visiting Florida Strikeforce officer - and former fellow Brotherhood of Freedom member - Shadow Dancer) and Hailstorm, now working with the American Rangers, were brought in to work on spreading the storm's energy and weakening the storm. Meanwhile Turbo of the Champions of Justice, Critical Velocity of the American Rangers, and Torpedo of the D.C. Defenders worked to redirect the winds. The Force d'Orleans team also stayed busy, aiding the local authorities with looters and other crime caused by the impending disaster. In the end, the worst of the storm weakened down to a category two tropical storm and a lot of the water saturated clouds spread up the country to bring rain to areas that were suffering from drought.

The area of New Orleans that received the worse amount of damage was the University of Louisiana - New Orleans campus where Hailstorm, Elastor and Sea Bolt had all attended school. Thanks to the damage done to the school, Elastor was forced to relocate to continue his education. Likewise, after running scenarios on the amount of damage that could have been caused by the storm, the U.S. government has ordered massive reconstruction efforts for the city to minimize the "bowl" effect that has formed over the previous century. On a personal level, the damage done to the University has sparked nightmares for Jonathan (Messenger) Blake of personal loss and a sense of longing; as if he had lost his second home and a loved one.

(18) In the city of St. Louis, the Gateway Guardians have dealt with the Ruspovik crime family since they moved their activities from Mother Russia to the United States. As such, they were the first ones to learn about the drugs-for-guns exchange that was set to take place in New Orleans after questioning one of the low-level mobsters. Without any specific details, Micron was chosen to go, covertly hooking up with the mobsters contact: a teenager in the newly-formed "Hole In The Wall" gang, primarily known on the street as the Wallers.

A short time later, Jack Lucas was at school when he overheard some members of another local street gang, the Rulers, talking about an exchange going down at the pier. Taking that information back to Diamant, the leader of Force d'Orleans decided that the two of them would investigate the situation while Messenger continued with repairs at the university and Fantasia took her turn on patrol. When the duo arrived, however, they observed a meeting between the Rulers and the Wallers, with each gang being escorted by superhuman hired muscle.

Calling in the rest of the team, Diamant used his new flight crystal to do a fly-over. Unfortunately for him, Renegade was able to spot him, ruining most of the surprise. As Ice Blossom fired on him, Messenger flew in across the water and rose up next to the dock just in time to one-punch the ice-slinger before being knocked into the gulf by a Mammoth-thrown Renegade. Fantasia also arrived on the scene in time to have Battle Mistress jump on her back and begin siphoning off her strength. All of this caused the Wallers to take off running, leading Micron to abandon his ride and fly back to join Diamant in stopping the Rulers from using the weapons they were preparing to trade.

Black Volt traded attacks with Mammoth as Fantasia struggled with Battle Mistress until Messenger returned and plowed through the large strongman and a Micronic Wedgie was applied to the thong-wearing villainess. This freed Fantasia up to use her smoke breath to put the Rulers in the dark while Messenger flew ahead of the Wallers and removed the dock in front of them. Once all of the other mercs out of action, everyone attempted to dogpile on Renegade, with Micron fishing him out of the water when he tried to make an escape.

Once Captain Bode and Strikeforce arrived on the scene, the prisoners were handed over and pleasantries were exchanged, allowing Force d'Orleans to learn that the guns-for-drugs trade was the beginning of a possible alliance between the Ruspovik and Caparetta clans, who are obviously taking a page from Boulet's playbook in using street gangs as runners for their criminal activities.

(19) It was a quite weekday afternoon at Drébin Industries. Tazi was in François' office, while a young man named Hamilton Mulligan was finishing a job interview, applying to work in the company's cafeteria. Suddenly, the windows in the foyer were blown in, allowing entrance for the Rainbow Warriors. They were once again searching for the missing gems, choosing to check out the company that had assigned a survey team to the area in which they were lost (see Episode #5). Realizing that there was trouble downstairs, Diamant and Fantasia exited the building using his secret exit, calling in Messenger and Black Volt as backup.

By the time Diamant and Fantasia had circled the building, they found Mulligan already involved in the fight, protecting the HR worker and the people in the foyer. The heroes quickly joined the fray. While the Rainbow Warriors had the numerical advantage, the heroes quickly turned the tables and took the advantage. Within moments, the heroes had managed to diminish their numbers down to Green Gnome, who was taken down by a telepathic blast from Ham. As the shrunken hero lost consciousness, Ham learned that the villains were acting under orders from President Andrew Mahn.

When the young man questioned what the heroes had done to draw the attention of the United States government, Force d'Orleans were forced to question what was going on. The villains were less than cooperative until the heroes promised the protection of the RADKE detention facility where the villains thought they may be safe from Mahn's reach. They revealed that they were working for the President of the United States, implying that there was far more to the man than what the public knew.

Realizing that they were probably in a bit over their head, Diamant placed a call to Dwight Jones to ask for advice.

(20.a) A few days after the Rainbow Warriors encounter, François Drébin was back in his office, dealing with various bits from the battle, including checking with his Human Resources department to learn the identity of the young man that had helped them during the battle. Learning Ham Mulligan's name and address, Frank proceeded to offer the young man a job and prepared to meet him afterward in his heroic guise with Fantasia. As the two were ready to leave, however, they received a phone call from the mansion, stating that Jonathan Blake was there inquiring about Jonathan Blake. Knowing Messenger's history of amnesia, the two asked for him to wait until they arrived.

Before proceeding to the mansion, the two waited for Ham at his bus stop, offering the young man a position on the team and asking him to accompany them back to the mansion as they investigated another situation. They had him at the mention of getting paid.

Once the trio arrived at the mansion and Ham was being given a tour, Diamant and Fantasia met Professor Jonathan Blake of Fort Boston University. He was investigating what he believed to be a case of identity theft resulting in Messenger applying for identification in this dimension. Learning that he had an extra-dimensional doppelganger, however, was not part of his plan. This sparked Diamant to try and contact Messenger, who was out wandering, apparently with his communicator shut off. They then got in touch with the former Legion of Champion Doctor Tesseract (through the CoJer Osprey), whom Diamant had met during the Great Darkness Saga.

Upon the Doctor's arrival, he examined Professor Blake, who was interested in the various differences he had with his "twin." After discussions about what could cause such differences to occur, the group decided to call it an evening, in hopes of contacting Messenger the next day and work towards a resolution of the situation.

(20.b) (Co-written by Kenn Hallaron) The next morning, Messenger returned to the mansion and was greeted by Diamant, who in turn introduced him to Doctor Tesseract. Ham, who was also on hand, talking with the doctor about parallel worlds, was quickly exposed to Messenger's warming personality before Professor Jon Blake was called in and introduced to his parallel world doppelganger. While Blake was stunned by his twin, Messenger concentrated more on the idea of getting back to his home dimension.

Doctor Tesseract sat down with Messenger and asked him to describe as much as he could, with his only partially restored memory, of his native world. He could remember that his uniform was supposed to be more patriotic than it was. This led to the conclusion that on his Earth, his country's flag was red, white and green. It seemed to him that New Orleans was too small, and didn't seem to hold the same cultural import to the nation. Professor Jon Blake then theorized that if New Orleans was the largest city and major port in the U.S. that, on Messenger's world, shipping goods to and from Central and South America had been a major industry for a long time, suggesting closer ties to Portugal and Spain in the U.S.'s early history. Diamant suggested that Messenger's attitudes often made it seem as if that he thought he'd be better suited serving with a team like the Champions of Justice - watching for global threats. From there it was suggested that the reason Messenger hadn't sought that out was that on his Earth he had perhaps founded a team that filled that need.

With this information in hand, Doctor Tesseract returned to his home in Great Britain. He then spent the next several hours using his equipment to locate Messenger's world. During this time Jonathan Blake got to better know the Jon Blake of this Earth. The problem Tesseract then faced was that, while his equipment allows him to travel through extra dimensional space (such as the fourth dimension that gives him his name), this is simpler that traversing the realms that separate alternate Earths.

He brought the equipment he could back to New Orleans, to Maison de Force. He set-up what he could to show Messenger and the others that he had indeed found what could be Messenger's world, but he lacked the energy source needed to super charge his cross-dimensional gate, and that he couldn't be 100% sure it was the right Earth. It was Jon Blake, having learned how his counterpart had kept his powers while on Earth, who suggested that Messenger's amulet might provide the energy. Diamant suggested that since the amulet was still in direct contact with the original meteorite, passing energy through that this link could be followed. This was attempted, and indeed it worked, as a rift was opened between the two dimensions.

As the rift opened, Messenger realized that the amulet needed to stay behind to power the machine and decided that this world needed a Messenger. He asked Professor Blake to keep it and "continue the mission," knowing that he had the original asteroid back home and therefore could harvest another shard. Then, as he entered the rift, his memories returned, depositing him into the arms of his wife and team in his own dimension.

(21) As the National Hockey League entered play-offs, François Drébin saw the opportunity to treat his young protégé, Jack Lucas, to the fourth Western Conference play-off game between the Dallas Stars and the home team Nashville Predators. Flying Jack and his father out in a private helicopter, Frank got glass-side seats for the three of them, enabling them to enjoy the game until a disturbance drew their attention away.

At the precise moment an excellent fight broke out on the ice, the trained ears of the two heroes caught the distinctive sound of gunfire. With Frank excusing himself for a "business meeting" and Jack headed for the bathroom, Black Volt and Diamant were soon on the scene. Volt was the first to encounter three members of The Oddballs - Manifest Density, In-Forcer and the Weird - and decided to try the big guy first. He was pleasantly surprised to see the effectiveness of his electrical blasts on Density, but was quickly retaliated against by the other two. Diamant drew their attention long enough for the boy to recover, but things were looking bad when they both found themselves face down with the Oddballs walking away with the money. The duo quickly regained their senses thanks to Diamant's healing rays, working together to double-team the Weird before moving on to In-Forcer. Using teamwork and an occasional electric punch to keep Density off-balance, the two took down the trio and took them to the local authorities.

While Black Volt questioned his teammate's timely arrival, Diamant excused it with a business meeting and set the boy back to his father. Arriving in time to see the winning goal, Jack and his father eventually reunited with Frank at a restaurant before returning back to New Orleans.

(22) With Fantasia out of town on vacation with her family, Force d'Orleans found themselves shorthanded when a call for assistance came in from the local Strikeforce team at 3 AM. Getting the call patched to him at home, Bode asks Diamant to bring the team to New Orleans classic Cabildo museum. Dispatching Black Volt and Ham Mulligan, the team leader was the first to arrive on the scene, encountering a cloven-hoofed speedster and a armor-legged man throwing fireballs. Meanwhile, Volt and Ham ran into a third creature fleeing the scene, carrying a small steel trunk covered with odd runes. As Ham began working the man over, Volt snuck in and retrieved the artifact.

Back at the museum, Diamant was grabbed in the air by the speedster, but drained the man of most of his enhanced strength in the process. Once he was able to shrug the attacker off, the speedster took off, followed closely by the newly arrived Ham. This gave Diamant and Black Volt the chance to focus on the flamethrower, hitting him with their "green thunder punch" attack. Ham was able to overtake the last bad guy, catching him and bringing him back for questioning.

While the villain wouldn't talk, the trio learned that the box was the only thing taken and that it had originally surfaced in Berlin. Relying on his impressive memory, Diamant remembered some minor media coverage of the Thunder Twins dealing with odd ruins and cultism, leading him and Ham to research the Follower of Germanicus on HeroNet.

(23) A few days later, Jack Lucas is at school when he witnesses a drug deal going down in the hallway. Realizing that he has time to spare thanks to an extended study hall, he follows the dealer out of the building and toward the "bad part of town." Seeing Jack leave the school, the truancy officer also follows to see what's going on. When the drug dealer meets up with a group of gangbangers to do an exchange, the officer calls in the police, which alerts the punks thanks to a police scanner. Realizing that he should probably get some backup, Jack calls in Diamant before going to change into his costume. The officer takes to the skies, changing into Blackfire on a nearby roof.

Diamant contacts Ham, who uses his speed to be the first hero on the scene. Upon seeing him (and specifically, his use of super powers), the gangbangers call in backup. As Diamant arrives and Black Volt and Blackfire return from changing, a vortex opens, expelling Stretchon, Titaneron and Leopard. As the heroes get ready to engage, Blackfire accidentally hit Ham with a blast of cold flame, stunning the urban hero. Black Volt follows soon after at the hands of Titaneron, who was nervous about the potential damage of the electric-wielder. He then used the teen as a projectile against Diamant, who took the opportunity to make a strategic withdrawal for a few seconds.

Upon his return, Diamant found Ham and Blackfire facing off against Titaneron and Strechon, with Leopard leaning against the wall with uncharacteristic calm. As the heroes continued to whittle away at the mercenaries defenses, the villains realized that they had completed their task and called Spectre for another portal. As the mercs began to leave, Ham threw one last punch, knocking Titaneron out and capturing him. Diamant stops Black Volt from pursuing the bad guys through the portal and questions Blackfire, notably not offering him membership but telling the newcomer that they'd be keeping an eye on him.

After giving Ham the rest of the day off, François returns to his office to find his lawyers waiting for him. They inform him that they have discovered his long-lost uncle in Las Vegas. After he had disappeared during the 1960's, François's father moved to New Orleans, built the family fortune and named his son after his long-lost brother. It was decided that a family reunion should be arranged.

(24) (Guest GMed by Kenn Hallaron) After receiving a report of a creature terrorizing an area of the bayou, a Strikeforce team led by Lieutenant Bianca Fornier was sent out to investigate. Sixteen hours later, Captain Maurice Bodé feared the worse and prepared to call in the Force d'Orleans for assistance. Meanwhile, François Drébin was on the morning-side of his date when his consort received a call from the New Orleans Police Department, informing her that her brother, and officer within the Strikeforce branch, was currently MIA. Asking Frank for whatever aide he could provide, he was surprised to receive a call from Captain Bodé.

Across town, Jack Lucas was sitting in a studio with his parents, watching a pre-recording of Tom Wayne's Marti Gras cooking show. Before the former Crusader could begin preparing his desert, however, he was interrupted by Alderman Tate (father of Drébin's current girlfriend), who was asking the hero to help find his son. He too was put in touch with Bodé and was asked to join up with the captain and Force d'Orleans at their headquarters. At the same time, Jack received the call from Diamant and was told to meet up with them as soon as he was dropped off at the mall by his parents.

Several minutes later, the quartet met at the Force Mansion and was joined by Ham Mulligan before setting out for the bayou. As they traversed the swampy marshes on airboats, Mr. Behemoth and Captain Bodé discussed the situation with Officer Clarence in Empire City, as well as other Crusader-linked occurrences. The conversation was interrupted, however, when the entourage came across a giant hand floating in the water. Upon recovery, the limb became animated, grabbing Behemoth by the neck. Pressured by his teammates to shoot, Black Volt hit Mr. Behemoth with a stunning bolt of energy, knocking the big man down for several seconds while the rest of the group struggled to contain the rapidly-regenerating creature. After several seconds of wrestling and shooting, the group was finally able to contain the freshly-grown monster and sent for a containment unit to be delivered by other Strikeforce personnel.

After Diamant and Behemoth worked together to create a homing signal from the Strikeforce communications system, the group restarted the hunt for the missing officers, coming across another of the creatures. Using their experience with the first one as a learning experience, they sprung into action. With Mr. Behemoth holding it in place, Diamant sapping its strength with his sapphire gem and Black Volt blasting it, the creature was quickly subdued and prepped for containment. Meanwhile, Ham had scouted ahead, finding yet another one that they took care of in mere seconds.

With the homing signal getting stronger, Diamant took to the air and spotted the group of officers, with Lieutenant Fornier holding an alligator at bay. With a flick of his turquoise tractor beam, Diamant sent the gator flying and was rewarded with a kiss from the attractive lieutenant. Calling in the rest of the group, the injured officers were loaded on the helicopters. Also loaded up were two more creatures found by Black Volt and Ham, having knocked each other out while brawling. It was agreed by all that the creatures should be sent to a research facility, choosing Behemoth's old employers (and the newest subsidiary of Drébin Technologies): Technological Improvements Now (T.I.N.).