The Night Rangers

Left-Right: Architect, Banish, Diffuse, Mind Storm, Puppet Mistress and Castle

The Night Rangers are team of Alpha Heroes that originally formed to deal with threats specifically against Alphas as a minority race of people. Whilst they were born out of hatred and classed very much as “anti heroes”, over time with the addition of new members and new ideas they have progressed and now fight all crime.
CLEA actually placed them on the watch list and do not consider them a viable special asset because whilst other “vigilantes” try to abide by the laws, traditionally the Night Rangers have ignored laws, believing it is necessary to compromise because their enemies do not think twice about bending the rules.

CLEA DATA FILE

Team Identities:

• Shane Wright – Mind Storm
• Robyn Taylor – Puppet Mistress
• Phillip Andreas – Banish
• Debbie Greenberg – Diffuse
• Prayut Wattana – Castle
• Alicia Knight – Architect
• Sky

CLEA Classification:

• Robot (Sky)
• Alpha Human (All other group members)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

• Alpha ability – (Mind Storm) Wright is a powerful psychic that can invade the minds of others and force them to do things against their will.
• Alpha ability – (Puppet Mistress) Taylor is an extremely powerful Alpha that can bring inanimate objects to life. The process involves some abstract imaginative thinking as she has to imagine how the object should move so that she can infuse it with “intelligence” so that the object can follow her orders. The actual objects physical properties do not change so something flimsy will remain flimsy and have limited movements. She has found novel ways around this problem and her favourite trick is to encase enemies in all over bodysuits and then animate the suits. The clothing thus has an internal skeleton and the victim cannot fight the movement of the clothing. On the occasions she has chosen not to animate clothing she uses her abilities on large or powerful objects such as vehicles or statues.
• Alpha ability – (Banish) Andreas, has the means to create portals than can transport him and others to any location. Usually it has to be a location he has physically visited although he can create a “blind” portal but this involves a great amount of risk as the exit terminus could appear in a solid object, below ground, up in the air etc.
• Alpha ability – (Diffuse) Greenberg has the means to convert most of her body to plasma energy. This energy can be wielded as a heat/electric weapon or used to levitate. At maximum output she can literally blast holes through thick concrete.
• Alpha ability – (Castle) Wattana is an alpha whose body can automatically adapt to most forms of attack. Adaptations only remain temporary and vary from skin becoming resilient to being able to breathe in a hazardous environment.
• Alpha ability – (Architect) Knight has an unusual “intuitive” mental related alpha ability. She can solve most problems by inventing items of equipment, almost without thinking. Just as a computer programmer can see a final solution by staring at a bunch of 1s and 0s, Alicia sees mechanics in the same way. Whilst able to design almost any technological object simply by thinking about her intuitive abilities allow her to look at other technology and create near duplicates albeit not exact copies. Her ability also allows her to crack codes and translate complex languages on the fly.
• Sky is a small drone robot that provides the team with aerial surveillance. It can also act as a sentry/guard dog and communicates with Alicia directly via a small communications chip mounted underneath the skin behind her left ear.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

• Each object Taylor brings to life only remains “alive” for around eight hours after which she has to “recharge” it.
• Wattana’s abiltiy cannot cope with two simultaneous but opposing threats such as fire and ice which can make him vulnerable.
• The Zeus Protectorate are highly motivated to “reacquire” the team and have considerable resources.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

• Robbery/Theft (Andreas)
• Kidnapping (Andreas)
• Infiltration and sabotage (Andreas)
• Assault and aggravated assault (various members)

Notes/History

Shane Wright was originally active in the first “era” or Alpha heroes. Once his gift had become active he had chosen to become a costumed adventurer due to his incredible psychic abilities. He fought crime under the guise of “Think Tank”. Such a person was not missed by Black Shadow, who considered him a threat along with all other Alpha Heroes so Alpha Strike was dispatched to eliminate him. Despite beating his senseless and throwing him off a building they did not succeed in killing him as the Alpha Hero “Speed King” (Jack Meyer – father of Peter Meyer/Striker) intervened and caught his falling body. However Shane’s injuries were so severe he ended up in a coma for nearly four years. Several time’s he even “died” but the doctors were able to save him although they doubted there would be anything left of the original Shane Wright even if he did wake up.

However against all odds, Shane pulled through and upon coming out the coma the doctors discovered that the head injuries he had sustained in the attempt on his life had changed his personality. He was more aggressive than he had been and suffered bouts of severe depression. In trying to recover and deal with this he ended up losing his girlfriend, his first love, who had stuck with him during the time he had been in hospital. She could not cope with his violent mood swings and her leaving nearly destroyed him.

Eventually he found a way to deal with his mental issues via focusing on a goal and that goal was revenge. However by this time the Alpha Heroes had gone into hiding and so had Alpha Strike. Realising that sinister forces were at work in the background and if the other heroes had gone or been killed then it was a threat too big for him to handle he settled down for as normal a life as he could handle. The need for revenge though remained embedded in his mind so when nearly two decades has passed and Team Zodiac “appeared” along with his hated enemy Alpha Strike the old anger resurfaced.

With Black Shadow gone Shane knew he knew he had the best advantage to settle the score with Alpha Strike since they no longer had any resources to back them up and they were currently lacking focus and liable to make mistakes. If he was going to get them then this was an ideal opportunity but common sense prevailed. Focussed or not alone he did not stand a chance, a fact proven the last time they had “met” and one against eight had not worked in his favour. Not wanting to allow Alpha Strike to have the opportunity to regain their confidence meant he that is he was going to find allies.

He first tried to recruit others into his cause from the new ranks of heroes now appearing but for what he had in mind none of them wanted to be a part of it. Realising the only people whom would go along with his extreme ideas would be others with a similar desire for revenge, meant his options were limited, so much so it took considerable longer to create his team, and the people he ended up working with came from backgrounds he had never anticipated when he began his journey.

In fact his quest to form a group of people that would join him took three years during which Alpha Strike recovered from the loss of Black Shadow and became very much stronger. Though he still wanted to get even with them, he knew that goal was impossible. However on his quest to find others to join him, Shane had learned that there were other sinister organisations that abused, hunted or otherwise treated Alphas like vermin and he felt that victims of those people might be just like him. Instead of creating a group which would simply even the score with Alpha Strike, he changed his motives. He was now going to create a group that would fight back against all those that thought they could so what they liked with Alphas.

The first of these “evil organisations” he had learned about was ARGO and in discovering them he learned of two of its victims, Quartz and Chrysalis. After managing to track them down he tried to get them to join him on his life’s mission to hunt those that hunted Alphas. The pair though were completely focused on ARGO, in much the same as he had been on Alpha Strike and were not interested in chasing down anyone but their hated enemy. The pair though did reveal they were not the first victims and would not be ARGO’s last and made Shane realise that if he could another one of ARGO’s “experiments” then that person might be receptive to his cause.

His plan took months of work and without much success. Either ARGO did not leave its victims alive of its victims were never aware they had been abused (which was in fact the true reason). Whether due to the fact he was following leads on ARGO or simply luck, Shane learned that the Independent Hero “Puppet Mistress” had vanished and suspected the rogue science group was responsible. Calling in every favour he had and intimidating everyone else he was able to obtain the location of their base. Using his new guise of “Mind Storm”, he raided the facility and rescued Robyn Taylor aka Puppet Mistress. After allowing her time to recover he proposed his idea of forming a team to go after people that abused Alphas. Unlike Quartz and Chrysalis, she was more receptive and accepted his offer.

Shane though knew that alone they were not exactly the most powerful team out there. He still needed others and having dealt a blow to ARGO by stealing Robyn from them he was able to turn his attention to other research he had put on one side.

One organisation that had cropped up more than once was the “The Protectorate”. Shane was aware they imprisoned Alphas and held them captive to prevent such people harming innocents, either by accident or deliberately. Shane figured if he could liberate some of their captives then he might get an “instant” team. However upon further investigation he learned the prison facility was impenetrable and he had no choice but to abandon the idea. Once more he returned to his research.

Things changed regarding the Protectorate when the Alpha Criminal known as Banish found them. He had caused trouble with a quite a few hero groups in the past and Shane had no reason to trust him until Banish explained that he had grown tired of life on the run, having to keep watching his back against CLEA, hero groups and of course rival criminals. Also since ARGO had captured him and forced him to do their bidding he wanted the opportunity of some payback. Banish also figured if he was seen trying to reform then perhaps the hero groups at least might leave him alone.

Though unsure about allowing a criminal into their group Robyn reasoned they could use his talents. Shane eventually agreed to it because he saw a chance of using Banish to get into Protectorate’s Prime facility. Knowing if they raided a facility it could only be done once as the organisation had unlimited resources and would thus be able to prevent a second attempt, Shane planned one raid in which he hoped to liberate as many captives as possible.

Using a boat to get close to the island, Shane thought they could surprise the guards. However the Protectorate were too well organised and once they got into the facility its became evident that they had limited time before they were stopped. Shane and the others established a beachhead whilst Banish entered the secure units cells and began forming portals to allow the occupants to escape. With each portal created Banish grew weaker and it took longer for him to recover resulting in the group being forced to retreat deeper into the facility to avoid getting taken out by the shock pellets that the gaurds were shooting at them.

Eventually the group ended up being corralled in the area where there were prisoners in cryogenic sleep. The trio barricaded the door and Banish warned Shane that he reckoned he had one more opportunity to use his Alpha abilties before he was spent. Shane was not happy with the idea of leaving behind a group of frozen captives but dragging the cryounits through a portal was not going to be possible. Banish suggested that perhaps they could rescue some and not all and with that he opened up a large portal in the floor. Gravity finished the job and the trio fell through the floor and then emerged at an exit apertures somewhere near the boat along with three cryo units that had fell with them.

With guards mobilising on the island the trio and the other people they had helped to escape got the pods on the boat and they raced away from the shore. The guards though were not going to give in so easily and gave chase in fast attack vessels so Banish did they unthinkable and opened a portal in front of the boat whereupon it and a large amount of ocean water emerged in an abandoned warehouse he had once used as a hideout. The strain of making a portal of that size when he had already reached burnout levels with his abilities nearly killed him and he collapsed into a coma which lasted for nearly a week afterwards. Consequently he was not awake when Shane started bringing the three “prisoners” out of cryosleep.

Though disappointed he had not rescued more Shane was pleased he had not left empty handed and once the pods were finally opened he learned he had snatched Alicia Knight, Prayut Wattana and Debbie Greenburg (later known as Architect, Castle and Diffuse respectively). As with Robyn, all three were angry at what had been done to them wanted to join Shane on his cause.

The other “escapees” who had enjoyed some freedom on the island, though grateful were not so inclined to join Shane. They simply wanted to resume their old lives or go into hiding to avoid the Protectorate coming after them again (although some would later change their minds, albeit they did not choose to join Shane’s group).

With a team at his disposal Shane began his war on those that dared to treat Alphas as vermin. Six angry Alphas meant their methods were far from what most people regarded as heroic and their penchant for violence led to CLEA regarding them as terrorists. Anyone that got in their way regretted ever crossing their path but eventually the brutality faded, although their habits of ignoring laws would never stop. When the team were finally seen to start going after “normal” criminals CLEA decided to downgrade their status as a threat to world security.

During their early years together the team gained two new members in the form of highly advanced robots. These were Alicia’s creations and the first of these robots was Centurion, a powerful spear wielding warrior that rudimentary resembled a roman Centurion. The second she created some time after seeing C.L.A.R.A. during a mission. Bearing a passing resemblance to metal clad hero, the main difference between Alicia’s creation and CLARA was the new member of the Night Rangers was a true robot as opposed to a cyborg. Unfortunately the female robot had a problem in that its systems were so complex and advanced compared to Centurion that her battery life was somewhat limited. Alicia therefore decided to keep with her historic warrior theme and build a robotic horse (which she later named “Mercury”) which could house an external generator for “Tech Knight” (which she named the female robot). When riding Mercury, Tech Knight could recharge and thus the problem of lack of power was not an issue. Though she did not have a huge ego she could not help choosing the name Tech Knight knowing part of her creation had her surname incorporated in its designation.

To both humanoid robots she gave them personalities based on different combinations of brain patterns copied from other team members, Centurion from the male members and Tech Knight from the female members. The two automatons then served with the group for a short until they decided to assert their individuality and decided to fight crime on a wider scale as opposed to concentrating on crime against Alphas (this being in the time before the team decided to hunt ordinary criminals). Having become sentient the rest of the Night Rangers could not stop the pair from leaving as to deny them the right to choose their destiny would undermine the foundation they had had built the team on, namely fighting those that abused the rights of others.

Having parted on good terms the pair would return periodically to Alicia in order that she might provide them with upgrades or “fix” a problem but they were no longer classed as permanent members. With Centurion and Tech Knight gone, Alicia built third robot this time a small drone she called “Sky”. It too was given sentience but chose to remain with its creator.

Being able to design very technical apparatus without actually thinking eventually became an interest to the Knight’s Forge and they sought to recruit her. Alicia though would not abandon the people she regarded as friends and leave them a person short. Shane though convinced her that they could manage for short periods without her if she wanted to work for the Forge. She therefore accepted a part time role at the Knight’s Forge and now spends her time flitting between them and the Night Rangers.

Save