The Phoenix Alliance

Left to Right: Digitise, Striker, Miss Fusion, G-Wiz, Foresight, Longfellow, Firewall, Longbow

The Phoenix Alliance is one of the most formidable teams of costumed adventurers. Originally based in Pacifica the group moved to Europa after identifying that the mega city, and Europe in general had a lack of home based crime fighting teams.

Unlike other teams which tend to have a fixed “membership” the Phoenix Alliance is open for anyone to join and they can leave at any time. It was created as a means to allow the normally lone heroes to fight for a common cause and have the benefit of mutual protection.

Apart from what is considered the core group of eight members, which it maintains for stability the team frequently gains new members temporary members which may stay for the duration of a mission or for months at a time. Frequently new members are found when the Alliance is approached by a “hero” who has happened across a situation that is too big for them to deal with. Normally if those “temporary” members gel with the rest of the group they will be given the opportunity to become reserve members of the Phoenix Alliance.

Reservists are quite important for the team as they allow for “specialists” teams to be formed for specific villains they are attempting to bring to justice. Being able to continually shift their strengths in this manner has seen the work of the Phoenix Alliance spread worldwide gaining them a reputation that have surpassed Team Zodiac in public opinion.

CLEA DATA FILE

Team Identities:

(Core Team)

• Gary Wynter- G-Wiz (leader)
• Robert Chatwood – Longfellow
• Calvin Walker – Firewall
• Peter Meyer – Striker (Founder)
• Jillian Leigh – Foresight (Co-leader)
• Donna Slater – Digitise
• Hannah Gibson – Longbow
• Katya Pavlovna – Miss Fusion
• Selina Allard – Amphritite

Amphrititie and Digitise

(Reservists)

• Catalyst
• Substitute
• Lady Luck
• Discus*
• Stardisc*
• Boost
• Vox
• Lifeforce
• Endurance
• Centurion**
• Tech Knight**
• Backfire
• Trapper
• Rebound

* Due to the similarity in abilities one of this pair is normally permanently active on the team but not both at the same time.
** Due to the similarity in abilities one of this pair is normally permanently active on the team but not both at the same time.

CLEA Classification (Core Team):

• Tech Augmented Human – Wynter
• Alpha Superior (except Wynter and Pavlovna)
• Alpha+ Superior – Pavlovna
• Genetically modified human –

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

• Wynter (G-Wiz) is an inventor who has created a number of micro gadgets hidden in his clothing that creates the illusion of magical abilities. He uses various “techno staffs” as his primary weapon.
• Alpha ability – (Longfellow) Chatwood can stretch many of his “primary” limbs (neck, legs, arms and torso). As the stretching is always linear in accordance with his bone structure he is not totally malleable unlike “Flex”.
• Alpha ability – (Firewall) Walker possesses a permanently active ability which cause his molecules to be in a state of excitement so he can pass through solid objects. When he adds extra energy he can create intense waves/blasts of heat and if pushed further explosion result. His special suit is needed to neutralise his “excited” energy state and thus allow him to take on a solid human form.
• Alpha ability – (Striker) Meyer can block/disable other psychic abilities by using a mind weapon he refers to as a “psychic sword”. Hitting an ordinary person with this “intangible” weapon can totally disrupt their nervous system and shut them down without causing them physical harm or long term ill effects. He also has telepathic abilities and can read the thoughts of others but not directly manipulate them.
• Alpha ability – (Foresight) Leigh’s ability gives her a form of intuition that allows her to see “patterns” in almost every situation which involve human minds and successfully predict the continuation. She uses this primarily to foresee an enemy combatant’s moves and defeat them.
• Alpha ability – (Digitise) Slater can convert her body to a data stream and “transmit” herself over conductive surfaces. Also allows her to disable electrical systems.
• Alpha ability – (Longbow) Gibson has Infrared, UV and X-ray vision. This allows her to “see” a hidden enemy.
  Gibson is highly skilled with a carbon longbow. She prefers this over other weapons due to its stealthy capabilities as it has no sound or flash.
• Alpha ability- (Miss Fusion) Pavlona is described as a living star. She can emit radiation across the EM spectrum, absorb mass from the surrounding environment, create intense gravitational waves emit blinding light and heat blasts. Since she can generate her own gravity she can levitate and fly. Lastly in extreme situations she can expel energy by rapidly shedding mass and going nova. She is considered by many to be one of the most powerful Alphas.
• Super Strength and Resilience – Allards genetic adaptation to survive on the ocean floor means her body at sea level and higher is extremely tough, enough to deflect bullets and this also gives her a massive increase in strength.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

• Walker has to wear a special suit to bring his molecules together so he can function like a normal human without ghosting through everything. The suit allow him to control is intangibility to a fine degree but without it he cannot cause any physical harm (he can however still explode etc.)
• Pavlova emits hazardous radiation almost permanently even when not purposely using her Alpha ability. At close range she can burn ordinary people unintentionally so she has to wear a suit when in public which helps keep her “natural” emissions within safe limits by reflecting radiation inwards. The suit functions like a filter so all the other effects of her Alpha ability operate unhindered. She can only leave the suit when she enters a special bunker room at the Alliance HQ.
• Allard cannot survive without her suit at anything about 100 feet below sea level.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

• N/A

Notes/History

Considered to be the brainchild of Peter Meyer, better known as Striker the Phoenix Alliance originally started out as the Guardian Alliance. Since deciding to put his Alpha abilities to use as a costumed crime fighter in Pacifica, Peter first began operating as a lone hero. As he believed his personality did not allow him to “play well” with others the choice suited him, that was until he began encountering criminals which could defend against his Alpha ability.
During those incidents Peter felt he could have used some additional help which is why he had concluded that others had got past similar problems by forming teams or partnerships. Peter though considered such alliances where too rigid. From what he had witnessed each team and partnership always had a weakness that could be exploited so whilst a team could be formed to deal with a specific threat there was always a chance that a different threat could defeat them, much the same problem as he had experienced as a lone hero.

After a great deal of thought he arrived at a logical conclusion that the only way to deal with every threat was to have a team that could deal with every threat. He knew that was of course was unworkable so his solution was to create a team whose membership was not fixed but was fluid. For this to work effectively the team would still need a certain number of core members but depending on the nature of the threat others would be drafted in, rather like specialists called in to deal with engineering problems. By swapping the various team members around Peter envisioned that is done correctly his team would theoretically have no weaknesses. Thus the Guardian Alliance was formed.

Bringing his idea to fruition though took a long time as the just finding the core members was problematic. He theorised that heroes from other teams would not be likely to join as it would mean breaking one team to create another so Peter was left with trying to recruit from the loners. Since like him they preferred to work alone, Peter had to do an awful lot of convincing but eighteen months of hard work finally rewarded Peter with what he believed would be the ideal core members of the team.

As well as himself these included Abyss, Mist, Digitise, Zero, Pitbull and Thunderchild, with Lady Luck and Discus adding themselves as “reserve” specialists. Whether it was over confidence or arrogance in the fact that he had created what he thought was the most powerful heroic team ever, Peter decided that the Guardian Alliance’s first mission was to go after the extremely powerful Alpha known as Monarch.

Having never worked as a team before this proved to be a mistake. The plan was simple. Since he was the only one with psychic abilities Striker (Peter) wanted the others to flush her out of hiding and then distract Monarch at which point he intended to disable her.

What he did not take into account was that the others had never agreed to him being their leader and choose to act unilaterally. On the night of the mission the team managed to contain Monarch in an abandoned industrial complex but before Striker could disable her, Abyss got impatient and decided to go after her alone. Without the support of a psychic Monarch easily took hold of Abyss’s mind and then used him as bait to draw out the rest of the Guardian Alliance. One by one Monarch took control of the other team members and then used these thralls to bring the remainder of the Alliance to her where she planned to seize control of their minds. Striker only realised what was happening when it was too late. By then Monarch had “control” of everyone except him and Digitise. The latter though had been caught by the members of his team that had been turned and looked to be destined for the same fate. Acutely aware he could not stop Monarch now she had the others under her control Peter was left with only one option, save Digitise.

Intercepting Zero and Pitbull as they dragged an unconscious Digitise back to Monarch, Striker disabled both with his psychic sword and then threw her prone body over his shoulder and made a hasty retreat. With Striker and Digitise gone, Monarch decided to finish off programming the minds of her latest thralls and sent them out in the world to destroy anyone that was a threat to her. They became Chaos and in a true sense of irony with his new programming Abyss became even more powerful than Monarch and eventually forced her to become his servant.

Defeated and having lost everything he had created Peter made contact with Lady Luck and Discus (Paul Smith) and informed them of what had happened and then announced he would be disbanding the Guardian Alliance. What he did not expect was the other two and Digitise to argue against the decision. Though she had been hurt in the battle Digitise felt that they could still make a difference. Peter though wanted no more to do with the Guardian Alliance and left the shattered remains with the other three.
The trio then set about rebuilding the team from scratch and within six months were operational again. Without Peter at the helm Discus became the new team leader and to emphasise the fact that even if they were defeated the team would rise again from the remains the name was changed from the Guardian Alliance to the Phoenix Alliance. For a few years Discus, Lady Luck and Digitise kept the team together and even managed to enrol new members. However Smith had heard his sister had broken out of prison and was on the run. He figured he had to be the one to bring her in and so elected to hand control over to Christina and temporarily left the Alliance.

With Paul gone the lack of money and resources really began to bite even with the help from new members. It was then that they received a contact from the other side of the world, England, by Gary Wynter. He was just setting out on his journey as a costumed adventurer and had heard about the Phoenix Alliance. He suggested that he and the team relocate to Europa which was bigger than Pacifica and had a lack of “amateur crime fighters”, and in return they would receive all the money and resources they needed.

Though moving was not an ideal solution the trio soon reached the conclusion that without Gary they were dead in the water and so agreed to go to Europa if it meant keeping the Alliance going.The purpose of the visit was to see what Mr Wynter had to offer.

There were not disappointed. Having made his fortune from designing advanced tech, he had more money than he knew what to do with, and just as much free time. His companies tended to run themselves, which is why the inventor had chosen to become the costumed adventurer “G-Wiz” which meant the “Gadget Wizard” since his suits created the effects of magic through miniaturised tech.

After their initial meeting, Gary took the trio to an area outside Europa where there was a large mansion and acres of land. He proposed buying the House and the grounds and turning it into a HQ. Though the buildings were in a state of disrepair, Gary was a visionary and had a number of ideas. He proposed simply restoring the main house and using its many rooms  to cater for Alliance members, believing that if they had to live together or even have reservists over to stay then they deserved some level of stress free comfort. Away the the house he had already drawn up plans to build a large underground complex,  to be equipped with support facilities such as labs, fabrication areas and storage.

The trio were impressed with Wynter’s ideas and decided to go along with everything. It did take some time before all the work was completed and finally up and running. By then new members had seen the core group grow in size until it finally consisted of  Lady Luck, Discus, Longfellow, Digitise, G-Whiz, Longbow with Discus and Lady Luck being chosen as leaders.

In time Discus would opt to become a reserve member and take leave to deal with family “problems” and this paved the way for Striker to return. Having come to terms with his guilt he felt able to contribute to the team especially since it was far from Pacifica and the bad memories, but would never resume the mantle of leadership.

With Discus gone G-Wiz was offered the role of deputy leader and became permanent leader a short time after Lady Luck stood down. Later on Foresight joined the team to build up the core membership and was soon followed by Miss Fusion and Firewall.

The last two needed special facilities adding to the underground complex to cope with their unique abilities. Since both could not remove their suits without causing themselves or others harm, they had to live in special containment units which meant they could not stay in the main house during down times.

Though underground, Wynter tried to make the units as homely as possible rather than having them look like a sterile environment. He felt that their limited means of physical contact with other people was difficult for them to cope with, without making them any more miserable.

Foresight would then eventually take a leadership role and since then the overall leadership has alternated between her and G-Wiz. This became particularly necessary after Gary Wynter helped establish the Knight’s Forge which meant he has had to divide his time to cater for both groups.

The last permanent resident to the Alliance HQ, Selina Allard. She had been found wandering the streets of Pacifica in a seemingly drunken rage. After been caught by the Alliance her incoherant speech made it difficult to understand exactly what was happening. The only clue G-Wiz had was she wore an unusual outfit with a thick glass helmet which seemed to be pressured, or rather had been pressured but looked to have been broken for some time.

He eventually worked out that the woman had come from deep within the ocean and had been genetically altered to survive at depth, hence she had increased bone density and muscles. Thought she appeared to be a slender young woman, on land at sea level the modifications made her extremely strong. At the same time with a broken pressure suit her body could not process air normally which was why she had seemed drunk.

Putting her in decompression chamber returned her to normal and she was finally able to give some straight answers. she explained that she was called Selina Allard and that her parents were both scientists. They beleived that the human race was on the verge of another disaster and had figured the best way to survive was by living at the bottom of the ocean.

To this end they had altered her DNA whilst Selina was just a foetus and that meant her entire life had been spent on the ocean floor. The facility she had been living in had catered for her every need and she had been happy. So she could explore her parents had built her the special suit. Then one day they had received a radio message and left and she had not seen them since.

Selina had always believed they would come back but when the equipment started failing and could no longer provide her with food she had come to the surface looking for help not realising her suit had been damaged. Unable to locate her parents who had already managed to stay off the grid for nearly three decades, Wynter could only offer her a place to stay. Having already gained experience with Fire Wall and Miss Fusion it was not that difficult to build special quarters for Selina. When she was ready she took her place in the Phoenix Alliance, choosing the code name “Amphritite”.

Of all the current members only Digitise has remained continually since the team’s creation.