| HOME | TEAM | VILLAINS | VIGILANTES | MISC |
Responding to a request by A.R.T., the Guardian Angel loses power upon arrival in Chicago. Kubera creates a force field around the vehicle, allowing Jerry Hammond to land safely in Lake Michigan. Rune creates an exit doorway, but the magic he uses for a prestidigitation spell a moment later inadvertently transports the team a short distance away into a South Side industrial building. Enigma, Knight Shade, Rune, and Kubera find that they are in the lair of megalomaniacal supervillain Omni-Primus, who along with minions Vibron, Tengu, and Stigmata are as surprised as they are. The two forces fight; during the battle the evil mastermind turns Knight Shade into glass and Stigmata breaks it apart. Members from both sides fall, and eventually Omni-Primus is forced to teleport away. Soon after Stigmata disappears as well, and the heroes rush the transformed segments of their teammate to the Guardians’ base, where he is reassembled. After Knight Shade awakens, his body swiftly recovers. Earlier, the group had discussed news and recapped some of their recent adventures. Baron Heinrich reveals that the Bloodsworn have acquired a powerful artifact and seem poised to take over all of the vampire clans. A Homeland Security agent (Michael Chretien) is missing in San Francisco after a recent Asian gangland massacre, the attacks in Washington, D.C. seem to be from an animal-like creature, and Kubera warns that the barriers between dimensions might be breaking down.
Ragnarr reports that organized crime seems to be on the decrease nationwide, but the East Coast’s numbers remain steady. A bound Compass is given cryptic information by The Suit, leader of Intercrime; he comes to in a D.C. alley and realizes that the entire event happened only in his mind. A.R.T. agent John Smith delivers information to the Guardians about the recent local “monster”.
City Hall in San Francisco is attacked, so Smith deposits Quiasar, Warp, Ragnarr, and Compass inside the building via a flaming gateway. They move downstairs into an ornate lobby wrecked by an indoor storm and engage Asian paranormals who dub their opponents “Worthy” or “Unworthy”. Quiasar deposits many civilians outside, and as the heroes take out the enemy they accidentally kill some of them. Each of their foes appear to be of a different ethnicity, missing Homeland Security agent Michael Chretien is among them, and all appear to be undead (but to have died at different times).
Unseen by any of the adventurers, the dead and injured individuals rescued earlier by Quiasar stand up in unison, kidnap two people, and disappear. The team finds that the target for the assault was City Administrator Edgar Greene, who along with two aides was executed in his office.
Compass meets with Hayagriva in prison, and the gangster tells him about a powerful entity that has crushed all opposition among the various West Coast factions of the Asian underworld. This being seems to be wiping out corruption among the Triad Tong, and Compass realizes that Old Man was among the recent inhuman opponents at City Hall.
Kubera and Quiasar are called to the Pentagon, where various government heads suspect Force is behind a growing Serenity movement spreading across Central America; citizens all over the subcontinent appear to be joyous, happy and dancing, as does Rune after he returns from an expedition to Guatemala. Enigma, Rune, Kubera, Quiasar, Compass, and Ragnarr fly in the Guardian Angel to El Mirador in northern Guatemala, but Kubera mysteriously disappears (to assist A.R.T.).
The team makes their way underground into ancient Mayan ruins. After journeying past traps and puzzles the group encounters the Mayan Tree of Life. Rune perceives that the powerful creature, who appears to be behind the Serenity cult, is an imposter, and after much questioning they discover that archaeologist Augustus Riversson is a captive inside. The insane Riversson breaks free from his delusion and smashes the tree; this frees Riversson and the two twins held captive by it. One of the twins, Manuel Esquivel, is discovered to be a local money man with ties to the Triad Tong.