World Hero Federation 3:
Aftermath
Survivors


It had been seven years since the Great Battle of Heroes. The World Hero Federation had been broken down by the battle and collapsed two years later. Superheroes were now an accepted force in the world. The United States, in conjunction with the United Nations, set forth legal mandates limiting what superheroes could be called upon for assistance with. It was now finally legal to be a superhero in the U. S. again. But there were very few remaining heroes left to fill the void created by the collapse of the World Hero Federation. Steve Williams was no longer the man he had once been, and he knew it. So what if he wasn’t a smart man? He knew that he was the last of the World Hero Federation to survive. He had watched as heroes fell one by one to the unholy alliance of Levesque and The Orange Goblin. Many of his friends died during that war. And Steve was alone. That is until Steve looked around him. There he saw that he was in a hospital sitting next to a man named Rob Van Dam. How he had come to be there still ate at his nerves. He did not remember even meeting Rob for that matter. Yet here he was sitting next to this man who was obviously a shell of the man he had been just a short time before. Rob had come here to be by his mentor’s side during his coma. Hitman had suffered a serious injury at the hands of an unknown assailant and now lay in a coma. Rob feared, as would any other normal person, that he had lost the only man he could trust. That very night Rob vowed that he would find the one responsible and bring them to justice. Rob had no clue how close he was to that man, no clue at all.

“Can I give you a lift home,” Steve asked Rob in hopes of helping to lift his spirits.

“Naw, I’m gonna stay right here until Bret can tell me something. He has his own special ways of doing things like that.”

“Suit yourself.”

With that Steve Williams, formerly the Bionic Redneck left the hospital room to set out on his own search. His search for some answers on how he had come to be there at that point in time and why he couldn’t remember how he had gotten there.

****************

Washington D. C. - Three Days Later

Barry Buchanan paced the Senate floor. Although he had been nothing more than a genetic mutation a few years before, he had found his purpose in life. To help run the government to once again create a favorable opinion of the heroes that had saved his life. Barry had become quite the orator during the past few years and was known as the most outspoken proponent of superhero legislation.

Barry was proud to say that he had been very influential in the trials that eventually overturned the laws that kept a superhero group from being legally formed to help protect the country that he loved. He was even prouder of the fact that he had been directly involved with building a place for those heroes to meet. The World Hero Federation had indeed been the best thing that Barry had ever done for others. Even the name had been his idea. But times were much different now. The World Hero Federation had since disbanded. There were very few heroes left, and most of them were too stubborn to work together very often. Barry was pacing the floor of the senate waiting for his turn to address the assembly of his peers. Barry had some startling news that he wanted to make sure became public knowledge, but every time he’d tried to approach the media with it, he had been shut completely down. Now he would bring the subject up in the Senate and it would get instant coverage on the HHH Networks Senate coverage channel. The irony of that made Barry laugh a little bit. Though only for a moment as the severity of the announcement he was about to make set in. Barry heard his name called to the floor to speak, and for the first time since Levesque had injected him with the DNA alteration formula, Barry was scared.

****************

Mustang, Nepal – The Same Day

It was a cool, crisp afternoon. The people of the town had become settled with the weather as of late. Most days were cool, yet sunny. No one was complaining. A figure dressed in robes moved silently through the crowded streets, looking intently at various shops as it traveled. The people of Mustang paid no attention to it. Allowing it to walk freely among their streets and find the valuable equipment the figure coveted, the people of Mustang had no clue what they would bear witness to. As the figure rounded a corner preparing to leave the town center, it met with a man in a black, soft cotton outfit.

“You were able to find everything I described, I trust.”

“All that and more. The people of this town have begun to embrace technology more than we could have expected. There are instruments of scientific nature that we had only imagined could exist several weeks ago.”

“Then all should proceed smoothly. Tomorrow night we will return and get what we came here for. My empire has been destroyed, but my spirit has not. I will rise again to take back what was denied me. I will be the ruler of the world.”

“Of course you will. With me at your side to protect you, you will rule as you were destined to do.”

The figures left Mustang to itself. Mustang took no notice. Except for one man who had been waiting in the shadows for a long time. Waiting to see if the figures were indeed real. Waiting to report the sheer existence of the figures. Waiting and watching.

****************

Toronto, Ontario, Canada – The Following Evening

Edge was not himself lately. He kept wishing that he’d not dragged Christian into a fight that obviously wasn’t his. But he had. Now, because of that, he was alone. It wasn’t the first time that Edge had lost a partner. Nearly eight years ago, Edge had been the sidekick for Angle-Man. Until the day that Angle-Man left to help form the World Hero Federation with Undertaker. It was shortly after that Edge would find Christian and take him on as a sidekick. Not long afterwards, they began working more as a team than hero and sidekick. It was when they worked as a team that they worked best. So well, in fact, that the Canadian government even recruited them to help form the Canadian Superhero Society. They were the only two, other than Lance Storm who would later become part of the World Hero Federation. But Edge realized now that there had been one opportunity that he should have passed on. That’s what led to him losing Christian. Edge patrolled the streets of Toronto now. He was more than content to stay here at home where he would make a difference without having to trust someone else. Edge didn’t trust hardly anyone anymore. This was his self-imposed penance. This was his punishment for leading his best friend and partner to his death. Edge stopped atop the Skydome wall where he stood and shed a single tear.

****************

Meanwhile in New York City

Lane Huffman was born in Texas. A far cry from the surroundings that he was now in. He had come here on his own pilgrimage of sorts. He had come to New York looking for the famed World Hero Federation Hall of Heroes. History had written that the Hall of Heroes had simply been abandoned and no one really had much of a clue as to the specific location of it. Everything Lane had found pointed to New York City as the home of the Hall of Heroes. So it was there that Lane set out for, and where he now found himself to be. But the question of where exactly it was in this city was still a mystery to Lane. But he knew that he’d be able to find it. He had to.

Lane had been searching for most of the day. He could feel the pull of the Hall of Heroes on his heart, but couldn’t place where it was. Somewhat dejectedly he decided to stop searching for the night and catch a basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Tonight the Mavericks would be playing the Knicks. He knew how cliché it was to root on your hometown team if they happen to be in the town you were visiting. But he didn’t care. The box office clerk was exceedingly rude and had put Lane ill at ease when he bought tickets. Lane wanted so badly to tell him where to stick it, but restrained himself. Finally Lane got his tickets and was getting ready to leave the ticket window when the clerk stopped him.

“The Mavs don’t stand a chance tonight you know.”

“The Mavs are gonna destroy the Knicks. Now, can you dig that,” Lane countered and began to walk away before the urge to say something else hit. But the urge hit and Lane couldn’t resist, so he walked back to the booth and shouted out as loudly as he could, “Suuuuuccccckkkkkaaaaaaaaa!!”

Lane went to watch the game in peace. Never knowing that the urge that overwhelmed him was due to his standing right above the Hall of Heroes.

****************

Minneapolis, MN – The Following Morning

Brock had finally settled into the city. He had been working to find the right house to modify into what he would need in order to become this city’s protector. Now that he had found it and finished the modifications, he could concentrate on getting a feel for the city. Specifically, getting a feel for the city’s crime patterns. He was by no means a slouch. He made his public living by being a modestly successful computer programmer. He owned his own company, on paper at least, that provided the best in website development and e-procurement. No one could compete with him in the field. Truth was no one really wanted to. If they could, he would have found a way to make it increasingly difficult to do so through legal means. After all, he needed the finance to compensate for his lack of actual programming ability. That and he was the first to design the multi-tasked organization for e-commerce. So he had his funds, public persona, and private arsenal. Now all he had to do was wait, watch and learn. Hopefully no one would notice that wherever the headquarters was for NBT Web-Wares, so too would be the crime fighter, Brokberg. If that were to happen, he would be doomed. Brock Lesnar hoped it would never happen, or at least if it did, they could keep it a secret. BrokBerg had a bit of a reputation after all, and it wouldn’t do to have the head of a multi-national, powerhouse, e-commerce company exposed as the indomitable force of justice. BrokBerg had become the first of the new heroes to arise out of the ashes of the former World Hero Federation. At the time, he would have gladly traded everything he had to be a part of it. In retrospect, he was glad he hadn’t. Only one member of the organization still lived and there were questions about his sanity. Extreme Justice was the saving grace during the Great Battle. But they, too, had fallen into disarray after the attack on Hitman.

The world seemed to keep getting more dangerous. Brock Lesnar, a.k.a. BrokBerg, was trying not to get in over his head. But for some reason, he felt that he might already be there.

****************

Denver, CO – Later that day

The Hurricane had never trained so hard in his life. Never could he have foreseen what trials his new mentor would develop for him. Yet he continued on undaunted. He would be the world’s greatest superhero, he knew it in his heart. Rey Misterio wasn’t so sure though. Rey constantly rode The Hurricane to do better, to work harder, and to stop running his mouth until he could back it up too. They infuriated one another on a weekly basis. Each week one would hound the other to the point where patience was no longer a virtue, but an annoyance. But for some reason, they always seemed to make their peace with each other when the call to arms came. Then they were partners. Rey liked it that way, and he suspected that The Hurricane did too. Therefore it was of little surprise to the enigmatic Dreamer to find the two quarreling over a simple matter of who should go first in a game of dominoes when he arrived.

“You two have got to be the most mismatched pair I have ever seen,” Dreamer began. “Always, you find something to fight over. It’s a good thing that when it comes to a real fight you have been working together without fail. Otherwise, I have no clue what would happen to this lovely city in the hills. Denver is truly blessed,” he concluded with a large grin and a chuckle.

“Dreamer, you are a real nutcase. What is it with you? Do you think we do this just for fun? We are here because this is the only place that would have us,” The Hurricane countered, visibly upset at the comments of Dreamer.

“Yeah,” Rey began, “It’s not like we had too much of a choice. How many cities would want a couple of superheroes who could easily be considered small by any standard?”

The room was filled with a palpable tension. It was more than apparent that Rey and The Hurricane were not kidding. In fact, it was obvious that they felt very put out by the fact that they were some of the smallest superheroes around. But Dreamer had big news and a huge proposition for the two of them. Something that would put them on the map as major players in the coming days.

Find out what happens next. Read World Hero Federation 3: Aftermath Part II: Redemption