David Landers had lived in New York City the latter part of his adult life. He was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, with two wonderful parents who raised him as only two people who shared the same joy could; that of bringing one of their own into this world. David  also leads one of his own called DP7. What made leading this team special was that he shared leadership with his girlfriend, Stephanie Harrington, who had energetic powers.

It was a time like this that the world needed heroes. Because New York City was virtually falling apart. Some parts of it were in ruins because super terrorists were laying waste to it. There were other super villains but they were too many to count.

In times like these when terrorist threats were nigh, he couldn’t be too careful. He had to be prepared for anything.

Right now, at this very moment, he was on his way to his apartment that he shared with the rest of DP7 in Midtown Manhattan, for a special dinner prepared by the girls of the paranormal sect; Stephie, Charly, and Miriam.  They were the heart and soul of the team and comprised its mainstay members.

This was getting me nowhere, thought David, as he entered an alleyway and changed into his casual clothing. An easy way than by walking to the apartment was by using his super powered leg muscles. It would be much faster but that was what made the grade according to him.

He started to climb the fire escape but he was stopped by two colorful figures. These were the two-partner duo of Captain Manhattan and Spitfire. What he wondered was what they wanted with him now.

“Hi. What’s up?” David  asked them. “What can I do for you?”

“We hope that we can accompany you back to Stephanie’s apartment because she invited us to dinner,” Cap said and Spitfire nodded. “That is if you don’t mind the company.”

“Hmm. Maybe. I hope you can keep up.” With that, David  vaulted onto the rooftop and continued to vault from street to street, making sure that he wasn’t going too fast for them to lose their way.

“Ex-boy friends,” Spitfire said. “That’s almost an abomination in and of itself. I don’t know if I should be insulted or laugh.”

“Don’t worry about it, Spitfire. We’ll deal with as it comes. Right now, we have an apartment to find and a jealous paranormal to tail.”

“Right, pard.”

And the three resident paranormals soon reached the apartment. True to form and as he said previously, Captain Manhattan and Spitfire didn’t utter a word as to what was bothering their host, David Landers.

In another section of town, in the Midtown district, Ken Connell and Randy O’Brien were flying under their own power toward Stephie’s apartment to a nice, free, home-cooked meal. Including her talents as an expert heroine, Stephanie and the rest of the girls were excellent cooks as well.

“Dude, this is the best,” Randy said, as he flew around loops in the air, evading Ken’s straight- no nonsense flying. “Nothing beats flying around you and the girls will absolutely go wild for me instead of you this time.”

“Gimme a break, Randy” Ken said, coming to a full stop to talk to his best friend and partner about this predicament. “You get the girls just as much as I do. If I’m not mistaken, you made up with Charly this time. And for me, Jenny went back to Captain Manhattan, after their little lover’s quarrel.  You know I can’t keep my eyes off of Jenny for more than two seconds without going crazy.”

“Yeah. How come you’re so sweet on her? I know she has looks, a killer smile, and a body that defies all description that all those para-babes we have on our team don’t. Don’t tell me that she has a winning personality?”

“Shut up, man.” Ken had heard enough and with that, he flew in a straight line again, ignoring whatever Randy would say. “One negative comment about Jenny again and I’m going to send you to the moon. You hear that? To the moon with you.”

“Quoting Honeymooner’s episodes, how corny is that? It’s no wonder you two can’t get settled.” Partly insulted that he was being ignored with Ken flying away from him, Randy chased after him so that he could be properly heard.

“Settle down? Ya have gotsa be kiddin’ me!! You, the typical, all around unsettled down kid. You couldn’t even grasp the concept of being settled down even if you tried.”  

“Hey, I thought we were friends, what the hey--?!!”

Both paranormals saw the distraction ahead of them as they saw a bank robbery below. It was the middle of the morning and the doors to the First National Bank were shut for an early closing. There was no sense calling the rest of DP7, they were strong enough to charm these bank robbers with a little effort. So Ken and Randy combined swooped down to the front doors to the bank and crashed into the foyer, glass shards splashing everywhere. The bank robbers were startled as to the display of heroism but were steadfast enough to point their guns and rifles at them.

“No way are you going to ruin this for us,” the lead bank robber said, pointing his machine gun at the two agents who thrived on this kind of adventure. He was so nervous at this interruption that he was shaking as he prepared to fire point blank and sweating bullets. “So turn around and march right out of here and forget you ever saw a thing.”

“Y’know, I believe that this guy is threatening us. Do you think that he’s a tad bit threatening?” Ken asked his partner, laughing at them.

“I do believe that this joke of a man is trying to threaten us. What do you think we should do about that?” Randy responded.

“Oh, I dunno. Cart them away to the local precinct and make the other criminals have fun with them when they’re in stir.”

“Oh, Ken, you take the fun out of this. I was hoping we could give them a beating.”

The bank robber looked stunned, almost as much as the rest of the bank robbers and the bank’s employ. “What is this? Stand-up night at the Apollo? Get the freak out of here!”

Just then, to make matters worse for the team of bank robbers, David Landers, Captain Manhattan, and Spitfire, seeing the activity and DP7 members inside, entered through the way of the forced entranceway. The bank robber turned to the new arrivals and fired his gun above his head at the ceiling, signalling that he wanted silence.

“Now, I want no one to move or speak—“

“After you,” David said to Ken.

“Should I intervene?” Captain Manhattan asked.

“No, this is his fight.”

“I thought I told you to shut up.” The lead bank robber thrust the muzzle of the gun into David’s face, threatening to pull the trigger in front of his person right this moment.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

“Why not?”

“That’s why!” David  pointed at the two figures behind the bank robber. Randy blinded all the bank robbers with tiny antibodies, including the lead one, and Ken used the Starbrand to disable their weapons. Useless, they were dropped.

“And that’s how it’s done in the paranormal handbook,” Ken  said, satisfied in another villain put to jail. In the background there were police sirens, as one of the bank’s employees pressed the silent alarm, and police black and white vehicles parked outside of the bank and entered through the front.

“We’ll take over from here, heroes,” the main cop, David Cassidy, said.

“God, they’re coming out of the woodwork,” another cop said, as he handcuffed several of the bank robbers and collected their weapons for evidence later. “And I thought Captain Manhattan was bad for us.”

Captain Manhattan tugged at his costume that was near his neck. “I do have something of a bad reputation with the NYPD,” he said, walking with the rest of DP7 and Spitfire out of the bank to the apartment that David shared with Stephanie.

A gloved fist punched Thomas Boyd in the mouth and another one sucker-punched him upside the head. He was brought down onto the trash-can alley, amid the garbage and the filth that was home to this underbelly of New York City.

“That was good, Ostrander,” Thomas said, trying with all of his might not to go into unconsciousness. He smelled something in the darkness of the alley, his super senses as keen as ever, and looked above him where Potiphar, the assassin of the Medusa Web, sat on the fire escape pointing his machine gun at him.

Johnny utilized his flame powers to melt the gun in Potiphar’s hands. Potiphar cursed loudly in English and just about in any foreign language he knew and were fluent in.

Johnny smiled. He loved to use his powers and especially on cut-throat terrorists like the Medusa Web. 

“Not so fast, Johnny,” Natalie Bakalyn said, as she somersaulted in the air and pounced on his back. She kicked him this way and that, locked him in a pretzel hold, and knocked him down on the ground, pressing down on him ferociously.

“That’ll teach me to be daydreaming on the job,” Johnny said. Bakalyn was a former Olympic gymnast from Russia and utilized her talents as a mercenary for the side of the Medusa Web. He knew of only one way to deal with her now. So he proceeded to heat his body but not burst into flames like his hero the Human Torch, to get her of his body. It worked and that worked in his favor, too because she was generally put out of commission.

“You know what they say, I am too hot to handle,” Johnny said, as he stood up and joined the fight with the rest of the Medusa Web. So far Bakalyn and Potiphar were out. That left Ostrander, Logan, and John Sherman. The ninja, the explosive expert, and the archer.

Max Logan approached Johnny. “You know what they say about me, Johnny-baby, that I just have an explosive personality. Here’s why!!” He opened his trenchcoat and Johnny could see that he was laden with every type of explosive that man would be willing to create. He threw a couple of lit firecrackers and the pyrotechnics nearly rocked Johnny’s world.

Johnny fired a plume of a fiery blast at the form of the fire cracker, watching it explode in the air in front of him.

As this battle was taking place, Thomas was busy with the other two. Thomas, in addition to having super senses, was a master of weaponry. While the ninja swung his samuari sword above his head, Thomas disabled him by grabbing his sword and flinging it to the opposite wall of an abandoned tenement building. This only seemed to make the ninja more angry and ferocious by the second.

John Sherman fired several arrows at the waiting form of Boyd. He caught one of the arrows and broke it in half over his knee. This left Sherman only stunned at this display.

Then, a helicopter was put in a hovering position and a roped ladder was lowered. The injured Medusa Web were gathered by the uninjured ones and they were raised into the copter. Then, the copter flew away to Medusa Web HQ.

“That looked like fun,” David  said, vaulting from rooftop to rooftop with Captain Manhattan and Spitfire. “Now, if you don’t mind hurrying up, we have to head over to Stephanie’s for her soiree.”

Thomas and Johnny cleaned up the mess they made, called the police to put an APB on the Medusa Web, and joined the rest of DP7, Captain Manhattan, and Spitfire to David ’s apartment.

Within the next hour, Captain Manhattan and Spitfire sat at the dinner table, waiting for the food to arrive. David and the rest of DP7 swallowed their pride to talk to the two urban super heroes, while the women were in the kitchen preparing dinner. Soft classical music played in the background.

“So, tell me, Captain Manhattan, “ David asked, curiously, “How is life in Harlem? What is it like to rough up the drug users and the drug dealers?”

Captain Manhattan ate some of the cheese and cracker hors d’oeuvres. “Well, to be honest, Harlem is as drug infested as usual. Drug use runs rampant as daily life is meted out by myself and my pard, Spitfire.”

“Yeh, there is no end to the drug life and drug culture,” Spitfire said.

“Sounds rough,” David said. He scratched his chin, looking at Captain Manhattan and Spitfire’s general direction. “Our life seems pretty easy by that comparison.”

“So, David,” Captain Manhattan said, as he shoveled more food into his waiting mouth. “Tell me what it is like to be a member of DP7…”

But before the conversation can be redirected at DP7 members, Stephanie and the rest of the female members of DP7 entered the dining room, each with a plate of food.

“Okay, guys,” Stephanie said, setting down the plate of spaghetti on the table, “Enough shoptalk! Dinner’s on. So dig in.”

As Captain Manhattan did as Stephanie said to dig in to the pasta, there was a loud crash and a lone man fell through the window and landed on the table. He was a tall man with long brown hair, with tattered clothing. He looked like he was in a great battle and nearly escaped with his life. David knew that whoever had done this to him would be right behind him, ready to attack not only this stranger but DP7 and their guests as well.

Captain Manhattan and Spitfire stood up and approached the fallen stranger.

“Do you know who this guy is?” Captain Manhattan asked of David.

“No,” the leader of DP7 answered. “I’ve never seen this man before in my life. C’mon, we better move him to the bedroom and see what’s what.”

“I’ll do the honors,” Captain Manhattan said, lifting the man up.

“I’ll search the skies for his attacker,” Kenneth said. Charged with cosmic energy, he flew in the air and out the window from whence the man came.

“I’ll come with,” Randy said. “Wait up, Kenneth!” Kenneth’s team member in fighting crime flew with him, on their mission.

“C’mon, we must find who attacked this man,” Kenneth said. The two paranormals flew in circles in the general direction of where the man had fallen into their apartment. All was silent and quiet.

“See anything, Kenneth?” Randy asked. “I’ll let my little antibodies search the area so that we can see everything.’

Kenneth smiled. “Thanks, Randy. But that wasn’t necessary. There is no reason why we should alert the general populace of our whereabouts and our mission.”

Randy complied with his orders. “Oh, you’re no fun. But if we have to do it your way, then so be it.”

“I don’t see anything…” Kenneth flew ahead of the skyscrapers of New York City, peering down at the streets below, just feet away from the wrecked apartment. Kenneth felt bad for Stephanie and her ruined dinner. She had planned it for weeks and had wanted so much for the urban heroes like Captain Manhattan and Spitfire to be invited to it. Now it was ruined and a failure. Now they had a battered man in their bedroom and there was someone responsible for it. Now, Kenneth and Randy were in charge of finding the man who caused this debacle.

“I say we go back to Stephanie’s apartment,” Randy said, “And see to the wounded man down there. There’s nothing for us to do here.”

“No, wait, I see something and—“

At that very moment, something or someone reached their spot of traveling and with the force of a thousand thunderbolts, hit Kenneth, sending him backward toward and into several other skyscrapers. He groaned as he tried to fish his way out of unconsciousness. Randy saw this attack and searched his eyes for the man who or woman who could have done it. He saw no one.

Determined, Randy raced after Kenneth’s plummeting form. He raced at the speed of light catching up to him in seconds. Kenneth was in and out sleep as he lay amid a pile of rubble in one of the downed skyscrapers.

“K-Kenneth, are you okay? Are you awake?” Randy asked of his partner. “I don’t know of anyone who can down you. What hit you?”

Kenneth groaned awake. He touched his head where he was hit with the most force. “I don’t know. It was so powerful. I—“

“Is this the best that this world has to offer me?” the new arrival said. He was a powerfully built man with a lot of overflowing muscles. “If it is, I am to be sorely disappointed. And speaking of which, where have you hidden the one called Marcus Landover?”

“We don’t know of anyone named Marcus Landover,” Randy said, his hands charged with antibody energy.

“I think he means that man who crashed through Stephanie’s window,” Kenneth struggled to say.

The man was stunned. “I always knew that Landover was incompetent in his means of escape.”

Kenneth tried to stand up. “Escape? What are you talking about? Who are you? Explain yourself.”    

“My name is Michael Proudhawk. I fought you as Psi-hawk.* The man who crashed in your apartment is a distant cousin of David Landers. He is trying to mass-produce paranormals and I am trying to stop him.”

(*See New Universe #3—New Gregg.)

“So he is a criminal. And you came here to what? Bring him back?”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t trust him,” Randy said. He stood between Psi-hawk and Kenneth.

“Neither do I,” Kenneth whispered. “Soooo… let’s end this discussion, shall we?”

Standing up, Kenneth released  cosmic energy out of his fingertips to blast the muscleman out from his footing. He charged his fingertips with so much energy that he was possible to beat Psi-hawk. Randy released more light from his hands to blind him senselessly.

“Aaaahhh!”

“That was my plan, bunky,” Randy said, counting on his reserve energies to attack him anew, “And now let’s see if you handle this…” Slowly, it happened. Slowly, he let the energies build up within him, inside him, until he released a beam of light the size of his entire body to encase Psi-hawk. When the process was done, Psi-hawk’ clothes were in tatters, just as much as Marcus’ was, and the muscleman was left disoriented and dizzy. He collapsed on the ground below.

“C’mon, we better give him in to the police who have just arrived down below,” Kenneth said.

 But before they can get the cuffs on him, Psi-hawk disappeared.

“C’mon, let’s get back to the apartment and see what’s what.”

Meanwhile, at Stephanie’s apartment, the rest of the team is preparing to awaken the fallen stranger to see what this is all about. All David knows is that this man fell through a window in his apartment that he shares with his girlfriend Stephanie Harrington, the kinetically-enhanced super agent. He is injured, possibly on the way to death for the injuries that had been inflicted upon him, and all his team can do now is wait for him to come out of his coma. The old expression that the waiting is the hardest part was never more true than now.

“Any change?” Kenneth asked, as he entered the broken window, with his team-mate, Randy.

“No, there’s nothing than we can get from him,” Stephanie said. “What did you find? We heard fighting across town where you were. Was your search fruitless, too?”

Kenneth and Randy led the rest of DP7 out of the room that the stranger was resting in. Kenneth said, “We  found something or more appropriately someone. He said his name was Psi-hawk and he came from the same place as this guy, whose name was Marcus Landover.”

“Same place?” Charly asked. “You mean he’s not from Earth?”

“No, he’s from Earth, all right, but not the earth that we know. He’s from the future. 2389 to be exact. Psi-hawk said that he’s part of an elite guard meant to protect the world from parahuman threats called the Titans. Landover was one of those threats. He said that Landover stole a time machine and went into the past.” Kenneth paused. “Frankly, I don’t believe him.”

“Then, this story was all fabricated,” Johnny said. “You don’t believe his lies.”

“No, Psi-hawk is not on the up and up.”

“I believe that we have to have him tell his side of the story himself,” David said, as he entered the room again. “I’ll try to awaken him.”

David walked over to where Landover was sleeping and tried to rouse him up. He slapped him on the cheek, saying ‘c’mon, wake up, we have to talk to you’. It took him a couple tries before Landover indeed was roused. He opened his eyes slowly, one at a time, and jerked up.

“Ohmygod, I found you,” Landover said. “I can’t believe I actually found you!”

“Then, perhaps you better do some explaining to do, in particular Psi-hawk.”

“There are a couple of lies going around in this city. Andrew Chaser contacted me last night. Michael Proudhawk used his mental ‘push’ powers to make Captain Manhattan kill Jenny Swensen but at the last second, he saved her from drowning. He had contacted Judge Justice to take her to the NSC infirmary.”

”But who is he working for?” David Landers asked.

“There is only one man who has a connection to Emmett Proudhawk, and through him, Michael. And he wants to create a paranormal army. That man is Derek Shiningstar.”