PRELUDE :James Fairchild, aka Omega Man, has been semi-active in the Phoenix metropolitan area for over a year now but his activities have been fairly low key. He has impressed some as a dilettante and, in truth, most of his press has come from the society pages and news articles about his scores of rabid female fans. Rumors say that beneath the apollo-like visage is a mind of a genius that created the plasma powered, wafer thin suit he wears that gives him the majority of his super-powers. In truth, Omega Man is both a genius and an Olympic level athlete as well as a confirmed dilettante.       Investigating the recent increase in solar flare activity, Omega Man has used his considerable scientific and financial resources to pore through the data on the matter. He has graphed the solar cycles and sun spot activities in recorded history and is concerned with the results he is seeing. His findings point to the sun's recent activity as being the cause for the global warming that is taking place. He discounts the eco-fanatics that blame anything and everything done by man as being the cause for the warming. As he continues to investigate, his probing questions sometimes elicit a sudden silence from several notable scientists. He soon comes to the conclusion that there are some unknown factors that have been classified due to National Security.       Singularity tries to continue his meetings with Samantha Moore but her cell phone and beeper do not answer. He decides to check out the whereabouts of The Wizard. His investigation leads him to the East Coast and then to the West Coast. It seems that the East Coast has grown too hot for the Criminal Mastermind.       Sharon Robbins, AKA Thunderbolt, has been hard at work trying to implement a plan to prevent terrorists from crossing the Arizona border from Mexico. This plan would require all people crossing the border legally to be scanned with face recognition software to hopefully screen out known terrorists. There seems to be no plan in place, however, to stop the vast number of people crossing illegally.       Frustrated by the abrupt silences he receives as he tries to uncover data about the solar flare activity, Omega Man decides to visit the Lowell Observatory at 1400 Mars Hill in Flagstaff Arizona to get the data first hand. He speaks to several astronomers there and one of the female researchers lets slip something called 'Project: Star Probe'. She immediately becomes tight-lipped and is quickly surrounded by her associates who gain the safety of a restricted area and refuse to speak to the costumed 'intruder'.       Using the scrap of information gained, Omega Man does more research and finds that 'Project: Star Probe' is concerned with correlating data from a solar probe that supposedly malfunctioned months ago. His investigation leads him to the University of Arizona and their Solar Observatory where the data was supposed to have been collected and correlated.       He arrives at the Solar Observatory only to find three National Guardsmen stationed outside. They are tense and demand that he identify himself. His commanding presence quickly defuses the situation and they summon someone to talk to him. This turns out to be a PR Flack who is quickly cowed by Omega Man and reveals that there has been a recent break-in at the facility. Probing deeper, Omega Man discovers that the security cameras caught a glimpse of what appears to be Dr. Doom stealing the 47 terra-bytes of data that had been collected and correlated.       Omega Man presses hard and has the PR Flack sweating, giving out information that he is supposed to keep secret. He finally presses the sweating official to let him see the head scientist. Squawking like a panicked duck, the PR Flack soon has Dr. Hubert Windslow in tow and standing before Omega Man.       Trying to ferret out the location of The Wizard, Singularity learns that someone is trying to hire super-human muscle in the Southwest. Thinking that it might be The Wizard, Singularity continues his investigation but uncovers rumors that it is Dr. Doom doing the hiring! Worse yet, his leads are pointing to Arizona!       Sharon Robbins has been tracking down a border incursion by some type of Stealth Aircraft. A spy blimp buoyed nearby snapped a photograph of the aircraft. The NSA gives it a high probability of matching a known design used by Dr. Doom.       Thunderbolt is patrolling the southern border, trying to track the path of the stealth aircraft when she receives a message over her star-comm. It is from Laura Brown, their Liaison to the NSA. Ms. Brown explains that there is a costumed super-human at the Solar Observatory at the U of A who is harassing the personnel there. She asks Thunderbolt to investigate.       Singularity has also been in contact with Laura Brown about the activities of Dr. Doom. Ms. Brown up-links data to Singularity's star-comm that points to three Dr. Doom related incidents in their area. First is the break-in at the Solar Observatory. The second in the stealth aircraft incursion from Mexico and the third are the reports of Dr. Doom hiring super-human muscle.       Thunderbolt and Singularity arrive and identifies Omega Man as an officially sanctioned super-hero. He quickly explains his intent and Thunderbolt joins him in questioning Dr. Windslow. The scientist receives word from the NSA to give Thunderbolt and the Star Guard carte-blanc and to reveal to them some classified data.       They learn from the scientist that the solar probe was somehow reactivated recently and uploaded much valuable data. The scientist stops and his eyes bug out as he realizes that Singularity & Thunderbolt were responsible for restoring the Solar Probe. He reveals that the data stolen was backed up elsewhere but the weeks of work in correlating it was lost. He confides privately to Thunderbolt that the spatial anomaly located near the sun is no doubt the cause of the solar activity.       Leaving the Observatory, Thunderbolt and Omega Man are met by Singularity, who passed on the data received from the NSA about Dr. Doom's activities. As they try to decide what to investigate first, Thunderbolt scans the information and comes up with a piece of info that Singularity missed. The NSA has come up with two possible sites where Dr. Doom might strike next. The sites are the SETI site and Terra-Dyne which is working on some of the more classified aspects of the solar probe data. The heroes decide to cover Terra-Dyne since is is within their normal patrol area. Even as they head for the facility, there comes word that it is under attack!       THE ADVENTURE : The heroes worst fears are realized as they receive word that Dr. Doom is leading three costumed villains against the defenses of Terra-Dyne. Two of the villains are identified as Boomerang and Shocker! Singularity radios ahead that The Star Guard are on the scene and will respond.       Coming in fast and low, the three heroes separate as they come within a tenth of a mile away. They quickly spot the figures of Dr. Doom, Boomerang and Shocker and a fourth, female figure. Thunderbolt and Singularity recognize the figure as Hardshell. Dr. Doom seems to be haranguing the villains to greater effort. The villains seem spellbound by Dr. Doom and do not spot the heroes until they are almost upon them.       Singularity comes in dodging and announces, "This is Singularity of The Star Guard! You are hereby ordered to cease all criminal activity and surrender." Boomerang responds by throwing a deadly boomerang at the hero but misses. Shocker moves away from the group of villains and sends a hammering wave of vibrational force that hits Singularity.       Dr. Doom turns and shouts, "At them My Minions! Show them No Mercy! Prove your worth to me!" Thunderbolt lands and is immediately attacked by Hardshell. The armored villainness hits Thunderbolt with a powerful beam of energy that stuns the heroine. "I'm not Mind Controlled This Time!!", cries Hardshell.       As Omega Man enters into range, he targets where Dr. Doom is standing and unleashes his Plasma Disruptor! This bolt of force explodes around Dr. Doom, catching Boomerang and Hardshell in its explosive effects which drains away their endurance.       Recovering his balance, Singularity encases Shocker in a gravity field. The villain struggles for a moment then easily shatters the field with a burst of vibrational energy. Singularity tries to reflect the next attack but the Shocker sends an explosive cone of force at the hero that knocks him off balance and deafens him momentarily.       Recovering he senses, Thunderbolt moves toward Hardshell. Boomerang catches her off guard with a boomerang but misses.       Omega Man again targets two of the villains standing close together; Boomerang and Hardshell. The energy draining attack catches both villains. Weakened by the blast, Boomerang retaliates with a Shatterang that explodes around Omega Man, knocking him off balance.       The battle rages on with the heroes slowly gaining the edge and Dr. Doom standing haughtily by, urging his minions on to greater effort. When Singularity uses his powers to create a field of darkness around Shocker, blinding him, Dr. Doom acts at last! The armored villain sends a mini-missile at Singularity that explodes with terrifying power, decimating a nearby car and sending flames everywhere. Singularity is stunned.       Thunderbolt makes the mistake of closing with Hardshell and takes a minor wound from the villainness. She lashes out at Hardshell with a deadly lightning bolt. The bolt strikes Hardshell in the side and sends blood flying!! The badly injured villainness is flung across the battlefield clutching her bleeding side.       Singularity sees the extent of the injury to Hardshell and dismisses Shocker, saying, "I don't have time for this!" and rushes to her aid. He nears Hardshell with his hands raised and says that he in only trying to help her. She seems weak and dazed. Singularity uses his limited medical skills to assess her damage and removes a piece of metal that punctured her side. In response, she lashes out with her deadly slashing attack and catches the hero off guard. He is thrown backward, stunned and faintly hears Hardshell say, "That was sweet but not enough to spend time in prison for." She takes flight and tries to flee the scene.       Shocker rushes to Dr. Doom's side, yelling for the Mastermind to get them out of there. Thunderbolt and Omega Man double team Dr. Doom and to their amazement, the much feared villain falls before their assault! They quickly move in and take out Shocker. They then strip the villains of their weapons but hesitate to remove Dr. Doom's iron mask. Omega Man starts to pursue Hardshell but believes her to have too much of a head start.       The heroes 'wrap and slap' the villains, keeping them out until the authorities arrive. The Vault sends a specially armored helicopter and three armored Vault personnel who cringe at the sight of Dr. Doom still wearing his mask. They quickly remove it to reveal a hideously scarred and deformed face. Taken aback, they are almost caught off guard when Dr. Doom seems to melt and turn to a puddle, with tendrils heading toward an underground sprinkler system.       Acting quickly, Singularity uses his telekinetic powers to grab part of the 'puddle'. Omega Man, heedless of the vault personnel and heroes, explodes a plasma disruptor in the area. The puddle is pulled from the pipe and slowly changes shape.... to a Skrull! The Vault personnel all fall unconscious.       When the villains awake, they are humiliated to discover that they were duped by the Skrull. The Skrull seems to hold the rank of Captain but will not reveal any other information about his mission or why he was interested in the Solar Probe data.       The heroes escort the helicopter and villains to The Vault. Follow up investigation reveals that the Dr. Doom iron mask was a cheap cast iron fake. The Skrull simply wore a metal suit that provided him with a force field and a one use, fiery mortar attack. The Skrull used his race's minor hypnotic powers to convince the villains to join his crusade to take over the western United States.       Thunderbolt and Singularity brief Omega Man on the Skrull and their recent attempts to take a foothold on earth. They also tell him of the ages long conflict with the Kree and the Shi'ar.       Singularity remembers that one group of Skrull Power Troopers is called; Infiltrators.

EXPERIENCE	ADEPT	NEMESIS	OMEGA MAN	GOLEM	SINGULARITY	STARSHINE	T-BOLT
Base Experience	0.00	0.00	2.00	0.00	2.00	0.00	2.00
Overall Bonuses	0.00	0.00	0.40	0.00	0.40	0.00	0.40
Roleplaying	0.00	0.00	0.40	0.00	0.50	0.00	0.30
Notes	0.00	0.00	0.20	0.00	0.20	0.00	0.20
TOTAL	--	--	3.00	--	3.10	--	3.00

K A R M A	ADEPT	NEMESIS	OMEGA MAN	GOLEM	SINGULARITY	STARSHINE	T-BOLT
Starting Karma	--	--	10	--	20	--	15
Karma Used	--	--	00	--	00	--	00
Karma Earned	--	--	00	--	05	--	00
KARMA TOTAL	--	--	10	--	25	--	15