The NEW Vanguard! STORMBREAKER Issue #1

The Grey Druid now Captain Claymore...

Vanished after either guarding or somehow venturing into the ruins at Coldstream Castle. The last 24 hours had been a blur. Meeting those others - Frostbite, Haunt, Centurion, Lionheart and more besides, fighting off what had been the first salvo in a war between demons and humankind in Wales, then Coldstream. These things were connected. It was all part of some greater plot to seize this world as their own, but this action had been too direct.

Stormbreakers' mystic knowledge wasn't that of a master, but he knew that Demonic powers' influence and might was centered on their home plane of existence, and that they needed an 'anchor' here to exist for any length of time. An item, a place, a person.

The fight had been over all too suddenly in the Coldstream ruins, the Demon apparently retreating. Why?

Alex settled back into the chair. He was in his hotel room, laid on by Ghost Knights' people under an assumed name. That secret identity thing.

Rain pattered against the window as he pondered his next move. To join the Vanguard? Find Claymore and Druid, somehow? In their absence, to establish himself as the protector of Edinburgh and Scotland? Where to start with that? Approach the authorities? They were still nervous about 'unregistered' supers after the events of a few years ago. A powerful supervillain had masqueraded as the UKs most powerful superhero, Adjutant, and gone on a spree of destruction. Though he'd cleared his name, Adjutant saw the publics confidence had been shattered so he revealed his identity and asked his team mates and fellow heroes to do the same.

The result had been a disaster.

Criminals and villains had struck at loved ones, hit the heroes when their guard was down. It was open season, and a rebel faction of heroes had risen to oppose the law, fight crime on their own terms and with masks in place. Even the intervention of American heroes had been useless when it was pointed out that by keeping their own identities a secret, they were breaking the law.

An uneasy truce had been called, the law repealed, the media frenzy quieted down, but the effects of the 'civil war' could still be seen on the streets. Every time a new super emerged, people would run for cover, watch and wait. Would they be friend, or foe? The authorities tried to maintain a facade of control, but what could you do against someone who ignored bullets and bombs? Flew faster than the fastest plane, flattened buildings with every misplaced blow?

Perhaps it was time to build the trust up again, and at least fill the void left by the loss of Scotlands premier heroes...

Alex leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers in front of him. Things were not going well, despite the apparent victory at both the prison and the castle. Alex had spent the last five years of his life fighting the forces of evil and had had come to view it in terms of a war fought on many fronts, and both of those fights had felt like acceptable or even intentional ones, diversions or tactical retreats. The thought made Alex uneasy, as did the presence of Kaberaxus's spawn at the castle. Then there was the disappearance of Captain Claymore and the Grey Druid..

Sighing he stands up from his chair and paces the room. His contacts were mostly focused in America, though he did perhaps have someone to speak to here. With no distinct leads to follow up on that was probably his best bet, that and taking the time to properly arm himself. With his mind made up Alex strode to the door, grabbing Stormbreaker from a side table where he had set the sword down.

It took him a few minutes to get everything he needed, uniform, civilian cloths, and a trench coat with a specialized hook inside to hang Stormbreaker's sheath from. With that he was off to London. He had a Warlock to visit.

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Going to take a bit of time to get prepped, then go looking for the White Warlock. Alex needs some info, and guidance on how to plug into Britain's mystical community. I figure either the Warlock of his Apprentice would be a great source for both. Plus the girl is cute

The journey to London went without a hitch...

Taking up residence in a reasonable hotel Alex caught a cab into the city centre. Stepping out at the film studio he'd been to previously, he figured that his previous relations with Jenna and LeBlanc (the White Warlock) should ensure things went smoothly.

As he walked up to a busy pedestrian crossing, people crowded all about, he felt something.

Magic!

Glancing about, he narrowed his eyes. Hundreds of people on this side of the street, all going about their business on an afternoon. Yet it was there, somewhere. Magic being used even as he looked on.

Coincidence? With the White Warlock having retired, would his old enemies attempt to strike back at him for his previous exploits? Or... were dark forces even now closing in to take the sword from him? Kaberaxus was devious, striking from the shadows with deception, lies, betrayal. He looked across the road to where the building housing the film studio where LeBlanc worked out of. Lots of people walking past, in and out of the place. All seemingly normal.

There was something else. As he crossed the road he felt a powerful field of magic up ahead, a dome around the building. If he entered it, chances were his own magic might not work as planned...