The Silver Storm is an event that occurred in Emerald City which forever changed the city's destiny, and that of it's residents. It was the beginning of a series of events that culminated in the forming of The Sentinels and saving Emerald City (if not the world) from Tellux.
The Silver Storm caused many people (known as "Stormers") to spontaneously develop super powers and abilities, creating many supervillains (and a few superheroes) in moments. Prior to the Silver Storm Emerald City had never had more than a few scattered costumed champtions over the years, and none that stuck aroud long enough to make much of an impact or be considered residents/locals, and the city was (at least believed to be) free of heavy and organised crime.
Since the Silver storm there have been a rise of superhuman-related incidents and problems, and the previously quiet organised criminal elements have become more aggressive and public.
Prologue: The Silver Storm
- “With the metallic clouds rushing out and those weird bolts of blue-white lightning and that howling wind, it was like some kind of silver storm.”
-Daniel Kwan, Emerald City resident, interviewed live on KLST-TV
August 30th - It was a summer morning like any other on the Yellow Brick Row, with tourists and shoppers enjoying the weather during the height of the weekend shopping hours, when a Redshift Energies truck explodes without warning and a cloud of silvery mist emanates from blankets the surrounding area, beginning to swirl without any evident prompting (and in defiance to) the wind into a cyclonic mass which begins discharging bolts of bluish lightning within itself and the immediate facility. Many people were killed or hurt by the explosion (including falling debris from damaged buildings and vehicles) and lightning and those present panicked and tried to flee the area, causing congestion and jamming the roads - making it difficult for first-responders to attend the injured.
At this point two people present, Stephanie Jones, a foreign student studying at ECU; and Robert "Bobby" Beufort, an ECNN weatherman, realised that the Silver Storm had changed them and given them superpowers. Stephanie could create portals for teleportation effects and Bobby could control air. The two were initially confused but began trying to help the First-Response crews get to the injured, or taking injured out from underneath rubble. Unfortunately, some other newly-empowered individuals now known as Death Magnetic, The Mongoose, Lightshow and Lord Etheric began causing chaos and attacking the police, EMTs and bystanders. Stephanie and Bobby attempted to stop them. Guided by the voice of "Bonnet Blanc" which spoke to them via nearby networked devices (computers, public service speakers), Stephanie and Bobby focused on helping protect the innocent, and a green-haired woman (later revealed to be an android from the future called Valerie Valkyrie IV) helped hold back the villainous "Stormers" with firearms obtained from fallen policemen. A few minutes later a young blonde female wearing blue jeans and a pink t-shirt with "Princess" sequinned on it joined the fray, and shortly thereafter the blue-armoured Ultramarine - both having been guided there by Bonnet Blanc. Working together under Bonnet Blanc's guidance, the five of them managed to defeat the uncoordinated villains, capturing two of them and forcing Death Magnetic and Mongoose to flee. "Princess" then told Valerie, Bobbie and Stephanie to leave to protect their identities before the news crews stepped in and exposed them - and Bonnet Blanc agreed and invited them to her apartment at the Emerald Tower. Shortly after this, Bonnet Blanc revealed her real name to be Sophie Anderson - a wealthy scientist, and the Bobby and Stephanie took the codenames Valkyria, Turbine and Wyrmhole respectively and they formed the Emerald City Knights.
The Emerald City Knights frequently worked alongside Princess, Ultramarine, Xeno and other local heroes (who would eventually be founding members of The Sentinels, but at the time were only loosely allied with the ECK) helping law enforcement, fighting supervillains and helping Sophie investigate the Silver Storm. Whilst the ECK group would eventually disband when Valkyria returned to her time and Bobby left town with Sirena, the alliances formed by these heroes who first began working together the day of the Silver Storm would grow and in time form the group now legitimately recognised by the authorities (and backed by MarsTech) known as The Sentinels.
Chapter 1: “Life in the Aftermath”
Emerald City's newest heroes investigated the cause of the mysterious Silver Storm and find out who was respondible. All indications pointed to local tech magnate and philanthropist Maximillian Mars of MarsTech, Inc., and this seemed confirmed when the heroes went to speak with Mars and run straight into a group of super-mercenaries working for F.O.E. (the Fraternal Order of Evil). Overcoming the villains, the heroes got to speak with Mars and learnt that he was just as confused as they about the origins of the Silver Storm and it seemed that someone was/had set mars up for a Fall. At this point members of the Justice League appeared and, making the same mistake that the heroes did about Mars and his Mercenaries, attacked the heroes believing they were working with Mars (their investigations had also led them to conclude Mars was responsible).
Chapter 2: “Out Of their League”
Big League Trouble
The Justice League arrived and suddenly attacked. Unbeknownst to the heroes some of the technology at MarsTech was generating an odd sort of interference that very few people could even begin to sense, let alone be affected by. one of those people was Cyborg. Cyborg threw the first punch because of the unexpected effect the interference had on him. It drove him to violence and lashed out without thinking the moment he arrived. His Justice League teammates did not have time to notice his odd behaviour as their attention was on Mars and the heroes, who the League members assumed were his new crew. When Cyborg attacked, the other leaguers, accustomed to Cyborg being the voice of reason, assumed Mars and his cronies had mentally attacked their teammate.
In the ensuing battle the heroes aquitted themselves well against the Leaguers, fortunate that various of their most powerful members were off-world dealing with some kind of threat. Several of the heroes noticed some degree of confusion amongst the Leaguers regarding Cyborg's behaviour; and Mars himself took no offensive action towards the league, dodging attacks and attempting to reason with Cyborg - seemingly as confused as everyone else. The battle quickly destroyed Mars' office and spilt out onto the MarsTech campus.
Although many of the several hundred MarsTech employees had fled the area during the heroes' battle against the F.O.E., many remained hiding behind walls, cowering in stairwells or hiding in vehicles. Just as the heroes began getting concerned for the innocent bystandars, so did the League members - except for Cyborg. The fact he paid no attention to the bystanders was a strong indicator he wasn't in his right mind. Suddenly from above a loudspeaker-enhanced voice rose above the din of the battle ordering everyone to stand down. The heroes and Leaguers looked up to see the Batwing (Batman's plane) with Batman standing on top of it. Batman's intimidation factor, combined with the loudspeaker and hovering jet was sufficient to grab everyone's attention and Cyborg collapsed, finally overwhelmed by whatever was affecting him. This succeeded in getting the Leaguers and heroes to stop fighting.
An Offer You Can't Refuse
Whilst the rest of the League had gone to MarsTech, Batman had gone into the city to investigate, but diverted to MarsTech after hearing combat chatter over the team's communicators, to stop whatever was going on. Batman being Batman, and apparently knowing everything publically available about the heroes, introduced the heroes by name to the Justice Leaguers. Superman and Wonderwoman were both apologetic and a bit sheepish about the misunderstanding. As Batman, Sophie Anderson and Mars moved off to speak together, the leaguers spoke to the heroes, speaking about the stormers' transformations and both group's recent activities. Wonder Woman in particular recalled their previous encounter, when she had come pursuing a group of sirens and the heroes had helped her when she'd been overpowered by the Sirens' songs.
When Mars, Anderson and Batman returned Mars made the team an offer that he hoped would help the city and give both the heroes and the Justice League have more faith in him: he offered to sponser the heroes as Emerald City's official super-team, and supply them with funding and technology to greatly enhance the former Emerald City Knights' Emerald Tower headquarters:
“Perhaps this information will help alleviate a few concerns — I’ve been working on putting together resources for a team of hometown defenders for Emerald City. Given the lack of heroes in the city and the presence of organizations like F.O.E, and whoever or whatever is behind this “Silver Storm,” I think it’s high time we had our own defenders. So, to that end I’d like to donate whatever resources are needed to get all of you set up as a proper team. I have connections in the city government and, with the Justice League’s help with A.R.G.U.S., I believe we could have things taken care of in short order. My people are ready to expand your headquarters in the top floors of Emerald Tower, adding a few more floors and facilities complete with the very best technology I could put together.
I’ve been thinking about this for some time and I’ve spoken with the local authorities in general terms. They have mixed feelings about an organized group of heroes taking up residence in the city, but they’re open to it. I think with the chaos caused by this Silver Storm, they might be even more open to it.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that, so I have every confidence A.R.G.U.S. will come around after the Justice League puts in a good word and you’ve spent a little time talking with them.
If I or anyone else had any doubts about your dedication or abilities, your actions since the Silver Storm have certainly erased them. I know there’s a lot to work out, but what do you say? "<blockquote}
Whilst various of the heroes were skeptical, Wonder Woman vouched for Mars' sincerity as he was willing to swear to it under her Lasso of Truth, and suggested that they accept his offer - although cautioned him not to entirely trust Mars. As the situation was under control, the Leaguers excused themselves and left to try to figure out what happened with Cyborg.
Since various of the heroes were former members of Sophie Anderson's Emerald City Knights, or had been working with them for a long time now - various of them agreed to a formal joining as a group, and agreed on the name The Sentinels (as Emerald City Knights was considered too long for a formal name, though was retained as a nickname and guiding principle). The next few weeks were spent using Mars' financing to expand the former ECK headquarters from the top floor of the Emerald Tower to 5 entire floors (plus the roof), updating CAIn's capabilities, adding defensive systems and training facilities. Mars, Sophie Anderson and A.R.G.U.S. worked together to locate and recruit others into the Sentinels, forming the current line-up.