Icarus (FatG)

Every day is a day we take for granted that the cosmic dice will not roll snake-eyes... ... until it does.
Icarus
Details
Author(s):	David 2/Battlerock X
Games:	City of Heroes MMO
First Issue:	"Furia and the Guardians" #18
Date Published:	2016
Last Issue:	"Furia and the Guardians" #20
Date Published:	2016
Total Number of Issues:	3
Main Character(s)
Galatea Powers, Daybright, Guardian Star, Carlton Sage, Ryder Lightning, Databank, Biosphere, Doctor Frostberg, Captain Paragonna, Sunstorm, President Barack Obama
Series Involved
"Furia and the Guardians"
Additional Notes
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"Icarus" is a three-part storyline told in the "Furia and the Guardians" series.

The story focused mostly on Galatea Powers and Daybright, but also included members of the Justice-Knights as they dealt with a catastrophic cosmic disaster.

It also showed the final appearance of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America, as the storyline takes place near the end of his two-terms in office.

Story Progression

Prologue

Furia and the Guardians #17

MMOComicIndex "Prelude to Calamity"

With Furia Powers still on the mend from the assault by members of the Paragon City Police Department, Galatea Powers has been forced to resume her role as "Paragon City's True Guardian". This comes at a time when the United Nations global security force Vanguard were made aware of Galatea's hyper-intelligence. They begin to question her on her contributions to the Guardians of the Dawn supergroup base, including the addition of extra-dimensional artifacts of unmeasurable power.

Meanwhile the minimal staff at the United Nations Space Agency fail to detect an alert from their Icarus Solar Satellite system, which monitors solar disturbances.

As Galata gives an edited account of a mission for Vanguard, the Space Agency director discovers the alerts appearing on the screens and alerts his superiors of a massive sunspot covering much of the face of the sun.

Main Story

Furia and the Guardians #18

"Icarus - Part 1"

President Barack Obama activates the Emergency Alert System to warn the nation of the impending coronal mass ejection that threatens the planet. He tells the world that there is a plan in place by the Kheldians that would create an energy barrier to protect the planet from the worst of the CME.

As the world panics, the heroes are there to try to keep the peace, stop the looting, and herd people to the shelters. Furia Powers, on the other hand, is forced to stay at home due to her injuries.

At the Vanguard base, Captain Paragonna, the leader of the Paragon Police Department's Awakened Division, briefs the team leaders of the mission. She also says that Daybright will be the overall mission commander, given her status as a Peacebringer Redeemer as well as being the one who helped create the "Icarus" solar detection program.

As the Kheldian forces gather on the various orbital platforms around the Earth, the CME discharges at a strength and speed faster than anticipated. This catches the Kheldians off-guard and they are forced to scramble into position. Daybright realizes that their combined force would not be enough, so she activated a contingency plan called "Minos". Using the extra-dimensional artifacts retrieved by Galatea Powers, a second magnetic field was generated around the Earth, with Guardian Base temporarily becoming a second north pole.

The CME strikes the Earth, sweeping the Kheldians with its cosmic energy and bathing the planet in a blinding white light.

But they discover that the shield worked in blocking most of the effects of the CME. Power is slowly restored through Paragon City, including Guardian Base. As they start to get access to networks back, Carlton Sage shows concern about the Kheldians. Guardian leader Ryder Lightning tells Sage that they have that covered, as Galatea Powers reaches out to the only supergroup with a working teleport system that could save the Kheldians: the Justice-Knights.

Furia and the Guardians #19

"Icarus - Part 2"

With most of the world affected by the coronal mass ejection, the Guardians of the Dawn take command of the recovery efforts in Paragon City.

Meanwhile, Galatea Powers teleports over to the Gilgamesh - the repurposed Rikti mothership that serves as the orbital headquarters of the Justice-Knights. As Galatea reunites with allies Biosphere, Doctor Frostburg, and Databank, the ship approaches the approximate area of the orbital platforms that the Kheldians were using as staging areas for their defense shields. They retrieve Sunstorm first and find him badly damaged from the CME. They also find that one of the four platforms survived the CME, but the ambient energy in the area would make teleporting difficult.

As the Gilgamesh approaches the platform, Databank creates a communication and sensory link with Guardian Base. Meanwhile, Galatea exits the ship wearing a custom spacesuit. As she lands on the remains of the platform, both the ship and Guardian Base grow concerned with Galatea's health, which is starting to spike up. Galatea begins rescuing the surviving Kheldians, while ignoring calls from both Guardians and Knights for her to return to the ship.

When Galatea finds a badly injured Daybright, the wounded Peacebringer Redeemer says that she was keeping the platform stable so it would give the Kheldians sustaining heat to feed from, Daybright sees what is happening to Galatea and tries to warn her, but is teleported to the Gilgamesh. There, she is forced to transform into her pure-human form in front of Frostburg, who is surprised to see her both human and naked.

As Galatea transports the last Kheldian to the Gilgamesh, she is overwhelmed by a surge of energy. She then explodes in a crackle of energy. The technicians at Guardian Base report the presence of "C-S" particles around Galatea. This surprises Sage, who then has to explain to Ryder that Cole-Smythe particles are only present when incarnate powers are exerted. This only happens when someone is an incarnate or in the process of transforming into one. As the heroes try to get Galatea to return to the ship, she collapses on the platform surface.

Meanwhile, Biosphere reports that with all the Kheldians off the platform, the platform itself was no longer in a stable orbit and is now heading towards Earth.

Furia and the Guardians #20

"Icarus - Part 3"

As the UN Space Agency begins to get signals back from ground telescopes, they see a huge mass approaching the planet being tailed by a Rikti mothership. Agency Director Simms requests Vanguard leader Lady Grey take any effort possible while they still can. Ryder Lightning, however, manages to convince Lady Grey that this is the Justice-Knights base, the Gilgamesh, and they are trying to stop the platform's slow approach. Aboard the ship, Biosphere and Databank say that don't have the capability of pushing the platform to a higher orbit or to break it up into small enough pieces to burn up completely in re-entry.

Meanwhile, atop the partially-molten surface of the platform, Galatea Powers is laying there, overwhelmed with energy, her senses pushed further than they have ever been. She is aware of everything around her, and it is terrifying her.

As the Gilgamesh begin firing harpoons and tow cables at the platform, Biosphere says that they have to do anything they can to try to save the orbit of the platform, lest the damage devastates the Earth.

Back on the platform, Galatea suddenly finds herself protected from the supercharging nutrinos by the arrival of the mysterious "Quinn". Quinn explains that Galatea is on the path to becoming an incarnate being. This transformation was hastened by the strange nutrinos on the platform, which is supercharging the dark energy that give her hyper-powers. He warns her that there are several cosmic forces that are aware of her transformation and see her as a threat. This includes Rularuu and Gill Gamma.

Onboard the Gilgamesh, Daybright, now a fully-human Grace Fellows, offers to help give the ship additional power. She comes up with the idea of magnetizing the ship to help pull the platform further away from the planet. It helps, but not enough. As Ryder gives Sage permission to request the launch of nuclear missiles to destroy the platform, Galatea comes back on the radio to say that she will use all of her overcharged powers to "leap" off the platform, and give it the necessary push to move it into a stable orbit.

The heroes can only watch as Galatea hurdles back to Earth, worried about what will happen when she hits the planet at her hyper-accelerated speed. As she approaches Paragon City, her descent is intercepted by another figure flying out of Talos Island, and the two crash into the wooded area of The Hollows.

Galatea finds herself in the middle of a burning forest, her spacesuit completely burned off in re-entry. Then she finds the injured body of her adopted sister, Furia Powers, who risked her own life to stop Galatea's descent.

Months later, Furia Powers finds herself well enough to return to hero duty. Daybright takes up Dr. Frostburg's offer for a "personal tour" of the Gilgamesh and fights off his lecherous advances.

In one of his final acts as President of the United States, Barack Obama awards the surviving Kheldians along with Galatea and the Justice-Knights with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest award given to a civilian. Daybright and the other Kheldians were also given Paragon City's highest award, the Order of Atlas, for their sacrifices.

The issue ends on December 23rd with Galatea confiding to her boyfriend, Guardian Star, that she's knows he was the one that informed Vanguard of her growing powers and that she was scared of what she was becoming. He gives his support to her as a strange doppelganger looks on in the distance.

Aftermath

Mirroring real-world events, President Obama is succeeded by President Donald Trump.

The death of many of the Kheldians has an impact on Captain Paragonna's Awakened Division, which is soon felt in the pages of "Task Force Twilight".

Galatea's transformation into an incarnate will be explored in future comic series, as will the strange doppelganger of Guardian Star.

Related Information

Promotional ad for "Icarus"

Promotional ad for Issue #19 featuring Galatea Powers