Guardian Exiles (GotDS)

New World - New Lives
Guardian Exiles
Details
Author(s):	David 2/BattlerockX
Games:	City of Heroes
First Issue:	Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight #0
Date Published:	2009
Last Issue:	Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight #3
Date Published:	2009
Total Number of Issues:	4
Main Character(s)
Galatea Powers, MidKnight X, Ryder Lightning, Icon Powers, Doc Tor
Series Involved
Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight
Additional Notes
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"The Guardian Exiles" is a reference to the three heroes who came into the world of the City of Heroes MMO in April of 2007.

Galatea Powers, Ryder Lightning, and MidKnight X were all brought over from an extra-dimensional universe designated by the Portal Corporation as XHT-S7.

Their stories of how they arrived in the Guardian Paraverse were told in the first three issues of the "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" series as well as the text-only story "The Guardian Exiles", which later became Issue #0.

The media dubbed the three the "Guardian Exiles" after they became the first recruits into a new team called the Guardians of the Dawn.

Prologue

The City's Finest #2: The Guardian Exiles

"City's Finest" 02

Taking place following the events of "Bad Business" in the pages of "The Justice-Knights", three strangers from another dimension arrive on Primal Earth in 2007 and are taken into custody by Vanguard to be "interviewed". They are eventually recruited to help in a mission to take down a "being of unknown origin" and afterward are offered one-year positions with Vanguard in exchange for freedom and a new chance at life.

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Issue 0

Issue 0

"Issue 0" was originally meant to be a text-only story explaining how the three heroes came to the Paraverse, but with the start of the comic series, the creator decided to make the story a part of the series canon and thus gave it the "Issue 0" designation.

April, 2007
(Note: This event happens in between Issue #20 of the (Top Cow) incarnation of "City of Heroes" and the Second Rikti Invasion of 2007.)

The story starts with a huge disturbance in Paragon City as mysterious portals open that are more powerful than the ones that brought the Rikti over in the 2002 invasion. A larger portal opens in the entranceway to Recluse's Victory in City Hall. Rick Davies ask Positron for help, but Positron spots another portal opening in Steel Canyon and goes to investigate. As various heroes in the area keep civilians away, Positron's armor is shattered by the arrival of a figure running through the portal's maw. The being crashes into the nearby retaining wall and is rendered unconscious.

In Kings Row, the arrival of a badly wounded shadowy figure is noticed by members of the Skull and Vahzilok gangs. The stranger gathers together mystical energy to build up his defenses and announces "I am the Knight... and you're practice!"

In City Hall, Dark Watcher and Ms. Liberty are present in the D.A.T.A. portal chamber when giant hands rip through the larger portal, and a face peers through, exclaiming "NO, THIS WILL NOT DO!" before retreating. Before the portal closes, a badly wounded female is thrown through the maw.

April, 2009

Galatea Powers finishes her work with Serge in her civilian guise of "Kara Hamilton" before meeting with her fellow "exiles" Ryder Lightning and MidKnight X in the Guardian Base on Talos Island. But their second anniversary reunion is cut short by the arrival of fellow Guardian Doc Tor, who tells them that he's been keeping an eye on the three on behalf of Galatea's cousin.

Days later, Galatea meets with her cousin, Kent "Icon" Powers, and her memories of her life in that universe begin to return. He shows her how they came over from their home universe, that he had disappeared a year earlier for a reason, and that the being responsible for them being there also destroyed their home universe so they can never return. She shares as much as she can with the others, who also start to remember who they were in their home universe.

Afterward, Doc Tor meets with The Editor to inform him that the "revisions" are working. The Editor then tells Tor that he has to stay in that universe to make sure the revisions hold.

Main Story

The first three stories focused on the lives of their respective characters, although the first issue was more a "day-in-the-life" kind of story than the other two, which focused on origins. Each of the stories had a backstory involving Lyon Powers as she attempted to track down and get in touch with Galatea Powers.

Issue 1

Issue 1

Following shortly after the events in Issue #0, Galatea Powers explains the recent changes in her personal life to "Mike" and "Melissa". This includes being "arrested" by private police officers from Crey Industries and being "rescued" by an "unknown hero". Later, Captain Paragonna meets with the two and they say that Galatea was lying about the unknown hero. The Captain notes that Galatea's history had been reportedly tampered with numerous times in the past and that maybe this was a sign of Galatea losing her sanity.

Meanwhile, Lyon Powers arrives in Paragon City and asks Back Alley Brawler for the location of Galatea Powers.

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Issue 2

Ryder Lightning focuses on his fixation with the past now that he remembers it. He stays in Steel Canyon, where he was found (from Issue 0). He believes that if he runs fast enough he can enter "The Vortex", which would allow him to return to his home universe and to his wife Kris. He notes his history as a speedster, how he was possessed by the spirit of "wandering spirit" and its connection to the Vortex and how he became originally known as "The Runner".

It is here we also see what happened to his home universe, and what the three "Exiles" did, along with Photonis, to try to save the universe from destruction.

Meanwhile, after meeting Back Alley Brawler, Lyon Powers is forced to fight off a Rikti attack before finding out that Galatea Powers is in the Guardians of the Dawn. She gets the group's base phone number and manages to connect directly to Galatea.

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Issue 3

Issue 3

The issue focuses on the origins of MidKnight X, how he was the second street vigilante in his home universe known as "MidKnight" and the circumstances of his death and his own eventual resurrection at the expense of his mentor's death. He notes that since his resurrection, he rarely sleeps, and he has become nihilistic because of the experience. He fights crime in the daytime as the civilian Jason Knight and in the dark as MidKnight X.

Meanwhile Lyon Powers finally meets face-to-face with Galatea Powers during the 2009 Halloween Event. After giving her a piece of her mind, Lyon is given a calm explanation of her origins by Galatea, making note of the 1938 meteor shower. She mentions her uncle's superhero career and her cousin introducing her a "Karen Powers". She also explains that her arrival in this universe was witnessed by both Ms. Liberty and Dark Watcher. Galatea also explained that she spoke with Lady Jane and they both discover they have a few things in common. Galatea also extended Lyon a membership in the Guardians, which the younger hero accepted. The two then take on a giant Eochi monster attacking Atlas Park.

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Aftermath

After Issue #3, the focus of the comic went to the more original characters, although each of the heroes would still make guest appearances.

Issue 10

Issue 10

The true origins of the meteor shower described in Issues 2 and 3, as well as the true source of the destruction of Universe XHT-S7 is finally revealed to be an accident caused by the former time manipulator and fellow Guardian Doc Tor.

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Issue 14

Issue 14

In the first part of the story, we see that the U.S. Space Shuttle Cygnus encountered one of the extra-dimensional portals from the April 2007 event during re-entry. The encounter damaged the shuttle and it exploded in the atomosphere. The event changes Major Henry "Hank" Geddy and eventually becomes StarCygnus.

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Time and Changes

• (See also "Time and Changes")

Following the events of Issue 17, the principle characters involved in the "Guardian Exiles" series would each be transformed in the "Time and Changes" storyline. Some changes would be modest, such as MidKnight X's new hood, while others will have whole new costume changes. But the character with the biggest change will be Galatea Powers, as not only her outfit but also her origins will be altered significantly. The changes for her will start at the end of "Time and Changes" and proceed directly into "Galatea Dawning".

Related Information

The trio's first adventures in the City of Heroes will be seen in "The City's Finest" #2.