The Legion of Doom
The origin of the Legion of Doom begins in the 'Burbs of the Coalition State of Chi-Town. Composed mainly of Juicers and wanna-bes, the street gang operated mainly from the back-alleys of the 'Burbs. They rose to prominence during the late 90's P.A. under the leadership of two brothers -- The Road Warriors.
Hawk and Animal led the gang of powerhouse miscreants as they ran rough-shod over the CS Psi-Stalkers and Dog Packs that patrolled the 'Burbs. Drugs, alcohol, theft, prostitution, murder, and muggings were commonplace, with the L.O.D. showing no prejudice -- they beat the hell out of everyone equally. With their right-hand man Psycho, the Road Warriors ruled the 'Burbs with an iron fist. Nobody could beat them. Nobody could touch them.
But by 99 P.A. the Coalition had decided to reclaim their dominance over the 'Burbs. To do so, they turned loose several experimental (at the time) weapons. The results were swift and devastating.
With the Road Warriors 50 miles outside Chi-town to the northeast at a black market weapons deal, Psycho pulled the Legion out of the 'Burbs after suffering heavy losses. The hold of the Legion of Doom was broken.
Hawk and Animal were caught unaware by CS SAMAS Power Armor sqauds and retreated on their cycles to the nearest defensible position. That turned out to be the ruins of Old Chicago. That fateful choice of retreats would change their lives forever.
Once within the pre-Rifts city, the Road Warriors found that they were able to easily lose their pursuers. Perhaps a little too easily. Cocky and confident, they thought nothing of it and laughed at the expense of the Coalition troops that had been chasing them. And then it happened.
The Road Warriors suddenly felt pain. And then nothing.
When they regained consciousness, they found it to be the middle of the night. They noticed immediately that their vision was somehow altered. They saw targeting readouts, and were able to see clear as daylight, despite the night sky above telling them they shouldn't be able to. This was not cool.
The Road Warriors returned to Chi-Town's 'Burbs to find that it had been three weeks since they had left. They went to a bar to find out what happened to the rest of their gang, which only made things worse.
They entered the bar only to see a squad of CS Grunts sitting by the door. "Uh-oh,"muttered Animal.
The five grunts saw the two brothers and went for their guns. In a flash, Hawk and Animal were on them. Hawk tore one man's arm off and used it to knock the gun out of another's hand. Then things seemed to slow down. Everyone, including Hawk, was shocked at what had just happened. There were screams and blood in a sickening mix straight out of a bad horror movie. Animal shoved one of the grunts to get back to the door. When he flew through the wall, things took a turn for the worse again.
Hawk and Animal ran out of the bar and made a bee-line for a garage the gang had kept secret as a safe house. They were awash in blood after the short slaughter that had occured in the bar, and they just wanted to go somewhere they could feel safe to sort things out. When they arrived, however, they found that someone was waiting for them.
The shorter, gruff sounding man was built like a bodybuilder, and had a thick mustache and goatee that matched his dark hair. He seemed to command an air of respect that the brothers couldn't quite figure out. "Evenin' boys. News travels fast. And you boys don't waste anytime bustin' up the 'Burbs again, do you?" he laughed as he extended his hand.
Neither of the city rats made a move.
Looking back at them, he said,"Maybe we should just take this inside." And so he turned and walked in the door, with the Road Warriors behind him.
Animal smiled at Hawk who nodded. Animal clenched a fist and fired it at the back of the smaller man's head, fully expecting to turn the man to jello. But the punch never connected.
Animal's punch was caught in mid-air as the man spun around with a very serious look on his face. "Let's get something straight here, boys. I'm in charge from now on. I'll keep the Mutt-man Patrols off your backs and I'll keep the bald-headed terrors away from you. But I need you to do some jobs for me. Do we have an understanding?"
"Uh....y-yeah," Hawk stammered while Animal stood there dumbfounded.
"Cool." he smiled. "Now that that is done, kids, let's get down to business. My name is Paul..."
Over the next several months, Hawk and Animal traveled throughout the Americas in search of different artifacts that Paul claimed were stolen from him. The Road Warriors could have cared less. They were paid well to use their considerable strengths to bust some heads, with any repercussions handled by their benefactor. It seemed too good to be true. And in truth it was.
Their next mission would lead them to South America to reclaim a tome of magic from a shifter. They actually failed after they defeated all of his minions. Their overconfidence allowed the shifter to trigger a dimensional portal in their path.
When they reappeared they found themselves in an underground jungle of some sort. Then came the dinosaurs..... which were followed by giant crab-like robots... which were shooting at the brothers!
"What the Hell did we just step into?" screamed Hawk as he pulled his C-27 plasma cannon and fired at the oncoming stampede.
"I don't really care!" replied Animal."Let's just kill this $#1+ and get it over with!" He squeezed off a shot with his JA-11 that took down a charging T-Rex.
Then the there were other shots fired and the Road Warriors found themselves in the company of REF troops. Again Hawk screamed. "Where the Hell are we?? What the Hell is goin' on?" Hawk fired off a series of shots at the 'crabs' he saw, taking down two of them.
When the dust settled, the Road Warriors had demolished their opponents and were ready to take down the REF until Admiral Rick Hunter himself called for a cease-fire. After some tense moments and a quick explanation of the situation, the Road Warriors were evacuating the planet Praxis with the REF.
Eventually they would come to believe that they were permanently stuck in the REFs timeline, unsure of what that would mean. All they knew for sure was that the REF gave them the opportunity to bust some heads and stick it to a dictatorship like the CS.
After some crash-course training, the Road Warriors were chosen to return to (REF) Earth with Major Carpenter's attack group as part of a mixed-team aboard a Zentraedi Destroyer. They know that they are not headed to their home, but just before the launch for Earth, Hawk tells Animal, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
He was right, as the ship had a malfunction in it's fold system and wound up coming to a crashing halt several miles outside Chi-Town. The Zentraedi onboard died in the devastation of the crash, which was barely survived by even the incredibly powerful Road Warriors. As hordes of troops from Chi-Town came pouring over the hills to contain whatever was in the ship, the brothers made their escape, but barely.
As they lost the CS troops, Hawk noticed something about his brother. As they rode away on the Cyclones they recovered from the downed destroyer, he saw that part of Animal's face had been burned off. And under the skin was metal. His brother was a cyborg or a robot or something. Then he glanced down at the pain in his right thigh and saw the same thing -- metal.
They made their way at top speed to see Paul in the 'Burbs. After three hours of avoiding CS patrols, they found Paul. He was very surprised to see them, and especially surprised to see their robotic parts.
"Where have you been?" was Paul's only question.
The Road Warriors explained the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, which Paul informed them was a year and a half-long absence.
After a few days to heal up their damaged flesh, Paul sent them to Mexico, which would be their last mission for him. Once they reached Mexico, they were lured by a beautiful D-bee woman while looking for some fun. She turned out to be Magna, the bodyguard of Erin Tarn II and a member of the REF underground network.
As it turns out, The SDF-3 and a few other ships had been caught in a similar distortion to what the Zentraedi vessel had come through. But the SDF-3 and the others had materialized
before
the Zentraedi vessel had. A full year before.
The Road Warriors were recruited to help the REF adjust to to Rifts Earth, as well as help fill out the ranks of their underground. As they spent more time around Erin Tarn II, Hawk and Animal started to grow apart.
Eventually Hawk took over Magna's duties as Erin's protector and was slowly changing to a nicer person. He hadn't really mellowed that much, but his exposure to Erin had definitely changed him, and Animal didn't like it.
Hawk and Animal were given special commissions in the REF and were given special duty under Admiral Hunter. When the SDF-3 was ready to leave, Hawk was given command of the forces on New Macross Island. Animal was appointed the Security Chief -- technically Hawk's subordinate -- which further drove a wedge between Hawk and Animal.
After the SDF-3's departure, the REF forces on New Macross Island became less focused as the tension grew between the Road Warriors. It was at this time that contact with the Invid forces at New Denver was made. The conflict with the Invid eventually settled into an uneasy treaty after losses by both sides. While Hawk decided to take the advice of Erin and Khrystle and try to negotiate a truce of sorts, Animal pushed for further hostilities, wanting to pull Lazlo into the fray in hopes of getting the Invid in a crossfire. Hawk chose a truce. Animal and Hawk grew further apart.
After a time, the REF was drawn into the Mechanoids Invasion and had to rely on Invid troops to help stem the tide of the invasion. The breaking point for the brothers came during the final battle of the conflict, where Lord Karza personally engaged the Mechanoids alongside the Road Warriors and Erin Tarn II. When Hawk saved Karza from a blindside attack, Animal could take no more and the pent-up hostilities of the two brothers erupted into a slugfest between them during the firefight with the Mechanoids. The Spider-Fortress was eventually taken down by Erin Tarn II and Karza, while the Road Warriors fought each other.
After all was said and done, Animal wanted to leave New Macross Island. He did it by stealing an SDF-class vessel from the city of Ki-Talan in Atlantis. Animal and 800 troops loyal to him left Earth never to be seen again.
Hawk, meanwhile, made a deal with the devil, having Karza clone a new, genetically enhanced body to replace his robot body. It was made from his original genetic material, recovered from SkyCom facilities in Chi-Town by Karza's Dog Soldiers. He was human once more, knowing that he wanted to grow old with Erin Tarn II.
It wasn't all as planned, though. Hawk nearly left Erin soon after when she revealed that she wouldn't grow old with him. She was immortal. It was a secret she had kept from him their entire relationship, and the shock and betrayal he felt nearly destroyed their relationship.
Karza, however got what he wanted. He obtained new genetic material for his clone troops. He weakened his greatest adversary on Rifts Earth. And he caused great personal turmoil for the Road Warriors, weakening further the now unstable REF forces.
In the aftermath of it all, Khrystle approached Hawk and told him to resign for the good of the REF. She pointed out that his looser style had resulted in a weakening of the ranks, with turmoil brought about by his personal problems. And so he turned the reigns over to the Zentraedi Ace, leaving behind the friends that he had made. Hawk and Erin returned to North America to work in the Chi-Town 'Burbs once more.
Meanwhile, Psycho and his growing gang of Juicers had begun to creep back into Chi-Town's 'Burbs, while Psycho ran things from afar, living in a fortress village 100 miles northeast of Old Chicago, on the way to Tolkeen. The Legion would begin again.
Eventually, however, Psycho and his biker-heaven village were destroyed when an electromagnetic pulse swept through, frying the Juicers' bio-comps, causing their drug harnesses to randomly pump drugs into their systems. Hawk and Erin, having just met up with the gang there, watched the whole grisly scene.
Hawk swore vengeance and went to Chi-Town, where he was captured while trying to get to Emperor Prosek. He was sent to Lone Star for examination.
Eventually Erin, Magna, and some Juicers from the LOD, along with covert REF operatives, got Hawk out, discovering just what goes on there. They made their escape while an amnesiac humanoid they had discovered in a lab operated the inter-dimensional gateway equipment in the sub-levels. He regained enough of his memory to know that he was a member of the pre-Rifts research team that built the device. After sending them through a rift to Macross Island, he committed suicide to keep the CS from learning what he knew.
The survivors found themselves in the ocean off the coast of Macross Island, but knew that it wasn't quite right. Though disoriented from the journey, they knew something was wrong. Erin couldn't sense the ley lines, and their Sea Titan teammate wasn't healing properly. Then they saw a helicopter come in.
Magna pulled the team to shore just in time to see a research team leave the helicopter. Among the team members were Dr. Emil Lang, Roy Fokker, and Captain Henry Gloval. They had somehow traveled through time and space to the site of the SDF-1's crash.
They were able to sneak onto the ship, and using their knowledge of the ship's layout, they were able to avoid the pre-RDF team while fighting their way to the engineering area. There, Erin used her sword's teleportation abilities, coupled with the bizarre time/space anomalies of the ship, to teleport them away.
But to where?
They found themselves on a strange jungle island with three pyramids in ruins at the center. From the look of the twin moons in the sky above they weren't on earth. As the night fell on the island, Erin sensed another immortal, who used stealth and skill to kill the seven Juicers before she was able to stop him.
Using the knowledge that she acquired from his Quickening, Erin was able to use the stone pyramids ability to open Rifts to get back to New Macross Island.
Stats
Road Warrior Animal pre-REF Robot
Road Warrior Animal REF Robot
Road Warrior Hawk pre-REF Robot
Road Warrior Hawk REF Robot
Road Warrior Hawk (new cloned body)
Psycho
Paul Ellering
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