The Valiant Universe
History
Where this Universe diverges from the primary timeline is during the The Railyard Raid, where a fortuitous meeting between Rachel Stephens and Alec Upton would set into motion events that would eventually lead to the formation of The Vigil, and the new era of superheroes. In the Valiant Universe, this meeting never took place and, as such, the two heroes continued to act independantly of one another.
In the weeks that followed, Rachel would attempt to investigate the series of disappearances that had been occuring among the displaced Railyard residents, but would unfortunately find herself unable to deal with the problem alone, leading to her untimely demise. With Suplex out of the picture, the homeless and opressed people of the city never again found a place they could call their own, and the higher ups in the local government rejoiced, with the current Mayor Andrew Dawson using the successes in his bid for reelection.
Without Rachel around, Jasmine falls back into drugs and alcohol, Transonic is not saved after being taken by the supervillain Rumour, Amelia Abel is not disfigured and subsequently turned into a cyborg, Rue Harlin continues to work for The Spider, and Alec falls further into his more narrow-minded view of morality, becoming more concerned with punishing any form of wrongdoing as opposed to truly helping people.
Without his help and support, Cryogen and Blaze are quickly picked up by Schurk Industries, his and Shade's relationship breaks down and, when he finds out about their shady practices during the takedown of Schurk Industries , he decides to confront the Bradyn Mannering alone, and is killed in the ensuing battle.
With the company going down and all eyes on the board of directors, Bradyn sees an opportunity to come out on top. He publically denounces the rest of the board and manages to seem like a sympathetic bystander in the business' crimes, vowing to use his own fortune and connections to repair the damage done by Joseph Schurk and his contemporaries. The business is still dissolved, but in its place Mannering and a few other prominent figures in local government put together the new Sentinel Group, with him and a handpicked team of superhumans operating under the title of The Valiant.
The new team consists of Mannering himself, serving as team leader, The Machinist and Evelyn (operating in the guise of Suplex after Eli was unable to get over her death), Brainiac, and the newly released Cryogen and her Blaze. With Mannering at the helm, this team is far more willing to execute villains rather than imprison them, leading to a largely reduced number of supervillains active in the city at any given time.
Unfortunately, the Half-Bone Lord's magic most recently revealed that Blaze had come under the influence of a demonic entity and was killed in a strike against the creature. Cryogen was devastated by the news, and grew even more reclusive than before, almost never appearing in public, and only allowing access to her lab for a special few. No-one's been quite sure what she's working on, but it seems important.
Type
Universe
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