AEGIS F.C. Office
Since its founding, AEGIS has had a strong presence in Freedom City, to such an extent that many people think Freedom is the real headquarters for the organization—and they’d be right. Jack Simmons, never a Washington man, viewed Freedom City as the front line in the war against his country’s enemies, and was determined that his organization would have a strong presence in the city for as long as it was needed, working side-by-side with local superheroes. More than forty years later, the wisdom of Simmons’ decision has been proven time and again. Freedom City has always seemed to bring out the best in those who wear the AEGIS uniform.
A legacy of mistrust still persists in some areas of Freedom, though. AEGIS agents have pulled rank on local law enforcement officers too many times not to be resented, and some STAR Squad officers take a sadistic delight in misdirecting AEGIS so they stay out of their way. The relationship between the Freedom League and AEGIS is similarly complicated; they frequently collaborate, but both organizations are suspicious of each other and constantly on guard.
Structure
STEWART "ROCKSTAR" BONHAM
Stewart “Rock Star” Bonham is Chief Administrator of the Freedom City AEGIS Operations Center. Bonham is well known as the son of legendary AEGIS agent Luke “The Duke” Bonham, second only to Director Powers in deeds of daring-do. Raised since childhood to be the perfect AEGIS agent, Stewart joined the organization and found himself standing in his father’s very large shadow; however, as he once put it, “For AEGIS, shadows are a piece of cake.”
Bonham is fairly young; impetuous; too good looking and athletic for his own good; and his call sign, “Rock Star,” doesn’t stray far from his public persona. He loves the spotlight, sometimes appears on A.M. Freedom to talk about security issues in Freedom City, and has even appeared onstage with prominent rock bands to perform on the guitar, though not always for self-aggrandizement; one time he leapt into a mosh pit to beat up a terrorist who planned to blow up the concert. The tabloids have linked him romantically to numerous eligible superhumans, including everyone from Siren to Johnny Rocket; he has dated a few, but never answers such personal questions.
Certainly, nobody thinks he’s boring. People either hate Stewart’s guts, or they’d follow him into Hell—which, on one occasion, was more than a figure of speech. It’s a mistake to interpret his style as a lack of respect for AEGIS, even if his excesses frequently raise Director Powers’ blood pressure; the one thing that really annoys him is when an agent doesn’t take a mission seriously.
Stewart is a handsome man with light brown hair, striking blue eyes, and an athletic build. Off-duty, he often wears Freedom Blades memorabilia, usually the now-retired #19 jersey of former team captain Brent Ironwood, a boyhood chum who made it to NHL stardom only to die in a car accident years ago.
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Other top agents in the Freedom City AEGIS base include Bonham's second-in-command, Michael Hughes, a straight arrow who stands in stark contrast to his boss. They make a strong team, but there’s an underlying resentment between the two. Several years ago, Hughes then-girlfriend—an Overthrow agent named Hilda Reinholdt—tried to steal AEGIS secrets; Hughes was demoted, and when the time came to select a new AEGIS administrator, Bonham was chosen over him. In Hughes’ eyes, Bonham stole his job.
Keeping a watchful eye on Hughes are two close friends and confidantes: one is Rita “Dynamite” Reznor, a shedevil commando who is one of AEGIS’s most celebrated female agents. The other is Alex Vezini, nephew of the notorious Gemini. Like his uncle, Alex is a low-level telepath, but he hasn’t fallen prey to the mental illness that seems rooted in his family tree; not yet, anyway.
The unofficial chief of detectives, head of the investigative wing of AEGIS in Freedom City, is Connor Wayne, a brilliant but eccentric ex-Scotland Yard inspector. His second-in-command is the perky coroner-turned-detective, Sierra Howell.
In addition to dozens of top-flight agents, Freedom City has two special individuals who provide valuable (and sometimes dangerous) technical support:
Dr. Doris Volk
The head of AEGIS’ Technologies Section, Doris Volk is a brilliant engineer and one of the few people ever taken under the wing of Daedalus to work as his protégé. Volk left Daedalus in 1997 to pursue her own projects, but Daedalus asked AEGIS to bring her onboard. The two have remained close, and some fear she’s actually Daedalus’ eyes and ears within AEGIS, but Harry Powers seems unconcerned. A workaholic, Volk was behind the development of the Super-MAX armor, and is spearheading the development of the next generation of battlesuit, which some are calling “The Super-Duper-MAX” against her wishes. Volk has said not to expect a prototype anytime soon. The product of a Midwestern farm family who fled Germany before the Second World War, Doris was raised with a decidedly Calvinist work ethic. She is perhaps the most demanding taskmaster at AEGIS, and while the results are worth it, her methods take a toll on her research team. Dr. Volk’s staff has an alarmingly high turnover rate, and some of her best designers have quit—only to find work at the Foundry. Doris is a plain looking woman in her late 30s, with short auburn hair and carrying some extra weight. She is always dressed in a lab coat, even at AEGIS staff meetings.Damantha “Dame” DeMaurier
No one is quite sure where Damantha DeMaurier comes from, but clearly, she’s not from around here. She has described her home as an ethereal dimension where nigh immortal witches float on the clouds and bend reality with a blink (or a twitch of the ears or nose). Dame (as she’s commonly called) came from that world to marry a mortal, giving up much of her supernatural power in the process. Dame’s husband turned out to be an abusive lout who constantly belittled her heritage. Dame sacrificed nearly all of her power to please him, but it was still not enough—he turned his vitriol on her family. After his hectoring drove one of Dame’s kindly aunts to dissipate her essence into the ether (the witchly equivalent of suicide), she abandoned the marriage. AEGIS had known of her magical ability for years, thanks to a neighbor’s reports of assorted supernatural mishaps. They contacted her and asked her to join the agency. As Special Director Damantha DeMaurier, Dame uses her knowledge of magic along with her cleverness and charm to help identify magical threats to the United States. She and Adrian Eldrich had a cordial friendship. Dame is a tall, attractive blond woman. She lives in Gerber House on Lantern Hill, which is the center of her Section’s operations (though she also maintains office space at AEGIS HQ in downtown Freedom City).Assets
AEGIS headquarters is officially in Washington, D.C., but its real operations center can be found in downtown Freedom City, in the city’s Federal Building. AEGIS’s office occupies the 23rd floor, but their true headquarters, nicknamed “the Iceberg,” is deep below the building, where AEGIS conducts operations and coordinates much of its national strategy.
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