RIOT

FORCE Ops’ opposite numbers in many respects, RIOT (the Revolutionary Imperialist Overthrow Team) may be the first truly “manufactured” villain team. They were created using The DNAscent Process at the order of Taurus, although no one outside of The Labyrinth knew that at the time, including the members of RIOT themselves.
They underwent extensive cybernetic and biochemical alteration, along with brainwashing and memory implantation, to make them into fervent would-be anarchists and mercenaries dedicated to the violent overthrow of the government: the Freedom City government, in particular. Thus RIOT became poster children for just the kind of threats Mayor Moore’s administration wanted to stop, and a useful foil for FORCE Ops.
On more than one occasion, RIOT put FORCE Ops in the position of having to save the corrupt city government they wanted to bring down simply because RIOT’s way of doing it threatens too many innocent lives. Archer and his team want to see Moore and his cronies stopped, but not by blowing up City Hall, destroying the city’s infrastructure, or poisoning the drinking water with hallucinogenic chemicals.
Unbeknownst to them, the members of RIOT were all implanted with tiny neural transceivers, allowing the Labyrinth to monitor and, to a degree, control them. Taurus’s organization remains aware of everything RIOT does and can usually “push” them in a particular direction through careful manipulation. They don’t go so far as to issue direct orders (since they can’t, really), but they can decide what becomes the next focus of the team’s rather limited mania.
The Labyrinth also provides RIOT with an “escape clause” even they don’t know about. Their influence is sufficient to arrange escapes, jailbreaks, and strokes of “good fortune” to help keep RIOT on track and serving Taurus’s interests in the city. Plus, so long as heroes like FORCE Ops and The Eyes of Night are busy dealing with the loud and in-their-faces threat of RIOT, they’re not digging for clues about the Labyrinth.

Structure

Armorine The DNAscent process transformed Armorine into a woman of “organic steel” with metallic skin and hair and fingernails honed razor-sharp. Armorine is a front-line fighter and likes to mix it up hand-to-hand. She delights in using her claws, but will also use her superhuman strength to pick large objects and hit opponents with them.
Flag-Burner Flag-Burner is a faceless figure in a tattered red, white, and blue uniform shrouded in flames. He mocks the patriotic American heroes of times past and hates the hypocrites who support American imperialism at home and abroad and the oppression and repression of the American people. He also really likes just setting things on fire, which is his favorite tactic in combat, and often used as a distraction when RIOT needs one.
Flag-Burner is the closest an anarchist collective like RIOT has to a leader, although his teammates ignore his orders when it suits them. Still, he has a keen tactical mind, and the rest of RIOT has learned to appreciate it.
Insurgent The cloaked and veiled Insurgent moves like a shadow and can disappear in the blink of an eye. She can also twist the emotions of a crowd to the boiling point, sending them against whatever she chooses as the focus of their ire. Most often it’s authority figures, government buildings, and heroes like FORCE Ops. Although she appears of Arabic descent, Insurgent—like all of RIOT—has no real ties to any political faction or organization.
Little Hawk How dangerous can a man the size of a doll be? Very, if he happens to have a high-speed flying harness equipped with bladed wings. Little Hawk is RIOT’s other skilled spy, and the only member of the team who can fly. He slips inside places where nobody bothers to look up, and buzzes battlefields, slashing with his razor-wings and helping distract his teammates’ opponents. Little Hawk is both embittered about his permanently tiny size and perversely proud of his ability to bring down “big game.”
S. D. Ivan He affects a Russian accent and the attitude of a Marxist revolutionary, but S. D. Ivan’s real name and background (like the rest of RIOT) remains unknown. He wields cryokinetic powers that he claims come from “Father Winter” from Russian myth, but which are apparently psionic in nature, enhanced by the DNAscent process. Ivan bemoans the weakening of the revolution in Mother Russia and the plight of the worker worldwide, and likes to remind his foes “no one overcomes the power of a Russian winter!”
Slam Dance “C’mon, hero, let’s dance!” Slam Dance takes a beating and gives it back in spades—each and every one of him. His power absorbs kinetic energy and allows Slam Dance to “split” into identical duplicates each time he’s hit hard enough. He’s like a hydra in combat, splitting into two foes for every one that you strike. He often uses deliberate body slam and head-butt moves to trigger his own duplication, and his duplicates make useful distractions. More than once an opponent thinks he has Slam Dance dead to rights, only to find out that it’s a duplicate, and the real thing is long gone.

Type

Illicit, Terrorist group