• The Truth
• Born on the Fourth of July
• Rebirth
• Manifest Destiny
• Stars and Stripes Forever
• Made In America
• The Price of Freedom

The Truth

The story of Nate Carter begins years before his birth with his father, Geoffrey Carter's, draft into the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. An exemplary Marine who went above and beyond the call of duty, it wasn't long before Geoffrey's superiors and the powers that be took heed of his superior abilities. In 1969, the clandestine government operation that would one day be known as Project Patriot was in its early stages of development. Seeking to take advantage of recent developments in the field of genetic engineering and metahuman science made by the super genius Dr. Alistair Monaghan, the then director of Project Patriot, Lawrence Smythe, chose thirteen servicemen of suitable physical and mental prowess from various branches of the United States Armed Forces to secretly inject with a series of radical gene-altering serums which would, in theory, bestow enhanced physical and mental traits known as 'hyperkinesis' on any offspring they might have. Of these thirteen servicemen, Geoffrey Carter was the only African-American chosen. Seen as being more expendable than his white counterparts, Geoffrey was given a more radical and potentially lethal version of the treatment which boasted a greater degree of hyperkinetic potential in his offspring at the cost of severe long term physical and mental health problems in himself.

Injected with the serums while receiving what he believed to be several vaccinations to ensure his healthy return to American soil, Geoffrey Carter went back to his civilian life as a dock worker in his hometown of Hudson City, New Jersey unaware of the fact that he was being constantly monitored by operatives of Project Patriot. For about a year he, along with the other twelve subjects of Project Patriot, went about their normal lives. Many of those who happened to impregnate their wives, girlfriends or lovers, however, soon began to present a massive setback for the Project Patriot heads when their subsequent children were all stillborn, seemingly as a result of the genetically modified gametes of their fathers reacting negatively with the non-modified gametes of their mothers. After what appeared to be a wave of resounding failures, Project Patriot had only two subjects who could potentially give birth to hyperkinetic children -- Geoffrey Carter and Nicholas Black, a member of the U.S. Army. With the former having something of a distaste for women and the latter suffering from later diagnosed PTSD, it seemed as if Project Patriot was a remarkable failure and the U.S. government quickly swept it under the rug, forcing Dr. Monaghan to resign in shame and leaving little more than a skeleton crew to keep the operation running.

Contrary to what they believed, however, there was still a flicker of hope for Project Patriot in its two remaining subjects, a hope that would only be fully realised many years later. Geoffrey Carter, despite his misogynistic tendencies, soon found himself deeply attracted to Rochelle Masters -- a stripper he met at a co-worker's bachelor party and, after a passionate one night stand, he managed to impregnate her. Though reluctant to commit to marriage, Geoffrey felt honour-bound to make up for his own father's abandonment by staying to take care of his future son and, by the time the birth date neared, the two were married and living together in Freetown, Hudson City.

Born on the Fourth of July

Nate Carter was born somewhat prematurely during the early hours of July 4, 1970. Despite a number of birthing complications both early into the pregnancy and during delivery (likely caused by the intensified serum), he managed to pull through a frail, but relatively healthy baby. Relieved, his mother named him Nathaniel Jackson Carter, taking the names of the only two men she felt had ever treated her with love and respect -- her late father, Nathaniel, and her older brother, Jackson. Opting to spend the night drowning his sorrows at a local dive rather than waiting at the hospital and with his mental state gradually deteriorating due to the effects of the serum he was given, Geoffrey Carter missed the birth and instead spent the night in prison after a drunken bar brawl.

Growing up in the projects of Masonville, a young Nate found himself on the receiving end of his belligerent and increasingly unstable father's bad temper more and more frequently. Heated arguments grew into threats of violence and insults grew into domestic abuse as the years went by, colouring the young boy's hatred for his father and his desperate need to break free of Hudson City. Though Rochelle often did her best to take the brunt of Geoffrey's anger and physical abuse, a black eye and a few bruises were unavoidable every for Nate every now and then. By age twelve, Nate had experienced more than his fair share of pain and punishment at the hands of his father, who would use his failing grades, poor relations with teachers and fellow students and constant schoolyard fights as excuses to abuse him further.

Though both Rochelle and Nate both maligned Geoffrey for his abusive treatment, the once gruff but reasonable man soon began to question his own increasingly erratic behaviour. He became convinced that he was suffering from some form of PTSD and began secretly attending a group therapy session for war veterans. There, he met Frederick Muldoon -- a former U.S. Marine and conspiracy theorist who had been fervently investigating a particularly secretive and seemingly non-existent government operation which he believed had performed experiments on American soldiers -- Project Patriot. Intrigued by Muldoon's theories and beginning to suspect that his loss of mental stability had been the effect of some kind of experimentation, Geoffrey began visiting Muldoon outside of therapy sessions and aiding him in his somewhat frantic investigations when he could.

At home, the growing Nate ran into a number of social and academic problems caused by his abusive and impoverished home life. With Geoffrey's erratic behaviour getting him fired from his job at the Hudson City docks and his mother being forced to return to stripping to help pay bills, Nate was far from a model student and often replicated his father's abusive actions with weaker children, regularly getting into fights and causing his mother no end of grief. Despite his poor behaviour, however, Nate cared for Rochelle and, though her skills as a parent and a positive role model were severely lacking, Rochelle cared for him in return. Encouraging him to take up sports to keep him out of trouble and away from his father, Rochelle took reduced shifts at the strip club to support Nate on his efforts to get onto Morrison Middle School's football team. Through her efforts and Nate's determination, he was eventually accepted onto the team and would continue to pursue sports throughout the rest of his academic life. Despite this, however, Nate's trouble-making tendencies only lessened slightly and he continued to be a bully and a delinquent, even joining up with a group of local vandals who would tag property in the area when he hit sixteen. During one particular act of tagging, the small gang was caught by a patrolling police officer and, seeking to buy his friends time to escape, Nate led the officer on a chase which ended in his being detained at the local police station. While waiting for his mother to retrieve him, he met another juvenile delinquent who had been caught picking pockets in the area -- Antoine 'Wheezer' Freeman. Enthralled by the older boy's tales and abundance of superficial charm, Nate became fast friends with Wheezer and the two maintained regular contact from that day forward.

Meanwhile, Geoffrey, becoming dangerously violent and irrational, desperately threw himself into his shared investigation with Muldoon. The two, using their network of military connections and Muldoon's talents as an intelligence expert, discovered that Project Patriot was not only real, but also pioneered by Dr. Alistair Monaghan. Spurred on by their discovery, Geoffrey and Muldoon made contact with the retired Dr. Monaghan and angrily forced him to explain what he had done. Monaghan, suffering from a terminal illness, readily agreed in the hopes that it would redeem his soul and told them all about the genetic modification they had induced in the thirteen soldiers, the cause of Geoffrey's loss of mental stability and the lack of success they had. Shaken by the discovery, Geoffrey fled the room and went to drink himself into a stupor at the local bar.

Unbeknownst to any of the three men, however, Lawrence Smythe -- still leading what remained of Project Patriot -- had become aware of their snooping and, despite being advised not to by his new second-in-command, Kurt White, opted to have them all assassinated to tie up loose ends and prevent the operation's secrets from getting out. As Geoffrey drank in a bar, Smythe personally smothered Monaghan in his sleep and burned Muldoon to death in his home. He then set his sights on murdering Geoffrey. Breaking into the Carter residence in the middle of the night not knowing that Geoffrey was still drunkenly stumbling home, Smythe was unprepared to find a worried Rochelle waiting for her husband. When she panicked and threatened to call the police, Smythe beat her to death and left her body for Geoffrey to find, planting DNA they had on file to incriminate him. As he was leaving, however, he noticed a picture of Rochelle, Geoffrey and Nate together and realised that Project Patriot may not have been a failure after all. Deciding to keep tabs on Nate in the future, he fled into the night.

When Geoffrey Carter stumbled home from a night of drowning his sorrows he was anguished to find Rochelle, the woman he loved despite his years of abuse, lying dead before him. Drunk and paranoid, he concluded that the government had realised how close he and Muldoon had gotten to the truth and attempted to phone his friend to no avail. Before he could decide on a course of action, Nate returned home from a night out with Wheezer. Naturally assuming the worst upon seeing his father standing over the lifeless form of his mother, Nate launched himself at Geoffrey in a murderous rage. Fighting back, Geoffrey accidentally pushed Nate onto the kitchen counter, causing him to hit his head and fall unconscious. Believing in his instability that he had also killed his son and already convinced that he was marked for death, Geoffrey called the police and fled Hudson City.

When police arrived on the scene, they quickly realised that, while Nate suffered from a severe head wound, he was still very much alive. With his father a fugitive and his mother dead, a comatose Nate was taken to the local hospital for emergency treatment. What he didn't and couldn't know at that point, however, was that his life would never be the same again.

Rebirth

The blow to the head suffered by Nate had an unintended effect. When his brain struck the surface of his skull, the subsequent trauma served to 'jump start' the hyperkinetic potential endowed by Geoffrey's enhanced dosage of the Project Patriot serum. As a result, Nate's mind kicked into a state of accelerated cognition and efficiency that transformed him into every bit the living weapon he was intended to be. While Nate recovered from his injury thanks to the combined efforts his parents' co-workers and members of his high-school football team to help pay medical bills, he slowly began to discover the changes to his body. He could catch flies out of the air, recall the most minute details and pieces of information, bounce a baseball perfectly off any surface and at any angle to make it return to him, and manipulate a deck of cards with the trained precision of a casino performer, even tossing one so hard it embedded itself in the wall. Though he didn't quite understand what had happened to him, Nate was glad for the distraction from the reality of his situation and the loss of his mother and father.

When he was released from the hospital, placed in foster care and allowed to attend school again, Nate found that whatever had happened to him had drastically influenced his athletic capabilities. While playing quarterback in his first game back for the Northdale High Eagles, it was as if time very nearly slowed down to allow for reactions that seemed almost inhuman. He could move and manipulate his body with the precision and flexibility of an acrobat, throw, kick and catch the ball with unerring accuracy and think of new plays and strategies as if on instinct. Mopping the floor with the competition, Nate effectively won the game single-handedly and became a local celebrity for his achievement. Still enthralled by what he could do since his accident, however, Nate continued to test the limits of his abilities. Joining up with Northdale High's gymnastics, acrobatics, running and swimming teams, Nate found that he easily excelled in all of them and became known as Northdale High's 'All-Star' because of it. After school, he practiced parkour, quickly picking up even its most complex maneuvers. He joined a boxing gym and discovered he was a natural fighter. He even began learning Spanish to impress a girl, committing it to memory it with ease. It seemed as if Nate couldn't stop his constant regimen of physical activity as his graduation drew near and, with several college institutions fighting to give him a full scholarship for his athletic prowess, things only seemed to be looking up.

Behind the scenes, however, Nate still found himself distressed over the death of his mother and his inability to take revenge on his father. With constant physical activity and popularity only serving to distract him for so long, he became depressed and frequently contemplated suicide. In his endless pursuit of escapism, he fell in deeper with Wheezer's criminal activities, helping his best friend to sling weed. It was during a midnight jog to distract himself from his depressive thoughts that Nate stumbled upon a late night congregation at his local Catholic church. Intrigued, Nate entered the building and watched its reverend, Dennis O'Malley, preach on redemption and forgiveness. Touched personally by his words, Nate approached Father O'Malley in confession with his feelings of guilt and suicidal thoughts. Father O'Malley expressed to Nate that the only real way to alleviate those feelings was to give what he could to the people of the world, accept that not everything is his fault and seek to forgive his father for his sins. Feeling as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders, Nate resolved to be a good man and developed a close friendship with the father.

From that day forward, Nate was a changed man. He stopped bullying weaker children and started defending them from those who would, regularly helped out at soup kitchens and charity drives, and eventually fell out with Wheezer, unable to convince him to leave a life of crime behind. Though he still harboured a dark resentment towards his 'murderous' father and still felt some guilt over his mothers passing, Nate found a reason to go on in religion and had a promising future ahead of him.

Manifest Destiny

Things took a dark turn for the worse when Wheezer came back into Nate's life with a serious dilemma: after being caught stealing money from his boss, a local gang leader, to bet on a horse and subsequently losing it, Wheezer had been given a fatal ultimatum. Either he would find a way to return the money -- a total of $2500 -- by the end of the week or he would be executed. Though Nate wanted nothing to do with Wheezer's criminal activities, he couldn't leave the friend who had always been there for him out to dry. Knowing that going to the police would simply incriminate Wheezer and, based on the Hudson City Police Department's history of corruption, would most likely still end in his death, Nate concluded that the only thing they could do was somehow cooperate to get the money back. Together, the two hatched a plan to steal the money by holding up a local gambling arcade with fake guns. Unbeknownst to Nate, however, Wheezer managed to procure two real guns, reasoning that it was better to be prepared in case they were met with resistance.

Before the night of the heist, Nate visited Father O'Malley's confession and accidentally hinted that he would be doing something illegal. Concerned for the safety of one of the members of his congregation he was closest to, O'Malley decided to trail Nate on the night of the heist and persuade him to reconsider if he truly was up to no good. Together, Nate and Wheezer held a stake-out at the arcade they planned to rob and, when they believed there would be a minimal amount of employees and customers, they made their move. Donning masks, they held the entire arcade at gunpoint and Wheezer forced its manager to fill a bag with all the money in the safe. As said employee did so, however, another pressed the silent alarm while Nate was distracted. Quickly noting the employees action, Nate panicked and told Wheezer that the police were on the way. Also panicking and frustrated at the manager's pace, Wheezer threatened to shoot him to death. As he carried out this threat, however, he accidentally discharged his weapon and shot the man in the shoulder. The gunshot alerted a nearby Father O'Malley, who recklessly charged into the arcade to stop them. As Nate yelled at Wheezer for getting them real guns and tried to convince him to leave without the money, Wheezer refused to do so and insulted his former friend, telling him that he'd "gone soft". Angrily, Nate drew his gun and tossed it down, refusing to go to prison for Wheezer. As it hit the floor, however, it fired and hit Father O'Malley in the chest the moment he walked in. As Nate ran to the dying man's side, Wheezer hastily snatched the money and fled. Stricken with guilt, Nate held the dying reverend in his arms and tearfully apologised. With his last few breaths, Father O'Malley echoed his words to Nate about setting things right. As police arrived on the scene, Dennis O'Malley died and Nate Carter's once promising life fell apart in mere moments.

Though he was tried as an adult due to being just a few months away from his 18th birthday, Nate was seen as an otherwise upstanding member of the community and was only guilty of Father O'Malley's death through a circumstantial accident. In light of these facts, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years at a medium security prison. Though by all accounts he had gotten off lightly for his crime, Nate's future was more or less over. He became despondent and wracked with guilt, spending almost all of his time in the gym or alone in his cell. Frequently harassed by some of his fellow inmates for his youth, his taciturn demeanour and his repentance, Nate found himself on the receiving end of several beatings and was only able to protect himself from anything more severe with his own skills in boxing.

It was during Nate's stay in prison that Project Patriot made a reappearance in his life. After the incident involving Geoffrey Carter and his role in the deaths of Rochelle Carter, Frederick Muldoon and Alistair Monaghan, Lawrence Smythe had been removed from his post through the efforts of Kurt White, who subsequently became the director of Project Patriot. Now in control of its limited operations, Kurt secretly watched over Nate and observed the development of his hyperkinesis. Monitoring his development from troubled teen to morally-upstanding athlete to a wayward young man with nothing to lose, Kurt decided that there would be no risk of disrupting his life by contacting him after he was charged for manslaughter and his chances at becoming a professional athlete or going to college on a scholarship were ripped away from him. Pulling some strings, Kurt got Nate cleared of all charges and released from prison after just under two years of incarceration. When Nate stepped out into the open air for the first time since his imprisonment, Kurt was waiting to escort him by car back to Hudson City.

Kurt introduced himself to Nate as a special metahuman recruiter for the U.S. Armed Forces and explained the fine details of his hyperkinesis. He also, however, left out the classified information on the truth behind Project Patriot's origins, his mother's death, his father's instability and how his powers came to be. Instead, he informed Nate that his abilities were metahuman in origin and that, with the right training, he could be a true force for good in the world and atone for the sins of his past as a soldier. Apprehensive at first, Nate turned Kurt down and returned to Hudson City. Unable to hold down work due to the trauma of what had happened, Nate instead devoted his attention to locating Wheezer and trying to find some way to cope with his feelings of guilt, Father O'Malley's last words haunting his waking thoughts. It was during a reluctant return to the church that Nate was approached by the new reverend. After confessing his sins and internal conflict, Nate was persuaded by the reverend, in actuality a Project Patriot plant, to "set things right." With nowhere else to turn to and with nothing keeping him in Hudson City, Nate said goodbye to his sordid past and contacted Kurt: he was ready to atone for his mistakes.

Particularly drawn to their ideology, Nate joined up with the United States Marine Corps in 1991 and was stationed at its Quantico base. Nate excelled in basic training and earned the ire of his fellow recruits because of it. Though this placed him on the receiving end of ritual hazing, there was one who took a shine to him -- an exceedingly patriotic female recruit with the power of technopathy named Amanda Cho. Throughout boot camp, Nate and Amanda remained close, cooperating with one another and constantly looking out for each other's interests. Nate gave Amanda a level of respect she rarely saw as a female recruit, and Amanda's passion for American ideals and life in general renewed Nate's spirit. By the time they had completed basic training, the two had begun a romantic relationship in secret. Becoming a Scout Sniper and Spotter team, Nate and Amanda participated in the American involvement in the Invasion of Panama, the Gulf War and the Somali Civil War, where the two made a name for themselves for their tight work and efficiency. When their tour of duty in Somalia ended, Nate and Amanda jumped between various U.S. military bases around the world for a time. They would often meet with Kurt White during this period to take on more specialised and advanced training.

It was during this training that Kurt hoped to capitalise on All-Star's hyperkinesis and take the first steps towards gradually molding him into a super soldier and a viable example of Project Patriot's potential. Along with Amanda, Nate was trained in various advanced military skills and techniques for the next year. In that time ,their relationship grew stronger and, eventually, they married each other, deciding to leave their lives as Marines behind and settle down back in America together as soon as they could.

Their plans were disrupted with the entry of the U.S. into the Bosnian War in 1994. Nate and Amanda, equipped with their new training, were assigned to a ground-based strike team to counter Yugoslav forces. Despite the short length of the conflict and the minimal allied forces casualties, Amanda and two other soldiers were killed when their Apache crashed due to a malfunction during a simple training operation. Devastated by the entirely avoidable and senseless loss of his wife, Nate became despondent and wracked with grief once again, returning to a military base on American soil and spending most of his time between his regular duties alone. Taciturn, detached and sombre, he showed all the signs of a man with nothing to live for.

Seeing an opportunity to sway Nate towards becoming a super soldier and sympathising with his loss, Kurt came back into his life in 1997 and gave him the partial truth about Project Patriot. Introducing it as a special government operation designed to find exceptional metahuman candidates and mold them into soldiers, Kurt explained that the reason he had been contacted in prison all those years ago was because Project Patriot saw a potential in him to be their greatest asset -- that his hyperkinesis endowed him with the potential to be a living weapon with the right training. Kurt made Nate a simple offer: in exchange for his unwavering dedication to his country and to the protection of its best interests, Nate would undergo a intensive training and participate in various military operations that would help transform him into the perfect soldier. Though Nate had encountered his fair share of tragedy over the years, the words of Father O'Malley and Amanda's love for America rang fresh in his mind. Deciding to do them both proud, Nate took Kurt up on his offer and set in course the series of events that would give birth to the All-Star.

Stars and Stripes Forever

In the space of four years Nate attended training courses all over the world and was placed 'on loan' to various military and law enforcement organisations such as the CIA, UNTIL and PRIMUS, even serving a notable stint in the short-lived multinational black ops unit Broadsword. Participating in assassinations, reconnaissance, espionage, counter-terrorism, counterinsurgency and hostage rescue among other operations, Nate soon became a legend among military personnel -- an unstoppable force of nature whose military career was shrouded in mystery and superstition. Between tours of duty and loan periods, Nate was prompted to take part in underground fight clubs, take on olympic level athletic training and even spent time in a POW camp all for the purpose of systematically deconstructing him and rebuilding him from the ground up. From being taught in the ways of combat by some of the greatest fighters in the world,to learning strategy from the most brilliant tactical minds of our generation, Nate was gradually transformed into an unstoppable killing machine, his hyperkinesis honed and refined to the point of mastery. With the promise of redemption and the memories of those lost driving him forward, Nate exceeded all limitations and became almost superhuman in his level of expertise.

His 'training' was cut short, however, on September 11th, 2001. The tragedy that befell the United States of America and the subsequent establishment of a new kind of enemy prompted the higher powers in the U.S. Government to force Project Patriot to bear more significant results early. It was no longer enough for Nate to merely be an exceptional operator. In an age of terror and global uncertainty, a symbol of the American power of perseverance in the face of hardship was needed more than ever and an immediate test of Project Patriot's ability to provide one became essential. Though he was being taught in the ways of Krav Maga on a military base at the time, Nate saw the attack on the World Trade Center on the global news and was ready to answer the call to service almost as soon as it came. Returning to American soil for the first time in years, Nate was thrown into the chaos of a post-9/11 world feet first. Nevertheless, he accepted his responsibility and was re-enlisted into the United States Marine Corps, where his superiors hoped he would serve as an inspiration and morale boost for his fellow servicemen. Assigned to Force Reconnaissance and promoted to the commissioned rank of second lieutenant, Nate was immediately placed in command of his own specialised squad.

When he flew into Afghanistan, Nate was given a level of preferential treatment by his superiors against his will, which made things more difficult when it came to dealing with his fellow Marines, most of whom already feared and distrusted him based on his shadowy reputation and the rumours that circulated around him. As if to make things more complicated, an unexpected face from Nate's past resurfaced in the most unlikely of ways. As Nate was introduced to his squad, one of its members stood out from the crowd; older and wearier with age and hardship, Wheezer, clad in full USMC uniform, came face-to-face with Nate for the first time in seven years. Though Nate and Wheezer recognised each other on sight, both men decided to keep their mouths shut until they were in private. Once they managed to get a moment alone, Nate immediately attacked Wheezer and demanded that he explain why he was there. With no other alternative, Wheezer explained that, following the botched robbery of the casino, he had fallen deeper and deeper into his life of crime until he hit rock bottom. Seeking redemption for his past mistakes just as Nate had, he eventually enlisted in the USMC and became a devoted young Marine. Though he still harbored some resentment toward Wheezer, Nate saw that he was a changed man and decided to forgive him. Taking the first step to reconciling their relationship, Nate and Wheezer agreed to cooperate with one another and try to maintain a sense of professionalism.

As the commander of his Force Reconnaissance squad, Nate made waves during the early years of the war in Afghanistan. Known for being an extremely effective asset and honing those under him to be just as exceptional, Nate's old high-school nickname, 'All-Star', eventually began to stick (thanks in no small part to the efforts of Wheezer). As successful operation after successful operation passed by with no casualties among their ranks, Nate's squad came to be known as the "Hall of Famers" and their unwavering resolve in the face of a war unlike any other made them a force to be reckoned with. On his own part, Nate's leadership earned him various accolades and the rank of captain. After five years spent serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, the heads at the U.S. Department of Defense decided that Project Patriot had a resounding level of potential to create super soldiers and took steps towards capitalising on the one they already had. In 2006 it was decided that Nate would be transferred from Force Reconnaissance to the newly coordinated Marine Corps Special Operations Command, becoming one of the very first members of what was then the Marine Special Operations Regiment but what is now known as the Marine Raider Regiment.

It was towards his final days serving in Force Reconnaissance that Nate stumbled upon a conspiracy by corrupt higher ups within his company's ranks to sell military surplus, weapons and technology to terrorist cells within Pakistan. Though he originally planned to simply alert Kurt, the shocking discovery that Wheezer had allied himself with the corrupt officials as a gofer between themselves and the terrorists prompted him to take matters into his own hands in the hopes that he could save his friend. Trailing him to one of his clandestine meetings with a potential buyer, Nate spied on Wheezer as he made the deal -- a very large sum of gold in exchange for a canister of highly experimental neuro-toxin confiscated from VIPER. Knowing what would happen if such a dangerous resource got into the wrong hands, Nate single-handedly launched an attack on the meeting and forced the terrorists to retreat without their product. In the rush of combat, Wheezer took the neuro-toxin and attempted to flee as Nate gave chase. Eventually, this led them to an abandoned power station where Nate attempted to talk Wheezer into giving himself up and letting him help his case. Angered at Nate's sanctimonious sentiments, Wheezer attempted to kill him in a close quarters brawl. Though he had the element of surprise, Nate managed to overpower him and kicked him face first into the neuro-toxin canister. As Wheezer choked on the neuro-toxin filling his lungs, he stumbled off of the raised platform they had fought on and into a still active power generator. As Nate watched in horror, Wheezer was violently electrocuted, filling the air with his choked screams. The subsequent explosion incinerated his body and set the power station on fire, forcing Nate to retreat. Though the evidence he obtained from that night toppled the entire arms dealing conspiracy, Nate had lost one of his few friends in an avoidable accident and would be haunted by that memory even after leaving the Marine Corps.

Nate served as a special forces Marine for just over three years. In that time he was renowned for being an outstanding asset to American interests both on and off the battlefield and participated in a number of successful counter-terrorist missions with a new group of "Hall of Famers" and quickly earning his final rank of major. When he eventually filed for an honorable discharge in 2009 after a certain incident convinced him he had seen enough war in the Middle-East, Nate was awarded with several medals for almost two decades of faithful military service. Considered by many Marines one of the first true new age 'Marine Raiders' despite leaving before the unit's renaming, Nate's legacy is still very much alive in MARSOC to this day with many of those who worked with him telling stories of his service to new recruits.

Returning to his homeland eager for a fresh start, Nate spent some time in Hudson City in the hopes of regaining some semblance of stability in his life. To his dismay he quickly found that, without some sort of war to fight, he felt lost and depressive. It was during his stay at a cheap Hudson motel that he fully realised the extent to which he was incapable of simply settling down and living a peaceful life. From his room's window, Nate often watched the goings on below and, eventually, the activities of a drug dealer who sold to teenagers caught his eye. When he caught the man trying to push heroin on two schoolgirls while returning home from shopping one day, he finally reached his limit. Attacking the armed dealer with his bare hands, Nate beat him within an inch of his life, disassembled his handgun and dumped his stash in a sewer. As startled and mesmerised bystanders watched on, he warned them that the nation was at war and that all its enemies should be kept at bay -- foreign and domestic. Though he had acted in defense of a noble cause, Nate was arrested for his assault and placed in temporary holding.

Fortunately for him, the Department of Defense had been concocting their own plans on what to do next with their wayward super soldier. Though Nate had served his time, the war on terror still raged on. The face of terrorism and the way it was fought continued to evolve and, while forces like the Al Qaeda and ISIS were a dangerous threat to American interests, super terrorist coalitions like VIPER, ARGENT and GAIA brought the fight to American soil. Metahuman crime presented a bigger threat to the country than ever before and, though registered, most superheroes acted as independent agents with interests that didn't always coincide with the U.S. Government's. It was Kurt White, an avid follower of superhero activity, who proposed an unusual -- but not untested -- idea; what if the U.S. government had its own superhero -- an agent who would act as a one man strike team, simultaneously tackling international dangers to U.S. interests and acting as an inside man within the superhero community? This agent would effectively have all the obedience, reliability and pragmatism of a trained operative while enjoying the positive publicity, connections and relatively unchecked jurisdiction of a caped crusader. Fully endorsing the notion of such a unique and flexible asset, the Department of Defense gave Project Patriot an unlimited budget to transform their super soldier into a superhero.

Believing that he could only ever be of any worth to his country as a weapon, Nate accepted the call to arms. All previous records of Nate's life before his military service were heavily redacted and made classified; his criminal record expunged to protect his image. For all intents and purposes, Nate Carter became a ghost, dying with the records of his past life. Outfitted with the best gear, guns and training money could buy and a star-spangled red, white and blue outfit, he burst onto the costumed scene as the Soldier Supreme, the Star-Spangled Sharpshooter -- the unstoppable All-Star. Working closely with the CIA, the Department of Defense, PRIMUS, UNTIL and even the Protectors of the World, All-Star soon made a name for himself and proved to be an outstanding success. Gradually, the heroic facade fell away to reveal a genuine hero lying beneath the surface and, as the years went by, All-Star became every bit as respected and devoted to seeking justice as the traditional heroes he fought alongside. While he still answered to his country as a special metahuman operative and even continued to participate in military conflicts as the All-Star, he frequently risked life and limb fighting enemy forces his training never prepared him for. Having finally found his place in the world, All-Star's exploits became the stuff of legends to military personnel and civilians alike and, though he was met with many ghosts from his past, he never faltered in the face of adversity.

From the ashes of Nate Carter, the All-Star had been born.

Made In America

During his six year career as All-Star, Nate continued to use the U.S. government's resources to locate his missing father. With murderous intent still fresh in his mind, his search finally bore fruit when he learned of a man matching the description of Geoffrey Carter (albeit slightly older) living out in a favela in Rio De Janerio, Brazil. Making sure to cover his tracks and temporarily dropping out of the Protectors of the World's active roster, Nate journeyed to Brazil to verify the identity of his potential father and kill him in cold blood.

When Nate arrived in Rio De Janerio, he stalked the lookalike and, after determining that he was, in fact, his father, waited at his modest home to kill him. When Geoffrey showed up, Nate instantly held him at gunpoint and demanded he explain why he killed his mother and left him without a family. Weary from a life spent on the run and wracked with guilt over what transpired all those years ago, Geoffrey merely apologised to Nate and accepted his death. Angry at his acquiescence, Nate beat his father and demanded an explanation. Before he could be angered further, however, he noticed a photo of his father in a United States Marine Corps uniform posing with his fellow Marines on an end table. Surprised by the revelation that his father was once a Marine, Nate further noticed several bottles of anti-psychotic medication on the same table. His hesitation prompted Geoffrey to explain himself.

Geoffrey relayed his investigation into the truth behind Project Patriot to Nate and the attempt to cover it up with the deaths of Frederick Muldoon and Dr. Monaghan. When Geoffrey discovered Rochelle's corpse, he fled in a panic and subsequently went on the run, his state of mind afflicted by the genetic modification and his paranoia rightly mounting. Over the coming years, Geoffrey had gone into hiding and had devoted much of his life to trying to fully understand what Project Patriot had done to him and, while he had kept an eye on Nate for the first few years, he soon accepted the fact that his son's life would be far better without him. As his investigation continued, Geoffrey discovered that most of the technology and research used in Project Patriot was being held in a top secret military storage facility where it would be hidden from the public eye and where no evidence of its existence could be brought to light -- a sort of 'dead zone'. Shaken by the notion that he was a manufactured experiment and the implication that his entire life had been manipoulated by Project Patriot, Nate refused to believe Geoffrey and instead argued that he was merely trying to save his own skin.

At that moment, a smoke grenade flew through the window of Geoffrey's house. Acting quickly, Nate grabbed his father and escaped out the back door. As they fled through the favela, they quickly became aware that a highly-trained and heavily armed team of operators were pursuing them with the intent to kill. Reluctantly arming Geoffrey with a gun, Nate engaged in a shootout with the men in the middle of the favela. When the combat ended, Nate seized and interrogated one of the men, demanding that he reveal who he was working for. Though it took some force, the man eventually broke and revealed that none of them had ever formally met their employer, who had dealt with them primarily through back channels and encrypted lines as to remove all accountability. Realising that Geoffrey may have been telling the truth, Nate begrudgingly decided to cooperate with the man he had spent almost his entire adult life hating to uncover the truth.

Nate and Geoffrey returned to North America to confront Kurt White directly. Cornering Kurt at his private residence, Nate demanded that he tell him the whole truth about Project Patriot and his own recruitment. Finally understanding that the jig was up, Kurt explained that the previous director of Project Patriot, Lawrence Smythe, was the one who ordered the increased strength treatment to be tested on Geoffrey and was directly responsible for the deaths of Muldoon, Dr. Monaghan and Rochelle. Though he was subsequently removed from his post thanks to Kurt's efforts, he was reassigned to a position within the Department of Defense and was able to climb the ranks to once again hold a position of power. Kurt theorised that Smythe had been keeping a close eye on Nate for fear that he would one day stumble upon the truth and had personally contracted mercenaries to stop him. Though he personally regretted using the foundations of Smythe's corruption to push Nate into becoming a super soldier, Kurt insisted that it was for his own good and that it potentially saved him from government ordered assassination. Spurred on by this truth, Nate resolved to blow the lid off of Project Patriot's secrets, despite Kurt's warnings that it would have dramatic consequences on everyone involved -- himself included. When he saw that Nate would not be swayed from his task, Kurt revealed to him the location of the Dead Zone: a hidden U.S. military compound on a man-made island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Bidding Kurt farewell and warning him to keep his head down, Nate left with Geoffrey to find the Dead Zone.

Calling in a favour with his old commanding officer, 'Grizzly' Griswold, Nate and Geoffrey took a borrowed cargo plane out to the Pacific Ocean. Landing a few clicks away from the Dead Zone, Nate and Geoffrey swam to its shore and prepared to infiltrate the facility. Little did they know, however, that Smythe had been keeping close tabs on them the entire time. Knowing his special connection to Kurt White, Smythe confronted him and, when he wouldn't give up Nate's plans, captured and tortured him for information. Once he discovered that Nate had planned to go to the Dead Zone and uncover Project Patriot's secrets, Smythe arranged to ambush him there with his mercenaries. Arriving there first, Smythe seized control of the facility under the guise of official government business and set about locating the Project Patriot lock-up and destroying all evidence of its existence. Nate and Geoffrey arrived just in time to find Smythe and his men setting about their duty. Stealthily working together, Nate and Geoffrey dispatched of several of Smythe's men before they were discovered. As the commencing shootout plunged the Dead Zone into chaos, a wounded Smythe fled towards a lock-up full of prototype suits of power armour and donned one.

As Smythe resurfaced wearing a strength enhancing suit of power armour, he caught Geoffrey off-guard and struck him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Angered, Nate fought the more powerful Smythe to a standstill and, eventually, managed to fire a shotgun blast into his chest, apparently killing him. Rushing to his father's side, Nate struggled to stabilise his condition to no avail. As he lay dying, Geoffrey apologised to Nate for all the wrongs he never had a chance to rectify. Distraught, Nate forgave his father and comforted him in his final moments. When he finally passed away, Nate briefly mourned for him and left to find the Project Patriot lock-up. By the time he had arrived, however, Smythe's remaining men had already torched most of the physical evidence and were preparing to execute a bound and beaten Kurt. Killing the men, Nate freed Kurt and asked him for any alternative means of exposing Project Patriot. Kurt reasoned that it'd be highly likely any information would be stored on the Dead Zone's computer mainframe. Before they set off towards their goal, Kurt apologised to Nate for the manipulation he had played a part in over his years and expressed condolences over Geoffrey's death. Thanking Kurt for always being at his side, Nate forgave him for his role in Project Patriot and the two friends resolved to finish their mission together.

Fighting his way past security measures and armed guards with Kurt, Nate arrived at the Dead Zone's mainframe, accessing its database and proceeding to upload all of its files on all of its hidden projects to the internet. Halfway through the upload, however, the Dead Zone's self-destruct sequence was remotely activated. Revealing that he was very much alive, Smythe arrived in the mainframe room and swore to kill both Nate and Kurt and leave their bodies to be incinerated along with the rest of the Dead Zone's secrets. Forcing Kurt to leave, Nate fought Smythe to protect the upload of the Dead Zone's files and shut down the facility's self-destruct sequence. Taking Geoffrey's body with him, Kurt boarded one of the Apaches that had been used by Smythe and his men and waited, hopefully, for Nate to resurface from the facility.

Back in the Dead Zone, Smythe got the upper-hand over Nate and managed to drive his own knife into his side. Before he could stop the upload, however, he realised that Nate had subtly placed an explosive on his back. Barely even having a chance to shout out, Smythe was blown apart in a fiery explosion. With the upload completed and the self-destruct sequence too far gone to be aborted, the wounded Nate had just two minutes to escape with his life. As Kurt watched from the Apache, the Dead Zone was rocked by the first in a series of devastating explosions. With no other choice but to abandon Nate, Kurt flew away from the island and watched from the skies as it was incinerated by explosions.

Amidst the scandal and controversy that dominated news cycles for the next few weeks, Kurt had his men investigate the sunken remains of the Dead Zone for any sign of Nate. Though several charred bodies were found and Smythe's own power armour covered corpse was eventually retrieved, no sign of Nate's body was found and, after a while, it was decided that he couldn't have made it out of the Dead Zone alive. Geoffrey Carter's name was cleared of the murder of his wife and his body was buried in Nate's place beside Rochelle's, the official story being that Nate had died on a classified mission that went wrong. Lawrence Smythe was labelled a rogue terrorist with no connection to the U.S. government and blamed for all that had transpired. Over the coming weeks, many branches of the U.S. government was forced to face responsibility for their secret and controversial activities and several projects and organisations were terminated or scrapped, Project Patriot included. Resigning amidst the media blitz, Kurt returned to his home to drink to Nate's memory. As he poured a glass, however, he received a text on his private phone from an unknown number. When Kurt checked the message, he found it contained only two words: signing off. With a knowing smile, Kurt responded with an equally brief message: permission granted. His spirits restored, Kurt finished his drink and began reapplying for government jobs.

Though seemingly dead, the memory of Nate Carter would live on and his legacy would soon inspire others to pursue their own truths -- for better or worse...

The Price of Freedom

In 1997, the then active Broadsword became involved in the infamous Zimbavian Revolution. Led by the young princess of Zimbavia, Cleantha Zambala, the peasants sought to overthrow the tyrant king Aoade Zambala III and place his daughter on the throne. Though together they managed to successfully assassinate Aoade and help Zambala rise to the throne, a British SAS member of Broadsword named David Crook was mortally wounded by one of the king's soldiers in the final battle. As he bled out in Nate's arms, he made him promise to keep an eye on his wife and daughter. Out of respect and love for his fellow soldier, Nate agreed. From that they forward Nate maintained a close surveillance of Mrs. Crook and their young daughter, Catherine, using satellite imaging and informants, even spying on them in person whenever he passed through England. It was during one of these personal check-ups that he inadvertently ended up meeting Catherine face-to-face.

Just six years old when her father was killed in the line of duty, Catherine grew up eager to do his memory proud by one day joining the British Army and becoming a top-grade soldier. Despite her militaristic ambition, however, she was firmly discouraged by her grief-stricken mother from ever enlisting and was instead persuaded to use her considerable intellect to pursue an academic career. Though Catherine completed her A-Levels with outstanding marks and was readily accepted into Oxford, she ran away to join the army just a few weeks after she turned eighteen. Completing her training, Catherine was more than ready to finally see combat, despite her mother's constant attempts to dissuade her and bring her home. Just a month before she was supposed to ship out to Afghanistan, however, she received sudden notification of her medical discharge for an 'undisclosed medical condition' she didn't even have. As she was being escorted back home by car, she found herself sharing her transport with none other than Nate Carter. Informing her that he was the one who pulled strings to get her discharged, Nate told an indignant Catherine about the horrors of war and cryptically hinted that, like her mother, her father wouldn't have wanted her to see combat. As Nate left a confused Catherine to her civilian life, he unknowingly spurred the girl's obsession with the military in an unexpected new direction.

Though she obeyed her mother's wishes and went to Oxford to study computer science, Catherine used her spare time and skills as a hacker to investigate the identity of the strange man. After recognising Nate as All-Star fighting alongside heroes of Millennium City in a global news story, Catherine used the back channels and dark corners of the internet under the Dickensian codename 'Dodger' to discover that Nate and her father had once served as members of Broadsword and that her father's records as a Broadsword operative ended after the Zimbavian revolution, around the same time he was supposedly killed during a routine training mission. With further investigation, Catherine deduced that her father had played a role in Zimbavia, where he died and made Nate promise to protect her. After making this discovery, she became obsessed with his career, keeping tabs on his various public and secret missions where possible and idolising him as she did her father.

Catherine was headhunted to be an intelligence analyst for MI6 upon receiving her masters degree in 2014 and spent the next year continuing to follow All-Star's activities. After his apparent death the following year, Catherine became determined that All-Star couldn't have died so easily and set out to prove otherwise. Taking a work leave from the MI6, she used her resources and connection to carry out an investigation that eventually led her to Indonesia almost a year later to chase up the latest in a long list of rumored All-Star sightings. Travelling with a group of mercenaries she had hired to escort her into the Indonesian wilderness, Catherine eventually stumbled upon a small, handmade hut in the middle of nowhere. Upon closer inspection, she found what she had been searching for all those months -- spearfishing in the middle of a stream was a heavily bearded Nate Carter. Excitedly, Catherine approached the surprised and extremely cautious super soldier. Though Nate was initially ready to fight her upon seeing her armed escort, he soon recognised David Crook's daughter and reluctantly allowed her to stay so long as the mercenaries left.

Once they were alone inside his hut, Nate told Catherine that he was no longer the man she thought he was. Worn down by a lifetime of war and dispirited by the events of Made in America, Nate wanted nothing more than to disappear from the world and live out the rest of his years in isolation. Though Catherine tried to convince him that the world still needed All-Star and that he had been a force for good in the world, Nate remained convinced that he was nothing more than a weapon and, as such, was only ever good for the killing he had grown tired of. Though he allowed Catherine to stay for as long as she felt was necessary, Nate assured her that he was a broken man and that the All-Star was gone for good.

Unbeknownst to both parties, there was a third person with an interest in Nate Carter who, unconvinced of his death, had resolved to find him. Born in 1974 to PTSD-addled Vietnam veteran, Nicholas Black, and his wife, Nancy, Desmond Black was one of only two children conceived by subjects of the original Project Patriot who had managed to survive the gene-altering effects of the Dr. Monaghan's serum, the other being Nate Carter. Whereas Nate's existence as a hyperkinetic child was discovered and he was subsequently taken in hand by Kurt White, Black's powers went undiscovered. Living a similarly difficult life to Nate but with a lack of positive figures to guide him in the right direction, Black's childhood was filled with abuse and neglect. His father's PTSD often caused him to lash out physically at his wife and child, and his mother's depression made her despondent and unwilling to provide him with the comfort and protection he needed. In school, Black was an outcast, bullied and reviled by his peers for being reclusive and off-putting. A burgeoning sociopath, Black became increasingly disenfranchised with his lot in the world and convinced that everyone around him was holding him back from his full potential. From torturing small animals, Black went to playing cruel and sadistic tricks on his schoolmates. Engaging in underaged drinking and drug abuse to try to make himself numb to the urges that were welling up inside him, he was eventually suspended from school after being caught drinking on campus. It was as the teenage Black returned home early from said suspension that he found his father, off his medication, savagely beating his mother, who had defensively pulled a knife on him. Emboldened by his suspension, Black demanded that he leave her alone. In response, Nicholas called him a wimp and a mistake and warned him that if he didn't go to his room he would be next. Saying nothing more, Black went to the kitchen and boiled a pot of water. As his mother screamed for help, he calmly lifted took the boiling water and doused his father in it, severely burning him. Without even a hint of hesitation, Black proceeded to use the pot to beat his father to death. As he turned to his mother expecting some sort of praise, he was surprised to find the terrified woman now pointing the knife at him, warning him against getting any closer. Enraged by what he perceived as a lack of gratitude, Black advanced on her with a rant about how everyone had held him back. Fearing for her life, Black's mother slashed his temple with the knife. The sudden rush of pain to the head suddenly triggered Black's latent hyperkinesis. More intellectually inclined and less physically able than Nate, Black's powers manifested in a significantly different way. As he screamed at his mother in anger, a wave of telepathic force rushed out from his mind and, striking his mother's at full force, reduced her to a vegetative state. Collapsing under the strain of his new power, Black immediately fainted amidst the bodies of his parents.

Both Desmond Black and his parents were eventually found by a neighbour who alerted the authorities. Though they could not figure out what had reduced his mother to a vegetable, the court charged B;acl for the murder of his father and, trying him as an adult, sentenced him to thirty years in prison. Predictably for a small-framed seventeen year old, prison was a difficult experience for Black. Between regular and persistent abuse at the hands of the other inmates, he spent his time in solitude, slowly trying to develop the powers he had displayed when he lashed out at his mother. Over five years, developed his 'inverse hyperkinesis' into the ability to use his mind to manipulate those of others. Initially using his powers to control guards and prisoners into procuring contraband for him, his hard work eventually culminated in him successfully using his powers to simply walk out of prison with ease. Changed by his power, his worsened sociopathy and his experiences in prison, the first thing Black did was locate his vegetative mother and smother her with a pillow -- no one would ever hold him back again.

Using his inverse hyperkinesis, Black became a major player in the world of global crime, working his way up from hitman to mob boss to a criminal mastermind. In time, the name Desmond Black was synonymous with greed, cruelty and entropy. Before long, though, simple crime wasn't enough for Black. For reasons he wasn't even sure he knew himself, he became extremely dissatisfied with his wealth and power. Deep down, he felt that something was still holding him back -- that there was always a part of himself that was missing. When All-Star leaked information about Project Patriot online and the subsequent revelations dominated news cycles, he finally realised why he felt so incomplete. With the discovery that, like Nate, he had been developed to effectively be a killing machine, Black became deeply enraged towards the American government that he perceived to be responsible for everything he had become -- a killer, a monster and a criminal. In Black's mind, every action he had taken had been because of Project Patriot and, had they not performed the experiment that supposedly gave him his powers, he would have been able to live a life of normality and wholeness. Setting his sights on loftier goals, a wrathful Black burnt his criminal empire to the ground and resurrected it as Ouroboros -- an organisation of super-terrorists with what seemed to be a single goal: destruction of the self through destruction of all power. Comprised of mind-warped mercenaries, maniacal killers and anarchists alike, Ouroboros began to work from the shadows; assassinating government officials; assimilating operatives and committing seemingly untraceable acts of terrorism. With Ouroboros at his command, Black would bring the power that had manipulated him to its knees in an all-consuming inferno. And, whenever a new nation of secrets and lies would rise from the ashes, he maintained that Ouroboros would simply wipe it clean again. In all effectiveness, Black had become the perfect terrorist to Nate's perfect soldier.

As Ouroboros began to gain prominence in the year following All-Star's 'death', Black became convinced that his spiritual 'brother' must have survived the explosion of the Deadzone and had several Ouroboros agents run investigations into his theory. Eventually, they stumbled upon Catherine's search and, having kept tabs on her, several agents followed her trail to Indonesia to either recruit her to their cause, kill her before she becomes an issue or find All-Star off the back of her efforts. Paying off the Indonesian mercenaries they received confirmation of Nate's presence and alerted Black, who immediately flew in to finally meet the inspiration for his crusade. Arriving a few days after Catherine, Black set his soldiers around the perimeter and went to greet Nate. At the time, Catherine was taking a walk through the jungle to try and figure out how to get Nate to become the All-Star again and, upon hearing a commotion at the hut, began making her way back. Sensing danger, Nate armed himself with a hunting rifle and went to meet the overly friendly Black, who introduced himself as family and explained that he too was a product of Project Patriot. Black explained his anger towards Project Patriot for what they did and seemed convinced that Nate would feel the same way. When Nate confessed his distaste towards Project Patriot, Black enthusiastically invited him to join Ouroboros in their mission to topple America, eager to seek revenge with his 'brother'. Unimpressed, Nate referred to Black as a crazed terrorist and pointedly stated that he killed terrorists. As a regretful Black waited for his men to move in, Catherine arrived at the perimeter and alerted Nate to the hidden ambush. With two of them pursuing the fleeing Catherine into the jungle, the Ouroboros agents opened on Nate.

Reacting quickly, Nate attempted to shoot Black only to find that he couldn't, the villain's inverse hyperkinesis stopping him from pulling the trigger until he had safely walked off the battlefield. Outmanned and outgunned, Nate managed to dispatch three agents with his hunting rifle before being forced into his hut. As the remaining agents riddled his home with bullets, Nate ducked low and reached for the weapon under his bed. When the agents all ceased firing to reload their weapons and make sure their target was dead, Nate emerged from the hut with an M249 and opened fire on all of them, completely ripping them apart in a matter of seconds. In the meantime, Catherine fled from the soldiers who had pursued her, hiding among the trees and springing out with a heavy rock to knock one of them unconscious. The second soldier quickly opened fire, however, shooting her in the leg and sending her to the ground. As he prepared to execute her in cold blood, Nate emerged from the brush and, after a brief struggle, sent the final agent plummeting off a cliff to his death.

Patching up Catherine's leg, Nate realised that he couldn't simply disappear into the world and live a peaceful life so long as a man like Desmond Black threatened lives due to his own actions. With a resolve he hadn't felt for a year, Nate decided to become the All-Star once more in order to kill Black and right his own wrongs. Admonishing himself for allowing her to get injured, Nate warned Catherine to fly back to England and leave the situation alone. Catherine, however, was determined not only to find out more about her father, but to help Nate in any way she could and refused to leave his side. Instead, she suggested that he employ her skills as a hacker and intelligence analyst to track down and eliminate Ouroboros before they could enact their fiendish plans. With minimal resources and no allies to his name, Nate reluctantly agreed on the condition that she stayed behind the scenes where she couldn't get hurt. Now partners, Nate and Catherine flew to America on a mission to save it by any means necessary.

Touching down in New York and driving to Hudson City, Nate and Catherine arrived at one of Nate's old safehouses. While Nate checked his armory and outfitted himself for the task at hand, Catherine ran research on Ouroboros, uncovering their origins and their past dealings with VIPER and ARGENT, the latter of which they had plans to conduct an illegal arms deal with. Rushing to the rumoured location of the arms deal, a shipping dock in Washington D.C., Nate watched as ARGENT dealers unloaded what appeared to be a high-tech bomb. When Ouroboros arrived moments later, Desmond Black was with them. Using stealth to take out the various ARGENT and Ouroboros guards situated around the docks, Nate ambushed the deal and proceeded to shoot his way through to Black. The heavy resistance he was met with, however, gave Black and his men time to load the bomb into their truck. When Nate finally made it to Black and leveled, he again found himself unable to fire and instead pointed it at his head. Gloatingly, Black explained that his powers were the inverse of Nate's, affecting the minds of others rather than his own. Expressing bitterness towards Nate for allowing himself to be a "slave" to the government that condemned him to life as a human weapon, Black ordered him to blow his brains out and left with the ARGENT device. Struggling against Black's control with all his might, Nate managed to direct his handgun at his stomach before firing. Though he was gravely wounded by the shot, he managed to drive to the doorstep of the one person who could be trusted to help him: Kurt White. When a confused Kurt opened the door, the heavily bleeding Nate passed out in his arms.

Kurt stopped the bleeding and patched Nate up, questioning why he had returned to America after faking his death. After Nate explained his meeting with Desmond Black and Ouroboros, the typically reticent Kurt revealed that Project Patriot only became aware of Black's existence after he had already risent to prominence as an international criminal and had made several attempts over the years to assassinate him under the guise of gang warfare, only to fail miserably each time. Now working as a mere liaison between the White House and UNTIL, Kurt was no longer able to provide Nate with the resources he once had. Nevertheless, he was able to provide Nate with a copy of UNTIL's file on Black and a lead on what UNTIL suspected was an Ouroboros base situated in Philadelphia. Thanking Kurt for his help and promising to disappear once Black had been dealt with, Nate made his way to Philadelphia, but not before being warned that he upset a lot of higher ups by leaking the information at the Dead Zone and that he would be considered a wanted man if they discovered he was alive.

While Nate made his way to Philadelphia, both Kurt and Catherine had their own issues to worry about. Being called in to attend an emergency meeting at the White House, Kurt found that it was being coordinated by Gregory Hunter, who had been placed in charge of an ARGENT sting operation just a few months prior. While observing the arms deal at the docks between ARGENT and Ouroboros, his surveillance team were instead blindsided by the sudden appearance of Nate, which they had managed to record. Using the reappearance of Nate and his current status to maneuver his way into a new career opportunity, Hunter proposed that he be placed in charge of a task force to stop him before he posed a significant threat to the country. Reluctant to set a squad on Nate but admitting the pragmatism of stopping him as soon as possible, the assembled officials agreed to Hunter's proposal. Fearing for Nate's safety, Kurt offered to be the joint commander of the task force with the intention of following their activities and protecting his friend. Meanwhile, Catherine managed to use her connections to secure what she believed was the location of Desmond Black's personal home and, arming herself with one of Nate's handguns, set out to prove her worth by catching him unawares and killing him. When Catherine arrived at Black's supposed penthouse, however, she was ambushed by Ouroboros agents who had planted the false information in order to lure Nate into a death trap. Under Black's orders, however, they instead took the unexpected Catherine alive in order to use her as leverage.

Arriving in Philadelphia, Nate launched a one man raid on the Ouroboros base and eventually located a database where he discovered their the true purpose of the ARGENT device and their plans to utilise it. In factuality, the device was a power amplifier of sorts which could store psionic energy and amplify it, increasing its radius and magnitude -- a 'psi-bomb' of sorts. With it, they planned to launch one final assault on Washington DC, psionically sending its populace into a widescale frenzy which would cripple the country. When Nate attempted to contact Catherine to inform her of this, however, Black answered from the other end of the line. Informing him that Catherine was in his custody and that he would kill her if he continued to interfere, Black offered Nate one last chance to walk away from it all before remotely wiping the database and hanging up. Before Nate could figure out his next move, the task force assembled to take him in launched an attack on the Ouroboros base in the hopes of ambushing him. Though Nate managed to non-lethally dispatch several operatives, he was caught off-guard with a bullet to the back by Hunter and subsequently arrested.

Bound and loaded into a truck for transport to a private holding facility, Nate tried to explain to Hunter and his men that Washington was in danger and that Ouroboros had to be stopped. To his dismay, however, Garret simply ignored him and had his men work him over as revenge for all the times Nate had humiliated him in the past. When they arrived at the holding facility, Hunter brutally interrogated Nate to find out how he survived his supposed death and why he was back in America. Although Nate answered honestly, Hunter refused to believe his responses and continued the interrogation. Eventually, Kurt arrived and informed him that their superiors were on the line and that he would take over. While Hunter made his way to the phone, Kurt surreptitiously incapacitated the guards and freed Nate, allowing himself to be knocked unconscious so it would look like he escaped on his own. After making sure to beat up Hunter and warn him to stay out of his way, Nate stealthily exfiltrated the facility and made his way to Washington D.C. to stop Ouroboros before it was too late.

Arriving in Washington D.C., Nate surmised that the air show would be the ideal location for the psi-bomb to be detonated and called in favours from Fathom and Kara McIlroy, having them locate and defuse the psi-bomb while he found Catherine and Black. As Kara and Fathom infiltrated the airfield and discovered that a military transport aircraft intended to fly at the show had been hijacked by Ouroboros, who had planted the psi-bomb inside and seemingly planned to drop it on the airshow, Nate managed to decipher a secret message in what the captured Catherine's cries for help when Black called him at the Philadelphia base, realising that the psi-bomb was merely a distraction and that Black's true target was the White House. While Kara and Fathom engaged in a mid-air battle aboard the aircraft to stop Ouroboros from dropping the bomb, Nate was ambushed by Kurt, Hunter and their task force, having pursued him from Philadelphia. While Nate and Kurt attempted to persuade the operatives that the President was in danger, Hunter demanded that they shoot to kill. Eventually, each operative lowered their weapon and sided with Kurt and Nate, prompting Hunter to draw his sidearm and attempt to kill Nate there and then. In response, Kurt used his walking-stick to disarm Hunter and knock him unconscious. Now with Kurt and Hunter's task force behind him, Nate rushed to the White House to stop Black.

At the White House, Nate and the task force fought Ouroboros to a standstill, allowing the former to pursue Desmond Black and a captive Catherine into the White House. Slowed by having to non-lethally take down mind-controlled secret servicemen, Nate eventually arrived in the Oval Office to find the President and his council being controlled by Black into launching nuclear missiles at various military and government institutions around America. In Black's madness, he sought to completely annihilate most of the country's infrastructure in order to punish those who had made him a a killer. Taunting him and mocking the childish incredulity of his plan, Nate managed to cause Black enough stress to make him lose control over the government officials in the room, giving Nate an opportunity to tackle him. As Nate began to fight him hand-to-hand, however, Black narrowly managed to manipulate a serviceman into turning his weapon on the President, buying him enough time to escape while Nate knocked the man unconscious.

With his plan completely thwarted and his forces dead or scattered, Black retreated to the helicopter waiting to fly him to safety. When Nate pursued him, Black revealed that Catherine was aboard the helicopter, pointing a gun at her own head as a result of Black's mental dominion. With Catherine under a clear and present threat, Nate was forced to drop his weapon. As he prepared to take his leave, Black expressed his hidden jealousy towards Nate for being 'saved' from his hard life by Project Patriot, whereas he was forced to save himself. Before he could finally board the helicopter, however, Nate began to mockingly recite the details of Black's childhood that he had read in the file. Enraged Black advanced on Nate and proceeded to angrily beat him to a pulp, using his mental manipulation to keep him from fighting back. All the while, his flux of emotions caused his grip on Catherine to lessen and, pointing her gun away from herself, she shot Black in the shoulder. Taking his chance, Nate fought back and slammed Black's head into the helicopter, dazing him enough to temporarily prevent him from using his powers. As Nate stood over him with his handgun, Black taunted him into finishing him off like they were both "programmed" to do. Tossing his weapon aside after some deliberation, Nate realised that killing had always been his choice and, although Project Patriot had made him into the perfect weapon, he was the one who allowed them to use him as such. Finally at peace with himself, Nate refused to kill Black and told him that he was the one who made himself into a monster, not the government. As the task force ran in to arrest both men, Nate knocked a hysterical Black unconscious and willingly gave himself up. Fathom and Kara had defused the psi-bomb, the President was relatively unharmed, Catherine was safe and Ouroboros had been decimated in the battle. Thank to Nate, America would live to fight another day.

After briefing the authorities on what had happened over the last few days, Nate was saved from a charge of treason by the President, who hailed him as a hero and a true American who blew the lid off of Project Patriot because he valued the truth. Catherine was fired from her job at MI6 for her extended and heavily falsified absence; Gregory Hunter was demoted due to 'incompetence' and Kurt White was offered his old position, and Desmond Black was transferred to the Stronghold with multiple life sentences for his crimes. Cleared of all charges and legally reinstated among the living, Nate took some time to visit his parents' graves to make amends with his father. He was met there by Kurt, who wondered what he would do next. With a newfound resolve, Nate stated that he was ready to take up the mantle of the All-Star again in order to protect his country the 'right way' -- not as a weapon or a killer, but as a hero emboldened by a new sense of agency and freedom. Pleased with his response, Kurt revealed that the United Nations were considering funding their own super team and suggested offering him up as the commander of the task force. Nate agreed to consider the idea and appreciated that it could be a step in the right direction. Side-by-side, the two old friends walked off together, discussing the future.

Meanwhile, Catherine arrived back in England and promptly cleared out her desk at the MI6. Visiting her mother on her way back home, she asked her if it ever bothered her that so much of David's life had been a mystery even to them. Thoughtfully, her mother responded that, even though she wasn't always sure what David was doing or whether or not he'd make it home safe, she could always rest easy at night knowing that her husband was fighting the good fight regardless of where he was or how he did it. Reassured by her mother's words, Catherine decided that she didn't need to know everything about her father's service and was satisfied knowing that everything he did, he did for their safety. As she returned home and started to try and figure out what she'd do next, Catherine received a call from Nate, asking her if she was willing to come back to America in order to put her skills to real use working with him. Spurred on by the memory of her father, Catherine readily accepted Nate's offer and requested that she also be given a codename -- 'Dodger'.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and, with the sins of the past no longer weighing him down, All-Star is more willing to pay that price than ever before.

• CLOWNFACE
• WHEEZER
• ZAMBALA
• CAPTAIN HOOK
• DEADHEAD
• SOVIET SUPREME
• HENCHMAN
• DOCTOR FAUSTUS

• MIRROR
• BLOOD DIAMOND
• TALLY-MAN
• QUARTERMASTER
• EX-PATRIOT
• TARANTULA
• ZARA

"Homies help homies. Sorry I couldn't do it when it mattered, Nate. See you on the other side." - Adapto

"He can be a bit of a bastard, but for what it's worth, he's a good guy. Puff the Gun-Toting Dragon, eh? I bet people are gonna start usin' that some time..." - Snowtalon

"Nate underestimates his true value, regardless of how boastful he comes across to others. I'm a better person for having met him, and that's not something I say about many. A partner, an ally, a friend... and much, much more." - Sparrowhawk

"All-Star? He's pretty cool actually. Don't have a single problem with him. We got similar viewpoints, come from similar backgrounds, and not to mention, he's got a helluva shot. He's alright in my book." - Anarchy

"My opinion about Nate changed. I still haven't spent much time with the guy, but he's once told me something that's been sort of shifting in my head for a while. He said something about his skills defining who he was. That not being the best about what he does would make him lose his identity... That, kind've opened up an old wound of mine. And I kinda, sorta freaked out at him." She pauses for a moment. "I apologized, later on. But yeah, he and I got a little something in common, on that, I think. I'd have to chat with him about it at some point." - Natasha Roy

"Having worked with All-Star a few times recently, I'll admit he's rather rough around the edges at first, but he's cool-headed and determined to get the job done - some things I can't say about some of my powered colleagues." - The Peacemaker

"Almost as good a shot as I am. ..Almost. Other 'n that he takes his job seriously and handles his shit 'n that's more or less all ya can ask for." - Desperado

"An excellent ally. He is accurate, carries the right equipment to allow for a high degree of versatility on the battlefield and is quite capable of handling his job. He doesn't seem to know the difference between an android and a robot, however." - Doll

"A big mouth, but his heart's in the right place." - Thundrax

"He's always wearing sunglasses. I think he has light sensitive eyes or something. And he said I was childish! I'm not not childish... right?" - Impsblood

"He's a hater with a silly mustache. Come on bro, don't be like that." - Zee

"He is a fun person with a love for living life. I always enjoy the time I spend with him. I do not think his facial hair is creepy, either." - Greymist Wanderer

"General Freedom? He's an alright guy, I guess, but I always thought he was like, bigger, you know? And angrier. Less shooty, too. Oh well!" - Dohwa

"Nate? I like Nate. He's the sort of asshole you like having around because he makes you feel better about yourself." - Riptide

"Handsome, professional and he really knows how to wear his guns and moustache. He's not as good with women as he likes to think he is though." - Demoness

"Definitively not the 'shoot first and ask questions later' type, as evidenced by his taking advantage of an opponent being surprised in order to... ask them questions. But yeah, he does seem to like his guns. And dislike other peoples' kneecaps." - Snow Leopard

"Terrible taste in facial hair and his inability to recognize that I'm a woman aside, he's definitely someone I know I could rely on in a fight. He strikes me as the sort to not let something as silly as being outclassed ever take the fight out of him. And if he's half as good as he thinks he is..." - Artifist

"The first true friend I made on this world, and one of the finest examples of Terran warrior-hood in- ..What? Stop giving me that look, you know what I meant!" - Zelara

"Impressive enough, I suppose." - The Doctor

"World's. Dumbest. Mustache." - Blue Freedom

"Cool guy and he always is vewy fwiendly! I wike him a lot! Hi Mr. All-Star!" - Chocolate Chip Chelsea

"A real professional. Ready to face any situation that's thrown at him, even if he complains about it a little bit sometimes. All-Star's alright in my book." - Victory

"He cheats at poker." - C.O.P.

"He seems like a pretty cool guy, despite wearing sunglasses all the time. What, does he think he's a rap star or something? Er, anyway, we seem to get along pretty well. And he's pretty hot." - Ada Clover

"I can't decide if this guy is over the top or really bat shit insane from all the stories I've heard. So far he seems like a very capable field leader and an generally cool guy. And a fellow brotha who's a metahuman is always a plus in my book. Wait he's tapping Sparrowhawk?! That black sumuvabitch..." - SoulStar

"He is a sincere man. Perhaps a little too sincere." - Voreen

"Loudmouth." - Katsuo

"He's an effective and pragmatic soldier, I liked him pretty much instantaneously. I hope he tries to stay alive as I want to work with him more and get to know him." - Fathom

"I saw All-Star at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly." - Soldier Celsius