New World Disorder
In August 2000, David Kennedy hosted a party at his Long Island estate to celebrate his engagement to the team's administrative assistant and Whiz Kid's mother, Dianne Armstrong. During the party, the heroes got several glimpses of a ghostly white-robed figure. They eventually recognize as the White Shield, a mystical being who they had met two years before.
Flying to Tibet, the Squad met Francis Albert Carlotti, a former New York cabbie turned mystic who was the leader of the Order of the White Shield. From Francis, they learned that the White Shield lay in a coma and that it was time for the battle for control of the Seventh Cycle against the Cult of the Black Sword. The winner would choose the new Earth Template, the being that sets the tone of life on Earth. The former Earth Template, a 1930s adventurer had exhausted his life force and Stephen Kennedy (the original Challenger) had been the Order's first choice for new Template. But when he died before they could put him on the throne, they decided, based on White Shield's tests two years before, that any of the new SuperSquad America would do (although they had some doubts about Friction Lass).
While Francis Carlotti was outlining the Squad's role in things, agents of the Cult of the Black Sword attacked the temple. At first, the Squad helped the Order fight off the Cult's agents but then Forethought, who was at the White Shield's side and in contact with him mentally, realized the former Brainstorm did not have long to live and that he had one last task to perform. Leaving the remainder of the battle with the Cult to the Order's mystics, the team gathered around the White Shield, who used the last of his life force to send SuperSquad America to the battle for control of the Seventh Cycle.
The battle turned out to be an alternate universe where they all had different histories. David Kennedy was the son of industrialist Stephen Kennedy, who unbeknownst to all, had been Challenger, leader of the infamous Liberty League America who opposed the U.S. President DeathGrip and was about to follow in his father's footsteps by joining the battle in a physique-enhancing battlesuit. Kelly Quinn was an investigative reporter who had just uncovered the fact that it was agents of DeathGrip and not a junkie who had murdered her parents, who had work with the League. Kelly was now ready to take up her parents' battle as Silver Bow. Alan Kepperman was a programmer for Kennedy Industries and also secretly a gay cyberkinetic who worked for the League as the superbeing Dynamo, primarily because of President DeathGrip's anti-gay policies. Rick Davies was a scientist who had had his stretching powers neutralized by Project Victory and was hoping to find a way to regain them, while creating new superbeings for the League. Anita DuPuis was a shape-shifter and actress who ran UpStage Productions, a theatre group that often presented works that satirized and criticized the government. Karen McCall was a happy-go-lucky girl working as a secretary in the theatre's business office. Jerry Curtis was a technician with UpStage Productions whose girlfriend had been the superbeing Crimson Fist (created by Rick Davies) and had been murdered by DeathGrip's elite forces and now desired to take up the battle where she left off. Alicia Chance was Friction Lass, a superbeing who apparently worked for the League, but was actually an agent for President DeathGrip. And finally, Bernie Armstrong was the superbeing Whiz Kid working with DeathGrip's elite forces, while his mother, Dianne Armstrong, who was DeathGrip's executive secretary, was about to marry the villainous president.
As this group slowly came together for various reasons (such as Bernie not wanting to become Bernie DeathGrip), they began to realize that something was wrong with this world and the more they thought about it, the more their true selves began to surface. The one exception to this was Karen McCall who had never been assaulted in this universe and was quite happy. It seemed she was subconsciously burying the truth. With great regret, the team got Karen to accept her true history, and, now at full power, went on to defeat President DeathGrip and his supervillain cabinet.
The Squad then found themselves on a mystical plane with a large empty throne some distance away. A voice told them whoever sat on the throne was the new Template. After considering and rejecting the idea of all of them sitting on the throne, Dynamo strode forward to take the throne. Several of his teammates tried to stop, but after becoming convinced of his desire to assume the role, the team allowed him to take the throne. With a desire to create a more tolerant universe, Dynamo's influence soon began to have an effect on the world. Within a week, a lasting peace was signed in the Middle East.
Originally Run: Gen Con 2000