the Tenacious Ten

This summary of the so-called Tenacious Ten has been compiled by Chase Storey, one of Agency 13's best fact-finders; while the others definitely contributed to this report, he's the guy that figured out all the secret links between these fellows, and 'read between the lines' to figure out just why they were assembled in the first place. He's still looking into why they remain together, though... - Mike 013

So I'll bet you're wondering just what the heck this is all about, this silly 'Tenacious Ten' group. Well, the truth is stranger than fiction, to use an overly tired cliché, but the Tenacious Ten is a group of super-human goons collected by Elys, a powerful dragon from another plane of existence, to do her bidding here on earth. After all, dragons are kind of conspicuous when hanging out in the local grocery store.

So Elys, this giant red reptile, she's apparently born with a wild hair in her posterior, and finds herself enamored with the notion of technology. Sort of rare where she came from, since she was born in a realm of barren rock occasionally interrupted by caverns full of howling mad winds, Elys decides that she wants to learn more about it. And, as dragons apparently tend to do, she wanted to hoard lots of this 'treasure'.

She then began wandering through various planes, looking for a hotbed of technological ingenuity. Elys' wanderings eventually saw her running amok in an apparent clockwork universe, one peopled by strange, geometric creatures of flesh and gears. Beings Elys had never imagined, they stuck in her head once she was aware of their existence, and she openly admired their seemingly incomprehensible existences.

Furthermore, she wanted to be like them. Some kids want to get a tattoo, some decide to ram metal rods through their genitals, but Elys, she wanted to utterly mangle her physiology, and become a creature of both magic and technology. A cyber-dragon, if you will. The only problem with this is that, on most planes of existence, even this clockwork universe she likes so much, the know-how to accomplish this didn't exist.

So Elys wandered further off the beaten track. In her travels and researches, Elys learned of a powerful technomage, a wizard who uses elements of both wizardry and invention to perform various tricks. Insinuating herself within this wizard's presence, Elys 'convinced' him to teach her everything he knew, and he did - dragons are hard to say no to. The trick was that even this fellow lacked what she needed.

One tasty sorcerous snack later, Elys ransacked the man's study, and further research revealed the identity of an even greater technomage, some fellow named Morbis. Now, this guy was one of the earth's greatest wizards about twenty thousand years ago, but he'd disappeared way back then. Elys didn't know this until she showed up on our world though, and boy was she annoyed when this became apparent.

She then decided that she was going to work out the details of her transformation on her own. Setting up shop over a city of lost humans nestled beneath the Antarctic ice shelf, Elys began leeching them of their advanced technology, gear they had since it takes a lot of high tech prowess to survive beneath a mile of ice at the bottom of the world, and started formulating the ultimate result of her transmogrification.

Elys occasionally required that somebody go out into the world of humans and collect stuff for her. As such, she occasionally conjured forth a familiar, a sort of magical servant. These unwitting humans were subject to Elys' every whim, and would commit all manner of crimes for her at her command - ranging from simple espionage to the direct theft of any high tech items that struck her fancy.

Similarly, Elys decided that she needed protection. Eventually, she reasoned, she would attract the attention of enemies who would trace her minions' actions to her. So, she collected kinds of elite thugs to protect her from whatever foes should surface to oppose her earthly efforts. She could easily kill most anything on the planet, mind you, but she figured 'Why should I have to?'

Ultimately, Elys rooted out ten tenacious super-humans who would not necessarily be averse to working for Elys - or were at the very least easily tricked into doing her bidding. Once she'd identified them, Elys summoned them forth much like she did her mundane minions, and made them all offers they couldn't refuse. You don't live for a thousand years without learning to be a little bit persuasive, you know!

Regardless, this investment in time and effort paid off, after a fashion. You see, after learning that Morbis, that technomage she was after, had come back to life recently - if only to get killed mere hours later - Elys sent some of her minions to Morbis' recent headquarters to recover any of his magic or technology (or even his person) that might be left in the wake of his most recent demise.

They found a cloned, nano-tech filled hand of the wizard, which was sort of alive still, but were prevented from delivering the item by the gang of violent, unstable vigilantes that had ended Morbis' resurrection gambit previously. Irked by this, Elys paid these interlopers a visit, and did some considerable damage to them before they even knew what was going on; nobody'd mentioned a dragon, after all.

Once Elys left the area, these fellows interrogated her goons, and through a series of misadventures, managed to find their way to Elys' Antarctic hidey-hole. There, Elys put the Tenacious Ten to work, ordering them to violently get rid of these interlopers. Several of them had personal ties to these vigilantes and didn't have to be told twice - but as things turned out, the Ten weren't up to the task at hand.

Annoyed that her hand-picked team failed, Elys whisked them off for later use, though she was just as likely to eat them for their incompetence. As her defenses had finally failed, Elys then waited for these interlopers to make their way to her lair, and planned on dealing with them personally. This, too, didn't work out as she'd planned, and Elys ultimately died fighting these reckless maniacs. But that wasn't the end, oh no.

By this time, you see, Elys had constructed the mechanical framework, and a lot of the innards, of the cyber-mystic chassis she planned to merge her body with, and as she passed, her essence transported itself into this thing. It wasn't a perfect mesh however, since the system required her flesh as well as her spirit to function indefinitely; as it sat though, it would give her enough time to exact her vengeance!

And she did, too. Elys, having already wore those vigilantes out, really gave them a good trouncing in her heavily armed robotic chassis. Unfortunately for her, Elys' contingency plan was flawed, and her 'last laugh' fell apart on her as she tried to kill these jerks. So, after over a thousand years, this deviant dragon was finally put to rest, if in an exceedingly violent end to her many days.

Mastermind Behind the Tenacious Ten:

Elys: a mad dragon hailing from a mad universe, Elys does not think like others. She wishes to become a creature of flesh and gears, thinking that the perfect state of being, and endlessly schemes to complete her insane transformation into such! Availability:

Members of the Tenacious Ten Proper:

Angry Annie: Annie Claymore is a petulant sociopath who believes the world should both revolve around her desires, and abide by her own jaundiced view of How Things Work. Naturally, she explodes with murderous rage when it invariably doesn't. Availability:

Captain Katabatic: a sentient, dread chill from the bottom of the world, Captain Katabatic is the so-called Führer of Freeze, and has it out for anyone that can shape the cold like he does - going out of his way to punish them for their perfidy! Availability:

the Cilantro Carnivore: half elf, half demon, the creature identifying itself as the Cilantro Carnivore is a botanical terror who identifies more with her floral side. When not acting as OFF's muscle, she occasionally moonlights as a mercenary for fun. Availability:

the Confiscator: granted powers of conjuration by a weak, cursed Genie who accidentally misjudged his murderous intent for good will, the spiteful Elwood Smith has embarked on a virtually suicidal criminal career as... the one and only Confiscator! Availability:

Drag: Bartholomew Smithers is a bitter scientist who was laughed out of 'respectable' scientific circles for his idea of growing living armor suits. Deemed mad by his peers, he proved them wrong by building himself a bio-suit to use against mankind! Availability:

Magmanimous: after almost freezing to death in the Northwestern Territories of Canada, stranded truck driver Larry Oxmount instead saw his latent mutant powers emerge, and he was seemingly forever transformed into a walking man-mountain of magma! Availability:

Normal Man: Harold Norman was about as bland as they come - and he liked things that way. This is why he was struck with a bizarre legacy, one that gave him startling powers over the force of antimagic, and allowing him to bring normalcy to the world! Availability:

Vitamin G: Gregory Simpson is a perpetual loser who, after gaining his mutant power, used it to resume his considerably petty crime spree. Destined for mediocrity, Gregory is happy to let other, more successful villains do the thinking for him. Availability:

Ysen: one of the light elves of Alfheim, Ysen began to wander the planes after her people were assaulted by demons, leaving her homeless. Killing them in turn wherever she traveled, Ysen has generally become a force for good in the multiverse! Availability:

Zenus: the follower of a nameless criminal warrior, Zenus is a psi-active competitive martial artist who strives to be the best combatant ever. To this end, he performs whatever tasks his anonymous master requires of him - all for more training! Availability:

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