Stormwatch Team Achilles was a subdivision of Stormwatch. It was a UN chartered team of international operatives led by Ben Santini.
History
The Stormwatch Team Achilles was voted into existence by the UN Security Council at a point where it had been made certain the U.S. representative couldn't veto the initiative; the U.S. government would never accept an anti-post-human organization that could threaten their own SPB activities.[1] The creation of the new Stormwatch was also done without the consent of the "United Nations Special Security Council", a secretive group of six multi-billionaires who controlled much of the UN and had specifically been the real masters behind Henry Bendix's Stormwatch.[2]
The new Stormwatch had to be rushed into action three weeks early. Ivana Baiul, now head of the Civil Defense Administration, had decided to test Achilles by having Islamist super-terrorists to attack the UN headquarters in Manhattan.[3] Two members of Achilles, Santini and Coleman, who were jogging in Central Park at that point, managed to slip in the building, kill a superpowered guard, capture another and assemble the team, taking out the majority of the SPB terrorists and forcing the remaining terrorists to retreat. Shortly after, Santini was teleported against his will by the UN Special Security Council. The councilmen were displeased to see a new StormWatch not under their control, and offered Santini to work under them or die if he refuses. Santini had a plan, however - the SSCC didn't realize he had a hidden emitter in his knee, nor that Project Entry teleportation couldn't be electronically blocked. After a short, tense discussion Santini had two members of his assault team, Jukko Hämäläinen and Jaeger Weiss, teleport in and execute the Councilmen. He then made the situation that the Councilmen were killed by the terrorists, allowing him to escape any retaliation planned by the SSC.[2]
Unlike the previous Stormwatch, Team Achilles was very low-key and was working with an UN budget, in which it did not have a satellite base, no super-powered operatives in colorful spandex, and no squadrons of high-tech jet fighters.[4] Team Achilles relied on training, experience, hard-hitting military tactics and top-of-the-line intel, technology and weaponry. Eventually, superhumans were added to the team, though usually not as front line personnel. The team includes Captain Galena Golovin (sniper), Sergeant Charles Pickney (spotter), First Lieutenant Jaeger Weiss (assault), Master Sergeant Blake Coleman (assault), Lieutenant Jukko Hämäläinen (close combat), Specialist Luis Cisco (entry), Lieutenant-Colonel Marie Grunier (medical, negotiator), Lieutenant Avi Barak (telepathic warfare), civilian specialist Khalid Tefibi (ordnance, computers, tech) and two SPB "consultants" - Buzz Dixon (intel) and Alias (intel/impersonation) who operated outside of the team - in fact their existence wasn't revealed to the team until after several weeks. Coleman was eventually KIA, and Cisco retired due to both serious wounds and his marriage. Santini eventually added an SPB to his front line troops - Victoria N'Gengi aka Flint. Most of the team had hostile encounters with posthumans prior to joining Team Achilles, in which some have a level of dislike towards posthumans.
During the following months, Team Achilles proved to be up to the task of controlling a number of threats. Team Achilles went after and eliminated the terrorist group that attacked the UN along with a major target - Dhul Fiqar, one of the few known activators of Seedlings, who was providing SPBs to Islamist terrorist groups. Achilles also prevented the Russian Army from moving into Chechnya (from which they had been expelled by the Authority).[5] They took down a reality-manipulating SPB who had taken over a small American town and prevented the reincarnated Citizen Soldier from destroying the U.S. government - although extensive damage was done to key Federal buildings and personnel in Washington, D.C. such as the SCOTUS and Congress.[6][7] They also stopped the Romanian super-villain Baron Chaos from launching a coup in Hungary.[8]
However, during that time, the vendettas continued between Santini and the U.S. government. Baiul arrested Tefibi under false pretenses for information of Team Achilles' long-term goals, but was outmaneuvered as the Stormwatch telepath, Avi Barak, had layered multiple booby traps in Team Achilles' minds. Santini also abused his resources to track down and kidnap U.S. Senator Sonny Terns, the man who had prevented the truth about the U.S. government's role in sending an SPB known as Devil to decimate an alternate Earth's entire population from reaching the Hague.[9] Santini kept Terns, who was widely considered to be the most powerful Democrat in Congress, prisoner in his H.Q. and had the shape-shifting Stormwatch operative Alias to impersonate him.[1] Santini also sent Flint to bring him the head of Devil on his behalf, and she did.[9]
Team Achilles also developed an acrimonious feud with the Authority. Santini considered SPBs taking the world into their own hands an abomination; though he made a point of not killing any of them, he still kept outmaneuvering them. When the Authority took control of the United States, Team Achilles' funding and legal power, as provided by the UN, was severed. Despite this, Team Achilles remains committed to their mission and decides to go underground. The Authority deemed Santini and his team were out for superhuman blood, and they were labeled as wanted fugitives.[8]
The organization was later trapped in the Project Entry Universe alongside their enemies. The two groups put aside their past grudges and attempted to find a working teleporter to their Earth for more than two years. Eventually Team Achilles and their enemies found a teleporter and returned to their Earth's New York City.[10] The team quickly discovered in their absence that a new Stormwatch was established along with a new initiative called the Post Human Division. Just as Team Achilles celebrated their return, they witnessed rampaging superhumans known as Reapers attacking across the planet. Santini and his team resume into action to "kill some superhumans."[11]
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
Stormwatch Project: ENTRY teleporter
Weapons:
Various firearms
See Also
- 28 Appearances of Stormwatch Team Achilles
- 4 Images that include Stormwatch Team Achilles
- Team Gallery: Stormwatch Team Achilles
Links and References
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Stormwatch: Team Achilles #7
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Stormwatch: Team Achilles #3
- ↑ Stormwatch: Team Achilles #1
- ↑ Stormwatch: Team Achilles #4
- ↑ Stormwatch: Team Achilles #5-#6
- ↑ Stormwatch: Team Achilles #9
- ↑ Stormwatch: Team Achilles #19
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Coup d'État: Stormwatch: Team Achilles #1
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Stormwatch: Team Achilles #13
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #9
- ↑ The Authority (Volume 4) #9