Editing Second String (section)

=Introduction=

New York City has been subjected to far more supervillain attacks, alien invasions and natural disasters than any other city in the world. We don't know why, but historically if you wanted to show your stuff as a superhero, this was the stage to be on. Other countries, particularly in the Global South, grumble at the implicit American hegemony, but none of them could stop the snowball effect as all of their best and brightest abandoned home to join the Paragons, New York's home superhero team.

For a while, this arrangement worked... adequately. Enough heroes stayed home for whatever reasons to (just about) handle the domestic crises, but the world's attention was always on the Big Apple. Until May 2 2024, the day the Paragons vanished. At first people weren't too concerned: this was probably just some cosmic ret-con or magic spell gone awry, and everything would be back to normal soon enough. But things haven't gone back to normal. While most people still have faith the heroes will return, the Paragons' support staff are privately going into meltdown.

Since that day, the heroes of Earth's greatest team (according to TIME Magazine, at least) have been nowhere to be seen, but the villains and other threats that plagued New York haven't let up at all. Panicking, the Paragons' administration has put out the call to those heroes they once spurned, to the countries they took and took from, to anyone who will listen: we need your help. Please save us.

For whatever reason, you weren't a part of the superheroic elite, but here you are, ready to do your part and show the world you've got what it takes to play with the big boys!