Dale-Man Inc
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
After coming out of retirement following the Crisis of Infinite Dale-Mans, Dale-Man formed a new supergroup with his recently gained fortune. He called this group Dale-Man Inc because he "wanted a group name as good as Dale-Man." While most felt this group was nothing but an ego stroke, Dale-Man insisted it would become the premier superteam in the city.
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Recruitment
Desiring a first-class base, Dale-Man sought out others to join the group to help with the fund-raising. The group seemed to attract only new heroes and heroes no other group would take, which is odd considering there are groups out there specifically for those purposes. Nonetheless, Dale-Man allowed anyone and everyone to join, seeking the prestige new members would bring.
Some members didn't last long. Krulle, a Praetorian scientist who used an injection to turn into a flaming beast, was doused by the fire department while showing off his powers. Being that he was mostly fire in this form, he died quite painfully. The Viking hero Norse-Man died in an early mission when he was shot. He was not bullet-proof.
Dale-Man's clone Danger Dale happily joined, wanting to work with his genetic match. Then came Captain Zooom, a man who looked like an old sci-fi character and claimed to be from the very far future, the year 1980. His story didn't make much sense. There was also Timothy Time, a time traveler who sought to maintain the integrity of time.
Others soon followed. Full Shell was a giant turtle with blades who did not infringe on any trademarks. Radical was a radioactive hero who talked like a surfer. Sam Lashley was the Praetorian version of Sammy Sapper who wielded two pistols. Louis Walker was a light-saber wielding hero from Praetoria who had conflicts with his dark side.
There were also some shady members who joined. Macintyre and Arbiter Makino were two of Arachnos soldiers who joined swearing they'd be good. Tommy Five was a career criminal who reformed after merging with a warshade. Finally, Dr. Braininajar was a mad scientist bent on world domination who has not given up on his quest, but joined the hero group anyways. Dale-Man believes he's harmless.
Along came more Dale-Mans
While wandering around aimlessly, Dale-Man came across Daleman, an alternate version of himself who came from Praetoria. Bacause he was in Praetoria and not his home dimension, he had managed to avoid the Crisis of Infinite Dale-Mans. Feeling that having more if him around would be good, Dale-Man brought him into Dale-Man Inc.
When Galaxy City was destroyed by the Shivans, another hero named Dale-Man emerged. From what they could tell, this was a past version of Dale-Man who got sent into the future. Since there's a present day Dale-Man who has no memory of this, it has been assumed that this Dale-Man was duplicated, thus there are no contradictions. This Dale-Man, referred to as Dale-Man(II), also joined up with Dale-Man Inc.
Incarnates One and All
As Dale-Man sought out more and more power as an incarnate, the members of Dale-Man Inc decided that they too shall seek this power. Dale-Man expressly forbid it, decreeing that him having this power was sufficient. At this point, Dale-Man(II) was left in charge of the group, as Dale-Man felt he was now above the level of threats the group tended to face. He still wanted the prestige from the group though. Dale-Man(II) decided they should all become incarnates.
Empire's End
Unbeknownst to everyone else, Daleman and Sam Lashley were still loyal to Emperor Cole. They took a passive approach by observing Primal Earth. However, after the death of Mother Mayhem, they realized they needed to get more proactive. They ambushed and killed Danger Dale and Louis Walker in the base. The rest of the group quickly discovered this, so the pair retreated back to Praetoria.
They found the place in disarray. People were fighting, buildings were burning, it was no longer the paradise they had known. They headed for the Magisterium to help Cole against the onslaught of the Primals. They got there just as Cole nuked the place.
Daleman barely survived the nuke, and Sam Lashley did not. The Primals were all very powerful Incarnates, and all of them survived. Daleman lied helpless as he watched Cole's defeat. His Incarnate powers did help him recover, but he could not make his escape, for he was spotted by Dale-Man.
They had an epic battle throughout Praetoria. It finally ended when Dale-Man bashed Daleman through the sonic fence. The fight had greatly injured Daleman, and the sonic fence had done even more damage. As he stood up, he saw a giant tentacle. The Hamidon then swallowed him up.
A New Dale-Man in Charge
In his quest for more power, Dale-Man had disappeared into the Midnighter Club, presumably gone forever. This left Dale-Man(II) as the sole Dale-Man, and he claimed to moniker Dale-Man as his own. The public would never know of the original Dale-Man's disappearance. Over the years they went on many adventures, defeating many villains.
Macintyre found he loved being a hero, happy to have rejected Arachnos. Dr. Braininajar created robots to assist him in taking over the world, though no one took his threats seriously. Captain Zooom felt he had done enough to change the past, and returned to the future year of 1980. Zaptro went to live in the wild. Since Dale-Man's disappearance, Timothy Time paced around a lot, feeling something wasn't right with the timeline.
The Darkest Day
The powerful villain Tenebrion found the base of Dale-Man Inc and decided to attack the group directly. He blew past their security as if it was nothing. He quickly made his way to Timothy Time, mockingly telling him he was right about the timeline right before frying him with electricity. Full Shell quickly ran in, and Tenebrion used his power over gravity to crush the turtle's shell, then cast him aside. Radical freaked out and started to retreat, but Dr. Braininajar's robots gunned him down. Macintyre saw this, but before he could do anything he was stabbed by Makino, his fellow former Arachnos soldier. As he layed on the ground, he saw Tommy Five laugh at him. Macintyre was shocked by the betrayal of these members.
Macintyre's hope rose when Dale-Man walked in. They were then dashed as Dale-Man stood by the side of Tenebrion. Tenebrion revealed that he had improved on Crey's Revenant Hero project, and created a copy of Dale-Man with his powers intact who would be loyal to him. He saw the destruction of Galaxy City as a good time to embed his creation into the group. He took advantage of the original Dale-Man's arrogance to get several villains into the group. While Dale-Man's disappearance wasn't his doing, Tenebrion used it to put his plans into motion. He would have a team the public sees as heroes under his control. He just had to take out those who did not share his goals.
Defeated, Macintyre used his last bit of strength to shoot grenades at the group of villains. Dale-Man responded by pushing Tommy Five in front of the grenades to block them, letting him die in the explosion. Dale-Man declared that he found Tommy Five to be pretty useless. Macintyre had no strength left, and could only lie there as Dr. Braininajar's robots ripped his spider backpack off of him, leaving him to bleed out and die.
Dr. Braininajar found Full Shell was still alive, and attached Macintyre's spider backpack to replace his shell. He fried Full Shell's brain, and used a computer to turn him into a drone for his ends. He named his creation Spider-Turtle, the newest member of Dale-Man Inc.
The Brightest Night
The public was told Dale-Man Inc was attacked by the villain Tenebrion, who took sole credit for killing the heroes. The group enjoyed an outpouring of public support. The mega-corporation WalkerCorp agreed to finance the group's operations. The mayor of Paragon City announced Dale-Man Inc Day in honor of the fallen members of the group. Dale-Man announced that they would rebuild the group and serve the citizens once more and bring the villain Tenebrion to justice. From outside it appeared Dale-Man Inc was set up to become triumphant over the villains. Of course, they had secretly become a villain group, and WalkerCorp was owned by Isaac Walker, who himself was secretly Tenebrion.
More "heroes" joined the group. There was The Thivering Thief, a criminal named Robbie Bellows who joined with a warshade. There was also Metal Slicer, a ninja who had his eye scratched by a rat, so he outfitted himself with blades sharp enough to cut through metal. They also recruited Dale-Man's old foe Sammy Sapper. He no longer had access to his sapper equipment, but he did utilize other weaponry to accomplish his goals. He went by the name Sam Lashley, the name his Praetorian counterpart had used. Filling out the team is an alternate universe version of Statesman on loan from Arachnos. This out of shape Big Statesman is loyal to Lord Recluse because Recluse sponsors his Fortnite stream.
With a supergroup in his pocket, a powerful villain identity, and a major corporation he controlled, Tenebrion manipulated world conflicts to benefit his public identity, Isaac Walker. It reached the point where Isaac Walker was made a special adviser to the President of the United States. He ruled the world not by being the head monarch of Earth, but by exerting control over everyone in power.
This was good enough for Dr. Braininajar to feel that he had accomplished his goal of world domination, so he retired to working on machines. He still sends Spider-Turtle out on missions. Makino was satisfied that he had elevated his status above a Patron of Lord Recluse, which would have been his ceiling had he stayed with Arachnos. Dale-Man was bound by loyalty to Tenebrion. Thivering Thief delighted in robbing banks, though he avoided those owned by WalkerCorp. Metal Slicer was happy he got to slice and dice people without consequence. Big Statesman is pretty clueless about everything, he just plays videogames. He is kept around because having a Statesman in the group is good PR.
From out of the Fog
For reasons that are not perfectly clear, the Dream Doctor opened access to the Labyrinth of Fog. No one expected what happened next. When the door to the Labyrinth opened, out walked the original Dale-Man. To him he had been in there for one month, but to the outside world it had been 7 years.
His return caught the members of Dale-Man Inc off guard. They played nice welcoming him into their base. Dr. Braininajar offered to do a bio scan, and Dale-Man obliged. With the villainous members present he was put into a pod his fellow members claimed would scan him. Instead, it was designed to contain a being using the power of Mu. Knowing this was the source of Dale-Man's power, the false Dale-Man laughed at him, declaring that he was trapped and revealing that they were actually villains. He explained that they were working with Tenebrion and that he would meet the same fate as the other members. Dale-Man then let out an energy pulse that broke through the containment unit and knocked down the villains around him. This power clearly wasn't of Mu origin. Knowing he was outnumbered, Dale-Man escaped flying off without the use of a jetpack. It seems his powers had changed from his time in the Labyrinth of Fog.
Dale-Man vs Dale-Man Inc
Coming Soon
