Story
Six months ago, Sabotage managed to fight his way into the depths of Maddicorp’s headquarters in the heart of Manhattan and confront his half-brother, Moses Maddigan. Their encounter was a brief and intense one, that ended with neither man able to best the other. Accompanying Sabotage were his friends Snow, Adamas, Bloodtide and Fray. At the urging of Snow, all of them but Fray fled the facility before they could be overtaken by The Collection Agency. Fray stayed behind to challenge Maddigan herself. In Maddigan’s weakened state, Fray was able to land a few solid blows, earning Maddigan’s respect as an opportunist and risk taker. He ordered The Collection Agency to leave her be, and she offered her services to him. He named her his new Vice President, and took her as a lover.
Maddigan’s close encounter with his half-brother only frustrated him and strengthened his resolve. Maddigan ordered his Collection Agency to exhaust all of their resources and use any means necessary to capture the escaped subjects, dead or alive. Taken aback by Maddigan’s excessively violent insinuations, Zenith renounced his leadership of the Agency and left, vowing to atone for the evils he’d already committed by helping to protect the escaped subjects. In his place, The Specialist rose to lead The Agency.
As Maddicorp’s methods became more destructive and deadly, Sabotage and his friends were forced to take a stand against them. In the midst of one encounter between Snow and Sabotage and The Agency, Snow was struck down by a blow to the head. While unconcious, a repressed memory was unearthed. Snow had actually been conscious and witnessed the slaughter of the Maddicorp scientists during The Kane Kelly Incident. Snow was so jarred by this traumatic memory that he telepathically called out to Kane. On the other side of the city, Kane recieved the message. He had been sitting, dormant, in an abandoned apartment, waiting for Snow to remember what he’d seen. When Kane realized that Snow had indeed remembered, he awoke.
Meanwhile, disgraced NYPD cop Detective Garret Laurel began to notice strange occurences of violence and property damage throughout the city. Despite Maddicorp’s best efforts to cover them up, Laurel became suspicious. His desire to topple Maddicorp was renewed, but he was unable to gain the support of his precinct. Laurel decided to investigate alone, and unwittingly threw himself into the middle of the battle between the subjects and Maddicorp.
Now, with the war between Maddicorp and the escaped subjects more intense than ever before, Kane returns to wreak havok on the city and destroy Snow and anyone he cares about. Why is Kane so obsessed with Snow? What is the origin of the mysterious ethereal entity that inhabits Kane’s body? Will the subjects and Maddicorp have to put their differences aside to stop the incredible destructive force known as Kane Kelly?
This is S.H.A.D.E.s of Manhattan 2.