From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Overview

The Sadistic Seven was a loose alliance between seven villains from the Rogue Isles who joined forces to bring destruction and malice to the heroes and people of Paragon City, usually through organized, systematic assaults with the help of hundreds of villains from the Rogue Isles.

These assaults started as very gimmicky and over the top, but as they progressed became more and more serious, becoming greater threats to Paragon City and the world at large. The greatest threats to the world were the Seven's attempt to change the future, and a later plan by one of the group's members to steal a nuclear weapon and drop it on Paragon City.

Many heroes in Paragon pledged that they would stop the Seven wherever they popped up, to keep them from succeeding in one of their nefarious plots and preventing more loss of life.

The group disbanded in July 2007 after the group broke into factions and staged a civil war in Warburg.

History

The Sadistic Seven was set up by Mr. Mud, a villain from Kings Row who had previously only been interested in monetary gain. He and his partner in crime and teammate from the group known as Rogues Gallery, Mindswipe, went about recruiting membership for this team in November 2006, just a month before their first assault on Paragon City.

Their recruiting began with close allies. Emperor Xanatos, a close ally of the Rogues Gallery was their first port of call and joined instantly with the promise of the destruction of Paragon and his adversary Xanatos. Next, Kyrogentic was approached, who joined the plot simply for the promise of being able to cause a large amount of destruction and Mayhem.

Jumproot and Penitente, servants of Mother Nature and Jack Frost came next. They agreed to join the plot, both for the promise of payment and because for Jumproot, she could destroy another section of urban society, and for Penitente, she could further the agenda of her perceived master, Jack Frost.

Finally, the group approached the mystery man and mastermind supercriminal known as Ordre. For unknown reasons he joined the group, likely for the chance to make a bid for power, but this cannot be determined due to Ordre's shady past and unpredictable nature.

Soon after, Longbow sent a spy, Captain Riggs, disguised as a supervillain named 'Handgun' to the Rogue Isles. He pretended to be a villain interested in pledging his name to the Seven's cause and fighting by their side at whatever assault they had planned. He took notes, keeping them on his computer for sending back to Longbow HQ in future. However before he could send his many notes, videos and surveillance photographs back to Paragon City, he was caught by the Seven and forced to run.

Riggs made one desperate transmission to Paragon, warning Longbow and the city's heroes that the Seven planned to make an assault on the City itself during the Christmas holidays, with a view to bursting through the Siren's Call gates and into Paragon itself. He signed off with a message that lead many to believe he had died.

On the 28th December, 2006, the Seven made their first assault. Wearing Black Santa Claus suits both to cruelly mock the holidays and to disguise their appearances as to stop heroes from prioritizing targets, they attacked Siren's Call, besieging the gates into Paragon City for several hours until they were eventually driven back by Paragon's heroes. A small group did manage to break through into Paragon City and fought with the Freedom Phalanx, but none of the Seven were among their number; they were still fighting at the main gates into the city. Eventually, all of the villain forces were dispersed and forced to fall back to the Rogue Isles.

Over the next few months, the Seven licked their wounds and planned for their next assault. Meanwhile, Riggs, who had miraculously survived the death squads who had been combing Grandville for his presence, kept his ear to the ground, trying to discover their next plot. He was caught doing so, taken to the Seven's HQ and locked away in a cell. Still, he listened, piecing together what snippets of information he heard here and there from outside his prison cell, until he worked out their next plot. One night he awoke to find the door to his cell open and his binds cut. Who had freed him was a mystery, but he escaped into the night regardless.

Riggs made a final transmission in February 2006, warning Longbow and the Heroes of Paragon City that the Seven planned to make their next assault on Paragon City on Valentine's Day. He warned them that if they waited until the villains made their assault to fight back, they would lose, as the villains were planning to harvest an entire army of Shivans and drive the alien menace forward into the city. Instead, he urged the heroes to head to Bloody Bay on the 12th for a preemptive strike, to attack the villains as they harvested their forces.

The Seven set out on the 12th with a group of villains and began to harvest their Shivans. Not soon after, the forces of good and virtue landed on the scene. An epic battle ensued, with Shivans working for both sides in the conflict. At one point it looked as if the heroes may be beaten, besieged inside their base, but after calling for back up they managed to push back, halting the harvesting and forcing the villains back out into the greater Rogue Isles. The harvesting never took place and as a result their attack on Paragon City never materialized.

After this, the Seven stepped up their plans. They cooked up a plot to use Recluse's Victory, a very unstable spot in the future, to anchor a possible future and bring it into being. It has never been revealed what future they sought to ensure, but they have stated that it is a future in which neither Lord Recluse or superheroes exist, following a purge of all superhumans and their 'leader' being instated as President of the United States.

Due to Ordre having his own agenda for domination, he was infuriated with this decision and left the group, unwilling to see any future in which he was a subordinate come to pass. With his exit, the group scouted for another member, but instead a new seventh member came to them. An Arachnos operative named Operative Avulse, this villainous vampire was more than willing to help create a future in which his oppressive employer, Lord Recluse, no longer existed and he could seize some power of his own.

Over the next few weeks they made their preparations, stealing time traveling suits from Aeon Corp that would allow them to jump into Recluse's Victory without having to use Arachnos' portals. With equipment stolen from an abandoned warehouse close to the PTS that would allow them to use Recluse's Victory as an anchor and switch the entire dimensional pocket to another timeline, they were prepared for their assault.

However, somewhere in the cosmos, the interstellar omnipotent being known as Century awoke. One of the protectors of the universe, Century is charged with the protection of time, making sure it stays linear and that the future is not distorted. Although he was not able to halt the Seven's plot himself, he sprang to action, appearing in the thoughts of every hero in Paragon City. He warned them that there was great danger to their time stream, and if they did not stop the Seven, their timeline would be utterly destroyed.

The heroes clashed with the Seven in Recluse's Victory, but could not find the equipment they were using to alter Recluse's Victory's place in time and space. Just as zero hour arrived, and the Seven thought that they may have succeeded in solidifying this possible future, the futuristic being known as Professor Echo ported into City Hall where their equipment was being held, and began to rip wires out of the machine the seven had set up, yelling something about not letting anybody mess up the time stream more than he'd messed it up himself. The machine short circuited and Echo disappeared.

Having failed again, the Seven retreated back into the Rogue Isles to fight another day, but tensions rose, and cracks began forming in the group. Operative Avulse swiftly departed, and Ordre was invited to rejoin just in time to push his own agenda on the rest of the Seven. Soon, Emperor Xanatos became obsessed with compensating for the group's inaction, as did Ordre. Plans were laid down by the two to put a real plot into action, with or without the help of the other five. Emperor Xanatos and his faction were determined to hijack the nuclear weapon stored in Warburg and drop it on Atlas Park; Ordre and his cronies had plans to meet with Marshall Blitz to push another attack into Paragon City, this one with the full support of Blitz and his Rogue Arachnos faction.

Mr. Mud and Mindswipe, knowing that their previous efforts had been monetarily motivated and designed to fail, were not enthralled with the idea of mass murder or with a bloodthirsty full frontal assault. They made a transmission, sending it to several Hero Corps, Longbow and Supergroup communications computers around Paragon City. This transmission warned of the latest threat against Paragon.

On July 22nd, 2007, a hundred heroes and villains arrived in Warburg, all backing different factions. Emperor Xanatos was not seen for the entirety of the battle, as he was struggling underground with the Peacekeepers for control of the Warburg scientists who could help him launch the weapon. Kryogentic, Emperor Xanatos' henchman, was above ground fighting with the forces behind Mud and Mindswipe, taunting them with how 'fun' she thought it would be to see a nuclear explosion in Paragon City. Ordre pushed his forces forward, trying to get to the stronghold where he could meet with Marshall Blitz, but was beaten back by The Frontline. Penitente arrived in the final hours of the battle with seemingly no other purpose than to follow the orders of Jack Frost; she attacked everybody in sight.

There were many skirmishes which were perhaps counter productive to the battle for the Warburg rocket. Many heroes accidentally shot down allies in friendly fire, and The Frontline actively sought out Mr. Mud and Mindswipe to settle scores and vice versa. In the final moments of the battle, Mr. Mud and Mindswipe led a full frontal assault on Ordre and Kryogentic and, with the help of the legions of heroes who had arrived in Warburg, pushed back the villainous forces who retreated to the Rogue Isles.

Ordre, however, was determined to fight on, and fell in battle during his last stand. The general consensus is that he is now deceased, although it is not currently clear who is in possession of his body nor who struck the killing blow.

The Seven have since disbanded for good. Mr. Mud and Mindswipe have returned to their usual ways, having revealed that the Sadistic Seven plots were all designed to fail from the outset, and they were simply being paid to orchestrate them by a higher power. Emperor Xanatos has gone underground, and has not been seen since. Kryogentic has returned to her mischievous ways and continues to be a thorn in Paragon's side. Penitente and Jumproot have gone back to furthering the agendas of Jack Frost and Mother Nature respectively.

Animosity is still held between some members of the group. Kryogentic still resents Mr. Mud and Mindswipe for preventing the nuclear plot, and Emperor Xanatos has since cut all ties with the Rogues. The Seven, while once a great threat against Paragon City, are no more.

Membership

The core membership of the Sadistic Seven consisted of the following eight villains. Operative Avulse only became a member for the attack on Recluse's Victory; Ordre rejoined the group sometime before the group broke into factions and the brawl in Warburg.

• Mr. Mud - Street criminal who was only involved for the money he was given for his involvement by a higher power.
• Mindswipe - Asked to join by Mr. Mud, Mindswipe's motives for joining the group were revealed to be identical to Mr. Mud's.
• Emperor Xanatos - Evil counterpart to the hero Xanatos, the Emperor joined the group to further his own evil plans. It is unknown at present what his true motives are, but he opted to try and destroy Paragon in the final battle.
• Kyrogentic - Joined the group simply because she was told there would be destruction and mayhem involved.
• Jumproot - Jumproot holds animosity towards most of the world for their crimes against nature; joined the plot to attack the urban Paragon City, but became disinterested as the plots became more and more eccentric.
• Penitente - A close ally of Jumproot, Penitente felt that her involvement would further the agenda of Jack Frost.
• Ordre - Ordre was a mystery, both as a man and as a member of the group. He parted ways with the rest of the Seven before the attack on Recluse's Victory, but rejoined shortly before the group split into factions. Ordre fell in battle and died during the battle in Warburg.
• Operative Avulse - Ordre's replacement in the group for the assault on Recluse's Victory.

Allies

The Sadistic Seven had the help of many of the Rogue Isles' most infamous and deadly groups at their side.

• Rogues Gallery - The group of three of the two main ex-conspirators in the Seven, Mr. Mud and Mindswipe.
• The X-Patriots - The greatest supporters of the Seven's efforts, this group lead by Nimrod attended and fought beside the Seven at every assault, often making up much of the Frontline of troops, fighting mercilessly so that the Sadistic Seven may achieve their goals.
• Malice in Wonderland - The assaults were always attended by two of this group's most prolific members, Bloodywedd and Slaphappy. Slaphappy became something of a trademark of these attacks, screaming his insane and often nonsensical battle cries at random times, serving to put off and de-moralise the heroes.
• The Rogue Knights - The Rogue Knights' leader, Lord Grae was known to lead the defensive forces, charged with protecting the Seven.
• The Corruptors of Paragon - The leader of the Corruptors, Lord Paragon, was at least once been charged with the duty of fighting off any heroes who may hinder the Seven's plans.
• Forces of Evil - Allies of Rogues Gallery, the Forces of Evil were constant members of the Seven's forces.
• Ars Nemesis - Constant supporters of the Seven during their time in action.

Assaults

The Sadistic Seven conducted four assaults on Paragon City during the few months in which they were active.

Dreaming of a Black Christmas

This first attack was the Seven's first attempt at an assault on the City, and was conducted on the 28th of December, 2006. Their plan was simple; dressed in Black Santa Claus suits, both designed to be a mockery of the Christmas holiday and to disguise their appearance as to not allow heroes to prioritize targets during the inevitable battle that would follow, the Seven and their army would attempt to storm the gate into Paragon City in Siren's Call, enacting all kinds of destruction and mayhem once they were inside.

The plan was reported to the Paragon City authorities, Longbow and the city's heroes by Captain Riggs, a member of Longbow who had been sent to the Rogue Isles undercover as the villain 'Jumpsuit'. He was uncovered just days before the assault, but was able to send a transmission warning the city before his recapture at the hands of the Seven's lackeys.

The Seven were eventually beaten back by the heroes at this assault and forced to retreat, despite the fact that a small group managed to enter Paragon City and fought the Freedom Phalanx to a stand still.

While the attack was threatening enough to cause almost all of Paragon's heroes to come to Siren's Call, the plot has been marked a failure due to the fact that eventually the villains were unable to hold out and were forced to retreat to the Isles.

My Bloody Valentine

The second assault by the Sadistic Seven, planned for Valentine's Day 2007, revolved around them harvesting an army of alien Shivans and marching them into Paragon City for all out destruction and mayhem. However, Riggs once again came through and warned the heroes of Paragon City of the impending attack, but this time charged them with stopping the threat before it even happened, rather than waiting for the assault itself.

The heroes headed to Bloody Bay on the 12th of February and fought with the villains who were busy harvesting Shivans for their attack. For a start it looked as if the villains may win, as they had charged Lord Grae and Lord Paragon with leading teams to prevent hero interference. However, eventually the villains were beaten back and besieged in their base, and were unable to finish the harvesting, meaning that their armies would not be strong enough for an attack on Paragon.

This assault was a marked success for the heroes, as they managed to stop it before it even happened. However, they lost one of their own in the process. Captain Riggs was eventually caught, and killed by Emperor Xanatos. His corpse was dropped from an Arachnos Flier and landed in the fountain in Founder's Falls.

The Future Is Ours

Tired of being beaten in their standard attacks, The Seven decided to try a different tactic. This time, they would try and change the future, rather than attacking Paragon in the present. The future they wished to see come to pass is actually in some question, although it can be pieced together from what information they let slip during the battle that the future they were fighting for was one without Lord Recluse and Arachnos, and more importantly one without heroes. It was a world in which superheroes had been purged and their 'leader' was in a position of great power. Exactly who this leader is is a matter of great debate. They gathered the materials they needed; Chronal armor so that they could jump in and out of Recluse's Victory without using Arachnos portals, anchors to attach to each of the pillboxes, and a central machine which would shift the zone several time lines to the future they wished to see come to pass, and solidify it.

The heroes of Paragon were alerted to the plot by Century, an interstellar omnipotent being who is charged with the protection of linear time. He appeared in the thoughts of every hero and warned them that they must stop the plot. Heroes did indeed arrive in Recluse's Victory and fight the armies of the Seven, some of them going so far as to form the 'Eidolon Eight', a group completely dedicated to stopping the Seven from messing with time, led by the time traveling hero Graphite. However, they were unable to stop the threat, which was only put to a halt when Professor Echo appeared in City Hall where the main equipment was being stored, and started to rip wires out of the stolen temporal machinery, shouting about saving the world.

The Seven failed again, and were forced back into the present where cracks are now appearing in the group and animosity grows between some members.

Divided We Brawl

This was less of an assault and more of a civil war. After Emperor Xanatos became obsessed with the idea of stealing the Warburg Nuke and dropping it on Paragon City, the group broke into three factions; those following Emperor Xanatos, a group under Ordre who planned to gather the forces of Marshall Blitz and his Rogue Arachnos faction for another attack on Paragon City, and Mr. Mud and Mindswipe who opposed both of them and sought to gain the allegiance of the heroes of Paragon City in order to stop them.

The Civil War took place on July 22nd and was all out chaos. Heroes fought heroes in the confusion, just as villains fought villains. Mr. Mud and Mindswipe found the allegiance of Pit Dragon, Bloodywedd, Certifiable and Nuclear Dragon for their main team, as well as fighting alongside (and against) various hero groups including The Frontline during the battle.

Eventually, Emperor Xanatos' forces were pushed back into the Rogue Isles, and Ordre's forces were beaten back to the edge of Warburg where they too were forced to retreat after Ordre was killed. Upon arriving back in the Rogue Isles all of the group went their own ways and back to their personal agendas. The Sadistic Seven were no more.

Adversaries

• Luficia - A constant thorn in the side of the Sadistic Seven, Luficia turned up to every single assault and fought back, very often being the most vocal member of the heroic resistance, cheering on the forces of Virtue and light with her favorite catchphrase, 'Never give up.'
• Dragonberry - As with Luficia, Dragonberry attended every assault and fought feverishly against the Seven. However unlike Luficia she saw the fights as a game, and enjoyed rallies back and forth with villains such as Bloodywedd and Mr. Mud.

• Graphite - The leader of the so called The Eidolon Eight:, Graphite set up a coalition of heroes to prevent the Seven from playing God with the future. This coalition turned into The Frontline, and continues to be a great threat to villainy despite the break up of the Seven.
• Capt. Starfall - One of the leaders of The Peacekeepers, Capt. Starfall and the Peackeepers were a major adversary of the Sadistic Seven.
• The Havok Brothers - The most pro-active of the heroic resistance, the Havok Brothers managed to create quite a rivalry with the Seven, managing to attract the attention of Mr. Mud and Mindswipe in particular, who are determined to teach them a lesson to this day, even after the Seven's demise. The Havok Brothers organized a Counter-Attack on the Rogue Isles in late April.
• Xanatos - Due to the involvement of his nemesis Emperor Xanatos and his love of Paragon City, Xanatos joined the fight to stop the Seven wherever they appeared, and pledged in public to the people of Paragon City that he would not let this group cause them or their city any pain. Hearing his leader's words, Bayne became involved in the effort to stop the Seven and attended the Havok Brothers' Counter-Attack.
• The Frontline - This new supergroup, put together by the infamous Havok Brothers, was set up following their Counter-Attack with a pro-active mission directly influenced by the Sadistic Seven assaults. The Frontline plan to take the fight to the Rogue Isles, striking the villains before they can strike Paragon City.

Conspiracy Theories

Due to the fact that Mr. Mud and Mindswipe being in this group was completely out of character, especially when considering their materialistic criminal aims, some have raised concern about their involvement in these plots. It has been theorized by many criminal psychologists that the only way career criminals such as Mr. Mud and Mindswipe would become involved in such malicious attacks would be if there were a greater hand pulling the strings and paying them as front men.

Some have speculated that it could have been Lord Recluse or Nemesis, using the plots for some sinister reason. Others have suggested that it may have been a sleeper agent in Paragon, using the Sadistic Seven for his greater goals before revealing his true self. Either way, the majority of heroes and experts on criminal activity in Paragon City seem to believe that Mr. Mud and Mindswipe would not orchestrate such attacks unless they were being paid or had some grander reason.

Some have even speculated that the attacks may even have been designed to fail. For example, at the first assault a group of villains found a way into Paragon City through a hole in the Siren's Call war walls. They went through and faced the Freedom Phalanx, but an unknown villain who was close by and had also noticed the gap, did not, and went so far as to seal the hole himself so that no more villains could spill through. Secondly, Captain Riggs stated in his second message that someone cut his binds and set him free from the Seven's cells. Who could have let him escape? Longbow had no other operatives working undercover in that part of Grandville. And thirdly, members of the Seven had been known to call the order to retreat a while before it is probably necessary.

Finally, there were a string of strange occurrences during the attacks. During the first assault in December, several heroes, Longbow agents and family members of various city officials disappeared, but this was lost in the news due to the massive media hype around the attacks in Siren's Call. During the second assault, the vigilante 'Charon' completely disappeared from Paragon City, and nobody has seen or heard from him since. While Charon has frequently disappeared from the public eye, there have usually been stories from the street of people who have seen him; this time he seems to have completely disappeared.

In a transmission warning the heroes of Paragon about the fourth attack that took place in July 2007, Mr. Mud and Mindswipe admitted that they had been paid to set up the attacks and that indeed they had been intended to fail. As yet, they have not revealed who paid them to set up these doomed assaults and do not seem awfully forthcoming on the matter. However this has proved right many who had conspiracy theories in regards to the attacks; they were truly designed to fail and a greater hand truly was pulling the strings all along.

The only question that remains to be answered is who?