In the fall of 1993, Rex Robinson was visiting an old friend for the last time and he was well aware that this would be their final meeting. He parked his most nondescript car in the quiet affluent area and wore a simple black coat with a plaid shirt and khakis in hopes of not being recognized. It helped that his trademark smile wasn’t present. The dry, golden leaves crunched under his feet as he made his way across the yard and past the cars parked up and down the street. After a polite knock at the door, an elderly woman answered. She appeared to have been crying but her face brightened up a bit when she saw him, “Rex”. His trademark smile briefly returned as he wrapped his muscular arms around her, “You look as beautiful as ever, Gertie.” She gave him a bittersweet smile once they ended the embrace and motioned down the hall, “He’s up the stairs. Last door.” Rex gave her another brief smile and made his way through the small hallway and into a living room which was filled with people of various ages. He politely nodded at those he recognized, then moved across the room and up the stairs.

Moments later, he entered a bedroom where an elderly man rested, his small, frail body betraying the muscular physique it once was. The man was once known as Sgt. Stripes and General Taggart after that. At the moment, Dan Taggart was hooked up to a series of monitors and IVs in his bedroom as well as a breathing mask. He had stage 4 lung cancer and there was little else to do besides make him comfortable in his final days. He opened his eyes, his patient monitor making a steady sound to show his heart was still pumping. He smiled weakly, “Rex,… Once again, I’m the most handsome guy in the room.” Rex chuckled and laid a tender hand on his, “It’s a reality I’ve come to accept, old chum,” he sat on the edge of the bed, “Are you comfortable?”

“About as comfortable as I can be,” he motioned toward the photo on the nightstand, “Pass me that picture, will ya?”

Rex picked up the frame, noticing it was an old photo of the Allied Front: Rex Robinson, Sgt. Stripes, Femme Phantom and the original Cavalier. Rex held the picture closer and Dan poked a finger at the Cavalier, “Reggie… I miss the hell outta that guy.”

“Me too,” Rex agreed.

“How’s that new guy? What is he… the third one?”

“Yes, Cavalier number three. He was a bit wet behind the ears but he’s a fighter. They always are,” he pointed at the Femme Phantom, “Have you seen Lizzie yet?”

“Yeah, she came by a few nights ago… when no one was around… You know how she is nowadays.”

“Yes,” Rex said sadly and put the photo back on the nightstand, “Dan, I wanted to say I’m sorry about the last time we spoke.”

He raised a hand, “Water under the bridge… I wanna remember the good times… leave the Gulf of Tonkin mess behind us.”

Rex was silent for a moment but decided to move past it as instructed, “Very well, what do you want to talk about then?”

“I dunno…,” Dan rested his head against his pillow, “Tell me your origin story again… it was always a good one.”

“So be it,” Rex say back with a nostalgic smile, “I was born in 1917 to Polish immigrants. Our surname was Rabinowitz but, when coming to the states, Robinson was chosen as it sounded less ‘ethnic’. My parents named me Rex because they wanted me to grow up like royalty in America. That was the dream, if you recall.”

“It’s why I wore the flag into battle,” a sad smile spread across Dan’s face.

“You sure did… At any rate, I was good at school. My parents weren’t wealthy enough to get me into a university but my grades got me a scholarship. I studied archeology at Stanford and interned with famed archeologist Professor Jeffery Navarro. He took me on a trip to West Africa to explore some ancient ruins that had hardly been touched for centuries. Once there, we began hearing rumors of a shaman who created the secret of unlocking man’s true potential: living longer, being stronger, smarter, the works. Supposedly, the shaman was over two hundred years old and was the only man who knew how to create this secret potion. The Professor was skeptical, of course, and we continued on our way. As fate would have it, we eventually bumped into Professor Navarro’s rival, Dr. Samuel Fahey.

“To say Fahey was eccentric would be an understatement. He was always looking for items of power and he wasn’t afraid to go to extreme means to do so. The Professor and I suspected he might be after the shaman, so we followed him since, whether the old man was lying or not, he was still in danger. Fortunately, we made our way to the shaman first. He was old and decrepit but boasted that he once possessed great strength. He showed us an old bottle containing the only completed version of what he called the Eternal Formula. He showed us things he built in his home that would have been impossible for the average man, which clued us in that his potion was more than local legend. Fahey and his men showed up, of course, demanding the old man give them the Formula. The old shaman was killed in the scuffle but the Professor and I escaped with the Formula and hid.

“The Professor knew Fahey and his men would find us at any minute and not only kill us but keep the Formula for himself. He convinced me to take the Formula as I was younger and healthier; the idea being the added boost in abilities would allow me to fight them off. So… it was down the hatch. I instantly became stronger, faster and even smarter than I had ever been. I took down Fahey and his goons and went on to continue fighting crime. The rest is history.”

“Always a good one…,” Dan said quietly, “How about another? Tell me… about your greatest victory.”

“Hmm,” Rex rubbed his chin, “My final fight with the Nirvana Man, perhaps?”

“No,… Not that one. I wanna hear… about the Invasion of 1981.”

“You were around for that.”

“Only as an old man who had retired from the Fight a long time ago… Besides… at that point, I had stopped talking to you after that whole Vietnam business… I never got your side of things.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Rex said with a comforting smile.

“Bullshit… I’m on my deathbed here… so let’s hear it.”

“Sure,” Rex nodded, “I think it was `78 when I was first contacted by the U’ntari. I had built an interstellar beacon in hopes of establishing contact with beings from another world and I was successful on that end,” Rex paused, “I communicated with them and invited them to Earth because I felt that technologically advanced beings would have to be more peaceful than humans. On that end… I was wrong.”

“No one… blames you for them coming… to Earth. They always… celebrate you kicking their asses.”

Rex bowed his head, “You’re right but it hasn’t made it any easier. I didn’t talk to anyone right away as I wanted to discern if they were real and, if so, if would humanity be kind to them. So after making contact, they sent information to me: their weapons, their biology and their main power source which, as we all know, was Neutronium. They did not do this as ambassadors but rather, as an ultimatum. As they felt we were inferior, they wanted to let the smartest monkey in the zoo know they were outmatched, that we would have no choice but to surrender our planet so that they could expand their empire to our galaxy as that would be the natural order of things. They had ships just outside our orbit and gave us a week to comply with their demands or face annihilation.

“I warned every government on the planet, then went to work. As you know, this was at a time when the USSR and our boys were on the brink of a nuclear war, but I still saw fit to warn the Kremlin as this would be their fight just as much as ours. I had intel on the U’ntari and understood their technology and biology in ways few people on Earth possibly could. They underestimated my intelligence and thought humanity’s natural state would be compliant as they couldn’t fathom an inferior race going to war against a superior one. I used that to my advantage. I noticed their ships ran on a certain mainframe, powered by a satellite they brought with them. Once I was ready, I told them that I would be surrendering the planet to their rule and that, naturally, was a ruse,” Rex paused, “I’m not proud of it to be honest.”

Dan smiled, “Rex the golden boy… never wanted to tell a lie… even when it meant saving the world.”

Rex nodded, “I don’t…,” he stopped himself and started again as he continued the story, “They brought their ships in, hovering over just about every major capital: Washington, Beijing, London… everywhere. That’s when I unleashed the computer virus, sabotaging their ships to malfunction. Luckily, none of their super soldiers were strong enough to survive the massive explosions and crashes that followed.”

“And the best part…,” Dan added, “The world… scooped up what was left… and used the technology to create… a new world.”

“Yes, we found that the U’ntari used Neutronium to create super soldiers and do things we could only dream of,” Rex’s optimism seemingly slipped, “Now, underground criminal organizations perform Neutronium experiments on innocent people, weapons manufacturers have increased productivity and the world seems to have forgotten the lessons it learned when, for one day, we gathered together and celebrated our humanity.”

“Don’t beat yourself up… The Soviets lost because of what the US… could do with… alien tech. Didn’t you say… you predicted the collapse of the USSR in 1991? We… did it ten years earlier… thanks to you,” Dan coughed a bit and the slow smile returned, “Rex Robinson… can always be counted on… to do the right thing at the right time.”

“If only that were true,” Rex’s smile was more bittersweet.

Dan became more serious, “You were right… about the Gulf of Tonkin.”

Rex paused again, “Well, perhaps I had the more ethical stance but the words I said to you were out of line.”

“They called you… The Hero of Humanity.”

Rex chuckled, “I’ll confess something to you. I never liked those old movie serials and radio programs. It’s not that I had anything against the actors who played me and I could excuse the silly plots. I detested them since day one because it was the first indication that people looked up to me as something larger than I was. Silly as they were, they presented me as a figure sitting atop Mount Olympus. I wish I could be that man that always knew just what to do in any given situation and God knows I’ve always tried but there’s always a part of me that knows the truth. That truth is -“

Rex’s sentence was cut off by the sound of the monitor flatlining. He didn’t panic or call for anyone as there was nothing to be done; Dan had passed with his eyes closed and a warm smile on his face. Rex reached over and turned the monitor off, then he sat quietly on the bed. A single tear fell across his cheek and he quickly wiped it away, then stood up and left the room to inform Dan’s loved ones of his passing. And while he was physically present, his mind was elsewhere.

Rex understood the Invasion of 1981 in a way that few did. It was in humanity’s nature to not think about a potential threat that wasn’t present. As the saying went: out of sight, out of mind. To most, the invasion began and ended in 1981. Rex knew that the U’ntari would retaliate and warned the media multiple times in the past but it was largely ignored as people focused on more current situations. As the alien invasion became a distant memory, he knew the first conflict was only a skirmish, the first volley in what would be a long interstellar war.

The Earth now had Neutronium. Metahuman champions could be created. Weapons and technology had advanced by several decades, seemingly overnight. For better or worse, the Invasion of 1981 was preparation for a much larger and more deadly resurgence. Going by his understanding of U’ntari ships, it would’ve taken a little over 40 years for them to return to Earth and as it was the year 1993, they would likely be halfway there. He only had 20 years left and the clock was ticking. Rex already had plans in motion and would spend the next several years silently preparing a small army, even if they didn’t realize it. He mentored Ryan Bennings, founded the IMD, encouraged the remaining Cavaliers and otherwise acted as an inspiration for the superhero community, ensuring there would be soldiers to protect Earth when the inevitable happened. He hated the ruse. There was much that he hated regarding his handling of the U’ntari but it was necessary for survival. No one needed to know. They were all counting on him. This time, U’tari fleets would be larger and their super soldiers, more powerful. There would also be less chance of them underestimating humanity. They were coming and would likely not be interested in taking over the planet but rather, taking revenge and he was the only one that understood that.

20 years after the death of Sgt. Stripes, Rex’s theory was proven correct.

The U’ntari returned.