They exist. They have existed as long as man himself has existed. In the beginning there was but one. The One walked the Earth for millennia before another was found. As the human population grew across the planet, so too did their numbers. But they were always a scant few compared to the numbers of ordinary humanity, a mere handful of sand on a stretch of beach.

It is believed that they were responsible for the pyramids of Giza, and Stonehenge, and Easter Island. The pantheons of the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Japanese, Egyptians, Noresemen, Aztecs, and others are testaments to their early presence. Their exploits are documented throughout history and legend including those of Hercules, Odysseus, Achilles, Merlin, Leonardo da Vinci, Sacagawea and Davy Crockett to name only a few.

The concept of the super-powered person didn’t really gain full open acceptance until the dawn of the modern age and with it modern sensibilities. Since roughly the end of World War Two they have been generally accepted for what they are and integrated into the modern zeitgeist. Several nations hold one or two or in very rare cases an entire squad of them acting in the interests of king and country.

Some of those gifted with unfathomable intelligence have developed next-level technologies in the fields of medicine, energy, and computers which have advanced quality of life for many. So, too, have these individuals stimulated the human drive to compete and innovate. Many of those not gifted have spent lifetimes in the pursuit of talents, skills, and athleticism in order to make themselves equal to the few who are.

There have always been villains among them who use their power for their own self-interests or to harm others for more power, money or sometimes just because they can. There have also been heroes, those who decide to use their gifts to serve and protect their fellow man. They do this because it’s right, or just, or fun, or sometimes just because they can. On occasion, they have formed teams in order to pool their abilities.

The New York Knights were a team of such heroes.

New York City had developed a reputation as a superhuman hot spot in the mid-twentieth century. Half a dozen supers had decided to make the City or part of it their theater of operations and there always seemed to be plenty of super-powered crooks, villains, and monsters to keep them busy. One particularly nasty threat unleashed by the would-be world dominating organization of evil VIPER was so dire that all six heroes were involved in the response. It took all of their combined power, might and ingenuity to put down the threat to the city.

After their hard fought victory, the group of heroes was reluctant to quickly dissolve their association. Having seen what was possible with the six of them working together they pledged themselves and their fortunes to each other and to the city. A facility was purchased within Manhattan to serve as their headquarters. Arrangements were made and a charter drawn up. The New York Knights were born.

Since that historic summer day in 1966 the New York Knights served their city and served it well. They built a reputation as the premier freelance superhero team in the world. The villains never stopped coming, but the Knights were always there to serve and protect their fellow New Yorkers from all manner of threats be they mutant or mad scientist or natural disaster.

Ties were formed with other groups and agencies on their side of the justice flowchart. The NYPD and the FBI each had their own direct line into Knights headquarters and it was rumored that the White House did too. The roster of the Knights stayed fairly constant with the odd coming or going among them. Over time heroes grew old and were replaced or retired. Some, like Mantis and Doctor Metropolis, never seemed to get any older or closer to retirement than the day they signed the founding charter although their gadgets and technology improved with the times.

New York, its citizens and first responders, its friends and guests, grew to trust and depend upon the Knights. They were the beacon of light and good in the darkness brought on by evil’s dark night. They were the reliable gold standard of superhuman heroes everywhere.

One January night in 1994 a frantic emergency call came in to Knights headquarters from the NYPD. A crazed rampaging behemoth looking as though it was part animal, part man, and part energy was tearing through Midtown during the commuter rush hour. The damage it was causing was extensive. Reports of terrified citizens running for their lives bled through the evening news. Clearly, this was a moment for the New York Knights.

Only the call was never answered. The Knights never showed. Eventually the military was called in to deal with the threat using their own special blend of finality, but not until much of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street had been reduced to rubble. The military’s response caused half of the damage and Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to call them in would cost him his position in the next election. The monster’s rampage cost two NYPD officers, one EMT and seven civilians their lives.

Nobody knows what happened. None of the calls to Knights HQ were returned or acknowledged. The facility itself, the famed Pier, had gone dark and was sealed up tight. The Knights themselves were never seen or heard from again.

Over time the question of “what happened to the New York Knights?” became something of a global mystery. There have been endless conspiracy theories, deductive hypothesis, documentaries and books dedicated to the subject. In the end, nobody really knows except perhaps the Knights themselves, assuming they are still alive somewhere, someplace.

Nearly eighteen years passed since the last sighting of the New York Knights. The Pier had sat snuggled up against the Hudson River for all that time, quiet and solemn as a cemetery. New York City had moved on.

The first reports that something was up came from drivers making their morning commute along the West Side Highway. The Pier was no longer visible. It wasn’t gone or vanished, but a huge three-story scaffolding had been built around the entire perimeter of the property and black tarps hung so as to prevent visibility. A giant cargo container ship was moored on the river that blocked sight lines from the water. Satellite images were being foiled by some kind of light atop the roof that turned the property into a giant white spot on any aerial or high-altitude photos.

Work crews began to come and go, entering and exiting a security checkpoint that had been established at the Pier’s main gate on the second day and whose security rivaled that of most nuclear missile silos. The local news ran wild with reports of mysterious activity at the Pier and these caught fire on the national cable news channels. For three months activity at the Pier continued twenty-four -seven.

There were no end of gawkers, spectators, media jockeys, and other interested parties in the huge crowds which had gathered outside the black iron fence which marked the property line. A tent city of the insatiably curious similar to the Occupy Wall Street movement encamped across the street in Clinton De Witt Park. The NYPD was called in to keep traffic flowing on the West Side Highway and along the sidewalks surrounding the facility.

Almost three months to the day the construction crews and the security guards left and the strange activity ceased The media representatives congregated at the benches on the edge of the park, binoculars strung across shoulders and cell phones charged and ready to call in the talking heads in their news vans and helicopters should something actually happen.

That something was about to happen.