Major Story Arcs

Lawrence Hayes is an alderman in Chicago in the 1960s. He has a wife, Margaret, and a son, Billy.

One morning while eating breakfast, he is kidnapped in front of his family by the super-powered villain, Doppler, who is working for mobster Camden Stone, who in turn has agreed to have his supervillains run amok in Chicago to help C.O.W.L. leader Geoffrey Warner prove that C.O.W.L. still needs to exist to protect the city from supervillains. C.O.W.L. is on strike against the city to get a new contract.

After the kidnapping, the city puts pressure on the superhero union to stop its strike and rescue Hayes, but Warner (according to his plan) won't do it, saying this is why they need to give C.O.W.L. a new contract.

Hayes begs his kidnapper for his freedom to no avail.

The pressure on the city is working. The FBI starts to ask Mayor Daley to give in, and he does try to give Warner a version of the contract they agreed to before, but now Warner ups the ante and asks for more, but the mayor won't go that far.

However, while Warner thinks he's got plenty of room to negotiate because the alderman is safe, Doppler is actually getting unhinged, and things look bad for Hayes, who fears for his life.

Luckily, the hero Radia, who is fed up with Warner's control of C.O.W.L., decides to act on her own. She tracks Doppler down and takes him out, saving Hayes and proving her worth to herself and to the male-dominated union in the process.