Century Pact

The Century Pact was a conspiracy created by Darkheart and Steelwind, former lieutenants of DeFacto V, after his defeat. They were the main focus of the Century Pact storyline that ran from issue #73 to issue #84 of Dvandom Force, with their plans branching into several other LNH series.

Without their creator's vast power, Darkheart and Steelwind had to result to cleverness and subterfuge, and so they began a long-term plan to build a secret criminal organization and damage the credibility of the world's net.heroes, ensuring they would rule the world by the end of the century.

Using leftover RoboMACs technology, they created various technologically-enhanced pawns, including the Meow Meow Gang and Mandrake. Breaking Coppermane out of jail, they cybernetically enhanced him and he became effectively the third member of the Pact's triumvirate. Together, they attacked Dvandom Force by sending mechanoid rabbits that ate their original headquarters and caused the Origin of the second Acton Lord.

At the same time, they used various methods to seed the idea of an utopian world without net.heroes in the popular consciousness, from political speeches from a disguised Darkheart to dream manipulation by Mark Dante. They planted operatives throughout Sig.ago, from a Constellation Gang-run trucking company to the police department – but were themselves infiltrated by Shane Boxer.

Through their many scattered political front groups, they stirred up anti-net.hero sentiment to the point where a Federal Net.Hero Regulation Act reached the Senate. Many states and local municipalities passed anti-net.hero laws, such as Onyx City and Macroman's former hometown of Keystroke City.

By then, Shane Boxer had tipped off Dvandom Force as to the Pact's true nature. But because they were so good at keeping their operations underground and working through legal channels, they posed a serious challenge that Dvandom Force couldn't defeat through normal net.heroic means. It was Kid Pocky who defeated their plan in the end, by (re-)assuming the identity of the original Acton Lord and falsely claiming credit for it, making it seem like an evil conspiracy (which, of course, it was). This led to the Pact's collapse and the repealing of many (though not all) of the anti-net.hero ordinances. Dvandom Force then went on to take down Darkheart and Steelwind once and for all. Though loose ends they'd left behind, such as the Hackemon, would continue to trouble Dvandom Force, the Century Pact was truly dead.

But (based on Limbaugh Man's interview with a Lethal Lawyer in Dvandom Force Annual #2) not everyone was convinced by the effort to discredit the Pact, and others would exploit anti-net.hero sentiment more successfully later on...

Related Issues

• Main Storyline: Dvandom Force #73-84
• World Tales #13 (Coppermane vs the Queen Bee)
• Limp-Asparagus Lad #33
• Alt.Riders #
• Plotline Lad: The New Kid #5-6
• Epilogue: Dvandom Force #85-89, "Loose Ends"
• Epilogue to the epilogue: Dvandom Force Annual #2 (Limbaugh Man scene)