Ernesto Hess Task Force

Overview

The MegaMech Cometh
Contact	Ernesto Hess
Zone	Striga Isle
Suggested Team Size	6 players
Coordinates	(-6555.5, 79, 283)
Level Range	25-30
Merits	19
Badge	Burkholder's Bane
Enemy Groups	Council

The Ernesto Hess Task Force is a hero Task Force that is part of the Striga Isle storyline. The Task Force is started off by Ernesto Hess. All of the missions take place in Striga Isle.

Template:MeritAward

Note: This task force will be unlocked by a hero who as finished Lars Hansen's story line and cannot be started by someone who has not done so. The hero does not need to be within the level range to start the task force, as long as it has been unlocked.

Missions

Agree to form a task force

Briefing

If you think you can handle it, I can put you onto the biggest action Striga Isle has ever seen. I don't have the whole story yet, but I've learned that the upper echelons of the Council are planning a massive assault on Paragon City. If you're willing to work with me, I think I can help you stop it.

The first thing I need is for you to get to Archon Burkholder's robot factory and scout around for clues. I don't know what all we're dealing with yet, and we need more information.

Mission Objective(s)

You hear a squeal of pressurized steam.

• Defeat all villains in factory
  • 2 schematics to find

You learned about Burkholder's plans.

Enemies

Council

Notable NPCs

• None

Council Lieutenant Dialogue

Council Lieutenant: This robot is a mess.
UNIT 1.0.1.0: Malfunction: Unit operating below accepted parameters

Schematics

This blueprint details the inner workings of a Zenith Mech Man's joints.

Schematics

This blueprint contains many equations regarding the balance and movement of an enormous Zenith Mech Man. On the back is scribbled a desperate note:

'Help me, please! The Council will never let me go!'

Debriefing

These blueprints you found are quite disturbing. According to these, Archon Burkholder is working on a Zenith Mech Man of massive proportions! And he's forcing someone else to work on it, too!

Rescue the scientist

Briefing

If that note is to be believed, Archon Burkholder is holding some scientist in the facility I'm sending you to. It seems he needed a little help to bring his giant Zenith Mech Man to life. I need you to go in and extract that scientist. Not just because it's the right thing to do. But also because they should have valuable information about the state of Burkholder's progress.

Sure, I feel for that scientist, but my objectives here are very clear. I'll break a few eggs if I must in order to keep the Council down.

Mission Objective(s)

• Rescue the scientist
  • Save the scientist! 6 generators to destroy

Enemies

Council

Notable NPCs

• Archon Worthing (Council Penubra Cor Leonis Archon)
• Dr. Faber (NPC Hostage)

Archon Worthing Dialogue

Before combat: The prisoner will be punished for her truculence!
Combat start: Guard the prisoner! She must not escape!

Dr. Kay Faber Dialogue

Once free: Archon Burkholder is mad!

Dr. Faber's story

When you rescued Dr. Faber from the Council, she told you:

'Archon Burkholder is mad! He forced me to help him build an enormous Zenith Mech Man! You won't believe the size of it. And he plans to loose it on the city! You've got to stop him, heroes. Please! Or I'll never forgive myself!

A word of warning: don't trust that Ernesto Hess too far. He was on guard duty here a few nights ago. He didn't tell you that? I didn't think so. There's something sneaky about him.

Debriefing

We need more details on this giant Zenith Mech Man. The Council's robots are already a significant threat in their own right! If they're getting bigger and better, we need to find out how!

I got to admit, you're made of stronger stuff than most heroes. You may beat the Council yet! I'd like to know everything that's happening; please call me regularly.

Take out the radar stations

Briefing

I'm about to send you into the Council's most secret stronghold, but first I want to improve our communications. The Council's radar stations are preventing me from contacting you by cell phone. If we're going to continue, I need you to take out those radar stations. I want to be able to keep tabs on you.

There are four stations to eliminate. Phone me when you're finished.

Mission Objective(s)

Taking out these stations should disrupt the Council's communications as well as improving your own.

• Eliminate 1st radar station

You disabled the radar station.

Salavaged cipher data

While taking out the first radar station, you recovered this data on Council ciphers.

Enemies

Council

Mission Objective(s)

Without these radar stations, the Council will have a hard time gettng orders to its troops in Paragon City.

• Eliminate 2nd radar station
  • Destroy the computer!

You disabled the radar station.

Salvaged troop data

While taking out the second radar station, you recovered this data on recent troop movements.

Enemies

Council

Mission Objective(s)

The Council's communications network is notorious for its complexity and redundancy.

• Eliminate 3rd radar station
  • Destroy the computer!

You disabled the radar station.

Salvaged base data

While taking out the third radar station, you recovered this data on the locations of Council bases.

Enemies

Council

Mission Objective(s)

This is the last of the Council's radar stations.

• Eliminate last radar station
  • Destroy the computer!

You disabled the radar station.

Salvaged ordnance data

While taking out the fourth radar station, you recovered this data on the specifications of the Council's weapons.

Enemies

Council

Debriefing

Good work, kids. Now I can contact you wherever you are. And the Council will be scrambling to get their communications network up again; that ought to keep them out of our hair.

Some people I know would be very interested in all this info you collected along the way. Dont' wory, I'll make sure it gets to the appropriate individuals.

I won't forget your valour. I'll remember each and every one of you.

Inflitrate the base

Briefing

All right, the scientists have given us the location of Archon Burkholder's giant robot factory. It's within Mt. Richardson itself. You're going to have to infiltrate it. Now listen up: I need the location of the pending attack. And I also need you to take out the base's main generator, to buy us some time.

Once we have that information, we'll know how to respond.

Mission Objective(s)

You slip into the Council base unnoticed.

• Find info on robot attack
  • 2 computers to hack at once
  • Ruin generator!

You have information on the robots' planned attack.

Attack orders

According to these orders, Archon Burkholder plans to unleash his giant Zenith Mech Man on Atlas Park itself!

Noticeable NPCs

• Archon Gavin (Council Vortex Cor Leonis Archon)

Enemies

Council

Debriefing

Well done, well done. Now that we know where the attack is planned, I can get a response team to work. Of course, that doesn't mean your job's over. Not by a long shot. Uh uh, you're going to have to go back.

Find intel on the Mech Man

Briefing

We need more intel on this Zenith Mech man, heroes. You've got to go back to that factory and see what you can dig up. We need a weakness, something we can exploit. Otherwise Archon Burkholder's plan may come to fruition!

Anything you can do to weaken the Council will help.

Mission Objective(s)

This base is full of activity. It seems your repeated incursions have not gone unnoticed.

• Defeat all villains in sector

You defeated the villains and learned the weakness of the giant Zenith Mech Man.

Noticeable NPCs

• Archon Sanders (Council Vortex Cor Leonis Archon)

Enemies

Council

Debriefing

So, the giant Mech Man can be piloted only by Archon Burkholder. I should have guessed. Burkholder's the key, then. We take him down, we take down his entire brilliant plot!

Take out Archon Burkholder

Briefing

If the intel you got out of Sanders can be believed, Archon Burkholder is the only person who knowns how to pilot the giant Zenith Mech Man. I guess that doesn't surprise me. The word around the base is that he's obsessed with robotics. He even volunteered for Maestro's crazy medical experiments, with the condition that he be given a robotic arm.

What this means for us is simple: if you take out Burkholder, you take down his entire scheme.

I'm counting on you to end this, heroes. You'd be surprised to know what's riding on this one.

Mission Objective(s)

In the presence of the giant Mech Man, even a hero such as you is awed.

• Defeat Archon Burkholder

You defeated Archon Burkholder and stopped the launch of the giant Zenith Mech Man.

Noticeable NPCs

• Archon Burkholder (Archvillain)

Badge

Completion of this mission earns a hero the Burkholder's Bane Badge.

Burkholder's Bane

You have stopped the Council from launching their giant robot against Paragon City.

Debriefing

You stopped Archon Burkholder. Good work. I'll call in some friends to begin dismantling the giant Mech Man. I'm sure we can learn a lot from it. Thank you, Task Force. Thank you. Your service has been invaluable to me and my associates. You've kept the Council from growing too strong at a time when we could not afford it.

Who are my associates? Well, that's a story best left for another time. But rest assured, they can spin a tangled web.

Story Arc

Souvenirs are no longer awards for Trials and Task Forces, but this is the text from the souvenir for this task force that was previously awarded.

Souvenir

Ernesto Hess' Council insignia

The Council mole Ernesto Hess gave you his uniform insignia in recognition of your efforts. A strange spider scratched into the back side is your only clue to the mysteries that lie beyond the mission you've come to think of as:

The Mech Man Cometh

It began with Ernesto Hess, a Council operative who claimed he could put you onto the biggest action Striga Isle had ever seen. Although there was something strange about Hess' intensity, you agreed to investigate a Council robot factory. What you learned there was shocking: the Council was preparing a new, more threatening Zenith Mech Man! Furthermore, they were forcing someone else to work on it!

You had no choice but to return to the Council's factories to liberate the captive. Although she warned you that there might be more to Hess than was apparent, you needed his help. He knew the inner workings of the Council, and you had to get to the bottom of their plot.

To improve your communications with Hess, you eliminated a number of the Council's radar stations.

Your next mission took you to the giant robot factory itself. There you found data on the Council's plans for their first test of the massive Zenith Mech Man. They planned to release it upon Atlas Park, and soon!

You knew you had to discover a weakness of the giant Mech Man, and you had to do it soon. You crept into the robot factory once more and learned that the robot's inventor, Archon Burkholder, was the only person on Striga Isle who could pilot the machine. If you could take him down, you could stop the assault.

One last time, you ventured into Burkholder's stronghold. You came face to face with the mad genius and defeated him once and for all.

In the end, it was hard to tell where Hess' loyalties truly lay. Had he helped you because he truly wished to protect the city of Paragon? Or had he simply feared that the Council might interfere with some other purpose?