Line #286 FanFic/StreetsOfRageSaga


1	''[[http://streetsofragesaga.net/ Streets of Rage Saga]]'' is a fan-fiction story written by Matthew Drury between 1995 and 2010, based on the popular ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' video game series. The saga consists of ten separate stories which are set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture between 2012 and 2030]] and which outline the efforts of Axel Stone, Adam Hunter and Blaze Fielding (the three core heroes of the first game) and their allies against TheSyndicate.
2
3	The ten stories are listed in order below:
4	* ''Cygnus Threshold''
5	* ''Origins''
6	* ''Project Y''
7	* ''The New Syndicate''
8	* ''Syndicate Wars: The Rise of Dreadnought''
9	* ''Syndicate Wars: Shadow Dancer''
10	* ''Shadow Hand''
11	* ''The Sons of Darkness''
12	* ''Duality''
13	* ''Behind the World''
14
15	In 2022, 2 more chapters were released based on the 4th game.
16
17	The series takes elements from the three canon games and the fan-made ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRageRemake'' and other fan-made ''SOR'' works, creating an AlternateUniverse story in which various characters get fleshed-out back-stories and characterization that wasn't present in the original canon (including [[AscendedExtra generic enemies from the games becoming more important characters in this saga]]).
18
19	According to the Streets of Rage Online website, the saga has since been translated into Spanish and is available in hard-cover format.
20
21	The entire ten-story saga is available for download (in zipped PDF format) [[https://www.scribd.com/document/30463837/Streets-of-Rage-Saga here]].
22
23	The original collection has since been updated heavily, rewriting most of the dialogue, scenes and the like, whilst also removing or toning down certain adult scenes while also scrapping and rendering the incomplete "Sons of Darkness" noncanon.
24
25	Drury then went on to release a ContinuityReboot of the saga in the form of a more realistic novel titled: ''Bare Knuckle: Ghost Precinct'', available [[https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-34938946/documents/9e6cde21e7be431bbbfaa38d71582ef0/Bare-Knuckle-Ghost-Precinct.pdf here]]. This book has also been considered noncanon to the previous collection.
26
27	(NOTE: This page is solely about tropes related to ''Streets of Rage Saga''. Therefore, please do not post any tropes related to ''Bare Knuckle: Ghost Precinct'' here, as that is considered a separate continuity altogether.)
28
29	!!Tropes present in ''Streets of Rage Saga'' include (WARNING: Spoilers ahead):
30	* AdaptationExpansion: In this continuity, the main protagonists and several major villains are given back-stories (whereas in the games, they didn't have any beyond Axel, Adam and Blaze being ex-cops who quit the force because of its corruption). As prominent villainous examples, Mr. X's full name is George Xetheus, California's state senator; and Shiva (TheDragon in the games) is given the first name Leon.
31	* AffablyEvil: Mr. X can come across as genial when he wants to.
32	* AllWomenAreLustful: Blaze is the biggest offender, though she's far from the only one.
33	** AllMenArePerverts: To be fair, the guys aren't that much better themselves.
34	* AlternateUniverse: Adding to the above explanation and other points elsewhere on this page, certain liberties are taken with various characters, giving them unique pasts and motivations that were either barely touched on or nonexistent altogether in the original canon games. For example, in this continuity Blaze was a member of an unidentified indigenous island tribe (no such back-story was given for her in the games), Adam continues on as a member of the police force after Axel and Blaze quit in order to give them inside information (in the games, he quit alongside them), and Shiva and Rudra are siblings (in the games they're not, plus Rudra is unique to ''Streets of Rage Remake'' and doesn't appear at all in the original trilogy).
35	* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:Axel is eventually told about his time as Enigma. On the other hand, Enigma, after being brought to the surface with drugs, claims to hear Axel screaming in pain if he concentrates]].
36	* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: Pulled off by Mr. X[=/=]Socharis in response to an amazed exclamation by Rudra.
37	-->'''Rudra:''' watches Mr. X's Battlegroup set off to attack the world.
38	-->'''Rudra:''' My god...
39	-->'''Mr. X:''' That I am, my child, that I am, but the name Socharis will suffice.
40	* AnyoneCanDie: Let's just leave it at that...
41	* ArbitrarySkepticism: Skate apparently has no problem believing that cyborgs, clones and functional battle robots exist (after all, he's fought a number of them and has teamed up with Dr. Zan, who is himself a cyborg), yet he scoffs at the idea of [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} ninja-themed magical powers]].
42	** Played with and averted in ''Duality''. Blaze finds the idea of Axel and Enigma [[spoiler:literally splitting off into two separate people]] unbelieveable even after all she's seen and done. Adam sets her straight reminding her that she shouldn't eally be surprised, and she eventually agrees.
43	* ArmsDealer: Shiva, in this continuity, makes good business doing this.
44	* ArtificialLimbs: After getting his legs shot to pieces in ''Project Y'', Shiva gets a new pair of prosthetic legs. They strengthen his kicking power and allow him to [[SuperSpeed move at high speeds]].
45	* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Haku-Oh, from the outfit to the fighting style.
46	* AscendedExtra: Remember the various mooks from the games, the ones who weren't at boss-level? In this saga, several of them are given characterization and, in a few instances, they're made significant characters in the story's progress. One of the earliest prominent examples is Haku-oh, a generic kung fu henchman from the first and second games, who's made TheDragon for the first story's BigBad with a significant background story.
47	* AtomicFBomb: Axel drops one after being forced to abandon the search for their missing ally Candace.
48	* AxCrazy: Enigma.
49	* BackFromTheDead: Mr. X comes back from the dead at least twice in the saga through bio-genetic means (not counting his BrainInAJar status during ''Project Y''), and in fact the introductory note for ''Shadow Hand'' is similar to the introductory story used in the fan-made ''Streets of Rage Remake'', where, having been thought to be dead, he returned to life "stronger than ever." Following his defeat in ''Shadow Hand'', he is resurrected by the titular ''Sons of Darkness'' for their own purposes.
50	** [[spoiler:Dr. Zan in ''Shadow Dancer'', having been exhumed from his grave and [[CameBackStrong given a new android body by British operatives]]; Leon Shiva is a villainous example from the same story, courtesy of TheSyndicate and the aforementioned bio-genetic engineering. In ''Behind the World'' it's revealed that Skate was genetically resurrected by the Syndicate and took on the name Anthrax]].
51	* BadBoss: Lucius Hawk executes a hired assassin who failed his mission by shooting him in the head. Likewise, Enigma thanks two scavengers he hired to find an ancient artifact, once they hand it over to him, by ordering his [[TheDragon right-hand man]] to "give them what they deserve"...which in this case is two shotgun blasts.
52	* BadassAdorable: Axel was a second-degree black belt at the age of six.
53	* BadassInDistress: Adam in ''Origins'', mirroring his status from the second game. Axel also gets this treatment in the same story.
54	* BattleCouple: Axel and Blaze, even before their wedding at the end of ''Shadow Hand''.
55	* BerserkButton: Being a Syndicate member is a sure way to place yourself on Blaze's "kill with extreme prejudice" list. Also, do not injure Skate in Adam's immediate presence if you want to avoid the latter giving you a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
56	* BeamOWar: After turning against Mr. X, [[spoiler:Shiva]] launches one while fighting him.
57	* BigBad:
58	** Mr. X, of course, though most prominently in ''Origins'' and ''Project Y''.
59	** Prior to Mr. X's revelation as the ManBehindTheMan in ''Origins'', Lucius Hawk served as the BigBad in ''Cygnus Threshold''.
60	** The titular villain in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''.
61	** Socharis the Dragon Lord in ''Shadow Dancer'' and ''Shadow Hand''.
62	** Shiva in ''Duality''.
63	** Enigma in ''Behind the World''.
64	** BigBadDuumvirate: Between [[DragonAscendant Shiva]] and the Hand, the leader of [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Neo Zeed]], in ''The New Syndicate''.
65	** NonActionBigBad: The Sons of Darkness, as it turns out.
66	* BigDamnHeroes: Pulled off by Axel, Adam, Max and General Petrov in ''Project Y'' when they storm the White House press conference to stop the robot-imposter Petrov from giving his war announcement. This mirrors the events that take place in the Japanese version of ''Streets of Rage 3'' (in the US version, it's the police chief at City Hall who's being impersonated), but in the original game the White House/City Hall scene only happens if you fail to save the General/police chief [[spoiler:and the imposter is not a robot, but Shiva in disguise]].
67	** Much later, in ''Duality'', Adam narrowly rescues Blaze from being gang-raped by Syndicate thugs.
68	* BigNo:
69	** Shiva unleashes one [[spoiler:when Axel knocks him off the roof of his headquarters in ''The New Syndicate'', plummeting 70 stories to his death]].
70	** Dreadnought gives one [[spoiler:when he gets HoistByHisOwnPetard]].
71	** Socharis has a moment upon being defeated in ''Shadow Hand''.
72	** Rudra gives one [[spoiler:just before being shot to death by Adam.]]
73	** Blaze emits one in ''Behind the World'' [[spoiler:when Adam dies]].
74	* BittersweetEnding: Taken individually, the endings for some of the stories in the overall saga qualify.
75	** ''Cygnus Threshold'': [[spoiler:Axel has avenged his parents' deaths, but the captured Lucius Hawk gets OffOnATechnicality [[KarmaHoudini thanks to the Syndicate's machinations]]]].
76	** ''The New Syndicate'': [[spoiler:Shiva and [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} the Hand]] are dead, Joe Musashi has retrieved the two mystic items that Neo Zeed sought to steal for their nefarious purposes, and Axel and Blaze get back together. However, Dr. Zan is now dead, and the nuclear bombing of London has created a state of societal and financial chaos both at ground zero and in the wider global community, [[SocialDarwinist as Shiva]] [[TheBadGuyWins had hoped to have happen]]]].
77	** ''Shadow Dancer'': [[spoiler:Joe Musashi has avenged his slain friend by killing Sauros, and the cyborg Jet has been destroyed by Blaze and company. However, Max is now dead, and the Dragon Lord still lives]].
78	** ''Shadow Hand'': [[spoiler:Socharis the Dragon Lord, a.k.a. Mr. X, is dead once again, his clones are destroyed, his TakeOverTheWorld plan has been stopped, Axel and Blaze get married and are now expecting a baby, Dr. Zan is BackFromTheDead, and siblings Rudra and Shiva have reunited and pulled a collective HeelFaceTurn. However, Skate is now dead and millions of people have been killed by the Project Y robots that were sent out by Mr. X]].
79	** ''Duality'': [[spoiler:The Syndicate's WeaponOfMassDestruction has been destroyed and the entire world has been saved; but Blaze, who was pregnant with her and Axel's second child, [[ConvenientMiscarriage has lost the baby]]]].
80	** ''Behind the World'': [[spoiler:Zan, Adam, Tina and Blaze are all dead by the end of the story--in Zan's case, for the second time and permanently--and Axel leaves the city, having nothing there to go back to. On the other hand, [[BigBad Enigma]] has been destroyed, his [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt plan to bring Hell on Earth]] has been stopped, Axel and Blaze's children have been rescued, the Kaeyus Infernus pieces have been destroyed to prevent a reopening of the portal, and as Axel himself notes, Blaze's death means that after the [[DarkAndTroubledPast crapsack life she's experienced]], she can now have peace. This one may also qualify as a DownerEnding for the saga as a whole]].
81	* BloodKnight: Shiva.
82	* BondOneLiner: Adam delivers one in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'' at the climax of his fight with Zamza after the latter gets hit by a subway train.
83	--> '''Adam:''' I hope that ''hurt''.
84	** After seeing Beano get impaled with a flying surfboard, Busta quips "Wipe out."
85	** Rudra mutters "Checkmate." after killing two soldiers who were playing chess.
86	* BoomHeadshot: [[ImprobableAimingSkills Axel is evidently good at delivering these]].
87	* BrainInAJar: Mr. X's status in ''Project Y'' (a throwback to his status in the third game).
88	* BrainwashedAndCrazy:
89	** [[spoiler:Dr. Zan via reprogramming]] in ''The New Syndicate''.
90	** [[spoiler:Axel reverting to Enigma via drugs]] in ''Duality''.
91	* BrokenBird: Blaze, in no small part thanks to TheSyndicate.
92	* BrokenPedestal: After realizing he works for the Syndicate, Dr. Dahm becomes this to Zan.
93	* TheCameo: Aside from the CrossOver moments in the saga, there was originally one very surprising cameo that was made, not by a person, but by an inanimate object--the [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane]], where Dr. Henry Dahm is imprisoned in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'' after his actions in ''Project Y''. This Arkham Asylum was stated to be on an island 250 miles west of France, and there was no mention of Gotham City (in Batman canon, Arkham Asylum is on the very outskirts of Gotham, which itself is a pastiche of New York, which in real life is over 3000 miles away from France). The 2014 UpdatedRerelease has since renamed the Asylum.
94	* CanonForeigner: Too many to list here. Lucius Hawk, Captain Jack Wyndam, Detective Bellamy and Axel's sister Tina are just four examples from the first story alone (in canon, Axel doesn't have any relatives and the police chief from the North American version of the third game is unnamed).
95	* CatapultNightmare: Blaze has several plot-relevant ones in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'', all related to [[KiAttacks her powers]].
96	* TheCavalryArrivesLate: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Project Y'' and ''The New Syndicate''--in the former, they show up right on time to utterly destroy Robot Y; in the latter, they show up to save the heroes from being slaughtered by Shiva.
97	* TheCharmer: Adam.
98	* ChickMagnet: Axel gets plenty of attention before Blaze comes along.
99	* TheChessmaster: Mr. X. As Shiva says to him during a flashback in ''Duality'':
100	--> You have been doing this for almost thirty years. Every President from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama himself has had no choice but to be a pawn in your game. Your influence not only in domestic but international affairs as well cannot be ignored, for it is considerable.
101	* CityOfAdventure: Los Angeles, where the story is set in the first two books (in the original games, the city was unnamed). Later adventures feature Chicago and locations in foreign lands such as China, Japan and Germany.
102	* CloneAngst: ''The New Syndicate'' provides an inversion of the trope: [[spoiler:Blaze doesn't react well to the revelation that the Syndicate created clones of her with DNA they stole from her during her childhood]].
103	* ClusterFBomb: Pre-2014 rerelease, Blaze threw these around with reckless abandon.
104	* TheCoatsAreOff: After his battlesuit is destroyed, X is left with nothing but a pair of suit pants and a murderous rage.
105	* CombatPragmatist:
106	** Ash ''bites'' Joe Musashi on the arm during his second confrontation with the heroes in ''Shadow Hand''. Not that it does him any good...
107	** Anthrax proves to be this when Adam challenges him in ''Behind the World''. [[spoiler:He simply shoots Adam instead of engaging in fisticuffs]].
108	* CombinationAttack: [[spoiler:Blaze and Shiva]] combine their fireball power together to destroy Mr. X.
109	* CompositeCharacter: Several [[AscendedExtra Ascended Extras]] get this treatment. For example, Silver [=McLeod=], TheDragon in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'', is a composite of two pallet-swap enemies from the third game (Silver and [=McLeod=], two of several BadassInANiceSuit mooks who fired pistols at the heroes during gameplay); while Zamza, the PsychoForHire from the same story, was originally named James Souther (in the second game, Zamza and Souther are separate names for two pallet-swap bosses).
110	* CorruptCop: As with the canon series, a lot of these prove to be a problem for the protagonists. [[spoiler:Also, Lucius Hawk was one]].
111	** [[spoiler:Chief O'Hara, too, as revealed in ''Origins'']].
112	* CowboyCop: Axel, during ''Cygnus Threshold'' and ''Origins''. Adam, too, but not to quite the same extent.
113	* CrazyPrepared: Mr. X had all sorts of contingency measures put in place in case some of his major plans failed, including making provisions for the potential failure of Project Y. [[spoiler:A bio-genetic resurrection was one such backup plan]].
114	--> '''Mr. X:''' [[LampshadeHanging When you're planning a revolution, you have to be prepared for every eventuality]].
115	* CreatorCameo: Series composer Yuzo Koshiro shows up in ''Rise of Dreadnought'' as a scientist who worked on Vehelits.
116	* CreatorThumbprint: A lot of characters lick their lips in this series for any kind of reason. Expect to see the sentence "[x] licked their lips" show up at least once in any of the stories, just don't make a drinking game out of it.
117	* CriticalFailure: Adam makes the mistake of kicking Shiva in the legs, having forgotten they were robotic.
118	* CrossOver: Later books feature [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Joe Musashi]] as a recurring character and the cast of VideoGame/FinalFight make an appearance in ''Shadow Dancer''. (Notably, both the ''Shinobi'' game series and the ''Streets of Rage'' series share developers from the same company, Team Shinobi.)
119	* CurbStompBattle: Shiva delivers one to the protagonists in ''The New Syndicate'', despite being outnumbered five to one by them (though to be fair, he ''is'' using [[ArtificialLimbs prosthetic legs]] [[TookALevelInBadass that have increased his combat skills significantly]]).
120	* CutTheJuice: Adam somehow manages to stop a fast-moving truck by shooting the engine, and somehow not blowing it up.
121	* {{Cyborg}}:
122	** Dr. Zan, of course, is a heroic example.
123	** Karl Haupstein, the titular villain in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'', is an interesting, if macabre, case. According to Team Firestorm's briefings, he surgically removed his own eyelids, jawbone, fingers and toes and replaced them with mechanical implants in an effort to achieve physical perfection; at the time the story begins, he's been given a prosthetic body, with a steel rod to replace his by-then broken spine, and a metallic heart with a hydrogen power cell.
124	** Jet in ''Shadow Dancer'' is another villainous example.
125	* DarkMessiah: How Shiva perceives himself in ''The New Syndicate''.
126	* DarkerAndEdgier: In contrast to the games, where the canon back-story was ''already'' pretty dark.
127	* DeadGuyJunior: Axel and Blaze's first child, Max, named for their departed friend.
128	* DealWithTheDevil: ''Duality'' reveals that [[spoiler:Chief O'Hara]] chose subservience to Mr. X in exchange for seven million dollars and his children's lives being spared.
129	* {{Determinator}}: All the main characters qualify.
130	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Blaze, after being introduced in ''Origins'' (the second story of the saga).
131	* DepravedBisexual: Ash, which isn't actually too far off from his canon game portrayal.
132	* DisappearedDad: Adam and Skate were raised single-handedly by their mother.
133	* DismantledMacGuffin: The nine Kaeyus Infernus artifacts in ''Behind the World'', which have been scattered across religious sites of varying faiths worldwide. Supposedly, if brought together, the nine artifacts act as a key to another dimension inhabited by "beings possessed of fantastical evil" worshiped by ancient Egyptians as gods; prior to the start of the story, Leon Shiva had collected seven of them.
134	* DisposableWoman: [[spoiler: Nora]]. Doubles as a GirlOfTheWeek.
135	* DistractedByTheSexy: Used by Blaze to lure two guards away from their posts in ''Origins'', and again in ''Duality'' to lure another guard into being killed by Adam. It helps that Blaze isn't shy about nudity.
136	* TheDragon:
137	** Haku-oh is this for Lucius Hawk in ''Cygnus Threshold''.
138	** Of course, there's also Leon Shiva for Mr. X, like in the games.
139	** Silver [=McLeod=] is this for Dreadnought in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''. [[spoiler:[[DragonWithAnAgenda He's not quite so loyal]]]].
140	** The jetpack-powered Jet (the cyborg version from the third SOR game) serves as Sauros' Dragon in ''Shadow Dancer''.
141	** Rudra to Shiva in ''Duality''.
142	** Anthrax to Enigma in ''Behind the World''.
143	** DragonWithAnAgenda: Surprisingly enough, Mr. X himself in ''Sons of Darkness''. The titular beings revived him following the events of ''Shadow Hand'' to serve their purposes, but he's intent on learning the secret of their power so he can rule the world.
144	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Axel's sister Tina]] in ''Behind the World'', courtesy of Enigma.
145	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Happens to Blaze's new boyfriend in ''The New Syndicate'' when he's killed during an attack on her that's been orchestrated by the Syndicate.
146	* DrowningMySorrows: Axel is seen doing this when first introduced in ''The New Syndicate'', due to being depressed after Blaze has left him.
147	* DrugsAreBad: The drug Fire, available in pill form, gives an energetic high but is highly addictive; ingesting ''three'' pills for the purposes of a training demonstration causes an X-Robot to go berserk and almost kill Shiva and Mr. X. Blaze is an addict as well, a fact that [[DiscussedTrope worries Axel]]. She's later shown to be taking heroin via injection in ''The New Syndicate'', but by ''Shadow Hand'' she's gotten herself clean and sober.
148	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt:
149	** As revealed in ''Shadow Hand'', Mr. X's ultimate plan for world domination consisted of sending the "Battlegroup," heavily-modified Project Y robots, to lay waste to all major cities across the globe.
150	** In ''Behind the World'', Enigma wants to unleash literal Hell on Earth.
151	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: As ''Project Y'' and other stories make clear, Shiva was truly in love with Electra, a fellow syndicate henchman. Too bad Axel and gang kill her during their Blaze rescue mission. Shiva is also non-too thrilled when the hero trio kill Rudra in ''Duality.''
152	* EyeScream: In ''The Rise of Dreadnought'', Kazuyuki Harakiri threatens to torture Blaze by putting a lit cigarette into her eye ([[IHaveYouNowMyPretty among other implied unpleasant torture methods]]) and he actually burns her with the cigarette one centimeter away from the eyeball to show he's not bluffing. [[BullyingADragon Unfortunately for him, however]]...
153	* FallenHero: Shiva, in this continuity. In ''Shadow Hand'' it's revealed that he served in the Gulf War, but when he was informed that his father and sister had been killed (although unknown to him, Rudra had in fact survived), he went insane with grief, turned a gun on several innocent civilians, and was imprisoned for it. He would later be drafted into serving the Syndicate.
154	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Mercy me, ''where to start?'' Throughout the saga, we have varying examples of heads being cut off, throats being slashed, persons cut down in a hail of bullets, characters bleeding to death in agony, one minor character being burned alive, at least three noteworthy examples of ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice...and without giving away any spoilers, at least one character's death actually occurs ''in front of her children''.
155	* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Anthrax ends up eaten and torn apart. Repeatedly]].
156	* {{Fetish}}: ''Shadow Hand'' establishes that Rudra gets a rather perverse sexual rush from every successful assassination job she does.
157	* FightingYourFriend: Adam is forced to do this against [[spoiler:Axel/Enigma]] in ''Duality''.
158	* FoodPorn: Meals get described right down to the last tasty detail. In ''Origins'', for example, the full-course meal at Axel and Blaze's first dinner date is described from start to finish, and later on the narrative goes to great lengths to describe the steak Mr. X [[NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine shares with the two when he has them prisoner]].
159	* FriendOnTheForce: Adam continues on as a cop after Axel and Blaze quit, and in ''The New Syndicate'' he uses his FBI connections to get the heroes clearance into areas they wouldn't be able to access otherwise.
160	* GeniusBruiser: Max Hatchett, the wrestler from the second game, is the chairman of a pharmaceutical company in this continuity. Also, Onihime and Yasha (Mona and Lisa from the third game) are Syndicate scientists as well as fighters.
161	* AGodAmI: Mr. X expresses this view in ''Project Y'', despite being a BrainInAJar by this point. One can't blame him, though, since he's remotely and mentally controlling a ''20-foot-tall'' HumongousMecha that has the heroes [[OhCrap running for their lives]].
162	--> '''Mr. X:''' ''You can't stop me! I am God now!''
163	** The Twelfth One, one of twelve perfected SuperSoldier projects, makes a similar declaration even as she's beating the crap out of the protagonists in ''The New Syndicate''.
164	--> '''Twelfth One:''' I am the most advanced of all the ''Homo Superior''...I...am your God!
165	** Socharis makes this declaration twice in the same scene in ''Shadow Hand''.
166	--> '''Socharis:''' I am Socharis! I can do anything! ''I am God!''
167	* GoodIsNotSoft: Barring some of their vices and issues, team Firestorm is a good-natured group of people, friendly, sociable, and dedicated to their mission of protecting the world without fail. When it comes to the Syndicate, though, they can and will shoot to kill. There's even passages of them killing unarmed Syndicate personnel, though its [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that the Syndicate's activies are as evil as you can get and they're just that much of a threat. This is best exemplified by this bit of dialogue in ''Rise of Dreadnought'', just after she's briefed them on how Dreadnought's faction bombed a portion of Miami and slaughtered civilians aplenty.
168	--> '''Blaze:''' Sometimes people just have to be stopped. Their actions amount to a declaration of war, and the only rules that apply to them are the rules of war.
169	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Shiva's self-description in ''Duality''.
170	--> '''Shiva:''' I’m not a "good guy" or a "bad guy." I’m just a guy, doing my own thing, and I answer to nobody.
171	* GroinAttack: Joe Musashi punches the Hand right in the family jewels during their clash in ''The New Syndicate''. Shortly afterwards in the same story, Shiva kicks Adam in the same location.
172	** Axel pulls this rather effectively on Socharis by kicking him in the groin in ''Shadow Hand''.
173	* GunsAkimbo: On both sides of the war with the Syndicate.
174	* GunsVSSwords: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] between [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Joe Musashi]] and his sensei Harada, during a flashback the former has while meditating in Chapter 12 of ''The New Syndicate''.
175	--> '''Musashi:''' There is one thing that has been troubling me, Sensei...I have spent years studying the arts of ninjitsu, archery, and the katana. Yet any man with a gun can kill me without effort. If I stand in front of a man with an automatic weapon and raise my sword, [[BoringButPractical he will]] [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim shoot]].
176	--> '''Harada:''' But that doesn't mean that the old ways are useless. Didn't Sun Tzu say, "When you know your enemy and choose your battlefield carefully, the smaller force is always able to overcome the larger"? If you must fight a man with a gun, strike him from behind when he least expects it.
177	--> '''Musashi:''' But, Sensei, [[HonorBeforeReason that is not the way of a warrior]], that is not Bushido...
178	--> '''Harada:''' And do you think our enemies will abide by the law of Bushido? Sometimes I wonder what you're using for brains, boy.
179	** Later put to the test when several guards open fire on the BigBad in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''. The fact that Dreadnought uses two blades to effortlessly deflect the bullets serves as his EstablishingCharacterMoment.
180	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Shiva and Rudra]] in ''Shadow Hand''.
181	** FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Both of them]] between ''Sons of Darkness'' and ''Duality''.
182	* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
183	** ''Origins'': [[spoiler:Mr. X gets beheaded by one of his own robots]].
184	** ''The Rise of Dreadnought'': [[spoiler:The BigBad gets sent flying down into the same blade-filled trap he initially threw Axel and Skate into]].
185	* HumongousMecha: Robot Y, standing at 20 feet tall and armed to the teeth with MoreDakka.
186	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Blaze expresses this wish in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'' after [[OneManArmy single-handedly]] decimating Kazuyuki Harakiri's entire private army via her SuperpoweredEvilSide.
187	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Adam and Blaze catch Abadede with this in the revised ''Origins'', while interrogating him as to where a kidnapped Axel was taken to.
188	-->'''Adam:''' It's just a simple question, man, then we'll leave you alone. Tell us about Sergeant Stone.\
189	'''Abadede:''' Fuckin' pig! I don't know no Axel Stone!\
190	'''Adam:''' Ah. See, I never told you his name was Axel...
191	* IdentityAmnesia: It's revealed in ''Duality'' that [[spoiler:Axel]] suffered this following a car accident, taking on the identity of [[spoiler:Enigma]].
192	* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:Blaze (a feral child at the time)]] killed and ate a baby boy in the back-story, as outlined in ''Origins'', and has a nightmare about it decades later in the present day during ''The New Syndicate''.
193	** Zamza in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''.
194	* ImmuneToBullets: The Twelfth One and Dreadnought, the latter by virtue of being a cyborg with a prosthetic body. His creation, Vehelits, has a body that seems to ''absorb'' bullets (a trait shared with the Twelfth One).
195	* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Dreadnought, noted as having been a master fencer ''before'' he got his cyber-body, is capable of using twin blades to deflect a whole hail of bullets fired from multiple handguns all at the same time.
196	* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Mercifully played straight in ''Behind the World'' with Max and Jennifer, Axel and Blaze's children. Despite the horrific environment they've been brought to in the wake of their kidnapping, they manage to make it to the end of the story largely unharmed.
197	* {{Interquel}}: The first six chapters of ''Shadow Hand'', the seventh book in the saga, take place during the events between ''Origins'' and ''Shadow Dancer'', and outline what Rudra was doing during said books.
198	* {{Invisibility}}: One of Sauros' ninja techniques.
199	* ItGetsEasier: Subverted in ''Origins'' (Blaze has trouble coming to terms with the idea of killing someone even as she and Axel simultaneously shoot one of Mr. X's henchmen) and again in ''Duality'' (the narrative notes that for Adam, killing has never gotten easier despite his past experiences as a cop, even after he's just shot dead several thugs about to gang-rape Blaze).
200	* ItsAllMyFault: Blaze blames herself for her new boyfriend's death at the machinations of the Syndicate in ''The New Syndicate'', since she was the primary target and he was an innocent bystander. Later in ''Shadow Hand'', she blames herself for [[spoiler:Max's death in ''Shadow Dancer'']]--something that Skate blames himself for because he was out of action at the time.
201	* ItsPersonal: The [[VideoGame/FinalFight Mad Gear]] conflict, which forms part of the story for ''Shadow Dancer''. Related to this, an attack on one of his childhood friends by the Union Lizard organization prompts [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Joe Musashi]] to return to America and get involved with the conflict.
202	* JekyllAndHyde: [[spoiler:Axel and Enigma]].
203	* JetPack: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Jet]].
204	* KiAttacks: They don't show up in the saga until Blaze uses her fireball attack on Shiva in ''Project Y''. In her case, it's a side-effect of her use of the Fire drug in ''Origins''. [[spoiler:That side effect came about in the first place because of genetic tampering by the Syndicate]].
205	** Axel doesn't show his Dragon Wing special attack until ''Duality'', the penultimate book in the saga. [[spoiler:It's while he's BrainwashedAndCrazy as Enigma, and due to experiments by the Syndicate]].
206	* KickTheDog: Roo, the boxing kangaroo, gets constant cruel treatment from his handler, Bruce the Kangaroo Master, in ''Shadow Dancer'' (mimicking Bruce's treatment of the kangaroo with his whip in the games).
207	* KilledMidSentence: In ''Shadow Hand'', Ash kills [[spoiler:Dr. Dahm]] right before the latter can tell the protagonists how to stop the "Battlegroup" Project Y robots that are laying waste to the world's major cities.
208	* KilledOffForReal: Even main characters from the games aren't exempt from this. And the body count just skyrockets up until ''Behind the World'', wherein [[spoiler:Shiva, Zan, Adam and eventually Blaze all die. Even before that, previous books saw the deaths of Max and Skate.]]
209	* KnuckleCracking: Shiva gets this twice; once before his fight against Mr. X in ''Shadow Hand'', and again against Adam in ''Duality''.
210	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: TheSyndicate attempts this on [[spoiler:Blaze]] at the end of ''The New Syndicate''. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope They don't count on]] [[OhCrap her memories coming back only a few minutes later]].
211	* LawOfInverseFertility: Axel wants to start a family, but Blaze can't have kids due to being infertile. In the first chapter of ''The New Syndicate'', it's revealed that she broke up with him because of it, though they eventually got back together. Then by the end of ''Shadow Hand'', the infertility has been resolved and they have a baby on the way.
212	* LeeroyJenkins: Skate would rather rush headlong into a fight than surrender or heed others' warnings to wait; however, this attitude almost gets him shot in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'' [[spoiler:and ''does'' get him shot in ''Shadow Hand'']].
213	%%* LightningBruiser: Abadede.
214	* LockAndLoad:
215	** A realistic {{subver\|ted}}sion occurs in ''Origins''--when Axel has to temporarily leave Blaze by herself, he leaves a pistol with her. She admits she's never held one before, so he shows her how it works. The explanation goes over her head, though, and when the time comes for her to use it, she tries to pull the hammer back...and ends up spilling all the bullets out of the gun instead. She has some difficulty getting the bullets back into the clip, but manages to work the gun correctly on the second try. Later, she gets better with firearms after receiving some basic gun-training from Adam.
216	** {{Zigzagged}} with Skate--he's never stated to have had any prior firearms training, yet the first time he's given a high-powered weapon the narrative doesn't outline him having any difficulty using it. (Although one could make the case that Adam, a cop with extensive firearms training, might have given him a few pointers outside of the narrative.)
217	%%* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: Electra to Shiva]].
218	* LudicrousGibs: Joe Musashi's slaughter of three would-be assassins out to kill a hospital-bound Blaze in ''The New Syndicate'' results in this.
219	* LukeIAmYourFather: In this continuity, Rudra is actually Kagami Shiva, Leon Shiva's half-sister. This differs from the fan-made ''Streets of Rage Remake'', where Rudra first appears (she's not in the original canon games); there, the two are completely unrelated to each other beyond being associated with TheSyndicate. The only reason this isn't spoilered is because it gets revealed fairly early on, during the third and fourth chapters of ''Shadow Hand'', although Shiva himself doesn't find out until Chapter 21.
220	* MacheteMayhem: Anthrax's weapon of choice for melee combat in ''Behind the World''.
221	* MadBomber: In the back-story of ''Duality'', the man known as "Enigma" was responsible for six bombings that killed six FBI agents.
222	%%* MadScientist: Dr. Dahm.
223	* MadeOfIron: Well, Dr. Zan, Dreadnought and Jet are literal examples, all three having cybernetic bodies. Playing the trope straight, how the hell else can you explain [[spoiler:Enigma]] surviving ''a frigging gunshot to the head?''
224	* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Axel and Blaze have TheirFirstTime together [[ItMakesSenseInContext in a sewer]]. Don't worry, [[FanService it's not as icky as it sounds]].
225	%%* ManipulativeBastard: Mr. X.
226	* MeaningfulName: After [[spoiler:Axel's amnesia]] in ''Duality'', even his name is an enigma to him. Rudra takes on her codename (which is the name of the Hindu god of storms) as a rejection of the surname Shiva (due to family abandonment issues).
227	* MindOverMatter: Socharis, and later Enigma in ''Behind the World''. [[spoiler:Also Blaze, post-''The New Syndicate'']].
228	* MindRape: Enigma pulls this on Blaze in ''Behind the World'', giving her a mental image of him actually raping her.
229	* MsFanservice: Blaze isn't afraid to get nude, and the narrative has her shedding clothes whenever needed. To add to the fan-service, in one instance she [[ShowerScene masturbates while taking a shower]].
230	* MissionControl: Murphy, Adam's FBI partner and ally to the protagonists.
231	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Jerrin.
232	* MyGreatestFailure: It's revealed at the end of ''Duality'' that Adam wishes he could have done more to prevent [[spoiler:Skate's death in ''Shadow Hand'']].
233	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Mr. X's art collection includes a statue in the shape of a swastika. This is lampshaded by Zan.
234	* NewNeoCity: Neo London is christened the capital of the New World Order.
235	* NightmareFace: Dreadnought, as a result of his self-mutilations prior to the events of the story; he usually keeps his face hidden behind a skintight mask for this reason. The narrative paints a [[SarcasmMode lovely]] picture for the reader.
236	--> ''[[TheDragon [=McLeod=]]] and [[PsychoForHire Zamza]] were used to it and didn't care anyway, but occasionaly he had to interact with others; rarely could those people handle the sight of his wet-looking eyes, bulging and lidless, the raw-gummed, skullish face that was exposed by taut skin and a mouth that had no lips, no lower jaw bone''.
237	* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: In Chapter 22 of ''Origins'', Mr. X treats the captive Axel and Blaze to dinner.
238	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Though it's already established that he's a Syndicate member, when first introduced Ash appears to be nothing more than a DepravedBisexual who runs a BDSM-themed night-club. Turns out he's a LightningBruiser who keeps a gun hidden in his cap and knows how to use it.
239	* OffWithHisHead: Happens to two characters in the saga--Mr. X in ''Origins'' (he gets better) and Sauros in ''Shadow Dancer'' (he doesn't).
240	* OfficialCouple: Axel and Blaze for the first three books, though they broke up some time prior to ''The New Syndicate'' because of the LawOfInverseFertility. They eventually get back together in that story, and he proposes to her at the end of it.
241	* OhCrap:
242	** Beano, a mini-boss character from the second game and an EliteMook in ''Cygnus Threshold'', has such a moment during a vehicular chase in which the tow truck he's commandeered crashes into a car with a surfboard mounted on top--specifically, right before said surfboard gets propelled by the impact through his windshield to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impale him]].
243	** Shiva and Mr. X share a collective moment of this during ''Origins'', when the X-Robot (fueled by three tablets of the drug Fire) goes berserk and [[GoneHorriblyRight utterly brutalizes Shiva's soldiers]] during its training demonstration. Then it looks in their direction...
244	---> '''Mr. X:''' He's looking at ''us!''
245	*** Both of them get separate moments later in the story--[[spoiler:Mr. X before being HoistByHisOwnPetard, Shiva before the base gets blown up]].
246	** Axel has this reaction in ''Project Y'' when [[HumongousMecha Robot Y]] shows up during the final confrontation.
247	** Shiva gets such a moment again in ''The New Syndicate'' [[spoiler:when he's knocked off the roof of his 70-story-high headquarters]].
248	*** Blue, one of Shiva's top-tier henchmen, has this reaction in the story's epilogue upon realizing that [[spoiler:the attempt to mind-wipe Blaze has failed]].
249	** Skate gets just such a moment in ''Shadow Hand'' [[spoiler:right before Socharis shoots him dead]].
250	** Adam has a moment of his own in ''Duality'', upon realizing the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction World Devastator]] has been activated.
251	*** Rudra later gets a moment of her own on realizing that Blaze's aura, which was suppressed through a Syndicate-given injection, has finally resurfaced...evidenced when Blaze [[spoiler:redirects Rudra's energy-gun blast with [[MindOverMatter a wave of her hand]]]].
252	** Adam later has one in ''Behind the World'' [[spoiler:just before he's shot by Anthrax]].
253	* OmnicidalManiac: Mr. X, Shiva, Dreadnought and Enigma all qualify.
254	* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Syndicate's Inner Sanctum, mentioned frequently in preceding stories in the saga, consists of the organization's highest-ranking members, of whom only a few are mentioned by name at first--until their formal introduction by Mr. X in the third chapter of ''Shadow Hand'', which is set sometime after the initial events of ''Origins''. This particular group, led by Mr. X himself, consists of Shiva, Electra, the twins Onihime and Yasha, [[CanonForeigner Howard (formerly Simon) Jerrin]], Dr. Henry Dahm, Electra, Abadede, Rocky Bear, and Villem Antonio.
255	* OneSteveLimit: Averted with the appearance of several Galsias and Garcias; all of them are about as unremarkable as their in-game counterparts.
256	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: While not a ghost himself, Enigma gains the ability to become ethereal (that is, intangible) while he's in Hell Los Angeles in ''Behind the World''. Additionally, he gains MindOverMatter powers [[spoiler:which he uses to [[DrivenToSuicide make Tina jump off a rooftop in the real world]]]].
257	* OutrunTheFireball: Axel and Blaze escape a sewer being filled with petroleum in ''Origins''.
258	** The protagonists pull this off in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'' by way of a train heading out of the [[BigBad Big Bad's]] underground lair.
259	* OutWithABang: Rudra kills a Syndicate traitor while having sex with him in ''Shadow Hand''.
260	* PapaWolf: Adam for his younger brother Skate, best exemplified in ''Shadow Dancer''. Bruce the Kangaroo Master slashes Skate in the face with a whip; Adam [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats Bruce bloody]] in retaliation.
261	* ParentalAbandonment: Axel's father was murdered twelve years before the beginning of the saga's continuity, and his mother died in a car accident shortly afterward ([[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident caused by Haku-Oh of course.]]). Blaze likewise lost her family at a tender age.
262	** ''Shadow Hand'' reveals that Shiva and Rudra's father was murdered, Shiva's mother died of breast cancer when he was a child, and Rudra never knew her mother (they're half-siblings).
263	* PetTheDog: Rudra shows a genuine moment of sympathy for the heroes following [[spoiler:Skate's death]].
264	* PintsizedPowerhouse: As in the games, Skate is capable of handling opponents twice his size, though here it's emphasized that he has to put his whole body weight into certain attacks.
265	* PlotHole: A glaring one in ''Sons of Darkness''. Abadede is killed during the confrontation with Axel and Blaze in Chapter 5...but later inexplicably shows up during the interlude following Chapter 8. It was later explained that, had Drury been able to flesh out ''Sons of Darkness'' the way he'd wanted to, Abadede was going to be NotQuiteDead following his fight with Axel and Blaze, with his subsequent return being a shock for both the characters and the readers.
266	* PowerIncontinence: Blaze suffers from a severe case of this in ''Rise of Dreadnought'', as her aura begins to go wild. The first time she describes involved her unconsciously movinng stuff with her mind and humourously throwing Axel out of bed, which she thought was kinda funny. The second time though (As in the first instance we see on-page) has considerably more tragic consequnces, as Blaze has a nightmare that causes her aura to explode, destroying the hotel she was staying in and killing forty-plus innocent people. The third time even causes her to mindlessly attack Skate, and the fourth time crashes one of the helicopters they were using to find one of Harakiri's facilities.
267	* RapeAsBackstory: [[spoiler:Blaze, in this continuity]]. It's disconcerting that [[AngstWhatAngst she can so casually talk about what she experienced in her childhood]] while switching back and forth between banter about the food she's eating.
268	--> '''[[spoiler:Blaze]]''': It's ironic. I've been raped so many times in my life...I've almost gotten used to it. How sick is that?
269	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Captain Jack Wyndam in ''Cygnus Threshold'', and the U.S. President in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''. In the latter case, Blaze disobeyed direct federal orders for Team Firestorm not to pursue Dreadnought...and the President, heading the subsequent trial, ''only'' fines Blaze $3.5 million and allows her to continue heading the team instead of sending her to prison, on the grounds that her disobedience ended up averting the [[BigBad Big Bad's]] intended nuclear war.
270	* RedBaron: In his native China, Haku-Oh was known as "God of the Lance".
271	* RedOniBlueOni: Axel and Adam, respectively.
272	* TheRemnant: By ''Behind the World'', this is what the Syndicate is reduced to.
273	* TheReveal: Much to the horror of the protagonists in ''Shadow Hand''. [[spoiler:[[BigBad Socharis the Dragon Lord]] is [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. X]]]].
274	* RobotMe: Mr. X has a number of these to serve as stand-ins for him (an element taken from the third game, which is why it's not spoiler-tagged).
275	* RollerbladeGood: Skate, just like in the games. Here, the narrative makes a point of playing up his roller-blades being an integral part of his fighting style, and it also gets very descriptive about the kind of damage he does to opponents' faces with them.
276	* RoomDisservice: In ''Cygnus Threshold'', the Blue Swan gang attempts to get rid of Busta by disguising the hitman as a bellboy.
277	* SadisticChoice: Silver [=McLeod=] gives one to the heroes when they have him cornered in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''. He reveals that there are a number of bombs planted throughout Manhattan, and if the good guys kill him or otherwise sabotage his mission to retrieve Dreadnought's weapon, the bombs will go off. However, the alternative for the heroes is just as bad--if [=McLeod=] gets away, he'll have a powerful diffusion engine at his disposal. In the end, the welfare of the city trumps the man's arrest, and they have to let him go.
278	* SayMyName: Done by Axel in ''Behind the World''. [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal "Blaaaaaaaze!"]]]].
279	* SecretSecretKeeper: It's revealed in ''Duality'' that Adam and Tina, Axel's sister, as well as several other individuals within the FBI, were this regarding the true identity of Enigma.
280	* SendInTheClones: Spoken verbatim by Shiva.
281	* SenseLossSadness: Dr. Zan, due to being a cyborg, can no longer enjoy the various pleasures of life that most humans take for granted, such as being able to enjoy food or intimate relations. He angsts about this for a while, especially because he was turned into a cyborg against his will.
282	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Mr. X.
283	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Axel was known to disobey orders during his days as a cop. Blaze also pulls this to avert a nuclear war.
284	* ShockAndAwe: Dr. Zan, similar to his standard special attack from the games. Also, Electra can deliver electric shocks via her whips, also like in the games.
285	* ShootTheDog: The protagonists are forced to do this to [[spoiler:Dr. Zan]] in ''The New Syndicate''.
286	* ShoutOut: Plenty of them within the saga.
287	** ''Cygnus Threshold'' has Axel playing ''VideoGame/XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'' in one flashback to his youth.
288	** Pre-2014 update, the prologue of ''Origins'' had a segment of narative that wass lifted almost word-for-word from a similar scene in the ''Literature/JurassicPark'' novel.
289	** The aforementioned crossovers as well as Dr. Dahm being sent to [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Arkham Asylum]]. The 2014 rerelease would later rename it to Gartloch, althoguh the backstory of the facility is still similar to Arkham's.
290	** The climax of ''The Rise of Dreadnought'' where Axel and gang battle a mutated Vehilits within a train is similar to the climax of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''.
291	** On that note, the ending of ''The New Syndicate'' is similar to the beginning of ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'', complete with Blaze saying Alice's "My name is Alice and I remember everything" line.
292	** ''Duality'': Shiva's world-destroying superweapon is called a [[ComicBook/DarkEmpire World Devastator]].
293	** Mr. X's CloningGambit in ''Shadow Hand'' is very similar to Palpatine's in the aforementioned series, including the CloneDegeneration problem and having his entire supply of clones destroyed by his traitorous henchmen (In X's case, Shiva and Rudra.)
294	** The 2014 update of "Origins" has this line from Axel in regards to Mr. X's ambitions:
295	--> '''Axel:''' [[Film/DrNo World domination. That same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they’re Napoleon... or God.]]
296	** ''Rise of Dreadnought'' features a character named [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Arnold Ernst Toht.]]
297	* SirSwearsALot: Blaze is Miss Swears-A-Lot, to the point that the F-word may as well be her catchphrase. [[DarkAndTroubledPast She's not at fault for it]].
298	* SlasherSmile: Enigma.
299	* StartOfDarkness: Mr. X had one, according to the saga's time-line summary (provided in supplementary material). In his back-story, he was a war veteran who was captured and tortured while on a tour of duty in Vietnam; he blamed the government for leaving him to die and decided that [[KnightTemplar all governments should be ruled over by him in order to fix their corruption]]. To that end, he became the head of the Syndicate and, on the legitimate side, the most powerful person in the U.S. Senate.
300	* SuperSpeed: Enigma develops this.
301	* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Blaze's worries about how well she can control her rapidly-growing KiAttacks becomes a plot point in ''The Rise of Dreadnought''.
302	* SuperSoldier: The fourth story, ''The New Syndicate'', gives us several [[spoiler:clones of Blaze]] who were genetically engineered to serve the Syndicate.
303	* TheSyndicate: The Blue Swan organization in ''Cygnus Threshold'' is responsible for drug and weapons-running along the United States' West Coast; of course, it turns out to be only a subsidiary group for ''the'' canon nameless syndicate. Later books feature the ''New Syndicate'', run by the BigBadDuumvirate above, the Shadow Alliance in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'', and the Union Lizard gang in ''Shadow Dancer''.
304	* TakeOverTheWorld: This is Mr. X's main goal.
305	* TattooedCrook: All members of the Blue Swan gang have tattoos of a blue swan somewhere on their bodies, most usually the forearms. During ''Cygnus Threshold'', the only clue Axel has to his father's killer's identity is that the person responsible had a tattoo like this. Then there's Abadede in ''Sons of Darkness'', bearing facial tattoos just like his game counterpart.
306	* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:Anthrax says this regarding his past identity, Skate Hunter]].
307	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The description of Wood Oak City's destruction via bomb explosion in the second chapter of ''Project Y'' (mirroring the destruction of the similarly-named city in the Japanese version of the third game).
308	--> ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Within two-thousandths of a second after the initial blinding flash of light, the explosion had become a small searing ball of vapour with a temperature of 18 million degrees Fahrenheit, a new-born mini-sun of no material substance]].''
309	* {{Tykebomb}}: ''Project Y'' reveals that [[spoiler:Blaze]] was intended to be one for the Syndicate.
310	* UnstoppableRage: Axel unleashes a ''lot'' of this on [[BigBad Enigma]] [[spoiler:when the latter kills Blaze]].
311	--> '''Axel:''' [[spoiler:[[PunctuatedForEmphasis She! Was! My! Wife!]]]] ''(emphasizes each word with a punch)''
312	* UpdatedRerelease: The original collection was updated on [[http://www.soronline.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1135 March 20th, 2014]]. This rerelease features heavy rewrites on nearly all of the stories, whilst also completely scrapping ''Sons of Darkness'' and rendering it noncanon, toning down and even removing certain sex scenes including Project Y's infamous "Bus stop sex[=/=]Galactus" dream sequence with Blaze and Shiva.
313	* VillainousCrossdresser: Ash.
314	* VillainousFriendship: Mr. X and Shiva have these moments in ''Origins'', from sharing black-market cigars to sharing little black books.
315	* WasOnceAMan: Zamza, in this continuity. While humanoid in appearance, it's made clear that he's a freakish result of experiments conducted by Dreadnought back during World War 2; the heroes later learn that he used to be James Souther, one of the Nazi party's prisoners of war. (In the games, Zamza is a normal human who happens to wield WolverineClaws on his gloves and is a boss character in the second game, and Souther--the name itself being a ShoutOut to a major enemy from ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''--is a pallet-swap name for a similar enemy.)
316	** [[spoiler:Vehelits, as well, in this continuity; he/it was similarly experimented on by Dreadnought (in canon, it's a mechanical amusement park attraction and a mini-boss in the second game)]].
317	* WeAreEverywhere: The Syndicate has connections in every known area of the system, from localized police departments to as high as the Senate.
318	* WeCanRuleTogether: Lucius Hawk makes this offer to Axel and Adam when they confront him, [[MythologyGag using the same dialogue that Mr. X would make to the player in the first game]].
319	* WeaponOfMassDestruction: The Gargantua in ''The Rise of Dreadnought'', a modified Globemaster cargo airlifter with enough space to house the Rakushin Diffusion Engine (designed by the titular BigBad during World War 2), and armed with a multiple-launch nuclear rocket system and the latest stealth and deflection-shield technology. Additionally, the diffusion engine itself is capable of storing fifty-five Rakushin nuclear warheads, of which one alone has enough power to destroy a major city. In Dreadnought's words, the aircraft is "a destroyer of worlds."
320	--> '''Dreadnought:''' It will serve as the largest aerial-nuke bomber known to mankind.
321	** The World Devastator in ''Duality'', as described by Shiva, is a ship capable of air travel and orbital deployment, with its primary function being a singularity cannon capable of creating a black hole in the Earth's core that will grow large enough to create an inverted EarthShatteringKaboom.
322	--> '''Shiva:''' Quantum gravity will pull the planet, atom by atom, into the singularity, effectively sucking it inside out, crushing its mass into an infinitely tiny event horizon of zero-volume. The black hole will theoretically be sustained long enough to absorb the moon as well.
323	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Dr. Henry Dahm in ''Project Y'', regarding the creation of the X-Robots.
324	--> '''Zan:''' We were working for the good of mankind! ''Why'' are you following Mr. X and his fascist obsessions? Can't you see what you're doing?
325	--> '''Dahm:''' Fascist obsessions? Is that the limit of your vision? Mr. X is a revolutionary. Combined with my scientific genius, we are going to usher in a new era for humanity! Lives will be lost in the process, but it's for the greater good, I assure you. The time has come! Project Y is the key, Gilbert. You should know this...more than anyone.
326	* WhamEpisode: The fourth story, ''The New Syndicate'', is the first one to show the death of [[AnyoneCanDie a main protagonist]].
327	* WhatTheHellHero: In ''Duality'', Blaze calls out Adam upon finding out about his role in covering up Axel's disappearance during Enigma's MadBomber spree in the past [[spoiler:because Axel and Enigma are the same person]].
328	--> '''Blaze:''' Adam, I can’t believe you’ve kept this a secret for so long. Don’t you think something like this was bound to happen?
329	--> '''Adam:''' I… I don’t know. I was following orders. And so much time has passed...
330	* WouldHitAGirl:
331	** Axel. Of course, only if the woman in question was just pointing a gun at him moments before...
332	** Mr. X would, too, and for the same reason. Of course, he'd probably do it anyway.
333	** Max does it to Electra (a female mook from the games and an EliteMook in this continuity) in ''Project Y''.
334	** Enigma smacks Blaze around aplenty in ''Behind the World''.
335	* WreckedWeapon: In ''Shadow Hand'' Mr. X destroys Musashi's sword, which belonged to his father, with his new battlesuit. The ninja is so wounded his eyes fill with tears.
336	* YouHaveFailedMe: In the 2014 revision of ''Origins'', Mr. X has Shiva kill Howard (formerly Simon) Jerrin after the doctor fails to not only keep Blaze imprisoned at Edgemont, but fails to stop Axel and Blaze's second infiltration and making off with the Syndicate's Edgemont-housed computer database. Not that Jerrin realizes this as Mr. X seemingly allows Jerrin to join in a midnight feast of his and when Jerrin notices a sheet of plastic on the floor, X claims he's having [[DeadlyEuphemism painting done on his office]]. Shiva then appears from a nearby bathroom, blasts Jerrin in the head with a suppressed pistol then uses this sheet to wrap Jerrin's corpse in. In the previous version of the story, Blaze and Adam corner Jerrin at his home, interrogate him, then execute him.

Context FanFic / StreetsOfRageSaga