Okay, let's get into the original Realm Knights story itself. This is the 2013 one-shot and the four-issue series that follows it, five issues altogether. Some collected edition…

Okay, let's get into the original Realm Knights story itself. This is the 2013 one-shot and the four-issue series that follows it, five issues altogether. Some collected editions put the one-shot at the back, but it comes first in the story. Before Cronus and the trip to Olympus, the Knights have a hostage situation to handle at the United Nations. Cindy has taken over the building with Nox, the Necromancer, and Grendel. She wants money and transportation, and the people responding to the siege aren't equipped to fight what is waiting inside. Shang helps assemble Sela, Britney, Robyn, Nathan Cross, and Heather Angelos to go in. Agent Aranda has something to offer beyond a request for help. He can clear criminal records. Sela has already benefited from the government clearing up the trouble that kept her from teaching, and Robyn certainly has a reason to listen when somebody offers to deal with her legal problems. These are people the government has pursued, now being asked to work for it. The Knights split up once they reach the building. One group goes after the attackers while Robyn and Britney work on getting the hostages out. Then they run into Grendel, and the rescue turns into a fight they aren't winning. Robyn decides they need Britney's wolf form. She doesn't stop to get Britney's permission. She shoots her in the leg to force the transformation. The wolf brings Grendel down, so Robyn's plan works. Britney's reaction afterward is another story. Once she's human again, she slaps Robyn and tells her never to do that again. Getting through their first assignment together has already involved one teammate deliberately injuring another. Outside, Aranda refuses to abandon the people fighting in the building, even when Wisnowski wants the helicopter to leave. Cindy then tries to take that helicopter for herself. Sela stops her escape, but not before Cindy stabs Aranda and kills him. The man who had offered the Knights a fresh start is dead before their first mission is over. Shang gets the explanation for the siege by reading Cindy's mind. The Dark One is behind it. With the Being hunting him, he wants a way to get away without using magic. The demands for money and transportation are part of his escape plan. The government still wants the Knights available afterward. Wisnowski gives Sela a communicator so they can call on her again. Robyn, however, has just watched the person guaranteeing her freedom get killed. She has good reason to wonder what happens to his promises now. Then Wisnowski reports to his superior, and the closing conversation makes their intentions clear. Keep the powered people under surveillance. Use them against the threats the government cannot handle. Once those threats are gone, eliminate the remaining Highborns too. So the hostages are saved, Cindy's escape is stopped, and the Realm Knights have completed their first job. Their new employers are already planning what to do when they no longer need them.