Covert Alpha

After World War II, the Dyer family including, George and Mary Dyer, supported the foundation of the modern-day Covert Alpha under the League of United Nations (L.U.N.) jurisdiction from the organization that had been the Special Covert Executive. The new Covert Alpha was conceived as a law-enforcement agency from the beginning, with a mandate to protect not a single city, state or nation, but the entire world. Future - H&N - Energy supplied Covert Alpha with advanced weaponry and created new technologies for the organization, such as the vortex beam that powers Covert Alpha Helicarriers and their trademark flying cars.

From its earliest days, Covert Alpha personnel numbered in the thousands worldwide, including agents in the field and support staff at bases on every continent. The original Helicarrier served as the organization’s mobile HQ and forward operating base.

Directors of Covert Alpha were technically responsible to the L.U.N., but they in fact reported to a council of twelve, whose identities have never been revealed. This council appointed former C.I.A. director Richard Summers as Covert Alpha’s first director, but he was murdered shortly thereafter by Leviathan.

The council then appointed a new director: Alice Grant. Grant's time as director and leadership are legendary and she stayed in post for several years after the war. Eventually she moved on after several betrayals and the near destruction of Covert Alpha after it had been infiltrated at all levels by Leviathan spies. The insurgency was dealt with quickly but Grant decided it was time for a new director and a new direction for Covert Alpha.

The council's next appointment was Erica Grant, Alice's daughter.

ERICA GRANT, DIRECTOR OF COVERT ALPHA

As director, Grant immediately went after Leviathan and its technocratic ally, Applied Ideas Leviathan struck back, destroying Covert Alpha’s first Helicarrier, but Grant led a strike on Leviathan's Island that decapitated the group and eliminated its leader, Baron Manfred Talis—at least for the moment.

Grant also built close relationships with super-hero groups, most prominently the Marvels because Grant's mother (Alice Grant) and Shield Spider had worked together on missions for the SCE going back to World War II. Spidey has led Covert Alpha operations on numerous occasions over the years, and he’s become one of the heroes most publicly identified with the organization. (Armoury is the other.)

Over the years, the Marvels often operated as Covert Alpha’s super-hero strike force, taking on threats beyond what regular agents could handle. Other super heroes, including Katushka, Lady Noh, Harrier, and Phosphor, have operated as Covert Alpha agents while also being part of external super-hero groups. Flicker, Nirvana and Hercules also became agents for short periods of time.

Covert Alpha made an early attempt to create its own super-hero teams, known as Agent Force, but this did not succeed. During an era when Leviathan repeatedly infiltrated the Covert Alpha ranks, some of Agent Force were revealed to be Leviathan double agents. After this, the Agent Force program was abandoned, and Grant relied on outside super-hero groups to bolster Covert Alpha’s combat capabilities.

Grant’s aggressive risk-taking as director often paid off, but at times, it put her in conflict with Covert Alpha’s governing council. After one such battle, Grant was forced into hiding when the council removed her as director. Martin Harris was appointed acting director, in part to move Covert Alpha away from Grant’s close working relationship with super heroes. Harris oversaw the implementation of the Superhuman Registration Act, which led to the first superhuman civil war.