Issue 5, Skating on Thin Ice 2

Primary Objectives:
Find and free Minuteman
Find and free Mentor
El Diablo can't die
Destroy the pump house
Defeat the Ice Queen so you can interrogate her

Secondary Objectives:
Save the couple from the Ice Queen

Enemies:
Ice queen
Ice trooper

Cannisters:
1x Green (Experience) El Diablo must talk to a couple on the side of the frozen lake (at a picnic area) before this item will appear. Even then, it is hidden in a random trashcan in the stage. The cannister requires a hero to destroy the trashcan before it can be used. If you can, rescue all the heroes then have all three use the cannister (pause game and command use cannister) so all three heroes get an experience boost. Once, I admit I did not even find the cannister, so there may be bug in the game. If you really want this cannister and can't find it after demolishing every trash can, you can restart the scenario and try again.

1x Red (Health) on the frozen lake just past the couple who needs saving from the ice queen. Again have all three heroes use the cannister (at the same time) unless you're all good in health.

El Diablo has a few new abilities that makes him an asset to the team. The best thing is that he can fly immediately when you get him, so he's the fastest hero you have for a while. His heat attacks will fry any ice trooper or ice queen even if he uses a normal attack. Overpowering a heat attack on a cold enemy almost guarantees a sure victory. First thing though, take care of the three ice troopers that come your way by luring them away one by one. Fire on one, then run or fly away and take them out one at a time. You will notice that El Diablo has a sucky aim with his Tongues of Flame attack, so he will need to fly literally "on top" of an enemy before he can hope to score a hit. You'll also notice that El Diablo will occasionally double overpower his attack, and not just drain his energy-x reserve, but will usually miss with the attack and leave himself vulnerable.

The best way to operate El Diablo is to watch him attack -- something you cannot afford to do later in the game. It's unfortunate, but you can keep El Diablo pretty much alive if you catch him trying to double overpower his attacks without your authorization (the white speech bubble will read, 'Overpower!') just pause the game to interrupt his stupid display of machismo. By issuing another command (it can even be the same attack you asked him to do before; the game simply re-issues your order to the hero) you can avoid having him do his costly double overpowered attacks that miss and allow him to be a more productive member of the team. Furthermore, while Diablo-listo can underpower his flame tongue attack and whack ice troopers easily (do this to conserve his energy-x), he should use an overpowered attack for ice queens due to their innate toughness and the danger that they pose to the hot-headed flier. If an ice queen so much as tosses one or two cars or boulders at El Diablo, he will be puking out his own innards on the grassy knoll in less time than it takes for you to realize the guy is a wuss.

If you have El Diablo follow the path where he starts, one way leads to the couple talking about an experience cannister they dumped in the trash. The other direction leads to the couple that needs to be rescued from the ice queen. It's advised you find Minuteman or Mentor first before you attempt to rescue the couple (It's called the buddy system. It gives the enemy another target to shoot at; used proudly by veterans everywhere). Both Minuteman and Mentor are near the middle of the stage, guarded by ice queens and troopers. In either case, El Diablo will need to waste all the enemies, then melt the imprisoned heroes out of the ice by selecting "Rescue" from the command window. Talk to the hero when he is freed to add him to the team. You can rearrange the squad by dragging their portraits with the left mouse button. Sooner or later you will be instructed to destroy the pumphouse, and if you haven't done so, you can go try and rescue the couple from an ice queen.

Once the pumphouse is destroyed (try using Minuteman's 300 Percenter and an overpowered Smash on the building), fight the last ice queen and some goons then interrogate her for the whereabouts of Nuclear Winter.

Training
New Heroes: El Diablo (a.k.a., Rey Mysterio Sr., The Mexican Dude from 'Knuckle Bash', El Ass-O-Wipe-O)

El Diablo will not have levelled up due to him being on "non-squad" in the previous mission (it was just like Mentor when you first meet him). Deal with the loss and just power up Mentor by improving his Psyche Slash just enough (level 3) to buy Electron Beam. You will need Mentor's new beam in a stage a little later in the game. If for some reason you can level up El Diablo (wink wink), then take up the offer and buy Inferno.

Issue 6, A Nuclear Winter 1

Primary Objectives:
Defeat all the cold warriors and find out where Nuclear Winter is

Secondary Objectives:
Defeat all of Nuclear Winter's minions

Enemies:
Ice Queen
Ice trooper
Turrets (these are the Aircraft Carrier's AA turrets turned against your capes)

Cannisters:
1x Red (Health) atop the Aircraft Carrier's Bridge. YOu can try and use El Diablo's Tongues of Flame attack to knock the cannister off the roof and onto the flattop proper. Barring that, you should be ready to use Heroic Remedy if Mentor's health runs low Minuteman can jump up there and El Diablo can fly).

This stage is intensely furious. Enemies rush your team from the start and you are already undermanned. Have Minuteman take up position near the three oil drums by the start and have Mentor rush the enemy with an overpowered Psyche Slash; El Diablo should use an underpowered continuous Tongues of Flame as his attack. Minuteman can probably blow away all the ice troopers by tossing oil drums on them. Watch the explosions and be sure none of your allies are around to be caught in the explosion.

Once the rush is over, have El Diablo fly around and snipe at the enemies from afar. Be sure to stay away from the side of the carrier with the AA turrets or El Diablo will be pushing up daisies fast. If you want to get rid of the turrets, have Minuteman use National Guard, then 300 Percenter, then an overpowered Smash on the turret (not the turret stand, which does nothing). BAM. Turret goes down. Do this for all four turrets. El Diablo should snipe and Mentor should either provide himself as a target or attack any enemy with overpowered Psyche Slashes. Given that the Psyche Slash can hit four times, Mentor is not as bad as he sounds.

Interrogate the enemy Mentor points out and the stage will be over. If you want, seek out and destroy the rest of Nuclear Winter's henchmen (around and on the carrier) for extra prestige.

Issue 7, A Nuclear Winter 2

Primary Objectives:
Track Nuclear Winter by following the directions of the stranger

Secondary Objectives:
None

Enemies:
Ice queen
Ice trooper
Frost warrior

Cannisters:
1x Red (Health) near the end where you find Man-Bot, it'll be up on a hilltop.

First, do not head straight down the valley. That's just asking for the ice queen to fist your hero with their cold, bare, wow-they-look-real-slender-baby hands. Go instead, up and around the central valley on one side and use El Diablo and Minuteman to cross the gap if necessary. You should know by now that there really isn't a time limit on Freedom Force's missions, so you should take the time and use El Diablo to draw enemies up to him one at a time and wallop them with a heat attack. You can use Minuteman as a decoy since he jumps better than Mentor, but Mentor can do decoy duty as well. Minuteman should hurl the snowballs at ice queens and any enemy you see advancing menacingly towards you. The thrown snowballs do crushing damage, so keep El Diablo away from any ice queens and keep him aloft and moving unless you need to recharge his energy in a hurry.

The Frost Warriors are tougher and have a beam that does pure damage instead of merely freezing you. Try to fry them quickly, but weave on the way towards them or your hero will get hit. If Mentor has his Electron Beam, use that to distract them while your other heroes go in and deliver the decisive blow.

By using a combination of snowballs, heat attacks, and Mentor's Instinct Dominance (the ice trooper's ice bullets due piercing, not cold damage), you can demolish all opposition before they know about you. There are oil drums early on the valley floor (take the ones that fail to explode after fights) and at the second tug boat, there are two TNT crates that explode real nice (provided you weaken them first with a toss onto open ground). Once you rescue Man-Bot, the stage is completed. If you want, you can seek out and waste the rest of the henchmen, but you will only receive the raw prestige for killing them -- there is no secondary objective this time around.

Issue 8, A Nuclear Winter 3

Primary Objectives:
Don't let Minuteman fall.
Bring Nuclear Winter to justice
Minuteman must disarm the bomb before it blows

Secondary Objectives:
None

Enemies:
Ice queen
Ice troopers
Frost warriors
Nuclear Winter

Cannisters:
1x Red (Health) between the wooden docks and the cement power is a pile of snowballs. Check there.

Deal with the ice troopers at the start before you venture onto the wooden docks. Notice how hard the enemies are to spot while they are on the pier? It gets worse later, so start practicing pausing the game and taking long walks around the level. The other way is quicker -- let your enemies fire at your heroes and spot where they are. Both Man-Bot and Minuteman can hurl the oil drums with great success, but since Minuteman lacks a ranged attack, you should let him hurl the objects and have Man-Bot use the Focus power on enemies. Mentor is now more a liability than an asset (more so if he does not have Electron Beam), so he can be expected to decoy all the enemies while the rest of the team throws drums and fire off ranged beams of death.

Take out the enemies as the come, and be warned that a 60 second timer starts as soon as you meet Nuclear Winter at the end of the wooden docks. Once that happens, you only have that much time (and less) for Minuteman to go over and begin disarming the nuke. It takes about 20 seconds for him to do the whole job, so I advise you order everyone to use the most powerful attack on Nuclear Winter (Focus, Tongues of Flame, Psyche Slash) while Minuteman uses a 300 Percenter, then an overpowered Smash. If Minuteman hits Nuclear Winter, Minuteman can disarm the bomb in peace. If Minuteman misses, or Nuclear Winter activates an ice shell, order Minuteman to disarm the bomb and have your other three heroes do continuous attacks on the villain. Once Minuteman has disarmed the bomb, you can have him do another 300 Percenter and Smash Nuclear Winter into Commie Unconsciousness afterwards.

Training
New Heroes: Man-Bot (a.k.a., Man-Slave, Alchemiss' pull toy, Mega Man without the Roll, Ironman Reject #62); Black Bird (secret cape numero-uno, One Hot Momma, Amber Autumn wannabe)

Purchase Mentor's Electron Beam as soon as you can, and be sure to jack it up to level five. El Diablo should purchase Inferno, although he does not need to power it up too much (Hellfire is more a hinderance than a help, so you should try to avoid purchasing it). El Diablo can use the Flaming Fist attack, so try to buy that by improving Fire It Up. Ignition is also a cool addition since it allows El Diablo to spontaneously combust any object and make it explode! Note that Ignition only applies to objects though, not enemies. Once you've exhausted all the objects on a map, the power becomes pretty much useless.

Minuteman can use Minute Missile; there are other people better than him, so you can stuff him into the trunk from now on. The focus on Man-Bot's powers should be on Transfer; it will be doubtful you will be able to reach Release, so just concentrate on purchasing attributes so he can purchase flight (the last attribute he has). Flight will help Man-Bot (who is already slow as hell) immensely later on. If you turned on the cheat to access the secret heroes, you'll be able to recruit Black Bird, but you won't be able to use her for the next set of missions.