Chicago Sentinels

The Chicago Sentinels are a Crisis Aid and Intervention team headquartered in The Dome in Chicago. Founded shortly after The Event, they are the first and arguably the most prestigious CAI Team in the world.

Team motto is Nos Praestolor: We Stand Ready.

History
Like all other Crisis Aid intervention teams (Chicago has eight), the Sentinels are part of the state militia system. This places them under the command of the governor of Illinois in civil emergencies.

Within the Wearing the Cape universe, the Sentinels have inspired four movies, a TV series, and a graphic novel.

The Sentinels have an Operations and Procedures manual that appears to be at least partly written by Blackstone. The Sentinels use a coded alert systems for off-base members as well as numerous other codes.


 * 911-Yellow - "Emergency, don't kill yourself getting here."
 * 911-Orange - "Get Here Now!"
 * 911-Red - "Don't Bother Changing."
 * Code CPD1 - Superhuman homicide call
 * Sonic, code red - Enemy speedster
 * Havoc Protocals - deadly force, no retraint

Base of Operations
It has been remarked that the Dome itself looked just like a giant, half-buried baseball.

The large building has a lobby and other public-access areas patrolled by security. There is also a large bullpen on the lower levels where the Dispatch team works to run communications and coordinate capes in the field.

The complex boasts a secret "back door," a telephone booth entrance on Wabash and Jackson that leads to a sideways elevator and also a secret back door garage entrance under Boyd Tower.

Dome security includes the ability to detect an unauthorized teleporter by the change of air pressure when they popped in.

The Sentinels
Seven was a member of the Hollywood Knights when Astra first met him but he has since joined the Sentinels.

Before the Books
The five founding members were Atlas, Touches Clouds, Blackstone, Ajax, and Minuteman. Jennifer Touches Clouds later left the team to go into politics and was elected president, and Minuteman was killed by a gang member by the time of the series. Another member, Impact, was also killed in Israel before the start of the series.

Wearing the Cape
Astra joins The Sentinels team consisting of Atlas, Ajax, Blackstone, The Harlequin, Chakra, Nimbus, and Rush. Riptide, Seven, and Artemis also aid the team during the final events.

Villains Inc.
Watchman and Lei Zi were recruited by the Sentinels to help fill the holes in their roster and to further train Astra after the Whittier Base Attack. Artemis, Riptide and Seven have signed on officially, and the team is also able to hire Vulcan, a highly sought-after Verne-Type. Shelly also begins to pilot Vulcan's Galatea gynoid to support the team.

Recursion
The team of Blackstone, Chakra, Lei Zi, Rush, Seven, and Vulcan in Astra's loop is temporarily assisted by Veritas, Black Powder, Agent G, Kitsune, and later Iron Jack, Sifu, Ozma, Grendel, Alice, Brandon, and If Man.

Support Staff
The Sentinels are supported by a number of mostly non-Cape staff.


 * Tom, Bob, Tony, Bart, Ralph - Security
 * Willis - Majordomo
 * Dr. Jonathan Beth - Medical doctor
 * Dr. Alice Mendel - Psychologist
 * Alex Chandler - Public relations
 * Legal Eagle - Legal consult
 * David - Dispatch senior dayshift supervisor
 * Shelly - Dispatch

Several of the Sentinels themselves use their other skills to support the team. Blackstone utilizes his military background to serve as the information specialist, The Harlequin manages the team's public relations, and Vulcan supplements Dr. Beth by preparing Verne-science prosthetics. Atlas and Astra have both used their enhanced senses to work with the CPD as their Superhuman Crimes Liaison. Galatea uses her 22nd Century Quantum Computer brain to supplement Dispatch, able to operate even in many cases where other communications are shut down.