Gears, ratchets, sockets, and springs. Certain streets and empty lots of Paragon City shudder under the weight of mechanized feet, stomping Clockwork soldiers performing mysterious acts of violence and aggression.

The first of these Clockwork men – commonly called Sprockets – appeared several years ago. Early reports were confused, as victims and witnesses thought the Clockwork men might be one or two super-powered villains. Although violent, they were stealing objects of relatively low value – copper wire and steel cable, metal beams and machine shop tools. Incident followed incident, and suddenly there was a rash of Sprocket crime through the industrial districts of Paragon.