Bedlam Syndicate is an organization that traffics children and teenagers who have the meta-gene by the influence of The Light. The organization operates near a children's hospital in Markovia and was founded by Frederick DeLamb. Children are kidnapped from the hospital and experimented on with the tar treatment to test for the meta-gene which led to many children's deaths and those who did survived are trafficked for profit.
History[]
The Bedlam Syndicate was founded by Frederick DeLamb, who is also known as Baron Bedlam, under the influence of The Light. The organization gained a couple members such as Count Vertigo, Helga Jace, and Simon Ecks who each joined for their own benefit. The syndicate was set up near a children's hospital. Simon Ecks would go to the hospital to find ill children to be used to test the meta-gene. The children would be sedated and left unconscious before being placed in a glass tube which was filled with a substance called Tar. As the Tar filled the tube had a high chance of killing anyone without the meta-gene which led to dozens of children's deaths. The children who died were buried in mass graves away from the facility. The children who did survive were either mutated or gained super-powers and was either trafficked off to criminals, affiliates and associates of The Light, or Apokolips.
Simon Ecks was able to capture one girl, Ana von Furth, and subjected her to the Tar experiment to make her into Plasma and sent her to fight on the forces of Apokolips against the Justice League which led to her death. Due to her death, Black Lightning and the Justice League began investigating what happened to her to be mutated and used to fight for Apokolips. Ana's brother, Otto von Furth, tricked by Ecks and subjected to the Tar experiment to become Plasmus. Frederick DeLamb also had Tara Strong experimented on with the Tar for the meta-gene and smuggled away.
Super Boy and Black Lightning infiltrate their base and found the tubes that contains the children. They were attacked by Plasmus and managed to capture Super Boy. Artemis attacks a group of men who were burying corpses of children and manage to save Halo from being buried alive.
As Frederick DeLamb's plot to go against the Quraci was underway, Simon Ecks also tried to show the prince of Markovia, Brion Markov, the glass tubes where they test for the meta-gene but the latter was appalled by the evil acts the syndicate conducts and tries to resist Ecks until Vertigo incapacitates him. Brion was later experimented on with the Tar and gained super-powers as a result. Vertigo became extremely angry at Ecks and threatened his life for jeopardizing the syndicate by allowing Brion to come to their base of operation. As DeLamb met with the other members of the group about what is happening, DeLamb left the group to handle the situation. As Helga Jace tries to save Brion, Vertigo, Ecks, and Plasmus fights against the Team and the Justice League to try and kill all of them. Despite their efforts, Plasmus was released from the syndicate's control but was killed for being mistaken as a monster by a bystander, Ecks was defeated, and Vertigo escaped. Eventually, DeLamb was defeated and imprisoned and Gregor Markov, the leading monarch of the Markovian monarchy, led an investigation into DeLamb which resulted in the organization and its operation being shut down.
