From the introduction:
This adventure is designed for 5 characters of level 6-12. Although written as taking place in northeastern Illinois, the GM should feel free to relocate it to wherever his campaign is normally situated.
Before the adventure begins, the GM can foreshadow it by dropping hints and rumors in earlier episodes of the campaign.
The players may have heard rumors of the Crime Academy, an elite school for super-villains. Its existence spoken of only in whispers by the leaders of the Underworld. The GM should expose the players to vague rumors of this institution, but no leads or substantial evidence for them to follow up on.
Another rumor concerns several incidents of the theft of quantities of Hyperbium, a mineral with no known practical use or market value that is found only in certain ancient meteor fragments. There have been a few sightings of perpetrators, but none have fit the descriptions of any known super villains. They were Crime Academy students.
Finally, there are persistent but unverified sightings of hideous "lobster people" reported in the tabloid press.