When it was revealed that Phantom Lady was secretly informing her father, Senator Henry Knight, of S.H.A.D.E.‘s questionable activities, Father Time had the Senator covertly assassinated and impersonated by a villainous cyborg called Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard. Gonzo began acting on Father Time’s behalf, backing legislation that would effectively allow the country to be run as a dictatorship, enforced by Time’s metahuman army.
It was later revealed that this was all a calculated ploy by Father Time in order to manipulate Uncle Sam into reforming the Freedom Fighters and stopping Gonzo.