Tonight….
We introduced two of the characters to each other.
Father Julian Devon, a priest with a secret, is taking his orphans to Liberty Island. Meanwhile, a young scientist is trying out his new Stealthsuit, a suit of armour which also gives him the ability to turn almost invisible and, wait for it, teleport 25 000 000 miles in a second…
Father Julian notices a dark cloud heading in to shore and racing up the Hudson. Under it, floats a lone figure in black. Emergency responses alert the WatchTower which then alerts it’s first recruit, the scientist operating under the code name INDIGO. He teleports to the top of the World Trade Center and from there, to the observation deck of the Statue of Liberty. As he arrives, the cloud has reached the foot of the statue and the person it carries has touched down.
As the storm clouds swarm, everyone crowds inside the statue building, all save one: Father Julian. He confronts the dark figure and words are exchanged. The dark figure raises his hand and a brilliant bolt of lightning arcs down from the skies. There is a huge burst of light and when our eyes clear from the flash, only the priest is standing. His antagonist lies smoking and burned upon the grass. Father Julian touches him and utters a short prayer, as stunned as anyone at what has happened.
The emergency services response arrives and everyone is required to give statements. The burned man is taken in an ambulance to hospital and later dies from his injuries. INDIGO decides to investigate this priest further but before he can take action, Father Julian, urged by a young nun at the orphanage, arrives at the WatchTower to confess his actions. He reveals his powers to INDIGO and Jack White, the inscrutable, marble-skinned CEO of WatchTower New York. Jack agrees to speak to Father Julians Bishop and see if they can resolve his feelings of remorse at the accident earlier that day.
Next Week….some of the other heroes who will inhabit WatchTower New York, will arrive.
Ah Liberty. What better icon for an impressionable mind?
I’d brought the boys to Liberty Island for the day to show them there is more to the city than the grime and crime of the Lower East Side. I’d also came for the chance to clear my own thoughts and try to come to terms with the changes I’d experienced. Maybe they were a gift from God, but God’s given me few enough gifts recently.
While walking round the base, I noticed a dark cloud over the Hudson, nothing about it looked normal. This cloud was too isolated in the otherwise cloudless autumn sky. Something wasn’t right.
I gathered my young charges and herded them into the base of the statue and made sure they were safe with the nuns from the convent. Making sure they were safe I let curiosity get the better of me and ventured round to get a further look at the cloud formation.
There, floating just below it was a man. Obviously an exotic, (that’s the term the papers use these days), controlling the cloud, bending it to his will. He landed right in front of me, brushed past me like I wasn’t there. I grew fearful for the children. Who did he think he was, what right did he have to ruin my day? I made my first mistake, I challenged him, asked him who he was and what he wanted.
I heard the water before I saw it. I could have reacted, but indecision won and I stood my ground. The cascades of water chilled me to the bone, humiliated me, left me a wretch almost at his feet. I made my second mistake, I challenged him again. The change in the air was palpable, I could feel the electrons charging as the lighting bolt he summoned flew from the heavens to strike me….
It was simple really, far more than any of the experiments I’d tried in the basement of the orphanage, the control came naturally, the effect more than I’d imagined, more than I’d feared. I reached out and charged the air above me. Lightening follows the simplest course you know, not always the straightest. The flash blinded me, left me with spots before my eyes. But the smell, the smell will live with me forever, more than the ozone, the burnt flesh of the man seared my nostrils and left me sick. In changing the flow of lightening away from me and from the building I’d channelled it onto him.
Lightening follows the simplest course you know, not always the straightest.
Lord, forgive me for killing this man. I truly don’t know if he was evil, but he was a threat to my children. I had to stop him. I asked him to leave, to come back another day, but did I do enough? Could I have stopped him another way?
I must offer myself for atonement. I must find my confessor.
Extracted from the diaries of Fr. Julian Devon
9 AM NEWS – 25th October 2000
The man killed in yesterdays exotic struggle on Liberty Island yesterday has been identified as “Feidhlim Gerry”, also known to law enforcement officials as “Squall”. There are no witnesses to how he died though the WatchTower Instant Response were on the island at the time. He was admitted to hospital with serious burns but died due to complications. A visitor to the island, Father Julian Devon, gave no comment but admitted to having administered the Last Rites.
To: AMP Field Testing
Cc: Office of the CEO; WatchTower NYC Activity Log
Subject: Indigo Day 1 Status Report
Using the suit in field conditions is very different from the controlled test environments used thus far. T-jumping from WatchTower HQ to the top of the WTC was straightforward, with line-of-sight assisting in the necessary positioning calculations.
Ideally, I would then have t-jumped to the base of the Statue of Liberty, but I am still not entirely comfortable placing myself where I cannot see. This is an irrational discomfort that I must overcome to make full use of the suits faculties. Instead, I t-jumped to the top of the statue, and climbed in through the observation deck. The power-assistance and targetting systems made this seemingly acrobatic feat as simple as walking.
As I maneuvered my way through the crowd at the base of the stairwell, I could see through the doors that the priest was confronting the suspect. Placed in this situation, I don’t know what I would have done had the suspect not been blasted by his own bolt of lightning.
I spoke with the police and followed up with them about the priest’s involvement – I was concerned about the fusing of the suspect’s limbs, something for which I was sure the priest was responsible. [This later turned out to be vindicated when Father Devon approached the WatchTower].
Being in the public eye is very different from being a research scientist. There is an expectation, people look to you for answers and saying “this is my first day on the job” is not an option.
—
Recommendations:
* Add goggles and breathing apparatus to suit. This would aid in adverse weather or if activity took me into the Hudson (or other underwater environment).
* Add some kind of stun weapon, ideally silent. I suggest an easily concealed tranquiliser pistol to begin with.
Suit Statistics:
* Distances jumped: 1208m, 4105m
* Total elapsed time: 3h 47m
* Power used: 1.2%