At 9 am, the doors to the conference room open and a motley crew of individuals file in. At the head of the table sits Jack White, the marble-faced CEO of WatchTower New York. Clockwise around the table we see Father Julian Devon (later to be known as Balance), Jason also known as INDIGO and three new individuals. The first introduces himself as SkyCrane (though you can call him Ben), the second calls himself Red Shift (speaking with a deep Southern accent) and the third as Psiren. It becomes apparent that Skycrane can lift huge weights with the power of his mind and fly and he quickly slots into the role of the team “Brick”. Red Shift claims to be “fast, too fast to see proper”. Psiren claims to be a telepath and empath and that she can become the communications backbone of the team.
Father Julian looks confused but is assured by White that everything has been sorted out with his Bishop. More on this later.
The team are informed of the plans for WatchTower. They will be the primary team operating out of TriBeCa. The second team will be operating out of the WatchTower NY training facility in the Catskills. They are also informed of White’s intentions to construct a WatchTower franchise outside of the United States through a special Sanction Zero which has been proposed by the United Nations. He refuses to elaborate at this time.
After this briefing, the team is introduced to Nicole Menshikov, the Public Relations Executive. Her job is to help the team settle into their new role, manage relocations and cement public identities and ensure that private identities are protected. She criticises INDIGO for his lack of insignia, questions Father Julian about his codename (which he eventually relents to, with Balance) and discusses the facilities available to WatchTower staff for keeping identities private. The meeting finishes as the group start to chat among themselves with Psiren finishing questions before they are asked which some find irritating.
The last thing they do is look up the now-deceased Squall. Known accomplices including two superpowered miscreants known as KillerWatt and HellStrike.
As lunch Approaches, Father Julian invites Psiren, also known as Alice, to lunch at Liberty Island. His gesture is more investigatory than complimentary and they spend time walking around the island. He and Jason bring a multimeter and test various objects in the environment. He’s looking out for any signs of Squall’s accomplices.
Psiren is able to detect empathic impressions from the area and she elucidates her feelings on the region. Suspecting collusion, Jason flashes his WatchTower badge at the head of security, a short, balding man called Lopez. He promises to fax over the duty roster for the 24th. The group also resolve to obtain schematics of Liberty Island. There must be something beneath….
I don’t care what she says, I’m not wearing a thong
It seems Mr White spoke with the Bishop after all. I don’t know what they agreed or how it was arranged so fast, but suddenly I’m a part time priest, part time superhero?
Superhero! I have problems opening the jelly jar!
But, against my better judgement and wish for a quiet life I’ve decided to go along with them for now, if only to find out more about these powers and to see if there is a way to atone for the death of that man. I’ve arranged for Father Darcy to take a more active role in the church and orphanage affairs, he’s a good Christian, he’ll do well.
So, now I’m some sort of Superhero.
I attended my first Watchtower meeting today and met the rest of the team. They seem a good bunch, though I’m a bit worried that Ben and Red will kill themselves trying to outdo the other. Jason seems like a nice fellow, maybe a bit out of his depth, he seems happiest when he’s in his lab tinkering with that black suit of his. Alison is quite likeable as well, she seems very talkative but given she reads minds she probably has a lot to speak about – I just hope she can keep secrets.
After the meeting, we were introduced to a Miss Menchikov. It seems we need codenames and costumes. All I thought we needed was to fit evil, but I was wrong. Next I’ll have to have some sort of snappy one liner! When pushed, I remembered St. Dominic’s third letter to the Greeks, “Let him be the balance between light and darkâ€. If I’m going to police this place let me do it fairly, I told them to call me “Balanceâ€. So, now I’m sitting here trying to come up with a costume. Well, I don’t care what she says, I’m not wearing a thong.
We ended up back at Liberty for lunch, it was a good chance to look around and try to come to terms with what happened. I also wanted to see if there was anything that would obviously have been of interest to him. The common consensus was it was a someone, not a something, but I can’t shake the feeling I’ve forgotten something he said, something he did to make me think differently. I’m having problems sleeping, I relive the moment over and over and over – but what am I missing?
To: AMP Field Testing
Cc: Office of the CEO; WatchTower NYC Activity Log
Subject: Indigo Status Report 2000-10-26
Just a brief outing today, with some of the newer WatchTower members (Psiren, Balance, Skycrane).
Two points of note: I was able to use the suit’s stealth field to generate an approximation of civilian clothes. The illusion was much easier to maintain when wearing a jacket.
Secondly, I successfully field tested a jump to and from the WatchTower without line-of-sight.
One modification to the Indigo suit is being mandated by WatchTower, which is to do with branding. While not in stealth mode, we need to display the company logo.
A further recommendation: while this may not be necessary for the final version of the suit, I would find it very useful to be able to access information via the MED (Mind’s Eye Display). Initially, this could be limited to information deliberately transferred and stored there. Ideally, it would involve a secure mobile link to the WatchTower network (and potentially from there to the Internet).
Adding the ability to record information while wearing the suit would be useful, either audio or A/V, or even just text that could be entered via a handheld.
Suit Statistics:
* Distances jumped: 4112m (x2)
* Total elapsed time: 1h 04m
* Power used: 0.4%
From: Yellowfist (yellowfist@yellowfistrocks.net)
To: all@nywatchtower.com
Subject: FAO Mr Jack White; Re: Recruitment
Dear Mr White
Congratulations on your recently successful bid for the New York WatchTower franchise.
Although I am not a native New Yorker, I was horrified when the outgoing WatchTower team destroyed the Guggenheim Museum; such a loss is truly unforgivable.
I understand that you have decided to recruit a fresh team for your revitalised WatchTower, and I would like to register my interest in working with you.
My codename is Yellowfist, and I have been doubly-blessed with the power of the animal spirits Eagle and Bear. These gifts give me great strength and the power of flight. These warrior spirits have also passed to me a little of their unparalleled battle instincts.
While I could be considered ‘inexperienced’ in dealing with Exotic threats, I would be happy to provide any demonstration of my abilities you feel appropriate.
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely
John Mayweather (Yellowfist)
PS Please accept my apologies for contacting you in this unconventional manner – your personal email address is seemingly impossible to come by so I have emailed the entire WatchTower distribution list in the hope that this will reach you.
From: r.ulmar@nywatchtower.com
To: Yellowfist
Cc: reception@nywatchtower.com
Subject: Recruitment
Mr Mayweather,
Mr White has indicated that he is free this coming Thursday afternoon for an interview. Would you be available for a meeting at the WatchTower building?
Kind regards,
Robyn UImar
PA, Office of the CEO
WatchTower NY
From Yellowfist
To: Robyn
Subject: Meeting
Hi Robyn
Thanks for the reply. I’ll be there at 1pm if that suits? I’ve attached a recent publicity shot for security purposes.
Many thanks
John
From: Jack White
To: Robyn Ulmar
Subject: Schedule
Robyn,
Please reschedule my 1pm with the deputy chief-of-police. Recruitment is my number one priority right now.
Thanks,
J.