Arc 1: The White Knight

Issue 1: Fight and Flight

August 25, 2008 – 10:27 PM

            Nathan Thorn stood at the peak of the Red Sol City Bridge. His gruff face was covered by a white ski mask in an effort to deter anyone from recognizing him should they look out their windows and peer to the top of the bridge. He peered out over at the vehicles zipping by below him in an array of colorful stripes. He breathed in deeply, his nerves creating an empty pit in his stomach. Nathan had been contemplating the jump for quite a few weeks now, ever since he had fallen from the top of a castle he had been excavating.

            He was a small time archaeologist who had taken an interest in the ancient civilization that had built the castle. After weeks of grant requests, Nathan was assigned as lead for the excavation, which also meant that he took the most risks. He had climbed to the apex from the exterior, and despite careful analysis from his team, he couldn’t anticipate the steps crumbling, causing him to drop several stories. Panic had set in, his only hope the sand below acting as a cushion.

            Not that it mattered, Nathan was strong. Very, very strong. He was a superhuman. If he had fallen from a hundred stories high, the worst he would expect would’ve been a couple of bruises on his back. He had lifted cars up over his head and demolished brick walls with a single punch. Atop his strength, Nathan was also extremely fast. He had raced alongside cars moving over 100 MPH on the highway and crossed the length of Red Sol City within minutes.

            But when he fell from the castle, Nathan was surprised to find that he was floating midair. His descent was imminent, but he was gliding downwards until his feet touched ground a short walk from the site. His team had heard the crumbling and was searching for his remains in the ruins when he came upon them. While his cohorts were relieved that he’d survived, Nathan was excited by the possibility that he could fly.

            He had attempted to fly while he’d been on the ground. Weeks of jumping up and leaping resulted in a failure for liftoff, and Nathan proposed a hypothesis to himself that he would have to simulate the conditions of his initial flight. He had climbed up the height of the bridge and found a safe location to jump from, but now he was having doubts.

            ‘What if I fall and plummet into the water?’ wondered Nathan. He was only an average swimmer and didn’t have the confidence that his superpowers would save him from drowning. His doubts grew as he thought about the accident. ‘It could’ve been a fluke!’

            He closed his eyes and inhaled the cold night air once again. His senses sharpened and he could hear an argument between two drivers below him. Two doors opened and the drivers exited their vehicles. There was an exchange of curses before a vibration rattled Nathan’s ears. It was the familiar sound of a fist connecting with the face.

            Nathan was a coward when it came to fighting, but being around his best friend, Detective Vann Strong, he was often exposed to amazing stories about encounters with thieves and murderers. Oftentimes, he would be enlisted by Vann as a forensic specialist and during the mini “missions”, he found Vann beating down a criminal trying to escape the law.

            He wondered how Vann would react to his superpowers, if he might be exploited and recruited by the police force to hunt down criminals. Suddenly, sirens rang approached in the distance and snapped Nathan out of his thoughts. His vision zoomed in on a truck racing down the roads towards the bridge, followed by half a dozen police cars. The traffic cleared up but allowed the rogue truck to elude the police pursuit.

            Down below, the two drivers were still duking it out. Their little altercation had spread out of control and several other drivers had stopped in the middle of the road to break apart the fight and clear the clogged up lanes. Nathan’s eyes raced from the bridge to the rapidly approaching truck.

            “Shit,” he muttered. The speed that the truck was moving it, there were two possibilities: if the rogue wasn’t desperate enough, he would stop once he saw the blockade of cars. The other possibility was that he needed to escape the police at all costs, even if it meant attempting to bust through dozens of cars filled with innocents. Unfortunately, the truck driver wouldn’t be able to see the source of the blocked lanes.

            The civilians couldn’t move out in time amidst the ongoing fight. The sirens burst through the traffic lanes and onto the bridge. The truck was in the lead, the sides of the cargo container scraping the various cars it passed. Sparks flew about, followed by screaming and cars scurrying to the sides.

            Nathan panicked. The cops filtered in line behind the truck, which was still charging strong towards the fight below. He knew what he had to do, but if he was off and fell into the water, all would be lost.

            “You know what the beauty of the job is?” asked Vann.

            “The gun?” replied Nathan. He had been in a local police bar a while ago with Vann. The detective had just arrested a serial killer and was the hotshot of the precinct.

            “No…You see the differences you’ve made,” said Vann. He took a swig of beer and leaned in close over the table. “Ever since high school when we were both on the baseball team, we thought we were at the top of the food chain. But what did we ever really do? What did I really do before this?”

            Nathan chuckled. “Golden boy of the Strong family, prom king, Princeton graduate, and you ask me what you’ve done?”

            Vann nodded. “Right, right. The so-called golden days my mother told me of all the wonderful accomplishments I had. I don’t know, Nate. I felt so empty, but this…what I do now. When the families of the victims finally find peace, I feel I’ve given comfort to somebody, not just stamped another golden medal onto my list of achievements.”

            “I know that you make a difference in people’s lives, Vann, but you also risk a lot more of your own life,” said Nathan, eyeing a patched up bullet wound on Vann’s chest.

            Vann cringed at the memory of the wound. “My son is turning one tomorrow.”

            “Don’t tell me you do this job to protect him. You were on the job way before he was born,” said Nathan humorously.

            “We wanted so much to change the world when we were younger…not for ourselves, but for the people that we love, and the people that come after us. Every life that comes after…”

            Nathan scrunched up his eyes at the memory. He wasn’t a cop and saving lives wasn’t his job, he was just an archaeologist with a few superpowers. The truck crashed into a bus and there was an explosion. Flames webbed outwards while the force of the explosion hurtled five civilians off their feet. Nathan watched the two arguing men plummet downwards, screaming in fear.

            “But every life is valuable,” continued Vann. “Doing this job, I get to see the good and the bad in people. I can’t admit that I’ve always been willing to risk myself. But saving the good people is worth it.”

            “You trying to make me feel bad?” chuckled Nathan. “We can’t all be heroes like you.”

            “Don’t sell yourself short,” said Vann. “I call you up because I respect what you can do and trust that you’ll help me. I mean, we are best friends after all.”

            The two men downed their beers. Nathan couldn’t be a coward at that moment. He took a running start and then vaulted off the bridge without thinking. The wind rushed past his face and he began screaming in fear and panic.

            ‘I can’t do this! I can’t do this!’ he thought to himself. Eyes turned to the source of the screams, drawing attention away from the explosion. Nathan was a blur, a streak of white that was plunging downwards into the water.

            SPLASH! SPLASH! Two of the civilians had already sunk into the river. SPLASH! Three. WOOSH! WOOSH! The two arguing men hit the water. Nathan was still screaming his head off. He wasn’t flying and the water was coming fast.

PLOOSH! Nathan’s limbs flailed wildly in the murky river water. He could faintly see the outlines of the fellow sunken civilians. Overhead, a series of lights blinked and pierced the surface of the water. Nathan held his breath as tightly as he could and lunged out at the figure closet to him. It was a young woman who was knocked out. He grabbed her around the waist and then kicked off. His super strength provided the power of a propeller and the two burst out through the top of the surface. Officers overhead blared out at the two of them with a megaphone while bystanders were gasping when they saw Nathan’s mask. Several trained policemen were already swimming towards him and the fainted woman. Nathan lay the woman on the water, letting her buoyancy take over until she could be rescued.

            He didn’t have time to react. He took a gulp of air and dove back into the water. Immediately, he noticed a trail of blood that lead to a man whose leg had been lacerated across the length. He struggled to push up a young girl who was beginning to lose her consciousness. Nathan dove down and wrapped an arm around the girl while grabbing the hand of the man. He kicked off to the surface with ease. He wasn’t a lifeguard but hoped that he wasn’t causing any permanent damage to the victims. Worst thing he could do was rescue them from the depths of the water only to give them the bends.

            Rescue workers were already waiting at the surface. “Who are you? How many more people are below? You need to leave this to us!”

            Adrenaline was already racing through Nathan’s veins. He had seen everything that had happened and he could’ve prevented it. The guilt was consuming him, giving him a reason to continue dragging up the survivors. He swam down once more. A beam of light illuminated the dark river, and Nathan realized that there must have been a helicopter overhead. He used it to guide himself to a man flailing in the water. A quick push and the man was sent surging up past a small school of fish.

            ‘Where are the troublemakers?’ Nathan groaned to himself. He peered through the water, the salt only then beginning to sting his eyes. He saw two floating bodies slowly sinking and began power swimming towards them.

            PLOOOSH! KABOOOM!

            He was only a few feet away when the truck shot into the water. Nathan was pushed next to one of the men, whose hand he grasped. The other was being jetted upwards. The heat from the explosion burned Nathan’s white one-piece suit and he grunted in pain, swallowing a mouthful of black water. There was no time to waste. He swam upwards, evading scattered metal strips, pulling the man with him. He caught ahold of the other man and wrapped his arm around his neck.

            BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOM!

            More eruptions rocked the water and shot Nathan out of the water. He fell into the sky and felt the hand of the first victim slip. ‘NO!’

            The man was in a nosedive, headed towards the inferno on the water’s surface while Nathan and the other victim soared in an arc through the air. Nathan grabbed out in vain at the man, unable to reach him. Heat burned Nathan’s chest, followed but a piece of piercing him, causing him to scream out in pain. He wasn’t perfectly invulnerable, and he felt the serrated metal as it dug a small incision near his sternum.

            Chaos flooded Nathan’s head, a burst of memories of Vann’s stories as well as his initial discovery of his superpowers. He had always been afraid to use his powers because he could kill. The coward that had brute strength wasn’t afraid of losing a fight, it was of losing a life. But now if he didn’t use his superpowers, he was going to lose a life. The pain in his chest would only serve as a reminder of the night, of his failure.

            The wind whirled around Nathan’s face and he pulled the falling man out of the air. He soared into the sky before he realized what was happening. He flew through the cold night air and landed awkwardly in the middle of a crowd that had cleared. He dropped the men by his side and then collapsed to his knees. Blood pooled out from his chest while he felt a small cut bleeding on his forehead.

            “Move out of the way, move out of the way!” roared a familiar voice. Nathan saw a built, tall man with combed blond hair moving through the crowd. He donned a suit that flattered his handsome face. Nathan groaned, recognizing his best friend. There was no way he’d escape the police now. Vann was front and center, staring at him with a face of awe.

            ‘Secret’s out,’ thought Nathan.

            “Who are you?” asked Vann. Nathan looked up into his friend’s eyes and realized that his outfit and mask were still mostly intact and he was still just the mysterious stranger who had rescued half a dozen civilians from their watery deaths. Still, he was in a state of shock and fear.

Not receiving an answered, Vann asked another, “What are you?”

            Policemen swarmed through the crowd, who were flashing their cameras and pointing at the white-masked man. “You, you’re under arrest!” They were addressing him. Nathan’s heart skipped a beat.

            “On what charges?” growled Vann. Nathan saw his friend pulling out a badge and pointing at the cops. “This man just saved six people. Get in line and stop making a scene before I report you all!”

            “Detective Strong! This man-”

            “Will be dealt with,” roared Vann. “The lot of you have more important things to deal with. For starters, we need to get this bridge cleared up.”

            The best friends looked at each other. Not wanting to give away his voice, Nathan nodded a silent thank you to Vann and then looked up at the sky.

            “You should take a ride with me though,” said Vann. Nathan shook his head vehemently and then stood up. The men next to him were being taken away by several medics who had arrived on scene.

            Nathan deepened his voice. “Maybe another time. Right now, it’s time to fly.”

            Vann’s eyes widened as Nathan leaped and shot into the air like a rocket.

2: The Monster Within

Arc 1: The White Knight

Issue 2: The Monster Within

August 27, 2008 – 12:15 PM

            It had been almost a decade ago that superhumans had begun to appear. There were only a few to begin with: a teenage boy dodged an assault of bullets during a gang fight, a bartender who shattered all his glasses and windows by snapping his fingers and reports of a woman turning into smoke during a fire, only to reform at a later date.

            The reports had been initially dismissed but within a few years, they became front page material for the press. The superhumans were accompanied by magicians accused of practicing magic and using magical artifacts. A local vet in a small town was ostracized for being able to speak to animals while a college student was said to be able to change reality simply by speaking what she wanted to change.

            Several superhumans went into the spotlight and debuted themselves as superheroes. The first was Cumshaw Joe, an athlete capable of lifting a bear over his head and could perform incredible acrobatic feats with ease. He was recruited by The Administration, a newly formed government agency dedicated to learning about these metahumans and ensuring they weren’t a danger to society. Moonatic was next to join their ranks. He had been a psychiatric patient diagnosed with multiple personality disorder until he asserted that it was a byproduct of his superpowers, which also allowed him to teleport. He became a highly valuable asset of The Administration.

            The government gave a positive light to these new mutant heroes, but the public was heavily divided on the subject. Villains such as Dreamweaver–a mutant capable of inducing hallucinations–and The Constrictor–capable of squeezing a man to death–induced a sense of paranoia. Anyone’s neighbor could be a wizard that used blood as a medium or a supernatural being disguised as a human. As much as the average man could have faith that superheroes and the police would protect them from these hazardous villains, there was the complementary anxiety that these supervillains would be worse than the standard criminal on the streets.

            When Gavin Rainwaters had developed his superpowers, he felt blessed. He worked in a shabby Italian restaurant in downtown Red Sol and had never done anything particularity special. So when he was being mugged outside the restaurant after locking up, he felt hopeless. He took a fighting chance and boy was it worth it. The three muggers had baseball bats and a chain with them, but Gavin threw out his fist…and missed. Instead, it collided with the metal pole holding up the streetlights, causing it to crash down onto the street.

            Everyone was freaked out. The muggers fled for their lives, and Gavin was initially shocked to discover that he was one of the metahumans portrayed in the news. He knew that he wanted to make something of himself, become a superhero.

            The idea became a pipe dream when he woke up next morning and found a sharp bone protruding out of his face. He growled like a wild animal when he tried to speak and when the police busted into his apartment half an hour later in response to reports of a wild animal, Gavin became the monster that he was on the outside. The police saw the disfigured man, a horn protruding from his left cheek, a fully red right eye, with fangs baring out from the same side. His nails had become claws and along his arms and chest were heavy spikes.

            “Don’t shoot!” Gavin tried to scream. Instead, a mix of garble came out of his mouth.

            “Stay back! How did you get in here?” one of the officers yelled. Gavin tried to wave his arms to show that he wasn’t armed and only succeeded in crushing his desktop.

            “Oh great,” grumbled Gavin. The police opened fire and he was forced to retreat to the back of his apartment. He considered the fire escape but saw flashing outside his windows and knew that the cops had backup. A megaphone was yelling out to him in the background, but all he wanted was to escape. The police were behind him and he realized that he would stand a better chance outside.

            “You’re under arrest!” one officer shouted. His partner looked him and asked, “What charges are we going to press? He doesn’t even look human!”

            “Breaking and entering…and resisting arrest, I suppose.”

            Gavin rolled his eyes and leapt out the window. He came crashing down on top of one the police cars, just narrowly crushing the officer in the driver’s seat.

            “Get out of the way!” roared Gavin incomprehensibly. His frenzy garnered a renewed set of bullets raining down on him. He jumped out from the roof of the car and began running past the four cop cars. Two officers got into their vehicles and coordinated with several officers on foot to corner him.

            Gavin knew the neighborhood and its back roads like the back of his hand. He clung to the narrow alleys, hoping to lose the cops hot on his tail. He hoped that his girlfriend would recognize him, because it was the only safe place he could think of at the moment.

            Sirens on one side, police codes being shouted on the other. Gavin realized that he had come across an alleyway that had two options, over a large fence and into the streets, or down into the manhole below. Looking down at the spikes on his hands, he came to the sad conclusion that his girlfriend might call the cops on him, especially when she couldn’t even understand what he was saying.

            He hopped into the manhole.

 

August 27, 2008 – 2:19 PM

            DUN-DUN-DA! Beethoven’s fifth rang out in Nathan’s apartment, and he opened his eyes to the bright afternoon light. He pulled the charger off his cell phone and flipped open the lid.

            “Wassit?” mumbled Nathan.

            “Good afternoon sleepyhead. I got a job for you,” came Vann’s voice from the other end of the call.

            “How you going to pay me this time?”

            “Aww, isn’t our friendship enough?” pouted Vann.

            “Not if I’m going to be rifling through dead bodies and eviscerated organs,” grumbled Nathan.

            Vann pondered and asked, “Lunch at Auntie Clair’s?”

            “I am kind of hungry…”

            “No kidding, when did you knock out last night?” chuckled Vann. His tone dulled and he said, “The guy we’re after isn’t our run of the mill criminal. I have a hunch that he’s a meta.”

            Nathan sat up straight in his bed, his heart beating faster than usual. He hadn’t flown home directly from the bridge two nights ago. Rather, he dropped at several locations and trashed his outfit at the dump before taking a bus back. He was too afraid of not having covered his tracks. The news was running stories on the mysterious “White Knight” and from what he’d seen on the news, the Red Sol Police Department was intent on finding him and securing his motives. Vann had even given his two cents on the hero, but he wasn’t in charge of the case…

            “A meta?” asked Nathan cautiously.

            “I got assigned this case several hours ago, but I haven’t gone out to the crime scene yet,” said Vann. “The reports say a creature, but word of mouth says a humanoid mutated.”

            “Any idea where he’s gone?”

            “Lost him around Barrows and Pelway. He destroyed a few of our cops before he escaped.”

            “So he’s dangerous?” asked Nathan.

            Vann breathed out heavily. Questions like that always weighed on him because he knew better than most of his colleagues that the world wasn’t black and white. He didn’t need to filter the words with his best friend, but chose them carefully so that he didn’t misrepresent himself nor the alleged criminal. “He didn’t attack any of our officers, but he jumped out the window trying to escape. The police say he landed on the car and then ran off to avoid arrest–Look, this is your forte Nathan. I know you’re just an archaeologist but you’ve got better observation skills than anyone on forensics. There’s something off about this case and I could really use your help.”

            Nathan sighed to himself. He was hoping to avoid Vann for as long as possible, but if he made up an excuse, Vann would know something was wrong, and that was the last thing that he needed.

            “Alright, I’ll meet you at the precinct in half an hour.”

            “Thanks buddy. I’ll grab you some pepperoni pizza rolls and flan.”

            Vann hung up, leaving Nathan to his own thoughts and get a start on his day. He stripped off his shirt and saw his reflection in the full-length mirror. There was a slight singe on his chest: an upside down “V” with a diamond underneath the gap. He had been impulsive during the night of the accident, but now knew that he could fly. But the fall–what if he wasn’t strong enough to survive and drowned or if the metal slip had been closer to the center of his chest. He wasn’t the kind of person to take those risks…so why did he jump? He could’ve chosen to be a coward and leave the rescue work to the police.

            The precinct was stuffy and crowded as usual. Officer McKenly led Nathan past the cells and policemen into a meeting room. There were several detectives in the office. Nathan recognized Vann’s superior, Detective Izumi Ashizawa, who was giving a brief rundown on the case. She gave him a curt nod of acknowledgement and then pointed at a blurry picture behind her on the corkboard.

            “The resident of the apartment was nowhere to be seen, and we suspect this creature has taken him hostage,” she explained.

            “Two things to look for,” piped up Vann. The detectives and officers turned to him. “Anything that’s missing or seems out of place. Or if the creature has left anything. We need to get statements from the residents. According to Gavin Rainwater’s boss, he has a girlfriend that might be called for ransom. We’ll discuss stakeout details later…”

            “You have any hunches about the creature?” asked Nathan. Most of the officers recognized him from previous cases, but a few were baffled by the presence of a civilian participating in the investigation. Rumors to them were that he wasn’t even a specialist, but an archaeologist friend of Detective Strong’s.

            Izumi knew what Nathan was up to. Vann would never outright speak his biased thoughts lest he be reprimanded by his superiors, but if he answered Nathan’s question, it would only be a statement rather than a contradiction. The dynamic Vann had with his superior created alternate theories to cases, but he knew the system too well, and that he would be a laughingstock, never taken seriously if his theories fell through.

            “I think it’s a metahuman,” began Vann. “From the reports–”

            “You weren’t there!” an officer burst out. A lanky policeman stood up, his face twisted in anger. “I don’t know much about metahumans, but this thing was a monster! If it had powers, it must’ve drove him mad! He almost crushed me in the car!”

            Izumi cleared her throat, silencing the room. She narrowed her eyes at the officer. “Did he attack any of the officers?” She was a down to earth type of detective, who stuck to the facts. “Because if he did, I would understand that you’d have put it into your report and have physical evidence.”

            “Well…no,” the officer mumbled sheepishly.

            “Metahuman or not, we can agree he’s a danger,” said Izumi. “His strength is immeasurable. I’ve already taken the liberty to call The Administration to allow us to investigate this case. But we are still officers of the law. Until we determine what this creature is up to, we will treat him like any other alleged criminal: innocent until proven guilty. This will not turn into a witch hunt. Am I clear?”

            “Yes ma’am,” the room chorused.

            As she prepared to continue her presentation on the corkboard, a rugged, young officer raised his hand. “What about the White Knight?”

            A lump formed in Nathan’s throat. He eyed Izumi and Vann, wondering how they were going to respond. Instead, another officer chuckled. “What? Do you want to call him in for backup?”

            Another added, “It was only his first sighting.”

            “We don’t even know if he’s one of the good guys.”

            “He saved those civilians though. He risked his life,” argued the young officer. “I think he’s one of us, or maybe like Cumshaw Joe, a superhero.”

            Before another comment could be made, Izumi regained the room’s attention by clearing her throat. “This is an investigation, not a comic convention. If you want to be a fanboy and dress up in tights, Wexley, do it on your off hours.”

            There were several suppressed laughs while Officer Wexley cast down his head.

            Izumi finished up giving the briefing and directed Nathan and Vann to head out with forensics. On the ride over to Gavin Rainwater’s apartment, Vann yammered on about the incident at the bridge. Apparently, a runaway from the psychiatric ward had stolen the truck after running away from his local residence. His unstable state explained why he had continued even when he had nowhere to go once he reached the blockade on the bridge. Vann stated that the runaway was an arsonist and set the cargo alight, contributing to the explosion in the water.

            Most of the story had been covered by the papers and Nathan had been on the scene, but he ate his pizza rolls and acted oblivious.

            “I don’t know what to make of that White Knight,” murmured Vann. They had reached their destination, and finally, Nathan’s interest had been hooked.

            “What do you mean? I know you have to side with the cops when you’re with them, but don’t you think he’s a good guy?” asked Nathan.

            “I do, but everyone’s been calling him a hero and yet when I saw him. I looked him in the eye and saw fear. And maybe a bit of shame, as if he did something he wasn’t supposed to,” said Vann pensively. He led the way up the apartment building. “I know that he knows he did what was right, but I don’t think he thought he was cut out to be a hero.”

            “You got all of that from a look into his eyes?” laughed Nathan. They stood outside of Gavin’s apartment, with the forensics team behind them.

            Vann shrugged. “Anyone and everyone can be a hero. If you can risk your life for a good cause…but this guy didn’t seem like he had any motivation. It seemed like all he wanted to do was survive and do the right thing because the alternative would’ve been worse, not so much to help the people.”

            “Kind of like the consequences and actions?” asked Nathan.

            “Exactly,” agreed Vann. “Some people join the force to protect the peace, others so they can wield power. At the end of the day, lives are saved, but the true heroes are the ones who will put others before themselves.”

            Nathan looked down pensively as Vann prepared to open the door. He grabbed Vann’s hand before it could reach the knob.

            “Do you see that?” asked Nathan.

            Vann scrunched up his brow in confusion. “No, doesn’t look suspicious to me.”

            “That’s the problem,” said Nathan. “The creature didn’t break in.”