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Currently Offline
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Posts: 1673
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I'm going a completely different route with my characters than I originally intended. I realized I had way too many heroes so I'm leaving the team concept and turning everyone except Midnight, Ghost, and Gabriel Jones into villains so that there will be a bigger rogues gallery to choose from.
Not any supervillains in this one but it is an updated version of Midnight's origin that was told in Defenders of Justice #1
In the dead of night police Chief John Dark waits in an alley. An informant who goes by the alias Muskrat had asked for this meeting to pass on what he considered important information about the mob. As John waited his patience began to wear thin as the time ticked by. An hour after the Muskrat was supposed to have arrived for the meeting the police chief decided to return to his office.
As he reached into his pocket for his car keys an explosion filled the air. From the fire escape of the building across the street a masked man could be seen climbing quickly down a ladder. John looked down at his blood soaked shirt and felt the area with his hand staring in disbelief. He couldn’t believe he had actually been shot! He looked back toward the fire escape but the masked figure was gone.
Taking his keys John scratched a quick note in the paint on his car door. Then the keys slipped from his blood covered hands as he slid down the side of his car to rest on the pavement. His life flowed out of him as his thoughts turned toward the afterlife and what it would hold for him. John’s eyes glassed over as a bright light appeared before him like a doorway to another world.
An hour later the police were on the scene. Detectives Jake Lawrence and Anthony Stone directed the forensics team around the area. As Jake peered closely at the chief’s car he could vaguely make out some scratched letters.
“Fire Esc” he read aloud “it appears Chief Dark was trying to tell us something.”
Anthony looked around the alley and noted several buildings with fire escapes, then he saw one with a clear shot of the crime scene “there” he pointed out.
The two detectives left the forensics team to do their job and walked across the street. Looking at the ground Jake discovered a brass shell that appeared recently fired. He picked it up with his handkerchief and placed it in a small Ziploc that Anthony produced from the inside of his jacket.
“Looks like a .357 magnum casing” Jake said in observation “we better hand it over to one of the techs.”
Anthony climbed up the fire escape to see if he could find any more clues. When he got outside the fifth floor he found discarded cigarette butts on the windowsill. Carefully he placed them inside another baggie and determined there was nothing else to gather from the fire escape.
“We better notify his son” Jake said as Anthony rejoined him on the ground “that should give forensics enough time to finish up here.”
The two detectives got in an older Ford Crown Victoria and drove off down 43rd street towards the housing district. When they arrived at 422 Dark Hollow Lane a young man was standing outside the door picking up a newspaper off the front step. He paused where he was as he watched the car pull up.
John Dark Jr. recognized the unmarked car as one belonging to his father’s precinct. A feeling of dread came over him as the two men stepped out of the car and made their way up the walking path. He knew the two men at once for he had met them several months ago at the police Christmas party.
“Morning Jake, Tony” he said nodding to each of them “what brings you out here?”
“Maybe we should step inside John” Anthony asked “you may want to sit down?”
“What happened” John replied “where’s my father?”
“He was gunned down last night” Jake answered “forensics is going over the scene right now. We should know more soon.”
Tears welled up in John’s eyes but he fought them back determined not to let the detectives see him cry. He turned away from them and opened his father’s front door.
“You guys want any coffee or anything?”
“No we have to get back” Anthony replied “sure you’re alright?”
“I will be. Thank you for telling me. Just one thing, whatever you find I want you to share it with me” he said as he walked inside the house and shut the door on the two officers before they could reply.
Once inside the house that would become his own, John Jr. went to his room and packed a small suitcase. He then picked up the phone and called his girlfriend Milena Martin. The two of them boarded a flight for Japan that very afternoon.
Mob boss Franklin Harrier congratulates his hired gun on a job well done “here is your payment Dark Eagle” he says tossing a stack of bills on the table.
“Glad we could do business” the masked gunman replies stuffing the bills inside his jacket.
As Dark Eagle turns to leave Franklin speaks again “would you consider a $10,000 bonus?”
This gave the masked man pause as he considered the offer “what’s the catch?”
“Two cops.”
“Oh?”
“I believe they may become a thorn in my side.”
“Consider it done” Dark Eagle says as he leaves the building.
Jake Lawrence and Anthony Stone sip coffee and watch as the forensics team explains their findings “so as you can see here there was only one shot to the heart” the tech says pointing at an x-ray.
“This guy is good” Jake says “I’ll give him that much. Can you tell us anything about him?”
“Other than the fact that ballistics matched that casing you provided us with those found at the scene of another murder six months ago. The bullets have been traced back to the Israeli Mark XIX Desert Eagle, an extremely powerful handgun utilized...” here he trailed off as Anthony stood up.
“By the mob” Tony said unsurprised “were you able to get any DNA off of the cigarette butts?”
The tech brought up another image on the screen “we were but nothing that matches any we have in the database. This guy is either a new player or he’s never been caught.”
“I place my money on the second reason” Jake said “in order to make a shot like that from a fire escape he has to know his way around firearms.”
“Professional hit man” Tony supplied “which means someone with a lot of money is behind this.”
The two detectives left the laboratory and headed outside to their car “who have we been investigating recently that has that kind of money” Jake asked?
“Well let’s see there is Jimmy Faulkner over at Airtech who’s had some underhanded dealings to acquire cheap parts on the black market. Then there’s Franklin Harrier of Syndicate Industries who is suspected of counterfeiting though we haven’t found anything concrete yet. Of course there is always…”
“Hey wait a minute wasn’t the Chief making contact with someone inside Harrier’s circle that said he had proof the businessman was involved in some high level killings?”
“You’re right Jake” Tony said scratching his head “I think he was called the Muskrat but only John knew how to reach him.”
As the car pulled to a stop at the corner of Cloak St and Dagger Ave a gunshot rang out. Detective Anthony Stone slumped over in his seat as blood poured from his right temple. Jake dove out the driver’s side door drawing his pistol as he did so.
Using the car as a shield he looked around at all the nearby buildings. There were way too many windows to count so it was hard for him to find the one where the shot had come from. Before he could pinpoint the gunman’s location another shot was fired. This one hit Jake in the shoulder causing him to lose his grip on the pistol.
A masked man stepped up beside Jake wearing a dark blue trench-coat and matching eagle faced mask “the boss sends you his regards pig” with that he fired the gold plated desert eagle in his hand and the bullet struck right between the detective’s eyes causing blood to spray out.
“Great now I’m going to have to get my jacket cleaned” Dark Eagle said in disgust as he put another bullet in the detective’s head out of frustration then turned down a side ally and disappeared.
As the plane touched down in Tokyo Milena asked the question that had been on her mind “your father was murdered and now we find ourselves in Japan, are you running from the cops? Did you kill your father John?”
“No of course not, are you seriously asking me that? If you believe I had anything to do with it then why did you agree to come?”
“I just felt I needed to ask” she said shrugging “then why are we here?”
John looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before he answered “I once heard of a fighting monk who knows the lost art of ninjitzu.”
“A ninja master, are you serious? What exactly do you hope to achieve?”
“I want to find whoever killed my father. I believe with this knowledge I can bring them to justice.”
“Why not let the police handle it? Detectives Lawrence and Stone seem capable enough” Milena said reassuringly “they will get the bad guy.”
“I’m not so sure” he said as he grabbed their luggage from the turnstile.
They hailed a cab and were dropped off outside of an old fish market. The two of them went inside and John spoke Japanese to a guy who was chopping off fish heads with a cleaver. The man answered him and nodded toward the back room.
“Milena stay here a moment, I’ll go see if he’s here.”
Inside the backroom a blind monk sat on the floor in silent meditation. He seemed to sense he was no longer alone and his face rose up out of reflex. Then a smile played across his lips and he returned his blind stare to the flame of a candle placed in front of him on the floor.
“Why are you here?”
“I seek your knowledge of the ancient arts.”
“I sense much hatred in your heart. I will not teach a man bent on revenge.”
“I seek only justice for what was done to my father.”
“And what of the girl” the blind monk asked “why is she here?”
“I don’t understand” John answered truthfully “what does she have to do with my training?”
“She is here out of love for you” the monk said “I believe her heart is pure enough to keep you on the right path. I will train both or none.”
The blind master Shadou began training his new pupils in an abandoned monastery high up in the mountains. First he instilled in them discipline by having them perform various exercises hold different stances without moving for what seemed like hours. When their bodies were strong enough he began teaching them various strikes and kicks as well as blocks and defensive techniques.
For months they worked hard until the master thought they were finally ready for the next step “today we will begin weapons training. You should each choose two weapon styles, one a primary, the other a backup. Think hard on this because once you are devoted to your weapon it will be almost impossible to learn another.”
John chose the wrist blade and the shuriken due to their speed and maneuverability while Milena chose the ninjato sword and the nunchaku. Shadou smiled and took out his bo staff. As the monk struck out with his staff, each one of them had to defend themselves with their primary weapon. John tried to block the staff with his wrist blade and to counter but his reach was just too short compared to that of Shadou’s staff.
Milena had a little more success with her sword but still could not land a blow of her own. Then John struck out with his shurikens but Shadou effortlessly waved his staff in front of them catching the throwing stars in its wooden shaft. After several weeks of weapons training the blind monk concluded their training.
“I believe you each have learned all I can teach. It is time that we part ways and go where we are needed most.”
John and Milena bowed toward their sensei, he returned their gesture and vanished as if into thin air leaving them to find their own path. The two of them went straight to the airport and booked passage back to Saint Katherine’s Bay.
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