Crystal Impact

VAGABOND File #3866295

SUBJECT: THE CRYSTAL IMPACT

LOCATION: SAN DIEGO

The Crystal has been a subject of interest for many parties. The Crystal is thought to have been present since the beginning of this universe. Although there are other notable crystals, such as the Gem of Death in New Orleans, the Diamond of Light, the Amethyst of Change, and many others, each with its own unique abilities, The Crystal stands alone. While all Crystals will attach themselves to a life form if the being is suitable for the crystal to give its powers to, The Crystal is by far the most powerful. The Crystal is also known as the Crystal of Power, it is thought to be the source of superhuman abilities. It contains more energy inside of it than a thousand suns. It has been orbiting the Earth since its formation and has been subtly causing evolution, drawing ever nearer to Earth. It recently landed in a city once known as San Diego. This file contains the recollections of the few survivors of the impact who were willing to inform us of what happened.

Sampson S. Spykes- Spiky

         Panting, he glanced over his shoulders. If he could only avoid him for a couple more minutes, he would be back in his friend’s house and he would have no worries until morning; if he didn’t make it, well, he didn’t want to think about that. Glancing around the telephone kiosk he was hiding behind, he made a quick dash down the sidewalk; only a block from the house, a hand shot from a dark alley and clotheslined him. With a thud he landed on the ground. A shadowy figure stepped out and hefted him to his feet by his collar. “Trying to avoid me?” a gravely deep voice asked.

         “No, not at all. You know I would never do that.”

         “Why do I find that hard to believe? I think that someone failed to bring in enough money.” His brother, Fagan replied as he slammed him into the brick wall. “Ya’ know, I’m kinda tired of you not paying up. How long did you expect me to let you run?”

         “Let me go!” Sampson yelled, “Cops! People! Anyone! Help!”

         Fagan flicked his switch-blade and pressed it against Sampson’s throat. “You shut it, or I’ll shut you up for you.”

         Suddenly the sound of a sonic boom rang through their ears. Forgotten, the knife clattered to the concrete. “What the…”

         But that was all that Fagan was able to say before the wave of blue energy enveloped them.

         

Ammo

         In the middle of Hero Memorial Park, abandoned for years, the first movement in decades was occurring. One of the various statues was switching from metal to organic materials. When it was fully human, the figure collapsed. Where was he? Why was it night time? Concentrating, he tried to remember what he was doing here…

         The heroes had just stopped the last of the major villains and peace was spreading through the land. Almost of the heroes had come to San Diego, the hometown of Blaze, who had made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the hydrogen bomb that was about to detonate the United Nations.

         After a picnic feast in the tranquil park, the Heroes gathered for a photo shot to be released to the press. Metallic was standing in the back next to his son who had powers similar, but not identical to his own. After Blaze, he was the leader of the surviving Heroes. His son had made a great contribution and had rallied the trainees on the moon training facility to rescue the Heroes from death and imprisonment by the villains.

         His son, Ammo, raised himself so that he could see the camera. When he saw the camera, he realized that the one behind the camera was one of his fellow trainees, Daedalus, who could invent almost anything. He had defended the villains in many arguments, and so Ammo did not trust him. When he leaned over to warn his father, he saw the icon of a woman’s head with snake hair on the camera. Realizing the connection to mythology, he morphed his hand into a shotgun and fired just as Daedalus pressed the shutter button, shining a flash of light. Instantly the Heroes were turned to stone statues.

         Ammo and Metallic were not turned to stone because of their metal powers, but they could feel the magic spreading, and solidifying them into metal. Metallic then leaned to his son and told him that only a Crystal of legend could revive them, and that there was a safe house for heroes in need in London. Suddenly Metallic was completely enveloped in his golden form and never moved again.

         Ammo could feel the magic spreading and decided to willing turn himself into his metal state and entered a deep sleep…

         Now, centuries later, he was sitting on a bench staring at the statue remains of his friends, when he saw a glowing blue crystal about the size of a platter slowly descending a few blocks away. About twenty seconds after it disappeared behind a building, a shockwave of energy enveloped him and he felt himself falling unconscious again

Booster

         A common street boy was walking along the streets, hoping to find at least one more unsuspecting pedestrian before the night was over and he had to report back to Fagan. He did not like his job, but it was the only way to survive on the streets.

         About three years ago, Fagan had worked his way up the totem pole of the homeless kids and had united them under him. With his leadership, they were experiencing the best life they ever had in terms of material benefits. Fagan had come up with the idea of everyone picking wallets with a status quota for each day. Each night, Fagan would remove the cash from the wallets and would turn the wallets back to the police. They were careful to leave the credit and ID cards alone, since they kept records and were what the police wanted.

         Despite the benefits, everyone was afraid of Fagan. He gave no slack, least of all to his little brother. He also kept the fat of the spoils and even could afford his own rundown apartment. He was also cruel and abused many of his underdogs and sometimes had his bodyguards beat them just for fun.

         But he, Arthur, was slowly building courage among the other street rats. He and a few others had pooled together their money and shared a shack above a local auto shop. In a few more days, he would have enough on his side to take on Fagan and overthrow him.

         Fagan had recently become more violent to his brother. Arthur had taken him under his wing and offered him his room for the night; he only hoped that Sampson got there before Fagan got to him.

         Looking up, Arthur saw a glowing in the sky; a bright blue light was slowly descending to a point just on the other side of Hero Memorial Park. Jumping over the fence, he quickly ran. It might be a pilot of a hoverplane with a VIP aboard, if so, they would have enough cash in their pockets to last a few more days. Suddenly, Arthur tripped. Looking behind him he saw that he had ran into the pedestal of one of the statues, it happened to be the one of the boy hero. Looking closer, he saw that the nameplate said Ammo, but the secret identity and any other information had been worn away over the years. There seemed to be an odd glow about the statue. Shrugging his shoulder, Arthur continued on towards the descending light.

         When he reached the spot directly under the light he saw that it was not a hoverplane, but something smaller. As he turned around, he saw he was in the park’s open auditorium. The stone steps formed a bowl shaped depression toward the stage. Trash was scattered everywhere and there was a technician on the stage clearing up the speakers.

         With nothing better to do, Arthur went over to talk to the man. He was just a couple years older than Arthur and younger than Fagan. Looking closer, Arthur saw a chain necklace with two music notes forming a pendant, identifying him as an Audioite. The Audioites were not really a religion, but they believed that the music from the past held prophesies hidden in the lyrics. Since the stagehand had not yet seen Arthur, Arthur decided to walk away; they never had any money and were a bit eccentric. As he was about to leave the auditorium, he heard two male voices arguing and gun fire.

         Taking cover, Arthur saw that the men were entering from the same way that Arthur entered the auditorium from. The men were grappling and pulling each other back, doing anything to hinder the others progress; one man was dressed in body armor with the trademark sunglasses that identified him as a government agent and the other wore a tattered trench coat and a fedora.

         “In the name of the law, surrender!” the agent yelled.

         “Never! The Asgardians have the claim to The Crystal” the other man calmly retorted.

         Despite the entire ruckus, the stagehand was still going through his duty, with the headphones in his ears drowning out all other sounds.

         In a desperate attempt, the agent fired his pistol at the man in the trench coat, sending his hat and half his head flying backwards, but the man merely chuckled as his head reformed before their eyes. “You’ll have to do bett’r than that!”

         “The Forever Knight!” the agent exclaimed.

         “Yes, that is one of my many names.” And the grapple resumed.

         The Crystal had now descended below the roofs of the buildings. Realizing that both men wanted the Crystal, he ran from his cover directly beneath the Crystal. The plan was already forming in his head; he would catch the Crystal and would give it to whoever offered the most money for it. When the Crystal was about ten feet above his head, the power instantly went out on the stage but the Crystal illuminated to auditorium with its energy.

         Both men looked up and saw how close the Crystal was. With a jolt that shook the ground, the Crystal stopped and Arthur felt himself rising, arms stretched out to touch the Crystal. When his hands touched the Crystal, a shockwave of energy exploded from the Crystal, shattering the Crystal into fragments. And Arthur slowly descended to the earth, hands glowing, barely conscious. The last thing he saw was cape-killers and agents looking down on him before they put a bag over his head and loaded him into a transport. But the bag did not stop him from hearing their conversation.

         “Is this the one?”

         “Yes, he matches the description Eric made in his last transmission”

         “Take a look at his energy signature, its off the wall!”

         “Are there any others alive?”

         “Yes, the stagehand, two creatures that I don’t recognize but the scanners identified them as Supers, a jewel thief, and um…”

         “Spit it out!”

         “Well, it looks like the Audioites’ prophesy of the “Iron Man” has come true.”

         “What do you mean?!?”

         “The Audioites have a prophesy of a Superhero made of metal that shall travel time to the future and spread destruction and would be ignored for a long time, but he would be awakened by an energy field”

         “What does that have to do with this?”

         “Well, the shockwave released by the Crystal bonding did form an energy field and it revived one of the statues in Hero Memorial Park.”

         “Which one?”

         “The boy hero, the one known as Ammo; records show that his power was metal-based”

         “God save us all!”

         “We must not let the public find out about this. Imagine what the Vagabonds would do with this information, or the Asgardians.”

         “You mean the Bounty Hunters?”

         “Yes.”

         “Then it is too late, Eric was fighting a bounty hunter at the time.”

         “But if we did not find him, then he would have disintegrated along with the other people.”

         “Don’t count on it, Eric mentioned his name, The Forever Knight.”

         “Who?”

         “He’s a bounty hunter, but is also a Super; he is immortal and can heal from any injury.”

         “You know this for a fact?”

         “Yes, we had him captured for a while and tried to kill him by detonating a Hydrogen bomb with him attached. He survived and left a note on my desk the next day saying ‘Nice try, but you will have to do better next time.’”

         “Then we’ll have to get a bounty hunter to help us.”

         “Which one?”

         “The best; call Ace Maverick.”

         “Alright, where should we take these guys?”

         “The Groom Lake Facility”