JOURNEY OF A KNIGHT
CHAPTER IV. EXPANSION
(DISCLAIMER: The Age of Apocalypse, The X-Men, Charles Xavier, and all related characters are copyrights of Marvel Comics. The Knight Eagle, in all his various iterations, as well as his teammates, is my own personal creations)
1969
SIGHTINGS OF MASKED MEN ABOUND
November 1, 1969
By: Nathan Fitzpatrick
It seems that the youth of London are not the only ones to have put on costumes and masks this All Hallows Eve. For the past 18 months, Scotland Yard and London PD have been reporting the activities of a number of mysterious vigilantes, most particularly one calling himself the Night Eagle. During that time, this self-proclaimed hero has been responsible for the decrease in activity by organized crime families operating in the area of the city, as well as the arrest of several known super-powered criminals.
Last night, while on patrol, officer Blake Carrington reported spotting a man in all black crouched atop the roof of a warehouse on the harbor. Thinking the man a burglar, Carrington requested backup, which was promptly dispatched. Carrington entered the warehouse and was set upon by agents of the Fuseli crime family, which had been conducting an illegal arms transaction on the premises. Moments later, the mysterious man in black apparently broke through the skylight of the building and, with some assistance from officer Carrington, broke up the transaction and disabled the criminals. After securing those involved in the transaction, the masked man "vanished into thin air", according to Carrington, leaving a note giving the authorities the location of the family's main center of operation.
During his recent time of operation, the Night Eagle (as he calls himself in his notes) has had to evade not only those criminal factions whose actions he has impeded, but legitimate law enforcement authorities as well. Apparently, this is no longer to be the case. In a unanimous decision this morning, the city council instructed Police Comissioner G. Harcourt Finley to officially deputize the Night Eagle, who will hereby be authorized to operate in the city at his discretion. This decision has drawn criticism from a number of sides…
Jason allowed himself a small smile as he closed the paper. He had been lucky. That idiot Carrington has quite nearly spoiled the entire operation. He was lucky that the man hadn't totally botched things. All in all, it was a day of mixed feelings. He was glad to have been "legitimized" by the authorities, but he still felt as if he were doing too little. Hopefully, recent developments in M.I.'s research and development department would help him achieve a bit more.
Retrieving his jacket from the back of his chair, he buttoned it down and headed downstairs, where he had his driver take him to the Excalibur Point Research Labs, a firm he had recently purchased, not so much for its potential to help McElros International, but for the possibilities it held for the Night Eagle. The driver parked the car and Jason strode into the main lobby of the labs, looking dapper in a finely tailored Armani suit. There were two technicians in lab coats awaiting him when he walked in, one of who handed him a white coat that matched theirs.
"Mr. McElros, we've prepared a tour for you. If you'll just follow us."
"Thank you Dr. Winston, but I know my way around already. If you need me, you should be able to reach me via intercom."
For a moment, neither Winston nor his assistant moved. Jason fixed his eyes on Winston and removed the sunglasses that he had been wearing up until then.
"I'm sure that you have something important to do, don't you Dr. Winston?"
Winston did a bit of a jump and scurried off to do some task. Grinning a bit evilly, Jason tucked the sunglasses into his jacket pocket and walked to the elevators. If he remembered correctly, the cybernetics lab was on the fifth level sub-basement. He stepped in and the elevator hummed downward surprisingly quickly, and the doors hissed open. Bustling about before him were dozens of scientists and technicians. Laid out on tables and underneath bright lights were billion-parted pieces of machinery, each so intricate that it seemed almost organic. At the center of the semi- chaotic bustle of people was a coal-black man in his early thirties, goggles strapped around his neck, clipboard in his hand, and eagerly giving instructions to one of the jump-suited technicians.
"Dr. Mailzel, I presume."
The man turned to Jason and his face bore a confused note for a moment, and then lit up with recognition.
"Jason McElros, correct?"
"That's right. I came down to meet you, Doctor."
Mailzel bowed and then extended his hand.
"Richard Mailzel. I read that you had acquired the lab, Mr. McElros, and I must say I have been wondering exactly what is going to happen here."
"Well, to be perfectly honest, Doctor, I do have some rather extensive plans for this division. If we could step into your office…"
Mailzel guided Jason into his office and offered him the seat in front of his desk.
"I will be perfectly honest with you, Doctor. I have been looking, for some time to expand the scope of my company's operations. I have been pursuing contracts with the Ministry of Defense, in particular. What I am asking from this department… well… let me ask you first. I have familiarized myself with your early work on exoskeletal strength enhancement. Have you done any further development along those lines?"
Mailzel shook his head.
"I'm afraid that after I finished my contracts with the military, I put that part of my work aside. Most of what we have been focused on here has been along the lines of prosthetics."
"I see. Well, there are definitely applications there that I can apply. I would like you to draw up some ideas for me over the next few months. Begin exploring along those lines."
Jason stood and shook hands with Mailzel again.
"I won't take up any more of your time Doctor. I should be by fairly regularly, and if there is anything you need, be sure you let me know."
Jason walked out. Mailzel waited for a moment, then collapsed into his chair with a heavy sigh. When McElros had started asking questions about exoskeletal work, Richard had thought for sure he had been discovered. He had been heavily involved in the original construction of this lab, and had made sure that a secret compartment had been added just behind his office. Touching a specific panel on his desk, the blinds to the office sealed and the back wall slid open. Encased behind Plexiglas was a black bodysuit trimmed with what seemed to be three-centimeter-thick gold. The lines of gold ran down the neck of the suit, then the arms, down the sides of the ribcage, then down the legs, encircling them at key points. It was a super-flexible exoskeleton, which almost tripled the strength of the wearer. In the metal of the facemask were infrared sensors, police-band radio, and one of the most powerful minicomputers in the world. Just recently, Richard had added anti-gravity generators, fresh from the applied physics labs on the third level. For several weeks, he had been testing the suit in the city at night. Had McElros discovered it, he was sure that the CEO would have curtailed Richard's "nighttime activities". For the past few days, he had begun hearing rumors on the streets from some of the small-time criminals that he had apprehended that the Fuseli crime family was planning something big. He didn't know what yet…
Fuseli looked down at the weapons arrayed before him.
"All of them useless. My men are at the mercy of this Night Eagle. You are sure that you can handle him?"
Lifting his long steel staff in his hand, the man resting in the shadows behind the mob leader laughed.
"I've never failed, Fuseli. The Night Eagle will be dead by the end of the week."
"You had better be right, Riddell."
CHAPTER IV. EXPANSION
(DISCLAIMER: The Age of Apocalypse, The X-Men, Charles Xavier, and all related characters are copyrights of Marvel Comics. The Knight Eagle, in all his various iterations, as well as his teammates, is my own personal creations)
1969
SIGHTINGS OF MASKED MEN ABOUND
November 1, 1969
By: Nathan Fitzpatrick
It seems that the youth of London are not the only ones to have put on costumes and masks this All Hallows Eve. For the past 18 months, Scotland Yard and London PD have been reporting the activities of a number of mysterious vigilantes, most particularly one calling himself the Night Eagle. During that time, this self-proclaimed hero has been responsible for the decrease in activity by organized crime families operating in the area of the city, as well as the arrest of several known super-powered criminals.
Last night, while on patrol, officer Blake Carrington reported spotting a man in all black crouched atop the roof of a warehouse on the harbor. Thinking the man a burglar, Carrington requested backup, which was promptly dispatched. Carrington entered the warehouse and was set upon by agents of the Fuseli crime family, which had been conducting an illegal arms transaction on the premises. Moments later, the mysterious man in black apparently broke through the skylight of the building and, with some assistance from officer Carrington, broke up the transaction and disabled the criminals. After securing those involved in the transaction, the masked man "vanished into thin air", according to Carrington, leaving a note giving the authorities the location of the family's main center of operation.
During his recent time of operation, the Night Eagle (as he calls himself in his notes) has had to evade not only those criminal factions whose actions he has impeded, but legitimate law enforcement authorities as well. Apparently, this is no longer to be the case. In a unanimous decision this morning, the city council instructed Police Comissioner G. Harcourt Finley to officially deputize the Night Eagle, who will hereby be authorized to operate in the city at his discretion. This decision has drawn criticism from a number of sides…
Jason allowed himself a small smile as he closed the paper. He had been lucky. That idiot Carrington has quite nearly spoiled the entire operation. He was lucky that the man hadn't totally botched things. All in all, it was a day of mixed feelings. He was glad to have been "legitimized" by the authorities, but he still felt as if he were doing too little. Hopefully, recent developments in M.I.'s research and development department would help him achieve a bit more.
Retrieving his jacket from the back of his chair, he buttoned it down and headed downstairs, where he had his driver take him to the Excalibur Point Research Labs, a firm he had recently purchased, not so much for its potential to help McElros International, but for the possibilities it held for the Night Eagle. The driver parked the car and Jason strode into the main lobby of the labs, looking dapper in a finely tailored Armani suit. There were two technicians in lab coats awaiting him when he walked in, one of who handed him a white coat that matched theirs.
"Mr. McElros, we've prepared a tour for you. If you'll just follow us."
"Thank you Dr. Winston, but I know my way around already. If you need me, you should be able to reach me via intercom."
For a moment, neither Winston nor his assistant moved. Jason fixed his eyes on Winston and removed the sunglasses that he had been wearing up until then.
"I'm sure that you have something important to do, don't you Dr. Winston?"
Winston did a bit of a jump and scurried off to do some task. Grinning a bit evilly, Jason tucked the sunglasses into his jacket pocket and walked to the elevators. If he remembered correctly, the cybernetics lab was on the fifth level sub-basement. He stepped in and the elevator hummed downward surprisingly quickly, and the doors hissed open. Bustling about before him were dozens of scientists and technicians. Laid out on tables and underneath bright lights were billion-parted pieces of machinery, each so intricate that it seemed almost organic. At the center of the semi- chaotic bustle of people was a coal-black man in his early thirties, goggles strapped around his neck, clipboard in his hand, and eagerly giving instructions to one of the jump-suited technicians.
"Dr. Mailzel, I presume."
The man turned to Jason and his face bore a confused note for a moment, and then lit up with recognition.
"Jason McElros, correct?"
"That's right. I came down to meet you, Doctor."
Mailzel bowed and then extended his hand.
"Richard Mailzel. I read that you had acquired the lab, Mr. McElros, and I must say I have been wondering exactly what is going to happen here."
"Well, to be perfectly honest, Doctor, I do have some rather extensive plans for this division. If we could step into your office…"
Mailzel guided Jason into his office and offered him the seat in front of his desk.
"I will be perfectly honest with you, Doctor. I have been looking, for some time to expand the scope of my company's operations. I have been pursuing contracts with the Ministry of Defense, in particular. What I am asking from this department… well… let me ask you first. I have familiarized myself with your early work on exoskeletal strength enhancement. Have you done any further development along those lines?"
Mailzel shook his head.
"I'm afraid that after I finished my contracts with the military, I put that part of my work aside. Most of what we have been focused on here has been along the lines of prosthetics."
"I see. Well, there are definitely applications there that I can apply. I would like you to draw up some ideas for me over the next few months. Begin exploring along those lines."
Jason stood and shook hands with Mailzel again.
"I won't take up any more of your time Doctor. I should be by fairly regularly, and if there is anything you need, be sure you let me know."
Jason walked out. Mailzel waited for a moment, then collapsed into his chair with a heavy sigh. When McElros had started asking questions about exoskeletal work, Richard had thought for sure he had been discovered. He had been heavily involved in the original construction of this lab, and had made sure that a secret compartment had been added just behind his office. Touching a specific panel on his desk, the blinds to the office sealed and the back wall slid open. Encased behind Plexiglas was a black bodysuit trimmed with what seemed to be three-centimeter-thick gold. The lines of gold ran down the neck of the suit, then the arms, down the sides of the ribcage, then down the legs, encircling them at key points. It was a super-flexible exoskeleton, which almost tripled the strength of the wearer. In the metal of the facemask were infrared sensors, police-band radio, and one of the most powerful minicomputers in the world. Just recently, Richard had added anti-gravity generators, fresh from the applied physics labs on the third level. For several weeks, he had been testing the suit in the city at night. Had McElros discovered it, he was sure that the CEO would have curtailed Richard's "nighttime activities". For the past few days, he had begun hearing rumors on the streets from some of the small-time criminals that he had apprehended that the Fuseli crime family was planning something big. He didn't know what yet…
Fuseli looked down at the weapons arrayed before him.
"All of them useless. My men are at the mercy of this Night Eagle. You are sure that you can handle him?"
Lifting his long steel staff in his hand, the man resting in the shadows behind the mob leader laughed.
"I've never failed, Fuseli. The Night Eagle will be dead by the end of the week."
"You had better be right, Riddell."