Prologue
Metropolis - 2020
Iris Bell-Madden shifted in her chair and a familiar metallic groan broke the silence. She glanced up, flashed a half-hearted smile to her producer-sound engineer, and then shifted her gaze toward the clock on the wall outside of the sound booth at WJOB AM1230 in Hammond, Indiana. Her booth was bright but beyond the sound-dampening windows there was little more than the light spilling out of the booth and some tiny spotlights focused on the sound panel. She nervously tapped a pen on the table, looking at some program notes she had made but actually worrying that she would have to fill air time without the guest for a show that she had been hyping for the last five days. "Relax," her producer's voice said, breaking the stillness, "she'll be here."
Another weak smile. 19 minutes to midnight, she thought. You're at least 11 minutes late. Please don't stand me up. Please, please, please. The booth was almost cold enough for Iris to see her breath but she swore she felt a bead of sweat run down her back to below the beltline of her jeans. Please!
Iris Carmen Bell was the granddaughter of Art Bell, the creator and host of Coast-to-Coast AM and a legendary pioneer in the late-night talk radio genre. Being a grandchild of Art Bell had opened doors in the Communications Department for her at Metropolis University. Her pedigree allowed her to slip into the school's radio booth in her freshman year at MU. She began her career as an after-midnight DJ at WWMU, FM 96.1.
Her sound engineer, Bryan Madden, became her lifeline at times when call screeners failed to show or they showed up drunk or stoned. Bryan was a pleasant and nice-looking student with a strong work ethic and strong values. He was two years older than Iris but almost instantly spotted her raw talent and became drawn to her, spending hours after broadcasts helping her to understand the finer points of broadcasting from a technical sound perspective. He encouraged and helped Iris take her next step: developing her own broadcast segments. By the end of her first year, Bryan and Iris launched her new weekly segment, Seriously Weird Stuff or SWS, as Iris referred to it on air.
Following the tone of her grandfather's show, she focused on strange events as reported or written by those who were actually part of the story. As her popularity increased, her one-hour segment evolved into a 4-hour show. It gained such a loyal audience of listeners and callers that a local AM broadcast station offered MU Radio a per episode stipend to rebroadcast SWS to their audience over weekends instead of the taped music sets that normally played. By doing so it built a larger audience for Iris as well as a home for her show once she graduated from Metropolis Universary.
Although Bryan had graduated two years before Iris earned her degree, he continued in the university to pursue a Masters in Communication and to remain close to Iris. They almost always engaged in a little friendly banter throughout the show. In fact, if they did not engage in banter, inevitably a caller would be screened in and over the air ask if she and Bryan were mad at each other. It kept the atmosphere light and humorous which was important to avoid getting too deep into theories. Their rapport was palpable. It filled time but also established the two as an enjoyable team to listen to. Moments before the end of her last broadcast on MU Radio, Bryan broke in to wish her the best and ask her about what her future held for her. She replied by asking him, "Why? Aren't you finished stalking me yet?" He replied by saying, "Actually, I think I'm done stalking you and wanted to know if you'd marry me?" The normally unflappable and quick-witted Iris was flummoxed and gave a 'wha….what?' response. He held up an open ring box and said, "Will you marry me?" Iris was stunned and her eyes instantly flooded as she fumbled a reply. "Okay, I'm not asking you a third time," Bryan warned. Iris eventually croaked out an audible, "Yes!" in between choked sobs and the exchange became their little piece of unscripted broadcast gold that was actually reported in the MU campus newspaper.
By the end of the summer, she had a steady job at WJOB and an interesting last name, Bell-Madden. Iris wasted no time in coining her own cool on-air opening. "This is ICBM, your intercontinental ballistic host for Seriously Weird Stuff where we nuke the news with weird and hard to explain occurrences that really do happen every day." Her following and ratings gave her enough clout to insist that her husband was part of the broadcast and must be employed by the station as the producer and sound engineer for her shows.
Iris caught movement out of the corner of her eye and she watched as Bryan pick up the phone, listen, nod, and then hang up. Her stomach tightened as he reached to activate the booth intercom. 'She's here," he said, giving her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. "She's hitting the ladies' room and will be here in a couple minutes."
Iris smiled back, winked and Bryan cut the intercom as she exhaled and leaned back in her chair. She felt like she had been holding her breath for a half-hour. A few moments later, she caught him glancing to his right, alerted to the sound of footsteps echoing down a dimly lit linoleum tiled hallway that Bryan could hear but that she could not. He moved out from behind the control panel to greet Iris's guest and to give her some quick instructions before leading her into the sound booth. Iris saw the time: 11:48 PM. Twelve minutes plus a four-minute news and weather break, two thirty-second commercials, a ten-second station identification, and a five-second FCC-mandated broadcast delay before bumper music, she calculated. Seventeen minutes should be plenty of time. Why was I so nervous?
Iris knew the reason. So did Bryan. When they showed up a half-hour before the show, they expected to see their guest being briefed and giving Iris time to get acquainted with the person around which she would be wrapping her show and its reputation. The stakes were incredibly high because her guest had agreed to submit to a polygraph exam on the air, administered by a licensed polygrapher with numerous years of police experience.
The topic of the polygraph questions: the truth behind this firefighter's claim she had a face-to-face encounter with the mysterious phantom-like entity that had reportedly performed incredible acts that had saved the lives of people in Metropolis. In addition, the phantom entity was thwarting crime, saving victims and creatively restraining the dangerous criminals in a blink of an eye and without a sound. He or she had accomplished these all without leaving much more than a blur on the video camera footage or a trace of any evidence of his or her existence.
The 'Avenging Angel of Mercy' legend had exploded in Metropolis over the last two months, fueled by frustrated journalists reporting on stories that offered a glimmer of hope to the citizens of the city. So many questions and theories had erupted from the growing reports of the faceless entity that the phantom entity had almost instantly become the number one topic of debate and theory in every gathering in Metropolis and beyond.
Was the 'Avenging Angel of Mercy' a real person? Was it a real-life angel? Were these real events or were they just part of a massive hoax staged for some other purpose? Was this a human altered by some government experiment? Was it the prelude to an alien invasion?
Iris Bell-Madden would be the first broadcaster to interview a person who claimed she actually saw and had exchanged words with the shadowy being. Her guest was Lieutenant Robyn Williams, a veteran female firefighter with the Metropolis FD and as such, her credibility could not be higher.
Iris was savvy enough to keep her guest's name and details a secret. The instant Iris began touting the show, she was bombarded with requests from newspaper reporters and TV journalists in and outside of Metropolis, begging her to allow them to interview her guest first. Even the Daily Planet's star reporter, Lois Lane, had purposely followed and then cornered Iris in the ladies room at her favorite Hammond restaurant. The pushy reporter tried to coerce Iris into letting her sit in on the interview. Lois assured Iris that she would not ask any questions unless she detected evasive or deceptive responses and weigh in at that point to prevent Iris embarrassing herself with some fraud on the air.
Iris rejected all offers and knew that if the broadcast was going to be as huge as she thought, it would be sold to other outlets and repeated across the nation, expanding Iris' brand to a level that would rival her grandfather's.
Bryan ushered Lieutenant Williams into the sound booth and introduced Iris. They shook hands and Iris motioned the lieutenant to sit in the chair across a small table from her. "The headphones are for you. Bryan will do a sound check once you put them on. Then he'll ask you to speak normally into the mini-boom microphone on the stand next to you." She paused. "Do you have any questions for me?"
Williams glanced at the cuff and polygraph device on a small table next to her. "I take it that is for me?"
Iris nodded. "Yes. The first segment of our show will be a 'get to know you' portion. I'll be asking you general questions about your job, your background…that sort of thing." Williams nodded. "Before we begin tonight, are there any areas that are off-limits to you – things that you don't want to talk about?" The lieutenant started to reply but Iris interjected, "I mean things like where you live, if you have kids, and stuff like that." Iris smirked. "This isn't the Bravo network. I won't be asking about your love life or sexual orientation."
Williams smiled. "Yeah, I'd rather not talk about where I live. I do have kids at home but I'd rather not reveal their names or ages." She paused and then added, "Actually, all that private information is protected from public disclosure. I see no reason to shred that protection of my privacy and the safety of my family just to tell this story."
"Absolutely," Iris agreed. "Aside from the nuts out there, you and your family would wake up to a brigade of reporters at your house if you did," Iris added. "No one wants that…except the reporters." She continued. "After the first break, we'll have the polygrapher come in and get you set up. It will be an extended break so that he can properly calibrate the device and establish a baseline. Once that's done, I'll begin to ask you about your encounter and I'll ask you to be as specific as possible."
Lieutenant Williams nodded. "No problem. Sounds like a plan."
"Good! After that, the first hour will probably be over. We'll have a hard break and after that, there will be callers with their questions. Bryan screens those calls to keep the crazies at a minimum but I can't promise you one or two won't slip through, especially tonight." Williams smiled. "Do you need something to drink? I have a bottled water in the mini-fridge over there," she said motioning to her right. "Grab a bottle if or when you need it. We can get you some coffee if you'd like."
"Maybe later," Williams replied.
Iris glanced at the clock. 11:55 PM. "Okay, we have about 11 minutes before the show goes live. Do you have to use the restroom before we start?"
"Nope. I'm good to go."
"Perfect!" She paused and took a deep breath. "Are you ready for this?" she asked with a wide, excited smile.
"Yes I am," the lieutenant declared. "You don't know how badly I've been wanting to tell this story."
"Okay then, go ahead and put on your headphones and Bryan will do sound checks and set levels."
Iris regarded the woman. She looked to be in her early 40's, short auburn hair, gray-green eyes, and an athletic build. Iris guessed that she stood five foot, seven or eight inches tall and weighed around 130 to 135. She wore jeans and a long sleeve polo with the Metropolis FD logo on the left breast. The shirt fit tight and accentuated her well-developed shoulders and muscular arms. Iris imagined the lieutenant was a serious, committed professional and sensed that she would be unflappable in an interview. Anyone who fights fires for a living, she thought, shouldn't have a problem with telling her story or answering questions about it. Iris looked away, down at her notes to suppress a smile. This was going to be an amazing show!
As the bumper music was finishing, Iris opened the show. "Good morning out there! This is ICBM, your intercontinental ballistic host for Seriously Weird Stuff where we nuke the news with weird and hard to explain events that really do happen every day." The music faded away to silence. Iris abandoned her usual high-energy opening meant to build excitement for the show. The nature of this story needed no hype. Instead, she spoke quietly and deliberately to give the introduction more gravity, almost as if she was delivering a eulogy. "And tonight, I have what will most likely be the most incredible and historic story that I will ever broadcast." Another quiet pause. "It's the story that every person living or working in and around Metropolis has been debating for months and is desperate to finally hear some truth about." She paused a last time and smiled at Robyn. "Tonight, I have the one person out of the millions of people in Metropolis who has actually seen and spoken with the…" she hesitated, "uh…being that people are calling The Avenging Angel of Mercy. She will tell us about her encounter with this mysterious phantom and finally shed some light about the entity and the truth beyond the rumors. And in our second hour, we'll be opening up our phone lines to take your calls so stay tuned." She paused, gave a quick nod and Robyn nodded back. "So first of all," she picked up her cadence, "it is my sincerest pleasure to introduce tonight's guest, Robyn Williams…no, not that Robin Williams…this isn't my grandfather's show," she cracked, and Williams chuckled. "Tonight, I'm here with the living Robyn Williams, and that's Lieutenant Robyn Williams from the Metropolis Fire Department's third district and she has a story that will change the way you view the world." She paused. "Please say hello to our audience, Lieutenant Williams."
"Hello everyone," the lieutenant said. "And, please just call me Robyn."
Iris winked at Robyn. "Okay. But I'm going to do something that I never do and jump the shark a bit here because I don't want people who may have to leave wait for an answer or not have a reason to call in so I want to ask you this question right off the top." She paused. "Can you then us all whether or not this is a real person, an alien, or just some made up stories?"
Robyn looked up at Iris and smiled.