Book Three wraps up the document FLICKER STREET: THE BIRTH. I'm putting together a video that explains the history of the writing of the piece, and why I refer to it as a "meta-document" and not wholly FS 'canon' going forward. It was an ambitious exercise, and while technically unfinished - I'd set out to do 20 chapters but ended with only 17 - it achieved what I set out to create: a more or less chronological recounting of events in the Flicker Street 'universe'.
THE BIRTH was originally meant as a "bible" for my own use, a reference work to keep my chronology straight, but quickly became a sweeping 'saga' of sorts. Sweeping sagas, however, are not really what I write, and tonally, THE BIRTH is not emblematic of how FLICKER STREET is rendered. So this piece is preserved mainly for posterity, and its importance to my world-building can't be overstated. This makes it essential material with which relaunch this official website.
I decided to make THE BIRTH an "in-universe" meta-work, inspired by the ideas of Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton concept, in which fantastic events really occurred and larger than life characters are true life people - but the truth has been distorted, exaggerated, and fictionalized to varying degrees for a myriad of reasons, not least of which would be the desire of those persons depicted to let the world believe they don't truly exist.
Look out for an upcoming video piece on this subject and, yes, FLICKER STREET: THE BIRTH as a title is an homage to David Lynch's TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN.
Enjoy,
Henry
Orphee deLander AKA The Absurd Tentacle, Orpheus deLander, The Caretaker, William Tyndall, Waylon McChurch, and various other epithets.
FLICKER STREET: THE BIRTH
As Told by Thaddeus Davant
Book Three
Chapter 12: Deviations
I. The Pod As Womb
Ancient History Lesson:
The Omegan and Piscean penchant for “soft conquest” culminated in their vying for Earth. The Omegan craft theTerminus was not a downed alien vessel or a crashed starship. It was however truly a “mothership” in that it contained an Omegan Birthing Chamber. It was an extradimensional vessel traveling alchemically; it emerged inside Mt Mosaic based on the mountain's karmic ley lines – about 20,000 years ago. Tephiris was the first known Omegan born scout dispatched to Earth and was extremely long lived. He came through the Terminus in a birthing pod; essentailly he was incarnated on Earth on earth in a replica of the body he inhabited on Omega Ceti I. Omegan flesh was not confined by the corporeal limitations inherent to creatures of Earth.
Tephiris traversed his new homeworld but North America remained his base of operations. He communed with Native Americans, settlers, and slaves alike, always assuming a race's form and co-mingling with them, spreading his seed far. Tephiris was the first newly born Exodesian in many decades – an Exodesian by virtue of the fact that he was the genetic product of pure Omegan seed and Piscean ovum. Tephiris was himself an experiment in keeping the peace between the coldly warring races.
Tephiris was the father of the druid Brithemain, born c. 12,000 BCE. Tephiris had been (re)born on Earth c. 18, 000 BCE and died sometime before Shun Ti's and Asenath-Zayan's births (c. 1500 AD). No Exodesians and few Omegans or Pisceans were as long-lived, i.e. over 19,000 years old. Only the hybrid priests Mordechai and his nephew Gammadion lived nearly as long. In addition to his genetic gifts, Tephiris used many alchemical life extension formulas, to varying degrees of success.
Mt Mosaic was the nexus point, aka the “Terminal Pointe” of the truce if you will ,between the quietly warring races. Tephiris periodically used the pod tech at Terminal Pointe to travel to Omega and to Pisces to report as a scout for both races. The pods he utilized were the basis of the modern tech of the tellax pod that revolutionized human transport, though it only began being used commercially in the early 21st century. It was plundered by SkullCorp from the tech Ursulin shared in the 1950s, and by the close of the century REACT and the Aggregate (and some of their foes) had access to this incredible teleportation technology.
To some Exodesians Tephiris claimed to be wholly one of them, and mated with some of their women. In his very old age Tephiris mated with a Frenchwoman named Dominique Chanel. Their daughter, Francoise Chanel, married into the Mercer family. This infused Ewen Cromwell's line with stronger Exodesian genes, as Francoise's son Leopold Mercer was also Cromwell's grandson. Leopold was also the grandfather of the infamous gunfighter known as Mercy. Many of the descendants of Cromwell (himself Tephiris' great-grandson) and the great envoy Tephiris had extraordinary abilities; most, however, appeared and lived as human, save for a predilection for unnatural longevity.
When Ish of Omega and Asenath of Pisces were engineered to be the official infiltrators of Earth, Tephiris felt his time had finally come. He gently slipped away, imbibing moonbrew and ruminating on his millenia of adventures and his many descendants on Earth. The foremost of these descendants will be examined next.
II. For A Few Digressions More...
The legendary gunfighter Mercy began life in 1843 as Nero Mercer, the son of Napoleon Mercer (the great-grandson of Ewen Cromwell aka Carnifex) and Lily Runningwater, a mostly Pawnee Indian and herself a granddaughter of Cromwell's. Besides this, Nero was the great-great-grandson of the aforementioned Tephiris. Mercy was blessed with a retarded aging process, a strong healing factor, and unerring marksmanship, his favored weapon being a portable Gatling gun. Most thought him insane, but few dared square off against this titan of the Old West. Once his hands were crushed; he defeated his enemy regardless but lost his woman. His hands healed fully over a matter of weeks.
Shortly after this, he encountered Shanedo Nakemura, a deciding factor in his life. Nakemura (b. 1823) was known in Japan as the 'Demon Dog' (translated) and was a wandering ronin who took along his young daughter Meiko on his journeys, teaching her all that he knew along the way. Shanedo was the deadliest ronin to emerge from Japan in the waning days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. He had run afoul of the Pan-Asian fanatical sect, the Hei Naodai (also known as the 'Black Skull Society'), and wished to shatter them into a million pieces. Shun Ti at Feng Qi thought a truce could be arrived at; Kith M'Nali, the “Black Tamerlane”, did not concur and bedeviled Shanedo for a number of years. Shanedo was contracted to come to America in the mid 1860s and retrieve certain stolen Nakemura family artifacts, including a very special samurai sword. Shanedo had the feeling Kith had stolen them. Kith had a secret base in America, from which he plotted the end of the then-current US government, as he saw millions of his countrymen still in bondage.
Shanedo faced off with Kith over the artifacts and won. M'Nali begged for his life, the first time he'd done so (though he was insincere). Then Mercy appeared and shot Kith a number of times. Kith was taken totally unawares, an odd and uncomfortable feeling for him. Shanedo bade him leave. M'Nali headed to his base and his medicinal potions to heal his critical wounds.
Mercy and Shanedo forged a mutual respect of sorts over this odd incident. Shanedo's daughter Meiko Nakemura (b. 1850) was immediately taken with Mercy, and he with her. In time, Shanedo came to grips with this. The two men fought together as partners a number of times (including on the steppes of the Ziggurat in 1868), and Shanedo now felt an outcast from Japan. Mercy proposed marriage to Meiko, and soon he was Shanedo's son-in-law. In 1878, the child Nero Nakemura was born to Mercy and Meiko.
Shanedo had one last mission he wished to fight alone. He returned to Asia, while his daughter, now known only as the Lady Ronin, became Mercy's partner in his increasingly outre adventures. In 1890, word reached Meiko that her father was slain in battle with Kith. Mercy and the Lady Ronin embarked on one last grand adventure, one with a bittersweet climax. After failing to route M'Nali, Meiko announced that she'd be staying in Asia, sometimes at Feng Qi. Her goals were two-fold: to avenge her father, and to further train, and, hopefully, to teach at Feng Qi. She would raise young Nero as Japanese but would tell him all about his legendary father.
Mercy was devastated. He wandered Europe, alighting in France, where his daughter, La Comtesse de Marangias, held court. La Comtesse had wed one Armand Tressilian and had one infant daughter, Edith, b. 1890, and a son already on the way (This son would grow up to be the legendary Richter). But Mercy was drawn back to the United States and his family there, which essentially amounted to his brother and his brother's family.
III. Marisol's Odyssey
Mercy's half-brother was the much-discussed gunfighter Sorrow, who married the wild Libanian gunfighter Carmelita Rodriguez. She gave him three daughters: twins Luna and Solita are covered elsewhere, but it's now time to speak of Mariposa Marisol Corvo, b. 1877. Marisol inherited Sorrow's unnatural longevity and many of his skills (Sorrow was the grandson of Exodesian Arch-Priest Urias, as established in past chapters, as well as the great-grandson of Ewen Cromwell). Marisol, as she chose to be called then, was a voluptuous beauty, but never flaunted her sexuality. She craved action and excitement. She was proud to come from a family of long-lived gunfighters, and wanted to learn the arts of combat herself, something that did not interest her older sisters.
When she met Mercy's bride, Meiko Nakemura, as a small child, she was staggered by her fighting prowess. 'A female samurai!' thought Marisol (though Meiko was technically a ronin, a masterless samurai). She asked Meiko to train her. The Lady Ronin agreed, but it had to be their secret. And so, furtively, they held a number of sessions. This ended in 1890, when Meiko was called away to Asia and never returned. Marisol vowed she'd find her one day and conclude her training with Meiko. Sorrow took good care of his daughter in the meantime. She reached adulthood, a buxom, athletic young woman with a razor-keen mind, and she decided to move to Libania, despite the risk and strife there. Carmelita warned her about Libania and Serafinia, but Marisol claimed she was to become a nun and be cloistered away from the conflict.
Marisol actually made her way to Asia with a cache of gold her father gave her. She struggled, and fought, but finally reached Feng Qi, based on all she'd been told by Meiko. This was in 1900. She was reunited with Meiko Nakemura, who, as promised all those years ago, resumed training beside her. They trained together for 35 years, neither of them aging appreciably, just getting stronger and more finely honed in their arts. But then Kith M'Nali returned after a time away from Feng Qi. He had been assembling various criminal and revolutionary elements to fall under the Black Skull Society rubric. Marisol and her mistress encountered Kith one day and they soon began exchanging derisive epithets. This erupted into a full-fledged duel. Shun Ti, worried, came to watch, knowing that it was already too late to stop them.
In their pitched combat, the Lady Ronin sliced off one of the so-called Black Tamerlane's legs. He fought on, hopping, crawling, and spurting blood all over the dojo. In an amazing reversal, he leapt on his single foot and hacked off Meiko's right arm (her sword-wielding one), and, as they both fell and crawled about the floor slick with their blood, he impaled Meiko on his blade.
Marisol was aghast and prepared to slit M'Nali's arrogant throat. He and his detached limb were spirited away though, by members of the order in Feng Qi. Much later, Marisol heard that mystic allies of Kith's were able to re-attach his leg. Another rumor later floated about was that Ish used Omegan tech to restore it. This was several years before Ursulin arrived on Earth and began disseminating regeneration tech to a chosen few; of course today it is widely used and has revolutionized medicine.
Shun Ti took over Mariposa Marisol's training (she had ceased going by her surname). Marisol “graduated”, to the highest level that Shun Ti could grant her, in 1950. Even by then, Marisol still appeared youthful and strikingly beautiful. She wondered if she would age as well as her father, who had died at 98 in 1938, but only appeared middle-aged at the time.
IV. The Marchessa Unbound – and Her Unlikely Pupil
After Mariposa Marisol attained the highest honors Shun Ti could bestow upon her, she gave herself the title “The Marchessa”. It had taken her 73 years to attain this total level of mastery of the mystic and martial arts. At long last, she was determined to return to Libania. There, she founded her own Solacium, patterned after the Omegans' places of contemplative solitude. Shun Ti had created one on Earth herself.
The Marchessa gathered disciples over the years and created her own temple. She did not establish any particular order for those interested to join. She didn't want to foment another cult in a region reviled for them. She simply taught her eclectic blend of alchemy and martial arts. FOPA raided her on occasion, but they eventually determined that she did indeed fit into their “Freedom of the People' mantra.
Her goal was to train others and to pass on the knowledge she'd received. But so few seemed fit to receive such knowledge and training. The Marchessa had lived a long and lonely life. She longed to be a lover and an adventurer, not a monk, but she felt the latter was her true calling. But things changed 1965, when the 88 year old Marchessa, who looked and felt no older than a human woman in her late 30s, found a new purpose.
At this point, I'd like to turn my atttention to a character from a previous treatment. His name was Alec Nicholas Duarte, b. 1948 in Hallmark. He was born a fraternal twin, his brother Julius Antony Duarte born minutes before him. The twins seemed to hate each other from birth. Certainly their parents hated them both. The twins' mother, Roxanne Cooper Duarte, was the maternal granddaughter of Hallmark co-founder Ananias de Ruyter. She was also a stripper, a prostitute, and a heroin addict. Roxanne's mother Eliza severed ties with the de Ruyters when she married Axel Cooper, an attorney for the mob (who, ironically, had married her for her money and family name; now he was supporting her by defending infamous mobsters such as Boston Haverty).
Roxanne's brother, Elias, was also an attorney, and though a rabid right-winger, he was no criminal. He was rather ugly to Roxanne, and distanced himself from her, turning the other way as she spiraled into a cycle of self-abasement and degradation. Elias had two daughters with a woman named Gwyneth Shaw: Susan Cooper (b.1950) and Selena Cooper (b. 1960). Both figure prominently in future narratives. These women were the first cousins of Alec and Julius Duarte, whose father, Antonio “Tony” Duarte (b. 1918), took over organized crime and racketeering in Hallmark by the 1940s, filling the gap left by Boston Haverty's defeat at the hands of the Silent Seven.
Tony Duarte was an utter degenerate: a wife-beating pimp/ pederast/ murderer. He gladly prostituted Roxanne while he groomed young men new to the mob to be his sexual playthings. His favorite being Marco Allegretti, Roxanne's long-time pimp. She tried to escape his grasp a number of times before Marco finally shot her down her in the middle of Paig Steet. in 1959. Tony told his boys that their “mentally disturbed” mother had finally committed suicide. Tony was scum.
Everything changed in 1965, the year Alec Duarte met the Marchessa. Tony had arranged a major drug deal in Libania. He loved doing business with the Libanians. He sent one of his up-and-comers, a 25 year old “errand boy” named Reve Raphael, a great-grandson of Hallmark co-founder Guillermo Renova. Tony assigned his twin sons, barely 17 years old, to accompany Reve. Tony also asked Reve to take Reva, his 5 year old daughter. Reve and Alec were filled with dread; was Tony going to sell the girl into “white slavery” or “kiddie porn”? Human trafficking was hardly beneath someone as vile as Tony Duarte. Julius, to Alec's disgust was amused by the situation as he imbibed massive quantities of cocaine on the trip to Libania.
Tony had heard rumors among his Libanian contacts that there was a place called the Solacium. He envisioned all four of the youths accompanying him being trained into fighting machines for the drug enforcement arm of his Libanian operation. Julius opted out of the training; he was far too tender a youth for such physical exertion. Reve oversaw the operation, and watched helplessly, Julius' gun trained on him, as he handed over his daughter and Alec to the Solacium.
When Tony's drug transaction with the Libanians was completed, Reve flipped out about Reva being taken from him and Julius shot him to death. Julius and Tony departed Libania, leaving behind Alec and Reva with the Marchessa, who thought Tony was an idiot, as she'd never paid him anything for the children. Duarte simply assumed the Marchessa would train the children for a few years until he could bring them into his fold as mob enforcers. Julius was happy, feeling he was finally rid of Alec; Alec's feelings were mutual, as he despised his father and brother more than anything.
The woman once called Marisol had no intention to prostitute the children or anything else Tony Duarte had envisioned - save for the training part of the deal She became a mother figure to the two youths, though Alec hid well his deep-seated sexual desire for his new mentor. Alec, who was much more athletic than Julius, took quickly to the rigorous training. It helped him to channel a lifetime of pent-up rage and overcome the feelings of helplessness his father had instilled in him. In 1971, after Alec had been with the Marchessa for six years, she laid out three 'mandates' for Alec to achieve to prove his worthiness to “graduate” from the Solacium...
V. The Three Mandates
The mandates were odd at first to Alec Duarte. But he soon became excited by the challenge. Here were three opportunities to find catharsis, gain revenge, and right the karma in his own life, while completing his training with the Marchessa (and, possibly, to increase her personal interest in him). He humbly thanked her, and began planning his take on the mandates. And he wanted her more than ever.
The three mandates were, in order: 1. Draw first blood. 2. Infiltrate and foment chaos. 3. Present yourself before your true peers. These mandates were reminiscent of what Alec had read about the Freemasons and the Knights Templar. Thus he devised a disguise with which he could carry out the mandates.
Late in 1971, Alec returned to Hallmark. Masked and armed, he broke into Tony's house. Taking out Tony's goons, he made his way to Tony's master bedroom, where Tony and Marco were engaged in some rather bizarre sex acts. Alec slit Marco's throat and smothered Tony with a pillow as he struggled for a gun. He gained the proverbial upper hand, and shot Tony to death through the pillow. Alec took one item from beneath his father's bed – a medium sized lockbox - and lugged it with him. He calmly, discreetly made his way out the way he came in, just as more of Tony's men arrived. Alec rode away, just as is father's stronghold collapsed into pure chaos.
Alec returned to the Marchessa. She encouraged him to return to Hallmark, to see what was going on in the streets with people his own age. This disinterested him, but he saw her logic. After the Duarte/ Allegretti killings, Alec waited a good while, continuing his training and using the money in his father's lockbox to buy arms in Libania. He knew he must be well-equipped, even though buying the arms was something of a contentious conflict of interest for Duarte.
Alec returned to Hallmark in 1973. While hiding out in a dive in nearby Augensburg, Duarte caught a poster advertising a meeting of the Order of Cosmic Emptiness, an obvious takeoff on the Order of Cosmic Awakening. The meeting was to take place in the town of Gossingham, not terribly far from Hallmark. Alec planned to go as a man called simply Cowan. A cowan is an outsider in Masonic and similar traditions. Infiltrating an occult group – pretending to be one of them but actually not – was somewhat amusing to Duarte.
Leading the meeting was a cryptic gentleman called Javier. Javier appeared to be a nice fellow – the kind of man a loner like Alec actually wouldn't mind befriending. Alec moved closer to Javier. The surreal, almost absurdist, ritual being enacted caused Alec to chuckle a bit beneath his Cowan cowl. No one seemed to find Alec's dress especially odd; several other attendees wore masks. Towards the end of the meeting, the “special guest” was unveiled – a self-proclaimed sorcerer named Antioch Moldor, flanked by two large bodyguards.
Moldor used his time in the spotlight to break out into a rant about the 'Abstruse'. Alec had little clue what Moldor was expounding on, and was actually a bit bored. He seized this opportunity to get up, then pretending to stumble and fall. As Javier reached out to help him, Alec employed a kung fu move on him, flipping him through the air. Then Duarte pulled a gun, admonishing all: “Stay back or you'll all be meeting Abraxas way ahead of schedule!!"
Laughing wildly, a bit nervous, Alec backed his way out, as Moldor's guards approached. Alec swiftly shot down both men, each in the head (Tony Duarte made sure Alec was a highly skilled marksman through years handling guns even before the fateful mission to Libania). Alec hurled himself down a flight of stairs, knocked out a window, and made it to his car. Only Javier seemed to be following him. There was something about Javier, an energy of some kind, that had rattled Alec a bit when he took down the spokesman for Cosmic Emptiness.
The incident was covered bythe sometimes irreverent weekly paper The Flicker Street Dispatch, but not the straight-laced major Hallmark daily newspaper, The Occidental. As for Cowan, he returned to Libania. He continued his regimen, having fulfilled the first two mandates. He was glad to see Reva, who was like a sister to him. She was still serving the Marchessa. He was not glad to see FOPA thugs ogling the 14 year old when she went to the local market with Reva. The Marchessa said it could be a few years before Alec, as the Cowan, was ready to present himself to his peers. She appreciated the creativity Duarte put into creating the Cowan persona.
In mid 1976, Alec returned to Hallmark. He took a room in the poorest section of town and kept a low profile. Occasionally, reporters would manage to track him down, pestering him for info on his father and family and their criminal activities. Alec deftly deflected their queries, albeit with little patience. Eventually, his minor celebrity eroded, and he was left alone – as he preferred it. He strove to be as far off the radar as he could. He landed a job with Zenith Cab and worked as many hours as he could stand.
He had a brief alcohol-soaked rendezvous with a fellow cabbie, an older Frenchwoman named Renee Pointier. After a torrid weekend of sex, Alec began sobering up and realized he didn't return Renee's feelings for him. This left her heartbroken and cynical. Alec felt awful about hurting Renee, as he considered her a good friend – as close as he could get to having such a thing. She left town, and, as we have seen with the uber-fertile "Flicker Street Family", she was, predictably, pregnant. Alec felt he had mistreated her and was wracked with gulit, but crime was rampant in the parts of town he most frequented and it obsessed him, especially as his own family was much to blame. Julius Duarte and his lover/'master' Milo Majestyk, were striving to unite organized crime in Hallmark, as Tony Duarte had once done. In the midst of Hallmark's spiral into chaos on the streets, Alec wondered, “What the fuck happened to those Aggregate bastards?” He didn't realize that the US government (and the toll of their battles) had fractured the group. Alec Duarte decided ithat t was time for the third mandate to play out...
VI. 1977 (Postscript)
It was a routine meeting for the Aggregate. They had recently lost some members (and some friends in the Freedom Squad); some were dead, some were comatose, some had defected to Orphee de Lander's camp. Only seven remained: Shadow Baron, Thomas Ledge, Euphrates Straw, Cedric Lykos, Cotton Suede, Konchuman, and Go Demon (who was himself debating returning to Japan). Suddenly, alarms went off, and the group mobilized. But it was all for naught. “It's just me, man. I ain't a threat to you. I'm Cowan, and I could be the best thing that ever happened to this not-so-sensational seven”.
Chapter 13: Iconoclasts
I. Reconstruction
When we last left Freedom Ops, their team had been ravaged by the seemingly undefeatable Exodesian Deomond. Their latest member Solus, with Dr. E's help, managed to destroy Deomond – and himself – utterly. Dr. E, however, was left comatose, and most of the team was catatonic, missing limbs, or both. It was decided to use Roger Greer's Freedom Squad for the most necessary – and potentially controversial - human test trials of alien technology thus far. REACT utilized tech purloined from SkullCorp, iwhich had been in turn purloined from from Omega Ceti I – specifically from the half-Omegan Ursulin, who arrive on Earth in the early 1950s.
This was powerful regenerative technology – part advanced medical science, part pure alchemy – that was being employed by REACT for military applications, starting with the Freedom Squad. Naturally, this was decades before such tech began helping the US citizenry in any appreciable manner. Euphrates Straw wished for what his brother Emerson Trent had wished for – to pilfer these discoveries, and perfect them for Aggregate use. It seemed obvious that the plan for Freedom Ops was going to be missions on the front line - being blasted, shot down, and blown apart - and then being patched up, only to be sent out for more, on an endless rinse repeat cycle of carnage and mayhem. Straw felt the Aggregate had the same duty – albeit for ideological reasons that were the polar opposite of REACT's motives.
Still, we must ask, just who – or what - was Solus? Solus was essentially a new form of life. Genetic material harvested from humans, Omegans, Pisceans, and Exodesians, had been spiced together and grown in a test tube. Solus had no parents save Donal Rykards and Phileas Caleb. This hybrid creation was bolstered cybernetically and bombarded with TSD treatments. His mind was programmed to be that of the ultimate agent for Freedom Ops, and now, REACT was furious that he had been destroyed on his first real mission. So the envisioned Solus line was scrapped for the time being, and REACT concentrated on rebuilding and enhancing the current Freedom Squad (hence referred to as “FS”) lineup. They encoded a deep-seated loyalty to REACT, and to the United States government, into their cortices. Their partners and friends in the Aggregate might on occasion sense something just a bit amiss in their erstwhile associates' behavior patterns. Being a subtle alteration on the genetic level, this would not read as unnatural to those with powerful mystical senses such as Cary Bradcroft.
The only FS members not to be mildly reprogrammed were Ursulin (his mind resisted such probing) and John Gauvin, the Wrath, who astonishingly had sustained little injuries in the Libanian fracas and, when offered a genetic “tune-up”, acquiesced only to a point. He declined being a part of the mind trials. REACT took note and considered him a medium level risk.
After the dust settled, much of 1977 had been spent sorting through just what to do with the revitalized FS. Roger Greer, Jim April, Ben Renova, Oregon Powell, and Brandon ver Dorn all had limbs replaced and awoke from their lengthy comas ready to resume their status. Dr. E's mind and powers (via a much upgraded suit) were now more malleable. Ursulin announced, after over 25 years on Earth, he and his brother Anaximander would be leaving the planet indefinitely, to return to the coldly warring races that spawned them and proffer themselves as a great success in keeping Earth – and Exodesia - manageable. Their parents were gone; it seemed to be time to fulfull their centuries-long mission.
Whereas Anaximander believed wholeheartedly in this endeavor, Ursulin, though his first loyalty remained to Omega Ceti I, where he was raised, secretly wished to protect the Earth from further extraterrstrial interference. He had developed a sincere love for his adopted planet, if not for its governments. And so REACT was stymied once again. SkullCorp saw this as a great thing, however. They were never pleased that Ursulin had “defected” to REACT.
The refurbished FS welcomed two new members, who REACT had secured as further “tokens” to compete with the Aggregate's multi-ethnic makeup. The first was the black vigilante Dane Torrance, aka The Troubleshooter (more on him shortly); and the second draftee, not only Freedom Ops' first female recruit, but their first Asian one as well. She called herself Lumena, but she was born, in 1956, as Kono Nashida, daughter of Kai Nashida (b. 1933), herself the daughter of the brilliant Professor Kenji Nashid. Nashida's experiments with Omegan tech and cybernetics created Aggregate members Konchuman and Go Demon (who was Professor Nashida's son Jiro).
Kono's father, she claimed, was Kong the Claimer himself. She swore that she wished to atone in some small part for her father's evil doings by joining the FS. For his part, not only did Ben Renova believe Lumena sincerely; he was also quickly falling deeply in love with her.
It is worth noting that no sooner had Freedom Ops returned the Squad to active status than the serial killings in Augensburg began again with a vengeance. The killings had become even more ferocious and appalling than before. The reconstructed team turned their attention to this mystery in late 1977. Fortunately, so did a hero with no affiliation with the Freedom Squad....
II. Proof
Before leaving Earth, Ursulin and Anaximander visited the Aggregate. But a few months before this, the group received with an unexpected offer of membership from Alec Duarte AKA Cowan. Duarte had managed to break into Bradcroft Manor. Alarms were ringing as he identified himself as Cowan, and immodestly claimed that he was the best thing to ever happen to the team. Shadow Baron asked them to hear him out, though Thomas Ledge's hair-trigger sense of outrage and Cotton Suede's weary cynicism did little to create a unbiased atmosphere. Cowan overlooked Cotton's attitude due to both her great beauty and the fact that she was very familiar to him, though he wasn't yet to her.
Cary Bradcroft invited Duarte to speak out and explain himself and how he could benefit the team. Cowan related a brief autobiography, including his true identity. He felt he was taking an awful risk doing this, but if the Marchessa felt that these were his “true peers”, then so be it. Ledge had no confidence in Cowan's abilities despite his account of his training and the fact that he'd taken the team unawares. Ledge challenged him to “mix it up” with him for awhile to gauge his skills. Despite their Ledge's much greater physical strength and years of experience, Cowan held his own. But when Ledge managed to land a direct blow to Duarte, the results were agonizing. Ledge should'have been pulling his punches but he was incensed by this intruder.
Alec then matched martial arts skills with Konchuman (also much stronger than Alec), Cotton, and Straw. Duarte savored the time with Cotton. The solitary Lykos was impressed with and liked Duarte. As did Bradcroft, who, to the surprise of everyone (including Alec), offered him a spot training with the team after he'd demonstrated his skills admirably. Shortly thereafter, Go Demon announced his return to Japan for a time to help his brother, who had gotten himself into a dire situation. Bradcroft wished him well.
Over the course of Cowan's training, he was consistently butting heads with Ledge, Straw, and/ or Suede. At least Straw respected him, despite Alec's iconoclastic nature. Cowan and Lykos bonded well however, and Konchuman could easily see the good in his new teammate despite his cynical demeanor. Cowan vowed he'd wear down Ledge eventually; he felt a right-winger like Ledge was holding the the group back. If it was to be him or Ledge leaving, Duarte was determined that it would be Ledge.
By the time Ursulin's and Anaximander visited Bradcroft Manor, Cowan had become somewhat acclimated to the team. Cary hosted a special dinner for the brothers which Ben Renova and Kono Nashida attended together. Ben and Kono were growing very close, but she was intrigued by Ursulin, who at that point had been celibate for a number of years. Kono asked Ursulin to take her and Ben to Mt. Mosaic to see the remains of the Terminus. Renova was insanely jealous, but nonetheless bowed out of the trip, deciding to give Kono an opportunity to prove her faithfulness.
Ben was perhaps too magnanimous and trusting. At Mt. Mosaic, Lumena easily seduced her “Captain Omega”. They made love for days, and he asked her to come away with him and his brother. She excitedly agreed, but as she expected, breaking this to Renova was difficult. At first he challenged Ursulin to a duel, but quickly realized how pointless this was. He began to feel that his time with the Freedom Squad had eroded his social skills and jeopardized his vast fortune. It is possible the subtle rewiring of his brain patterns by REACT contributed to this.
Renova retired from active duty and devoted himself to his financial empire and tried dating again, though getting over Lumena took some time. He was became interested in his first wife Samantha's sister, Vanessa Mac Art. Samantha had died giving birth to Ben's son, John Philip "JP" Renova II, born in 1976. Lumena left Earth with the sons of Shun Ti, and in 1978, gave birth to Ursulin's son, whom she named Benjamin Caine Anaximander Nashida (she was still fond of Ben, regardless of what had happened). The child went by the sobriquet “Benny”.
Thus the so-called Freedom Squad lost three members (Ursulin, Ben, and Kono) in one fell swoop. And their losses in 1977 didn't end there. As the year waned, the killings in Augensburg became a major side case for Cowan. And what – and who – he uncovered – was quite shocking. One night in late October 1977, Cowan, acting on an hunch he felt was a long shot, he finally spied the so-caled “Augensberg Slayer” dismembering a young girl's body. Cowan didn't realize that he was also being followed – by one of the Freedom Squad's newest recruits: Dane Torrance, AKA the Troubleshooter. Troubleshooter was eager to make a name for himself, and not just be the “token minority” of Freedom Ops. He and Cowan struggled. Cowan whispered, “Don't ruin this for all of us, man. Do you see who that is?”
And indeed, Torrance gasped when he realized the man who committing these vile acts in a seedy flophouse was none other than his own trainer in Freedom Ops - Oregon Powell. Dane rattled off his feelings to Alec: sullying the heroic name of the Duellist was bad enough; what the man was doing was too much; and betraying the Squad was beyond the pale. Alec acerbically replied, “Your priorities are seriously fucked, man, but you get the gist of it. Let's take him.”
The two men rushed in on Powell, who calmly explained that he'd been waiting for them. Torrance attacked Powell, who swiftly disarmed him. Cowan called the police and the Aggregate for back-up. By the time the former had arrived, Dane Torrance had been beaten down by Powell and Alec was facing off with him. When the police converged on the three men, they announced that they were charging Dane was the murder of the dismembered young girl, among other preposterous charges. They attempted to subdue Cowan, but he made a break for it. Crashing through an upstairs window, he apparently escaped. He actually hid out until he saw the cops start to take away Oregon Powell as a witness, and, as a suspect, a dazed and incredulous Dane Torrance. Getting a perfect bead on Powell with his rifle, Duarte assassinated him with one clean head shot, then fled. Officers fired, one hitting Alec in the leg.
The Aggregate arrived and told the police they'd made a terrible mistake, and that Dane Torrance was a government agent on the trail of the Augensburg Slayer. The Augensburg police were hardly sympathetic; all they knew was that they saw a black man home invading a middle class white home and killing the daughter of the home owner's neighbor. The negro – as they referred to him – had one white male accomplice now wanted for first degree murder. And, their argument went, wasn't Powell a higher ranking cover agent than “the negro”? Was professional jealousy at play perhaps, they “reasoned”? Cotton lunged at the officer in charge, but Konchuman held her back.
Alec had collected a file of evidence linking Powell to the murders circumstantially but didn't want to believe he could be the killer. He realized he had been a fool to go it alone. Powell had been well connected in the area, and all of the police in Augensburg were in his family's pocket – his adopted family, the Powells, that is. Oregon was the biological grandson of Biazel Karollus via Biazel's daughter Clarissa Rushmore, and their degraded bloodline ran strong beneath the Duellist's easy charm and chivalrous manner.
Alec was thus on the run, wounded, and trying to collect himself. Cary Bradcroft paid a personal visit to “Freedom Central”, the ostentatious new headquarters of FSO, as they colloquially called themselves at that point (though their appellation could change on any given week - 'the Squadron' was another recent favorite of Roger Greer's). Bradcroft attempted to reason with Greer and a REACT liaison called Howard Unsworth. REACT and Freedom Central was preparing to issue a formal statement on the matter at hand, and they quoted it to Cary:
“It saddens us to report that Agent Dane Torrance (code name: Troubleshooter) will soon stand trial as the Augensburg Slayer. He apparently had an accomplice, a man identified as petty criminal turned vigilante Alec Duarte, who attacked agent Oregon Powell (code name: Duellist) as Powell was attempting to save Torrance's captive. Duarte will be tried for first degree murder of a federal agent when apprehended. REACT will assist local police in any way they can to stop this highly dangerous felon.”
Cary then did something he had sworn never to do save for in a world-threatening scenario. He reached out with his great power, and exerted his formidable will upon the minds of all of the FSO, the REACT agents involved, and the Augensburg police, effectively erasing their belief in, and knowledge of, the sentiments expressed in their statement to Cary. He also bade the appropriate parties to destroy all evidence of said statement. Then he reached out astrally until he discerned Alec's location, and dispatched some of the team to retrieve him and procure medical attention. These enormous acts of magickal will were drastic, and fatiguing, but Bradcroft had had enough of feeling helpless when such power was at his disposal. Nocturno had always Cary that he was over-cautious about utilizing his gifts.
And so the case was dropped – or, rather to those who brought the case, it had never existed. Alec's file made its way to Hallmark PD, who declared Powell to be the Slayer but his murder remained unsolved. Torrance shook off his few days in jail, not quite sure what really happened, as he, nor his jailers, could recall the reason for his arrest, and no paperwork regarding it could be found. The Troubleshooter returned to Freedom Central.
Alec, who did retain his memories of being sought by the authorities, overcame a grave fear of his: returning to prison. In his teens, while an abused errand boy for his father, Alec was apprehended once and unfairly served a year in prison (his wealthy father did nothing to bail him out, thinking this punishment would “build character”, and wishing not to be incriminated himself). Alec was 14 years old and was beaten and sexually assaulted in prison, but then fell under the (platonic) protection of a fellow inmate, Junius G. Hand (b. 1935), known on the streets as the “Black Torpedo Ray”. Ironically, there is a connection between Junius/ “Ray” and the Troubleshooter to be explored in the near future, which ties in with the late Hiawatha Hand of the Aggregate.
III. Readings in Astrology
Brother Zodiac became an outspoken nemesis of Freedom Central and all it stood for. No one could discern quite where his loyalties (nor his origins) lay. But one man was intent on finding out: Cowan. Zodiac called Orphee deLander's Red Oasis commune home, and wandered Flicker Street as he always had, though not quite with his previous youthful fervor.
While the man called Graven Idyll was still preaching from a fiery bull pulpit, Brother Zodiac's approach was smooth. The police and REACT still kept a current but slender file on him. All they could find was that he looked to be in his late 20s, had no real criminal record, and was raised in New Orleans as Trevor November. He first arrived in Flicker Street in 1968, and looked and acted almost exactly the same in 1978. He expressed the belief that the hope of '68 was draining from the world, that violence saturated society, and that American society was becoming a police state whose repression in turn fed the brutality: a twisted Ourobouros or Midgard Serpent greedily devouring its own tail.
Many women were attracted to him; many men for that matter. But the first to fall under his wing openly was a haunting young lady of mixed race called Kicia Blessing. While Trevor November was frequenting Bradcroft Ltd's curio shoppe with young Kicia in 1978, Alec Duarte was much further south – in Libania, where he finally gave his full report to the Marchessa. She was pleased. Though she was just beginning a physical descent into middle age, the Marchessa was as voluptuous and charismatic as ever. Alec felt it was a now or never situation regarding his true feelings, and so he took what he saw as the biggest risk of his life. He may as well have placed his phallus beneath a chopping block, he thought.
He nervously propositioned his mentor, mother, sensei. Was this really so wrong?, he wondered. Alec was not prepared for the response he received. The Marchessa took him in her soft arms and kissed him passionately. They ended up sharing a profound, some might say transcendental, lovemaking experience. The Marchessa had mastered tantric sex techniques as well, and so Alec learned quite a lot that fateful day. After a deep sleep, Alec awoke and asked the Marchessa, “What now?”
She answered, “The night belonged to us – it always will. But I cannot belong to you, not in the way you want.” Alec understood, but was also deeply hurt. He abruptly inquired when Reva would be returning. She'd be 18 now and he speculated that wouldn't even recognize her. “No”, declared the Marchessa,
“you wouldn't. And not just in the physical sense. She left here, less than a week ago, with some money, and a wagon full of idiots armed to the teeth. And they had quite a pharmacopia. It saddens me.”
“Reva's gotten into drugs and just rides off with arms merchants?? Couldn't you stop them?"
“Could you have stopped them? We may be slightly more than merely human, but how many bullets would it take before we fell? Not many”.
“Point taken”, said Duarte. “I'm – I'm sorry, mistress. I forgot myself after what happened between us. I won't again”.
The Marchessa stated, “She is a woman now. I can't fathom the workings of her young mind. My training has made her feel liberated, more empowered than the other girls in the villages. She has a brilliant mind. I'd hate to see it turned to sordid ends, but it is beyond me now. My only consolation is that she will not be the pawn of men with guns and drugs – she will be the one in control. And with what I've taught her... The last thing I said when I called out to her as they drove away was, 'be blessed, Reva'. She replied, 'Reva? Who's that?' She laughed and then screamed, 'Now they call me the Magdalene!'”
With much to absorb, and feeling hopelessly frustrated on a number of levels, Alec took his leave of the most important woman of his life. “I'll try to sneak by every year or so. I'm gonna try my luck in Hallmark again, for a while anyway. And – thanks again – for the night”. Alec departed a quietly sobbing Marchessa. Tears held back a hundred years can't help but be a flood when they finally come.
In Hallmark, Kicia and Trevor were deliriously happy. But there was a naysayer among the audience they drew on Flicker Street. It was Cotton Suede, and as the saying in Flicker Street goes, “Miss Cotton is not to be trifled with”. Cotton confronted Brother Zodiac and his young mistress one afternoon in Flicker Street outside the infamous Lucifer Club, most recently done up as a disco by longtime owner Black Torpedo Ray. “What's your bag, man?' she asked Zodiac. “you come off all righteous about the evils of 'The Man' and the joys of 'Cosmic Awakening' - but where are you when folks like me are fighting to be truly free? No fucking where.”
“I'm in no cult lady. And I am free – a free agent on these streets. Orphee is simply letting me crash at the Red Oasis. You don't dig my setup, that's alright – but I “harm none”, as the saying goes. If I declare a 'side' – be it yours, or the Tentacle's, or even the Pig Squadron – you will be among the first to know.
“We should've had this talk ten years ago. But back then, you weren't part of a group with a ridiculous name and an 'integrated' cast of characters.”
Cotton grabbed the slim Trevor by his left arm and yanked him up to her. “I'm obviously not making a dent in that thick skull - but I will. Flicker Street belongs to the people, and you've been out there – doing your moves, turning on some cats, pulling some Pied Piper shit. I hear kids calling you the 'Grey Messiah'. Kids like her - “ Cotton points at Kicia, who yet hadn't said a word.
“What happened to the biker chick you were doin' before her? She get tired of you ridin' your hog?” Cotton laughed loudly. “Well, I've known this child her whole life, and you're not just gonna step in and fuck up her life.”
Kicia replied indignantly, "I'm happy with where I am now, Miss Cotton, and with who I am. You've been like a big sister to me and I love you, but frankly, you in my business, and I don't like it. Just back off and let it be, okay? You might find I'm not as ignorant as you think I am. If Trevor hurts me, he's gone. And he knows that. Right?”
“Yes indeed. And that's not going to change”, answered Zodiac.
“Uh huh”, responded Cotton. “Fascinating. Well I'd best be going... and, 'Trevor'?”
“Yeah?”
“I've got my eye on you.”
Cotton took off, soon lost in the bustle of Flicker Street. The woman formerly known as Pauline Cutler had more pressing business with the Aggregate. They were awaiting Alec's return to Hallmark and then hold a 'membership drive'. The idea was ostensibly Ledge's, though Cary had been pondering since Cowan first crashed their meeting in January 1977. Euphrates Straw thought it could be entertaining. “Make them come to us for once. Groovy”.
IV. Alec's Return Home
As everyone got situated for the membership drive meeting on October 5, 1978, Cotton and Alec got to talking. She broached the subject of Brother Zodiac and Kicia Blessing. He was visibly rattled by hearing her name. As he nervously smoked, he asked her how Kicia was, and informed Cotton that he hadn't seen her in some time but thought about her. Cotton replied, “Well, I'd rather her be with someone like you any day than that arrogant asshole“.
Thomas Ledge interrupted, “With Duarte? He's a two-bit loser. Hell, he might not even like chicks for all we know.”
“Well”, interrupted Straw, “ for all we know, the same could be said for you. We've never seen this - Susan Cooper – you claim to be so mad about. Maybe she's just an invention of your closeted psychosis, Ledge”. Alec knew Susan Cooper. She was his first cousin, and as far as he was concerned, she and Ledge deserved each other.
Konchuman and Lykos remained silent, and, as usual, uncomfortable when Ledge started in with his homophobic insinuations. But Straw was insistent on playing right in it.
Alec told Cotton in a low voice, “Ya know what, Miss Suede? Let's talk about Kicia for real sometime. This conversation hardly dignifies the subject matter”.
Straw, impatiently bellowed, “Now you know why we need new blood so badly. A good transfusion could keep us going for years to come, right Ledge?”
“Might need to ditch the bad blood all in one fell swoop, though. Straw here has been curdling since before my time here”.
Straw raised a fist and said, “Regarding old, tired, rancid blood, I say, 'Let it bleed...'”
“Indeed Straw?” said Cary, taking everyone off guard with his entrance and his upbeat countenance. “Since my sanguine friends are crying out for new blood, let me be a good host and placate them with our fitst interested party... he calls himself... Serpent's Tooth”.
Questions to be resolved:
Who or what is this Serpent's Tooth? Who comprises the team's potential new blood', and will any of them make the cut? What is the mystery of Kicia Blessing? What is the Lucifer Club? And why the hell does the Aggregate put up with Thomas Ledge anyway? All this and more will hopefully be answered in the next episode of Flicker Street....
Chapter 14: Extrapolations
I. How Sharp?
“It's like a beauty pageant for superheroes”, Alec sardonically grumbled over his drink. “Instead of a baton, some clown will break out nunchuckas”. He laughed as he swilled down his fourth beer, much to the chagrin of his associates in the Aggregate. He was hoping the membership drive would divert his attention from thinking about Kicia Blessing.
The first prospective member was introduced to the group. He was called Serpent's Tooth and boasted an elaborate partially-scaled outfit that covered his entire head and body. Thomas Ledge wanted to test his abilities by engaging him in fisticuffs (and, frankly, Ledge just liked to use his great strength to hurt other people and to feel “tough”). The more agile, and less brutish, Euphrates Straw stepped in to take the dubious honors. Serpent's Tooth was more than holding his own in hand to hand against Straw, who (like Ledge and Duarte) was slightly inebriated. Then, before anyone could move, Straw collapsed.
“Don't beat a drunk when he's down, Tooth!” cried the gregarious Ledge. Soon, Cary realized that his first applicant had thrust his fingers into a sensitive nerve cluster on Straw's back which temporarily disabled him. Ledge wasn't pleased and sprung up to punch the smaller man. “Before you pulverize me, maybe we should get re-acquainted, Thomas”, said Serpent's Tooth. Then he peeled back his mask.
“Damon Carroll!" spat Ledge. "This is my brother's foster kid! I helped raise this boy, Cary. My brother Clarke and his wife were Damon's foster parents - until Damon joined that cult. How's that goin' for you, by the way?”
Damon replied, “It's not a cult. And I just finished college. Now I'm studying to be a chiropractor. Listen, that's my private life; can I trust everyone here? No offense - “
Straw made his way off the floor and answered. “Sounds like Ledge is ready to hold a press conference announcing that you're in”.
“We are taking much risk trusting you, Damon-san,” added Konchuman.
“You're safe here, Damon”, stated Cary. “I wouldn't have allowed you this opportunity if I didn't possess some foresight into your capabilities. But please: let us ask the questions for awhile. We have some time before the other applicants arrive so can you tell us more about why yourself and why wish to join the Aggregate?”
And Damon Carroll began to lay out the facts about himself. At times, he found it unwise, even painful, to relate certain events in his past to the group, but I'll present here the unabridged version.
II. Baphomet
Damon Carroll was born Damon Lucius Karollus on March 3, 1956. His grandfather, Biazel Karollus, was the centuries-old leader of a perverse order devoted to certain of the Presences - inscrutable, seemingly all-powerful entities that effortlessly traversed abstract dimensions and far-flung galaxies. The Presences from which Biazel and his cultists drew knowledge and sought power from were enshrined in Pisceans' lore and invoked in their dark magicks. Biazel's daughter (one of several), Velupsa Karollus Fabricand, had become fascinated by the man ultimately behind the Skull Corporation and its sundry global interests – a man her father had referred to only as Kong. Driven by a sexual curiosity unusual even for her, the insatiable Velupsa engaged in a brief, passionate affair with Kong.
Biazel was not enthused about this liaison. He saw Kong as an ever-present potential threat to his own sinister machinations, There was an uneasy balance of power between their respective forces – one usually brokered at that time by one of Kong's closest allies, the Exodesian Arch-Priest Urias. Velupsa was also still married to Biazel's disciple Smith Fabricand, who was occupied by a vendetta against the Bradcrofts at the time. Smith was killed while Velupsa was pregnant with Kong's child. Biazel made sure for decades that no one, save Velupsa and himself (not even Kong) would know who the child's real father was. Biazel shortened his name to Damon Carroll and placed him in a foster home. Biazel had plans for the child, but it would be years before they came to fruition.
After an unpleasant upbringing in foster care, in which the highly intelligent Damon was rarely challenged (except by a plethora of bullies), he was finally taken in by Clarke and Sadie Ledge in 1965. Sadie desperately wanted a child but Clarke's impotency issues made her becoming pregnant unlikely. She still did not realize that the reason for these issues was that Clarke was really sexually attracted to men. So the Ledges took in Damon as their foster son, not formally adopting him. Of course, none of them had an inkling that Damon and Clarke were actually half-brothers.
Damon did so well in public school he was allowed to skip a grade and graduated from high school in 1973. His time with the Ledges was also coming to an end that year. The Ledges' marriage was crumbling, as Sadie had finally learned of Clarke's homosexuality. As soon as Damon graduated, he fled to California, angry at both of his foster parents. Sadie died later that year, and Clarke was killed in 1974 while investigating the Skull Corporation, never learning his own father was Skull's prime architect.
Damon went to college in California for four years and his uncanny experiences there were what lead him to becoming Serpent's Tooth. He had been secretly studying the occult for a few years; this was among his points of contention with his foster parents. Damon was especially interested in Kabbalah, Kundalini, tantric magic, and alchemy. He attended several meetings of like-minded folk in California, and, at one such gathering in early 1974, he met a shy androgynous girl who called herself Chrome. She asked him to attend a meeting of the coven she had joined, the Order of Cosmic Awakening.
Damon went to the address given by Chrome and soon caught a distinctly negative vibe. The reigning wizard of the coven was a wizened, gnarled old man with gleaming green eyes. His name was Biazel Karollus and he introduced himself to Damon as his grandfather. Biazel informed Carroll that but that Velupsa Karollus, Damon's mother, was dead. “But”, intoned Biazel, “I see you've met your other living relative – your cousin, Chrome Genet. Within the order we call Chrome: Baphomet.”
With that revelation, the cultists tore away Chrome's clothing to reveal her true nature as a hermaphroditic being. This violation of Chrome took Damon aback, but Chrome herself expected it to occur at some point. She knew the interest Biazel held for her sexual uniqueness – Chrome Genet was a true hermaphrodite, not a transgendered personage. S/he possessed internal and external organs both male and female, though when clothed, Chrome usually appeared to be a somewhat androgynous female, as Damon had assumed hir to be.
Biazel began to expound on the “Third Sex” - a being revered since ancient times for their affinity for great magickal power. These integrated beings could mate with males or females, but were not, contrary to speculation, capable of parthenogenesis. As Karollus ranted, Damon was rushed by the throng, and though he fought boldly (Clarke had taught him to fight because he'd often been beaten in the foster home), the wave of robed disciples buoyed him about and forced him into an elaborate ceremonial room. They herded Chrome in afterwards. Damon skipped over much of what followed in his account to his prospective teammates. Suffice to say, Damon and “Baphomet” did indeed “mate”, though Damon found it distasteful. Despite his revulsion, something in Chrome's crystal blue eyes, shot through with silver flecks, softened Damon's heart. S/he was the aggressor in the affair, albeit prodded on by the cultists, yet Damon still saw hir as an innocent of sorts. S/he softly chanted while making love with Damon, invoking tantric energies.
After all was said and done, Damon felt defiled and disoriented, but oddly attached to Chrome. S/.he slunk out of the room, tears in hir eyes. Biazel entered and confronted a dressing Damon. “S/he's my daughter Genesse's offspring. Your cousin We thought we'd bring you into the fold in a pleasurable way. What do you think boy? I know tantra appeals to you. As a matter of fact, I know everything about you, Damon. Things even you don't know. Or are not ready yet to grasp. Desires... you won't acknowledge – or act upon – unless given the proper circumstance. What say you, my grandson? Will you join our order?
“I believe you are just about ready to acquiesce. Moldor! Come in here”. Biazel continued, “Damon, Antioch Moldor is a lieutenant of mine whose has had great success in disrupting Janos Disraeli's more – benign - branch of our thaumaturgical tree. Antioch recently had a set-to in Massachusetts with that bastard Javier. Well, you don't know what I'm talking about - but you soon will”.
Biazel's eyes glistened emerald in the dim light. While the old man spoke in his peculiar accent, Damon had been curling his hand about a flaming brazier behind him, at the altar where he'd been with Chrome. When Moldor approached Carroll, Damon hit the man with the brazier chained loosely to the wall. He wrapped the chain around Moldor's neck and screamed, “I'm leaving! And don't try to follow me. I'll kill you.”
“Kill – me??” he wheezed as he laughed.
“Absolutely. And him first!” screamed Carroll as he jammed the flaming brazier into Moldor's face, scalding him slowly to death. Blood and wax sprayed on Damon's robe, which he doffed as he bolted out the back door. He ran, and ran...
This nightmarish experience; the abuse he suffered in his youth; and the solid – albeit at times paradoxical - values espoused by Clarke and Sadie Ledge, had left Damon's mind filled with chaos and self-doubt – but also fertile ground for untold possibilities. After finishing college, and much self analysis and achievement of various disciplines, he sought out “the bastard” Javier. Javier presided over a small sect in Hallmark called the Order of Cosmic Emptiness, which itself was an offshoot of the Order of Gammadion. The ancient Order of Gammadion had spawned this “good” branch, as it had also given birth to its “evil” sister sect, the Order of Cosmic Awakening, also known as 'the Abstruse', which Damon had fatefully encountered in California. No sooner had Damon set foot in Hallmark, intent on locating Javier, than Javier found him first, at the hotel that Carroll was staying in. Though he surprised Damon, Javier immediately ingratiated himself. Damon read Javier's aura, and deduced that he was no threat to him.
Javier explained that he, also, was family to Damon – the “bastard” son of Biazel and a half-human, half-Exodesian woman called Sharima; hence, he was Damon's uncle.
Javier offered to share with Damon unconditionally his knowledge of magick, mysticism, and alchemy. Javier was surrounded by dark forces and yearned for filial companionship. Damon agreed, and the two men trained together for over a year until Damon abruptly severed their alliance. The crestfallen Javier accused Damon of using him as a stepping stone to train with Cary Bradcroft or even Juniper Thoth (aka Jennifer Roeg, daughter of Gerhardt Vossius/ Kanabal; a left-hand path mage that will be dealt with in future accounts).
Damon apologized; he didn't ever mean to use his uncle and told him how thankful he was. But he was, indeed, wishing to train with Bradcroft next. Javier grudgingly gave Damon his blessing. Damon created a masked identity because he wished to move about inconspicuously in Hallmark and continue his chiropractic studies under his real name and identity. After relating a somewhat expurgated version of his life story, Bradcroft happily welcomed Damon. He announced that a new member had been found.
But the “try-outs” were far from over. There were several more candidates to consider. And the team demanded Cary employ a more diplomatic system of arriving at a decision instead of simply by “sorcerer's fiat” (as Euphrates Straw called Cary's unilateral decree). Bradcroft agreed that they would review all of the applicants and vote as a group afterward on who would stay and who would go.
III. Candidates
The next candidate was Lars Poole (b. 1957), the first-born son of Orphee deLander. The “Absurd Tentacle”. Poole presented himself to the Aggregate under the nom de guerre 'Corona', as he could generate a heat plasma field around himself and, like his father, cause tendrils of energy to emanate from it. He was not nearly as powerful as his father, and had not mastered his unusual abilities, but Cary reckoned that he could be a great asset.
After Corona spoke briefly and nervously to the group, Cary brought in a young man named Stephen Bartholemew aka the Tin Soldier. Stephen did not care if his identity was public or not, and rarely referred to himself as 'Tin Soldier'. Stephen, as briefly discussed in an earlier treatment, was the son of the White Archer, Brandon ver Dorn. Stephen was born in 1959 to Medea Strasser Bartholemew, a former REACT spy who studied under REACT's "superspy" couple Thurston "Tyger" Smythe and Annabelle deVries. Ver Dorn's was on assignment for REACT under the pseudonym Sigmund Bartholemew. When his mission ended, he abandoned this identity, and, under intense pressure from his employers, his bride. He never knew she had a child by him, and REACT shielded him from that info.
Medea remarried when Stephen was three, but her husband refused to give the child his name, which was Angelo Blatonski. Angelo was an abusive, insufferable idiot by all accounts. He was a very low level mob informant and steelworker at Vossius Metalworks. and took out his frustrations daily on his wife and on Stephen. This nurtured in Stephen a repressed rage that rarely took a firm shape, but when it did it was bloodthirsty. None of this was shared with the Aggregate, at least not at his application to the group.
Blatonski was allegedly killed by an undercover police officer in 1975, though Medea suspected Stephen was the true culprit. He was never even considered as a suspect, but despite that, Mrs. Blatonski cast out 16 year old Stephen to fend for himself. He was able to work full-time at a store in the Harness & Toffler grocery chain, where he met his best friend - Lars Poole. Stephen moved in with Lars, and the two shared a cheap duplex in Hallmark. Lars encouraged Stephen to apply for the Aggregate, though Stephen was only a self-trained street fighter and marksman. He caught on quickly, however, and had the benefit of the Brandon ver Dorn's genetic gifts, though he had no idea about this.
The next applicant was the martial artist Ko Mei-chan, known in Asia as the Ghost Cat. She was born in 1943, the fraternal twin of Archimedes Ko, and spent some time at Feng Qi studying with the late Shun Ti. She was amazingly youthful, still looking a schoolgirl at age 34. Her father, Bram Vallard aka the Apparition (and Saturnine and many more) was, of course, the somewhat schizophrenic co-founder of both the Aggregate and the Silent Seven before them. Ghost Cat had taken part in the early training of her nephew Jun-kim Liao, who was being groomed to be a force of nature in the martial arts world. The team were impressed with the demonstrations of her skills, particularly in a sparring match with Konchuman (she won).
IV. Greetings from Gossingham
The final applicants seemed to have come merely to be provocateurs. They were a couple, Garnet and Cynosure. Garnet was a stunning woman clad head to toe in shades of garnet, her birthstone, replete with duster, blazer, and incredibly long scarf. She looked more like a rock star than a superhero, though in Flicker Street, the two have been known to bleed into each other. She claimed to be a superior fighter and assassin-for-hire, seduction being her hook to draw in the enemy. She radiated a deadly charisma that made some in the group uneasy and immediately distrustful.
Cynosure also cultivated a baroque rock star image, with part Edwardian dress, part gypsy flamboyance, and a completely made up lavender-painted face and a WWI fighter helmet, goggles and all. We might label his look “steampunk” in the modern era. His look was fully color-coordinated with that of Garnet. He claimed that he possessed heightened senses – all five honed to superhuman levels. This may have been hyperbole. Beyond that, he was a bit of a scrapper and admitted he could really use some “combat training” but mainly just loved playing music (he was toting a bass guitar with him).
Cynosure spoke little, letting his lady friend do most of the talking. Garnet was young but tough; perhaps callous is a better word. She demanded entrance into the group so vehemently that Cotton Suede, who had been asked to sit in on the proceedings, interrupted, “Young lady – Don't waste our time”. Alec laughed to himself at this, while Cynosure took note of the attractive Ms. Suede.
Garnet was born Garnet Pace in Gossingham in 1957. She went to work for a SkullCorp warehouse in 1974. She quickly acclimated herself to the company's set up and advanced quickly. Her seductive persona helped immensely. She first knew Cynosure as Cyril Parminter, a childhood classmate (and boyfriend) of Garnet's sister Ruby Pace (born, like Cyril, in 1962). Cyril had dreamed of becoming a rock star since he was a small child and had the innate talent to build towards his dreams. When he was twelve, he began asking to be called by a name that he had created, one he felt would sound “cool” when he joined a band: Convy Lee Sutch. He refused to answer to his legal name ever again. His teachers were constantly enraged at young “Convy Lee”.
He had a troubled relationship with his hyper-religious and emotionally abusive mother, and fought to became legally emancipated at age 13. His mother eventually relented, and ceased opposing her rebellious son's hunger for freedom. Convy Lee was unhappy with rules, order, and authority. Music was the liberating force in his young existence. He moved in with Ruby and Garnet and their older cousin Sam Pace. The Paces shared a trailer park dive in rural Gossingham. Sam, a largely self-educated journalist, was the closest thing Convy Lee had to a paternal figure in his teens. With Sam's help, Cyril Parminter legally became Convy Lee Sutch in 1977.
Garnet ultimately came between her sister and Sutch, seducing the boy and bringing him into the fold at Skull. Sutch created the Cynosure persona and was inducted into a small team of Skull corporate spies. This gang wore disguises, and not unlike the Watergate “plumbers”, stole sensitive documents on companies and public officials seen as threats to Skull. Millionaire Roger Greer's offices were a frequent target. Sutch was given minimal hand to hand combat training to defend himself and to escape if caught. On one occasion, he lost his cool and nearly killed a security guard. A simmering rage was barely held in check beneath Sutch's “cool” persona.
Shortly thereafter, he was told Garnet had been sent away for “special training". The leader of the Skull “plumbers”, known only as Terrapin, took Garnet's months away from Sutch as an opportunity to hone the wild Convy Lee into a more useful tool for SkullCorp's purposes. Skull had actually granted Garnet a paid leave while she carried Convy Lee's daughter, who was born as Sarah Pace in 1979. The baby was soon adopted by a barren couple who were actually related to Convy Lee. Sarah was rechristened Jynx Parminter. Only Garnet, and those who provided her the leave (and also arranged the adoption), knew any of this.
And so, the pair of lovers and hired help for the Skull Corporation applied for membership in the Aggregate, with the intention of infiltrating the group. Convy Lee did not feel comfortable with this scenario, but had, upon Garnet's return, once more fallen completely under the powerful sexual sway of Garnet Pace. But the assembled throng was not easily duped. The young couple seemed to bear more style than substance. When the group voted, Corona, Tin Soldier, and Ghost Cat were ushered in, bringing the Aggregate's number to a healthy 11. Their latter two hopefuls were rejected. Garnet angrily stormed out. Cynosure trailed behind but paused to make a filial gesture at Stephen, the hand sign of the “devil's horns” or “evil eye”, because he thought Bartholemew “seemed cool” (as he later explained). Their paths would cross again, and often, as we shall see.
And so the Aggregate faced a new and uncertain year. They spent most of their time in training; getting in sync with each other; learning each others' particular moves and techniques. Cary Bradcroft sensed that their trials were only just beginning.
Chapter 15: I Luciferi
I. A Digression...
“I Luciferi” is a sideways glance at a specific subject: a sharp slice of the Hallmark “street scene” over a 30 year span, filled with mutations and permutations. The nexus point of activity is Flicker Street itself, particularly the infamous Lucifer Club, which stood there from 1952 to 1982. Through the lives of its owners and patrons, we can retrace the scars remaining from the deep wounds of a unique American city.
II. The Lucifer Club
In 1952, a man called Javier, son of centuries-old mage Biazel Karollus, was embracing his Exodesian side and assisting Arch-Priest Urias the Grand Necromancer of Exodesia, a man responsible for much evil in his homeland and, soon, even more in the world beyond it. Urias making a bid to become one of the birthing Skull Corporation's inner circle. Javier envisioned an exclusive club where the more adventurous denizens of Flicker Street and beyond could congregate and indulge their hedonism without a care. Javier did not really discriminate with the “exclusive” tag; he was not against varied socio-economic classes of folk patronizing the club,as long as they paid.
Urias lent Javier some capital, and a handful of Hallmark's financial elite chipped in to invest, all with the caveat that it be repaid in one year. Were these terms met, Javier would become co-owner of the club, with Urias as a silent partner. Hence the club became, in part, yet another source of revenue for SkullCorp. Javier's plan was to eventually buy out Urias – if that was possible.
Javier opened the club on New Years Eve, 1953. From the first night, two groups that would be mainstays of the club coalesced. The first group to hold court in the club revolved around Nels Christensen, a cohort of Javier's that worked for the Machine. He had made a fortune from manufacturing during World War II, and also sat on the board of Vossius Metalworks, Hallmark's largest munitions manufacturer. He was a sly embezzler, siphoning Vossius funds to the Machine, who held some sort of potentially scandalous sway over the Christensen family. He was also the first major investor in the Lucifer Club.
Nels' brother, Lambert Christensen, would often visit. What Nels did not know was that the Lambert that would drop in on him from time to time was actually Bram Vallard aka the Apparition (and his split personality Royal Hoxworth aka Saturnine). The real Lambert “loaned” his ID to Vallard for long stretches while he tooled around Europe. But the real Lambert died in 1950. Vallard continued the ruse however, keeping Nels' older brother alive to the public. Vallard was such a master of disguise and subterfuge that Nels never did discover the truth.
Nels assembled a motley group to drink and cavort with. One of his employees, Judd Fullerton, who he condescended to in the workplace, ironically became a treasured drinking buddy, as did Judd's best friend, Henry Colter (b. 1923), who played drums in the closest thing the club had to a house band, the Ulysses Reale 6. Henry was the only white member of the band, and Nels tended to not invite Henry's bandmates over for drinks except for an occasional toast after a gig. Shiloh Mercer, the soprano saxophone player, however, often crashed their gatherings in an inebriated state. Shiloh was of the African-American branch of the French Mercer clan, and was descended through nine generations from Hallmark co-founder Ewen Cromwell.
Shiloh's eccentric company was enjoyed by all of the group, except Nels' friend Jonathan Sebastian III, an occasional member of this poor man's Rat Pack. Jonathan was a wealthy German-descended advertising executive (SkullCorp was his biggest client) who was also a major investor in the Lucifer Club. Jonathan was often referred to as the “sixth wheel” by the club employees, whereas Javier himself was actually a tight member of Nels' crew, though unlike Nels and Sebastian, he was fair to everyone.
The reason for the “sixth wheel” reference was due to the core group congealing into five regulars. The final key player in the so-called “Christensen Quintet” comes in late to this account. Our band of latter-day libertines obtained their moniker from an off-hand remark by Ulysses Reale's bass player, a bit of a jokester named Ondine Jackson. Jackson's epithet was hardly appreciated by Nels, but it stuck.
Nels and Jonathan had recently partnered to invest a large sum of money in film production and distribution, and wanted foreign films as well as American “B” flicks on his slate. Nels befriended an Italian producer whose young nephew, Luca Stenoretti (b. 1933), was honing his craft as a cinematographer. Nels flew to Italy to see Luca's latest work on a film called The Sirens of Pallas, a period adventure film with mythological elements (this at that time had not yet coalesced into the genre we now know as peplum, or “sword and sandal” flicks). This was the first film the young Stenoretti directed himself (and shot as well).
Stenoretti had a more personal connection to Javier: Luca's mother, Isabella Clerici, was Javier's daughter. Luca admired his charismatic grandfather and knew he was a practitioner of what he called “black magic” (though Javier sometimes told him “grey magick” was perhaps more appropriate), and was amazed that Javier looked as young as Luca himself. Javier and his grandson agreed to keep their relationship and Javier's occult proclivities to themselves. But Luca's interest in magick and the supernatural suffused his later films with horror and occult themes and imagery, even in his lower key thrillers and westerns. Later, Luca's half-brother Blasco Clerici, would work on Luca's films and also join Biazel's order (which Luca refused to do, as did Javier).
III. “The Others”
The second group of regulars that helped define the Lucifer Club, and caused some controversy in the media, was comprised of all African-Americans and were a tightly-knit bunch. They playfully called themselves “The Others” (referring to being seen as on a lower tier as Christensen's cohorts and also distinguishing this group from the Ulysses Reale 6, some of whom hung out together in this grouping). The linchpin of this scene was Ulysses P. Reale, trumpeter - a proud, strong black man who refused to be cowed into submission by the likes of Christensen or Sebastian. His wife was Emmaretta Swope, who often sang with Reale's group or with a small orchestra. Reale himself did not do drugs (he favored cocktails), but some of his pals in and out of his group were users and/ or dealers. His alto sax player, the virtuoso James Colburne, was a heroin addict, as was Ulysses' childhood friend Paul Cutler, a quiet, kind gentleman with a roaring habit who also dealt drugs when he needed money.
Reale and Cutler were joined in this enclave by three other perennials: the aforementioned bassist Ondine Jackson; Octavius Flay, a street hustler who refused to drop out of the pimping trade; and young Junius G. Hand, who was on the wait staff in the club's kitchen. Junius was also a bit of a prankster, and often erupted with absurd and raunchy quips, usually at the club's main bar on his off hours. The fervently racist/ classist Jonathan Sebastian III was outraged that such a menial would come and hang out in the club when his shift was over.
The previously mentioned sax player and drunken raconteur Shiloh Mercer would gravitate to the “Others”' table regularly. James Colburne, however, was deeply into his “own thing”, and that amounted to: his alto and heroin. He was also, however, deeply romantic, pursuing a number of women over the years, but eventually getting married in the 1960s to pianist Verna Overby, who ended up joining his band.
IV. Erszebet
Junius Hand admired Octavius Flay's success at pimping, and loved Ondine Jackson's quick wit. Hand imagined a life dazzling folks with his talents in both areas. He even had a new name in mind for himself when he achieved this goal: Black Torpedo Ray, after an aquatic creature he once saw in one of his father's books. Junius had a serious, and potentially hazardous, crush on the club's main dancer and arguably greatest attraction: dancer Erszebet Singer (born 1930). She was gorgeous and seemingly unattainable. Her persona embodied both wholesomeness and wickedness. Erszebet was often quiet, but when she did speak, she possessed a thick South Carolina accent that made her sometimes hard to follow in conversation. She was a burlesque star of some acclaim, and Javier had cultivated her stardom to the delight of the club's investors, who he easily paid off within a year of opening, leaving only Urias with any stake in the club besides Javier.
Erszebet was not the only popular dancer that plied her trade there. Felicia McGee, formerly the mystery woman known as Crimson Velvet, made many a guest appearance; her lifestyle, however, was taking its toll on her appearance and performances. Arronaxe LaRue was another popular performer. “Her claim to fame was her frame”, the saying went. She was not lithe and athletic like Erszebet; she was extremely buxom and curvaceous. Geneva (she only went by a single name) was a shapely and popular black dancer, but Jonathan Sebastian's racist influence kept her appearances at the club sporadic at best. Geneva was also Ulysses Reale's sister and Ondine's wife.
Erszebet was of Jewish extraction and was quite devoted to her Bible readings. She found no shame in her work as a stripper, however, but her brother, Eli, certainly did. Eli Singer was a bit of a proselytizer, which made him rather unwelcome at a place like the Lucifer Club (though the archways of the Lucifer Club's front door portrays a falling angel bearing the epithet: “All are welcome. Harm none”). Erszebet and Henry Colter were actually related. Henry was a half-uncle to Eli (b. 1929) and Erszebet. Thus Henry's and Erszebet's occasional flirtation was somewhat incestuous, and angered Junius. Eli, however, would rather his sister be with their uncle than a black man any day. The roots of the Colter and Singer families (as well as those of many other noteworthy denizens of Flicker Street and beyond) lie with the Parminters of Gossingham; their family history will chronicled in the near future.
V. The 1953 Affair
During the Christmas holidays in 1953, Javier held a lavish “Yule Bash”. James Colburne's tenor sax solo on his arrangement of “Greensleeves” was a highlight of the Ulysses Reale 6's set. The music was intense; the alcohol plentiful; those that needed a fix shot up in back of the club; and the dancers were on full display in all their pulchritude. Arronaxe LaRue astonished the crowd when she doffed her top, but Erszebet continued to reign supreme, dancing with a Santa hat on – and not much else.
As the evening wound to a close, Erszebet went missing. Eli had come to the club to disrupt her “unholy frolicking”, but she was nowhere to be found. Javier asked Eli to leave and Singer swore he'd kill the “pagan bastard” Javier. While dealing with Eli's antics, Javier encountered a more serious related problem. Nels, Henry, Judd, and Luca were exceptionally inebriated and wanted a special table dance from Erszebet. They happened upon her making love with young Junius G. Hand on the lounge chair in Javier's office.
“Did you know about this?” Nels asked Javier, who indicated that he did. He requested that the four men not tell anyone for fear that Eli would launch a literal lynch mob against Junius. Then Erszebet confessed she was already pregnant with Junius' child. Javier hatched a scheme: if her pregnancy was found out, the Christensen Quintet would claim they had a mad consensual orgy with a willing Miss Singer. Erszebet reluctantly agreed to go along with this, but worried it would ruin the men, especially Javier and Nels. Christensen was furious, but conceded to Javier on the matter, even though he really thought Junius should be lynched anyway. Not only was he a Negro, thought Nels, but he was damned annoying with his constant raunchy quips.
Everyone carried on with their usual business, but in a few weeks Erszebet's pregnancy was starting to show. Rumor mills began grinding as she stopped performing and wouldn't allow herself to be photographed. Javier leaked the story to the media himself, though no one knew this except him. As predicted, all was traced to the Yule Bash. Javier “confessed” to the tabloids that there'd been an orgy. The other men all pleaded “no comment”.
The scandal almost did in Erszebet. “The Baby with Five Fathers” and “Heir to the Christensen Quintet” were some of the labels attached to the unborn child. The baby's complexion (even given Javier's unusual skin tone) would give away that it had a black father. Geneva had agreed to deliver the baby (she had studied nursing before resorting to dancing), which would be sold to a black family. Geneva knew a couple: the Jamaican born Heracles Torrance and his wife Tamara Welsh, who was herself the result of a mixed race marriage. The Torrances could not have children of their own, and little Dane Hand, as Erszebet called him, became their son, Dane Torrance (who we know as an adult as Troubleshooter from previous accounts).
The official story was that the child was stillborn. None of the five men save Javier knew what had become of the child. Part of the pact the five men swore was that they would no longer congregate at the Lucifer Club. They did agree to attend a reunion at the club in 10 or 15 years. Javier carried on with the Lucifer Club, and finally bought out Urias' share of the club in 1960. Junius never did learn the truth about what happened; he assumed his child was in fact stillborn. He did become a pimp and street hustler, following in Octavius Flay's footsteps. Hand was ambitious though; now known as Black Torpedo Ray, he hoped one day to own the Lucifer Club himself.
VI. The 1968 Affair
The reunion did indeed come to pass. The Yule Bash of 1968 was something to see at the Lucifer Club, still owned by Javier but managed by Black Torpedo Ray. Times had changed. The drugs were more mind-altering, the music more wild and free, the women baring more than ever before (in other words everything). Flicker Street pulsated with the orgiastic energy that flowed in and out of Javier's “pleasure palace”. The Ulysses Real 6 reunited for an amazing set. Colburne and Mercer were solo artists by this time, and each had led their bands to the utmost heights of avant-garde jazz. Ulysses was still something of a hard bopper, and some of his newer arrangements, mixing R&B and rock influences with his wife's bewitching voice, blew away the teeming throng at the club. Ondine Jackson was back on bass, this time electric. His wife Geneva, who danced and sang back up to Emmaretta Swope, had blessed him with a son Ondine Jr. in 1945 and Ondine Jr.'s wife, Violetta Amadeus, had given birth to their son Amadeus “Amajack” Jackson mere weeks before the bash.
Henry Colter played more straight ahead bop than funk, but he could still jam on the drums. Of his family, his wife, Mary Rudisill (b. 1920; a relative of the Palmers of Hallmark) and two sons (Radley Colter, b. 1940 and Milburne b. 1950) attended the party, though the whole scene was a bit much for Mary. Young Milburne had a great time. Of the “Others”, Octavius Flay made the party, flanked by a stable of his finest ladies of the evening. Black Torpedo Ray said, “Damn Flay! You still the mackest of the macks!!”
Most of Flay's offspring made it to the bash: his sons Cornelius, Moxon, and Jaffa; and his daughter Octavia, who was there with her boyfriend Euphrates Straw of the Aggregate (who was there to keep an eye on Javier). Octavius' daughter Bethel was a devout Christian and she was in church that night. She would eventually marry her pastor, Judah Greene, and have a lovely daughter Scheherazade. All five children of Octavius were from his marriage to Ulysses' sister Rochelle Reale, making the Flays and Reales cousins.
Ondine and Ulysses have been discussed, but one beloved member of their crew from elder days was missing: Paul Cutler. The quiet, kind man had finally succumbed to heroin addiction, leaving behind three beautiful daughters, all of whom attended the bash: Naomi, who brought her 10 year old son Hobard Torino “Hobie T” Reale, to the party but not her estranged husband Godfrey Reale (Ulysses' son); Zandalee, who was at the time dating Hiawatha Hand but had her eye on his half-brother Black Torpedo Ray; and Pauline Cutler, much discussed in these pages. Pauline had not yet assumed her 'Cotton Suede' moniker.
Black Torpedo Ray hosted the Lucifer Club Burlesque Film Festival. It began with vintage clips of Erszebet and many of her peers; and continued with three shorts specially made for this festival. These were the work of directors Matthias Creed, Cornelius Flay, and Luca Stenorettli, all honored guests at this Yule Bash.
Ray also hosted another special triple event, this one an unadvertised surprise: performances by the “big three” dancers of the fifties, opening with a still comely Geneva; continuing with the jaw-droppingly buxom Arronaxe; and, finally, at age 38, still stunning and radiating her signature charisma, Erszebet Singer.
Two hours later, the Christensen Quintet were plastered and Erszebet was still tripping on her first ever does of LSD. supplied to her by Arronaxe. Erszebet and the quintet adjourned to Javier's office, where Erszebet immediately grabbed Henry in a passionate kiss. Henry endeavored to pull away at first, but soon drunkenly succumbed to his niece's charms. They made out while Javier went to confer with Ray and let him know not to disturb them.
When he returned, Judd was crying in the corner; Henry was asleep with his pants off; and Erszebet was naked and making out with Luca. Javier could not discern if they had copulated or not. Meanwhile, Nels was cursing in another corner, but Javier found himself curiously and intensely aroused by the whole situation.
After Luca rolled off Erszebet, she called out to Javier, “I want you! I want you want you want you!” Javier was not the kind to exploit a woman in the condition that Erszebet was in, nor would he ever make love with anyone else around. He also found difficult to believe the irony that the story that they had concocted 15 years ago to save Ray's life had truly manifested itself, a gargantuan beast of brobdingnagian lust.
Against his own aforementioned instincts, he gave in to this lust, and had sex with Miss Singer in the restroom next to his office. Afterwards, he noticed Henry and Luca had dressed and were just outside the doorway. Nels and Judd were nowhere to be found. Erszebet dressed but was still tripping. Javier called for Ray and asked him to get her home; the irony of this was not lost on Javier either. He locked up and got the others out. Ray went out the back exit with Erszebet. Javier heard Nels call out, “Let me the hell out of here!” Javier ran downstairs, Henry and Luca behind.
Nels told Javier this was it; he was done with the group, the club, and “that slut”. Henry lunged to strike Christensen for his remark, but Judd held him back and asked if they could just leave. Javier agreed only if they made a new pact, that no one would speak of what happened. “Of course you idiot”, said Nels. “Now for Christ's sake, let us out of this goddamned place”. More irony....
Luca then attempted to throttle Nels himself but, once again, Judd intervened. Then, while Luca attempted to calm himself, a slightly sobbing Judd said, “Okay. Good night. I'm riding with Nels”. Nels agreed, but demanded Judd stop crying.
Nels and Judd took off. Outside, Ulysses' son Preston “Diggs” Reale, was pacing in the alleyway. He had been in and out of the club all night, seething mad. He was also a disciple of Octavius Flay and a rather nasty pimp and procurer in his own right but was jealous of Ray's success. He was waiting for a chance to plant certain items in Ray's car and to pay off his partner in sabotage – Eli Singer. Singer called the police after the club had closed down at 3 am. Only the Christensen Quintet, Erszebet, and Ray were inside then. By the time Nels and Judd roared away, only three of the quintet remained and they spoke for a moment about what happened, then resolved to lock up, leave, and never see each other again.
And so they each departed, just as police cars came into view. Ray was in his car out back talking to a deeply shaken Erszebet, who was finally coming down from her trip. Diggs had hastily split. But Eli Singer was heading back to the club to confront the Quintet. He found the front door locked and began screaming madly. The police drove up and immediately accosted him; then they spread out and covered the alleys and the back, where they found Ray and Erszebet. The cops confronted Ray and asked to check his car. They found a large amount of cocaine and some semi-automatic weapons concealed in the trunk.
The police dragged Singer to the back of the club. They thought he was drunk (he was) and they were going to have some fun and rough him up. When Eli looked up, he saw Erszebet being pulled out of the car and Ray resisting arrest. “That ain't my shit, you rat-soup-eatin' motherfuckers!” was one memorable epithet Ray hurled at the unsympathetic cops. He tried to employ his own peculiar variant of kung fu on the officers, but their sheer number hemmed him in. Eli grabbed one of the cop's guns and shot his sister Erszebet, then shot at the cops. They proceeded to cut him down in a massive barrage of gunfire. Eli Singer lay cold and dead in the snow as the police pushed Black Torpedo Ray into a car and took Erszebet, wounded in her left arm, to the nearest hospital emergency room.
The police report was chilling: “pimp found with guns and drugs resisting arrest”, “hooker shot by wino who had to be shot to save her”, and so on... Everything about their claims was distorted and disingenuous, but to the racist, sexist, and utterly corrupt police commissioner of Hallmark, it was just another day. The mayor called for the club to be closed. Javier realized he needed to lower his profile or face the wrath of someone like his father or Urias, so the club closed while Black Torpedo Ray languished in prison for nearly five long years.
VII. The Prince of Flicker Street
Erszebet Singer recovered quickly from being shot, and grieved for her mad brother. She soon found out that she was pregnant again. She resolved to once again give her child up for adoption. It was a daughter, born in September 1969. She named her Celeste but her new parents changed her name. It would be years before this girl would find out her true parentage. Even Erszebet wasn't sure if it was Henry's, Luca's, or Javier's. She was actually going to tell Ray that their son Dane was alive when the cops came upon them. She swore she'd tell him one day.
Javier sold the club to Diggs Reale but soon divined that Diggs and Eli Singer were responsible for what happened that fateful night right after Javier left. He admonished Diggs not to reopen too soon; the authorities would be watching the club very closely. Diggs shrugged off Javier's advice and proceeded to reopen, making sure to keep all the right wheels greased, so to speak (i.e. Paying off the authorities). Reale was highly prosperous, keeping the “all are welcome” sign and attitude, though in fact, whites were rarely welcome, unless they were dealers or cops on the take.
In late 1973, Junius Gauge Hand was being offered a deal by his prison warden and the FBI to get him out of prison if he helped them take down Diggs. In no time, Black Torpedo Ray was back on Flicker Street. He had scores to settle and was not to be trifled with. The first thing he did was have dinner with his daughter Kicia Blessing (b. 1955). Kicia's mother was the exotic Indian belly dancer Acacia Krishnamurti aka Acacia Blessing, who Ray wed briefly from 1954-1958. Acacia was a discovery of Javier's and was popular at the club. Kicia was hanging out in Flicker Street with the bohemian crowd. Ray was proud of her for not being a whore or a druggie. Ray next went to the Lucifer Club, where he confronted Diggs and warned him to sign the club over to him or die. Diggs laughed and accused Ray of tripping on some manner of drug. Ray, still a formidable (if highly unconventional) martial artist, and further hardened by his prison stint, beat Reale senseless and forced Diggs to sign the club over to him.
It had come to Javier's attention that Ray was free from prison. Javier went to Hallmark and sought out Ray, who was staying with Ulysses Reale. Javier was glad to see his friends again and together they mapped out a strategy to get the club back on its feet, so to speak, as Diggs had driven it into the proverbial ground and made of it his own personal pleasure palace for hard pimping and even harder drugs. Their efforts were successful, though it took a few years. Ray racially integrated the club more, and forced the macks and dealers who hung out there to do their business on the streets, not inside the club.
The disco craze of the late 1970s inevitably hit the Lucifer Club like a tsunami, and with it came a shock wave of cocaine fever. Ray succumbed to the omnipresent blow, and started to burn out as the decade waned. Personal issues involving his children took a toll, and finally, in 1982, he sold the club and retired early, living like a prince, and treating all of Flicker Street as his kingdom.
VIII. Thaumaturgy Revisited...
The next man who purchased The Lucifer Club was known as Prester John Grey, and he was well-known all through Flicker Streeet and the larger Hallmark music scene. Prester John was born Vance Orlison Parminter in 1949 in Exodesia, the offspring of Grey Parminter and Basil Dylan Orlison (son of “Doc Vance” Orlison and Eve Dylan, daughter of Dr. Basil Dylan, the first major physician in Hallmark), both born 1920. Basil D. Orlison had a sister, Faustine, b. 1922, an intuitive witch who owned the first occult shoppe in the city, even before Malcolm Bradcroft's curio shoppe. The locale was called simply Faustine's. In 1949, Faustine married bookstore owner TR Bessemer Jr., an aspiring African-American entrepreneur. Their children were Eve Bessemer, b. 1953, and Taurean Bessemer III, born 1955, who as an adult merged his father's business with the smaller Noel book chain. Bessemer-Noel in its entirety was eventually sold to OrDeR Enterprises.
Faustine and Malcolm Bradcroft later merged their interests into one shoppe, and in tandem, willed it to Cary and Ashton (though Ashton was technically not alive to see it). Faustine passed away in 1955 in childbirth. Hence Bradcroft Ltd was born. In the years between Cary taking the shoppe and his affair with Katherine Van Juss (which lasted from 1956 to 1959), he had begun to fancy Grey Parminter, a formidable occultist. Grey's lover Basil, had been slain by the Exodesians in 1953.
Grey Parminter's story is this: Her grandmother was Exodesian High Priestess Phallasma III, who begat a daughter, Selma Cairne, a powerful witch. Selma and her husband John Petty Parminter, the great-grandson of the Exodesian Loden, wished to spearhead a 1939 expedition into Exodesia – well before the Bradcrofts. But they weren't nearly as mentally or spiritually prepared as the Bradcrofts. Their expedition included: Grey, a teen of immense magickal promise; her lover, Basil; Selma and John Petty Parminter; Selma's sisters Ainwe and Anowre and their husbands, and the occult book collectors Rainer and Werner Faust, who were brothers. The party was captured and tortured by the Obscuros sect. Grey offered her life and that of her lover and son if the others could go. Priest Asyas was not exactly thrilled by this, but he capitulated. Selma blessed her child and departed; she also bonded with her mother Phallasma III, who favored young Grey.
The small family unit remained in Exodesia, but Basil was put to death for heresy in 1953 for studying the Presence Vaikuntha. Grey was afraid for her young son, and they fled Exodesia together. Grey had been converted to Hinduism just before Basil's death. The mother and boy had also been delving into the legend of Vaikuntha, as well as his defeat 1000 years earlier by the original Black Cabal (a group that forged a seemingly indestructible sword and amulet). Grey escaped Exodesia (with Phallasma's help) and sought out Vaikuntha. She invoked his worship to gain revenge for Basil, realizing Urias would soon have her put to death as well. Grey took Vance to Gossingham MA, near Hallmark. Faustine, ill at this time, was divesting her share of the curio shoppe to Cary, as noted previously. After Grey and Vance escaped, Urias and Asyas killed Phallasma for her betrayal, despite her being the High Priestess of Exodesia.
Cary Bradcroft welcomed Grey Parminter Orlison with open arms. Very open, for they soon began an affair. However, they always distrusted each other. Young Vance had never felt anything for the emotionally distant Basil, but was drawn to the benevolent Cary Bradcroft. Where they parted company was over the mad god Vaikuntha, which Grey was beginning a coven for – a coven infused with a dark Hindu/ neo-pagan/ scorched earth vibe. Cary's concern was enormous, especially as she had befriended Katherine Van Juss, sorceress and a lover of Cary's on occasion. Cary's daughter Sarah was Katherine's', though she was married to the mage Janos Disraeli, which whom Katherine did have a son, Griffin Disraeli (later known as Rory Sabbath).
Janos confronted Grey over Vaikuntha. Janos felt it wasn't wise to transact with the Presences in general, but especially one who'd shown a malevolent interest in Earth in the past. Jano and Grey; Grey was accidentally killed. Janos was afraid his delicate balance of power with the Shadow Baron would be ruined. He made it appear that Biazel had done the deed. Though Grey's death was not intended, Janos did not completely regret it, as her evil intentions regarding Vaikuntha's imminent manifestation were bearing deadly fruit.
As for Vance Parminter, he always believed his mother was slain by her Cary. Grey had influenced her son to become a lifelong acolyte of Vaikuntha. Young Vance ran away from Hallmark when his mother was killed, and the Bradcrofts were never able to locate him, or so Cary allowed everyone to think. Vance returned to Hallmark in 1966, and became a homeless street urchin hanging out on Flicker Street. Cary kept tabs on Vance psionically, until Vance developed a third eye on his forehead, which sprouted, and opened, in 1972. The eye blocked all of the signals from Vance's mind that Bradcroft had been tapping into.
IX. The Third Eye... Opened
Vance Parminter first emerged in the Flicker St scene in 1966 at age 17. His 3rd eye, whose origin and purpose he didn't understand at first, had not yet opened. In 1968, he met the teenaged Althea Westin (whom he immediately fell for) and her fiance, Rankin Hogarth, who she was pregnant by. She had the child in March 1968 and named him Franklin Westin Hogarth after Rankin's congressman dad Frank, and Althea's maiden name. Frank Hogarth attempted to destroy the lives of his son and Althea.
Congressman Hogarth was disgusted with “hippies, rockers, and radicals”. He was running for the Senate, hoping to amass enough power to eradicate the entire burgeoning Flicker Street scene, which was the locus point of counter-culture activity in Massachusetts.
The young couple fought violently over his dad and their son, leading to Rankin fleeing with the boy and forming a commune with singer James Diablos and others in 1969. After the couple's divorce. Althea won custody of the couple's son. Rankin had renamed the child Wesley Francis Garth, whose nickname was “Scrapper”. With Vance's role unknown to Rankin, Hogarth soon reinvented himself as Desi Decadence, a 'potential shock rock' superstar. Rankin was pushed to the extremes in a chaotic spell devised by Vance. that essentially ruptured his identity. Rankin and Desi would trade personae, to the abject bewilderment of everyone in “their” lives. This was Vance's first real magickal working, so perhaps his sloppiness could be forgiven. But he did it for love, of Althea and in a way for Rankin as well, transforming the unhappy and beleagured hippy into a rock star (which Vance differentiated from being a musician). Rankin was happy to disavow his family surname, and was pleased when Althea relented and allowed her son to keep his new legal name, despite the protestations of Frank Hogarth.
Rankin/ Desi and Vance lost touch for a time, to Vance's relief, as he was pursuing Althea. They wed soon. Vance busked around town, playing acoustic blues, and wrote and sang poems of a distinctly occult bent. They eventually consummated their attraction for each other. Althea waited tables and the couple eked out a meager existence to support Wesley. Wes's biological father was beginning to break big as Desi Decadence and, ironically, his father supported Rankin's ambition, as he felt material success was a measure of a man. He was also happy his son had left behind the “teenage temptress” and her “vile offspring”).
In late 1969, Vance was offered to jam in late 1969 with Opal Masque, a German progressive rock group led by Glu Volker and Hercule Fogg. Volker had heard a crude acoustic demo recorded a year earlier and dug Vance's playing and lyrical concepts. The group recorded their premiere album, La-Bas (Down There) in early 1970; Parminter, 21 at the time, was prominently featured - his first recordings on the electric guitar. His playing on the LP added a strong psychedelic dimension to Opal Masque's sound, and he contributed a few lyrics and some vocals as well. Ursulin's brother, Anaximander-Zayan, played bass on this first album. Anaximander was Piscean in appearance, and his instrument was a modified Omegan low-frequency guitar, in some ways similar to the instrument Turner Lawton had acquired for his son Jareth, though not nearly as advanced.
After the release of La-Bas, Vance adopted his signature black cowl and raiment, as well as the name “John Grey”, after his grandfather and mother on the Parminter side. The newly reinvented John Grey (recall that he had reinvented his best friend as well) was intensely curious about his Exodesian heritage. He left his family behind in Hallmark, and took a hiatus from Opal Masque, to the consternation of all. He undertook an ill-fated pilgrimage to Exodesia, but his arduous journey, which he had risked everything for, was cut short by the Obscuros sect, who had divined his coming and prevented him from from the entering the hidden city.
As he delved into the dark magicks, he added an exalted title to his moniker, in some would say a blasphemous context, and became known as Prester John Grey (Presbyter Johannes being a legendary figure of early Christendom). He draped himself in occult imagery but seemingly venerated the cross and crucifixes. As noted, he was famed for wearing a large black cowl and a wardrobe of all black. On his 23rd birthday, his 3rd eye emerged. John began wearing, at all times, a chalk white faux porcelain mask evocative of the Phantom of the Opera, which concealed the eye. His signature look was completed by his extremely long dreadlocked hair, which he'd been growing out for years. He became known for playing the guitar with small silver daggers (used as slides) and cross-shaped plectrums.
John's third eye was located dead center on his forehead. It spent most of the time closed. Its origin was hard even for Grey himself to ascertain. He was not, as far as he knew, the subject of any Trans-Morphic Somatic trials. His partial Exodesian heritage may have pointed towards a more mystical, rather than scientific, source. Though, both Omegans and Pisceans trafficked in far advanced technology and arcane alchemy. Several years after its manifestation, Prester John Grey would learn that his mothers pact with Vaikuntha was the progenitor of his third eye.
In 1971, Volker, Fogg, and Grey recorded Weltanschauung and toured tirelessly with a lineup consisting of John, Anaximander, Glu, Fogg, and synth/ vocals/ sax man Jorg Jungen Reinl. In 1972, they added female vocals and keyboards by Anke Mueller and replaces Anaximander with British bassist Hasty Greenhalgh. Also in 1972, Prester John's daughter Anjou Faustine Parminter was born. The constant touring and occult obsessions were rtearing the Greys' marriage asunder. They separated in 1973. The following year, Anke died (allegedly an occult sacrifice) and Reinl decamped, leaving Torn from Me Mother Whore (1975), the last Opal Masque release for a number of years. The featured lineup on the album was composed of Prester John, Hasty, Glu, and Fogg. Grey had written the lyrics and music to the album's title track as a chilling lament of the disintegration of his marriage.
The Greys' divorce was finalized while divorced while Opal Masque was on their farewell tour in 1975. Afterwards, PJG finally recorded his scary acoustic album In Nomine Anti-Christ, while Althea raised her two children alone back in the Mt. Mosaic area, just north of Hallmark County. From 1976 to 1979, Grey was a key member of bassist Grady Voorman's psyche-funk project Cold Meat, also featuring Gilligan Dubecker on drums, his brother Gibson Dubecker on piano and synth, and the aforementioned Reinl on alto and tenor saxophone. After Cold Meat disbanded, PJG was, surprisingly, to spend the next decade plus working alongside Desi Decadence once more.
X. Lucifer Rises Again (1979-1982)
There was an extra-musical, clandestine reason that Prester John sought out the former Rankin Hogarth. Desi was essentially PJG's creation. Part of Vance Orlison Parminter's persona, from his debut as Prester John Grey onwards, was as a follower of Bradcroftian occultism. He became an authority on the various orders and factions abroad in the world of ritual magick, especially the forces at work in Exodesia (though his passage had been barred). He realized that the Bradcrofts were against Vaikuntha (who his mother was an adherent to). Grey had sworn a vow to his mother to become a vessel for Vaikuntha, and nothing would deter him. When Vaikuntha returned to this plane of existence, Grey became a covert worshiper, and in 1979, began to actively seek out Vaikuntha's avatars.
In 1982, the idea of the Lucifer Club strongly appealed to Prester John Grey, so he re-opened it as a rock club - heavy metal, hardcore punk, and occult rock being the prime draws. John cultivated a strong image in the scene and was revered by clubgoers and record mavens alike for his work with Desi, Cold Meat, Opal Masque, and solo. No one could predict in 1982 that Grey's finest years as a musician – and most infamous years as an occultist – were yet to come.
Chapter 16: Sojourn
I. The Case of Caulder Gaunt and Ethan Byron
The peculiar case of the man called Caulder Gaunt seemed to be an example of spontaneous generation. He was seemingly born full-blown: an adult without parents or a past. But some force wished Gaunt to retrace the steps of his memory that had been wiped clean. Caulder awoke in Hallmark, in January 1955, wearing a costly suit and bearing a wallet with a Massachussetts state ID (which gave his birthdate as January 1, 1925), and thousands of dollars in cash. Instinctively, he sought out a bank and soon had some sense of security. So he rented a hotel for the week, and, one evening, decided to drown his sorrow and confusion at the Lucifer Club.
There, he took a an immediate liking to the Indian belly dancer Acacia Blessing AKA Acacia Krishnamuti. He was mesmerized by her. When they were introduced by the club owner, Javier, an immediate bond formed between them. But there another man enamored of Acacia,: lawyer Ethan Byron. Ethan had a troubled marriage, but his wife was about to have their first child. Ethan (b. 1920) had been married for three years to Virginia de Ruyter (b. 1925) and the couple had suffered two miscarriages. They had high hopes for Virginia's next attempt at childbearing.
Acacia was married to Junius G. Hand at this time. No one had yet told Junius that his son by Erszebet Singer in fact survived, and was adopted. Junius was overjoyed over Acacia's pregnancy, eagerly awaiting what he thought would be his first offspring. Hand did his best to ward off his wife's admirers at the club. In any case, Acacia was soon “showing” and decided to stop dancing until well after the child's birth. All Byron and Gaunt could do was drink and fantasize about the lovely Acacia. Thus began their friendship.
Virginia de Ruyter was the paternal granddaughter of the much-discussed Ananias de Ruyter, one of the founding fathers of Hallmark. Virginia's father, Victor de Ruyter, was a criminal, whose dealings were beholden to the local mob. This turned his daughter into a fierce crusader for social causes, which was very compatible with husband Ethan's aspirations to one day become District Attorney and truly clean up Hallmark. But Ethan, unlike his bride's family, was not an heir to millions, and his dreams seemed unattainable - until he made the acquaintance of the mysterious Caulder Gaunt.
Caulder needed a job; Ethan needed a friend. And so, as fate would have it, Ethan brought Gaunt in at an entry level position at OrDeR Enterprises (Byron was among their several attorneys).
Ethan had an uncanny knack for spotting sound investments and was soon rising at OrDeR, making himself useful beyond his legal acumen. The Byrons' son, Clayton Ethan “Clay” Byron, was born in early 1956, and his presence helped cool some of the friction between his parents. But in 1958, Junius and Acacia divorced, and she continued dancing at the club at Javier's behest. The Byrons had been fiercely arguing over money, and Ethan and soon fell into a drunken affair with Acacia. Caulder advised him to hide this from his wife (which he did), and definitely from the public ,as Ethan had finally won his coveted post of Hallmark District Attorney. Ethan and his wife were soon high on the hit list of Tony Duarte, the head of the so-called “Midway Mob”.
II. The Chinese Connection
In 1963, Shun Ti, the undisputed female master of the hidden monastery Feng Qi, was slain by Kith M'Nali, the “Black Tamerlane”. Kith's act was discovered, and he and the Hei Naodai (AKA the Black Skull Society, from whence the Skull Corporation derived its name), who had been tolerated in Feng Qi for many years, were exiled permanently. Kith had been anticipating this some time. The Hei Naodai relocated to a new headquarters in Japan that he had set up in case of such an occurrence.
M'Nali also had a secondary HQ in America that he had begun putting together as early as the 1850s, when he created an underground railroad for slaves in America. After they were free, many slaves indebted to him did his bidding, as did their descendants. Ironically, working for Kith M'Nali was akin to slavery itself. The man born in Africa as Abbasi Mathabane in 1798 had seemingly learned little from the struggles of his people; personal power had become his sole objective.
Feng Qi was intended by Shun Ti to be inherited by her grandson, Kar-Fai Liao, whose father Tsun-Lun had been Shuni-Ti's son and her greatest disciple. The omnipresent Kaosong Qua, or Kong, had slain Tsun-Lun as he had Tsun-Lun's father The Claimer and took the latter title for himself. Ko Sui-Li (b. 1920), mother of Kar-Fai, took the reigns of Feng-Qi, but was constantly plotted against by her sons Li-Ang Liao and Zhey Liao. Zhey had always been loyal to Kong, and advised Li-Ang to carry on Kong's plans to reshape the world under his dominion if the Claimer ever met his end. The narcissistic Li-Ang envisioned himself an invincible overlord, with the world itself in his vice grip. He regarded himself as a pure-blooded Tamerlane, and Kith and Kong as mere pretenders.
Sui-Li reorganized Feng Qi, and made her son its overlord. Under Kar-Fai's aegis, his half-brother, Archimedes Ko, son of Bram Vallard and Sui-Li, was largely in charge of overseeing the temples. Ko was young, but had been a monk almost since his birth (in 1943) and was already a formidable master of martial arts and Zen principals. Ko had mastered all the chambers of Feng Qi. He was a natural adept of the martial arts world.
Archimedes' twin sister, Mei-Chan Ko, the “Ghost Cat”, had also trained since infancy. Kar-Fai needed the infusion of his siblings' fresh blood as, according to Sui-Li, Kar-Fai spent much of his time ruminating on thoughts of vengeance against Kith for slaying his grandmother Shun Ti. Sui-Li refused to let her son turn Feng-Qi into an engine of destruction; Kith had tried and failed many times to do just that.
In 1964, Ethan and Virginia Byron were slain in a mob hot ordered by Marco Allegretti. Under the advice of his father Bram Vallard (who that year co-founded the Aggregate), Archimedes offered to take in the eight year old Clay Byron. Kar-Fai felt he could furtively forge the displaced boy into the instrument of vengeance he'd been seeking. Not surprisingly, the Byrons left their fortune to Clay, but made Caulder Gaunt the executor/ trustee of the estate. Gaunt had been awarded power of attorney for the Byrons. Ethan had come to see Gaunt as a brother, and trusted him completely. Gaunt naturally agreed, but he asked one thing of Ko: that he (Caulder) be allowed to train alongside Clay at the monastery. Kar-Fai trusted his sincerity and felt bringing in those of different races, as Shun Ti had done, honored the original Pan-Asian creeds that Kith had corrupted.
Most surprising to all was one other child who wished to train at Feng Qi: his name was Clive Dharma. His mother, Jerusha, a Brit of Asian extraction (of Indian ancestry), brought him to the monastery she had heard so much about over the years. She was with Myrus T .Fellbane, her wealthy employer and now her fiance (much to Clive's chagrin). They brought with them something Clive's father had entrusted Jerusha with – a sword and amulet that were said to be 1000 years old and once drove the dark Presence Vaikuntha from this plane of existence. Jerusha felt that Feng Qi would be the safest place on Earth to house the items, just as she felt that Exodesia would be the most unsafe place imaginable.
The sacred talismen were forged by a Hindu cult often referred to as the "Black Cabal"; one legend claimed that if one man was ever worthy of bearing sword and amulet, he would inherit the powers of the entire Black Cabal. Jerusha wished this for her son. Her motives were not exactly pure however; she harbored a deep hatred of Clive Dharma's father, Cary Bradcroft, for seemingly abandoning her in his quest for power in Exodesia. She felt Clive could be turned into an instrument of vengeance, just as Kar-Fai envisioned for Clay Byron.
Fellbane, however, had other plans. A low level occultist possessed of extreme narcissism himself, he desired the power of the Black Cabal for himself, and had schemed for nine years to be in the position to claim it. Fellbane asked Kar-Fai Liao if he would train him in some of his mystic disciplines. Kar-Fai was offended that such an interloper would see the training at Feng Qi as something so casual and superficial, and further derided Fellbane as a poseur incapable of true discipline. Fellbane caused a mild uproar at Feng Qi's outermost chamber following Kar-Fai's refusal to train him. Kar-Fai lost control and with one blow killed Fellbane.
Jerusha was shocked and asked to speak to Sui-Li Ko alone. Sui-Li felt Kar-Fai's action was rash and out of control, but she admonished Jerusha that Fellbane brought a clear evil with him to Feng Qi, which could not be tolerated. Jerusha confided that Fellbane had cast a spell nine years prior so that she and her son could not be found by Cary Bradcroft. Sui-Li was surprised, as the Shadow Baron had become well-known in mystic circles for his power and knowledge, though he'd not yet achieved his life's work in forming the Aggregate.
Jerusha understood, but asked that Kar-Fai weave a new spell protecting her and Clive from Bradcroft. Kar-Fai did so, and added the caveat that only one who wielded the sword and amulet of the Black Cabal could banish the spell. All was made well for the time being. Jerusha was invited to stay at Feng Qi to live, and she agreed.
Thus, Clive Dharma, Clay Byron, and Caulder Gaunt trained together with Mei-Chan Ko under Archimedes for nine years. Caulder fell deeply in love with Mei-Chan but feared upsetting their dynamic at the monastery by sharing his feelings. Gaunt was a confident man, but he was troubled, as he still had no memory of his life before 1955.
By 1975, Gaunt and his fellow pupils had excelled at their training. But Clay Byron desired a slightly different path than the one Kar-Fai was paving for him. He announced that he was leaving for training in Libania under the Marchessa. The others chose to remain in Feng Qi for a bit longer. Clay embarked on his journey alone, and Kar-Fai wished him well, dubbing him “Sojourner” for his restless spirit. Clay promised Clive and Gaunt that he'd meet them again one day.
The one person who was saddest about Clay leaving was Kar-Fai's young son, Liao Jun-kim (or 'June Kim', born 1967) who saw Clay and Clive as older brothers and Gaunt as an uncle. Jun-Kim was the offspring of the marriage of Kar-Fai to Colleen Soh (b. 1940), a half-Irish, half-Korean whose father Kim Park Soh (b. 1918) had lived at Feng Qi in the 1930s and 1940s and was an agent of Bram Vallard. Vallard had himself trained Feng Qi in the 1920s before embarking on his career as a shadowy vigilante. Kim Park's other daughter, Lerby Soh, married Vallard's son Randolph Hoxworth (b.1947) and the couple settled in Hallmark. They had three daughters: Betsy, Lerby, and Jill, all of whom would one day meet their cousin Jun-Kim, whose importance to this narrative will grow as we move along.
III. Lucifer Revisited
Alec Duarte first encountered Kicia Marie Blessing in 1971 when he came to Hallmark to assassinate his father and his father's lover. The two men ran “The Machine” (named for the Thornes' 1950s organization, which evolved into part of SkullCorp; and called the “Midway Mob” in the days of mobster Boston Haverty and his ilk). Alec's father, Tony Duarte, was the nominal head of the organization, while his partner, Marco Allegretti, personally supervised the various rackets in Hallmark, which were growing quickly, and targeting minorities in the Inner City for exploitation and revenue. Police Commissioner Landon Nance himself ran the hard drug trade for Duarte.
Alec installed himself at a cheap hotel that evening, taking stock of the weaponry and other resources he'd brought to carry out his grim task. After staking out his father Tony's mansion, Alec dropped in at the Lucifer Club for a few drinks and to see the strippers. He was intensely sexually frustrated after his time with his teacher, Mariposa Marisol, and Kicia was a stunning dancer at the club who caught his eye immediately. He soon learned after a table dance from her, however, that she was not quite 16 years old, which quickly soured his ardor.
The pimp Diggs Reale, who, at that time, owned and ran the Lucifer Club, had groomed Kicia to start stripping at 14. He roped her in via her mother Acacia, who Javier, the club's founder, had enlisted as a dancer after he met her by chance on a trip to India in 1954. One year later, Kicia was born, the offspring of Acacia's marriage to Black Torpedo Ray, whom she had wed one week after meeting him.
Acacia knew her daughter looked much older than her age, and she knew the next stop on the illusory highway to fame and riches offered by Diggs was a life of turning tricks. In 1971, Kicia's father was in prison, framed by Diggs and Eli Singer; he and Acacia had divorced in 1958. Alec was the first man Kicia had danced for that didn't immediately attempt to get her in bed. She was fascinated by this young loner with pale blue eyes and a long mustache. At the end of the evening, Alec bid her farewell and she gave him her phone number. He said he didn't know how much longer he'd be in Hallmark; only that he would be back and look her up – and hoped by then she'd be in school!
Three years later, Duarte returned to Hallmark for phase two of the Marchessa's three mandates. He decided impulsively to make it a stealth mission, mainly to get a job in Hallmark and establish a dual ID so that he could move freely as Cowan. He had often plied his various trades in preparation for the mandates under a prior falso identity, which became known as “The Cracksman”. A lot of what he did then was essentially run heists on organized crime and pocket their money for his own operations. The Cracksman was never caught or unmasked. But now embracing his Cowan identity, Duarte continued his work in Hallmark, but with an added ulterior motive: to see Kicia Blessing again. In his new life as simply Alec Duarte, the job he chose was as a cab driver; he liked the work hours and tips and he could scope out Hallmark's streets.
Alec began hanging out at the Lucifer Club for a few weeks, getting to know Kicia's father; they became good friends. Ray approved of Alec, and Alec alone, as a match for his now 19 year old daughter. Acacia had returned to India for a time, but Ray wanted her back at the club, their differences aside, so Acacia returned shortly after Alec's return, but as a hostess, not a dancer.
Alec made some young friends who occasionally frequented the Lucifer Club, much to their families' dismay. From Gossingham, he met Shirley Townshend Drake and her husband Shelby and son Lance. Lance was only six years old when he met Alex and already was fascinated by loud rock music and dark imagery. The first rock group young Lance responded to was the infamous White Rabbit, led by the rowdy Hasty Greenhalgh. The Drakes' favorite place to visit when in town, however, was the Bradcroft LTD curio shoppe. Lance became obsessed with it. Lance looked up to Alec; Alec wasn't sure what to make of this kid but appreciated the camaraderie of his family. Lance's uncle H. Sidney Drake was, at that time, preparing to open Hallmark's first noteworthy comic book store, called Origins, but for now, Sidney was holding mini-conventions at Norrland Mall in upper Hallmark. Sidney looked down on his brother's family and their friends, as Sidney was a devout born again Christian. Sidney's girlfriend even wondered aloud if Lance was demon-possessed.
One of Alec's drinking buddies at the club was a fellow cabbie at Zenith Cab: Renee Pointier, a French immigrant who was in her 30s and an alcoholic. She and Alec shared a few drunken nights of wanton sex, but he felt he was getting far off track from his fixation on Kicia, not to mention his impossible yearnings for his teacher, the Marchessa. Renee wanted to date Alec more seriously, and confronted him over Kicia. He made his feelings for the girl apparent, and Renee soon left him, as well as Zenith, and Hallmark altogether, for a good 10 years. Her replacement became Alec's “sidekick” for the duration of his time cruising Flicker Street for fares: a 16 year old cabbie-in-training named Hobie T Reale, Diggs' nephew. Alec taught Hobie some martial arts and Hobie annoyingly referred to Alec as “sensei”.
Alec revealed to Hobie that he was on a sacred mission, and that possibly Hobie could come along, if he was able to give Hobie a proper training the next time Alec was in Hallmark. The two friends would often smoke marijuana and ruminate on the nature of the universe, which Alec would soon be doing in a whole different venue.
In the midst of all this, Alec never wavered in using his tightness with Ray to see Kicia every chance he got. They had a sweet and tender dynamic that belied the violence and vice surrounding them. At night, between fares, Alec practiced using his hard-won skills to bring down the mob, and was only marginally successful. Finally, the time came for his mission: to infiltrate Javier's Order of Cosmic Emptiness. He managed to kill guest speaker Antioch Moldor, a powerful warlock and founder of the Aggregate analog group the Damnation Brigade. Javier let Cowan escape and was intrigued by him.
It had been two months of what was supposed to be a two week mission. Alec went to see Kicia one night when she was home alone studying (Ray got her back in school) and Ray was at the club. They finally had that pivotal conversation a potential couple invariably arrives at (Alec called it “The Talk”). Duarte tried to honestly confess his innermost feelings, and was doing okay, when Kicia pounced on him and they were soon finally making love. Kicia had wanted Alec for so long she couldn't contain herself. Alec was naturally pleased with this abrupt development, and after hours of alternately tender and tempestuous coupling, the two lay in bed and finished “The Talk”.
Kicia didn't think they would work out as a couple unless Alec took her with him when he left - and unless Alec got over his infatuation with his teacher. Neither seemed feasible, and for the first time that he could remember, Alec Duarte cried. He said goodbye to Kicia and expressed that should their paths cross again, maybe they could be together. Kicia told him that was unlikely, and said some soul-crushing things to Alec to disabuse him of this notion and get him to leave before she, too, lost control of her emotions.
And thus, Cowan returned to the Marchessa for three more years, and eventually consummated their attraction. Meanwhile, Kicia dropped out of school and embraced the Flicker Street bohemian crowd, the hub of Hallmark's outcasts, freaks, loners, artists, and aesthetes. It was in this scene that she first met the enigmatic Brother Zodiac. The two shared an immediate and uncanny soul connection, and and began a passionate affair filled with romance and music and other, darker, things...
IV. Sojourner's Solacium
Sojourner arrived at the Marchessa's Solacium in Libania, South America in 1975. He submitted himself for training, and was accepted. He met Cowan for the first time, having no idea yet that Alec had avenged Clay's family's deaths. Duarte helped Sojourner adjust to the Marchessa's approach, very different than the training at Feng Qi. Clay responded well to his new teacher. Clay was intrigued by the relationship Libania and FOPA had with the city/ village Serafinia. While at the Solacium, Byron met Redmund Jeffries, an African-American spy for REACT posing as a FOPA double agent. Jeffries was there to aid in destabilizing relations even further with Serafinia. Ironically (or not), Redmund married a Serafinian native and had two daughters they raised in the main village: Laura (b. 1956) and Ophelia (b. 1958). Clay met and soon fell hard for Laura. With Redmund's permission, they wed. Redmund despised Byron, however, and plotted to eliminate him without provoking the Marchessa.
Laura was soon pregnant, and, in her eighth month, she was killed by an explosion set at the Solacium by Redmund and meant to be blamed on the Serafinians. Laura's child, to be named Jeffrey Byron, survived however, and Redmund gave the baby to Ophelia and her husband Charles Mourning to raise as their own child back home in the U.S. with Redmund's aging mother, the baby's great-grandmother, Cecilia Jeffries. The child was born in June 1976 and was named Michelito Mourning. It would be many years before the truth of his parentage was discovered.
Redmund's own wife, Unocita Quonquero tried to kill him for using her and playing with their family's lives. Redmund beat her badly and she confided in Clay that she contemplated suicide daily. She threatened to tell Clay the truth about why the Mournings left South America so suddenly after Laura's death. Redmund killed her, making it look like suicide. Being a REACT operative, he was a pro at “suiciding” truthtellers. Unocita's brother Raj cried out for vengeance for his family. Alec Duarte knew it was time for the monster Redmund Jeffries to pay the price for his vile actions and long career of kliing, and so he challenged him to a duel of hand to hand combat. Redmund was a large man, and highly versed in martial arts, but he was hardly up to the task of defeating a disciple of the legendary Marchessa. Alec sustained a number of minor injuries and a burst lower lip, but once he was able to grasp Redmund's neck firmly, it took but a second to shuffle the brutal soldier and spy off this mortal coil. Once again, Cowan had avenged Sojourner without really knowing it; Alec was none the wiser than Clay was about Byron's son by the late Laura Jeffries.
With Redmund's entire family gone, Clay Byron focused deeply on his training. When Alec left the Solacium in 1977 to fulfill his final mandate, Marchessa knew he may never return, and they made love once more. Alec forced himself to emotionally detach himself as much as possible afterwards. He never saw the Marchessa again after that.
Clay was left behind to lose himself in honing his body and mind to their sharpest points in order to obliterate the pain of his lost wife and son. The Marchessa promised Alec that when Clay seemed ready, she would send him back to Hallmark to claim his fortune and, hopefully, his place beside Cowan in the Aggregate. Cowan did indeed find his place among the Aggregate, as recounted elsewhere, but he was pained to learn upon his return hat Kicia was involved with the enigmatic Brother Zodiac, who had managed to ingratiate himself to Cary Bradcroft as well...
V. Black Cabal Rising
In early 1977, Jerusha Dharma fell gravely ill and could not be saved by anyone at the Feng Qi monastery. Clive Dharma felt it was time to conclude his training there and go to London to get his mother's affairs in order. He left behind Mei-Chan Ko to train for one more year before she headed to Hallmark to petition for membership in the Aggregate. With the resources available to him via the Byron estate, Caulder Gaunt accompanied his monastic brother Clive, and loaned him a large sum of money to help him establish his new credentials.
Gaunt called upon a friend and former co-worker at OrDeR Enterprises, Oswin Juan Clancey, for help in Clive's ventures. Oswin flew to London from Hallmark with his associate Stephanie Ransom Avril, wife of Egon Avril of the infamous Avril clan discussed previously, in our tenth installment. Gaunt and Clancey forged identifying documents, including a degree in archaeology, and created a sizeable bank account, all for Clive under the name Randell Coventry. Clive Dharma wished the world to continue with their ignorance of his existence.
Oswin Clancey (b. 1953) is noteworthy as the son of Zachariah Clancey and Dawn Lee Cheshire, both discussed thoroughly in earlier treatments. Oswin was an executive in advertising at OrDeR. He and Clive bonded immediately and he used his resources to help “create” Randell Coventry. Oswin was looking to branch out into new ventures, as was Stephanie, who possessed an actual degree in archaeology and shared Clive's interests. It was imperative that no one involved in this enterprise reveal the truth. Gaunt assured everyone that they would be rewarded richly when Clive finally took control of his rightful fortune as a Bradcroft.
Another investor, the Frenchman Aloysius Pascal, came on board in late 1977, and over the next year, he and Clive became close friends. The five partners set up shop in London, where Clive stayed for nearly two years, scraping together enough cash for one grand expedition. Thus was Coventry Expeditions born. During his time in London, Clive, as Randell Coventry, engaged in a short-lived and tempestuous marriage to Pascal's half-sister Margeurite.
Caulder worried that he had been corrupted by Clive's obsessions and that their years at Feng Qi may have been for naught. He missed the peace he had found there. But he found himself drawn in by the enticing danger and clandestine nature of their activities. Gaunt wondered what kind of man he really was before his amnesia. Putting his grave misgivings aside, he decided to forge ahead with Clive's plan and head to Hallmark, where he met with Cary Bradcroft and propose a merger between Coventry and Bradcroft Ltd. Cary agreed to consider it, and agreed to meet with Randell Coventry.
For Gaunt's part, he decided to stay in Hallmark until Mei-Chan arrived as planned to petition for membership in the Aggregate as the Ghost Cat. Gaunt felt the time had come to tell Mei-Chan her how much he truly loved her. But she rejected his advances, however. She simply did not see him in that way. Gaunt was frustrated beyond words. He began hanging out in Flicker Street, drinking heavily and wallowing in self-pity. He took up painting, producing abstract portraits inspired by his time at Feng Qi. The more he painted, the more bizarre the symbolism became – images of vistas unimaginable alit upon his canvases, as grotesque visions of distant planes filled his lucid dreaming. He dreamt almost nightly of Clive and his sword and amulet. In his dreams the Black Cabal was reborn as one man, wielding the ancient talismen against a mad god with a third eye and six arms.
As for Clive Dharma, he left Stephanie in charge of their London office and planned an expedition to Exodesia in 1979. He felt they needed a guide, a go-between to survive in Exodesia. Gaunt recommended Javier, who was only grudgingly welcome in Exodesia. Javier went to London to meet with Clive, Oswin, and Aloysius, and soon the four of them were in Africa, making the expedition up the mountain where laid the city of Exodesia.
They came before the priest Assias, whose attention was drawn to Clive's talismen. Assias attempted to barter with Dharma for the objects, but this was obviously in vain. Clive announced that he wished the defeat of the Shadow Baron and could assure it happening if Assias trained Clive and Pascal in certain dark arts of Piscean alchemy. Oswin had no desire to learn and Javier was already well-versed. Assias agreed, and Dharma and Pascal trained for one year in Exodesia. During this time, the Arch Priest Urias was in America working for SkullCorp and assembling a new iteration of the Damnation Brigade to plague the Aggregate. Urias had long coveted the secrets of the Black Cabal himself. Assias was not a member of the Obscuros sect of Exodesia as Urias was; thus, Clive and Javier correctly believed that he could be trusted.
Oswin was housed in Exodesia's Azure City, a place where Exodesians of a more benign bent than the Obscuros dwelt. Assias was the Prime Minister of Azure City, where Javier finally felt at home somewhere in Exodesia. The year at Azure City went by quickly and surprisingly well for Clive's party, especially given the dark forces at work around them. Oswin attributed much of this to Clive's talismen, which Oswin believed gave Clive a certain aura that protected the group. Though this seemed to be mere speculation on the part of a layman, it actually was correct to an extent.
In the summer of 1980 Clive “graduated” from his studies in Exodesia. The next stop for the Dharma party was Hallmark. Pascal was sent to the London office to meet with Stephanie. He was to work there, while Gault and Oswin took care of business with Cary Bradcroft. Javier bowed out of the affair, but thanked all for helping him finally have a decent experience in Exodesia.
Clive now fully assumed the identity of Randell Coventry and set up an office in Hallmark. He began traveling with Stephanie to archaeological digs to gain actual experience at the position he had forged his way into.
Before Clive left Hallmark, however, he met with one final investor – someone he'd wished to connect with for some time: Orphee deLander. What passed between them would be revealed late that year and will be discussed in the next treatment, in which Clive steels himself to finally face Cary Bradcroft.
Chapter 17: Presence
I. 1979 Revisited
1979 was a busy year for the various personalities that had fallen under the aegis of the Aggregate. Ben Renova came out of retirement as a masked vigilante. He wore a different, simpler outfit, and called himself “Earth Worm”. He'd been contemplating this move for a few months, but was spurred to action to stop Carnifex from looting the main branch of Renova Savings & Loan in the opulent Renova Plaza. The Earth Worm was not able to stop Carnifex alone, especially after Urias came and teleported the money and holdings away. Renova barely survived several direct slices from Ewen Cromwell's sword. Urias, of course, did not need the money; he merely wished to humiliate a 'hero' and hurl the gauntlet for the next big move against the Aggregate.
The new Damnation Brigade were the ones to make such a bid against Bradcroft's group. Damnation members old and new aligned themselves against the Aggregate, under Urias' leadership. Soon, Ben, in his rebranded identity, rejoined the Aggregate. He felt that it was long overdue for Carnifex and Urias to be taken down - for good. He bore a number of scars from the encounter at Renova Plaza, but many more were yet to be inflicted.
Organized crime in Hallmark was now under the leadership of Milo Majestyk, a red-haired dandy in shades and an all-white suit who took sexual pleasure from torturing captives, especially policemen and “do-gooders”, as he called them. Majestyk's organization, once nicknamed the “Midway Mob”, was now in control of “The Machine”, the long running organization controlled in the past by the likes of Boston Haverty, Marco Allegretti, and Tony Duarte. The current Machine essentially was a polygot of that organization, the Midway Mob, and the remains of the Thorne brothers' original outfit called The Machine back in the early 1950s. Milo's goal was to streamline all vice in the state under one rule. His right hand man in these endeavors was his lover, Julius Duarte, the late Tony's son and fraternal twin brother of Alec Duarte. Li'Ang Liao's many interests were Majestyk's only viable competition in this arena, though he and Majestyk had an “understanding”. Liao, in truth, was slowly infiltrating the machine from within, infecting its engines with his own carefully placed forces, and he was determined to make it all his in time.
This refurbished Machine (which Liao referred to as 'Nova Machina”) was purchasing the loyalty of city and county officials and spreading corruption throughout Hallmark on an unprecedented scale. Arch-Priest Urias met with Majestyk and worked out a plan for the Damnation Brigade to take down the mutual adversaries of the two groups. Serving in Urias' brigade were: his on and off partner Carnifex; Urias' familiar, the undead creature Pallor (a German soldier he'd resurrected from being killed in WWII); Solomon Vossius, the Tormenter (Gerhardt's perverse and sadistic son); TSD subject Alphonse Marins, also known as the incredibly strong Mexican wrestler El Perro de Guerra (the Dog of War); Cal Thorne aka Exterminans the Death Walker, in one of his premiere missions; and Scottish telepath/ telekinetic Roland Mallory, a TSD Recombinant experimented on by Donal Rykards.
Cary believed the time had come to build a secret Aggregate headquarter beneath Bradcroft Manor. This space was to be the first underground HQ, 'The Compound'. The Compounds were originally suggested by Thomas Ledge as a way to capture the team's foes and keep them imprisoned as needed. The Compounds would also be places for Aggregate members to live so that they and their families could feel safe. All of this meant that a self-governing system had to be put into effect.
The Compounds would function as co-ops/ communes. The unenlightened Ledge didn't like the socialist undertones, yet most of his suggestions were factored into the project (though he was, predictably, rather ungrateful). Euphrates Straw laid out the entire map and schema for the Compounds. Construction was hired clandestinely; it was carried out by Serafinian refugees, who'd been brought over by Bradcroft and Renova covertly. They were well aware of the potential scandal of housing these illegal aliens, but they felt a responsibility to help those displaced by FOPA's revolutions, and kept them on as permanent, well-paid employees. Renova believed in the humanitarian element at play, but feared their actions might draw the ire of the government if found out.
Ben Renova was a huge supporter of President Jimmy Carter, and didn't want to jeopardize their casual relationship (Renova was a large campaign contributor to Carter). The real danger in this arrangement was the presence of Thomas Ledge, who'd allegedly severed ties with REACT and committed himself to Bradcroft & company. But by 1980, Ledge had well worn out his welcome with just about everyone, and Ben didn't trust him. Ironically, they had become good friends and drinking buddies over the years. Alec Duarte, Thomas' most vocal critic in the Aggregate, cautioned Renova about Ledge's notorious xenophobia, yet also put some stock in the maxim of keeping one's enemies closer than one's friends.
Cary sought many new members for the group to populate the new HQ, the last time he would aggressively do so. Caulder Gaunt agreed to join the Aggregate (perhaps to continue the slow infiltration by Clive Dharma), as did Brother Zodiac at long last. Zodiac's motives were , as always, inscrutable, to say the least. Cary found a pocket of ex-cons who'd been injected with TSD and were in REACT custody: Empress Moth, Necrotica, Karibou, and the Arc-Welder (Specific biographical details on these four to come). These were located for the group by the White Archer, who felt it a wise idea to allow Bradcroft and company to train the “talent” and the FSO's job was to exploit that talent for its own group afterward.
II. The Way They Were: The Last Days of The Original Freedom Squad
And so we return to the so-called Freedom Squad, who had been busy on foreign missions for months and retraining after the near-fatal Deomond/ Solus affair. In reconstructing their bodies, REACT subtly manipulated their minds to pledge obedience to REACT. Only the mind of John Gauvin, aka Wrath, rejected the mental reprogramming. This was because Gauvin had been a TSD trial volunteer; his only gift received by the treatment was complete immunity from telepathic invasiveness (including surgical and genetic engineering techniques). His brain was like a steel forge and could not be penetrated. Phileas Caleb realized this and kept very close tabs on Wrath.
Freedom Squad Ops (or FSO, as it was most commonly referred to in those days), was the victim of another set-up deal between The Machine and the Skull inner circle . The result was known facetiously as the “OBIT Gang”, and were not quite in the league of the new Damnation Brigade. They were unfortunately led by the long-missing Princesa Verde of the Aggregate, Cedric Lykos' former lover. Under her auspices were: Garnet and Cynosure, both rejected by Bradcroft and co. as Aggregate applicants; the “Solar Princess” and hippie lightbender Sunchild; the Vietnamese shape-shifting Tran; Anaximander Zayan's daughter Atheru, aka Soulfish; and the armored Terrapin, who had gotten to be good friends with Convy Lee Sutch (Cynosure).
The Freedom Squad lineup itself had morphed with the fallout of the Deomond/ Solus incident and rejuvenation of the team. With Ursulin AWOL in space and Solus and the second Duellist dead, the group amounted to Liberty Lord, Troubleshooter, White Archer, Dr E, a recent acquisition Silver Dart (a teenage Asian schoolgirl with unerring marksmanship, and the Squad's first ever female member), and a brand-new recruit, a powerful Bible-thumper calling himself Vigil. The sad reality is that REACT and the dark forces inside the US government basically began using the Freedom Squad in the same manner that their ostensible enemies were using the OBIT Gang and the Damnation Brigade – basically cannon fodder for their true aims.
So the rejuvenated Freedom Squad took on the OBIT Gang once in early 1980. The very outre fledgling group took FSO by surprise and scrambled their usual group dynamic. Still Freedom Squad's raw power looked to be winning out when Sunchild turned Dr E's power upon himself, using solar energy to warp his explosive plasma. Fortunately there were no FSO casualties from this. However, Soulfish had the dubious honor of snapping Dart's neck but succumbed to the venom of Dart's exotic weapons. Atheru lived but in a comatose state, but Dart had expired on her very first mission. Garnet and Cynosure almost took out the White Archer. But it was Vigil, who stepped in with his array of Recombinant abilities (to be discussed in future accounts) and brutally dispersed OBIT. The group fled, much to Skull's chagrin.
III. The Trinity
Alec Duarte was tense around Kicia Blessing now that Brother Zodiac was a member of the Aggregate. Alec's mind was finally at peace regarding the Marchessa after their intense farewell, and he now believed that Kicia was his true love. Hence, he was somewhat awkward with her, despite what they had shared in the past. After weeks of sexual tension, Kicia made a move on Duarte, and he, having no respect for Brother Zodiac, immediately succumbed.
Trevor Novembre was hardly faithful to Kicia anyway, having recently slept with a number of women on the Flicker Street scene. Among them were the aforementioned Sunchild, and new Aggregate recruit, Empress Moth. Even Mei-Chan, the Ghost Cat, who Caulder Gaunt had been professing love to for years, seemed drawn into Novembre's spell. Gaunt confronted Mei-Chan about the situation, and she graciously put aside her infatuation with Zodiac to try to take Caulder more seriously as a potential lover. She once told Gaunt that he and Trevor were actually alike in many ways. This observation was not well-received by Gaunt.
Alec took a trip to New Orleans with Lykos to find more info on the “Grey Messiah” (another of Novembre's street names), but the paper trail only reached back to 1955. Meanwhile, Cotton confronted Zodiac about his lifestyle and warned the bohemian lothario that his days in the Aggregate may be numbered, especially if he was quite literally sleeping with the enemy. In February 1980, Alec and Lykos, who had been smoking very strong weed, confronted Brother Zodiac about the many issues they had with him. Lykos suggested that perhaps Zodiac might be more comfortable in the OBIT Gang. There, Cedric continued, no one in the Aggregate would have any compunctions against taking his life. The Brother, whose power level lay somewhere Dr E's and that of the Absurd Tentacle, shrugged off the threat.
Zodiac then taunted Alec about Kicia's affair with Trevor. Zodiac obviously had not realized that Kicia and Cowan had recently been intimate, nor did the narcissistic Novembre know that Kicia had just discovered that she was pregnant and wasn't sure of the paternity. Alec did know that Kicia was expecting and implored her to get a blood test.
Lykos, in the meantime, had developed a rather involved theory regarding Brother Zodiac. He went to Straw and Cary with his fears. He had come to believe that Vaikuntha had avatars in Hallmark and that “Trevor Novembre” was one of them. Unfortunately, only the sword and amulet of the Black Cabal could detect a Presence in one of its avatar forms, and, even then, a Presence could make itself undetectable by most forms of magick.
It would explain much, Cary and Euphrates agreed. The three men (Bradcroft, Straw, Lykos) opted to go about their business with Zodiac, hoping he didn't suspect that they suspected him. They didn't tell Alec right away for fear of a major set-to with Zodiac. Lykos pointed out that with Caulder Gaunt's past, Gaunt's true identity also came into question.
One night in March 1980 a restless Zodiac left his room where Kicia was sleeping. He had just learned that he may be a father and that Alec Duarte was his true rival for Kicia and the baby. Zodiac encountered Caulder Gaunt in the Bradcroft Manor courtyard. The two men faced each other wordlessly. Caulder Gaunt disappeared, ebbing away into thin air. Brother Zodiac then reached out with his mind and intoned, “once more”. He was unsurprised at the identity of the third piece of an unholy trinity.
As Caulder Gaunt had emerged 25 years earlier a total amnesiac, and Zodiac had always been guarded about his past save for his claims to be Trevor Novembre of 1960s New Orleans, the third of this trinity emerged in 1954 with a whole set of false memories, memories about to be dispelled once and for all, along with the entire being that housed those memories – all subsumed by Brother Zodiac, the current dominant identity of this tri-une being.
Returning to Grey Parminter's desperate summoning of Vaikuntha in 1954, her working had finally born fruit. Vaikuntha had returned to this plane after a millennium but could only do this by incarnating himself into avatars – an ability he used for countless years in the past to walk among men. Vaikuntha would erase his memories or program himself with elaborate false memories in a convoluted spell that even altered the memories of those around him to “recall” the avatar's past human interactions. Such was the power and intricacy of an avatar working that Cary and Ashton Bradcroft had endeavored to master in case they ever needed it - for the avatar is untraceable by any magickal perception on Earth.
Splitting one's self into multiple discreet entities was a way for a mage or Presence to walk among the populace of Earth, human or Exodesian alike, and work for good or ill undetected. The avatars were completely unaware at any conscious level of their true nature, but they were often motivated by a subconscious drive to accomplish the source being's aims. Each avatar possessed within them a seed of the the being who broke apart into multiple iterations, awaiting some event to “awaken” the avatars to their 'parent' identity. When thus awakened, the avatars would seek out its other selves.
Zodiac kidnapped Kicia's mother Acacia. Ghost Cat was confused by Gaunt apparently abandoning her after such a lengthy and ardent pursuit. Kicia went to Alec and stated that she chose him over Zodiac. They made love, but were interrupted by Cotton Suede, Thomas Ledge, and Konchuman, who had found Zodiac and offered to do whatever Zodiac wanted so that he would free Kicia's mother. Zodiac insisted on seeing only Duarte, Straw, and Bradcroft.
The latter three men and Kicia found the 'Grey Messiah'. His avatar working had yet to conclude. He began physically changing, announcing that “we should all be one family now”. He gestured, drawing Kicia against her will into the maelstrom of morphing flesh that Brother Zodiac had become. Alec grabbed Kicia's hand and held fast to it as she was devoured by the now amorphous mass of seething tentacles and pseudopods that had been Zodiac. Alec desperately gripped her hand until it withered and dissolved. He cried out as the woman he loved and her unborn child (which was actually Zodiac's, not Alec's) were consumed by the reborn Presence Vaikuntha.
Vaikuntha awoke. He was the same eight-limbed blue-skinned being that Gaunt and Zodiac had been dreaming of. Euphrates Straw knew he was out of his depth as Vaikuntha approached him. Before further actions could be taken, the godlike being Vaikuntha loosed a slender beam of energy from the third eye on his forehead. Euphrates Straw was rapidly educed to ash. The now cognizant Cary Bradcroft began to engage Vaikuntha, and Lykos leapt to Bradcroft's side. The reborn Presence announced his departure and warned that in this incarnation, he would pleasure himself with life on Earth as he saw fit and would not be banished again. He disappeared, and a heartbroken Alec and his startled allies searched for something to house Straw's small lump of remains.
IV. Vaikuntha Rising
The Aggregate regrouped. A ceremony was planned in which the entire current team was there – Bradcroft, Cowan, Lykos, Ledge, Cotton, Konchuman, Wurm, Ghost Cat, Corona, Tin Soldier, Empress Moth, Necrotica, Karibou, and Arc-Welder - to pay respects to Straw and acknowledge the other two fallen members, though this latter idea of Bradcroft's, in the interest of magnanimity, enraged several members. They grumbled that Gaunt and Zodiac did little during their time with the team save plot and ploy against them. As Thomas Ledge put it: “You just don't honor a guy like Straw beside two pieces of trash that sold us out.” Cotton very vocally agreed, as did Alec (a rare instance where he and Thomas were in sync) and so a separate acknowledgment for the two avatars was held a week after Straw's elaborate funeral.
Straw's teammates, and his retinue from outside the team, solemnly honored this most amazing man. Straw's heirs attended: his lover Octavia Flay and her child by Euphrates, Darius Flay (b. 1975); his estranged widow Artemis Clancey (b. 1948) and her child by Euphrates, Zachariah “Zack” Straw (b. 1970); as well as the surviving members of the interconnected Clancey, Reale, Torrance, and Flay families.
This left the Aggregate with only one original member in its 16 year existence - the Shadow Baron himself, and he shouldered the blame for all that had occurred. He knew that the group, especially with so many young and lesser experienced members, needed as much help as they could get. Knowing they will refuse to help him, Cary dismissed approaching the Freedom Squad offhand, and concentrated on two extremely powerful potential allies: Orphee deLander, the Absurd Tentacle, and his lover Silent Indigo, Cary's niece. Bradcroft also tried to contact his own brother to no avail. Finally, he approached Javier's sect, who agreed to help.
Orphee immediately attempted to take control of the situation though Cary and Javier were far more well-versed in ritual magick. After months of planning by this uneasy alliance without any incident, Vaikuntha surreptitiously struck at the Aggregate's first Compound (designed by Straw and still being constructed). The mad god decided to merely destroy his primary foes all at once, making a statement to the Freedom Squad or any other individuals looking to take him down. His main target, however, was Cary Bradcroft's knowledge of the Black Cabal talisman.
Gathered was the same line-up present at Straw's memorial – the most formidable Aggregate yet assembled. Also present were the Absurd Tentacle, Silent Indigo, and Javier. Vaikuntha announced, “A millenium I have slept, and dreamt beyond the pale... for the day I wake and unleash the destroyer force on pitiable mankind.” In one mighty wave Vaikuntha annihilated Silent Indigo, Karibou, and the Empress Moth, critically injuring Corona and Wurm in the process.
Ghost Cat, Cary's replacement as field commander for Euphrates, attempted to orchestrate their forces. Javier and Bradcroft hurled arcane spells at the malign Presence, and Thomas and Lykos attempted to upend him with brute force. Alec and Stephen Bartholemew simply shot at him. All proved ineffectual until Orphee managed to physically wrestle the six-armed god to the ground, using all of his psychokinetic power to augment his strength. Brimming with rage over Indigo's death, he brought to bear all he had against Vaikuntha. But then the bizarre being he grappled with unleashed eldritch energy upon the Absurd Tentacle, who slowly dissipated into a small puttlylike blob before evaporating altogether.
Then, from out of the dust the daemonic Presence was struck down by an ornate blade. A tall man, clad head to toe in black and grey and wearing a mask concealing his entire face (even his eyes), had managed to enter Vaikuntha's personal space completely undetected. .A bejeweled amulet gleamed around his neck, Was this a one-man embodiment of the force that laid Vaikuntha low 1000 years ago?
The mysterious figure swiftly moved in on Vaikuntha, fearless. He proclaimed: “Do you recall the Black Cabal? You dreaded my coming in a millennium of dreams, sleeping in the Outer Planes. And now you shall sleep again”.
Vaikuntha had raised several of his arms as if to cast a spell, but the Black Cabal struck him in the heart with his blade as his amulet glistened. An all-consuming light envelopes the destined foes, and then was abruptly snuffed out.
It would be safe to say that the survivors of this skirmish with Vaikuntha were all in a state of complete shock. They quickly reconnoitered to garner medical attention for those who needed it, and to mourn their lost comrades. The year 1980 closed on a somber note for the Aggregate, and with many more questions raised than answered by the year's events.
Copyright 2022 George Henry Smathers Jr. All rights reserved.
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