The Jacks Five (or simply, The Jacks, for short)
Setting: Present world, present day, 2010.
The name is derived from the first letter of each hero’s first name (Jay, Anna, Carl, Karina, Steven) and a play on Jackson 5, the musical group! The "J" comes first because every group needs a leader, and Jay Thomas is that leader.
These bios, and the story, are a little different in that they show us the beginning of The Jacks Five, how they met, what led them there, and how they first encountered Major Clay, the Big Bad.
Code Name: Dr. Solo
Real Name: Dr. Jay Thomas
Power: Selective Invulnerability
Dr. Solo is invulnerable to amalgamation (ie, he's invulnerable to Major Clay/the Big Bad's power)
Age: 35
Appearance: A white male of average height with moderately short brown hair. He has dark, focused eyes and a steely resolve. He is generally described as “handsome” and he stays in shape, though he is not all that strong or athletic. He often wears slacks and a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Backstory: Jay Thomas was born into an ordinary, middle-class home in upstate New York, the second of two children. His older sister Marianne, whom he loved dearly, was diagnosed with leukemia. Despite aggressive treatment with chemotherapy, her prognosis was poor. Thomas spent the better part of his high school years watching helplessly as his sister’s physical condition gradually declined until she died at her family’s side. The whole ordeal took a tangible toll on Thomas, inspiring him to pursue an advanced degree in biology at UCLA. After obtaining his PhD in genetics, he returned to New York to work as a professor and cancer researcher at a prestigious private university. He is married and has two children.
He led an ordinary life until a fateful day in early June. He had just finished giving his lecture for the day, part of a summer session course on human genetics, when a pair of broad shouldered men wearing suits and aviators approached him outside his car. Before he could react, the men incapacitated him and injected him with a sedative. He woke up tied and bound to an examination bed in a dark room, with a bright light shining straight at his face.
Code Name: Mrs. Roboto (or Mrs. R)
Real Name: Anna Stoke
Power: Technopathy
Mrs. Roboto can mentally manipulate electronics, computers, software, and basically anything with electrical components or circuitry.
Age: 25
Appearance: A white female of average height. She has small, delicate facial features. Her nose and cheeks are lightly freckled and topped off by a pair of oval-framed glasses. Her slightly frazzled brunette hair grows to the top of her neck. She tends to wear dark colored khakis and long-sleeved shirts.
Backstory: Anna Stoke is from Springfield, Illinois. Thanks to her high-earning parents, she always received the best education money could buy, though her natural mathematical ability didn’t hurt either. A whiz with computers and technology, she found herself studying engineering at MIT by age 16. Her best kept secret, and strongest asset, of course, was her ability to mentally manipulate electronics, circuitry, and software.
Her exploits earned her a spot at the CIA after graduation. Her job is strictly classified, but has something to do with cyber espionage, cryptanalysis, firewall security, and satellite imagery. Like Jay Thomas, she was captured by men in suits, whom she believes are foreign operatives sent to extract information from her.
Code Name: Freeze Frame
Real Name: Carl Bigsby
Power: Induced Paralysis
Freeze Frame can paralyze somebody’s muscles/lock them in place for a few seconds just by touching them.
Age: 28
Appearance: A black male of average height with black hair and a crew cut. He has a relatively muscular physique, roughly that of a middleweight boxer. His face shows the wear of fighting, with a noticeable scar over the brow of his right eye. His hands are tough and callused, with a texture more like rough fabric than like skin. He is usually found in jeans and a sleeveless shirt.
Backstory: Carl Bigsby grew up in an unsavory neighborhood of Los Angeles. He never knew his parents. He was raised by his grandmother, who tried hard to persuade young Carl to focus on school rather than getting caught up in gangs, drugs, and violence. She succeeded on two counts, at least. He avoided gangs and drugs but became a fighter, taking on opponents in unsanctioned underground fighting leagues. Under the alias ‘Freeze Frame’, he won every single one of his fights with ease because he had cultivated his power of induced paralysis, which he’d first discovered in street fights as a kid. The effect only lasts a couple seconds, but gives him all the opportunity he needs to strike.
Recently, he had been told to throw his latest fight by ‘the Duke,’ a major crime boss in the underworld, in exchange for a large sum of cash. He agreed, but went back on his word in the middle of the fight. After winning, he was approached by men in suits. Believing them to be agents of the Duke, he ran, but to no avail. They tranquilized him and he, too, awoke tied up in a dark room.
Code Name: Tigress
Real Name: Karina Markovich
Power: Faunal Morphing
Tigress can transform into any animal that she can accurately imagine, including animals that are extinct. She cannot transform into people or assume somebody's identity. Her clothing transforms with her, and transforms back when she reverts. No limitations on her transformation, such as time, but any injuries she sustains will not go away by transforming/reverting.
Age: 29
Appearance: A relatively short, white female with medium length blond hair. She possesses a slim, shapely frame and has been compared to a gymnast. Her wavy locks frame an energetic face with smiling eyes and a slender nose. She is generally found in ankle-length leggings and a loose-fitting T-shirt, as she finds this clothing to be the most comfortable for transformation.
Backstory: Born in Odessa, Ukraine, to a poor family, she was sent to America as a toddler to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents died in a car accident. Her new caretakers, both blue collar workers, had a son, Mikhail, a few years older than Karina. One afternoon, when she was five years old, she and Mikhail were engaged in typical childish banter while playing with their toys. Mikhail made a comment about how he’d like to be able to “fly like a bird.” “Me too,” little Karina responded. When Mikhail looked up, he was shocked to find his cousin had been replaced by something resembling a misshapen cockatoo. After she returned to normal, Mikhail insisted that it be kept a secret between them, that they should not disclose it to his parents.
As she grew older, Karina learned to control her power, transforming into a variety of extant and extinct creatures at will. Mikhail, ever the entrepreneur, convinced her to capitalize on this. Knowing the tiger to be her favorite animal, he suggested they start a Siegfried-and-Roy-esque circus show under the guise of trainer (him) and tiger (her). Taken in by the idea, she agreed. He gave her the nickname “Tigritsa,” Russian for Tigress. They kept the operation small to make her power easier to hide, but nonetheless received rave reviews wherever they went. Karina could, after all, perform tricks that no real animal could hope to match. One evening after a show, several men in suits approached her (in her normal human form), claiming to be talent agents from a casino that wanted to book Mikhail’s next show. In the midst of conversation, they unexpectedly grabbed and sedated her. Like the others, she woke up restrained in a dark room.
Code Name: Fast Pass
Real Name: Steven Finn
Power: Stepping Discs
Fast Pass can create portals to transport himself or others anywhere within a two mile radius
Age: 31
Appearance: A tall white male with messy brown hair. He is on the skinny side, though not terribly so. He has sharp features and a cold, unfriendly stare, almost wolf-like in nature. He possesses a short goatee and consistently maintains a five o' clock shadow. He prefers to wear ragged jeans and a sport coat.
Backstory: Steven Finn’s life began in an orphanage in Memphis, Tennessee. He was adopted by Joel and Colleen Finn, two loving parents who couldn’t conceive on their own. Unfortunately, they were murdered in a nighttime robbery when he was still very young. Steven bounced around numerous foster homes for the next decade. No single foster family put up with his extreme delinquency for long. It wasn’t until he was fifteen that he stumbled upon his ability to teleport via stepping discs. After a particularly nasty dispute with his most recent foster parents, he decided to run away. Fuming, he left the house and walked for a few minutes. He stopped, closed his eyes, and imagined himself somewhere else, anywhere else. Much to his surprise, a portal opened up in front of him. Uncertain, but feeling he had nothing to lose, he stepped in. He found himself in ‘limbo’ for a few moments, and then saw another portal. This one dropped him several blocks from where he’d been walking.
Over time, he became skilled at controlling the stepping discs, his destination, and the effective range. At first, he used his newfound abilities for simple things: to find food and shelter. As he progressed, he started using his power to rob banks and other high reward targets. In this manner, he amassed a small fortune. Not a fan of extravagance, he built a comfortable, but not lavish, living for himself in a studio apartment. Until one day when he, too, was approached by men in suits and forcefully rendezvoused to some unknown locale.
Big Bad:
Code Name: Major Clay
Real Name: Charles Q. Clay
Power: Amalgamation
Major Clay can merge objects or beings together; can merge objects with himself, eg steel, to make himself stronger or give himself armor; can merge multiple people together and/or merge objects with them; can merge with other people, gaining their strengths and abilities. When he is merged with others, he is the dominant mind, and the others become the subconscious
Age: 35
Appearance: A tall, heavyset white male with dirty blond hair and a typical military buzz cut. The girth of his biceps is overshadowed only by his exceptionally stern visage. A perpetual fury burns in his eyes, which are black as coal and deep as an abyss. His mouth is frequently contorted into a deranged, mischievous smile. Numerous scars of varying sizes are seared into his chest, abdomen and back, presumably from amalgamations gone wrong.
Backstory: Little is known about the origins of Charles Clay. He was born to a war widow in an Army hospital in the United States. His father was killed in combat overseas just before his birth. His mother died due to complications from the childbirth shortly afterward. He was allegedly taken in by another military family on the base. Clay went on to join the Army when he reached eligible age.
One constant in Clay’s life has been a man known as Colonel Drake, who took a special interest in him since he was a child. It is believed that Colonel Drake discovered Clay’s amalgamation abilities and trained him to use them effectively in combat. It was not long before Clay found himself on the battlefield as part of a special forces unit. It is not known where Clay has been deployed in the past, nor what outfit he served with.
1000+ WORDS:
In the Beginning
His vision bounced in and out of focus as consciousness seeped gently back into his body. A hazy white light violated his eyes. He squinted to filter out its brilliant luminescence.
“Where am I?” he asked the blurry humanoid looming over him. “Who are you?”
“All in good time, Mr. Thomas,” a man’s voice responded with clinical reserve. “All in good time.”
Jay Thomas’s dilated pupils slowly contracted, allowing him to see again. The man standing next to him, dressed in a sterile white coat, grasped a syringe in one hand. He held it up to eye level to check the amount of fluid.
“Shit!” came a cry from the hallway. “We’ve got a breach in Exam Room 3!”
Suddenly, the sounds of a burst of gunfire reverberated through the room, stretching Thomas’s eardrums to their limits. A moment later, another barrage of earsplitting shots rang out, followed by a ferocious, primal growl, not unlike something he might hear on the National Geographic channel.
“Aargh!” cried the same voice that had sounded the alert.
Amidst the din, the man beside Thomas hastily flung the syringe onto a metal cart and took off running. Thomas strained his neck to try and observe the commotion, though he promptly wished he hadn’t. He spied a saber-toothed tiger jogging in through the doorway.
What in the hell? he thought to himself.
The beast sidled up against his bed and reared up on its hind legs, supporting its weight by leaning its forepaws against his legs. It bared its pearly teeth.
“No, no, no!” Thomas’s heart raced. “No!”
He shut his eyes, positive he was breathing his last. He heard something snap. Then, the sound of bones crunching.
Oh god! he thought.
There was no pain, however. In fact, he felt freer. He opened his eyes to find that his restraints had been cut, the animal was gone, and a short blonde woman stood before him.
“We must go,” she informed him in a thick Eastern-European accent.
“Who are you?” he asked curiously.
“I am Karina,” she ran out the door. “I saw others in the other exam rooms. Come, we must help them.”
Help who? he wondered as he followed her past a mauled body. Not like I’ve got a better alternative.
They sprinted down the hall and into a room labeled Exam Room 4. Each room had a flashing light above the lintel of the door, suggesting that the place, whatever it was, was on high alert.
Exam Room 4 was empty, save for a man strapped into an exam bed, just like Thomas had been.
“Jesus, get me outta here, man!” the man shouted as Thomas and Karina undid his restraints.
“Man, I’m Freeze Frame. I don’t know who you guys are, but we best work together if we wanna get outta shit alive.”
“Come, there are others,” Karina beckoned.
Freeze Frame took point. As he rushed into the hall, he collided with an M-16 wielding guard. The guard aimed his weapon point blank at Freeze Frame’s chest and tensed his finger to pull the trigger. Freeze Frame quickly tapped the guard’s hand before he could fire, completely immobilizing him, and then followed up with a sucker punch to the jaw, knocking the guard out cold. Disaster averted, the trio ran to Exam Room 2. Inside, they freed a young, bespectacled brunette. She introduced herself as Anna.
“Are you all US government too?” Anna asked.
Government? How’d I get mixed up in all this? Thomas wondered.
“One more room, I think,” Karina remarked in her thick accent.
The group made their way down the hall to the last room, Exam Room 5.
“Damn!” Thomas shouted. “Looks like you need a keycard to get into this room. We don’t have time to waste. Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait,” Anna squeaked out. “Let me try.”
She held her palm up to the card reader and focused cogitatively. Seconds later, the LED on the device flashed green, indicating that they’d been granted access.
“Shee-it, they oughta call you Mrs. Roboto or somethin’!” Freeze Frame exclaimed.
There were no surprises in Exam Room 5. Another man strapped to an exam bed.
“Name’s Steve. Steve Finn,” he said gruffly. “Appreciate y’all lettin’ me out, but I got no intention of stickin’ around. I’m gettin’ the hell outta dodge. Y’all are on your own,” he stuck his palm out at the ground as if about to perform a magic trick.
“Not so fast, Huckleberry,” an ominous baritone threatened. “Not while Major Clay’s on the field.”
A tall, well-built man clad in heavy cargo pants and a brown muscle shirt blocked the doorway. Without hesitation, Freeze Frame rushed at him. Unflinching, Clay held out his hand and pulled Freeze Frame into his own body. They melded together as if made of silly putty, creating something of a cross between Clay and Freeze Frame. Then, with a devilish smirk, he ran at the remaining four and pulled Anna, Steve and Karina toward him, like pieces of steel to a magnet. They merged with him seamlessly. To his own surprise, Thomas remained unmoved. The hulking behemoth of a hybrid started changing its shape. Its skin grew dark fur and its bones crunched as it transformed into a full grown grizzly bear. Thomas panicked and hid behind the exam bed, but the creature shoved it out of the way. Looking around, Thomas spotted a full syringe lying on the floor. He lunged for it and stuck the bear in the neck at the same moment that the bear got a paw on his shoulder. Thomas froze. He couldn’t move a muscle. He was paralyzed. The needle’s contents had already been injected, however, and the bear howled in agony. It reverted to human form and split up into its components: Karina, Anna, Freeze Frame, Steve and Clay. Clay fell on the ground, clutching his neck.
“Shit, we need a fast pass outta this place,” Freeze Frame shouted.
“Guess I owe ya guys one,” Steve said, as he concentrated to form a portal under the group’s feet.
Everything around them flashed white. They felt themselves floating through an airy ether, then into another portal. They fell out a few feet above ground in the middle of a dense forest.
“Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?!” Anna demanded.
“Close call back there,” Steve commented. “Good thing you didn’t get sucked into that freak with the rest of us. No sirree, you were flyin’ solo,” he said to Thomas. “Two hips and a hoo-ray for Mr. Solo over here.”
Adrenaline still pumping, Thomas instinctively responded, “Doctor. I… I have a PhD.”
“Oh, well sorry. Dr. Solo. Is that good enough for ya? Jeez.”
“…yes, Colonel, they escaped.”
“Excellent work, Major. All according to plan.”
“Should I give chase?”
“No, not yet. Give them time to cool down and brood. But… keep an eye on them, in the meantime.”
“With pleasure.”
“Ah, I can hardly believe phase one of the Supranormal Genetic Enhancement Project is complete. Thirty-six long years in the making, but we can finally move to phase two. Time to have their lives erased. Bank accounts, social security numbers… the whole nine yards. They’ll have no choice but to band together.”
“Glad I could be of service, Colonel.”
“Well, of course. After all, you’re my greatest creation. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to proceed with phase three. Anyhow, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m receiving a call from SecDef on the secure line.”
“Roger that, Colonel. I trust I’ll hear from you again soon.”
“We’ll be in touch, Major.”
Click.
Setting: Present world, present day, 2010.
The name is derived from the first letter of each hero’s first name (Jay, Anna, Carl, Karina, Steven) and a play on Jackson 5, the musical group! The "J" comes first because every group needs a leader, and Jay Thomas is that leader.
These bios, and the story, are a little different in that they show us the beginning of The Jacks Five, how they met, what led them there, and how they first encountered Major Clay, the Big Bad.
Code Name: Dr. Solo
Real Name: Dr. Jay Thomas
Power: Selective Invulnerability
Dr. Solo is invulnerable to amalgamation (ie, he's invulnerable to Major Clay/the Big Bad's power)
Age: 35
Appearance: A white male of average height with moderately short brown hair. He has dark, focused eyes and a steely resolve. He is generally described as “handsome” and he stays in shape, though he is not all that strong or athletic. He often wears slacks and a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Backstory: Jay Thomas was born into an ordinary, middle-class home in upstate New York, the second of two children. His older sister Marianne, whom he loved dearly, was diagnosed with leukemia. Despite aggressive treatment with chemotherapy, her prognosis was poor. Thomas spent the better part of his high school years watching helplessly as his sister’s physical condition gradually declined until she died at her family’s side. The whole ordeal took a tangible toll on Thomas, inspiring him to pursue an advanced degree in biology at UCLA. After obtaining his PhD in genetics, he returned to New York to work as a professor and cancer researcher at a prestigious private university. He is married and has two children.
He led an ordinary life until a fateful day in early June. He had just finished giving his lecture for the day, part of a summer session course on human genetics, when a pair of broad shouldered men wearing suits and aviators approached him outside his car. Before he could react, the men incapacitated him and injected him with a sedative. He woke up tied and bound to an examination bed in a dark room, with a bright light shining straight at his face.
Code Name: Mrs. Roboto (or Mrs. R)
Real Name: Anna Stoke
Power: Technopathy
Mrs. Roboto can mentally manipulate electronics, computers, software, and basically anything with electrical components or circuitry.
Age: 25
Appearance: A white female of average height. She has small, delicate facial features. Her nose and cheeks are lightly freckled and topped off by a pair of oval-framed glasses. Her slightly frazzled brunette hair grows to the top of her neck. She tends to wear dark colored khakis and long-sleeved shirts.
Backstory: Anna Stoke is from Springfield, Illinois. Thanks to her high-earning parents, she always received the best education money could buy, though her natural mathematical ability didn’t hurt either. A whiz with computers and technology, she found herself studying engineering at MIT by age 16. Her best kept secret, and strongest asset, of course, was her ability to mentally manipulate electronics, circuitry, and software.
Her exploits earned her a spot at the CIA after graduation. Her job is strictly classified, but has something to do with cyber espionage, cryptanalysis, firewall security, and satellite imagery. Like Jay Thomas, she was captured by men in suits, whom she believes are foreign operatives sent to extract information from her.
Code Name: Freeze Frame
Real Name: Carl Bigsby
Power: Induced Paralysis
Freeze Frame can paralyze somebody’s muscles/lock them in place for a few seconds just by touching them.
Age: 28
Appearance: A black male of average height with black hair and a crew cut. He has a relatively muscular physique, roughly that of a middleweight boxer. His face shows the wear of fighting, with a noticeable scar over the brow of his right eye. His hands are tough and callused, with a texture more like rough fabric than like skin. He is usually found in jeans and a sleeveless shirt.
Backstory: Carl Bigsby grew up in an unsavory neighborhood of Los Angeles. He never knew his parents. He was raised by his grandmother, who tried hard to persuade young Carl to focus on school rather than getting caught up in gangs, drugs, and violence. She succeeded on two counts, at least. He avoided gangs and drugs but became a fighter, taking on opponents in unsanctioned underground fighting leagues. Under the alias ‘Freeze Frame’, he won every single one of his fights with ease because he had cultivated his power of induced paralysis, which he’d first discovered in street fights as a kid. The effect only lasts a couple seconds, but gives him all the opportunity he needs to strike.
Recently, he had been told to throw his latest fight by ‘the Duke,’ a major crime boss in the underworld, in exchange for a large sum of cash. He agreed, but went back on his word in the middle of the fight. After winning, he was approached by men in suits. Believing them to be agents of the Duke, he ran, but to no avail. They tranquilized him and he, too, awoke tied up in a dark room.
Code Name: Tigress
Real Name: Karina Markovich
Power: Faunal Morphing
Tigress can transform into any animal that she can accurately imagine, including animals that are extinct. She cannot transform into people or assume somebody's identity. Her clothing transforms with her, and transforms back when she reverts. No limitations on her transformation, such as time, but any injuries she sustains will not go away by transforming/reverting.
Age: 29
Appearance: A relatively short, white female with medium length blond hair. She possesses a slim, shapely frame and has been compared to a gymnast. Her wavy locks frame an energetic face with smiling eyes and a slender nose. She is generally found in ankle-length leggings and a loose-fitting T-shirt, as she finds this clothing to be the most comfortable for transformation.
Backstory: Born in Odessa, Ukraine, to a poor family, she was sent to America as a toddler to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents died in a car accident. Her new caretakers, both blue collar workers, had a son, Mikhail, a few years older than Karina. One afternoon, when she was five years old, she and Mikhail were engaged in typical childish banter while playing with their toys. Mikhail made a comment about how he’d like to be able to “fly like a bird.” “Me too,” little Karina responded. When Mikhail looked up, he was shocked to find his cousin had been replaced by something resembling a misshapen cockatoo. After she returned to normal, Mikhail insisted that it be kept a secret between them, that they should not disclose it to his parents.
As she grew older, Karina learned to control her power, transforming into a variety of extant and extinct creatures at will. Mikhail, ever the entrepreneur, convinced her to capitalize on this. Knowing the tiger to be her favorite animal, he suggested they start a Siegfried-and-Roy-esque circus show under the guise of trainer (him) and tiger (her). Taken in by the idea, she agreed. He gave her the nickname “Tigritsa,” Russian for Tigress. They kept the operation small to make her power easier to hide, but nonetheless received rave reviews wherever they went. Karina could, after all, perform tricks that no real animal could hope to match. One evening after a show, several men in suits approached her (in her normal human form), claiming to be talent agents from a casino that wanted to book Mikhail’s next show. In the midst of conversation, they unexpectedly grabbed and sedated her. Like the others, she woke up restrained in a dark room.
Code Name: Fast Pass
Real Name: Steven Finn
Power: Stepping Discs
Fast Pass can create portals to transport himself or others anywhere within a two mile radius
Age: 31
Appearance: A tall white male with messy brown hair. He is on the skinny side, though not terribly so. He has sharp features and a cold, unfriendly stare, almost wolf-like in nature. He possesses a short goatee and consistently maintains a five o' clock shadow. He prefers to wear ragged jeans and a sport coat.
Backstory: Steven Finn’s life began in an orphanage in Memphis, Tennessee. He was adopted by Joel and Colleen Finn, two loving parents who couldn’t conceive on their own. Unfortunately, they were murdered in a nighttime robbery when he was still very young. Steven bounced around numerous foster homes for the next decade. No single foster family put up with his extreme delinquency for long. It wasn’t until he was fifteen that he stumbled upon his ability to teleport via stepping discs. After a particularly nasty dispute with his most recent foster parents, he decided to run away. Fuming, he left the house and walked for a few minutes. He stopped, closed his eyes, and imagined himself somewhere else, anywhere else. Much to his surprise, a portal opened up in front of him. Uncertain, but feeling he had nothing to lose, he stepped in. He found himself in ‘limbo’ for a few moments, and then saw another portal. This one dropped him several blocks from where he’d been walking.
Over time, he became skilled at controlling the stepping discs, his destination, and the effective range. At first, he used his newfound abilities for simple things: to find food and shelter. As he progressed, he started using his power to rob banks and other high reward targets. In this manner, he amassed a small fortune. Not a fan of extravagance, he built a comfortable, but not lavish, living for himself in a studio apartment. Until one day when he, too, was approached by men in suits and forcefully rendezvoused to some unknown locale.
Big Bad:
Code Name: Major Clay
Real Name: Charles Q. Clay
Power: Amalgamation
Major Clay can merge objects or beings together; can merge objects with himself, eg steel, to make himself stronger or give himself armor; can merge multiple people together and/or merge objects with them; can merge with other people, gaining their strengths and abilities. When he is merged with others, he is the dominant mind, and the others become the subconscious
Age: 35
Appearance: A tall, heavyset white male with dirty blond hair and a typical military buzz cut. The girth of his biceps is overshadowed only by his exceptionally stern visage. A perpetual fury burns in his eyes, which are black as coal and deep as an abyss. His mouth is frequently contorted into a deranged, mischievous smile. Numerous scars of varying sizes are seared into his chest, abdomen and back, presumably from amalgamations gone wrong.
Backstory: Little is known about the origins of Charles Clay. He was born to a war widow in an Army hospital in the United States. His father was killed in combat overseas just before his birth. His mother died due to complications from the childbirth shortly afterward. He was allegedly taken in by another military family on the base. Clay went on to join the Army when he reached eligible age.
One constant in Clay’s life has been a man known as Colonel Drake, who took a special interest in him since he was a child. It is believed that Colonel Drake discovered Clay’s amalgamation abilities and trained him to use them effectively in combat. It was not long before Clay found himself on the battlefield as part of a special forces unit. It is not known where Clay has been deployed in the past, nor what outfit he served with.
1000+ WORDS:
In the Beginning
His vision bounced in and out of focus as consciousness seeped gently back into his body. A hazy white light violated his eyes. He squinted to filter out its brilliant luminescence.
“Where am I?” he asked the blurry humanoid looming over him. “Who are you?”
“All in good time, Mr. Thomas,” a man’s voice responded with clinical reserve. “All in good time.”
Jay Thomas’s dilated pupils slowly contracted, allowing him to see again. The man standing next to him, dressed in a sterile white coat, grasped a syringe in one hand. He held it up to eye level to check the amount of fluid.
“Shit!” came a cry from the hallway. “We’ve got a breach in Exam Room 3!”
Suddenly, the sounds of a burst of gunfire reverberated through the room, stretching Thomas’s eardrums to their limits. A moment later, another barrage of earsplitting shots rang out, followed by a ferocious, primal growl, not unlike something he might hear on the National Geographic channel.
“Aargh!” cried the same voice that had sounded the alert.
Amidst the din, the man beside Thomas hastily flung the syringe onto a metal cart and took off running. Thomas strained his neck to try and observe the commotion, though he promptly wished he hadn’t. He spied a saber-toothed tiger jogging in through the doorway.
What in the hell? he thought to himself.
The beast sidled up against his bed and reared up on its hind legs, supporting its weight by leaning its forepaws against his legs. It bared its pearly teeth.
“No, no, no!” Thomas’s heart raced. “No!”
He shut his eyes, positive he was breathing his last. He heard something snap. Then, the sound of bones crunching.
Oh god! he thought.
There was no pain, however. In fact, he felt freer. He opened his eyes to find that his restraints had been cut, the animal was gone, and a short blonde woman stood before him.
“We must go,” she informed him in a thick Eastern-European accent.
“Who are you?” he asked curiously.
“I am Karina,” she ran out the door. “I saw others in the other exam rooms. Come, we must help them.”
Help who? he wondered as he followed her past a mauled body. Not like I’ve got a better alternative.
They sprinted down the hall and into a room labeled Exam Room 4. Each room had a flashing light above the lintel of the door, suggesting that the place, whatever it was, was on high alert.
Exam Room 4 was empty, save for a man strapped into an exam bed, just like Thomas had been.
“Jesus, get me outta here, man!” the man shouted as Thomas and Karina undid his restraints.
“God damn, Duke’s got his shit together. How’d you two get mixed up with him?” the man asked.
“Duke? What are you talking about?” Thomas asked. “And who are you?”
“Man, I’m Freeze Frame. I don’t know who you guys are, but we best work together if we wanna get outta shit alive.”
“Come, there are others,” Karina beckoned.
Freeze Frame took point. As he rushed into the hall, he collided with an M-16 wielding guard. The guard aimed his weapon point blank at Freeze Frame’s chest and tensed his finger to pull the trigger. Freeze Frame quickly tapped the guard’s hand before he could fire, completely immobilizing him, and then followed up with a sucker punch to the jaw, knocking the guard out cold. Disaster averted, the trio ran to Exam Room 2. Inside, they freed a young, bespectacled brunette. She introduced herself as Anna.
“Are you all US government too?” Anna asked.
Government? How’d I get mixed up in all this? Thomas wondered.
“One more room, I think,” Karina remarked in her thick accent.
The group made their way down the hall to the last room, Exam Room 5.
“Damn!” Thomas shouted. “Looks like you need a keycard to get into this room. We don’t have time to waste. Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait,” Anna squeaked out. “Let me try.”
She held her palm up to the card reader and focused cogitatively. Seconds later, the LED on the device flashed green, indicating that they’d been granted access.
“Shee-it, they oughta call you Mrs. Roboto or somethin’!” Freeze Frame exclaimed.
There were no surprises in Exam Room 5. Another man strapped to an exam bed.
“Name’s Steve. Steve Finn,” he said gruffly. “Appreciate y’all lettin’ me out, but I got no intention of stickin’ around. I’m gettin’ the hell outta dodge. Y’all are on your own,” he stuck his palm out at the ground as if about to perform a magic trick.
“Not so fast, Huckleberry,” an ominous baritone threatened. “Not while Major Clay’s on the field.”
A tall, well-built man clad in heavy cargo pants and a brown muscle shirt blocked the doorway. Without hesitation, Freeze Frame rushed at him. Unflinching, Clay held out his hand and pulled Freeze Frame into his own body. They melded together as if made of silly putty, creating something of a cross between Clay and Freeze Frame. Then, with a devilish smirk, he ran at the remaining four and pulled Anna, Steve and Karina toward him, like pieces of steel to a magnet. They merged with him seamlessly. To his own surprise, Thomas remained unmoved. The hulking behemoth of a hybrid started changing its shape. Its skin grew dark fur and its bones crunched as it transformed into a full grown grizzly bear. Thomas panicked and hid behind the exam bed, but the creature shoved it out of the way. Looking around, Thomas spotted a full syringe lying on the floor. He lunged for it and stuck the bear in the neck at the same moment that the bear got a paw on his shoulder. Thomas froze. He couldn’t move a muscle. He was paralyzed. The needle’s contents had already been injected, however, and the bear howled in agony. It reverted to human form and split up into its components: Karina, Anna, Freeze Frame, Steve and Clay. Clay fell on the ground, clutching his neck.
“Shit, we need a fast pass outta this place,” Freeze Frame shouted.
“Guess I owe ya guys one,” Steve said, as he concentrated to form a portal under the group’s feet.
Everything around them flashed white. They felt themselves floating through an airy ether, then into another portal. They fell out a few feet above ground in the middle of a dense forest.
“Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?!” Anna demanded.
“Close call back there,” Steve commented. “Good thing you didn’t get sucked into that freak with the rest of us. No sirree, you were flyin’ solo,” he said to Thomas. “Two hips and a hoo-ray for Mr. Solo over here.”
Adrenaline still pumping, Thomas instinctively responded, “Doctor. I… I have a PhD.”
“Oh, well sorry. Dr. Solo. Is that good enough for ya? Jeez.”
…
“…yes, Colonel, they escaped.”
“Excellent work, Major. All according to plan.”
“Should I give chase?”
“No, not yet. Give them time to cool down and brood. But… keep an eye on them, in the meantime.”
“With pleasure.”
“Ah, I can hardly believe phase one of the Supranormal Genetic Enhancement Project is complete. Thirty-six long years in the making, but we can finally move to phase two. Time to have their lives erased. Bank accounts, social security numbers… the whole nine yards. They’ll have no choice but to band together.”
“Glad I could be of service, Colonel.”
“Well, of course. After all, you’re my greatest creation. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to proceed with phase three. Anyhow, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m receiving a call from SecDef on the secure line.”
“Roger that, Colonel. I trust I’ll hear from you again soon.”
“We’ll be in touch, Major.”
Click.
