Green_Watch

Charles Jenkins awoke to find himself staring at a large light fixture that was hung from a large open ceiling. He tried to move but found his hands and feet were tied to the table he was on. He turned his head to the side and saw his friend, John Tyler sliding on a purple robe, along with the entire senior basketball team. When the hoods went over their heads, their eyes started to glow.

"Wh...What is going on?" Charles stuttered in fear. "You guys said it was an initiation into a club."

"Yes, you will be the sacrifice that gets in the Circle of Thorns, geek." Replied John, with a menacing tone in his voice.


While this was going on, in another dimension, there is a castle, in the basement of the castle, there was a prisoner. He was a humanoid about 6'7" tall with bright red skin, and blue hair, woven into a braided topknot, and a long blue goatee. He wore only a loincloth, and was reading a book. He looked over at the door as he heard footsteps approaching.

"Mar-Duuk, may I come in?" The voice said.

"It is your castle my lord." was the prisoner's indifferent reply.

The door creaked open, and a white skinned man entered, and almost seemed to glide to the bed. Mar-Duuk stood and bowed.

"To what do I owe the pleassure of this interview, my lord?" Mar-Duuk questioned.

"I have noted that a faraway city on the Prime Material Plane has been invaded by your old foes, The Circle of Thorns. Their meddling has attracted the interest of the Rikti, and Tiamat again." The pale skinned man replied. "Some young initiates in the Circle are trying to summon her, but I have changed the scroll so they will summon you instead."

"Why?" Mar-Duuk asked. "I thought you wanted to keep me here for enternity since I had angered you by pursuing Tiamat back to Lucifer's realm."

"No, I feel you have learned to respect me better now, and since I cannot be seen to interfere, I need someone who.." The pale man said.

"Can be the pawn in the game again, as usual." was Mar-Duuk's reply, in a tone barely hinged with sarcasm.

"Will you go?" the pale skinned mans asked.

"Yes, my lord."

"Come then, my sister will guide you there."

"Oh my lord, she makes me uneasy."

"As well she should, but the boy on the table must die so that you can be summoned, those are the rules." the pale man said, sadness in his voice.

"Ah yes, your precious balance." Mar-Duuk spit. "Well let us go, we do not have all eternity."

Meanwhile, back at the warehouse, Green Watch, Nos Bwgan, and Checkered Flag prepared for the assault. They approached the door with caution, but Green Watch saw no obvious traps. He picked the lock, and the group entered.

As they came around the corner, Checkered Flag's white suit reflected a stray beam of moonlight, which was spotted by a Circle Guard.

"Capes!!!" He shouted a warning.

"Well that tears it." Nos Bwgan muttered, "Oh well, let's get them!"

"For Scotland the Brave!" shouted Green Watch, blasting a sentry in the back of the group of assembling Thorn Wielders with a force field knockback blast, slamming him up against the wall. The fight was on.

The statement, "human sacrifice", made in a matter of fact tone, shocked Checkered Flag. Her white on black uniform seemed to twitch in time with her fist as it pounded into her other hand.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go get them!" she said, powering up her superspeed.

"We do not know where they are for one," Green Watch advised, "And we are not sure that the sacrifice must take place here."

"Well we do have some clues, " Nos Bwgan said, " I saw an Amber Alert on the net just before I left to meet you for a Charles Jenkins, a missing 14 year old boy. Now the sacrifice calls for a man who has never been blooded in combat before, and I think a 14 year old high school student fits that bill."

"How long do we have before the ritual must take place?" asked Checkered Flag.

"About 6 hours, it must be done at dawn on a night with the new moon." was Nos Bwgan's reply.

"Ok, I will go see the parents." Green Watch said, "Where does Charles live?"

"Galaxy City."

"Ok, Checkered, you scout around here, see if you spot anyone matching his description, Nos, start calling your contacts to see if you can dig up anything on what else the Circle might need." With his orders given to the group in clipped tone, Green Watch activated his flight pack and roared off into the clear winter night.

"Take charge kinda guy isn't he?" asked Nos Bwgan.

"Yes, but he usually makes sense." Checkered Flag replied, "Well I'm off to bust some Circle heads to see if I can get a lead on this thing." She sped off in a cloud of debris, her draft sucking the newspaper out of a hero's hand, arousing an angered comment and a rude gesture. Nos Bwgan chuckled to himself and started calling his contact, Cho Je.

About 15 minutes later, Checkered Flag was beginning to despair ever finding any information about the ritual, when she finally blasted a group of Circle thorn wielders in the EastGate Heights section of the Hollows.

"Ok, Ok I give up!! Sheesh lady, what are you so mad about?"

"A lot of different things, creep, so start talking!" Checkered Flag growled, powering up an energy aura around her hand under his nose.

"What about?" was the frightened reply.

"The summoning ritual going on tonight." Checkered Flag urged, waving her fist in a menacing manner.

"Ok, well it is going down in the Cherry Hills neighborhood, an old abandonded warehouse at Maple and Trident!"

"Good, punk." Checkered Flag then clobbered the Thorn Wielder into dreamland and grabbed her communicator. "Yo Fearless Leader, I found em!"

It was a cold day in February in Paragon City, and Green Watch, leader of the Highlanders was standing in Skyway City by the tram station, watching his breath steam in the air from the vents in his helmet.

"Where is the crazy Sassenach, he is always late." Green Watch muttered under his breath in a thick Highland Scottish Brogue, his green and blue armor, the clan colors of the Urquhart tartan, reflected the bright winter moon. Soon, a tall figure, almost as wide as the door of the train that just arrived entered the station easily parting the crowd with his foul smelling cigar clamped in his teeth. Green Watch adjusted the filters on his armor, and said "So Nos Bwgan, what did you find out about that scroll I passed along to you."

"Well, I don't mind telling you, Watch, It has got me a little nervous. It is a ritual for summoning deitys from Babylon. Where did you say you got it again?"

"I didn't." was Green Watch's reply, his hand unconciously flexing in his glove. "I was teamed with Checkered Flag over in the hollows, you remember her, the little lass with the hyperactivity problem?"

"Yes, I do." replied Nos Bwgan, "As you were saying?"

"Well, we were scouting some of the caverns for possible base locations for the Highlanders, when we ran smack into a group of Circle Ruin Mages. Well after that row, we found this photocopy on one of the guards."

"Well this certainly bodes more investigating," was the dark scrappers reply.

"Yes which is why I asked Checkered Flag to meet us in the Hollows." With that Green Watch leaped into the air, and shouted back, "Are you coming or not?"

Nos Bwgan shrugged, "Sure I got nothing better to do tonight."


Meanwhile across town, a young high school student by the name of Charles Jenkins, was following one of the star jocks on the basketball team of Paragon City East high to an initiation rite. Charles had never fit in well, more interested in history and archeology, than fitting in with the popular crowd. After the start of high school though, he tried to make friends, and John Tyler, the star forward on the senior basketball team started letting him hang around. Charles wasn't sure what to make of it, but he liked the attention. This night of the new moon, though, John had called him and asked if he really wanted to join the club. Charles of course said yes, and snuck out to meet John and his friends. They took him to John's house, and offered him a soda. That is the last thing Charles rembered for a very long time.

When Green Watch and Nos Bwgan entered the Hollows, Checkered Flag was waiting for them. She sped across the street at full speed, nimbly dodging passersby.

"So what took you so long guys?" She asked in a calm tone of voice, which is in contrast to the nervous energy causing her to pace up and down the fenced in area, her black and white checkered cape flashing behind her.

""An arson fire back in Skyway, started by some Trolls, Green Watch rescued the people, I beat up the trolls." Nos Bwgan replied, " Why are you in a hurry or something lady?"

Green Watch laughed at that. "We should go, Nos, is there any place in particular that the summoning ritual might work better than others here?"

"Well ,I would think an indoor area would be best, one other thing you folks should know, the ritual involves a human sacrifice."