The Origin of Mr. Midnight (Second Saga added)

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For those who have read The Origin of Mr. Midnight from the origin board that once existed on CoH.com the first few chapters are merely repeats. The new additions are post release and begin with “The reBirth of Mr. Midnight.”
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The date is 2450 M.I.T. The world of Scecholar is a world much like our own, with one major difference, Magic. In an age that ended on Earth about the time of the Roman Empire, magic flourished, however on this world, the Romans never rose up and conquered the magical realm. Mysticism and magic reign supreme on Scecholar, and have for thousands of years. Around 245 M.I.T. (Magic Industrial Time), a powerful mage named Gamud rose to power in a small city state of Kalabad. In a horrific war he united all the mages, warlocks, wizards, and magic users in the world. But rather than subjugate them he chose to treat them as equals, and formed the Magica Obscura Council . This council would rule the world for many years, but in the end they would turn power over to a civilian government.

The council would remain, but would instead turn their energies toward knowledge, and would build the great Floating City of Mysitre. Those without magic would after a few hundred years, discover technology. In 1204 M.I.T. Humud Darson would discover steam power and forever change the face of Scecholar. With steam, people could create more than they could possibly ever need. With the aid of advanced farm implements, they were able to feed millions who would have starved before, and in the massive Dyrki factories they would produce anything made of metal you could imagine. In short the golden age of man had begun.
However what would man be without his ability to destroy? Wars would be fought on Earth, and Scecholar would be no different. In 1570 a great civil war broke out, when farmers from the northern plains complained the pollution from the Dyrkis was killing their crops. They staged a demonstration and the governing council ordered the army to put it down. The clash soon encompassed much of the central half of the continent.

The Obscura Council would of course hear of the fighting but due to incredible power they had learned from centuries of study declined to become involved. Millions would die, and the suffering would cry out for help. There seemed to be no end in site until a power, headstrong, and extremely young wizard Thulious would against the council’s wishes seek a way to end the fighting. He first tried to get the two sides to sit and talk about their differences, but to no avail. The Dyrkis as they would become known, said the only path to advancement was through the use of the factories they were named after. The farmers who would come to call themselves the Placids, due to their inherent nonviolent nature, said what was the point of advancement if everyone and everything starved because of the pollution? A fight erupted at the peace talks and Thulious was convinced there was no way to end the fighting peacefully. The government collapsed and all of Scecholar was on the verge of being destroyed. Thulious had always believed he was infallible and was undaunted. He began casting a powerful spell, even going so far as to make it up as he went along. Thulious’s hope was to create a disaster that both sides would have to work together to avoid. He summoned a great comet however the division of the two sides was too great and disaster struck when no one could stop his hybrid spell.

The Obscura Council watched in horror as on of their greatest failures unfolded before their eyes. The sky grew dark, and the clouds burned away as the monstrous comet plunged to Scecholar. The devastation was almost too much to bare billions died and the world was plunged into a new dark age. The council did their best to restore the world and help those that survived. But the golden age had ended. Nothing more was ever heard of the foolish Thulious, and no one much cared. By 2000 M.I.T. the world was surviving again, and technology had made it’s comeback. The Obscura Council held a much tighter grip on the world than before, vowing to never again allow a conflict to erupt. Their magic was deemed too precious to waste on maintaining the peace so weapons much like Earth has today were allowed to develop. However resentment of those who commanded magic was growing as few could forget, let alone forgive the destruction wrought by magic on the world.

The Council needed dedicated military leaders to help maintain order, one man named Thaddeus stood head and shoulders above his peers. Strong, charismatic and highly intelligent, he exemplified all that was good in humanity. However he also had a great resentment of ‘users’ as he called them. While patrolling with his unit, he came across the Great Crater. Inside he found a small fragment of the comet itself. Simply wanting something to remember his visit, he picked up the rock and kept it. In 2020 his son found the strange rock and took it to class. His instructor was awed by the strange glowing stone. Obsidian he thought, but why does it glow? Thaddeus’s son allowed his instructor to keep the strange rock, and after many days of examining it, discovered it was impervious to magic. In fact it even nullified all magic around it.

The son told now General Thaddeus about what his teacher had found, and a plan began forming in the Generals mind. If the rock is ‘anti-magic’ why can’t we use it to protect ourselves from the ‘users’. Then we could fight back! Using a laser to slice the rock into tiny slivers, he soon outfitted thousands of his best soldiers and tanks with tiny fragments that made them magic proof. Thus began the Great War.

After only a few years, most of the ‘users’ had been killed, and their Great Floating City had collapsed into the southern ocean. A few survived and went into hiding. But using new satellite technology The great General was able to track the use of magic, and once a spell was used, it showed up on his radar screen. Following such a blip, the General’s shock troops would swoop in and capture or preferably kill the ‘user’.

In a small village in the western expanse a small child was born, his parent named him Vasuvies, or great hope in the Magic Obscura language. His formative years were filled with warnings about the use of magic. His parents managed to keep his powers under control until his 21st birthday. Then by accident he destroyed a speeding car with a force bolt. This of course caught the attention of the authorities and landed the young lad in jail. Unable to fight back, Vasuvies was hurled into the black mirror, the only arcane magic item allowed in the New Order. The mirror transported all who entered it into the depths of space to die a horrid death. However just as he was thrown into it, Vasuvies’s parents cast a fateful spell and the mirror instead of killing their son, transported him to Earth, Paragon City to be exact. But they did this at the cost of their own lives as they were simply cut down where they stood, after casting the spell. Now trapped on Earth, Vasuvies searches for a way home to avenge the death of his parents, and indeed his whole race. In the guise of Mr. Midnight he fights crime and evil in all forms.


The Great Fall

Mr. Midnight managed after several long months to blend in to the background of Paragon City. Using his magic, he could assume the form of a normal human male, of around 20 years of age. He never saw the point of money, as he could simply transmute what items he had, into what item he needed, but in order to better blend in and to better understand his new home, he took a job. Professor Gant, of the University was a well respected and semi famous Egyptologist, in need of an assistant. Midnight, unfamiliar with this new world, decided to learn all he could by becoming the professor’s assistant. Even though he spent most of his time locked away in the University helping the professor, Midnight still saw the corruption, and decay that was threatening Paragon City. But he had learned a very important lesson, before arriving, use your power at your own risk. His parents used their gift, to save him from oblivion, because he foolishly had used his powers to save the life of a child who was threatened by a run away car, but paid with their lives, just as he would have.

And so time passed several months became a year, and Midnight learned the ways of Earth, and he too started to turn a blind eye to the corruption and decay plaguing Paragon City. Sarah, daughter of Professor Gant, became Midnight’s friend, and later they fell in love. Midnight though he cared deeply for Sarah, could never let her know his dark secrete, that he had magic powers. Fearing using his powers openly, Midnight lived on edge. Always worried that he would be found out, but it was this mystery that Sarah found attractive. The bond they shared was as strong as any Midnight had felt on his home world, and he came to love her dearly. He proposed to her, and she accepted. This was almost enough to make Midnight forget the tragedy of his own world. In short he was happy.

Three days before the wedding, Sarah and Midnight were coming home from a late shopping trip, when a thug jumped out of the shadows and demanded their money. Sarah was either too slow, or maybe the punk just wanted a fight, but a struggle issued when he reached for Sarah’s purse. Midnight was frozen, “Fear the light, don’t let anyone know your secrete!” These were the words pounding in his head. Midnight could do nothing, even though he was a powerful magical being from another world, he wasn’t able to lift a finger to help his fiancée. A shot rang out, Sarah fell, and the thug ran off. Midnight snapped, all the power he had suppressed suddenly bubbled to the top, the very wind seemed to flee from him, light went to great lengths to avoid falling on him, his eyes burned with pure anger and hate.

The thug believing he had gotten away slowed, then stopped, and opened the hard won purse. Inside he found three sticks of gum, a hairbrush, and a make-up case. Cursing his luck the thug through the purse to the side and walked on…only to feel claustrophobic as the very shadows of the alley reached out and grabbed at his coat. As he walked, the smell of fear filled the alley, the thug felt as though a thousand eyes were watching him, judging him, laughing at him. Then in a flash, a figure appeared in front of him. The thug couldn’t tell if it was male, female or even if it was human, because all he could see were red eyes, in the center of a black mist. He tried to run, but found he was stuck, it was as though the very street had reached up and grabbed his heels, rooting him in place. “Wha….What are you?!?!” he cried.
“You took the only thing that mattered to me. You destroyed the ONLY THING KEEPING ME SANE!”

The mist seemed to point at the thug, and he was in a blinding flash, that seemed to be swallowed by darkness, torn asunder. The thug’s scream could be heard for miles in any direction. It was as though his very soul had been obliterated. To this day only a small black stain is all that marks the spot where the future hero Midnight fell. Midnight’s powers slipped from his grip and allying with his hatred of those who killed his parents, and his anger over Sarah’s death, took control and consumed him. Compassion, love, happiness were gone, all that was left of the young research assistant was a floating mist of hate, and all that was left of his soul was a burning anger. Several heroes of the time, including the famed Statesman would hunt this evil, but no one could ever catch-up to it. Statesman came the closest to destroying this evil, but just as he seemed to gain the upper hand, the mist vanished into thin air, leaving only these words whispering on the wind, “Never again will the darkness flee from the light, now is MY time, and woe to those who don’t know fear, for they will know ME!”

The Conflict


Journal entry March 21st 2002. I have been searching for the creature they call Midnight for over a month now. He has been seen, or rather felt at a number of homicides in and around the Steel Canyon region of Paragon City. So far there haven’t been any eyewitnesses to it’s crimes, but rather only the aftermath. For example three days ago, Lars Bigfighter, a former boxer, turned strong man for one of the gangs in the Canyon, was found dead just outside Denny’s Pool hall. Several people including myself arrived just after it happened, only to find the smoldering remains of the man’s corpse. The medical examiner couldn’t determine the exact cause of death. All she could say was he died of rapid decompression, the same thing divers who surface too quickly sometimes suffer. I am positive I can find a pattern given enough time. The only question is what I will do when I do catch-up to Midnight.

Journal entry April 1st 2002. Last night I actually beat Midnight to one of his victims. One Harry Carver, legman for the Calli Cartel was the intended target. I guessed as much and my hunch paid off. Just after 11pm Harry was returning from a pickup at Sal’s diner. Then it happened. I have no real way to describe it, it was as though someone spilled an entire bottle of black ink over the alleyway, turned off the wind, and silenced the entire city. The only sound I could hear was the beating of my own heart. From what I could see from my rooftop vantage point , Harry wasn’t faring much better. A swirl of smoke with just the hint of brimstone, and a pair of glowing red eyes popped into view just in front of Harry. I fired my grappling hook, but I couldn’t move. I looked down and the rooftop had swallowed my feet. In short I was stuck. All I could do was watch, Midnight seemed to point at Harry, though I’m not entirely sure as I never did see any arm, or hand. Harry transfixed rose several feet off the ground and began spewing a white light from both eyes and his mouth. The light seemed to pool in a large ball just in front of him. The ball, filling from the inside out turned first grey then black. As the ball of light got darker, Harry screamed louder, and louder till the ball was completely black and Harry fell back to earth dead. Midnight didn’t challenge me, but left these words burning in my mind, “Woe to those who bring fear to the innocent, for they shall see the true face of fear… MINE!”

The above journal entries were from Captain Mandrill one of the members of the Freedom Phalanx. He and several other heroes had been tracking and trying to stop Midnight. However after giving into his pain, his anger Midnight’s power had seemingly become insurmountable. Even the legendary Statesman was held to a draw when he crossed paths with Midnight. Midnight’s victims were as Mandrill would later discover actually guilty of several crimes, but had all been found innocent. Mandrill believed that Midnight might prove to be one of the good guys, but as the others pointed out, he killed his victims, rather than allowing the system to punish them.

And so it went for several months, Midnight would appear seemingly out of thin air, staying visible only long enough to claim his victims, then only to vanish right before the eyes of the heroes who sought him out. However May 23rd 2002 the world would change. The skies above Paragon City, and numerous other cities would be covered in extra dimensional portals that would lead to a horrible invasion that would bring the world to the very brink of destruction. The heroes needed to find a weakness in the alien’s defenses if Earth had any hope of surviving the night. After the initial battle in the skies above Paragon City, the heroes had managed to stop the aliens cold, however they kept coming and the city’s defenders while they had superpowers, were growing tired. Night fell, but the fighting didn’t let up one bit. Statesman was just about to order a retreat when the stars disappeared, and the world grew silent. Everyone was caught off guard, even the aliens as they stopped their attack for a moment. Midnight had appeared. In some language Statesman couldn’t understand, Midnight seemed to order several of the attack ships to stop, and in a flash of green light, turned them inside out. The smoldering hulks fell to the ground and exploded. Midnight seemed to control the wind itself, because every explosion, every burning ember was directed back at the attack fleet. Several more ships fell. Seizing this singular opportunity to end the siege, Statesman ordered a charge and forced the aliens to give up ground.

By sunrise the aliens had been halted, and a stalemate had developed. The carnage was plain for all to see. Thousands of United States soldiers lay dead, thousand of civilians had been killed and dozens of Earth’s greatest heroes spat their dieing breath at the invaders. While searching for survivors Mandrill found a strange cloaked figure lying next to the remains of an alien ship. Somehow, Mandrill knew instinctively that this was the mortal form of Midnight. Knowing without his magical assistance, all would have been lost, Mandrill took him back to his lair, and nursed him back to health. Statesman however seeing the alien’s vulnerability to magic sent out word to all who had command over magical forces, to unite and use their powers to drive back the aliens.

The rest of battle with the Ratiki is known to all who survived it. Omega Squad managed to destroy the alien’s power source and drove them underground. But for Mandrill and Midnight, the battle ended that first day. It would take all of Mandrill’s considerable knowledge to nurse Midnight back to life. But when Midnight awoke, his powers were gone. He had thrown his anger, hate, his very essence at the Ratiki, to drive them back. In Mandrill’s, and everyone else’s eyes, Midnight had redeemed himself, and all it took was to help save humanity itself. But with his anger and hate gone, Midnight could never summon the strength to wield the power he once did. Midnight still has the ability to command magical forces, but no longer has the ability to control reality itself. The few surviving heroes knew that they would need all the help they could get to fight the Ratiki should they resurface, so they petitioned the government for a full pardon and a hero license for Midnight.


THE END OF PART I OF THE SAGA.

The Origin of Captain Mandrill


I can still remember that day seven years ago, I see it every time I close my eyes. Every time I dream, I relive every second, every sensation right up to the moment I died.
It was a normal patrol, like a hundred I’d had before, I was on second street just below the museum when I heard a shot. I called it in on my shoulder radio, and ran around the corner, gun drawn, expecting to see a mugger or some other lowlife scumbag running away. But instead of a mortal human being I saw a monster, well not a real one, but a robot with six arms, and two heads. It was walking down the street, while from behind it, a shop owner was firing a shotgun at the robot. I dove back around the corner so as not to be hit by stray buckshot, or the robot itself, and radioed in for back-up.

Now I’d heard about heroes, you know of the super type before, but in my years walking a beat in Paragon City I had yet to see one in person. My radio crackled to life, “Don’t worry the Freedom Phalanx is heading your way. Keep the civilian populace out of harms way!” Keep the people out of the way? What was dispatch talking about? Then I saw it, first it was like a tiny speck of dust on the wind, but unlike dust, it was getting bigger, and bigger, then it changed shape, it was Statesman! He flew past me down the street towards the robot with such speed, that he was actually moving faster than sound. Moments after he passed, the earth and sky shook with the force of the sonic boom created by Statesman. What happened next was something I can scarcely describe. The robot, with all its mechanical strength was little more than a tinker toy to the mighty hero. With one final blow, the mechanical monstrosity exploded in a mass of flame, and flying metal. Perhaps it was my curiosity, or maybe I was spellbound by seeing my first superhero, but I didn’t duck behind the building as the robot exploded… I felt a sudden pain in my chest, it felt like someone with huge hands had pinched my chest so hard that they broke my ribs. As I lost my footing, I saw a large piece of metal sticking out of my chest. The shard had pierced my skin and worse yet, went straight through my badge. Everything turned a strange shade of red, then the color drained out of the world, and everything went black.

I have been asked countless times before, “what happened after you died?” Or my favorite, “What was it like?” Well he is the answer…. Nothing, I was dead, I didn’t float, see a white light or anything of the sort. Maybe it has something to do with what happened next.

Statesman had destroyed the metal monstrosity, but had cost a lowly public servant, me, his life in the crossfire. I didn’t even hit the ground, before he had summoned one of his cohorts, a woman by the name of The Crimson Shade. I don’t know where she came from, or what her story is, but she is some form of telekinetic. She used her mental powers to keep my heart pumping and keep me from truly dieing, maybe I guess. Sorry I’m a bit fuzzy about that part as I was at the least unconscious, and had lost lots of blood. But while she sustained me, several doctors and Statesman worked to save my life. My heart, lungs and most of my torso area were useless, so were replaced with organic metal components, donated by Crey Industries. They wanted to test out this new technology, and I, well, I wanted to live. So I became a guinea pig. After several months I recovered, and even though I feel like a walking toaster have come to appreciate this gift. I have great strength, I’m bullet proof, well my torso is anyway, and after a few years I have added some interesting gadgets to my new body. Statesman after seeing what the new ‘mech’ body can do, let me join the greatest superhero organization I the world, the Freedom Phalanx.

My skills as a cop have come in handy many times, including tracking down the evil Midnight himself, but that’s a story for another time. Now citizens I must go, for ‘As long as there is evil, the Mandrill shall not rest!”

The reBirth of Mr. Midnight

After the relative calm between the First Ritki Invasion and the Second Invasion, Mr. Midnight proved he was no longer the blood-thirsty murderer of evil that the Midnight Entity had been. Mr. Midnight had worked closely with M.A.G.I. and Azura in particular to rid Paragon City of evil through legal means.

Then came the Second Invasion now commemorated by Beta Closing Day. Not the hundreds of ships they brought the first time, but what many believed to be the surviving few ships that had been in hiding. What made them choose that day, and that way to attack is anyone’s guess, but the outcome is not a matter for debate. The fighting lasted a mere handful of days but was bloody none-the-less. Throughout the bloody fighting Midnight tried to summon the incredible inner strength he used to help defeat the Ritki the first time. But try as he might, he simply couldn’t find the anger and rage that once fueled his powers. But still his incredible control over “Blackfire” the negative energy he could summon and shoot at the Ritki aided in the battle. After a couple of hard fought days, the heroes again had the alien scourge on the run. After the battle hundreds of surviving Ritki fled into the hills surrounding the city. Many others began an organized retreat towards one of their battleships that had crash-landed just outside of the city proper. The battle was officially declared over on April 25th.

Hundreds of valiant heroes fell in battle, including the Crimson Shade, the woman who saved Captain Mandrill’s life. The good captain was the sole beneficiary of her surprisingly large estate. Most of the money he donated to Paragon City itself to aid in recovery efforts. However he soon realized that some of the money she left him should go into research, and in just weeks he had created the Hero-Help System, a series of secure communicators that heroes can use to “call” their contacts. This system can also be used to help heroes talk to each other over great distances even in different “zones” of the city. This technology was of course donated to the city, and life was made a little easier. In honor of the Crimson Shade, he dubbed the system the Crimson Line for short.

In the aftermath of the war on crime, and the intergalactic war that seemed to be waged every other week, Midnight was growing weary. Captain Mandrill decided maybe Midnight needed a new identity so using his contacts on the job, managed to get a fake social security number, fake birth certificate, and even some forged medical records and created a new identity, Sebastian Cabot. Midnight had finally lost the ability to become ethereal and control time and space like he did as The Entity, but he gained something far better in return. What he gained in its place, was the ability to remove the black and white skin the “power” created over his body. Through meditation and shear strength of will he could take human form, and recalling his previous life, could emulate a human to such a degree that no one could tell his real origin. As reward for his tireless efforts to combat crime and the alien menace, Captain Mandrill gave Midnight his new identity as well as a nice surprise.

Midnight went shopping to try and buy the things a normal human needs. With Mandrill’s help, he purchased a new wardrobe and using his surprise, 1 million dollars in Sebastian’s name, he purchased the land under which Midnight’s lair existed, and started building a new home, a new… human home. Months passed and Sebastian Cabot became a name many heard in high circles. Always fighting for the causes supported by the late Crimson Shade, he said very little but anyone who met him took one thing away from the meeting, a sense that even though he was less than six foot tall, Sebastian was not someone to be trifled with.

Many eligible ladies of the right ilk tried to get to know him, but enigmatic as always, Sebastian spurned the lime light and the attention. One developer, who met Mr. Cabot, would later say “He was there and he wasn’t. He seemed to just blend into the shadows, and the crowd. But no matter where I went I could feel his stare; it was as if he was burning a hole in the back of my skull.” The developer was later found guilty of extorting money from his tenets.