(Deathblow (Image) #9) - Michael Cray was on his honeymoon with Gabrielle D’Angelo when Travis Trickle told him Deathblow was needed on an I.O. mission. Against his better judgment Deathblow joined Travis, I.O. and SAs in an effort to capture a terrorist named the ?Jackal, who was associated with the IRA. They raided an IRA flat, but it was a trap, and the team were caught by rigged explosives. Jackal and the IRA engaged them in a firefight and a small child wandered onto the scene. Travis loaded up a rocket launcher, and the boy was directly in Travis’ line of fire, but Trickle was too full of bloodlust to notice or care. Gabrielle tried to save the child, but to no avail, as he was blown apart even though Gabrielle miraculously survived. After this tragedy things were no longer the same between Michael and Gabrielle, and they drew cold to each other.

(Darker Image (Image) #1, Deathblow (Image) #2) - When black-op Deathblow was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer he decided to settle some old scores, and traveled to Costa Mesa to kill General Manuel Ortega, who’d killed Deathblow’s partner when they tried to infiltrate his drug cartel in 1990. Ortega had a working relationship with the U.S. government, so John Lynch couldn’t officially condone Deathblow’s actions, even though Wahsington wanted Ortega dead because he’d become a liability. Lynch and Security Czar Craven told Lieutenant J.L. Conrad that Deathblow, who he’d served with in Panema in the ‘80s, had gone rogue, and sent him and a strike force to Costa Mesa to stop him. Deathblow reached Ortega’s compound where a firefight erupted between him, the strike force and Ortega’s security. Deathblow and Conrad were the only ones left standing, and when Deathblow found Ortega, he’d summoned a demon, saying he had power now that he served the Black Angel. Conrad and Deathblow destroyed Ortega’s charm necklace he’d used to kill the demon, causing it to vanish. Deathblow put a gun to Ortega’s head, and told Conrad he’d been played for a fool. Conrad couldn’t accept that Lynch had lied to him, and he’d lost his men for no reason, so he wouldn’t back down, and Deathblow shot him. Deathblow executed Ortega, and returned to Washington, while Trickle cleaned up the mess so there’d be no evidence and plausible deniability. Deathblow slugged Lynch, damning him for getting good men killed because he was playing games, and said he was through with Lynch. Deathblow brooded about being raised a patriot and growing up a killer. He completed a training exercise in Arlington, VA simulating the killing of terrorists to save a hostage, and his best friend Travis, I.O. control officer of Deathblow’s Special Activities Division was watching. He told Deathblow he knew he’d visited a church recently, and asked if he’d turned to God because after his last physical he learned he had a brain tumor. Travis wondered if Deathblow had a deathwish because of his guilty consious, and reminded him of what he did in Costa Mesa, but Deathblow said it was them or him. John Lynch briefed the S.O.G., telling them they were to be dropped into an Iraqui intelligence center, where they would inflict maximum casualties, collect whatever information they could, and then be airlifted out.

(Deathblow (Image) #3, 4) - Deathblow, Travis and their strike force were being flown into Iraq when Deathblow sensed that the Black Angel had awoken. Colonel Mahmud had found the Angels tomb in the deserts of Iraq and executed his own men to serve as a sacrifice, and their blood woke the creature. Deathblow flipped out and demanded Trickle turn around, saying they were being manipulated by things beyond their control. Travis pointed a gun at him, and reminded him that as black-ops they were always being manipulated by someone else. He advised Deathblow to go crazy on his own time, and said he’d kill his commander if he didn’t settle down. Deathblow accepted he’d deal with whatever was waiting for them in Iraq, and said he was in. Lynch briefed Craven about Deathblow’s mission status. A pair of F-111’s were bombing Iraq’s energy grid as Deathblow and his strike force were being dropped into the intelligence center, giving them enough time to complete their mission and remain unnoticed. Lynch said that if the black-ops were captured or anything else went wrong a battleship armed with cruise missiles was stationed on the Persian Gulf to destroy any evidence of U.S. involvement. The Order of the Cross learned that the Black Angel had broken free of the tomb where they’d held him prisoner for centuries, and Imam Farouk informed Hassan Kussein, asking him to make the Iraq desert a DMZ until the Order could take care of the demon. Deathstroke, Trickle and the strike force burst into the intelligence center, mowing down everyone in sight. Order member Brother Peter fought back, but Deathblow, thinking he was part of a second black-op team sent by Lynch, shot him, only to discover to his horror that he really was a man of God. With his dying breath Peter begged Deathblow to stop the Black Angel. “Kussein” turned out to be a body double, and Deathblow and his team were airlifted out as an arc light dropped bombs on the intelligence center.

(Deathblow (Image) #6) - Travis Trickle fell under the sway of the Black Angel, becoming his loyal servant. As the serial killer Herod Trickle killed a number of firstborn children, marking each murder with the signs of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse drawn in blood. The Black Angel planned to steal the sigils of the Four Horsemen from the Vatican to summon them and kill Christopher, a blessed boy born with the power to heal the sick and raise the dead. The Black Angel hoped that Christopher’s death would unlock the gates of Hell. Travis told Deathblow he knew someone who could save his life if he did a job for him, but Deathblow was through associating with Travis.

(Deathblow (Image) #7) - The Black Angel arrived in Philadelphia, and killed two airport security officers when they tried to question him, turning one of them to dust. He asked his servants how his plan was going, and they told him Herod had located bodies that would serve as suitable vessels for the Four Horsemen, and Herod and a team of mercenaries were staking out the Freemont Hotel, where Sister Mary and Christopher were waiting to be extricated from by the Order. Thee Black Angel said to remind them the boy was to be unharmed, because the Angel planned on feeding on his lifeblood himself. Herod’s men ambushed and killed Brother Thomas when he came to get Mary and Christopher, but the newly arrived Deathblow killed them in turn. The dying Thomas begged Deathblow to keep Christopher safe. Sister Mary had fended off the rest of the Black Angel’s servants by herself, and when Deathblow offered to help her and Christopher get to safety she was highly skeptical of him, but Christopher sensed he could be trusted. Deathblow said he wanted to meet the Order because drinking from the Holy Grail was the only chance he had to keep his cancer from killing him. Sister Mary still didn’t like the idea of being helped by a cold-blooded killer, and was not quiet about her feelings. Herod ambushed them, blowing up Deathblow’s car. He told his old friend there was still time to join him in servitude of the Black Angel, who could offer him power beyond reckoning. Deathblow cursed him, and fled into the subway with his companions. Deathblow engaged in a firefight with Herod, saying he was working for the wrong side, but Herod replied that there was no good and evil, only power. The Black Angel and his servants appeared, and the angel entered Deathblow’s mind, trying to tempt him to kill in his name, but Deathblow said he’d rather die. Deathblow was shot a number of times, but to his surprise he couldn’t feel a thing. Deathblow, Mary and Christopher made it into a subway car, but found a boy had been killed in the crossfire. Christopher brought him back to life, and Mary told Deathblow he was the anointed one, chosen to usher in a great new age of man.

(Deathblow (Image) #8-10) - Deathblow’s ex-wife Gabriele D’Angelo was investigating the Herod case for the F.B.I. while trying to dig up information on Project Genesis. Dr. Anderson, her contact in Memorial Hospital, found Dr. Markus’ notes on Team 7 and Project Genesis, but Herod surprised him and cut him to pieces. When Gabrielle found his body Herod attacked her and she blasted him with holy light, revealing that she was the vessel for an avenging angel. The Black Angel’s servants took her down before she could kill Herod, who was pleased that she’d serve as nice bait for Deathblow. Herod tortured Gabrielle, telling her the darkness in her ex-husband was growing, and he’d surely join him and the Black Angel when they stormed the gates of Heaven. The Black Angel kidnapped Christopher and told Deathblow to meet him in Babylon. Sister Mary drove Deathblow back to NYC, and he got in touch with his contact Rayna to learn about I.O. safehouses where Herod could be hiding. Deathblow tried to reassure Mary that he was a good guy once people got to know him, but she was not having a bit of it. They found Herod torturing Deathblow’s ex Gabrielle, and after Herod took away the Sword of Heaven from Mary he revealed that Gabreielle was an archangel, and he’d use the sword to drain her life essence. Deathblow couldn’t stand the idea of Gabrielle being lost to him again and went berserk, attacking Herod and the Black Angel’s possessed. Herod got the advantage, and after shooting Deathblow in the chest, said he’d show him that even the Gen-Factor had its’ limits, and he could end Deathblow’s life. Gabrielle, deathly wounded, managed to free herself, and killed Herod with a shotgun blast to the back. She collapsed and died in Deathblow’s arms, and Deathblow no longer had the will to go on. Sister Mary brought him to his senses, telling him they had to defeat the Black Angel and save the world so Gabrielle’s sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain.

(Deathblow (Image) #12) - Deathblow destroyed the Black Angel with the Sword of Heaven and the miracle boy Christopher used the sword’s Heavenly power to turn back time and undo most of the damage the Black Angel and Four Horsemen had caused. In this healed timeline Herod was caught by Lt. O’Brien and Special Agent Fox, who fatally shot him.

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