SUMMIT Ops. is on hiatus. Stephen and I have insead decided to focus our attention on two of the SUMMIT Ops. characters for a three-issue mini-series entitled Rasta & Shade (It's about Rasta & Shade, below...)
SUMMIT Ops exists, as most of my comics do, in the Superpunk Universe, a world created by Robb hill, Derek Mascorella, Roy Mosher, John Widner, and myself. It includes strong influences from both superhero and cyberpunk genres, as well as some others. The world is dark and foreboding, and those who live in it are either part of the corporate struggle for international prominence or are crushed by the machinations of that struggle. Few people have contested these corporate entities, who fight wars with men in powered armor suits in the streets of cities regardless of the "collateral damage" caused and innocent lives lost. One man who has committed himself to opposing them is Trent Dane, the Director of Central Intelligence.
Director Dane secretly runs the new, high profile team of Superhumans known as SUMMIT Ops. While SUMMIT Ops' stated goal is to "Serve and Protect the Interests of The United States of America," it is in fact designed to bring Shadowdine, the most powerful and influential corporation in North America (and some would say the entire world), to it's knees. Shadowdine has, over the past thirty-five years, slowly and quietly subverted the democratic process of these United States, inundating it and dilluting it's purity for it's own profit. Today it controls well over 75% of the U.S. Senate and over 60% of the U.S. House of Representatives. It believes it controls the Presidency as well, but the President is secretly working with Director Dane to end Shadowdine's reign.
Spook is the leader of the team and has the unenviable task of holding together a group of sometimes unwilling soldiers who are not quite sure what their true goals are. Rather than risking a traitorous end, she and Dane have decided to keep the SUMMIT Ops team in the dark as to their true goals. Most of the members know this and harbor suspicions toward her. However, they are military operatives and are used to following orders.
In addition to this conflict, she is dealing with the internal conflict and stress related to the loss of her sight and limb in a bomb blast. Though she has prosthetics to compensate for her losses, she is still traumatized by the event which proved, in a rather gruesome and terrible way, that she is only human. The event scarred her mind as well as her body.
Her visor, which is “plugged in” to her neural network, gives her a wide range of visual capabilities, including infrared and ultraviolet sight, telescopic and magnified sight, and a targeting system which is linked to her standard-issue Code R.E.D. blaster. Her prosthetic arm is made from metal alloys and is detachable. With it she can lift roughly 700 lbs.
The second in command of SUMMIT Ops, Colonel Alice, whose aging process has been slowed by the healing factor he genetically inherited from the Overman Project, is a 78 year old with the physique of an impressive 40 year old. His body is actually quite disproportionate: his shoulders and arms are huge and muscled. He can lift almost fifteen tons and his tough skin can repel most bullets. He also heals 10 times faster than most humans.
The downside to his immense power is his other “inheritance” from the Overman Project: he has a brain tumor which is slowly deteriorating his brain functions. He has already lost some of his memories (he doesn’t know, for example, that he has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do) and is somewhat eccentric. Much of his eccentricity can be attributed to the difference in his apparent and his actual age, though it is impossible to tell how much of his moodiness, grumpiness, etc. is caused by age and how much is illness. His berserker rages are almost definitely caused by illness.
Colonel Alice initially refused to join SUMMIT Ops for a number of reasons. He felt he was betrayed by the military when he was asked to retire and had nearly given up on the American system. He also doesn’t believe in "women in the military"...especially in leadership positions. To show him the error of his ways, Spook had to fly to his home, a beat up trailer on a small plot of land in the South Carolina hills, and convince him she...and the American people...were worthy of his services. She convinced him with a cybernetically enhanced right hook.
Lieutenant Alan Austin, who was a Navy SEAL, used the military to pay his way through college. He did two tours in Vietnam in the early 70’s and went on to medical school. When he finished school in 1980, he earned a grant to study viruses and ancient methods for combatting them. However, he remained in the Naval Reserves in order to defer his college loan payments. In 1984, he developed a rare form of polio which was slowly eating away at his central nervous system. He had, through his studies, heard of an African "witch doctor cure" for something that was likely a form of polio. The process required the ingestion of ground lion glands which were supposed to "infuse the strength of the lion into the body of the man." Desparate, Dr. Austin flew to Africa to study this myth, hoping there was some truth to it. Wether he found proof of the myth, or merely convinced himself of it's truth to end his own suffering is a matter of speculation, but he claims the stories were true. Whichever the case, he and his guide captured a lion and set up a small, advanced lab in the middle of the Congo jungle.
Rather than kill the lion, Dr. Austin decided to take DNA samples and infuse them into his own bloodstream, which he believed would quicken the pace of his healing. At this point, the polio was growing more and more severe each day; he had already lost the use of his legs and his arms were losing strenght as well. The process worked beyond his wildest dreams.
As his wounds healed and he regained his vitality, his body began taking on lionesque qualities. His bones grew and his muscle fibers began to increase in size and mass. His body hair became dense and his facial hair became a large mane. In the final stages of his “recovery” he grew an animalistic tail.
Upon discovery of the disfigurement of Lt. Austin, the Navy immediately called on a clause in Austin’s file and activated him to full status, giving him the code-name "Aslan." They tested his capabilities and discovered he was equal to a human-sized lion in strength, agility, and endurance. Most surprising of all was the fact that he had full use of his mental faculties.
The navy assigned him to a SEAL unit and sent him to Nicaragua to help the Contradora rebels in top secret strikes with the Americans against the Sandanistas. At that time he discovered that the war was being fought in the name of US National Security, but for the advantage of the Shadowdine Corporation. He sent a letter detailing his concerns to his old friend Captain Shell Williams, who forwarded the letter to USAF Captain Teddy Jones. The letter eventually reached Trent Dane, the new director of the CIA, who paid Aslan a visit. Dane told Aslan to “be careful to whom you voice your concerns. I’m on your side in this, and eventually we’ll have a chance To do something about it.” When SUMMIT Ops was approved by Congress, Aslan received an unexpected transfer from the SEAL’s to SUMMIT Ops.
Like Spook, Aslan is self-conscious of his appearance. Since returning from Central America, he has been the victim of fearful voices who call him a freak and an aberration. Deep in his heart, he agrees with these voices.
Owen McHale is perhaps the smartest person alive. His intelligence cannot be quantified because no one has made a test that exceeds his intellectual capacity. At a young age, he was able to solve complex mechanical problems, so much so that he helped his father fix the family car when he was only four years old. His genius has continued to bud as he has grown older.
While his intelligence is indisputable, his ability to use it in a functional manner is definitely in question. His inability to stay focused, which most researchers believe is a direct result of his incredible analytical skill, has worked against him so far. Half way through his freshman year in college, he was failing all but one of his classes, but could debate quark theory, philosophical reductionism, and the merits of Euclidean Geometry with any professor on campus. When the grades came out, a depression hit him, and he left school. At the age of nineteen, he was a mechanic in a small town in Alabama where his uncanny ability to diagnose any mechanical failure, coupled with his mediocre ability to repair the problem, earned him the nickname Ratchet. Less than a year later, he finds himself standing shoulder to shoulder with heroes and military legends in SUMMIT Ops.
Dane had noticed him a few years before while reviewing files on random oddities, of which Ratchet was one. Dane noticed that he scored very well on the standard tests, but did poorly on the “concentration” or “attention” tests. Moreover, he noted that under pressure, the boy always scored very high. This, he believed would be useful to SUMMIT Ops if they ever encountered foreign or alien technology. The truth of this belief is affirmed when SUMMIT Ops, on their first mission, discovers the wreckage of a spacecraft, from which Ratchet modifies the weapons systems to make a laser cannon (see The Phantom Rook, below).
As Dane had seen, Ratchet is great in a pinch, but can’t concentrate when there is no pressure. He is easily sidetracked from his research projects. Often he will leave his lab on a whim and watch the rain fall -- and try to estimate the number of drops that will fall in a given square of sidewalk during a certain amount of time. If anyone else bothered to count the raindrops, they would see that he was always right.
Amiko Walsh, the daughter of Lieutenant Greg Walsh, aka The Seer, is blessed and cursed with empathic abilities. Her ability to read people’s emotions and “see” auras, no doubt a genetic biproduct of the Overman Project which gave her father his telepathic powers, manifested themselves at an early age. By the age of eight, she was overwhelmed with the onslaught of emotions that belonged to others. Amiko’s mother, a Japanese woman who was looked down upon by her own people for marrying a Gaijin, had neither the ability nor the finances to deal with Amiko’s powers. Amiko’s godfather and sworn guardian, Colonel Alice, didn’t know how to deal with the situation either. In 1980, when Amiko was seven, Colonel Alice enrolled her in a Chinese school run by the Zen mystic group called "The True," who said they could help her to control her powers.
They were able to help her, as well as train her in the martial arts and in the lost mysticism they practiced. To The True, Amiko was more than the “genetic anomaly” the western world considered her to be. To them, she was the warrior who would defend the world against the Great Dragon, who their mythology said would return to destroy the Earth. She was the Kira, the “True Spirit,” who would vanquish the Great Dragon.
To the Americans, she was an asset to be exploited. She was recruited for SUMMIT Ops and lured with tales of her father and the honor she could lend to her family name by joining a group that would fight for the good of mankind. None of this mattered to her. She eventually joined SUMMIT Ops because her mentor and leader of the True, X’ia X’ang, believed SUMMIT Ops held her destiny. She joined the American team of Superhumans on his advice, albeit reluctantly.
A latecomer to the team, Rasta was encountered by SUMMIT Ops in Africa. Rasta was looking for Sage and the Soulstone, an ancient artifact Sage had sworn to protect from those who would use it's powers for evil. Rasta knew that Sage, the ancient and venerable protector of the Soulstone, had been corrupted by the evil artifact. It was his mission to stop Sage from whatever mad and evil acts the Soulstone inspired in him.
Rasta, who was born in Haiti, had learned the dark arts of voodoo from his grandmother, which opened his mind to the possibilities of magic. Thus Awakened, he was instantly noticed by Marrianna, a Mage of the Third Order who had gone to that country in search of a mystical artifact. She offered to teach the boy, then known as Vernon Dumas, if he would devote his life to the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and magic. He agreed.
Rasta is a powerful mage who, like all those of the Third Order, travels apart from the rest of his Order doing what they can to help people while seeking a deeper understanding of the Universe and the Magical Nature of The Elements. He found himself entwined in a web of danger and otherworldly corruption when he met SUMMIT Ops. Together they traveled to Europe to stop Sage, who was planning some evil act to unleash the fury of the demonic Soulstone.
Rasta is a mysterious and enigmatic figure. He is not suited to the position he finds himself in as a member of SUMMIT Ops, and is always bucking the authority of “The Big Three,” as he calls them: Spook, Colonel Alice, and Aslan. He has a deep respect for Ratchet, but still he would rather be on his own, apart from the “team.” He only stays because he feels it is the safest place for him to protect and study Shade, whose infernal powers he fears and admires. He feels that her “transformation” is his fault, and that had he stopped Sage in the first place, she would not be in the position she is in...
Phoebe Reynolds, an eighteen year old girl and once Miss Teen North Dakota, had just finished high school and was traveling Europe with some friends before going away to college. She was kidnapped by Sage, who needed a “sacrificial lamb” to tap the full potential of the Soulstone. He was preparing the sacrifice when SUMMIT Ops arrived. In the battle that ensued, the Soulstone was broken and the black iccor that spilled from it crawled up Phoebe’s leg, attaching itself to her like a second skin.
SUMMIT Ops was victorious over Sage, but it was to late to stop the transformation of the girl. She and the Soulstone had become one. She was infused with it’s power, and her control over darkness and dark forces has given her a wide variety of powers she has barely begun to explore. Rasta, who is both concerned for her well-being and worried about the potential evil she represents, petitioned Spook to let the two of them join SUMMIT Ops. Spook agreed in the name of global safety, in order to help the girl they called Shade, and to strengthen her forces.
Shade is plagued not only by the nightmares induced by the Soulstone, which calls itself The Heart of Darkness, but also by a growing feeling of isolation and self-loathing. She is dealing with the fact that she will never lead a normal life. These thoughts of despair only serve the purposes of The Heart of Darkness, which is planning to violently overthrow the “weak-willed girl” whose body they share.
The spacecraft SUMMIT Ops found during it’s first mission together belonged to an alien from C’thana, The Phantom Rook, who was sent to Earth by the Stone Kings in order to prepare the planet for the invasion planned by House Dragon and their allies in the Stratagem. The Stone Kings believe that Earth should have a “Protected Planet” status in memory of the Redman who wrote the Stratagem’s Sacred Tomes. They made their case to the Stratagem High Council, but earned too few votes to pass it into law. Plans were already being made to invade the planet.
The Phantom Rook had been indebted to House Stone when he and his family, having suffered an engine meltdown in deep space, were given transport to C’thana by a Stone Knight. As any honorable Stratagem Lord would, he offered to repay this boon whenever the Stone Knight called on him. The Stone Knight, who in turn owed a debt of honor to the Stone Kings, transferred this boon.
Thus, when the Stone Kings needed an agent to help save “The Fabled Earthland,” they chose The Phantom Rook. He was ideal for the mission. He was well versed in the philosophy, history, and tradition of the Stratagem, and had faith in and understanding of The Stratagem Credo: “House above Self, Stratagem above House, Honor above All.” The Phantom Rook, they knew, would not shirk from his duty.
The Phantom Rook, after a brief confrontation with SUMMIT Ops, decided to work with them to complete his mission. They were worthy fighters who could be used to lead the planet against House Dragon and it’s allies (not that they stood a chance, he thought). After he and SUMMIT Ops destroyed the communications outpost in Australia set up by The Goblin Queen, he was branded a Stratagem outcast and joined SUMMIT Ops permanently.
The Phantom Rook, like all C’thanites, is stronger than a human. He can lift roughly eight tons and his body can withstand severe punishment. His Stratagem Power Bands, which are worn on each wrist, give him additional protection from harm, as well as the ability to fly at incredible speeds and shoot powerful energy blasts.
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