Issue
Synopsis:
Issue #3:
On
patrol, Spectre found himself reflecting on the battle he had fought
just two nights before (See Spectre #29). While
nearing the dock area, Spectre suddenly became aware of gunshots and
headed over towards the docks. As
he gets closer, he sees what appears to be some kind of illegal
transaction, and a girl pointing him out to her friends.
Wondering how she could spot him in the night sky so quickly and
easily, Spectre defended himself as Freeze-Frame took to the air and
Cell cast his Fleshliness at Spectre.
Noticing the distraction that his ally Spectre is causing,
Nocturne reveals himself and manages to tangle all the gunmen in his
Shadowlines. Then, seeing that Spectre is being double-teamed, Nocturne
uses his Shadow Control to blind Freeze-Frame, causing him to weave in
his flight and lose a great deal of accuracy with his attacks. Spectre, shifting his attention to Cell, telekinetically
tosses the truck at Cell, smacking him with the side of the truck.
As Freeze-Frame grabs Spectre’s attention by continually trying
to attack him (even though he’s half blind), Nocturne charges Cell,
taking him out of the action. Suddenly,
Golem, Sludge, and Cancer emerged from the same warehouse that Golem had
burst from just minutes ago. Spectre
quickly blasts Freeze-Frame out of the air with a Psychic Blast as both
he and Nocturne begin to assess this new situation.
Spectre realizes that Freeze-Frame doesn’t seem to be able to
pull out of the nose dive that Spectre had sent him in, so he flies over
to Freeze-Frame and catches him telekinetically.
Nocturne
uses his Shadow Control to create a huge field of darkness around the
three new villains, essentially blacking out the area around them.
Freeze-Frame surprises Spectre by giving him one last energy
blast, which Spectre easily dodges and then drops Freeze-Frame, causing
him to fall several feet before smacking against the ground,
unconscious. Nocturne
signals to Spectre that the villains are trapped in his darkness field,
and picking up on the hint, Spectre telekinetically creates a tidal wave
from the ocean nearby to crash in on the field of darkness, dousing
everyone within. Nocturne
is suddenly hit from what feels like a Darkforce blast from behind, and
sees a man in dark armor next to Scanner.
Nocturne fires off a series of Shadowlines, but they are all cut
apart by a reflexive Darkforce field before they can hit the strange
black man in the dark armor.
Having
been touched by his weakness, Nocturne notices that his field of
darkness that was surrounding the three villains has dissipated. As Cancer and Golem charge Nocturne, and Sludge begins to
fire off pieces of himself at Spectre, Scanner and the strange man begin
to leave, slowly moving out the goons, trucks, and merchandise. Seeing the two villains charge him, Nocturne produces a
Shadowline at their feet, in order to trip up the two powerhouses.
Unfortunately, with their momentum behind them, they tear through
the Shadowline without even noticing it.
Spectre, easily dodging Sludge's blasts, telekinetically flings
Golem into Sludge. Sludge
is merely knocked down, but Golem continues to flip and roll
uncontrollably until he finally lands in the ocean. Sludge quickly builds a wall of sludge to help protect him,
while Cancer charges into Nocturne and knocks the stuffing out of him.
With all the commotion going on (including Golem’s screams as
he fell in the drink), Cell and Freeze-Frame slowly begin to wake up,
and silently join Scanner’s retreat.
After a few unsuccessful attempts by both Nocturne and Spectre to
take out their sparring partners, Nocturne decides to switch.
Dodging past one of Cancer’s mighty blows, Nocturne runs
towards Sludge and whacks him in the back of the head with his
Shadowstaves. With Sludge
down, Spectre begins to psychically barrage Cancer with Psychic Blasts,
until Cancer finally retreats into the ocean.
As
Spectre lands and Nocturne looks around the battlefield, they both
realize that Sludge is the only villain left.
The duo hear sirens in the distance, and although Nocturne wants
to flee into the night, Spectre retains Sludge for the police to pick
up. Nocturne hides and
watches as Spectre speaks with the senior officer, which he seems to
know. Spectre asks Lt. Fox if he could interrogate Sludge before
the police take him away. Against
her better judgment, she lets him walk around the corner to get answers
his own way. As Spectre
rounds the corner and awakens Sludge, Nocturne joins him.
When Sludge seems to be resisting their standard interrogations
tactics, Spectre decides to read his mind.
As soon as he does, however, he sees the face of a man who looks
similar and is wearing the same attire as the man in dark armor from the
battle. The image tells
Spectre that he doesn’t want Sludge talking, and he’s going to keep
him from doing that. Suddenly,
Sludge collapses and lies unconscious.
Spectre persists, however, and manages to revive Sludge.
Sludge remembers what the image did to him, and feeling violated,
decides to tell Spectre and Nocturne everything he knew.
He explained to them that the man in the image was the man who
hired him, and his name is the Darklord.
They met his son, Midnight, earlier and they are trying to take
over Hell’s Kitchen to get a foot into the New York crime scene.
He also mentions that the Darklord wants to become the one true
crime boss, the kingpin, of New York.
His plan is to lay low and build his power base, while using
super-villains to do his dirty work and act as his muscle.
Sludge, having just spilled all his knowledge on the situation, asks that the heroes let him go; he feels that it would be a fair trade for the info he just gave them. Nocturne is willing, but Spectre will not, due to the fact that Lt. Fox knows that Sludge is in Spectre’s custody, and Spectre is not willing to compromise their relationship. Spectre Psychic Blasts Sludge one more time, rendering him unconscious yet again, and hands him over to the police.