Issue
Synopsis:
Issue
#17
Upon returning home, Spectre finds that he’s been gone for
three weeks, and that Lightstar and Starlight have been missing for
about two weeks. He has
lost his job at the bank, and almost kicked out of his apartment. With no place to go, Spectre sets Bodycount up in a hotel,
until an identity can be established for him.
Spectre hooks up with Starlight’s agent, Larry. Larry
says he’ll get Bodycount a false identity if Spectre helps him find
his meal tickets.
Spectre meets with Lt. Fox, trying to figure out what the police
know. Spectre reads a copy
of the police report, finding that Larry didn’t give away
Lightstar’s and Starlight’s identities, and since the last place
they were seen (according to Larry) was each of them heading home, the
police could not investigate the crime scene.
Spectre meets with Larry once again, and Larry lets Spectre into
Starlight’s apartment, since Spectre already knows her identity.
Upon looking around, Spectre touches a single rose that was left
on her coffee table, next to a bouquet of roses.
From that one touch, Spectre receives a vision of a man with a
purple mask and glasses, with green gloves placing the rose on the
table. Spectre immediately
contacts Lt. Fox, asking her for info on anyone fitting the description
of his vision. Fox meets
him the next evening, and after going through a few photos, she mentions
that a crime syndicate head, the Rose, is rumored to wear a similar get
up. After comparing a few
notes about the situation, Spectre is adamant about the Rose’s
involvement in the abduction, and begins the second part of his
search...
Issue
#18
Spectre realizes that since the police weren’t able to conduct
a full survey of the crime scene, that he will do it instead.
While using his telepathy to disguise himself as a detective,
Spectre talks to a neighbor and finds out some interesting things about
what happened that day. Apparently around 4:17 that afternoon, the neighbor heard
someone knocking on Starlight’s door, but didn’t see anyone when she
was out in the hall just a moment before.
She thought it strange, and went back into the hall to double
check. When she did, she
saw the door closing, just seconds after she heard another knock and the
door open. She thought
nothing more of the situation, but Spectre saw it clearly through her
eyes. Either the Rose, or
whoever was with him would have to be able to mask himself from sight,
and take out Starlight very quickly, since there was no sound or sign of
a struggle and they entered the apartment so quickly.
Remembering his conversation with Lt. Fox, Spectre’s primary
suspect for the villain who assisted the Rose was Migraine, a psychic
villain that Starlight had battled with alongside Lightstar.
Spectre began going back onto patrol, to thwart whatever crime he
could (in his frustration!!!) and to try to get some information on the
Rose and Migraine. After a
night or two on patrol solving minor problems, Spectre became distracted
by a voice calling his name. He
saw no one there, but when he redirected his attention back in front of
him, a monster stood before him. Dodging
the monster’s attack, Spectre saw the illusion that was the monster
begin to fade. Blink called
out for Spectre again, letting Spectre land on top of a large apartment
building. While the two
bantered, the villain Vengeance (calling himself Nightstalker) began
stealing Spectre’s powers. When
the fight was ready to begin, Vengeance created Spectre’s psychic
weapon as a way of telling Spectre what he had done.
Spectre then used his Mind Blow attack to cripple Vengeance and
wipe out Blink. Vengeance
and Spectre continued to fight, until Spectre had defeated Vengeance.
Spectre revived Vengeance while flying over the city, and in a
desperate attempt to escape, Vengeance stole Spectre’s telekinesis.
Turning the tide, Vengeance began taunting Spectre, and called
Glacier in for reinforcement. Spectre, once again gaining the upper hand, dropped
Vengeance. While falling,
Vengeance revealed that he is hired by super villains to steal the
powers of people who give them trouble, but he knows nothing of their
motivations, and thus he knew nothing of why they lured Spectre into a
trap, let alone anything about Starlight.
Vengeance told Spectre that if he let him go, that Vengeance
would end the battle and bear no grudge, since he was on his own
(something he was NOT hired for). Spectre agreed, let Vengeance go, and left the area before
Blink (who had slipped out during his fight with Vengeance) and Glacier returned.
Issue
#19
Spectre decides that the streets aren’t giving him that many
answers, and decides (as Morgan) to go to the college to use their
computers for info. Not
finding anything about the Rose on the Internet, a student helps him and
directs him to the library to look through old newspaper articles. There he finds out that the Shocker once worked for the Rose.
Contacting Lt. Fox, she gives Spectre the cellblock and number to
where the Shocker is locked up at on Ryker’s Island.
Spectre, in disguise, flies to Ryker’s Island and lands on the
ledge outside of the Shocker’s cell.
Spectre begins to question the Shocker about the Rose, to which
he isn’t much help. But,
by probing the Shocker’s mind, Spectre gets the names of several
fences and gangsters that have worked for the Rose. Spectre, leaving Ryker’s Island, then sneaks into the house
of one of the fences, and uses the same technique to find out where one
of the Rose’s current gangsters (Tommy “Gun” Chivatel) is staying.
After telekinetically taking out Tommy’s guard, Spectre enters
the penthouse and disarms Tommy. Probing
Tommy’s mind, he learns the telephone number that Tommy calls to get
in touch with the Rose’s advisor and counselor.
Spectre then knocks Tommy unconscious and uses the number to
calls the Rose’s right hand man.
The man on the other end of the phone line tells Spectre that
they knew he was going to call, and told him he was too predictable.
At that moment, a giant hand reaches in through the sliding glass
doors, grabbing Spectre and pulling him out of the penthouse, crushing
the life from him....
Issue
#20
Feeling the icy grip around him, Spectre didn’t need to look up
at the giant figure holding him to realize that he was in Glacier’s
grasp. Spectre, using his
telekinesis, managed to force his way out of Glacier’s hand after
nearly having all of the life either squeezed or frozen from him.
Landing safely on the ground after nearly being blasted to a pulp
by a giant ice blast, Spectre used his psychic invisibility to give him
an edge. Glacier
responded by blanketing the battlefield in snow, mistakenly thinking
that Spectre had actually turned invisible. Spectre merely adjusted his psychic invisibility, and began
to psychic blast the frosty giant.
Glacier, being tired of these games, began covering the hotel
next to them in ice, causing the building to start caving in on itself.
Glacier commanded Spectre to reveal himself, and Spectre did in
order to save the lives of the people inside.
Then the two began to battle, going toe to toe.
Glacier, almost defeated, created a huge ice club, in order to
smash Spectre with it, but Spectre used his psychic blast, causing
Glacier to lose his balance and the club smashed into the side of the
building, causing the building to truly collapse.
Spectre, using his telekinesis to hold what parts of the building
up that he could, finished Glacier off with one desperate, final
psychic blast, then returning his efforts to saving the building and the
people inside. He noticed
Blink pulling Glacier’s normal sized unconscious body away, but
could do nothing about it due to the people who were in danger of being
crushed or falling to their deaths.
A few minutes later, the Thunderbolts showed up, Atlas assisting
Spectre with the building while Mach-1 and Moonstone began rescuing
people from the higher levels. Once
the danger was averted, everyone introduced themselves to Spectre, and
after a small amount of conversation, Spectre left to continue his
search for the Rose.
Issue
#21
Realizing that he’s getting nowhere fast, Spectre speaks with
Lt. Fox and gets more information on Migraine.
Spectre then hooks up with Larry, and after a small argument
about the current situation with Starlight and Lightstar, Larry makes
arrangements for Spectre to have an interview after the coverage of his
fight with Glacier from the previous night. Spectre shows up and agrees to an interview, where he answers
a lot of basic questions, as well as mentioning the Rose’s name on the
air and claiming to have beaten Migraine before.
After another argument with Larry, Spectre leaves the station,
only to run into Migraine a few blocks away.
After some witty banter from both sides, Spectre attacks Migraine
with a kick to the jaw, which knocks Migraine out in one blow!
Spectre then roused Migraine for questioning, asking the
whereabouts of his friends. Migraine
claimed they were dead, but a mental probe by Spectre revealed that he
really didn’t know. What
he did know was that the Rose was dealing with an alien named Orion for
alien technology, and that Orion had something to do with Lightstar’s
powers. Satisfied with the
answers he pried, Spectre went to call Lt. Fox to have the NYPD pick
Migraine up. After the
call, however, he was attacked by Blink, who just happened to have
brought along Shock, Plantmistress, Earthshaker, and Glacier. After two mind blasts, Spectre had defeated all of them but
Glacier, who in turn shot an icy blast at Spectre. The blast caught Spectre’s leg while he was dodging and ice
formed up his entire body, forcing him off balance and ending with him
crashing to the ground, unconscious.