#1 [url]

Sep 20 07 8:54 AM

'Course, in that first encounter X doesn't just invade with an army of unstoppable death-machines. He's a master manipulator, and does so from the very beginning. The second story, should I ever finish the first, sees X infiltrate and corrupt L.A. law enforcement and City Hall.

(Heh, I know what you're thinking: a little late, X. But he makes it worse, turning the sadistic police chief into a real monster, for example.)

He exposes the city to its self-professed hero, a supernatural hunter called "the White Wolf," among other things, and turns the people against him. X engineers a great many clandestine murders and creates havoc within the legal system, leading to riots and worse. Definitely one of those "cowardly" villains that hide behind the scenes and typically avoid confrontation... but when you catch up to him, you'll wish you hadn't.

X is the King's true nemesis, the Capone to his Ness, the King Ghidorah to his Godzilla, the Megatron to his Optimus Prime(I'm such a dork). The bringer of his people's extinction. Their many conflicts cooked up over the years are legendary(in my mind), and thus throughout the series he will be a foil. Though his body is often destroyed, X always reforms and returns. In their first encounter, even the King can't stop X by himself.

In this spirit I introduce the second super-powered hero to join forces with Ash the King. Right now, his working name is "Joseph Silver," the last short for "Silverhawk" or something like that. The son of an American businessman and a Native American woman, his father bailed on them both before he was born. His mother died when he was only five, but by then his life had been irrevocably changed.

Silver's grandfather passed down a legendary heritage to his grandson. One of their ancestors, the tale goes, was a mighty chief of an Algonquian tribe lost to history. The people had suffered a long, brutal winter, and famine was setting in. As if that wasn't bad enough, reports surfaced of dwindling wildlife, disappearing hunters and trees sporting marks from claws and fangs. In the midst of the season's worst blizzard, the tribe's worst fears were realized.

A cannibalistic spirit some call the "Wendigo" appeared from the forest depths. It had killed and consumed nearly all living things for miles around. It came howling into the village in the dead of night and set upon the people with tooth and claw. Spears, arrows, nothing hurt the beast. They couldn't stop it from devouring all of them, one by one. Those who fled into the blizzard were lost or chased down.

Finally, it came down to the wizened chief, last survivor of the village. He faced the Wendigo with fire in his heart, but he was unable to harm it. Ready to die with honor, he saw a striking vision emerge from the woods.

It was a great wolf with a pure white coat; the chief thought at first it was a spirit come to guide him to eternity, but then the wolf spoke to him. It was the only survivor of a pack that had been decimated by the Wendigo, and the only other survivor of its attacks, period. The wolf offered to join, body and soul, with the chief and lend him its strength. Together, they could seek vengeance for their people.

And so the chief accepted, and in a blinding flash of light the two were replaced by one. The chief's wisdom and spiritual strength combined with the speed, senses and pure instincts of the wolf. He was a man, yet he could also become the White Wolf, whose eyes blazed so bright no evil could hide from his gaze. And the White Wolf tore the Wendigo apart and sent its foul spirit shuffling to its fate.

Afterward, he traveled far and wide before finding a place to settle down. And he guarded it, and when the people spoke of a great Wolf that haunted the night, those in the know were relieved to hear the howls marking another kill. Eventually, he passed this spiritual legacy on to his grandson, who passed it to his grandson, and so on.

Before his mother died, she took Silver to meet his aging grandfather.

Enter the modern day White Wolf. Young, brash, taking after his father in looks and his mother in heart, Silver has the potential to become the greatest Wolf in history. He's not yet met a challenge like the one he's about to face, though, with both the King and X the alien coming to town. Silver has the speed and the skill, but those might not save him if he does not come to terms with his destiny as the White Wolf.

In terms of actual "powers," the White Wolf has quite a few. Foremost is his great speed, faster than any living thing can conceive of moving unaided. Pushing himself, he could probably keep pace(in Wolf form) with our fastest jet fighters. Arguably his greatest power is that, like the King, he has a powerful ability to sense and confront supernatural menaces, including those of a more ethereal nature. Where Ash is power and durability, Silver's bread-and-butter is speed and agility. He is strong, and Ash is quite agile, but neither matches the other's strengths. That also makes them devastating as a team.

Whew! That should do it, for now. Next I think I'll detail Iris, the first story's other main character(and the main reason Ash survives the story!).