Image Comics Database
Advertisement

Appearing in 1st story

Featured Characters:

  • Director Graves

Supporting Characters:

Villains:

  • The Four
    • Deadlock
    • Gage
    • Starbright
    • Strongarm

Other Characters:

Locations:

Synopsis for 1st story

On Tuesday, 6:42 P.M., an alien spaceship carrying the Acuran Photon and the Katellan Kh'ambt crashes twenty-five miles outside of Washington, DC. While the media reports on this, Marcus Langston works on his Exosuit Project, John Stone and Bruce Stinson carry out a hit for Operation: Knightstrike, Leanna Creel is on a boat; in Quantico, Virginia, Jeff Terrell reads his FBI manual; in Pinefield, Maryland, Daniel Tsuchida washes his dishes; Nikola Voganova practices acrobatics; and in Baltimore, Mayland, Thomas John McCall reads in his room. At 7:28, the military, led by Director Keever, has surrounded the crashed ship and sealed the scene. Director Graves is summoned to the scene, and he arrives 25 minutes later. While everyone else hesitates and runs tests, Graves enters the ship and encounters Photon and Kh'ambt.

On Thursday, 9:38 P.M, in the Pentagon, Graves is called away from examining the aliens, who have been subdued with restraint collars, to a conference room, where Keever, Jake and Jacob Wynnd inform him that "his baby", Operation: Knightstrike, has been exposed. The group of men watch as WJBS airs leaked footage of Operation: Knightstrike, composed of Battlestone, Cabbot, Chapel and Al Simmons, executing a drug cartel in Guatemala. Graves is unphazed, feeling the aliens he's got in the basement of the building have changed humankind to a degree where the leak is meaningless. He instructs the men in the room to shut the news station down, retrieve their tape, and turn Knightstrike into a ghost. Two hours later, Graves visits the Pentagon's Sub-level Basement, and attempts to interrogate Kh'ambt, wishing to know if Photon was his prisoner or his captor. Kh'ambt refuses to answer, saying he can't be harmed if humans want to know when the world will end. Graves tells him that with the ship, he already knows, and leaves the room.

On Friday, 1:24 P.M., Graves observes Jeff Terrell's final training at an FBI training facility, looking for potential recruits for Knightstrike under Keever's orders. Graves opines Terrell is a valuable bomb with a brain, but he can't be bothered with such things anymore. Terrell graduates with the best scores in the FBI history. During his ceremony, he asks Graves if he's up for "his special project." Graves says he is, and they'll be in touch shortly. Later, Graves tells Keever he doesn't want Terrell for Knightstrike, but for something else he hasn't decided yet.

On Monday, 9:17 A.M., Graves visits the White House for a meeting with The President, but finds that everyone is avoiding him, thinking him a dead man now that the Knightstrike scandal has only grown over the weekend. Jennifer, the White House's secretary, informs Graves that the President has re-scheduled their meeting, and that he has a note on his desk from General Cowell. Graves realizes he made a mistake leaving the Knightstrike situation in the care of incompetents, because if he's taken out, humanity itself will suffer. On his room, General Cowell's note informs Graves that the military won't be allocating any more resources into Marcus Langston and Elizabeth Hughes's Exosuit Project. A reporter from The Washington Herald, Jack Leeds, tries to get an interview with Graves about Knightstrike, but he tells his secretary to hold all calls. He realizes the President has made him the fall guy, but he won't take it.

On an emergency meeting, Graves, Jake, and Keever discuss strategies. They agree that life is a big action movie to the American people, and they just need someone to root for, but the terrorist angle is overused. When Jake drops a bag of merchandize about superheroes like Glory and Superpatriot for his niece and nephew, Graves gets inspired and leaves the room. He visits Kh'ambt and Photon, thinking the media will love their curious origins, and asks them if they'd be interested in avoiding the dissection lab. Although Kh'ambt has agreed to every demand from Graves so far, he submits again for the sake of getting away from Photon, whom he considers to be from an inferior species. Kh'ambt speaks a rudimentary English at this point, but Photon didn't learn it at all. Regardless, Graves' invitation extends to Photon as well. Kh'ambt expresses this is a mistake, but that Photon is not any more dangerous than himself.

Reviewing recordings of Marcus Langston, Graves laments that General Cowell's withdrawal from the Exosuit Project left all the budget in the hands of Langston, who altered the programming of the prototype irrevocably so that only he can use it. Graves admires Langston's guts, since the Government did, in fact, plan to steal the credit for his work. Graves decides to add Langston to his project, as Langston's weapon is too powerful to abandon without an application, they can't allow him to work for another organization of questionable motives, and it helps that he's black.

By Tuesday, 10:45 A.M., Kh'ambt, Photon and Langston have agreed to work with Graves. Feeling his team needs an icon, he searches for Roman or Supreme, as Glory, Superpatriot and Mighty Man are unavailable, but neither have been seen in years. He then calls the Diehard Project, and blackmails them with not renewing their budget unless they reactivate Diehard. Later, he wants to add Nikki Voganova to the team, as a woman will improve their demographics, but he's informed she's not ready. Instead, he's offered to investigate the rumors of a cat-person in Maryland, and Graves only accepts for the chance they might be female. Graves' man asks him if Knightstrike is shutting down, and Graves says it'll only be replaced by something better.

On Wednesday, 11:16 A.M., John Stone and Bruce Stinton practice shooting at Knightstrike Headquarters when they spot Graves. Bruce is certain they're doomed, but Graves promises them they will see a lot of action in the future. Later, the President throws a press conference to address the Knightstrike controversy. While he's watching it, Graves is approached by Resnick, who tells him him and Keever are out and he'll be taking Graves' job. Graves gathers with Keever, telling him to tell his wife Lindsay to relax, because he's got a plan and they won't be fired. Later, WJBS reports live as the supercriminals The Four launch their third attack on a federal installation this month. Both the Police and the National Guard have been unsucessful in halting the rampage. No independent superheroes have taken the matter into their own hands, and the Government doesn't have connections with any of them since the disbanding of the Liberty League. The Four's previous attack on Reynolds Air Force Base left dozens injured and six dead.

On Friday, 2:26 PM, Graves is in Keever's office, assuring him he had nothing to do with the lucky timing of The Four's attacks. Graves receives a phone call from the President, who informs him Knightstrike is shut down but that they need a new, public replacement quickly. Graves replies he'll get one running in two days, and he shares the credit with Keever. The President gives them an unlimited budget and raises for their progressive thinking. While Keever enjoys bossing Resnick around, Graves watches a digital composite of their new team in his computer. Made up of Photon, Chapel, Sentinel, Battlestone, Combat and Diehard, Graves feels they're too ugly for the long term, and that they'll introduce women to the equation very soon. He regrets four of them are Knightstrike members, but he had to double the numbers he had to be more impressive. It really doesn't matter, because, as Jake said, people want someone to root for. Graves leaves the building, thinking all he's missing is a name will appear infinitely clever on comic books and action figures. Walking past Daniel, the janitor, Graves overhears Daniel's radio will be playing The Youngbloods, and he gets the name he needed.

See Also

Links and References

References

Advertisement