X-Factor #11 - "Roll of Distant Thunder"

[Spectrum]

X-Factor #11 - "Roll of Distant Thunder"

Recap:

The issue starts out with several news capsules. The Crimson Claw’s plot has been made public, along with X-Factor being the prime group in thwarting the plot. The team made a public appearance downtown and was thanked by the mayor. The team has also moved into its new base.

The vigilante Thorn continues to elude capture. Thorn has been responsible for a string of underworld slayings and continues to move closer to the LA area.

The Mayfair building is being torn down. This is noteworthy as a Jack the Ripper type character known as the Garrote secreted his cloak in the buildings time capsule. What exactly will be found in the time capsule is the subject of wide speculation and rumors.

Public services for the departed members of the Guardians will be held in a few days. The even will be nationally televised.

The Titanic Tri defeated a plot by the VIPER to blackmail Washington, DC. Force was nowhere to be seen and appears to have been replaced on the team by the Molecule Man.


The team has spit up. Spectrum, Icicle, and Photon are flying to Mexico City as part of a potential Heroes for Hire mission for Davila Petroleum Company. Spinnerette has gone in search of Timemaster for what he did to the Guardians. Morning Star has gone with her. SIMON flies the team jet to Mexico City.

In Mexico, the heroes meet with the executives of Davila Petroleum. They are being menaced by a group of mercenaries known as the Janissaries. They have repeatedly attacked the company in an attempt to take them over.

Gunfire erupts during the interview as the Janissaries attack! They are easily defeated, but a stray shot ignites one of the oil storage tanks. An explosion follows as other tanks catch on fire. Icicle manages to keep the fire from spreading by coating the other oil tanks with ice.

Afterwards, Photon has interrogated the Janissary unit commander. He learns of the contact the commander was supposed to meet to get paid for this particular job. The heroes, out of costume, go into a dingy local bar. A minor scuffle breaks out and the heroes easily win. The contact man is given his orders from a Mr. Smith from Ademtpion INC. Davila pays the heroes for their efforts and they return to base.

In the meantime, Spin and Morning Star raided Timemaster’s base and trashed him. They didn’t find anything about the Guardians and Timemaster claims to not know what they are talking about. They don’t believe him and turn the villain over to PRIMUS custody.

Photon does some detective work and discovers that Ademption INC. doesn’t exist. However, he did find Janissary enlistment drive adds in various fantasy macho magazines such as Killer for Hire. These ads were paid for by a check from a Colonel Bligh. This trail disappears into a seeming maze of dummy corporations.

Jim gets a call from Rachel Moret. His first install of the Sword of Doom series has been selling better than expected. He’ll be getting a royalty check within the week. Later that evening, Jim puts in some work on the second novel of the series.

While taking a break, he spots Jennifer (Icicle) painting down on the beach. She’s painting a landscape portrait. While they converse, the wind picks up and a woman hovering out over the ocean is spotted.

Spectrum goes to investigate and encounters Bora of the infamous Eurostar! Battle follows and Bora easily dominates the two heroes at first. Finally, Icicle manages to bring the wind borne villainess down with a pair of ice rams.

Spectrum catches the unconscious Bora, only to be attacked by Le Sone. He rants about having stopped their plan to hit the California coast with a giant tidal wave. Le Sone batters the two heroes, but is driven off with Bora by the arrival of Photon.

Further out on the ocean, a ship surfaces and flies away. It passes over the X-Factor base firing energy blasts that send the heroes scattering. Eurostar are apparently very sore losers!

Photon explains that he was on the way to get Spectrum. Morning Star called in with some new information about the Guardians. ‘Star explains that the Guardians are all alive. They were off in some other dimension caught up in a war. They hadn’t even run into Timemaster at all.

While this would seem to be a happy occasion, Morning Star remains somber. The Guardians come out of a private meeting and announce that they are disbanding!


Comments:

Lots going on here again. The Davila Petroleum Company and the Janissaries are all part of the Grasp, Inc. mini-modual from an old Adventurer’s Club.

I’m not sure what the deal was with Timemaster claiming to have done in the Guardians. Perhaps Musky can shed some light on that.

Also not sure just how Eurostar was going cause a tidal wave that would strike the California Coast only a few dozen yards off the coast itself.

Anyway, once more the Guardians have disbanded. I never did know the exact reason why they broke up. I came up with something different in the new stuff that Musky says is close to his original idea. But I’m still not telling!