Chapter 1
To tell you about Behemoth and the Wisp, you must know this first.
It’s called a Widow’s Walk in certain places where large family homes overlook cliffs and the sea. It is where a woman who loved a sea mariner would go to watch for the return of her father, husband, brother, or son. From atop the large house she could see over the cliffs and watch the horizon for storms in the distance. Oft times she could feel the foreshadowing of disaster from the very air.
The woman known only as Madame walks her own unique parapet atop a structure that did, from a distance, resemble a large, old-fashioned mansion from times long gone. Her ramrod stance as she looked over the Ohio River Valley, able to see the Ohio River from the Ohio side facing the foothills of the Appalachians on the Kentucky side of the bank, cast a silhouette against the evening sky. As with the woman, the house holds many secrets not the least a place deep underneath the hillside on which it appears the house sits—the place called The Compound by those in the know.
It is not often Madame reflects on her past, but indeed there are things in the air and events moving in a certain direction so she must consider the past, the present, and the future.
* * * *
In the midst of World War II, a young female scientist found herself part of a research group headed by the brilliant Nazi madman, Dr. Josef Mengele. She was placed in charge of genetically altered children and teens. The survivors of these experiments had powers and abilities far beyond those of normal humans. They had been groomed to be Super Soldiers of the Third Reich. Five survived the experimental ordeal and all five pleaded with the woman they called Madame to get them out of the hands of Mengele and Hitler.
Taking the young people and using their abilities, she masterminded an escape and the destruction of the laboratory facility with those secrets hopefully lost forever. Once in Switzerland, Madame contacted the Allies and brought her charges to England and from there these five super-soldiers fought against the Reich on secret missions.
Rumors of their presence and heroics spread throughout the front. Back home, comic book companies used these rumors as seeds for a new generation of entertainment, the super-hero comic book. After the war, Madame settled with her “family” in the rural area of Southern Ohio. There they could hide within the foothills of the Appalachians and live their lives as normally as possible and out of the public eye.
Still, their special abilities were called upon through the fifties—not all of the Berlin Airlift was by planes and not all escapes from East Berlin happened across barbed wire—- but they stopped doing anything so risky when babies arrived through the marriage and union of these beings. But the mutated abominations—expected by many—from these unions did not happen. In fact, of this second generation only the child of the super-powered being Bolt and a “normal” woman—Amy—displayed powers. Bolt and Amy’s son had super strength and rock-hard skin. He was code named Hardcore by the Madame and continued to engage in escapades into and through the Cold War.
Showing no signs of being “special”, the rest of the second generation went out into the world and experienced college, became doctors, lawyers and visited The Compound, as it was called, but did not live there. Interestingly enough, it is this current generation now grown to adulthood where the powers and the mutations showed up later. Some were startling, some tragic. Everyone needed to find their way to The Compound for safety and to learn to cope with their physical nature and powers.
* * * *
It is two young men from this special generation we concentrate on here, in the persons of Jordan Graff and Mason Mouran. Even as they prepare for life away from The Compound, events conspire. Growing up together, young adulthood brings many discoveries and challenges to them individually and together as…
Behemoth and the Wisp. 1
The air seemed electric to Mason as he floated high above the ground. It was the sound of a songbird in the distance that caused him to look up as he adjusted his weight and density to fly lower. He recognized the call of Blue Bird—Stephanie—one of the occupants of The Compound, which he currently called home.
Looking up and using what he called his Zoom Sight, Mason spied the beautiful blond with the light blue skin and huge wings coming out of her back as she progressed through her practice in learning to control her flight and maneuverability. He stared as he floated a bit and marveled at her grace and ability. She had come a long way from the frightened child he had been on her arrival at The Compound with her parent’s mere months after him. How many years now?
While he liked Stephanie, right now he needed solitude to gain the release he needed. Seeing she was well out of range, he drifted higher, and headed for the top of the third mountain on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Close enough to fly to, but far from the eyes of the people he shared The Compound with on the Ohio side of the river. This was a practice area, and he had found it the best place to masturbate and not suffer the embarrassing consequences.