Written by Barry Reese
"The X-O Project"
October 15, 1999. Area-51, Nevada.
Aric Dacia's limo pulled through the heavily guarded gates of Area-51, having passed the rather stringent security required for entrance. Gamin, dressed as a chauffeur, was sitting behind the wheel. Her heart was hammering like a jackhammer -- though Aric had warned her not to pilfer anything, the idea was sooooo enticing....
Aric, seated in the back of the limo, saw Gamin's eyes in the rearview mirror. The Visigoth had a fair idea what was going through her mind, but said nothing. Instead, he turned to his companion and crossed his arms. "If I don't like the answers your army has to give, I'll destroy this base. Do you understand?"
Rand Banion, All-American Hero, smiled. He wore one of Aric's suits, which fit him very well. That alone made a statement about Rand's size. Both he and Aric were large men, and both had an air of confidence about them. "You don't have anything to worry about, Mr. Dacia. I realize that in the past you and the Armorines have had strained relations. But you've also worked closely with them in the past* -- and with the new leadership in place, I hope you will again."
(*Check out the Visitor vs. the Valiant Universe limited series for a good example of this.)
Aric continued to glower. He finger his xo control ring absently and watched as Gamin pulled to a stop outside a hangar marked '18.' He had no idea where Rand Banion had gained the xo manowar class armor he was now bonded with*, but he meant to find out. The government of this era were sometimes too like the Romans for Aric's taste and he wasn't sure he trusted them with a weapon of this sort.
(*As was shown last issue.)
Rand stepped out and watched a soldier approach. Rand snapped off a crisp salute.
The young man swallowed as Aric joined Rand, the two blonde men towering over the guard. "Welcome back to active duty, sir. The General is waiting for you inside and wants a full debriefing about your South American mission, Sir." The guard turned to face Aric. He looked like he would have preferred being almost anywhere else. "And you, Sir, are to follow me into the main lab."
Rand touched Aric's arm. "I'll join you in a few minutes and we can get on with the show. I'm sure that between the two of us, we can both get all the answers we've been looking for."
Aric again held his tongue, though he turned back to Gamin. She was leaning against the side of the car, watching the numerous guards who keeping wary eyes on her. "Gamin... If I'm not back in an hour, you know what to do."
Gamin nodded. "You bet. Be careful."
The Visigoth allowed the guard to lead him away, while Rand stayed in place for a moment. The soldier shook his head. "Is he always so paranoid?"
"He's earned the right to be. I wouldn't piss him off if I were you." Gamin locked eyes with Rand for a long moment until at last the soldier turned away.
"I'm not a villain, lady. I'm an American patriot. Nothing more, nothing less." Straightening his shoulders, Rand Banion entered Hangar 18.
Northern California. Orb HQ.
Doris Ketch shut her car door, locking it and setting her car alarm. She was dressed to impress, having bought a tight-fitting skirt and revealing blouse over the weekend. It wasn't how she normally went to work, but then again, Aric Dacia wasn't your normal kind of boss.
A smile passed over her face as she checked her appearance in the car window's reflection. Dacia looked like Fabio -- only better. And rich...! The man must be loaded to have regained Orb so quickly. Just be calm, Doris. You're not some junior high schoolgirl looking for her first kiss. You're a grown woman, desireable and experienced. He'd be lucky to have you.
"Excuse me?"
Doris turned with a start, her cheeks flushing. She'd been so intent on her daydream that she hadn't even heard the man approach. Composing herself, she glanced him over quickly. Middle-aged, handsome to a degree, thinning hair. Altogether rather unimpressive, however.
Except for one startling aspect of his appearance. His eyes were mismatched, one green and one brown.
Doris glanced at her watch. "If you're looking for information, it's in the front plaza. I'm sorry for being so short but I'm late for--"
The man grabbed her wrist and leaned close. His breath was foul and Doris felt her heart begin to pound. Oh, God... I shouldn't have dressed like this. He's going to rape me!
"I'm looking for a man named Aric. I met him once, a long time ago -- in Dacia. I'd like to ask him a few questions, beginning with 'How are you still so young.' Can you help me?"
Doris shook her head. She wanted to scream, but the intensity of the man's gaze held her silent.
The man sneered. With his free hand, he withdrew a small syringe. "I don't believe you. And since I don't believe you, I'll have to borrow your body for awhile to make sure that he's not here. You won't mind, will you?"
While Doris stared with widening eyes, the man jammed the syringe into his own neck. As he shook in his death throes, Doris felt a presence enter her body.
General Cheng, the man who had first died at the hands of the Eternal Warrior in the year 210 B.C., claimed another life.
Inhabiting the body of Doris Ketch, the Immortal Enemy unlocked her door and stuffed the corpse inside. Shutting it up tight, Cheng turned to face the entrance to Orb. I'll have your secrets, Aric. I promise you that....
Area-51, Nevada. Hangar 18.
"Mr. Dacia, I'd like you to meet Donovan Wylie." Samuel Rathbone, a thin man with a shiny bald head, was beaming as Donovan Wylie stepped forward to warily shake Aric's hand. "Mr. Wylie has been in charge of 'cracking the egg' so to speak. He's the one who's unlocked the secrets of the alien armor."
Wylie was young and handsome, though he was pale like one who spent altogether too much time in a lab. "Nice to meet you," he mumbled, though he was clearly wishing he could return to his work.
Aric squeezed Donovan's hand tightly and held it. "Wylie... You're the one who bonded the armor to Banion?"
Donovan pulled his hand away with visible effort. "Actually... no. I put it on him, sure -- but the armor handled the bonding part on its own."
Aric looked about the expansive hangar and felt his mood darkening. Two small Spider Alien scout craft lay in various stages of assembly; a large tank dominated the far wall, its still living contents -- a Dromak soldier and a Spider Alien drone -- twitching in helpless indignation; and the dead body of a Man in Black was being prepped for study. "This... hall of horrors... what is its purpose?"
Rathbone looked slightly aghast at Aric's choice of words. "This is a top-secret laboratory devoted to studying the other races of the galaxy, Mr. Dacia. Here, we can unlock their secrets, learn about their biological needs and prepare to meet them on equal footing."
Aric grunted. "You mean, you wish to steal their weapons so you can turn them to your own ends."
Donovan bristled. "Now, hold on a minute! Who the hell are you, anyway? You barge in here like you own the place and--"
"Good Skin... To me."
The words were whispered under his breath, but their impact was felt by everyone. The tiny spheroid burst through the steel doors, flying towards its master. The armor exploded about Aric Dacia, bathing him from head to toe in its alien metal. X-O Manowar looked down at Donovan Wylie, his eyes narrowed. "You should have read the file that Mr. Banion kept talking about... I'm no mere businessman."
"Let's all calm down, shall we?" Rand Banion's own voice drowned out any response that Donovan could have made. Aric turned to see the war hero striding forward, clad in a blue armor that gleamed in the hangar's lights.
Aric felt a twinge of jealousy. Rand and his armor were one, joined forever. Aric had always put off such a joining with his own armors, though he'd once been fooled into believing that the true bonding had taken place*. Now, he was reconsidering his decision not to bond with it fully.
(*Back in X-O Manowar # 66, when Aric was already under the influence of Master Darque's magic.)
"No more games. Give me answers -- or I'll blow up this entire hangar and rip that armor off your back."
Rand crossed his arms. "Calm down, Aric. I'm very appreciative for all the help you've given me -- and I mean to repay you by answering your questions. But I'm going out on a limb for you here and I don't want you to think that I won't stop you if you get out of hand."
"Fine. Start by telling me where you got the armor."
Rand nodded. "Fair enough. I got it in a place that's... somewhere in-between everything. They call it the Lost Land."
New York City.
"How long are you going to be gone?" Morgan, a police officer with the NYPD, sat on a counch in the apartment of Gilad Abrams -- a man whom he'd come to trust with his life.
Gilad, known to some as Gilad Anni-Padda or the Eternal Warrior, pulled his leather jack on and zipped it up. He slung a travel bag over his shoulder and ran a hand through his long, dark hair. "I don't know -- an old enemy is back. I have to go take care of him."
"How do you know?"
Gilad stared out the window, remembering Geoff's words the night before. The Earth says something bad is coming. Really bad. I think that Aric is in a lot of trouble -- and I think that Cheng is involved.
"A friend told me, let's leave it at that. Watch over the place for me?"
Morgan nodded as Gilad moved towards the door. "Sure. Be careful."
Gil spared his old friend a weary smile. "I'll call you when I'm back. Don't wait up."
Area-51, Nevada. Hangar 18.
"It all began while I was serving in the Gulf War. My battalion was moving forward, establishing a perimeter around our camp, when a strange humming sound filled the air. I investigated on my own and found a strange glowing circle of light. To be honest, I'd never seen anything like it -- and it intrigued the heck out of me. Girding myself, I reached out and touched the circle -- and was immediately sucked inside."
"I found myself in a world gone mad. Hi-tech spaceships buzzed overhead, side-by-side with dinosaurs! The people there seemed taken from every time imaginable... I managed to make a few friends, amongst those who could speak English. One of them told me that I was in a place called the Lost Land, which existed outside normal time and space. He also told me that it was my destiny to use a certain weapon." Rand touched his chest. "This. He took me to the armor and I claimed it as my own, though I didn't have the foggiest as to how to use it. When I managed to find my way back out one day, I had the armor in my backpack -- and it was 1997! I'd spent years in there!"
"When I made it back to a military base, I was taken in for debriefing and found out that I'd been declared MIA. Once that was cleared up, I was taken here to Area 51, where the scientists started oohing and ahhing over my little find. Turns out the U.S. has been investigating these Spider Aliens ever since one of their ships went down back at Roswell. With his help, I bonded with the armor and have since taken over leadership of the Armorines. You'd recognize a few of the Armorines -- Cordova and Williams are still around."
"And how did you come to be captured by the bugs?" Aric believed Rand so far, the man's earnestness being readily apparent, but he still wanted more information before he decided what course of action to take.
"My squad of Armorines were investigating reports of Spider Alien presence near Columbia when I was attacked and overwhelmed. I make no bones about it -- I failed to think clearly. It won't happen again. You have my thanks for the rescue."
"Nothing good can come from this." Aric gestured towards the Spider Alien technology which lay scattered about. "The Spider Aliens should be hunted down and destroyed, their weapons of death along with them!"
"You use one, right? Doesn't that make you a hypocrite?" Donovan's taunting voice caused Aric to turn quickly. The young genius was tinkering with some sort of electronic device, not even looking at Aric.
"I liberated my original armor from them. Like me, it was a slave. Together, we destroyed many Spider-Aliens -- and my current armor serves me very well, indeed. Don't speak of things that you don't understand, boy."
Rathbone cleared his throat. "The reason we gave Rand permission to bring you here, Mr. Dacia, is that we hope you'll help us understand the armor. You could be invaluable to us."
"No. I refuse."
Rathbone's features hardened. "Then I'm afraid we may have to take action."
X-O turned to face the smaller man. "Are you threatening me?"
Rathbone swallowed. "We have evidence that you were at the home of Doug Freedman when it blew up*. That might throw the legality of your re-acquisition of Orb in doubt, to say the least--"
(*He was there in X-O Manowar # 72.)
X-O grabbed Rathbone by the throat and lifted him off the floor. "Do not make an enemy of me. You and everyone you love would regret it."
"Aric. Put him down."
X-O turned to face Rand. The soldier had a gauntlet aimed at Aric's head. The two warriors stared at each other for a long, silent moment while Rathbone's feet kicked at the air and his eyes bulged.
Rand took one step closer. "They tortured me, Aric. And I know they'll do the same to every red-blooded American they can. I give you my word as a soldier and a warrior, that I'll do everything in my power to stop the alien incursion."
Aric saw something in the man's eyes, a sense of pride and honor, that spoke volumes. He surprised almost everyone, including himself, by dropping Rathbone to the floor. The frightened man scuttled away. "I won't help you. Whatever you learn about the armor, you'll learn for yourself or it will share with you. But tell these curs not to anger me."
Rand merely nodded as X-O strode out. When the barbarian was gone, he turned to face Donovan Wylie. "I hope to heck we never have to take him down...."
Donovan shook his head. "I hope you're never dumb enough to try."
Next Issue : This issue was rather quiet, wasn't it? No big space battles, no epic conflicts upon whose outcome the world's fate hangs in the balance.... That's because I want you all to catch your breath for next issue. "The Immortal X-O, Part One." Guest-starring Turok and the Eternal Warrior!
AUTHOR'S NOTES & LETTERS
This issue was meant to be a slower one, hopefully to bridge the gap between the excitement of recent issues and the start of a major new arc in # 77. I'm trying to expand our focus a bit, to include more of the Valiant Universe. So, we've seen the Men in Black, Turok and the Armorines already -- and next issue will bring the Immortal Enemy and the Eternal Warrior. Issue 77 will also feature a turning point in the ever-so slow Samantha Jones subplot. For those of you who were fans of the VH2 continuity, I hope you enjoyed the appearances of Donovan and Rand. Both will be back in the future. If you think they're a bit different from their VH2 incarnations, it's because they are. :-)
On to the letters!
From b3studios@aol.com
I just got through reading
barrys latest issue of X-O, and i must say, he
brings back the magic that i loved inthe character, that was
lacking in so
many of the "published" issues.
It was great to see Turok again, and about time the two of them
put there
differences aside.
The addition of Rand Banion was a great idea, espicially for me,
being a VH2 fan also. And the thought of a beefed up Armorines
interests me a lot. I never really cared for a bunch of military
fools in cheap ass wanna-be Manowar class suits. The addition of
another X-O suit, could make them interesting enough for me.
All in all, a good one for a milestone issue.
Great work Barry.
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the kind words. Turok didn't appear in this issue, but he'll be back in issue # 77 (along with the Eternal Warrior).
From : Keith Ehrich <kintoun@home.com>
First of all, I'm glad to see Ken return to this title in a way that makes his death remain real. I didn't really expect you to be able to come up with a logical explanation for his sudden reappearance but his hologram origin makes a lot of sense. I'm especially pleased with how he was portrayed in X-O #75. The dialogue at the Layton Cemetery where he mentions his disbelief at the fact that he's freezing and his statement that the 'real' Ken Clarkson couldn't have been so lazy in the Queens scene were both terrific. I hope this new aspect of the character continues to be focused on a lot.
The reunion between Turok & X-O has been way too long in coming and it was good to see Aric make the first move at re-establishing their friendship. I agree that they're not the type of characters to talk at length about the rift in their relationship. I also appreciated the nod towards my reference in Team Harbinger #6 about Turok's adventures in Columbia. In my opinion, the highlight of this issue was easily Aric's choice to go into battle with war paint and a sword. I've always felt it was pretty pointless to include that scene in Secret Weapons #1 which showed that Aric never did team-up with Turok to take his revenge on dinosaurs with only a broadsword.The introduction of Rand Banion to VFA continuity definitely came as a big surprise. I'm not really a fan of VH-2 X-O Manowar but I did find Rand's total lack of fear to be interesting. I'm curious whether Rand's bond with the armor will tempt Aric to merge with Bekhara in this volume as well. How would Gamin or Samantha react in comparison to Randy too?Anyways, V1F's X-O #75 ("Holy Fire") was a really tough act to top considering that it had an 1874 flashback starring Gilad but the VFA issue has an even better ending and the return of my favorite superhero duo.
The "Immortal X-O" storyline should please you, Keith. Not only does it feature Turok & Gilad, but there will be some nice stuff involving Holo-Ken as well. Sometimes I wish I had art to go with these stories -- the Aric in warpaint scene, for instance, would have looked great on paper. So would the scene where Rand summarizes his time in the Lost Land this ish. Ah, well. :-)
Keep in touch, everyone!