Stormwatch: Post Human Division #21 is an issue of the series Stormwatch: Post Human Division (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 2009.
Synopsis for "Scorched Earth"
Jackson King mercilessly interrogates the former Stormwatch operative turned vampire, Petra Marceau, for information about Kabras. When Marceau refuses to reveal anything vital to King, the Weatherman flays her skin; King swears he will keep doing this since Marceau is a vampire who can regrow her skin back. Christine steps in and tries to reason with Marceau and even apologizes to her for sending her to Romania. But Marceau tells her that she willingly gave herself to the Night Tribes after she became deeply skeptical of Stormwatch and other superhumans such as the Authority of their attempts to save post-Armageddon Earth; she saw it impossible to accomplish for humanity, except for the Night Tribes whom she see them thriving over the dead Earth. Believing the Night Tribes to be the future of the new world, Marceau betrayed the other Stormwatch operatives to the Night Tribes as an act of good faith and in return was turned into a vampire by Kabras himself. She then boasts to King that Kabras will turn North Korea into a farm in which the Night Nights will feast partially while leaving enough to turn into a sizable army to challenge Stormwatch.
Then to everyone's surprise, King decides to let Marceau go in which he gives her a teleportation fetish before telling her to take his message to Kabras, informing the vampire lord that he is coming for him. Unknown to Marceau, she was fed a blood pack filled with a radioactive isotope tag which allows Link and his Stormwatch technicians to track her and lead them to Kabras' location. After Marceau is back in Constanta, Stormwatch drones begin tracking her movement.
In the Rocky Mountains, The High returns to his old lair. As he muses over countless relics displayed around his lair he comes across an egg-shaped chamber labeled "Purple Haze: Metagenic Mist Biohazard-Treat With Extreme Caution." Cumberland removes his costume and enters the chamber, leaving the "help us" note he received from Ava on the floor.
Back on Skywatch III, King and the others continue to track Marceau as she goes deeper into the ranks of the Night Tribes. Suddenly, her signal is lost. A scan reveals a Wetworks symbiote in the vicinity and they realize it's Jackson Dane.
The leader of Wetworks has confronted Kabras in his own throne room and has brought the head of the Gorgon which turned Kabras' minions, including Marceau, into stone. Before Dane could turn Kabras into stone, Hellstrike teleports in and grabs Dane, and they are then teleported back to Skywatch. Once aboard, Dane demands King the reason why he denied his opportunity to kill Kabras. King tells him that he needs Kabras alive for his plan against the Night Tribes and he would not elaborate it unless Dane tells him where he was going. Neither man can read the other's mind because of their powers so they remain silent about their agendas. Back in Romania, Kabras examines Marceau's teleporting fetish.
After sending Dane away on his personal journey, King informs his team and Sister Mary that he plans to completely eradicate the Night Tribes from the face of the Earth. Link is against King's plan, telling him that regardless of the Night Tribes' undead nature the genocide of any race is wrong. But Sister Mary argues that the Night Tribes are not people no different from a plague, in which the Vatican has sanctioned their extermination with extreme prejudice. The rest of the team are left divided on the issue until Deathblow reminds them all that it's a moot point because Stormwatch and their allies are in no shape to take on the full might of the Night Tribes. But King knows one of their members who can: Winter.
King explains that Winter has some sort of lifeline anchored to the universe after he was recreated by The Doctor; in which Winter's lifeline is Earth's sun and therefore he has the power to eliminate the Night Tribes. But Winter expresses his fears that tapping into that power had previously made him insane and even attacked Earth. But King reminds Winter that The Doctor told them the nature of the universe had changed. He then has Christine use her powers to activate Winter's ability to a higher power level but is unable to. They then decide the only other option is to put Winter into a situation that can heightened stress and emotion which has also been known to activate latent powers.
Winter is teleported in the middle of a horde of vampires in Romania. He engages wave after wave of them but his powers do not seem to grow. Disheartened and fearing he will be overwhelmed, Winter requests to be teleported back to Skywatch. But King denies his request and leaves him on the surface, in which he even destroys the teleport controls. Winter pleads for King to teleport him back as he is being swarmed by the vampires. But when he realizes it isn't going to happen, Winter becomes furious before he suddenly unleashes an enormous amount of energy that incinerates the vampires and everything else for miles around him. Winter stands alone at ground zero that is visibly seen from Skywatch.
Winter's destruction is also monitored by an unknown person, who is left deeply concerned and intends to notify this to the "high command."
Appearing in "Scorched Earth"
Featured Characters:
- StormWatch
- Jackson King (Flashback and main story)
- Christine Trelane
- Fahrenheit
- Flint
- Hellstrike
- Link
- Winter (Flashback and main story)
- The High
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Night Tribes
- Kabras
- Petra Marceau (Dies)
Other Characters:
- The Doctor (Flashback only)
Locations:
Items:
- Dr. Blade's Ninja armor
- Gorgon's head
- Hand of G.H.O.D. (Gigantoid Humanoid Ordnance Device)
- Professor Thermo's Thermo-Suit
- Skull of Monster Zero
- StormWatch Fetish
Vehicles:
- The Murder Colonels' Toten Tank
- Dr. Blade's Bladecar
Notes
- This issue coincides with the events seen in Dane: Loyalties.
Trivia
- The "Toten Tank" relic visible in the High's lair belonged to the Murder Colonels. They themselves were a display in the Adirondacks headquarters of Doc Brass in Planetary #1.
- Among the High's relics is a green uniform which resembles a Green Lantern uniform.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- WildC.A.T.s/Aliens
- The Authority: Scorched Earth