In a deserted alley, Photon came to a stop. Only one thing filled his mind right now and that was his father, Kyle Washington. He slumped against a brick wall, his shiny armor scoring the building's side. Photon's mind drifted back to a time six months ago. Back when everything changed for him. Back then....
"Momma, what was that crash?" Neal ran into his parents' room, expecting to find a burglar or something. Instead, what he found chilled his bones to the marrow.
His mother lies on the floor, unconscious. Standing over her was his father. He'd been missing for the past three days now. And yet, it wasn't his father. It was something else entirely. Something sinister and deadly.
Before his unbelieving eyes, Neal Washington's father transformed. His features changed, becoming more elongated and feral, and hair began to sprout from his shaking body in excessive amounts. His back hunched over and large teeth jutted forth from his mouth. Neal Washington was now face to face with a werewolf!
"Holy jumpin' cripes!" Neal could scarcely believe his eyes. But years of growing up in Harlem helped him keep his wits about him. He looked down at the baseball bat he carried in his hand to fend off the expected burglar and brandished it before him. "Stay back, an' you won't get hurt none."
The werewolf eyed him curiously for a moment. If there was any trace of Kyle Washington in those amber pools, you couldn't tell by looking. Its nose wrinkled up, and then it sprang.
The werewolf was too quick and latched its jaws onto Neal’s left shoulder. Neal screamed in pain as the creature's saliva dripped into the wound. His shoulder burned as though it were on fire. In his free arm, Neal Washington gripped the bat tighter and swung with all his might. "Get off me!"
The bat connected with the snarling beast's head and splintered. He didn't even wait to see the creature shake off the stunning blow. Neal ran. He ran for his very life!
Out in the street, he sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him. Neal's days as a defensive back at Syracuse stood him well, but the werewolf was faster. Much faster than Neal could ever hope to be. Neal heard it behind him, its toenails clicking on the asphalt. It was gaining on him, and in a move that would have far reaching consequences, Neal dared to look back. It was during this brief moment that he allowed himself to see where his pursuer was, that Neal Washington changed his whole life. He wouldn't know it though for a few more hours. Right now, he was too busy falling through the open manhole and into the New York city sewer system.
A torrent of fluid, surely it could never be classified as water, carried the young man along with it at considerable speed. His wound grew even more painful with the introduction of the sludge that surrounded him, but of even greater concern was the rapidly approaching wall. Neal hurtled toward it at breakneck speed. He barely had time to yell before the impending impact.
Upon awakening, the first sensation was of a dull throbbing pain in his shoulder. A horrible taste filled Neal's mouth. Struggling to his feet, Neal viewed his surroundings. If they were impressive, it was in spite of the filth. A huge, musty, old room surrounded him. It leaked in various places and mosses and other smelly, green and black life forms grew profusely here and there. A smell in the air told him that it hadn't been disturbed recently. Or so he thought.
"You shouldn’t be up. You have been wounded." Neal turned to see an old man step into the room through an arched stone doorway. The man was stooped over and walked with a cane.
"Who the hell are you?" Neal viewed the aged man with caution.
"You must lie down," the old man admonished as he approached the wary newcomer. "You will only promote the spread of the disease."
"What disease? What're you talkin' about, man? Who are you anyway?" Neal couldn't understand how one minute he went from having a werewolf chasing him, to a wild ride in the sewers the next, to this place, wherever that was.
"I am the Guardian of Astegor," the old man said simply. "I have been charged to safe-guard him."
"I think ya'll are nuts, man."
"Mine is a very old and honorable duty. I am responsible for the gateway's maintenance."
"I don't know what you-- Arrgh!" The pain in his chest caused Neal to grimace. He clutched at his chest. This must be what a heart attack feels like, Neal reasoned.
"I told you to lie down. The disease is spreading." The ancient man held Neal's arms down with a strength belying his frail form.
"What disease....?" The pain had finally made Neal decide to listen. As much as he wanted to get far away from this place, maybe the old guy could actually help him.
"You have been bitten by a werewolf. It has contaminated your blood with its own. If not for me, you will die." If he hadn't seen his own father transform into a werewolf before his own eyes, Neal would have considered the man senile or at least insane. Now, it didn't seem so far-fetched.
"You have... ugh....anti-wolfman medicine?" The pain was growing in Neal's head. It made it difficult to even talk.
"Strange as it may seem, yes. My armor was given to me when I was attacked by a werewolf and left for dead during the French Revolution. My masters bestowed it on me. Now I must pass it on to you." The man helped Neal back onto the stone table that he had originally been laying upon. He was beyond talking now. It was all Neal could do to listen.
"My service has been long and distinguished, if somewhat unappreciated. Now, my time is done." Neal looked over as the man walked over to a suit of glistening silver and black armor standing next to some sort of doorway. It appeared to be completely sealed up. The archway held a number of rubies around it. Neal was drawn toward that orifice, and at the same time repulsed by it. In any case he couldn't take his eyes off it.
Then the man's face filled his view again. The ancient one placed an amulet around his neck, resting it on his chest. What happened next would change Neal Washington's life forever.
As the man began to chant in some unknown language, a wind rose up from nowhere and everywhere. A ringing sound filled Neal's ears.
"Is this what death is like?", Neal wondered.
Then a flash of silvery-blue light suddenly filled his world of swirling mist. As quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.
Slowly Neal sat up. He felt remarkably fine. He looked at his hands and saw metal. Cautiously, Neal felt his chest. A shining breastplate covered it. He was now wearing the armor that stood nearby moments ago. Dumbfounded, he looked for his mysterious benefactor and found the man lying on the floor. Blood flowed from a severe wound on the back of his head.
"Holy crap!" Leaping off the slab which supported him, Neal rushed to the man's side. He was dead. Neal regarded the mysterious old man and wondered what was going on. "This is like something out of the Twilight Zone."
Then an awareness filled Neal's head, even before he heard the snarl. Neal's helmeted head turned and saw the werewolf that had attacked him earlier. Much like before, there was a moment where the two sized each other up. Again the werewolf sprang.
Reflex caused Neal to throw his hands up before him and to his amazement, beams of silvery light leaped from his gauntlets and struck the werewolf. It howled in extreme pain. He fired again, and the beast collapsed.
"Damn, that's pretty amazing." He bent closer for a look at the beast. It was dead. But now lying on the cold stone floor was no longer a slavering monster. Now, there was just Kyle Washington. And from now on, Neal would be Photon!
A terror filled James Johnson as the creature came at him. There was no other place to run. No where he could hide. It had followed him here, and now it would kill him. He screamed pitifully as the monster shuffled forward. A subway train continued on obliviously just a few yards away.
"Now why did that damn portal hold my attention so long when I was down there? And why didn't I realize it until now?" Reality came back to Photon. His armor had taken on a more modern look, now that Neal had worn it for a time, almost as if it had adapted to its wearer's tastes and personality. It had been a beautiful antique inlay suit if armor similar to one worn in the late Renaissance. Now it looked like an outfit suitable for a superhero.
Neal's reverie was over and his self-proclaimed mission came back at him. This creature was exactly the kind of thing Neal had devoted himself to ridding the world of. He must find a way to destroy it, before it killed any others.
"Maybe I should pay a little visit to that mystic I went to right after I got this tin suit. He helped me out some then." Once again, the man the underworld new as Photon disappeared into the night.
"Jasmine, bring me that chalice over there."
Randall Steer's assistant complied. She had never witnessed a conjuring first hand before. This would be her first. Returning with the silver chalice, she presented it to him, but a startling surprise forced Jasmine to drop it.
"Dolt! Now you've ruined the conjuring!", Randall Steer protested, flailing his arms about as he spoke. "It'll take a week now just to replace everything. What are you staring at?!" Randall noticed that the girl was transfixed by something behind him. But the girl called Jasmine could only point at the silver and black wraith which had entered the chamber.
"Remember me, my man?" Photon materialized and leaned against a nearby wall.
"What do you want?" Randall feared the intruder and with good reason. He was powerful and that was all that Randall Steer understood.
"Just to talk. I need your help-- again."
"Get that thing, Charley!" Eric McMann and Charles Jamison were police officers would responded to what they thought was a routine call. There was a disturbance near an abandoned machine works. They figured it was just some mischievous kids or a few transients.
"I'm tryin', but the bullets! They're just bouncing off!" Charles Jamison had been one of the best shots in his graduating class. This time, it didn't seem to matter where he hit the creature. The thing just shrugged off his attack.
"If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it!"
"What is that thing?!"
"Who cares! Let's get our butts outta here!"
The mysterious creature just ambled silently forward, ignoring the pitiful stinging that came from its targets. That was meaningless. It must have their light. It must devour their very essences to fill the emptiness in its being.
The lights tried to flee, but they would not get away. It was still far too hungry to simply allow that. The thing pursued the lights and finally, it satisfied the gnawing again. For now.
Neal had expected his mother to read him the riot act for once again getting into trouble. The police were surely watching her home. She didn't say a word, which led Neal to count his blessings, few as they were right now. The police must not have spoken to her about the incident.
"Look at these headlines, momma! Four police officers killed by subway killer. Bones found on 86th floor of Henderson building."
"I told you not to get worked up over this thing. It'll pass, like always. Emma's here to go shopping. See you later."
"Bye, momma."
Neal sat there staring at the words, as his mother closed the kitchen door behind her. He knew that it wouldn't simply pass over. Somehow, he knew that HE would have to be the one to end this insanity. But why, and more importantly, how? The mystic, Randall Steer, he had visited the night before was of little help. To be truthful, he was of no help whatsoever.
Neal concentrated and in a flash was covered in the mysterious black and silver armor. He always thought better while wearing it.
"Why does that crazy portal keep sticking in my head now? It doesn't make any sense. Or does it?"
A nasty thought just filled his head. He didn't like what it meant but he would have to see for himself. Photon headed back to the underground place where he first got this armor. He hoped that the portal was still closed.
"I know that damn entrance is around here somewhere." Photon waded in the waist-deep slime that filled the sewer system. The stench was terrible. Then there was a noise. Someone, or something, was down here with him. And it was coming his way.
Photon slipped beyond a turn and waited. He then called on one of the strange powers that he commanded since having the armor bestowed upon him. Suddenly, Photon couldn't be seen. He was there all right, but no one would know it. The sound slowly came closer.
Around the bend, a light shone and Photon watched the mystic he had visited the night before come into view, carrying a flashlight. Apparently, he was here for the same reason that Photon was. Neal bristled at the thought.
"I don't know what that sucker wants down here, but it can't be good," Neal thought. "I never did trust this guy much." Neal didn't believe that the mystic had any good intentions involved. With surprising suddenness, Photon made his presence known.
"What do you think you're doin' down here!?!" Photon suddenly materialized just as the mystic was approaching. His appearance from out of the blue startled Randall Steer so much that he staggered back against the far wall and slipped temporarily beneath the disgusting mixture.
"Zounds, man. I could've drowned in this slop," he protested as he fought back to the surface. Randall looked at himself and wiped vainly at the disgusting sludge that coated him.
"That could still happen, if you don't answer my question." Photon towered menacingly over the magician.
"Are you accusing me of...?"
"Yes, I am. I don't know what you have planned, but it can't be good." Photon stepped forward and Randall's face went pale.
"I.. I think you.. you have me all wrong," he stammered. " Now if we worked together... What was that?" Another sound like before. There was another person down here with them. Or in this case, another THING!
The creature saw their lights, around the corner, and instantly craved them. It needed more lights. These were even closer to its home than before. The lights were getting easier to find. That was good, for it craved them all the more now.
Photon looked off at the source of the approaching noise. The mystic was speechless as the strange creature approached. All that Photon could do was stammer out, "Oh my God..."
