Game Master: Jim Caswell

(1) Kevin Alister was busy at work, attempting to finish a forty-eight hour project that had taken three days due to his crime-fighting activities. He hadn't seen his girlfriend Lynne in a week, and hadn't talked to her in four days. So when the phone rang in his office, he figured it was probably her. That assumption was in error as it proved to be his parents. It seemed that they had been getting death threats from the Kennedy street gangs. Shocked that the gangs had reformed in his hometown, he dropped everything and took off to visit home.

Upon his arrival, he finds his parent's home ablaze, with fire trucks and police officers all over the place. Finding the detective in charge, Lester Enekchuk, he found out that a new gang leader named Midas had come to town a week earlier and had united all of the splinter gangs in the city. The part that the police were unable to figure out was why one of their first actions was to hit the Alister household.

It took Midnight Cross only a matter of hours to track down a cell of gangbangers. After plowing through them to find the leader, Cross beat the information he desired out of them. Cross discovered that Midas had actually come from Chicago, and had set out on a personal vendetta against Midnight Cross. It was Midas who revealed Midnight Cross's secret identity to the gangbangers, the end of which brought about his parent's death. He also found out that, after getting the ball rolling, Midas returned to Chicago. Vowing vengeance, Cross set out for the Windy City once more.

(2) Once back in Chicago, Cross went to see Lynne at his apartment, only to find her missing and a nest-full of Vipers in her place. As he was gradually overwhelmed but trying to stage a comeback, Heartbreak arrived on the scene to assist. As it appeared that they may gain a victory, the Viper agents set an explosive devise. Grabbing a hold of Midnight Cross and diving out the window, Heartbreak narrowly avoided the blast and knocked Cross out with a gas pellet.

When Cross awoke, he found himself laying on a medical table in a completely white room. As soon as his eyes opened, Heartbreak entered, carrying a package. She proceeded to explain to him that his secret identity had been exposed to the entire underworld. She also informed him that this mysterious Midas person had apparently kidnapped Lynne and had once again left town. She handed him the package, which contained a new costume made of spectra body armor. As he was getting dressed, Cross noticed for the first time a tattoo on his arm, detailing a cross piercing through a heart. When Heartbreak volunteered to tag along to provide backup, Cross refused, stating that this was personal.

(3) Returning once more to his home town of Kennedy, Cross attempted to find Enekchuk to learn local information, only to find out that the detective had been missing for twenty-four hours. A ransom demand had been delivered, instructing that only Midnight Cross could deliver it.

When Cross arrived at the rendezvous point, he found Enekchuk bound and gagged to a chair. Dressed in gold spandex, Lynne stepped out of the shadows. She explained that four years ago, her boyfriend was the head of the Tigers, the number one Kennedy street gang. He had used the tag of Midas, because everything he led the gang in turned them a profit. That is, until Midnight Cross surfaced and began dismantling the crime in Kennedy. When the Tigers went down, Cross made Midas out to be a snitch, turning his entire gang against him. When they all ended up in prison, Midas got a shiv in the back for his hard work and died.

It was at that point that Lynne swore her vengeance against Midnight Cross. She searched until she found out his secret, but that wasn't enough. She got close to him, began the relationship, moved in with him, and learned every nuance of his life in order to exploit it. Now she stood before him as Midas, the murderer of his parents and destroyer of his life.

Once she was done explaining her motivation, he pulled out a blade and put it to Enekchuk throat, promising to slit it if Cross made a move against her. Hoping to play more against his emotions, she bet that she could cut the detective before Cross could react, further increasing his agony at losing people that he cared about. She was wrong. Before she could enact her plan, Cross let fly a throwing knife and knocking hers away. When he was ready to give chase to her fleeing, he found a bomb attached to Enekchuk's chair and was forced to stop and defuse it.

Once Enekchuk was returned to his department, Cross was forced to accept the turn of his fate and return to Chicago and the Hawk, hoping to face Midas again.

A few weeks afterward, Captain Johnson of the Chicago Strikeforce put in a request for the transfer of Enekchuk to become his second in command.

© Copyright 1996, 2003 - James Caswell

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