FEBRUARY 27, 1988
Sammy’s Service Station
2432 Coronado Ave
San Diego, CA
Eileen McCoy and her partner, Officer Leo Spencer arrive at the scene of a gas station convenience store robbery. “I called for backup,” Officer Spencer conveys as his partner checks her gun.
“Then let’s go, remember to stay low,” Officer McCoy tells the rookie. “We want to get as close as possible without being spotted.” Getting out of the patrol car McCoy spots the CCTV cameras at the corners of the gas station building. “Stay out of view of the security cameras too, we need the element of surprise.”
Young Leo Spencer does as he is told by staying behind the passenger side of their unmarked car, even though he is not sure of his partner’s rationale. He watches as Officer McCoy makes her way around the back of the small build out of view of the camera. He follows suit moving only when the pivoting camera turns away from the car.
At the back of the building there is only a stationary camera mounted on the wall that is pointed up to the roof. Clearly this robbery had been planned prior to its execution. McCoy and Spencer take positions on either side of the back door to the store. McCoy reaches out to turn the not surprisingly unlocked handle. Gun at the ready Spencer is the first one in followed by McCoy. It is only a few feet across the small storage room to the door into the convenience store. Looking through the open doorway the senior officer directs her partner through the door.
Spencer moves silently into the store front as directed. But before McCoy can follow she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns, aiming her gun at the man behind her in the storage room. His appearance to say the least is shocking. He wears only black spandex bike shorts. On his head, arms, chest, and legs he has multiple metal devices that appear to be merged into his flesh. “Who are you?” Officer McCoy questions holding her gun on the man. “What are you?”
The strangely assembled man’s only response is to raise his arm to point his left index finger at the officer. Merged with his hand and forearm is what appears to be a projectile weapon of some kind. It is clearly not of this world in Officer McCoy’s perspective. Before she can react he fires the weapon. Officer McCoy is launched backwards through the door into the convenience store. Everyone in the store is caught off guard by the woman colliding with the store shelving and sending two isles of it tumbling to the floor.
“Holy Shit!” the man holding a gun on the store clerk shouts at the sight of the burning woman laying in the heap of soda bottles and snack foods.
Officer Spencer emerges from his hiding place aiming his gun at the robber not able to see what has happened to his partner. “Hold it right there!” “SDPD!” he shouts, taking a bead on the armed man.
Not far away Eileen McCoy tears off her burning police uniform to reveal the red and blue suit of Sentry that she has worn invisibly until now. She stands up drawing the attention of Office Spencer. “What?” he questions aloud, distracted from the store robbery the thief runs out the door. Then Spencer turns to see the alien looking man stepping from the back room. “Where is Officer McCoy?” he shouts, turning his gun on the six foot cyborg.
“Officer, never mind that, get after that crook, I’ll handle this!” Sentry shouts at the confused cop.” Spencer hesitates for only a second before running out the door after the thief. Sentry turns her attention to the cyborg as the store clerk follows Spencer out of the store. “You wouldn’t happen to be a friend of my Grandfather’s would you?” she asks, thinking of no other reason for him to attack her like this. She is glad she had taken to wearing the suit under her uniform.
Outside after holstering his gun, Officer Leo Spencer runs at full tilt after the store robber. The convenience store thief is clearly at least a decade older than the young rookie allowing him to catch up rather quickly. This is one thief who had no plans to be running from the cops. If not for that clerk jerking him around he would not be in this situation now. Officer Spencer is still at the age where he feels invincible. It is not surprising as he lunges forward at the escaping thief as he slows. Tackling the man they both hit the hard pavement to slide and roll for a few feet.
Back at the convenience store the fire ignited by the weapon of the man called Restless has spread throughout the store front. Sentry’s suit makes her immune to the heat and flames as she finally grabs hold of the alien missile launcher on the back of his forearm. She is too well aware that she needs to put an end to this before the fire reaches the gas pumps. Luckily the sprinkler system inside the small store has begun to douse the fire.
Sentry is unsure of who or what this man is, she sees no other option than to tear the device from his flesh. Flying headlong at him she smashes him out the back of the convenience store and away from the gas pumps that stand at the front. Sentry crashes Restless into a brick wall of a shopping center not far away. He is disoriented for a moment as she pins him there against the bricks. Taking hold of his right arm she digs her gloved fingers around the edges is the weapon on it. It takes more strength than she thought it would to remove this device. His flesh appears to continue growing over the device each time she manages to pry it loose.
But this missile launcher is not the only weapon Restless has graphed to his body. On his left arm he has another device that he now raises to Sentry’s side. A taser of sorts it sends a charge of energy that disrupts all of her defenses.
Releasing her hold on the man’s right arm she stumbles back, trying to get away from the attack. For a moment she is dizzied by the energy that courses over the surface of her body. She tries to focus on her surroundings, her only thought is to get away from her attacker. Reaching out to brace herself up on a nearby parked car the energy is grounded. As the taser surge drains from around her, she regains her bearings and concludes that removing this man’s weapons is not the answer. She must destroy those weapons. Righting herself she faces the bizarre man down. “So this is what it has come to?” she asks aloud. “My Grandfather has sent you to get the suit at any cost, I would guess.”
The strange monstrosity does not reply, his unfamiliar face is emotionless as he steps forward to renew his attack on Sentry. Sentry has no intention of letting him get close enough to use that taser weapon on her again. She leaps up into the air, from her hand she fires a powerful energy blast at her attacker’s left arm and then his right in succession. The Argoian energy is at first absorbed into the alien weapons and then it reacts.
Sparks begin to shoot from both of the cyborg’s arms as the weapons mounted on them overload. Having no other choice Restless disengages the device on his forearms to cast them to the parking lot. Each of the weapons explode with a force that makes the ground around the shopping center tremble. Sentry takes the opening to swoop in fists first at her foe. It is then that the mechanical devices attached to his calves are triggered allowing him to zoom upward into the sky dodging her attack.
Swinging around in mid-air Sentry gives pursuit, the hunted becoming the hunter. If her blasts were able to disarm him, she should be able to ground him as well. Trying to target his legs Sentry finds that he is just too skilled in aviation to be hit. They are miles from the gas station when she realizes that she has left her rookie partner behind. Sentry suddenly realizes that this guy might be leading her into a trap. Why else would he flee when he appeared confident that he could take her down. If this guy is looking to escape, then let him, she thinks. She doesn’t need to chase him, he will be coming back.
Returning to the gas station Sentry spots Officer Spencer from overhead as he loads the thief into the back of their car. Landing nearby she realizes that her uniform was a complete loss in the fiery attack. She has kept a spare uniform in the trunk of the patrol car for some time now in case of such a circumstance. With Spencer at the car she has little choice but to come clean to him. Or does she?
“Excuse me Officer,” Sentry says, approaching the cop who is calling for his partner on his shoulder mounted radio. Spencer turns to look at the colorfully dressed woman in shock. He has heard of Sentry but never seen her in person before this moment. “I know where your partner is but her uniform has been damaged,” Sentry explains. “She told me there is a spare in the trunk of your patrol car.” “If you could just retrieve it, I could take it to her.”
“Yes ma’am,” Officer Spencer replies, still marveling at Sentry with his doe eyes. “I was concerned something had happened to her.” “She is not answering her radio.”
“It was damaged as well,” Sentry tells him. It is a relief to her that the one thing she can count on about her new partner is his naivety. “If I could just get the uniform please.”
Spencer unlocks the trunk to find a black, police monogrammed duffle bag. He turns with it to have it snatched away by Sentry. “Thank You Officer,” Sentry tells him as other police cars and a fire engine arrive at the scene. Leaping into the sky Sentry quickly vanishes behind the gas station to change her uniform faster than the eye can see. Then running from behind the building she rejoins the other officers at their cars.
“Where did the Super hero go?” Spencer asks McCoy as she approaches. “She needs to make a statement.”
“Don’t be silly,” Officer McCoy tells her young partner.
“What Superhero?” Officer Chase asks, sounding as suspicious of Eileen as ever.
Eileen McCoy’s Car
Highway I-5
La Jolla, San Diego, Ca
It is late when Eileen McCoy drives home from the precinct. She has spent the last two hours of her shift filling out paperwork to cover up everything that happened at the gas station this morning, involving the cyborg character. He never spoke a word but by the looks of the technology on him, she can only conclude that he was sent by her grandfather.
In recent months she has not had much of a personal life, unless you consider a call once a week from Pam. Now that Eileen and Pam have an even deeper bond than before Pam checks in with Eileen to talk over their recent adventures. She could really use one of these talks tonight to bounce ideas around after what happened today. But since she and Pam agreed to keep their connection minimal and Pam would never call Eileen from the same phone number twice, that isn’t possible.
One good thing came out of today, Eileen is finally grateful that her new partner Leo Spencer is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He didn’t make the slightest connection between Eileen and Sentry. Which might be for the best for both of their careers. But her main concern right now must be this cyborg. She really can not risk him attacking her again on the job. Eileen can’t get the thought out of her head, what if Spencer hadn’t been able to handle that thief on his own? How would she explain her disappearance then?
As she drives Eileen’s mind turns to remembering every detail about the cyborg. The weapons mounted on his body, his face, his build. Clearly those were alien in design weapons and no one on Earth has built heat-less jet boosters like the ones on his legs.
It is then that she has a flash that materializes on the windshield in front of her. She can clearly see the cyborg as he flies over a Highway. Not just any highway, it is the one she is driving on! In fact he is directly over her car. Eileen quickly swerves across two lanes to pull off at the side of the road. She struggles to get out of her clothes in the front seat, she has no intention of getting them burned off again.
Jumping out of her car Sentry looks up to see the cyborg circling overhead. This time he has a much larger weapon attached to his chest that he fires at her parked car. Tires squeal and drivers swerve at the sight of the bright beam of light that travels down from the sky at dusk. “Shit!” Sentry shouts as she creates a force field to protect her car to send the destructive light beam back at her attacker. The force of the blast pushes Sentry back against her car. Even as the beam is turned back she can feel her feet sliding on the loose gravel. Pinned against the side of her car she looks over to watch the tires slide off the edge of the shoulder.
The cyborg dodges the returned beam as Sentry’s car tumbles off the edge of the road shoulder into a revene. Angered at the loss of her car Sentry leaps into the air going on the offensive. “You Asshole, I loved that car!” She shouts sending a bolt of her own energy at the man’s heart in hope of destroying the light cannon mounted there. The results are not as good as her last encounter with this attack. Previously she was able to destroy his body mounted weapons with the energy of the suit.
Restless has anticipated this action on Sentry’s part. His new weapon has the ability to latch onto her power. Without a second look Restless turns to head toward the coastline. Sentry is dragged across the evening sky by the tentacle of energy that she can not seem to sever.
Sentry tries to stop the flow of energy as Restless drags his leashed captive across the skyline out over the ocean. It is clear to Sentry that she is being taken somewhere against her will. In previous months she would have thought to free herself, but now she really wants this recurring problem with her grandfather Cifredo to end. In the months since she has fully bonded with the suit she has learned a lot about it.
One night months ago she came home from work exhausted to fall asleep still wearing the Argoian powersuit. That night she dreamt of the little old man that she now knows as Grandcoy. He explained that the body that died at Area 51 was just a clone to which he had mental contact, much like he does with the powersuit she wears. That night she began lessons in the things the suit could do.
But it was Grandcoy who was educated when Eileen explained to him about how her friend Master Warrior had visions of future events. She also told him of the flash she had at The Old Burying Point in Salem, Massachusetts, when she wished she had the power of Precognition too. Grandcoy had never heard of a member of the Argoian Sentry having the power of precognition. He could only guess that she was able to project her mind into her future self to see the events taking place at that same place in the future.
Sentry had no reason to try to do it again, but if she could somehow it would reveal where this cyborg is taking her. In theory all she would need to do is promise herself to return to the location at a future date, a time when Antonio Cifredo was no longer a threat to her.
Scanning her surroundings Sentry can see now that they are far out over the ocean, beyond even the sight of the California coast. The thought of this guy simply dropping her in the ocean is unlikely. So closing her eyes she concentrates on the mysterious place she is being taken, having no idea where it is, only that she will one day return there.
September 20, 1995
Antonio Cifredo’s bunker
An abandoned Military Base
An island 100 miles off the coast of California
When Sentry no longer feels the rush of the ocean air over her face she opens her eyes again. She stands on the beach of what appears to be an abandoned tropical island. Looking down at her powersuit the color scheme is different. Her thigh high boots and bicep long gloves are gone, replaced by knee high and elbow length. She is clearly in her future body now. Does that mean that her future self is in the past? It really doesn’t matter. She has no idea how much time she has for this trip.
Looking out over the horizon it is clear to Sentry that this is where the cyborg was bringing her. The problem is the island appears deserted. She knows that appearances can be deceiving, there must be something else here. Taking to the air Sentry can feel the warmth of the sun on her body and it gives her a strange sensation as if it is empowering her whole body. She has no idea how far into the future she has traveled, but she can guess that this is not the same powersuit she wore in 1988. It just feels different.
Moving out over the center of the island her enhanced eyesight spots something out of place on the apparently deserted island. It looks like an area of the jungle that has been burnt and is now growing back. Coming in closer she can see the wreckage of two large satellite dishes under the new growth of the jungle plants. Landing in the center of the whole in the jungle’s canopy Sentry wills herself invisible, not sure what to expect. At ground level she can now see what was hidden from the air, an entrance way. A thick solid steel door is broken open as if from the inside out. The plants have also begun to grow over the threshold to the inside of it.
Standing at the broken open door Sentry looks down a long shaft leading deep below the island. The place is clearly abandoned, but she can not be sure that there are no defenses left behind. Stepping forward she easily floats over the dark concrete hole in the Earth. As she begins to descend into the shaft her eyes need not adjust to the darkness as the lenses in the powersuit provide her with perfect vision no matter the surrounding light.
Coming to the bottom of the vertical tunnel, Sentry walks invisibly through the strange underground bunker. It is hard for her to believe she is finally here. Finally about to put an end to years of lies and deceit. She isn’t sure what she will even say when she finally sees the old man again. But the lengths she has gone to to get here Sentry has no intention of letting him get away from her again. Even though by all appearance of this place no one has been here in years. Clearly she did defeat him or will.
On the wall to Sentry’s left she can see scorch marks. To her right a thick metal conduit is bolted to the wall. The damage to her left looks as though another cable running down the length of this wall was burnt, melted as well as the bolts holding it to the wall. Reaching out to touch it there are long cooled remnants of melted plastic and mental dripping from the burns on the wall. With the Ultra Vision supplied the powersuit she can see that the burns trail down the tunnel, perhaps back to their origin point.
Sentry follows the trail down the wall around the corner of the labyrinth of tunnels. She has no idea how large this underground complex is or how much time she has here. Sentry begins to run, fearing that she might run out of time before she finds out what she needs to know. Soon there are other burns on adjacent walls that all lead back to an origin point. Arriving at the point of origin it is clearly a Central Control room of sorts. The door has been blasted from the frame. It lays twisted on the floor not far away. Walking over to the damaged thick metal door she spies a hand print melted into it. Bending over she reaches down to place her hand in the imprint on the door. It is a perfect fit, clearly she has been here before, or will be in the past.
Inspecting the Control Center she discovers that all of the Earth constructed equipment in the room has been modified with alien devices. Furthermore all of that alien technology has been burnt and destroyed like the cables on the wall she followed to his room. The rest of the room appears untouched by any sort of fire damage. Could she have done this? Somehow targeted only the alien devices? Like she did with the cyborg’s weapons. At the center of the room there is a large control chair of sorts, it appears as a high-tech barber’s chair with fingertip control on the arms. It too is burnt, much worse than anything else in the room. Sentry can imagine her Grandfather perched up on the raised platform chair barking commands. She wonders if Cifredo was sitting in the chair when it was destroyed. Any human remains could have been burnt to ashes.
Looking around the rest of the room she finds damaged alien weapons, not unlike the ones the cyborg used against her, burnt on the floor at strategic locations. Turning back to the door she entered through Sentry spots a blinking blue light on an undamaged console. How could it possibly still have power?
Walking over to it Sentry can see that it is the only piece of technology in the room not enhanced with some kind of alien designs. It appears to be a base wide security system of United States Navy design that is completely autonomous of everything else in the base. She flips a few switches to discover that it is still functional on emergence power. The computer storage set up isn’t much different than the computer system at the police station. Sentry finds it rather easy to navigate the files and records of activity at this location over the past year. It is almost like the files label “RESTLESS PROJECT” were left open for her to find. The file’s first date catches her eye, FEBRUARY 27, 1987, that was the day Tony and she faced down James Santoro.
Opening the video file it chronicles the return of Santoro to his master. Sentry had believed Santoro killed by the misuse of alien technology, but it would seem that he was teleported back here. Opening the next video file labeled “Restless” Sentry bears witness to what her Grandfather did to James Santoro to bring him back from the verge of death. Watching the video, the horror of the pain and torture the man endured as Cifredo experimented on him. Even with no volume she can see his pain in the contortions of his face, it becomes too much for her to watch.
There is no mistaking that what Cifredo turned Santoro into was the cyborg who has been hunting her. Turning off the playback, Sentry looks back around to the large chair that appears to have been connected to everything in the room. The fire damage is much greater because of the increased amount of alien enhanced equipment on it. She can imagine her Grandfather sitting in that chair like a king on a throne. This is where he will be waiting for his creature to return with her in the past.
Sentry hatches a plan. When she returns to her own time, she needs to escape Restless’ capture and sneak in this place undetected. Only with the advantage of surprise can she finally end her Grandfather’s interference in her life. She must learn everything she can about this place before returning.
FEBRUARY 27, 1988
Coastal Medical Center
501 Washington Street
San Diego, Ca
A frantic and frightened Claire McCoy bursts into the Medical Center’s Emergency room shouting, “Where is my daughter?” “I must find my daughter!”
A reception nurse rushes from behind a high counter and tries to attend the distraught woman. “Please ma’am you can not just burst in here,” the nurse says, taking Mrs. McCoy around the shoulders.
“Yes, I can!” the panicked woman shouts pushing the nurse away. “The power of the Lord almighty gives me the right to see my daughter!” she cries out lunging to pull open a curtain to reveal man having a catheter inserted.
“Security!” “Security!” the nurse shouts as another nurse from behind the counter emerges to help control the crazed woman who begins to cry.
“I need to see my daughter, Eileen McCoy, get her to repent before she dies!” Claire McCoy cries crumbling into the arms of the two nurses.
“It’s going to be alright ma’am,” one of the nurses says as two security guards arrive. “We will find your daughter for you, Eileen McCoy, you said?”
Yes, yes, that is her!” Claire sobs as the guard takes her out of the emergency procedures area to a waiting room down the hall.
Claire McCoy is left alone in the waiting room with the door locked where she sobs almost continuously as she softly prays to herself. About a half an hour passes when an average height African American woman dressed in a lab coat steps into the waiting room, she wears her braided brown hair pulled back into a ponytail at the back of her head. “I am Dr. Cain, I have been treating your daughter here at the hospital,” the woman in the lab coat tells the distraught mother.
“Is she alive, is there still time?” Claire McCoy exclaims standing up from her seat to approach the doctor. “I’ve called her brother, he should be the one to give her the last rights!”
“There was no need for that, Mrs. McCoy,” Dr. Cain tells her. “Perhaps you should call him back to tell him that will not be necessary.”
“I can’t, I can’t, he lives in Boston, he will be on a plane by now,” Claire replies. “Are you saying my daughter is not dying?” Claire McCoy sits down on a leather couch looking almost disappointed. “I was sure that her reckless career choice was going to be her undoing just as it was her father.” “I’ve come all this way.”
Dr. Cain is rather confused by this mother’s sudden change in attitude. “Perhaps, it is best if I take you to her, so you can see for yourself.”
Drying her cheeks with an old handkerchief Claire McCoy looks up at the doctor. “So you are saying she is awake and going to live?”
“Yes, of course, I am so sorry if you have any other idea about her condition,” Dr. Cain apologizes.
The woman who was only minutes ago a grieving mother now sits silent for a moment staring at the wall. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary,” Claire finally says, a sober look on her face. “I have a long drive home, so I will just be going.”
“You must be joking,” Dr. Cain says out of surprise. “You’ve come all of this way and you are not going to see your daughter?”
“I’m sure she has no desire to see me,” Claire responds as she puts her handbag over her shoulder to leave. She takes hold of the door handle to find it is locked. “Excuse me Doctor, but I said I wanted to go home, could you please let me out of here.”
Dr. Cain turns to glare at the woman, “What is it about Eileen McCoy that makes all of her family so cold to her?” “I have to admit in all of my years as a psychologist I have never seen one person so right about their own persecution.”
“I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about!” Claire McCoy responds angrily. “Now will you please unlock this door!”
“I really didn’t think it was going to be this hard!” Dr. Cain says quickly moving across the small room. Unseen by Claire McCoy, she pulls a syringe from her lab coat pocket. Pushing a surprised Claire back against the door. Dr. Cain stabs the needle into her neck, injecting her with the full dosage. Instantly the older woman collapses into the doctor’s arms. “I can only hope your father cares more about your well being than you do about your daughter,” Dr. Cain says, dragging the woman back to the waiting room couch.
Restless and Sentry in flight
Under 100 miles off the coast of California
Over the Pacific Ocean still a few miles from the island destination, Restless pays no mind to his captive that he drags through the sky. Sentry dangles by a tentacle of energy that pulses from her hand. Restless has converted it into a leash. Intent on carrying out his orders Restless does not take notice as Sentry loses consciousness for a few seconds.
When Sentry awakes to the rush of the ocean air over her face she is not the same woman she was moments ago. Within her 1988 body the consciousness of her 1995 mind now resides. This Sentry from the future knew what was going to happen when she returned to Cifredo’s bunker nine years from this date, but she was never sure what would happen to her present consciousness when her past one took over. Now the circle is complete. Moreover she remembers all of the events of the rest of this day and how things ended. This Sentry also knows a lot more about the workings of this Argoian powersuit and her attacker then her 1988 counterpart, giving her the upper hand to escape Restless.
Sentry remembers how the tentacle of energy from her hand that connected her to Restless was unbreakable. That does not mean she can not alter it. Spreading the Argoian energy over the surface of the suit creating a nova effect draining the tentacle.
Restless stops in mid-air turning back to investigate the loss of power. The flare around Sentry makes her nearly invisible within it, even to Restless’ enhanced eyes. The nova effect drains back all of the energy that Restless has stolen. The cyborg moves to adjust the controls on the device mounted on his chest. It is of no use as the strand that connects the two dwindles and then vanishes.
Freed from her captor Sentry drops down from the sky, plunges into the ocean below. The Sentry from the future knows that salt water is no friend of Restless with all his implanted weapons. Sentry knows that this mind transfer that her past counterpart has used draws a great amount of power. The nova effect has drawn back some power but her time in this place is short. She must swim at top speed to vanish under the water from Restless. Sentry is less then a mile from their destination as she spots it in the clear blue south Pacific Ocean.
Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital
7850 Vista Hill Ave
San Diego, CA
Claire McCoy’s head throbs as she regains consciousness. She finds herself bound to a metal chair with duct tape. Her hands held tight with rope behind her back. Overcome with panic the woman has no idea how she got here or why. His last memory was of receiving a phone call that her daughter, Eileen was in a car accident. As her mind clears she remembers rushing to the San Diego Hospital to make sure Eileen at least died a good Catholic. What is going on?! Claire thinks trying to scream from behind the tape over her mouth.
“Now there is no need for that,” Dr. Cain tells her captive as she walks around from behind the chair. “You will be fine just as soon as I contact your father.” The look of panic returns to Claire’s eyes. “So you believe that he is dead too, I can feel it in your soul.” “Let me be the first to tell you then,” “He is very much alive!” Dr. Cain paces the floor in front of her bound captive. “You see for sometime now he has been forcing me to spy on your daughter.” “He wants something from her, he will not tell me what.” “I have had enough of his blackmail!” she shouts. “It is time to see how he feels when I have the upper hand!”
Dr. Cain steps up to Claire McCoy reaching out to rip the tape from her mouth. Claire’s first instinct is to scream and she does. “HELP!!!” “HELP!!” “SOMEONE HELP ME!”
“Feel better now?” Dr. Cain asks. “We are in a place where no one can hear you scream.” “We have time to wait for your father’s reply to my demands.”
“You will be waiting a long time,” Claire says, her throat dry and slightly horse from her screams. “My father died decades ago.” Claire scans the dim lit room. She is clearly still at the hospital, in a patient room.
“Your ignorance doesn’t surprise me,” Dr. Cain comments. “Clearly you have been lied to most of your life.” “Not surprising with who your father is.” “That is probably why you hate your daughter so much.”
“Hate my daughter?” Claire repeats. “It is my daughter who hates me.” “She blames me for everything that is wrong with her life.”
“A textbook excuse of a parent blaming the child for their own failures,” Dr. Cain asserts.
“My failures?” Claire repeats. “I did everything right, raised her to be a good Catholic just as my mother did with me.”
“You mean forcing your belief system on an innocent child,” Dr. Cain criticizes. “I am well aware of your type!” “You want your child to be under control at all time, docile and obedient!” Dr. Cain turns her back to her captive. She pulls a few strands of her braided hair free of the elastic band that holds them. “Self expression and happiness are the two things that must be denied, no matter the cost,” she grumbles as she twits the braids of hair with her fingers.
“No that is not how it was,” Claire pleads. “I never treated my children like that.” “I only wanted what was best for them.”
Dr. Cain spins around quickly backhanding the tied up woman across the face. “Lies!” she shouts. “People like you always lie about the abuse, never facing up to what they have done!” “It is no wonder your daughter turned out the way she did!” “Keeping every secret so deeply hidden, afraid to ever truly trust anyone!” “You deserve her hatred!”
Claire sits tied in the chair sobbing again, her face red and stinging from the slap. “It wasn’t me that made her that way, it was that box,” Claire sobs. “It tried to protect her from its ungodly influence but it was too strong.”
Dr. Cain’s anger clearly grows at Claire McCoy’s words as she slaps the sobbing woman across the other side of her face. “I have been a psychologist for nearly 15 years, do you think I can not tell a lie when I hear one?” “I can tell that you have reached the point where you even believe your only lies, but that does not make them the truth!” The raging doctor slaps the bound woman a third time causing her to slump forward in the chair.
When Claire lifts her head, her lip is bleeding. “Please just let me go, I will do better,” Claire pleads. “If my father is alive he clearly cares nothing about me.” “I haven’t heard from him in nearly forty years.” “Please take me back, to where I can make amends with my daughter.”
Dr. Cain glares at the woman she has tied to a chair as she tucks her thin braid back into her ponytail. Then she turns to walk away, leaving the hostage alone in the room. Claire hangs her head again to cry as her lip drips blood on the blouse.
FEBRUARY 28, 1988
Antonio Cifredo’s bunker
An abandoned Military Base
An island 100 miles off the coast of California
Sentry’s sight blurs for a moment and then goes completely black. When Sentry’s sight returns she is no longer in the dark abandoned bunker. Instead she is standing soaking wet in the same room that she was in only now it is brightly lit. Sentry knows she is no longer in the future but back in her own present. This is a room she found with access to the ocean that surrounds the island. She can not be sure how she got here in this time period but being wet gives her some ideas.
In the future, Sentry spent every minute studying this place, learning as many of its secrets as she could in the limited time she had. Planning out her attack, how she would invade her grandfather’s secret layer without him even knowing she was there. An attack not unlike the ones he has made on her in the past year. The final straw was when she was attacked while on the job.
Now it is her turn to make the surprise attack. This time as she walks through the underground tunnels there are no burn marks on the walls, only the cables she guessed had been burnt away. From her point of entry she remembers where all of the United States Navy mounted cameras were mounted. Using her suit to turn invisible they are easy to deceive. Sentry’s first stop is the armory she found not far from the ocean access point. If she is going to inflict the damage to the bunker’s systems that she saw in the future she will need some kind of explosive that she hopes is stored in the armory.
As she moves farther into the bunker from the lower levels she learns that there are soldiers. She can see them but they can not see or hear her. From the look of them they are probably paid thugs, not at all as loyal as Santoro. In the future there was no evidence of any casualties to what happened on this day. Chances are that when things go to shit most of these men will flee.
At the armory door two of the hired men stand guard over it. Both men are dressed in military grade riot gear complete with visored helmets and protective vests. It was not something Sentry considered when she made her plan at the abandoned future bunker. She eyes the heavily armed men, complete with radios. To take them down might take away her element of surprise. Should she risk it on the chance that she was the one to cause the destruction of the alien systems? It takes only seconds for her to realize that her greatest weapon is that of surprising her Grandfather.
Sentry continues on to the Control Center where she expects Antonio Cifredo to be in waiting. Sentry has no idea what has become of Restless although she does know much more about him. The video logs of his creation where very educational. As Sentry walks the tunnel corridors she passes many more of the armed soldiers and notice each of the cameras that monitor the bunker. She notices that there are two sets of cameras at these location. One Earth born and one alien in technology. In the future all of those alien devices were incinerated. It gives her the idea that perhaps that is why the rooms where Restless was created had only Earth cameras that were shielded from the other technology. Was good old Grandpa trying to hide something?
The way Restless can incorporate weapons and technology into his body, was he unable to access those files about his own creation? Sentry remembers James Santoro and his loyalty to her Grandfather, he would never betray him. But what she watched Antonio Cifredo do to Santoro under the guise of saving his life, was that a betrayal? Does Restless even remember being James Santoro? If he doesn’t, then what would happen if he watched those video files?
These are all questions Sentry does not have time to ponder as she arrives at the Control Center. Touching the door in the place she remembers her hand print was melted into the metal in the future, the suit allows her to see what is happening on the other side. It is not x-ray vision, it is more like a video feed directly into her mind. The room is arranged just as she imagined it would be. There are guards posted at six areas of the room with Grandfather Cifredo atop the alien control chair at the center of the room.
Standing outside the door to the Control Center, Sentry now has a full layout of the room on the other side. Bearing down with an energy blast while making contact with the door should make the required effect. It takes only a few seconds to heat the door to the point of exploding from its mounts. It happens so quickly that the guards to either side of her don’t even realize until it is too late.
The thick heavy metal door explodes from the door frame into the room, landing on the floor with a thud. Stepping into the room through the stirred up cloud of dust, Sentry reveals herself. The two guards from outside the door rush to grab her from behind. She jerks her arms forward smacking the two men’s helmeted heads together. Then throwing her arms back again the men tumble to the floor on either side of her.
Another guard who stands inside the Control Center to her left steps forward aiming his rifle at Sentry. She moves swiftly to grab the barrel of the rifle bending it up before jerking it from his hands. As he is pulled to her, she swings out with a left uppercut to his jaw. He joins the other men unconscious on the floor.
“That will be enough!” Cifredo announces from his perch over the action. “Stand down!” The chair swivels as Antonio Cifredo turns to look at his granddaughter. “Quite a show, Little-girl.”
Sentry is surprised by her grandfather’s youthful appearance. He must be nearly ninety, but yet he looks little more than fifty. “Little-girl?” she repeats back to him. “I really couldn’t remember much about you, but I do remember that term.” “You were always so distant, even nicknames were very generic to you.”
“On the contrary, I always thought it was fitting,” Cifredo replies as he fiddles with buttons on the arm of his control chair. “I never once thought it would be you who would open that box.” “In fact I was as disappointed at your birth as I was at my own daughters.” “I always believed I would take a male child to open the damned thing.” “Only a man’s will would be able to control what was inside of it.” “What a disappointment your brother has turned out to be.”
“How very sexist of you, Grandfather,” Sentry replies in disgust. “I guess you will be even more shocked when I bring you down off of that throne of yours.” “I would guess you were not prepared for me to find my own way here without your cyborg.”
“On the contrary Little-girl, it never mattered how you got to this room only that you did,” Cifredo grins. “You can take her now gentlemen.” The five remaining guards in the room lower their weapons to approach Sentry.
“You must be joking,” she laughs. “Didn’t you just see what I did to your thugs?” Using her self-defense police training to take the first man down, Sentry quickly realizes something is wrong. Her strength is gone. Looking at the next three men that walk towards her she holds up her hand to use an energy blast. There is nothing! One of the men grabs her out reaching arm and twists it behind her back. She fights to get free as the next two men restrain her further. She feels the click of the handcuffs on her wrist behind her back. Sentry is in shock at what has just happened. She is speechless, as she struggles to break the cuffs.
“You see Little-girl even the Argoians had a fail-safe,” Cifredo gloats stepping down from his control chair. “I have spent every day of my life since Roswell scouring the Earth for alien technology.” “I know more about the Argoian suit than you ever will.” “It is fueled by a powercore on the Argoian homeworld.” “A power source that can be blocked in the case of an unacceptable candidate taking wearing the powersuit.” “I have constructed this room to block that power flow.”
Eileen McCoy’s Condo
La Jolla, San Diego, Ca
Michael McCoy arrives at his sister’s Condo after finding no trace of her or their mother at the Medical Center. “Hello, Mom, Eileen?” he calls out after using the hide-a-way key to get inside the condo that was once his late Brother-in-law’s. “Is anyone here?” It is ridiculous to think his mother would be here. She and Eileen haven’t spoken in months, he doesn’t even know if his mother knows Eileen is living here now. But it is in his nature to hold out hope for the best outcome.
Michael drops his duffle bag on the floor inside the front door. This place still amazes him. He just can’t forget the fact that Corey kept how he paid for it a secret. Knowing now that Corey’s family had a lot of money it is easier to explain how he could hide such an expensive drug habit.
Going into the kitchen to fix himself something to eat he ponders the reason he is here. Is it possible that his mother gave him the wrong hospital name, because Coastal Medical Center had no record of an Eileen McCoy being brought in. Some of the nurses in the Emergency Room even knew Officer McCoy and assured him that they would have known if she was there. It was a long flight and once he gets something to eat her will start calling other hospitals in search of his sister and mother.
Michael is well aware of his mother’s mental-emotional state and he also knows that she would not have demanded he come here if there wasn’t real trouble. It gives him hope that their mother still cares about his sister’s well being. Michael finds a Microwave breakfast burrito in the freezer that he sticks in the oven. It isn’t much but it will have to do. Now to find a phone book.
Just as the Microwave buzzer goes off so does the doorbell. Michael doesn’t retrieve his burrito, instead he heads back to the front door. Opening it he finds a handsome young police officer standing on the other side. “Hello, I am Officer Spencer, is Eileen McCoy at home?” he asks. “I’m her partner.”
“No she is not,” Michael replies. “I am Michael, her brother.” “I am here because our mother called me last night telling me that Eileen was in the hospital.” “When I got here I found no sign of my mother or sister at the Hospital.” “Do you have any idea what is going on?”
“May I come in?” Officer Spencer asks.
“Of course,” Michael replies, stepping aside to allow the uniformed man to enter the condo. “Do you know what is going on with my sister?” Michael follows the policeman into the living room where he stops short, causing them to bump together. Michael can smell the man’s mild cologne as his face grazes the cop’s shoulder.
“Oh, excuse me,” Officer Spencer says, turning as Michael backs away from him. “It is just that I have never been here before.” The cop eyes the expensively furnished condo. “How does she afford this place on her salary?”
“It was her late husband’s place, his family had some money,” Michael replies. “Now what is it you know about Eileen?”
Officer Spencer continues to look around the room as he explains. “Her car was found in a ravene along I-5, by the Highway patrol.” “The car was totaled, but there was no sign of Officer McCoy.” “It was on her route driving home, I had hoped it had been stolen and she would be here.”
“If it was on her route driving home how would she have gotten here?” Michael asks the Officer about his disjointed logic. Michael had spoken with his sister a few weeks ago and she had explained that her new partner Leo Spencer was not the sharpest knife in the rack, Big meathead is the term she used.
“Oh, I see your point,” Officer Spencer replies as he loosens his tie. “I was on my drive to work when I heard the call on the radio, just figured she might need a ride in.” Spencer opens a few of the buttons on his shirt to expose his smooth tanned chest.
Michael is distracted for a moment by this guy’s familiarity. “So do you know anything about what is going on with my mother?” “I mean why would she drag me all the way here from Boston if the police don’t even know where Eileen is?”
“You live in Boston?” Officer Spencer smiles. “Is that the place with the witch trial stuff?”
“No, that was Salem, Boston was the Tea Party,” Michael explains as he looks into the cop’s green eyes for some sign of a brain.
“I never much liked tea,” Spencer says, trying not to look confused. “Has Officer McCoy ever mentioned Dr. Cain to you?” The cop then makes himself at home in the living room sitting down on an overstuffed chair. “She was the one who called my mother.”
“You say you were on your way to work?” Michael asks, having no idea what to make of this guy at this point.
“I’ve got a couple of hours to spare,” Spencer explains. “I leave early in case I get distracted on the ride in.” “Something your sister suggested.” That sounds like her, to Michael. “Dr. Cain is a police Psychologist that we are sent to after a trauma on the job.” “Both Officer McCoy and I have seen her.”
“That is nice, if you’ll excuse me I put food in the microwave,” Michael says as he turns back to the kitchen.
“Dr. Cain asked me about your mother in our last meeting,” Spencer announces, stopping Michael dead in his tracks.
“That seems unprofessional,” Michael replies to the overly comfortable cop. “Why would a licensed doctor be asking one patient about another’s mother?”
“I thought it was odd too,” Spencer replies looking confused. “So I told her what I knew, that Officer McCoy’s mother was Claire and she lived in a 55+ plus community up in San Marcos.”
“Why would you tell her that!” Michael shouts, losing his temper at the idiot cop. “Do you have this Dr. Cain’s phone number?” “I need to talk to him now!”
“No,” Spencer replies before being cut off by Michael.
“What do you mean no, what if you have an emergence and need to call him?” Michael argues trying to bring his temper under control.
“I meant no, Dr. Cain is a woman not a man,” Spencer explains, aggravating Michael further. “And she left the police department several weeks ago.”
“Do you know anything else about her, where she went?” Michael demands standing over the seated cop.
Officer Leo Spencer appears more confused than ever at Michael’s angry tone as he wipes the back of his neck with his hand. “I think I heard something about her having admitting privileges to Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital.” “It’s a mental hospital where we take some of our crazies.” “Perhaps you should calm down, I’d hate to have to take a young guy like you over there for treatment.”
“I think that is exactly where you are taking me!” Michael replies as he reaches down to pull the cop out of the chair by his shirt. “Dr. Cain is the person who called my mother to tell her Eileen was in an accident.” “This Dr. Cain of yours has some explaining to do!”
Antonio Cifredo’s bunker
An abandoned Military Base
An island 100 miles off the coast of California
Sentry sits handcuffed to a chair in the corner of the Control Center, held captive by her Grandfather. She is next to the base wide monitoring system that she viewed the video logs on in the future. “So this was your master plan, make watch as you sit on your throne,” she comments. Clearly without her Powersuit working the events she guessed played out in this room are not at all what is going to happen.
“All in good time Little-girl, you never were a patient one where you?” Cifredo tells his granddaughter. “You wear what is perhaps the greatest weapon in the universe.” “Even without its power source I can not simply rip it from your dead body.” “I have a much more subtle plan, one that requires my Restless after he has finished with his debriefing.”
“How compassionate of you Gramps,” Sentry replies snidely. The pieces begin to fall into place in her mind. Restless has the ability to merge alien tech with his body. Without question that is what Gramps here has planned for her suit. Sentry looks back to the US Navy issue base wide security system. It is Restless that she must turn and she has an idea of how to do that.
#Incoming call from Erica Cain# an electronic voice announced in the room. The name of the Police Psychologist immediately draws Sentry’s attention.
Antonio Cifredo’s fingers move over the buttons on the arm of his control chair. “Dr. Cain your call was not approved,” Cifredo speaks aloud as he answers the call on speaker. “You should know by now that I do not tolerate unapproved calls.” “I will call you when I have need of you.”
“Don’t you dare hang up on me old man!” Dr. Cain shouts, sounding more confident than she has ever been with him. “I have your daughter!”
“Dr. Cain?” Sentry speaks out loud to be heard over the speaker phone. “What does she have to do with any of this?” Listening to the conversation that follows it becomes clear to Sentry that her late husband was not the only person spying on her to Cifredo.
“My daughter?” Cifredo scoffs. “You must be joking.” “It would seem that the doctor believes she can leave my employ on her own terms.”
“This is no joke,” Dr. Cain asserts. “I am holding Claire McCoy in a place where no one will ever find her!” “If you don’t meet my demands, I will kill her!” The line goes silent for several minutes. “You of all people know what I am capable of!”
“Do what you want with that woman, her usefulness to me has long passed,” Cifredo replies. “But know by killing her you become even deeper indebted to me!” “There is no place you can hide that body that I will not find it and use it against you!” Cifredo ends the call with the push of a button on the arm of his chair.
Sentry’s plans in her head come grinding to a halt at the words of her therapist. What is going on here? she thinks. Why is the Police Psychologist threatening her mother’s life? What does Cifredo have on her to make her act out in such a way? Then Sentry’s attention is drawn to Restless as he enters from a door at the far side of the room. Now more than ever she has to get free!
Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital
7850 Vista Hill Ave
San Diego, CA
Michael McCoy and Officer Spencer arrive at the front desk of the Psychiatric hospital. Michael has changed into his brown cassock with a large gold crucifix that hangs over his chest to appear more priestly. His hope is that perhaps being mistaken for a priest might come in handy for once. Officer Spencer in his police uniform commands respect which often seems to quickly slip away when he speaks. Something Brother Michael is not aware until Spencer asks the receptionist, “We are here looking for Claire McCoy, we believe she is being held against her will.”
“Excuse me Officer but that is not the way this facility works,” the nurse at the desk replies with disdain. “All patients are here of their own free will or court order.” “If you want to speak with any of them you need the permission of the next of kin or a ruling from a judge, Officer.” The nurse glares back at the second man behind the cop dressed in some kind of religious garb.
“I am just here to speak with Dr. Cain on a spiritual matter,” Brother Michael explains.
“Yes, of course Father I will see if she is in her office,” the nurse replies, reaching for her phone, ignoring the brash cop.
As the reception nurse speaks on the phone Michael leans over to Officer Spencer whispering, “Just follow me when she is not looking.” Officer Spencer then slowly backs away from the counter to stand against the wall.
When the nurse hangs up the phone she fumbles in a draw under the counter retrieving a Visitor’s tag. “Dr. Cain is not in her office but I haven’t seen her leave the building.” “So if you’d like to wait in her office Father it is on the third floor.” “You’ll need this,” the nurse says, reaching the tag out to Brother Michael.
“Thank you, thank you so much, I will do that,” Brother Michael says, taking the Visitor’s tag from the nurse. “Have a blessed day.” Turning he gives Spencer a tilt of the head as he walks toward the elevator. Brother Michael presses the up button and waits alone for the elevator to arrive. When the door opens and he steps inside he is clumsily pushed forward as Officer Spencer jumps between the closing doors.
“Sorry, I didn’t want her to see me,” Officer Spencer apologizes, taking hold of Brother Michael’s arm. “Hum, you’ve got a nice set of guns on you for a Preacher,” Spencer comments, reaching out to touch Michael’s other bicep.
“I’m not a Preacher and keep your hands to yourself!” Brother Michael replies, pulling away from the clumsy cop. “I think you should let me do the talking from now on.” “People tend to trust a religious man in a hospital more than the police.” Officer Spencer knobs as he steps to the back of the elevator behind Brother Michael.
The elevator arrives on the third floor and the cop follows the monk silently down the corridor watching his back. Leo knows that Michael is right. He often says the wrong things. In High School he was the quietest member of the Basketball team. He kept to himself most of the time. His strength has always been to be a team player, he never worked well on his own. After High School he searched for a new team, first it was the Navy and then the San Diego Police force. Officer McCoy is his team now, she has been the best thing that has happened to him since High School. Perhaps her brother will be too.
Brother Michael throws open the door to Dr. Cain’s office. He walks in trying to suppress the fear and anger he feels. None of what has happened in the past two days makes any sense to him. He has so many questions in his life. Michael is due to be ordained in six months, but he resists, stalls the process because of those questions deep in his soul. Now all of this confusion with his mother and sister only add to that stress. His journey of faith has been in a limbo for so long. His mother pushes him forward into the Priesthood and his sister wants him to look deeper into himself. He has felt pulled in two directions for years now. To lose one or both of them would leave him in that purgatory forever.
“You can’t do that, you can’t go in there!” Officer Spencer calls after Brother Michael as he strides across the reception area into the doctor’s private office. Spencer can’t help but to think how this man is impulsive like his sister. Eileen’s actions are something that always lead him to work hard to make sense of what is happening around him. Perhaps he should have just reported to the precinct this morning. Following Brother Michael into the doctor’s private office Spencer scans the room. On the surface the office is immaculate, but there is something wrong. It is too perfect, bordering on obsessive, beyond what a maintenance crew would do.
Michael finds Dr. Cain’s appointment book in a desk drawer. He flips through the pages looking for any sign of his mother or sister. He finds only his sister’s name in the book for appointments that took place months ago. Several more passes through the pages and Michael notices something else out of place. Appointments made using only the letters and numbers VPW 438. All of the appointments are well after her normal office hours.
An end table sits next to a leather couch along the wall. Officer Spencer notices that the feet have been shifted out of the carpet marks. On closer inspection he discovers a thin brown wire running down the back of one of the wooden legs under the edge of the carpet. Lifting the table to look underneath he spies a microphone. “Look at this,” he calls to Brother Michael.
“Is that a hidden microphone?” Michael asks walking over to the cop. “Recording sessions without the patient’s consent is not very professional.” “Where does the cord lead?” The two men begin to search along the edge of the room to follow the wire under the bookcase.
Officer Spencer feels around the books on the shelves against the adjacent wall. “Look here,” he tells Brother Michael as he pulls loose a group of books that are attached together. The back of the books are cut off to hide a recording device behind them. “I think it is still recording.”
Michael inspects the recorder. “It is,” he says as he presses the button to turn it off. “Looks like it is rigged up to record whenever someone comes into the office.” Depressing the rewind button, he says, “Let’s see what went on in this office before we got here.”
The playback begins. “Dr. Cain, your call was not approved,” the voice of a man says on the recording. “You should know by now that I do not tolerate unapproved calls.” “I will call you when I have need of you.”
“She must have the phone bugged as well, so that we can hear the caller,” Officer Spencer suggests.
“Don’t you dare hang up on me old man!” as the woman’s voice shouts, clearly Dr. Cain. “I have your daughter!”
“Who is she talking to?” Michael quires.
“Dr. Cain?” A second woman’s voice speaks out loud to be heard over the speaker phone. “What does she have to do with any of this?”
“Was that Eileen?” Michael exclaims moving to rewind the recording and play it again.
“Sounds like Officer McCoy to me,” Spencer confirms.
“My daughter?” the man on the phone scoffs. “You must be joking.” “It would seem that the doctor believes she can leave my employ on her own terms.”
“This is no joke,” Dr. Cain asserts. “I am holding Claire McCoy in a place where no one will ever find her!” “If you don’t meet my demands, I will kill her!” The line goes silent for several minutes. “You of all people know what I am capable of!”
“Oh my Lord,” Brother Michael murmurs. “That doctor is insane, she has my mother!”
“Do what you want with that woman, her usefulness to me has long passed,” The man replies coldly. “But know by killing her you become even deeper indebted to me!” “There is no place you can hide that body that I will not find it and use it against you!”
When the line goes dead Dr. Cain begins to rant on the recording. “That fucking asshole!” “They are all alike, a whole family of assholes!” “How can I even be surprised?” “I’m going to enjoy killing that bitch!”
Brother Michael sits down on the leather couch in shock at what he has heard. “I’m going to call my Captain,” Officer Spencer says, walking toward the phone on the desk. He picks up the receiver and begins to dial.
Suddenly Brother Michael springs across the room to depress the disconnect button on the phone. “No, you can’t,” he says. “How would we explain any of this?” “We have to find my mother on our own, there isn’t time for your Captain.”
“I don’t know,” Spencer says, hanging up the phone. “Where would we even look?”
Brother Michael’s eyes wander back to Dr. Cain’s appointment book. He grabs for the book flipping through the pages again. “This weird entry, VPW 438, all the entries are in the past month after 8 pm at night.” “Like she was working a second job.”
“Or preparing something,” Officer Spencer suggests. “Planning something.”
“This place she has, it would have to be close by for her to call from this office,” Michael guesses. He knows who to ask. Brother Michael rushes from the office back down the hall to the elevator. The two men return to the front reception area.
“Excuse me, Nurse, but do you know what VPW stands for?” Brother Michael asks with a smile to the woman at the front desk that was helpful to him.
“Oh that stands for the Violent Patient Ward, but that was shut down since the 40’s,” the receptionist explains. “No one goes down there anymore, it isn’t safe.
“What do the numbers 438 mean?” Michael inquires.
“That was where they kept the louder ones,” the woman tells him. “It had additional soundproofing.”
Antonio Cifredo’s bunker
An abandoned Military Base
An island 100 miles off the coast of California
“You bastard!” Sentry shouts at her long lost grandfather. “How many innocent people have you involved in this obsession?”
Cifredo turns his chair to face where Sentry is bound to a chair. “Dr. Cain is far from innocent or are you referring to your late husband?” “Clearly I misjudged him.” “I would have never guessed that a man like him, one who had lived such a life of extravagance could ever fall in love with someone like you.” “He was an easy pawn to manipulate, so afraid of anyone learning about his drug problem.” “His family would have cut him off if they had ever found out.” “So I recreated him, gave him a new designer drug, a new purpose.” “I manipulated everything, made him a cop and then your partner.”
“Don’t gloat too much, he fought back against you at the end!” Sentry adds with confidence.
“You see how that worked out, don’t you?” Cifredo grins making his face wrinkle up to make him look more like his true age. “Nick Newton was more than happy to take care of that problem for me, in exchange for a second chance at life.”
“In the end Nick paid the price for working for you too,” Sentry adds.
“Just another minor setback,” Cifredo replies. “Enough chatter, I think it is time we got down to the reason we are all here.” “Restless if you please, absorb that powersuit off her body.”
As Restless steps closer to Sentry she talks to him in lowered tones. “James don’t do this, he doesn’t care about you anymore than the others.” “Look what he has done to you for the sake of getting this powersuit.”
The tall awkward cyborg reaches out his hand to touch Sentry’s shoulder. “My name is not James it is Restless.” The nature of the alien technology of the powersuit is much different than any other Restless has yet encountered. It resists his power to incorporate it into his body.
Sentry sits handcuffed in the chair feeling the suit resist the cyborg’s power. “You don’t remember do you?” she says. “You were once a human being named James Santoro.” “You were willing to give your life to protect Cifredo’s secrets.” “But that was not enough for him!” “He used his stolen science to turn you into this thing!”
“You lie,” Restless whispers as the part of the powersuit that covers her shoulder begins to dissolve moving up onto his hand. “I was born this way.”
“What is the problem Restless?” “Make that powersuit mine!” Cifredo shouts from his perch. “Do it now or you are of no use to me!”
“See what I mean,” Sentry says as she begins to feel the pain of the suit as it is torn from her body. “You are nothing more than a tool to him like the rest.” “It is all there recorded on that monitor systems that he keeps hidden from you.” Restless looked over the console that he had not been able to access as he went through every other electronic file stored on the alien technology of this base. “You were a man once!” “Go ahead search for the files on James Santoro and Restless, see what you find!” “Besides even if you take the suit from me he will not let you keep it.”
Restless reaches over to touch the small serial port on the face of the console. Earth technology is much harder for him to interface but he can do it for a limited time if he has physical contact. The tip of his finger alters to become a plug for the port. Restless’ other hand never leaves Sentry’s shoulder but his actions on the monitor system console do not go unnoticed by Cifredo.
“What are you doing, don’t touch that!” Cifredo shouts at his Restless pawn. But it is too late as Restless’ alien tech quickly upgrades the Earth constructed computers. He sifts through thousands of files in seconds finding the ones that Sentry suggested. “I command you to stop!” Cifredo shouts. “Command code RU486!”
Abruptly Restless stops everything he is doing. The strands of Sentry’s powersuit he has stripped away, return to it. The surge of power through the Earthly computer has ended. Restless makes an about face to look at his master who smiles at his handiwork. The once loyal servant of Antonio Cifredo knows the command code. It is a fail-safe in case Restless would ever go renegade. Restless steps forward to stand at the foot of his master.
“Command code ESC000!” Cifredo instructs. “A complete wipe of all things learned since the program was initiated.”
“You bastard, did you leave him any of his humanity?” Sentry shouts.
“Apparently too much,” Restless says in a smoother tone than before as he looks down at his foot. Unnoticed by everyone in the room, Restless has incorporated the base of Cifredo’s control chair into his body. “Enough to discover your command codes when I still lay on that table in the lab.” “I deleted them so I could explore the full capacity of this base.” “I am now linked to every piece of alien Technology you have stored here.”
“Command code XYZ666!” Cifredo shouts.
“Now why would I let a self-destruct command when I deleted the others?” Restless asks his former master. “I do find the idea useful though.” The wires in Cifredo’s control chair begin to unravel and snare the old man to hold him down. Restless turns back to Sentry. “I have taken the shield around this room down, you should use the Argoian powersuit to leave now.” “Not even it can protect you from what happens next.”
“What about these guards?” Sentry shouts over the noise around them as the room begins to self-destruct. She looks to the men in the room that attacked her when she arrived. They have changed in appearance. No longer are they the strong healthy looking soldiers she saw when she entered. All of them have become slender and gaunt, like death warmed over.
“Look at them, they are more drones of this madman.” Restless replies. “Their souls died when he implanted them with alien tech.” “Now go before it is too late!” “When I trigger the final destruction, everything on this island of extraterial origin will be destroyed!”
Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital
The long closed down VPW
7850 Vista Hill Ave
San Diego, CA
When Dr. Cain returns to her prisoner, Claire McCoy is in a much different condition than when she left to call Cifredo. Claire’s face is swollen to the point at which she can no longer open her eyes. Her cheeks are blistered with red oozing boils that drool a thick yellow pus down her jaw.
“You have taken three doses of my poison, it is enough to kill you in the next hour,” Dr. Cain explains. “This is your last chance to admit the truth.” “Tell the truth and I will reverse the effects of the poison.”
Blind, Claire McCoy struggles to lift her head. She can no longer feel her face. Her mouth is as swollen as the rest making it nearly impossible to speak. “Iiitttiisss ttttttttthhhhhh,” she struggles to speak.
“All my life my mother pushed me to be better,” Dr. Cain begins a monologue as if she doesn’t even care what her captive is trying to say. “She was from Ghana and she believed in the old ways.” The doctor gets a look of disgust on her face. “I know you can still hear me, so listen!” She demands causing Claire to roll her head that has become almost too heavy to move. “I was fourteen before I even understood what she had done to me as a baby, have you ever heard of female circumcision?” “But I digress, she told me she fled to this country to escape my abusive father.” “Found it hard to believe that she was not the abuser in her marriage.” “She pushed and pushed me insisting I had to get better, work harder to get better grades in school, be smarter than everyone around me to make it in this country.” “There was no time for the carefree life of a child.”
“Ppplllllleeees,” Claire begs, “Iiiiitttt hhhuuuurrr.”
Dr, Cain only glares at the sick woman. “She never cared what I wanted, just like you were with your daughter!” “So I showed her what I could really do.” “One night when I was still in college, I had a dream.” “A dream of my dead Grandmother reaching out to me from beyond the grave.” “She gave me this gift to make my mother beg for forgiveness.” “But like you, my mother would not concede her mistakes.”
Dr. Cain paces the small long abandoned patient room that she has worked in secret to restore for the past months. “I ended my pain and her life on the same night.” “Moving out here to the west coast no one ever even missed us.” “That was until Antonio Cifredo came into my life.” “He said he knew what I did, that he had my mother’s body.” “He could prove that I had killed her.” “He would have me in prison if I didn’t do what he said.” “I had no choice, I was right back where I began, under another’s control.” “Then I learned about you, which brings us to where we are now.” “You were meant to be my ticket to freedom!”
The doctor walks over to the gasping woman tied to the chair. She rips open Claire McCoy’s blouse to expose the bra and bare chest. “And still he threatens me,” Dr. Cain grumbles. “Tells me I will be in even deeper by killing you.” Cain looks to her hand that oozes a clear, shiny liquid. “With one more touch I could cure you or kill you.” “I could save you and damn myself or kill you and damn myself.” “Choice seems clear to me!” Dr. Cain reaches out to press her palm to Clair’s chest over her heart.
“NO!” “STOP!” Brother Michael shouts as he charges into the room. He comes up behind Dr. Cain who turns quickly to give Michael an elbow across the face sending him to the floor onto his ass.
Officer Spencer burst into the room out of breath after his new partner. Instantly he scans the scene to see the red and swelling hand print on the captive woman’s chest. He then sees Michael getting up from the floor toward Dr. Cain whose hand drips with fluid. “Stay away from her hands!” Spencer shouts drawing his gun. Michael falls back away from the raging doctor. “Stay where you are Dr. Cain!”
“You must be the son,” Dr. Cain announces at the sight of the man on the floor’s garb. “Clearly you can not see that I am trying to free you from the burden on your soul.” Dr. Cain steps closer to Michael reaching out to touch him.
“I told you to say where you are!” Officer Spencer shouts to be ignored again as the doctor continues toward Brother Michael. She leaves him no choice as he fires his weapon aiming for her shoulder.
In an instant the bullet takes flight to be blocked from its target by a red and blue figure. The bullet falls to the floor from Sentry’s back as she moves to pin Dr. Cain against the wall behind a force field. In the confusion Michael springs up from the floor. Taking out his Swiss army knife from his pocket that he has carried with him since he was an Eagle Scout. he cuts his mother loose.
Sentry comes up behind Michael, her hand still outstretched to hold Dr. Cain to the wall as she struggles to escape the invisible force that holds her pinned. When Sentry sees the state of Claire McCoy she is horrified. What has this doctor that she trusted with almost all of her secrets done to her mother? “Michael, we need to get her to the hospital,” Sentry instructs the man praying over his mother giving her the last rites as tears run down his face.
“I know but she would want me to finish this first,” Brother Michael replies, not acknowledging Sentry knowing his name, as he tries to lift his mother from the chair. Officer Spencer who had left momentarily returns with an old wheelchair that he helps Michael get the unconscious woman seated in. Michael looks at Sentry for the first time realizing that this is the second time he has crossed paths with this costumed hero. “Why are you here?” he asks.
“Because this is where I need to be,” Sentry replies.
“Eeeeiilllee, Iiiccckl,” the barely conscious Claire mutters. “llluuuvvvv uuuu bbbbbothhh.” Then she falls silent again.
Sentry and Michael move in closer to the wheelchair. “You’re going to be okay Mama,” Sentry whispers as she retracts her mask to reveal her face to her mother and brother. Michael is speechless at the revelation that his sister is Sentry.
“We need to go, I’ve called this in, a bus is on the way,” Officer Spencer says as he walks around to take the handles of the wheelchair. Sentry’s mask reforms in seconds to hide her face again from her partner.
“That will take too long, I can get her there faster,” Sentry says, lifting the wheelchair by the arm rest. “Spencer, you deal with her,” she instructs as the force field dissolves allowing an unconscious Dr. Cain to fall to the floor.
“Is she dead?” Spencer quizzes.
“No, just unconscious from lack of air, she will not stay that way for long,” Sentry says as she runs from the room carrying her unconscious mother in the wheelchair.
Coastal Medical Center
501 Washington Street
San Diego, Ca
Brother Michael arrives at the hospital in a police car that drops him off. He finds his sister sitting in the waiting room alone. Having removed his cassock and large crucifix he sits down next to her not saying a word. The siblings are silent for nearly a half an hour until Eileen says, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“What is there to talk about?” “Looks to me like this is all your fault!” he says softly staring at the floor.
“It is our Grandfather Antonio’s fault,” Eileen replies. “He was blackmailing Dr. Cain to spy on me.” “She wanted out, thought he could use Mom as leverage.”
“Grandpa Cifredo has been dead since before I was born!” Michael asserts.
“So we all thought,” Eileen replies. “He was obsessed with something he and Grandpa Harrison found back in the 50’s.” “He went into hiding to make plans to steal it.”
“What could be so important that a god-fearing man like Mom always told us he was, to abandon his family?” Michael asks, not believing what his sister is telling him.
Eileen knows there is no point in keeping her secret from him anymore. “The suit,” she says simply.
“Suit, what suit?” Michael demands.
“The suit that makes me Sentry, it was in the box I found at Grandpa Harrison’s house years ago after he passed,” Eileen explains. “Grandfather Antonio had been stalking me for years, using people like Dr. Cain to spy on me.” “I could never open it, until after Corey died.” “That is why he came after me.” “You have to believe that I had no idea that Dr. Cain was one of his spies.” “I would have never told her anything about our family if I had known!”
A doctor dressed in scrubs exits the Emergency room into the waiting room where Michael and Eileen sit. Eileen stands up to approach him as her younger brother follows behind. “Doctor, this is my brother, how is our mother?” she asks.
The expression on the doctor’s face is not a happy one as he says, “I’m sorry, we did all we could.” “The poison she was given was like nothing we have ever seen.” “There was very little we could do.”
Eileen’s lip trembles as tears begin to roll down her cheeks. All she can think about is the last time she was at her mother’s home and the things she said to her, the anger she felt. Eileen turns to Michael who is stone faced staring into the distance. His eyes are welled with tears that he refuses to let flow. Eileen moves to embrace him but he pulls away.
“I need some time alone with God,” Michael says, turning to walk for the door.
FEBRUARY 29, 1988
Eileen McCoy’s Condo
The parking garage
La Jolla, San Diego, Ca
It has been a long weekend. Eileen stands staring at the white Volvo, she has no idea when it moved from its space last. It was her late husband’s car that she never once saw him drive. Now she mourns another, one she mourns differently than her husband. Her thoughts are distracted as she thinks, it was yet another secret he kept from her. Secrets have played a large and damaging part in her life. Now so many of those secrets are out in the open and she has no idea what will happen next.
She has no idea what has become of Antonio Cifredo or James Santoro who became Restless, but she remembers what that bunker looked like in the future. For now it is safe to assume neither will be bothering her in the near future. Her mother’s death is weighing heavier on her heart than she would have ever imagined. The thing that troubles her the most is how she died. How pointless it all was for her life to end that way. Claire died because her father didn’t care about her, thought she wasn’t good enough. The same things that Eileen often accused her mother of doing to her.
Michael McCoy comes up behind Eileen in the garage. Eileen doesn’t even have to see who it is behind her, she knows his soft footsteps. “You didn’t come home last night, I was worried,” she says.
“Like I said I needed some time alone with God,” Michael replies. “I stayed at St. Vincent Church.” “It was still her parish.” “I’ve come for my stuff.” “I’m going to be staying there until the funeral and then I will be going home.”
“I understand,” Eileen says, not turning to face him. “This has all been a lot to take in.” “I know I have been overbearing to you.” “Telling you to face things that you kept secret to yourself.” “I was a hypocrite!”
Michael steps forward to put his arm around his older sister. “You were just doing what you thought you needed to do,” he says softly. “Neither of us has had a simple life, it would appear.” “We both need to deal with these things in our own way and both of us need to accept the other’s choices.” “Why are you out here staring at this car?”
“It was Corey’s car, one of the many things I didn’t know about him,” Eileen replies. “My car is headed for the junk heap.” “I’m confused at what I should do next.”
“I say drive it or sell it,” Michael tells her. “I think he would want you to drive.”
“So, what do you think of my new partner?” she asks, trying to change the subject to something lighter.
“He is everything you told me,” Michael asserts. “Are you thinking of repeating history, because that might be a mistake right now.”
“Now who is giving romance advice?” Eileen says laying her head on her brother’s shoulder. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he is gay.” “He stares too long at guys with their shirts off.”
“Touche,” Michael says letting go of her shoulder. “I think you should take a ride in it before you make any real decisions.” “Do you have the keys?”
“Right here,” she replies, pulling her hand from her pocket. “Want to come, it could be like old times.” “Cruise along the beach?”
“No, I have to get back to St. Vincent,” Michael tells her. “I have a eulogy to write and it isn’t going to be easy.”
Eileen nods her head and gets into the car. It starts as if it has been used only yesterday. She gives her brother a wave as she pulls out of the parking spot to head toward the garage exit.