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Volume 3, 13 February 1998 |
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This is Marlon's adventure. The story takes place in Seattle (COTU V3 4). A choral group waits in a Protestant, probably Baptist, church. All women. One is pregnant. The group teases Jessie about marrying Marlon and keeping him home. Then a young Irishman runs in a panic and, with a gun, seizes hostages. He'll try to think of a way out, but "it could be a bloody long time." Police cordon off the building. The Challengers arrive, not because they were summoned, but because Marlon was to meet Jessie. A reporter flirts with Brenda, who's flattered. Marlon gets right to business. He slips past police and enters the church. The spooked Irishman throws down on him. Marlon "just wants to talk". But the Irishman is distracted. "Don't ye hear her?" Jessie runs to Marlon. They're engaged.  |
Marlon insists the hostages be let go. No. At least the pregnant woman: she's due. Okay, the "mother-to-be" is ushered out. Marlon whispers to Jessie to be ready to break out. Suddenly an evil face peers in the window. Only the Irishman and Marlon can see it. Marlon talks. The Irishman is Declan Banbridge: Dec. Since he's Irish, the ghost must be a banshee, right? Marlon adds, "I do this for a living. I'm in the Challengers of the Unknown." The hostages break. Declan belts Marlon, but he's more worried about keeping the door closed and the ghost out. Only Declan, Marlon, and Jessie are inside. Outside, the pregnant woman's water breaks. Declan's story. He's outrun the ghost across "half a world". Back in Ireland, he caught his girl kissing another man, since Declan's been neglecting her. Declan: "Something else was in me then. The darkness took me away. It wasn't me," that shotgunned his girl. The girl lays a curse on him. "If there's any god left in Ireland, you'll pay for this..." Marlon considers. Since a banshee is an old god, why not invite her in? Declan panics and threatens to shoot, first Marlon, then Jessie, but Marlon yells. |
"Lady of the winds, hear us! We await you! Enter! Lady, come to us!"  Ka-crash! goes the stained glass window. |
The thing is "as real a young girl's hate." The banshee babbles. "Blood demands blood... Life I give or life I take, but I will avenge!" But not here, says Marlon. They're not in Ireland or even a Catholic church. "You have no power here." The banshee will wait and get Declan later. "I claim his black heart, and I will have it!" No, insists Marlon, it doesn't work that way. "He belongs to God, and your time is over." The banshee asks, "What of me? Am I never to sleep... my terrible vengeance unquenched?" Fortunately, Marlon has done his homework. "They say that a banshee keens at a birth OR a death. Does murder honor the girl who called you?" The banshee considers, "A life for a life. T'is a good thought." And flits out the window. To the hospital, where the former hostage's baby is being born. The banshee kisses the girl to bless her, and dubs her "Sweet Kathleen". |
Jessie is impressed. It's gone, just like that? Marlon says, "I think we loopholed the rules it lives by." But Declan is still jumpy and still wanted. He grabs Jessie as a shield. Then drops her and runs. Marlon yells, "If you charge outside, they'll kill you!" So he tackles the guy. Though Declan admits he's done terrible things, "Everyone deserves a little salvation."  |
And what of Marlon and Jessie? She asks, "This Challengers bit is important?" Marlon replies, "Maybe not. I don't know. I feel like it's going to be." Jessie is sad. "It's important that you live this life. But I can't." She kisses him and walks away. He calls, "God bless you." His buddies are glad to see "the man of the hour," but he "looks as if he only has a week to live."  "Not hardly," says Marlon. "It's the same life it always was. It'll just belong to someone else now..." |
Comments Steven Grant came to comics from script writing, he says in interviews. It shows. This show is more a suspenseful television script designed to run thirty minutes than a comic book. Lots of talking and character interaction interrupted by brief action. This plot is the same as an old "Kolchak" episode. In that one, a man in a hurry ordered a taxi to cut through a funeral procession - bad luck. He was pursued by a devil and took sanctuary in a church. Kolchak rescued him, I forget how. Kolchak was the inspiration for X-Files, and X Files was the inspiration for the new Challengers, the X-Challs. Of course, being a modern story, the heroes can win, but they can't feel good about it. Marlon's not even sure if Challenging is worthwhile? After all the lives they've saved? What, pray tell, would satisfy him? |