World War G

Reed Richards was a young scientist working on Banner’s research team. Working from stolen German papers, he developed a rocket capable of achieving low orbit and protecting the crew from the dangers of re-entry. The German offensive had been greatly bolstered by their scientific developments and Allied command decided it was time to neutralize the threat posed by Werner von Braun. Richards was selected as part of the strike team because the Allies didn’t want von Braun killed – they wanted to bring back both von Braun and any relevant research. Richards was the foremost American expert on von Braun’s research and the most qualified to determine what would be relevant to the Allied cause.

The pilot selected from the ranks of test pilots was Benjamin Grimm, an old friend of Richards from college (though Grimm had attended Harvard on a football scholarship). Susan Storm (formerly Sturmwitz) was selected as the party’s translator. She had defected from Germany shortly after hostilities broke out in 1939 and still maintained a number local German contacts. Her work as a spy had been invaluable to the Allied cause since her defection. Susan’s brother, Jan Storm, rounded out the party as another able-bodied fighting man and as a native German speaker.

Unfortunately, no one had realized the amount of gamma radiation that was being held in the earth’s upper atmosphere. The crew of the rocket were subjected to intense levels of radiation for more than an hour. The screams of pain and fear over the radio had Allied command convinced that the operation was doomed and all hands lost. Ben Grimm, stoic soldier to the heart, held the rocket on course and safely landed the craft. Upon landing behind enemy lines, the crew discovered they had been altered. Reed could stretch his body, as if it were made of rubber. The more he stretched, the more his skin took on a greenish hue. Susan could turn invisible and create green planes of impermeable energy. Jan gained the ability to bathe his body in green fire and hurls bolts of flame, this also granted him immunity from burns, and the ability to fly. Grimm was the most horrifically altered. His body was transformed into a massive edifice of stone nearly 8 feet tall. Orange rock served as his skin with green, magma coursing through his body emitting a surreal glow between the plates of stone armor.

The crew of Richards’ rocket continued on with their mission and successfully liberated von Braun’s research. The German scientist, however, was killed in a firefight with Nazi soldiers. When they reported to Allied command in England, the crew were dubbed The Fantastic Four.

When the Nazis rose to power, many scientists who objected to their methods fled the Axis powers to avoid having their research fall into the wrong hands. But for every Einstein or von Braun, there were those who could not escape, whose talents and research were turned to Hitler’s cause.

Dr. Donal Bjorn was a Norwegian Physicist working in Berlin when the Reich took him. He was assigned to work under Doctor Professor Arnim Zola, the infamous and likely mad head of Hitler’s scientific research sections. After the Green Skull experiment, the German’s were eager to harness this seemingly unstable and dangerous power. Hitler demanded from his researchers not a weapon, but a power to make all weapons worthless. A working Gamma Reactor would end Germany’s fuel concerns and be able to power weapons that would make the Allies tremble.

And so the reactor, the God’s Hammer, was built and housed in a secret installation. For a moment, as power hummed through the lines and cells of the reactor, Zola believed he had succeeded, that he had won the war for Germany! But as the power spiked, far greater than anything predicted, the truth was clear – the reaction was uncontrollable. The gamma reactor was unstable and wildly powerful, burning out gauges and meters – and if it blew, it would take out hundreds of miles of populated area with it!

Thoughtlessly, heedless to the danger, Donal Bjorn dashed into the reactor core and grabbed the very heart of the machine. A flash of green light erupted from the core, arcing through the ceiling and shining into the sky like a beacon lighting the clouds with a lurid green glow. And when the light cleared all that remained was Bjorn’s lifeless body clutching the heart of the reactor in two burned hands. Donal Bjorn’s body was buried in an unmarked grave, his heroism never known by anyone but the other technicians present that day.

Energy is energy. It can neither be created nor destroyed. And what is life but simply a very specific type of energy? High above the earth, the power released by the God’s Hammer remained.

When the reports came in to the Allies of great storms raging at the front, blasting enemy supply lines and disrupting communications, they were flabbergasted by this turn of events. And no one knows what to make of the reports of a man made of lightning appearing during battles and wreaking devastation on German forces. The Allies refer to him as Zeus. The Thunder God, the Germans, outside of their commanders’ earshot, whisper about the Blitzkrieger, the Lightning Warrior who fights for the enemy.

And above the world, something that is both much more and much less than Donal Bjorn, watches and judges. It is the Deus ex Machina; a deity made from and by Man.

God is real. And he is angry.

This is a bit long!

Emil Blonsky’s rampage was ended by the initiation of a secret KGB/CIA joint operation, which was triggered in the event of a hulk-like scenario occuring during gamma-enhancement testing. This quick-and-dirty contingency plan called for the gathering of a band of highly capable but. .. disposable assets to ‘clean up’ whatever mess might arise from the testing, including killing or neutralising whatever monstrosities might result from human testing.

When Blonsky began his rampage in a testing camp near a gulag in central siberia, there were very few suitable assets in play anywhere near by- but those that were less than a day away by plane were rapidly re-assigned (or removed from their cells), briefed, given a clear understanding of their complete lack of choice in the matter, and bundeled onto a battered yak-4 air freighter, bound for the sight of the rampage.

Very few records survive of what happened. It is rumored for isntance, that there were many more test subjects at the site than just Blonsky – some scattered rumors hint of swarms of mutated creatures nicknamed ‘the brood’- but the ultimate fate of the project- and the team sent to end it- can be surmised somewhat from the heavily redacted records that survived.

The battle with Blonsky was extremly vicious, with the group of criminals, elite soldiers, and maniacs forced to work together as a unit simply to survive. From different nations, creeds and backgrounds, men who would normally just as soon kill one another were shaped into a sort of peverse brotherhood as they fought and tracked their way through the green mist that covered the facility.

Conventional firearms seem to have proven inneffective, although some heavy weapons and explosives were retained, most of the men seem to have tossed aside their guns and taken to using knives, trenching tools, and larger, more improvised improvised bladed weapons against the enormous bulk and regenerative powers of their opponents.

The confrontation with the abomination themself should, by rights, have resulted in the immediate death of the squad- photos of the site show building torn apart, tanks hurled through walls, and an endless series of dark red stains. The strength displayed by the abomination is the suff of legends.

Yet the kill team seems to have shown not only the expected variety of formidable talents, but an astounding level of resilience, enduring horrendous injuries in their battle against the gamma-powered behemoth. Nonetheless, one by one they fell, bones shattered, muscles torn as the beast took it’s toll, until one man remained. He was found slumped over the abomination, with the head of a pitchfork clutched in his fist, the two tines puncturing the creature’s skill through the eye sockets.

It is assumed from the after-action report that none of the men survived. The list of injuries given is extensive, and while it might be possible that some of them could be saved through the use of prosthetics and metal plates to bolster shattered bones, such medical techniques are in their infancy, and the subject would have to be incredibility resilient, and heal extremly rapidly, in order to stand any chance of surviving such an ordeal.

To say nothing of the mental state of the men in question. Shell-Shock is a well-know phenomena by this point in the history of warfare. One can only imagine what effects Gamma Shock could have on the human mind.

Amazing, Fred, amazing. I love this idea, although at this moment, I have no idea what character I would put into this setting. I must go think on this…

Wired and radio communications were not allowed at some of the test sites where the G technology was developed. All communications had to be delivered by certified military messengers that would ride out to the test site carrying sealed envelopes handed to them personally by the highest of command. These messengers crossed the deserts on motorcycles like a modern day pony express. They wore unique leather jackets and carried their messages via a special locked chain that was strapped across their torso and waist. Due to the secretive nature of their messages these messengers never had their comings and goings officially documented. Thus they were given the name “Ghost Riders”.

Zack Rathos was a Ghost Rider, and he was known to be a straight arrow who did everything by the book. When he discovered that others in his squad were stealing military equipment and selling it on the black market he began to gather evidence against them to use with the hope of bringing them to justice. What Zack did not know was that the corruption went all the way to the top, and his commanding officers would not risk an investigation. Zack was given an urgent message to deliver via a “special route” that would take him right across the blast site for the new “Mephisto” gamma beam prototype. The last thing Zack saw was a wall of green light ripping across the desert.

A funeral was held, but no body was recovered. The whole incident was treated as a terrible accident. The squad and the officers responsible for Zack’s death shut down their operations and dissolved their illegal organization. As individuals they continued their criminal ways, and finished their service but took their devious dealings into their civilian lives.

Four years later Young Private Johnny Blaze was the last of the Ghost Riders as the program had become nearly obsolete due to technical advancements in both communications and cryptography. With a great deal of free time on his hands he would spend his days and evenings riding his motorcycle through the old test grounds, despite this activity being unauthorized. Johnny was a bit of a daredevil, and figured the stunts and jumps he was attempting would be more likely to kill him then the low trace amounts of gamma radiation.

One evening Private Blaze took a jump and crashed his motorcycle on the landing. It seems that he struck a spot where an old motorcycle frame was buried under the sand. It was obvious from the wreckage that the gas tank had ruptured and burst into flames from whatever had struck it.

“Poor guy must have been burned down to the bone.” thought Johnny as he pulled the wreckage from the sand.

He noticed that the gas cap had the emblem of a Ghost Rider, and as he touched it began to glow green and he was suddenly overwhelmed with the thoughts of another. He burst into green flames, his flesh melted away, and his skeleton was all that remained within his uniform which became augmented with spikes grown literally from the anguish of another soul. Johnny and his motorcycle were now twisted demonic versions of what they once were, engulfed in those strange green gamma radiation flames.

Johnny was no more. He and the persona that was somehow trapped in the wreckage became one. This spirit was fueled with a thirst for revenge. It rode that night to the home of one of Zack Rathos’ former squad members, and it delivered its own unique brand of justice.

Johnny woke up the next day in his bunk with only partial memories of what had happened the night before. He somehow knew that that would not be the last time that he would turn into the demonic creature that blazed across the roads the night before. He was now cursed with a spirit of vengeance living within him. Just how many people will this dark rider come after? Will its thirst for vengeance ever be satisfied? Will Johnny ever find a way to free himself of this curse? For now he is, literally, the last Ghost Rider!

PS Awesome idea and setting Fred! This was a lot of fun to write up.

In the wake of the von Braun debacle, the God’s Hammer disaster, and the escape of Magneto and the subsequent rise of his “Brotherhood”, Hitler’s faith in the invincibility of his SS Supermen is severely shaken. Green Skull and Victor von Doom seize the opportunity to oust Himmler from the Fuhrer’s good graces, and restructure the SS. Thus, HYDRA is born.

The United States government found blueprints on harnessing gamma radiation that were left by Dr. Banner and forms the Naval Reactors Branch of the Gamma Energy Commission. Scientists and engineers at the GEC begin research and create a prototype of the world’s first gamma submarine to use against the Axis. Midway through the maiden testrun a Nazi spy sabotages the gamma reactor and the submarine becomes bathed in deadly gamma radiation as it sinks into the Atlantic abyss. Captain Leonard McKenzie watched his men succumb to the deadly radiation in horror while remaining untouched himself. Captain McKenzie resigned himself to his fate as the oceanic pressures began to split the submarine’s hull and fill it with frigid sea water but to his surprise found himself able to breathe water and resistant to the ocean’s cold and weight. With little effort Captain McKenzie tore his way free of the sinking hulk and swan towards Germany with a thirst for vengeance.