The Gryphon
'History
The Beginning
Jeff Scott and Dorian Mitchum had been best friends since the third grade. They had a mischievous streak in them that occasionally got them into trouble but most of the time they were smart enough not to get caught at whatever they were doing. Usually tricks or knavery designed to annoy people, which on occasion involved petty theft or vandalism. When they graduated from high school, they thought it would be fun to steal their former principle's prized 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. Their plan was to drive it into the nearby lake to see just how long it would float. They were spotted during their theft and not long after, the police were on their tail. A severe thunderstorm settled into the area as the chase intensified. Dorian was driving and all he had on his mind was getting as far away from the police as he could. That is when the lightning struck. Unbeknownst to either of them, Dorian had the power to teleport when his body was charged by electricity. The tremendous power of the bolt activated Dorian's power and away they went, really, really far away. Approximately 863 light years from Earth, near the Rigel star system. Dorian was nearly catatonic after the ordeal, Jeff only had about a minute to take in what happened before the rapid decompression rendered him unconscious. Jeff was never quite sure what happened next. He slowly regained consciousness, bathed in a warm, blinding blue-white light. He could only make out his own apparently naked body but nothing else beyond. He had no sense of time. After a while, a heat began to grow in his chest. It spread outwards, building into a burning sensation. It was not overly painful but a sense of pressure was building, more than he could contain. Finally he experienced a release as he screamed for it to end.
He later came to know that he had just been transformed into a super being, by human standards. Bathed in cosmogenic energies, kept alive by utterly alien sciences, Jeff had been turned into a tool. He had been found by beings that actually lived in the super-giant blue star and mined rare elements from it. There are some in the galaxy that claim these beings are actually part of the star itself, that it splits them off to do unfathomable things. Their bodies are globs of plasma-energy contained within luminescent shells. They had a curious habit of decorating the rocky worlds orbiting the complex star system with massive crystalline chunks of the rare elements they mined. They never seemed to do anything with them, but fiercely guarded them, setting watchdogs of their own devising to ward off thieves. These watchdogs were terrestrial beings they transformed into cosmogenic powerhouses. One guardian could fend off an entire alien fleet if need be. Up till now, the enigmatic 'Star People' had contented themselves with using the local terrestrial 'Rigelians' for this purpose, but when a human being appeared in their space, they couldn't wait to test it. The result was spectacular. In the fluid mind-speech of the Star People, they called him a Gryphon.
All dressed up...
The local Rigelians knew better than to tamper with the great gardens in the system, but another less reticent race called the Aramaspi, were not so easily deterred. They had, on occasion, been able to overpower or outsmart the Rigelian Gryphons but when Jeff was pressed into service, they ceased to be successful, his power being so much greater than anything they had experienced thus far. So, for the next decade, Jeff was forced to stand watch over a pile of rocks, alone. His only occasional company was his keeper, what he perceived to be a very old and weak Solaron. (Jeff had decided to call them Solarons). One whose shell was unusually opaque and heavy looking, with very little of their natural nimbus showing. In the last few years, the Aramaspi raids had trailed off to almost nothing. Jeff was going crazy from the crushing boredom, flying around the system, picking fights with other Gryphons and generally making a nuisance of himself. Finally, his keeper seemed to show some sign of pity and told Jeff the secret of trans-luminal flight so he could escape, but insisted on going with him. Jeff had decided to call this particular Solaron, Xevious. He didn't really trust that this wasn't some sort of test or trick on the alien's part, but frankly he didn't care, it was something to do. He had long ago worked out which direction Earth was and headed for it with Xevious in tow.
Jeff had never known what had happened to Dorian, the Solarons never answered his questions about anything, but he assumed he was dead. (Little did he know that Dorian was alive and well and off on his own adventures in space, now known simply as Dor.) It still took nearly a year of traveling to reach Earth. On the way, the pair had a number of adventures, with a few attempts by the Solarons to retrieve them. After reaching Earth, Jeff realized that he had actually been gone for nearly 30 years Earth time. He was happy to be home but didn't quite know what to do with himself. Solarons didn't normally like to spend time on terrestrial worlds, but Xevious seemed to have no problem tolerating it. (Why they chose to make their rock gardens there, no one has the slightest clue.) Jeff discovered that his parents had passed away while he was gone, and his younger brother had disappeared shortly after. Almost immediately though, Jeff sensed what he thought was another Gryphon on the planet. Xevious encouraged him to seek it out, for curiosity's sake if nothing else, and so they proceeded to the American Southwest. There, in a remote area, they came upon a battle between a group of four men, and a veritable army of green clad soldiers. Jeff thought he recognized the army as being members of VIPER, he had seen something about them long ago on TV before he was lost. Among the 4 men, he saw the one he had been drawn too. He could feel the cosmogenic energy pulsing from him but he noticed the man seemed to prefer to engage in purely physical battle, he only rarely projected any of his energy. Jeff had always preferred to keep his distance and use energy blasts on his foes. The battle was about to change though. Jeff perceived a squadron of cloaked VIPER tanks moving into position above the fighting, preparing to catch the combatants by surprise. Jeff decided that wasn't quite fair and laid into them, his energy blasts making short work of them.
When the dust settled and VIPER was in retreat, the four men approached the new-comers. The leader of the men, calling himself the Director, could also sense the similar power in Jeff. He invited them to join their cause, battling VIPER and ARGENT across the globe, helping to put an end to their menace once and for all. Again Xevious, rather oddly, encouraged Jeff to go along with them, so they did.
| Such a great escape! Or is it? (Spoiler) |
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The Solarons did indeed let Jeff go. They wanted to find his planet of origin in order to acquire more humans to upgrade their entire 'Watchdog' force. Xevious originally was supposed to immediately bring Jeff back after the location was found but has apparently had a change of heart. The Solarons have since dispatched another retriever. |
'Powers and Abilities
Before his transformation, Jeff was a reasonably fit 18 year old male. Since his transformation, his body is no longer really human. It generates and is suffused by cosmogenic energy that allows him to perform astonishing feats. He is able to defy gravity and propel himself up to and including trans-luminal speeds. Inside an atmosphere, he does not normally exceed mach 1. He can project beams and bolts of force with some heat as well at a distance of up to 500k miles in space, or about 1 mile planet side. He can control the level of force to hit hard or softly as the situation requires. His body generates a force field able to withstand extreme impacts, though Jeff's confidence in it has always been a little wavering so he tries not to put it to the test very often.
