(OOC note: They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps.
If that's true than it's truly my privelege to be standing shoulder
to shoulder with Dan and Martin, both of whom are wordsmiths of the
highest degree. Martin asked me to write this interlude for his story
and it was my honor to do so. I hope I measure up to the incredibly
high standard that my two friends have set. Thanks for the opportunity
guys )
Interlude: WinterTech Press Conference
The dull roar of a hundred
simultaneous conversations filled the open air outside of WinterTech
headquarters. Curiosity hung in the atmosphere like a thick fog that
would not dissipate. None of the gathered reporters were sure why
the press conference had been called but all were sure it involved
the man-shaped mass, unceremoniously covered with an olive green blanket,
that was the sole occupant of the stage.
The roar of the crowd settled
to quiet murmur as Robert Ferrara, the Head of Public Relations for
WinterTech, entered the stage and approached the podium. Tapping his
mike to make sure it was on, Ferrara began to address the assembled
media:
“I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’ve been asked to come
here today. Well to be honest, we don’t really have much to say, only
something to show you and then we’ll open the floor to your questions.”
With that Ferrara grabbed the drab blanket and yanked it aside, revealing
a robotic-looking figure standing roughly six and a half feet tall.
A collective gasp escaped from the audience. All were silent but the
same thought ran through all of their minds; a single complicated
mixture of confusion and instant understanding: “Chromium Man!”
With
a wry smile, Ferrara gestured toward the crowd: “Any questions?”
For
several minutes, a silence like the vacuum of space permeated the
crowd as the thoughts of the reporters struggled to find verbal release.
All at once, as if on cue, a hundred reporters leapt to their feet
shouting questions:
“How long has a relationship between WinterTech
and Chromium Man existed?”
“Who’s in the suit?”
“Where’s Frank Winter?”
Ferrara stood there letting the reporters shout for a good ten minutes
before he even attempted to speak. He was fully aware of the size
of the bomb that he had just dropped and wanted to give the audience
a few minutes to shout out their frustrations before addressing their
concerns. With stunning accuracy Ferrara began to answer their questions,
which had been logged away in his photographic memory. It was a strange
way to hold a press conference but most of the reporters in attendance
were familiar with Ferrara’s idiosyncrasies. In truth he wasn’t even
close to being the most eccentric person in the employ of the world
famous tech company.
“As you all know, Chromium Man has been acting
as a vigilante out of Paragon City over the past year. For the first
several months he operated in secret, using stealth technology to
undermine various criminal enterprises throughout the city. Recently,
his actions have been brought to light by a certain media who simply
could not accept the fact that he didn’t exist.”
Quiet laughter sounded
from the audience.
“What you don’t know is that Chromium Man was built
by WinterTech to be used in the War Against Terror. Unfortunately,
the unit proved too expensive to mass-produce and thus, the only existing
model is the one you see before you. One year ago, the unit was stolen
from us by rogue elements in the US government and used for the purposes
for which Chromium Man has now become famous. With the help of the
world renowned Riders of Apocalypse, Chromium Man was returned to
his rightful owners. Although WinterTech has been legally exonerated,
we intend to make good in our own way. We aren’t financially equipped
to pay for all the damages caused by the rogue Chromium Man but to
make up for it we plan on donating Chromium Man’s services to the
city: as a fully-sanctioned ‘super hero’.”
At that, the sound of thunderous
applause erupted from the audience and all the gathered reporters
jumped to their feet. All, that is, except one. Jackson Turner of
the Paragon Times remained seated, unswayed by what he felt was nothing
but rhetoric and propaganda. As far as he was concerned, everything
Ferrara had said, every word that was swallowed with a spoonful of
sugar by his fellow reporters was all meant to deflect their attention
from the true question: was Chromium Man Frank Winter? The question
of Chromium Man’s identity had been on many people’s minds since the
hero first made his debut. Even before Ferrara had announced the connection
between WinterTech and Chromium Man, tabloids had run stories that
Chromium Man was in fact the son of WinterTech founder Joseph Winter.
Ferrara’s announcement had seemed, at least in Turner’s mind, to lend
validity to this claim and Jackson was infuriated that so many of
his fellow reporters seemed to be buying Ferrara’s garbage. It was
an insult to his profession that his colleagues were being herded
like sheep. Jackson decided that he would ask the tough questions,
even if his associates were placated. At the instant that the raucous
ovation ceased, Turner stood and, without the aid of a microphone,
boomed:
“So how does Frank Winter breathe in that thing?”
A stunned
silence fell over the crowd, followed by a smattering of awkward laughter.
All of the reporters present had heard the rumours but this was the
first time someone had called WinterTech out on it in public. Ferrara
stared at Jackson for a half minute before a smooth voice chimed in
from off-stage:
“I’m sure it would be very difficult”, answered Frank
Winter, as he strode confidently onto the press conference stage.
“If I ever actually had to get to inside ‘that thing’.” He added emphasis
to these last words by making quote marks with his fingers in an exaggerated
fashion. The entire audience erupted in laughter except for Turner
who sat down with a chagrined look on his face.
“I guess it IS time
we addressed the question of who Chromium Man is”, continued Winter,
looking at Ferrara who now had a smug smile on his face. “The truth
is the Chromium Man is a robot. And he always has been.”
For the second
time in a few minutes there was nothing but silence.
“So who wants
to see what this bad boy can do?” asked Winter and the silence melted
into a turbulent ovation as Winter led the press to the WinterTech
testing grounds.
From behind a bullet proof glass partition, the various
members of the press watched as Frank Winter demonstrated the abilities
of Chromium Man for the first time in public. Robert Ferrara was still
on hand to make sure that the son of the WinterTech founder didn’t
make any PR gaffs, but it was clear to everyone who was assembled
that this was Winter’s show now. In recent months, tabloids had outted
Frank Winter as Chromium Man but many had rejected the spurious claims
citing that Winter was too irresponsible and immature to masquerade
as the vigilante. Winter had taken the criticism to heart and although
he still enjoyed his fair share of the nightlife and had been voted
one of People Magazine’s Top 50 Sexiest People of 2005 he was making
a concerted effort to buckle down a little and use his considerable
talents for good. As such he had asked his father to make him the
public face of the Chromium Man project, which he had been working
on without the general public knowing anyway. It was ironic considering
the connections that had been drawn between him and Chromium Man even
before his appointment.
Everyone in attendance knew who Frank Winter
was. You couldn’t walk by a newsstand in any city in the world without
seeing his picture on the cover of at least a half dozen magazines.
Ironically though, this was the first time many of them had seen him
in person. Winter’s exploits were usually the milieu of the entertainment
reporters; the members of the press gathered at WinterTech were science
and tech reporters. He was not what they expected him to be. Standing
a little over six feet, Winter was perfectly proportioned for someone
of his height. His build was not overly muscular but one could tell
he worked out just by looking at him. He looked as if he had been
training for the 25 years he had been alive to perform as an Olympic
athlete. He dressed very well but not so well that one might feel
he was flaunting his status. He looked casual in a well-fitted black
suit that would make most other people look stiff and robotic. His
eyes were icy blue, reminiscent of the season from which his family
took its name. His hair was at once both neat and messy. It looked
uncombed but a closer examination revealed that it was carefully combed
to look uncombed. It was a dirty blonde color that the Australians
called “swamp water blonde”. He dripped charisma but not in an unctuous
way. He struck most people as a friendly and polite young man, despite
his reputation, and this impression was mostly accurate. Complementing
his looks was a fierce intelligence that was jarring if one believed
everything that was printed in the tabloids. Many of the reporters
were shocked then when Winter began elucidating the abilities of Chromium
Man from the other side of the glass divider:
“For decades, scientists
and engineers at WinterTech have tried to uncover the secrets of anti-gravity
technology. Chromium Man represents the culminations of almost 70
years of research into this field.”
He gestured to the still rigid
Chromium Man who had followed the reporters in under his own power
but now stood motionless once again a few feet from Winter.
“Chromium
Man’s main offensive and defensive capabilities are granted by an
incredibly small anti-gravitational field that surrounds his body”,
continued Winter. “Chromium Man can selectively activate or deactivate
the field, which acts like a miniaturized version of the Earth’s own
gravitational field, to accomplish a wide variety of tasks. The field
can be used to attract or repel objects of all sizes and is sensitive
enough to be activated over some parts of his body while it’s deactivated
over others. We’ll start by demonstrating his defensive capabilities.”
As he was speaking, some WinterTech technicians had wheeled in a large
crate containing a wide variety of items that the audience could not
see. The technicians left, leaving the featureless training auditorium
empty save Winter, Ferrara and Chromium Man. The reporters continued
to look on in awe as Winter drew a small handgun from the crate and
discharged three rounds at the robotic form in front of him. An instant
before the moment of impact, the three bullets veered sharply and
suddenly in different directions. For a few seconds, they whirled
around Chromium Man as if in orbit and then clattered harmlessly to
the ground.
“Chromium Man’s anti-gravitational field makes him act
as if he were a small planet with variable gravitational forces. In
this instance, the bullets entered an orbit, three orbits actually,
where they remained until all their energy was expended. Once their
destructive potential was neutralized they were dumped to the ground
as you just saw. Chromium Man can defend himself similarly against
most conventional weapons.”
For the next half an hour, Winter pulled
weapon after weapon from the large crate, each of them being used
ineffectively against the armoured hero who barely moved an inch the
whole time. The crowd was rapt as Winter shot Chromium Man with a
shotgun and an Uzi, hit him with a baseball bat and threw a cinder
block at him. He was even able to escape undamaged from a hand grenade
by allowing the grenade to explode and trapping the explosive blast
and the shrapnel in a gravity field until it was spent.
Stepping away
from the box, Winter continued the demonstration:
“By using his field
to nullify gravity around all or part of his body, Chromium Man is
capable of flight”.
With this, Chromium Man stood on his tiptoes and
slowly rose till he was hovering a few feet off the ground.
“Although
his gravity field allows him to counter the force that would keep
him grounded, Chromium Man needs to be propelled to actually fly anywhere.
That’s why we installed these.”
Winter gestured at Chromium Man and
a faint blue energy field began to glow at the soles of his feet.
With a motion like an Olympic speed skater, the metallic figure began
jet all around the testing area.
“We’ve not yet clocked his top speed
but our technicians estimate that Chromium Man may be able to reach
velocities of up to Mach 4.”
“One of the features were most proud
of is Chromium Man’s stealth capabilities”, announced Winter proudly.
“Chromium Man can use his gravitational field to distort light waves
around him, redirected them so that he becomes almost completely invisible.”
Across the room, Chromium Man shimmered for an instant and then disappeared
from view to the delight of the spectators. A few moments later, the
hero came back into view, standing a few feet from Winter and several
yards from his previous position.
“Along the same lines, Chromium
Man can distort forms of energy spanning the entire electromagnetic
spectrum. Chromium Man can distort sound waves to render his movements
utterly silent and can distort other forms of radiation to become
effectively invisible to any known form of detection.”
“I know what
you’re all waiting for,” said Winter, a cool smirk sneaking across
his face. “You’re wondering what kind of offensive capabilities Chromium
Man has. Well who better to show you than Chromium Man himself.”
Winter
and Ferrara stepped away as the lights on the testing area grew dim.
When the room was just shy of pitch black a single spotlight shown
in from above, drawing everyone’s attention to Chromium Man who stood
poised for action. A moment later two more spotlights flicked to life,
each revealing a huge tank-like machine on either side of Chromium
Man that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Frank Winter’s was heard
once again, now booming from a PA system located in the training area:
“Chromium Man’s primary weapon is a focused energy blast. Using his
gravity field, he is constantly absorbing ambient energy. This is
actually the very same energy that powers the construct, meaning Chromium
Man uses a 100% clean and renewable energy source. Some scientists
call this energy ‘zero point energy’. Chromium Man is capable of channelling
this ambient energy into destructive blasts which he can emit from
his hands or fists.”
On cue, the robotic figure bent his knees and
pointed two closed fists at the tank that was directly in front of
him. With a loud shriek, two energy beams fired from his hands, striking
the tank and rocking it backwards, almost flipping it over. The metal
armour on the front of the tank rent and warped and pieces of shrapnel
flew from it, landing a few feet from the hero.
“Chromium Man can
extend his gravity field to a small degree, accelerating small objects
via a “slingshot effect”, to use a term coined by NASA.”
Chromium
Man stooped to the ground and picked up a small piece of shrapnel
left from his previous attack. Holding it in his hand, it began to
quiver as if being pulled on by some outside force. Suddenly it flew
from his hand, punching a hole the size of a basketball in the armour
of the tank.
“Chromium Man can use a similar technique to negate the
gravitational pull on larger objects. He can’t accelerate them but…oh…you’ll
see…”
The hulking robot approached the damaged tank and grabbed it
under its front end with one hand. Lifting with seemingly no effort
whatsoever, he hoisted the 10-ton behemoth over his head.
“It looks
heavy but in his hands it is truly weightless but it will regain its
weight once he takes his hands off of it.”
Chromium Man hurled the
tank across the room as if it were a baseball. It flew through the
air and smashed into the second tank. The mangled wreckage of the
two vehicles slid several yards across the floor before grinding to
a halt.
“Finally, by redirecting his gravitational field at the precise
moment of impact, Chromium Man can strike with the equivalent explosive
energy of several tons of dynamite.”
Chromium Man walked over to the
twisted wreck of the two tanks and struck it with two upraised fists.
With a deafening sound, the hulls of one of the destroyed tanks rent
from the point of impact all the way to the floor before. With this,
the audience once again erupted in a round of applause. The robot
whirled from the wreckage and took an exaggerated and robotic-looking
bow. The lights in the testing area came on full-blast as Frank Winter
strode back out towards the now-motionless Chromium Man. Standing
side-by-side with his armoured creation, he faced the audience, mike
in hand. A Cheshire cat-like grin stretched across his face from ear
to ear as he raised the mike to his mouth:
“Any questions?”
At the
conclusion of the demonstration, Robert Ferrara led the members of
the press out of the testing area and escorted them from the building,
leaving Frank Winter standing alone with Chromium Man.
“Jackson Turner
had a point”, said Alan Blake as he peeled the Chromium Man helmet
from his head. “How DO you breathe in that thing?”
Frank Winter chuckled
softly. “I guess I’m just used to it.”
“I figured with your experience
in the Electrobolt armour that you’d be the ideal choice to man the
armour for this little demonstration,” said Winter to his friend.
“I’m sorry to have made you uncomfortable. I really can’t thank you
enough for helping me out on this.”
“It was really my pleasure, Frank,”
replied Blake. “I remember what it was like to keep a secret identity.
I felt secure revealing my dual identity to the world but I can understand
why you wouldn’t want to. The only thing I don’t get is why you made
up all that stuff about the rogue Chromium Man and the suit being
a robot.”
“Well,” began Winter, “when I first used the Chromium Man
armour to fight crime in Paragon City, I made some mistakes. My methods
were a bit more…harsh…and some of the criminals I went up against
were killed. I was just so angry with the criminals when I got back
from the Middle East that I let my temper get the better of me. It’s
not for me to decide whether these people live or die and I regret
what I did back then.”
“The thing you have to realize is that the
Chromium Man Mk I armour was built to be a weapon of mass destruction;
a tool of war. As I upgraded the armour, I included more and more
less-than-lethal methods of subduing my enemies. With the suit I unveiled
today, the Mk IV, I’ve completely cycled out all of the most deadly
armaments the armour utilized. It’s by far the most advanced of all
my suits but it’s also the safest: both for me and for anyone silly
enough to attack me when I’m wearing it.”
“Do you ever think about
turning yourself in for the crimes you committed in your early days
as Chromium Man?” asked Blake. The question, coming from anyone else,
would’ve been highly insulting to Winter. Blake, however, was one
of Winter’s dearest friends, professionally, socially and heroically
and Winter took no umbrage.
“I have thought about it”, answered Winter,
“but the consequences would be too severe. Not for me but for my family.
All of the Chromium Man armours were designed and created on WinterTech
time with WinterTech money but under the strictest security too. In
the early days, when I was using the armour without permission, my
father had no idea of what I was doing. It wouldn’t be fair to him
or my mother or any of the thousands of people who work for WinterTech
if I were to confess now. If I turned myself in to the police I’d
just end up screwing up more lives than I already have.”
“I think
my best bet is just to let people believe that Chromium Man is now
and always has been a robot. My father’s company has already been
cleared of all the damage I’ve done. As long as I can keep on the
straight and narrow I think I’ll be able to look at myself in the
mirror someday. The least I can do is give something back now by being
an officially sanctioned hero. It’ll be good to do something for the
greater good rather than pursuing my own agenda.”
“I wish you the
best of luck, my friend,” said Blake. He began to remove the armour
piece by piece so that he could return it to its rightful owner.
“Thanks,
Alan. I’m just happy that my armour will be used to do something really
good for once.”
The two men were interrupted by the sound of hard
shoes walking briskly across the testing area’s floor. A WinterTech
lawyer whom Winter did not recognize was hurrying toward them. “Bad
news” was written all over his face.
“Mr. Winter, can I have a word
with you in private” stammered the lawyer. Something was clearly wrong
here.
“It’s okay. Anything you can say to me, you can say in front
of Mr. Blake. What is it?” said Winter.
“Mr. Winter…" the lawyer paused
searching for the right words. “We have a situation…”