"Behold! Mr. Satellite!"


I couldn't help it. Every time I encountered him that's what was proclaimed inside my head. In a loud, boisterous, circus ring leader's voice. Declared, in the sort of manner that would be done, when such a person made the announcement to the crowd, calling attention to the next performer or act. This is the first time I vocalized it out loud and yes, I did my best to stay true to how it sounded in my head. My antics didn't seem to bother him or sway him from what he was doing though.


Which to me, looked like he was turning a dial on a huge machine. Accompanying the dial, were several blinking lights, a row of buttons and an LCD screen that seemed to have an overhead shot of planet earth displayed on it. Accenting this picture was about a dozen or more, red dots or pinpoints, littered all over the globe. The majority of them were flashing but a few of them were a solid glowing red. I'm not sure what differentiated the two. Every once and awhile, Satellite would hit a button on the machine and a feed of paper would stream out of a slot on the side. He would look at it, nod as he read whatever was printed on the paper and then go back to turning the knob. The scene, could have been stock footage from an old black and white science fiction film and I would still feel just as lost as I would be while watching it on television, compared to how I was currently feeling in regards to observing it now, in real life. I had no idea what was going on and I literally, just let myself into my father's tower. Excellent. This was already shaping up to be a productive visit.


We... meaning myself, my brothers and everyone else that enlisted their services to track down Azrael, started using his tower as a sort of base of operations, so to speak. Working out of his laboratory mostly. Ezra and a couple of the other tech geeks that my father had befriended, set up shop there, taking it upon themselves to put to use some of his inventions, in the hopes that would aid our mission. On top of that, it was decided that Mr. Satellite would stick around for awhile, in order to aid us in our quest. It made sense because who else better suited to find Azrael, than a past version of himself. At least it made sense to the nerd crew, everyone else just sort of went along with it. Personally, I found it to be a rather peculiar decision but if this is what it took to find my dad, then I would simply have to power through it. With an unfaltering sense of humor and an abundant supply of marijuana.


Turning around, I decided to find Ezra, in the haphazard, mechanical jungle that was my father's laboratory and get an update on what was going on. I also wanted to tell him about Maxwell Maximus showing up at my place unannounced. That whole situation really unnerved me. However, as soon as I turn around, I practically trip over Mr. Satellite's robot cause it's standing right behind me.


- "Behold! Donovan Blackwater!"


I tilt my head and look over at Mr. Satellite, catching him nonchalantly placing the robot's remote control down. He briefly sets his sights on me and then shrugs. If I could see his face, I'm certain the same mischievous smirk, that I've seen plastered on my father's face a thousand times, would be present. Which would only make sense considering they were both the same being. Still, it was hard to picture the man that I had come to know and this... space oddity, being one and the same. To think this was how my father used to be. Strange.


"They say imitation is the highest form of flattery."


Smirking, I fire up a cigarette and sidestep the robot.


"You should watch where you park your robot. I doubt you'll have an easy time communicating with others... if it suddenly met with an unfortunate collision, with the wall."


With a slight wave of my hand the robot teeters back and forth, before soaring off towards the wall. Hitherto the impact, it stops short and I snicker.


- That would be most unfortunate.


The robot bobs and shakes its head about, rolling away from the wall it settles itself in an unoccupied spot near Mr. Satellite and stays there. Almost like a child running off to hide by a parent. Except this was a robot and a one armed alien, wearing a long black cloak, with a burlap sack over his head, that had one single, solitary, eye-hole. Why was there only one? I know he's got two eyes. It was bizarre but when it came to Satellite, that was simply a drop in the ocean. To think, I came from that. It was mind boggling. Truly.


"Donovan."


My attention was instantly drawn to my brother Ezra's voice, coming from the other side of the laboratory. Following the sound, I navigated myself through the mysterious, labyrinth that was my father's laboratory and walked over to meet him. Stationed at a computer, that looked like my father must have constructed it himself, Ezra gazed up at me from behind his black framed glasses. My brother has always had the innate ability to either look like he was about to teach a course in community college or he was some sort of agoraphobic, shut in that lived in the same clothes for months at a time. Currently he was verging on the latter.


"What's going on?"


"Only the most amazing breakthrough ever. Thanks to our father from the past."


"Don't do that."


"What?"


I take a drag from my cigarette.


"Don't call him that. Just say Mr. Satellite. It's weird enough knowing that he's technically our father, that our dad was him at one point. You don't really need to bring it up all the time."


"I brought it up once."


"Today."


Exhaling a cloud of smoke, I run a hand back through my hair and sigh.


"Someone's in a mood."


"Yeah, well... I have good reason to be in one."


"Did something happen?"


Another pull from my cigarette.


"Tell me your thing first and then I'll get into it."


"Alright."


Ezra leaned back in his chair, extending his legs outward a bit as he slouched downward.


"Our father from th... Mr. Satellite, suggested we do a broad spectrum scan of the entire planet. Using his DNA to target beings with the same genetic coding."


My eyes widened as I released a puff of smoke and I pointed over to Satellite. Still standing by that machine.


"Is that what he's doing? Are all those red dots, genetic matches?"


Momentarily glancing over towards Satellite, Ezra laughed and then redirected his attention back to me.


"No. That's something else we're working on."


"Oh so... you're done? You found our father? He's home, safe and secure, right? Cause that's the only reason you should be picking up side projects."


"Technically, our father is in this room already."


"Yeah, technically, I could give a shit. But I don't. That man over there by that machine, might be Azrael from the past but to me, he might as well be a total stranger cause that's not the Azrael that I know. The Azrael that I know is missing, trapped inside the mind of some mystery being. So finding that individual is my main concern. It should be the same for you."


"Oh geez. Relax. It's my main concern too."


"It doesn't feel like that."


"Well, it is. The whole reason I called you over to me was to tell you that we found a match."


"You did?"


"Yep. More than one actually. Three total."


"Three?"


"Uh-huh. Three. Two of which, are right here in New York and both seem to be employed with the XWF."


"Are you serious?"


"As a heart attack, brother."


"So who are they?"


"Well, the first of the two living here in New York is a guy by the name of Oliver Last. He fought awhile back, wrestled against Zane Norrison and Mick Ashcroft. He lost that fight and no one's heard from him since. Griffin MacAlister is actually following up on that lead. He's supposed to text me when he makes contact and let me know what he thinks of the situation. The other match belongs to a woman, named Rocket."


"A woman. You really, honestly believe that our father, hid himself away inside a lady's mind? That somewhere out there, there's a woman, with all of Azrael's memories and stories, locked away inside her head?"


"It's possible. He did say that it could be a man or a woman."


"You don't think that maybe he said that to throw any unwanted parties off the scent?"


"Maybe. Except it kinda seems like that would be the precise thing that he would purposefully aim to do, on the pretense that most people would assume otherwise. Primarily based on the memory of that fiasco that went on a while back. Where Vinnie Lane was calling him genderless and he was forced into a match that seen him winning the Bombshell championship. It was common knowledge that he was pretty annoyed about that, so I'd gather most folks would recall that happening and assume he would avoid using a female host. When that's logically the one that makes the most sense."


"Alright. Lets say you're correct. That Azrael is really Rocket. Then who or what are the other two beings and why do they match up with him genetically?"


"I don't know. More siblings, perhaps? Nieces? Nephews? You, me and Raph, came up on the scan, along with our sister, Lila and your son. So that proves that the scan doesn't merely pick up on direct, identical matches, it will also supply beings that share the genetic coding, such as children or grandchildren would match up. We won't know for certain, not till we check up on each lead and determine for ourselves. There's something else though. This girl. Rocket. Not only did Azrael meet her at some dive, truck stop, diner but he made sure that she got a job with the XWF. And get this... this diner, it's ironically a few miles out from Roswell, New Mexico. Talk about signs, am I right?"


"Interesting."


"So that's it. Granted, I haven't figured out who I should send off to talk to Rocket yet, I'm sure I'll resolve that issue eventually. It would have to be someone charming and witty, who could engage her without freaking her out or scaring her off. Someone that could easily and nonchalantly strike up a conversation with her, while determining if she's the one we're looking for without her becoming suspicious that something unusual is going on."


"Shut up. I'll do it."


"Fantastic. I'll text you the address, you can leave now."


"Hang on... hang on, don't you want to know what I was going to share?"


"Is it super important? Cause the sooner we follow up on this lead, the better."


"I guess not. Do me a favor though. Set up someone to keep eyes on Abigail and Arkin, just in case. Better safe than sorry, you know? Since I'll be off tracking down Rocket."


"Can do. Actually, I think Rebel was on her way over to your place anyway, her and Abigail have been becoming pretty close."


Taking a final drag from my cigarette, I die it out in an ashtray laying on the desk next to Ezra and proceed to exit the laboratory.


"That'll do pig, that'll do."


"Did you just quote Babe at me?"


I hear the laughter in his question and say nothing, I simply push through the door and leave. And yes, I did quote Babe at him.

Donovan Blackwater
Former 1x...