Henry Fusion dug into his drum kit for the big transition back from the bridge
to the main tune, never missing a beat. In these heady moments in the middle of
a song, he always had the time of his life. He and his friends called their
band Nuclear Synthesis, and playing this kind of jazz-rock fusion music with
them was the best decision he'd ever made.
It almost made him overlook how lousy the turnout was at this venue. This was
the grand opening of Chef Chian's new upscale Asian fusion restaurant,
right here in the heart of New York City! And right now, in the fall of 1986,
Chef Chian was at the peak of his fame. His TV cooking show drew in more
viewers than Julia Childs. A celebrity chef like him should've packed the
house, but instead, more than half the tables lay empty. Sure, the clientele
that was there were dressed pretty upscale, though Henry suspected that
their upscale-ness had been acquired by . . . questionably-legitimate
means. Hmph. He could've been "upscale" like that, too, if he'd taken
his father up on his offer.
But if he had, he wouldn't be up here on stage pounding out sick beats with his
friends.
A quiet passage in the music came up. It would only last a few seconds, but in
that brief time Henry only needed to use the drum brush on one of his suspended
cymbals. That left his other hand free to sip his drink. Scotch and soda,
compliments of the house. Never, ever pass up a free Scotch and soda.
Then the faster, louder verse resumed, and Henry dove into the finale. Maybe
this gig wouldn't be so bad.
Or maybe, it would be a hell of a lot worse.
Both front doors crashed open, and a small swarm of men in business suits
stormed in, each of them brandishing a pistol. Mobsters. Henry, and the rest of
the band, stopped playing instantly. The big gangster at the front of the
intruders called out, "No funny business and nobody gets hurt!"
Then, to the surprise of both the band and the new intruders, one of the
clientele at the tables stood up and shouted, "You! Get 'em!"
Half of the rest of the clientele started pulling out guns of their own. Oh
gods, Henry thought, a rival gang! A shot rang out — a
loud one. Henry couldn't tell who fired. It didn't matter, because
nearly every gun in the room erupted. Their concert venue was now a free-fire
zone. It was impossible to hear anything other than the deafening pops and
bangs of pistols and revolvers. Henry instinctively dropped his drumsticks and
ran for cover behind the bar — but not before picking up his drink again.
Gunfight or no, he was not going to let a good highball go to waste.
One of Henry's bandmates — the bassist — managed to make it behind
the bar with him. The other two were out on the floor, cowering behind a table.
More shots kept ringing out. Then came a lull in the gunfire. Was the shooting
over? Henry cautiously peeked over the bar — and another gunshot parted
his hair. Yikes! He yanked his head down between his knees and
instinctively covered it with his arms.
More gunfire. He'd have to wait it out, and hope the only people these gangs
wanted to kill was each other. This was worse than that gig in the Bronx last
February. One of the gangsters tried to yell something over the din of the
guns. What did he say? "Time to try the experiment"? That couldn't be right.
There was no way Henry could hear anything clearly, with his ears still
ringing from the gunfire. Then more gunshots, and more yelling.
Between the roar of the guns, and the commotion, and his fear for his life,
there was no chance for Henry to notice the tiny capsule that arced over the
bar and landed right in his Scotch and soda.
The main character in this story is based on a Champions™ character that
Michael Gersten created in the wake of Back to the Future in 1985.
Here is this character's character
sheet.
Stuff I intend to have happen in this story:
Back story. Henry Fusion was born to the rich and powerful Fusion family,
but until his teen years he didn't know what that really meant. Then, his
father told him about his family's power. He could join the family business
and become rich, or go off and have fun with his friends; he chose the
latter.
While playing with his band at the grand opening of a celebrity asian
fusion restaurant in New York City in 1986, gangsters bust in and gunshots ring
out. Henry and his band dive for cover behind tables/the bar. He still manages
to hold onto his drink, because hey, free drink. A rival gang is already there
at the restaurant, with guns of their own. Henry sticks his head out to see
what's going on and a gunshot parts his hair.
In all the commotion, Henry doesn't notice a pill flying through the air
which lands in his drink. He drinks it without realizing it. As he and his
bandmates crawl their way to the rear exit, he starts to feel weird.
They make it outside, and Henry discovers he's hovering on a column of
nuclear fusion exhaust. One of the goons backs out of the rear exit, and in
a panic, Henry blasts him with a nuclear fusion blast from his hands, sending
the goon flying back in through the exit door. His bandmates are amazed at this
newfound power of his, but Henry decides he needs to keep it a secret from the
rest of the world.
The next day, Henry fashions a super-hero costume for himself and goes out
in disguise to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way or whatever.
Soon, a no-good New York City purse snatcher is caught and taken down by a new
nuclear-fusion-powered super-hero, who calls himself ... Mister Fusion!
Meanwhile, it turns out the raid on the restaurant was orchestrated by none
other than Henry's own father. He'd been keeping tabs on his son, so he knew
he'd be performing there, so he'd given instructions to his goons not to shoot
up the band. This was why it had been so easy for them to escape. The pill that
landed in Henry's drink was an experimental fusion capsule, which should have
blown anyone who ingested it to bits. His people figure that this new Mr.
Fusion character must have absconded with this fusion pill, which would mean he
was someone at the venue that night. They might not know precisely which
someone it was, but the list of people that were there that night isn't
large.
Mr. Fusion interacts with another super-hero from the Roger M. Wilcox and
Michael Gersten Super-Hero Universe™ — I haven't decided which one
yet — and the two of them do some detective work and discover that his
dad is planning some big no-good operation. The experimental fusion capsules
are part of it. The other super-hero suggests they might be part of a huge
behind-the-scenes organization called the Honeycomb. If the Illuminati are
pulling the strings from behind the scenes, the Honeycomb is pulling the
Illuminati's strings from even more behinder the scenes. No, really,
trust me. Honeycomb's big.
Big showdown happens between Henry's dad's operation and Mr. Fusion. (With
Mr. Fusion getting some help from the other super-hero, but Mr. Fusion is the
one in the spotlight.) Henry's dad's goons try to blow him up with fusion
capsules, but quickly discover that Mr. Fusion simply absorbs the energy to
recharge his power reserves. Then a Big Bad supervillain shows up on the side
of Henry's dad, and the two heroes must somehow take him down. Said taking
down ensues.
Defeated, Mr. Fusion looms over his dad (who has no idea that this new
costumed super-hero is his son) and says "How could you!" He answers that it's
how the game is played, how it's always been played — you strike, or you
get struck. Also, he's never heard of something called the Honeycomb; it's
just another harebrained conspiracy theory.
Mr. Fusion lays somewhat low over the next few years, which is why Wo-Man
didn't know about him in 1989 when fighting aliens that were vulnerable to
fusion energy.