This character holds a special place in my heart because he’s loosely based on a character from what may well have been the first story I ever wrote, way back when I was about 9 or 10.
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Teenager Jackson Edge was one of a few dozen humans abducted by a group of alien scientist and thieves known as the Qaari. (Talon, Freebird and Goldhawk were also among their number) The Qaari were fascinated by human biology and conducted a series of experiments on their captives which included attempts to graft alien technology to the human body. Only Jack, who the Qaari designated Subject Zero, proved physically compatible with the technology. The Qaari attached a device to the humans spine which burrowed it’s way into his body and bonded with his spine. The device, with a built in artificial intelligence began to alter the boy from the inside out. The Qaari hoped this device and others like it would allow them to control certain humans, with plans to use them on the superhuman population of Earth and take control of the planet. But they hadn’t counted on Jackson being able to override the devices control.
With the added strength, durability and agility that the device now attached to his spine gave him, Jackson managed to rescue the other captives and escape, inadvertently releasing the Qaari’s horde of stolen tech into the atmosphere. The chaos of this escape caused catastrophic damage to the Qaari ship, forcing it to crash on the Earth’s surface.
In the aftermath of the crash, the surviving Qarri fled, taking with them whatever equipment they could. Jackson, unable to free himself of the alien tech, instead decided to learn from it. The devices artificial intelligence, which still referred to him as Subject Zero, begrudgingly helped him understand how it worked and helped him figure out the other pieces of technology he had stolen during his escape.
Jack learned the the Qaari now wanted him dead. He had a target on his head and some very pissed off aliens on his tail.
He also learned that the alien tech had begun falling to earth and those who found it were causing chaos, either accidentally or on purpose. Jack believed this was his fault as he had been the one who caused the Qaari ship to crash in the first place. So he resolved to find as much of this alien technology as possible and store it away some place where no one could misuse it. Unfortunately the Qaari too were searching for their missing tech and weren’t going to be as nice about retrieving it as Jack was.
This led to a series of encounters with the Qaari and a number of other individuals that had acquired the lost tech. Jack proved himself to be a hero on a number of occasions as he continually foiled the plans of the Qaari. Eventually rumours began to swirl about the mysterious “Subject Zero”.
The young hero Talon eventually took note of these rumours, remembering the stranger who rescued him from the Qaari ship, and began a search for his rescuer. It turned out though that Subject Zero found Talon first. He mistakenly believed that Talon and his former partners Freebird and Goldhawk were misusing the alien technology they had acquired. Jack had heard of a conflict between the trio and a well known politician that resulted in the collapse of a building and several people being hospitalized. He believed Talon and his friends were masked villains who had deliberately destroyed the building. But he didn’t realize that the politician was actually Freebird’s father, a corrupt and cruel man who secretly funded a group of masked villains. It had been these villains that cause the building to collapse. Had it not been for Talon and his friends, their would have been a lot more casualties.
Subject Zero and Talon fought. Jack was intent on retrieving the alien tech Talon used. But Talon more than held his own in the fight and eventually managed to convince Subject Zero that he wasn’t a threat after an attack by the Qaari forced the two to work together. Talon told Jack that he was using the devices to help people, as best he could. Jack decided to give Talon the benefit of the doubt, despite the protests of the A.I, which he had christened “Dave”. He would give Talon time to prove that he was using the tech the way he said. The two have since become good friends and Jack has joined Talon on the unofficial team of young heroes known as The Lost Boys.
Subject Zero may well need the help of his new friends soon. The Qaari are still out there. And they’re about to step up their game.
