They tried to kill us? They knew we were in the Brazilian office and they tried to shoot us from space? They killed what, five hundred people in the hopes of getting us? 
Planetary #24 is an issue of the series Planetary (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2006. It was published on January 18, 2006.
Synopsis for "Planetary Systems"
The Drummer and Jakita Wagner are in the Brazilian Planetary office to confront Elijah Snow. Drums tell Snow what he has been up to, including Snow's recent reviews of files dealing with Ambrose Chase's death, The Four's trip into the bleed, and Science City Zero. As Snow leads Drums and Jakita to the sub-basement of the building, he announces that he did tortured William Leather.
Snow then begins to connect the dots for Drummer and Jakita. He mentions his recent meeting with Melanctha, where he found out that he is not technically human, but rather a soulless being of great power, part of a system created by the universe to do a specific job. Snow already knew of his status as a Century Baby, and was obviously aware of his powers, but realized from that encounter that he represented one of the universe's protective systems. Snow goes on to describe another protective system, one controlled by the "informational underspace" of the universe - to all intents and purposes, the afterlife. He describes this system's interaction with our world as one where the system selects someone who died an unjust death, and therefore understands justice, betrayal, and loss, to live on in ghostly form to right wrongs and attempt to give the rest of existence the chance to do better. He lists Shek Chi-Wai and John Leather as examples. Thus, Snow see himself, Drums, and Jakita are here together for a reason.
Snow then reveals to a shocked Jakita that her biological father was Lord Blackstock, another Century Baby, and that her powers are not the biological fluke she had always thought them to be. He also tells her that her mother was Snow's first true love, a denizen of Opak-Re. Why Snow is telling this to Jakita is because the time for secrets and mysteries has past.
Snow goes on to explain The Four and their motivations following from what he had learned from William Leather's interrogation. Randall Dowling's life has always been finding ways to gain the abilities comparable to those possessed by the beings who serve as the universe's protective systems, and then locking them away or killing them. This is also why Dowling chose to leave Planetary alive: Planetary is adept at finding the hidden secrets of the world and protecting them, thus making it easier for Dowling to steal those discoveries and keeping track of Planetary's movement. When Planetary becomes too disruptive and dangerous, he seeks to hobble them by selectively removing certain members. Ambrose Chase's death is one harsh example.
Snow explains that he figured out that it was his predictability that allowed The Four to catch him as they did. He tells Drums and Jakita that the change in his behavior has been a deliberate effort to become a more effective opponent of The Four, and cites Jacob Greene's exile from the Solar System and the abduction and torture of William Leather as examples of this behavior. Snow concludes his near-monologue by explaining that his task as a Century Baby is to save things, just as he did with Jakita and Drums, and he intends to do the same with Ambrose Chase. He believes Chase is not really dead as he had found a way to shunt himself into a place where he would not die. This makes it his mission to stop The Four, both because they get in the way of Snow's task to save things, and because Snow believes The Four possess the science and technology he will need to save Chase.
Just as Snow made his declaration, an energy beam from an orbital death ray, directed by the remainder of The Four, destroys the Planetary building down below street level, killing everyone inside. Snow, The Drummer and Jakita survive the attack due to the basement's bunker-like structure. They emerge to the surface and are left shocked by the devastation and deaths. Jakita and Drums are now furious and determined to stop The Four with Snow declaring that the game is afoot. But this time, Snow swears that there are no more time for games at all.
Appearing in "Planetary Systems"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Four (Behind the scenes)
- Randall Dowling (Flashback only)
- Kim Süskind (Flashback only)
- William Leather (Flashback only)
- Jacob Greene (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
- Lord Blackstock (In a photograph only)
- Anaykah (In a photograph only)
- Ambrose Chase (Flashback only)
- Dead Ranger (John Leather) (Flashback only)
- Bret Leather (Flashback only)
Locations:
Items:
- Planetary Guide (First full appearance)
Notes
- This issue is collected in Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology.
- The Drummer states that the death ray is the same weapon that destroyed the secret island civilization in Planetary #10.
See Also