Stormwatch: Post Human Division #15 is an issue of the series Stormwatch: Post Human Division (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 2008.
Synopsis for the 1st Story
Somewhere in Seattle, Jon Drake, field commander of the British unit The Establishment, is being hunted by techno-organic hybrids from the Church of Gort. They are after a HALO Battery he has and intend to kill him to get it. Fortunately, Drake has a stolen distress code for Stormwatch which he uses. Shortly after, Stormwatch Team Omega and Alpha show up and rescue him, forcing the remaining hybrids to flee. Drake demands to see Jackson King at once claiming he has important information.
Meanwhile, The High is in Finland delivering refugees to the area protected by the Masking Wall. After dropping off one group of refugees, he sets off to find more.
On Skywatch III, King and Christine Trelane continue to discuss the growing problem of overpopulation concerning the refugees on the station. Christine once again suggests talking to the Authority and asking for their help but King is hesitant because of the Authority's status and their reputation, fearing that they will seize Skywatch III by force. Before it can be discussed further, Jackson and Christine meet with Jon Drake. He tells them about the Soviet Science Cities and relays the history of these places used for experimentation and weapon development.
The Science Cities operated on a mandate outside and above the Kremlin and KGB, and were believed to have originated as far back during the time of Ivan the Terrible and the Oprichnina. The first dedicated facility was built in Siberia in 1908 where they opened a breech into the Breed and inadvertently created the Tunguska event. It was also believed the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin was a psychic byproduct of the Science Cities. By the time the Communists came into power, the Science Cities flourished in which pioneering alien and esoteric branches were all run by human miseries; prisoners of war, dissidents, radicals and those deemed as a threat to the Soviet state became unwilling test subjects. By the 1980s, the Soviet government could not afford to run the Science Cities and had them decommissioned.
Drake informs them that one such facility still exists on Wrangel Island after he was contacted two months ago by his old friend Colonel Yvgeny Strelenkov, the garrison commander of the facility. That Science City houses a weapon known as a War Golem, a revenge weapon constructed with similarities to Jack Hawksmoor's physiology but on an industrial scale. The War Golem is totally automated and is designed to activate when it detects doomsday-like conditions, and its sole objective is to completely wipe out the opposing country: the United States of America. Drake fears that Earth's post-apocalyptic conditions may have already awakened the weapon and he needs Stormwatch's help to shut it down.
Appearing in the 1st Story
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Church of Gort
- Diesel
- Fly-Eye (Destroyed)
- Mack (Destroyed)
- War Golem (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Jenny Sparks (Flashback only)
- Jack Hawksmoor (Flashback only)
- Grigori Rasputin (Flashback only)
Locations:
- Earth-50
- Seattle, Washington
- Skywatch III
- Finland
Items:
- HALO Battery
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Slayton: Gauntlet - Chapter 4"
Marc Slayton realizes that he will not make it to the hatch before the explosives he set to detonate. He braces for the explosion but none comes. He deduces that one of the creatures may be intelligent enough to have disarmed the explosives. He decides to increase the oxygen levels in the facility and ignite them with a spark. As he tries to finally exit the facility, the creature that disarmed the bomb reveals itself and uses its mental powers to freeze Slayton. But Slayton has one trick left up his sleeve as he activates his energy whips and ignites the oxygen causing the facility to go up in a ball of fire.
After narrowly surviving the blast, Slayton sets out to find out what caused the facility to shut down in the first place. He sees a ruined city in the distance and then sees the message indicator on his hand from John Lynch. He realizes that the end of the world has come and decides to answer Lynch's call.
Appearing in "Slayton: Gauntlet - Chapter 4"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Jodi Slayton (Mentioned only)
- John Lynch (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is collected in the Stormwatch PHD: World's End trade.
- Jon Drake last appeared in The Establishment #13.
- Jackson King recalls Jenny Sparks and Jack Hawksmoor having previously visited a Soviet Science City, in which their involvement was first shown in Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority #3.
- Slayton: Gauntlet continues from Gen 13 (Volume 4) #23 and is concluded in this issue.