Luckily for our side, for every Grendel, there's a Beowulf. 
Stormwatch: Team Achilles #21 is an issue of the series Stormwatch: Team Achilles (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 2004. It was published on April 14, 2004.
Synopsis for "Family Trademark"
Gauserand de Montpesant de Molay is outraged over Giovanni Medici's death at Ben Santini's hands and Santini's demands to bring him back to life. But Santini coerces Gauserand to revive Medici under threat of death. Gauserand does so and Medici comes back to life before demanding Santini for his violent approach. Santini then reveals to Gauserand that Medici is an associate of the Knights of Malta, Gauserand and the Templars' enemies. Medici panics and pleads with Gauserand by claiming that the Maltese made him spy on Gauserand. But Gauserand doesn't believe him and he drains Medici's life force and leaves him a shriveled skeleton. Gauserand then demands if there are any more traitors in his midst, in which Avi Barak helps him to identify some of the Priory members to be traitors. In short order Gauserand kills them. He then apologizes to Santini for everything earlier and Santini in turn apologizes for doubting his power. Before Gauserand leaves for safer grounds, he offers Team Achilles permanent employment if they succeed in their assignment: to eliminate his brother.
Santini and Barak leave the restaurant and discuss what happened. It is revealed the "traitors" were really the most loyal followers of Gauserand as Santini wanted to isolate and easily control Gauserand. Santini also doubts Gauserand's divinity but sees him as another S.P.B. who he and his family had been manipulating humanity for the past millennium. While he doesn't like working with Gauserand, he wants a way to make him work for Team Achilles.
The next morning, Santini, Flint, Golovin, Pickney, and Tefibi spies on the impenetrable island home of Gauserand's brother, Juan Jose Camino Santiago Javier Marticorena y Cajal. Tefibi explains that Juan is not actually de Molay's brother but a distant cousin in which their family bloodline divided in 1415 after the Battle of Agincourt, and the feud between de Molay and Juan to be an ancient family blood feud. Seeing no other way to breach the island, Santini then plots on bringing Juan out to the open by arranging a "family get together."
Santini and Tefibi meet with Gauserand and explain their plan that Marticorena y Cajal must be drawn out by having Gauserand baiting himself in the open. Gauserand agrees with their strategy. Santini then arranged a filmed recorded message showing him holding Gauserand hostage to be sent to Marticorena y Cajal with instructions to the letter. Tefibi deliver the tape through the Doge's Palace's letterbox as per instructed by Santini. Tefibi returns to Santini to inform this development, but interrupts Santini's moment with Flint. After an awkward moment, Tefibi tells him that Marticorena y Cajal's boat has left his island and heading for Venice.
The next day at the Piazza San Marco, and it is the Carnival of Venice, as Santini, Flint, and Tefibi are dressed in Venetian costume to meet Marticorena y Cajal while Golovin and Pickney are in sniper position on the bell tower. The three meet Marticorena y Cajal, who knows they were hired by de Molay to kill him. Santini wants to know why de Molay wants him dead in which Marticorena y Cajal explains that it is all about their power.
According to Marticorena y Cajal, each generation of the Merovingian family, one male is born with the power of Christ, halving that family's power until the father dies. When England invaded France during the Hundred Years' War, the Merovingian family became split when two heirs were born and each with half the power of Christ. Since that time, the Merovingians and their wealthy enablers, the Priory of Sion, have sought to eliminate Marticorena y Cajal's family in order to concentrate that power back within one power. Gauserand had started his move against Marticorena y Cajal beginning last month after his father died recently and his powers passed to de Molay, making him twice as powerful. Furthermore, neither de Molay and Marticorena y Cajal has a son and the Pope is in poor health, de Molay saw this an opportunity to assimilate Marticorena y Cajal's power and giving him the chance of assuming the Holy See and unifying the world's Christian faiths as the natural heir to Christ
Marticorena y Cajal cannot allow de Molay's plan to happen as it would be disastrous for mankind. After hearing this, Santini brings out a tied and gagged de Molay, and gives Marticorena y Cajal the chance to kill his cousin. Surprisingly, however, Marticorena y Cajal chose to let him live and release him far away from him. He then leaves. After Marticorena y Cajal left, the captive de Molay is revealed to be a disguised Alias. Santini decides not to kill Marticorena y Cajal because he takes his family heritage more seriously than the Merovingians, and is now firmly believed that he made a wrong deal with de Molay.
Santini and his team soon confront de Molay, who expects them to have Marticorena y Cajal. He then asks de Molay the same question he gave to Marticorena y Cajal, in which he explains that he does want Marticorena y Cajal's power and claims that his cousin refuses to use it "properly." Santini then puts out the same ruse with Alias as he did with Marticorena y Cajal, but de Molay is not fooled by this as he can sense his cousin's power and he is somewhere nearby. Santini then realizes that Marticorena y Cajal had manipulated them before calling the snipers to spot and kill Marticorena y Cajal, but the ringing bells of the bell tower are preventing the snipers from hearing Santini. Marticorena y Cajal suddenly appears behind de Molay and kills him, absorbing his powers.
Team Achilles goes on the attack on Marticorena y Cajal but he is too powerful and immune to their bullets. Just as Marticorena y Cajal tells Santini to kneel before his god, a man in a suit suddenly and fatally punches his fist through Marticorena y Cajal's chest and takes out his heart. The man takes his helmet off and reveals himself to a stunned Santini to be Giant, who is now working for a big corporation and going by his new alias "Hallibastard".
Appearing in "Family Trademark"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Giant
- Giovanni Basilio Medici (Dies)
- Gauserand de Montpesant de Molay (Dies)
Antagonists:
- Juan Jose Camino Santiago Javier Marticorena y Cajal (Dies)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Stormwatch: Team Achilles series
- Images from Stormwatch: Team Achilles Vol 1 21