- Think of it this way: a bunch of cavemen see some yuppies race past their campfire in a Hummer 2. Over the next year, they build a covered wagon. It's a lot of labor and it's not fast as a Hummer, but they're a hell of a lot more mobile than the other cavemen. Most importantly, we cavemen built our covered wagon from scratch, whereas those Authority yuppies bought their Hummer and do not have the means to reproduce a new Hummer if they blow a rod or break an axle. And those Yuppies desperately rely on that Hummer.
Stormwatch: Team Achilles #23 is an issue of the series Stormwatch: Team Achilles (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 2004. It was published on June 9, 2004.
Synopsis for "Tending Shoots"
Three hours ago...
Ben Santini has his advance team composed of Jukko Hämäläinen, Buzz Dixon, Galena Golovin, and Charles Pickney to scout the region of the Hallibusker Construction mining base. As the advance team prepares to enter the Project Entry Universe to cross over to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Buzz inquires Santini of whether everyone in the Entry Universe is really dead.
Four weeks ago...
In the Project Entry Universe, Deadhead revived a dead beached whale in which he and along with Sonny Terns and Dhul Fiqar ride on it and escape from their Caribbean island prison. Terns instructs Deadhead to guide the whale to North America. In a week later, the trio reaches Chesapeake Bay and Terns explains that they need to reach Washington.
Three weeks ago...
Meanwhile on the Authority's Carrier, the Engineer and Jack Hawksmoor checks on Baron Chaos, who is recuperating from his wounds inflicted by Santini in Romania. Both Jack and Angela want to question Baron Chaos (whom they are not aware of his identity and actions) on the whereabouts of Team Achilles once he recovers. After they left the room, Baron Chaos woke up. He wanders the corridors of the shift-ship vowing revenge until he is found by a nurse. Chaos covers his face from being seen of his true visage, but the nurse, Mandy, mistakes him for a survivor of Florida and helps him to be dressed and sent back to Earth. They teleport in New York City and Chaos is given the needed necessity provided by Mandy before the two separate on good terms. Chaos later goes to the Romanian embassy, suited back into his armor, and swearing revenge on Team Achilles.
Two weeks ago...
Deadhead has been commanding an undead army in removing the blocked debris from the entrance of the Washington Memorial. Terns explains that like in their Earth, underneath the memorial is a secret rescue bunker for members of Congress and the White House. After clearing the entrance, Terns and Deadhead enter the bunker and find computer equipment complete with a wormhole spy camera that monitors their Earth; Terns also reveals that his government learned of their spying and they deemed them an "imminent threat" in which they retaliated by sending the superhuman Devil to kill them. Terns access the computers that include an interdimensional radio to contact Deadhead's terrorist friends.
Thirteen days ago...
Baron Chaos is met by Deadhead's ally Jumpmaster, who offers an alliance with Chaos to help rescue Deadhead and his allies from the Project Entry Universe and reunite with Citizen Soldier in exchange for eliminating Team Achilles. Baron Chaos accepts and lays out an incisive plan for Santini.
Three hours ago...
Golovin and Pickney entered the Project Entry Universe but couldn't find an exit portal to the Congo. Pickney then notices something and signals Golovin to what he sees. Elsewhere, Buzz and Jukko likewise find an absent exit portal. Jukko later feels and detects two people over yonder and suspects them to be missing members of the mercenaries hired by Hallibusker. He and Buzz rush over to only find Deadhead with an army of undead mercenaries and the unconscious forms of Golovin and Pickney.
Appearing in "Tending Shoots"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Mandy
Antagonists:
- Baron Chaos
- Sonny Terns
- Deadhead
- Dhul Fiqar
- Jumpmaster
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Magnetic North Pole
- The Bleed
- New York City
- Project Entry Universe
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This was the final issue of Stormwatch: Team Achilles. Issue #24 was solicited, but canceled after it was revealed that writer Micah Ian Wright had lied about his military service. Wright's revised script for issue #24 is available online. The team would not reappear until 2009 as part of the World's End backup stories.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Stormwatch: Team Achilles series
- Images from Stormwatch: Team Achilles Vol 1 23