It was destiny. My ascension... and your deaths. 
The Authority: Prime #5 is an issue of the series The Authority: Prime (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 2008.
Synopsis for "Breach of Trust, Part 5"
After beating Bendix's team of clones, the Authority and Stormwatch make their way into Henry Bendix's secret bunker. Hawksmoor and King talk about their teams not trusting each other with whatever they may find there, whether it be an immense benefit to the world or its greatest threat. They walk further and find large tubes filled with the bodies of various SPBs, more of Bendix's experiments. In the center of one room they find an energy source. Winter identifies it as one that runs off ambient cosmic energy, something that could have possibly given the world free energy if Bendix hadn't been so intent on making weapons.
After looking some more, they realize that Bendix was running his personal human genome project, mapping human genes so he could find the best way to add superhuman abilities. The main purpose of the bunker was to make superhuman beings. Midnighter brings up that it's probably where he and Apollo were made. This deeply disturbs Apollo, who tells his husband to stop, saying that even if Bendix gave them their powers he didn't make them, they had to come from somewhere else. Jackson agrees with Apollo, saying that he had probably been kidnapped, or an uninformed volunteer. Just then, Fahrenheit finds an old comic book with a woman dressed in black on the cover. Her name is Midnight Rider. King recognizes her and explains that she was a masked adventuress from the 1940s who disappeared after World War II. Midnight Rider's appearance bears a strong resemblance to Midnighter.
This reinforces Midnighter's belief that Bendix made him, specifically from Midnight Rider. Apollo tries to talk him out of that line of thought, reasoning that it does not matter where he came from but just what he is now. But Midnighter is not swayed by Apollo's words as he still wants to know where he came from; he is comfortable with who he is now, but he still wants to know his past life. He even wants Apollo to know his own past as well. Apollo starts to think about it until the A.I. Bendix appears again.
Bendix spouts off possible origins of Midnighter, saying he could be an army recruit, a man with a bad childhood, a mixture of stolen SPB genes, or any number of things. He claims that any of those could be true, but he just doesn't remember which one was Midnighter's history since he never bothered to take note of where his victims came from. All that matters is that he made Midnighter. This provokes Midnighter into fruitlessly attacking the A.I. and Apollo threatens to burn the whole place to the ground. Jackson talks him out of it, saying that there could be things in the bunker capable of benefiting the world.
Just then, Winter tells the others that the power source isn't what it had first seemed. It isn't powering the complex, it is something below it. Fuji rips open the floor and reveals Bendix's body in a tube. The Engineer chimes in with some information she had found. Bendix had cloned himself into a younger body in order to be given superhuman abilities as his older one would burn himself out. Apollo is ready to incinerate it when Rose Tattoo appears. Before everyone can react, Rose opens fire on them. She paralyzes Fuji by clogging bullets into his joints. Jackson orders anyone who isn't bulletproof away and tries to get Hawksmoor to kill her. But Hawksmoor refuses to kill his friend and desperately gets the Engineer to hack the bunker's system to find out what Bendix did to Rose.
After Rose cuts Apollo with her sword, Midnighter tells Hawksmoor that they may have to kill her and he is willing to do this if it has to be done. Hawksmoor contacts the Doctor and Jenny for their help, but they are still busy neutralizing and containing the disasters caused by Bendix. Habib even concurs with Midnighter that Rose must die; she is an immortal spirit given human form, and if she is killed, she will be reborn. Midnighter closes in on Rose and puts her in a choke hold. He gives her a chance or else he will kill her. But right then, the Bendix clone is awakened with superpowers.
Appearing in "Breach of Trust, Part 5"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Midnight Rider (First appearance)
- I.O. (Mentioned only)
- Miles Craven (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue marks the first appearance of Midnight Rider, who later fully appears in the World's End lineup Number of the Beast. Jackson King's explanation about missing superhumans in the aftermath of World War II would be thoroughly revealed in Wildstorm: Revelations and Number of the Beast.
Trivia
- The "geriatric psychos" Midnighter is referring are the Sons of Liberty, who antagonized the Authority in The Authority: Revolution.
See Also