Kevin Parry is a leading edge research and developer for the Department of Science and Technology Laboratories for the Department of Defence.
Brought up in Middlebury (Vermont) where both parents are dead in a car crash (car crashed through barriers on a stormy night and ended up in a river). Sister Linda still lives there where she is a lecturer at Middlebury college in History & Sociology.
Educated at MIT and shared a room with Rory an English Major who is now the editor of the Knight City Herald, one of the major newspapers in Knight City. They remain firm friends.
During his time in MIT he was rivals with a Rob (studying Physics) for a girl called Sally where both were unsuccessful in gaining her affection. The rivalry ended up with a few fights at the time and there is always an undercurrent of tension when they meet. Rob went on to set up a small scientific start-up but has not been seen for many years.
Kevin moved to Knight City after graduating at MIT and lived in a small apartment in the Irish district. One night while staggering home after a few too many beers he was set upon by group of youths, beaten and robbed. Over the next year he found out which gang was responsible, The Shamrock Diaries and hunted them down one by one and beat them up. This got the attention of the local police especially Ted who took a dim view of this sort of activity by civilians. The gang eventually went underground with some talk of drug & tech connections and Ted and Kevin still meet for a beer occasionally.
 |
| Kevin Parry |
His research has not always gone smoothly while researching pico absorption rays there was an accident, which killed one of his lab assistants. Although completely cleared by the investigation the father of the lab assistant (Jon) never forgave Kevin. He followed & threatened Kevin and eventually had a restraining order placed on him to stay away. He ignored this order and was due to to be charged when he skipped bail.
Eventually caught he was sentenced to two years in prison. He apparently still lives in Knight City.
Eventually caught he was sentenced to two years in prison. He apparently still lives in Knight City.
Distraught with the accident, Kevin undertook his own investigation in to what happened. His investigation pointed to faulty shielding provided by the multinational Delta Vee Industries. While preparing a case against them the main evidence disappeared without trace. Nothing could be proved but Kevin hasn't forgotten.
While working on muscle augmentation research he became firm friends with Kimberley. Kimberley is a small pugnacious female Green Beret (currently most highly decorated female Green Beret). Kevin never talks about the time Kimberley was seconded to the project but has been known to smile when she is mentioned.
Every day for the last ten years during his run to work, Kevin has bought his coffee from a small Starbucks near work. During this time he has always chatted with Manuel about what was going on in Knight City. Manuel is always full of gossip and news about the city. Some of it is even true.
Kevin's work on Bionics and body modification was achieving breakthrough after breakthrough with the prototypes achieving amazing changes. One evening during a terrible storm, Kevin had just started to run home when there was a huge explosion in one of the nearby research buildings, Building 21.
Kevin rushed in to help to find all the scientists apparently unhurt but unconscious / asleep, very restless with lots of crying out and mumbling incoherently. In the centre of the room was a ball of spinning darkness with dark flashes coming out in all directions.
Kevin approached the ball when the storm increased and lightning struck the building causing the spinning black ball to suddenly grow, enveloping Kevin and then to explode.
Kevin rushed in to help to find all the scientists apparently unhurt but unconscious / asleep, very restless with lots of crying out and mumbling incoherently. In the centre of the room was a ball of spinning darkness with dark flashes coming out in all directions.
Kevin approached the ball when the storm increased and lightning struck the building causing the spinning black ball to suddenly grow, enveloping Kevin and then to explode.
Kevin was very badly hurt and in a coma. He was rushed to the Research Labs hospital where they desperately tried to save his life. Luckily a visiting specialist Dr Ironside was on the site and offered to help.
Much of Kevin's research into Bionics was still in his head and he had been the only one to observe the results of the final experiment in Building 21. They decided to preserve his life and memories at all costs. They replaced his legs with bionic / mechanical ones that would give a huge speed advantage and his torso with a specially strengthened model that protected his vital bionic parts and enabled the bionic parts to regenerate at an amazing speed.
Much of Kevin's research into Bionics was still in his head and he had been the only one to observe the results of the final experiment in Building 21. They decided to preserve his life and memories at all costs. They replaced his legs with bionic / mechanical ones that would give a huge speed advantage and his torso with a specially strengthened model that protected his vital bionic parts and enabled the bionic parts to regenerate at an amazing speed.
They tried desperately to save his arms and hands but they were very badly damaged. Dr Ironside was completing a delicate piece of work on the right arm when he seemed to have some kind of seizure and to look dreamily around when the operating theatre was plunged into complete darkness.
Assuming it was a power cut they fumbled around and tried to get the emergency power on to no avail. The lights returned suddenly to find Dr Ironside shaking his head and Kevin's arms in a terrible state. There was no alternative but to replace them with a new flexible bionic mechanical composite. They used the latest prototype that enabled the hands and arms to convert into a huge range of tools and shapes. No mention was ever made about Dr Ironside's unusual behaviour.
Assuming it was a power cut they fumbled around and tried to get the emergency power on to no avail. The lights returned suddenly to find Dr Ironside shaking his head and Kevin's arms in a terrible state. There was no alternative but to replace them with a new flexible bionic mechanical composite. They used the latest prototype that enabled the hands and arms to convert into a huge range of tools and shapes. No mention was ever made about Dr Ironside's unusual behaviour.
All of this did save Kevin's life but at a price of being very sensitive to contact with strong electrical voltages. The high voltages tend to overload the mechanical parts of the new body and cause them to operate poorly.
Kevin stayed in a coma but otherwise seemed to be recovering well. The Research Labs continued to work with the bionic prototypes but found that they didn't work very well anymore and were prone to complete close down at random intervals.
Hard to test with Kevin in a coma but there appeared to be no problems with his bionic parts which seemed odd. There was some suggestions and rumours that the previous good results had been fudged although the working models on Kevin didn't fit that theory.
Hard to test with Kevin in a coma but there appeared to be no problems with his bionic parts which seemed odd. There was some suggestions and rumours that the previous good results had been fudged although the working models on Kevin didn't fit that theory.
Unbeknown to Kevin or the Labs, Rob had accepted a low paid post as a lab assistant and was sabotaging the bionic parts in a very subtle way that caused them to malfunction. All the prototypes failed and with no way of getting Kevin to check them the project was closed down and mothballed. Once the project was closed Rob melted into the background and left with some of the partial plans.
After a few months Kevin woke up and there followed a long period of rehabilitation as he got used to his new body. But all was not well in the hospital. It seemed to suffer from complete blackouts although no problems could be found with the lighting circuits. A large number of patients also suffered from nightmares, curiously the same nightmare of falling and falling into darkness.
Kevin was distraught that his Bionics research had been mothballed and tried to get it re-instated to no avail. Despite being able to show his bionics were working perfectly the Labs pointed to the evidence of all the failing prototypes. Unable to refute the evidence Kevin came to believe (incorrectly) that the interaction with the exploding black ball had created some kind of effect that kept his bionics working.
Although he had been questioned at length about what he saw in Building 21, no one would say what the research had been about. Kevin tried to find out more about the research but even with his high security clearance could not find out any more. The only clue he found on one the Labs computer systems was an oblique reference to dark matter research.
Although despondent, Kevin continued to work in the Labs. His bionic arms made him particularly useful in research projects but the hint of previous faked results meant he was moved from project to project without settling in one particular research area.
His fencing and swimming tailed away as with a bionic body it did not need the exercise. He still liked to run as it gave him time to think and he could run very very fast if he choose to. He took to running at night as everywhere was so brightly lit only to realise after a while that he could see perfectly in the half darkness and after a while in complete darkness. He also began to feel an affinity for the dark which he had difficulty in explaining.
On one of his evening runs in the local park he suddenly spotted one of the old Shamrock Diaries gang members. They also spotted him and started to run away when Kevin shouted "Stop". Much to his surprise the gang member stopped in his tracks and stood there waiting.
When he caught up with the gang member, Kevin found that he could give orders to the gang member who obeyed them instantly. The old gang member did not have any current information about the gang but told Kevin what had happened in the old days from the gang's perspective. Finding he was dealing with a thug and murderer he ordered the thug to turn himself in to the nearest police station and confess.
The gang member shook his head a few times then started to walk away. Kevin stood there in amazement but when the gang member was reasonably far away, he suddenly looked around frantically and ran away in a different direction.
When he caught up with the gang member, Kevin found that he could give orders to the gang member who obeyed them instantly. The old gang member did not have any current information about the gang but told Kevin what had happened in the old days from the gang's perspective. Finding he was dealing with a thug and murderer he ordered the thug to turn himself in to the nearest police station and confess.
The gang member shook his head a few times then started to walk away. Kevin stood there in amazement but when the gang member was reasonably far away, he suddenly looked around frantically and ran away in a different direction.
Over the next few months he experimented with this new mind control power on some of the petty criminals he saw on his night runs and gradually understood how it worked. He also found he could command people to sleep where they would curl up and fall asleep and he could see into their dreams and direct their dream even as far as to create nightmares. These sleeping people could be woken up from their nightmares but were always a bit dazed for a while afterwards.
When passing a large building site in Knight City it started to collapse with scaffolding and bits of concrete dropping from the sky. Kevin was caught in the middle and desperately wanted to keep debris away. There was a strange moment with an odd buzzing in the air where something unusual seemed to happen nearby and suddenly a black shield appeared in the sky and all the nearby debris bounced off.
Rather dizzy, Kevin realised he had created a shield using the darkness. He scurried away so as not to draw attention to himself.
Rather dizzy, Kevin realised he had created a shield using the darkness. He scurried away so as not to draw attention to himself.
 |
| by Rebecca Whitaker |
