Benjamin knew something was wrong. He just had an uneasy feeling all day. He knew someone had rifled through his glove compartment last night. And the day before someone had gone through the mail that sat on his kitchen table. Now as he locked his laboratory, he was sure someone was watching him. He had no idea why. He was a simple chemist for a pharmaceutical. Nothing he was working on was special. His work was duplicated in several pharmaceutical companies. He had no special insights. No one would learn anything new from him. But still he had this feeling.
Benjamin Fitzpatrick was a handsome man. He stood 5’8, had black wavy hair. He had a handsome boyish face, that belied his 32 years. He was in decent shape. The opening neck of his dress shirt, revealed a dense forest of chest hair over his muscular frame. He put on his black leather jacket. He locked his lab, and then entered outside into a beautiful but coolSeptember day. He filled the bowl of his banker’s pipe with a rich English country blend of tobacco and began to walk the 8 blocks home. With each puff, Benjamin relaxed. He was just being silly. Nobody would be after him. He was just too boring to be anyone’s target. He had just finished his bowlful of tobacco, when he reached his door.
He unlocked his door and walked into his house. As he was hanging up his jacket, he was suddenly grabbed from behind. A gloved hand grabbed him. Another gloved hand suddenly thrust a rag into his face. From the rag, Benjamin was suddenly overwhelmed by a powerful chemical odour. Benjamin’s head begun to spin-chloroform. He tried to struggle, but his assailant was just too strong. Gradually Benjamin’s struggles weakened and soon he was unconscious.
Jeremiah knew instantly something was wrong. Ever since the day the naturalist had been exposed to the contaminated water from Gamboni Lake, Jeremiah had been sensitive about things. The effluent from the factory had made Jeremiah horribly ill. For weeks, the doctors were not sure if he’d survive. But after two months Jeremiah awoke from his coma. Doctor’s quickly realized there was something different about Jeremiah. For one thing, Jeremiah’s reaction time was twice as fast as any humans. He was also as strong as three men. Finally, Jeremiah became blessed with greater than normal psychic skills. He could read most minds and was psychically in tune with his brother Benjamin, a chemist in Toronto.
Jeremiah was equally as handsome as his older brother. He had brown hair though and a thick beard but they could pass for twins. He was two years younger and two inches taller than his brother.
Jeremiah decided to keep his secret abilities quiet. But a few months after his release from hospital, he sensed that a kidnapped child was being held in the woods where he was studying tree lichens. Using his psychic abilities and his superior physical strength, Jeremiah was able to carry out a sneak attack on the kidnapper’s hideout and rescue the child. The two hapless kidnapper’s, upon their arrest, talked about this huge Mountainman who had descended upon them and rescued the child. They talked about how big and powerful he was and how fast he moved. The fact that Jeremiah only stood 5’10” and was just 180 pounds got lost and the legend of Mountainman.
Over the next few years, Jeremiah had used his skills several times to assist police to bring criminals to justice. He hadn’t meant to be a hero. It’s just his psychic skills often intercepted dastardly plots and he knew the police needed help to bring the criminals to justice. It was dangerous yes. Goons carried guns and weren’t afraid to shoot. Jeremiah had been shot once while solving a crime and he knew that despite his superpowers, he was not immortal. The bullet had hurt like hell and if it hadn’t been for Franklin, his doctor friend next door, Jeremiah would have died. So crime fighting was dangerous, but Jeremiah also found crime fighting deeply exciting.
That was until this afternoon. Jeremiah got the powerful feeling that Benjamin was being attacked in his house. He knew somehow Benjamin was being held against his will. And for some reason Benjamin was not telepathically answering him.
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