Jack's notebook.

[Jack Murdock]

I know that I shouldn't be writing all this stuff down considering the NYPD is still looking for me. Johnny B at the Hudson River homeless shelter said when the cops came by during their periodic sweeps in order to bother anyone they pleased, they had a warrant to "merely detain me for questioning".

Yeah, right. Questioning, my ass. 

Miguel Santa Rosa must've talked to his contacts in City Hall after I beat the crap out of his retarded little brother, Tito. Tito is going to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his worthless life, a cripple with two broken legs, a shattered spinal column and a busted kneecap. 

Should have thrown him from a much higher building.

It wasn't easy going past the cops to reach the bus station. I had to use the sewer lines which would have been near impossible without the aid of Johnny B and the poor human souls dwelling down there eating rats and roaches while the rest of my "kind" wallow in luxury and vices.

I gave nearly all my money to them, keeping just enough for a one way bus ticket out of town.

New York, I'm gonna miss you but not that much.

Santa Rosa, if I ever come back then you and that corrupt police lieutenant in your pocket, Whitman are dead men.

     ********************

The bus ride was a pain in the ass. Must have drove non stop for hours. 

     ********************

Philadelphia wasn't so bad compared to Brooklyn. Met and have been dating a girl named Leigh, a secretary working with a brokerage firm. Found a job as a taxi driver but it didn't last too long because of the annoying tourists getting on my nerves. Only two weeks. At least I saved up enough to move into a nicer place.

Heard a rumor at the Tex Mex bar and grill about some rich old guy out west was looking to hire some muscle and he doesn't ask too many questions about your life story just so long as you can do your job properly. May look into that.

[Jack Murdock]

Finally gotten my hands at the gold nugget from Fast Eddie after his recent trip to Alaska. He didn't elaborate on how exactly it came into his possession nor did I bother to ask. It was sure a thing of beauty weighing in at an ounce. The downside was it had cost me a thousand dollars. That brings my mineral collection to 27 so far.

Fast Eddie told me to wait a few days before he brings the jade and obsidian pieces however he can't find any platinum in it's raw state. He recommended buying a coin at any pawnbroker shop or from coin collectors.

We parted company and I went home where I tested my ability. My body turned into solid gold upon touching the nugget. The entire metamorphic process took about four seconds, as usual of course but I was kind of hoping there still might be faster or slower rates of transformation from the different materials I've been collecting.

Hmm.... With this golden skin and my shaved head, maybe I can get a job at the academy awards as a walking Oscar statue.

[Jack Murdock]

Finally left Philly after I broke up with Leigh. It was bitter and painful but towards the end, we both knew that it had gotten to the point where besides having sex, we really have nothing in common.

The days and weeks went by like a blur. I don't even remember half the things I've done, doing odd jobs here and there. Not truly living just going through the motions of pretending to be alive. Of late I been working as a body guard and driver while not staying in one place for too long. I had avoided finding employment with any of the larger security firms as they were a little too keen on doing background checks and making sure Evos won't become hired.

Oh, they wouldn't balantly discriminate and deny reading your resume/application or even granting interviews, that's illegal; one of the few things the slimy bastard who thinks he's the President of the country hasn't messed up yet. However the companies don't have to give Evos any work if they can get away with it.

Lucius Kilvanye is also on my bucket list of people to kill, along with Marcus Rodgers and others.

But as the old saying goes: good things come to those who wait.

[Jack Murdock]

Cleveland, Ohio: Saved about a dozen people during a apartment building fire. While my body copied the only nearby material most resistant to flames, most of my new clothes were burned though my wallet was okay. It was rather embarrassing to walk around butt naked even if your entire body was granite. It took me hours to find a salvation army store where a bum went inside the place to get the clothing I needed while I stood in the alleyway. Had to spend fifty bucks buying the guy several cases of rye whiskey.

***************

Topeka, Kansas: Beat the crap out of a couple of punks who tried to steal my car while I was doing some minor repair work on the steering wheel. One of them hit me in the left arm with a crowbar.

Big mistake. Nothing like shoving a fist of pure iron into one's throat especially when you mimic the physical properties of anything your bare skin touches. Should take them awhile to get free after I tied the punks up against a telephone pole but not before I broke each of their arms for good measure.

***************

Boulder, Colorado: Had gotten into yet another bar fight, the eleventh one this year alone. Getting bored with sending all these clowns to the local hospital. Lost count on how many I've injured.

***************

Salt Lake City, Utah: I thought this place would be full with hordes of these hot sister-wives I keep hearing about from the TV.

No matter. My interview with Reier Technologies is tomorrow morning.

[Jack Murdock]

I have been given the nickel and dime orientation tour of the facility which I suppose everyone in Ira Reier's employ has to go through at one time or another. I must admit the place is impressive. The climate around here however is typical for this part of the West characterized by extremes: hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. But I've been in hotter and colder places in the world than this so once you get used to it, The Great Basin isn't so bad.

From what little I have heard, the old man has working for some time on developing a source of clean renewable energy that supposedly is free to the general public once it becomes available.

The 'free' part is kind of shaky at best in my honest opinion but then again what has he done either right or wrong that any of his other competitors wouldn't have done themselves if the positions were reversed?

It is doubtful that they are all doing this for the good of humanity. The bottom line is they are interested only in making profits, tax write-offs and patents.

Adding to this entire sleazy spectacle are the rumors that Reier Technologies' chief competition, Ark is deep in the pocket of the Kilvanyes.

I really don't know who's the good or bad guys are or if there's even any truth to the rumors surrounding Ark but anything or anyone involving the stink of Lucius Kilvanye is definitely scum in my book.

I don't have to like Ira Reier but I do have to protect him and his business interests and anything I can do to annoy Lucius and his boot licking lackeys is worth it.

[Jack Murdock]

On my way to work, I saw some kids with spray cans painting graffiti on a wall. They fled in all directions once I went near them. The message read in bold red: WHERE ARE THE HEROES?

I've been seeing this sentence a lot lately, here and there, not just in graffiti but on the news as well. Frankly I haven't any answers to that question. While I am not a bad person, I often don't consider myself to be a hero, just a average guy with a super power (paradox right there).

Sometimes I wander the streets looking for trouble; stopping a mugging here, beating the crap out of drug dealers and wrecking their meth lab there but does that make me a hero or a vigilante? Of course I have done no patrolling recently ever since I started to work for Ira Reier.

Maybe I should change that. Maybe I should go out on patrol once in awhile if only to let off some steam.

Maybe…

Where are the heroes? Indeed the question should be more like 'Are there any heroes?'

[Jack Murdock]

Finally after an entire year of saving up a nice nest egg as well as making contacts with the right (read trustworthy) people, I gotten the ring made of pure titanium I've always wanted which was forged in a smelting factory in Pittsburgh according to my specifications. The stainless steel wire inlays were a nice touch but the cherry on top was the diamond at it's base:



Best five thousand dollars I've ever spent.

For now on I only had to wear the ring on my hand and when needed, concentrate to change my body into titanium and in a desperate pinch, I can also touch the diamond and stainless steel parts. This should prevent me from running around all over the place looking for the right stuff to touch and hoping I can find it in time.

I should have more rings of different materials in the future created.

[Jack Murdock]

Visited Sparrow Akiyama's grave today. Luckily there was no one around to pester me as I laid a single rose into the proper receptacle and wiped some debris from the site to make it more presentable.

I've been doing that lately in my spare time, attending to the gravesites of all those who had fallen to the hands of both the Dominion and Lilith during the debacle in Washington DC. Not surprised to see many of them unattended much less unmourned.

History is always have rewritten by the winners and the losers, dead or otherwise, are pushed aside and forgotten as if there was never any battle in the first place.

"President" Kilvanye saw to that. Believe me someday I'll make him remember even if I have to carve the names of every single person who died on that day into his sorry hide.

I know Sparrow has a father, even though I would find him and offer my condolences, it may be regarded as an empty gesture on my part. I don't have the right to reopen old wounds and add even more grief.

I said my goodbyes and left the burial site.

[Jack Murdock]

Took some time off from my job at RT and decided to visit Ireland. Why? Partly because why not also being Irish-American, i felt it was high time to explore that part of my heritage.

Another part of me wanted to go on this trip as a way to find some kind of closure. I am not getting any younger after all. All this thinking much less writing about mortality is getting on my nerves.

Dublin was nice and i've learned much about the history and culture of the country (Not to mention the local beers, whiskeys, malts and ales!) during my stay there. Even made some friends while bar hopping. Its kind of strange connecting with a place my birth parents (whom i never gotten close) were associated with way more than my adopted family who always treated me with love.

Sad really but not so much that it ruined my vacation.