The Adventures Of Clifton Storm & Associates: Troubleshooters

Illustration by myself.

Character illustration by Luis-Gabriel Leal, using the character creator in the “City Of Heroes / City Of Villains” computer games.

-Main character background:

Clifton Storm was the privileged only-child of an aristocratic family. The Storms were incredibly wealthy and philanthropic, but their only son was cold, self-centered, and cruel to others he deemed beneath him.

Clifton was an athletic, handsome young man, but his eyes were exceedingly cold. He had a high capacity and potential for learning, but coasted through his life and education on his family’s wealth and name.

It was while he was attending a prestigious college that his parents were killed in an accident. En route to their funeral, he experienced a life-changing (if not world-changing) event.

On a plane trip over a remote mountain range (the location has not been specified yet), the engines ceased functioning. The plane plunged down into the snowy valleys, finally crashing in a disaster that killed everyone on board.

Everyone but Clifton Storm.

He awoke to the awful sight of the wreckage, the bodies of the dead and dying strewn everywhere. Storm’s face had sustained deep cuts along the left side, cuts that would eventually heal into large scars, but he was otherwise unharmed. The other passengers were not so lucky: men, women, children, the elderly… all other lives were snuffed out by the tragedy.

Storm gathered together an improvised survival kit and set out to cross the mountain range. The entire time he traveled, his mind was in turmoil: why was he spared? So many others on board had promising lives ahead of them, loving families, careers. Why, then, was he left alive?

He then began to see, to change inside. He’d never done anything for anyone else but himself. He’d never cared for anything but his own comfort. He began to believe, then, that he was left alive for a reason. He wanted to make his life count. He wanted to help those who needed help, those whom no one else could help. He would take on the predators of society… predators like the man he considered himself to have once been.

When he emerged into civilization three weeks later, Clifton Storm was a changed man. Those who knew him from his old life began to note the change in his eyes. “They’re the eyes of a person,” they said, “who has seen an awful lot in a short period of time.”

Clifton Storm began grow inside, and the drive to do good for others burned brightly within him. With the massive inheritance he received from his deceased parents he was already a multi-millionaire. He returned to college and proceeded to change his course of learning, taking as many varied courses as possible: history, chemistry, archaeology, engineering, etc. He began to take self defense courses: judo, savate, karate; he practiced marksmanship, fencing, knife-fighting. He got his pilot’s license, and when he left college, a valedictorian, he purchased disused land adjacent to the Miami aerodrome. Renovating the rundown hangars, he purchased several aircraft and set up his laboratories and workshop. Friends from all walks of life came to work for him… WITH him… on his endeavors.

By the front gate of his compound hung the sign:

“C. Storm & Associates: Troubleshooters”

Shortly thereafter, Clifton Storm began to make a name for himself as a high-profile do-gooder, performing high risk rescues in situations the normal law enforcement agencies couldn’t touch (ex: boarding the hijacked dirigible “Goliath” mid-flight and single-handedly defeating the foreign agents who had seized her and her passengers). Due to the success of these heroics in the face of tremendous odds and opposition, the media dubbed him “Challenger” Storm. Storm, not a media hound, does not appreciate the nickname…
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-Basic gear info:

*Preferred weapon of choice: The C96 “Broom-handled” Mauser pistol (extended clip) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_C96)

*Pistol is worn in a “utility harness” shoulder holster. This harness also contains extra ammo-clips, small tool kit, various small utility items, and a combat knife (sheath located on the back, between shoulder blades). NOTE: Clifton Storm is not Clark Savage, so I intend to keep as many “he’s lucky he had that” inventions out of the harness as possible.

*Aircraft of choice: Ford Tri-Motor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_tri-motor)

At this time I am planning on using the 4-AT model (the “Tin Goose”). However , I’m considering using some of the variations seen at http://www.fordtrimotor.org/ (especially the prototypes like the 10-A), ’cause they look so cool… But then again, I love all the Ford Tri-Motor plane models. It’s hard to decide.

Other aircraft are planned to be used. The 1930’s were such a cool time for aviation, there is a wealth of potential planes to be featured.

*Favorite meal of choice: Coffee and a Cuban sandwich (something Storm and I share)

Click here for posts labeled “‘Challenger’ Storm” for more information and updates…
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So far, so good, but any suggestions you’d like to make now would be welcome

Illustration by myself.