Part Two: PRODIGY
PROJECT PRODIGY: CASE FILE 47793-A (OVERVIEW/SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION)
Peter Raphael Travers, Lead Investigator
– OVERVIEW –
Shortly after 9/11 a government initiative called PRODIGY attempted to create a Federal registry of metahumans who could be called in to respond to national emergencies. PRODIGY initially did this by co-opting the Federally-sanctioned metahuman groups operating under the Civilian Deputization Act, but eventually announced their intention to forcibly register all metahumans operating on U.S. soil. I was assigned to PRODIGY during the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, the precursor to the Department of Homeland Security, and the realignment, consolidation, and coordination of all Federal agencies that followed. My first assignment was to coordinate the transition of Federally-sanctioned metahuman groups in the Northeast as they were integrated into the PRODIGY program. This was not a popular decision among the groups, and I spent most of my time trying to convince them not to disband. As noted in field reports at the time, I was having particular difficulty dealing with the New York City Guardians of Justice.
During the time of PRODIGY’s formation the Guardians were operating at a reduced capacity. They had lost a core member during an off-world incident (see file 43352-C supplemental, hero name GREY FALCON, and additional briefing on the alternate timeline known as WASTELAND).
At that time, the members were GLADIATOR (ROBERT THORPE, team leader), LIBERTY (ALEXANDER MORGAN), REGIMENT (ROGER WHITMAN), and CURVEBALL (NAME UNKNOWN).
Reaction to the transition was so varied it was clear the group would splinter. LIBERTY was willing to comply with the directive even before Congress passed the law that gave PRODIGY’s registry legitimacy. GLADIATOR refused to have anything to do with PRODIGY or the registry, to the extent that he funded the creation of an artificial island in neutral waters to act as the fully independent headquarters for Thorpe Industries. REGIMENT was opposed to the registry but stated he would comply when Congress made it mandatory. CURVEBALL reacted with immediate hostility, attacking me during a heated confrontation and then immediately going into hiding (see medical report on TRAVERS, PETER R in attached supplemental file).
As a result of the attack, CURVEBALL was immediately classified as a rogue metahuman and placed on the villains list.
A few months later, the apparently disbanded Guardians of Justice attacked a PRODIGY facility in Northern California. In the aftermath of the attack, it was discovered that PRODIGY’s metahuman registration was a cover story for the project’s true purpose: to breed semi-sentient clones of metahumans that could be controlled remotely using technology similar in concept to the remote drones used in Afghanistan. The Guardians destroyed PRODIGY’s prototype cloning facility, PRODIGY was dismantled, and the upper echelons of the program were arrested and charged with conspiring against American citizens.
Shortly after this final action the Guardians of Justice disbanded.
– SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION –
Unknown to anyone at the time, the apparent splintering of the group and the perceived acrimony between the individual members was premeditated, coordinated, and intended to further the group’s own investigation into PRODIGY and the program’s true purpose…
