#2, December 1994
Mercy (Sins of the Father: Part Three)

We open on Jack searching his apartment in the dark and making a "costume" so he’ll be dressed right if he has to do the superhero thing again. He selects a thick leather jacket with art-deco circle/star design and astronomy symbols on the back to keep him warm and protect him somewhat. He then takes a sheriff’s badge taken from a Cracker-Jack box and pins it on the lapel: a silver star and a symbol of law and order. He finishes with a pair of WWII anti-flare goggles, to keep him from being blinded by the bright glare of the rod. Unknown to Jack, he is being watched from across the street by one of the Mist’s goons, who calls for back-up.

We briefly cut across town where we see The Shadow Man meeting with The Mist. The Shadowy Man is The Shade,another villain of the Golden Age who made his home in Opal. He and the Mist talk about many things including the nature of villainy and whether of not the old heroes confuse the old villains as Mist briefly forgets what superhero he killed, where he killed him, what happened, and who he was working with.

Meanwhile, Jack is punching out thugs on the rooftops of Opal. He’d thought leaving his apartment by the roof would keep him from being seen, forgetting that anyone watching his place would probably be watching from the roof. While fighting, Jack has a momentary vision, noticing the strange, out-of-place smell of salty sea air, limes and caraway seeds mixed togther (This is the first apperance of The Black Pirate.)

The thugs defeated, he runs into Nash, who threatens to shoot him. Jack asks why she’s doing it and she says it’s because of the fight between their fathers. She then compares the two of them to the foot soldiers in a war or the chorus in an opera. Jack tells her that she has no good reason as an individual to kill him. She lowers the gun and tells Jack to leave before the thugs see what she’s done.

Jack jumps onto the streets and looking for a place to rest for a few minutes, he sees the fortune telling shop from earlier. Finding the door unlocked, he steps inside and meets Charity. She talks about how she used to live in the deep South, that she is a true psychic and that she just recently moved to Opal City, after sensing her destiny lay somewhere in the north part of Turk County (the county where Opal City is). Rested, Jack leaves but not before Charity tells him "the mantle wish to shake is unshakable" and gives him a few prophecies about his future (For more on this, see Charity’s Prophecies).

Jack returns to the hospital. Jack and Ted talk, things peaceful between them again, and Ted gives Jack the address for a warehouse where can find another rod (a larger model made before he transistorized the technology) and a costume.

Meanwhile, The Shade and The Mist strike a bargain. The Shade, whose shadow powers allow him the ability to teleport, agrees to kidnap Ted from the hospital and kill all those who get in the way in exchange for a percentage of the booty from all of the Mist’s crimes.