18 November 2015 – Astoria, Oregon
Nena Baker The Oregonian/OregonLive
Half a dozen lives were saved last night thanks to the swift response of local hero Scion and appears to be an unidentified aquatic meta. During the peak of the storm, which continues to batter the Pacific Northwest coast this morning, Captain John J. Astor VIII, more popularly known as the armored hero Scion, responded to an emergency request for aid from the Coast Guard. They had received a Mayday call at 22:27 from the fishing trawler Great Gnu, which had run aground on the notorious Columbia Bar while attempting to return to port.
The Coast Guard dispatched the Fast Response Cruiser 39 Myrtle Hazard at 22:29, and they were on the scene within 5 minutes. But the rescue vessel could not safely approach the damaged trawler due to the severe conditions. Underwater specialist Lt. Aaron Sonfeld entered the water to swim to the stricken vessel with a rescue line, but before he could reach the Great Gnu she was capsized by a massive wave.
Lt. Sonfeld continued on in the hopes of finding survivors, and less than a minute latter Scion appeared out of storm. The hero helped the Coast Guard diver secure the safety line, then dove underwater to search the vessel for survivors. He discovered four of the six crew members semi-conscious in the wheelhouse, sustained by a small pocket of air.
Scion reportedly provided each man with a rebreather, but when he prepared to ferry them one-by-one to the surface Captain Emil Yonovich, 53, insisted he search first for his missing crewmen. Despite the risk to the captain of hypothermia from the freezing Pacific waters the hero reluctantly agreed, according to Capt. Yonovich from his hospital bed.
Scion began a search of the rest of the boat, but quickly abandoned it when a white figure flashed past him with two men under each arm, headed for the surface. Although Scion has been unavailable for comment since the rescue, Lt. Sonfeld and several of the survivors described the figure as man-like, massively muscled, with bone-white skin and sleek black markings on his hairless head, arms and back.
“He reminded me of a killer whale,” said rescued crewman Tony Salaz, 24. “In fact, I think he had a tattoo of one on his chest. It was pretty dark, though, and with all the rain and waves I can’t say for sure.”
Whoever or whatever their savior was, everyone involved agree that without his intervention at least two of the crew of the Great Gnu would have perished in the wreck. Scion immediately airlifted the two drowned men to the nearby Myrtle Hazard, where they were successfully resuscitated by Coast Guard medics. The other survivors were ferried to the Coast Guard vessel by Scion, Lt. Sonfeld and the mysterious “whale-man” (as on-lookers quickly dubbed him).
Less than five minutes after the rescue was complete the Great Gnu broke up and sank. In the confusion of the storm and the medical needs of the victims the mystery hero vanished before he could be questioned or thanked. Scion airlifted the two critically injured men to Port Western Hospital, as high winds prevented their LifeFlight helicopter from taking off. The other survivors were taken by ambulance to…
CLIPPING ADDENDUM: A second new meta-human in Astoria? And Captain Astor has interacted with both… despite his well-known reluctance to embrace the title, if not the actual role, of hero, could he be becoming the nucleus of the new team I’m contemplating He’d make a great team leader, to be sure…