Web of Spider-Man Annual #9
Origin of the Cadre
Ninteen Years Ago:
At a remote monastery in Upstate New York, a woman leaves a basket containing three newborn infants on the doorstep. When a monk named Gregori answers the door, he takes one look at the chalk-white skin of the three infants, he is horrified to see that the dark bloodline has resurfaced. He takes the three infants and brings them into the monastery and to his fellow members of the Knights Templar.
Nine Years Later:
The three infants are named Ard, Vor, and Tia, and are called the Cadre. They are raised at the monastery by the monks. One day, the children are called in from playing to eat lunch. Gregori checks in and learns that the children have not manifested their powers, something that is of grave concern to Gregori because of the potential danger that could happen if the Hellbent is ever set free.[1]
Six Years Later:
The Cadre is now teenagers and has developed unique powers. Snooping around they accidentally destroy a wall, uncovering a hidden archive of books that have been kept secret from them. Looking through the books, they discover that they are detailed books on genealogy. They find one book that details their births. They learn that they are the progeny of one of the Hellbent and a human woman. They also discover that their real names are Vortex, Shard, and Dementina.[2] Before they can learn anything else, they are found by Gregori who warns them that some parts of the past must remain hidden.
Yesterday:
A delivery truck comes by to drop off the monk's shipment of wine and leaves. Gregori and the others Knights Templar are unaware of the fact that Cadre has sneaked into the trailer. After the truck is gone, the monks are ambushed by an army of Hellbent who slaughter them all. Later, in the city, the transport truck gets caught in gridlock traffic. The Cadre then blows their cover when the truck hits a pothole, causing Shard to accidentally ejects one of the spikes that grow out of his body. The spike crashes through the trailer and out the windshield of the cab.
Recurring Characters
Cadre (Shard, Vortex, Dementia), Seth Phalkon
Continuity Notes
The Hellbent are an ancient offshoot of humanity that were banished to the Hellhole, as explained in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #59.
The identity of the Cadre's father is revealed in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #59.
Chaos Is The Cadre!
Peter Parker and his wife Mary Jane are spending the evening dancing at the trendy Rainbow Room located at Rockefeller Center.[1] After dancing, the pair sit down to a lobster dinner, but Peter can't keep on complaining through their whole dinner.[2] Suddenly, Peter's spider-sense goes off making him drop his lobster, causing the juices to splatter all over Mary Jane's dress. This upsets Mary Jane enough that she storms out of the restaurant. At first, he can't blame Mary Jane for getting upset, but then he notices that everyone around is starting to become agitated and combative. With his spider-sense screaming, Peter rushes to the elevator where he changes into Spider-Man. As he swings out into the city, Mary Jane sees him from the window and demands the check.
As Spider-Man swings to the source of his spider-sense, he is struck with a sudden burst of vertigo. It takes all his efforts to cling onto the wall. He barely manages to get to the ground where he has to leap out of the way of a panicked crowd who are running away from what appears to be knights riding on dragons. He then happens upon the Cadre as they are fighting members of Code: Blue. The Cadre are trying to maintain control of their powers. Between Vortex's wind powers, Dementina's hallucinations, and Shard's body spikes, Code: Blue is held on the sidelines. Eventually, Dementina manages to use her powers to convince the people around to turn on the police officers. Seeing all of this, Spider-Man decides to follow after the Cadre and confront them. He is once again bombarded by Dementina's powers, disorientating the hero long enough for Vortex and Shard to attack them. The wall-crawler tries to stop Dementina, but her powers continue to disorientate her. As Spider-Man struggles to battle the Cadre, Code: Blue catches up and escalates the battle. The members of the Cadre continue lashing out, and losing more and more of their control.
That's when a Knight Templar named Chloe arrives to calm her charges. Seeing that she can put a quick end to this battle, Spider-Man seals himself Chloe, and the Cadre in a web-shield until she can calm them down. However, this won't stop Code: Blue from trying to break through and arrest the Cadre. Spider-Man offers to help, by flipping the web-shield around so that it traps the Code: Blue officers, allowing Chloe and the Cadre to escape. With the danger over, Spider-Man flees the scene without explaining a thing to Lieutenant Stone.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Chloe Tran, Cadre (Vortex, Shard, Dementia), Code: Blue (Lt. Stone, FIreworks Fielstein, Rigger Ruiz, Mad-Dog Rassitano, Mother Majowski)
Continuity Notes
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
Peter refers to himself as a "90's husband", this should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Things To Come
The Cadre returns to the monastery upstate, where they discover that the Hellbent has murdered all the other monks. As Vortex and Shard gather up the bodies, Chloe tells them to keep an eye on their sister while she goes to the archives. There she discovers that the files have been turned over. Examining the files on the Cadre and discovers that they are incomplete, including the back-ups.
Chloe then relocates the Cadre to an abandoned building in Alphabet City where they can train in the use of their powers. However, when Vortex and Shard train on the roof, Chloe tells them to get back down before they are seen. She promises them that some day they will be able to be free to walk the streets. As she takes Dementina away, Chloe hopes to activate the "Bloodline Agenda" before the Hellbent known as Seth the Immortal does.[1] After Chloe leaves Vortex and Shard begin planning on leaving as soon as Dementina's sanity is restored. As it turns out, Vortex was the one who went through the files and they are planning on learning the truth by tracking down their mother.
Recurring Characters
Cadre (Shard, Vortex, Dementia), Chloe Tran
Continuity Notes
The efforts of Seth the Immortal can be seen in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #50.
Mayhem In The Streets
In Lower Manhattan, the vigilante known as Mayhem is slaughtering a group of drug dealers. He murder spree has attracted the attention of Cloak and Dagger who have come to stop their former ally.[1]
While Dagger keeps Mayhem at bay, Cloak rounds up the drug dealers, pulling them into his cloak long enough to send them fleeing. Meanwhile, Dagger is knocked out by Mayhem's powers. When Cloak comes to her aid, he is incapacitated as well. Furious at their interference, Mayhem is about to eliminate them when Dagger manages to strike her with a light knife. Suddenly, Mayhem vanishes in a puff of green gas. Dagger believes that she killed Mayhem and begins to cry. Cloak tells her that there was no other choice and points out all the lives they saved. However, as they leave, they don't notice that Mayhem disappeared over a manhole cover.
Recurring Characters
Cloak, Dagger, Mayhem
Continuity Notes
Bridid O'Reilly was a former police officer and ally of Cloak and Dagger since Cloak and Dagger #1 until she was transformed into Mayhem in Cloak and Dagger Vol 2 #5.
Opening Gambit
After over a decade in exile, Nightwatch has returned to New York City, the city of his birth, and death. He has a recent Daily Bugle article about a breakthrough in adrenaline experiments that are being conducted at Empire State University.[1] It takes him back to the events of a decade ago. He was seeing his colleague, Ashley Croix off to continue her research for Morelle Pharmaceuticals when he was suddenly attacked by phantom attackers. Suddenly, he was rescued by someone wearing the Nightwatch armor. Nightwatch was mortally wounded and died handing Trench the newspaper article. Taking off his mask, Trench was shocked to discover that Nightwatch was his older self. When Ashley's freighter flight was hijacked by AIM, Kevin tries to stop it, but the plane exploded, seemingly killing Ashley aboard.[2] Seeing to avoid his fate, Trench hid on a Carribean Island for over a decade until one of his power gloves was stolen by Alfredo Morelli, forcing him to return to New York to recover it.[3]
With his recollection complete, Nightwatch heads to Empire State University just in time to witness a guard being tosses out of a window. Nightwatch saves the man and goes inside looking for the attacker. Unfortunately, he is unable to stop the invisible assassin from killing someone inside. Able to see his heat signature thanks to enhanced eyepieces of his mask. He quickly incapacitates the killer, but he activates a self-destruct system that kills him. Nightwatch looks around for clues and is shocked to discover a photo that appears to be Ashley, apparently alive and well. That's when more security guards enter the room and thinking Nightwatch was responsible for the attack order him to freeze. Nightwatch leaps out of the window, vowing to find Ashley before it is too late.
Recurring Characters
Nightwatch
Continuity Notes
The article has a publication date of June 4, 1993. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
According to Web of Spider-Man #100, 10 years previously, Kevin Trench got his Nightwatch gear from his future self after he was killed by AIM. After witnessing this, he went into exile to try and avoid this fate. This all changed when one of his power gloves was stolen by Alfredo Morelli. How much of his past, prior to meeting Alfredo Morelli is in question as it was later revealed Nightwatch was a villain who altered reality with a magic spell, as seen in She-Hulk Vol 2 #13
Morelli's time on Trench's island was chronicled in Web of Spider-Man #97-100.
