Cool Character: Grendel Prime

The Story: Grendel-Prime breaks into the complex in the Dakotas where Jupiter Niklos Assante, child heir to the Orion Assante, the first Grendel-Khan, resides. Prime kills all of the guards protecting the children, and takes Jupiter with him. Jupiter's step-mother (and Crystal's mother) Laurel Kennedy, who has been ruling the world as Regent until Jupiter is old enough, and who has been keeping the children under house arrest in the Dakotas as she builds her own power base, arrives at the compound to find the destruction and devastation caused by Prime. She dispatches a squadron of Red Devils in pursuit of the abductor. Prime easily slays the Red Devils. He is obviously taking care of Jupiter, and has not simply kidnapped him. He begins to train Jupiter in basic survival skills. While traveling through the OPEC nuclear wastelands Prime and Assante stop at a ruined stone building to retrieve fresh water from a well. They are taken captive by a group of mutants that blame technology for all of their problems. Grendel-Prime, weakened from the radiation, is unable to fight all of them off and is nearly executed. A group of rebels that oppose the rule of Laurel Kennedy, led by Azif A Barouk, defeat the mutants and knock Prime out from behind. He awakens underneath the ruins of the Vatican to find himself partially disassembled and paralyzed from the neck down. His captors know of Jupiter's identity and interrogate Prime about what he is doing with Jupiter. Prime activates a holographic projection of Orion, in which he gives the bearer permission to do whatever he needs in the name of the Grendel-Khan. It turns out that Grendel-Prime was created by Orion as his personal paladin through a secret plan called Project Athena. He actually died several times in the process of being turned into a cyborg. He is now charged with protecting Jupiter until he is old enough to rule. While Azif and his rebels are deciding what to do with Prime, a group of vampires kills Jupiter's guards and kidnaps Jupiter. When news gets to Azif, they reassemble Grendel Prime and he recharges himself with their generators. The team saves Jupiter and kills most of the vampires, including two old enemies of past Grendels, Kierch and Pellon Cross, whom Grendel Prime stabs through the head with his laser sword. The young Jupiter realizes that this is not the appropriate time for him to re-appear. Taking charge himself for the first time, he orders that they remain in hiding in the wilderness. 

Ten years pass, and in that time Jupiter trains himself and builds the power of the rebel army.  Grendel-Prime and the other rebels attack the Sun House, the seat of government, which contains Orion Assante's legendary weapon the Sun Disc. The rebels literally catapult him through the roof of the Sun House, after which he cuts his way through the guards and runs towards the Sun Disc. Orion Assante had implanted the components required to activate the Sun Disc within Grendel Prime's mechanical body. He turns on the Sun Disc and destroys a satellite orbiting the Earth, giving Jupiter access to the worldwide communication network he needs to proclaim his status as Grendel-Khan. Jupiter becomes the new Khan with the happy agreement of the public. However, soon after helping Jupiter to take back the throne, Grendel-Prime leaves. The duty he was charged with was to assist Jupiter in seizing control, and now his job is finished. He rides off, never to be seen by Jupiter again.

Continuing Story: Many years later, Grendel-Prime is working on a machine to make contact with the spirit of Hunter Rose. He wants to find the true meaning of Grendel, which he feels has been lost. In order to power the machine, he needs diamonds, living people, and a fragment of the skull of Hunter Rose, which they apparently get from the Khan's archives. They activate the machine in New York under the site of Rose's home.  Grendel-Prime steps in to communicate with Rose.  However, Grendel-Prime is accidentally sent back in time to the era of Batman. After few minutes Grendel-Prime is ejected from it, returning from the past in a highly damaged condition. He kills the man who saw him appear, grabs his bike, and rides off.

Abilities: Grendel-Prime is a cyborg created by Orion I. His body possesses superhuman strength and durability. His mechanical body is usually solar powered, but he can also recharge himself using electrical power sources.  He is bullet-proof and immune to radiation, although it drains his energy. He can breathe normally in toxic atmospheres. He can create a solar flare around his body that can melt materials including ice, steel mesh, and synthetic adhesives, although this drains him of much of his energy. If he is disassembled, he can remotely control his separated body parts. In a later era Grendel-Prime has rebuilt himself with the ability to fly by projecting out spear-like rods from his shoulders and arms.

Weapons: Grendel-Prime uses a laser sword and can create an energy shield on his arm. He also uses a gauntlet that can shoot small missiles and various pistols and rifle

Ride: Grendel-Prime uses a hover bike with a sidecar. This bike is capable of traveling over land and water for great distances, including intercontinental ocean travel. It has metal shields that can protect the sidecar against most conventional attacks. He can summon the bike by remote control.