The Bison (story)

The Bison is the first in a tetralogy of stories dealing with the origins of the story's titular character, the Bison. It was first envisioned in May and June of 2002.

The forbidden stone
Bison part one establishes the back story of the planet Cortascius, where the Stone of Bovinil Peril has vanished from a storage chamber. Grinodos, a wise elder and one-time observer of the now-missing stone, vows to recover it.

A dangerous prophecy
An oracle once stated that the minute the blue stone was consumed by a being from another life-supporting planet, it would mean dire destruction. If the creature were a "hoofed beast of the fields," that beast would gain its own spirit, and would become powerful beyond belief, achieving almost instant semnipotence along with immortality, and an endless array of various other barely-describable powers.

This being would develop an instant love-hate relationship with all creatures that would normally have been superior to itself, and will gain an endless sadistic appetite for torturing and murdering various members of the most superior of these would-be superior creatures, namely, man.

Grinodos' quest to Earth
Grinodos realizes that even with the best wormhole trackers, it will take him 3 years to reach earth. After his long journey, he takes advantage of his ability to blend in with the human race, and his ability to live an extremely unnaturally long life.

He arrives on earth, where he realizes he will be stranded until the day he dies. He searches for 300 years for the missing blue stone, but with no success. He retires to the Himalyan mountains, waiting desperately to hear some word of the rock.

Whilst never truly buying into the belief systems in that region, he nevertheless does his best to blend in with the area's Buddhist monks, adopting a monastic lifestyle from them in an attempt to keep himself as inconspicuous as possible.

New Jersey
After 300 years have passed, it is the present day. A male detective and a lady working for an organization that the detective is investigating share a bit of a love interest--but an even deeper interest in trying to get to the bottom of a corruption scandal that threatens both of them and everyone connected to the company in question. The detective is also trying to provide for his recently-orphaned teen cousin, a girl with a history of making poor choices in regards to men.

But the focus of their lives radically shifts after one particular day. The detective opens up door to chase after some street punks that have gone inside the alleyway side entrance of a building belonging to the corporation...

The "birth" of the Bison
What nobody realizes is that a few days previous in Nebraska, a truck carrying among other things the blue rock Grinodos had been searching for jackknifes into a ditch. A lone bison, out in the field for reasons unknown, is drawn to the rock, and after staring at it a while, decides to eat it. Its eyes glow red, and El Bisonte leaves his mark on the remains of the truck, whose driver never stood a chance.

The Bison is revealed
The detective opens up the door--only to be greeted by the Bison! The Bison pushes the detective aside, and rushes out of the building. He immediately begins levitating off the ground, causing a wind to develop in his presence. A cop passing by witnesses this, and upon panicking, calls for backup. He starts firing and cussing at the Bison, which only enrages him.

The Bison's reign of terror
Before long, the Bison decides to demonstrate to the entire world, but that one city in particular, the full extent of his powers. He makes a habit of terrorizing terrorists, dishonest news anchors, and others the world over. But when concentrating most of his wrath on that one city, he begins killing indiscriminately and destroying city infrastructures at random.

As the killing sprees add up and the body count begins to pile up, everyone grows desperate to find a way to stop the Bison, before he destroys the entire human race!

Chasing away the Bison
Finally, the detective and crew launch an illegal missile at the Bison, and after the explosion, nothing is present in the sky. But as a radar screen reveals shortly after that, the Bison also has the power to make himself invisible!

The Bison decides he's punished that town enough, and plans when next he'll be able to kill again...and where...

Cultural references

 * The Bison imitates many powers of Superman and Ghost Rider.
 * The Bison feigns being lost on a bridge at one point, mocking a similar scene in Godzilla.