escapism • soujourn
this is my story, not yours
catalyst • domicile

The history of Nathaniel Sumner of Brooklyn, New York stands as such:

Born on October 1st of 1964, Nathan Sumner was the son of a military man that would eventually rise through the ranks of the United States Marine Corps before retiring for something that wasn’t on the front lines of international conflict and a wartime switchboard operator-turned-personal assistant and housewife once the demands of a post-war nation died down. New York would be one of the many places that he called home both as their growing family moved around or as a military man himself, joining the ranks of the United States Army in 1982 which took him to basic training and U.S. Ranger training in Georgia only to be shipped off to the Middle East for the conflicts that were only growing there.

For twenty-one years, Nathan’s life was dictated by service with participation in conflicts through Lebannon, Iran and Iraq, Kuwait with Operation Desert Storm and Afghanistan with Operation Enduring Freedom; but that didn’t mean that there weren’t moments where combat situations weren’t the focal point of his life, and it was only a matter of time before something—someone—else caught his attention no matter the stacked off against her and any semblance of a normal life with a special forces operative.

Nathan met Lisa Tolliver in 1996 while on shore leave in San Francisco, little in the way of roots to speak of for Nathan to find himself back in New York City aside from visits to family still residing there. To say it was love at first sight would mean that he would have to believe in the notion, but there had been some level of falling through what few interactions they had, not only in that one instance, but those that followed; and in 1998, given the chance to do something quick and reckless and not entirely thought through despite the years there had been between their first meeting and correspondence that followed, he and Lisa Tolliver married.

A year later, between more times apart that was slowly driving a wedge between them without either particularly noticing it, she gave birth to their son, Tyler.

Understandably, it wasn’t easy; it could never be easy, and Nathaniel wasn’t a fool to think that going away for months at a time would be easy on his wife; but no matter their attempts to keep things together when duty called, there was simply too much distance between the soldier and his stay-at-home wife, constantly weighted by not only the worries about what was going on across the Atlantic, but raising a son by herself. They divorced in 2002 without much of Nathaniel’s say in the matter and the question of custody was easy when Nathaniel was never around and Lisa had only ever been for a son that would only come to butt heads with a father who was rarely in his life while growing up, causing him to miss out on those traditional milestones of life made for good old Americana Hallmark movies about growing up.

It hadn’t even helped in 2003 when Nathaniel turned away from his military career after those twenty-one years in the field, fighting the wars of politicians and government, and instead turned towards police work as a way to make use of what skills he did have. It became just as much a sink of his time when family life was in ruin, focusing on helping other people who needed it and growing his career, rising through the ranks of the San Francisco Police Department, rather than venturing into that far more personal side of his life – at least until he met Hannah Sumner who would eventually become that match made in heaven.

Familiar with the life of a police officer given the number of them who had been in her family over generations, Hannah was far more understanding of the work that Nathaniel put himself into even if it didn’t go without worry while he was on duty that something could go wrong. It happened before. It would happen again, and there was always that possibility that someone would be caught in an unfortunate situation; but it still wouldn’t stop them from having a life together, especially when she gave birth to their daughter, Hope, in 2004.

Given his former failings, he made an effort this time to balance his life a bit more readily. He didn’t always have to have overtime hours. He didn’t always have to travel. He didn’t always have to be gone, and he could devote time to raising a child and maintaining a family that he hadn’t been so successful at before, something that would be imperative when Hannah was diagnosed with late stage cancer and found herself caught up in the rigmarole of treatments that only temporarily head back the unfortunate prognosis.

In 2017, Hannah passed, leaving Nathaniel with a sixteen year old daughter that was quick to become his pride and joy and the one person, above all else, he’d put his life on the line for–perhaps especially as super powered San Francisco came crashing into his own, aligning him with not only the mutant telepath and time traveler, Nathan Summers, but the Commission on Superhuman Activities, a top-secret government program that was developed to monitor, study, and handle super heroes, villains, and their affairs.

In some ways, it was the perfect fit for a former ranger and current police lieutenant trying to handle everything from burglars breaking into someone’s apartment to super villains trying to rob banks and unleash mass chaos on the city of San Francisco, but it did plenty to put him on the map.

The history of Nathaniel Sumner of Brooklyn, New York has been amended as such:

Born Nathaniel Sumner on October 1st of 1989, the man known as Nathan Prior served with the United States Army as a Ranger until relocation to San Francisco in 2017 following ten years of service. His position with the San Francisco Police Department, lasting until the Spring of 2020, coincided with the death of the then-lieutenant, Nathaniel Sumner, who took a fatal gunshot wound while on duty, moving Hope into the care of her aunt some years ago.

Though no foul play was suspected on initial investigation, only a handful of individuals would realize that wasn’t the case as Nathan stepped into the elder’s shadow with the same tell-tale characteristics–the same mechanical arm and glowing eye born of the techno-organic virus he was infected with by Apocalypse; the same telepathic signature of the would-be son of Madelyne Pryor and the mutant Cyclops; and an all-too-familiar penchant for high-powered weaponry and the knowledge of just where to find it, leading to only one conclusion only the C.S.A. knows the true motives behind.

Nathan Prior is Nathaniel Sumner.