The Birth of the Silver Specter (part 1) 

Barbara Doyle didn’t consider herself a crusader but that was the role she 

found herself in. It started when she realized how bad things had become 
in 
the city she grew up in. Crime was everywhere and it seemed that the city 
government was unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Barbara 
decided 
to do what she could to put things right. 

She started out by volunteering at the community center, teaching 
self-defense classes for women. While there, she began to learn more about 

the way the local government worked and tried, unsuccessfully, to get some 

anti crime programs established. Frustrated by the government’s apathy, 
she 
ran for, and won, a seat on the city council. It was there that she 
realized why her attempts to stop the widespread crime had been so 
unsuccessful. 

It seemed that the city government had become corrupted by the local 
criminal elements, and those in authority were either under the influence 
of the mob or too afraid of the mob to directly oppose them. To make 
matters worse, Barbara’s vocal opposition of the mob and its activities 
had 
made her an object of their disfavor. 

Still, she refused to back down from her crusade to win back the city from 

these unsavory elements, so the next obvious move was to eliminate her. 

That threat was carried out when Barbara was walking down the street. A 
car 
parked on the side of the road exploded as she passed it. The force of the 

explosion knocked Barbara off her feet as she was engulfed in flames. But 
she did not die. In fact, Barbara was not harmed at all as she got to her 
feet. But she didn’t have time to marvel at this fact, because she heard 
screams for help nearby. 

The storefront in front of the car bomb was engulfed in flames. Barbara 
heard a young woman’s cries from within. In spite of the force of the 
raging fire facing her, the heat did not seem to intense for Barbara and 
she dashed into the building to try and help. Huddled in the back of the 
building were a young woman and an elderly man, both Asian. The man was 
unconscious. “How can I help?” she asked the woman. 

The woman wasn’t sure what she was facing in this woman who could walk 
through fire, but she wasn’t one to turn down an offer of help. “My 
grandfather got knocked out. Can you help me carry him out the back? He’s 
too heavy for me to carry by myself.” 

Barbara’s response was to pick up the man’s legs. The woman picked him up 
under his arms and together they carried him out of the burning building. 
They put him back down in the alley behind the building once they were a 
safe distance away. Barbara asked, “Do you think he’ll be all right?” 

The woman turned to Barbara and replied, “what about you?” For the first 
time, Barbara had a chance to examine her current state. What little 
clothing that had not been blown off her body in the blast was either 
smoldering or still actively burning. Barbara instinctively swatted at the 

flames and the remains of her outfit fluttered to the ground in charred 
pieces. How could she have not felt the heat, she wondered. 

In fact, her body had no marks of the flames or the explosion. Barbara 
stared at herself in disbelief. When she looked up, she saw that the woman 

and her grandfather were looking at her as well, and Barbara suddenly 
became self-conscious.  “Um, would you happen to have a place near here?” 
she asked the pair. 

Much later, with her modesty restored, Barbara and the two rescued people 
became better aquatinted. The young woman was named Amy Li and she was a 
researcher at the local university. She had been visiting her grandfather, 

Cho Li, in his store when the blast took place. Barbara told them who she 
was and why she felt she was the intended victim of the blast. Amy, on the 

other hand, was more interested in why Barbara hadn’t been killed 
immediately in the blast. 

“I don’t know,” Barbara replied, “but I have never really been hurt as 
long 
as I can remember. I’ve always just thought I was just lucky.” 

“Let’s test that” said Amy and she dashed into the kitchen, returning with 

a big knife. Barbara tried to pull away, but Amy already had Barbara’s 
wrist in her hand and drew the knife’s edge across her palm. Instead of a 
bleeding gash, the women were surprised to see that the knife left no mark 

at all. Barbara took the knife and began poking it at her palm, trying to 
puncture the skin. She kept stabbing harder and harder, but couldn’t 
penetrate. She was getting frightened and started trying to hack at her 
arm 
but was stopped with a gentle touch from the elder Mr. Li. 

“I don’t get it!” she said to them, a bit of hysteria creeping into her 
voice. “This doesn’t make any sense!” The elder Li took the knife from her 

yielding hand and held her arm. Then he quickly twisted it. “Owowow!!” 
complained Barbara. Mr. Li released her arm. 

“It appears,” he said “that you have an extraordinary ability to avoid 
damage, but that this ability is only skin deep.” 

Barbara sat in stunned silence as she absorbed this information. “But what 

am I going to do?” she asked them. 

“I know what I would do,” said Amy grimly. “These guys that tried to kill 
you nearly killed me and my Grandfather as well. If it were up to me, I’d 
stop them before they tried it again.” 

And that was when Barbara Doyle realized that her crusade against the mob 
had become a war.