The Ostrich War had one truly unexpected casualty: the famed American superhero Black Owl.
The Owl had a bad year up to his disappearance. He was outed as being Kyle Elsworth III, wealthy heir to the Elsworth fortune. Many of the criminal cases hinging on Black Owl's work were thrown out, and the family fortunes were being threatened with a class action lawsuit by the assaulted criminals.
During the middle of these troubles, the Advanced Research Imitative offered him a deal. The Koganans success with the Ostrich warriors had emboldened them to experiment further with some super science weapons. They came across an old Nazi weapons cache and got some of the old power suits working. So the ARI offered to make all the Owl's problems go away if he took care of this issue for them.
The mission went surprisingly well, the worst of the storehouse's items were destroyed, and the Owl was on his way out when he faced down some Kogana helicopter pilots. His plane was damaged and went down somewhere over the border of Buranda, and the Black Owl was never seen again. The plane was recovered, and no signs of the pilot were found.
The Elsworth Family maintains Kyle is still alive and simply choosing a more private life. It's assumed he is doing so under a new identity somewhere in the world.
Hmmmm...
You haven't shown us yet how the Black Owl looks unmasked, right?
I have two (though mutually exclusive) crazy theories...
Crazy theory # 1:
Could it be that, after ending up in Buranda and assuming his new identity, he crossed paths with this woman!?
Crazy theory # 2:
Who else is there in Buranda? Well, there is a certain other character in "Kaza's Mate Gwenna" about whom's past we know yet nothing about...
Author Notes:
The Owl had a bad year up to his disappearance. He was outed as being Kyle Elsworth III, wealthy heir to the Elsworth fortune. Many of the criminal cases hinging on Black Owl's work were thrown out, and the family fortunes were being threatened with a class action lawsuit by the assaulted criminals.
During the middle of these troubles, the Advanced Research Imitative offered him a deal. The Koganans success with the Ostrich warriors had emboldened them to experiment further with some super science weapons. They came across an old Nazi weapons cache and got some of the old power suits working. So the ARI offered to make all the Owl's problems go away if he took care of this issue for them.
The mission went surprisingly well, the worst of the storehouse's items were destroyed, and the Owl was on his way out when he faced down some Kogana helicopter pilots. His plane was damaged and went down somewhere over the border of Buranda, and the Black Owl was never seen again. The plane was recovered, and no signs of the pilot were found.
The Elsworth Family maintains Kyle is still alive and simply choosing a more private life. It's assumed he is doing so under a new identity somewhere in the world.