History
Edson Jarzinho was a military officer of Portuguese origin who had been a political prisoner. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and went on to lead a mercenary army of almost twelve hundred men[1] made up mainly of Portuguese soldiers and former members of the Foreign Legion. Jarzinho's group worked for private companies,[2] protecting commercial interests in foreign territory,[1] while still being members of the Portuguese Army.[3][2] They also had secret ties to organized crime in Russia, although the Central Intelligence Agency suspected this.[2]
Jarzinho and his group were hired by Lexington Mining Corporation, which was mining Vibranium[1] from a newly emerged island south of the Azores.[4] Prince Namor claimed sovereignty over that territory, stating that it was his domain Atlantis emerged, but did not start an open conflict with the humans of Lexington[2] who scoured the area in search of resources while escorted by Jarzinho's mercenary troops in representation of the Portuguese Army occupying the territory.[3] On the island was also the city of Attilan,[3] home to some four thousand Inhumans[5] protected by multiple defensive systems that included a negative space dome and an eco-filter so that air pollution, lethal to Inhumans, would not affect them.[3] The city had been transported to the ruins of the island a few years earlier by Nathaniel Richards,[6] but the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, was unhappy with this location, too close to disease-carrying humans and occupying a territory that it belonged to Namor.[4] The Portuguese military presence in the area was of political and social interest, generating tensions. Since Jarzinho's troops had come within a mile of Attilan,[3] it was believed that Namor had chosen not to initiate a conflict against them, lest he risk damaging the city.[2]
Maximus, brother of Black Bolt who coveted the inhuman throne, contacted Commander Yuri Stalyenko of the Russian Red Room to manipulate events so that the soldiers would attack Attilan as part of Maximus' plan to overthrow Black Bolt;[2] in exchange, Stalyenko, Jarzinho and their soldiers would receive riches looted from Attilan.[7] Maximus provided intelligence to Stalyenko and Jarzinho:[4] Maximus urged them to use fire from their tanks against the outer palisade during a storm, because the Inhumans reduce the energy of this defense when there was a storm, to protect against electrical surges; this would allow the tanks to, if not bring down the palisade, overload it. Additionally, using a diplomatic trick, Maximus introduced in Attilan a machine that would weaken the barrier.[1] Maximus also provided Stalyenko with a hand-held device that was to eliminate the individualized tachyon fields used by the Inhumans' first line of defense.[5] Once the dome had broken, the contamination would quickly affect the Inhuman population, who would soon run out of antidotes.[4] Maximus also revealed that a fault line ran across the island and, if hit by enemy fire, could cause the sinking of the entire island, including the city of Atlantis,[8] so he warned Jarzinho and Stalyenko against using heavy artillery near that particular area.[4]
In reality, this was inaccurate and a part of Black Bolt's own plan to protect Attilan: Maximus's machines, including the one that weakened the barrier and the one that nullified superpowers, were defective and inoperative. Inhumans in combat only pretended to be shot down; while Black Bolt and his closest allies controlled the outer palisade to turn it off slowly so that it seemed that the attack was working.[7] this was a convoluted plan by Black Bolt to pretend that Attilan was destroyed, and then teleport the city to the Himalayas, in a safer place; but only Black Bolt and his inner circle were informed of the details of the plan.[4]
Stalyenko met with Jarzinho on the island and gave him the relevant orders. Jarzinho was skeptical, believing the Inhumans to be superior in technology and defenses, but complied.[2] The initial attacks against the outer dome caused no damage at all, but drew the Inhumans' attention. Black Bolt and several Inhumans met up with the soldiers to ask for an explanation, but Stalyenko simply spat in Bolt's face. Bolt retreated back to Attilan, [1] knowing that he could destroy their attackers with his powers; but, if he harmed a single human, he feared that it would attract many more humans and endanger his people. Thus, he sought a diplomatic solution[5] by sending an inhuman ambassador to the United Nations for the first time in history. The ambassador got empty words of support from Great Britain, Iraq, Israel and the United States; and the Portuguese government tried to dissociate itself from Jarzinho's so-called independent forces, while the United Nations Secretary-General questioned the morality or legality of sending mercenaries to protect corporate interests in foreign countries.[1] Jarzinho's forces claimed to have attacked Attilan in retaliation for an unprovoked Inhuman attack on an unarmed C409 civilian airbus that had killed 39 people; but the Portuguese Foreign Secretary denied that there were Inhumans involved in that tragedy, and the search for evidence was painstakingly slow.[5] Lexington, for his part, stated that Jarzinho's men were not following orders from the company,[1] although Jarzinho apparently believed (or pretended to believe) that Stalyenko was an authorized representative of Lexington.[4]
During the attack, Jarzinho witnessed a skirmish between his men and an Inhuman protected by tachyon fields,[5] Naanis.[8] Stalyenko used Maximus' technology to neutralize Naanis's defenses so that one of his soldiers could killed him,[5] prompting Naanis's brother Timberius to exact revenge. Black Bolt, trying to avoid an escalation, agreed to let Timberius exclusively capture the soldier who had killed Naanis, to put him on trial,[8] which Timberius succeeded at.[9]
Maximus, escaped from prison, then managed to shut down the internal defenses and took control of the communications in Attilan to appeal to his people: Maximus claimed to personally know the enemy commander, Stalyenko, and stated that the attack would stop if Maximus seized the throne. Otherwise, he said, the city's defenses were failing, the humans had already broken through the perimeter and were advancing on the city, the protective dome was about to be destroyed, and he revealed the existence of the fault line that could cause the collapse of the whole island.[8] Sure enough, the dome was breached soon after, with the troops barely half a mile from the city,[9] and Black Bolt maintained his honorable stance of not attacking enemy soldiers. Stalyenko urged Jarzinho to keep up the attack, seeing that the Inhumans allowed themselves to be pushed back; and as soon as he saw an exploitable gap, Stalyenko had the soldiers exploit it.[10]
Convinced of the imminent victory, Stalyenko literally uncorked champagne, although Jarzinho considered it premature. Attilan's power grids shut down (so that Maximus went incommunicado too), but then Black Bolt took the initiative[7] and had his loyal general Gorgon hit the rift to cause the island to sink. All of the Inhumans retreated to the city, so they could be safely teleported with it. Jarzinho saw them through his binoculars and did not understand their strategy; Stalyenko thought it was a sign of utter defeat... but then the island around them began to explode and collapse. Stalyenko theorized that they were under enemy fire, but Jarzinho, losing his temper, grabbed his superior by the lapels and insulted him, claiming that the fault had been damaged by artillery fire from his own people, starting a series of devastating earthquakes, because they had failed to follow Maximus's advice. Jarzinho left the island, recovering all his men, but abandoning tanks and equipment at high cost. Stalyenko stayed on the island, in an apparently suicidal act.[4]
The other humans, like Jarzinho, mistakenly believed that the sinking had been caused by Jarzinho's artillery. They also believed that the city of Attilan had been destroyed, and Lexington's business interests had been ruined. Those responsible for this disaster, including Jarzinho, denied any relationship with Stalyenko.[4]Personality
Attributes
Abilities
Jarzinho was a trained military officer who had risen to the rank of colonel in the Portuguese Army.[1] Although neither he nor his troops had any known superpowers, Jarzinho knew something about superpowers and speculated judiciously, though not always accurately, about the powers of his enemies when he saw them: He mistook an Inhuman's tachyon fields for force fields.[5]
Jarzinho could drive a jeep.[5]Paraphernalia
Equipment
Transportation
See Also
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Inhumans #5
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Inhumans #4
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Inhumans #1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 Inhumans #12
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Inhumans #6
- ↑ Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising #2
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Inhumans #11
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Inhumans #7
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Inhumans #8
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Inhumans #10