Liam, a native Irishman working as a geologist for Emerald Gas & Oil, was assigned to perform a geological survey around the Dublin coastline and shores to find new sources of oil, natural gas or even the practicality of tidal energy.  In his surveying, using an echo-sounding sonar machine, he discovered a vast cavernous chamber beneath a particular unowned tract of land along the shoreline in Dublin. 

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After about a month of planning and debate with the oil company executives, Liam was given the green light to investigate the cavern and also see if it was a good location for tidal energy machinery.  The effort to enter the cavern was tricky; a shoreline cave led deep to the entry point of the cavernous area, however, echo sounding identified what looked like a thick rock mass between the tunnel and the closed-ff portion of the cavern.  Liam brought explosives experts with him and intended to blast the rock to get access to the chamber, however, this all had to be done at low tide, or the tunnel would fill up with ocean water (attempts at using a barrier (cofferdam) wasn't considered viable due to the heavy tidal action at the entry of the coastal cavern).  The day Liam attempted to enter the chamber changed his life forever.

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At 2:00 AM on a Friday morning, Liam and his crew entered the tunnel at low tide and set up the explosives to open the gap between the tunnel and the chamber.  Just as the munitions team was finishing their work, a disembodied deep voice echoed a warning in Gaelic to Liam's team: Leave now or all who dare to enter 'Shavara' shall be cursed forevermore.  Two of the workers ran back out, however Liam and the explosives engineer stayed and blasted open the barrier.  When the smoke cleared, Liam and the engineer were able to crawl through an opening that entered the cavernous chamber, which was brightly illuminated by large emerald-colored crystals growing out of every wall floor and ceiling point in the chamber. Figuring they found a cavern of precious emeralds, the engineer entered the chamber first, greedily gathering up handfuls of crystals, shoving them into his pockets and jacket. Strangely, the crystals seems to have a kinetic resonance to them that acted much like reverse-polarized magnetism; the more movement the crystals experienced, the more the crystals' kinetic energy grew, creating a bit of a gyroscopic action to the crystals - and anything it was attached to, such as the engineer.  As a result, the engineer kept falling over as he grabbed more crystals. Eventually, the engineer began careening across the sharp emerald-colored crystal floor, cutting himself on the thousands of jutting sharp crystal edges.  After a few minutes of this, the engineer, now bleeding profusely from the multiple cuts and slashes, had been kinetically slammed over 100 yards into the center of the chamber and was near death.  Liam knew he only had sparse minutes left before the ocean would rush back into this void and flood the chamber.  He had to think quickly if he was to save the engineer and get out alive.

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Liam took one of the crystals and experimented with it, identifying what actions would occur depending on how he held the crystal and when he built up its kinetic energy.  As a result, Liam figured how to use the crystals to "leap" across to the center of the cavern to get to the engineer.  Using wild gestures with the crystals in his hand, Liam was able to jettison himself in a kinetic leap to within a foot of the engineer's bloodied body.  Liam grabbed him up and this time used four crystals to propel him back to the chamber entrance.  That's when the ocean water started pouring in.

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With mere minutes left, Liam, while carrying the engineer, used the crystals to propel himself outward through the flooding cave entrance.  At one point he looked back at the chamber and saw that the water flowing across the crystals caused the crystals to explode with energy; a chain reaction ensued, causing all the crystals in the chamber to explode with the force near to a nuclear bomb.  Nonetheless to say, the chamber's explosive pressure wave shot Liam and the engineer nearly a 1/2 mile out into the sea. The chamber of exploding crystals caved in on itself, causing nearly 2 1/2 miles of shoreline damage, leaving a sink hole over a mile and 1/2 wide.  Since there were no buildings in the area of value (old dilapidated farm houses and barns), no one else was hurt.

 

Amidst all of this Liam and the engineer lived. 

 

Liam still retained his 4 crystals, and in a premeditated move, took the other crystals from the engineer coat, totaling over 15 crystals.

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In the aftermath of this, a massive investigation occurred, resulting in Emerald Oil & Gas firing Liam and the Engineer, Shamus McNeil, who was practically in a coma for 99% of the duration of the investigation.  Liam told no one about the kinetic emerald-like crystals and instead said that they must have hit a methane pocket in a quartz-lined cavern (which was meant to explain Shamus' cuts). Since no other crystals were found amidst the damage and debris, Emerald Oil & Gas closed the investigation with the firings, under Shamus' protests that they'd encountered 'magical green crystals' with incredible powers (to which Emerald Oil & Gas was 'nice' enough to send Shamus in to the psyche ward for 'permanent observation'). Liam tried to go see Shamus and discuss with him what was happening, however, both Emerald Oil & Gas and Shamus placed Liam on the "do not allow to visit' list.

 

The now jobless Liam took the crystals back home with him to the his and his girlfriend's flat (apartment), His girlfriend, Sharon Arlington, had two degrees in physics and when shown by Liam what the crystals did, both Liam and his girlfriend knew they had to learn more about these incredible crystals.  To their surprise, the crystals' crystalic design focused and exponentially increased any form of kinetic energy applied to the crystals, amplifying their kinetic output. 

 

After several weeks of research and practical experiments, the two were able to focus and contain the energy of the crystals with a unique containment system made of Osmium alloys.  The crystals were also found to grow at about an inch a week when exposed to direct sunlight, thereby allowing Liam and his scientific girlfriend to create new crystals.  In a short while, they'd grown over 100 cubic feet of crystal in their basement. 

 

Liam eventually found a job with an ore company that allowed him to scavenge scrap Osmium alloy materials to use to build the containment devices for the crystals.  The big question was, what would Liam do with these crystals and should he let out their secret. His questions were soon answered when a new super-villain, armed with the same types of crystals, attacked Dublin.

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The engineer Liam had saved in the kinetic emerald-lined cavern, Shamus McNeil, actually had four kinetic emerald fragments that were lodged in his skull from the explosion.  Those crystals were removed from Shamus before they sent him to the psychiatric hospital, but, thanks to the finding of the properties of the crystals, a greed and immoral Emerald Oil & Gas executive released Shamus from the psychiatric hospital and had him build prototype kinetic generators in a secure lab at the Emerald Oil & Gas HQ building.  Sadly, Shamus used sonic resonance vice Osmium metal to contain the kinetic energy of the crystals and instead created an explosive accident of a high frequency sonic discharge that not only damaged Shamus hearing, but destroyed whatever was left of Shamus' mind...and half of the Emerald Oil & Gas HQ building. The executive and two other engineers died during the accident.

 

Using high powered hearing devices, Shamus took his now blackened crystals and generator and some of his research and decided he needed to tell the world himself about his crystals so he could be exonerated and made famous.  In his mind, Shamus thought he needed 'money' and 'attention' to get everyone to 'see' him and how wonderful he was with this discovery.  While working with scraps to build a containment gauntlet or two for the crystals (and hiding from the authorities) Shamus saw a superhero cartoon show and decided he need to be a 'superhero that tells the truth about the crystals and their value'.  He made a costume, reforged the (now) blackened crystals into the new set of steel gauntlets, and decided to go to his bank to perform a 'withdrawal'...in costume.  When Shamus arrived at the bank, demanding 'his' money, a security team tried to take Shamus down (thinking him to be a super-villain robber).  Sadly, the security team was killed by Shamus and the dark kinetic energy of the new gauntlets.  Shamus went to the vault, tore it open and took money from the vault...and escaped, calling himself the "Emerald Ire" as he exited. An investigation into the robbery showed that over 3 million Euros had been stolen (far more than what was in Shamus' bank account).

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When the TV news showed the 'robbery'. Liam immediately recognized the crystals...and Shamus.  He knew he had to find him and stop him before others got hurt.  After another robbery at another bank, Liam's girlfriend presented him with a superhero costume she'd been working on for him.  She showed him a unique physics feature of the crystals that when magnetically directed, fused into the shape of a shield, deflecting any physical or energy attacks, rather than exploding or rebounding from the attack. Liam practiced with his new gauntlets and shield and quickly learned how to use them...just in time for Shamus' next attack.

 

Liam, while again watching the news, saw "Emerald Ire" (Shamus) attacking Dublin's parliament, ranting to them about HIS magical green crystals he'd discovered and how Emerald Oil & gas and Liam McDonald conspired to prevent him from the fame and fortune he deserved. Liam called the Parliament security and told them they needed to follow his lead and get 'Emerald Ire' away from the city, out to the coastal area where the massive explosion had happened recently; Liam told them to tell "Emerald Ire" there are more crystals down in the cavern and to meet him there to show the world 'their' discovery.

 

When security passed along the message, Shamus laughed, cried and then went ballistic over hearing 'their discovery'; as far as Shamus was concerned it was HIS discovery.  Mindlessly, Shamus kindly asked for keys to a government vehicle to which they quickly handed him...and for which Shamus then decidedly drove to the Dublin coastline to meet Liam.

 

News crew vans followed (at a safe distance) as did the police all the way to the coastline site, where Liam, dressed in his costume, stood alone between Shamus and the cavern.

 

Shamus figured out the costumed man before him was Liam, mostly since the crystals emanating from Liam's costume were the same green emerald like in the cavern.  Shamus first asked Liam if he thought he was some type of "emerald shield' between him and the cavern, to which Liam responded that Shamus needed to stop his violence and criminal actions and turn himself in.

 

Shamus immediately attacked Liam.

 

For the next three minutes, both fought like wild pack dogs. Incredible kinetic energy hits, blocks, poundings and more were witnessed by the world on a live news feed.  During the fight, Shamus crystals began to glow a chaotic pattern of purple and green, getting brighter and brighter.  Liam figured the crystals were on the verge of overloading and exploding.  Liam ordered the police to clear the area and that Emerald Ire's crystals were about to explode.  The police cleared out the observers and the news crews, but even Liam knew the crystals were seconds away from exploding. 

 

Liam had to act fast.

 

Using the crystals in his boots, he used the same kinetic jump technique he'd used in the cavern and jumped straight to Shamus. Liam smashed his gauntlets' crystals onto the locking latches of Shamus' gauntlets, causing both of their pairs of gauntlets to fall from their hands and onto the ground. Liam punched Shamus unconscious and kinetically jumped himself and Shamus to safety...just as Shamus' gauntlets exploded. The explosion made a 50-foot deep crater and an 80-foot radius zone of destruction across the surface.

 

Liam dragged Shamus to a police car and told them to arrest him and make sure he has absolutley no crystals on him (and to lock them away if a safe, no jostling, unlit area if they did find any). The police asked if he was with the new British superhero team, the Commonwealth, to which Liam, trying to figure a way out of getting jailed or involved back with Emerald Oil & Gas said, "Well, what do YOU think, eh?"...and then asked for a ride back to Dublin. He wasn't even asked to come down to the station for follow-up questions.

 

By the time the authorities discovered that "Emerald Shield" was not with the Commonwealth, Liam had already landed from his flight to the United States, thanks to his girlfriend who got them two tickets to Boston.  There, Sharon Arlington quickly got a job (with her travel and work visa) at Boston College, where she became a faculty member in the energy production department.   Liam, who was now wanted for questioning in Dublin, received a strange letter (slid under him and his girlfriend's new apartment on the Boston College campus).  In the letter, a man only identifying himself as "The Major" complemented "Liam" on his amazing heroics and his kick-ass fighting technique.  He asked if Liam would join his 'Allied Fighters' super group to help take on a handful of wanna-be wold-ruling despots.  He was asked to meet him in a pub in Boston to give him the answer.

 

Liam thought long and hard about it.

 

He eventually met 'The Major' at the pub, telling 'The Major' that 'world-ruling despot' fighting wasn't really his thing, and that he was, at his best, a guy who just wants to help the police, or the fire department or maybe those less fortunate than him.  Laughing, 'The Major' said he knew just the person Liam needed to talk to and then wrote down an address.  He told Liam to go there, but not tell 'the guy in charge' who sent him. 'The Major' also said not to worry about having a warrant out on him; he'd take care of that in the next day or so. When Liam asked who this 'guy in charge' was, 'The Major' simply said, "The Irish Fighter". Before Liam could get his wits about him (knowing the Irish Fighter as a notorious Irish scourge, yet one of the world's greatest heroes of late), 'The Major' was gone, leaving the address...and the bar tab...for Liam.

 

Two days later,  Liam arrived, in costume, at the address 'The Major' gave him - Boston's Castle Island: the new home of the Irish Fighter's Emerald Society super group. After a brief conversation with the Irish Fighter and a few other Emerald Society members, "Emerald Shield" was granted membership into the Emerald Society.  The State Department took care of his superhero registration (and a U.S. work visa for Liam), and within two weeks was introduced to the world as the newest member of the Emerald Society.

 

Today, Liam trains and fights with the Emerald Society.  he and his girlfriend Sharon continue to live together and have been actively working on upgrading Liam's containment gauntlets and energy pack all thanks to a 'cleared customs shipment' of Liam's entire lab and set of crystals...including the damaged gauntlets gathered by the Dublin Police at the explosion site from him and Emerald Ire. True to his word, 'The Major' sent a copy of a letter absolving Liam McDonald of any involvement since (it noted) he was working with the "CIA" on a special international geological counterfeit ring.  A letter arrived the next day after from Ireland, noting that Mr. McDonald was not longer under warrant and was free to follow his 'exceptional' efforts he'd been performing in the United States. Liam also recently started working for a small rock and crystal supplier business named "Rocrystals", making a decent wage and access to archaeological sites worldwide.

 

Recently, Shamus McNeil, Emerald Ire, escaped from prison.  His cellmate told the authorities that 'Emerald Ire' was going to his secret stash to get more crystals and use them to not only prove to the world that the crystals were STILL his discovery, but that he also needed to kill emerald Shield none the sooner. 

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