Difference between revisions of "Tom Harriman (alternate)"

By 2001, Tom was serving as a Lieutenant, leading a platoon of Paratroopers. His unit had recently been called back from deployment in the Gulf, and was one of the only military units readily available for deployment to the United States following the Mutant Uprising. He and his platoon were deployed to Washington DC, where they initially aided in the attempts to defend the White House, and rescue the President from the secure bunker beneath. When it became evident that the capital could not be held however, Tom and his men withdrew to a fortified Vanguard facility in Montana.

The seeds of uprising quickly spread across the globe, and Harriman found himself stranded when contact was lost with the United Kingdom. He agreed to remain on US soil and aid Vanguard, working along Major Meredith Hunter from USAF Special Forces. The two worked closely together for the years that followed, eventually coming to refer to each other by their similar initials: T.J. and M.J.

During the latter stages of the decade, a number of significant events occurred. A counter-uprising of mutants provided Vanguard with new allies. They managed to form an effective defensive perimeter along the Rocky Mountains, west of which a number of safe havens were established for mutant and non-mutant refugees alike. An unsteady balance was formed: not quite peace, but not quite all-out war either. Vanguard's role changed from directly combatting mutants to defending the civilians in those refugee cities: M.J. became the commander of the Van-Guardians, while T.J. continued to lead skirmish and covert missions over the border into enemy territory, with the de facto rank of Major.

During this period, Harriman's brother rose to prominance as a leader in the enemy government, though intelligence is sketchy on how. On a mission to try and discern how this had happened, T.J. was captured, and a mutant removed his ability, later implanting it into his brother. Hunter led a rescue mission that successfully retrieved Harriman, but his ability could not be recovered.

As of 2009, Harriman continues to be one of Vanguard's senior field commanders.