Code Name: Crystal Ball
File Name, King, Richard
Birthplace: Bangor, Maine
Prior to Rexford Lewis's election, Crystal Ball was considered an effective charlatan - allegedly a skilled hypnotist, no one was ever quite sure if he was simply very good at reading people, an utter con artist, or something else entirely. His services no longer required by Cobra, Mr. King was paid a handsome sum for his silence on the work he did on behalf of Lewis's alter ego and dove quite aggressively and sincerely into studying the arcane and the unknown. He disappeared for several months and returned seemingly far stronger in his "mysticism" than before, claiming to have made contact with an ancient civilization in the Himalayas. After a few television appearances discussing his experiences, the last TV producer who worked with him said she never wants to speak with the man again. "When you are alone in a room with him, you are not alone in the room - do you understand? Something else is in there with you. We've had a countless number of quacks on our show, but no one has scared me the way he did."
"We never took Crystal Ball seriously back in the old days, and nobody should have - the man was full of malarkey. But something happened to him in the past year. Storm Shadow told Stalker he met with Crystal Ball privately and the experience left him shaken. Storm Shadow, scared of a snake oil salesman? That's enough to raise my hackles. Intel says Lewis sent a team of ex-Cobra to investigate that site in the Himalayas and they never came back. And I swear, when I was watching his interview on TV the other day... it felt like he was looking right through the screen and into my soul."
From the personal journal of T. Arashikage: "I've seen my fair share of weird mysticism. My family is no stranger to it. And Crystal Ball radiates an otherworldly presence I felt in the depths of my guts. I do not intend to meet with him again; I am unconvinced he cannot, in fact, scrape my thoughts for the locations of my allies."
