Lt. General John F. Morelli

**Lt. General John Fidel Morelli,** also known as **The Guy from the Pentagon**, is a US Army General Officer who works at the Pentagon and who oversees the Armor Branch of that service. He reports directly to the Chief of Staff. Part of his responsibility is to oversee the US SKY-WATCH command, which is under the operational command of US Air Force Maj. General J.E. Kawallis. Morelli makes organizational decisions and recommendations that carry a great deal of weight in the US military and Government. While he admires the powers Mari Solinski and Zandra Niko possess, he take issue with their lack of military bearing and protocol. He is also a career officer with ambitions which sometimes bring him into additional conflict with LION SQUAD.

## Personality

Lt. General Morelli is ambitious and seeks to advance his career and legacy striving, one day, to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He carries himself as a by the book commander, however, he is known to bend rules to his advantage often "pulling strings" to insure he remains on his path. He enjoys a rivalry with Major General J.E. Kawallis, of whom he encountered on his rise up the ladder. The two had served in the F.D.I. Organization in its last days with Morelli choosing to return to the US Army's Armor Branch instead of following one of the special projects F.D.I. Agents selected.

Major General Kawallis, then the rank of Lt. Colonel, pursued the USAF SKYWATCH mission, a move which, while rewarding and notable, slowed his career down resulting in Morelli eventually surpassing Kawallis by one grade.

Morelli regards Mari Solinski, who he named THE IMPROBABLE GIRL, and Zandra Niko as a "loose end" and "necessary evil" insuring his career forward. That said, he would not mind them being convicted and locked away in Military Prison as a method to secure his continued rise. This makes Lt. General Morelli both a potential friend and antagonist to the girls.

It should be pointed out that although Morelli is ambitious he is no traitor and will always yield to his duties and, while he does hold this rivalry with Kawallis, he considers Kawallis a old friend often times lending critical support.

## Relationships to Lion Squad

Lt General Morelli has a love hate relationship with LION SQUAD mostly due to three issues, 1) the irregularities which surround the Steve the Alien incident, 2) his disgust at the lack of military bearing shown by Mari Solinski and Zandr Niko, 3) an on going rivalry with Major General Joseph E. Kawallis, USAF.

Mari and Niko clearly do not like Lt. General Morelli and find his connection to their affairs "dubious." Morelli does not general care one way or the other about what happens to them, but does show distain from their lack of military protocol. To them Morelli is a sort of antithesis to Major General Kawallis and they are surprised when they see that he has done them well.

## Appearances

Morelli appeared in the Origins issue as a sort of quasi-antagonistic figure. While the ultimate responsibility for the addressing of the matters which eventually led to The Battle of Dick Kleberg Park are his, he, instead, made his way to the Pentagon to attempt to curry favor with the higher ups leaving Maj. General Kawallis alone to address the matter with insufficient resources to do so. As the battle unfolded he attempted to assign blame to Kawallis for the event with Capt Douglas MacKillroy noting that the records would show differently. In Morelli is missing from The Prisoner Agenda and does not return until The Heist. at which time he is serving as an annoyance to Lion Squad insisting on their military training with highly dubious intentions. Later in that issue he begins a obsessive pursuit of Mari and Niko when they are accused of robbing the Idrissa Stone from the Kingsville Museum of Science and History. At the end of that issue he is effectively sidelined by General Howard "Howie" Howitzer.

Morelli makes a short cameo in Ken Bailey's THE MIGHTY ENERGY GIRL #40 where he converses with Kawallis about F.D.S.H. training and their possible military use, however, he is quickly pulled out of the loop by higher ups.

Issue #1: Origins

Issue #3: The Heist

Issue #3A: Cat's Meow