LORE24 ENTRY #50 – Supers Month #19 – Jennifer Tempest
From the personal journal of Delia Emmerson, Star Reporter of Channel 9 News…
The investigation into the Edgewater Institute has taken a turn I could not have expected, and, for a moment there, I was certain I was finished as a reporter. That’s not something I’d admit to anyone, of course, but when I got caught inside the high security wing and had to undergo an “evaluation”, I had my moments of doubt. It was during my several interviews with Jennifer Tempest during my time inside that I grew suspicious of her motives. The family name was enough, really, but having seen her methods firsthand, I can say with certainty that there is much more going on behind the scenes than anyone outside the Tempest family itself knows…and my sources within the SCPD and FBI can corroborate this statement.
Starting with the one I’m most familiar with, Jennifer Tempest is far more than just the administrator of the Edgewater Institute. Oh, don’t get me wrong, her accomplishments as a medical professional are all there on paper, just as pretty as you please, with all the extra honors and accolades one could imagine. By all accounts, she’s a genius, completely dedicated to healing fractured minds and rooting out the cause of antisocial, criminal behavior. That’s the new thing these days, right? Crime as a mental disorder? Blame the system, not the criminal? Read the piece I wrote about Jennifer and Edgewater, I’ll tell you all about it.
I’m not pleased to admit it, but yes, that was not my finest work, even though it was perhaps my finest infiltration. Jennifer had me over a barrel, and it was either extol her virtues to the world, or disappear as a mental case under so much red tape, locked inside Edgewater for the rest of my life. Oh, she didn’t come right out and say that, of course, but I can read between the lines just fine. It is this reporter’s personal opinion that Jennifer Tempest is perhaps the most dangerous of the entire Tempest criminal organization. She has a way about her that makes me shiver…just an intensity of personality that, while common amongst the rest of her family, is so much more…I don’t know what the exact words are to describe it. Even knowing what I know, I can’t help but feel…awed in her presence, almost like I’m bowing to some queen or…maybe even a goddess. it sounds silly when I say it like that, but I’ve had…thoughts about her that I can’t exactly explain since meeting her, vaguely remembered dreams of things best described as highly pornographic. I don’t know why. I’m rather ashamed of admitting it, even here, but I also want to state quite clearly, should someone have to dig into my records should I go missing, that I DO NOT have any sort of perverse intentions with Jennifer Tempest or any of her sisters. I am not planning to off myself, either.
I will also admit that, perhaps, I have developed an obsession with not only with Jennifer Tempest, but the rest of her family, now that I’ve seen behind the public face of Edgewater. As soon as I had the opportunity I began researching the lot of them, reached out to every contact I had within law enforcement. Like any long-lived criminal family, the Tempests hail from Italy, though would seem to have a much longer lineage than I’ve been able to trace thus far. Each would seem to have their own public image that they tout in Sentinel City, the rich, powerful, and highly influential kind, but there is much more going on behind that public façade.
It’s a well known secret that there is more to the Edgewater Institute than the general public is aware of, two very different faces. While they are undeniably a medical facility with a focus on mental health issues, there are absolutely other activities going on within its walls; there are too many whispers of clandestine kinky, sexual antics involving the rich and influential members of Sentinel City society to ignore. I…must admit that I have little proof of this, but I am certain that I can find the proof of it given more time. I would go so far as to call their methods of patient restraint extreme and perverse, having experienced the “maximum security” variety myself, but how exactly can I speak negatively of them when they are designed to contain some of the most dangerous criminals in the city? The kind who can move faster than you can imagine or that can break through reinforced concrete with ease?
But what about Jennifer Tempest herself, and her criminal nature? She is nothing if not dedicated to her work, perhaps to the point of obsession. She has acquired multiple top talents to her staff, and has secured funding for the facility through multiple public and private sources. It is the private sources that I must uncover if I want to discover her dark secrets. From what my FBI contact has divulged, those donations they have managed to trace come from wealthy, if shady, financial firms or wealthy individuals who honestly believe in the work she does. That leaves a massive amount of funding off the books, though; I’ve seen the technology they have in there first hand, and that kind of hardware is not cheap; I’ve been inside a secret government facility or two that had less stringent security.
Her personal life is rather…plain? She spends an unusual amount of her time at the Edgewater facility, but when she isn’t there, she has a home in one of the gated communities in the nicer parts of town; most of the neighbors are rich business types or other doctors. She sometimes drives herself, sometimes has one of her staff drive her around in a company vehicle. She is romantically involved with one of her staff, though, the head of the IT department, Bobbi, and he is a common sight at her home. I may be able to find an angle there, but information on him is just as difficult to track down as any of the Tempests; I can only assume that he’s deeply involved in their criminal operations, may even run the technology side of them; he has been confirmed doing work for some of Jennifer’s sisters outside of Edgewater, after all. Definitely a person of interest.
Of the other Tempest sisters, Jennifer appears to be closest to Maria, who frequents her home and has even attended some of the meetings inside Edgewater for whatever reason, the meeting with one Misha Kyle that led to a special contract with her company for some special uniforms for the Edgewater staff, for example. I suppose I can safely confirm a latex fetish for Jennifer Tempest, if the choice of standard uniform inside the facility is any indication. Sure, she gave me some lines about the special composition of the material being more hygienic and easier to maintain, and resistant to certain villainous superpowers, but I have no doubts that it goes much deeper than that. Granted, she looks absolutely stunning in skin-tight rubber, but I digress.
I feel like I’m failing to perform due diligence on this investigation so far. I just have so little to show for the hours of surveillance, research, and off-the-record interviews with law enforcement I’ve done. Normally I’d have much more to show for it, but like the latex uniforms she wears, Jennifer Tempest is, for all intents and purposes, squeaky clean. Ugh, why did I write that? Why can’t I get the image of her in that uniform out of my head right now? Stress, it has to be; I need to get some sleep. Maybe a look at one of the other sisters will prove more fruitful…