OFFICE of INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

MEMBERSHIP: Col. Tolliver Smith (Director), Collins

PURPOSE: Part of the executive branch of the government who deal with threats to national security when insufficient evidence exists to sanction an officially authorised action

AFFILIATIONS: Detective Cecilia Perez (though she didn't like it she was assigned to them as an observer), Thought Police (Cuffs, Nightstick, Wiretap; O.I.E.'s enforcers)

ENEMIES: The Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch), the Phelps family, Prospect Park's homeless, Sleepwalker,

BASE of OPERATIONS: O.I.E. HQ, Washington D.C, and Prospect Park, Brooklyn (temporarily commandeered during their search for Sleepwalker)

FIRST APPEARANCE: Sleepwalker#9 (February 1992)

HISTORY: (Sleepwalker#9) - The O.I.E. sent agents to assume command of Detective Perez's investigation of Sleepwalker. Perez refused to sign the papers to transfer authority over to them. Before they left they gave the detective a detector attuned to Sleepwalker's radiation signature, claiming they would be back when they had proper authorisation. After the police's encounter with Lullaby and Sleepwalker (to understand why Sleepy was aiding a known criminal read Lullaby's profile), Perez called in the O.I.E.

(Sleepwalker#11(fb)) - As the O.I.E. began looking for Sleepwalker they accumulated energy residue from Sleepwalker's warp beam.

(Sleepwalker#10) - An O.I.E. agent burst into the Phelps' family home having detected Sleepwalkers radiation on Mrs Phelps, who had been saved from attackers by Sleepwalker previously. Other agents investigated Lee's Food store where Sleepwalker had previously stopped a robbery. Unable to locate him, Colonel Tolliver set up a temporary base of operations in an area of Prospect Park used as a home by the homeless. Sleepwalker spotted the commotion as O.I.E. agents approached the homeless people to help in their search. The agents restrained Sleepwalker with their immobilisation field and shot him with plasma energy pulses, but he warped sewer pipes out of the ground to stop them. The O.I.E. used a spectral disrupter field to scatter his warp beam, causing random damage. Sleepwalker stopped his warp beams and tried to draw the agents away from the innocent people. He tricked them into shooting in the direction of Rick Sheridan's home. The explosion woke Rick, and Sleepwalker returned into his mind. The O.I.E. got a reading on Sleepwalker and sent the information back to base. The energy frequencies they recorded where almost identical to those of human brainwaves, confirming Tolliver's belief that Sleepwalker hid inside a human mind. He had his agents round up the locals to prepare for a mindscan, starting with the homeless. Sleepwalker returned and the Colonel ordered his men to kill him. Before the nearest agent could do so Sleepwalker smashed his weapon. However another agent hit him with a spatial distortion field to scramble his vision. While he couldn't see the device to smash it, he warped a hole in the ground underneath it. They tried to use the spectral disrupter again, but Sleepwalker covered the bubbles with mud. While Sleepwalker was distracted with the bubbles, another agent drove up behind him. The agent's vehicle ensnared Sleepwalker in tempered steel cables and hoisted him into the air. While the Colonel denounced Sleepwalker, the people of Sleepwalker's neighbourhood shouted their support and encouragement. Sleepwalker flew high up in the air, taking the vehicle with him. Then he dropped back down and the vehicle smashed into the ground. The Colonel thought Sleepwalker dead, but he walked out of the crash and grabbed Tolliver by his shirt. However Sleepwalker was talked into surrendering when he realised the government would only send other agents after him, endangering more innocent lives with pointless conflict.

(Sleepwalker#11) - The O.I.E. placed goggles on Sleepwalker to prevent him releasing his warp beams. He was restrained and bombarded with the energy residue the agents had collected from the many places Sleepwalker had used his warp beam previously. While the energy was too much for Sleepwalker to contain, the goggles prevented him from releasing it. The Colonel gloated that when Sleepwalker returned to his human host the goggles would fall off and the energy would destroy the hosts mind. However the innocent blood that had been spilt as a result of the O.I.E.'s battle with Sleepwalker attracted Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider attacked the O.I.E. and freed Sleepwalker from his bonds. While Sleepwalker recovered his strength, Ghost Rider tore through the O.I.E. and grabbed hold of Colonel Tolliver. He was meaning to give the Colonel a dose of his penance stare when Sleepwalker intervened. Misunderstanding the aliens intentions, Ghost Rider attacked Sleepwalker. Tolliver ordered his men to withdraw in the hope the two hero's would kill each other. Sleepwalker eventually managed to explain that he needed Tolliver to remove the goggles in order to prevent Rick Sheridan's death. Ghost Rider demanded the colonel remove the goggles. Tolliver agreed as long as Ghost Rider promised not to hurt him. Ghost Rider reluctantly agreed, and Tolliver removed the goggles. Sleepwalker released the energy in a blast that destroyed most of O.I.E.'s equipment. While Ghost Rider had promised not to harm the Colonel, Sleepwalker pointed out that he hadn't. But before he could do anything, Rick Sheridan awoke and Sleepwalker vanished.

(Sleepwalker#14) - Perez petitioned the courts for an injunction against Colonel Tolliver and won. The O.I.E. were forbidden to make any more field operations. However Tolliver called the Thought Police and they went to meet the Fantastic Four.

(Sleepwalker#15, 16 (bts)) - In an unauthorised field mission Tolliver and the Thought Police tried to get Reed Richards to help destroy Sleepwalker by invading his host's mind. However the mission was unsuccessful.

COMMENTS: Created by Bob Budiansky, Bret Blevins, Mike Manley and Marie Javins

Tolliver's opinion of Sleepwalker:

"For those who have rejected the American way of life, he is their symbol -- a being whose every thought and deed strikes at all that's good in this great country of ours! An outsider who must be expelled -- Permanently!"

As far as Sleepwalker's series was concerned he got his wish!

A mental image of the O.I.E. agents was seen in issue 13.

Profile by Changeling

CLARIFICATIONS:

No known connection to:

Detective Cecilia Perez has no known connection to:

Colonel Tolliver Smith has no known connection to:

Colonel Tolliver Smith

Smith was the Director of the O.I.E. After his first field operation to capture Sleepwalker failed, he was forbidden to make any more field operations. However he called the Thought Police and took them to Four Freedoms Plaza. He tried to convince Reed Richards to send him and his agents into "Sleepwalkers dimension" (in truth it was the mind of Sleepwalkers host, Rick Sheridan). However Richards refused to let Smith go. Reed took his place, not wanting to put the Colonel at risk, and travelled with the Thought Police into Rick's mind. When he realised the truth of the situation he left Rick's mind, attempting to take the Thought Police out with him. While the Thought Police resisted initially, Sleepwalker eventually made them leave. The Thing wanted to deal with the Thought Police in his own unique fashion, but Colonel Smith threatened to arrest him. The Colonel had access to the same advanced equipment as the other O.I.E. agents. Also, as a federal agent, Colonel Smith was trained in law enforcement, espionage, hand to hand combat and the use of guns. I'm not saying he was exceptional in any of these areas mind!

--Sleepwalker#9, (named)#10, (11, 14, 15, 16)

Detective Cecilia Perez

New York Police detective Cecilia Perez was investigating Sleepwalker's activities. She had grown up in the area of Brooklyn where Sleepwalker tended to operate and was pleased to hear that since his arrival crime had fallen over 70%. When initially approached by the O.I.E. regarding Sleepwalker she refused to transfer authority over to them. However, she later changed her mind when Sleepwalker became involved with Lullaby. She was assigned to the O.I.E.'s operation as an observer. Although she was unhappy with their methods, she eventually had to persuade Sleepwalker to surrender in order to avoid civilian casualties. Once Sleepwalker was in custody there was little she could do to help him against the O.I.E, so instead she tended to the innocent victims of their attack. Sometime soon after Sleepwalker was freed by Ghost Rider she successfully petitioned the courts for an injunction against the O.I.E. Perez was later called upon during the Mindspawn invasion. She convinced the National Guard to call off an air-strike that would've decimated the Brooklyn neighborhood in favor of calling the Avengers.

-- Sleepwalker#9, (10, 11, 14(bts) 26, 27)

O.I.E. Agents (Collins, various others)

The O.I.E. agents made use of various hi-tech equipment in their crusade against Sleepwalker. They had advanced energy tracking equipment attuned to Sleepwalker's radiation signature (ranging from a large console to a small hand held detector). While on assignment against Sleepwalker, they wore body armour and used hi-tech energy weapons designed with Sleepwalker in mind; immobilisation field generators to hold him in place, plasma energy pulse rifles to blast him with, spectral disrupter fields that reflected and scattered his warp beams, spatial distortion field that scrambled his vision, and an all-terrain vehicle with an adapted crane that employed tempered steel cables in order to ensnare him. They had a mindscan machine that probed human minds for signs of alien presence. Their main tactic was to collect energy residue from the many places Sleepwalker had used his warp beam and project it via an energy cannon into Sleepwalkers body. Special goggles where used to prevent Sleepwalker releasing the energy through his eyes. The energy build up was intended to destroy the mind of Sleepwalker's human host.

-- Sleepwalker#9 (10,11)

Images: Sleepwalker#10, p9, pan1; p3, pan6; #9, p1, pan1;#10, p3, pan1

Last updated: 01/26/04.

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