RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block Hero Revolution Secret Files & Origins #2

Hero Revolution Secret Files & Origins #2

Nowhereman

Nowhereman comes from a long lineage of Nowheremen; including The Nowhereknight who sat at the round table alongside King Arthur, The Nowherekid who fought crime side by side with lawman Wyatt Earp & Mr.Nowhereman who fought the tyranny of Adolf Hitler in WWII!

Very little is actually known about the exact origin of the Nowheremen or how each individual is chosen,but the curent Nowhereman facts are documented:

1) Born in England in 1971
2) Gained his powers at age 16
3) Powers include super strength, rapid healing, limited invulnerability & electro blasts!
4) He is a technical genius & has studied many forms of unarmed combat!
5) He has a network of Nowherecaves scattered throughout the world!
6) Joined the MBL & even briefly lead the team!
7) Disilusioned with the MBL he formed the short lived group Nowhereman & the Insiders!
8) Due to his unfortunate schizophrenic nature, he actually split into two individuals (Nowhereman & Captain Howdy)!
9) This schizophrenia also made him adopt the identity of Jack Nasty for a while, which ended with another split!
10) When the second split occured, Nowhereman had become a darker individual, treading a fine line between good & bad!

He no longer feels comfortable being part of a team, so expect an uneasy relationship when the two forces once again cross each others paths!

***********

Kristogar Velo
Alias: none
Occupation: Classified
Super Powers: none
Special Skills/Weapons: Classified
History: Classified.

***********

Danny

Daniel Hearn was born in Melbourne, Australia on January first, 2063. Fast forward twenty years: Daniel is on holiday in Europe in 2083. He's 20 years old, and he's wandering a small city named Fitzroy in the east of the small yet technologically advanced European nation of Mandelovia. Danny got lost while wandering around the city's back alleys, and eventually stumbled into a hidden laboratory in search of aid. There, he was knocked unconscious by the insane yet brilliant Dr. John Feldman. Feldman used Danny as a guinea pig to test his brand new technology.

Feldman had developed a technology that involved him introducing a certain amount of newly grown bacteria into a person's bloodstream. These microbes can be programmed to follow any directions given to them... repair wounded limbs, eradicate a disease from a person's bloodstream, etc. Feldman, however, had programmed the bacteria to augment a person's physical characteristics temporarily by adding animal traits. Bird wings, monkey tails, etc. To store all the necessary DNA codes, and to interface directly with the bacteria, Feldman needed to add a second brain to Daniel's. So he killed his lab assistant, Hal, and placed portions of Hal's brain into Daniel's head.

The result of all this was as follows:
Daniel now possesses the ability to temporarily add to his body any animal part that is stored in Hal's memory. And Hal has thousands upon thousands of parts stored, so Daniel can have practically any animal part you can name. He can't do things that are extinct or mythological, though: Only real animals, because Feldman had o be able to get a DNA sample of the animal to copy the DNA coding and program it into Hal's memory. Daniel merely has to say the name of the animal part, Hal looks it up in his memory, and the microbes in Daniel's blood make the changes. He then says "Reverse (animal part)", and he goes back to his human state. Daniel's private thoughts remain his own; to communicate with Hal, Daniel needs to speak out loud. Hal, however, can only be heard in Daniel's head. After all this had been done to Daniel, Feldman had him locked up in a tube full of goo. One day, Feldman's lab was attacked by armed men in black (it has yet to be revealed who these men were, or who they were working for). Daniel was released from his captivity. But to take cover from the firefight between Feldman and the men in black, Daniel hid in a nearby cabinet. Unbeknownst to him, the cabinet was part of a time machine, which became damaged in the battle. The machine mafunctioned, and sent Daniel back to the year 2001.

Daniel found himself in the desert near Mandelovia, where he met up with Eurostar, a metahuman on the run. The two of them have since encountered more super powered individuals, and together, they have all begun to form a team of revolutionaries.

***********

The 5th Dimension...Mxyptlk

“I can feel you. I know you are there. I don't know who you are or why you are here... a being from a superior dimension, perhaps, that watches us like we watch the dimensions inferior to ours?
Maybe you chosed this moment to watch because of the unusual situation I am living. I sense that you don't know what that situation is but, that is why you are here. I suppouse my role is to inform you... let me start from the beggining.”

“I am called M X Y P T L K , and I am a sentient 5th dimensional being class C. I have resided in this dimension since my minds started working. Recently, Q Y , the class A fifth dimensional being that keeps this dimension inside the lines of order/chaos summoned the class B beings at the most wise time of their existence to discuss a serious problem that could put the order/chaos in danger.”

“A superior being (7th dimensional, perhaps) was invading the 3rd dimension. The moment his entire being "translates" into that dimension, it will take possesion of the entire dimension. This is an intelligent tactic, because by taking the 3rd dimension that being would also take the 1st and 2nd dimensions, that are strongly attached to the 3rd. By having four dimensions on its possesion, that being would be stronger than any other lower dimension, including this one.”

“The wiser 5th dimensional beings decided that the best course of action would be to send one being of this dimension to the 3rd to locate the problem, and then recieve incredibly amounts of power from all the 5th dimensional beings willing to cooperate, to solve the problem. They decided that it would only be one becuase of the following reason: 5th dimensional beings are too complex to be "translated" into one 3rd dimensional being. If a class B being went to the 3rd dimension, hundreds of beings with different aspects of him would end up there, and only one of them would be there to solve the mission. The others can have several other motivations, that can put the mission and that dimension in danger.”

“If a class C being like me goes there he'd split in a more reduced number of beings, probably two. The only problem is that one of them will be there to accomplish the mission, while the other will probably use all his energies to stop the other one from succeding. This is still better than having hundreds of 5th dimensional beings going around.”

“I was not surprised when they chosed me to go to the 3rd dimension, since a part of mind set another moment informed me. I am now about to go to the 3rd dimension. I will search a mind with inter-dimentional properties and take possesion of the body that mind uses. I will have several of my current capacities, but not all of them because of the limits the human body has. One of the great limits I fear will interfere in my mission will be the simple brain the humans have. My mind may be plagued with irrational emotions, and maybe cause me confusion.”

“Another of my preocupations is the "other half" that will be produced once I get there. I don't think it will get as far from my actual state to murder 3rd dimensional beings, but I'm still worried about it. And part of me is curious and wants to rush the process to know how that "other half" will be. That part has obviously been repressed. I am now proceeding to contact a human mind with inter-dimentional properties... I guess my "other half" will do the same thing as soon as I leave this dimension... He is called "Mick". Here I go.”

“My superiors along with several 5th dimensional beings watch me. I guess that if I was human, I would now say "good bye" to them. I wonder if I will say "good bye" to anyone when I get back.”

Mick

NAME: Michael Harrison
AGE: 23
HAIR: Large and brown
POWERS: Mick's metagene gives him interdimentional communication abilities, that are pretty much useless.
HISTORY: Mick Harrison has a metagene, but since he didn't display any abilities the goverment assumed it was an useless metagene, and decided he wasn't a risk, so they'd watch him from time to time but they wouldn't imprision him like most metahumans. Mick entered the Law faculty when he was 18, but he dropped his studies when he turned 21 and moved out of his parents' house in Boston to a friend's house in Chicago.

When he was 23, the fifth dimentional being known as M X Y P L T K used Mick's metagene to take possesion of his body and enter the third dimension.

Since Mick's body was too "small" for the entire being, M X Y P L T K split in two beings, Mxy and Ktl. Mxy, the "good" part, stayed in Mick's body, and Ktl, the "evil" part, looked for another body with interdimentional powers.

Still, Mick's brain was too simple for half a fifth dimentional being. Mxy couldn't think clearly and started using his powers to cause mayhem by turning people into cows. He was arrested and taken to a hospital as a mental patient, where he was kept uncouncious while the authorities waited for the MCCA to take him away. He escaped the hospital and... the rest can be found in the first New Universe thread.

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Llance

Larry Lance was a young man, twenty years old, when turned over to the EPS by the Chicago Police Department during the early days of the initial meta-gene explosion. Larry Lance had been walking his girlfriend's scotch terrior, Fluffy, when he inexplicably began floating off the ground. Terrified neighbors called the police and a stunned Larry Lance dropped like a rock from the air when several police had drawn guns on him. Unaware of what was happening to him, Larry pounded on a police vehicle, completely smashing in the front of the hood and radiator. A rookie policeman fired out of fear, but the bullets bounced off of Larry's super-dense skin. Unfortunately, a stray bullet had struck Dinah, Larry's girlfriend. As he ran to her fallen body he was gassed by the police and taken away. He still does not know if Dinah survived. Larry is even unsure of the length of time he has been test subject 43-A in this scientific installation. Please read Tom B. First's posts in the second Hero Revolution. storyline, Return to Thunder City, to continue with LLance's story. It is obvious that Larry's meta-gene activated density control of his own body. It is also apparent he has no control over this strange ability...yet.

Tobias

Name: Tobias Christopher
Alias: None
Age: 19
Height:6'0"
Weight:150 lbs.
Hair Color:Dark Blonde
Clothes:Black and red tennis shoes, blue jean shorts, white tank top with a blue button down shirt.
Powers: Superspeed, able to phase through solid objects, advanced healing factor.

History: Tobias was born with a metagene that gave him superspeed, which he basically had to learn to control by himself since his mother had left and his father was never around. He was left an orphan at age 12 when his dad, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty. Having nowhere to go, he took to the streets where he survived for two years before being sent to a juvenile detention center until he was eighteen.

Upon release, Tobias took a job at a diner and started dating a waitress. He decided he no longer had to use his speed and vowed never to get into trouble again. Then one day a government agency tracked Tobias down, killed his girlfriend, and took him to a secret location where he was subjected to regular torturs.

Eventually Tobias escaped with an odd fellow named Mxy and the two joined up with a small band of men with metagenes who helped Tobias avenge his girlfriend.

Unbeknownst to Tobias, but knownst to us, Tobias has a son and a brother in the U.S. Both are in danger, and will need Tobias's help soon.

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Grimm

Name: Grimm
Height: 6'5"
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: None, empty sockets
Hair: Short and black

Description: Looks like a biker from Hell. Black leather jacket, ripped blue jeans, chains w/locks around neck and torso (Sid Vicious style, the punk, not the wrestler), black engineer boots, iron gauntlets covering hands and wrists. Face appears to be a skull.

Equipment: Carries a large double-headed battleaxe.

Quiet, powerful, relentless, will not stop for anything.

He is Grimm

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Ameristar

Name: Ameristar
Height: 6,39 feet tall.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Costume: A well polished silvery, full plate armor, with a likeness to the old greek designs.
Attitude: Serious and never takes a no for an answer.
Abilities: The armor contains the famous G-Unit (GAIA) which was invented by Dr. Hophfstein. It gives het the ability to teleport anywhere on all the different axis of the time/trimensional continuum. It also enhances her strenght by a factor of three. So basically she has the strenght of three well trained women her sice.

The suit has an enviroment controll which enables her to function without an atmosphere. Small jets connected to her G-Unit gives her the ability fly.

Primary Mission: Punish those who tortured and raped Crasher.
Secondary Mission: Classified.

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Dirk

Dirk Bell
Height: 5' 10"
Hair: Auburn with a tinge of red on his sideburns

Dirk is a rare breed. The only super about him is his ego. Decending from a long line of peace keepers and law men, the art of the weapon was embedded into him by his elders. There is nothing that he can't turn into a makeshift weapon on the spot or any person that can surpass his marksmanship. All his life Dirk has been told how his mastery of the gun topped that of his own father and grandfather(and possibly even further back in the line). This praise has led to a selfconfidence that overrides his own common sense in many occasions. He has decided to strap on his holsters and show the world what a normal man can do in a world of metahumans.

He dresses in a black trench coat that he uses to store all his weapons (hand-guns, throwing stars, knives, etc.). A thin layer of kevlar is covered by his grey overshirt. An old school fedora and mask help him pull off the Golden Age look and allows him, with a quick removal, to blend into almost any crowd. His boots can also be used to hide a knife, gun, or whatever he comes up with.

His cat-like reflexes and cool exterior serve him well in combat. But, like all men, Dirk experiences fear in the face of harsh adversity. Over the years, he has managed to master the perfect poker face to bluff his opponents and allies and has the overbearing will to keep his hand steady for every shot.

Watch out! The Lone Gunman of the Apocalypse has arrived.

************

Blackwulf

Schizophrenic shapeshifter. Blackwulf is large, hairy norse looking man. About 6'9" with wolfen physical characteristics. At times, he has claimed to be a Viking, a werewolf, a former Russian Spetznaz (sp) agent, and an aggravating imp known as Mr. Annoying. It is believed that when his metagene manifested it shattered his fragile mind into these multipile personalities. When Blackwulf's personality shifts, it is usually accompanied by physical changes that he refers to as "Mutations." Blackwulf does not have full control over his ability and sometimes his transformations surprise even him. Rant and Blackwulf have a bit of a love/hate relationship in that during quiet times, they will often be found arguing and sniping at each other. However, in the heat of battle they make a surprisingly effective team.

************

Eurostar

Powers:
He can grow feathers from his arms, and use tham to fly like a bird, a giant eagle. He can soars over air currents at thirty miles per hour, and dive from high at closed wings at around two hundred miles per hour. To take flight he has to run for at last ten yards.

He is a little stronger than a normal human, and his skin a little more resilient.

He has hard nails like claws, but not longer than a normal man.

He has a magnifing vision (like seeing trough a binocular)and a good sense of smell.

His sword, Ladnikia, is a living bronze blade inhabited by a demonic presence that enslave the owner of the sword. The sword feed on the blood and soul of the people she kills, but the full extent of what that means is still to be seen.


************

The Metahuman Brotherhood of Liberation

Inspired by the "Revolutionaries" in their early appearances, the Metahuman Brotherhood of Liberation has taken up the cause of metahuman freedom. At the expense of the norms who currently run things. Early on, they committed a series of bank robberies and other small crimes, while openly proclaming themselves as meta terrorists. Now, they have the funds they need, and possibly other members waiting to strike. With the massacre and destruction of Disney World in Florida, they have made their first strike against humanity.

The known members are:

"Nowhereman" meta ability-Charisma and persuasion.

"Eurostar"-ability to mimic the meta abilities of those he meets.

"Danny"-can summon temporal duplicates of himself.

"TC"-control of kinetic energy. can speed up or slow down an objects velocity.

"LLance"-metal skin. painted to appear as a normal human.

"Naecken"-large size and strength. ram horns and face. painted blue to mimic the appearance of Naecken.

"Velo"-can project powerful force blasts from his hands.

"Mxy"-can cause people to experience poweful hallucinations.

The characters themselves do not go by these codenames, or even use names in public. These are merely the characters they are masquerading as.

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Gold Baron

Government System Online
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Subject: Gold Baron
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Name: Christopher Trinity
Age: Unknown
Birthplace: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
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History: The being "Gold Baron" is shrouded in mystery. What is known is based in rumor and hearsay. The name Christopher Trinity is believed to be an alias, and is often better known simply as 'Unknown Traveler'. The nickname "Gold Baron" is believed to be derived from his brilliant suit of armor, which is lined with intricate designs of gold. He's the type of figure you'd want as your grandfather, a kind face and soft eyes, and a smooth, deep voice. From supposed eye-witnesses, his voice is calming, yet it seems to echo through your mind in a disturbing way. While he is reserved, hiding even his face except in the most intimate situations, he is quick to move to action or change moods, when he actually outwardly displays one. He carries a troubled look about his face, as if he's lost, or is losing something, and some great catastrophe looms in his eyes. Trouble seems to follow in his wake, and he is drawn to places of trouble, hence he is usually though of as a doom bringer. Other than brief glimpses and passing memories, little is known about his combat scenarios. It is known that he enjoys stalking his victims, and a feeling of absolute dread fills them, as though a fate worse than death awaits them. Inflicted wounds that have been recorded are fine lacerations (as from a sword)
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The sword itself has never actually been seen. All victims have been said to deserve their fate.
Related Info: None
Links: Kristogar Velo
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T5

NAME: T5
AGE: 1
BODY: Anything mechanical he can find
POWERS: The ability to posess anything biological or mechanical.
HISTORY: The Quadinc ( a race from a higher reality) was alarmed when one of their scientists disappeared into our reality (See Naecken: The Evolution (A solo mini-series) )
So they designed a artificial being made out of the electromagnetic residue of our Big Bang.
Thus he is capable of possessing most things that are mobile. He is programmed to find the scientist and bring him back home. But he is also capable of learning and adapting to any new enviroment.

The Giorgio

Name: ?
Height: 5,9 feet
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Costume: Casual dark grey suit, with white shirt, and a dark green tie. black well polished shoes.
underneath his shirt there is a metallic vest containing a small G-Unit.
Abilities: Good marksman. trained in the arts of surveilance and sabotage.
Primary Mission: Defend the order.
Secondary Mission: Classified.
Attitude: Likes to be a playboy.

Clive Collins.

Think Lex Luthor with a Satan complex. Prominent New Orleans businessman with his fingers in a lot of pies. Perhaps too many.

Tall, thin, with red hair and a goatee. Favors dark silk suits, made just for him. This is not a man who buys off the rack. Knows the art, as Eurostar would say. Not as powerful as he wants people to think he is, however. His patrons will one day ask for him to make payment due.

Elsa Collins.

Wife of Clive. Often ignored, Elsa takes her pleasures when and where she can get them. Red hair with black streaks. Elsa has a spider fetish, and spider designs can be found worked into her outfits. Goes through lovers like popcorn.

The Bruttes

A team of cyborg metahumans who will show up looking to "collect" Grimm for their employer. They consist of:

Rant

A cyborg designed to mimic vampirism. Rant is capable of supernormal speed, strength, and agility. He is also capable of regeneration from most injuries. Rant can emit a mist from his body which causes those trapped within to enter a highly suggestive hypnotic state. Rant's abilities come at a price, as he must feed on blood to maintain them, much like a true vampire. Rant is only 5'7" and suffers from short man's syndrome, causing him to be loud and boastful. He wears all black clothing including a long black trenchoat, and when he smiles his metal fangs gleam.

Holocaust

Pyrokinetic sociopath. Holocaust doesn't care as long as he has something or someone to burn.

Gunslinger

Cyborg assassin. Gunslinger has two cybernetic arms that he uses as guns. He never speaks, even to his partners. He has an Old West fixation and dresses like a "goth cowboy."

The Skinwalker

Born in the primordial times when the Earth was young, I became sentient, aware. I fed off of the other creatures around me and learned to take their forms for my own to survive. I outlived my own race and those that followed it. I will outlive humanity. You know me by various myths and legends. The Native Americans called me The Skinwalker. That's close enough.

Dave

Nailed by jealous gods to the fiery iron wheel of Ixion, rotating counter-clockwise, and drenched in the blood from the spirit heart of the universe, the mad prophet known as Dave only manifests as a shrouded vision in the mind's eye, and only at times of cosmic destruction and rebirth.

An idea: we could make this more like a Secret Files comic book and have a story to work as a sort of introduction or jumping on point for new readers. Maybe a look at the team through the eyes of its neighbors or something...

The Bruttes

A team of cyborg metahumans who will show up looking to "collect" Grimm for their employer. They consist of:

Rant

A cyborg designed to mimic vampirism. Rant is capable of supernormal speed, strength, and agility. He is also capable of regeneration from most injuries. Rant can emit a mist from his body which causes those trapped within to enter a highly suggestive hypnotic state. Rant's abilities come at a price, as he must feed on blood to maintain them, much like a true vampire. Rant is only 5'7" and suffers from short man's syndrome, causing him to be loud and boastful. He wears all black clothing including a long black trenchoat, and when he smiles his metal fangs gleam.

Holocaust

Pyrokinetic sociopath. Holocaust doesn't care as long as he has something or someone to burn.

Gunslinger

Cyborg assassin. Gunslinger has two cybernetic arms that he uses as guns. He never speaks, even to his partners. He has an Old West fixation and dresses like a "goth cowboy."

***

I'll be revamping and introducing the Bruttes when it will fit. Maybe I can do a brief "Secret Files" type post in this thread to go with that.

Brianna Fionnghuala also known as Brianna Finola (shortened formed of last name) and Banshee:

Age: 18 years
Weight: 132 pounds
Height: 5'7"
Wingspan: 13'11"
Hair Color: Reddish-brown
Eye Color: Green
Wing Color: White
Nationality: Republic of Ireland
Education: Private Catholic School until age 15, no further education due to incarceration. Can read English and Latin, very intelligent and is able to teach self.
Powers:
Flight: Miss Finola has two massive non-retractable wings attached to her back. They have the same wing design as a pigeon or dove. Like large birds, Miss Finola because airborn by diving from a tall point or by facing the direction of the wind (which creates lift). She can use thermals (a pocket of rising hot air) on land and water to make flying easier.
Sonic Cry: This high-pitched cry (a result of forcing air out of her avian lungs) earned Miss Finola the nickname Banshee, based on the Irish mythical monster. Using the muscules in her throat and tongue, she can adjust the impact range from a concentrated small degree or a wider 180 degree span. It's impact on human (and most animals) ear organs can result in temporary loss of hearing, a perminant loss of hearing, and almost always nausua and loss of coordination (since the cry also harms the inner ear). The vibrations can weaken walls, though Miss Finola has never suceeded in knocking out any portion of a building.
Weaknesses:Due to her high metabolism, Miss Finola usually eats several small meals during the day (heavier meals would make her too heavy to be flight-capible). Her flight has nothing to do with any form of anti-gravitalism: it depends solely on her powering her own wings. So she can tire easily. Her wings are designed for mobility, not long distance travel, so she does not attempt long flights unless it is warm enough for thermals to form. Other weather conditions that stop flight include, rain, hail, snow, and severe cold. Her wings are brittle and can be broken. The sonic cry tends irritate her vocal cords, so she seldom shouts. Although normally level-headed, Miss Finola can be jumpy and will usually fly off in response to something that frightens her. Loud noises from guns, dogs, or traffic are pottential hazzards.
Background:
Born in Ireland in 1985, wings were present at birth. Mother died shortly afterwards. Supplimented family income by working with gypsies. Sonic cry manifested in 2000, was put in jail shortly afterwards when brother informed local authorities. Priest from the Academy she attended helped in her escape. Has no current goals other than finding her brother. However, since this is her first taste of freedom, she might decide to team up with other metahumans until she masters her skills (she was restrained in jail and could not use her sonic cry then).

I had a profile post here, but it was crap. Lemme post a better one.

Phil Smith Personnel File

-Classification: Phil has not yet determined his origins or the source of his powers.

-Appearance: Smith appears to be a supremely ordinary human being, albeit one with an excellent level of physical conditioning. He is just under 5’10” tall, with dark brown hair cut in a short, spiked style, and piercing - almost alarmingly so - blue eyes.

-Age: Smith appears to be between twenty and twenty-five, but since he has no recollection of his actual identity, he can only guess his age.

-Special Abilities: Phil Smith can best be classified as a psionic. He possesses a number of impressive abilities, but these all seem to originate from either a telepathic or a telekinetic manifestation of his metagenic powers. Among his telepathic powers are his ability to mask his presence by actively interfering with the perceptual inputs of those around him. This allows him to render himself and others invisible and inaudible for a period of time. Smith is a telepathic receiver, which means he possesses active ESP that takes in more of the environment than his senses can absorb. Consequently, he can ‘hear’ others’ mental emanations - surface thoughts - and given time and energy he can probe most others’ minds at a deeper level. This ability is less effective against stronger minds, and can be easily detected by other psionics, but it provides Phil with greatly extended perceptual ability that often absorbs more information than those around him are able to gather. Smith also possesses extensive telekinetic manifestations, most notably a very powerful psionic shield. This defense mechanism renders Phil impervious to projectile and energy weapons - provided he has sufficient energy to maintain the shield - but is largely ineffective against blunt or sharp objects striking him from point-blank range. Smith, therefore, can deflect bullets and bolts of electricity, but cannot rely on his shield to protect him from clubs or knives, which he defends against using his vast array of technical skills. Among Smith’s other telekinetic powers are his ability to move objects and a very limited levitation ability. Smith is attempting to learn how to apply these basic manifestations of his power in more creative ways.

-Practical Skills: Phil Smith has struggled with his special abilities for as long as he can remember, and he uses them as little as possible, preferring to rely on a battery of practical skills and knowledge to attack and defend in more conventional yet often more effective manners. Smith is in excellent physical condition, but his physical abilities depend more on quickness, agility, and finesse than raw strength. Although not exceptionally strong, Phil possesses nearly superhuman balance (perhaps resulting in part from his ESP) and astonishing agility, as well as impressive quickness and explosive power, above-average running speed and endurance, and admirable leaping and climbing abilities. Smith is extremely capable at hand-to-hand combat, although in recent memory (being the only memory he has) Phil has not frequently been required to put his fighting skills to the test. He has, however, called upon quite impressive firearms skills; although not as skilled as a Dirk Bell or Grissom Montag, Smith is quite competent with both close- and long-range weaponry. Phil Smith has a remarkable level of proficiency in skills related to the intelligence-gathering profession; he can use surveillance equipment quite effectively, has impressive mastery of computer systems, and can conduct covert espionage and sabotage tasks very well when in top form. He also has a wealth of other practical skills such as piloting vehicles and providing rudimentary medical attention, as well as an array of knowledge in the fields of biology, physics, linguistics and all their fields of application, particularly engineering and cryptology. In short, Phil Smith seems to be a sort of metahuman Renaissance man, relying on a wide variety of practical skills in addition to his special abilities.

-Psychological Information: Although on paper Phil Smith seems like a desirable asset to any team, his effectiveness is limited by his predominant weaknesses - inconsistency and instability. Smith has a vast quantity of raw potential in his special abilities but lacks the most important quality a psionic can have - control. Lapses in concentration have prevented Phil from making effective use of his powers on numerous occasions. Both his special abilities and his practical skills are greatly hindered by emotional and occasionally psychological instabilities that manifest themselves from time to time, often in critical situations. These instabilities are largely a product of Smith’s frustration at his lack of an identity and his inability to remember his past, but they also spring from a deep-seated sense of loss and Phil’s tendency to blame himself when situations occur contrary to his expectations. Smith has some difficulty working in a team setting and often prefers to work alone or in small groups, but this may partly be due to a desire to escape the psionic ‘noise’ generated by the presence of numerous human minds. He does not have difficulty accepting authority and in fact desires consensus and harmony, but because Phil often has trouble understanding others’ wishes (not even the most powerful telepath can understand everyone’s desires), he frequently finds it difficult to attain that harmony. Ironically, although his telepathic abilities often have a calming, stabilizing effect on those around him, Phil himself is often agitated and confused, torn between his perception of things around him, his own expectations, the demands of others, and nagging insecurities concerning his identity and how he fits into it all. Although Phil Smith has a great deal of potential, he cannot realize it without first facing off with his own worst enemy - himself.

-Conclusion: Phil Smith can best be described as unrealized potential waiting for an opportunity to be fulfilled. He possesses phenomenal special abilities and equally impressive practical skills, and has the raw materials necessary to make an outstanding part of any team. However, Phil’s advantages are mitigated by his insecurity and instability, no matter how well he hides them. But through all his failings, Phil deeply desires to improve himself and overcome his difficulties, just as he longs to discover the truth behind who he is and what purpose he might serve. If Phil Smith ultimately succeeds in overcoming his insecurity and learn to be a consistent team player, he will undoubtedly become an invaluable member of Vanguard and accomplish great things in the future.

Grimm

Samarcanda Bar

It’s night in Thunder City, and a star filled sky
embraces her in a warm hug, a thing so common these days, but before the destruction of the Tri Vex Tower it was an event so rare, due to the ever present fog, the “Leviathan’s breath” of many metropolitan legends of that place.

Then, the Night before Christmas of two years ago,
the Tri Vex Tower went down, and things where never the same. The fog disappeared forever, and although with the destruction of Tri Vex many jobs were lost(thousands, in fact), a new surge of optimism swept the city community, with
creativity, entrepreneurship and pure joy of life.

From then on, each night in the city is a festival. Many streets from the center of the city to the docks are lit widely all night, with music and dances, restaurants are filled by people up to the early morning, and theatres are much more common than in Broadway.

At the very center of this special place, there is a bar that is even more special: the Samarcanda bar. Special because it’s for special persons: metahumans. After the “liberation” of Thunder, among the dock and the lower parts of the city there were rumors that the task was performed by Santa and his elves… but soon
the evidence was that it was a band of rogue
metahumans. From that day on, Thunder is the only place in all the States where metas are not only not discriminated against or persecuted… but actually they are welcomed. And the Samarcanda Bar is their meeting place.

Dancing by a table, a big blonde next to him, is Derek Patrick, known also as “Blades”, a thief who specialized in museum robberies for commissions. This is not the first time he has been in Thunder. He came here in the November of 2001, to steal an ancient bowl from the city Historic Museum. A well paid job, not totally clean. A guard was killed.

But he took many jobs since then, and all went smoothly. Lately, though, things for the metas where gettingbworse, with all the fuss about the MetahumanbBrotherood for Liberation, so, after his last operation, stealing the Crown Jewels of
Espertingonzia, a small East European city state, he though of taking a vacation in Thunder.

While dancing, he kept thinking of that last mission… and of the encounter with a gypsy, just when he was running away from the Royal palace. He stumbled upon her. When she met his eyes, she just whispered into his ear: “I see the Death stalking you! Be warned! Remember the words of the dark Rose!”

He laughed and went away, but the words where echoing in his mind by then.

And then, raising his sight from just under neck level of the woman, to the far reaches of the room, Patrick sees it. The Death looking at him. The empty orbs of a white skull, pointing directly at him. Cold sweat instantly ran down his spine.

He frantically looks for every way to run away from the place, to avoid being caught by Death itself. Then, in a corner he sees his only hope: John “Warlord” Parenti, the kingpin of the Thunder
underworld, a man who had Patrick for quite a time on his payroll.

“John, I need to leave Thunder as fast as I can.
Please, I need your help!” begs the Irish man,
kneeling in front of the boss. You know, do it for
old time's sake, if not for…”

“Shut up, don’t say another word. Here’s the key of my Ferrari, go to my hangar and let them take you wherever you want. But with this act, my debt is paid, understand?”

Patrick quickly takes the key and runs out without ever turning back. On his drive to the airport the eyeless look of Death never leaves him. The red Ferrari crosses the city like a lighting, and stops right next to the small jetplane, that was readied by a call of
its owner.

“Where are we heading, sir?” asks the pilot. Only one place comes to the mind of Patrick, another paradise for metahumans: La Perdita.

The jet plane flies under the stars, and above an
ocean gray and silver from the reflections of the full moon. But the sight of the Death never leave the mind of Patrick.

Sometimes after, Patrick seat in a little club near the dock of Puerto Montalbano, one of the little towns on the northern side of the island. Sipping his Cuba Libre, the Irish thief seems to have put all the stress behind. He relaxes, watching the young performer on stage, a scantily clad singer much more beautiful than able.

It’s when a fat, mustached man calls to applaud the girl, and announces the exhibition of Rose Biggles illusionist, and he is finally trusting of having left any problem on the mainland, that a firm grip grab him on his left shoulder. He turns, and the white face of Death is staring at him. As for instinct, his arms turns into long, curved steel blades, but before he can raise them, a big axe, held by the side, crashes
over them, pushing them on the table.

“I saw you in Thunder! I ran like Hell…you were
watching me maliciously… I ran away, but now I find you here?!” Patrick says, surrendering himself.

The Death grimaces, and says: “It was not
maliciousness… it was surprise. I was expecting you here today, and yet you were at Thunder. I feared that for dancing with that woman you wouldn’t have been able to get here in time!”


*************************

Sometime later, after the Irish man has been taken
out by La Perdita police to be extradited to
Espertingonzia, Grimm goes behind the scenes of the stage, to meet Rose Biggles.

“You were right” says the avatar of Death, “Patrick was right where you predicted, here on the Island. When I saw him in Thunder, where I was for another mission, I thought your powers where messed up. I had thought of chasing him there, but luckily I choose to come back here. Maybe the fact I was with Chance had to do with that lucky move.”

The young woman smiles: “I never miss a prediction, lately. And I am always happy to help you guys. After some of your colleagues saved me from Ma Kalunga*, last year, I owe you all the help I can give.”

“Ever though of joining us?” Grimm said, his expression not changing.

“Nahhh, right now, I would miss the stage too much. But, in the future, who knows?” responds the girl, mischievously.

The end

*HR issue 6

A-ehm.... the above story brought to you courtesy of yours truly Eurostar.

I said that in the talk thread. . .

...glory hog...

Espertingonzia ROCKS!

ehy!

Why don't anybody tech me how to spel hey?

Faith is what keeps a deity alive. It is his/her lifeblood - what keeps them from perishing. In the days of the 21st century, the mythology of the ancient Greeks is little more than stories children learn in grade school. However, what is unknown to most is that some of these deities and mythological beings have survived and, rather than face exinction, they have banded together to form a fighting force with which to draw admiration and worship once more. While their fellow deities have perished, they are determined to survive. They are... THE PANTHEON!

Aeolus – Son of Poseidon and the head of the Pantheon. He’s the demigod who was left in the care of wind. Hurricanes and tornadoes take place at his slightest whim. He’s a Nubian (get it?) who, until recently, dwelt in the cloud city of Nimbus while the rest of his fellow deities perished for lack of faith. His survival was directly related to the need for wind and the fact that, no matter if you couldn’t see it, you could still know it was there. His mistresses – the wind naiads – carry his winds to the corners of the earth and serve as his silent messengers as well.

Arges – The last of the Cyclopses. The muscle of the Pantheon. He and his brothers were known as the blacksmiths of the gods, until they were killed by Hera. Arges managed to wrestle his way out of Tartarus and swim the river Styx (making him essentially invulnerable to physical attack), making his way back to the land of the living. Not even a lack of faith could kill this one-eyed giant. He’s been living in caves until modern days, when he was discovered by Johnny Omicron and recruited to join Project Omicron. He recently discovered and was invited to join his fellow mythicals on Mount Olympus as a part of the Pantheon.

Castor and Pollux – Twin heroes known for their courage and bravery in the Trojan War. Their fight in the Trojan War, though not documented in mythological history, was enough to cause the gods to look upon them with favor, granting them immortality. The two brothers are very close, not constantly squabbling and attempting to get the better of one another (like the Scorpion Brothers). Castor is light-haired and blue-eyed, whereas Pollux has dark hair and brown eyes. The two serve as the enforcers of the Pantheon, ensuring that Aeolus’ orders are carried out.

Morpheus – The last remaining true deity. The god of sleep, his strength having grown as mankind grows more apathetic and lazy, is often lazy and lacks desire. However, he is a powerful force to be reckoned with when angered. His control of the poppy plant and his own hypnotic abilities can lure any human into his control, causing them either to fall into a deep sleep or to be entranced and do his bidding.

Stheno – The last Gorgon. Her Gorgon sisters, supposedly immortal, were banished to Tartarus long ago for displeasing the gods. Through some mysterious means, Stheno remained unharmed and has lived on Earth for all of her days. The golden scales that cover her skin and the snakes protruding from the top of her head make it difficult for her to venture out into the real world. Anyone who beholds her true form is also turned into stone. For this reason, she often can be seen wearing a veil on her face or covering her head with a shawl. She fears mirrors as she is afraid she will eventually turn herself to stone.

Medea – A Greek sorceress who was formerly wed to Jason of the Argonauts. She’s an embittered ex-wife who has a seething hatred towards the male gender. Her past loves having all betrayed her in some form or fashion, she uses her magic now only to harm and corrupt. Her bitterness and magic have kept her alive and young all these years, sustaining her as nothing else could. Though she is reluctant to trust Aeolus, a man, she does so only as means to a frightful end – a global Amazonian society similar to the Isle of Lesbos.

Echo – A nymph cursed by the gods as only being able to repeat the last few words that anyone says, Echo might seem to an average bystander to be quite useless. However, she has lived throughout the years as the quiet whisper of someone else’s booming voice until she was happened upon by Aeolus. He found that, along with the curse of repetition, Echo had been given a gift as well – the power to control a slim amount of the thread of time. Her powers of repetition can be as mild as causing one to experience déjà vu or as extreme as literally making someone repeat the same act over and over and over again until weakened and almost decimated.

Pandora – The woman, created by the gods, who cursed mankind. Having not been able to resist the temptation to keep closed the box given her by the gods, Pandora was cursed to forever roam the earth she doomed and was forced to atone for her sin before she could find rest for her soul. Endowed with the last escapee from her box – Hope – she has become a wanderer, walking the earth in search of a solution. Found and recruited by Aeolus, she serves as the human link of the Pantheon – the only mortal (sort of) amongst them. She can conjure any of the contents of her box that she wishes to inflict upon others, but in all things hopes that through the Pantheon, the world may once again be ruled by the gods it now ignores and be made right.

Just a reminder. I'll be coming for you, "Heroes."

The Skinwalker

Born in the primordial times when the Earth was young, I became sentient, aware. I fed off of the other creatures around me and learned to take their forms for my own to survive. I outlived my own race and those that followed it. I will outlive humanity. You know me by various myths and legends. The Native Americans called me The Skinwalker. That's close enough.


Sep. 2002. An undetermined location.
I'm awake. This shell is old, tired. I must have a new one soon. This body has served me well for the last ten years. But like the others, it too is deteriorating, due to my needs. All the preparations have been made. I must call my "wife" into the room.

The old man reaches over and presses a button on the side of the bed. There is a buzzing sound and a voice is heard over slight static.

"Yes, honey?"

"Could you come in here? I don't think I have much longer. . .and I want to say goodbye."

"I'll be right in."

A young woman in her mid to late twenties walked into the dark room and stood next to the bed where the feeble old man lay patiently waiting. She had long, dark hair and wore a red jacket and mini skirt with a dark blouse.

"Come here, my dear. Lean in close. . .there is something I must share with you."

"All right." She did as the old man asked her to.

"Kiss me."

"Okay." Inwardly, the woman was repulsed by the thought of such close physical contact with this man, but she thought of the monetary gain she would have when he was gone and did as he wished.

As their two lips met, the old man grabbed the young woman around the throat with both hands and her eyes were forced open. As her eyes opened, a yellow light seemed to flow out from the old man's eyes and into hers. She struggled for fifteen minutes until finally, the old man's hands fell away limp. She stood up, straightened her clothing and walked out the door.

The old man was dead.

Oct. 2002

I do not know if I am growing stronger, or if the humans are growing weaker, but this shell is already showing signs of decaying. Barely a month, and the outer epidermal layer is beginning to peel off.

I have had to speed up my search for a stronger, more suitable host.

Computer scans have recently shown me something I had not believed to be possible. A genestealer. The last of it's kind, it seems. Though we are natural enemies, the genestealers always provided suitable hosts for my people due to the elastic nature of their physical forms. They hunger with a rapacciousness that rivaled even ours. Oh, what battles were fought before the dawn of weak humanity.

Scans have shown the genestealer to be located on a small island in the Carribbean. It seems this island was recently devastated by a rather fierce hurricane. I must look into the rebuilding process. . .

Jan., 2003

quote:

---

Originally posted by the Time Trust: 56 Oakwood Avenue, Puerta Mibela, La Perdita:

James A. Vandemar walked confidently towards the apartment building. It wasn't quite what he was expecting. Not at all.

"Excuse me, good sir," Vandemar said to a big construction worker wearing a hard-hat and sitting on the short garden-wall next to a metal lunch-bucket. He was eating a sandwich. "Where can I find... er," he frowned at a piece of paper in his hand, looking at it through round spectacles, "the offices of MBL Consulting, Incorporated?"

The construction worker snorted and spat out a piece of pickel onto one of Vandemar's $300-dollar shoes. "Sorry 'bout that," he said, grinning. "They ain't here right now."

Vandemar bent down and wiped off his shoe with a handkerchief. "Any idea where I can find their current whereabouts?"

"Nah. Gotta talk t'my supervisor 'bout that," the man said, taking another bite out of his BLT.

"Thank you," Vandemar replied in a droll voice as he walked towards the remains of the building. It appeared to have sustained more damage than most of the buildings in Puerta Mibela. However, they seemed to be rebuilding at a moderate pace. And from the looks of things, they were expanding. Business must be going very well for them, he thought briefly before making his way to the temporary shack that had been brought in by the construction company. He stepped inside.

Two big, beefy men with dark complexions turned and stared at the well-dressed stranger, while a thinner man with a moustache who appeared to be the site foreman looked up at Vandemar with questioning eyes. "Er... can I help you, sir?"

"My name is James Vandemar," he said, handing the man his card with delicately gloved hands. "I'm looking for the current offices of MBL Consulting, Incorporated."

"Oh... uh, sure..." the foreman said, "I think I got it somewhere around here." He fidgeted around various pockets on his person, not having any luck. Finally, he grinned and held up his forefinger. "One moment. Let me check with Justine..." He stood up and left the shack.

Vandemar shifted uncomfortably there as the two remaining construction workers looked him over. The afternoon heat wasn't helping much, nor was his expensive two-piece suit or bowler hat. But the way those two labourers looked at him -- it was as if they'd never seen a gentleman before! The sooner he was off this godforesaken Caribbean island, the better.

A few moments of complete and uncomfortable silence later, a beautiful woman with dark hair and big eyelashes stepped into the shack, followed by the foreman.

"You are Monsieur Vandemar, I take eet?" Justine said in a French accent.

"Er, yes, quite."

"You are looking for ze current address of the MBL Consulting, oui?" she said, handing him an MBL Consulting, Inc. business card with the address of "56 Oakwood Avenue, Puerta Mibela, La Perdita" crossed out hastily with a ball-point pen and replaced by "23 Pescados Drive, Del Mar, La Perdita".

"Ah, thank you very much," Vandemar said to the woman. "I'll be on my way, then." He walked out of the shack and headed towards the taxicab he left waiting for him on the curb. He could've sworn that he'd heard the sound of laughter coming from the shack as he'd left.

---

After Vandemar left the shack, "Justine" turned to the foreman and said, "How much longer will the rebuilding take?" Her french accent vanishing without a trace.

The foreman, seemingly entranced answered. "If the weather holds steady, maybe another couple of months or so."

"And the modificationss are being implemented? Asss I've ssuggesssted?" The woman asked, batting her eyelashes ever so slightly.

"Yes. They'll never notice." the foreman answered, enthralled by the woman's beauty.

"Good. Continue with your work now." The young woman commanded, turning away from the foreman and looking out the window of the temporary shack. The man did as he was asked with no hesitation. Had the man been in the proper frame of mind, he may have glanced at this woman as he left the building. He may even, have caught a glimpse of her reflection in the windowpane. Had he done so, he might have noticed the cold, almost reptilian look on her face as she watched the arrival of certain members of the MBL group arrive to personally oversee the reconstruction of certain areas of the building.

This story takes place between [HR] issues 11 and 12.

My name is Frank Cavalli. I am a detective in the Chicago Police Department.

And I have a problem.

Last night, a man was killed inside a circus van. The Rubber-band-man, one of the performers of the Circus. The van was locked from the inside, and there was no way out for the killer.

What complicates matters, is the fact I know who the assassin is. Mr. Wong, the owner of the circus. I know it for certain, but I can’t prove it.

Because what I found on him was just the smell of the blood of the Rubber-band-man. You see, I am a metahuman, and I have the sense for odors of a hound. But a smell is not a clue that can be used in court, so I have no way to incriminate Wong.

The particular mix of odors of blood, of adrenaline and various hormones that emanates from a body at the moment of death is something unique from man to man. And what I sensed over the cadaver of the Rubber-band-man I subsequently smelled over Mr. Wong, when I interrogated him.

Just there is no way to detect that smell with standard science police methods. Oh, I am sure there would be some more subtle analysis that would prove the connection. But I can’t order it without blowing up my secret. If my chief were to discover that I am a meta, I would be fired instantly. And I need this job. My brother is dying of cancer. His metagene manifested in a spectacular way three years ago, when he grew to King Kong size on New Year’s eve, after drinking too much alcohol. He went into a rampage, and was stopped by the intervention of a government agency of whom I never heard before, the MCCA. They used a Chinook to take him away. No one noticed me where he was brought. Then, last year, he returned home, his power seemingly gone. But he got a strange form of cancer.

Being a meta, he doesn't have any sort of medical care assistance, so I must pay for his cures.

I would really kick my chief in the ass, but I need this job.

So, I need to demonstrate Wong’s guilt in a different way. I don’t know why he would have killed him. I haven’t found any reason for the killing. The two never had any discussion. The performer has always been regularly paid. There were no questions about women between the two.

And I don’t know how Wong could have gotten out of the van. It was locked from the inside, and it has just a door on the rear, with no windows or other opening. There is not any passage between the van and the driver cabin. No one could have left the van. Each member of the company has been scanned for metahumans power. Most are metas, but no one has phasing powers. And, in any case, Mr. Wong is not a meta.

Now it is night, and a cold rain pour down from the dense clouds that hides the top of the highest towers of the city. I stood behind the police line, that wraps the space around the parked van.

When it rains, I am half blind. The water washes away all the smells, and the world becomes much grayer for me. But I don’t need my sense for smells to notice the tall man looking at the van from a distance. Wearing a trench-coat, his eyes are fixed over the circus van.

I walk toward him.

He doesn’t move.

“Interested in that van? It’s not for sale” I joke.

He just raises a brow.

I cough. “A man has been killed in there.”

“I heard” he says. The voice is hard as steel, yet warm. I never heard a voice like that. I don’t sense any smell. It must be the rain.

“Sir, did you know the victim?” I ask. Why does this man keep looking at the van, never leaving it to look at me? It's getting to my nerves.

“No.”

“Well, then I am forced to ask you to leave immediately. There is an investigation taking place right now!” I say, exhibiting my best hard look.

He doesn’t move an inch.

“Who are you? Why are you so interested in that van?” I ask. I know he is not a journalist, I know that kind too well.

“I built that van” is his answer, the farthest thing from what I was expecting, so I remain speechless.

The tall man begins to walk steadily toward the van.

I run behind him. “Did you know Mr. Wong?”

“I worked with him” says the man.

“In the circus? You were a performer?”

“No”.

The man plays with me like a cat with the mouse. It make me feel like a child.

“What were you doing?”

“A documentary.”

“What?” I ask, totally lost.

Finally he turns toward me. “I was filming the circus life for a documentary. I remained with Wong’s circus until the incident in Madelovia, that destroyed the circus. I left, following the ban on foreigners. Wong with a few of the performer created a show for theatres, using this van as a base. This van was the one of the Sardella Brothers, the troupe I was following.”

“You were a movie maker AND built this van?” I ask. The man is trying to confuse me, without lying. Giving me selected pieces of truth.

“The documentary was a cover.”

“A cover? You are telling me that the movie was an excuse to watch the Circus people?”

“Yes.” The man is standing in front of the only door of the van, looking closely at it.

“Shit, speak up, man!” I have lost my patience.

The man’s lips keep their serious angle, but I know he is enjoying my frustration.

“I was interested in some metahumans that found shelter in the circus. They were hunted by the MCCA, banded here in Chicago and crossed the continent doing good deeds. I was feeling it could become the beginning of something good for the humankind. It’s taking much more time than what I predicted, but I am confident we are going in the right direction” says the mysterious man.

“What are you talking about?” I say, utterly confused by these words.

“You are the detective, find out for yourself” says laconically the man. “What should interest you, is what I found in the circus, too.”

“And what was that?”

“Thieves.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Circus was a cover for an organized band of international thieves. The Mandelovia incident prevented us from taking care of the problem. Then I lost track of Wong, until this homicide brought him on the front age of the newspaper.”

“You works for the government?”

“Not now” he said, and then jumps over the security line. I don’t stop him, he inspires confidence and I instinctively trust him even if I don’t have any clue about who he really is.

“There is some sort of secret doors? If you have built the van, you should know…” I ask, even if I know that there is not such a thing. The forensics police have worked a lot over the van, they have controlled every single piece of it.

The tall man turns to me, this time he openly smiles. “You would never have imagined” says.

He put on a glove, and opens the door, then put on the light. On the floor there is the sign of the position of the body.

“No one could have killed him, locked the door and then disappeared” I shout, frustrated.

The man raises a brow. “No?”

And then takes me by a hand, turns ninety degrees from any of the third dimensions, makes a step, and we are inside a big room. Just, it’s like one of those Escher pictures, with stairs that go wrong directions, intersecting and becoming the underside of other stairs.

“What kind of place is this?” I ask, looking around totally lost.

“It’s a tessaract. An hypercube. A four dimensional solid. It should have been our secret headquarters, but things just went… different. Nobody should have discovered this, but evidently Wong or one of his henchmen did” says the mysterious man.

“And… and you built this?”

“Yes.”

“How?” I wonder. This is something unbelievable.

“It’s a kind of tech the government has access to. Like teleportation, androids… probability engines. It comes from the UFOs captured along the years. I worked a lot with that. Lus, this time, I had a friend versed in non tri-dimensional geometry.”

“So, this is how Wong had escaped” I say.

“Wong?”

“Yes. He’s the killer. I am a meta, and I have the smell of a hound. I can’t prove it, but now I know he’s the killer, how he did escape… We still don’t know the motivation… but at least I can guess it. Some discussion over the money from the last robbery…

Suddenly, it’s chaos. Bullets firing from every direction.

I roll behind a column.

The man flies away, up across the stairwell. The trench coat falls to the ground, revealing a gray jumpsuit with green lines. There is fire coming from his foot, he wears a sort of jet propelled pair of boots.

The he stops at mid-air and begins to fire laser rays toward the attackers, that I recognize as the performers of the circus. The rays are concussion blasts that paralyze them without harm.

He produces some handcuffs from his belt, when at the corner of my field of vision I see a little movement. It’s Wong, aiming a gun at the tall man.

I aim my Beretta, fire, and Wong fell to the ground, blood springing from his head.

The man jumps to the fallen man, and to my surprise tries to stop the bleeding, but it’s too late, Wong is dead.

So the gray and green dressed man stands up and walks to me, his _expression makes me chilling.

“What did you do?” he barks.

“I saved your life” I try to defend me.

“You killed him. You should have aimed at his legs, if you are not good enough to just disarm him” he shouts, just inches from my faces. I feel my pants wet and warm.

He looks around, a sad _expression on his face. “What a mess…” he whispers.

The he goes to a small cabinet, opens a drawer, and take out something. It’s a ring, a small green ring.

He looks at it, lost in thoughts. Then turns to me: “Thinking I came just to recover this…” He looks around another time. “What a shame”. And shaking his head, he steps in that impossible direction and disappears.

I wipe away the sweat from my forehead.

I am not happy about what I did. But there was no way I could have incriminated Wong, without blowing up my cover. Without exposing me – and my brother – to the law, to the hate for metas. I solved the case. Wong was guilty, I just gave him what he deserved.

What I did then it’s easy to presume. I freed the circus performer, after all they were thieves, not killers, and they showed me the way out, a tunnel that brought us in a section of the sewers, that were used by metas during the failed revolution.

I then returned to the place of the van, right when the sun was rising behind the towers of the City. There was a van of the firemen, and the captain of the crew informed me that the van under sequestration was completely destroyed in a fire. Not very distant, I saw the superhero(there is not a better definition for him) looking at the scene. Then, he jumped in the air and took flight, heading south.

The preceding story was brought to you by Eurostar, natch.

Nadia

real name: Unknown
codename: Nadia
know aliases: Sonja Ljzavet
height: 178 cm
eyes: dark violet
hairs: long, sleek, mahogany red
facial features: racial mix, mostly oriental
(relative) birth date: year 1973
Skills: an exceptional fighter, versed in martial arts and the use of many kind of guns.
Powers: the demon tattooed on her body can leave her skin, turning material (invisible at will) to fight to protect her from great threats.

History:
Born in a parallel Earth in the year 1983, the girl that is known as Nadia was raised to be the ultimate secret agent by a undisclosed security agency. She escaped the project at age 15, going rogue. The year 2002 she was contacted by a mysterious person, with the facial features of a Neanderthal man, to be involved in a complex war between two secret societies, involving an alien invasion and magical apparitions.

The invasion set a chain of events that resulted in the complete destruction of that Universe earth, but just days before the destruction, Nadia was caught in a wormhole caused by the apparitions of a skyscraper tall giant in the middle of Paris. The Earth allies of the invading alien nation managed to send a killer to follow her, just before the final destruction of the planet.

Nadia found herself on our Earth, in Moscow, in the year 1988, in the middle of Gorky Park, witnessing the death of a young girl at the hand of a tall red demon: she tried to save the girl, but found that it was too late, while the demon, amazingly, was "absorbed" into Nadia's body, becoming a body-wide tattoo. The other incredible discover was the the girl, although slightly younger, was the perfect replica of herself. As a side effect, Nadia lost all of her memories.The name of the girl was Sonja Ljzavet, born in the year 1973, student at the Soviet Academy for Aeronautics.

Nadia took the place of the original Sonja, adapting to her life, and discovering her biggest secret: she was interested in the occult, and was experimenting contacts with the forces of the underworld.

Given her background and the occult interests that she got into, Nadia enlisted for the Russian Army Paranormal Research Agency, during her service in the Army. There, she proved to be a great asset for the organization, stepping fast trough the ranks and becoming Colonel by the year 2000, when she had on his background even two trips in Hell. Unknown to anyone, she had a sort of control over the demon of her tattooo, that could leave the body and fight to protect her.

In the year 2002, Nadia was assigned the mission of joining a group of runaway metahumans, hiding in a circus, to discover the outcome of a nuclear incident happened the previous year off the cost of Halè Island, Malaysia. An incident that involved the fight of an angel and a demon near the SS Mindoro, a luxury cruiser. An incident that created one of the members of that group, Naecken.

She stayed with the group for a few months, until her motivation were discovered by Kristogar Velo, by then the unofficial leader the team. Upon the revelation, the demon set himself free, attacking Naecken, but it was defeated by him and dispersed away. Nadia lost his sense, and soon, when she was left alone by the others in her room, waiting for a doctor, the killer sent from her original world found her and killed her.

Just after the funerals, Naecken was able to resurrect her, feeling guilty for what happened.

She awoke with all her lost memories intact, so she embarked in a quest for a possible parallel version of the Neanderthal on this earth. She found him, discovering that he was the same one, not a parallel version, and went on his payroll.

During her stay within the Neanderthal (also known as Myrrhdin) she found that the demon that previously inhabited her body was known as Azazel, and was really the leader of an invasion of the aliens Annunaki in paleolithic times, named Enlil. The alien were fought by a league of Earth shamans, that, with the help of the aliens second in command, Enki (known also as Saros), killed Enlil, caging his soul into a magical sword, Ladnikia.

Through the ages, Ladnikia become a magical artifact sought for her great power, until it fell in the hand of Father Edoardo Cavalli, a Jesuit inquisitor that during in a fateful incursion in the City-state of Mandelovia exorcised the "soul-demon" of Enlil-Azazel out of the sword.

The supernatural being was able to roam free for nearly a century until the day it was absorbed into Nadia.

Nadia discovered also that the alien, after the fight with Naecken on the island of la Perdita, was caged back into the sword Ladnikia, and that an Italian metahuman, Edulcore Cicciotto, found it. The neanderthal revealed her, also, that Cicciotto was her counterpart on this earth, while the look-alikeness with the original Sonja Ljzavet was just a strange coincidence.

Nadia found herself obsessively attracted by the idea of owning Cicciotto's sword, until the day she became a pawn in a scheme of Enki and Naecken to stop Enlil-Azazel to take total control of Cicciotto, becoming a threat to the two of them. And while the killing of Cicciotto found no accomplishment, the sword was indeed destroyed, and Azazel found refuge back inside Nadia.

This time, now with the full control of her knowledge and her complete set of memories, Nadia is confident that she will be able to fully control the demon.

Adem Different (I've changed the spelling from the original simply for aesthetic purposes. It'll still be pronounced the same.)
Age: N/A
Weight: 153
Height: 6'7"
Hair Color: Black, but it seems to have a slight tinge of dark blue
Eye Color: A luminescent orange
Powers: Coming from a planet with a slightly stronger gravitational field, he is a little quicker to move and jump just slightly higher. He also has a well defined endurance level that gives him a high threshold of pain and stamina.
Nanites Adem Different's body contains a highly advanced for a nanites constructed of both aritficial and biological components. These sentient nanites number in the millions and can self-replicate if necessary. They create a field around his body allowing him to alter the appereance of his clothing as well as connect to and interact with technological devices. They also allow him to slightly modify his body to best perform his job as well as performing any medical care he may need.
Background:
Adem's home world is a multi-specied planet with technology and science advanced far beyond anything the human race has attempted to go. Just as it is everywhere else in the universe, no civilization is perfect. Crime is still very much a problem. The Capitalistic-Fuedal system leaves the protection of the masses to the large companies that lord over the land. Assurance of the safety its citizens is the most important contractual obligation of any business since they are prone to move themselves and their business to the safest place. For that reason, developments in the field of law-enforcement became the forefront of the technology race.

But, as methods of criminal detection and capture evolved, so did the methods of the criminal mind. The latest break-through came many generations ago with the Cleaners, a class dedicated to the tracking and detection of criminals. Nanotechnology was introduced into their bodies as a means to assist them in their duties. This class soon became vastly important throughout all the companies as not only a means to prevent and detect crime, but to also prevent and detect industrial sabotage from competitors.

Adem Different's own species has proven to be the best suited for the position of Cleaner due to their bodies' resiliance and their prodomninately high intellect. Upon his ascention into adulthood, Adem chose his profession as a Cleaner because it was best suited for him and vice versa.

Axel Magus:

Axel Magus is a fairly normal 12-year-old kid personality-wise who likes Saturday Morning Cartoons, adventure books and comic-books, and video games, though he's definitely very smart and very well-read for his age. Physically he's currently out of shape and somewhat weak due to his ordeal and is working to get his former strength back. Normally, however, he's a very active and healthy kid with a great deal of energy.

Because of his age and the circumstances he's been put through (tortured, then kidnapped by an occultic group before being rescued by Mason Templar), he's somewhat moody, yet eager to please. He wants acceptance, but he can tell when people are putting him on. When he makes a friendship with someone, it's genuine, strong, and very loyal. He suffers from terrible nightmares on a regular basis, however, due to his various ordeals.

He's not a member of the team, and he's not even THINKING about joining the team -- he's around because of Dr. Quantos. The fringe benefit of being in a team environment like that of his old PSI-Unit friends is more like his comfort zone. If he's attacked, however, or the team is attacked while he's there, he won't hesitate to step in and do what he can. It should be noted that he's not a hand-to-hand combatant, of course. His non-metahuman occultic/psychic powers are what he uses against his enemies, and he's never one to show his cards too soon, preferring to stay in the shadows observing the situation and looking for possible weaknesses and opportunities until he makes a move (if he has the time to do so).

Based on what I've written here, feel free to have him interact with your characters at the right time. Keep in mind that he's not a member of the team, though, but he will be known as the "foster son" of Dr. Quantos -- so treat him with the SAME kind of respect Quantos is treated. And for a while, at least, the fact that he, Axel of the PSI-Unit, is still alive will be kept a secret from the rest of La Perdita until he finds out who was responsible for torturing him in the first place.

Age: 12 years (he was born in December 23, 1991)
Weight: 105 lbs.
Height: 5'0" (and growing)
Hair Color: Brown (turned from sandy blond to brown over the last two years)
Eye Color: Green
Nationality: Born and raised in La Perdita

Education: Privately tutored by one Dr. Hugo Brechert, who was the scientist in charge of the PSI-Unit Project, Axel is very intelligent for his age and fairly well-read. He particularly likes books about the unexplained phenomena of the universe and has an unquenchable curiosity about things which makes him a good learner.

Powers:

(1) Levitation and Flight: He can propel himself at different ordinary speeds through the air by the power of his mind. This ability is lessened if he is weak and doesn't work at all (usually) when he's unconscious, unless it occurs during dreaming.

(2) Invisible Force-Shield: He can erect an invisible force-shield against force being directed at him, but it's all a matter of will-power and consciousness. He has to know he's being shot at or blasted at in order to put up the shield.

(3) Telekinesis: He has limited telekinetic abilities, allowing him to pick up small objects. Sometimes he can put all that TK energy into a "ball" and blast it at someone like the force of a hurricane wind, but it takes a lot out of him and he can't do it twice in a row. It wasn't always this way, however -- when he was around the other young psychics in the PSI-Unit, they somehow increased each others' powers and abilities just by being near each other. It's possible (though not definite) that the presence of another telepath like Phil Smith would enhance Axel's own abilities.

(4) Telepathy: Like his telekinesis, his telepathy has limitations. He can't read minds like one would read an open book -- if telepathy is possible, such a method would be impossible. What he can do is pick up surface thoughts -- basically what images and words are going through a person's mind at a certain time. Generally speaking, though, he ignores this "background telepathic noise" like one would ignore the sound of street traffic or other conversations at a party when one is trying to listen to just one person. If someone is conscious of it, it's very easy to circumvent Axel's telepathy by just thinking or concentrating on anything, such as this morning's breakfast, for example. Again, he can't really "read" minds to find information the person isn't consciously thinking of.

(5) Mindscape Entry: Related to the above, Axel has the ability to enter someone's mind if they're willing, to remove memory-blocks and such. He can do the same with unconscious people as well, but this is more dangerous as they haven't given their consent. Also, this is currently much more difficult for him to do than when he was with the PSI-Unit for the reasons given above.

(6) Future-Memory Vision: A new ability Axel has just displayed is the power of prophecy. It's based on the John Smith character from Stephen King's THE DEAD ZONE. Basically, sometimes when Axel touches someone, he will see a "memory of their future" -- it will usually be something traumatic or at least emotionally strong. If he's present in the memory, he'll see it from the point of view of his future self. Most of the time, however, he sees these future memories as a ghostly observer of the event, which itself is usually unclear and open to interpretation. He can't use this ability to predict who will win the Baseball World Series or what Lottery numbers will come up, however. And as this is an UNUSUAL ability, it does NOT happen every time he touches someone. I can't stress this enough. This prophetic touch, as I call it, is a RARE event. It happens only occasionally and when crucial information -- such as a disaster befalling someone in the future or something -- is necessary to be relayed to the present.

(7) Spirit-Vision: He can see dead people -- ghosts -- as revealed in his very first and very brief appearance in the TENTACLES OF TIATUCURA story, when he saw Griffin in his spirit form.

(8) Further Unexplained Sorcerous Abilities Not Yet Seen: As a result of his stay with the Occult group which kidnapped him, and because of the mentorship of another character beginning soon, Axel will be displaying more and more true "sorcerous" abilities in the future. Until I introduce these abilities, however, he shouldn't have any except those above.

Weaknesses: Besides the limitations noted above, Axel's physical strength is ordinarily that of a normal, healthy 12-year-old boy. He has been taken unawares by people when he least expected an attack, but since then his guard has been up constantly. He's somewhat paranoid about the night and dark shadows due to his ordeals and finds it difficult to trust anyone who isn't open and honest with him. He can see through ordinary people's motivations fairly quickly in most circumstances, but he is sometimes blinded by his desire to make friends, and someone with the right kind of experience could still fool him.

Background: Born in a La Perdita hospital on December 23, 1991 (he shares the same birthdate as Nostradamus, born 488 years earlier), Axel was left with an orphanage where he made several friends in other orphans who were older than him. His mother visited him occasionally, though she seemed to be ill, and in 1997 when Axel was 5 years old, he was told that his mother had died.

By 1999, a program had begun by German-born scientist Dr. Hugo Brechert and overseen by psychics known only as Marc and Tanya in which the most exceptionally-ESP-gifted orphans were helped to enhance their Extra Sensory Perception abilities. Early in 1999, seven young orphans between the ages of 7 and 18 suddenly gained exceptional psychic abilities beyond that of any of the other candidates in a bizarre and as yet unexplained incident. It was believed at the time that it was tied into the metahuman phenomenon, but none of the orphans later turned out to be metahuman at all. Fans of super-hero comic-books, the seven young orphans who had no last names became the PSI-Unit (Psychic Security and Intelligence), the protectors and heroes of La Perdita. At age 7 Axel was its youngest member, though not its weakest.

For three years the PSI-Unit protected La Perdita from various threats and incidents, mostly involving disturbances due to the influx of metahumans from around the world who had heard about La Perdita being a "safe haven" for them in a world which persecuted metas. The PSI-Unit kept order between the normals and the metas on the island not through violence (most of the time) but through peacekeeping methods of their own invention. And they were extremely popular with the Perditians from all walks of life, being viewed as celebrities are often viewed, with the exception being that the PSI-Unit had earned their celebrity status as servants of the people.

In the summer of 2002, Hurricane Jason struck. Had it been an ordinary hurricane as other hurricanes that had passed over the island several times during the past few years, it would have been same-old, same-old. There was something different about Hurricane Jason, however -- it was not an ordinary hurricane. The PSI-Unit did what they always had in the past during such an emergency -- they helped out wherever they could, rescuing citizens from the destructive winds. However, before the hurricane struck the island, Axel was kidnapped. And during the time he was kidnapped and the hurricane passed over, a plague of vampires took advantage of the orchestrated situation to run rampant over the island. All but two of the remaining six members of the PSI-Unit were killed. Brianna and Kevin escaped with Dr. Brechert to somewhere off the island, while advisors Marc and Tanya (who were secretly agents of the immortal Neanderthal known as Myrddin) returned to Europe. Axel eventually escaped from his captors but was abducted once again.

At some point later on, as will be revealed, Axel was delivered to Dr. Henry Quantos in Canada, who helped him recover from his ordeal for a few days. However, Axel was then once again abducted, this time by a mystical cult which sought to tap into his innate psychic/mystic abilities for their own use, and who also apparently brainwashed Dr. Quantos into forgetting all about his finding Axel. And Axel was kept a prisoner for more than a year. He still has nightmares about it and has many memory-gaps due to the trauma he suffered.

During the summer of 2003, Axel was finally and inexplicably rescued by the heroic Mason Templar, an adventurer and expert on historical artifacts who had been tracking down several stolen items from an archaeological dig in the Middle East when he came across the cult which had abducted Axel. He rescued the boy after slaying most of them and began nursing him back to health, learning that the boy had been Axel of the PSI-Unit but that he feared for his life as his original torturers were still free. When an assignment from a Thunder City Museum had him seek out the help of Vanguard International on La Perdita, he brought Axel with him, giving him the name of "Absalom" (the original Hebrew form of the Teutonic name "Axel") to avoid his being recognized. Over the year he was kept as a prisoner, Axel's once-sandy blond hair had turned brown, as happens with several caucasian children when they grow older, and he was not recognized as the youngest member of the popular PSI-Unit.

Currently, after having been placed in the care of a widow while Mason Templar left the island on business of his own after the Vanguard mission, Axel has befriended Denyce Piper, the oldest daughter of Kit Piper who is 12 years old. Learning that Dr. Henry Quantos, the man who had helped him after Hurricane Jason before he was abducted a second time, was now living on the island with Vanguard International, Axel went to the former Dawson Apartments now known as the Complex and was reunited with Dr. Quantos. While the latter's memories of their former meeting were still blocked, Axel discovered a new ability of seeing "future memories" and learned that Dr. Henry Quantos would become his foster father. Axel will be 12 years old on December 23, 2003, just before Christmas. The last name of "Magus" (since he had no last name) is something he will adopt very soon as he learns more about himself and the nature of his true innate abilities.

Further information will be filled in as it is written.....

Extra Information:

Axel was born and raised on La Perdita and is intimately familiar with the whole island and all the metas on it (at least up to the time of Hurricane Jason). The whole population pretty much knew him and the others in the PSI-Unit by name. Axel knows the owner and the regulars at the meta-bar called "Jake's Place" as well. And he knows the President of La Perdita and all the major heads of government in the country. I'm not saying he knows everyone in La Perdita or that he knows the people above all that well -- but he is a true native and was one of the heroes of La Perdita before the MBL/Vanguard came to the island, and he is familiar with it. Oh, and as mentioned in my post, he was familiar with the former Dawson Apartments which has since been turned into the Complex. During the party-sequence in the TENTACLES OF TIATUCURA story which introduced Dirk Bell and Grimm, not to mention that turtle-guy, BHAGGHRUPHTHH (or however it's spelled), Axel paid a visit to the MBL's apartment building along with the island's metas for the party. He probably knew the Dawson family as well as Sam, but this depends on the timing of what Gooz has in mind for what happened to them. Before 1999, when the PSI-Unit was created, Axel was known only to the people at the orphanage and the project heads who were trying to create a psychic protection force. Having only seen what a small child would have seen of the island until then, he would have become familiar with the whole island and many in it from 1999 onwards.

Also: No more plots involving kidnapping or torture with this character. It's already happened to him TWICE in a row, and I don't want Axel to become the HR universe's "Little Ritchie" (who always seemed to be having to be rescued for some reason or another) or "HourGirl" (she was always the one who got kidnapped by the villain and such and needed constant rescue). No cliched kidnappings or torture unless the Vanguardians are also kidnapped and tortured at the same time. The whole helpless-kid-being-kidnapped-by-villains is such a stupid cliche that I want to avoid at all costs.

As far as membership in the team goes, Axel will not be a member for a while and for at least a few stories as his sorcerous abilities develop, though I'm planning on using him as a sort of "wildcard" in times the team is in dire straits and needs his abilities to help out in a pinch. Otherwise he's just a former kid superhero who's Dr. Quantos' foster son and who wants to have a more-or-less normal life, as he's never had one before.

Though this thread does contain a great deal of information about characters who exist or once existed in the "Hero Revolution Universe," this thread is also horribly out-of-date. I'm starting a new one and closing this one up, but I'm not cutting-and-pasting anything from this thread. The new thread should deal with the Vanguard International team as it is now (current membership), as it was very recently (recently-departed members), or as it will soon be (ie: future members).