Fusion (PL12 NPC, Tier 3)

[Avenger Assembled]

[floatr][/floatr]

Characters Name: Fusion (Joan Collier)

Power Level: 12 (175/176pp)

Trade-Offs: None

Unspent PP: 1

Progress to Platinum: 26/120pp (Gold status earned with Avenger)

Alternate Identity: Fusion (super name) Joan Collier (regular name)

Age: 30 (born 8/1/80)

Gender: Female

Height: 6'0" (up to 50 foot tentacles)

Weight: 200 pds

Eyes: Black

Hair: Black

Description:

Joan Collier is a tall, statuesque woman with an athlete's muscular build. She's of partially Native American descent, something easily noticeable with her raven-black hair and slightly coppery complexion. Her most notable features are, of course, the octopus arms that bud off her waist, which are usually either in constant motion around her body or curled around her midsection so they can rest comfortably around her hips. Her skin is slightly slick at all times, enough that being in dry heat is uncomfortable for her. She usually dresses well, in the business casual of many reporters. These days she works for the _Freedom Ledger_ as a opinion columnist. She usually hides the arms underneath a series of long, flowing dresses, but a sharp eye can occasionally spot movement inside.

She has an eerie grace underwater, her tentacles swaying in the watery breeze, her movements swift and sure. She likes it there, sometimes more than she likes it on land.

In a black, face-covering bodysuit with strategic cutouts around her waist, Fusion is an odd, but charismatic figure, tentacles waving in the air, ready to strike. The costume stays underneath Joan's clothes when she's not in action, disappearing into an undershirt. Speaking with a fake accent and adopting different mannerisms, dropping hints of an alien heritage, Fusion is juuust different enough from Joan that she can pass as a different person when she's not around people who know her well. Luckily, she's new enough in the city that most people don't know her.

History:

It started five years ago. It was supposed to be the story of the year for Joan Collier, star reporter for the _Portland Tribune_. Matsumura Fishworks, a Japanese chemical company, was engaged in illegal operations at their facility on the Oregon coast, and she was going to expose them for their misdeeds, help clean up the beach where she took her family, and win a Pulitzer for the up-and-coming reporter. And she got a story out of the expose all right, just not the one she had in mind. She was undercover at the Matsumura plant, working on the assembly line, when an electrical fire caused a massive explosion in a secret laboratory being used to create mutagenic weapons for the Labyrinth, the secret masters of Matsumura. As flames raged all around her, she put aside the story to rescue her colleagues, running into the burning building again and again. Eventually the smoke and toxic fumes overwhelmed her, and she collapsed just outside the building, covered in chemical burns.

And she awoke there, surrounded by EMTs, as a great and terrible change overcame her. Over a period of several long, painful days, her body absorbed the mutagenic chemicals Matsumura had been working on, chemicals derived from a variety of octopus species, and they worked their bizarre magic upon her. Drugs designed to breed a race of underwater super-soldiers instead transformed the young mother and journalist into a bizarre fusion of octopus and human. Four ten-foot tentacles hung from her waist like the fronds of a fleshy skirt, their musculature empowered enough to lift a car, ink glands bulging in her cheeks, while her body chemistry altered to make her more suitable for life underwater than on land.

She spent terrified days at the Portland Aquarium, being treated by the best scientists on the Pacific coast, before being flown to Freedom City for treatment. There, Dr. Atom and Daedalus were able to halt, and even partially reverse her transformation, but there was no undoing what had happened to Joan. She was the sort of freak she'd once written about, a fusion of animal and man. She came home to her husband Charlie, an accountant for the Portland city government, and her four-year-old daughter Lois, fearful for her life and her sanity.

But her family rallied around her, as did her employer the Tribune, and Joan began rebuilding her life. She didn't mean to break into superheroing, really, but a reporter's life is a dangerous one, and she couldn't just watch the news anymore: she had to be a part of it! Mindful of publicity, she bought a costume of morphic molecules from the Atom family and adopted the moniker of "Fusion" to reflect her altered body. She became a familiar figure on the streets of Portland, swinging from rooftop to rooftop by her suckered tentacles.

She had her first real success a few years into her career, when she was invited to join an all-star team of Pacific Rim heroes on an artificial island off the coast of Japan. But her career with the Pacific Defenders came to an unpleasant end when her agent licensed her name and image to a Japanese animation company that turned out to have a very different agenda than she'd expected. "Beautiful American Tentacle Woman Heroine" was not the show she'd been expecting at all. A lawsuit and name change later, and she and her family left Japan for the United States, this time to Freedom City, a place where heroes were respected, journalists and accountants well-paid, and where a nine-year old girl could grow up safe and happy.

Personality & Motivation:

Joan is your classic nosy reporter; always prying and snooping, trying to ferret out the secrets of the world. Having her own secrets has modulated this a bit, but she still won't let people get away with too much around her. If it's not bad, why keep it a secret? She's basically a friendly person, though, and understands that people have their own issues. She doesn't cosset pity about her 'deformities', though she doesn't generally flaunt them.

Powers & Tactics:

Fusion is a straightforward combatant, slapping opponents around her with her arms, grabbing them and smashing them into walls, and the like. If near a body of water, she'll usually try and grab them, pull them under, and then let nature do its work.

Complications:

Enemy (The Labyrinth): Though Joan is unaware of it, agents of the Labyrinth were responsible for her failure in Japan, and are still working against her to prevent a deeper investigation into the Matsumura Fishworks disaster.

Enemy (Doc Otaku): Doc Otaku is a big fan of BATWH, and has all the episodes on DVD. Fusion _does not like him_.

Fame Don't mention the show to her. Seriously, she'll get angry, and not in a funny way.

Honor (journalistic integrity): Joan believes in telling the truth to power, and to the general public.

Honor (feminism): Joan has not taken her husband's last name, and is a little skeptical of traditional patriarchal norms in general.

Prejudice (Anti-otakuism): Japanese popular culture freaks Joan right the bleep out.

Responsibility (family): Joan's husband is a friendly, balding accountant who works for the city government. He has a receding hairline and spare tire; her daughter is a studious, slightly chubby nine-year-old. She loves them, and would do anything to protect them.

In Brief: Reporter with octopus powers, looking for a new start for herself and her family.

Stats: 6 + 2 + 6 + 2 + 4 + 4 = 24pp

STR: 30/16 (+10/+3)

DEX: 12 (+1)

CON: 32/16 (+11/+3)

INT: 12 (+1)

WIS: 14 (+2)

CHA: 14 (+2)

Combat: 10+14 = 24pp

Attack: +5 (+8 melee, +12 unarmed)

Grapple: +26/+30

Defense: +12 (+3 flat-footed)

Knockback: -5 (-15 w/Bracing)

Initiative: +5

Saves: 0+5+7 = 12pp

TOU: +11 (+11 Con, +0 other)

FORT: +11 (+11 Con, +0 other)

REF: +6 (+1 Dex, +5 other)

WILL: +9 (+2 Wis, +7 other)

Skills: 64r = 16pp

Bluff 8 (+10)^SM

Diplomacy 4 (+6)

Gather Information 16 (+18)^SM

Intimidate 8 (+10)

Investigate 6 (+7)

Languages 2 (English [native], French, Japanese)

Notice 8 (+10)^SM

Search 4 (+4)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)^SM

Feats: 22pp

All-Out Attack

Ambidexterity

Attack Focus: Melee 3

Attack Spec: Unarmed (2)

Dodge Focus (5)

Environmental Adaptation (Underwater)

Improved Initiative 1

Improved Pin

Luck 2

Power Attack

Quick Change

Skill Mastery (Bluff, Gather Info, Notice, Sense Motive)

Uncanny Dodge (Tremorsense)

Well-Informed

Powers: 5+5+11+16+14+2+3+1+9+4+6+1 = 77pp

all powers have the 'mutation' descriptor

Additional Limbs 4 (4 extra limbs) (PF: Innate) [5 pp] 'octopus arms'

Concealment 4 (all visual) (PF: Close Range) (Flaw: Blending) [5 pp] 'chameleon skin'

Dazzle 10 (all visual) (Extras: Alternate Save [Reflex/Reflex], Area [General, Cone]) (Flaws: Range [Touch], Unreliable (5 uses a day) 'ink jets' [10pp]

AP: Super-Strength 4 (PFs: Bracing, Countering Punch) (Heavy Load: 12 tons) 'octopus strength'

Enhanced Constitution 16 [16 pp] 'hardy as an octopus'

Enhanced Strength 14 [14 pp] 'strong as an octopus'

Elongation 4 (50 feet; Flaw: Limited-Additional Limbs Only) [2 pp] 'octopus arms'

Immunity 3 (environmental cold, high pressure, suffocation underwater] [3 pp] 'octopus abilities'

Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] 'super-human speed'

Super-Movement 4 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) [9 pp] 'swinging on arms'

AP: Flight 4 (100 MPH) (Flaw: Gliding) and Swimming 4 (50 MPH) 'gliding on tentacle webs/powerful underwater jets'

Super-Senses 4 (Detect Weakness [visual, Analytical], Tremorsense) [4 pp] 'octopus skin and vision'

Insubstantial 1 'octopus body' (PF: Subtle) [6 pp]

Regeneration 0 (PF: Regrowth) 'octopus regeneration' [1 pp]

Drawbacks: 0pp

DC Block:

Unarmed --- 25/Toughness --- Bruised

Dazzle --- 20/Reflex/Reflex --- Blinded

Costs: Abilities (24) + Combat (24) + Saves (12) + Skills (16) + Feats (22) + Powers (77) - Drawbacks (00) = 175/176pp

[Sandman XI]

Looks good to me :approved:

[Dr Archeville]

There's nothing here I don't like!

:approved:

[N/A]

Converted to NPC status until her player gets another PC slot.