Eternal Phoenix's Character Factory and Archetype Blendarama

[EternalPhoenix]

Katrea (Bushi)

 

Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 255/255

 

STR: +3 (16), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +3/+7, Fort: +9, Ref: +12, Will: +9

 

Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Climb 7 (+10), Diplomacy 2 (+5), Disable Device 7 (+10), Disguise 7 (+10), Drive 12 (+15), Escape Artist 12 (+15), Gather Information 7 (+10), Intimidate 12 (+15), Knowledge (tactics) 12 (+15), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Pilot 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Sleight of Hand 12 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15), Survival 12 (+15), Swim 7 (+10)

 

Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Specialization 2 (Grapple), Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Startle, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 3, Elusive Target, Endurance (+4), Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Sniper Mode (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Fire (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Poison Dart Rounds (Paralyze 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Restraint Foam Rounds (Snare 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Sticky Shock Rounds (Stun 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Sword Slash (Strike 3)), Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Throw, Improved Trick, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Second Chance 3 (Toughness saves vs. Ballistic, Piercing, & Explosive), Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth), Startle, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Omnilingual (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all)

Warrior's Armor (Device 7) (Hard to lose)

   Integral Grapple Gun (Super-Movement 3) (swinging, wall-crawling 2 (full speed))

   Integral Radio (Communication 6) (sense type: radio; Subtle (subtle))

   Kevlar Weave & Ceramic Plating (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance 3 (Toughness saves vs. Ballistic, Piercing, & Explosive); Impervious)

   Life Support Gear (Immunity 9) (life support)

   Tactical Goggles (Super-Senses 4) (extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, ultravision)

Warrior's Rifle (Device 6) (Easy to lose)

   Rifle Settings (Array 11) (default power: blast)

      Automatic Fire (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Fire (Blast 6)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Precise, Subtle (subtle))

      Flamethrower (Strike 6) (Array; DC 21; Line Area (5x150 ft. line - General), Secondary Effect)

      Flash Bomb Launch (Dazzle 6) (Array; affects: visual senses, DC 16; Burst Area (20-150 ft. radius - General); Progression, Decrease Area 2 (-2 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 2 (area x5))

      Frag Grenade Launch (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21; Burst Area (20-150 ft. radius - General); Progression, Decrease Area 2 (-2 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 2 (area x5))

      Poison Dart Rounds (Paralyze 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Poison Dart Rounds (Paralyze 6)); Range (ranged); Precise, Subtle (subtle))

      Restraint Foam Rounds (Snare 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Restraint Foam Rounds (Snare 6)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Improved Range (150 ft. incr), Precise)

      Sniper Mode (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical (Sniper Mode (Blast 6)); Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet), Subtle (subtle))

      Sticky Shock Rounds (Stun 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Sticky Shock Rounds (Stun 6)); Range (ranged); Precise, Subtle (subtle))

Warrior's Sword (Device 3) (Hard to lose)

   Sword Slash (Strike 3) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Sword Slash (Strike 3)); Penetrating [3 extra ranks]; Mighty, Precise, Thrown (Range: 50 ft., incr 10 ft.), Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing))

Warrior's Training (Container, Passive 1)

   Leaping 1 (Jumping distance: x2)

   Quickness 1 (Perform routine tasks at 2x speed)

   Speed 1 (Speed: 10 mph, 88 ft./rnd)

   Super-Movement 1 (slow fall)

 

Attack Bonus: +14 (Ranged: +14, Melee: +14, Grapple: +21)

 

Attacks: Automatic Fire (Blast 6), +14 (DC 21), Flamethrower (Strike 6) (DC 21), Flash Bomb Launch (Dazzle 6) (DC Fort/Ref 16), Frag Grenade Launch (Blast 6) (DC 21), Poison Dart Rounds (Paralyze 6), +14 (DC Staged/Will 16), Restraint Foam Rounds (Snare 6), +14 (DC Ref/Staged 16), Sniper Mode (Blast 6), +14 (DC 21), Sticky Shock Rounds (Stun 6), +14 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Sword Slash (Strike 3), +14 (DC 21), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 18)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -5

 

Initiative: +7

 

Languages: Japanese Native

 

Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 46 (183 ranks) + Feats 37 + Powers 69 + Combat 46 + Saves 21 + Drawbacks 0 = 255

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): It’s complicated (chronological), mid 20s (biological)

Height: 5’ 9”

Weight: 145 lbs

Ethnicity: Japanese

Hair: Purple (dyed, naturally Black)

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: Katrea’s origins are..weird. She remembers attending the same training academy Methion did in his youth, taking the combat course as opposed to the magic course. The first problem with is she remembers attending in Japan, during an era where no such training academy existed and even if one did no woman would have ever been sent to it. The second problem with that is she doesn’t remember it happening once, but several times across Japanese history all the way up to the modern era. A Japanese history, incidentally, that doesn’t match historical records in our world. The third problem with that is Methion has ageless immortality. Katrea does not. She is, apparently, aging normally. So there’s no way in hell she’s been alive since the friggin’ Bronze Age. She knows if she asked Methion, he’d tell her the truth. But she’s not entirely sure she wants to know it.

Said truth, incidentally, is that Katrea is the result of the formation of a nexus point. It’s a big multiverse. Infinite possibilities. And infinite potential for it to glitch out. The chronomancy and various other magics used by Methion and Serine to obscure their origins did not help. Basically, several different versions of Katrea have served Methion. Every time one dies, another one (“reset” to her early 20s) shows up later as if nothing had happened and the previous one’s body vanishes. There is no set duration for this effect. It can be anywhere from a few seconds to several years, though longer times are rare. The members of the Revolution have learned not to mention it, as it confuses her. Our universe simply seems to have a Katrea requirement at this point, and is pulling them in from other universes while haphazardly adjusting their memories to fit in. Methion could, technically, fix this. But 1) it’s benefiting him and 2) altering reality on such a vast scale would require power beyond what most deities collectively possess. It’d take a lot of effort and a lot of time and he’s friggin’ busy enough.

In the meantime, as she alalways does, Katrea runs the Military Action Group. Because while the Drone Horde and Special Tactics Group are very good at their jobs, they’re also quite limited in number and tend to be…well, known quantities. The MAG is where the vast majority of the Revolution’s personnel are allocated, and they do a little bit of everything. Mercenaries, spies, and terrorists oh my.

 

Powers & Tactics: Katrea has no superhuman powers. No, the Omnilingual enchanment from Methion (that lets her speak any language fluently) doesn’t count. In her mind, anyway. What she has is weapons, armor, and apparently several lifetimes of training. Warrior’s Training makes her move faster, jump higher, and helps her survive long falls. Warrior’s Sword is an excellent sword. Warrior’s Armor has a grapple gun, a radio, the expected armor plating, fully sealed systems, and special goggles that improve her vision.

Warrior’s Rifle is slightly more complicated. It is just an excellent rifle. However, it is specially chambered to fire several types of non standard ammunition (such as poison darts, shock gel, and foam that expands and hardens on impact) and has a grenade launcher under the barrel (the better to launch fragmentation grenades and flash bombs; it can also function as a flamethrower).

 

Tactically, Katrea is laden with options. Under normal MAG combat situations (meaning against anti-terrorist military forces), she doesn’t bother with the exotic effects; sticking with Automatic Fire, Frag Grenade Launch, and occasionally Flamethrower. In close quarters she may stow the rifle and start cutting soldiers apart. It’s a lot quieter, after all. It is against superheroes that the other effects come out. She doesn’t actually have a preference, though. Whatever gets the job done. Optionally you can pretend she has intel on the heroes’ strengths and weaknesses. Sticky Shock targets Fort saves, Restraint Foam Rounds targets Reflex, and Poison Dart Rounds targets Will. So you can play with that. She is completely unconcerned with killing people, as a professional soldier should be. However, she could have special instructions not to kill a certain person. Or only kill the one person, which is what Sniper Mode is exceedingly useful for. She can and does Feint, Demoralize, Startle, and Taunt all at Improved level. She does not power stunt.

 

Personality: Professionalism. Self discipline. Intensity. You’d be surprised how few people know what those mean in this day and age. Katrea is a warrior. I’ll repeat that, since I’m certain some of you, my dear readers, didn’t understand. Katrea is a warrior. The entire sum total of the purpose of her existence is to fight. To wage war in the name of the patron she has chosen, and not dishonor them with her methods and personal conduct. She is not a samurai. The code of bushido was developed in peacetime by men who had never fought a real battle, much less engaged in warfare. Her personal honor and dignity are irrelevant. She is a highly trained, incredibly skilled, and extremely competent professional combatant. That is her entire personal identity. Her only reason to speak is in service of this. Her only reason to act is in service to this. Her weapons speak more often than she does. Few can withstand the intensity of her gaze for long. So she wears an eyepatch she doesn’t need outside of combat, which blunts the effect to a degree.

There may be a misunderstanding. Being the leader of the Military Action Group does not conflict with the above. It is an expansion of it. Her people are an extension of herself. She must keep them well cared for, highly trained, and excellently led. As a taskmaster and a commander she is stern and uncompromising, but fair and forgiving. It is a style that has bred a loyalty verging on the fanatical among the rank and file.

[EternalPhoenix]

Jacob Cross (Holmes)

 

Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 225/225

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +2/+7, Fort: +8, Ref: +12, Will: +10

 

Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Bluff 7 (+10), Computers 7 (+10), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disable Device 7 (+10), Drive 7 (+10), Gather Information 12 (+15), Intimidate 12 (+15), Investigate 12 (+15), Knowledge (behavioral science) 7 (+10), Knowledge (civics) 7 (+10), Knowledge (current events) 7 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 12 (+15), Notice 15 (+20), Search 12 (+15), Sense Motive 15 (+20), Stealth 7 (+10), Swim 3 (+5)

 

Feats: Accurate Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 4, Attack Specialization 2 (Unarmed Attack), Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 2, Equipment 2, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Custom Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 8)), Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Second Chance (Toughness saves vs Ballistic), Second Chance (Toughness saves vs Piercing), Skill Mastery (Gather Info, Investigate, Notice, Sense Motive), Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed

 

Powers:

Custom Body Armor (Device 3) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))

   Advanced Kevlar and Ceramics (Protection 4) (+4 Toughness; Impervious [2 extra ranks]; Subtle (subtle))

   Bullet and Stab Resistant (Enhanced Trait 2) (Feats: Second Chance (Toughness saves vs Ballistic), Second Chance (Toughness saves vs Piercing))

   Protected Vitals (Immunity 2) (critical hits)

Custom Heavy Blaster (Device 5) (Easy to lose)

   Custom Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast (DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Custom Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 8)); Penetrating [4 ranks only]; Precise, Ricochet (1 bounce))

      Stun Bolt (Stun (Alternate; DC 18; Range (ranged))

Telepathic (Super-Senses 7) (accurate: Mind Awareness, acute: Mind Awareness, awareness: Mind (Mental), danger sense: Mental, extended: Mind Awareness 1 (-1 per 100 ft), uncanny dodge: Mental)

Telepathic Dodge (Enhanced Trait 4) (Feats: Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 2, Evasion)

Telepathic Talents (Array 12) (default power: mind reading)

   Clairsentience (ESP 6) (Array; affects: 2 types, inc. visual - visual & auditory; Simultaneous)

   Hallucination (Illusion 10) (Array; affects: all sense types, DC 20; Limited to One Subject, Phantasms; Progression, Area 4 (100 ft. radius))

   Mind Reading 10 (Default; DC 20; Custom (Insidious), Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

   Sleepy Vibes (Fatigue 5) (Array; DC 15; Range 2 (perception); Custom (Insidious), Sedation, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

Telepathic Translation (Comprehend 2) (languages - speak all, languages - understand all)

 

Equipment: Plot Specific Equipment 10

 

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +8, Grapple: +10)

 

Attacks: Custom Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 8), +12 (DC 23), Mind Reading 10 (DC Will 20), Sleepy Vibes (Fatigue 5) (DC Fort 15), Stun Bolt (Stun 8), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 18), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -6

 

Initiative: +7

 

Languages: English Native

 

Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 42 (168 ranks) + Feats 21 + Powers 70 + Combat 36 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 225

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 42 years old (chronological), mid 30s (appearance)

Height: 5’ 10”

Weight: 175

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Hair: Black

Eyes: Blue

 

Background: Jacob Cross, years ago, was an FBI agent. He worked for their semi-secret Psi-Division. Psionic metahuman powers are relatively common, if generally not overly powerful, and naturally the FBI would have a division to deal with them. And just as naturally such a division would evolve over time into being the FBI’s top investigative unit by sheer necessity. Dealing with semi and minor supervillains (with enhanced strength, speed, resilience, telekinetic, and/or telepathic powers) on a regular basis for decades will do that. And Jacob Cross was their shining star. The golden boy who could do no wrong. Not the top investigator in these United States, but probably the best with a badge instead of a mask. But fate’s a funny thing, ain’t it? After 9/11, the FBI got serious about investigating all possible threats. Not that they weren’t serious before, but nothing like the death of a major superhero (Starman II, may he rest in peace) on the same day as the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history to provide motivation to redouble their efforts.

It was a day just like any other. Cross was assigned a case. He got his team together. And they fell down the rabbit hole. Prior to the investigations of Agent Cross and his team, Methion and the Strength Revolution operated with near complete impunity. The multiple moving parts of the Revolution he had successfully masked as entirely independent entities for decades, if not centuries. Other investigators were routinely mysteriously murdered, disappeared, or driven insane from the stress of chasing smoke and mirrors. Other investigators were not Jacob Cross of the FBI’s Psi-Division. The sheer scope of this operation staggered Cross and his team after they started putting the pieces together. Soon after, Cross joined a very short list of people. The list of people who have successfully thwarted Methion and lived to tell the story. And he didn’t just do it once. He did it several times. The mere existence of the Drone Horde was revealed. The then-members of the Special Tactics Group (pre-Nimbus and additional Squads) were exposed as more than mere sometimes allied supervillains. The Military Action Group’s activities took a big hit, with several sub groups being exposed, captured, or killed. Agent Cross was doing the impossible. Showing that the mighty Methion was just a man after all. He could be outsmarted and beaten.

For his part, Methion was quite flummoxed. For the first time in a very long time, there was someone who thought like he did, was apparently incorruptible, and possessed of endless courage. A good and righteous man. Oh, right. Methion smiled, a devious idea appearing in his head. If Agent Cross wanted to protect people so badly from those who would harm them, well…there was quite a bit he could do. The world was full of the greed and weakness of mankind. All Methion had to do was point the intrepid Agent Cross in the right direction, and he’d do the Revolution’s work for it.

Have you ever felt like you’re being manipulated? There was little new activity in the Strength Revolution case, but there was new information slowly coming out in at least a dozen other cases. Cross was not an idiot; he knew his opposite number wanted him to look into this new information. But even a casual perusal revealed many crimes that had been going unprosecuted or investigated. This was where Jacob Cross started learning the limits of his power and popularity. The world runs on money and power. And when someone with both wants something kept secret, it gets kept secret. Cross learned fast that when he was stopping criminals, terrorists, and supervillains he was the revered golden boy. But when he tried to hold the rich and powerful accountable to the law, he was suddenly persona non grata, transferred from Psi-Division and stuck managing an evidence warehouse. Oh, yeah. Cross was not an idiot. The lesson had been learned, and he’d been played like a fiddle. By the man now visiting him. Methion.

This was not where Cross joined the Strength Revolution, and in fact Methion didn’t even offer. Cross would have simply told him to fuck off, and they both knew it. They just talked and gained an understanding of one another. Soon afterward, the Revolution resumed its activities in several big ways, and a frantic global law enforcement and intelligence community begged the FBI to summon their former golden boy from his exile. Cross agreed to come back only under the condition that he actually be allowed to do his job without interference. And the whole situation basically repeated itself. Methion was a bit more competent this time, and he and Cross fought to a draw in their mental chess match. Naturally, Cross’s conditions were ignored when he started once again prodding too deeply into matters certain interested parties would have preferred to remain undisturbed. And then he started dodging assassination attempts, having grown properly paranoid after losing a few colleagues to Methion’s scheming. This was not the last straw. The last straw was the installation of a new FBI Director, who promptly slashed Psi-Division’s budget, replaced their Special Agent in Charge, and transferred key personnel to other divisions. The shining star of the FBI’s attempts to battle superhuman criminals was now a shell of itself. Jacob Cross was, for a third time, not an idiot. The reason was obvious, and for the first time he got angry. Genuinely fucking furious. People were going to die because certain persons with money, power, and influence didn’t feel like going to prison for their many, many crimes. Thus endeth the lesson, said Methion, suddenly appearing next to him.

The Grand Wizard didn’t offer anything, and indeed would have left shortly if Cross had remained silent. Cross did not remain silent. Shortly afterward, Cross was slamming his badge and gun on the desk of the FBI Director and telling him and his puppeteers to burn in hell before stalking out. He started and has been running his own Psi-Division within the Strength Revolution for the last 7 years, pursing his own ideals of justice. He gets his targets prosecuted under local law at every available opportunity, but when he can’t…he’s been growing more and more comfortable having his people play judge, jury, and executioner.

 

Powers & Tactics: Jacob Cross is a metahuman psionic. He has relatively minor telepathic powers. He also has a couple of technological devices that bump up his combat capabilities to superhuman levels. His Custom Body Armor increases his resistance to damage (especially to bullets, arrows, and stabbing weapons), and provides an extra measure of protection against any lucky hits. His Custom Heavy Blaster does as much damage as vehicle mounted firearms, and comes with a stun setting for when he needs more polite violence.

His telepathy has several features. He can detect and target anyone with a mind just as easily as if he was using his eyes, and at greater range than any other sense. Said minds also give off split second warnings, making him slightly better at avoiding injury. He can understand and speak any language the person he’s speaking with does. His telepathic talents do not end there. He can read minds without being noticed, create convincing illusions for one person, put weaker minds to sleep, and push his vision and hearing out to a distance of 5 miles virtually undetectably.

 

Tactically, Cross is a surprisingly simple fellow. He still thinks like an FBI agent. Find cover and return fire. However, he never walks into a situation blind. Between Clairsentience and his ability to sense minds from far away, he’s a difficult person to surprise, and he can approach from unexpected angles. He’s not afraid to pull back and reposition. Hallucination and Sleepy Vibes work very well on the rank and file. But he does rely heavily on his team to do more than just “shoot with blaster”. He has gotten pretty good at unarmed striking and can Power Attack, but that’s it. As for power stunts, he can technically use Dazzle, Paralyze, Nauseate, Stun, and even Damage. They’re perception ranged effects with will saves at rank 5 with the Insidious and Subtle 2 power feats. However, him doing this is rather rare. Because while the target may not notice anything wrong when using those powers, anybody with them certainly would.

 

Personality: Jacob Cross is a man of faith. He believes, and believes hard. In truth. In justice. And in the rule of law. Everyone ought to be equal under the law, and the law ought to treat everyone with equal fairness. Basically he’s a faithful idealist. He knew that there was a gulf between how things ought to be and how they actually are, but the breadth of that gulf is continually surprising and frustrating to him. He went to college to help bridge it. He joined the FBI to help bridge it. He did everything that he personally could to help bridge that gulf; only to find out that he was the strange one. That most everyone else was more invested in keeping the peace than enforcing the law. It…broke him, a little. Realizing that what most people actually want is the illusion that everything is fine, their friends and family are good people, and the wickedness in the world cannot touch them. As long as the world’s troubles are Someone Else’s Problem, folks normally sleep easy. Personal loyalty often trumps actions. And self justification has no limit because everyone is the hero of their own story.

Like. Fucking. Hell. Rather than being reasonable like most adults and accept that he must exist inside an imperfect world and do his best within those constraints, Cross has decided on forcing his way. Because Jesus Christ, wrong is wrong. What the fuck is the matter with you people? This isn’t jaywalking, petty theft, or even relatively minor drug offenses. This is murder, child slavery, the theft of millions if not billions of dollars, large scale sex trafficking, fraud leading to the permanent disability or death of thousands, and other such things. Hideous and egregious shit that is just…allowed. Because the economy would crater if they were shut down. Because investigation and prosecution would be politically difficult. Because they’d fight tooth and nail with some of the best criminal defense lawyers money can buy, and we prefer to win and win quickly. It’s all bullshit, and Cross is a man on a mission to prove exactly how bullshit it is. If he has to get into bed with scum like Methion for the resources, so be it. If he’s the only one willing and able to provide the evidence to bring these people down, so be it. And if, in the end, he’s the only one willing to enforce any sort of penalty for these crimes, SO BE IT.

[EternalPhoenix]

Clive Wesker

 

Power Level: 6; Power Points Spent: 90/90

 

STR: +1 (12), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +2 (14), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +4 (18)

 

Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +5, Ref: +5, Will: +5

 

Skills: Bluff 11 (+15), Diplomacy 11 (+15), Gather Information 11 (+15), Knowledge (behavioral science) 7 (+10), Knowledge (business) 2 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 7 (+10), Knowledge (current events) 7 (+10), Knowledge (history) 2 (+5), Language 6 (+6), Notice 2 (+5), Sense Motive 2 (+5), Stealth 4 (+5)

 

Feats: Attack Specialization (Masterwork Heavy Pistol), Connected, Contacts, Dodge Focus 3, Equipment 3, Fascinate (Bluff), Fascinate (Diplomacy), Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, KN (behavioral science)), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed

 

Equipment: Masterwork Heavy Pistol (Heavy Pistol, Masterwork Weapon), Undercover Shirt

 

Attack Bonus: +5 (Ranged: +5, Melee: +5, Grapple: +6)

 

Attacks: Masterwork Heavy Pistol, +8 (DC 19), Unarmed Attack, +5 (DC 16)

 

Defense: +8  (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -2

 

Initiative: +1

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, German, Russian, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 18 (72 ranks) + Feats 15 + Powers 0 + Combat 20 + Saves 9 + Drawbacks 0 = 90

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 50

Height: 5’ 10”

Weight: 165 lbs.

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Hair: Black (streaked with grey)

Eyes: Green

 

Background: Clive Wesker is the PR guy. He’s also not the first one. Technically, he’s Clive Anthony Wesker V, fifth of his line and fifth president of the Wesker Agency. Methion has ever been a clever, forward looking man. The rise of the electric telegraph presaged a dramatic rise in global communications capacity. He needed someone to manage the public image of his various businesses and less than legal enterprises and endeavors. After a painstaking selection process, he chose Clive Anthony Wesker and his fledgling Wesker Agency out of London. Methion would provide the funding required. All he original Wesker had to do was, well, his job. Be the public spokesman for some rather reclusive persons (Methion, Serine, Valine, and Katrea), and make sure that the public reputations of their public names remained as pristine as possible. Weskers I-IV have performed quite well in this, along with portions of the ever expanding Wesker family, with Wesker III moving the agency’s headquarters to New York City ahead of WWII.

It is Wesker V who’s had the most trouble. The explosion of the internet during his tenure would have been rocky enough without Jacob Cross and Psi-Division at the FBI exposing much of what his illustrious predecessors had carefully kept hidden. These das much is in the open and Wesker V is a busy, busy man. Not that anyone knows who he specifically is, mind. The benefits of being the boss that you can hire an ever rotating cast of attractive, well spoken people, top class lawyers, and popular celebrity spokespeople to do the actual work. Methion keeps the Wesker Agency carefully insulated. They perform no illegal activity and are not permitted to know of any illegal activity. While Wesker V may know of Methion’s ultimate goals and general methodology, he knows nothing of any specifics. And these days, Methion is far from the Wesker Agency’s only client. It is a large, highly respected public relations firm with a great many clients. This provides no end of frustration for law enforcement and superheroes.

 

Powers & Tactics: Clive Wesker has no superhuman powers, special devices, or even any particularly high levels of skill or training. He is just an intelligent, charismatic, and well educated man who just happens to carry a Masterwork Heavy Pistol and have accuracy equal to special forces soldiers with it.

 

Tactically, unless the opposing force is coming for his life, Wesker surrenders immediately. He’s done nothing illegal, after all. His lawyers will have him out the same day. Now, if someone’s trying to kill him…as a citizen he is entitled to kill in his own defense. He is capable of Feinting quite well to get a good shot in. But generally someone trying to murder you is good cause to call the police for help and run away if you can do either.

 

Personality: Clive Wesker is an affable man. People instinctively like him, and are willing to extend some initial trust without any justification on his part. He is a loyal and competent man who loves his family (including his eventual successor, Clive VI) and doesn’t hold grudges. He’s just the PR guy. Don’t over think it.

[EternalPhoenix]

Drone Horde

 

Overview

 

The Drone Horde mainly functions as the intelligence arm of the Strength Revolution. They have access to arguably the biggest and most powerful collection of combatants, however bringing any significant level of them to bear in that way would ruin them as intelligence sources. They’re also the source of the most rampant paranoia concerning Revolution membership. Because the vast majority of Drones have no idea they are, in fact, Drones.

Serine is an absolute genius in her specialty of psychic magic, and every drone is her creation. Perfect sleeper agents. Their minds and personalities have been subtly altered, invisible to everyone around them. How this works is somewhat individualized. Most have pre-programmed instructions buried in their psyches that they obey as if they were their own ideas, passing various bits of information on in subtle ways. This is not a continuing sustained spell, either. This is a permanent alteration. Not even killing Serine would undo what she has done, because there is no active effect to undo. The key here is that some of them are aware of doing this and remember it, and some are neither aware nor remember. The ones who remember are the closest thing the Revolution has to active intelligence agents, poking their noses into this and that while remaining absolutely loyal to someone they call The Faceless Queen. Keep in mind that both groups live their lives as normally as possible while doing this, however. There is a sub section that are basically walking bombs waiting to be triggered. These tend to be (but aren’t always) various superheroes and villains who, with a single code word or trigger spell from Serine, will go completely psycho and try to murder everyone in the general vicinity. Only death stops their insane rampage. There is another sub section that is essentially throwaway. Their free will is subsumed beneath the command of The Faceless Queen to complete a certain mission, usually a violent one. These tend to be elite soldiers, and they tend to come in teams. Really, there are Drones for any purpose a GM can imagine. Anything a Special Tactics Group Squad might do, they may supported or replaced by throwaway Drones if necessary. Throwaway Drones aid the Military Action Group in their missions at need. Keep in mind that no Drone is actually mindless. Even throwaways still have their personalities and memories intact. That’s kind of the point. Any rookie magician can crush wills and control minds. It takes a deft and skilled hand to tweak psyches into obedience to their mistress while leaving only the most skilled observers with any idea of what has been done to them.

There are so many Drones that not even Serine remembers them all. They are legion, and they could be anyone. Anyone at all. Anyone who has dropped out of contact for a day or two. Gone off grid on vacation. Or been otherwise isolated for a short time. This includes small groups of mundane civilians and law enforcement. So when I say anyone can be a Drone, I mean anyone. Your neighbor who cuts your grass. Your Uber driver. Your doctor. The clerk at the grocery store. The mayor of your city. Members of your legislature. Your lawyer. That supervillain you’ve heard of. That prominent superhero. Anyone. At. All. Even you, yes you, could be a Drone and simply not know. Feeling paranoid yet?

[EternalPhoenix]

Drone Prime (The Prince)

 

Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 255/255

 

STR: +3/+5/+7 (16/20/24), DEX: +3/+5/+7 (16/20/24), CON: +3/+5/+7 (16/20/24), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +6/+8 to +12/+10 to +18, Fort: +6/+9/+12, Ref: +12/+15/+18, Will: +9

 

Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15/+20/+25), Bluff 12 (+15/+20), Concentration 12 (+15/+20), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Intimidate 12 (+15), Knowledge (civics) 2 (+5), Knowledge (tactics) 2 (+5), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 2 (+5), Language 4 (+4), Notice 12 (+15/+20), Sense Motive 12 (+15/+20)

 

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Assessment, Attack Focus (melee) 6, Attack Specialization 3 (Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 3, Elusive Target, Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Trip, Interpose, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Notice, Sense Motive), Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Chi Armor (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness)

Chi Blasts (Array 12) (default power: blast)

   Chi Blast Wave (Blast 12/16/20) (Default; DC 27/31/35)

   Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6/8/10) (Array; DC 21/23/25; Burst Area (30/40/50 ft. radius - Targeted), Autofire (interval 2, max +5))

Chi Flight (Flight 3/4/5) (Speed: 50/100/250 mph, 440/880/2200 ft./rnd)

Chi Immortality (Immunity 3) (aging, disease, poison)

Chi Strike (Strike 3) (DC 21/23/25; Mighty)

Chi Transformations (Alternate Form 18) (Action (move))

 

Power Settings:

Super Mode (Alternate Form) (Trait Increases: Attack Bonus +2 (+8), Attack Focus (melee) 6 +2 (+8), Strength +4 (20, +5), Dexterity +4 (20, +5), Constitution +4 (20, +5), Fortitude +1 (+9), Reflex +1 (+15), Attack Specialization 3 (Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6+2)) +1 (+4), Acrobatics +3 (+20), Bluff +5 (+20))

Powers

      Active Chi Armor (Force Field 4) ([0 active, 0/8 PP, 2/r], +4 Toughness; Impervious)

         Enhanced Reactions (Enhanced Trait (Alternate; [0 active, 0/8 PP, 1/r], Defense Bonus +4 (+16))

      Enhanced Blast Wave (Blast 4) (Stacks with (Chi Blast Wave (Blast 12, to 16)))

         Enhanced Scatter Cannon (Blast 2) (Alternate; Burst Area (+10 ft. radius - Targeted), Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Stacks with (Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6, to 8)))

      Enhanced Chi Flight (Flight 1) (Stacks with (Chi Flight (Flight 3, to 4)))

 

Ultra Mode (Alternate Form) (Trait Increases: Attack Bonus +4 (+10), Attack Focus (melee) 6 +4 (+10), Attack Specialization 3 (Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6+4)) +2 (+5), Strength +8 (24, +7), Dexterity +8 (24, +7), Constitution +8 (24, +7), Fortitude +2 (+12), Reflex +2 (+18), Acrobatics +6 (+25), Bluff +5 (+20), Notice +5 (+20), Sense Motive +5 (+20), Concentration +5 (+20), Survival +2 (+5))

Powers

      Active Chi Armor (Force Field ([0 active, 0/16 PP, 2/r], +8 Toughness; Impervious)

         Enhanced Reactions (Enhanced Trait 16) (Alternate; [0 active, 0/16 PP, 1/r], Defense Bonus +8 (+20))

      Enhanced Blast Wave (Blast (Stacks with (Chi Blast Wave (Blast 12, to 20)))

         Enhanced Scatter Cannon (Blast 4) (Alternate; Burst Area (+20 ft. radius - Targeted), Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Stacks with (Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6, to 10)))

      Enhanced Chi Flight (Flight 2) (Stacks with (Chi Flight (Flight 3, to 5)))

 

Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +6, Melee: +12, Grapple: +15)

 

Attacks: Chi Blast Wave (Blast 12/16/20), +6/+8/+10 (DC 27/31/35), Chi Scatter Cannon (Blast 6/8/10), +12/+16/+20 (DC 21), Chi Strike (Strike 3), +12+16/+20  (DC 21/23/25), Unarmed Attack, +12/+16/+20 (DC 18/20/22)

 

Defense: +12 /max of +16/max of +20 (Flat-footed: +5/max of +7/max of +9), Knockback: -3/-4 to -8/-5 to -13

 

Initiative: +7/+9/+11

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin) Native, English, Persian, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 24 (96 ranks) + Feats 33 + Powers 114 + Combat 30 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 255

 

Age (as of Jan 2019):

Height: 5’ 4.5”

Weight: 145 lbs.

Ethnicity: Han Chinese

Hair: Black (Bright Red in Super Mode, Golden Blonde in Ultra Mode)

Eyes: Dark Brown (Blue-Green in Ultra Mode)

 

Background: There is an old Chinese novel. Most know it. Its name is Journey To The West, and it was based on a true story. The Buddhist monk Xuanzang did indeed travel from China to India and back again. He was gone for 19 years, and even wrote a book about his journey titled Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. This much historians know. What historians dispute is what, exactly, he left out of the book. If indeed he left anything out at all. And exactly how believable what he wrote is. The truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle. There really was a Monkey King, who trained in martial arts and Chi Wizardry hard enough that he became essentially an immortal demigod. There indeed was a pig man, a “river ogre”, and a “dragon prince” that served as Xuanzang’s horse. It’s just that here in the 21^st century we’d recognize the pig man as a genetic mutant with nothing overtly supernatural about him, and the river ogre as just a huge ugly guy with again nothing overtly supernatural about him either. The jury is still out on whether or not the horse’s name was Dragon Prince, he was a cursed human prince from a clan named Dragon, or he was literally a shapeshifted dragon. The Monkey King only laughs when asked, and the other three are long gone from this world. They did not meet the mortal human being Siddhārtha Gautama, as he had been dead for over a thousand years. It could have been him after his ascension to Buddhahood, but the truth of this is also unknown. The Monkey King only smiles and changes the subject if asked.

The Monkey King himself does not have any name that appears in any records. The powers of a trickster deity are many, even if he is only a demigod. Sun Wukong was someone else, as we will see shortly. Though the fact that each has pretended to be the other at various points over the years has not helped distinguish the two, heh. And he was and is not literally a monkey. His clan lived in treehouses, as the forests in the days of old were mighty indeed. Even if most other clans and tribes mocked them for this by calling them monkeys. After the journey, with Xuanzang safely returned home, the three companions went their separate ways. The Monkey King ruled his people wisely and well, paying tribute to the Tang dynasty when necessary. Eventually, he was married and had a son. And a more arrogant young man there never was. His father taught him well in the ways of the martial arts and Chi Wizardry. The prince became quite skilled indeed, second only to the Monkey King himself. And, as it turned out, one other. One day, while the Monkey King was away at Chang’an, the Tang dynasty capital, a young peasant came to visit. This young man did not know the Monkey King was away, and the prince received him quite rudely. An uneducated peasant dared to think the great Monkey King had any time for him? Ridiculous. And so the prince threw him out. Or tried to. For this was not an ordinary peasant. This was Sun Wukong, son of the Hindu deity Hanuman and a demigod in his own right. For his efforts the prince received a (for him) humiliating beating. The truth of the matter was that Sun Wukong took as much of a beating as the prince, and the fight was basically a Pyrrhic victory for the young man. But the prince’s pride wouldn’t allow such honesty, and afterward it only became worse. Especially after the Monkey King returned home and chastised him for his foolishness while apologizing to his fellow demigod.

The next person the prince would antagonize would not be so kind as to let him off with a beating. Because this was the wizard Methion (not the Grand Wizard quite yet; this was over a thousand years ago). He defeated the prince with two spells, leaving him nearly dead on the floor. As recompense for the insult, he demanded the prince’s life. No, not his death. His life. The Monkey King, at this point having had thoroughly enough of his firstborn’s idiocy, acceded to the wizard’s demands with only a token effort at negotiation. Methion turned his new possession over to Serine to be made into something resembling compliant. For the Drone Horde existed even in those days, if much lower in number due to lack of easy communication and travel. But the prince would unexpectedly thrive as a combat Drone, and with the same immortality his father had originally achieved, he would be around for a very, very long time.

And indeed, he is. If Serine could be said to have a right hand of her own (being as she is Methion’s right hand), it would be Drone Prime, alias The Prince. Subtle, he is not, yet that is strangely effective in his role. He is the most powerful and destructive member of the Strength Revolution save for Methion himself. As The Prince is, like all Drones, not a known member of the Revolution (though in his case it’s partially because who would tolerate such a prideful asshole for very long?), him wandering in and challenging professional superheroes to a fight (indirectly saving the asses of Revolutionaries) isn’t unusual. Nor is him calling out the most powerful local hero and challenging him to combat on pain of destroying some civilian filled buildings while a Revolutionary squad does some quiet work in the background somewhere. Basically he functions as either a big flashy distraction or an assassin so obvious nobody believes he is one. He’s been imprisoned several times, but never for long. Suppressing Chi without suppressing the target’s actual life force is a tricky business. Erring on the side of caution is advised if one desires not to kill. However, one mistake in the other direction and The Prince is blowing holes in walls and flying away again. How bothersome.

 

Powers & Tactics: The Prince is an expert martial artist and probably the world’s most powerful Chi Wizard. He’s not especially skilled or versatile (especially compared to the ludicrous nonsense his father can do) because he only cares about “being the strongest”. His Chi enhances his resistance to damage, permits him to fly, and lets him strike considerably harder than his physical strength would suggest. It also makes him immune to aging, disease, and poisons. He can also emit it for ranged damage. Chi Blast Wave is a powerful single target attack capable of smashing through steel. Chi Scatter Cannon, while much weaker, strikes multiple targets in an area multiple times.

This would normally be enough, and most martial artists would be satisfied with increasing their skill level to match their power. But The Prince? Never. He has delved deeply into the possibilities of overcharging one’s body with Chi, to the point where he knows how to physically transform, transcending the limitations of mere flesh. The Monkey King continues to laugh at his son’s foolishness, as there are easier ways than brute force to achieve that goal. At any rate, both of his Chi Transformations increases his physical abilities, attack accuracy, flight speed, and Chi emission power. Both allow him to choose between greater defensive ability or greater resilience. Super Mode merely causes his hair to turn red and the rest of him to glow the same color. His power level is incredible in this form, but it is only the first stage. Ultra Mode turns him into something that makes people believe his boasts of being a demigod. His eyes turn blue-green. His hair turns golden blonde. His entire body glows golden. His power in this form is truly phenomenal. If he wasn’t who he was, he’d be a danger to the entire world.

 

Tactically, one would think that The Prince would transform into his most powerful state immediately and wipe the floor with everyone. But no. Not just no, but hell no. In most circumstances he will not transform at all at first. His greater powers must be earned. Why would he waste them on a weakling he could beat without them? With that said, he’s arrogant. Not an idiot. If he’s needed his Chi Transformations before against an opponent or said opponent has a reputation for being powerful, he’ll start appropriately transformed. He can Acrobatic Bluff, Feint, and Taunt all at the Improved level. Taunt is his favorite, especially when he outclasses his foes. He just doesn’t shut up. And he has All Out, Defensive, and Power Attack to do even more damage with. He noticeably doesn’t care about collateral damage or killing by accident. They should consider themselves lucky to have been slain by The Prince. Enemies who prove themselves worthy of a transformation he spares if possible. But if they can’t force him into at least Super Mode? The penalty for their pathetic weakness is death. He considers power stunting beneath him, and thus never does it.

 

Personality: The Prince is an arrogant, boastful asshole. Seriously, nobody likes this guy once they meet him. Kindness? Empathy? Compassion? Tch, those are for weaklings. He is the crown prince of the Monkey clan. A warrior elite with no equal. Therefore, he can do whatever the hell he feels like doing. That’s it. A complex personality, The Prince is not. Do note that he’s not actively malevolent, just a colossal asshole with an ego that could probably be seen from Pluto. Well. He does have some semblance of a warrior’s honor in that he won’t cheat or take unfair advantage, but that’s part of his endless ego too.

[EternalPhoenix]

Drone Template

 

Surprise! There isn’t one. What Serine does to turn people into Drones cannot be represented with M&M mechanics. In that way, they’re kind of the ultimate sleeper agents. They are only PCs with that player’s permission, naturally, but otherwise they can be anyone at all. Which is what was previously stated in the overview so this is probably a little redundant. But I suppose there’s nothing like making the point completely clear. There is no way of detecting, mechanically speaking, the alterations that make a Drone, a Drone. The Mind Reading power can do it, but that’s digging deep into someone’s psyche, not their emotions or surface thoughts. They’re gonna resist with the usual Will save. And even after that, to repair the alterations will require a use of Continuous Mental Transform (which isn’t a power most telepaths of any kind have handy, thus it’s likely a power stunt) and a power check versus the usual 16 ranks Serine uses. So good luck with that. Still, if they succeed, congratulations. You saved one (1) Drone. Of a number so great it can only be called a horde. Well, easy isn’t for heroes, now is it?

[EternalPhoenix]

Special Tactics Group

 

Overview

 

The Special Tactics Group is rather obviously named. The Drone Horde is the hidden secret weapon and source of paranoia. The Military Action Group runs on mundane weapons and tactics. Leaving the Special Tactics Group to fill the gaps. The original point was for Valine to have basically backup in that role. It was and is a very large world, which was and is full of all sorts of enemies and potential enemies. Sometimes one man with a sword simply wasn’t going to be enough. Now, while the original group was recommended by Methion, Valine and the STG operate autonomously. Methion provides a goal and it is Valine’s job to get it accomplished. Acquiring replacements for fallen STG members has is also Valine’s responsibility, though of course he can and does delegate. And he has gone through quite a few. The number of STG members who have retired instead of being killed is a short list consisting of absolutely nobody. They’re not cannon fodder by any means, but until recently being an STG member meant a life of constantly fighting or preparing for the next fight. Valine thrives in that sort of environment, but not all do.

However, as the 21^st century rolled on, even Valine had to admit they were being run ragged. The world had gotten too big, too quickly. From less than 2 billion people to over 7 and a half in a mere century. And with the speed of travel and communication  going from slow early cars, trains, small flimsy planes, the telegraph, and early wireless radio to the incredible speed of modern transportation and communications technology. There was more to do, yes, but things to do were also being discovered at a blistering pace. 2 centuries ago, the STG might have weeks of downtime, admittedly including travel time. Now they were lucky to grab a few days at a time. Valine hadn’t had his preferred full complement of seven members since literally the 20^th century. And more and more he had to split the team, which made their numbers problem worse. So at last, he caved and started expanding the STG.

Photophobia helped make Squad B, Aeon helped make Squad C, and Primrose teamed up with Methion to help make Squad D. And you know, it’s better. Squads B & C get those small, quiet tactical actions that Valine’s always been a bit ill suited for accomplished. Spying, theft, sabotage, assassination, etc. And Squad D helps keep supernatural issues in check because once again Valine can’t be everywhere at once. This frees up Valine and Squad A to do what they do best. Kick the living shit out of threats the MAG or other Squads can’t handle. No deaths in three years is a damn fine start. The expansion and division of labor is going very well, and Valine has begun to consider a Squad E…

 

Mechanical Notes: The STG has access to functionally limitless mundane resources. Whatever they need for a mission from a temporary headquarters to vehicles to anything you might find in one of those massive Wal-Marts, they can get on demand. Please note this does not extend to weapons and armor aside from replacement gear. So their Equipment budget as a group is an X trait. Squad A doesn’t normally take advantage of this. Squad D does on a limited basis. Squad B does fairly regularly, however, and Squad C basically is always doing so.

[EternalPhoenix]

Squad A

 

Overview

 

This is the STG prior to the big expansion. Valine’s entry has been posted already, so these are the other four. They’re illustrative of how Valine had to work to put together a team. No real thematic unity of any kind, and most of them aren’t nice people. Or people at all, for that matter. But Valine, much like Methion, understands how personalities work and what needs to be said and not said for a team of random strangers assembled separately at different times to work well together. It’s never been quite ideal, but he’s made it work. The expansion has left his original team merely Squad A instead of the entire thing, and all four of them are better off for it.

While they do some spying, theft, occasional assassination, and other finesse work, Squad A functions most often as the brute squad. Two exceptional PL 12s, a skilled 10, and two unusual 9s tend to put the smack down quite effectively on any heroes that are succeeding in thwarting the Strength Revolution’s plans. That isn’t all they do, however. More than Squads B and C (but less than D), they function as something resembling superheroes. Battling monsters, demons, and supervillain teamups the local heroes can’t handle.

 

Tactics

 

It all flows around Valine. He’s a pretty unbelievable tank, soaking up all sorts of punishment without breaking stride. Primrose and Aeon switch on and off being the melee DPS, as Primrose has plenty of other talents and Aeon can work ranged. Distance is effectively meaningless to both of them due to their movement speeds. Photophobia stays in a support role, disrupting opposing teamwork and making the prior two look better than they are, which is an impressive feat. Nimbus hangs back and takes sniper shots at any targets troubling her allies. She can also effectively blind every foe on the battlefield, or function as team bus for quick escapes. She functions as team bus more generally for Valine and Photophobia, who lack any movement powers of their own. Keep in mind that this fivesome has been fighting together for a decade if we count Nimbus, and two decades if we exclude her. Their teamwork is flawless.

More broadly, Primrose I and Photophobia are the team thieves and infiltration style spies, while Aeon can hack into anywhere and spy that way. Nimbus is the primary assassin when that sad duty is needed, however Photophobia can also serve in this role if a closer touch is needed. Primrose has the abilities, but finds such work extremely distasteful and will only perform it in direst need without the other two available. Valine functions primarily as information gatherer and diplomat, which is surprisingly quite necessary at times. Aeon is just as capable at gathering information, though via a different method. The main thing to keep in mind here is that these are professionals who’ve been doing this for a long time. They are not prone to mistakes or rash decisions that threaten the entire Squad. Heroes going up against them how to outwit them, not exploit mistakes.

[EternalPhoenix]

Primrose (Étienne Miura)

 

Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255

 

STR: +3 (16), DEX: +7 (24), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +3/+8, Fort: +7, Ref: +16, Will: +10

 

Skills: Acrobatics 13 (+20), Bluff 12 (+15), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disguise 2 (+5/+30), Escape Artist 13 (+20), Gather Information 12 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 7 (+10), Knowledge (earth sciences) 12 (+15), Knowledge (life sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Language 9 (+9), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Sleight of Hand 13 (+20), Stealth 13 (+20)

 

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 2, Attack Specialization 2 (Foxfire Kicks (Array 8)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 7, Elusive Target, Evasion 2, Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Blast (Blast 5)), Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Blitz (Strike 5)), Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Soul Kick (Strike 5)), Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Spin (Strike 5)), Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Redirect, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Sleight of Hand, Stealth), Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Air Running (Flight 2) (Speed: 25 mph, 220 ft./rnd)

Foxfire Control (Array (default power: strike)

   Foxfire Blast (Blast 5) (Array; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Blast (Blast 5)); Accurate (+2), Mighty 3 (+3 to damage))

   Foxfire Blitz (Strike 5) (Default; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Blitz (Strike 5)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [3 extra ranks]; Mighty)

   Foxfire Jets (Flight (Array; Speed: 2500 mph, 22000 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Air Running (Flight 2)))

   Foxfire Soul Kick (Strike 5) (Array; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Soul Kick (Strike 5)); Alternate Save (Will) [3 extra ranks]; Mighty)

   Foxfire Spin (Strike 5) (Array; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Foxfire Spin (Strike 5)); Burst Area (40 ft. radius - Targeted) [3 extra ranks]; Mighty)

Martial Dodge (Luck Control 1) (force a re-roll; Limited 2 (Attacks vs self))

Ninetailed Fox Physiology (Container, Passive 6)

   Fireproof (Immunity 10) (common descriptor: Fire/Heat)

   Human Form (Morph 5) (morph: single appearance, +25 Disguise)

   Inhuman Resilience (Protection 5) (+5 Toughness)

   Nine Tails (Additional Limbs 4) (10 extra limbs; +4 to Grapple when not using Imp. Grapple, Feats: Improved Grapple)

   Vulpine Senses (Super-Senses 6) (acute: Olfactory, counters illusion: Vision, low-light vision, tracking: Olfactory 1 (half speed), ultra-hearing)

Seed Pouch (Device 7) (Hard to lose)

   Seed Bombs (Array 16) (default power: snare)

      Phytotoxin (Paralyze (Array; DC 18; Burst Area (40 ft. radius - General), Range (ranged))

      Plant Monster Seeds (Summon 6) (Array; Horde, Type (Broad) (Plant Creatures); Progression, # Minions 2 (5 minions))

      Pollen Bomb (Fatigue (Array; DC 18; Cloud Area (40 ft. diameter, lingers - General), Range (ranged))

      Tanglevine Bomb (Snare (Default; DC 18; Burst Area (40 ft. radius - General), Transparent)

 

Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +12, Grapple: +15)

 

Attacks: Foxfire Blast (Blast 5), +16 (DC 23), Foxfire Blitz (Strike 5), +16 (DC 23), Foxfire Soul Kick (Strike 5), +16 (DC Will 23), Foxfire Spin (Strike 5), +16 (DC 23), Phytotoxin (Paralyze (DC Staged/Will 18), Pollen Bomb (Fatigue (DC Fort 18), Tanglevine Bomb (Snare (DC Ref/Staged 18), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 18)

 

Defense: +16  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -4

 

Initiative: +11

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French Native, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Occitan, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 44 + Skills 39 (156 ranks) + Feats 31 + Powers 83 + Combat 38 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 255

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): Over 1000 years (chronological kitsune), 55 (chronological human), Early 20s (biological)

Height: 7’ (kitsune) 5’ 10” (human morph)

Weight: 250 (kitsune), 175 (human morph)

Ethnicity: Kitsune (normally), ½ French, ½ Japanese (human morph)

Hair: Blonde (includes fur without human morph)

Eyes: Blue

 

Background: 

Étienne Miura is probably the most infamous ecoterrorist on the planet. He’s also been Valine’s strong right hand for over three decades. So it’s safe to say that Primrose is one of the most wanted men in the world. The problem is, he’s not exactly a man. He is a kitsune reincarnated into a mortal human body. Kitsune are basically considered demons in the modern Christian accounting, but the modern Christian accounting is notoriously narrow-minded. The truth is a bit more complicated. Kitsune do not hail from Hell, thus they are not demons. They’re a mystical species native to Earth and surprisingly to the uninformed are fully sentient. They live among humans, mainly in Japan but a small number have emigrated in the modern era. Most are relatively harmless tricksters and pranksters. Some are good and noble, especially those who work for the Shinto rice goddess Inari. Some, however, delight in wickedness and evil. In stealing and killing with impunity. Even so, they are known to keep their promises, repay any debts, and remember friendships. They are really little different than humans. And indeed, eventually wicked and evil kitsune are held accountable for their actions.

One of the worst kitsune to ever draw breath upon the face the world was wounded beyond its ability to recover. It had finally gone too far, and mighty warriors and magicians of justice (those dammed Devil Hunters) sought to end the creature at last. With one last spell, it pushed its soul into that a pregnant woman in France, reincarnating itself. When the spell was cast, only Etienne himself knows. And he says nothing on the matter. Which pregnant woman it was, however, is considerably easier to discover. She was the Queen of France, after all. Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. Twin boys. The future Louis XIV was born first, the future Etienne born second. Such is fate. The two boys got along famously until they were 6, when the slightly younger prince was sent away to the Island of Jersey. He grew up there under the name James de la Cloche. He would supposedly later conspire with Roux de Marcilly against Louis XIV, and be arrested in Calais in 1669. Of course, this is nonsense. James and Louis had known of each other’s existence from the start, and maintained a cordial relationship for decades via letters and occasional secret meetings. James would have never betrayed his brother, not because he loved him so, but because deposing the Sun King would have absolutely exposed him to the Devil Hunters looking for him. Relentless bastards. He was “arrested” because he had just about run out of ways to duck said Devil Hunters. Becoming a Jesuit in Rome. Seeking the protection of King Charles II of England as his son. It almost worked, too, except they traced him there, too. It was clear English royal power could not protect him, so he went along with Charles’ idea to conspired against Louis. However, it was James himself who betrayed Marcilly and his conspiracy as a favor to get Louis to help him. And help him Louis did, by making him The Man In The Iron Mask. It was not, however, literally an iron mask. It was black velvet, the easier to remove it to eat. The identical twin brother of the Sun King should not be seen in a raggedy prison. Louis did look after his brother, for when foreigners came asking after the nameless prisoner in the mask (never to Louis in person, but still), he had James moved to a different prison. Unfortunately, neither he nor James could have predicted the greed of Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars. The money that was for James to live in comfort the man stole. And finally, he betrayed James to the Devil Hunters for an even greater sum of money. They murdered him in his sparse cell on November 19, 1703. One would think this would have been the end of the kitsune and thus no Etienne Miura later. But alas, no. He had screwed up that one last spell.

He reincarnated into France again a few decades later, into a cadet branch of the House of Polignac. And, again, the Devil Hunters eventually tracked him down and murdered him. He really was quite a bastard as a kitsune, and he was far from a saint as a man. The world would have truly been better off with him gone. But this did not prove his finish, either. He reincarnated again, this time into the rightful Prince of France. Louis Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Yeah. Great timing. Just fantastic. French Revolution. No more monarchy. Royals imprisoned. Lots of people being guillotined. The prison guards took Louis Charles from his mother and sister on July 3, 1793. He is recorded as having died just short of two years later on June 8, 1795. This was, obviously, not the real Louis Charles. Who it was, Etienne does not know. Perhaps one of his cousins? It matters little, because holy damn did he not sign up for this. He escaped via kitsune magic, fleeing to Couëron, near Nantes. Where one Lieutenant Jean Audubon and his wife, Anne Moynet were staying with their daughter Muguet. He had had two lifetimes to learn how to deceive humans, and the Lieutenant and his wife were convinced to adopt the “poor orphan boy” along with formally making Muguet the daughter of Anne Moynet. They became Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and his sister Rose. And in 1803, to escape being drafted into the Napoleonic Wars, the two Jeans forged a passport to get the younger to the United States. And he changed his name one last time, to John James Audubon.

In the chaos of the French Revolution and its aftermath, the Devil Hunters did find Louis Charles. But he was thought dead, so they waited for him to reincarnate once more, not knowing he had escape and lived. It was the only lifetime where he has been that free, and he took full advantage of it. Even so, he was still cautious about it. Indeed, he spent a lot of time out in the field studying nature and birds. He made himself one of the most respected naturalists and ornithologists of his or any other era. And when he wasn’t busy living the life of John James Audubon, the nine tailed fox quietly did as he pleased. The American Civil War did a lot of damage to heroic records of the era. A lot of relentless arguing about the right thing to do, not nearly enough notes on the villains of the period. But even so, that “dammed fox thief” appears now and again in surviving journals, and a similar fox was suspected in shadier business. But because of that rapidly growing and soon to be seismic split between North and South, they never did manage to figure out he was it was the same fox every time, let alone figure out who it was. And so the Devil Hunters were left ignorant. It was a mistake they would not make twice, except for a certain change in leadership that resulted in a change in priorities. Arguably, Audubon did his job a little too well. Alzheimer’s was an ironic fate for a reincarnated wicked fox who had discovered a second passion in his fourth lifetime. 62 years was not nearly enough time. Alas the treachery of the flesh. And so, John James Audubon died on January 27, 1851. He did not remember his own name. Any of them.

But even this was not the end of him. In the approximately a century and three quarters since, he has reincarnated twice more, with his current lifetime being the second. And in both of them, he has been Valine’s steady right hand, after the Paladin handed the Devil Hunters coming for his head their asses on a plate. It has taken until this lifetime to figure out how to deage himself with plant life and magic. Because HELL FUCKING NO is he not going through the horror of mental decline again. Ruins of his mind indeed. His last two lifetimes, however, ended with him screwing it up and dying horribly. Not that that’s as much of a downside as it used to be. He is still, somehow, French nobility. Polignac, again. At least his father was Japanese this time. You have no idea how tired he is of being French. Kitsune are Japanese, dammit. Why an eco-terrorist? He was John James fucking Audubon for heaven’s sake. And he wasn’t lying about how he felt about the natural world in those days. He still isn’t. And have you seen what greedy humans have done to the planet? It’s sickening. Also you know wicked supernaturally powered fox, so ha like hell he’s going to be like Greenpeace or whatever.

 

Powers & Tactics: Primrose has the soul of a kitsune, not a human being. And over time, he’s altered his physiology via magic so that being a kitsune is his default state. A furry fox man, with nine exceedingly fluffy tails and some superhuman physical abilities. He’s got access to foxfire, which is well, fire. He combines this with his high level of skill in Savate. And between his knowledge of magic and his skills as a self taught naturalist he has some interesting tricks in his Seed Pouch device. In fact, all of his powers are magical in nature

His Ninetailed Fox Physiology renders him immune to fire and heat, enhanced his physical resilience, has of course his nine fluffy tails, and the superior senses of a kitsune. Normal foxes need less light to see, can hear ultrasonic sounds, have a superior sense of smell, and can track with it. Kitsune add the ability to ignore all visual illusions. But the big ticket item here is his ability to casually shift between human and kitsune form. Kitsune may be his default, but he’s just as capable of being 100% human looking. Addtionally, the two forms don’t look a lot like each other so it’s easier to infiltrate places where a fox man wouldn’t be allowed to casually pass by.

His Foxfire Control and Savate skills are an interesting combination. He does not attack with his hands at all. He lights his feet and lower legs on fire and kicks people. At least that’s how Foxfire Blitz (multiple kicks), Foxfire Spin (an area full of kicks), and Foxfire Soul Kick (self explanatory, really) work. Air Running is using foxfire to run on air at about 25 mph, and Foxfire Jets amps that speed up to around Mach 13. Foxfire Blast is your typical ranged blast of fire, amplified by the strength of his kick. His Savate skills aid in dodging sure hits with Martial Dodge.

His Seed Pouch contains a variety of different supernatural plant seeds, most of which explode. Tanglevine Bomb explodes into, well, tanglevine plants that wrap around anyone in the target area. Pollen Bomb explodes into a cloud of pollen that does best to put everyone in the target area to sleep, while hanging around for a few seconds after the initial detonation. Phytotoxin explodes into a deluge of a paralyzing poison. It too, targets everyone in an area. The seeds that don’t explode are the Plant Monster Seeds. That’s right, Primrose has a set of 5 minions he can summon at any time, and the only limitation on what they are is that they’re literally plant monsters.

 

Tactically, Primrose is quite variable depending on the situation. He is a goonsweeper par excellence, with multiple methods of neutralizing minor enemies. But he’s also an incredible thief and infiltrator. So his tactics depend a lot on the mission, its goals, and who the opposition it. He does have a preference for stealth, guile, and finesse. Valine, and to a lesser extent Aeon and Photophobia are the ones who aren’t particularly subtle. So having him pop up when the team is reeling a bit can be a tide turner by itself. He can use Acrobatic Bluff, Feint, and Taunt all at the Improved level. He has Power Attack to boost damage and Defensive Attack to boost defense. Against weak opposition, Improved Trick and Redirect are just funny to use before he Takedown Attack 2’s his way through them. I mean, he uses area attacks against groups and single target attacks on single targets. He flies and uses ranged attacks on non flying melee foes and closes with ranged only foes. That’s it, he’s just too variable otherwise. He only has one regular power stunt, but it’s a doozy. Off of his Foxfire Control array. Foxfire Illusions. Illusion 4 (Visual Senses; Sustained Duration, Progression Area 4 [100 ft]). He does not power stunt additional Seed Bombs. The Plant Monsters are all PL 8 but otherwise purposefully broad. He can summon basically any kind of plant to his aid, but most common would be a Giant Animated Tree. STR 30 (+10), Melee ATK +6, Toughness +10, Defense +6, Growth 8 (Permanent, Innate). Obviously, as a plant it would be immune to just about anything the heroes would have on hand that targets exotic saves. It is recommended that you, Mr GM, work out what other kind of Plant Monsters he can summon before he sees play in combat. Have fun!

 

Personality: 

Ironically, despite his extremely Japanese origins, Primrose is very, very French. Just rude as hell. Loves wine, beautiful women, and the finer things in life. Incredibly vain. And an arrogant son of a bitch who covers all of this above with smiles, a pretty face, and prettier words. The similarities end there. He’s otherwise a ruthless, amoral, and utterly selfish bastard with active disdain for property rights and human life. Multiple lifetimes have not changed the fact that he is at his core a wicked and evil trickster fox.

And yet.

His loyalty to Valine is made of adamantine. Utterly unbreakable. Part of him clearly doesn’t want to disappoint the man. And he has significant camaraderie with Aeon and Photophobia, joking and teasing just like a person who’s known them for years would. Despite his disdain for human life, he does not kill casually, nor because he merely wants to. He can and does kill people, but it’s always in pursuit of his goals or in self defense, not because he simply can. Perhaps it is a low bar, but it is still a bar some villains fail to clear. Nor is he cruel or vicious, except when the other party has gone so far over the line even few heroes wouldn’t agree they have some payback coming. He is a villain, to be sure, but there are worse ones in the world.

[EternalPhoenix]

Aeon (Courtney Halloran)

 

Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 195/195

 

STR: +0 (10), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +0 (10)

 

Tough: +2/+8, Fort: +7, Ref: +9/+12, Will: +8

 

Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+10), Bluff 5 (+5), Computers 15 (+20), Craft (electronic) 10 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 10 (+15), Diplomacy 10 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 10 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 10 (+15), Language 4 (+4), Notice 8 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 8 (+10)

 

Feats: Accurate Attack, Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Improved Initiative 3, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Move-by Action, Online Research, Power Attack, Skill Mastery 2 (Acrobatics, Computers, Craft (elec & mech), KN (phys sci & tech), Notice, Sense Mot, Ultimate Effort (Computers checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed

 

Powers:

Chronal Gauntlets (Device 9) (Hard to lose)

   Time Control (Array 20) (default power: - linked powers -)

      Chronal Beams (Blast 10) (Array; DC 25; Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Secondary Effect)

      Chronal Charged Fists (Strike 10) (Array; DC 25; Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Penetrating, Secondary Effect)

      Personal Chronal Acceleration (Linked)

         Concealment 10 (Linked; all senses; Close Range, Precise)

         Quickness 9 (Linked; Perform routine tasks at 1000x speed; Stacks with (Accelerated Action (Quickness 6+9)))

         Speed 9 (Linked; Speed: 5000 mph, 44000 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Accelerated Movement (Speed 6+9)))

      Time Stop (Paralyze 10) (Array; DC 20; Alternate Save (Reflex), Burst Area (50 ft. radius - General), Duration (concentration))

   Variable Output (Enhanced Trait 2) (Feats: Accurate Attack, Power Attack)

Hacking Helmet (Device 3) (Hard to lose)

   Hack Everything (Datalink 5) (sense type: mental; Omni-Directional Area; Machine Control, Rapid 3)

   Time Sense (Super-Senses 1) (time sense)

Time Suit (Device (Hard to lose)

   Accelerated Action (Quickness 6+9) ([Stacking ranks: +9], Perform routine tasks at 100000x speed)

   Accelerated Movement (Speed 6+9) ([Stacking ranks: +9], Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd)

   Accelerated Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 13) (Traits: Defense Bonus +3 (+12), Reflex +3 (+12), Feats: Evasion, Improved Initiative 3)

   Acceleration (Super-Movement 3) (wall-crawling 2 (full speed), water walking; Limited (to while moving))

   Suit Armoring (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness; Impervious)

 

Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +10, Grapple: +10)

 

Attacks: Chronal Beams (Blast 10), +10 (DC 25), Chronal Charged Fists (Strike 10), +10 (DC 25), Time Stop (Paralyze 10) (DC Ref/Staged 20), Unarmed Attack, +10 (DC 15)

 

Defense: +9/+12  (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -7

 

Initiative: +14

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Latin, Native Language, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 22 + Skills 27 (106 ranks) + Feats 10 + Powers 80 + Combat 38 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 195

 

http://schneekatze09.deviantart.com/art/Time-Hack-Commission-271403864

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 50 (chronological) mid 20s (biological)

Height: 5’ 9”

Weight: 135 lbs

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Hair: Dirty Blonde (Snow White as Aeon)

Eyes:  Brown

 

Background: Courtney Halloran is a legacy supervillain in the most direct way possible. Her parents committed flashy themed robberies throughout the 60s and 70s. Professor Plunder (Jim Halloran) and girlfriend/fiancée/wife Miss Chievous (Lisa Simmons; she kept her last name) were your usual Gimmick Gadget Villains. They didn’t kill anyone, they made significant and noticeable effort to ensure nobody was seriously injured (though it did happen occasionally by accident), and they never stole more than 10 thousand dollars or so. Against the rather bombastic and dramatic villains in the 60s and 70s, they faded into the background. This was intentional, as it ensured they were never properly caught and that they were pursued much less fiercely than the legends of the era. And while they never stole very much at one time, after several hundred robberies it was quite a princely sum indeed. Because Jim Halloran and Lisa Simmons had day jobs the entire time, they were able to save it all and pass it down to their beloved daughter Courtney. They both quietly retired to finish raising her after one last Christmas themed robbery in 1979.

Courtney, for her part, was more than happy to uphold the family tradition. The problem was that the authorities (namely, the FBI) noticed the brief return of Professor Plunder and Miss Chievous on what was obviously their child’s (going by the temporary codename of Wonder Scout) first robbery. The late 80s were, unfortunately, not the 60s or 70s. Technology had advanced, as had the FBI’s tracking methodologies. And by this time, a quarter century past the initial superhero and villain explosion of the early 60s, most of said explosion had either retired, died, or was serving a lengthy prison sentence. There was not nearly the same amount of cover as there had been. Law enforcement was much quicker to respond, and with significantly more force. The robbery itself went off without a hitch. Just like old times. The getaway, however, was much hairier. The police shot at them! That had never happened before. But the escape plan worked like a charm, and the trio returned home safely. That was the summer Courtney decided on her theme and built the first versions of her Time Suit and Chronal Gauntlets. Aeon was a good codename, she decided. That was also the summer the FBI spent spying on the Halloran family and digging up all the old evidence on Professor Plunder and Miss Chievous. They meticulously planned their raid, and then Courtney surprised them by deciding to leave a few days early for college. Before anyone could be scrambled, she said goodbye to Jim and Lisa, beloved dad and mom, and drove away in her dinky teenager car. She promptly disappeared, and the account full of the robbery money the FBI was planning to freeze n’ seize suddenly drained. They found her dinky teenager car five miles outside of town, empty of anything to indicate it had ever belonged to anyone. Courtney Halloran was gone.

Neither Professor Plunder nor Miss Chievous was stupid enough to think they’d gotten away 100% clean. They’d had friends who had been retired for years, then one day their front door was kicked in and they were dragged out in cuffs to face crimes they’d done years ago. Their retirement had been one long con game, never giving out too much detail to anyone who might be surveilling them. They shredded their mail and spoke in code at home. They kept an eye on the neighborhood too, and when the same few vehicles (including a generic white van) kept showing up despite not belonging to anyone in the neighborhood they grew actively suspicious. Courtney was, naturally, familiar with the coded way they spoke at home, and so plans were made. Jim and Lisa weren’t overly concerned about themselves, of course. It was vitally important that Courtney get away completely clean. Any photographs of her since elementary school were burned in the fireplace. She packed up everything she owned that wasn’t too big. At last the time came, and after tearful goodbyes she left a few days early for “college”. The FBI, not wanting to lose Jim and Lisa as well, moved in immediately. They needn’t have bothered. The couple had no real plans to go anywhere. Courtney was safe, and that was the part that mattered.

The trial was sensational. Oh, both Jim and Lisa knew the FBI had them dead to rights, but neither of them entertained the possibility of pleading guilty. The nation was gripped for a week and a half as federal prosecutors were forced to tell their story. The story of an ordinary seeming suburban couple with a deep dark secret. The story of Professor Plunder and Miss Chievous. Their romance enraptured the nation. Of course, in the end they were both sentenced to a small eternity in federal prison.  They’re up there in the criminal canon with Bonnie and Clyde. But they had a better hook: The missing Courtney.

Courtney was not missing at all, at least not to herself. She was mad at her parents briefly, and then quite sad as it was likely she’d never seen them again. Still, it was up to her to carry their legacy forward. And the time controlling thief Aeon made her debut as a supervillain. She’d walk in, stop time, rob the place, and leave. She started off being able to run at hypersonic speeds, so the superheroes who could keep up with her were a short list of nobody but the second Starman. And he had his own Rogue’s Gallery to worry about. So like her parents, Courtney Halloran was a small time supervillain. 5 to 10 thousand dollars a month is more than enough to live on and accumulate some savings. And except for one thing, this would have been her life. Eventually she would have found a guy she could fall in love with, settled down and had a kid or two. You know, start the cycle all over again. That one thing was the internet. When she debuted in ’86, the internet’s hosts numbered less than 30k. By the time she got her Five Year Vet stripes in ’91, American Online had been up and running for two years, and the World Wide Web had just been born. The world had changed with startling speed, and it only seemed to be accelerating. So Courtney did what any forward thinking techie of the era did. She got online.

This was the beginning of the Numbers, a loosely affiliated computer engineer/programmer/hacker collective. (If you’ll allow me to get a little meta, they’re the Phoenixverse’s version of Anonymous). Having a bona fide supervillain helping to organize the group gave them a bit more attractive to potential members. Meanwhile, Courtney created the first version of her Hacking Helmet. But there was, however, a downside to the rise of the internet. Before the world was connected by it, it was pretty dang easy to hide out in a medium sized town if you were a wanted fugitive but they weren’t 100% sure what you looked like. You could even use your real name (if it wasn’t too unique) and probably get a bank account. You couldn’t get a job that didn’t pay under the table, because they’d need your Social Security Number for tax purposes and whoops you got found by the FBI. So Courtney Halloran had an apartment (from an owner who didn’t ask too many questions and accepted money orders) and a checking account (gas and electric preferred checks, alas). She paid cash for everything else and lived quietly, except for the one or two times a month she became Aeon and robbed somewhere hundreds of miles away. If she had lived in her parents’ time the FBI would have never found her. Unfortunately, she lived in the 90s. Banks had gotten online, and so had federal law enforcement. And a Courtney Halloran without any known employment who somehow had just enough money to write one check to the local energy company every month might as well have been wearing a flashing neon sign. One who paid her rent and phone bill by money order and disappeared for a few nonconsecutive days each month at the same time as the supervillain Aeon was committing her time stopped robberies might as well have been wearing a flashing neon sign visible from space. They thought she was a gimmick villain with a couple of ways of stopping time in a localized area and nothing more. They were incorrect.

What the FBI team sent to arrest her encountered was essentially a speedster in pistol proof armor who slapped them around like children. Because Courtney wasn’t stupid, either. She knew every cop in the local precinct on sight, and all of their vehicles both marked and unmarked. She also knew every vehicle that belonged in or regularly visited her neighborhood. The benefits of an eidetic memory. So when clean shaven law enforcement types started appearing in her run down neighborhood in unmarked cars of the type often favored by the FBI, she noticed immediately. She could have ran. It wouldn’t have been difficult. She’d done it before. But yanno…sometimes you had to teach the pigs a lesson. It was a point of professional pride as a supervillain, and also fuck them for locking away her parents. Dudes…uncool. So she waited for them to come get her, donned her gear, and beat the shit out of them. With their vehicles destroyed and all of them beaten unconscious, then she packed up her stuff and ran. She crashed on the couch of a fellow member of the Numbers. Marcus Pierce, the future Digital Shadow and Captain of STG Squad C. He was a first year college student at the time, but the two ended up getting along like a house on fire.

It was only anoher year or so before Valine went recruiting for the STG. He needed someone who understood the internet and technology, as that member had recently been killed. Methion helpfully provided a list of candidates when asked, and Valine chose the supervillain Aeon. Courtney had no objections to a steady paying job. Robbery wasn’t proving to be the most fruitful career path, what with all the superheroes trying to bust her and make their names. And the ceaseless hunting of the FBi and their…what was it called again? Psi-Division. Bleh. Flash forward over 20 years, and Courtney Halloran, alias the supervillain Aeon is one of the most capable and experienced supervillains on the planet. Her parents are very old now. They’re still incarcerated, but she’s been able to visit occasionally thanks to Mehion running interference. They’re quite proud of their little Courtney. And of their three grandchildren. The fraternal twins Jason and James (age 19), and their little sister Maggie (age 16). They’re not supervillains, at least not yet. Conceived through in vitro fertilization (because like hell the STG life leaves time to date), they’re living the wealthy American ex-pat life. Courtney has earned more than enough money working for the STG that they’ll never have to work a day in their lives. So if they do become supervillains it’ll be because they want to. And Mom will be happy to help them into the life. It’s been a hell of a ride. She’s done some things she’s not proud of and a lot more that she is. But the cool thing about being a master of chronal technology? You can reset your own clock whenever you start slowing down. Aeon isn’t going to retire any time soon. If she ever does.

 

Powers & Tactics: Aeon has no superhuman powers. She’s just a tech genius and legendary computer programmer with a trio of devices that make her effective in combat and out of it. Her gimmick as a gadgeteer is time control. She uses it to be faster, mostly.

Her Time Suit was the first thing she built, though obviously this isn’t the first one. This is actually the fourth iteration, with each of the prior ones cannibalized to provide for the next one. It basically does two things, but they’re the foundation of everything else she does. The first one is arguably the most important. The armor plating is largely bulletproof and has absolutely saved her life a few dozen times. The second one is where the crazy science comes in.  Temporal acceleration. Her physical body isn’t moving any faster. It’s the tech accelerating her progress through the time stream. Done without proper safeguards, this would age her rather rapidly. Fortunately, she has them installed. Unfortunately, this is why she’d had to replace the Suit a few times, as the materials in it aren’t protected from said rapid aging like she is. By itself, the temporal acceleration makes her able to move faster than stock cars, improved her ability to dodge, and allow her to ignore gravity and run across water and up walls.

It is her Chronal Gauntlets that provide some offense. However, their basic function is to make her even faster. Like 650 times the speed of sound faster. That’s enough speed to circle the entire planet in about three minutes. At this level of temporal acceleration, she shifts slightly out of phase with the timestream, resulting in total concealment from all normal senses. She can still be touched, however. The second ability it has is the one she’s probably most known for. Stopping time in an area for everyone but herself. This can be dodged if someone is quick enough, but generally mundane citizens are not. This is why she was and is such an effective thief. Stop time, take whatever you want, and leave. The remaining two regular abilities are variations on a theme. Hurting people and breaking things. One’s melee and the other’s ranged, but they both hit repeatedly because she’s fast as hell and do additional damage with a temporal echo a few second later.

Her Hacking Helmet is much simpler. It keeps her apprised of what time is, as that she can lose track while temporally accelerated. And it can hook up to basically any electronic or mechanical device or piece of equipment within 5 miles so she can hack it. She is a very, very good hacker.

 

Tactically, well, it depends on the environment. In the middle of a city, her Hacking Helmet has a lot to work with. In the middle of the wilderness, not so much. She has absolutely no reason to ever fight a hero while solo. It’s a dumb idea that will likely get her ass kicked. So she’s gone at Speed rank 15. The world’s caught up some. There are now heroes who can match her former rank of 12. But 15 is a different beast. It wouldn’t take all of your fingers to count the characters capable of matching her speed, let alone exceeding it. So, you know. When you can be over 800 miles away in 3 seconds, or over 3000 miles away if you sprint, you tend not to worry about anyone whose base movement speed is below hypersonic. And that’s assuming that said hero isn’t like, a Brick or something that she can just put Time Stop on and casually leave. It’s team combat where she throws hands. Chronal Charged Punches and Chronal Beams means she’s hitting her targets with concentrated time energies. Ouchies. She doesn’t Feint or Demoralize in any way, she just attacks regularly, shifting accuracy and damage up and down as needed with Accurate and Power Attack. She does, however, have a small legion of power stunts, and that’s where her use of Inventor comes in. Because her most common use of Inventor is giving her array more Alternate Powers so she doesn’t have to power stunt to get them. Said power stunts are where she pulls out all sorts of speedster and time controlling tricks. Chronal Charged Punches that cover an Area instead of being Penetrating. Time Stop that’s a ranged attack instead of an area attack. Move Object is on the table. Insubstantial 4. Summon 13 (Horde, Progression # of Summons 1 [2 summons]). Her kit is wide and varied. And let us not forget where we started in this section. Hack Everything. Hack cars. Hack lights. Hack radios. For Aeon, the environment is as much a weapon as her actual devices. She does try to avoid doing lethal damage with her attacks, but collateral damage just doesn’t concern her.

 

Personality: Courtney Halloran is a mature, responsible adult. She pretty much acts how you’d expect a wealthy single mother of three and 50 year old white lady to act. She’s kind of nice, helps out here and there, but mostly lives quietly. She’s pretty funny, but yeah she’s basically normal. Aeon, on the other hand, is a supervillain born in the late 80s who matured in the 90s. That’s Iron Age territory. She has seen some shit. What she hasn’t seen, however, is any reason to change her schtick. So, when dealing with heroes, she’s still a smart mouthed brat with an attitude problem. But like, cheerful and perky, with an edge of arrogance. You know, like she’s a third of her age. Drives ‘em crazy even a quarter century later.

Of course, neither of these are who she is, not really. Aspects, certainly, but not everything. Pure surface level. The truth is that she’s a professional supervillain from a family of professional supervillains who has never in her life wanted to be anything else. Supervillainy is fun. It’s a thrilling and engaging career choice full of a lot of challenges, but if you can rise to the occasion, man…you can live free. Make your own rules and live on your own terms. Of course, she’s smart enough to know that’s just putting a pretty coat of paint on all the violence and mayhem. Being a villain means you hurt people. Financially, physically, emotionally, whatever. Villains hurt people. It’s what they do. So…she knows she’s not the hero of the story. That’s the point. She’s the villain. She gets to be selfish and do what she wants like all the time. It’s pretty damn awesome. The only times she’s not selfish are when she’s dealing with her kids. They deserve the best from her. She’s been gone so much over the years, yanno? Money’s no substitute for being around. Fortunately, it only takes a minute or three for her to come over and visit. If she could be defined by one line it would be this. “The real treasure is the friends we made along with way, and also all this shit we stole.”

[EternalPhoenix]

Photophobia (Junie Cho)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180

 

STR: +1 (12), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +0 (-), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +5 (20)

 

Tough: +0/+6, Fort: Immune, Ref: +12, Will: +9

 

Skills: Acrobatics 3 (+5), Bluff 10 (+15), Diplomacy 10 (+15), Gather Information 5 (+10), Intimidate 5 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 4 (+5), Knowledge (popular culture) 14 (+15), Language 5 (+5), Notice 8 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+10)

 

Feats: Challenge - Improved Taunt, Dodge Focus 3, Evasion, Set-Up, Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Pop Culture), Notice), Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Visual)

 

Powers:

Asmodeus Vampire Physiology (Container, Passive 12)

   Blood Drain (Drain 2) (drains: single trait - con, DC 12; Requires Grapple)

   Impervious Toughness 6 (Limited (Not Against Divine, Magic, or Darkness/Shadow))

   Sanguine Photonic Recovery (Regeneration 30) (recovery bonus 14 (+14 to recover), recovery rate (disabled) 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (injured) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), resurrection 2 (1 day); Source (Light); Persistent, Regrowth)

   Sanguine Resilience (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness)

   Sanguine Senses (Super-Senses 3) (acute: Scent, darkvision)

   Unliving Being (Immunity 30) (fortitude saves)

Photon Consumption (Obscure 4) (affects: visual senses, Radius: 50 ft.; Range (touch))

Photovorous Light Control (Array 14) (default power: blast)

   Holograms (Illusion 9) (Array; affects: visual senses, DC 19; Duration (sustained); Progression, Area (10 ft. radius))

   Hypnotic Strobe (Mind Control 9) (Array; DC 19; Duration (sustained); Subtle (subtle))

   Laser Beam (Blast 9) (Default; DC 24; Range (perception); Precise)

   Light Stealing (Dazzle 9) (Array; affects: 1 sense type - visual, DC 19; Alternate Save (Will), Range (perception); Indirect (in front of you, directed away))

   Photonic Explosion (Blast 9) (Array; DC 24; Burst Area (45-90 ft. radius - General); Progression, Increase Area (area x2))

 

Attack Bonus: +5 (Ranged: +5, Melee: +5, Grapple: +6)

 

Attacks: Blood Drain (Drain 2), +5 (DC Fort/Staged 12), Hypnotic Strobe (Mind Control 9) (DC Will 19), Laser Beam (Blast 9) (DC 24), Light Stealing (Dazzle 9) (DC Will 19), Photonic Explosion (Blast 9) (DC 24), Unarmed Attack, +5 (DC 16)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -6

 

Initiative: +2

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, Korean, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 12 + Skills 18 (72 ranks) + Feats 9 + Powers 96 + Combat 28 + Saves 17 + Drawbacks 0 = 180

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 45 (chronological) early 20s (appearance)

Height: 5’ 5”

Weight: 150 lbs

Ethnicity: Korean-American

Hair: Black

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: Junie Cho died in 1994. She was an ordinary girl from LA, who met the wrong guy at a bar and got murdered. This was not the end of her, as one might expect from those two sentences. The guy was a vampire of the Asmodeus bloodline (there are three in the Phoenixverse; the other two being Asteroth [virtually exterminated by their namesake in 1917 but were possessed of incredible superhuman strength and speed] and Amon [by far the most common type, mostly possessed of maximum human level strength, speed, and durability]) Asmodeus types get superpowers (typically involving consuming something other than blood to slake their thirst) in addition to being yanno, vampires. Her maker thought he’d have a good hold on her due to the ravenousness of newborn vampires. One small problem with that. Junie drew photovoric powers from the superpower lottery. The candles in that poor bastard’s lair were her first taste, and actual daylight completely obliterated her desire for blood. She incinerated her shocked maker (as vampires normally burn rapidly in directly sunlight) with a barrage of laser beams, and went back to her friggin’ life.

Of course, it was not that simple. For what is a vampire, really, but a human being given great power in exchange for the removal of the conscience and ability to feel guilt or remorse? It was fine at first. She tried to be a superhero, and it even kind of worked for a little while. But then she had money troubles, and well…stealing was so easy for someone would could make the lights go out and laser off any locks. Not like money or jewels, god no. The actual stuff she needed. She wasn’t stupid. But again, no guilt or remorse. No conscience. It took about a year for events to slowly spiral out of control. Her friends (who initially thought the whole unaging superpowered vampire thing was cool) began drifting away into more settled lives. Also, as the cops had begun to hunt her, jail didn’t appeal. And when they finally figured out who she was, her landlord evicted her. So. Friendless, homeless, and a wanted fugitive. When the cops moved in for the takedown, they thought they were dealing with a reasonably clever human thief. So they only brought a pair of detectives and a pair of uniformed officers. Unfortunately, they were dealing with a vampire. And one that was getting quite hungry due to not being able to show her face in daylight.

Valine, Primrose, Aeon (the newbie in those days), and two others (since deceased) had been hunting her maker and his spawn since ’92. They had other responsibilities, being the only members of the Special Tactics Group at the time. And clues could be sparse. But by ’95 they had ID’d his remains and eradicated his spawn from North America. Except, apparently, for one. They found her with the bloodless corpses of four police officers (two of them detectives), looking very, very frightened. If she had snarled defiance or really, done anything other than what she did, they’d have destroyed her on the spot. What she said was that something was very wrong with her. That she’d just killed four men and felt nothing at all. Could they help, maybe? Valine made an executive decision. He would see if she could be useful to the mission. It took a few years for Junie to train and gain better control over her instincts and thirst. However, she has served on the main STG team for two decades now. She took the codename Photophobia, fear of the light. It’s something that as a vampire, she should have but doesn’t. And her foes will likely quickly acquire such a fear.

 

Powers & Tactics: Junie is a vampire of the Asmodeus bloodline. She is not a living being. The three vampire bloodlines (Asteroth, Asmodeus, and Amon) are quite distinct from each other.  Asteroths start out not much different than a normal human, but their strength, speed, and resilience increases bit by bit over time. And over time, their need for blood declines bit by bit. Asteroth himself is said to have little to no need at all, even after recovering from grievous injuries. Amons have receive their full strength, speed, and durability from the moment they rise, along with an increase in martial skill. It’s not a big buff by any means, but it does take ordinary citizens to professional soldiers. So when applies to professional soldiers it’s genuinely frightening. Amons also “breed” considerably faster and easier. A human with Amon blood inside of their body at the time of death will rise as a vampire the following sunset. Except if staked or beheaded, naturally. Asmodeuses require sexual intercourse and it was never clear what Asteroths required.

 (A strong emotional connection. Whether it’s positive or negative is irrelevant. Additionally, I, Asmodeuses, and the few of my misbegotten spawn I haven’t managed to find yet require the specific intent to do so. Amons can and do sire new ones by accident. -A. Roth)

And it takes those two bloodlines three sunsets to rise. Asmodeuses receive a boost to their physical attractivess and overall charisma, and an alternate method of satisfying the blood craving. A type of substance or energy that they then have a certain level of magical control over. Thermovores, electrivores, and psychevores are the most common. There are, however, reports of vampires who can “eat” water, air, rock/soil, and in one terrifying case, time itself. Junie is in the “quite uncommon” category as well, since she can “eat” photons. Light itself. The easiest use of this ability to create an area of complete darkness. But she can also control them to create laser beams and explosions, blind people by tearing the light out of their eyes, hypnotize and control minds with flashing lights, and even create convincing visual holograms.

And she’s still a vampire. Immune to all mortal concerns. Near superhuman resilience and rapid physical regeneration when exposed to light. She’ll even “resurrect” if damaged too much to continue functioning (actually destroying her permanently requires either a wooden stake through her heart or a beheading). She’s got the nose of a bloodhound if not the tracking skill, and naturally darkness is no impediment to her vision.

 

Tactically it depends pretty hard on whether or not she’s with her team or not. Alone she’s consistently focusing on damage with Laser Beam for single targets and Photonic Explosion for groups. However, with her team she has reasons to Feint and use Improved Taunt together along with Set Up. Or abuse Holograms and Light Stealing to wreak havoc among the opposition. Hypnotic Strobe also has its uses, like convincing someone it’s perfectly fine to let her suck their blood or hey maybe have a seat over there and relax instead of fighting us with your buddies. She doesn’t power stunt a lot. There’s really only the one, and that’s when the squad needs some stronk that isn’t from Primrose’s plant creatures. Photovorus Might (Enhanced STR 13, Enhanced Attack Spec [Unarmed] 3, Super Strength 6) puts her STR score at 25 (+7) and her lifting STR at 55.

 

Personality: Junie is uh, peppy. A very upbeat and cheery personality. She’s not faking it, either. Vampires (without being re-ensouled) typically aren’t particularly gloomy personalities, full of angst and introspection. S’kinda the problem with them, actually. Junie, like any vampire, is psychologically incapable of feeling guilt, remorse, or regret. Joy, despair, serenity, rage, love, and hate are still on the table, however. Vampires that get out of their initial few years tend to be pretty happy beings. As well as transparently socio and psychopathic. Junie has avoided the actual psychopathy, for now, but she is functionally a sociopath who understands and wants to adhere to the rules of human society. Or at least those that apply in the STG. She’s deceitful, arrogant, impulsive, manipulative and controlling, with a blithe disregard for her personal safety and an occasionally startling lack of empathy. She’s just cute, nice, energetic, and cheerful, so it’s not usually obvious.

One last thing. I’ve been referring to her as Junie Cho for the sake of simplicity. She is not Junie Cho. Junie Cho has been dead for 25 years, with her soul gone to whatever afterlife she believed in and earned. She was replaced with an newborn amnesiac demonic spirit that, because it had Junie’s brain and thus all of her memories and neural patterns, believed she was Junie. A quarter century later, she knows better, but has not chosen to use a different name as some vampires do. So she isn’t the original Junie Cho. Technically, she’s a different being using Junie’s corpse and her name. This is generally a moot point in most circumstances, but occasionally has its uses. Spells or effects specifically targeting the original Junie will have no effect on Photophobia, for example. Because she’s not her.

[EternalPhoenix]

Nimbus (Riley Chong)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +2 (14)

 

Tough: +2/+6, Fort: +7, Ref: +12, Will: +8

 

Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Bluff 13 (+15), Concentration 7 (+10), Diplomacy 3 (+5), Gather Information 8 (+10), Knowledge (current events) 3 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (popular culture) 3 (+5), Language 7 (+7), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 12 (+15)

 

Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 6, Attack Specialization 2 (Unarmed Attack), Dodge Focus 3, Evasion, Fearless, Improved Aim, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot 2, Second Chance (Concentration checks to maintain powers), Skill Mastery (Bluff, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth), Taunt, Ultimate Effort (Aim), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Flying Magic Cloud (Flight 1+9) ([Stacking ranks: +9], Speed: 10000 mph, 88000 ft./rnd; Affects Others, Shapeable Area (1 cubes of 125 cu. ft. (5x5x5) - General); Platform; Selective, Subtle (subtle))

Magic Cloud Tricks (Array 14) (default power: flight; Custom (Array 13.5))

   Flight 9 (Default; Speed: 5000 mph, 44000 ft./rnd; Affects Others, Shapeable Area (9 cubes of 125 cu. ft. (5x5x5) - General), Stacks with (Flying Magic Cloud (Flight 1+9)); Platform)

   Obscure 9 (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 2500 ft.; Selective Attack)

   Snare 12 (Array; DC 22; Transparent; Range (touch); Indirect 3 (any point, any direction))

   Suffocate 12 (Array; DC 22; Indirect 3 (any point, any direction))

Nimbus Costume (Device 2) (Hard to lose)

   Body Armor (Protection 4) (+4 Toughness; Subtle (subtle))

   Oxygen Mask (Immunity 2) (suffocation (all))

   Parachute (Super-Movement 1) (slow fall)

   Thermal Lining (Immunity 1) (environmental condition: Cold)

Silenced Sniper Rifle (Device 5) (Easy to lose)

   Scope (Super-Senses 4) (extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, low-light vision)

   Silenced Shot (Blast 6) (DC 21; Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet), Subtle (subtle))

 

Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +6, Grapple: +8)

 

Attacks: Silenced Shot (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Snare 12, +6 (DC Ref/Staged 22), Suffocate 12, +6 (DC Fort 22), Unarmed Attack, +10 (DC 17)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -3

 

Initiative: +3

 

Languages: American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Chinese Sign Language (Northern), English Native, Mexican Sign Language, Russian, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 20 (80 ranks) + Feats 25 + Powers 58 + Combat 30 + Saves 19 + Drawbacks 0 = 180

 

Age (as of Jan 2019):

Height: 5’ 10”

Weight: 130 lbs

Ethnicity: ½ Mexican American, ½ Chinese American

Hair: Dark Brown

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: Riley Chong always wanted to be a superhero. Unfortunately, she had no powers, no skills, and no training. And she wasn’t dumb enough to think she could just figure it out along the way. Seriously, the ones who went out with a club, bicycle armor, and blind faith ended up the in cemetery. So she was just kind of…outta luck. Some self defense classes were a start, but she didn’t have a particularly good aptitude for the martial arts. Progress was slow and painstaking. So it seemed like fighting crime directly wasn’t going to ever happen. She even applied to attend the LAPD Ahmanson Recruit Training Center. She attended, but ultimately washed out. The LAPD had no interest in someone who was recklessly overeager in dangerous situations and so socially awkward that they were useless in social interactions. She simply didn’t have what it took.

And then, the dejected young woman turned 18. Directly from her mother’s homeland of China came the magic cloud. Her mother warned her to send it away forever, that it was more trouble that it was worth. But Riley did not listen. In fact, she turned her hearing aids off so she wouldn’t have to. She had a power now. She could be a superhero after all. The first thing to do was a little basic practice to understand how the cloud worked. The very first thing was that it would carry her, but not anyone else if she didn’t want it to. Her cat was quite surprised. Okay, so she could fly fast. Couldn’t see with all that wind in her eyes, so goggles. Up high was cold, surprisingly. LA was in the desert. Normally hot af. Weird. So a good coat, hat, gloves, and scarf. Some long underwear. Thin air, hard to breathe, almost passed out. So, some scuba tanks, good idea. And so Riley whipped around through various airspaces. Flying clouds don’t come with instruction manuals. Or uh, navigation systems. And when you can break the speed of sound, you can get to some places you really, really shouldn’t be. Folks, let it be known. Asking for directions at Area 51 or Edwards Air Force Base is a bad, bad idea. As is taking your flying cloud through controlled airspaces like airports. The federal government and the State of California got very, very annoyed with the young woman and her flying cloud. Though in her defense, it’s not like there are signs hanging in the sky and she knew absolutely nothing about the various flight rules and regulations a pilot would need to. Hell, she wasn’t aware that being a pilot was all that much more complicated than being a driver. Commercial aircraft had radios but so did taxis, right? Seemed similar to Riley. Most random 19 year olds wouldn’t think much differently.

Anyway, when the feds and staties put their minds toward finding someone who really isn’t trying to hide, they can find them. Riley came home from a flight one day to find FBI and FAA agents waiting. Uh oh. It turns out there’s rules to this, Riley m’dear. And you broke most of them. So that’s a big pile of fines for a poor Sino-Mexican girl, and potential jail time on the table besides. She did what any 19 year old would do when confronted with the end of their life as they knew it. Panic and run away. Most don’t get far, even if they even get to the running part, because federal agents right freakin’ there. Most 19 year olds don’t have a flying cloud to ride on, however. They were prepared for the flying cloud. They were not prepared for the flying cloud to go hypersonic. So…now what? She couldn’t go home. Well, not to stay. She swung by again very early in the morning to pack a couple of bags and slipped away again before anyone could grab her. Lo siento tanto, Mama. Oh, Uncle Rico lived in Mexico! Perfect!

Ricardo “Rico” Castillo was her deadbeat father’s brother. He was very happy to meet his sobrina again, as it had been several years and both she had grown up and filled out into a beautiful young woman. Uncle Rico was a coyote, or people smuggler. Specifically, from Mexico into the United States. The increasing border security of the past decade or so had been making his job much harder than it used to be. Riley told him about her troubles, and he told her about his. She needed a place to stay, and he had one. He needed help with his work, and she could easily do so. Plus they were family. It was unimaginable that either wouldn’t agree to help the other. They may not have physically seen each other in years, but they’d exchanged phone calls and emails often enough to qualify as staying in contact. Rico may have been a professional criminal (as all human coyotes are), but he was otherwise a relatively decent and fair dealing man. Relatively. One pair of night vision goggles, and at night Riley could carry several people from far away from the border to completely over it, bypassing any Border Patrol or cantankerous ranchers. Where Rico’s partners waited to pick them up. An epic partnership ensued. Since they were doing a lot of work in the wilderness, Rico started teaching Riley how to shoot a rifle. She could run easily from predators, yes, but anyone with her couldn’t. And she was quite a pretty girl. Some of the predators she’d need to protect herself from were human. The coyote business didn’t attract saintly individuals.

This work was world expanding for Riley. Because obviously, she talked to some of the refugees trying to enter the US. Desperate poverty. Drug cartels. Gang violence. And the slow, grinding process to enter legally. Of course, such success in business, illegal or otherwise, doesn’t go unnoticed. People talk. Her efficiency was costing other coyotes money. This wouldn’t do. Local cartel bosses started seeing dollar signs. If she could smuggle people, she could smuggle drugs. And, of course, law enforcement on both sides of the border were quite frankly very alarmed at the sudden newcomer and inherent incoming destabilization what was already an unstable situation. It took the FBI about ten seconds to make the connection to the fugitive Riley Chong. In their eyes she’d just stepped up the criminal ladder another rung. People smuggling was a more serious crime than running from the law, which itself was a more serious crime than whatever trespassing charges they were initially going to throw at her. She clearly had criminal intent from the start, and needed to be stopped before she became a significant threat.

If they knew her at all, they’d know this was hilarious. Riley, in her mind, wasn’t doing anything particularly wrong. She was helping family. She was helping desperate people. The fact that was, uh, technically illegal might have given her pause before the cloud came, but now? It didn’t matter. But of course, the life she and Rico were living couldn’t last. Way too many factors against it. Rival coyotes plotted against Rico, thinking of either killing them both or just Rico and stealing Riley. Local cartel bosses were thinking of co-opting or killing Rico to get her services. And the FBI (with assists from the State Dept. and CIA) were counting on Mexico’s Federal Police to execute a takedown on the apparent budding supervillain. The Federal Police were aware of (but did not tell the Americans) the plans of the rival coyotes and local cartel bosses, and made plans of their own against them. So, of course, all of it came to a head on the same day. To this day no one is sure quite what the hell happened in the specific. In the broad, Rico took a meeting with some cartel men. He didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter, but still. The fragile alliance of the rival coyotes shattered when they saw him meeting with the cartels, and they started shooting. This, naturally, prompted Rico and the cartel men to shoot back while not endearing either to each other. The Federal Police panicked, moved in fast, and also started shooting. It was a total shitshow on all sides.

Riley, the catalyst for this chaotic situation, wasn’t even goddamn there. She was at Rico’s home several miles away, watching television. Which was then interrupted with the news broadcast of the spectacular shootout that had just begun at where Uncle Rico said he was meeting some people. And then further interrupted by members of the now broken rival coyote alliance (having hauled ass away from the beginning of the shootout) trying to shoot her. They didn’t know who they were messing with. Uncle Rico was the owner of a rundown boxing gym by day. He’d never won a title, but he’d been good enough to trouble champions’ agents, who wisely never booked fights against him. As good as he was, his brother (Riley’s father) could have been even better had he not been a loser and a deadbeat. So he’d taught her a thing or two. And, as it turned out, her cloud wasn’t just useful for flying. She could block vision, too, while retained some mobility. She took the goon squad out in under a minute. Then she grabbed Uncle Rico’s rifle and literally flew to his rescue.

She did not have to fly far. Rico was just a bit of a badass compared to the criminals and even some of the Federal Police. He was able to use the blazing shootout as cover to slip back to his truck and roar off. This did not go unnoticed, and some Federal Police pursued in their own vehicles. They managed to wound him, but he fought to stay conscious. His all consuming thought was to get back to his sobrina. Riley. They met in the middle. Riley’s cloud again blocked the vision of her enemies. But she couldn’t do that and get her wounded Uncle away. And she worried he’d get blown off if she just cranked up the speed right away, as his strength was all but gone. He was family. There really wasn’t any choice in the matter that she found acceptable. So she used her uncle’s rifle and the skills he had taught her to protect him. With them blinded and her not, it was like a shooting gallery. She managed not to vomit until the last one was down. But Rico was still dying as she held him afterward, and she didn’t know what to do about it. More Federal Police were coming, with a helicopter and an armored car. They must have won the shootout (They had, through superior weapons and training). She didn’t know what to do about that, either. But…if this was to be the end…then she’d make it an end to be remembered. She gripped her uncle’s rifle with determination. And then a flying fox man fire kicked the helicopter out of the sky.

The Special Tactics Group appeared on the scene like the wrath of an angry god, with Primrose, Aeon, Photophobia, and a since deceased graviomancer (with their teleport spell being the source of the STG’s sudden appearance) demolishing the Federal Police detachment with little effort. Riley looked up through teary eyes at Valine, who healed her dying uncle with a touch of his hand. Oddly enough, the STG wasn’t actually there for either of them. Unfortunately, as the healed Rico told Valine, their intel was several days out of date. The fledgling supervillain group they were after had already been dismantled by a small squad of superheroes and several cybernetically augmented (thanks to the work of Reyna Oleastro) members of the Federal Police. The combined recruitment/destruction mission was not only a bust, but they were over a hundred miles off target. They’d taken too long on the last couple of missions. It was then the family duo got a good look at them. Valine and Photophobia looked fresh as daises. But Primrose looked tired, Aeon looked exhausted, and the graviomancer looked absolutely whipped. Rico was no fool. He’d been paying attention to world events. He knew the Special Tactics Group when he saw it. Thanks, Jacob Cross. If they needed someone new, why not Riley? She had a good power and was an excellent shot. He overrode Riley’s protests by reminding her that their coyote days had just come to a very violent end. It was probably best if they both got out of Mexico for a while. Valine’s standards were a bit higher than Rico’s, but after a few demonstrations of her abilities he agreed to take her on. Her skills were adequate at the time, but truthfully Valine brought her on board because he recognized the cloud. It was probably better to keep that somewhere he could keep an eye on it. It and its past owners were often more trouble than they were worth. But properly channeled, well…maybe it and she could be useful.

Ten years down the road, and Riley Chong (codenamed Nimbus) is a valued member of the Special Tactics Group, functioning as Squad A’s sniper. She’s able to regularly visit with her Mama. Uncle Rico runs a more or less successful boxing gym in Barcelona, Spain. She regularly visits with him, too. The Revolutionary flames that first stirred during her coyote days blaze brightly now. There is much wrong with the world, and it is up to the Strength Revolution and specifically the Special Tactics Group to help fix it. The authorities have no proof that Riley Chong is Nimbus, but it is suspected. Strongly, in some cases.

 

Powers & Tactics: Nimbus has one magical power and two technological devices. Her power is basically that she has a flying magic cloud at her beck and call. They have a mental link that allows her to command it with a thought. She can always, no matter what else it is doing, stay in flight. If not particularly fast. And since it’s a cloud, she can permit another person (two if they are small or squeeze) to ride along with her. She or said person can be pulled off the cloud, however. It’s not an inherent part of her. And unlike most known forms of flight mundane or supernatural, it doesn’t make any sound or light on its own. So she can be stealthy mid flight, something normally quite difficult for fliers. She has developed four special “tricks” using the cloud. The first one she discovered is enhanced flight speed and carrying capacity. Flight speed is enhanced up to approximately Mach 13, and carrying capacity is up to 10 people (20 if they’re small or all squeeze). The second one she discovered training with her Uncle Rico. The cloud can expand and cover an area approximately a mile in diameter, completely eliminating visibility to anyone Riley doesn’t designate as immune. Their eyes still work, it is that there is only cloud to see. Her remaining two tricks were discovered training with and fighting alongside the STG. The third is that the cloud can go semisolid and function much like netting, entangling and immobilizing foes in melee range. The last is actually shockingly lethal. The cloud can pour itself down a melee target’s throat and slowly suffocate them.

Her two devices are a Silenced Sniper Rifle and her Nimbus Costume. The Rifle has the expected range and power, along with armor piercing ammunition and a scope that grants enhanced visual senses. Her Nimbus Costume has four components. Body Armor increases her resistance to damage. An Oxygen Mask keeps her able to breathe anywhere. A Parachute helps her not fall to her death if her cloud gets nullified. And a Thermal Lining to protect her from environmental cold.

 

Tactically, Nimbus is Squad A’s sniper and occasional assassin. 90% of everything she does is centered around getting off a Silenced Shot at a target that doesn’t know she’s there. Her Obscure can do it. Mundane stealth can do it, and she has enough Bluff to create a distraction to hide at need. Even sheer distance can do it, and she has the flight speed to gain it effortlessly. A full +5 All Out Power Attack after an Improved Aim action (or even Ultimate Aim) has spelled doom for many a foe. She’s basically one note, but it’s a hell of a note. And then there’s the remaining 10%, which is her surprisingly adept melee abilities. If she can land her Snare, its rank and Transparent Extra make it difficult to get out of. Her Suffocate is extremely dangerous to those without the Fort save or Immunity to get past it. Both have Indirect 3, so they may well catch a target unawares. She’s even decent with her fists, though lacking a little in striking power. And that same Bluff bonus that’s used to create a distraction can also be used to Feint. She has two power stunts available. They’re both the same basic idea. Drop the rank of Snare or Suffocate down to 9, removed Indirect 3, and add Area (Shapable). Due to her focus on sniping, these aren’t seen very often.

 

Personality: Riley is Squad A’s conscience. She always wanted to be a superhero. But she’s older now. She knows superheroes are more protectors of the status quo rather than instruments of change. So while she always wanted to be a superhero, in the present she doesn’t anymore. Not really. She knows killing is wrong. But she agrees with Valine, kind of. Most people who want to be good or at least just decent are already doing that. So the bad guys get one chance. Just one. Then a bullet in the head. People can do better. She believes it. But if they refuse to do so, the world’s better off without them in it. She believes there are plenty of people in the world worthy of protecting and helping. Sometimes the best way to do that is pulling them out of burning buildings. Sometimes the best way is killing the jerks that keep lighting buildings on fire. And sometimes the best way is demolishing the store selling the matches and lighter fluid.

She may no longer want to be a superhero, but neither does she want to go full villain. Heroes can’t change things, but villains don’t help people. So she’s striving for something in the middle. This is why she’s the conscience of the Squad A. Valine’s not the persuading type and the other three are a little…questionable when it comes to issues of morality. Aeon is cooperative and grasps the concepts. Photophobia is cooperative but just doesn’t grasp the concepts. And Primrose, damn him, isn’t cooperative even though he grasps the concepts very well. Valine has to back her to get him to cooperate. In fact, Valine relies on her to speak up and she knows it. It helps his authority to not always be, ironically enough, the bad guy in their interpersonal relationships.

[EternalPhoenix]

Squad B (The Sin-sations)

 

Overview

 

The Sin-sations are a band. A pretty damn famous band. Sabrina, Bridget, Asuka, and Alyssa are some of the most recognizable young women on the planet. Oriana is their bodyguard, and does not feature in the music or the band. Their music isn’t particularly well crafted, but pop music doesn’t have to be. What pop music needs is charismatic and physically attractive people performing competently. Sabrina’s powers smash the first button nearly as hard as possible (not that the others are any slouches in this department), and the live performers (Sabrina, Bridget, and Asuka) are much more than merely competent. Their songs are full of subtle references to Revolutionary ideology. It’s great PR, and truly excellent cover for their STG work.

So when they put the masks on and become Dream Girl, Gobstopper, Sprite, Razzle, and Sorellanza, nobody would believe that some of the most famous pop stars in the world (and their rarely glimpsed tag along kid) are actually spies, thieves, saboteurs, and (in Sprite and Sorellanza’s cases) assassins. Dream Girl and especially Gobstopper have…distinctive…appearances, which only adds to the disbelief. If that’s not enough, Dream Girl can talk them out of virtually anything, and her powers have bred a fanatical fanbase willing to do just about anything for her. And if that doesn’t work, Sprite and Sorellanza are again, assassins.

The group wasn’t recruited by Valine. It was Methion and Photophobia who found and recruited most of the five (Sorellanza came to them, sort of) to the Strength Revolution and STG. It was Valine who approved of them joining his people and put the group together as Squad B. Junie helped, as pop culture savvy Valine is not. One of the Revolution’s front companies is a music publishing label, which hires songwriters and guest musicians as necessary. The ladies take care of the rest.

 

Tactics

 

The Sin-sations are spies, thieves, and saboteurs primarily. Dream Girl can talk her way in while distracting from Gobstopper’s entry. Sprite, Razzle, and Sorellanza can sneak in. They try to avoid actual combat as much as possible. Actual assassinations are performed solely by Sorellanza if the target routinely appears in public. A sniper shot from far away, a crying child in an alley who suddenly has a silenced SMG, or the ol’ high explosives underneath their vehicle trick. If the target remains indoors at all times, Sprite is small enough to get into practically anywhere, especially if she mails herself as a doll, and has the martial expertise to disable any mundane bodyguards if necessary.

[EternalPhoenix]

Dream Girl (Sabrina Nowak)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +12 (16/34)

 

Tough: +2/+6, Fort: +6, Ref: +12, Will: +9

 

Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Bluff 13 (+25), Computers 4 (+5), Diplomacy 13 (+25), Disguise 8 (+20), Gather Information 13 (+25), Notice 5 (+8), Perform (dance) 3 (+15), Perform (singing) 3 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15)

 

Feats: Attack Focus (ranged) 2, Distract (Bluff), Dodge Focus 3, Evasion, Fascinate (Bluff), Fascinate (Diplomacy), Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6)), Precise Shot, Set-Up, Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Sense Motive), Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Concealed Body Armor (Device 1) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))

   Protection 4 (+4 Toughness; Subtle (subtle))

Heavy Blaster (Device 4) (Easy to lose)

   Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6)); Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Accurate (+2), Precise)

      Stun Shot (Stun 6) (Alternate; DC 16; Range (ranged); Accurate (+2))

Persuasion Resistance (Immunity 5) (interaction skills; Limited - Half Effect)

Psionic Charisma (Enhanced Charisma 18) (+18 CHA)

Psionic Persuasion (Linked)

   Drain 9 (Linked; drains: single trait, DC 19; Alternate Save (Will), Perception Area (General), Selective Attack; Limited (Sentient Biological Beings); Custom (Insidious), Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

   Emotion Control 9 (Linked; DC 19; Perception Area (General), Selective Attack; Limited (Sentient Biological Beings), Limited to Emotion, Range 2 (touch))

Universal Language (Comprehend 1) (languages - you're understood)

 

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +8, Grapple: +10)

 

Attacks: Drain 9 (DC Staged/Will 19), Emotion Control 9 (DC Staged/Will 19), Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Stun Shot (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 17)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -3

 

Initiative: +3

 

Languages: English Native

 

Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 19 (76 ranks) + Feats 14 + Powers 66 + Combat 34 + Saves 19 + Drawbacks 0 = 180

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 24

Height: 5’ 6’

Weight: 110 lbs.

Ethnicity: Caucasian (Polish-American)

Hair: Blue (natural, surprisingly)

Eyes: Blue

 

Background: Metahuman powers are often passed down through families. This was the case for Sabrina Nowak, alias Dream Girl. Her father Antoni was a supervillain by the codename of Incubus. He was a narcissistic sociopath, con artist and serial mental influence rapist who used his powers (identical to Sabrina’s) to escape punishment for his crimes. Sabrina, her older sister Violetta, and their mother managed to escape him after his crimes briefly caught up to him enough that he was arrested, charged, and tried. Unfortunately, enough of the jury fell victim to his powers that he was acquitted on all charges. He was then able to file for custody of the only one of his many, many children who seemed to have inherited his full abilities. And because of his powers, he won. Sabrina, age 9, was taken away by her supervillain father. And very, very soon she loved him more than anyone in the world.

In a twisted kind of way, Incubus truly loved his little girl. His adorable little successor. Which was how his crimes escalated to murder. They’d blow into a town. Incubus would make some “friends”, and then he’d start working his way through the attractive female population. Said “friends would get the word to him when the heat starting coming down, and he and Sabrina would escape to another town far away. This was not always 100% successful. Sometimes people noticed that something was wrong with Sabrina. No daughter loves her father so absolutely and loyally. Sometimes Incubus’s “friends” got the word to him a little late and he had no time to pick up his girl. Only to run. So he had to track her down later and take her back. Regardless, anyone who got between Incubus and his beloved daughter got a bullet in the head. For her part, she functioned as his wing girl on seducing attractive women. Between both of their powers, nobody ever had a chance. He never laid a hand on her, but this only made her an extremely notable exception. Incubus didn’t care in the least about age. He cared about appearance. If the woman or girl met his standards, he was interested.

For nine years, this continued. But Incubus’s murders had put him firmly on the radar of Vincent Mortelini. And the more Vincent learned, the higher he shot up the vigilante’s list. To the degree that he tracked down the supervillain. Incubus had just arrived in a new town, and was surveying the locals beside his now 18 year old daughter. He was hunting, but he did not get a chance to even sight new prey before a .50 caliber bullet struck him in the head and made said head cease to exist in rather messy fashion. Vincent doesn’t fuck around. The abrupt messy death of her forcibly beloved father broke something in Sabrina’s mind. She screamed at the sky. Her eyes turned temporarily red. Her hair turned permanently blue. And every human and animal within a 50 foot radius of her dropped dead, their faces locked in a perfect copy of her own horror and shock. This did not include Vincent, who had been a quarter of a mile away to begin with and was already rapidly leaving. It was and is highly dangerous for him to operate inside the United States. If he had known that Sabrina was not only Incubus’s child but also had identical powers, he’d have splattered her brains across the street too. As a precautionary measure, if nothing else. But he was about to spend the next day and a half ducking the FBI and a pair of superheroes (so he didn’t have to hurt any of them) before escaping into Mexico and meeting up with BLACK eliminate a cartel boss and his minions. Busy, busy, busy.

In some ways, it may have been better if Vincent had put a bullet through Sabrina’s head. Because while her father’s powers made her love him, her own mind and will loathed him. The conflict between the two emotions, along with the fact that she couldn’t stop him from raping and killing (or stop herself from being his loyal, loving lapdog), produced a trainload of guilt. The mental stress was slowly breaking her psyche on its own, but his sudden death? Well…that added extreme grief and extreme relief to the emotional cocktail, and cracked her right down the middle. It was one hell of a psychotic break. The intial explosion of psionic energy killed a dozen people in addition to a few dogs and several birds. And then she wander away, half catatonic with her father’s gun and knife in hand. There was no plan. There wasn’t even a vague intent. She just…wandered away. And despite having literally blue hair, law enforcement somehow lost track of her.

Her sister found her. Violetta, being 4 years older at 22, was a recent college graduate and FBI Agent candidate for their perpetually understaffed Psi-Division. Her powers made her both immune to and able to nullify most Psionic powers quite easily, along with some increased physical resilience. So in about a year, after she was trained and an official agent, Psi-Division planned to take her father down permanently. Unfortunately, Vincent Mortelini struck first and then her sister disappeared. Incubus was bad enough. But Sabrina had just killed several people. She had to face the law, even if it was a completely unintentional accident resulting from the actions of two bad actors. And someone who could do that, was armed, and had just demonstrably suffered a psychotic break was someone who needed to be found beyond immediately. So the FBI ramped into high gear, desperate to find Sabrina before she committed another massacre. And Violetta was shoved through a rushed and abbreviated training course a year ahead of schedule. Placed on the task force, she found her in days. People only change but so much, and Violetta knew her sister. Their old house. Violetta and her mother had moved as fast as possible after Sabrina was taken. (As a side note, Violetta and Sabrina’s mother died via suicide after the initial news of Incubus’s death was broadcast. She simply couldn’t stop loving him, no matter how badly she wanted to. Violetta was unperturbed. The two had not spoken in 4 years, and had not spoken more than bare civilities in 9. She held Violetta back on that day, and she never forgave her mother for it.)

It was a very delicate situation. Anyone with eyes could see Sabrina was not fit to stand trial. She couldn’t be committed, as there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d go willingly. And that risked lives. Even if she wasn’t capable and/or willing to do whatever the hell she did in that town again, the risk was simply too great. So it had to be outpatient treatment at best. And Violetta had to be there to keep her sister in check if necessary. There wasn’t really a whole lot of choice. It took some coaxing (of both Sabrina and FBI brass), but Sabrina moved with Violetta into a safehouse. Psychotic breaks don’t last forever, even ones this potent. One morning a few months later Violetta looked into her sister’s eyes and saw recognition. Actual treatment was attempted, but ended in dismal failure. Sabrina reacted very, very poorly to anyone attempting to control her or her reactions. Paradoxically enough, this included herself. In the end there was nothing to do but let Sabrina put herself back together. This actually kind of worked. After two and a half years of this and on/off professional treatment, she was judged fit to stand trial. Which is, naturally, where Methion and Photophobia come in.

Sabrina was known to not be a danger to others after a few months. So she got to go out occasionally, supervised by Violetta and a backup team. She became interested in music after one such outing, and started singing, gradually getting more and more famous on the internet and social media for her covers of various pop hits. Sabrina’s internet use was not supervised, in a surprising and fateful oversight. This lead to the initial formation of the Sin-sations, though they didn’t meet in real life for some time. This caught the attention of Photophobia, who brought her to Methion’s attention. A skilled singer with inhuman charisma and a backup band. How interesting. The Grand Wizard pulled a few strings. After speaking with the entire group online, he met with Sabrina in person (disguised as usual). They made an deal. The Sin-sations were signed to a recording contract, and a world class legal team showed up to defend her. The feds made the charges disappear in the face of such strong opposition and a relatively weak case. Sabrina was free to do as she pleased.

Phase two of the deal with Methion was for his unique brand of help. Sabrina was still several country miles from okay, and she knew exactly why. She wanted her father out of her damn head. Methion performed the mental magic personally, in one of his many offices. What he did was make her specifically immune to her father’s Psionic energies. And just like that, she was free in mind and body. Valine met with the band, and agreed to a trial period as STG members. They passed with flying colors, and have been Squad B for the last three years. Violetta was…less than pleased (Psi-Division having a long standing grudge against Methion and the Strength Revolution, especially after the defection of Jacob Cross), and the two of them had a nasty final argument. They are, for most intents and purposes, no longer sisters. The FBI and the general authorities do not know that Dream Girl is Sabrina, mind. They’re just aware of Methion’s front companies and general supervillainy.

 

Powers & Tactics: Dream Girl is a metahuman psionic. Her powers are somewhat strange. Her willpower supports a physiological augmentation and a telepathic power. This is extremely uncommon. Most psionics are either one or the other. Additionally, she carries two technological devices in her Concealed Body Armor and Heavy Blaster.

Her physiological augmentation is of an uncommon type as well. Several factors, most of them poorly understood at a scientific level, govern social interaction. Charisma and “it factor”, for lack of more precise terms. It’s not merely physical attractiveness. Confidence when speaking and body language (posture, movement, etc) are also important. Beyond that it gets more and more ephemeral. Her Psionic Charisma augments all of these factors. Her body is subtly reshaped to be more attractive to the eye. The way she speaks and carries herself is also subtly different. No matter one’s gender, sexual preference, or lack thereof she is an extremely magnetic and likeable personality. Her personal charisma and “it factor” are off the charts. Even the most outlandish lies sound plausible when she speaks them, and even bitter foes have gone from actively homicidal to being one of her newest friends in the course of a single brief conversation.

Her telepathic power only makes this more effective and dangerous. Or vice versa, depending on your perspective. Her Psionic Persuasion first drains her target’s mental awareness before influencing their weakened mind into regarding her more positively (such as with strong fondness or outright love). Strong willed persons can resist both effects, but their use is impossible to detect without specialized senses or equipment, and her target has no idea they’ve been targeted, let alone affected. Additionally, she is not limited to one target at a time. She may affect any number of targets in visual range of her. There is very strong evidence (via the rash of suicides/attempted suicides after the news of her father’s death was broadcast and her own dramatic reaction to it) that long term exposure to this power makes at least the altered emotional state a permanent effect.

Her Concealed Body Armor is just that. Her resistance to damage is significantly improved while wearing it, and it takes a sharp eye to identify it as armor and not mundane clothing. Her Heavy Blaster is her mark of rank. Anyone in the know about Strength Revolution hierarchy will recognize the symbol on it as marking her as being in the third tier. The first being Methion himself and the second being Serine, Valine, and Katrea. It has a damage setting and a stun setting. Both use pure force to do their work.

 

Tactically, Dream Girl supports her squad with Feints, Taunts, and Set Up in combat. Foes clearly tilted toward Toughness and Damage she may swap in Distract for. Outside of combat she uses Fascinate to hold opposing attention while her team does their work. Her Heavy Blaster doesn’t get a lot of work under normal circumstances, actually. Even solo, she’s capable of talking her way out of most fights via Bluff or Diplomacy. She can turn most ordinary civilians into a squad of fanatical defenders with a thought. She really doesn’t like doing that, though. It makes her feel like her father, and there aren’t words for how much she loathes and despises him. But as options go, it’s superior to violence. With that said, if she has no other choice she will pull the Heavy Blaster and start shooting. Distracting, Feinting, and Taunting work just as well for herself as they do for her squadmates. She has two possible power stunts, neither of which she’s used since her father’s head exploded next to her. The first is off her Psionic Charisma, and is Morph 8 (Female Humanoids; Covers Scent, Precise). The second is off her Psionic Persuasion, and is Strike 8 (Alt Save Will, Perception Area, Subtle 2). She used both of them that day, and accidently turned her hair permanently blue in the process. It would take something rather…dramatic to get her to use either again.

 

Personality: Sabrina Nowak is fine. The seductive and charismatic frontwoman of the Sin-sations appears to all who see her as having overcome her various personal issues. She’s faced great trials and come out stronger on the other side. It’s very inspirational. It’s also bullshit. Dream Girl is jaded as hell, with a strong undercurrent of rage and bitterness underlying it. She’s bitingly sarcastic, enough to (figuratively) take years off one’s lifespan. She is extremely good at playing the adorable and charming sweetheart, but she spent most of her childhood as the adoring puppet sidekick to a genuine monster. Even with his influence on her mind negated, she is still very much Not Okay. But she’s stable. That’s the part she’d stress if anyone bothered to ask. The fact that no one does…well, she tries very hard not to think about that.

So why? Why continue to work for Methion? Well, first, she’s working for Valine. Crucial difference. Methion, she’s come to learn, is kind of a bastard. But Valine knows the score. Pieces of shit get flushed. The end. Second, to put it rather bluntly, she’s taking back her power and control over her life. She is a high ranking member of the Revolution, so fellow members treat her with respect and lower ones add admiration. And the actual music career part is more fulfilling than she ever thought it would be. This is her life that she built with her own two hands. She’s had plenty of help, yes, but she’s the one calling the shots. And like hell she’ll ever give that up. And third, heroes can kiss the focused totality of her gorgeous ass. They’re worse than useless. They’re complicit in the same broken fucking system that allowed her father to do as he damn well pleased for two fucking decades before Mortelini blew his head off. The exact same broken fucking system that condemns said killing as murder and not justice long overdue. Fuck them.

[EternalPhoenix]

Gobstopper (Bridget Kucerova)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: +10 (16/30), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +3 (16), INT: +0 (10), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +4 (18)

 

Tough: +3/+9, Fort: +9, Ref: +9, Will: +6

 

Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+5), Bluff 4 (+8), Diplomacy 4 (+8), Gather Information 4 (+8), Intimidate 12 (+16), Language 1 (+1), Notice 6 (+8), Perform (percussion instruments) 11 (+15), Sense Motive 10 (+12), Stealth 4 (+5)

 

Feats: All-Out Attack, Attractive (+4), Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Startle, Improved Critical 2 (Unarmed Attack), Interpose, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Hard Candy Physiology (Container, Passive 12)

   Glucosal Might (Super-Strength 6) (+30 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 51.2 tons; +6 STR to some checks; Countering Punch)

   Glucosal Strength (Enhanced Strength 14) (+14 STR)

   Hardened Organs (Immunity 9) (critical hits, disease, enviromental conditions (all), poison)

   Layered Refractive Shell (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks], Reflective (Energy) [3 extra ranks])

 

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +8, Grapple: +18/+24)

 

Attacks: Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 25)

 

Defense: +9  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -9

 

Initiative: +1

 

Languages: English Native, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 26 + Skills 15 (60 ranks) + Feats 12 + Powers 60 + Combat 34 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 25

Height: 5’ 6”

Weight: 310 lbs (looks like 125 lbs)

Ethnicity: Variable (Any normal hard candy color; Caucasian [Czech-American] bone structure)

Hair: Violet

Eyes: Blue

 

Background: The story Bridget Kucerova tells about how she came to be is something about being born in a candy egg and breaking out of it a few years later with her powers as an otherwise normal three year old. This is a lie. It’s a very nice story, and superior to the reality, but it is not the truth. She doesn’t pretend it is. Not really. But still. The truth is that she was born (with no powers of any kind) to a pair of dirt poor petty criminals who rarely had enough money to feed themselves, let alone a third mouth. So she subsisted on whatever breast milk her mother could produce and the cheapest hard candy from the local convenience store. It was something she and her mother did together. Early bonding. It’s something Brie holds onto to, even now and even though she can’t actually remember it. Because that candy was cheap for a reason. The company was substituting some extremely dangerous chemicals in the candy and the packaging to save money. Some very mutagenic chemicals. They both got very sick. Her father (Mason) didn’t eat nearly enough to be affected. The same thing was happening to both of them, but the older woman did not have the youthful resilience and physiological flexibility as her daughter. She died before the change could complete. The lawsuit and resulting publicity gave young Brie and her father some real money for the first time in their lives. For the record, her mother was far from the only one to die, and several executives received lengthy prison sentences. A costumed detective style superhero made very, very sure of that. However, Mason could only be charitably described as a fiscal idiot, and they were soon broke again. But Brie was stronger than most grown men, even as a three year old, nothing seemed to be able to hurt her, and she really loved her Daddy. The man got ideas. Criminal ideas.

And so Mason went from petty criminal to armed robber. With his “Baby Girl” at his side, he embarked on a reign of periodic terror (they only committed robberies whenever their money started running out) across several states, always one step ahead of the law. The man may not have been good at much else, but damn did he have a knack for not being where people thought he’d be. For Brie, it was a life of fast food, stolen cars, and motel rooms. She had an absolute blast. Her daddy was a reasonably charming fellow, especially to folks who already liked him. They were quite the pair. Mason taught her how to fight, a bit. He’d picked up a little amateur boxing in his high school days, and he’d always been scrappy. More importantly, he taught her how to hold her strength back to avoid killing anyone. It was fine (even a little funny) for a three year old to break somebody’s shin with a kick, but a few years later Brie was slowly edging into genuinely superhuman might. Cops chased killers harder, he said, but in reality he couldn’t bear the thought of his Baby Girl with blood on her hands. If there was killing to be done, he’d do it. Brie wore a lot of hoodies, gloves, and long pants in those days to avoid being casually identified. One wouldn’t think that would consistently work, but it did. But all things, both good and bad, must come to an end. An unexpectedly resistant store owner left Mason flat on his back with a bullet in his chest. The police sirens were getting louder. Mason told his Baby Girl to run. Please, God. Run. And the 12 year old ran. Mason survived his wound, but got ten years for the attempted robbery. He was not connected to his other crimes. He always had the dammedest luck.

Brie was on her own. But her Daddy had taught her well. Not getting cold, hot, or sick and being able to eat food far too contaminated for normal people did have advantages, too. She robbed a few closed stores, did a few light muscle jobs, and may have fallen completely into the criminal underworld if not for a stroke of her father’s luck. An old friend of Mason’s from high school recognized her from years old stories. They had a chat, catching him up on life events. He got her a job with a touring indie band. It was just carrying their electronics and stuff. Basic roadie work. But it was legal, and it would keep her moving. If he could recognize her, so could the cops. Or worse, a superhero. Fair enough. Time went on. She got a good reputation in the roadie biz, moving from band to band as they broke up or stopped touring. Eventually she was pressed into service one night as a drummer, and found she had a bit of a talent for it. This too, eventually got around, and everyone’s favorite roadie became everyone’s backup drummer. She got roped into playing bouncer sometimes, too. But once again all things, both good and bad, must come to an end.

Brie was her father’s daughter and thus could only be charitably described as a fiscal idiot. At the level of indie music she was working at, the musicians themselves sometimes could get paid in the equivalent of 20 bucks and a ham sandwich. When that happened, she obviously didn’t get paid at all. Her new friends had to pay rent and bills, plus had a powerful need to eat at some point. Part time jobs don’t pay for everything. So she’d been doing a little (un)armed robbery of her own on the side. She’d rip open an ATM occasionally, or walk into a bank and make a “withdrawal” from the teller side of the counter. Naturally, she wore hoodies, gloves, and long pants to avoid being identified, along with a full face mask. But Mason had neglected a critical part of her criminal education. If you’re going to be a career robber, you shouldn’t keep wearing the same few outfits, especially if they have reasonably unique logos on them. And you certainly shouldn’t wear them in regular life at all, ever. Ah, well. Live and learn. Several years down the line, the FBI (because committing crimes across state lines means you deal with them and not the local PD) finally managed to track down the “The Polite Robber” via the logos for the various places she’d worked on her clothes. They were expecting a veteran criminal with a small degree of superhuman strength and the likely accompanying durability. They were decidedly not expecting a 19 year old whose lifting capacity could be measured in double digit tons who was completely immune to hand portable mundane weapons and had significant skill in hand to hand combat. They were also decidedly not expecting her friends to pull improvised weapons of their own while screaming “Fuck the police”. It was a complete shitshow. Just an embarrassing ass kicking for the FBI. It took weeks to get their SUV off that roof, and the internet is still making memes of the fight. Nobody dying or even getting seriously injured (she remembered her Daddy’s lessons) just made the whole situation more hilarious. Brie found herself with a crew at her back and a new nickname. Gobstopper, after how she was literally hard candy, even solid shotgun slugs had simply bounced off her, and she wasn’t even breathing hard when the FBI was fleeing. Talk about everlasting. As unintentional supervillain debuts go, it wasn’t bad.

Naturally, she used this newfound fame to get paid. Crime, after all, was never the goal. Money was. Unscrupulous promoters were more than happy to book the bands she worked with, as long as she’d be playing or at least making an appearance. And none of them were dumb enough to try and stiff a woman capable of leveling their building with her bare hands on her fee. But…none of the bands were actually hers, you know? She was a fill in, and she felt deeply uncomfortable using said newfound fame to replace anyone. Fortunately, there was a singer, guitarist, and producer in the same boat out there on the internet. This was the formation of the Sin-sations, though they didn’t meet in real life for some time. The group came to the attention of Photophobia, who brought them to the attention of Methion. The Grand Wizard wanted to see this unique young woman for himself, so he arranged a meeting. This was after speaking with Dream Girl (Sabrina Nowak), so Brie was now 22 years old. 3 years of milking her supervillainous notoriety without actually committing any crimes. Well, mostly. Resisting arrest was technically a crime, after all. As well as “destruction of public property”, whatever that meant. Maybe they meant the cop cars and such she busted up to keep them from following her around? Anyway, Brie had a talk with a mythical being (Methion, naturally), and then another one (Valine, this time). The whole band was there. First time they’d met IRL, matter of fact. Valine agreed to a trial period as STG members, and Brie found herself with the best paying job she’d ever had by several country miles. It came with some real fancy lawyers, too. So she could go pick up her Daddy in her new fancy car on his release date. And never was there a Daddy more proud of his Baby Girl. Talk about moving up in the world. The ol’ Kucerova luck just keeps working its magic. She and the band passed the trial period with flying colors, and have been Squad B for the last three years.

Brie sends her father money, enough to keep him out of trouble. She finally got that fiscal education she sorely needed these past three years with the girls, and of course she shared it with Daddy. Methion’s fancy lawyers got her pending charges thrown out on various technicalities. She’s free as a bird. A note. Gobstopper, until debuting with the STG, was a private nickname among her friends and not used in public. So only very old friends make the connection and don’t disbelieve it. The authorities are unaware of any connection between Bridget Kucerova, inactive supervillain and current pop starlet, and Gobstopper, supervillain and STG member.

 

Powers & Tactics: Brie is a mutant. Her body has been converted by exposure to several mutagenic chemicals and cooled sugar syrup into a being of living hard candy. No, nobody understands how this works or how she’s still alive. Like all mutants with completely altered bodies, her physiology is profoundly strange and makes little to no sense to medical or chemical science. Because her internal organs are all still there, if made of sugar, and they still seem to perform their usual functions. Hell, they function better than flesh and blood organs do. Poisons, diseases, and environmental conditions of all types have no effect on her. Her skin is strong enough to repel bullets from the types of firearms normally mounted on vehicles, and this durability is shockingly uniform across her “flesh”. No weak points here. Her bones are even stronger, and for some reason all energy attacks regardless of source reflect back to their source (if they’re not strong enough to harm her, mind). Her physical strength is completely superhuman. Her casual punches have cracked steel and she’s thrown fully loaded tractor trailers with ease. The FBI theorizes that she could throw full size tanks without straining herself. Why she doesn’t melt in the rain (for the millionth time she does, but extremely slowly; how else could she shower, geniuses?) and why she can change her skin color like she’s got a food dye generator inside herself (not even she knows this one) are genuine mysteries for the ages. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Insects (especially the goddamn ants) try to eat her pretty regularly, and honestly she is pretty delicious to lick. But don’t lick her. Those mutagenic chemicals are still there in her system, and they will kill you in the same horror movie fashion as they did her mother. By slowly turning your flesh to candy and your blood to sugar water as all of your transforming organs gradually fail. Also it’s rude to lick people without permission and she might punch you for it.

 

Tactically, Gobstopper is a puncher. She’s an unarmed fighter half trained in boxing and half in street brawling. Improved Demoralize and Improved Startle mix things up, and she’s just as accurate throwing something big and heavy as she is punching. Bu really, this isn’t complicated. She’s Squad B’s muscle. She tanks hits the rest can’t via Interpose and hits harder than any of them. She still remembers her Daddy’s lessons, however, and doesn’t use all of her strength ranks until it’s proven to her that person won’t take lethal damage from her full strength. She All Out Attacks with relative impunity (provided the enemies can’t breach her Impervious), but Power Attack is reserved for especially tough opponents, desperation, or destroying objects. She doesn’t know what a power stunt is.

 

Personality: Brie is a sweetheart. Country born and bred, she’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. But don’t misunderstand. She’s a professional criminal from a family of professional criminals. The law means nothing to her, and the feelings and opinions of strangers don’t mean much more. All that talk about “responsibility” and “paying her debt to society” is just so much static in her ears. What about society’s debt to her? Girl’s gotta eat, you know. What she values is companionship and camaraderie. Doing what you have to do to survive in a world that doesn’t care if you live or die. It’s like Daddy said. The cops, the government, and rich folk don’t come around when you’re struggling. They don’t care a lick about your suffering or your hard times except to use it to get you to do things by their rules. But step out of line to get a little more for yourself and suddenly there’s this huge problem. So in the end, all we got to rely on is each other. The older she gets, the better she understand how right Daddy was.

Reality’s a little more complicated than Mason’s attempt at philosophy lays out, but Brie has never seen the inside of a school. She’s of average intelligence and completely untrained in critical thinking. She’s not stupid, but life and her Daddy have taught her that the two most important things in life are loved ones and money. Everything else is a distant and unreliable second.

[EternalPhoenix]

Sprite (Asuka Takahashi)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +4 (18), CON: +2 (14), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +4 (18)

 

Tough: +2/+5, Fort: +6, Ref: +12, Will: +6

 

Skills: Acrobatics 11 (+15), Bluff 4 (+8), Diplomacy 4 (+8), Disable Device 14 (+15), Escape Artist 11 (+15), Gather Information 4 (+8), Language 4 (+4), Notice 8 (+10), Perform (stringed instruments) 11 (+15), Sense Motive 13 (+15), Stealth 8 (+20), Survival 8 (+10)

 

Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Attractive (+4), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Elusive Target, Evasion 2, Improved Critical 2 (Stick Attacks (Array 6)), Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Concealed Body Armor (Device 1) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))

   Protection 4 (+4 Toughness; Subtle (subtle))

Martial Training (Container, Passive 1)

   Leaping 1 (Jumping distance: x2)

   Speed 2 (Speed: 25 mph, 220 ft./rnd)

   Super-Movement 1 (slow fall)

Soda Stick (Device 3) (Easy to lose, Only you can use)

   Stick Attacks (Array 6) (default power: blast)

      Bubbly Blast (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21)

      Fizz In The Eyes (Dazzle 6) (Array; affects: visual senses, DC 16)

      Stick Smash (Strike 4) (Array; DC 21; Mighty)

      Stunning Smash (Stun 6) (Array; DC 16)

Sprite (Shrinking (-2 Toughness, -2 size categories, 1/2 movement speed; Normal Strength)

 

Attack Bonus: +12 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +12, Grapple: +4)

 

Attacks: Bubbly Blast (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Fizz In The Eyes (Dazzle 6), +12 (DC Fort/Ref 16), Stick Smash (Strike 4), +12 (DC 21), Stunning Smash (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +6), Size: Medium/Tiny, Knockback: +0

 

Initiative: +8

 

Languages: Arabic, English Native, Japanese, Russian, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 30 + Skills 25 (100 ranks) + Feats 17 + Powers 37 + Combat 40 + Saves 16 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 23

Height: 5’ 3” (1’ 4” shrunk)

Weight: 115 lbs (2 lbs shrunk)

Ethnicity: Japanese-American

Hair: Black (sometimes dyed Purple)

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: The infamous international assassin (who was once considered the fourth best in the world) onknown as Chokuto was, in many ways, not a good man. He was a man driven to perfect his craft and please a father who had never shown him anything other than stoicism and brutal violence. To that end, in  his civilian life he dated several women in search of a wife. The one he fell in love with and married, naturally, was not good enough for his father. And when Asuka was born, she wasn’t good enough either. Chokuto needed to somehow please his father. His beloved wife had failed to produce a son, so he beheaded her in front of his father. When this was not good enough, he understood that nothing he did would ever be good enough. Something snapped inside of him, and soon his father’s head rolled across the floor, too. Ironically, his father’s last thoughts (not that Chokuto would ever know them) were of the man finally being pleased with his son.

Chokuto, now a self made widower and orphan in the same day, resolved to train his daughter better than he had been trained. From the time Asuka was able to walk, he took her into their basement once a day and beat the shit out of her. He never broke any important bones or struck her head more than hard enough to cause pain, for this was a lesson. It was not enough to learn how to fight. No…she had to understand that survival required violence. At first she cried and covered up. A child younger than a preschooler wouldn’t understand anything of what was happening. Her father was hurting her, and she didn’t know why. Chokuto never spoke a word during their sessions. Until she stabbed him in the leg with a blunt screw while howling in wordless rage, and earned his favor. He gave her the praise he had never received. She was 5 years old, but she had learned the first lesson. Survival required violence.

Chokuto taught Asuka many other things after that, upstairs. Basic mathematics. How to read and write. Basic first aid. How to prepare simple meals.  Efficient and effective homeschooling. And when the day’s lessons were finished, he took her back into the basement and beat the shit out of her. It was instructional, now. She was willing to fight, but had no skill of any kind. So he demonstrated the proper basic techniques on her body. Initially, if nothing else she learned how to endure pain. Still, he was again careful to never break any major bones or strike her head more than hard enough to cause pain. This was out of practicality, not love. She could not train with broken limbs, and every martial artist knew at least one veteran who had been struck in the head with too much force too many times. The results of severe long term brain damage spoke for themselves. The years went on, and she eventually managed to knock him down. This again, earned his praise. He remained just long enough to make sure she could speak adequately when necessary, and then went back to work as an assassin. Leaving an 8 year old girl to continue her training alone with various manuals and textbooks. He also provided equipment for physical training.

Chokuto did return periodically to check on her progress, in the form of returning to the basement and beating the shit out of her. However, Asuka spent the next five years largely alone. This too, was done purposefully. To make her self reliant. The house was deep in a wilderness area. There was no electricity. If she wanted food, heat, and fresh clothing she would have to get it herself. General instructions were in the books he had left, but it was left to her to figure out how to manage all of it. She learned how to make snares and traplines for wild creatures. She learned how to endure hunger, as she failed as often as she succeeded. She learned how to hunt with a homemade bow and arrows. She learned how to gather edible plants from the area. And she learned how to grow her own vegetables in a garden. Mistakes with fire gave her new scars. Over and over, she almost died. Almost. The emergence of her powers, inherited from her father, made things both easier and harder.

When Asuka was 13, her father took her to kill a man. It was a simple enough assassination, and normally Chokuto would have passed it on to someone who needed the experience. Well, he supposed he was doing that, wasn’t he? He gave her a knife and a photograph of the man. The man had plenty of guards, but they were common thugs and expecting a grown man. They got a young teenage girl. A real cutie, and so very innocent. She was very lost, could she use their phone to call her daddy? They were quite surprised when she produced the knife, slashed their boss’s throat, and ran out the door between all of their legs. They were even more surprised when said boss started burning from one of her homemade matches. Asuka returned outside to her father, a triumphant grin on her face. She could not possibly have known about the explosives the group had been stockpiling. The explosion was rather impressive, and could not have been timed any better to her arrival. She confirmed the kill, tilted her head with her grin in place, and that fourth floor office exploded. She didn’t even flinch, though Chokuto noted the surprise in her eyes. The explosion was not intentional, and she had incredible self control. He smiled, and congratulated her on passing the final test.

The five years after than Asuka spent as Chokuto’s assistant. High level professional assassins are less busy than pop culture seems to think. They spent much more time training and honing their skills than on the job. And no, he no longer beat the shit out of his daughter. For one, it was no longer necessary. She had learned what she needed to from the process. And for second, it would have been far more difficult than before. When she turned 18,he “fired” her, giving her independence to pursue her own contracts and make her own name. He also gave her the Soda Stick as a graduation present. She chose the codename Sprite and gave her weapon and its functions their names. She did a few jobs, but low level professionals are barely more than hitmen. Building a reputation is challenging. Rival assassins try to kill you. Clients think its easier to rat you out to law enforcement or kill you instead of paying. It’s quite bothersome. Still, she progressed and made some small name for herself. Until one day she was on her way home to that wilderness home she and her father shared when she heard sounds o a ferocious battle. By the time she arrived, her home had been leveled. The FBI, with superheroic assistance, had finally tracked and brought down the legendary Chokuto. The last she saw of him was his battered and unconscious form being loaded into a paddy wagon. Apparently he’d been having a meeting, as he wasn’t alone inside it. They must have followed one of the others. If her father could be tracked to his home so easily, he’d have been caught long ago. Sprite considered a rescue attempt, but discarded the idea. If the assembled heroes and agents could defeat her father and those he trusted enough to know where his home was, they could defeat her too. So she turned around and slipped away. Her finances were separate from her father’s, and she had been meaning to get her own place anyway. Somewhere with a better internet connection, at least.

She’d been teaching herself to play the guitar and uploading successful recordings to social media. She’d even joined a band of sorts. The Sin-sations. They hadn’t met yet, though. Just screennames. It was a source of a little supplementary income, and that meant she didn’t have to scratch and claw so hard for contracts. Or, heavens forbid, get a real job. Some assassins had to do that when they were starting out, and it was embarrassing. The band was good, and apparently that attracted attention. Photophobia, of the Strength Revolution Special Tactics Group, and then Methion himself. The band members held a meeting online, and spoke at length with the Grand Wizard. None of them flinched at his offer of steady employment as a band. It was, however, the special meeting with Valine that was surprising. Special Tactics Group? Could the others pull their weight there? And then there was the small matter of Valine disapproving of her, personally. She had to remind him that she was a professional, not an uncontrollable psychopath. She only killed who she was specifically being paid to kill. The days of her accidently exploding parts of buildings were long in the past. If hired, Valine himself would be the one doing said paying and thus decided who died if anyone. Valine agreed to a trial period.

Squad B excelled, and was kept on. Her father is kept in a secret maximum security prison even someone with his skills and powers cannot escape easily. She sends coded letters, as little is secret or inaccessible to Methion for very long. The Grand Wizard has made it clear that he could be free tomorrow if she asked. She has not yet asked, for she knows such an offer has strings and she is satisfied with her present life as it is. The authorities know that Asuka exists due to the public records of her birth. She is currently classified as missing, along with her mother and grandfather’s civilian identity. Though analysis of her home confirmed they are likely dead, as there was too much blood soaked in the floorboards. Asuka, on the other hand, left clothing behind that was much too small to have fit her father. They do not know that she is the rising professional assassin and STG member known as Sprite, and they have not yet connected the Asuka Takahashi of the Sin-sations to the Asuka Takahashi born 23 years ago. Both her given and family names are relatively common in Japan, and she could be using a stage name.

 

Powers & Tactics: Sprite has three things. One mutant power, two special technological devices, and a lifetime of training. Her mutant ability, inherited from her father Chokuto, to reduce her physical size by an approximate eighth and her overall mass to approximately 1.5%. As usual with mutant abilities that change the body, nobody knows how this works and has never killed either of them. Their ability to retain their normal physical strength in this form is equally baffling and defies most known laws of physics. Regardless, at their decreased size they are more fragile, more difficult to hit, and more accurae.

Her technological devices are a set of Concealed Body Armor (specially treated to shrink with her) and her trademark Soda Stick. As a side note, her regular wardrobe is also specially treated to shrink when she does, however mundane clothes do not. Such as any special costumes worn on stage, in music videos, in photoshoots, or for special appearances. The Body Armor is, naturally, just armor. It looks like regular clothing to the untrained eye, however. Her Soda Stick (which also shrinks with her) has four regular functions. Bubbly Blast is a blast of carbonated water forceful enough to shatter stone. Fizz In The Eyes is a splash of said carbonated water into the eyes to blind a target. Both Stick and Stunning Smash are martial techniques. Stick Smash causes damage again at stone shattering level, but Stunning Smash merely renders the target stunned or unconscious. It has a biometric lock so no one else can uses except as a normal quarterstaff.

Lastly, her martial training lets her leap higher, run faster, and protect herself from long falls as long as there’s a something to grab onto. It is a sight to see, someone the size of a doll jumping a dozen or more horizontal feet or outrunning a grown man.

 

Tactically, it depends on what she’s doing. For an assassination she is alone and thus leans very hard on being Tiny Sized (easier to find concealment) and Stealth. Assassination targets are never particularly sturdy, as they’re basically unarmored civilians, and so she can cave their skulls in with a Staff Smash or if she can’t get that close while shrunk, a Bubbly Blast. Either is with at least +4 Power Attack, as if she rolls a Nat 1 (the only way she can miss Def 0 with +8 ATK) she deserves to be detected. On team missions, she is a scarily effective scout and spy. Under normal circumstances people just don’t see her, so she can overhear critical information, observe guard patrol patterns, or nab important papers with ease. Turns out it’s pretty easy to hide when you’re a foot and a third tall. In team battles she leans on Fizz In The Eyes to disorient, Bubbly Blast to damage flying and/or speedy foes, and closes to use Staff Smash with other foes. Stunning Smash is used to bypass Impervious Toughness in place of Power Attack. This does not mean that Power Attack isn’t used against successfully Dazzled foes, however she tries to avoid doing lethal damage and thus potentially kiilling. It’d be terribly unprofessional to kill someone she isn’t specifically being paid to kill.

 

Personality: Sprite is cheerfully professional and respectful in all her dealings. Squad B and the STG are used to her quirks, but heroes and civilians can find her genuinely unnerving. Because violence is fun for her. It’s not that she has a lust for battle, but that her earliest lesson was about survival requiring violence. So victory in combat, proving her skills superior (or superior enough to cause a retreat), means that she is worthy of surviving to another day. Who wouldn’t be happy about that? Hell, who wouldn’t be happy about having a chance to prove that they were worthy of survival in the first place? Assuming, of course, that there was ever any doubt. Additionally, how Chokuto trained her makes her perfectly at home in the middle of combat. Most people feel, you know, fear. Anxiety. The potential of being hurt, feeling pain, and recovering from it. The fight or flight response kicks in, and often into high gear. Combat is stressful as hell, even for long time veterans. Asuka doesn’t feel that stress, normally, and was never taught to hide that she doesn’t. So her demeanor is basically the same in the middle of furious combat as it is at a casual lunch. Again, she’s cheerfully professional and respectful.

But of course, there’s more going on in her head than that. A proper professional assassin is polite, professional, and has a plan to kill everyone they meet. She’s a professional criminal, which means she doesn’t hold superheroes or law enforcement in high regard. Especially after they took her father from her. They didn’t even have the decency to kill him. The heroic no-killing code makes no sense to her. And heroes who profess pacifism will utterly baffle her. Absolutely does not compute. Survival requires violence. Are they suicidal or something? That’s no good. They should call one of those hotlines and talk to someone about that.

[EternalPhoenix]

Razzle (Alyssa Robinson)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: -1 (8), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +2 (14)

 

Tough: +2/+7, Fort: +6, Ref: +10, Will: +8

 

Skills: Bluff 6 (+8), Computers 10 (+15), Craft (electronic) 10 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 10 (+15), Diplomacy 6 (+8), Disable Device 10 (+15), Knowledge (physical sciences) 10 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 10 (+15), Language 4 (+4), Notice 6 (+8), Sense Motive 6 (+8)

 

Feats: Attack Focus (ranged) 2, Attractive (+4), Beginner's Luck, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 5, Eidetic Memory, Improved Critical 2 (Restraint Foam Sprayer (Snare 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Stun Blaster (Stun 6)), Improved Initiative, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Master Plan, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Computers, Craft (electronic), Craft (mechanical), and Disable Device), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Concealed Body Armor (Device 1) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))

   Protection 4 (+4 Toughness; Subtle (subtle))

Density Drop Belt (Device 5) (Hard to lose)

   Air Walking (Flight 2) (Speed: 25 mph, 220 ft./rnd; Limited (to when Incorporeal))

   EMP-like Touch (Nullify 6) (counters: all powers of (type) - technology, DC 16; Limited (to when Incorporeal), Range (touch))

   Minimal Density (Insubstantial 4) (Incorporeal)

Gadget Backpack (Gadgets 6) (Easy to Lose)

 

Gadget Backpack Settings:

   Cloaking Field Projector (Power Setting) (Powers: Cloaking Field Projector (Concealment 6))

      Cloaking Field Projector (Concealment 6) (all aural senses, all visual senses; Affects Others, Burst Area (30 ft. radius - General); Close Range, Selective)

   Dazzler (Power Setting) (Powers: Dazzler (Dazzle 6))

      Dazzler (Dazzle 6) (affects: 1 type + visual - auditory, DC 16; Burst Area (30 ft. radius - General), Selective Attack)

   Grav Rod (Power Setting) (Powers: Grav Rod (Move Object 6))

      Grav Rod (Move Object 6) (Strength: 30, Carry: 532 / 1.1k / 1.6k / 3.2k, DC 21; Affects Corporeal, Damaging; Accurate 2 (+4), Precise, Subtle (subtle))

   Hard Light Vehicle Projector (Power Setting) (Powers: Hard Light Engines (Flight 6), Hard Light Vehicle (Create Object 6))

      Hard Light Engines (Flight 6) (Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd)

      Hard Light Vehicle (Create Object 6) (Max Size: 6x 50' cubes, DC 16; Movable (Radius: 30 ft., Strength: 30, Force: 1.6k lbs.); Range (touch); Precise, Progression, Object Size 3, Selective, Subtle (subtle))

   Portal Gun (Power Setting) (Powers: Portal Gun (Teleport 6))

      Portal Gun (Teleport 6) (600 ft. as move action, 20 miles as full action; Accurate, Portal)

   Restraint Foam Sprayer (Power Setting) (Powers: Restraint Foam Sprayer (Snare 6))

      Restraint Foam Sprayer (Snare 6) (DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Restraint Foam Sprayer (Snare 6)); Affects Corporeal, Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate 2 (+4), Obscure Sense, Precise)

   Stun Blaster (Power Setting) (Powers: Stun Blaster (Stun 6))

      Stun Blaster (Stun 6) (DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Stun Blaster (Stun 6)); Affects Corporeal, Range (ranged); Accurate 2 (+4), Precise, Subtle (subtle))

 

Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +6, Grapple: +5)

 

Attacks: Dazzler (Dazzle 6) (DC Fort/Ref 16), EMP-like Touch (Nullify 6), +6 (DC Will 16), Grav Rod (Move Object 6), +12 (DC 21), Restraint Foam Sprayer (Snare 6), +12 (DC Ref/Staged 16), Stun Blaster (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +6 (DC 14)

 

Defense: +10  (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -3

 

Initiative: +6

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 24 + Skills 22 (88 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 61 + Combat 22 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 20

Height: 5’ 2”

Weight: 110 lbs

Ethnicity: African American

Hair: Dark Pink (dyed, naturally Dark Brown)

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: “It’s only us.” These were the favorite words of Alyssa and Aisha Robinson to hear. They were the words of their father, Emmett, when he was holding them both tight. This, however, was a long time ago. Before Alyssa found out he was a unethical bastard of a scientist who worked for the infamous Agency. And before Aisha revealed that she didn’t care. But let’s rewind to the beginning.

Emmett Robinson was a scientist. He was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good man. He was, in fact, a very evil one. He did not care in the least about ethics and morality. He cared about advancing science, inventing something people would pay him lots and lots of money for, and getting filthy rich. He very much subscribed to the philosophy of “Fuck you, I’mma get mine.” This was how he came to be recruited by the infamous Agency. He was a young man after their cold, dead hearts. He married am ambitious woman of similar character named Tiana, and everything was quite lovely for the couple. They had one daughter, who they named Alyssa, and four years later had another, who they named Aisha. Three years after that, Tiana got a little too ambitious, and the Agency turned her into a test subject for her own work. She died in indescribable agony, as equally indescribable things happened to her body. This, naturally, was quite a stressful time for Emmett and his two girls, who knew nothing of her plot. It changed their relationship quite a bit. It was, after all, now only them. At work, Emmett was the ruthless scientific mastermind. But at home he was only a loving father to his girls. And ah, but did they ever love him back. Especially Aisha, who was not quite old enough to fully remember the colder man he had been.

However, time waits for none of us, and the girls grew older and more aware of the world. Alyssa was doing music on social media. Remixes, not any actual instrument playing or singing. Still, the Sin-sations were glad to have her in the band. Even if they didn’t know she was a young teen. She was showing more and more talent as a engineer, and Emmett hoped that one day she’d be able to join him at work. This, unfortunately, was not to be. Alyssa was much more gifted than she let one. She’d found out what her father was really up to when he went to work every day, and she was both sickened and horrified. As it turned out, she did have something resembling morals and ethics. She was surprised, too. It’s like Emmett was raising them to be fine, upstanding citizens. She slowly and systematically gathered information on the Agency facility where he worked. Then, because she was not a stupid girl, she backed it up in a dozen separate places on the internet before she had that conversation with dear old daddy. She wasn’t going to join the Agency. She found them abhorrent. Yes, laws were for other people, but there were lines. Much of their work was fueled as much by spite and sadism towards their frequently human test subjects, when it wasn’t fueled by sheer hubris or insanity. Even putting the ethical qualms aside, it was an inefficient and wasteful way to run a business. She wasn’t going to be a part of it. Her father nodded in understanding, then produced a gun and did his best to empty it into her body.

The Agency isn’t reasonable. They don’t let people leave. Once you join, you are theirs. Your children are theirs. Your grandchildren are theirs. Depending on the employment contract, they may take your siblings and their progeny, as well. The only way out is taking a direct one way trip to the afterlife. They do not accept criticism or advice. They are doing things they way they want to do things, and you can shut the fuck up about it. You can work for them and be useful, or you can be dead. Every single thought in your head, if it is not useful to them, they don’t want to hear it. You can keep said thoughts to yourself, or you can again be dead. They don’t fucking care. Allow me to emphasize this properly. They. Don’t. FUCKING. Care. Your life and everything about you is utterly without any value except which they assign to it. You can cooperate with this methodology, or experience a drastic reduction in value. Alyssa knew this, and but her father trying to murder her still obliterated their previously close, loving relationship in one stroke. She had a plan, anyway. Emmett’s bullets struck nothing but air, as the Density Drop Belt made its debut.

Slight rewind. Alyssa’s work with the Sin-sations had been noticed by Photophobia, who brought it to the attention of Methion, who gave the band a job offer. They had discussed it and accepted. So Alyssa flew through her front door, knowing that place would never be home again as bullets smashed into the door behind her. She regarded her home of several years as her Gadget Backpack got its first non test use. She pulled her Portal Gun, to be specific. The big surprise was the blaster fire from Aisha’s window. Alyssa knew her sister had been demonstrating some psychopathic traits, but the look of cartoonish rage on her face was genuinely unexpected. Alyssa disappointedly used her Portal Gun to get 20 miles away, and then sat down and cried for a little while. There aren’t words for how painful it is to realize that the love of her family was at best conditional and at worst a lie designed to keep her cooperative and compliant. However, she couldn’t sit around crying forever. She was likely being pursued, for one, and for another she had a meeting with someone named Valine to attend.

Valine agreed to keeping  the Sin-sations on for a trial period. They passed with flying colors, and have been Squad B for three years. Alyssa took the codename Razzle, after “the ol’ razzle dazzle” and a type of candy. A double meaning. She’s quite certain her father has been killed for failing to keep her in line with the Agency’s goals, and for failing to kill her when he couldn’t. She’s also fairly certain her sister’s star is on the rise in the Agency. Well. She’s had three years to get used to it. Not get over it. It’s not something one ever gets over. For reasons that should be very obvious, the authorities have no idea who the supervillain and STG member known as Razzle is under the mask, and no reason to connect her with the pop starlet Alyssa Robinson. Additionally, the Agency has written off her loss for now, as crossing Valine (and through him, Methion) is the textbook definition of a bad business move.

 

Powers & Tactics: Razzle, unlike the rest of the Sin-sations, has no superhuman powers. She is a tech genius with two specialized devices and the amazing, astounding Gadget Backpack. Her two devices are Concealed Body Armor and Density Drop Belt. Concealed Body Armor is just that. It protects her from damage while not looking like armor to the average person. The Density Drop Belt, however, is a bit more complicated. The truth of all physical matter is that it’s mostly empty space. So to drop physical density without losing any mass is uh, difficult. And you don’t want to lose mass. Your mass is your organs and other stuff you probably want to keep. So to get to Minimal Density the belt puts her in a state of quantum flux in which the bonds between her atoms and molecules both do and do not exist. If this sounds insanely dangerous, well it kind of is and isn’t. The belt, miscalibrated, could casually reduce the user to a pile of raw elements. This is why she keeps it properly calibrated and has several redundant subsystems that will shut the thing off before anything dangerous happens. The net result is that she’s effectively an incorporeal being when it is active, able to fly a little due to her lack of weight. A quirk of the quantum flux allows her to disable electronic equipment merely by touching it. It’s neat.

Her Gadget Backpack is even more complicated. It is a genuine wonder of electronic and mechanical engineering. The devices that come out of it are not kept inside, but rather assembled on the spot from the various materials inside of it according to her instructions. When she returns a device to the Backpack, it is disassembled and the materials are returned to storage.

 

Tactically, Razzle sticks very hard to a support role. She will never, ever, knowingly inflict Damage on a living target in anything other than the most desperate circumstances. Her basic reaction to a solo fight is to get out of it. With Insub 4 and Flight 2, plus Concealment or Teleport at her disposal, this is not normally difficult. On missions, her Gadgets are the perfect support. She can get the team to the target area with Hard Light Vehicle Projector and Portal Gun, and hide them while they do their work with Cloaking Field Projector. If muscle is required, Grav Rod can help Gobstopper with that. In team combat, her first move is again to get out of it. There is no benefit to brawling with heroes. Still, there will be circumstances where escape is impossible, or the first order of business is getting the heroes off the team’s collective asses. Stun Blaster is the normal choice, with Restraint Foam Sprayer as a backup and Dazzler for groups. However, don’t get locked into thinking that is all her Gadget Backpack can produce. It is a Variable Power. She can pull out anything from it.

 

Personality: Razzle is the goodie goodie of the Sin-sations. Don’t get it wrong, she’s still a professional criminal with no respect for the law. However…if hurting people isn’t the job, why are you doing it? Just because she’s a thief, spy, and saboteur doesn’t mean she needs to be cruel and vicious. Honestly, she’s probably a little too pacifistic to be a supervillain. She doesn’t want to fight, and she genuinely doesn’t want to hurt anyone. This does not mean that she won’t. It just means it’s at the bottom of a long list of options.

But why crime? She could have easily found a way to go straight, even if it meant dodging the Agency for the rest of her life. Because it’s fun. It’s always an intellectual challenge. A puzzle to be solved. She may not be a remorseless psychopath like her father and sister, but she’s not as different from those two as she thinks. Her opposition to unnecessary violence and killing isn’t from a functioning conscience. She doesn’t have one of those. It’s an intellectual and ideological opposition. She isn’t squeamish. She doesn’t think they’re evil, wrong, and bad. Well, there are scientific ethics to think about, but that’s not a moral code. She’s opposed to unnecessary violence and killing because they’re a sign of sloppiness. If you have to resort to violence to achieve your goal, you have failed to plan, prepare, equip yourself, or execute the plan properly. Unless of course violence is the goal, in which case it’s resorting to additional violence that marks you as having failed somewhere along the way.

[EternalPhoenix]

Sorellanza (Oriana Bianchi)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180

 

STR: +5 (10/20), DEX: +5 (20), CON: +1 (12), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +0/+6, Fort: +5, Ref: +12, Will: +7

 

Skills: Acrobatics 10 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disable Device 13 (+15), Escape Artist 5 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 8 (+10), Knowledge (tactics) 3 (+5), Language 6 (+6), Notice 13 (+15), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 6 (+15)

 

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (ranged) 5, Defensive Attack, Distract (Bluff), Dodge Focus 5, Equipment 2, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Silenced Sniper Rifle (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Taser (Stun 6)), Improved Initiative, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Bluff, Disable Device, Notice, Stealth), Ultimate Effort (Aim), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Arsenal (Device 6) (Hard to lose; Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

   Arsenal (Array 12) (default power: blast)

      Flash Bang (Dazzle 6) (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - auditory, DC 16; Burst Area (30 ft. radius - General))

      High Explosive (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21; Burst Area (20-150 ft. radius - General); Progression, Decrease Area 2 (-2 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 2 (area x5), Triggered 2 (any trigger))

      Silenced Machine Gun (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Silenced Sniper Rifle (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21; Penetrating [5 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet), Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Sleep Gas Grenade (Fatigue 6) (Array; DC 16; Cloud Area (30 ft. diameter, lingers - General), Range (ranged))

      Smoke Grenade (Obscure 6) (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - olfactory, Radius: 250 ft.; Duration (continuous), Total Fade; Fades)

      Taser (Stun 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Taser (Stun 6)); Range (ranged))

Child Sized (Shrinking 4) (-4 STR, -1 Toughness, -1 size category, 3/4 movement speed; Permanent; Innate)

Cybernetics (Container, Passive 6)

   Cybernetic Eyes (Super-Senses 5) (distance sense, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, ultravision)

   Internal Smartphone (Features 1)

   Leaping Boost (Leaping 3) (Jumping distance: x10)

   Might Boost (Super-Strength 1) (+5 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 600 lbs; +1 STR to some checks)

   Speed Boost (Speed 3) (Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd)

   Strength Boost (Enhanced Strength 10) (+10 STR)

   Sub-dermal Armor (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness)

 

Equipment: Mission Specific Equipment 10

 

Attack Bonus: +7 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +7, Grapple: +7/+8)

 

Attacks: Flash Bang (Dazzle 6) (DC Fort/Ref 16), High Explosive (Blast 6) (DC 21), Silenced Machine Gun (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Silenced Sniper Rifle (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Sleep Gas Grenade (Fatigue 6) (DC Fort 16), Taser (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +7 (DC 20)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +4), Size: Small, Knockback: -2

 

Initiative: +9

 

Languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian Native, Portuguese, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 30 + Skills 24 (96 ranks) + Feats 25 + Powers 61 + Combat 24 + Saves 16 + Drawbacks 0 = 180

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 22 (chronological) 8-10 (appearance/biological)

Height: 4’ 3”

Weight: 55 lbs

Ethnicity: Italian

Hair: Dirty Blonde

Eyes: Hazel

 

Background: Sorellanza means sisterhood, or sorority in Italian. It is a very appropriate codename for Oriana Bianchi. Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Democratica (or SISDE), Italy’s domestic intelligence agency at the time, had developed a program that used bleeding edge medical science, cybernetics, pharmacology, and psychological brainwashing to convert young girls into loyal cyborg assassins. These girls (known collectively as La Sorellanza) and their mostly male handlers  did a lot of good work fighting terrorism and the Mafia, and played a key role in finally ending the Years of Lead (roughly 1968-1988). They also did a lot of shady and outright evil shit to keep their existence secret and maintain the SISDE’s power. Methion had known they were up to no good for some time, but that was true of several intelligence agencies. It wasn’t something new. It was when his agents discovered proof that the child cyborg assassins running around Italy did not belong to the Mafia or the infamous Agency, but the SISDE that he set dominos into motion. This lead to most of the SISDE’s dirty laundry being exposed, and in 2007 the intelligence agency was shut down and reconfigured into the modern day Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (or AISI). The Sorellanza girls, however, he carefully protected from discovery, intending to take them for himself. Making sure that the SISDE’s leadership knew this even he will admit was a mistake.

The dying SISDE ordered the liquidation of the Sorellanza girls, apparently out of overly possessive spite. This did not go as planned. The handlers were not all sociopathic or hardened enough to casually murder their long term and/or adorable partners, and some of the girls (being combat veterans) saw it coming. The result was a complete shitshow, with several handlers being killed and the surviving girls (some of them much older than they appeared) disappearing into the global underworld. So the big question is, what happened to them all? Oriana was one of the youngest and newest at that time, but time is unkind to even the best of us. A decade and no longer associating with each other did much to thin their numbers.

Oriana was the Sin-sations team member who neither Methion nor Photophobia found. The Strength Revolution is always on the lookout for new recruits, and the jaded young woman in a girl’s body responded to equivalent of a help wanted ad. She expected to serve under Walter Mackey, but he got word to Methion through Katrea about the inhumanly capable and mature little girl. Soon, the last known member of the Sorellanza girls was playing bodyguard to a group of pop starlets. It has become, rather unexpectedly, a place to truly call home. Oriana doesn’t quite know how to feel about that yet, but she has taken the old name for all of them as her codename. Maybe, just maybe, a few of her older “sisters” will come join her here. If any of them are still alive.

For the record, the drugs and brainwashing erased Oriana’s memory of her life before becoming one of the Sorellanza girls. She does not even remember her original name. If the few of them who retained any knowledge of the prior lives is any indication, this is a blessing. The SISDE selected their Sorellanza candidates from hideously abused orphans, victims of human trafficking, and worse. Girls who no one wanted, and who no one would miss. The number of such girls was thin in Italy by itself, but across the entire EU there were naturally more. And the SISDE could easily slip across the Mediterranean to North African and check there, as well. Truthfully, Oriana does not know if she is actually Italian, or if this is a cover to prevent her original identity being traced. She is fairly certain that it doesn’t matter anymore. It certainly doesn’t to her.

 

Powers & Tactics: Oriana is a cyborg, but not entirely of the usual technological type. Her eyes are electronic replacements, yes, but the rest of her upgrades are biological, if grown in a lab. To get all of this to function and to avoid her immune system rejecting any of it, she was injected and infused with a massive amount of chemicals and drugs. The end result was that her ability to physiologically grow and mature was completely destroyed. So while she may have physical abilities that completely outstrip any unpowered pre pubescent child, unlike any of them she will never actually grow up. Additionally, her maximum lifespan has been reduced by anywhere from one third to one half. This is actually superior to the entirely technological version of the process. The girls still grew. The cybernetics did not.

The biochemical replacements make her stronger, faster, and a higher jumper than even unpowered grown adults. She can mostly keep up with your average automobile or simply flip it off the wheels. She’s also got fibers weaved underneath her skin that increase her resistance to damage. Her Cybereyes increase the distance she can see, add multiple spectrums, and measure distances accurately. She can even function as her own smartphone.

She carries a small arsenal of customized weaponry. Flash Bangs, High Explosives (with any trigger she chooses), a Silenced Submachine Gun, a Silenced Sniper Rifle, Sleep Gas Grenades, Smoke Grenades, and a Taser.

 

Tactically, Oriana has a significant number of options that depend on the current mission. Spying, theft, and sabotage rarely require the use of firearms, after all. And even High Explosives aren’t often needed. The Taser, Smoke Grenades, and Sleep Gas Grenades get the most use in this case. She tries to avoid open combat, striking from Stealth whenever possible. And with Hide In Plain Sight, that’s pretty often. The Flash Bangs and Smoke Grenades are useful for escapes. Lastly, for assassinations she’s either Bluffing the target into thinking she’s harmless and Tricking them into getting too close and sudden SMG burst. Or she’s using one sniper shot from over 200 feet away. Or a set of High Explosives triggers when the target turns their car on. Whatever gets the job done. She never power stunts.

 

Personality: Oriana is done. Burnt out and tired of all the bullshit that comes with looking like a kid while being an adult. She’s more jaded than Dream Girl, if you can believe it. The part of her that gives a damn about stuff is basically broken. Her ability to make emotional connections is severely atrophied from disuse. The only reason she continues to exist is her job. Her purpose in life. To use her weapons and her skills to rain death and destruction upon anyone her partner/client/squad captain designates. She just...doesn’t care about anything else. Well. There is one thing. Don’t treat her like a child. It drivesher batshit crazy. There’s a literally murderous temper underneath that comes out when people push that button hard or often enough.

Because she was,  in fact, a child. A child who something horrifying happened to. A child who was then turned into a living weapon in service of the SISDE’s goals. Even if one erases the worst memories, the trauma still happened. Their neurology has still altered in response. Drugs and brainwashing don’t fix that. And then she was stuck being a freelance mercenary who looked like a vulnerable child for a decade and a half. She’s not okay. She’s got several trauma responses to seemingly innocuous things. She’ll never willingly get into a red Ferrari. She has to restrain herself from shooting tall, blonde, and physical fit men in sunglasses. Recordings (not live performances) of any music written by Antonio Vivaldi can send her into a full panic attack. She is genuinely not okay, but she’s doing this thing called masking. Because, well, her entire life so far (the parts she actually remembers) have decided not rewarded having a breakdown on the sidewalk. So she sucks it up and collapses later. Alone, in a confirmed safe place.

[EternalPhoenix]

Squad C (The Watchdogs)

 

Overview

 

These are the hacktivists. For better and for worse. Digital Shadow, Dusk Widow, and Eclipse have been working together off and on for years. Wisecracker and Tsurugi are a relatively new partnership, but they work together very well. They were brought in due to Aeon. Digital Shadow had done plenty of contract work for the STG, and Aeon was his contact. They’ve known each other for longer than Digital Shadow has been Digital Shadow, so it makes sense. After Squad B (The Sin-sations) had entered their trial period, Valine still felt the need to expand the STG. Aeon recommended her old friend Digital Shadow, as he’d done good work for them before. He recommended his usual working partners in Dusk Widow and Eclipse. There were still two short. Aeon did some slight digging and found Wisecracker, who brought along Tsurugi.

The Watchdogs are spies, saboteurs, vigilantes, assassins, and (oddly enough) recruiters. That last one requires a little explaining. Every member of the squad is a member of the Numbers. Aeon herself is essentially a founding member of that group. The Numbers are a loosely affiliated computer engineer/programmer/hacker collective. They’re not all criminals. Some are just hobbyists and/or enthusiasts. They are not centralized and there is no hierarchy, let alone any official leadership. It’s completely anarchic, but it works specifically because the specific type of idiot who doesn’t know how to shut up and listen when they’re ignorant on a topic instead of waste everyone’s time with inaccurate information tend to get drummed out in a hurry. The internet can be downright nasty to dumbasses who confuse persistence for being properly informed. Anyway. Having professional supervillains (with apologies to Digital Shadow, who doesn’t consider himself one but dude you are) as known members of the Numbers makes them more attractive to potential members. Aeon is well regarded for her skills and longevity, but also is publically known to be a member of the Strength Revolution. As they have a reputation for terrorism and murder, this is not a good look. Furthermore, she’s seen as kind of an old school supervillain. That corny 60s/70s style stuff. Yanno, flashy costume, flashy powers, moustache twirling, maybe some bwahaha? Super uncool. The Watchdogs do not have either drawback, so they can both bring in more people to the Numbers and recruit more militant numbers members into the Revolution.

 

Tactics

 

The Watchdogs put in a lot of effort to stay under the radar when it comes to superheroes and law enforcement. Between Digital Shadow and Wisecracker, no computer system is safe from their spying or simply covering their tracks. Dusk Widow and Eclipse can infiltrate just about any location successfully. And Tsurugi is there to kick the shit out of any heroes the other four can’t handle should things go FUBAR. Eclipse is the team assassin, though Digital Shadow and Dusk Widow are capable of filling the role. Wisecracker isn’t opposed to killing but she’s uh…a little too chaotic to be an assassin. And absolutely nobody wants Tsurugi to start intentionally killing people. She’s scary enough.

[EternalPhoenix]

Digital Shadow (Marcus Pierce)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +7 (24), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +2 (14)

 

Tough: +2/+5, Fort: +5, Ref: +12, Will: +7

 

Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Computers 13 (+20), Craft (electronic) 8 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 3 (+10), Diplomacy 8 (+10), Disable Device 8 (+15), Drive 2 (+5), Gather Information 13 (+15), Knowledge (current events) 3 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 8 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 8 (+15), Language 5 (+5), Notice 8 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Sleight of Hand 7 (+10), Stealth 12 (+15)

 

Feats: Attack Focus (ranged) 4, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 5, Eidetic Memory, Improved Critical 2 (Blaster Shot (Blast 6)), Inventor, Master Plan, Online Research, Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs Ballistic and Piercing), Skill Mastery (Computers, Disable Device, Gather Info, KN (tech)), Ultimate Effort (Computers skill checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed

 

Powers:

Concealed Body Armor (Device 1) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))

   Protection 2 (+2 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs Ballistic and Piercing); Subtle (subtle))

Custom Smartphone (Device 6) (Easy to lose)

   Custom Apps (Array 12) (default power: esp)

      Hack The World (Datalink 6) (Array; sense type: radio; Omni-Directional Area; Machine Control, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Hidden Observation (ESP 5) (Default; affects: 2 types, inc. visual; No Conduit, Simultaneous; Medium; Subtle 2 (unnoticable), Notes: Medium of Technology)

      Maximum Privacy Worm (Concealment 10) (Array; all senses; Limited to Machines; Close Range)

      Shutdown Worm Blitz (Nullify 6) (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - technology, DC 16; Burst Area (10-3000 ft. radius - General); Range (touch); Progression, Decrease Area 4 (-4 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 6 (area x100), Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Targeted Shutdown Worm (Nullify 6) (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - technology, DC 16; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate (+2), Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable), Triggered 2 (any trigger))

   Remote (Features 1) (Notes: Functions like a “universal remote control” in relationship to machines that include such capabilities, turning them on or off or controlling them like a regular remote would.)

   Still A Smartphone (Features 1) (Notes: Full functionality of a masterwork smartphone.)

Heavy Blaster (Device 4) (Easy to lose)

   Blaster Shot (Blast 6) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Blaster Shot (Blast 6)); Accurate (+2), Homing (1 attempt), Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Stun Shot (Stun 6) (Alternate; DC 16; Range (ranged); Accurate (+2))

Masterwork Baton (Device 1) (Easy to lose)

   Baton Strike (Strike 2) (DC 19; Accurate 2 (+4), Mighty)

 

Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +6, Grapple: +8)

 

Attacks: Baton Strike (Strike 2), +10 (DC 19), Blaster Shot (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Shutdown Worm Blitz (Nullify 6) (DC Will 16), Stun Shot (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Targeted Shutdown Worm (Nullify 6), +12 (DC Will 16), Unarmed Attack, +6 (DC 17)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -2

 

Initiative: +3

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Japanese, Russian, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 29 (116 ranks) + Feats 19 + Powers 38 + Combat 26 + Saves 17 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019): 42

Height: 6’ 3”

Weight: 215 lbs.

Ethnicity: African American

Hair: Black

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: Marcus Pierce is the single longest tenured computer hacker in the world. He has never been interrupted by imprisonment or fleeing the authorities. They simply can’t find him. 20 unbroken years of seeking justice and sticking it to The Man. They don’t even know his real name or what he looks like. He has more than earned his catchphrase. You can’t catch a digital shadow. Part of this has been luck, especially in the early running. But more and more it’s because he’s not a pure black hat. His black hat hacking (theft, destroying digital property, etc) only keeps him in funds to pursue his white hat hacking (exposing secrets to law enforcement and the media, repairing gaps in the digital security of charities, etc).

It ain’t easy being Black in America. It’s tempting to say everything started when the supervillain Aeon came to crash on his couch back when he was 18 and an underclassman at MIT. But naw. It started with being born. Chicago. The Southside. Poor, Black, shitty neighborhood. You know how it goes. Childhood was aight, personally speaking. Extended family caught some bullshit, but that’s life. But you start looking even a little bit like a man? In that neighborhood? Cops start thinking you fit the profile. Lil’ white ladies stay away from you on the street. Store clerks eyeball you like you walked in naked and female instead of Black and male. So yeah, for Marcus it started early. Because he wasn’t just Black and male. He was damn smart, too. He has to mind his Ps and Qs. Can’t piss off the cops. Can’t piss off the gangs. Gotta stay outta trouble, or he’d have been just another statistic. All while knowing damn well that the city, state, and federal governments could be doing better for those left in poverty. He had a plan, and it wasn’t community organizing. See the murder of Fred Hampton. Beyond perfect GPA+the right extracurriculars+no trouble in his background=easy scholarship bait.

So he’s at MIT. Joined the fledgling Numbers. Earned a little respect maybe. And a bonafide celebrity in the group needed a place to crash. One small problem. She’s a known supervillain. Name and (costumed) face all over the news. Nobody who had the space wanted her, and nobody who’d take her had the space. Except Marcus. So Courtney Halloran came to stay with Marcus Pierce. They got along like a house on fire. People thought he’d gotten an older girlfriend, but it wasn’t like that. Okay it was a little like that. Because he was 18 and she was a) reasonably attractive, b)nice to him, and c) apparently not a huge fan of pants when relaxing at home. Nothing ever happened, though, because they were simply t0o different. Courtney was a full eight years older, which is a hell of a lot when you’re 18. And the cultural differences between a a woman from the suburban Mid-West and a young man from the Southside of Chicago were stark. Maybe a decade or two later, something would have sparked, but in the late 90s? Nah. They were just friends. They talked about a lot of things. How they grew up. The supervillain lifestyle. Hell, computer engineering/programming/hacking. Of course, nothing in this life lasts forever. About a year later Valine came calling for a new STG member, and she moved out.

Digital Shadow was born once Marcus got his Bachelor’s in Computer Programming. 1999 was a banner year for computer security and computer hacking. Digital Shadow was just one of the crowd, notable only for his refusal to be purely black or white hat. But his reputation grew, and his catchphrase began to circulate. Ironically, the originator was found and jailed on suspicion of being him. In 2001, he got his Masters degree and 9/11 changed everything. In 2003, Anonymous was founded in response to the growing membership of the Numbers. In 2005, he launched the info trading bulletin board Shadowland. It was instantly populated by the Numbers, members of Anonymous, and others interested in truth. Wikileaks, launched the year after, was left chagrined. The hacktivist Digital Shadow was now a figure mentioned occasionally on the nightly news, along with his one man operation in Shadowland. Shadowland does not and never has had servers. Marcus essentially used cloud computing to solve the somewhat intractable problem of needing eventually traceable servers for his web site. Crib a little storage and processing power from a few million computers via a virus, what could go wrong? A lot, actually, but Marcus is a genuine genius programmer. And he had access to the hive mind of the Numbers to help him.

Name a scandal, Shadowland probably broke it first or had it stolen out from under them. The problem was that there were for every one that got out, there were a dozen that just…didn’t seem to matter. Corruption and cronyism. Marcus was devoting his life to exposing the ugly truth behind what a lot of wealthy people, corporations, and/or authority figures were up to. But apparently money and personal loyalty trumped (ironically enough considering a certain NYC real estate mogul) facts. So Digital Shadow started taking matters into his own hands. Because if the law won’t do it, than the citizens must. Also, you know, fuck the police in general. So Digital Shadow went from computer hacker to vigilante. Not superhero. Vigilante. The goal wasn’t murder or even killing anyone at all. It was to cause just enough of a ruckus that superheroes or the few members of law enforcement who weren’t bastards could step in. This, uh, wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped. Mostly because various security forces and guards were all too happy to fill him to attempt to with bullets, when they weren’t trying to bounce his head off something hard. Like their fists. Or the pavement. After a few hairy escapes, Marcus decided to stop playing nice. He went full violent vigilante, but his only kills were in self defense. Well. Sometimes this was pre-emptive self defense. This did not endear him to law enforcement. The FBI in particular. Digital Shadow made the Most Wanted List. He’s never left.

Time went on. He got definitively captured by Dusk Widow. Kind of embarrassing, actually. A terrible misunderstanding that they cleared up while he was disarmed and tied up. Then they started working together sometimes. He deduced she was CIA by the simple virtue of nobody else keeps their identities so secret (FBI, DEA, etc provide cover IDs most can’t penetrate) and also works in the field (which rules out most of the rest of the alphabet soup). He didn’t tell her, as that seemed…unwise. In 2012, she brought in Eclipse (it was easy to track down that he was Delta Force). Thus the original Watchdogs were formed. It was at this point where Marcus had to leave administration of Shadowland to others. Because the FBI was using his update posts to track him and persecute the law-abiding membership. When it comes to catching criminals, there is no low the fibbies won’t sink to when pressed. Still, it left more time for his work with the Watchdogs. Which, arguably, is what made Aeon think of him. At least, that’s what he thought.

Marcus had done some work for hire for her and Valine in the past, it was true. So had a lot of other people. He didn’t know what made him special. It wasn’t uncommon to have friends in the biz, either. He didn’t want special treatment because of it. Then he met Valine and instantly understood. They were both crusaders. He could work with this. Obviously he would bring along Dusk Widow and Eclipse. Aeon asked around the numbers and found Wisecracker, who brought Tsurugi. Boom, Squad C. The Watchdogs. Three years together have refined their teamwork to a razor’s edge. They do good work. Marcus is well pleased. After all, you can’t catch a Digital Shadow…or his Watchdogs.

 

Powers & Tactics: Digital Shadow has no superhuman powers, which would surprise some folks at the FBI. He is, however, a genius computer hacker and tech specialist with four special devices. Three of these are relatively simple. His Concealed Body Armor that increases his resistance to damage (especially to gunfire, arrows, and piercing blades). His Masterwork Baton is basically a fancy club that aids accuracy. And his Heavy Blaster is his mark of rank. Anyone in the know about Strength Revolution hierarchy will recognize the symbol on it as marking him as being in the third tier. The first being Methion himself and the second being Serine, Valine, and Katrea. It has a damage setting and a stun setting. Both use pure force to do their work.

It is his Custom Smartphone which is special, and the core of everything he does. Naturally, it still functions as a Masterwork Smartphone. However, it also functions as a universal Remote, able to turn off anything that can be turned off with a remote control, and has several Custom Apps that demonstrate his mastery of hacking and coding. Hidden Observation lets him look or listen safely through any digital camera or microphone within five miles of him. Maximum Privacy Word conceals him from any such devices in the area, including any security sensors. Shutdown Worm Blitz and Targeted Shutdown Worm differ only in their targeted methodology, as they both attempt to deactivate any technological devices or electronics they target. Shutdown Worm Blitz ccovers an area anywhere from 20 feet to over a mile in diameter. Targeted Shutdown Worm is single target and can be either used immediately or set up to trigger late for any reason Digital Shadow might desire. Hack The World is the final App, and it basically allows him to hack any electronic or mechanical device within 20 miles. And the use of each App is only detectable to specialized senses that must also be quite keen.

 

Tactically, Digital Shadow is a pain in the ass. He can do most of what he does very remotely and he’s extremely difficult to detect while he’s doing it. Seriously, Hack The World covers like 2/3s of everything he does.  Hidden Observation lets him scout in complete safety when he does have to make a personal appearance. Maximum Privacy Worm keeps him off any electronic records as he sneaks in. Targeted Shutdown Worm is great for sabotage. Shutdown Worm Blitz can shut down anywhere from one block to half a city. Seriously, his entire combat style revolves around avoiding combat though such methods of simply not being any potential combat area and giving heroes something to occupy their attention that isn’t him. Because without those tactics he’s just some dude with a blaster and he’s well aware of it.

This works even in on Watchdogs missions. He’s the mastermind and mission control. If he’s in sustained combat that he can’t get out of, he has severely screwed up. He knows the value of cover, but mostly he’s seeking to get the hell out of there. He absolutely will use Shutdown Worm Blitz at full power and blackout half a city if pressed. It’s not that he won’t shoot his Heavy Blaster, it’s that he works very hard so that he doesn’t have to. Don’t forget that he absolutely has a Master Plan (+2 to his and his allies’ check for three rounds and +1 for one round) and an Invention (15 PP’s worth of electronic doohickey) ready to go if he’s on a mission.

 

Personality: Marcus Pierce was a good man, once. But now? Not so much. Though that depends, one supposes, on how you measure what a good man is. Because what would you do, if you were a person who believed in truth and saw a world slipping into lies? You’d do something about it. But. What if you succeeded again and again? Shone the bright light of truth on the dirty deeds of corrupt and wicked men? Exposed all of their lies and manipulations? And it just…didn’t matter? How long can you stare into the abyss of darkness and evil before it eats you? And what if that’s not the end of you? What if you have to live with that? To say that Marcus is angry really doesn’t capture it. You have to get hyperbolic. He is howling, vehement rage in the shell of a man, rigidly controlled by an incredible genius intellect. Because you can’t show truth to people who just. Don’t want to see it. And if you start destroying the organizations and people responsible, you’re the bad guy.

Marcus is the single scariest member of his squad and indeed one of the scariest in the entire Strength Revolution. Not because he’s particularly intimidating personally, and not because he’s an incredibly dangerous killer. Because sometimes he just goes cold and you can see that his heart has rotted away and even his faith in a better world through truth has faded leaving just that howling, vehement rage against the endless parade of lies, bullshit, and systemic injustice. All seems to be left of the man he started as is a virtually incomparably brilliant and devious mind, almost stripped of anything resembling conscience or morality. It seems, sometimes, that he’ll do anything to make sure the truth wins out and justice is done. Even if he has do it himself.

[EternalPhoenix]

Dusk Widow (Ishani Dhawan)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +2/+5, Fort: +7, Ref: +12, Will: +8

 

Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Computers 9 (+10), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disable Device 14 (+15), Disguise 12 (+15), Gather Information 12 (+15), Knowledge (current events) 9 (+10), Knowledge (tactics) 9 (+10), Language 6 (+6), Medicine 3 (+5), Notice 13 (+15), Sense Motive 13 (+15), Sleight of Hand 12 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15)

 

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (ranged) 2, Attack Specialization (Unarmed Attack), Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 3, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Spider Blast (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Spider Toxin (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Web Blast (Snare 6)), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Change, Quick Draw, Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs Ballistic and Piercing), Skill Mastery 2 (Acrobatics, Bluff, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Gather Info, Notice, Sense Motive, Ste, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed

 

Powers:

Concealed Body Armor (Device 1) (Hard to lose)

   Protection 2 (+2 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs Ballistic and Piercing); Subtle (subtle))

Immunity 1 (poison)

Spider Blasters (Device 5) (Easy to lose)

   Blaster Settings (Array 10) (default power: blast)

      Spider Blast (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Spider Blast (Blast 6)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5))

      Spider Paralyze (Paralyze 6) (Array; DC 16; Range (ranged); Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Spider Slumber (Fatigue 6) (Array; DC 16; Range (ranged); Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

      Spider Toxin (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Spider Toxin (Blast 6)); Alternate Save (Fortitude))

      Web Blast (Snare 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Web Blast (Snare 6)); Transparent)

      Web Lines (Linked)

         Speed 3 (Linked; Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd)

         Super-Movement 4 (Linked; slow fall, swinging, wall-crawling 2 (full speed))

 

Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +10, Grapple: +12)

 

Attacks: Spider Blast (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Spider Paralyze (Paralyze 6), +12 (DC Staged/Will 16), Spider Slumber (Fatigue 6), +12 (DC Fort 16), Spider Toxin (Blast 6), +12 (DC Fort 21), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17), Web Blast (Snare 6), +12 (DC Ref/Staged 16)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -2

 

Initiative: +7

 

Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, Persian, Russian, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 26 + Skills 40 (160 ranks) + Feats 21 + Powers 20 + Combat 38 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019):

Height: 5’ 3”

Weight: 115 lbs.

Ethnicity: Indian-American

Hair: Black

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: Ishani Dhawan has a lot of red in her ledger. She had a relatively normal childhood and normal young adulthood, at least until she joined the CIA. She ended up recruited as a Paramilitary Operations Officer who was assigned to the Special Activities Division (now Center), specifically in the Special Operations Group. This was somewhat unusual, as she hadn’t served in within the US Special Operations community at all. In fact, she was a college graduate with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree and no time spent in state or federal service at all. The SAC/SOG is a secretive and reclusive group, to say the least, and they notably don’t normally recruit mundane civilians. So it’s baffling why she’d be recruited…until you look at what her degrees are in (a bachelor’s in computer programming and a master’s in political science specializing in international relations), her extracurriculars (black belts in Krav Maga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, significant training in wrestling and boxing, and stellar performances at several international shooting competitions with both FISU and the ISSF), and her family history (until her parents’ generation, a Dhawan or ancestor thereof had served with distinction in one military or another as far back as records go, which is prior to the birth of the Dutch East India Company). She was a hell of a hard worker with solid natural aptitudes. Her initial training proved she had what it took to be an excellent CIA Officer, and SAC/SOG nabbed her relatively quickly.

The things she did as a Paramilitary Operations Officer are about as classified as it’s possible to be. She doesn’t talk about them. Any of them. But given what SAC/SOG is known to do, she basically done everything the worst of supervillains might do. Lying to gain trust, manipulating people, unlawful infiltration, theft, espionage, torture, and even murder. Except she did them for her country and not for her own personal benefit. How that makes it any better, she doesn’t know. She just knows she saved lives in the process, and that has to be enough. She’s the only one to ever successfully catch Marcus Peters, alias Digital Shadow. And that was because she was operating domestically at the time in the guise of Dusk Widow, a occasionally appearing superhero. Even though the CIA isn’t supposed to operate domestically, they do keep a small number of Officers available to assist the FBI and various other federal agencies. Also, c’mon. It’s the CIA. Of course they have their own domestic operations they don’t tell anybody about. Especially in a superpowered world. She wasn’t actually trying to catch him, which is how she did it. They happened to be after the same target, and collided. She didn’t even know who he was until later. Let’s You And Him Fight, except she paralyzed him with one shot so it wasn’t actually a fight. And like all of those classic situations, it led to a team up where they took down the bad guy in question.

She didn’t report him. Not her job, really. Especially if she kept him on as her own asset. Which she did. It was mutually beneficial. They provided each other with information and backup. It wasn’t, however, quite enough. Two people were not quite enough to investigate the explosive growth of the supers scene that started in 2009. She wasn’t the only SAC/SOG Officer on the case, but they were stretched thin as always due to their miniscule numbers. So she called in a couple of favors from her early days. Sergeant First Class-oh, excuse her-Master Sergeant Adam Holloway had moved up in the world since she’d seen him last as a Green Beret, deep in Afghanistan. He was Delta Force now, and exactly what she needed. Her first called in favor got him assigned to her as part of a pilot program named Operation Eclipse. The second got him his current set of gear. If this was going to work, Dusk Widow needed a partner. Hello, Eclipse.

Speaking of Dust Widow, this identity was not created for Ishani. Rather, it belonged originally to Nikki Brown, a fledgling gadgeteer hero. She was also Ishani’s first asset on her mission. With a CIA Officer at her back, she should have been set to be a big name on the hero scene in time. Unfortunately, like so many, she did not get out of her first year. A certain sociopathic gang leader with superhuman strength and regenerative powers (driven out of another city by its heroes) stormed the original Dusk Widow’s neighborhood, sought her out, and beat the rookie heroine to death to establish dominance. Ishani, annoyed and (not that she’d admit it to herself) grieving for Nikki and what she could have been, took a week and a half to seduce and brutally murder (five bullets to the head and turning his neck into sashimi with a meat cleaver was just enough to exsanguinate him before he healed) the son of a bitch at one of her safehouses. Then she retrieved Nikki’s Spider Blasters from his gang’s hideout and instigated a shootout between said gang and the police, escaping in the resulting chaos. She is not pretending to be Nikki. She is pretending to be her friend and successor. This is not as much of a lie as she pretends it is.

4 years after recruiting Eclipse into the partnership, Digital Shadow was unexpectedly recruited by the Strength Revolution’s Special Tactics Group, thanks to their member Aeon. The duo turned trio had chased down a lot of leads as to the source of the explosive growth of the supers scene that started in 2009, as well as done quite a bit of Digital Shadow’s preferred investigative vigilantism. Ishani didn’t mind, as investigative vigilantism was basically in her job description, with the minor technicality of “don’t do it in the US” that she was pretending didn’t exist. She has kept up her usual steady stream of reports since, but has not mentioned that The Watchdogs are actually STG Squad C to her superiors. They’re not doing anything different from before, so it’s fine. Or so she says. The truth is that she’s wildly exceeded her authority and is just as wildly counting on the fact that she’s getting results to keep her from being disavowed and hunted down. Truthfully, the CIA knows they don’t have to lift a finger. Either she’ll keep providing excellent intel from deep within the supers scene, or she’ll be captured and imprisoned in which case they can easily disavow.

 

Powers & Tactics: Dusk Widow has one minor metahuman power, and two technological devices. Her metahuman power is a complete immunity to mundane poisons. Her liver and kidneys are friggin’ incredible at processing out foreign chemicals before they can measurably affect her. Ironically, she’s never noticed this, as she’s never been much of a drinker nor ever needed significant pain relief as adult. Her parents certainly thought it was weird, though, when she was sick as a kid and children’s acetaminophen did nothing. This ignorance is actually rather dangerous; as she can’t have surgical procedures (normal anesthesia won’t work) and a severe enough infection will kill her because she’ll process out normal antibiotics too fast for them to have an effect. She’d need Morgan Knight’s special grade stuff for anything to have an effect, and saying that’s restricted is like saying water is slightly moist.

Her two devices are a set of Concealed Body Armor that increases her resistance to damage (especially to gunfire, arrows, and piercing blades) and the Spider Blasters. They’re a pair of matched custom blasters, and have an astonishing six standard settings (hinting at the late Nikki Brown’s potential for greatness). The base effect is Spider Blast, multiple shots from each Blaster. This is a damaging electrical effect. Spider Paralyze, on the other hand, is a blast of microwave radiation that can render a target immobile with pain. Spider Slumber is an infrared radiation effect that can render targets unconscious. Spider Toxin is deliberately misnamed. It’s a potent blast of gamma radiation that can cook the target from the inside out. Web Blast is even more deliberately misnamed, because it’s not chemical adhesives. It captures the target in a lattice of hard light webbing. Only the target can break it, as the lattice is too fine and flexible to be damage from outside. The last setting is Web Lines, which nanofilament wire, grappling hook anchors, and magnetism to let the user swing around as fast as a car in a city. It also can save from falls and climb up walls at the same speed.

 

Tactically, Dusk Widow is a spy first and foremost. Deception is the order of the day. So she’s using Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, and Stealth to avoid discovery and the ensuing combat as much as possible. Her first priority, should her current objectives be either completed or delayable, is to escape from heroes who confront her. Web Lines gets her away from slower heroes. Spider Paralyze and Web Blast get her away from faster ones. If her current objectives are both incomplete and non delayable, then she fights. No mercy and no pity, but no lethal damage either. Flip through the array, find the setting that works, abuse it, repeat. She’s knowledgeable about heroic archetypes, so she won’t have to flip between settings as much if a targeted hero adheres to one of them. Acrobatic Bluff, Fient, and Taunt are available, if not Improved. She does not power stunt, as that would damage the Spider Blasters and she doesn’t have the tech skills to repair them.

 

Dusk Widow is a level headed, strong willed, independent woman. Otherwise she’s difficult to pin down. Being a spy, especially one as independent as SAC/SOG Officers need to be, results in a certain…flexibility…in one’s personality. She can be just about anything at any time, depending on needs. A few things, however, can be determined. She has courage in spades. She has a snarky, sarcastic sense of humor. Her empathy for her fellow humans is seemingly without limit. The things she’ll do for them are equally without limit.

She joined the CIA to protect people. To be the knife in the dark all evil must fear. And she’s still doing that. She’s not under any illusions that what she’s doing is good or moral, but it is necessary. It has to be. Because otherwise she and just about everyone she knows is a terrible, monstrous person, and that’s not an option she’s willing to accept. She’s also not willing to accept that she’s in way over her head and beholden to two masters now. She desperately hopes she’ll never have to chose between The Watchdogs and the CIA. Because she’s no longer sure what side she’d fall on.

[EternalPhoenix]

Eclipse (Adam Holloway)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +0 (10)

 

Tough: +3/+9, Fort: +6, Ref: +9, Will: +9

 

Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 10 (+10), Craft (electronic) 12 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 12 (+15), Diplomacy 10 (+10), Gather Information 10 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 12 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 12 (+15), Language 2 (+2), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15)

 

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 4, Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Dodge Focus 2, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Silenced Submachine Gun (Blast 4)), Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Change, Quick Draw, Skill Mastery (Craft (elec & mech), Notice, Stealth), Ultimate Effort (Aim), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Saboteur Arsenal (Device 5) (Easy to lose; Custom 5 (Multiple Weapons 5))

   Saboteur Arsenal (Array 11) (default power: blast; Custom (Array 10.5))

      Dart Gun (Paralyze 6) (Array; DC 16; Range (ranged); Improved Range (150 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range (max range x2, 1500 feet), Subtle (subtle))

      Flash Bomb Thrower (Dazzle 7) (Array; affects: visual senses, DC 17; Burst Area (35 ft. radius - General))

      Minigrenade Launcher (Blast 7) (Array; DC 22; Burst Area (35 ft. radius - General))

      Silenced Sniper Rifle (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21; Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet), Subtle (subtle))

      Silenced Submachine Gun (Blast 4) (Array; DC 19, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Silenced Submachine Gun (Blast 4)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate (+2), Precise, Subtle (subtle))

Saboteur Suit (Device 5) (Hard to lose)

   Body Armor (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness)

   Goggles (Super-Senses 4) (extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, ultravision)

   Infiltration Gear (Array 7) (default power: morph)

      Electronic Invisibility (Concealment 10) (Alternate; all senses; Limited to Machines)

      Negative Light Projection (Concealment 4) (Alternate; all visual senses; Passive)

      Holographic Disguise (Morph 6) (Default; morph: broad group - humanoids, +30 Disguise; Precise)

 

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +8, Grapple: +10)

 

Attacks: Dart Gun (Paralyze 6), +12 (DC Staged/Will 16), Flash Bomb Thrower (Dazzle 7) (DC Fort/Ref 17), Minigrenade Launcher (Blast 7) (DC 22), Silenced Sniper Rifle (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Silenced Submachine Gun (Blast 4), +14 (DC 19), Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 17)

 

Defense: +9  (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -4

 

Initiative: +7

 

Languages: English Native, Hebrew, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 32 (128 ranks) + Feats 20 + Powers 40 + Combat 30 + Saves 15 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019):

Height: 6’

Weight: 180 lbs.

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Hair: Light Brown

Eyes: Gray

 

Background: Adam Holloway’s daddy never beat the devil out of him, even after a childhood of trying. Hell, all the Army did was channel that inner bastard into something productive. Killing people the Army needed dead. He enlisted after graduating high school at 18. Took him seven years to get to Sergeant First Class. During that time he attended college at night, graduating with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. Then he joined US Special Forces. The Green Berets. He was assigned to the 3^rd Special Forces Group, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of their Weapons Sergeants. 25 year old sniper par excellence, according to the Army. Which was why he attended Sniper School in Fort Benning, Georgia during his first rotation Stateside.  3^rd SFG do six months in Afghanistan and six months at home. He drew the short straw, leaving soon after joining up. A year later (placing it after Sniper School), 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D, aka Delta Force) put out an ad for new recruits. Adam liked the Green Berets, but the devil inside had grown restless. There was nothing on his record. Yet. But his CO was concerned. Adam worked too hard. He volunteered for extra duties and additional training all the time. And he rarely interacted without anyone outside of professional necessity. His social life, by appearances, did not exist. He was crosstrained well enough to outright replace any other member of his unit, his lower rank aside. It bothered his Captain, and the Lieutenant Colonel in overall command. Adam Holloway drove himself like someone was chasing him with a flaming whip. The hell could make a man do that to himself? But his record was spotless. He was, by all appearances, a hell of a soldier with no apparent psychological issues. So they let him go to Delta Force selection Camp Dawson, West Virginia.

Delta Force selection is four weeks of hell. Most fail. Elite Army Rangers, Green Berets, and other professional badasses physically break during the exhausting physical portion, or mentally crack during the intense interrogation that follows. Adam thrived as if he was born to do the physical portion. It was the interrogation that dragged the devil out of him as he metaphorically kicked and screamed. He didn’t hurt anybody. Didn’t even need to be restrained. But he scared the instructors and psychologists shitless. Delta’s CO, however, grinned fiercely. The Colonel had been looking for a cold bastard, and by god he’d found one. Adam was in. He underwent the Operator Training Course and again thrived. He was assigned to the new (at the time) D Squadron. He served for five years in their reconnaissance and surveillance troop, commanding a team as a promoted Master Sergeant. It was the single best five years of his life. He performed so well, in fact, that he was specially chosen for a pilot program in tandem with the CIA. Named Operation Eclipse, the goal was to infiltrate the supers scene and find out exactly why in blazes it had exploded in the past 3 years (being as this was 2012, 3 years after the founding of the Exiles, and the year after NPC Investigations got up and running; they were not the only ones to surge forward). Adam got special equipment developed by DARPA and met his CIA partner on this operation. Ishani Dhawan, who was already using the codename Dusk Widow.

This was uh, interesting. Adam had been firmly ensconced in the Army and Army life for over a decade now. Living a civilian life, even in the context of a mission, was definitely an adjustment. But he still had a superior, and he still had orders. He was surprised Officer Dhawan remembered him, but that was part of her job, wasn’t it? Remembering people. This mission, in a lot of ways, was more challenging than anything he had done before. Observing and reporting wasn’t new. But combat with superhuman opposition and no backup was. 4 years in, the Colonel retired. The new Colonel made in clear that he was continuing the pilot program just to keep Adam out of the unit. The man had seen his psych eval, and gotten just as alarmed as any normal person would. This was fine with Adam. They (Digital Shadow, Dusk Widow, and Eclipse) had gotten a job offer. He had a feeling his life was about to get even more interesting.

Adam’s feeling was right. In three years of STG work, he’s seen more action than the combined seven years of Delta Force and Green Beret work. His daddy couldn’t beat the devil out of him. The Army could only channel it. But the STG doesn’t have rules like that. He’s pretty sure the new Colonel hasn’t read a single one of his reports. He’d have had less work if the man did. No. The man’s less soldier and more political animal. He’s absolutely read them and is hanging Adam out to dry just to get rid of him. If Eclipse is ever caught, there’s a big pile of reports to bury Adam and the old Colonel under. The longer he spends with the STG, the more he considers doing something about that…

 

Powers & Tactics: Eclipse has no superhuman powers. He only has two devices and the tech skills to maintain and improve upon them should he decide to do so. Though technically his Saboteur Arsenal is five different weapons. They were designed and created by the Defense Sciences Office (or DSO) inside of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (or DARPA).  The Saboteur Arsenal was just some basic engineering work, mostly. It’s the ammunition that’s cutting edge work. A Dart Gun that fires darts coated in a paralytic poison without any long term side effects. A launcher for high powered yet miniaturized Flash Bombs. Another launcher for high powered yet miniaturized Fragmentation Grenades. Two very nice firearms in a Sniper Rifle and Submachine Gun, both fitted with integral silencers.

It is the Saboteur Suit that has a wonder of electronic engineering. The Body Armor is well made, offering more resilency and flexibility than standard issue military body armor. And Goggles are also cutting edge, extending the wearer’s vision while expanding visual senses into the infrared and ultraviolet ranges. It is, however, the Infiltration Gear that rides the bleeding edge of current technology. It’s pure holographic tech, confiscated from a now deceased supervillain years ago and refined since. Thought DARPA and the DSO did get a bit overzealous on seeking mass production methods. Eclipse had to make significant alterations so that it would consistently function and not be as heavy on drain the power supply. There are two possible functions. Holographic Disguise is just that. Only the keenest of eyes can pierce through the disguising holograms and see Eclipse beneath. Alternatively, the holograms can hide him from all technological equipment, as well as the eyes of any organics. The latter effect is unfortunately broken by the higher level of movement required to attack a target. Not that it can’t be reactivated, of course, but still.

 

Tactically, it depends. Eclipse is either on sniper overwatch or using Holographic Disguise to infiltrate. As a sniper, he’s not about to betray his position by using anything but the Silenced Sniper Rifle or Dart Gun. Normally, this means he’s at least 200 feet away from where the team is operating reporting to them important details of what he sees. If an infilitration operation is blown, however, things change. If there’s no chance of salvaging the operation’s goals, then it’s time for escape and evasion. If he personally isn’t discovered, he’ll just slip away to start sniper overwatch. It’s when he is discovered that the other weapons come out. Flash Bomb Launcher and the Dart Gun are useful here, as well as the Silenced Submachine Gun. And of course, groups of enemies can be targeted with Minigrenade Launcher. If the enemies are known supervillains or prominent crime figures, he’ll absolutely kill them if they don’t back off. Heroes and law enforcement he keeps to nonlethal with. Improved Acrobatic Bluff and Stealth are his best friends in combat. All Out Attack is only used when sniping. He has no power stunts available.

 

Personality: Eclipse is very psychologically unusual. His precise mental disorder (or disorders) is unclear, as he displays elements of Borderline Personality Disorder and Partial Dissociative Identity Disorder. For the former, the self harm (via intensive exercise and repetitive training) and dangerous behaviors (he’s slowly worked his way from regular soldier to elite soldier used for difficult missions to super elite soldier used for impossible missions to essentially a professional supervillain working for some of the most dangerous people in the world), along with the expected unstable interpersonal relationships (note the lack of any familial, platonic, or romantic relationships mentioned in Background) and distorted sense of self (the whole “devil” thing). The latter is only partial because he remembers the incidents when his “devil” comes out and while he admits to not fully being in control during these events, he does not distinguish it as a completely separate person from himself. Said “devil” apparently has Antisocial Personality Disorder (or sociopathy) and is disturbingly sadistic and capable of extreme violence. It isn’t so much a different personality (his body language, mannerisms, and speech patterns are the same) so much as the humanity simply falling off him in terrifying fashion.

In practice, he’s a stoic ultra professional soldier type who doesn’t talk much. And when he does get chatty, you need to be running. Fast. Ideallly through somewhere with lots of cover. He does, under normal circumstances, care about people. In social situations he’s personable enough, but obviously guarded and a little awkward. He had no idea how to interact with people “off the clock”. Yes, he’s quite capable of killing people, but in normal circumstances that’s because he’s been training and operating as a professional soldier for his entire adult life. Soldiers who can’t use their weapons on the enemy don’t get into the Green Berets, let alone Delta Force. Honestly, he’s just trying very hard not to be hated. He doesn’t want to be hatred. His father very clearly hated him.

[EternalPhoenix]

Wisecracker (Donna Quinn)

 

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165

 

STR: +3 (16), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16)

 

Tough: +3/+6, Fort: +6, Ref: +12, Will: +6

 

Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Computers 12 (+15), Craft (electronic) 7 (+10), Craft (mechanical) 7 (+10), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Disable Device 12 (+15), Escape Artist 7 (+10), Knowledge (behavioral science) 7 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (technology) 7 (+10), Language 3 (+3), Notice 7 (+10), Perform (comedy) 7 (+10), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Sleight of Hand 7 (+10), Stealth 12 (+15)

 

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Specialization 2 (Long Handled Mallet (Device 1)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Dodge Focus 5, Evasion, Improved Critical (Mallet Smack (Strike 3)), Improved Trick, Power Attack, Quick Change, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Disable Device, Stealth), Takedown Attack, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Long Handled Mallet (Device 1) (Easy to lose; Subtle (subtle))

   Mallet Smack (Strike 3) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical (Mallet Smack (Strike 3)); Mighty)

Toy Gun (Device 5) (Easy to lose)

   Toy Gun Shells (Array 10) (default power: stun; Precise)

      Banana Peel Shooter (Trip 6) (Array; Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Knockback; Accurate 2 (+4))

      Flying Boxing Glove (Stun 6) (Default; DC 16; Range (ranged); Accurate 2 (+4))

      Knockout Gas Shell (Fatigue 6) (Array; DC 16; Range (ranged); Accurate 2 (+4))

      Mini Stink Bomb (Nauseate 6) (Array; DC 16; Range (ranged); Accurate 2 (+4))

      Van de Graaff's Revenge (Paralyze 6) (Array; DC 16; Range (ranged); Accurate 2 (+4))

Wisecracker Costume (Device 3) (Hard to lose)

   Concealed Body Armor (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Subtle (subtle))

   Enhanced Trait 1 (Feats: Quick Change)

   Wrist Comm (Datalink 4) (sense type: radio; Omni-Directional Area; Machine Control, Subtle (subtle))

 

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +8, Grapple: +11)

 

Attacks: Banana Peel Shooter (Trip 6), +12 (DC 16), Flying Boxing Glove (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Knockout Gas Shell (Fatigue 6), +12 (DC Fort 16), Mallet Smack (Strike 3), +12 (DC 21), Mini Stink Bomb (Nauseate 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 18), Van de Graaff's Revenge (Paralyze 6), +12 (DC Staged/Will 16)

 

Defense: +12  (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -3

 

Initiative: +3

 

Languages: English Native, Hebrew, Japanese, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 35 (140 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 31 + Combat 30 + Saves 15 + Drawbacks 0 = 165

 

Age (as of Jan 2019):

Height: 5’ 9”

Weight: 145 lbs

Ethnicity: African American

Hair: Black w/ variable color stripes (stripes are dyed)

Eyes: Dark Brown

 

Background: Donna Quinn has saved more lives than anyone will likely ever meet. She’s also broken more laws than anyone likely ever will. She is more or less emblematic of the spirit of the Numbers. The Numbers are a loosely affiliated computer engineer/programmer/hacker collective, scattered across the four corners of the world. They don’t have a hierarchy, let alone any leadership. It’s completely anarchic, and there are no qualifications to join. Members follow who they want to until they no longer do. But if anybody in that chaotic, ever changing not-really-an-organization could be said to be a leader, if anyone could be said to command enough respect to get a large portion of the Numbers to follow her, it would be Donna Quinn. It’s not clear if she knows this, but everybody knows she wouldn’t care and never would do anything about it. It would be contrary to who she is.

Donna was an orphan, bouncing chaotically from foster home to foster home. It was her own fault, really. She never was very good at being a good, obedient girl who didn’t make a fuss. Curfews? Broke ‘em. House rules? What are those? Laws? Never heard of ‘em. Oh hi Officer. How ya doin’? One hell of a wild child, and that was all most folks saw. Or bothered to see. Someone young, Black, and female who saw too much, thought too much, spoke too much, and never goddamn listened. Oh yeah, adults loved her. However. Her grades were always immaculate. She never went so far as to seriously injure anyone. And her rule breaking was always on solid moral grounds, if not legal. She was a good person, if not particularly law abiding.

It surprised a lot of people Donna bothered to go to college (University of Florida-Go Gators!; she says), and surprised them again when she graduated successfully. Summa Cum Laude, with a bachelor’s in Psychology. She was on the gymnastics team, for heaven’s sake. Won a national All Around Championship. However, her chaotic ways had not ceased in college. She’s simply found a new outlet. She had joined the Numbers after studying computer programming in her spare time, and taken up the name and mask of Wisecracker. Mentored by Wildcat (Julia Chang) and Redline (Isaiah Williams) in the ways of the investigative vigilante, and often partnering with Hack/Slash (Jasmine Tsai), Donna’s breaks were full of espionage, theft, and street justice. Power to the people, she says. Calling her a hero would have been uh, stretching it. A lot Robin Hooder? Now that had got a ring to it.

In the middle of this happened the Nihonto Incident. A virtual reality game, first of its kind. Yet another entry in the Ultradimension Tsurugi-chan! series of games. Cyberdimension Tsurugi-chan!: 4 Swords Network. Ten thousand specially selected players from around the world plopped on their VR helmets (specially designed for the new game), logged in for the launch event, and got to playing. It took an hour before the first person realized they couldn’t log out. Poor man had a pizza coming, but alas the helmet had unplugged his voluntary nervous system from his body and into the game. Something had gone terribly wrong, because it wasn’t supposed to be able to do that. Safeguards had allegedly been programmed in to prevent the unplugging part. Naturally the blame fell on the VR helmet’s designer, the eccentric Dr. Kenta Saito. But he could not be reached, for he was supposedly attending the game’s opening logged on. And it was his avatar that proclaimed the new rules of 4 Swords Network to everyone in and out of game. Everyone had to work together to get stronger and defeat the final boss Makaze Violet. Oh, and if they ran out of health in the game or their VR helmet disconnect from the game? The wireless transmitter in their helmet would switch from radio frequencies to high powered microwaves, cooking their brain and causing nearly instant death. It was going to be a lot of fun playing together. So the villain appeared to be Dr. Saito…except he’d been dead for half a day. He was only guilty of a terrible lapse in perception. Makaze Violet had evolved into a full artificial intelligence while retaining her personality and goals as 4 Swords Network’s final boss and main antagonist. When Dr. Saito objected to her plans and tried to shut her down, he was the first to get his brain cooked. And so the poor players were trapped in the game. With an AI playing defense, there wasn’t a hacker or computer programmer in the world who could safely shut the game down without killing anyone. Even superheroes failed, getting their special gear hopelessly bricked or technopathic brains fried.

Two years went by. The player count dropped. Hope dimmed. Then a certain Wildcat remembered an old device. Made in 1982 by another eccentric genius. It was capable of digitizing flesh and blood and transporting it to digital space. That old one was hopelessly outdated, but Julia knew various R&D departments had been working on the tech for decades. There was a version out there somewhere that was compatible with modern tech. She put the word out to the Numbers, who found one in Seattle. She contacted Redline, Hack/Slash, and (most importantly to this story) Wisecracker. All three were in, and Redline promised to bring another rookie to help out. They met IRL for the first time and put a plan together. One daring midnight theft and some reconfigurations later, they were ready. Wildcat, Hack/Slash, and Wisecracker were the entry team. The two technopaths (Redline and the aforementioned rookie Bluescreen) would run interference with the AI to make sure it didn’t notice them. The trio was inside the game for only a few days. However, from their perspective it was far longer. As digital data, they experienced time far faster than normal human speed, so it was about six months for them. The two technopaths could compensate to communicate with them at need; however the actual players had no such advantages. So the trio was on their own…mostly. Since they were data, Redline was able to hack their game statistics up to level normally impossible for player or non player characters. And while 3 of the 4 Sword Goddesses lay broken and defeated, he was able to half rescue one. The titular Tsurugi-chan. the newly minted quartet curb stomped every boss monster and guardian creature Makaze Violet would dig up to throw at them and finally battled the AI herself in a titanic battle. She tried to crush the “cheaters”, but found herself bound by the rules of her own game. When four powerful swords unite against her, she is always defeated. The broken remains of the other 3 Sword Goddesses gave their blessing on the fight. After a terrific struggle, Makaze Violet suffered defeat and eviction from control of 4 Swords Network.

With the renegade AI hopelessly shackled and then imprisoned in a mobile hard drive, the players of 4 Swords Network suddenly found it a very different game. One less hostile to the concept of their victory, and more fair to winning. Redline extracted the trio and surprisingly, Tsurugi herself. Several factors (interacting with the human trio for months and absorbing shed fragments of their and Makaze Violet’s data during the battle, among other things) had forced her to evolve into an AI and then altered her code enough to confuse the digitization device into believing her one of the group. So while the reunited group was dealing with that and their own intense exhaustion (and before they could even consider reprogramming options), the players discovered their path of destruction and cleared the game. Everyone was free. The Nihonto Incident had come to an end. The fallout from it, however, is best discussed elsewhere. Because Wisecracker and the rest had nothing to do with it. At any rate, they didn’t exactly call a press conference to announce they’d saved several thousand people’s lives. They did it because it needed doing, not for the glory…outside of online Numbers hangouts, anyway. Also they’d kiiiiinda stolen a multi-million dollar piece of tech from a multi-billion dollar corporation to do it and weren’t giving it back because fuck ‘em. For the record, Wildcat kept the hard drive with Makaze Violet inside and Redline kept the digitization device, both of them because they had the space (digital for Wildcat, physical for Redline) to store them. And because Wisecracker was the one with the extra bed, she got stuck with Tsurugi. Or Miyuki Harada, as she said her real name was. And since yanno, group of skilled hackers, she soon had a legal identity that matched.

Wisecracker’s antics now had a partner. It was a little rough on the finances to have another mouth to feed and educate about the world she was now in, but whatever. Could’ve shoved Tsurugi back into 4 Swords Network, sure, but the Bad Plan alarm went off in everyone’s head. Because yanno, one AI caused the problems with the game in the first place. Let’s not go down that road again, ‘kay? Also the game was probably going to be shut down and she’d probably die when they did that. Being a party to murder would be so uncool. So they kept her around. Donna put in the work and got her Master’s in Psychology, just in time for Digital Shadow to reach out through the Numbers with a job offer. Not for Donna and her shiny new degree, but for Wisecracker. Normally, this would have likely gone to Wildcat, Redline, or perhaps even Hack/Slash, but he knew that they were already members of their own crews that absolutely would not fit in the two spaces he had remaining. And said crews had their own leaders who were not them. So doubly conflicting. So Wisecracker got the call, and she brought Tsurugi along with her to take that last slot.

Three years down the road, and everything’s going pretty great, actually. The Watchdogs don’t actually work full time, you know? So Donna had the time to get her Doctorate, and now works as a psychologist who rotates through several different free clinics. Between that, dealing with Tsurugi, and Watchdogs missions she’s very, very busy. Life is good. The authorities have not yet connected the activities of the supervillain (by their classification, not hers) Wisecracker to Doctor Donna Quinn, Ph. D.

 

Powers & Tactics: Wisecracker has no superhuman powers. She uses three technological (sort of) devices of her own creation. Her Long Handled Mallet is just a polo mallet with an extended handle so she can use it two handed. The handle itself collapses so she can wear it at her waist when not in use. Also worn at her waist is her Toy Gun. It is an oversized toy revolver. Seriously, .50 caliber bullets would be too small, so it’s obviously a toy. What’s not a toy is the homemade shells she loads into it and the customizations that allow it to fire them. But these aren’t bullets. That wouldn’t be funny. They’re all more exotic effects than a mere bullet. Banana Peel Shooter fires greased banana peels to make the target to slip, fall, and literally slide away. When it works, It’s hilarious. The Flying Boxing Glove is a shell that explodes into (what else?) a boxing glove to hit the target. At the speed of a fired bullet. Painful, and can knock the target out, but not incapable of causing any real damage. The Knockout Gas Shell explodes into an anesthetic gas on impact with a target, attempting to put them to sleep. The Mini Stink Bomb also explodes on impact, into a cloud of sulfurous gas that can render its target too nauseated to function. Van de Graff’s Revenge is a gel capsule with a certain electric charge. It does its best to shut down the target’s voluntary nervous system on impact.

Her last device is her Wisecracker Costume. It has body armor, is easy to put on quickly, and has a Wrist Comm that lets her hack anything within a mile radius. She is a very good hacker. She used to wear the armor underneath a more awkward costume, but working for the STG has its benefits. It resembles a jester’s motley but with a full cowl and the bells silenced for stealth reasons.

 

Tactically, Wisecracker has a wealth of options available to her. She relies on Bluff and Stealth to stay out of unnecessary combat. Her first approach if confronted during an op is to get away. She does not hesitate to use her Toy Gun’s Flying Boxing Glove, Mini Stink Bomb, or Van de Graff’s Revenge settings in this case. In open combat she relies on her Toy Gun, switching to her Long Handled Mallet only if disarmed or the heroes close the distance. She has the Improved versions of Acrobatic Bluff and Feint to remove dodge bonuses, and Improved Taunt to whack saves down at need. Improved Trick and Power Attack also have their uses, though she has yet to use Power Attack with her Long Handled Mallet on a living target. She does not power stunt except in absolute desperation, as doing so damages her Toy Gun. These are Dazzle 6 (Visual Senses; Burst Area) and Snare 6 (Burst Area).

 

Personality: Fuck The Police. All Cops Are Bastards. Eat The Rich. Power To The People. Speak Truth To Power. Etcetera. Ad nauseam. And so on.Wisecracker realized from a very early age (at about age 9, after the planes hit the towers and Starman II died) that adults were full of shit. They claimed they knew best, but they didn’t know what the hell they were doing any better than she did. So she started trying to figure it out for herself. Later events (like the pathetic federal response after Hurricane Katrina) only confirmed her rebellious ideology. The system was broken, and the people who gave a shit were outnumbered and outgunned by the people who did. That is, if you though the system could be reformed in the first place. Yeah, fuck that. She was gonna work outside the system as much as possible, and Robin Hood this thing. Take back what the billionaires stole from the common people, a little bit at a time. And then give it back where she could.

This isn’t to say that she’s perpetually angry. No, she’s chosen to laugh instead of scream in rage. Life is to be enjoyed. And there’s nothing more enjoyable that doing harm to dickheads with her weapons and her words. What’s a few wisecracks between colleagues in criminality? And she’s not exclusively a criminal. She spends just as much time in various low income communities helping with various things as Donna Quinn. She’s a noted psychologist and community organizer. If there is going to be real change, then it’s coming from the bottom up and not the top down. She is kind. She does cares about doing good and right, and works tirelessly to make sure that (in her mind) she is doing so. She’s a great therapist and her patients adore her. She bashes real supervillains for being selfish dickheads when she catches them in the act. If she upheld the law instead of breaking it all the time, she’d be one hell of a superhero. But she knows very well that right and wrong have little to do with legal and illegal. And so she’s seen as a supervillain instead.

[EternalPhoenix]

Tsurugi (Miyuki Harada)

 

Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 180/180

 

STR: +7 (16/25), DEX: +5 (16/20), CON: +7 (18/24), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +5 (16/20), CHA: +5 (16/20)

 

Tough: +10, Fort: +8/+7, Ref: +14, Will: +9

 

Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+12/+15), Bluff 7 (+12/+15), Computers 8 (+10), Disable Device 8 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+12/+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 3 (+5), Knowledge (technology) 8 (+10), Language 7 (+7), Notice 5 (+10/+12), Sense Motive 5 (+10/+12), Stealth 7 (+12/+15)

 

Feats: Accurate Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 7, Challenge - Improved Feint, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 5, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Tsurugi Sword Strike (Strike 3)), Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

 

Powers:

Tsurugi Sword (Device 2) (Easy to lose)

   Tsurugi Sword Strike (Strike 3) (DC 25, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Tsurugi Sword Strike (Strike 3)); Penetrating [1 extra rank]; Mighty)

Tsurugi-no-Okami (Alternate Form 12)

   Tsurugi-no-Okami (Alternate Form) (Powers: Goddess Armor (Protection 3), Goddess Wings (Flight 6), Attack Bonus +2 (+7), Strength +9 (25, +7), Constitution +6 (24, +7), Dodge Focus 5 +2 (+5), Dexterity +4 (20, +5), Wisdom +4 (20, +5), Charisma +4 (20, +5), Acrobatics +3 (+15), Bluff +3 (+15), Gather Information +3 (+15), Stealth +3 (+15), Notice +2 (+12), Sense Motive +2 (+12), Fortitude -1 (+7), Attack Focus (melee) 7 +2 (+7), Feats: Evasion)

      Goddess Armor (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks])

      Goddess Wings (Flight 6) (Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd)

 

Power Settings:

Tsurugi-no-Okami (Alternate Form) (Powers: Goddess Armor (Protection 3), Goddess Wings (Flight 6), Attack Bonus +2 (+7), Strength +9 (25, +7), Constitution +6 (24, +7), Dodge Focus 5 +2 (+5), Dexterity +4 (20, +5), Wisdom +4 (20, +5), Charisma +4 (20, +5), Acrobatics +3 (+15), Bluff +3 (+15), Gather Information +3 (+15), Stealth +3 (+15), Notice +2 (+12), Sense Motive +2 (+12), Fortitude -1 (+7), Attack Focus (melee) 7 +2 (+7), Feats: Evasion)

 

Attack Bonus: +5/+7 (Ranged: +5/+7, Melee: +10/+14, Grapple: +17/+21)

 

Attacks: Tsurugi Sword Strike (Strike 3), +14 (DC 25), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 22)

 

Defense: +14  (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -8

 

Initiative: +9

 

Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Japanese Native, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish

 

Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 18 (72 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 66 + Combat 28 + Saves 14 + Drawbacks 0 = 180

 

Chronological Age (as of Jan 2019): 6 years (as a program), 5 years (post awakening), over 1000 years (in her games)

Physical Age (as of Jan 2019): 5 years (wear and tear level), about 20 years (physiological maturity level)

Appearance Age (as of Jan 2019): mid teens (untransformed), mid 20s (Tsurugi-no-Okami)

Height: 5’ (untransformed), 5’ 8” (Tsurugi-no-Okami)

Weight: 100 lbs (untransformed), 125 lbs (Tsurugi-no-Okami)

Ethnicity: Japanese

Hair: Lavender (untransformed), Purple (Tsurugi-no-Okami)

Eyes: Purple (untransformed), Blue (Tsurugi-no-Okami)

 

Background: Miyuki Harada is not a human being. Hell, she’s not even a real person. She is the protagonist of the video game series Ultradimension Tsurugi-chan! and thus literally a fictional character. So what in blazes is a fictional character from a video game doing in the real world working for the Strength Revolution? Well, it goes back a ways. There was a guy in ’82 who created a method of physically entering the video game he’d made by digitizing flesh and blood and zapping it inside the computer housing said game. Naturally, his less than ethical financier used this incredible invention to “murder” people by zapping them into his game world. Starting with the inventor himself. He didn’t get a full 6 months before a superhero escaped his game, rescued everyone trapped inside, and handed him his ass on a plate. But the technology continued to be explored afterward by various R&D departments and firms, with the inventor both helping and getting wealthy off the fees paid to look into his tech. Of course, it was just a matter of time before someone started actually using the tech again, which is where Wisecracker and the Nihonto Incident come in.

Tsurugi remembers. What she was supposed to be. She was programmed to be an ally and a mentor to the “new allies” (her game’s players) who chose her namesake weapon. She would teach them the basics of using a tsurugi, and send them off on quests that would help her world. Every time they completed one of her quests, she was to send them on another one in an itemized list. After, of course, rewarding them with a new combat technique, a more powerful tsurugi, another item, or something else. The list was not short, and naturally each quest had its own specific reward. There were specific ways she was supposed to react to various things players said or did. And if they were defeated in combat, she would come and dramatically save them, revitalizing their health and chopping the enemies down. At least at first, anyway. Got t let them stand on their own at some point, right? And, of course, she’d remember all their names, faces, and their reactions to what she did, customizing her previously mentioned reactions to them. She really was very well programmed. But that’s all she was ever meant to be. A complex computer program without a shred of self awareness or independent identity. This was not how it went. Makaze Violet trapped all the “new allies” in the game, and took away her ability to rescue them when their health depleted. Instead they just…disappeared. The three other Goddesses. Tachi. Nagamaki. Yajiri. Her sisters, even if they didn’t always get along. Makaze Violet destroyed them somehow. It took her quite a while to do it, but still. That didn’t make sense. They didn’t have health to deplete if they weren’t in Combat Mode. She would have been destroyed too, except three new people showed up and saved her from the monster Makaze Violent sent to break her. There was nothing in her programming for this situation. She was just a fancy puppet, with nothing else to her existence. She did not know what to do. So Tsurugi did something no version of her had ever done before. Because she was Tsurugi, with intimate knowledge of her own personal history and actions in previous games. And that was Makaze Violet, her long time foe. For the first time ever, she made a decision instead of blindly following her programming. She engaged Combat Mode despite not receiving a Player Downed signal, and fought beside Wildcat, Hack/Slash, and Wisecracker. They were not “new allies”, but they were allies. Makaze Violet had changed the world somehow, and her “new allies” couldn’t stop it on their own. So it was up to Tsurugi, last of the 4 Sword Goddesses, to stop the villain, avenge her sisters, and save the world. You know, again.

This, well, took a lot of time. And it was weird. Wildcat fought just like Yajiri, with the long bow and those steel headed arrows. Hack/Slash fought just like Tachi, with those two single edged swords. And Wisecracker fought just like Nagamaki, with that very long handled sword. Nobody knew it, but Redline (their telepathic ally on the outside, which made zero sense to Tsurugi, but it was irrelevant to the Main Quest) had grafted the broken data of the other 3 Sword Goddesses onto the hacker trio as part of his hacking them into being powerhouses in game. Hell, Redline himself didn’t know the origin of the data, just that it was free floating in the game’s code. Saved him a lot of time in beefing up the ladies. As recounted elsewhere, over 6 months (in game time) they slashed their way through Makaze Violet’s legion of boss monsters and guardians, and at last challenged the villain herself. Tsurugi had grown more in the interim. There had been many situations that her programming didn’t cover, and she had to choose what to apply or fail the Main Quest. She was, essentially, writing new programming to cover the gaps in the existing code. Not that she knew that. Or knew that she could do that. Or even realized she was doing it. She wasn’t self aware. Not yet. But the Tsurugi that faced Makaze Violet with her fireforged friends (they fit the definition in her memories, of course) was very, very difference from the Tsurugi who first joined them. The broken remains of the other 3 Sword Goddesses gave their “successors” their blessing, and after a ferocious battle Makaze Violet was defeated. Tsurugi had a tearful goodbye with Tachi, Nagamaki, and Yajiri, while the other three did…something with that Redline guy. Sealing Makaze Violet away? Didn’t they just do that? How strange. And now they were just going to leave? Wait. That’s not right. W…what happens now? Her sisters were gone. The “new allies” were also leaving, the trio said. And even Makaze Violet was gone. Was…was Tsurugi was going to be alone?

Her programming, at this stage, was a work of art no one human could have ever accomplished. What happened on the technical level was that the battle with Makaze Violet was fought the quartet in game and by Redline and his rookie protégé Bluescreen out of game. They cut away bits of her so that she could be safely contained, and she couldn’t entirely fight back because of the battle in game. Some of that loose code was absorbed unintentionally by Tsurugi, which kicked her evolution into turbo and tipped her over the edge from mere ultra complex program to true self aware AI. But for Tsurugi, it was like achieving enlightenment. The irony of a Goddess having a spiritual awakening was not lost on her later. She ran to her friends to beg them not to leave her here alone…and got caught in the beam that un-digitized them. This shouldn’t have done a damn thing to Tsurugi. 30 seconds earlier, it probably wouldn’t have. So it was a hell of a surprise to literally everyone to have a fourth person standing there when they’d only sent three.

Tsurugi didn’t quite look the same. Her game did not have a photo realistic art style at all. Her voice and personality, however, were identical. Redline’s quick investigation revealed the truth. She had made the jump to being an AI literally right then, and the working theory was that because of her proximity to the three humans turned data during their quest and during getting un-digitalized, well… the scanner on the digitization device got confused and brought her back with them. This was a shocking development, especially for Tsurugi. Six months (Three days? What?) ago, she was basically a mindless automaton made of programming code. And now she was both self aware and corporeal. Flesh and blood, kinda. So naturally she had a complete and total meltdown, as anyone suddenly thrown into an entirely different world in an entirely different body (as she understood the concept) would. Probably didn’t help that she was butt naked, except for her tsurugi she was still holding. And uh…it turned out she still had access to her Goddess transformation. Somehow. Oh, boy.

While the hacker group was dealing with all of that and their own extreme fatigue, the Nihonto Incident resolved itself. The group sorted out who was taking what, and went their separate ways. Wildcat got that object that supposedly held Mazake Violet, because she had the spare digital storage to keep her in. Redline got the digitization device, because he had the spare physical storage to keep it in. And Wisecracker got Tsurugi, because she had a spare bed for the newly personed girl to sleep on. It was a trial, learning the rules of the physical world. So many new lessons every day. Physical bodies were kind of annoying. Eating and drinking and washing and the toilet and sleeping. Socialization she knew how to do. It was just a matter of adapting existing knowledge. Her programming, not that that word applied anymore. Pain was the worst. It was like she was a newborn baby, except physically a adult. So while she could walk, talk, and reason, everything else about the human experience had to be taught. It was technically a faster process because she wasn’t physiologically developing at the same time, but still. It took the aforementioned newborn babies several years to begin to get a grasp on everything, and over a decade to get something resembling functional. So faster was uh, relative. And occasionally messy.

But Wisecracker got the offer to join this Special Tactics group thing, Tsurugi volunteered to fill the last slot on the squad. The last three years have been uh, interesting. She has learned many more new things than she did living in Wisecracker’s apartment. This world isn’t that different from her own. There are still monsters to fight. They are still villains to defeat. And there is much worth protecting. Like her friends in the Watchdogs. And all those innocent citizens. So Tsurugi will continue to draw her sword and fight. The poor girl doesn’t understand at all that she’s on the wrong side, but then again she (in her programmed memories and personality) never cared much for stuffy things like laws and rules. They got in the way of doing what was right too much. Besides, literal Goddess. It’s fiiiine. The one thing about the physical world that she doesn’t quite understand yet that’s incredibly important is that people die when they are killed. Hence why the whole Squad tries very hard to prevent her from intentionally killing anyone or being involved in any assassinations. She still thinks they just come back later. You know, like in her game. Respawn, that’s the word. And various world religions asserting the existence of an afterlife and/or reincarnation doesn’t help. At all.

 

Powers & Tactics: Tsurugi’s body is human. Technically. She’s classified as a mutant with altered physiology, which is one way to put it. She has all the organs in all the right places to be a vanilla human being. Except they don’t quite function in the same way. A doctor would be utterly baffled as to how she’s still alive with all those dysfunctional organs. Yet somehow it all works. There’s plenty of foods she can’t digest, she seems to absorb ambient energy (like static electricity) from the air around her, and oh yeah, she can transform into a more powerful version of herself. The way her transformation seems to work is that she draws in ambient energy even more than normal and somehow converts it her own mass in stunning defiance of how physics is supposed to work. Little bits of matter can release immense amounts of energy, not the other way around. There is a thunderous crack of sound and a near blinding flash of light as she changes.

Transformed, she is Tsurugi-no-Okami. Her physical abilities increase dramatically, and her mental abilities also get a boost. She’s adorned in bulletproof skintight armor and can friggin’ fly with a set of mechanical/hard light looking wings. She’s fast in flight, too, able to out distance modern jet liners. In either form she’s a swordswoman of expert skill, but transformed she’s cut cars in half with her namesake weapon. A tsurugi, by the way, is a straight bladed and double edged sword. Literally double edged, as in both sides can cut instead of one.

 

Tactically, Tsurugi has only one option, really. Apply sword to opponent. This is a little deceptive because of her ability to transform. Normally she doesn’t transform at all. Her PL 8 normal state suffices for most encounters because 1) she’s on a team with four other people in it and 2) they work very hard not to have to fight to begin with. So under most circumstances, encounters don’t have a lot of enemies (powerful or otherwise) to deal with. Her job is explicitly to handle the things the otherwise unpowered human members of the squad can’t. As Tsurugi-no-Okami, she can fly and hit harder and more accurately than any of them. She’s a hell of a surprise for a hero team of average PL 8-9 power. Especially because she can both Accurate and Power Attack, and can knock out dodge bonuses before striking with Improved Acrobatic Bluff. Untransformed, she just does her best to stay out of the way and let the others do what they’re good at. Transformed, she’s the front line and plays ferry during retreats. She’s strong enough to carry Digital Shadow or Eclipse alone, or both Dusk Widow and Wisecracker together.. She is currently incapable of power stunting.

 

Personality: Tsurugi-chan (she insists on the honorific when untransformed) is a cute, cheerful airhead. She’s perky, eager, and affectionate to her squadmates, especially Wisecracker. No sense of personal space. She wears her emotions on her sleeve, and can be a little klutzy. But she firmly believes in helping people, even if you have to break the rules. Even after all this time, she’s still a bit lost in the physical world, and can seem quite immature. She is, after all, in some ways only five years old. Slang and idioms will often slide right by her. But at the end of the day she was one of her (admittedly fictional, not that it matters to her) world’s greatest heroes. So she can rein all that in to get the job done.

Tsurugi-no-Okami, on the other hand, could never be confused with a child. She even drops the insistence on the honorific. She is regal and mature, with some haughtiness and pride in her abilities. She was, after all, one of her (again admittedly fictional, not that it matters to her) world’s Goddesses. She was the strongest, and she was well aware of it. This has not changed to a large degree. She is still vastly stronger than most of her opponents, and she is well aware of that. She does love a good fight, and loves winning even more. However, she remains level headed, because she’s learned the hard way (though programmed memories that are real to her) that pride goeth before a fall. The backstory to the plot of her first game had the other 3 Goddesses team up and kick her ass for being a jerk and thus stripping her of her powers for a time.

[EternalPhoenix]

Squad D (The Outsiders)

 

Overview

 

Putting together Squad D was not a smooth process. Squad A was already together was the original STG team. Squad B started with 4 and only needed to add a fifth. Even Squad C started from having three and just had to find two more. Who, we shall note, came packaged together. And, of course, Valine had quality assistance putting B and C together. Photophobia helped a lot with B, and Aeon did the same with C. If one was following the pattern, one would expect Primrose and/or Nimbus to be of assistance with Squad D. But uh…not really. No. Nimbus is an intensely private person off the clock. Which leaves Primrose, who could not possibly have given any less of a shit. Still, it was his half assed suggestions that led to most of the current Outsiders. “You want to fight demons, you get Devil Hunters.” said the kitsune who’d spent multiple lifetimes being hunted by them. This led Valine and Methion to Tana, of the Waves and Nika, the Heartfire. “Asteroth’s old as shit. I know well the longer you live, the most damnable loose ends you leave behind you.” Said a very drunk and perhaps a little melancholy ninetailed fox man. This led Methion and the aforementioned vampire wizard to finding Rudolphus "Rudy" Evander.

However. Calamity Jane and Thespian were, in fact, Nimbus’s contributions. Or rather, her Uncle Rico’s. Calamity Jane (both of them) had a pressing need to get out of Germany (Europe, really) for a little while. The identical twin sisters shared a codename (the better to make the law think they were one person instead of two) and they had just pulled off one of the most daring thefts in European history. The downside of sharing a codename is that the law pursues both of you equally hard. Awkward. Running to Spain led to talking to Rico lead to talking to Nimbus lead to talking to Valine. Meanwhile Thespian is a diehard Nimbus fangirl, who figured out Squad A’s sniper had a connection to Rico. This lead to a little involuntary sidekicking (involuntary on Nimbus’s part) and ultimately Thespian joining The Outsiders so that poor harassed Nimbus wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore.

It’s a strange team, but it works. The Outsiders are the supernatural strike force. They’re basically monster hunters. The trouble with that is there’s always wicked humans collaborating, said supernatural creature fully infiltrating society, or people who get their hands on dangerous artifacts they absolutely should not have. So they break the law just as much as the other Squads do. Espionage, theft, property damage, and assassination (generally of like, vampires or some other supernatural creature, but occasionally not).

 

Tactics

 

The Outsiders are a little…eclectic…in their missions.  Calamity Jane does a lot of the heavy lifting in the finesse department. They’re the spy and thief. Thespian is the assassin for human targets, though with supernatural targets calling it “assassination” is kind of an insult to the profession. It’s more like a gang beating. But anyway the Outsiders break the law in all the listed ways to remove harmful supernatural creatures from the world. That’s their whole schtick. Sometimes collaborating humans get in the way. Tana is the only one who goes out of his way not to kill them. Nika’s not by nature a killer and so far nothing’s happened, but it’s not like she’d notice if it bothered her anyway. Rudy’s both had the ability to care beaten out of him and is from the very old school where collaborators get it just as hard. Calamity Jane isn’t anyone’s executioner, but fights are fights. And Thespian is an outright sociopath so yanno.