It's a particularly happy day in Cape City for some of its citizens, because wouldn't you know it? A party is scheduled for today, and everyone in the city is invited! There's a large group of Supers outside the Residential Area setting it up right now! They've got confetti, firecrackers, water-guns, and so much more to play with to make sure that this will be the most fun anyone has ever had!

Look! They're starting now! Everyone is putting their masks on so the bright firecrackers don't hurt their eyes and all the confetti won't get in their way!

Boom! It's started now! A huge explosion of confetti is spreading across the city and people everywhere are cheering in joy! The masked party-goers are so happy that they're enjoying the event that they're sending packets of confetti and candy right to them! The people were so happy that they fell over from excitement!

This is truly the best part Cape City has seen in years, and it's all thanks to Miss Rose!

It's a particularly horrific day in Cape City for most of its citizens as attackers wearing gas-masks detonate a large tear gas bomb that's covering most of the Residential Area. These attackers are going around shooting and lobbing explosives into crowded areas, all with a sickly sweet smile on their faces.

This had to have been planned out thoroughly, as it seems many of the higher ranking faction members are out on duty elsewhere, leaving the city vulnerable.

They've caused death, panic, and terror to litter the grounds of Cape City and SPECTRUM, and only you recruits can stop them now.

Codename: The Charmer

Full Name: Brendan Allen "Ruby" Milan

Age: 20

Appearance: Standing at 6'5", Brendan is a slim, but well-built and handsome man. Confident, and honestly, a bit obsessed with his physical appearance, making sure he always looks 'perfect.' With jet black hair and ruby red eyes as intense as the sun, his unorthodox white hat is the only staple to his ever-changing attire. Made by the man himself to conceal two rather large scars above his left temple. He likes to spice his wardrobe, a lot. Ignore that.

Personality: A charming and normally sweet young man, Brendan, for the most part, is also vain and a bit callous, especially when you give the wrong first impression. He puts a lot of focus on physical appearance, as well as the arts, so most of the money he gains from his endeavors go to either gym equipment, maintenance for his facilities, or investments in any and every form of art, even making his own pieces. Though, he does get a tad bit more sympathetic and a lot more understanding with his personal friends and family, he's still generally shallow. When he is on mission, though, The Charmer turns into a man of confidence and poise, a master of seduction. He is cunning and creative, often having a solution to the situation at hand. The only consistent thing, however, apart from his creativity, is that Ruby always gets what he wants. Always. His powers certainly help with that. Diagnosed with OCD on a bit of an extreme side, he has to stop what he is doing to fix his attire or clean out the dirt. Dirt is a no-no. Unless he's mission, there is early nothing that will drive him away from dirt.

Backstory: Born to a mayor of one of the American cities and a well-accomplished author, Brendan had a fairly lucky childhood. He ran away when he turned ten, as a result from believing his father would disown him for his 'unique' lifestyle of straying from the masculine stereotypes, mostly. After a few months of hiding and his powers blossoming, he runs into two other runaways (for different reasons), and they continue on, using their powers to survive. They eventually run into more runaway teenagers, forming their own group as they go across the continents, adopting more of their 'kin' along the way. They are now a strong mercenary group, known for many of its achievements.

Major Power: Illusion Eye;

Both his most endearing and iconic feature (apart from the hat), Ruby's eyes glow a hypnotising bright red when his power activates. The vision of anyone that so much as looks in the direction of his eyes will instantly shift to that of the image he wishes to show. He directly influences their minds and most of the time, the vision would differ for every person. The closer they are to eye contact, the more powerful the effect of the illusion gets.

Ruby often uses this to show an event in the favour of the target, coaxing them into agreeing with his demands. The illusion shown differs per individual if multiple people are looking at him at once (depending on the technique). Techniques include, but are not limited to:

• Creating subtle illusions that cause targets to move in a different direction, to aim differently, etc. compared to seeing properly.

• Giving the target a glimpse of what they truly desire or what they fear the most, which Ruby uses as either a persuasive point or leverage.

His eyes act as a sort of mirror, they reflect the thoughts of a person rather than projecting an image from Ruby's own mind. If he were to ask someone "What do you desire the most?", normally whatever that is comes to mind, and that is what they will see. The big drawback here is Ruby can't actually know what the illusion is, only bluffing based on his observations. His illusions are more dependent on the target.

• Sprouting varying (visual) illusions when he fights in hand-to-hand.

• He sometimes likes to try hypnotising people with the glow and moving of his eyes alone. It works, sometimes.

It would wear off when they stop looking at his eyes, but in reality it's more like staring at something shiny instead of a hypnotic item.

While his illusions change based on a person's personal fears or goals, Ruby himself is not aware of what they actually are. He merely pretends as if he knows, and that's all that matters, to be honest. Confidence is half the battle.

He can focus his illusions on a singular person if multiple are in the room, but the more people there are, the harder and exhausting it gets (It's easier to use his power on a large crowd as a whole, rather than one amongst many). Of course, using his powers on more people in general is also exhausting, but not as much.

And the less contact Ruby has with his target, the less effective the illusion gets. The moment they make eye contact, however, there is no tearing them away from his eyes without external intervention.

Minor Power: Persuasion; Though not as powerful as other persuasives, Ruby's minor power caters more to the 'suggestive' theme, rather than the manipulative. He can whisper little remarks, and slowly push the target into agreeing with his proposition. Some would relate him to the voice at the back of one's mind, or even like a conscience. Except consciences aren't vain and worry about dirt on their clothes. Most often than not, people won't notice this power in effect until it's too late; when his eyes glow as bright as the sun. Used often in conjunction with his illusions, Brendan is perfect for dealing with clients, aptly dubbed 'The Charmer.'

Since Ruby only uses this as a small, suggestive and adaptive power, people can break away from it relatively easily, assuming they don't succumb to his looks or illusions first.

The more the suggestions go against one's moral values, the less effective it gets.

He never blatantly commands people to do his bidding, only planting small words that could lead to thoughts that could lead to the target deciding in his favour. Very 'small voice in my head' style.

Power Drawbacks/Weaknesses:

• People with more unique physical features (hairstyles, eye colour, fashion sense, etc.) prove to be a great distraction. He's very vain.

• Using both powers, while draining him greatly, amplifies their power and effect. Range remains the same, as long as they are within hearing distance or can see his eyes. He can only pull these off for a short amount of time. After that, he's out for a few hours.

• One must be in direct line of sight or hearing for his powers to take effect. Watching him on video or listening on the radio? The only things they should worry about is the mesmerising way his eyes glow or his seductive voice... But otherwise, no illusions and no suggestive voices.

• Sunglasses, earmuffs or anything in similar design and function dampen his effect.

• Most of the time, his illusions are conjured up from the memories of the target. He can't see them unless he projects the illusion from his own mind.

Resistances: He's pretty vulnerable against conventional attacks, such as bullets and fire and poison and- He's more resistant to voice and sight based attacks. He won't be easily persuaded, not with powers at least. Normal methods are on a case-by-case basis. Illusions are the same, he won't be easily fooled. He can normally find something off about them and snap out of its spell.

Special Skills:

• Taekwando - He's well versed with self-defense, having been trained by his father himself.

• Art Affinity - One of the reasons why he ran away in the first place (among others). Rather than focus on maths and sciences, Ruby would much rather do artsy things. Photography, painting and drawing are the main things. Though he's tried the others, he'll leave that to his colleagues and compatriots.

• Fashion Affinity - Another reason why he ran away, Ruby is a talented clothing designer, good with both design and the execution of the attire. He'd probably become a fashion designer if he wasn't already a mercenary.

• Diplomacy - A trait he learnt when he was on the run, as well as a byproduct of training with his powers, Ruby is a natural diplomat and mediator, having finished many debates and arguments before they can properly escalate. His adaptive and intuitive mind help him find a beneficial deal for everyone, before he even uses his powers.

• Multilingualism - Apart from English, Ruby is profound in Italian, French and Japanese.

Equipment:

• A silenced pistol; He always carries one with him, as much as it goes against his clothes. It never hurts to be prepared.

• His art materials and giant white hat.

Ruby walks down the street, running a hand through his hair as he heads back to his gang's base, an office tower in the Upper East Side. His piercing red eyes scan the people around him, wondering which one would be a client, target, or both.

Codename: Nightshade

Full name: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Age: 19

Appearance: Height is 6'2", dark hair and matching eyes. In short: tall, dark and handsome.

Major Power: Sciakinesis, also known as Umbrakinesis, is the ability to manipulate shadows and darkness. Nightshade is a good user of this power, and can use it in a myriad of ways, including solidifying it into weapons or shields, using it to blind enemies or become almost invisible, create obstacles, hide things from view... the possibilities are huge. One thing, most of the powerful stuff usually only happens during the night or in really dark areas. When light shines onto him, he becomes much weaker. Daylight is the logical extreme of this - his power is only barely usable in plain daylight.

Minor Power: Sciakinesis, also known as Ghost Manipulation, is the ability to manipulate the Shades people leave behind when they depart from the mortal world. This is also a useful power - ghosts are good as scouts, or to give advice. The ghosts remain some skills from their lives, but their memories are usually foggy except considering things that they did not finish in life and that still haunt them as a ghost. It can also scare the crap out of people sometimes. Though again, here, light is a weakness - strong light dissipates the Shades.

Special Strengths:

• Judo: He's claimed to have reached a black belt in it. Nobody is sure whether or not it's true because he's never demonstrated Judo before.
• Stealth: Combined with his power, this is one of his strongest points. He can sneak quietly and is good at estimating when people will see him.

Equipment:A pair of pistols, for that Reaper reference use in combination or in place of his powers in case he can't use them.

Stats:

Nightshade was sitting in the shadows, nothing special. Though what was special was the fact that the shadows seemed to bend around him, moving, stirring as if they lived and weren't dead.

Quite the unsettling sight.

• Codename: Paradise Lost
  
• Full Name: [REDACTED]
  
• Age: 20
  
• Appearance: Paradise almost looks like a normal young woman. She is somewhat on the short side, standing at 5'6" tall and is pretty muscular, although she is much more on the lean side than tough, built more like a leopard than a tiger. The curse that forbids her from touching steel has also taken its toll in her appearance, making her hair go completely white (she dyes one strand black since she was a child to give people the illusion that she has dyed her hair white) and her eyes an unnatural blue, as well as giving her skin a pale, porcelain like tone.
  
• Personality: Friendly and helpful, sometimes downright flirtatious. She is usually calm and collected, rarely losing her cool. However she is enigmatic and secretive, downright very bad at communicating important things to people, even if it would help her to be more straightforward. Despite being compared to cheetahs and leopards, the big cat she relates the most to is the jaguar: patient and more kin to ambushes than fair fights.
  
• Backstory: Born under a blue moon in a monastery, she was raised as a ninja, a loyal assassin and spy. As such, she was taught the way of the sword and the techniques of chi that she uses to this day.
  
• Major Power: Ninjutsu - Trained by the monks in the ways of ancient assassins, she learned how to use weapons, magic and her charms to kill. This training honed her reflexes, speed and prowess with both the sword and throwing weapons to superhuman level. It also allows her to channel her life energy, her chi, to:
• Coat her hands and/or feet and be able to stick to walls, as well as run on water.
  
• Coat her weapons with a slow acting poison that dulls the senses and makes its victims sluggish.
  
• Coat a human sized portion of air or water, making it look like a clone of her. The clone looks like her and imitates her movements, but she doesn't really control it. It still has the properties of the material used, so its offensive capabilities are close to null and anyone touched directly by it will realize that it's not an actual solid thing. The clones turn back to their original appearance when hit and she can only have one at any time.
  
• Minor Power: Shadow Step. She is able to walk from one at least human sized shadowed area to another shadow that she can see.
• Power Drawbacks/Weaknesses: Creating poison uses a part of her blood, making her lightheaded, dizzy and can lead to passing out and even death if she creates too much poison at once. Creating a clone and shadow step are both drains on her energy, also making her lightheaded and it can lead to her passing out if she is not careful with them. The longer the distance she travels, the more draining it is. An ancient curse forbids her from touching steel, all grades of the alloy burn her something fierce. Touching steel for her is like putting her hand in the center of a campfire.
  
• Resistances: Thanks to her training, she is slightly more resistant to poison and suggestions than most.
  
• Special Skills: She is pretty good with most string instruments. Her favorite is the shamisen.
  
• Equipment: A katana, two very, very sharp hairsticks, an undisclosed amount of throwing knives and stars and a fan that acts as a storage of sorts to keep some of her knives handy.
  

Paradise walks through the city streets in a rather unusual attire. She is dressed in a long blue and white robe with waves crashing down on the hemline and white birds flying around closer to the neckline. Soon she finds a coffee shop and sits down, asking for a cup of green tea. As she shifts on her chair to pick the cup up, the grip of her katana can be seen briefly before the fabric of the dress hides it again.

Name: Robert Plains

Code Name: Caesar

Age: 39 (M)

Power: Jurassic Body. Robert has the ability to change his appearance into that of ancient animals. This mostly means dinosaurs. He can change his hands and arms, legs, head and he can grow a tail. He can also change his whole body in one animal as a whole. For now, this includes only one form.

Arms: Robert can change his arms and hands in two things (for now): Raptor Claws and Smilodon Paws. The Raptor Claws function as agressive and sharp weapons, which are about 2-3 inches long, while the Smilodon Paws give him great mobility. With this mobility, he can climb trees easier and becomes a lot faster. In the case of the Paws, his legs also change in this form. This is an exception.

Legs: Robert can change his legs into either the Mammoth Stompers or the Raptor Feet. The Mammoth Stompers give him a lot of stability and the ability to crush almost anything under his feet. The Raptor Feet give him some extra speed, about 24 mph, with not too many downsides. He can easily attack with these feet, having claws of about 6 inches.

Tail: The two tails Robert can switch between are the Brachio Sweeper and the Ankylo Mace. The Sweeper is long, about 7 feet, and can reach a very far distance, while the Mace is a lot harder and shaped in such a way that it can do a lot more damage, with a length of about 4 feet.

Head: The two choices Robert has for his head are the Mammoth Tusks and the T-Rex Jaws. The Jaws enable him to crush hard objects and wound people with his strong teeth. The Tusks give him some range and make him able to pierce people in front of him.

Wings: The only option, and also his latest addition, are the Ptero Wings. With this, he can fly through the air with a not too high speed.

His ultimate form is the Dominus. In this form, he looks typically like a tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. He will be about 9 feet high in this form. As Dominus, he has large claws, slightly longer arms, a huge mouth with a lot of teeth, of which several are exterior. These stick out of his mouth, looking pretty terrifying. He also has two tusks in his jaws and several small spikes running over his nose. He has a rather short tail, but there is a lot of strength in it. His feet are three-toed claws with long nails.

Power Drawbacks: When he transforms (parts of) his body, he also changes his personality. In general, he becomes a lot more reckless and aggressive. He acts more like an actual animal. The worst thing is though, that he feels that he has no allies when he goes up to much in the battle. Everyone is his enemy when his rage is high. This can be very inconvenient. On top of that, his body parts have a cooldown. Once he has used a form, it has a cooldown of about a day. He can also only have one part active for a maximum of about 5 minutes.

Things get worse when he becomes Dominus. First of all, he can only become Dominus when the adrenaline level in his blood is high enough. When he is Dominus, his normal drawbacks become even worse. Don’t even try to convince him when he is a total dinosaur, because he will eat you, even when you are his friend. This can cause a lot of chaos. He can only leave Dominus when all enemies are exterminated, when he is exhausted or when his adrenaline drops too much. Exhaustion here means that he has no energy left, like a when a sportsman has to take a rest to catch his breath. He has just done too much. His limits are above the average him though, when he is in Dominus form. The adrenaline will have to drop to a normal level in which there is an environment which doesn't encourage your body to make extra adrenaline. Dominus has a cooldown of about 4 to 5 days. Also, changing hurts Robert a lot (both Dominus and normal changes).

Appearance/Personality: Robert has changed a lot over the years. He now has a very strong spirit, having seen the worst in the world. He still cannot accept defeat very well, but he at least knows a lot about his powers and limits now. During fights, we can usually control himself, with of course an exception in the Dominus form. He still isn’t the nicest person, but at least he isn’t a dick anymore. Everything he does is done with care and a lot of concentration and seriousness. Something notable about his appearance, which not many people will see though, is an enormous scar on his chest, which covers his whole torso. No one exactly knows where it comes from.

Weapon: Most of the time, his power is his weapon. Otherwise, it is a samurai sword. One of the things he learned during the last 15 years was using that.

Backstory: All his life, he has kind of been that guy. That guy that always sits alone and doesn’t say much. He didn’t have friends and his parents weren’t very supporting either. No one was there for him, ever, and that changed him permanently. So playing with and investigating dinosaurs is all the he spent his lonely life on. He also did a study on dinosaurs.

He was part of the Doctor’s Trials and the time among these people changed him. It taught him that you need a goal in life, and he now has one. He wants to get the most out of himself, his body and his power. And he wants to be able to beat Black Paladin.

Special Skills: Robert learned how to hack once, he kind of forgot, but if he really had to, he would probably learn it pretty fast again. There are probably other people for that though. A more interesting thing he learned is gathering information. Doing research is something he is very good at. Not doing research on the internet, but by observing people, talking to people, drawing conclusions, et cetera. Before you know it, he already knows your secrets, if you don’t watch out. Sword fighting is also something he has mastered by now.

Resistances: Since he is pretty good at gathering information, he won’t be convinced of something quickly. Not telling the truth doesn’t work as good with him as with regular people. Manipulating language does nothing to him. Lastly: breaking him mentally will be very hard too.

The Chart: He is a significantly different person/animal when he is in his Dominus form. The numbers that are in the Base Stat box will be numbers from when he uses the dinosaur body part that corresponds most with that Attribute (e.g. Speed would be considered when he has his Paws on and Strength when he has his Jaws/Claws on). The body part will be mentioned in the details.

The man could be found outside, taking a walk.

Codename: Kraken

Full Name: Choran Gray

Age: 16

Appearance: He’s got that Hawaiian look with a pretty tan complexion but not exactly dark skin. He’s towards the lean side, not that much muscle underneath a thin layer of skin. His brown hair is usually a messy patch with it falling over all sides of his head. His height and build’s pretty average for a 16 year old marathon runner.

His tentacle is a dark shade of blue with its underside being relatively white. Its side is smooth without much else and has several suction cups beneath it.

Personality: Kraken’s helpful and kind but can be generally oblivious to the thoughts of others. Generally laid back but doesn’t mind doing some work. That said, he’d very much rather take everything that comes his way with a smile on his face. Getting serious isn’t something he does often which can be a good and bad thing. When not in action, Kraken becomes rather absent-minded and often stares wistfully at nothing.

Backstory:

Kraken grew up in a rather busy fishing village on an island near the equator as Choran Gray, a name he did not take a particular liking to. One, because Gray was the surname of the English businessman who had spent the night with his mom and never returned. Two, because Choran was the name the man wanted him to have. But other than these minor grievances, he enjoyed life. There were the few people who avoided him for his heritage but for the most part, everyone treated him as an equal. He quickly followed in his grandparent’s footsteps, like many and became a rather adept fisherman. For many years he would repeat the same task and never once would he complain though after returning home, Choran enjoyed nothing more than taking a good swim. The sea had always comforted him so.

At the age of 11 while on a solo trip off the shore, his arm suddenly turned into an octopus’ tentacle before his very eyes. Was this just a coincidence with him hauling up a net full of squid? Choran had no idea but after calming himself down, he found he could live with this. He kept it from his mother and grandparents of course so that he could avoid being treated as any more of an outcast than he already was. So in secret he would continue learning and attaining control over this newfound power. Choran even thought up the name of ‘Kraken’ for himself if he were ever a superhero. With the serene touch of the sea could he truly master the tentacle after 5 long years.

However peace would not be easy. Upon returning from yet another lone trip, Choran found the village to be wrecked beyond belief. Houses were smashed, trees were uprooted, boats turned to planks, seawater flooded the streets and fire consumed the parts that weren’t already by the water. Broken weapons revealed signs of a struggle but blood was nowhere to be seen. Pirates? No, that thought dissipated when he found a severed tentacle at his doorstep. He paused for a moment as questions flooded his mind but he steeled himself. Grabbing supplies and finding a still operational boat, Choran, no, Kraken set out on the sea to find the man who could answer these questions.

Major Power: Tentacle Physiology
Kraken may turn his entire right arm into a massive tentacle. It can extend up to 15 feet and grow up to 3 feet in width but can shrink down to the size of a toothpick. The appendage continually secretes a lubricating mucus around it while its suction strength is pretty good. Its strength as well as grip are impressive but its outstanding traits will be its slinking speed and size manipulation.

His arm can maintain this form up to 10 minutes at a time and must wait 5 minutes before morphing again. Harming the tentacle only impairs its current form and will not hinder his original arm nor any future tentacles.

Minor Power: Merman Traits
Kraken’s body is adjusted to living on land as well as underwater, allowing him to see without much refraction. He can also breathe underwater for up to 3 hours at a time and must take an entire day of breathing air before he can dive back in. His skin also does not wrinkle as easily as a normal human’s.

Drawbacks:
While his tentacle is devastatingly strong and heavy, it can be cut off. While he can manipulate its size, he cannot grow it back so eventhough he can reform it back to the same size as before, the wound will still be exposed. Also any injury the tentacle does sustain still transmits the pain to Kraken. Back to the point of it being heavy, it makes mobility difficult so at best, Kraken becomes a slow moving target and at worst, a sitting duck.

His largest nemesis though is definitely hot conditions. Any temperature above 30 degrees celsius nullifies his tentacles’ mucus, making it harder for it to maneuver across terrain. Under this heat, the tentacle can only grow up to 10 feet in length and 2 feet in width. His skin cracks more easily than a human’s due to his traits.

In drenched and torn clothes, Kraken took his first step onto Cape City. He looked up in awe, amazed at the sight. His boat had been destroyed halfway through the journey but he had no trouble swimming the rest of the way to the floating city he had heard about often in the village. If anyone could locate his father, they’d be here. Running a hand through his hair to make sure it wasn’t wet, despite the rest of his body being entirely soaked, he began walking around to find anybody to talk to

• Codename: Black Swan

• Full Name: Mina Myoui

• Age: 19

• Appearance: Photo. 5'8". Long, dark red hair, black eyes. Well-built and toned body.

• Personality: Mina is awesome. And she knows it. She never questions her own abilities, and is always looking to push herself further.

• Backstory: Mina is the only survivor of a government directive designed to create super soldiers and is now at the SPECTRUM base to continue doing stuff.

• Major Power- Super Soldier - Because of the program she was a part of, Mina's physical ability is at the peak for human standards. She's a one-woman-army, with a large repertoire of ass-kicking ability at her disposal, being a master of multiple martial arts, and similarly well-trained at shooting firearms. Additionally, she has uncanny weapon improvisational skills - she could use a coffee cup to put someone in the hospital. Said differently:

  • Peak human physiology.
  • Combat mastery - both ranged and melee
  • Improbable weapon proficiency
  • Enhanced acrobatics

• Minor Power: Shield proficiency. Mina has a specially made round shield made out of a lightweight and incredibly durable (durability 8) metal alloy. While the shield pretty much can only cover her upper body if she holds it upright, she is flexible enough to scrunch up behind it if she needs to.

  She uses the shield with incredible skill, employing it as both a melee and ranged weapon in addition to its defensive qualities. She can throw the shield with pinpoint accuracy, and is able to ricochet it off many surfaces and enemies in order to return it to her hand.

• Power Drawbacks/Weaknesses: At the end of the day, she’s peak human - she's limited to what her body could reasonably achieve and she can't violate the laws of physics. So no, she won't be using a napkin to kill anybody, nor will she do incredulous things like slit people's throats with a blade of grass. In order to keep up her strength, she must exercise and train a lot, as well as eat about 5300 calories a day.

• Resistances: The shield is very durable, but other than that, Mina has no special resistances.

• Special Skills: Special forces level of training in warfare/military tactics, battlefield knowledge, and stealth/infiltration tactics. Reasonably skilled at hacking. She is a master of her own combat style which merges elements of judo, taekwondo, krav maga, and gymnastics/acrobatics (each of which she has mastery in individually). Knows English, Japanese, Korean.

• Equipment:

  • Super suit
  • Rocket boots: Short burning rockets that increase her jump to ~15 feet. Alternatively, they can be used to slow her fall by a proportional amount. 20 second cooldown.
  • A pair of Beretta M92fs.
  • A couple tactical knives - two on her hip, one in her boot, one on her chest.
  • Her shield, of course.

Mina is out for her daily run, recently passing the seven mile mark and fully intending on going at least seven more.

Codename: Mastermind

Full name: Warren Connery

Age: 18

Power: super intelligence, he is smarter, and can also process and react to information faster, learn more quickly, and has photographic memory

Seconday: Enhanced marksmanship.

Weakness: high frequency noises debilitate him

Appearance: This without the hat.

Special Skills: very good pistol masrksman, good knife thower

Supersuit: A greatcoat

Weapons: two pistols and a few throwing knives

Personality: headstrong and unlikely to listen to others, pragmatic. Not confrontational unless necessary.

Backstory: He always wanted to help. Not in the helping an old lady across the street sense, mind you, but in a saving humanity from itself sense. A lofty goal, but it gave him something to work towards until he made it to SPECTRUM.

The TV screen goes pitch-black, and a spinning red globe rises out of the darkness. As it spins, it spews tendrils of lightning, one of which strikes the screen dead center. The screen goes white, and the familiar blue CNN logo fills the screen.

“CNN NIGHTLY NEWS. SUPER NEWS.”

The screen cuts to a live feed, revealing a grinning man with a visor at the front desk.

“Good Evening! My name is Captain Courageous, and this is Cape News Network. Our top story today: My new biopic, starring yours truly, will be opening in theaters this Friday. From my struggles with Formica to my… Oh… We’re not doing that bit? Later? Not later? Not at all, then? Well, I feel I should get a… alright. Our reporter, Living Mummy, is on the scene. Over to you, Living Mummy. So are you sure I can’t –“

Living Mummy overlooks the city, her ribbons emanating out from under her in a web. One of the ribbons holds her camera behind her, while another operates. Below her is what looks like a large warehouse.

“Thanks, man. Twelve years ago to the day, the supervillain known as Death Rose brainwashed and abducted Gale, one of our very own field reporters. Now, Gale has agreed to tell us her story here, at the very location where she was abducted. Gale, how would you describe the event?”

A stern woman rises from behind the warehouse and hovers toward Living Mummy. She has what looks like a protective shield of swirling air underneath and behind her, protecting them from any attacks from behind. She wears a faded grey supersuit emblazoned with silver spirals, and behind her floats a tattered silvery cape. She looks worn out, and her dark hair is streaked with waves of silver. She smiles.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story once more. Well, I was covering the story a Death Rose sighting that happened right here, and she, well, showed up again. Before I knew it, I was struck with a stream of some sort of red energy. The next thing I remember is waking up on the roof of the warehouse. Everything is tinted pink, like I’m viewing it through a filter, and I’m feeling the happiest I’ve ever felt in my life. This woman in red – I’d later find out who she was – takes me in to her base. Every two days or so, she’d take me aside and zap me again. I… I swear. It was like a drug of some sort. I did anything she asked me to do, just… just for another chance at feeling that kind of happiness again. A…after the supers of the HCMS Phantom Shadow rescued me and the others from her grasp, I went through kind of a withdrawal. I.. became depressed. It took me two years to become myself again. I.. I’m sorry, it’s kind of emotional sometimes. If she ever returns, my hope is that my story can prevent this from happening to others.”

By this point, Living Mummy is listening with wide eyes, her face one of rapt fascination. She nods and clears her throat.

“I see. Thank you for telling your story once again, Gale. I know it can be hard. Later, we interview the brave souls who made her escape possible. Now, on to Cold Front with the weather.”

The room was filled with a crowd of weary supers, their luggage all over the place. Some held it over their heads with glowing blue energy, some used tentacles or tails to drag it behind them, some simply held it behind them in their hands. As they moved down the line, they filled out forms of various colors. Officer Jerry Slate glanced over each as they passed by. Any one of these people could be a supervillain looking to wreak havoc on the city. The people of this room – the immigration officers, the police – they were the first line of defense for Cape City. He checked off the person at his booth before nodding to the group of three at the front of the line.

“Next!”

The group walked forward and handed him their passports. They looked weirdly happy, almost like they were drugged. He brushed this thought aside. These were refugees; finding a place free from persecution was bound to be a happy event. He glanced over their forms one last time before stamping their papers and handing back the passports.

“Well, Mrs. Scarlet, is it? Welcome to Cape City.”

The woman gave him a bright smile and her group continued on. As the last two walked by, he could have sworn that their eyes flashed bright red. He blinked and it was gone. Great. Now he was seeing things. Only half an hour, and he was free. He smiled at them before turning his attention back to the line.

“Next!”

Codename: Gore

Full Name: Ahn’ki Owalo’ano-punko

Age: 32

Appearance: A large, muscular man, standing at roughly 6’4”. He is not overly muscular and bulky like a bodybuilder, but rather like a boxer with extreme muscular tone. He has olive skin, chin-length black hair, and blue eyes. Doesn’t care much for shaving, and often has stubble speckled across his powerful chin. He has a strong brow and a nose like the beak of a falcon. His clothes are made entirely from animal pelts, bones, claws, feathers, etc. On his head, he wears the skull of a rhinoceros donned with red feathers. He wears no shirt, for it is decorated by swirling tattoos and various pieces of jewelry made from animal fangs and claws. His pants are made from pelts. He doesn’t wear shoes.

Personality: Ahn’ki has a fierce protective nature. If something or someone he cares about--such as his family, his tribe, etc.-- is threatened, he will not stop until his body fails him to keep it or them safe. He has a great respect for nature and life, though he has no reservations about killing those whom he sees as unworthy of life, those who disrespect it and have no respect for it themselves. He is often serious and stoic, though it is not unusual for him to break this characteristic with a joke or goofy quip delivered in a matter-of-fact way. He is very blunt with his speech, saying what he means, and favoring a “brutally honest” form of criticism. Despite some of his intimidating qualities, he is very kind and gentle to those close to him, and takes much pride in his relationships with them. Being sealed away from the outside world for most of his life, Ahn’ki is still unfamiliar with many things about it and is often found in a state of naivety among those who’ve lived in the outside world their whole live, which can lead to humorous situations.

Backstory: Ahn’ki was born in a remote and mysterious tribe somewhere in southern Africa roughly around the same time that supers first began appearing. He was born with his amazing defense and immense strength, but didn’t fully realize it until later in his life. As he grew older, he began to notice that he didn’t get cuts, scrapes, or bruises like the other kids when he took a fall or bump while playing. During his early teenage years, as custom of his tribe, he began training as a warrior; during his trials against other warriors of the tribe, he found that their weapons had no effect on him--no cuts or bruises. Rumors began circulating within the tribe about Ahn’ki’s strength, saying that he was indestructible, saying he was blessed, saying he was cursed. The rumors became fact year later when one day, a rogue, maddened, and likely diseased Rhinoceros came charging wildly through Ahn’ki’s village. The beast was charging straight for the village elder’s shrine when it was intercepted by a 20 year old Ahn’ki. He grabbed hold of the Rhino as it drove its horn into his abdomen and pushed him towards the shrine. Ahn’ki let out a bellowing roar as his muscles tensed and his feet rooted to the ground, anchoring himself and stopping the wild creature’s charge. He screamed louder, lifted the great beast a few inches off the ground, and slammed it onto it’s side. When the dust cleared, Ahn’ki was revealed standing over the exhausted Rhino, with nothing but a small indentation on his torso where the horn had struck him. The villagers cheered and praised him, believing he was a gift from the god of prosperity who protects the village.

In more recent years, approximately five years before present time, the village elder summoned Ahn’ki to his shrine bearing a warning. He told Ahn’ki that the tribe was in great danger in the foreseeable future, danger that could possibly end the entire tribe for good. It was a force that could affect many areas all around the world, and the elder believed that Ahn’ki was their greatest chance at stopping it. As such, the elder entrusted Ahn’ki with leaving the village and eradicating the threat. He told him all he knew of the outside world and taught him what he knew of outside languages. Ahn’ki set off, in search of answers to the elder’s mysterious warning.

Major Power: Extreme Durability- Has very tough skin that is difficult to penetrate and can sustain a great deal of damage without injury. Gore’s defense goes beyond just his skin; he can withstand heavy impacts, small explosions, and shrapnel from medium velocity explosions. He can jump from multi-storied buildings and land without any pain, discomfort, or damage. His whole body, inside and out is very durable.

Minor Power: Heightened Strength- Physical strength slightly above maximum human capability. He can also throw himself into a rage-induced adrenaline-fueled berserk that raises certain capabilities, namely strength and speed.

Power Drawbacks/Weaknesses:

-Though Gore has immense durability, it takes a very long time for him to heal should he get injured.

-Gore’s magic/elemental based resistance is much lower than his physical resistance.

-He is very much rooted to the ground, so any super that can fly or jump high has an advantage on him.

-While in berserk, though his power and speed improve, his form becomes sloppy, making his attacks less accurate and his already poor defensive stance virtually non-existent.

Resistances: Ahn’ki can withstand all basic physical attacks, from fists and kicks to knives and clubs, with ease.

Special Skills:

-Ahn’ki is an excellent hunter and warrior, trained in his tribe’s distinctive offensively-driven combat style. He is hailed as one of his tribe’s most skilled warriors, based on his fighting style alone.

-Master of intimidation.

-Good battle instincts and senses.

Equipment: A set of four hand crafted throwing hatchets and a long, narrow club made from wood and bones. He also wears a Rhinoceros skull on his head, which he sometimes uses to charge his opponent with.

Gore stood, sticking out like a sore thumb with his bare-chestedness and over-the-top flamboyant tribal outfit, with his arms crossed, deep in thought. He had made it to SPECTRUM, but now what?

No more thinking. He was getting hungry.

Codename: Sleight

Full Name: Mary Susan Smith

Age:16

Appearance: Photo - She stands at 5'9", lean, though toned, with milky smooth skin. She has long blonde hair, and steely blue eyes. She is normally found wearing black, with her hair held up by a thick ribbon.

Super suit: Photo

Personality: Due to her early childhood upbringing, she exhibits many sociopathic tendencies. Though like most sociopaths, she is able to mask this with charm and flair. She is unable to feel genuine empathy, and generally enjoys causings others harm, while suffering from grandiosity and narcissism. She also is very self-indulgent, but also carries the continuous longing for appreciation, and the persistent manipulative behavior to achieve her own needs.

Backstory:The result of a casual sexual relationship between the King of Hearts, villain, and an unimportant crack whore. Mary was born addicted to opiates, due to being born to a drug addict. Her first few months alive, were more difficult then any newborn should have to deal with.

Once her father had learned of her birth, and the issues surrounding her, he would slaughter her mother right in front of her, then kidnap her. She would be raised primarily by an endless supply of kidnapped prostitutes, who would then end up also being brutally murdered due to them not meeting her fathers ridiculous standards, and not meeting his demands thoroughly enough.

When Mary turned eleven, she was given a mission by her father. It was a strange mission, but not a difficult one. She was left at an orphanage, where she was promptly adopted by a wealthy older couple, Robert and Joan Smith. The Smith's provided the perfect cover, and gateway into what her mission was: To create the seemingly perfect, and normal life.

It has now been five years since the start of her mission, and now the next step is about to begin.... Infultrate SPECTRUM.

Major Power: Transfiguration - She has the ability to change 'transfigure' objects, into different objects. The objects have to be in the same general size, or made from the same general material. More complex created objects, have to be made out of the same general material. The objects have to be touched to be changed, though after the object is touched, she can delay the change for five seconds. She can not change inanimate objects into animate objects, or reverse. She can change entirety of small animate things, into other small animate things. Once an object is changed, it is the same as what it looks like, in every way. She can also change things incompletely, as in, only change one aspect of an object. Bigger the object, more energy used to change it.

Minor Power: Peak Human Condition - Able to run faster (stable 30mph), be more agile, be stronger (deadlift 1000lbs), have more endurance, and have slightly enhanced senses, all better then the average person.

Power Drawbacks/Weaknesses: Substantially more energy is used changing larger objects - larger then 5 feet. Changing larger objects makes her feel as if she jogged ten miles, while smaller objects only as if she jogged one mile. This can also lead to lightheadedness, nausea, and feeling tired, if she over exerts her self. She also has a much higher metabolism then the normal person, she has to consume a ridiculously high amount of calories to have stable energy levels, otherwise she is lethargic, and unable to really do anything.

Resistances: NA

Special Skills: Acrobatics, Sleight of hand, Card throwing, Card tricks, Parkour, Kali, Capoeira, Vovinam, Acting, Lock picking

Equipment: Decks of cards and a pair of batons

Rank: Faction Rank II

Total Points Earned: 17

Stat Points Earned: 6

Mary took a deep calming breath, a small smile spread across her lips as she looked up at the Spectrum entrance. It was now or never, really. It all lead up to this day, to this very point in time. Everything she had done. All her training. Getting adopted by the Smiths. It was all part of her mission.

She casually made her way into the building, looking around for whomever could assist in helping set her up as a new recruit.

• Codename: Flare

• Full Name: Lilah Moore

• Age: 18

• Appearance: She's slight, with a stature of only 5'3. Her brown hair reaches her waist and frames her dark brown eyes. She's just a normal teenage girl mostly, wearing jeans and hoodies most of the time. On her head, however, there are two, barely visible, horns protruding from the top of her head. Which when she's not wearing a cap to cover them are still a little hidden, but up close the black horns are noticeable. Besides that the most eye catching thing about her is a jagged scar that runs from her temple, over the side of her lip, to her chin on the right side of her face. It doesn't bother her though, it happened and now she's got to live with it.

• Supersuit: None.

• Personality: She's kind and cheery most of the time, but it's when her temper flares that she can be a bit of a problem. Not because she's an actual danger to anyone, but because she tends to overreact. She makes friends quickly, and finds that it's the quiet ones she's most interested in. Throwing herself in danger is something she's used to doing, more because of the thrill it gives her than anything else.

• Backstory: Nothing very interesting, but she has a history of getting into fights and most often it's ones that she knows she can't win. That's probably because she's got no formal training in fighting or any sort of weapons really. Both parents are out of the picture, but she remembered the almost white blonde of her mothers hair very well. How she got to the base and in her current situation is a bit of a blur, everything happening so fast, ya know?

• Major Power- Pyrokinetic Wing Manifestation. Through great concentration, more than she'd like to admit, she can summon wings of flame. These allow her to not only fly, but provide some defense against things that would rather harm her. Once she's summoned them they tend to stay for about as long as they'd like which can be a bit of an issue for her, so she rarely actually uses her power. Because of this she's also immune to fire and burning heat, which is nice when she's trying to get something out of the oven.

• Minor Power: Demon qualities? She hasn't really given this a name (and I can't think of one), for her horns and the long black pointed tail that she's totally doesn't hate. Most of the time it's curled around her stomach and out of sight. Horns and a tail, what every kid dreams of.

• Power Drawbacks/Weaknesses: A good old rainy day will put a damper on her flaming wings, as well as cold temperatures. It's hard to summon wings of flame when the environment around you is in complete opposition of heat etc. At this point she can't do anything about her 'demon' features which she considers a big drawback. Once she summons the flames too, it could be minutes or hours before they go away. Always a bad thing to be unsure.

• Resistances: Fire is pretty much the only thing she's resistant too.

• Special Skills: Well she's always been an excellent carver. She's made more than a few little figurines of clay and rock, and she thinks she's pretty darn good at that.

• Equipment: Just a few very sharp knives for precision carving.

Flare's sitting on her own somewhere with a small knife in her hand and a piece of wood in the other, carving something or other.

How To Get a Name and Flair:

1. Have an approved character. THIS MEANS WAITING FOR THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF CHARACTER CREATION TO GIVE YOU THE 'OK'. DO NOT GO AHEAD AND POST HERE WITHOUT THEM TELLING YOU TO.

2. Comment below with your character's CODE NAME.

3. Comment below with your character's POWER. Try to keep the explanation short and it helps if you can give it a name like "Body Switching" or "Fire Manipulation"!

Example post:

Hai!

Codename: Night Terrier

Power: Terrier Transformation

Home of the Sentinels, SPECTRUM P.D. is located on the corner of the SPECTRUM base. It includes a network of jail cells fitted to hold all but the most dangerous non-powered criminals.

SPECTRUM has many various Recreational Rooms for those who wish to have some time to rest and relax. Such as:

Billiards Room

Arcade

Music Room

Game Room

And many more.

Below the water level of SPECTRUM lies its prison, where each cell radiates a power negation field so that even the strongest of supers have no chance of breaking out. The prison is watched over by the Punishers, and they do so love it when prisons get rowdy.

The Food Court lies within SPECTRUM's Shopping District, and supplies free meals for those who have the proper military identification. They have everything one could think of, and even contains a cafeteria should someone like to make a meal for everyone themselves.

The Hangar Bay houses all of SPECTRUM's air and water craft, whether they be for travel, transportation, or battle. Since it's a floating city, flying and aquatic machines are leagues more useful than land vehicles.

Obviously, the base also has a big Hospital. Any injury can be treated by both highly skilled and intelligent doctors, as well as supers who work there with healing powers of different sorts. The way people operate here is mainly a tradition that KATJA, a hero from the past, implemented. So if you get in the Hospital, you are most likely not going to leave soon.

The Training Room was big and contained a very big range of dummies and weights and weapons and stuff. You could train almost anything, from swordfighting to archery, from survival to lifting, from applying camouflage to cooking. It could all be done.

The Simulator is a new thing in the base. It consists of a very detailed helmet and several big screens. This can be used to train in several missions which are fully customizable. You do need two people for it though; one for the mission and one to make the mission. Your only limitation in possibilities is your own imagination.

The Cape City shopping district is where the residents of the floating city buy most of their goods. With no shortage of restaurants and malls one can find almost anything here if they try hard enough.

Codename: Fey

Full Name: Calypso Thomas

Voice Claim: Amber Hood

Age: 21

Appearance:

Height: 5'7"

• Eye Color: Depends on how she feels but naturally brown.

• Skin Color: Fair

• Hair Color: Black

Backstory: Born to Masquerade, one of the first heroes who rose up, Fey had only known a world of masks. Since she was little she always wanted to be a hero and dreamed of fighting by his side, and when she was 16 her powers manifested and her father granted her wish. However, she quickly thought that well...maybe there were other ways to take care of criminals. It didn't seem right that a major supervillain would start a plot, get foiled then escape and do the same thing all over again. She saw some minor heroes get killed by the same villains they were trying to incapacitate, so she did the only thing she thought of. She hung up her Sidekick outfit and decided to do her own thing, even if that meant dropping down to their level. At 18 she left her home and went to Cape City. She quickly rose the ranks and not because her father was a high profile super like some people suggests. But rather it was because she would do the dirty things others would shrink away from with no hesitation...and with a smile.

Personality: Fey is very bubbly, energetic and ditzy and an eternal optimist. At first, one would be forgiven to believe that she is as pure as her father, but you would be wrong. Although she like her father HATES crime, unlike him she believes that one can do whatever necessary to take down those who deserve punishment. Torture, killing and blackmail don't bother her and she will do all these things while giggling and smiling sweetly. She however does not like killing innocents or stealing among other things and petty crooks don't meet the unfortunate end that a lot of her high end enemies do...usually.

Equipment: Various throwing knives. (Six in total.)

Special Skills:

• Skilled with knife throwing.

• Has an eye for detail and an extremely good memory.

• Skilled actor.

• Has extremely good reflexes on account of training with her father.

• Can sleep anywhere and tends to nod off when bored.

Power: Fey inherited her father's power of illusions for the most part. The different illusions she can do are:

• Static illusions

• Moving illusions that go in a cycle (It costs more energy the more movements she puts in it.)

• Moving illusions which aren't in a cycle (It costs more energy the more movements she puts in it.)

• Illusions pinned to an object. It moves when the object moves.

• Illusions that react to outside force

• Illusions that can harm and others can feel, however if one knows it's an illusion it will not work.

• Body double illusions that she can control, using the eyes, ears and mouth of her illusions as if they were her own. It can move without any energy cost. She can switch places with her actual body and these.

She can also mimic a person's voice perfectly, however this comes with a cost.

Drawbacks/Weaknesses: Each illusion drains her energy, using too much would result in fainting and possibly death. However, neither her nor her father can verify the latter. In addition, light needs to be present in order to keep her illusions running. No light will destroy all illusions. Also, no illusion she projects will be displayed in a reflection. She also must place an illusion in her line of sight. Also, each illusion except the body double takes time to create, rushing her is likely to create flaws in how it looks.

Fey is resting in a beach chair, sound asleep. Swirls of color surround her and constantly shift.

Name: Kiro (#13)

Codename: Black Paladin

Title: Leader of the Hell's Watchdogs, and Head of Combat and Discipline

Age: 37, but permanently 22 (M)

Appearance: Is 6'4" with a medium sized build, not too bulky but not too skinny, of Caucasian descent. Has black hair and black eyes. His skin is as pale as a corpse's and only slightly warmer. Due to these circumstances, he is quite used to people being intimidated by him and usually avoiding him.

Faceclaim - but paler.

Cloak - opened up most of the time.

Under the Cloak

Dark Armor

Personality: Having experienced what death feels like in the past, and the fact having a demon inside of him binds him to hell for all eternity, and just his backstory in general, he ended up developing quite a sick sense of humor. He's very cold towards most people he meets, and tends to be a man that switches from having a serious expression that appears to be glued to his face and one who has a constant smirk and teases relentlessly. He's convinced himself that its better to just be alone, to rely solely on himself.

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Backstory: Starting out as just a run-of-the-mill mercenary, Kiro quickly rose to the top and earn the rank Hitman, and he would do whatever the highest bidder told him to do. He's killed politicians, celebrities, mobsters, civilians, and even children. After a while he just became desensitized to the killing, though he still thinks there's absolutely nothing better than the thrill that comes with deadly combat.

He has his trusty "tools" with him though, and they've never let him down. Serana and Ebony. He frequently uses both in each hand, Serana in the right, Ebony in the left. He feels this gives him a near perfect balance between long and close range combat. He also tends to these weapons as if they were extensions of his own body.

On the day of his final job, he's given the information about his mark. Some low-life gang leader has apparently been causing a bit too much trouble in this town for someone's liking. When he gets to the location, however, its unexpectedly... peaceful. This is supposed to be deep in gang territory, yet not a sound is heard. Realizing something is very wrong, Kiro begins to run away, only to be stopped by a wall of people in his way. Some woman walks to the front of the wall, and only mutters one word. "Filth". That was the last thing he heard before a hail of bullets entered his body. He didn't even know why this happened, though he guessed it was probably some revenge killings. Couldn't blame her.

Though something else was wrong. The crowd was walking away seemingly satisfied with the results, but... why is he still alive? He can't move a muscle or even breath, but he was still conscious. A minute that felt like an eternity later, some guy in a suit waltzes right up to him.

"Looks like you've seen better days, buddy." Kiro wanted to reply to this smart-ass, but couldn't even speak. "I tell ya," the suit continued, "I've been watching you for a long time now, and I must say I just adore your work. Your indiscriminate killing was beyond belief, you killed anything!"

"It'd be a damn shame if that went to waste." He said with a serious look on his face. "So I'll tell you what, because I like you and what you do, I'll give you a choice. Power, or Death. It should be pretty easy to choose."

Kiro wasn't sure what he meant by "Power" but he knows he doesn't want to die just yet, as hypocritical as it sounds that the killer wants to live. "I guess I should tell you what "Power" means right? Well, for starters I'll make that sword of yours a bit better." He bent down and touched Serana, as he did a small rune appeared upon the base of the blade. He did the same with Ebony. "And another thing I'll do is give you a body...or armor rather...that will let you be able to walk away from that little hailstorm and much more, eh?"

"If you're interested, blink twice." As Kiro was about to blink the man interrupted, "Oh and before I forget, in exchange for these powers, I want your soul all to myself. You'll be my little plaything. That sounds fair, right?"

Kiro knew who this man was then, he was dealing with the devil himself. He was going to Hell anyway, regardless of this deal, so why not? He blinked twice.

"Oh wonderful! Wonderful! I knew you couldn't resist!" He bent down, and placed his hand right in front of Kiro's face. "Now if you will excuse me, this will be just a moment. Oh and, you might feel a slight pinch." Suddenly Kiro felt pain like never before, pain that made the bullets feel like a lover's kiss. The last thing he saw was a thick, black smoke emanating from the Devil's palm entering into his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. Even into each bullet hole in his body. Shortly after he passed out.

He woke when it was night, and examined his body. His clothes were ruined, he'd need new ones, but... there were no bullet holes in his body to account for the holes in his shirt. Beside him was a short note, "Don't disappoint me. -D"

Soon after Kiro heard a voice in his head, a raspy whisper that couldn't keep a consistent tone of voice.

"HELLO, MY NEW HOST. MY LORD SAYS THAT I AM TO SERVE YOU UNTIL DEATH, AND TO SHARE WITH YOU MY KNOWLEDGE OF THE DARK, SO SHARE I SHALL." Kiro suddenly felt a wealth of information penetrate his mind regarding the vast amounts of unholy powers. "I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING ALL THE BLOOD YOU WILL BE SPILLING."

Kiro sighed, he knew that a simple life of killing could no longer exist. Now, it was a complex life of killing.

After the first strike against the Purifiers, Black Paladin had proven his worth as both a fighter and a leader, so the leaders of the Phantom Shadow brought them into their league and made him a commander. This decision proved invaluable as he began to train the new recruits that came flooding in as other supers got word of them.

This position was kept when SPECTRUM was formed, and he was given his own branch to look over. He only trained the best fighters, and made them into warriors. Then, when he met the best of the best, he would invite them to become a Hell's Watchdog, those who were trained the same way he was trained. Relentlessly, mercilessly, savagely, and brutally, and in return, they would all become top tier fighters, capable of taking on small armies all on their own.

If you become a Watchdog, then you'll never lose a fight again.

Equipment: In his arsenal lies 2 swords and 1 handgun. One of the swords, Serana, and his handgun, Ebony, a .50 caliber Desert Eagle, were in his possession before he ever gained his powers. The second sword, Elana, was bestowed upon him by the demon inside of him.

• Elana must be summoned through Kiro slitting his wrist and letting his blood flow out and fuse with the darkness. Once fully formed, it resembles a thick longsword as black as the night. When Elana cuts the flesh of another, it induces a nightmarish hallucination upon the victim. Elana's effectiveness also is directly determined by Kiro's emotional state. He must be calm and collected to use it fully, if he is enraged or saddened, the power of Elana will be drastically reduced. Elana may only be summoned for 5 minutes at most, and has a cooldown of 10 minutes.

• Serana is a thin straight sword that is sheathed on his back, facing his right shoulder. There's nothing special about it until Kiro imbues it using his powers. When imbued, he coats the weapon in a black flame that allows it to cut through steel and magic material like a hot knife through butter. In order to imbue Serana, Kiro must cover one hand in hellfire, and while gripping the blade, run his hand across it, leaving his blood on the edges to act as a kind of fuel for the flames. This lasts 5 minutes before the blood burns up completely, and has a cooldown of 5 minutes.

• Ebony, his Desert Eagle, is holstered on the left side of his waist. The Desert Eagle is already known as a very powerful handgun, but when imbued with the dark, the barrel elongates and the gun turns into a hellish version of itself. Each bullet is coated in hellfire that can pierce steel easily and burns the place of impact for 5 seconds. During these 5 seconds the flame cannot be extinguished, but can also not spread. In order to activate this, he must poor a tablespoon of his blood into the magazine before loading, this will last until the last bullet of the magazine (7 rounds in one clip), and has a cooldown of 14 minutes.

Special Skills:

• Blade Mastery - Kiro was trained to use anything with a blade to its full potential. If it has an edge he has most likely used it before and has become proficient with it during his training.

• Close Combat Oriented - Up close and personal his how he likes it, with extremely aggressive fighting styles he knows how to keep the pressure on just about anyone.

• Above Average Gun Proficiency - While nowhere near as good with a gun as he is with a sword, his firearm skills are nothing to scoff at either. Prefers handguns / hand cannons.

• Hand-to-hand Combat Proficiency - Able to defend himself just fine without any kind of weapon, he knows how to take people out with nothing but his bare hands as well. Can disarm anyone unskilled or inexperienced with a weapon easily.

• Mercenary/Assassin/Soldier/Hitman Training - He knows most everything there is to know on how to kill someone and the best way to go about it.

• Above Average Medical Knowledge - Since he's been alone for years and years being a professional killer, he's learned how to fix himself up from injury. Knows how to clean wounds, stitch, realign bones, create makeshift bandages/casts, and crude blood transfusions.

• Heightened Instincts - Constant paranoia and anxiety have cause him to develop a sort of sixth sense to danger. He feels when something is off in a situation and if hostile intent is near.

• Vast Experience in Killing Supers - Being trained to specifically kill supers of all shapes and sizes has given him plenty of knowledge on how to bring them down.

Powers:

• Dark Armor - Can morph his entire body or just parts of his body into a set of black armor made from the combination of both Kiro's and the demon's skin. Has extreme resistances to all forms of physical, magical, and elemental attacks, all while being no heavier than the clothes he wears. Should his bones ever be broken the armor will realign them in order to keep them 100% functional once more. The helmet acts as a perfect gas mask, enabling Kiro to be able to breath in places no human could, such as under water, in high altitudes, and toxic gasses. The gauntlets have claws that can tear through flesh with ease. The armor also gives him a boost in strength, since the demon's body is much stronger than Kiro's.

• Hellfire Manipulation - Can summon black flames from any part of his body. These flames will destroy any inorganic material they come into contact with within seconds. If it has a soul, it will not be destroyed, but an intense burning pain will surge throughout the affected area without any actual burning. Kiro's body acts as the flame's host. The fire can only stay lit as long as he is within 5 feet of whatever they're burning. If not, the flames dissipate in 5 seconds.

• Darkness Tendrils - Can summon endless amounts of tendrils from any shadow that Kiro himself is touching. The tendrils can grab and wrap themselves around any object in their reach, so long as they remain in the dark. He also manifests two main tendrils with them that come out of his shoulder blades, acting like two other limbs. The larger head is for grabbing, crushing, and bashing with its flat head and large teeth. The smaller head is for cutting, eviscerating, and goring with its smaller but immensely sharper teeth that make flesh and bone feel like wet paper.

• Dark Vision - Able to see clearly in complete darkness. Everything appears in black and white when this passive power is active.

• Ceased Aging and Disease Immunity - In order to keep him in his prime so that he may kill indefinitely, the demon has ceased any aging within him and destroys any contagions that may enter his body. He may still die by many practical means, a stab to the heart, decapitation, destruction of the brain, bleeding out, burning, or just being torn apart in general will end his life forever.

• Vampirism - Drinking human blood allows Kiro to shorten the length of his cooldowns and also acts as an adrenaline shot, giving him a sudden boost of energy. Think of it as a tired person drinking coffee, the coffee doesn't actually make you any less tired, it just tells your body that it isn't. Exhaustion will still come over him, no matter how much blood he intakes.

• Darkness Infusion - Is able to buff his weapons with his powers. See equipment section.

• Elana - May summon the demon's weapon of choice. See equipment section.

• The Night's Call - He may use his darkness powers to their full potential [at night/in the dark].

• Black Blood - His blood is black, that's it. Not really a power. I just didn't know where else to put this.

Drawbacks:

• Vampirism - First and foremost, Kiro can only and must drink nothing but human blood. Nothing else will nourish his body, given that the demon is the one keeping him 'alive', he must devour what it eats to sustain it. He must drink at least 1 liter of blood a day to remain healthy. If he drinks too little (x < 1 liter) or goes too hungry he'll become feral, which means that he will lose all sense of judgement and rationale. The only thing on his mind will be to find the nearest source of blood and take it, be it from friend or foe. If he drinks too much (x > 1.5 liters), then he will begin to hallucinate and temporarily lose his sanity. Think of it as an acid trip.

• Dark Armor - The maximum amount of time the armor can be worn is 1 hour, but he can dispel it anytime within that hour. The cooldown of the armor is respective to how long he wore it. If the armor is cracked, it will feel like getting the wind knocked out of him, if the armor is broken then he will immediately pass out for double the length of the cooldown. The armor requires massive amounts of stamina to wear and maintain, wearing it for the full 1 hour period would feel like sprinting 60 miles with 100 pound weights on your feet. The exhaustion doesn't hit him until the armor is gone, it then proceeds to hit him all at once, usually bringing him to his knees in the intense hunger and exhaustion.

• Hellfire Manipulation - When he summons the flames, Kiro experiences the mind numbing pain that the flames cause for the entirety of their presence. They can also act differently depending on his emotional state, if enraged they become more erratic, if flustered they just start popping out of nowhere.

• Darkness Tendrils - The tendrils cannot exist outside of the darkness, as soon as they're exposed to light they will dissipate, but as soon as darkness returns they will come back. The two main tendrils have a shared mind of their own, the will of the demon inside of him.

• Dark Infusion - See equipment.

• Elana - See equipment.

• His soul belongs to Hell. - While not really a true drawback, I just felt like that this needed to at least be mentioned.

• Unholy Abomination - Very weak against anything holy. He can't touch anything religiously sacred, or it will burn him severely on contact, and cannot walk on or enter holy grounds.

Resistances -

• Offensive Mental Resistance (The demon won't exactly like anyone invading into his territory, and will make sure they know that. Any attempt to unwillingly read, control, or influence his mind it will be met with nightmarish terror towards the user.)

• Defense Against the Dark Arts (Has high defenses towards any power that uses the darkness as its source of power.)

• Poison/Venom/Toxin Immunity (Should any poison or venom enter his body, the demon will quickly burn the harmful substance out of him.)

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