Character you have created: Harvey & Laura Smith
Alias:
Thunderbolt (left)
Boom (Right)
Speech Color:
color=6ecff6 Thunderbolt;
color=f26522 Boom
Character Alignment: Hero
Identity: Secret
Character Personality:
Thunderbolt: Harvey was born to be a hero. He is fiercely protective of others, and dislikes bullies. Harvey believes that everyone has a duty to help their fellow man however they can, and lives his life by that philosophy. Harvey gives to the poor, became a police officer, and eventually a superhero because he simply wants to help. Harvey is loving, compassionate, and intelligent. However, he does have flaws. He can be naive, and his code of honor can get in the way of the greater good. Harvey refuses to kill, and looks to end conflicts as peacefully as he can. When Thunderbolt sets his mind to something there is little others can do to change it. Harvey works for the Lost Haven Police Department.
Boom: Unlike her brother, Laura is a fighter. She's stubborn and pigheaded, and believes she's always right. While Laura follows a code similar to Harvey's, she goes about fulfilling it differently. Boom always looks to accomplish her goals for the greater good of mankind. While Harvey might walk an old woman across the street, Laura wants to expose a politician's corruption. She's pragmatic and calculating, choosing to use her time more wisely than her brother. Laura is rebellious, bold, and cunning. Laura has always had a nose for the truth, and has always worked as a journalist since her middle school days. She writes for the Daily Watchmen, one of Lost Haven's biggest newspapers.
Uniform/costume: See above. Boom's costume covers more skin; similar to Thunderbolt's. When not in costume, the siblings dye their hair to distance themselves from the appearance they have as heroes. Harvey stands at 5'11, and Laura at 5'9. Both are extremely fit.
Origin Info/Details: Harvey and Laura are siblings, both in their early twenties. They grew up in Lost Haven, New Hampshire; specifically the Little Sicily quarter with two loving parents and a large extended family. They were the Smiths only children, and thus were a bit spoiled. They lived a fairly peaceful life, and were pretty well off for a family living in the big city. Harvey was considered a troubled child during school for his tendency to get into fights protecting total strangers from bullies and thugs. Eventually Harvey got so out of hand that the kids' parents had both Harvey and Laura join a self defense class. This started what became a favorite hobby for both kids, who eventually joined an amateur Mixed Martial Arts gym in order to continue following their newfound interest. High School marked the first time Laura worked for a newspaper (she wrote for the school paper) as well as the first time Harvey found himself in police custody for grievously harming a local bully.
These patterns continued until the two graduated High School and set out into the world to find themselves. Laura signed up with the Daily Watchmen with the end goal of becoming a Pulitzer prize winning writer. Harvey joined the Lost Haven Police Department, ironically, with no real career in mind. His only goal was dishing out punishment to people who picked on the weak and defenseless. Eventually the siblings decided to move out of their parents' apartment and moved to Sherman Square, sharing an apartment of their own until they could afford two.
Life was good. Work was stressful for both of them, but the kids enjoyed their jobs. They didn't have trouble paying rent. When the metas first appeared, their reactions were mixed. Harvey adored Icon and the other heroes for their dedication to justice. They were a godsend to the crime-ravaged city, which had suffered under the heel of the world's most powerful mob, the Shroud Syndicate. Harvey was one of the few cops not on their payroll. Laura didn't trust them: no one should have that much power. What if Icon turned bad? He could destroy entire nations and no one could stop him. And all these super villains that seemed to follow after him, like the dreaded Nightmare? Metahumans were too much trouble, and Laura hated having to put trust in people she didn't know to protect her.
Then D-Day struck.
Harvey had been among the police who were in the thick of the fighting. He'd nearly been gutted on more than one occasion by the invading monsters and demons. He'd seen too many friends die that day. Laura had intentionally put herself in the middle of the action. She recorded everything, both with her phone and a notepad. Her piece on the D-Day violence won her two whole promotions for being one of the only reporters brave enough to document the events of D-Day.
Less than a week after the attack, the siblings were walking home together. It was raining, harder than it had rained in years. Flash flood warnings were in affect as the two rushed to their apartment, having left their car home since there hadn't been any projected rain that evening. While walking through the park, the two were struck by a series of lightning bolts. When they awoke in the hospital, it seemed a miracle had occurred. The doctors reported that the two had been covered head to toe in third degree burns, yet they had healed in less than an hour. The doctors marked it up as a freak accident (and reported the incident to STRIKE) and sent the Smiths on their way.
Thus, Thunderbolt and Boom were born.
At first, Laura wanted to ignore her abilities until they could find a cure. Harvey, on the other hand, was ecstatic. He could finally be a superhero! The two argued about what to do about their new found abilities for days. Eventually Laura agreed to go along with Harvey's hair brained superhero scheme, at least for the mean time. Laura and Harvey discovered the extent of their powers over the next few months as they trained and fought, sharpening their reflexes so they could better operate at the speed of lightning. Once the two thought they had their powers under control, the Smiths started their career as superheroic siblings. They had one of their most trusted friends, Brooklyn Stone, sew them both friction proof costumes. Harvey's best friend, Eric Harrison, set the two up with magnetized ear pieces so they could communicate even while travelling faster than sound. Once they were properly equipped, Thunderbolt and Boom set out to debut themselves as Lost Haven's nearest heroic duo.
Hero Type: Speedsters
Power Level: City level
Powers:
Super Speed: Harvey and Laura's primary power is super speed, with their other abilities existing as subsidiaries of this ability. When Thunderbolt or Boom run, time and space seems to bend as everything slows down around them. They are able to perceive things in slow motion, as well as talk at super speeds to each other using their magnetized ear pieces. The siblings are capable of reaching speeds up to mach 300, faster than the speed of lightning. There are signs that the two are slowly becoming faster the more they push themselves.
Tornado Generation: Thunderbolt and Boom can run in circles at super speed to create a vortex that they are both able to control. They can rotate their limbs at super speed to generate tornados to either send enemies flying or suck the air out of their lungs and keep them from breathing.
Healing Factor: While the Lightning Effect allows the speedsters to tank enormous damage without harm, there are still things that the Effect can't absorb. To make up for this, the Lightning Effect increases the siblings' natural healing factors to the umpth degree. With this healing factor, third degree burns heal in less than an hour. Minor cuts in minutes. Entire organs regenerate in a day. Broken Bones repair themselves in hours.
Super-Intelligence: Harvey and Laura's brains move as fast as they do, allowing them to think at extreme speeds. They are capable of reading entire books in seconds. Their brains' short term memory lasts thousands of times longer than the short term memory of a human being. The Smiths brains process information at such rates that Thunderbolt and Boom are able to perceive bullets at near stand still. Such increased reflexes allow them to experience years in the span of a second, disarm an army of their weapons before they can fire a single shot, and dismantle missile moments before they explode.
Lightning Effect: The mysterious source of Thunderbolt and Boom's powers. A blue aura surrounds each of them that absorbs kinetic energy. This aura protects them and anyone they are carrying from the effects of the speed, especially the effects of friction and airborne particulate matter. It also prevents them from sustaining injury from high-speed impacts, and affords a low-level of superhuman resistance to injury. Both of the siblings are able to expertly control the Effect, increasing their combat effectiveness drastically.
Attributes (Select one at each category):
Strength Level: Normal Human
Speed/Reaction Timing Level: 100+ MPH [ mach 300, faster than lightning]
Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: 1 hour
Agility: 20X Human level
Intelligence: Genius
Fighting Skill: Trained [Thunderbolt and Boom are both experienced in kickboxing, having trained since they were young]
Resources: Average
Weaknesses: Molecules slow down in subzero temperatures. This applies to the speedsters as well: The colder the environment, the slower Thunderbolt and Boom are forced to move. Slick floors also mean that the speedster siblings can't get traction, and can't run at super speeds. Harvey and Laura have to consume more food than the average human to compensate for the Lightning Effect speeding up their metabolisms. The Lighting Effect can be manipulated by outside forces, stealing the Smiths speed and rending them powerless.
Supporting Characters:
Brooklyn Stone: A childhood friend of Harvey and Laura. She is a skilled tailor, and created Thunderbolt and Boom's costumes, and repairs said costumes whenever they are damaged. She owns a small shop in the heart of Chinatown.
Eric Harrison: Best friend of Harvey. The two have been close since Harvey fended off a couple of bullies that were harassing young Eric. Harrison is a technology guru, and provides the team all of their gadgets and support on the field. He monitors police scanners and contacts the Smiths when there's trouble. Eric has no official job, living off his parents' fortune.
Commissioner Jessica Valdez: Commissioner of the Lost Haven Police Department and Harvey's boss. She doesn't know Harvey is Thunderbolt, and despises both him and his other identity for working against her. Corrupt and greedy, she serves at the pay of the Shroud Syndicate and his on the top of Thunderbolt's enemy list.
Editor-in-Chief Gary Gold: Chief of the Daily Watchmen and Laura's boss. He has a hard nose for the truth, and only prints the facts. He's one of the few newspaper in Lost Haven not controlled by the mob. Gary doesn't know Laura is Boom, but she's one of his most trusted reporters and writers. Publicly supports superheroes and condemns the police for their corruption. The Watchmen is set up in the Financial District.
Peter and Emily Smith: Harvey and Laura's parents. They don't know their children are superheroes. Loving and kind, Peter and Emily support their children whenever they can. Peter is a retired boxer, and Emily is an artist. They both live in an apartment in Little Sicily.
Do you know how to post pictures on RPG boards?: I have no idea, pls send help
Sample Post: Harvey was bored. He'd just gotten off of work and was waiting for Laura to pick him outside the precinct.
"Come on, come on, come on. Where is she?" Harvey repeated under his breathe as he tapped his foot rapidly against the sidewalk beneath his feet. He could have ran home and gotten there in a second, but this whole secret identity thing didn't allow it. People would start to wonder how Harvey moved around so fast without a car. They'd ask questions; and when all of your co-workers are detectives and police officers, acting suspicious isn't recommended. So here Harvey was, stuck sitting on a bench outside the police department, waiting for his sister. She probably stayed late again working on another story. She was always doing that. Which was fine, Harvey guessed, but Laura could have at least called. Was that so hard? Picking up her cell phone and telling her older brother 'Hey, I'm going to be working late. You should just walk home.' Sergeant Smith sighed as he slumped in his seat, nearly dozing off despite the biting cold of the February air. Couldn't it be summer already? Harvey felt so...Sluggish during winter. The speedster considered just walking home when his ear buzzed. He reached up and touched the small bluetooth device, activating it.
"Go ahead, Eric."Finally, some action! With all the other metahumans running around, you'd think Thunderbolt would be busier. Yet, it seemed all the crime across the city was being dealt by other heroes most of the time. Harvey pulled his coat tighter around himself as his best friend started talking.
"Alright. We've got a robbery in progress on the corner of Roe and Beacon. Somebody's trying to rob Clarie's Jewelry. They've got a meta with 'em, too. A brick by the sounds of it. Bulletproof, tearing steel apart with ease. Sounds like your kind of gig." Harvey looked around. He didn't want anyone to see him race off at mach 300. Once Thunderbolt was sure the close was clear, Harvey took off. He kept his speed low, about mach 50, so that the Lightning Effect kept his clothes intact. He needed to reach his house and change into costume. He dodged around people, cars, and buildings as he reached his house in the span of a single sentence. Harvey unlocked his door and raced into his room, opening a locked chest where he kept his Thunderbolt costume. Harvey changed in a flash before disappearing out the fire escape and racing down the side of his apartment building. The speedster cranked his speed up to max and reached the site of the robbery in seconds.
"Where's my sister, by the way?" Harvey wondered as he observed the situation. Five gunmen, all armed with automatic weapons. They wouldn't be an issue. The real problem was the metahuman. The guy stood at a massive eight foot tall and was covered in stone, head to foot.
Oh boy. Thunderbolt thought.
He'll be trouble. "Laura's still working on a report. Something about more and more of Lost Haven's biggest companies falling under the influence of mobsters. Really interesting piece, actually." Harvey sighed as the gunmen exited the jewelry store carrying bags full of loot.
"Really? What's Gold think?" Thunderbolt asked as he pursued the gunmen to their getaway vehicle. They had yet to spot the hero, who was moving too fast for the human eye to follow. "Gary? Gary's skeptical. Not enough hard facts about these mobsters to start publishing front page stories about 'em. He wants her to keep pursuing the angle, though." The metahuman hopped into the back of the car as the gunmen all filed inside with the loot and started to drive away. "You should probably-" Eric began.
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Thunderbolt disappeared in a flash of light as he reached the vehicle. Harvey began popping the tires, rapidly vibrating his fingers to turn them sharp. The vehicle swerved as the driver lost control of the car, and they crashed into the side of a building.
Thunderbolt stood atop the car, looking down at the stunned thugs.
"So you should surrender, because we all know how this is going to go down." Not wanting to go down without a fight, the masked criminals opened fire. They sprayed holes through the roof of their car as they tried to kill the hero attempting to stop them in their tracks. Harvey hummed a tune as he casually grabbed the bullets out from the air. The thugs and their metahuman comrade all exited the car and spread out. Thunderbolt just smiled as they continued to fire until they were out of ammo.
"My turn." He announced, launching the bullets at super speed into the thugs. The bullets were moving too slowly to pierce a human's skin, but fast enough to knock out all of the gunmen in a hail of gunfire. The metahuman growled, leaping over to the car an grabbing at the speedster. Thunderbolt jumped over his head and landed a good few yards away.
"So what do they call you? Brickhead? Mister Stone?" Harvey quipped as the frustrated meta grabbed the getaway car and tossed it in the speedster's direction. "Name's Concrete!" He growled as Thunderbolt grabbed a pair of the unconscious criminals before the car could land on them. "Your name'll be Con-VICT when we're done here!" Thunderbolt joked with a smirk as he charged the metahuman. "Stop. Stop please." Eric begged over the comms as he watched the fight through the camera built in to Thunderbolt's goggles. "That physically hurt."
"Whatever, you're just jealous of my quick wit."The speedster unleashed a barrage of punches onto Concrete's abdomen. The Hundred Speeding Fists, Harvey liked to call it. Thunderbolt dashed backwards as Concrete tried to grab his attacker.
"Ow. Ow. Ow." Thunderbolt complained as he rubbed his fists together. Concrete laughed as the speedster danced around in discomfort. "Ya can't hurt me, little punk! I've fought with the big leagues! You ain't nothin'." Thunderbolt growled as he considered his options. "Any ideas on how to take this guy down, big man?" Eric asked. Harvey spent a microsecond thinking it over before he thought of another plan.
"Yeah. Let's see if he has to breathe." Thunderbolt began rotating his arms at the speed of lightning, creating a vacuum around Concrete as he sucked the air out of the immediate area and the meta's lungs. Concrete fell to his knees on the street, clutching his throat as he struggled to breathe air that wasn't there. It took nearly three minutes before the guy collapsed, unconscious.
"Score one for team Thunderbolt!" Harvey cheered, pumping his fist in the air.
"We are so not team Thunderbolt.""Oh, hey! Shortstack has finally decided to pick up.""Been busy. I assume you have it handled?""'Course I do. I'll have Concrete and his lackies in police custody soon as Eric gives the call.""Already done, bud."
"Cool. How's the reportin' coming, Laura? Catch any big scoops?""First, nobody says scoop." Laura started.
"Second, Gary shot me down. We need more information on the guys buying out the financial district before he'll even consider running the story.""Well, where do we start?"
"All I have is a name. The Cowl."
) knows their identities.
