Shizuka Takashiro
(高城　静, Takashiro Shizuka)

Dude, of course.

26

5' 9"

152 lbs

Black (originally Premature Gray)

Dark Brown

100% Japanese

Shizuka has a small stature and slim build common among native Japanese; even the harsh military training he received after joining RAVEN didn't really help to put on much muscle and weight. Well, he certainly is a lot sturdier now compared to his teenage self, but hey, don't expect a pure-blood Asian to ever beef up like all those Hollywood male stars. Originally fair-skinned (for Asian standard; still seen as "yellow" to all you Caucasian people) that later took on a slight tan from his RAVEN training.

He still keeps his hair in a windswept pixie-cut style; he has also finally dyed his white hair to black, which helps him to keep himself hidden better - both with and without his power. His heart-shaped face doesn't seem to appear to have aged much at all, still retaining the androgynous look. (He can easily pass off as a girl... if he can tone down that intimidating aura of his first, that is.) The "birthmark" that differentiates him from his twin is the small mole on the left side of his face, just below the lower half of his thin lips.

For Shizuka, he has only one golden rule when it comes to clothing: comfort over fashion. Partly due to his sporty nature, while the other was due to his ignorance for bull fashion. Though, everyone is more used to him wearing like an edgy teenager that he's been told numerous times how suits just don't go well with him - at all.

On the job, if he out on assault missions, he wears a simple black stealth suit with minimal armory such as army knives and small pistols/revolvers, instead of being heavily armored and equipped with bulky guns and retarded helmets like most agents. When needed to, he may pack a sniper rifle on his back. After all, he is supposed to stay in the shadows (and out of everyone's way) and he's rarely at the front line; also, all the extra armors are just dead weight to him. If he's in the office, you'd see him in standard office wear... sometimes, if he's been told off to wear proper clothes to work the day before.

In Verthaven, Shizuka started out as an anti-hero with too much sass for his own good. He made it clear to everyone and anyone he had interacted with that he was a pessimistic realist, and his brother complex made it hard for him to trust people easily. His deadpan sarcasm, his reluctance to befriend others to protect the only person he loved... But underneath all that edginess he wasn't as emotionless as he seemed, even extending a helping hand to the Verthaven kids when they needed it most.

Fast forward to Baybridge. He's still as snarky as ever, but has learned how to hold back his tongue better, and has begun to build friendships with the Verthaven survivors. Though, he still has a long way to go to overcome his innate awkwardness, to express himself in a better way. His eccentricity makes it even worse, for his thoughts are rarely on the same wavelength as others. It's difficult for most people to be able to keep up with his unpredictable pace, sometimes giving rise to misunderstandings that can range from amusing to hostile. While problematic when he has to listen to orders, his unorthodox ways have helped to save the lives of people (and later earning mouthfuls from his superiors).

While Shizuka has been diligent in his judo (and later RAVEN) training that has hardwired the physical and mental discipline into him for as long as he can remember, ironically he doesn't care much about rules, justice, chivalry... whatever those superficial bullshits are. Rather, he believes in simply doing what's necessary to resolve a situation in the best possible way, even if some of the methods used are... morally gray. He has an extremely high survival instinct, and he'd use anything and everything in his possession to turn the situation in his favor. His ability to be able to suppress his emotions and keep a clear mind often allows him to think out of the box and see the bigger picture better than most people. Though, his cold logic is often being seen as a form of arrogance in the eyes of others.

Relationship wise, Shizuka is (un)surprisingly a very family person - after all, the biggest reason why he agreed to join RAVEN was to make use of his post to tap into some of the organization's resources to protect his family, especially his twin brother, Haruka, his closest next of kin (the opportunity to get his hands on those delicious guns is secondary). His circle of "friends" is very small - although he has opened up himself a little more than before, he still doesn't trust people easily. However, he has no qualms about making loads of acquaintances - some through normal, proper connections, while others with (a bit of) blackmailing. As for romance... that's up in the air (it's not happening anytime soon, not with his weird personality, lol).

Sports | He was a very sporty person back in his childhood days, so much so that he couldn't sit still for more than a few minutes without going into a fidgety state. From generic ball games to extreme sports like snowboarding, he had tried them all before. He's a lot less hyperactive now (patience is a virtue to be a good sniper!) and his job has kept him very busy, but he does hit the gyms sometimes, or some solo sports such as squash, or simply shooting some hoops.

Travel | Due to the nature of his parents' work, his family often has to travel around, moving from one place to another depending on where they are relocated to. Shizuka's limitless sense of curiosity and his physical restlessness give rise to his desire to go on a backpacking trip around the world on his own. He also begins to take great interest to broaden his knowledge on languages and cultures of other countries, which he finds useful to prepare for his backpacking dream. After joining RAVEN, he's given many opportunities to travel around US and the world (though mostly Asian countries) - and on official business, not vacation, unfortunately.

Firearms | Shizuka picked up this when he played some FPS games with Haruka for the first time when they were... still kids (let's not go into the details about game rating for children, yeah). He would find books or online articles on this topic and read about them, but whatever he had learned were only textbook knowledge. He had yearned for a chance to get hands-on experience with guns and rifles (and to a smaller extent, explosives) - which were later presented to him in two stages: first, by moving and settling down in America (where you can't live without a pistol in your pocket), and later by joining RAVEN.

Molecular Biology & Quantum Physics | After the "evolution" of his power during the Devil Disaster in Verthaven, he starts to take greater interest in understanding the sciences behind his own power and how it interacts with the people and objects around him, which is extremely useful to help him better utilize his new-found ability (and of course, an added bonus to some of his other skills).

Languages | Shizuka's family had spent a lot of time traveling - plus his quickness to pick up new languages - so besides his native tongue he is also fluent in English (well, it is the language most commonly used across the world, duh) and Chinese (easier for him to master due to many similarities with Japanese). Because of this, he has also become the main liaison officer between RAVEN and the Metahuman agencies in Asia (China, Japan, the Philippines, etc.) for any joint assignments with the East. He has been picking up a few dialects here and there (like Min and Cantonese) during his frequent trips to the East.

Combat: Close Quarters | Besides judo (now a fourth dan black belt), the military training he received in RAVEN has added a wide variety of CQC moves to his arsenal, including the use of daggers and batons. Unlike most agents who rely on brute strength and direct frontal assaults, he overcomes his lack of strength with agility, such as using feints and tricks before delivering lightning-fast surprise attacks.

Stealth & Reconnaissance | Given his small build, his quick reflexes and the nature of his power, he's pretty much the top in this area in RAVEN... probably second only to Holly.

Sharpshooting: Sniper | While he has an interest in generic firearms, he has taken a greater liking for rifles, in particular long-range sniper models (with assault types being a close second). He seems to be trying to maximize his usefulness - especially in relation to his power, range is an issue - but is that really the only reason behind this? Regardless, he's actually a pretty good sniper - nowhere as good as the legendary Sonya Mayfield (whom he looks up to), but you still shouldn't underestimate him.

Family | As mentioned previously, Shizuka's main goal of joining RAVEN is to acquire the necessary skills and resources to protect his new family - especially his twin brother, whom he knows is his greatest weak spot, and fears his enemies would know to exploit that.

Self-Discovery | Other than his awkward personality, the unhealthy mental and emotional growth caused by the lack of love and care from Asami have also contributed to Shizuka's rather pessimistic view of the people and world around him, turning him into a rather apathetic person. More about his family background will be revealed in this sequel.

Kamakura is one of the well-known spiritual spots in Japan: a small, humble city in the south of the Kanagawa Prefecture. Like most Japanese couples, Yuuichi Takashiro and his then pregnant wife Asami went to the shrines there to pray for their unborn child. Their prayer was answered - and it was more than what they had asked for.

Asami gave birth to two peas in a pod - twin boys.

This was where Haruka and Shizuka's story begin.

Their parents, being diplomatic agents, had to constantly move from one place to another: when the twins turned three their parents' job relocated them to Shanghai; when they were six the family was posted to Singapore; when they were eight to France... Even their tenth birthday was forgone as they had to fly to Australia. They were not nomads per se, but to the twins, they never had a place they could actually call home. The boys were mostly left on their own, for their parents were so busy with their work that they could barely spent much time with their children - this was especially more so for the career-driven Asami. Initially they hired nannies and maids to look after the kids, but Shizuka would often drive them away with his pranks - he didn't like how they always fussed over him for every trivial matter, forcing him to wear the exact same clothes as Haruka, and how they kept comparing him pointlessly with his obedient brother. They might look the same, but they were still different! They might be still young, but stop suffocating them with their old-fashioned ideologies! Why couldn't these stupid adults understand?

The parents then decided to send them to international schools, where they picked up an interest in multilingualism; with how the family was always moving about, they couldn't stay long enough to make any lasting memories and friends (a lot of their schoolmates also come and go just like them). For Shizuka, he was content with joining them as temporary playmates in ball games as long as he got to keep his body active, but Haruka hid himself away with books and computers, afraid to talk to anyone except his brother or when necessary.

After a while, Shizuka begged his father to let him take up martial arts - and Yuu let him try judo. The physical and mental demand for competitive judo was more than most of the sports he had played so far, which motivated him to spend more time and effort into climbing up the belt levels, eventually earning his first black belt.

Later on, Yuu suggested to enroll them into local institutions. The paperwork was a little more tedious compared to international schools, but the fees were much lower. More importantly, the change of academic environment gave the twins - though just a bit - a sense of settling down, which helped to make the recluse Haruka to take the first step out of his comfort zone, to face and talk to people directly.

Of course, in whichever type of school they went to, Haruka could never escape the fate of being a magnet for bullies - he looked weak, nerdy... the very things that made him a perfect human punch bag for these delinquents. It was down to his younger brother to save his ass with his judo tricks - this did help to strengthen their brotherly bond, but Shizuka wasn't aware that his twin was taking his protectiveness beyond the realm of mere sibling love.

Well, because Shizuka had a more pressing matter to deal with.

His powers began to manifest after he turned thirteen - sometimes his fingers would pass through whatever he was holding; he also found out that when he put his hands through electronic devices he would cause them to short-circuit. At first, the ability was more of a nuisance to him: he had little to no control over how he could turn the power on or off, resulting in awkward situations such as things falling out of his grip unexpectedly, or part of his arm disappearing through the wall. An incident where his hand didn't go through his phone completely and was temporarily merged with the device sent him into a very painful frenzy - this caused an accelerated development of his ability, in which he could now extend intangibility to his whole body. Only Haruka knew of his power, and they swore to each other to keep this a secret between themselves. As he had never undergone any formal training on how he could control his ability properly, he was prone to unforeseen hiccups or accidental use of his power at times.

As the boys became older, Yuu felt that he couldn't keep bringing them along on their business trips, depriving them the need of a proper school education and social interaction with kids of their age. He finally convinced Asami to place them under the care of their aunt - Asami's younger sister - Akemi Shinoda, who lived in the Chinatown area of Verthaven, a sunny city in the west coast of America.

Little did the boys know that they only had a month of peaceful - almost boring - enjoyment before they were thrown straight into an apocalyptic disaster that completely changed their life. Shizuka had been getting the bad signs through his "gut feeling", but no one believed him, thinking that he was being a callous smartass... Of course, it didn't help that his less-than-friendly personality made people all the more unwilling to listen to him.

Then suddenly, people were getting killed left and right, including those whom they could become friends with if they had met under better circumstances; worse, the then-powerless Haruka was so close to dying not once but numerous times, even coming face to face with the Changeling Unit. After so much bloodshed and death encounters, It was truly a miracle that all of them managed to stay alive till the end - but this pure luck wouldn't be on their side forever, especially not after what Shizuka had done to help the NEST agents and the Verthaven teens to take down their foes, on top of saving their asses at times.

This wasn't the end of everything yet...

The Devil Disaster had prompted the reshuffling of NEST - which was now known as DOVE and RAVEN. Together with the other two surviving teens Zhao Meifeng and Cindy Keagan, Shizuka was also scouted to join the new RAVEN by the then newly elected Chairman, Maximilian Cornell. He accepted the offer, which made him the youngest recruit ever enrolled (and people started to call him an elite, though mostly out of spite).

He began the Spartan-like military training once he and his new family settled down after being relocated to Baybridge. His training still continued on even after the two years of basics (that all RAVEN newcomers must go through), in particular to further develop his skills in recon on top of sharpshooting. Sometimes he would be sent along with Meifeng to the other states and assist her with fighting with both old and new foes: the Hands of Science, the Pure, the Allegiance... to name a few.

The events in Verthaven didn't affect him as much as it did to the other survivors since he's there only for a month and all (thankfully he didn't have any PTSD after going through a series of tests), but he knew he couldn't relax one bit and get his family into a similar kind of danger again. Call him paranoid, but who wouldn't after been through all that shit? While his job was keeping him real busy - including many business trips especially to Asian countries - he still made sure he set aside some time to be with his family, even helping out with the farm. (He and Holly share an apartment which is much closer to their workplace, but he still liked to stay together with the whole family as much as he could.) Whenever he's back in Japan, he would try to at least meet up with his father, if Yuu happened to be back in their home country (once they even met in Malaysia by pure chance). He could care less about Asami, though.

Most of the ice around his aloof personality has melted off as he began to work hard to improve his social life, especially his relationships with the people whom he fought alongside with in Verthaven. Though he's still as brutally honest as ever, he has learned to hold his sharp tongue back much better than before (no, he still had his snarky sense of humor, just keeping them to himself). He had received praises for doing a great job connecting RAVEN with the Metahuman law enforcement groups in Asia - so much so that the Chinese and Japanese counterparts would only speak to him and no one else from RAVEN - but his laid-back attitude made his superiors reluctant to give him much promotions (besides, he didn't want more work than he already had which would eat into his precious family time).

He was hoping for a decent break after coming back from another business trip to China (where he had to entertain spoiled princesses on top of their doting old men), but before he could catch up with his twin he had to attend some charity event that ended with a case of dumb robbers. Soon, more retarded incidents started to pop up everywhere in Baybridge: an Allegiance riot where he was forced to snipe a young girl to prevent her powers from falling into the wrong hands, then a flesh-eating Metahuman on the loose... and the overloading cases that almost caused his brother to die under the blade of an old ghost.

His second attempt to have a good bonding time with his twin was shattered again with Eco-Natura turning the entire Prince Ed-Field into a freaking rainforest. They managed to get out unscathed while saving a few familiar faces along the way... but not without a few surprises here and there, including the unexpected meeting with Jennifer Caspin, and a brief encounter with Lihua's foe, Song Jiang.

The real bomb was dropped onto the twins with Akemi's voice message - a phone call from their father about their missing mother. Then another from Cindy about the dangerous Founding Family brought Shizuka to the Land of the Dragon once more.

Now, it's time for the dragon to wake up from its deep slumber...

While the city is still taking it's own sweet time to recover from the Overload and Eco-Natura incidents, Shizuka had been busy with his job, looking for clues connected to the dragon tattoo... that led him to the existence of a secretive organization based in Asia called "Polaris". Of course, this discovery didn't come without other nasty revelations. One, the twins' mother, Asami, was a member of the cult; two, Haruka and his powers were triggered due to a certain experiment Polaris did on Asami.

However, he was forced to leave the research to his colleague (and "sister") Holly, and was reassigned to deal with an Allegiance gathering that went horribly wrong. Before he could demand another leave from work, he was thrown into another retarded incident - this time from a tanking terrorist who called himself the "Black Hound", which in turn also revealed the existence of the Founding Family. Worse, his own brother Haruka was also dragged into the hostage incident, and even used to threaten him to chicken out. The Black Hound thought he got the most troublesome agent out of the way and pushed DOVE/RAVEN to a corner, only to be thwarted by Shizuka's even quicker thinking that saved almost all the hostages without giving into the Family's demands. Though, his surprising heroism was flipped upside down to scorn from the higher-ups (keyword: almost), which caused him to get suspended from his position for a month.

Under the cover of his suspension, he continued to look into Polaris and the Family with Holly, even enlisting help from overseas - assistance from Ryu to check some anomalies happening in China. Some of his findings were relayed to the Zhaos, but that was interrupted thanks to the appearance of Jennifer. He saw through her lie and exposed her missing hand to their old friends, resulting in a fallout with her... but gaining the chance to mend ties with Lihua.

Later, Haruka revealed his encounter with Xing Huo, the Fire Spirit of Polaris, and with the help of another agency agent they set up an ambush to get more answers out of her... only to be left with a cryptic poem. Still, they knew they couldn't stop there - adding two more allies to the odd team, which came with valuable intel in the form of audio recordings in USB drives scattered all over Baybridge. With the information he came up with some strategies along with what Lihua and the RAVENs had, even working together with a traitor within the Family.

To cut the long story short, Shizuka eventually completed the mission and got what he came for, at the same time he kept his word with Veronica Emily Davis (now under a new alias 'Noelle Delacroix') to save her sisters from the Family's imprisonment. He also accepted the chance to get a promotion, something he had been avoiding for the past seven years ever since he became a full-fledged RAVEN.

In the three-year gap before the start of this installment, Shizuka's workload increased with his rank - in particular speeding up multilateral ties with Asian Metahuman agencies to combat the growing threat of Polaris, before they would see a repeat of the chaos in Europe left behind by the Family - in Asia. However, there were resistances from China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia that prevented all the Asian countries to come to a consensus. Shizuka had been working on/off with Ryu to find out just how deep Polaris' influence had seeped into the Asian politics...

Super-System (Biological)

Intangibility - "Phasing" | Shizuka can phase through solid matter and objects by passing his atoms through the spaces between the particles of the object which he is moving through. As such, he and the object that he's going through may temporarily merge without interacting; each is unharmed when he has finished passing through the object. (This is somewhat similar to the process of quantum tunneling.)

• Non-Corporeal Physiology | While in phased state, he is practically untouchable. With a bit more concentration he can make his body light enough to be able to walk on air.

• Cerebral Power Resistance | His thoughts becomes highly erratic when he's in ghost mode, which makes it difficult to establish telepathic connection with his mind, or even detect his presence at times. He is also able to disrupt telekinetic links to the objects or the people he expands his power to (see next point).

• Limited Power Extension | He can extend his ability to the clothes he's wearing and any object in his possession at the moment. He's now also able to expand his power to a maximum of four people at each time. In order for this to work, he has to maintain direct physical contact with the person or thing he's phasing along with.

• Internal Analysis | Any person or object he extends his ability to allows him to be "linked" to them, giving him insight to their internal structure.

Haruka Takashiro
(高城　遥, Takashiro Haruka)

Haru -- nickname

Male

26

5' 8"

148 lbs

Originally lives in Little Seapond, Roseview with Akemi, but has been out of town with Jennifer for three years prior to this installment.

Black

Dark Brown

Japanese

Just like his younger twin, Haruka also has a small and slim stature common among native Japanese. While he doesn't have the athletic build his sporty agent brother possesses, the Academy's physical training has given him a much healthier hue and beefed him up a little, though he still can't get any tan even if he's under the sun a lot.

His jet-black hair is naturally ruffled and unkempt no matter how much he tries to straighten that mop of mess on his head. He wears a pair of rectangular, half-rimmed spectacles over his dark brown eyes, but he can still see without glasses since the degree isn't that high anyway. He has the same heart-shaped, androgynous face and thin lips like Shizuka, but he does not have any birthmarks.

The gun wound from the Mall Hostage incident has pretty much healed save for a faint scar on his thigh, to remind him that he's no longer the weak Haruka from before, but someone who can stand his own ground without his twin to protect him all the fucking time. Most people tend to drop their guard around him because of his weak appearance, which usually works in his favor - either to keep a low profile as much as possible, or to deliver surprise attacks to make quick getaways.

It's hard to be particular about dress code when you're on the road, always on the move. As long as they are comfortable for the long journey (plus easy to wash and dry, of course), Haruka isn't picky about what he wears. However, he does take special care to make sure he can blend in with the crowd - the last thing he wanted is to attract unwanted attention to himself... and Jennifer.

Haruka has come a long way from his old self. In Verthaven, he began as a nerdy kid of sorts: a soft-spoken introvert who spent most of his time with books - basically information in general - than with people. It didn't help that his childhood circumstances made him even more reluctant to socialize, and Shizuka became the only person he was willing to open up to. Still, he knew very well that people couldn't live alone and tried his best to reach out to others, even if he was hesitant about approaching them at times.

However, after the Verthaven Disaster and moving to Baybridge, he was enrolled into Academy 61 while his twin became a RAVEN. Increasing interactions after joining the Academy has given him the opportunity to break the ice. Eventually he has become much more comfortable facing and talking with strangers, and even making friends (better than Shizuka), though he still retains his rather polite/formal speech style. He does continue to value quiet times and his peaceful private space to take breaks from the social hubbub.

He may have a seemingly mellow personality (that's further accented by his meek outward appearance), but that doesn't mean he can't put up a fight. Trained directly under the Zhao Lihua, a matriarch among the elemental-manipulating instructors in the Academy, he fully understands that his power is as versatile as the element itself - air and wind - and he spares no effort to truly master his ability. He did, and went on to graduate from the Academy as one of the top students of his cohort. As much as he can he prefers to avoid needless violence, but if he has to resort to force he is capable of taking care of himself without any help from his overprotective brother. However, with how his ability is connected to his emotions, he has to be extremely careful with how he to keep his power - and his other side - under control.

He has also learned to be more reserved about putting his trust in people he barely knew, but he still tries to see the good in them as much as he can. While on the surface it's a good thing that Haruka is becoming more sociable and stop being a shut-in of sorts, he's also exposed to the dark side of human relationships, which often challenges his initial ideals about humanity, making it increasingly harder for him to think of people in a good way. The constant battle between the paradox of beliefs inside him continues to widen... resulting in two distinct personalities within him. One is his nice, idealistic "usual" self; the other is the darker, cold-blooded persona that seems to take after his more practical twin. (Do not mistaken this as a form of bipolar or personality disorder - Haruka is consciously aware of the two sides and has control over them. Besides, it's nowhere extreme enough to be considered that anyway.)

Most importantly, he has matured even further through the road trip with Jennifer to aid in her search of her previous "employer", a woman called Megan. An independent side that he has shown to only Jen, and no one else - not even to Shizuka. Maybe Xing Huo was right - there's a limit how far he can keep up the "Nice Guy" facade, but he doesn't know any other way he can still hold onto whatever's left of his optimism for humanity. Especially not after he has seen too many horrors in his life to pretend that everything will be alright. (Everything ain't okay if they're left as it is, period.)

Reading | Haruka prides himself as an armchair traveler as opposed to Shizuka's passion for backpacking. Unable to make long-lasting friendship with peers of his age due to the family constantly moving around in his childhood days, he seeks refuge by losing himself in the worlds of books and cyberspace. While his brother is out sweating himself in sports, the older twin would lurk in local libraries and bookstores, burying himself among the piles of musty old volumes; or he would hang out in internet cafes, lost himself in the sea of information in the virtual world. He is rather well-versed in Asian literature.

Music | Besides reading, he likes listening to music, specifically acoustic covers and instrumental pieces. It's one of the few things that can help to calm his nerves.

High Places | Mostly a "side-effect" of sorts due to his ability, he enjoys simply standing or sitting on the rooftops or trees, letting the open breeze to blow into him.

Video Gaming | Usually just between him and Shizuka. The twins would try to find free time and have a few hours of game time together - so far, Haruka is better with rhythm games and strategic turn-based types, while his younger twin is unstoppable in real-time action RPGs and FPS.

Languages | Like his twin, Haruka is also fluent in Japanese, English and Chinese. In fact, he learns new languages faster than Shizuka. On the road trip with Jennifer, he has picked up a couple of useful lines in various European languages here and there.

Eidetic Memory | He has displayed signs of such talent; however, it's possibly due to his aptitude to maximize the use of various mnemonics, which enable him to process information at a faster rate with better grasp than most people.

Family | Haruka's reason is very different from his twin's; rather than about their current family in America, he's more concerned about their blood family - with Yuu and Asami. He doesn't want to give up on their original family like Shizuka, choosing to rebuild it from scratch.

??? | The journey across the world with Jennifer is certainly quite an experience, but once he gets back to Baybridge, he has to decide if he wants to take up DOVE's offer and follow Shizuka's footsteps... or continue to try figure out what he wants to do in his life from hereon.

I suggest that you should read Shizuka's sheet first as it contains more details (which I'm not going to repeat myself here again).

Verthaven seemed to be a promising place for the twins to finally settle down - Akemi was much nicer than their own mother, and they managed to make some "friends" around their age. Everything was smooth - he was starting to enjoy his new life in America - but that happiness didn't last long. Barely a month passed before the Devil's sludge army rose above the ground and razed the city, then his family was forced to run for their lives. He felt even more useless when he didn't have any powers like his twin, a hindrance to everyone else - until he met Jennifer Caspin, the first person he thought he could truly be friends with.

He could see all the warning signs, he could tell that something wrong - something terrible - had happened to the girl, but he was afraid to probe her further, afraid of the answer. He was upset when Shizuka suspected her for being the mole selling them out to the Changelings - he knew that all his brother had done was merely to protect him, but he couldn't help feeling guilty that his own life was saved on her forsaken life. It was even more ironic that his superpower only manifested after her death.

However, his brother was right: the only thing he could do to "repay" for being alive was to live on and keep moving forward, together with the memories he had made with those who had passed away in the terrible incident.

After the twins and their new family settled down in Baybridge, Haruka was enrolled into Academy 61 to learn how to better control his power while his brother began his two-year basic military training with the newly formed RAVEN. The older twin worked really hard - he had been doing very well in the Academy and eventually graduated with flying colors, while Shizuka went on to do further training in his area of expertise. Though, a certain incident that happened during one of the arena practice fights was the first sign of his confrontation with the harsh reality. It might seem like a big deal and was covered up pretty quickly thanks to Lihua, but that was only just the beginning...

After which, Haruka decided to take up part-time degree course so that he could still help Akemi with the farm. Everything seemed so peaceful right now, but with his new power, he could feel it as much as Shizuka's "gut feeling" - that something else is stirring in the background... Something bad.

He was living a peaceful life with Akemi, though he was disappointed that the reunion with his twin was cut short due to Shizuka's eventual involvement with the Stronghold Community patrol shift. While his brother was later caught up in one after another Metahuman-related incident that prevented them from having a proper get-together, Haruka soon found himself walking deeper and deeper into the Overload trap; he then became the final victim and razed Oakdell Harbor with his freak tornado-hurricane before the sniper who shot him with a charging serum was apprehended. Not without a near-death reunion with an old ghost he had never expected to meet...

Just when he thought he could finally have a nice catch-up with Shizuka, the twins found themselves in the middle of another Metahuman disaster caused by Eco-Natura. While trying to escape from the growing forest, he met Jennifer again, but they didn't have the time to settle their score with each other when they had to part ways, with Shizuka prioritizing on getting uncombatable individuals under his protection to safety, and left the ice golem to her and Megan. Their brief, passing encounters went on when Jennifer loaded the injured Lihua up the car, and then Haruka had to fly his former mentor across to the Headquarters to seek medical help when the connecting bridge was bombed.

To add on to his growing list of woes, the news of the missing Asami struck the twins. Shizuka quickly left for Asia to sort out both about the Founding Family and their mother's whereabouts on top of dealing with the increasing restlessness of the Asian countries in respond to the Baybridge incidents. As for Haruka, he wondered if he should find a way to get in contact with the few new friends he had made in the city to take a break from all the madness around him.

Of course, things would never go the way he had wished for...

While his younger twin was busy with more political bullshits between RAVEN and the Asian Metahuman law enforcement agencies, Haruka wasn't exactly slacking off, either. He was coping well with his "normal" studies in Computer Science (something he had taken interest in since his days in the Academy) but he would still wander around Baybridge from time to time, trying to overcome the emptiness without Shizuka around. After all, they had been together throughout their entire childhood for as long as he could remember... Thankfully, he had occasional company from the asexual bird-girl Rori, whom he got along with pretty well.

Anyway, let's just skip the boring daily life stuff and get straight to the retarded main plots. Haruka got involved in the Mall Hostage incident and was singled out by the Black Hound with a Meta-energy suppressant canister strapped to his front as a precaution against his RAVEN agent twin, but failed when Shizuka found another way to breach the seemingly impregnable defense line set up by the Intimidation Unit. Sadly, even after Shizuka was suspended from his position for his crazy plan, the brothers still couldn't spend time with each other as much as they wanted.

Shortly after Haruka was discharged, he encountered the Fire Spirit of Polaris, Xing Huo, who appeared to take too much special interest in the twins, even revealing a glimpse of their mother's dark past to him. With the help of an agent from a different organization, Aislin Rose, they set up a meeting with the Chinese lady to get more information out of her but was only left with a cryptic poem to ponder about. It seemed like Shizuka had been using the suspension as a cover to gather his own resources in their final stand against the Founding Family... Something that Haruka was proud of - but also unhappy with. Regardless, he knew he couldn't let his petty feelings hinder the operations to destroy the Family and end this shitstorm, once and for all. He also reunited with Wendy for only a brief moment - that girl had other business with her own family and friends, while he was more concerned about Jennifer at that time.

In the end, Shizuka's Japanese agent friend Ryu took down Julia O'Sullivan, who was one of the Blessed Three, and they freed most of the Secretaries from the mind control. With combined efforts from RAVEN, they had finally ended the Family's regime attempt over North America, though not without some bitter loss: Lihua's death, Cindy's disappearance, Meifeng's depression - and the list could go on. However, Xing Huo suddenly appeared before him once more to remind him that this wasn't the end of everything yet...

For the next three years before the start of this installment, Haruka joined Jennifer on a trip around the world - to look for an acquaintance of Jen's, Megan. Julia had mentioned her to Jen during their stand-off when he left her and went with Wendy's group to get out of the base back then, and so they believed that Megan might hold some answers to Jen's past during the seven-year gap between Verthaven and Baybridge. However, Megan was as sneaky as Jennifer had warned him about, where they were always a few steps behind their target, missing the chance to catch up with Megan. At the same time, they were also looking for another person - their old friend, Cindy Keagan, who went missing after the end of the previous installment.

Eventually the two returned to Baybridge...

Elemental (Mode: Air)

Air & Wind Manipulation | Just like any elemental benders, Haruka is able to telekinetically control any gaseous matter (including water vapor), moving the air around him to his will - from as gentle as a light breeze, to as destructive as a tornado. Though using hand gestures allow him to move the air with better precision and control, he is equally capable of manipulating through sheer concentration alone. The versatility of his power is only restricted by his own imagination and creativity, hence the list below is not exhaustible, just the more common tricks he employs:

• Flying | Probably one of the basics he has to master in his power package - I mean, how can an air bender not know how to fly? He can do this in two ways: either by "gliding with" the wind (basically moving in the direction of the air current, similar to how birds fly minus the wing-flapping), or creating a small tornado beneath his feet to carry himself into the air. Currently he can only carry a maximum of two people to fly along with him.

• Wind Blade | By packing the gas molecules closer together into very condensed air before swiping his hand outwards quickly, he can throw out an invisible arc with enough force to slice most generic furniture cleanly into half.

• Air Fist | He can also encase the closely-packed air around his knuckles to form an invisible orb, where it acts as a protection around his fist while dealing more damage compared to an ordinary punch.

• Cyclone Shield | He can generate a high-speed whirlwind around himself that can act as a spinning shield to knock out most things coming towards him (or at least get swept into the air funnel).

• Static Charge | If the air around him is moving at a high enough velocity, he's able to cause them to induce static charge on top of its spinning destructive force.

• "Sixth Sense" | This is different from extra-sensory powers - he doesn't have clairvoyance or mind-reading shenanigans, but he is sensitive enough to feel presences through the displacement of gaseous particles around him.

Shuhei Hayami
(速水 修兵, Hayami Shuuhei)

Male

17

2013-06-15

1.75 m (5' 9")

75 kg (165 lbs)

AB-

Shuhei appears no different from a stereotypical Japanese otaku - politely quiet or awkwardly shy, mild-mannered, occasionally showing a (rather embarrassing) geeky side when one is able to tune to the same brainwave as him. Under this mundane facade he isn't as innocent as he seemed - a closet sadist who is rarely sympathetic and enjoys watching people writhing in agony, but he does not purposely inflict damage on others unless it's out of self-defense. He can be a selfish and vicious jerk at times, especially when he feels someone is crossing too far into his personal space. He's no social butterfly nor a lurking loner, choosing to associate himself with whomever of use to fulfill his private agenda. However, it's not like he lived his life built upon plastic smiles and wearing multiple masks - if one is able to get past the protective wall he has drawn around himself and gain his trust, he might return the favor with an unwavering loyalty...

Born in Kamakura, a spiritual city in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Shuhei grew up in a place where old superstitions didn't succumb to the technological advancement that the Land of the Rising Sun had awed the international world - not that it mattered to him, for the residents were free to choose what they want to believe in. Though the only child in the family, his parents weren't those who would treat their precious gem with materialistic spoils; they had very high hopes on their son, pushing their prestige (father a highly regarded surgeon and mother a successful businesswoman) on the young boy into a strict routine of endless studying and paper tests, neglecting the need to nurture his emotional growth. Shuhei had no choice but to teach himself to be independent, in turn he lacked the ability to spare a thought for others. Overtime through interactions with peers at school, he slowly but surely gained some rapport with people, earning himself a teary approval from his homeroom teacher.

When Lost Saturday struck the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Shuhei was one of the many student helpers at the event - he was assigned to the Men's Volleyball Finals, which was his favorite sport (he played the Setter position on the boys' team in his school). The IEDs went off in a flash of blinding white and deafening boom within the indoor arena - he narrowly escaped a trip to the underworld, after recovering from the shock and realized that one of the main pillars had shielded him from most of the flying debris, with the lower half still standing firmly among the chaotic wreckage. He was the sole survivor but did not go unscathed, losing his left eye to a shard of broken glass. Wheeled off to an overcrowded hospital full of casualties, the horrific sight and smell of burned flesh and exposed bones finally sank into the seven-year-old at the scale and seriousness of the incident. However, before he could get any treatment the MPS stormed in to claim him and whisk him away, to where a hellish nightmare awaited his arrival...

The MPS was kind enough to replace his useless left eye with a state-of-art cybertronic one complete with EYE-SEE, but they went too far to even include his brain into the surgery: through a series of mind-baffling tests, the MPS discovered that Shuhei had a brain with construction similar to the likes of those with exceptionally high IQ, but that raw intelligence had been greatly suppressed by the boy's growing emotional psychology. The MPS were curious to experiment on his brain in hope to unlock greater potentials, with plans to mass-produce his brain data to upgrade the current AIs they had. They had his brain "digitalized", leaving Shuhei with only a 'Ghost' to preserve what's left of his humanity, which he cultivated this other self to extend empathy link into the realm of virtual reality.

For the first two years after the success of the surgery, the MPS monitored him closely, be it his physical health or his mentality. Shuhei did not like how he was pretty much a caged bird, being treated like an interesting specimen rather than human - he quickly devised ways to keep the MPS happy and give them the answers they wanted to hear most, while on the other end all he wished for was to leave this godforsaken place for good, to go back to his old life once more. He was later forced to undergo harsh militaristic training to serve the MPS, to repay them for saving his puny life. The combined stress from post-trauma and his increasing hatred towards his benefactor-cum-captor planted a seed of darkness inside him, and it's only a matter of time all hell breaks loose...

Trajectory Premonition | Refined through the training he had as a Setter in volleyball, Shuhei has some form of this talent hardwired into him, in which he can mentally visualize projectile lines and make calculated predictions as to where the object would be shot from or landing at. Augmentation only serves to further enhance this to allow multiple targets instead of just one at each time, and also increases accuracy.

Heightened Awareness | Just like how he's able to pinpoint the positions of his teammates by focusing on the area within the court only, Shuhei is able to increase sensitivity of his immediate surroundings by limiting his concentration to a specific target of interest. However, one drawback is that this ability tires him out easily if sustained for a prolonged period of time, which may cause him to simply doze off at the most inappropriate moment.

Virtual Empathy | Shuhei acquired this only recently, after numerous trial-and-error during cyberdiving. It's currently still in beta stage.

Ranged Combat | ...

Hacking/Cyber Infiltration | ...

CEREBRO Type-0 ver 1.0.1 | A prototype cybernetic brain made using Shuhei's original brain data as the base, to experiment the possibility of "digitalizing" the human brain and break the barriers present in current AI technology. For now this is merely a transfer of existing data from his bio brain with only limited improvements such as a small increase in processing speed and whatnot, and may be subjected to further upgrades in the future. So far Shuhei has been abusing his new brain for cyberdiving - with the aid of a custom-made neural visor which puts him into a deep sleep state, he can experience the world of cyberspace as if he's physically in there via his 'Ghost'.

MEGANE X with EYE-SEE Retinal Implant MN-04 | MEGANE - artificial eyes originally invented as an alternative to bio eyes to allow the blind to regain eyesight without having to wait for a suitable donor - became so successful that it spiraled into numerous technological breakthroughs, with many calling it the "Eye of Tomorrow". The X series is the latest product, which addressed previous model issues such as the eye getting stuck in the socket if it's not consistently moisturized, and also greater compatibility with EYE-SEE. MN-04 (Modified Number 04) is a customized model specifically for installation into MEGANE.