V O R T E X
[ ◈ ] N A M E
Craig Winters
[ ◈ ] A L I A S E S
None that are known.
[ ◈ ] A G E
Mid-Thirties
[ ◈ ] B I R T H P L A C E
Unknown, but his accent places him as American.
[ ◈ ] A L L E G I A N C E
Legion of Doom
[ ◈ ] P O S I T I O N
Thug/Disruption. Craig more or less is pointed somewhere rather vaguely, and causes as much violence and mayhem as he possibly can.
[ ◈ ] A P P E A R A N C E
Craig is certainly an intimidating figure to behold. While he stands at a colossal seven feet in height he is almost disturbingly thin, almost skeletal. His body is clad in a thin, armored carapace painted a matte black, though in between the plates one can see silvery metallic plates, some wiring and tubing, and wires that glow with a purple light. These wires all lead to a large, similarly glowing core in the center of his chest. All of these lights seem to flare brighter or dimmer depending on the state of his power or if he's using his abilities or not. His entire body is mechanical from the neck down, long overwhelmed by the almost constantly spreading machinery. At the lower end of his neck one can see where the flesh gives way to metal, tubes and wires burrowing into his scarred flesh with no effort made to hide it. It's not known whether it was originally designed this way or subconsciously molded by Craig's desires, but every part of the design screams 'evil', from the color scheme, to the way the torso resembles a rib-cage, the generally unnatural shape, the sharp, talon-like fingers, so on.
While he doesn't sound very old, he seems to have been aged by the machines, his face showing wrinkles here and there and his dark hair showing signs of graying out. His features are rather square, and certainly give the impression that his head belongs on a bulkier body than his sharp, skeletal form. While certainly not the Joker, he has quite the sociopathic grin on his face most of the time.
[ ◈ ] A B I L I T I E S // S K I L L S // E Q U I P M E N T
LSS Nano Augmentation Armature Mk.0 "Vortex": The original prototype in Lotus Security Solutions' line of combat cybernetic systems, the Vortex Armature was created with the intention of creating a new breed of soldier, one that could decimate their enemies through control of space itself, all at minimal risk to the host. In theory, anyway. By default, the body offers several advantages. Namely, the nanite swarm is capable of cannibalizing matter to repair even the most grievous of damage, albeit very slowly. A lost limb could be restored in a day, likely. On top of that, host is Stronger, faster, and hardier than a normal individual, though not on the level of metahuman aptitude in these areas. The system is capable of integrating with the host's nervous system, supplying vital data and control over its more esoteric functions at the speed of thought. Additionally, there are plenty of small utility functions that don't greatly influence combat so will go mostly unmentioned, such as a simple integrated multitool in the arm and a number of very small compartments for storage.
Void Reactor: The heart of the system, and the source of its true power. Literally. The Void Reactor runs off Dark Matter, and could potentially provide power for millions of years, even with the very small piece provided as fuel. While the device produces unlimited power, however, it does not have a limitless transfer rate. What this means is that while it provides more than enough to keep him alive, He may need to take a short break for his batteries to be recharged should he use too much of his power too quickly. Thankfully for him, he is capable of greatly hastening this process if he stops and devotes all of his processing power to that end. Unfortunately, he is very vulnerable during this short window as he must hold still and make a dedicated effort to recharge.
Distortion: The Vortex Armature is capable of distorting the very fabric of space itself, leading to many interesting possibilities. It is capable of short range-teleportation of the self(and anyone holding onto him), localized alteration of gravity, and even alterations to force and velocity. There are limitations to this, but a few examples of the possibilities distortion provides:
Walking on walls and Ceilings.
The aforementioned teleportation, as well as the creation of portals that anyone can use.
Fine control over the projectiles from his weapons: Redirection, adjusting velocity, combining them with portals, so on.
Levitation, and an admittedly slow form of flight.
Autopistols: A pair of integrated projectile weapons, the Autopistols essentially fire a rapid barrage of shards of crystallized dark energy from the Void Reactor, meaning that while he may have to pause between volleys he never really runs out of ammunition. They are somewhat inaccurate and heavy on the recoil when fired normally, but with distortion they become deadly accurate and the enhanced fortitude and strength makes controlling the recoil easy as pie. While there is no real lock on them, as the void energy is required for the weapons to fabricate ammunition only Vortex can reload them. The projectiles are far, far slower than conventional firearms, but far deadlier. On colliding with matter the crystals shatter, releasing a deadly burst of dark energy. On subsequent impacts matter is slowly drained of its color, organics becoming unresponsive and stiff, before simply crumbling into a gray powder. With that said, inorganic matter takes a great deal more shots to harm than organic matter does, leading them to be most effective on armored targets. Additionally, organic matter will slowly recover if it hasn't outright 'crumbled' yet.
Finally, these two weapons can be combined into a long-rifle form. This weapon is capable of firing a highly concentrated beam of dark energy capable of ripping through most surfaces, but it is very slow-firing and a glutton for power. It's best used for dealing with heavily-armored or inanimate targets that the pistols would struggle to dispatch. The weapon can also be overcharged to fire an orb that on contact collapses into a small, localized black hole. It is exactly as devastating as it sounds, but using it leaves the system in an overheated state that precludes the use of all of his abilities for minutes. While it is mostly a desperation attack, it was distinctive enough to be the source of the system's name.
Craig himself has several skills, notably some sort of special forces training, but from where nobody can really say, records no longer exist. He also already had keen perception before being augmented, which helps him to make the most of the systems.
[ ◈ ] L I M I T A T I O N S // W E A K N E S S E S
While powerful, the suit has several limitations. The suit's power supply, and Sniper mode's horrible energy efficiency and the overheat on using the black hole projector have already been discussed, but there's more.
While certainly better than an ordinary human, the suit doesn't improve his physical capabilities much beyond. While he doesn't need to sleep, eat, or drink (Though these things are still possible), he's not much more durable than a regular human. He can't push over buildings, and ordinary firearms are still very dangerous to him. He makes up for this by being very difficult to damage in the first place, but compared to his peers he could be considered fragile. And while he can repair himself, it takes a great deal of time, time he might not have if he needs to escape.
The distortion effect, while potent, can also only be used on things specifically designed to work with it. Meaning, they basically only work on himself. He can't teleport other people without portals, he can't crush them with gravity or manipulate mundane objects such as crates or bullets. And while portals can teleport others, they require a lot of energy for living things, and he cannot put them within any sort of mass. Meaning he can't cut people in half with them or simply throw portals under one's feet... unless they haven't stepped in it yet. The one exception is that if someone holds onto him, they travel with him when he teleports, meaning he can't escape bindings this way. Attempts to teleport when attached to a mass more than twice his size always fail, as well.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when one fights him for a while they may notice that his movements can be predicted. When he vanishes to teleport, it takes him roughly a second to actually reach his destination, which is always heralded by a low thrumming sound and visible distortion at the area of his arrival, akin to heat waves.
Less subtly, the Void Reactor apparently becomes disrupted when exposed to Blue Kryptonite, shutting down when anything more than a fist-sized chunk of it spends more than ten seconds near it, causing him to enter a more or less catatonic state to save power on life support until they are separated. Craig is unaware of this deficiency, as is the system's designer.
[ ◈ ] B I O G R A P H Y
Craig's dossier is a bit of a mess, owing to its hasty destruction. What follows is what can be pieced together. Originally a somewhat violent, aggressive special forces operative, Craig Winters (If that's his name) was dishonorably discharged for friendly fire and sentenced for murder. Rather than face prison for murder, he was used as a 'disposable' test subject for Lotus Security Solutions, a military R&D company specializing in cybernetics.
However, upon interfacing with the untested system for the first time they had underestimated his inner rage, his bloodlust. Effortlessly breaking free from his shackles upon his first activation, he tore through the facility, slaughtering researcher and security goon alike. Terrifyingly, he managed to override the failsafes in the armature's programming through sheer willpower alone, leaving him free to more or less smash his way out of the facility and into the wild... LSS denies all knowledge of him of course, his entire origin covered up in a massively successful... er... cover up. Though now, it matters not how he came to be here, only how to stop him.
[ ◈ ] N O T E S
Craig has no real significant interpersonal relationships, as he mostly just lives to destroy. He is 'Loyal' to the Legion of Doom in the sense that they give him many, many opportunities for wanton destruction.
So while he mostly just does what he feels like he'll follow their orders, because in his twisted eyes they've never steered him wrong. While occasionally he works 'with' other Legionaries, he pays them no real mind. Which works out, as most of the people that are ostensibly his allies can't stand him either.