Miraculous Mercenary: Nikolai Poklonskaya




Nikolai is a man who's seen the worst humanity has to offer. Having served as a mercenary in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and finally the Ukraine, Nikolai has seen every depraived and sadistic act a human can commit. From bacha bazi, to marines defending poppy fields, to outright genocide, he was forced to sit by and watch. Eventually, he couldn't take it any longer. While under the command of the Ukrainian military, the unit he was attached to was ordered to launch artilery against a civilian population. Nikolai couldn't cross that line. He'd let numerous attrocities happen before, but he couldn't bear to see his own people die. So, he snapped. One by one, he killed the to-be war criminals in his unit. Whenever Nikolai faced death, time slowed, his movements quickened, and his aim was true. In the first noble act of his life, this feeling was multiplied. It was trivial to land the shots, dodge the bullets, and stop the murderers of his unit. In the end, all that remained were 30 corpses, thousands of bullet casings, and a broken man.

After his treason, Nikolai escaped to neutral territory and booked a flight back home. After a week of dodging both enemies and former allies, his slowed sense of time became permanent. While useful, every moment became hours. Any wound was drawn out into what felt like months of excruciating pain. It also gave him more time to reflect, which hurt him worse than any gunshot ever could. After his plane touched down at Ellicott International, the old ex-mercenary tried to go back to civilian life, but he was only good at killing, and at the age of 40 and a resident of nowhere, he couldn't go to college.

Luckily for him, and the rest of this city, he'd be able to apply his talents. After a deal with some old contacts in the police department in a wafflehouse, Nikolai got his first extra-judicial contract. A single shot was fired from an abandoned building, and a monster was off the streets.

Thus began his career as the Miraculous Mercenary. Where the law failed, he would prevail. Whether it's slaying a fiend, gathering evidence, protecting a victim, or anything else less-than-legal, Nikolai would be there just in the nick of time. With a full company of mercenaries, and sympathetic good cops on his side. For a small "donation", or the right circumstances, his targets can be chosen, and justice delivered a little more swiftly.

Special Ability: Psychic Overclocking


Whether through a biological anomaly, psionic ability, or just happenstance, Nikolai percieves time 10 times slower than the average person. He can't punch through walls, shoot lasers from his eyes, or run at the speed of sound, but he can think and react faster than anyone. From catching a coffee cup knocked off a table, aiming a handgun between the eyes of an enemy, or dodging falling rubble, he has 10 times the time to to think about it. Unfortunately, he can never turn it off. Wounds feel like they bleed 10 times longer, and feeling like you've been awake for 200 hours straight can drain you completely. Because of his perception of time, he tends to speak faster than anyone, powerwalk everywhere, and otherwise act like the most impatient man in the world.