Name: Booker Clayton Rhodes.
Codename: Janus.
City of Operation: Cleveland, Ohio.
Appearance: Booker is an African-American male of around 6' in height and 198lbs in weight. He is a slightly overweight, but overall rock solid looking young man. One could easily mistake his weight for straight up fat, but only some of it is. Only some. He shaves his head bald and keeps his facial hair cleanly trimmed. His nose is twisted to the side from a prior break, his lips bear small nicks and cuts and his eyes are brown. He favors clothing that he feels comfortable in and is fashionable to a certain point. He always goes comfort over style. Baggy jeans that actually sit on his waist, a loose t-shirt decorated with the Cleveland Cavaliers's popular logo and hooded jackets of varying tones from black through to gray. On his feet he usually wears some sort of basketball sneaker or sport shoe.
Dellak is a fickle beast but its appearance is usually rather uncomplicated, a mass of white energy that manifests whenever Booker needs it, simple forms and simple shapes. In most situations Dellak, the name the manifestation chose for itself, appears as a featureless, large-build, stark white humanoid with four thick, gorilla-like arms and a set of four blue circular eyes on a head that is shaped like an anvil met with a vulture. He lacks a lower body and seems to simply float at Booker's back.
Age: 28.
Gender: Male.
Superpowers: Aspect Guardian: Within Booker rests a sapient other personality, a bestial ravager of a spirit that manifests itself as a sort of familiar, and sort of a guardian. When Booker is in need, he can call upon Dellak to add another two pairs of fists to his arsenal, soak up hits as a shield, use as a stepping stone or to grab and throw something heavier than Booker himself can lift. He is able to lift, at most, a medium-sized sedan, move fast enough to catch a speeding pedestrian and take a speeding semi to the face before weakening.
Enhanced Condition: As a result of being the host of Dellak, Booker's base human strength, speed, durability and endurance. Not much more than the average person, but he can do just that little bit more to make him able to hold his own or at least avoid being completely splattered by the other supers that patrol the streets.
Primal Roar: A last resort that completely exhausts both Booker and Dellak. Booker and Dellak are able to momentarily unite into a single entity and emit one gargantuan, energy-enhanced scream. This ability is able to tear up a street, reduce vehicles to scrap and send normal humans flying, causing severe bruising and mild internal bleeding. Use of this ability will render Booker almost unconscious and render him unable to manifest Dellak for a whole 24 hours, which in turn also saps his enhanced attributes.
Skills/Talents: - Booker has spent a lot of his life around undesirable crowds and as a result has picked up on how the streets work. Trading information, knowing who to buy from, who to sell to and where to get what he needs from who has it. He doesn't have much trouble wedging his way into gang culture or gaining favors for favors. Respect is everything on the streets, and he knows that.
- He has an alright singing voice.
- Boxing classes with his father, coupled with his many scraps whilst out in the dangerous urban underworld have given him more than enough experience in fighting dirty. He can hold his own going toe to toe with any NORMAL opponent, no matter their size. At least he boasts so.
- Petty crime requires skill and experience to become good at it. Picking locks, silent break-ins, evading the law, planning and scoping out potential spots have provided him with more than enough experience to avoid becoming another crime statistic.
- His wallet, as empty as it is.
- A folding knife, nicked and scratched.
- A cracked, outdated MP3 player.
- A terribly kept slidephone, complete with miniature damaged keyboard!
- An unregistered Glock 21, with ammunition, never used.
- And his abused 1990s Mini Cooper, complete burger wrappers in between the cushions.
- Booker is very much a prisoner of his own impulsiveness and it is for that reason that he started down his road of petty crime in the first place. Stealing candy from a baby couldn't be more literal, as that was most likely the first crime he committed.
- Booker dropped out of high school before graduating, and as a result is not the most book-learned person in the world. He isn't dumb by any means. Just not too knowledgeable. There is a difference between knowledge and intellect, remember.
- Without Dellak or Dellak's influence, he is just your ordinary street punk. He can get hit, he can bleed and he can definitely die.
- Dellak can only wander a few meters from Booker before dissipating and returning to him, and can be exhausted to the point that it cannot be manifested again for an amount of time directly linked to the amount of damage done to it.
"Book, I'm worried about you. No job, no prospects, but you still go out every night and come back with a new battle scar. You could be so much if you just applied yourself. Mom always dreamed big things of you, but now that I'm turning 60 and she's... gone, I'm having more and more trouble following her into that way of thinking. You're my kid. My blood. But you need to get your act together. I can't keep bailing you out."
Booker is the most indignant, abrasive, spiteful son of a bitch you will ever meet, and that is saying something considering those he spends time with. He acts on impulse, makes threats and flies off the handle at even slight provocation. This, as you can guess, gets him into trouble quite often. Street brawls, bar fights and every other type of dispute under the sun are not too far behind when Booker walks in. A defense mechanism, his father would tell you. A front of sorts, for he does have many moments when the kindness that his mother nurtured in him shines through. Spare change goes to the homeless. Sometimes. Umbrella goes to the little kid stuck in the rain. Sometimes. Impulse can be a bitch, both ways.
With no job to speak of, Booker often finds himself LOOKING for trouble just to have something to do. Its what he knows best after all. Every time he and his father have moved, he hasn't taken long to link up with the local bad apples of the area. He just feels more at home on the streets, more comfortable. He has an attitude of, if he can take what he wants to, without it impacting him immediately and without getting caught, then why the hell not? Anyone who tries to stop him can catch these hands.
History: Booker was born and grew up for a good time in Detroit, with his mother and his father. He did what kids do, went to school, made friends, played little league and generally enjoyed himself. His father worked for the police force and his mother worked at a local restaurant, waiting tables and taking what tips she could. Life was generally smooth and calm as it is for a lower-middle class family living in suburbia. Until the day that the restaurant his mother worked at was tied up in a hostage situation. A hostage situation that went terribly wrong. Booker's father, Damien, was on scene when the men started firing. His wife was rushed to the ICU and given the best care that the family could afford. Booker's mother passed away two days later due to complications.
From there Booker withdrew from his father, the men and women he was sent to talk to and turned to his friends. When his friends turned to the streets, the cool way to live and get rich, he followed gladly, just wanting to be a part of something. Something where people didn't ask questions. He enjoyed the time they spent together. For a while things were like they were before, he skipped on school, made bigger friends, played ball in the projects and generally enjoyed himself. When his friends turned to an older man on the streets, with a prospect of money and power, he followed them. Followed them into the rabbit hole. Booker went through many trials and tribulations attempting to prove that he was to be trusted, that he was ready for more.
When he found one of his friends beaten and bloodied after attempting to keep some of the money he had made for his employers, with a message sent saying that he and his family were next, Damien moved the pair immediately to Toronto. The waters were calmer in Toronto for a few years, before much of the same happened. The move to Chicago lasted a much shorter time, with Booker's life coming under threat far more seriously than the previous times. When some figures from Booker's past in Detroit showed up and opened fire on their house to send another message, the move to Cleveland was deemed necessary, with Damien finding work as soon as he possibly could as a beat cop once again.
Booker has tried to keep his head down and stop the cycle he has fallen into, but considering the small packets of angel dust he's moved in the past few weeks, it looks to be only a matter of time before something else crops up. And with the rains making him into one of the Caught, it seems like all he needs is a good opportunity before he'll make a move to make it big and get rich.
