Henry smiled, and turned to the pileup of cars, surveying the shrapnel for a moment.
"Ah, this'll do."
The giant stepped towards what appeared to be a white utility van of some sort. It was white, as they always were, and windowless as it never carried passengers. Inside it housed various pieces of electrical equipment and other supplies. Perhaps a cable company car at one point? Didn't matter. Henry dug his claws into the chassis of the vehicle, where the door met the steel support bar, and with an almighty heave, tore the vehicle open like it was a tin can- destroying the locking mechanism holding the door in place. He brought his claws down the support strut further, creating a tear wide enough for him to reach his arm in. He felt around for a solid spot and dug in once more- this time on the inside of the van's door. He stepped back and pulled out, tearing the van's door off it's sliding mechanism in one fluid motion.
"What do you think, Captain America enough?" He said hummed, pulling the makeshift shield close to his chest and striking a patriotic pose for Elise's benefit. He smiled and shook his head. "You need cover, and I'll plant this down wherever you need it."
He motioned over his shoulder with his head, and then turned to the sounds of gunfire and commotion. The walk was... relatively quick all things considered. Stealth wasn't exactly high on the priority list since, all things considered whoever was in the scuffle would be more focused on one another than they would be on any other arriving parties. As they approached the intersection where all the gunfire was coming from- Henry broke the mirror off a car with his free hand and planted his enormous frame against the wall. Around this corner they'd be facing down whatever was going on in the street. He reached out and held the mirror out, angling it in such a way that he could see at least some of the potential combatants. His eyes widened.
"Watch out!" he said, wheeling around to Elise, who was just behind him and instinctively threw the makeshift shield down and held it in front of her. Ten to a dozen motorcycles roared past them only a few second later- the roar of their engines having been masked by the shouting and gunfire. With his partner mostly defended, he brought knelt down and brought his enormous arm up in an effort to protect his face from the potential peppering of gunfire that never came. His heart was in his throat for a moment. He smelt burnt flesh and blood and he was in Verthaven again. Did one of them have abilities that went through his shield? Was Elise hurt? No, no, no. Not again. He pulled the shield away with wild eyes, tossing the car door a yard or two away effortlessly.
Elise was alright. She was alright.
"Oh thank god." Henry said, his whole body sagging some against the wall. She wasn't hurt. They had a job to do. Right. "Sorry. About that."
Henry turned to face the retreating bikers and sighed. They wouldn't catch them. Not on foot, and they'd be long gone by the time they got back to the car. Interestingly enough the smell of burnt flesh and death was still in the area. They weren't out of the woods yet. He cleared his throat and gave Elise and uneasy smile, and stomped down on the edge of the car door- flipping it up and back into his hand like it was a skateboard. "I'll head in first. If anyone's trigger happy, they'll go for me first. You should be able to maneuver around freely with them focused on me. Use my senses if you need them."
He turned, breathed, and moved- not waiting for her to protest. He didn't tell her that he always went in first because he'd much rather it be him that takes the one way trip than anyone else.
Henry surveyed the street. There were a few corpses- some had been badly burnt. One had been shot through the skull- a burn injury that was precise and focused. He hadn't seen any other injury type that even remotely resembled laser damage. It was like someone took a massive hole puncher and punched out a pocket of flesh from the man's skull. He shivered, but it was clear that for the most part the skirmish had ended with the retreat of those bikers. The sound of a struggle and a sudden flash up above and to his left caught his attention. He turned and trained his head up at the building and furrowed his brow.
"FAMA Special Agent Olin," he boomed, his powerful voice carrying and calling attention to any that may be listening. "What's going on up there?"
I'm going to see my dealer. Go to the picnic table by the woods down past that coffee shop we went to last time you busted me out.
Archie read over the lines a few times. He wasn't a particularly smart man- he knew that, Lynn knew that, everyone he had ever met probably knew that. He wasn't one for grand gestures or long winded, beautifully worded dialogue... But he wasn't stupid. He knew people well enough- or at least, he got people. This was textbook- girl shares and tender moment with someone she cares about and she, from what Archie had been told, is so unused to trusting someone with anything that the feeling of vulnerability is too much that she runs. And he got it, he did. Archie realized that the last person she had trusted had quite literally shot her in the back.
That didn't mean it wasn't at least somewhat hurtful.
Archie rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb and sighed. Yes, this wasn't that big of a deal. He'd see her again, but the last interaction they had was when she had burnt his hands and... well, he cared about Lynn. A lot. He didn't want to have to go through more deal and destruction just to speak to her again. That wasn't right, or fair, or just, or...
He sighed, and took the sticky note. He folded it neatly and tossed it in the garbage. Lynn wouldn't want the doctors knowing that she was going to buy drugs. Everyone in his life had left him in some way at some point when things got hard, or complicated. Whether it had been by choice or not was irrelevant- the people who were supposed didn't. His mom was volatile and left as soon as the money dried up. His dad died. His brother was arrested. His adoptive father pointed a gun at his head. Natalie shut him out. Lynn was running.
He just hoped that Lynn would give him the time of day. A chance to forge some trust like Natalie had. Archie wasn't entirely sure what to make of the Natalie situation yet, if he was being honest. More pressing things had been on his mind and he wasn't very good at thinking about more than one thing at a time. He opened his phone and took a quick glance at her contact picture. It was a picture of them on Homecoming night- he had a beer in his hand and she was laughing at something that he or someone else had said. It was a good memory.
He grabs his jacket and sets out. He'd been well enough for a while and, if he was being honest he was in more for observation at this point than anything else. He'd get himself checked out tomorrow, after he had seen to what he needed to with the group. The picnic tables past the coffee shop that he had visited when he had given Lynn flowers, and when they had found the body- that's where he needed to go.
As he walked he selected Natalie's profile, separate from the rest.
Hey
He frowns at that. Stupid, he is. The absolute stupidest. And Eli's not even here to tell him whether or not that's a word or if that message is a good idea. He backspaces.
So, how are you?
Ugh, he thinks. It sounds so strained, like the small talk you make when you don't really want to be having the conversation. While he erases that message, too, he wonders if he should just call her. That'd probably be selfish, though, because he wouldn't listen to a word she would say, but, rather, he'd listen to her voice and commit the sound to memory. He's nearly forgotten the way she can make every word sound beautiful, and it's something he never wants to lose.
Thinking of you
And that— that's what he should really say. That's what he's thinking, after all, and a lot of girls used to say they could never get in his head. There's something that won't let him send it, though. Maybe it's the fact that it's almost too candid; too sincere. She might take it the wrong way. He doesn't want her to. All he knows is that they're both due for a lot of conversation and that in between whatever plan they make when they group up the time will be spread thin. He feels like it's his duty to warn her, even if she knows herself. He erases the 'Thinking of you' and types, 'Be prepared for a lot of questions.'
He hates that too, though, hates absolutely every word that's coming to his mind. He might even dislike himself a little at this point, and he's admittedly furious with himself for letting them fall apart when it's the last thing he wanted. Archie stuffs his phone in his pocket in a huff and keeps walking. He's getting close to the woods now, and he hates walking alone near the woods. It was weird, but expected given everything that had happened. Finding the body, watching Eli nearly die, watching Radvi blow half his face off... He doubted it would ever go away at this point. The woods up here weren't like they were down where he was from. They're so thick in places that the trees block out the sun almost completely. He had grown up wading through thickets of trees and shrubbery, so he wasn't scared of being out alone, things had gone wrong up here. More than at home, and he found himself scanning behind the treeline for signs of movement- the kind that danced at the edges of your vision and convinced you there was something there. His inner predator was taking over just enough to remind him that that he was not safe here.
His heart monitor beeped, and he released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He looked down and silenced the device. When the beeping had subsided, he heard voices. Thankfully, voices he recognized. Archie cast a sidelong glance at the trees again and quickened his pace. It was Eli, Natalie, and a person whom he had not been acquainted with. Cara had just spoken up as he had arrived, and he unfolded like a six foot jackknife, sliding to a stop behind them and almost tripping on his own two feet as he slowed his pace a little too rapidly. He managed to catch himself without introducing his face to the dirt, but his stumbling had probably alerted them that we was coming up behind them.
It was a sidewalk, but given everything that had happened, it was probably not a good idea to surprise anyone right now. Eli was... she looked disheveled. Not in the way that she she dressed or walked, but in the way that she carried herself. She seemed stiff, if not a little jerky- as if she was ready to book it at a moments notice like deer. Given everything that happened- he couldn't blame her. He carried a big stick inside him, and he found some solace in that- but she had been fairly safe up until recently. Until she met you a voice chastised in his head. He hoped that whatever had put the fear of god in her wasn't him.
Natalie seemed better, and attention catching at that. She smiled easily, and he was pretty sure he had heard her laugh on his way over. What beautiful things those were. Archie remembered the amount of times he had seen that before- in a Natalie that while similar in appearance acted in a totally different way. It was funny- almost like Eli and Natalie had switched dispositions. He smiled at her as he regained his balance and stood straight up again- running a hand through his hair. Words were always hard to form around her, and as his eyes went over this 'new' Natalie all he managed was a "Hey, Nat."
The last one was new to him. Familiar, but not. Archie was okay with names but excellent with faces. He was certain that he had never seen this person in his life. He was shorter, about Eli's height- but he was fit. He stood with his shoulders back and there was an edge to him that Archie couldn't quite place. The other man leered back at him with dark eyes, and Archie was momentarily taken aback by the intensity of the man's gaze.
There was a shrill pop- coming from Archie's spine, and Archie realized he loomed over them in this moment. He was probably a hair over six foot right now, but his previous discomfort had brought out enough of his other side to warrant the beginnings of a change. He shook his head and tried his best to move on. Don't give it any attention, Archie- you'll make it worse if you draw attention to it. He smiled.
"I, uh..." he began, trying to find his words. Nat always made him- it. Nat always made it hard. To find his words. "Hi. It's... on the way. Where we're going and-"
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was never this awkward. Then again this was the first time he had seen them since he tried to kill them. That always made things complicated. "God, sorry. I'm Archie." he said, extending his hand to the stranger. Any friend of Eli and Natalie's was a friend of his.
Assuming, that was, they still considered him a friend.
His day had started early, as had his homework. Elise Wessex. Female, twenty four years old. Local to LA, lost her family in a break-in. Here profile had ink to it, more than a normal agent who had been in the game as long as she had been.
Throughout his time in FAMA, and RAVEN before it, and the Academy even further down the line he had studied the trees- all the valuable skills that he had needed to survive this long, but his experience had allowed him to see the forest. He had pulled up every file with her name in it that he had access to. And, if keyword 'Wessex' was to be assumed involved in everything recorded, she had a lot of ink in her ledger. That meant she had been involved in a great deal, and that a good amount of attention had been afforded to her. He could ascertain undercover missions since the day she started- that's where the scrubbing began. It was difficult to say exactly what she had been doing, but he could make an educated guess. She couldn't have joined FAMA prior to eighteen, so...
Henry flipped back to her age again. Twenty four, right.
So 2014, maybe 2013 depending on when her birthday was and how zealous she was. He thought back to those years- middle eastern conflict, the war on drugs... Perhaps she had participated in some way in one of those? Henry perused her history again, and seeing no vaccine or medical history suggesting she had left the country, wrote participation in the middle east out. She was... likely too young, and obviously to high value to have been placed in such a dangerous location so early on. So that left domestic affairs. Drug busts, trafficking interception, maybe delta crystal or serum trade disruption. He could work with that.
Her ability was audio-sensory in detail. She had it since she was young. Deltahuman involved double-homicide break-in. Yikes. A part of Henry was very glad he was fortunate enough to still have his whole family still with him. His mother and father were in their sixties now, enjoying their twilight years in easy peace while their children went and saved the world in their own ways. His sisters were older than him by two and three years each. One was a chiropractor with her own practice. The other had married a funeral director and had taken on half the responsibility of that family business. Both with families and responsibilities he couldn't quite identify with, which was a good thing. He had started young, and he lived a dangerous life for a long time. He had nearly died more than a few times. Being in that position was no way to have a family. All of this, ignoring the obvious tells that it wasn't in the cards
His parents love him because they're his parents and its... its their duty. But who could really like what he was? His sisters loved him, bless their hearts they did, but they didn't talk about him when they talked about the family. He wasn't invited to family gatherings like the rest of the family. He had terrified their spouses, and he had never met his nieces and nephews. And... well, he couldn't blame them for it. And and if he found someone that at least halfway tolerated him, and she sees him, he knows. She's going to stare at him, at his gargantuan frame and teeth and scales and claws and think crap. She's going to be so disappointed. She's going to wish he was someone else.
And... and he can deal with that. If he ever found someone, he can deal with her disappointment. He's used to people being uncomfortable around him, even if they never say it out loud. But he can't go looking for it. He can't keep actively trying to find someone who's going to at least initially wish he were someone else.
So he gave up. He hasn't given up, because he still vaguely hopes that he'll be with someone one day, but he gave up because he doesn't believe he'll ever find her. And he's okay with that.
Really, he is.
Henry looks at the time. 0800.
He sighs, shuts his stupid computer, tosses the papers onto his damaged bed, and gets ready for work.
She had been on her feet in an instant as soon as he had opened the door and ducked under its frame to enter the room. He could hear her heart rate from down the hall. She was a tiny thing, slightly taller than most women he had met but lithe. Suited up she probably weighed no more than a hundred a forty soaking wet. He towered over her, peering down and over his barrel chest- so wide you could probably rest a gallon jug in the divot between his collar bone and shoulder. But she did not buckle under his gaze. She wasn't scared of him. Despite himself, he smiled down at her, revealing the tips of teeth larger than her fingers. She didn't even realize it, he could see, but he saw it in the way her spine straitened at a challenge, the way she hadn't even needed to make an effort to look him directly in the eyes- to match his predatory gaze. He saw it in the total change in mannerisms the moment you put her in her element, in the time it took him to open the door to her approach.
She was no stranger to such things such as him, she who had spent a lifetime perfecting an act of meekness to conceal unexpected strength. And though it was the best he'd ever seen, hers was still an act. She was too young to been pushed to the abyss yet, and he hoped she never would.
"Agent Olin, it's very nice to meet you. I'm not sure if you're one to drop the formalities, but you can just call me Wessex."
Oh, he liked this one.
Henry laughed, deep and booming. Like a speaker at a concert the depth of the bass in his tone enough to hear and feel. He smiled at her, genuinely this time. He appreciated her effort to treat him as normal, so he might as well act the part. His eyes flashed to the papers and back to Elise and he shook his head. "Well, Agent Wessex, as much as I'd enjoy to sit down, I believe on learning on the job." he said, deciding not to comment on the fact that the seats in the room would not support his weight. He had... found that out the hard way. He turned, wheeling around on his heel and opened the door he had just come from, and held it for the younger agent.
"We can get to know each other while saving the world, yeah? Go suit up. There's people dying out there."
Metal spikes flew through the air, whizzing out and past and around him. He felt them impact his hide, burrowing into his scales like nails through wood. But it was dulled and distant. As if it was happening but not. The air was alive with action- raging winds redirecting and misplacing most of the shrapnel. He aimed his gun, ignoring the searing in his shoulder. He felt the gunfire more than he heard it. The subtle shock of recoil from the stock against his good shoulder. Adam was providing cover for them. They could strike back safely now.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw it- the pinpoint flash followed by an arc of electricity. Impossibly fast and equally impossible to evade. It burnt through the air, unaffected by the winds and struck Adam.
Everything was dull, and muted, and gray. Except for the smell. He could smell the ozone and burning flesh clear as day. He screaming something- maw wide and bellowing. His voice had always carried, demanding attention like everything else about him, but he couldn't hear his own words. A rogue spike whizzed through the air and landed true- a direct shot to the skull. Adam crumpled, his body falling limp.
He remembered the smell of blood.
Maximilian shouted, sending his Echo forward. Cindy shouted. He shouted. He couldn't hear what was said but he could see the the pain in their's words. He knew what had happened before he even saw the body.
Up above, there was a groan, followed by the screech of shredded metal. The foundation of a building had been damaged, and was giving way- bearing down on top of him.
There was a crash, and smoke, and dust. He couldn’t see or hear anything anymore.
Henry startled awake, his enormous body jolting like a compressed spring. The reinforced bed beneath him groaned under the sudden shift in weight, followed shortly by the horrible sound of contorting metal- which only set him off further. He was in Verthaven, closed off from the rest of the world. One of his closest friends had just died in front of him. The devil rose from the abyss below the city and brought nothing but destruction and blood and death and-
He haphazardly struggled out of the bed, his enormous frame collapsing in a heap on the floor. The impact of his weight shaking the furniture and other items in the room. His tail connected with his nightstand as it swept across the floor, sending a picture frame skidding across the room. He scrambled, pushing himself up and away. Thick claws gouged ugly scars into the concrete floor, and he stumbled forward, catching himself on the room’s opposite wall. Henry pressed his hands against the cool concrete. He could shatter it. Tear through it like drywall. This had to be what was left of some collapsed building. Or damaged structure. Or something. He’d get out of here and rally with the rest of the RAVEN task force. He’d get them out of this hellhole of a city. He’d-
He rested his head against the wall and breathed. He felt his whole body flex anxiously.
Verthaven was... god, eighteen years ago now. He wasn’t in danger of being killed, at least not right now. He was okay, he was okay, he was okay. Breathe.
Henry pushed away from the wall and turned around to face his damaged bed. In the low light of the room the time displayed on the clock caught his attention. Red digital letters saying ‘3:49AM’. His day hadn’t started yet, still plenty of darkness left in the sky, but he wouldn’t be sleeping any more tonight. A glint of reflected light on broken glass on the floor tore his eyes away from the screen, and his heart dropped. The picture frame.
“No... No, no, no, no-“ He said, rushing forwards and kneeling down by the comparatively tiny picture frame, as if his sudden attentiveness would undo any damage it had sustained. He picked it up and sighed when he turned it over in his hand. The glass was shattered, but thankfully the picture itself was undamaged. It was a picture of him, Lihua, Meifeng, Sonya, Trevor, Cindy, Quentin, Cass, Reed, Adam... the Task Force, back before it all happened. "The red symbolizes the valor of the patriots who fought for our freedom," the voice of some grade school teacher whose name Henry no longer remembered had whispered from the recesses of his mind as he peered out from beneath his umbrella at the rows on rows of headstones washed grey by the rain. He'd put up a small tentative hand and asked the teacher, "I thought it was for their blood?" Well-acquainted with it, even at such a tender age.
He smoothed the picture over with the pad of his thumb, impossibly gentle for someone so big. He had no tightly knit task force anymore, and this battered and broken city was not Verthaven despite the external similarities. This was LA, and he'd be getting a new partner to watch his mountain of an ass in a few hours. Despite himself, he was looking forward to that. It was... nice to not be alone. To have someone to depend on and depend on you. A partner meant they would be essentially glued together at the hips. They'd go to the same places, take the same assignments, eat, sleep, and shit at the same time... For some it was too much, but for someone so far detached from the realm of normal it was a welcome change to not have to go through it alone.
_______________________________________________ ▼ | BIRTH NAME : | Henry Jonathan Olin _______________________________________________ ▼ | ALSO KNOWN AS: | Dragonfly _______________________________________________ ▼ | GENDER : | Male _______________________________________________ ▼ | AGE : | 43 _______________________________________________ ▼ | P H Y S I C AL S T A T S : | ___________________________________
//Basics: ▸ Height | 9'8
▸ Weight | ~4000lbs
▸ Ethnicity | Japanese-American
▸ Hair Colour | N/A
▸ Eye Colour | Yellow
▼ | PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION : |
At full height, Henry stands at a gargantuan 9'8, making him easily one of the tallest people alive. Henry is still distinctly humanoid in appearance though, and has scales are a dirty white coloration, with black, puma like splotches and stripes that liter his his body giving him a very interesting, Tegu-like coloration. His scales are thick and leathery in one direction but rough like sandpaper and sharp in the other, his skin being like that of a shark's- made of tiny teeth.
Henry's body proportions are off compared to a normal person, and are closer to that of a lemur or other old world simian with longer limbs relative to body size. Unlike these primates however, he is extremely muscular: every inch of Henry's frame is taut and reinforced with muscle; he is visibly the strongest person around- if you were to call him a person at this point. He has a long, thick tail, which is prehensile, and extremely strong, made up almost entirely of muscle. It can curl up like chameleons or drag along the ground like an iguana’s, most often it comes up and off the ground helping his massive frame balance more easily. Henry's hands have mutated heavily, his fingers elongating and growing huge six-inch sickle claws. With one, his pinky, becoming a rough nub, is degraded away leaving him with only four usable fingers. His feet have already warped, having lost his pinkie toe and all of his nails, instead having thick, heavily padded feet and massive claws. All of his toe claws are capable of extending like that of a cat's claw and releasing a huge sickle claws nine inches in total length.
Henry's mouth and jaw have extended outwards as his head warped with his transformation, his nose and face broadening outwards into a very saurian snout, with his ears and nose and other cartilage structures degrading away. He is entirely unrecognizable as the man once known as Henry Olin.
⫸ P S Y C H O L O G Y ⫷
"If I show them that they can get to me, that they can make me lash out, they win."
▼ | PERSONALITY : |
Henry is, despite what you might expect from a grizzled and military trained professional, a pretty cool guy with many stories to tell. Over the years he has gone from a greenhorn with something to prove to a mellowed out and good-natured man who tries his best to see the best in people. Because of his condition, Henry has developed thick skin and seemingly endless patience. He has heard every insult under the sun thrown his way, and is almost impossible to visibly phase even if certain comments do get to him deep down. At the end of the day, he has spent his life trying to compensate for being inhuman by being the better person, as convoluted as that may seem. Growing up what most would think a monster has led him to develop a strong sense of justice and empathy- especially for the downtrodden. Henry can be extremely charming, and outwardly friendly when a person is receptive towards him. He is particularly good at making connections to people and his strong sense of empathy and wealth of experience grants him intuition where many fall short- often picking up quickly when someone is uncomfortable around him, scared of something, or is feeling something that they are unable or unwilling to communicate for whatever reason.
Henry has a powerful voice and coupled with his large presence, he tends to command attention wherever he goes and to whomever he talks to. To a certain extent, Henry revels in this, enjoying the attention. On the flip side, he also dislikes the attention he inevitably receives simply by existing within the general vicinity of someone who doesn't like his organization, or what he is. Deep down, Henry wants to be accepted as one of the good guys. The world is, after all, a very judgmental place when you're a beast.
On the inside, Henry is an exceedingly lonely individual. He has been all his life- oftentimes feeling and being told that he is ugly or undesirable, and has developed quite a case of body dysphoria. People like him were exceedingly rare, and people like him even more so. He has felt different his entire life in a terrible way, understandably so. While so many of his peers were granted superpowers that did nothing but raise them up, his life was torn away and apart in front of him. He watched his peers go to dances with dates and find love where he found none- and coming home to an empty home day in and day out has extracted a heavy toll on his heart. He firmly believes that he will never find love or be loved in that way. Desperation has led him down many paths of embarrassment, and some that he is particularly ashamed of. On days where he is reminded of his position, he teeters on the edge far more than he will ever admit to those that are close to him.
Henry does find limited solace in those that do give him a chance, though. He is an extremely good friend to those that he cares about, and because he has so few ‘friends’ his kindness has been abused time and time again in the past. He’s a bit of a doormat in that sense- too afraid to stand up for himself to the people he cares about because he thinks that if he does they’ll leave- even if he knows deep down that they don't care about him. At least not in any genuine or meaningful way. In this sense he prefers empty company to crushing isolation- anything to not be alone. He tries too hard, picks up tabs where he shouldn't, desperately tries to stay in contact, overextends, and becomes protective or jealous where he shouldn't- and his true friends stop him or forgive him for it. At this point in his life, those friends, that rhythm of separation and closeness is what he lives for. The reminders that they aren’t him, which is good since he's not a very good friend to him. If it came down to their life or his, he wouldn't even have to think- it wouldn't even be much of a choice at all.
▼ | SKILLS : |
Henry is a highly trained and experienced officer, having operated in the FAMA organization and RAVEN before it. An expert tactician- another product of his service, Olin underwent the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) course, which teaches its students effective techniques when fighting in urban or other condensed environments against unseen enemies, including how to identify traps and likely ambush points. Extensive qualifications and use of firearms has given Olin an extremely broad understanding of how to utilize firearms in most environments and conditions, and his FAMA training has taught him a plethora of hand-to-hand, knife, and rifle fighting techniques to instill discipline and ready them for service. As a result of his intimidating size and the raw power and resistance he readily possesses, he oftentimes is relegated to specialized enforcer teams, bomb defusal units, or security jobs when not on standard patrol. So for the most part, his days as an active combatant are behind him.
▼ | BACK STORY : |
Henry was born in 1978.
When Henry was born, he was average weight, and had a full head of hair and looked like a little old man. He did nothing but scream and shit for three days after that.
And for a while, Henry was a normal boy. He attended normal school, was normal height, had the same issues and problems as a normal person from a middle class Canadian family.
Then, when he turned twelve in secondary school, puberty hit him like a freight train. Unlike most, his awkward phase was extremely short. Also unlike most, he was exposed to a delta event and turned into a lizard monster.
Within the span of a week he had literally eaten all the food in the house, undergone excruciating pain, and became literally the most pissed off kid you will ever meet (brooding teenagers have nothing on him). He quite literally nearly took his sister's hand off for trying to swipe away a spare meatball. If this was Oregon trail everyone's diets were set to bare bones for about eight days for sheer survival purposes as he literally ate everything (there are still bite makes on the dinner table for evidence). Henry's mother took him to the hospital, and too many forms of therapists and none of which had ever seen something like him before.
Henry was taken out of school, and as he regained control over himself and his body calmed down, he wasn't anywhere near what he was when the transformation began eight days before. Standing at a staggering 6'5 from his previous 4'11, and weighing in at a gaunt 210lbs, Henry was unhealthy, and overall sick, but still much larger and stronger than his own father. His body was still suffering the effects of the chemical changes and metabolism shift from warm blooded to lukewarm. His awkward stage continued for another week or so as his body adapted, and gained weight. He ate as much as before, but he wasn't as violent in doing so. Eventually he calmed down over the next two weeks, being a solid 401 lbs. At the weight of 411, he was actually capable of passing urine and passed his first stool since he began the change two and a half weeks before. When school started up again he did online school, and when the 8th grade year ended, Henry's family was contacted by the Academy program. When Henry entered ninth grade Henry was enrolled at the prestigious Academy 3, and excelled. Despite his inhuman appearance Henry's social life boomed at the Academy and it was the first time since his seventh grade that he interacted with people that weren't part of his immediate family. It is the sole reason why Henry is capable of functioning in society. No relationships though, as you can probably imagine.
Upon graduation, Henry became an officer in the now defunct RAVEN organization. Henry served for several years without leave, working many times with Adam Blackmore and the like against REAPER and other terrorist organizations. When the Verthaven Disaster occurred, Henry was a field agent with Adam Blackmore in the city.
Adam and Henry, among a few other agents were trapped in the dome and had to survive then onslaught that followed. In a grand battle against the Devil itself, Adam succumbed to his injuries despite being a man of resiliency, grit, and experience to match Henry's own. The only thing Adam lacked following the battle was the ability to heal.
Henry was one of very few to walk out of that city alive. He attended many funerals, gave many speeches, and even started a charity called the Verthaven Foundation to finance the educations of metahumans with similar debilitating abilities like his own. After RAVEN became defunct, Henry was homeless for a time, but was found and quickly hired by the new organization FAMA in 2004. Henry has been serving vigilantly ever since, and has recently been stationed in LA to assist with the rise in metahuman related crime.
⫸ P O W E R I N F O R M A T I O N ⫷
"Just get it all out of your system now so we can move forward."
▼ | POWER DESCRIPTION : YELLOW|
Henry is a large, and very, very physically imposing Meta human, if not due to his sheer size, then to his power. Reptiles are extremely resilient for their sizes. His size and powerful build grants him incredible strength- Enough to damage structures, bend steel, and resist inordinate amounts physical punishment. Like most reptiles, Henry is covered in scales and while he is not armored like a crocodile, the thick interlocking scales produce a coat of dermal armor that is as puncture and tear proof as Kevlar.
His front limbs are longer than the average humans, allowing him to move on all fours with no discomfort, and his torso is slightly elongated, allowing him to almost prowl like a large cat. Coupled with a leg structure that is very different to the usual humans (with his ankle joint extending out and giving him a second leg joint to work with) and his strength and the m. caudofemoralis muscles (the ones that attach his legs to his body and tail), he can effectively sprint at forty miles an hour. His legs are extremely strong and with the propulsion of his arms he can effectively lunge over ten meters forward. Mobile joints and powerful muscle attachments in his arms and legs allow him to be surprisingly agile for a creature his size.
Henry has an extremely powerful set of senses (hearing, sight, and smell, etc). Especially smell. He has two ways of smelling the air, which is through his nose and then through his tongue like a snake. Also like a snake, he has two pits right in front of his eyes that allow him to heat-seek, and like a gecko has color night vision. Along his snout there are tiny pores that allow him to actually sense mild electrical pulses that come from muscle movement and the heart beating. His blood also has displayed a much lower pH than that of regular blood, making it un-survivable for most diseases, and will denature protein based compounds such as venom to the point where they function at a less potent effect, or simply do not function at all depending on the lethality. Henry also has several other less superpowered abilities in common with several species of reptiles, amphibians, and birds: A bacteria infested bite, claws, a nasty set of triple rowed teeth (some shark like, others more crocodilian), the ability to breathe underwater through his skin, and some other weird things thrown in there.
He has a regenerative healing factor that allows him to regrow full limbs if they are lost, not just his tail, within a relatively short period of time. This healing factor is extremely potent, and while it does not have the speed of say, Wolverine, it does have the ability to redirect and reroute the flow of blood in his body with a complex set of muscles that close off and contract upon separation or damage. Because of this ability he has displayed the ability to continue performing and functioning even when an alarmingly large portion of his body has been damaged. In theory, Henry could have his skull blown off, but fully recover from the encounter if his body is recovered and stabilized. Small cuts and bruises heal within minutes, but things like crushing trauma or puncture wounds from high caliber firearms take much longer and will likely put him out of a fight.
Henry is a survivor. Like all reptiles he is incredibly resilient by nature, often not showing signs of illness or pain until it's either too late or he's gotten over it that, in combination with a natural accelerated healing rate, can make him very hard to kill. In times of trial and dire need for food and sustenance Henry has shown that he has ‘lukewarm blood’. His body temperature normally hovers around 76-81 F at any given time, as he is warm blooded. However, he can change his metabolism style to cold blooded, and can hibernate in this stage for a very long time, to the point where liver failure is the cause of death before he actually starves.
▼ | LIMITS : |
Different levels of injury require different amounts of time to bounce back from. Being hit by a car might result in a few fractures, which would mend within the hour. Being shot in the lung, if the bullet is high enough caliber to penetrate his hide, or falling debris could put Henry out of the fight. He might be a juggernaut of a person, but he is not invincible. On the note of bullets, while his body might be resistant to low calibre firearms, he is not resistant anymore than a regular man is to the major bruising and internal damage that the force of the bullet carries.
This ability to heal so efficiently and quickly has eroded Henry's instinctual urge to hold himself back in strength related activities. Under normal conditions most beings use only 20-30% of their potential muscle usage. Archie is very capable of using 100%- resulting in muscle fiber damage and other issues that would be crippling. lifting and throwing vehicles, while possible, is taxing on his body. Sometimes too taxing. If he is subject to enough physical strain in a short time frame that his ability to heal cannot keep up with it, he is very likely to collapse and hurt himself further or, depending on the situation, become a sitting duck.
Henry is a very big creature. This means that he has difficulty squeezing into some areas and do no befit him with the gift of endurance as his frame's size and his genetic abilities make him naturally lack locomotion stamina. He can only maintain a 40 mph sprint for a short period of time. Long periods of extended movement are not his forte because he's just not mechanically built for that- no matter how large his lungs are. He is heavy, and it puts a monumental toll on his body to keep up a fast pace. This however, is not nearly as much of a problem in the water.
▼ | WEAKNESSES : |
Because his senses are so powerful, sensory overload can be a big problem for him. He literally cant handle large amounts of bright light and loud sounds because they can cause him a lot of pain and confusion. His vision also gets fucked up when stuff gets into the heat sensing pits, he's pretty blind in those cases because that tends to give him a pretty trippy experience. Imagine your eyesight being flooded with nothing but blurs of red and yellow and being unable to see anything but that mix.
Henry has thick, strong bones. While stronger than a human’s, they are not invincible. If Henry put his full strength into throwing a punch at a steel wall, he'd smash the steel alright. But he'd probably break all of his knuckles and give his arm about six fractures. He needs to be careful. He was a human once, as hard as that may be to believe and humans were not built to be as big as he is. The only reason he's able to survive and thrive is because his body changed with his size- but he cant throw himself around without seriously injuring himself. Impacts become more and more dangerous the larger the body gets, and Henry is a very large person. Because he is so large, Henry is also almost impossible to miss. He demands attention, and while he is quite a bruiser, focus fire and a lack of proper cover can quickly wear him down.
If he goes into a hibernation like state to last as long as he does, he will most likely do nothing but breathe once and hour for a very long time. It is an emergency thing to do and it really isn’t good for his body to do it for long.
I’d also like to point out once again that Henry’s regenerative ability is NOT like that of Wolverine’s. It’s several times as fast as a human’s, but he will NOT bounce back from any wound unless it’s minor, much like a normal human. It can take him months to grow back a limb, and weeks to recover from various other injuries (The average stab wound recovery time is the two to three weeks. Henry would recover fully over the course of a better part of a week).
Sierra Hilton
⫸ B A S I C I N F O R M A T I O N ⫷
"Okay, mom! I'll fill out the form. Why do they need this information if they have my photograph?"
▼ | BIRTH NAME : |
Sierra Leanne Hilton
▼ | ALSO KNOWN AS: |
N/A
▼ | GENDER : |
Female
▼ | AGE : |
19
⫸ A P P E A R A N C E ⫷
"I feel like I'm going to the doctor or getting my driver's test again."
▼ | P H Y S I C AL S T A T S : |
▸ HEIGHT : | 5'4 ▸ WEIGHT : | 112 lbs ▸ ETHNICITY : | American of French/Canadian descent. ▸ HAIR COLOR : | Dark brown ▸ EYE COLOR : | Blue
▼ | PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION : |
Sierra has a squared, angular face, sharp jawline, and piercing eyes. Her eyes are vaguely almond-shaped and possess a icy blue color like her father. Dark hair and eyebrows frame her face, with her hair coming down to the middle of her back when let down. Her skin has a warm ivory tone to it, further committing to her fairly dark color palette, and is incredibly clear of any blemishes or scars aside from a few sun spot freckles here and there from her time in the sun. She is lean, but not skinny, although she doesn't possess a great deal of muscle mass or weight as she does not exercise much beyond jogging and yoga. It keeps her cardio up and figure right, but not much more than that. While her figure is well founded, because she doesn't dress provocatively she is for the most part spared from sexualization at first glance. She has no piercings or tattoos.
▼ | ATTIRE : |
Sierra's attire changes drastically throughout the day depending on the instance you run into her with- although she tends to go for well fitted clothing that is fairly easy to wear and wash.
⫸ P S Y C H O L O G Y ⫷
"Parental issues. Turned a birthday party into a 'surprise metahuman' party... Oh, and I have a 4.91 rating on Uber."
▼ | PERSONALITY : |
First and foremost, Sierra is an inherently curious individual with far too much energy for her own good. From a young age she could never sit still, which only worsened when her power manifested at the age of five. From then on, she would simply send copies of herself to school, while others would wreck havoc on the neighborhood, house, and home. Her years of experience and literal lifetimes of study have made her an expert in hundreds of skills from cooking to engineering, and yet despite this she carries herself with modesty and no shortage of humility. Her people skills are top notch, and she has found that she far prefers being quietly intelligent rather than a mouthy know it all. She abides by the rule of spreading knowledge wherever she goes, but speaking only when necessary.
Sierra, thus, is kind. She has reached the far end of the Dunning-Kruger curve and knows that even if she knows as much as she does, she still knows nothing. A firm believer that every person she'll ever meet knows something that she doesn't. Her excitement is infectious in nature, her antics and passion often swallowing other people up whole in her energy to do something. Everything she does, she goes with gusto, laughing a full bellied and unladylike laugh, smiling with all teeth, and moving with a flow that is both childishly passionate and wisely experienced, as if she is a master craftsman excitedly creating their magnum opus. This weird combination has often landed her with a few demeaning insults thrown her way about being ADHD or hyperactive. She can be a lot at times, especially to introverts, and has difficulty reigning her ever buzzing mind and energy in- especially when it is alight with many conversations at once. Some people are threatened by her intelligence, or skill set, and the child in her that just wants to be accepted aches with unease and desire to be liked- often resulting in her overcompensation (which therein usually results in her making things worse). She is still not quite sure how to deal with challenges like these, but if there is one thing that has been driven home in her life, it's that there's nothing she cant do if she sets her mind to it. After all... better busy than bored.
▼ | SKILLS : |
Due to her power, Sierra is an extremely diversely skilled and well rounded individual. She has so much time during the day that her opportunity cost for doing things is far lower than most.
Media- Sierra is extremely well versed in all forms of media- movies, books, magazines, video games, comics, you name it and she has almost definitely seen it, read it, or played it and will understand the reference. She is also a massive history and sports buff. If you go up against her on trivia night, she is incredibly sorry for the massive ass whooping you are about to receive.
Languages- Sierra is proficient in reading and writing in eight languages to an advanced degree: English, French, Spanish, German, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic. She is capable of reading dozens others to a fairly basic degree, but cannot speak them having dedicated more time to the other aforementioned languages that she found more intuitive to her.
Music- Sierra is quite literally her own band, and she is capable of reading, writing, arranging, and performing with several instruments such as the keyboard, electric and acoustic guitar, bass, drums, all sorts of brass and wind instruments, and other stringed instruments. She is also a vocalist- being an alto, and while she's good she is not particularly show stopping or abnormally good.
Art- Sierra is an exceptionally well practiced artist with both pen and pencil as well as paintbrush. She regularly does paintings or sketches of various people, places, and things preferring to draw what she sees instead of what she imagines. Other forms of art she regularly partakes in as well, such as photography and dancing.
Cooking- Sierra is a master chef.
Chess- Chess, and other strategy games are some of Sierra's favorite pastimes. She regularly plays against herself and other people if they are willing to go up against her.
Technology- While not quite as common a skill for young women in her age bracket, Sierra's ever inquisitive brain has taken a liking to anything relating to computers and software. She can build computers, solder electronics, and code entire websites. She is certified for Microsoft Office, the Adobe suit, and is an excellent video editor. While she is not certified, she is extremely experienced in IT and often finds herself diagnosing and solving advanced and simple technical problems.
Well Studied- Years of reading has led Sierra to be extremely knowledgeable in a plethora of subjects such as biology, chemistry, anatomy, history, zoology, astronomy, physics, pathology, psychology, among many other subjects. She is by no means certified and doesn't regard herself as a substitute for a licensed and practiced individual, but she does possess bachelors degrees in several of the aforementioned subjects.
Naturalist- Years of curiosity has landed her in the wild and in some fairly compromising positions. She's fairly adept as an outdoorswoman. Years of camping, bird watching, hiking, fishing, and generally exploring has made her an excellent survivalist. She is very familiar with most species of animals and plants in all areas of the USA and knows all of the constellations and other celestial objects in the sky. In edition to this, she is also experienced with bow hunting- although she is far from an expert huntswoman.
List may be expanded.
▼ | BACK STORY : |
Most of Sierra's life before the age of five was fairly standard, all things considered. She was a normal child, who did normal things. She was smart, sure, but she wasn't abnormally so for her age. She slept, ate, socialized and went to school just like many of her other friends.
Life changed when her father, an esteemed chemist, brought home a delta crystal that resulted in Sierra becoming the metahuman she is today. The results weren't immediately apparent, instead her abilities manifested a day or so later when she needed to the bathroom but didn't want to miss out on cake at a friend's birthday party. Life was... well, never quite the same after that.
This first use of her abilities resulted in quite a madhouse at first, with her family not knowing quite what to do with her and her being a terrified, traumatized mess of a little girl who suddenly lost her entire friend group in the span of an afternoon. Eventually though, life fell into a sort of rhythm. She was, and always had been an only child in a fairly well off family. She went to school again, this time her mother placing her in an boarding school while she also was home doing a variety of other activities from reading to horse riding. Life was eventful, and exhausting for her family, ultimately resulting in a divorce between her mother and father that was neither her fault nor theirs. Life was suddenly just too weird and too stressful. It's been years now, and she has worked through the feelings of grief and self blame for the most part, and has come to accept her parent's choice.
She bounced between the families for a while initially- mostly as a result of law. She tried stay at both their homes at once, but found that this often worsened the situation as it was her power that had caused the rift in her previously happy family. She took up quieter, smaller, and much less expensive hobbies for a time, with her now being close to fourteen years old, in an effort to not exacerbate the problem.
The day she turned fifteen, she joined the workforce- finding any and every possible job that would take her early so she could earn some extra cash to further her immense list of hobbies without driving a greater rift between herself and her parents. Working many jobs, and often, resulted in other more work related hobbies such as starting a small time law and garden care business in her neighborhood. This was her first introduction to gardening, and more importantly, finances. Naturally, she dove head first in to satisfy her ever prying mind. Day and night, rain or shine- often earning the nickname "Miracle Girl" for her seemingly incredible work ethic and regular use of miracle grow.
Turning sixteen only broadened her horizons further, and since she did not have space in her driveway for more than a few cars she often found herself carpooling or ubering with herself to various jobs- oftentimes playing it off as a case of twins or triplets if anyone happened to notice that she was dropping herself off at work. Her resume was beginning to seem more like a laundry list than an actual resume at this point, and that's when big brother started paying attention. She graduated university in just under three years, taking her typical 'divide and conquer' strategy to college and finishing with... several degrees. Since leaving university for the time being, Sierra has relocated to LA in an effort to job search for a more long term career(s).
⫸ P O W E R I N F O R M A T I O N ⫷
"Army of one."
▼ | POWER CLASSIFICATION : |
Type-Yellow
▼ | POWER DESCRIPTION : |
Sierra has the ability to clone herself to an unprecedented degree and is able to split and re-merge at a fast pace similar to mitosis. Each version of Sierra operates independently, but harbors a rudimentary hive mind that allows clones to send directives to one another. Each clone is indistinguishable from the others. This allows Sierra to do multiple tasks simultaneously or to cover a large area.
Sierra has no original or main copy, and killing or injuring one single copy does not harm or impede other copies. If one copy is dismembered but still alive, it can recombine with another copy without issue. A copy that is killed or dies cannot be recombined, and acts like a regular corpse. Because of this, while individual copies of her can be drugged or damaged in the grand scheme of things Sierra is technically immune to the effects of drugs, both medicinal and otherwise, and alcohol so long as another copy of her is present. Sierra is intuitively able to locate and coordinate with her copies, but in an event where Sierra is unable to locate or recombine with a copy, she can send a directive that removes its survival instincts, and the clone usually expires shortly after.
▼ | LIMITS : |
Recombination requires physical touch.
Sierra is limited to a maximum of sixty copies at a time, and can only produce sixty copies in a 24 hour period.
An injured or impeded copy cannot duplicate itself.
Cloned copies cannot share their memories remotely with one another, they must recombine to share anything other than directives.
Sierra's body, blood, and organs are extremely similar, genetically, to a human's, but different significantly enough to disqualify her from organ or blood donation.
Cloning only clones the body. Clothing not included. Because of this she almost exclusively clones herself in private.
Sierra and all of her copies are completely sterile.
All clones must be within a 100 mile distance of one another, otherwise losing their survival instincts and usually perish shortly after. She instinctually knows when she is approaching this threshold and maintains appropriate proximity from her other selves.
Sierra does not have any advanced understanding of where or how her other clones are. She must recombine to inherit the information of a clones previous whereabouts.
▼ | WEAKNESSES : |
All of Sierra's clones are completely human and aside from being clones and capable of cloning themselves have absolutely no standout features or traits. No super strength, no shitting lasers, no blood manipulation- nothing. They are as durable as normal people and are mostly canon fodder in any form of combat.
A letter of recommendation:
[center][img]http://imgur.com/yukmSQU.png[/img][/center]
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People on my junk mail list <3
[@Dragonbud]
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[@SepticGentleman]
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[@Skai]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">A letter of recommendation:<br><div class="bb-center"><img src="http://imgur.com/yukmSQU.png" /></div><br><br><hr class="bb-hr"><br><br>People on my junk mail list <3<br><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/dragonbud">@Dragonbud</a><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/maxx">@Maxx</a><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/the-ghost-note">@The Ghost Note</a><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/luminous-beings">@Luminous Beings</a><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/septicgentleman">@SepticGentleman</a><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/spoopy-scary">@Spoopy Scary</a><br><a class="bb-mention" href="/users/skai">@Skai</a></div>
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