Already in his guise as Chatterbox, which, if he was being honest felt more like the real him than his civilain identity, Drake Vettman headed for the Icehouse. His mind whirring, his voice humming a tune going from minor to major notes, giving it both a gleeful, but haunting melody that bounced and jumped around in an almost sporadic rhythm, Drake marveled at how the time had passed since he'd been invited. While he'd seen his other... teammates he still found it rather annoying that he'd had to promise to make them immune to his wonderful little addiction. Or, well, not his addiction, not in that sense, but it did belong to him, in its way.
Arriving, Drake opened the door, using the key to open the one room he'd yet to be in, only to find it already unlocked. He smirked, it appeared his compatriots had already arrived, not that they deserved such a title in the least. He predicted that at least two of them would either be idiots, or be useless and that was stacking the odds in their favor really.
He smirked at the thought, closing the door behind him and locking it. It appeared everyone was assembled, including the Broker himself--who had only seen on one other occasion, when the man had convinced him to join up.
He glanced at the coffee and took a cup, taking a sip, an amused grin on his face as he watched the others. They all seemed relatively still, though one of them had apparently opted out of the coffee, fair enough, he thought at that. Then he noticed one of his allies staring at him, with an oddly lustful look in their eyes. His smirk remained as he raised an eyebrow at the fellow, or was it las? Hardly mattered to him, the individual was...something about them struck him as off so he dismissed even the possibility of a fling--no matter how pretty they were. Plus, their gender was...questionable at best.
Crossing the room after several seconds of observation, Drake casually found a comfortable chair, picked it up, walked over to a wall, and then sat in it, leaning back till the back of the chair touched the wall, stabilizing it in its tilted position. He crossed one leg over the other, still smirking, and steepled his hands in his lap, waiting patiently to see what this Broker had to offer them in the way of jobs.
He was sure he hadn't justified his alias yet, nor made much of an impression, but often when a crowd was anticipating a good show, three would be chatter--the curtains still closed--and then as the lights dimmed and music began to play, everyone fell silence. He was treating this interaction as the silence before the show, he was building anticipation. He hoped they'd come to appreciate the fact that he wouldn't be overtly manipulating any of them...at least, not with his voice that was. He almost chuckled aloud at the thought.
"Well bossman, we're all here. How about we get this show started, mmm?" he said, his statement the equivalent of the music starting.
The attack hit, and immediately after, it retreated to cover, moving around and up the tree. However, before it had fully rounded the great behemoth's trunk, a blast erupted and wooden shrapnel, and force, slammed into Ananze. He hissed as he was thrown off the tree and towards another, but he reacted, web shooting out from his arms and catching firmly on tree branches, supporting his weight before he spun and pulled, wrenching himself swiftly into the lower branches of the trees. The daedri took stock of itself, noting no notable lacerations or punctures in its chitinous hide. It clacked its mandibles together, eyes narrowing, before it hissed menacingly, then vanished silently into the trees, skittering faster than before towards the creature's location, shooting and weaving web as it did so.
Now he was mad. An explosion of some sort, surely, but wooden shrapnel could hardly pierce his hide.
Meanwhile, as the automaton climbed into the trees it would find web meeting its form, tagging it. Immediately, Ananze knew there was something moving, and using his senses he could tell it was not the being--though it was perhaps of similar make. The daedri changed course, veering away from the thing, while continuing to follow its quarry, keeping mental tabs on the location of the being's agent, as it decided to call the unknown variable. Stupid crafty little creature. Dumb, annoying being, it cursed internally, annoyed at the previous explosion even if it had only been a minor inconvenience.
Breaking a stick and then lunging to the side to avoid any projectiles, Ananze used his acid to burn it into a spear, dissolving useless material and then wiping it off as it neared its target. Taking the improvized spear into one of its long spindly arms, it created a ball of thick web with pores on its surface, though none deeper in, before filling it with acid, which became sealed within. This time, rather than merely throw it, Ananze skittered down a tree, then moved from trunk to trunk, keeping another few trees between itself and its prey, before weaving closer, finding an opening and throwing the sphere of acid. Before it got too far, Ananze threw its spear and silently shot web at the sphere.
The spear pierced the sphere and the web, in half a second, altered its spin, causing the hole to spin horizontally, spraying a surprising amount of acid both at the being and in front, to its left, and behind it. The acid had been compressed within the web, making it more like a projectile from Ananze's mouth than a normal burst of liquid.
The daedri did not wait to see if it had succeeded, instead cutting its web connection not even a moment after it had been made, and skittering back into the trees, its senses sharp.
On one hand it wanted to deal with the agent, but on the other...it did not want to lose sight of the being, knowing from experience that giving an enemy time, could be giving them victory. As a result it kept following its prey, keeping at the periphery of its awareness, knowing that despite its silence, it was being tracked to a degree. The being could hardly be unaware of it afterall.
Her boot tapping anxiously on the ground while she waited outside of what could only be a conference room, Evelyn...or, well, Tulpa since she was in costume, swallowed hard and glanced up and around. Thoughts whizzed through her mind as she waited, time seeming to drag on and on. What could they be doing in there? Were they talking about her...no, if she wasn't allowed in it was probably something only more experienced capes could talk about. Something they couldn't trust her with...the thought hurt a little bit, but she decided to stop considering it--she was getting ahead of herself after all.
Deciding to turn her attention, and thoughts, to something else the tapping of her foot stilled and she closed her eyes. she began a breathing exercise, one of many she'd learned online and also from her martial arts classes. Within moments she felt calmer, her thoughts clearer, and her insecurities less important, less crushing. A small smile came over her face, that was until her curiosity reared its head, causing a faint shimmering to move out of a nearby wall where it hovered in the air--almost invisible, but not quite. Granted, Evelyn couldn't see it, since her eyes were closed, but she could see it...in a way. The inert projection continued through the air, feeding her information as it passed through it--mostly regarding the air's molecule content, the dust in the air, the temperature--before it moved straight through a person. A bombardment of information about their physical make-up rushed into her mind causing her breath to briefly catch in her throat before she forcibly started the breathing technique again, increasing her focus.
The projection moved on, slipping through the wall and shrinking in overall size to an almost lemon-shaped silhouette of silver light of about 4 feet from end to end and 2 feet around. Then it spread out, the light becoming dimmer as it did, before she willed it to blanket the ground as it entered the chamber. However, before it could impose its 'shadow' upon those in the room the door opened, causing her to start, her eyes snapping open. She was glad she had a mask on...as she felt her cheeks grow hotter at being caught--not that any of the guards would know what she'd been doing.
As they led her in she took another few deep breaths and while she couldn't smile, due to the mask concealing her face, she made her posture as relaxed and neutral as she stopped walking. Her eyes glanced around a bit, noting that no one had noted the ever so slight silver sheen to the floor of the room. It made her smile a bit beneath her mask, knowing that she had her own little secret from everyone there.
Then the PRT director, who she had to admit still intimidated her more than a little, spoke up, telling Ink and Sonar to take care of her and keep her happy. She bit her lip beneath her mask, frowning slightly, before letting the expression disappear--not that anyone could see it. She didn't really like being treated like a needy child, but oh well she'd just have to deal with it for now.
Still she was glad when the Director left the room, though she still bowed her head politely as he passed. Once he had departed the room Ink got up and approached her. Ink!, she practically screamed internally. I mean, yeah he looked kinda doofy, but she'd seen what he could do on the news and heard plenty. He was awesome even if he did look weird. Plus it wasn't like that was his fault, and even if it had been, she wasn't one to judge purely by appearances, it wasn't in how she'd been raised.
Shaking his...tentacle(?) in kind, as she had shook the hands of the other Protectorate capes--something she was squirming about on the inside, it was great! She looked up at him, smiling beneath her mask, the expression clear even with her mask on. While she had wanted to say something to him, anything really, she kept her mouth firmly shut and nodded in understanding before Ink left and she had to turn her attention elsewhere.
Meanwhile, as each cape had gotten up and walked across the room, their feet had entered the shadow of her projection, giving her little glimpses into their powers. It was fascinating and as he walked up to her, Sonar was no exception. His power felt...heavy, for some reason, almost like it was a burden, but nonetheless she could tell it had to do with detection and sound. She'd also heard of him plenty so she knew a good amount about it already. The ability to hear everything within half a mile, not to mention the sonic screams. Man that sounded awesome, also way more direct. She briefly glanced at the floor, thinking of her own power in that moment before quickly returning eye contact with Sonar. "Thanks," she said to Collin, her voice coming out a bit hesitant, but also happy, better than she thought her first words in front of a well known cape would be.
"Well, I guess you can all call me Evelyn, if you want to," she said, a bit of her anxiety leaking into her mannerisms, if not her voice--a small blessing she supposed. It was funny, around really new people and in new situations she got nervous, but she could go to rallies with hundreds of people she'd never met and scream her lungs out without feeling nervous at all. Man the human mind made no sense, she thought with a small mental laugh.
When another of the wards approached her, not offering his hand--weird, maybe he doesn't like being touched?--she nodded and then responded to his...slightly more lengthy greeting. "Hi Dean, Martyr. Hmm," she paused, trying to decide which to call him, before settling on his civ name and speaking up again, "Thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it. It's nice."
Glancing at the others, she felt a sudden recoiling as her projection briefly touched Dean's foot--something he would not be able to feel in the least--before drawing away suddenly. She only briefly got an impression of...summoning? Minion creation maybe? Some kind of master power, she surmised, before she turned her attention back to her other new teammates. Epsilon, Messiah and...Mar...mar-something-or-other. She briefly struggled to find the name he'd just said, having lost it in the brief moment she'd been distracted. "I'm happy to meet all of you, a bit psyched actually, been wondering what my teammates would be like all day, to be honest," she said with a smile in her voice. She was starting to feel a bit more comfortable around them, even though it had only been a matter of several minutes.
Just another of her quirks, of course...it helped to have her projection telling her the deep secrets of their powers--in a fashion. It was kind of nice, everyone seemed really welcoming, cool even. Hell, even that hologram guy, what was his name again...Decoy? Yeah, that was it. Even he seemed nice, if more than a bit eccentric. With this in mind her eyes turned to her other teammates, wondering how they'd introduce themselves...and what their powers were.
She'd find out soon enough, she supposed, but the little spoilers her power gave her, made her all the more excited to see them in action. Another of its perks, she thought.
Name: Drake Vettman. Alias: Chatterbox. Age: 21. Alignment: Villain. Loyalty: Local Villain. Appearance: The short and simple of Drake's appearance is that he's a 5'9 pretty boy with a a devilish mischief in his eyes and a charming smirk tpyically plastered over his well sculpted face. He's got eyes so strikingly blue that they almost look silver under most light, and short blonde hair framing his face. While he gives of a cocky vibe in costume, he's a bit more tame out of it, though he walks through the world with a certain swagger in his naturally slim and toned build. Really he's all around a well framed case of good genetics, though he'd rather call his looks 'god given,' if only to get on people's nerves.
In regards to his cape identity, Chatterbox, Drake wears a rather simple costume, consisting of a crimson dress shirt and pants, the shirt with green buttons and the pants with green decals on the sides and near the belt. For his costume he quick dies several locks of his hair a stark green and dons what amount to goggles with reinforced material, which act as shades as well so as not to be easily blinded. To add more mystery to his face, Drake has made his costume include two crimson plates of relatively thin metal to conceal the shape of his jawline as well as a single green plate at his chin to conceal his chin slightly. These plates are actually part of a small modified chingaurd which has been painted to skin tone. He wears this along his jawline where it fastens in his hair behind his head.
History:
Drake, despite appearances, was a quiet child, growing up to an Alicia and John Vettman in the suburbs of Denver. He had a a childhood as quiet as him, playing with some kids in his neighborhood, though he read alone or watched TV more often than not. School was full of studies and loud children playing tag and calling names, but Drake went through it all in relative peace, ignored or treated relatively well by his classmates. As he moved into middle school he became the token “quiet guy,” in the class, with some making fun of him for it, and others trying to figure him out, while very few every really tried to approach him. As he transitioned into highschool and thus adolescence the loneliness finally started to gnaw at him, though only slightly. He wanted friends, if only a few, so he tried to make some, but his generally soft spoken nature and awkwardness in social situations made it...more than a little difficult. Even those who shared his problem eventually drifted away from him, leaving him on his lonesome once again. So he tried a different approach, practicing jokes and studying comedy in his free time
Then in his senior year he entered a talent show at his school, a decision he'd sorely regret as none of his jokes came out as he succumbed to stage fright and ended up running of the stage. Still, even with the embarrassment he didn't give up and started going to comedy clubs on nights where the stage was free and the customer count low. Gradually he learned to make people laugh and his confidence grew until one night when he decided to go to a new club. During his performance not a soul laughed eventually even booing him off stage, throwing paper and food at him.
He ran out of the building...only to run into something worse, a mugging in process, and not just any mugging, one being committed by parahumans. Getting caught up in it, robbed both at gunpoint, he tried to—reflexively--joke to maybe reduce his chances of death by amusing the criminals. Instead, it got him pinned up against a wall by one of the parahumans, that is...pinned with a telekinetic power. It was at this point that he lost his composure and started calling out for help, but alas...no one came and in that moment he felt truly alone and the fear, shame, and loneliness caused his trigger. With the parahumans stunned from the sudden trigger event, as they often were, Drake came to on his knees, having been dropped by the telekinetic.
Angry and confused he shouted at the parahumans and in response the cowered away, listening as he berated them and told them what shitty people they were. It lasted for only several minutes, but they nodded attentively at every word, enraptured. Realizing that something was off, Drake told one of them to punch their ally and in response...she did. A fight was incited in moments and, despite himself, Drake found a grin slipping across his face. Before he could get too caught up in the feeling he called the cops, told the victim of the mugging to forget him, a command that was obeyed without thought, and fled.
In the ensuing months and years, he practiced his ability, continuing to go to comedy clubs, now with his reception becoming significantly improved with each successive act. More often than not he found that smirk plastered across his face and so he began his slide down a slope that he didn't even know he was descending. Drake devises his first outfit and heads out in his new cape identity, Chatterbox. While he doesn't encounter any capes he manages to rob some couples senseless before heading back home in a roundabout way.
With each theft and each comedy act and his introduction to other villains, his behavior, and his crimes, would deepen leading him to the present day. Now, Drake is anything but quiet spoken. He's manipulative, he's conniving and he's turned his exceptional intelligence towards darker, more selfish ends. Now, with the offer from a mysterious cape named Broker, he's decided to join a new team.
A team of villains. Luckily for him, the heroes haven't caught wind of him just yet...so he expects to put on a grand performance to...introduce them to his fun little power. After all, what's a grand performance without some skilled actors.
Personality
Motivations: In short, Drake is motivated by three things, money, attention, and feeling powerful. As a result these are the things he wants to achieve using his power and he'll go to almost any length to achieve them.
Sexuality: Ladykiller. Likes:
Messing with people's heads.
Saturday Night Live.
Jokes/Comedy.
Being amused.
Feisty women.
Mixed drinks.
Dislikes:
Being underestimated.
Having his fun ruined.
When no one laughs.
Boring people.
Being Bored.
Fish.
Derangement: As odd and likely silly as it may sound, Drake's power has actually made him prone to nihilism, sadism, and power trips as such personality alterations will drive him to use his power more and more, compounding the alterations to his personality, and so improving the likelihood of him using his power—something his shard wants a lot. Additionally, it makes him less mindful of the moral code and his societal responsibility to uphold it to a degree making his morality decidedly gray...at best.
Parahumanism
Skills: While not a seasoned individual, Drake has been going to the shooting range a fair amount within the last few months. He's skilled with card tricks, good at running, and has a pretty good grasp of psychology—having taken some and studied it in highschool and in recent years. He's also a comedian as his day job, which was going fairly well even before he got his power.
Classification: Master/Trump. Details: In short, Drake’s power makes his voice capable of tampering with the mental state and--to an extent--physiology of the affected. With it, Drake is capable of using his words and intent to brainwash people on a deep or surface level. Beyond this he possesses a loose awareness of the proximity and direction of affected individuals in relation to his own location--though this has a limited, if vague, range. Variables such as the volume of his voice, the acoustics of the locale, and the length of exposure increase the potency of his ability. With prolonged exposure individuals will move through the three stages of influence severity, which are detailed below.
The first stage is Psychological Addiction, during which individuals receiving first exposure to his voice--or having received very little exposure prior--have a gradually intensifying desire to listen to him. This desire is both subtle and nigh irresistible, driving individuals to not just heed his words, but subconsciously try to conform to both whatever he says and the intent behind those words explicit or implicit. If he tries to drive you to feel a certain way towards him or even something else, the affected will sway closer to that ideal, all the while unaware of the manipulation. While an individual is at this stage of influence their behavior--from an outsider’s perspective--will infrequently set off red flags. Furthermore, if observed by other individuals also under the influence of Drake’s power, nothing will appear particularly amiss even if their actions are significantly divergent from the norm. It is this insidious property which carries through all three stages, as Drake’s power makes it incredibly difficult--even after exposure has ceased--to tell that one was ever affected at all.
Naturally following is the second stage, which transitions the psychological addiction to Drake’s voice into a physiological one, creating in the affected a physical craving and need for his voice. While typically the resultant behavior might be anomalous, individuals in this stage have a more subtle addiction, which is tempered by the insidious nature of Drake’s shard, making them seek out his voice through appropriate mediums. Unlike the first stage, in which influence tends not to decay even over long periods of time, individuals in the second stage can lose their addiction if they are not exposed to the power sufficiently. The period of deprivation can result in irritable behavior, which the affected will almost always attribute to other aspects of their life or environment. Individuals who have been exposed just short of becoming Third Stage risks may actually resort to other addictive substances in an attempt to recreate the physical high caused by hearing CB’s voice.
Individuals at this stage of exposure are exceedingly suggestible and will often--almost without question, or with very little need for convincing--follow Drake’s suggestions and orders, thinking nothing strange about doing so. At first requests may be followed simply because more exposure to his voice is promised, but as the severity of their exposure rises, their mental defenses weaken, making them less and less likely to question or resist his demands. At this upper register, individuals become suggestible enough for Drake’s power to begin repurposing them for his ends--though only minor psychological alterations can be made in any reasonable time frame. Those at the upper limit of this stage can receive orders even through non-verbal means, though not without Drake being physically present.
Finally, following the above, individuals reach stage three, hitting a critical juncture where they become Enthralled. Individuals at this stage, referred to as ‘Thralls’ will not question or disobey Drake’s orders regardless of their contents so long as they remain possible for them to achieve--short term or long term. Individuals who have reached this level of exposure are so thoroughly under the influence of his power that complex commands, brainwashing, skills, and otherwise psychological programming can be used to reshape them into living extensions of the parahuman’s will. It is at this stage that Drake can give commands even through filters such as phone calls, text messages, or other long range forms of communication. Strangely, despite these filters, Thralls will be far more able to understand Drake’s exact intent and meaning than someone equally equipped might. While the influence of his power can eventually decay all the way back to the first stage, it does so at an incredibly slow rate and would take months without any exposure to Drake’s power for an individual to return largely to ‘normal’. However, while someone who was formerly enthralled might one day regain all of their agency, any alterations to their personality enacted during their time as a thrall would remain...meaning that Drake’s victims are irrevocably altered if they are to reach the third stage of exposure.
Aside from the effect Drake’s power has on his victims it is notable that he can ‘tune’ it, allowing him to affect specific individuals rather than anyone present. Furthermore, he can even lower the potency of his power from its max all the way to zero, allowing him to make it even more subtle as well as grant people a sort of ‘immunity’ by not directing his power at them at all. Additionally, Drake--due to the circumstances of his trigger--is capable of imparting his power to others, though with a rather specific limitation. Namely, he can only impart his power to thralls. The Empowered gain a less potent instance of his ability, which possesses significantly reduced control and roughly 60% potency relative to Drake. Individuals exposed to Empowered Thralls accrue influence in the same way as those exposed to Drake himself and are not only subject to the commands of any Empowered Thrall, but also to the original holder of the power.
As a small side effect of his power, Drake’s voice never gets hoarse even from screaming or otherwise strain.
Anyone affected by his power is capable of extracting intent and meaning from any sound he makes with his vocal cords even if it is unintelligible. Their ability to discern his intent/meaning becomes more pronounced as their exposure increases.
Beyond the result of Drake’s power it is worth mentioning that the power works almost entirely by interacting with the neural and endocrine systems of the body. The first stage works almost entirely with the endocrine system, while the second stage begins to affect and alter the peripheral nervous system until finally one reaches the third stage, at which point even the central nervous system is affected. At the third stage (while Drake is currently unaware of this), this power actually allows an individual to actively and intentionally alter the psychology of the victim in addition to inducing intense emotional and physical responses including pleasure, pain, fear, paranoia, and any number of other related or similar phenomena.
Limitations: Due to his power originating entirely from his voice--at least for the duration of the first two stages--Drake cannot use his power if he cannot make sound with his mouth or vocal cords. Furthermore, the less you can hear his voice, the less effective his power is. Earplugs or excessively loud noise sufficient to overwhelm the sound of his voice are perhaps the most effective countermeasures against him--perhaps excluding not being close enough to hear him in the first place. Furthermore, while Drake can issue commands to the enthralled through non-verbal and technological means, his power does not work through any sort of filter. If recorded, or transmitted, his power will not work, meaning that any non-acoustic/natural amplification of his voice will not work and that he cannot enthrall or otherwise affect individuals through a phone call or a speaker system. Last among his power’s weaknesses is the sheer amount of time that it takes in order to reach its full potency on a given target as typically even getting to the upper limit of stage one requires several minutes of continuous exposure. Stage two on the other hand tends to require ten(10) to thirty(30) minutes to reach. Lastly, Stage Three can even take an hour or more to reach and longer for an individual to be fully enthralled.
Drake, when I the guise of Chatterbox carries several things of note, including a deck of modified cards, which have metal edges and are reinforced to be stiff and resilient. On his person are also smoke pellets—that act as effectively as smoke grenades or bombs. Additionally he carries a revolver armed with blanks and a single real bullet as well as additional ammo, which he refers to affectionately as Roulette. He also carries around what amount to amplified pop rocks, which he calls blast rocks as upon hitting the ground at sufficient speed burst into a bright sparks capable of blinding for a second or two or just throwing unsuspecting people off. Drake's costume also includes a bulletproof vest beneath his dress shirt as well as knee and elbow guards.
Name: Drake Vettman. Alias: Chatterbox. Age: 21. Alignment: Villain. Loyalty: Local Villain. Appearance: The short and simple of Drake's appearance is that he's a 5'9 pretty boy with a a devilish mischief in his eyes and a charming smirk tpyically plastered over his well sculpted face. He's got eyes so strikingly blue that they almost look silver under most light, and short blonde hair framing his face. While he gives of a cocky vibe in costume, he's a bit more tame out of it, though he walks through the world with a certain swagger in his naturally slim and toned build. Really he's all around a well framed case of good genetics, though he'd rather call his looks 'god given,' if only to get on people's nerves.
In regards to his cape identity, Chatterbox, Drake wears a rather simple costume, consisting of a crimson dress shirt and pants, the shirt with green buttons and the pants with green decals on the sides and near the belt. For his costume he quick dies several locks of his hair a stark green and dons what amount to goggles with reinforced material, which act as shades as well so as not to be easily blinded. To add more mystery to his face, Drake has made his costume include two crimson plates of relatively thin metal to conceal the shape of his jawline as well as a single green plate at his chin to conceal his chin slightly. These plates are actually part of a small modified chingaurd which has been painted to skin tone. He wears this along his jawline where it fastens in his hair behind his head.
History:
Drake, despite appearances, was a quiet child, growing up to an Alicia and John Vettman in the suburbs of Denver. He had a a childhood as quiet as him, playing with some kids in his neighborhood, though he read alone or watched TV more often than not. School was full of studies and loud children playing tag and calling names, but Drake went through it all in relative peace, ignored or treated relatively well by his classmates. As he moved into middle school he became the token “quiet guy,” in the class, with some making fun of him for it, and others trying to figure him out, while very few every really tried to approach him. As he transitioned into highschool and thus adolescence the loneliness finally started to gnaw at him, though only slightly. He wanted friends, if only a few, so he tried to make some, but his generally soft spoken nature and awkwardness in social situations made it...more than a little difficult. Even those who shared his problem eventually drifted away from him, leaving him on his lonesome once again. So he tried a different approach, practicing jokes and studying comedy in his free time
Then in his senior year he entered a talent show at his school, a decision he'd sorely regret as none of his jokes came out as he succumbed to stage fright and ended up running of the stage. Still, even with the embarrassment he didn't give up and started going to comedy clubs on nights where the stage was free and the customer count low. Gradually he learned to make people laugh and his confidence grew until one night when he decided to go to a new club. During his performance not a soul laughed eventually even booing him off stage, throwing paper and food at him.
He ran out of the building...only to run into something worse, a mugging in process, and not just any mugging, one being committed by parahumans. Getting caught up in it, robbed both at gunpoint, he tried to—reflexively--joke to maybe reduce his chances of death by amusing the criminals. Instead, it got him pinned up against a wall by one of the parahumans, that is...pinned with a telekinetic power. It was at this point that he lost his composure and started calling out for help, but alas...no one came and in that moment he felt truly alone and the fear, shame, and loneliness caused his trigger. With the parahumans stunned from the sudden trigger event, as they often were, Drake came to on his knees, having been dropped by the telekinetic.
Angry and confused he shouted at the parahumans and in response the cowered away, listening as he berated them and told them what shitty people they were. It lasted for only several minutes, but they nodded attentively at every word, enraptured. Realizing that something was off, Drake told one of them to punch their ally and in response...she did. A fight was incited in moments and, despite himself, Drake found a grin slipping across his face. Before he could get too caught up in the feeling he called the cops, told the victim of the mugging to forget him, a command that was obeyed without thought, and fled.
In the ensuing months and years, he practiced his ability, continuing to go to comedy clubs, now with his reception becoming significantly improved with each successive act. More often than not he found that smirk plastered across his face and so he began his slide down a slope that he didn't even know he was descending. Drake devises his first outfit and heads out in his new cape identity, Chatterbox. While he doesn't encounter any capes he manages to rob some couples senseless before heading back home in a roundabout way.
With each theft and each comedy act and his introduction to other villains, his behavior, and his crimes, would deepen leading him to the present day. Now, Drake is anything but quiet spoken. He's manipulative, he's conniving and he's turned his exceptional intelligence towards darker, more selfish ends. Now, with the offer from a mysterious cape named Broker, he's decided to join a new team.
A team of villains. Luckily for him, the heroes haven't caught wind of him just yet...so he expects to put on a grand performance to...introduce them to his fun little power. After all, what's a grand performance without some skilled actors.
Personality
Motivations: In short, Drake is motivated by three things, money, attention, and feeling powerful. As a result these are the things he wants to achieve using his power and he'll go to almost any length to achieve them.
Sexuality: Ladykiller. Likes:
Messing with people's heads.
Saturday Night Live.
Jokes/Comedy.
Being amused.
Feisty women.
Mixed drinks.
Dislikes:
Being underestimated.
Having his fun ruined.
When no one laughs.
Boring people.
Being Bored.
Fish.
Derangement: As odd and likely silly as it may sound, Drake's power has actually made him prone to nihilism, sadism, and power trips as such personality alterations will drive him to use his power more and more, compounding the alterations to his personality, and so improving the likelihood of him using his power—something his shard wants a lot. Additionally, it makes him less mindful of the moral code and his societal responsibility to uphold it to a degree making his morality decidedly gray...at best.
Parahumanism
Skills: While not a seasoned individual, Drake has been going to the shooting range a fair amount within the last few months. He's skilled with card tricks, good at running, and has a pretty good grasp of psychology—having taken some and studied it in highschool and in recent years. He's also a comedian as his day job, which was going fairly well even before he got his power.
Classification: Master/Trump. Details: One could say that Drake's power gives him a magnetic personality, except rather than being naturally drawn to him, you might be pulled against your will. Essentially, Drake's shard has altered his voice, making it psychologically addictive, at first, before—over time—making it physically addictive as well, triggering the release of endorphins in the body. While not so bad at first, causing only a sort of pull or weak compulsion to listen to him this quickly becomes a hypnotic lure to listen to his every word and, for many victims, carry out his commands without question. If this wasn't bad enough, Drake's power, once his victims are thoroughly addicted, gives him the power to manipulate their nervous system, more specifically allowing him to trigger other hormones in the body, causing physiological responses that trigger psychological changes. This basically allows him to trigger a fight or flight response, cause anger via adrenaline, or even intense pain by triggering other hormones in the body or causing neural feedback, overloading neural cells—not that he knows that.
While this is most of his power it does come with several other less notable capabilities, these being an intuitive and largely subconscious understanding of how his voice is affecting people around him as well as the ability to 'tune' his power. Basically, Drake is capable of tuning his power so that it doesn't effect everyone or so that it is specifically directed at a given target or targets—often amplifying its effects as the amount of targets decreases. Additionally, Drake is capable of outright 'gifting' his power to people via physical contact, though it takes some energy out of him unless they are already thoroughly addicted. He can revoke this 'gift' at any time, just as he can alter the 'tuning' of his voice to again affect people who were previously 'immune,' though he prefers to make people think that giving immunity or taking it away require physical contact, when the reality is that neither reaction does.
Limitations: While perhaps not the biggest downfall to a parahuman ability ever, Drake's power is limited to sound, meaning that being unable to hear him, or even less able to hear him will directly effect how well his power works on a given individual. Essentially, if he cannot talk or someone cannot hear him, he will be unable to influence them, even subtly, with his voice. Conversely, if he is being partially drowned out by ambient noise his power is only dampened so long as that noise originates from inanimate objects or people who are not addicted to him already. Additionally, Drake's power does not work properly unless he is in person, provided the intended target is not already addicted. So yeah folks, better get you some ear plugs.
Drake, when I the guise of Chatterbox carries several things of note, including a deck of modified cards, which have metal edges and are reinforced to be stiff and resilient. On his person are also smoke pellets—that act as effectively as smoke grenades or bombs. Additionally he carries a revolver armed with blanks and a single real bullet as well as additional ammo, which he refers to affectionately as Roulette. He also carries around what amount to amplified pop rocks, which he calls blast rocks as upon hitting the ground at sufficient speed burst into a bright sparks capable of blinding for a second or two or just throwing unsuspecting people off. Drake's costume also includes a bulletproof vest beneath his dress shirt as well as knee and elbow guards.
Name: Jake Krain. Alias: The Outsider. Age: 19. Alignment: Hero. Loyalty: Minutemen. Appearance: Standing at 6'1 and weighing in at 171, Jake is a leanly muscled young man with a typically lazy posture and fairly relaxed, but oddly sinuous and predatory gait. He walks with an air of confidence and unintentional mystery, seemingly aloof, his gaze often appearing bored or disinterested. He's hard to read unless you know him well and he's the sort that most would call conventionally attractive. All in all he's a well built, but not muscly guy with a laidback look and a demeanor to match.
His costume consists of this outfit and a white mask that covers only his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Additionally he wears a pair of black and white gloves.
History:
Born alongside his twin sister, Ashlynn, to their single mother Jake grew up in a stable home with mother and sister both. Jake was what one might describe as an excitable and friendly kid. He did well in school—though not terribly far above average—though he was sometimes rather preoccupied or difficult to corral.
Around the age of 9 he expressed great curiosity regarding his father and that side of his family. His mother told him stories of the man and offered, when he was a bit older, to let him visit his relatives in Japan. He happily agreed, patiently studying the culture and the language over the next four years as something of an obsession while keeping correspondence with his grandparents overseas. Finally on his 13th birthday, his mother allowed him to travel to Kyushu, Japan where his grandparents lived.
As if he'd known them all his life, Jake took great delight in visiting them and quickly grew used to their company. One day, his grandfather decided to take Jake on a tour of the city. It was on that same day, while they were out on the town, that Leviathan attacked. With the city flooding, the two were pushed underwater as the water level rose and waves crashed into them, practically toppling a building on Jake's grandfather. With his grandpa pinned underwater, Jake was panicked, but tried to be brave like the heroes who fought nearby.
However, in an attempt to swim down to rescue his grandpa, Leviathan swam past him in the water and the beast's after-echo struck him hard, knocking the air from his lungs and slamming him back into an exposed pipe, which would have impaled him. However, perhaps out of luck, he triggered, causing his human body to swap out for the one he would one day term his “Second Vessel,” allowing him to survive being impaled by the metal pipe.
Scared, in pain, and confused, Jake instinctively thrashed and eventually pulled himself from the pipe, his body healing rapidly. He nearly balked and swam away, before the image of his grandfather, gasping for air, pulled him back.
So it was that he forced himself to swim towards the drowning man and extricate him from the collapsed building's wreckage. Once freed, he carried the man above water before—to his surprise—flying back to their home where he did his best to protect his grandmother as well. Eventually, the waves subsided, but the damage had been done.
It was hours before a rescue team came for them and it was not until he saw them in the distance that he moved out of sight and shifted back before joining his grandparents. Several days later the three were on a one-way trip to the states where they would stay.
Following the harrowing incident, Jake seemed quieter...withdrawn, but his sister—as she always had—helped him recover, though he would never be the same boy he'd been before Leviathan.
Time went on and the fear of his newfound powers grew less and less even as his curiosity rose—though both emotions were...less intense than he remembered them in the past. Like his powers, this would be just another thing he grew used to. No longer deterred by the watchful eyes of his grandparents—who had bid him not to use the frightening abilities—he began to experiment in secret. Of course, as with all things between twins, he couldn't keep it a secret from her for long.
So it was that throughout their adolescence and the drama of highschool the two practiced their abilities away from the city where prying eyes wouldn't see. This drew him and his sister closer than before, and so she would serve as one of few things that grounded his emotions and made him feel...well, somewhat more normal than he typically did among others.
With some rocky relationships in between, Jake and his sister eventually graduate high school with Ashlynn entering higher education, unlike him. He just didn't have the motivation or those sorts of aspirations it seemed—not anymore at least. Instead, he found himself a part time job, enjoying life as much as he could, and helping to support his family where he could.
More recently he's begun stretching his powers at night, taking out minor criminals, though never anything even vaguely high profile. He's been active for the last two months and has only had encounters with three other parahumans in that time. While he's remained essentially in the shadows, some rumors of a strange creature lurking in the night have begun to spread. While he knows otherwise...he hopes they're not about him.
Personality
Motivations: As per a promise he made to his grandfather, Jake, in all that he does, makes an honest attempt to leave things better than he found them. Beyond this he has a strong wish to protect those he cares about—especially since they are few in number.
Sexuality: Straight. Likes:
Girls with piercings.
Working out.
Parkour.
Coffee.
Curry.
Tea.
Dislikes:
People commenting on his other appearance.
Being inactive for long periods of time.
Cigarettes/smoke.
Monotony.
Boredom.
Dogs.
Derangement: Essentially, following his trigger event, Jake has felt more and more detached from reality, particularly the events and people around him on an emotional level. It became harder for him to form lasting emotional bonds or to just, well, care about most things. Additionally, he's noticed more and more that he only feels 'all there,' emotionally when utilizing his powers—and during a brief period of time after use as if a small part of him was cordoned off into his second body when he triggered.
While Jake has grown used to this, the activation of his power tends to cause an almost 'emotional high,' sometimes resulting in emotions becoming more intense in general—the reality being he's just experiencing the average intensity of human emotion which he is typically denied. Currently, Jake's working theory for why this happens is essentially as follows:
“When I triggered, I think my power cordoned off a small part of my psyche, allotting it to my Second Vessel so that when I inhabited it it wouldn't feel unfamiliar and unnatural, but instead would fit me like a glove. However, this appears to have resulted in a loss of emotional intensity in my...human half. Kinda sucks.”
Parahumanism
Skills: Having been practicing parkour for awhile, Jake is pretty good at getting through almost any environment with great efficiency. This also makes him a very athletic and somewhat acrobatic individual. Beyond this he knows how to throw a mean punch or kick properly, but he's certainly no martial artist.
Classification: Breaker|Brute|Mover. Details: An often misunderstood power, most believe Outsider's ability to be that of a shifter, allowing him to change his physical body drastically however, this couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, Jake's power gives him access to two bodies, namely the one he was born to and one that is typically stored in what he describes as 'an alternate dimension,' or a 'pocket of isolated space-time.' This secondary body is a rather monstrous thing, with its back reaching roughly 6 feet into the air and its body measuring in at 24 feet in length. This body possesses a slew of capabilities, but perhaps its most notable is its incredible metabolism, which consumes energy from an unknown source and generates an incredible amount of bio-electricity and bio-chemical energy thus fueling a considerable regeneration factor as well as the body's flight, not to mention its ability to manipulate and physically manifest, to limited degrees, kinetic energy. In essence this manifests as a kinetic barrier just off the surface of the body's skin, which is capable of absorbing a fair amount of physical damage before shattering—though it is comparatively weak against energy-based assaults.
Beyond this is the body's ability to transform its own bio-electric and bio-chemical energy into pure kinetic energy, which it can channel throughout its form or release in bursts of force. This as well as its size afford it a brute classification as it is capable of a sizable amount of damage if its kinetic bursts, and strikes are well placed. However, the body has other notable capabilities, particularly its senses, which include an electromagnetic perception, enhanced hearing and oddly sensitive skin on its many tendrils. This allows Jake, while in this form, to perceive bio-electricity as well as normal electrical signatures, hear things much further away or with greater clarity, as well as sense subtle shifts in air currents around his adopted form. Aside from this, Jake's second body is really only notable for its significantly boosted regeneration and the durable chitinous armor that protects its torso, head, and arms allowing it to shrug off low caliber rounds, normal bladed implements, and some blunt force trauma. What the Jake's body can't handle, its regeneration can recover from—though this doesn't necessarily mean he can tank just about everything—contrary to what one might think. Nonetheless, all in all Jake's ability is powerful...if monstrous in appearance.
Besides this, there is Jake's trump card—which is something he is quite unaware of—as should Jake's second vessel be destroyed or damaged in a manner that would be fatal to it, the body will not die, but instead go into a stasis—shunting Jake's mind back into his physical body. Over a variable period of time, depending on the extent of damage, the body will pull itself back together and regenerate, or just regenerate if much of it has been obliterated.
Side effect: Something he is faintly aware of, Jake's normal gait and movements in his native human body possess a strange predatory grace and fluidity. It seems that along with part of his psyche being given to his 'Second Vessel,' part of its was given to him. This has little bearing on his physical abilities but does make him either slightly more attractive in motion, or slightly more intimidating depending on the observer.
Limitations: While most would think that Jake's ability ought to make him a powerhouse however, they would be quite mistaken in that assumption as it is rife with exploitable weaknesses. First and foremost, Jake, upon swapping either from his human body to his monstrous one or vice versa, feels a brief, but intense disorientation and confusion as his shard readjusts his physical awareness to allow him to control his given vessel. While only lasting for a maximum of three seconds and not impeding him from switching back and forth, this effect stacks, making him more disoriented for longer should he swap back and forth rapidly.
Additionally, while his second vessel sounds durable, everything beyond its armor is relatively frail, allowing its tendrils to be cut off with relative ease—given the prevalence of parahumans and tinkertech—not to mention that its kinetic barrier is particularly weak against energetic assaults. While the barrier can withstand extended exposure to radiation or high ambient temperatures, it will gradually degrade if sudden temperature spikes occur, if explosive force is applied, or if electrical current is involved, which, while not inherently harmful to the vessel is disorienting and particularly painful. Its senses are another weak point as the vessel does not possess eyes and has no means through which to defend its sensitive hearing and electromagnetic detection from either spikes in electrical activity or exceptionally loud noise—both which can disorient Jake significantly.
While unknown to Jake at current time, his second vessel possesses a crystal-like hyper dense 'heart' within the most armored part of its torso. This core, while highly durable compared to the rest of its body, if destroyed, will permanently render the second vessel inert as it is effectively its only truly vital organ. It is unknown how the destruction of the core, and thus his second vessel, would effect Jake's power or Jake himself.
All of Jake's powers are supplied energy by way of photons, making it possible for him to run out of juice for his kinetic abilities, regeneration, and flight in the absence of light, given enough time.
Cellphone: What it sounds like.
Disposable Prepaid Phone: A cellphone he uses sometimes when 'in costume' just so he can throw it away and not be tracked or the like.
Name: Evelyn Chambers. Alias: Tulpa. Age: 17. Alignment: Hero. Loyalty: Wards. Appearance: Standing at 5'3 and weighing in at none of your business, Evelyn is a relatively slim young woman with short hair framing her delicate features, including almond shaped eyes—with teal irises—thin, well trimmed eyebrows, petite nose, and relatively full lips. Her hair, having been dyed mostly purple, has small amounts of its original chestnut brown at its tips to act as highlights. Beyond this, Evelyn possesses subtle feminine curves, though her hips and legs are particularly developed—something which she is simultaneously proud of and self-conscious about. During every day life, she tends to dress according to her mood, with her using colors that reinforce or offset her mental state depending on if it is negative or positive. Nonetheless, she is often seen in jeans, leggings and shorts, as well as T-shirts and hoodies if the weather permits. Occasionally one might find her in a sundress—on particularly hot days—or a skirt, if she's feeling daring.
On the flip side, Evelyn, when in the guise of Tulpa, wears an outfit of blue and golden coloration, an ornate mask hiding her face entirely. This mask possesses crystal upon its forehead, stylized as a third eye, whilst five feather-like protrusion branch from the right side of her face and curve upwards elegantly. On the left side of her face is but one feather, which curves up and back slightly, revealing an asymmetrical sort of beauty. The entire mask is engraved with gold painted markings to add a flare of variety to its primarily blue coloration. Her upper body on the other hand is garbed in a blue corset-like garment, with a long sweeping overcoat that leaves a train that stops only at her ankles. Upon her abdomen is a tibetan symbol, which acts as her insignia and translates as 'willpower,' or 'control.' Her arms are covered with a thin lacy garment that extends from the thicker blue fabric of her forearms. On her hands are a pair of textured gloves allowing her greater grip.
Meanwhile, below the waist she is garbed in pants down to just below her knees at which point her legs are overtaken by what appear to be stylized boots. However, these boots are actually tinker tech and give her better grip on essentially any substance as well as several other properties. Beyond this a utility belt is typically fastened at her waist, though it is hidden by the designs of her pants and the end of her jacket, with her tools being kept at the back. When in this garb, Evelyn is typically more daring and brave, the costume giving her a certain feeling of empowerment.
History:
Born into the loving arms of Heather and James Chambers on the 23rd of August, Evelyn was a healthy baby, and a happy child as well, growing up. While she went through the normal trials and tribulations of childhood, Evelyn was also strongly influenced by her mother's kind and passionate nature. Brought along to rallies and protests for a variety of causes, Evelyn and her mother were like two peas in a pod—inseparable even if they sometimes fought, as mother and child often do. As she grew up, going through school she was never terribly popular, that was until she reached high school where she decided to reinvent herself, in a fashion.
Taking to fashion design and keeping up with the news because of her mother, she came to be well liked. Still, she was no mean girl and was known as a kind, unless crossed, girl who would help if you asked. Nonetheless there were those who didn't think so well of the mild mannered Evelyn. So it was that the 'popular girl' bullies descended on her, sowing rumors throughout her school. Classmates started coming to her for help, before casting her aside without a care in the world.
Growing fed up with it, Evelyn decided to ask around to see if anyone else was being subjected to the horrible treatment and if they'd be willing to help her stop it. Her search turning up successful, Evelyn even managed to start her little plan and convince the kids to notify their parents. As they did so she went and asked her mother for help. Thus an anti-bullying campaign began at her school, involving the parents, teachers, and a number of students who stepped forwards to help. While the campaign wasn't 100% successful, she still managed to reduce the amount of bullying and the severity of it as well, not to mention the rumors about her stopped.
With that Evelyn turned her focus back to her studies, getting exemplary grades more through hard work, than talent. Still even with the new hall monitors, the teachers, parents, and staff being involved the bullying continued, just in a more subtle fashion. Gradually, Evelyn found herself isolated into a rather small circle of friends, but at least she had them, that way she could deal.
However, as if to make things harder, her home life got just a little more lonely as her father was promoted and so would often be away on business. Unfortunately, things only got worse from there as during one of her father's trips, Evelyn's older brother Gregory received fatal wounds in a car accident and expired after a several hours—no one got to say good bye.
Overcome with grief, Evelyn poured herself into her work. She began looking for local drinking/driving campaigns, hoping to help increase awareness and maybe even reduce the likelihood of others suffering due to the loss of loved ones. With the fires of purpose lit in her belly, Evelyn began attending rallies for the cause. As these things tend to, one thing led her to another and so she found herself, heading to a local protest. While there she comes across one of the organizers for the campaign, a certain Ashlynn Krain. Excited that she got to meet someone so integral to their cause, Evelyn chats her up and the two, surprisingly of similar age, hit it off. As the event nears its end, the two exchange numbers before heading on home.
In the following weeks the two text back and forth and Evelyn finds herself falling further down the rabbit hole. The two began sharing “girl's days,” on weekends, heading to coffee shops or the local mall to hang out and socialize with the occasional rally thrown in for good measure. The days pass and the two decide to go to a protest scheduled a week later. However, it seemed it was not meant to be for Evelyn realized, only a few days prior, that she had school. However, so excited to see Ash, she heads out that day only to skip out on class and head for Highrock Avenue where the protesters had gathered. All seems well as A and Evelyn exchange jokes and call out their slogan, sharing smiles all the while, arms around eachother's shoulders. That is...until disaster struck in the form of Greybox, a local villain.
Having lost his spouse and son in a car accident due to his own choices, and ridden with grief, the villain lashed out at the protestors, wrenching Ashlynn from Eve's grasp. Alarmed, but determined not to let her best friend disappear, she lunges forwards and grabs her ankle only for the both of them to vanish into thin air.
Whisked away by Greybox's sinister ability, Evelyn only remembers hurtling down through the abyss, with guilt and panic being her only companions. For what seemed hours, but was only minutes, Evelyn experienced this weightless fall, her emotions overtaking all else leaving her only able to wish herself from the horrible place she'd been sent.
Then, in what seemed the next moment, she found herself surrounded by a comforting warmth and the familiar smell of coffee. It was only later that she learned she'd triggered and that the villain had been apprehended because of her. Though she later found out that Ashlynn was safe, Evelyn could never bring herself to meet her, unable to face her guilt at letting her get hurt...even if she'd been powerless at the time. Thus retracting into herself, Evelyn spent many days depressed with guilt biting at the corners of her mind and swallowing any happiness she could find. After much convincing and an argument or two, Evelyn relented to her mother's insistence that she see a psychiatrist. Finally, with someone to talk to, Evelyn began opening up and after a month or two started returning to herself again, but now...things were different.
Her every waking moment had her haunted by what she thought a literal ghost of her guilt and anger at the injustice and evil of the world. Thinking herself insane, and unable to keep it a secret any longer, she told her Harry, her psychiatrist, and it was not a week later that a representative from the PRT paid her a visit. Told that she was not insane in the least, the representative offered her a place among the wards, provided she wanted it. At first, Evelyn was wary of the man, but after some consideration she agreed to join on her 17th birthday. In the mean time, being only 15, she enrolled in self defense classes, specifically Tae Kwon do and Jujitsu so that when she next found herself faced against injustice she could do more than speak out against it.
After a month she ended her leave of absence from school, transferring over to the same school the local wards attended in the process. Six months pass and Evelyn finds herself less daunted by her personal “Ghost,” and, with her confidence and knowledge that she will be preoccupied with other matters soon, she decided it was time to stop avoiding her powers, and start training them. With this in mind she made time, bowing out of her martial arts studies in favor of parahuman studies and practice with her ability to see what she was really capable of.
With six months of practice with her abilities behind her and all the preparation she felt she needed, Evelyn finished her paperwork for the Wards, joining officially. Soon she'll join the real fight and man can she not wait.
Personality
Motivations: As cliché as it sounds, Evelyn is motivated by the ideal justice, as she is unable to sit back and allow people to make others suffer for their own gain regardless of what that individual gains or how little the victim(s) suffer.
Sexuality: Straight/Bicurious. Likes:
Helping People.
Feeling reliable.
Mythology.
Meditation.
Working.
Training.
Coffee.
Dislikes:
Inaction/Having nothing to do.
The 'color' gray.
Being alone.
Injustice.
Bullies.
Derangement: Due to the circumstances that led up to her trigger event and her personality prior to such, Evelyn—since she triggered—has noticed an intense feeling of guilt that comes over her in times where she witnesses or is informed of injustice and is unable to, or incapable of doing something about it. This guilt can sometimes be triggered when she isn't doing anything—even if there is no notable injustice that she ought to be putting right. Additionally, she is somewhat more overbearing than she used to be before her trigger event, making her come off as either nosy, clingy, or overly judgmental depending on the circumstances. It should also be noted that her sense of judgment/justice has been altered making her see things in a considerably more black and white fashion when it comes to morality.
Parahumanism
Skills: Evelyn has a keen fashion sense, keeps herself updated on world news, and is good with people—even if she can be overbearing at times. In terms of useful physical skills, she can sew and has also taken some self defense classes, specifically in Jujitsu and Tae Kwon Do at various points in her life. She's reached the equivalent of a purple belt in both disciplines, but is far from excellent. She is currently studying fashion and graphic design...on top of a few other things she likes to keep up with.
Classification: Master/Thinker/Trump. Details: Since triggering, Evelyn’s mental faculties have been significantly improved resulting in enhanced processing abilities and minor “multithreading,” allowing her to properly multitask, unlike a normal human brain. In addition she has a greater ability to quickly grasp and understand jargon or abstract concepts. Beyond this her power has bestowed her with a projection that has two ‘states,’ which are described below:
Inert state appears as a faint silver-hued distortion of ‘light’ in the area it occupies. In this state the projection is entirely incorporeal. Anything it is superimposed upon, or in contact with, can be ‘scanned’ for information regarding its material make-up. Physical properties are extrapolated upon and imprinted via this process. When encountering a parahuman, the projection will instead supply mechanical information about the individual’s power. The longer the contact--and the more attention paid to the process--the more detailed this analysis is. The power is imprinted in a similar fashion to object composition. The Inert State is the projection’s default state.
Manifested state can take on a variety of forms and occurs on Evelyn’s command be it verbal or otherwise. However, this state can only be achieved once Evelyn has assigned assigned physical traits to the projection. These traits are derived from the materials she has scanned in the prior Inert State. Evelyn may also assign the projection any individual powers--in their original state or remixed--to the projection so long as she scanned them in the previous Inert State.
The projection is compelled to protect Evelyn above all else and, while stable, attempt to accomplish what she desires in addition to listening to commands, and meeting her needs to the best of its ability.
The projection’s minimum and maximum sizes while manifested have been seen to be between 4 and 12 feet in height. Its overall mass, width, and weight vary greatly. Whether it can exceed these is unknown.
The projection, while under her control, responds both to subconscious and conscious commands. Furthermore, the projection is capable of correctly interpreting the intended meaning behind her commands/directives.
Limitations: Complete control of the projection is only maintained for 5 minutes. For 5 minutes after this, the projection will still do its utmost to protect and assist her, even choosing to obey most commands that don’t violate its prime directives. However, once the first 10 minutes have passed, the projection’s ability to distinguish enemy from ally and threat from non-threat will start to degrade as its connection to Evelyn’s mind does making it increasingly more dangerous the longer it remains active as well as giving it greater and greater autonomy. It becomes more difficult for Evelyn to willfully demanifest the projection at this point, due to the weakening connection between the two. Additionally, once demanifested, the projection cannot be manifested again until a time equal to that of its time manifested elapses. All imprinted physical traits and parahuman abilities are lost when the projection demanifest. The projection cannot manifest inside living matter. Once autonomous, the projection can learn from its mistakes, but all learned behavior is lost upon its return to the Inert State. Control of the projection’s Inert State ‘shadow’ is maintained even when it cannot be manifested.
The projection will not manifest if it is loaded with powers that conflict with eachother. The more powers are added without modification, the more likely there are to be conflicts between them mechanically.
Projection does not demanifest if she is unconscious.
The projection will not act upon her outside of physically moving her and it will rarely do even that much unless prompted or already past the 15-20 minute mark.
Evelyn cannot use the senses of her manifest projection, but it can give her very accurate impressions of what it is sensing. Additionally, paying attention to it allows her to understand its physical state and any damage it have taken.
Some powers may be nigh impossible to scan due to the ‘feedback’ they create, which will inevitably cause Evelyn headaches of varying magnitudes. Additionally, master powers that generate additional minions cannot be ‘properly’ imprinted, nor can she scan and imprint her own power.
Bo Staff: A relatively mundane bo staff that is made of metal cushioned somewhat by a tensile material layered over it. The staff is retractable and can be hidden behind her when in costume, where it typically lies in her "secret" utility belt.
Smoke Bombs: Fairly mundane smoke bombs kept in her utility belt. She can only carry four, but they can cover a rather large area in a relatively short amount of time, giving her cover to make her escape.
Protectorate Earpiece: Used for communication with headquarters and her team. Holographic Interface: Integrated into her suit by Decoy.
Releasing a quiet, annoyed hiss, Ananze descended somewhat, slinking down a tree with swiftness and disappearing into the brush. With equal swiftness, Ananze began moving across the ground, avoiding bogs by using trees and its long limbs and claws to never touch them as it approached the man. He kept trees intersecting his adversary's line of sight, using his other senses to track the being instead of its rather unreliable eyes. While it was making some noise, it was considerably less than before and due to its movement and continued presence, the forest was gradually returning to normal, with insects buzzing and birds singing from higher in the trees.
Ananze made use of its web to silence its movement, staying low to the ground so it could use as many limbs as required to move out of the way of any projectiles if need be. Noting the random path of its prey, Ananze made sure to vary its own path somewhat, leaving web behind on trees, underbrush, and on the ground in minute amounts. If the being doubled back it would be more likely to be tagged by the web, allowing Ananze to better track it--not that such was terribly likely, nonetheless it required minimal effort, so Ananze continued the practice as it closed the distance to the humanoid.
Once it had reached a mere five meters again, now at the same elevation, but using trees, brush, and any low hanging branches to obscure its body, it climbed up and spit acid through the air and down towards the being, showering a small area with the caustic fluid before darting behind a tree trunk in the next moment. Wasting no time, it darted up the tree, already out of sight, and into low hanging branches, before moving location swiftly so it would no longer be behind the being and to its left, but instead above and to its right. It left behind web all the while, none of it containing mana sufficient to detect behind the background bio-energy of the forest. Ananze intended to use this entirely to his advantage.
Member
The World
Zetsuko
Megatron
evierose
Fallenreaper
Snowdrops
Taka
Dark Jack
Crimson Flame
