Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon --so long as there is no answer to it-- gives claws to the weak.
- George Orwell
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Name: John Stewart Jr. (technically, but no one ever calls him that.)
Identity: Public
Summary: Mutant pissed off angsty cynical pacifist.
Background: Let's see. Killed his mother and father. Hmm, a bit short so...
Needles was born 17 years ago a month early, by virtue of clawing his mother to death inside until she bled to death. When his father saw him, he said "That isn't my son," refused to sign and name on the birth certificate, and left. He was a bit distraught. The doctor put "jr" on it and needles ended up in an Orphanage where he stayed for 10 years except for 2 brief (failed) stints at foster homes. Hard to discipline a child who can rip your face off, after all. He learned a lot about fear then and never really made friends, since he was the only non human in the orphanage.
When he was 10 an older boy decided to play a joke on him. Along with his friends (who dressed up in goalie suits and wore gloves and thick clothing) he wanted to shove Needles into a cesspit behind the school. They managed to pin him down, but Needles fought back wildly, misunderstanding their intent - he thought they wanted to kill him. His eyes became pure grey and his skin developed ridges, spikes and the whole bit. Only the older kid could see it all, and he was horrified - Needles didn't even look human. He panicked and swung a shovel he grabbed right into Needles’ side. Some authorities arrived and yelled at the kids to stop. They relaxed their grip, and Needles broke free and attacked the bigger kid (named Ronald Jenkins, if it ever comes up) and began to literally tear into him without thought. They managed to get him off with a pressure hose and saved the other kid, who was now scarred badly for life and is out there, somewhere.
That night - with the other kids avoiding him like a plague and no one having checked to see how badly he was hurt (cracked rib, but it had healed) he made his way to the headmaster's office, determined to find out who his father was. The records weren't there, so he snuck out to the man's home and - well - he doesn't recall that night, but he saw pictures years later. He tortured the man to death, and got his father's name and address. He found John Stewart (senior) two days later. His father, having heard from the police what was going on, had a gun. He saw Needles first, and shot him. Needles avoided the other shots and was on his father. He remembers it sometimes, in nightmares - pure rage and desperate anger and his voice "You should have loved me as much as you loved her!". He killed him quickly, brutally, like one would an animal and fled to the streets.
Needles lived there for five years, doing what he had to survive. He did ugly things to people (some scarred emotionally, some physically) and had a lot done to him. There's not much evil humans can do to each other he doesn't know about, and in that time he probably did about half of it, short of actual murder.
The police picked him up one day by luck and tossed him in jail. It didn't take long for the telepath psychiatrist of the prison to realise that Needles was insane, and he tried to cure him, to rehabilitate him. With a lot of luck, he got Needles off on an insanity plea and spent the two years reforming him. Needles knows he failed, knows that if he really tries, he can believe a lie. Not for long, but long enough to even fool a telepath. At least, that's what he believes. He might not have. In the jail for super humans he learned to take pain and that he wasn't as tough as he thought. He also learned a lot of the nasty things powers could do to others.
After being released after the 2 years in jail and therapy he ended up in Haven.It’s current 2 weeks until his 18th birthday. He's on welfare and need a job, soon. His probation officer suggested being a hero, and she is cute ... but he doesn't think he's good enough to be one, inside - the place where real heroes are.
Family & Friends:
Emily Stewart (aunt) - His father's sister. The police have warned her to avoid Needles, but he is her nephew. (And she never knew he'd existed until, well not until he'd killed her brother.) She is a retired Actress (50) who helps out at the local theatre company.
John Stewart (father) & Christina Stewart (mother) - both deceased. He has a half sister named Iris from his mother's previous marriage (3 months, to one Kevin Sargent) but doesn't know about that.
Iris Sargent (half sister): 24. She doesn't know about Needles either and her father died a few years back in a car accident. She lives in Haven, though.
Julie (Jules) McTaggart (probation officer) - She's the one who told him to become a hero and genuinely likes him. If she wasn’t human, it might progress beyond like but, well, he has claws. And his skin. It ain't going to happen. but he does care for her a lot, and always makes his appointments. She sees him as a human, a person, and is probably the first person in his life who has and he's recognised that.
Jimmy the Rake (street scum) - A former "friend" who knows Needles is in Haven. They did some ugly stuff together and he has some dirt on Needles (being forced to sleep with a woman and cutting her badly, then the same to her husband and some extortion stuff) .. and might need an ally someone who is a bit more than human.
Personality: Needles isn't insane. Really. He just thinks he is. His fear of killing does border on the pathological since it's one of the few lines he's set up for himself since childhood he hasn’t crossed. But there is a lot of hurt and anger in him, and denying it has only made it stronger over the years, which he is aware of thanks to that shrink. He hides it behind a deep cynicism, sarcasm and being generally pissed off at the world, rather than try and deal with his fears.
Description: Needles is a short (5'2"). thin and wiry kid with stormy grey eyes and blond hair. his name is readily apparent because his hands end in very sharp and nasty 2" claws and his teeth are just as pointy and sharp.
Obsession: His curse (power + “knives”)
Wound Points: 60
Passions
Rage: Someone killing an innocent. (He's never met one, but he's sure they exist.)
Fear: Killing someone. He's afraid he won't be able to stop. (Self)
Noble: Protecting the underdog. He's been there, and been it . .and if he can help someone get out, he will.
Body 60 (wiry)
Athletics 35%; Smash Them Into Oblivion 50%
Speed 70 (survival)
Dodge 15%; Drive 15%; Initiative 40%; Knives (including his fingers :p) 55%
Mind 45 (uneducated)
Conceal 20%; Criminal Mind 20%, Notice 25%; Doublethink 20%
Soul 45 (confused as hell)
Charm: 15%; Lie: 20%; Figure out Motives 30%; Power Maniupation 15%
Powers
Reaction Time (medium) 50% - He reacts to situation faster than humanly possible. This includes initiative, dodging, and ripping people's faces off. He can also sometimes move faster than he thinks, which is bad for whoever he's ticked at.
Super Speed (minor) 20% - Self explanatory.
Super Strength (minor) 20% - Ditto.
Heals Fast/Tough (minor) 20% - If you're hands are claws and you clench your fists, you would need to heal quick too. To say nothing of going to the washroom in a hurry. His skin is also tougher than normal. He could rip through metal, but it would hurt. He can also ignore the weather better than most.
Armour (minor) 20% [5% taken from skills for normal stuff] - His fingers are claws. They end in 2" long claws coming out of the top section of his fingers, ok? (He can alter their width/length a little, to pick locks with, but can't hide them.) His teeth are very pointed and sharp as well (baby teeth, too. Small, thin and nasty.) When he's stressed, his body takes on armour - his skin/bones move outward, his body developing spikes, serrated edges, quills etc. Very nasty. This doesn't hurt him, but definitely ruins his clothing. He can't control it at present and, as tough as it is, it's still skin.
Very Latent Power: Teleport (10%). This allows him to teleport to a spot he can see or teleport someone about to attack him to the same. It can't teleport into something else and if the foe is moving fast it most likely will miss.
Flaws
Illiterate. Just never learned to read. Was busy doing other stuff (like being nuts).
Power Use. When he uses his powers a lot, his eyes turn pure grey and his skin develops a metallic colour (just colour, nothing else).
Public Identity. Aunt he doesn't know is in the city, and is considering meeting her only nephew who she learned exist after he killed her brother. (She wants his side of the story.)
Registered with government since birth & known to local police. Has to make his probation sessions (10).
Possessions
ID
$50 (Welfare; he needs a job)
Clothes on his back (jeans, T-shirt, Jean jacket)
Notes
Doublethink allows him to think something and believe it entirely for a time as long as it is plausible. It's how he fooled the shrink, or so he thinks.
Goals
A normal life, OK? Like, getting those damned cops to stop following him. He already killed his parents and the shrink said it was the result of them being family. He doesn’t have any more family so why can’t they leave him alone?
Oh, yeah, and a job. One that doesn’t involve violating parole.
And sex with a normal person, but that’s not likely anytime soon.
And .... to get on with his life. It’s not like murder is a hobby. He wants to normal, like most weird people who’ve got no choice about it about being weird.
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