Synthessence

Epic had a pretty sizable pile of rubble and debris he was working on, which was chock full of steel, concrete, and whatever else he managed to find. If he heard Tank's internal dialogue, he would have pointed to it, but as it was, the Troll would just have to enjoy some steel snacks. The wall he removed helped to clear the way further into the collapsed building, which construction workers had already done a good deal of trying to help stabilize. It creaked and groaned a little, but the gained ground was more than worth it as two survivors gasped, partially under debris as they shielded their eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight--a woman, and a young boy, from the looks of it. Meanwhile, Epic was helping plow through the rubble that Freedom Angel had been attracted to, and true to his senses they soon found a Hummer, of all things, buried under concrete and steel. The roof was smashed in deeply, nearly flat with the seats, but soft moans could be heard from inside the SUV. Epic landed to the side of the vehicle and swung his right hand wipe, sweeping the debris aside like it was made of cardboard (away from the EMS workers, of course), before he jumped (flew) up and landed softly on the roof of the Hummer, smashed in as it was. His fingers easily dug into the metal, and he looked about to rip it up when he sudden stopped. Hold up there, Hero. You don't know how badly hurt they might be, and just ripping this roof off might provoke further injury. That sword looks awfully sharp though, doesn't it? He looked at Freedom's Sword, and nodded toward it. "Can that cut through this metal? I can rip it apart, but a controlled incision is probably best."

Less talk, more work. was Asa's only response, resonating in Epic's head like pleasant chimes. Epic wasn't entirely sure if Asa spoke in English so much as he just spoke in raw thought. Sometimes the magical device said things he didn't entirely understand, despite hearing him clearly. Of course, the sheer fact that he could hear him alone was miraculous...though it left many thinking that he was crazy, especially when he -wasn't- in costume. After all, a cape wearing, spandex sporting crusader against crime could afford to be a little loopy now and again. It another thing entirely for a normal-looking joe to be having an argument with himself. The sudden flash of light below caused Epic to clench his fists in a flinch, ready to spring into action if some fiend was despicable enough to take advantage of the situation, but then was pleased to see that it was not some villain, but a fellow hero. Epic was relatively new to the city, so he didn't know too many by name--he had only been seen in a public a few times, and had managed to be labeled 'Epic' thanks to an internet Meme of two valley girls gushing about him, which the media picked up on immediately. 'He was, like, Soooo Epic! And hot! And EPIC!' the two had said, using the internet slang to the point that the Media had simply ran with the name. Epic didn't mind...as a matter of fact, he rather liked the name, and the stylized 'e' on his chest suggested as much. But whoever it was down there, they certainly seemed to know where they were going. You should give him a hand, Epic. Asa suggested, reading the young superhero's mind. Epic nodded, swooping down to hove somewhat in front of Freedom Angel, reaching down to start flinging tons of debris to the side, to help the other-worldly looking man get to where Epic was sure he was going. "I'm just digging blindly here--if you can see or hear any survivors, just point me in the right direction." He said easily, his voice carrying no strain from the work.

When he was just a child, it never occurred to Rico to think about life on other planets or dimensions. After all, life was hard enough on his own, what with foster parents, crappy school life, and the gang he was a part of. The idea of extra-terrestrial life had been the furthest thing from his mind, right up there with worrying about World Peace. Thing changed when he stumbled into the power of his heritage, however. Oh, how did things change. Southside had been torn apart by the Invasion he never would have thought about as a child. While other heroes had taken care of that tremendous threat, Epic had done what he could to keep order through out the city, defending and protecting, but not pressing the attack or his advantage, but instead going to where more help was needed. Now that it was all over, Freedom City had some much needed time to lick its wounds...and that was where EPIC came in. Untold damage had ravaged the city, and Southside was no exception. Many of its inhabitants, poor and miserable, were usually forgotten by the City's elite, being so steeped in crime...but not by the Heroes. It was their jobs to stop crime, to clean up streets like these, and now was the perfect time to immortalize that idea...only this time with a very literal sense of 'cleaning up'. Epic gave a small grunt as he began to lift the large wall that had collapsed onto the street. Many buildings had crumbled, and the roads were so wrecked that it was hard to get the proper equipment to clear out the rubble and debris. Fortunately for those in dire need of rescue, however, those with the power to help were doing just that. He gave another small grunt, and then hefted several tons of concrete and steel above his head. He stood there, looking almost iconic as the EMS workers quickly rushed past him, sifting through the smaller bits to find possible survivors. It was grim work, in its own way, but every man, woman, and child that they found was one more that would walk away from this fight, and prove that humanity was strong enough to endure whatever it faced. He took to the air, his golden cape fluttering as he lifted the heavy burden into the sky. Small bits fell away as he made his way above the pile of rubble he had been compiling as he cleared the way. He had already moved countless tonnage, and would no doubt move much more before the day was over with...and well into the night, provided the EMS were prepared to work as long as he was. It was a bit heart wrenching for him, honestly--as a child, streets like these had been his hang-out spots, his only real home. It wasn't so hard to imagine himself in this same situation--waiting in the dark, buried under rubble, and just waiting to be saved. Thoughts that that pressed him onward as he flung the heavy wall onto the pile, watching it crumble with a small amount of satisfaction. He looked down at the disaster below, some two hundred feet into the air, and scanned the area carefully. "You know, now would be a great time to surprise me with some X-Ray vision." He said, apparently talking to himself.

How's that? :D

All changes that have been requested have been made!

Okay! I brought his Attack Bonus down to five, giving me 6 points to use, and bringing him back to level cap. I brought his Defense down to 4, and then used 1 of the 2 points to buy Dodge Bonus, giving me 1 points left. That is a total of 7 points! I used 4 to buy an additional rank of Device, and with those five points I bought Darkvision, Detect Magic, and two ranks of Extended Hearing. With the last 3 points, I bought a rank of Diplomacy, a Rank of Craft, and a rank of Knowledge: Pop Culture. And, that should be it!

Woo! Praise the Maker! *Snoopy Dance!*

Ah, I see! I was about to start some kind of quantum paradox. So, instead, I dropped the Fearless and Eidetic Memory feats, and used those two points for Restricted. Does that clear it all up? :spidey:

Oh! Well, that certainly helps clarify things! *shifts things around a bit* I'll just take Super Strength back down to 5, and use those two points to make Restricted make more sense. :D

Egad, you're a ninja. I was still editing! Oye! How are my powers 2 points heavy? Enhanced Strength=26 points Enhanced Con=28 points Impervious 10= 10 points Flight=10 points Immunities=10 points Super Strength=12 points Feats=4 points 26+28+10+10+10+12+4= 100 points. I mean, if that math is wrong, please let me know, but I keep punching it into my calculator, and it adds up! Working on the other suggestions still. XD

Characters Name: Rico Alareis Power Level: 10 (150/151) Trade-Offs: -5 Defense for +5 Toughness Unspent PP: 1 Gold Status: 1/30 Alternate Identity: EPIC Age: 19 Gender: Male Height: 6'1 Weight: 164 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: Blonde Description: Rico looks like any other young guy on the streets, though he seems to lack that hardened edge that many of his peers (see: gang members) seem to flaunt about. He wears fairly normal street cloths (with a taste for long sleeved coats and shirts), and has a roguish handsomeness about him, almost like a young cowboy out of his time. He has tousled blonde hair that gets in his eyes more often than not, and baby blue eyes that seems a little gullible for their own good. When in costume (or, uniform, as it were) he wears sleek golden armlets that go from his knuckles to the end of his elbows, which emanate and crackle with forgotten power. He wears a red suit, with golden boots (up just past his knees), with a golden 'V' arcing from his shoulders (which are also gold), eventually flowing down into a long, golden colored cape. His face is framed in red, covering his forehead, the sides of his face, and his chin, covering his ears as well. History: Rico was abandoned by his parents at a relatively young age. Not caring for his social worker, he managed to run run off into the mysteries of the streets. Rico, while a good kid at heart, and a bit of an artist, couldn't find a way to pull himself out of life on the street, but DID manage to find his way into a gang that, thankfully, was more about theft than violence. He clung to them, not really caring for stealing, but glad to finally belong with people who would welcome him...even if he was the low man on the totem pole. Rico wasn't very good at stealing, however, and tended to botch most of his jobs. He couldn't steal cars, because he couldn't really handle a stick shift. He couldn't make off with car radios, because he was crap with tools. He made for a decent lookout though, and if nothing else, he made for a nice punching bag for most of the guys. Rico took the abuse, though, because the gang took care of his basic needs...and honestly, thats all he could manage to care about. Eventually he tried to better his standing within the gang, and to this end he managed to convince them to let him tag along and try to help them in a new heist venture—a museum. Managing to sneak in through the construction of a new wing, several of the members of the gang managed to hook several bits of art and pottery...while Rico found himself looking for a bigger score, in order to impress everyone. It was this venture that led him to an odd wing dedicated to strange and remarkable ancient armors and weapons. While he was so distracted, he accidentally tripped an alarm, and the jig was up! The rest of the gang booked it out, closing off the entrance they used, leaving Rico to take the wrap. He panicked as sirens soon surrounded the building, and security guards rushed to his general location. In fear, he hid behind a large suit of armor, reaching out to grab the arms of the suit to pull it closer to the wall, to hide him better. It was this desperate gambit to hide that changed his life forever. Unknowingly to him, Rico held within him the bloodline of Atlantis, the lost bastion of technology and magic. The survivors of the sinking wonder had spread out among the other cultures of the world, and their descendants were few and far between. With his touch, the ancient armlets on the armor awoke, recognizing his blood and magically vanished from the armor, onto his arms. He pulsed with this new power, and felt an odd presence in his mind—that of the armlets. He couldn't understand what it was saying, or even understand what was happening to him, but the armlets understood that he was in danger...and wanting to preserve its new awakened status, quickly helped him FLY out of the museum, bringing down chunks of the ceiling as he screamed (much like a little girl) on his way out. When he awoke days later, the armlets calmly explained to him what had happened, why he was special, and what it meant. The Armlets referred to itself as 'Asa', and was in fact some sort of sentient, magical AI, from the zenith of Atlantean technology...and since Rico was the first (and only!) being of Atlantean heritage that Asa had encountered, Asa had chosen him to inherit this long forgotten power. Though it took him a while to come to terms with it, Rico, with Asa's help, moved from the city he was in, and moved to Freedom City to start a new life. Here, he will try to atone for his life of petty theft and crime by upholding the morals that he always felt, but had always been forced to ignore thanks to his own ineptitude and lack of a backbone. Now, with all this power, and with Asa to guide him, Rico is determined to become the man he was meant to be. Personality & Motivation: Rico is friendly and outgoing for the most part, though a little insecure in many ways, thanks to his rough lot in life (before Asa, that is). He considers much of his life a waste, thanks to what little he accomplished, and feels incredibly guilty for his previous life of crime, and does everything he can to atone for them by stopping other crimes, and helping turn as many away from that life as he can. He has a soft spot for younger gang members, of course, and has great empathy for their plight. Powers & Tactics: A quintessential Paragon, Rico is very strong, very tough, and can fly. Though he hasn't had much in the way of training, the combat experience of Asa bleeds into his every action, making him a much more accomplished fighter than he should be on his own. All that said, his tactics normally go around the idea of 'Fly-Smash-Fly', whether it is heavy hay-makers, or body slams WWE style, he tries to take down the bad guys as quickly as possible...and using whatever he can get his hands on to do it. Complications: Honor: Asa comes from a different time, but his values are very strict and are almost Paladin-like in nature. Because of their near-permanent bond, this forces Rico to follow that same code as well. Secret: Rico was a petty criminal in his recent youth, and while that was a lifetime ago, in another city entirely, if it ever got out that he was such a troublesome hoodlum before he became a hero, well...that just wouldn't do at all. Of course, that would require someone to find out his secret identity as well, which would just add to the problems. Job: Rico managed to nab a job as a professional blogger/web comic artist—and while this job is pretty sweet in that he works from home, he does have to update every other day or so, or risk losing some of his more finicky readers. In Brief: A clumsy street rat with a precious blood line running through his veins stumbles onto an artifact of great power, and uses it to atone for his petty life, and attempt to find greatness among the heroes of the world. Stats: 2+0+4+2+2+4 = 14pp Str: 12 [40] (+15) Dex: 10 (+0) Con: 14 [40] (+15) Int: 12 (+1) Wis: 12 (+1) Cha: 14 (+2) Combat: 10+8 = 18pp Attack: +5 Grapple: +26 Defense: +4 (+2 flat-footed) Knockback: -12 (-1 without Device) Initiative: +0 Saves: 0+9+7 = 16pp Toughness: +15 (+15 Con, +0 other) (Impervious 10)(+2 w/o Device) Fortitude: +15 (+15 Con, +0)(+2 w/o Device) Reflex: +9 (+0 Dex, +9) Will: +8 (+1 Wis, +7) Skills: 13pp Bluff 4 (+6) Climb 0 (+15) Concentration 0 (+1) Craft (Art) 8 (+9) Diplomacy 4 (+6) Disguise 4 (+6) Gather Info 4 (+6) Handle Animal 0 (+2) Intimidate 0 (+2) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 4 (+5) Knowledge (Pop Culture) 8 (+9) Knowledge (Streetwise) 4 (+5) Notice 4 (+5) Profession (Blogger/Artist) 4 (+5) Search 0 (+1) Sense Motive 4 (+5) Survival 0 (+1) Swim 0 (+15) Feats: 3pp Benefit (Wealth) Quick Change Dodge Focus 1 Powers: 86pp Device 21 (Armlets of Atlantis; 105 points, Hard to Lose; Power Feats: Restricted 2) [86pp] DC Block: Unarmed, no Device -- DC 16/ Toughness -- Damage Unarmed, with Device -- DC 30/Toughness -- Damage Costs: Abilities (14) + Combat (18) + Saves (16) + Skills (13) + Feats (3) + Powers (86) - Drawbacks (00) = 150/151pp