Difference between revisions of "Chisoku"

Chisoku is an up-and-coming hero from the east-coast Roosevelt City. Currently touring the world and volunteering to help out in various cities, Chisoku has been seen active in other locations, including Paragon City and, most recently, Millennium City. He, along with Bluhman, was a founder of the Alpha Force; a superteam local to Roosevelt City.

Origins

Early life

Akira was born to an American father, Gerald Stone, and Japanese mother Akiko Mizuno. At the time, the family was vacationing in Kyoto to visit Akiko's parents, and while Akira spent the first year of his life in Japan, the family quickly moved back to Gerald's hometown of Santa Cruz. Akira's father is a pioneer of ISP technology in silicon valley, whereas Akiko is a linguistics professor at the local university. Though Akira himself was not a particularly ambitious or motivated child (or particularly popular for that matter), his interest in designing computer programs slowly grew until it piqued around his senior year in high school. Gerald caught on to his son's interest and suggested that he apply to Roosevelt City's new university.

The Arrival

Chisoku had is coincidental origins very early on in his college life. Preceding the time that Chisoku had shown up, Roosevelt City had been a veritable problem-location. Though the city had only been settled very recently, the population of the area shaped up to be much more sinister than originally anticipated, with various criminal operations and superpowered gangs present. The most notable of these operations included the Ayus Clan, an underground robotics company, and The Roosevelt Security Family (RSF), a gang that offers to sell honest citizens security in exchange for exuberant rising prices and, eventually, inevitable debt.

To many people from outside the city, however, the location still held much promise, thanks to its staggering attraction to those interested in scientific fields such as Nuclear Physics, Green Power development, and advancements in Artificial Intelligence. Not only were some of the greatest scientific minds in these fields present in the city, but they were primarily based in the city's own university. Of course, the main thing that drew Akira Stone to the university was getting the cutting edge education on computer programming.

Akira was roomed with another freshmen at the university, named Joel Steinberg. Joel was a local to the city and had the idea to welcome his room mate to his hometown by inviting him over to a nearby burger joint named 'Mary's n' Coor's' to get himself acquainted with some of his friends. What Akira did not know about Joel at the time was his families debt to the RSF. As Joel and Akira left the restaurant, the RSF kidnapped them and held them for ransom, threatening to sell the two to the Ayus Clan if Joel's parents did not put up a better bid. With the threatened cost being a staggering $872,000, the Steinbergs had no choice but to let their boy and his friend be handed over to the Ayus.

The Ayus were famed to have some of the most sophisticated AI systems of any robotics company. There was a trade secret to this, however; the Ayus were actually designers of cyborgs, not robots. They made modifications to all sorts of hapless citizens they got hold of either by their own kidnapping services or by human trafficking via other gangs, using their bodies as templates for humanoid androids or even extracting the brain to use as a computing center for a spy drone. Even more troubling was the Ayus' grip on the infrastructure of the city. Many did not realize at the time, but almost every other citizen of the city was an Ayus sleeper agent, silently tracking data for the clan until they saw an opportunity to eliminate a clan target.

Akira and Joel were taken into the Ayus' operation room to be transformed into sleeper-agent cyborgs. Secured down to metal tables, The operations began immediately on Akira, who was administered powerful anesthetic and had every inch of his body replicated into mechanics. Though visibly identical on the outside, the cybernetic body was much stronger and resilient, and was capable of concealing all manner of internal weapons-systems that could be later fitted on to the hull. With Akira's body completely recreated, it was time to perform neural modifications on the subject. Responsible for this was Neurosurgeon Thomas Barsad, who would inject neuro-nanites into Akira, giving the Ayus supercomputer control of Akira's reasoning and emotional capacities, as well as access to all of his senses and thoughts.

Barsad had long been at work with the clan, slowly ruining every life he administered the nanite-injection to. Everyday he'd see more reports of people mysteriously going missing without a second trace, or other troubling news stories about how reasonable citizens suddenly went berserk on their loved ones. When brought with the decision to potentially end a new college freshman's shot at any sort of ambition, he could not bring himself to do it. Barsad deducted that he would be able to wake Akira from his anesthetized state via a strong dose of 'Mercury Sugar', a drug which has effects that simulate Adrenaline for extended periods of time, giving those administered the drug a short period of boosted strength, heightened awareness, and, as Barsad found out, permanent benefits if administered in a high enough dose.

Akira was immediately awake. Barsad dove for the lever to free Akira and Joel from the tables, while the other surgeons ran for cover. As Joel and Akira got their bearings straight, the head surgeon had tripped the alarm, and Ayus guard-droids were now patrolling the hallways of the Ayus complex. Barsad was able to silently escape via restricted scientist areas, but Akira and Joel were not so fortunate; they would have to make a break for it. In his first display of his newly-obtained powers, and perhaps thanks to some of the extended effects of the 'Mercury Sugar' Akira managed to get himself and Joel out of the complex safely, despite some superficial singes on Akira's body from laser shots. Though Joel was thoroughly invigorated by Akira's new abilities and the fact that they were able to survive the hail of lasers, Akira's energy was entirely spent, and he collapsed on the way back to Campus.

Next morning, Akira awoke in the hospital, confronted by officials of the AUB. The AUB, or Association of Unusual Beings, was the precursor to the superhero squad of Roosevelt City, and was largely comprised of organized units of heroes with narrow foci of expertise, conducted to work in teams to keep the city safe. The AUB is lead by the prolific agent, Alfred Grant. Grant was well aware of the shortcomings of the AUB; its members were limited severely by how much chemistry the units had with one another, and many lone agents were too weak to stand up to the challenges the crime force of the city posed. With Akira, Grant saw that the modifications that had been made to him made him much stronger than most average AUB agents.

Thus, Grant proposed a deal to Akira: Realizing that the Ayus were not going to take the loss of one of their cyborgs lying down, Grant agreed to offer Akira the abilities and skills to defend not only himself from the Ayus backlash, but to lead the anti-crime force in the city alongside Grant, and search for some of the most powerful beings in the city to form The Alpha Force.

Akira, though initially not too keen of the idea of doing more of this high-adrenaline fighting, knew that he would not be safe until the Ayus was dealt with properly. Upon agreement, Akira found his grassroots beginnings as a hero, and while the AUB itself was too financially exhausted to offer training, Grant had a plan to not only train Akira in combat, but to also take out a prominent part of the crime kingdom in Roosevelt City.

Infiltration

Grant's plan was to send Akira out as a spy. Creating a temporary alias for the student, Akira was to display his staggering physical capacities to the RSF, and go along with their demands until they offered to give him combat training, meanwhile as Akira gathered data on the RSF, including their security dealings, strike-times, and trade partners.

The Roosevelt Security Family was lead by a highly proficient crime boss: York Montague. Montague's long history working in and around Pittsburgh as a drug trafficker and generally being rumored to be 'unkillable' has garnered him immense respect among all manner of crime rings on the East Coast. His sources give him access to a slew of labs and caches in city limits, meaning the RSF has access to weaponry and drugs just as advanced as those administered by the AUB and any other private corporations within Roosevelt City. What also helps Montague's image is his tightly-knit network of associates, including Morrigan Lylat, Montague's right hand woman and assistant, and Francis Swift, a Roosevelt City local and a masterful mixed martial artist.

Upon application, Montague was reluctant about Akira's poorly defined intentions, but Swift immediately took notice of the applicant's agility. Despite his objections, Montague let Akira into the RSF and had Swift take him up as his protege. Between petty robbery jobs and assassinations (all of which Akira faked under the alias of Zhi-Han Chen), Swift put Akira through a rigorous training regiment, teaching him the secret to forceful punches and kicks, cutting elbows and knees, and, most importantly, how to dodge.

After Swift had finished with Akira, Lylat requested that Akira perform one last task for the RSF: Collect debts on the Steinberg Family. At this point, Montague was well aware of Akira's intentions. Expecting Akira to enter their apartment but not actually harm the family, the RSF set up bombs all around the perimeter, which would go off when Akira opened the Steinberg's room door. Naturally, by the time Akira was performing the job, it was too late.

The bomb had failed to take the building down, but had certainly succeeded in setting it ablaze. In addition, the tracking mechanics on Akira's person enabled law enforcement and firemen to show up to the site promptly. Lylat and Swift were arrested under charges of arson and attempted murder, but Montague had fled much earlier, and was nowhere to be found by the AUB or Roosevelt City police. In any case, Akira had managed to safely evacuate the Steinbergs from their now ruined home.

With Montague's right hand men in prison, a mass of RSF intelligence in the AUB's hands, and a newly-trained super-cyborg on their side, it seemed that the future of Roosevelt City was looking up.

Identity

All that was left was to define Akira's identity as a hero in Roosevelt City. Though they had made advances on the battle against crime in the city, the AUB's coffers were still near-empty, and so nowhere near enough to fund the equipment that Akira might need.

Thankfully, Grant had an ace up his sleeve. As a protector of the city population, Grant was obviously a close friend of Jason Maus, mayor of the city. Hearing Grant's proposal and hearing of Akira's accomplisment, Maus bought into the scheme easily, granting the Alpha Force a low-interest loan, and trusting that the force's efforts alone would be enough to close the monetary gap.

The Alpha Force's history only traces a few years back before Akira showed up. Earlier on in history of the AUB, Grant had commissioned construction of an underground base and bunker for elite crime-fighters, fitted with security and surveillance systems, living quarters, and even a virtual training room. The base was to be built 300 feet below ground of the central AUB centre, but was never used after its completion. This was largely because, at the time, there were no standout AUB members among the hundreds of patrollers, and the quarters would be too small to sustain more than 10 or 11 dedicated staff. When the staff in question is cut down to a newcomer and a security chief, however, the matters change entirely.

Grant and Akira settled into the underground base, hiring various other workers to help keep the base functioning. This staff included Thomas Barsad, the now-redeemed Ayus neurosurgeon. Barsad proceeded to offer his help in the base by using the crafting tools to create a modified version of the AUB power armor for Akira, with its main emphasis on its light weight and strength. Barsad also created a custom helmet, which features life-monitoring capacities for Akira's cyborg body, while also offering effective identity protection via a shaded visor, and an impromptu boomerang weapon via the golden crest fixed onto the helmet's top.

With Akira completely kitted out with his new armor and fighting expertise, he was set for combat. The very last thing he had to do was determine a fitting name. The name Chisoku, signifying the lightning fast reaction time he had, soon stuck with him.

Abolishing the Ayus

Ayus' efforts to track down Akira were relentless. Not only this, but their sources of information were countless about the entire city, and it did not take long for the corporation to figure out the identity behind Chisoku. Thus, stopping the Ayus clan was the first and foremost task behind the Alpha Force at its conception.

Not only did the Ayus have access to vast amounts of intelligence due to its widespread surveillance in the form of sleeper androids and patrol drones, but Ayus was both a central consumer and provider for other criminal rings and forces in the city. To cite examples, the Ayus' clan's primary dealer of anesthetic and ultra-sensory drugs was a cartel known as the Albion Gang, while the designer of the central Ayus control and communication server, Rick Selphen, had gone into hiding years ago. The previously mentioned RSF is also notable for being a consumer of Ayus' combat droids.

Grant's plan for taking down the Ayus was to have Chisoku start out by rooting out the Albion Gang, preventing the Ayus from getting its supplies from local dealers. This would force the Ayus to use their servers to contact an outside source, which could be wiretapped to find the protocol of the Ayus system. At this point, the system could be hacked and cut off connection to the Ayus Cyborgs, providing Chisoku the prime opportunity to take down the Ayus' operation at their own base.

Chisoku began his strike on the Albion Gang, whose conventional weaponry was not enough to stop Chisoku. The Albion's prime base of operations had been compromised after 5 years of unhindered operation. However, it proved to not be that simple, as York Montague was waiting to ambush Chisoku at the Albion base. Chisoku was weakened by his battle with the Albions, and was not expecting Montague's method of attack; lightning-fast unarmed combat. Seemingly never mentioned prior, Montague had strength and endurance that exceeded that of his supposed combat master, Francis Swift. Chisoku was only able to pull through by way of AUB backup, who handily subdued Montague by ambush.

There were several aspects that struck Chisoku and Grant as 'off' about this. How did Montague know that Chisoku would come after the Albion, and how was Montague able to match Chisoku's strength? Even more troubling was that Montague seemed to drop hints that he knew Chisoku's identity, perhaps by way of the Ayus themselves. Even taking this into consideration, the Ayus were not ones that usually relied on outside help for their tasks. If the Ayus had known about Chisoku's strike, they probably would have sent a proper army of guard-androids after him. The mystery of Montague's ambush was revealed when it was found he was actually an Ayus sleeper-model all along.

The next days were spent in tense waiting, as AUB programmer data-mined for information on the Ayus on the web. A proper lead was finally found via an email sent from an IP within city limits asking for a partnership with the Paragon City drug cartel, the Skulls. If there was anything worse than cyborgs, it was cyborgs hopped up on strength-boosting injections. The Alpha Force would need to act fast.

Chisoku, thanks to his education, had some grasp on how servers worked and conducted the idea to overload the servers by manually upping its latency and reducing bandwidth using an encrypted bug. Such a bug would require somebody intimately familiar with the system to properly decode, such as a certain Dr. Selphen who had gone into hiding. With the bug successfully implemented, AUB wiretappers soon found an outward-bound call from the Ayus headquarters to whom one could only assume was Selphen. What took everyone by surprise, however, was that the call was to an office in the Roosevelt University CS department. In any case, there was no time to waste; the Ayus base was wide-open to a frontal assault, and Chisoku immediately went on the move.

To compound insult to injury, Chisoku was able to find the physical server inside the Ayus base and managed to dismantle it. Now, unless there was someway to repair the server, the Ayus cyborgs were completely detached from their control. Chisoku searched the rest of the base for any other officials or suspects that could be held liable for the operation, but the area had been evacuated, save for mindless remnants of security cyborgs standing stationary.

The AUB was able to head to the University to apprehend Rick Selphen. During this time, he had gone under the moniker of Dr. Patrick Lionel, sorely trying to forget the atrocities he was responsible for. He had instead been spending most of his time at the university researching 'anthropomorphic' computers; computers which could achieve the same results a modified human brain could, but without any of the ethical ramifications of the latter. In court, he was sentenced to continued supervised work on his project. This would eventually result in the creation of the ABEL Project.

The economic ramifications of the disbanding of Ayus were fairly disconcerting. While sleeper agents had little problems (aside from headaches due to the remaining nonfunctional nanites), other commercial Ayus products, such as servant droids and patrol drones were all but deactivated, the human brains implanted within them dying due to lack of body regulation. A fairly substantial part of Roosevelt City's work force had been instantly destroyed, despite its unethical origins. This sort of unveiling of unethical atrocities inside the city limits would continue to be a running theme. All Roosevelt City can hope to do is try and reap the benefits from each issue, learning from the past mistakes and developing ethical alternatives.

To this day, nobody is entirely sure who the pioneer behind Ayus was. What people do know is that skirt operations of the clan remain. Though thoroughly downsized in information capacity, the few agents they do have access to become faster, stronger, and deadlier with every upgrade. The blinding agility of cyborgs such as Stopwatch, the perfection of disguise within Chameleon, or the proud faith and sheer power of Battery, Ayus remains as a nontrivial threat to the population of Roosevelt City.

Detailed Information

Personality

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People keep saying that you have to be crazy to go into Superhero work. You're constantly learning new things about the problems you'll face in your line of work, and then test your knowledge by stopping criminal operations using your learned skills. What I'm basically trying to say is, it's kind of like academics. If you want things to succeed, you have to bear with it. Only difference is if you don't get a passing grade, you could probably get hurt. -Chisoku

Chisoku, by nature, is introverted. He usually doesn't go out of his way to get to know or talk to other people unless he has a very good reason to. On the flipside, the friendships he's formed with his colleagues in the Alpha Force are not superficial, and he largely respects and understands the way his colleagues choose to operate. This doesn't stop him from being showy as a hero, however. Though not really inherently skilled with words, he loves to spice public appearances with theatrics.

Chisoku was initially very apprehensive about heroics, and was highly anxious about the risks he could face. If something is biting at him, he will eventually be unable to fight the urge to just spill to someone what's on his mind (which many pass off as whining.) Over time, he's grown much more accustomed to the idea, and now treats it casually. "What I've found is that it's best to stop worrying about (heroic tasks) and actually get things done", Chisoku mentioned in one interview.

If involved in a conversation about a topic that he is intimately familiar with, he cannot resist flaunting his knowledge a bit, pointing out technical details about the subject at hand. This includes any topics ranging from Video Gaming and Music to Data Structuring and Internet Ethics.

Chisoku was once in relationships with Tri-Emerald and Hara Mazone. The former ended when numerous incidents of intrusions by Tri-Emerald's psionic nemesis, Oppressor, threatened to harm and humiliate the pair. The latter ended when Chisoku found out Mazone's hero identity.

Despite his Japanese heritage, Chisoku is only fluent in English.

Combat Specifications

Chisoku, physically, is much more powerful than the average human. He can lift up to 3 tons, and throws kicks that can visibly dent steel. He can sprint at a speed of 92 miles per hour and can leap 41 feet into the air easily. Though not a genius, he is certainly bright, and has become an excellent hand-to-hand tactician, thanks to his supreme reflexes and precise control.

Chisoku's main method of combat has always been close-quarters, unarmed. His training from the RSF has given him proficiency in effectively avoiding grappling attempts and blows, and countering faster than an enemy can process with punches, kicks, elbows, and knees. His signature melee move is the Victory Punch, a devastating haymaker that applies all of Chisoku's mass, usually sending enemies careening.

The outfit Chisoku wears is a customized AUB-Exoskeleton. Made traditionally out of reinforced spandex, Chisoku's renditon of the exoskeleton takes advantage of Chisoku's non-changing physique, and is made up of a series of fitted lightweight plates directly on top of the suit. This serves to minimally increase the weight on the outfit while also providing significant defense and maximal flexibility. Chisoku's helmet is fitted with various gadgets that can keep track of his body's condition and be used as a general-purpose cellphone.

Chisoku, though prohibited by Michigan law to use it in Millennium City, is equipped with a Cryocharge Pistol, which is usually embedded in a compartment on his right leg. This pistol can fire pellets of liquid chemical compound that release an intense endothermic reaction, freezing the liquid in place and trapping enemies struck by it. The pistol has been repeatedly modified, and now also includes a heat adjustment and electricity adjustment.

At range, Chisoku can throw his Boomerang Crest at enemies. Though this is usually only when he runs out of pistol ammunition or needs to perform extremely delicate operations. Its most tactical application is effectively disarming targets.

Another useful tool that he uses (when not in Millennium City) is his Turbo Motorcycle. True to its name, this motorcycle can reach up to speeds of 400 miles per hour; a speed that Chisoku's enhanced reflexes can easily deal with. This is his prime mode of transportation in urban environments, and has gotten him straight to most missions time and time again. Michigan State Law deems the vehicle too dangerous to use in urban areas, so he must travel by foot.

Both a strength and weakness, Chisoku's body is extremely dense. Because of his high mass and low volume, he usually sinks when submerged in deep water, but can escape from the water using his powerful jumps. The density serves to make his blows extremely potent in melee range, and part of the reason why his Victory Punch is so devastating. His metallic composition has one very important caveat, however: It is conductive, and strong electrical currents can fry his brain if current gets to any exposed metal beyond his synthetic skin.

Miscellany/OOC/Whatever

• Chisoku was the 1st 40 Bluhman levelled in Champions. This was also long before Martial Arts' buff in May 2009.
• Chisoku is the same Chisoku featured at VirtueVerse. However, he's been heavily retconned since then. And I do mean in quite the literal term retconned.
• Measured on the BMI scale, Chisoku Scores a 33.7. This makes him technically obese.
• Alternate Musical themes:
  • (old)