Deadbeat
American
Contents
Origins
Early Life
Tony was born on April 1st, which basically cemented his role in this world as a joke and walking cautionary tale. The middle child, his older brother was a diligent and hardworking ace student and his younger sister was a gifted musician who played the Piano at age 5. Tony? Tony didn't do nothing to stand out, he was ever so painfully average in school, up until high school. Then, his grades plummeted and he got caught time and again for minor offenses. No amount of encouragement or counseling did anything to make him a better person. When he flunked out of College at age 18, his parents had had enough of his slacker attitude and put forth an ultimatum: Either shape up or ship out. Tony didn't shape up, so he found himself in a shitty apartment complex in Westside, Millenium City, that he found through a stoner friend and a dead-end job as a shop clerk at a nearby Slushie bar. Seven years later, he's still stuck there and hasn't made "Employee of the Month" even once.
Current Events
Then he died. Walked home from work when a steel beam from construction work came loose and landed on top of him. He was dead alright, until they dug him up at least. Except for the copious amount of blood splashed around, he walked out of it fine as a summer's morning, completely unharmed. Despite his objections about missing his shows, he was taken to Mercy Hospital. Tests were done and soon enough it was determined that he was a Metahuman with incredible powers: Regeneration and even better, Immortality. Far as they could tell, Tony just wasn't able to die.
With this knowledge, Tony retreated home to do...
Absolutely nothing. Sure, he no longer had to worry about looking twice when crossing the street, and could just take a shortcut from the Balcony instead of walking down seven stories of stairs in the morning. That's the extent of Tony Barker's imagination, alright. And for a while, that seemed to be the end of it. Then, his landlady got word of his supposed immortality. A very religious woman, she was dead certain he had been given a second chance by the lord himself, and that it was Tony's solemn duty to use his "powers" for good and to keep Westside safe from harm. Tony didn't want to. Tony was given the ultimatum of either putting on a mask, or find a new apartment willing to take him in with his track record.
With no real option other than to comply, the world saw the rise of a new hero, Deadbeat!
And he just wants to get done with this so he can catch the latest episode of Citizen Commando on Channel 8.
Personal File
Personality
Lazy sod.
There are no better words to describe Tony Barker. He's got no drive, no ambitions save for maybe having dinner later in the evening and no interest in anything but getting through the day and with a drink in hand. He cares only for keeping himself entertained and happy, which isn't very difficult to do considering his deplorably low standards. Cup noodles and a golden Sci-Fi oldie is a perfect evening for him, though sometimes he heads outside to fill his social quota. When he drinks, it's either beer, shots or bloody mary, depending on how drunk or hungover he is.
The guy has little to no cares in the world and lives as if tomorrow is never gonna come around. Due to his Immortality, he's also become completely reckless and careless with anything he does, easily managing to sustain injuries that'd kill a normal on a daily basis, even when he's not playing Superhero. Electric socket not working? Better check it with a fork.
Still, the guy is relatively pleasant and altruistic, and the few friends he's got know they can depend on him when push comes to shove. He'll forget to return the screwdriver he borrowed for weeks, sure, and you can never expect him to pay you back for that lunch he owes you, but if you're ever stuck out in the cold because your girlfriend locked you out then he'll drop what he's got to pick you up without any questions asked. He's by no means antisocial, sloppy or selfish, generally going out just to hang or have a good time. He won't remember your birthday, but he'll buy the drinks when you bring it up.
Powers and Abilities
Immortality
Exactly what it says on the tin. Tony is effectively immortal, type IV. Where he to be killed, he'll simply come back to life again as soon as all eyes are off him. Normally really powerful, it doesn't really do much for a slacker like Tony.
Regeneration
As if the immortality wasn't enough, Tony's also got an incredible healing factor that makes him almost impossibly difficult to actually put down. The healing factor quickly closes most wounds and even regenerates lost tissue at rapid rates, regrowing limbs and patching up chunks of meat in seconds. Even severing the head isn't a surefire way to actually kill Deadbeat. Curious, however, is that his tissue or blood carries over small portions of his Healing factor, which means that damage sustained to his clothing generally fixes itself up because his apparel generally gets splattered with his blood. Saves him a load in tailor bills.
Street Brawling
While having no formal Martial training, Tony's picked up a lot of tricks and cheats while fighting the gangs on the streets of Westside. He can throw a mean left hook and has a nasty Haymaker that can send most grown men to La-la-land, though he excels at using makeshift weapons to dispatch his foes, such as his personal favorite: The Crowbar. He always carries one with him, but has been known to use all manners of things as weapons such as baseball bats, lead pipes, bicycle chains, traffic cones, garbage can lids, 2x4's and frying pans. He's not a graceful fighter, but he gets the job done. Eventually. After several retries.
Sees Dead People
Because of having died and come back as a revenant, Tony can percieve otherworldly occurences and spirits such as ghosts. He can't tell them from ordinary people though, and is himself completely unaware of this ability. He thinks he has a roommate called Tim. He doesn't, Tim died in 1875 and is his real name is Benedict. Yeah, they don't hang out much.
Weaknesses
Not-so-Competent
While not completely incompetent, Tony is by no means a spectacular fighter. It'd be by the grace of luck or surprise that he'd ever land a decisive hit against a trained enemy. He only knows how to throw punches and swing objects without finesse, being both predictable and unable to tap into his full potential. And the worst part? He doesn't really care wether this is the case or not.
Reckless
Tony can't die. He has no reason to be cautious or considerate, he just needs to find who he needs to take down and keep hitting them til they do. And he usually gets shot, stabbed, sliced and burned several times over in the process. This complete disregard for his own safety severaly hampers his ability to fight and makes him much less of a threat than what he could potentially be.
Affiliations
Allies
Juanita Esmeralda Sanchez y Chavez - His Landlady and driving force behind Deadbeat's heroic career. She holds his contract hostage and fixes up his suit. Her hubby has fixed up an old motorcycle and on her orders given it a paint-job to befit Deadbeat. She calls it the Skullface and it's what Deadbeat gets to ride around town on. No, it's not a Harley.
Enemies
Comments
Miscellaneous
RP Hooks
Looks Cool, Is not - Deadbeat is mostly active around Westside, mostly after dark. Can sometimes be seen driving the Skullface along desolate streets in the dark of the night, giving off a chilling impression of a modern reaper out on the prowl. Then he gets off, proceeds to get shot up for ten minutes by some local Purple Gangers and thrown into assorted piles of trash and waste. You probably didn't stick around for the comeback, but might've caught him once or twice.
The immortal guy in apartment 7c - Tony doesn't really care to keep his immortality a secret and his entire apartment complex is well aware of his powers, outfit and loser attitude. He saves time in the morning by leaping off the balcony instead of taking the stairs. Scares the shit out of any random passerby, but the people who live there are used to it by now. He's also prone to show off his immortality as a party trick.
Scary rumours of Competence - While mostly considered a joke and an embarressment to the hero community, there are some shady individuals that will tell horrible scaretales about Deadbeat when he gets serious. For most of the time, he couldn't be bothered to give two red about anything, but he won't let people come to harm because of his attitude. Some Purple Gang members can attest to the brutality and ruthless pursuit that follows when the unstoppable, unkillable brawler actually finds a reason to personally put you in the ground. Others say he started these rumours himself in order to look cooler. Noone knows for sure.
Trivia
- Actually plays Drums in a band of equally unenthusiastic twenty-somethings, the Gobtrotters. They play noise, most would call it, and barely make enough revenue to keep alive. Consists of frontman and singer Chad, the only one who actually gives a damn about the band, lead guitarist and only reason people come to see them Heather (She likes Daisy dukes and cropped tops), Base guitarist Spencer who is only in the band in hopes of hooking up with Heather, and of course Tony, who only sticks around because otherwise Chad's gonna call in that debt Tony owes for crashing their minivan into an Ace Burger once when they were 18. That being said, they're pretty good friends and drinking buddies when it comes down to it, just a bunch of less-than-perfect human beings with no dreams. Except Chad, but Chad is a fruit.
- All four members of the Gobtrotters are actually metahumans. Tony has his Immortality and Regeneration, Chad has Telecuration (The ability to mend and repair organic matter with his mind), Heather has Electrokinesis and Spencer has Superhuman elasticity. Only Tony moonlights as a Superhero, however, because he's forced into it. They're all aware of eachothers' powers and while not going out of their way to keep it a secret, they won't spill the beans about the powers unless they have to.
- Tony can really hold his liqour. Partly due to his regeneration but also due to having consumed copious amounts during his brief time in College. Sometimes said to consume more beer than what is produced annually in Michigan. Probably an exaggeration, but anyone who manages to get themselves drunk with his healing factor has a serious problem.
- Despite spending a lot of time in front of his television, Tony doesn't really know much about the shows he watches. He just watches them to be occupied and have an excuse not to do laundry. Tony barely registers what is actually happening, much to the chagrin of his friends who constantly have to deal with "Huh, who's that?" or "Why they doing that again?".
- Is a real Ace at racing and arcade games. Can get through Ninja Gaiden level 4-2 without losing a single life. He actually owns an old SNES console that still works, complete with a plethora of games. Still, he rarely plays it since playing video games require concentration and movement of the fingers. Too much work.
- In lieu with the point above, Tony is actually an above average driver. Because of his habit of cutting corners in life and doing anything with the least amount of effort, he's become a natural at finding shortcuts and cutting through intersections and redlights. The fact that he doesn't have to worry about dying in a car crash might have something to do with it, as well. If only his hero business could clear up his parking tickets, though...
