The Director
'History
The Beginning
Alexander von Battenberg is heir to the title Count Hartenau through his father, Asen of Hartenau who immigrated Chicago in 1915 to avoid the ravages of WW I. Alexander was 5 years old. His father had managed to bring some assets to the States but Asen’s lack of vocation meant that their fortune dwindled rapidly and he was forced to move to Detroit to seek work in the auto industry. Coming from a royal family, Asen was accustomed to having little role in the upbringing of his children, but the lack of the customary staff left a void in Alexander’s life and he was often left to his own devices. Alexander suffered from a hypersensitivity to sunlight and was forced to stay indoors during the day and was only allowed to go out at night. This condition, plus his search for a real father figure, led to his association with organized crime figures that operated in and around his neighborhood. In 1925, with Prohibition in full swing, Alexander became involved in rum running, gambling and protection rackets. Alexander eventually became the boss of a small gang of Bulgarian immigrants that looked on him as a lost sovereign as his grandfather had been Prince of Bulgaria and later ousted. Alexander did his best to avoid lethal violence and armed conflict finding it distasteful, but increasingly came into conflict with the Purple Gang and eventually allied with Fred “Killer” Burke and continued to harry the Purple Gang for him after he moved operations to Chicago. Through his connection with Burke, Alexander’s gang grew and prospered and helped bring down the Purple Gang and moved in on their territory under the auspices of the Italian Mafia. In 1935 Alexander’s sister Tsevetana was killed in a hit intended for him and this ended his reluctance to engage in violence as he personally hunted down the last of the Purple Gang and murdered them. During WW II he solidified his position and he became known simply as “the Count”. At this time he hid himself from authorities and maintained his loyal Bulgarian followers as his personal guard and lieutenants. He also helped maintain civil order and quelled labor disputes to keep America’s arms manufacturing steady and reliable and in doing so, gained a certain latitude from local officials who tended to turn a blind eye to the majority of his activities in honor of his war time efforts. After the war “The Count” brought back his moratorium on overt or needless violence and a balance was struck in his portion of the city which he maintained for decades.
The Boss
With a name like “The Count” and his refusal to appear anywhere during daylight hours, quickly led to stories that he was in fact a vampire lord, rumors he did nothing to quell as it created a suitable mystique, but he stopped short of masquerading as one in order to save his royal dignity. Despite his advancing age, Alexander maintained a tight rein on his organization, but also saw his empire begin to wane as Hyper-technological groups and “Super Villains” began to take the stage and whittle away at his territory. It was during this era that he came into conflict with Argent and Viper and they have earned his everlasting enmity. After the destruction of 1992, Alexander helped rebuild his section of Detroit into the new Millennium City and became convinced that he had to again broaden his influence to bring the faltering city under control. In 1995, unwilling to face death or give in to the encroaching superpowers, The Count contacted Teleios and arranged to undergo a process to grant him a rejuvenation and super powered strength and abilities. Teleios agreed, finding Alexander’s genetic light sensitivity an interesting angle, he created a procedure that turned out to be a fantastic success, in some respects.
Alexander was rejuvenated by the process but his genetic flaw had a peculiar effect on the process. Now during daylight hours, powered by solar energy, Alexander has incredible strength and resiliency as well as the ability to fly, see through objects, project beams of energy from his eyes and to freeze things with a hyper concentrated blast of cold air from his lungs and appears as a robust man in his early forties. But as the sun sets his body reverts to that of an old man, albeit the body of a man around 75 instead nearly a hundred as he is now. Now armed with great power, Alexander was ready to take on his competitors on an even footing, however, rather than becoming a “Super Villain” Alexander hit on the idea of using his underworld contacts to apprise him of his enemies operations and then striking at them under the guise of a hero, thereby alleviating the risk of an open gang war. As a hero he continued to use the name “The Count” as a personal joke expecting that anyone familiar with both identities would consider it a coincidence. His career as a hero, crushing resistance to his expanding empire began to gain him praise and accolades from the public and the city, a side effect he had not considered and his personal pride began to get the better of his criminal nature.
The Hero
Perhaps it was finally living a life in the brightness of daylight or the realization that his life had in fact been spent protecting his followers and trying to impose order on chaos that Alexander began to revel in his second life as a hero and having more and more contempt for his life as a criminal. Slowly, and quietly, he began to gradually steer his various businesses and rackets into legitimate avenues and divested himself of the worst of his own men by raiding his operations as “the Count” and sending them to jail. The only thing he maintained was his ties to illegal gambling, judging it to be the most innocuous of his pursuits, which allowed him to keep his finger on the pulse of the underworld and giving him targets to strike at as a hero. As Alexander’s popularity as a super hero grew, he was featured in an article of the Millennium Times titled, “The Count, Ubiquitous super hero, or the savior of the inner city?” Unfortunately there was a typographical error in the printing and the comma between Count and Ubiquitous was left out so that it appeared his name was “Count Ubiquitous” and from that time on the general public has always referred to him as such, though he himself still calls himself “The Count”.
Eventually, Alexander arranged for the last of his organization to be transferred to his most trusted lieutenant upon the event of his death and then staged a “hit” on himself and finally laid to rest his past to embrace his future. Since then during the day “The Count” has been the scourge of organized crime in Millennium City, especially targeting the New Purple Gang as well as Argent and Viper. At night, he spends his time at the shady rest retirement home known to his fellows as Mr. Hartenau.
The Team
STUB
The Schism
Count Ubiquitous had been planning for this day for some time because he knew it was inevitable. The day he would leave Strike Team Zulu. They had made such progress, had access to tremendous resources but it had all been frittered away. The Count had seen the decline begin when Bryan Quinn had lost his resolve to continue to expand the STZ. Despite their victories, his compatriots didn't have the drive to finish what they had started, to crush VIPER once and for all. The Count decided then to make his own plans for the future. If his friends, and they were his friends, could not or would not continue the fight, he would. He began to make preparations. He saw two realistic possibilities, either Bryan Quinn would step down as leader of the STZ, allowing the Count to step in, or he would have to leave and start over. He decided to prepare for the worst case first, leaving. He began secretly copying designs and schematics for the equipment a new organization would need. While he was in charge of the battle force, he arranged to have an entire squad of android troopers to be subverted to his total control. This was accomplished by one of the newest super powered recruits, Rider Theta, who was a technological wiz, and who was totally dedicated to destroying VIPER. The Count was not a fan of the androids, but they could work in areas no man could when necessary. Next he would need a secret base to retreat to. Early in his heroic career he had spent some time in the South West, helping to quell a major riot at Stronghold prison. There he had encountered a man who believed himself to be a knight on a quest. He had taken up residence in a partially wrecked and abandoned VIPER base. The man had proclaimed that the base was his "keep" and that the Count was welcome at any time, he decided to take him on up on it. Next the Count would need equipment. After the Antarctic base was destroyed, the subsequent campaign had distracted everyone from dealing with it's final disposition. Before he lead what was left of the battle force to Monster Island, the Count dispatched his androids to the site to salvage what they could. Next, he had to consider personnel. He felt confident that if chose to leave, most of the battle group would go with him. He had personally recruited many of them and they all had their own vendettas to settle. The real question were the other super powered members. Nearly all of them had been recruited by Halon or Captain Arcane. His closest friend, Heron might go with him, but it would be hard to pull him away from the tremendous technology available in he moon base. He would be the hardest to replace, the Count needed to find a new super scientist above all for this to work.
This was the state of his plans when he witnessed the final disappointment of Halon refusing to exterminate his nemesis and end his threat even after the heavy damage he had down to the STZ recently. The Count knew then the time had come. When they returned to the base Halon convened a meeting and admitted that the days of pursuing vendettas were over. The Count argued vigorously to continue their campaign. He didn't want start over if he didn't have to and tried to convince them to let him lead but it quickly became clear that they all were going to follow Halon. Even his friend Heron sided with their leader. He made one last statement, "You will regret this day" and then turned and walked out. He had not meant it as a threat, he just wanted them to understand how big a mistake there were making. The Count stopped in the main hangar and made a loud declaration that he was leaving the STZ to continue the fight against VIPER and that anyone wishing to join him in the new battle was welcome to. As he expected, 90 percent of the battle force left with him. As they prepared to leave, he stopped to address them all, emphasizing that they would all be forced to start over and that it would take time and perseverance to build them selves back into a force that would one day crush their enemies. Not a word of dissent was spoken. The Count was filled with pride at this demonstration of loyalty. He asked Zoar to transport them to one of his old warehouses in Millennium City and then bade the machine farewell. It complied but did not respond, as was it's custom.
As he had expected, Rider Theta had chosen to accompany him. Theta had been experimented on by VIPER scientists and while they had succeeded in giving him super human powers, they had also permanently disfigured him. He had mentioned when he joined the STZ that he knew of several others like himself that might be interested in joining. Now, the Count asked him to actively try to recruit anyone he knew that could help them become something to be feared. In the mean time, the Count had to decide what to do about himself. He had kept the secret of his nightly transformations from the members of the STZ for months before they discovered his weakness. Even then none of the regular troops had ever learned of it. But now that he was expected to lead them, he couldn't just disappear for 8-9 hours a day anymore. Additionally, he felt that "The Count" had served his purpose. He wanted to start everything over with as clean a slate as possible. While the troops made ready to migrate to the new base in the South West desert, the count contacted Teleios for a new consultation. Teleios, or rather one of his functionary clones, explained that they were interested in further experimentation in his case in order to test some new techniques in removing genetic defects. He cautioned however that it was likely that the Count's extreme power was a direct result of his genetic instability. Though he would likely still be superhuman, stabilizing his physical state might have the effect of reducing his overall power level. After some serious contemplation, The Count decided to proceed with the procedure. Even if he was weaker, it would be a relief not to be that wretched old man any longer.
The Transformation
Just prior to the Count leaving, he was plagued by a series of dreams in which, the outcome of Teleios' experiments was precisely the opposite of the desired effect. In his dreams he was turned into an old man, crippled by his actual age of 106, and dying shortly after. His dreams were also filled with visions of an eerie figure, dark and mysterious, but not menacing. It seemed to be trying to warn him away. The Count delayed his appointment to contemplate whether these dreams were anything more than anxiety made manifest. Before long, he had his answer. One night, the mysterious figure appeared in the Count's quarters, simply stepping out of the shadows. The Count as still charged up from his suit and ready to fight but the figure simply spoke to him. He called himself Skorpios, and explained that he had formerly been a disciple of VIPER's mystic sect. He had left VIPER after experiencing a powerful vision concerning the Count and his destiny. Skorpios now believed that his place was here, with the Count. As proof of his loyalty, he admitted that he had been sending the dreams to the Count to encourage him to wait long enough for him to arrive. Part of his grand vision had shown him the truth about the Count's power. He was a mutant whose body was originally capable of absorbing solar energy to effect a significant transformation. The transformation had been painful and appeared to be some sort of allergic reaction, so that he had been hidden from the sun all his life. Never absorbing enough solar radiation to achieve his true potential. When he had submitted to Teleios' treatments, his genetic code had been perverted and he had only partially achieved his natural state. Skorpios further explained that science could not undo the harm that had been done to him, only magic could. The Count's natural state was to have a body that generated energy, not absorb it, and that energy would suffuse his body, permanently giving him strength, durability and perpetual youth.
The Count tried to be skeptical, but could find no hint of falsehood in what Skorpios was saying. He agreed to undergo the ritual that the dower sorcerer had planned. In the southwest desert, near their new base, the home of the Count's old friend Sir Oswynn, Skorpios and the Count invoked the ritual. The Count thought he was prepared for what would happen, he was wrong. His mind and body were pushed and pulled, stretched and crushed, taken apart and put back together. He saw visions of the past, present and future. He saw paths that led to glorious victory, and abject failure. He saw chaos, and knew the only answer to it was order. He reordered himself, felt the power surge through him, and was reborn.
When he recovered, he knew that it had worked. The sun had set, but he was still young and powerful. He didn't have to fear the darkness ever again. He and Skorpios quickly rejoined the team at the new base. On the way, he considered their new identity. Both his and the organization's. He wanted them to embody order and discipline above all else. He also wanted them to be as quietly anonymous for as long as possible. No bombastic, pretentious names or slogans. Something simple yet direct. Direct, he mused for a moment, The Directorate. And he, the Director. It would suffice he thought. There was nothing about it that would tie him to his old life. He and his team would be a new nightmare for the snakes to lose sleep over in the coming months.
Powers and Equipment
Children of the Sun
Following the experiment by Teleios, Alexanders body became a solar engine that when sufficiently charged, caused his body to increase it's density and to generate various forms of radiation. This gave him a resistance to harm roughly equal to an armor piercing high powered rifle bullet and super strength allowing to lift (press) 80 tons. He could exude and aura of reticulated force that increased his damage resistance. Alexander was able to project radiation from his eyes in the form of X-rays to see through objects less dense than lead, microwaves to produce points of extreme heat, and simple light if he so chooses. Alexander had a special suit made by the reclusive inventor Heron that helped gather, contain, and focus his solar energy. The inner layer could project light against his skin to keep The Count charged up for about an hour after he has lost the sun.
After the ritual performed by Skorpios, the Director's body was able to complete it's long over-due transformation. His body now generates, and is suffused by, cosmogenic energy. In many ways his powers are much the same as they were before but they are now permanent. There are some differences. His body no longer a needs to absorb solar energy, having already absorbed enough to reach critical mass and start the reaction that generates energy in his body. He also no longer needs to eat or rest, though he does sleep on occasion for mental health. He is able to lift (press) over 100 tons. His body is now protected by an inverse kinetic force. Any matter approaching his body is repelled with equally opposite force, compounding as it gets closer. Much the same way similarly charged magnetic fields repel each other. Making him more or less invulnerable to any high energy impact. Only a very low energy mass would be able to touch him. The Director can mitigate this field to a small degree if he concentrates. He is able to project energy from his body in many of the same ways as before. In addition, he seems able to affect local gravity fields, increasing or decreasing them. In a crude manner, he is able to draw objects toward him, or make himself levitate. It is unknown at this time if his body is able to expend energy perpetually or if there is some limit to it. During combat his energy generation increases, this tends to make his body swell until the energy is expended.
