Crimson Cricket
| Crimson Cricket | ||||||||||
| Player: @brfabio | ||||||||||
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| "No trick works twice with me... so make it count." | ||||||||||
| Biographical Data | ||||||||||
| Real Name: | Daniel Weston | |||||||||
| Known Aliases: | Flawless Boy (former), Danny | |||||||||
| Gender: | Male | |||||||||
| Species: | Hybrid Human/Se'ecra | |||||||||
| Ethnicity: | American | |||||||||
| Place of Birth: | June 24th, 1994 | |||||||||
| Base of Operations: | Millennium City, MI | |||||||||
| Relatives: | Flashfire (deceased), Hardware (deceased), Blue Hawk (unknown) | |||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||
| Age: | 26 | |||||||||
| Height: | 6'0" | |||||||||
| Weight: | 200lbs | |||||||||
| Eyes: | Hazel | |||||||||
| Hair: | Light Brown | |||||||||
| Complexion: | Type II | |||||||||
| Physical Build: | Peak Athletic | |||||||||
| Physical Features: | Insectoid Appearance (transformed) | |||||||||
| Status | ||||||||||
| Fame: |
Recluse | |||||||||
| Alignment: |
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| Identity: | Public | |||||||||
| Years Active: | 2 | |||||||||
| Citizenship: | U.S. Citizen | |||||||||
| Occupation: | Unemployed (has heritage) | |||||||||
| Education: | K-12 | |||||||||
| Marital Status: | Single | |||||||||
| Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
| Hyperkinesis | ||||||||||
| Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
| Se'ecra Transformation Belt | ||||||||||
| Physical Attributes | |||||||||
| Strength |
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Weapon |
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| Durability |
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Armor |
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| Speed |
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Reflexes |
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| Resistance |
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Stamina |
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| Dexterity |
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Agility |
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| Combat |
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Regeneration |
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| Non-Physical Attributes | |||||||||
| Energy |
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Psionics |
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| Telepathy |
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Willpower |
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| Sorcery |
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Technology |
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| Intelligence |
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Knowledge |
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| Charisma |
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Bravery |
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| MaekadaBox created by @Maekada | |||||||||
Teenage superhero turned reckless vigilante, Daniel Weston earned a transformation belt from a dying alien that granted him a boost in his physical abilities. Now combined with his hyperkinesis, he fights crime as Crimson Cricket, trying to overcome his tragic past and move on to a better future.
EARLY DAYS
Daniel Weston was one of the many orphans born in poor Westside Millenium City. When he was adopted by an eccentric philanthropist, his life would took an extreme turn. Daniel's new dad was the veteran vigilante known as Blue Hawk. For the next years, he engaged on heavy super-heroic training, practicing diverse martial arts by day (tooking a predilection for Escrima and Savate), and studing criminology and behavioral psychology by night.
Daniel's amazing learning curve caught his adoptive father's attention, everything just looked so easy to him. After a battery of tests, it was discovered that he manifested hyperkinesis, making his brain process information, movement and all other external input at a significantly faster rate than a normal human's, subconsciously taking in all spatial information around him and using it to perform complex mental operations. Effectively, that allowed him to make split-second calculations and assessments which would take even the most advanced human brain several minutes to do and react to these calculations instinctively.
FIRST STEPS INTO VIGILANTISM
After a while, Blue Hawk considered that Daniel was ready to join him in his fight against Millennium City's crooks and criminals. Choosing the alias "Flawless Boy", he performed much better than the veteran expected, his hyperkinesis made the thugs and villains look like they were in slow motion. His adaptability and combat strategies made him practically a tactical genius, nothing could ever surprise him. And that's where the problems started.
Daniel began to view his gift as a sure victory tool, slowly becoming more and more arrogant during missions. Blue Hawk soon noticed such dangerous behavior, and began to think about ways to deal with the boy's growing cockiness. After talking to some of their fellow heroes who also had sidekicks, they came up with the idea of making each one of them working together, as a safe form to get experience in this dangerous line of work.
In the end, only two other sidekicks accepted to participate in the experiment: the impetuous young woman with flaming powers, Flashfire, and the charismatic technological ace, Hardware.
A TRIO OF TROUBLEMAKERS
Reluctant at first, Flawless Boy ended up accepting to join the team and soon realized the importance of teamwork, since Flashfire offered much more firepower to the group, and Hardware gave excellent tactical support by creating devices for the most varied missions. Adding all this to Daniel's impeccable leadership, the trio of youngsters began to draw the attention of the superheroic community by effectively fighting small-to-average crimes and menaces. Nicknamed "Teenage Trinity" by the media, the sky was the limit for these young crimefighters.
With each small mission or patrol, the rapport of the three increased more and more, boosting each other's confidence drastically. Arguably to dangerous levels, some would say. But the veteran heroes, proud of their sidekicks' achievements, had their judgments clouded, and began to encourage their offspring even more, instead of giving them doses of attention and humbleness. The recipe for disaster begun to be written.
A FISH TOO BIG TO FRY
A certain villain specialized in impossible heists had attracted a lot of media attention in the past few days, and naturally ended up targeted by Flawless Boy and his teammates. The thrill of capturing such a slippery criminal motivated the trio to go after him almost immediately.
One night, the police reported the theft of an experimental device, and that information soon fell into the ears of Daniel and his friends. Despite the warnings from their mentors that this criminal's MO did not match that of the villain they were chasing, their concerns were vehemently ignored by the three, who trusted Daniel's analysis that this was the villain they had been chasing for days. Reluctantly, the veteran heroes ended up agreeing: after all, until today Flawless Boy had lived up to his name and had never evaluated anything wrong until now. But there's always a first time.
TRAGIC ENDINDS
Following reports that the police had surrounded the criminal inside an abandoned warehouse, the trio quickly entered the scene. To their surprise, it really wasn't the villain they'd been chasing for the past few days. Despite the momentary surprise, it did little to shake the morale of the team, which was readily preparing to engage the mysterious villain, who wore an imposing coat and a hood that covered much of his face, leaving only part of his facial expression on display.
Given the nature of her powers, Flashfire almost always took the lead in the team's fights, and this time was no different. While she was preparing a blast of fire and Hardware was choosing the most appropriate device from his inventory to assist the team, something unexpected happened.
An unexpected burst of energy went through Flashfire's belly, making her land violently on the floor. A complete state of shock washed over the remaining two young men, incredulous at the scene they had just witnessed. Given the time of the adrenaline running through their veins to take effect, both of them instinctively went to aid her colleague, hoping to get her and run away from there as soon as possible. Flashfire was still conscious, but she needed urgent medical attention, or probably the worst would happen.
But things were far from easy: the villain, now with a sarcastic smile on his face, blocked the exit from the warehouse. For the first time, Daniel didn't knew what to do,. He was completely terrified by the situation, fearing for his life and his friends, especially Flashfire, who now was beginning to lose consciousness while in his arms. It was at that moment that Hardware made the most heroic decision in his life: he launched a massive barrage of devices in the direction of his evildoer, begging Flawless Boy to flee with Flashfire while the mysterious figure was stunned by the surprise attack.
Having no choice, and knowing that they would never have another chance to escape, Daniel ran away with Flashfire in his arms. As he moved away from the warehouse, he could hear a muffled scream followed by an euphoric laughter. When he imagined what that was about, tears streamed from his eyes. By this time, Flashfire was already completely unconscious, and his pulse getting weaker.
AFTERMATH
After entering the hospital, Daniel warned Blue Hawk, who promptly arrived at the place, horrified by his protégé's report. After endless hours in the waiting room, the news came: the girl brought there in a hurry had not resisted. Daniel bursted into tears, and no comfort in the world would bring him relief now, not even his mentor's. Flashfire died, with no chance of defending herself. Hardware is gone, and probably dead too. How could everything went so wrong?
He should have analyzed the situation better, in his mind there was no reason for him to make such a gross mistake, to the point of costing the lives of those with whom he had spent the best moments of his life so far. He would be forever responsible for what happened that night, and nothing in the world could say otherwise. It was his fault, and he would spend the next years of his life brooding over the mistakes of his past.
The shock also affected their respective mentors: they blamed themselves for what happened, lamenting that they could have ruled their protégés more, instead of fostering all that excess of self-confidence. The trauma was so great that the mentors decided to retire and move to another city. Blue Hawk continued his career as a vigilante for a while, but also elsewhere.
Refusing his adoptive father's offer to move, Daniel preferred to retire and stay in Millennium City, he couldn't stand the idea of having to leave his late friends. As the days progressed, Daniel began to acquire drinking habits, which propelled him into a vicious cycle of sadness and sarcasm. There was not a day when he did not visit the grave of his friends, constantly brooding over the guilt that was within him.
PRESENT
Ten years after Flashfire's and Hardware's death, Daniel's mind still in tatters. He keeps blaming himself for what happened that night, trapped on a vicious cycle of sadness and sarcasm, all that fueled by regular doses of alcohol. He's unemployed and lives with the money of his fortune, spending all day watching television and sporadic trips to the market and liquor store.
One night, while returning from a liquor store, Daniel took the long way back home. With a strange feeling in his head and not sure why he decided to do so, he started to walk through Downtown's Sakura Park. While he got closer to a remote area of the park, that strange feeling that permeated his mind started to grow stronger.
Finally, upon reaching a clearing, he witnessed a fantastic scene: it looked like some kind of spaceship had landed there earlier. The hull was pretty damaged and it was slowly starting to catch fire. That dramatic situation set a spark on Daniel's mind, rekindling a flame that had long been extinguished inside of him. He suddenly finds himself on auto-pilot, jumping into the fire to help whoever's inside that ship. After getting to the cockpit, Daniel finds a human-sized, four-limbed, bipedal beetle, practically dead. On his deathbed, the creature says: "Daniel Weston, you are worthy."
Such words did not come out of the creature's mouth, but were uttered directly into Daniel's mind. And before he could even begin to process everything that was happening, the pilot removed a belt from his waist, offering it to Daniel. It looked like the alien was trying to say something else, but he ended up taking a last breath and finally succumbing, standing still in his seat.
A NEW BEGINING
When he touched the belt, Daniel felt an extreme heat running through his body, shaping every inch of himself in the process. Right after that, Daniel felt invigorated, with the feeling of having a large amount of energy trapped inside of him, and with an urgent need to release it at all costs.
He started running through the park at an impressive speed, and realized that all his senses had been sharpened: he knew he was faster, but he also felt he was stronger and more resilient than ever. Eventually, he saw his reflection in a lake, and realized that his appearance had changed dramatically: he was covered in some sort of insect-like bioarmor, with crimson red and black tint, and some white outlines.
ENTER THE CRIMSON CRICKET
When he woke up the next day, Daniel thought he had the strangest of dreams: he found an alien who gave him a belt that transformed him into an insectoid being with incredible abilities. Except all that was true, and the belt was still attached to his waist. Without knowing how he got home or reverted to his human form, Daniel is bombarded by bittersweet memories from his past, reliving all the good times he had with his late teammates. All while the alien's words echoed in the background: "Daniel Weston, you are worthy."
Suddenly realizing that his only chance to move forward is by honoring the memory of his former team, Daniel decides to fight crime and injustice again. The only problem was that Flawless Boy's characteristic innocence and joy no longer existed. In a way, the young hero died with his team on that tragic night ten years ago. As a result of Daniel's darker and more brutal personality, now it's Crimson Cricket's turn to take on the mantle of Millenium City's newest vigilante, while trying to find out exactly what he's worthy of.
Hyperkinesis: Daniel's brain processes information, movement and all other external input at a significantly faster rate than a normal human's, subconsciously taking in all spatial information around him and using it to perform complex mental operations. Effectively, this allows him to make split-second calculations and assessments which would take even the most advanced human brain several minutes to do and react to these calculations instinctively.
Se'ecra Transformation Belt: When activated, the belt mix the Se'ecra physiology with his human counterpart, greatly increasing Daniel's physical attributes:
- Enhanced Strength
- Enhanced Speed
- Enhanced Reflexes
- Enhanced Durability
- Accelerated Metabolism
Poor Mental State: Even after finding strength to move on, Daniel's mind still on a poor state, making him completely vulnerable to mental attacks or mind control. He's also susceptible to being influenced by others depending on how mentally exhausted he is.
Stubborness: One of the fews traits he still carries from his past as Flawless Boy, Daniel is prone to take bad decisions if something is clouding his judgement.
Delusions: Daniel still sees his dead teammates quite often and can be seen arguing with them sometimes. Those illusions were created by his brain to help him cope with the deep trauma he suffered. Daniel usually asks them if he's taking the right decisions on a given situation, pretty much acting like a moral compass to him.
