Droch
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Droch (also known as The Seven Second Man) is a former supervillain who has superhuman strength. Once a member of the supervillain group known as The Underworld, he has attempted to reform and become a hero instead.
History
Coming from New Zealand, Kevin Wattapongo spent much of his early life in a street gang, engaging in random acts of drunken violence and vandalism. One of the smarter members of the group, Kevin was approached by a mysterious figure who offered him a vast sum of money if he would steal a Maori artefact from a museum. Kevin readily agreed, managing to break in and acquire the artefact with ease. However, when he tried to escape, something unexpected happened.
The artefact started to glow, and then fused itself to his body, vanishing inside his chest. At the same time, Kevin had a sensation of power flowing through his body as the artefact infused him with its power. He staggered out, meeting up with his contact, and trying to explain what had happened. The contact laughed, saying that he had chosen Kevin for exactly that reason – he knew the artefact would bind with him and him alone.
Angered at this deception, Kevin lashed out, seizing his would-be employer and slamming him into a wall – only to find that he instead put the man through the wall. He realised that he had gained superhuman strength from the artefact; furthermore, he saw the potential in his newfound abilities. Taking the name “Droch” (Gaelic for “Evil”, but why a Maori would use it is unclear), he began using them to commit super-powered crimes, quickly becoming one of the most wanted villains in all of New Zealand.
However for Droch, that was not enough. He wanted bigger things, and he knew where to go to get them. He travelled to Millennium City, confident that he could become a world-class supervillain in short order. Not too long after he arrived, he was approached by She Devil, who recruited him for her team of supernatural superviallins, the Underworld.
Unfortunately for Droch, this proved to be more of a setback then an advancement. He quickly found that he was outclassed by many of the superheroes he found, and was often knocked out or left incapacitated with shockingly little effort. His worst moment came when he was defeated in seven seconds by a then-unknown female hero who felled him with a single blow.
Captured, Droch was left to rot by his team-mates before eventually escaping as a part of a wider jail-break. Unfortunately, he found out why his team had abandoned him; a video of his “battle” had been spread all over the media and internet, showing him being effortlessly defeated by a complete unknown. He had gained the nickname of the “seven second man”, and become something of an object of ridicule.
It was at that point that he began to realise that maybe he’d made the wrong choices in his life. Encountering a mystic guru, he was encouraged to “turn to the light” and has, since then, attempted to reform as a true superhero, using his gifts for good and the benefit of others.
Powers/Abilities
By merging with him, the artefact gave Droch superhuman strength. He is able to lift at least fourty tons, and can deal considerable amounts of damage with his bare hands. He further augments his strength with whatever weapon he can lay his hands on, from folded metal chairs to cars. Additionally, even before he had his powers, Droch was an experienced and dirty fighter, and uses those skills to further augment his abilities.
He does have one interesting weakness. Unlike many other “bricks”, Droch is no more resilient or resistant to harm then a particularly tough normal human. This means that he can be easily knocked out of action, as occurred in the infamous “seven second battle”. He is at his weakest against other bricks; he just simply cannot last in the sort of long, drawn-out, knock-down brawl common to the type.
Personality
Formerly a rather brutal thug, Droch has become somewhat more introspective and thoughtful since his defeat and incarceration. Once rather violent and short tempered, he instead carefully considers his actions rather then simply lashing out. Above all else, he seeks some way to atone for his past mistakes and redeem himself. He wishes to become a true hero, one who will be accepted for who he is rather then who he was.
Droch is driven by one philosophy, and that is to “Know no limit.” He sees what has happened to him in past as being “limits”, ones that can be only be defeated by being positive and striving to overcome them. If given a chance, he will gladly expose his philosophy to anyone who will listen.
Droch has an incredibly thick New Zealander accent, which can make him hard to understand sometimes. He is still rather embarrassed by the incident with Skadi, and will do anything rather then talk about it.
Appearance
Droch is a heavily built Maori man; he has short-cropped black hair, heavyset features and is well muscled and powerfully built. His body is covered in tribal tattoos, while his right eye glows with supernatural power. His standard costume, such as it is, consists of a pair of black pants with matching gloves and boots.
