Xenon
History
Multifaria
The world of Multifaria is both strange and familiar. A parallel world where all the peoples of Earth across time can be jumbled together. Many peoples lives are drastic deviations from their Prime Earth counter parts. Sometimes they are eerily similar. The Multifarian version of Bryan Quinn aka Halon, is named Brian Quinn and he begins his professional life as an engineer working for a high tech company along with his brother Nathan.
Like their Champions Earth counterparts, Nathan is the more intuitively brilliant of the two but very unambitious, Brian has ambition but only succeeds at improving other peoples work. Brian maneuvers himself into the high profile weapons division of the company and convinces his brother to go along. Nathan is not inclined to design weapons and attaches himself to protective technologies like developing power armor. Brian is placed in charge of the cyborg division, weaponizing human beings and, under Brian's direction, making them as inhuman and tractable as possible. The brothers eventually find themselves at odds with each other over which technology is better for the company, culminating in a meeting in which Nathan humiliates Brian with his superior design work and presentations.
Brian is furious after this and confronts his brother in the lab, bringing with him several of his cyborg drones. The argument continues and escalates till Brian finally orders his cyborgs to kill Nathan. Not wanting to be directly implicated in the attack Brian makes a hasty retreat and does not witness a power armored form burst through the windows and attempt to protect Nathan. But it was too late, Nathan has already been struck down. The armored form, which is clearly feminine, destroys the cyborgs and collects Nathan's body. The battle ignites a fire which destroys the building, and all evidence of what occurred, as well as setting back the power armor division and thus ensuring the supremacy of the cyborg technology. Brian secretly salvages much of his brothers data and technology for himself to build off of later, but can't bring himself to ever look at it again. The only way to cope with the tremendous remorse he feels over his actions is to hide from it and pretend it never happened. But that suppressed remorse is transformed into a callous rage that Brian inflicts on everyone around him. His work with the cyborgs becomes cruel and sadistic.
Shortly after this, Brian's company is conscripted by Shadow Destroyer to aid in the construction of New Harmon. Brian recognizes the opportunity expand his pacification ideas and see them realized on a large scale. He embraces the totalitarian political model and helps develop the technology to enforce it. Time passes and Brian begins to let his guard down. He takes notice of a woman who is a brilliant scientist and who seems to be amoral in it's application. She is also an exotic beauty, initially appearing to be of Asian descent, there is something about her that is just, different. It might be her skin tone or the texture of her hair or her scent when she passes close, but Brian becomes quite intoxicated by her. Despite Brian's reputation, she sees the sadness behind his eyes and a deep desire for forgiveness that touches her. They begin a romance that culminates in their marriage and the birth of their son they name Paul.
Redemption
Feeling that sense of love, trust and now family, changes Brian. Or perhaps simply reawakens in him those feelings that he had let die with his brother. Brian opened his eyes to what he had helped create in New Harmon and was repulsed by it. Shadow Destroyer had long been opposed by various super heroes and 'resistance' forces whom Brian had previously taken little notice of. Now he began to look for ways to sabotage his own work in very quiet and subtle ways, instituting plans that sometimes took years to bring to fruition. All the while he and his wife raised their son to be better than the world he found himself in. Brian knew the time was fast approaching when his actions would be discovered and decided to create a weapon against Shadow Destroyer himself.
He reopened his brothers files and poured over them intending to build a power suit but even with his technical skill he was unable to solve certain problems with mobility and power transfer. Then,with out warning, Shadow Destroyer suddenly replaced all of his cyborg troops with completely new robotic troops of a design Brian had never seen before. The most powerful of these, the 'Mega-Destroids' were taking down super heroes right and left. The resistance didn't seem to have much longer to live. One heroine, wearing an impressive and powerful suit of armor who had been dubbed 'Princess Vanadium', was one of the last to fall. When she did, Brian was in for the most profound shock of his life. 'Princess Vanadium' had been his wife all along. In her final message to him, she pleaded with him to get their son, now 16 years old, safely out of the city. She also gave him a file that solved all of his own armors design problems. The revelations kept coming but they were just to much for Brian to take in. Brian knew he didn't have much time, he fed the new data into his automated foundries deep below his own residence and got Paul ready to leave placing him into an escape tunnel. It was too late however as the secret police assaulted their home and dragged Brian away.
Resist
Paul ran through the tunnel into the sewers of New Harmon. He didn't know where to go or what to do. He knew enough to stay away from the destroid patrols and to scrounge for food and supplies when he could. Eventually he was found by a patrol of resistance fighters and cautiously taken in for vetting. When they were sure he was not a threat he was allowed to join them. On the way in he had told his story to the patrol's leader, a man named 'Griz'. Before they arrived he had quietly told Paul not to reveal who his parents had been, for his own good. A year passed with the resistance. They had gained a new leader, "the Old Man" who had shown them new ways to counter the destroids and cause some real damage. Paul had been educated in electrical engineering and even metallurgy by both of his parents and helped maintain the resistance's equipment as well as creating some destroid specific weapons. He had know from a young age that his mother was really 'Princess Vanadium' and she had shared some of her technological secrets with him. He had always just assumed his father knew also, and that they all had an unspoken understanding not to speak of it openly, you never knew who was listening.
The Resistance was making some real progress when disaster struck. The Old Man was captured by Shadow Destroyer's forces, but even this eventuality had been planned for and the resistance fighters implemented the Old Man's plan of seizing an inter-dimensional teleporter at Conqueror Headquarters and asking for help in a place the Old Man knew he could get it. Brian was chosen to go with the strike team to assist with any unexpected technical aspects of the teleporter and to support his anti-destroid weapons. The assault seemed like an easy one, they were so adept at handling destroids now it was almost trivial, which made Paul feel a bit uneasy. After the resistance took control of the teleporter and sent 'Griz', their new leader through, Paul discovered that his trepidation had been well founded. It was a trap. The control room was flooded, literally with sea water and Karkaradons. Paul was able to place a gravitic mine on an outside wall and blast a hole big enough to begin draining away the water which would take away the shark men's advantage. Still the fighting was fierce and could have gone either way when the last of the water drained away and Griz came back through the portal with no less than six super heroes from another dimension. Paul had not seen so many in one place since he was a little kid. They quickly defeated the Karkaradons and followed the team back to their hideout. Along the way one of the heroes, clad in an impressive blue power suit, tried to talk to Paul a little, though there was little time for chit chat and Paul was more concerned with keeping his eyes peeled. But there was something about the man's voice, even through the distortion of the voice modulator, that seemed very familiar to him.
The new heroes and the resistance continued to follow the plans the Old Man had left behind and they set out to assault the re-education center and bring their leader home. Just as they were leaving, the hideout was assaulted by a team of destroids that had managed to track them. Paul helped hold them off while the heroes continued their mission. Destroid assaults were not uncommon and easily handled. He and the others then moved to another, hopefully still secret location to await their return. The tension was palpable.
When the heroes did return it was with news of success and preparations for a major assault against Shadow Destroyer himself but Paul was called to the infirmary. He couldn't imagine why till he got there and found his father barely clinging to life. The hero wearing the blue power suit was also there. He had been the one that had rescued him. Paul had never thought to see his father again. He had aged so much in the two years that had passed since they last saw each other. His father struggled to speak even against advice not to. He asked Paul for his forgiveness, for his failure to protect him and for his mother's death. Paul said there was nothing to forgive and pleaded with him to conserve his strength. Brian continued and told him to return to their home. There he would find the legacy that his parents had left him hidden deep underground. A legacy of power and responsibility. The man in the power suit then asked for everyone in the room to leave except Paul, and right then he realized why the mans voice seemed so familiar. The man removed his helmet to reveal a familiar face. The face of his father. Both Brian and Paul were dumbfounded, they had not really understood that these heroes, that had come to help them, had come from a parallel universe. A place where the same people might live different lives, or very similar ones. The man said his name was Bryan Quinn, and that he would stand and continue the fight that Paul's father no longer could. Paul could sense there was more that the man wanted to say but held back. Perhaps things they wouldn't understand. Brian Quinn's eyes grew wide, he asked his other self to look out for Paul and told his son that he loved him, and quietly passed away.
Bryan turned to leave when Paul asked to be allowed to join the final fight. He thought he should be standing in his father's place, not some outsider. But Bryan consoled him and reminded him that even if Shadow Destroyer fell today, his evil legacy would continue and it would then be Paul's turn to continue the fight. Paul accepted what he was saying and let him go. He contemplated what his father had said to him and remembered that he should go home. He realized that he might still join the fight if he had a superior weapon. Through the hubbub of preparations, Paul snuck out into the tunnels and made for his old home. He found it in ruins but his father had told him where the secret entrance was and it remained undisturbed. Deep under ground he discovered the foundry and there he found a fully completed, dust covered power suit. It was still attached to umbilicals that had kept it charged and ready for 2 years. It was a shiny bronze color which was the base alloy with no colorings at all. Paul quickly unhooked it, the system recognized his DNA and responded to his commands. It was a little big for him, which was good because he expected to grow a little bit more, but seemed to function just fine. It took some time to discover the exit intended for the suit, the entry had been very small, but find it he did and launched himself into the heart of Shadow Destroyer's domain in the roar of jet boots.
Paul was acutely aware that he was probably doing a very dumb thing, the Mega-Destroids could track him and easily bring him down, but his first encounter with them showed that they were all completely unresponsive. Smoke was billowing off in the distance and a purple haze was lingering over the center of New Harmon. As he flew over, Paul saw nothing but carnage, there were only small pockets of fighting going on here and there. Many of the New Harmon troops were surrendering. As he approached the center he saw no signs of combat. He landed at what he had heard was the nexus of Shadow Destroyer's power, but nothing but rubble and smoke remained. The fight was over and apparently the resistance had won. Paul looked around in disappointment. He had wanted to show the Destroyer just how brilliant his parents had been and help take him down. He wandered over to a what appeared to be a smaking hole in the ground, the very center of everything. Being this close, even through the power suit, made him feel nauseous. He knew the suit had been designed to ward off the dark magics that Shadow Destroyer employed but it had it's limits. As his eyes began to water, Paul saw a glimmer and faint swirl form in the pit. It grew and bubbled though not in a threatening manner. Suddenly a small form popped up through the swirl and paused to look at Paul. It was a wretched looking thing, eyeless and hunched over with many insect like wings. It hissed at Paul as it regarded him. He was feeling even more unsettled and blurted out, "What are you?" It hissed again and replied in a voice that grated across chalk boards. " I am the seed! I am the seed of rot!" The little creature suddenly bounded up and away from Paul, speeding away on it's insect wings almost faster than he could see. Curiously, his suit instantly began tracking it. Paul didn't know what it was but the cold pit in his stomach told him it was nothing good. He activated his flight systems and went after it.
It bobbed and weaved through the air, more as an act of chaos rather than evasion but Paul could see it was taking him back to Conquerors Headquarters. He could see that the resistance was still in control of the building, he even saw people that appeared to be celebrating. They paid no attention to the whisp as it buzzed around them into the building. Paul followed at full speed returning to the teleportation room just in time to see the whisp plunge through the still open gateway that the new heroes had just passed through themselves. He had no time to think, he instinctively knew that the creature was sent to bring doom to the people that had just saved them and so he plunged into the portal after it. He appeared on the other side to a room full of startled people and had no time to stop himself as he crashed into the far wall. As he stood up he saw the wretched whisp laugh at him as it flew up the nearest stairs and out into the new world. The transition between worlds, the deleterious effects of the creature, the feeling of being trapped in something that should be moving but was instead standing still, disoriented Paul severely. All he could manage to do was blurt out, "Didn't you see it?! We have to stop it!" as he rushed after the creature. His instruments told him it was still ahead of him when he again engaged his rockets and took off but he quickly passed out and the suit went to auto pilot in pursuit mode.
Lost
When he regained consciousness, Paul found himself flying over a snow covered landscape, his instruments no longer registering the creature. His telemetry told him he was flying over what would have been Borealia in his home world. He knew he was in a stranger in a strange land and that he was in danger. Suddenly flak fire began to explode all around him, someone was shooting at him. He instinctively zeroed in on the gun emplacement and destroyed it with his suits micro missiles. He began to be pelted by small arms fire and grenades. He responded in kind till the shooting stopped. As the smoke cleared he found that he had been attacked by men wearing uniforms that bore the name ARGENT. The name meant nothing to him. The anti-aircraft guns had been camouflaged and the men had been manning a small hidden outpost, apparently some kind of listening station. They all appeared to be dead and Paul decided to hole up here for the time being and try to catch his bearings.
The suit had an unoccupied sentry mode that allowed Paul to try to get some sleep. But something with this place was just, wrong. He kept wanting to feel some kind of current, a swirling eddy that he had never really noticed till it was gone. This place, was too still. He rested but couldn't sleep. He thought about what to do next. The whisp was gone. He had left his entire world behind with no way of knowing if he could return. Thinking of the creature filled him with such dread. He had to find it. He considered trying to contact the man that had worn his father's face, but that unnerved him as well. Tomorrow he would find out where he was and what he could do, tomorrow.
Equipment
Paul operates a high powered technological suit of armor developed by his parents. It has a wide variety of weapons and defensive systems. The outer shell and super structure are made of a super-alloy consisting of Questionite, Tantalum, Serpentium and Copper. The inner layer, covering all inner mechanisms, is a polymer-siliconfiber-Twaron composite. This allows Paul to resist impacts up to light anti-tank shells and explosives. The primary artificial muscles are composed of multi-layer silicon nanotubes which enables Paul to lift (press) approximately 55 tons. The suit can protect it's wearer from extreme temperatures ranging from near absolute zero to just under 5000 F.
It is designed to be air tight and can survive a hard vacuum or submersion with an internal air supply lasting approximately 3 hours. The armor can survive depths of up to 3000 ft. The power system is electrical with the primary power source being capacitors fed power from a small fusion reactor. There is also a secondary solar collection system that can recharge the capacitors very slowly. The fully charged capacitors can operate at full power for 6 hours without recharging. The armor is equipped with a flight system that includes anti-gravity and anti-inertia dampeners, making it very fuel efficient. Thrust is provided by boot jets that can operate both as a solid fuel rocket and a ramjet engine. With the anti-grav/inertia systems fully functional, the armor can fly at mach 1 for 2 hours. In the event those systems are not working, the solid fuel rocket can last for 15 to 45 minutes depending on velocity. There is a tertiary water jet system that is not high speed. With the negation system working, the water jets can achieve a speed of approximately 10 knots.
The primary weapon systems are; an arm mounted, high yield, ground to ground missile launcher, A back mounted battery of multi-purpose missiles and a series of lateral, armor-piercing, micro-missile batteries capable of penetrating 5 inches of steel. The armor includes a first aid system designed to provide basic treatment to it's wearer. It has very little in the way of stealth technologies, a highly refractive coating provides good protection against radar and sonar as well as including anti-targeting technology. The suit has its own radar, sonar and laser tracking systems as well as a full broadband communication system including microwave transmissions. Being Multifarian in origin, the suit has elements of an eldritch nature which allow it to register and track some mystical wavelengths. Paul's father designated this the "Bronze" suit. Before his capture and death, he was already in the planning stages for a new suit he called "Electrum"
