Characterization in the Freedomverse (Scarab!)

[Charles Phipps]

I remind you that includes you.

[Jedi Morningfire]

Next up, the Atom Family's resident polymorph, the vivacious Victoria Atom!

-Def.

Keep the Atom Family write-ups coming. I'm finding these very interesting and useful, especially as the Atoms are slated to make a guest appearance in my campaign in a couple weeks.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I remind you that includes you.

I never had any sanity.

[Charles Phipps]

Foreshadow

I see your moves three seconds ahead. In three seconds, I kick your ass.

David Sloane's gifts and his parents death define him. He is a man whom believes that he's responsible for their deaths, despite the fact that there's no reason for him to blame himself. His parents wouldn't have believed in his special powers even if he'd told them directly about the sorrow ahead.

Travelling across the world, David Sloane sought out countless individuals whom claimed to have the gift of foresight. In the majority of cases, he found people whom were either deluded or were outright frauds. It was when he reached the mysterious East where he found a group of monks whom kept the secrets of the future.

It was in their presence that he caught a glimpse of the coming darkness to the world. Though Foreshadow didn't understand it at the time; he witnessed the Terminus Invasion and the death of the Centurion amongst other terrible prophetic events. That is what inspired him to return to Freedom City.

David Sloane arrived in the city just in time to witness its near destruction and fail yet again to make any real changes in the horrific events that would promptly occur. Oddly, his old mentor Master Lee would accompany him back to Freedom City to serve as a neverending source of advice to Foreshadow.

Since arriving in Freedom City, Sloane has since struggled with the darker nature of his dreams that is when his powers work best. Often his nights are restless as he pours over the papers and attempts to divine what his prophecies mean in the coming storm.

He is pained by the powerlessness that he often feels in the wake of the greater threats to Freedom City that he cannot participate in. Instead, he focuses on the smaller but no less dangerous evils that destroy the lives of individuals at work in the land.

Chief amongst Foreshadow's targets since his arrival in the city has been "Big Al" Driogano whom David Sloane has devoted his life to destroying. For David Sloane, destroying Driogano is his entire life's work since he's intimately familiar with the true horror of what the man is capable of. For those who assume the biggest evils in Freedom City are Doctor Simian and Medea, they have yet to look at the people enslaved in the crime lord's pornography dens or the families of men wiped out to send a message.

The constant foreknowledge has weighed in on David to the extent that he's actually unable to have a normal relationship with most people. Dovanan Stromberg, the family lawyer is possibly David's only real friend and confident. The elderly British man handles most of David's affairs from bills to seeing that food is delivered to his house since the obsessions of Foreshadow often lead him to neglect himself.

Part of this is why Foreshadow has no real decent relationships. The fact that he's attracted to Lady Tarot because of their shared precognitive gift wouldn't generate nearly as much sparks if she wasn't also the source of so much misery in his life. He's had similiar relationships with 'bad girls' throughout his crime fighting career as the idea of a healthy relationship would probably drive him off. The closest he's come is an attraction to Raven but he broke away from Callie Summers when he discovered he knew her from when he was a simple socialite.

Foreshadow's greatest enemy is perhaps the most ironic one in Silencer. The two have occasionally been forced to work together against horrors like the White Slave Trade and Shadow's more mundane operations but the men hate each other with a passion that can only come from understanding one another on a personal level. Big Al has been saved by their rivalry on occasion even he's tried to discover both's identity in order to destroy their families.

Roleplaying Hints: Stay intensely focused, constantly. The future is coming towards you, second by second, and its going to screw someone over. You know because you've seen it the night before. Take your only release from punching people's lights out and occasionally engaging in forbidden attractions. Never lose hope that THIS time it might be different than your dreams showed.

[Charles Phipps]

Alberto Driogano
"Big Al"
"The Boss of Bosses"
"The King of Crime"


Alberto Driogano is an example that even in the glittering towers of Freedom City's towers, there exists blackholes of morality. Alberto Driogano was from a poverty stricken family with the typical problems of spouse abuse, alcohol, and unemployment. Even then, there was something wrong with Alberto and he was 'different' than other children his age. By the time he was fourteen, he'd killed his first man and taken his money with as much feeling as a boy getting his first candy. 'Southside' was a place that could produce a man like Alberto and he felt a very strong connection to the darkness inherent in it.

Alberto was a made man by the time he was eighteen as he did dirty jobs without complaint, never displaying how much he enjoyed them, and moving his way up Boss Oliverti's ranks. Alberto was no one's friend but he was no one's enemy either. He was a calm professional and only a few people had any problem with the way he handled his business. Alberto always insisted that everything he did was just business, even when he set an entire family on fire as a lesson to a squealer.

Alberto went to Europe for his education and to see the motherland, even as he had no intention of becoming anything other than a boss. There he met the disturbed shut in daughter of a Siscillian boss. She refused to come out of the house out of fear of what the future might hold. Alberto found her charming and left her with a child not soon before he put two bullets in the head of her father. It was also during this time that Alberto met with the Italian branch of SHADOW.

Alberto started developing his own network of contacts throughout Freedom City not soon after he returned from Italy. Chief amongst these was August Roman. Boss Oliverti despised Roman as a pig whom believed he could order everyone around and insisted on challenging the capes. Alberto covertly supplied Roman with all the muscle and worse he needed before taking the technology that Roman provided to force Oliverti to back down. Alberto became a subboss then that was feared despite having no family to call his own.

Oliverti found himself much a puppet of Alberto's ruthless expansion of their operation even as he struggled to check the utter amorality of his sociopathic 'underling.' Only Force Ops and the Centurion's occasional efforts made any real impact on the man. Alberto never was able to move against Oliverti though out of fear the other gangsters would turn on him. That was until he recieved a fourteen year old gift in the mail from Italy. Her mother had died and she possessed unique 'insights' he immediately put to use.

The Boss of Freedom City was killed by SHADOW goons that night with no connection detected to Alberto. Lady Tarot had successfully predicted that none of the gangsters would suspect Alberto if his people weren't involved. She also told him how really afraid they were of him when he threatened their families. From that point on, he began internationalizing his operations. SHADOW and the Labyrith worked well with him while he made friendly overtures to Saturnia Roman. He eventually plans to off both her and her father both but right now they're slowly taking over the entire international syndicate.

The only thorn in his side that makes a difference is Foreshadow and the Silencer with the occasional aide from Raven. The three have managed to check some of his biggest operations and he wants to see all three destroyed. Boss Driogano doesn't care if he has to destroy the Freedom League...they have families....they're vulnerable.

Roleplaying Hints: Pretend to be your typical Mafia Don. Talk about honor, family, the importance of respectability...etc etc etc. You're a businessman. That's all that matters and you leave the impression that to stay out of your affairs is enough to warrant protection. That's all the while as you've got orders to have a man's four year old girl stuffed in a bag before being tossed in a river.

[Defender2.0]

Victoria Atom

‘Fools! Comb the entire island until you find those meddlesome Atoms or I’ll see you all incinerated! No gaggle of children will thwart the Atomic Brain! Go. . .!
. . .
. . .heh. Suckers.’

It’s not easy being the middle kid, but imagine being the middle kid in a family of globe-trotting, reality-sliding, galaxy-crossing adventurers and you might have a rough notion of what life is like for one Victoria Atom. A somewhat shy and bookish girl thrust into the media spotlight, into battle against the likes of the Factor Four or Terra King, sometimes its all a girl can do to find a peaceful moment of quiet in her otherwise hectic life. Jeez, every other month it seems like there’s some kind of crisis or secret war or whatever causing nothing but trouble, and everybody has to gang up and deal with it. It used to happen almost every summer, but these days it seems like no sooner does one doomsday situation get resolved then boom! In comes another. Vicki’s able to roll with the punches, but c'mon, give a girl a break already!


Vicki’s fairly shy and reserved in public, letting Max or Tess take the spotlight as much as she can. She’s not painfully shy or a wallflower, she’s just not as much of a talker as the others are. She’s a warm and friendly young girl amongst fellow heroes and those she knows, but strangers have never been her strong suit. When she does get to know you, that’s when you discover there’s an entirely different side to this particular member of the Atoms.


The mischievous trickster side.


Vicki is something of a prankster, and has been since she first discovered her powers. When you can be just about anything, hide anywhere, and be anyone. . .well, the temptation to use that power to wreak a little bit of havoc is nigh impossible to resist. She’s never too malicious, but when a scheme is on the brew the quiet Vicki gets even quieter. . .and by the time anyone notices they haven’t seen her in a while, it’s usually far too late. She shifts shape for comic effect, lightening the mood of a given crisis (and also to cover her nerves). When she’s away from the group she’ll often morph into another mook to hide amidst the mob. She’s serious enough when on the job, and it’s fun for her to slip into various ‘characters’ in order to best get where she needs to be to deal the most damage. A particularly favorite move is to adopt a distorted shape of a given enemy and mock them without a pretence of restraint (‘Ooooh, lookit me! I’m Granite, the walking gravel pit! Daaaaahhh. . .’), which usually causes said villain to lose control, charging at her in an effort to smash her flat or blast her into oblivion. . .leaving them wide open for her siblings’ takedown attack. Being the most resilient Atom after Maximus, she can take a great deal of punishment and bounce back. ‘The benefits of good living, drinking my milk, and having a completely pliable molecular structure!’


Vicki has strong relations with all her siblings, but she does tend to spend the most time apart from her family, in her room, out and about, or online. It’s easy to see how that contributes to her image as a loner or wallflower, but what her family fails to get is that she needs the quiet time, the moments to herself when she can actually be herself. One of the hardest things for a shapeshifter is to retain a sense of identity; after all, when you can be anyone, it’s hard to keep track of the one you are amongst the many. She’s trying to be more social at her uncle Jack’s prompting, but too often she finds herself either hanging back and blending into the scenery (sometimes literally), or going into her full-on wacky mode to be the most entertaining she can be.


She has been branching out, making friends beyond the heroic community, though her strongest ties are among the cape ‘n tights set, she’ll admit. She shares an online correspondence with Siren, and enjoys talking with Seven on the odd occasions she and Chase visit the Claremont Academy. She’s recently made the acquaintance of Pseudo, who has promised to instruct her to better hone her shapeshifting via certain techniques taught to elite operatives in the Grue Unity. This has led to Tesla giving her fair share of murmured ‘ooOOOOos’ under her breath in retaliation, but Vicki is just relieved to have someone to talk to who understands how hard being a polymorph can be at times.


Victoria is an avid reader, everything from fiction to non-fiction. She’s especially fond of reading comicbooks, from the fictional universes of DC and Marvel (of course having access to dimensional portal technology lets her know just how ‘fictional’ they are. . .)to the adaptations of her family’s exploits from Castle Comics, and often contributes plot ideas and reminisces about given adventures to Mark Slide, the current writer of Atom Family. She’s even been known to frequent the message boards at Castle, answering questions from readers and just socializing. Her talents have also kindled an interest in acting, which she’s thinking of pursuing at Freedom School for the Arts when she’s old enough. This is a bit of a source of tension for her, as she’s not sure how her scientific-minded grandfather and siblings might react.


While a dedicated enough heroine, Vicki is young enough to realize a universal truth that some of the more dour members of the Freedom heroic community seem to have forgotten; being a superhero is frickin’ cool! While the lifestyle has it’s fair share of headaches, she wouldn’t trade it for a normal life in the least. She’s been to the moon, to other dimensions, fought her evil twin from Anti-Earth (who’s creepy as heck and dumber than a bag of hammers), been to Ani-Earth and Freeport, met her future self (trippy. ..) and been everywhere on Earth from the Terra King’s lair to Ultima Thule. It’s an incredible life, and she savors every minute of it. Even fighting the bad guys has its moments, though they tend to be really serious about everything all the time. While she’s shy in dealings with the regular folk of Freedom, when fighting supervillains it’s all anyone can get her to do to stop talking, bantering with the bad guys and taunting them with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. As Pyre once remarked ‘I’ll take Blackstone, I’ll take Lockdown, just please, please get me away from that kid! She never shuts up, and she’s indestructible!’


Unlike the older members of the family, Vicki doesn’t spend too much time worrying over their individual villains. Truthfully, they’re all just a bunch of losers that she and her siblings are more than equipped to deal with. The only one of them that really disturbs her is the Meta-Grue, who once absorbed her in an effort to infiltrate the Nucleus and slay her siblings. It took the efforts of Chase’s telepathy and every erg of willpower she had to separate herself from the villain, and she still has nightmares about it sometimes. It was not the most pleasant experience, and she’s since become a lot less quippy around the Meta-Grue, determined to bring him in and have him thrown into the deepest darkest pit or flung into deep space. Anywhere, as long as it’s away from her personal space.


Amongst the hero community, Vicki is fairly close with some of the younger members of the Next Gen, particularly Siren and Megastar. She thinks Chris Beck is almost kinda cute, when he’s not being a spazz and pining over Seven. The temptation to impersonate the sorceress and torment him is tempting, but Vicki exercises restraint. Among the older set of heroes she admires Lady Liberty and is a friend to Maria Montoya, the new Star Knight, who sometimes consults with the Atom Family on cases involving aliens in their sector of space. Dr. Metropolis gives her the creeps, and could Raven be any more stuck up? Johnny Rocket is awesome though, and the two often banter back and forth on the occasions she and the speedster have teamed up.


An odd thing about Vicki is the fact that she oftentimes finds herself teamed up with another hero in Freedom to deal with a particular crisis. It doesn’t happen as much as it used to, but she knows just about everyone in the heroic community in Freedom, and if she hasn’t met them and worked with them on one case, it’s likely they haven’t made much of an impression on the scene yet. She has good relations with just about everyone in the hero business, and if anyone has anything bad to say about Vicki Atom, they’ve kept it wisely to themselves. As stickers plastered around Freedom have been known to say, ‘Victoria Atom has a posse’.


Roleplaying hints: When playing Vicki, emphasize the rather abrupt difference between her demeanour when she’s on or off duty. When fighting supervillains or dealing with other heroes she’s a pint-sized dynamo, quick with the quips and snappy comebacks, and is exuberant and cheerful almost to a fault. When the press show up though, the disconnect is almost immediate. She doesn’t deal well with ‘normal’ people, and is oftentimes doing her ample best not to trip over her own feet. She either keeps very quiet or is zany and wacky to cover up her discomfort in dealing with people she has very little in common with.


Of all the Atom Family, heroes are most likely to encounter Vicki, usually up to her neck in some kind of trouble. She doesn’t go looking for it, but it seems she’s always coming out of the bookstore at the exact moment Argo the Awesome Android escapes the Terminus or doing a signing appearance at Millennium Comics the moment the Terra King attacks the city. She’s first to leap into the fray and sometimes needs a bit of help, which is always welcome. It’s almost considered an unofficial badge of honor to have teamed up with the Metamorphic Miss at least once, and it gives the heroes an instant in and contact in the Freedom City community when Vicki can vouch for them, opening doors throughout the city for them.


Another facet to play up is Vicki’s utter love of ‘the life.’ She lives, breathes, and exudes exuberance for the whole of the superhero lifestyle. Be it trips to the moon, fighting dinosaurs in the Lost World, trips to Atlantis, or fending off the latest attack by Gigantosaur, the usual reaction that can be counted on from Vicki is a soft, low ‘Cooooool. . .’

[Libra]

Brilliant.

I must say Defender, that your characterisations of the Atoms gibe rather well with my own.

Charles, good work on Foreshadow and his nemesis. I must say, however, that I don't see Kantor as a froth-at-the-mouth Nazi.

Kantor didn't give a damn for the 'Glories of National Socialism.' He served the Nazis because they would give him power, pure and simple, and they provided the easiest path to his goal of being ture ruler of the world. He probably thought of Hitler as an insane upstart peasant and a useful pawn.
I think that Kantor was very much a champagne villain, polite, even rather pleasent to his enemies in public, willing to dine with prominent Allied Prisoners - twisting the knife all the while, but too subtle to do it openly. Kantor was shadowy figure. Most took him for just another ambitious Nazi beaureacrat until the day when the Allies of Freedom died at the hands of his servant Nacht-Krieger and when records of his activities were discovered after the War.
Kantor is a Chess Grandmaster who prefers the Shadows and the wielding of true power, unfettered by the need for public ceremony and without the need to constantly justify his actions.

I think that he has - at the moment - only one personality dominating, and that is Tan-Aktor, who may seem less monsterous than the others, but is in fact worse because he knows what he's doing and enjoys every moment of it. Overshadow would rather die than give up his attempts to gain supreme power. Even then you'd have to watch out for future incarnations. . .

[Charles Phipps]

Take note Libra, this is a version of Overshadow that is deliberately breaking down. What was a combination of personalities and stable in previous eras is slowly shattering.

The extremes of each personality and their drastic difference is a deliberate choice to reflect this version of Overshadow is insane.

Frankly though, your version I'd like better than the canon version who is just a consistent scumbag.

[Libra]

My Kantor is a consistent scumbag. He's just very smooth and stylish about it.

He does keep his helmet on, after all.

My opinion is that Overshadow was very much in the mould of your first characteristion of him in the 1960's, had his mind fractured into the various personas (More or less) that you describe in your latest effort after that incident with the Curator in 1984 and returned to form due to the Mirror of Souls.

My suspicion is that he's rather enjoyed his most recent period of ascendancy, given the lack of The Scarab, Jack Simmons and all the chances he's had to match wits with the sneakiest mastermind villains in the World. The only thing he might feel he lacks is public reknown, but Overshadow is more than happy to forefeit the show of Power for Power itself.

[Charles Phipps]

Noted, and it's interesting to see how some of our stuff lined up.

Defender 2.0, that was a great write up of Victoria. She sounds like my kind of girl! Now if she was only older...

It's nice to have a geek in the Atom Family whose not TOO hung up on Quanta.

[Davies]

I was curious what people thought of that concept with Overshadow and the personalities.

It's certainly intriguing ...

Chris Davies.

[RomLoneWolf23]

What I liked about Victoria's write-up was the Fourth Wall breaking comments. Pure Gold.

[Defender2.0]

Thanks guys, the feedback is greatly appreciated.

Next up, the Amazing Atom Family's resident master of the minds of men, the incredible Chase Atom! Be there!

[Libra]

Or be a four-sided shape!

I'll be very interested to see your verion of the Monkey's Uncle.

[Defender2.0]

Chase Atom

‘No, your giant mecha is not going to beat us, now that I know the weak spot’s between the shoulder blades. How’d I know? I’m a telepath Otaku. . .work it out. Oh, and is that all you think about by the way? Ick. No wonder Gimmick dropped you like a sack of dirt. . .’


Power and responsibility. Those are the two cornerstones of Chase Atom’s upbringing, lessons that have been driven home time and time again by Doc Atom, Jack Wolf, and his older brother Maximus. Since coming into his powers at seven, Chase has come to realize over the course of their adventures that he may well be the most powerful member of the team. That revelation has led to Chase having grown up a great deal faster than his siblings, lending him a more serious air than someone his age should have.


This isn’t to say that Chase is a dour or unhappy person; far from it, he enjoys a zest for life and legitimately enjoys the company of his family and fellow heroes. It’s just that. . .well. . .people tend to make him a little uncomfortable, so he tends to hang back when it comes to strange minds he’s unfamiliar with. Chase has the unfortunate ability to know everything about a person simply by looking at them; in one glance he can read your soul like glancing over a paperback cover. He doesn’t get the whole story, but he can glean the pertinent information about a person from only a few seconds contact. He doesn’t intentionally scan people, but sometimes the ‘noise’ is more than he can effectively tune out. With people he’s familiar and friendly with, it’s generally a soothing background hum, and one that his mental defences are prepared to accept and work around. As he’s explained at times when guest-speaking to students at the Claremont Academy ‘Being a telepath is sometimes like being a dog on the fourth of July. When people start setting off fireworks and you have hypersensitive hearing, it can make you crazy. And like dogs, beginning telepaths have no way to block the deluge of ‘sound’ coming at us from every mind in our immediate radius. So if you wonder why your friend with the psionic powers is a little snippy with you, be aware that not only can he pick up on your voice in a crisis, he can probably hear your thoughts, what you’re thinking about having for dinner, the villain’s thoughts, what his favorite movie is, and about the same for what everyone in the nearby Go-Mart is thinking. With training and discipline, this effect diminishes over time, but it’s still no picnic. Believe me, I know.’


Like Tesla, Chase has a hunger for knowledge, but the two Atoms differ in their respective fields. While Tesla is developing a background in physical sciences, Chase is contemplating pursuing psychiatry. His powers give him an insight into emotion, motivation, and the inner workings of the human mind. While he’s still making his way through private schooling, the idea does have it’s appeal. Off duty, Chase can often be found reading books such as Aristotle’s Ethics or Marcus Aurielius’ Meditations (he tried reading some Nietzsche but found it made him a little nervous. No wonder the Psions are so loopy). He believes more than anyone that who we are is often what we choose to believe ourselves to be. For such a solemn young man, Chase remains an unbridled optimist when it comes to redemption and second chances for those who sincerely want to change. Even the worst of people have some redeeming qualities. Well, most of them anyway.



Chase is also unique amongst his siblings in that—with his powers emerging so early in life—he really never had any semblance of a childhood. He’s intensely uncomfortable around people his own age, and often cultivates an aloof demeanor to cover up his profound insecurity. It’s in these moments of nose-raising, haughty indifference that Jack Wolf tends to smile wanly, seeing so very much of Mentac in the boy. Chase isn’t mean-spirited, but he’s often at a loss as to what young people actually do, so he frequently slips into an air of haughty disdain. After all, what trip to the mall or movie viewing could compare to a trip to Farside City or a battle in the Octuran Nebula alongside the Star Knights? Beneath this façade however is a yearning to find friends he can connect with. The trouble is, when you can see through the faces people wear every day and know what they’re ultimately capable of, it can be a bit disheartening to find a true blue friend.


Chase is close to Ray Gardner Jr., even after Ray become a member of the Next-Gen (and adopted easily the dumbest code-name Chase has ever heard, but he doesn’t have the heart to tell his friend how lame ‘Bolt’ sounds to him), and that friendship has opened doors to talk with other members of the team where he’d once have adopted his slightly snooty air. Ironically, Chase has become fast friends with Sonic, the two having bonded quickly because Chase can see just how sincere Lemar is in his efforts to help Lincoln and be a hero. The pair often riff off one another, with Chase’s dry wit playing nicely complimenting Sonic’s exuberant taunting on the occasions they’ve teamed up. Together Chase, Bolt, and Sonic are developing a reputation for unorthodox and unconventional heroism. . .earning the chiding nickname ‘The Terrible Trio’ from an amused Johnny Rocket.


After Sonic, Chase finds himself often going to Pseudo for advice. Being able to talk to a fellow telepath who isn’t out to control Farside City or the world is refreshing for Chase, and he hopes one day that maybe the whole of the Grue Unity could be made to see the universe as a place of potential cooperation rather than conquest. It’s a dim hope though, as most of them seem to subscribe to the Meta-Grue’s philosophy of strength through brutality.


Of the Atoms, Chase is often the group’s spokesman to other groups. He’s able to communicate with just about any sentient being, and is often the switchboard for the team to communicate and coordinate in battle. Of all the Atoms, he’s often the voice of reason advising against outright violence until they’ve found out exactly what’s going on. The youngest Atom is often the first to greet the unknown with a friendly smile and a hello rather than launching into the standard ‘misunderstanding-followed-by-fight-until-we-realize-we’re-on-the-same-side’ routine. Unfortunately, he can’t be everywhere, and his more impulsive siblings(*cough*VICKI*cough*) tend to leap first well before they look, leaving it up to Chase to extricate the team from a potential diplomatic embarrassment. A less altruistic reason for Chase’s disdain for physical combat is for a simple enough reason; with his mental awareness he can feel just about everyone’s pain in a battle, good and bad. That tends to color his perceptions toward violence, and makes his efforts to find a peaceful solution all the more pressing.


Among his family, Chase tends to gravitate toward Max as his role model, though he cares for his sisters a great deal. He frequently finds himself doing his ample best to get Vicki to slow down and sit still, but is beginning to realize it’s a lost cause. He loves his uncle Jack deeply, knowing with bedrock certainty that his uncle is a good and decent man who loved his mother very much, and even with their falling out he never stopped loving his father like a brother beneath the hurt. His grandfather is a constant source of inspiration to him, and there hasn’t been a no-win scenario made that Grandpa couldn’t beat. ALEX is a source of comfort not only for being another parental influence, but for the fact that the android’s orderly thought processes are soothingly predictable. A little smothering at times yes, but wonderfully peaceful.



People tend to wonder why a serious-minded young man like Chase would have a pet named ‘Cosmo the Moon Monkey’(for the record it was Maximus who saddled the alien monkey with the name). The little ape is actually a significant source of strength for Max; the little simian’s mind is easily one of the most tranquil Chase has ever encountered, and the bond they share does a lot to help center the young Atom when dealing with the constant mental ‘noise pollution’ of life on Earth. Perhaps it was the work of the Moonstone's influence upon the simians of Farside City, but most people there have similar ‘moon monkey’ pets for children born with telepathic ability. A genetic trait engineered in them for a purpose? Or a quirk of genetics? Chase doesn’t know and doesn’t particularly care; he loves the little blue monkey as fiercely as any member of his family and would defend the creature just as feverently. The feeling is mutual, with Cosmo doing his best to protect the younger Atom with his teleportational powers.


Among their rogues, Chase is sympathetic toward Gamma, working with his older brother to try and convince him to let go of a life of hate his father wouldn’t have wanted for him. Chase is a reluctant arch-enemy because of his belief in redemption. Only hardcore cases like the Cosmic Mind, Lady Lunar, or the Meta-Grue tend to raise his ire, and even then he works to subdue them with as little trauma as possible. His ‘wicked aunt’ is a particular pain to Chase, as she continually tries to prove her superiority over the ‘insolent scion of my hated kinsman!’ So far Chase hasn’t had it in him to do more than give her the odd mind-whammy. One day she may push him too far, and when that happens, the kid gloves will be off.


Despite Dr. Atom and Jack Wolf’s confidentiality (try keeping secrets from a telepath), Chase is well aware of his potential power, and treats it delicately. He never uses any but the minimum required mental force to deal with a given crisis or situation. Having tasted the power of the Moonstone, he knows that there could literally be no limit to what he could do, and it scares him. He’s read enough to know that absolute power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely, and has sworn he’ll never use his powers for anything beyond helping people. Whether this is a promise he can keep is another matter; sometimes the world seems so chaotic and he’d just like to grab the reins and make people behave. . .it’s a tightrope he’s walked successfully, and as long as he has his family and friends supporting him he hasn’t fallen over that line. The very idea of forcing someone to act against their will is abhorrent to him.


Roleplaying Hints: When playing Chase, bear in mind that he is one of the most powerful telepaths on the side of the angels in Freedom. He’s also a kid who’s had to grow up exceedingly fast in the high-risk environs of superheroic life. This has led to two facets of his personality that are key to understanding the youngest Atom: power, and responsibility.


When first meeting Chase, be aware he’ll have his deflector screens up, particularly with younger heroes. Unlike other teen heroes he hasn’t had that normal life of school, peers, friends to help keep his feet on the ground. He’s uncomfortable with strangers and often adopts an air of aloof disdain to cover his insecurity. This can initially make him seem like a silent snob, hanging back with his weird blue monkey instead of talking to them, leaving that to Maximus or Victoria (who knows everybody anyway). It isn’t that Chase is a snob, it’s just that with his power, he can sense just about everything the hero brings to the table emotionally (he won’t read minds without permission, but he can get a pretty good bead on what a person is like). Heroes being heroes, it shouldn’t take him long to warm to player characters, but play up that initial reticence coupled with a kid’s desire to ‘be cool.’


Another facet to Chase’s personality is his role as the Atom’s resident diplomat. He works hard to ensure that his siblings don’t just barge into a situation and make it worse, and any group of heroes the Atoms stumble upon in their adventures will at least get the chance to explain their side of the story before any ‘misunderstandings’ can break out. Chase is also the first to advocate rehabilitation for anyone he feels deserves a second chance; he never gives up on Gamma, or the Hellqueen, or any villain he feels truly deserves a shot at redemption. Heroes with a criminal past may find an unexpected advocate in the young Atom, who will go to the wall for them if they’re truly sincere in their desire to improve themselves. Of course, if they aren’t, they’ll only have one of the most powerful minds on the planet hacked off at them. Good luck with that. . .


Like his brother Max, Chase is a decent young man trying to use his power to benefit mankind in the best Atom tradition. Heroes who need a telepath to help them with mentalist foes or younger heroes needing someone to talk to will find a ready ally and an open ear in Chase. While he’s sometimes not the easiest Atom to make friends with, those he does take a shine to have a friend and ally for life.