[Bixir] Colin Wallis {Justice League}

"And so it goes..."





General Information

Full Name:
Colin Wallis
Codename or Alias:
Defiant.
Armsmaster
Anonymity
Colin was one of the first individuals of his generation to join the Protectorate, as well as one of the most publicly known. His proud reputation culminated in his alleged death during what was known to Protectorate brass as the Oolong Incident. Officially, Armsmaster retired, and became a legacy brand. Unofficially…
Gender:
Male
Race:
Parahuman (Tinker 7)
Age:
Thirty-eight
Place Of Birth:
Providence, Rhode Island
Occupation/Status:
Dragon Liaison
Titan Hunter
Registered Belle Reve Tenant
Protectorate Hero (Thunderbolts, Formerly)
Alignment:
Neutral
Factions:
Suicide Squad
The Protectorate (formerly of the Thunderbolts)
Canon Or Original?:
Canon (Worm)
Powers/Abilities:
Tactician
Colin’s mind is incredibly pointed, almost dangerously so. He is wired to manage dozens of sophisticated tasks at once, applying his mental rigor to everything he does. This is most evident in his skills as a leader, managing others with rapid-fire decision-making in the heat of a mission, particularly when it comes to managing his team in any given situation. Though Colin’s focus is seldom used for anything else, there is little debate among the Protectorate and beyond that he is one of their greatest thinkers, scientifically and militarily.

Protectorate Operator
Though he is no longer operating in an official capacity for the Protectorate, Colin is thoroughly familiar with the organization’s protocols and ethos. He understands how proper superheroics ought to be, how they ought not to be, though more pernicious than either of these schools of thought is Colin’s ability to recognize the blurs between these lines, and how and when is the best time to skirt that boundary.

Peak Athlete
Long before he became Armsmaster, Colin took great care toward his physical health. He was consistently one of the most athletic and acrobatic students in his class, and he continued to perform in the top ten percentile in his age range. Though Colin is not officially an Olympian athletes, he moves like one. Unless one is explicitly superhuman in some way, it is difficult to outrun, outfight, or outlast him on a physical level… and that’s without his equipment.

Parahuman
Colin’s Parahuman ability falls under the Tinker class. As a Focal Tinker, his manifestation is three specialties: miniaturization technology, efficiency technology, and Hybrid technology. While some believe that this means a form of hammerspace within which Colin can store more technology than ought to fit, this is a misunderstanding. Rather, the technology that Colin creates is optimized to a supernatural degree, which often includes featuring dozens of different features within a suit of armor or handful of weapons. The diversity of Colin’s aptitude is staggering, arguably more compartmentalized than any Earthbound technology. The full extent of Colin’s abilities is now known only to Dragon. A majority of Colin’s modules are combat-oriented, designed for the most efficient means of subduing a variety of powered threats… as Defiant, these means are often violent, and brutal. At this point, Colin’s inventions are almost exclusively tailored for improving his capabilities as Defiant, and little - if anything - to do with anything that does not serve this prerogative. While it goes without saying, Colin’s particular Parahuman traits has granted him genius intellect and several advanced degrees’ worth of knowledge in mechanical engineering, applied physics, and other sciences affiliated with the technology that he can create.

All Parahumans’ abilities are impacted by the Manton Effect. It is an inexplicable phenomenon that prevents a Parahuman from directly affecting both living and inanimate objects at the same time. This typical manifests in limitations on a Parahuman’s abilities, such as a range limit, maximum degree of precision, and most importantly, stopping at the surface of a person’s body. However, in the case of Defiant, whose Tinker abilities are focused in his equipment, the Manton Effect seldom applies to him.

Defiant Protocols
Colin’s transformation into Defiant was arduous, and in most respects, irreversible. A majority of his organs were replaced with artificial substitutes, many times more efficient than the original. Numerous cybernetic improvements were made to Colin’s body as well, drastically improving his physical abilities to levels of an enhanced human. Much of his need to rest his body has been reduced; now, Colin only has to rest for fifteen minutes each day, six of which needs to be sleep. There are similar boons to Colin’s transformation, though such details remain classified under Dragon’s purview. Whatever they are, she does not seem to approve of them.





Weapons/Items:

Helmet
Defiant’s helmet, like much of his armor, bears a draconic resemblance, and appears thoroughly advanced. It is the most distinguished aspect of his uniform, second only to his weapon. It boasts a sophisticated combat interface, including a communications suite and personal defense systems to supplement the Defiant armor’s capabilities.



Armor
Defiant’s armor is explicitly designed like a dragon in human form. The armor plates are shaped like scales, maximizing surface area protection in the image of his new persona. The armor is composed of a depleted promethium alloy. As such, it is virtually indestructible, capable of withstanding blows of megahuman proportions. This includes individuals such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and, in theory, the anomalies of Oolong Island and abroad.



Spear
Project Defiant required the forging of a new weapon. Dragon worked closely with Hank Henshaw and Michael Holt to develop the finest in Checkmate’s arsenal. Often playfully referred to as the “Lance of Longinus” during development, Defiant’s longspear is by far the greatest weapon in the U.S. government’s assets… at least, one that can be held in a person’s hands.



Appearance

Image:

Physical Appearance:
Standing at 6’3” and weighing several hundred pounds of cybernetic mass, Colin looms over most people. In those rare moments where he is not in the Defiant armor, very little if anything about him would seem to be robotic. Colin’s body is exactly as it was prior to the Oolong Incident all those years ago, as if he hasn’t aged a day. His dark-brown has grown a little longer, and he has kept his full beard. His body is clearly built, just shy of an Olympian athlete. His muscle is clearly defined; even before Defiant, Colin was a perfect physical specimen. That condition has only improved.
Clothing and Armor:


The Defiant armor is a perfected extension of the Armsmaster suit in every capacity. Gone are the blues and whites, replaced by green and gold. The Robocop facsimile is stripped away in favor of a pragmatic battle suit, somewhat inspired by the Iron Man series. It explicitly evokes the spirit of its creator, from the classic scale-plating, to the new color scheme, to the helmet resembling a dragon’s head. It accentuates Defiant’s presence, giving him several more inches over his enemies while he’s wearing the suit… and he almost always is.

Colin’s civilian attire is thoroughly mundane. Utilitarian long-sleeve shirts and pants are about everything he wears when he isn’t acting as Defiant. Any formal wear he might be inclined to wear is forgone in favor of the Defiant suit. The casual parts of Colin’s life, however little there might have been, are long behind him.


Personality

Tunnel Vision
Colin has always been a person who has an extraordinarily one-tracked mind. Once he has set his sights on something, he pursues it relentlessly, often forgetting or outright pushing aside anything that gets in the way of that goal. Even when he achieves his latest goal, Colin immediately finds something new to go after. He has an obsession with perfecting himself in every way that he knows how, as well as discover new things with which to drive him. It is a compulsive behavior that has only gotten worse over time, especially after he became Defiant.

Spectrum
In addition to his obsessive work behavior, Colin exhibits numerous traits that would place him on the autistic spectrum. He speaks very little, often defaulting to a cold distance. This is compounded with his being deeply socially stunted, to the point of being very blunt emotionally, taking many things literally, and failing to pick up on basic cues in conversation, and certainly in romantic contexts. Colin also has an uncanny memory, able to retain the most obscure minutiae from any part of his life with near-perfect recall. When Colin chooses to lower his guard, he does so with great vulnerability. His Parahuman abilities work in tandem with these behaviors, often pushing them to extreme levels to match the advantages it provides him. Given how Colin has acted throughout his life, it is unlikely that he is aware of these symptoms or has any interest in addressing them… at least, until he believes that they are getting in the way of his work.

Sexual Orientation:
Heterosexual
General Personality:
Stern. Uncompromising. Didactic. These aspects defined Armsmaster, similar traits of his core persona that exhibited a clear reputation for him among his peers early in his career. He has always approached superhero work in purely utilitarian terms. Which is to say, he perceives himself as the literal and metaphorical tip of the spear of law and authority, in his territory and the greater United States, in opposition to the chaos and anarchy boiling under the surface of society. To him, “heroes” amounts to little more than a flowery term for conventional law enforcement, to whom he believes all of his ilk should defer to. He is a man of the system, and he is quick to turn anyone over to it if he believes them to be in contempt. He is similarly passionate towards those who are sympathetic with his worldview, and takes great steps to accommodate and even mentor up-and-coming individuals so that they are properly integrated into this system. These ironclad principles have intensified exponentially as Defiant. He no longer has the semblances of a superhero, in function or form. Defiant is immersed completely in the spirit of a finely tuned paramilitary operative who will complete the mission at any cost. While he maintains his self-righteousness in his work, Defiant now has much more in common with Deathstroke than he had ever had with the likes of Iron Man.

There is not much to be said about the man behind the armor. That does not necessarily mean that Colin is simple or dull. He is a certified supergenius, and can hold conversations with the higher echelons of the political and corporate world… to the extent that he can hold conversations at all. Colin is a withdrawn, stunted man. He has been that way since he was young. He has always struggled to make friends, and never bothered trying to improve those skills. He knows what he wants in life, and in the spirit of his shard, he dedicates all of his time and energy to that end. Whether that makes friends ultimately doesn’t matter to Colin, though he will welcome that outcome all the same. His time with Dragon has been especially revealing in that respect. The extent of their intimacy is a frequent note of gossip, as well as a matter of national security. As far as anyone knows, she is the only person who can get through to Colin, to say nothing of her new role as his personal liaison.





In spite of all the good that Colin has done, as Armsmaster, as Defiant, with Dragon and the Thunderbolts, and now the Suicide Squad, it is overshadowed by the consequences of that good, particularly the means with which he has done that work. While Colin has inarguably become more extreme with his methods and temperament, he had had that darkness with him since the very beginning. He harbors an uncompromising bend towards the criminal element, however that may be defined. He will break that which does not bend, and he will have no regrets in doing so, especially if it suits his interests. Colin cares about the system that he serves, but he cares even more about himself, and his role in that hierarchy. It is what drives him to do terrible things in the name of alleged justice, and it is what has brought him to where he is now. Colin has gone to great lengths that he has no potential connections or weaknesses that could be exploited. He was an only child, his parents died years ago - an event that did not faze him, even then - and he has no romantic interests that could become targets of his enemies. He is the paragon of pragmatic utilitarian, in all its cruel indifference to everything but the mission.

Anything Else
N/A.


Character's History

Siblings:
N/A.
Mother:
Claire Wallis. Deceased.
Father:
Henry Wallis. Deceased.
Other Family:
Dragon, Personal Liaison.

History:

For a man that would grow up to become one of America’s most prolific superheroes, Colin’s childhood was unremarkable. He lived a mundane life with his parents, not thinking much of anything except for his schoolwork. Like many boys his age, Colin became fixated on the trend of superheroes, and longed to, through whatever means, become one himself. This obsession compounded with his antisocial behavior at the time, and he never quite recovered from these developmental difficulties. His parents’ frequent absences in his school and home life, including domestic tension, only contributed to the perpetuation of these habits. It was but a matter of time before they were divorced, at which point Colin didn’t even realize anything strange was going on, even after his mother took him to a different home every other weekend. There was only the persistent notion in his mind that he was going to become a superhero, and he was going to save the world. Why? How?... well, that didn’t matter.

The rest of Colin’s childhood and adolescence was more of the same. More going through the rest of school, friendless and hobby-less, dead-set on his ostensibly impossible future, and ignorant of everything else. Parents, growing further and further apart, from themselves and their son, struggling to keep themselves together, let alone their responsibility. Teachers, more and more impressed with how Colin applied himself, though just as concerned for the lack of everything else in his life as a result of that application. It was a continuing, worsening cycle that Colin was content with continuing, so long as he could be the superhero he wanted to be. That was what he told his guidance counselors, and he wouldn’t hear anything else. In a way, it was not a hopeless exercise. Colin recognized the vast array of skills and knowledge bases he would need to acquire if he was to become the best superhero that he could be. Psychology, physics, mathematics, shop class, and others were all subjects that Colin threw himself into in high school, for the sole purpose of preparing himself for the defining moment.

Like most Parahumans, that moment was completely unlike what Colin had been hoping for. Just getting into college was a greater hassle than what he had expected. His parents were of no support to him, monetarily or emotionally. The only way he made it into Boston University was through scholarships and loans, the latter of which especially weighed on Colin’s mind. The firm reality beyond his dream was finally beginning to sink in, and it was the last thing that he needed. He had come so far with his skills and preparation for whatever he needed to do next in order to become a superhero… and nothing came. Perhaps nothing would ever come. Perhaps it had all been a giant mistake, since the moment he was born. His parents surely would have been fine with one another if not for the wedge that he had introduced in their relationship. Nothing made sense anymore. His joke of an existence, running its pathetic course until…


Trigger.




The first thing Colin ever made was a finely crafted spike, perfect for lacerating himself in such a way that would sever his nerves in an instant. It would have made sure that he wouldn’t feel anything and that the end was instantaneous. If not for his realizing what had just happened, Colin may well have followed through. His dream had just come true. He could do incredible things. He could be an incredible thing. Immediately he set to work. Dropping out of college was the best decision he ever made. He threw himself completely into shaping his identity now. It took some time, especially after numerous beatings and near-death experiences while trying to take crime into his own hands. None of it deterred Colin. He only improved himself with each thrashing, using them as lessons for how he wouldn’t make the same mistake next time. This process was reflected in his equipment, which became exponentially sophisticated. It wasn’t long before he was sporting a finished, albeit crude, suit of scrap armor, and a massive halberd, created from that original spike. It wasn’t long, either, before the authorities took notice.





Colin’s reckoning could not have been better timed. The likes of the Authority, Alexandria, and Legend were making their waves. It was clear that a federal response to the numerous surges of respective vigilante and criminal activity was desperately needed. Colin was among the first wave of recruits into the Protectorate. It was the career that he had been preparing for since he was six… and it showed. He ran circles around his peers, and though he was one to gloat, he was one to share as well. He became one of the first mentors within the program, and he soon garnered the attention of Benjamin Drake himself. “Armsmaster” was the first poster icon in the Protectorate's PR campaign. This catapulted Colin’s superhero career to the forefront, and he quickly became a household name across the country. He feigned modesty in his new role, though Colin’s pride grew three sizes larger with this newfound acclaim. It was only a matter of time before people would see him as the greatest superhero of the era… it was a cute sentiment.

When Armsmaster met Dragon for the first time, the former was taken aback by how “human” the latter seemed. He had met robots and other artificial lifeforms before, but Dragon was nothing like them. She felt like someone with whom he could speak, which was something that he had never felt with anyone before; not even his own parents. Dragon found Colin’s off-putting temperament charming in a way, particularly with how it contrasted his singular focus with his work. They made an odd pair, but they were certainly a pair. While Armsmaster worked with plenty of his “graduating class”, like Chevalier and Miss Militia, he exclusively grew closer with Dragon… purely, in a professional relationship. It was clear as day what was going on, though it was determined that it was in the best interest of the Protectorate that it continue unabated. That decision would prove to be one of Amanda Waller’s most prescient.





It was no surprise to anyone that Armsmaster was also the first candidate to be recruited into the Thunderbolts in General Ross’ original petition. The trend of wanton vigilantes and would-be justices was spiraling out of control, and something needed to be done before an incident turned into a national tragedy. The Thunderbolts were America’s first national metahuman force, answerable only to the Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of Metahuman Affairs. Armsmaster had sadly(?) predicted this series of events, and though it had yet to manifest itself, he wasn’t going to wait around for it to happen before doing something about it. Armsmaster was particularly kindred with Alexandria about this. Together, they spearheaded a much-needed expansion of the Protectorate program. If the rumors of the Batman and his kind were to be believed, they were going to need to step up their funding and outreach to meet these insurgents in kind. Dragon was adamant that it would not come to a civil war, though Armsmaster remained unconvinced. Although these mounting tensions did not indeed lead to a civil war… perhaps it would have been better if that had been the outcome instead.

In the following years, Armsmaster was host to the garrison at Fort Hamilton in New York City. One of the Protectorate's most prominent figures was well-suited for the task of overseeing Project New Wave. The second generation of America’s finest would rise to the occasion of a particularly troubling machine cult that had been gaining traction, thanks in no small part to the folly of Tony Stark and people like him declaring themselves to be the arbiters of peace and prosperity, if for no other reason than their tarnished inheritance. He had no interest in vain quarrels, though it nearly turned into that as this “Zodiac” figure turned the super-tech industry upside down. It was thanks to Armsmaster’s leadership that the first giant robot attack on New York City did not topple the United Nations, let alone the Big Apple… but it was not because of Armsmaster’s skills. It was because of his ego that caused him to be at the heart of Clockwork’s plans. Were it not for Dragon coordinating with his students, the torture that he endured at the hands of Leo would have had more permanent consequences.

That series of events left the hero bedridden for at least a month. Most of it had nothing to do with his physical injuries; most of those were treated within a few days under Dragon’s care. However, she insisted upon Armsm- Colin taking a temporary leave of absence after experiencing that trauma. He protested, to great effect, though Drake and Waller were satisfied with Dragon’s diagnosis. Armsmaster became something of a martyr, sidelined while this “Justice League” took charge of the cape scene in the following weeks… all of which Colin watched from Dragon’s internment unit. What he could have done if he was there, if she had let him go… it all reminded him of why he had done this. Why he was so important to the operation. It was not something he would forget… or regret.

When he was at last released, Colin closed himself off, much more than he had previously. He had become disillusioned with the Protectorate and its effectiveness against this Justice League that had made a mockery of his dream. His attention turned to the consequences of the Justice League's eergence, and what may yet come that these so-called champions remained ignorant to. His investigations brought him to disturbing anomalies deep within the earth and sea, likely emerging as a result of the resonant energies that had been used by the numerous terrorist cells that people had frustratingly termed "supervillains". An archaic organization from the twentieth century, known as “Monarch”, labelled them as “Titans”, whatever that meant. Colin did not find much: scraps of bygone history that sounded like it was fiction wrapped in madness. Terrible monsters growing past mythology and into reality itself. Creatures capable of splitting apart continents, perpetuating natural disasters by sheer force of will. Dragon pleaded with Colin to stop this and to come back to Fort Hamilton, or at the very least to talk to the rest of the Thunderbolts about these developments. That night, Colin left for Oolong Island.


"You dumb brute. You don't understand, do you? I am going to be the one to take your head, abomination. I can only hope you know mortal terror in your last moments. Finally scared? Good. I should thank you, monster."




“Oolong Island” was but one of many names for this place. It apparently had a long history of names and legends, all of them as fantastical as the alien invasion that had nearly destroyed the planet not so long ago. That very invasion and the circumstances leading up to it had awakened something within that region in the South Pacific. It was a complete white zone, an “Asian Bermuda Triangle” where everything that entered its territory was never seen again. If not for the tremors emanating around its perimeter, Armsmaster would not have found this place and realized its origins. His time there is chief among his lost memories. Only psychic fragments remain of those weeks where he went missing: a volcano, larger than any that he had seen on this Earth, spewing forth more than sulfur and magma. Scores of ivory mutants, each of them as large as an eighteen-wheeler. Armsmaster had narrowly evaded most of them, and driven the rest of them away… but never killed. At the mouth of this volcano, he was standing before a massive, horned dragon, with which he impaled with his halberd… and watched it snap in twain. This anguish layered on the pain that was already there, only twisting the man’s psychosis further. If not for that flying fantasy borne out of ethereal mania, Dragon would surely not have found his limp corpse, drifting in the Indian Ocean.

Before, Armsmaster’s reputation and prowess allowed his stubbornness and borderline insubordination in the face of Clockwork to go unabated. There was no such stipulation here. Upon returning to the States, while he remained comatose, Colin was henceforth disbarred from the Protectorate. More than that, he had been declared dead while he had been on the island. That status remained the case as his body was handled conjointly by Bastion and Task Force X. It took years to patch together what remained of the original body, substituting what had been lost with state-of-the-art prosthesis and cybernetics. Fortunately for Colin, his career wasn’t entirely over. The Suicide Squad had a recent falling-out, and it was in need of new talent. Better yet, it was in need of a new leader.

Even after he managed to awaken, Colin was nonresponsive to most stimuli. Even Dragon did not elicit much from him, though it was clear that he had managed to internalize the gravity of what he had done, and the consequences of that excursion. It was enough that he could still do the work that he had done before… even if it was under the purview of a paramilitary unit primarily comprised of psychopaths and terrorists. For once, Waller didn’t have to give one of her infamous Godfather pitches. Defiant would usher the Suicide Squad into the next godforsaken era.


Role Play Sample:



The room was dark. Completely dark. Colin preferred it that way. Whenever anyone entered, from any direction, they would need to adjust to the new element. Even outside of his armor, he had acclimated to the environment by the first day. It was impossible to surprise him here. Even if they could somehow pierce the darkness, it was a foreign area. It had been made clear that no one was to enter his cell. Not even Amanda Waller. For one reason or another, she had obliged the request. Perhaps it was her one measure of respect for who he had been before Belle Reve. It didn't make much difference now.

He peered through the blinds of his cell. His quarters was one of the only ones in the complex that had such accommodations. No doubt thanks to its previous occupant. It allowed Colin to observe the general area, where the rabble gathered. As the new field leader of Task Force X, it fell to him to keep appraised of his subordinates. Their mannerisms, their strengths, weaknesses, psychological profiles. It was amateur work, of course. He had mastered this skill within the first week of his career.

Colin quietly exhaled. For once, he felt the breath, bouncing off of the glass and onto his beard. This was one of the few times that he did not wear the armor. Part of it was at her request. Part of it was simply a necessity, inconvenient as it was. He gazed into the boneyard below. They were the worst of the worst. These monsters... they certainly weren't people. Could they truly be trusted with safeguarding national security?

It wasn't his call to make.