Name: Anthony Strauss aka Cosmos
Age: 22
Power:
Intuitive Aptitude-This unique power gives Anthony the ability to innately understand and manipulate patterns within complex systems. This gives him the ability to understand the workings, and composition of many mechanical constructs, as well as the DNA structure of other mutants. Through this ability Anthony may adapt in order to learn the mutant abilities of others through one of two ways. This may also allow Anthony to identify deformities or defects in others, such as tumours and other internal problems which inhibit a body’s natural functioning.
1) Autopsy examination. By dissecting a mutant's body, and being able to examine its inner workings first hand, Anthony is able to derive the exact cause of a mutant's abilities, and manifest these abilities through his own DNA.
2) Empathizing. By allowing himself to open himself to another person's life and problem, and by taking true, veritable concern in them, and gaining a desire to help or understand the person's problem, Anthony can learn their abilities, through the process of helping that person develop them to a more efficient/effective level.
As of today, Anthony has acquired the abilities of Telekinesis and Eidetic Memory.
Occupation: Computer programmer/Professional hacker
Side: Sort of on the evil side, but otherwise neutral. he hasn't technically sided ith the brotherhood, and does not know what they are (who knows, he may never side with them, cuz they don't really fit his goals) but right now he'd be the type of person who the x-men would probably consider an enemy. So I'm a free-agent bad guy for the time being I guess?
Personality: Anthony is a cold and slightly twisted individual. As part of his mutation, there is an insatiable hunger to understand mutations of others, and gain more power. This appetite often causes him to have homicidal thoughts, and has given him a slight God complex. He believes himself infallible and perfect. Anthony sees himself as being on another level from other mutants, and feels that his abilities put him in a different level from others. This is not to say he is pure evil however. Much of this negativity is bred from his powers. At one time in his life Anthony was an average guy, and his only desire in life was to do something great, and worthwhile. He simply desired his life to have meaning, to do something more. However his mother's urging to think of himself as special, and to believe he deserved more out of life, coupled with the hunger associated with his power have caused him to develop the delusions he has.
Appearance:
Anthony is a fairly average looking person. He is fairly attractive, tall, and of average build. He has dark hair, and dark eyes. He has impeccable taste and style in dressing, and often looks quite sophisticated and well groomed.
Bio: Anthony had a fairly normal childhood growing up in a lower middle class, single parent family. He was raised by his mother and taught to believe that he was special, and that he was entitled to more than what they had. He was an average child, going to school and making friends. He was always quite intelligent, but rather lazy.
Growing up he was close friends with another boy in his neighbourhood, Phillip Seymour. The two were literally inseparable, spending nearly all their time together. Even the boys` parents rarely saw either one alone, each one spending much of their time at the other`s home. Sleepovers were common.
In high school, their relationship continued, and despite budding hormones the two continued to each be the main occupant of the other`s time. Neither showed much of an interest in girls, and both seemed slightly childish to others, often indulging in imaginative play, or hours of video games. Anthony began to spend more time at Phillips house, as Phillip`s father had a good paying job, so their family often had many luxuries which Anthony`s family did not.
It was in a grade 9 computers class that Anthony first noticed his abilities manifesting. As they began to study the workings of a computer and its systems, Anthony found he was a quicker than average study. Within a few short days he had excelled far beyond the skill level of his own teacher, and seemed to read and understand the coding of a computer as if it were written in English. He soon found himself volunteering in the schools computer labs, and working with the Computer teacher on updating the software at the schools, installing firewalls on the computers, upgrading Ram, and other odd jobs related to computers. As he began to grow close to the computer teacher, the man would often donate old computer ``scraps`` to the boy. Using these spare parts, often old and discarded motherboards and drives, Anthony built his own computer, unable to afford a better one. His own creation however, ran faster and more efficiently than any computer at the school
During this period Anthony and Phillip saw less of each other, but never lost their friendship. Even though much of Anthony`s time was devoted to the study of computers, learning new things all the time, they still had time for their hangouts, sleep overs, and bonding. For his sixteenth birthday, Phillip gave Anthony a brand new expensive computer, loaded with the best add-ons money could buy. Within hours, before Phillip`s eyes, Anthony had it operating better than even the strongest computers in the pentagon. It was like no other computer in the world. It seemed as if Anthony had learned all there was about computers. In this time he had also conquered internet coding, and had become an extremely proficient computer hacker. With nothing challenging him, and no new information to dissect, his brain began to wander, and look for puzzles and challenges elsewhere.
This was how Anthony discovered Phillip’s mutation. To this day Anthony could not describe the feeling that allowed him to identify other mutants. It was almost as if they called to him. While his brain was at rest, it seemed as if he could hear the mutations working inside the bodies of other mutants… an almost mechanical sound, like a ticking, or the meshing of cogs, or even the whir of som electric motor. For each person it was different, but it signalled to his brain that there was something there, that he needed to understand. Something that was running, but was not functioning the way it should be. There was something to be improved; something to be acquired.
As he tuned himself in to this… something, Anthony began to realize his friend was different than average people. It was little things, imperceptible to those who were not looking, and on their own insignificant. But he could hear it. That thing that was inside Phillip worked tirelessly, but there were distinct differences in its noise. At times it seemed laboured, as if extra stress was being placed upon its operation. Anthony began to notice that at these times, similar occurrences were taking place. One noise, a sort of
chugging sound, like a lagging computer might make as it accesses a large database of memory, seemed to happen often during tests, games of trivia, and other times when Phillip used what seemed like a greater than average memory.
The second noise was the constant whirring noise that first alerted Anthony to Phillips’ ability. Anthony noticed that it was quite similar to a computer, and like a computer, at times grew higher in pitch, and more frenzied. At first he could not understand why, but as time went on he began to see. The increase in pitch did not happen nearly as often as the
chugging noise. In fact, it seemed to only occur when Phillip pulled of feats of great luck or skill, like the amazing 3-point shot he made from nearly half court in a game of pickup basketball, or when he threw his impossible to hit curveball. As Anthony watched he began to understand that this whirring was a result of Anthony using another power beyond his great memory: Telekinesis.
When the boy confronted his friend about it, excited that the closest person in his life was also special, he was met with denial. Phillip claimed not to understand what Anthony was talking about and refused to discuss it any further. He tried to put it to the back of his mind and forget it, but as the years went on he found it harder and harder.
The two moved out together, getting a small one bedroom apartment in the city together. The whirring still bothered Anthony, but so far he had done a fair job of ignoring it. He soon found that living with Phillip made it impossible to ignore. Phillip still denied the existence of any power, but Anthony could tell by watching him, and by the mechanical whir that he could hear from Phillip that not only did he indeed have power, but that he had developed in his control over the power, and the
chugging sound, as well as the high pitched whir, had greatly reduced, as if the computer that was Phillips brain ran the “programs” that were his powers more smoothly.
One night it became too much. The insatiable hunger for knowledge finally took over, and Anthony lost track of his own actions. He took a knife from the kitchen, and slipped quietly into the bedroom as Phillip slept in their bed. There was never any intent to kill him. In fact, it had never crossed his mind. He did not even wish to harm Phillip. He simply wanted the answers which Phillip would not give him. What happened as a result simply did not seem to register properly in Anthony’s mind.
He made the first cut just behind Phillip’s ear, gaining quick and direct access to Phillip’s brain stem, where he believed the source of the ability was. The intense pain of the severe wound caused Phillip to wake up screaming, and Anthony panicked. He clasped both hands over Phillips mouth, trying to calm him and keep him quiet. In Anthony’s mind his actions were completely rational, and he could not understand why Phillip was making such a big fuss. This had to be done. If he would just lay there and let Anthony complete his work, it would be fine and they could both go about the rest of their day. When his efforts to calm the other man failed, Anthony gagged him with the bed sheet, as he set about his work once again. He soon found that thought the brainstem was the center of the power, there were also functions carried out in the spine, and multiple other places in the nervous system.
***
Hours later Anthony stared at himself in the mirror, as what he had done sank in for the first time. He was bathed in blood, the crimson liquid smeared across his face and in his hair, his hands completely coated. The sink was covered in blood as well, and the faucet was pouring warm water over the blood soaked kitchen knife. He tentatively moved towards the bedroom, hoping that this was some perverse dream, or some sort of sick joke. As he laid his eyes upon the carnage he had created he could hardly bear it. He let out a pained whimper, raising his hand before him to try and block the image from his sight. As he did so the bedroom door slammed violently shut, closed by Anthony’s mind, and the telekinetic ability he had stolen from his dissected partner.
As he lay there weeping in the hall, he began to realize what had happened. His ability to understand allowed him to understand his own ability, and the sick hunger that now plagued him. This hunger would stop at nothing to gain the information it wanted, and as it stood now, it seemed Anthony was powerless to control it. After some time, he began to take hold of himself. He quickly set about the preparations, cleaning himself off first, and heading to the parking complex outside their building. He took an emergency gas canister from their car, and topped it off by syphoning gas from other vehicles around. He splashed the liquid on the inside and outside of their car, and turned it on, laying a brick on the gas pedal. The engine revved endlessly while Anthony went about his next task.
Coming back to the apartment, he ripped the oven’s gasline from the wall. He placed his computer on top of the oven, and diligently went about coding something into the machine. He then dragged Phillips body to the kitchen and poured alcohol inside the open cavities he had created, this way forcing the body to burn quickly and completely, while leaving no trace of arsen, instead allowing this to be seen as a gas leak. He left the apartment, and was seen leaving the front door of the building 20 minutes before the command short-circuited his computer, causing a spark which ignited the apartment. He then moved to the parking garage, tossing his bloodied clothes, and the knife into the passenger seat of the car, and shifting it into “drive”. It sped forward, smashing through a barricade ad careening over the side of the complex, crashing into the ground below. A fire began underneath the hood and within second the car exploded, becoming nothing more than a pillar of flame. Even if the police suspected foul play, and believed him to be Phillip’s murderer, they would assume his own body was incinerated in this crash.
As he stepped from the parking garage, the man known as Anthony died. Anthony had killed his partner in a moment of passion, and in his guilt had committed suicide by driving off the edge of the parking complex. The man who now walked the streets was no longer Anthony. He was now Cosmos: the most powerful being on this planet. None could control him, and within time, all would bow to him.
Stats:
-Your stats added together may equal a total of 250.
-Any stat has a starting max of 75
Attack: 50
Stamina: 17
Control: 75
Speed: 10
Intelligence: 50
Will: 16
Stealth: 18
Persuasiveness: 14
Subject: 2nd Character- Anthony Strauss 
Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:51 am
