Commander Amazing
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Contents |
Affiliations
Love Interest
Friends & Allies
Arch Villains & Villains
- Lord Recluse -- Arch Villain
- Charles Psion -- Passive Arch-Nemesis
- Catalina 6.7, 5.7, and All Other Series. -- Solider Villain
- Cold Snap' -- Solider Villain
Personality
Amazing can best be described as headstrong, and at times, cocky. Unable to fall back or back down from any villain, be it a purse snatcher or a Mastermind with 8 bio-organic legs on his back, Commander Amazing knows that everyone has their weaknesses. Often described as the Charisma or Heart of The Justice Guard, Amazing has no problem charging headlong into battle, which can lead to large, if not humorous, engagements.
Often leading teams rather then following, Amazing's charismatic persona tends to be a thrusting piston in a engine of justice, leading to the often referred to "Amazing Teams" he led in his younger years and continues to this day.
Equipment
Originally using a State-of-the-Art Power Suit to fight crime, Amazing's signature A and never ending attacks tend to set him out of the crowd. However over time, it appears that pieces of his suit have vanished, yet he maintains his vigor, leading to the conclusion that something has strengthened him over his time in the field.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Commander Amazing's weakness is the same as his signature strength: his tenaciousness, or as some have called, his stubborn bullheadedness. Never one to back down from a great threat, including the omnipotent Lord Recluse, have landed this hero in the ER more times then doctors can count. Many have noted this could lead to a possible crack in Amazing's persona, yet others believe it's not a weakness but a character flaw, and others have said they simply don't care if he gets results. The other weakness could be his temper, despite having what seems to be endless patience with things, once the barrier of patience is gone, the angry side of Amazing is something seldom seen, but nonetheless, nothing pretty either.
Character History
Jeremy Servanta was a moderately successful business man. He was C.E.O. of a business that ran contract for the government, small projects, including steel for the “War Wall” Project of Paragon. His ability to find small ventures and turn them into major payoffs were known in the small business circle, but were not nearly noteworthy enough to garner anything other then a chuckle from large companies like Crey.
Women, riches and fame were all at his disposal, yet Jeremy was constantly depressed about things. Unable to find anything that would lighten his dull mood for more then a few hours, he searched high and low for things, anything to take away the dull world. Martial arts, train building, skeet shooting, nothing worked.
The missing piece of Jeremy’s life would be revealed to him not in a passing fad or a hobby farm, but in the last place he would have thought to look. On his way one morning to the office in Steel Canyon, he noticed a woman in trouble, a gang member of The Outcasts had accosted a passerby and was in the process of relieving her of everything she owned, both in her purse and other areas.
He first turned and walked on by, sure that one of the registered heroes would save her. Hearing her cry again, he decided to bite the bullet and take on the mugger by himself. The resulting battle was less then heroic, the banger, after all had a decent advantage of meta-human powers, but rather then run, Jeremy stood and fought.
Martial arts being one of his more devoted hobbies, he easily disarmed the gang member and sent a crane kick to his head, resulting the thug being rendered completely unconscious! The woman he saved was more then happy, exclaiming “You are so Amazing!” before she promptly ran off to file a report on the gang.
The end result of this incident was that Jeremy had found the piece that was missing from his life, in the last place he would have looked. Knowing that he wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the super powered mobs of Paragon, he knew he needed something. Battle Armor.
Utilizing his Research and Development at his mediocre sized firm, he gave them the goal of making a power suit, under the guise of a fictitious government contract. Many times they came back to him and many times they failed. It wasn’t until a new hire, one Dr. Richard Dredskoff, that the project took new directions. Richard decided to take a different direction, implementing cybernetics as well as subtle AI into the suit he had designed. The exact specifications are unknown to this day, but what is known is that the first trail of the suit was a enormous success.
Richard was promoted to Department Head of R & D at Servanta Technologies with the success of the suit. It was only the good doctor and a few trusted friends who knew what the suit’s true purpose was. None however, knew WHO was going to be using the suit. Eager and willing, Jeremy took his suit, walked into the Hero Registry in Atlas, and stopped dead in his tracks.
He hadn’t a name.
Pondering in line, he felt pressured as the line complained to him about holding it up. Searching he remembered what the lady he had saved had said, and took it to the form he filled out. After many tries, including Amazing Man, Mr. Amazing, he gave one final try, and used the name “Commander Amazing” and strangely, they stamped approved on it. The true reason of him using “Commander” is unknown to this day.
What is known is that Amazing took to the streets, knocking out criminals left and right. He found that his leadership abilities he had from running a company crossed over to the life of crime fighting he now had embraced. He became well known for his “Amazing Teams” in the lower hero circles.
The 20's
Upon reaching Security Level 20, he was already reaching Regional recognition when Statesman send a message to Amazing from the Freedom Phalanx Hall. He wanted him to personally lead a team to help defend The Hero One Freedom Memorial, which was apparently under attack by a large gang of The Lost, horrible Human/Rikti cross experiments from below the sewer system, the depths of Paragon. Seeing the need for good, Amazing accepted the mission and lead a team into the memorial. Knocking around The Lost, he delivered the final kick that knocked out the Rikti leader of the lost, safely securing the Time Capsule left by Omega team prior to it’s journey into the Rikti Dimension.
Gaining the headlines for that day, Amazing was congratulated by the ever reclusive Statesman, who personally thanked the young hero in City Hall’s entrance and bestowed upon him the honor of wearing a cape. (Statesman had since the Rikti war, asked all heroes to take off their capes in honor of Hero One’s sacrifice…)
He also told the newcomer to keep up the good work, a comment Amazing has always used as a platform to justify things to this day.
The 30's & 40's
Upon being granted Security Level 30, Amazing was instrumental in the saving of several ICON stores in various sections of the city, all victims of shakedown methods. In return for his kindness, Serge’, along with other store managers gave Amazing full access to free outfits, a necessity for the growing hero. Notable during his 30’s was the special forces missions he completed for the Freedom Phalanx. Positron sent him after a minion of Dr. Vahzilok, while Synapse sent him after the great Clockwork King. Sister Psyche, although hesitant after probing into Amazing’s mind, gave him the task of taking down the Freakshow. Moonfire charged him with being an instrument in the Kheldian war, Citidel sent him full force after the reconstructed Council, Katie Hannon waged war with him on the Cabel. Manticore, who actually kind of liked Amazing’s somewhat headstrong and some would say pompous attitude, teamed with him to help send a mighty blow into the conglomerate of Crey Industries. Amazing received national recognition when he was sent on a minor mission for Ernesto Hess, a minor altercation with the Council resulted in a plan revealed of releasing a enormous Robot, the size of a volcano (which is where it was kept oddly enough) on the city. As the robot sprang to life, Amazing along with his team, which included the mighty Soul-star, attacked it before it could damage anything but it’s own makers. Upon inspecting the ruins, Statesman made yet another comment (or as time would tell, a mistake) by telling Amazing “Good job”. It is evident that such another robot may be in the works in other locations however… Saving the Paragon City Power Plant became a everyday thing for most of Amazing’s friends, he took them in numerous times to defend it from all manners of evil, Freakshow, sky Raiders and even the Meta-human Rikti. Only one such loss was ever documented and Super Nova was prevented after Amazing’s team fell, by the “Embodiment of Patriotism”, the mighty Liberty Guard, who decided to simply bend the metal around the core to prevent it from exploding. Awards were another thing that became everyday for Commander Amazing. He received hordes of them on a weekly basis at the medal giving ceremony. Taking down “x” number of goons, along with The Stalward medal, the Freedom Cross, the Statesman Star, even being declared an honorary peace bringer (ironic, as the story will tell later). Amazing even, the papers put it, “Saved Christmas”, as strange as it sounds. The omnipotent Lord Recluse had sent his troops in from the Rogue Isle to steal hordes of presents from the needy and orphans, and starving needy orphans. The bandits made off with them and landed in the Rogue Isles, making it impossible for anyone from the United States to retrieve them due to treaties signed. Amazing however, violated International Law and marched straight into the Rogue Isles with a team, wiping the floor with the small detachment that was guarding them and retrieved the cargo. It could have been an international crisis, had the President not defused the situation. It was later “discovered” that the agents from the Rogue Isles were in fact Rogue to begin with and did not speak for the actions of the country. Amazing was granted amnesty due to his intentions being in the proper place, as was the rest of his team. As he progressed into his lower 40’s, Amazing gained city recognition again by taking Portal Missions, often timed bringing back the “Praetorian” version of many well noted heroes to justice, only to have them break out again. Grinding day after day the tolls of battle seemed to take it’s toll on the good Commander. Despite numerous reports of retirement, Amazing was adamant, staying the course, he finally fell in battle one day, and didn’t get up right away.
Amazing had burned himself out.
Taking the advice with a grain of salt that he needed to chill out, Amazing received word that very day he needed to get back to his company. It seemed that during his great feats of justice, he had forgotten to attend his business, a negligence that was about to cost him his entire fortune.
Dropping off the radar for about half a year, Amazing resumed his role as Jeremy. He did the best to revive it, and despite many gallant attempts, he simply could not bring the company back to life. A Government agency that had been working with Servanta Industries made a buy out offer. Amazing went to the table and argued that he could only let the company into their hands if they kept all the people that had worked for him, and he would step down. After much debate the offer was accepted and Jeremy sold most of his controlling interest at a modest rate, placing them in a high yield account and living off the interest. He is still listed as an outside consultant, yet seldom used in that aspect.
Having put his house in order, Jeremy assumed his role as Amazing, just in time, as fate would have it, to take part in a weekend of cleaning up the city.
Apparently Amazing wasn’t the only one who took a break, and the city was beginning to collapse with crime. In a massive move by the Phalanx and City Hall, it was declared that anyone who took in criminals during that particular weekend would received a double chance at receiving a higher Security level.
The 50's and Beyond
After attaining level 50, the highest anyone could attain at this point, Amazing was approached with a special offer from the Freedom Phalanx. It appeared that public outcry was high enough and he had been given so much publicity on his feats, that they were considering asking him into the Freedom Phalanx. Positron, apparently had drawn the small straw and talked to Amazing about it. After a few moments of discussing it, Amazing accepted with the stipulation that it would be done publicly.
The ceremony was a success, and the acceptance was complete. However, Amazing decided to take the role as a trainer in Atlas Park, a stone’s throw away from Ms. Liberty.
During this time, the two of them talked and the more he heard of Statesman’s power, the more he became curious about it’s source, where he’d gotten it.
Off peak hours he’d wander to the Freedom Phalanx Base and try to start small talk with Statesman, most of the time he blew him off, but he slowly gathered clues about places he spoke of and things he said made sense eventually. Along with that he’d talk with the other members of the Freedom Phalanx, about what they knew about Statesman and his origin. He gathered enough intel on the Well of Furies, as he’d heard it called, that Statesman came to him one day and asked him to stop.
Amazing was a bit taken back and became angry eventually, accusing Statesman of wanting the power for himself. Statesman made it clear it was the opposite, and that he “wouldn’t wish these powers on anyone”. The two got into an argument, and Amazing walked off, continuing his search. He came into more information by stooping to dealing with the Malta, who told him a considerable amount more then he had found before, including that Stefan Richter was in fact the man known as Lord Recluse now, and that the great Statesman and Recluse were once close friends. However his search for knowledge would lead him down a very lethal path....
Sometime in early 2006, the gang and crime levels sky rocketed, for some unknown reason and seemed to be organized, and uniting against Paragon‘s even mightiest heroes and no one knew why. The only one capable of coordinating such a unilateral strike in the city was Lord Recluse, omnipotent leader and ruler of the Rogue Isles. A tip led the Freedom Phalanx to believe that the dark lord himself would be at a special meeting with a off world contact, possibly trading weapons and technology, or at least attempting to make contact for such later endeavors. As fate would have it, Statesman chose Amazing and his friend, Soul-star to investigate this far fetched lead, as it was called, in the Rikti Crash Site.
Disobeying Statesman’s stern warning not to engage Recluse if he were to find him, the cocky scrapper decided to go one on one with the dark spider lord. Naturally, Amazing was no match for the Arch-Villain, and was quickly beat down, as was his kheldian friend, Soul-star.
Using a last ditch effort, which involved synthetic samples from the well of furies he had obtained during a spec-op mission, Amazing powered back against Recluse for a moment, surprising and annoying him.
The tide turned quickly as the power wore off, and the confrontation turned deadly as Recluse smashed the medi-port on Amazing’s belt. Pulling back fist, he sent it with demi-god like power into his body, mortally wounding Amazing. Only by the timely arrival of Statesman was Recluse driven back, he and the rest of the Freedom Phalanx arrived after Soul-star had made a successful radio transmission to them during the fight.
Trying to heal his friend, Soul-star was unable to repair the damage, and fell into despair. As luck would have it, a Kheldian appeared, one who was without a body and needed a host. Promising to save the host with the fusion, it took Soul-star’s word that Amazing was a life worth saving.
The Kheldian Commander
The fusion was a success, and Amazing was alive once more, however the celebration ended abruptly, as Statesman stepped in, sternly implementing a immediate and indefinite suspension from his hero status!
Not much is documented about Commander Amazing's time as a Kheldian. It is known that Soul-star took him and taught him the ways of the Kheldian, and that for a time they were in the same group, the Starlight Corps.
It's known that several things happened to Amazing and Soul-star during their time patrolling each planet, ranging from minor diplomatic disputes to full blown conflicts. There are even a few accounts of planets being blown up, either as a result of or an indirect result of things Amazing may or may not have done.
What is known is that for a good part of half a year, Amazing was no longer on Earth.
Amazing, as we know him, did not notice time pass, persay. The melding of the two had put him into a dormant state, which happens from time to time with Kheldian mergers. The host's concisenesses is so in need of rest and recovery it simply lets the other entity take complete control. In this case during the whole 6 months Amazing was gone, it seemed like 2 hours at best. Amazing was not unaware that time had past, nor was he shocked to find many things had changed in Paragon, namely the arrival of Arachnos Forces in Faultline and other areas of town.
Statesman still had Amazing's status suspended, and nothing could be done about it. Amazing sat back and watched as his beloved city tried it's best to fight back the Arachnos hordes. To his shock, they were able to do so with little issue. It would seem a sudden surge in Heroes had helped back up the numbers lost in the war, and they were winning! Amazing was delighted and a bit saddened at that fact. He had hoped to return to a world where he would have a place, instead he seemed to be a tale told to children now, and his mighty martial arts was not needed as much as the new breed was.
He slowly started slumping into himself, with no hero-ing to do, he turned to books again, researching notes and journals of the Well of Furies. He even found a few callings in a museum curator's writings back in the early part of the 1900's that indicated Statesman, along with his friends, had robbed his place of employment. All this was very interesting and time consuming, quickly engulfing Amazing in research again, and his quest to obtain power like that of Statesman. The same power he felt wasn't being used to it's full potential, and was misused by Lord Recluse.
Statesman's Task of Force
Time passed, as time would, and Amazing's days were filled with recounting the times of old. This pleasant era would soon be interrupted again by fate....
During his suspension, Amazing took time out to reflect on life, and read his heart out on mythology. Focusing on the Well of Furies, he would sometimes lose himself in libraries around the world. Despite the knowledge being contained,
It was only when Statesman himself, along with Positron, came to him was his boredom broken.
They required a hero of his stature to research an issue using a series of operations that had been concerning them. The reason he chose Amazing was one of several factors, one of which was he was the only one not doing anything, another was he was, despite what he’d like to admit, somewhat resourceful and competent in the field, and finally, he was not on Recluse’s radar as it came to “A” list heroes.
Amazing agreed, acknowledging he was both insulted and honored at the same time, and took a team with him, comprised of his friend, Liberty Guard, Soul-star, Fire King, and a few others.
Much stealth, charging, attacking and research later, it was discovered that Recluse’s think tank had invented a way to siphon the powers of every hero in the world and infuse it into him, making him the most powerful person on the planet!
The inventor behind it, Dr. Aeon, was more the helpful to Amazing as soon as he realized he’d be stripped of his powers as well and explained certain weaknesses in the four towers that comprised the device. Information in hand, Amazing briefed Statesman, and with his orders clear, set out with his Team Amazing to destroy the Web, and save the world from ultimate destruction, leaving by chopper to the heart of the mastermind’s operations: Grandville.
After mowing through the ground troops protecting the entrance to Grandville, Amazing powered through with his team, overcoming the main factions leaders within Arachnos, Ghostwidow, Black Scorpion, Mako, and Scirocco. Plowing through the support troops dropped by Arachnos via flier, Recluse made his appearance, powering up the Web and beginning his plan for world domination.
To make matters worse, Dreadnot, who seemed to have some sort of personal vendetta against Amazing, was leading the onslaught with the Arachnos Flier on his side. After a stand off with Dreadnot and his prime bodyguard, Catalina 6.7, Amazing and Liberty Guard overcame them and downed the hovercraft, regrouping as Recluse monologued.
One by one each of his team fell and recovered back to a fallback point, every attack method was being pushed back like they were civilians fighting a giant monster in Perez Park with sticks.
Again, Amazing fought bravely, his longtime friend tanking the Mastermind with limited results, even after triggering his internal unstoppable gravity trick, Recluse chiseled away at him. The end seemed near, despite having brought down all but the last tower.
Recluse ordered his repair crews after it, with Dreadnot leading the way. As the team faced off against him, and a army of Bane Spiders, a critical error occurred. Dreadnot ordered the repair team to finish before specific calibrations on the tower were fixed, leading the device to drain power, but send it into anyone that got into it’s path. The lesser known Mastermind knew not what he did that day by doing that.
As Amazing seemed trapped and alone in a helpless situation, he summoned something inside him for what is now called his Moment of Glory, fighting back and taking the blows from Recluse, time and time again, until the moment passed. Summoning the last of what was left he rebounded off a wall to hit Recluse with an Eagle Claw, only to be blasted by a high energy wave from the last tower meant for Recluse.
Paying no mind to it, Recluse picked up the Commander and began to crush his windpipe, citing to him he’d gone from an amusing annoyance to a fly in his ointment.
It was at that moment, something changed in Amazing, triggering a massive shift in the battle. Amazing’s fists began to glow with energy, similar to Recluse, and he fought back the mastermind, his defenses and ability to resist increasing phonemically. As the final punch was throw, Amazing stood victorious over Recluse. He had little time to gloat however, for his last images were that of Recluse beaten, to the world turning upside down on him as his team ran towards him as he blacked out.
A New Guard
Jeremy awoke to find out his body had undergone a transformation thanks to the accident at the WEB. The system had just finished extracting the database filing’s for Statesman when Dead-Eye Eagle had reversed the process and began to re-pipe the powers of all the meta humans back to their owners.
The best anyone could conclude, the beam that hit Jeremy had been filled with Statesman’s powers, and as soon as the process reversed, Recluse’s mental superiority began to siphon out of Stefan, hitting Jeremy and infusing him with the smallest amounts of each meta human’s gifts.
Tests after tests did nothing more then confirm that which was already surmised. Games ands Theory, Tactics and Strategy, Jeremy displayed heightened senses in the matter then he originally had.
The same was found with physical strength and invulnerability. Several rather dangerous tests concluded that while no where near as durable as Statesman, Jeremy’s body had been transformed from a typical non-meta to a higher end meta human, bullet proof, knife proof and able to withstand abnormal kinetic hits that could topple most.
The powers that Jeremy had received were welcomed by him, and he soon became nearly drunk with the ability to use his powers for good. He even began to speak of forming his own Super Group with his longtime friend, Liberty Guard.
It was at that moment Statesman put his foot down and informed Jeremy that despite his gifts, it was the defender of Paragon’s considerate opinion that Jeremy wasn’t fit to command just yet. A long argument ensued until finally Jeremy caved into the demands of the elder Tanker and agreed to be put under the watchful eye of Officer Archstrike of the PPD, who would periodically check in with the Freedom Phalanx to ensure Jeremy’s half cocked attitude was both being curbed and not bleeding through into his new powers.
Under the eye of his Liason, both liberty Guard and Commander Amazing formed The Justice Guard, a tertiary group of meta humans who could be activated in time of city or world crisis to help the Freedom Phalanx and the Vindicators if need be.
It was a beginning of a new age for everyone, but this Amazing story was far from over, in fact, it was just starting..
Notes
Amazing's name changed from Captain to Commander due to issues with the naming policy (despite the fact page 11 tells you to use it.) A time ripple was blamed and retconned everything o.0 Please adjust the name if you refer to it ^_^
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