Cryofox
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| Cryofox | |
| Player: @MacroHard | |
| Origin: |
Science |
| Archetype: |
Blaster |
| Threat Level: |
34 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: |
Brigadier General Anthony James Hewitt (Ret.) |
| Known Aliases: |
Fox, Tony |
| Species: |
Human |
| Date of Birth: |
1951 (age 73) |
| Height: |
6' 3" |
| Weight: |
210 lbs |
| Eye Color: |
Green |
| Hair Color: |
Gray |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: |
American |
| Occupation: |
Retired U.S. Army officer |
| Place of Birth: |
Los Angeles, California |
| Base of Operations: |
Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Marital Status: |
Widowed |
| Known Relatives: |
Colonel James H. Hewitt (father, deceased); Gloria P. Hewitt (mother, deceased); Aaron H. Hewitt (brother, alive); John Christopher Hewitt (son, alive) |
| Additional Data | |
| Known Powers: |
Ice manipulation, Flight |
| Known Abilities: |
Leadership, Expert Marksman, Licensed Pilot |
| Known Equipment: |
none |
| [ Source ] | |
Cryofox is an ice-based superhero in Paragon City, Rhode Island. A retired U.S. Army officer and the widowed father of one, Cryofox is among the elder heroes in the city (in terms of age) and serves a father figure for many. He is a member of the Gods of the Golden Age supergroup.
Contents |
History of the Fox
Before The Cape
Cryofox was born Anthony James Hewitt on September 6, 1949 at the Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, California to James and Gloria Hewitt. Born three weeks prematurely, Tony was immediately admitted to the hospital's new neonatal intensive care unit, where he survived on life support for one week. Fourteen days after his birth, the healthy baby was released to his parents. The son of a Marine Corps captain, Tony took a very early interest in the military and by the time he was five years old he had decided he was going to join the Armed Forces when he was of age. His father couldn't have been more proud.
A very bright young man, Tony excelled academically in his primary school years and in 1963 he entered Van Nuys High School at the top of his class. In 1967, he graduated valedictorian and applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was accepted almost immediately and started his life as a soldier in the fall of 1967. Tony exemplified the Academy's commitment to honor and excellence and graduated in the top ten percent of his class in June of 1971. The lanky Hewitt kid had grown into a model soldier, and his father was given the honor of pinning the new lieutenant's gold bars onto his shoulders. Fate had been kind to Tony, as the draw down of troops in Vietnam meant that he was not sent overseas. He was instead assigned to the 372nd Military Police Company based out of Cresaptown, Maryland, as the Army saw fit to put his degree in criminal justice to good use.
In the fall of 1976, Tony, then freshly promoted to the rank of captain, had met a young girl by the name of Victoria while on leave from the base. The two immediately hit it off and began dating after only two weeks. After only two months of dating, Tony proposed to Victoria during a romantic dinner in Baltimore, Maryland. Victoria accepted his proposal and the two were finally wed on July 24, 1977.
Shortly after they were married, the Army had Tony reassigned again. This time, he was sent to Paragon City, Rhode Island to act as the commanding officer of the new 333rd Military Police Company. He was promoted to the rank of major and was sent to his new assignment in September, 1977. The newlyweds moved into a small apartment in the neighborhood of Overbrook and Tony took the reins of "the Triple Three" on September 30, 1977. Tony found Paragon City to be an interesting place, what with a very large collection of superheroes running about. Tony had always heard of superheroes, especially famous ones like the Statesman, Atlas, and Hero 1, but he had never had the opportunity to meet one face to face. Several members of the Triple Three were themselves superheroes, volunteers who had remained in service after the Might for Right Act was repealed. Tony had a deep respect for these men and women. Within the first few months, the Triple Three was running at peak efficiency and Tony was commended for his work with the Army Commendation Medal.
On the homefront, Tony and Victoria had been trying for a child since their wedding and had so far been unsuccessful. In the winter of 1980, Victoria tested positive for pregnancy. The couple was overjoyed to learn they would finally be starting a family. It was learned that the child would be a girl, and they had picked out the name Alexandria after one of Victoria's aunts. Victoria went into labor in the spring of 1981 but complications marred Alexandria's birth. She was stillborn on September 21, 1981. It would be another five years before the couple would try again for a child. When they did, Victoria was found to be pregnant once again. This time, the child was a boy. The couple settled on the name John and crossed their fingers. John was born as healthy as could be in the spring of 1987.
Life for the Hewitts was routine for several years. John grew into a healthy young man and Tony's military career was going swimmingly. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in the winter of 1995, he had turned the Triple Threes into an thriving military body and had earned the unit its first Presidential Unit Citation. The good times seemed to last forever.
Disaster Strikes
When the Rikti invaded the Earth on May 23, 2002, the bright future for the Hewitts and the rest of the world seemed to be shattered. The Triple Threes were activated into full military service within hours of the invasion and Tony was ordered to assist the Rhode Island National Guard and the heroes of Paragon City in securing the city and battling back the invaders. Outgunned and outmatched in every way by the invaders, the Triple Threes found themselves facing certain defeat no matter how hard they fought. Fighting alongside superheroes from all over the world, the Triple Threes and the National Guard threw everything they had at the aliens. For six months, the Threes saw non-stop fighting. Tony led his troops from the front line, rallying them to press on no matter what. Through his dedicated leadership and cunning, the Triple Threes and the handful of superheroes attached to them made it trough the initial stages of the battle with relatively few losses. When the fighting stopped in November with the heart-wrenching loss of Hero 1 and the Omega Team, the Threes had lost only 40% of its ranks. They suffered the fewest casualties of any unit in the Army at the time. For this, and for his unyielding bravery, Tony was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and was promoted to the rank of colonel.
A few weeks later, just as Tony was returning home from his deployment, the nefarious Faultline used earthquake devices to completely level Overbrook and destroy the Overbrook Dam. Tony, Victoria, and John were buried in the rubble of their apartment. Two days after the incident, Tony was pulled from the rubble alive but in serious condition. The body of his wife was extracted hours later. John's body, they said, was never found. Following the loss of his family, Tony was honorably discharged from the Army and his wife was buried with military honors in Croatoa.
Tony spent six months in and out of rehabilitation for his injuries before finally being deemed healthy in the summer of 2003. Out of work and homeless, Tony applied for the very first job that he came across: security for the multi-billion dollar corporation Crey Industries. Tony's prior military experience impressed his superiors, and after only three months of employment he was promoted to Security Chief and was assigned to one of Crey's most secret of facilities somewhere in the neighborhood of Venice. It was here that fate found Tony yet again in the fall of 2005.
Assigned to watch over the transfer of experimental chemicals from their underground storage bunkers to the laboratories topside, Tony was on patrol in the storage facility when something unusual caught his attention. One of the large metal doors to a chemical vault had been jammed open with a piece of lead pipe. Tony immediately investigated the oddity, and he entered the vault with his flashlight and service revolver at the ready. The vault, Vault 12-23C, had been set aside for the very special cryogenic chemicals used in the Crey Cryo Tanks. In the center of the room were several fifty-five gallon drums of the chemicals, neatly stacked four high. As Tony approached the barrels, one of them on the bottom of the stack suddenly exploded. Knocked askew by the explosion, the entire stack came crashing to the floor. Dazed by the explosion, Tony was almost immediately overcome by the onrush of chemical and blacked out from the searing cold almost instantly. For all rights and purposes, Anthony Hewitt was dead.
A Hero Is Born
Tony awoke several hours later still lying on the floor of the room in an inch of the fluid. Every inch of his body was coated with the sticky chemicals, and his uniform had been frozen so completely that he was forced to literally chip it off his body. He stood and carefully made his way to a nearby medical station. Curiously, vapor seemed to radiate from his body, and Tony quickly fired up the machine and let it do its work. Within seconds, the machine started going nuts. While it registered Tony's vitals as being normal, his body temperature was a staggering ten degrees. Believing the machine to be broken, Tony gave the machine a slap. The instant his hand touched the machine it became coated in a thick layer of ice. Puzzled, Tony again touched the frozen machine only to have it become covered in another layer of ice. The chemicals had bonded with Tony on a molecular level, and he found that he was able to freeze anything he wanted with a little concentration. He was even able to freeze the moisture in the air around him.
Armed with his new skills, Tony quietly snagged a spare uniform from his locker and made his way out of the facility. He then went into hiding, disappearing off of Crey's radar entirely.
Three months after his disappearance, Tony took up the moniker of Cryofox and registered himself as a superhero with the city.
The Gods of the Golden Age
Within two weeks of his registration as an official superhero, Cryofox was approached by a hero by the name of Saut Qamar. Saut had taken notice of Cryofox's outfit and the background that he had provided to the city and was intrigued by what he had seen. He suggested that the new hero apply for admission into his super group, the Gods of the Golden Age. Cryofox did so, and shortly thereafter he was contacted by a small group of heroes led by Mr. Virtuous, the commanding officer of the Gods. Mr. Virtuous and the others liked what they saw, and Cryofox was admitted into the group.
A few weeks after his admission, Cryofox met and befriended a younger member of the group called Hyperion Shield. Shield was a likable, if not somewhat brash, young hero that Cryofox seemed to recognize. For weeks, the two operated together sharing no more than a professional relationship. During a routine blood analysis, it was made known to Cryofox that he shared many of the same genetic qualities of Shield. When Shield was told the same thing, he did some investigating and found that Cryofox was indeed Anthony Hewitt, the father that he has presumed dead in the Faultline incident. When the news was broken to Cryofox hours later, the two shared a tearful reunion.
Cryofox now operates as a full-fledged hero in the Gods of the Golden Age. He serves as the group's "old salt," and is looked upon as a father figure to many of the group's younger heroes.
The Second Invasion
During the second invasion, Cryofox was called back into service with the Army after his name was leaked by some old "friends" in the Pentagon. His new skills proved invaluable, and after the war was over he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and officially retired for good.
Powers
The industrial accident bestowed upon Cryofox a multitude of ice-based powers.
Ice Blast
Cryofox is able to create missiles made of pure, solid ice out of thin air and hurl them at his foes. As an expert marksman, he has perfected the art of using blunt trauma to pressure points located on a foes body to disable them with as little serious injury as possible. His most basic ability is what he calls the "snowball." He creates a small, baseball-sized chunk of ice which he throws with great accuracy. He is also able to create a handful of icicles and hurl them like flechettes. His expert control over temperature allows him to turn any of his abilities bitterly cold. His most famous attack is what he calls a "freeze ray." With this, he hits his foes with a blast so cold that they are frozen in a block of ice. The ice is thin, though, and the foes usually break free over a short time. Another more powerful ability is his frost breath. Cryofox is able to blow freezing air from his lungs in a single breath.
Ice Manipulation
Cryofox's mastery over ice does not end with ranged abilities. He is also able to encase his fists in solid blocks of ice, making them frozen clubs. This serves as his only melee ability. Cryofox can freeze the ground he stands on, making it slippery and impossible to tread on, as well as lower his body temperature to the point that anyone coming close shivers uncontrollably. His most draining ability is called "Ice Storm." With this, he calls forth a hail storm from a seemingly clear day to pummel his foes in a large area. A more powerful version of this ability is called Blizzard. Cryofox says that this ability works much like Ice Storm, but it also coats the ground with a thick layer of ice. This ability is so draining that Cryofox becomes too tired to even move for several seconds afterwards.
Flight
While Cryofox is not able to fly naturally, he has found a way to do so. He creates an intensely cold whirlwind of air underneath him which propels him through the air. The air is so cold that anyone within ten feet of him when he is airborne can suffer from frostbite. He refuses to fly in enclosed spaces or if bystanders could be harmed.
Other Abilities
As a former Army officer, Cryofox is also able to lend his leadership abilities to his teammates. His expert abilities keep his teammates safer during combat, as he is able to maneuver them around and away from direct attacks.
Weakness
Cryofox's one and potentially fatal weakness is to fire. Fire is the only thing that can raise his body temperature. Since his body no longer operates at "normal" body temperatures, remaining at above freezing for too long can kill him. When he is "hot," he is unable to use any of his powers and becomes very weak and exasperated.
