Demon's Redemption
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| The Saved Hellion | |
| Demon's Redemption | |
| Player: @Bluhman | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 37 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Avery DuBois |
| Known Aliases: | Demon's Redemption, Redemption |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 24 |
| Height: | 6'6 |
| Weight: | 180 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Dirty Blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Shopkeeper |
| Place of Birth: | Rochester, New York |
| Base of Operations: | Kings Row, Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None known |
| Known Powers | |
| Reconstruction, Holy powers | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Swordsmanship, Intimidation | |
| Equipment | |
| Crusaders' Blade, Enchanted Armor | |
| No additional information available. | |
Demon's Redemption is the redeemed member of the Hellion gang, who through a traumatizing encounter and near death experience, was given a second chance by divine beings.
Contents |
Affiliations
None known
Personality
Off duty, Redemption is easygoing and modest, and quite softspoken; a kindhearted shell of the Hellion member he used to be, which, though part of a malicious gang, was ultimately at heart a good natured being.
On duty, however, Redemption is a no-nonsense, pious, solemn defender of justice. He takes little humor in his teammates, and is infamous for being extremely brutal with his opponents. The two different personalities make some people speculate that Redemption has a multiple-personality disorder, when in truth, he only takes great pride and zeal in his job.
Powers
Redemptions prime power is the ability to reconstruct himself. He is also somewhat adept in usage of clerical mysticism.
Reconstruction
His primary power, given to him by deities, is reconstruction, which is where his body, when cut, bruised, or even severed, is able to piece itself back together using the same parts. It differentiates itself from regeneration by not regrowing damaged tissue, but instead reconnecting it back to the body. The nature of this ability works in such a way that Redemption's body is permanently kept in peak condition and ignores aging effects. This power does not, however, protect Redemption from effects of pain, meaning he can still succumb to ailments such as unconsciousness and potent psionic assault.
Holy Powers
The gods had given Redemption a few other abilities as well as he proved his worth; he was also blessed with the ability to channel his wrath into pure power, temporarily increasing his strength and agility to superhuman levels. His holy powers also enabled him to increase the levels at which he was able to reconstruct himself, eventually to a point that allows him to become temporarily unharmable.
Abilities
Redemption is skilled in his usage of longswords. He also has an uncanny ability of Intimidation
Swordsmanship
Redemption was trained to use a longsword. The training has given him extra strength. This, combined with his bodies reconstruction, means that even with a normal sword, he can cut as deep as four inches into solid rock. His training has also given him a degree of finesse as well. Even without his reconstruction ability, Redemption could very well be a powerful fighter with his sword skill alone.
Intimidation
Since Redemption is often not allowed to outright kill his targets, he must use other methods to stop an evildoer's sinful ways. His prime method of doing this is through shear intimidation. More often than not, his prowess and ferocity in battle is enough to convince even the most staunch of villains to reconsider their evil ways, and surrender to Redemption to be sent to the Zig, though often only at the last moment.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Though a solid and blessed warrior, there are several factors about his powers that can cause troubles for him.
His reconstruction ability, though it does help him recover from wounds, does not stop the pain of being hurt. This means that he can eventually be beaten into unconsciousness if he is not careful in combat, and a lack of full body armor or any sort of spectacular ability to dodge attacks makes him quite easy to deal a painful blow to.
His oath under the title of Ascended also limits Redemption's choice in tactics; he must convince evildoers, through any means possible, to repent their evil ways. This means, in any place where evil lurks, whether another contact wanted him to sneak silently into a base or simply snatch secret plans from enemies, Redemption must attempt to convert evil people to good. More often than not, he ends up having to fight them.
Finally, the deities are simply the final judges for Redemption; if they feel that his ways are too violent, or if he is not taking into consideration his ultimate task, they can withdrawal his reconstruction abilities from him, thus stripping him of the abilities of an Ascended. As it is with Redemption's current fighting style, he straddles a fine line, and one wrong move could possibly end with Redemption losing his power.
Equipment
Redemption's equipment consists of simply the necessities of a warrior of old; the Sword and his Armor.
Crusaders' Blade
The Crusaders' Blade is a well-crafted sword, said to have been forged back in the medieval age, and blessed by the gods. Laborous care has been taken to preserve it since then, and some even believe that the blessing, much like the one on Redemption, kept the blade within peak condition and would prevent it from even breaking.
The Crusaders' blade has faithfully served as Redemptions weapon ever since day one. It has indeed not broken once, and is a remarkably keen blade. So keen, in fact, that it can cut straight through a solid block of ballistics gel with little effort.
Enchanted Armor
The armor, despite their low coverage, have been invaluable to Redemption; he is able to use the pauldrons and gauntlets to deflect oncoming attacks. His boots were also enchanted for him to allow him to fly through the air, earning them the nickname of 'The Angel's Greaves'.
Character History
Early life
Avery Dubois was born deep in the city of Rochester, New York to a very low class family. His family barely had enough money to send him to school, but he was able to graduate regardless. Even back in Rochester, Avery was part of a smalltime gang of friends he hung out with, who often performed petty crimes, such as stealing from a grocery store to make a pizza, or perhaps try and get their hands on a new pair of shoes; they were crimes, but were not entirely malicious. Avery often was caught red handed in these small crimes, though, and his family was often forced to pay a fine for these robberies.
As Avery and his friends grew older, some of them began to dabble into the drug scene, which Avery himself never actually caught onto. Avery was now in his highschool year, and though his family was just about at the end of their finances. Regardless, Avery did the best he could in school, and graduated successfully. However, his family had no money to help Avery pay for college.
Avery was fine with it. Determined to grow up and become independent, he decided his future lay somewhere else than in New York state.
Paragon City and Joining the Hellions
Avery moved into Paragon City and, having an eye for various little trinkets, decided to open up a Pawn Shop over in Kings Row. Avery continued to live a low class life, as the pawnbroking business did not give him the best profit. Regardless, he managed to subsist.
One day, however, his store was raided by a couple of Skulls, armed with bats. Understanding that he could not risk to lose the possessions within his shop, lest be forced into a bigtime financial rut, he did the only thing he could; he grabbed a gun and fought back. As the battle proceeded, three Hellions overheard the ruckus happening within the pawn shop, and decided they'd join in as well.
As they looked through the window, they saw the two skulls, one badly injured from a gunshot wound, and the other looking over at Avery, who held his smoking gun up, aimed at the other skull.
"Um... Ok, I understand where this is going. we're getting out of here", the Skull said apologetically, dropping his bat and raising his arms.
Avery lowered his gun, but continued to eye his opponent. "Get out of here. Now."
The remaining skull walked quietly out of the store. Not even bothering to tend to his wounded gang member, or even pick up the bat he had dropped. The Hellions, impressed with Avery's apparently fierce nature and strong will, entered the pawn shop. Avery, spotting them enter the door, put his gun away and went to tend to the injured skull. Though Avery had been in Paragon City for a while, he had only really been in Kings Row; he had never seen a Hellion in that section of the city before, and thought of them as only some more customers.
"Dude," A hellion said, "You've got a pretty good shot."
"You need one if you want to survive in this crazy city..." Avery responded, "After all, I've seen this happen to other shops. I sure to hell am not going to let it happen to me."
Another hellion, a higher ranking member, walked over to Avery and leaned over him. Putting his hand on his shoulder, the hellion told Avery, "You're going to need more than a gun to stop them..."
"How would you know?" Avery asked.
"Kid," The hellion said, standing up over Avery, "This city is a very dangerous place, I see you understand. These gangs you're dealing with aren't the usual type. These guys got powers to control darkness..."
"Darkness? Are you kidding me?"
"Oh, it only gets worse from there. And shooting this guy?" The hellion gestured toward the shot Skull. "That's perhaps not the wisest thing to do to this sort of gang either. You can bet that they're gonna be back here later tonight. And they'll be back in numbers..."
"Huh... Damn, how will I deal with that?"
"Only one way to do it bub... Thankfully, we know how. We've got the perfect plan..." The hellion once again arched over Avery. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he told him, "All it requires from you is to join us."
Avery looked back in confusion as the Hellion backed off. "What do you mean?"
The Hellion laughed, while his two cronies looked at one another, and began to grin themselves. "Kid, see, we're part of a gang too!"
As soon as the word 'gang' came out of the hellion's mouth, Avery leapt to his feet and quickly took his gun out. "Now don't get hasty! We've got a common enemy, and we're here to help. Just join us, and you'll be safer than you could've ever imagined."
"Damn right!" Another hellion added. "Nobody messes with you when you're part of a gang!"
Avery lowered his gun, and began to consider the deal. He had been part of a gang in the past. His actions had cost him a college education, and the consequences of getting caught were more severe than ever. Even then, there was a certain aspect of thrill that Avery had missed, and now that he was older, independent, and more keen than ever, perhaps getting caught would be less likely...
"It's a deal, friend." And with those words said, the hellion and Avery shook hands. "Now, what's this plan you propose?"...
Later that night, as the Hellion had told Avery, a dozen of skulls showed up at Avery's pawn shop. The shop was locked up for the night, but that wouldn't stop the skulls from breaking in and getting revenge on this rather rash, trigger-happy shopkeep that had shot down one of their men. They broke in and began to storm the building... Nobody was there. They found nothing aside from the rooms that Avery had lived in. Bewildered, the Skulls grouped back up in the main shop room.
"What's going on?" The lead skull asked the group. "Why is this place empty?"
"Maybe he doesn't live here", a skull suggested.
"Don't be silly, Bone head!" A skull next to him blurted out. "There is clearly a living space on the second floor of this store... Um, maybe he went out to a night club or something?"
"Perhaps..." The lead skull said with annoyance. "We'll have to wait here for the shopkeep to come back.. THEN he's gonna get it."
So they waited, keeping low profile, but messing around with Avery's stuff; toying with his wares, watching his TV, and eating food from his fridge. It was 2:00 AM when one skull heard a faint beeping noise from within one of the walls. "I wonder what that is..." He asked himself out loud. The beeping suddenly got louder, and before he knew it, the entire shop was up in flames. The Hellions had set up a bomb within Avery's shop, incinerating the skulls within. Avery had left everything behind him. He was now all Hellion material.
Descent
Avery still had a life beside his hellion self, though. He'd often go out in the city, visiting various restaurants and theaters, enjoying the sights and things to do within the city. While doing this, he met a girl who went by the name of Bethany Walls. The two eventually grew to love one another. As time went on, though, Bethany eventually found out about his Hellion tendencies, and voiced some opposition to his actions with the gang. Avery had promised her several times that he'd leave the gang when he could get enough money to start up an independent life again. Secretly, though, Avery hoped she could eventually live with him being a gang member. For him, this was the life to be had.
Soon, it was time for Avery to become the next rank within the Hellions; a Fallen. He'd get the power of one of their artifacts, only after performing an exclusive task for the gang. This task consisted of murdering a randomly chosen innocent from off the street, who would be ritually prepared to sacrifice to the dark gods.
Avery thought he was prepared; he thought he'd literally kill anyone to get to the next rank, but when the sacrifice was brought in, he looked in shock, as it was revealed to be his very own girlfriend, Bethany. Avery looked at her, unconscious, ready to be killed by Avery's knife...
"I can't." He said, dropping his knife to the ground.
"What's the matter?" A lead hellion asked Avery; the very same one that had invited him into the gang.
"I can't kill this person, she's someone I love!"
"Come on Avery. Whatever we pick for you to kill, you gotta do it to get that next rank. I mean, we spent an hour trying to get this girl... She seemed to know we were after her!"
"Can't blame her though." A middle-aged, veteran member exclaimed. "She's part of one of the mystic families we take sacrifices from."
Avery then realized the true nature as to why Bethany had such a strong dislike towards the Hellions; when Avery had asked her about the rest of her family, she refused to respond. Now, he knew that she didn't talk about this because they were killed by the very members of this gang that stood with him now.
"Why... didn't she tell me earlier?" Avery asked himself quietly, looking on in shock.
"Times a-wasting Avery. I want to see some red!" The lead hellion said, standing up onto his feet, walking toward Avery and Bethany.
"No!!" Avery said, pusing the Hellion away. "I've seen what has happened to her from this. She was in pain all this time... And all I want to do is help her!"
The hellion saw Avery's determination not to kill Bethany. "Alright. If you are so bent on not killing her... Well, hate to say it kid," The hellion began to reach for his shotgun. Other hellions began to follow his lead, picking up their own weapons. "If you aren't gonna do it, then we can't keep you in this gang." With that, the hellion aimed the shotgun at Bethany, and pulled the trigger.
Bethany was dead, and Avery was in the Hellion gang base, surrounded by the members, now armed and closing in on Avery. The exit was near, however, and without a word being said, he ran for his life right out the door.
"Get him!" The lead hellion commanded, as he and his cronies ran after Avery. It was late at night, and the gang chased Avery for several blocks, toting their bats and guns and torches. Eventually, Avery came upon a church, which happened to be unlocked. Avery opened the heavy wooden door as fast as he could, slammed it behind him, and pulled the lock shut. Avery was tired, trapped, and for the first time in his life, he now had nothing.
There was nothing left to do but pray. He got down on his knees in front of the altar, eyes full of tears, and said, "Please... If there really is anyone up there, I need to be saved... I realize how these acts of crime can cause such pain... God, help me..."
The doors finally yeilded to the banging of the Hellion's weapons against it. "Game over." The lead hellion said, drawing out his shotgun and aiming it at Avery.
Avery thought it was all over. All he did was continue to pray. "That won't really do you any good you know." Avery said nothing. "...Forget it. Open fire!" With those two words, the hellions began blasting Avery. Barrages of Bullets went into Avery, puncturing his flesh. After a few seconds of fire at Avery, they stopped, and Avery, thoroughly perforated, fell to the ground, limp, bleeding and motionless.
The Hellions, taking Avery for dead, left the scene. The lead hellion, stayed after for a while. He walked up to the body of Avery, and looked down at the body.
"Apologies. Hopefully, in some next life, you won't get tangled up with the wrong people." With that, he turned around and left with the rest of his gang.
A few minutes later, by some divine force, the blood on the ground began to flow back into Avery. The wounded flesh began to reattach itself, slowly forcing the bullets stuck within Avery's body out. Eventually, Avery's body was completely uninjured. Avery regained consciousness, and rose back to his feet, looking at a pile of clean bullets that lay in the area Avery's mangled body once lay.
"What just happened?" Avery asked himself. Regardless, Avery knew that this was no time to ask questions. He left the church and fled into the night..
The beginning of Redemption
Next morning, Avery returned to the church he had been locked in. The door was broken still, but a rather disgruntled repairman was working on it. In the church was a bishop, who stood nearby the pile of bullets, looking at them with confusion.
"Um... Hello?" Avery asked the Bishop.
"Hm?" The bishop turned around and looked at Avery. His shirt was full of bullet holes from last night, but Avery himself was unharmed. "I'm guessing you were the person that was here last night and caused this mess..."
"I'd explain, but I... Don't think you'd believe me entirely."
The Bishop just chuckled softly, and said, "Oh, don't worry. I think I understand enough to see what happened here. Thing is, I do believe that you will need some explanations yourself. Follow me."
The Bishop and Avery headed down into a secret passage behind the front wall of the church. The passage lead to a fairly messy undercroft, which was decorated with a variety of tapestries, a couple of chairs, and an amoire. Various books and other strange, ancient looking trinkets lay around the area.
"This", the Bishop began, "Is a bit of a sanctuary of mine."
"Why are you taking me down here?" Avery asked.
The Bishop looked back at Avery. There was much to be explained to him about the nature of his powers, so he decided to get to the basics. "I'll explain, my boy. See, this sanctuary is for a certain person that we know as the Ascended. This idea of an Ascended is a holy warrior who was blessed with holy powers by the gods. They are chosen on basis on those who show the most promise to follow their duty."
"Ok, that's terribly interesting, but I definitely don't think I'm one of those... Am I?"
"Are you the man who took a full frontal barrage of gunfire and survived? The bullets on the ground and the status of your clothing seem to suggest so."
"Wait, but I thought I was dead! Those bullets went straight into me! I can't... Deflect bullets like any of those other guys flying around in combat suits can!"
"Then so be that. The point is, you are one of these ascended, meaning you have been chosen by the gods to carry out a crusade against the evil."
"So what you're saying is that I've been given power by the gods and now need to fight bad guys? I'm really beginning to not like where this is"
Before Avery could finish his statement, The bishop took out a knife and stabbed Avery in the gut. Avery looked in shock at the bishop, then grabbed his robes. "W-why?" Avery asked him while he bled.
"Oh, calm down, you're fine."
Avery began to feel the sharp pain in his gut dull. He looked down, and saw that there was no injury on his body where he had been stabbed. No blood, no cut, only a hole where the knife had entered.
"...So I am an ascended?"
"If you can take a knife to the belly and then reconstruct your flesh from that, then I'd guess yes. Anyway, as an ascended, you will have to fight evil, and will thus need the necessary items to do so. Are you willing to undertake this task?"
Avery didn't need to really think about the decision; as it was right now, both the Skulls and Hellions would be on his tracks, and without a home to stay safe in, as well as a criminal record, he wouldn't be safe from the law itself either.
"I accept."
"Glad to hear it. I am Alexander Gray; I shall help you on your fight against evil. As an ascended, you will first need to be tested on how well you can follow your duties. Now, I shall give you your equipment to fight evil with." The Bishop opened up the amoire, and took out a suit of leather armor and a broadsword; a dark suit with many strange, binding straps. Avery looked at it with a bit of distaste.
"This is a temporary outfit." Alexander explained. "As soon as you prove to the gods that you are the right man for this job, we shall give you a more fitting outfit. Now, for your blade..." Alexander handed Avery the blade; a large and heavy one. "This is the blade you shall use until you prove yourself; it's a heavy, but trusty weapon. Use it well."
Avery changed into the outfit and equipped his sword. "Very good," Alexander said. "Now, you shall be known as The Demon's Redemption; From the evil deeds you had once done, you shall prove you can be a force of good, and rise from the ashes of hell and become closer to god."
With that, Avery was off, and ready to fight for good. His Quest for Redemption had begun.
To Be Continued!
