North Shield II
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| North Shield | |
| Player: | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tanker |
| Security Level: | 48 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Alex Smith |
| Known Aliases: | North Shield, Twilight's Fist |
| Species: | Presumed Human |
| Age: | 24 |
| Height: | 6'1'' |
| Weight: | 175lbs |
| Eye Color: | Hazel |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Praetorian (Canadian heritage) |
| Occupation: | Former Praetorian resistance member, Dock Worker in Independence Port |
| Place of Birth: | Praetoria |
| Base of Operations: | Apartment in King's Row |
| Marital Status: | single |
| Known Relatives: | North Strike (villain/father), North Shield (extra-dimensional father, deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Super strength, invulnerability/regeneration, flight, limited energy control. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Expert martial arts training. | |
| Equipment | |
| None. | |
| No additional information available. | |
- North Shield II has been retconned into non-existance. See North Shield for current character.**
Contents |
Origin
In the Praetorian universe, the birth of Alex Smith was the result of a rape on the part of North Strike, the Praetorian North Shield. When North Strike discovered his son's existence, he quickly attempted to "take care" of the problem. He beat Smith's mother to death, and thought to have done the same to him. Being the son of a mutant, Smith's genetic mutation manifested and healed him of his wounds entirely. After roaming the streets of Praetoria as an orphan, he was eventually picked up by a martial arts master who taught him everything he knew. Smith quickly became a master at harnessing the powerful energies of his body, and before long the student had outdone the master. He went on his way, vowing to avenge his mother's death. He called himself Twilight's Fist, and set about finding his father. He only knew that North Strike was one of Praetor White's Powers Division enforcers, and so he started there.
He willingly enlisted in Powers Division in search of his murderous father. The trail led him throughout Praetoria, seemingly doing the bidding of Emperor Cole while fighting his regime underground with the resistance. In the end, he chased North Strike across dimensions into Primal Earth, where he mistakenly attacked North Shield thinking him to be his father in disguise. Having found a replacement for his dead son, North Shield adopted Twilight's Fist as his sidekick and roamed the globe with him in search of North Strike. The final battle between the two seemingly indestructible men ended in the death of North Shield. As he lay dying in the street, a tendril of white energy erupted from North Shield's fatal wound and wrapped itself around the incapacitated Twilight's Fist. The tendril revived him, and released in him a strength and power he had never felt before. It unlocked his genetic potential, just like it had done for North Shield, and further advanced his mutation. Rather than simply regenerating, he became as invulnerable as his father, and gained his super-human strength as well. The tendril released him, also gifting him with the power of flight, which he used to escape with North Shield's body. A single thought was transferred through the tendril from the dying hero.
The son had to become the father.
And so the boy known as Twilight's Fist became the man known as North Shield. He inherited not only the name and costume, but the responsibilities of North Shield. He would have to be the hero his extra-dimensional father was to defeat the villain his true father is. He would be a vigilante no more.
Prodigal Son (Death of North Shield I)
North Shield had had a rough night. A mission to rescue some scientists from Crey had gone haywire, the scientists discovered dead in the depths of the Crey lab where they were being forced to work on God knows what. Sure, he had beaten most of the security staff senseless and dismantled Crey's entire operation down there, but in the end he had failed. The scientists were executed as soon as the first guard was reported missing. Their deaths weighed heavily on him. He could barely sleep, so he drowned the thoughts out with his good friend Jack.
It wasn't like him. Two hundred years living in this world had taught him to always be wary. Always on guard. The assassin was quiet, sure, but not quiet enough. North Shield opened his eyes, awakened by the ruffling of his bed sheet. Ruffled by a man, dressed in a black and white tightsuit, hovering over him. The assassin's uniform bore a striking resemblance to his own, except for minor differences in pattern and color. The symbol, too. A crescent moon. As soon as North Shield opened his eyes, the man struck. To any normal man, it would have been a killing blow. A strong, but not strong enough, strike to the throat, followed by another to the temple. The second blow dazed him for a moment, but his wits quickly returned and he followed up with a right hook that swept the black-clad assassin from the bed and sent him flying into the far wall.
The plaster and cheap particle wood beams gave way, and the man collapsed into the wall. North Shield rose from his bed, flexing the "muscles" of his cybernetic right arm. He had felt flesh ripping and the shattering of bones. Most likely a pulverized jaw-bone. The assassin didn't move, for a moment. As North Shield began making his way over to the limp body, he suddenly jerked free from the wall and gracefully regained his footing, taking up a defensive position. His jaw was missing some skin from it and was clearly dislocated badly. But then, slowly, it began to correct itself. The skin, too, seemed to regrow. It covered up the wound and left it bloody, but completely healed. A super-powered assassin. "Interesting," North Shield thought. Just as he was about to go on the offense again, North Shield stopped in his tracks. The assassin had retracted from his defensive position, and was staring at his cybernetic arm.
"Only one," the assassin said with a surprised look on his face.
"What were you expecting, kid?" North Shield replied, relaxing his tense cybernetic muscles.
"You're not him," he said, now with anger in his eyes.
"Who?" North Shield asked.
"You're him, but not the one I'm looking for. You must be the one from here, not over there." He said, puzzled.
North Shield then began to understand, little by little. He had heard of these people. Praetorians. Heard that everyone had a "double" over there, in that crazy alternate dimension. He had seen them around, those sent over here through some portal. Had even fought a few of the Praetorian Freedom Phalanx, or whatever they called themselves over there.
"Do I exist here, too? I wonder," the assassin said as he pulled his mask from his face. The sight was too much for North Shield, and he collapsed to the ground. The assassin had his answer.
North Shield awoke on the ground in his apartment, alone. Had it been a dream? Had he really seen him. That boy. His son. It seemed impossible, but it was true. His son, in that other dimension, was alive and well. And for some reason, he was looking to kill him. Not really him, but his other self. Was his Praetorian double evil, then? Had he wronged him, somehow. Or was it his son who was evil? He had to answer these questions. They haunted him. He would go out into the night and look for the boy. He was bound to run into him again.
So much for sleep...
Prodigal Son, part II (rough)
North Shield chased his Praetorian son around Paragon City, meanwhile picking up more information on him. He is called Twilight's Fist, and is known around the city as a vigilante. He finally tracked him down to an abandoned warehouse, where he discovered both Twilight's Fist and his Praetorian double, North Strike. It seemed as though North Strike was too powerful for him, and had defeated Twilight's Fist. As North Shield arrived, North Strike was getting ready to finish off Twilight's fist with a large, sharp piece of abandoned factory equipment. Before he could deliver the coup de grace by beheading Twilight's Fist, he was interrupted by North Shield. The two had an epic battle in the warehouse, North Shield realizing that North Strike was much stronger than him but more vulnerable, and North Strike realizing that North Shield was weaker but much more impervious to harm. Realizing that the battle was quickly coming to a draw, North Strike fled the scene by flying through a ceiling window into the night.
North Shield remained with Twilight's Fist, who was grateful for the aid but frustrated that North Strike had gotten away once again. Twilight's Fist then explained to North Shield that he was from the alternate dimension known as Praetoria, and that there he was conceived through a rape on the part of North Strike. When North Strike discovered his existence, he tracked down the mother and beat her to death, as well as attempting to do the same to him. However, his genetic mutation manifested itself and healed him of his wounds. Believing his only son to be dead, North Strike burned down the apartment building and fled the scene, blaming it on a terrorist attack. Orphaned, Twilight's Fist walked the streets of Praetoria homeless, until he was picked up by a martial arts master who adopted him and trained him to one day avenge his mother's death. His genetic mutation greatly helped his training, and before long he surpassed even his master. When that day came, he took on the name of Twilight's Fist and set out to kill North Strike, who had by then joined the PPD's Powers Division. Twilight's Fist did the same in the hopes of running into his father, but was quickly recruited into the underground resistance. When the time came to step through the portal into North Shield's dimension, he jumped at the chance of following his father there. Barely 2 nights into his "tour" of Paragon City, he discovered North Shield's Residence through the superhero registration database and attempted to assassinate him, thinking him to be his father in the guise of a hero. The rest was, as they say, history. From there, North Shield told him the tale of his demise in this dimension at the hands of Doctor Rosenthad, the man who experimented on North Shield through the NOVA program.
North Shield vowed to help Twilight's Fist track down his Praetorian double, while also attempting to be the father he never had.
Prodigal Son, Finale
"Like I said, there's only room for one of us!" shouted North Strike as he drove the Impervium spear into North Shield's heart. The massive villain's strength was too much for him. North Shield's seemingly impenetrable skin gave way and the spear pierced his heart, killing him. In that last moment, a single thought stayed in his mind.
The son must become the father...
North Shield and Twilight's Fist had been chasing the villainous North Strike across the globe for months. It had given him time to teach the boy everything he knew. Like the father he never had. Slowly, but surely, Twilight's Fist was becoming more of a hero. When the boy had first come to this world, he had only a single thought in his mind. Killing his father. That thought had driven him to attempt an assassination on the man he now called mentor, even father. He didn't expect him to be any different from his real father. He didn't expect him to be a hero. He found more and more that he resembled this man in so many ways. This man was more of a father to him than he had ever had. Even the old master. He followed him across the world, chasing the villain who murdered his mother and tried to do the same to him. He learned from him what it was to be a hero in this world. He learned to hate all the lies of Emperor Cole.
The chase eventually led them back to his home. To Praetoria. North Strike had returned here, or at least the trail did. What they found there was more of the same. Empty safe houses and dead men. Dead men who could speak to no one. That's how he kept eluding them. That's how North Strike kept the trail cold. They stepped through the portal once more, leaving behind a gilded city of lies. When they had nearly given up, the enemy came to them.
He was waiting for them back on Primal Earth. The battle erupted in the streets of King's Row, where North Strike had been waiting for them. He challenged North Shield, shouting out "There's only room for one of us, North Shield! Let's see just who that is!" Somehow, he seemed faster than before. Stronger, even. North Shield and Twilight's Fist charged at him together, only to be beaten back time and time again. Before long, Twilight's Fist found himself incapacitated. He could only regenerate so many wounds before falling to exhaustion. With one hero down, and another severely beaten, North Strike delivered his coup de grace. He pulled a small, metallic cylinder from one of his cybernetic arms and pointed down at the collapsed hero. Suddenly, a spear erupted from the cylinder, extending out to North Shield's throat. It hummed and vibrated, and bore the mark of Neuron technologies.
"I had this spear crafted especially for you, North Shield! It will be your undoing. There is nothing it cannot pierce, for it uses the same technology that brought me here! The same technology that brought my boy here to kill you! Or rather...me. Like I said, there's only room for one of us!"
In that last moment of life, a sliver of the power that once inhabited North Shield broke free. A tendril of glowing white energy erupted from his fatal wound, shattering the spear. The portal technology contained within it erupted, creating an unstable wormhole which engulfed North Strike and delivered him back to his master in Praetoria. The tendril then reached out to the incapacitated boy laying by his father's side and enveloped him. The power of the nova reinvigorated him and left him with greater power than he had ever had. The nova, much like it had done for North Shield, unlocked his genetic potential and further advanced his mutation. His regeneration turned to invulnerability, and his strength came to match his father's. It also left him with the gift of flight, which he used to carry North Shield away from the battlefield. And a thought. The tendril carried a thought from the dying hero to the boy.
The son must become the father.
| Union Supreme |
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| Councillors: Champion Woman • Doctor Spectro • Old Ranger • Raven Moonshadow |
| Hero: Amazing Trixie • Arcanist Ica • Blood-Eagle • Captain Midnight • Congressionalist • Diamondskin • Emerald Protect • Gods Speed • Gravijah • Heliodromus • Hero Paragon • Invictar • Moonlight Owl • Ms. Impossible • North Shield • Paradox Theory • Redbird • Shining Centurion • Solairis • Streetlight • Turbohawk • Winter Tornado |
