Papa Lobo
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Papa Lobo | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Brute |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Identity | |
| Real Name: | James Lopez |
| Known Aliases: | "El Lobo" |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Father, Resistance member, hero |
| Place of Birth: | Somewhere in the Southwest |
| Base of Operations: | Praetoria |
| Marital Status: | Widowed |
| Known Relatives: | Jessica Lopez (daughter) |
| Physical Data | |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 53 |
| Height / Weight : | 5' 11" / 180 lbs. |
| Eye / Hair Color: | Brown / Dark brown (head shaved) |
| Known Powers | |
| Energy Melee, Willpower | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Considerable | |
| Equipment | |
| Resistance armor and power gauntlets | |
| Updated: 3/5/2016 - Player: @Megajoule | |
There's too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go 'round
Can't you see this is a land of confusion
Now this is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for
-- Genesis, "Land of Confusion"
Contents |
Affiliations
Lopez was once a member of the Praetoria Police Department, having risen to the rank of Investigator. Years before that, in another life, he was one of Marauder's footsoldiers back west. Today, the only allegiance he acknowledges is to the Warden faction of the Resistance.
Personality
James is a hard man, made that way by a hard life he once thought he'd put behind him forever. As a young man, "El Lobo" did whatever he had to to survive, with little thought of the future; now, the future is what he fights for. Though age has mellowed him some, he is still relentless and driven, applying his strong sense of justice with ruthless practicality. The only thing that keeps him from going full vigilante is his conscience, often embodied in his daughter and the other young people he keeps running into who are in need of help and protection.
Powers
Lopez displays unusual willpower and mental discipline, the latter reinforced through years of practice. He is able to deflect casual Seer scans and has some resistance to probes or attacks from stronger psychics. Considering his daughter's abilities, it is possible that he is a recessive carrier of the gene or even a latent, low-power psychic himself.
Abilities
Lopez is a son of the Hamidon Wars, who has acquired a particular set of skills over a long and often unsavory career. He's a skilled unarmed combatant, an expert survivalist, competent at battlefield medicine and garage chemistry, a decent shot with a pistol or hunting rifle (though he prefers to use his fists), an experienced motorcycle rider and mechanic, etc etc etc. In short, he is a very dangerous man, even when he has nothing but his bare hands.
Weaknesses and Limitations
The sole focus of Lopez's life, more important than his own safety, is his daughter Jessica. He would do (almost literally) anything for her. While this represents a significant vulnerability, those intending to take advantage of it - e.g., by taking her hostage - should consider the high probability that he will react unpredictably and/or violently to ensure her safety and seek revenge. He is a workaholic who constantly pushes himself to, and beyond, his physical limits.
He is extremely reluctant to attack Seers, and will choose other targets, paths or methods whenever possible; if not, he will attempt to subdue them with minimal force. He also prefers not to fight other Resistance members, though they often leave him no choice.
Equipment
Papa Lobo is rarely found without his Resistance "Heavy Hands" harness, a partial exo-skeleton fitting over the torso and arms, which provides protection as well as enhancing his strength. The harness incorporates force gauntlets taken from Clockwork construction units. He also wears a pair of tinted goggles and carries a filter mask for situations where he is likely to encounter chemical agents or DE spores.
Character History
Hell in the West
He was born in 1959, somewhere in the Southwest. His father was a biker, an intense young man in a black leather jacket; his mother was a refugee out of nuked L.A., used to the hard life. They would both be dead by the time he was twelve, but before that, they taught him how to ride, how to fight, how to mend and improvise, how to get by in a hostile world. The other bikers were his extended family, his uncles and a few aunts; when nature rose up against humanity and the country started coming apart at the seams, they kept each other going. And when his parents died - his mother literally swallowed up by the Devouring Earth, his father shot and stabbed in a rumble with another gang - they took over looking after him, until he was ready to ride and fight with them.
By then, the gang had become part of Marauder's new horde. Little Jimmy was in awe the first time he saw the man and heard him speak. That he was colored, a Negro, was just one of so many things that no longer mattered; White was a natural leader, with charisma and smarts to match his size and strength. He forged the bikers and some they picked up along the way into an army that would follow him into Hell... and that was a fair description of what awaited them in the ruined cities of the West, mostly consumed by the Devouring Earth. They clashed with other survivors, too, and a teenaged "Lobo" saw and did many things that he would regret later in life, and never tell his daughter about.
After ten years of nearly constant fighting, Lopez was a young man and civilization (or at least a savage, despotic approximation of it) was making a comeback in the wasteland. Then "good news" came from the East: first by shortwave and rumor, and eventually a paper blizzard of leaflets dropped over the cities, announcing that the war was over. This was quite a claim to make to people still being attacked by monsters every few days. White took charge of his people as always, soothing their confusion and doubts and channeling their anger against those who had abandoned them to fend for themselves. There would be a reckoning, he promised; an invasion of the East.
Brave New Ward
Lopez was one of a few men picked, mostly by chance and whim, to accompany White to a private meeting as his honor guard (as if the big man wasn't a match for all of them put together). Before he quite knew what was happening, they were all whisked away by jet to the First Ward of Praetoria, the capital (or it would be, when construction was finished) of "Emperor" Cole's new regime. There they were treated as honored guests and witnessed the first meeting between the two leaders, before being dismissed so that White and Cole could speak privately.
As White explained it to them later, it all made sense. Cole appreciated what they'd done in the West, how they'd managed to hold things together and push back the tide, and apologized for not being able to come to their aid sooner. Now that the Hamidon was defeated, things would be different. White had found Cole to be a reasonable man, even a kindred spirit - there would be no invasion, and the two would work together to restore order to the whole continent. Everything was gonna be okay. (Only one of Marauder's men had a problem with the change in plan. He was gone the next day; White said they'd worked it out, and sent him back to explain it all to the rest. It would be years before James doubted his leader's word.)
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and "Lobo" Lopez found himself enjoying life in First Ward more than anything he'd left back west. He especially enjoyed the company of one Abigail Mills, a nurse, who was fascinated by his stories and appreciative of his other charms. One thing led to another and Abby soon discovered she was pregnant; Lopez was surprised, but pleased, and they began making plans for a life together. These, too, would be abruptly changed.
A little over a year after White and his guards came to First Ward, and just a couple of weeks after baby Jessica arrived, the Hamidon struck - first around the perimeter, with waves of creatures crashing into the sonic fences, and then up from below, bursting forth in a horrifying display of its true power and cunning. Cole, seeing the heart of his new model city torn out, went with the only option he was given that had even a hope of saving the rest. It worked... after a fashion. But the damage was already done.
First Ward was declared a disaster area and sealed off. The survivors, most of them from the outlying blocks, were gathered up and sent to Neutropolis. Among them was a grim-faced man with a crying infant in his arms.
Our Little Secret
But ten-year-old Jessica began saying things she couldn't possibly know - about other kids at school, about what he was thinking, where he'd left his keys. She had "it", the gift that in this city was a curse. He told her she had to keep it a secret, taught her and himself how to hide it, to not even think about it around the wrong people. He used his position and contacts to avoid the usual screenings. For four years, he kept her off the radar... until Mother Tilman herself showed up on his doorstep in the middle of the night, with her doctors and a squad of PPD, some of them men he knew.
James begged, he pleaded, he mentioned his years of service. Mother fondly assured him that because of that service, and that he'd acted out of a father's love, no charges would be pressed against him. But everyone had to serve, each according to their abilities... and Jessica's were especially needed, even more than his. When they tried to drag his daughter away, he snapped; it took a dozen PPD and, finally, a crushing mental assault from Mother to put him down. He awoke alone.
Marauder blew him off for weeks, and finally left him an irritated voice mail warning him not to pursue it or presume further on the basis of their "previous association." "We all gotta make sacrifices, got it? Don't call me again." *click*
A year later he found her bobbing on a street corner, her shaved head showing the healed scars where they'd cut into her brain, her clear sweet voice mechanically announcing his anguish to passersby. He stayed with her until his fellow officers showed up to take him away. And when he was released from the holding cell and sent home to the apartment that used to be theirs, he began to plan.
Going Underground
Lopez's friends on the force were glad to see him return to duty with a new zeal for hunting the Resistance. He arrested many who only wanted to smash and tear things down before he found some that were willing to talk, and listen. He offered a deal: his aid for theirs. As he dug deeper, he found more reasons to want to help: things that he hadn't known about, or trained himself to ignore. But his main focus, always, was on getting his daughter back.
When the Destroyers began turning up in Imperial City, Lobo was one of the first to recognize them for who they were. Using old recognition signals and chalk signs, he met a few on neutral ground and learned their side of the story. The revelation of how White had abandoned his followers fueled Lobo's determination to take down Cole's corrupt regime. He was also dismayed, however, to find so many of his old gang hopelessly addicted to Fixadine. He helped Jessica Flores to get the story out to the people, and Dr. John Arvin (who also had a personal stake in the matter) to find a cure, which might someday get all the Destroyers off "the crush."
Lopez' personal crusade finally bore fruit when he was contacted by Dr. Steffard, the closest thing to an expert (outside of Tilman's pet doctors) on Seer implants, and then an actual rogue Seer, who he helped to find safety and closure. While Katie Douglas worked to free other Seers, he went on to assist Aaron Walker, Penny Yin, and James Noble, a former PPD officer with a record of heroism and service that surpassed even Lopez' own. He wasn't able to save Walker, but did bear witness to the young man's final defiant gesture. And when it came time to step through the Dark Watcher's portal and face the unknown challenges of "Primal" Earth, Katie who was there to see him off, along with some of her "sisters"... and one very special girl, who hesitantly stepped forward to meet her father.
Missing Pieces
Lobo never expected things to go back to the way they were. But as he and Jessica struggled to adapt to the unfamiliar world in which they'd found refuge, one that was both more free and more chaotic and openly dangerous, he gradually began to realize how much she'd changed. She smiled, but never laughed. There were many things she didn't remember. She didn't enjoy her favorite foods. Sometimes he'd find her just staring at the wall. The doctors he spoke to murmured about post-traumatic shock; but he'd grown up in Hell, seen what it did to people, and was certain this was something else. Something that he could only find answers to back there... back where it all began, for both of them.
In First Ward, Lopez' suspicions were quickly proven correct, and the full horror of what had been done to his Jessica and so many others was revealed. His determination to see her made whole carried him through the quicksand of old memories and the maelstrom of conflicting agendas. There were many times when he almost lost himself to the siren call of vengeance - against Tilman, against White, against everyone who'd ever lied to or betrayed or wronged him. But each time, he refused to give in, because she needed him. She needed him to stay alive and sane, and so he forced himself to.
His quest carried him through the veil into First Ward's shadowy reflection, where he walked among the spirits of the dead and was hailed by their guardians as a brother knight. He found himself having to explain to another protective "father" that his "daughter" still loved him, but wanted to be free to live her own life... and then, soon after, watched helplessly as that "daughter" sacrificed herself to give her father the gift of clarity. (He had to return to Primal Earth for a while after that, to hug a confused girl who couldn't understand why he wept.) Nor was he able to thwart the Black Queen's evil plot, or prevent the escape of a goddess from her eternal prison... but he did see her recaptured, and her mortal agent undone, with a bit of luck and excellent timing.
War of the Gods
With the war between Primal and Praetorian entering its final phase, Lobo found himself on the sidelines; for all his strength of body and will, he couldn't match the power of the Incarnates. Unwilling to sit idle while others fought for his home, he turned to rallying the Resistance (and, often as not, fighting against those among them who saw this as the perfect moment to blow everything up and start over) and reaching out to those in the Praetorian PD who might listen. He watched with satisfaction as Cole's lies were exposed in a live TPN broadcast. He was one of the few who managed to resist "Mother" Tilman's brainwashing afterward, but the immense effort left him unconscious for hours, while she was driven out and finally destroyed. He was back on his feet in time to play a small part in the battle for the Magisterium, before falling back to let the heroes take the fight to Cole; from a safe distance, he watched as events played out in an eerie echo of almost two decades before.
The tyrant was fallen, his lieutenants likewise defeated or fled. But much of the city was now in ruins, and the monster still lurked just beyond the sonic fences, always hungry. The power of the Well, the "gifts" of Pandora, had destroyed most of the world. Yet as legend tells us, when things look bleakest, Pandora has one more gift to bestow.
Trivia
- Current badge is "Headjuiced", although "Slammer" is also a favorite.
- Covered with scars and tattoos from his long and difficult life. The one that most people notice crosses the bridge of his nose at an angle and ends under his right eye.
- Sounds a great deal like Edward James Olmos.
