Uppercut
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Uppercut, Legbreaker Extraordinaire. | |
| Uppercut | |
| Player: @Charon. | |
| Origin: | Technology |
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| Archetype: | Brute |
| Threat Level: | 43 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Michael O'Brien |
| Known Aliases: | Micky, Knuckles, Uppercut |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 30 |
| Height: | 6' 6" |
| Weight: | 225 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | United States Citizen |
| Occupation: | Career Criminal |
| Place of Birth: | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Base of Operations: | Dockside, Port Oakes |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Maggie O'Brien (Mother, Deceased), David O'Brien (Father, Deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Uppercut's cybernetic limbs grant him superior superstrength capable of punching through three feet of solid steel, an energy field projector which protects him from harm, an anti-gravity repulsor which grants him the gift of flight and a built in cloaking device. The abilities given to him by his mechanical arms are not the full extent of his powers, however. Uppercut is also hopelessly addicted to the Freakshow's designer drug, Excelsior. When he takes it his strength is boosted by approximately 25%. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Before his arms were ripped away from him, Michael O'Brien was a small time contender in Boston. Even without the aid of his cybernetic arms, he is strong, agile and fast, all abilities he needed in the ring in order to become the rising star he used to be on the Boston boxing circuit. | |
| Equipment | |
| Aside from the cybernetic limbs themselves, Uppercut carries little equipment. He does wear a belt that contains small capsules which are filled with liquid Excelsior. A special attachment in the arms given to him by the Freakshow allow him to insert these capsules whole; the arms then open up the capsule and release the liquid into his veins on a timer automatically. | |
| Uppercut is hopelessly addicted to Excelsior and if he goes with out it for too long, withdrawal sets in and he begins to act very irrationally. | |
Uppercut began simply as an experiment to try out the Energy Aura set and see if it was as awful as everyone said it was. Teamed with an old-school superstrength villain concept and the discovery of the name Uppercut, the character was soon fleshed out and became an interesting character in his own right.
It turned out Energy Aura was pretty enjoyable and the character continued to grow until he became what he is today: A washed up Ex-Freakshow goon who is forever robbing wealthy establishments to pay for an unshakable addiction to the Freakshow's designer drug, Excelsior... A long way from where he started in life as a promising new boxer on Boston's amateur circuit, destined for greatness and tipped to be a future Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Personality
Michael O'Brien was always a little bit rough around the edges. He grew up too stupid for academics, and only really found his calling in life by fighting out on the streets, until he finally found himself fighting in clubs and eventually in the ring. He has developed something of a thick, tough guy skin and is full of brashness and bravado. Underneath it all, however, he is somewhat likable and has his morals; Uppercut is not willing to kill anybody, and is really only in the costumed crime business because he has no talent for anything else and isn't able to box ever since he lost his arms.
Uppercut is, however, violently addicted to the Freakshow's designer drug, Excelsior. He began taking it while boxing on their underground circuit, and couldn't shake the addiction even after he lost his arms and quit the street gang. He now spends a great deal of the profits from his criminal career on his drug addiction. Therefore, Uppercut becomes a very different person when he is suffering from withdrawals. He becomes shaky, irrational and increasingly non-sensical. During the first half hour after taking the drug, he is prone to fits of rage and is extremely unpredictable.
Character History
Michael O'Brien was dragged up by an alcoholic father and a passive mother. As such, he tried to spend as much of his time outside of the Boston tenement block he was brought up in as possible. Michael didn't spend his time in school, however. He wasn't a bright kid, and instead of studying and cracking books, he found himself fighting and cracking heads. He joined a street gang and his days and nights consisted of brawling in back alleys and stirring up trouble; anything to keep himself out of that house.
It was all fun and games until the kids ceased to be kids, moving into their teens. Their rivals starting bringing knives to fist fights. One night after a particularly brutal scrap with a rival gang, Michael found himself split from the rest of his group after one of their rivals pulled a semi-automatic and began to fire. He ran, nose bleeding and eyes bruising over even as he gasped for air to escape the fray. Hunted by several knife and gun-wielding hoods from the other side of the neighbourhood, Michael found himself breaking into a local gym and spending the night there, too afraid to step outside for fear of being killed.
He was found there the following morning by the owner of the gym. Distraught, Michael tried to explain himself, but the owner threatened to press charges for trespassing, refusing to hear him out. Desperate, Michael threw a punch at the old man and tried to run, but was cornered. The owner of the gym introduced himself as Henry Malley, and agreed not to press charges against Michael if he agreed to spend his days in the gym punching bags instead of people, impressed by the strength of the sixteen year old's left hook. Reluctantly, Michael agreed and over time, his life began to change for the better.
Training day in and day out, Michael discovered a talent for boxing. He started out on amateur circuits, and turned pro after just a few years. He began an undefeated run that took him up in the ranking tables, to the point where pundits nicknamed him 'Uppercut' O'Brien after his famous finishing punch, and began to tip him for big things, suggesting that he might even have a shot at becoming the Heavyweight Champion of the World someday. That was until Henry Malley and Michael O'Brien were approached by the mob. When their threats fell on deaf ears, they smashed up the gym. One last time they reminded Michael that if he didn't let their Mafia sponsered contender beat him the following weekend, he was as good as dead.
Iron willed, Michael went ahead with the match and won by knockout in the third round. His celebrations didn't last for long, as he returned to the gym only to find Malley dead in the center of the ring, riddled with Thompson machine gun bullets. Distraught, he packed everything he could and left town, catching a Greyhound to wherever he could afford to go. He awoke to hear a driver tell him and the rest of the passengers that they had arrived in Paragon City, Rhode Island... The Birthplace of Tomorrow.
Michael found it hard to get a job in Paragon City. He was forced to use an alias and couldn't box, not legitimately, without risking the mob catching up with him. He took sporadic work on the docks and in factories, but nothing that lasted long enough to set him up with a decent roof over his head. Eventually, he ended up in underground boxing circuits on the docks, and even found himself boxing in tournaments held by the Freakshow, beating opponents wielding cybernetic enhancements. One of the Freakshow's leaders was so impressed with Michael that he took him under his wing, impressed with his raw fighting ability and salivating at the cybernetic enhancements that could be made to such a fine human specimen. As such, Michael became one of Bile's fighters and became horribly addicted to the Freakshow's designer drug, Excelsior... But resisted cybernetic enhancements for as long as he could.
Unfortunately, they became a necessity only a few months later. Dreck had become enraged that one of Bile's fighters was knocking out all of his top contenders, and ordered Michael killed. One night walking back from the docks he was jumped by seven of Dreck's men and dragged into a back alley, where a Tank Swiper sawed away his arms in a brutal act of punishment, leaving him to bleed out in the alley.
Michael awoke a week later in a warehouse somewhere in Talos Island. He opened his eyes to find Bile's men had not only recovered his body before he bled to death, but had done their best to repair him. In the place of his arms of organic flesh and blood were the finest cybernetic limbs money could buy, stolen from a Crey research facility. These arms not only gave Michael the power to punch through three solid feet of solid steel, but were equipped with built in energy field emitters that protected his human body from harm, anti-grav repulsors that allowed him to fly and a built in cloaking-device that could conceal him completely.
In the next few weeks, Michael severed all but one of his ties to the Freakshow, keeping contact with Bile himself only to maintain a constant flow of Excelsior in return for cash, one tie he couldn't break. Naming himself after his famous finishing move and his once boxing alias, Michael became muscle for hire to make end's meat as Uppercut, Legbreaker Extraordinaire!
Michael O'Brien has come a long way from his childhood in Boston but has somehow ended up back where he started, a confused hoodlum who has lost his way.