VERB/Unstoppable
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
This article about a character is a stub -- a small, but growing, work in progress. If you're the creator of this character, why not consider expanding it?
A TV screen shows a clip of an old PSA, featuring a black man with a bodybuilder's physique grinning and performing feats of super-strength for the camera. His teeth are perfect, his eyes hidden by indigo-tinted wraparound shades. The quality of the videotape is poor, the colors overexposed, making his red and blue costume look even more garish. The peppy, jazzy background music is cut off suddenly as the TV is switched to a live news broadcast.
The same man, seemingly unchanged by the passage of years, is standing on the steps in front of a building with a large metal case tucked under one arm like a cooler of beer. His pose indicates surprise, probably at the dozen spotlights that have him pinned in their harsh glare, or the men in Crey blue and Longbow red and white that surround him.
A man in Power Tank armor, his helmet removed to show his sweaty and mussed hair and triumphant expression, holds up a vial so that everyone - Longbow, PPD, news crew and curious bystanders - can see it.
"Diacetylmorphine - better known as heroin."
The man in red and blue, his handsome features twisted in rage, lunges. The Longbow Nullifiers open up with their sapper rifles. Howling, with lightning crawling across his massively muscled body in slow motion, the hero falls.
Then the Crey troopers pile on with their nightsticks.
FRAMED BY THE COUNTESS
The interior of an armored car is lit by the occasional passing streetlight shining in through the small windows. A young man in Longbow colors sits opposite the prisoner, who is slumped forward, head bowed in defeat. The hero's ankles are shackled to the floor and his forearms are encased in gleaming nullifier cuffs.
"Pathetic, that's what you are. A joke. I'm glad my old man didn't live to see this. He used to talk about you all the time, said you were unstoppable."
The hero's head rises a fraction. His eyes, seen over the tops of his wraparound glasses, glimmer with... something. His lips pull back from perfect teeth.
"Yeah... that's right."
The ankle chain snaps. The cuffs blow out in a shower of sparks. The young Longbow trooper, too surprised and scared to go for his weapon, scrambles back against the wall as the giant stands up...
WANTED BY THE MAN
Blue Steel and the police commissioner stand in front of PPD headquarters in Kings Row, with the city seal behind them, talking to the press.
"... have no choice but to issue a warrant for his arrest..."
The hero - looking surprisingly vulnerable, even a bit scared, without his sunglasses - is talking earnestly to an old black man with frizzy grey hair and a patient, wrinkled face.
"Being a hero... it's all I am, all I know how to be. If I'm not a hero anymore, then who... what am I?"
The old man puts a hand on the bulging, spandex-clad bicep of the other with a kindly smile.
"There's lots of ways to be a hero."
HUNTED BY THE FUZZ
In a precinct squadroom, two detectives in shirts and ties, sleeves rolled up, are having a conversation over their messy desks and cups of bad coffee.
"Eight feet tall, wears red and blue, and a cape for God's sake. How hard can it be to find this guy?"
The older, heavier, and wiser detective chuckles. "In THIS city?"
"Yeah, I know. But still... he kinda stands out."
Motorcycle boots walk confidently, with long strides, over cracked pavement. A black leather trenchcoat enfolds a tall and broad-shouldered figure, swirling slightly in his wake. A belt with a suggestively large buckle holds up worn blue denim jeans, the kind that haven't been popular in more than twenty years. Sunglasses with gold rims adorn the brow of a black Adonis.
The hero emerges fully from the shadows of the alley and stops, crossing his arms over his chest and regarding the camera with cool disdain. Just for a moment... then he grins the same cocky grin.
VERB, the Man of Action, is...
UNSTOPPABLE.
(this summer)
A plump, middle-aged Hispanic woman scolds.
"Shut your mouth!"
The hero (dressed as above) and the woman's son (in hip-hop fashion a size too large for him) exchange embarrassed looks.
