Devil Fang

Real Name: Jessie Birmingham
Super Hero Name: Devil Fang
Title: Devil Fang/The Fang
Alignment: Hero
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian
Hair: Brown; short, windswept.
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 175 lbs

Costume Description/Image: Advanced Rift Suit Alpha (Model: ARS-021)

Personality: Jessie is a pretty fun guy to be around most of the time. He's energetic, humorous, and even interesting. Like many super geniuses he does have a sort of "only God knows more than me" egos, but he tries to keep that in check. Of course, he slips every now and then, like many people do. He has an astounding curiosity of anything unusual, paranormal, technological, or a combination of the three.

Jessie seems to change while assuming his Devil Fang persona. As Devil Fang, the curious geek turns into a determined investigator; the prankster becomes a man capable of making hard and often cold decisions for the greater good of society; and the tech nerd becomes a one-man arsenal of gadgets, guns, and grenades. Of course, not facet of Jessie's personality changes. Even the ominously titled Devil Fang enjoys a good joke and gazing at the chests of well-endowed women.

History: Jessie practically grew up in the corporate office of Cutting Edge Industries. When he was a kid, his mother dropped him off at the daycare service in the large, sky-scraping building where he was expected to stay until it was time to go home. Of course, Jessie never seemed to get the concept that he was supposed to stay at the daycare center, so he almost always found a way to slip passed the sitters--or as Jessie called them "the jailers"--and roam through the large building unattended. Many of Cutting Edge's employees came to care for the curious and often rambunctious escapee over the months and then years that he was there.

It was apparent from a very early age that Jessie was an exceptionally quick learner. He was reading by the time he was two, solving quadratic equations by the time he was seven, and student at Dartmouth at the age of thirteen. He double-majored in quantum physics and computer science and by the time he was twenty-one he was considered one of the leading experts on both subjects. Jessie was given a job at Cutting Edge as director of Transportation Technology and sub-director of Weapon Technology.

Well, wouldn't you know what happened next? A failed experiment! Well, rather a successful experiment with some unexpected effects. Jessie had volunteered personally to be the very first to test Cutting Edge's transdimensional travel device, code named "The Interceptor". The theory was that the Interceptor, a large super computer connected to four tesla coils, would manipulate the fabric of reality an open a portal to another location through another dimension. In fact, the Interceptor did just that. So all was thought to be fine and dandy when Jessie was asked to step through the portal and out on the other side where an extraction team was waiting to bring him back home. As it turns out the scientists who had developed the Interceptor had miscalculated on the amount of power that the Interceptor would consume once it was functional. The Interceptor consumed so much power that half the city of New York suffered from a blackout that lasted nearly three days. As for Jessie, he had put one foot through the portal when the blackout occurred. The lights went out, about ten seconds later the generator kicked in, the lights came back on and the portal and Jessie were both gone. A quick report over the radio from the extraction team stated that Jessie had not made it to other side before the blackout and that when the blackout occurred the portal and Jessie had simply disappeared.

Jessie was missing for five months. Everyone had assumed that he was dead. In fact, Jessie was trapped in another dimension that he would later call the Rift. A few things happened in the Rift that unexplainable by even Jessie himself. It would seem that the Rift, which is nothing but white space that you can do nothing but float around aimlessly in, alters organisms to perform at advanced levels. For example, Jessie can now run at nearly one-hundred miles per hour, open rifts that transport you from one location to another, and become incorporeal. Of course, he didn't actually know he could do any of that while he was trapped in the Rift. Turns out it's a bit difficult to run while you're floating around in another dimension.

Rather unexpectedly, Jessie was pulled out of the Rift when the Interceptor was activated for a second time, arriving at the exact location that the extraction point was supposed to meet him at five months prior. Of course, when the scientists saw Jessie on the other side of the portal they immediately canceled the experiment and sent another extraction team to pick up Jessie and bring him back to the lab.

Tests and physical examinations were done and it was determined that Jessie was perfectly healthy. In fact, he was better than healthy! The boy could run at astounding speeds! He could even open portals that traversed alternate dimensions to get from one location to another, and become completely intangible at will. Of course, he was reinstated as director and sub-director of Transportation and Weapon Technology. All of the scientists working on the project were paid a rather large sum of money by Cutting Edge to keep their mouths shut about the incident and subsequently Jessie's unnatural abilities, and to this day Jessie still works at Cutting Edge. He's just taken on the little "side job" of being a superhero.

Of course, there was some explaining to do to his parents when Jessie suddenly appeared five months later. Jessie told them everything about the research project. Naturally, his parents wondered how he was still alive after spending five months in the Rift. Jessie explained that five months in reality seemed like only hours in the Rift, and as such he had not starved to death or died of thirst or gone crazy from the emptiness of the strange dimension. He had panicked, at first, but after realizing that panicking would do him absolutely no good he fought with it until it was subdued.

Jessie designed an technologically advanced suit and weapons to help him fight crime. The suit provides additional protection against firearms, heat, and electricity. It also has a gas mask, a thermal vision mode, a night vision mode, and a system that displays information on the lenses of the visor of the helmet. The system is capable of connecting to international databases and Cutting Edge's corporate database.

Lately, Jessie has found himself fighting crime more and more while putting his research at Cutting Edge aside. If things keep going like this Jessie might have to take crime fighting on as a full-time job. He is still working on the Interceptor project. Mostly, he's devising ways to cut down on energy consumption and installing various safety features. Though the Interceptor started out as private project, the government has recently started funding the project as it could be used for military operations.

Powers:

• Rifting is the ability to make a dimensional rift that transports you from Point A to Point B. Opening a rift is not instantaneous though closing a rift is. Usually, it should take between 2 and 4 seconds to open a rift, so rifting is not a reliable tactic for dodging high speed attacks. Th longer a rift is open the more power it consumes. Typically, Devil Fang is only capable of keeping a rift open for a time less than five minutes. On the same note, Devil Fang isn't capable of constantly rifting. He is limited to rifting only five or six times per hour at maximum. Less if he has kept his rifts open for longer than a few seconds. A rift looks much like a man-sized tear in the fabric of reality with a glimpse of the location that exits to through this tear. One has to physically enter a rift to be transported to its exit destination.
  
  An In-Depth Look At Rifting: Normally, when rifting the transition from one place to another (i.e. stepping through the rift) is instantaneous. However, should the rift close while a person or is only partially through the rift then that person or object will be trapped in the rift momentarily. Should another rift be opened by Jessie then the object or person will appear once again. Time in the Rift is not directly proportional to time in reality. In fact, one month's time in reality is akin to about one hour and forty minutes in the Rift. Since Jessie uses Rifting as one of his primary powers it is highly unlikely that an object or person would be trapped in the Rift for long by reality's time and certainly not by the Rift's time. In fact, to trap someone in the Rift indefinitely would mean that Jessie could never use his ability to rift again. Something that is not bound to happen.
  
  The range of rifting is debatable. Theoretically, Jessie could rift to anywhere on the planet Earth, but it would likely not be wise to rift to the bottom of an ocean, inside of a volcano, etc. Distance hasn't ever been a real issue in using the ability to rift for Jessie, because distance is measured differently in The Rift. Much like time. In the Rift, distance is a minute fraction in comparison to distance in reality. Places that Jessie are incapable of rifting to are vacuum spaces (inner space, outer space, etc.) due to low concentration of reality fabric for the rift to tear into. The moon (and perhaps) other planets is unwise, at best. There is no breathable oxygen at these places, so unless Jessie is wearing a space suit (the ARS-021 IS NOT a space suit) then traveling to moon and so forth would kill him unless he held his breath for as long as he could and then rifted away. While Jessie could send other people to these deadly places, you must take into account that you must physically pass through the rift (i.e. step through it, be pushed through it, trip into it, etc.). The rift doesn't just suck a person into it, and due to the few seconds it takes to create a rift an opponent even has time to get away from it and avoid being anywhere near it. So rifting is not a plausible power to use to instantly end a fight, though theoretically it could if the conditions were right. What must be remembered though is that conditions are rarely, if ever right, in a roleplay.
  
  As far as opening a rift into a person goes, this is actually impossible. Reason being: That would be way too godly. For sake of plausibility in relation to the roleplay world: For some inexplicable reason, Jessie can't do it. Not much of a reason--well, it actually isn't a reason. The point is that Jessie cannot open rifts inside of people. End of story.
  
  And just in case the question arises, if Jessie opens a rift at the bottom of a lake or other body of water, water does come pouring through it. The reason being that areas of higher concentration (water) tend to move into areas of lower concentration (air). However, if a rift is opened underwater to another place that is underwater then pretty much nothing happens.
  
  
• Ghosting is the ability to interact with the world visually, verbally, and through limited energy projection while remaining incorporeal (untouchable). Tell-tale signs of ghosting is the slight transparency to Devil Fang's appearance. While ghosting Devil Fang can walk through walls and objects. Physical attacks will not hurt Devil Fang while he's ghosting; however, energy attacks will still have some effect on him. On the same note, heat and electricity will still have limited effect on him as well. Ghosting, unlike rifting, is instantaneous, but similarly Devil Fang can only remain ghosted for a limited amount of time (less than 10 minutes). Also, like rifting, the continuous use of ghosting will ebb away at Devil Fang's power. Typically, Devil Fang can only ghost seven to eight times per hour at maximum. Less if he has been staying ghosted for extended periods of time (over a minute or so).
  
  
• Bullet Rifting is the ability to send bullets (or other small objects such as grenades and knives) through a small rift, so that it exits closer or coming from a different direction at its target. Opening these smaller rifts consume considerable less power and opening the rifts are instantaneous due to the limited power usage. This power can also be used inversely for small objects thrown at Devil Fang or for small energy attacks directed at him.

Power Grid:
STR: 2
SPD: 4
END: 2
INT: 6
EP: 5
FS: 3

Character Image: Jessie Birmingham

Roleplay Sample:

The operating system of the ARS-021 beeped as slight motioned occurred down below. Jessie studied the area down below, but determined that he couldn't see anything very clearly due to the blackness of the night. Didn't it always happen that way on stakeout missions? You start excited about spying on the boss of some crime syndicate only to feel the excitement slowly slip away as the night progressed without any leads or anything interesting at all to do.

"Activate night vision," Jessie whispered.

Suddenly, everything shifted from dark and gloomy to shades of green. He observed the street down below once again. With his night vision on and the elevation of the rooftop he was on, Jessie noticed that he had missed someone lurking behind a trash can right outside of Lyon Crestfield's estate.

Lyon Crestfield was a mobster. He had a small army of thugs and crooks at his disposal, and used them quite effectively. It was odd that somebody would be lurking outside of his home in such a manner unless it was another investigator. And that would still be strange, because Lyon had at least ten dirty cops on his payroll who worked almost around the clock to dispose of any evidence that incriminated him.

If Jessie could just get a good view of the lurkers face he would be able to activate the ARS-021's facial recognition software. The lurker gave Jessie no such chance, however. He was intently studying one of the windows of the mansion. What was he looking at? Jessie glanced over at the window and saw what the lurker must have been watching for a few seconds now. Lyon Crestfield was standing in a parlor with his gun to a man's head. It didn't look like this was going to go too well for the guy on the business end of the gun.

"Video recorder activate," Jessie whispered again.

At the top left of his visor a timer had popped up measuring the length of the video that ARS-021 was now recording. With video recorder activated to provide evidence, Jessie sighted in his rifle on the mobster. Through a reading on the lens of the rifles scope Jessie could see that range was 124.32 meters. An easy shot. He exhaled and squeezed the trigger.

Bang.

Glass shattered and people starting yelling as pandemonium broke lose. Lyon Crestfield was clutching his right hand that Jessie shot the gun out of. Meanwhile, his would be victim was jumping through the broken window. Two of Lyon's thugs were drawing their guns. Jessie had to act without hesitation. There was no time for fancy shots now.

Bang. Bang.

The thugs dropped to the floor with holes in their skulls. Lyon was running for the next room. The victim was still running across the front lawn of the estate, but Jessie spotted some vicious looking dogs running from the other side of the lawn towards the man. Of course, the mobster would mobster would have guard dogs. Not a man to shoot dogs unless absolutely necessary, Jessie went to Plan B. A rift opened up behind him and he turned and stepped through appearing directly in front of the running man. Jessie grabbed the man stepped back through the rift with the man in tow. They appeared back on the rooftop of the building, and Jessie pushed the man down as he laid down on his belly beside him.

"D-devil Fang?" the man stammered.

Jessie glanced at the man and whispered, "Yes. Now be quiet. I want to see what Lyon is going do next."

Before Jessie could glance back at the house, he realized something was wrong. Where had the lurker gone in all of the confusion? He certainly wasn't hiding behind the trashcan any longer. Jessie looked back and forth on the street below, but there was no sign of lurker or indication of where he had gone. That was strange. He hadn't much time to react. And why did Jessie have the eerie feeling that the lurker not being where he should be--exactly where Jessie had last seen him--was very bad.

"Looking for someone?"

Jessie pivoted for his side reaching for Gloria, his sub-machine gun that was holstered on his right hip, but someone caught his wrist. Judging from the man's clothes he was the lurking that had been down below just moments ago. Initially, Jessie was shocked, but his mind pushed the surprise out of his head. This was a time for clarity not for freezing up in emotion.

"Who are you?" Jessie asked. ARS-021 recognized the clever voice command to begin the facial recognition process. Geometric algorithms appeared on the ARS-021's visors as it began to calculate.

"Tommy Simmons," the man replied. The facial recognition software confirmed this, as well as showed Jessie the man's job, age, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and criminal record. Tommy Simmons hadn't let go of Jessie's wrist yet. That was annoying.

"Tommy Simmons, Private Investigator," Jessie said as he wrenched his hand free and swept his foot beneath man, knocking him down. In an instant, Jessie was on top of the man, pinning him down. Gloria had found her way out of her holster and was directly as the man's head.

"Tommy, it's not a wise idea to sneak up on me," Jessie said, "Now tell me why you're here."

The man showed little surprise at being so easily incapacitated. Nor did he seem to mind the gun pointed at his face other than the fact that he wouldn't look directly at the barrel. His fedora had fallen off when he fell, and was now lying tipped over beside his head. The man's white business shirt and pinstriped jacket were surprising smooth though his matching pinstriped tie was a bit wrinkled as were his pinstriped pants.

"I was hired to investigate reports of someone seen creeping around outside of Mister Crestfield's estate," said Tommy with a smirk on his face, "And to report all of my findings to Mister Crestfield himself. Well, now want he be interested to know that the Fang has been sneaking around outside of his window every night for the past week? I imagine he will."

"Tommy," breathed Jessie quietly, "You already know that it's too late to alert Mister Crestfield of my investigation. Not only do I witness his little debacle tonight, but I recorded it."

Tommy shook with quiet laughter. Clearly amused at Jessie. "See--now here's the thang, Mister Fang. You didn't see nothing of consequence tonight. All you saw was Mister Crestfield pointing a gun at that fella over there. I don't recall Mister Crestfield firing the gun, and unless you've got super hearing you didn't hear a threat come out of Mister Crestfield's mouth."

"I have my witness right here, Tommy," said Jessie, "That's more than enough for an indictment."

"Ha! Your witness over there will be dead by the end of the week!" Tommy exclaimed, "Mister Crestfield will make sure of that."

"I've had enough of this," Jessie said as he smacked the man in the temple with Gloria. The man went still. Jessie got off of the man and picked up the victim from his position of lying prone on the roof. "Don't worry. I'm going to protect you. I'll make sure that Mister Crestfield never gets the chance to hurt you."

"Th-thank you, Devil Fang," the man said, still stammering, "I think there's something you should know though."

"What's that?" Jessie asked.

"Mister Crestfield just took off down the street in a lambo," the man said sheepishly, "You must not have noticed while you were busy interrogating Mister Simmons over there."

"Mother #$%@er!" Jessie yelled, "That son of a bitch is running!"

A portal opened up behind Jessie, "Come on. I'm going to get you back to the base. I'll have to track down Lyon Crestfield later."

I like this guy... I'm going to say approved. Powers look well thought out and fairly original(at least as far as not being something reused a hundred times). Unless someone else has a problem, you're good to go.

Tch, such a dick. Seriously, wtf? What did Lyon do?

Aaanyway, I guess I should ask some questions and things. Just to clarify, lol. For example: what happens to objects caught in the rift as it closes? Do the objects/people get transported to The Rift like whan happened to Jessie? If yes, does that mean you could theoretically trap people there until they develop the means to leave (IF they are lucky enough to figure out how)? Actually, how does that work. IE: You tie a rope to a tree, lead the rope through the rift, and tie it to another tree on the opposing side. Does the rope go alone, or does it take the tree(s) or Earth with it? I'm assuming not the last option, or it would've happened the first time.

What's the range of your tele? Can you reach through to Germany from Cali? What about stranding someone on the Moon? The Sun? But great job on defining the time requirements.

Next, where can you open the portals? This kind of ties into the previous question, but it applies in a different matter. Do you need open air, or can you open a portal inside someone? That, in turn, brings up some interesting metaphysical problems. If a portal opens in my brain and you poke it with ya finger, to I start having brain problems? And how does pressure equalization occur over the rift? If you can reach space, could you siphon the oxygen out of a room?

As far as story goes, I'm assuming projects on this amazing technology is still underway? Seeing as you still have a job and whatnot. By extension, wouldnt the government be all over this application for their soldiers? The ability to teleport into and out of hostile areas seems like a handy ability, as evidenced by your own exploits. If Cutting Edge is willing to shell out the big bucks for hush money, then they would probably have ideas to privatize the product, right? And how did they explain your resurrection to your next of kin? o_0

Next... how the hell are you still sane? Five months of floating in white nothingness without even a book to memorize? Good God, man! You must have the mental fortitude of a monk!



Please dont view this as an attack. Your app was amazing, interesting, and (most importantly), original. It reminds me of either an Anime or a game, but I cant quite place it. I just want to know more, which is a great thing. If I care enough to know more, you definately have a character worth exploring.

Hope to see you posting soon, welcome to the site!

Funny that it should remind you of a video game or anime. I actually made the suit by splicing together a suit from Appleseed (an anime OVA) and the suit from Crysis (a video game). xD I will embellish more on the characters and provide answers for all of your questions when I get home from school at around 11:00 AM Central time.

I like that roleplay sample... more please...

Wow... I... want to RP with you... This is... -Just, kinda.. drools a little.-

Well, I think I answered all of your questions in my expansion on the history and the powers description. If I missed anything let me know, and I'll be happy to explain. Though some of the questions weren't answered directly, they were answered indirectly (i.e. someone can't be rifted to the sun, because the sun is in outer space).

I also expanded the RP sample a little bit for those of you who just WANTED to know what happened next. And then I left off on another cliffhanger. Will you ever get the whole story? Nobody knows.

And thanks for the compliments and such.

Nicely done, sir. Seems like you did a lot of work on him, yet he's still really well balanced. Cant wait to see him in action!

*Stares at your avatar a little longer before finally moving the app into the 'Approved' section*

Ghosting is my only real problem with this application, but I don't think that even matters since you never made any posts outside of your applications. Sucks that you never got on here and roleplayed, but if you come back I will happily remove this from the trash and review it again. I'm trashing inactive/unused characters to help clean things up.