ZERK! (Allston Bright) [VILLAIN]

BASICS

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

A hulking figure, the villain known as Zerk stands at a whopping 7 foot 2 inches in height, his black messy hair and mixed complexion are clearly different than most residents in Japan by a rather stark contrast. Where other people in the island nation appear to be shorter and of clear
Japanese (or at least some form of Asian) descent, Zerk's heritage is very clearly more western from the way he dresses, talks, and even looks naturally. He is a foreigner through and through, and one with quite a bit of muscle at that.

His body is covered in scars from his previous battles, signs of his war against the "Heroic Regime" that plagued his home, as he viewed it. All in all, he is heavily different from what most people would expect meeting him on the street.

PERSONALITY

BACKGROUND HISTORY

Cincinnati had always been brimming with life and the heroes that patrolled the area were never left without something to keep them busy for quite a bit. There seemed to always be one thing or another rolling in to make life just a little bit harder for them: another villain that stood in their way and threatened the livelihoods of their families. For Zapto, this family consisted of his young son: Allston and his wife Sandra. Sadly, he fell into the typical trappings that so many prior pros had fallen to for years: the fame of the moment.

Soon enough, this need for attention and lust for more fame, more renown, more power to give him the advancement to other levels set him en route for the end at breakneck speeds.

A rescue went wrong.

Suddenly, his face was plastered on billboards as the hero that failed. He let them down. The villain won.

Zapto turned to heavy drinking and with heavy drinking came drunken nights home and those nights were some of the most horrid memories that Allston ever had to suppress. Sometimes, even today, he still has nightmares of the horrible things his father would do to his mother.

Finally, the night came when he had to act and in a fit of rage at age 14 - the young hero student hopeful known as Allston Bright unleashed his quirk on someone else. He rushed in and in a single punch, two well placed knuckles right in the gap of the ribcage of his father, sent his father rippling through the air and to the ground below. The damage was substantial; a shattered ribcage was nothing to scoff at - especially when a shard of said bone was found lodged in the lung which was effectively a death sentence for the pro hero.

The sheer rage he felt kept him pushing though, his mother saw what happened and begged him to stop she tried to pull him off - the battered woman's strength drained from the wrath of her drunken husband. The old hero couldn't even struggle to his feet, his weakened from the injury and too drunk to coordinate movements of the like. There was a sharp firing of his leg and Allston made the killing blow. A superpowered stomp to his father's head.

The brutality of the action had the young man tried as an adult and labeled a criminal offender for using his power to harm others.

He found himself sentenced to a life in prison; the American justice system was known for being a bit unforgiving - he had to pay for his crimes and the brutality of it all was enough to settle him as a true murderer: not just someone who struck in defense of another. Needless to say this furthered the corruption of his mind as he believed this to be something else that shaped the mindset of those in the nation by believing in the infallibility of a hero: even one as disgusting as his father.

Years of living in prison sharpened him into a killer, several brawls and the abuse of his quirk only lengthened his theoretical sentence but no matter what happened or how many times he found himself tossed into confinement by himself he would come right back out to crush them. He got strong, he took his time in confinement to train and grow. Perhaps that was what they should've watched for and after he had been there for a full two years he finally snapped and made his move. He escaped from prison.

The details on how and why have never yet been revealed to the public but currently he lay in hiding in Japan, trying to grow stronger and rally support. it begins now.

THE ARMORY

Battery Pack
- A simple battery pack that he recharges each night, it was specially designed for him and made with a special material designed to make it easier for him to recharge from it. When using it, he recharges as if from a medium item but it only takes one turn to charge. This can only be done twice per battle and cannot be recharged mid-combat.

Combat Armor
- A simple costume fashioned out of a hardy material, while this isn't capable of protecting him from the internal damages caused from his quirk it serves to defend him a bit from the attacks coming from outside sources; however minuscule that amount may be. Strong enough to defend entirely from unarmed and untrained strikes, but nothing against strong or trained fighters. This would be useless against things such as bullets or any form of slicing or otherwise mortally damaging quirks.

QUIRK & SKILLS

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Spark of Life

TYPE: Emitter
RANK/LEVEL: A
SUMMARY:
The user of this quirk is capable of drawing in energy from non-living sources. The energy he absorbs from this can only be one of three kinds: thermal energy (heat), electrical energy (self-explanatory), and light energy (also, relatively self explanatory).

When these are absorbed from their relative objects, he can repurpose this absorbed energy into one of three different options; each being devastatingly strong on their own but having their own unique drawbacks on how much they drain him and how much energy he requires.

Absorption of energy at this rank requires his full attention. He cannot attack nor use his other aspects of his quirk in the same turn that he absorbs energy. If he absorbs thermal, electrical, or light energy from the object it begins to flicker out. He must make at least semi-direct contact with the source of the energy (i.e. he has to stick his hand against the glass covering of a light or against the metallic shell of an active battery). During absorption, just the tips of his fingers are immune to burns or shocks and serve to nullify the damaging effects it would have by spreading through the rest of his body. All energy from that object is lost if he stops absorbing early. The energy he absorbs is stored inside his body.

It takes a full turn to drain something from the size of a single light but a small item only gives him "one charge" of his energy. It takes two full turns to drain a "medium sized object" such as a car battery, a row of office lights, etc but gives him "three charges" of his energy. It takes a full three, uninterrupted turns to drain a large object such as a small house's breakers, a bonfire, or something of a similar size of energy but it would give him a whopping 5 charges. He can only safely store 8 charges at any point.

Option one is RAW PHYSICAL FORCE. He can increase his own muscular size and physical output for 1 post for every charge he expends. While in this state, he's burning energy so rapidly inside his body it causes massive damage to his own internal stability. Basically, while he's stronger now, he'll be EXHAUSTED later. For every three posts he's in this state, he'll have to spend one post recuperating from his quirk after. This is still technically not a "transformation" as it's just the changing of energy within him from the absorbed form into kinetic energy behind his fists. While he's using this, he'll burn off excess energy as light energy from his eyes and hair (causing them to appear as golden or in the case of high amounts of energy, pure white from his eyes). His physical increase makes him capable of feats of raw damage output not often seen. He can easily lift or throw objects at 10 tons of weight and charge through most metals like its nothing. This does just raise his strength from its base, which is approximately equivalent to your average bodybuilder at his height or weight.

Option two is he can transform the absorbed energy into tightly focused beams or balls of plasma. These attacks burn at incredibly high temperatures, similar to those that one would expect of most plasma shots they can only be fired from one of his hands or from his open mouth. He must focus intensely when building these up or risks injuring himself with excess plasma bursts, so they can be the only attack he fires that turn but based on the amount of siphoned energy he has absorbed can vary in size and destructive output. For every charge of  siphoned energy he pours into the attack, it ups in level of force (reaching a max at 3). Level 1 is capable of drilling through stone or metal structures, Level 2 has him capable of destroying small structures such as vehicles or small trailers. Level 3 has him capable of destroying single story buildings. It is important to remember that plasma is incredibly hot where even the most cool forms of plasma are as hot as 1,000 K or approximately the heat of 1/5 of the sun. It will burn to be hit by directly and leave scorch marks in its path. The build-up for this attack takes one full post to create, meaning during your opponent's turn they can react/attempt to break your focus. Note: it only takes your attacks in the turn that it is charging! 

Finally, option 3 is the exertion of all his energy in a shield around himself for a single turn. This takes three charges of absorbed energy to use but while active he is in a bubble of plasma energy that surrounds him entirely. This bubble lasts for one turn, but can defend him from the equivalent of a your average C4 detonation.

WEAKNESSES/LIMITATIONS:
First and foremost, it's important to recognize that each of the previously mentioned boons have their downsides as well. Not to mention there are some clear ways to keep him from accomplishing most goals. The most most obvious limitations are that he can only hold 8 charges safely, he cannot recharge without having something to drain, and draining something leaves him entirely vulnerable for the duration.

Second, he can only use one option at a time. All of them require his entire focus, meaning he is literally incapable of mixing options together. They're strong individually, but it's understanding the proper times to use them that would give Zerk a battlefield advantage. Fusion of options is entirely impossible.

As you may have noticed, Zerk can only safely hold 8 charges of his quirk. If he breaks 8 charges, the following occurs. At 9-10 charges he has two posts to drop it and his focus is skewered during that time, causing him to take damage if he uses plasma blasts and the strength of his shield to be reduced to half of its usual effectiveness. If this goes to 11, he only has one turn and plasma blasts will deal 50/50 split of their damage to him and whatever it hits while his shield becomes only a quarter as effective. Failure to do so on either of these causes him to take heavy internal damage on his next turn, rendering him in a recuperative state for a full turn like with his first option. If this breaks 12, he cannot get around it he will go into a recuperative state for two full turns.

While his first option is active, his natural durability is only half of what it would be. While he can make big displays of destructive force he is only capable of doing so via the use of his quirk in quick bouts. Due to the nature of how his quirk actually functions it's actually heavily destructive to his body meaning one punch hits like two while his first option is up. Once he steps out of the form, as mentioned before for every three turns he maintains it actively he must spend a full turn sitting on his knee recuperating. He is incapable of moving, fighting, defending, or absorbing energy during this time. This does not apply if he spends less than three posts in the state. Also, while in this state, his speed is greatly depleted putting him at about half his natural running speed. Once no longer in use, this option cannot be used again for three turns after your recuperative time is done. If there is no recuperative time for that use, it starts immediately.

He can only fire his second option twice in quick succession, unless he fires it at its strongest. In which case, it becomes the only one he can fire for that set. Also, as mentioned prior failing to focus properly (i.e. getting distracted or hit harshly in the head) could result in him losing control of the blast and hurting himself a bit as well. It wouldn't be enough to kill him, but it would for sure burn his skin pretty badly. Once both shots (or one big shot is fired) this option goes on cooldown for three turns.

Finally, his third option renders him entirely immobile for the duration and he cannot attack in the same post due to the nature of the plasma shield. Basically, he is suspended in the air slightly in a bubble that comes off him for about 2m in every direction. Once this is done, it goes on cooldown for three turns.

RANK/LEVEL:  B+
SUMMARY:
A simple combat style based heavily on American streetfighting styles. Through this style, Zerk focuses on attacks that deliver the most hefty blows. While it doesn't offer much in terms of offense it does work well with his heavily destructive quirk.

RANK/LEVEL: C+
SUMMARY:
A simple skill, developed from spending time on his own and in prison. Zerk is a fearsome combatant with a history of combat and violence behind him. He's capable of surviving in harsh environments and living off the land, as well as relatively solid at covering his tracks. There's still room he can learn to grow here but he for sure isn't worthless here, regardless.

Husbando material

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