Jonathan

[Failmaster]

Subject X-16E-WH46

Character Basics

Home Planet: Earth
Playby: Voltaire
Age: 23
Nickname/Codename(s): Jonathan; 'Runner'
Alignment: Good

Appearances Are Everything

Eye Color: Black
Hair: His hair is a dark red, almost black, but still managing to come off as red, and is mostly just...well...unkempt and loose. Most of the time it is windblown and all over the place, as might be expected from someone like him.
Civilian Attire: His normal clothing consists of simple and plain, so as to stand out as little as possible. Most commonly a pair of jeans light colored t-shirts, and occasionally a hoodie or jacket if it is cold or something, and his ever-present goggles.
Costume: When going about 'business' as Runner, Jonathan wears a jumpsuit of sorts. It is jet black, with dark crimson bands around his wrists, ankles, neck, and waist. His goggles are now always in place over his eyes, or pulled up onto his forehead. He also has a pair of black gloves pulled over his hands, and a pair of boots on.
Scars/Tattoos/Marks: Jonathan is branded with his 'model number', as well as a barcode, on his lower neck. And he also has a multitude of scars all over his body from the experiments and 'surgery' done to him.

What Makes You Tick?

Powers:

• Superhuman Speed: Jonathan can reach simply astounding levels of speed, far beyond the scope of anything most people could ever acheive. The longer he runs, the faster his speed will build up until it hits its maximum of just under the speed of sound. When just starting out, Jonathan's speed is roughly about 60 miles per hour, which is quite fast for a start to a run, and it will build from there over the course of several seconds, assuming he can run unobstructed, until he hits his full speed. Jonathan also has a rather interesting facet of this power. He is capable of, at will, releasing a burst of energy from within his body, known as 'Flux', and reaching even higher levels of speed, to the point of leaving ghostly images of himself behind, blurring or even completely disappearing from sight, and even reaching speeds as high as five times the speed of sound. In this state, he can even run across the surface of liquids and up vertical surfaces. He glows a bright blue color while this is active, and his eyes glow a bright white, and he seems to exhale steam or mist, as well.
  
• Heightened Physical Abilities: Jonathan underwent classified, extreme molecular and genetic experiments to alter his body to both withstand the speeds he is capable of now moving at, as well as to aid in his mobility. In terms of physical strength, he is just slightly above a peak-level human, being able to support roughly 1200 lbs at his maximum level of exertion. His endurance is also heightened, allowing him to take massive trauma from blunt impacts, high falls, and even general pain without serious injury. His agility, reflexes, and bodily coordination are also as near perfect as can be, to allow him greater control over his body at such extreme speed. And his senses are apparently unaffected by the speeds he moves at, and he retains the ability to see in perfect clarity, and hear with no distortion, even at his maximum speed.
  
• Indefinite Stamina: Jonathan's body can run, for all intents and purposes, indefinitely. Since his escape more than five years ago, Jonathan hasn't rested more than, perhaps, a full month's time in total, and he still seems able to function and move about without any loss of awareness or slowing of his abilities. He also seems to not need to eat or drink anymore for sustenance, as he has only done so a few times during his run.
  

Weaknesses:

• His superhuman speed has a few limits to it. Namely, it takes him a while to build it up. And anothe one, which is...annoying, is traction. On slick or slippery surfaces, it is diffucult for him to run or move in general, as his increased speed makes it harder to get traction on such surfaces.
  
• Jonathan's flux is tricky as well. This state seems to actually tire him out; it burns through so much energy, that even his massive levels will begin to ebb away given enough prolonged usage. And without time to rest, or continued use, this could leave Jonathan weak, nearly unable to move, unconscious, or even dead from exhaustion in the most extreme cases.
  
• Despite his heightened physical abilities, Jonathan is still, at his core, human and mortal. He is still vulnerable and susceptible to death in all the forms it exists.
  
• Electricity: Any form of electrical energy will slow Jonathan down considerably, and make his movements jerky and awkward for a few seconds, in addition to causing him great pain.
  

Weapons:

• Run Suit: The 'jumpsuit' Jonathan wears as Runner is made of a special material with a wide array of useful qualities to it. It is highly insular, keeping Jonathan cool in the heat, and warm in the cold, allowing him to survive greater extremes in temperature than most, but not by a large margin. The suit is also resistant to friction from Jonathan's high speed as well as general wear and tear, and is fireproof, up to a certain temperature. It also provides some protection from gunfire, mostly small arms and the like, but can reduce the impact from all sorts of firearms and most blunt impacts in general by a slight degree.
  
• Run Goggles: A specially designed set of goggles, always worn by Jonathan regardless of whether or not he is in the guise of Runner or not. They are highly UV resistant, and enable him to stare almost directly into the sun with almost no discomfort or loss of vision or negative side-effects. They also have several different vision selectors built in, including night vision, infrared, thermal imaging, x-ray, and telescopic. Also contained within the goggles is a GPS system, with its obvious benefits. There is also a HUD of sorts, giving Jonathan an immediate, easy view of any important information about his current location (e.g., city population, notable persons of interest, crime levels, etc.), or any 'tasks' he might set for himself, as well as a journal of sorts, which is recorded via microphone and viewed through the goggles. The goggles themselves are also made of specially designed materials and are nearly completely resistant to damage and temperature extremes, only being susceptible to an EMP blast.
  
• Clawed Gloves/Spiked Boots: To further assist in making his movement as easy and free as possible, Jonathan wears a pair of gloves and boots made of the same material as his jumpsuit. The soles of the boots and tips of the glove's fingertips are covered in small, metallic barbs and spikes, which are capable of clinging to almost any surface, and giving Jonathan a solid grip with which to give him even more ease of motion and safety in his radical movements and astounding, unorthodox methods of travelling.
  
• Vaulters: A pair of staves made expecially for Jonathan by a friend now since dead. They are made of a blend of the materials in his jumpsuit and goggles, as well as metal mined from Cluster 7C, and are extremely durable. Used primarily as a further aid for his mobility, for pole vaulting and the like, but they are also equally useful in combat. They can be extended up to fifteen feet at need, and compacted down to six inches for storage. He carries one on each side of his waist on his Run Suit.
  

Unique Skills:

• Parkour/Free Running: Jonathan has mastered both parkour for getting around, and free running for fun and entertainment. It went so well with what he had been trained for, and bred to do, it seemed almost second nature to him. Even an ordinary human can perform 'impossible' feats of agility, speed and acrobatics when they are skilled at free running, and combined with Jonathan's inherent abilities, the displays he can put on are simply amazing. From aerial twists, flips, and somersaults, to daring leaps over a sure plunge to sure death many hundreds of feet below, Jonathan has done it all, and mastered it. From the streets, to the rooftops of even the tallest buildings, there is nowhere Jonathan can't get to. And he always gets to where he's going in record time.
  
• Combat Expertise: While not Jonathan's primary function by any means, he was still trained in combat in the eventuality it became necessary. He was taught a style which emphasized his enhanced speed, reaction time, flexibility and coordination. It is devastating against anyone untrained in fighting, naturally, but is also quite effective against even highly trained opponents. It is a mostly defensive style, focusing on waiting for the opportune moment, then countering for swift punishment. Rarely will Jonathan make an attack himself, always preferring to wait and mount a counter-attack whenever possible.
  
• Weapons Expert: Part of his training was also extensive, torturous training and mental implantation on how to use nearly every type of weapon on Earth, so he would be able to use any weapon found in the field with expertise and ease. He dislikes this facet of his person very greatly, as it, in his own eyes, makes him a killing machine, a fact he despises and fears.
  
• Quick Learner: While he may not be a genius exactly, Jonathan is a quick learner. He's quick to pick up on information, and can figure things out on his own without much to go on, given enough time.
  
• Planner/Strategist: From the moment he was able to conceive what planning was, it was drilled into Jonathan's mind to always have a plan ready. A plan of action, plan of escape, plan of attack, all sorts of plans and strategies unfold to Jonathan with ease. He can quickly glance over an area and come up with the quickest, easiest route through it after only a few seconds, and can find some way to use his abilities to overcome almost any situation, given enough time.
  

Character Information

Character Personality:
Untrusting by nature, it takes quite a while for Jonathan to warm up to a person, and a while longer, or some dramatic event to make him trust them, and further trial and frustration, if it can be called that, before he would ever call anyone a friend. This is because he sees everyone as a potential enemy, which in truth, with his logic, everyone is. It all depends on which way the walls go up, as it were.

But don't let that get you thinking he's unfriendly. Oh, far from it! He's quite friendly, and quite willing to strike up a conversation with even a total stranger, and generally be as pleasant as possible. At least until something...odd happens. Then he will be the first one to be on guard and start casting glances about to fish out the perpetrator.

He is wary and cautious in nearly all situations, as he has just recently finally been able to begin any sense of a 'normal' life without fear of chase from the scientists and military faction which were responsible, in tandem, for his creation. It has made him quite paranoid, and he still fears an attack suddenly finding him from nowhere as it so often has in the past. And as such, if anyone sneaks up on him, or scares him, he's likely to try and beat the offender into unconsciousness first and not even bother with the asking questions part.

He also has issues with isolation, quiet, and darkness, all of which are deep-seated fears he is working to overcome, but which still cause him distress. When exposed to any of the above, he will often descend into a depressed state, and is liable to extreme eruptions of emotions of various sorts from seemingly nowhere, and so this causes him to do his best to avoid these things at all costs, always seeking company whenever possible, and always staying in areas with large amounts of noise and light.

Character History:
Even before being born into the world, Jonathan was not ordinary. For one, he wasn't born at all. He was created by military scientists for a project they called 'Project Runner'. It a project designed to create a living being able to survive in nearly any climate on Earth, and be able to report messages and communications for the military should convential communication be unavailable, as well as to take supplies into areas and locales where conventional supply methods were inadvisable or unavailable, and to do both with extreme speed, and above all, to be capable of outperforming any soldier on Earth on the field of combat if it became necessary.

And to such an end, Jonathan, along with several others, were created. They weren't human, but they were close. They had had their genetic makeup and DNA modified just slightly to alter their performance and physical growth to make them superior to humans. And out of those created, only two thirds actually managed to survive to'maturity', and awaked to begin their training and modification.

And of that reduced number, nearly half did not survive the genetic and surgical modifications done to them, and the ones that did survive...most were unstable and had to be put down. In the end, only fifteen percent of the original subjects still lived and were ready for the final testing stages. And the final stages were a gruelling, deadly gauntlet of traps, no-win situations, and impossible situations no human could ever escape from.

Most died in the early stages of the gauntlet, shredded by gunfire, riped apart by sawblades, or incinerated by lasers, and some even falling to be impaled on spikes below. Only a few survived this final testing, and those were to be given more testing to 'push them to their limits'. This testing was passed by nearly all of the remaining 'Runners', and they were to be given freedom to go into civilian life until they were needed.

But it was all a lie. The military, fearing that these 'Runners' had been far too succesful, ordered them destroyed. And so they were. The passage to 'freedom' was a darkened hallway which led to a fall into a pit of sawblades and certain death. Jonathan was last in line for freedom, but then...via a random power surge in the system, the lights flickered and the hallway was lit up for a moment, revealing the blood-spattered walls and the pit of blade-filled doom. And Jonathan immediately bolted, knowing full well what was going on.

There was no freedom... At least, not in any normal way. He would need to escape via the normal pathways, the way everyone else came in...the front door. It was the only way he could think of, and so he went. It was harrowing, the military was after him in full force, and the security was almost as bad as the gauntlet had been, but, somehow...he made it. He made it out of the facility, and then...he did what he had been made to do. He ran. Straight for the city limits, straight for the state line, straight for the national border. If he could just get far enough, they wouldn't be able to do anything to him!

But it proved to be fruitless... He simply couldn't escape. No matter where he went, the military always seemed to be waiting for him, and he had to turn aside, never making it more than a few hundred miles, at best, before encountering resistance which made him turn a different direction.

It all seemed like something out of a movie or something...at least, from what he'd heard about movies, at any rate. It was all surreal and it seemed...faraway and distant, as if it wasn't really happening to him...but to someone else. But that was quite impossible. It had to be happening to him, or else...how would he know?

And for five years, or at least that's how long he guessed it was, it was hard to keep track of time, it was all about to end. There was a way to get the military off his back, and it was quite obvious: death. And since he could survive far more than a human could, it would only need to look fatal, but be in such a position and location that they would leave him be and not bother to investigate. If that were possible, anyway.

And so he set out to try and find some way to fake his death. It came to end on a mountain peak. Cornered on a cliff, he was out of options for escape, but not for his plan. Looking over the cliff, he grinned, then did a mock salute, before jumping boldly off the cliff. He hit the ground, hard, and he felt the impact through his entire body, but then he was off down the mountain slope, tumbling down it. He crashed violently into all manner of objects, doing nothing to slow his fall. And then, it was done...he stopped falling down the mountain, and right into a river.

And his plan worked. The military gave up on chasing him, believing that not even a Runner could have survived that. But he did survive, if only barely. It was falling into the river that saved him. The military did a light search at the mountain's base and, upon not finding him, declared him dead and their mission complete.

And for the first time, Jonathan was free. Free from orders being barked at him, free from being chased, free to do...whatever he wanted to do. It was glorious, and upon his recovery, he set about to live as normal a life as he could. But with no identity, it was...hard. The only thing he could do to keep himself sane and going was to use his powers to do something. Something fun, but...to better the world at the same time. And so, out of that desire, Runner was born, and he was back to using his powers once more.

Sample Post

The Sample:
"Alright...here we go..."

His voice was shaking. Not from any sort of fear or anger, but from excitement. In his normal civilian attire, he stood atop a building, looking across the street below. It was a wide street, easily thirty feet across, most likely more; he was terrible with guessing at distances. And he was going to jump it. Why? Because it would probably be fun, that was why! And so, backing up a few feet, he stretched for a moment, and then he took off and when he got to the edge, he jumped. For a few brief seconds he seemed to just hang there in midair before he hit the rooftop on the other side, rolling to absorb the impact, and then springing back to his feet and continuing with the momentum.

It had been fun! Leaping over a fall to possible death like that...it was thrilling! And now to get back down to street level, he would work his way carefully down...not. He was going to get down the fun way. Leaping over the side of the building he was on, it was a short drop to another rooftop, and from there it was a turn to his left, a short dash, and over the side of another building, down onto another rooftop, and then off across it and a short leap to another building, then down another level.

"Alright, almost down now..."

He took off across this rooftop, and then leapt off the edge, right at another wall. He hit it and used the angled impact to run along it for a few feet, and then kicked off of it to grab hold of a fire escape and then descended to ground level without further delay or display of his 'talents.' He let out a deep breath as he walked out of the alley he had come down to street level in, smiling broadly as he repositioned his goggles slightly.

"Man, that's always fun."

About You!

Name: Failmaster
Experience Level: Close to six years now
Characters: Jade

_{Template created by The Tommy of Corrupt Morality. June, 2010}

[The Murk]

Approved, Mr. Speedy >_>