Sinister Shock
- Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't, don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.
- —Joseph Heller, God Knows (1984)
Sinister Shock came about because I'd found I'd wrapped up the story of Voidjammer in the game, and I needed a replacement character for him in the Entropy Legion. For once, I decided not to make an alien or otherwise "fish out of water" sort of character, but a more traditional villain-or at least, traditional petty criminal who found himself using super powers.
Electrical Affinity
Personality
Shock (as he prefers to be called) is very much a man who wants respect. He doesn't take it well when he feels like he's being disrespected, and while he doesn't display a temper in reaction, he rarely forgets. On the other hand, those who offer respect will get back in turn. This is actually a fairly recent development; having been treated poorly by the "A-List" Entropy Legion, he tended to retreat to sarcasm and mostly mocking nicknames, but working with them has given him new respect for them as well.
Accordingly, he's willing to help them out with virtually anything, but hates being kept in the dark about things. He may have a soft spot for Caestus Veritas, but he isn't admitting to any such thing at this time. Besides, her culture is Praetorian, and that's a hell of a cultural barrier to smack against.
Shock has, thanks to a bout of possession, is not fond of magic, and actively attempts to stay the hell away from it if at all possible.
Powers
With a name like "Sinister Shock", you know he's probably got electrical powers. And what a surprise-he does!
Electric Control
Shock has significant control over electrical fields, and is able to generate them with his mutant power as well. He can cause muscles to seize up, lock people down with cages of electricity, and lash out with electrical discharges. He can also create a pair of electrical "gremlins" he calls Heckle and Jeckle, and they seem imbued with independent sentience-a fact he cannot explain.
Electrical Affinity
Control is not the only effect his powers display. Shock has created Faraday cages to blunt incoming attacks, and can use his mastery of electricity to affect the nervous systems of his allies, making them stronger, faster, and able to even heal from wounds by stimulating cells. On occasion, he can use his powers as a defibrillator to revive fallen allies.
Additional Powers
There are a couple of interesting side effects to Shock's powers that he still continues to find applications for.
Jumping
Bursts of electricity have enabled Shock to jump extremely substantial distances. While originally not very impressive in comparison with, say, flight packs, Shock can now traverse considerable distance between his takeoff and landing points.
Speed
While Shock has not evinced the speed demonstrated by a number of speedsters, he is able to channel the electrical impulses that affect his own reactions to fight far faster than ordinary people.
Primal Forces Mastery
Finally, Shock's electrical control has increased his stamina in ways more subtle than he knows. He can occasionally use his powers far longer than he once could by conserving his personal energies.
Character History
Michael Reed was never a good seed. In high school, he learned how to crack open safes and hack into computer records. The latter skill got him into college, but the university saw through it and reported him to the authorities. The resulting confrontation awakened his mutant powers over electricity.
Vowing that he'd always look out for number one-himself-he took up the handle of "Sinister Shock", and went after the nearest banking system. Unfortunately, that bank was in Atlas Park, which got him promptly arrested and sent to the Zig. JUST in time for a mass breakout to occur-and before he knew it, he was out of the country and in the Rogue Islands. Surely here, he hopes, his streak of bad luck will come to an end.
Don't count on it.
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