Super Me

[Joa-Boo]

Description page

This is where the basics of the world are described.  

[Joa-Boo]

Character profile

Name:
Super Hero name:
Gender:
Age:
Power:
Villain or Hero:
League:
Appearance:
(Civilian identity)
(Super look)
Origin of powers:  

[Joa-Boo]

Name: Derick Goodman
Super Hero name: Galvanizer
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Power: The Galvanizer Manipulates the kinetic and potential energy of things. This power manifests itself in the form of electric powers and augmenting the powers of those he maintains physical touch with.
Weapons: The Galvanizer uses two wide arm blades that can connect together to create a V shaped platform that Galvanizer can stand on and use to fly.
Villain or Hero: Hero
League: No League yet
Appearance:
(Secret identity) Derick is 5''11' and 260 pounds of military muscle. He sports a nearly shaven beard and has brown hipster hair that all combs to the left side of his face. His eyes are a deep empathetic blue with golden bolts around the inner ring of his eyes. Derick is a military weapons engineer at the nearby fort as a part of the National Guard.

(Super identity) Galvanizer worries about protecting his secret identity so he covers up most of his appearance. While suited up, Galvanizer wears an extra pair of urban Kevlar military gear which he has stripped of military banners and replaced with his own symbol: two vertical lines with an equal lateral triangle pointing upward. This symbol, to him, means Absolute Change. Instead of a military helmet, Galvanizer wears a grey Kevlar hood that are held in place by wielding goggles. Derick hopes to upgrade his look to something more hero aspiring but for the mean time it’s as much as he can afford.

Origin of powers:
Derick Goodman was always a big geek growing up. His parents, Joy Goodman and Peter Goodman, were never really around because they had to provide for Derick and his 4 other siblings. His father was a miner who spent months at a time on a mining site and his mother worked 2 jobs as a waiter by day and a housekeeper for motels by night. With what money they had they allowed Derick and his siblings to explore whatever nonsense made them happy. It was his parent’s way of pleading for forgiveness for never being around.

He enjoyed learning, studying, experimenting, far more than he enjoyed throwing a ball outside with the neighborhood kids. While in elementary school, during showing tell, each kid brought in their favorite gift they got over the holidays. Derick brought a pair of wielding goggles he got while all the other kids brought in toys. When he got in front of the class everyone made fun of him. He became the focus of most of the school bullies and the cold shoulders of the popular. When bullies came around to force Derick into doing their homework Derick told them, in the middle of getting beat up, that he was willing to help them better themselves. He would be happy to teach them.

Derick knew he did not fit in. As high school started he embraced his differences and poured his efforts into school. Before making it to his second year he had tested out of all high school level classes. He was the youngest id in his school to ever be admitted into college.

Derick gave college his best effort but only being 15 in a place made for adults only further alienated himself from others. Life had caught up to Derick’s quest for knowledge and he quickly fell into depression. No one seemed to understand Derick. He had no friends to lean on, his parents where never around, and his brothers and sisters were much too young. On top of feeling so outside of everyone else, Derick felt as though he was letting his family down. This went on for his first year of college. By the end of the year Derick’s grades were so pour he flunked out. Derick remembers the pain of that letter like he remembers the back of his hand. He thought about ending everything that day but reasoned that he could not let his younger siblings find him like that. If no one would understand him then at least he could make them proud of him for something. Derick did the only other thing he could think to do. He joined the military.

The service was hard on Derick. He was not particularly athletic or skilled in any physical feat. His only saving grace came from his inhuman will to do whatever he put his mind to. In this case, it was make his family proud. So he pushed himself to keep up with the other recruits. He spent all of his leisure time at the gym, gun range, or in the ring. Unfortunately this did not give him much chance to attempt a social life at the military camp. That sense of outsider still clung to him. The more alone he felt the more he pushed towards excelling up the ranks. After long he was a full fledged soldier ready for battle experience. For Derick this meant maintaining the military base until something happened.

Years went by without the need to raise a weapon. He was placed on a military mechanics team that helped upkeep the vehicles. Derick hoped he was making his parents proud but all he had done for years was clean up a lazy base. His hopes were not that high. That all changed one day when a cataclysmic earthquake hit the city. Derick and his team were dispatched to help rescue all they could. In one part of the city a power plant was coming down from the earth quake that left a chunk of the city without power. People were working on fixing the problem but things escalated and everyone was trapped. The whole facility was a ticking time bomb that, if went off, would topple most of the area. Derick’s team was there trying to help but the situation seemed hopeless. They were given the order to evacuate from the area and told to leave those in the facility. Their commander told them there was no use.

Derick was amazed by their commanders cowardly orders. He understood the mission and had calculated a completely different outcome. Against orders, Derick charged back into the downing facility. Through rubble, fire, and electrical discharge, Derick made his way into a maintenance room. There he could manually redirect the power plant’s overcharge and displace it in an energy sink long enough for things to balance out. He labored hard on altering things to the right settings but ran into another hurdle that set their demise. In the earthquake, connections to the sink were cut. Derick got a visual on the huge cords and could see a four foot chunk was missing. Derick gulped. He took one look at the cord and knew what he must do. He had not done much since failing out of college. He was unsure if his family was proud of him or if anyone even cared for him. He did not know if anyone would ever know of his sacrifice. He did not care about any of that. He knew this was the right thing to do and in the end he could be proud of himself. Derick climbed through the rubble after initiating an automatic transfer towards the energy sink. There was a distant gargled robotic countdown and sirens to follow.

10: Derick punched…. 9…. 8…punched through some glass to … 7… climb into the hazardous zone. 6: Derick moved … 5… past the rubble … 4… and grabbed both … 3… ends of the cords … 2… to complete the circuit. 1!
The overcharged power plant poured all of its electrical energy through the redirected circuit towards the sink. With Derick completing the circuit, everything passed through him. Thousands of watts passed through one hand and left the other as it traveled toward a rescued plant. In an instant Derick shot up in flames. His body, brain, organs, everything was fried as black as the wire he held onto.

Something must have recognized Derick’s sacrifice that day. He would never be able to explain it but somehow he was still alive. He thought maybe this was an act of God. A smile grew across Derick’s charred face. In the distance he could hear the same robots face announce that power was restored and overcharge was no longer imminent. By the time the balanced energy returned Desmond had collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Desmond awoke in a hospital a few days later. There were flowers surrounding him and his father, Peter, asleep on a couch. He mounded in pain. His body still felt as though it was on fire. All of the electrical devices nearby began to surge. Derick thought he was going to explode until he heard the thrilled voice of his father.

“My son…you are awake. I prayed so hard. Thank God you are awake.” His hand touched Derick’s forehead and like it was meant to be said. “I am so proud of you son!” Derick choked. Tears began to roll down his face as he collapsed against his father. “The military called and said you were being rewarded a purple heart. They told us what you did. You’re a hero my son!”
“Thank you dad. You have no idea how happy that makes me to her you say that.” Derick pulled himself against the hospital bed. “Honestly dad I should be dead. I don’t understand how or why. All of the energy in the power plant passed through me.” Peter’s brow coiled into a concerned look.

“Well you’re alive son let’s leave it at that.”
“Leave it….. How can I ignore this?” Derick felt the burning sensation come back. The room began to flux with energy. Suddenly the objects in the room began to wiggle and move inward towards Derick.
“Derick… what are you doing? How?”
“I… don’t know dad. Help me! IT HURTS!” Derick cried out. Peter quickly unplugged everything from Derick and threw his jacket over the boy.
“I’m not going to let them see you like this. They might think you are some freak. Who knows what kind of experiments they might do on you.” Peter’s old hands shook with worry. The two snuck out of the hospital under the radar.
More to come on how he learns to use and master is powers.  

[Spectre195]

Derick was on medical leave since his accident at the power plant near San Diego. He was reassigned to Fort Hamilton in New York so that he could utilize the world class medical facilities that New York had to offer. Derick was still adjusting too New York, it was a very different city than those out West to which he was used to. A lot more cramped and cluttered. One night Derick was walking along the streets when he heard a woman's voice call out.

"You took me! You raped me!"

The call alerted Derick, he froze listening for more trying to locate where the sound came from.

"You shot me in the stomach when you were all done!" The woman's voice screamed. "Do you know what that feels like!!" The voice was a shriek.

Derick knew something was going down he ran off down the road in the direction the voice was coming from. It was still distant perhaps a few blocks off.

"I laid there on the ground as my blood pooled around me unable to move."

Derick ran faster as the voice was closer.

"I stared into the night sky as all turned to black."

A loud bang rang through the air as Derick approached an alleyway up ahead. The sound had to be coming from there. Excited and terrified Derick felt electricity flowing through his body. Finally he made the turn into the alleyway and there he saw a body limp on the ground.

He rushed to the body, it was not the woman though it was a man. Half he head was missing. Next the body was a discarded pistol, the probable murder weapon. Derick was not surprised, the bang he had heard couldn't have been anything but a gunshot. What shocked Derick though was the rest of the man's body. It was covered in bruises and blood, he had been beaten before being killed. Had the woman done this? Was there someone else there? The beating looked to savage to be from most women, the man was rather large. Derick looked around the alleyway seeing no trace of anyone else there.  

[Joa-Boo]

Derick’s muscles twitched with the tension. This was a disturbing murder. His stomach dropped at the thought: maybe he could have prevented this if he was just a bit faster. Derick’s first idea was to call the cops but something inside of him tugged a different direction. He was a super hero after all. This may give him a chance to hone in on his new found skills he had been working on for the past month. Derick scanned the alleyway for any witnesses. Once he knew the coast was clear he pulled up a ski mask and unzipped his running jacket to reveal the Kevlar he made a habit of wearing. This wasn’t his full on supper outfit but it would have to do. Energy surged from within him. It felt so good to get out and become the Galvanizer.

“Alright Galvanizer, let’s see what we have tonight.” The Galvanizer looked around the scene. There wasn’t much information other than a badly beaten man who was eventually shot in the head. He had the murder weapon but the assailant vanished in thin air. “clues…clues…let’s see what we can find.” The Galvanizer let the energy from around him build up inside. The increase in energy amplified his senses. Hopefully he would be able to pick up on something. He looked at every entry way into the alley. He looked up and down. He looked every place a killer could run. "Where did you go lady. It sounds like you have been through a lot but no one deserves to die like this. Hopefully I can set things right."  

[Spectre195]

Derick searched the alleyway but there no was no indication of which way the lady had went. It was almost as if she had vanished into thin air. In the distance Derick heard police sirens, he hadn't been the only one to hear the commotion going on. Surely the cops were coming to find out what happened. That was his cue to leave and Derick left the scene not wanting to get tied up in the investigation, especially when he was trying to conduct his own.

Without much to go on Derick returned to home wondering about what happened. So much about the whole incident didn't make much sense. But there was nothing he could do about it for the moment. He checked the news to see if they reported anything on it, but there was no mention. Why would there be? Scumbags like him died all the time in New York, it wasn't exactly the talk of the town. Though it disappointed him a little, not being able to help let Derick down.

Life went on as normal for a few days. Though Derick couldn't get it out of his head. What happened to that girl? He was walking through the same neighborhood thinking maybe he could find some trace of evidence that would lead him to the girl. A couple streets over he heard a man scream.

"I wasn't trying to be bad. I promise! I didn't mean to break the xbox. I dropped my juice!" He heard the voice of a young child almost shriek out. A child!?! Derick would not fail this time, he took off like lightning down the road . Common common, say something kid tell me where you are, Derick though to himself.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Why did you hurt me! I didn't mean to do it!" The boy shrieked again sounding as if he was about to throw a temper tantrum. Derick listen to the shrieks trying to pinpoint where they were coming from, but the sounds kept bouncing off the buildings making it hard. Still Derick ran around around checking every alleyway and corner, he had to find this child.

"I said I was sorry why didn't you listen! It was an accident!" The child shrieked. Derick heard where the sound was coming was and ran as fast as his legs could go. He heard a man scream out in terror. Closer and closer Derick got finally he got to the side street where he thought he heard the child.

He turned down the alleyway and froze when he did. In the middle of the narrow passageway he saw a man's body laying in the street. Derick slowly approached the body. As he got closer he saw blood oozing into the ground, the man's head had been smashed into the sidewalk repeatedly. The skull was caved in.

(feel free to go back through this post and write his own reactions and thoughts before during and after what happened.)  

[Joa-Boo]

Derick exploded with anger. Bolts of electricity jolted from out of his body as he stomped his foot near the dead man. How did this happen again? He was too late. Derick rattled his brains for ideas while surveying the crime scene once again. From the looks of things there was no way he was just late. This kind of violence didn’t just happen in a few seconds. This took an incredible amount of force or time. He stepped away from the body, pulled down his mask, and turned on the Galvanizer.

Galvanizer darted to the closest tall building. He placed his hands against it and let energy flow from out of them. The whole building’s face became charged with static electricity. He found the lid of a trashcan nearby and used that as a disk to help him stay balanced. He poured energy into the trash cap until it would react with the forces in the wall. He knew this process would be much quicker once he perfected it but until then this was the best way he could get it to work. With all of that effort, Galvanizer was able to float right up to the roof of that building.

From the top of the building Galvanizer would have a bird's eye view of the scene. He needed more answers and that obviously meant seeing more than just the alleys. Galvanizer powered himself up and then redirected his energy into sight and hearing. The magnification would hopefully find hims something.

“I guess someone is doing some avengeful hunting.” The Galvanizer thought to himself. A woman and now a boy. Someone or something is helping these people get back at others. The woman was a bit more vindicated from the other night but this boy just sounded like an adult was mad at him. Whatever was happening it was sick and wrong. “Come one show me something. Show me anything!” The Galvanizer took a deep breath to keep himself focused. He was getting very frustrated and knew he needed to keep a level head.  

[Spectre195]

Even from the high point nothing Derick saw would lead him anywhere. He saw a couple people walking around the streets around the scene, but nothing out the of ordinary. Nothing to suggest they had just brutally murdered someone. After looking for a while Derick gave up his hunt and returned home, defeated yet again.

His failure kept him up at night. What was happening? It made no sense. The killings on the surface couldn't have been related, could they? The first victim looked like a street thug while the second man was wearing a nice suit. The cause of death was different. The voices of the suspects were clearly not the same. However both of the voice spoke of anger, of being hurt. Was someone helping them seek vengeance? Why those two people in particular? What was there aim? His gut told him the killings were related; but he couldn't figure out how.

The next morning Derick was drinking his coffee watching the news when he heard "Last night Tim Kerrel a respected Wall Street investment banker found dead in the middle of the road at..." Derrick froze as he looked at the screen and saw the man's body from last night. "...Mr. Kerrel was killed violently while walking home from work. Police are still investigating the circumstances; however it is interesting to note that Mr. Kerrel's 4 year old son Johnathan disappeared last week. Whether or not this is related to his murder has yet to be determined..."

So the victim was the father of the boy. That made sense to Derick from what he heard, but what had happened to the boy? Had he been kidnapped by some avenging mad man? Clearly something had happened between the boy and the father. Did he go willingly or unwillingly? There was so much weirdness to this whole thing.  

[Joa-Boo]

Derick sat back against the cool metal chairs of the coffee shop. His breath was choppy and heavy. His mind raced in between the lines of each word the news story brought to life. He quickly looked back down at his coffee once he noticed he was getting weird looks from the other patrons. He must have looked so suspicious sitting there, looking stressed out, while a murder story ran on the news.

‘I am sick of being in the dark on this. I’m going to have to get a bit more involved if I want some answers. ‘Derick scorned himself for not being able to9 notice anything the night of the attack. ‘Tim Kerrel aye…sounds like a big shot. I wonder if anyone has questioned his wife yet.’ Derick got the idea and instantly jumped to his phone. He nearly knocked over his coffee. Derick zoomed through his apps until his phone was internet searching everything he could on the family prior to the murder. If he could find enough information he would try to meet with the wife in person to ask a few questions. He needed a lead if he was going to stop this from happening to another person. All he knew is the kid was the key.

After a few hours of hard pressed digging, an alarm went off on his phone. He jumped, this time spilling his 5th coffee. Derick apologized to everyone around him while looking down at his phone.

SET UP

‘Damn I need to get back to that neighborhood with all my gear.’ Derick had all his things in seconds and was out the door. Derick moved as fast as he could to collect all of his gear to stake out the danger zone. This time he had his full Kevlar suit, wielding helmet, and specially made arm blades. If anything went wrong this night he was ready.  

[Spectre195]

That night Derick saw nothing at the neighborhood that was suspicious. It was a completely normal night. He grew tired on his watch, but kept it up. Was there really any reason that the murder would come back though? If he killed the man over the kid then the work was done? Was the killer the kid though? Nothing about this made any sense, just like the girl the previous time. They had no connection that he could figoure out though, except for the fact that they had been hurt by the person who had been killed.

The next day Derick set out to talk to the mom and see if he could figure out what happened. He approached her house in the middle of the afternoon after waking. When he knocked she answered the door, "Yes can I help you?" She asked.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Good evening Mrs. Kerrel.” Derick faked the most pleasant smile he could muster. He was very tiered and hoped it did not show. “My condolence for your loss mam. If you are willing, I’d like to ask you a few questions about them.” Derick followed the woman into her house where the two sat down in the living room. The house she was left with was magnificent in size and beauty. Derick gulped as the lies continued to roll from his mouth. “I’m a private investigator that believes the death and disappearance of your husband and son could be related to a mass serious of similar events. Every bit of your cooperation could mean justice for your loved ones.” Derick was ready to note anything. What she didn’t know is that Derick was using his superior senses to get a feel for the rest of the house she wasn’t showing him.

“Do you have any reason to believe there was anything hindering the relationship between your husband and son? More importantly, have you noticed your son doing anything abnormal or speaking with anyone strange?”  

[Spectre195]

The woman's face got angry at you mentioned her husband, "A private investigator huh?" She said eyeing you suspiciously. While Derick could tell the woman didn't trust him at all she sat there patiently listening to what she had to say until Derick mentioned her son. She grew angry and shouted, "There was nothing wrong between my son and Tim!" Tears welled in her eyes as she took a step back. "He was a strict man, but he loved his son! Who hired you? Private investigator means someone hired your right? What do you mean this could be related to a mass string of attacks? What do you know!? Where is my baby!" Her emotions were getting the better of her as tears fell down her eyes. "What do you know" she said sobbing.  

[Joa-Boo]

Derick’s heart fell as the woman’s emotions took full form. She must be a mess. He wish he didn’t have to bother her but this was his best lead.
“Mrs Kerrel I’m doing everything I absolutely can to find your son. This is why every bit of your cooperation is vital.” Derick slowly moved closer to the woman with his hands in a safe unthreatening gesture. He sat by the woman’s side as she began to sob loudly. Derick placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. His touch sent vibrations through her whole body. His energizing abilities, if he channeled well enough, would help sooth her. “Look I’ll tell you this much but I really shouldn’t. My employer has been chasing a serious of what the average person would call paranormal activity. Now he wasn’t close enough to help your husband but he heard the commotion before the act was done. I have no reason to believe your son would harm his father but we do think something was drawing from some negative energy between them. This is why I need to know what your son has been up to.” Derick took a deep breath before waiting for her answer. “Your son is out there mam and I’m going to bring him back to you. We both want the same things here.”  

[Spectre195]

Mrs Kerrel sobbed while Derick sat down. As he tried to calm her she looked up at him suspiciously. "Get away from me!" She shouted standing up. What Derick had said was too much for her. "Paranormal activity!?! I'm grieving for my entire family be destoryed and your some nutter, talking to me about the paranormal? Get away from me!" She shouted red in the face. It did sound crazy Derick had to admit, that type of stuff didn't really exist..well atleast he thought until his accident.

Mrs Kerrel walked back into her house and slammed the screen door shut. "My family wasn't perfect, but whose is? My husband was a rough man, but a good man! He loved my son!" She said tears flowing down her face. "My son, my son, my son" she sobbed. After a moment she continued, "My son was as sweet boy, he wouldn't want to hurt a fly. And you think he is involved? You think my son was involved in the death of my husband!?! Get out!" She shrieked slamming the door storm door shut. Derick could hear some thrashing about inside and something crashing onto the ground, but there was nothing more that he could do for her.

Derick hadn't got anything concrete but he could tell there was more to the story than she was letting on. But for now it was a dead end.  

[Joa-Boo]

Derick could taste the lead he needed but knew he wouldn't get any more information from Mrs Kerrel. He sat with her for a while before standing and clearing his throat. This hero business was much harder than he thought. Shouldn’t she just be able to tell he was the good guy and do everything in her power to help? It frustrated Derick to know end. He placed a notecard on the end table just in front of the couch and let himself out.

“Please call this number if there is anything I can do for you Mrs Kerrel. I will do everything in my power to help find your son.” Derick left a sticking note with a prepaid phone number on it and then left the house with a sigh. Something weird was going on and he didn’t like it. He took the long way back to his apartment to clear his mind. There must be an angle he was missing. Maybe he would just have to let this one go for now and move back to stopping petty crime. Derick balled up his fist. He could feel the energy behind it surge. He was ready to do something big. The thought of going back to being just Derick was draining.