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True Identity: Roderick Lafayette

Known Alias: Leafy

Age: Around 22 before the incident.

Height: 6’ 0”

Weight: 165 lbs.

Allegiance: Chaotic Good.

Known Abilities:
Flight- Thanks to his Jeepers Creepers wings. They’re bat like and can be stored in his body if need be. He could fly relatively fast, just not super speeds. At about the speed of a fast bird of prey.

Acid Manipulation- He can control and manipulate any acid. Mostly he uses the highly corrosive, caustic acids that form the liquids in his body (blood, saliva, urine, etc. He doesn't sweat.), but can also control various other acids outside his body (citric acid, lysergic acid, amino acids, etc...) Because of his condition, he is immune to any form of corrosion or adverse effect from acids. He can also make solids out of them, but nothing too big, mostly small spikes or the occasional pipe.

Rapid blood regeneration- Since, in a sense, the acid takes the place of his blood, it has to be rapidly regenerated or else he‘d die if it were out of his body for long periods of time.

Explosive Decomposition- If mixed with water and air, the acid would rapidly and explosively decompose. Basically, it would be a mass release of energy or, in other words, GIANT EXPLOSION. Depends on the amount of acid or water that are being mixed. Also on its exposure to air.

Weapons: Whatever’s close at hand in a time of need. A six pack of miniature bottles of water he occasionally carries in a messenger bag.

Fighting Style: The light weight of the acids inside of him allow for a certain level of heightened flexibility. So, he can run at heightened speeds(nothing super), and flips and stuff like that. As for fighting, nothing too fancy; kickboxing from his younger years.

Background/Bio/History: Once, years ago, Roderick Lafayette was a well-respected photojournalist for an even more renowned newspaper. With a Pulitzer Prize under his belt, he was truly doing well for himself, and at such a young age, too.

So, it was no surprise that he was assigned to a widely reported about story of an on-campus explosion at a nearby college lab. There had been students injured, a few dead. Roderick’s task was to simply take a few dramatic photos of the lab, those injured, and jot down their stories.

As he snapped pictures of a mixture of charred lab equipment and skin burns, it came to his attention that, something had happened to a certain student that might have potentially scarred her for life.
“Yeah, Sandra was rushed to the hospital! Apparently, she got the worst of the explosion, poor chick. I remember she was hot,” said a rather brutish looking frat boy. Now that would make a great story!

Without a moment’s delay, Roderick rushed to the hospital that the unfortunate woman had been taken to. With a few flashes of his press pass, he managed to make his way into the E.R. He walked around through the many different rooms, seeing the horribly maimed people that resided in them; nothing he hadn’t seen before in his line of work. But, as all his searching proved fruitless, Roderick figured it would be much easier to simply ask that nurse secretary that usually sat behind a desk in the center of it all.
So he did just that. “Hey there, I’m Roderick Lafayette and I’m with the-…” a loud beeping of a few heart rate monitors cut him off, “…and I was wondering if there is a…” Quickly reaching into his coat pocket, Roderick pulled out a small notepad he used to write down important information and things that needed to be remembered, “… Sandra Saunders checked in here? She was in an explosion down at-…” Another loud monitor went off, somebody’s heart must be doing really bad, “… Is she here?’
The woman, an older looking African American woman in pink scrubs, rapidly typed up a sequence of letters and numbers into her computer, took off her glasses and began to clean them. “Yes, she was checked in here, but she was checked out a few days ago, and no, I don’t know where you can find her,” the woman was giving him attitude now! But, unfortunately, Roderick’s search would have to end there seeing as he had no more leads.
Just then, as he was making his way towards the hospital exit, one of the security guards went up to him and whispered an important piece of information in his ear. “Yeah, I saw ‘er, they loaded ‘er up into one of ‘em padded ambulances…” The man sounded almost nervous, afraid even. “Yes, go on,” Roderick pleaded. “Well, you see, the men that loaded ‘er up were uniformed, they worked for that large bioengineerin’ company, you know that’s always on the news sayin’ they’re studyin’ somethin’ or other.” Roderick was getting impatient, the security guard had begun to babble on about his family and how his wife wasn’t as thin as she used to be.
But, fortunately enough, Roderick knew exactly where that building was. He had written an article about that very corporation and had even gone so far as to accusing it of inhumane treatment. Lawsuits against it were filed and everything, its what won him the Pulitzer. He was instantly off, and in a matter of minutes he was there; camera ready.
Again luck seemed to shine on him, many of his old contacts still worked inside the building and, after agreeing on a price, they had ‘accidentally’ opened the security gates to the restricted laboratories. Snap! Snap! Snap! Roderick was taking pictures left and right. Of walls, random files, anything, just for old times sake. But then, he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Excuse me sir, can I see your I.D. and military credentials?” It was a guard! And not only was he a guard, but a trained navy seal. Thinking quickly, Roderick smashed the man’s fingers with his camera and ran for it.
He turned into hallways left and right. Roderick had gone so deep into the facility that he was now lost. But, he could hear the fast footsteps of the marine guard and that of his fellow guardsmen in hot pursuit. So, Roderick ducked into the room closest to him. As he exhaled, he turned away from the door; thoughts of hiding floating about in his head. When, to his horror, he noticed he was in one of the experiment rooms and, what was worse, there was a body on the operating table.
Roderick shrugged, he was there already, might as well see what was up. As he made his way towards the covered body, he continued to take a plethora of pictures; stopping to pick up a file placed on a table adjacent to the operating table. Without even reading it, he snapped some photos. Then, after putting the camera down and actually taking a passing glance at said file, he read the name of the patient being experimented on: Sandra Saunders.
“Oh s**t!” Roderick exclaimed as he threw off the sheet that had been covering the, as of then, mystery patient. The woman he had been searching for had finally been found but… What was wrong with her? It… she… had wings; leathery, bat-like wings. What was she? She obviously hadn’t been like that before, he would’ve heard something from her classmates, from the hospital… Come to think of it, that nurse lady had been especially suspicious. He hadn’t even asked her where he could find Sandra before she cut him off with a dead end answer.
Then, upon further inspection, Roderick realized that smoke was rolling out of the woman’s mouth. Every time she exhaled a small tuft of smoke billowed forth from between her lips. “H-hello? Can you hear me?” A minor twitch of her hands was answer enough for Roderick. “Don’t worry! I’ll get help! You’re going to be OK! I’ll get you out of here, Sandra!” He grabbed his camera and ran out of the room. He ran a few feet when WHACK! He had been struck in the back of the head and was knocked out cold. Apparently, there had been security cameras in the experiment room…
Slowly, his vision began to unblur as his eyes became accustomed the light. “Wh-where…?” The light suddenly vanished as a shadow took its place, a voice followed. “That’s not important right now Mr… Lafayette is it?” The voice had said that with a tone of surprise and rancor. “Ah, judging by the camera I say you’re the Roderick Lafayette, that little pest that wrote that damned lawsuit spawning article,” the voice was mixed with heavy breathing, it really meant what it was saying, “Do you have the remotest idea of how badly you ruined us? We can barely scrounge up any funding and all for what? Treating a few people badly?”
Roderick gained enough sight back to realize that the voice was coming from a man wearing a doctor’s face mask and goggles. Just then, a woman’s voice was heard, “Enough,” she paused a moment and apparently walked closer because her voice was nearer. “Mr. Lafayette, the woman you saw in that room was a top secret experiment, a byproduct of an unfortunate accident,” she paused a moment. What were those two doing? Roderick could hear the clinking of metal against metal, and latex gloves squeaking. “Fortunately, with help from the hospital, we’ve managed to procure that little gem. Did you see her, Mr. Lafayette? Those wings, the smoke…”
Roderick winced as he felt a needle pierce his skin. “What are you d-doing?!” he finally managed to shout. The woman kept on, ignoring his screaming. “She’s obviously unlike anything this world has seen, who knows what potential she holds for our future?” A strong pain began to surge through Roderick’s arm, it flowed through his veins and into his chest cavity. His heart was beating so fast he could hear it. “Fortunately, we’ve managed to isolate a gene that doesn’t match any known in regular humans… and well…”
Roderick began to spasm as the pain grew stronger, he started to foam at the mouth, the voice of the woman sounded as a faint echo. “…we’ve been searching for a guinea pig…” Just then, the world went dark.
“Why isn’t it working?!” the man shouted at his woman partner. The two biochemists paced the room, occasionally glancing at Roderick’s now motionless body. “Why hasn’t the transformation taken place?” It was obvious the woman was mad at her male colleague for pestering her with so many questions. Just then, like a bus through a playground, it hit her! The smoke, that woman would exhale smoke when there were no signs of any around her… It was a part of her…
“A catalyst! It’s missing a catalyst!” The female biochemist clasped her hands together and twirled to look at her dim-witted angry friend. “Of course!” The man paused a moment and scratched the back of his head, “What’s the catalyst?” How could he possibly have a PhD? “Well, for the woman it’s obviously smoke, she was in an explosion and she must‘ve inhaled tons of the stuff, he body must‘ve adapted to it thanks to the gene,” she paced a few steps when the idea came to her, “But since the gene we pulled from her had no traces of smoke as a catalyst, it’s free to be chosen by us. Oh think of the possibilities!”
It was obvious she was excited as can be! In an instant she began to rummage through a large cabinet full of different vials, beakers, and the like; a child at a candy store. Meanwhile, the man simply stared at Roderick with disdain. Roderick was connected to many a machine that monitored many a bodily function. “Here we are!” The woman held a large of assortment of clear and dark liquids in many different containers. “What’re you gonna do with all those chemicals?” The man took a few steps back, the woman had an insane, mad scientist look on her face. “Well, I’m going to mix them all of course!” She let out a deep laugh that sounded like more of a cackle. “OK then, I’ll be over here…” The male biochemist ran off to the far corner of the room, as far away from that woman as possible.
And so, the female biochemist mixed, and poured, and mixed and poured until finally, her concoction was complete. Slightly visible fumes wafted up from the liquid as it swirled around in the beaker. Then, from seemingly nowhere, the woman pulled a syringe and inserted the mixture inside it, then injected it into Roderick. “That it?” the man asked, curiosity had struck him. “Don’t be silly!” she shouted at him. “I’m missing the final ingredient,” as she said this she had reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out a small, dark tube and held it up so the man could see.
“Are you crazy?!” the man ran over to her, arms flailing. “That hasn’t undergone nearly enough testing to be tried in something of this magnitude! You could be killing this man!” The woman rolled her eyes at the man’s weakness, “Relax, I injected him with that mixture so his body would take a feel for the chemicals, besides… I thought you hated him.” Crossing his arms, the man stomped off, back to his corner; having been bested yet again.
A small incision was made in Roderick’s wrist, leading right into his vein. The woman quickly poured the liquid into the incision and jumped backwards. A sizzling sound echoed through the room, the smell of burnt flesh tickled their nostrils. But then, after a few seconds; silence. Hours passed…

“Well, she’s fine, all the tests have stated that her vital signs are perfect. Other than the smoke, there’s nothing wrong with her.” The woman re-read Sandra’s charts, nodded, and turned to look at the man. “Here, give her this sedative, we wouldn’t want the little lady waking up…” The female biochemist handed her partner a syringe and walked out of the room; and into the adjacent room that housed Roderick. “Okay, relax, just inject her with this… Just…” A sudden lack of coordination and, the needle flew into the air. “Shi-” was all the man managed to say before the syringe landed right in his neck. He fell to the floor instantly, he was in a deeeep sleep.
Meanwhile, Roderick was doing well himself. The charts proved that his body had adapted to the super acid that now flowed through his body thanks to that gene provided by Sandra. But, his wrist was permanently scarred and burned, the skin that once covered it couldn’t possibly grow back.

Her heart monitor began to beep regularly, that’s when her eyes opened wide. She gasped for breath and sat up instantly in her operating table. She looked around the room frantically, almost scared. She had been unconscious but had been perfectly aware of everything happening around her. Almost as if she was present in the room, outside of her body…
“Well, Mr. Lafayette, it seems you’ve done well for yourself. Your wings are coming along quite nicely.” The woman felt their texture with the tips of her thumbs. “I hope you didn’t have a life outside these walls, oh wait…” She grinned maliciously, “Of course you did, well, not anymore…” Standing up, the woman walked out of Roderick’s room and took the few feet to walk into Sandra’s. The female biochemists’ eyes opened wide as she saw her partner lying unconscious on the floor and the experiment table lacking an experiment.
“You b***h!” shouted Sandra as she tackled the biochemist to the ground. “Security! S-s-security!!!” she shouted. Sandra reached at the nearby table fully loaded of hefty blunt objects. She felt a rather long stick like contraption and without time to even think, began to bash the woman’s brains in. A faint gurgling sound were the last sounds that escaped the female biochemist, and the slam of a door was the last noise that echoed through that particular room.
Sandra ran into the next room, the biochemist had called security and she needed to hide and to think of a plan. That’s when she noticed her wings. “Holy s**t!” she shouted as the wings fluttered. She twirled about, admiring herself when she saw Roderick lying there in bed. “Aw crap…” A strange mixture of pity and responsibility twisted Sandra’s stomach. In a few long steps she was at his side, hand at the ready. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” She shouted and slapped him simultaneously.
Roderick shot upwards, gasped, and looked around frantically. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on! We gotta go!” Sandra grabbed his hand and forcibly pulled him off the table. That was when she noticed he too had wings much like hers. “Wh-where are we going?” Roderick asked as Sandra led him down hallway after hallway. “I don’t know, it just feels like I’ve been here before, you know?” Fortunately, the smoke that escaped Sandra every time she exhaled allowed her to see everything it floated by, her mind seemed to have slipped into the smoke while she was unconscious.
Just then, a large group of guards met them at the exit of the facility. “Great… Get ready,” Sandra let go of Roderick’s hand and readied her, she looked at the blunt object she held in her hand… It was a pipe; how odd. “Do not let them escape!” shouted one of the guards as he charged for Sandra. She ducked and while extending her leg, caused him to trip and smack into the edge of a desk; lights out. Roderick stared in awe as the woman kicked the a** of another guard.
“A little help!” she shouted, she began to float in mid-air. “Whoa!” Sandra exclaimed. Then, she coughed, “Ugh, damn smoke!” she coughed, and coughed… Smoke began to fill the entire room as it escaped through her nostrils and mouth.
A guard rushed at Roderick, swinging at his face. Roderick, out of instinct, put his arms up to block his face when, a stream of liquid shot out of the unclosed incision that the biochemists had left on his wrist. The man yelled in agony, grasped at his face, and soon stopped moving. “Let’s go!” Sandra shouted, as she flew out through the door. Roderick was still surprised at the man and his face when he too began to float in mid-air. “Well, guess it’s time to leave…” he muttered to himself. So, in a flash, Roderick crashed through the same doors, following close behind Sandra.

“We need aliases, you and I,” Roderick told Sandra when they were finally safe in hiding. “’Kay,” she said, “Like what?” Roderick looked around, they were floating under a dark bridge “Well, let's see, Lafayette…” He rested his face in his hands and began to mouth out different word combinations. “Lafay, Yette, Lafette, Lafy…” Roderick stamped his foot and shouted “Leafy!” Sandra giggle snorted, “Leafy?” Roderick rolled his eyes, “What about you?!” She crossed her arms and lolled her head back a moment. There was a lot of graffiti under that bridge, the ink must’ve been very permanent if it had stayed there that long. “I’ll go with Sharpie.” Roderick snickered, “Oh shut up Roderi-…I mean, Leafy.” He smiled at her and nodded, “Very well, Sharpie.” And so, just like that, Sharpie and Leafy had come into being.

Many months passed and Leafy and Sharpie had decided to go their separate ways. So, after deciding to go incognito and lay low for a while, Leafy found his way to a town he had only heard and seen on television and in the news: Durem. It was a large town, it was actually more of a city than a town, teeming with life. In any case, Leafy took it upon himself to explore said town and learn as much as he could about its people and places of interest. Throughout the course of many more months, Leafy began to discover his powers and abilities and learned many things about himself as well. He made ends meat by applying for a job at the local newspaper, taking pictures and writing the occasional story when needed; it wasn’t nearly as high paying as his old post but, it would have to do.
Eventually, Leafy migrated from Durem to another nearby town named Aekea. It was there that he discovered a gathering of a large group of people that were, apparently, similar to him. They were all special in a way, and well, after making some friends; Leafy decided he’d frequent the place more often. So he did. Some more time later, and much to Leafy’s surprise, Sharpie would find Rosso’s and they’d catch up on old times. Leafy went through many an adventure with his fellow Rossonians, and eventually even adopted a child.
With Sharpie by his side, Leafy and her adopted a boy by the name of Ajax Fleetfoot. They would raise him as one of their own as best they could, even though he would act on the wild side most of the time. From that adoption, Leafy would gain a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter.