APPLICATION
Player Name: Roach
Plurk Handle:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
Skittering_Roach
Other characters: N/A
Character Name: Thaddeus "Thad" Thawne II
Fandom: DC Comics / Pre 52 / "Impulse" comics
Character Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mirror_soldier
OU, AU, or OC? AU
If canon, canon point: The end of 'Impulse' #66, after Thad has left Bart and Max in the speed-force. After which he diverges in to semi AU.
PB: N/A
Superhero Name: Inertia
History:
(This Inertia is going to mostly stick to canon, but with the wiki giving an overview of all of Inertia's appearances, and only glossing over what happened in the 'Impulse' comics, I'll go into more detailed description here to give a better idea of why he takes the turn that he does in this AU.)
Created in the late 30th century, by a man who was the President of Earth at the time (Thaddeus Thawne the 1st), Inertia is the clone of Bart Allen, and was raised to avenge the "wrongs" done to the Thawne family by the Allen's. He was kept completely blocked off from the world, only ever seeing it through research or monitors. Born and raised in a lab environment, sterile and solitary, while being kept closely monitored, he was primarily raised by an advanced A.I. named Craydl, who served as both maternal figure and best friend. Inertia would be trained rigorously in both body and mind, while being fed fables about how the Thawnes were downtrodden heroes that had been underdogs kicked down by the Allen family and kept firmly under their boots over the generations.
He was raised with the purpose that he was to right this wrong by killing his genetic original, the last of the Allen's, and making sure their family could never 'hurt the Thawne family' again. Unlike Bart who aged rapidly, Inertia's aging process was slowed down. He spent centuries studying Bart's history, and the 'history' of his relatives, as well as pushing his abilities with the speedforce as far as he could in his confined space, while laying out the structure of his plan. He attempted to account for any possible outcome or occurrence; choosing the most opportune moment for an attack, and utilizing Craydl's teleportation and time travel technology to go back to the 20th century where Bart was being raised.
Despite all this preparation, Inertia's first attack and face to face meeting with Bart (who now donned the superhero identity Impulse), did not go as smoothly as planned. Initially, it was clear Inertia had the upper hand on him, but, in the end, Bart's own impulsive nature, and Inertia's fears of being bested despite all his training, got the better of him and he was forced to flee. But despite ultimately losing the altercation, Inertia still managed to do exactly what he'd initially intended; infecting Bart with a nano-virus made to travel through his body, mapping out the details of it, and staying in his body as a means of tracking him.
Inertia then went back to lying low, and it would be months before he made his next move. When he did, it was when Bart and his family were at their weakest. After experiencing a near fatal injury, Bart's guardian and mentor Max Mercury was receiving backlash from the speedforce. Essentially his connection to it was broken, but while he could still use superspeed it was slowly killing him, and the more he used his abilities the worse his condition became. The only chance to possibly help him was to take him into the speedforce itself, in the hopes that he would be able to reconnect with it there.While there was a means to artificially open a connection to the speedforce that would allow them to come back from it, in his current condition, Max could not make the trip on his own. Bart would have to be the one to get him there, but he needed to have perfect control over his speed and vibrational frequencies to get through the portal and past the 'speed storm' surrounding the force itself.
It was while attempting to achieve the correct speed and frequencies on his own, that Bart accidentally opened another portal in the lab they were working in, inadvertently letting loose a monster. When Bart managed to run the monster and himself back into the portal, Inertia took advantage of the situation. Ambushing him and using Craydl to trap him back in his old virtual reality prison, Inertia, while disguised as Impulse, came back out of the portal in his place. Playing the part of Impulse to a T, Max was never given reason to think he was anyone but Bart, and what changes did eventually occur in his personality were attributed to Bart reacting to Max’s current condition.
Initially, Inertia's plan was to take advantage of Max's situation and kill him in the speedforce under the guise of Bart, and if he'd had better control over his speed and vibrational frequencies early on that might have happened. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. It would take Inertia a month of training before he would get to the control he needed to breach the speedforce; a month of living Bart's life with his family and friends.
Over this stretch of time, he would slowly allow his own personality to show through the disguise little by little. Making it look like a slow shift in personality. Were Bart was a ‘C’ average student in school; Thad brought his grades up to solid ‘A’s. He became quick to do chores and his homework, and he was cleaner than Bart. He followed directions well and planned things out in the way Max had been trying to train Bart to do for the last year or so they had been together. Overall, it would look like Bart was improving and becoming more responsible for Max.
At the beginning though, he loathed the task of being Bart. At best, he saw the people he was forced to interact with as pieces in his plan, at worst, he saw them as distractions or annoyances. They were slow, dull, unorganized, irrational and seemingly full of pointless conversations. The only exceptions to this, at first, were surprisingly Max, and his daughter Helen. Despite himself, the more time he spent with them, the more he found himself feeling attached.
Living with them was unlike anything he had ever had in his life. Where Craydl had simply been a place to train and grow, Helen and Max’s house felt safe, comfortable, and warm. They cared for him, and each other, and went out of their way to show it. Helen treated him as a son, and Max despite the Speed Force slowly killing him, remained positive, showering him with praise about how well he was doing, and tried to keep people from worrying about him. They both believed in him and encouraged him. After a time, Thad grew to tolerate, and even like Bart’s friends (some of them), when he started relaxing more into his regular personality and they seemed to accept it.
About the only person in Bart’s life who he never grew to like was Bart’s closest friend Carol, the only one of his civilian friends who knew Bart was Impulse. She was too close. Unlike everyone else, she was suspicious of him early on. He hated that she expected him to confide in her the way Bart did, hated that she tried to force herself closer to him when he started becoming aloof. He tried to push her away, but not so much that it would seem out of character to everyone else. It didn't work, which only frustrated him further.
But Carol aside, over the weeks Thad found himself becoming more and more attached to Bart’s life. He liked being a hero and wanted to keep his relationship with Max and Helen. He became determined to work them into his plan, so that he wouldn’t have to kill them, despite having been ordered to. Instead of killing Max in the speedforce, he would save him, dispose of Bart, and keep his life. And he would be a better hero than Bart ever was.
It was after this decision that he started working harder at his control over his superspeed, not just out of pride, or a need to accomplish his mission, but because he honestly wanted to save Max himself. But as he finally managed to gain the control he needed, and it came down to the final moment, when he was meant to take Max into the speed force things fell apart. Max tried to assure him that if the plan didn’t work, it was okay, and he didn’t mind. He was just proud of him for having worked so hard and improved so much. And he confessed that he thought of him as a son. In that moment Thad was in his glory, elated by the idea that the man really loved him.
Then Max called him Bart, and a realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The feelings that Bart’s family and friends all expressed where for Bart. They didn't care about him and never would. They didn't even know he existed. It was all for the boy he'd been raised to hate. He'd never felt as hurt or enraged as he felt in that moment.
Forcing himself to swallow down his emotions, he tried to ignore them, and simply concentrate on his mission as the portal into the speed force was set up. Once Thad had managed to carry Max in with him, Max kept talking, kept telling him how proud he was; and kept calling him Bart. Eventually, Thad finally snapped. He lashed out at the man, dropping him, and screaming at him. He revealed who he really was, what he had done, what he now planned to do, and how he had almost not gone through with it.
After hearing this (and that Bart was still alive), instead of hating him, Max tried to reason with him. He saw a confused child, not an enemy, and he offered him a place in their home to truly be a part of their family. He pointed out all the good he had done as Impulse and assured him that he could be proud of him one day, that he could love him. Once again there was a moment where Thad's emotions tugged at him, and he almost took the offer; until he realized that by doing so he would be betraying everything he knew, joining - no worse - living under the person he was supposed to kill. Failing his family, and his very existence; because, of course, they weren't just going to let him get rid of Bart.
And his rage took over again.
Then low and behold Bart himself showed up in the nick of time, as heroes tend to do. Having freed himself from the virtual reality, he came charging in after Thad. Unfortunately, Thad was ready for him and he turned his attention to him as the boy came running blindly in. He tried to kill them both, intending to use the Speed Storm as his weapon to tear Max apart (as it was slowly dragging Max into it on its own) as he took care of Bart himself. But no matter how badly Bart was hurt, no matter what Thad did to him, he kept reaching for Max, determined to save him even if it killed him.
When Thad saw this, no matter how he wrapped his head around it, he couldn't understand it. After all, what could Bart possibly gain from getting himself killed?
With Bart completely at his mercy, but still holding on to Max’s hand to keep him from being sucked into the speed storm, Thad momentarily lost himself to curiosity and had to ask. "What IS this?"
Bart’s response was this "You...You really don't get it...do you? I...I love him...I'd die for him. Or with him. That's what you do...How you feel when you love someone. Haven't you ever felt that way about someone? Hasn't anyone ever felt that way about you?"
The words rang in his head.
He watched the two continue to struggle for a moment, and then, let go of Bart, allowing him to save Max.
No. He had definitely never had that.
He had no one.
No one to save him.
To even care if he lived or died.
Nothing.
Hardly even a meaning.
Only a bunch of bitter dead men who had made him to mindlessly fight their "war". Condemning him to an empty, meaningless, existence.
The longer he stood there and watched the two, and the more he thought about how he would never have that for himself, the angrier he got. Not at Bart, or the Allen’s, or Max, but at his creator, and his ancestors. He was nothing more than their tool, and now finding himself unable to follow through with his task, he was a useless one.
Crying out in pain and anger, he ran headlong into the unpredictable lining of the speed force, not hearing Bart calling out to him.
This is finally the point where Thad's character diverges from canon. Kind of.
In later comics, Bart would be forced to go back to the 30th century and confront President Thawne again (in a version of the future that now no longer exists). By this point, Thawne had gone full-blown tyrant. Previously he'd been shown as more of a shady and underhanded politician, who at least attempted to keep his more nefarious deeds out of the public eye. Now he didn't seem to care who knew he was killing people and trying to rule the universe. At one point, in an inner monolog, he seems to be thinking back on Inertia (though he never refers to him by name), and insinuates that Thad turned on him. In the comics, this is never followed up on and is completely ignored in later issues of 'The Flash' where he finally appears again.
This AU is going to be one exploring how he might have been if he did go through with turning against Thawne.
After running from Bart and Max, he forces Craydl to take him back to the 30th century. While he tries to be rational enough to make a plan, and actually look into the man who made him, Thawne has covered his tracks enough to prevent much from being found on him that he doesn't want people to see. He does find enough on his ancestors to realize he was lied to about who they were though (even if the history files he can find are woefully incomplete, and he will still be at least partially in denial).
So he takes his time like he was taught to, doing to Thawne what he did to Bart, as he stays in the shadows and observes. The more he learns, the more spiteful he becomes, eventually leading to him lashing out, finding ways to get at him without revealing himself, and slowly but surely ruining his life and reputation, getting closer and more personal with every attack. And inadvertently driving him closer toward becoming a tyrant, similar to how he was in that version of the 30th century that no longer exists.
When Thad does finally come forward to confront him, at the time where Thawne seems to be at his breaking point, his plan goes south quick. He underestimated just how much sway Thawne really has over him, how he can say a few well-placed words, twist his thoughts and make him question himself. And despite everything, he still wants his approval, still wants to make his family proud, and can't bring himself to actually hurt him.
This is the point he'll be pulled out of his own universe. Right before he might have to face any repercussions Thawne may have in store for him.
Additional OC and AU Background: N/A
Personality:
Throughout his life, Thad has had hardly any contact with people. He never met his creator face to face until just before being displaced from his universe, nor has he met any of the 'family' he's been raised to idolize. But in many ways, they were his only company outside of the A.I. that was created to care for him. Their voices and stories (fictional as they may have been) were his guide and inspiration, the driving force of his very existence. He was force fed stories of them being downtrodden heroes, abused by the Allen family, and was given no chance of having any outside force interfere or contradict these claims. And while he may realize now that he was only being used by his creator, Thad is by no means unaffected by the centuries of indoctrination he was subjected to. Mentally and emotionally he’s far from stable, and he still has no idea to what extent he was lied to.
The solitary life he's lived up until very recently, has also led to the boy possessing a startlingly severe lack of social skills. Though he can read people to some extent, and can put on a good act, Thad only understands people on a very base level. He honestly does not understand more complex emotions, especially those connected to social contact, and pack mentality. He easily gets swept up or confused by them when he experiences them for himself and does not know how to react to them when they come from others. He might resort to trying to close himself off from others as much as he can. He can hold a very base connection with people, with little or no real emotions or attachments connected to it, and can come off as cordial, friendly, or even funny (usually sticking with darker humor, sarcasm, or what can only be referred to as nerd humor). But as soon as emotions start to enter into the equation, he’ll usually start to push away more, eventually turning bitter or hostile if they refuse to back off.
He won't trust anyone easily at this point, keeping all information close to his chest, and often refusing help from anyone willing to offer. The more a person tries to get close to him, the more desperately he'll attempt to shove them away, not wanting to repeat his experience with Max and Helen, and not wanting to risk them turning on him.
When it comes to Thad's general demeanor, he can usually come across as very calm, and collected, though perhaps standoffish. For a speedster he's surprisingly patient though he still seems to have a need to be constantly doing something, he doesn't have a problem with taking his time with it or stopping when necessary. People, on the other hand, he doesn't have as much patience for, even if he can fake it fairly well when he feels he needs to. He can be somewhat spacey, easily getting wrapped up in his own thoughts, sometimes to the point of losing track of what's going on around him. This happens most frequently when he's being forced to interact with people he finds irritating or uninteresting which, quite frankly, he thinks most people are.
Having grown up in a programmed and sterile environment, where everything was just so, Thad is more than a little persnickety. He's very particular about the placement of things in his work and living environment, preferring to keep everything very clean, and orderly. He also has a love for planning things out, right down to the annoyingly minor details, and also making backup plans for backup plans, and basically making sure he has control over every little thing in his environment or any issues that may crop up. When things go wrong (even when he's planned for things to possibly go wrong), he can pretty easily get upset, flustered, or possibly turn frantic. Even if these moments of upset don't last long, they have proven they can be a problem.
He can also have problems with being obsessive (though apparently, he does not consider being obsessive a problem, which is, at least, part of why it is such a problem). His mind can get caught up on a singular fact, object, or idea, and he'll develop a kind of mental tunnel vision with that as the focal point. When this happens, it can be hard to steer him away from it, or get him to drop it. Sometimes this can be good. When he's obsessing over an important project it means it's likely to be finished quickly and with optimal efficiently. But it can also lead to him having weird little hang ups in a situation or relationship and missing, or refusing to look at, the bigger picture.
When around other people, Thad's usually rather quiet, choosing to be very straight to the point and at times too blunt when he does speak. The exception to this being when he feels more comfortable around someone, or when someone gets him on a topic he's interested in, such as certain branches of history or science, or his own theories, experiments, or creations. These occasions can turn him into quite the excited little chatter box, depending on who he's speaking with. Bringing up his own history, in particular, the 'history' of his family or the Allen's, would have had a similar (and somewhat manic) effect, but after very recent events it's likely to be more of a sore subject at the moment.
For all his apparent calm temperament, and patience, for anyone that knows even an iota about the boy, or his past, it's not very hard to get under his skin. Something as simple as mistaking him for Bart Allen will have the potential to easily earn a person nothing but snippy responses or a cold shoulder. Someone doing it enough times will possibly end up getting hit. Bart is one of the people that can get to Thad the easiest. If he were to show up, Bart wouldn't even have to be doing anything in order to upset him, just having him existing in the same general space would be enough to upset or irritate Thad. And other people bringing Bart up, or comparing the two of them, can very easily antagonize him, or throw him off if he's in a fight. To say the topic of his genetic original is a sore spot would be the understatement of the century.
It's hard to tell at the moment just what he'd do if confronted by the other boy.
On one hand, he's not likely to kill him. Killing him is exactly what his creator wants of him, and at least for the moment, he's not particularly inclined to do the man any favors. On the other hand, jealousy and years of brainwashing aren't very easy to just sweep under the rug, and there is no guarantee he won't react violently to him. At the very least he's not likely to be friendly, his veneer of calm composure will be worn exceedingly thin anytime he's in the vicinity, and he'll be inclined to act more impulsively, as well as snap verbally or physically at the smallest perceived slight.
But moreover, digging up his past, or playing with his emotions (purposely or otherwise), can very easily shatter his mask of calm. The reaction may only last for a moment, maybe only a mere flash of a snarl, but when he's eventually hurt or offended badly enough, inevitably he'll lash out physically; possibly with very little visible build up to the act, or warning that it's coming. He can seemingly snap on a dime, and when he has, it can be hard to calm him back down. This is when everything he normally holds back tends to spill out, and he becomes completely impulsive and irrational, bent on simply causing whatever harm he can.
Thad's issues with his ancestors and his "father" in particular, run along the same lines as his issues with Bart. Only, if it's possible, his feelings towards them (both good and bad) run deeper and on a far more personal level than his anger and jealousy towards Bart. Bringing them up is going to have about the same response as bringing up Bart, but persisting with the topic, especially in an antagonizing way, is going to turn him irrational and over emotional much faster. And much like with Bart, it's uncertain exactly how he would react to confronting any one of them. He could react in anger and lash out, or he may be in an emotional state that will make it easier for them to manipulate him. No matter how angry he is at them, or how betrayed he feels, he still thinks of them as heroes (even if that illusion is starting to crack), and he will always care about them to some extent.
Despite how cruel he can come across, Thad does have morals, thin as they may be. Though trained to be a killer, he was still raised to believe his ancestors were heroes. Even if he was never led to believe that was what he was meant for, he still looked up to them all the same and took the beliefs and morals that he was told they possessed, to heart. This has only been compounded by the month he spent living with Max and Helen, playing the role of Impulse. While he can be undoubtedly ruthless, even outright sadistic towards anyone he sees as the enemy, he will go out of his way to keep those he perceives as civilians or allies out of harms way.
Canon Powers:
Super Speed - Due to a connection to a cosmic force called the speedforce, Thad is capable of moving, thinking, and reacting, at super-speed, and he can run at nearly the speed of light if he really pushes himself (though it’s not recommended; running faster than that would push him into the Speed Force itself), but generally stays somewhere under the speed of sound. He can pretty comfortably move at any speed range under Mach 6, but anything above that is going to be more of an effort.
Whenever he is moving at inhuman speeds the speedforce surrounds him with an invisible aura to protect him from most deadly aspects of simple physics, like friction, as well as debris that may fly at him. It can also prevent him from receiving as much damage as he should if he were to run into something or fall while running. While it won't protect him completely it does provide something of a cushion effect, so he may end up with bruising or broken bones, but he's less likely to die. His body has also been slightly altered to handle the rigors of moving so quickly.
Molecular Vibration - Due to his connection to the Speed Force, Thad is capable of controlling his body on a molecular level, allowing him to vibrate his molecules so he can pass through solid objects. He can also control the molecules of anything he touches, making them pass through things as long as he retains contact with it. The more dangerous aspects of this ability are that he can phase an object into something (or someone) and leave it melded inside of it. He can also make an objects molecules vibrate on opposing speeds and cause it to blow up (he once did this to Iris Allan's home). But if done wrong this particular ability is something that could easily end in disaster. And depending on how much energy he has already spent, it may not work at all. The larger the object he is trying to destroy, or the more surface area he's trying to demolish, and the harder the material it's made from, the more energy it will take for him to destroy it, and the more he needs to consecrate to accomplish the job. If he keeps in contact with the object he's trying to destroy, it will inevitably backlash against him (as in, exploding in his hand, hitting him with debris, or something along those lines).
Heightened Metabolism - His connection to the speedforce has also altered his metabolism so that he can heal quickly (though not always accurately). Severe injuries, such as broken bones, can take a week or two to heal as opposed to months, and cuts and bruises can heal within hours, or a day or two, depending on how bad it is. Most, but not all, poisons and illnesses will also get burned up in his system before they have much effect, if any. Unfortunately, it also means he needs a large intake of calories and has to eat a lot, and often, to keep himself from starving, becoming fatigued, or passing out. Thad needs a large amount of calories to function properly. While most people can survive up to a month without proper nourishment, for Thad (depending on just how often he’s using his abilities, and how much energy he’s burning up) being cut off from a proper food source for even a few days, can turn fatal. This also means, he can need quite a bit of sleep, especially when he doesn’t have a proper food source.
Time Anomaly - Due to Thad travailing into the past, and practically living outside of the time stream for so long, he is what is referred to as a time anomaly; meaning he's immune to any tampering done to the time stream. If something is altered in the past and changes the time he's in, he won't be physically affected by it (though depending on the circumstance his connection to the speedforce sometimes can be), and he'll still remember the way things were.
Longevity - The details on this are unclear, but according to Thad he is several centuries old. Whether this means he can't age, or he has an extended life expectancy and ages at a very slow rate, is uncertain. Physically he still appears to be around 14 to 16.
Game powers:
Molecular Vibration - Which will work as it was described above.
Mild Superspeed - Thad's superspeed will be severely diminished, making it so he can only move up to 200 miles an hour, with anything over 100 miles an hour being very taxing. He will also no longer have any healing abilities due to his faster metabolism, but he does still need to take in a massive amount of calories to stay healthy. The more he's using his abilities, the more energy he'll burn.
Abilities:
Tactical planning - Tactical planning is Thad's bread and butter. Planning things out, right down to the very minute details, while attempting to create contingency's for any possible issue that may arise, is probably Thad's idea of a relaxing past time. It's what he's spent the majority of his long life doing. Even while impersonating Impulse, he tended to rely more on logic and quickly devised plans in a fight, while using his superspeed as a tool to execute them, as opposed to rushing into a situation head on and thinking with his feet.
Intelligence - Being raised by a computer, and acting as its maintainer, Thad knew his AI, its software and the tech that ran them, inside and out. He also maintained and ran the teleportation and time travel technology that he would often utilize during his attacks on Bart Allen; as well as created his own nano-virus. He has also shown a general interest in a few different branches of science but it's probably a safe bet that technology and quantum mechanics are what he knows best.
Eidetic Memory - Like his genetic original, Thad has perfect memory recall.
Acting - Thad can impersonate his genetic original to a near T if he wants or needs to. He isn't likely to want to anytime soon, or be very happy about it if he has to, but he can.
Historical Knowledge - Being raised by an A.I. in what is essentially a warehouse sized computer / lab / time machine does have its odd befits. A major one being that he had access to knowledge from any point in history, at least theoretically (he's still unaware of just how much of the knowledge he's being provided has been tampered with). In particular, he knows all of Bart Allen's timeline and everything that is meant to happen to him (or at least, was meant to happen to him, before Thad intervened in his timeline).
Bilingual - Can understand and speak both English and Interlac without the use of telepathic earplugs.
Fighting - While not the strongest person, and only having hand to hand fighting skills that would be considered pretty sub-par if not for his superspeed, Thad has trained himself in using his speed to his advantage in combat to make up for his lack of any real fighting technique. When he's in a fight, he's quick, efficient, and occasionally vicious. And while he has been able to take down a fellow speedster (Impulse), if he was up against another one who had actual combat training, for instance Jenni Ognats of the Legion, he probably wouldn't stand much of a chance against them.
Setting: Thad is going to have very mixed feeling about this whole situation. On one hand this occurrence is possibly saving him from whatever Thawne might have planned for him, and it gives him at least some freedom to make choices for himself, and to build his own motivations, as well as learn more of the truth about his family. But on the other hand, he's lost a lot of the powers he had, he's going to feel that he needs to go back to his own universe to finish what he started, and the ability to choose his own path is going to feel a lot more empty and terrifying than it should. To someone who's only ever known a world where his whole existence was poured into a singular goal, being without a predetermined purpose is going to feel a lot less like freedom, and far more like being thrown into the deep end without any practical knowledge on how to stay afloat.
This Legions universe is also nearly the exact same as his own, and set close to the point in time he was created, so he'll already be acclimated to the technology (for the most part) and have some base knowledge of how things are supposed to work politically and socially. But getting to actually experience it firsthand will probably be one of the more appealing aspects of being here.
SAMPLES
Prose Sample:
He could not for the life of him understand why anyone would willingly subject themselves to this. The prospect of this party had initially been interesting to him. With it being a diplomatic party, he had assumed it would be a good place to gather information and learn more about who the different dignitaries were as people. While he was certainly seeing plenty of who the dignitaries were (or at least, who they wanted people to think they were) any useful or interesting information from them was sparse at best. They seemed far more interested in tedious schmoozing than saying much of substance, and it didn't help matters that they made a habit of either treating the new recruits with scrutiny, or as if they were simply quaint.
It didn't take long for Thad to lose interest in the entire affair, and he'd tried to ask one of the senior Legion members if he could leave. It turned out that, no, he could not. He'd made his choice, and now he had to live with it. So he was now choosing to live with it at the food bar, while he attempted to scoot away from anyone who looked at him like they might be interested in asking about what kind of lovely archaic universe, or time frame, he must have come from.
Unfortunately his attempts to keep to himself seemed to only draw the attention of the more scrutinizing half of the crowd. The Coluan ambassador was the one to draw his attention, snaring him into a conversation with wheedling questions about whether or not he was really qualified to be a Legionar, and practically demanding an answer.
For a moment (little more than a half second, but it felt far longer to him) he could only stand there in shock. What kind of question was that? Why ask that of someone the Legion had already approved of?
Unfortunately for everyone involved, this dignitary had picked one of the new recruits who had the least amount of tact, or charm, and with this, he was now well past done with playing at being cordial. His eyes narrowed into a sharp look and when he spoke, while his voice was kept almost patronizingly soft and patient, all pleasantness had dropped from his tone, leaving it absolutely frigid.
"How exactly do you expect me to answer that beyond simply barking out some variation on the response of, 'yes I do have the talent and character to protect the United Planets'? If you truly think the Legion has made a mistake in taking me on, then your problem is clearly with their recruitment process. If this is an honest concern, then you should seek out one of the senior Legion members, and speak with them about it." His icy response included him 'helpfully' pointing out the nearest senior member. Poor Bouncing Boy. "I would like to know however if your concern is with me personally, or with the 'weirdo inter-dimensional' recruits as a whole."
Network Sample:
[As the recording comes on, the first thing that can be heard is the faint sound of feet pacing on a metallic floor. If he has to do this, he's keeping it to audio file. When his voice chimes in its relatively soft and calm, but the occasional bit of a snarky edge still slips in.]
It seems we have been instructed to create a message for our future selves; something insightful about our feeling on our current predicament, our thoughts on our future with the Legion, and what we plan to do when we are sent home. "We", for the sake of full disclosure, in the case that my future self has been struck with amnesia, [And there's that bit of snark.] is referring to those who were brought here from separate universes, myself included.
I can't say that I fully understand the point of this, but as you can tell, I've acquiesced to the request.
My feelings on being brought here are...complicated. Honestly, it's still hard to accept. Not because I'm resentful or upset with being here, as far as I can tell this is my universe or one very similar to it, and it's only a decade ahead of when I was created. Technically I was raised in this time period. But...as I said, it's complicated. I'm sure, that barring the occurrence of amnesia, my future self will understand why.
As for what I hope to achieve as a member of the Legion...I suppose I should say a way back home, or that I see this as an opportunity to better myself, but the most honest and less satisfying answer would be that I'm unsure. I'm not certain I want to go back to the time or universe I came from, even if I do fully intend to. Admittedly, I do feel as if I had more of a purpose there, while here there's...just uncertainty.
But, perhaps being without a defined purpose could be a good thing...[As optimistic as the words seem, he doesn't sound very convinced that there's much truth to them. As much as being here provides him with an opportunity to make a purpose for himself that wasn't force fed to him, the idea of being directionless, and without some kind of long-term goal to build toward, has left him feeling uncomfortable and oddly hollow. He can be heard fidgeting with the Omnicom as he thinks out his answer, but when he speaks up again his voice is still calm and measured.]...maybe not...I suppose I'll have plenty of time to find that out. For now I'll do as I'm instructed, and work on my own projects with my allotted free time.
As for immediate goals, I was interested in looking into more of this universe's history files, and I need to do further tests on my new limitations. Medical reports can really only tell so much.
[At this point he seems to have simply lost interest in continuing the recording. His voice fades out even as he continues to mutter over how he plans to test the extent of his molecular vibrations until the Omnicom can be heard being set down and turned off. He rather purposefully leaves out any mention of just what it is he intends to do when he's inevitably sent home.]
Additional info:
In Thad's OU cannon, the moment in the Impulse comics that insinuated Thad had rebelled against President Thawne, was retconned away with the events of "Flash; Fastest Man Alive", which had him still doing Thawne's bidding. And he would go on to kill not only Bart Allen (who had become the Flash), but also several Flash museum guards and Weather Wizards toddler son Josh Mardon, before being killed by the Flash's Rouges. While the AU Thad I'm playing has not done that, I'm perfectly okay with both Legion members, and DC cannon mates who know about this, to go ahead and call him out on it, be distrusting of him, attack him, or have whatever other reaction that would be IC for them.
I will also leave it up to the Mods as to whether this information has been lost to time, if it happened in this Legion's history at all, or whether the Legion would even allow him to join if they do know about it, what with there being a risk that he could still possibly become that person.
Player Name: Roach
Plurk Handle:
Other characters: N/A
Character Name: Thaddeus "Thad" Thawne II
Fandom: DC Comics / Pre 52 / "Impulse" comics
Character Journal:
mirror_soldier OU, AU, or OC? AU
If canon, canon point: The end of 'Impulse' #66, after Thad has left Bart and Max in the speed-force. After which he diverges in to semi AU.
PB: N/A
Superhero Name: Inertia
History:
(This Inertia is going to mostly stick to canon, but with the wiki giving an overview of all of Inertia's appearances, and only glossing over what happened in the 'Impulse' comics, I'll go into more detailed description here to give a better idea of why he takes the turn that he does in this AU.)
Created in the late 30th century, by a man who was the President of Earth at the time (Thaddeus Thawne the 1st), Inertia is the clone of Bart Allen, and was raised to avenge the "wrongs" done to the Thawne family by the Allen's. He was kept completely blocked off from the world, only ever seeing it through research or monitors. Born and raised in a lab environment, sterile and solitary, while being kept closely monitored, he was primarily raised by an advanced A.I. named Craydl, who served as both maternal figure and best friend. Inertia would be trained rigorously in both body and mind, while being fed fables about how the Thawnes were downtrodden heroes that had been underdogs kicked down by the Allen family and kept firmly under their boots over the generations.
He was raised with the purpose that he was to right this wrong by killing his genetic original, the last of the Allen's, and making sure their family could never 'hurt the Thawne family' again. Unlike Bart who aged rapidly, Inertia's aging process was slowed down. He spent centuries studying Bart's history, and the 'history' of his relatives, as well as pushing his abilities with the speedforce as far as he could in his confined space, while laying out the structure of his plan. He attempted to account for any possible outcome or occurrence; choosing the most opportune moment for an attack, and utilizing Craydl's teleportation and time travel technology to go back to the 20th century where Bart was being raised.
Despite all this preparation, Inertia's first attack and face to face meeting with Bart (who now donned the superhero identity Impulse), did not go as smoothly as planned. Initially, it was clear Inertia had the upper hand on him, but, in the end, Bart's own impulsive nature, and Inertia's fears of being bested despite all his training, got the better of him and he was forced to flee. But despite ultimately losing the altercation, Inertia still managed to do exactly what he'd initially intended; infecting Bart with a nano-virus made to travel through his body, mapping out the details of it, and staying in his body as a means of tracking him.
Inertia then went back to lying low, and it would be months before he made his next move. When he did, it was when Bart and his family were at their weakest. After experiencing a near fatal injury, Bart's guardian and mentor Max Mercury was receiving backlash from the speedforce. Essentially his connection to it was broken, but while he could still use superspeed it was slowly killing him, and the more he used his abilities the worse his condition became. The only chance to possibly help him was to take him into the speedforce itself, in the hopes that he would be able to reconnect with it there.While there was a means to artificially open a connection to the speedforce that would allow them to come back from it, in his current condition, Max could not make the trip on his own. Bart would have to be the one to get him there, but he needed to have perfect control over his speed and vibrational frequencies to get through the portal and past the 'speed storm' surrounding the force itself.
It was while attempting to achieve the correct speed and frequencies on his own, that Bart accidentally opened another portal in the lab they were working in, inadvertently letting loose a monster. When Bart managed to run the monster and himself back into the portal, Inertia took advantage of the situation. Ambushing him and using Craydl to trap him back in his old virtual reality prison, Inertia, while disguised as Impulse, came back out of the portal in his place. Playing the part of Impulse to a T, Max was never given reason to think he was anyone but Bart, and what changes did eventually occur in his personality were attributed to Bart reacting to Max’s current condition.
Initially, Inertia's plan was to take advantage of Max's situation and kill him in the speedforce under the guise of Bart, and if he'd had better control over his speed and vibrational frequencies early on that might have happened. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. It would take Inertia a month of training before he would get to the control he needed to breach the speedforce; a month of living Bart's life with his family and friends.
Over this stretch of time, he would slowly allow his own personality to show through the disguise little by little. Making it look like a slow shift in personality. Were Bart was a ‘C’ average student in school; Thad brought his grades up to solid ‘A’s. He became quick to do chores and his homework, and he was cleaner than Bart. He followed directions well and planned things out in the way Max had been trying to train Bart to do for the last year or so they had been together. Overall, it would look like Bart was improving and becoming more responsible for Max.
At the beginning though, he loathed the task of being Bart. At best, he saw the people he was forced to interact with as pieces in his plan, at worst, he saw them as distractions or annoyances. They were slow, dull, unorganized, irrational and seemingly full of pointless conversations. The only exceptions to this, at first, were surprisingly Max, and his daughter Helen. Despite himself, the more time he spent with them, the more he found himself feeling attached.
Living with them was unlike anything he had ever had in his life. Where Craydl had simply been a place to train and grow, Helen and Max’s house felt safe, comfortable, and warm. They cared for him, and each other, and went out of their way to show it. Helen treated him as a son, and Max despite the Speed Force slowly killing him, remained positive, showering him with praise about how well he was doing, and tried to keep people from worrying about him. They both believed in him and encouraged him. After a time, Thad grew to tolerate, and even like Bart’s friends (some of them), when he started relaxing more into his regular personality and they seemed to accept it.
About the only person in Bart’s life who he never grew to like was Bart’s closest friend Carol, the only one of his civilian friends who knew Bart was Impulse. She was too close. Unlike everyone else, she was suspicious of him early on. He hated that she expected him to confide in her the way Bart did, hated that she tried to force herself closer to him when he started becoming aloof. He tried to push her away, but not so much that it would seem out of character to everyone else. It didn't work, which only frustrated him further.
But Carol aside, over the weeks Thad found himself becoming more and more attached to Bart’s life. He liked being a hero and wanted to keep his relationship with Max and Helen. He became determined to work them into his plan, so that he wouldn’t have to kill them, despite having been ordered to. Instead of killing Max in the speedforce, he would save him, dispose of Bart, and keep his life. And he would be a better hero than Bart ever was.
It was after this decision that he started working harder at his control over his superspeed, not just out of pride, or a need to accomplish his mission, but because he honestly wanted to save Max himself. But as he finally managed to gain the control he needed, and it came down to the final moment, when he was meant to take Max into the speed force things fell apart. Max tried to assure him that if the plan didn’t work, it was okay, and he didn’t mind. He was just proud of him for having worked so hard and improved so much. And he confessed that he thought of him as a son. In that moment Thad was in his glory, elated by the idea that the man really loved him.
Then Max called him Bart, and a realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The feelings that Bart’s family and friends all expressed where for Bart. They didn't care about him and never would. They didn't even know he existed. It was all for the boy he'd been raised to hate. He'd never felt as hurt or enraged as he felt in that moment.
Forcing himself to swallow down his emotions, he tried to ignore them, and simply concentrate on his mission as the portal into the speed force was set up. Once Thad had managed to carry Max in with him, Max kept talking, kept telling him how proud he was; and kept calling him Bart. Eventually, Thad finally snapped. He lashed out at the man, dropping him, and screaming at him. He revealed who he really was, what he had done, what he now planned to do, and how he had almost not gone through with it.
After hearing this (and that Bart was still alive), instead of hating him, Max tried to reason with him. He saw a confused child, not an enemy, and he offered him a place in their home to truly be a part of their family. He pointed out all the good he had done as Impulse and assured him that he could be proud of him one day, that he could love him. Once again there was a moment where Thad's emotions tugged at him, and he almost took the offer; until he realized that by doing so he would be betraying everything he knew, joining - no worse - living under the person he was supposed to kill. Failing his family, and his very existence; because, of course, they weren't just going to let him get rid of Bart.
And his rage took over again.
Then low and behold Bart himself showed up in the nick of time, as heroes tend to do. Having freed himself from the virtual reality, he came charging in after Thad. Unfortunately, Thad was ready for him and he turned his attention to him as the boy came running blindly in. He tried to kill them both, intending to use the Speed Storm as his weapon to tear Max apart (as it was slowly dragging Max into it on its own) as he took care of Bart himself. But no matter how badly Bart was hurt, no matter what Thad did to him, he kept reaching for Max, determined to save him even if it killed him.
When Thad saw this, no matter how he wrapped his head around it, he couldn't understand it. After all, what could Bart possibly gain from getting himself killed?
With Bart completely at his mercy, but still holding on to Max’s hand to keep him from being sucked into the speed storm, Thad momentarily lost himself to curiosity and had to ask. "What IS this?"
Bart’s response was this "You...You really don't get it...do you? I...I love him...I'd die for him. Or with him. That's what you do...How you feel when you love someone. Haven't you ever felt that way about someone? Hasn't anyone ever felt that way about you?"
The words rang in his head.
He watched the two continue to struggle for a moment, and then, let go of Bart, allowing him to save Max.
No. He had definitely never had that.
He had no one.
No one to save him.
To even care if he lived or died.
Nothing.
Hardly even a meaning.
Only a bunch of bitter dead men who had made him to mindlessly fight their "war". Condemning him to an empty, meaningless, existence.
The longer he stood there and watched the two, and the more he thought about how he would never have that for himself, the angrier he got. Not at Bart, or the Allen’s, or Max, but at his creator, and his ancestors. He was nothing more than their tool, and now finding himself unable to follow through with his task, he was a useless one.
Crying out in pain and anger, he ran headlong into the unpredictable lining of the speed force, not hearing Bart calling out to him.
This is finally the point where Thad's character diverges from canon. Kind of.
In later comics, Bart would be forced to go back to the 30th century and confront President Thawne again (in a version of the future that now no longer exists). By this point, Thawne had gone full-blown tyrant. Previously he'd been shown as more of a shady and underhanded politician, who at least attempted to keep his more nefarious deeds out of the public eye. Now he didn't seem to care who knew he was killing people and trying to rule the universe. At one point, in an inner monolog, he seems to be thinking back on Inertia (though he never refers to him by name), and insinuates that Thad turned on him. In the comics, this is never followed up on and is completely ignored in later issues of 'The Flash' where he finally appears again.
This AU is going to be one exploring how he might have been if he did go through with turning against Thawne.
After running from Bart and Max, he forces Craydl to take him back to the 30th century. While he tries to be rational enough to make a plan, and actually look into the man who made him, Thawne has covered his tracks enough to prevent much from being found on him that he doesn't want people to see. He does find enough on his ancestors to realize he was lied to about who they were though (even if the history files he can find are woefully incomplete, and he will still be at least partially in denial).
So he takes his time like he was taught to, doing to Thawne what he did to Bart, as he stays in the shadows and observes. The more he learns, the more spiteful he becomes, eventually leading to him lashing out, finding ways to get at him without revealing himself, and slowly but surely ruining his life and reputation, getting closer and more personal with every attack. And inadvertently driving him closer toward becoming a tyrant, similar to how he was in that version of the 30th century that no longer exists.
When Thad does finally come forward to confront him, at the time where Thawne seems to be at his breaking point, his plan goes south quick. He underestimated just how much sway Thawne really has over him, how he can say a few well-placed words, twist his thoughts and make him question himself. And despite everything, he still wants his approval, still wants to make his family proud, and can't bring himself to actually hurt him.
This is the point he'll be pulled out of his own universe. Right before he might have to face any repercussions Thawne may have in store for him.
Additional OC and AU Background: N/A
Personality:
Throughout his life, Thad has had hardly any contact with people. He never met his creator face to face until just before being displaced from his universe, nor has he met any of the 'family' he's been raised to idolize. But in many ways, they were his only company outside of the A.I. that was created to care for him. Their voices and stories (fictional as they may have been) were his guide and inspiration, the driving force of his very existence. He was force fed stories of them being downtrodden heroes, abused by the Allen family, and was given no chance of having any outside force interfere or contradict these claims. And while he may realize now that he was only being used by his creator, Thad is by no means unaffected by the centuries of indoctrination he was subjected to. Mentally and emotionally he’s far from stable, and he still has no idea to what extent he was lied to.
The solitary life he's lived up until very recently, has also led to the boy possessing a startlingly severe lack of social skills. Though he can read people to some extent, and can put on a good act, Thad only understands people on a very base level. He honestly does not understand more complex emotions, especially those connected to social contact, and pack mentality. He easily gets swept up or confused by them when he experiences them for himself and does not know how to react to them when they come from others. He might resort to trying to close himself off from others as much as he can. He can hold a very base connection with people, with little or no real emotions or attachments connected to it, and can come off as cordial, friendly, or even funny (usually sticking with darker humor, sarcasm, or what can only be referred to as nerd humor). But as soon as emotions start to enter into the equation, he’ll usually start to push away more, eventually turning bitter or hostile if they refuse to back off.
He won't trust anyone easily at this point, keeping all information close to his chest, and often refusing help from anyone willing to offer. The more a person tries to get close to him, the more desperately he'll attempt to shove them away, not wanting to repeat his experience with Max and Helen, and not wanting to risk them turning on him.
When it comes to Thad's general demeanor, he can usually come across as very calm, and collected, though perhaps standoffish. For a speedster he's surprisingly patient though he still seems to have a need to be constantly doing something, he doesn't have a problem with taking his time with it or stopping when necessary. People, on the other hand, he doesn't have as much patience for, even if he can fake it fairly well when he feels he needs to. He can be somewhat spacey, easily getting wrapped up in his own thoughts, sometimes to the point of losing track of what's going on around him. This happens most frequently when he's being forced to interact with people he finds irritating or uninteresting which, quite frankly, he thinks most people are.
Having grown up in a programmed and sterile environment, where everything was just so, Thad is more than a little persnickety. He's very particular about the placement of things in his work and living environment, preferring to keep everything very clean, and orderly. He also has a love for planning things out, right down to the annoyingly minor details, and also making backup plans for backup plans, and basically making sure he has control over every little thing in his environment or any issues that may crop up. When things go wrong (even when he's planned for things to possibly go wrong), he can pretty easily get upset, flustered, or possibly turn frantic. Even if these moments of upset don't last long, they have proven they can be a problem.
He can also have problems with being obsessive (though apparently, he does not consider being obsessive a problem, which is, at least, part of why it is such a problem). His mind can get caught up on a singular fact, object, or idea, and he'll develop a kind of mental tunnel vision with that as the focal point. When this happens, it can be hard to steer him away from it, or get him to drop it. Sometimes this can be good. When he's obsessing over an important project it means it's likely to be finished quickly and with optimal efficiently. But it can also lead to him having weird little hang ups in a situation or relationship and missing, or refusing to look at, the bigger picture.
When around other people, Thad's usually rather quiet, choosing to be very straight to the point and at times too blunt when he does speak. The exception to this being when he feels more comfortable around someone, or when someone gets him on a topic he's interested in, such as certain branches of history or science, or his own theories, experiments, or creations. These occasions can turn him into quite the excited little chatter box, depending on who he's speaking with. Bringing up his own history, in particular, the 'history' of his family or the Allen's, would have had a similar (and somewhat manic) effect, but after very recent events it's likely to be more of a sore subject at the moment.
For all his apparent calm temperament, and patience, for anyone that knows even an iota about the boy, or his past, it's not very hard to get under his skin. Something as simple as mistaking him for Bart Allen will have the potential to easily earn a person nothing but snippy responses or a cold shoulder. Someone doing it enough times will possibly end up getting hit. Bart is one of the people that can get to Thad the easiest. If he were to show up, Bart wouldn't even have to be doing anything in order to upset him, just having him existing in the same general space would be enough to upset or irritate Thad. And other people bringing Bart up, or comparing the two of them, can very easily antagonize him, or throw him off if he's in a fight. To say the topic of his genetic original is a sore spot would be the understatement of the century.
It's hard to tell at the moment just what he'd do if confronted by the other boy.
On one hand, he's not likely to kill him. Killing him is exactly what his creator wants of him, and at least for the moment, he's not particularly inclined to do the man any favors. On the other hand, jealousy and years of brainwashing aren't very easy to just sweep under the rug, and there is no guarantee he won't react violently to him. At the very least he's not likely to be friendly, his veneer of calm composure will be worn exceedingly thin anytime he's in the vicinity, and he'll be inclined to act more impulsively, as well as snap verbally or physically at the smallest perceived slight.
But moreover, digging up his past, or playing with his emotions (purposely or otherwise), can very easily shatter his mask of calm. The reaction may only last for a moment, maybe only a mere flash of a snarl, but when he's eventually hurt or offended badly enough, inevitably he'll lash out physically; possibly with very little visible build up to the act, or warning that it's coming. He can seemingly snap on a dime, and when he has, it can be hard to calm him back down. This is when everything he normally holds back tends to spill out, and he becomes completely impulsive and irrational, bent on simply causing whatever harm he can.
Thad's issues with his ancestors and his "father" in particular, run along the same lines as his issues with Bart. Only, if it's possible, his feelings towards them (both good and bad) run deeper and on a far more personal level than his anger and jealousy towards Bart. Bringing them up is going to have about the same response as bringing up Bart, but persisting with the topic, especially in an antagonizing way, is going to turn him irrational and over emotional much faster. And much like with Bart, it's uncertain exactly how he would react to confronting any one of them. He could react in anger and lash out, or he may be in an emotional state that will make it easier for them to manipulate him. No matter how angry he is at them, or how betrayed he feels, he still thinks of them as heroes (even if that illusion is starting to crack), and he will always care about them to some extent.
Despite how cruel he can come across, Thad does have morals, thin as they may be. Though trained to be a killer, he was still raised to believe his ancestors were heroes. Even if he was never led to believe that was what he was meant for, he still looked up to them all the same and took the beliefs and morals that he was told they possessed, to heart. This has only been compounded by the month he spent living with Max and Helen, playing the role of Impulse. While he can be undoubtedly ruthless, even outright sadistic towards anyone he sees as the enemy, he will go out of his way to keep those he perceives as civilians or allies out of harms way.
Canon Powers:
Super Speed - Due to a connection to a cosmic force called the speedforce, Thad is capable of moving, thinking, and reacting, at super-speed, and he can run at nearly the speed of light if he really pushes himself (though it’s not recommended; running faster than that would push him into the Speed Force itself), but generally stays somewhere under the speed of sound. He can pretty comfortably move at any speed range under Mach 6, but anything above that is going to be more of an effort.
Whenever he is moving at inhuman speeds the speedforce surrounds him with an invisible aura to protect him from most deadly aspects of simple physics, like friction, as well as debris that may fly at him. It can also prevent him from receiving as much damage as he should if he were to run into something or fall while running. While it won't protect him completely it does provide something of a cushion effect, so he may end up with bruising or broken bones, but he's less likely to die. His body has also been slightly altered to handle the rigors of moving so quickly.
Molecular Vibration - Due to his connection to the Speed Force, Thad is capable of controlling his body on a molecular level, allowing him to vibrate his molecules so he can pass through solid objects. He can also control the molecules of anything he touches, making them pass through things as long as he retains contact with it. The more dangerous aspects of this ability are that he can phase an object into something (or someone) and leave it melded inside of it. He can also make an objects molecules vibrate on opposing speeds and cause it to blow up (he once did this to Iris Allan's home). But if done wrong this particular ability is something that could easily end in disaster. And depending on how much energy he has already spent, it may not work at all. The larger the object he is trying to destroy, or the more surface area he's trying to demolish, and the harder the material it's made from, the more energy it will take for him to destroy it, and the more he needs to consecrate to accomplish the job. If he keeps in contact with the object he's trying to destroy, it will inevitably backlash against him (as in, exploding in his hand, hitting him with debris, or something along those lines).
Heightened Metabolism - His connection to the speedforce has also altered his metabolism so that he can heal quickly (though not always accurately). Severe injuries, such as broken bones, can take a week or two to heal as opposed to months, and cuts and bruises can heal within hours, or a day or two, depending on how bad it is. Most, but not all, poisons and illnesses will also get burned up in his system before they have much effect, if any. Unfortunately, it also means he needs a large intake of calories and has to eat a lot, and often, to keep himself from starving, becoming fatigued, or passing out. Thad needs a large amount of calories to function properly. While most people can survive up to a month without proper nourishment, for Thad (depending on just how often he’s using his abilities, and how much energy he’s burning up) being cut off from a proper food source for even a few days, can turn fatal. This also means, he can need quite a bit of sleep, especially when he doesn’t have a proper food source.
Time Anomaly - Due to Thad travailing into the past, and practically living outside of the time stream for so long, he is what is referred to as a time anomaly; meaning he's immune to any tampering done to the time stream. If something is altered in the past and changes the time he's in, he won't be physically affected by it (though depending on the circumstance his connection to the speedforce sometimes can be), and he'll still remember the way things were.
Longevity - The details on this are unclear, but according to Thad he is several centuries old. Whether this means he can't age, or he has an extended life expectancy and ages at a very slow rate, is uncertain. Physically he still appears to be around 14 to 16.
Game powers:
Molecular Vibration - Which will work as it was described above.
Mild Superspeed - Thad's superspeed will be severely diminished, making it so he can only move up to 200 miles an hour, with anything over 100 miles an hour being very taxing. He will also no longer have any healing abilities due to his faster metabolism, but he does still need to take in a massive amount of calories to stay healthy. The more he's using his abilities, the more energy he'll burn.
Abilities:
Tactical planning - Tactical planning is Thad's bread and butter. Planning things out, right down to the very minute details, while attempting to create contingency's for any possible issue that may arise, is probably Thad's idea of a relaxing past time. It's what he's spent the majority of his long life doing. Even while impersonating Impulse, he tended to rely more on logic and quickly devised plans in a fight, while using his superspeed as a tool to execute them, as opposed to rushing into a situation head on and thinking with his feet.
Intelligence - Being raised by a computer, and acting as its maintainer, Thad knew his AI, its software and the tech that ran them, inside and out. He also maintained and ran the teleportation and time travel technology that he would often utilize during his attacks on Bart Allen; as well as created his own nano-virus. He has also shown a general interest in a few different branches of science but it's probably a safe bet that technology and quantum mechanics are what he knows best.
Eidetic Memory - Like his genetic original, Thad has perfect memory recall.
Acting - Thad can impersonate his genetic original to a near T if he wants or needs to. He isn't likely to want to anytime soon, or be very happy about it if he has to, but he can.
Historical Knowledge - Being raised by an A.I. in what is essentially a warehouse sized computer / lab / time machine does have its odd befits. A major one being that he had access to knowledge from any point in history, at least theoretically (he's still unaware of just how much of the knowledge he's being provided has been tampered with). In particular, he knows all of Bart Allen's timeline and everything that is meant to happen to him (or at least, was meant to happen to him, before Thad intervened in his timeline).
Bilingual - Can understand and speak both English and Interlac without the use of telepathic earplugs.
Fighting - While not the strongest person, and only having hand to hand fighting skills that would be considered pretty sub-par if not for his superspeed, Thad has trained himself in using his speed to his advantage in combat to make up for his lack of any real fighting technique. When he's in a fight, he's quick, efficient, and occasionally vicious. And while he has been able to take down a fellow speedster (Impulse), if he was up against another one who had actual combat training, for instance Jenni Ognats of the Legion, he probably wouldn't stand much of a chance against them.
Setting: Thad is going to have very mixed feeling about this whole situation. On one hand this occurrence is possibly saving him from whatever Thawne might have planned for him, and it gives him at least some freedom to make choices for himself, and to build his own motivations, as well as learn more of the truth about his family. But on the other hand, he's lost a lot of the powers he had, he's going to feel that he needs to go back to his own universe to finish what he started, and the ability to choose his own path is going to feel a lot more empty and terrifying than it should. To someone who's only ever known a world where his whole existence was poured into a singular goal, being without a predetermined purpose is going to feel a lot less like freedom, and far more like being thrown into the deep end without any practical knowledge on how to stay afloat.
This Legions universe is also nearly the exact same as his own, and set close to the point in time he was created, so he'll already be acclimated to the technology (for the most part) and have some base knowledge of how things are supposed to work politically and socially. But getting to actually experience it firsthand will probably be one of the more appealing aspects of being here.
SAMPLES
Prose Sample:
He could not for the life of him understand why anyone would willingly subject themselves to this. The prospect of this party had initially been interesting to him. With it being a diplomatic party, he had assumed it would be a good place to gather information and learn more about who the different dignitaries were as people. While he was certainly seeing plenty of who the dignitaries were (or at least, who they wanted people to think they were) any useful or interesting information from them was sparse at best. They seemed far more interested in tedious schmoozing than saying much of substance, and it didn't help matters that they made a habit of either treating the new recruits with scrutiny, or as if they were simply quaint.
It didn't take long for Thad to lose interest in the entire affair, and he'd tried to ask one of the senior Legion members if he could leave. It turned out that, no, he could not. He'd made his choice, and now he had to live with it. So he was now choosing to live with it at the food bar, while he attempted to scoot away from anyone who looked at him like they might be interested in asking about what kind of lovely archaic universe, or time frame, he must have come from.
Unfortunately his attempts to keep to himself seemed to only draw the attention of the more scrutinizing half of the crowd. The Coluan ambassador was the one to draw his attention, snaring him into a conversation with wheedling questions about whether or not he was really qualified to be a Legionar, and practically demanding an answer.
For a moment (little more than a half second, but it felt far longer to him) he could only stand there in shock. What kind of question was that? Why ask that of someone the Legion had already approved of?
Unfortunately for everyone involved, this dignitary had picked one of the new recruits who had the least amount of tact, or charm, and with this, he was now well past done with playing at being cordial. His eyes narrowed into a sharp look and when he spoke, while his voice was kept almost patronizingly soft and patient, all pleasantness had dropped from his tone, leaving it absolutely frigid.
"How exactly do you expect me to answer that beyond simply barking out some variation on the response of, 'yes I do have the talent and character to protect the United Planets'? If you truly think the Legion has made a mistake in taking me on, then your problem is clearly with their recruitment process. If this is an honest concern, then you should seek out one of the senior Legion members, and speak with them about it." His icy response included him 'helpfully' pointing out the nearest senior member. Poor Bouncing Boy. "I would like to know however if your concern is with me personally, or with the 'weirdo inter-dimensional' recruits as a whole."
Network Sample:
[As the recording comes on, the first thing that can be heard is the faint sound of feet pacing on a metallic floor. If he has to do this, he's keeping it to audio file. When his voice chimes in its relatively soft and calm, but the occasional bit of a snarky edge still slips in.]
It seems we have been instructed to create a message for our future selves; something insightful about our feeling on our current predicament, our thoughts on our future with the Legion, and what we plan to do when we are sent home. "We", for the sake of full disclosure, in the case that my future self has been struck with amnesia, [And there's that bit of snark.] is referring to those who were brought here from separate universes, myself included.
I can't say that I fully understand the point of this, but as you can tell, I've acquiesced to the request.
My feelings on being brought here are...complicated. Honestly, it's still hard to accept. Not because I'm resentful or upset with being here, as far as I can tell this is my universe or one very similar to it, and it's only a decade ahead of when I was created. Technically I was raised in this time period. But...as I said, it's complicated. I'm sure, that barring the occurrence of amnesia, my future self will understand why.
As for what I hope to achieve as a member of the Legion...I suppose I should say a way back home, or that I see this as an opportunity to better myself, but the most honest and less satisfying answer would be that I'm unsure. I'm not certain I want to go back to the time or universe I came from, even if I do fully intend to. Admittedly, I do feel as if I had more of a purpose there, while here there's...just uncertainty.
But, perhaps being without a defined purpose could be a good thing...[As optimistic as the words seem, he doesn't sound very convinced that there's much truth to them. As much as being here provides him with an opportunity to make a purpose for himself that wasn't force fed to him, the idea of being directionless, and without some kind of long-term goal to build toward, has left him feeling uncomfortable and oddly hollow. He can be heard fidgeting with the Omnicom as he thinks out his answer, but when he speaks up again his voice is still calm and measured.]...maybe not...I suppose I'll have plenty of time to find that out. For now I'll do as I'm instructed, and work on my own projects with my allotted free time.
As for immediate goals, I was interested in looking into more of this universe's history files, and I need to do further tests on my new limitations. Medical reports can really only tell so much.
[At this point he seems to have simply lost interest in continuing the recording. His voice fades out even as he continues to mutter over how he plans to test the extent of his molecular vibrations until the Omnicom can be heard being set down and turned off. He rather purposefully leaves out any mention of just what it is he intends to do when he's inevitably sent home.]
Additional info:
In Thad's OU cannon, the moment in the Impulse comics that insinuated Thad had rebelled against President Thawne, was retconned away with the events of "Flash; Fastest Man Alive", which had him still doing Thawne's bidding. And he would go on to kill not only Bart Allen (who had become the Flash), but also several Flash museum guards and Weather Wizards toddler son Josh Mardon, before being killed by the Flash's Rouges. While the AU Thad I'm playing has not done that, I'm perfectly okay with both Legion members, and DC cannon mates who know about this, to go ahead and call him out on it, be distrusting of him, attack him, or have whatever other reaction that would be IC for them.
I will also leave it up to the Mods as to whether this information has been lost to time, if it happened in this Legion's history at all, or whether the Legion would even allow him to join if they do know about it, what with there being a risk that he could still possibly become that person.
