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They say madness is relative. It's true--actually, it's more like a relative. It's like that creepy uncle who talks to his spoons and insists on leaving cookies on the doorstep for the raccoons.
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— Himself
So what happens when you finally get to play with all the toys you've ever wanted to? Kevin Chase is about to find out as he becomes the avatar of the Cheshire Cat, with a key to open all sorts of chaos and mayhem and fulfill his wildest dreams of justice, rooftop hopping and hogging the spotlight. Not necessarily in that order.
Personality
A thrill-seeker and a daredevil in many ways, the Kevin/Vorpal fusion only exacerbated Kevin's recklessness. He is prone to prod people he considers uptight and far too serious for their own good, and he also tends to hide behind humor. In truth, he is a deeply lonely young man, but he is affraid fo being vulnerable and of letting anyone seeing him as such- and thus he hides behind the Cheshire grin, convinced of his own unloveability.
Background
Kevin Hunter grew up in a fairly well-off family in Metropolis. His parents were not necessarily the kind that overindulged their only child, but there was certainly some spoiling now and then. He grew up an extroverted boy with a mixture of confidence and arrogance that was smoothened over by a deeply charismatic touch with people. By the time he was a teenager, Kevin realized that he could convince a lot of people to bend to his wishes with a flash of his pearly whites and ust the right amount of concern and attention. It's not that he didn't care about people. He was very much a 'people' person, knowing how to mix and network. He genuinely liked people, even if he could also be self-centered.
Although he displayed a natural knack for athleticism and he did maintain a steady regiment of martial arts, Kevin's dream job was working in media- more than anything, he wanted to be a television personality, get to interview celebrities and superheroes, shmooze with his favorite artists and eventually become a household name.
By the time he was in highschool, though, the internet had changed a great deal of how the world of media worked. Bloggers competed with traditional journalists for scoops, journalists had to adopt the ore sensationalist instant gratification tactics of the online media to stay alive, and the monolithic presence that television exercised at one point became fractured into a myriad different sources and media types.
But Kevin had a dream, and he was dedicated to pursue it. By the age of seventeen he was already a regular contributor to several online websites, more than a few that focused on the emergent superhero community, when he attracted the attention of HeroWatch.
HeroWatch had begun as a general interest magazine focused exclusively on superheroes and similar individuals, riding the wave that treated them as a special brand of celebrity. Originally the magazine began as a semi-respectable go-to source for anyone who wanted to acquire the most recent super-news in one location. Unfortunately the magazine changed hands when it was acquired by Moon industries, under the guidance of media mogul Olivia Moon.
Under Moon, HeroWatch transformed itself into a seedier, more sensationalist version of its former self, more interested in clickbaiting than anything else. Moon also wanted young blood from the emerging sphere of internet stars, and thus the magazine ended contacting the more promising contributors. Kevin was offered a position as a junior collaborator and reporter, and soon found out that his very personable style was popular with the younger readers, reporting under the pseudonym of Chase. His recklessness also factored in his popularity at getting 'scoops' for online content: he was seldom afraid to follow an ongoing super-fight and get firsthand footage on his phone for the online version of the magazine. His endeavors eventually landed him his own column: The Chase is On.
Before he turned nineteen, Kevin was making a name for himself. Even if HeroWatch was not the most prestigious publication, it certainly wasn't the worst, and he could always end up moving to better and less sensationalist sites once he had enough cachet. Although he had to admit to himself that he enjoyed the theatrics. He wasn't neglectic his development, either- he was studying Multimedia Technologies and Communications at Metropolis U, which was footed by his parents under the condition that he didn't neglect his studies in order to work for HeroWatch.
Kevin's life changed drastically one day when he was visiting the Metropolis Museum of History, where a new exhibit on Superman's impact on Metropolis was to be unveiled. As fate would have it, the exhibit was attacked by a group of unidentified mercenaries. One of the local up-and-coming heroes interfered and a scuffle resulted, with Kevin eagerly taking cover and trying to record it all.
Kevin happened to take cover near a very rare and (unbeknownst to the museum) magical item: a convex mirror of significant antiquity once said to belong to the Gotham magician Isaac Fawkes himself. An errant concussion blast from one fo the mercenaries ended up knocking Kevin back- and through the mirror.
Within the mirror there resided a magical entity, a feline spirit of chaos and mischief, but not destructive chaos: The Cheshire Cat. An inhabitant of Wonderland, a pocket dimension high in chaos magic, the soul of the Cheshire Cat ended trapped in the magical mirror after the cat, having decided to follow a certain girl back into our dimension out of sheer curiosity, decided to pester Fawkes and mock him for his over-serious character. Fawkes did not take kindly to this and used the properties of the very special mirror in his collection to rectify the situation, trapping the Cheshire.
Kevin crashed against the mirror and shattered it, impaling a long shard of it through his chest and apparently dying.
Or so it appeared.
As the prison of a soul tore into the body of another, the two souls merged into one--Kevin's body was transformed by the power of the union, creating a body that was halfway between human and feline.
Kevin had been reborn--as Vorpal. That day, the mercenaries were stopped by *two* heroes, one of them disappearing rather quickly from the scene.
Kevin now finds himself in his altered body- something that he hides using his powers of illusion, but nevertheless his altered state does provide him with a new complication... is he going to remain content being a sensationalist observer, or will he answer the call of heroism?
SKILLS
INVESTIGATION - Novice: Kevin does possess the basic level of journalistic investigation. Although nowhere near a Lois Lane level, he knows how to drum up sources, ask the right questions and do some digging around.
TIGER KUNG FU - Novice: Vorpal is a decent hand-to-hand fighter, drawing upon his training as a martial artist in the Tiger Kung Fu school. The school focuses exclusively on rapid, explosive movements and it is heavily tilted towards offense over defense.
WRITING - Competent: Kevin has some experience in writing, although it has been primarily aimed towards consumers who crave the more sensationalist type of articles, he knows how to write eye-catching headlines and articles that have a good 'hook' to them.
POWERS
ANIMATE OBJECT - Basic: Drawing upon the raw chaos magic that courses within him, Vorpal can imbue chosen objects with a life of their own and direct them. Vorpal needs to be able to see the item in question in order to instill it with life. If the casting is successful, items that are brought to life can move on their own or under his command, but they are -not- under his direct control. They can 'sense' his thoughts in a very primitive way, but however they carry out their commands is entirely dependent on each item, as each imbuement dons the item with a temporary 'personality' (but usually one more or less aligned with the kind of history or ownership the item has had in the past.)
Limitations: Magical items cannot be brought to life in this fashion, and unique items such as the Lasso of Truth or Mjolnir will also remain unresponsive..
CAT EYES - Enhanced: Vorpal's senses are heightened to resemble those of a cat: he possesses the hearing of a cat, capable of perceiving sounds up to 64 kHz (1.6 octaves above the range of a human.) As with all felines, his eyes possess a tapetum lucidum, the reflective layer behind the retina which improves his ability to see in the dark, giving him a minimum light detection threshold up to seven times lower than that of humans (while, of course, being unable to see in absolute darkness,) and his sense of smell is about fourteen times as strong as a human's.
CLAWS - Basic: Vorpal's claws are standard predator fare for a feline--they are best used when striking flesh and tearing clothing, but they are not durable enough to penetrate armor--they are more apt for climbing, however. They are at their most useful on porous and rough surfaces and completely useless against slick metal, marble, or similar surfaces. If they were to strike something that is far too hard for them, the claws will break or be damaged. Eventually, they will grow back again in the fullness of time.
FELINE AGILITY - Enhanced: Vorpal's unique composition allows him to perform gymnastic feats easily- his reflexes, dexterity, balance and flexibility are above those of a human being. It allows him to run over narrow surfaces such as ledges or even cables and wires without losing his balance, and to perform acrobatic jumps onto and from them. Vorpal's agility is actually above that of peak human potential due to his altered nature, but it is nowhere near the threshold to be considered 'Accelerated.'
ILLUSION - Enhanced: Drawing upon his willpower, Vorpal can create false sensory impressions. This ranges from visual images to phantom sounds and smells. The focus required for the illusion is directly proportional to how complex and large the required illusion is. Illusions have no substance and cannot have any real-world effect- anyone who touches one will simply walk through them. Illusions cannot provide nutrition or warmth-- thus, an illusory double of Vorpal created in combat will not register in the infra-red spectrum, although it is slightly harder to pinpoint the real Vorpal in the psychic realm due to his illusion being infused with his willpower. Active illusions will be disrupted if Vorpal's concentration slips. Vorpal can use his power of illusion to turn himself invisible, but it will not fool standard methods of detection such as infra-red, touch and scent.
The illusions are not psychic in nature but visual, so disbelieving them will not dispel them. Order and Holy magic can dispel the illusions immediately, and any dispel spell from a magic school has a chance of dispelling them as well.
RABBIT HOLE - Enhanced: The warping of reality is a basic tenet of chaos magic, and Vorpal is capable of creating 'rabbit holes' in the fabric of reality-- two connected portals that may be placed anywhere within his line of sight while in combat. Anything entering into one portal will immediately emerge from the other, maintaining the same direction and momentum relative to the portal (until gravity asserts itself, in the case of a change of direction due to portal placement).
The portal may not be closed while a living being is crossing it. Inanimate objects, on the other hand, do not have this protection and can be 'sliced' by the portals- though indestructible and magical objects such as Mjolnir are exempt from this as well.
Vorpal can perform long-distance trips with the rabbit holes, but they require a great deal of concentration and thus cannot be done while in the middle of combat or similar situations. He doesn't necessarily need to have visited his destination, as long as he can have access to an image of it such as a photograph or a live camera feed.
WILLFUL CAT - Enhanced: Vorpal has an admirable will-- as willful and as easy to tame as your average feline, and more. Due to the unique nature of his transformation, Vorpal's mind is a rather interesting experience- those who venture into his mind will find that there is a strong taste of Wonderland therein, not unlike traversing a mental maze. The unsettlingly strange nature of his psyche makes him very resilient against psychic manipulation and mind-reading. This particular feature also allows Vorpal to acquire a hunter-like focus when dead set upon achieving something.
ADVANTAGES
CAR It's not new. It's a Mercury Sable from 2001 that, miraculously, is still in good condition. It hasn't been refitted with modern conveniences, the heat takes five minutes to get going in winter, and sometimes IT takes five minutes to get going in winter, but it is otherwise a reliable vehicle.
CHEZ CHAT QUI RIT A cramped, tiny studio apartment in Metropolis. It's not much of an HQ, but it's home.
CONNECTIONS While HeroWatch may be the Sleazy People Magazine of the Superhero world, it does have some valuable resources that Kevin can use- contacts, information and the network of collaborators such publications tend to have. Kevin could use his work resources to his advantage, provided he can find a way to start a query without calling too much attention to himself.
WEAKNESSES
A RUM TUM TUGGER The downside of being extremely strong-willed is also the tendency of wanting to have one's own way, with little in the way of compromise. Often thinking his counsel is the best, Vorpal has issues with the collaboration of equals: he's all for it, as long as he's the more equal partner. Herding cats isn't easy, after all, and he is aware that he must work with other vigilantes. Often, he does try... but it's hard for a cheshire to change his stripes, and there are times when he finds himself falling back on this oldest of feline habits.
CAT SWAGGER A cat's pride is his most precious posession. As a certain author once said- what is the point of killing your enemies if they can't live with the knowledge that you've won? Vorpal is very much a creature of pride and can be tempted by the need to always be Top Cat.
FRIGGIN' CAT There's no two ways about this: He's an anthropomorphic feline. He has to hide his secret identity through the cunning use of his illusion magic- but that doesn't change the fact that anyone who touches him and expects to touch skin will find fur. His condition severely limits who can truly be close to him.
ORDER IN THE COURT As a creature of chaos, the spirit that inhabits Kevin is extremely susceptible to the effects of order and holy magic. Dispelling rituals from white or holy magic can also affect him negatively, not because he is inherently demonic, but rather because his metaphysical nature dislikes the rigid and established order found in those schools. Contact with magic of this quality can interfere with his powers (with the exception of those tied to his feline form,) making them fizzle for up to twenty minutes after the first exposure. Healing spells work on Vorpal, but they do so at a cost: healing magic (since it essentially reconstitutes his body) causes Vorpal a great deal of distress, leaving him dazed and slow. For several minutes after such a spell has been cast on him, his dexterity is greatly impaired.
SENSE & SENSITIVITY Vorpal's heightened sense of hearing leaves him particularly vulnerable to sonic attacks, which can stun him severely depending on their intensity. Light attacks can reduce net visual acuity: in response to light attacks, his slit-like irises close narrowly over the eye, reducing the amount of light on the sensitive retina, but decreasing his perception significantly. Extremely nauseating or disgusting smells, or ones that are extremely acrid or irritating can have a detrimental effect on his general awareness as well.
SHINY Because of his nature, Vorpal is not satisfied with the direct approach to a problem. Mischief is the operative word, and Vorpal considers the art of the prank and of humiliation to be the highest expression of the art of war. The cheshire vigilante strives to use his powers for trickery and deception over direct violence whenever he can get away with it. Vorpal's flair for the dramatic means that to him, it is absolutely unacceptable to fight crime in any way that is not spectacular or eye-catching. This lure of the spectacle will make him opt for the more 'ingenious' or far more mischievous option, even if the direct solution to a problem is best.
