Born in Philly, Jimmy is a real class act through and through. Wormy, dishonest, selfish, backstabbing, and more, he just slimed his way through the first 24 years of his life. A highschool dropout, Jimmy was involved in petty crime from an early age, with an emphasis on petty. He's specialties were breaking into neighboors houses when they were away on vacation, getting 5-finger discounts from Quiki-Marts, and for a while selling stolen hubcaps and hood ornaments. Jimmy masterminded his crimnal career from the apartment over his mothers garage, where he also had a telescope set up behind a drape that had a nice view of Jessica Fallbright's bedroom window across the street. Jessica was a real hottie, but not too bright -- she'd often forget to pull the blinds while she was changing and Jimmy wasn't too proud to take a good look when she did. Jessica's father, Dr. Michael Fallbright, was some kind of crackpot scientist that had once worked at a local lab but had "quit to work on his own theories" several months before. He was always tinkering in a lab down in his basement. Probably making Meth or something was Jimmy's opinion -- how else did he pay the bills without a job? Jimmy also figured he probably had all kinds of good stuff down there which he could boost and sell for some pocket cash, but the nerd never left the house practically.
Then, one night there was some kind of commotion over at the Fallbrights. Jimmy was enjoying the view of Jessica in her skivvies changing to go out for the night, when her father burst into the room in a tizzy, waving some papers in the air. Oblivious to his daughters state of undress he waved the papers in her face, danced a little jig and then left the room again. Jessica got dressed real quick and then the two of them actually left the house together, maybe to go out to eat or something. They both looked happy through the telescope.
Sensing his big chance to at least scope the place out, Jimmy hurried out and made his way around to their house circuitously, going down one side of the block and then cutting across backyards and vacant lots to go back down the other side. Finding a basement window cracked, Jimmy was able to work the catch loose and slip his small frame in. However, as he was wiggling his way into the basement he slipped and fell about 4 feet to the floor and fell back into a table laden with chemicals and all kinds of glass loops and devices, and then to the floor. Landing badly flat on his back, Jimmy had the wind knocked out of him and his mouth fell agape, just in time to let the strange red goopy liquid that was dripping from an overturned beaker laying on its side up on the table over his head flow directly in. Jimmy reflexive swallowed, and then sat up spluttering. He felt immediately dizzy, and nauseous. Lurching upright, he had enough presense of mind to use his shirt tail to set the now empty beaker upright again and then climb back out of the window, rubbing it down for prints. Out in the open air again, Jimmy's head began to spin, and it was all he could do to make his way home stealthily.
Back in his room, he passed out and stayed out for 4 days. His mother just figured he was out with friends, and since she worked 2 jobs to make ends meet she was rarely home anyway, and his friends figured he was laying low for one reason or another a not uncommon occurance. In fact he was undergoing intense physiological transformations, his body and mind altering. He came awake to the sound of a moving van loading up and pulling off. Looking out his window he made out that the Fallbrights had moved out. He didnt know what to make of that, so instead he rolled out of bed and dragged himself to the bathroom to dispose of 4 days of bladder pressure. After that he took a shower, and dragged himself down to the kitchen and proceeded to eat 2 bags of cereal, all the leftovers, some stale bread, and a jar full of peanut butter. That seemed to do the trick and he went back up to his room and slept for another 3 days. He continued this cycle for 3 weeks before he was fully recovered and then got back to life as usual.
A couple of months later, a 5-finger run went badly when a cop happened into the Quiki-Mart and caught him red handed. The cop didnt pull a gun or anything, but still, there was no way Jimmy was going to get busted for boosting a couple of candy bars and some beer. Eyeing the door, the cop, and the space between them, Jimmy decided to make a run for it. As soon as he thought it, he was gone; through the door and well on his way down the street. He'd never run so fast before, or even known a person could run like this. In fact, he couldnt seem to STOP running! He was 7 neighborhoods over before he could finally get his legs to stop moving.
With some experimentation, Jimmy discovered that he could do a wide variety of VERY COOL THINGS, and at high speeds too. He could run way faster than cars. Faster than really fast motorcycles even. They werent even close. And he could hit things REALLY HARD while running fast. It kind of hurt sometimes, but whatever he hit just got destroyed most times. He could run along side a road with his arm out and destroy every mailbox and streetsign along the way. It eventually occured to him that the powers may have come from the crap he accidentally drank at the Fallbrights, so he ran back there and cased the joint on the sly, but it was cleared out.
It didnt take Jimmy long to put his new powers to good use despite not knowing why he had them. To his mind the most obvious use of his powers was to run by at high speed and do snatch-and-grabs. He could loot stores in the blink of an eye, grab purses, and so on. He simply put on a ski mask he had laying around the house, and put on some black nike trainers and a plain black shirt, and thus disguised started a spree of thefts across Philidelphia. He was wildly successful at first, wracking up enough loot in 1 day to put a big fat roll of cash in his pockets.
After the 3rd time however, he attracted the attention of a local hero named The Libertine, a high-swinging sentinel of justice and personal freedoms, armed with his trusty Shield of the Downtrodden and a deep belief in the principles of the Constitution. The Libertine had made life uncomfortable for a number of organized criminals of late, as well as curtailing petty crime. When he tried to stop Jimmy he swooped in and landed in front of the high-tailing speedster, who was booking for home with fresh loot in his hand. The Libertine was confident that the anti-recoil technology built into the shield would rebuff the charging thief. That proved to be a tactical error as Jimmy proceeded to plow directly into him, sending The Libertine flying through the air in front of him, and into a telephone pole with bone jarring force. Running by the sprawled out hero in his fancy costume, Jimmy impulsively took a swing at his lantern jaw and was rewarding with a wet cruching sound as the belabored hero's neck broke.
This kind of shocked Jimmy; he had really expected the guy to shrug it off. Superheroes were supposed to be tough afterall. The TV always talked about how great they were. Still, what was done was done, and Jimmy wasnt going to stand around to apologize to the cops! He lit out and made his way circuitously back home. The Libertine was rushed to a hospital but didnt survive the night, with badly crushed vertebrae and major damage to the spinal cord.
Jimmy laid low for almost a month after that one, until they stopped talking about it on the news. Then he was back out again for another spree through the city. This time he was met towards the end of it by a van full of familiy fellas as he turned a corner off a block he had just ransacked. They were looking for him and were able to get a net on him before he could run away. Jimmy was intensely scared, but they said they just wanted to talk to him. The bosses were impressed with him taking out The Libertine like that, and they wanted to offer him a deal; come work for them and give up petty larceny. They had bigger jobs for somebody like him......
And so his professional career was begun. The mobsters started calling him "Breakneck" as a joke, and a little later with some of the proceeds from his many lucrative thefts he bought some costumes. The terms of his agreement with the mafia is non-exclusive, so he has started taking contracts far and wide. If you want a snatch-and-run guy, Jimmy is as good as they come. He's also good for doing "run-by" killings, but he doesnt like to do those because the risk is much higher if caught.
He has recently worked a number of jobs through Enforcers Inc. The jobs went well, the rates were good, and the contractee's invlovled didnt try to jerk him around or short change him. All good things in Jimmy's book. |
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