Born in the suburbs of Cincinatti to an insurance salesman and a housewife in 1969, Nicky grew to adulthood in the mid to late 80's. A big fan of hair metal bands, and all the worst ones at that, Nicky wanted to be a rock n roller. He bought an electric guitar and a cheap amp when he was 15, and tortured his neighborhood with his garage-bound attempts at virtuosity. The most remarkable thing about Nicky's talent is that even after 20 years of intermittent practice he still cant do better than to get the first few chords of cover songs out before degrading into random riffs, feedback, and way to much action on the whammy bar.
One weekend afternoon when he was 16 he was churning out a particularly fervent guitar solo and generated enough feedback to blow his cruelly mistreated amp. The energy from the blown amp was enough to trigger Nicky's power for the first time; his body somehow absorbed the sonic, kinetic, and electrical damage. Nicky felt energized, but didnt know what to do; after a few seconds a zap of electrical power accompanied by a discordant sound erupted from his chest (shredding his favorite faded black Days of Metal III shirt) and blasted his guitar into flinders. After his initial shock, Nicky decided to test his newfound power. Taking a fork from inside the kitchen, he stuck it into a light socket in the garage and was somewhat relieved when he absorbed the energy after some initial discomfort. This time he concentrated on the remains of his amp, and a blast of electrical energy burst from his chest and melted the amp into slag, sending it flying across the room.
"Wicked!", Nicky exclaimed. Him getting superpowers was worth shredding his best (ie only) guitar and amp. After playing around in the garage some more he realized that he could blast something anytime he wanted too, even if he hadnt absorbed anything, but by absorbing things his blasts were more powerful. He could mimic any kind of energy he wanted for his own blasts, but when he absorbed stuff, his body mimiced that kind of energy when he projected afterwards. He also discovered that if he didnt project something after absorbing power, he would sometimes project without meaning too, usually into the ground but sometimes into things. He eventually got that problem under control, but it was a real downer until he did.
Being an enterprising stoner metalhead, Nicky realized the potential of his new gift, and immediately muscled into his pot hook-up, an older drop out named Joey who'd come around the school in the afternoon. Nicky's terms were simple, half the profits and he'd act as muscle, otherwise he'd turn his talents on Joey. The next day Nicky got a little visit from some of the local hard asses at the school that Joey worked out a little quid pro quo with; Nicky and the two would-be thugs discovered that his power worked vs punches too. Each time the thugs punched him, he absorbed it effortlessly and then punched them back with their own force rebounded added to it. After he dropped 1, the other tried to run, but Nicky pointed at him and the force traveled thru open air, with a visible displacing effect and hit the fleeing kid from behind.
Within a year and a half Nicky was in control of a ring of local druggies and pothead pushers and attracted attention from a real criminal organization, the Cincinatti mafia. After a few "subtle" hints to clear out were ignored, Nicky's parents were dealt with in what the police dubbed a "random driveby". A bloody year followed, with Nicky dropping out of school and avoiding both social services out to process the newly orphaned boy and random mob hits when he had to pop out of hiding to take care of stuff. He tried to lay low for a awhile, crashing at peoples pads until he finally figured out where the hit orders were coming from. 2 days later there was nothing but a blasted out crater where a semi-legit mechanic shop with a mafia den in the back had once stood. Sneaking up on the joint at dusk, Nicky deliberately blew up a propane tank out back and then channeled the energy to blow up the mafia "backoffice", killing several good fellas and the sub boss in charge of the turf his neighborhood fell in during the ensuing tussle.
When the next boss up the line figured out what had been going on, he decided to bury the hatchet and offered Nicky a job as an arsonist and general "persuader" on his staff. Nicky took the offer and begin his real career in professional crime before he had turned 18. He worked his way up the Capelli mob's ladder and was doing well for himself until an attack by the vigilante Killer Shrike wiped out the upper leadership of the Capelli mob in Cincinatti. Nicky survived the attack of course and put up such stiff resistance that the vigilante cut his losses and departed, his primary objective complete. However, Nicky was now at loose ends. Ever the practical realist, he decided that he didnt care who paid the bills, so long as he got paid and set out to find a new employer. He moved to Chicago and found work, then followed a contract to NYC, then down to Miami, from Miami he did a job in Haiti, from Haiti he did a job in Mexico, from Mexico he ended up in El Paso, from El Paso he went to Las Vegas, from Vegas he went to LA, and so on. Within 5 years he had worked a number of successful and not-so successful jobs, but had never been captured and had a pretty good track record against minions of the law and other do gooders. His asking price went up, up, up. He spent it all on cheap women and booze of course, but still, more money = more cheap women and more cheap booze. Rock on!
Recently he received an offer of steady employement from the renowned kneebender and all-around competant Chad "The Machine" Kelly via a new gig doing contract arrangement for freelance "superpowered assistance". Intrigued Nicky took a non-exclusive contract and has since worked 3 more, after which he signed an exclusive contracting agreement with Enforcers Inc. Nicky refers to them as "his Agents" and bitches at them when they dont get him "regular gigs". So long as he's got money in his pockets and a bleached hair-teased blonde on his arm he's happy though. |
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