[b]Name[/b] Vincent Takeda
[b]Age:[/b] 19
[b]Gender:[/b] Male
[b]Ethnicity:[/b] Japanese-American

[b]Personality:[/b]
Calm and collected, Vincent's emotions seem to bear muted tones, and shift slowly, generally revolving around the appearance of boredom, or irritation. Cold as ice, Vincent appears to be an aloof loner with his smoker's hack, constant glare, and seemingly complete lack of empathy. Despite his callousness and blunt attitude, Vincent maintains a sharp wit and holds efficiency in high regard, finding laziness and incompetence bothersome, despite his own lack of motivation. Vincent is a pessimist, and a realist, and is a firm believer of "when something is too good to be true, it typically isn't". Despite his thick hide, rough attitude, and general unfriendliness, Vincent is a loyal individual, and holds a soft spot for other impoverished children.

[b]Strengths:[/b]
As a foot soldier and all-round thug of the American based Yakuza, Vincent is street savvy and witty, as well as skilled with fisticuffs and small arms. Trained in martial arts, small hand weapons, and small firearms, Vincent is more than just a street schmuck. He is well toned, and fairly strong and has above average stamina. As a member of well organized crime, Vincent knows when to be discreet about his business, and when to be loud and aggressive. He is able to take a considerable amount of punishment, which is further increased by his powers.

[b]Weaknesses:[/b]
Vincent is addicted to smoking, which has reduced his stamina from stellar to just above average. He is quite prideful and doesn't react well to arrogance and insubordination. His seeming lack of empathy makes him difficult to approach, and conversations with him are rather tense or short. He seems to have a soft spot for other impoverished children and is often willing to jeopardize himself and those around him in order to help them. He also requires a large amount of food to fuel his powers.

[b]Weapons:[/b]
[hider=Weapons]
[IMG]http://i61.tinypic.com/11lix50.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Electro Baton[/b]
The street thug weapon of the future, the Electro Baton is a collapsible baton, with a small power source in its handle. When fully extended and activated, by placing a finger through the handle ring, the head of the baton emits an electrical field which can be used to deliver debilitating shocks to a body, as well as short circuit some electronics. The power of the shock can be set, anywhere from painful shock, to knockout/stun.

[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/6f0m.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Fusion Knife[/b]
Even a hundred years into the future, the knife persists. This particular knife happens to be a stolen military model with an energy projector to coat the edge of the blade. Ideal for close quarters when the 'continuum of force' has been reduced to hand to hand combat. For optimum performance, the leading edge, 'pointy end', should be applied to the enemy and thrust into vital regions. This should be repeated as necessary. 

[IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/ruwsp4.jpg[/IMG]
[b]Pistol[/b]
The Takashi APP-3, a pistol of Japanese make, this powerful pistol sports a double-stacked magazine letting it fire up to 21 .45 Hardened steel core rounds in a relatively compact package. Notorious for its use by the American Yakuza, and with 21 lethal bullets in its magazine, it is outlawed by current US Law. Despite the weapon's illegal nature, it doesn't stop Vincent from carrying (and using) this efficient, and practical weapon. Vincent's pistol has a laser-light combo built into it and can fire in both single and fully automatic modes.
[/hider]

[b]Power:[/b] - Electrical Regeneration
A mostly passive ability, Vincent's power manifests itself in the ability to speed up the healing and regeneration process of his body. Vincent heals much faster (but not superhumanly so) than a normal individual, as his body uses electricity to speed up the process in which damaged tissue repairs itself as well as increase cellular growth. Electricity also increases the rate at which he metabolizes, speeding up the rate at which harmful substances (such as alcohol and smoke) cycle through his body. However, his increased regenerative speed and metabolism comes at a slight cost. As energy cannot be simply created, Vincent must consume large amounts of calories in order to fuel his powers. Alternatively, Vincent could skip the metabolizing process and connect himself directly to a source of electricity, which would heal him faster than he harmed himself, resulting in generally positive recovery.

At his peak, when the characters have fully evolved their powers, I'd like him to be eventually able to use and accelerate the electricity in his body at will, so he could either heal at a ridiculous rate (like wolverine's ridiculous regeneration abilities), or use electricity to increase his muscle strength, allowing him to move faster, hit harder etc etc. Or perhaps even use his powers to effect others, to heal or regenerate wounds.

[b]Family History:[/b]
Born the second son of a minor Yakuza boss, Vincent was a member of a poor family gone rich, rich through criminal ties and action, but rich nonetheless. His family life was quiet and strict, and extremely stratified. Despite the seeming lack of compassion within his immediate family, Vincent quickly learned loyalty and formed a strong bond with his older brother. As children, he and his older brother were both well educated and were taught manners and values of the Yakuza. After school, they would go to the poorer parts of the city, and run rings with the older Yakuza members, serving as scouts and informants for the adults. As they got older, Vincent's brother was sent off to college to improve on his education, as he would inherit his father's position as boss. Vincent on the other hand would live full time in the city underground to toughen up and remain well educated about the streets, to better serve as his brother's right hand when the older Takeda graduated from university. Presently, his mother sends word to him often to inform him about the family and his brother, while his father often visits the older Takeda brother to teach him the intricacies of leading. Vincent keeps in touch with his brother daily, but hasn't visited him since his first day in University.

[b]History:[/b]
Vincent Takeda's personal history isn't anything worth noting until his eighth year of life. Before age 10, he did what normal Yakuza children did, he went to school, beat up other children who made fun of any Yakuza child, learned manners, and helped out adult Yakuza members on runs. When Vincent was 10, he was involved in a gang run gone wrong and was shot in the chest. As the child of a Yakuza family with extensive connections, Vincent was rushed to the front of the hospital line, no questions asked, and was immediately put into emergency care before he died. The bullet had grazed his heart, and it seemed unlikely that he would live longer than a few days. 

It was at this point Acceleron approached the family. They offered Vincent Takeda a new heart, and his family immediately agreed. Vincent then underwent surgery and received the new heart, and immediately recovered in record time. Acceleron approached them again, and offered them a $200,000 yearly stipend. Chump change by upper level Yakuza standards, but a welcome income nonetheless. Happy that the miracle heart had worked, the Takeda family gave Vincent's sudden recovery no second thought nor did they care about his $200,000 stipend, and thus life continued as normal for the Takeda family. Vincent went back to school, he beat up more enemies, and helped the adults on increasingly bigger runs.

Ever since the application of his new heart, Vincent's friends and family noted and commented on his remarkable ability to recover from scrapes and fights, no matter how rough the run went. Vincent too noticed his increased vitality, but so no reason to suspect it as a side-effect of Acceleron. Instead, he took advantage of his newfound vitality to build up his strength and skills wherever and whenever he could. He was easily one of the strongest fighters in his age group, and with his steadfast loyalty he was popular amongst the majority of the adult Yakuza members. It was only when Vincent accidentally shocked himself, and found that his cuts and scrapes had completely healed did he begin to suspect the Acceleron heart of having some strange side-effects, linking his sudden healing with various stories of electrical malfunctions all over the United States. With this in mind, he kept his suspicions about the Acceleron heart secret from everyone but his older brother, who swore to keep it secret.

Vincent's tenure in the Yakuza progressed as normal. He received his first weapon when he was 12, and committed his first murder at 14. He wasn't yet old enough to have a real presence in the Yakuza until he turned 17. At this ripe young age, he was given his first tattoo, and was welcomed as a full fledged member of the Yakuza. He began making runs at as a foot soldier immediately afterwards, adding tattoos to his arms after every successful mission. At age 18, he moved out of his parents home, using his stipend, and a lump sum from his parents to buy his own apartment in the underground, poorer area of the city. In this apartment, he would work runs for the Yakuza full time, learning the way of the underground, while his older brother learned the ways of the rich and entitled. When they reunited, Vincent would serve as his brother's right hand, and the two of them would surely advance to greater positions than their father would ever hold.

Recently, a increased crackdown on crime has caused most of the city's underground Yakuza to reduce the obviousness of their presence, making overt actions only when the higher ups call for it. Vincent has noticed that he has unordinarily large amounts of free time as of late, and is often at a loss for things to do, now that his presence as a junior soldier is no longer as required.

[b]Appearance:[/b]
[IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/2e3pit1.jpg[/IMG]
Vincent without his tattoos

Personal notes: This character seems to be a bit more gang oriented than i had originally intended/am happy with, but I didn't really know a way to distance him or remove him from the yakuza without damaging his relationships with his rather traditional family..