Whatado. I'm stuck working on a farm in Maine without a computer, but in like, five days my phone should arrive in the mail so I'll be able to write tiny shitty posts with my thumbs. Here's Mark.

[hider=Mark Emerson]
[u][b]Basic Information[/b][/u]

[b]Name:[/b] 
[INDENT]Mark Emerson[/INDENT]
[b]Nickname/Alias/Etc:[/b] 
[INDENT]Blackbird[/INDENT]
[b]Gender:[/b] 
[INDENT]Male[/INDENT]
[b]Age:[/b] 
[INDENT]32[/INDENT]
[b]Height:[/b] 
[INDENT]5'7[/INDENT]
[b]Weight:[/b] 
[INDENT]150 lbs lbs[/INDENT]
[b]Home District:[/b] 
[INDENT]Eastover Woods[/INDENT]

[b][u]Appearance[/u][/b]

[b]Hair Color:[/b]
[INDENT]Black[/INDENT] 
[b]Eye Color:[/b]
[INDENT]Brown[/INDENT] 
[b]Ethnicity:[/b]
[INDENT]Caucasian[/INDENT] 
[b]Physical Appearance:[/b]
[INDENT]Mark was born with a truly unexceptional face -- Although he has fairly well-proportioned facial features, they're balanced a bony square face and ears that have been described as "monkey-like". Fortunately, [url=http://i.imgur.com/NSUzwOL.png]Mark was also born with wings.[/url]

Aside from his metahuman features, Mark is fairly average looking, even somewhat nebbishy, although it's very difficult to tell how much of his appearance is genuine, and not part of his feigned feebleness. He trims his beard to a neat chinstrap, while his hair is unstyled and short. His skin is fairly tanned from his mostly outdoor life, with the occasional pale scar on his face or torso, which he attributes to bee stings and car accidents. He normally wears non-prescription glasses and walks with a relaxed slouch to ward off any suspicion of his identity.[/Indent]

[b]Attire:[/b] 
[INDENT]The biggest reflection of Mark's illusion of meekness is in his clothes -- When traveling publically, he mostly dresses in clothes that are either ill-fitting, stained, outdated, or a combination thereof. Although at home, he mostly wears casual clothing, with an affinity for outdoorsy vests, when reporting for checkups with NEST operatives our shopping in the city, he dresses badly, but not [i]too[/i] badly. Usually this means shirts that are too small, pants that are too big, and intentional stains of ink or mustard.

As [i]Blackbird[/i], Mark wears a suit and mask specifically designed for him by a member of The Hands of Science. Although it carried a hefty price, the creation of his suit was by many means a feat of [i]superscience[/i]. Made of leather, kevlar, and steel, his [url=http://i.imgur.com/H3x8F4u.png]suit[/url] is aerodynamic and lightweight above all else, designed for allowing him quick escapes whenever needed.

The suit is made mostly from leather, though the torso is a bulletproof kevlar, with stabproof padding along the chest and shoulders. Made of a strong waterproof synthetic leather, it is also partially shock-resistant, with his closeness to lightning during high altitude flying taken in mind during construction. Mark's Blackbird suit carries a number of pouches and devices. Most notably on his sides, he carries a knife (Designed for cutting through nets rather than combat) and a device jammer, which interferes with the signals of all wireless devices within 30 feet of his person. In his belt he carries a smoke grenade, a canister of mustard gas, and a small satchel of tire spikes. The containers strapped to his chest are a first aid kit, a strobe light, a ready-to-eat meal, and a small set of burglar's tools.

The most notable part of his suit is what Mark refers to as "The Helmet", although it is technically the helmet's [i]mouthpiece[/i] that is a feat of extraordinary engineering. Designed specifically for Mark, the mouthpiece of the Blackbird suit connects to tubing made from a synthetic alloy that channels the sonic vibrations of his shouts into concussive blasts of air, with the nozzle concealed in the palm of his suit's steel gauntlets. Although mostly used for taking out security cameras at a distance, or shattering glass and thin wood for a quick escape, the creator of the suit designed it for more lethal purposes. Namely, if Mark can form a seal around a victim's ears with his hands, channeling his loudest sonic shout through the suit's mouthpiece and out of his hands would instantly kill his victim, similarly to a bolt gun used in cattle slaughtering.[/INDENT]

[b][u]Personality[/u][/b]

[b]Innate & Outward Personality:[/b]
[INDENT]Only two words are needed to fairly summarize Mark -- Deeply troubled. Although his line of work is [i]very[/i] immoral, Mark has a fairly strong moral code that he simply [i]chooses[/i] to ignore -- His coping mechanism for coming to terms with his day-to-day way of providing for himself and his daughter is a simple mantra of "Don't think about it".

Although Mark has intense feelings of anxiety and guilt, he rationalizes his actions with a combination of self-hypnosis and bitter truths. Holding a staunch belief that the ends justify the means, Mark rationalizes what he does by seeing it as a choice of sacrificing his daughter or sacrificing his morals, which is true in many ways -- The absurd amount of money Mark receives for his work in The Changeling Unit is the only feasible way to keep up payments for continued research on his daughter's condition through The Hands of Science.

Mark is troubled by his past, but he's not completely distraught with guilt at all times. After all, his mechanism of coping is reminding himself that he's doing what he has to because he [i]needs[/i] to, and to a logical thinker like Mark, it's very successful. His devotion to his daughter is truly more important to him than doing what's right, which has granted him the sanity to do what he has for as [i]long[/i] as he has, without snapping. If The Changeling Unit tells him to take a baby from their mother's arms, he doesn't feel guilt as he does so. After all, it's his kid or theirs, and Mark's [i]drive[/i] is to make sure it's not his.

Aside from his anxiety and career path, Mark is a good, albeit strongly overprotective dad. He takes great care to make sure his work is kept a secret from his daughter, going as far as to contain his suit and equipment in a secret bunker underneath their cellar, and manages to frequently spend time with her, even hours after patching himself up. He is a people person at heart, and on the rare occasions he drops his act in public, he manages to quickly make friends. 

In most public settings, [i]especially[/i] when dealing with NEST Operatives, Mark puts on an act of feigned feebleness. Although he's not comically clumsy or stupid, he retains a certain "slow" demeanor, flying with an uncomfortable jerkiness. This entire assumed persona is a tool for keeping suspicion away from him, in the event that he was seen while working. Although winged metahumans aren't [i]common[/i], there are enough in Verthaven that he would not be an immediate suspect for having wings. Mark uses his act to lure any would-be investigators into a sense of security. After all, Mark's just some geeky treehugger with a daughter, How could [i]he[/i] be a kidnapper?

 [/INDENT] 
[b]Hobbies/Interests:[/b]
[INDENT]Mark's devotion to his daughter's well-being is intense, but is not a sole sense of tunnel-vision. Mark enjoys hiking, woodworking, and general outdoorsmanship. Most of all, he has always loved flying. He frequently takes his daughter on nighttime flights in the summer, either by Verthaven's beach or through the forest. Even when alone, he spends most of his leisure time flying, whether it's high in the clouds, or deep within the brush of the forest.[/INDENT]
[b]Skills/Talents:[/b] 
[INDENT]Mark's greatest skill is his flight. An expert with maneuvering, even as a boy, Mark has things like midair rolling and sharp turns down to instinctual muscle memory. Second to his abilities with flying, Mark is a skilled actor, going as far as to trick nearly everyone who knows him but his daughter into thinking he's a harmless nobody, even going as far as hiding his sonic shout ability from NEST registry. As far as NEST knows, Mark's only metahuman feature are his large, cumbersome wings that he has trouble flying with at [i]all[/i].[/INDENT]
[b]History/Bio:[/b]
[INDENT]Mark was born in Colorado, to a human father and metahuman mother. Mark has few memories of importance during childhood, seeing it as a fairly average, wholesome life. He faced very little bullying for his metahuman abilities, and was known for occasionally giving his friends rides through the air. It wasn't until Mark's adolescent years that things took a turn for the worst -- Mark's mother was put into a coma after a particularly violent car crash, causing his father to take an extra two jobs as a garbageman and security guard to support his wife's medical funds. This is where Mark picked up one of his major philosophies; Devotion to your loved ones is all that's important.

Eventually, his mother's condition was no longer treatable, and she was let off life support, leaving Mark's father to grieve. His father never [i]really[/i] recovered, leaving Mark for days at a time on trips he would disclose very little about. Eventually, Mark was emancipated, and began working as a sales associate with his cousin, his maternal uncle's son, in Denver.

His fatherhood was not planned, but a surprise -- A woman he had known briefly for a night eventually introduced him to his daughter over a phone call years later, and then in person a week later to tell Mark that her participation in a methadone program meant he must take custody of their child. It wasn't long that Sophia started exhibiting metahuman powers -- she would have violent seizures as she slept, accompanied by strong telekinetic waves. As his daughter's condition worsened, Mark began to look for more and more ways to turn a profit to afford her medication, often recalling days that his father would go days without sleeping to try to save his mother. At first, he began as a petty drug dealer, but as the cost of medicating his daughter with conventional hospitals increased with her slowly evolving condition, so did his criminal path. He quickly went from drug dealing to distribution, and distribution to smuggling, and eventually, smuggling to kidnapping.

Although at first appalled by The Changeling Unit's offer, there was a factor that eventually swayed him -- Due to The Changeling Unit's close proximity with The Hands of Science, his daughter's condition could eventually be [i]cured[/i], according to the men hoping to recruit him.

Although her fits are less and less frequent, the cycle of debt to The Hands of Science Mark is kept in is very much alive. As Sophia's fits are more intense with each passing episode, members of The Hands of Science need to spend more and more time on research, and so the price for the medication she receives increases with each visit. [/INDENT] 

[u][b]Relationships[/b][/u]

[b]Family:[/b] 
[INDENT]Jerry Emerson: Father (Deceased)
Carolyn Emerson: Mother (Deceased)
Sophia Emerson: Daughter[/INDENT]

[b]Dynamics:[/b]
[indent][b] Sophia Emerson [/b] | [b] Good [/b] | [b] Daughter[/b] | Sophie's my daughter. Love her to bits. |[/indent]


[b][u]Abilities[/u][/b]

[b]Power Class:[/b]
[INDENT]Super-System (Animal)[/INDENT] 
[b]Power:[/b] 
[INDENT][b]Bird Physiology[/b]
Mark's wings are the same shade of black as his hair, are about as tall as himself when pulled in, have a total span of 16 feet, and have a very flexible skeletal structure.  Mark's entire anatomy is adapted for flight, having hollow bones, a body virtually devoid of fat that grants him enhanced proportionate muscle strength, eyes that can withstand high-speed winds, enhanced eyesight enabling him to see at distances far greater than the average human, and a special respiratory membrane that extracts oxygen from the air at extreme velocities and altitudes. He can reach a maximum speed of about 40 mph when flying, while using updrafts as he glides can allow him to go faster. His wings are very powerful, allowing him to push away most people with strong gusts if he flaps hard enough.[/INDENT]

[INDENT][b]Supersonic Shout[/b]
Mark's birdlike-metahuman physiology allows him to tap into frequencies he should be incapable of reaching -- His shouts can shatter glass, damage delicate machinery, and render victims completely stunned, sometimes even unconscious. Hearing one of his shouts is comparable to a cross between a migraine and a stun grenade, as the resonance vibrates the delicate balance of fluid in his victim's ears, causing those who hear this noise to suffer from extreme vertigo, nausea, temporary deafness, and intense headaches.[/INDENT]

[b]Limits:[/b]
[INDENT]When wearing the suit, Mark has difficulty carrying anything more than 75 lbs. Although this is rarely an issue as his targets are all infants, Mark cannot carry a grown person, or heavy equipment while flying. Additionally, Mark's supersonic shout is [i]loud[/i], and with stealth being imperative to most of his jobs, he rarely uses it. Mark's shout is also [i]nonlethal[/i] without his Blackbird suit.[/INDENT]

[b]Weaknesses/Drawbacks:[/b] 
[INDENT][b]Reliance on Suit[/b][/INDENT]
Mark's career with The Changeling Unit has always involved his Blackbird suit, even in the earliest stages where it was little more than a black wetsuit. Because of the suit, Mark's planning is minimal -- If his suit is shockproof, why worry about being tazed? Without his suit, Mark fails to account for factors he wouldn't normally worry about with his suit on, like making an escape if seen, or evading someone who's chasing him by car. The suit's durability has made Mark somewhat reckless.

[b]Anxiety[/b]
Mark knows what he's doing is wrong, although this knowledge is buried under mountains of self-assurance that he's doing what he has to. He will occasionally have moments where his current actions dawn on him, and he will freeze up mid-kidnapping. This has caused him to nearly be spotted on a few occasions, although  he's managed to evade detection. Certain sites or sounds that remind him of his daughter cause him to think about his personal life on the job, which he finds [i]deeply[/i] distressing -- Part of how Mark has managed to cope for so long is by dividing his thoughts, never thinking about work while at home or home while at work, making Blackbird feel more like a separate person altogether than an alter-ego.

[b]Hearing[/b]
With his mask, Mark's shouts are channeled out of the palms of his gloves as concussive blasts of air, and are significantly quieter than they normally would be. Without his mask, however, he suffers temporary deafness for a few minutes every time he shouts, although he is spared from any of the nausea and dizziness others feel. The prolonged exposure to his own supersonic screams have left Mark somewhat hard of hearing, and he wears a discrete hearing aid most of the time, except for when he's working -- His jammer renders the hearing aid useless. 

[b]Vulnerability in Wings[/b]
Even from a non-combat standpoint, psychologically, Mark's wings are very important to him. His maneuvers reflect this -- He rarely flies in narrow passages, and when taking fire, he glides with his wings at an almost vertical angle to make them as small a target as possible, even if this sacrifices speed or maneuverability. They are also the only parts of his body uncovered by his Blackbird suit, and so he takes [i]extra[/i] precaution to keep them safe. If he is completely submerged, he is unable to fly for a half hour, as his massive wings become too heavy and need to be completely dried. Having a majority of his feathers burned or cut would render him flightless for much longer, as he would need to wait for the damaged section of his wings to molt.

[b][u]Other:[/u][/b] 
[INDENT]Mark is left-handed, and keeps his knife on the left hip of his suit. This is the only piece of evidence of his alter-ego -- Mark occasionally even plants black chicken feathers at his crime scene kidnappings to ensure that the DNA readings performed by NEST are [i]very[/i] different from his.

Although this is mostly a compliment, many people who know Mark claim he bears a striking resemblance to the actor [url=http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Pedro+Pascal+Arrivals+Much+Ado+Nothing+OPdsJC025-nl.jpg]Pedro Pascal.[/url][/INDENT]
[sub]it's his faceclaim deal with it[/sub]

[/hider]