Name: Mikhail Peacemaker
Age: 14
Appearance:
Personal issue: Alternates between Hope and Despair; feeling great hope one moment, then feeling despair the next.
Power:“In fearful day, in raging night,
With strong hearts full, our souls ignite,
When all seems lost in the War of Light,
Look to the stars-- For hope burns bright!”
Hope Materialization - Mikhail can sense and transform Hope, either his hope or that of others', into energy, which in turn can be made into constructs, force-fields, anti-gravity, and heal people. Basically, a Blue Lantern Ring* without the need for a Green Lantern one.
However, this power has a big drawback. Mikhail's powers are dependent on how much hope is in the area, and his own ability to be hopeful is failing. That means that he has to depend on other people to have hope, which does not always work. Thus, psychological warfare, as well as taking out any companions or bodyguards he has, is an effective tactic against him.
Another weakness is that his healing is slow compared to a dedicated healer, while his constructs, force-fields, and shields can be worn down in a reasonable amount of time (10 to 15 minutes) by grenade-strength weapons.
*
greenlantern.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Lante..Personality: Mikhail tries to be hopeful, he really does. But getting kindapped, deliberately traumatized until he had powers, then being sold to various private interests as a living weapon, and after
that, escaping, sometimes it wears down on a person, and sometimes, it's just too much. And there is the fact that he is literally a
freak, someone thrown out of the continuum that is Humanity. At the same time, the kid still has an iron-clad conviction that peace is still possible, that the bonds of sapience, aka the fact that both Human and Powered can feel love, hope, trust, and plan for the future, can still overcome even the glaring differences that now exist. Yes, it's insane, yes, it goes against cold logic. But he will still believe it, because he will not forsake a thinking being, regardless of whether they have powers or not.
"My beliefs are the last reminder I have of my parents. Everything else from them but memory has been taken away from me."
Bio: Mikhail was the son of second-generation Russian Immigrants, fans of JRR Tolkien, whose own parents had fled to America to evade debts from the Russian Mafiya (yes, that's the spelling). Thus, Mikhail was raised by both his parents and members of the local Tolkien Society, and had a childhood immersed in works of High Fantasy, as well as normal schooling, which he excelled in.
Then, one day, the Mafiya's enforcers found the little home the family were staying in, and killed Mikhail's family; just because they were a generation removed from the original debtors didn't mean that they were shielded from the wrath of Organized Crime, and Mikhail himself was taken as 'collateral' for the remaining debt, and sold to DemeterBioTech, a Corporation that was secretly experimenting on people to induce powers in them.
Knowing that trauma can induce powers, the Corporation in their secret laboratories slowly began torturing Mikhail, upping the ante every half-day. Mikhail felt miserable, hurt, but at the same time, hopeful that he would be rescued, that some hero or heroine would come to save him. And, just when the torturers were about to cap the torment by subjecting him to the 'ultimate defilement'...a group of police officers burst in and 'arrested' the torturers. This caused Mikhail to manifest his ability: Hope Materilization.
He was glad! He was safe! Wait, why were the 'police' drawing a cattle prod on him -
When he woke up, he was still in the laboratories, but in a more secure facility, one with reinforced concrete walls and kevlar padding, and he had a shock-explosive collar on his neck. And he knew this, that he hadn't actually escaped. After he was given time to weep, he was forcibly brought out, along with several other children who had manifested powers through trauma, and told that they were now property of DemeterBioTech, living weapons to be trained, bought, and sold to the highest bidder. And that was what happened, with the handlers using every psychological trick they had to keep the kids cowed and under control as they were trained to be, and used as, assassins.
Mikhail spent one year in that life, and he hated it. Not merely that, but he was only able to access his powers in the presence of other people who had hope, as he had none himself in that time. He can barely function, he can barely do anything, and he wanted to die so badly. But he didn't, because just before he decided to do that, the uprising started.
It turned out, several of the kids had managed to hack the shock collars, or just destroy them, then rebel against their captors. Mikhail, feeling hope for the first time since his rescue, joined the rebels, managing to carve a hole through the holding area they were in, and escape to the streets.
Many of them would be hunted down, or starve, or die in other ways, but Mikhail and a few of the remaining kids would find refuge in the estate of one Augusta E. Foley, a rich old woman who had the power of manipulating probability. In said estate, Mikhail and his companions would recover, and the boy would find hope again...especially as DemeterBioTech would find itself shut down by the Government.
Now, Mikhail, as the adopted son of Augusta Foley, would look at the recent news...and know that the days of fear would be returning again.
Only this time...he was ready.
Equipment: Backpack containing Pepper Spray, Food, Water, a copy of Lord of the Rings, an iPod with hopeful music, binoculars, and a swiss army knife.
