Name: James ‘Jay Bee’ Burgess (his first name is frequently contracted from any Jamie/Jimmy diminutives right the way to the ghastly J-Dog/Jayster end of the spectrum. Jay Bee is the most common.
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/Nationality: British
Physical Description:For a legit cyborg, Jay Bee could pass as a standard human fairly easily, not least because his fairly unremarkable appearance would have most people pass over him without so much as a second glance. Middling in terms of height and weight, his silhouette is as average as can be, and his actual appearance gently factors in both a nondescript kind of attractive that comes with the gift of symmetrical features and that gross kind of junkie-looking signs of unhealthiness, like bags under the eyes and an intense slouch. He wouldn’t turn heads either way, apart from maybe those goths that go for that sort of thing.
This is not helped by (what can be seen of) his hair, which is dyed an unnatural jet black (over mousy brown) and set with pomade so stiffly it might as well be super-glue. While adding to that slight sense of ‘off’, there is a good reason for this. While most people’s cybernetic enhancements are typically obvious (limbs, bonus features tacked on), his tailor-made enhancements are entirely inside (and outside) of his own brain. Being the team’s Psychic (that is, telekinesis), his enhancements took a wildly uncontrolled ability and restrained it such that it could be put to good purpose – see skillset for further details.
He is almost never seen without a bowler hat, and, oddly, he appears to have glowing green lights on the backs of his hands.
Skillset:Alongside an unrelated and unfinished degree in Philosophy and History of Art at a decent British university, what Jay Bee brings to the table is mad psychic skills - specifically, telekinesis. This is a hugely versatile ability that lends itself to some situations more than others, but general infinite reach within the context of a room and the ability to act invisibly are usually very helpful. Since he doesn’t have a designated thing that he’s likely to do in every mission, what follows is a list of helpful things he has done on occasions in the past.
- Forget dual-pistols. Jay Bee can more or less successfully hold and fire five semi-automatics simultaneously without lifting a finger. Accuracy goes out of the window at such levels of insanity, but... who needs accuracy when you’ve got five guns firing at once?
- Projectile-proof: When you have telekinesis, projectiles just don't hit you. While it's a lot of effort, and will cause him to tire quickly, he can basically prevent anything coming near him.
- People puppets: while people are a lot harder to move, Jay Bee does have the ability to help his allies dodge things that might hurt them, and also help his enemies not dodge things that are supposed to hit them. While it’s much cruder manipulation when the person fights back, try escaping when you have somebody dragging on you from across the room.
- Instant carnage: if there are objects in a room, and precision isn't required, Jay Bee can fling them everywhere (to create obstacles or a distraction). Needless to say, he also brings his own objects.
- Levitation and crazy acrobatics he hasn't worked for: when you have a means of defying gravity at your disposal, you use it. Levitation is actually very slow if he hasn't built up momentum, so he often makes do with...
- Wall walking: with the advantage of being able to levitate anyway to counter-act gravity somewhat and the preparation of suitably grippy shoes, Jay Bee is as effective and comfortable walking on walls and ceilings as he is on the ground.
Because there aren’t many telekinetics out there, Jay Bee hasn't really had any power-specific training from the Vigil. He has of course had the standard-issue training and had his progress with his powers overseen by a supervisor, but specific training is not something he has benefited from. This makes him rather unpredictable to work with.
There is a time-limit to Jay Bee’s abilities, though, and after heavy usage, he
must rest. If not, the connections between his hat and brain temporarily shut down, leaving him without any powers and, as described in Modifications, without even full use of his brain.
That Jay Bee was a psychic at all was pure chance, and that he discovered it was chance twice over. Sure, stuff had always fallen over around him, but didn’t it always? He grew up as a relatively normal middle-class lad in England doing normal life stuff until, halfway through his degree in Southampton, a vampire attacked him on campus, presumably for blood. This was when the psychic part of his brain kicked in. The exact details are a little bit foggy to him, but things went flying. A variety of otherwise innocuous objects previously sitting in a rubbish bin impaled the vampire, while more general carnage, such as broken windows and even uprooted paving stones.
Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go unnoticed, and Jay Bee was assumed to be the culprit. That the vampire was even a vampire was only known to the Vigil, and Jay Bee was well on his way to being admitted to a psychiatric hospital (at best) or prison (at worst) for his ‘brutal and crazed murder’ when the Vigil intervened with legal and diplomatic mechanisms not known to the lay person.
He was expedited to the US, where he signed whatever forms they threw at him, figuring their custody was as good as anybody’s. It was only later that he understood who they were, who attacked him, and what he himself was.
As he began to explore his powers, he found them explosive and uncontrollable. This was when the Vigil operated, to make his unique mental makeup actually useful, rather than just destructive. Since then, he has been adrift, totally at the Vigil’s mercy, as a non-official US citizen relying on the Vigil’s support for the technical upkeep of his own brain.
Psychological Profile:Jay Bee is scarred, badly. At the age of nineteen, he was nearly murdered, discovered terrifying powers he didn’t understand, accidentally (maybe) killed his would-be murderer, was arrested and treated as a freak for it, taken into the custody of an organisation he didn’t know, expatriated, and had his brain removed, recalibrated, and re-inserted (in the form of a bowler hat). This does things to a guy.
On the surface, he actually isn’t too crazy, and seems like a fairly sane guy you could go for a drink with. He is all smiles and happy-go-lucky antics. Even for people in the know, he tends to deliberately a bit showy with his powers for his own (and their amusement), appearing to revel in the carnage he can cause.
However, he is hugely twitchy. The sight of any blood or violence rocks him to his core, reminding him of that fateful night at university about six years ago and he associates his powers with that event too. People are surprised he doesn’t abuse them for mundane functions, but, given what he knows they can do, it’s perhaps not that shocking.
Unlike many people with enhancements, his is theoretically optional. Nothing stops him unplugging his hat, destroying it, and living life as an actual retard – something he has secretly always been on the brink of doing.
Equally, living under the thumb and dependently on the Vigil since his attack has permanently wounded his confidence and independence, and, when uncertain, is known to be clingy, weak-willed, and a downright useless lump.
Modifications: - Communications suite, HUD and neural-computer, all standard issue – Vigil agents are able to text by thinking it among each other on a heavily encrypted wireless network. In fact, the computer works off brain impulses and is easily one of the most sophisticated and useful implants they have; what's more, its capabilities have yet to be fully exploited. The downside of this implant is that it includes a cortex bomb with an anti-tampering device. A captured agent can set it off, destroying the hardware inside, or a signal from control can do the same. This is to prevent the enemy from learning the capabilities of implanted agents.
- Internal air supply and aerial toxin filter -- this also has the added advantage of making the agent immune to vampire pheromones, as some types of vampires are known to use this to seduce their prey.
- Blood/liquid toxin filter -- the obvious is at work here -- vampires use their blood as a means of controlling mortals, and this system (and everyone, even non field agents, in the Vigil organization have this implant) screens out one of most subtle weapons a vampire has, rendering them functionally immune to being controlled through ingested blood the way mortal thralls of a vampire might be.
- Eye augmentation; a HUD showing all sorts of system data, such as the status of implants, as well as allowing for low-light and ultra-sound modes of vision, the latter being thought to be more effective than thermographics when dealing with vampires, who tend to run cold if they haven't fed lately.
- Without going into the precise details of what bits were added and removed from Jay Bee’s brain, suffice to say, his head won’t pass through a metal detector without some raised eyebrows. What’s more, there literally was no way for the doctors to fit all of the tech he needed inside his head, and so he has a supplementary external tech repository suitably fashioned so as to arouse the least suspicion – or, in other words, a hat filled with more tech. This plugs directly into inbuilt brain interfaces with camouflaged cables the same colour as either his hair or skin (according to location on his skull) around the frontal lobes, nape of his neck, and behind the ears. Jay Bee wears his hat almost one hundred per cent of the time. There is a good reason for this: as part of the jiggery-pokery, about 30% of his natural brain was removed and replicated in the hat’s circuits and therefore he is roughly 30% less intelligent the moment he is not plugged in. In short, without his hat, he is functionally retarded, particularly with regard to his speech and precise motor faculties.
- Green LEDs: a small but bright green LED on the back of each hand. These are also permanent additions. They are innately connected to the hat, and switch off if it is disconnected, compromised, or broken. This warns other team-members that he is now a moron, and at risk from being hacked.
Equipment:- The Hat, obviously. Technically it's called a Beta Regulator, but if it looks like a duck hat, it's a duck hat. The style is a bowler, for several reasons, not least of which is that the rounded shape is most suitable for storing lots of tech and deflecting bullets. It connects to his brain through cables the colour of his hair and flesh (for camouflage) plugging into ports at his nape, temples, and above his ears. These cables are, naturally, very tough and also very taut, so that it cannot just fall off. While the hat is designed to be relatively incognito, it is, naturally, supported by a light but powerful metal framework to stop it simply getting squished in combat.
- Mimetic Camouflage (Predator) coat, though this is designed to look more like a trenchcoat -- no doubt some project engineer with a penchant for the dramatic, or an interest in fashion design. The coat is actually stylish, which serves a dual purpose as vampires tend to dress stylishly and surround themselves with the stylishly dressed. This allows Vigil agents one more edge. Of course, they call it the Predator Coat. Because the engineers are geeks. (This is a standard issue Vigil item)
- Modular, caseless assault rifle/carbine. Bullpup, caseless ammunition, synched with existing implants and capable of mounting a variety of accessories including a 25mm grenade launcher whose munitions range from conventional high explosive to nano-guided scattered mines. It also syncs with HUD implants for improved accuracy in a mechanism similar to a bluetooth link. The trigger is electric and the weapon includes a biometric security system; anyone but someone authorized to handle it and it will blow; that is a standard feature on most any weapon the Vigil has in service with its teams. (This is a standard issue Vigil item)
- A number of electronic accessories, including a PDA tablet and other items to assist in making physical connection with computer equipment. (This is a standard issue Vigil item)
- Grenades, mostly white phosphorus. The organization has designed a 'grenade' that involves a strobing UV light that damages vampires -- it is known as 'the disco ball'.
- A sack of honest-to-goodness sharp and awkward objects. For a man that can fill a room with flying mess and debris, it pays to have shrapnel, broken glass ornaments, lengths of webbing and fire hazards handy.
- Boots whose soles are somewhere between caterpillar tracks and pulsing blades, which can tear into concrete. While this is primarily used for walking up walls and along ceilings with grip that would make Spiderman green with envy, they also have a niche for kicking people. While they don't cause that much actual damage, they will bloody hurt what with the whole 'gripping onto the skin and probably tearing it off' factor.
