No matter how much he told himself that Superman wasn't that great, or that he was just some kind of stupid boy scout, Dominic felt that meeting him was one of the most powerful experiences of his life. Just being in the same room as him made Dominic's throat go a little dry. He began to overthink what he wanted to say. What about 'hello? Or 'How are you?' Or maybe even 'Jee whiz, can i get your autograph'. Regardless though, Dominic stayed quiet. Why ruin such a glorious moment? Superman just gave off a strong feeling. He makes you feel useless and powerful at the same time. All he could do was smile gleefully.
Having to use his hand to shut his jaw which had lowered slightly during the interaction, Dominic gave the superhero a short nod before following the group as they made their accent out of the War Room.
Clearing his head, he thought back to the simulation with Magenta. He may moan and groan a lot, but Kid Rogue had to emit that they were a good team. Even scrooge Mcduck himself wasn't a complete waste of space with his fire as he had expected. They were going to do quite well, in Dominic's opinion. Now all he wanted to do was see what the rest of the guys could do! Who knows, maybe there's a big baddie just around the corner for them to punch!
"Screw the family business. I want to be one of those guys."
Name: Theodore "Ted" Stephen Kord
Alias: Blue Beetle
Origin: Theodore “Ted” Stephen Kord grew up to a wealthy family in Chicago, with his father the CEO of Kord Omniversal Research and Development. He was pressed quite hard through his childhood, with the prospect of him following his father’s footsteps initially being what strove Ted for greatness. Ted excelled at school, both academically and athletically. It would seem that once he put his mind to something, Ted wouldn’t be satisfied until he had mastered it, with an example of this being him taking on gymnastics at an early age. Another thing to note was that he also took an interest in computer science. He spent the majority of one of his summer breaks shut off in his room staring at his computer screen, having giving himself the challenge of hacking into the US Defence Network. It was an easy task but a stupid one. Within the hour Special Forces were upon their house, bursting in during the dead of night, their golden goggles shining like that of an insect’s eyes. After all the interrogations and threats, Ted just didn’t seem afraid of the world anymore.
The threats didn’t hinder the boy however and with his continuous high grades and academic achievements, Ted was soon offered a scholarship to MIT at the age of 15. Here he gained degrees in many fields including Physics, Theoretical mathematics and Robotics. By this point he had gone off the idea of joining his father’s business, believing it to be rather dull and boring. He attempted to get a doctorate in his fields, although that too wasn’t to his liking. Instead he just simply decided to travel the world, with him journeying through Europe and eventually most of Asia. This was when he found it. The Scarab. He had watched it fall down from the sky one night while volunteering in a small village in China. Amazed at the sight of the meteorite, Ted had gone to investigate, finding nothing but a small blue piece of metal at the crash site. Realizing instantly that the beetle shaped thing was alien in nature, he phoned his father at once, taking the next flight home at his request.
Returning to Kord Omniversal, Ted and his father Dan set to work on trying to discover what it actually was that he had discovered. After weeks of work, they seemingly came no closer, until finally the thing actually did something. The scarab device began to emit what appeared to be an infinite source of energy. This got the attention of one of the top scientists working at the company, Ted’s uncle Jarvis. Seeking to use the scarab in order to exploit its energy creation abilities, he was promptly fired by Dan. Angry at Dan due to his apparent ignorance, Jarvis murdered him, with him taking the scarab and fleeing.
Ted mourned for many weeks, completely unaware of what had been the cause of his father’s death. This was until he got wind of his brother Jarvis, who was apparently offering an unlimited supply of renewable energy to the largest bidder. Realizing what he had done, Ted vowed that he would get justice for Jarvis’s actions. After being inspired by a news report of some crazy masked superhero in Gotham City, Ted, who was quickly appointed CEO of the company, paid a visit to Kord Omniversal’s R&D department. Here he fashioned a makeshift costume using a Kevlar bodysuit, with him collecting numerous gadgets and weapons, as well as donning a pair of bright yellow goggled, with Ted being inspired by the government agents who had raided his house all those years ago.
It didn’t take long for Ted to track down his uncle. The man had purchased a luxury beach house down in Miami with what he had earned already, as well as hiring a hefty security force. Ted was ready for them though, using a strobe light gun to blind them before they could attack, with him then using his acrobatic and martial art skills he had learnt over the years to quickly take them down. After tricking Jarvis and secretly recording him confessing how he had murdered Dan, Ted apprehended the villain and took back what was stolen from him. However having the Scarab back didn’t fill the hole in his heart.
Deciding that he would become a man that his father would be proud of, Ted decided to stay in the superhero business, with him manufacturing a proper costume and turning the penthouse if the Kord Omniversal building into his secret base of operations. He donned the name “The Blue Beetle”, taking inspiration from the mysterious alien scarab that had changed his life.
Attributes:
Genius Level Intellect – Ted Kord has a genius level intellect with an IQ of 192. He has degrees in Physics, Theoretical mathematics and Robotics. Kord is also an excellent inventor, having manufactured a large amount of the equipment he now works with.
Acrobatics – Kord was an accomplished acrobat, having been training from a young age.
Espionage – While maybe not as great as the Dark Knight himself, Ted is fairly adept at keeping himself to shadows and remaining hidden.
Martial Arts – During his brief time travelling around the world, Ted has studied with several martial arts masters. While no expert he can out-fight just about your average group of thugs or criminals with his fighting skills alone.
Equipment:
The Blue Beetle costume is made up of a simple Nomex body suit, along with a utility belt and utility pouches on his gloves. The goggles, which are again inspired by the government agents who barged into his house years ago, contain sight-enhancing lenses.
The Blue Beetle’s primary weapon, the BB Gun is able to emit a blinding flash of light or a blast of compressed air capable of knocking down several grown men. The gun is only able to be operated by Ted, with it becoming inactive without contact with the circuitry within his costume's gloves.
Including suction pads, smoke pellets, grappling hooks, etc.
Made out of a metallic alloy of titanium and steel panels, The Bug is the Blue Beetle’s primary source of transportation, a mechanised craft which is able to navigate both the sky and underwater. It is powered used solar energy, with the ship also having a thick reinforced armour and automatic reflector shields for protection. Thanks to the antigravity units, the Bug is extremely quiet during flight and is also able to fly at a top speed of 800mph. The Bug also contains a small portable crime lab which includes a computer, communications centre, television, stereo and a closet with spare uniforms and several changes of civilian clothes.
Essentially a more combat themed version of the previous design, The Bug Mk-V is sleeker and unlike the previous design, actually has weapons. These weapons are in the form of thermal energy blasts, that can be fired from the ship’s robotic claw arms which can also be used to grasp, hold and even throw objects. Unlike the previous design, there is only one seat in the ship’s cockpit, with the Bug MK-IV lacking a crime lab, etc. The Bug MK-V can also fly at a speed of 1200mph.
Stomping Grounds:
The third most populous city in the United States, Chicago has over 2.7 million residents. Near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, the city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation, with O'Hare International Airport being the busiest airport in the world. It is also the home to the headquarters of Kord Omniversal.
The Kord Omniversal building is one of the tallest highrises in Chicago, as well as being one of the City's central hubs of technology, communication and industry. While many of the floors are made up of laboratories, the penthouse is home to the company's CEO Ted Kord, with it acting as his base of operations. The basement holds the more dangerous products of Kord Omniversal’s R&D department.
Ted's penthouse takes up the entire top floor of the Kord Omniversal building, other than a thin strip just above the sign which is home to a small outside pool. Inside the penthouse is split in half. The left side, containing the elevator appears much nicer and more homely, sporting a vast array of expensive furniture, a small cocktail bar and a small doorway leading off to a bedroom. The other side of the penthouse act as Ted's base of operations as the Blue Beetle. There is a small crimelab, training area, a work station, and more importantly Ted's own super-computer. Each far corner of the lair is home to Blue Beetle's ships; The Bugs. The walls, floor, and ceiling of this section of the penthouse are white in colour, lit by bright blue neon lights.
People of Note:
Michael Carter is Ted's closest friend, with the two having an extremely close bond. The two cross paths for the first time when Booster seeks him out after his arrival in the present. There friendship is one of joy and laughter, with the two caring very much for each other.
Booster Gold's robotic companion from the future, Ted receives much amusement in watching both Booster and Skeets argue.
Ted's personal assistant, Tracy is fully aware of his identity as the Blue Beetle, often mocking him for it in a sarcastic manner. Despite everything though, she is one Ted's greatest friends (although she won't admit it) and often operates on the Beetle Computer while he is out on the field. Ted often laughs at Booster's obvious attempts at wooing her, despite her lack of interest.
Ted's pet dog. While actually named Mikey, he often calls him Blue Beagle, to Tracy's annoyance.
Ted's father, Dan was the CEO of Kord Omniversal before being murdered by his brother Jarvis.
Ted's mother, Maureen moved to live in New York after her husband's murder, retaining regular contact with her son.
Ted's uncle and the former lead scientist at Kord Omniversal. After the discovery, Jarvis went power crazy after the discovery that it seemed to be an energy source. Due to being fired by Dan for trying to exploit it, he murdered and stole the scarab. He was later apprehended by the Blue Beetle and arrested.
The current head scientist of the company, having taken over when Jarvis was fired, Jeremiah worked for the company with Thomas Kord and later with Ted. He is a dear friend of the Kord family
Leader of the group of manic thugs named The Madmen, Fleeter was a crook who took on a small job at Georgetown University to steal drugs He was involved in an accident that gave him the power to mentally control anyone he touched. He used this power to create an army of Madmen, having gone slightly insane himself to to the accident.
Run by Farley Fleeter, the Madmen are a group of mentally controlled thugs who don wigs, face paint, and multicolored costumes and started robbing banks. As well as thing, they regularly act as goons for hire. Over the past few years, they are becoming an increasingly pain in the ass for Ted.
Character Goals: I'm hoping to try and bring some more life to regularly forgotten character and remind people that Ted is actually smarter than the Dark Knight himself. As for story goals i plan for Ted to:
Struggle with juggling both running Kord Omniversal and acting as the Blue Beetle,
Maybe eventually join the Justice League, or merely attempt to.
Uncover Checkmate as he did in Countdown to Infinite Crisis although hopefully he'll make it out alive this time.
Sample Post: "Sir, what the hell is that?"
Tracy's voice broke the hum of machinery and the regular bursts of noice from the blow torch Ted had been using. Turning, he gave the smartly dressed woman a smile, before pulling his goggles from his eyes and hoping down from where he had been working.
“That, my dear Tracy is my latest creation!” Ted exclaimed loudly, ignoring the obvious sound of annoyance emitted by her at the ”my dear Tracy” comment. “The Bug MK-5. She’s sleeker and much faster in fact too, as she can…”
“Sir…”
“… go up to twelve hundred miles per hour!”
“Sir.”
“Oh and you should see the circuitry on this baby!”
“Ted.”
“I’ve made it all much simpler! We shouldn’t be having the issue we had before with the smell. Granted that was my fault but now…”
“Ted?!” Tracy had to shout for Ted to hear her over his constant rumbling. Truth be told, this was a regular occurrence and was obviously something that led to Tracy wishing to throttle her boss more and more on a daily basis. Oblivious to this house, Ted just stared at her, a look of pure confused across his face. Huffing in annoyance, Tracy continued.
“I didn’t mean that heap of junk! You think I actually care about most of the shit you make in here?” Ignoring the babbling that followed from the Kord Omniversal CEO, Tracy pointed to the corner of the room. “When the hell did you get a dog?”
Quickly recovering from his assistants hurtful words and making a mental note to send an angry worded letter to her in the future, Ted let his signature smile run across his face once more, laughing slightly as she pointed to the new member of his family. Truth be told he had gotten lonely after having been bed ridden for the past week. This had been after breaking his leg in the field while giving chase to a group named the Madmen across the rooftops of Chicago. It had been quite embarrassing. Tracy had laughed to his face. This had led him to adopting the Labrador that currently lay before them in his basket.
“His name’s Blue Beagle.” Ted stated happily, having finished explaining the story to her.
“He’s a Labrador.” She stated firmly. “Not a beagle.”
“I know but Blue Labrador just sounded stupid!”
“Like The Blue Beetle then?” She smirked.
Before Ted could reply with what was probably going to be an even wittier remark, the neon blue lights of the penthouse turned to a violent red, with the monitor of the Beetle Computer flashing into life. Ignoring the barks of the Blue Beagle, Ted burst forward, eyes reading the information as soon as it appeared on the monitor.
“Looks like there’s a fire down town.” He stated, noting down the address. Pressing a button on the console, a short whiz from the back of the room sounded as the roof hatch of the Bug slid open.
“You realize that the fire brigade could probably handle it?” Tracy asked, slumping down into the chair in front of monitor.
Trey nodded at Michelle's reply, glancing anxiously as the group walked away with the injured classmate. He would have loved to help although honestly he doubted that he would be of much help! Instead he decided to head back to his room, hoping to potentially have time for a short nap before his next class. Maybe it would be best to let Chris know that he was bothering him? Trey shook his head at the thought. No. Too much hassle. Afterall, he didn't want to start any arguments.
Falling down onto his bed as he arrived, he closed his eyes, realising a long sigh. His moment of peace was cut short however by the sound the TV. Either him or Chris must have left it on that morning! It was currently switched on to the local news network, where once again Trey discovered that Mutantkind was what everyone seemed to be talking about. It was currently showing an interview between the newscaster and seemingly a local celebrity. Trey had no idea who they were but he knew for sure that this person was certainly a racist. Trey had to turn off the TV before he ended up hitting something. Humankind could be the absolute worst sometimes.
I'm finally done! Apologies for any spelling or gramatical mistakes! Pretty tired right now!
"Screw the family business. I want to be one of those guys."
Name: Theodore "Ted" Stephen Kord
Alias: Blue Beetle
Origin: Theodore “Ted” Stephen Kord grew up to a wealthy family in Chicago, with his father the CEO of Kord Omniversal Research and Development. He was pressed quite hard through his childhood, with the prospect of him following his father’s footsteps initially being what strove Ted for greatness. Ted excelled at school, both academically and athletically. It would seem that once he put his mind to something, Ted wouldn’t be satisfied until he had mastered it, with an example of this being him taking on gymnastics at an early age. Another thing to note was that he also took an interest in computer science. He spent the majority of one of his summer breaks shut off in his room staring at his computer screen, having giving himself the challenge of hacking into the US Defence Network. It was an easy task but a stupid one. Within the hour Special Forces were upon their house, bursting in during the dead of night, their golden goggles shining like that of an insect’s eyes. After all the interrogations and threats, Ted just didn’t seem afraid of the world anymore.
The threats didn’t hinder the boy however and with his continuous high grades and academic achievements, Ted was soon offered a scholarship to MIT at the age of 15. Here he gained degrees in many fields including Physics, Theoretical mathematics and Robotics. By this point he had gone off the idea of joining his father’s business, believing it to be rather dull and boring. He attempted to get a doctorate in his fields, although that too wasn’t to his liking. Instead he just simply decided to travel the world, with him journeying through Europe and eventually most of Asia. This was when he found it. The Scarab. He had watched it fall down from the sky one night while volunteering in a small village in China. Amazed at the sight of the meteorite, Ted had gone to investigate, finding nothing but a small blue piece of metal at the crash site. Realizing instantly that the beetle shaped thing was alien in nature, he phoned his father at once, taking the next flight home at his request.
Returning to Kord Omniversal, Ted and his father Dan set to work on trying to discover what it actually was that he had discovered. After weeks of work, they seemingly came no closer, until finally the thing actually did something. The scarab device began to emit what appeared to be an infinite source of energy. This got the attention of one of the top scientists working at the company, Ted’s uncle Jarvis. Seeking to use the scarab in order to exploit its energy creation abilities, he was promptly fired by Dan. Angry at Dan due to his apparent ignorance, Jarvis murdered him, with him taking the scarab and fleeing.
Ted mourned for many weeks, completely unaware of what had been the cause of his father’s death. This was until he got wind of his brother Jarvis, who was apparently offering an unlimited supply of renewable energy to the largest bidder. Realizing what he had done, Ted vowed that he would get justice for Jarvis’s actions. After being inspired by a news report of some crazy masked superhero in Gotham City, Ted, who was quickly appointed CEO of the company, paid a visit to Kord Omniversal’s R&D department. Here he fashioned a makeshift costume using a Kevlar bodysuit, with him collecting numerous gadgets and weapons, as well as donning a pair of bright yellow goggled, with Ted being inspired by the government agents who had raided his house all those years ago.
It didn’t take long for Ted to track down his uncle. The man had purchased a luxury beach house down in Miami with what he had earned already, as well as hiring a hefty security force. Ted was ready for them though, using a strobe light gun to blind them before they could attack, with him then using his acrobatic and martial art skills he had learnt over the years to quickly take them down. After tricking Jarvis and secretly recording him confessing how he had murdered Dan, Ted apprehended the villain and took back what was stolen from him. However having the Scarab back didn’t fill the hole in his heart.
Deciding that he would become a man that his father would be proud of, Ted decided to stay in the superhero business, with him manufacturing a proper costume and turning the penthouse if the Kord Omniversal building into his secret base of operations. He donned the name “The Blue Beetle”, taking inspiration from the mysterious alien scarab that had changed his life.
Attributes:
Genius Level Intellect – Ted Kord has a genius level intellect with an IQ of 192. He has degrees in Physics, Theoretical mathematics and Robotics. Kord is also an excellent inventor, having manufactured a large amount of the equipment he now works with.
Acrobatics – Kord was an accomplished acrobat, having been training from a young age.
Espionage – While maybe not as great as the Dark Knight himself, Ted is fairly adept at keeping himself to shadows and remaining hidden.
Martial Arts – During his brief time travelling around the world, Ted has studied with several martial arts masters. While no expert he can out-fight just about your average group of thugs or criminals with his fighting skills alone.
Equipment:
The Blue Beetle costume is made up of a simple Nomex body suit, along with a utility belt and utility pouches on his gloves. The goggles, which are again inspired by the government agents who barged into his house years ago, contain sight-enhancing lenses.
The Blue Beetle’s primary weapon, the BB Gun is able to emit a blinding flash of light or a blast of compressed air capable of knocking down several grown men. The gun is only able to be operated by Ted, with it becoming inactive without contact with the circuitry within his costume's gloves.
Including suction pads, smoke pellets, grappling hooks, etc.
Made out of a metallic alloy of titanium and steel panels, The Bug is the Blue Beetle’s primary source of transportation, a mechanised craft which is able to navigate both the sky and underwater. It is powered used solar energy, with the ship also having a thick reinforced armour and automatic reflector shields for protection. Thanks to the antigravity units, the Bug is extremely quiet during flight and is also able to fly at a top speed of 800mph. The Bug also contains a small portable crime lab which includes a computer, communications centre, television, stereo and a closet with spare uniforms and several changes of civilian clothes.
Essentially a more combat themed version of the previous design, The Bug Mk-V is sleeker and unlike the previous design, actually has weapons. These weapons are in the form of thermal energy blasts, that can be fired from the ship’s robotic claw arms which can also be used to grasp, hold and even throw objects. Unlike the previous design, there is only one seat in the ship’s cockpit, with the Bug MK-IV lacking a crime lab, etc. The Bug MK-V can also fly at a speed of 1200mph.
Stomping Grounds:
The third most populous city in the United States, Chicago has over 2.7 million residents. Near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, the city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation, with O'Hare International Airport being the busiest airport in the world. It is also the home to the headquarters of Kord Omniversal.
The Kord Omniversal building is one of the tallest highrises in Chicago, as well as being one of the City's central hubs of technology, communication and industry. While many of the floors are made up of laboratories, the penthouse is home to the company's CEO Ted Kord, with it acting as his base of operations. The basement holds the more dangerous products of Kord Omniversal’s R&D department.
Ted's penthouse takes up the entire top floor of the Kord Omniversal building, other than a thin strip just above the sign which is home to a small outside pool. Inside the penthouse is split in half. The left side, containing the elevator appears much nicer and more homely, sporting a vast array of expensive furniture, a small cocktail bar and a small doorway leading off to a bedroom. The other side of the penthouse act as Ted's base of operations as the Blue Beetle. There is a small crimelab, training area, a work station, and more importantly Ted's own super-computer. Each far corner of the lair is home to Blue Beetle's ships; The Bugs. The walls, floor, and ceiling of this section of the penthouse are white in colour, lit by bright blue neon lights.
People of Note:
Ted's father, Dan was the CEO of Kord Omniversal before being murdered by his brother Jarvis.
Ted's mother, Maureen moved to live in New York after her husband's murder, retaining regular contact with her son.
Ted's uncle and the former lead scientist at Kord Omniversal. After the discovery, Jarvis went power crazy after the discovery that it seemed to be an energy source. Due to being fired by Dan for trying to exploit it, he murdered and stole the scarab. He was later apprehended by the Blue Beetle and arrested.
Ted's personal assistant, Tracy is fully aware of his identity as the Blue Beetle, often mocking him for it in a sarcastic manner. Despite everything though, she is one Ted's greatest friends (although she won't admit it) and often operates on the Beetle Computer while he is out on the field.
Ted's pet dog. While actually named Mikey, he often calls him Blue Beagle, to Tracy's annoyance.
The current head scientist of the company, having taken over when Jarvis was fired, Jeremiah worked for the company with Thomas Kord and later with Ted. He is a dear friend of the Kord family
Leader of the group of manic thugs named The Madmen, Fleeter was a crook who took on a small job at Georgetown University to steal drugs He was involved in an accident that gave him the power to mentally control anyone he touched. He used this power to create an army of Madmen, having gone slightly insane himself to to the accident.
Run by Farley Fleeter, the Madmen are a group of mentally controlled thugs who don wigs, face paint, and multicolored costumes and started robbing banks. As well as thing, they regularly act as goons for hire. Over the past few years, they are becoming an increasingly pain in the ass for Ted.
Character Goals: I'm hoping to try and bring some more life to regularly forgotten character and remind people that Ted is actually smarter than the Dark Knight himself. As for story goals i plan for Ted to:
Struggle with juggling both running Kord Omniversal and acting as the Blue Beetle,
Maybe eventually join the Justice League, or merely attempt to.
Uncover Checkmate as he did in Countdown to Infinite Crisis although hopefully he'll make it out alive this time.
Sample Post: "Sir, what the hell is that?"
Tracy's voice broke the hum of machinery and the regular bursts of noice from the blow torch Ted had been using. Turning, he gave the smartly dressed woman a smile, before pulling his goggles from his eyes and hoping down from where he had been working.
“That, my dear Tracy is my latest creation!” Ted exclaimed loudly, ignoring the obvious sound of annoyance emitted by her at the ”my dear Tracy” comment. “The Bug MK-5. She’s sleeker and much faster in fact too, as she can…”
“Sir…”
“… go up to twelve hundred miles per hour!”
“Sir.”
“Oh and you should see the circuitry on this baby!”
“Ted.”
“I’ve made it all much simpler! We shouldn’t be having the issue we had before with the smell. Granted that was my fault but now…”
“Ted?!” Tracy had to shout for Ted to hear her over his constant rumbling. Truth be told, this was a regular occurrence and was obviously something that led to Tracy wishing to throttle her boss more and more on a daily basis. Oblivious to this house, Ted just stared at her, a look of pure confused across his face. Huffing in annoyance, Tracy continued.
“I didn’t mean that heap of junk! You think I actually care about most of the shit you make in here?” Ignoring the babbling that followed from the Kord Omniversal CEO, Tracy pointed to the corner of the room. “When the hell did you get a dog?”
Quickly recovering from his assistants hurtful words and making a mental note to send an angry worded letter to her in the future, Ted let his signature smile run across his face once more, laughing slightly as she pointed to the new member of his family. Truth be told he had gotten lonely after having been bed ridden for the past week. This had been after breaking his leg in the field while giving chase to a group named the Madmen across the rooftops of Chicago. It had been quite embarrassing. Tracy had laughed to his face. This had led him to adopting the Labrador that currently lay before them in his basket.
“His name’s Blue Beagle.” Ted stated happily, having finished explaining the story to her.
“He’s a Labrador.” She stated firmly. “Not a beagle.”
“I know but Blue Labrador just sounded stupid!”
“Like The Blue Beetle then?” She smirked.
Before Ted could reply with what was probably going to be an even wittier remark, the neon blue lights of the penthouse turned to a violent red, with the monitor of the Beetle Computer flashing into life. Ignoring the barks of the Blue Beagle, Ted burst forward, eyes reading the information as soon as it appeared on the monitor.
“Looks like there’s a fire down town.” He stated, noting down the address. Pressing a button on the console, a short whiz from the back of the room sounded as the roof hatch of the Bug slid open.
“You realize that the fire brigade could probably handle it?” Tracy asked, slumping down into the chair in front of monitor.
Obviously far from finished, but this is what I have so far...
"Screw the family business. I want to be one of those guys."
Name: Theodore "Ted" Stephen Kord
Alias: Blue Beetle
Origin: Theodore “Ted” Stephen Kord grew up to a wealthy family in Chicago, with his father the CEO of Kord Omniversal Research and Development. He was pressed quite hard through his childhood, with the prospect of him following his father’s footsteps initially being what strove Ted for greatness. Ted excelled at school, both academically and athletically. It would seem that once he put his mind to something, Ted wouldn’t be satisfied until he had mastered it, with an example of this being him taking on gymnastics at an early age. Another thing to note was that he also took an interest in computer science. He spent the majority of one of his summer breaks shut off in his room staring at his computer screen, having giving himself the challenge of hacking into the US Defence Network. It was an easy task but a stupid one. Within the hour Special Forces were upon their house, bursting in during the dead of night, their golden goggles shining like that of an insect’s eyes. After all the interrogations and threats, Ted just didn’t seem afraid of the world anymore.
The threats didn’t hinder the boy however and with his continuous high grades and academic achievements, Ted was soon offered a scholarship to MIT at the age of 15. Here he gained degrees in many fields including Physics, Theoretical mathematics and Robotics. By this point he had gone off the idea of joining his father’s business, believing it to be rather dull and boring. He attempted to get a doctorate in his fields, although that too wasn’t to his liking. Instead he just simply decided to travel the world, with him journeying through Europe and eventually most of Asia. This was when he found it. The Scarab. He had watched it fall down from the sky one night while volunteering in a small village in China. Amazed at the sight of the meteorite, Ted had gone to investigate, finding nothing but a small blue piece of metal at the crash site. Realizing instantly that the beetle shaped thing was alien in nature, he phoned his father at once, taking the next flight home at his request.
Returning to Kord Omniversal, Ted and his father Dan set to work on trying to discover what it actually was that he had discovered. After weeks of work, they seemingly came no closer, until finally the thing actually did something. The scarab device began to emit what appeared to be an infinite source of energy. This got the attention of one of the top scientists working at the company, Ted’s uncle Jarvis. Seeking to use the scarab in order to exploit its energy creation abilities, he was promptly fired by Dan. Angry at Dan due to his apparent ignorance, Jarvis murdered him, with him taking the scarab and fleeing.
Ted mourned for many weeks, completely unaware of what had been the cause of his father’s death. This was until he got wind of his brother Jarvis, who was apparently offering an unlimited supply of renewable energy to the largest bidder. Realizing what he had done, Ted vowed that he would get justice for Jarvis’s actions. After being inspired by a news report of some crazy masked superhero in Gotham City, Ted, who was quickly appointed CEO of the company, paid a visit to Kord Omniversal’s R&D department. Here he fashioned a makeshift costume using a Kevlar bodysuit, with him collecting numerous gadgets and weapons, as well as donning a pair of bright yellow goggled, with Ted being inspired by the government agents who had raided his house all those years ago.
It didn’t take long for Ted to track down his uncle. The man had purchased a luxury beach house down in Miami with what he had earned already, as well as hiring a hefty security force. Ted was ready for them though, using a strobe light gun to blind them before they could attack, with him then using his acrobatic and martial art skills he had learnt over the years to quickly take them down. After tricking Jarvis and secretly recording him confessing how he had murdered Dan, Ted apprehended the villain and took back what was stolen from him. However having the Scarab back didn’t fill the hole in his heart.
Deciding that he would become a man that his father would be proud of, Ted decided to stay in the superhero business, with him manufacturing a proper costume and turning the penthouse if the Kord Omniversal building into his secret base of operations. He donned the name “The Blue Beetle”, taking inspiration from the mysterious alien scarab that had changed his life.
Attributes:
Genius Level Intellect – Ted Kord has a genius level intellect with an IQ of 192. He has degrees in Physics, Theoretical mathematics and Robotics. Kord is also an excellent inventor, having manufactured a large amount of the equipment he now works with.
Acrobatics – Kord was an accomplished acrobat, having been training from a young age.
Espionage – While maybe not as great as the Dark Knight himself, Ted is fairly adept at keeping himself to shadows and remaining hidden.
Martial Arts – During his brief time travelling around the world, Ted has studied with several martial arts masters. While no expert he can out-fight just about your average group of thugs or criminals with his fighting skills alone.
Equipment:
The Blue Beetle costume is made up of a simple Nomex body suit, along with a utility belt and utility pouches on his gloves. The goggles, which are again inspired by the government agents who barged into his house years ago, contain sight-enhancing lenses.
The Blue Beetle’s primary weapon, the BB Gun is able to emit a blinding flash of light or a blast of compressed air capable of knocking down several grown men. The gun is only able to be operated by Ted, with it becoming inactive without contact with the circuitry within his costume's gloves.
Including suction pads, smoke pellets, grappling hooks, etc.
Made out of a metallic alloy of titanium and steel panels, The Bug is the Blue Beetle’s primary source of transportation, a mechanised craft which is able to navigate both the sky and underwater. It is powered used solar energy, with the ship also having a thick reinforced armour and automatic reflector shields for protection. Thanks to the antigravity units, the Bug is extremely quiet during flight and is also able to fly at a top speed of 800mph. The Bug also contains a small portable crime lab which includes a computer, communications centre, television, stereo and a closet with spare uniforms and several changes of civilian clothes.
Essentially a more combat themed version of the previous design, The Bug Mk-V is sleeker and unlike the previous design, actually has weapons. These weapons are in the form of thermal energy blasts, that can be fired from the ship’s robotic claw arms which can also be used to grasp, hold and even throw objects. Unlike the previous design, there is only one seat in the ship’s cockpit, with the Bug MK-IV lacking a crime lab, etc. The Bug MK-V can also fly at a speed of 1200mph.
Stomping Grounds:
The third most populous city in the United States, Chicago has over 2.7 million residents. Near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, the city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation, with O'Hare International Airport being the busiest airport in the world. It is also the home to the headquarters of Kord Omniversal.
The Kord Omniversal building is one of the tallest highrises in Chicago, as well as being one of the City's central hubs of technology, communication and industry. While many of the floors are made up of laboratories, the penthouse is home to the company's CEO Ted Kord, with it acting as his base of operations. The basement holds the more dangerous products of Kord Omniversal’s R&D department.
Ted's penthouse takes up the entire top floor of the Kord Omniversal building, other than a thin strip just above the sign which is home to a small outside pool. Inside the penthouse is split in half. The left side, containing the elevator appears much nicer and more homely, sporting a vast array of expensive furniture, a small cocktail bar and a small doorway leading off to a bedroom. The other side of the penthouse act as Ted's base of operations as the Blue Beetle. There is a small crimelab, training area, a work station, and more importantly Ted's own super-computer. Each far corner of the lair is home to Blue Beetle's ships; The Bugs. The walls, floor, and ceiling of this section of the penthouse are white in colour, lit by bright blue neon lights.
People of Note:
Ted's father, Dan was the CEO of Kord Omniversal before being murdered by his brother Jarvis.
Ted's mother, Maureen moved to live in New York after her husband's murder, retaining regular contact with her son.
Ted's uncle and the former lead scientist at Kord Omniversal. After the discovery, Jarvis went power crazy after the discovery that it seemed to be an energy source. Due to being fired by Dan for trying to exploit it, he murdered and stole the scarab. He was later apprehended by the Blue Beetle and arrested.
Ted's personal assistant, Tracy is fully aware of his identity as the Blue Beetle, often mocking him for it in a sarcastic manner. Despite everything though, she is one Ted's greatest friends (although she won't admit it) and often operates on the Beetle Computer while he is out on the field.
Ted's pet dog. While actually named Mikey, he often calls him Blue Beagle, to Tracy's annoyance.
The current head scientist of the company, having taken over when Jarvis was fired, Jeremiah worked for the company with Thomas Kord and later with Ted. He is a dear friend of the Kord family
Leader of the group of manic thugs named The Madmen, Fleeter was a crook who took on a small job at Georgetown University to steal drugs He was involved in an accident that gave him the power to mentally control anyone he touched. He used this power to create an army of Madmen, having gone slightly insane himself to to the accident.
Run by Farley Fleeter, the Madmen are a group of mentally controlled thugs who don wigs, face paint, and multicolored costumes and started robbing banks. As well as thing, they regularly act as goons for hire. Over the past few years, they are becoming an increasingly pain in the ass for Ted.
Character Goals: I'm hoping to try and bring some more life to regularly forgotten character and remind people that Ted is actually smarter than the Dark Knight himself. As for story goals i plan for Ted to:
Struggle with juggling both running Kord Omniversal and acting as the Blue Beetle,
Maybe eventually join the Justice League, or merely attempt to.
Uncover Checkmate as he did in Countdown to Infinite Crisis although hopefully he'll make it out alive this time.
Sample Post: "Sir, what the hell is that?"
Tracy's voice broke the hum of machinery and the regular bursts of noice from the blow torch Ted had been using. Turning, he gave the smartly dressed woman a smile, before pulling his goggles from his eyes and hoping down from where he had been working.
“That, my dear Tracy is my latest creation!” Ted exclaimed loudly, ignoring the obvious sound of annoyance emitted by her at the ”my dear Tracy” comment. “The Bug MK-5. She’s sleeker and much faster in fact too, as she can…”
“Sir…”
“… go up to twelve hundred miles per hour!”
“Sir.”
“Oh and you should see the circuitry on this baby!”
“Ted.”
“I’ve made it all much simpler! We shouldn’t be having the issue we had before with the smell. Granted that was my fault but now…”
“Ted?!” Tracy had to shout for Ted to hear her over his constant rumbling. Truth be told, this was a regular occurrence and was obviously something that led to Tracy wishing to throttle her boss more and more on a daily basis. Oblivious to this house, Ted just stared at her, a look of pure confused across his face. Huffing in annoyance, Tracy continued.
“I didn’t mean that heap of junk! You think I actually care about most of the shit you make in here?” Ignoring the babbling that followed from the Kord Omniversal CEO, Tracy pointed to the corner of the room. “When the hell did you get a dog?”
Quickly recovering from his assistants hurtful words and making a mental note to send an angry worded letter to her in the future, Ted let his signature smile run across his face once more, laughing slightly as she pointed to the new member of his family. Truth be told he had gotten lonely after having been bed ridden for the past week. This had been after breaking his leg in the field while giving chase to a group named the Madmen across the rooftops of Chicago. It had been quite embarrassing. Tracy had laughed to his face. This had led him to adopting the Labrador that currently lay before them in his basket.
“His name’s Blue Beagle.” Ted stated happily, having finished explaining the story to her.
“He’s a Labrador.” She stated firmly. “Not a beagle.”
“I know but Blue Labrador just sounded stupid!”
“Like The Blue Beetle then?” She smirked.
Before Ted could reply with what was probably going to be an even wittier remark, the neon blue lights of the penthouse turned to a violent red, with the monitor of the Beetle Computer flashing into life. Ignoring the barks of the Blue Beagle, Ted burst forward, eyes reading the information as soon as it appeared on the monitor.
“Looks like there’s a fire down town.” He stated, noting down the address. Pressing a button on the console, a short whiz from the back of the room sounded as the roof hatch of the Bug slid open.
“You realize that the fire brigade could probably handle it?” Tracy asked, slumping down into the chair in front of monitor.
@Natty: Honestly, we can put the character that use wish to play as in it now (or just make that character a newcomer when you throw up an app for that character). I think the best thing to do is not to establish any backstories. That way, if someone would like to play as a certain character, they would be able to freely make their changes.
One of the biggest questions we have to ask is whether leaving Wolverine out because he is a popular character is worth the risk of no one actually picking him up?
Yeah that would be a good idea! :) Making the character a newcomer was something i had in mind but i'll see how it goes!
Not sure about Wolverine! I say if we do put him on the roster, it wouldn't be a permenant role! Would allow a player to have him be all lone wolf if they wished or have him join the avengers, while making it easier to cut ties with the x-men if absolutely necesary
Shit sorry! Honestly I was waiting until someone else posted, since i was one of the last to post (sure it was the collab but y'know!) If no one ends up posting, I'll try and do something tomorrow, which apparently seems to be the case with most of the RPs I'm currently in!
Ok so I'm finally home! What was meant to be a 2 hour long train journey turned into a 3.5 hours. Could get a decent seat either which means i never got a chance to write an essay for school so that's unfortunately my priority for this evening!
First though...
Will you and @Natty want to throw up a solo post each before Cap appears? Or if you have nothing planned (Like saving innocent civillians from a ruined building) I will throw it up after Ded.
Oh, I was going to wait for Natty before posting, but alright, just to wrap stuff up I guess I'll put up something since I'll be a little sketchy on here the next couple days so I won't keep yall waiting
If it's good with you, I may reframe from posting until you have Cap and S.H.I.E.L.D turn up. Mostly due to the reason I said above! I had America save a good few people from the collapsing building in the collab so @Spud if you want to can have Thor rescue a few more and possivly try and talk to America but she'd be kind of sat all guilt ridden, etc. If I have time after you post and @Sep has yet to turn up then I may do something with America!
Also, @Dedonus in regards to the X-men, I may make a secondary character in the future who may possibly be a member or something. However since I don't wish to interfere with anyone's plans, i.e. your use of Iceman, I'll just wait until we've decided on the members of the NPC X-men team and take my pick of the remaining options! As for the team members, I think Giant-sized would be good! I also like the idea of the Academy-X taking place during the time, but maybe we just won't specify the members? idk
Okay, I have a second question for everyone. Since no one has shown any real interest in the X-Men, I was thinking of making them the first "universal NPC" for this game. Basically, as a group, we can determine the background of the group (although I probably would try to keep is a vanilla as possible so that we do not step on the toes of any future applicants).
The main reason why I am bringing this up is that two of my important npc's (Iceman and Firestar) are X-Men (or at least in this continuity). Iceman has always been the youngest member of the X-Men in its original incarnation (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman). One of my upcoming story arcs with Spider-Man (which has been hinted at by my last Spider-Man post) will involve the X-Men.
Therefore, I have two questions I would like for everyone to give me some feedback on.
1) Are you all interested in a Mojo story arc (I know I am beating a dead horse here. Sorry)? Basically, how this would work is as follows:
-Some of characters will be 'stuck' in the Mojoverse, where Mojo is attempting to make our characters his slave-actors for his television empire. Mojo will either try to trick the characters into staying by providing them with one of their greatest wishes (i.e. Uncle Ben is alive and well). If this fails, you'll be kicked to the more, well, dangerous television series.
-The rest of the characters will be attempting to discover why several heroes have dissappeared from the face of the earth. Once they have discovered Mojo has them, it is these characters' job to help break out the captured characters (probably a good role for Miss America and Reid Richards, as both would have knowledge of transdimensional travel).
2) For our version of the X-Men, what roster do you all prefer? Original? Giant-Sized? 90's? Right now, Professor X, Iceman, and Firestar are all confirmed.
Any and all feedback would be appreciated.
Apologies that I never replied before but yeah I like the Mojoverse idea! He could possibly try and persuade America with showing her mums idk!
Was actually possibly going to go with an xman if I made a character but my preference was on iceman! Don't worry though as I know he's an Npc for you so I'll leave him well enough alone!
Currently on a train so I'll reply properly in a few hours.
Also @sep I'm cool with SHIELD apprehending America. Hence why I've yet to post as I thought that they'd arrive as soon as the Hulk cleared out! Well that and my busy schedule but we'll go with that!
Also @Dedonus Also I had a mate who was looking at the thread who was a bit worried about the number of characters in the CS tab (though some of them are obviously no longer active). Is there a way to clean it up?
Personally i don't think that it's too much of an issue! The first post in the CS tab (which may need to be updated :P ) does take into account that some characters are inactive. Also I'm not sure if you actually can remove any of the posts without a moderator?
RPM
Lord Frostecs
Enarr
Eddie Brock
Captain Uni
Memoria
Antlers
Sep
Bugman
