Adam
Free-Spirited Hero
Name: Seong-Han Adam Lee-Webster
Age: 15
Gender: Male (he/him)
Race: Human (Korean and English descent)
Height: 5’5″
“No one chooses to be a hero. I do what I do because I’m the only one who can.”
The son of a social worker and a paramedic, helping those in need has always been in Adam’s blood. Also in Adam’s blood however, is the power of the God Particle “Kinein”.
Kinein is a relic of the universe housed in Adam’s heart that gives him control over kinetic energy. Growing up, Adam slowly discovered his latent ability to defy the very laws of physics, and utilized it to enhance his speed and durability, and even grant himself the power of flight. Once it dawned on him that he was a real-life superhero, he and his best friend Hector formed the vigilante duo The Challengers, vowing to fight crime and protect the citizens of San Francisco.
Adam was happy with this newfound lifestyle, but something ate away at him: How did this gift manifest in him? And more so, why him? Was it only him? If this kind of power exists on Earth, who’s to say it couldn’t end up in the wrong hands? Adam didn’t know how to find the answers, if there even were any.
As if the universe had heard him, Adam began to unearth evidence of other anomalous entities in the city. It turned out they had always existed if one knew where to look. Adam was ecstatic that he wasn’t alone after all, and he knew what he wanted to do.
Adam had to form a team- expand The Challengers from a vigilante duo to an ensemble force of heroes. All he had to do was track these others down, then convince them to expose their conditions to the world and risk their lives for people they don’t know. How hard could that be?
Hector
Hothead Engineer
Name: Hector MacMillan
Age: 14
Gender: Male (he/him)
Race: Human (Scottish descent)
Height: 5’0″
“It’s not all about the rush, but that is a pretty big part of it.”
As much a brilliant inventor as an impulsive daredevil, Hector is the embodiment of “high intelligence, low wisdom”. He’s always ready to push the envelope, even if the envelope is on fire. Especially if the envelope is on fire.
It was never apparent if Hector’s exceptional intellect was superhuman in nature, but his aptitude for engineering was clear as could be. Whenever he wasn’t out chasing thrills, Hector was tinkering in his workshop- building props, replicas, and DIY of all kinds. His parents being literal rocket scientists inspired him to dabble in machinery and robotics, upgrading his props with functional parts until they could no longer be called props. Before long he had an arsenal of gadgets and gizmos, everything from rocket-powered skateboards to wrist-mounted flamethrowers.
When his best friend Adam discovered his superpowers, Hector knew he couldn’t let him fly solo. Hector painstakingly brought together all the tech he had created in order to build his magnum opus: The Hydraulic Exosuit Apparatus and Transportation, the HEAT Mk I. With it, he and Adam formed the vigilante duo The Challengers, taking to the skies and dealing out justice to “mooks” as Hector liked to call them. Hector knew Adam had ambitions to take their little venture further, but Hector was just along for the ride. As long as he felt that rush, and as long as they were a team, that was good enough for him.
Surge
Supercharged Rogue
Name: Sergio Vasquez
Age: 18
Gender: Male (he/him)
Race: Human (Mexican descent)
Height: 5’10”
“There is no good or evil, there’s only what people want, and what people need.”
Surge will do what’s necessary to stay on his feet, whether it’s by committing petty crimes, or reducing enemies to ash. Guilt is not a luxury he can afford.
Orphaned from a young age, Surge was raised by both his older brother José, and by the streets of the Bay Area themselves. Braving the concrete jungle left Surge with a multitude of skills, from pickpocketing to parkour. That all ended when Surge suddenly found himself emerging from a blackout. His brother was nowhere to be found, and hot plasma now surged from his fingertips.
With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, Surge lives as a transient on his own, looking for answers to what occurred during his missing time, and to the whereabouts of his brother. While not too privy to heroics, Surge nonetheless joined The Challengers in hopes of it being a first step towards uncovering the truth.
Thorn
Timid Half-Alien
Name: Jeremy Thornton
Age: 16
Gender: Male (he/him)
Race: Half draconian, half human (Irish descent)
Height: 6’6″
“People call me a monster, but in my experience, real monsters tend to look a lot more human.”
In recent times, a new urban legend has spread throughout the Bay Area: The Rooftop Lizard, a cryptid whose shining eyes could be spotted gazing from dark rooftops. In reality, behind the teeth and claws is just a shy kid wanting anything but to scare people.
Thorn had always been the quiet one, keeping to himself and doing his best to be unassuming. That became difficult however, when his skin began to turn scaly and horns sprouted from his head. Unbeknownst to him, Thorn’s absent father was a Draconian, a member of a secret society of bipedal dragon-like aliens living on Earth. Thorn’s Draconian DNA had been lying dormant, and he was now undergoing a metamorphosis into his true alien hybrid self. Humiliated at what he was becoming and terrified of what would happen should anyone find out, Thorn saw no choice but to run away from home, eventually finding himself living on his own on the rooftops of San Francisco.
Years later, having completed his transformation, Thorn had resigned to surviving on his own as a scavenger. Any attempt to approach people had just been met with screams, until he met The Challengers. He accepted their invitation to join them, just happy for some form of company. In doing so, he hopes to use his condition for good, and to show the world not just what he is, but who he is.
Jewel
Crystal Enchantress
Name: Julia Volkov
Age: 18
Gender: Female (she/her)
Race: Human (Slavic descent)
Height: 5’6″
“I’ve always lived by two words- Be beautiful.”
They say beauty is only skin-deep, and underneath is where the true facets lie. Jewel does her best to look for those facets in the world and bring them to the surface for all to see, and not always metaphorically.
Jewel’s mother passed when Jewel was young, leaving behind her, her sibling Trace, and her father Nikolai. Among her mother’s remnant belongings was a necklace adorned with a large quartz crystal, a memento that Jewel would never take off. Unbeknownst to Jewel, this crystal held a powerful secret that she would not become aware of until a pivotal moment some years later.
In a bizarre series of events, Jewel’s sibling Trace was subject to an experimental procedure that left their mind stuck in the body of an animal- a gray wolf. While seeking help from Helios Corp in San Francisco, Jewel learned of her father’s plans to hand Trace over to the corporation for them to be dissected and studied. It was then that Jewel’s crystal necklace revealed its true nature: it housed the God Particle “Krystallos”, a relic of the universe that grants the ability to form and control crystalline matter.
Using her newfound powers, Jewel fought her way through the facility, gravely maiming her father in the process, and escaped with Trace. On the run in an unfamiliar city, Jewel joined The Challengers along with Trace, vowing to use her new powers to keep her sibling safe and help any others in need along the way.
Trace
Psychic Wolf
Name: Tracy Volkov
Age: 14
Gender: Non-Binary (they/them)
Race: Gray wolf, formally human (Slavic descent)
Height: 2’9″
“I see all different timelines and possibilities. I just want to make sure this is one of the good ones.”
A bubbly, outgoing empath, Trace has always had the temperament of a puppy dog, since even before they looked the part.
When a congenital heart condition suddenly put Trace in a coma, they were used to test an experimental brain-reading procedure. The unexpected result was Trace’s consciousness becoming untethered, connected to the spacetime of the universe itself and granting them an array of psychic abilities. The cost was their mind ending up in the body of a lab animal- a gray wolf, as well as the loss of all memory of being human. They knew that their family is human, and they remembered past events of their life, but as far as Trace was concerned, they had always been seen through the eyes of a wolf.
Despite the cognitive dissonance brought on by their conflicting memories and views of possible futures, Trace is glad to have a second chance at life, and their new form doesn’t bother them one bit. As long as they could live peacefully with their family, that was okay with them.
Unfortunately, that was something Trace wouldn’t be able to do. Trace’s father suddenly turned on them, seeing them as a failed experiment that only thought they were Trace. While visiting Helios Corp in San Francisco, Trace learned of their father’s plans to hand them over to the corporation for them to be dissected and studied. Trace and their sister Jewel were forced to flee, braving the streets of the unfamiliar city on their own. The two joined The Challengers, hoping it would help them to stay safe from the likes of Helios and their father and perhaps help others do the same.