D E A D L I F T
Name: Kevin McCarthy
Nickname: Deadlift
Date of Birth: April 1st, 2004
Age: 18
Physical Description:
Kevin is a twig of a young man, standing 5'6" and weighing a mere 130lbs. Crowned with pale golden strands, his face is gaunt, with sharp cheekbones shadowing sunken cheeks barely hidden by a thin scruff of a beard. He wears a sad smile, and rarely laughs.
When activating his power, his muscles expand exponentially, and he takes on the form of a long practiced power lifter. He gains weight in proportion, reaching nearly 300lbs. His face fills out similarly, but with the health comes a gloom deeper than his usual weary happiness, and he never smiles.
Glow color: Silver #C0C0C0
Category: Muscle
Power: Investment
Power Description: Investment is a fickle beast of a power. When not in direct use, it affects Kevin negatively, draining him of physical strength and health to the point of frailty and perpetual sickness. His bones are brittle, his joints are easily compromised, and his immune system only barely functions.
But that strength and health is not lost. Instead, it becomes potential energy, gathered to be tapped later. And when he does, all the missing strength that has been denied him comes rushing in, building muscle and bone mass, giving him a supernatural strength. The longer between uses, the more potential power he wields. Currently, his record is lifting a fully loaded coal train car weighing 143 tons after a "rest" of a week, having tapped every last bit of his strength for the deed, but the potential for a single act of strength is as yet unknown. His Health Investment works similarly, and he most often uses it to repair his body after it has taken a beating while tapping his strength.
Yet Investment is not without its flaws. Most obviously, with his increased mass, Kevin becomes unwieldy and slow, with speed dropping as mass increases. The amount of strength he may have invested is also difficult to estimate, and while he has through his five years of tutelage under Macintosh come to be able to estimate his Investment remaining to him in both strength and health, he commonly overestimates it. There's also a delicate game of balance in play, as his Gains form can more easily withstand hurt than his Gaunt form, and if he reverts to Gaunt before healing a decent wound, it could be fatal.
Personality: Kevin is a protector at heart. Kind and gentle, he tends to shy away from violence if at all possible, unless he can be convinced that any violence he may undertake is preventing worse violence.
Socially, Kevin doesn't really socialize much, preferring instead to be a watcher. He's quiet but pleasant when conversed with, fairly happy just to sit with whomever and listen. Though self righteousness is a point of contention, being one of the few things he finds difficult to not address.
Brief Pre-History: 2014. Anchorage, Alaska. The car had overturned on the icy highway, trapping the McCarthys in a frozen fate. Rhonda McCarthy was locked within, pinned by the compressed A and B pillars. Blood dripped from her mouth, running into her eyes. From behind her came the shrieks of panic, 18 month old Katherine secured in her seat but terrified by the jolt, the noise, and the unfamiliar position upside down. Rhonda's mind swam. What had happened? What was happening now? Was she hurt? Was Katherine? Was Kev-?
Kevin!
Katherine had been the only one of her kids to react. Where was her son? She called his name, screaming in blood smeared horror as she imagined the worst case scenario. Straining, Rhonda writhed in her seat, trying desperately to see behind her. Katherine, the poor girl, was beet red and thrashing herself about, but otherwise appeared unhurt. But the right seat was empty.
Empty. The seatbelt was retracted, and the window was shattered. And Kevin was missing. Rhonda began screaming again, pleading with him to answer, wailing at God that her son would be safe.
Suddenly, the car groaned, then shifted.
Then rotated. The shriek of metal filled the air as the fractured axles took the weight of the vehicle, and as the center of gravity shifted, it tipped, finally falling onto its wheels. Rhonda was thrown against the side of the interior, smashing her head against the pillar. She gasped, gathering her senses before looking around. The fog of the bloodrush slowly began to clear, and just outside the car, she saw him. Kevin. Sickly, drawn, frail, decrepit Kevin, who was always in the hospital with some ailment or other. Who had never known a day in his life in health. Who now stood upright, a towering specimen of his mere decade, rippling with muscles no ten year old should have, with a deep gouge in his chest knitting itself back together before her eyes. His eyes shown brilliantly, the silver light nearly impossible to look directly at.
So it was that Macintosh heard about Kevin, nicknamed Deadlift for his first feat of supernatural power. At only 13, he offered a deal to the boy: come away with Macintosh to learn his power, and his mother and sister would be well taken care of. Kevin, knowing full well that his mother still struggled with paying the extensive medical bills from the crash, on top of single motherhood, agreed, reasoning that he was doing the best for her, and the next night he ran away. Under Macintosh's supervision, he became proficient with his power, convinced by the man that their cause was worthy. That they were saving other metas from worse fates. That they were- heroes. The truth was soon revealed, however, and after his initiation, Kevin tried to take the positive outlook on their situation, trying to be the best help to his crew that he could be. He feel into a bout of deep depression when Genevieve, though he has improved in later months, finding new purpose. To keep his teammates safe as he could. Time will tell if he can.