Thrillseekers

Author notes

LongArm

Crash Platypus

on Nov. 11, 2011

LongArm
David Dwayne Sadler
20
In parallel universe 99101-M, (That is to say, a comic strip called 'PowerTrip'), David Sadler is known as "Station".
A teleporting teenage DJ from Chicago, living in Seaport City.
In this reality, (99101-X), he is known far and wide as "LongArm", a teleporting superhero.
David Sadler moved out of his parents' Chicago home at age 15 as an emancipated minor.
There was no strife or conflict behind this decision, he just felt that he was good enough and smart enough to be
out on his own. His parents, James and Darlene Sadler, who were kind of hippie throwbacks with 'progressive' parenting
ideas
agreed. They didn't want to stunt his creativity or individuality.
Papers were signed, and David was on his own. He got by financially
renting himself out as a DJ for everything
from birthday parties to
house parties, and did a little streetcorner breakdancing every now and
again to make weekend lunch money.
He stayed in school, and managed to score a room in a converted loft apartment with a buddy from high school.
Determined
to make something of himself and not be a typical slacker, got into the
city's Gaining Ground educational program, and
got a few college
classes early in his junior year. He worked two regular jobs, one at a
grocery store, and one at a clothing store in the mall.
How could such a young lad get all this done? Simple. David has had the ability to teleport since he was 9 years old.
It
turns out that his hippie parents had attended the Earth Aid concert in
July of 1985. At said concert, rogue biogeneticist and anarchist,
Dr.
Theodore Vargas III had infiltrated the venue. He and his minions, in
retribution for government officials dismissing his idea to breed
superpowered
soldiers as 'cracked' and unreliable, had decided to alter the genetic
codes of scores of common people, giving them superpowers
and having
the government types deal with the chaos. He envisioned a superpowered
uprising (choosing the very liberal and activism-prone patrons at the
charity concert as his guinea pigs)
that would lead to a war against the military on American soil.
They introduced the serum into their victims via the concert's refreshments. Vargas' formula, however, was somewhat flawed.
Instead
of all the infected gaining superpowers at once, only about 1/16th of
the crowd seemed to manifest any metahuman mutation. Even then, it
happened about a month or so later, and
the ones that did, seemed to
transform into mindless monsters and die shortly thereafter of such
things as heart attack, stroke and/or general organ failure.
Vargas was hunted down and captured, but his work lived on.
The majority of the infected had their genetic structure altered but manifested no abilities. Their children however…
The
offspring of those who survived Vargas's formula would be an entire
generation of metahuman youth, powered by what scientists would later
discover was an entire third DNA strand in
their genetic structure. They would clandestinely be lablelled "triploids".
The
government never released this knowledge to the public for fear that it
would start a widespread panic. Only 2 organizations even know of
triploid's origins and existence.
David Sadler is one such
triploid. His parents were both at the Earth Aid concert. It's where
they met. They both had the refreshments.
James Sadler was unaffected
by the formula for the rest of his life, though, his wife, Darlene, did
seem to manifest a miniscule degree of tactile empathy. She never
considered it a 'superpower'. She
simply considered herself a very
sensitive and intuitive person. David, however, manifested the ability
to teleport anywhere within line-of-sight, as well as to anyplace he'd
ever been before.
He can teleport other people, or, inorganic objects
of a certain size. When holding on to a passenger, he can also teleport
to anywhere they have ever been as well. He found that he could also
"charge"
small, light objects with whatever bizarre energy allowed
him to teleport and when it touched something or someone else, they
'whooshed' away.
David was overjoyed with his ability as a teen, as
it rendered the need for a vehicle unimportant. The money he saved on
transportation went to his wardrobe.
Over time, David found that he
was good at many things. Maybe too good. He was a talented DJ and
musician. He'd been promoted to assistant manager and manager,
respectively, at both his part-time
jobs. He was very popular with
both the ladies and the gents, and his grades were impeccable. He soon
came to the conclusion that he possessed an eidetic memory.
Life was great. Life was easy. Life was boring.
There
were no real challenges or thrills for the young man who would buy bus,
train or plain tickets and spend his free time travelling to new areas
just to touch ground and add new locations to his powers.
Then came
the day when, visiting Liberty City, Indiana, he witnessed The
ThrillSeekers battling The Scions of Soleil, a cadre of villainous
pyrokines who had decided to recreate the Great Chicago fire of 1871,
but
decided to "practice" on Liberty City, the former home of members
Bonfire and Sunstroke during their traumatic, broken childhood.
The ThrillSeekers: UberWoman, Gazelle, BattleCry, WillPower and Presto
were barely holding their own with some help from The Silver Bullet,
superspeed hero of David's own hometown, Chicago, and father of Gazelle.
The Scions of Soleil were just too numerous (13 members altogether with many varying pyrokinetic abilities).
David,
from his vantage point on a nearby rooftop saw the entire drama unfold.
He was a good strategist, and decided to give the local heroes some
help.
Teleporting his way through a nearby shopping center, David
"borrowed" items from clothing stores, hardware outlets and sporting
goods shops to create a makeshift costume and some weaponry.
Springing into action, he surprised one or two of the Scions, and was able to ambush them, knocking them unconscious.
Presto
and UberWoman were the first to notice him. Jumping in and out of
nowhere, tagging the fiery villains with charged baseballs, teleporting
into their own teammates' line of fire. Landing surprise haymakers
on
unsuspecting villains, and zipping into clusters of them with fire
extinguishers, and sipping out again with the nozzles, causing a
fire-dampening explosion of foam, rendering a few of them temporarily
blind and powerless.
When the Scions of Soleil were defeated (though a couple of them escaped), UberWoman invited the teleporter to join the team.
Perhaps
this was the jolt David's life needed. He accepted the offer, but said
he wasn't ready to start just yet. He would meet with the team in 3 days
once he was 'prepared'.
David disappeared. In the 3 days, he was
away from his new partners in crimefighting, he spent most of his
savings buying hunting bows, arrows, climbing ropes, golfballs, and any
other small items he figured that he may be able to turn into weapons.
He
popped between Indianapolis, Chicago and Ann Arbor, having a costume
specially made in pieces, and, although he knew some basic karate and
parcour, he figured that he could spend his free time learning more
martial arts on the fly. He stored his gear in
the roomy basement of
his parents' home, each item tagged with a number and location of it's
placcement in the room, so that, when necessary, David can use his
powers to teleport them into his waiting hands.
3 days later, the
ThrillSeekers were introduced to "LongArm", the teleporting archer. From
then, David has been a true ThrillSeeker.