The Average Hero

[The Regal Rper]

O.W.L
​

o| Alphus T. Durn |o
​

Legal Name: Alphus Bartimuer


Age:| 19 |


Parents: Henry Durn~{Biological Father}(deceased), Tim Drake ~{mentor}


Alignment: Lawful Neutral

​

"Patience is a key component in acquiring the truth."
​

​

Personality


Quick thinking and quick on his feet, Alphus is the sort of person that listens first, acts second. In making decisions Alphus focuses on facts and what he knows. If he doesn't have information, finding it first is what he'll do before making a decision. Whether you like it or not, is your problem not his. Think of it as him just being stubborn in that fashion.


And while not the most loquacious fellow, Alphus isn't one to sit and be silent for extended periods of time as he used to be when growing up. He won't explode or purposefully cause a ruckus but he certainly won't sit there either. Having secrets kept from him most of his life didn't really help with that.


Pushing his meticulous nature aside, not being the type to breach his moral code or waste energy on what may/may not be trivial Alphus is generally a placid person, with a sense of daintiness. He isn't the kind of person easily susceptible to emotional conflict as his training with RR, helped build his composure and temperament to a level that makes it difficult for the most annoying of things to bother him, let alone allow small things like worrying during a situation to affect his judgement when making a move. Despite this, Alphus is more or less a trusting person. He won't doubt you given a first impression or even a second, but he'll be wary and cautious based off what he sees.



History



The Durn Legacy


The Durn lineage can be traced back to Austrian refugees of World War II. Like many other refugees, the Durn family started in displacement camps and slums, but what they benefited from was a skill that would come to pave the way for their family for generations to come: their competence in medicine. As refugees accustomed to a harsh life, the Durn family found incredible success in treating the down trodden of Gotham. At that point in history, crime was primarily run by mafia families and meta-humans were very rare. While one might find it hard to believe that doctors could find success in the poor, the Durn family not only accomplished it but gained incredible respect from the inhabitants of Gotham for it. This respect earned the clinics established by the Durn families a long-standing period safety from most crime; it was considered a taboo to even brandish a pistol near their establishments. This type of respect would not go unnoticed.


Prominent families in Gotham established scholarships to fund the Durns continuing to go through medical school in return for political encouragement. The second generation of Durns were tied directly to political figures while still retaining the establishment of safety and respect. Arguably, it was during this generation and the next that the Durn family had its most fame. Not in any notable way, but by the advanced research papers that prestigious members of the family published. While many members of the family continued on as family practitioners, many others went on to become brilliant and highly-educated researchers for the Federal government. Some even went as far as privatized research depending on the subject matter. This success was shared by the sons and daughters of the original Durns and they were acknowledged as some of the most prestigious Gothamites in the City.


It wasn't until the late 90's, onward that the Durn family took a turn for the worse. For nearly half a century, the Durn family lived on the good faith of the gangsters before them. Their clinics were treated as sacred ground. But, a new generation of criminals didn't hold those same values. The Penguin began consolidating crime families into one syndicate while meta-humans like Poison Ivy and Killer Croc began wreaking havoc. Often, there were more wounded than the clinics could handle. While a vigilante effort was made to fight off these criminals, the turning point was the Joker. There was no salvation from his chaos. There were no limits to his madness. There was no sacred ground. Just death. In the next few years, the Durn family had to restructure as rebuilding their clinics was tearing their family apart.





The family moved to safer parts of Gotham and began focusing on business as well as their medical practice. This era was technically ushered in decades before by one Charles Isaiah Durn in 1979 with the founding of the Gotham Agency of Civic Support, or ACS. With community funding met dollar-for-dollar with the profits from their medical practices, the Durns built housing, invested in Gotham communities and garnished the support of Gothamites. This business was flipped during their time of strife that utilized their good name and the remaining good faith in them to rebuild the destruction caused by criminals and vigilantes alike. Instead of investing in communities, it rebuilt them for a nominal fee while gaining discounted resources based on their name. It wasn't long before this business became more and more prominent and the Durns became significantly wealthier than they ever imagined to be. They were hardly the Humanitarians they once were, but with the loss of dozens of their family members and their entire way of life, they were forced to adjust to new times.





As the years passed Charles worked to further establish his business. Acting as CEO, Charles decided to partner up with family members and close friends to expand his business in not just the support of collateral damage that happened in Gotham, but to other cities as well. It wasn't until well after Charles had passed down the business and the family restructured to support it that this nationwide disaster relief industry exploded into the renown business it is today; and, that all happened around the turn of the millenia. Paperwork after that, however, became increasingly difficult to attain and seemed to be less reporting and more tax-oriented paperwork that always seemed off despite adding up perfectly. It was simply stated over and over that the ACS had been founded for one purpose; help as many as humanely possible. They focus in offering support to bucolic areas suffering from high crime rates to superhuman incidents, be it in paying to support construction of buildings or medical advancement went rival only to a few other industries out in the world. Prior to this were detailed plans, statements and documents directly the business, but as of 2010, those documents vanished - never clear of if they were redacted or simply never there to begin with.


Early Life


Being a Durn comes with many merits. For one thing, money is never a problem. Second, you never really need to worry about medicine when your family has been in the medical industry for nearly a century. Lastly, your inheritance is already set, marked, and fully made - no effort needed. Alphus Timothy Durn was born to a lavish lifestyle most wished for as the eldest son of Henry Vincent Durn and Gertrude Cathy Craine. Born in Central Park, New York and growing up in Gotham, Alphus and his twin sister Rebecca were exposed to the finer sides of life. Despite the fantastic lifestyle and all the attention his family received, fame and fortune wasn't what interested Alphus growing up. It was his family's legacy: the ACS.


Alphus always found it strange that his family made such a sudden switch from working in medicine to becoming business elites. Both twins began digging for answers, but found little that wasn't published in family biographies. They found detailed - and dull - records that led all the way back to World War II and family trees that included distant cousins that married into the Pinkney. Their family were not just the prestigious doctors known in Gotham, but had renown researchers working in Central City, Star City and even for Lex Luthor in Metropolis. Somewhere in the 20th Century the medical chain began to break, so to speak, with Charles. The records claimed it was to continue in helping poverty in Gotham, but that just never made sense to Alphus given the attitude of his family now. Charles was the only one in his immediate family including four siblings to take up business instead of medicine during an era when their medicine was a far safer route than business in Gotham.


Alphus and his sister put massive effort into researching their family as their curiosity grew with them. Their family took it as pride in their accomplishments, but their curiosity was always with the inconsistency that existed in their family. The two looked over and over at their family history, searched public and private records and always came up short around the same general times with the same documents always missing. It was almost distressing. It wasn't until one day when Alphus broke the rules that he ever found anything that gave them a lead. One day on a warm Tuesday afternoon, 15 year old Alphus found himself in his father's study. He realized his father left it open after leaving for a dinner conference and his sister had gone to a tennis match that he didn't frankly feel like going to. Now, of course he was going to leave it be. His father had always told him, never to go into his study without his, mother's or Wilfred's (the head of the butler/maid staff) permission. But... there he was. Of course at first, he thought "this probably isn't a good idea" but then his eyes caught sight of his father's online system on the projection screen of his desk. His natural curiosity got the best of him and he found himself drawn to it soon enough.


Not long into reviewing the files, he found himself scrolling through a list of documents then stopped to pull an old picture of his young grandfather, Andrew Durn, shaking hands with a group of men, along with several other scientists and doctors - many of which were distant cousins. Alphus knew almost none of these people. He had to run back, get his laptop and begin researching what he saw in the pictures before he realized what he was looking at. Those were some of the head administrators of Project CADMUS, a now defunct meta-human cloning program. Those cousins of his had several research papers wrote on the topic of the meta-human gene. And, of all people, that was his grandfather shaking their hand as if it was some momentous occasion. At this point, Alphus was too shocked to delve any deeper. Maybe it wasn't shock. Maybe it was fear. What if he got caught with this information? He wanted to scroll through more files, but he didn't know what was encrypted and what wasn't. He returned the computer to its original state as best he could and took time to process what he had just learned.


A year later, the twins were 16. Family tradition was for every Durn heir to be formally introduced to the business. And introduced they were. That Saturday morning, the twins were immediately brisked away after breakfast to the main establishment in Queens and introduced to every division and every faculty member of their company's large establishment, their father and mother leading them through the entire way. Every minute or so, they'd explain some things in the past that linked to the current present, one particular explanation relating to the question that had nagged at Alphus for years was their slight shift in focus. Henry gave a brief summary of how this came to be. As they had probably learned, change, began with their great grandfather: Mathew Gilligan Durn. At the time, Mathew and his brother Jacob Durn worked together to handle the growing business that was ACS. The two pushed to expand ACS formally into other cities and obviously from the present state of the ACS, it worked. It was during the yearly conference, however, that everything changed. The event was hosted in Bludhaven and Mathew met his brother at the airport. It was on their return trip that a super-human incident resulted in the death of Jacob and paraplegia for Mathew. This would go on to propel Mathew in forming ties with CADMUS; ACS becoming one of the many tools at the disposal of the project.


"Although our company's relation with CADMUS ended after Andrew Durn, my father with his subordinates found trouble with the 'Clone Plague' that ensued with Mr. Lex Luthor, which later followed in CADMUS' disbandment," Henry explained. And while this opened many doors, it also formed many more questions. But try as he might, their parents didn't listen to a single one. The two were caught up in explaining the past of the company, mentioning how they had quit cloning meta-humans after CADMUS was disbanded. Andrew's ideology changed after the nigh-destruction caused by Project CADMUS in the long run. There was a point when Alphus was given something new. His father explained that previous companies that shared the research ACS had access to, namely Alva Industries, failed in their goals and even created great catastrophes such as the Big Bang in Dakota. It seemed the connections CADMUS and ACS had were far greater than ever expected.


Finally at 6 p.m. sharp, it was time for their parents to reveal the most prized project of ACS; a project that had been going on for decades.


After going through a secret passage, descending a spiral staircase, and entering a elevator that led underground the Queens Division, the twins were introduced to at least dozen specialists; each experts in their own fields. This maze continued on; After going through a long corridor, entering a room, having the lights switched on, the twins were asked to watch the specialists who were working dials and bringing to life holographic images.


It took some time, but after the images were clear enough to see, the twins were able to get a good look at what it was their family company had been avidly working on.


Alphus had never heard his sister scream so loud in his entire life. He in turn, never thought seeing such errors in meta-humans could be so abhorrent and make him heave so much. Regardless the two were scarred in more ways than one. Before they even knew what was going on, both were sitting in chairs, being offered bloody juice after their sudden fright. Alphus of course demanded to know what was going on, but it came out more as a shaky shout then one of courage. Henry, clearly not at all bothered, decided to inform them what or whom those prisoners were. While, yes, ACS had long since foregone their ways of cloning meta-humans after past transgressions, they had not given up their philosophy of providing safety for humanity. Thus, their attention shifted into not cloning but making meta-humans. Quantum Vapor, being the stepping stone to their process. After the failure of CADMUS, this type of experimentation was banned. The ACS had to leap through several hoops to make all of this possible.


First, they needed guinea pigs, and privatized prisons were willing to provide. It was a trial-error process, the first few times Quantum Vapor proved to be not as clear in bringing the results they wanted. So they modified it. Figured out what about the gas caused a change be it genetic, biological, or mental and then turned those parts into a serum which they adjusted then modified some more. The 'prisoners', were just that. Prisoners. Most on death-row, some for worse crimes and the government provided them all third-party prisons to do as they pleased. Granted, somewhere along the way simple prisoners didn't cut it, since they were finite. So they began taking people who were soon to die and ACS would offer them solutions to save themselves. The lines in these facilities blurred often. Except when they didn't get the results they wanted. Though much easier now to figure out what form of power the serum would give, there was still a probability that the serum wouldn't give the exact results they wanted. If that was the case, they'd release the prisoner out into the public, cover up their tracks and wait to see what would happen, studying the results as well as providing support for public face. And most of all, make a profit rebuilding the havoc that ensued.


"And of course we understand your concern. But don't worry dear, we're formulating a cure for the after effects that may come in." his mother had explained. Besides that was just a few , they'd been introduced to. Rebecca had long since fainted, so it was up to Alphus to listen to the explanation. After almost half an hour of explaining, they finally got to the real reason they were here: their children would become their new legacy.


You see Andrew's ideology did change after CADMUS was defunct. But it was no longer about defending against the League, it was about permanently eliminating the need for it. Instead of creating clones, he decided that turning soldiers into meta-humans would result in an army that could get the job done and be relied on. And Henry, his son, followed his footsteps. To demonstrate exactly what he meant, Henry lit one of the specialists on fire, right in front of his kid. Pyrokinesis was his ability, but it was limited. He was supposed to have total control of all the elements, not just one. Henry explained that after working tirelessly they believe they finally solved the two problems in their serum; 1. The abilities were genetic, but gene therapy could result in specific mutations 2. the probability of malformations had been made into a negligible and potentially treatable margin. His father asked if he would prefer he or his sister go first. His father asked him one simple question: "What will it be, son?" all his specialists waiting patiently. After an intense and furious debate, Alphus made a simple decision.


Himself.


Now picture the scenario. You are strapped to a sturdy table. Six specialists around you, wearing masks and goggles, checking your vitals. In the distance you can see your father watching the operation, while your sister is still out cold being watched by two guards. That is where Alphus found himself.


Vitals, are a go. Heart rate, a little high, but acceptable range. Brain waves, looking good. The procedure began, injections occur to relax taut muscles. Then after a minute, the serum; XX-2001789-Q12 was injected. At least twelve seconds of indescribable pain passed, then nothing. 7-10 minutes later, Alphus is experiencing the worst form of torture throughout his entire body inside and outside. The screaming? It echoed through the corridors. The tears? Gushing. It went on for a full two minutes before suddenly, it all stopped and Alphus felt ...normal.


It was a success. The ability they had engineered was Molecular Manipulation. Everything seemed to be going perfect... until his body began to evaporate. Now of course, being 16, he was bound to start freaking out, which only hastened the procedure. His father and the doctors tried to get him to calm down informing him that "they can find a cure and try again", if anything this only exacerbated the situation.


Post Alcatraz


The entire procedure occurred only months before Alcatraz. Fact was, the government knew about the the projects the ACS were conducting all along. They had informants. They were watching. Always watching. It was decided that with privatized prisons such as Alcatraz proving such a liability that the ACS needed to be shut down. Henry had no choice and in fact was indicted. Most of the failed experiments were euthanize, although some that were still quite intact were brought back to government facilities. Alphus was one such meta-human and he convinced them to bring his sister. The burden of the family business would soon fall on his shoulders, but luck had it that he was saved.

Tim Drake, acting as Red Robin, lead the investigation that shined light on ACS and he made it his personal duty to find a place for most of the meta-humans that could be rehabilitated. Alphus was an exception. Alphus needed to be groomed to use his abilities and to run a company. At the request of Black Beetle and with the pressure of several legal consultants, Alphus allowed the ACS to be partnered with Wayne Industries. With this, Alphus would be given the time to adapt to his abilities, the huge change in his life and the truth about his family. ACS was regulated by Wayne Industries, making the conglomerate that much more powerful and allowing it to reach into other cities.


Alphus became the apprentice to Red Robin. He was given the chance to see firsthand what the streets were like. He was given the chance to see the slums of Gotham like his family did generations before. He was given the chance to see the difference that the ACS made when it was about the people and not the profit. More over, Alphus learned to control his abilities to make a difference. Tim Drake was his guide to realizing the morals his family company was founded on and how they were bastardized by fear and hate somewhere along the line...


Abilities

• Self-Disintegration: The ability to disintegrate oneself into dust and reassemble oneself after. The ability that caused Alphus the most trouble and slowed his training down the most. Having this ability caused Alphus many problems, as it is took a lot concentration and meditation for him to get over the anger of what his father and by extension grandfather, had left him with. In the passing years however, Alphus has gained better control of it and no longer engages in semi-disintegration anymore unless his emotions flare up to a passionate level.
  

• Motion Manipulation (self only): The ability to control one's acceleration, velocity, displacement, and time. Slowing down one's senses and the alteration of speeds or destination patterns. This ability only works on himself and is only applicable to himself alone. Alphus only uses this ability when he's in a pinch.
  

• Regenerative Healing Factor: The ability to regain lost tissue, limbs, organs, or heal from any physical damage. Some users in certain cases stunt aging, but this does not affect Alphus much if only making him appear slightly younger. While not as powerful as it could have been had the serum been fully successful, due to his disintegration and reformation ability, Alphus can regenerate, but only if the damage is enough for him to do so. His regeneration is not automatic thus it requires him to activate it before it works. This is in no way tied to his disintegration ability but rather tied to the latent abilities he could have possessed but remained dormant due to the serum's adverse effects.
  

• Pain Suppression: The ability to suppress pain from any or all injuries. The main reason, Alphus doesn't wear any protective gear is because of this ability. It allows him to greatly dull his senses to pain whenever he perceives a hit. While not impeccable, Alphus tends to have this ability up almost always, since he's never sure when things could go wrong given the things he's seen in his time on Gotham's streets.
  

• Infinite Resurrection: While his regenerative capability is not as high as it could be, Alphus can't be killed due to his healing factor. If he is "killed" in a manner of speaking, he will revive but in a state of comatose or indolence; lacking energy for a brief period depending on probability alone.
  

• Martial Arts: Krav Maga (basic), Judo Kata, and Karate are the forms of martial practice that Alphus knows. Learning Judo is what helped him learn to control his mental disparity with what he had become and what he was. As Judo is a form of art that focuses on utilizing maximum energy and believes that the mind brings the expression of the body to life Alphus was taught in the different forms of Kata to strengthen his distraught spirit and give him the chance to calm his mind. He is efficient in hand-to-hand combat but usually prefers to keep a distance, adhering in some aspects to the principle of Krav Maga.
  

• Swordsmanship: Efficient and swift strikes are his aim. Tending to be a quick draw and quick striker, Alphus is effectively proficient in wielding a sword or even staff. He tends to fight with only one sword and uses it for general defense and does not often attack unless to incapacitate. However that can change depending on the situation.
  

Weaknesses

• Concentration: To restore his body to a physical state Alphus has to put some level of focus into it. While nowhere near as difficult as it was for him when he was younger, he still needs to put a little concentration once he shifts from his ghost like state back into a physical form.
  

• Intangibility: While Alphus is generally unable to feel anything in his energy-dust like form, he cannot hold objects either as whatever weapons or objects he may hold will transition to a smaller state that he can carry. This goes the same for his weapons as well, they've been modified to shatter and disintegrate with him, in order to make it easy for him to carry. However in this form he is unable to do much harm or damage as the weapons are basically intangible.
  

• Moral Code: Alphus will not attack and will avoid confrontation if he is certain that person A is innocent. It is against his own code to attack anyone he has no real reason to fight unless it is to defend himself.
  

• Altruism: Due to the events that transpired in his life and supplemented with his abilities, Alphus will not hesitate to throw himself in harm's way if he can save a life, a habit that Tim often told him to put behind him.
  

• Penitence: With what he's learnt, with what he's seen and knowing how things have changed, Alphus tends to harbor a lot of pent up aversion towards corrupt businesses, especially if those businesses are tied with his own family in some way. The guilt he's come to accept since his investigations into ACS and most of its obscure links are one of the many things he tends to ponder, especially in how or what way his family's actions could've changed certain lives for a "greater good".
  

• Resurrection: Alphus is not aware he has this ability himself, since he has never had a moment where he "died" or could've been killed due to his cautious nature. So he himself is unsure what will happen when the moment arises.
  

• Molecular Destabilization: While Alphus can't be "killed" by normal means, he could be "killed" in a theory if one were to target him during his ghost like particle form and cause dissonance with his molecules enough to a point where he wouldn't be able to reform. While this wouldn't kill him, it would prevent him from doing anything like causing serious damage, unless he decides to...choke you to death.
  

Weapons


Alphus carries a single katana, two handguns, and a dagger.He doesn't wear armor or any protective gear as he feels no need for that kind of stuff since he can't die.