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DC Original Character: Captain Rory Hughes/Raize
Rory Hughes was a Captain in the USMC. He'd been born into a military family in fact his family had been serving since the Middle Ages, there wasn't one ancestor Rory couldn't trace that hadn't served in one form or another, and this tradition had followed then across the ocean to the Americas during the colonial years. Both his parents served, his father was a Marine, his mother a Navy nurse. He lived on a military base, went to a military school and college, so it was only natural that he enlisted. In fact there was a running joke amongst his civilian and military friends that of they turned Rory inside out, they'd find a stamp that read "Military Issue". Rory rose quickly through the ranks serving several tours of the Middle East, survived the Black Adam massacre (WWIII) and went on to lead a MARSOC team. The Marine Raiders (Formerly MSOR) is the USMC contribution to USSOCOM, and therefore at the fingertips of the United States Government, including their respective agencies. On his last mission, Captain Hughes team was dispatched to Qurac by Checkmate to recover a meteorite which was emanating a radiation signature that wasn't native to Earth, or the Milky Way, in fact it wasn't from this universe. During the mission, his team was ambushed by Qurac natives, including members of the metahuman terrorist group called The Jihad. During the ensuing battle, all but three of the unit were killed, and Rory was incapacitated when an RPG hit the meteorite, spraying shrapnel from the foreign body everywhere, a large chunk of which ended up embedded in Rorys back, the foreign radiation seeping into his body. Captured by the Jihad and taken before the Qurac leader, the three Marines were taken hostage and tortured for information on US military operations, security institutions and capabilities and targets on American soil, with Rory getting special attention from the Qurac science division. Using nanobots supplied to them by Lex Luthor, they began to experiment on Rory, trying to harness the large body of radiation that now flowed through him. These nanobots were the same Luthor had used years earlier during the Crisis when Superman, Batman and Wonder woman disappeared; in order to give the world a better chance at fighting, Luthor devised the "Everyman Project" where he claimed he had cracked the genetic sequencing that gave Metahumans their powers, candidates who signed up, and paid of course, would gain powers completely at random without any say in those they obtained. These nanobots containing traces of Luthors genetic sequencing program, combined with the alien radiation granted Rory immense power, however he still wasn't strong enough to escape, his mind and body still broken from the shrapnel, torture and experimentation. It wasn't until Superman obliterated parts of Quracs military capabilities to stop a string of terrorist attacks on Metropolis that originated from the country, that he was rescued. Taken back to the States by the boyscout, Rory was nursed back to health. Once he was well enough, he discharged himself from hospital and disappeared, resurfacing a year later after tracking down and murdering every last member of the Jihad, the scientists who had experimented on him, and the Qurac Government. It wasn't long before being recruited right back into military service, threatened with desertion, murder charges and breaking the Geneva Conventios, he was manipulated into resuming his service for as long as he was physically able to, with the promise that the murder charges and claims of war crimes would disappear. Leaving the Marines behind, Rory was rolled into the 1st Metahuman Task Force under the United States Special Operations Command, serving with the likes of Captain Atom and David "Lance" Reid, later known as Magog. Rory later went on to join the Metahuman Activities Division, or M.A.D for short, an elite black ops unit which undertook blacker than black missions for the Government, using their Meta abilities to assassinate their targets or completely obliterate small insurgent groups, missions that held complete deniability by the Government. Powers: Energy and radiation absorption and generation, this can be in the form of bolts or beams. Flight. Invulnerability. Super Strength. Increased Density/Hardening: Rorys skin and bones have become denser and harder to the touch, making him bullet and stab proof, the scientists theorise this is to shield his body against the radiation he generates and absorbs. Impenetrable skin: Impenetrable to normal standards, similar to Superman or Captain Marvel/Shazam, if enough force is generated, they can be penetrated or made to bleed. Longevity and sustainability: The energy and radiation Rory absorbs can be used to sustain him meaning he doesn't need to eat or sleep for long periods of time, as long as he has a source to drain. It also slows his aging. Accelerated healing: Rory can use the energy he absorbs to heal faster. (Similar to Superman and solar radiation) Weaknesses: Rory is still only human, however super. Like similar characters, he can be beaten by a foe superior strength and speed. (I.e. Superman and Doomsday or Darkseid) Rory is also vulnerable to the source of radiation that gave him his powers. A second team was sent to retrieve whatever they could from the impact site. Although they only recovered several small fragments, it has been shown that Rory can be harmed by weapons formed from the shards, and weakens upon contact. As such, the government has crafted a knife and several bullets from the small amount they were able to recover as a contingency, it also wouldn't be a stretch to suggest Batman also had a shard in his possession.
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