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From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

"Wait... if I'm up here posing, who's protecting the city? It's not like this is a 'City of Heroes' or anything like that..."
Red Komodo
Player:
Origin:	Science
Archetype:	Scrapper
Security Level:	50
Personal Data
Real Name:	Mark Samuels
Known Aliases:	Mark, Red, Komodo, Koma (Gunner of Paragon only)
Species:	Human
Age:	22
Height:	about 6 foot
Weight:	170 lbs.
Eye Color:	green
Hair Color:	brown when human, none when lizard
Biographical Data
Nationality:	USA
Occupation:	Biologist at S.E.R.A.P.H.
Place of Birth:	Los Angeles, CA
Base of Operations:	Confidential
Marital Status:	Single
Known Relatives:	Confidential
Known Powers
Claws, Regeneration, Super Speed, Leaping, Concealment
Known Abilities
Super senses and extreame intelligence
Equipment
Biofilm (own invention)
No additional information available.

The Red Komodo is first and foremost a lizard hero, NOT a dragon. Komodo is based on Spider-man and one of his enemies, the Lizard, with some personality traits of myself thrown in. He is an avid member of the Battalion Initiative. Gunner of Paragon is his official sidekick, but is also a hero in his own right.

[edit] History

[edit] Pre-Paragon

Mark Samuels was born in Los Angeles, CA with a rare genetic condition that weakened his muscles and bones. He was never as fast or strong as the other kids, and was very quiet and shy, and as such, didn't have many friends. What he did have, however, was a sharp wit and amazing intellect. Mark was a straight A student and got a scholarship to UCLA, where he majored in biology, chemistry, and genetic engineering. He was very interested in animals, and even more interested in superheroes.

While at UCLA, Mark studied the works of many diffrent biologists. While he was interested by many people, the one that interested him the most was written by Vincent Jaeger. It described a synthetic organism that gave hosts extreamely fast regeneration, at the cost of lost of sanity. Hacking Jaeger's old Crey files, he attempted to fixed the flawed work, by using DNA from several lizards, including crocodiles, geckos, chameleons, komodo dragons, and even (with some difficulty) velociraptors in order to try to counter the side effects, since the organism was based off of lizard cells. The night he finished the serum, Mark decided to test it on himself first. He thought of the side effects that could result from the serum, and thought of whether to take it or not. But he decided to do it anyway, and drank the serum.

All that night, he seized and writhed on the floor with incredible pain. In the morning, Mark awoke to realize that his serum worked just the way he planned... with an interesting side effect. He found that he was now able to transform from lizard to human form at will. His genetic condition was cured (or supressed), and his senses were enhanced to superhuman heights, especially his sense of smell. From that day on, he was the Red Komodo. After about a year of being a hero in L.A., he found files indicating advanced genetic changes in members of the Lost, Devouring Earth, and the Rikti. Not questioning where the files came from, he decided to go to Paragon City to investigate this further.

[edit] Paragon City

The night after Mark got a place to live in Founder's Falls, where all the groups he seeked seemed to converge, he went out with some neighbors to a nearby bar get a drink. After having his first shot, however, he heard a low growling noise, and passed out. When he woke up, the patrons of the bar were cowering agaist a wall, and a hero was holding Mark in a headlock. Through police and personal interrigation, he found out that after consuming the alcohol, he transformed and went into a bloodthirsty rampage through the bar. Luckily, the hero, whose name was asked to be withheld from this bio, used his super speed and strength, as well as his invulnerability to easily subdue Mark before he seriously injured anyone. From that day on, Mark vowed to never drink again, and learn to avoid things that would lower his inhibitions.

After paying a pretty big fine, Mark build an underground lab beneath his home, where he still conducts experiments, including perfecting his serum and creating a biofilm for his lizard form so that he could contain body heat in cold weather. Ater getting his hero career off the ground, getting a high-ranking biologist job at S.E.R.A.P.H., and even defeating the mad Dr. Vahzilok, he met Gunner of Paragon, who Mark eventually befriended and made his official sidekick.

[edit] H.E.R.O.E.S. and the Battalion Initiative

One day, while Red Komodo and Gunner of Paragon were dealing with the Family, they were approached by Arbiter Death, who wanted them to join his supergroup, The Villians of Paragon. They were almost convinced to join, but luckily, members of the supergroup H.E.R.O.E.S. intercepted the meeting. After a long talking session, Komodo and Gunner decided to join H.E.R.O.E.S. However, the group went down the toilet, and so he, Hero, and a third guy (who shall remain nameless for now) created the Battalion Initiative, a group that seems to be going towards a tech theme...

[edit] Gunner's Betrayal

After a few months in H.E.R.O.E.S., Gunner and Komodo invaded the Villians of Paragon's base. But during the visit, Gunner turned on Komodo. For months, Gunner worked with the Villians, until Gunner finally saw the error of his ways, and became a hero once more. Komodo still keeps an eye on him, however, just in case...

[edit] Personality

The Red Komodo's personality is probably the most memorable thing about him. He is suprisingly goofy and cocky most of the time. He is known to make cheesy and (what he thinks are) harmless cracks at people, especially during a fight agaist someone who may not have the same sense of humor. Mark also has a extremely strange sense of humor, and sometimes says things that may be considered as insane by others. But when he is researching something or focusing on an objective, he gets very studious and/or quiet. If he gets into a bloodlust because of either a lowered inhibition or a hard hit on the head, however, he goes into a beastial nature that is dangerous to friend and foe alike...

[edit] Powers

Note: When in bloodlust mode, all of these abilities are TRIPLED in power

[edit] Claws

The Red Komodo's retractable claws are one of his strongest weapons. The claws are used to weaken most of his enemies, through blood loss, to a state that the PPD can manage on their own. He doesn't have the same physical strength as most heroes, but has slightly above average for a normal human being. With his extreme speed however, the power of his claws is enhanced, to the point of slicing through steel. Usually, he only applies this speed at the instant he hits. He rarely is lethal with his claws, but when in a bloodlust, anything can happen...

[edit] Regeneration

The main reason he made the serum in the first place, the Red Komodo has an amazingly fast regeneration rate. He is essentially bulletproof, in the sense that he heals from a bullet wound almost instantly. He rarely goes down in a fair fight, because barely anyone can keep up with the rate at which he heals.

[edit] Other Powers

[edit] Super Speed

The Red Komodo's most notable ability is his speed. He has the speed of all the lizards he has used in his serum combined and scaled to his size. Mark has mastered control of his speed, to the point that he can extremely enhance the speed of specific body parts, mostly his arms for his attacks, or to dodge attacks. He has been reported to run at over 85 mph most of the time, with a top speed of 275 mph.

[edit] Super Leaping

Red Komodo also has enhanced leg strength, to the point of being able to jump up to about 125 feet in the air. He uses this to his advantage on the battlefield to jump over and around enemies.

[edit] Concealment

Because of the chameleon DNA in him, the Red Komodo is able to blend into the background. He can't become completely invisible, but most enemies he face can't tell that he's there anyways...

[edit] Super Senses

Though not an official power, the Red Komodo has superior senses, especially smell. He can detect the faintest scents, and most of the time, his nose is more reliable than his eyes, allowing him to track anyone and anything for miles. He can usually 'see' invisible enemies, but the amount of adrenaline in a fight can confuse him to the point that he won't be able to 'see' the invisible person.

[edit] Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities

The Red Komodo's weaknesses, while few, are notable. The first is, obviously, anything that can lower his inhibitions, like alcohol and a hard blow on the head. This will unleash the primal instincts of the lizard DNA in him, making him to go into a berzerker state where he is unable to tell the difference between friend and foe. However, Komodo is much stronger in this state, regenerates faster, and seems to be immune to pain. This state is a weakness only because he will also go into a state of hunger and bloodlust, attacking anything near him. To get him out of the state, he has to either calm down, be defeated, or hit on the head... hard. His not so obvious weakness is that he is cold-blooded. While Mark has created a bio-film to protect himself from the winter cold, it can't stand up to extreme cold (due to security reasons, the exact tempature it fails is confidential). Once it cracks, Komodo will slow down in relation to how cold it is. The lower the tempature, the slower he moves, attacks and heals.

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Allies

• Gunner of Paragon - At first a nuscience, Gunner has become one of Mark's closest, but not most reliable allies. While Gunner is now a villian, he had helped Komodo escape from Death enough times to still be considered an ally.
• Gorthid Thortesp - A Spartan King, Gorthid has become a close ally, and has fought alongside Komodo in many situations.
• Hero at Large - The leader of the Battalion Initiative, Hero has helped Komodo, who used to be a lone wolf, adapt to being in a group.
• Axel Braveheart - A person from an alternate universe, these two have been working on something... but it's classified.
• Gelle - A woman that Komodo knows from her time in G.R.A.N.D.U.R.E. He can't put his finger on it, but something about her seems very familiar...

[edit] Enemies

• Arbiter Death - The leader of the Villians of Paragon, Red Komodo is still angry at Death for trying to trick and/or kill him, but maintains a light attitude about it, usually by making fun of him.
• Vincent Jaeger - The Villians' head scientist and the original maker of the organism Komodo based his work off of. He wants Komodo to be his assistant, but Komodo disapproves of Jaeger's extreme methods of scientific study. The fact that he's working for Death doesn't really help Jaeger's case. Recently, however, Komodo has been spotted talking to Jaeger on mre friendly terms. It is rumored that they may even be related...
• Dimension Raider - Dimension Raider has been foiled in many bank heists in Paragon by Red Komodo, and Komodo was even the one who sent him to the Zig. Raider was also hired by Death to assassinate Gunner and Komodo, but Komodo 'paid him off'.

[edit] Outfits

• Lizard Form - His usual heroing form, this is where most of his powers are active
• Casual/Work Clothing - What he wears at work and when he's relaxing
• Tuxedo - What he wears at formal events and such
• Power Suit - A suit funded by Vanguard that Komodo uses in case his powers ever get disabled, temporarly or permenatly. It hasn't had any combat experiance yet, but you never know...

[edit] Trivia

• Komodo not only (sort of) knows he's in a video game, he owns a copy of City of Heroes. In fact, he created a hero on it named Red Komodo, who has a copy of CoH and plays as Red Komodo, who has a copy of CoH...
• Red Komodo once called Statesman a 'goverment ass-kisser'. Because of that, Komodo spent a week in a coma, and two more weeks in the hospital.
• Once had a famous race with Synapse, Flash, and Sonic the Hedgehog... and then got beaten up afterwards when he insulted them. I'll write that story later...
• Gets sued by real-world comic and video game companies... a lot. He still holds a grudge against Stan Lee.
• Once got 3 supermodels numbers, but it was during an Ouroboros mission... you can probably guess where I'm going with this...