Webspider
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Webspider, a character that @Crashed had been wanting to make and play for quite a while (though his OCD character rotation wouldn't permit it), is a character created for the sole purpose of telling a story. After hitting 50 on Primelight, Coldcrash, Fire Wyrm, High Jinks, and Johnny Turbo all decided to create new villains and make a group to be played solely together. This is the first character the Coldcrash has ever actually attempted to flesh out story-wise from the beginning. Webspider is the leader of the group, in it for personal reasons that the rest of the group is only partially aware of.
Alana and Julius Rockwell were never in a fight. They never had any significant issues with money or a particular crime lord. They never mistreated their son, Kenneth, when he was introduced to the world. The Rockwells were far from dysfunctional, which may in itself be considered abnormal. Kenneth went to school and he was able to have his needs met. He wasn't the most popular kid, but he wasn't entirely looked over by his peers.
Early on in his life, Kenneth Rockwell showed many signs of extreme willpower and determination. At only age 1, he decided that he wanted read. He never gave up, and within a few months of nonstop effort, Kenneth learned to read. This pattern continued with nearly every task that he tried to overcome. Most people saw this as a sign of great success, believing that his work ethic would make him a very respectable person in the business world. Kenneth, however, did not have his mind set on business. Instead, he had a particular taste for the military. He loved the idea of fighting for a purpose - but he was not entirely sure that he willed to support such a system that inefficiently uses its power.
It wasn't until his junior year of high school that he really got to know about the Arachnos recruitment program. Normally, he would just shrug off the idea of living a life of crime, but after a bit of research, he discovered that the Arachnos organization was not all about violence like many believed it to be. He found that Arachnos aspired for a better future - one where people could stop being overshadowed by heroes and create their own destiny with the aid of technology, creating a technocracy of sorts. This inspired Kenneth. He felt drawn to the ideals of the group and, with minor hesitation, enlisted shortly after graduating high school.
I did not take very long for Kenneth to learn that the live of an Arachnos recruit is a very rough one. Almost instantly, waves of new recruits were shipped off to Paragon City as a test with the task of thwarting weaker, less known heroes. Those who survived got the chance of moving up in rank. Those who didn't, well, didn't get a chance of anything. This created an attitude among many of the recruits of apathy towards other - a trait which it seems Arachnos favors. It was a rough life that hardened Kenneth. Eventually, and especially after witnessing people around him die in front of him, Kenneth learned that either he puts himself first or he's not gonna make it.
After waves and waves of assaults, Kenneth finally made an impression. He was swiftly put into the standard Wolf Spider division, making him a legitimate Arachnos soldier. At this point, there was no backing up. He continued to press his boundaries more and more, showing that he can be more than just the average lackey. When rumor spread that they were looking for more talented soldiers to place in the mysterious Crab Spider division, Kenneth became more motivated than ever to show that he was worthy of power. He was working his way up. He could feel it.
The call to be sent to Paragon City's Founders' Falls came at an ordinary time and in an ordinary manner. Kenneth left with a large group of other soldiers and many other different groups of Arachnos. He knew that this task must be important, so he decided that this would be the time when he unleashed his power and showed the important people what he was really capable of. Before ambushing the area, he approached the group's leader and laid out a new plan - to attack the heroes at their source, rather than to have the heroes come to them. It was rather unorthodox in comparison to Arachnos' usual tactics, but Kenneth managed to sell the idea. They arrived in Founders' Falls and headed straight for the place where the heroes were supposed to be.
Due to the rushed nature of the plan and the quick implementation, it was a complete disaster. Many of the trainee soldiers managed to not make it to the location at all. The heroes, familiar with the area, were very quick to overcome Arachnos, who did not have anything but a diagram of the unused plan to go by. Only a fourth of the group made it out, the rest either being killed or imprisoned. Kenneth was one of the latter, sent to the Zig indefinitely. All of his dreams of belonging to something great were shot down as he was left to rot in a jail cell. That was it. Everything was done. There was nothing left for him.
Trapped in the confinements of the Zig, it was only a matter of time before the isolation began to eat at Kenneth. Occasionally, Arachnos would break in and bust out some of the superpowered individuals that Kalinda thinks might prove to be worth it. Kenneth was never broken out. He'd see some of his old fellow recruits run by his cell, maybe toss him a glance... but they all kept moving. Filled with anger, the gears in Kenneth's brain began to spin. He began to formulate all sorts of plans. He got to know the other inmates, keeping notes on which ones could prove to be useful. Day by day, everything would fall even more into place.
Kenneth was going to break himself out.
Kenneth still possesses his original Arachnos uniform. He wears it as his primary outfit for criminal activity. Because he is technically out of the Arachnos system, though, he decided to customize it in order to give himself his own identity. He decided to keep the original Arachnos insignia, however, as a reminder to what he is working for in the Isles.
In the early days of Kenny being released from Arachnos, he functioned with a mace blaster, something commonly seen by Bane Spiders. He used stealth and the element of surprise as his ally in combat, analyzing the opponent for weaknesses and taking advantage of them accordingly.
When the Breakouts fell apart and Kenneth finally made it back to Arachnos, Arachnos brainwashed him and made him completely willing to comply (due to the skepticism created by his wrathful nature against them in the Breakouts). They decided that they would make him no more than a weapon, and fitted him with a Crab Spider backpack, and replaced parts of his body with robotics. The backpack is capable firing off many types of rounds including grenades and lasers, and can slice through opponents in melee. He has also been granted superhuman capabilities (seen in his enhanced leaping and agility), and is moderately stronger than the average human. He is known to use robotic spiders to aid him in battle as well.
Kenneth considers himself to be a monster, and is forced to accept his depressing reality that he will always be scarred by Arachnos - something that he will hold against them for eternity.
When Kenneth was in the Zig, he came across three very peculiar people with very peculiar abilities. First was Hideout, a thief with the ability to turn invisible at will. Then came Bioshift, a classic "shoot first, ask questions later" caricature with the uncanny ability to increase or decrease the size and density of his body. Lastly, he met a man who went by the alias Halfway - one body torn into two separate people, one of which is insane. He saw potential in these three that Arachnos seemed to have passed up in their raid of the prison. He began to get close and direct them into his close circle of trust.
Eventually, Kenneth proposed an idea to break out of the Zig and start their own group of crime in the Rogue Isles. While hesitant at first, eventually they agreed and the plan was set into motion. They busted out of the Zig and made a straight dash to the Isles, where Kenneth took the alias 'Webspider' and took ownership of this newly established group - which Kenneth and the others coined as The Breakouts.
Kenneth plans on making The Breakouts one of the most feared criminal groups in the Isles. He wants to make Arachnos regret ever letting him go. He wants them to beg him on their knees for him to return. He wants to show them what he is truly capable of. And, once that happens, nothing else matters.
Clancy Callahan, known also by the name Hideout, was the first person Kenneth met while imprisoned at the Zig. He has the ability to turn invisible, which, combined with his knack for thievery, makes him quite the formidable criminal. Kenneth knows that Clancy has no other motivation other than scoring the next bank load, which pleases Kenneth in that it means he doesn't ask questions. He's generally very collected and stress doesn't get to him like it does everyone else thanks to his choice in career. Clancy is one of the co-founders of The Breakouts.
Derek Prewitt is a man with the mutant ability to change his body mass, size, and density on a whim's notice. When Kenneth found him in the Zig, he was immediately impressed by his pure brute strength and stamina. Derek, also going by Bioshift, may have a slight superiority complex, but he still minds his ground and cooperates with the group when he's reminded of the rewards he'll be earning, and that's good enough for Kenneth. Derek was a driving force in the Zig breakout, him too co-founding The Breakouts.
Mason Maddox and his alter-ego Halfway are quite the interesting characters. When Kenneth met them in the Zig, he was unaware that they were both actually the same person. Mason Maddox, the victim of an unfortunate incident involving anti-matter, is very laid back and unprofessional, which bothers Kenneth to a degree, but once he becomes Halfway, it is clear why Kenneth had any interest in him at all. He becomes a murderous fiend - and with the promise of being able to cause people harm for Halfway and the promise of escaping a potential life sentence for Mason, it was easy to convince them to join The Breakouts, which Maddox/Halfway also co-founded.
Categories: Character | Villain | Arachnos Soldier | Natural | Male | The Breakouts | Guruverse | Character Stubs
