Index

MUTANT NAME: Index
BIRTH NAME: Shannon Hartley
IDENTITY: Public
CONCEPT: Information Manipulator
POWER LEVEL: PL8
AGE: 22

APPEARANCE

Index rarely gives more than a passing thought to his appearance, and possesses an extreme distaste for using his powers to "pass" as a human. His true form resembles a humanoid pattern of monochromatic light, with the "head" area appearing as a crackling burst of radiant psionic energy. Index also wears an armored jumpsuit constructed from AIM-derived research leaked to the Internet, modeled after the Xavier Institute uniform in a satirical tweak of the school's ideals.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/skandha/xorn-revealeda.jpg

BACKGROUND

Unlike most mutants, Shannon Hartley's powers did not develop until his early adulthood, halfway through his third year at Embry-Riddle University. During an intense cram session, Shannon complained of a splitting headache--and then passed out. He regained awareness a week later in the infirmary of the Xavier Institute, where Henry McCoy and Emma Frost informed him that his X-gene had activated--though not without some complications. Shannon's body had been consumed in a flare of psionic energy, and now existed as "an endoskeleton of psionic force suffused with psychometric plasma." In fact, Doctor McCoy had been required to isolate Shannon's energy form within a containment unit until he gained enough control over his powers to stabilize himself. For his part, Shannon was overjoyed at the revelation that he was X-gene positive. Not even the discovery that his physical body had been utterly destroyed--forcing him to interact with others only through direct mind-to-mind communication or psionic projections--could dampen his enthusiasm.

After his release from the infirmary, he was enrolled in Ms. Frost's telepathy training class, where it was eventually discovered that his powers went far beyond telepathy. Freed from the constraints of a physical body, Shannon (now calling himself Index) found that his mind had been greatly enhanced, granting him superhuman reasoning and computational abilities. A set of new senses had developed as well, allowing Index to perceive and emit frequencies well into the radio end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Finally, Index could control and communicate with machines, generate sophisticated illusions from ambient psionic energy, alter memories, and disintegrate an object by "subtracting the information content from its psychometric pattern" (which is how he "eats" and "breathes"). In his time at the Institute, Index idolized Xorn--even going so far as to model his own appearance after his hero--and was profoundly disillusioned when Xorn revealed himself to be yet another maniac bent on world domination. The assault by "Danger" was the final straw and Index left the school to venture out on his own, convinced that the world's remaining mutants were too vulnerable while confined to one location. He also felt that once trained to use their powers safely, the students had a responsibility to leave the school and get to work on forging the world into a paradise for mutants, while covertly neutralizing any threats--whether human, mutant, or other--to that glorious future. With that purpose in mind, Index remade himself into a kind of information broker, using his special abilities to break into restricted databases and then selling the information within to interested parties. After singling out such targets as Advanced Idea Mechanics, HYDRA and the U-Men as major threats to world order (and by extension, the mutant population) and frustrating a significant fraction of their designs, Index made a series of implacable foes, with his personal safety guaranteed only by his skillful misdirection and concealment of his electronic intrusions. But somewhere he made a mistake, and the narrow evasion of a subsequent attempt on his life in Seattle forced him to relocate to Cocoa Beach, Florida. Unwilling to request assistance from the X-Men and convinced that working alone might not be beneficial in the long-term, in a sudden flash of insight Index decided to resolve both dilemmas at a stroke by volunteering for SHIELD duty. While SHIELD has kept him strictly out of the public eye and assigned to gathering domestic intelligence, Index has heard that reassignment to the Florida-based Initiative team is imminent....

ABILITIES

STR 10 [+0], DEX 12 [+1], CON 12 [+1], INT 22 [+6], WIS 20 [+5], CHA 12 [+1]

SKILLS

Bluff +10 [9 ranks]
Computers +12 [6 ranks]
Disable Device +12 [6 ranks]
Gather Information +10 [9 ranks]
Investigate +12 [6 ranks]
Knowledge (Superhuman Criminals) +10 [4 ranks]
Knowledge (Technology) +8 [2 ranks]
Notice +12 [7 ranks]
Search +10 [4 ranks]
Sense Motive +12 [7 ranks]

FEATS

Dodge Focus x2, Eidetic Memory, Equipment x2; Improved Initiative, Jack-Of-All-Trades, Set-Up, Skill Mastery (Bluff, Gather Information, Investigate, Sense Motive), Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge (radar), Well-Informed

EQUIPMENT

"Xavier Institute Jumpsuit" [Toughness +3; Masterwork PDA; Microscopic Vision x2, Infravision, Tracking x2; Cost 10ep]

POWERS

"Perimeter Sense" [Cost 8pp]
-- Super-Senses 8 [Accurate (radar); Ranged (radar); Extended x2 (radar, range increment 1000 ft); Radius (radar); Awareness (mental); Radio]
-- Source: Mutation
"Enhanced Mentation" [Cost 2pp]
-- Quickness 4 [Flaw: Limited (mental tasks only, 25x normal); Cost 1pp/2 ranks]
-- Source: Mutation
"Psychoplasmic Endoskeleton" [Cost 8pp]
-- Protection 8 [Cost 1pp/rank]
-- Source: Mutation
"Information Manipulation" [Cost 24pp + 6 AP + 5 PF]
-- Base Power (Dynamic): Telepathy 8 [Extra: Area (range 2000 miles); Power Feat: Selective; Power Feat: Sensory Link; Cost 3pp/rank]
-- Alternate Power (Dynamic): Comprehend 5* [speak/understand/read all languages; speak/understand machines; Cost 2pp/rank]
-- Alternate Power (Dynamic): Datalink 8* [range 2000 miles; Power Feat: Machine Control; Cost 1pp/rank]
-- Alternate Power (Dynamic): Illusion 8* [all senses; Extra: Sustained; Flaw: Distracting; Power Feat: Progression x2 (radius 25 ft); Power Feat: Selective; Cost 4pp/rank]
-- Alternate Power: ESP 5* [radar sense, mental awareness; range 5 miles; Extra: Free Action; Cost 3pp/rank]
-- Alternate Power: Mind Control 8* [Extra: Sensory Link; Flaw: Distracting; Power Feat: Mental Link; Cost 2pp/rank]
-- Alternate Power: Disintegration 8* [Extra: Penetrating; Flaw: Full Action; Flaw: Distracting; Flaw: Touch Range; Cost 2pp/rank]
-- Source: Mutation

• max rank when used individually, not as part of a Dynamic Array
  

COMBAT

Base Attack +1; Base Defense +3; Dodge Bonus +2; Damage +0 (unarmed)/+8 (Disintegration); Defense +15/+13 (flat-footed); Initiative +5

SAVING THROWS

Toughness +3/+6 (with Jumpsuit)/+11 (with Protection), Fortitude +3, Reflex +2, Will +7

DRAWBACKS

Mute ("speaks" telepathically and holographically; uncommon, minor, 1pp)
Mutant Supremacist (believes that mutants are inherently superior to baseline humans, uncommon, moderate, 2pp)

Totals

Abilities 32 + Skills 15 + Feats 12 + Powers 53 + Combat 8 + Saves 3 - Drawbacks 3 = 120