Tommy Shepherd

PHASE 2

Tommy Shepherd
Portrayed by Ruaridh Mollica
Codename:	Speed
Affiliations:	Generation X
Birthdate:	December 21, 2008
Journal:	xp_speed
Player:	Roy

Quote

Certified teenage dirtbag, Tommy has spent the better part of the last few years in lockup and is ready for a new start.

Details

Character Journal: xp_speed

Real Name: Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd

Codename: Speed

Aliases: N/A

First Appearance: (link to DW (x_logs) with date as link text)

Date of Birth: December 21, 2008

Place of Birth: Springfield, New Jersey

Citizenship: American

Relatives: Frank Shepherd (father - divorced), Maria Cohen (mother - divorced)

Education: Partial High School diploma

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Unemployed

Team Affiliation: Generation X

Biography

Childhood

Born to an Irish American father and French mother, Thomas “Tommy” Shepherd was a welcome addition into his parents' world. They had a loving relationship and wanted to start a family, but the first surprise came at Tommy’s birth. He was born with a shock of white hair, an unusual but not unheard of phenomenon. The doctors chalked it up to a form of albinism, and otherwise he was a very healthy and normal baby. Things grew more challenging as Tommy grew older. He was often made fun of and ostracized by his peers for his hair. He was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 6, and this negatively affected him in school. Tommy struggled with his grades and with engagement in class, often acting out for attention from his peers and out of boredom. While his parents did everything they could to try and support him, it soon became apparent they weren’t the most on top of things when it came to their son. Behind closed doors, their relationship was fracturing. By the time Tommy was 11, they were lashing out at each other and at him.

Manifestation

Things would only get more stressful for the Shepherd family. At the age of 13, Tommy’s parents got a divorce. It was a long and messy process which took a toll on their son. In the middle of the proceedings, Tommy would manifest his abilities by blowing a hole through the back fence. Frank and Maria were shocked. Their son had always been a hyperactive child, but superspeed? Neither of them had particularly been jumping for custody, and now with a mutant for a son they were practically trying to dump him on each other.

The early days of Tommy’s manifestation were filled with a lot of property damage. He had trouble controlling his direction and his explosive abilities. One day on the way home he was practicing when a group of older boys from his school noticed. They approached Tommy the next day at lunch and offered him a spot at their table. Desperate for acceptance from his peers, Tommy did so without any hesitation. A few weeks later the group was hanging out after school when they dropped the bomb that they knew about Tommy’s powers. They convinced him to use them to steal from the local convenience store. Tommy was hesitant, but after some pressure agreed. These were his friends after all.

Tommy’s criminal behavior started small. Stealing cigarettes and alcohol and energy drinks from corner stores and spray painting vulgarities on alley walls. But little by little it escalated, his friends always wanting more. Tommy was always hesitant in the beginning, but with his rocky home life, now being bounced between two homes, the only positive attention he was getting was from this group. Frequently skipping school, his grades tanked, but no one seemed to notice. He slowly began to enjoy the thrill of using his powers to get away with bigger and better things. Soon, misdemeanors became felonies, and the local police began to build quite a profile on the group of young men that always seemed to be around when something illegal happened. It all came to a head when someone from the group ratted out Tommy to the police, realizing how out of control things were getting. He painted Tommy as the ringleader and blamed all their crimes on him and his mutant powers to save his own skin. The police arrived at Tommy’s high school to arrest him on one of the few days he was in class. Tommy attempted to flee, but in the process accidentally blew up part of the building. No one was hurt, but it was still a very violent incident. He ran to his mom’s house, only to find police already there. His mom asked him to turn himself over. Tommy did, if only because the gravity of the situation finally came crashing down.

In court, all of his so-called “friends” testified against him, claiming that he used his mutant powers to manipulate them into joining in on his criminal activities. This devastated Tommy. He now felt completely alone. It didn’t help that his parents had already spent a large amount of money on the divorce, and now couldn’t afford a good lawyer for their son. Or so they claimed, at any rate. Tommy couldn’t help but think they just didn’t want to get one, so that he would be locked up and out of their hands.

His charges stacked up to vandalism, armed robbery, grand theft, resisting arrest, destruction of government property, and arson, among other things. While the prosecution argued due to his mutation he should be charged as an adult, Tommy managed to get a juvenile trial in front of a judge. After a long ordeal he was sentenced to 8 years with a chance of parole. The first part of his sentence was to be served in a juvenile detention center, and once he turned 18 he was to be transferred to a prison.

Detention

After 2 months in detention, it became clear that the facility was not equipped to handle someone with Tommy’s level of mutation. News spread quickly that he was a mutant and he became a target of violence. When he had to use his powers to defend himself, Tommy seriously injured another boy, and it was decided that he had to be moved to a more secure facility. He was transferred to a private detention center with a section specifically designed to host mutant prisoners. Experimental inhibitor technology was used to dampen mutations, even though the mental and physical effects on individuals could be less than pleasant. Being a minor, Tommy was essentially put in solitary confinement. His cell was reinforced and padded to dissuade escape. He was given separate times from the rest of the prison for any activities that would require him to be out of his cell. Weekly slots for sunshine, showers, and visitors. Not that he got many of the latter. His well-meaning social worker Helene was the most frequent, who often brought books and cassette tapes so he could keep up on his studies and have things to do. His father only came a few times, and his mother only once. He would later be told that Maria had moved back to France to be with her family.

Tommy would spend a total of 1 year and 7 months in prison. This time was damaging psychologically. He felt alone, abandoned, and unwanted. It didn’t help that scientists from a sketchy program run by the same company who ran the prison took an interest in him. Twice a month he would be escorted from the prison to a top secret lab, where the program would test his speed, durability, reflexes, and limits of his abilities. This amounted to various tortures and experimentation. Though they never said what they wanted him for, Tommy got the feeling that once he turned 18, he would “disappear” and be used for whatever the program had in mind for him.

Living At The X-Mansion

May cover as many years as you want, but the sub-headings are to break up large blocks of text.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'10"

General Build: Tommy looks like an athlete, with a lean but powerful runner's build. He moves with an awareness of his body and surroundings. A controlled chaos.

Eyes: Green

Hair: White

Other Features: He has a stick and poke of a smiley face on his ankle.

Powers

Superhuman Speed: Tommy is a speedster that can reach top maintainable speeds of around Mach 4, though reliably he can go around 2,000 mph. This speed can be maintained for about 30 minutes, with time increasing the slower he goes. His physiology is adapted to withstand the force of going so fast, giving him enhanced durability, stamina, and strength. His processing time is also much quicker than the average humans, with accelerated reflexes and perception. He has to eat a lot more than average due to an accelerated metabolism, and this also means that most substances don’t work on him. He can’t get drunk or use medication or other substances because his body burns through them too quickly for there to be any substantial effect. This causes issues for him because when he gets injured, there’s often no relief from any pain. He however does have a slight healing factor, but needs almost immediate medical attention for things like broken bones so they don’t start healing wrong.

Molecular Acceleration/Destabilization: Tommy can generate hyper-kinetic vibrations that accelerate the molecules in matter, causing any object he directs these vibrations at to explode. This power is not very stable and he doesn’t have very good aim, often leaving much more destruction than intended when used. There is also a layer of emotion to this. If Tommy is really upset it becomes much less predictable and can even happen without him meaning to. His vibrational powers have a current effect in a field of around 10 meters around him. It’s easier for him to use them for stuff in front of him. They have the force to blow up/move objects of around 2 tons. The more kinetic energy he has built up, the more powerful the blow can be.

Both of these powers are not at full capacity yet, as Tommy is building his stamina and control. However, he is aware of his limites due to the experimentation he underwent while incarcerated.

Equipment

N/A

Trivia

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External Links

Links to the tags for each character in xp_communication, xp_logs and xp_journal.

[html link xp_communication posts]

[html link xp_journal posts]

[html link xp_logs posts]

Meta

Player: Roy

Player Icon Base: Ruaridh Mollica

Meta Trivia

Any curious little things about why the character, if the character had a prior player before you (and who they were), etc.