Death (Angel of)

At first this strange figure seemed to be another of the many new variants working around Harborview in 1980. Standing over eight feet high, with a black armored costume that bristled with unearthly electrical weaponry, this figure never spoke to the media or police. He would appear from the shadows, destroy a criminal activity, toss around the criminals and vanish again. While he was one of the more violent Harvborview variants, he was no better or worse than Wildcard, and like Wildcard was on an escalating violence curve. He never identified himself; his name was chosen by the criminals and the media.
     During his first year of activity, the Angel of Death focused his attentions almost elusively on gangs and Mafia members who had made contact of any type with the Sidiari alien criminals who would plague Ground Zero for years. When Split Second released his fragmentary information on Death, he revealed his deep conviction that the Angel of Death was linked with the Sidari and with himself, sharing the same extraterrestrial origins. By the end of his first year in Harborview, it was obvious that the Angel of Death was not really a vigilante—his attacks became increasingly violent, and finally he took control of several of the gangs he had been weakening.
     After his criminal intentions were revealed, a sea change occurred in the enigmatic figure—no longer a silent killer, Death embraced his name and became an egocentric mastermind. He directly challenged Split Second and Ground Zero on several occasions, both alone and with his growing army of teenage gangsters. His teleportation abilities made him impossible to capture, and when exposed to damage that should have killed him Death would collapse, leaving behind an empty, burned out battle suit and a mocking laugh.
     Death's goals were threefold: personal power, the death of Split Second, and dominance over the Sidiari alien criminals. (These three factions battled until the Daemonwar in 1986, locked in a strange triangle of extraterrestrial affairs. The full details behind this rivalry were never made clear to the public.) To attain personal power he made the Harborview gangs into a private army called the Death Skulls. When Ground Zero shattered his leadership of this group and apparently killed him in 1984, the gangs fractured. Death abandoned that scheme when he returned, instead recruiting variants to serve as his private army (alongside his precious Chord), only to have them also captured or scattered by Ground Zero. He allied himself with Toxyn on several occasions, but even combined the two were unable to gain a clear victory over the hero team. Finally, in 1986 he attacked Split Second during the final battles of the Daemonwar, claiming to be armed with a concentrated version of Toxyn's chemicals, which destroyed variant abilities. The final outcome of this battle is unknown—neither Split Second nor Death have been seen since.
     Death's personal powers were impressive: a low Delta level variant, he is confirmed to have superhuman strength and durability commensurate with his enhanced size (being able to lift well over a ton). He could fold space, forming spatial warps or using personal teleportation. He possessed some form of limited telepathy, letting him scan minds with eye contact (producing a splitting headache in the target) and instill low grade fear to improve his already devastating presence. His costume acted as body armor (able to resist large caliber arms fire with ease) and a life support system (required if Death were actually of the Sidari race). It also contained extensive electrical weapons systems which could short out electronics or fire blasts of electricity sufficient to reduce a century-old oak tree to charred splinters with a singe shot.
     All of this power was hindered by his megalomania; Death did nothing subtly, and needed to trumpet his plans and his superiority to his opponents and the world at large. This led to the tables being turned on him again and again, and explained why he, like so many others, was unable to land a solid attack against the Sidari criminals. We can rest fairly certain that Split Second did succeed in destroying Death in their final encounter, since Death was never inactive for more than two or three months—he literally could not stay hidden, and it is unlikely he changed. Still, no body was found....

The Death Skulls
This was Death's personal army, made up of the Harborview street gangs. At one point rivaling the Nicotines for sheer numbers, the Deaths Skulls were responsible for nights of terror in Harborview before Ground Zero destroyed their structure, reducing them to mere street gangs again.

Chord
This female variant was Death's perpetual assistant. Her origins are unknown; she appeared with Death in his second openly criminal appearance and nearly every time since then. Chord has an obviously variant body with increased strength and endurance and a natural invulnerability. Her main power is her modified vocal chords, which let her produce any imaginable sound. She normally uses this purely as an attack, since her focused sonics can shatter marble, liquefy living targets or toss about cars. She was captured by U.S. troops at the end of the Daemonwar but rapidly escaped and is at large, presumably in the New England area. It is commonly believed that she was Death's lover (or at least wanted to be), and her intentions now that her leader is gone are not known at this time.

| Top |