Black Dwarf
From Justice Force
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Name: Black Dwarf
Security Level: 50
Archetype: 
Scrapper
Origin: 
Science
Supergroup: Justice Force
Rank: Member
[edit] Powers
| Martial Arts |
 Thunder Kick
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 Storm Kick
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 Focus Chi
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 Crippling Axe Kick
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 Dragon's Tail
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 Eagle's Claw
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| Super Reflexes |
 Focused Fighting
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 Focused Senses
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 Agile
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 Practiced Brawler
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 Quickness
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 Lucky
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 Evasion
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 Elude
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| Flight |
 Air Superiority
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 Flight
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| Fitness |
 Swift
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 Health
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 Stamina
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| Jumping |
 Combat Jumping
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| Accolade Powers |
 The Atlas Medallion
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 Elusive Mind
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 Freedom Phalanx Reserve
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[edit] Background
[edit] Origin
John Crosby was born with a congenital form of dwarfism. His desire to join the Army Rangers drove him to take up martial arts and athletic training, but still under 4 feet tall by age 18, his physical limitations prevented him from being accepted. Desperate to do whatever it took to reach his goal, he accepted when Crey Industries approached him with an untested human growth therapy.
The result was only 6 inches growth in height, but an incredible increase in density of his bones, muscles, and related tissue. The agony of the treatment led to his hospitalization, and a government investigation of the lab responsible for the drug test. The lab and its doctors mysteriously vanished and John was publicly known in the newspaper headlines as “the black dwarf” or teasingly as “Little John”.
During physical therapy, he learned of the call for heroes in Paragon City, and decided to try his fate as a licensed vigilante. Perhaps one day he would prove to the world that size didn’t matter.
[edit] Growing Up on Talos Isle
John grew up in an area of Talos Isle currently known as New Corinth. Back before the First Rikti Invasion, this area was a lower class suburb of twisting unplanned streets known simply as "The Labyrinth". Martial combat was as important to the area then as it is now, with Warriors and Tsoo fighting for turf and terrorizing the neighborhood. John took a part time job working at an auto shop, where he learned to work on motorcycles.
Once the Rikti attacked, the Crosby family fled Paragon City. The bombing of Talos left the Labyrinth in such ruins that in the subsequent reconstruction it was decided to merely build atop the ruins and cover it with landfill. Now filled with high rise apartments, New Corinth shows little signs of old Labyrinth except the road to the docks which is now a winding tunnel beneath the hillside that was built.
[edit] Rikti Invasion
Registering under the inevitable title Black Dwarf, John has had casual contact with some members of Justice Force, including KidCthulu, Eager Sidekick, and the Tidesmith. Black Dwarf became enamored with Atlas Park and all it stood for.
Not long after his registration, the Rikti attacked again in what is now being known as the Second Rikti Invasion. Black Dwarf staunchly defended zone after zone of Paragon City, particularly Atlas Park, and was later award the Watchman Badge for his efforts. After a heated battle in the center of Atlas Park, Black Dwarf discovered the largely intact remains of Rikti shock troop armor.
His fascination with the Rikti technology led him to enroll in night classes at the Steel Canyon University and later at Founder Falls U. So far, most of it has been beyond his skill to understand, but using a combination of his handy metal shop skills and assistance from varying professors, he has adapted the Rikti piston boots to allow him to run at high speeds and jump higher than normal. In addition, he has a partially working jet-pack that he uses for travel, though the Rikti power cells may run out any day now. Despite the fact that ownership and operation of Rikti equipment outside of Vanguard facilities is illegal, Vanguard officials have turned a blind eye to Black Dwarf due to his decorated efforts in protecting Paragon City.
[edit] Atlas Medallion
Seeking to become like his idol, Atlas, Black Dwarf took up the many labors that Atlas did in his time. He visited the sites of Atlas's historic battles, and fought many of the age old enemies that Atlas beat in his own time. For his efforts, including taking the battle to the bogs of Striga Isle and fighting the werewolves there by moonlight, the city has awarded him the Atlas Medallion which he wears with pride.
[edit] Bringing Crey to Justice
Based on a tip from Manticore, Black Dwarf embarked on a campaign to catch Countess Crey in the act of illegal activity. Despite shutting down several Crey laboratories, he was never able to catch the Countess herself, instead having to settle for the arrest of her personal bodyguard, Hopkins. Black Dwarf took the opportunity to show Hopkins what the Crey drugs had done to his body, and Hopkins proved no match for Black Dwarf and his team.
Black Dwarf continued his relentless investigation of Crey, first uncovering the horrific experiments that led to a researcher being transformed into a computer program, and then memory alteration work performed on the Kellerman family. Worst of all was the Revenant Hero project, where Crey used the DNA of heroes to build mindless super-powered slaves in the form of Paragon Protectors. It brought shivers down Black Dwarf's spine to note that his costume colors so closely reflected these Protectors, and made him wonder if he looked behind the masks if he might one day find his own face looking back at him.
Unfortunately, Countess Crey had a layer of deniability protecting her from all these problems, claiming publicly that they were rogue operations inside her very large company.
[edit] Vanguard Steps In
All his work to publicly discredit Crey caused a lot of visibility for Black Dwarf in the press. It wasn't long before a Vanguard representative approached him, requesting they meet in their offices in Atlas Park. There, Vanguard informed him that they knew of his illegal use of Rikti technology. They implied that they might find an exception by which to sanction such use if Black Dwarf were, say, to volunteer into the Vanguard ranks and spend some of his time working for them. John was enraged, knowing this was blackmail, but his work in fighting Crey might come to an end if he found he was himself discredited by Vanguard.
Agreeing to their terms and putting on a modified Vanguard uniform, he began work in the Rikti War Zone to fight the Rikti menace.
[edit] Entering the Spotlight
Black Dwarf's fame gradually grew, with new contacts coming forward asking for his help. Despite a failed expedition into Eden to rescue an early superhero from the clutches of the Devouring Earth, Black Dwarf's successes were all the news was interested in printing. Arriving by Vanguard chopper, he single-handedly turned the tide on a Rikti surprise attack on the Vanguard headquarters. He destroyed a Nemesis prototype body armor. He defended the Thin Red Line in the Rikti War Zone. He even defeated a Werewolf cult that the Council brought to Paragon City.
In the meantime, as a public figure, John had been making a living as an inspirational speaker in schools and events. With his growing fame, he received endorsement deals for sports drinks and athletic wear. One comedic commercial has him replacing his iconic steel boots with a pair of Nike sneakers. After assisting Carson, the well regarded fashion designer of Icon, with an undisclosed matter, Black Dwarf became a favorite project for the clothing maker.
After a few successful missions assisting the leaders of Justice Force, Black Dwarf was moved up from their Alpha Strike division to full membership. In honor of the occasion, Carson created a new black costume for the hero.
It was while basking in the limelight that the Portal Corporation came to Black Dwarf, looking for help managing some of their connections to other dimensions. Encountering a parallel-reality version of the Clockwork King, Black Dwarf put down the mighty tyrant in a one-on-one battle.
This act finally brought Black Dwarf to the attention of the Freedom Phalanx. There was discussion of including Black Dwarf amongst their reserve members, though it is claimed that Statesman was uncertain of Black Dwarf's readiness to take on the awesome responsibility as last line of defense against the greatest threats to the city. If Black Dwarf were to prove his meddle against an ongoing threat, such as Nemesis, then perhaps Statesman would reconsider.
[edit] Vengence
It was about this time that Black Dwarf was introduced to two members of the FBSA (Federal Bureau of Super-Powered Affairs). Maxwell Christopher was an obsessed senior analyst fanatical in his study of Nemesis and his organization. Janet Kellum was his junior partner, insisting that Crey Industries was not what it appeared, but laughed at by her department for being tasked with investigating such a clearly benign organization.
While Maxwell approached Black Dwarf, claiming his skills were needed against a newly resurgent Nemesis, it was Janet that Black Dwarf sought out. Having exhausted Manticore's leads, Black Dwarf followed any clue Janet was able to give him. Together, they uncovered a conspiracy in Crey to use mind-control images embedded in a commercial release of business software. Black Dwarf managed to break into Crey's warehouse and destroy any copies of the software before they were shipped to stores and customers, but without proof of the conspiracy, and with surveillance cameras capturing him in the process of destroying Crey property, Countess Crey brought charges against Black Dwarf for breaking and entering and vandalism. Having to go deep into hiding, Black Dwarf found an accomplished hacker, Justine Kelly, and devised a plan to infiltrate Crey's computer systems. Upon planting the virus inside Crey's heavily guarded computer center in Brickstown, the Crey computers started emailing all their secrets to customers, law enforcement officials, and supergroups, including the plan for mind-control images planted in their software.
Countess Crey vanished suddenly, and her lawyers dropped the charges against Black Dwarf, not wanting any of the evidence to be presented before a court. With the FBSA's help, Black Dwarf tracked the Countess down to Talos Island where she was hiding out as she prepared to take a ship to Striga Isle, and then on to Europe. Here Black Dwarf finally came face to face with the Countess.
"Get out of my way you little circus freak! If it wasn't for me, you'd still be a nobody working in a garage in New Sparta!"
"I'm not going anywhere, Countess, and neither are you. Or is it Ms. Thompson?"
"I'm going to crush you, midget!"
A tremendous battle ensued, but with a shattering thump, Black Dwarf's Rikti boots struck the side of the Countess's head, knocking her out cold. Twenty minutes later, the pint-sized hero walked into the Talos police department carrying the Countess on his shoulder. Dropping her to the floor before stunned officers who stood dumbfounded for nearly half a minute before arresting her, Black Dwarf wordlessly walked away. He wasn't Crey's failed experiment anymore. He had beaten their Paragon Protectors, he had beaten the Countess's bodyguard, and now he had beaten the Countess herself. Crey was now his past. What was his future?
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[edit] Other Characters
| @NightDimension | ||||
| Name | SL | AT | Powersets | Server |
| Night Dimension | 50 | 
| Dark Melee/Regeneration | Virtue |
| Black Dwarf | 50 |
| Martial Arts/Super Reflexes | Virtue |
| Mr. Grace | 9 | 
| Mind Control/Kinetics | Virtue |
| Name | SL | AT | Powersets | Server |
| Military Discharge | 24 | 
| Electrical Melee/Willpower | Freedom |
| Shadow Dimension | 14 |
| Dark Melee/Regeneration | Freedom |
| Red Mongoose | 12 |
| Claws/Super Reflexes | Freedom |
