From Handbook of the Union Universe

Hyperion Watchmen Commander - Bastinado
Bastinado
Player: Romanov
Origin:	Science
Archetype:	Scrapper
Level:	30
Primary Set:	Martial Arts
Secondary Set:	Super Reflexes
Epic Set:	N/A
Personal Data
Real Name:	Captain David Reuther
Identity:	Closely guarded
Aliases:	Bast, Chief, during his military/CIA career his nickname was Ruthless.
Species:	Human
Date of Birth:	July 4
Age:	36
Height:	6'2"
Weight:	245lb
Build:	Athletic
Eye Colour:	Blue (have been known to glow white)
Hair Colour:	Brown
Skin Complexion:	Weathered
Distinguishment:	Right eye and surrounding flesh damaged by acidic blood of an enemy he shot at point blank range.
Medical Status:	Prior to the Rivera incident his legs were near usless after years of confinement and bastinado torture. Now, he has the strength and stamina of a pro athelete in addition to superhuman reflexes.
Financial Status:	Built up savings during the year following the Rivera incident as a freelance mercenary/vigilante.
Religion:	Baptist
Sexuality:	Undisclosed
Marital Status:	Single
Known Relatives:	None
Biographical Data
Nationality:	American
Ethnicity:	Caucasian
Legal Status:	David Reuther is a fugitive wanted by the CIA and US Army under the Patriot Act although he has never been convicted of a crime.
Place of Birth:	Lincoln, Nebraska
Education:	College graduate
Occupation:	Former CIA/US Army black ops commander
Group Affiliations:	Hyperion Watchmen
Base of Operations:	The Bunker, accessible via hidden entrance in King's Row
Residency:	The Safehouse, King's Row
Known Powers
Already a formidable martial artist, this has been complimented with his superior reflexes and iron hard legs.
Known Abilities
Advanced knowledge of firearms and military hardware; adept at making booby traps and bombs and defusing the same; advanced driving skills; interrogation, intimidation and torture; resisting interrogation, intimidation and torture; detection and investigation with basic knowledge of police and FBI procedure, social chameleon/infiltration.
Equipment
Bastinado drives a midnight black Plymouth Baracuda, which on the surface looks like a gangbanger's ride but performance-wise is somewhere between a mini-tank and a cruise missile; Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum; three vials of Hyperdex formula, explosive charges, combat knife; Army spec survival kit.
Awards and Collections
All military awards and honours revoked.
Licenses and Certificates
Does not hold a Hero Corps licence.
IC Accessibility of Article
'

I had been toying with the idea of a out and out vigilante character when I saw a forum post "Maybe...just maybe" asking if people would be interested in a supergroup that had a common origin and agenda. With lots of ideas from lots of people, some of who are now members others like Coile are not, that supergroup became the Hyperion Watchmen and my character became Bastinado. The influences on Bastinado are clear to see; with doses of Jack Bauer, Rambo, Batman, Clint Eastwood, The Punisher and Andrew Vachss' anti-hero Burke all thrown in to make the violent, paranoid hard ass you see here.

Contents 1 Affiliations 2 Personality 3 Motivation 4 Powers 4.1 Additional Powers 4.1.1 Travel 4.1.2 Power Pool 5 Abilities 6 Vulnerabilities 7 Equipment 8 Character History

[edit] Affiliations

Bastinado is the commander of the Hyperion Watchmen a group of people whose lives and biology were changed forever after the mysterious explosion at Rivera Medical Centre on February 14, 2006.

The mid-level crimelord Mama Wong is indebted to Bastinado after he helped her flee Asia after she crossed the villain Magan. She runs her businesses, with the help of her many "sons", from the Hungry Dragon eatery in St Martial. Her debt was considered to be paid when her sons helped with the rescue of Watchman James Carter from Penny Black and her cronies.

Between March 2006 and February 2007, Bastinado led a mercenary team called Prime Force Five. One of the members was the villain Clubber Bling.

[edit] Personality

Gruff, no nonsense military field commander who is not afraid to turn up the pain if someone is holding out on him. Bordering on paranoia he prepares for every eventuality but the caution can erupt into explosive violence if the situation dictates. An intimidating figure who is not much of a people person, he leaves that to his trusted captains and lieutenants Dr. Furnace, White Vampyr and High Burn. He expects loyalty and those who follow him have come to trust his insticts as the best means of surival in the Watchmen's increasingly dangerous investigations.

[edit] Motivation

After years of imprisonment and cruel bastinado torture in Korea at the hands of his archenemy Magan whose son he had killed in an operation to sever the supply of drugs from Asia to the West, Captain David Reuther was rescued and shipped back to the states. But instead of a hero’s welcome he was imprisoned without trial. The years of abuse had resulted in serious infection leaving him almost blind and crippled. While being treated at the Rivera Medical Centre, there was a devastation explosion that killed dozens and changed the lives of many more. At the centre of that explosion was the hero Hyperion Star who lost his life. Bastinado is on a mission to avenge the death of Hyperion Star and his comrade and lover Comette, find the mysterious League whose villainous experiments ultimately led to the explosion and serve his brand of justice on all those responsible.

[edit] Powers

Reuther was being treated at Rivera with medication to improve the nerve function in his eyes and legs. After the explosion his legs became as hard as iron and his nerve function was beyond human capabilities giving him super reflexes. His expertise in various martial arts, including the Korean disciplines of gwon-gyokdo and hapkido, has been complimented by his body’s new superhuman abilities.

Attributes
	Statistic	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
	Fortitude
	Stamina
	Speed
	Melee
	Blasts
	Support
	Control

[edit] Additional Powers

[edit] Travel

Bastinado is able to utilise the extreme power in his legs to leap great distances.

[edit] Power Pool

Bastinado is a master of stealth and infiltration. He is also a formidable leader who is able to bring out the best, physically and mentally, of those who follow him.

[edit] Abilities

Advanced knowledge of firearms and military hardware; adept at making booby traps and bombs and defusing the same; advanced driving skills; interrogation, intimidation and torture; resisting interrogation, intimidation and torture; detection and investigation with basic knowledge of police and FBI procedure, social chameleon/infiltration.

[edit] Vulnerabilities

As a trained killer/survivalist, Bastinado’s instincts can take over leading to more extreme measures than would be tolerated by most heroes. His field sergeant Solar Flare is instructed to be prepared to take Bastinado down should they ever confront Magan again as Bastinado is concerned he would kill him before they could get the information they need.

[edit] Equipment

Bastinado drives a midnight black Plymouth Baracuda, which on the surface looks like a gangbanger's ride but performance-wise is somewhere between a mini-tank and a cruise missile; Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum; explosive charges, combat knife; Army spec survival kit.

Like all Watchmen, Bastinado is equipped with the following:

• Comm link
• Utility belt
• Navigation system
• Costume

Check out the Hyperion Watchmen for the equipment's properties.

[edit] Character History

((A Letter left in The Bunker's safe addressed to James Carter))

Mr Carter,

If you have opened my safe to retrieve this document, I am dead. Inside my safe you will find all the material I have gathered about the incident at Rivera Hospital and my subsequent investigations both before and after the formation of the Hyperion Watchmen. Below is a brief account of how I came to be at Rivera Hospital one year ago. I hope it goes some way to explain why I have never revealed my identity or face to my fellow Watchmen.

As White Vampyr guessed, I was once a soldier. The commander of an elite group that served our government’s interests where they did not officially have interests. Our final assignment was some ten years ago now. We were tasked with terminating the supply of heroin out of a small country in eastern Asia. We took out some small time suppliers but never got close to the man at the top of the chain - a man we knew only as Magan. Months passed, we fell increasingly off the radar, our tactics often as ruthless as the criminals we hoped to stop. For my part I increasingly became enamoured with my new home, studying its history and culture as well as learning its unique martial arts. I even fell in love, made a home with a girl called Kyung-soon. Then, one morning, we had the information we had been waiting for. Magan would be at an opium farm in the mountains that afternoon. I sent a message to our superiors. Our orders were to eliminate Magan and be rendezvous with a helicopter three kilometres north of the farm. Kyung-soon was at the market, I left without saying goodbye. Of all the bad things I have done in my life; I believe that is the only one I truly regret.

We took the farm hard and fast. I put a gun to their leader’s head. He grinned as he told me the truth - he was not Magan, but his son. I knew that we had played our hand - I put a bullet in his head, set fire to the farm and led my men to the rendezvous. We waited. And waited. One hour past the rendezvous time and the helicopter still hadn’t arrived. Then we heard the low rumble of engines. Not a helicopter, three Humvees and a swarm of motorcycles. And in the mountains, enemies we could not see. They knew our position and our numbers, we had no option but to surrender. Once they had us restrained they executed each of my men. I closed my eyes, thought of Kyung-soon, and waited for the bullet. Instead they pushed me into the back of one of the hummers. The dark shape in the back of one of the other vehicles was the closest I came, before or since, to seeing Magan.

Eight years. Eight years I was kept a prisoner, masked with rough iron plates across my eyes and mouth. Each day without fail I was tortured and humiliated. I had been trained to resist, but even I could not beat the bastinado. They would beat my feet with sticks everyday, until after days, months, years, my mind was as broken as my body. The bastinado taught me more about the infliction of pain than the army ever could.

As suddenly as it was unexpected, US forces arrived where I was being kept prisoner. As they led me out, my weakened eyes hardly able to see in the blazing light, I saw that many of the buildings had been destroyed. I overheard talk of “heroes” attacking the base, but to this day I have found no official records of what happened or whether Magan was captured, killed or if he managed to escape.

I was flown home with two dozen other prisoners. But during the flight, two soldiers approached me and manacled my hands and legs. When we landed I was separated from the other prisoners and taken to a cell. I don’t know what they members of the Paragon Police Department who were sent to transport me were told, but they took it upon themselves to continue my education in pain as if I was the worst kind of criminal and their badges stood for nothing. And one cell or another was my home for the next year. I was never given a full explanation of why I was being held, just that I had killed the wrong person and could be kept indefinitely under new anti-terrorism laws. Every few months, sometimes weeks, I would be transported to a new prison. But they didn’t been walls and bars to keep me prisoner as my health was deteriorating rapidly. My feet and legs had become infected, I was in constant pain. Gradually the infection spread to my blood and my eyes. Finally, it was decided that I needed more specialist medical treatment and I was transported from my latest home, the Zig, to Rivera Hospital.

And you, Mr Carter, no as much or as little as I do about what happened then. I was handcuffed to a bed with two prison guards watching over me. I had been told to prepare for the worst, that I would have to give up my legs and eyes to have any hope of survival. I wasn’t given the option of choosing not to survive. And then it happened. First the noise, then a light that filled every inch of the hospital. But it was more than a light, I could feel its warmth all around me, inside me, changing me. Not just my body but my essence, what some would call my soul. As the light faded I was trembling. But it wasn’t me, the whole building was shaking. The two guards were sprawled on the floor. I inched to the edge of them bed and braced myself to support my own weight for the first time in months. There was no pain. I took the key off one of the guards and uncuffed myself before walking into the chaos of the hospital corridor. Then I saw the light again, and every ounce of me wanted to head towards it. In another room I saw the figure laid out on an operating table, the light all around made it impossible to see. But I instinctively knew. Others have spoken of seeing a hero - I saw an angel. I tried to move closer but he said just two words to me. “Save them”. I looked down the corridor. Two young children were screaming as the walls and ceiling crumbled around them. I ran, scooping them up in my warms as bricks and rubble fell behind me. I was trapped between the rubble and the exterior wall. I did the only thing I could think to do, I kicked the wall. To my surprise it cracked as if it had been hit with a lump hammer. I kicked again, and again, until the wall shattered. I jumped to the ground, expecting my legs to break beneath me, but I was fine. I let the children go, catching a glimpse of myself in the wing mirror of one of the cars in the parking lot. My eyes were glowing brilliant white.

And that is my story Mr Carter. I hope you understand my need to keep my identity secret, I am not sure how the other Watchmen would react to having a “criminal” leading them into battle. Please keep my secret. I ask one more thing of you. Sell everything I have and send the money to Kyung-soon. Tell her that there was not a day in the last 10 years that I didn’t think of her.

Captain David Jacob Reuther