Headliner

From Handbook of the Union Universe

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Headliner
Player: Synthet
Origin:	Mutant
Archetype:	Tanker
Level:	29
Primary Set:	Invulnerbility
Secondary Set:	Super Strength
Epic Set:
Personal Data
Real Name:	Frederick Jones
Identity:	Known
Aliases:	Laugh Riot, Smiler, Laughing Jack and The Hyena
Species:	Human/Demon crossbreed.
Date of Birth:
Age:	Twenty Four
Height:
Weight:
Build:	Large, muscular.
Eye Colour:	Green.
Hair Colour:	Black.
Skin Complexion:	White.
Distinguishment:	None.
Medical Status:	No full medical exams in eleven years.
Financial Status:	Comfortable.
Religion:	Roman Catholic.
Sexuality:	Straight.
Marital Status:	Committed relationship.
Known Relatives:	Parents and one sister.
Biographical Data
Nationality:	American.
Ethnicity:	Caucasian.
Legal Status:	Former criminal, currently on probation.
Place of Birth:	Chicago.
Education:	High School dropout.
Occupation:	Vanguard operative.
Group Affiliations:	Vanguard, Unity Vigil.
Base of Operations:
Residency:	St. Martial (Rogue Isles), Steel Canyon (Paragon City).
Known Powers
Invulnerbility, Super Strength.
Known Abilities
Uncanny grasp of beaurocracy. Theorised to be a possible secondary mutation.
Equipment
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Awards and Collections
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Licenses and Certificates
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IC Accessibility of Article
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Headliner/Frederick Jones/Smiler/Laugh Riot

Freddy was my first main roleplay character with CoX, and he's stuck for over a year now. A bit of a cliche to begin with, but he's evolved into someone much more complex than my first imaginings of him.

[edit] Affiliations

Proud member of the Unity Vigil.
Previously affiliated with the European Villainous Immorality League. Former acting Chairman.
Close friend, colleague and comrade of Ben 'Big Lunk' Campbel and godfather to his children.
Brother of heroine Afterlight.
Previously in a relationship with The Tormentress.
Good friends with Headbreaker.

[edit] Personality

Since overcoming his multiple personality disorder, Freddy has become something of a gentle giant. Good natured and easygoing, he is much harder to anger than he was before. He is determined, and refuses to back down from a challenge. He carries a burden of guilt for the things he did while a mercenary criminal, but doesn't let these feelings hold him back. He has also realised that he actually isn't funny most of the time, something which was a huge revelation for him. He has decided he'll keep trying though.

[edit] Motivation

Freddy has resolved to do as much as he can to make up for his past and the people he has hurt, but he holds no illusions about being a hero. He knows that it will be difficult, but can't think of any other way he would be able to live with himself.

[edit] Powers

Attributes

Statistic

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Fortitude

Stamina

Speed

Melee

Blasts

Support

Control

[edit] Primary Powers

Superhuman fortitude, Superhuman strength.

[edit] Secondary Powers

Increased recovery rate

[edit] Additional Powers

None known

[edit] Travel

Leaping

[edit] Power Pool

[edit] Abilities

Headliner is, simply, a powerhouse. He is almost invulnerable, able to withstand incredible amounts of punishment without feeling any pain or sustaining any damage. He is also exceptionally strong, having once been seen kicking a tank out of his way. The exact limits of his powers aren't known, although he has been seen injured. When ambushed by half of The Corporation and a handful of other super powered mercenaries, Freddy was later seen having a slight limp. It is believed that his strength is probably much greater than he has ever had to reveal, but that his strength is not as great as his invulnerbility.

[edit] Vulnerabilities

Despite Fredericks near invulnerbility, he has a range of weakness' that make him vulnerable.

-Frederick has no defense whatsoever against psychic attack.
-Frederick is classified as a mutant, but he has traces of the demonic in his genetic structure. Weapons designed to be effective against demons are more efective against him than a standard weapon.
-Frederick can be overwhelmed with electricity or stunning energy weapons that disrupt the nervous system, but it takes far more voltage or energy to stun him than would be required for a normal person.

[edit] Equipment

-His Laugh Riot/Smiler mask. A white, grinning mask with three horns on the forehead and a tribal design across the back of the head.
-Freddy has a customised Arachnos power mace, though he is more likely to use it as a melee weapon than use its ranged abilities.
-Due to his sister being heavily involved in the arcane he has access to many 'traditional weapons'. He once expressed an interest in learning how to fight properly with a sword, but never did so.
-During a time when Frederick became extremely violent (Smiler was briefly the dominant personality during this period) he would often give his enemies an extra large smile by cutting open their cheeks with a hunting knife. It is unknown whether he still carries this on his person.

[edit] Character History

((I apologise for the inaccuracy over ages and dates, it isn't my strong suit.))

[edit] Project Lifeblood

To understand the history of Frederick and his sister Sarah, the heroine Afterlight it is necessary to look back to the second World War when the various of the governments of the world pushed the boundries of science, technology and even the arcane in their desperate attempts to end the conflict. One such attempt was known as Project Lifeblood. American scientists worked closely alongside experts in the arcane on a misguided project to provide wounded US soldiers transfusions using the blood of demonic entities in order to accelerate their recovery, a plan doomed from the start.
Civilain volunteers were used for the first tests after being told they were going to be testing a new pharmacutical drug. Provided with a simple red pill to induce sleep, the volunteers were quickly unconscious and the real tests began. Provided with small transfusions of demonic blood to test the reaction of the human body to this alien substance, the results were unsuprising. The majority of the test subjects had violent physical reactions, their body rejecting the blood entirely. Two test subjects suffered no adverse physical reactions, but went entirely mad. Of the thirty six test subjects, four survived and were entirely unharmed by the experience. And oblivious to the true nature of it. Unknown to them however, was that certain traces of the demonic blood lingered within them, slightly altering their genetic makeup.
After a period of observation, the experiment was deemed a total failure and the four test subjects released. But fate is a fascinating thing. One of these test subjects was named Alfred Jones, and another was Jane Morgan. Suprisingly, they began to see each other. Their relationship progressed quickly and Jane became pregnant out of wedlock. Alfred, being a Catholic of strong principles, proposed on the spot and they quickly married. Six and a half months later, their child was born, a dark haired blue eyed boy they named him Charles Jones.
But the US government had kept tabs on the subjects from Project Lifeblood, and were curious to see what would become of Charles.

[edit] Through the Years

Charles was a normal, hyperactive and muddy little boy. He played soccer and baseball. He was convinced that girls had coodies. He still went to bed with his teddy bear, and he could control technology with his thoughts. His ability was minor, the greatest example of his power was to turn all the lights in the house off. But it was an ability nonetheless, and the US government took interest. They closely observed his actions and any examples of his power. Eventually they decided that the ability was too small to be concerned over and allowed Charles to live a normal life, though they continued to check up on him from time to time.
He grew into a rebellious teenager, listening to music his parents disapproved of - mainly Queen - and spending too much time away from church. Something his parents certainly didn't approve of. He met a girl, Molly, with whom he was (to use the words of Alfred Jones, his father) an irresponsible jackass. She, like her soon to be mother in law, became pregnant out of wedlock. And Charles, like his father, stepped up and proposed. They were quickly married and had a son of their own.
His name was Frederick.

[edit] As a Boy

Frederick grew up in a strict Catholic background, as his father had settled down and found religion after being married. Freddy was a bit of a chubby child, and had a condition where he produced more red blood cells than the average person, but other than that he was completely normal. Except...
His mother. Molly. There was something that I didn't tell you about Molly - something rather important. Molly has an inactive mutant gene. To put it simply, she had the potential to become a Mutant, but her powers never activated. She passed this onto Frederick, and a number of interesting things happened because of it.
Due to the Lifeblood project, Alfred and Jane both contained trace amounts of demonic blood. They passed this onto their son, Charles, who developed certain technokinetic abilities because of it. He, in turn, passed these trace amounts of demonic blood onto his son Frederick, who also gained the mutant gene from his mother.
The mutant gene was activated by the demonic essence, and served as a catalyst for it, allowing it to grow. This is how Frederick gained his powers... when he hit puberty. We have another section before that though. I'm explaining it here because it explains how Sarah got her powers, which is relevant very soon.
And for those of you thinking "Why not just make him a mutant?", piss off. This is interesting.

[edit] Sarah

Just as Frederick was beginning school the Jones' recieved a suprise. Molly was pregnant again. This time the child was a girl, a sister for Frederick, and her parents named her Sarah. It became obvious very quickly however that Sarah was not a normal little girl. She was far more intelligent than most children of her age and by the age of three was displaying incredible powers of telepathy and telekinesis. When Sarah didn't get whatever she wanted, a psychic tantrum would very quickly ensue. Any nearby objects will begin to fly around the room while she screamed, and if this didn't work she would often psychically force those around her to give her what she wanted.
Because of this, the Jones' had to move a lot to try and hide their daughters power. As she grew older they did their best to try and teach her not to use her powers, but they had little success. Around the time of her seventh birthday, men in suits came to the Jones' and claimed to be from the US government. They said that they were going to take Sarah away for the sake of national security, and made a few vague threats. The Jones' complied, except for Frederick and Sarah.
Sarah understood that she was going to be seperated from her family who - despite her rotten nature - she loved. She attempted to drive back the men in suits and the doctors they had brought with them, but they tranquilised her before she could bring her powers into true effect. And Frederick, thirteen years old and powerless tried to fight. He stood between the men and his sister, flailing his fists. Predictably, his efforts saw little success.
Sarah was taken away, and she would not see Frederick again for over ten years.

[edit] A New Strength

A month and a half after his sister had been taken, Frederick was still frustrated over his inability to protect her. He became moody and sullen, turning from the model child into an angst ridden teenager. The efforts of his parents to try and explain the situation fell on deaf ears as he stormed around, ridden with guilt and anger. One day when furious over the relative ease with which his parents were dealing with the loss of Sarah he punched a hole through his bedroom door and sent it flying off of its hinges.
Shocked but intruiged, Freddy went to the junkyard a few days later to test his strength and put his fist through a rusted old car. Exhilerated by his newfound strength Freddy began punching through cars, bending metal bars and throwing major appliances around. He ripped the car door from an old Mustang at the bottom of a pile of cars. The tower began to shake and tilt. Frederick could only stand and look up a the pile of cars came crashing down upon him.
Freddy pulled himself from the wreck with ease and dusted himself off, checking for how badly hurt he was. He didn't have a scratch on him. Freddy knew that he had changed somehow. He was stronger than any full grown man, and a whole pile of cars falling down on him hadn't hurt him at all. He began to laugh.

[edit] The Wonder Years

Since then his powers began to develop at an incredible rate, along with his body. Since hitting puberty Freddy began to grow and develop at astounding speed. He began to develop his bodies muscles without exercising. He experienced incredible growth spurts and was soon the tallest boy in his class. He took a great deal of joy from his new powers, but was aware that he was almost certainly a mutant. Aware of anti-mutant sentiment he decided to be careful with his powers, only using them to a limited degree so he could avoid discovery.
Unfortunately, Freddy did not treat his newfound powers with the sense of responsibility and duty that they perhaps deserved. On the other hand, he did not use them in a truly reckless manner either. Instead he used his abilities in high school for trivial pursuits. He signed up to the football team and became the star linebacker. He tried boxing, but realised it would be too hard to hide his strength and seeming invulnerbility. He would have tried out for the wrestling team, but couldn't stop laughing at the outfits. "You'll never catch me wearing anything that tight!" He said.
Primarily though, Freddy used his powers to become a bit of a thug. He was strong, and he felt like he couldn't be hurt. He treated the school as his own personal stomping ground and became something of a class clown, getting a buzz from making his peers laugh. A large number of them laughed because they felt they had too however. Freddy was big, and had a reputation for a lousy temper.
One day, Freddy was bullying a fellow student in the halls between classes, pushing him to the ground everytime he tried to stand. Freddy's "loyal" band of followers and fellow football players laughed dutifully, but the boy himself didn't find it funny. He called out, "You're not funny Freddy, nobody thinks you are but you! I bet you think you're a real laugh riot don't you?"
Freddy responded with a grin. "Laugh riot huh? Yeah, I guess I am. I like that."

[edit] Drifting

Freddy was quickly losing interest in his academic career, believing that with his abilities high school was a waste of his time even though he had no other plans. Freddy dropped out of high school six months before he was due to graduate. He spent almost a full year sponging off of his parents while he drifted from project to project. He attempted to start a band called Steamtrain, but it fell apart due to creative differences. He spent an entire six months trying to make it as a stand-up comedian, but his gigs regularly went badly. After that he considered becoming an actor, but his father finally put his foot down and demanded that Freddy get a real job or he could leave the house.
Due to his size and physique, Freddy was easily able to get a job as a bouncer/doorman at a club called Highway. He was quite popular with regulars of the club, but found the job extremely boring.

[edit] Wake Up Call

Freddy continued to drift along with no real sense of purpose of life, somehow believing that he would become rich and famous without ever having to make any effort. It wasn't until tragedy almost struck the Jones family. Freddy's mother Molly was at the bank on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon when a group of armed men entered the building and started making demands. They took hostages, one of whom was Molly, and demanded to be let into the vault. When the bank staff refused, one of the hostages was shot through the head. Fortunately for Molly, Paragon City is full of heroic men and women.
The police contacted a hero who entered the bank, disarming and incapacitating the robbers and freeing all of the hostages as a result. When Freddy learned of what happened from his mother he was grateful to the hero for risking his life for his family, when he didn't even know them. He had seen heroes before and never thought much of them. He had considered becoming one with his powers, but didn't feel that there was enough fame or money to be gained. This changed his perspective however when he realised that he had a newfound admiration for the heroic community, and that the people he saved would gain admiration and respect for him. A different kind of fame.
Freddy resolved to become a hero and revealed his mutation to his parents, both of whom had known for some time and accepted him. Charles also revealed his own minor abilities to his son.

[edit] The Worst Hero

Wasting no time on coming up with a name, designing a costume or even registering for a hero license Frederick embarked on the worst planned endeavour in his entire life. It would change the entire course of his destiny due to misunderstanding, his temper, and his own lack of foresight. Setting out with a balaclava hiding his identity Freddy went 'on patrol' and Paragon being Paragon it wasn't long until he found a pursesnatcher harassing a middle aged woman in an alleyway. Leaping into action he knocked the thug out with a single punch and grabbed the purse from his prone body so he could return it to her. Already frightened by the purse snatcher, and then terrified by the appearance of an extremely large man in a balaclava hitting him and taking her purse, the woman screamed and backed away from Freddy.
Passing hero Red Ace heard her scream and flew onto the scene, making almost exactly the same assumption as the woman did even as Freddy tried to insist she take her purse back. He attacked Freddy, and being an advanced martial artist with increased strength, was able to hurt Freddy who had not trained his powers in the slightest. The harm caused was minimal, but the pain and the entire situation enraged Freddy who began to fight back.
The result of the fight was that Red Ace was hospitalised in critical condition while Freddy was badly bruised with one cracked rib. The police arrived on scene and Freddy knew the gig was up. He went along peacefully. He was convinced that he could make the jury understand, but the woman he had tried to help testified that he had been trying to steal her purse for himself, and was likely to have harmed her as well. Without any evidence to support his claims Frederick was found guilty on charges of Assault, Theft and Attempted Murder. He was sent to the Maximum Security Zigursky prison with no scheduled appeals.

[edit] Freedom of Choice

Freddy was made a worse person by his time in prison. He learned from the other convicts tricks of the trade, how easy it could be to committ crime for profit. Especially if you had superpowers. He was influenced by his encounters with high profile villains, and began to consider the fact that infamy could be more potent than fame.
Frederick was only in prison for a matter of months before Arachnos performed a raid on The Zig in order to 'recruit' new troops for Recluse. Freddy was one of the prisoners who was freed and was flown to the Rogue Isles before he really understood what he was letting himself in for. It wasn't long before he realised however that in the Rogue Isles, you have to fight to survive. Pressured by Arachnos and his lack of options Freddy turned to crime. He decided that stealing would be fine so long as he didn't let anyone become seriously hurt because deep down, in spite of everything, he didn't feel he could bring himself to kill. He invented the persona of Laugh Riot, had a costume designed and took to working as a small time meta criminal, mostly robbing jewellery stores and the like.
With his white grinning mask he became quite memorable and distinctive, drawing closer attention from Arachnos. They began to provide him with jobs, theft at first, but then to destroy certain items or pieces of property. Again Freddy felt that that would be fine so long as he didn't seriously hurt anybody. But then he began to get kidnapping jobs and he knew that he had to make a decision. Would he stand by his morals, or continue down the path he was on.
Fame, or rather infamy, was too great a temptation for him. He reasoned that if he was ever going to achieve the fame he desired he would have to make sacrifices, and that he personally wouldn't be hurting the people he kidnapped. Only delivering them to those who might. Already a divide was beginning to form within himself...

[edit] Influences

Gaining noteriety so quickly meant that Arachnos wasn't the only organisation that had spotted Laugh Riot. The mercenary group EVIL was also interested in his abilities and the group leader Whirlmeister asked his second in command at the time Big Lunk to issue Laugh Riot with an invitation to their Mercenary Ball in order to gauge his suitability for the company.
Big Lunk was the first person Riot had met since his mutation activated that was larger than he was and it immediately put his guard up. Big Lunk's soft spoken arrogance and alpha male personality clashed with Freddy's loud and brash cockyness. Freddy continually taunted Ben throughout the evening of the Ball until Big Lunk finally agreed to a fight, the former hero not concerned at all that he might lose.
Freddy's strength and extreme resistance to harm caught Lunk off guard initially and he was floored by one of Freddy's massive punches. Once Lunk realised that Freddy was completely untrained and that his haphazard fighting style relied purely on his strength, size and immunity to pain he was able to completely trounce Freddy, completely embaressing him after his initial victory. Freddy realised that he could potentially have a lot to learn from Big Lunk and EVIL and agreed to join the company.
After their initial butting of heads, Freddy and Lunk became fast friends, appreciating that they had found someone else as tough as they were. They were always the first into fights, the last ones to stop throwing punches and at the bar afterwards before anyone else. Lunk was the first one to call Freddy 'Smiler', due to the horrific grin on his mask. Unfortunately EVIL was pushing Freddy to take on more and more morally dubious jobs, causing his internal conflict to become much worse.

[edit] Divided

Freddy's inner conflict over his actions was becoming too much for him. He knew that he was doing what he had to do in order to survive in the cut throat world of the Rogue Isles, but he would never be able to just ignore that the things he was doing were fundamentally wrong. That the things he was turning a blind eye to should never be ignored. A decision would have to be made, and soon.
Freddy was on a bank robbery for EVIL when something went wrong. As with all of the major turning points in his life, it was because of something simple. While struggling, one of the security guards pulled off Frederick's mask and saw his face. Freddy wasn't worried about anyone knowing his identity, except for two people. His parents. He never wanted word to get back to them that their son, who they had been told was simply missing, was actually leading a life of crime. Freddy panicked, and so did the guard. They kept shouting at each other with Freddy getting angrier and angrier, knowing that he had to do something, anything, to keep his secret.
He snapped the guards neck. It was a huge moment for Freddy, the first time he had killed another human being, and he just couldn't deal with it. His personality fractured into three core parts. Frederick, who stuck to his ideals and was repentful for what he had done. Smiler, who believed that with power came the right to live above morality, and that anything was fair game to achieve your goals. And Laugh Riot, the part of Freddy who couldn't accept what had happened and broke down into a childlike state.

[edit] A New Order

With his mental stability becoming more and more fragile, Freddy often found himself slipping into his Laugh Riot and Smiler persona's so that he wouldn't have to deal with the trauma of his criminal activities. With these two negative aspects of himself controlling his actions, his crimes became grander and more violent. He began to get careless and arrogant and it was only a matter of weeks before his identity was revealed to the public, the very thing he had hoped to avoid. The criminal career of Frederick "Laugh Riot" Jones became a media circus. A part of Freddy thrived off of the attention, but deep down he was miserable over the state of his life. His alter-ego Smiler however continued to whisper to him and push him towards greater deeds of villainy. And so things continued - Freddy would put on his literal and emotional masks and dive into a world he hated, feeling trapped behind his smile.

[edit] Trivia

Freddy is a devout Catholic despite his criminal career.

Freddy has stated on numerous occassions that his parents named him after Freddy Mercury of Queen.

He has not had a proper medical examination since his mutantion activated, due to the difficulty in drawing blood.

Everyone, including Freddy himself, is unaware that he in fact has two hearts.

Freddy does not know his real birthday.

Unknown to Freddy, the hero that saved his mother during a bank robbery was his future best friend Ben "Big Lunk" Campbel.

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