Jonathan Brooks was born on a military base hidden away in the backlands of Utah. Jonathan's mother had left his father when he was three, but his father had won custody after proving her to be an incompetant mother. His father was first a Major and eventually a Colonel in the Army involved in a highly-compartmentalized Top Secret weapons project. Jonathan grew up on the base with a mere handful of other military brats, attended the post school, and had very little contact with the outside world due to the remoteness of the location and the security protocols that restricted his father's movements. With little to do to fill the time, Jonathan took up learning martial arts at a very young age, training at the base dojo with the frequently revolving members of the elite MP guard unit asigned to the post. He didn't learn any particular traditional style, instead picking up commando-style combat techniques from the hardened soldiers.
As Jonathan grew older his athleticism became readily apparant as being top-flight. He acceled at every physical endeavor he attempted and could pull off feats to rival those of Olympic Level Atheletes and world record setters. By the time he was 18 he could run the Obstacle Course and Combat Conditioning Course faster than any of the best soldiers on the base, could bench as much weight as the strongest lifters in the gym, and outfight any man or woman on the post. In addition to being a physical phenom, Jonathan was also blessed with uncommonly good looks and this inevitably would be his downfall.
The base was commanded by General McGavin, and like all good base Generals, McGavin had a beautiful daughter, named Melody, who also happened to be about the same age as Jonathan. The General was a widower, and being ill-equipped to raise a daughter he sent her away to boarding school or to stay with aunts, but in her 18th summer she came to stay with daddy for a few months before starting college. Once she saw Jonathan doing his morning O-Course run soon after arriving it was only a matter of time before matters came to a head.
Melody was no shrinking violet; she was somewhat experienced in the ways of the world and of men and women. Jonathan, for all his physical accomplishments, most decidedly was not. So as the winsome General's daughter made every effort to happen to be someplace where they might bump into one another on the small post, it wasn't long before she had him wrapped around her little finger. Over the next month Jonathan became thoroughly infatuated with Melody and eventually things got pretty involved between them. This all went largely under the radar until General McGavin came home early from his office one day in late July and was much suprised to find a partially clothed Jonathan in the process of getting ready to go out a window and his precious daughter less than partially clothed on the couch.
The General was not amused.
Melody was sent off to live with an aunt for the remainder of the summer, but Colonel Brooks suffered the most for the General's lack of amusment, essentially being forced into an early retirement after receiving about the worst FitRep possible on his next review, given by the General personally. Colonel Brooks, ret., was slightly embittered by having his promising career flushed by his son's indiscretion and turned to booze, but only after kicking Jonathan out of the house. Without any place to go, and pretty sure he wouldnt go far if he joined the Army as he had planned to do (theoretically after going to college), Jonathan revised his plans and joined the Marines as an enlisted man as he had no degree. Jonathan opted for the infantry, and did extremely well in the Corps finding it challenging but rewarding, and he picked up rank meritoriously several times. After making sergeant in a quick 5 years he went for a Force Recon trial and easily passed it. He reupped and served a tour with FORRECON working in several localities around the world.
Finally he ended up in Somalia, part of the I Marine Expeditionary Force occupying the Mo (Mogadishu). Taking part in Joint Task Force operations with other SOF (Special Operaions Forces), Jonathan's team was eventually part of an operation intended to capture several "Tier 1" Somalis. The mission started off well but quickly went off the reservation when a band of Somali Technicals arrived unexpectedly and overrode the teams postion. It would be difficult to say who was more startled, but in the ensuing firefight the team's leader was shot in the head, leaving Staff Sergeant Brooks, aka Jonathan, in command.
After quickly killing the Technicals without sustaining further casualties beyond a couple of flesh wounds, Jonathan decided to execute the mission despite the incident and pressed forward into the now-alerted hiding place of the targets. Fierce fighting broke out and several more Marines were wounded, but the mission was successful as Jonathan himself pushed through the last hallway between him and the quarry, taking a shoulder wound in the process. In the post analysis however it was decided that Jonathan should not have ordered the mission to proceed as the element of surprise had been lost, which was indicated in the mission plan as an abort clause. In a complete mistrial of justice he ended up before a court martial for violation of the rules of engagement and was summarily given an Administrative Discharge "For the good of the Service" -- not a Dishonorable or Bad Conduct Discharge, but pretty insulting nonetheless.
This was simply too much for Jonathan. All he'd ever done was try to serve his country and nothing had come of it but punishment and aggravation. Angry, the 26 year old returned to Africa and became a mercenary, selling his highly honed skills and freakish physical abilities to the highest bidder. He worked as a mercenary for the next 7 years and eventually came into contact with many of the top-level mercs in the field, and coming to be known as Showdown. Unlike most of the others he wasnt in it to make a name for himself, he was just angry and trying to make a living. However, as time passed his anger faded and he realized he was not happy working as a mercenary; many of the causes he was paid to support sickened him, and many of his fellow mercenaries were loathesome individuals.
Finally he was hired by a wealthy but mysterious businessman who later turned out to be a representative of the Warlord's organization, as part of a crackteam of top-talent mercs including Lazer, Ankylosaur, and Shadowdragon for a mission in America. Jonathan took the job because the money was too good to pass up, but had misgivings; all of his mercenary endeavors to that date had taken place in third world countries. The mission was to infiltrate a PRIMUS base in New York City itself and steal a single container, the contents of which they were being paid extra not to ask about. Complete and detailed schematics were provided, along with guard schedules and personality dossiers of all the principals assoicated with the installation. It all looked like a cake walk; in and out with no expected obstacles.
But Jonathan had misgivings. Taking down governments in some craphole in the middle of Africa or one of the 'Stans was one thing, but messing around with the American Government? Despite his own personal grudges against the Armed Services, Jonathan just couldnt stomach it -- his patriotism was too deeply engrained. So he managed to contact PRIMUS and tell them of the planned robbery in return for immunity. When the mission occured it all went as planned until the team was deep into the PRIMUS base, and then the trap was sprung! PRIMUS Agents popped out of the woodworks and Jonathan turned on Shadowdragon. The other three mercs scotched the mission and managed to fight free of the building thanks to Shadowdragon's darkness abilities, but ever since they have all borne a grudge for Jonathan, and the Warlord was none to pleased either.
After the raid was foiled, Jonathan was taken in to custody for questioning. He didnt have criminal record and had voluntarily reported the potential crime, so he wasnt in any trouble, but he was definitely suspect. After PRIMUS officials were sure he was on the level, they began to consider his inquiry regarding becoming a PRIMUS Agent. He didnt have a college degree so he couldn't be an Agent, but he could become a sanctioned crimefighter and take part in PRIMUS's Special Activities program for crimefighters that work very closely with PRIMUS beyond merely being sanctioned. Jonathan agreed to this, and spent the next 3 years traveling to various PRIMUS bases in the pursuit of various cases, basically acting as an unpaid resource for PRIMUS. Jonathan quickly proved his worth and was allowed some unofficial perks, like being fitted out with some older-model "surplus" devices that R&D "didn't need anymore"; wink wink nudge nudge.
During this time Jonathan achieved an Associates Degree via night classes and extention courses using his GI Bill money. He applied for full induction to PRIMUS again, but the Director himself flew out to meet him in Chicago, where he happened to be at the time. The Director had a proposal for Jonathan; to go out and recruit competent hereos willing to work hand-and-glove with PRIMUS as part of a new unoffical task force as part of a new outreach program called "HERONet". There would ideally be several smaller teams organized regionally that would be allowed to use PRIMUS bases as centers of operation, semi-officially of course, and if all went well in Congress to get approval for it, eventually they would all be added to the PRIMUS ToE as an official branch of the organization. Jonathan jumped at the chance and is now traveling the nation looking for candidates for this new initiative. The Director provided him with a list of a few other heroes who have worked closely with PRIMUS in the past or present, but before approaching any of them Jonathan wants to get at least a few new joins under his belt first -- see what he has to work with, so to speak.
Showdown can be used to organize a team of PCs in a semi-official PRIMUS Sactioned group, slapping them together, getting them all sanctioned, and then leaving them in place to do the right thing while he goes off to form up another group.
Or maybe the director is up to something. The whole thing might seem a bit fishy if looked at too closely.
Or he could be part of a powerful team of PRIMUS aligned super types that might show up if a PRIMUS presence a little more serious than a Silver Avenger is needed. |
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