Post by Baron Zemo on Feb 12, 2012 17:41:53 GMT -5
HERSHEL REINHARDT ZEMO
Name: Hershel Reinhardt Zemo
Age: 47
Gender: Male
~~~~~
Codename: Baron Zemo
Ability:
- Slowed Aging: As with the past two patriarchs of his family, Hershel has been treated with the Compound X formula, which drastically slows his body's aging. Though he is currently 47, his body remains in the same prime shape it was when he was treated at age 25, and this is expected to remain the case even if he lives to 100.
- Beyond-Peak Human: Hershel was the subject of countless genetic experiments by his father, a man obsessed with achieving perfection. As a result, his physical strength, stamina, agility and reflexes are substantially heightened to a point beyond the theorised maximum for a natural human. Hershel can lift up to 2 tons, run at 40 miles per hour for 2 hours continuously before tiring, and his reactions are fast enough to let him evade gunfire at even point-blank range.
- Genius Intellect: Granted the finest private education in the world, privy to the many secrets guarded by his bloodline, and raised by the strictest of fathers, Hershel was never allowed to be anything less than brilliant. He has a superior mind for tactics and strategy, and in the absence of his father, is possibly the world's foremost expert on human and mutant biology.
- Close-Combat Expert: Hershel has been schooled thoroughly in over 20 different martial arts, and can mix and match aspects of various disciplines on the fly with ease.
- Master Swordsman: Though trained in many combat disciplines, it is with the blade that Hershel really excels. Be it rapier, zweihander, medieval broadsword, katana or anything in between, Hershel can wield them so deftly they seem less like weapons and more like extensions of his arms.
- Olympic-class Marksman: Though not quite at Hawkeye's level (and rarely comfortable with a bow), Hershel can strike a 2-inch target from 25 metres even whilst moving with any conventional firearm. He prefers sidearms to rifles.
- Special Equipment: Anti-Psychic Headband (worn over mask, blocks any and all attempts at external thought-tampering), Sword of Zemo (titanium core, adamantium sheath), disintegrator pistol (does exactly what it says on the tin)
- HYDRA Leadership: Though the organisation called HYDRA has fallen in stature over the past years, the faction Hershel commands still gives him considerable manpower (estimated over 5000 agents) and resources to toy with.
- Chemical Dependency: Hershel's artificially-enhanced body is almost too strong for its own good, and the resultant increase in blood pressure, amongst other factors, can cause cripplingly painful brain tumors. His current (only) defense against this is a counter-acting agent that slows his biochemistry; this is taken through a custom-made inhaler and he must take at least one 'draw' every 2 hours to stave off the effects.
Group: Loyal to himself.
~~~~~
Status: Bad
Occupation: Castellan; stays in the shadows otherwise
Physical Description:
6'2" tall, with incredibly ripped musculature over a slim frame with broad shoulders. Skin is tanned, but still light. Hooked nose and hooded blue eyes dominate a sunken, callous face, and dirty blonde hair trimmed short and swept back. This face is usually covered by a purple cloth mask, marked with pinstripe lines, which is stretched over his full head and connects with a cowl of the same material, leaving spaces only for his eyes. The anti-psychic headband rests on top, like a crown. Besides the mask, he wears a jaguar-fur collar and a loose shirt and trousers of darker purple than the mask, accented with yellow gloves and knee-length boots, and a thick belt with a gold buckle styled after the Zemo family crest. The belt also features a pistol holster and sword scabbard.
Personality:
Hershel Zemo has spent most of his life being told of how he was born to do great things, whilst spending his time locked away in a forgotten castle as the world moved on without him. By now, he is extremely embittered and impatient to make his mark. Much like his father, he can be extremely manipulative when he needs to be, although his plans tend to be much less labyrinthine than Helmut's. Hershel generally looks down on others irrespective of who they are, as no family has endured or maintained its noble origins for as long as the house of Zemo (in his mind, anyway). When not trying to make a good impression on others, his haughty manners and short temper make him a hard man to like.
~~~~~
Parents: Helmut J. Zemo a.k.a Baron Zemo (father, retired), Melissa Gold a.k.a Songbird (mother, retired)
Siblings: None
History:
Baron Helmut Zemo, like his father, believed in security through numbers; as the elder Baron Zemo had assembled his Masters of Evil to oppose the Avengers, so too did his son, but under a different banner - that of the Thunderbolts, a new team made of men and women who had done wrong in the past but were seeking redemption. Or so went the story, at least. During his time running the Thunderbolts, one of Helmut's most loyal subordinates was Melissa Gold, the former pro-wrestler with augmented vocal chords, also known as Songbird. Though Melissa was openly in a relationship with Abner Jenkins a.k.a. MACH-1, she often found herself entranced when in Zemo's presence. Helmut, never one to pass up an opportunity, played upon these feelings one night, and the two made love. This provoked awkward feelings on Songbird's part, and she did her best to act distant around Zemo for months afterward...until she realised she was pregnant.
Confronting Helmut, Melissa found to her disbelief that he had intentionally opted out of contraception, and was in fact eager for an heir. Before she could resist, he stuck her with a sedative-loaded hypo, and had her quietly removed from Thunderbolts Mountain. The rest of the team was informed that Melissa's throat implants had been damaged, and she was undergoing surgery to repair them. In actuality, she had been secretly transported to the once-abandoned Castle Zemo, where she would stay under guard until the child was born - a sigh of relief passed Helmut's lips as he heard it was a boy. Now he had his heir.
Melissa returned to the T-Bolts shortly thereafter, sworn to silence over the whole ordeal. The child, named Hershel, was kept within Castle Zemo at all times; Helmut spent as much time grooming the boy as he could, but often had to leave his care to hand-picked tutors and e-HYRDA militia guards, who showed the boy no more leniency than his obsessive, perfectionist father. Every mistake he made during his lessons was met with a thorough beating; every success brought simply a nod of satisfaction.
The years rolled by, and the world changed. Mutants became an endangered species, superheroes turned on each other, the planet was infested with alien sleeper agents, the Phoenix Force returned...so on and so on. Though Hershel was aware of this, even as he grew through adolescence and into adulthood he was still kept apart from it all, locked away within the same miserable dungeons. Helmut took no chances with the safety of the Zemo family's future. Instead, he himself stepped further out of the limelight to take a more active hand in Hershel's development, focusing more on the scientific side of things. Helmut had spent enough years tangling with Captain America and other enhanced humans to gather a library's worth of knowledge on the ins and outs of post-human biology, and now he chose to use that knowledge in practice. Over the course of many months, Hershel was cut open, stitched back up, and injected with illegal and hitherto unknown substances time and time again, until eventually Helmut was satisfied with the result. Now Hershel still looked human, but inside he was more than that. Unfortunately, this work was perhaps too progressive, and left Hershel with health issues relating to his blood pressure; although his father devised a means of controlling this, he never did find a permanent cure before his mind began to fail him.
Eventually, Helmut's body and mind withered, and he chose to live out the rest of his life within Castle Zemo. This marked the passing of the torch, as Hershel took the title of Baron and was finally allowed to step outside the castle walls. Blinking in the sun of a new day, Hershel looked upon the world and found it wanting. It had known aimless solace long enough. Now, he would guide it back to where it belonged, and the name Zemo would be spoken only in hushed whispers...