Known Background: John Spectre was a salesman, traveling from city to city, peddling his wares to various corporations that specialized in scientific developments. He hated his job, but it (barely) paid his bills and he got to travel a lot. He was on one such sales call when he heard rumors that Technological Innovations Now was working on developing a functional teleporter; one of the holy grails of the scientific community. He decided that, if he could sneak in, witness the tests and maybe snap a few pictures in the process, it could possibly change his fortunes. He didn't realize how much it would change, especially as the experiment catastrophically failed. He was hiding outside of the protective barrier and was heavily dosed with radiation from the accident. When he was discovered, he was checked out, declared physically fit, and promptly escorted from the premises and fired from his company. |
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A few weeks later, Spectre discovered that he had the ability to teleport himself. When faced with what to do with his newfound powers, he knew that if he didn't use them for his own gains, he'd be a fool; and God help anyone who got in his way. He worked his way from city to city, teleporting into bank vaults and cleaning them out before moving on. When he got to Chicago, Spectre was recruited by Professor Mercury to join the Outcasts as their "get away clean" guy. Seeing safety in numbers, John agreed. Things went fairly well until the big fight with the Windy City Warriors, where Spectre was caught off guard when Carter pulled a surprise move, the Professor was killed and the Outcasts were defeated. Spectre decided to lay low and let the heat die down until he was forced back into service by Mercury's daughter, who was driven by revenge and more than her fair share of insanity. John wasn't disappointed to see the new group get split and went underground again, hiding from both the cops and Potion. So when he was found by Slade and offered a cushy government job for sitting around and waiting, he jumped at the chance. It's like retirement, but the money's better! |
Personality: John likes it when life is easy. He hated being a salesman because he had to hustle for every cent he made. He liked being a bank robber, but wasn't pleased with having to move around all the time, staying one step ahead of the cops. Mercury took fairly good care of his people, but facing off against the heroes proved to be pretty dangerous. Working for Potion was worse, because she was just plain nuts. But now he gets to sit around, watching the tube, eating takeout, drinking beer and getting paid to do it. Yep, John likes it when life is easy.
Powers/Tactics: When working solo, John usually got in and out, drawing as little attention as possible. After all, what's the point in picking a fight if it can be avoided? But when he started hanging out with the Outcasts, he was often called on to go face-to-face with opponents and typically tried to get rid of them as quick as possible and wait for the order for retreat. When Potion took over, she expected them all to get more bloodthirsty; and while Spectre wasn't squeamish about taking a life, he didn't have the bloodthirstiness to get any enjoyment out of it. Now, he's plenty happy to sit back, wait for the call for help and use Harvester's powers and mind link to teleport others from the comfort of his living room. If he never has to go out into the field again, that's fine by him.
Appearance: Spectre stands 5'11 and weighed a conservative 185 with a semi-athletic build. His hair is dark brown, except along the sides, where the gray has formed the professor look (like Reed Richards). While working with Professor Mercury, John was given a suit of battle armor to wear to keep him safe and conscious for an escape. When Potion took over, she didn't care about safety and dressed him in a Spectra suit. Now that he's freed from the Outcasts, he tends to lounge around in T-shirts (usually from the band OutKast for sarcasm purposes) and jeans. He shaves when he feels like it, showers when he has to go out (or the smell gets too much for him) and has gotten a bit soft around the middle, though he swears that he hasn't gained any weight.
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