Difference between revisions of "Joey Katana (Champion)"

Latest revision as of 03:36, 4 July 2011

Joey Katana
Player: peterpeter
Server: Champion
Origin:	Mutant
Archetype:	Scrapper
Security Level:	50
Supergroup:	Safe Harbor
Personal Data
Real Name:	Confidential
Known Aliases:	None
Age:	Early 30s
Height:	6'1"
Weight:	Unknown
Eye Color:	Unknown
Hair Color:	Brown
Biographical Data
Nationality:	U.S.A.
Occupation:	Confidential
Place of Birth:	Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Base of Operations:	Paragon City, RI
Marital Status:	Confidential
Known Relatives:	Confidential
Known Powers
Super speed, regeneration
Known Abilities
Master swordsman
Equipment
katana, wooden bokken, Vanguard talsorian katana
'

Overview

Joey Katana is a hero of Paragon City. He is a mutant. His primary power is super speed. He can run almost 100 miles per hour, heals rapidly from any wound, and is nearly indefatigable. He is also a master swordsman, but this ability comes from years of training and experience, not a mutation. Although his body can always heal itself, this does not prevent him from feeling the pain of his injuries. During combat, this pain has been known to drive him into a berserker like frenzy. Although he is currently a hero with a security level of 50, his history includes a brief period when he was considered a vigilante, or even a villain.

Appearance

Joey Katana is usually seen in black and gold, a tribute to the team colors of the professional athletes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He wears a sleeveless white t-shirt with a large black and gold Yin/Yang symbol. His only disguise is a pair of black sunglasses with gold lenses. He usually wears simple, loose black pants and no shoes. Early in his career he was frequently seen with no shirt, and a large Yin/Yang symbol apparently tattooed on his chest. While fighting Rikti near the crashed mothership or elsewhere in the city he frequently wears a lightweight suit of Vanguard armor, colored black and gold, with a Vanguard Talsorian blade. On rare occasions he has been seen wearing a full suit of black and gold samurai armor.

Origin

Joey Katana (real name unknown) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1981. There was no evidence of his powers during childhood. He moved to Paragon City to attend Paragon University, where he settled after graduating. He studied the katana in the evenings at a local dojo. In 2004 he suffered a terrible accident during training which nearly cost him his arm. He was rushed to a hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital was soon overwhelmed by victims of the Outbreak.

Officer Parks of the PCPD was in the hospital interviewing the victims. He was present when Joey Katana's injury triggered his latent mutant abilities. As the doctors stared in astonishment, Joey's arm regenerated before their eyes. He had difficulty controlling his speed at first. He spoke in an incomprehensible rush, and moved so quickly that he broke most of the things he touched.

After Dr. Miller discovered that the thugs besieging the neighborhood had been contaminated by drugs based on Rikti technology, Officer Parks realized it would take more than the PCPD to contain the violence. He persuaded Joey Katana to assist the police. Joey was initially reluctant, believing his powers were inadequate for the task. "What am I going to do, heal myself at them?" Dr. Miller tested Joey's blood against the Rikti mutagen and determined that Joey was immune from contamination. The police were not. Joey agreed to assist Officer Parks. While the police cordoned off the area and the hospital treated victims and searched for a cure, Joey Katana and other heroes fought back the contaminated rioters.

Afterward, Parks encouraged Joey Katana to apply for a hero license. Parks served as his mentor in the following months, introducing him to people like Antonio Nash of GIFT.

Early Career

Joey Katana was one of the many heroes who began their careers in the wake of the Rikti War. After assisting with the Contaminated during the Outbreak, he worked with Antonio Nash to combat Hellions in and around Atlas Park. Joey first encountered the Fifth Column in Atlas Park, before the Council made their appearance. As he gained skill and experience, he fought his way through the Paragon City underworld. He found the Lost in Kings Row, and fought the Circle of Thorns across the rooftops there. He spent many hours patrolling Perez Park, where the Skulls still fear his name. He fought Dr. Vahzilok and his minions in the sewers beneath the city. He learned the secrets of the Cavern of Transcendence in the Hollows. He battled Trolls beneath the bridges of Steel Canyon. He was nearly trapped in the gorges of Faultline, long before the flooding and the reconstruction project made the area more accessible.

He dueled blade against blade with the Tsoo in Talos, hunted zombies in Dark Astoria, and chased ghosts in Croatoa. He helped destroy a giant Robot in a hidden fortress on Striga Isle. He learned the truth about Crey in Crey's Folly. He defended the Terra Volta nuclear reactor against Sky Raiders. He helped protect the Earth from alien Shivans in Bloody Bay. He fought at the Rikti Crash Site long before Vanguard entered the scene, and he fought alongside Vanguard in 2007 when the Rikti invaded again. He helped to defeat the monstrous Hamidon, and he has journeyed through time to right old wrongs.

In 2007, after three years of service to the city of Paragon, Joey Katana was granted clearance at security level 50.

Retirement

Sightings of Joey Katana on the streets of Paragon City became rare. He is known to have visited the distant Shadow Shard, and Portal Corporation records indicate that he spent some time in other dimensions. However, as time went by, he spent less and less time as a hero. He spent more time working at his day job as a civil engineer. It was in that role that he first met his fiancee.

Giuliana Vicenzo worked for the City of Paragon, overseeing reconstruction efforts after the war, and after numerous super-powered battles. She first met Joey while he worked on a contract for the city in Faultline. She spent a great deal of time on site, and often found herself in danger from the Lost, or Arachnos, or other villain groups. Luckily a hero was always near at hand. After numerous rescues, they grew close, and even fell in love.

Eventually he revealed his secret identity to her, and proposed. She accepted. He retired from active hero duty, only drawing his sword when she was threatened or when the world was faced with a global threat like the Winter Lord.

He planned to retire from the hero business entirely after their wedding, but his dreams of the future were shattered by a random Freakshow attack. Giuliana was one of the many civilians caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. For the first time in his life, Joey Katana was too slow. Her death devastated him. His civilian life all but ended on that day.

The Shadow Months

He threw himself into his work as a hero. His rage drove him to attack all criminals without regard for his own safety or the niceties of the law. He saw no reason why criminals should receive more mercy than they gave, and so he became utterly merciless, a scourge on the underside of Paragon City.

His anger drove him too far, and the police and heroes of Paragon City began to question his methods and motives. Eventually, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He fled Paragon City and launched a one man invasion of the Rogue Isles. There he fought many of the same gangs he had faced in Paragon. He attacked Arachnos, feeling they were the rotten root supporting the other criminals. In his war against crime, he fell into bad company, joining forces with anyone who had a reason to fight the same enemies.

After carving his way through the army of Arachnos, he drew the attention of Ghost Widow, the undead lieutenant of Lord Recluse. She found him interesting, and decided she could use him for her own purposes. She held out the possibility that his beloved Giuliana could be restored to life, or at least the same half-life of the Ghost Widow herself.

Heartbroken and desperate, Joey succumbed to temptation. He allowed Ghost Widow to use him as a weapon, attacking the Circle of Thorns and her rivals within Arachnos. He assisted Ghost Widow in acquiring materials for a special ritual which could return her to life. Then he sabotaged the ritual by stealing some of the key components and making his own attempt to rescue his lost love.

He was only partially successful. He was able to contact Giuliana, enough to realize that she was at peace. Bringing her back to this world of suffering and danger would not save her from anything. She did not need to be rescued, ever again. He was finally able to let her go.

Ghost Widow was furious with him, but with grim determination he faced her down and beat her into submission. Before he left the Rogue Aisles, he also confronted Lord Recluse and taught him to fear.

Back in Paragon, Joey turned himself in to Agent Nance. To his surprise, he was not immediately imprisoned. Some of the crimes laid at his feet had in fact been performed by Joey's doppleganger from another dimension. Joey pursued his alternate self all across Faultline and Talos, eventually confronting and defeating him. Although it is not clear to this day exactly which crimes were performed by the double and which might have been committed by Joey himself, all charges against him were dropped. Ever since then he has worked hard to regain the trust of the people of Paragon City, and his fellow heroes.

He found an unexpected ally in the form of a Night Widow. His battle to recover his lost love touched the heart of one of the deadly assassins employed by Ghost Widow. She followed him to Paragon City, and has been haunting him ever since. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, when things are at their worst, she appears at his back and fights to protect him. When the battle ends, she silently vanishes back into the shadows.

Well of the Furies

Now that Joey has reestablished himself as a hero of the city, he has been fighting fiercely in support of the forces of good. He has fought the Rikti on behalf of Lady Grey, and battled the Reichsman at the urging of Dr. Khan. He traveled back in time to ancient Cimerora to protect the world we know today.

Along the way, with the help of the time traveling Menders of Ouroboros, he found a way to tap into the Well of the Furies. As he gradually pries wide the gates of knowledge, his power has grown ever greater. So too have his responsibilities. Joey Katana is one of the heroes battling against the Praetorian invasion. Unlike some heroes, he hasn't been consumed by that battle. He still takes time to make regular contact with the people of Paragon and to fight in and around the city against enemies from right here in our own backyard.