Karate Bastard s'est moqué des autres détenus qui étaient libérés. Une femme reniflante, quelque chose d'extraterrestre, une autre femme qui semblait plus que capable de ses propres mains, une femme qui avait le courage de lui dire quoi faire, d'autres qui ne l'intéressaient pas. Des super-pouvoirs. Ils l'ont arnaqué. Keith avait passé vingt ans à travailler dur pour développer ses capacités, ces monstres avaient tout simplement le pouvoir qui leur avait été remis par une écurie de génétique.
Il grandit encore plus mal en éliminant la première poignée de gardes avant d'avoir assez de temps pour s'adapter à son nouvel environnement. Cependant, sa fronce s'est scindée en un large sourire alors que d'autres gardes commençaient à tomber du plafond et à se montrer menaçants sur lui. Enfin, un combat qui en vaut la peine. KB s'est assez bien souvenu de ses instructions : il a dû faire sauter ses dagues jusqu'à l'arbre et se déplacer vers le haut. Un cracker d'un plan. Mais à son avis, cela faisait trop longtemps qu'il avait un bon punch-up, ne serait pas blessé de secouer la rouille.
Le premier des robots de garde s'est jeté sur lui, scintillant pourpre dans les feux rouges d'urgence. Le karaté Bastard sauta dans les airs, tournant une totale shersault sur la tête de la garde, atterrissant gracieusement derrière elle. KB a pris une seconde pour assumer la position des boxeurs de la digue du Nigeria, avant de lancer l'un des coups précis et puissants de cette discipline particulière. Un kiai haut et surlong sorti de ses lèvres comme son poing se déchira dans le dos du garde et sortit de la poitrine du robot. Le robot n'a pas pu ressentir de douleur, bien sûr, car KB a retiré son poing du trou qu'il a encore tourné et a tenté de le combattre, en battant lentement un poing. KB sourit dans la joie alors qu'il écrase les paumes des deux mains simultanément dans les côtés de la tête du robot- le téléfon, à une capoeiriste. La tête de métal s'est effondrée vers l'intérieur dans une averse d'étincelles, écrasée comme une boîte de soude vide, tandis que le gardien tomba sur le sol avec un claquage retentissant.
Karate Bastard a soudain senti les bras froids d'un autre garde venir l'embrasser de derrière, l'envelopper dans un câlin d'ours dans l'intention de le ramener physiquement dans sa cellule. Peu probable. "Bit d'un chien, n'est-ce pas, mon pote?" Il a demandé au robot alors qu'il saisit les poignets des deux bras et se jetait en avant dans un autre en grande partie inutile coulis-et-rouleau. Les bras en acier du robot se sont arrachés facilement des prises, laissant la garde impuissante comme KB pirouetted et a commencé une vicieuse routine à deux bâtons d'escrime sur le robot avec ses propres bras. KB a été presque déçu par la petite quantité d'abus qu'il a enduré avant de tomber. "Piece de pisse", a-t-il commenté à personne en particulier. "Trop facile."
Ça avait été un peu amusant d'entraînement, mais KB s'est rendu compte que c'était le moment de faire quelques pistes. Les alarmes sonnaient, ce qu'il rappelait de l'orientation, ce qui signifiait que les planchers étaient inondés. KB n'avait pas l'intention de se noyer.
Il s'est arrêté assez longtemps pour récupérer sa chemise perdue. Pas à porter, bien sûr, mais à le déchirer rapidement dans plusieurs petites bandes et les vent ensemble dans une corde utilisable. Il a attaché une extrémité à chacun des poignets des bras du robot coupé, puis a donné à l'arme quelques twirls expérimentaux. Ça le ferait.
En tuant son nunchaku improvisé sous son bras, KB courut vers le puits, où plusieurs des autres détenus évadés faisaient déjà leur chemin vers le sommet. Certains d'entre eux pourraient faire des alliés pratiques, du moins pour le temps qu'il a fallu pour sortir de cette prison. Ce n'est peut-être pas une mauvaise idée de rester proche pour le moment. En s'élançant, il sentit le vent le fouetter vers le haut, vers un autre combat.
Les choses étaient en train de se lever, c'est sûr.
Name: Keith Blackwell
Alias: Karate Bastard
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Personality: Keith is massively, incredibly arrogant- there's a reason they call him Karate Bastard. He firmly believes that he is the best martial artist in the world, questioning or denying that will drive him into a blind rage. Keith despises the very notion of weakness and will never admit to making a mistake. Not a man who has or wants any friends, though he will make alliances if it suits him.
History: Keith was born into New Zealand's famous and wealthy Blackwell family, known worldwide for their fine wine. Ensconced in an Auckland penthouse, Keith grew up wanting for nothing and continually having his ego fed. His parents, hoping for a well-rounded child, enrolled him in karate classes at age 15. There was nothing special about it to them, it was the same as the piano lessons, cooking classes, and reading program.
But Keith Blackwell quickly discovered he had an innate talent- a genius, really- for fighting. He understood and mastered the techniques intuitively, surpassing the teachers at his local school in a matter of months. Keith begged his parents to use their money to send him to Okinawa, the birthplace of karate, for a real education in the art. And so, at the tender age of sixteen, Keith Blackwell was put on a plane to Naha.
The training was brutal and merciless, but Keith took naturally to it. His ego grew even further as he became capable of even more outrageous feats, sharpening his body to extremes. He learned meditation, traditional medicine, the use of weapons. But the biggest thrill came after two years of study, when an argument with a drunken local escalated into a full-on brawl. Keith killed the man, breaking his neck with a single blow. It was as he was hiding the body that Keith Blackwell experienced a moment of blinding, glorious clarity- he was destined to be the strongest fighter who ever lived. Anyone who died in his quest to achieve that was merely a mark of his quality, a measure of how he had fulfilled his purpose. The vintage on his family's grapes was counted in years, his destiny was counted in the number of skilled opponents he defeated.
Any pity or compassion that was in him was crushed. After the day's rigors at the dojo, he would quietly slip into the red-light district of Naha and participate in underground fights sponsored by the local Yakuza family. When his actions were discovered by the sensei of the dojo, Keith was immediately expelled. He took the expulsion with a surprising amount of grace- he felt limited by karate.
From there, he traveled the world on his parents' money, learning as much as he could about fighting. Wing chun in Hong Kong, vovinam in Vietnam, fencing in Italy, capoeira in Brazil, dambe in Nigeria, hapkido in South Korea, knife combat in the Philippines, lucha libre in Mexico, savate in France- just a small sample of the eighteen years of intensive training in virtually every martial art he could find an instructor for. When Keith felt he had learned what he wanted to, he would typically challenge (and kill) his teacher and their top students. After all, their deaths were the mark of his success. Lately, he has started seeking out fighters specifically to fight them, for the rush of testing his skills.
WGUF-What Got You Famous: Keith's probably endless quest has just brought him to the United States. The idea of fighting superheroes interests him. As a warmup, though, he decided to take on several of the West Coast's better fighters. A boxer in Los Angeles was decapitated by an uppercut from Keith, a dojo owner in San Francisco had his eyes gouged out. Finally, Keith stormed into the ring during a title MMA match in Lochwell and bloodily murdered both fighters- and the referee, and the security guards who tried to stop him, and a guy with an annoying voice. He didn't resist arrest by ARGO- Keith has heard American prisons are pretty tough, there might be a good fight or two in there before he decides to leave.
Equipment: Karate Bastard will use traditional martial arts weapons on occasion, but does not possess any at the moment- ARGO took them all.
Powers/Abilities/Skills/Talents: Keith Blackwell has an innate ability to understand and master martial arts in short order. Twenty years of study in the discipline has given him tremendous skill at fighting. His intensive training has pushed his body well past what would normally be considered human limits- it is possible that he possesses genuine superpowers but that has never been investigated.
In particular, his speed and reflexes are at the peak of human potential. His strength is such that he can lift half a ton without exertion, and his knowledge of striking technique means that he is able to easily ram his bare fist through a brick wall. In addition, he is far more resistant to pain or injury than the average person and heals much more quickly.
Weakness: Due to his tremendous arrogance, KB will rush into things without any kind of plan whatsoever, without considering the odds against him. As he has done little with his life outside of study martial arts, he is socially backwards and has little understanding of modern technology or society. He has no real ability for ranged combat. Despite his increased ability to withstand injury, he is not impervious to it. Bullets, bombs, poison- it might take more of it than usual, but these things can indeed kill him.
Secret Hideout: None- KB only recently arrived in the country.
Relationships: None.