<strong>Name</strong>: Michael Blake<br/><br/><strong>Codename</strong>: Whiplash<br/><br/><strong>History</strong>:<br/>For as long as metahumans have existed, so have those who would wish to control them. The government has never been the least of these, and since before even the Victorian Age, all the world’s national superpowers have sought the services of those with what can only be described as “extraordinary.” It comes as little surprise, then, that once the idea of evolution truly began to take root, it was only a matter of time before the concept of a metahuman breeding program arose. Discreet and meticulous, the directors of such efforts often used and manipulated not only those with metahuman powers, but also those without powers who demonstrated metahuman bloodlines. And, with surprising speed, such efforts began to yield results. One of those born of such efforts was the man now known as Michael Blake, or Whiplash, as the organization named him.<br/><br/>Michael, from conception, defied the odds. He was considered a long shot, a part of the project that experimented to see whether those with only metahuman blood could produce offspring with metahuman powers, and, likewise, whether abilities could be “combined”. In this case, Michael’s father had blood through which nigh invulnerability and toughness ran, while his mother was of shapeshifter stock. The results were surprising. Using a serum that had been discovered to reveal latent powers on him, soon after his birth the scientists found a rather unusual combination of the abilities of his parents’ bloodlines. Whiplash was, in fact, invulnerable, but not in the typical sense. Instead, his form was proven to be malleable and elastic, able to sustain incredible amounts of raw damage. Likewise, while he could not alter his appearance so completely as to become a lion cub, he could stretch his limbs and contort in almost sickening displays of flexibility and contortionism. While “stretches” as they have traditionally been called were known to exist, few had ever, at the time, been documented, and thus, their abilities had yet to be extensively tested. Whiplash was their chance.<br/><br/>Trained from his youth to be little more than a deadly weapon, Michael, isolated from the world, developed into a frighteningly intense and meticulously precise assassin. Stealthy, socially adept, brilliant, athletic, a black belt in several martial arts, ruthless. Often able to adapt to situations with a fluidity few agents, even among those with decades of experience, could match, Whiplash soon became known as one of the most successful metahuman weapons the project ever managed to breed.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, the group eventually overextended their reach, and began to draw the attention of heroes and politicians alike, both of whom agreed that the unethical and dangerous activity of the organization had to be stopped. And so, when Michael was returning from a mission, he discovered the only family, the only home he had (however little of either it had been) swept away. Without a tear, he swore revenge, not out of any genuine sense of remorse for the end of the organization, but from some vague sense of honor that he had inexplicably begun to form from his contact with the outside world.<br/><br/>Using his previous contacts and his not inconsiderable skills, both as an assassin and a metahuman, he soon established himself as a skilled mercenary, one of the best, though one who would only take those jobs he himself deemed within his code. Whiplash would wait, establish himself, research his foes, and, when all was ready, he would strike without mercy or hesitation.<br/><br/>Through this, he soon became known as a formidable foe among the heroic community, though one of honor who would rarely kill, save when it was his mission to do so. At some points, Whiplash even helped other metahuman heroes, when their goals and his mission’s objectives coincided. It was on one such mission that he met a young heroine named Mercury, a bright and bubbly speedster with an almost angelic glow about her. Though a contrast to his dark and brooding manner, she saw in him a spark of something that could still be salvaged, a part of him that no one had ever reached, or, in truth, had ever so much as tried to reach. A human heart.<br/><br/>Somehow, miraculously, she slowly began to get through to him, and, after the initial cause of their alliance was resolved in a satisfactory manner, Michael was surprised to find within himself fond enough of this young girl named Gabriel to maintain the vaguest of connections with her, though, for a time, he kept secret from her the truth of the depths of his inner darkness and his assassin’s past.<br/><br/>Over time, however, something happened between each other, and what had started as pity for her and curiosity for him blossomed into mutual affection, unspoken but known. In time, she learned all his blackest secrets in their discreet, infrequent meetings, and he, through her, learned more about himself than he could ever have guessed actually existed within himself. But, still, even as he began to realize the foolishness of his long-plotted goal of vengeance, Whiplash continued to believe that, even if he were, in a manner, to turn to the light, he could never be with her. After all, how much was there that the heroes, by their ideals, needed to do, but, by their morals, could not? What of one such of himself, already with a black, guilty soul? Could not one such as him, then, do what the others would not, and in a sense could not, without losing anything that had not been lost long ago? No, he could never admit to her his feelings, though he knew she knew, could never ask that much of her, for the path he would tread from then on would be one in a way yet darker than the one he had wandered before.<br/><br/>And then the fins struck, and, in a whirlwind, the world began to fall apart. Watchful guardian and partner now to the young speedster in this time of darkness, Whiplash grew yet closer to her in this time of tumult, when none were foolish enough to question the alliance, and instead were merely thankful for the extra help. And though they fought a losing battle, for the first time, there at Mercury’s side, Michael began to feel he was fighting for a purpose his own, for a purpose above himself that he genuinely cared for and would gladly die for, though the odds seemed impossible.<br/><br/>When the V’sori arrived, Gabriel was as exultant as any, and though he held his reservations, Whiplash did not speak a word. Hadn’t she, after all, taken a risk, a leap of faith, with him? Smiling lightly, he watched from the distance as she celebrated with all her friends at the grand gala, for though he had made the excuse that he had elsewhere to be, truthfully, he had never been comfortable around the other heroes, nor they around him. And then came the betrayal.<br/><br/>He moved faster than he ever had in his life, stretched himself to his limits to get to her in time, and, still, in a sense, he was too late. They both escaped with their lives, but, for these long two years, she has been in a coma. Or what, medically, can only be described as a coma, despite all lack of any medical reason for it. For, Whiplash learned soon after, Gabriel was actually a guardian-angel in training, and that the trauma from so much hope and light extinguished from the world in a single moment of terror wreaked unimaginable havoc on the girl, whose own well-being, in a way, was dependent on the existence of hope in the world. Knowing this, and that the only way to restore her would be to save the world from the V’sori, and even secretly work to restore the lost heroes to life once more, hiding his plan from his companions, Whiplash has begun to play a dangerous game, simultaneously working with and, in a vague sense for now, against the other villains of the resistance.<br/><strong><br/>Appearance</strong>:<br/>Michael is a pale, tall, slender individual of athletic build. He has dark, feathery hair, bright, intelligent blue eyes, and an aloof, almost aristocratic air about him. Though he uses his powers to hide his true form, when his powers are locked, he takes on the appearance of a sort of ragdoll, as his skin, actually stitched together after the scientists who bred him experimented on him, is crisscrossed all over by these markings. Typically, outside of “work” as he describes it, he can be found in black suits and ties, maintaining an air of professionalism even when others would be more casual. His actual costume is black bodysuit with a crimson X through the chest, a utility belt, boots, gloves, a cowl, and a full face mask, white and expressionless, attached to the cowl. The entire suit is made of a special material that gains the same attributes as his power, and thus, is as malleable and stretchable as his own body.<br/><br/>(Think, basically, Ragdoll + Red X for the costume)<br/><br/><strong>Powers</strong>:<br/>Whiplash, like many stretches, has an extremely malleable body, able to transform it for any number of defensive, offensive, or utilitarian uses, though the more complex the transformation, the more concentration and time it takes to affect change, and the more concentration to maintain it. Likewise, as his physical form is pliant, so is his mind, having several more connections between synapses, allowing him to think more quickly and more efficiently than a normal human. This ability gives him genius-level, but not superhuman intellect, though he can, for short periods, attain such. By concentrating hard, Whiplash can stretch his mind and form even more connections between the synapses of his mind, allowing him to temporarily gain flashes of brilliant insight and unparalleled deductive powers. However, due to the miniscule scale of the transformation, and how many connections are involved, he cannot actively use his powers in any other way while using this ability, and, in fact, cannot even use it effectively in a fight without rendering himself completely helpless for a few moments.<br/><br/>In addition to his metahuman powers, Whiplash has trained in several martial arts, and learned to incorporate his powers into them, and is an accomplished contortionist and escape artist, even when his powers are suppressed.<br/><br/>Finally, Whiplash is a skilled swordsman, and still to this day wields a pair of blades designed for him by Jessie O’Neal, that, at a glance, appear to be nothing more than a small boomerang. In fact, the weapons feature extendable blades and hilts, with the “boomerang” segment serving as the cross hilt. Though he rarely uses this, the blades can also hold in their hilts vials of poison, which, upon the pressing of a button, are distributed to the edges of the blades.<br/><strong><br/>Weaknesses</strong>:<br/>Like most stretches, Whiplash is vulnerable to extreme heat and extreme cold. The former causes him to have difficulty controlling his power, as maintaining his form and controlling it is extraordinarily difficult in some situations. Likewise, he can be frozen, his limbs, in this state, can even be broken or shattered, though, if the pieces are reattached after both parts have been defrosted, he can reassimilate the piece into himself.