Rip It F A S E R I P Res Pop Ex 20 Gd 10 Gd 10 Ex 20 Gd 10 Gd 10 Gd 10 Rm 30 Ty -5 Health: 60 Karma: 30 Origin: Rip It is one of the first in a new wave of HISS Drivers, a Cobra position recently reactivated in the wake of the redeployment of the High Speed Sentries. He, like all of his fellows, is highly skilled in the fine art of vehicular combat, though he lacks super-human powers of any sort, whether they be biological, magical, or psionic in nature - just consider him a high tech villain and you're set. Known Powers: (none) Limitations / Enhancements: (none) Equipment: Helmet: Rip It wears a helmet to increase relative safety on the field, and to protect himself from the ever-deadly head shot. Made of Excellent (20) material strength metals, this helmet offers the man Good (10) protection from physical assaults striking him in the cranium. This may not be enough to deflect all damage in a given instance, but it nonetheless helps to save his life on occasion. HISS Tank: their claim to fame, every HISS driver is assigned to his very own, High Speed Sentry (mark 3, as of 2000). This curious vehicle is essentially a tank, though it is built with irregular tank treads and a larger vertical profile than its horizontal one. Nonetheless, this vehicle is highly deadly in combat situations, and is easily a match for the GI Joe MOBAT. See its entry for more information. Kevlar Vest: Rip It's uniform comes equipped with a bullet-resistant vest, one that proudly displays the Cobra sigil for the whole world to see. This vest transmutes Shooting damage into Blunt Attack damage, reducing it by 1 CS in the process. This greatly improves Rip It's chances of survival should he be shot up in a fight, even if it only protects his torso in this manner. Sidearm: in the event that his HISS tank is disabled, Rip It always has a spare handgun handy, stored somewhere on his person for quick access. These guns can be used to fire a single shot which inflicts Typical (6) Shooting damage, or a short burst which drains the entire magazine, but inflicts Good (10) Shooting damage. The magazine can presumably hold 8 rounds before it needs to be reloaded. Quirks: Temper 2: Rip It is what you might call a short tempered sort of guy - just about anything can set him off, as annoyed as he gets with other people at times. And, once he gets a mad on, he tends to keep it for quite a while... at least, until he destroys a large amount of equipment and/or real estate. As such, he must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -4 CS to either not get mad if provoked or to calm down once he gets going. Talents: Guns: a given prerequisite, all Cobra operatives must have the ability to use a gun in combat; if they don't have it upon joining Cobra, they are trained - and quickly. Any HISS driver can use a regular, semi-automatic, or fully automatic pistol or rifle with proficiency, doing so as though his or her Agility score was +1 CS in rank. And Rip It is no slouch in this department, either. Martial Arts type B: Rip It is a natural brawler, being an inherently violent man. As such, he only needed the slightest bit of extra training by Cobra to master this talent. He may attempt any unarmed melee attack as though his Fighting rank was +1 CS in rank, though he'd naturally prefer to gun a body down with his Mark 3 Sentry - or at least pummel 'em to death with a wrench or crowbar. Military: a quasi-military organization, Cobra encourages an easily recognizable (to those within, at least) command structure. As such, those not bringing experience in such matters tend to pick it up quickly, to rise through the ranks; those who don't never get very far. This skill allows a +1 CS to any Reason or Intuition FEAT based on the workings of military dogma. Piloting: curiously, all HISS drivers are also cross-trained in the proper operation of the FANG helicopter, and as such, each and every one of them knows the basics of flying an aircraft, whether it be a helicopter or airplane. Thanks to this, Rip It can make aerial maneuvers with such vehicles as though his Agility score was +1 CS in rank, though this bonus does not necessarily apply to aerial attacks. Repair / Tinkering: since they are supposed to be experts concerning their own vehicles, all HISS drivers are given extensive training in the maintenance and repair of their assigned weapon, a skill that they can apply to most devices. After all, if you can repair a broken tank tread out in the field, you can pretty much fix any mechanical equipment. Vehicular Combat: well-trained in this aspect of warfare, Rip It was given a several month long course in how to most effectively fight vehicle-to-vehicle, or to use his vehicle to advantage against infantry troops. This talent allows him to attempt any combat FEAT regarding his High Speed Sentry, Mark 3 at +1 CS to the applicable ability score, whether it be an offensive or defensive move. Contacts: While he's one of the more... unbalanced members of the organization, Rip It can likely consider Cobra a reliable contact - unless it should decide that it is better served by NOT helping him out in a given situation. Also, since he's of a very similar mindset, it is possible that he's on good terms with Zartan's Dreadnoks - especially since he's a volatile gear head. Costume: Rip It wears a slight variation on the standard HISS Driver uniform. Essentially, it consists of blue trousers, a red belt, a blue, long-sleeved shirt, blue gloves, and a blue helmet. This is coupled with black, hip-hugger leather boots, red wrist braces, a red mask over his face, a black visor, and a black Kevlar vest with a red Cobra sigil painted on the center. Personality: Fredd is cruel, fearless, and ornery in nature. He loves to blow things up - and how! He has a mean streak a mile wide, and is violently disposed towards his fellow man... all of 'em. As such, he loves nothing more than to get behind the wheel of his Sentry and blast stuff - and people - to tiny little pieces. Naturally, he's perfect for Cobra: a violent deviant that fits right in with the others! Real Name: Fredd T. Booth III Occupation: Mark 3 HISS Driver Legal Status: American citizen with a likely huge criminal record, legally deceased in the Devil's Due continuity branch Marital Status: single Alias(es), if any: none Group Affiliation: Cobra Height: 6' 1" Hair: unknown Eyes: unknown Weight: 180 lbs Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none known Story: Not all that much is known about the bizarre villain known as Rip It. Rip It has managed to keep a large portion of his life a secret from the prying eyes of law enforcement, though it is very likely that a man as terse and irate as himself has a significant rap sheet. Of course, that describes a sufficiently large cross-section of the American population, so that in and of itself isn't special. However, he somehow managed to catch the attention of a Cobra recruiter with his unnecessarily vicious mindset. Once he'd hooked up with the group, after they determined he wasn't a Joe plant or some such, Rip It proved to excel at all manner of things - enough so, in fact, that he became a prime candidate for work as one of the organization's new vehicular operators. As such, they added vehicular combat to Rip It's training regimen, and after he'd become a competent brawler and marksman, he was let loose with all manner of Cobra training vehicles. He seemed to excel with Cobra's new pride and joy, the Mark 3 HISS, and as such, was put through the education required to handle such a vehicle in real life field conditions - combat, tactics, and repair training. For some odd reason, a large portion of this training involved his having to master the game of golf. This was likely just an excuse for a Cobra instructor to goof off on the clock, but Rip It took his lessons to heart, making all kinds of parallels between the golf course and the battle field, using his keen destructive mind to use lessons from the game and apply them to real life suburban warfare. Though his temper has caused him to wrap more than one club around a fellow teammate's neck, Rip It graduated from his HISS Driver training with top honors, so much so in fact that he was allowed to assume his own, individualized uniform and code-name. While he's rather new at the whole international terrorism thing, you can bet on one thing - as Rip It, he wants to cause all kinds of damage! (Historical Divergence) Noticed by the high-ups of Cobra for his sheer destructive ability, Rip It was chosen for a special mission in a Lincoln, Nebraska hospital, as a try-out for a new group that Cobra Commander is assembling. Though he performed well during the job, killing as many civilians as he was ordered to, Rip It joined fellow operative Sky Creeper in questioning the point of the excessive civilian deaths. Before he knew it, the two were taken out by Blackout, the Cobra running the successful mission (which was to capture the Baroness' baby, which was being kept in Lincoln covertly by the US government). Had he simply kept his mouth shut, Rip It may've not only survived, but managed to make it on to the elite Plague team that the Commander had now finished assembling. But alas, it was too late for him. * 2007 VARIATIONS * Equipment: Shotgun: for those occasions where he has to leave his vehicle and straighten someone out personally, Rip It often carries a shotgun with him. He can fire birdshot from this weapon to inflict Typical (6) Shooting damage in a thirty degree arc, buckshot to inflict Good (10) Shooting damage to adjacent targets, or slugs to inflict Excellent (20) Shooting damage to a singular foe. Shredder: having mastered armored combat, and familiar with just about every tracked vehicle on earth, it fell onto Rip It to operate Cobra's new prototype tank, the Shredder! This vehicle, something of a reverse-engineered variation on GI Joe's MBT Mauler, naturally features a Cobra blue paint job, but otherwise functions the same as its forebear, and is described more fully in its vehicular description. Costume: Rip It's second field uniform is a variation on his original, HISS Driver uniform. Essentially, it consists of black trousers, a blue belt, a black, long-sleeved shirt, black gloves, and a black helmet. This is coupled with blue, hip-hugger leather boots, blue wrist braces, a blue mask over his face, a silvered visor, and a black Kevlar vest with a silver Cobra sigil painted on the center.