C. Bombardi
C. Bombardi is the resident demolitions expert of the Cryos. However, he probably wouldn't be there but for a series of circumstances. Bombardi was formerly a member of the Mafia, performing "hits" on FBI agents, witnesses, rival crime lords, and even a few dictators and terrorists worldwide. His car bomb was famous, as he would typically leave a smiling happy ball on the dashboard or a joker card somewhere in the car. Bombardi was transferred to the Cryos, however, in a diplomatic deal. With the Aborted Cataclysm and the increased power of the U.S. government, the Mafia wanted to avoid future "problems". The Agents were in particular feared, as they could assist people instantaneously with their teleporter arm gauntlets, were notoriously hard to bribe, and could easily defeat Mob members in positions of superiority. Of course, the Mob could (and did) hire their own resident superhumans, but super-powered conflicts tend to draw attention and thus compromise the secrecy of the Mafia. Thus, covert arrangements between the government and the Mob began. The "treaty" (remembered by word by most members of the Mob and TOP SECRET in the U.S.) had many facets, but one of the "trades" was Bombardi. The Cryos were just being founded. Bombardi had unique expertise and had also developed a number of unique, superhuman abilities. Thus, he was deemed to be desirable and traded for a few concessions from the U.S.
Bombardi is a little off his head. However, he is a fairly nice guy by Mafia standards. He is a definite pyromaniac and has minor kleptomania, as well as a few phobias. One of his obsessions requires that every single aspect of every single bomb he makes is known in detail by him; he will NEVER use an explosive that he is not "satisfied" with except for matters of life and death, and then grudgingly. Thus, he either makes all of his own ingredients and bombs or is actively involved in their creation. He will NEVER kill children and will never harm innocent children. He has even thrown himself in front of a machinegun to prevent a child from being hurt. Even against children who are potentially a problem, he first attempts to negotiate (he is very convincing in those situations) and then moves to stop the child, first by hand-to-hand combat, then by a quick knockout. He will always attempt to incapacitate the child in such a way that they will be unharmed for a long period of time. Bombardi loves slapstick comedy and has a loud laugh; he is a huge fan of the Three Stooges, Adam Sandler, Midsummer Night's Dream (especially when it's done "right" and has plenty of physical comedy), Beavis and Butthead, South Park, and other good stuff. He is extremely hyperactive, but he can always focus and pay attention when ready; in fact, people seeing Bombardi at work and Bombardi relaxing cannot believe he is the same person. He would be a manic-depressive... if he ever got depressed.
Starting Level:
90.
Abilities:
Aura of Complete Concentration: This is similar to the Diablo II Paladin's aura, except it is much more mundane and more intense. Bombardi shuts off all but the most essential parts of his mind. His sensory capacities, speed, strength, and so on increase greatly. He is able to completely ignore fatigue, pain, fear and can even ignore phobias! Furthermore, those around him are so affected by his complete concentration and calmness that they also shape up. Bombardi may be drawing upon a hidden multiple personality, a personality quite distinct from his typical manic nature. This aura makes it difficult or impossible to affect him with magic, psionics, intimidation, and so on.
Boobytrap: Bombardi is a master of all types of traps. He tends to pack in little signatures, like a laughing soundtrack, audio or a picture from the Three Stooges, a joker card, and so on. He can do car bombs, airplane bombs, phone bombs, etc, etc, etc.
Explosives Control: Bombardi has mastered his art to such a point that he has an almost paranormal control over his explosives. This is the upside of his obsession. He essentially infuses a little of his "soul" (actually only a fraction of his MP/TP) into the bomb. He can also control other people's explosives, but it costs much more. He can do the following:
Explosive Strength: Bombardi begins charging energy, and his muscles bulge outward. His body is instilled with what is known by athletes as "explosive power": fast and accurate running, powerful hits and lifting, and so on. However, he does lose some manueverability.
Improve Explosives: Similar to, the explosives expert of Robot Control in Rifts, Bombardi can increase the damage done by missiles.
Make Homemade Explosives: This is essentially the skill of the EOD Specialist. With the proper components, Bombardi can make mines, grenades, satchels, bombs, missiles, etc.
Medical Skills: Surprisingly enough, Bombardi is a very good doctor. He doesn't know how; he never was trained. However, he is very good at all sorts of medicine (see Cybernetics). He is incredibly good at handling cybernetics; he could be a full-blown cyber-doc if he so desired to. How he got all this skill, he doesn't know.
Resistance to Explosives: Bombardi takes 10% damage from his own explosives and half from others, and cannot be killed by his own explosives. This is a combination of physical training specifically designed to avoid damage from explosives, lots of experience handling getting hit (roll with it, cover your head, and so on), and a little bit of superhuman power.
Sense Explosives: In a brilliant act of madness, Bombardi injected a special radioactive material into his brain and connected it to an artifical sensing gland! This radiation interacts differently with explosive materials than regular materials. Furthermore, he has completely memorized the data of all known explosives and has had it implanted into his subconscious by Cryo computers (and, unbeknownst to him, his hidden chip). Essentially, Bombardi can detect explosives anywhere within his range (it changes with level), identify the explosive, and act accordingly. Bombardi gets a lot of in-field experience when a terrorist group is expected to strike with an explosive, but no more information is available.
Equipment:
Driving Bombs: Bombardi has an entire collection of bombs connected to a remote control device. These range from the incredibly advanced (microrobotic insect-like bombs) to the childish (high-powered racing cars with plastique) to the huge (monster trucks given the same treatment.)
Cybernetics:
Unbeknownst to Bombardi, much of his power is due to his intense insanity. Similar to the Crazy in Rifts, his brain works on an incredibly advanced and quirky way. If his mind wasn't so incredibly insane, he would be a very alien, unfeeling person. His mind had to react in order to give him some amount of a recognizable personality, so it just went bonkers. However, Bombardi is neither a bad person nor does he belong to the loony bin. He just has a few issues which are intrinsically related to the way his brain works. If he were to ever get rid of his phobias, they would soon be replaced by something else. But something could help him along. There was a very experimental Mafia cybernetic implant put into him. It did a number of things. It's main purpose was to control his insanity; this is where his Aura of Complete Concentration comes in. It made his insanities more numerous but more harmless, insuring that he would be able to interact. It also accelerated his brain development; since it was controlling his insanity, it could risk more in order to arrive at more desirable results. Thus, Bombardi could very easily become a talented psychic. Finally, the chip served as a memory source and a psionic damper. It was designed to allow him to do cybernetic surgery in case of emergency; thus, Bombardi is also a quite talented doctor (this is how he was able to install the gland to detect explosives).
Psionics:
Bombardi is actually a fairly talented psychic. However, his insanity has warped and limited his skills, allowing him to get only abilities pertaining to his job.
Electrokinesis: Bombardi uses this to detonate plastique-style explosives.
Hydrokinesis: Bombardi uses this to stop unnecessary fires from his explosives.
Pyrokinesis: Bombardi uses this to start primitive explosives without the need for a detonator, to control explosions to make them safer, and so on.
Resist Fire: Bombardi obviously uses this to protect against the flames of explosions.
