Steel Spartan
| |
| Steel Spartan | |
| Player: @Nemean Lion | |
| Origin: | Technology |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Brute |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Jonathan Kross |
| Known Aliases: | N/A |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 38 |
| Height: | 6'3" |
| Weight: | 207lbs |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Brown/Grey |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Security Consultant |
| Place of Birth: | Port Oakes |
| Base of Operations: | Confidential |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Gideon Kross(father)(deceased), Victoria Kross(mother)(deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Street Justice, Invulnerability | |
| Known Abilities | |
| extensive hand-to-hand combat training, infiltration, proficiency with most firearms | |
| Equipment | |
| Power armor that provides enhanced strength, speed, and durability | |
| No additional information available. | |
Origins
Jonathan Kross was born in Port Oakes to parents who had come to the Rogue Isles as laborers. Like many, they had signed on for the extra pay that comes from working in a dangerous locale and their luck turned sour, leaving them stuck with no way to return to the States. Jonathan grew up poor, struggling to make ends meet, and every day he witnessed the violence of criminals and superpowered crazies. It was a harsh reality for a child to grow up in.
At the age of 18, he enlisted with Arachnos. It was the closest thing to law and order in the Rogue Isles and, for all the menace he excuded, Lord Recluse gave off a singular message that resonated with Jonathan: peace through power. Arachnos was the only power in the Isles, particularly Port Oakes, that kept any semblance of law, and so Jonathan signed up, eager to do what he could to protect his family and friends from gangs and superpowered violence.
Rise and Fall
Over the years, Jonathan rose through the ranks at a respectable rate. He was capable, driven, and fiercely loyal. Had he been ruthless and without moral qualms, he would have risen even faster, but he balked at some of the less savory activities sometimes required of Wolf Spiders. His superiors noted this, but while his sense of right and wrong weighed on him, they never prevented him from carrying out his duties, so he was never disciplined, and he was more than competent.
He eventually transferred to the Crab Spider corps, which functions essentially as SWAT teams in the Isles. He excelled there and continued to rise, although he never showed the bloodthirst that Mako's division leaders looked for. Several battles with heroes and Longbow eventually gained him the attention of Ghost Widow, who selected him for transfer into a covert group in her service known as the Wraith Spiders.
For a time, Jonathan excelled here as well, serving as security chief for the Wraiths as well as a seasoned operative. Things took a turn, however, as the Wraiths' leader, Huntsman Fury, became more and more deranged and egocentric. Through bizarre experimentations with portals and temporal manipulation, an incident brought forth two individuals who claimed to be Fury's children from the future. This pair was devious, secretive, and endowed with strange parasitic organisms that gave them incredible powers. They were caught red-handed digging into classified information and bypassing base security and refused to stand down when Jonathan confronted them.
The ensuing conflict saw one of the "children" gravely injured and caused considerable collateral damage to that section of the base. Huntsman Fury, however, was blinded by his connection to his supposed offspring and dismissed his security chief's accusations out of hand while his smirking children egged him on, feeding his anger. Fury put out a kill order on Jonathan Kross for the injuries inflicted on his alleged son. Jonathan attempted to bring the matter to the Arbiters, but was told this was an "internal matter" and that they would not get involved.
Betrayed by his commander, dismissed by the chain of command, isolated from resources, Jonathan had only one recourse; he fled. He fled to Paragon City and surrendered himself immediately. Once in custody, he offered up Arachnos secrets in exchange for amnesty, asylum, and citizenship. Modifying his suit of power armor, he continued his efforts to protect innocent people from superpowered threats as the Steel Spartan.
Civilian Identity
While certain agencies are aware of who Jonathan Kross is, or rather who he was, and keep an eye on him, he doesn't make his identity known, unlike many heroes in Paragon. In his private life, Jonathan Kross works as a security consultant, identifying gaps in security systems, patrol coverage, that sort of thing, and works with companies on how to plug those gaps.
He maintains a residence on Talos Island, namely in New Sparta, because Steel Spartan's alter ego living in New Sparta is just too obvious and on the nose, it can't be real, right? Right.
Cybernetics
Left Eye
As a civilian, Jonathan merely wears an eyepatch to hide his lost eye. Under the patch is an interface which plugs into his helmet when he becomes the Steel Spartan, allowing him normal and even enhanced visual acuity. He lost his eye early on in his career as a Wolf Spider, when a reckless hero wielding fire powers did battle against a group of Family goons, causing significant collateral damage to nearby homes. Jonathan was more focused on trying to evacuate civilians than get in between the hero and mobsters, and ventured into a burning home to rescue a child trapped therein. He lost his eye when the building collapsed on top of him and he shielded the child with his own body.
Right Arm
Jonathan's entire right arm is a cybernetic prosthetic. Thankfully, with the right connections and enough money, military-grade cybernetics are available in the Rogue Isles to anyone for the right price. He makes no effort to hide it, even in his civilian life, and when asked, vaguely states that growing up in the Rogue Isles has its dangers and he was thankfully able to acquire it through his military contacts as a security consultant. In truth, he lost his arm during a Wraith operation gone bad that saw him engaged with both Synapse and Statesman. Most of their auxiliary support troops were captured and Kross only barely escaped to the exfiltration point, grievously injured.
Lower Spine
Shortly before the incident that ended his career with the Wraith Spiders, Kross and two other Wraith operatives were captured and imprisoned by the Circle of Thorns. Thankfully, they were rescued before the ritual that intended their sacrifice, but during their captivity, Kross and the others were cruelly tortured. At one point, he had been returned to his cell horribly mangled from the "interrogation" with a broken back. Luckily, one of the other operatives imprisoned with him was a field medic and was able to jury-rig an emergency patch using the backpack from one of the Crab Spiders that had been captured with them. It was crude and temporary, but it saved his life and the use of his legs. Once rescued, he underwent surgery to get proper cybernetic replacement for his destroyed vertebrae and nerves.