Name: Conrad Metzger
Codename: Buzzard
Age: 35
Date of Birth: January 5th, 1976
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 170 lbs
Hair Color: None (Metzger has no body hair in human form)
Eye Color: Black
Place of Origin: Berlin (Prior to reunification)
Nationality/Race: Caucasian
Classification: Mutant
Status: Staff
Occupation: Head of Security at Cobalt Sanctum
Personality Profile: Despite his frightening appearance and dubious history, Metzger is not unpleasant company. He maintains a demeanor of calm at almost all times. He is reserved and deliberate in his speech, preferring to listen and think before speaking. He has a quiet voice and rarely shouts, and has a somewhat depressive look about him. He does not speak much about himself or his past, and when plied he will frequently respond only that he has "made many mistakes". He speaks with a very slight German accent. Despite his solemn, almost ascetic demeanor, he maintains two vices, smoking and the occasional drink.
Physical Description: Metzger is a physically imposing man, standing at 6'3" tall. He has a somewhat gaunt facial appearance, though his body would be best described as lean rather than thin. He has no hair on his body, due to a medical condition known as Alopecia universalis, resulting in the permanent loss of all bodily hair, including eyebrows and lashes. He has had this condition since childhood. It does not appear to be a symptom of his mutation, he's just unfortunate. On the left side of his face, Metzger has a large, pocked burn scar, a memento of a previous engagement with a pyrokinetic. These burns are also present on the left side of his chest and his left arm and leg.
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Powerset: Animal Form/Hybrid - Eurasian Black Vulture
Ability One: Animal form - Metzger can take the form of a massive Eurasian Black Vulture. In this form, he is for all intents and purposes a normal vulture, only visibly larger than most.
Ability Two: Hybrid form - Metzger can transform himself into a halfway point between his vulture and human forms. He takes on the characteristics of a vulture. His arms transform into massive black feathered wings, his head becomes that of a vulture (the only remaining human characteristic being his eyes), his feet become curved talons. His bones become hollow to allow for unassisted flight, and his strength, particularly in the crushing force of his talons and shearing force of his beak, is practically doubled from its normal levels.
Ability Three: Heightened olfactory senses - In all three forms, Metzger has an extremely acute sense of smell. In human form, he can pinpoint an odor from as much as two hundred yards away. In hybrid and full vulture form, this range is increased further, and he can detect specific odors from as far away as one mile while in flight.
Drawbacks & Weaknesses:
Vulture form - In full vulture form, Metzger's human intelligence is significantly diminished. He is able to understand and interpret simple human speech (commands such as "stay" or "attack" or "watch") but is more beholden to the natural instincts of his animal form than the remaining rationality of his human mind. His mind is not truly animal, but it is no longer fully man either, and therefore he can be prone to unpredictable actions in this form.
Hybrid form - It is very taxing on Metzger's physiology to sustain his hybrid form. He can only do so for a maximum period of four hours, after which he needs to rest. To compensate, he prefers to use this form only on an as-needed basis, and transform for short periods of time only. Even short periods of transformation can leave Metzger significantly weakened afterward. In addition, similarly to his vulture form, his human rationality is somewhat diminished when maintaining this form. He can still speak (though with some difficulty) and understand complex human speech, but he must concentrate to keep his avian instincts in check and maintain in total control of his actions. The longer he is in hybrid form, the more difficult this becomes.
Olfactory sense - In human form, Metzger cannot shut down his increased olfactory senses. This can be very unpleasant, depending on the situation.
Projected Power Growth & Development: None, though he is currently undergoing therapy in an attempt to better control his animal nature when not in human form. And for other reasons.
Skills: Metzger has maintained and honed many of the skills he developed in his previous life as a "Retriever". He is an excellent tracker, aided by his enhanced sense of smell, adept at hand to hand and small arms combat, and an accomplished sniper. He is capable of surviving on his own in foreign or wilderness environments for long periods of time.
Background:
"I have made many mistakes."
Conrad Metzger was born on the wrong side of the Berlin wall. He has no recollection of his parents, as they either abandoned him or were killed when he was still very young. He grew up in a rather dismal orphanage, an environment that was made even less tolerable when he began losing all of his hair at the age of six. He became a withdrawn child, and was prone to lashing out violently at those who bullied or taunted him. He was under near constant reprimand by the matron of the orphanage, and he had run away by the age of 13.
By this time, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the Soviet Union was undergoing a state of dissolution. This made little difference to Conrad, as he found living on the street was harsh and unforgiving, be it under Communism or Democracy. He survived through his teens through thievery, petty crime, and his own wits, frequently finding work and a place to sleep by performing odd jobs, both legal and otherwise. When he was sixteen, his powers first manifested during an alleyway brawl in a terrifying, painful display that left two men seriously injured. He soon learned that he was special, a mutant, and became even more withdrawn and secretive. Eventually, he simply fled Berlin, flying out of the city under the cover of darkness.
In the closing years of the 1990s, after working a short, undistinguished stint as a mercenary and bodyguard in South America, Conrad was "discovered" by a representative from a biomedical corporation. In truth, his movements were being tracked, and he had been under observation for several months by the company, as a potential candidate for their "Retriever" program. His psychological profile, an apathy that bordered heavily on nihilism, as well has his abilities made him an appealing recruit for the job of tracking and collecting subjects for x-gene research. With little concern left for himself or others, he took the position and underwent extensive combat and survival training.
During the five years he spent working as a Retriever, Metzger (now given the codename "Buzzard" by his superiors) was responsible for acquiring and bringing in close to a dozen test subjects for research. He never asked questions, and he was never outwardly bothered by the knowledge that these subjects were unlikely to be seen again. Doubt was inescapable, however, and he began to rely heavily on alcohol as a way of dulling his increasing unrest.
He came to a breaking point in 2003, when he was sent to retrieve a mutant whose powers had just manifested in the former Eastern Bloc. Operating quickly, so as to collect the subject before another organization could swoop in, he tracked his target down, and found a young, shivering boy no older than 11. The sight sparked long suppressed memories of his own childhood, and the hardships he faced, and what had become of him as a result. He made an attempt to level his stun rifle at the child, but found himself no longer willing to fire. Instead, he moved towards the terrified boy in a clumsy attempt to comfort him.
The boy was a powerful, uncontrolled pyrokinetic, and reflexively lashed out with a massive plume of flame, knocking Conrad away and badly burning both him, but the dilapidated warehouse as well. Losing consciousness, Conrad watched the boy escape through a hole as the building was engulfed in flames around him. He closed his eyes, wishing the child well, and waited for death.
He was rescued, however, and brought to a small hospital with ties to the Eastern Orthodox Church. His wounds were tended and, through the help of a mutant healer, much of his body was saved from scarring. He spent months convalescing, left alone with his thoughts and his brewing regret. His only solace came from attending church services when he was strong enough. He discreetly left the service of his former employers, and spent several years aimlessly drifting, looking over his shoulder while the world changed around him. As the MTF was disbanded, companies like his former employer were investigated and shut down (where they could be found), their laboratories destroyed, their research confiscated. He no longer had to worry about a knife in the dark, at least not from the people he worked for.
Feeling as if he'd been given a second chance, by fate, or by the providence of God, he resolved to put his past behind him and do more with his life. He had heard of Cobalt Academy in the past, and the work they had been doing for mutants and other outsiders, and he made his way there to apply for a position on the security staff, even knowing how many black marks he already had against him. It was time for him to dedicate his life to a greater purpose, whatever that might be.
Criminal Record: None on record, though he has been listed as a "Person of Interest" in certain META investigations.
Quirks, Extras, Random Character Facts: Conrad is trilingual, fluent in German, English and Spanish. He is an avid reader, particularly enjoying military and religious history, as well as science fiction novels. He loves to cook, and eagerly tries new recipes, though often with mixed results. Because of the attack that scarred much of his body, he remains acutely afraid of fire, and leery of those who wield it. He is deeply religious, but follows no particular denomination, preferring to believe that each must find their own path to God.