Dante

Real Name:Dante
Height: 6'3
Weight: Unkown
Eye Color: Variable
Age: 55
Origin: Mystic Artifact
Powers: Darkness control, light control, flight, telekinesis.
Skills: Leadership, brawling.
Weaknesses: Unknown.

Origin:Having grown up in the shadow of the Second World War, Dante Gallo lived in constant fear of a reprisal of a conflict that had claimed his father’s life. The hardship of post-war Britain sculpted him into a bitter and frustrated individual. At an early age, he swore to never be helpless – he would find a way to protect himself and those he cared about. He took his cue from the legendary Dawn Patrol, the saviours of Britain and aimed to become a superhero.

Dante began to investigate how to gain the power he needed. As far as he knew he had no natural mutant powers, and he had no aptitude for the mechanical or magical. Hearing rumours of various super-soldier projects around the world, he signed up for the British army and volunteered for every dangerous assignment that he could, in the hope he would be noticed. After eighteen months, his hopes were realised and he was recruited into the mysterious Operation 82. Aiming to create a new force of super-heroes in the ilk of those that fought for the Allies and Axis in WWII, Operation 82 was expanding on the technology and techniques used by both sides. They took Dante and enhanced him - giving him super-strength, virtual invincibility and the power of flight. Given the name of Bulldog, Dante led a group Operation 82 agents against the forces of evil for the good of the British people. Beginning simply, this team of super-soldiers known as the Light Brigade was used to strike against the remnants of Axis, before being used defend Britain from the enemies within – super villains were becoming more common and Dante’s team were the ideal tool to be used against them. Defeating the infamous Baron Omega and his robotic army was the turning point for this team and they were accepted into the hallowed ranks of superheroes. Gaining victory after victory, the Light Brigade became increasingly famous and the public began to love them.

During the early seventies the Light Brigade had seemingly won the battle against the super villain and began to be used against political terrorists. It appeared that the Soviets had sent their agents deep undercover and were behind the growing anti-authority movement that was making itself known. The leaders of Operation 82 began to send the Light Brigade to capture these lethal dissidents, or destroy them if necessary. However, given the sensitive nature of these missions, the Light Brigade was forced to work in secrecy, striking in darkness and using the telepaths in their group to wipe the memories of all those who saw them on one of their covert missions. During one of their operations, The Dawn Patrol intervened and prevented the Light Brigade from capturing their targets. Furious and confused, Dante led his team against his childhood heroes. However, The Dawn Patrol had more experience and their powers dwarfed those of the Light Brigade and the battle was short. Dante and his team were captured and placed in custody. It was revealed that since Operation 82’s inception, the authorities behind it had become corrupt. The “communist agents” were in fact personal enemies of these authorities, and the Light Brigade had been used a little more than an assassination squad. During the investigation, it was decided that the team itself was just a set of unknowing pawns used in the corrupt machinations, however their reputation had been ruined and it the government and The Dawn Patrol deemed them unfit for service to the public. To Dante’s dismay his team was disbanded and their powers removed. Finally they were discharged from the army and pushed back out into the world.

Alone and powerless, Dante’s nightmare had come true. Thinking his career was over, he tried to join the police, the fire brigade and various security firms only to discover his history prevented him from the few decent jobs he was qualified for. Frustrated, Dante began a short chain of low-paying, humiliating jobs. Two years after his discharge, he decided that he was born to be a hero, and would never be happy or satisfied again unless he could go back to what he loved. Even if he had no powers, he would be a hero again.

Dante contacted the former members of the Light Brigade and invited them to join him as part of a new vigilante group. Dante took the name Nemesis and christened his team “Revenge”. Using their few remaining contacts, Revenge tooled themselves up with state-of-the-art weaponry and military equipment. Realising The Dawn Patrol would stop them if they stayed in Britain, Revenge transferred to Los Angeles where they used their training and weapons to bring street thugs to justice. Revenge soon began to make a difference, and attracted other ex-servicemen of Britain and America to join the team. Soon the thugs began to dissipate, Dante craved more challenges and took Revenge to Paragon City to try his team out on the super-villains that plagued that city. Over the next ten years, Revenge tackled the various super-human forces using only skill, guile and military grade weaponry to surprisingly good effect. During this time, only two members of Revenge fell in combat – a great record for the times. However, this all changed when an investigation into a new, magical drug ring led Revenge into the clutches of Circle Of Thorns.

Revenge’s weapons were no match for the magical power of the occult group, led by the villainous Void, a man consumed and driven by the powers he wielded. The battle was short and bloody - twelve members of Revenge were killed outright, three died later in hospital, two were crippled and one was driven totally insane by the conflict. Dante was saved only by one of his men diving in front of him as a human shield, taking Void’s fatal blast. Realising he had to avenge the death of his team, Dante decided to drop the mantle of the hero and take on one CoT member at a time until he felt he achieved vengeance. Knowing his weapons weren’t up to the task, he asked a mystical hero to help him, and was given an enchanted knife with which to perform the task. Over the next five years he killed each and every sorcerer that was present at the massacre, finally destroying Void. However, such a war cannot leave the soldier unaffected. Dante’s psyche had been damaged by the sorcerers, conjurers enchanted beasts and demons, both physical and psychological. Scarred by these battles, Dante could find no peace and so became an avenger of other people’s wrongs. He would listen to the police radios and contact victims of crimes. Then he would hunt down the perpetrators and kill them regardless whether they were a murderer, petty thief or conman.

It wasn’t long before Dante was a wanted man in Paragon City. Although his acts slipped under the radar of the heroes, the police of the city had a lot of time on their hands and began to track him down. Now on the run, Dante grabbed his weapons, his belongings and his “souvenirs” – the items he had taken from the corpses of his enemies to keep score and fled the city.

Dante took his new brand of vigilantism to other cities, but always had to flee when the authorities caught up with him. Also, Dante realised he was getting too old for this job. He was approaching 50 and he simply wasn’t as fast or as strong as he used to be. Reluctantly he moved back to England and hung up his weapons. Here he lived in seclusion, selling the souvenirs he had acquired over his lifetime to support himself, and trying to ignore the constant call to action he saw in the papers and on the TV everyday.

It wasn’t until early in the 21st century that Dante’s frustration and boredom got the best of him. He missed his previous life and constantly dreamed of soaring through the sky as Bulldog, and of stalking the streets as Nemesis. He wanted to see his old companions, to feel the fear of those he hunted, to experience the adulation of the masses. He decided that he needed to live the life one more time, to make a difference once again, before he ended it all. He took his only remaining souvenir, Void’s ring – a magical item made of pure, glowing obsidian, and put it on. Immediately he was enveloped by living darkness, a shapeless power that he could mould and manipulate. This darkness seemed to seep into his very soul, leaving him feeling cold, but somehow refreshed. He looked into a mirror and saw the ring had taken thirty years off of his appearance and he could feel the power surging through his body, reinvigorating him. As he experimented with his new weapon, he discovered it’s abilities – he could manipulate light as well as darkness, he could move objects without touching them, he was invulnerable to many forces and most of all he could fly again – a sensation he hadn’t felt for almost 30 years. He was more powerful than he had ever been, and he knew that he could become even more so if he mastered the ring – but he didn’t want to do that, after all this was the ring that had killed so many of his friends. His new youth would not fool The Dawn Patrol, but the Paragon City police force were looking for a much older man, so he flew back to Paragon City, for one last day of heroism. He immediately took to the streets and confronted gang after gang before the day was up. During the night he watched the city from above, and tackled the people and things that came out only when the sun went down. When dawn came he went to remove the ring, but decided to wear it for another day – after all he was making a difference fighting crime, he loved the power, what did it matter that the tool he was using was theoretically an item of evil? After all, he could give it up tomorrow…

That day was over two years ago, and Dante has shown no signs of being able to give up the power. At first he shunned the idea of a mask, having never relied on one as Nemesis or Bulldog; he soon learned that in Paragon City the thug you defeat one day can be the man sitting beside you in the bar the next – especially in the establishments Dante had started to frequent. He’ll never be Paragon City’s foremost hero, he no longer seeks glory and never seems to be satisfied - in fact he rarely feels anything anymore. According to the underworld, all Dante does is fight and sleep. This is in fact false – he never sleeps anymore.