The BaTTle BroThersReal Name: Jack Bryce and Malcom ManningOccupatiON: CriminalsBase: EMerald City

Both Jack Bryce and Malcolm Manning were doing thirty years in prison for armed robbery and assault. So they took an opportunity to escape from a chain-gang provided by a F.O.E. attack and ran, still handcuffed to each other. Fleeing the authorities in the Mount Stanley National Park area, the convicts literally stumbled upon a small cave opening. Inside, they found a half buried container, holding a pair of strange-looking wrist-guards. Thinking they might at least be valuable, Bryce and Manning decided to take them, but having no easy way to transport the decaying box, and still handcuffed to-gether, they each put one of the bracers on.

The moment they closed and locked in place, the alien devices activated. It’s likely the bracers were intended for a single wearer, so being split between two had unexpected side effects. The devices greatly enhanced the strength and stamina of both men, but also linked them, psychically and physiologically. While they are capable of each knowing what the other is thinking in-stinctively and reacting as if they were one, the greater the distance between them, the weaker they become, until they both begin to die.

Initially, however, Bryce and Manning knew nothing of these drawbacks. Calling themselves the “Battle Brothers” the two men sought to steal enough to set themselves up with a temporary haven and hire themselves out as mer-cenaries to the highest bidder. Since learning about the dangers of separating too far, the Battle Brothers have shifted their goals slightly to include better under-standing the bracers they wear and learning how to adjust them to the eliminate their weaknesses.

PersonaliTy

The Battle Brothers were two of a kind even before alien tech-nology linked them together: both crude and brutal crimi-nals, bullies used to taking

whatever they wanted, at least until they got caught. Both are too short-tempered and violent to last long at any legiti-mate job and now they both enjoy their newfound power far too much to ever give it up.

The Battle Brothers are fairly simple in their wants: a good fight, enough money to enjoy themselves, and maybe a chance to fix the battle bracers so they can be even more powerful and do more of the same. The two men are as close as either is capable of being; they look out for each other as if they were actual brothers, but also quarrel (and sometimes even come to blows). Still, the fact that they literally feel each others’ pain to some degree helps keep them on good terms.

Powers & aBiliTies

The battle bracers have enhanced Bryce and Manning’s physiology to superhuman levels: each of them is strong enough to lift a hundred tons, make mile-long standing

jumps, and shrug off even some heavy-weapons fire for a time. They’re both largely immune to concerns like changes in temperature or things like toxins or pathogens.

The bracers have also linked them together on a fundamental

level. The Battle Broth-ers almost move as one

when they go into action. They’re a profoundly effec-tive team: they

communicate si-lently on a psychic

level without needing to speak (although they still talk outside

of “battle mode” largely out of habit). They coordinate their

actions well, and can react instantly to each others’ moves. They’re effective at making Team Checks (Hero’s Handbook, page 16) and using Set-up to transfer interaction advantages. For example, one might use Intimidation and Startle to feint against a foe, then transfer the benefit of the target’s vulnerable con-dition to the other, who

makes an attack against the tar-get’s reduced

defense.

Their “one-two punch” power

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The BaTTle BroThers Pl11sTr sTa aGl DeX FGT inT awe Pre12 12 2 0 5 0 0 0

Powres

One-two punch: Reaction Damage 12 (When Brother hits with regular close attack), Limited to the same target • 36 points

powerful legs: Leaping 10 (1 mile) • 10 points

Reinforced physiology: Enhanced Stamina 9; Enhanced Strength 9; Immunity 10 (Life Support); Impervious Toughness 10; Quirk: Enhanced Abilities lose 1 rank per distance rank between the Brothers (–5 points) • 51 points

unbreakable connection: Enhanced Advantages 5 (Extraordinary Effort, Interpose, Second Chance: Will checks vs. mental effects, Set-up, Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge); Senses 3 (Mental Communication Link with Brother, Rapid 2) • 9 points

skills

Athletics 4 (+16), Intimidation 8 (+8), Perception 3 (+3), Ranged Combat: Throwing 8 (+8), Stealth 2 (+4)

aDvanTaGes

Chokehold (Bryce), Close Attack 5, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Hold (Manning), Improvised Weapon, Interpose, Power Attack, Set-up, Startle, Takedown, Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge

oFFense

iNitiative +2

Unarmed +10 Close, Damage 12

DeFense

DODge 8 FORtituDe 13

paRRy 10 tOughNess 12

Will 9

Power PoinTs

aBilities 26 skills 13

pOWeRs 106 DeFeNses 21

aDvaNtages 11 tOtal 177

ComPliCaTions

Battle Bracers: The Battle Brothers’ powers are derived from the alien bracers they each wear. They do not have the Removable modifier, but can still potentially be interfered with, making them a descriptor and complication rather than a power modifier.connected: The Battle Brothers are linked by their bracers. Moving more than distance rank 10 apart causes them both to acquire the dying condition until they move within that distance again. If one of them dies or becomes incapacitated, the other does so as well.

lets one Battle Brother make an immediate close attack as a reaction when the other successfully attacks and vice versa, effectively doubling their number of combat actions. A favorite tactic is for one Brother (usually Manning) to make a grab attack (Hero’s Handbook, page 196) to put an opponent in a hold, giving the other (usually Bryce) an im-mediate attack against the held foe, followed by the other Brother’s regular action for another attack, making a fairly devastating combo. Similarly, when using Set-up, one Brother Startles a target (leaving them vulnerable), the other attacks and, if he hits, the first Brother gets an imme-diate close attack as a reaction.

Although the Battle Brothers’ powers originate from their bracers, the devices are permanently affixed to their re-spective arms. They do not have the Removable modifier (Hero’s Handbook, page 149) Indeed, there is as yet no known way to remove them, even if the Brothers wanted to. Interference with the devices may affect the Brothers’ powers, but the alien items are virtually indestructible and self-repairing, so any such interference is likely to be temporary. They bracers may detach if the Battle Brothers die but, thus far, the theory has not been tested, and they intended to keep it that way.

hooks

The Battle Brothers are basic super-criminal muscle with some tricks up their sleeves. They’re useful as hirelings for master villains and crime-bosses and may be encoun-tered operating on their own looking to fill their coffers with loot, either to maintain their lifestyle or to fund re-search into the battle bracers.

two’s company...: The Battle Brothers’ mental link becomes more expansive, a lot more. Turns out the Brothers are capable of “listening in” on stormers, those transformed by the Silver Storm in Emerald City. Only problem is that when they do, those stormers become a part of their “network” with similar physical and mental effects. The Battle Brothers are at the middle of a growing group of stormers (perhaps including some other Threat Report characters) who are ba-sically “stuck with” each other and strongly motivated to do something about it, but less than willing to surrender to the authorities, even in exchange for help. What’s causing the battle bracers’ network to spread, and what if one or more stormer heroes get caught in it?

Repo-men: Unbeknownst to Bryce and Manning, the activation of the battle bracers has alerted their original owner(s), now looking to recover their missing property. The heroes may be fighting the Battle Brothers when sud-denly one or more aliens appear in their midst, targeting the criminals! While the heroes might be initially grateful for the help, they quickly learn these stranger visitors have no qualms about killing both of the humans to recover the bracers, and that they intend to target Earth after that. The only hope of averting an all-out invasion lies in the aliens’ culture of trial by testing: if the Battle Brothers can prove they are worthy of the bracers, then they and Earth will be left alone. They are permitted to have a support team in their efforts, and turn to the heroes for help. Is saving the world worth saving a pair of unrepentant criminals?

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