Chel

Chel was a cybrid with a mysterious and dark past who became the leader of the Shellheads, a young gang of bikers that rode across several states east of Southern California. He later befriended and fell for Varana as they looked for Mole, but when the two had a disagreement went back to his old life. What became of him is unknown.

### **History**

Little is known about Chel's early history other than that his real name was Bobby and he and his friends were originally from Salt Lake City, he knew most of his gang before he began to mutate at 14-years-old and the group of 7 boys, with a teen known as Tommy the oldest at 17 leading them and spent most of their time on the road in his older friend's van looking for food, work and adventure, often stealing or hijacking food trucks on long empty roads whilst escaping the police.

Chel, thought to acquired the name when Toby, another member of the gang called him "Chelonii" as a joke, which was another name for the turtle family *Testudine,* but admitted it sounded "kinda cool".

Still caring for their friend despite his transformation in what Tommy called a "ninja turtle" Chel quickly became the gang's secret weapon, using him to rob stores and steal food trucks for years while they lived in an abandoned building project in the middle of nowhere, the gang grew in number to 13, acquiring and modifying stolen bikes.

By the time Chel was 17 a bitter feud between he and Tommy over leadership and the direction of the gang grew, feeling like he was little more than a tool for Tommy, Chel challenged his leadership and the gang was somewhat split. Most of the new members chose Tommy's side, and despite Tommy agreeing to settle the issue "fairly", Chel never fully trusted him, even after all these years, and killed him in his sleep. Chel, however claimed they had an argument and lost control of his temper, breaking his neck with a punch to the throat.

While most of the gang were horrified, also believed that Tommy was just using Chel and that Tommy's death was an accident, although in truth Chel did regret the decision to kill him that night, and started to wonder into the desert. But when Toby and his brother Al found him he was dying of dehydration, they begged him to return, saying that the gang was tearing itself apart over Tommy.

When he, reluctantly came back Chel said that no one had to follow him if they didn't want to, and a few did leave, but the majority took to following Chel as their leader and by the time he was 20 had named the gang the Shellheads.

In 2001 Chel met Varana on the road in Utah where they quickly bonded over their cybridism, and together they became a somewhat prolific criminal element in Utah, Nevada and the surrounding states, keeping a low profile when they could.

By 2003 word of Mole's Genetic Victims Society reached them and they began looking for the mysterious man, eventually finding the neo known as Stray who was a part of the group and through him was led to Mole.

### **Powers and Abilities**

#### **Powers**

Chel was a first-generation Cybrid with alligator snapping turtle genes cybridised into his embryo, as such started to develop physical mutations and traits based on a turtle's biology during puberty.

**Part-Testudine Cybrid Physiology:** Bobby developed a number of turtle-like abilities and characteristics thanks to the mutation caused by his cytoplasmic hybridisation.

* **Enhanced Strength:** Chel's musculature was much more tensile than normal humans, enabling to lift nearly 8 and a half to almost 10 tonnes but has a stronger muscular grip with a force of around 16.5 kN in his arms and hands.
	+ **Enhanced Bite:** He has powerful jaw muscles and bone structure and massively durable teeth and inner-mouth, which is able to open wider than that of a normal Human, and can generate enough pressure to break bones with a quick snap, producing 18.5 kN of force in his jaw.
* **Enhanced Durability:** His skin was thicker and skeletal structure much more dense as well as his body being covered with thickened carapaces of bony material across his arms, the back of his hands, knees and particularly on his back, on a structure that formed a horned shell. This shell was usually hidden under his clothes giving him a hunched appearance but as he grew it became ripped, and protrusions often stuck through his clothes. The structure could protect him from forces as powerful as shotgun shells.
* **Enhanced Olfactory Senses:** Like turtles he has a series of chemically-sensitive bumps under his chin that work with his normal, human sense of smell, essentially giving him a secondary sense of smell that increases his scent range.

#### **Abilities**

* **Boxing:** According to Tommy was a boxing champion at school from a young age.
* **Motorbike Riding:** He knew how to ride his specially modified Harley Davidson with skilful expertise.
* **Motorbike Maintenance and Modification:** He and Tommy have been repairing and modifying bikes since they were kids.
* **Natural Leader:** While Tommy led the Shellheads for years stealing, robbing and hijacking for food, under Chel's leadership he made the team more functional and bonded despite the darker aspects of his feud with Tommy.

### **Limitations and Weaknesses**

Chel's physical appearance was quite severe for a cybrid and preferred to remain out of the public, even finding it difficult to wear clothes over his top-half that would rarely fit over his rough shell, as a result he often took to wearing the same clothing for years.

While usually relatively calm Chel was quick-to-snap when something did majorly irritate him, living up to his cybridation animal.