Fissure

Sterling Jackson, better known to the public as *Fissure* was a student at the ZPA in 1998. He was described as "loud and strong, but held his friends and ideals close to his heart" by his close friend, Darcy. He was tall, dark-skinned and could always be seen with a large smile on his face from a recently-cracked joke before his death at the hands of The Doom Disciples in *Session 19*.

## History

Sterling (sometimes known by his Indian name Eagle Tail Feathers) is the son of Dragonfly, the first leader of The Parahuman Brigade and Vietnam War veteran and was born in 1975. His early childhood was filled with old war stories and other tales of heroics, but a soldier's wage could barely be called "generous", so he never grew up with excess. This influenced Sterling's view of the world: everyone should embrace the little things.

His little brother, Malik, was born in 1982 and Sterling vowed to be the best big brother in the world. He had great plans of teaching his new brother everything his father taught him, and his own little tricks he picked up on the schoolyard.

After his father's death in 1983, when he was only eight, Sterling felt the true weight of what being a "hero" entails. This didn't shake his resolve - he *was* going to become a hero, but maybe not a soldier. He always remembered his father talking about how The Vanguard may keep people safe, but are still *people* themselves, though he never really understood what his father was trying to get at. So, he made up his mind: both he and his brother will join The Vanguard. After all - after hearing about their father's stories, who wouldn't be inspired?

In 1985, Sterling and his family moved to Medicine Hat, Canada to be with his mother's family. Since Canada never fought in America's overseas wars, his grandparents never saw Dragonfly as a "hero", just a soldier who did his job. Because of this, he never grew as close to his mundane grandparents as his brother did.

By the time his brother started going to school, Sterling immediately realised the difference between the two of them. Malik was more like their father, tall but thin, while Sterling had the build of his grandfather: bulky. He tried repeatedly to get his brother to square up, but this only pushed them further apart from each other - to the point where Malik wanted nothing to do with their father's legacy. That was his breaking point. He realised that there was *nothing* he could do to get it through to Malik how important this was, so he stopped trying. He gave up on him - but not his dream. He began practicing Brazilian jujitsu after class and took to the streets as the hero *Cicada* at age 14.

The streets of Medicine Hat proved fruitless, so he took off for Calgary at age 16 and began his time as a vigilante. Around this time, he realised how hard it is in the real world. Constantly on the brink of not knowing when his next meal will be and tackling crime at the same time, he went through his Awakening; he could suddenly control the Earth to his will. He became somewhat famous locally and by the time he turned eighteen, he had his own clique of vigilantes known as *The Outsiders*. Life was getting pretty good for him, living off of people's donations, though it was around this time he began getting notoriety not only from the bigger villains, but The Vanguard as well.

Even though Canada is outside of The Vanguard's sphere of influence, they still have eyes scattered throughout, and some of them happened to be placed on Cicada. Fearing his secret identity being compromised and his family being questioned, he decided the best thing to do was to hang up his mask and quit.

Despite his friends' protests, he quit for good and headed down south for Florida. It was around this time that he tracked down his family and began writing letters, though he never had the guts to go back to Medicine Hat and go visit them.

By the time Malik entered high-school, Sterling had already driven himself back to Florida to do... Something with his life. Even if he didn't drop out at the end of Sophomore year, his grades were never good enough to get him into college, but he felt a calling - he *needed* to move, no matter what anybody else said. And, after two years of working as a cashier, he got his opportunity - a letter of recommendation to this new school called *The Zarahustra Parahuman Academy* for gifted Parahumans.

## Story

Sterling helped recruit for Delilah's idea: a team of students to help track down the missing women who had been going in Wilmington since early September. This group was later named *The Watchdogs*, a name which Sterling himself had suggested. The team consisted of the following: Fissure, Revenant, Tracker, Miss Riot and Amber who worked behind the scenes to keep the authorities out of their hair. Soon, the group expanded to include Haze, who had just transferred in, and Ellipses, a friend of Revenant's.

Sterling had been a staunch critic against the idea of becoming vigilantes (though he never stated his real reasonings), stating that "heroes are supposed to work with the law - even if it's inefficient sometimes). When Harvey had gone against him and started working with The Renegades, a notorious group of local vigilantes, he held in his anger and chose to use them for information.

It was only when Revenant began infiltrating houses and doing anything illegal that Sterling flipped out and (temporarily) left the group. He only returned to condemn Harvey and Darcy, who both took the criticism to heart and apologised to him. Not expecting this response, he couldn't help but forgive his friends and rejoined the group.

Early in the morning of the 2nd of November, Sterling was awakened by his pager saying simply, "Don't worry about Harvey, he's in good hands =) " This message freaked him out and he replied with, "Funny joke", only to receive another "=)". He got out of bed to check Harvey's dorm to no response. He went to Ardent with this information, who confirmed that Harvey left early the previous morning and never returned. Sterling knew that Harvey was doing dealings with her, and tried using this as leverage to get some information out of her. Probably due to her powers, she already knew that he knew and didn't care. He then begged her to allow him to assemble The Watchdogs and go retrieve their friend. Ardent smirked and told him about Thomas Harding, a mole within The Renegades who could relay information to her for him. Sterling was shocked by this revelation, but told her that he'd use Thomas to tell her when and where to strike. She told him that Kiara was also missing, so it was going to be a double rescue mission, and he left with this final words, "And Sterling, don't try and be a hero. Dead heroes don't save lives."

Sterling then assembled The Watchdogs early that morning and told them that they had 20 minutes to get out before lockdown began and that both Harvey and Kiara had gone missing. Everyone agreed that they were the only ones who could find them before they were tortured to death and set-off for The Renegades immediately.

With the help of Red Trigger, a hitman for hire and father of one of The Renegades, they tracked down The Doom Disciples and rescued their friend. The reunion was short however, as the PIU busted down the doors only to kill Red Trigger in cold blood and arrested The Renegades. All on Tom's orders. The Watchdogs were ceremoniously arrested, though Sterling knew that they weren't really going to be locked away.

At the second tournament, *Retribution Night*, Sterling saw his family again for the first time in five years. Everyone had changed a lot. His brother started looking up to him when he saw him in the first tournament on TV - even behind a mask, he could recognise his older brother. They had an unexpectedly good time catching up with each other and Malik left him with a hopeful statement: "One day, I hope to live up to you and dad." Thinking about it made him cry that night. His dream was not only within his grasp, but he finally had the support he was searching for his whole life.

## Death

Sterling died in the final fight with The Doom Disciples at the South Carolina State Hospital. He was slammed into a protrusion of metal that Vandal had created by Dirge. His final act was one of heroism - creating a wall of stone around the injured Darcy, to protect him from having the same fate as him.

## Power

Sterling's power, known as *Tectonic Rage*, is a form of geokinesis (Earth Manipulation) that focuses on the Earth's tectonic plates. He has been shown to create pillars of stone, create fault lines, sink holes and create functional vehicles out of stone (given enough time). He is purely a *Shaper* and cannot create Earth out of the ether.

## Costume

Sterling's costume has changed dramatically over the course of his life. As *Cicada*, he wore a simple black hoodie and respirator to mask his identity. With the funding of the ZPA, he adapted a black, skin-tight jumpsuit made of *synthramide*, a RepoTech alloy that is commonly worn among superheroes. He wore bronze-coloured steel gauntlets adorned with spikes. From his waist hung a matching belt used to store various gadgets ranging from grenades to handcuffs.

His *Heroic Symbol* was a white samurai helmet adorned with four insectoid wings, resembling his father's original armour. This was often simplified to just a dragonfly in promotional material.