Numskull

Numskull is a mutant superhero and member of NOVA.

## Biography

One day a disgruntled former law student, radicalized and heavily armed, came to the University of Baltimore campus with weapons and a grudge. When the young shooter burst into the lecture hall, intending to kill a hated ex-professor and anyone else who happened to be present, Brett Stokesy leapt from his seat at the back of the hall and tackled him while everyone else fled screaming. The gun was trapped between Brett and the shooter as they grappled, and the frantic man fired again and again into Brett's sternum until the clip ran out. Realizing that he was still not dead, nor letting go, the shooter panicked and detonated the makeshift explosive vest he was wearing under his coat.

By all accounts, Brett should have been vaporized in the blast. But when the SWAT team burst in they found him sitting naked and dazed in the middle of a blackened, smoking ring on the cracked floor, badly frightened but unharmed. After the questioning was over, Brett began to experiment with his newfound abilities. He realized that he no longer felt pain, and his body seemed to repair itself at an incredible rate, healing any damage right before his eyes.

Brett had pursued law in order to do good in the world, and now he had the power to do more to fight crime than he'd ever dreamed. He managed to make contact with Powerful Bill, who had recently taken over leadership of NOVA after the departure of its old guard. Bill, intrigued and eager to refill NOVA's roster, brought Brett on as a trainee. Brett threw himself into his training with a will, and when Bill saw he was ready he donned the costume of Numskull, Nova's newest and most promising member.

## Personality

Numskull isn't as dim as his name suggests. He is quiet, thoughtful, and reserved, but a powerful and fast-moving mind hides behind that reticence. The ferociousness he projects in battle is just an act designed to intimidate; at heart he's actually a kind and empathetic person who doesn't love violence.

NOVA is a fractious team, but Numskull's infrequent words carry great weight and make him the defacto pillar of the group. His support does wonders in boosting Bill's ability to lead the team, and Numskull is satisfied with his position for now. But he wants to see NOVA shift its focus from battling individual criminals to busting organized crime syndicates, which he judges to be the greater threat to society. He is pleased with NOVA's recent crusade against the Temeraire Club's New York branch and he hopes to apply that energy to busting up the city's traditional mafia elements.

## Powers

Numskull has incredible powers of regeneration that render him essentially immortal. Although his defenses are rather low— in fact he often gets knocked around like a rag doll— no injury can stop him. He has been shot, hacked to pieces, even disintegrated, and no matter what he always regenerates in seconds. Combined with his inability to feel pain he can simply wade through hails of bullets and fiery battlefields with impunity.

Numskull's mutation doesn't give him any offensive abilities, but luckily his training and gear provide what nature does not. He wears a pair of armored gauntlets to enhance his unarmed fighting skill, and carries a handful of voice-activated explosives on his belt. His gauntlets also house a small grapple-line launcher that allows him to entangle his enemies and maneuver around the battlefield.

Numskull knows how to make the most of his mutation. He often combines a display of his invulnerability (say, by lighting himself on fire) with his enormous presence to intimidate entire groups of foes into submission. If he finds himself surrounded by enemies, Numskull simply detonates his explosives, knowing that he will quickly recover from the blast while his enemies will not.

Numskull, recently graduated, maintains a secret identity as a young associate attorney at a small New York law firm. He is very well read and has an excellent understanding of the law, particularly as it applies to metahumans.

## Weaknesses

Logic dictates that *something* has to halt Numskull's regeneration, but even he doesn't know what that is. If a villain were to discover his Achilles' heel, Numskull's career might come to a swift and bloody end.

Numskull is hunted by VIPER and a number of private individuals who all desire the secret to his amazing regenerative powers.