Richard Hunter

**Richard Hunter** was born in 1961. Two days after his birth, he astounded his parents by being able to lift both of them above his head. This ability played contrast to his 4-year old brother Wiseman's super speed. The two brothers grew up close, due to their astounding abilities and love for automotive repair. Eventually, Wiseman was scouted for a job at the main headquarters of Kōkan Motors in Japan.

Richard did not hear from his brother in some time, and missed him fiercely. To occupy his mind, he began using his super strength to fight crime, as a masked adventurer known as "Skull Buster". One day, he came across a devoted female fan of his going by the guise of Lady Skull Buster. The two began fighting crime together, and eventually, they attracted more super-adventurers, forming the team Guardian Collective. About this time, Lady Skull Buster, whose real name was Persephone Prescott, changed her name to Light Snake, and the two began dating. Eventually, Richard and Persephone married. In the meantime, he also started an auto shop, Bach-Hunter Mechanic Co., with his schoolmate Sebastien Bach.

Richard did eventually briefly see his brother again in 1982, during the conflict known as Evil Croatia. The two of them were recruited as superhuman representatives of the militaries of their respective countries (Richard from the United States, and Wiseman from Japan). After the conflict was resolved, the two parted ways again and kept in touch, but did not see one another for almost 30 years afterward.

In 1988, acting on orders from her superior, Persephone shot Richard in the midst of a battle. She had secretly been a mole on the team, observing Richard and pretending to be in love with him so that she could gather intelligence. Richard's teammate Grim Guns rushed him to the hospital, where he was operated on by his spinal surgeon cousin Samantha Hunter. Despite her best efforts, she could not heal Richard, but the wound would have been fatal had she not done as much as she did.

Guardian Collective disbanded almost immediately, although Richard did keep in contact with some of the other members of the team. To keep himself from growing bitter and cynical, he took up work as a mechanic. Even though he had sold his interest in Bach-Hunter some time prior, Sebastien allowed him to work there again.

## Powers and Abilities

Richard was born with superhuman strength, the limits of which have never been fully or properly tested. It has been theorized, however, that age and lack of usage of his higher echelons of strength have deteriorated his ability to some degree; Richard himself says that he feels that this could be true, he cannot explain why he does.

Through extensive training, Richard has been able to build up his body's durability, especially in his hands, arms, and legs. This allows him to strike objects with massive force that would ordinarily damage the average human greatly. Since this durability is near superhuman limits, it is entirely possible that his training was enhanced by a secondary innate power. Unlike his strength, his durability has verifiable taken a hit with age.

Richard is also a Red Glove in Savate, a French kickboxing martial art. Between his strength and his durability, his striking force is insurmountable.

Richard's trade and hobby outside of crime-fighting is in automobile mechanics, and is among the best in the business. Due to the existence of computers in most modern vehicles, he is also proficient in that field.

### Weaknesses

Richard is paraplegic due to Light Snake's shooting him. He requires a wheelchair to maneuver anywhere.

Richard also fell into a bout of crippling depression following his injury, but his return to mechanic work has lessened the effects of this. From time to time, however, he encounters a brutal relapse and must pull himself out of this funk.