Jake Huxley

* Level 2
* Level 1
* Human

Jake Huxley was a student at Rodriguez & Xanthe's University.

## Background

### Early Life

Jake was born in Sector 1. Him and Mia Lishi were friends for the majority of their lives, having known each other for eighteen years prior to meeting the MC. They also befriended Demi in high school. Jake's had a history of being bullied in the past, being told by his unnamed mother that others were jealous of his academic achievement.

### First appearance

Jake is first seen getting bullied at a café by Jared Wilson and his lackies. His figurine is stolen Jared and snapped in half, the remains tossed at him. He flees the café on the brink of tears while the MC and Deryl Livermore watch on in bitter nostalgia.

### Encountering Ella

After achieving superior grades to Jared and making a snide remark about it, Jake has his head forced into a filthy unflushed toilet. Ignoring his pleading for mercy and the disgust of James, Jared repeatedly suffocates and releases Jake until he agrees to give Jared the top spot in the next test. Jake vows vengeance, but quickly discards the fantasy and acknowledges his economic disadvantages over Jared.

After the jocks leave, Jake breaks down crying over his powerlessness. Suddenly Ella Vulpe begins speaking to him. While initially confused by her being in the men's bathroom, he's taken in by her consoling words and feeding of his disgruntlement. Ella insists she sees something special in Jake and offers him one of her monster luring pills. Believing they're drugs, Jake refuses, but Ella reigniting thoughts of revenge in him makes him reconsider.

### Meeting the MC

Jake first meets the MC when he asks him what he was supposed to do for the current lecture they're attending. The MC despairs after Jake informs him that he was supposed to study 3 chapters from textbooks and take a quiz that class. Seeing his dismay, Jake offers to let him review his own notes. The MC thanks him for this, and they exchange names.

Afterwards, Mia greets the pair and reveals that her and the MC have already met. Mia regals Jake with the story of how the MC slugged James in the face for her, to Jake's admiration. The MC's fearlessness makes Jake once again think about his powerlessness. The three of them discuss the class, with Jake bragging about Mia being already sought by private laboratories. The trio agree to become friends before departing together.

### A second encounter with Jared

Soon after separating from the MC, Jared Wilson and his lackies accost Jake and Mia. Jake shouts at the group to leave Mia alone, but Jared refuses since he disobeyed him. Kenny is disturbed and protests their actions, but Jared punches him in the chest, a flicker of fear on his face as he talks about potential punishment from his father. Jake notices this fear, so Jared begins beating him. To ensure Jake complies this time, he has James backhand Mia so hard she drops to her knees, with a promise that she'll be beaten alongside him.

The MC, having heard Jake's yell earlier, moves to intervene. He again knocks out James and threatens Jared's reputation, then departs after reconfirming his friendship with the duo. Jake is left to stew in his growing self-loathing when he once again couldn't protect himself or anything he cared about. Jake finally has enough, and after Mia departs to head to the nurse's office he pulls out the monster luring pill he was given, wishing to be better.

### Post ascension

Jake is revealed to have taken the pill when the MC and him meet at a frathouse party. His appearance is drastically altered by his body's optimisation, no longer fat. The MC's own Superhuman status lets him sense that something is off, but the passive aspects of Jake's powers render the MC unable to pinpoint what. His mind instead focuses on Jake's loss of glasses and hat. Jake leans into the MC's excuse, enjoying the compliments the MC gives him and outright blushing in delight should the MC be in their FemMC state. The MC departs as Jake looks at the party he's at in wonder, forgetting to ask just how exactly Jake got invited in the first place.

### During the Fraternity Massacre

Despite becoming a superhuman, Jake is terrified during Kenny's rampage after his corruption into an infected monster. He stumbles into a room and accidentally uses his powers to command some oil zombies to get away from him. The oil zombies stumble off to find other prey, and Jake's startled when Amber Foxglove and Liz Foxglove come out of the closet they were hiding in. He warns them to not go in the direction of Kenny, and shakily agrees with Liz when she suggests the option of waiting for the police. When Amber suggests that he simply tell any zombies that find them to leave like he did before, he's silent.

After the armoured up MC slays Kenny, he's amongst those that gather to meet their saviour. Notably, he's the person to ask the disguised MC what his name is, making him responsible for the MC's hero name.

It's later briefly mentioned by Liz that the Fraternity Massacre deeply impacted Jake, and that he was close to being cornered and killed multiple times that night.

### Reunion with the MC

After Mia awakens the MC after class from a dream involving monsters, Mia tells him that Jake's in the same boat as him. Jake is despondent for a moment, causing Mia to ask him if he's seen the new therapist, Alexis Allaband. Mia believes she must be top notch to be hired at R&X University, to which Jake non-enthusiastically replies in affirmation. After the MC asks if they learned anything interesting this class, Jake asks if he'll be okay for this class, offering him some notes despite him insisting some out of class study will be enough.

Upon reaching for the notes, the MC activates the memory aspect of his powers upon brushing Jake's fingers. Jake's powers partially protect his mind from invasion, but the MC gleams one memory - Jake's pre-empowerment look. He asks if Jake's lost weight, to Jake's shock and Mia's denial. Despite knowing Jake since childhood, Mia insists that he's always looked like he has post-empowerment. The MC brushes it off as just him having odd thoughts, to Jake's relieved.

### Bumping into Demi

Demi crashes into the trio after they leave class, greeting Mia enthusiastically. Jake says its good to see them again. As Mia reveals their shared past, Demi informs them that they already met the MC.

When Mia tells Demi about the MC standing up to bullies on their behalf, Jake urges Demi to not not engage them. When the MC inquires about Demi's gender, Mia and Jake briefly have a stand-off; Jake believes they're a girl, while Mia believes them to be a guy. They admit they don't actually know, but hold to their opinions, Jake mentions people tried hunting down others from Demi's middle school to find out, but nothing came of it. When the MC states that Demi's cute, Jake sighs and replies that everyone says that.

### Jake's therapy session

Jake is next seen attending therapy with Alexis. Jake admits to feeling guilt that he didn't attempt to save anyone during the Fraternity Massacre, having realised how is powers functioned at this point. He speaks of the infected Kenny, and how he crashed through the roof, killed a girl and resurrected her in front of him. It's revealed that right before Kenny cut him down, he accidentally used his powers, causing him to ignore Jake. Right after he recalls how the dead reanimated even if limbless, he begins to ask for advice. Just before, Alexis says their time is up and sends him out.

### Confronting Jared

Right after his therapy session, Jake is approached by Jared. He taunts him, and Jake, emboldened by his transformation and irritated that Jared somehow still remembers him being fat, talks back. Jared punches Jake, and though it hurts badly it's nowhere near as much as before. Jake winds up to retaliate him, but loses his nerve upon Jared reminding him of his social power. Jared proceeds to beat Jake until he's curled up and sobbing, his commands failing to activate.

Ella confronts Jake, disgusted at his weakness. She begins beating Jake down herself, chastising him for being so weak. Eventually Jake lashes out in rage, accidentally delivering a burst of pure power strong enough to hurt even her, though the damage is superficial and leaves Jake tired. Ella tells him his days of cowardice are over, and that she'll be personally training him to be her weapon. Bulldozing over his protests, she says she'll give him authority over the world, but he'll have to follow and do some tasks for her. Jake reluctantly agrees.

### Jake and Ella's meeting

Ella points out how strong Jake's power is, and hurts him for letting Jared get into his head deeply enough that his power doesn't effect him. She explains the genetic and psychological aspects of power development to him, and threatens to kill him if he can't get over his lack of self-confidence. She also reveals the MC's Superhuman status to Jake, and falsely concocts a narrative that makes Jake view him as a possible threat to his life.

### Jake VS Jared round 2

The next time an encounter occurs between Jared and Jake, Jake confidently stands his ground as he issues an order. This time his powers work, and Jared walks off to obey him. The day after he runs off to Ella to report his success, having an epiphany on how strong he truly is now. Ella attempts to deflate his ego and provide motivation by pointing out that the MC has had more time with his powers than Jake.

### Return to the frathouse

Jake and the other students are taken back to the site of the Fraternity Massacre, to Jake's clear dismay. While there, he utilises his growing power to make Liz and Amber remove their tops. When the MC walks in, he's effected by the passive effects of Jake's powers and treats the situation casually. Regardless, the girls favour him enough that they attempt to leave with him, and Jake tries to use his powers to force them to stay and the MC to leave. Should he be powerful enough he'll momentarily break Jake's control and yell at him, causing him to flee the room. Otherwise he obediently leaves. Either option results in Jake's passive powers suppressing the MC's memory of the event shortly after.

### Ella and Jake's next meeting

Ella asks Jake about if he knows Alexis and Clark. Jake reveals that Alexis is his therapist, which causes Ella to deduce that they know about him. Ella tasks him to coax information on H.E.R.O.'s research lab out of Alexis for her, teaching him a new application of his power to do so. The next day Jake briefly passes by the MC on his way to therapy, and he agrees to possibly catch up with him later. Once inside, Alexis drops all pretences and just tries to recruit him. Jake implants suggestions into Alexis' mind whilst presenting himself as non-threatening, ensuring she's more open with him on their next meeting. He then leaves to go report to Ella.

When Jake reports back to Ella he's praised, as well as given some half-truths and obfuscations on the mechanism of her power and the nature of H.E.R.O.. She pushes him to use his powers more creatively and selfishly to hurt Jared. The next time Jake is seen he's trying to use his powers on Jess Belamy to spite Jared, intending for him to walk in mid-coitus. A crisis of conscious causes him to lose control over her, and he backs out after using an active command to wipe her memory. Instead, he makes Jared write him a list of the easiest lays on campus and to keep it confidential.

### Entrusting secrets to Mia

Jake reveals his powers to Mia, and almost immediately she begins to question the ethics of how he's used them. Attempting to defend himself, he exposes the MC as a Superhuman too. Mia questions Ella's word whilst logically pointing out why the MC wouldn't tell them about his powers. Jake departs, promising to question the MC on his story.

Jake next encounters the MC at a party. When he expresses surprise at Jake's presence, Jake is hostile and defensive. If the MC replies insultingly, Jake gets angrier. If the MC responds neutrally or nicely, then they can instead bond over how the MC lost his virginity. Jake's tactics for getting laid changes depending on who the MC lost it to.

Jake visits Ella, enthusiastic about training as he believes he’s on the cusp of a breakthrough. After the session he’s exhausted from trying to use his powers on a level 4. He asks about Ella’s relationship with the MC, to which Ella tells him that the MC’s a killer. Jake’s told to confront him, with Ella stating that he can confidently or possibly survive the MC, depending on the MC's power.

Jake attempts to admit to the MC that he's a superhuman multiple times after this. The first time he never confesses, as MC gets side-tracked with other tasks, and Ella quickly capitalises on the moment to make herself seem empathetic as soon as he leaves. The second time Ella shapeshifts into the MC and insults Jake, setting a course for a confrontation in the future.

The next time Jake is seen is during another training session. Ella tasks him placing a command on Deryl, promising Jake it’ll increase his power greatly if mastered. She elaborates more on the mechanisms of a Superhuman’s power, before probing him for his reaction to her earlier ploy. After Jake admits he told Mia about his powers, she begins to plant seeds of doubt in Jake’s trust for her.

### The beach

Depending on the MC’s choices, Jake can begin to get confused about their image of the MC. If the MC acts kindly to Jake and invites him along to events he’ll express confusion, but act cordially with the MC. If they don’t he’ll be more convinced of the authenticity of Ella’s trick. Failing to invite him to the beach results in him attempting to implant a suggestion in the MC, only for the active command to fail and harm Jake due to being phrased as an order.

When at the beach, if Jake wasn't invited by the MC, they'll go to sit with Deryl instead of with Jake and Mia. If he was invited the MC can sit with Jake, and he'll ask if the MC considers himself special. His answer will influence how much Jake likes him. In the end, Jake either hesitantly or unapologetically carries out his assigned task, using the newly developed technique Authority: Imprint to bind Deryl to Ella's will. He's caught by Mia during the process, and upon being coaxed into it by Ella, erases her memories of Ella and his powers. The amount of memory erased is too much, and it causes brain damage in Mia. Right afterwards, Jake's evolution is triggered. He passes out from the pain, handicapping his potential growth at level 2.

Later he awakens in a hospital after an oblivious Deryl finds him and has someone call an ambulance. He's briefly dazed, but remembers everything everything eventually. He blames Ella, but she reflects that Deryl was her objective. Afterwards she tells him that she can fix Mia's body, but only if he trains to master his powers and make up for his lost potential, on top of performing another task for her. Jake agrees, internally swearing to even kill Ella if that's what it takes to bring back Mia.

### H.E.R.O. Infiltration

Jake's next appearance is being escorted by Alexis to H.E.R.O. headquarters after having used his powers to pass the background check. He's worried as Clark Cabellero appears and mentions the personnel count H.E.R.O. has mid-conversation, but decides he's done being afraid and presses on. He has a flashback of Mia and him promising to visit the building he's in together, and ruefully admits he broke a promise he made to her.

After being taken down to the secret underground headquarters, he's continuously stunned by what he sees. He briefly runs into some of the upper echelons of H.E.R.O. and is chastised by Nicolette Heart for staring at her. After others leave to do their own tasks, it's just Jake and Alexis. He uses an active command to suggest they go look at the labs as part of his tour, and Alexis obliges. After entering the lab Clark reappears, and he begins yelling at Alexis for bringing Jake to a restricted area. This breaks Jake's influence on her mind, and his attempt to command her again only exposes him.

He uses a newly unlocked psychic command to hurt Alexis, but it merely minorly inconveniences her. Right before Jake is skewered by Alexis, Ella reveals that she'd shapeshifted to tag along on his body. She begins to fight, indifferent to Jake being suffocated beneath her mass. After a brief conversation with Clark, she escapes by burrowing underground, then flying off, all whilst Jake endures several close calls. He blacks out as Clark fires a large shot at him and Ella.

Later he awakens to Ella in a post-evolution haze, and as Troy and Laurie Kernz enter the scene he's caught in the side-effects of Ella's power, his body breaking down like the environment. Ella kills Troy and incapacitates Laurie, then remembers Jake's existence, reverting him, her surroundings and Laurie back to their default states. After Jake asks her how they escaped and that they've evaded their pursuers, Ella pits him against Laurie. He easily defeats her with a new psychic command, but spares her after wiping her memory. He reaffirms his dedication to fixing Mia, and alludes to how he sent someone to arrest the MC. Ella takes him to get some test subjects to improve his control, and cautions him that they're being searched for.

## Powers and Abilities

Jake is chosen as a spawn of the 1st Apostle - The Authority. He is very compatible with the 1st's trait and is shown to be subconsciously communicating with the 1st as early as his 2nd evolution.

### Human Abilities

Jake is tremendously intelligent, able to ace his university classes with little effort. He was considered very smart by Mia Lishi (a certified genius) and when he was finally able to overcome his innate meekness his focus and willpower increased tremendously. He is however, let down by his innately low self esteem and anxious personality. He is also naïve and a poor judge of character.

### General Superhuman Abilities

As with most superhumans with purely mentally presenting powers, Jake's body is weak compared to Superhumans of a similar level. He is barely stronger than a human in peak shape and not much faster either. He does however have a massive store of internal energy, enabling him to use his powers near constantly. Since he was in rather poor shape as a human, his ascension remade his body into one he would have had at peak form.

### Level 1 Abilities

Jake's power has passive and active components.

#### Passive Effects

Jake's power is constantly subtly effecting the minds of everyone around him. This is a self defense mechanism and manifests multiple effects:

* First, his power minimizes his threat profile by rewriting and suppressing memories to hide its existence. For example, everyone around Jake, even longtime friends like Mia Lishi, didn't notice his post-ascension appearance change. They all believed he had always looked that way. Another time, Jake's power made the MC immediately forget Jake's attempt to actively command him. This happens even if the MC instinctively shrugs off the direct command due to having a notably higher power than Jake. It also erases evidence of itself in the effected parties; the MC is unable to use his memory powers to tell who or what modified the thoughts of people Jake effects. And when the MC tries to look at a photograph of Jake, his brain seems to lose focus and try to look away.
* Second, his power resists all attempts to invade Jake's mind. The MC's for example, was only capable of gleaming a singular memory from a Level 1 Jake instead of the typical flood of thoughts when accidentally using his memory powers on him, and suffered a headache for his troubles.
* Lastly, his power makes it very hard for people to attack him. Should someone actually attack him, his powers passively disrupt their accuracy or strength; making them subconsciously miss their attacks or pull their punches. This part of his power is completely reliant on his internal energy so as he gets weaker, the protection also gets weaker.

#### Active Effects

Jake's power allows him to control the minds of others. He describes this process as placing "hooks" into people's minds. The longer someone is under his active control, the harder it is for them resist. While the target needs to be in line of sight and earshot of him, there are no other real limitations, especially if the target doesn't feel threatened by his approach or prepare defenses. His orders persist indefinitely; for example, if he were to say: "Obey Me", the target would simply obey him..... forever. The orders can be broad or narrow; He can order targets to forget things, perform any activity, remember things differently etc. Directly commanding Superhumans is risky for Jake since their power will naturally resist his, turning the command into a contest of strength and wills. A struggle Jake runs the risk of losing if the target has more power than him.

His active commands can only be applied to a target if they can hear the command. They're also partially dependent both on the power gap between him and his target, and the target's willpower. A target with less power than Jake but a stronger will can overcome even his strongest commands. Also, exerting too much of his power on someone can damage their minds.

His most powerful active command at level 1 is Authority: Imprint. It creates a permanent behavioral modification in the target towards a person of Jake's choice. Once imprinted, the target will be absolutely loyal towards the person they've imprinted on, even to their detriment.

### Level 2 Abilities

Jake's second evolution made further changes to his body. He became taller, stronger and developed a strange pattern on his irises. He also began to hear and communicate subconsciously with his progenitor. Both his internal energy and the range and scope of his powers increased dramatically. He can now command thousands of regular humans at once.

#### Passive

The potency of his passive defenses is further increased. Even hostile Level 2 Superhumans who know about and actively resist the manipulation are still effected. His higher levels of internal energy also keeps the protection active and potent for longer.

#### Active

The range and potency of his active commands is dramatically increased. As long as his targets can hear him and are in earshot, Jake's active commands can effect them. This enables Jake to use his increased energy supply control entire crowds. He is also able to effect Level 2 Superhumans without backlash.

Jake's own skills have also significantly improved. He learns to utilize his active commands to implant suggestions and ideas rather than direct commands. This minimizes the hostile nature and intent of his power, causing the internal energy of the target Superhuman to not actively resist, avoiding the possibility of being killed by a defensive backlash. When used repeatedly, the target can become increasingly suggestible. This approach is especially insidious and potent, allowing him to even temporarily influence the Level 5 Alexis Allaband.

However this approach has several drawbacks. The more energy his target has, the more energy Jake's active commands consume. This can be especially draining if a target needs layers of suggestions to make them more pliable for a more command later. The suggestions are also liable to break (along with Jake's control over the target) should the target realize that the suggestions or ideas aren't their own, as happened when Clark asked Alexis why she had brought Jake to a restricted area.

Jake's power also developed an explicitly supernatural component: ''Psychic Commands". These psychic commands can only be used against a single target but work even if the target is unable to hear; bypassing the weaknesses of his "Basic Commands". They simply need to be directed at the target, but at the cost of taking significantly more energy than his regular orders. Jake developed the following commands:

1. Command: Pain - This psychic command causes devastating pain to the target. If Jake imbues enough power into the command it can destroy the target's brain.
2. Command: Halt - This psychic command causes the target to stop all motion and freeze in place.
3. Command: Expose - This psychic command forces the target to drop any disguises, exit any hiding places, and reveal themselves.
4. Command: Imprint - This psychic command forces the target to obey whoever Jake directs them to obey.
5. Command: Retreat - This psychic command forces the target to immediately move away from Jake with all possible haste.

Jake's powers makes him extraordinarily dangerous, especially when regular humans or weaker superhumans are nearby. Jake can subvert their loyalties instantly and makes full use of their skills. The dangers posed by him are made obvious in the game when he is able to take over the entire government machinery of Sector A in a matter of days, becoming its de facto ruler with full access to the Sector's nuclear weapons.