Sidestep

Vigilante Sidestep on the cover of Fallen Hero: Rebirth, by Cleo Rinofner.

### Classification

Boost: Gamma (pre-2011), Beta (2011-2013), Alpha (2013 - present)Telepathic: T236 (2002-2007), T1236 (2007-2011), T123567 (2011-2013), T12345678 (~2014-present)

## Biographical Information

### Relationships

The Farm (creators), Charge (friend), Steel (acquaintance)

## Appearances

### Appears in

Fallen Hero: Rebirth, Fallen Hero: Retribution

**Sidestep** is the player character. They are a former vigilante turned villain, acting as a hero hunter, mob boss, anarchist, or thief in Los Diablos.

## Description

### Appearance

#### Civilian

Sidestep's appearance is largely customizable. They can be male, female, or non-binary, cis or trans. Transgender Sidesteps can undergo hormone replacement therapy, facial reconstructive surgery, and top surgery. Sidestep can appear Black, Latine, Asian, Indigenous, Middle Eastern, White, or mixed. They can have black, brown, hazel, green, gray, or blue eyes. Their hair can be colored black, brown, auburn, red, or blond, with a straight, wavy, curly, or kinky texture, and styled shaved, short and styled, in cornrows, short and wild, chin length, shoulder length, or in dreadlocks. Short Sidesteps are around Lady Argent's height, average Sidesteps are around Herald's height and taller than Dr. Mortum, and tall Sidesteps are taller than Steel and Ortega.

In *Fallen Hero: Retributio*n, Sidestep can change up their style and hair. They can present as masculine, feminine, or androgynous. They can style themselves in a nondescript, worn, fashionable, expensive, grungy, quirky, or edgy manner. They can wear suits, sportswear, elegant clothing, military clothing, streetwear, preppy, or casual clothing. They can also have piercings on their ears, eyebrow, nose, and tongue. If they are captured by Hollow Ground at the Boulevard Casino auction, they will have have one of their piercings replaced or have their ear pierced in the case they have no piercings. Their hair can be re-colored black, brown, auburn, red, blond, or a custom color, with a straight, wavy, curly, coily, or kinky texture, and be styled shaved, covered, short and styled, in cornrows, braided, in a multitude of braids, short and wild, chin length, shoulder length, in locs, in afro puffs, in bantu knots, in a hi-top fade, in twists, in waves, in a mullet, in a short undercut, in a punk style, or long and loose.

As a Cuckoo Re-Gene, Sidestep's body is marked by a barcode on their chest, with orange tattoos spreading out from it.

Sidestep bears a strong resemblance to Hollow Ground and their relatives.

When fighting Lady Argent in *Fallen Hero: Rebirth*, Argent can claw through your helmet and scar your left cheek. If you are revealed to be the villain in *Fallen Hero: Retribution*, Argent can slash the right side of your face or blind your right eye.

#### Villain

As the villain, Sidestep wears a gray armored suit of interlocking pieces of sandwiched laminar plasteel over two layers of fibermesh. The plasteel is flexible when relaxed, only going rigid upon impact. The fibermesh is resistant to tears. Underneath, they wear a Nanomesh skinsuit. The Nanovores are housed in a reinforced compartment on the palm of their left glove.

##### Upgrades

Two upgrades can be made to Sidestep's armor.

##### Design

* Imposing
* Terrifying
* Mysterious
* Functional

> *Sidestep's suit is tall and imposing—a conqueror ready to take on the world.* *The cape billows in the slightest breeze.*
>
>

The helmet has a martial feel to it. The armor makes you look taller and more imposing.

> *Sidestep's suit is terrifying to look at—a monster garbed in forbidden science.* *The cape is ragged and torn.*
>
>

The helmet looks alien and predatory, with faceted eyes and a fanged mouth. The cape is ragged and torn, with a dark hood.

> *Sidestep's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.*
>
>

The helmet is a blank, mirrored surface. The planes of the armor are angular, obfuscating Sidestep's form.

> *Sidestep's suit is utilitarian and nondescript. The cape is thick and heavy, an extra layer of concealment and protection.*
>
>

The suit is sleek and functional, if not a touch too military. The cape looks more like a coat.
### Personality

Mechanically, Sidestep can act arrogant or anonymous, ruthless or empathetic, and daring or cautious.

As a vigilante, Sidestep acted as a tactician or fighter, with streetwise or tech-savvy skills.

Sidestep's descent into villainy can be motivated by revenge, anger, a good life, justice, or fate. How motivated they are to achieve their goals is dependant on their level of drive, raised or lowered depending on choice.

As the villain, Sidestep can kill indiscriminately, or only selectively kill agents. They can also stop killing, even going so far as to actively start saving others.

If Sidestep is a hero hunter, they vow to destroy any hero that gets in their way, either fighting to prove their own supremacy or in an effort to make the heroes stronger. If Sidestep is a mob boss, they can run their organization completely anonymously or fully revealed, with a fearful, professional, or friendly attitude. Sidestep's leadership skills can be raised or lowered depending on their choices as a boss. If Sidestep is an anarchist, they could tactically destroy the reputation of their enemies, seek to become more feared than their enemies, or remove them completely by murdering them. Their level of political awareness can be raised or lowered depending on their choices as an anarchist. If Sidestep is a thief, they can rob indiscriminately or selectively rob villains, targeting either technology or art and jewellery.

The Heartbreak Incident was a significant trauma for Sidestep. When connecting with Heartbreak's mind, they could have learned how to control others, sympathized with Heartbreak's desire for revenge, been overcome by hunger for what they had been missing out on, been reminded they could never truly belong, or sacrificed their past connections to survive. Following the Heartbreak Incident, Sidestep can also be actively suicidal.

Otherwise, Sidestep has some defining traits that aren't mechanically affected by the player:

* Lack of understanding of personal privacy or boundaries.
* Impostor syndrome (as a result of de-humanizing treatment).
* Inflated ego due to their boosted abilities.
* Teasing and quippy demeanor.
* Severe PTSD as a result of telepathic intrusion by a lunatic and 3.5 years of intrusive medical experimentation.

## Relationships

### Ortega

In Fallen Hero: Retribution, Sidestep can reveal they are the villain to Ortega, Ortega can be told Sidestep is the villain, or Ortega can discover Sidestep is the villain. If Ortega was told you are the villain, you can convince them you are innocent.

### Dr. Mortum

In Fallen Hero: Retribution, Sidestep can reveal their identity to Mortum and personally confess to possessing the Puppet.

### Lady Argent

In Fallen Hero: Rebirth, Sidestep can potentially delve into Argent's mind. If they are successful, they can manipulate Argent into seeing them as a friend or place a telepathic ace in the hole.

At the Gala fight, if you use your telepathy against her, Argent considers you a cheater.

In Fallen Hero: Retribution, Argent and the Handyman set you up for a confrontation.

In the aftermath of escaping the auction together, Sidestep can reveal they are a Re-Gene and the villain to Argent.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Fallen Hero: Retribution*, Chapter 12
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Fallen Hero: Rebirth*, Chapter 1
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Fallen Hero: Retribution*, Chapter 14
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Fallen Hero: Retribution*, Chapter 20
5. ↑ *Fallen Hero: Rebirth*, Chapter 9
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 *Fallen Hero: Rebirth*, Chapter 5
7. ↑ *Fallen Hero Rebirth*, Chapter 7
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Fallen Hero: Rebirth*, Chapter 4
9. ↑ *Fallen Hero: Retribution*, Chapter 13
10. ↑ *Fallen Hero: Retribution*, Chapter 19