Catalyst

Hugo Lefebvre was a Belgian-born neohuman mercenary who worked on and off as a henchman for various organisations, many of which were terrorist and paramilitary. This put him into direct conflict with Volt during his early missions with MI6.

### **History**

Hugo was born in Bruges, Belgium in 1982 and was the son of Ludivine and Michael Lefebvre who were both high-ranking officers in the Belgian Armed Forces, as such Hugo grew up around military bases and took an interest in forces as a child, enrolling in cadet services when he was 13, wanting to peruse an active role in the Belgian Ground Forces, although Hugo wanted to do other things, notably play guitar and become a musician, felt as though his decision was heavily influenced by his parents military pride.

At some point, likely later in his teenage years, Hugo became a neohuman and after the age of 19 in 2001 he left the military to pursue private mercenary roles; this somewhat angered his parents, who he felt stifled his childhood with constant pushing towards the military rather than let him focus on any of his hobbies, though the majority of his decision to leave was based on his newfound neonism and a feeling of power that surged through him.

From 20 onwards Hugo found himself as part of The Guild, becoming a local patron of the Netherguild Hostel where he picked up his first few mercenary jobs, but Hugo was something of a rebel even amongst other guildmembers, being overly controlling when he had to work with a team, preferring to take solo missions; in one instance, referred as The Sittard Incident in 2003, Hugo let two of his team members die when capturing what was believed to be deserters to the Guild who looked to sell Guild secrets and ended up destroying downtown Sittard in the ensuing fight, The group looked to sell the location of the Hostel that was a known safehouse for Guildmembers and any potential protection missions they may be offered, to foreign governments or other parties interested. While the deserters were taken care of, the Guild's operations had to be reduced in the area following serious Interpol investigations.

After Sittard Hugo ran from The Guild and ended up working as a bodyguard for rogue biochemist Lúcio Castro, rebranding himself Catalyst, helped the Loupoir organisation in the espionage of Eurodyne to steal from the United States Government's development of Proteptomine16 and it's aerosolised form Proteptogen.

In 2008 Volt and Diesel went to take down Castro on a hijacked freighter near Cuba, found a hostage situation with a CIA scientist named Jim Robinson and his family, who Castro had kidnapped on vacation to force him to reveal shipment details of the chemical and other equipment he needed. When Diesel attacked, Catalyst discovered he could influence Diesel's thermochemical propulsion and kept her at bay until Volt took down Castro, however Hugo got away on a lifeboat while Volt and Diesel rescued Robinson's family from the sinking freighter.

When Castro was convicted and sent to prison in Cuba, he used some of his contacts whilst inside to put an enormous bounty on Catalyst, calling him a coward, where Commander Jay Burgess led a team to apprehend him in Switzerland where he was believed to be involved in making a myriad of fake passports and false history. However during a firefight and road chase Catalyst blew up an oil truck that caused fires in the town of Sargens, which almost killed him, but gave him the opportunity to escape in the destruction and headed to Italy, where he laid low, and reportedly became a thug for the Mafia for a short time.

In 2009 Lefebvre made his way into the US through Mexico where he ran drugs for local crime lords to and from across the US/Mexico border, and later himself gained a following, betraying and killing several members of various gangs, police officers and government agents in this time, sick of being a tool, Catalyst wished for an empire of his own, and intended to start an industrial chemical business by conducting secret operations in an abandoned chemical plant in New Mexico. There he was contacted by several agents such as a recovering Zeroth and Trivium, although what was discussed between the three was never revealed.

In 2010 Volt was sent after Catalyst during a NSA/MI6 cooperative while Cerice and Sidewinder also pursued his bounty for The Guild, Hugo was finally disabled when he destroyed the ghost town of East Cruces in New Mexico and the NSA handed him to Interpol, who when convicted, sent him to Tartarus.

### **Appearance**

Hugo was a tall, well-muscled man of around 6'2, short, blond hair and a high crows-peak, he had light blue eyes and a Belgian forces tattoo on his upper right arm that had a red circle and strike tattooed over that. He had several scars and bullet wounds on his arms, body and left side of his jaw. He often wore combat and military-style protective gear but liked the colour green, and his powers would often cause a green biochemical glow or crackle of energy around his target and in his irises when in use.

### **Personality**

Hugo grew up pushed towards his parents want of him serving in the military and according to him, never let him often practice any other form of hobby; while initially he accepted his path as his own, later came to realise that his parents may have been overly controlling of his wants growing up and later developed a resentment for them, and he quit the military at a young age to engage in private and paramilitary activities with The Guild. Much of his resentment was based on his own struggle to stand up or be brave enough to tell his parents no, perhaps hoping he would never disappoint them, being their only child, and grew angry at his own lack of confidence.

Hugo, however was known for his self-preservation, while he certainly was a fighter, and no doubt brave, didn't work well in groups and ultimately cared little for anyone but himself, this made others brand him as a coward when he would then move to protect only himself during battles, even as a neo with superhuman abilities, faced with unbeatable odds Lefebvre chooses to "*fight another day*" and was often not seen for many months, or years between major incidents.

Face-to-face Hugo is often viewed by others as just another military meathead, preferring simple methods and quick, brutal tactics, nevertheless, Catalyst grew to be something of a deceptively good subterfuge agent for his own benefit and grew a vast knowledge of moving about the world under other pseudonyms, learning to avoid detection and work in a number of mundane jobs for brief periods.

### **Powers and Abilities**

Hugo is a neohuman who was born with a series of n-genes or "neones" that gave him superhuman abilities during puberty.

#### **Powers**

**Remote Reactive Catalyzation:** As his codename suggests, Catalyst has the ability to tap the potential chemical energy of any reactive element in his vicinity and release this energy violently, this can vary between 10 to 15 meters depending on concentration and usually easier to catalyse the energy of certain types of liquid or gas but according to him does include *some* solid elements such as caesium, however this process requires emersion of that solid in a particularly reactive liquid and releases massive amounts of harmful energy and radiation he isn't necsecerrly immune to past controlling the initial reaction and is difficult to sustain and control without a liquid catalyst.

* **Chemical Explosion Inducement:** He could cause reactive, explosive liquids or gasses to combust explosively and control that explosion's energy so long as there is fuel, he can mentally direct this reaction in a direction and even sustain it's reaction for al little while longer until all fuel is burned. When he is controlling a reaction it is noted the explosion is surrounded by a green glow or may sometimes flicker with green electricity, this seems to be dependent on the chemical and it's mixture.
	+ **Outside Chemical Reaction Control:** After fighting Diesel, who's power creates a thermochemical energy for propulsion and protection, Catalyst discovered he could control, or briefly stop reactions already happening, including increasing or decreasing the reactions of acids and burning.
* **Electrochemical Inducement:** He can use various reactive liquid acids to generate an electrical charge via his power, as long as there is chemical energy retained in the chemical he is drawing energy from he can control this charge via his power, directing electric arcs that attain a green hue and letting him manipulate that liquid's form and direction during the process.
* **Napalm Ignition and Control:** He could ignite flammable liquid chemicals and control the reaction as napalm until it is utterly inert.
* **Liquid Chemical Transmutation:** He later learned to use his power in more subtle ways, allowing him to transform one liquid chemical into another, or use that process to simulate electrolysis using the chemical's own energy.
* **Reaction Resistance:** He seems to be mostly immune to any reaction he is in full control of, though his immunity dosn't actually include all of the specific dangerous energy types such as fire, extreme heat or electrical currents, created from certain reactions, and must be sure to retain control of tapped chemical energy so that the process redirects that reaction away form him at all times.
* **Chemicolocation:** He has the ability to detect the presence and distinguish between various types of chemicals in a range of around 15 meters.

#### **Abilities**

***Military Training:*** Hugo trained in the military and paramilitary organisations for years, becoming an expert at various firearms, hand-to-hand combat, knife-fighting and strategy.

***Chemical Knowledge:*** Because of the nature of his powers, he learned to distinguish between different types of chemical and delve into chemistry to improve the use of his power, this eventually enabled him to start to build a chemical company and build weapons such as crude grenades and bombs, although he was taken down before it became an official and legal.

***Jack-of-all-Trades:*** He had various small jobs under his belt that gave him a verity of non-military work across the world.

***Guitarist:*** He was pretty good at playing the guitar and tried to play whenever he had spare time.

### **Weapons and Equipment**

**Various Firearms:** He has access to various forms of gun, from pistols to submachine guns and rifles, he would often use his power on the weapons to improve their power and destructive capabilities of ammo.

**Explosives:** He often uses and activates detonation of explosive elements with his powers, allowing him to leave traps using standard weapons without a detonation lead or device.

**Chemiclet:** Rotating gauntlet on his left wrist containing metal vials of glass-encased caesium floating in chemicals that was made for him by Trivium that he could energise, breaking the glass bubble surrounding the caesium into small but highly destructive bolts of white energy from focusing barrels on the top of his wrists. When these bolts hit a solid object they explode with tremendous force and white hot heat, just one is enough to decimate several buildings at once.

**Acid Thrower:** Another weapon designed for him by Trivium, although Catalyst actually did most of the constructing himself, the thrower consists of a duel-drum backpack and an acid-proofed hose attached to an extending nozzle on his right wrist, using his power Catalyst could increase the strength of the acid into an energised green liquid stream that leaves the barrel into a reaction so strong it will melt near enough anything in several seconds, this reaction does run the risk of damaging the weapon should he energise the stream too close to the barrel, eating though even the acid proofing.

**Bayonette:** A blade he took from his time in the Belgian forces that he keeps in his right boot.

### **Limitations and Weaknesses**

Hugo must have access to reactive chemicals and fuels in his vicinity, though he can create and control catalytic reactions over 10 to 15 meters away, isolating him from any form of chemically reactive chemical, or only allowing inert chemicals near him renders him ultimately powerless.

He is known as something of a coward and highly selfish, and in many circumstances will run rather than face possible death, letting others die for him.