Arcangelo Masters // Apprentice

Play-By: Jon Foo

"When you look in the mirror, what do you see?"
Full Name: Arcangelo Tony Masters
Codename: The Apprentice, Taskmaster by the wider media
Date of Birth: September 15th 2000
Sexual Orientation: Asexual
Character Faction: Thunderbolt

"Do you defend someone 'cuz 'they look like me'?"
Physical Appearance: Arcangelo is a man of somewhat average height, if leaning slightly towards the shorter side, with fairly forgettable physical characteristics. Of mixed Chinese and Italian parentage, Masters features are clearly leaning more strongly towards the Chinese side, with skin colour to match, a slightly shorter placement on the height spectrum, and black hair with brown eyes. Notably, the shape are extremely atypical, lacking the traditional almond-shaping that is common to those with a lineage such as his, and having a shape which is far more typical to Western ethnicities.

His build is well-muscled, but not particularly large, allowing him to keep a rather thin appearance, though what muscularity the man's possessed of is accentuated by his costume and some padding. In order to maintain the illusion of being the same man as the original Taskmaster, he also wears boots which exaggerate his height slightly, in order to lessen the difference in size between the men, Arcangelo being only 5'8".

Outside of his uniform, Arcangelo favour simple clothes, often opting to wear jeans and a shirt, though the man also has a favourite black jacket that he's rarely seen without. And rather than running in uncomfortable, if functional, boots the mutant prefers to wear sneakers that don't have a very hard carapace. As Taskmaster, or The Apprentice among the correct circle, the Thunderbolt Leader wears a skull-mask which is precisely like the one his father once had. Tactical armour and steel-soled boots are the preferred wear of the man. His entire body is made of a powerful and comfortable material which essentially mimics the protection of a bullet-proofed vest. Over this is a short-sleeved jumpsuit, with a hood added which is always worn over-head, to further hide his identity. Covered with special harnesses and protection that allows him a small amount of additional protection and storage-places for his weaponry and ammunition. The bracers which can recreate many weapons are also work clasped over the man's wrists and upper-forearms. Down the front of both legs, Taskmaster also has special plating on the front of both legs which is made of a light-weight and durable alloy, placed on his thighs, knees, and shins, the latter bolted to the tops of each boot.

Personality: Arcangelo being anti-social is something of an understatement. With strong tendencies towards violence, and alienation of others, the man seems to harbour an intense dislike for nearly anyone that he meets. While this is not necesarilly the case, as he is rather just intensely indifferent to most, the man does posses several issues with his mental state, including a slight psychosis, and PTSD, from years of severe mental and physical torture at the hands of his father. While he does not possess these memories, most times, any longer because of his powers, they still continue to have a strong, and somewhat mysterious, affect on him.

Prone to violent outbursts, Masters will attack nearly anyone near him, exempting a few which includes his father, and only being able to be pulled out by being rendered unconscious, or telepathic intervention. While the former is usually more easily said than done, Arcangelo is not as known to use all of his skills or tactical knowledge during these instances of madness, and is more plausible to defeat than normal.

A constant feeling of inferiority haunts The Apprentice, constantly being berated by his father for continuing to be unworthy to truly take up the mantle of Taskmaster, as measured by the retired mercenary. This forces him to constantly strive forward, hoping to become not only superior to his father, but all other warriors, be it through his own skill, or those of his foes.

Personal History: Taskmaster was once the most feared hired gun in all of the world, no fighter could effectively counter him alone, and even fewer were capable of defeating him without superhuman powers. Wielding a variety of weapons and equipment, the swashbuckling villain was known to no one, truly, and when he disappeared in the late 90's, not even SHIELD could manage to track their own former agent. In secret, he had a child, with a woman who was one of the few who'd seen Taskmaster without his mask, and decided to rear the boy alone in her stead, due to her untimely death at the hand of the diseases which plagued the Urban Villages of Beijing.

From an early age, Tony recognized that his son, Arcangelo seemed to have a strong ability to mimic the actions of others, being able to walk the same day that his muscles developed the ability to do so, and even being able to copy the gait of his father, a habit which is reflected by one's skelature, with a limp he'd developed from an old injury. This wasn't much to go on, but Taskmaster did notice that his son had developed a habit for mimicking other things, with an accuracy that was not only uncanny, but matched his own photographic reflex powers that he'd gained years prior.

Beginning from this time, Masters began training the child in martial arts and weaponry, intending to create a new Taskmaster, though within several years an infection had developed in his leg and the limb actually had to be amputated. From then on, Tony became a bitter man, still training the boy to be his successor, but privately hating his child for being able to walk. Of course, by this time, Arcangelo was in his pre-teens, and had more than a sufficient understanding of how the components to fighting worked that he could be taught by a wheelchair-bound mentor. But not long after this, the man turned abusive, constantly berating his son and telling him of how everything was his fault, often referring to a number of things which included his mother's death, the wheelchair-bound situation of Tony, and his own lack of stacking up as a passable Taskmaster. In order to escape this from time to time, the younger Masters would take to the streets, becoming something of a streetfighter and pickpocket, doing anything to pass the time, and making some money on the side.

Eventually, Arcangelo would begin taking mercenary, travelling around the globe with his father at his side, training and taking on all manner of assignments. Accruing funds through these means, Masters and his father eventually made their way to America, working for the highest-bill clients, and having a near-perfect success rate. It wasn't until he encountered the New Warriors was Apprentice defeated for the first time. On several more occasions did this happen, until the embittered man had an epiphany. There was no way to win these fights given the numbers, but when allowed to match these numbers, he may have a better chance.

Thus, using his father's identity as Taskmaster to gain contacts in the underworld, the man began to recruit, forming a team he referred to as "The Thunderbolts" much like an organization which the original Taskmaster headed years before, with intents to dominate the underworld together, with Arcangelo as the leader.

"It's not what you have, but what you do with it, that makes the man you are."
Superhuman Powers:
-Mutant Photographic Reflexes: Arcangelo Masters has inherited whatever photographic reflexes his father possessed in earlier years, through a mutation in his genetics. After observing an action being performed, Masters is able to commit the movement to memory, and call upon it for use whenever he wishes. When placing the memory of such things, he is forced to forget others in a sort of amnesia, though the memories which are forgotten first are most typically the most traumatic. He can either remember a single action, a series of them, or even a whole style of fighting through these means. Sometimes, however, he can also specifically choose to forget things that he's observed and gained from this ability, instead of traditional memories.
A strong limitation to this ability is also the fact that he cannot recreate any action which would demand superhuman levels of effort. Meaning that just because he's seen, for example, The Hulk leap several hundred feet with ease, does not mean he would be able to do so.
Mimicked Characters as of time of application include: Black Panther, Black Widow, Bullseye, Captain America, Daredevil, Deadpool, Falcon, Hawkeye, Punisher, Silver Samurai, Spider-Man, Swordsman, Winter Soldier, and Wolverine. Most of these have been gained through watching video footage of the individuals fighting.
-Enhanced Mental Processing-Speed: The way by which Apprentice's brain processes images and information, he can slow things down to a way by which he perceives things, effectively awarding more time to strategize and observe.
Skills:
-Martial Arts Mastery: Trained in the more traditional way, so that he can better understand them, Acrangelo is proficient in Nuba Fighting, Evala Wrestling, Dambe, Moraingy, Tinku, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Capoeira, Japanese and American Variety Karate, Kenpo, Chun Kuk Do, Jeet Kune Do, Oom Yung Doe, Muay Boran, Muay Thai, Duan Quan, Ditangquan, Houquan, Kung Fu, Shaolin Kung Fu, T'ai chi ch'uan, Wing Chun, Judo, Japanese Kickboxing, Taido, Taekwondo.
-Weapons Master: Familiar with nearly all weaponry, there are very few that Masters hasn't learned. Of course, he has only truly mastered swordsmanship, firearm marksmanship, and the style of shield-play which Captain America uses.
-Peak Human Physical Conditioning: Being under near-constant training by his father, the first Taskmaster, The Apprentice has pushed his body to the physical peak, only just undershooting the performance of Steve Rogers himself. The most noted differences are the cases of endurance and physical strength, of which Captain American and other super soldiers do possess more. Currently, Masters can lift roughly double his weight of 180 lb.
-Highly Intelligent: A keen mind and a monstrous study, Arcangelo is considered a highly intelligent young man, eventually allowing for him to become a rather sophisticated strategic mind.
====Combat and Movement Analysis: The nature of his power and intellect have allowed Masters to study and understand the mechanical operations of combat styles, movement, and strategies. Using this, he's able to effectively decipher countermeasures and strategies practically on the spot.
-Multilingual: Jin, Huizhou, Pinghua, Min, Xiang, Hakka, and Gan Chinese dialects, English, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, French, German, and Polish.
Equipment:
Energy-Construct Projectors: A pair of gauntlet-like mechanisms, with small red nodes atop each. These bracers allow the wielder to simulate any weapon he desires, as a projection of crimson energy. This projection uses similar solid-light technology to what the danger-room at the Xavier's Institute uses. It cannot effectively mimic the abilities of a weapon, such as Mjolnir, but it can still simulate the weight, balance, aerodynamic nature, and the like of such a piece. When the projection leaves roughly two feet from the bracers themselves, measuring off of the base of the handle where the weapons are to begin when created.
Katana: A modernized version of the weapon, forged with a mysterious metal that cannot currently be identified, but believed to be an alloy of vibranium and another highly durable metal, this sword is highly resistant to damage and much more well-designed for the purposes of combat, such as being able to move with much less air resistance.
.45 Cobalt Handguns: Semi-automatic pistols with scoping-compatibility, this weapon has respectable range, though it performs optimally at short-range considering the impact is more easily deflected from further away. Still able to kill a man from about 75 feet, this gun is considered illegal in the United States for non-military use. Arcangelo keeps two.
Mask: The very same his father once owned, this mask is made of a fairly durable, but hardly indestructible material, able to be cracked or even broken by individuals with a higher-end level of strength in terms of human achievement. The mask itself has lenses which glow with a yellow light, which allows for effective vision in a variety of environments, almost like a form of night-vision and infrared. It can, however, switch to these other sight types, which is usually evidenced by a change in lens-colour. A voice-filter is also built-in, making Arcangelo's true identity more difficult to decipher.
Combat-Suit: Similar to tactical body armour, this suit affords the wearer a considerable level of bullet-resistance, able to withstand a shotgun from point blank range, though not without damage. It can mitigate blunt damage as well, though the protection against blades is a bit lesser, with key points being easily penetrated with knives or claws.