Fred Dukes - Phase 1

This character is currently unplayed, but is open for applications. If you are interested in applying for this character, you can contact the mods at x_moderators @ googlegroups . com and you can find the application form here.

PHASE 1

Fred Dukes
Portrayed by Max Adler
Codename:	Anchor
Affiliations:	X-Men
Birthdate:	11/5/91

Journal:	x_unmoved
Player:	Available for applications

Fred was once a rudderless student, and is now a staff member at Xavier's and in the X-Men. The world seems to rarely give him the chance to catch his breath, but knocking Fred Dukes down is something that may be impossible...

Details

Character Journal: x_unmoved

Real Name: Frederick Jacobi Dukes

Codename: Anchor

Aliases: None

First Appearance: March 1st, 2009

Date of Birth: November 5th, 1991

Place of Birth: Lubbock, Texas

Citizenship: American

Relatives: Earl Dukes (father), Martha Bohannon Dukes (mother, deceased)

Education: High School Diploma

Relationship Status: Dating Yvette Petrovic

Occupation: Assistant Groundskeeper and Driving Instructor at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

Team Affiliation: X-Men

Biography

Born the son of a factory chief and a secretary, Frederick Jacobi Dukes seemed destined for a pretty normal life. His father, a dour unsociable man, never seemed to be satisfied with anything that Fred did, even in his youth. His mother, however, was a gentle and caring woman who raised him essentially by herself, as her husband was working more often than not. It didn't really seem to stunt the young child and, for the most part, Fred was a normal, well adjusted boy.

Tragedy struck in Fred's early adolescence, when his mother was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. She fought for two years, but died when Fred was twelve, leaving him alone with his distant father just as his mutation was beginning to alter him physically. Fred became sullen and withdrawn, not making many friends for the next few years. Yearning for a group to belong to, Fred joined the football team at his local high school, but never really enjoyed it and dropped out of school soon after, taking a job at the factory his dad worked at when he was 15.

Like football and high school, Fred was unhappy at the factory. His relationship with his father finally hit a breaking point, and at the age of 16 Fred left his home and hometown. Traveling along the East Coast, Fred had no problems finding work in security for clubs or the like, and his bulk allowed him to pass himself off as older than he was. During one of his jobs, Fred became friends with an older man, a fellow bouncer, named Mark 'Sunder' Hallett. After a while of knowing one another and talking, Mark pointed out that the kind of changes Fred was undergoing were much like what had happened to the older man years ago: a physical mutation. After talking with some of Mark's friends, Fred decided the best thing for him to do was get in contact with the Xavier Institute, via the so-called 'Mutant Underground Railroad' and see what they had to offer. After a few weeks of travel, and meeting some...interesting people, Fred arrived at the gates of the Xavier Institute, hoping to turn his life around.

Living At The X-Mansion

Upon his arrival to the Mansion, Fred did his best to adjust to the dramatic lifestyle shift. He initially roomed with Julian Keller, and did his best to keep from going stir crazy now that he was living in one place rather than constantly moving around. He made a lot of friends in his time at the Mansion, particularly his roommate Julian, Yvette Petrovic, Doreen Green, and some of the older students. After Prom, Fred and Callie Betto began what neither one of them would call a 'relationship', but became extremely close.

Fred made great strides in dealing with his mutation, social shortcomings, and lack of structured education in his time at Xavier's. With several of the older students, like Angelo Espinosa and Kyle Gibney, as mentors and friends, Fred seemed to have acclimated nicely. Fred took to the work of Red X very well, and even got a job at Elpis as well. Even with a few speedbumps, such as finding out his father belonged to the Friends of Humanity, Fred seemed to have finally gained a rudder for his life.

However, after continuously trying to deal with the pain caused by his powers through meditation and medication, Fred contacted Angelo and David Haller to attempt a form of telepathic therapy for his mutation. The procedure did not go as well as hoped, and Fred was left in a coma following the events. He was moved to Muir for more specialized treatment, his condition hitting Callie especially hard as she went through a period of emotional withdrawal.

A month later, Fred returned from Muir, alive, well and considerably thinner, the incident having enabled him to gain a degree of control over his mutation. His return was a shock to all, having been kept a secret, and Callie in particular was unimpressed with Julian for his role in keeping the secret. Yvette, envious of Fred's new 'normal' look, upset him and apologized repeatedly.

Barely a month later, Callie made the decision to leave the mansion and work in Brazil. Fred took her departure badly, holing up in the garage. His friends did their best to cheer him up and help him move on, but save an all-call mission to Pakistan with Red X, Fred remained in the garage, moving a cot out there to sleep on and tinkering with the cars to occupy himself. Given he almost killed a member of the Imperial Guard in Pakistan before Laurie Collins used her powers to stop him and then the loss of friend at graduation, Fred had a lot on his mind.

Becoming an X-Man

Fred spent a long time sulking in his garage after Graduation, and it took several of his friends goading him into being social before he finally started to interact with others again. Having survived Callie returning to the States, and a rather extreme makeover courtesy of Vanessa Carlysle and Adrienne Frost, Fred seemed to be on the right track again. Even leaving his job at Elpis and the departure of Julian Keller did little to discourage him. Figuring higher education just wasn't for him, Fred became Kyle's apprentice and replacement as Groundskeeper at the Mansion. After some thought, he asked Scott Summers about X-Men membership, and joined as the dubiously named trainee 'Adipose' (which he had to look up).

It wasn't long after that, however, that Fred was kidnapped along with several other mutants by the Genoshans. Surviving a real trial by fire, and having to fight his closest friends and wrestle with his personal opinions of right and wrong, Fred is definitely was the worse for wear psychologically for the better part of a year.

Managing to shake off a lot of it with help from an old friend and a new relationship, Fred finally graduated to full X-Man with the codename 'Anchor', and not only became the official Driving Instructor for the school, but also may have started looking at local University catalogs on the advice of some of his friends. A horrific battle against a cybiote almost cost him his face - and his humanity - but fortunately, Marius Laverne and Jean Grey were able to cooperate and rebuild him using the powers of the man who had constructed the Fury.

Fred - and Yvette - were slower to recover from their mutual psychological trauma, but made small steps towards at least communicating it better. Then, in October 2014, Fred received word his uncle was ill and without second thought, returned to Texas to care for him.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 7'1"

Weight: 465 lbs.

Eyes: Green

Hair: Brown

Other Features: Fred's lower legs and forearms are very large. His size tends to fluctuate dramatically, depending on his mood. There's a tattoo of a rope and anchor on his upper right arm.

Powers

Fred can expand his size and mass by shifting the subcutaneous pseudoplasm that accounts for the majority of his body.

Fred's physical form is drastically different from a baseline human. His dermis and musculature are made from a pseudoplasmic substance that folds and expands for support and defense, making Fred preternaturally difficult to injure. Slashing, piercing, or blunt force attacks do not damage Fred's body, although more powerful physical attacks will still cause him pain. Even when Fred grows much larger than an average person, he can move with the agility and adroitness of a normal man of his age and health. Very little biological potential is wasted by Fred's body: while he has to maintain a fairly normal sleep schedule, Fred can go days without food or water with no physical drawbacks, and can hold his breath for upwards of one hour. One of the side effects of his use of energy potential is that he fatigues much slower than an average person. His internal immunities also spare Fred from the normal ailments of someone who is as large as he is.

Fred's unique physiology gives him a degree of superstrength, owed to his musculature and the much denser bone structure that supports it. The strength Fred manifests, however, is an odd mixture of all of his other mutations: his mass and immovability allow him to do things like punch through walls, and his body's natural malleability and resistance to fatigue and injury allows him to lift very heavy objects without hurting himself.

Fred cannot be poisoned through ingestion very easily. Substances that are inhaled or injected can affect him, but it would take considerably more than an average dose to achieve the average affect. Fred's sensory organs are not as protected as the rest of him, and he can still be disabled by sonic or light-based attacks.

Fred's mutation has granted him limited directional gravitational control. Through concentration, Fred can sync up with the Earth's gravitational field, making him for all intents and purposes immovable: Fred has been hit by a speeding car and not budged. Activating this power used to cause fairly severe headaches, but as Fred has trained he has learned to better control his immovability.

There are some other, odd physical manifestations of Fred's mutation: his mouth is about one half larger than normal when opened fully, and his forearms and lower legs are extremely large, even with his obesity.