Great Lakes Avengers

PHASE 1

Great Lakes Avengers (disbanded)
Portrayed by various
Known Aliases:	Mr. Immortal, Flatman, Doorman, Big Bertha and Dinah
Affiliations:	Independent, formerly linked to The Taskmaster
Socked By:	Dex, Jeff, Frito, Erin, Aisy
Introduction:	X-Men Mission: X-Mas in Milwaukee

A rag-tag group of wanna-be heroes, the Great Lakes Avengers operated out of Milwaukee for a time. When it was revealed they were being used to commit crimes rather than stop them, they disbanded and sought more legal means of helping.

Roster

Mr. Immortal - Craig Hollis	The team founder. Craig Hollis is a mutant who did not know that he had manifested until his third year in college. During an FoH rally, the young idealist started up a counter rally (with far fewer people) that was dispersed by the FoH members. Later, three of them tailed Hollis and attacked him in an alley behind his building. The young man was badly beaten, set on fire, and left to die. His survival and subsequent experimentation proved to him that he was a mutant, and he immediately dedicated himself to doing good. He’s still a college student (going on the sixth year of his degree) and is supported by a sizable trust fund from his parents. Hollis is young, idealistic, and utterly clueless. He’s socially awkward and completely obsessed with the idea of being a superhero. He has joined virtually every good cause on campus, and has started half a dozen others. His support group for mutants would prove to be the main motivation for the team. Mr. Immortal cannot die. When injured, his body heals at a normal rate, but once his life functions stop, his body immediately regenerates itself of all damage. While it is unknown how extreme the damage that his powers can recover from, at this point, there does not seem to be a limit. PB: Josh Sussmaan- socked by Dex
Flatman - Dr. Val Ventura	Dr. Val Ventura is the oldest member of the team, an indecisive gadabout who changes his mind about his future plans on a monthly basis. He has been, in turns, an acupuncturist (where he claims his ‘Dr’ title), vet’s assistant, car salesman, day labourer, bartender, professional cyclist, short order cook, IT helpdesk, poolboy, fruit picker, fisherman, receptionist, steam cleaner, juggler, obituary writer, and a dozen other things, none for more than a few weeks owing to his spectacular ineptness. He has parts of a half dozen college programs, failing out of each one, and even more legitimate and otherwise online and distance courses. His only real talent has been in his mother’s small fashion store, where he returns to work every time his latest brainstorm fails. Val is also overtly gay and entirely in denial about it. Val’s body is extremely flat; his mutation has replaced the normal human structure with a strange kind of omni-flesh that can bend, stretch and harden at will. He possesses the ability to stretch and twist his limbs and body to a prodigious degree, and due to the elasticity of his form, is almost impossible to hurt. He needs little food and water to live, and can survive without oxygen for over fifteen minutes at a time. PB: Bill Nye - socked by Aisy
Doorman - DeMarr Davis	DeMarr Davis grew up in a highly religious family with the intention from birth that he would be a priest. From the time he was little, young Davis was drilled in Bible studies, religious works, and the Word of God. Mistakes were harshly chastened, and by the time he was twelve, DeMarr could recite the Bible chapter and verse off by heart. But there was a problem between him and the Church. DeMarr was a dedicated peeping tom, spending nights prowling the neighbourhood. He was first caught at fourteen, and by sixteen had amassed a not inconsiderable record for his habits. He was kicked out of his house and eventually ended up in a shelter when his abilities manifested. At first, DeMarr used them to steal small amounts of food and money to survive, while continuing his peeping abilities. He saw the ad for Hollis’ group at the local Y, and decided to join, hoping that others would help stop him from ‘continuing to sin’ and let him atone by doing good work. It has not entirely worked… DeMarr is an extraordinarily powerful teleporter, although he doesn’t know it. He can create portals to any location, through which he can either step into the new location or simply view it. He does not need to know or see the location in order to use his abilities, which is a major difference from most teleporters, and the portals seem to possess a subconscious survival instinct, never manifesting in a dangerous location for his purposes. PB: Dijon Talton - socked by Jeff.
Big Bertha - Ashley Crawford	Ashley Crawford manifested late, in her late teens. She had been a child and teen model of note at the time, just about to sign on for a national campaign that would have made her one of the major up and coming models in North America. Following her manifestation, Ashley attempted suicide a number of times, and eventually found herself bouncing between therapists and hospitals, looking for a ‘cure’ for her mutant condition. Finally, she found herself answering the ad placed by Hollis, and ended up as part of his support group. It was there that she began to accept herself, taking in all of Hollis’ talk about a higher purpose. Since then, she’s come to look at her powers as part of her ‘destiny’. Ashley possesses layers of quantum fat; she can increase it in mass, density and distribution, making herself stronger and impervious to harm. By changing the distribution, she can effectively modify her facial features and body type to disguise herself. Once her control improves, Ashley will discover that her control allows her to change her body type to extreme level, increasing to massive proportions, or reducing down to nearly her pre-manifestation figure. PB: Ashley Fink - socked by Frito
Dinah Soar	Soar has spent most of her life in labs of one form or another. She was given up for adoption two days after her birth, where she had already exhibited her reptilian and avian characteristics. Adopted by Dr. Bernard Soar, a genetic researcher and notable crackpot, she grew up with her foster father working on his experiments for a number of different companies, the more non-invasive of which included her. Soar was a surprisingly dedicated parent, home schooling Dinah and helping her develop her abilities as she grew. Unfortunately, when he died of cancer when she was 16, the research group he worked for tried to claim Dinah as their property as part of her father’s work. Soar fled and it was three years before legal proceedings cleared her. She enrolled into a local college, but quickly found herself unable to fit into the regular student population. However, she met Hollis there, and the two grew close quickly. Dinah possesses a range of powers, including flight and razor tipped wings as part of her physiology. She also possesses a sonic attack that manifests as a raptor like scream, which paralyzes targets for up to twenty seconds. PB: To be determined - socked by Erin

The Professor	Never seen by the group, but was considered the operational brains of the outfit, calling Mr Immortal with targets and battle plans. He later turned out to be the mutant criminal, The Taskmaster
Leather Boy	Gene Lorrene, a leather fetishist who tried to join the group but was turned down as he was human and had no powers. He was recruited by the Taskmaster to pose as Leather Boy and provide the GLA with a nemesis to distract them and use as a scapegoat. PB: Stephen Tobolowsky

Details

Having realised his mutant power of immortality, Craig Hollis decided to use his abilities for good and become a super hero. However, those abilities weren't exactly practical in working alone, so he put an ad in the newspaper, asking for wanna-be superheroes to join his 'support group'. The group was targeted by Tony Masters, aka The Taskmaster, who used them as a diversion in his robberies - in his guise as "The Professor", he would call with targets, which he told the GLA were drug labs and such belonging to Leather Boy, and the group would attack them. While the security was focussed on the GLA, Masters' men would slip in the back way and help themselves.

Eventually the thefts - and the attacks - drew official attention and SHIELD sent in Garrison Kane, Terry Cassidy and Abigal Brand to investigate as part of the FBI. The conspiracy was uncovered and the Great Lakes Avengers were convinced to disband and focus their life-saving and helpless-helping to more legal avenues, such as Red X.

While organizing a mutant-positive rock festival for the end of August 2012, Big Bertha received several creditable threats from The Purifiers. A little concerned, she called Doreen Green to see if the X-Men could provide extra security. The first night of the concert passed quietly; on the second night, however, the Purifiers struck. Thankfully, the presence of the X-Men prevented anyone from being seriously hurt.

Plots

X-Men Mission: X-Mas in Milwaukee

X-Men Mission: Joyful Noixe

Meta

Socked by: Dex, Frito, Jeff, Erin, Aisy