Poacher's Hounds

Poacher’s life as a Menace began years ago when he worked for a rehabilitation center. There was a perverse kind of joy he found when treating patients, brought on by their dependence on him and the control he could exert on them via drugs, or the withholding of them. Overtime he began to fantasize about having this control over anyone and everyone, not just those who had been poisoned independently of him. He was able to use his sonority and the trust he’d gained over the years of working at the facility to help bring in a power broker disguised as a physician. It wouldn’t take long before the two of them had developed a drug that could mutate the enzymes made by Poacher’s body. When he was in physical contact with an individual, these enzymes would leech into the victims system, barreling through the brain and reprogram their brain chemistry, leaving the victim completely under Poacher’s control.

Within a few months, things had quickly spiraled out of control at the institution. One night a massive fire was set, though none of the people who were suspected of beginning the fire had any memory of how it started, or what their own whereabouts had been in the moments leading up to the blaze. The one thing that was clear, most of the records within the facility were destroyed, and some of the more rattled patients were screaming about fingers inside their brains, pulling wires and making them dance like puppets.

Poacher wouldn’t be seen until a few months before Embeth Haven began receiving upsetting and reviled messages from him. In the intervening years, Poacher had worked himself up through Mr. Infinity’s levels of trust. As he proved his usefulness and mindfulness for the world Infinity was building, Poacher was shown to be limited in his scope and ability to use his traits fully. Infinity knew what needed to be done; to make Poacher as useful as possible, he had to remain in control of his victims without the prerequisite physical attachment. Infinity worked using his own blood and unique bodily properties to increase the effect and deration of Poacher’s control, resulting in Poacher only having to dose a victim once or twice with his dark influence, to infest their brain and bring them under his fold. Strong minds would resist, but the more of his influence Poacher pumped into someone, the more devastating it’s effect on the brain.

Victims weren’t mindless, but were bent to Poacher’s will. Trapped in a hazy drug like state, those under his control still had their full physical capabilities, only their minds were effected by the drugging. Once given this power, Poacher began infecting numerous individuals, both to test and to revel in his new power. These followers became known as his Hounds, and would do anything for their master without a moment’s hesitation.

The earliest of these Hounds was Ring, a young girl with a mysterious past. Poacher believed she was the daughter of a power broker from the Georgetown region, but if so, the girl was rebelling against her father’s ways and history. She had shown on any number of occasions a persistent need to protect and care for anyone around her, bigger or smaller, from anyone who would exploit them; an idea that thrilled Poacher’s perverted mind. He would taker her after school one day (best guesses put Ring’s age only at 13 years old when she was abducted). and when the two emerged from the darker corners of the world months later, Ring was completely under Poacher’s spell. His hold over her was so great, even momentary separation from her new master would leave Ring in tears and shaking uncontrollably; Poacher’s influence had robbed her brain of the capability to think and protect itself, so without him, her body went into panic spells.

Ring would be the longest lasting Hound, but Poacher would cycle through as many as twelve hounds over the years he served Infinity. One of his most prominent was Plague, a man who’s bones, skin and muscle were denser than any human recorded, giving him incredible strength and nearly indestructible skin. He had served as Infinity’s personal guard for years, but when Poacher was given his upgraded traits, Infinity gifted Plague to his prodigy to help lend the muscle that Poacher lacked to their goals.

Plague wouldn’t be the only super strong Hound, as Poacher would recruit a stocky Menace known as Beefcake, a shapeshifter called Camo, and a teleporting, one time Cape, who had gone by the name Movement Master; Poacher called him Movey. Most of these Hounds would meet their end in Poacher’s service, something their master was not perturbed by; it was just the cost of doing business. The result though was a need for Poacher to restock his pantry so to speak, he managed to do so with just two additions.

Harpy, a former scientist, was delighted with everything Poacher was doing, and was eager to join his group. She had been looking for a way to bring humanity into it’s next evolutionary form, believing that we were destined to shed our weaker forms in favor of ones closer to birds of prey, channeling their strength and greatest attributes. Harpy had long since hit a wall, but Poacher helped her find a solution, which finally broke through to her dream state of living, turning her into an insipidus type monster. She did find thinking to be more difficult in this new form, and was all to happy to allow for Poacher to do the thinking for them both.

The other new part would come only months before the stand off with Embeth Haven and her friends from the Trinity Ragamuffins. Shade had been a small time bank robber, able to merge with shadows and traverse a plain all her own, the Shadow Platform. Being able to move anywhere shadows fell was a massive advantage, and one that allowed Shade to go toe to toe with some of Trinity’s strongest Capes (most famously squaring off on many occasions with Mercury); Poacher knew this was an opportunity he must take. Shade wasn’t interested in joining his Hounds, but unfortunately when Poacher has set his sights on someone, they are not likely to escape.