Damian Hargrave / Scythe

Name/Alter Ego: Damian Hargrave (no longer uses this name)

Age: Unknown

Workplace: Sells various items in a makeshift shop in the Asylum, and hires himself out as a bounty hunter of sorts. He cannot hold a “normal” job due to his grotesque appearance, though he does continually guard members of the band Lacrymosa as needed.

Appearance: Hargrave’s appearance is always altering, but to give a general description he appears to be a walking corpse with sometimes mis-matched limbs. He is heavily scarred, bruised, and lacerated, and in varying states of decay – literally! Dark, stringy thin hair hangs limply from his scalp. A rather large piece of flesh seems to be missing from his nose. His skin looks and feels oily to the touch, often leaving behind a kind of oily “sludge” residue on things touched without gloves. His voice is low and deep, a bit gravelly, with a sort of moist wheeze as though fluid is constantly building up in his lungs. (Think a mix Christian Bale’s Batman from The Dark Knight with a dash of Stellan Skarsgård’s Bootstrap Bill from POTC 2: Dead Man’s Chest.)

Ragged clothing hangs off of him, though Scythe is never –ever– without his trademark (albeit threadbare) fringed duster and fedora. On his belt he carries a plethora of knives, though his name comes from the fact he usually either carries a scythe with him or the tool’s relative: a sickle. There is a smell of formaldehyde on him that gets stronger the closer one stands to him. If you look close, you might just see... did a beetle just go up his nose? o_O

Before:
[Hugo Weaving]

After:
[Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger... about the best representation I could find]

Personality: Some would say Scythe has the personality of a stump. He rarely shows any deep emotions other than anger, a smirk or grin of pure malice, or the occasional burst of dark, dark humor despite being a bit serious. The villain considers himself a survivalist: he does whatever he must and/or can do to survive. Sometimes this involves earning a means to make surviving a bit easier or more comfortable, but mostly this means replacing rotted portions of his body with “fresh” matter from another. Scythe is particularly known for his one-track mind, thriving on the fear of others, and mule’s determination. A bit of a sadomasochist, Scythe loves receiving pain as much as he does dishing it out. He laughs maniacally whenever a limb is severed from him, for example. The villain feels absolutely no remorse for the pain and devastation he causes.

Although he will swear up and down that he’s a corpse of his word, Scythe is really only in it in this world for himself and no others. He’s always looking to strike a deal with a potential buyer or client, signed in blood of course, and has a tendency to alter the terms as he goes along if they suddenly don’t suit him. Be wary... always desiring to be the one in control, Scythe will not give up such a position without a bloody fight.

Powers:
- Sublimation – Can turn into a fog or mist by means of escape or travel.

- Body Part Substitution – Scythe can substitute his amputated body parts for similarly hacked-off parts from victims both alive and dead. So long as his head is attached to some measure of torso and at least one arm he can keep utilizing this ability. Although he carries many knives on him, an oily sludge willed to secrete from under his fingernails can be used to rend the needed part from its host, while his saliva and tears are both instrumental in connecting the donated limb or pieces to the rest of him. It always leaves a not-so-attractive scar on the flesh.

- Absorption – Inextricably linked with the ability to substitute body parts, Scythe can and will for a short time absorb the powers of another if the body part happens to be “gifted” to him by a Super. It does not last long: as little as a day and a grand total of four days at most depending on the size and condition of the piece and how much blood was retained inside of it. In the event he acquires a non-super body part, he acquires knowledge of that person’s life which may or may not be helpful. Unlike the powers, this knowledge is permanent and up to him whether to continue to bear in mind or forget. He can only absorb information and powers if he is attaching a body part or if he consumes the blood of the person in question.

Weaknesses:
- Being out in sunlight or excessive heat can harm him: evaporation when in mist form, and it dries out his skin and body if outdoors in daylight for too long a time. Hence, if he’s not almost completely covered up, he sticks to wandering at night and prefers the darkness.

- His constant state of putrefaction requires him to ceaselessly seek out newer, fresher body parts because they’ll stop working once they have rotted to irreparability. He dips his head in formaldehyde to prevent the entire decomposition of his head... which even for someone like him is essential to survival.

- He does not heal normally, nor can he be truly healed, because he is quite technically dead. The only way to “heal” is to find a substitute body part and change it out, use his saliva or tears to “glue” himself back together, or otherwise simply deal with it as best as possible. Also, because his brain intermittently interprets pain as pleasure he may not always know when he is wounded.

- Allergic to most medicines that are supposed to help... Penicillin, antibiotics, aspirin, ibuprofen... the list goes on for miles. And he does indeed get sick sometimes (especially if a “donor” was sick prior to reaping), so this presents a real challenge for him. Substances that are potentially harmful help him however, but not in the conventional way, so a lot of it is hit and miss.

Superhero or Supervillain: Villain
Supername: Scythe

Family
First Wife: Lucille “Lucy” Hargrave (Deceased)
Children: Fred, Benjamin, and Christine (All Deceased)

Second Wife: Gail Hargrave (nee Wakefield; Status Unknown)
Children: Alice, Rosetta, Marilyn, and Eric (Status Unknown)
Son-In-Laws: Leighton Nightingale (Alice's husband; unknown to Scythe); others unknown
Grandchildren: It's a secret...

Other Notable People
”Dino” Freeman: Friend from prison that convinced his buddies on the outside to secure Damian’s release.
Grandmaster Michelangelo Ardovini: The boss of Damian’s mafia chapter.

History:
Damian Hargrave used to be a simple farm boy out in the sticks. His family lived off the land, and taught him to do so in the way they had made their living for generations. One of such means was having a firm foot in the business of making liquor. He married his wife Lucille at the young age of eighteen and had three children with her: sons Fred and Benjamin, and their daughter Christine. During the era of prohibition the entire Hargrave clan completely disregarded the new rulings immediately and continued on as they had always done, earning their place in the world as not only farmers, but also as moonshiners.

While tending his family’s own still, Damian had gotten slightly lost and stumbled upon yet another distillation site. Curiosity getting the better of him he snuck about and, finding some empty jars, decided to sample some and take some of the mash for himself. After a few sips he realized the brewery belonged to a rivaling family of shiners. Grinning at the mischief done, Damian turned to leave with his stolen goods but came face to face with a small group of young men with glowing eyes and fierce faces. It was then he learned of Supers, particularly supervillains, the hard way: outnumbered in a fight for the stolen goods, the villainous trio beat Damian and then pushed him into the still where the steam would distill the forming liquor. Whatever sort of moonshine they were making, it wasn’t one Damian was familiar with and the noxious fumes soon overwhelmed him in conjunction with the unbearable heat. It was thought by the villains, as well as Damian himself, that he was dead.

Furious at having been caught, when Damian’s consciousness finally roused itself from sleep he thought for certain he was in the land of the dead. Perhaps heaven, for he could still see the blue sky of earth with its cotton candy clouds. The only thing wrong with the picture was that it was no different than the same sight he saw from earth. It was when he heard voices, and looked down, that Damian realized what was really going on.

He was little more than a cloud of mist, hovering overtop the same trio of men that shoved him into the still. On the same altitude as he, a thick fog kept the smoke from any still within these parts from being seen.

Not sure how to get back to normal, or even if he could, he observed the three. The youngest of the bunch seemed to be adjusting a setting on the still. Doubting it possible, Damian descended his mist-form low enough to make visibility next to impossible upon that small area. The villainous trio panicked, assuming they were being attacked. In the confusion the setting had been turned up too high and the still blew up, killing all in the vicinity except Damian. As a mist, he could not be killed. Relief and pleasure washed over him at the sight, and Damian immediately plummeted back down to earth in his original, human form... with the addition of a few nasty burns that would heal over in time. He would also find out that his ability to turn to mist stayed with him, and that the trigger to making it work was genuine or simulated anger.

He was watched very carefully by authorities after his release from the hospital to treat for his burns. Damian thought for certain he was in the clear, however the villain family he had attacked somehow knew a bit more than they let on and led authorities right to Damian and claimed him the one responsible for the murder of three of their kin. Hargrave went to trial and was convicted of all crimes. The entire clan supported Damian all the way, to the point of even starting a feud with the remaining villains of the rival shiner family.

Damian spent a good fifteen years in prison. He made quite a few friends in there that were also moonshiners and had murdered to keep their recipes and still locations a secret. One of his best friends however was in the form of “Dino” Freeman, a mafia man with plenty of connections on the outside. Dino promised that, once he was free to go, he would appeal to his boss to get Damian out of there as well... though only after seeing Damian use his power to sneak passed a few guards while doing yard-work one day. And, of course, there was a distinct string attached: in the event “Dino” managed to secure his release, Damian was expected to return the favor by joining the mafia to take part in various heists and odd jobs as ordered – no questions asked. Damian at the time didn’t know about the conditional circumstance of such an offer, and so agreed and expressed intention to do the same if he were let out before Dino. Sure enough, on the anniversary of his fifteenth year in prison Damian heard word from Dino that he would be free before the week was out.

Not long after receiving this news and joining the mafia, Damian received a piece of equally horrible news. The letter was from his brother, Luke, explaining that the feud has been more or less won... and not in their favor. As it stood, Luke and Damian were the only Hargraves left. Their parents, other siblings, wives, children, aunts, uncles, cousins... everyone... had been killed off in explosions of synchronized, epic proportion. Luke had tried to save them all, but in vain and nearly had gotten himself killed as well. With permission from Grandmaster Ardovini, Damian led a small task force of thugs to gain revenge and get his brother out of the powder keg that was their childhood home. Damian half succeeded for he’d gotten his revenge, his use of a scythe as a deadly weapon instead of a firearm earning him the moniker Scythe. Damian’s brother, however, had been killed about a week before they arrived.

It took five years before Damian finally managed to find a measure of peace after the decimation of his family. This was often done with the assistance of Gail Wakefield, a woman also involved with the mafia due to a superpower she possessed. A visible closeness developed between them, but their specific mafia chapter discouraged having a family in addition to “the family” so they could not marry. At least not conventionally. The pair had it set to elope, assuming it was a complete secret from the rest of the world, but were caught off-guard when the person presiding over the marriage was not a man of the cloth but rather a very stern-looking Grandmaster Ardovini. He gave Damian and Gail a firm warning, gave his blessing to allow the marriage despite the bylaws in place, and had the pastor released so the ceremony could continue undisturbed.

A decade passed without much incident. Damian once again formed a family, he and Gail going on to have four children: Alice, Rosetta, Marilyn, and Eric. Despite their professions being potentially violent and bloody, Damian and Gail loved their children dearly... even if Damian didn’t always show it and occasionally got a bit rough with Eric. They lived a comfortable life with the mafia. However, despite the cushy lifestyle both adults were rather unhappy with it. It didn’t take a genius to see they were called on whenever a power was needed. The Grandmaster insisted their lack of duties being because they were too valuable to be expendable, but from their perspective they saw the answer for what it truly was. As Gail had grown up in the mafia she hadn’t a clue of how to get herself out of their bind, but Damian had an idea. In secret he went to the government and struck a deal: the protection of his wife and children, and full pardons for both him and his wife, in exchange for any information they wanted on all of his mafia associates.

Deal secured, Damian halted flashing his family about haughtily at meetings and became markedly paranoid about his position in the mafia. After all, they had found out about his and Gail’s elopement... who was to say they didn’t already know it was he who betrayed them? When word finally started getting around that there was an informant in their midst, and people began asking Damian questions, the mafia realized of all those who gave alibis that Damian’s was the shakiest of all. Only his family could verify his whereabouts, and he became exceedingly defensive whenever they were mentioned. They eventually caught him red-handed, and a team was sent out to make certain their traitorous threat was “taken care of”.

Three thugs abducted Damian after he had met with his federal contact, and took him to a secluded landfill. They fitted him with ‘cement shoes’ and buried him mid-shin in the filth. The rest of his bound form was drenched with highly flammable toxic waste. Dino, the only one of the group he recognized, stuck a cigar in Damian’s mouth and lit it, knowing that the modifications to it would make it similar to that of a bomb. Within seconds Damian’s entire body was aflame, and he himself screaming. The thug in charge ordered Dino to remain on-site to make sure Damian died, and to dispose of the body once the flames died down. Damian squirmed to put out the flames himself, and managed to put out a fair amount but not all of the flames. The rest had died down by dawn the next morning. Dino watched the entire ordeal through stoic eyes as his friend burned.

When morning came it was like Damian and Dino were good buddies again. The other Mafioso prodded and shook Damian to see if he was awake and/or alive. As Damian gave a shuddering breath to announce he was still in the land of the living, Dino gave a pathetic scream at the sight of what in his opinion should’ve been a char-broiled corpse breathe. Terrified and a little outraged his friend wouldn’t just die already Dino took up his friend’s scythe and hurriedly hacked away at the body. In fear he threw a few of the dismembered body parts about the landfill and dropped the scythe before fleeing, not wanting to look back at the gruesome sight and in desperate need of a shower and a tall, strong drink. Damian had slipped back into unconsciousness the moment the first cut was made, neurons interpreting the cleaving of flesh and bone to be one of the most pleasurable experiences on earth compared to what he’d just been through.

Just like as it was when Damian had been shoved into the odd-looking still, he awoke what seemed like days later. It felt like he had awakened from some terrible nightmare. As he went to stand up however the man realized it was not a dream but all a horrific, grotesque reality. Scythe wondered how it was he was still alive after being beaten, burned, and now hacked to pieces, but decided not to question it. At least he was alive... or some semblance of it anyway. Mouth parched, Scythe reached for the half-empty bottle of soda Dino had also left behind. He drank the whole thing down in seconds despite the taste, which resembled the adhesive stuff on the back of an envelope. It shouldn’t have tasted like that. Licking his lips, Scythe wondered how he was going to make it out of this one. That was about when he noticed that his lips had become uncommonly sticky. It wasn’t the kind of sticky associated with the soda, but rather that of a kind of good quality glue.

Not entirely certain what possessed him to think of let alone do it, Scythe collected his saliva in the bottle that once contained soda, and reached for the nearest chunk of his dismembered flesh. He lined it up with about where it was supposed to connect and poured a bit of the “glue-spit” over top. With wonder Scythe watched as his body seemed to repair itself, leaving only a scar and gaining function of the formerly-severed portion within minutes.

Slowly he pieced himself back together, crawling through the filth to retrieve all the pieces. The only parts he wasn’t able to replace were his feet, still locked tight in the cement. Scythe left them behind along with his birth name, using his scythe as a makeshift crutch and vehemently refusing to be parted from it. He wore prosthetic feet for a time... until he learned he could use his powers to attach another person’s body parts to himself as well as his own. For years he has been trying to re-find his family, but with Witness Protection keeping them well-hidden Scythe has not had much luck.

Ever the survivalist, Scythe has lived in the shadows of night since then. He lives in the old burned-down asylum in Superville that none of the general populace seems brave enough to visit. The villain soon learned that it wasn’t quite as vacant as he thought...

When he is not attempting to get revenge on those that wronged him, trying to find his lost family, or causing mayhem in general one can find Scythe at the Asylum, selling various items. He also solicits his bounty-hunting services within and outside of the asylum to any willing to pay his rates and seal the deal with their own blood. The steadiest job he’s held is as a bodyguard for the band members of Lacrymosa.