Orion

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Orion Nathaniel Granger

Portrayed By	Adam Baldwin
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	October 31, 1981
Age	25
Zodiac Sign	Libra
Aliases	None known.
Place of Birth	Harrisburg, PA, USA
Current Location	New York City, NY, USA
Occupation	Company Agent
Known Relatives	Natalia Granger (mother), Nathaniel Granger (father)
Significant Other	Claudine Salonga
Known Abilities	Metallic Exoskeleton
First Appearance	Chapter One: Combustion - The Escape

Orion Granger was a poor boy from a poor family who discovered that he had a very odd natural ability; the ability to coat his body in a metallic ooze whose shape and consistency he could forcibly alter. When the Company came looking for him, he found himself awash in a sea of normalcy and mediocrity, searching for people like him. The Company never erased his memory, he was committed to their cause from his first encounter and, now that he's graduated college, serves the Company's needs without question because he sees their work as the true work of heroes; protecting the world from the troubles it breeds.

Table of Contents

Sounds to Associate With Orion

Trivia

History

(History)

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Orion Nathaniel Granger was born 31 October 1981 to Nathaniel and Natalia Granger in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was named for both his father and the constellation that sparkled over his parents' first date some three years earlier. Orion was never like most other children, being unusually large for his age and his growth steadily off the typical pediatric growth charts. He was accepted and well-liked in elementary school, though only for childish reasons like his ability to reach that which the other children could not.

His world-view changed when he started middle school. Orion's father was laid-off from work at a Pittsburgh steel mill and the family moved back to the Harrisburg area where Natalia's side of the family lived. While Nathaniel sought out work, Orion learned from his parents and his more extended relations that everything comes at a price. During this time though, Orion was also rapidly growing toward puberty and the realization that he was different from the other children for reasons other than his great height and somewhat higher intelligence; he could release a metallic ooze from the flesh on the palms of his hands, which although dense and obviously fluid, stuck close to his flesh and never dripped away.

In middle school, Orion was ostracized and outcast by many of the same people he once called friend. They too perceived the stench of difference on Orion, though they could never have fathomed the true depths of his difference from them, and for that they made his life hell. With high school, however, came two changes to Orion's life. Puberty and curiosity lead to the growth of Orion's power and his deepening understanding and control of it; he could force the metal ooze to seep through the pores of his skin in many places, not just his hands and arms. Further, he found that he could control it, to some extent, and in so doing force it to harden or soften, change shape and viscosity, or even thickness in portions of his body with only a modicum of effort. He kept this all his greatest secret, one that he had no desire to reveal to anyone because of its impact on the life he was slowly reconstructing.

The effort he put into training with his power, as well as his weekend job at a state park in the Harrisburg area and an under-the-table part-time job at a local veterinarian had combined to develop his strength and stamina, augmenting what his power already seemed (to him) to augment. Orion's apparent athleticism, reasonable intelligence, and personal mysteriousness somehow colluded to provide, in the inimitable fashion of high school, something of a social life and social network for the rare time that he was not working in one fashion or another. For the first time in a long time, Orion was content.

Then the Company came for him. Orion never did find out who those first two Company agents were. They tased him on the way home from work and he woke up in their upstate New York facility the next day. His parents were duped into believing that Orion had come home by another, Evolved agent of the Company. While there, he was examined, poked, and prodded by the Company's scientists. When the scientists were done, the Company made sure that he was aware of his situation and even further trained in the use of his power. Orion found himself feeling even more happy than before, perhaps even overjoyed by the revelation that he was not alone in the world and that there was a place that he would truly fit in when he was ready.

The exact reasons that the Company decided to offer him a position amidst their ranks when he came of age are a mystery to Orion. It could just be that they saw potential in his reaction to their presence. It could be that people in the upper echelons have some mysterious and as-yet-unknowable plan for his existence. It could be that someone there took pity on him after reading his background dossier. Whatever the case, Orion planted his future firmly in the belief that the Company is where he wanted to be. When he returned, Orion redoubled his academic efforts and hunkered down to improve his lot in life as he geared up for college.

After a great deal of thought, Orion chose to go to New York City and go to college at NYU. The Company paid for a large portion of his tuition through a 'scholarship' and in return he pledged his allegiance to the goals of the Company. Of course, no one ever said Orion couldn't dabble in pre-med in college and so he did in an effort to better understand his unique abilities. He majored in biology, emphasizing pre-med and genetics though he did not major in those specific areas. He continued to train with his power, refining his control of it and himself. Living in the city provided its own sets of challenges though, teaching him new and better ways of using his power for maximum stealth and efficiency.

Training in the city also gave Orion insight into more unusual forms of entertainment. On the NYU campus, he found the urban climbing club and quickly became enamored with the concept. Not only was it excellent exercise, but he also found it an exceptionally useful method of developing his skills with his power, as well as learning just how widespread its effects were in his system now that it had begun to mature.

With graduation from college, Orion joined the Company as he promised six years earlier. They trained him, educated him even further in the arts of the agent, and set him up with a cover job in New York City. Orion has spent the past three years working toward the goals of the Company and the goal of making the world a better place for the Evolved and the ordinary alike.

Timeline

(Historic Summary)

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Halloween 1981: Born to Natalia and Nathaniel Granger.
Summer 1991: Nathaniel Granger is laid off, family moves back to Harrisburg from Pittsburgh.
Early November 1992: Orion cuts his hand while climbing a metal fence to escape school yard bullies. He topples down to the other side and finds metal seeping out of the flesh around the wound, eventually covering his entire hand in a protective membrane.
May 1993: Orion begins experimenting with his powers in the woods around his semi-rural home; eventually discovers he can force the metal to ooze out all over his torso and head.
Summer 1993: Orion continues to experiment with his powers and begins to learn how to alter the density, shape, and hardness of the metal.
October 1995: Some of Nathaniel's friends agree to help get Orion part-time jobs to help him earn money for college. Through these contacts, Orion gets a weekend job at a state park outside of Harrisburg and a part-time job at a veterinary clinic in Harrisburg itself.
July 1996: The Company comes for Orion; Orion discovers that he is not alone in having powers. The Company teaches Orion how to control his power and he swears he will join them when he is done with college.
June 1998: Orion graduates high school.
September 1998: Orion begins college at NYU, majoring in Biology with an emphasis in pre-med and genetics.
April 1999: After several months of training in the shadows of New York City, Orion discovers NYU's urban climbing club and almost instantly becomes a fan of it. He includes it in his daily training regimen to improve many basic skills he feels will be essential to working for a shadowy agency like The Company.
June 2002: Orion has just graduated from college and applies to Primatech per instructions from The Company. Orion gets a pencil-pushing day-job to cover his Company activities.
July 2002: Mandatory agent training begins for Orion.
September 2002: Orion completes agent training and begins his assignments for both Primatech and The Company.

June 4, 2007: Orion is passing Common Grounds when Hiro Nakamura suddenly returns from dinosaur times. Orion promptly switches to secret agent mode and spies on Hiro's home-coming squad (read: Mara and William). In so doing, Orion inadvertantly blows off Claudine… Oops.

Ability

(Ability Description)

The best way to illustrate his ability is by taking a look at his stunts.

(Stunts)

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Colossus' Flesh: Colossus' Flesh reflects Orion completely covering himself in metal. In this particular instance the metal is not hardened or as Orion likes to call it 'encysted' but remains in a gel-like state that clings to his flesh. This gel-like state is about as absorbent as the sort of padding boxers and martial artists use in modern training and competition almost deafening most human-level blows. The gel even absorbs a great deal of energy from bullets directed against it making it a very useful defense but not an impregnable one.

Cyborg's Armor: Orion covers small parts of his body with metal. This is much less taxing than the Colossus' Flesh and Iron Man stunts requiring less effort and time to generate than either one. These parts are typically uninjured though this stunt could be used in place of Magnus' Blood in the event that Orion is covering a portion of his body with a non-serious or purely internal injury i.e. bruises or a cracked rib.

Don't Tase Me Bro: Due to the heightened levels of metals in Orion's blood and tissues he is vulnerable to electricity. Increase physical damage and/or side-effects of electrical contact by one to three levels depending on intended effects and duration of the exposure.

I'M THE JUGGERNAUT: The is the most basic defensive manifestation of Orion's power whether he has 'metalized' himself or not. This reflects the increased levels of metal especially iron in his blood and body tissues that have reinforced his bones and allow him to store a modestly greater than normal amount of oxygen in his body.

Iron Fist: Orion encysts hardens the metal around his hand. This freezes the hand in whatever position he had it in when he encysted the metal and makes it even tougher than it would be with just Sarge Steel's Hand. As a result this stunt is typically reserved for actual killing blows against living targets or terminally destructive strikes against inanimate objects such as doors.

Iron Man: A more advanced version of Colossus' Flesh Orion encysts hardens the metal coating his body freezing him in place. This is a desperation move for the potentiality of facing a truly devastating assault like intense energy blasts from Ted Sprague a detonating bomb or a high caliber sniper bullet that Orion is for some reason aware of heading for him.

Lobster Sticks To Magnet: Due to the heightened levels of metals in Orion's blood and tissues he is vulnerable to magnetic fields. Increase damage and/or effects of magnetic fields by one to three levels depending on degree of magnetic manipulation involved. Decrease his success levels against magnetic fields by an equivalent amount.

Magnus' Blood: A variation on the Cyborg's Armor stunt this one is specifically used to compensate for wounded body parts. Orion covers a serious wound i.e. deep cut enormous gash second-degree or worse burns with metal to minimize blood loss and/or protect the wounded area from further damage.

Metallikats' Claws: Although this stunt is an advanced and refined form of the Iron Fist stunt it is substantially easier due to Orion's significant practice with it and the relatively small amount of effort required to create the effect of finger-tip claws. Active use of this power can degrade the claws, requiring it to be re-done intermittently to regenerate the claws to a functional level.

Sarge Steel's Hand: The most basic manifestation of Orion's power. He coats his hand or hands in metal which increases the amount of punishment it/they can dish out or withstand.

Wolverine's Claws: A variation on the Metallikats' Claws stunt Orion forces his metal to extrude and shape itself into a spike of variable length and encysts it to provide it support and strength. Granger rather enjoys using these spikes for combat purposes and uses them in a fashion not unlike a knife-fighter due to their growth limit of approximately one foot. Orion is able to produce up to four spikes with this stunt. They do not need to project from his hands and in fact he cannot produce more than one spike per hand.