Wonder

Wonder is a shapeshifting superhero. His real name is Carl Thorne, but he abandoned that identity long ago to escape the persecution of his archenemy, Dr Omnipotent. The first time he lived in Colonial Bay he used the name Lee Barnes; his current secret identity is the comic store clerk Kara Kingswell.

Description
As Wonder: Wonder is a broad and powerfully built man some 6'2" in height. His costume is a classic superhero skintight affair, reddish purple over metallic blue: the mask, back of the torso and arms, shoulders, centre of the chest and boots all in the purple shade. He has a wide blue belt at his waist. His mask is cut to show both his blonde hair and the lower half of his face, which typically bears a ready grin.

As Kara: Kara is a college-age woman of average height and slight build. Her hair, reddish brown and streaked with orange, frames her face; the parting is to the right and on the left it tends to fall forward over her eyes. Her face, like her body, is long and thin. While she would generally not be thought beautiful, her features and figure are in pleasant proportion to her slender body.

Kara dresses, almost without exception, in a T-shirt with some some of clever or geeky caption, tight black jeans and tan ankle boots.

As Lee: Lee is a tallish but lanky 16-year old, getting on for six foot. His light brown hair never seems to behave, giving him a scruffy look and contributing to the general impression of awkwardness. He typically wears rather worn jeans and a T-shirt advertising some computer game or other. That said, with his ready if shy smile he's not bad looking, and kind of endearing in a clumsy bumbling way, if you like that sort of thing.

Origin
Carl and Harry couldn't believe it – a super-battle, just outside their town! They rushed to the spot to see the most incredible sight of their lives: several hero teams from across the US teamed up to fight a single, unknown villain. For a long time the outcome was in doubt, but then the heroes still standing blasted the villain simultaneously. Something shiny bounced out of the long scar the villain made on the landscape. While the heroes checked on the villain, Carl picked up the strange gemstone that came to rest not far from his feet.

When he picked it up, the stone – made by a god, so it said - spoke in his head, offering great powers! It was just the sort of thing Carl had always dreamed of. He made his wish – to be the perfect shapeshifter, so he could be anyone – but he also wished to share the power with Harry, and passed the gem over once he could feel the power in him. Harry wished for powers too! He also refused to give the stone back.

The heroes flew off with the unconscious villain in custody, none the wiser about the boys' find.

(To this day neither boy knows that the stone was a tool created by a trickster god to give a servant enough power to track down and destroy a godling, nor that the servant went rogue instead of returning when that godling gave up his existence to save a world. Not do they, or any mortal, know the stone's own agenda!)

Powers
Wonder's powers come from the "Eldritch Stone", an artefact of immense power and some intelligence of its own, made by a trickster god. It's possible that if he retrieved the stone from Dr Omnipotent he could alter his powers – but then again, the stone is fickle.

Wonder's basic power is shapeshifting into any humanoid form so perfectly it's undetectable by almost any means. In doing so he can make himself bigger, smaller, stronger or faster. His ability to rearrange his body give him great stamina and resistance to injury, and allows him to heal himself given time. Each form he takes is stable, so ageing is not a problem: he can choose to be physically whatever age he likes.

Though it isn't obvious, the powers are psionic, which accounts for certain aspects. Wonder's mind is shielded against attempts to read beyond his surface thoughts. He can also himself read minds in a subtle, subconscious way, in order to adopt the behaviour the people he interacts with expect of the role (specific or generic) he has taken on, effectively making him a better actor. This ability fails, however, if dealing with people with any significant mental shielding. He can also inhabit a role so completely it causes actual temporary changes to his personality. He can has great talent at committing to memory personal details, the better to imitate someone.

Wonder can also extend his shapeshifting outwards to the things (or beings) he touches, causing them to be transformed to match his adopted role.

Personality
Wonder had dreamed of being a superhero all his life and now he is one! And he has the coolest powers ever! And he gets to hang out with other superheroes! It's like all his dreams have come true, and he's not going to let the side down. He's going to be the best superhero he can - which of course means a code against killing. And he'll do what he can to show the other heroes he's true hero material!

Well, maybe not all his dreams. He wishes Harry were a partner, not a villain. But then, every good superhero needs a nemesis, right? So maybe it's an inevitable part of the deal.

And did he mention how cool these powers are? He can be anyone! It's really hard sometimes to resist the temptation to do just that!

Of course, underneath all this is someone so insecure that his wish was to be anyone but himself, and is desperate to prove himself to the people about him. But he's hardly aware of this himself any more.

Relations
Wonder has various friends in various identities, but the need of hiding from Dr Omnipotent has meant that he has changed location and identity often enough that the friendships are seldom close. Two people he is genuinely close to are Ray Jackson, leader of the CBPD Meta Response Unit, and his fellow shapeshifter Chen.

He has had to break regular contact with his mother for her own protection.

History
Carl Thorne grew up, a rather insecure child, in nowhere-worth-mentioning, New Mexico. His father left when he was young, leaving his mother to raise him on a schoolteacher's salary. He had one close friend, Harry, with whom he shared two hobbies: computers and superheroes. They collected comics and superhero memorabilia. When they played, it was superheroes-and-supervillains. They dreamed of having superpowers. At first, Carl dreamed of having many, but increasingly Carl liked the idea of shapeshifting powers, so he could be anyone he wanted. Harry never really could decide what powers were best. But they both wanted to be superheroes more than anything.

Or so Carl thought. As it turned out, once they did have superpowers, Harry had something different in mind altogether. Or perhaps the power corrupted him. Either way, Harry began to abuse his powers almost as soon as he got them. He stole. He used mind control to get girls. Carl of course tried to put him right, and they argued. Then fought. And somehow this escalated till Harry was calling himself Doctor Omnipotent and threatening Carl's mother!

Carl barely managed to save his mother, and knew it was time to make a new life for them. Using his powers, he gave them both new identities. They moved first to Colonial Bay, then to other cities, changing IDs each time, until Carl realised that his mother would be safer without him, and they parted ways.

Carl ended up in Chicago, where Harry caught up with him and would have killed him, but for the intervention of Ray Jackson. Ray and Carl (as Wonder) became fast friends. When Ray was promoted and transferred to Colonial Bay, Carl followed to keep an eye on his friend - and hopefully to reunite with friends of his own.