Claim to FameThe Wolf of Chicago: The city's first and only werewolf firefighter (retired) ReputationTo the extent that he has one Nicholas is known as a hardworking, semi-blue collar kind of guy with big dreams and, er, a snout… BiographyNicholas Gleason was born on a rather snowy night to Jack and Carol Gleason of Cleaveland Ohio. The rise in mutations was definitely a news item at the time, but like so many others they never thought it would be their child. They were wrong. When Nicholas was six his metagene complex activated and over the course of a rapid and painful transformation caused him to sprout short brown fur, pointed ears, alter his eyes and give him short blunt claws on his hands and feet. The Gleasons were scared, of course, but they were basically decent people. Which made it all the harder when, two years later, they were killed in an auto accident that Nicholas' mutant durability allowed him to survive. Confused and scared, he fled before emergency services arrived at the scene only to blunder into a band of Purifiers. That might have been the end of him had not a recovery team from the Institute located him and brought him back. It took time and therapy to get Nick back on track but he did join the student population at the Institute. By this time his mutation had progressed to the point of warping him into something even more inhuman. Young Nicholas grew a snout that became a muzzle and adopted ever more lupine aspects. His physical attributes improved as well, everything from raw strength to hand-eye coordination. By the time he was old enough to begin formal training in the use of his mutation, he looked for all the world like a young werewolf. So the school gave him the 'code name' Wolf Cub. As Wolf Cub entered his final four years of Institute training the school initiated an experiment. There were a number of relatively powerful mutants present and the faculty felt that there might be some benefit to both the students and possibly other organizations (like the X-Men) from having some of the student body put onto permanent teams that school, train and live together. Nicholas was put on a 'squad' called 'The Paragons.' For three years the Paragons did exactly that. The eight member team grew, as might be expected, quite close. Best of friends. Well, mostly anyway. That was after all the point of the exercise. Then, in the summer of 2010 they went on a 'field exercise'. It was supposed to be simple, if not easy. Simulated 'missions' to see how well they'd learned their lessons in the New York back woods. Sadly, they weren't alone. Whether bad luck or something more sinister Nicholas never found out but the squad was found in the middle of crossing a river by a large band of Purifiers led by their most dangerous champion: Horror Show. The next six hours were one frantic running battle as the students desperately tried to disengage and signal for help and HorrorShow stalked and cut them off at every turn. By the time the X-Men realized something had gone wrong and came to rescue the Paragons, half the squad was dead. Their bodies were recovered for burial. The following day the Squad Program was canceled. Nicholas fought (and ran) desperately during the attack, as had they all and he took the losses harder than most. The incident gave him night terrors and nightmares and so affected him that after a couple of weeks of watching and counseling a couple of the school's telepaths resorted to the dangerous expedient of direct mental intervention. It worked… sort of. Even the expert telepaths had been afraid to fiddle too much, lest they unbalance Nicholas' feral nature and make him into an unthinking beast or worse. Still, the sting of the loss was allayed enough to restore Wolf Cub to functionality (even if he did still have some problems) and he managed to finish the year and graduate though it is entirely fair to say he was never the same again. Though Nick had the power to join the school's eponymous Team, he elected instead to move to Chicago and 'live the dream.' Which is to say, try to live a normal life. And he did, first signing up with search and rescue as a helicopter pilot (leveraging some of the Institute's more… unusual points of study) and then testing out for the Chicago Fire department where he worked his way up from firefighter to Paramedic. Of course, there was his higher education to consider too and after a couple of years on the department Nick had decided that he liked medical work and got himself enrolled in a physicians assistant program. It was really the 2014 Thanksgiving Day Robberies that changed everything. A team of heavily armed, well organized metahumans hit banks all across Chicago until they were cornered by the police and SRD. The resulting fight went very badly for law enforcement and emergency services proved just as vulnerable, unable in the end to extract many of the wounded until a team of meta heroes arrived to put the criminals down. Working that day, doing his best to get folks out and being unable simply because of the scale of what was happening made Nicholas realize that this was a place where people like him, mutants and metas alike, could really make a difference… but he couldn't do it in the fire department. It took a few months to really get the idea from just a seed to something ready to go and run with, but with a small start up and some basic equipment and a lot of ideas Nicholas and a few friends moved back to New York to found 'Rescue'. The worlds first medical response for Meta situations. |
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Character DetailsGenerally quiet when left to himself, when a crisis hits Wolf Cub becomes all business. He has that 'get things done' mentality so many first responders do and he can be a bit intimidating, all six foot two of him, when he starts barking out orders. The side most people don't see is the still shattered cub who lost his pack twice and never really recovered from it. Relationships
Notes<This section is optional. You can delete it.> Character Gallery
LogsEnergy Slingers Clubbing The Mutant Takedown Hydra In The Park Flame Throwing M-Town Coffee and Clockwork People Joint Venture Followup House Call State of the Union Flashing Wolf Cub Rescue One: Angel One Wolf Cub Dreaming Mental Defenses Four Doctors and a Bird Salem Center Meeting Joint Venture Opening Day Back to: Current Cast |
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Wolf Cub
