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Description

Al generally tries to keep himself concealed as best as he can. He wears a fedora to hide his face from surveillance cameras. A dark-colored scarf is also a part of his daily attire, in an effort to thwart more sneaky methods of capturing his face, as well as to increase his chances of not getting sick. In the same vein, Al wears cotton gloves, a heavy dark-brown trenchcoat, and heavy hiking boots. Underneath his trenchcoat is anyone's guess, though usually it's a dirty long-sleeved shirt and khakis.

Al's "younger" form has the same build as the picture above, sans wrinkles and white hair.

Personality

There are 3 "stages" to Al's ability: Transformation, Manipulation, and Expiation. These stages aren't necessary sequential, but they are all necessary.

Transformation: In this stage, Al converts his blood cells into a substance he's named "tar" because of the texture it takes on when it takes physical form. Tar is invisible to the naked human eye, though Al doesn't know if it can be detected by other means.

If Al is a deeply meditative state, he can efficiently transform blood cells into tar, as well as pick which components (red, white, plasma) to convert. If he is not, he is far less efficient and, thus, is at a far greater risk of accidentally over-exerting himself, which leads to death.

Manipulation: Al's tar generally sticks to his skin in a clump (in fact, it must always make contact with his skin), but he can manipulate its thickness to spread it out. He can sense the presence and distance of any living creature his tar touches. If he is meditating, he can form a clear picture in his mind of the area his tar encompasses, including obstacles. Once extended, tar cannot be internalized (see below). This type of tar cannot be converted back into blood and will simply disappear when released.

In addition to extending his tar outwards, he can draw the tar inwards into his bloodstream. His usually pale blue eyes turn a murky green when he does this. His body reverses in age to his original form (about 22 years of age, now), but with enhanced eyesight and reaction speed. This form of manipulation can only be sustained for at most a few minutes. As long as his tar is in his bloodstream, it continually sucks up blood. He can lose most of his blood like this without any trouble; once released, a quarter of the tar will turn back into blood during this mode. However, if all the blood is gone, none of the tar will revert, and he will have lost all his blood, leading to an excruciatingly painful death.

Al's ability is still in the development stages. He may find other uses for tar, which will be edited here.

Expiation: Al pays the price for his abilities with blood. If he uses red blood cells, his muscles get weaker and his reactions get slower; in other words, his combative ability drops dramatically. If he uses white blood cells, which provide the highest exchange rate according to Al, he risks catching diseases (this is the reason for the scarf and the coat). He can also use plasma without repurcussions, but the exchange rate is horrendous, so Al never uses plasma except to extend his range by a few feet in emergencies.

Equipment

Al's parents were ruthless, emotionless, and would never let anything get in the way of the job at hand - and they taught Albert Wolfe well. Throughout grade school, he'd been known as the quiet one, but not because he was shy. He simply didn't care enough to respond to anyone who tried to talk to him, or to any conversations he overheard. Some of his schoolmates have seen his quietness as arrogance. Despite this, he possesses an odd yet powerful instinct to protect those around him. After events during his third year at university, Al's psyche has become shaken and conflicted. His discovery of music, and the emotions that come with it, have confused Al, and he is currently trying to sort out his feelings. He believes that emotions get in the way of logical efficiency, and yet he also believes, logically, one cannot be human without emotions.

Al's decisions depend on whether or not he has successfully suppressed his emotions, which gets harder with each passing day. Some days he is cold, calculating, and would never hesitate to shoot anyone that seemed like a threat. Other days he lets his emotions run him: fear, compassion, anger, the whole spectrum of human feelings.

History

Al's childhood life was normal in every way - except for the fact that he was cold-hearted and seemingly uncaring. A quiet boy, some of this peers thought he was shy, while the rest saw him as arrogant. After he graduated grade school and moved on to university, he had a chance encounter that changed his life.

Al had always been known to do the logical thing, in his eyes. If he ever extended an arm of friendship to someone, it was usually because friendship was the best option. It was only logical that he would pick up a musical instrument some time in his life, both as conversation food and to expose himself more around university campus. It was by chance that his neighbor was selling an old flute at an excellent price. Again, logically, the flute became the best choice for an instrument.

He improved his technical skills over the course of three years. Although he was known as a talented flautist on campus, he lacked any sort of actual natural talent - it was only through hard work in private time that he gained that reputation. It was only a matter of time before he met her.

He only knew her first name: Nona. Still, he thought he loved her.

She was a jazz flautist prodigy, who also worked hard. Al was asked to play alongside her jazz band in a guest gig at his university, and he accepted because he knew if he didn't, he'd have no excuse not to go home for the weekend.

To this day, Al has no idea what made him open up to Nona that night, but it wasn't reason; he was sure of that. The two of them connected instantly, and by the end of the two night gig, Al and Nona felt like they knew each other in a more private way than any of their friends knew them. They didn't know each other's last names, hobbies, favorite color - all that stuff was incidental. During their performances, Nona brought out a feeling of freedom and excitement that Al never knew existed. Later, Al could finally put a name to it. It was purely wild abandon.

After the last night of the gig, Nona disappeared. No goodbye, no see-ya-later. She was just... gone. That same night, Al broke his spine.

His mind, which had been trained for 18 years of its life to suppress emotions, to be unfeeling towards happiness as well as death, had been transformed those past two nights. During the moments the bass guitar's groundwork rolled under him and the drummer's beats pushed him along, the inhibitors that were so natural to Al disappeared, and emotions flooded a body that hadn't seen such a powerful force in almost two decades. He was walking away from the performance hall, trying to wrap his head around his conflicting emotions when he noticed the student and the car.

The student was texting, as students are prone to do, and crossing the street. The car's headlights were out (broken or just turned off?), and Al dashed and checked the student out of the way. Al knew, in a split-second, that if he hadn't hit the student out of the way, the student would've gotten away with a few broken bones and a bit of internal bleeding, at most. For some reason, Al completely ignored the logical choice and dove anyways. It would be wrong to let this guy get hurt. It was a thought completely foreign to Al, and as the car slammed into his leg, driving his bones into his spine and crushing essential parts of it, Al couldn't stop thinking, "Why did I just do that?" The instant before a searing pain knocked him out cold, Al thought he glimpsed the moonlight reflecting off the burning brown hair that only one woman could possess. Of course, that could've just been his spine breaking.

Though Al never knew this, he was never taken to the hospital. The driver threw the injured boy into his backseat and drove off. To this mysterious man, Al wasn't an injured victim, or even a hero; he was subject #2395710428, a.k.a, Serial #4.

Albert Wolfe's Story