The Battle Brothers
Jack / Malcom Bryce / Manning
Both Jack Bryce and Malcolm Manning were doing thirty years in prison for armed robbery and assault. So they took an opportunity to escape from a chain-gang provided by a F.O.E. attack and ran, still handcuffed to each other. Fleeing the authorities in the Mount Stanley National Park area, the convicts literally stumbled upon a small cave opening. Inside, they found a half buried container, holding a pair of strange-looking wristguards. Thinking they might at least be valuable, Bryce and Manning decided to take them, but having no easy way to transport the decaying box, and still handcuffed together, they each put one of the bracers on.
The moment they closed and locked in place, the alien devices activated. It’s likely the bracers were intended for a single wearer, so being split between two had unexpected side effects. The devices greatly enhanced the strength and stamina of both men, but also linked them, psychically and physiologically. While they are capable of each knowing what the other is thinking instinctively and reacting as if they were one, the greater the distance between them, the weaker they become, until they both begin to die.
Initially, however, Bryce and Manning knew nothing of these drawbacks. Calling themselves the “Battle Brothers” the two men sought to steal enough to set themselves up with a temporary haven and hire themselves out as mercenaries to the highest bidder. Since learning about the dangers of separating too far, the Battle Brothers have shifted their goals slightly to include better understanding the bracers they wear and learning how to adjust them to the eliminate their weaknesses.
Physical Description
Special abilities
The battle bracers have enhanced Bryce and Manning’s physiology to superhuman levels: each of them is strong enough to lift a hundred tons, make mile-long standing jumps, and shrug off even some heavyweapons fire for a time. They’re both largely immune to concerns like changes in temperature or things like toxins or pathogens.
The bracers have also linked them together on a fundamental level. The Battle Brothers almost move as one when they go into action. They’re a profoundly effective team: they communicate silently on a psychic level without needing to speak (although they still talk outside of “battle mode” largely out of habit). They coordinate their actions well, and can react instantly to each others’ moves.
Mental characteristics
Intellectual Characteristics
The Battle Brothers were two of a kind even before alien technology linked them together: both crude and brutal criminals, bullies used to taking whatever they wanted, at least until they got caught. Both are too short-tempered and violent to last long at any legitimate job and now they both enjoy their newfound power far too much to ever give it up. The Battle Brothers are fairly simple in their wants: a good fight, enough money to enjoy themselves, and maybe a chance to fix the battle bracers so they can be even more powerful and do more of the same. The two men are as close as either is capable of being; they look out for each other as if they were actual brothers, but also quarrel (and sometimes even come to blows). Still, the fact that they literally feel each others’ pain to some degree helps keep them on good terms.
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