Najji

GEM #2 'Najji'
Portrayed By	Jon Cossu
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	February 6th 2080
Age	18
Zodiac Sign	Aquarius
Aliases	GEM #3, Najji
Place of Birth	A government lab in the future
Current Location	New York
Occupation	Former soldier, currently none
Known Relatives	GEMs #1, #3, #4, #5
Significant Other	None
Identity	Secret
Known Abilities	GEM enhancements, Force Sheath and Constructs
First Appearance	???

Travelling back in time to rescue a lost brother, Najji strives to deal with the 21st century while protecting his siblings and trying to recover his memories.

History

As a part of the GEM program, #2 was raised to be a soldier and protector to the other GEM units. It was determined fairly early that the cadre needed a close-in fighter and person who could engage the enemy while leaving his siblings free to attack from stealth or range or mentally. That idea that his life was about the dual roles of protector and combatant was largely what shaped GEM #2's mind as he was being raised and trained.

GEM #2's creators had the same problem with him that would-be warlords have had for centuries. How do you train somebody to a killing machine but at the same time install in them a sense of loyalty and discipline? Especially in the case of a test subject who seemed to have a natural inclination towards being headstrong? In the end, they decided to kill two birds with one stone and assigned GEM #2 a person who acted as both mentor and primary trainer in hand to hand skills.

The man that GEM #2 knew as 'Sargent' and later 'Saul' literally reshaped his mind, perhaps in ways that those in charge of the program would have disallowed had they known of it. A retired special forces trainer, Sargent set about molding the child in front of him the way he would mold a new recruit with potential. With a lot of work, nearly mind-breaking stress and the occasional reward, such as giving him a name. Najji, Egyptian for 'second son'. The program worked and after initial resistance, Najji fell into line and discovered that he not only wanted to do well for his mentor but that he had a genuine passion and talent for his role. Under this one on one tutelage that was largely absent from his sibling's lives, the boy became a fearsomely skilled combatant (especially after his mutant powers manifested) and was installed with a warrior's code by the old soldier. Which is probably why he picked 'Buffalo Soldier' as a musical trigger that would shut down Najji's aggression and put him in a semi-hypnotic state that would prepare him for commands from the control personnel or GEM #1.

This was Saul's last chance to 'do it right', pass along the values of restraint, pride in one's skills, joy in the purity of self-discipline and the action and reaction of bodies in motion, but at the core of it, always a quiet soul. Never killing in anger, never letting fear rule. Just doing what needs to be done to protect and defend. In Najji's case, that protection was for his siblings. Which was why when GEM #4 recruited him to rescue their fallen brother, #3, he agreed instantly. It might not be regulation but it was what he was created to do.

When they traversed the portal back in time, most of Najji's memories were made unclear. He remembers his function. He remembers his siblings, including the fact that one of them is lost. He still has his combat and power-use skills but he finds the world of the early 21st century wildly unsettling. But everything else is blurred. Still, as long as he has his siblings, he has an anchor of sorts. Something to focus on and finding '#3' is a strong goal for him, as is reporting back to '#1'.

Personality

Najji was trained to have an almost zen-like quality of stillness and meditation when not in battle. Someone with his abilities and training could be absolutely terrifying to civilians and the research staff, but Saul made sure that the boy learned early and well that the only acceptable expressions of aggression were in training and battle. In all other things, he was to be 'like water'.

Having a strong person to person bond early in his life has left Najji a bit different than his siblings. He's invested in them as people as well as other members of the unit and his deep protective streak goes beyond getting between them and bullets. He also cares more (and from the standpoint of his designers, deeply inappropriately) about bystanders and civilians. His job, as he sees it, is to follow orders, guard his siblings and put down the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible, using the minimum level of force he needs to get the job done. Something of a failing in a born and bred soldier.

He is deeply disturbed by the early 21st century. The chaos, noise, strife and general commotion are like being in combat all of the time and Najji is constantly on edge and alert when in public. Raised in environments where he went from stillness and order to chaos and war and the two didn't mix, he is finding it increasingly hard to find his center and be as still and placid as he believes a soldier should be.

It is also worth stressing how very loyal and steadfast he was trained to be. He follows orders from the proper chain of command by instinct and feels deeply conflicted if he feels he can't do that. Najji was trained and psychologically manipulated to be a good lieutenant and if he has the occasional flash of rebellion (like the one that brought him back in time), it is because he feels the orders are getting in the way of the mission. He is not, by inclination, a thinker or leader. His self-worth is largely tied into his function in the unit and in the skill and fidelity of his performance as judged by his superiors. Of all the GEMs, Najji is probably the most conflicted and disturbed at the idea of 'going rogue'.

Quotes

• "I said it!"

Trivia

• Najji is functionally uneducated. He is literate and has skills suitable for a soldier, but no actual grasp of or grounding in arts, sciences, music or anything else unrelated to his task.
• His mentor/trainer in the GEM program picked his 'shut down' code in a somewhat ironic frame of mind.
• Amazing thing!
• Amazing thing!

Powers/Skills

Heightened Senses

Sight: GEM#2 can see with approximately double the standard clarity at distance than a normal human granting him approximately(20/10 vision. In addition, his eyes have been genetically modified to help him track motion even in lower-light conditions than a human. This isn't night vision, it just means that he's good at seeing and processing threats in his environment, even when he can barely see them. This motion sensitive vision is a blessing in combat but in non-hostile situations, he tends to be nervous and twitchy in crowds and near traffic.

Taste/Smell: While still acute enough to recognize other people by scent within ten yards or so, these senses are not as acute as some of his other siblings. In general, he uses them to supplement his sight in low-light conditions, as he can discriminate between targets by body scent. Unfortunately, this doesn't have the range to make him a good tracker. Related to scent, he has a very acute sense of taste, one that a wine critic would kill for. Strangely this acuity has left him with a serious affection for sour and tart foods and candies. It's essentially the taste equivalent of a dog sticking his nose out of the window of a moving car. A sensory blast.

Hearing: Najji's hearing is acute, allowing him to pick up even subtle noises in his environment and he's been trained to listen for things like the sound of boots scraping on concrete, weapons being prepared for use, whispering and such. His range is slightly higher and lower than a normal human, which has lead him to have an affection for music that has a lot of bass elements. He likes how It makes his head 'buzz'. Perhaps because his hearing is fairly limited compared to some of his other siblings and he's used to the loudness of combat, he's not as bothered by loud noises as some other GEMs.

Touch/Balance/Proprioception: Najji has enhanced senses of balance, touch and a very acute 'body sense'. He knows where he is in relationship with the environment (as related to him by his other senses) at all times. This enables him to have a very high level of precision and accuracy in hand to hand combat. In addition, he can touch a hand to the wall or floor to feel the vibrations caused by people talking or walking on that floor or on the other side of the wall. He won't be able to make out words or direction, only that the disturbance is there and tell the difference between similar textures and objects in complete darkness by differences that most humans can't sense.

Physical Enhancements

Najji can dead lift and toss twice his weight, about 300, lbs at will. He can push that another couple of hundred pounds to drag or just lift slowly.

His running speed in impressive, as he can keep a sustained run in the 20mph range for hours and a quick sprint of about 25 mph for a few minutes. In addition, his speed of reaction and body movement is as fast as you'd expect from an enhanced young man who engages in hand to hand training every day of his life. He's not 'snatch an arrow from the air' fast, but he's definitely combat trained and kinesthetically aware.

Najji's combat training has left him both flexible and agile and that builds on his muscular and ligature enhancements to make him able to pull off complex acrobatics in the midst of combat. He's designed to bring it to the enemy and he can do that from under, over, around or even through, if he must.

Force Sheath

Najji's mutant ability manifested as an ability to armor himself against physical and energy attacks as well as projecting shapes (usually weapons) out of that field. His field can range from having the properties of a rubber-like substance, facilitating springing/leaping to being as hard as the armor of a modern tank. His force sheath (and his constructs) are translucent and faintly luminescent, with the color of the sheath and contructs acting almost like a mood ring. At rest or when very relaxed, his field is a violet shade. As he becomes more agitated, the shade goes through blue, green, yellow, orange and finally red.

In specific, he can shrug off small arms (anything man-portable with bullets) without harm. Grenades, explosives, rockets and anti-vehicle weapons (like rocket launchers and LAW rockets) will slam him back, knock him down and bruise him, but he'll be able to function through one hit. Several may render him unconscious. Heavier weapons, like tank shells, air to surface missiles and such will crack his armor and do serious damage, if not death, if he takes a direct hit. Energy weapons follow the same general guidelines with the exception of sonic and laser weapons. His field is both sound and light permeable. Which means that cutting lasers (rather than generic concussive blasters) will ignore it. As will sonic attacks. The field also provides no resistance to psionics or astral attacks. In addition, things that seek the 'soul', (like Hellfire) ignore the armor.

His field also follows the contours and shares the weaknesses of a human body, allowing him freedom of movement but leaving him vulnerable to concentrated attack by those who can figure that out. Essentially this means that somebody with years of experience and ability, like Captain America or Taskmaster would be able to add that extra precision and 'umph!' to harm him through the field or even using it against him.

Force Weapons/Constructs

Najji can also create extensions of the force sheath at will, creating shapes that he uses as hand to hand weapons like fighting batons, staffs, swords and chains. He can vary the dimensions of the weapons at will, though, for instance jamming a sword into a chink in a robot's armor and then expanding it out to large size, shattering it from within. The maximum dimension in any direction or axis for hand to hand weapons is about ten feet. When creating chains or lines of force, he can make them both more flexible (like bungee cords) and extend them to about thirty or forty feet, as well as 'reeling them in'.

He can also create short-lived (about five seconds) constructs that linger after he creates them and then throws them or sits them in place. Usually he uses this to create force knives or disks for throwing. These act like their material counterparts, being accurate and powerfully thrown enough to effect unarmed humans but largely bouncing off armor and such with no harm. The disks are on the 'rubber' end of his field density and GEM #2 has practiced ricocheting them for indirect attacks.

In addition, he can create flat force planes to act as shields for himself and other people in addition to his armor. These can be no larger than a 10'x10'x1" plane. These shields are powerful enough to stop small arms and hand blaster attacks but if he wants to protect somebody from anything stronger, he has to put himself in the way. These are enormously taxing and only last five seconds at a time, as a rule. These constructs can also be used as spring boards, platforms and ramps/stairs. These constructs require much less energy than those designed to stop bullets.

Combat Training

GEM #2 was specifically trained to be the close combat specialist of the squad. To that end, his hand to hand and weapon style is a syncretic blend of various martial arts and synthetic hand to hand systems designed to deliver maximum force from the most diverse vectors possible. His fighting style is both fast and acrobatic, enhanced by his ability to literally add spring to his step and training related to contemporary free running and le parkour. That skill set also facilitates getting across the dangerous and chaotic landscape of a battlefield (or cityscape) at speed and attack from unexpected angles.

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