Sideways (Icons Writeup)

Sideways
aka Derek James

Prowess 3
Coordination 6
Strength 7
Intellect 3
Awareness 3
Willpower 3

Stamina 10

Powers
*Regeneration 4
*Damage Resistance 4
*Derek can create tears in space-time, or “rifts” as he calls them, which allow him to leap through dimensions at will, letting him to move from one place to another whenever he wants. He also has the potential to be able to open the rifts to another universe with his power. The edges of these rifts are razor-sharp and super-strong, meaning he can shape them as weapons or shields. He can also track people by focusing his mind on them and then leaping through rifts to them. In game terms: Dimensional Travel 7 (Extras: Strike, Teleportation, Force Field, Extrasensory Perception; Limit: Unstable – If you use your power in a fight or other tense situation, roll a die: on a 1 or 2, your power goes off at random rather than doing what you intended)

Specialties
Athletics

Qualities
*Powerful but uncontrolled
*Unlucky
*Part of a new age of heroes

Background

Derek was in Gotham City with his adoptive mother, Helen, when Challengers Mountain returned from the Dark Multiverse. After being separated from his mother by the subsequent earthquake, Derek fell into a massive fracture in the ground and through a rift into the Dark Multiverse. After four days, Derek was able to teleport back to Gotham. After a month, his friend Ernestine designed a costume for him to use. However, in his first live-stream as the hero Sideways, Derek was confronted by the Tempus Fuginaut, a mysterious figure who intended to kill him for supposedly damaging space-time.

Derek attempted to escape using his powers, but Tempus revealed his staff renders Derek’s powers inert and decided to escape through freefall. Regaining his powers, Derek escaped but not without breaking his arm. Rushed to the hospital by Ernie, Derek’s short stay was interrupted by the angered Killspeed breaking free nearby. Reaching Gotham Pier, Derek’s attempt at reason failed, their fighting continuing with James eventually winning as the Gotham City Police Department neared, but not without accidentally taking Killspeed’s arm into one of his rifts. Unbeknownst to him, a close eye watched from above.

Sometime later, Derek still looking for fame would take on the rampaging Replicant with Hot Spot, unaware of planned meeting with his mother and Dark Star Sciences CEO Leto Dominus. Replicating his powers Replicant rifted himself apart, leading to opinion backfiring on Derek. Thinking of quitting such thoughts were dashed aside by the pleading Tempus Fuginaut within his bedroom. Apologizing the Fuginaut explained to Derek his true role of sealing disruptions through showing him the Branefold Interior. Pulled by responsibilities, Derek would later fight the Showman following the latters call-out and enthrallment of his school. Continuing his duties as Sideways after an argument with his mother, Derek would join the Tempus in cleaning existence of it’s sickness. Unknown to him Helen had figured out his identity, later passing within Crime Alley later that day.

Broken and disgruntled his relationship with his father and Ernie would slip, ultimately leading to him nearly drowning many students at school if not by the interruption of Zatanna and the mystical Seven Soldiers, needing his aid in a threat against humanity. Attacked he was separated yet saved by the The Unseen. Stuck within the dungeons below, he freed Kal-El from a kryptonite cocoon. Together the duo, later with help from the Unseen and the Seven Soldiers would defeat Sheeda, returning home with a strengthened pride in himself. However during this time he would miss his mother’s funeral.

Devastated by his own actions, he and Ernie would take a journey to Paris to clear his mind. Dealing with the local threat of Leviathan Organization terrorists. Returning to Ernie, he found her caught by a mysterious teleporter. Quickly saving his friend with a rift, Derek was unable to best Bolt. Placed within the hands of the Black Star Sciences, believing it was the actions of Leto and the group led to his mother’s death. Forcibly used to open a portal to the multiverse, the corrupted rift would unleash dark beasts within the laboratory. Broken free, Derek attempted to close the rift by opening another within causing a cascading gravity well and explosion, however he was saved by the intervention of the Tempus Fuginaut.

Returning home after a talk with Detective Hopkins and his father he would meet his biological mother. Reestablishing a relationship with both his adoptive father and biological mother his meeting was interrupted by a call by Detective Hopkins. Figuring out who truly killed his mother, Derek attacked Sandy Bridwell on the highway, forcing a confession out of the woman by balancing her car upon a cliff. Angered, he would rift the woman away to the police. Later meeting with Ernie they would discuss his future as a heroe, mentioning various teams at the time. With a cleared mind, he responded to the last late texts of his mother and moved on, rifting away with his close friend.

Derek, along with Aqualad, Spoiler, and Arrowette was recruited by Impulse as a backup member of Young Justice to confront a S.T.A.R. Labs division gone rogue. He was also a key component to rescue successfully Conner Kent, bringing him back to Earth after he was lost in Skartaris