Diehard
Real Name Unknown

Prowess 5
Coordination 5
Strength 6
Intellect 4
Awareness 4
Willpower 5

Stamina 11

Powers
*Life Support 6 (Cybernetic enhancements negate the need for food, water, air, and rest; immune to disease and toxins.)
*Energy Blasts 5
*Damage Resistance 6
*Regeneration 4
*Flight 5
*Shield – Damage Resistance 6 (Can also be thrown as a ranged attack (Returns to him due to magnetic recall tech)

Specialties
Aerial Combat, Martial Arts (Expert +2 bonus), Military (Expert +2 bonus), Technology, Weapons – Thrown

Qualities
*Man or Machine? – Struggles with his identity, torn between his humanity and his cybernetic nature.
*Cybernetic Limitations – Vulnerable to EMPs and hacking attempts that target his cybernetic systems.
*Loyal to the Youngblood program

Background
In the 1940s, the man who would be known as Diehard was chosen to be the first of America’s genetic experiments, and became Diehard, the first successful fusion of man and machine.

In 1943, Diehard joined Glory and Superpatriot to found the Allies, a superhero team that fought against the forces of the Axis. Diehard acted as the leader.

By Summer 1988, Diehard was a member of Youngblood. He worked alongside Riptide, Raines, Battlestone, Boggs, Gamble and Chapel. They were deployed to Kuwait to prevent Hassan Kussein’s Iraqui Army from invading. Although they defeated the first strike, Boggs and Raines were killed by a booby trap when checking out an underground supply bunker. When Gamble confronted Battlestone’s authority over this tragedy, Stone murdered him, and Diehard pulled rank and arrested Stone, ending the mission.

In 1989, Diehard welcomed his new field leader, Shaft, who led him and Chapel, Bedrock, Vogue, Combat and Link. At some point, Diehard’s actions led the government to lock him away in a prison in Arlington – he was considered increasingly resistant to orders.

On March, 1992, when supervillains Strongarm and Gage tried to break out the other half of their supervillain team, The Four, composed of Deadlock and Starbright, Diehard was freed from his secret underground vault in Arlington. He vowed to make better use of his freedom this time. Diehard travelled to Washington, where he joined his teammates and they attacked The Four, who were captured and put in holding cells in the Pentagon.

A week later, Diehard received an alert informing him there was a breakout going on at The Pentagon, but he was too busy receiving an emergency beacon from the Away Team, who was under attack in Germany. By the time Diehard met up with the Home Team to inform them of the news, they had already taken care of the Pentagon situation. For this mission, Diehard and the Home Team were joined by Photon.

After flying for ten hours to Germany, Diehard and the Home Team found the Away Team knocked out in a G.A.T.E. International laboratory where the they had been called to supervise the transport of a super-soldier named Jonathan Taylor Prophet. Prophet was the only remaining combatant against an army of robotic soldiers called Disciples of Doom, who were arriving through a portal from the planet D’khay. Sentinel, leader of the Youngblood Away Team, informed Shaft they needed to close the portal, so Shaft sent Bedrock and Diehard to do that. Crossing into planet D’Khay, they met its ruler, Darkthornn, who knocked out Diehard immediately. Right before the portal closed, Diehard was thrown back to Earth by the Berzerkers, a group of freedom fighters from D’Khay. By the time Diehard made it back, the Disciple crisis was over.

He was later contacted by the retired Glory, who let him know their World War II teammate Superpatriot had been kidnapped by Cyberdata. Diehard accepted the mission to rescue Superpatriot on behalf of the U.S. Government. Diehard assaulted the Cyberdata Corp. Philadelphia branch, where he fought his way through S.H.O.C. troops until he reached Superpatriot, who had been turned into a cyborg and attacked Diehard against his will. When Cyberdata realized they couldn’t win, they shut down Superpatriot’s programming, and Diehard was able to deliver him to The Pentagon, who hooked him up to an inhumane recovery system. Looking at his old war buddy hanging from wires, Diehard felt vulnerable and knew that could easily have been him and that some suit could decide to pull the plug on him at any time. He and Glory walked out together, comforting each other.

Eventually, Diehard began a relationship with Vogue. Given his inhuman nature, it is sometimes hard for his teammates to remember that he is not wholly a machine, but Vogue has been able to overcome that.