The Shield – Impact Version (Icons Writeup)

Shield
aka Joe Higgins

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

Stamina 10

Powers
All of the Shield’s powers come from the suit of armor that he wears. Without it, his strength is reduced to 5 and his stamina drops to 9.
*Damage Resistance 5
*Force Field 7 (Extra: Reflection)
*Flight 4 (Limit: Exhausting, drains the armor’s resources considerably)
*Boost – Raises Strength of the wearer by one
*Interface 4
*Super-Senses: Infrared Vision 1
*Gadgets 2

Specialties
Athletics, Leadership, Martial Arts, Military (Expert +2), Weapons – Guns

Qualities
*Daddy Issues
*Founding Member of the Crusaders
*Patriot

Background

Joe Higgins, was a career officer in the U.S. Army, one of the most highly decorated servicemen of his time. His father, Brigadier General Marion Higgins, the Commanding Officer of America’s Air Reconnaissance and Military Strike installation, had staked his entire Army career on the creation of a unique Suit of armor that could turn its wearer into America’s mightiest secret weapon. General Higgins, inspired by the exploits of the Shield, the long-vanished star-spangled champion active during the ’50s and ’60s, made it his self-appointed mission to recreate this symbol of patriotic liberty around a soldier who would unknowingly serve as his puppet, setting his sights on Joe, he realized that his son was, physically and psychologically, the perfect candidate for Project: Shield, but Joe’s high rank precluded him from involvement, General Higgins took care of that by secretly framing and disgracing Joe, arranging for a court-martial that busted him to Sergeant and allowed Joe to undergo the year long training that culminated in his role as the new Shield. Shortly after helping form the Crusaders, Joe retired from the role of the Shield and passed the armor on to Lt. Michael Steven Barnes.

The Shield – New Crusaders Era (Icons Writeup)

The Shield
aka Joe Higgins

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

Stamina 12

Powers
*Leaping 2 (Limit: This ability is boosted by his suit, which is specially formulated to work with his altered metabolism. Without the suit, Joe’s Leaping is 1. If anyone else wears the suit, they only have Leaping of 1 since it won’t work with their metabolism as well).
*Damage Resistance 6 (Limit: This ability is boosted by his suit, which is specially formulated to work with his altered metabolism. Without the suit, Joe’s Damage Resistance is 4. If anyone else wears the suit, they only have damage resistance of 2 since it won’t work with their metabolism as well).
*Super Senses – Enhanced Vision 3

Note: During his prime, The Shield had Strength 7 and Stamina 13

Specialties
Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Investigation (+1 bonus), Leadership (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (Expert +2 bonus), Mental Resistance (+1 bonus), Military (Expert +2 bonus), Science (+1 bonus), Wrestling (+1 bonus)

Qualities
*Get off my lawn!
*America’s First Patriotic Hero
*“Don’t let up!”

Background

Joe was the son of Thomas Higgins, a government biochemist and member of the Burning Hand – a secret society formed to protect America. Thomas was attempting to recreate the powers of the legendary Shield (a hero known throughout the centuries as a defender of America and embodied in the current day by Victoria Adams) when he was killed by Axis-allied spies.

Joe completed his father’s research and applied it to himself, becoming the Shield. After WWII he became an F.B.I. investigator, using his intel and super-powers to combat organized crime.

At one time, the Shield was frozen in suspended animation due to the Eraser’s “Ion Weapon.” His son, Bill Higgins, found a spare uniform and continued his father’s legacy, though without his dad’s full range of abilities. Bill fought alongside the Mighty Crusaders as a hero, but his civilian life was difficult, as he would often shuffle from job to job, and never felt worthy of following in his father’s footsteps.

When Bill finally asked for help to “cure” his father’s condition, the Comet used his “Altroxian Science” to reverse the Ion Weapon’s effects, and the original Shield came back to life. With his father in action again, Bill retired his Shield identity and joined the Armed Forces. Joe joined the Crusaders at this time – many people assume that the Joe Higgins and Bill Higgins Shields were the same person but it was in fact Bill that helped found the Crusaders and his father joined later.

After many years passed, the Brain Emperor reappeared, having gained power over the mysterious Blue Ribbon. With his new powers the Brain Emperor ambushed his old foes (now retired and raising families) at a reunion, using his new powers to apparently kill Fly-Girl, Comet, Fireball, The Web, Pow-Girl, Jaguar, and Steel Sterling. Joe Higgins, however, succeeded in saving the children of Steel Sterling, Fly-Girl, Comet, Pow-Girl, as well as Fireball’s nephew, and Jaguar’s protege. Joe followed his agreement with his old friends, becoming The Shield once more to protect their young. Following protocols set up by the Crusaders earlier to give the teens the abilities they would need to protect themselves, Joe gave Alex Tyler, Greg Dickering, and Johnny Sterling treatments to give them the powers of the original Fireball, Comet, and Steel Sterling. Kelly Brand received weapons and gear replicating the powers her mother had possessed as Fly-Girl, Ivette Velez was given a powerful mystic artifact that had been found by the original Jaguar, while Wyatt Raymond received a super-suit based on The Shield’s own, enabling the young boy to become a new Web. Joe clearly struggled with dealing with his young charges, however, unused to interacting with teenagers. Nonetheless the youngsters decided to allow him to mentor them as they followed in their elders’ footsteps, becoming the New Crusaders and swearing to bring the Brain Emperor to justice.

In the final battle with his long-time nemesis, the elite assassin Eraser, Shield was severely and irrevocably injured. With the return of the Shield (Victoria Adams) that first inspired his father’s work, Joe opted to finally step down from command and lead the M.L.J. He currently operates from behind a desk, offering counsel to Victoria and the rest of the team as needed. This writeup is based upon The Shield as he was when leading the New Crusaders, before his injuries sidelined him for good.

Lancelot Strong – The Shield (Icons Writeup)

THE SHIELD
AKA LANCELOT STRONG AKA ROGER FLEMING

Prowess 5
Coordination 6
Strength 7
Intellect 5
Awareness 4
Willpower 5

Stamina 12

Powers
Lancelot harnesses mental energy into various feats of physical prowess, such as:

• Damage Resistance 7 (Limit: Ineffective against gas attacks; Extra: Increases to 8 against cold and heat attacks)
• Aquatic 4 (Coordination and Awareness are boosted +1 while in water)
• Lightning – Blast 8
• Leaping 2
• Enhanced Vision 5 (vision-based Awareness tests are level 5)

Specialties
*Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Military (+1 bonus), Underwater Combat (+1 bonus), Wrestling (+1 bonus)

Qualities
*Vocally Patriotic
*Considers himself the ‘real’ Shield
*Routinely risks his life for others

Background

Lancelot Strong was born Roger Fleming, the son of Cooper City scientist Malcolm Fleming. Fleming’s career was devoted to tapping the latent powers of the human brain, to make men “more than mere men.”

Testing his theories on his own son, Malcolm kept the boy in a germ-free environment within a huge bubble. He also fed him micro-electrical stimuli through a specially designed helmet. When fellow scientists threatened to bring Malcolm up on charges of mistreating his child, the scientist drove off with his son. They were pursued by Communist agents who wanted Fleming’s secrets ; trying to elude them, Fleming drove off a cliff.

The child survived and was found by Fairfield County farmers Abel and Martha Strong. They raised him as their own. Years later, when he returned to the overgrown wreckage of his father’s van, Lancelot found a notebook which explained powers he never realized he had.

Lancelot also found a costume which his father intended him to wear when, according to the notebook, he would “protect all mankind from the forces that would cause it harm.”

Drafted into the army, Lancelot became a career soldier. Assigned to the tank division at Fort Patton, he was later transferred to Fort Sherman in the Midwest, where he worked his way up to Captain. Strong was a member of the Mighty Crusaders along with the original Shield (Joe Higgins) and Shield III.

A note about stats: while doing research for this character I found various sites that varied wildly in their descriptions of his powers and their respective levels. Ultimately I based this writeup on the 1980s version from the Red Circle line of books. He’s not a straight-up copy of the Joe Higgins version of the Shield… he has different abilities and seemed a little more hot-headed than his predecessor.

The Shield – Dark Circle Version (Icons Writeup)

THE SHIELD
aka Victoria Adams

Prowess 6
Coordination 6
Strength 7
Intellect 4
Awareness 5
Willpower 6

Stamina 13

Powers
*Immortality – Reincarnation (If The Shield dies, she will be return at some point in the next generation but with no memories)
*Damage Resistance 4
*Leaping 1
*Guns 4

Specialties
Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Drive, Investigation, Leadership (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (Expert +2 bonus), Military (Master +3 bonus), Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Weapons – Guns (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
*Recurring memories of past lives
*America’s Symbol of Freedom
*It’s tough to live up to your own legacy

Background

Victoria Adams was a rogue saboteur and guerilla soldier during the Revolutionary War in the late 1770s. She was eventually captured by British forces and turned over to the mysterious Burning Hand shadow society. Her death soon followed but this was not the end of her story – she was born again not long after… this happened over and over. Following each death, she would return in the next generation but without her prior memories. These memories would always come back to her over time but it often took many years.

She continued to resurface across the centuries, serving in every major armed conflict conducted by the United States of America. The legend of “America’s Shield” would go on to inspire Joe Higgin’s father and his experiments.

Victoria’s most recent return saw her get involved with the splinter black-ops cell Black Seven. After bringing down the agency from within, she was brought into M.L.J. by Director Higgins and made the head of the newest incarnation of the Mighty Crusaders. She is a powerful and deadly foe as she has access to all of her previous lives’ memories — the only problem is that sometimes these memories don’t always surface as easily as she might like.