Left to Right: Feral, Ballpark, Raptor, Claws, Thunderfoot and Tracker
Unlike other teams FFF functions more like a family than a ‘team’. As such they do not have a definitive hierarchy but act on the whole as a group. When it comes to engaging with other heroes Emily often takes the role of intermediary since unlike the others the part of her that is animal is less likely to influence her emotions. Apart from Emily and Feral the others have only fragmented memories of who they once were before they were artificially “altered”.
Since the others assume she is the youngest of the group they protect her like they would do the youngest child in a family.
CLEA DATA FILE
Team Identities:
- (Real name unknown) – Ballpark
- (Real name unknown) -Raptor
- Emily Buchanan – Claws
- (Real name unknown) -Tracker
- (Real name unknown) -Thunderfoot
- Latoya Gutteridge – Feral
CLEA Classification:
- Human/Animal hybrid (All members)
Special Skills and/or Abilities:
- All members of the FFF have the ability to transform from a human to an animal form which retains some/most human properties.
- Ballpark – Large male that can transform into a humanoid primate. He got the name due to the fact when in his animal guise he can throw his victims a considerable distance.
- Raptor – Male, He was originally a ‘first’ generation experiment. He becomes a humanoid bird by growing a pair of wings and consequently differs from Chimera’s Raven who being a later generation adopts much fuller bird like form.
- Claws – Emily Buchanan has the means to transform into a humanoid cat. She retains most of her human features but the most noticeable change is her skin colouration pointed ears and long claws on her hands.
- Tracker – Male, can transform into a humanoid wolf.
- Thunderfoot – Female, human/antelope hybrid. Her transformation sees her lower body become a pair of hooved legs.
- Feral – Latoya has the means to transform into a humanoid cat like Emily. Being a later “generation” of one of Professor Buchanan’s hybrids means her transformation is almost complete.
- CLEA Special Asset
Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):
- They cannot remain in human guises for long lengths of time.
- When in their animal forms each member of the team gains enhanced animal instincts/senses/properties based on the creatures they were created from. In some cases particularly with Tracker he had problems controlling his desire to hunt especially when he smells blood. By comparison Thunderfoot can sometimes “spook” as easily as wild deer.
- Emily is often tasked to act as a mediator since the others have problems keeping their overwhelming animal traits in check. When she is not around the team is less able to think and act tactically.
- The team have no fixed leader.
Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:
- Assault/Assault and battery
Notes/History
Original Team:
Fur and Feathers Faction or (Triple F) is a team of human/animal hybrids who have the means to change shape and assume a partial animal form. The group was formed by Emily Buchanan, daughter of Thomas Buchanan the person that had used them as test subjects and altered them.
They are a breakaway group from Chimera, formed when a group of his hybrids realised they could not live with knowing that their criminal lifestyle
Apart from Emily Buchanan the original members of FFF were all unwitting test subjects for Professor Thomas Buchanan. Thomas had inadvertently stumbled on the means to revert Alphas to ordinary people and the Black Shadow syndicate wanted his work, offered to become his backers via a series of fake companies. The Justiciars learned of Thomas’s breakthrough and wanted it stopped so Trojan decided to give the professor a suitable distraction.
Trojan sought out Beastial and “programmed” her to find Emily Buchanan, Thomas’s daughter and change her a humanoid animal. Once the deed was done, Beastial had nearly been killed by over using her Alpha ability. Trojan’s programming was undone but now in control of her own thoughts she was unable to reverse what she had done to Emily.
Thomas was left with only one option left and that was to cure his daughter by using his work. To restore her human form condition he needed to try and create a human/animal hybrid of his own which he could then experiment on in order to reverse the transformation.
Black Shadow wanted to speed Thomas’s work so they decided to help him in order to get him back on the work they wanted him to perform. At that moment Trojan interfered and offered her services to Black Shadow in order to keep an eye on what was happening. Black Shadow could get him as many test subjects as he needed but to prevent Thomas having a crisis of conscience Trojan suggested she reprogram their victims to think they were criminals with life sentences and had volunteered for the program in a bid to get extra privileges.
Thomas was told if any accidental death occurred the families of all his test subjects would be well compensated. Desperate to fix his daughter Thomas did not ask too many questions and soon had created several different human/animal hybrids. He chose different animals to increase his chances of success.
Once he had altered the test subjects into hybrids he then started trying to reverse the procedure. This gave limited success for he could never entirely remove the animal part of them. Instead under moments of stress they would now change from a human guise to humanoid animal. Using what he had learned he applied it to Emily and she was able to do the same.
Black Shadow by now were growing impatient and threatened to remove funding and resources if he did not resume the work they had originally hired him for. Thomas therefore split his time and Trojan feared there was a danger if he was allowed to resume his “cure” for Alphas. She therefore created another distraction by removing her programming of the test subjects. Since they had been altered since her initial programming their memories were fragmented and none of the test subjects knew who they actually were but they did know they were not criminals.
When Thomas learned this he was horrified. Some of the hybrids demanded he fix them but others were quite happy with what they had become. Approaching his backers Thomas wanted to know what was going on and they finally admitted they were Black Shadow.
Since Thomas was not going to continue working for them until he had fixed the hybrids that wanted to be changed back to human they pulled all his funds. With no money and little resources the hybrids that wanted fixing set out to steal what was needed. They had little desire to hurt anyone and classed themselves as pacifists. The other hybrids, calling themselves the renegades wanted revenge against Black Shadow so started performing raids on the syndicates operations.
All the while Thomas had been performing his experiments, he had kept Emily in a separate part of the facility. He knew she would not like the idea of him changing people into hybrids to reverse her condition. However after Black Shadow pulled its funding Thomas could no longer maintain his lies and he told her everything.
She was shocked at what he had done, even if it had all been Trojan’s manipulating. Having now grown used to the idea of changing to an animal form and back she was at peace with her “condition” and demanded Thomas let her get on with her life and stop trying to fix her. He said he could not do that since he had to “fix” the pacifists so she threatened to leave. Thinking Emily was not thinking straight he had her locked up in the lab until she saw reason.
Now a prisoner of her father, Emily was still allowed visitors and got to know the other hybrids. To put an end to the criminal activities of the group she suggested they all accept what they were and move on. The renegades found his easy since they liked their new powerful forms. However the pacifists wanted to be returned to ordinary people. When Emily then suggested that the criminal activities stopped, the robberies and attacking Black Shadow facilities which caused innocent casualties it was the turn of the renegades to object. The pacifists had grown tired of making victims out of others and so thought her word as merit.
For months she kept up the argument until the pacifists were finally persuaded to accept what they were. Believing that if they stopped stealing for Thomas they would be considered a threat and locked up they knew they had to get as far away from the lab as possible. However they felt they could not leave without Emily so their plans were put on hold until they could guarantee success.
That eventually happened and once on the run the group went into hiding. On several occasions the renegades would show up. Emily learned that Thomas was convinced the pacifists had told her lies and so wanted her “rescued” from them. Every encounter though ended in failure and Emily remained with the pacifists, moving at regular intervals to stay one step ahead of her father.
Then came the day when the group heard that Thomas Buchanan had formed Chimera, and was offering to hire out the renegades as mercenaries. That was not such a difficult thing to contend with but they also learned that he was also offering to create more hybrids for the right financial incentive.
That was too much for Emily to deal with. She knew it was time for her to stop hiding and put a stop to her father’s madness. The others agreed and they became the “Fur and Feathers Faction.” During their time on the run they had found their unique abilities useful when they happened across crimes so becoming amateur crime fighters was not too difficult a jump for them to attain.
As FFF they soon attracted the attention of the media and it was not long before CLEA sought them out. Believing they could provide useful intel on Chimera, FFF was asked to become special assets for the agency which they were only too happy to accept if it helped to stop Thomas and the others. By this time she lost the means to revert to a human form and so is the only member of the group unable to blend in with normal people.
Having established themselves as special assets the group expanded by another member when another “reformed” hybrid found them and wanted revenge of Chimera. At first they found Feral quite abrasive and difficult to work with because of her fiery emotions but Emily refused to beaten. With a lot of effort she managed to reach out to the newcomer and once that happened the others finally accepted her as part of their rather “odd” family.
Feral Additional History Team:
Newest member of FFF, Latoya was the ex girlfriend of Neil Boardman (Overbite).
After he lost control of his gang he sought out Chimera who were looking for the FFF. Boardman struck a deal where he would be transformed into an animal hybrid and in return he would give Professor Buchanan the location of where FFF were hiding.
Having been “changed” and under some misguided feelings about Latoya he wanted a “mate” and so had here turned into an animal hybrid as well. Despite the fact she had betrayed him to rival gangs when she had grown concerned about his taste for violence, Boardman was convinced she still loved him.
Even when she protested before the procedure to change her, he considered he was doing he a favour by making her more powerful.
Eventually after Boardman made a failed attempt to seize control of the other animal hybrids he was given little choice but to locate FFF as per his “deal.” During this period Latoya had been “confined” to a cell under Boardman’s suggestion until she got over her “confusion”.
Realising that the only way to escape her ex and Chimera was to play along with Boardman’s desires she offered to help him find FFF. However once in Pacifica she chose her moment well and made her escape.
Finally Boardman realised she had no intention of staying by his side and he saw her actions as another betrayal. This was too much for him to handle and so he attacked her. Unlike Latoya, Neil had more experience in his animal guise and though she was faster it was his experience that enabled him to defeat her. He perhaps would have killed her if it was not for the intervention of the Night Rangers.
Injured and broken, Latoya reverted to her human form. Realising they had an injured animal hybrid the Night Rangers decided to take the unconscious women to the FFF whom they had made ties with.
The FFF the nursed her back to health. For some time she was suspicious of their actions due to the fact her only experience with other hybrids had all been bad. She did not trust them even though they had done everything to help her. Her extra animal instincts also meant it was difficult for her to control her temper which added extra friction to the group, one of the reasons the Chimera hybrids never had any predatory mammals compared to FFF which has two. Consequently she was always aggressive towards Tracker and Claws, the latter being another cat hybrid only she did not change into a full animal form.
In time Latoya came to realise that she was among friends and though she would never feel as close to the others as they were to each other they had her respect.
As a member of the FFF, Latoya started using the name Feral and out of the other members of the team she is the one that most often ventures out alone despite being warned by the others that she would be vulnerable to Overbite and Chimera without their support. She is closest in the group to Claws (Emily Buchanan) for Emily being a cat hybrid perhaps can understand how Latoya feels with regards to her animal side.
