| Introduction
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Thomas believes he is dead, but he's not, he's just a mutant with a body that is stuck in ethereal form. He can manifest in various ways with effort which only encourages his belief that he is dead and not a mutant. His powers activated during the stressful event that should have killed him, so it is understandable why he believes this. For now he's stuck at the age his powers manifested, in his late 20s and in full fire fighting gear.
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| History
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For most mutants the first realization they were different happens in the teen years, part of the hormonal change perhaps. For others it can take a strong sharp event in their lives to activate their powers, a stressor that gets responded to, like a plant growing towards the sun to survive.
For Thomas, his event was one that shook the very nation. 9/11. Thomas Butler was a fire fighter out of the Ladder company 20. His team wasn't the first to reach the towers, but one of the many that came soon after the size of the problem became obvious. Fighting through falling debris, heavy black smoke he reached the base of tower one just as the second plane hit. His team was assigned to go up the second tower, to try to evacuate as many people as they could as fast as they could, while trying to get to the fire and see if it would be possible to restore some of the fire containment systems. He was still in the building when it collapsed, at 9:59 AM. The building pancaked, level after level crushing everything in a flaming blaze as the weight of burning metal and concrete tumbled down. The last Thomas remembers seeing was a girder crushing on top of him. Then darkness.
For Thomas, that should have been the end. Death, so many deaths. So many lives snuffed out in a moment. But it wasn't the end. Many times since, Thomas has wished it had been. At first he thought it was. He woke and his body appeared pinned under a large metal girder, the one he thought landed on him, and he was surrounded by dust, smoke and ash. Only he felt no pain. He had been a firefighter for years and knew that perhaps shock or the pinching of nerves by the girder could be suppressing the pain, but then he realized he was having no trouble breathing either. In fact... he felt absolutely fine.
After laying there for a moment he tentatively tried to push the girder to see how wedged in he was, only to find his hand passed right through the metal. In fact his whole body did as he stood up, his head going through several layers of concrete. What would you think? Thomas, he thought he was dead. Maybe a ghost. Still dressed in his full firefighting outfit he staggered out of the crater of ground zero, and to this day several reports are on file about a ghostly shape of a fireman staggering out through the dust and rubble and fires. But no one was able to ID him. After he was clear of the immediate area, he attempted to find the mobile command center to report in. Only no one seemed to be able to see or hear him. Several people even walked right through him, a rather disturbing sensation to say the least.
Since then Thomas has tried to figure out what to do. What could he do? In the immediate days after 9/11 he managed to figure out how to manifest enough to hit things to make noises. And in several cases found living people and made enough noise for the rescue teams to find the living. But... the living were few and far between. And hitting something to make noise too far more effort than he was used to, he who could run up a flight of stairs in full fire fighting gear with a large coil of hose over one arm. It wasn't like he was out of shape, but some how this was different.
Since then, Thomas has roamed around NY, here and there, trying to help where he can. He doesn't consider himself a hero, nor even a mutant. If he were told he was a mutant he'd probably laugh at the person telling him. He's quite convinced he's a ghost and will stay this way until he does whatever it is he's supposed to do. He attended the funeral for himself and the other fire fighters and watched his wife and 10 year old son from afar. He couldn't bring himself to get too close to them. The pain was too great for him. He's stopped in to look in at them at least three times a year, once on his wife's birthday, once on his son's birthday and once on his anniversary day. Sometimes he tried to come around on Christmas, and with great effort bring small presents. Usually it's easier to go to the store and select something in shipping and simply mess with the controls to have it shipped to his family than to try to carry something that far.
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| Powers
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xxxxx
Ethereal Form
Invisibility: By default Thomas is invisible. This applies to all normal spectrum of detection, including x-ray, infrared, normal light, you name it, most energy waves pass right through him. He doesn't create a cold spot where he passes either. He can, with minor effort, become visible in varying stages, from ghostly half there see through man to completely solid appearing. Oddly the more visible he becomes the colder the area does become, but only while trying as a side effect of his efforts.
Insubstantial: By default Thomas is insubstantial, meaning he can not be touched or touch things. Oddly he can walk on surfaces, and climb right up walls by sticking his hands in them and pulling himself up, but he hasn't really thought much about why he doesn't just fall to the center of the earth, or float away into space. He can walk through walls, doors, vaults, but for what use? He can, with effort, become substantial, but like becoming visible, it takes effort, and this takes more effort than being seen. He can be selective, making just his finger tip solid to punch in a key code, or reaching into a small space through the walls of a computer and messing with the insides without ever touching the outsides. He can not grab something and make it insubstantial with him. When he reverts anything he picked up drops away from him. He can't really be damaged physically in this form as he has no blood or bones to break or flesh to shred, so instead if a solid hit is made against part of him while solid, he simply is forced to dissipate against his will. Note that this takes more than a slap to the face. The blow would have to do real damage.
Ethereal Voice: One trick Thomas has mastered is speaking even while not being solid or visible. He's not entirely sure how this works, but it seems to take little to no effort and has been very handy at times, such as chasing people away from bad situations or warning people of things. A sharp word from no where can be a great distraction at times as well.
Survival: Since his change, Thomas does not seem to be aging. He also does not need to eat, sleep, breath air, drink, use the bathroom or any other of the normal daily life things. In fact eating is a bad idea because even if he is substantial long enough to eat, and he can enjoy the food's flavor if he does so, when he shifts back it will simply drop out of him, all chewed up in a rather gross pile.
Weaknesses: What weaknesses do the already dead have? Well, for one thing for some reason Thomas is far more vulnerable to psionic based attacks or abilities. He also detects as a mutant so if someone has a mutant detection power they can use that to find him even if he is not normally able to be detected. Lastly his ability to manifest is taxing. The longer he manifests, or the more he does the longer it takes him to recover. He could appear almost totally human for a day, but it'd take him a week before he could even become visible again. In addition taking serious injuries while still solid can make it harder to reform, making him often attempt to let go of being solid before the hit lands if he can. If Thomas ever feels it is 'time to move on' he can in fact disconnect from this reality. He's pretty sure he can anyway, but he's also sure it's a one way trip. Something just seems to make that clear to him, for now. So he doesn't do that, but if he were to, he'd simply be gone, never to return.
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| Connections
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Friends
Foes
And everything in between
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| Gallery
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[[Image:|x150px]]
[[Image:|x150px]]
[[Image:|x150px]]
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| Thomas McGavin
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| Codename
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#20
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| Birthdate
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1973-06-06
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| Species
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None
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| Affiliation
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Mutant
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| Alignment
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Noble Protector
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| Powers
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Ethereal Form
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| Occupation
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Former Firefighter
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| RP Hooks
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| Central Park - Thomas spends quite a bit of time in the warmer months in Central Park, whittling at night and trying to help those who need it when he can. He carefully deposits the results of his work in people's bags since he as little use for them. He might try to help someone in need in the park, or he might try to give you a gift of a whittled figure.
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| Fires - Thomas does his best to keep an eye out for any fires he can get to. Not having to worry about the flames and being able to race through a building to find people trapped then try to break them out has lead to some stories of mysterious firemen from the wrong company helping save people, but usually this is passed off as shock effects on those rescued.
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| Heroes R Us - Do you need saving? Do you get into trouble a lot? If it is in an area where Thomas hangs out, and he roams most of down town NY and Central Park, he might just come to your aid.
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| Mutant Detectors? - Thomas shows up like a Christmas tree to mutant detectors, even when he is otherwise unable to be spotted by any other normal means. If you are a mutant detector you might suddenly find your detection powers going off with no reasonable reason if he's around.
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