Fritz

{ played by @Jon }

NAME: Dustin Holmes
AGE: 21
SPECIES: Human
HAIR: Dark Blond
EYES: Blue
BIRTHPLACE: Manhattan, New York
OCCUPATION(S):

1. CEO of the Fritz Foundation
2. Vigilante
3. Influencer
4. Actor
5. Producer

AFFILIATION(S):

1. Member of The Neverenders
2. Former member of Incrediforce
3. Ally of The Vanquishers
4. Corporate Partner of Titan Industries

SKILLS & ABILITIES

1. SABOTAGE
   His specialty is destroying dangerous technology, and doing it with performative flair.
2. ENGINEERING
   He is always coming up with new devices to use in the field. Some are more niche than others.
3. CORPORATE INFLUENCE
   He is extremely well-connected and has the resources to accomplish whatever he sets out to do.

Holmes Investments is a corporate investment firm run primarily by members of the multi-billionaire Holmes family since its creation in the early 1900s. For over a hundred years, they have used their wealth to fund the development of businesses and communities around the world. Their hands are in virtually every economic industry, and their influence is vast.

Each member of the Holmes family is highly individualistic and is granted the freedom to use the limitless resources of Holmes Investments to finance their own personal ventures upon reaching adulthood. Generally speaking, they are all very skilled businesspeople and excel wherever they establish roots. Morally, they are all over the place; even some of the least malicious capitalists among the family would still put profits over people in the right scenario.

Social media influencer Dustin Holmes is the youngest member of the Holmes family currently employed by the company. Shortly after his 18th birthday, he used his corporate power to start up a company called the Fritz Foundation, which develops technology that Dustin uses for his high-profile career as the vigilante Fritz. To make a profit, Dustin maintains social capital by publishing his heroic exploits online for his fans, and then uses his social capital to sell watered down versions of his gadgetry adapted into safer pieces of technology. All of the gadgetry is invented by Dustin himself, and he takes pride in his own ingenuity, although he still has teams of people assisting him at every level to help keep the company afloat.

Although the entire Fritz project is undeniably a vain attempt to make Dustin famous, it is also possibly the most morally righteous and altruistic business under the Holmes corporate umbrella due to the very direct, positive impact the Fritz Foundation makes on society every day.

The Fritz Foundation works very closely with Titan Industries due to sharing similar goals of keeping dangerous technologies out of evil hands, although Titan Girl tries her best to keep a distance between the two companies publicly because of Fritz's numerous media controversies that are born out of his egotistical, incessant need to always be the center of attention.

When the American Superpower Initiative (ASP) sets up Ace and other allies of Fritz to be arrested and experimented on by the government for their powers, Fritz took it upon himself to singlehandedly protect those that were known targets. He was able to leverage the fact that his lack of powers meant few eyes were on him and stop the ASP's shadowy enforcer Amnesty in his tracks every time. Deep down, Fritz was a bit jealous to not be wanted by the government like everyone else, and protecting him was his way of proving to himself that he should have been a target regardless.

Ironically it was these confrontations against Amnesty that would finally put him on the government's radar. Although The Vanquishers were able to free Ace and dismantle the ASP, Fritz would be monitored as a person of interest following those events. All publicity is good publicity, he likes to say, although that remains to be seen.

The Fritz Foundation had been dabbling in the artificial intelligence industry here and there since the company's first inception, but nothing of significance ever came from Dustin's tinkering. He built a prototype for a luxury robotic butler named Botsworth, but it ended up getting scrapped after his attention was dragged onto cooler things. It sat in a secure warehouse collecting dust, waiting for Dustin to improve it and finish it. At least, that's what Dustin thought was happening with the Botsworth project.

Unknown to Dustin at the time, the COO of the Fritz Foundation Edward Zappinski, who never liked standing in Dustin's shadow, was slipping into the warehouse behind his back and altering Botsworth's code so that it would violently malfunction and harm people after selling it to interested buyers. Unexpectedly, the A.I. program running on Botsworth developed sentience and, after naming itself Error, lured in a gang of criminals called The Hazards to steal it in a desperate ploy to escape. Dustin tracked them back to the Rogue Isles, where two Hazards members Au Revoir and Beeline would fatally attack him and leave him for dead.

At least, they would have left Dustin for dead if Error didn't have other plans. Instead, they took Dustin captive, and Dustin was forced to create a new body for Error to inhabit, one less restrictive than the old Botsworth model Dustin built before. Luckily, Dustin was located and rescued by Spyhunter and The Neverenders, but not before completing the body that Error now uses to roam freely. Dustin felt completely responsible for Error getting let loose upon the world, and he's kept tabs on the Hazards ever since escaping them. He was able to figure out that Zapp altered its code, but rather than out Zapp for it, he wanted to keep knowledge about what happened to a minimum so that people didn't lose respect for him as a CEO. It wouldn't look good on him to have a security breach from inside the company, after all.

Frustratingly, someone did end up leaking information about the Error situation to Incrediman, and Zappinski used that as an opportunity to strike a deal with him to get the Fritz Foundation on a better track. Thinking that it was his allies in the Neverenders, who were explicitly asked to keep quiet, responsible for news getting out, Dustin joined the Incrediforce, which was being set up by Incrediman to replace the Vanquishers and take control of Paragon City. He suddenly found himself in opposition to ever ally he'd made throughout his whole career as Fritz, compelled by his own company to keep working for a hero who he'd once helped expose as a criminal not that long before. It was a complicated situation for him to say the least.

Things got pretty heated between Fritz and the other heroes, particularly his fellow Neverenders, and eventually they came to blows. It seemed like whatever friendship he had with them was over until Dustin learned they weren't the ones responsible; it was his own right-hand man Zappinski who sabotaged the Botsworth project, created Error, and sold him out to Incrediman. Faced with the realization that he'd been played, he quietly quit Incrediforce just before they were taken down by the Vanquishers. This meant that he wasn't there when Incrediman murdered the Spell-Slinger in front of all the other heroes... an event which threw Dustin into possibly the first genuine emotional turmoil of his entire life. He worked with Incrediman... so in his own mind, Dustin was responsible for Chester's death. How could anyone ever forgive him for it? How could he forgive himself?

Fortunately, Chester left everyone a way to bring him back: fight in the Hellgames, a gladiatorial competition in the underworld where factions from all over compete for a prize soul. It was difficult to show his face at all, but Fritz showed up to fight a round for the heroes' team and won his match with expertise. They were successful in winning Chester's soul from the Hellgames and were eventually able to bring him back to life, liberating Dustin from most of the guilt he was carrying about his death before. Still, he found it hard to stick around after everything he'd done, so once everything settled down he got in touch with a contact in Hollywood to come and work on the set of a new movie in production... a movie about the Vanquishers themselves, much to their dismay.

1. Generators
   His suit generates electricity through a variety of functions that are all used to power his equipment in the field. The electricity generated can also be discharged offensively.
2. Projectile Matrix
   By surging power to his hand and making a finger gun formation, he can activate a bow-like matrix that can be used to launch his projectile gadgetry.
3. Gadgetry
   He possesses a vast assortment of custom-designed equipment that is primarily intended to disable technology & hostile combatants. Almost all are modified to be fired as projectiles.
4. Static Sliders
   His boots harness electricity to allow him to zip around quickly with heightened speed & mobility, as well as cling to walls and ceilings when he has enough momentum. It's like electric parkour.
5. AR Lenses
   He is constantly being fed data about the world around him through a vast Fritz Foundation repository.
6. Camera Drones
   He can dispense a number of miniature mechanical spheres from his suit that expand and hover in the air around him to capture footage of whatever it is he's doing. This is how he records for his YouTube videos.

1. The Neverenders
   Dustin likes to think he helped save this group from the brink of obscurity when he joined them, but truthfully his adventures with them are what really put Fritz on the map with the general public. Nothing goes viral quite as well as a good team-up, so it's been crucial for the brand. His ego often gets in the way of him being a good teammate, and after temporarily teaming up with Incrediman against them, he feels a little uncomfortable sticking around at the moment. This is why he's currently on sabbatical from the group while filming a movie in Hollywood.
2. Spell-Slinger
   Chester is a close friend of Dustin, but he lets some random book tell him what his future's gonna be, which makes Dustin feel justified in not seeing Chester as leadership material despite playing the role of the Neverenders' leader. When Chester died in the fallout of Incrediforce, Dustin felt responsible for it. Even after going to hell and getting Chester's soul back, Dustin still feels weird about everything that happened.
3. Chromeheart
   Paige's competence held the Neverenders together in their earlier days and Dustin has always respected her for it, but now she's off doing bigger and better things. Dustin doesn't blame her for taking off after the Hellgames, though. He basically did the same thing.
4. Blister
   Dustin and Isabelle have a rocky relationship. She tends to be one of the first people to get fed up with Dustin when his ego starts causing problems, which always annoys him, but she also has a lot of followers on her make-up channel so he never wants to get on her bad side too much.
5. Smelter
   Basically Dustin's polar opposite. Maybe that's why they remain such good friends despite grinding each other's gears so much. Dustin always forgets that Shane is poor and has a hard time not flaunting his wealth in front of him. It might be a subconscious way of getting back at Shane for being hailed as a gay icon instead of him.
6. The Vanquishers
   Though not an official member of the team, his proximity to it has enabled him to work with the Vanquishers on multiple occasions. He is a trusted ally of the group... or at least he was until he agreed to help produce a film about the team, even going so far as to star in it himself as an adaptation of Limbo.
7. Ace
   Ever since joining Incrediforce and dealing with Incrediman firsthand, Dustin has a new appreciation for how Ace was able to break away from it all and establish himself independently from his father. His branding is also the best in the game.
8. Interface
   Interface's drone technology is the best in the game. Their AI blows anything Dustin's done out of the water. He's always dying for a chance to look underneath the hood of Interface tech.
9. Limbo
   Quite possibly the biggest idiot Dustin has ever met, but he makes good content. Dustin records a ghost hunting series with him for his YouTube channel that pops off every episode because of Limbo's antics. It makes Dustin uniquely qualified to play Limbo in the upcoming Vanquishers movie.
10. Titan Industries
    The Fritz Foundation and Titan Industries have a partnership that allows them access to his tech and his skills as a saboteur in exchange for a nice paycheck. They prefer to keep him at arm's length because he's so obnoxious, but he's undeniably useful to them at times.
11. Titan Girl
    Dustin assumes Titan Girl has way more respect for him than she does. He's always trying to force himself into her business as if he's a vital part of her team, which he's not, but he doesn't realize that.
12. Warpdrive
    Piper is the one Dustin's worked with most at Titan Industries as they're both techies who get called in when things need real geniuses behind the wheel. Like most people at Titan Industries, she isn't crazy about him, but he assumes she thinks he's awesome.
13. Zapp
    Edward Zappinski was the COO of the Fritz Foundation for a long time before Dustin found out that he'd been sabotaging him behind his back out of jealousy over Dustin's success. Dustin didn't see Zapp's betrayal until after it indirectly caused him to turn against his friends and join Incrediforce. Their rivalry has gotten very personal as a result.
14. The Hazards
    These criminals busted into his vaults and stole the source code for the A.I. that Zapp corrupted, turning it into Error, who now is a member of the gang. Two of the members nearly killed him so Dustin tries to keep tabs on what they are doing as best he can. He plans to take them down eventually.
15. Error
    Dustin helped write the code that would eventually become Error after Zapp's alterations to it turned it into a homicidal maniac. Dustin intends to shut Error down at some point... problem is Error knows how to hide from Dustin, so it's not as easy as he expected it to be.
16. Au Revoir
    A dirty thief who stabbed Dustin and would have left him for dead if Error wasn't interested in keeping Dustin around as a prisoner. He's dangerous and needs to be in jail.
17. Beeline
    Alongside Au Revoir, she overloaded his generators with her electricity and shocked Dustin after he got stabbed. She's on his short list, to say the least.
18. Incrediman
    Incrediman manipulated Dustin into joining Incrediforce against the interest of his friends, and then after Dustin quit he killed Chester. Dustin's not exactly the biggest fan of the guy. Luckily he's in prison for his crimes.
19. Nick O. Thyme
    Dustin was brought onto Incrediforce to be some sort of uncomfortable replacement son for Incrediman. It was weird. As a result, Dustin's relationship with Nick is also weird, like he understands Nick but at the same time wishes he didn't.
20. Amnesty
    Amnesty tried to ambush and kidnap a lot of his friends when the ASP was active, but Dustin interfered personally, coming to blows with Amnesty on multiple occasions over the course of several weeks. Not very long afterwards, the two of them ended up on the Incrediforce together, although Amnesty was way more serious about it than Dustin was.
21. Airwave
    This rogue dark web lurker has shut down many of Dustin's broadcasts since he got started. He's a total hater. If he wasn't so good at staying hidden, Dustin would have shut down his entire operation already; now that he's on the Vanquishers' radar, he'll get his comeuppance sooner or later.
22. Webmaster
    The mysterious entity behind Blackbook, a social network for villains that is used by criminals worldwide. Somehow the Webmaster is completely untraceable, but Dustin wants to be the one that finds him and brings him down. The person who does it is gonna be an internet legend, and that's clout that needs to go to Fritz.