The Devil from Jersey
Full Name:
Arthur Belphon Leeds
Codename:
N/A (acceptance pending)
Race:
Supernaturally enhanced human; unique demon, djinn class equivalent.
Division:
Operations
Special Skills:
- Covert operative- Lived in hiding & on the run among humans for nearly 300 years.
- Hand to hand combat, close quarters weapon fighting, proficient with firearms, 250+ years combat experience.
- Studied at several East Coast schools, including Princeton, Dartmouth, and Brown. Cryptozoology, Demonology, Ancient Literature, American Occult History, anything pertaining to his own existence and life story. Never received a degree, as false identities and forged paperwork were never foolproof.
- Unknown pain threshold- Use of his powers causes Leeds physical agony akin to torture. Has conditioned himself to push through it. Immune to interrogation, cannot be tortured. NOTE: Science Division has determined that a strong electric current will still cause Leeds to experience muscle spasms, though tissue will not be burned. Should the Bureau accept his application, this would prove useful as a contingency.
Special Abilities:
- Non-degeneration of tissue and anatomical systems- Leeds' body ages, but does not become frail or weak with increasing age. Leeds will not die with time, and cannot contract disease.
- Revert Form- Every annual quarter, (solstice, equinox,) Arthur regains the ability to become his original self; a black, hairless, leathery goat the size of a horse, with twisted horns. Long legs, a long neck, and a long, barbed tail. His wings resemble a fruit bat's, though about 20x larger. Once he's reverted and then changed back, Arthur cannot do so again until the next marking day. He also looses his minor reversion ability, though not his primal constitution, (See below)
- Minor Reversion- Rather than completely change his form, Arthur can manifest individual aspects of his Devil shape at will while human; wings to bear him aloft, a dangerous tail for unarmed combat, huge black horns "to look badass", or all of the above. (Quotation his.)
- Primal Constitution- While human, Leeds is stronger, faster, and tougher than any Olympic athlete with his mass. The record for the fastest human footspeed in history is 28 mph. Arthur tops out at around 34. Bullets cause minor abrasions with occasional bleeding. Reportedly, if shot point blank in the chest with a high caliber bullet, Leeds would be perfectly recovered in 4 days, and would be fit for field duty in less than 24 hours. (Science has no corroborative evidence of these claims.)
- Immunity to mind control (Doubtful)- According to Leeds, a gypsy witch posing as a dancer used an induced hypnotic trance in 1819 to force him to sleep with her. Her magick reportedly made him a slave that lived with her travelling caravan for the next 7 months. He was forced to perform manual labor for the other gypsies in the camp and maintain "relations" with the witch by constant reapplication of her mind twisting hex, which he slowly grew accustomed to, until he'd developed an immunity, freed himself and escaped. NOTE: Interviewers were not entirely sure whether Leeds was joking or not, though he professes the colorful tale is true. Science Division, upon analysis of Leeds, had no reason to suspect a resistance to psionic abilities, conditioned or otherwise. This entry is included for the sake of integritous record keeping.
Weapon of Choice:
Hates guns. (Discussed this in his interview.) Apparently served in American Civil War, has not used a firearm since that time. Carries a heavy looking walking stick. Told his interviewer, "...it'll do."
Personality:
Leeds is matter-of-fact, not given to much outward show of emotion. Though Science had already confirmed upon initial screening that Leeds was indeed born in 1735, interviewers commented on a feeling of gravity and age to his person, as if they were speaking to a much older man than he appeared. When it was mentioned, Leeds apparently cracked a smile and said dryly, "I've got almost 300 years of common sense in my head, just begging to be ignored."
Bio:
Partial transcript of conversation with a BSDR screening official. Once he was ready, the story was freely given.
BSDR: Hello, Arthur. Before we took a break, we were discussing your connection to New Jersey.
LEEDS: Yeah, well, when I was first born I couldn't control my reversion. I'd be the goat at the worst times, without meaning to...
BSDR: So the "goat" is what you call your other form?
LEEDS: Guess you could say that. S'what he is, far as I can tell. Or.... what I am.
BSDR: The two of you aren't seperate? There's not another personality behind that body?
LEEDS: Hmm, another personality?
BSDR: Yes, maybe a different persona that seems to take control when you revert, encourages you to do or say things at times....
LEEDS: (Quietly) No, she's not so bad. Hush, I'm trying to listen.
BSDR: I-I'm sorry?
LEEDS: Oh! No, my bad, you're fine. I wasn't talking to you.
(Prolonged silence)
BSDR: Arthur, are you-
LEEDS: (Snickers) I'm sorry, I really am, but-(Laughing aloud) your face!
BSDR: (Clears throat) That was not entirely professional, Mr. Leeds.
LEEDS: I know, I'm sorry. (Sighs) I couldn't resist. No, Miss, it's just me in here. Mightn'ta been so lonely if I had someone to talk to.
BSDR: Lonely, Arthur?
LEEDS: I was.... well, I guess you could say kidnapped, I was only 10, and wheeled around with a travelling circus. I didn't know how to change back into a little boy, I didn't know how to escape that cage.... I wasn't raised as a human, miss. Near as I can tell, my parents were deep into the old magic(k)s, that's with a K, mind you, and they performed a ritual the night I was born. It.... went wrong. Mother died immediately, everyone was screaming, I remember flying away from the house with ash in my nose.... must've gotten out up the chimney. They lived pretty far removed from everyone, out in the woods alone. Townsfolk, they uh, maybe not knew for sure, but they suspected what the Leeds were doing in that dark little house. S'pose that's why everyone left 'em to themselves.
'Course, I pieced this all together years later. I lived as a goat for about 10 years in the backwoods, scaring travelers by mistake and tryna keep away from folks. Don't remember much of it. I ate grass, I drank from streams. I hid. 'Til the circus folk got wind of me, figured people would pay to see somethin' that ugly. Wasn't a proper circus, mind you, it'd be years til those were around. Nah, they called it their Freak House. They caught me pretty easy, I was a stupid little bugger. Well, that was about the worst time of my life, and then one day, 'bout 2 years on, it happened. I learned how to be human just by wantin' to be. It was night, and my cage was for a large animal. I slipped through the bars easy, went and set my fellow freaks free. They uh.... well, it got ugly. I ghosted off before I could get pulled into it.
Wandered my way home, took me near a year. Now that I was a person, I could ask questions, eavesdrop. I learned the Leeds Cabin had burned to the ground the night I'd been born. They all figured Old Japhet had finally snapped and taken his poor brood with him. I never knew my father, but that seemed to fit him pretty well. 'Cept, I'd gotten out up the chimney.... odds are I kicked a flaming log outta the hearth on m'way out.
Finally tracked down the midwife, only one to survive the fire. Though she claimed otherwise, said her sister'd been the one at the Leeds that night, and she'd burned with the rest. Took some convincing, but she told me all in time. My name. Arthur if the ritual failed, and I born a healthy lad. Belphon if it worked; a demon's name. Said she didn't see how the fire started, so no answers there. 'Course, she tried to kill me while I was processing my life's story an' all. There was a scuffle, and I didn't know my own strength. Didn't mean to kill the old biddy, but it was easier that way. Now no one knew me. I was nameless. The Devil of Jersey.
I buried her out in the forest, put a little cross on her grave, and got outta dodge. I lived on the fringe for a long while, then war broke out. I found a buncha rebels and killed with them 'til the Brits lost, on the grounds that British Regulars only knew one way to do battle, and that was hack down the forests I hid in to march through. The minutemen, they loved the trees; or, loved hiding in them, since they were always outnumbered, outgunned. Hunted animals. I could relate.
I learned more about how tough I was, and strong. I could take musket shot to the face, the chest; killed the others. Wouldn't kill me. Hurt like hellfire, but not much else. Got used to blood, and pain. 'Course, strangest thing- we won. I think the war had been my attempt at suicide. Figures that we'd win before I got killed, then. Not long after they started making a new country, and I slipped away. Buncha religious types made their way out west few years later. Thought I'd do the same, went out to California- or, Mexico, then. It was a real dump, too. I crossed back to the other coast in '61.... that's 1861. Heard there was gonna be another war, the new country was gonna kill itself. I figured, "I was there when it was born. Should be there when it dies."
Jersey was fightin' in all blue to keep folks outta cages. Made it easy to pick a side, anyway. Those 4 years....
Couldn't use a gun after that. Still hate the things. Reminds me of the ones I watched die. It was the first time I saw weapons that stood a real chance of ending me. Wasn't like before, when I'd fantasized about death. Now it was staring me in the face.
Well, you know your history. We won. Country didn't die. I went into hiding. Years blurred together. I roamed all over, but I never left the Americas, though I spent a good decade in Peru. Always came back to Jersey, in the end. I dunno. Maybe I thought I was a fluke, a million to one chance. That there couldn't be other monsters out there like me. I was proved wrong pretty thoroughly.
Had a tussle with an ugly SOB comin' up through Panama. Wolfish thing, scaly, too many teeth. After that, I started looking. Had to be someone doing something about it, right? If the world was full of monsters, someone had to know. Figured if I looked long enough, was a little careless, they'd find me. And you did."
