Name: Anthony Clay

Alias: Cutting Edge

Age: 23

Alignment:
-Hero
-Chaotic
-Violent
-Honorable

Occupation: Anthony works as a field tester for the Trans-tech Corporation. (Officially at least . . . .)

Powers: Cybernetic augmentations give Cutting Edge an array of superhuman (or transhuman) abilities.

-Prosthetic limbs give him superior strength, speed, and agility.
-Sub dermal plating makes him more resistant to physical harm.
-Cybernetic retinal feeds provide AR and HUD data.
-Neuro transmitters linked directly to his nervous system at the spinal column allow Cutting Edge to physically react at the speed of his thoughts. He's capable of dodging gunfire, and fighting multiple opponents at once in close quarters.
-Capitalizing on his existing skills, Cutting Edge wields a mono ceramic sword, reinforced with carbon-nanotubing and with a molecularly self-maintaining edge. It's sharp enough to cut a man clean in half, but he can't cut completely through metals thicker than the sword is long. (What do you think this is Final Fantasy?)
-His body can be further augmented.

Origin story:

The young Anthony Clay always wanted to be better than human. Not to say he hated people, far from it, but he always wanted to be able to do more and be more than what evolution had handed down to him. Almost conversely though, he loved to practice swordplay with his ARMA group. He felt that mastering the use of such weapons brought him a kind of personal authenticity.

As a member and donator to the H+ foundation, he was invited to attend the opening of the new facility for Trans-tech International, in Titan City. The company's founder, Xander Miles, was even scheduled for a speech. Anthony had long admired the business tycoon, who had paved the way for many radical and controversial human enhancement projects.

"Controversial? That just means it's working!" Was Anthony's thought. When Mr. Miles finally did make his way past the crowd, on the way to the stage though, some crazed luddite burst from the masses wielding a roman gladius.

"Caveat Venditor!" The maniac shouted as he charged forward. Anthony jumped in between the attacker and Miles. The idiot had his weapon held over-head as if to strike downward. With a weapon meant for thrusting no less! Anthony easily disarmed the attacker in one smooth wrist grab and, purely by muscle memory, riposted by stabbing deep into the man's lower abdomen.

The attacker lived, though he lost a kidney, and Anthony was let off on assault charges because he was acting in defense of another. Xander Miles, for his part, was not only grateful to his acolyte but impressed. He invited Anthony to lunch and it quickly became an impromptu job interview. Anthony was more than happy to work for Trans-tech, even to volunteer for some of their augmentation projects, of which he was ecstatic! But Mr. Miles had something else in mind as well . . . .

Xander made it clear to Anthony that he had powerful enemies. Those that feared individuals with power and vision. Superheroes were only the most visible enemies of these tyrants. Xander asked Anthony if he truly wanted to change the world. If he did, he would be asked to preemptively strike against those that hampered liberty and progress. An off the books, deniable asset for Trans-Tech Int. That wasn't to say he was forbidden from acting on his own. If Xander Miles valued anything, it was individual sovereignty, so however Anthony wanted to conduct his off hours was up to him.

Anthony agreed. A contract later, Anthony was the first total transhuman procedural operation by Trans-tech. The secret was a genetic overhaul, his body was made more adaptable at the base coding. After that, he was given a suite of bio-mechanical upgrades that fit like a glove.

Now, by day, Anthony provides valuable stress test data for the R&D department, but with sword in hand, he paves the way for a new era of liberty and evolution as . . . . Cutting Edge!

Kryptonite factor (weaknesses):

Cutting Edge has a major failing that no amount of neurochemistry expertise can fix, he's an easy mark. Idealistic and deaf to sarcasm or wordplay, Edge is extremely gullible and easy to fool. In addition, with his "knight in shining armor" self-image, a clever illusionist or manipulator with a basic knowledge of his psyche profile could easily play the knight like a chess piece.

Cutting Edge has a more physical weakness towards unearthly substances; extraterrestrial tech, super-viruses, and particularly magic. Even with all his enhancements, he has no defense against these.

Lastly, and perhaps poetically, he is his own enemy. Cutting Edge's unique cyber-genetic makeup, were it to be synthesized could be used to make weapons, viruses, or other dangerous counter measures specifically tailored to hurt him.

Notes:

-Unlike some traditional cyborgs, Cutting Edge can't be externally hacked or shut down. His new genetic structure called for a new type of machine interface. So pervasive that, on a cellular scale, his synthetic and "human" parts are virtually the same. He's a completely bio-mechanical life form now. The strengths of both, the vulnerabilities of neither.

-Xander Miles has some augments of his own, albeit less obvious ones. His full spectrum retinal upgrade lets him see a person's electromagnetic aura. Through this, he can tell a lot more about a person, and virtues he saw in Anthony were sincerity and honor. Some men in his position might install some failsafe to "keep him under control" but Xander found such a protocol distasteful. Not only would it make him a hypocrite, he knew Anthony would never betray his values and those he felt exemplified them.

-Cutting Edge has also stopped aging. As long as he eats enough to keep his self-repair and maintenance systems online, he's effectively immortal.

Inspiration:
Iron Man, The High Evolutionary, . . . Adam Jensen