COMMANDER VOLT ALESSANDRO ARCADE[]
"I always feel like if I'm not working myself to exhaustion, then I'm not doing my job." - Volt A. Arcade
Full Name: Neil David Coleman
Adopted Name: Dr. Volt Alessandro Arcade
Race: elemental lycanthrope
Age: not recorded
Date of Birth: November 20th, XXXX
Eyes: puppy-dog brown
Fur: shiny gold
Hair: jet black
Inate Element: Electricity and Magnetism
Prefered Weapon: paired plasma vulcan lasers "Xtremely Badass Twin Octople Chaingun Laser Cannons (XBTOCLC's)
Vehicle(s) of Choice: gold 57' Chevy Bellaire
Favorite Food: BBQ Ribs
Favorite Music Genre: Smooth Jazz (saxophone)
Favorite TV Show: "Classic Car Showcase"
Theme A: "Electromagnetic Power Plant (Spark Mandrill)" - Mega Man X
Theme B: "Power Plant" (Volt Catfish) - Mega Man X3
Theme C: "Fuse Man Stage" - Mega Man 11
Theme D: "Electricity" by O.M.D.
Personality Profile[]
The commader of the Mirandian branch Ultra Crew Institute Action Team
in Miranda City, Volt works tirelessly to make sure his operation is
going smoothly. As a leader, he is the father figure for his rather
unusual family of UCI Action Team operatives and treats them very well.
Described as being intelligent, good natured, and somewhat of a
workaholic, Volt is always asking himself if he's doing his job and
doing it properly. Volt has a slight emotional streak which he acquired
from his mother, making him passionate about things he feels strongly
toward or against. He is known to become withdrawn and absentminded the
more involved he gets with a major project. Volt often comes across as
older than he actually is, often being irritated by overwhelming noise
and commotion outside his shop and has been known to slam open the door
to complain about it like a grumpy old man; something he attributes to
his sensative werewolf hearing. A pet peeve of his is not being able to
finish what he starts. A few of his closest friends address him by his
real name while others stick to his adopted alias.
History[]
Early Roots:
A lone orphan survivor of a secluded village of elemental lycanthropes
laid to waste by werewolf hunters, the young cub was discovered by four
explorer-researchers of the Neo Arcadia City Ultra Crew Instute who were
also some of its founding members. He was nursed back to health by its
chief medical officer and soon adopted into the Arcade family and named
as the unspoken heir to the C.E.O.'s philanthropist fortune. Despite the
trauma of losing his village, birth family, and friends, young Neil
recovered and moved on as member of a new family. Thanks to the UCI's
exceptional upbringing, the young cub would learn early on the lesson of
tolerance; and thus not to harbor a grudge against the people who took
everything away from him and left him for dead.
As a child, young Neil took on a new name, inspired mainly by his highly
electric nature. At this young age he had become the mascot for Volt
Cola following a slight misadventure as the result of his curious nature
(and a sweet tooth) when the Arcades toured the facility, prompting
Arcade Industries to become a major sponser of the company.
Raised primarily by the C.E.O. (Dr. Garfield P. Arcade) and chief
medical officer (Dr. Nermal Stephanie Gamepro) while trained by its
military head of security Arlene W. Pinball (the "Sarge") and educated
by the C.E.O's own adopted brother Professor Odie M. Arcade (and
Vice-President of the company), Volt grew up to be the prodigal son and
versed in many applied sciences.
As he grew older and more experienced, he had taken up the philosophies
and manorisms of his father-figure and hero, the C.E.O., the intellect
and technical skill of the Vice-C.E.O, the emotional nature of his
mother-figure the chief Medical Officer, the drive for work ethic from
the head of security (and his gym instructor), annd the sense of humor
of the company's automechanic and overall maintenance man, Edward
Theodore Videomax. He had learned to "be cool" from the
almost-never-seen B.J. Wizardman III (magic-users are extremely rare in
Neo Arcadia), learned to be gentle from UCI HQ's
receptionist/accountant/legal council/overall paper jockey, Kitty
Rosetta Dimitir; studied self-defense from its spiritual guru, Kimiko
"Shin" Kazama and came to understand other bits and pieces about life
from the organization's stoic intelligence officer Ivan
Vectorgraphinski, and its flamboyant extreme sports affecianado, Ariel
X. Rastajive.
Life for Volt in the UCI was a mix of work and play, business and
pleasure. His guardians served as many of his teachers while he studied
at the institute; sometimes their lessons and philosophies would
conflict with one another, but in time Volt figured out a good synergy
of their collective teachings. Once he got the gist of how his mentors
lived, he began to develop his own work ethic, believing strongly that
even though his good fortune was freely given, he was inclined to work
hard to earn and deserve it so as not to become spoiled--pretty much the
core of the C.E.O.'s humble values. Volt did consider himself
priveledged but he wasn't about to let his family down by taking that
for granted.
Post-Ekris:
By the time Volt had graduated from the institute, Dr. Arcade believed
he was ready to command his own UCI action team. At the time Neo Arcadia
had voiced its interest to begin dipolomatic and economic relationtions
with Fontraile. Dr. Arcade had used his influence to request Neo
Arcadia's leaders offer the Ultra Crew Institute's services to the
rebuild of Miranda. Seeing this as a challenge for Volt to cut his teeth
on, Arcade recommended him to lead the operation for the rebuild as
well as future endevours for the benefit of both countries and their
people.
Volt, a little nervous if not skeptical about taking up a leadership
position, worked up the nerve to approach UCI Action Team's ranks and
hand-pick the core of his Miranda UCIAT. By reputation and personal
encounters, Volt first chose Bunnie Rabbotou; believing her to be a
no-brainer choice for second-in-command, martial arts grand master,
weapons expert and liason to UCI head of security, Arlene W. Pinball.
Bunnie's selection invariably necessitated that Princess Violet
Tokugawa--the abassador of the Neo Arcadian province of Edoropia and its
capital city's active ruler--be chosen as third in command, being that
she was Bunnie's best friend and by extension the odd couple, while
having a unique love-hate relationship, were inseparable. And
furthermore, Violet had legendary skill as a computer programmer (and
self-proclaimed underground hacker) as well as the ability memorize
countless DNA strands, pretty much forward and backward, making her the
team's genetic librarian and head of biometric technology. (Plus she was
a princess and absolutely, positively filthy-stinking-rich pretty much
ensuring a financial reservoir as situations would inevitably call for.)
After some searching, Volt decided on Jon Talbain--a strong, silent,
big-hearted mostly unknown at the time--to fill in the role officially
as data archivist but unofficially as the team's brawn. And finally
long-time (and forgotten) UCI veteran, ironically a child in appearance
and rather naive to the ways of the mortal world, the archangel known as
Pit would round out his team as scout and cartographer.
After a meet and greet with Miranda's royal court and time to settle in,
Volt took to the stress of rebuilding Miranda like a fish to water.
Often joking that he be called on it if he ever got too strict, he was
considered rather leniant and likeable by his employees and operatives.
Spearheading the rebuild and redesign of Miranda's power grid, Volt
personally worked a cherrypicker and installed miles of power line and
countless residential, industrial and commercial district transformers
as well as supervised the rebuild of the power plants and even put up a
streetlight or two-hundred during the early years.
In that early time, Volt would marry his fellow UCI collegue sweetheart,
Lisa M. Fitzwater and become a family man; which did not slow his
energies as commander and occasional field operative. In the time that
followed, Volt and Lisa would have their first daughter whom they named
Elektra (due to a typo at the birth certificate registration it was
mistakenly spelled Elektra instead of Electra.). Elektra would attend
Miranda schools and then venture to Neo Arcadia City to attend medical
school, learning directly under Nermal S. Gamepro. She would return to
Miranda City and intern at the UCI Medical Bay. When Elektra came of age
she'd marry Jon Talbain, making him Volt's son-in-law--whom he had
already had a warm and friendly comradery with.
As Miranda City took shape, Volt set up a more comfortable residence in
the form of an electronics supplies and components shop with repair work
on the side in the square, being closer to his work, but he'd find
himself cursing himself for being away from his family for extended
periods of time, especially with twin daughters newly-born.
Today:
Volt continues on as director of Miranda UCI operations, growing ever
concerned about the war and outside threats like Tal and Regina but
pressing on, rarely missing a beat. Bunnie continuously reassures him of
his performance as the Commander and gives him all the sound advice and
encouragement he needs to keep going. Volt finds himself collaborating a
lot with Dr. Nikita Lynx and Violet Tokugawa on large-scale projects
(mostly because he's new to the next-generation nanotechnology and he
"sucks at programming".)
Volt since finished his black belt in karate at Rabbot Dojo but decided not to pursue further training.
Nowadays he spends less time on the frontlines, being a family man, but
knows when even he need to get back into the field with Regina's unholy
crusade against non-humans going on. However he manages to find time
every three nights of the full moon once a month to host a barbecue on
the balcony of Miranda's largest clocktower, with Jon assisting and
providing his (self-proclaimed) city-famous Talbain Family Steak
Marinade Recipe 777.
While he designs many new gear himself, Volt has since found a steady
stream of new technology from Nikita Lynx provided in the form of
blueprints he will happily work from. Although he does find himself
asking if it seems...even beyond Technopolis' level of technological
evolution. Though he dismisses it as probably something the long-gone
city kingdom of Ecotropia probably invented before its tragic
catastrophy.
Education
Volt, like all attendees of the institute, received a Kindergarten
through College education. Many of the founders themselves served as his
teachers and instructors.
Dr. Arcade was a full-time teacher to Volt, taking him under his wing
and teaching him the ways of the world--not just in the education sense
but also in life's lessons and his own personal believes and
philosophies to living it honestly and to its fullest.
Professor Arcade handled the majority of his science and mathematics curriculum, quickly
moving him to an accelerated program once he had established the young boy's aptitude.
When he approached college level, Volt had taken a fascination in
electricity and electronics much to the Professor's delight (or the
closest to emotion the rather Spock-like professor had been known to
show). It was a rather obvious choice, too considering his elemental
nature and it only boosted his knack for it.
While not as passionate with them as electronic hardware research and
development, Volt augmented his college years with minor degrees in
industrial chemistry, metallurgy, mechanics, and physics. He was awarded
patents for a number of systems which would become core in his main
weapons--the Xtremely Badass Twin Octuple Chaingun Laser Cannons
(XBTOCLC's) and the revolutionary Energized Nanotomic Granular
Infrostructure-compression Nuclonium Electronic
(E.N.G.I.N.E.) mircrodot object compression and retrieval storage
system--a technology which rivals the storage abilities of magical bags
of holding.
While not considering himself particularly athletic, Volt's enhanced
werewolf strength, speed, and agility compensated enough for him to hold
his own against the Sarge's brutal military approach to P.E. Volt
learned to dread dodgeball early on and time on the treadmill was murder
on his tender digitgrade werewolf feet. Though he never found a sport
that interested him in the least, Arlene seemed to believe he had the
most skill in soccer.
Volt learned about the value of life and the importance of caring for it
any form from his mother figure, the demure (if not occasionally
overemotional) Dr. Nermal S. Gamepro. In addition to teaching life
science and biology, Dr. Gamepro also walked the young werewolf through
home economics. While Volt might not be making any creme brules,
gouloshes, souffles, casarolls or the like any time soon, he sure can
grill good steaks, burgers, ribs, and chicken.
Edward Videomax was Volt's instructor during autoshop and his teacher
during shop class. Ed knew his way around an engine block and had a
million jokes, riddles, and puns to keep it fresh. And there was always a
degree of spontaneity when Ed's college, Roy R. Rooster would be around
to play a practical joke or two. Having a sense of humor made the
lessons seem to fly by and no one made it more fun then Edward but the
real lifes lessons came in his appreciation of classic cars. With
Edward's help, Volt would later go on to build his dream car--a 1957
Chevy painted shiny gold with silver trim and loaded up with all of his
own designs and modifications.
Volt didn't see a lot of UCI's magus, B.J. Wizardman III and heard a lot
less of him (he was a man of very few words). But B.J. had a way of
steering him in the right direction when it came to being cool.
Kitty was always very timid but she was always willing to help Volt find
a book or help him write and edit his reports and paperwork.
The majority of Volt's training for a black belt in karate would later
come from his second in commmand, Bunnie Rabbot, but he got his early
start from Kimiko Kazama. Being the youngest of the founders, it was
unexpected that she was the wisest and most mature of them. In the time
Volt knew Kim, he would never know her to raise her voice or show any
level of surprise. In fact it almost seemed like she was living a few
seconds in the future, often knowing things before Volt would even ask
her. It was even more puzzling to Volt that much about Kim would later
be parelleled by Bunnie in ways he couldn't put to words.
Volt was never a sports person but he could party with the best of them
which is what Ariel was all about out. Spontaneous, loud, and cheery,
Ariel viewed life as one big party and one shouldn't have worries
crashing it. Ariel would always suprise people by suddenly breaking into
dance and maracca-shaking just on a whim. More than anything she taught
him to be who you are and that you are who you want to be.
Volt would like to attribute his ability to keep others' secrets as
something he picked up from Ivan. But in truth, Volt tends to forget he
was even told things he was asked to keep secret so the danger of
spilling the beans often disappears with his absentminded memory.
Daily Life:
These days Volt finds himself donating things to the Miranda Technology
Museum and assisting Miranda's universities in their tech career
centers. And he remains a go-for to the Miranda Power and Light company
for all their electrical utility jobs. Volt is very good to his
operatives, doing his best to be the father figure as his mentor had
done for him. He finds solace in Bunnie's ability to stay cool and
collected as well has give him sound sagely advice every step of the
way. While Violet continues to prove to be a handful, Volt would be
nothing without her insane level of software development and A.I.
research. And she'd be the same without his knack for hardware research
and development (she tries to forget her attempt at making a shell for
one of her AI driven pets--a robot puppy slapped together out of
everything from a waffle iron to a juicer to a toaster. Her lack of
forsight came too late when she realized she left no room for its
elaborately-programmed computer brain. And to add further headache, her
little robo-toy just couldn't be housebroken, spraying orange juice all
over the place.) Jon remains Volt's best friend and confidant. As his
son-in-law, Volt proudly declares "You're alright, J.T." with a
thumbs-up. Though Jon's more-wolf-than-man habits have Volt tending to
feel a tinge of humiliation; often wishing Jon would show some dignity
for the species. Volt is very happy to have Pit around and treats his
scout very well. He knows he can count on Pit for any mission. Proving
far more capable than people might take him to be, Pit is just one less
worry for Volt and a strong contributing factor to the gold electric
karate werewolf's pride in his team.
Volt maintains friendly relationships with the majority of Miranda's
populace. He knows his role and takes it serious, willing to go to any
length to loyally serve Queen Brooke. He keeps strong ties to Miranda's
hospital where his eldest daughter works and keeps their equipment up to
date.
Volt tries to stay on Chameleon's good side and even aims for a somewhat
respectful if not optimistic relation with him. Ripper often proves
fairly nerve-racking; while good-intentioned, his recklessness and
property damage are continuously shattering the peace and quiet around
his shop. Volt isn't as well-acquainted with Dragonius as Bunnie has
since become, but he's glad someone from Chameleon's end is reasonable
and down-to-earth. Volt finds that he cannot host a lunar celebration
cook-out without Tithius' presence. Which is probably a fairly good
gauge of his and Jon's cullinary skills as grill jockeys. If it's true
that the quickest way to a pseudo-dragon's heart is through his stomach,
then Tithius' tendancy to gravitate toward Volt (and his oversized
steaks and burgers) is all the proof the world needs. Oh well. The lil'
guy's likeable and any trouble he does get into is at least not
intentional. Now if only Volt could keep him from picking up a few words
and sayings from Vi, he might not feel like Chameleon's on the verge of
making a skin rug out of his hide.
Having initially determined Cima as one to steer away from, Volt tries
not to acknowledge her presence unless she becomes too overbearing for
his employees and operatives, forcing him to step in; he may not go
looking for trouble but he's not about to let anyone in his team be
treated like a doormat. Though he has no intention of opening a can of
worms if he can avoid it, Volt's got his eye on her and remains uneasy.
After all she's already instigated at least one incident that involved
drawing her weapon upon someone in the square; hostility that Volt
considers a potential threat to the safety and well-being of Miranda's
civilian populace. Someone with this much contempt for UCI needs to be
handled very carefully. Especially if she's even half as skilled a
marksman as she's said to be. Volt is quickly learning that a Sergal's
reputation as a the pinnacle of soldier evolution is rarely
exhaggerated. One thing's for sure, she's a very dangerous person on the
field. Thank goodness she's at least on Miranda's side.
Volt is continually dumbfounded by Kid's antics and has since decided to
just accept it rather than try to make sense of it. Exhaggerating his
apparent age, Volt finds himself muttering that he missed the boat on
this generation and Kid is one instance of the vastly changing face of
the new generation. But as long as he's not causing trouble or hurting
anybody, his presence is in all likelyhood a very postive thing. Besides
his crew absolultely adores him, especially Mitzi and Gadget.
And in addition to that, he is extraordinarily likeable in a rather
physics-twisting sort of way. Maybe Volt is just used to being around
cats, having grown up among the nine of the UCI Founders who happen to
be hybrid cats themselves.
Volt Arcade is intrigued by recent new-comer, Alistair. While not a
religious person himself, Volt certainly does not object to a man of the
faith coming to Miranda. Besides, some people could probably stand a
bit of moral fiber in their diet. Raising an eyebrow that he'd have a
bear as a companion and friend, Volt is actually less surprised by
Brick's presence than he probably should be; probably due in part to
Lupe occasionally bringing some of the larger wild life from her nature
preserve around to stretch their legs and such. (Still even Lupe has
never brought a big bear to the square.) But reactions to Brick have
been quite positive so Volt doesn't know how to be concerned if there's
no need to be.
It's quite often Volt find himself supplying or benchmarketing raw
materials or ideas to Vanessa. And she supplies Gadget with a lot of
leftover parts for her collection on days whenever the young mouse has
time away from the shop; often Volt and Vanessa trade off with whom
Gadget apprentices under.
When not actually busy, Volt on occasion digs out one of his collection
of saxophones and has a nice long session or two at the fountain to
appeal to his love of music.