PROWLER

Real name: Karlo Carter
Occupation: Antique book dealer
Identity: Secret
Legal status: United States citizen with no criminal record
Place of Birth: Africa
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group affiliation: Guardians
Base of operations: New York City
First appearance: Guardians #?
Height: 6' 1" Weight: 185 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue Hair: Blonde

History: Karlo was borne in Africa to missionary parents. They were genetic researchers working in Africa.They worked secretly for the United States Government on Chemical and Biological Agents to both enhance and control metahumans. They were even involved in doing genetic research on the tribesmen of Africa. Karlo is not sure if this was on purpose or not. One of these tribesmen, a Sengali medicine man, taught Karlo how to quite his mind, and with the proper techniques, tame his senses when his powers first manfested. The medicine man also gave Karlo a mystical sash to protect him from evil spirits.

His speculation about his own genetic mutations, which give him many different animal-like senses, sways between a belief that his parents were forced to perform experiments on him, they did it only intending to enhance him, it occurred naturally (through their own exposure, and later procreation, or they were forced to do it. The truth is he knows little of how he obtained his own mutations.

What he does know is that his parents were assassinated, in the mid 60's while he was still a young boy, by some government or group that was interested in their work. Again his theories vary here. He alternatively suspects rival governments and their interests in stealing the technology, or his own government, with an interest in putting behind them these remnants (his parents) of the meta-human cold war.

Even though it occurred some 30 years ago, his primary goal in donning the night-cloak of Prowler was to discover what group or government destroyed his parents, and consequently, his life. He seeks revenge on the group however, not on any individual representatives of the group. So he won't assassinate a soldier because he is mad at the U.S. Government. His desire for revenge goes to the highest levels. He wants those responsible, not just those that participated. He is also aware that his quest may be fruitless, and has been so for many years. This does not mean he won't work for the government, but he knows better than to trust the government.

After his parents died he spent many years in and out of orphanages in Africa. When they were killed an undercover CIA agent posing as a priest—Brownloe—took him underground because he feared for his safety. Not long after, Brownloe mysteriously dissappeared and the CIA took over the duties of looking after him. Having shown great promise, he was earmarked for an Ivy League education, and entrance into the CIA, as an operative in their top-secret metahuman group called MEDUSA (Metahuman Espionage Division of the United States of America). He opted instead for a career in genetic research like his parents. He attended Ohio State, where he eventually obtained his Ph.D. in Genetic Engineering at age 25. He did work for MEDUSA as an operative for a while, but with the end of the Cold War in 1989, he turned back to his education in genetic research and went back to Africa to work for the Agency, and unwittingly carry on some of his parents own research.

It was while doing this that he refined some of the mutations lying dormant within him (although he had already put others to use while working as an operative). During his time working in Africa, he grew disillussioned with what the government was doing. The genetic research was getting nowhere, with its focus now more than ever on control of meta-humans, rather than on any advancements. He became increasingly detached from the research process, and more and more consumed with discovering links to his parents killers. Those in charge sensed his problem and had him removed from his post.

In addition to his scientific background, he also has a love of literature. After being removed from his post, he traveled for some time and eventually settled in Manhatten, where he started an antique book store. He has, over the last few years, developed quite a skill for appraising old works. But he relies mostly on his trusted employee, Beauregard (Beau for short) to handle the business. He engages in some minor fencing through the business as well, but mostly pursues his vigilante behavior (even stealing from the criminals to finance his operation) and pursues bringing the killers of his some 30 year dead parents to justice.

Karlo is not very well respected in the scientific community—partly because of his focus on mutant superpowers in the research community, through various academic article publications, and one full length book, and partly because he cannot discuss his own 'top secret' work with the government, which would provide him with obvious examples of many theories he can only support as theory. He does not discuss the work he did for the government; he may not like the government, but he is not stupid.

Powers and abilities: Prowler's senses are superhumanly acute and comparable (sometimes exceeding) to certain animals.

His sense of smell is so acute that that he can distinguish between identical twins at 20 feet by minute differences in smell. He can detect odors at an atmospheric concentration of 30 parts per million. He can also enter a room and determine if a cigarette has been smoked there in the past 48 hours. Further, his ability to remember smells enables him to identify any person he has spent at least five minutes with by smell alone, no matter how he might try to camouflage their natural odor. His powers of concentration are such that he can focus upon a single person's smell and follow it through a crowd of people at a distance of 50 feet.

His sense of hearing is so acute that he can detect an acoustic pressure change of 1 decibel at a pressure level of 7 decibels (whereas a normal human's lowest threshold is 20 decibels). This enables him to hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of 20 feet, or people whispering on the other side of a standard sound proof wall. Prowler can tell whether a person is lying by listening to changes in the specific patterns of their heartbeats. Through practice, Prowler is able to control his hearing acuity, mentally locking out specific sounds like his own breathing and heartbeat, all ambient sounds to a normal human level of perception, or all sounds but a particular sound he is concentrating upon. If taken by surprise, however, Prowler can suffer more distress from a painfully loud sound than a normal human would. Also, beyond a certain size, crowds of people create too many sensory impressions for him to easily sort through.

Prowler's sense of taste is so acute that he can detect the number of grains of salt on a pretzel. His ability to remember tastes enables him to determine every ingredient of any food or drink he tastes so long as there is a t least 20 mg. of that substance present.

Prowler's vision is preternaturally sensitive, containing twice the average human's area of light gathering retina, and extends into the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. His visual acuity is is also in the superhuman range.

Prowler can also detect subtle alterations in an animal's perspiration composition or pheromones that reflect mood or emotions.

All of Prowler's physcal abilities have been enhanced to the maximam human potential except his agility which is superhuman, allowing him to perform complex gymnastic exercises with ease.

Weapons and equipment:

Personality: He is not very outgoing. He is more withdrawn and introverted. He has no family, although Beau would be the closest. There is no great love in his life. Like most who have worked for the intelligence community, in whatever capacity, he has preferred to keep to himself, never knowing who he can trust.

His greatest pleasure derives from his vigilante activities, although he would never admit it. His perfect day is sailing while smoking Cuban Cigars (no doubt while in pursuit of some criminal element). He drives an old suburban, and tends to keep it packed with enough supplies to hotfoot it out of town if necessary, although it seems to be less and less of a threat. He lives in the flat above his store. Beau is his closest friend. He has various acquaintances with many of the locals. He has been known to take in a local boy or two, which stems as much as from anything due to all the poverty he's seen in his life while living in Africa. He feels the need to give something back to the community. However, Beau handles most of this, with Karlo preferring to keep his distance, even when he is doing good.

One will rarely even see him conversing with more than one person at a time, he prefers to keep people at a distance, or very close.

Description: Karlo Carter, aka Prowler, is tall, standing fully 6'1" tall, with a lanky appearance (although this may change if he is in disguise). He sports fine blonde, nearly gray hair with blue eyes and pale skin. He is obsessively clean and well kept. His appearance is marked by its simplicity. He always wears a silver sash around his waste, whether in or out of character, this serves as the focus of some defensive spell or capability. It is non-descript with undecipherable ruins etched around it. When he dons his vigilante guise, his appearance does not change much. He dons black robes, encircled by the sash, and a thin black mask that covers his face. He calls himself Prowler. He is not as concerned with keeping his vigilante guise secret from others as he is from the police and those that may be hunting him.