EYES ONLY – Password: 51501984OU812 – Orange Clearance or above -

Name: Daniel John Kirby AKA Centurion

Occupation: Adventurer, Agent of A.P.E.X. (Authorized Protection Executive)

Legal Status: American citizen with no criminal record. His identity as Centurion is classified.

Former Aliases: None

Marital Status: Single, but living common law with Caroline Munroe

Birthplace: Battle Creek, Michigan

Known relatives: David (father, deceased), Janet (mother, deceased)

Group Affiliation: A.P.E.X., The Legion (a team of superhumans acting under the auspices of A.P.E.X. and with full government approval)

Base Of Operations: A.P.E.X. headquarters in New York City

First Appearance: Centurion, chapter 1, “God Doesn’t Play Dice”

Height: 6’2

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Blue

Weight: 182 pounds (289 pounds with nanite cocoon in effect)

Origin: (From classified A.P.E.X. personnel files) Daniel Kirby was born an only child from Michigan. A loner most of his life, Kirby excelled at languages and, as only children often are, grew incredibly self-reliant. With dreams of rising above his mundane life, Kirby, along with his girlfriend, Caroline Munroe, entered the realm of law enforcement as police officers. Kirby distinguished himself on more than one occasion and was soon promoted to detective.

Soon afterward, Kirby wrote the secret service exam and was accepted (under the umbrella of homeland security). Before long he was assigned to protect President Bill Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, for several years. Classified records indicate that Kirby is personally responsible for saving the first daughter from at least two kidnapping plots. To this day, Kirby and the first daughter remain close friends, going so far as to exchange Christmas gifts regularly.

When the Centurion project began, Kirby was put on the short list of possible test subjects due to his aptitude and psychology tests (not to mention his performance during his tenure as a secret service agent), and before long the Centurion project test subjects were narrowed down to two: Daniel Kirby and F.B.I. agent Maxwell Reeves. Eventually, Kirby won the right to test the nanites and be the first Centurion, while Reeves became operational director of A.P.E.X. (Centurion is generally the leader on field missions).

Centurion distinguished himself as a protector of the people on several occasions, including several clashes with the mysterious super powered psychopaths, Phobos and Deimos. It soon became clear that both men were in the employ of a shadowy figure who referred to himself as “Mars”, a codename based on the Roman God Of War. To date, the true identities of Phobos, Deimos and Mars are unknown, though Centurion and his team have foiled their many plots on varied occasions. Their battles could only be described as “epic”, involving the kind of violence and property damage rarely seen outside of big budget action movies.

Centurion’s greatest moment came when he faced off against Phobos and Deimos in the middle of Times Square. As it turned out, Phobos and Deimos, along with a plethora of Visigoths (see entry: Visigoths), Centurion and his team were being led into a trap. Phobos and Deimos retreated, only to set off a bomb in Times Square, knowing that Centurion would do whatever he could to protect the innocent bystanders.

True to form, Centurion extended his nanite shield as far as he could from his body, saving many, though he was initially assumed to be killed in the blast due to his lack of protection. How he survived, exactly, is unknown. Also presumed killed in the blast were Centurion’s teammates: Quake, Nemesis and Braveheart. Sleuth was also presumed dead for a time, but he also survived the blast.

Though Centurion’s tactics have altered slightly after the Times Square blast (he now refuses to carry a gun in his civilian life and seems to have forgotten some aspects of his past), he continues to be the premiere superhero of his time, having recently scored his biggest victory yet, the liberation of Tierra Del Murte Lenta (AKA “Land Of Slow Death”) and the destruction of the Visigoth experimentation center that originated there.

From the private journal of Douglas Von Erik AKA “Mr. Magus” – He truly is a miracle. When the blast that killed the original Daniel Kirby in Times Square went off, I tried to transport us all away from the scene, but the power of the blast combined with my hasty incantations sent me to another reality, another earth, if you will. I will bear the guilt of that failure for the rest of my life.

I’ve been known to quote one of my personal heroes, Albert Einstein, on more than one occasion, and when I arrived in the apartment of an alternate reality’s Daniel Kirby, I realized that, as the master intellect once remarked, “God doesn’t play dice”. I arrived there for a reason.

This Daniel Kirby looked and sounded exactly like the one I knew, only this man never lived up to his potential. This Daniel Kirby had a fight with his girlfriend, Caroline Munroe, and when she died in a car accident after that fight, his confidence was shaken forever. Rather than a secret service agent and then Centurion, this Daniel Kirby was a lowly call center employee who was going nowhere fast.

It was a risk, I know, to tell this new Daniel Kirby of his alternate fate and that his lover was still alive in my world, but it was a risk I was willing to take because the world needs Centurion. I can’t imagine how his world ever got by without one. Convincing him this wasn’t a prank by his mindless coworkers wasn’t easy until I showed him that Caroline was still alive. That did the trick.

This Daniel Kirby has all the raw materials that the one I knew had. He simply never developed it, having given into fear about his relationship with Caroline, whose death soon after their final argument nearly crippled him, sending him into a never ending spiral of self doubt and a shattering of his self confidence. Once that is rebuilt, I have every confidence that he will be a Centurion on par, if not surpass, his predecessor.

I remain as his only confidante in this new world. No one must ever know that this Centurion is not the original. Most of the responsibility of learning to be a hero must be done on the fly, and he must bear it mostly on his own. Hopefully, the support and love he’ll find with Caroline and his remaining teammates (including the newest acquisitions) will be all he needs to get by. If he should crumble under the pressure, we may all be doomed.

I have faith that he will rise to the occasion. He is Daniel Kirby, after all… and Daniel Kirby… is Centurion.

Powers/Abilities: Daniel Kirby possesses the abilities of any average human his age who engages in regular physical activity. Kirby was the voluntary recipient of a dose of “semi-sentient” nanites, programmed with “wetware” (AKA humans and computer systems working together as one) and utilizing components of telebiometrics, specifically tuned to Kirby’s brain patterns (and only his brain patterns).

The nanite programming is among the most advanced ever created. It took several years to create and several intensive brain scans on Kirby were utilized in the process. It is hoped that one day the Centurion program will result in an entire platoon of soldiers, but such a result would be many years away, as the testing on Centurion, his reactions to the nanites, especially over time, is still ongoing.

When Kirby summons the semi-sentient nanites that reside dormant in his blood steam, they literally appear through the pores in his skin and coat his entire body according to his mental desires. Kirby’s strength multiplies to the point where he can lift (press) up to 75 tons of weight. How much weight or force Kirby can summon (or lift) is directly related to his level of mental command over the nanites that enhance his strength. If his concentration is somehow broken, the nanites fail to respond as predicted, and the results are sporadic, at best. Kirby was chosen for the Centurion soldier program, however, due to his unparalleled ability to control them.

The silver and gold nanite cocoon Kirby employs also protects him from harm, protecting him from gunshot wounds (including high calibre weapons) and blades. He is vulnerable to extremes of heat and cold and higher calibre weapons, including flame throwers. Much like his strength, the upper limits of Centurion’s invulnerability depend on his mental command of the nanites. Centurion can also direct his nanite strength into his legs, allowing him to run at speeds much higher than the average human (but nowhere near as fast as his teammate, Morning Star). His top speed is below 90 miles per hour.

The nanites in Kirby’s bloodstream can also repair damage to his body when he’s resting, but they cannot protect him and function in their normal manner while Kirby is utilizing the nanites for other purposes, such as in the heat of battle. Normally, the nanites require that Kirby’s body is at rest, preferably sleeping.

In addition, Kirby can mentally command the nanites on his body to take simple shapes, including wedges, oversized fists and claws. There is a drawback to this, however. In order to take shapes, Kirby must draw nanites from one position on his body to another to form them, leaving these areas weakened and thus more vulnerable. For instance, to form a series of claws or spikes on his hands, he must draw extra nanites from another area, such as his back or legs. These areas then become weak points for enemies to attack.

Daniel Kirby’s true strength, however, is his inability to admit defeat and to inspire others. Since his childhood, he has always dreamed of making a difference in life, to live a life that meant something. Even without his nanite powers, Kirby was a man to be reckoned with, having been decorated several times during his career in the secret service. The nanites are merely an extension of the man himself.