Derek Chen Created and Roleplayed by: SeijiTataki Codename: Snapshot Real Name: Derek Chen Occupation: X-Man in training Legal Status: US Citizen Place of Birth: New York, New York Marital Status: Single Known Relatives: "Gregory" Chen(Long Chen)(Father), "Stephanie" Chen (Ming-na Chen)(Mother) Group Affiliation: X-Men Height: 6'2" Weight: 150 lbs Eyes: Grey Hair: Black, Bleached and Dyed Bright Red Age: 18 Strength Level: Above Average Special Skills and abilities: "Photographic Reflexes" - Derek is able to copy perfectly anything he sees others perform. From handling a gun to martial arts; anything as mundane as simple rope tricks, to even being a star football player. His photographic memory is existant because of his mutant powers, which have gifted him with a perfect memory and advanced learning. As a result of learning several martial arts, Derek possess slightly above-average agility and strength. History: Derek was born in the streets of Harlem -- very odd, indeed, considering his asian heritage. The Chen family immigrated to the United States with the dream for something better, and ended up with nothing. Given false promises for a better future, the Chen family was barely able to make ends meet. Despite being given full citizenship and promises of government aid, the Chen family saw none of it. So it was that Gregory Chen would be forced to work in a local fish market, and Stephanie Chen would end up being a hostess in a low-scale Harlem Chinese restaurant. In this fashion, the family would make ends meet. Derek was born into the family out of love, and so faced none of the harsh unhappiness that plagued many who lived in Harlem. Irregardless, he was raised in harsh living. Never fully applying himself in classes, Derek wouldn't ever had noticed that he had recieved a hyper-intelligence when his mutant powers kicked in, if not for the fact that one day in class he somehow managed to snag a perfect A on a test, when memories of all his classes suddenly flooded back into his mind. Using his newfound knowledge, Derek would excel in classes -- and then promptly had the snot beaten out of him. Labeled a geek and nerd by what were once his peers, Derek remained bitter for some time, until he found out what else his powers brought. After watching a pro-football game on TV, Derek would head to the local park. When joining up with some kids for the game, he found out that he could mimick everything he had seen on TV perfectly. Much to the suprise of several much larger children who ended up on the ground. Testing out his theory, young Derek would pick up one of his father's martial arts movies, watching the entire thing intently. After a days worth of studying various movies, he would challenge one of his friends to a play fight. His friend went down in seconds, and, consequently, Derek accidently broke his friend's arm. The two were on good terms thereafter, but Derek would never reveal his secret ability. So it came to pass that Derek would leap from popular to geek to head of the popular crowd. Learning new abilities as he needed them, Derek became increasingly popular, only to drop furthur in his studies. When classes went out, Derek went to the streets. Head of his own gang, he and many others would get in fights and wars, commiting crimes throughout the angry streets of Harlem. By the time he was 16, he had picked up a reputation as the biggest thug in all of Harlem. All of it went away, however, when Derek was arrested in suspicion of being connected with a murder in Manhattan of a member of a rival gang. His life shattered after that point -- his family was ready to forsake the boy, believing he was beyond salvation. And that was when Xavier stepped in, offering the boy a second chance at life. Somewhere inside Derek felt he could change -- which was how it came to pass that young Derek would be inducted into the halls of the Xavier School for the Gifted. Mutant Powers: While his "Photographic Reflexes" are Derek's main ability, it is not his actual mutant power. In actuality, his Photographic Reflexes are resultant of increased mental capacity, granting him perfect memory and a limited and developing psychic ability. While Derek doesn't possess anything as impressive as telekinetic abilities, his psychic abilities have allowed him to pick up emotions and give him limited mind reading abilities. While he has yet to develop the ability to project thoughts, it is one of his courses of study under the Professor Xavier. { Home }{ Updates }{ Archive }{ Characters }{ Gallery }{ Other } The Golden Nox is part of The Ethereal's Den & Dungeon message forum. Owned and operated by Amezri,© 2001-2003 Astrumignis Productions.