Keeper of Infinite Earths - Freedom Brigade
Created by Bob Justice
Missile
Alter Ego: Brad Kinkade
Occupation: Pilot/Aircraft Engineer
Known Relatives: Charles and Mary Kinkade, parents, Ellen Kinkade, sister
Group Affiliation: Freedom Brigade
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, CA
Background/History:
As a child, Brad always knew he could fly. All he ever wanted to do was fly. His
entire life was full of model planes and birds. He studied the various
super-heroes who could fly, especially Bullet Boy. Much of his free time was
spent attempting to duplicate Bullet Boy’s flight suit, but the exact details
of Dr. Solomon’s work eluded him. He had all the old photos and various
drawings, but he couldn’t make a practicle working model. Then, while
searching for any memorabilia on Bullet Boy, he stumbled across an old German
artifact dealer who specialized in WW 2. He enquired as to any Nazi documents
that the gentleman might have regarding his hero. He hit the jackpot. The dealer
had a file dating back to before Braun defected, a file full of notes, theories,
and pictures of Bullet Boy. He spent every penny he had buying the file and the
dealer gave him as a bonus another file of super-heroic related Nazi research.
"Useless poppycock" he called it. Brad plowed through the documents
and carefully studied the theories comparing theirs to his. Slowly, he began to
see potential. He worked multiple jobs and hocked everything he could to build
his updated version of the suit. Finally, he completed all the computer model
tests and built the prototype suit. The computer said it could not fly. It
failed every single test. The suit had plenty of protection, state of the art
sensory equipment, propulsion to spare, but no way to lift that weight into the
air. But Bullet Boy flew. So, he tried it. He would use sheer force of will, if
nothing else. The jets fired, he shot across the ground like he was a bowling
ball. He dusted himself off and prepared to try again. He could not jump very
well, weighted down as he was. So, he leaped out of a second story window and
fired the jets. It could not possibly work and he knew it. At that moment,
nothing else mattered to him and, if he broke his fool neck, so be it. The world
slipped into slow motion, he hung in the air for a moment, the jets holding him
aloft, he gave it more power, he felt himself start to drop, every fiber of his
being strained upward, and, against all logic and scientific principle, he shot
up into the sky. He knew at that moment that he was destined to follow in his
hero’s footsteps. In the extra file he had acquired, there was a workout
routine with various chemical supplements. The Nazis had been trying to come up
with something to counter America’s superheroes and had had no time to
implement it. He tried it and grew stronger which aided him in controling his
flight. His speed and dexterity improved, as well. He was in excellent shape
originally and this process simply maximized his condition. A skinny kid could
probably turn into quite a physical specimen this way, but an already fit young
man became almost super-human. He traveled around since he was used to living on
a small budget, eventually ending up in New York and spent some time with the
Protectors. He decided he liked warmer weather than NYC and opted to go to the
Freedom Brigade where he upholds the legacy of his hero by flying in the name of
justice.
Personality/Motivation:
Brad is almost frighteningly driven to succeed. He was willing to risk his life
to fly and he approaches his tasks with the Freedom Brigade the same way. His
whole life was wrapped around flying and now, it revolves around being an
old-fashioned hero, always aware of his responsibility to be a good example to
the children, like his hero was.
Quote: "Don’t try to flee, you can’t out-fly justice!"