Type: Human
Gender: Male
Group Affiliation: None
Alignment: Hero
Actor: James Darren
Born: 7 May 1939; 65 as of 2003
Occupation: Lounge Singer
Description
Aesthetics and Dress: He still looks the part of a 50/60s-style lounge singer. Often found in a tuxedo or ‘laid back suit,’ Vic always attempts to look ‘stylin.’ He’s in an image business, and he knows it.
Attitude: Vic knows how to enjoy life. In fact he is always several things:
easy going, relaxed, laid back, and ready for a drink or to offer advice. And his way of speaking hasn’t changed since about the 50s or 60s. Giving him a tendency to use terms like “square” and “he’s one cool cat.”Despite this, he does have a serious side that shows on occasion and a strong sense of what’s right. This mostly shows when it comes to the question of Metahumans – he’s paranoid that his healing ability will get revealed and he’ll have to face the prejudices against Metas head-on. That’s one story he’s heard way too often.
Skills/Flaws/Quirks
-Speaks fluent Italian
-Sings
-Laid back attitude generally leads people to think he can’t be relied on if the going gets violent, but also gets people to feel at ease around him.
-Runner up for Olympic drinking team (behind Frank Sinatra and coach Dean Martin)
-Actually able to cook
-Soft spot for ladies, and sucker for hard-luck cases
-Fights “dirty” by inclination, though not necessarily well
-Distrusts authority
History
Victor Meranti was born the third son of an Italian family which emigrated to the United States in the early 30s. The first hints of his abilities showed themselves when as a young baby, he came down with Pneumonia and experienced a miraculous recovery. Fortunately for him, this was not the time when people were quite as suspicious of metas.
Which is not to say that things went well. In 1955 he was in the eighth grade. Already a talent for singing manifested itself, along with his rather easygoing manner. Despite his popularity, the 16-year-old ran afoul of the school bullies. Getting into a fight, he had a bottle crashed over his head – his gash completely gone within an hour.
With that, Vic’s accelerated healing could no longer be denied. His talent for reading people still showed itself though, when his father returned home from work. Dominic was always home around 5:00pm, tired but cheery. Only today things were different, when he sat down in the chair.
“What’s wrong, pop?” he asked, knowing that something was wrong. This despite the fact that he looked almost like he normally did, his wife was finishing getting dinner ready, and his siblings were out playing.
“Nothing at all,” Dominic told him, trying too hard to sound normal. “What makes you think that?”
“You just look down is all.”
Dominic had sighed, realising that Vic was the one guy he could never fool. There was something suspicious about that. He was too observant for a 16 year old. “Don’t worry about it, go help Connie with her homework.”
Vic did as he was told, but overheard his parents talking a few days later. Dominic was honestly afraid for his job. And it was all because his son could heal quickly. As far as Vic was concerned, there was one thing that he could do for the family: he had to go. Leaving a letter for them, he packed up and disappeared quietly.
It was by chance that Vic wound up working in a few joints, singing with only a piano as accompaniment. Little saloons, moving from New York down to New Jersey. It was the hardest two years of his life, until a miracle happened: in 1957, was ‘discovered’ by radio producer Jim Michaels. Michaels ran what Vic later called “a legitimate amateur show, except that it wasn’t.”
Michaels took a liking to the young singer, and helped him score a few better gigs. It wasn’t an easy life, but he was no longer starving. Still it was a step up in the world, and it got him out of the worst joints.
Things continued to move at a slow pace until the big break came. It was 1961, when a record producer searching for new talent overhead another radio show which they brought Vic on, showcasing young local talent. The producer decided to take the chance – and Vic got his shot.It gave him a shot at better connections than before, a better life – everything. But Vic never forgot his family, and finally got a chance to track them down again. It turned out that running away didn’t help Dominic keep his job, but he did eventually find another one. They were all proud of the luck. “Only in America,” his father had said half-jokingly.
In 1963, Vic cut a deal with his first record label and quickly emerged among a group of new talent. Vic was amazed at what happened, becoming – for a while at least – a teen idol. In 1968, his popularity peaked and continued singing in Vegas, Atlantic City, and the odd concert around the country.
During this time, Vic met a number of other meta humans, finding many of the same stories. He became something else in the clubs: a man you could talk to. After the performance, Vic went over to the bar. He quickly became known as a laid back, fun guy to talk to – and met some of his first metas.
Sally Johnson was the first one. She didn’t have much, but he could almost tell parts of the story right away. She’d had a relatively decent life until it became apparent that she was a meta – didn’t even have that much of an ability. Her husband left her, took the kids – lost her job. Vic did the only thing he could do: he gave her a place to stay for a few days, helped her find a new job.
It was the start of one of the things that became normal for him. Down-on-their-luck metas got sympathy and help. Most of the stories weren’t too bad, at least at first. But it did leave him to determine that nobody, if he could help it, would ever know that Vic Meranti was among their number. Even the ones he helped.
Despite Vic’s popular status as a ‘heartthrob’ he still had another aspect to his image. Wine, women, and song. All of which changed in 1971 with the sudden announcement that Vic Meranti was about to get married. Despite the paranoia that his healing would come out, he didn’t know that she already guessed (at least not consciously) until he went to propose.
For the next 20 years, Vic’s career enjoyed a set of ups and downs. He starred in a couple of films, but that portion of his career didn’t go far. Vic got out of it when it started to interfere with his singing too much. But there were several notable events from this time period.
In March of 1975, Vic ran into Sally Johnson again. She was the one to really remind him that despite his success, despite the fact that people listened to the music of Vic Meranti, it could all come crashing down with one revelation. His wife Sophia wasn’t fond of the sudden invite, until he explained what happened. Though she thought he was being played for a sucker, he trusted her.
May of 1977, Vic met the Citizen. The world’s most famous Meta. It became a nearly scandalous event for the singer. “I wasn’t very impressed by him,” a reporter quoted him when supposedly off the record. “Don’t get me wrong, he does a lot of great things, but a man should be able to kick back and relax a little. Never figured him for a Clyde.” Needless to say, calling the Citizen a square did not win many new friends.
September of 1980 was an interesting time. Vic had been helping out meta humans off and on over the past years, but this was the first time that he actually wound up having to risk exposure. Vic met a meta who was falsely accused of a crime and would almost certainly get to pay for something he didn’t do. The lounge singer did the only thing he could think of: he tried to go after the real felon.
To say that Vic was probably not thinking right at the time was likely an understatement. But still Vic had good intentions and a plan. He would catch the criminal, turn him in, and clear the young man (named Stewart) of his false accusation.
Unfortunately, the real criminal had different plans and kicked the shit out of him. It was a sad ending with Stewart, an event that led him to do what he could – but try to avoid fighting. It also planted the seeds of problems to arise later with his wife, Sophia. Especially when, years later, he insisted their daughter take Kung Fu.
Things were fairly uneventful for a few more years, until the same old story happened again in ’86. Only this time, Vic did the smart thing. He found someone who actually had the skills to go catch the villain. New travelled on the QT about the event to a number of other heroes, who kept the matter out of the press.
Which was when Vic found his calling in the world of heroes – he became the go-between, setting up ways to keep the good guys in contact with each other, leaning who’s who in the world of metas. His laid back style let him pick up the latest gossip and rumours, which he then felt free to pass on to the appropriate heroes.
By 1991, things took a surprising turn. Sophia and Vic got into their first big fight. Sophia was worried about the metas, thinking that some form of regulation was needed. When they met someone from Mutantgrad and learned about the history of the city, Vic had the understandable reaction of revulsion at the policies that lead to its creation. Sophia was slightly more willing to accept it.
“What about me?” he finally asked in the middle of the argument, not knowing their daughter Julia was listening.
“What about you?” Sophia shot back. “You’re the exception, not the rule!”
Vic stood with a look of surprise on his face. “After all the other metas you met with me, all the stories we’ve heard, how can you say that? You have your sosh metas with flashy powers, but mostly we aren’t that different. We just want to go about, trying to live our lives in peace. Get right down to it, we’re still human.”
“But it’s the fact that those of you who are bad eggs can do so much more damage that we need something more to be done. Can’t you see that, Vic? After everything you’ve been through? Everything you’ve seen and done?”
“Yeah, and I can see the fuzz usually doesn’t handle them,” he retorted. “Look, I know and understand the concerns. We have our own heroes as well, and unlike vigilantes, they usually are equipped to handle our villains.”
So the debate continued for hours into the night. It became an old debate that strained the marriage over years. The biggest fight came when Sophia joined Humans First. In 1995, the big event happened. The couple split, though Vic somehow found himself with custody of their then 15 year old daughter, Julia. Despite the problems that arose, they still loved each other dearly, and Sophia refused to destroy her husband.
Officially they never bothered filing for divorce and are still just legally separated. It’s just the one final step they never decided to take.
So Vic had to calm down until Julia went off to college. Only then he discovered something: she inherited her father’s healing ability and wanted to use it to help people. He was supportive, but insisted that she take Kung Fu at the very least and thereby be able to defend herself. When she went off to college, Vic got the chance to sing again.
Powers
Accelerated Healing: Vic doesn’t know why – in fact, nobody does – but he’s capable of healing at an accelerated rate. Small cuts disappear in several minutes, and he ages at about half the normal rate.
Life Knowledge: Vic’s other gift is what leads him to help Metas. He doesn’t even know that he has this one, but he has an intuitive gift to look at someone and tell what’s going on in their life.
He has no way to control this, except that it doesn’t work as well in large crowds unless he ‘notices’ someone or focuses on you. Vic’s knowledge is usually very general, i.e. a couple is married or a man misses his wife, a woman is on the run. Generally the longer and stronger the feeling has been going on, the more likely he is to pick it up.
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