List of Wild Cards characters

The Astronomer first appeared in the short story "Pennies from Hell" by Lewis Shiner in Wild Cards II: Aces High, though his presence was implied in "The Long, Dark Night of Fortunato" in the first volume of the series. He is the leader of a cult, known as the Egyptian Freemasons, that consists mainly of superhuman Aces and deformed Jokers. The Astronomer planned to conquer the world in the aftermath of an invasion by fungoid aliens called the Swarm. Unknown to him, the Shakti device of the Egyptian Freemasons lacked a power source and was designed to contact an alien organization, the Network. Once his plans were foiled, the Astronomer lived only for revenge. The Astronomer is an old man (born in 1925), who has thinning white hair, wears glasses and is best described as "mole-like"; he is also noted as having a disproportionately large head, the upper part of which enlarges further when he is fully empowered. He has wiped his own memory of all events prior to becoming the Astronomer. The Astronomer usually uses a wheelchair, although the proper use of his Ace powers can allow him to walk. The Astronomer practices a horrific form of death magic, gaining immense energy through the ritualistic slaying of his victims (usually young women). He greatly enjoys having Demise slowly kill the victims, taking their suffering in anticipation of death as his energy source. Once the ritual is completed, the Astronomer is blessed with a huge energy reserve that allows him to utilize the following powers: astral projection, clairsentience, minor precognition, the ability to selectively erase memories, flight, invisibility from visual and mental senses, ego attacks, hand killing attacks, walking through walls, suppression of any single wildcard power directed against him, force fields, minor force walls, telepathy, and an assortment of energy blasts. However, he can not use all powers simultaneously. His powers resemble and possibly exceed those of Fortunato, making him one of the most powerful aces. The Astronomer has lost his followers in attacks on the Egyptian Freemasons by Fortunato and several other Aces, while managing to escape and partially reform the cult. His activities culminate on the Wild Card Day 1986, the 40th anniversary of the virus' release. While his associates pursue the Turtle and Tachyon, the Astronomer picks several girls up for recharge. One of them is the niece of Sewer Jack, Cordelia Chaisson. As she "turns her ace" (the ability to shut down a person's cardiac and respiratory systems) and Demise shifts his loyalty by interrupting the recharge, the Astronomer can block Demise's killing stare, but is left almost powerless and virtually dead by Cordelia. After later recharge and the aerial battle with Fortunato, which leaves both Aces almost powerless, the Astronomer drops into the Hudson River and escapes to the shore for his final encounter with his former associates Roulette and Demise. He uses his last bit of power to escape through a wall, where he is killed by Demise and left embedded inside the wall. Although his crimes are publicly announced, a large part of the population ignores those announcements and considers the old man in the wall just a random victim of the killing spree of that day. The events of the day, including a public killing, death of a superhero Ace, and the battle over the Hudson, strengthen the prejudices against the Wild Cards and lead to the events of July 1988. ==Black Eagle==

Black Eagle (Earl Sanderson Jr.) is a member of the Four Aces. He was created by Walter Jon Williams, and first appeared in the story "Witness" in the first book of the series, Wild Cards. Earl Sanderson Jr. was a member of the 332nd Fighter Group (the Tuskegee Airmen) during World War II. He was also a member of the American Communist Party, hoping to create a more equitable society for Black and White alike. During the first outbreak of the Wild Card virus on September 15, 1946, Earl was one of the lucky few who was neither killed nor deformed by the disease, instead gaining fantastic powers to become an Ace. He joined the Four Aces, and helped capture Nazi war criminals and topple tyrants; he even saved Gandhi from a fanatic's bullet, but back at home the political climate of America was changing. The Four Aces found themselves called before the dreaded HUAC (the House Un-American Activities Committee) where the former Communist Sanderson was torn to shreds on the stand by racist Congressmen. After the trial he escaped prison and fled the country. He remained outside America for the rest of his life, despite receiving a pardon from President John F. Kennedy. He died in France in 1979 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Aces Abroad notes that even after his death, Sanderson is revered in India for saving Gandhi's life, and a statue of him in an almost deific pose stands in a Calcutta shrine. Black Eagle had the ability to telekinetically levitate himself and fly at speeds of up to 500 miles per hour. He also generated an invisible telekinetic force shield, which could resist machine-gun fire, and which he used as a battering ram while flying. He was also a talented airplane pilot. ==Black Shadow==

Shad is a vigilante created by Walter Jon Williams. Better known as Black Shadow, he first appeared in the short story "Strings" in the first Wild Cards anthology, and played a pivotal role in several of the later books of the series. Black Shadow is an Ace, a victim of the alien Wild Card virus who has manifested superhuman powers, without physical deformities. He can absorb photons the visible range of light and heat, leaving only a sphere of blackness visible, and can incapacitate his foes with hypothermia. Shadow can use the absorbed energy to boost his strength and speed to superhuman levels, and can "see" in the dark because his vision extends into the infrared zone of the spectrum. He can also absorb other frequencies of the spectrum such as radar microwaves, but this requires a greater effort. Since most of his body's energy comes from electromagnetic spectrum absorption, he needs very little food. He can also cling to walls and ceilings, like the comic-book hero Spider-Man. Combining these powers with his ruthless attitude and criminal skills makes him one of the most effective Aces in the Wild Cards series. Shad is the internal name of an ace who adopts multiple identities. Born Neil Langford, Shad was a mild mannered graduate student on his way to a physics PhD. Unknown to the general public, he was also an ace with a variety of powers Puppetman caused Langford to become consumed with rage and he murdered two criminals, stringing them up from a lamp post. After this Langford dropped out of school and began pursuing a career as the super powered vigilante Black Shadow. However, he also adopted various other identities, some once and others on a more regular basis. Somewhere along the line he began to think of himself as "Shad". In the late 80s Shad was responsible for capturing Typhoid Croyd/The Sleeper and Snotman. In the early 90s Shad interacted with the Jokers on the Rox and was eventually imprisoned on Governors Island by the Card Sharks conspiracy. After escaping with several Aces he and fellow Ace Croyd Crenson sought revenge. Shad and Croyd were able to destroy the Card Sharks conspiracy, murdering the Jumpers, as well as several of the Card Sharks members and allies including Howard Hughes, and orchestrated the imprisonment of others. Shad also tortured to death Gregg Hartmann who was Puppetman. In fact it was merely Hartmanns body into which Card Sharks agent George Gordon Battle had been jumped. When last seen Shad was contemplating travelling to Central Asia in order to kill the last remaining Card Sharks. The most notable feature of Shad's character is his multiple personas. Some of these are adopted on the spur of the moment and quickly abandoned. Others involve a long-term commitment from Shad. By the time he appears in the books he apparently no longer maintains an identity as Neil Langford. His identities include: • Black Shadow, a violent vigilante known for stringing criminals up from lamp posts. • Mr. Diamond, a wealthy diamond merchant who owns several properties. Diamond is a Nat (non-Wild Card) and seems to exist mostly to allow Shad to launder money and maintain property free from police interference. • Wall Walker, a Jamaican Ace who can walk up walls but possesses none of Shads other powers. • Mr. Gravemold, a Joker who can project cold. Shad masquerades as a joker by wearing a mask which supposedly covers a facial deformity and smothers himself in formaldehyde in order to produce a pungent smell. As he explains to Croyd, he is able to tolerate the smell because he snorts small amounts of cocaine before adopting the Gravemold persona. • No Dice, a drug dealing "gangsta" that employed Shad's ability to absorb heat and induce hypothermia to eliminate his competition and terrorize local pimps. Something of a vigilante in his own right and more of a cover identity than a true personality. No Dice emerged as Shad's personalities were beginning to fuse together once more. ==Blaise Jeannot Andrieux==

Blaise Andrieux is the grandson of Dr. Tachyon, created by Melinda M. Snodgrass. Blaise's mother was Gisele Bacourt, who was Tachyon's illegitimate daughter. He was raised by a terrorist group who taught him to use his mental powers to dominate and to kill. When Tachyon discovered Blaise's existence during the WHO-sponsored tour of 1987, he brought the boy back to New York to live with him. Unfortunately, Tachyon is a terrible father, and tends to spoil Blaise terribly or rage at him for acting improperly. Blaise rapidly grows up to be an arrogant and cruel bully who enjoys using his mind control powers to make people around him act like total fools. Eventually, Blaise goes "wild", running free on the streets of New York and brutally turning on his grandfather. He eventually becomes a complete sociopath who revels in the suffering of others, especially his grandfather. In later books, Blaise becomes the de facto leader of the Jumpers, acquiring their power in addition to his own, and returns to Takis in a bid to conquer the planet. ==Bloat==

Bloat is an adolescent boy transformed by the Wild Card virus into a powerful psychic with a monstrous Joker body. He was created by Stephen Leigh. Introduced in One-Eyed Jacks as Governor of the Rox, he comes to prominence and full awareness of his vast powers in Jokertown Shuffle. He is ostensibly the primary antagonist of that book, although his character is depicted as being well-intentioned and idealistic, but who is surrounded by less positive allies, and has few options. When last seen, it appears he manages to take the Rox into a safe parallel universe, avoiding the death of many of his followers. ==Captain Trips==

Captain Trips, also known as Dr. Mark Meadows, is a renowned biochemist and a burned-out hippie, with the ability to use various drugs (usually derivations of psychoactive drugs such as LSD) to transform into several other forms, each with their own powers and individual personalities, several named from the titles or lyrics of 1960s popular songs. He was created by Victor Milán. Trips himself and several of his alternate forms would be considered Aces in the lexicon of the Wild Cards universe, though a few of his "friends" (as he terms them) could be classified as Jokers. It is theorized that, since all Meadow's "friends" and their powers are ultimately derived from Meadows himself, he is essentially the ultimate manifestation of the Wild Card virus. ==Brain Trust==

Brain Trust (Blythe Stanhope Van Renssaeler) was a member of the Four Aces, appearing in the stories "Degradation Rites" by Melinda M. Snodgrass (who created the character) and "Witness" by Walter Jon Williams. Blythe was the wife of domineering New York Congressman Henry Van Renssaeler. When the Wild Card virus infected her, she gained the power to absorb an exact duplicate of another's mind, to know everything they knew. The first time she used this power was when she involuntarily absorbed her husband's mind. Suddenly she knew it all; his dirty politics and criminal activities, his affairs, and what he really thought about his wife. Overwhelmed to the point of withdrawal, she was found and brought to Dr. Tachyon, in the hope that he could help her. He used his telepathy to help stabilize her mind, and the two soon began an affair. She was afraid to go back to Henry, and instead joined the organization that would become known as the Four Aces. Unlike Golden Boy and Black Eagle, Blythe, codenamed "Brain Trust", was a behind-the-scenes member at first. She was sent around the country to copy the minds of some of the world's greatest scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Wernher von Braun, so that there would be "back-up" copies of their knowledge. This made it even more difficult for her to maintain her mental balance; so, Tachyon began tutoring her in Takisian methods of mental control, when he was not romancing her. The climate of the United States was growing harsher, and the Four Aces were called before the HUAC committee, who demanded to know the names of any Aces they had dealt with. When Golden Boy let slip that Brain Trust had also absorbed a copy of ''Tachyon's'' memories, which meant she knew all the Wild Carders Tachyon had treated, the Committee eagerly called her to the stand and began to browbeat and interrogate her. The fragile union of minds inside her made it difficult to resist, and she began to break down and name names. Tachyon, aghast, tried to telepathically force her silence, but only succeeded in shattering her remaining mental defenses, causing her to suffer a complete mental breakdown. Tachyon was deported, and Blythe was placed in a mental institution, where she eventually died of neglect. After his pardon and return to America in the 1960s, Tachyon founded the Blythe van Renssaeler Memorial Hospital in the heart of New York's Jokertown, in honor of Brain Trust. More commonly known as the Jokertown Clinic, it has treated (if not necessarily cured) thousands of victims of the Wild Card virus. Fleur van Renssaeler, Blythe's daughter by her estranged husband, grew up to hate both the Wild Card virus and its creator, Dr. Tachyon. A supporter of anti-Wild-Card preacher Leo Barnett's bid for the presidency, Fleur once seduced Tachyon in order to get information from him. During the brief encounter, Tachyon imagined himself with Blythe, while Fleur overcame her hatred of Tachyon by fantasizing about Leo Barnett. Blythe's granddaughter Dr. Clara van Renssaeler now works at the clinic. ==Carnifex==

Carnifex (William "Billy" Ray) was created by John J. Miller. Carnifex (Latin for "butcher") is Billy Ray's nickname, which was given to him for his love of violence. Infection with the Wild Card virus has given him superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, along with a rapid regenerative healing factor and a heightened instinct for physical combat. His strength makes his fists like 10-pound sledge hammers, and his speed gives him a marked advantage over average opponents. In Wild Card terminology, this makes him an Ace. Billy Ray was a college football star in the late 1970s, playing for the Michigan Wolverines. He was able to hide his Wild Card infection until he broke his leg in three places in the first quarter of the Rose Bowl (on national TV) and tried to return to the game before halftime. He was recruited by the U.S. Justice Department, and has worked for them ever since, performing various missions such as protecting government officials and hunting down other Aces. He is highly aggressive and confrontational, and will fight at the slightest provocation. Despite his demeanor, he is obsessed with cleanliness, prefers his office absolutely neat, and hates getting bloodstains on his signature fighting suit, a form-fitting white jumpsuit with a black hood. He has several, as they generally get covered in blood, his and his opponents. As he has gotten older, his ability to regenerate has slowed, and he takes longer to heal between battles. Secretly he fears that someday he will stop healing altogether. His powers of regeneration were put to the ultimate test when he fought the Vibrating Joker/Ace Mackie Messer (aka Mack the Knife, real name: Detlev Mackintosh). He was shredded and torn in this battle, losing most of his jaw and several fingers, and took several months to fully heal. His regeneration is not perfect, as his body and face are a mass of scar tissue and obvious war wounds, and his features are slightly irregular from having his facial bones broken and reset so many times. ==Chrysalis==

Chrysalis was created by John J. Miller. Chrysalis is the current owner/operator of the Crystal Palace, one of Jokertown's most well known nightclubs. She has blue eyes, almost totally transparent skin and muscle tissue, and no hair. She usually wears minimal amounts of clothing to emphasize this fact. She speaks with a convincing but false British accent. Chrysalis' primary occupation is the selling of information. She seems to know everything that happens in New York, and will buy and sell anything anyone wants to know for a price. She is one of the major players in Jokertown, although most of her work is done behind the scenes. She had an intense affair with Yeoman. She was brutally murdered by Hiram Worchester (while he was under the influence of Ti Malice) in 1988. ==Deadhead==

Deadhead is an Ace, someone granted super-powers by exposure to the Wild Card virus; but the disturbing nature of his power has driven him nearly insane. Deadhead has the ability to sense the memories of anyone whose brain he eats. He discovered this by accident; he began experiencing the sensations of animals whenever he ate meat, then worked his way up to animal brains. After several years he worked up the courage to try human brains, and found that he could completely—if temporarily—absorb all the knowledge and memories of the dead person. At present, he works for the Shadow Fists, providing the gang with information in exchange for being kept out of prison or a mental ward. He is twitchy, has poor hygiene, constantly talks to himself in a nervous voice, and is always gulping down vitamins and appetite suppressants in a vain effort to reduce his craving for human brains. ==Demise==

Demise (James Spector) was created by Walton Simons, and first appeared in the story "If Looks Could Kill" in Wild Cards II: Aces High. In 1985, Spector was struck by the Wild Card virus and brought to the Jokertown Clinic, where he was seen by Dr. Tachyon. Tachyon had been working on improving his "Trump Card" countervirus, which had a low success rate, and injected Spector with an experimental version of the Trump, as well as subjecting him to an experimental tissue-regeneration process. It was seemingly unsuccessful; Spector's body experienced the failure of numerous organs, and he was pronounced dead. However, shortly after, he awoke screaming and continued to scream for several months. Eventually, he got back enough of his sanity to escape (although he constantly feels the agony of his death), killing a nurse with his new-found power in the process. In 1986, he was found by the cult leader known as The Astronomer, who offered to erase his unbearable memories of death if Spector would work for him. Giving Spector the name Demise, the Astronomer used Demise's death-powers in the ritual killings that charged the Astronomer's powers, and used Demise as an occasional assassin as well. When Demise eventually realised the Astronomer was just stringing him along, he rebelled; and when the Astronomer was weakened after his battle with Fortunato, Demise finished the old man off, leaving him embedded in a brick wall. Afterwards, Demise became a freelance assassin while looking for opportunities to kill Tachyon, until he was hired to do a job at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. There, his head was cut off on live national television by the psychotic Ace Mack the Knife. Mackie used his vibrational powers to remove Demise's head – only for the severed head to open its eyes and kill Messer explosively. Later, Dr. Tachyon examined Demise's body in the morgue and saw that it was actually starting to grow a new head. Tachyon immediately ordered his body cremated, to ensure that he would not return from death a second time. Demise's body repairs itself so perfectly that he can even return from death. He has healed himself from bullet wounds and broken bones in seconds, and regrown lost limbs and other body parts. However, his body draws from its own current mass to reconstruct major damage, such as the loss of a limb, thus weakening his overall health until he has sufficient time to recover. He is also at risk of long-term damage from improper healing; the Astronomer once had Demise's forearm broken and then forcibly held out of proper alignment so that the bones knit improperly, rendering the limb nonfunctional below the elbow. Demise can also telepathically project the "memory" of his death experience into other people, causing them to die as well, but he must look them in the eyes to do so (thus he can be foiled by things such as mirrorshades or insectoid multiple eyes). He can kill in seconds, stretch it out slowly for a very painful death, or use just enough power to stun or disorient someone. His power also prevents someone from looking away once he has locked eyes with them. ==Digger Downs==

Thomas "Digger" Downs, created by Steve Perrin, is an investigative reporter for Aces magazine, a periodical on the lives of the Wild Cards universe's more publicly known Aces. Journalistically, Aces lies somewhere between People magazine and the National Enquirer, with Digger definitely toward the lower end of that scale. He constantly seeks to find juicy gossip about Aces, as well as Earth's only extraterrestrial citizen, Dr. Tachyon, who despises Digger and, when confronted by him, often resorts to mind control to make Digger humiliate himself until he goes away. Most of their encounters end with Digger unwillingly pouring a drink over his own head, or something similar. Digger's interest in Aces and their secrets seemingly stems from the fact that he is secretly an Ace himself; his power is the ability to detect the presence of other Wild Cards. Whether Aces or Jokers, anyone who has the alien virus entangled in their genes is perceived as having a sickly-sweet odor, which is how his brain interprets the input of what is essentially an extrasensory ability. While he is careful to always hide his ability, making vague statements about his "sources" when asked how he found someone out, he is not exactly discreet when it comes to revealing the Wild Card status of others. In addition to his hidden Ace power, Digger is also skilled in sneaking, dumpster diving, long-range photography, party-crashing, and taking statements out of context. In other aspects of journalism, such as research and fact-checking, however, he is woefully lacking. ==Dr. Tachyon==

Dr. Tachyon is a geneticist from the planet Takis, whose people naturally developed various telepathic powers. Interbreeding among these psionic peoples created a royal caste system with various specified powers. Tachyon's royal House Ilkazam created what human doctors called "Xenovirus Takis-A"—the Wild Card virus. The virus (known to the Takisians as "the Enhancer") was intended to boost their own natural psionic powers, allowing Tachyon's house to conquer their rivals. To avoid the side-effects, it was decided to test the virus on an isolated population with the same DNA as Takisians – the humans of Earth. Tachyon protested this decision. He then tried to stop his partners from testing the virus on Earth, without success. Since he had personally been responsible for getting the virus to its present testable stage, when the virus was released, he worked among the "Jokers", physically deformed and mutated victims of the virus, feeling responsible for their suffering. Of course, Tachyon was not so anguished that he refrained from hobnobbing with celebrities, politicians, and many "Aces", those rare humans successfully granted paranormal abilities by the Enhancer. His nickname came from the scientists who worked with him and is a reference to the tachyon particles used by his ship's faster than light drive - his own name was prohibitively long, and hard to pronounce. His normal telepathic powers include skilled mind reading, thought projection, and the ability to physically control up to three human bodies, while simultaneously reading their minds and projecting his own thoughts to them. These powers can be reduced by extreme physical, emotional, or psychological stress. Soon after his arrival on Earth, Tachyon became romantically involved with Blythe Van Renssaeler, the estranged wife of an anti-Wild Card senator. Under the codename Brain Trust, Blythe was a member of the short-lived Wild Card "team", the Four Aces. Rounded up during the Red Ace scare of the 1950s (analogous to the real-life Red Scare of the time period in American history). Tachyon, the Four Aces, and their government sponsor were brought before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). When Brain Trust was put on the stand, Tachyon telepathically mind-controlled his lover and accidentally drove Blythe insane, in order to prevent her from revealing information she had absorbed from him—information such as the names and powers of many Aces he had treated over the years. Blythe was committed to an insane asylum where she eventually died. Due to his own failure to comply with HUAC, Tachyon was deported from the United States, winding up a drunken derelict wandering through Europe, psychologically unable to use his mind-control abilities due to his shame over what he had done to Brain Trust. It was during his time in France that he fathered Giselle Baucort, the mother of Blaise Andrieux. It is unknown if Giselle inherited any of Tachyon's telepathic abilities, but his grandson Blaise possessed prodigious, though one-sided, mind-control abilities, which would later be used against Tachyon to devastating effect. Years later, after a pardon from President John F. Kennedy, Tachyon returned to America, sobered up somewhat, regained his powers, and started a clinic in Jokertown, all with the help of The Great and Powerful Turtle. He even applied for and was granted American citizenship. Closely tied to the Joker/Ace community, Tachyon has been at the center of many important events in Wild Card history. He developed the Trump virus, a potential, but unstable cure for the Wild Card that works only part of the time, and sometimes kills. He participated in the raid on the Egyptian Freemason headquarters and survived an attack on the Aces High restaurant by the Freemasons' leader, a deranged Ace called the Astronomer. With the help of Capt. Trips, Tachyon deflected an asteroid sent hurtling toward Earth by rogue Takisians led by his cousin Zabb. Assisted by the human vigilante Yeoman and the Ace "sorcerer" Fortunato, Tachyon helped drive off a race of sentient parasites known as the Swarm. While in France as part of a World Health Organization world tour to assess the condition of Wild Card survivors in various countries, Tachyon discovered the existence of his grandson, Blaise. Smuggling Blaise back into America with the help of forged documents, Tachyon became a single parent. Some of the Takisian attitudes he sought to instill in his new heir would have disastrous repercussions. His right hand was cut off by the psychotic Ace Mackie Messer at the disastrous 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. Tachyon orchestrated the capture of Typhoid Croyd (an Ace whose power created a brief, but wildly contagious outbreak of communicable Wild Card virus), which resulted in his being infected with a latent form of the virus. He patrolled the streets of Jokertown with a small private army of Jokers during a protracted war between the Mafia and an alliance of Asian mobs and Joker street gangs called the Shadow Fists. Finally, during the subsequent raids carried out on New York by the Shadow Fists' "Jumpers" – vicious teenagers with body-snatching powers – an unlikely series of events led to Tachyon's departure from Earth and ultimate return to Takis. Considered effeminate and thought by some, such as Fortunato, to be gay because of his flamboyant ways, Tachyon was actually a notorious womanizer. Aside from numerous unnamed groupies and other one night stands, Tachyon's list of conquests includes Brain Trust, Danelle Darcy, Roulette, and Fleur van Rensselaer (Brain Trust's daughter). Perhaps more significant is the list of women Tachyon has not bedded, either due to a brief bout with sexual impotence (Fantasy and Mistral) or bad timing (Water Lily and Peregrine). Two unrequited loves in particular were Angelface and Dr. Cody Havero. Angelface was a beautiful Joker whose manifestation of the Wild Card disease made her bruise or bleed at the slightest touch. Tachyon pined for her during the booze-soaked period between his return to America and the establishment of the Jokertown Clinic. Cody Havero is a more recent love interest. Coming into Tachyon's life around the time of the Jumper scare, Cody refuses to sleep with the Takisian until he devotes himself to her exclusively. Later, following a Jumper attack, Tachyon's new body and condition would prevent him from consummating his relationship with Cody before leaving the planet. While on Takis, Tachyon in his female body took as his lover his flamboyant cousin Zabb. Though both of them did care for one another, their personal agendas kept them from commitment. During the fight to apprehend Blaise and recapture Tachyon's male body, Zabb was killed in a fight with Blaise. Tachyon mourned his loss. The infant they created between them was named Zabb in honor of the man who had given his life trying to follow Tachyon's wishes. It was during the Jumpers' reign of terror in the early 1990s that the sociopathic nature of Tachyon's grandson became fully evident. After trying to rape Dr. Havero, and a failed murder attempt on Tachyon himself, Blaise ran away from home. The boy was only fifteen at the time. Recruited by the Jumpers and initiated into their gang, Blaise quickly became their leader. Using his newfound body-swapping powers, Blaise performed a bizarre triple-jump that left Tachyon trapped in the body of Kelly Jenkins, a sixteen-year-old girl, and vice versa. Now female, Tachyon was kept as her grandson's prisoner and virtual slave for several months. Worse, trapped in a nat body, Tachyon lacked any defense against Blaise's powerful mind control. After multiple rapes and beatings, Tachyon became impregnated with her own great-granddaughter – much to the amusement of Blaise and those Jokers who resented Tachyon as the author of their misery. Using her psi-lord training to access the telepathic powers her unborn child inherited from Blaise, Tachyon achieves low level telepathy. Captured while attempting to escape, she employs crude mental shields (similar to those she constructed for Brain Trust years ago) to rebuff Blaise's psychic attack. Her grandson retaliates by assaulting her one last time. Somewhere in her second trimester, Tachyon escapes captivity, but not her current body or condition, with the help of ace vigilante Black Shadow and the Joker revolutionary called Bloat. Shortly after the first Battle of the Rox, Tachyon returned to the contested island with the help of the Great and Powerful Turtle. Bloat was unable to grant Tachyon's request to have Blaise and her original body returned to her. Amid the chaos of the National Guard attack, Blaise escaped the Rox, taking Kelly with him. Bloat could only offer the mental image of a seashell (glimpsed when Blaise's mind shields slipped during the attack) as a clue to her grandson's location. Bloat had interpreted a vision of Tachyon's organic spaceship as a seashell. Realizing Blaise meant to steal her ship in order to escape Earth, Tachyon and the Turtle immediately set off to stop him. Bloat would never see Tachyon again. Decades before, Tachyon had traveled from Takis to Earth in a living starship with its own mind... the mind of a child. He even named it "Baby", and its personality had grown somewhat addled after years of imprisonment in a government facility. Still absolutely dedicated to its master, Baby was eventually released back to Tachyon. By having Kelly Jenkins pose as Tachyon, Blaise used that loyalty to hijack Baby. Though possessed of prodigious telekinetic powers, Turtle was unable to stop Tachyon's stolen ship from engaging its "ghost-drive". Fleeing to Takis, Blaise left Tachyon without any apparent means of pursuing him. It seemed Tachyon was permanently trapped not only upon Earth, but in the body of a pregnant teenage girl. This period between Tachyon's escape from the Rox and her return to Takis is arguably the lowest point in the alien's life. No triumphant welcome awaited her return to New York. With Tachyon presumed dead, Dr. Bradley Finn was made acting director of the Jokertown Clinic and her apartment had been rented out to new tenants. Given the run of Finn's apartment until more permanent arrangements could be made, Tachyon becomes highly agitated when the Joker suggests her jump might now be permanent and that she should come to terms with it. Worse, Tachyon's love interest, Dr. Cody Havero, is somewhat unsympathetic to the alien's plight, reminding the former womanizer of his rather insensitive treatment of other women. Suffering from a panic attack, Tachyon is administered a light sedative by Dr. Havero despite the older woman's concerns about the advanced state of Tachyon's pregnancy. Expressing a desire to be alone, Finn and Cody leave Tachyon by herself, ostensibly to get some sleep. Awakened by a nightmare, Tachyon succumbs to the psychological part of her addiction to alcohol (Kelly having already inherited and given in to the physical half that went with Tachyon's male body). Drinking a substantial amount of Finn's brandy, the already depressed alien is further unbalanced by the combined sedative and alcohol. While using the bathroom she is confronted by her new reflection. As described in one story: "After relieving herself she stood and stared at her thickening body: ''I've become a joker. A stranger in a deformed body''. Lifting the hem of the long T-shirt, Tach ran an experimental hand across her swollen belly". A lifetime of Takisian abhorrence of the ugly and deformed reinforces Tachyon's distorted perception of her pregnant form. Having long ago stated an inability to ever live as a Joker, Tachyon slits her wrists while taking a bath. In the past, Tachyon often threatened to kill himself with more melodrama than seriousness. His abuse of alcohol could also be seen as a manifestation of an urge toward self-destruction. However, this is the only time Tachyon has attempted outright suicide, likely prompted by the radical alteration of his/her self-image caused by the jump, Blaise's sexual assault, her subsequent pregnancy, and the reactions of others to her upon returning to public life. Tachyon would later remark to Mark Meadows that she needed psychological therapy in order to regain her sense of self. Awakened from unconsciousness by another disturbing dream, this one possibly inspired by her unborn child's psychic distress calls, Tachyon manages to crawl from the bathtub and telephone Cody. Weak from blood loss, she collapses on Finn's bed. Cody arrives and administers an emergency blood transfusion. They talk and Cody encourages Tachyon to seek rape crisis counseling. Also the question of Tachyon's attraction to Cody comes up and the body-swapped alien replies that, aside from pregnancy reducing her famous sex-drive, "those troublesome hormones" generated by her new body (estrogen and progesterone, specifically) have failed to elicit any sexual response. Cody spends the night, but cannot resist commenting, "It's not quite how I envisioned my first time in your bed". Tachyon recovers both physically and mentally, now ready to pursue Blaise and reclaim her true form at any cost. Contacting a representative of the Network (a spacefaring culture reviled by the Takisians), Tachyon booked passage on a Network ship and returned to her homeworld, where Blaise was busily fomenting a catastrophic war between Houses. Accompanied by the Aces Captain Trips and Popinjay, Tachyon's bid to reclaim the throne to which she is heir (a position traditionally reserved for the male members of her House) ends in disaster. Representing the genetic wealth of the Great Houses, Takisian women of childbearing years are relegated to Raranna, (the traditional Takisian harem in which women are kept secluded from the public eye and enemy assassins). Though the telepathic Takisians knew her mind was male, it was determined that Tachyon's thoughts would naturally be more focused upon the looming birth of her child. Military strategy and political machinations were better left in the hands of her avaricious cousin, Zabb. Placed in protective custody with House Ilkazam's other breeding females, including the biological sisters of her male form, Tachyon refused to continue research on the Enhancer (as Takisians called the Wild Card), but readily employed Kelly's two good hands to practice surgery once more. Nearly delivered back into Blaise's hands by a quirk of Takisian law classifying a pregnant woman as property of her child's father, Tachyon earns the enmity of many influential nobles by trying to stab Blaise while under a flag of truce. Eventually, Tachyon escapes Raranna, defeats Blaise, and recovers her male body, though not before enduring childbirth, seeing the very foundations of Takisian society ripped apart in a bloody civil war, and fending off an attack by Network "carpetbaggers". Tachyon currently remains on Takis, raising his physical daughter/genetic granddaughter, serving as leader of his House, and trying to rebuild a Takisian society that has already been shaken to its foundations. Many of the old-style Takisian nobles were slain during Blaise's World War, and replaced by avaricious young cadets. In one of his speeches Blaise promised the mindblind Tarhiji life-extending serums that do not exist. Only a handful of noblewomen were left alive following the massacre of House Rodaleh at Blaise's hands, resulting in the near total loss of a line of powerful psi-healers. Raiyis Hazzal of House Jeban remarked that this would lead to more widespread cases of insanity. Among Tachyon's plans for the future are the dissolution of Raranna, where he was confined while carrying Kelly's child, and a program to interbreed the psychic and "mind-blind" segments of the populace, thus creating a truly telepathic race better capable of fending off the Network. What effect these plans will have on the already unstable state of Takisian world affairs remains to be seen. Tachyon is very emotional, self-centered, prone to openly weeping, and a spoiled, womanizing aristocrat who indulges himself in every way. During the course of the Wild Cards series, he matures a great deal. Tachyon always dresses flamboyantly, in what are, by Earthly standards, antiquated clothes of glaringly clashing colors (by Takisian standards, he is considered quite suave). After Messer's attack, his right hand is a prosthetic replacement, though he has considered having a new hand regrown while staying on Takis. Due to Blaise's political machinations while Kelly was occupying Tachyon's body, he is technically married to Mona'ella, the royal princess of a rival House, though the legality/permanence of this arrangement is currently unknown. ==Envoy==

The Envoy (David Harstein) is a member of The Four Aces, first appearing in the story "Witness" by Walter Jon Williams in the first book of the series, Wild Cards. David Harstien is an Ace, one of those gifted with amazing powers by the Wild Card virus. He emits pheromones which make anyone feel like he is their best friend, causing whoever is near him to become completely agreeable—as long as he is in the same room. The effects quickly wear off, however, leaving his victims fully aware of their often uncharacteristic actions. In 1946, he became a behind-the-scenes member of the Exotics for Democracy, who would later become publicly known as the Four Aces. The group enjoyed some public success in capturing Nazi war criminals. Behind the scenes, Envoy was secretly attending international summits and making everyone get along just long enough to sign peace treaties, but once his power wore off, many nations reneged on their agreements. This caused the Four Aces to come to the unfortunate attention of HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee, who were looking for scapegoats. At first, when he was put on the stand, Harstein merely bided his time, waiting for his pheromones to permeate the enormous room. After his powers began to take effect, even the most prejudiced committee member was referring to Harstein as "America's little Hebe friend". Once the air was cleared the committee's hostility returned, and David was called back to testify in a sealed booth, rendering his ability useless. He was found guilty of contempt of Congress and jailed. After his release, David Harstein disappeared. It is rumored that he went to Israel for several years. He later returned to America under an assumed name and started a moderately successful career as a stage actor named Josh Davidson. ==Father Squid==

Father Squid is a priest, created by John J. Miller. Father Squid is a Joker, the common term for a person deformed by the alien Wild Card virus. He has a mass of small tentacles hanging where his nose would be, slick hairless grey skin, extra-long fingers with a pattern of suckers on them, and he smells like seawater. His build is twice as broad as a normal man's and he is proportionately stronger, and can hold his breath nearly half an hour. The man known today as Father Squid has never revealed his real name, nor is it known if he was born with his current appearance or contracted the Wild Card virus sometime early in his life. What is known is that during the Vietnam War, the man then called "Squidface" was a member of the ''Joker's Brigade'', a unit of "selectively conscripted" Jokers sent into the most dangerous situations, while being retained far longer than a normal tour of duty. This was believed to be a deliberate attempt by the U.S. government to "thin out" the Joker population while getting some use out of them, a fact the Brigade members cynically acknowledged. Those who survived more than a short while became very skilled fighters, indeed. It was here that Squid met and befriended Captain Daniel Brennan, who did not share the common prejudice against Jokers. It has been rumored that, after the war, Squidface became a member of the Joker terrorist group called the Twisted Fists, and was responsible for numerous attacks on "Nats" (naturals, a derogatory term for those without Wild Card mutations). He refuses to talk about his past, so the details are unknown. At some point, he experienced a change of heart, choosing to put his violent past behind him. By the time of his first appearance in the Wild Cards books, he is the only priest of the Church of Jesus Christ, Joker, a religion specifically for Jokers, located in New York's Jokertown (the first and largest Joker community in the world). The Church is a bizarre blend of Catholic traditions, Wild Card history, and ideas taken from medical science, and emphasizes the suffering and persecution that Jokers have undergone and are still undergoing. The symbol of the church is a radically deformed Joker Jesus, crucified on a DNA strand. Dr. Tachyon, the creator of the virus, but also a supporter and caregiver of Jokertown, is portrayed in Church art as similar to the Roman deity Janus, as having two heads or faces, one angelic and one demonic. It is unclear if Father Squid founded the church or simply joined it, but he is certainly the heart and soul of the Jokertown congregation. The Church is the center of Jokertown society, even for those who do not follow its faith. Almost all Joker funerals are held there: for instance, Quasiman is the part-time caretaker and sometime protector of the church. In the novel Card Sharks, the church is burned down by an arsonist. The subsequent investigation is what leads to the eventual uncovering of the Card Sharks conspiracy to create the Black Trump, an anti-Joker virus. Father Squid was murdered by Baba Yaga, an Ace whose saliva fatally transformed victims into horribly twisted, furniture-like forms, in the novel Lowball. True to his later life, Father Squid died saving another person from Baba Yaga. ==Fortunato==

Fortunato was created by Lewis Shiner. He is a pimp, but prefers to downplay, even to himself, the negative aspects of his escort business. Fortunato is also an Ace. His Wild Card virus grants him immense telepathic and telekinetic powers. These include but are not limited to: mind control, flight, force walls, mental blasts, reading the future (and the past), and subjective temporal manipulation. Dr. Tachyon believes him to be Earth's most powerful mental/telepathic Wild Card. Fortunato derives all his power from tantric sex magic. Tantric rituals feed his power reserve, which then allow him to utilize his massive powers. However, the more he uses them, the faster he runs out of power. In terms of power and strength, Fortunato is even (or nearly even) with the Astronomer; this is one of the most obvious case of opposites in the Wild Cards' universe (Fortunato gaining his power from sex—the source of life—while The Astronomer gains his powers from death). Fortunato was an infant of unspecified age on the first Wild Card day. Son of an unnamed African-American soldier and his wife Ichiko, a Japanese woman his father brought back to New York after WWII, Fortunato was infected by the initial wave of virus-carrying spores released into the upper atmosphere during Jetboy's battle with Dr. Tod. Fortunato became a latent carrier of the virus that would not "turn his card" until many years later. His father was not so lucky, dying after drawing the Black Queen. Raised by his mother, Fortunato was subjected to various forms of discrimination, due to his mixed parentage, and grew into a handsome, but angry, young man. Graduating from petty crime to pimping, Fortunato brought home the first girl in his stable at age sixteen. In the '70s, Fortunato was introduced to tantric sex magic while "auditioning" a new girl. The intense orgasm brought on by the sex ritual triggered his latent Wild Card, causing him to have an out-of-body experience. Disheartened to learn that Fortunato's sudden powers were the result of a virus rather than true magic, Fortunato's new girl left the city. Undeterred, Fortunato continued to pursue research into tantric rituals as a means for further developing his mental abilities. He, however, was not prompted solely by curiosity. A serial killer had been preying upon New York prostitutes, including his own, and Fortunato wanted revenge. Still in the early stages of developing his power, the Ace pimp brought a handgun as backup. Forced to kill in self defense, instead of the righteous revenge he had planned, Fortunato was unable to question the murderer. Disgusted, but seemingly unable to stop himself, he performed a tantric ritual upon the dead man's corpse, briefly bringing it back to life. Though never explicitly stated, guilt brought on by this experience could be the reason Fortunato consistently accused Dr. Tachyon of being a "faggot from outer space". Only temporarily revitalized, the corpse uttered the word "Tiamat" and then tore its own throat out. This, along with a strange red penny carried by the killer, served as Fortunato's only clue in a mystery that would eventually bring him into conflict with the deadly Astronomer. Even before turning his Wild Card, Fortunato was a tall, muscular individual with intense sex appeal. Inheriting the best features of both parents, Fortunato was a handsome man of African-American and Japanese descent with pronounced epicanthic folds around his eyes. After becoming an Ace, Fortunato literally radiated sexual magnetism, even though the virus had physically manifested as a somewhat distended forehead, as outward evidence of his prodigious mental powers. When using his powers to their fullest, a pair of quasi-real, curving horns will often appear, extending outward from his enlarged forehead. ==Golden Boy==

Golden Boy (Jack Braun) is a member of the Four Aces, created by Walter Jon Williams. In the series, he is regarded as possibly the strongest man in the world, with the exception of Harlem Hammer. His force field, which has a golden glow when active, grants him immunity from virtually anything strictly physical. He is especially resistant to physical impacts, such as bullets and fists. Over the years, Golden Boy has developed a fear of heights, which came about after being told that a long fall could be one of the things that could kill him. However, he can be subject to telepathic attacks and may be vulnerable to gaseous attacks, such as inhaled nerve gas. If he is suddenly and unexpectedly struck with an object, such as a bullet, his aura automatically engages. Jack Braun was born in rural North Dakota in 1924. As a youth he was impressed by the agrarian radicalism of the local farmers, including his family, and by the New Deal liberalism of FDR, as embodied in Agriculture undersecretary Archibald Holmes. He served on the Italian front during WWII and afterwards moved to New York with the hopes of pursuing an acting career. When the Wild Card virus struck Manhattan, he discovered that he had superhuman strength and a forcefield that protected him from harm. In the aftermath of the virus outbreak, he met Archibald Holmes who was directing relief efforts. Holmes recruited Braun, along with fellow veteran and Ace Earl Sanderson Jr. (Black Eagle), into a new super team. The group was officially known as the "Exotics for Democracy", but after the addition of Aces David Harstein (Envoy) and Blythe van Renssaeler (Brain Trust), they became popularly known as the "Four Aces". Holmes used the Four Aces to advance his liberal internationalist vision of the world. In the late 1940s, they fought fascism around the world. The quartet tracked down Nazi war criminals and overthrew the regime of Juan Peron in Argentina. Braun's physical powers and good looks quickly turned him into a media celebrity. He quickly received a contract from Warner Brother's Studio and starred in a fictional version of his exploits with the Four Aces. Things soon changed as the Exotics for Democracy came under scrutiny from the House Un-American Activities Committee. The committee was investigating Aces whom they saw as an insidious force undermining America. The fact that Braun's partner in the Four Aces, Earl Sanderson Jr., had once been a member of the Communist Party, and continued to be a fellow traveler, aroused particular interest, as did the fact that Earl was black. When an attempt by the Four Aces to prop up the Nationalist regime in China failed, the Committee subpoenaed all of them. Braun, naively believing that since they had not committed any crimes they had nothing to fear, bowed to pressure from the studio and his wife and became a cooperating witness. In his testimony, he tried to limit the damage he did to his friends, explaining that Earl Sanderson had abandoned the Communist Party years before and indicating that he, Braun, knew nothing about the politics of any other Aces. He however accidentally let slip that his teammate Blythe van Renssaeler had absorbed the mind of team advisor Dr. Tachyon and thus would know of any Aces which Tachyon, an uncooperative witness, would know of. When van Renssaeler appeared before the committee, she suffered a nervous breakdown—brought on by the telepathic meddling of Dr. Tachyon—and was institutionalized for the rest of her life. In the wake of the committee hearings, the Four Aces broke up—as van Renssaeler was institutionalized, Holmes and Harstein were imprisoned, and Sanderson and Tachyon fled the country. Braun survived any legal repercussions but faced condemnation from history and the Wild Card community over his cooperation, and he felt guilty the rest of his life. After the hearings, his movie career failed to take off. He starred in a hit movie based on the life of Eddie Rickenbacker, but the movie based on his own life failed, and other attempts at stardom failed. Braun blamed his committee testimony for his poor box office performance, insisting that no one wanted to see "a rat" as a hero. Later, he had several years of moderate success with a television series based on Tarzan. Braun fought in the Korean War and after retiring from acting went into real estate. Sometime in the 1960s, he realized that he did not age. In 1988, Braun served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and almost died when the Ace Demise tried to kill him. Braun's last public appearance was in 2007 when he served as a judge on the reality television show American Hero. ==Great and Powerful Turtle==

Known colloquially as Turtle or The Turtle, his real name is Thomas Tudbury. Born in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1945, he exhibited his telekinetic powers during adolescence, thinking that his pet turtles had the ability to fly unsupported through their own means. Tudbury dropped out of college his freshman year in the wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Returning home, Tudbury contemplated his options in life and considered becoming a superhero. However, his shyness and need for intense focus prevented him from using his telekinetic ability in public. A friend of Tudbury's suggested that he outfit an old Volkswagen Beetle with discarded battleship armor, television cameras, and monitors, and use it as a shell. This became the first of many "shells" used by The Turtle. Usually built around the chassis of old cars, they had armor to protect Tudbury as well as cameras and loudspeakers to allow him to interact with the world. One of Tudbury's early adventures brought him into contact with Dr. Tachyon, who at the time was an alcoholic recluse. Tudbury helped him attain semi-sobriety, thereby establishing a rocky friendship that would persist for thirty years. Turtle became one of the most famous and also most mysterious Aces in the world. Among the few straightforward superheroes in the Wild Card series, The Turtle's identity was the subject of much speculation, with many believing that he was a Joker who hid his deformity in his "shell". In reality, out of his shell, Turtle is of medium height with a slight beer belly, short brown hair, and glasses. For many years, Turtle's secret civilian identity was that of a simple TV repairman and proprietor of an electronics store. In light of his day job and the sedentary manner of his "patrolling the streets" as the Turtle, Tudbury is something of a TV junkie and couch potato. Eventually Tudbury faked his own death for insurance purposes and devoted himself full time to super heroics. After his near death by drowning, Tommy was plagued by nightmares and is still has trouble sleeping. One of the many Aces recruited to combat the Swarm invasion of Earth during the 1980s, Turtle is also among a handful of Aces captured by a Takisian starship around the same time. Sent to investigate the results of their genetic tampering with the human race, and believing Earth to be doomed by the Swarm's arrival, the Takisians captured Turtle, Fantasy, Capt. Trips, and their prodigal prince Dr. Tachyon, intending to return them to the planet Takis. In a rare instance of overcoming the psychological block of employing his powers outside of his shell, Turtle captures an alien artifact with his telekinetic powers and, activated by Dr. Tachyon's telepathy, the captives teleport back to Earth. Later, due to his involvement in an attack on the Egyptian Freemasons' stronghold, Turtle is marked for execution by the cult's leader, a deranged but incredibly powerful Ace called the Astronomer. While floating over the East River, Turtle is ambushed by Imp and Insulin, two of the Astronomer's followers. Imp's electromagnetic powers disable the sensors and cameras of Turtle's shell, and Insulin's power to alter blood sugar levels disorients Turtle, with an effect akin to a sudden, massive attack of diabetes. Plunging into the river, Turtle assumes he is freed by some freak nature of water pressure causing his sinking shell to burst apart. He has time for one showy flight over New York City in an older shell, done to dispel the rumors of his death, before his powers begin to mysteriously desert him. Believing his powers have permanently faded, Turtle attempts to build a normal life for himself, but to no avail. A budding romance with a girl from his school days is crushed when he learns she turned her own Wild Card at age eight and was cured by a dose of the trump virus. Dr. Tachyon warns Turtle that the trump virus was never administered, leaving the potentially deadly Wild Card virus still latent in her system. Any children they conceive will inherit the Wild Card and likely die in childbirth or manifest as Jokers. Turtle, knowing his fiancée wants children, reluctantly breaks off their relationship—unable or unwilling to explain their genetic incompatibility. Turtle's powers return with the realization that it was his own telekinesis that destroyed the sinking shell in a desperate bid to save his life. Selling three of his older shells to Charles Dutton, owner of the Famous Bowery Wild Card Dime Museum, Turtle is financially prepared for the next phase of his life. With the city under martial law in the wake of a new Wild Card outbreak that affects even those who have already been infected, Turtle must escape New York with his money, on foot. During this trek, Tudbury briefly befriends the hideous Mish-Mash but flees, when the Joker attempts to kill a police officer. Enlisting the help of Dr. Tachyon, Turtle fakes his death as one of the many victims of this second Wild Card outbreak caused by Typhoid Croyd. Shortly thereafter, he returns to active status as the Great and Powerful Turtle, complete with a newly designed and constructed high-tech shell. In the early 1990s, the Turtle makes two separate visits to the Rox, a street name for Ellis Island, which had become a stronghold for Joker criminals, rogue Aces, and a gang of body-swapping teenagers known as Jumpers. Recently escaped from the Rox after months of imprisonment, Dr. Tachyon—having "jumped" into a runaway teenage girl who is several months pregnant—flees to Turtle's junkyard hideout. After some initial disbelief from Turtle, Tachyon establishes her (his) identity and enlists Turtle's help. Returning to the Rox, intent upon recovering Dr. Tachyon's true self, Turtle and the doctor arrive in the wake of the disastrous first Battle of the Rox. Initially repelled by Bloat's Wall, Turtle deduces the psychic barrier around the Rox can not extend upward indefinitely and flies over it. Witnessing the torture and execution of some National Guard soldiers, Turtle uses his telekinetic power to protect those left alive and threatens to crush the victorious Jokers "like ants" if they do not cease and desist. The Jokers comply. Too late to capture Blaise and Kelly (the girl whose body is now occupied by Tachyon), Turtle flies at top speed to the warehouse containing the doctor's spaceship. Smashing the warehouse roof open, the organic starship attempts to escape, and Turtle briefly manages to halt its progress through a prodigious exertion of his powers—telekinetically seizing it in the air. The ship's engines are too strong, effectively towing Turtle's shell behind it, and the jump to faster-than-light speed shortly thereafter breaks his control, sending his shell tumbling back to Earth. Limping home, Turtle drops Tachyon off on the roof of the Jokertown clinic. Later, recruited by Tachyon to accompany her to Takis, alongside Capt. Trips, Turtle is forced to remain behind when the Network ship that will take them off-planet proves too small to accommodate his shell. Deprived of his shell, Turtle's usefulness is limited by being able to levitate only small objects, such as pencils and rocks. He is replaced at the last minute on the trip by Ace private eye Jay Ackroyd. Left behind on Earth, Turtle agrees to participate in the second government assault on the Rox, which has now been declared a Joker homeland and has officially seceded from the United States. The largest team of Aces ever assembled is sent, backed up by the U.S. Army, to quell the Joker rebellion once and for all. The inhabitants of the Rox—not without powers of their own—defend their claim to Ellis Island, and the single largest instance of all-out Wild Card combat erupts. In defeating Dylan Hardesty (The Huntsman), Turtle is responsible for the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge. When his current lover, Legion, was apparently murdered in front of him by someone on the Rox, Tudbury became enraged and used his powers to send a tidal wave down the East River, apparently destroying the Rox and everyone on it. In the wake of this, Tudbury retired as The Turtle and has since gone public with his identity and published his memoirs, only briefly reappearing to help another Ace, Zoe Harris, better learn how to control her powers. Tudbury is the most powerful telekinetic on Earth. The upper limits of his powers are unknown, but some of his notable feats include lifting a battleship out of the water for several minutes, temporarily halting a Takisian starship in mid-flight, ripping off the leg of the second robotic Modular Man, destroying the Brooklyn Bridge, and creating a tidal wave to drown inhabitants of the Rox. However, Tudbury is also incredibly insecure about his powers, which causes them to wilt to almost nothing when he is not in a "shell". Outside his shell, Turtle's telekinesis is limited to levitating small objects, such as pencils and beer cans—or, when in a calm, confident state—objects about the size and weight of a bowling ball, including an alien teleportation device and the first Modular Man's severed head. In or out of his shell, Turtle tends to best employ his powers through acts of visualization—where he imagines giant, invisible hands, fists, shields, battering rams, wings, and other "props" he can focus on. Once, when flying three shells simultaneously, Turtle found it easier to imagine all three welded to the points of a giant triangle rather than trying to levitate them separately. During his career as an Ace, The Turtle employs a variety of shells, typically one right after another—the newer, more high-tech models replacing their older, outmoded counterparts. Occasionally, most often upon the loss or destruction of his latest shell, Turtle must fall back upon an earlier model until a new one can be constructed, usually assisted by his childhood friend Joey, an accomplished mechanic. Thomas Tudbury owns a dog named after one of his personal heroes and favorite comic-book characters, Jetboy. Jetboy the dog is a big, black labrador–doberman mix, freely roaming Turtle's junkyard lair. Jetboy once gave Dr. Tachyon—who was female and pregnant at the time, thanks to the Jumpers—some trouble reaching Tommy's front door. ==Harlem Hammer==

The Harlem Hammer (Mordecai Albert Jones) was created by Victor Milán and appeared in the fourth book in the series, Aces Abroad. Mordecai Jones was driving a bulldozer at a construction site when he accidentally ruptured a container of illegally buried nuclear waste. The exposure would have killed him were it not for the fact that his dormant Wild Card virus activated under the stress of the moment, turning him into an Ace. His body integrated the toxic radioactive isotopes, increasing his mass and density, and replacing most of the calcium in his bones with heavy metals and bone-seekers such as strontium. Mordecai Jones is the second strongest Ace in the Wild Cards universe, just below Golden Boy. He has a metabolism that is now dependent on radioactive isotopes and heavy metal salts, which he must obtain illegally. His normal body temperature is 106 degrees Fahrenheit, he needs little sleep, he must eat far more than normal, and his weight is four times that of a normal man his size. His increased mass and density give him superhuman strength and durability. He is immune to disease and heals far faster than normal. Jones was hospitalized, studied, and kept a prisoner by overzealous health officials until he simply broke down a wall and walked out. He had to remain in hiding until the ACLU, Dr. Tachyon, and SCARE (the Senate Committee on Ace Resources and Endeavors) declared him legally free. The press nicknamed him the Harlem Hammer, but he is a reluctant hero at best. After accidentally dislocating his daughter's shoulder with his super-strength, he realized that he could no longer stay with his family and moved to New York to become an auto mechanic. Harlem Hammer was one of the prominent public Aces chosen by the World Health Organization to join their world inspection tour of Wild Card conditions around the world. ==Hiram Worchester==

Hiram Worchester was created by George R. R. Martin. His first appearance was a brief cameo in "Wild Card Chic", a short in-story document in the first book of the series, Wild Cards. Hiram is an Ace, one of the fortunate few gifted with amazing abilities by the Wild Card virus. He can manipulate gravity, which he uses to render his 375-pound frame a mere 35 pounds, making him incredibly agile for his size. Customarily, to affect others with his power, he raises his forearm and curls his hand into a fist as a focus for his concentration. A theme in the Wild Cards setting is that of empowered individuals unconsciously placing limits or conditions on their abilities, though in Jokers Wild Hiram appears somewhat aware that his hand motion is nothing more than a focusing technique. Though he is described as having had a brief career as a superhero named "Fatman" prior to his first appearance, Hiram quickly gave it up (the GURPS Wild Cards sourcebook contains the telling line "...as a crimefighter he is an excellent cook") to return to his first love, the gourmet restaurant business. He opens Aces High, located in the Empire State Building, which does booming business as Nat tourists flock there in hopes of seeing Ace celebrities. A number of both major and minor Aces also hang out there, basking in the glory. Aces High is also the location of the traditional Wild Card Day dinner, with all Aces invited free of charge (they must provide proof of an Ace ability). This is the source of some controversy in the Wild Cards universe, as it is seen to be elitist that only Aces, and not Jokers, are given this treatment. Hiram later saves the life of Water Lily when she is flung off a balcony by the Astronomer, and develops a crush on her. During the Aces Abroad world tour, he falls victim to the parasitic Ti Malice, and Lily ends up as a "mount" of the evil Joker as well. The strain of being Ti Malice's mount eventually takes its toll on Hiram. His absences from work became greater and greater, alienating his chefs and maitre d'. While in Japan he ran afoul of a Yakuza Ace and required Fortunato's help to escape the country alive. When he learns Chrysalis has arranged to have a presidential candidate assassinated, the stressed-out Hiram kills her when she refuses to stop the assassin and tries to leave, using his gravity powers to make her so heavy her body collapses, shattering all her bones. Panicking, he throws an ace of spades card from a nearby deck onto her remains to make the police think that it was the bow-and-arrow killer who murdered her. The police, meanwhile, are looking for a super-strong Ace or Joker, due to the way she was beaten. When Hiram is finally caught by one of his closest friends Jay Ackroyd and by Yeoman, he is vilified by the Joker community for killing the popular Chrysalis, and several attempts are made on his life. The courts found Hiram guilty of murder, but released him under his own recognizance with the injunction that it is now illegal for him to use his powers. Business at Aces High drops off after Hiram's public fall from grace. Though still a tourist destination, many local Aces stopped frequenting the establishment. Aces High closed some time in the 1990s, and Hiram faded from public life. His current whereabouts are not mentioned in the newest series of books. Hiram Worchester is a black male of medium height, but considerable girth. Impeccably dressed in expensive suits, Hiram shaves his head, but maintains a perfectly groomed spade beard. Always polite and seemingly unflappable, Hiram speaks with a British accent. He occasionally uses his powers on those who irritate him, such as Digger Downs. Typically, this is harmless, such as making the nosy reporter weightless and then pushing him out the door. A more dangerous loss of control resulted in the death of Chrysalis. During his time as a mount of Ti Malice, Hiram often appeared gaunt, ill groomed, and irritable; a sure sign to those who knew him that something was wrong. ==Jetboy==