Chase

Chase, formerly known as the superhero Track Star, was the youngest member of the Brave Brigades and the closest friend of Robert "Robbie" Robertson II, the second Mecha Man. Due to his close relationship with the family, he frequently looked after Robbie’s son, Robert III, forming a protective, avuncular bond with the boy. This loyalty was proven in 1999 during a team barbecue when Robert accidentally triggered the Mecha Man suit's lethal defense protocols. Chase utilized his super speed to shatter the shed door and shield the boy from the suit's laser fire; while Robert lost a piece of his ear and suffered a dislocated shoulder in the rescue, Chase stood his ground between the child and the machine until Robbie arrived to deactivate it.

The dynamic of the team shattered in 2008 during a violent confrontation between Robbie and aspiring member Elliot Conners (later the villain Shroud). After Chase intervened to stop Robbie from beating Elliot to death during a "test" of character, a vengeful Elliot returned moments later with a gun. Despite his immense speed, Chase failed to intercept the bullet, and Robbie died in his arms. In the aftermath, a grieving Robert III cut all ties with Chase, leaving the speedster to mourn alone.

Over the following years, Chase discovered the tragic cost of his abilities: moving at superhuman speeds caused his cells to age rapidly. Now only 39 years old but physically appearing as an elderly man, he was forced to retire from field duty. He eventually found a new role as a manager for the Z-Team at the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN). Seeking to reconnect with the last remnant of his best friend, Chase recommended the destitute Robert III for a job at the SDN, using the promise of repairing the destroyed Mecha Man suit to bring him back into the fold.

Appearance: Chase looks like a old man, but in fact he is a nearly 40-year-old man trapped in an old man's body. In most of his appearances, he has a slick-back afro and a large mustache, while the hair on his head is all white. He has several visible liver spots and predominant forehead wrinkles, slender limbs, and a tiny, but noticeable, protruding stomach. He slouches forwards most of the time. He dons a yellow sweater over his SDN shirt. He wears black khakis and a belt with a lightning symbol.

Personality: Chase is a man who communicates primarily through inventive profanity and aggressive affection. Despite being chronologically in his late thirties, his accelerated aging has left him looking like an elderly man, a physical state that matches his grumpy, "get off my lawn" demeanor. He is crass, blunt, and completely lacks a filter, preferring to express love through creative insults—calling his closest friends "skinny latte pricks" or "freckled faced fucks" rather than engaging in genuine sentimentality. He has zero patience for nonsense or pity, often shutting down emotional conversations with a demand to cut the "feelings crap" and moving on to the next problem.

Beneath the callous exterior lies a man who uses pitch-black humor to survive his own tragedy. He views his condition—having aged fifty years due to using his super speed—with a mix of bitter resentment and comedic resignation, often making morbid jokes about his own mortality or the friends he's lost to keep the trauma at bay. While he is deeply cynical, often holding a rigid view of "good guys" versus "bad guys," he is capable of growth when challenged. However, his most defining trait is his terrifyingly intense loyalty. He acts as a protective, albeit abrasive, mentor to Robert, and harbors a doting devotion to Robert's dog, Beef, readily admitting he would let the rest of the world burn before allowing any harm to come to the canine.

Chase possesses superhuman speed, allowing him to move fifty times faster than a normal human. This power comes with a severe drawback: whenever he uses it, he also ages fifty times faster, making every burst of speed a costly choice. He exhibits superhuman strength and durability, enabling him to endure and deliver physical force far beyond human limits. His body heals at an accelerated rate, granting him a regenerative healing factor that allows him to recover from injuries rapidly. Finally, Chase has a superhuman metabolism, processing energy and sustaining his abilities at a level far beyond that of any normal human.

Superhero Dispatch Network, abbreviated as SDN, is an organization that dispatches superheroes to help subscribers who call in for assistance. The Torrance Branch is a three-story nondescript office building located around the center of its SDN converge map. The outside of the building is made mostly out of glass and dark gray concrete with a blocky square design that surrounds a green space in the center. It also has multiple communication dishes and towers on the roof along with the SDN logo on the side of the building. Inside the building is a blend of 90s tech and muted color pallets along with a few more modern areas giving the building a both retro yet modern look to it. Officially, the Branch Director Blonde Blazer characterizes the facility as a "low-profile" hub, preferring to highlight the "quality of its personnel" rather than its standing in the corporate hierarchy. Despite its lackluster performance metrics, the branch serves as the primary testing ground for the SDN’s controversial "Phoenix Program." This experimental rehabilitation initiative integrates ex-supervillains, anti-heroes, and even active inmates into the workforce, rebranding these volatile assets as the "Z-Team" in a high-risk effort to redirect their destructive capabilities toward sanctioned hero work.