Immortal Man in Darkness

Chen Nuo was a prodigy of the Chinese military, graduating at the top of his flight school class and mastering special operations training with ease. His exceptional skills earned him an invitation to the Anshan airbase near Shanghai, where he was introduced to the legacy of the Immortal Man-in-Darkness. There, he learned the grim secret behind the Dragonwing, a sophisticated, living aircraft engineered from reverse-engineered Durlan technology. The plane was not merely a machine but a biological entity that required a human pilot to serve as its symbiotic core.

The connection between the pilot and the Dragonwing is both parasitic and lethal. Every time the aircraft is flown, the strain of the psychic and biological link strips away exactly one year of the pilot's natural lifespan. In the five years since the program's inception, three elite pilots had already withered and died from the sheer physical toll of operating the craft. Despite knowing that every mission would bring him closer to an early grave, Chen Nuo accepted the invitation to join the squadron, viewing the sacrifice as his ultimate duty to the state.

Upon joining the Great Ten, Chen Nuo donned the specialized flight suit and mask of the Immortal Man-in-Darkness, becoming the latest man to bear the title. As the team's premier aerial combatant, he wields the shape-shifting capabilities of the Dragonwing to defend China's interests on a global scale. He operates with the somber knowledge that his "immortality" is a misnomer; while the title and the suit endure, the man inside is a disposable component, trading his years for the overwhelming power of the alien-hybrid jet.

Appearance: Immortal Man in Darkness has no visible skin. His head is completely encased in a smooth, dark helmet. Two large, bulbous lenses dominated the faceplate, glowing with a vibrant magenta light. A dark, mechanical apparatus with vertical vents covers the lower facial area. He wears a tight, dark purple bodysuit that contours to the muscles of his chest and abdomen. The shoulders are covered by reinforced pads, each detailed with three distinct circular rivets. Translucent, rippling patterns resembling insect wings fan out from his back. A dark belt with a silver buckle sits at his waist. Thick straps with matching silver buckles encircle his upper thighs, tightening the dark fabric of his trousers.

Personality: Chen Nuo is characterized by a cold, surgical precision and an unwavering sense of duty that borders on the fatalistic. As a former top-tier special operations soldier and ace pilot, he possesses a disciplined mind that allows him to remain calm under the immense psychological pressure of being psychically bonded to a living, alien aircraft. He is not a man of many words, preferring the efficiency of action and the sterile clarity of a mission profile. Because he is acutely aware that every takeoff accelerates his own death, he views time as a finite currency and has little patience for trivialities or bureaucratic delays.

His personality is defined by a grim sort of stoicism, as he has essentially accepted his role as a high-functioning, disposable asset for the People's Republic of China. This awareness creates a certain distance between him and those who have decades of life to look forward to, making him appear detached or even ghostly to his peers. Despite this isolation, his loyalty to the Great Ten and his country remains absolute; he finds a dark sense of purpose in the fact that while he will eventually wither and be replaced, the shadow of the Immortal Man-in-Darkness remains a permanent and terrifying deterrent to the enemies of the state.

The suit worn by the Immortal Man in Darkness is not a traditional garment but a semi-living spacecraft known as the Dragonwing Armor. This biological machine forms a parasitic link with its wearer, granting them vast superhuman capabilities while simultaneously causing lethal damage at a molecular level. This bond is the source of the pilot's power, yet it serves as their primary weakness; the suit slowly consumes the life force of whoever wears it, making the term "immortal" a tragic irony.

While bonded with the armor, the pilot gains access to various modes of transportation, including high-speed flight through the atmosphere, deep ocean traversal, and the ability to survive in the vacuum of space. The suit is equipped with an advanced internal computer that assists with complex maneuvers and tactical analysis during high-stakes operations. For physical protection and utility, the armor provides superhuman durability and features specialized grappling arms that can be used to seize or manipulate objects during a mission.

One of the most formidable aspects of the Dragonwing Armor is its shape-shifting nature. It can alter its physical configuration to suit different combat needs or even diffuse into a smoke-like substance to bypass obstacles and evade enemy fire. Chen Nuo complements these technological marvels with his own mastery of aviation and aerial combat. Despite these advantages, the suit operates under strict power limitations, requiring the pilot to manage their energy output while knowing that every activation of these abilities further compromises their physical health.

Dragonwing: The Dragonwing is a living Durlan scout ship appropriated by the Chinese government and used by Immortal Man in Darkness of the Great Ten. There is almost nothing the Dragonwing cannot accomplish. It is able to exceed speeds of mach 10 in less than three seconds, stop immediately, hover, manuever and fly sideways. The Dragonwing is also equipped with over fifty different weapons packages which include energy blasts.

It also can form tentacles and blades, making controlling the jet seem like controlling living shadows.

There are also at least nine other ships of the Dragonwing that can be controlled from the Dragonwing itself in extreme conditions.

The Great Ten is a team of Chinese superheroes, who are sponsored by the government of the People's Republic of China. For every action the Great Ten takes during combat it must be approved by the bureaucracy. Their base is inside the Great Wall of China.