Villains Are Made #18: A Man So Heartless

It's been over two weeks since I posted anything on here or on HeroMachine (which has been having slowdown issues with their forum software, so posting on HM is impossible now anyway).

But lack of inspiration and a temporarily deactivated forum have been the least of my problems lately. I was hospitalized for chest pain last week, which turned out to be something called myocarditis (inflammation of heart tissue brought on by some kind of virus). If I had let it go (read: if I had been physically and mentally capable of ignoring the most annoyingly, distractingly, infuriatingly painful pain I've ever experienced at one o'clock in the morning), it could have progressed into heart failure and killed me. But two dozen vital checks, a helicopter ride, a heart catheter, an MRI, a mind-numbing amount of bed rest, and four medications later, I am getting better.

Speaking of heart problems, you may recall that my last two Villains Are Made posts focused on Greta Holz, a woman-turned-gynoid (that's the female version of an android, for those not slightly versed in dead languages) who feeds on the hearts of witches and can transform into a big, red, metal werewolf. That character was loosely based on Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, and Gretel. I now bring you her brother, Hans Holz, who is equal parts Tin Woodsman, Huntsman (as in Snow White), and Hansel.

Name: The Huntsman
Alias: Hans Holz
Team Affiliations: Society of Foes
Enemies: Farrah O'Ren, The Coven of Iarann, Witches in general, and anyone else with Knavium-derived powers.
Race: Human
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Powers/Abilities: Skilled heart surgeon, Access to HallowGen and Iarannian technology, Enhanced strength and reflexes, Cybernetic suit that is immune to Iarannian technomancy. Twin energy axes that can cut through almost anything.
Bio: When he was a child, Hans Holz and his sister, Greta, lost their parents to a member of the Coven of Iarann during a weapons test gone awry. Hans sought vengeance against the Coven, and Greta was a willing participant.
As the world's most prestigious heart surgeon, Hans forged beneficial black market relationships with foreign criminal organizations such as the Milieu and Yakuza, which, along with his sister's key position as an employee at HallowGen, led to his amassing a formidable arsenal of high-tech weaponry which he uses to hunt down witches (especially members of the Coven of Iarann). His weapon of choice is a cybernetic suit of armor that has been programmed and warded against Iarannian influence, and in a twist of irony, he wields a pair of energy axes which he had scaled down from those used by Iarann's TWM mechs. His axes can cut through almost anything, and have been encoded with the same programming and spells as his suit. He does however employ smaller weapons when engaged in his favorite activity: removing the hearts of Iarannian witches, which he keeps as trophies or trades to his criminal associates in exchange for use of their vast resources.
A tragic course of events led Hans to implant his sister with the heart of a recently slain Iarannian witch, ultimately transforming her into a thing she greatly despises, and forcing him to align with Frank Hallows in order to subdue Greta's rampaging new form.
He and Greta have since joined the Society of Foes, an organization of powerful individuals bent on the total genocide of the Elemental covens. But his sister's condition and other recent events have led Hans to question their chosen path.

Note: The name "Holz" is the German word for "Wood."

Stay tuned for more creation and alliteration as I begin work on some new witches. Goodnight, and may your heart always be in the right place.

Ticker-master,
still beating to the march of my own drummer,
and out.