Dr. Neil Marshal-Timlin/Ghost

[Dr. Neil Marshal-Timlin]

Dr. Neil Eliot Marshal-Timlin

Nickname:
Codename: Ghost
Preferred name: Neil, although he’s not picky. Likes being called ‘Doctor’.
Canon or Non-canon: Non-Canon
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Gay
Marital Status: Married
Birthplace: Newquay, Cornwall
Current Residence: Millerton, New York; SHIELD Helicarrier.
DOB: 20 August
Age: 36
Occupation: MI6 operative, on loan to the Tank program.
Species: Mutant
Affiliation: Tank

Shown in the Light of Day

Height: 5’11”
Weight: 163
Hair color: Dark brown
Eye color: Blue
Identifying features: A few scars here and there, including those from Tank surgery. British accent.
Appearance:

At first look, Neil appears deceptively average. Upon a more thorough investigation, he…still appears completely unremarkable. He’s about normal height, neither ripped nor overweight, and tends to slouch slightly. His facial features are long and angular, but far from chiseled. His persistent stubble has more to do with negligence than stylistic choice, and his short hair is usually messy. Although not instantly forgettable, he is bland enough to be overlooked in most situations; he certainly doesn’t look or act like a typical assassin. This suits him very well. Neil believes that tweed suits are appropriate for almost all occasions, although when necessary he will mix up his wardrobe with t-shirts and cargo trousers, and for inclement weather, a stetson. He avoid tac-ops suits whenever possible, as he feels they are silly looking and mostly redundant when compared to his powers.

*Uniform:

Tweed suit. Although Neil does have a standard-issue SHIELD uniform, he does his very best to get out of wearing it. Considering the amount of undercover work he does, he usually succeeds.

Power Corrupts Absolutely

Power Origin: Natural mutant with Tank enhancements.
Powers:

At will, Neil is able to shift himself halfway into the Astral Plane. By disconnecting himself with the world, he can make himself imperceptible to nearly everything, and protect himself from effects happening around him. He can see and hear physical world, but interaction with it will be limited on what effects he uses. Any one of the effects can be used separately, or combined with any others. Although he can remain in any one state indefinitely, he will need to come out eventually for eating and the like. Any objects (clothing) he is carrying on his person will also shift with him, thankfully, although he can chose to leave them behind.

Neil is able to impart these effects onto anyone or anything he touches. These people will be in the same plane he is, and thus be able to interact with him fully—if both are inaudible to the rest of the world, they will still be able to carry on a normal conversation without being overheard. They will remain in this state until approximately 50 feet away from him, at which point it will fade. The target of his abilities does not have to be willing, although a mutant who has some ability to enter the astral plane (mainly telepaths) will be able to remove themselves from it. Neil does not have to be in the same state as the person he is moving—if he wishes, he can make someone shut up by making them inaudible. Although Neil can take multiple objects/people with him, the maximum weight of any one item must be less than 300 pounds. Moving anything that’s 300 pounds will still be pretty difficult.

Invisibility: When invisible, cannot be viewed under any spectrum. He is still able to pick things up and speak, however, and effects like echolocation/radar will continue to pick up his presence. It’s still really useful if he needs to hide quickly.

Intangibility: When intangible, Neil is physically separated from the material plane, and cannot touch it in any way. He can pass through objects, and is effectively immune to all forms of attack. It also makes him completely unable to pick things up, or to fight back—it’s an excellent form of defense, but terrible if he wants to hit things back. He is unable to make only various body parts intangible; it is all or nothing. When intangible, he can float up to several feet above the ground at walking speed. Massive forms of energy damage might affect him, but it would probably take a nuke or black hole to rip a hole in the planes. Being intangible also eliminates his smell and makes him impossible to track. Objects that rely on outside information, such as cell phones, will stop functioning. It is possible for him to shoot things when intangible, providing he a) brings a weapon with him, and b) his target is more than 50 feet away—the bullets will cease to be intangible once outside of range.

Inaudibility: In the astral plane, no one can hear you scream. Although this is closely linked to intangibility, they can be separated out if Neil so desires. This makes it useful as an instant, improvised firearm silencer.

Telepathic Immunity: If desired, Neil can make himself invisible to any telepaths. He will not register as being present, and when combined with all other effects he is undetectable to pretty much everything. When he has secrets he wants to keep, he can activate this alone and give himself one hell of a mental block. If he uses this on a telepath, they will be unable to use their powers on anyone else until they remove themselves from the state. Fortunately, they’ll just need to walk into the next room, or exit the astral plane themselves.

Dimensional Pockets: As a secondary ability, Neil is able to create small, anchored dimensional pockets on items. Like his other abilities, they have to stay fairly close by, but are otherwise permanent. With them he is able to store an almost limitless amount of items, as long as they are small enough to fit through the opening. He generally attaches these to real pockets, but this is mostly to keep it from looking like he pulled something out of thin air. It's great for party tricks, and yes, he needs to carry 50 yards of parachute cord at all times. It's useful. As far as Neil is aware, these are permanent and can only be removed by himself, although anyone can access them. He also refuses to take off his jacket if he can get away with it. It is unconfirmed whether or not his shorts are bigger on the inside.

Weaknesses:

Although Neil’s powers are formidable with or without Tank enhancements, they are still shy of perfect. His ability to enter the Astral Plane at will makes him effectively unnoticeable and untouchable…against everything but high-order telepaths. Anyone else capable of entering the Astral Plane makes Neil’s powers considerably less dangerous. They can notice his presence without much difficulty, and deal with him accordingly. Additionally, as impressive as Neil’s defenses are, they are all completely active in nature and are not used outside of missions. When not in the Astral Plane, Neil is completely normal and pretty squishy—he can be taken out by a single, well-aimed bullet, just like any normal human. Although many years of service as a spy and assassin have given him excellent instincts, it is still very possible to catch him unawares. Additionally, Neil’s ability to go into the Astral Plane as a defensive reflex is both an excellent safety net and an incredibly dangerous habit. He does not automatically become solid again when falling asleep or unconscious. If he were to pass out due to blood loss while in the Astral Plane, he would stay passed out in the Astral Plane and probably die.

One of the biggest complications to Neil’s powers are his dimensional pockets. Although they are incredibly useful, allowing him to have a rocket launcher on hand at all times, they do have certain…drawbacks. These pockets are accessible by anyone, as long as they know where to look; some confused pickpocket could get far more than he/she bargained for. This is also problematic for things like airport security and strip-searches. If Neil loses access to his pockets for whatever reason—if they move too far away from his person, or his powers are cut off—he also loses all of the shiny items in his pockets and they cannot be recovered. This makes him very sad.

Also, snakes make him scream like a little girl.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

Personality:

Polite, soft-spoken, and eloquent, Dr. Neil Marshall almost seems stereotypically British. He is awkward around strangers and authority figures, and generally rubbish with small talk. His air of vague disorganization and his love of tweed makes most refine his description from British to 'British academic'. He is absolutely fine with this. He is a British academic, after all, and it just so happens that he works for MI6. It wasn't really a career move he ever anticipated, but it pays better than archeology. Even if it isn't his passion, he realizes that his particular...skillset is incredibly useful, and he is a strong believer in serving his country.

Although Neil is an assassin, spy, and occasionally smuggler, he lacks many of the skills normally associated with his field. He is terrible at cold reading, completely lacks the ability to get girls to swarm him, and has no formal military background. His melee combat skills are rudimentary at best, and he is hardly in peak physical condition. Even though Neil happens to swoon over James Bond, he is absolutely nothing like him and never will be. He can, however, walk straight into a trap and back out again without a scratch, or assassinate someone without leaving any evidence whatsoever. Although his skills are incredibly specialized, they are very useful for what he does. He is ruthlessly efficient, incredibly sneaky, and very much competent. With surprising moral flexibility, Neil can—and will—do any job for the right cause.

Also unlike the vast majority of mutants-working-as-assassins, Neil happens to be a fairly normal guy. He is on good terms with his family—who don't know about his career—and happily married—to a man that does know what he does for a living. Although quiet around strangers, he warms up to people fairly quickly, and is more open around those he likes. He is hesitant to make friends through work, but this is only because he's very aware that few spies are as loyal as he happens to be. Neil likes dogs, football (real football), collects pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts, and only rarely has nightmares about shooting people between the eyes.

Family:

• Lauren and Joel Marshal, parents
  
• Wesley Marshal-Timlin, husband
  
• Fara and Cabal, pet corgis

Background:

Born in the Royal Cornwall Hospital to Lauren and Joel Marshal, Neil was a healthy, surprisingly noisy baby boy. He was their first child, and would end up being their only one—both parents feared that their second child would be just as...active, as Neil, and they weren't sure they could handle two of him. They were both working parents invested in their careers, after all, and had neither the time nor inclination to put up with a second terror. Well, he wasn't that bad. Most of the time.

Neil was an active, curious child, with an incredible knack for getting himself into trouble. He'd climb trees and be unable to find his way down from them, he'd decide the neighbors needed a cat in their mailbox, and then dig up the flowerbeds in search of Roman coins. Very little of what he did was malicious, but it was certainly a nuisance to everyone around him. Mostly his parents, but they managed to put up with him and get him out of trouble. Most of the time. Thankfully, he made up for it by being bright and incredibly endearing. No one ever yelled at him for long. Neil did well in primary school, even if his teachers occasionally called him disruptive.

Neil ended primary school at the age of eleven, with excellent marks. His parents were very proud of him, Neil was inordinately proud of himself, and everyone was happy. Mostly, the teachers who didn't have to put up with him any more. Despite his various...troubles, with rules and general safety measures, he was well-adjusted and fairly normal, if a little overconfident. Maybe a lot overconfident, and far too curious for anyone's good. As he got older, however, he became better at keeping himself from getting caught, and getting himself out of his own messes. It was an important life skill.

During Neil's first year of high school, he took a trip into Truro with his extended family, including his grandparents, two aunts, and three cousins. They planned to spend the day shopping. Plans happened to change when Neil stepped out into the street and got hit by a car. Well, he thought he did anyway, and so did his family. There was no body, though, despite frantic searching of both the street and the car that hit him. Neil found himself invisible and completely unable to contact the outside world. He was fairly sure he died and had come back as a ghost. Probably because his body had disappeared.

Neil followed his family around for a few hours as they went to the police station, and then to their car. He couldn't follow them, or contact them in any way. For the next two days he wandered around Truro, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing in order to go into the afterlife. He was also beginning to wonder why he was hungry, if he was dead, so he tried to grab a kebab from a street vendor. To his surprise, it worked. The street vendor was just as surprised to see a sandwich floating away.

Neil had enough foresight—for once—to get to a secluded spot before he started eating. He also figured out that if he could go tangible again, he might be able to contact the material world in some other way. After a few minutes of concentration, he found himself fully human again, and not at all ghostlike. It was...unexpected. He had no clue how he was going to explain this to his parents. During the ride he managed to hitch home, he decided that he wouldn't tell them—just in case it was something important. Instead, he came up with a story that was sure to fool them. When Neil got back, his parents were overjoyed to see him, and spoiled him rotten as soon as they were finished telling the police that he was back safe. They were fairly sure that his story about Narnia was fake, but decided to stop asking questions. They had enough gray hairs as it was. If that was the story he came up with, it was more probable—or less dangerous—than what actually happened. He was back and unharmed, and that was what mattered. There was a quiet police investigation into the matter, but it was inconclusive.

Over the next few months, Neil found himself accidentally going invisible several times. Each instance was a little easier to control than the last, and soon he was able to go in and out of the Astral plane at will. He still wasn't sure why, although he had several theories. One was that he was a mutant, yes; the other was that he actually had died and returned from the afterlife. Whatever it was, it was an awesome power for a teenage boy to hold. He might have abused it. He only got caught once, and got suspended for two days for being in the girls' locker room. His parents were very upset. Neil made sure he never got caught again.

Throughout the rest of his high school career, Neil continued to develop control over his powers. He figured out how to bring other objects with him into the Astral plane, and how to make dimensional pockets to store things. For the most part, he was an excellent student, even if he annoyed his teachers. The few classes he wasn't getting top marks in easily had test and paper scores altered just enough to push him up a grade. He was a nice enough kid, and the only real complaint anyone had about him was his habit of antagonizing teachers. All of them except his history teacher, at least. He liked her. Neil was always careful to stay within the bounds of things that wouldn't get him kicked out of class, though, and he kept his grades up.

At the age of seventeen Neil graduated high school, and headed straight to university. His fondness for history had only grown, and he figured he was already doomed to a life of celibacy, so he had nothing to lose. He knew that majoring in history itself was completely useless, and in his sophomore year ended up pairing it with a degree in teaching. He liked kids, after all, and he ended up making extra money during school as a tutor. Neil also began to realize how much of an asshole he'd been in high school. Oh well. Teenagers. He devoted himself to his studies, mostly because he wasn't invited to any of the good parties. Well, he sneaked into a lot of them. Free beer was the best kind.

At the age of twenty Neil graduated with honors, and began considering graduate school. He was far too young to become a serious adult and get a steady job, after all. Several of his professors urged him to get some more experience—and education—before becoming a teacher, and with some consideration Neil entered his school's archeology program. It would get him to see the world, and being called 'doctor' sounded nice. Besides, he liked digging, and he'd already taught himself to read Egyptian hieroglyphs. He'd been bored. Really bored.

In the first year of studying for his doctorate, Neil got invited by a professor to go to a dig site in Colombia. They had found some ruins believed to be Incan, but were outside their previously known range. He readily accepted the opportunity. It would be good experience for him, a nice vacation, and free labor for the dig team. He would get a chance to meet some 'real' archeologists. Neil quickly proved himself to be an asset to the team—he learned how to set up and maintain camp quickly, and had a knack for finding unexplored areas that had nothing to do with his powers. He was honestly surprised he managed to keep it hidden from the team; on several occasions he became worryingly close to being discovered.

And then, one day, he was. One of the junior archeologists pulled Neil aside, questioning him about one of the rooms he'd discovered. For a while he managed to evade saying how he found it, and then she happened to mention that she saw him disappear. He relented. She made him an offer: she'd keep it quiet if he told her about anything he found before the dig leaders. They'd already found enough to more than satisfy the university funding the expedition, and they could make a lot more money smuggling things out. Neil was the perfect person to do so. Hesitantly, he accepted. It nagged his conscious a little, but it was better than letting anyone else know what he was. She offered to split the profits with him, as well—and he was a broke student. For the rest of the trip, they smuggled out pottery and silverwork. No one else ever caught on.

A month after Neil had returned to his studies in England, he got a few checks from his partner. He never discovered who their buyer was, but apparently he was wealthy. It was more than enough money to fund his education and make sure he had a nice apartment. He told his parents he was making a good deal of money tutoring, as a cover story, and was careful about how much he spent at one time. Thankfully, no one looked at his records closely enough to find anything strange, and Neil got away with the deception. At the age of 24 Neil obtained his doctorate, and a job offer from his old partner. He accepted.

For the next four years Neil traveled all over the globe, doing things that his parents really wouldn't appreciate. Mostly it was the smuggling of historical artifacts, but there were a few significantly more modern items that he was told to not ask questions about. The money was good enough that he didn't. After a few close incidents with the law and some other smugglers, Neil bought a gun and learned how to use it. Just in case. On several occasions he was asked to 'liberate' items from countries that did not have any right to them; these were by far his favorite jobs that weren't on a dig site. They were less morally ambiguous, and a hell of a lot of fun—museums had decent security, as it turned out. Thankfully, he was always better.

Although Neil became very good at smuggling over the next few years, eventually he managed to get in over his head. To his credit, at least, he had no idea one of the packages he had been transporting contained a small fortune of superweapons. It took him nearly a week to figure out why he had so many government agents following him, but eventually he decided to take a look at what he was carrying. He then dropped the arsenal where one of his followers would find it, and fled. He might have been a criminal, but he refused to become a terrorist, too. Over the next few months, Dr. Marshal found himself being tailed on several instances. Every time he tried to confront them, they managed to do disappearing acts that impressed even him. Figuring that the government had caught up with his illegal activities, he kept low and went back to real archaeology.

It was then that he was offered a position with MI6. They’d been watching him longer than he realized, and were willing to give someone with his…talents…a legal way to continue his work. Although not entirely enthusiastic about the prospect, Neil accepted. It was a slightly safer line of work, and it paid better. Besides, it meant he’d be using his skills for the greater good, and he quite liked that thought. After several months of training, he graduated as a full field agent and found himself doing almost exactly the same type of work as before. Granted, there was less history and more politics, but it was a tolerable tradeoff.

Over the next few years, Neil proved himself to be an excellent spy, and—much to his dismay—an excellent assassin. It was a far cry from archaeology, but it suited him well enough. He kept his status as a mutant quiet out of caution, but made sure his commanding officer and immediate colleagues knew. It was a useful ability, after all, and allowed him to do things that no other agents could. Most other agents were fine with this. He was crap at real espionage, after all; he was just really good at placing bugs. And shooting people in locked, windowless rooms, and sneaking rocket launchers onto airplanes. Everyone has a talent.

Neil was thirty four when he met Dr. Wesley Timlin, a Scottish physicist working as a consultant on one of his cases. Although they hit it off immediately, both were very careful to keep it hidden until the assignment had finished—a feat in itself, given that they were surrounded by spies. It didn’t take long for Neil to figure out that Wesley was also a mutant, however, which did have something to do with being surrounded by spies. They both knew what the other did for a living, as well, and accepted it entirely. Two years later they were engaged, and had a lovely wedding the next spring. They kept it small and excluded coworkers, mostly to avoid awkward questions from their families. After the wedding they went on a honeymoon to Brazil, which was promptly interrupted when they were called to stop a new terrorist cell in the area. The rest of the trip was wonderful.

Amazingly enough, Neil managed to spend nearly ten years working as a MI6 field agent without much trouble—he was always good enough to get the job done, and only rarely caused a stir in the process. He liked it. The job meant traveling all over the world, doing important and exciting things, and he’d only managed to get himself shot a few times. Even more amazing, however, was the fact that he was a MI6 agent with a family life and no severe mental health issues. It seemed to be a small miracle. It was also the reason why MI6 decided to engineer him into a public incident, creating a scandal that outed him as an uncontrolled, dangerous mutant and government agent. It was only natural, then, that he be reassigned as far away as possible, in a program designed to ‘fix’ mutants.

Neil found himself abruptly reassigned to the UN, on loan to the Tank program. Although incredibly unenthusiastic about the placement—he was hardly a mutant menace—he was smart enough to suspect the real motivations behind the incident. Although MI6 had several outed mutants on staff, he was one of the most expendable. There was also the sneaking suspicion that the nature of his powers would allow him to circumvent the Tank control methods, if necessary. But he had no proof, and he’d keep those thoughts to himself. If MI6 wanted him to work for stupid United Nations, he’d work for the stupid United Nations.

No One Likes a Show-Off

Skills: Does your character have any skills that are separate from your character’s powers? Are they a Five Star Cook or Black Belt? This is where you explain them. Make sure it is explained in history how they may have acquires such skills.[/I] Feel free to delete this section if it is not applicable.

• Bachelor’s degree in history, doctorate in archaeology. This is a nice way of saying he hates fun and money.
  
• Fluent in Spanish and English, decent with Portuguese, and very familiar with a variety of dead languages.
  
• Knows first aid, primitive camping, and several related skills. Can survive in a desert or rainforest with minimal gear.
  
• Neil also happens to be proficient with most firearms, and is an excellent sniper. It occasionally comes in handy.
  
• Even without his powers, Neil has a good deal of mental training thanks to his time with MI6. His thoughts are always guarded, and he is excellent at repressing information that he doesn’t want known.

Weapons: If your character uses weapons, list them. Be Realistic and explain where they have acquired them. if they don’t use weapons, feel free to delete.

• AWM - .338 Lapua Magnum
  
• Walther p99
  
• Banana. Excellent source of potassium.

Equipment: Gadgeteer? Super Inventor? Tony Stark or Forge? List any equipment your character might utilize on a regular basis here. This includes vehicles, code breakers, and other things. Feel free to delete if Inapplicable.

• Due to the nature of Neil’s powers, he tends to carry a massive amount of small items that might come in handy. Although it means it takes him longer to find everyday items, he might really need a grappling hook. For fun, ask to borrow a pen.
  
• A pair of yellow-tinted aviators with an augmented reality interface and thermal imaging; one of the few spy-type gadgets from MI6 that he actually appreciated.

Anything else?: Bananas are good.

To Meet Expectations

RP sample:

Lol nope.

Other characters: Forge, Crow, Cheryl Harrison
My Name: Mel

[Magneto]

Accepted here.

[Agent Collie]