Blood Syndicate - Membership

Membership

• Aquamaria - Maria (last name unknown) survived the Big Bang while floating in the (fictional) James River; as a result, she was transformed into "living water." A former member of the Sociedad de la Cruz gang, she exhibits all the properties of water - for instance, she has survived evaporation and recondensation. She also has substantial control over water in all its forms: she can induce tsunamis and geysers, and shape near-freezing vapor into ice sculptures. The character was renamed "Aqua-Maria" when she appeared in the animated series Static Shock.
• Boogieman, or Boogie - Martin Berger is able to transform into what is essentially a giant blonde humanoid rat. He is also able to communicate with the hyper-intelligent rats of Dakota (and possibly with ordinary rats), even when untransformed. A post-Texador member, Berger joined the Syndicate during their attack on the S.Y.S.T.E.M. conspiracy. When his mother was trapped in a hospital full of angry inter-dimensional chihuahuas, he chose to rescue her with only the teen hero, Static, as backup.
• Brickhouse (or Brick): Marta (last name unknown) survived the Big Bang while pressed up against a brick wall; as a result, she took on its characteristics, becoming a 10-foot-tall, super-strong woman of living brick (complete with mortar lines). Unfortunately, this led to a substantial amount of brain damage, and she was subject both to epilepsy and retrograde amnesia (by the time the series was canceled, she still did not know her last name). Her name was inspired by the Commodores' soul classic, "Brick House". The character "Brickhouse" appeared in the animated series Static Shock.
• DMZ - DMZ's name is an abbreviated form of the term, Demilitarized Zone. Little is known about him. He has superhuman strength and durability and is able to fly; furthermore, his eyes glow red. DMZ never speaks (except during the Worlds Collide crossover, when he said the word "Damn"); nor does he ever take off his mask, even to eat. He spends his free time atop a bridge, whirling a lamp on a chain in the hopes of signaling passing extraterrestrials, and wears what appears to be the uniform of the D'amsi police officers of Icon's interplanetary civilization, the Cooperative. When Icon asked DMZ to join him (when an alien rescue party arrives for Icon) he declines. Dwayne McDuffie stated on his Delphi forum that "DMZ is a human who teamed up with a member of the D'amsi police force when she chased a criminal to Earth. He was severely wounded saving her life, so she used her technology to optimize him, unlocking his full human potential. She left the Earth to chase the villain as he healed, promising to return for him. He got his name from a mis-heard 'D'amsi'".
• Dogg: Originally Texador's pet dog, Dogg gains human-level intelligence and speech, while remaining a dog in shape, personality, and abilities. First introduced in issue #2, he became a valued member of the team despite his size and shape. He was allowed a spot at the table and listened to, just like anyone else. When Pyre formed his own Blood Syndicate, Dogg was one of those who rejected the offer to join.
• Fade: Carlos Quinones Jr., he has the same name as his father and is the brother of Sara Quinones (Flashback). He can fly and pass through solid objects, and frequently has difficulty becoming substantial. He is actually "spread out" over a three-second interval, and is thereby able to, for instance, punch someone and leave them unharmed until after he has left. As was stated in the comic, "Fade isn't what he does, it's what he endures." He is a deeply-closeted gay man, and was in love with Texador (Tech-9). He also has the undeveloped ability to travel back (and possibly forward) in time by significant amounts, evidenced by Kwai recognising him the first time she meets the Syndicate, as someone she had known in one of her previous incarnations. A side effect of this ability are the instances of clairvoyance he sometimes displays. The character appeared in the animated series Static Shock.
• Flashback: Sara Quinones, sister of Carlos Quinones (Fade). Flashback can fly and can travel back in time three seconds, an ability she uses to change the past. She considers herself responsible for the welfare of the Syndicate as a whole because she has witnessed (and reversed) their deaths and severe injuries on multiple occasions. She is also a crack addict, partly because of the stress of having seen her friends die so many times, something only she remembers. Later, Rocket, sidekick to Icon, would intervene in her drug habit. She is the inspiration for the character Nina Crocker/Time-Zone, in the animated series Static Shock.
• Holocaust (later Pyre): Leonard Smalls, Jr. is the illegitimate son of Dakota mayor, Thomasina Jefferson. A superhumanly strong pyrokinetic, Smalls left the Syndicate after a leadership struggle with Texador, and chose to abandon the small-scale world of gangs for the greater possibilities offered by organized crime. As an initiation ritual, he was obliged to surrender something of great value to him: his name, and the reputation that came with it. Unable to call himself Holocaust, Smalls renamed himself Pyre. As Pyre, he tried to reform a new Blood Syndicate of his own recruiting: Boogieman, Flashback, Mistress Death, Bad Betty, Fade, Tarmack, Bubbasaurus, and Rocket (who was undercover). Smalls then reclaimed his name - Holocaust.

• Kwai (Shen Hsien Pu Kwei)- one of the two non-Bang Babies in the Blood Syndicate (DMZ being the other), Nina Lam was the 77th - and last - incarnation of a Chinese mystical being. Originally a 9-year-old girl, Lam was mystically transformed into a 7-foot-tall adult woman with albino-pale skin, immensely long hair, and pointed ears. She encountered the Syndicate in the wake of their defeat by the Demon Fox, and thanks to Flashback, survived a booby trap set by John Wing's Demon Fox Tong. After the Blood Syndicate was saved and restored by Nina Lam, now Kwai, she joins the Blood Syndicate and periodically calmed Brickhouse's seizures. Kwai fought alongside the Blood Syndicate a number of times and was once shot during a crackhouse raid; while she went into a healing cocoon, Hannibal White (Wise Son) tortured Kwai's shooter. Later Kwai's healing light changed the Blood Syndicate back to normal for a short time, and learns that she's down to her last life. After Brickhouse and Third Rail leave, Kwai decided to leave, later seen returning to her homeland, the Kingdom of Kwen Lun; meeting with her old friend, the Monkey King, revealing that she needs to ask her father, the Jade Emperor for another life, as she is sentenced to death without reincarnation. Ending up in the Kingdom of Ti Yu (hell), Kwai was offered marriage to the Dog God there to save her existence, but decides she can't marry him; finally in a battle royale with the Blood Syndicate against the Demon Fox, Kwai and the Demon Fox apparently destroyed each other, leaving the 9 year-old Nina Lam surviving. Later in the Static Shock: Return of The Cool mini-series, Nina is shown meeting with the Syndicate, and apparently attempting to transform back into Kwai by saying her name, reminiscent of the 'SHAZAM' transformation of DC's Captain Marvel. Although she is rendered unconscious before she can say the word, she is later seen in the form of Kwai, implying that she has been granted a 'normal life' as Nina, with the potential to become Kwai in times of danger.
• Masquerade: a shapechanger able to assume the form of any animal (including humans), Masquerade was a woman who concealed her true nature from the rest of the Syndicate by transforming into an idealized male version of herself. He fled the Syndicate after reflexively stealing several thousand dollars from them. A brief encounter later failed to convince him the Syndicate had changed their ways, and he would not be killed for his betrayal. He returned in the guise of a resurrected Rolando Texador (Tech-9), hoping to be accepted as their leader. As leader, Masquerade was responsible for the Syndicate instigating the Utopia Park riot.
• Oro: Miguel Medina is a former police officer who survived the Big Bang as a member of the Riot Squad. After the Big-Bang, he was for a time a member of the Shadow Cabinet but was kicked out, and later framed for the murder of his ex-partner. He subsequently sought refuge with the Syndicate and helped protect their territory. He can fly, project energy blasts and produce blinding visual displays. Being an ex-policeman, he took some time to win the respect of the rest of the Syndicate, having to endure the nickname 'Oral' for some time.

• Tech-9 (or Tech): Rolando Texador, formerly leader of the Force Syndicate, had the ability of "talismanic telekinesis", making him able to shoot endless quantities of bullets from any and all guns, with perfect accuracy. He could also materialize guns in his hands; his favored was the Tech-9 semiautomatic handgun. Charismatic and with military training, he masterminded the Syndicate's formation and led them in their raids on crackhouses; unfortunately, his flesh spontaneously melted off his bones when his superpower destabilized. Later in the series, Masquerade impersonates Tech-9, having sided with the Demon Fox. He is the inspiration for the character Tech, from the Static Shock animated series.
• Third Rail: The son of Korean immigrants, Pui Chung is able to absorb any form of energy and use it to grow in size and strength.
• Wise Son (or Wise): Hannibal White, leader of the Syndicate after Texador's death and a Black Muslim ("Wise Son" is a Qur'anic reference), is invulnerable and has superstrength. Although he is able to, for instance, shave his head (as he did in 1997's Wise Son: the White Wolf miniseries by Ho Che Anderson), he is completely immune from physical harm. Wise Son was responsible for stopping the Utopia Park riot, chronicled in the Milestone crossover event 'Long Hot Summer', after Masquerade, disguised as Tech-9, persuaded him to use the Utopia Park PA system to appeal for an end to the violence. He has also shown the ability to resist mental manipulation, and to survive the draining of large quantities of his lifeforce. He is the father of Edmund White, and has sole custody.