Approved Creed

Name: Preston Creed.
Alias: None.
Occupation: Branch Manager at Waters Pharmaceuticals, Pittsburgh.
Marital status: Widowed.
Age: 40 years.
Height: 5'10.
Weight: 170 lbs.
Sex: Male.
Hair Color: Light brown.
Eye Color: Hazel.

Biography: Preston Creed was born in 1984 to Morgan and Joan Creed. Morgan Creed worked as a union foreman in Philadelphia, and Joan was a homemaker. Morgan's father had been killed in the Vietnam War; his mother worked as an administrative assistant at the factory where Morgan would later find employment. The family was middle-class by the time of Preston's birth. He had one younger brother, Tobias, and one younger sister, Margaret. Preston was an active, healthy child, who rarely experienced disease or exhaustion. At the age of 7, he leaped off the top of the family's house and walked away with no injuries. When Tobias attempted the same, he broke both of his legs.

The Creed siblings went their separate ways after high school - Preston excelled academically and attended Blackacre University on academic scholarship, where he graduated Cum Laude. Tobias fell on hard times and is currently working retail (the family is estranged); Margaret moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. During college, Preston met his future wife, Mary-Anne Lyndon. They dated for 4 years before marrying after he finished his graduate program in business administration with a focus on risk management. Mary-Anne was attracted to Preston's confidence and intelligence. Preston was attracted to her physically. He attended graduate school at Blackacre to earn an MBA.

Preston was employed by Waters Pharmaceuticals out of graduate school, where he began work as a financial analyst. (Around this time, Tobias became addicted to hard drugs). Mary-Anne worked as a court stenographer. Financially, the Creed family were set up for success in Pittsburgh. A series of high-pressure projects and successful ventures resulted in Preston's promotion up the chain of command, where he became acquainted with Thomas and Marigold Waters, as well as their young daughter Beatrice. Preston's long hours spent at the office strained his relationship to Mary-Anne, and they delayed having any children.

Further stress was put on the relationship by Preston's unexpected health issues, which could not be readily classified by any medical professional, and were largely kept secret.

While hiking across Europe, Mary-Anne was crushed to death. After a period of grieving, Preston returned to work at Waters Pharma; he has never remarried, and he has no children. Around this time, it was reported that Thomas and Marigold Waters had passed away in a car accident. Beatrice inherited a share in the company; under the watch of Amos Costa, Bea's uncle, who directed all operations in the New York branch, she grew into the CEO and leader of the company today. Preston, who knew her only as a child, now reports to her directly as Branch Manager at Waters Pharma in Pittsburgh. He takes a 'company-first' attitude and is known as a harsh-but-fair boss to those he supervises. He has had no further contact with his brother Tobias, and minimal contact with Margaret, who still lives in Los Angeles.

Metahuman Aspect: As a 'passing' metahuman, Preston typically displays no outward physical indicators of metahumanity, such as glowing eyes, altered canines, discoloration, or protruding musculature. Externally, he is a 40-year-old man in good health who engages in regular physical exercise. Internally, however, his body operates on a different level. Bluntly put, his tissues are self-metabolizing and select for enhanced physical health, granting him potent regenerative power, as well as overdeveloped strength and durability. A variety of bio-matter-consuming metahuman subtype (see: 'Cryptid,' 'Nahual') who continually re-processes organic material to fuel feats of strength. Furthermore, his stamina is augmented by a five-core 'engine organ' coiled around his heart, which continually converts calories into excess energy that fuels the messianic self-metabolization (see: 'Phoenix,' 'Obsidian,' 'Veljara.'). Thus, his cells produce energy, which is then used to fuel a startling transformation.

Preston does not possess an enhanced physique during his day-to-day life. Instead, situations of elevated stress, whether physiological or mental, trigger an adrenal response which results in a rapid overgrowth of his biomatter. Every muscle expands outward in nigh-uncontrolled growth, reshaping into a Grendel-like mass that resembles him neither physically nor mentally. Bones crack and expand to fill the space between muscle and tissue; his teeth grow and his jaw juts forward, photosensitive eyes becoming lidded yellow orbs of pure malevolence. Preston's mental acuity fluctuates as a psychoactive process begins, allowing him to process the rapid change in his physique - he experiences vastly decreased social inhibition, increased verbosity, over-expressed emotional affect, and most critically, severe lack of remorse coupled with sadistic tendencies. This lurking psychological shadow has identified itself within his consciousness and speaks to him through direct intrapersonal communication - in addition to his train of thought as 'Preston,' he also has a separate train of thought as the Creature.

The euphoric sensation and heightened physical aptitudes Preston experiences while transformed are blatantly addictive, but highly dangerous to his surroundings. As the Creature, he possesses enough strength to lift / press approximately two tons; he can perform feats of speed which dwarf those of any baseline athlete, nearly tripling his running speed. His durability is also vastly increased, allowing him to endure gunfire and quickly regenerate from harm. While these capacities diminish over time, as his body eventually needs rest, the Creature is itself a virtual juggernaut, using protruding nails and teeth to rend through anything which catches its ire. The Creature is entirely conspicuous; it is grotesque, with cracked skin showing grisly muscle, along with a reptilian, unblinking stare. It retains intelligence, but is uncompromisingly brutal, even sadistic in its torments. Its motives are inscrutable, but as it must eventually return to hibernate within Preston's body, it shares many aims and motives with him. Preston's mental symptoms are similar to functional schizophrenia - hearing voices - but he is still able to largely function professionally on any given day. Effectively, under situations of physical or mental duress, the Creature may manifest itself and seek to do what Preston wishes he could - an outlet for his 'Id,' as it were, which imposes horrifying consequences for any target of his frustrations, be they specific or general.

So far, he has managed to keep these transformations mostly under control...

...but they are increasing in frequency as of late.