GUSTAFSSON

Real name: Gustafsson
Occupation: None
Identity: Gus who? Neither the Swedish nor United State governments are aware of his existance.
Legal status: No status whatsoever
Other aliases: Gus, "The Giant"
Place of birth: Northern Sweden
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Gustav (father, deceased)
Group affiliation: None
Base of operations: New York City, NY, USA
First appearance: October, 2001
History:

His hometown would be in the northern parts of Sweden, with a population of just over 200. It would be a rural environment as well, and while not backwards, the new technologies would not have filtered in there as fast. The distance to the nearest city would be around 60 miles or so.

A small town in Northern Sweden was given quite the spectacle, as the town blacksmith's wife gave birth to an extremely large baby in the stables of his forge some 25 years ago. Unfortunately, due to the lack of a midwife and proper medical care, Agatha left this world shortly after Gustafsson's birth. After Agatha was laid to rest, Gustaf appraised his new son with disdain. "This demon took my beloved wife", thought the smith. As the years moved on, attempts to rid himself of the large child were in vain, as somehow, the child always found his way home. Having left him by the river, the infant would have waddled itself back to the forge time and time again, whether it be by his own power or one of the villagefolk finding the poor child and taking him back home. After four such attempts, he eyed his young child and thought of what he could do with him.

When Gus reached the age of 5, rather then send him to school, Gustaf worked the child in his forge. To start, it was simple manual labor. "Get this for father", "Take that to the mayor" and such. As he grew, he was used to assist his father inside the forge; changing the horse's shoes, helping with the smelter, and soon enough, pouring the molds. Gus was happy enough; it was apparent soon enough that he wasn't the sharpest knife in the armory to smart with, but happy-go-lucky enough to keep amused by the chores. While his father wasn't fond of him, he at least got used to him. He would occasionally get new toys and clothes from customers of his father's, however, they were usually confiscated by his father. "He's a worker. He doens't need child stuff" was a common reply whenever given.

At the age of 12, Gus was already standing taller then children much older then him. However, his father had a heart attack one day, severely weakening him. Gus wasn't sure what was going on; it was never really explained to him, it just changed to that Gus did most of the work and his father told him what to do. Gus' work was pretty impressive, however. Due to his size, he was able to produce a lot more then his father did even at his prime, yet another reason to grow his father's resentment.

Four more years of this work continued, and Gus' work was actually starting to become praised, as well as his size. By now, he had reached around six and a half feet tall, towering over the rest of the village. Gus tended to stay near home, not wanting to hear other kids' taunting and provocation. Being the huge freak of the town didn't help his esteem any, so he buried himself in his mountains of work.

A longtime customer of Gus' father dropped by the forge a few days after Gus' 17th birthday to pick up a number of supplies. As his father watched on, the customer started to rave about Gus' work, saying that it has eclipsed even his father's work. His father lost it, lashing into Gus for ruining his business, killing his wife and making him miserable. At that, he struck his son across the face. Gus blinked, and in a rage, shoved his father back again, knocking him rear over tea kettle. Gus caught himself, hanging his head and walked from the forge and homestead, never to return.

The young man walked for miles southward for no reason as to get away. He passed through a few towns, spooking the locals and quickly moving on after getting some food and all. He was told he could possibly find work in Stockholm; they were always looking for good laborers. As a result, he started his trek towards Stockholm.

Moving across Sweden was not exactly a short trip; after a good year and a half, he finally reached the outskirts of the city. Nervously, he wandered into the city, trying to stay out of the way as much as possible. Reaching the first construction site he found, he nervously meandered into the site. The foreman's jaw just dropped watching this giant of a man wander onto his worksite, walking up and asking him what he was doing here. Gus slowly said he was from up North and looking for work, and the foreman's eyes just flashed. In 10 minutes, Gus was sent onto the site and working.

Hendrik Construction Company boomed during that period, winning most of its construction auctions and doing excellent work. Gus was in heaven; he was with people that actually treated him somewhat decent, he had a roof over his head and he was working and earning money. After a couple of years, the Construction Company extended its range into Holland, asking Gus and a number of other of the prized workers to go work in the expansion into the Netherlands.

The crew landed in Amsterdam in the year 1999, quickly establishing itself as a force in the Netherlands construction market. The company expanded upwards as well, working itself into skyscrapers and the like. As a result, Gus wasn't used at the tops of the buildings for fear of collapse and his own safety. This gave Gus more time off during the evenings, and a friend of his would routinely take him into the city to get him used to it. Usually they'd head to a bar, but occasionally, they'd go to a soccer game or downtown or whatnot. Wherever they went, they attracted a lot of attention; giant wandering among the little people.

Early in 2001, a good friend of his, Daniel, and him went to a bar near their residences, in one of the rougher areas of the city. The two became rather blitzed, watching a soccer game on the bar television. A local gang wandered into the bar, intent on roughing up the joint. After picking a number of fights within the bar, the group noticed the giant and his friend, finding themselves a perfect target.

The supposed leader wandered up to the two, pushing the smaller man and demanding his money. Gus's lips curled into a sneer, but Daniel backed him off some. Gus never carried money with him, thus had nothing to give out. The gang continued to hurrah the bar, and when Gus and Daniel attempted to leave, they were barred from leaving, the group surrounding them. Daniel had to keep Gus under control while explaining it was best if they just left, then the sound of a lead pipe hitting skull echoed through the bar and Daniel fell to the ground. The leader walked back up and kicked Daniel clear in the face on the ground, stomping him to end the job, grinning up to the giant.

Gus stood there, shaking in anger and fear, doing his best to remain calm. The head reached up and backhanded Gus clean across the face. That snapped last of his restraint, and Gus reached out and grabbed him, throwing him across the bar. The other seven leaped at him with various weapons, and the giant did his best to repel them all. He threw them off and let loose a great bellow, his eyes flashing red for a brief moment as his body mass began to expand. 7, 10, 12 feet he grew, and the others scattered back some. He peaked at 15 feet, pressing up against the roof of the bar. The other patrons ran in fear, bolting out the door, while the thugs surrounded once again.

The leader once again stood from his resting place, concentrating for a few moments and a long blade extended from his wrist, walking forward again. The thugs leapt at him again, this time, Gus's blows landing with much more force, crushing bones. Another was thrown against the wall, indenting the frame and shattering spinal discs. A boot in the chest caved in another's ribs, slowly clearing them out. The leader moved up and attacked, slashing the giant's chest. Gus roared, lashing down with his hand and catching him across his cheek. The ruffian's neck turned with an audible crack, and with another slash, catching Gus's knee on the way down. The remainder ran for the door, leaving their four fallen comrades behind.

The big man looked around the bar at the damage. The place was now empty except for the four bodies, the realization of what just happened dawning on him. Slowly, he began to shrink back down to normal size, now aware of the wounds on his stomach and knee. Clutching at the wounds, he looked over to his fallen friend Daniel, kneeling over him and clueing in that he was dead. At that, he panicked and ran out the door and into the back streets.

He wandered the back streets of Amsterdam for the remainder of the night, scared and lost in the city. He naturally started to head for water, and came upon the harbor in the morning. He wandered up the docks, looking around left and right, looking for someone who he could try and talk to and get help. He came upon a man standing near a barge, waving a little and asking him clumsily where he was. The man stated that this was a barge headed towards New York City, and asked him if he wanted a job. Gus blinked a few times, distracted and inquired, and was told it was as a laborer on the way towards New York City. He was obviously trying to sneak himself out of town, and was willing to look the other eye. The giant didn't pay attention to that part, but agreed and walked onto the ship. He looked behind and remembered Daniel and the fight and just bit his lip, thinking it was probably best he was going.

The travel overseas was rather uneventful. He was given an extra set of clothes on the trip over, and came across a red ball on the deck that no one accounted for. As a result, Gus had his nightly ritual when his shift ended: sit in his cabin and play with the ball. The ship took three weeks to cross the Pacific, finally landing in the New York Harbor...

Height: Currently 7'2" Weight: 367 lbs.
Eyes: Blue Hair: Blond
Unusual physical characteristics: Other then him being extremely large, no, nothing terribly unusual.
Strength level: Sickening. Can lift a tonne even before growth.
Known superhuman powers: When angered, he enters a berserk rage in which he loses all mental ability and starts to grow in response to the level of antagonism. Nothing terribly fancy, but he can reach upwards of 40 feet if angered enough.
Other abilities: Blacksmithing, construction savant, wilderness survival, brawling
Weapons and paraphernalia: None
Other notes: None