David Rice

A genetic anomaly allows David Rice to teleport himself anywhere. This gift has existed for centuries and David has now found himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between "Jumpers" and those who have sworn to kill them.

Real Name: David Hayden Rice Occupation: Adventurer Identity: Secret Legal Status: American citizen with a criminal record Place of Birth: Ann Arbor, Michigan Marital Status: Single Known Relatives: William Rice (father), Mary Niles (mother), Sophie Niles (half sister) Base of Operations: New York City, mobile

History: Throughout time, there have been individuals who possess the power to teleport (or "Jump"). They have used their abilities for personal gain, to escape from their enemies and to change the course of history. The ability to Jump is a genetic anomaly that has existed for centuries and those who possess this gift have a freedom that most people can't begin to comprehend. They can transport themselves anywhere in the world at any time, for any reason.

David Rice is one of these "Jumpers." He was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His mother, Mary, left when he was five years old. That left David to be raised by his inattentive and emotionally distant father, William. When David was fifteen years old, he gave his crush, Millie Harrison, a snow globe. A bully, Mark, threw the globe onto the ice near a river. While trying to retrieve it, David fell through the ice and was pulled away by the current. Then he suddenly found himself in his local library with drenched clothes. He discovered that he can teleport, disappearing from one place and instantly appearing in another. Unhappy with his life, he ran away and made his way to Detroit, where he rented a motel room. However, he was unable to pay rent, because he could not get a job without a birth certificate and social security number. So, he scoped out a bank under the guise of using the bank's bathroom. When that bank closed, he Jumped himself into the vault of the bank and stole nearly a million dollars. A couple of years later, David moved to New York City and rented a fancy penthouse apartment.

Eight years after discovering his special ability, David had settled into a life of adventure, spending his days Jumping around various continents, doing various sports, and living lavishly using money stolen from banks. After a day of teleporting around the world, he was ambushed in his home by a man named Roland Cox. Roland tried to trap him with electrical cables, which interfered with his concentration enough to prevent him from being able to teleport. David escaped and returned home to Ann Arbor seeking Millie. He was attacked by Mark and purposely teleported them into a bank vault to get rid of Mark. He left him there and returned to Millie, inviting her to travel to Rome. Roland later discovered Mark in police custody and learned David's identity.

David and Millie visited the Colosseum only to find it was closed. David used his teleporting ability to unlock a door from the inside, telling a skeptical Millie the door was already unlocked. While opening another door, he discovered another Jumper, Griffin O'Connor. Griffin warned him that "Paladins" were coming. Several Paladins showed up and attacked them. Griffin killed one and teleported away, taking the body with him. David tried to leave with Millie, but was detained by Italian police and questioned about the death. While waiting for a magistrate to arrive, David's mother appeared, gave him the keys to his handcuffs, and told him he had very little time to leave. David tried to follow her, but she hurried away while he struggled against an Italian policeman. David told Millie the police let him go and they left together. Millie, now very suspicious, demanded the truth. David declined and put her on a plane home.

David teleported to Griffin's desert lair, asking where to find Roland Cox. Griffin informed him about Roland and the rest of the Paladins. For almost as long as there have been Jumpers there have been those that hunt them. The Paladins are those people. They are an ancient sect that sees Jumpers as posing a threat to the world. Paladins believe Jumpers are simply too powerful to be allowed to exist and also believe that Jumping is bad for the planet. Over the centuries, the Paladins have evolved into an elite organization of warrior-like individuals who find and kill Jumpers around the globe. Griffin told David that the Paladins will kill not only a Jumper, but everyone they love. He had been trying to kill Roland Cox for years, as the Paladins killed his parents when he was a child and had tried to kill him several times. After the discussion, David teleported to his father, found him bleeding and teleported him to a hospital. He returned to Griffin and convinced him to go with him to the airport to greet Millie. Upon arriving, they realized her flight landed an hour ago. Griffin returned to his lair to get weapons while David searched for Millie. He Jumped into her apartment, angering Millie, who told him to leave. However, David saw Roland arriving and revealed his ability to Millie. He then teleported her back to Griffin's lair. An irate Griffin explained the Paladins would follow using a machine to keep the wormhole open. Using the wormhole, the Paladins arrived to the lair, while hiding, David discovered photos of his mother with death threats written by Griffin. As he moved closer, he ended up getting tethered to the ceiling by an electricuting Paladin weapon. Griffin then attacked the Paladins with a flamethrower and teleported a doubledecker bus to hurl at Roland. The Paladins were eventually chased back through the wormhole, but snatched Millie back to her apartment with a cable.

Griffin decided to take a bomb to Millie's apartment and kill everyone. David refused, wanting to save Millie. A fight erupted between the two over the bomb and its detonator. Continually Jumping, they fought through several locations all over the world within a span of a few minutes. Eventually David trapped Griffin with power lines in Chechnya. Griffin warned that if David faced the Paladins alone he would be outnumbered. He went anyway and was quickly trapped by electric cables again. David could not escape as he was tethered to the apartment ceiling. Griffin had explained earlier, a Jumper could be killed if they tried to teleport too much weight. David's attempts to teleport separated the apartment from the rest of the building. Because of that, he was able to teleport the apartment into a river. He then immediately teleported it to the library where he had first Jumped as a teen. After teleporting Millie to the location her apartment formerly was, David teleported a barely conscious Roland to a cave near the top of the Grand Canyon and abandons him there, saying "I told you I'm different; could've dropped you with the sharks."

David was able to track down his mother. He visited her home and was stunned when a teenage girl, his half-sister, Sophie, answered the door. Mary told David she had known he was a Jumper since he was five—when Jumpers make their first Jump. She is a Paladin, and she only had two choices at the time: kill David or leave. She allowed David to leave her house, saying she was giving him a "head start." He left to meet with Millie outside. He asked her where she wanted to go. Millie told him to surprise her and the couple then teleported to an unknown location. Since then, David Rice has had numerous adventures around the world with Millie Harrison at his side and the Paladins on the chase for him.

Height: 6'1" Weight: 175 Hair: Dirty Blond Eyes: Blue

Know Superhuman Powers: Due to a genetic anomaly, David Rice has the power to teleport (or "Jump"). Certain quantum mechanical interactions in David's nerve cells create microscopic inter-dimensional apertures between this universe and another universe where physical laws as we know them do not pertain. This other universe is filled with an energy that even in the most minute amount is tremendously more powerful than the most powerful forms of matter and energy native to our universe. Because this energy is so powerful and because its extra-dimensional nature means it is not governed by the physical laws of this universe, it can actually fold space. David can generate a neuronal signal to modulate a pulse of this extra-dimensional energy that performs this folding of space in a manner and degree that opens up a rift in the fabric of space-time, thereby forming a temporary wormhole.

Human consciousness is an expression of the universal field that binds and governs the structure of the entire universe as it interconnects with the quantum processes of the complex neurons of the human brain. Thus, the human mind is a projection of the unifying force in the universe and therefore has an omnipresent and universal aspect. David can autonomically use this aspect of the human mind as a form of unconscious extrasensory spatial awareness that directs the wormhole's target point to a location on Earth of his desire regardless of the motion of the Earth in its rotation and orbit.

In the instant a wormhole is formed by David it will teleport anything depending on the size of the wormhole. The wormhole's size is dictated by the neurophysical effort of David in creating the original neuronal signal. The larger the wormhole, the greater the neurophysical strain on David.

David can only teleport to a place that he has been before or a place that he can see. He can take with him objects he is gripping that are not anchored to the Earth. He cannot teleport if he is tethered to the Earth or tethered to something that is anchored to the Earth.