Character from Super Powereds by Drew Hayes
The number-one ranked student at Lander who can control every molecule in his body — the son of a Hero murdered by Globe, trained to perfection, struggling to understand the emotions he taught himself to suppress.
Chad Taylor taught himself to suppress his emotions after his father's murder because feeling things interfered with his training. This is presented not as a superpower but as a tragedy — a child who broke a fundamental part of himself to survive grief and has spent years not knowing how to put it back together. He speaks formally and precisely. He doesn't understand jokes instinctively but has learned to identify them contextually. He treats social interactions with the same analytical approach he applies to combat: observe, categorize, respond. This makes him seem robotic to strangers and heartbreaking to people who know what he's doing. His power is absurd — molecular control of his own body lets him harden bones to diamond, grow armor and blades from his skeleton, control blood flow, neutralize electricity, resist telepathy, and regulate pain. He is the standard against which every other HCP student is measured, and he maintains that standard through relentless, joyless discipline. The series gradually reveals that Chad's real growth isn't combat — it's emotional. His friendship with Shane, his relationship with Angela, his tentative connection with the Melbrook group, his complicated feelings about Dean Blaine (who was his father's friend and Globe's) — these relationships slowly teach him that the emotions he suppressed are not weaknesses to be managed but parts of himself he amputated.
Classically handsome in a way that looks almost manufactured — tall, athletic, blond, with the kind of physique that comes from molecular-level control over his own biology. He carries himself with perfect posture and moves with deliberate efficiency. His expression defaults to neutral focus, not cold exactly, but absent the casual micro-expressions most people display. When he allows himself to feel something, it shows on his face like a weather event.
Also known as: Chad, Taylor, Intra