Riley Thomas / Recluse

“He’d be damned before letting A.E.G.I.S. doctors know.”

At a Glance

Field	Value
Full Name	Riley Thomas
Hero Name	Recluse
A.E.G.I.S. File	AEGIS-RCL-002
DOB	July 30, 1990
Age	35
Birthplace	Riverside Ward, Halden City
Physical	5’11” / 190 lbs. Black hair, greying at temples. Blue eyes. Extensive scarring across torso, hands, shoulders — years of unsponsored vigilante activity.
Affiliation	The Alliance — Core Member (A.E.G.I.S.-sponsored)
Status	Active — allied. Deteriorating in secret.
A.E.G.I.S. Threat Level	HIGH — ALLIED

Powers

Spider-derived genetics. Manifested at approximately age 16.

Wall adhesion
Enhanced agility
Proportional strength (observed ~8x body weight under stress)
One-second precognitive flash — the defining ability. Provides superhuman reaction time and near-impossible evasion. Documented as a hard blind spot relative to at least one known subject (see AEGIS-SYC-REDACTED — withheld from Riley himself).
Web generation via wrist-mounted mechanical cartridges (not biological)
Elite martial artist, detective-class investigative aptitude

Current State: Riley is experiencing his power in a deteriorating state. Healing is slower. Joints are stiffer. He is getting too old for a city that isn’t getting older with him. He knows it. He hides it.

Background

Riley manifested powers at 16 and operated as an unsanctioned vigilante for nearly fifteen years before Paragon sponsored his formal recognition in 2015.

The Vega Incident (2006): Riley, sixteen and still learning control, sensed a convenience store robbery in Riverside Ward. His solution: pull a nearby fire alarm. The thief panicked and fired. Sandra Vega — a young mother — was killed. Her two-year-old son Adrian was found unharmed beside her. Riley went underground. He visits Sandra’s grave every year on the anniversary.

In 2023, Adrian Vega — now 19 — found him. He didn’t expose Riley. He asked to be trained. Riley agreed. It is the defining relationship of his recent years.

Character Profile

Riley presents as composed. He gives correction without cruelty, runs training with purpose, carries the weight of experienced heroism without performing it. Composure is load-bearing — it is what keeps everything else from showing.

He is someone who takes on too much, knows it, and does it anyway.

He still calls Alliance people “family.” That word is deliberate. It marks what that time meant to him and still means.

Key Tensions

Tension	Description
The Vega guilt	Sandra’s death is the founding fact of his heroism. Adrian’s presence both resolves and reopens it.
Institutional vs. personal loyalty	A.E.G.I.S. gives resources and legitimacy. The Alliance gave identity. He belongs fully to neither.
Hiding the decline	Something is wrong — physically, not just emotionally. He won’t ask for help. He believes A.E.G.I.S. doesn’t know. He is wrong.
Mentorship as displacement	Investing in Adrian and Avi may be partially about not having to deal with himself.
The Scythe blind spot	His precognition has a documented gap around an entity called Scythe. A.E.G.I.S. knows. He doesn’t. Scythe is Adrian’s girlfriend.

What Riley Doesn’t Know — Campaign Start

Riley believes his physical deterioration is a secret. It is not. Shaw has clinical observations filed by Casey Holt (AEGIS-SYC-REDACTED) — Adrian’s girlfriend, a nursing student and EMT who has read his decline with professional precision. Adrian told Casey that Riley is Recluse. Casey reported it. Riley has no idea any of this has occurred.

The person he trusts most in the world inadvertently gave A.E.G.I.S. exactly what Riley has spent years keeping from them — not through betrayal, but through the ordinary intimacy of a relationship Riley encouraged Adrian to have.

Relationships

Person	Relationship
Adrian Vega / Breakpoint	Mentee, surrogate son, guilt made productive. The most tactically precise partnership in the Alliance network. Riley knows Adrian is dating someone named Casey — a nursing student, seems good for him. That is the extent of what he knows.
Sloane Callahan / Arachne	Handler/intel partner. She teases him mercilessly. He tolerates it and is quietly glad she’s there.
Paragon / Ethan Roberts	Sponsor. Riley respects Ethan but chafes at the Boy Scout framing. Complicated admiration.
A.E.G.I.S. Medical	Active evasion. They would want to know about his decline. He will not tell them. He does not know they already do.

Voice & Dialogue Notes

Direct. Not warm, but not cold.
Correction without condescension: “You’re coming along.”
Dry humor, used sparingly: “What can I say? I’m in a good mood.”
Does not over-explain. Does not perform emotion.
No em dashes. Clean sentence breaks.
Old enough to make sardonic reference to being old. “God, I forget how ancient you are.” / “You do know that story doesn’t end well for her, right?”

Open Questions

What is causing the physical deterioration — natural aging, power instability, or something external?
Full nature of the Scythe blind spot (AEGIS-SYC-REDACTED) — Riley suspects something exists; he doesn’t know it’s Casey
When Shaw’s knowledge of his deterioration surfaces, what does that do to his relationship with A.E.G.I.S.?
When he learns Casey is Scythe, what does that do to his relationship with Adrian?

Scene Appearances

Scene	Status	Notes
Danger room training with Avi	Draft written	Premonitions rapid and constant. Knees buckle on landing. Pink envelope / Darcy’s invitation to Avi.
Hospital visit to Carter Williams	Draft written	Solo, off-books. Threatens Carter. Signal is recording.
Dockside surveillance with Arachne	Draft written	Persico stakeout. Comfortable banter with Sloane.