The Factor Four

The Factor Four were rivals of the original Atom Family, criminal archeologists and “adventurers” known for making a tidy profit off their finds, and caring very little about niceties like international treaties or other cultures. The Four later acquired powers using a set of mystical artifacts, becoming dangerous super-criminals. In the process, they lost their flesh-and-blood human forms, now made up of pure elemental forces. Ever since, they have continued their habit of plundering historical sites, museums, and private citizens of valuable artifacts and lore, all the while looking for means to increase their powers and their mastery over them.

Structure

Professor Fathom

Dr. Richard Calumus was one of Dr. Atom’s most brilliant students and an explorer at heart like his mentor. Unfortunately, he was solely interested in satisfying his own curiosity, greed, and need for achievement rather than furthering the reach of science or improving the lot of humanity. Richard’s discoveries were for sale to the highest bidder, and he cared nothing for preserving unique or historical finds. For years, Calumus and his crew of assistants were the Atom Family’s rivals, trying to exploit the hidden wonders of the world.
Calumus’ luck ran out when he discovered the location of the fabled Prime Elements, gemstones representing each of the four ancient elements, reputed to possess mystical powers. Calumus had little interest in the stones’ supposed powers, but they would command a tremendous price on the black market. He and his associates discovered the resting-place of the stones, but something unexpected happened. In a blast of magical power, the Prime Elements were invested into each of the four would-be thieves, transforming them into elemental beings.
At first, the Factor Four reveled in their new powers, until they discovered they couldn’t entirely control them and their inhuman transformations were permanent. Since then, Calumus (now known as Professor Fathom) has been working to find a way to return himself and his associates to their human forms (preferably while retaining their elemental power). The Factor Four also continues to explore, looking for new resources to further or fund their search.
Professor Fathom is cold and calculating. He looks at everything from the perspective of how it can profit him. All other considerations are irrelevant. He considers this “enlightened self-interest,” but it is purely selfishness and greed. He’s quite intelligent, but often blinded by his own desire to be successful. He tends to look down on his intellectual inferiors although he also understands how to manipulate them quite well. He enjoys his power, but is frustrated by his limitations.
Professor Fathom’s body is made up of water under his mental control. He can reshape his watery form as desired, flow through any small opening, and blast water with the force of a geyser. He’s very resistant to harm since most physical attacks tend to pass right through him and he has no need to eat, breathe, or sleep. His life force is sustained by mystical energy. Professor Fathom is vulnerable to having his form evaporated into steam or frozen. This is just a “special effect” of Fathom being incapacitated by a heat or cold attack, and he recovers normally as his body condenses or thaws.

Granite

Bill Cole has always been a tough guy, now more than ever. When he first began working for Dr. Calumus, Cole was just a bruiser, in charge of lifting heavy things and removing obstacles (living or otherwise) from the doctor’s way. Cole knew how to take orders from his military days and how to handle himself in a fight. He liked the money and he also liked Sylvie McAllister a lot, although he knew she was Dr. Calumus’ girl, so he kept his distance.
The power of the Prime Earth transformed Cole into a hulking creature of solid rock with the strength and endurance of a mountain. Although he’s stronger and tougher than ever, Granite is isolated beneath his rocky exterior. But he keeps following Professor Fathom’s orders like a good soldier, knowing his boss will fix everything eventually.
Cole was a simple-minded brute and his transformation into Granite has only enhanced this aspect of his personality. He’s contemptuous toward things and people that can’t harm him, and lashes out at things that can. He’s loyal to Professor Fathom because Dr. Calumus is so much smarter than he is, and because Granite is sure he knows the right thing to do. He’d do almost anything for Sylph, even if it meant going against the others.
Granite is a massive figure of solid stone. He’s tremendously strong and resistant to injury. He’s also immune to things like suffocation, doesn’t need to eat or sleep, and can ignore intense heat and cold. In fact, Granite doesn’t feel much of anything these days. His typical approach to a problem is to smash his way through it unless Professor Fathom or Sylph tell him otherwise.

Pyre

Jack Connors was always a hotshot when it came to anything that moved fast: planes, cars, or women. He hooked up with Dr. Calumus when he needed a driver and pilot able to handle any vehicle and go anywhere. The money was good, and Jack didn’t particularly care where it came from or what he had to do to get it. He just liked the lifestyle. Things changed when Jack was infused with elemental fire and became Pyre, Master of Flame.
“Hot-headed” fits Pyre to a T. He’s quick-tempered and passionate, with a thirst for peril and excitement. His new form limits his entertainment options, and he uses danger and combat to help him to feel alive. Pyre is quick to take action, although Professor Fathom can restrain him (even momentarily douse him, if need be).
Pyre constantly radiates heat and flames flicker all around him, obscuring his features. He can damp down the heat he emits slightly and uses special heatproof gloves to handle things, but he can’t touch most things for long without burning or melting them. At its normal level, Pyre’s fiery aura is enough to melt or vaporize many weapons before they can strike him. He can project bolts of flame from his hands or his mouth. By projecting a jet of flame behind him, Pyre can fly through the air. He strikes at foes with blasts of flame from a distance, or tries to grapple them with his burning form.

Sylph

Sylvia McAllister always had a tendency to get involved with the wrong sort of men, and her worst move was when she got involved with Richard Calumus. She was drawn to his intellect, his natural charisma, and particularly to the way he went after what he wanted. Sylvia became Dr. Calumus’ assistant and eventually his lover. She was transformed along with Calumus and his other associates by exposure to the Prime Elements. Her relationship with Professor Fathom is no longer physical, but Sylvie is more dependent on him than ever.
Sylph is vain, catty, and cruel toward most people. She fawns over Professor Fathom and wants to please him. She knows Granite is attracted to her and that she can twist him around her little finger (and Pyre, too, if she turns on the charm). She enjoys her power, but would give it up in an instant in order to live the life of sensual luxury she really wants. She misses sensation, the benefit of having a physical body, and would do anything, even betray her teammates, in order to get it.
Sylph’s body has been transformed into a gaseous state. She can pass through any opening that is not airtight and is largely immune to physical harm. She can fly through the air and is capable of using her inert gaseous form to suffocate opponents by enveloping them, either to render them unconscious or to kill them by cutting off their oxygen for long enough. She can likewise whip up a cloud like a thick fog to obscure the activities of her associates.

TACTICS

Unless they significantly outclass their opponents, the Factor Four’s primary goal in a confrontation is escape. This is facilitated by their new headquarters (see the following): Professor Fathom just needs a matter of moments to open a doorway back to the Crystal Complex, through which the Four cannot be followed. Granite and Pyre typically run interference, while Sylph can create an obscuring (and, if desired, suffocating) cloud to cover their retreat.
When the Factor Four feel confident that their power is equal to that of their foes, Granite and Pyre tend to serve as front-line fighters, while Sylph and Professor Fathom use their Affliction attacks against targets too quick or tough for their teammates. Against foes he cannot drown, Fathom switches to his water blasts. Sylph is fairly ineffectual against foes who do not breathe, but has been known to use her Concealment and limited Move Object effects to cause trouble while remaining largely untouchable.

Public Agenda

Professor Fathom was always motivated by an irrational need to be the first to discover what no one else had seen before, and to be the one to decide how to exploit it for his own benefit. Still, even the money brought in by the questionable sales of his finds was secondary to proving his skills and winning those finds in the first place.
Since their transformation into elemental beings, the Factor Four have been primarily motivated to find additional sources of arcane lore and power, which might grant them additional control over their abilities. Ultimately, they want to achieve the power to shift between their human and elemental forms at will, allowing them to retain their power but also be able to enjoy all that it can bring them. So long as Professor Fathom remains the best possible means of achieving that goal, Granite, Pyre, and Sylph remain loyal to him.
Along the way, of course, the Factor Four have no qualms about feathering their future nest with the ill-gotten gains of outright theft, plunder, and payment for mercenary work. Professor Fathom realized some time ago that it was wise to allow Granite to exercise his mercenary skills so he and Pyre can blow off steam, keeping them from becoming restive and difficult to manage.

Assets

The Factor Four have moved into an ancient Lemurian complex they discovered in the north Pacific. Professor Fathom believes it was originally some sort of control or transportation center. The central part of the complex is a vaulted chamber made up of multi-colored crystals, which appear to act as controls to a series of gateways. They are able to connect to different points around the world, controlled by moving small, carved crystals in the chamber, and accessible by remote use of the crystals elsewhere. This allows the Factor Four to appear and disappear through dimensional “doorways” when it suits them, although the location of the doorways is somewhat dictated by the local ley line structures and is not always as convenient as they might wish.