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The Syndicate
Monarch
Heroine: Monarch
The player character, a new intern at Optimus who has a fateful encounter with one of the members of the Syndicate, beginning her new life as a super-powered "villain."
- Astral Projection: In Juliette's route, Monarch gains the ability to pull Juliette's astral self to her.
- Barrier Warrior: In Lorelei's second season, Monarch is able to shield both herself and Lorelei using her powers.
- Butterfly of Transformation: In Duke's and Juliette's routes, the butterfly theme is noted as appropriate for someone who's coming into her powers.
- Color Motif: Red/pink, denoting her as the main protagonist and someone who follows her heart.
- Combo Platter Powers: Telekinesis, telepathy/empathy, and fire.
- The Empath: When she develops telepathy, she can also share feelings with her love interest.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Her code name is fixed, but her personal name is determined by the player.
- The Intern: Landing an internship at Optimus is what first brings her into contact with the members of the Syndicate.
- Mind over Matter: She discovers early in the first season that she has the power of telekinesis, and learns to control and develop it as the story progresses.
- The Mole: After she comes to the attention of the Syndicate, they take advantage of her internship at Optimus to have her feed them information from the inside. She's reluctant at first, but quickly becomes a willing participant as she learns more about the company's true nature.
- Naïve Newcomer: New to both Optimus and the whole superpowers business, allowing the rest of the main cast plenty of opportunities to explain things for her and the audience, and allowing the reader to gradually discover the truth along with her as she becomes more and more involved in the Syndicate's mission.
- No Sense of Direction: Has a tendency to get lost easily.
- Not Quite Flight: Once she develops her telekinesis enough, she can use it to boost herself from the ground to the roof of a building, from building to building, or over barriers.
- Perception Filter: She manages to keep some Optimus guards from seeing her and Lorelei with her powers at one point in Lorelei's season two.
- Playing with Fire: Develops pyrokinesis in Duke, Lorelei, and Juliette's fourth seasons and Renzei's third.
- Power Glows: Her telekinesis produces a magenta glow.
- Power Incontinence: When her telepathy first manifests itself on Duke's and Lorelei's routes, she doesn't have much control over it and frequently broadcasts her thoughts to the rest of the team whenever she's flustered. She quickly learns better control, but still occasionally slips.
- Pretty Butterflies: Her code name, in keeping with the Syndicate's theme of animal aliases, refers to the monarch butterfly, and she wears a butterfly-shaped mask when in costume. The name and motif are suggested for her by the love interest of each route.
- Telepathy: She develops the power of telepathy along with her telekinesis. At first, it only allows her to project her thoughts to her teammates (not always on purpose, especially when the power first emerges). Later, her love interest is able to project to her as well. In Duke's case, they initially need to be touching to send thoughts to each other, but Monarch is later able to project to him without touching him.
- Traumatic Super Power Awakening: In every route, her powers first manifest when she’s in danger.
Wolf
Duke Vale: Wolf
The Ice Wolf
The CEO of ChatSphere, and leader of the Syndicate.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He has Mystical White Hair, Icy Blue Eyes, and a Sugar-and-Ice Personality to go with his ice powers.
- Badass Longcoat: Both his street clothes and his Wolf uniform include a long black coat which flies dramatically out behind him in action CGs.
- Color Motif: Blue, evoking calm and control as well as the cold of his power.
- Declaration of Protection: At several occasions during his route, he promises Monarch that he will never let anything bad happen to her.
- Elemental Eye Colors: He has light blue eyes to go with his ice powers.
- Elemental Personalities: Cool, reserved, and standoffish (at least on the outside) to suit his ice power. He's also been into ice skating since he was a child, even before his powers manifested, prompting Bat to call him a stereotype.
- Heroic BSoD: At the beginning of his fourth season, the discovery that Optimus has wiped his parents' memories sends him into an emotional meltdown. He's almost catatonic the first evening and spends several days afterward clinging as close to Monarch as she'll allow.
- An Ice Person: Duke's power is to generate ice and cold. He has a very high degree of control and versatility, ranging from making massive walls and slides of ice to generating a gentle cool from his fingertips for an impromptu cold compress.
- Icy Blue Eyes: His eyes are a pale and piercing blue, suiting both his super-power and his chilly facade.
- The Leader: Duke is the primary decision-maker for the Syndicate and the one who keeps the other members of the team on task. He admits to Monarch in his second season that he considers himself only a temporary leader, however, as the Syndicate's founder and original leader Ezekiel went AWOL some time prior to the beginning of the story. When Zeke returns in Duke's third season, he officially abdicates leadership to Duke rather than attempt to resume the position.
- Leitmotif: His theme music
has reverberation for a distant and cool sound. - Meaningful Name: "Duke", as the highest title of nobility, befits a rich CEO. It's also a common name for pet dogs.
- Married to the Job: Between running ChatSphere and leading the Syndicate, one gets the impression that there isn't much in Duke's life other than work. He freely admits that Monarch is far from the first person to tell him that he works too much and acknowledges that it's a problem, but - at least up until she came into his life - there's been nothing else he's cared about enough to give him a reason to change.
- Nephewism: Was adopted by his aunt and uncle after his parents seemingly died. It was not a happy adoption.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's chilly and aloof by default, but spending a bit of time working with him proves that behind his reserve he's more awkward than anything else.
- Team Dad: He's a stern but caring leader who tries to keep everyone on track and focused. A couple of times, one of the others jokingly compares him to a dad.
Cat
Andi Kim: Cat
The Lightning Cat
An internet celebrity on SnapShot who the heroine is a fan of.
- Cat Girl: Her Syndicate outfit is cat-themed, featuring a mask tipped with cat ears, a tail, and paw-like footwear◊.
- Color Motif: Purple, suggesting a sense of fun and whimsy. Even her hair is dyed purple.
- Commitment Issues: She has a fear of emotional vulnerability that leads to her ending relationships before they can get too serious. Her relationship with the heroine on her route is the first time she's allowed another person into her living space.
- Cuddle Bug: She is physically affectionate, such as giving little touches to Monarch after they first get together, and tackle-hugging Bat when they first meet in person.
- Elemental Personalities: She's quick, agile, and playful to match her power of lightning.
- Fake Defector: She agrees to work for Optimus at the end of her fourth season because she's run out of alternatives after her identity was revealed, and also so that she can feed the Syndicate information.
- First Love: Related to Commitment Issues above, in her third season she admits that Monarch is this for her.
- Gay Option: Andi was one of the two pilot routes, and along with Lorelei is one of the four core love interests of the game.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: After she is unmasked by Optimus at the end of her third season, she has to go into hiding because her former fanbase, as well as the general public, do not take the reveal well.
- I Will Find You: Her whole reason for joining the Syndicate Was to find her old friend and Snapshot rival Dahlia after she disappeared after landing Optimus as a sponsor.
- Leitmotif: She has an electronic track that's associated with her.
- Power Cord Tail: Her Syndicate outfit includes a cat tail that functions as a data transfer cord. She plugs it into computers to steal data.
- Purple Is Powerful: She's pretty powerful, and purple is definitely a theme with her.
- Sexy Cat Person: She has a cat theme, and as a love interest she's meant to be attractive. She plays into this at one point in her second season, miming a cat's paw while acting seductively.
- Shock and Awe: She has the power to generate and control electricity, which she can use to disrupt electronics and as an insta-taser. It also allows her to resist the electrified shock batons used by Optimus Mooks.
Falcon
Renzei Feng: Falcon
The Cyclone Falcon
- Big Brother Instinct: He's the oldest of five children, and clearly feels a strong sense of responsibility to his siblings. In the heart scene near the end of his first season when he's telling Monarch about his family, he says that he would do "absolutely anything for any of them." His second season reveals that he joined Optimus as a teenager to provide for his family, and keeps working for the company because they've threatened to kill his family if he doesn't obey.
- Blow You Away: His power is wind. He can use it to fly, to create blasts or blades of air, to guide and retrieve his throwing knives, and to suffocate enemies by stealing the air out of their lungs. His power also allows him to neutralize the gas generated by Miguel near the end of Duke's third season.
- Color Motif: Black and white/silver - sharp, mysterious, and dangerous.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Renzei has undergone extensive conditioning to desensitize him to things that would horrify most other people. It becomes obvious during his second season, in which he frequently reacts with confusion when Monarch is upset or horrified about things that have happened to him, and he talks a little bit about how he ended up this way in a scene early in his third season.Renzei: There was a lot I had to watch, and then a lot I had to do. Things that make people sick... I don't feel anything.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Near the end of his first season, he talks about being a frequent target of bullies as a child, and about how in high school he'd planned to join a gang and deal drugs as a way of making money to support his family. He didn't, but ending up as a special agent and assassin for Optimus isn't much better. His second season confirms that Optimus recruited him at the age of eighteen by promising to support his family, then held them hostage to compel Renzei to become their assassin. We don't have specific numbers for his body count, but we know it's high - Juliette describes it as "way more than I thought possible."
- Devious Daggers: In addition to his wind powers, Renzei likes to use actual knives - so much so that on a couple of routes Monarch wonders if his power is simply "knife." He is also the team member who is the most morally gray and willing to use violence.
- Dramatic Wind: Invoked for fun and profit; Renzei is not above using his superpower just to make himself, or Monarch, look cooler.Renzei: What's the fun of air powers if you never get to use it for dramatic effect?
- Elemental Eye Colors: His eyes are described as stormcloud-gray.
- Elemental Personalities: He's as mysterious and mercurial as the air he controls.
- Evil Costume Switch: He gets a new white version of his costume when he starts overtly working for Optimus in his second season. He changes back to the predominantly black version in his third season to cement his defection from Optimus back to the Syndicate.
- First Love: After everything Optimus put him through and conditioned him to do he wasn’t even sure he was capable of love anymore, so in his third season when he tells Monarch he loves her, it’s the first time he had ever said it.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Midway through his fourth season, Renzei has the opportunity to get his revenge on Kirk Steele, but abandons it to help the rest of the Syndicate save Duke and escape Optimus Tower.
- Had to Be Sharp: Many of the skills he relies on as Falcon - fighting, deceit, and manipulation - he describes first learning as a child due to the harsh environment of the neighborhood and school he grew up in.
- Honey Trap: In his second season, he admits that he's used sex and seduction in his work many times. Monarch is the first person in a long time - if ever - that he's been with without an ulterior motive. A scene late in the season elaborates that Optimus purposefully assigned him when seduction would be an effective way of setting up an assassination, at least partly as a means of testing his loyalty and ensuring that he'd keep himself emotionally isolated.
- I "Uh" You, Too: The first time Monarch tells Renzei that she loves him, he's unable to say it back and deflects with an admittedly sweet comment about how glad he is they're together. When she finally musters the courage to ask him directly how he feels, he confesses that he's had very little experience with such things and although he feels very, very strongly about her, he doesn't have a name for those feelings. After everything he's done and how much he's had to shut himself off from his emotions, he's not sure he's even capable of love, and since he promised to always be honest with Monarch he doesn't want to say the words "I love you" to her until he can be sure that he means them.
- In Love with the Mark: Charming Monarch is initially all just business, but his feelings for her quickly become genuine over the course of his first season. In his second season, he confesses that it's the first time he felt like he'd be sorry if he had to carry out his orders.
- Love at First Sight: Early in his first season, he references the Japanese concept of koi no yokannote — not quite literally love at first sight, so much as the feeling when you meet someone that you will inevitably fall in love with them.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: In the last episode of his first season, Renzei reveals that he's the oldest of five children. He has a younger brother and three younger sisters; helping his parents provide for them was one of his motives for joining Optimus.
- Meaningful Name: The official Lovestruck twitter gives the characters for Renzei's name as 风认贼. The character 风 (Fēng) means "wind," and the 贼 (zéi) in his given name means "thief." The characters of his given name are also the first two characters of the phrase "rèn zéi zuò fù," an idiom for falling in with bad people.
- The Mole: In his first two seasons, he's a double agent infiltrating the Syndicate for Optimus.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: His suggested solution to most of the problems the Syndicate faces tends to be killing someone. It's played for dark comedy in other routes, but his own makes it clear that Renzei has been conditioned to the point that he doesn't really have any other problem-solving tools in his repertoire, to his detriment.
- Le Parkour: According to a game of I Never in Duke's fifth season, Renzei had a parkour phase.
- Razor Wind: One of his most common uses of his power is to throw blades of compressed air at his opponents (Depending on the Writer; on his own route, he prefers to use actual knives).
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: He and Monarch engage in Erotic Asphyxiation in a heart scene in his second season, but only after a discussion carefully establishing boundaries of safety and consent, including a safeword for Monarch to broadcast to him telepathically should she want him to stop, and an agreement that if she ceases broadcasting her thoughts to him it will also be a signal to stop. "Sane" is still somewhat in question given the surrounding circumstances and Renzei's generally messed-up emotional state, but he makes it very clear he won't do anything that Monarch doesn't want him to do.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: All of the love interests recognize the protagonist's latent superpowers when they first meet her, but Renzei's the only one who helps along their manifestation by throwing a knife at her to scare her into defending herself telekinetically.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: His last name is the word for "wind", and he has wind powers.
- Tattooed Crook: Renzei purposefully invoked the trope when he chose to start getting his tattoos to commemorate each person he's killed. In his second season, he explains to Monarch that some cultures around the world would mark criminals with a visible tattoo, and he decided that he needed to do the same to himself, "so people could see me clearly for what I am."
Badger
Lorelei Linden: Badger
The Stone Badger
An architect who hints at a troubled history with Optimus.
- Alliterative Name: Lorelei Linden.
- Amazonian Beauty: Lorelei is well built. The heroine's first encounter with her on her route has her losing her balance on a train and grabbing onto one of Lorelei's biceps for support, getting flustered over its firmness.
- Ambiguously Brown: She has a brown skin tone, but her ethnicity is not specified. Word of God is that she was intended to be at least partially Filipino but was cut short before anything more than hints could be put in.
- Boyish Short Hair: In keeping with her butch appearance, she has short, styled hair.
- The Big Guy: She fills this role on the team with her rock powers and her high-impact fighting style.
- Butch Lesbian: Lorelei is tall, muscular, and stern, and she wears her hair short, in contrast to petite and trendy Andi. In their first encounter on her route before the heroine learns her name, the game even tags her as "Breathtaking Butch."
- Color Motif: Yellow/gold/brown, earthy and sensible to go with her earth powers.
- Combination Attack: In her route, she and Monarch develop a combination attack, since their powers synergize well.
- Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: She used to be an Optimus-sponsored superhero along with Scarlet Brighid when she was in her teens.
- Deadpan Snarker: When she does snark, she tends to have a very dry delivery.
- Dishing Out Dirt: She has power over earth and rock. In addition to making barriers and disrupting enemies' footing, she frequently shapes stone gauntlets around her hands to add weight to her punches.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As a teen she became an Optimus-sponsored superhero with Scarlet Brighid with the two even falling in love. During one particular mission abroad though things went really bad and Lorelei was horrified by the collateral damage and appalled that Scarlet was unbothered, causing her to quit Optimus and end her engagement to Scarlet.
- Elemental Eye Colors: She has green eyes to go with her earth powers.
- Elemental Personalities: Lorelei is as blunt and no-nonsense as you'd expect from someone with earth powers.
- Gay Option: Confirmed as a second female love interest option once the game was picked up for continuation.
- The Hermit: She was living in the woods by herself for a while before getting involved with the Syndicate. In her third season, she jokes that Monarch ruined solitude for her.
- Meaningful Name: The Lorelei is a rock formation in Germany, and a linden is a type of tree, fitting for a nature lover.
- Must Have Caffeine: Coffee is an important part of her life, including her morning routine. When she gives Monarch some of her special brew at the end of her first season, it's treated as a deeply intimate moment.
- Nature Lover: She keeps a garden outside her house for the calming atmosphere. When that's not enough, she likes to go to the park. She also likes to go camping, and takes Monarch on a trip with her in her second season.
- Power Incontinence: Her control over her power slips when she's upset, causing tremors around her.
- Second Love: After her disastrous relationship with Scarlet Brighid, Lorelei avoided romantic relationships making Monarch this for her.
- Statuesque Stunner: According to her profile, she's 5'11".
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Her first name is the name of a rock formation in Germany, and she has powers over rock and stone.
- The First Cut Is the Deepest: Her failed engagement to Scarlet Brighid deeply hurt her and is a big reason she takes a long time letting Monarch in.
- This Is a Drill: She has two drill swords.
Bat (Unmarked Spoilers)
Juliette Optima: Bat
A mysterious hacker who keeps her true identity a secret.
- Casting a Shadow: Bat's power to control light also allows her to create areas of deep shadow, including surrounding a person in darkness they cannot see through clearly.
- Classified Information:
- On her character profile, her last name is listed as "???" and her age, height, and date of birth are listed as "[REDACTED]".
- On Lovestruck's lists of LGBTQ characters, Bat's information is listed:[REDACTED] aka Bat ([REDACTED])
- Color Motif: Black and yellow, for darkness and light. All the Syndicate outfits are black with a secondary color; Bat's has yellow trim. When appearing out of costume, she wears a black dress with a yellow sun and moon on it, a yellow necklace, and has blonde hair.
- Deadpan Snarker: Almost everything Bat says is laced with some degree of flippant sarcasm.Bat: ...Guys. What did I say about this? Was it, 'go and get yourselves into another trap as soon as possible and scare me half to death again'? Because I'm pretty sure that's not what I said.
Andi: If we scared you half to death again, wouldn't that make you all the way dead?
Bat: Yes. I literally died. I rose from the grave just to give you this lecture. - Emotion Control: She can calm a person's emotions by touching them with the warmth of her light powers.Bat: Everyone with powers has some kind of empathic ability. Mine can manifest like this, through my light.
- Expressive Mask: When she first starts appearing in person, Bat wears a full-face mask that projects a variety of emoticons in place of facial expressions. She's very proud of it.
- Gay Option: Her route was added a while after the rest had finished.
- Gender-Concealing Voice: She uses a voice modulator to make herself sound like a guy.
- Gender Reveal: She revealed her true identity (and therefore gender) to Monarch first in Andi's third season, and subsequently in Renzei and Lorelei's second seasons. Duke's season four is the last of the core love interest routes to include such a reveal.
- Given Name Reveal: In her season 1 finale, her surname is revealed as Optima, the same as the founders of Optimus, who are her parents.
- Light 'em Up: Bat's power, as revealed when she begins participating in missions in person, is to control light. Her main use of this ability so far has been to generate bright flashes of light which blind and disorient the enemy, though she can also use it to create deep shadows by taking away or blocking light. She can also do fun things like making an angel halo appear above her head.
- Meaningful Echo: When she introduces herself to Andi and Monarch as Juliette in Andi's season three, she echoes her introduction as Bat in season one.Juliette: My full name is Batty McBatterson. My friends call me Juliette.
- Playful Hacker: Aside from serving as Mission Control, Bat's primary role in the Syndicate is using her hacking skills to collect information, reconnoiter targets, and disable security systems to give the rest of the team routes into and out of Optimus facilities - doling out plenty of smartass quips all the while.
- Significant Birth Date: Her birthday is March 20, which is typically when the March equinox falls — one of the two days of the year when day and night are of equal length, fitting for someone with light and shadow powers.
- Samus Is a Girl: Catches Monarch off guard in most of the routes when it’s revealed she’s a very attractive female.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: As Bat, she pretends to be a guy in order to protect her identity; only the other founding members of the Syndicate — Duke, Lorelei, and Zeke — know her true identity. She first reveals it to the rest of the Syndicate, as well as to the audience, in Andi's season three. Duke's route was the last of the core routes to have her reveal herself, in the second half of his fourth season.
- Two-Person Love Triangle: Monarch spends most of the first season of her route confused by the feelings she has for both Juliette and Bat before she finally puts two and two together.
- The Voice: Her appearance is unknown until Andi's season three; she communicates with the others remotely through voice and text, using a cartoon bat as an avatar. She eventually begins participating in missions in person and becomes The Faceless, but still prefers to attend team meetings at the lair remotely.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: During missions, she communicates with the team over their comms and watches over them by hacking security cameras.
- Walking Spoiler: The extreme secrecy surrounding Bat's identity makes discussing her role in later seasons complicated.
Cobra
Ezekiel "Zeke" Dorian: Cobra
The Chrono Cobra
The founder of the Syndicate who returns after having been absent for some time.
- Celebrity Resemblance: His character artwork bears a more than passing resemblance to Idris Elba. It's lampshaded in Duke's fourth season: when he, Andi, and Renzei attend an Optimus function incognito, the fake ID Bat creates for Zeke is named Roland - "like the gunslinger" from The Dark Tower, the 2017 film adaptation of which starred Elba as Roland Deschain.
- Flash Step: His combat style involves moving too fast for the eye to follow, seeming to disappear and reappear in order to catch the enemy off-guard with surprise attacks.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Despite being in love with Monarch himself, he shows himself as nothing but happy and supportive of her relationship with every other Syndicate member in their respective routes.
- The Leader: He used to lead the team before he left and relinquished the role to Duke.
- Seers: He avoids discussing exactly how his power works, citing the risk of paradox, but confirms that he can see the possible results of a person's action or what would have happened if they made a different choice. This is revealed to actually be because he has travelled between many alternate timelines, and events tend to go similar routes based on various influences. He can tell what's going to happen because he's already lived it before.
- Significant Birth Date: His birthday is 12/12 — twelve, like the number of hours on a clock, fitting for someone with time powers.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Monarch. He travels between alternate timelines, with two goals: first, to stop Optimus from taking over, and second, to keep Monarch safe. He and Monarch have met in every one of them, but for various reasons they're never able to be together for long, and he always has to leave and move on to the next timeline.Zeke: Every day, I hope I'll find a timeline [...] that's good for the two of us, and also for the rest of the world.
Zeke: (Because it's never both.) - Technicolor Eyes: He has ruby red eyes.
- Time Master: His power involves the manipulation of time, and along with his precognition he can speed up or slow down time for a few seconds. This is how he can appear to move at superhuman speeds. He can also time travel, which is the true source of his apparent precognition.
Optimus
Sampson Clark
Sampson Clark
Head of PR, and the initial villain in Duke's route.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In contrast to certain other Optimus employees, Mr. Clark seems like nothing but a friendly and caring Benevolent Boss who Monarch is willing to believe is completely unaware of Optimus's shadier side. Unfortunately, he's very much not.
- Gravity Master: He has the power to increase the force of gravity in a specific area, allowing him to pin people down with their own weight or even crush them with it.
- Kill It with Ice: Killed by Duke’s ice powers at the end of his season 2.
Hayden Beckett
Hayden Beckett
- Jerkass: Across every route, Hayden consistently belittles and talks down to the heroine from the first time they meet, quickly establishing himself as a thoroughly unlikable jerk even before he's confirmed to be part of Optimus's less savory activities.
- Self-Duplication: He can make copies of himself.
Charles Kane
Charles Kane
Head of HR, and the initial villain in Andi's route.
- Achilles' Heel: He can only use his power on one person at a time, and he needs line of sight.
- High-Voltage Death: Killed by Andi's electric powers at the end of her season two.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He's depowered, probably permanently, by the device he designed for Optimus in Renzei's fourth season.
- Power Nullifier: He can prevent people from using their powers by being in proximity with them.
Ajax
Ajax
Chief of Optimus security, and the initial villain in Renzei's route.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Ajax is utterly loyal to Optimus and kills for the company without question or remorse, but he also paid out of his own pocket to give the murdered Fengs proper burial when the Optimus board member who ordered their deaths was going to have their bodies disposed of "less... ceremoniously."
- False Friend: Played with. Monarch's psychic abilities confirm that Ajax really does genuinely like Renzei and herself and considers both of them his friends - but that friendship doesn't mean he'll hesitate to kill them both the moment Optimus hands down the order. Renzei's third season confirms that Ajax knew all along Renzei's family had been killed when Renzei and Monarch overhear him planning to have someone pretend to be Renzei's brother over the phone to convince Renzei they're still alive.
- The Juggernaut: His strength and toughness make him almost unstoppable. It takes the entire Syndicate working as a team to even temporarily get the upper hand in Renzei's first season, and even then he soon shakes them off and is able to escape.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's a lot faster and more agile than his brawny build would suggest, as Monarch and Renzei discover when they throw down with him.
- Mook Lieutenant: As chief of Optimus security he's in charge of the faceless security mooks the Syndicate fights. In keeping with the trope, he has a unique uniform and is the only member of the security team who doesn't wear a mask.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike the other initial villains he doesn’t smirk or gloat during his battles, he remains entirely serious.
- Power Nullifier: Though he can't completely suppress someone's powers like Charles can, in a fight in Renzei's third season Monarch sees Ajax shrug off Renzei's attempt at suffocating him, and realizes that he's not just physically tough but resistant to all kinds of super-powers.
- Save This Person, Save the World: When Cobra arrives on the scene in Renzei's third season, it's with the news that Ajax's death is the catalyst that will bring about the darkest possible timeline. Unfortunately, he arrives with this information only seconds after Renzei has killed Ajax.
- Super-Strength: He's strong enough to break himself free when Lorelei traps him between slabs of rock, is barely inconvenienced when Duke freezes his feet to the ground, and rips through Monarch's telekinetic shield "like a rhino through a spiderweb."
- Super-Toughness: Renzei's knives bounce off his unprotected skin, and though Andi's electricity hurts him, it's not enough to slow him down until she unloads a shock powerful enough to black out the entire Lair.
Sunny Starks
Sunny Starks
The initial villain in Lorelei's route.
- Alliterative Name: Sunny Starks. In proper superhero fiction style, she's the first-season antagonist to Lorelei, who also has an alliterative name.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Not to Sampson’s level but in Lorelei’s first season remains friendly and polite to Monarch while at work to the point that she was reluctant to go after her boss not sure if she was truly involved in Optimus’s shady activities.
- Green Thumb: Her power is control over plants, such as using vines to trap and threaten to strangle Monarch.
- Pheromones: She can emit pheromones to affect a person's memory using scent-based hypnosis, and does so to the heroine in Lorelei's second season, keeping her from remembering the new facility she's been assigned to. Monarch mistakes the scent for perfume at first; it takes a camping trip with Lorelei, where she has an adverse reaction to the smell of wild mint, for them to put the pieces together.
- Put on a Bus: After the Syndicate successfully dismantles her training program at the end of Lorelei's second season, she skips town, most likely because she knows she's not necessary enough for Optimus to keep her around after her failure.
Dahlia London
Dahlia London / CrashingWaves
Andi's old rival on SnapShot who resurfaces after not being heard from for over a year. Her disappearance is what spurred Andi to join the syndicate in the first place.
- Affectionate Nickname: Although she and Andi were rivals, they were close enough that Andi calls her 'Wavy' as a shortening of her SnapShot username.
- Heel–Face Turn: In Andi's fourth season, she warns Monarch and Andi that Karma is following them while they're on vacation, and then fully switches sides partway through the fifth season.
- Making a Splash: She has control over water, and can move things around if they're wet. She's strong enough to make a massive wave, which Monarch pegs as unusual, suspecting Optimus involvement. She also has a water theme — her SnapShot username is CrashingWaves, her hair is dyed blue, and she has marine animal stickers on her water bottle.
- Phlebotinum Rebel: Downplayed, but she was given powers by Optimus unwillingly and ultimately turns on them and is a key player in their downfall.
- The Rival: She was once — and as of season three now is again — Andi's biggest rival on SnapShot.
- Sell-Out: When she resurfaces, she uses her SnapShot fame to publicize for Optimus.
Karma Cameron
Karma Cameron
Actress, Optimus board member, and head of tech.
- Alliterative Name: Verging on Repetitive Name.
- Invisibility: This is her superpower. Heavily implied that Optimus gave it to her and she didn’t develop it naturally.
- Punny Name: She can turn invisible, somewhat like a chameleon, and her name is Karma Cameron, which sounds similar to "Karma Chameleon".
- See the Invisible: When Andi and Monarch feel like they're being followed, Andi electrifies a pool of water, which shows an electrified outline of Karma when she walks over it.
- Self-Disposing Villain: She gets herself killed by taunting the Syndicate about how they'll never catch her while standing invisible on an unexpectedly in-use train track.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Her name sounds similar to 'chameleon' and she can turn invisible.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: When she turned 30, she all but dropped out of the spotlight, and started working for Optimus. The Syndicate members discuss the double standards in acting when it comes to "older" actresses, and speculate that the reason she joined Optimus was because she wanted to keep her fame and importance at any cost.
Kirk Steele
Kirk Steele
An Optimus board member.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: When he appears in Lorelei's fourth season, Monarch notes that he looks exactly like she'd imagine someone named "Kirk Steele" would.
- Big Bad: Of Duke and Renzei’s routes and Zeke’s short.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A board member of Optimus and definitely corrupt.
- Extra-ore-dinary: He can control metal.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In Duke's fifth season, pulling out metal from Optimus Tower to fight with causes part of the building to collapse on him.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: His last name is Steele, and he has metal powers.
Scarlet Brighid
Scarlet Brighid
Optimus' poster girl superhero and one of its board members and founders, who has history with Lorelei.
- Badass Cape: She seemingly never takes it off.
- Big Bad: Of Lorelei’s route.
- Combat Stilettos: A CG shows her costume's boots to be high-heeled. Justified since she can fly.
- Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: She's Optimus' poster girl.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Defied. At one point she takes the hand of the heroine, who notes the lightness of her touch, surmising that she must have a lot of practice controlling her strength.
- Evil Red Head: Has bright red hair and is one of the most vile employees of Optimus.
- Flying Brick: She can fly and has super strength.
- Hannibal Lecture: Dishes these out to Lorelei like candy.
- Loafing in Full Costume: She's always wearing her costume, even when getting lunch with the heroine at a restaurant. Bat says she's rumored to sleep in it.
- Not in the Face!: During a battle with Lorelei which she doesn't seem to be taking particularly seriously until Lorelei strikes her in the face, angering her.
- Red Is Heroic: She has red hair, her costume is predominantly red, and her name is Scarlet.
- Smug Super: She's very smug. Monarch notes that while she may take care to avert Does Not Know His Own Strength, she likes to throw her weight around in other ways.
- Super-Strength: She can snap steel girders "like asparagus."
- Telepathy: She has psychic powers that allow her to project thoughts to others to mind control them. When Monarch first meets her at work, she senses Scarlet tapping at the door to her mind before locking it shut in response. Lorelei tells Monarch she didn’t have it when they were together, implying that Optimus gave her telepathy artificially.
- Wedding Ring Defense: Under her gloves, she still wears her engagement ring (which was handmade by Lorelei) in order to dissuade the fans who crush on her from asking her out.
Ruby (Unmarked Spoilers)
Ruby
A coworker of the heroine and Juliette in the latter's route.- Glamour Failure: The heroine sees one of her fingers without the disguise one day at work.
- Power Copying: She is able to imitate the Syndicate's powers after having them used against her.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: She is a humanoid robot who can project a human appearance over her surface.
- Robotic Reveal: Near the end of Juliette's first season, she is revealed to be the same robot the main characters have been fighting.
- Super-Strength: As a robot, she is very strong. It's an unusual display of strength, along with the disguise failing on one of her fingers, that leads the heroine to make the connection between Ruby and the robot.
Others
Robin Sanders
Robin Sanders
The heroine's roommate.
- Best Friend: The heroine's best friend since college.
- Character Overlap: They are the same Robin who is the child of the heroine and Chimera in Chimera's fourth season of Astoria: Fate's Kiss.
- Locked Out of the Loop: They're completely oblivious to Monarch and her love interest's activities with the Syndicate, and Monarch tries to keep it that way. Played for laughs in Andi's fourth season when they somehow manage to never find out about Andi being Cat despite her unmasking having been broadcast publicly.
- Mellow Fellow: Nothing really seems to phase them for long, and they're generally laid-back and positive.
- Relationship Upgrade: They get together with the pizza delivery girl they have a crush on during the timeskip in Andi's fifth season and Renzei and Lorelei's fourth seasons, with her also moving in with them in Renzei and Lorelei's routes. In Duke's fifth season she becomes their new roommate after Monarch moves in with Duke, though their relationship status isn't specified.
- The Slacker: They are commonly found hanging out at home and snacking. Monarch remarks that they have the aura of a sloth.
- The Stoner: Downplayed, but there are some references to them getting stoned or having pot brownies, and they have the mellow personality associated with the character type.
Miguel Santos
Miguel Santos
Duke's personal assistant.
- Poisonous Person: He has the ability to generate some kind of drug or poison from his skin. Direct skin-to-skin contact causes dizziness and nausea. In Duke's third season, Monarch catches him dosing Duke's coffee to no immediately visible effect, suggesting that he can create different types of compounds as he wills.
Rahim Nassar
Rahim Nassar
A mysterious tattoo artist and a friend of Renzei's. See his entry in the Havenfall Is for Lovers character sheet.
- Character Overlap: He's Razi's brother from Havenfall Is for Lovers.
